Because of informants: long prison Rav sentenced to 45 days in jail

Court judge in New York sentenced the so-called 'King of the activists' in New York, Aryeh Leib Glantz, dealing for more than 40 years with public needs and who even served for many years as rabbi of the prisons in New York City - to 45 days in jail.

The sentence given last night, and which managed to create a stir among Satmar Hasidim, relates to Aryeh Leib Glantz, who as a rabbi of prisons used to visit the prisoners every day and served their religious and Jewish needs with ever lasting devotion and loyalty.

The grieving affair began when a number of interested parties, who are malevolent and do not discount any means to their end, led to the publication of a series of articles against Glantz in the local press in New York. One of the 'scopes' that caught the eye readers in particular, led later to his dismissal. According to the report, Glantz used his connections as prison rabbi and organized a bar mitzvah for the son of one of the prisoners inside the prison.

The news caused great unrest. Some considered it inappropriate exploitation and intervention which is not appropriate as required by his position. Glantz was forced to resign.

However, if not enough, another affair came along and reshuffled the cards. Moshe Aryeh Friedman, the most controversial personality in the Haredi public, or rather the person who managed to enrage the Haredi world with a number of affairs, informed on Aryeh Leib Glanz and his brother Menashe. As a result of a dispute that arose between Friedman and Menashe Glanz, the former decided to 'tailor' the Glantz brothers a case. He turned to the authorities and told them that the brothers Glantz have taken by fraud over the past 15 years rent from the government (called Section 8) - the amount of which amounts to 220 thousand dollars. According to the informing, Menashe Glanz misled the country when he claimed that he lived in his brother's apartment. Friedman claims that the money came into the pockets of the two.

The state submitted an indictment against the activist year and a half ago. Since then the law case came across various jolts. Glanz was arrested at the start of the affair and soon released on bail of 50 thousand dollars and banned him from leaving Brooklyn without permission until the end of the hearing. A turning point which nearly caused an entanglement in the situation was in the middle of summer.

Glantz's attorney wrote to the judge that his client is supposed to provide religious services in Green County in the Catskills, New York, where he served as Chaplin of the local police, and he asks permission to stay in the mountains for several weeks for this purpose.

The judge examined the referral with the local sheriff, but the latter denied that and said he does not know anything about it. The sheriff claimed that he has not spoken to Glantz for about a year and even avoided using the offered religious services, due to the complex legal situation of Glantz. Thus the judge did not approve the request of the activist.

For the final decision and judgment in the case, the Satmar Rebbe sent a personal letter to the judge, in which he asks for the mercy of the court for a person whose life was a series of holy of assistance and help to his fellow Jews, without any compensation and in particular his brothers the Jewish prisoners for whom he was like a compassionate father during his post - but the letter fell on deaf ears.

After repeated delays, Glantz's attorney reached an arrangement with the prosecution and there was a plea bargain between the parties. In the bargain made by the judge during the sentencing, Glantz states that Glanz would return the money to the state, will be jailed for 45 days and in addition will receive a sentence of probation for a year, which will be activated against him if he repeated the offense.

Ironically, Glantz should serve his sentence on 6th Iyar, precisely in the same jail in which he served as a rabbi, and to join his fellow prisoners for whom he was a guide.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!