Rabbi Accused of Stealing 96-Year-Old’s Wheelchair
A rabbi who was accused of stealing a 96-year-old’s wheelchair said he was taking leave from the rabbinate.
Alan Abrams announced the decision Thursday on his blog. That came just hours after the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles had written an in-depth article about him, the paper reported.
Abrams, 50, was accused of taking a motorized wheelchair from a resident of Windsor Terrace, a skilled nursing facility in Van Nuys, Calif.
Abrams, according to the Journal, began calling himself a rabbi in 2009. He told the paper he was ordained in Jerusalem, but provided no evidence. He said he has a certificate of ordination from The Rabbinical Seminary International, a New York-based distance learning program for nondenominational rabbis. The head of that school told the paper that Abrams had stolen the certificate, after paying his tuition with a $5,000 check that bounced.
In 1993, Abrams’ pled no contest to charges of practicing veterinary medicine without a license in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to six months in jail for that offense, the Journal reported.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
