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October 1, 1999/21 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.5
Rabbi's colorful past in Colombia doesn't deter local synagogue
ANNE BRADY
Managing Editor
In recent weeks, leaders of Beth Emeth Congregation of the Northwest Valley have become aware that their part-time rabbi and cantor, Alan Bright, was involved in a bizarre, potentially life-threatening ordeal in 1996, which ended up with the conviction of his brother David on a charge of laundering proceeds of drug sales for a member of Alan Bright's then congregation in Colombia.
The rabbi's current Sun City West congregation is sticking by him.
Asked about a 1996 statement issued by the Board of Directors of the Jewish congregation in Medellin, Colombia, stating that due to Bright's actions and "attitude," Alan Bright "can not be recommended to occupy the solemn high praised position of rabbi in any congregation whatsoever," Beth Emeth board member George Sherman criticized the Medellin board for being overly harsh, noting that it is against the Jewish religion to deliberately do things to hurt people.
Sherman went on to confirm that his Conservative congregation's leaders had offered Bright a five-year contract this week and "would love for him to be our permanent rabbi here." However, the chairman of the selection committee that hired Bright acknowledged that a long-term deal would require approval of the full congregation, and probably a more thorough review of the situation.
Alan Bright had signed a one-year contract with the congregation, effective Aug. 13, 1999, at which time the Jewish News ran a story about the appointment. After that initial story appeared, readers notified the newspaper about the rabbi's colorful recent past.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York, David Bright was stopped by Drug Enforcement Agency agents at La Guardia Airport on April 8, 1996, carrying a briefcase with $200,000 in U.S. currency. According to an affidavit filed by DEA agent Tony Garifo, David Bright told Garifo that his brother Alan had instructed him to pick up the briefcase from an individual at the New York Hilton Hotel, take it to Chicago and put it in a safety deposit box. Alan Bright denies this. Garifo also said that David Bright said he was paid $1,000 to transport the money.
Garifo went on to say in his affidavit that he monitored a telephone call David Bright placed to Alan Bright in Colombia, and that Alan Bright advised his brother not to say anything to the DEA, that "the lawyers would take care of it." Alan Bright told Jewish News that Garifo called him, that Alan Bright asked to speak to his brother, and that he simply advised his brother to get an attorney.
According to the Garifo affidavit and Alan Bright, the rabbi then spoke with Garifo and told him the money likely belonged to Jose Masters-Pena, a member of Bright's congregation and a restaurant owner whom Alan Bright had introduced to David. David Bright was a mashgiach, a religious officer who ensures that kosher restaurants follow Jewish law, and a partner in a kosher restaurant in Chicago.
According to Garifo, Alan Bright admitted that he had been paid 1 percent to arrange for the money pick-up, and that he had arranged for several other such pick-ups. Alan Bright denies this and says he told Garifo only that he was paid a 1 percent referral fee on business his brother and Masters-Pena conducted because he introduced them.
Garifo estimated that a total of $2.1 million was laundered. His affidavits state that the money was derived from "specified unlawful activity, to wit, narcotics trafficking."
On May 3, 1996, arrest warrants were issued for Alan Bright, David Bright and Jose Masters-Pena. On May 8, Alan Bright and his family left Medillin and came to California. Alan Bright and his wife, Elizabeth, say they were advised by the DEA that they were in danger in Colombia.
Elizabeth Bright said they told the Medillin congregation that her father had died and they had to go to California to attend the funeral because the Colombians would not understand their security concerns, given the intense level of security measures available.
Mike McManus, public affairs special agent with the DEA in Washington, D.C., confirmed that the DEA does, on occasion, take action to protect the security of not only material witnesses, but also private citizens who the DEA becomes aware, through the course of an investigation, may be at risk.
Alan Bright was harassed and threatened by another Colombian man after arriving in California, according to Bright and a Garifo affidavit. That man was subsequently charged with tampering with a federal investigation by attempting to interfere with communication to a law enforcement officer of information relating to commission of "a federal offense, to wit, money laundering."
David Bright eventually pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to five years probation, according to a clerk in the federal court in New York.
Col. Mark L. Haiman of San Diego, Calif., said that when Alan Bright was hired on a stipend basis as a cantor at Temple Judea there in 1996, he was forthright about what had recently happened.
Haiman also said he advised Bright to be honest with the entire congregation. Haiman said Bright told him that leaders of Temple Judea had spoken with a DEA agent over the telephone, who told them Bright had been exonerated of any criminal activity. Haiman did not know which congregation members had this phone conversation.
(Garifo, injured on the job a year ago, is on disability leave from the DEA and could not be located. A DEA spokeswoman in New York said DEA agents are precluded from discussing their cases with the news media.)
Haiman, a retired U.S. Marine colonel who has made business investments with Bright, said that when congregation B'nai Tikvah spun off from Temple Judea in the summer of 1997, Alan Bright went with the new congregation.
Leroy Levine, past president of B'nai Tikvah, said Bright told him about the June 1996 statement issued by Union Israelita de Beneficencia de Medellin in Colombia. That statement, issued to Jewish communities of the world, Jewish authorities and to the government of the state of Israel, said that the congregation no longer considered Bright its spiritual guide, could not be held responsible for his behavior and wished to "sound this voice of alert to all Jewish communities."
Levine said Alan Bright convinced him that the congregation in Medillin had rushed to judgment.
"He (Alan Bright) was just a person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Levine.
Levine further said that he had been shown a letter from federal government officials exonerating Bright. But Bright said there was no letter, and that Levine probably was thinking of the phone call placed to the DEA agent.
Bright still visits B'nai Tikvah once every four to six weeks to preside at services.
In Sun City West, Sherman and Joseph Goldstein, a retired judge and chairman of the selection committee that hired Bright, said they only recently became aware of the Colombian situation, when Bright called them and offered to resign. The Jewish News had called Bright on Sept. 21 to make him aware that the Colombia information had been brought to the newspaper's attention and to request an interview, which in turn prompted Bright to call congregation leaders and offer to resign.
Goldstein and Sherman said they not only refused the resignation, but also discussed offering Bright a longer-term arrangement.
"I take people at face value. I have a sixth sense about people," said Sherman. "This guy just hit me the right way. He says he's innocent and I believe him."
Goldstein said that if the selection committee wanted to offer Bright a new contract, the committee would have to "go deeper" to learn all the relevant facts, and then go to the full congregation for approval. For now, Goldstein said, the congregation is standing by Bright and believes he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
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