Pinto sends letter to supporters, claims innocence

“We are certain that all of the vicious rumors swirling around us will not harm a hair on our head, and we will emerge from this stronger and more empowered,” Pinto wrote.

By ARIEL ZILBER (JPOST.COM STAFF), YONAH JEREMY BOB
Rabbi Yeshayahu Pinto (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Rabbi Yeshayahu Pinto
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
One day after Attorney- General Yehuda Weinstein announced that Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto will be indicted for trying to bribe the head of the police’s National Fraud Squad, the embattled cleric sent a letter to his disciples proclaiming his innocence and vowing to be exonerated.
“We, the Jewish people, the children of Abraham our father and the father of our nation, were meant to experience 10 existential episodes in our lives,” the rabbi wrote.
“Life provides us with endless experiences, some of them existential, others daily occurrences that accompany us every step along the way.”
“Every Jew, just like Abraham, is forced to deal in his or her life with 10 such instances,” he wrote. “These are extremely difficult experiences, but whoever deals with them is rewarded handsomely.”
“I would rather that this difficult hour in which we are left to explain the hardships faced by me and our family did not arrive, but the time will come when we will tell our story and it will be preserved for generations,” Pinto wrote.
“We are certain that all of the vicious rumors swirling around us will not harm a hair on our head, and we will emerge from this stronger and more empowered,” Pinto wrote.
Weinstein determined that there was enough evidence to prosecute Pinto on allegations that he bribed Dep.-Ch. Ephraim Bracha, who heads the National Fraud Squad.
The basic allegations in the statement, are that Pinto tried to bribe Bracha with $200,000 to get information from him about a criminal investigation into the Hazon Yeshaya charity foundation run by Pinto.


Related Tags
rabbi pinto