Thanks to a Brooklyn lawyer, a scam in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn has been exposed.

The victims were the Herzog family, the largest kosher winemakers in the world, according to the New York Daily News.

The family was distributing checks to people collecting donations for yeshivas and charities. The checks would be deposited in the U.S., and then the cash would be taken to Israel.

A senior law enforcement official reportedly told the Daily News that if an organization is not a legitimate charity or if other people are receiving any part of the donation, it’s illegal.

The Herzogs closed their account about a year about when they were tipped off that some of the solicitors may have been illegitimate. This resulted in bounced checks, which had those attempting to cash those checks asking questions.

The Herzog family hired a Satmar Hasid in Williamsburg, Elimelech Horowitz, to look into the issue. He was given cash to settle some of the donation claims.

On May 3, Horowitz claimed he was kidnapped then released by masked men demanding $35,000. Soon after, the Herzogs received a threatening phone message urging them to pay the $35,000.

A male voice in the recording reportedly said, “I know where you live; I know where you work; I know where your family lives.”

A private investigator hired by the family set them up with armed security and referred them to George Farkas, a lawyer with experience in the Orthodox Jewish community, including the case of Nechemya Weberman, convicted of sex abuse last year.

Farkas reportedly could immediately tell the abduction story was fraudulent.

The first indication was the caller mispronouncing “Shabbat,” the Jewish day of rest. The recipients of the Herzog money were Jewish, so it was unlikely they would mispronounce a Jewish holy day.

Farkas called Horowitz to his office, and told the Daily News that Horowitz confessed within 20 minutes: There had been no kidnapping, and Horowitz had been pocketing the money he’d been given to settle claims.

“He hired some schmuck on the corner to make the threats,” Farkas told the News.

The Herzog family gave a statement expressing sadness “that we were victimized for no other reason than our charitable generosity.”

But the Herzogs are reportedly not pressing charges because Horowitz promised to pay back the money he extorted.

Another source reportedly told the Daily News there may be other victims scammed by solicitors from Israel who hire drivers to use false sad stories to solicit money from wealthy Jewish families. The checks are subsequently cashed by a yeshiva or charity, the driver gets a cut and the rest is sent back to Israel, according to the Daily News report.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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According to a law enforcement source, the suspect police named in the burning of several mezuzahs in Williamsburg is now in custody and is being interviewed.

35-year-old Ruben Ublies is being held in a police facility where he will be processed, the source said. Charges are pending.

Contrary to some reports, the source clarified that the suspect did not turn himself in. He was picked up by the Hate Crime Task Force at his girlfriend’s home around 10:30 a.m.

The source said it has not yet been determined that the arson is definitively a hate crime; the NYPD will consult with the District Attorney before making that determination.

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Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes has increased the charges against Julio Acevedo, the alleged driver in the March 3 hit-and-run that killed a young Orthodox couple and their baby, adding manslaughter in the second degree.

Acevedo spent several days telling news outlets he was going to turn himself in, before he was arrested by police officers in a Pennsylvania parking lot on March 7.

He was indicted on March 12 after police charged him with leaving the scene of an accident, criminally negligent homicide, and vehicular manslaughter.

Prosecutors did not file the vehicular manslaughter charges until today’s indictment.

If convicted, Acevedo could face up to life in prison.

According to the DA’s investigation, Acevedo was driving almost 70 miles-per-hour down Kent Avenue in Williamsburg on March 3, more than twice the speed limit.

When his car struck the livery taxi carrying the Glaubers, who were on their way to a hospital check-up related to the pregnancy, witnesses reportedly saw him get out, observe the damage and run.

The impact sent pregnant Raizy Glauber flying out of the car. She was found underneath a tractor trailer nearby. Doctors were able to deliver her baby three months premature by c-section, but the baby died the next day.

The witnesses were firefighters and a civilian driver, all of whom apparently saw Acevedo speeding and “passing cars recklessly” moments before the impact. The witnesses reported hearing Acevedo’s car accelerate and seeing it increase its speed.

Acevedo has previously served time in jail on manslaughter charges, and was charged with a DWI last month, though the court reportedly did not suspend his license, according to a report from NY1.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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Counselors and community members are reporting a rise in divorce in the Orthodox Jewish community, and some say Facebook is to blame.

But Baruch Herzfeld, a community liason between the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, says “the technology is the excuse.”

“There is unhappiness, and Facebook presents options,” Herzfeld explained.

Hindie Klein, Director of Clinical Projects for Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, also felt that social media can be “very seductive.”

Klein said that seeing what other people have and how they live can lead to comparisons that can and do contribute to divorce.

“Before, someone would get divorced and leave the community,” Herzfeld elaborated. “Now even if they move, you see them [on Facebook] and they take off their wig and they go to Miami and they are drinking a cocktail, and you ask yourself, why should I be in prison? Let me get out.”

Lani Santo works at Footsteps, an organization that helps men and women who want to leave the ultra-Orthodox community. Santo reported seeing an increase in the number of people leaving ultra-Orthodox communities and said “technology is a piece of that.”

“It used to be that they had to go to the library, sneak out and physically get to a place where they can find more information — and now you have technology at your fingertips, even in the Orthodox community,” Santo said.

She said the internet allows restless, questioning young people in the ultra-Orthodox community to see “groups of people that have lived successful lives outside of the community.”

How the community deals with divorce

Herzfeld brought up the fact that ultra-Orthodox Jewish women and men marry very young, and often don’t know each other very well beforehand, which Santo says contributes to why a lot of the women she works with choose to divorce and even leave the community entirely.

Fraidy Reiss is one of those women — on a few levels, in fact: Reiss is divorced and left her ultra-Orthodox community, but is also the daughter of divorced Orthodox Jewish parents, a rare experience for her generation.

“I was the only one I knew whose parents were divorced,” Reiss said. “It was like I had two heads because my parents were divorced, I was considered really just a freak.”

Reiss said she thinks it’s getting easier simply because it’s becoming more common.

“It’s hard to consider a certain group of people freaks when the group gets bigger and bigger,” she pointed out.

But Santo said it’s often still a struggle, and can be a scary one at that.

“The entire community will pool their resources to make sure whoever’s leaving doesn’t get custody of the children, whether it’s a man or a woman,” Santo said. “Things get incredibly ugly, it’s not a fair game that’s being played.”

Reiss knew about that first-hand: she said that when she attempted to divorce her husband and get custody of her two daughters, one rabbi threatened to kidnap her children, and another threatened to testify in court that she was an unfit mother.

It wasn’t only rabbis, however: her friends wanted to testify against her as well.

She doesn’t hold it against them. Having grown up in the community, she understands what motivates them.

“There’s a belief in that community that if you’re not religious, you’re unstable and not a fit mother,” Reiss explained. “They really believe the kids are not going to have a good life.”
Traditional Jewish divorces

There are actually laws that exist in traditional Jewish law that were “constructed for divorces to be able to happen,” noted Santo.

“In the Jewish community, divorce has never been as taboo as in, say, the Catholic community,” she added.

However, Reiss explained that under Jewish law, a woman can only request a divorce. Her husband has to grant it with a document called a ‘get.’

“What happens is that men realize this power that they have over their wives,” Reiss said, adding that men will often withhold the get while demanding money, property, custody, or freedom from alimony in exchange.

While the woman is without a get, she is an ‘agunah,’ Reiss explained, which means “chained woman,” and can’t remarry. Women face the possibility of being alone for the rest of their lives, Reiss said.

Reiss’ mother waited seven years for her get.

After Reiss’ own divorce, she refused to accept the get from her husband. The get is not valid unless it is either signed by the wife or by 100 rabbis, Reiss said.

She received several calls from rabbis for a few months, until they seemingly decided it was easier to round up 100 rabbis than deal with this stubborn woman.

Reiss’ mother stayed in the community despite her divorce; Reiss broke away. They’re now estranged, but Reiss said she wished she could have told her mother about her act of ‘get’ rebellion.

“Even though I’m sure she would complain to her friends and say how terrible I was being, I think some small part of her would have said, ‘yes, you go, Fraidy,’” Reiss said.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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