One of the documents Pinto submitted to the court contends that if Pinto serves even one day in prison, his children – who spend half of each year in New York City with Pinto and his wife – will be put in the care of non-Jews there and their education will suffer as a result.

If I Serve Even 1 Day In Prison, My Children Will Be Given To Goyyim, Sefardi Haredi Kabbalist Says

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com



Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto’s sentencing hearing, held in the Tel Aviv District Court earlier today, was so contentious and some of the evidence submitted by Pinto so convoluted, that it will have to be completed Sunday, Israeli media reported.



Pinto – who pleaded guilty to bribing a senior police officer and trying to bribe another, recanted his guilt in a talk given to followers shortly after entering the guilty plea.



Now Pinto and his lawyers are claiming a whole host of medical and psychiatric conditions for Pinto that would, if proved true, likely keep him out of prison.



On top of that, one of the documents Pinto submitted to the court contends that if Pinto serves even one day in prison, his children – who spend half of each year in New York City with Pinto and his wife – will be put in the care of non-Jews there and their education will suffer as a result.



As the hearing took place, more than 100 of Pinto’s followers who had crowded the courtroom sang “tzaddik yesod olam” (“a righteous man is a foundation of the world”), Behadrei Haredim reported.



A whole host of prominent people sought to testify for Pinto, and Eli Wiesel is expected to do so by videoconference Sunday – an odd choice by Wiesel, because Pinto’s bribery of police is directly related to his attempt to evade prosecution for the looting of a nonprofit, Hazon Yeshaya, controlled by Pinto’s close associates. They allegedly took millions of dollars of food donations meant for elderly Holocaust survivors and sold them on the black market, pocketing the money.

According to Forbes, Pinto – a Sefardi haredi kabbalist popular with politicians and celebrities – is the 7th richest rabbi in Israel with a known net worth well into the tens of millions of dollars.