{Updated January 27, 2022}
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – So there is another shanda, disgrace, emanating from former Chabad of Poway Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein’s complicated scheme to steal money from taxpayers and generous employers. Caught up in it is another Chabad Rabbi, Yehuda Hadjadj of Chabad of UC San Diego, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Jan. 26, to conspiring with Goldstein to illegally divert money fraudulently obtained from Qualcomm.
Qualcomm, cofounded by two Jewish entrepreneurs who are pillars of our community – Irwin Jacobs and Andrew Viterbi – has a matching program for charitable contributions made by its employees to eligible nonprofit organizations. Qualcomm doesn’t contribute to religious organizations, so, knowing that, the two Chabad rabbis arranged to have a contribution made to the Friendship Circle of San Diego, a nonprofit organization formerly controlled by Goldstein.
One donor, not identified in a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office that outlined Hadjadj’s guilty plea, initially contributed $4,900 to the Friendship Circle of San Diego, an organization set up to benefit people with disabilities. Thereupon Hadjadj returned $4,400 to the unnamed donor, who nevertheless requested that Qualcomm match his $4,900 sham “contribution” to the Friendship Circle. Once the money was received from Qualcomm, Goldstein sent two-thirds to Hadjadj and kept one-third for himself. Enlisting other “donors” in the scheme, Hadjadj in this manner raised $40,000 for Chabad at UC San Diego, according to U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman and Suzanne Turner, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge here in San Diego.
Goldstein was sentenced January 4 by U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Bashant to a term of 14 months in federal prison beginning February 23rd. Hadjadj faces sentencing on April 18.
There may be antisemites who will try to suggest that the action of these two unscrupulous rabbis is somehow illustrative of the entire Jewish community. Of course, such a charge is obscenely untrue. No group has been hurt more nor more outraged by Goldstein’s and Hadjadj’s malicious thievery than our fellow Jews. Yes, the perpetrators of this crime were Jews, but so too were some of the victims as well as the U.S. Attorney who has overseen the prosecution, Randy S. Grossman. We are outraged by Goldstein and Hadjadj smearing our people’s good name. That’s why so many of us were relieved that Judge Bashant ordered Goldstein to prison, instead of giving him recommended probation, and why we believe Hadjadj also deserves to serve time.
Just as the Jewish people generally ought not be to blamed for the actions of these miscreants, neither should the network of other Chabad rabbis throughout San Diego County be tarred with the same brush. All of us in our community know Chabad rabbis who are devoted to the Jewish people and the community at large and are as dismayed as we are about their former colleagues’ transgressions.
The Friendship Circle of San Diego has been transferred out of the hands of the Goldstein family of Poway and will be administered in Carlsbad following protracted negotiations, according to my sources.
Rabbi Yossi Rodal of Chabad of North Carlsbad will serve as the Friendship Circle’s executive director. Born and raised in Milan, Italy, he is married to the former Muka Eilfort, daughter of Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort of Chabad of La Costa. Muka Rodal will serve as program director.
The Friendship Circle’s board of directors will be chaired by Barry Galgut, with Rabbi David Smoller of the Chabad Hebrew Academy serving as its president; Cherri Cary, secretary; Elisheva Green, treasurer; and the following board members: Lyn Zanders; Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah of Chabad of San Diego State University; Rabbi Eilfort; Rabbi Yossi Tiefenbrun of Chabad of Pacific Beach.
Elisheva Green, who had resigned in protest when the Friendship Circle was controlled by Rabbi Goldstein’s family, and is now serving on the new board, said in a notice to supporters: “We will have a Covid-compliant meet and greet for you to welcome our Board and the Rodals in February, followed by a Shabbat Together Program for our friends on February 17 and 18. Your past support made it possible for us to help so many — you added meaning, love, companionship, and enriching life experiences for our Friendship Circle participants. With your continuing friendship, support, confidence and G-d’s blessings our Friendship Circle will positively impact many lives by including those with disabilities in our community. This is a time to heal and a time to grow. With your support and friendship, we will have a great new beginning.”
If there is anything to be learned from this shameful episode, it is perhaps that the system should be reexamined by which Chabad rabbis establish themselves as shlichim in neighborhoods and then must find ways to finance themselves and their congregations. Perhaps from the very outset of establishing a congregation, there should be first established a strong, independent, fiscally conservative board of directors with the power to assure integrity and, if necessary, to remove a rabbi found to be dishonest or found to have engaged in acts of moral turpitude. This is the way most congregations in other denominations of Judaism police themselves.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Hello everyone, I happen to know Rabbi Hadjadj from the years he has been in San Diego and I can tell you that this man did not use one penny of this “money” for his own gains. His wife and him have 9 kids and live very simply and host 50-60 students each friday – free. Can you imagine the amount of money you need to feed that many people. They have been doing this for 15 years. They also host students for all holidays which is very expensive as well as do activities during the week on the campus – all free again. Rabbi Hadjadj barely scrapes by and every dime he has to his name he puts into activities for the students so they can have a Jewish identity before they set off to their adult lives. As a non-profit organization, the Chabad on the college campus has no budget or any salaries and is entirely funded from donations and from the salary that Rabbi Hadjadj makes from a job he has during the day. Yes, he erred in doing this, but he certainly did not try to make some fantastical sums of money for greed or to buy houses, fancy cars, trips to exotic islands, and so on. We are talking about $40,000 which was all put into paying for school activities (Not millions that the other guy made and pocketed for his own gain) and Rabbi Hadjadj stopped being involved with this in 2017 – long before the investigation. He was lured into this without thinking of the long term implications and he made a mistake – for which we should forgive him. We all are faced with situations sometimes where we can make a mistake, but considering the incredible amount of good deeds Rabbi Hadjadj has done in San Diego for 15 years to help students have a vital Jewish life (while sacrificing his own livelihood) the one deed that he did which is not good is certainly outshined by the incredible amount of good deeds he has done. Rabbis don’t get salaries and Rabbi Hadjadj and his wife gave their lives to the students of San Diego – I think we should show gratitude for that and not just focus on the one act he did that was not as great. Considering how many people cashed in on PPP money and unemployment paychecks (while still working) during covid which is unlawful, I certainly don’t think what he did is so grave.
Chabad does more for all Jews of any walk of life than any other Jewish sector. If ever in need a Chabad Rabbi will be first to offer help and reach out to be available to every Jewish family whether they are associated with them or not! In our many years of being involved with Chabad as well as other multiple synagogues and Rabbi’s I can speak from personal experience Chabad has heart and integrity. I am proud to be a part of the Chabad Family.
Don, are we so sure this is not just the tip of an institutional iceberg? I have long wondered about Chabad’s practices, but there was no proof, of course. These scandals, however, make me wonder if my speculations were so wrong after all.
I understand your suspicion, but over the course of my career I have met so many idealists in Chabad, who sacrifice themselves for the welfare of their fellow Jews. I just wish Chabad had some way to monitor and dismiss the very few bad actors and to guard against others becoming corrupted.
I have NEVER heard of a non-Chabad synagogue, be it Reform, Conservative or Orthodox where the Rabbi is also treasurer and a one-man board. Sorry but I feel MUCH less comfortable donating to Chabad after this. As well, the nepotism that we’ve seen with control of congregations and even charities being handed over to family members like some sort of family heirloom is VERY distasteful. My family and I have found a non-Chabad Orthodox shul to attend. Until Chabad gets their house in order, that’s where we will be.
If we take a step back and look at the scandals affecting other religious groups, we find that the heart of the problem lies in a lack of accountability and oversight. The thinking of far too many goes that these are “servants of G-d” who would never do anything unscrupulous. So we would all be wise to remember that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked…” (Jer 17:9)