4 Fake Rabbis under House Arrest

Four suspected rabbis who had been arrested Wednesday on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, forgery and impersonation, were released to house arrest with restrictive conditions pending their indictment. The four, from various cities in Israel, were arrested at the end of a complex investigation by a national police investigation unit on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining a certificate that enables them to compete for a senior public position such as a city chief rabbi, Israeli media reported.

The four are suspected of fraudulently obtaining the "competency certificate" without taking the certification exams. Instead, they used other methods that included falsifying the registration of test scores, sending an impostor to be examined in their place, and even approaching the test examiner directly to go easy on their grade.

Detectives in Lahav 433 arrested the four suspects and searched their homes in order to seize documents that link them to the alleged offenses, which include fraud and breach of trust, obtaining a certificate fraudulently under aggravated circumstances, falsifying corporate documents, impersonating another individual, and forging under aggravated circumstances.

Israel Police emphasized that suspicion is directed against the suspects themselves, and not against official religious figures, and that throughout the entire investigation police received professional cooperation from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.