Rothstein's Jewish Legacy, Enshrined in Black and White

• Good luck everybody! - I will come back again. Are you on facebook or twitter? Will like to follow you.

• Another wacko Orthodox Jew! I'm a Reform Jew myself and I can't believe what Orthodox Jews are doing these days. First they take over Agriprocessors and run it into the ground, then they're in cahoots with corrupt politicians and organ smuggling and now this Rothstein guy! What's also obscene is that Orthodox Jews in Israel, who do not officially recognize Israel's right to exist, also get to decide which Jews are real Jews and therefore are allowed to become Israeli citizens. And Orthodox Jews betrayed all other Jews who were trying to get out of Germany before the Holocaust. Well, at least we're now able to zero in on who exactly the bad Jews are among us. The Orthodox demographic is where the looneytunes are coming from.

• One of the angles that will be interesting to explore is the question of where the investment funds originated. This Ponzi has the markings of the affinity funds scams popularized by those in a community who hold positions of influence and use that influence to distract attention from the lack of merits in the target investment. Check out Surfside/Bal Harbor/Bay Harbor Islands. There were two young sharks fleecing the community for cash while they sat on the synagogue board. These shameless promoters are just as guilty as Rothstein, as they facilitated the scam by continuing the flow of easy money to pay off the previous 'investors'. And this is only one community... how many other Jewish communities were swindled in this manner?

• The jews better start brushing up on their history. When they repeat the same behaviour over and over eventually their "marks" get wise to their bullshit and then there is hell to pay. Just saying. I didn't write the book, I just read it and understood it,

• Any negative comment about Jews by a non-Jew, even if 100% true, will result in the wrath of Jews. Yet it is ok for those same Jews to make any type of negative, defamtory comment about any other ethinicity, religion or race including all Gentiles. The chosen people have a license in the U.S. media they control to walk over everyone including now their own people.

• @Disghusted with New TImes "Do you plan on doing nothing until your adverti$er$ start complaining? " Why does this have to be about money? Is money the determining factor in everything ? I think more people are concerned with their "Freedom of Speech Rights". But if money is your main focus then I feel sorry for you!

• Kaplan should be talking to the congregants, an ethicist, his conscience AND a decent lawyer--job one is making sure that stolen money was not involved and if it was, that it is returned. I for one don't appreciate having my hard earned money stolen, but you'd this is rocket science. How is this in any way complicated? I'd like to see a story on how the congregants feel. BTW, it was a fine article. Apologize for zip. Other peoples unreasonable sensitivity is not a public problem--the problem is delaying an ethical response, which will hopefully be forthcoming.

• As a Jew I am insulted by the smear that any criticism of Jews is anti-semitism. There is very obviously something very wrong with the country's new values--and with the values of the Jewish community in particular--as plainly indicated by the very large number of frauds and reckless conduct (including the now-famous 5 million dollar bat mitzvah), It is simply over the top and wildly indecent; shame on the rabbis and others for not demanding much higher ethical conduct. If the temple received stolen money, it ought to be given back--let them find some other, clean donors in their affluent community. In fact, there really ought to be a law requiring return of stolen money, which would force recipients to do some higher quality due diligence, although there there would certainly be some complexities. What pleasure is there in attending a temple that was built on stolen money. Give us a break and find a better solution than defending the status quo.

• We don't have anyone on staff who's anti-Semitic. We've got Jews, Christians, atheists, those who hate religion entirely, but nope, no anti-Semites. For some reason, we've had commenters who attack our writers for calling out politicians who are Jewish. The comments on the post below, for instance, suggested Tom was an anti-Semite. But in that post, like the one above, we made an important point, whether the subject was Jewish or not. http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/05/adam_hasner_muslim_geert_wilders.php Luckily we live in a country where the media can bring up such questions, no matter someone's religion. Be sure that this will continue here at The Juice. And none of the articles will be written by an anti-Semite -- I'll be sure of that.

• Jewish Law called HALACHA is very simple. If the money is ill-gotten (stolen) then it must be returned. Now Chabad is going to claim that they are not 100% certain that the money was ill-gotten therefore they are not sure if they must give it back. this is called the Chabad spin and yes i did attend a yeshiva and studied the Tora. the right thing to have done here was to issue a statement saying they are working with local law agencies on this matter and they are prepared to cooperate fully including returning any money which was ill-gotten. once it is proven that the money is ill-gotten then they would automatically remove his name from the building. i am 100% sure that any trusty, court, and even some of the victims themselves, will reasonably afford them and all other victims the proper time to come up with the money so they can keep the building. C h a B a D

• Hey,Disghusted with New TImes Now you have me curious. What is it about Chabad and Jewish principles that seems to be preventing Kaplan from returning the ill-gotten money? "If she knew anything about Chabad and Jewish principles, she would know that if Kaplan could give back the ill-gotten money, he would do so without hesitation."

• Mr. Barton, With regard to the comment above by "Edward Milliesse," are readers like Mr. Milliesse the type of audience the New Times seeks to attract? Do you plan on doing nothing until your adverti$er$ start complaining? At that point, it will be your job instead of these vile "journalists" on the Juice blog. Do the right thing Barton. Clean your dirty house.

• @Disghusted with New TImes Quite cry, you little baby. You have no problem waving your etnicity, culture , religion flag when things are going your way but once the shit hits the fan you act like rats backed in the corner. Deal with it! Just like everybody else does! And you are but ONE CUSTOMER, you do not speak for the majority!

• Mr. Barton, Fire the entire anti-Semitic Juice staff. If you bothered to monitor the articles and comments here, you would have noticed that readers have voiced complaints about this for some time. In particular, Thomas Francis and Diedre Funcheon have launched attacks on Jewish leaders such as Adam Hasner that cannot be reasonably argued to be political commentary. Instead, there has been a pattern and practice of placing Jewish ethnicity at the forefront of criticism of high profile Jews such as Hasner. Nobody is saying Jewish politicians should be off-limits. But Francis and Funcheon have repeatedly placed Hasner's Judaism at the forefront of their criticism of him. Now Lisa Rab's "knows a good lawyer" comment again raises the specter of Antisemitism. For two reasons. One, a reasonable mind might read her comment as a baseless implication that Kaplan has done something wrong. Alternatively, she means to imply Kaplan should hire an attorney to "fight" so that Chabad can keep the ill-gotten money. If she knew anything about Chabad and Jewish principles, she would know that if Kaplan could give back the ill-gotten money, he would do so without hesitation. I find it ironic that a paper that prides itself on liberal views and tolerance, in particular towards South Florida's gay and Muslim communities, should allow such derogatory and Antisemitic comments to continue to flow from the Juice. Mr. Norman apparently gets the job done on the Rothstein story somehow without infuriating Jewish readers, so clearly the Juice journalists are incompetent. Mr. Barton, the customer is always the King. The customers have spoken. There are plenty of unemployed journalists out there that we in the South Florida Jewish community would like to see writing for the Juice. We want you to clean house and give us what we want.

• You want to know what's a "waste of time and space?" These inflammatory comments. This article simply pointed out the most recent details of the Rothstein scandal - -and did so rather sympathetically, I might add. If people should be mad at anyone -- it's ROTHSTEIN -- the one who, you know, is stealing from his own people (allegedly.)That, to me, is the real pinnacle of anti-Jewishness.

• If that building was funded by the scam-artits, then the scam artists victims can try to get their money from the chabad. I think the point of the article is that he hurt causes that were important to him, not just nameless, faceless victims. And to keep people from thinking that only millionaries got hurt, think again, that is the point. Step back from your search for prejudice. There isn't any here!

• Here at New Times, we encourage readers to comment and discuss stories. However, our "Terms of Use" forbids threatening language. I've removed several comments from this post that included such language. Again, please feel free to comment and discuss, but avoid the threats. Eric Barton Editor New Times eric.barton@browardpalmbeach.com 954-233-1570

• As long as it's not in Rothstein's name....they're fine!!

• The building is owned by a Corporate entity because it is not Chabad.

• FYI - Downtown Jewish Center is not an authorized Chabad Center. To verify and confirm authorized Chabad centers, please check the Chabad.org website.

• Classy response Shlomoe. Very mature.

• Man, you jews are a touchy bunch. You cry like little babies over anything that YOU think is unfair.

• While I hope that Mr. Rothstein goes away for the rest of his life, your article (not really an article) is nothing more than a blantantly anti-semitic piece with no real purpose. If you do have a purpose, let's hear it. Or was the purpose simply to draw attention to the obvious fact that Mr. Rothstein is jewish? The New Times was first out there with the Rothstein story, and it has been getting a lot of deserved attention. However, your reporting lacks journalistic integrity -- I guess that's why its called blogging. This is not Denver.

• Okay good!

• A - I just looked it up. The property is owned by a corporate entity whose officers are the Rabbi, his wife, and two Rabbis from NY.

• Slick...I agree with you. But, who ownes that land? I hope not Rothstein!! How did they get all of their money? I've there durning the high holiday's and I see what Scotty puts up for an aliyah.

• Why would the Kaplan's need a lawyer? They worked very hard to build that building and have been upstanding members of Broward Jewish community for years. Rothstein's scam is Rothstein's scam. His face is on the Land Shark Stadium. Should the Dolphins get a lawyer too? The American Heart Association was promised a huge donation from Rothstein as well. Should the AHA get a lawyer as well? Shame on you. If you don't have anything to write, don't write it. This article is a waste of space and inciting G-d only knows what. By the way, that random link to that random yeshiva blog to prove some connection to the Brooklyn Jewish community is as weak and tenuous as can be. How about some ACTUAL REPORTING Ms. Rab?

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