Evidence
“… let every fact be confirmed, and all without bias of any kind.” – Lev. 19:15, Deuteronomy 1:17, Matt. 18:16 & 1 Timothy 5:21
[Since early October 2023 this page has been under construction and ongoing editing/revision. For further information on the state of the IMJA-sphere ethical situation, please feel free to email us at info@bethelnyc.org or phone our congregation office at (646) 346-4385.]
The crimes that started the cascade.
See the attached Confession Document. The confessor - Joe Finkelstein, formerly (1970s-early 2000’s) of “Beth Yeshua” in Philadelphia, now (2023) of Arad, Israel … committed, as a sitting Elder in Beth Yeshua, the crimes against Rabbi Bruce Cohen listed in his Confession. As you can see, they are egregious violations of both secular law, Biblical ethics, and finally – personal trust. Finkelstein admits in the Confession he committed these crimes against his 12+year loyal lieutenant, Bruce Cohen, who in 1993 became Rabbi of Beth El of Manhattan in New York City, and had been a high-serving ordained clergy and senior musical worship leader/creative-artist in the American and International spheres.
It should be noted that in Finkelstein’s Confession that Finkelstein gives glowing affirmation of Bruce Cohen’s history as having "certainly served nobly and well (across nearly 13 years), and having been, above all, a faithful friend (to Finkelstein).” Beyond this Finkelstein affirms Bruce Cohen’s standing as a “rabbi” (1Tim.3 overseer, with all character qualifications applying). Joel Chernoff’s signature and statement affirm all the above written by Finkelstein is true. This is crucial because of what happened next.
2. The Second Stage Of Corruption: David Chernoff will not face the truth about Joe Finkelstein, and blames Finkelstein’s victims instead.
David Chernoff – having publicly made broad and unconditional endorsements of Joe Finkelstein by saying, “God’s spirit keeps on affirming” Finkelstein as God’s choice for Assistant Rabbi” at Chernoff’s Philadelphia congregation – refused to face the revealed and proven truth about Joe Finkelstein’s several-year swath of deeply sinful and pathological conduct.
Instead of heeding 1Timothy 5’s command that “elders who are caught in sin should be brought to correct in the presence of all (the other leaders and community), that they all might learn to revere God (rightly)” – David Chernoff chose what secular law calls, “A Whistleblower Attack” on Finkelstein’s victims.
David Chernoff slandered Finkelstein’s victims as the wrongdoers in the matter (despite Finkelstein’s own written confession affirmed by his own brother Joel’s signature):
And David Chernoff began to wage a backroom slander war on them, apparently to allow Finkelstein and Chernoff to go on in “business as usual” without facing accountability for their wrongdoings.
This slur-campaign by Chernoff against Bruce Cohen, was despite the above-mentioned written Confession being attested as entirely true and accurate by Joel Chernoff with his own signature: the same man who as IMJA President 1998 nominated Rabbi Bruce L. Cohen (Finkelstein’s victim) with glowing affirmations for his own presidential-level post as Editor of the IMJA Magazine, The Messianic Jew.
Rabbi Jonathan Bernis – now President of Jewish Voice TV Broadcasting, and a long-time friend and colleague of Rabbi Bruce Cohen in the USA, Israel, and Russia – responded to Cohen’s frustration with Chernoff’s slander assault with the following words:
“C’mon, Bruce! This is David Chernoff we’re talking about! This is what he does! He sees the world in black-and-white: you are either ‘for’ him or you are ‘against’ him – and if he thinks you are against him, he comes after you this way (in backroom slander attacks)!”
Bernis had long expressed distaste for the MJAA being run by the Chernoff circle in what Bernis described as “smoke-filled room” clandestine meetings dealing out harms and interferences outside any healthy due process.
Joel Chernoff accepted responsibility to affirm the contents of Finkelstein’s Confession if they were ever disputed, for any reason, or by anyone. Joel Chernoff later abdicated this oath, breaking his word to enforce the truth of the document when his brother David could not face the truth of the breadth and depth of Finkelstein’s several year streak of criminal and sinful conduct – having come to light just after David Chernoff was stating to the whole Messianic Jewish world, “God just keeps affirming this (Finkelstein) is the man (to replace Jeff Forman as Assistant Rabbi in Beth Yeshua of Philadelphia).”
DOCUMENT 2 [link here] : Proving David Chernoff’s Refusal to Face Finkelstein’s Guilt – and Making Up Lies To Harm Finkelstein’s Victims, So As To Avoid Facing The Truth – And Showing Joel Chernoff Abdicating His Signature-Oath to Affirm Finkelstein’s Confession as entirely True and Accurate.
Joel’s own brother, David Chernoff, who was bequeathed the role of Rabbi in Philadelphia’s Beth Yeshua when his father, Rabbi Martin Chernoff died, was the next step in the spread of corruption.
David Chernoff told Rabbi Bruce Cohen at an MJAA/IAMCS rabbi’s conference in Orlando, Florida that “Joe (Finkelstein) backs off the Confession now, and doesn’t even say it is true anymore.”
This turned out to be either a lie by David Chernoff, or if somehow it were true (as implausible as it is, because it would mean Finkelstein confessed falsely for some reason to a large array of sins, and Joel Chernoff affirmed the confession as true) …. it would be a terrible oath breakage by Finkelstein and Joel Chernoff; as follows:
The above Document 2 shows clearly (a) that Bruce Cohen called Joel about David Chernoff’s denial of Finkelstein’s Confession supported by the above statement that Finkelstein had reneged on it to David –– (b) Joel then wrote back to Bruce Cohen that he called Joe Finkelstein about David’s “Joe now denies” statement –– and Joel writes that (c) Finkelstein went promptly into David Chernoff’s office and re-affirmed the entire confession was true: about his own crimes, and the entire clean “bill of health” he and Joel accorded Bruce Cohen, and (d) for some reason, in Joel’s words, “David does not want to accept it as true.”
Next comes a horrific step down in moral health.
David would not accept it.
Instead, he chose to use his inherited influence to destroy the social and vocational standing of Bruce and Debi Cohen, Finkelstein’s victims; evidently, so Joe Finkelstein could remain in place as a reliable “yes-man” present for David Chernoff in the Beth Yeshua and MJAA Executive Levels, and also be promoted into Overseer (1Tim. 3) level as his next Assistant Rabbi – despite deserving to be removed from all Office and required to enter serious therapy before ever considering returning to ordained-level religious office of any kind. (1Tim. 5:20)
David Chernoff elected to cast Finkelstein’s VICTIMS in the role of the PROBLEM-MAKERS, just as King Ahab cast Elijah in that role:
“And when he saw, Elijah, King Ahab cried out, 'Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’ And Elijah replied, ‘It is not I who trouble Israel, O’ King; but you and your family do, with your sins.” (1Kings 18:17ff)
These assaults on Bruce Cohen’s reputation began to surface in Bruce Cohen’s arc when he found himself suddenly being removed from slots of service in the IMJA sphere with no explanation and no warning, and colleagues with whom Cohen had always had good relationship showing contempt for him in private conversations and meetings.
Tracing the reason for this wave of increasing ill-will reached a crisis when Rabbi Robert Solomon (removed Bruce Cohen from an upcoming service slot at the Messiah Conference with a serious display of antipathy that shocked the person being told to remove Cohen (Dr. Rick Smith of Solomon’s Beth Hallel Congregation in Georgia).
Cohen confronted Rabbi Bob and Rebbetzin Dottie Solomon at the Messiah Conference, asking them both if there was any kind of grievance between them unknown to Cohen that was souring their relationship, to which they both said and unequivocal, “No.”
Cohen then showed the Solomons Finkelstein’s confession – and asked them them directly (per Matt. 5:23-24) if Bob’s recent removal of Bruce from his assigned service slot at the Conference was due to having been besmirched by the Chernoffs. Both Solomons answered with great sadness and concern, “Yes.” The souring of the Solomons (in whose congregation Bruce Cohen had been a guest-speaker and in whose lives he had been welcome friend and colleague for years) turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg of David Chernoff’s slander war against Bruce Cohen.
DOCUMENT 2 (link above and repeated here) shows Joel’s oath abdication clearly: Joel states he “does not see it as his responsibility to make David (Chernoff) see something David does not want to see (which was, that Finkelstein was the unilateral sinner in this situation, Bruce Cohen was accused of nothing, and affirmed as a long-time noble servant of the Lord, and “above all, a faithful friend” [to Finkelstein']). (see Text of Confession, above).
3. Chernoffs/MJAA crew abuse their MJAA offices in an illegal secret-trial “back-room” assassination; and the IMJA overturns the Chernoff/MJAA attempt as entirely anti-Constitutional and illegal.
Document 3: Secret Trial – Rich Nichol informs Bruce Cohen that Bruce has been summarily removed from IMJA Magazine Editorship and is going to have is MJAA Membership and IAMCS Rabbinic Ordination revoked, after “a trial” was held in Philadelphia in Oct. 1999. But Bruce Cohen was never informed he was ever charged, who was charging him, or invited to speak in his own defense or prepare a defense before he was harmed/reduced in the above ways. The above acts would (a) save David Chernoff from the case already underway against him since March 1999; and (b) stop Bruce Cohen from attending the IAMCS Rabbis’ Conference coming up soon, at which Cohen, if uninfringed, could speak to his colleagues about the situation and be present as a reminder of Chernoff/Finkelstein criminality while Chernoffs and Finkelstein are posturing before the entire IAMCS Rabbinic community as top-echelon ‘spiritual leaders’ while being thieves, liars, and malicious harm-doers for their personal profit and self-aggrandizement.
Document 4: Letter from IMJA’s attorneys to David Sedaca, informing them that Bruce Cohen’s Appeal to the IMJA about the “kangaroo court trial” the MJAA/Chernoffs used to try to disenfranchise Cohen: that the lawyers affirmed Bruce Cohen had “perfected” a valid appeal, and without question, the MJAA’s illegal, anti-constitutional and anti-biblical “secret trial” was invalid; and was overturned “of null effect.”
Document 5: David Sedaca Letter informing the MJAA/Chernoffs of the IMJA’s pro-Bruce Cohen decision on his Appeal, and that their illegal attempt to destroy Bruce Cohen’s standing was officially of “null effect” per the IMJA’s supervisory powers over the MJAA.
THE STORY BEHIND THE ABOVE DOCUMENTS 3 through 6.
The MJAA officers under charges by Bruce Cohen (David Chernoff et al) abused their MJAA offices and powers in October 1 to hold an “in-absentia” trial of Bruce Cohen (in Chernoff’s building, no less!) with Cohen (a) uninformed anyone was charging him, (b) uninformed as to what he was being charged with, (c) finding him guilty without him being present to answer, and (d) infringing his standing and putting him “on defense” after he (Cohen) had been “on offense” for over half a year with the MJAA stalling and not proceeding in any way on the charges filed against David Chernoff way back in March 1999!
The entire Stalinesque faux-judicial proceeding (fomented by Joel Chernoff at his brother’s behest and for his brother’s benefit), was an obvious attempt to insulate David Chernoff from accountability for what he was charged with: deliberate and malicious harm to an IAMCS-ordained colleague-rabbi for the purpose of freeing Joe Finkelstein to stay in, and rise further in the MJAA power structure.
The IMJA overturned the Chernoff’s/MJAA’s illegal attempts to torpedo Rabbi Bruce Cohen’s longterm good-standing, and thus take away Cohen’s right to pursue his charges against David Chernoff.
Cohen’s long-deflected case against David Chernoff was about to re-commence, when Joel Chernoff recruited help from an ally in the UMJC - a Washington DC attorney also rabbi of “Tikvat Israel” in Virginia, named Jamie Cowen (now, “Cohen” living and practicing in Israel).
Jamie Cowen lowered the entire situation into a level of deliberate multiple and ongoing perjuries and process-manipulation that boggles the godly conscience. As here follows …
4. Jamie Cowen (now “Cohen” in Israel) commits multiple perjuries to involve the UMJC in the cover-up
In August 2000, at the UMJC Midwest Regional Conference in Columbus, Ohio, Bruce Cohen was asked to meet with UMJC General Secretary Russ Resnick and UMJC Vice-President, Jamie Cowen, Attorney-at-Law.
The reason given was to discuss Cohen’s Manhattan synagogue’s application to the UMJC for UMJC membership in light of the case Cohen had going against David Chernoff et al in the MJAA, and the IMJA’s recent action of overturning the MJAA’s harms of Bruce Cohen, thus returning Cohen to entirely uninfringed status, able to proceed with his case, and to take clergy action like joining his synagogue to the UMJC.
Jamie Cowen gained entré to the matter by claiming he was (a) entirely uninterested and unbiased as to the matters – which was later revealed to be a complete lie, (b) had no plans or intentions to steer the matters – which was later revealed to be a complete lie, and (c) had not been in previous contact with any of the major parties to the Cohen v. Chernoff & MJAA et al cases – ALL OF WHICH ABOVE was a short time later revealed to be complete lies/false witness — actually, “perjuries” because the lies were spoken “under oath” in official judicial proceedings with people’s careers and quality of life hanging in the balance.
Cowen was put through voir dire (vetting questioning as to possible bias) by Cohen in Russ Resnick’s presence, with Resnick taking full responsibility to be an accurate witness of what Cowen said to Cohen for Cowen to gain admission to the process as “an unbiased and disinterested professional (attorney-level) evaluator of sound due process, with that being his sole purpose or intention.” Cowen gave around half-a-dozen answers to questions about being involved with Chernoff parties to the matter, or having desires, intentions, or plans for the matters before due process was held; Cowen answered every question, “No.” When he answer “No” to the question of previous contact, and Cohen produced a recent email from David Sedaca referring to a conversation Cowen had with Joel Chernoff about the matters - Cowen irritatedly dismissed it, saying, “Joel did a concert in our congregation and we exchanged a few words about it, but they were ‘brief and inconsequential.’” – again – which Cowen himself later admitting in print to being a totally false response because, his own words in his Sept. 2000 letter, Cowen straightforwardly says after Joel informed him of the Cohen v. Chernoff et al matters, Cowen “became greatly alarmed” and made a decision on that basis to get involved.
Cowen then sat in on the MJAA meeting with Bruce Cohen in Atlanta Airport in September 2000, in which (a) a tribunal of David Chernoff’s 2 “best friends” [Bob Solomon and Bob Cohen] were judges, and the third was Judah Hungerman, a self-admitted professional evidence forger who boasted in the meeting about his former job as “a plumber for Congress” – a euphemism for an evidence forger. (b) forged evidence was attempted to be served, and was proven forged and perjurious in content in the meeting, with Bob Solomon verifying the contents were false! (c) the gross impropriety of the two “best friends” of the most interested other party opposite Bruce Cohen – who was David Chernoff, whose entire career was on the line in that room if Bruce Cohen was not destroyed or gagged somehow … was reacted to with rage and name-calling, accusing Bruce Cohen of having “a bad spirit” and “an authority problem” for even raising the bias issue. [FYI: Jewish, Biblical, and Secular judicial standards forbid any judge or juror from “loving or hating” a person they are judging in due process, or any party opposite the interests of the parties in dispute. Such love, hate, or interests make it mandatory a judge, juror, or witness recuse themselves due to bias. Elon, M. Jewish Law 564 §2-3, TB Sanh. 3:4-5]
Cowen told Bruce Cohen on 24 September 2000, after the absurdly biased and improper proceeding in Atlanta, “I am going to tell the IMJA you received ‘fully correct due process.’” Cohen was flabbergasted and asked how Cowen, having seen and heard what he did, could say such an untrue thing?
Cowen’s reply was not to justify it as true.
Rather, Cowen told Bruce Cohen, “Because if we (the UMJC) do not ratify the MJAA’s process (against Bruce Cohen) there is going to be a(nother) war (between the 2 organizations); and I am not going to let that happen!”
Bruce Cohen’s reply was simple: “But Jamie - it’s a lie! And you know it’s a lie!”
Cowen’s position summed up as, “To prevent a war, you (Bruce and Debi Cohen, your synagogue, and your entire live’s of ministry-work) are ‘acceptable casualties.’”
Cowen ended the phone call by revealing how deep into intentional perjury he had gone. He said, “Bruce, it’s time I explained to you what my involvement in this whole thing is for.” [Cohen asked that exact question in Columbus more than a month earlier during voir dire, and Cowen “answered” it – totally falsely, it turned out. Cowen said he would send Cohen a fax of that explanation, which on 25 September he did. That fax is here in Document 7 below.
DOCUMENT 7: Jamie Cowen admits his multiple perjuries and process-tampering; and admits he falsely concealed his previous exposure to the matters, his alarmed interests, and biases, as well as Cowen’s predetermined plan to steer the process into sacrificing Bruce Cohen, family, and ministry to appease the Chernoffs - not because they were right - but “to avoid an MJAA/UMJC war.”
DOCUMENT 8: Russ Resnick’s testimony (under compulsion, he did not Lev. 5:1 come forward and volunteer what he knew) as to the repetitive dishonesty of Cowen’s answers.
The 5. Jamie Cowen commits extortion based on perjury about the law.
In Items #3 and #4 in the above Document 8, Russ Resnick verifies that Jamie Cowen, an attorney, told Bruce Cohen in Columbus in August 2000 that Cohen’s appeal to the IMJA was “out of right order” procedurally, and Cohen had to back off his IMJA Appeal, and let the MJAA drag him whatever processes they wished (no matter how unethical or unhealthy) – and only after the MJAA was finished doing to Cohen what they wished, could Cohen rightly file an appeal to a higher authority like the IMJA.
Jamie Cowen, speaking as UMJC Vice President, then said if Bruce Cohen did not do what Cowen was demanding, Cowen would see to it that things would not go well with Cohen’s synagogue’s application to the UMJC, because Jamie Cowen would tell the UMJC that Bruce Cohen as rabbi had shown himself “not compliant with correct process.”
Cowen’s unequivocal statement to Bruce Cohen about the law was, “There is no correct way in existence to file an appeal until after a proceeding is over.” Cohen asked the question to clarify when Cowen was leveraging Cohen to back off the rights accorded him by the IMJA’s ruling nullifying all the illegal harms the MJAA’s Oct 1999 kangaroo court had inflicted: “Jamie, are you telling me as a lawyer, there is no procedurally correct way to file any kind of appeal, no matter how wrong a trial is going, until AFTER it’s fully over? In other words, you can’t cry ‘rape!’ until after the rapist is done raping you?” Cowen replied simply, “Well - I’m not your attorney in this: but, Yes.”
It turned out to be a complete lie told for the specific purpose of coercing/extorting Bruce Cohen by threat and unethical force back into the MJAA’s reach to harm.
For clarity: in law there exists a procedure called “interlocutory appeal” – which means that while a trial is still underway, but something has gone procedurally so manifestly wrong (like the 2 best friends of the Accused turn out to be jurors who concealed their interests) … that the trial needs to be corrected by an Appeal ruing – or declared a mistrial immediately, before a wrongful and harm-producing verdict is declared.
Jamie Cowen not only knew this to be so, but a short time later when his own conduct in the matter came into question, Cowen invoked an interlocutory appeal for his own benefit! Cowen wrote to the UMJC judiciary in the midst of a trial of his own conduct, I am using “interlocutory appeal is a common and often-used legal device!”
Yet, under oath, in voir dire in Columbus in 2000, Jamie Cowen told Bruce Cohen (with UMJC General Secretary Russ Resnick as official witness) “there is no way correct way in existence to appeal while a trial is still underway – only when it is totally over and a verdict has been rendered.”
In August 2000, Jamie Cowen extorted Rabbi Bruce Cohen into backing away from his perfected Appeal to the IMJA and putting himself again within range of the Chernoff-biased-and-dominated MJAA processes on the basis of the above perjury about the law; and Cowen’s ensuing threat.
Cowen’s false witness about the law was the most serious of all the lies Jamie Cowen told in sworn voir dire in Columbus 2000; it violated not only basic honesty, but the high standard for truthfulness among rabbis and UMJC Officers, and as an attorney to rightly represent the law; AND – the false witness was used to commit “extortion” – leveraging a person to do acts against their will by threat of harm outside correct legal penalties for proven wrongdoing.