Rabbis And Money-Part Two

I grew up in an era when hasidic rebbes became rebbes by default.They came to the U.S. after the war,and were the last remnants of their families.

There were the precious few rebbes that deserved to take over where their father or grandfather left off.Two of the most notable tzaddikim were the rebbes of Satmar and Klausenberg.

The majority of the other people who became rebbes because of their name,were in fact totally undeserving of their self proclaimed titles.
One was a former Kapo or Nazi collaborator who went on to make a fortune in the nursing home business by freezing bodies after death while he continued to collect their social security checks and government allotments.

Another was arrested on shabbos,thrown into the back of a police car in handcuffs during mussaf, for cashing checks from incapacitated patients in his nursing facility.
Their dynasties live on by their families as they pretend to be holy men.

Many of them wound up in the jewelry business and moonlighted as rebbes on shabbosim.
There were many scandals by these guys that included smuggling,money laundering and racketeering that were hushed up by local politicians.

The pretense that this group were in fact one step closer to G-D than the rest of us,nauseated me even as a child.
To be continued.......