Welfare Fraud Is Big Problem In Orthodox Jewish Communities

White collar crime is still a crime. Stealing money is not nice, but defrauding your fellow citizens and taxpayers is even more despicable.

Recently in Lakewood, New Jersey, 26 Orthodox Jews were arrested for stealing around $2 million in welfare. Among this crowd are several rabbis, including Zalmen Sorotzkin, the Rabbi of Congregation Lutzk in Lakewood.

The report details:

At the heart of the charges is the allegation that they all, in one way or another, failed to report or otherwise concealed significant income that would have made them ineligible for the wide variety of assistance programs in which they had enrolled.”

Most of the damage seems to revolve around four couples, totaling $1.6 million in benefits, but in excess of $2 million when all 26 are accounted for; and that is just the number of those who got caught.

These people falsified their income statements to qualify for Social Security, Medicaid, Section 8 and Food Stamps. People who are not in need of such assistance are taking these much-needed resources away from those who are truly in need. There is no doubt, this well established practice is still going on today, and even in other Orthodox communities across the USA too, most likely.

What is most concerning about this affair is that a rabbi, of all people, was actively involved. This is a man who is supposed to be an example for his congregation, and he is certainly not setting a good one.

Their [Orthodox Jews] lives depend on knowing everything about how Section 8 [subsidized rental housing] works and getting into WICs,” the government Women, Infants and Children food assistance program, said Samuel Heilman, a sociology professor at Queen College who has written several books on the community.” Source

In this report by the local NBC affiliate, they note that the public office received many a call from residents in Lakewood, who called to turn themselves in, correct the problem, or see if they were violating any rules (maybe to get around them). We must ask, just how many of these people associated with Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin?

Of course, people were only willing to turn themselves in once an amnesty program became available to the 26 by the NJ State Comptroller’s Office. The Lakewood Vaad — a council of Orthodox religious leaders and businessmen — supports the amnesty program, again not surprising, as the tribe always looks out for their own.

‘When I moved here, there were trees. Now I wake up and I’m surrounded by high-density townhouses,’ said Tom Gatti, a retiree who heads a coalition of senior citizens opposing the pace of new development in Lakewood. ‘Anytime you try to challenge anything the ultra-Orthodox are doing, they drop the anti-Semitic card on the table.’ ‘They are not looking to assimilate into the community; they are trying to take over,’ Gatti said.” Source

The Jewish Orthodox community does have quite a reputation when it comes to welfare fraud. In places like New York, even in Lakewood where this story took place, Orthodox communities are seeing a boom in population – more than doubling their numbers in almost 30 years. Could this be due to the rampant welfare fraud committed by this group of people?

Source Article from http://www.renegadetribune.com/welfare-fraud-big-problem-orthodox-jewish-communities/

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