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Irene Siegel recalls standing in the cluttered Jewish Bookstore of Greater Washington last year, listening closely as her husband, Bernard, told the Wheaton shop’s co-owner, Rabbi Menachem Youlus, about his family’s roots in the Ukrainian village of Vasilkov.
“Menachem said, `Oh, I’ve been there,’ and mentioned some names that he’d seen on gravestones [in Vasilkov],” said Mrs. Siegel, 80, a Baltimore native who now lives in Silver Spring’s Leisure World retirement community.
When Rabbi Youlus mentioned the surname Chasinsky, Mr. Siegel’s maternal family’s name, “Bernie got all excited,” she said. “But it all happened very fast. It seemed to me that Bernie had given him all the clues and information first. Then, [Rabbi Youlus] said, `I’ve got a Torah from there.’ It just seemed too coincidental.”
After Mr. Siegel, 88, committed to paying Rabbi Youlus nearly $18,400 for the Torah—which was donated last October by the Siegels to Pikesville’s Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation—Mrs. Siegel said she privately expressed her reservations to her husband about the believability of the rabbi’s story.
“Bernie said to me, `You don’t trust anyone!’” she said. “But it just sounded too good to be true or exaggerated a bit. I told my husband, who is very trusting, `Don’t believe everything you’re told!’”
Last week, a Washington Post investigative article on Rabbi Youlus quoted Holocaust scholars, former customers and associates questioning the veracity of some of his accounts of “rescuing” Torahs in Central and Eastern Europe, many of which were allegedly hidden, stolen or buried during the Holocaust along with mass graves.
A Baltimore resident, scribe, CPA and graduate of Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Rabbi Youlus, 48, is head of the Rockville-based Save A Torah organization. Dubbed the “Indiana Jones of Torah Scribes,” he claims to have discovered and refurbished hundreds of scrolls over the past two decades and speaks frequently at synagogues and Jewish schools around the country about his efforts and exploits.
When recently contacted via e-mail by the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES, Rabbi Youlus wrote that he was unavailable for comment until after Feb. 4. An individual who answered the phone at his store also said the rabbi was unavailable.
(A statement on Save A Torah’s Web site reads, “We request that the public not be misled by innuendo in one published report, and reserve judgment until after Rabbi Youlus is given a fair opportunity to respond. Save A Torah is turning to independent experts in the field to verify the origin of donated Torahs.”)
In past interviews with media outlets (including the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES), Rabbi Youlus has spoken about how he found Torahs in monastery basements, deep in the ground and even in former concentration camps. To smuggle Torahs out of some countries, he has said he was beaten up and sporadically threatened.
In general, Rabbi Youlus restores the Torahs to presumably halachic (Jewishly legal) standards and sells them to individuals or families, who in turn donate them to congregations in memory of deceased loved ones. At many ceremonies, the rabbi speaks about a particular Torah’s background in touching, nostalgic tones and explains Save A Torah’s mission.
“He’s a very interesting, knowledgeable person and an excellent speaker,” said Mr. Siegel, a retired federal government employee, who also purchased a Torah from Rabbi Youlus for the Shoshana S. Cardin School for $25,000 and a Megillat Esther for Stevenson’s Chizuk Amuno Congregation for $5,000. “He’s very likable and non-judgmental. Even though he’s Orthodox, most of the places he’ll go to are not necessarily Orthodox.”
Said Mrs. Siegel: “You can’t help but like Menachem. He’s very open-minded and personable and friendly. He treats people equally, and I don’t think he does that to be manipulative.”
But one leading member of the Orthodox community, who requested anonymity, said he believes Rabbi Youlus reaches out to the non-Orthodox for commercial, rather than ecumenical or theological, reasons.
“He plays fast and loose with the facts. He makes things up,” said the individual. “He’s a charlatan and he’s fallen prey to the almighty buck.” The person also questioned the “kosherness” of Torahs sold by Rabbi Youlus.
`This Was A Midrash’
In an October 2005 JEWISH TIMES cover story about him, Rabbi Youlus, a father of nine, said his mission in life culminates in the holiday of Simchat Torah.
“While I’m carrying a Torah, I think of all the different experiences that I have had that year rescuing Torahs,” Rabbi Youlus said. “And I think of all the communities destroyed by the Nazis. I drink it all in, and I can’t tell you I don’t have tears in my eye. Hugging the Torah, it means love to me, and it also means to never let go.”
The rabbi said he has developed a sixth sense about locating authentic, discarded Torahs around the world, and sometimes finds himself wheeling and dealing with shadowy, nebulous characters. “What’s the difference between a thief and a Ukrainian antiques dealer?” he asked sardonically. “Nothing.”
Despite the accusations against him, Rabbi Youlus still has his defenders. Carol Pristoop, executive director of the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center near Reisterstown, said 10 donors purchased a scroll for $10,000 from Rabbi Youlus for her facility in 2001.
“I’m saddened to hear this,” she said of the allegations, “but he has been so helpful with the continuing care of this Torah. I take it back to him once a year. I take it to his house, [and] he lives very modestly.”
She attributed the rabbi’s alleged fabrications to the fact that “he wants people to feel good. This was a midrash. It could be possibly fraud, but every Torah is sacred. … This man, in many ways, is doing a mitzvah. I think he wants to affirm the living connection [to the Torah]. He has to live with himself, but I have a beautiful Torah that I’m happy about.”
In a Jan. 29 email, Joel N. Shurkin, chairperson of the board at Chevrei Tzedek, alerted congregants about the Washington Post article on Rabbi Youlis. Chevrei Tzedek has purchased two Holocaust-era Torahs from Rabbi Youlus over the past seven years.
“We have no reason to doubt they are kosher and we will continue to use and honor them,” he wrote. But Mr. Shurkin noted that because the rabbi was retained as an expert by the congregation when the scrolls were insured, Chevrei Tzedek needs to confirm the historical origins of the Torahs to determine if the matter affects the synagogue’s insurance policies.
“Menachem told us a story about the provenance of the sefer Torah,” Chevrei Tzedek’s Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner said of a Holocaust scroll purchased about 18 months ago. “But the bottom line is that we would have purchased the sefer Torah at this price and time even if it was from a little shul in Yonkers. I trust him as a sofer [scribe]. I don’t have concerns. You can easily verify if [a Torah is] kosher or not. … He should be offered every opportunity to respond to the charges. He deserves the opportunity to explain himself.”
Beth El’s Rabbi Steve Schwartz said his synagogue purchased a Torah from Rabbi Youlus a couple of years ago. While also confident the Torah is “kosher,” he said the Youlus matter is a “serious concern” to Beth El.
“We’re trying to take a cautious approach,” he said. “We need more information to come out. If the allegations are proven true, that’s just wrong. If [Rabbi Youlus’] stories are fabricated, it’s wrong.”
But Dr. Moshe D. Shualy, Chizuk Amuno’s ritual director, vigorously defended the scribe and strongly criticized the tone of the Washington Post article about Rabbi Youlus.
“There was no moment in the article when there was a sense of compassion or insight into what he’s doing,” he said. “Is he a liar or a cheat? I don’t think that’s the case and I’ve known him for nearly 20 years. He’s being crucified. He’s clearly risking his life to get these Torahs. He’s not going on eBay. He goes to Eastern Europe and acquires these Torahs from people who probably stole them from monasteries or museums.”
While defending the authenticity and halachic validity of Rabbi Youlus’ Torahs, Dr. Shualy admitted he has personally questioned the scribe’s anecdotes over the years.
“How does he find a [sefer] Torah at Auschwitz that no one else ever found? Of course there have been misstatements,” he said. “But I would trust him with my life. Should we judge him because he says things that don’t sound quite right? Do we stand behind him and support him, even if he’s not telling the whole truth since he did things that were not necessarily legal [to acquire and transport the Torahs out of Europe]? Should we make him untrustworthy to these people he deals with over there? … He supplies authentic kosher documents. I know of no other Orthodox sofer who will come into non-Orthodox synagogues and do what he does. He’s a genuine hero.”
Irene Siegel, however, admits she’s not so sure anymore. While still considering him a friend, she said she would hesitate to conduct business with Rabbi Youlus again. She said she plans to talk to him in the near future.
“I’m not angry at him, but I’d like to hear what Menachem has to say and see if he can justify his actions,” Mrs. Siegel said. “I don’t want to accuse anyone until I know it’s true. But I feel like you do when your mate cheats on you and you still love them but it’s tarnished and you’re hurt. I want to believe him and not feel ripped off or disappointed. … But if it’s true, I feel betrayed.”
Added her husband: “I had so much faith in him. We’re both very upset. It’s a shame.”
Executive Editor Phil Jacobs contributed to this report.