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Celebrity Rabbi Maybe Related to Death

Hasidic real estate maven committed suspicious suicide

by
Marc Tracy
June 21, 2010

Solomon Obstfeld, an ultra-religious Bobover Hasid, jumped to his death at the Jumeirah Essex Hotel on Central Park South a couple weeks ago. Obstfeld’s death was ruled a suicide, though his family claims he had a heart attack (suicide is illegal under Jewish law). It is coming out that Obstfeld had been attempting to sell his Essex House pad for $6.5 million, and that he had entered into a disagreement over the lease to a different Essex House property with Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto, a kabbalist descended from a venerable Moroccan rabbinic family who has been something of a New York City-based rabbi to the minor stars as well as, maybe, a somewhat sketchy businessman.

Why Pinto? Because I am really mature, here’s why.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.