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Sholom Shuchat

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Rabbi
Sholom Shuchat
Cozumel, Mexico 2019
Personal life
NationalityAmerican
OccupationDayan (rabbinic judge), Rosh kollel
Religious life
ReligionJudaism
DenominationChabad

Sholom Shuchat (Hebrew: שלום דוב בער שוחאט) is a convicted felon, an American rabbi, rosh kollel, and dayan.

In June 2014, Shuchat pleaded guilty to one count of traveling in interstate commerce to commit an act of violence as part of the New York divorce coercion gang.

Education

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In June 2004, Shuchat received his semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Dovid Schochet (Chief Rabbi of Toronto) and Dovid Schmukler (dean of Kollel Tiferes Menachem in Los Angeles, California).[1] He received dayanut in 2012[2] from Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, Aryeh Ralbag of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Yosef Feigelstock of Buenos Aires, and Yoram Ulman of Sydney, Australia.[3]

Rabbinic career

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Shuchat is a dayan on the New York Bet Din (Chok Natan) in New York City.[4] He is recognized by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for performing gittin (Jewish divorce),[5] kiddushin (Jewish marriage)[6] and giyur (conversions).[7] Since 2020, Shuchat serves as the rosh kollel of the Kollel L'horaah Maasit of Crown Heights, which teaches halakha (Jewish law) and its practical applications to aspiring rabbis.[8] He, along with members of the kollel, viewed the pouring of the Bucks County mikveh (ritual bath)[9] and another one in Loch Sheldrake, New York.[10] Shuchat was the first Chabad rabbi to rule the Crown Heights eruv kosher.[11] He is a member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, the Rabbinical Alliance of America,[12] and the Coalition for Jewish Values.[13] He is a member of the faculty of the Online Smicha rabbinical ordination program,[14] the Havineni rabbinical ordination program[15] and Online Machon rabbinical ordination program.[16]

Edison divorce torture plot

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Main article: New York divorce coercion gang

In October 2013, Shuchat was implicated in the Edison divorce torture plot, a sting operation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the goal of which was to bring about the arrests of a number of rabbis who plotted to abduct and torture a non-existent Jewish man in order to coerce him into issuing a get to his "wife".[17][18] In June 2014, Shuchat pleaded guilty in New Jersey Federal Court to traveling in interstate commerce to commit an act of violence.[19][20][21] In December 2015, he was sentenced to time served, along with two years of supervised release, with the first six months being house arrest.[22]

Lectures

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Shuchat was a featured speaker at the 2019 Kinus Torah in the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters[23] and has spoken at other rabbinic conferences and events.[24][25][26] In 2015, he gave lectures opposing the halakhic prenup and the KosherSwitch.[27][28]

Writing

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After a second measles outbreak in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn in 2014, Shuchat wrote an article berating the anti-vaxxers, stating "When someone does an action which can cause death, or even refuses to do an action which can prevent death, he is compared to a murderer".[29] In April 2014, he wrote an explainer about Pesach stringencies.[30] Shuchat reviewed Chaim Miller's book Turning Judaism Outwards: A Biography of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson in mid-June 2014, alleging inaccuracies in the book.[31] In 2015, he edited a collection of Menachem Mendel Schneerson's directives to Chabad missionaries, Shlichos K'hilchasa.[32] In 2017, he wrote a letter opposing TahorApp, a mobile app whose intended purpose was to enable women to discreetly and privately send niddah questions to a rabbi.[33][34] In the same year, he joined a group of Chabad rabbis who signed a proclamation addressing child sexual abuse cases in Brooklyn's Haredi community.[35] Shuchat wrote a reponsum, later published in various rabbinical journals, defending Manhattan Beer Distributors against accusations it had improperly kept chametz over Passover.[36] In the fall of 2018, he campaigned against the International Beit Din, charging it had allowed a married woman to remarry without first obtaining a get, rendering any future children mamzerim (impure).[37]

References

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  1. ^ "Historic Smicha test takes place in Los Angeles, CA". Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  2. ^ "3 New Lubavitch Dayanim". 13 August 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  3. ^ "Copy of Ordination Certificates". Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  4. ^ "Rabbi Sholom Shuchat - NYBETDIN". Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  5. ^ "רשימת בתי דין מוכרים לגיטין בעולם (Page 9)". Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  6. ^ "Rabbonei Chabad Train Shluchim". 6 November 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  7. ^ "רשימת בתי דין המוכרים לגיור בעולם (Page 7)". Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  8. ^ "New Crown Heights Kolel Renews An Old Concept". 22 September 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2020.; "New Crown Heights Kolel Announces 24 Members". October 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  9. ^ "Crown Heights Kolel Oversees New Mikvah Pour in Bucks County". 24 November 2020. Retrieved Nov 24, 2020.
  10. ^ "Inner Circle Bungalow Inaugurates New Mikvah". COLlive. 2023-07-04. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  11. ^ "First Chabad Rov Says Crown Heights Eruv Is Kosher". July 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  12. ^ "The Jewish Voice - March 17 2017, page 34". 17 March 2017. Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  13. ^ "Letter to Jeff Bezos - September 1 2020" (PDF). Retrieved Feb 14, 2021.
  14. ^ "Faculty". Online Smicha. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  15. ^ "הבינני". Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  16. ^ "Online Machon". 8 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  17. ^ Molloy, Allie (October 22, 2013) "Judge Sets Bail for Jewish Scribe, 3 Others in Kidnapping-Divorce Case", CNN. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  18. ^ "Crown Heights Rabbi Pleads Guilty in Forced 'Get' Case". 24 June 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  19. ^ "Man pleads guilty in N.J. religious divorce case, faces 20 years in prison". nj. Associated Press. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  20. ^ "Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Sentenced To More Than Three Years In Prison For Role In Conspiracy To Violently Extort Divorce Consent From Reluctant Husband". www.justice.gov. 2015-12-14. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  21. ^ Samaha, Albert (June 24, 2014) "Enforcer in Orthodox Jewish Divorce Extortion Operation Pleads Guilty", The Village Voice. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  22. ^ "Rabbi Receives No-Jail Sentence in Forced 'Get' Case". 19 November 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  23. ^ "Traditional Kinus Torah Held in 770". 13 October 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  24. ^ "Rabbis Celebrate The 9th Chag HaSmicha of Kollel Ayshel Avraham". Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  25. ^ "The Village Shul". m.facebook.com. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  26. ^ "Kollel Ayshel Avraham Celebrates 10th Chag HaSemicha". Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  27. ^ "A Kosher Prenup: Does it Exist?". 4 May 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  28. ^ "Is The KosherSwitch Actually Kosher?". 29 April 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  29. ^ "Anti-Vaccine Calls and Halacha". 31 March 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2017., quoted in "Anti-Vaxxers Are Furious At This Jewish Children's Book". 22 November 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  30. ^ "Where the Chumros Come From". COLlive. 2014-04-10. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  31. ^ "Taking The Wrong Turn Outwards: A Critical Review" (PDF). Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  32. ^ "תמונת הערב ● שליחות כהלכתה - שטורעם.נט כל חב"ד יודעת". shturem.net. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  33. ^ "Many Chabad Rabbis Prohibit TahorApp". 11 May 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  34. ^ "Menstruation App Comes Under Fire For 'Jeopardizing Purity Of Jewish Nation'". 11 May 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  35. ^ "8 Rabbis Obligate Reporting Abuse". 17 September 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  36. ^ Oholei Torah Yeshiva, Rabbinical Journal Haoros U'Biurim, Year 39, Vol. 16 (1146), published Spring 2018, p. 58-69; Rabbi Chaim Oberlander, Rabbi Gedalia Oberlander, Rabbinical Journal Ohr Yisroel, Year 24, Vol. 1 (77), published Fall 2018, p. 52-66.
  37. ^ "New Mamzerus Case". 22 November 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
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