A rabbi to the stars was busted by his jilted wife for smooching a sexy gal pal on an Israeli getaway, according to blockbuster court papers obtained by the Daily News.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, the founder of the star-studded Hampton Synagogue, was slapped with shocking photographic proof of the affair by his fourth wife as they met for a drink at the Four Seasons.
Tobi Rubinstein-Schneier - whose complaint claims her husband impregnated his lover - this week petitioned a Manhattan court for a legal separation from the high-profile rabbi, who pals around with Russell Simmons and makes the scene in the Hamptons.
"My client did not know things were not good in this marriage until late in the day," said Susan Bender, a lawyer for the rabbi's wife of nearly four years. "This behavior by an Orthodox rabbi is an embarrassment to Orthodox Jews."
A private eye for Rubinstein-Schneier snapped several pictures of the randy rabbi getting up close and personal in Israel with Gitty Leiner, a stunning speech pathologist and a congregant at the Hampton Synagogue.
"The differences Rabbi Schneier has with his wife are private and they should not be a matter of public discussion or public debate," said Don Schuck, a lawyer for the rabbi. "It's been his desire from the start to resolve this amicably."
But in sealed court papers obtained by The News, Rubinstein-Schneier doesn't hold back from slinging mud at her estranged husband.
She claims in a 20-page complaint that he continued living in the couple's upper East Side home from February to April, even as he carried on with another woman.
On Valentine's Day, court papers say, Schneier showed up with a bouquet of roses for his wife and pledged his love to her before departing for a San Francisco tryst with Leiner.
He's also accused in the court papers of putting Leiner up last summer in housing across the street from the Hampton Synagogue. And in July, the suit says, the scorned wife found out her husband had gotten Leiner pregnant.
And Schneier allegedly pitched a fit at an 80th birthday celebration for his dad, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, at Manhattan's Park East Synagogue.
"During the luncheon, defendant became enraged because his father 'is an egomaniac, and I am the great one,'" according to the complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Schneier founded his Hamptons house of worship - which is billed on its Web site as "New York's Most Celebrated Synagogue" - in 1990.
He also founded the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a racial-harmony group whose board of directors is chaired by hip-hop mogul Simmons.
Earlier this year, Newsweek named Schneier one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America.
The complaint seeks to have Schneier maintain his wife's preseparation standard of living, pay for her health care and insurance and cover costs on homes in Manhattan and Westhampton Beach.
Rabbi Marc,
ReplyDeleteNext time, get a room!