Ashdod – Vandals threw a firecracker on Sunday night at the home of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto in Ashdod.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The firecracker exploded in the rabbi’s yard. No one was hurt in the incident, but damage was caused to a table. Ashdod Police have launched an investigation, and Chief Superintendent Doron Benamo, a spokesman for the police’s Southern District, said that all possibilities are being examined, including the possibility that the incident may have been a prank.
Rabbi Pinto is a highly esteemed spiritual figure who is a descendant of well-known rabbis on both sides of his family. He is the great-grandson of Rabbi Chaim Pinto on his father’s side, while on his mother’s side he is the grandson of the famed kabbalist Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, known as the Baba Sali.
Though it may be unrelated to the firecracker incident, Israel’s Channel 10 News reported on Sunday that Rabbi Pinto is at the center of a blackmail case in the United States, where he also has a home. According to the report, Rabbi Pinto recently complained to law enforcement authorities in the United States that he was being blackmailed.
It is suspected that a Jewish-Israeli gang has released personal information about the rabbi and slandered his name in an attempt to blackmail him for millions of dollars. The information published includes the medical records of one of the rabbi’s family members.
There always seems to be some broigas invovling Pinto whether in the U.S. or EY. Much of the problem seems to be related to his “business model” where he “sells” barachas and tells fortunes for a fee and his clients include many wealthy yidden. While he is certainly entitled to engage in these practices, the outcome is inevitable.
Israel has become the most dangerous place for a frum yid to live in. No other democratic country would allow such violence to go on against any group of people. The hatred from the chilonim towards the frum yid is much worse than goyim.
The Sochnot still has the chutzpah to call upon frum yidden to imigrate to israel where they end up being abused.
#2 realistic – get realistic. Didn’t you hear about the swastikas and burnt out cars last week in Brooklyn? There are crazies the world over. Frum Yidden are not abused in Eretz Yisroel except when they invite it by walking around as though no one else matters. That having been said though, I suggest you read carefully the comment by #1 , especially the last four words.