Orthodox Jews Flock to SD, Support Leader on Trial

Sholom Rubashkin walks to the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Sioux Falls, S.D., Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. Rubashkin has been accused of hiring illegal immigrants, violating child labor laws and abusing workers at one of the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouses. (AP Photo/Lara Neel, Argus Leader)

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Nov 11, 2009 at 9:26 AM CST

Story Updated: Nov 11, 2009 at 5:30 PM CST

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Scores of Orthodox Jews have been traveling to South Dakota to support a respected leader who prosecutors accuse of bank fraud.

From New York to tiny Orthodox populations in other parts of the country, the men are attending the trial of 50-year-old Sholom Rubashkin.

The former manager of Iowa kosher meatpacking plant Agriprocessors Inc. is facing fraud and other charges that carry a combined 1,000 years in prison.

But supporters know him as a spiritual leader, and he and his family for readily donating money and supplying inexpensive kosher food to the poor.

Rubashkin believes that bringing spiritual guidance to those remotely familiar with his religion's traditions is in part why God led him to Sioux Falls, where the judge agreed to hold the trial.

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