World

Band Aid for jailed slaughter boss

October 14, 2010 15:06
scenes from the music video financed by the Chabad Lubavitch community which urges US authorities to show clemency to imprisoned slaughterhouse boss Rubashkin

By

Paul Berger,

Paul Berger

2 min read

The uplifting music video bears the hallmarks of a disaster relief campaign - an all-star lineup, soft focus shots of musicians in a recording studio, smiling adults and children holding hands.

But Unity, released last week, urges help not for a famine-ravaged people but for Sholom Rubashkin, the convicted former manager of Agriprocessors, once America's largest kosher slaughterhouse.

When 51-year-old Rubashkin was jailed this summer for a string of financial crimes, his 27-year sentence shocked many in the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox world.

Since then, his strictly Orthodox supporters have organised dozens of events and maintained a barrage of publicity, culminating last week in the release of the slick, $30,000-budget video featuring more than 30 artists from the Orthodox music world.

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