Contrary to the agreement: 'Shuvo Banim' is working to raise donations to pay a huge fine

June 16, 2021   

Associates of Rabbi Eliezer Berland, leader of the Shuvo Banim community, are working to raise funds to pay the fine imposed on him by the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday - contrary to the plea agreement he signed with the State Attorney's Office. Want a prestigious degree? Admission to studies without preparatory school or prerequisites According to the plea agreement, Rabbi Berland is prohibited from raising funds to pay the fine of 2,415,000 shekels to the state coffers, and an additional payment of approximately 180,000 shekels in compensation to his victims. The plea agreement includes a clause stating: "The defendant undertakes not to launch, by any means of advertising, a fundraising campaign to pay the fine and/or compensation imposed on him." However, according to a report by Yael Friedson in Walla, it appears that the Shuvo Banim community is trying to help raise funds. In an interview given on Sunday by Aharon Schwartz, a senior member of Shuvo Banim, to the Breslav World Line, he explained the fine and called on the public to mobilize and help. Schwartz explained that half of the amount has actually already been raised from the public to pay the bail for Rabbi Berland's release from house arrest, and called on Breslav Hasidim to make up the shortfall. "There is a financial fine of 2.5 million shekels, half of which is the bail of the 1.2 million when the rabbi was released at the time," said Schwartz, "Thank God, the public mobilized with great dedication. This amount will be transferred to pay this fine, and of course another million and a half must be raised to complete the 2.5 million." [Gallery] Walla also reported that yesterday a 'Torah talk' was published on Rabbi Berland's official Facebook page, the contents of which talk about giving charity to the righteous. According to Walla, this call can also be interpreted as a call for the public to donate. The post quoted, among other things: "And this is the righteous one, who preserves all the dross forever, in the trials (Job 28): "And gold dust," that is, all the dross is preserved from the trials of dust, from the aforementioned righteous one. Therefore, if we give righteousness to this righteous one, he is immediately blessed." Schwartz is mentioned in the second charge in the indictment against Berland: While Berland was in custody in Tzalmon Prison, he gave Schwartz a recorded message in his own voice for his congregation of believers in which he ordered them to beat two of the Hasidim who had complained against him, and Schwartz distributed it through the Hasidic press line. As reported in Haredim 10, the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday sentenced 84-year-old Rabbi Eliezer Berland to 18 months in prison, a fine of 2,415,000 shekels in favor of the state, payment of compensation to the victims of the offense, and a one-year suspended sentence. He was convicted in a plea bargain of committing offenses of receiving something by fraud, extortion, attempted intimidation, and tax offenses and money laundering.