You say you have been in many food processing plants. I suggest you also go to Postville and judge for yourself and speak to the people.

Sholom is a philantropist. He is a selfless person who has helped thousands and thousands of Jews and non-Jews in need. He might have made some mistakes but this was to help others. He did not benefit personally from any of these wrongdoings. He himself lived in a very modest house. He gave donations left and right helping other people. His plant was super clean and modern. I know this from someone who visited the plant and interviewed the employees. The workers loved working for him. Even the prosecutors' witnesses (workers) only had something good to say about him even though they were threatened by the prosecutors to speak against Rubashkin or face 10 years prison. This US judicial system is corrupt.

Hundreds of stories of his discreet generosity have emerged. One such, told by a young boy who witnessed Mr. Sholom Rubashkin coming out of the bank with 10,000 in Cash. He encountered a worried individual and asked for the reason of his concern. When he learned that this poor man was marrying off his daughter and did not have a penny to his name, Sholom, without any fanfare took the 10k in cash and put it in this mans pocket and walked away. This is the person the prosecutors want to put in prison for life. If this is not anti-semitism, what is it?

Mr. Rubashkin did not get a fair trial. The judge sent the jury out whenever the defense brought in its witnesses to testify about his generosity and his high character. Is this fair? No politicians (like the mayor of Postville and the governor of Iowa) were allowed to testify for Rubashkin. Is this fair? I think the judge should be independent. But here the prosecutor is the judge. Is this fair? I personally think this judicial system in the US has a serious flaw. The trial was biased from the very beginning. All these accusations (money laundering, drugs, weapons, etc) were baseless and false. They intentionally fabricated lies after lies to get him in prison as long as possible. Nothing is proven. All rumors and lies.

Regarding Mr.Rubashkin’s conviction on bank fraud and the subsequent request that he be given what amounts to a life sentence is simply unfathomable. He never requested more from the bank then his original $35 million dollar line of credit. He might have overestimated the receivables but he always made timely payments with interest on all his loans. Even the bank acknowledged receiving approximately twenty-one million dollars in profit from the interest payments throughout the life span of the loan granted Mr. Rubashkin. The bank was more than thrilled to continue having Mr. Rubashkin as a client.

The reason Mr. Rubashkin discontinued reimbursing the bank for the loans was due to the highly publicized inexplicable nature of the government’s raid on his plant, which resulted in the entire enterprise being forced into bankruptcy, he was left with absolutely no funds.

Did you know that he could have sold the company (after the raid) and pay off the loan but the prosecutors hindered the sale. They threatened to prosecute any willing buyer. Thus, the prosecutors caused the bankruptcy, which then resulted in the “bank fraud”. But this is not bank fraud. He was totally incapable of repaying any portion of the loans from personal money because as a result of his enormous philanthropic endeavors and total selfless commitment over the years to the support of literally hundreds and hundreds of destitute needy individuals, coupled with his most generous donations to many worthy institutions and charitable organizations, he was entirely depleted of personal monies.

Prosecutors were not content to charge Rubashkin with the offense of violating the immigration laws and bank fraud. In order to aggravate the appearance of his offense for publicity purposes, they returned seven successive indictments, constantly increasing the number of counts until the total was 163. No other employer who was the subject of an ICE immigration raid between 2006-2008 had seven superseding indictments returned against him with ever-increasing numbers of criminal counts.

The prosecutors not only ruined Rubashkins’ business. They ruined the community. Rubashkin’s plant was the only major business in this town. They destroyed the local economy in Postville. They are the ones that really mistreated the workers and caused unemployment. In my opinion, the prosecutors are the ones that really belong in prison for all the evil they did to an innocent and noble person. May we see the true judgment by the G-d Almighty speedily in our days!

However, being that the reporter wants to portray Rubashkin's supporters in a negative light, she resorts to looking for crazy comments on a website whom she asserts (without any basis) that the website is the official Chabad one before being called out on it. She then then asserts that it is a prominent one, when in fact the website is actually one belonging to a fringe element of Chabad.

Not that I am surprised at all regarding the reporting of Lynda Waddington, her “news reports” regarding Rubashkin seem to be more like opinion pieces.

In this article alone she writes “In a perhaps naive move”… “some members of the Jewish community in Postville…”

I don't what motivates you Mrs. Waddington, but your reporting reveals more about yourself than about Mr Rubashkin.

Thank you. I'm impressed.

Good luck, and may you be blessed to be bale to report only good news!

Mottel Friedman