The “Jewish” Con

Written By Chaplain Gary Friedman, OBM

Seattle Weekly interviewed JPSI’s founder, Chaplain Gary Friedman OBM, about the interesting phenomenon of non-Jews claiming to be Jewish. Even neo-Nazis.

An excerpt from the article:

Jewish chaplain Gary Friedman wasn’t surprised when he learned that incarcerated neo-Nazi gang members were claiming to be Jews at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center on the Olympic Peninsula. In fact, the chairman of the Seattle-based Jewish Prisoner Services International had been expecting the news. Nationwide, “There is this amazing phenomenon of non-Jews claiming to be Jewish,” says Friedman.

Across the country, prisoners of every ethnicity, faith, and political viewpoint, including neo-Nazis, latch onto Judaism for a variety of reasons. Of the 120 prisoners in this state who are granted a kosher diet, only a dozen are Jewish, Friedman says.

Read more over at the Seattle Weekly.

Chaplain Gary Friedman, OBM

Chaplain Gary Friedman was the founder of JPSI. Gary was a good friend and mentor to many over the years.  He was a primary source of research into correctional chaplaincy through the ACCA website.  His devotion and support for Jewish Prisoner Services International, the Congregation Shaarei Teshuvah, and the American Jail Association are legendary.  In chaplaincy to inmates in the jails in Washington and Oregon, he will be greatly missed -- as he will be greatly missed by so many in correctional chaplaincy.

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