Rabbi Caught Embezzling Funds From Chillul Hashem Society

George Soros, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the European Commission have provided annual grants to Chillul Hashem since 1997.

New York, April 23 – Police arrested the deputy director of a non-profit religious organization dedicated to making Jews look bad, saying he had pocketed millions of dollars in contributions to the group.

Rabbi Samuel Shanda, 68, was detained yesterday under suspicion of embezzling more than four million dollars over the course of fifteen years from the Chillul Hashem Society, a New-York-Based organization that works to place prominent religious Jews in compromising positions to reflect negatively on Jews and Judaism as a whole. According to a police spokesman, funds earmarked for public displays of perfidy and corruption among Orthodox Jews were instead used for Rabbi Shanda’s personal expenses, including home renovations, trips to Israel and Las Vegas, bribes to public officials, and hush money in a pending sexual harassment case, among other misappropriations. Three other employees at the CHS were arrested on related charges.

“We have evidence the suspect has been embezzling money for the better part of two decades,” Police Lieutenant Shea Ming told reporters at a press conference. “Funds that donors provided for the express purpose of sullying the reputation of Torah-observant Jews, and or Torah observance generally, were instead funneled to the personal accounts of Shanda and his associates. We believe this behavior began as early as 2002, but are looking into indications that the organizations itself, founded in 1994, is entirely a front for embezzlement.”

A lawyer for Rabbi Shanda declined to comment on the substance of the charges. “I am sure that this is all a mistake,” asserted attorney Parr Hessia. “Or, just as likely, someone else within the organization used Society resources to frame my client for these activities. I urge the Chillul Hashem Society to take steps at once to investigate how my client became implicated in entirely the wrong crimes, and to find whoever is responsible.”

The Chillul Hashem Society was established in the aftermath of the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, in which a Jewish gunman killed dozens of Palestinian worshipers at the shrine. In a press release at the time, the organization claimed to draw inspiration from the actions of the killer, Baruch Goldstein, and vowed to provide the media with at least one juicy story of Jewish treachery each month. Donations poured in from George Soros, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the European Commission, each of which has provided annual grants to Chillul Hashem since 1997.

A spokesman for the organization who declined to be identified denied that any embezzlement had taken place, and that the suspects will be shown to have acted in accordance with their positions.

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