Right-wing Brazilian rabbi jailed for shoplifting in Florida

[Ian David]

Jewish leaders are awaiting a medical and psychiatric evaluation of Brazil’s best-known rabbi after Henry Sobel was charged with shoplifting designer neckties in Florida.

Sobel checked into Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital on March 30, a day after he asked to be temporarily relieved of his duties as head of the Sao Paulo Israeli Congregation, the largest Jewish synagogue in Latin America.

A hospital statement said the rabbi had taken large quantities of insomnia-treatment drugs that "cause potential states of mental confusion and amnesia."

<snip>

Sobel became well known in par, for vehemently criticizing torture under the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. In the early 1980s he joined forces with Sao Paulo Archbishop Paulo Evaristo Arns and Presbyterian Pastor Jaime Wright to collect documents verifying acts of torture during the military regime, a project that became a book, "Brazil: Nunca Mais" ("Brazil: Never Again").

Sobel has shown unwavering support for Israel, backed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and has been highly critical of what he called the "anti-Semitic rhetoric" of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

More:
http://floridajewishnews.com/News/World/Brazilian_rabbi_jailed_for_shoplifting_200704131020/

[rodeodance]

1. so he gets caught steeling, then checks into REHAB. umm...

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Would not quite call this man a chicken hawk

he stood up to the brazilian dictartorship and he could have joined the ranks of the desaparecidos

So he is on the wrong side of history re: Iraq... nobody is perfect

But if you know anything about latin american dictartorships you will get it why I said what I said

[Ian David]

5. Very good point. I will revise my headline. He's certainly no chicken. n/t

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Chickenhawk?

I saw nothing in the story to indicate that.

[BayCityProgressive]

4. I don't like his views on Iraq

but I commend him for opposing the dictatorship in Brazil. Also, if he is abusing meds he may have very well been in a bad state of mind when this happened. If he truly does have an addiction or some condition I hope he gets better.

[Ian David]

7. You've made a good point, and I've revised my original headline.

Also, it's possible that drugs like Ambien can do weird things to your brain even if you don't actually abuse them.

It might... MIGHT... be possible that the pills went all Cabinet of Doctor Caligari inside his brain and made him shoplift in his sleep or something.


Now, Rabbi... go forth and bring me... DESIGNER NECK TIES!



See also:

Some Sleeping Pill Users Range Far Beyond Bed
by STEPHANIE SAUL
Published: March 8, 2006

With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver.

Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug.

In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.

And as a more people are taking the drug — 26.5 million prescriptions in this country last year — there are signs that Ambien-related driving arrests are on the rise. In Washington State, for example, officials counted 78 impaired-driving arrests in which Ambien was a factor last year, up from 56 in 2004.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/business/08ambien.html?ex=1299474000&en=17cf99894f297014&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[LeftishBrit]

8. I agree with you!

Opposing the Brazilian dictatorship was not a safe thing to do, by any stretch of the imagination.

It sounds as though he is mentally unwell at the moment. I hope he gets better.

He is wrong to support the war in Iraq. This may be a symptom of his mental health problems, or he may be just plain wrong.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. "He is wrong to support the war in Iraq."

From the article, I didn't see anything indicating if he was still in favor of the Iraq disaster. He very well may still support it and I would join you in saying that is wrong. However, it said he "backed" the invasion, and I usually cut those people some slack because many people backed that war based on lies. Though I never supported the invasion of Iraq, I know many a good person who did because of the lies being feed to the US and the world by this administration. Now that the truth has come out, I am sure there are many who have changed their support.

[LeftishBrit]

14. You are right - the statement is in the past tense; so it's not clear whether he still supports it

or not.

In Britain, most people (as opposed to politicians) did oppose the war from the beginning, so it's sometimes necessary for me to remind myself that in America the lies and propaganda were even stronger than here, and temporarily deceived quite a few people who have since changed their views.

At any rate, as someone who knows a number of Brazilians who lived through the time of terror, and rejoiced when the country moved closer to democracy, I will say again: good for him for opposing the Brazilian dictatorship. Doing so was quite the opposite of being a 'chickenhawk', and could easily have led to torture or 'disappearance'.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. A little 'funny' moment in all this.

I see now what both you and Ian are saying and though Ian has revised his title, I wasn't viewing "chickenhawk" in the "normal" frame of mind. I thought Ian was using the gay version of the term (I have been reading a few of his posts in the GLBT group) and thus, I was confused. :blush:

[ddeclue]

6. Was he wearing diapers? :)

:rofl:

[mmonk]

9. Don't run into that everyday.

[Mend]

12. Usually mentally impaired shoplifters take strange things that they

cannot use....elderly ladies take baby bottles, etc. I would be more concerned here about this man's conduct. He is taking expensive men's ties, something he can actually use. I wouldn't be so quick to blame the Ambien.

[Ian David]

15. Be funny if he were stealing pork. n/t

[SoCalDem]

13. I know it's odd, but the subject line cracks me up..

When clergy steals, it's always funny & sad at the same time..