Fw: URGENT FOR TODAY

Thank you
Now may be a good time for a gem of Torah study.
www.GemsofTorah.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Hakhel MIS <hakhelusa@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 14:42:08
To: <hakhel@hakhel.info>
Subject: URGENT FOR TODAY

B"H

The Rubashkin-Pesach petition you signed last week is not being used per the recommendation of community leaders, but they ask you to please sign this new petition ASAP, and to ask at least 10 contacts to sign!

It's urgent that you sign the NEW PETITION available at www.justiceforsholom.org
even if you already signed the Pesach petition!

It's critical that we have 50,000 signatures by Sunday - so that we can take the campaign to the press IY"H. Please get 10 friends to sign the petition! Don't rely on someone else...response has been poor...please take a minute now and do it.

Please also voice your concern by sending an email to Department of Justice:
oipl@usdoj.gov and copy pr@justiceforsholom.org

Check below to find a message you can forward to friends.

Time is of essence! The Prosecutor has to make their recommendation for sentencing on April 9th. It's imperative they know that Americans nationwide are deeply disturbed. Please act Now!!!! Thank you!

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To all friends and constituents of Agudath Israel:

We have been working closely with Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin's lawyers and other organizations and askonim concerned about his incarceration and his upcoming sentencing, currently scheduled for April 28. This tragic case is at a critical juncture right now, and demands our attention and action even as we are all busy with Pesach.

In issuing this call to our friends and constituents, we are in no way condoning any criminal conduct. However, as detailed in the memo available at http://tinyurl.com/yj372kj prepared by a lawyer familiar with the case, it is clear that the federal government has been overly zealous in pursuing Mr. Rubashkin and has submitted him to considerably more severe restrictions and potential punishment than others in similar cases. The memo is quite an eye-opener, well worth reading despite its length.

The bottom line is that Mr. Rubashkin is being kept in jail pending sentencing, and is not even being allowed to go home for the Pesach sedorim next week, despite his willingness to post a large bond and hire a full-time guard. With respect to the sentencing, he faces the possibility of a very lengthy sentence - upward of 20 years, Rch'l - far beyond the sentences imposed on others whose crimes were significantly more severe than anything Mr. Rubashkin may have done.

We are therefore asking you, our friends and constituents, to take a few minutes during this zman cheiruseinu to communicate your respectful concern over the handling of the Rubashkin case, his incarceration pending sentencing, and the excessive sentence being considered.

Please make your concerns known to the Justice Department's Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison at 202-514-3465 or oipl@usdoj.gov . Also, if you are able, please sign the online petition available at www.justiceforsholom.org ; this petition will be forwarded to the U.S. Attorney's office in Iowa, which is prosecuting the Rubashkin case. We are hopeful that this expression of public support will have a positive impact on the case.

Many thanks. Best wishes for a chag kasher v'someiach. May we share besoros tovos.

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Hakhel MIS
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