At TOO we have had several articles on the culture of corruption that pervades many traditional Jewish communities. Edmund Connelly’s “The Culture of Deceit” presents examples going back to the 18th century, citing Wilhelm von Dohm, a Prussian official that Jewish communities were engaged in “the breaking of the laws of the state restricting trade, the import and export of prohibited wares, the forgery of money and precious metals.”

In short, von Dohm describes traditional Jewish communities as far more resembling a mafia-like group engaged in organized crime than what we think of as a religion. Alexander Solzhenitsyn describes how Jews invented elaborate ways to get around laws on selling liquor and to avoid the military draft; they also sold shoddy goods to the Russian military with all that that implies (see “The Mesira Mentality: Laws are Made to be Broken“).

Connelly describes

the arrest of 44 people, including several rabbis, in a money laundering and influence peddling scheme involving payoffs to public officials in New Jersey. Rather than marginal figures, the rabbis involved were highly respected pillars of the Syrian Jewish community — a traditionalist Jewish group that remains largely separate even from other Jewish groups. What’s fascinating is that Rabbi Israel Dwek, a founder of the New Jersey synagogue at the center of the scandal, renounced his own son, Solomon Dwek, because the son had cooperated with the FBI after being indicted on bank fraud charges. The father’s actions were entirely within the Talmudic Law of Moser — the prohibition of a Jew informing on another Jew.

Rabbi Dwek was also involved in a tax fraud scheme in which Jews would receive a kickback of 90% of their charitable contributions. Again, this behavior is not from an isolated bad apple, but occurs at the highest level of these communities.

A recent Forward article by Jay Michaelson (“The Creeping Jewish Fundamentalism in our Midst“) compares the ultra-Orthodox to an organized crime syndicate:

In recent months, the Forward has depicted the coercion and ignorance prevalent in American ultra-Orthodox communities: in brilliant essays by Judy Brown and Shulem Deen, in exposés of Hasidic money laundering, and longer ago in its award-winning coverage of the Agriprocessors meat processing plant. And of course, “fervently Orthodox” leaders have defended, justified, covered up and explained away sexual predators in a way that would make a Vatican official blush.What has emerged from all this is a picture of a subculture that looks more like “The Sopranos” than like “Fiddler on the Roof” — a world in which a small elite maintains power at the expense of thousands of serfs.

Postville, Iowa at a Kosher meat processing plant. The Hasidic Jews working for Agriprocessors had no interest conforming to community norms — even seemingly trivial ones such as taking care of their lawns, shoveling their sidewalks, or raking their leaves. They had no concern about the community as a whole; they treated their neighbors like strangers. The Agriprocessors scandal refers to events inat a Kosher meat processing plant. The Hasidic Jews working for Agriprocessors had no interest conforming to community norms — even seemingly trivial ones such as taking care of their lawns, shoveling their sidewalks, or raking their leaves. They had no concern about the community as a whole; they treated their neighbors like strangers.

Anthony Hilton makes a similar point in an article on the Hasids in Montreal. There is

a long history of acrimony between the Hassids and their mostly French Quebecois neighbors over complaints that the Hassids generally try to ignore municipal regulations they find inconvenient — building codes, parking regulations, etc. Their massive intercity buses stop illegally on residential streets, their diesel engines waking people at odd hours of the night. And they have a reputation for getting away with a lot thanks to municipal officials allegedly wanting to avoid confrontation.

Forward reporter “turned up hard evidence of appalling abuse: substandard wages, inadequate safety measures, horrific accidents, routine short-changing of pay, bribe-taking by shift supervisors and more.” There were also violations of child labor laws and Sholom Rabashkin, the CEO, was convicted of financial fraud and is serving a 27-year prison term. Four other plant officials were convicted on immigration and document fraud charges, and three faced child labor charges. Two managers indicted on document charges fled to Israel. The Kosher processing plant in Iowa also had no concern for the law. A“turned up hard evidence of appalling abuse: substandard wages, inadequate safety measures, horrific accidents, routine short-changing of pay, bribe-taking by shift supervisors and more.” There were also violations of child labor laws and Sholom Rabashkin, the CEO, was convicted of financial fraud and is serving a 27-year prison term. Four other plant officials were convicted on immigration and document fraud charges, and three faced child labor charges. Two managers indicted on document charges fled to Israel.

The fact that Israel is a safe haven for many Jews indicted for crime elsewhere may be seen as another example where the laws and customs of other groups are not seen as binding on Jews. But, according to the article , Jewish fundamentalists both in Israel and in the U.S. are out to “game the system”: