Israel’s Chief Rabbi Metzger Arrested

Rabbi Metzger is probed for bribery and money laundering.

Israeli National Fraud Squad raided the home and offices of Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger yesterday and questioned him under caution for ten hours, as part of a bribery, fraud, money-laundering and breach-of-trust case. Metzger was later released. The chief Rabbi is now under house arrest.

Chief Rabbi Metzger is forbidden to enter his offices, leave the country or make contact with any of the other suspects in the case.

Metzger and three other Jewish orthodox men are suspected of being involved in the pilfering of hundreds of thousands of shekels from a number of charities.

Apparently this is not the first time the chief Rabbi is investigated. In 2005, a bribery, fraud, and breach of trust case was opened against Metzger, but then Israeli-attorney-general Menahem Mazuz decided to close the case in April 2006. At the time, Mazuz said he was disturbed by revelations about how Metzger behaved during the investigation and called for the rabbi to resign.

I find myself wondering - can you imagine the Archbishop of Canterbury being probed for ‘bribery and money laundering’. It is obviously possible but very unlikely.