Menachem Youlus

Menachem Youlus is a Baltimore rabbi and Torah scribe who falsely claimed he had rescued Holocaust-era Torah scrolls from Eastern Europe, selling the scrolls at inflated prices. On August 24, 2011, he was arrested on charges of mail fraud and wire fraud, and he pleaded guilty on February 2, 2012.[1][2]

False claims

Youlus claimed he had personally traveled to Eastern Europe and beyond to recover Torah scrolls lost or hidden during the Holocaust, including some from the sites of concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.[1] He said that during his travels he had been beaten and imprisoned, and called himself the "Jewish Indiana Jones" during a Torah dedication in 2004.[2] In court, he admitted that from 2004 to 2010 he had made up the stories of his travels; he had never been to the places he had claimed. The Torahs he sold did not have the claimed provenance.[1]

Save a Torah foundation

Youlus created the non-profit foundation "Save a Torah," purportedly to finance his travels and the restoration of the rescued Torah scrolls,[3] dedicated to rescuing and restoring Torah scrolls hidden, lost or stolen during the Holocaust and other world upheavals and placing them in Jewish congregations.[4][5] Instead he sold Torah scrolls he had obtained by other means, partly at inflated prices. According to prosecutors, he defrauded the charity and its donors of $862,000.[2]

Congregations that have acquired Torah scrolls from Save a Torah include New York's Central Synagogue and Congregation Kol Ami of Frederick.[6]

In January 2010, the Washington Post reported that many Torahs purportedly rescued from Holocaust sites in Eastern Europe appeared to be old Torah scrolls mostly acquired when American congregations closed, and resold at high prices because of Youlus's unsubstantiated assertion that they were rescued from Holocaust-related sites.[3] Similar questions were reported in an April 14, 2010 New York Times article concerning a Torah at New York's Central Synagogue.[7]

On August 24, 2011, Youlus was arrested and charged with fraud. According to prosecutors, he made up the stories about the Torahs' origins. Youlus was also accused of taking more than $340,000 of the $1.2 million raised by Save a Torah, including $145,000 or more for his personal use. Through an attorney, Youlus initially denied the allegations.[8][9] He later pleaded guilty to fraud, having used money from the fraud to cover his personal expenses.[10] He was convicted of two counts of mail and wire fraud in a Manhattan federal court on October 11, 2012. On December 17, 2012, Youlus began serving a 51-month prison sentence at the federal correctional institution in Otisville, New York. Youlus was incarcerated until August 26, 2016.

Complaint

Youlus was arrested in Manhattan on fraud charges on August 24, 2011, for claiming to have toured Europe in search of lost or hidden Torah scrolls – the holy Jewish texts containing Hebrew scripture. He distributed the scrolls among American synagogues and communities, sometimes at inflated rates, and diverted almost one third of $1.2 million into his accounts for personal use.[2][11]

Youlus embezzled more than a million dollars from Save a Torah. He had that money transferred to a Jewish bookstore he owned in Wheaton, Maryland, on a pretext of payment for restoring old and damaged scrolls. He was charged for writing $344,000 in checks to himself from the bookstore account, $200,000 in personal expenses, and for using $90,000 to pay private school tuition fee for his kith and kin. He was also charged for $145,000, which donors had meant for saving a Torah and was instead diverted to his personal bank account.[1][12]

Investigation

David M. Rubenstein, one of the founders of Carlyle Group, who had bought a Torah and donated it to Central Synagogue, sought the authenticity of scrolls by hiring Michael Berenbaum, a Holocaust historian and former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Holocaust Research Institute. Berenbaum said, "What I found is the claim for the origin of the Torah could not be verified."

Menachem Z. Rosensaft, an adjunct professor of law at Cornell University, vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, and general counsel of the World Jewish Congress, was skeptical about Youlus's claim of discovering an old Torah at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, as his parents were liberated from that camp and the camp was burned down by British Army during World War II.[1] On complaint lodged by Rosensaft, the state of Maryland began investigating Save a Torah. State officials found that Youlus' stories "may be misleading." Michael P. Schlein, investigator for the Office of the Secretary of State of Maryland, said that "we could probably or reasonably assume they could not be wholly accurate."[13]

Additionally, despite Youlus's claims that he traveled through Europe "rescuing" Torah strolls, his passport records show that he never traveled to Europe.[14]

Confession

Youlus offered this confession on Feb 2, 2012, to Manhattan Federal District Court judge Colleen McMahon:[1][2]

Between 2004 and 2010, I falsely represented that I had personally obtained vintage Torah scrolls — in particular ways, in particular locations — in Europe and Israel. I know what I did was wrong, and I deeply regret my conduct.

He also pleaded guilty to mail fraud and wire fraud, admitting that he had used the United States Postal Service and email to further a scheme to solicit donations and siphon money claiming for restoration and preservation of Torah scrolls.[1]

Plea deal

As part of his plea agreement, he will repay his victims $1.2 million. Youlus was freed on $100,000 bond[12] until he was sentenced on October 10, 2012 by Judge Colleen McMahon to just over four years in prison.[15] He was released from federal prison on August 26, 2016.[16]

Awards

He received the Peacemaker award for 2005 from the Olender Foundation.[17]

Further reading
  • "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Maryland Founder of "Save a Torah" Charity with Fraud" (PDF). U.S. Justice Department. August 24, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2012.

References
  1. Moynihan, Colin (February 2, 2012). "Rabbi Admits Torah Tales Were a Fraud". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  2. "'Jewish Indiana Jones' admits Torah fraud". BBC News. February 3, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  3. Wexler, Martha; Lunden, Jeff (January 31, 2010). "Rabbi to the Rescue: Menachem Youlus is called the Indiana Jones of Torah recovery and restoration. But there are doubts about his thrilling tales". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  4. "Save a Torah". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  5. "A Mission To Salvage Holy Message: Wheaton Rabbi Scours World for Torahs Buried, Hidden During Holocaust", Katherine Shaver, Washington Post, September 24, 2004; Page B01
  6. "Resettled Torahs Article". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  7. James Barron, "Two Torahs, Two Holocaust Stories and One Big Question", New York Times, April 14, 2010.
  8. James Barron, "Rabbi Fabricated Swashbuckling Tales of Saving Holocaust Torahs, Prosecutors Say", The New York Times, August 24, 2011.
  9. Jeff Lunden, "'Jewish Indiana Jones' charged with fraud", The Washington Post, August 25, 2011.
  10. Martha Wexler and Jeff Lunden, "Maryland Rabbi Pleads Guilty to Fraud in Torah Scheme", Washington Post, February 3, 2012.
  11. The New York Times Rabbi Fabricated Swashbuckling Tales of Saving Holocaust Torahs, Prosecutors Say
  12. Gearty, Robert; Connor, Tracy (February 2, 2012). "'Jewish Indiana Jones' Rabbi Menachem Youlus admits to Torah scam and faces jail". NYDailyNews.com. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  13. The Jewish Chronicle Maryland pact gags Save A Torah under threat of penalty
  14. Wexler, Martha; Lunden, Jeff (October 11, 2012). "Maryland rabbi who peddled fake Holocaust Torahs sentenced to four years for fraud". Washington Post.
  15. Benjamin Weiser, Torah Fraud Earns Rabbi Prison Term (Oct. 11, 2012). New York Times.
  16. Inmate number 65614-054 at https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/
  17. Peacemaker Award - 2005. Rabbi Menachem Youlus
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