So Many Lawsuits!

I ended up needing to sue about 20 people for slander. It was horrible. Multiple Orthodox Rabbis told me to sue them. My family and friends told me to sue them.

I filed about 12 lawsuits between 2017 and 2022. Every time that I caught another one slandering me or putting me in a false light, then I immediately sued them. They learned to keep their mouths shut.

And, after the evil and lies became so bad, thankfully, the Phoenix Police Department got involved and did an investigation about the accusations. And the detective in charge, Sgt. Andrew Miller, determined that "for some nefarious reason, Mr. Christakis, they were lying about you. This case is closed."

This blog is for those that are curious about all the lawsuits that were filed.

Moreover, in June of 2018, an Av Beit Din, Orthodox Rabbi Zvi Block, did an investigation. He is pictured above at a lecture. This below is one paragraph from the written results of his investigation.

"I repeat once again that there was no clear-cut proof of the accusations made by [the individuals]. I found that the only basis for their accusations was their own personal and unsubstantiated fears and concerns that made them jump to conclusions and make snap judgments. There was no substantiated incident of any inappropriate behavior with children whatsoever. The fact that these people stirred up community support, for these imagined and unfounded fears, and secured signatures on a letter implying negative information that the signees had no real knowledge of beforehand, is an act of slander, Loshon Hara and is forbidden by Halacha."

I was a convert to Orthodox Judaism. So it was easy for them to isolate me and attack me. There is a concept taught in some dark circles of Orthodox Judaism - not all, but some. They teach that a person can lie "to make peace".

As a convert, I was taught the concept that "a person can lie to make peace," although I did not and do not agree with this teaching. The simple use of the concept is often misused and abused.

If something uncomfortable happens in a person's home, in their personal or businesses relationships or in their community (and they don't want to deal with the problem that arose), then some people will misuse and abuse the "lie to make peace" concept. They mislead or lie to whomever are around them - like a mind game. Instead of facing the problem and honestly dealing with it, especially when they owe an apology, they enter into a mind game to shift the blame on others.

Depending how badly a person wants to avoid the truth to what happened or how badly a person wants to silence whomever, a person can mislead innocent bystanders, passively threaten the bystanders, shun the bystanders and lie about their "opponent" in order to silence the matter - in order to "make peace".

It's a very sick "mind game" played in the dark circles of Orthodox Judaism. Most of the Orthodox that I know are not like this. However, we all know that the problem exists.

So the defendants in the lawsuits relied on their mistaken belief that God allows them to lie to "make peace" to cover their errors. This well-know belief was used by the defendants to justify approaching whomever around me to instill fear, to mislead, to tell half-truths and to spread lies for attacking me - and for playing a giant mind game with the community. It was an attempted spiritual assassination of a convert.

It was horrible. It was evil. It still deeply effects my soul to this day. As a former Christian I was taught to do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

My beautiful "gentile" mother, may her memory be for a blessing, would not behave or treat anyone like those people treated me. And because I was taught well by my beautiful mother and by the Christian churches I attended, neither would I behave or treat others the way they treated me.

Here's a couple examples of how the evil can attack and pressure righteous supporters.

One Example. When I went to a different community to get away from the evil, there was a friend that strongly sided with me when he realized what the attackers were doing. He was a respectable professional and a substantial donor in the community and he had some influence in it. But because he supported me, the attackers began pressuring him and they began shunning him and his family.

About three months later, because they pressured him so much, he began to change his position. He went from confronting them to now actually confronting me. He wanted me to drop the lawsuits, especially the ones against the five rabbis that were involved in the slander.

This guy (who was my "friend") actually spoke words that threatened to kill my mother if I didn't drop the lawsuits. It was shocking. It was shocking that (with a straight face) his mouth would express such an act. I knew he was an emotional guy that had his own personal issues so I did not believe he was serious. Otherwise, I'd have gone to the police. And, Baruch Hashem, he later apologized for making the threat. We were cordial with each other afterwards, but the damage was already done.

By the way, the threat he made is audio recorded.

In the beginning, in 2015, when their attacks started and when I realized that they were lying to me and lying to others about me, then I started audio recording them as much as I could. Over a five year period, I probably collected about 200 or more audio recordings of the witnesses and of the defendants.

My dad is a lawyer. I remember being in his office when I was a teenager in the mid-1970s. I was sitting at his desk while he was on the phone with a client. And he was audio recording his client. I asked him, "Dad, why did you audio record that person?" He told me that today his client is going to tell him one story and in a month from now this client will probably tell him another story. He told me that he experienced this multiple times - clients that changed their stories.

So I learned as a teenager that when necessary, audio record anyone that might change their story later. Better to audio record it, than not. Several times I missed recording some very damaging conversations. I wished I had my recorder with me. I even started carrying the recorder on Shabbat.

So as early as 2015, I carried a mini audio recorder with me, just in case someone approached me and told me that "someone said such and such about you". I used the recordings as evidence in the lawsuits. If I didn't record them, then they would claim that "Oh, I didn't say that". People would tell me the slander that was going around and who was saying it, but then they didn't want to testify about it in court. My witnesses were being shunned and psychologically pressured by the defendants. So I carried a little audio recorder.

It was really bad. What insanity I had to deal with!

Another Example. A close "friend" of mine in the community actually did so much to help fight back against the slander. I knew his wife and children very well. I went to his home for meals about 20 or 30 times over a couple years? We did business deals together.

He actually approached one of the accusers and scolded him multiple times for what he had done. He actually stood up for what was right and defended me. May Hashem bless him and his family, even unto this day.

Unfortunately, after some months had passed and after relentless pressure from the agents of the accusers, he finally gave in. That's how it works in many of the Orthodox communities. When accusers have strong personalities or have positions of leadership in the religious service or community, then they can make a person's life uncomfortable. Their families will start stunning your family.

People have their daily routines and most just want to celebrate the yearly Chagim and relax on Shabbat. So when those individuals, that harbor evil intentions, continuously prod at the righteous ones, then often the righteous become weary. Very few people have the strength to go through regular attacks for long periods of time by those with evil intentions, especially when it affects their families.

During all this time I was in constant contact with Rabbi David Adatto in California - a member of my conversion Bet Din. I went to him in 2016 after the attacks began. I informed him of all the details. We talked about everything.

He was very disappointed with what they were doing to me in Arizona. He was a strong supporter that remained by my side throughout the legal battle. He told me that what one of the attackers did was so bad that Halacha did not require me to forgive him ever. That's how bad the pre-meditative evil was.

So from 2016 to 2022, Rabbi Adatto gave me input and comments on how to proceed and how to fight back. He operated in the light. We still communicate to this day before almost every Shabbat.

So it really woke me up to the evil that can be intentionally done to a convert in some dark Orthodox environments, especially when they shun and slander. It's easy to do. A convert has no Jewish family to protect them. And if an average member in the community might support the convert, then the strong personalities in the community will attack and stun them too. It's a horrible game they play.

In some Orthodox communities, but not most, if a community rabbi or any of the leadership do something clearly unfair or wrong to a convert, then the convert is supposed to "kiss butt," keep quiet and back down. It doesn't matter if the community leader did wrong. The leader is an important asset to the community. The convert is of little value. Therefore, the convert must back down. That's the sad truth and reality in some communities.

So it was like many of them hated me because of the lawsuits.

In fact, it was so bad that I went to a Conservative Masorti community for about two years to get away from the hatred toward me and the slander they were spreading in the multiple Orthodox communities.

Eventually, I sat with the rabbi of the Conservative community. I informed the Rabbi about the lawsuits and the false accusations. We talked for quite a while about everything. I wanted to give the Rabbi a heads up in case anyone from the Orthodox community tried to approach and spread lies in the Conservative community.

Neither the Conservative Masorti nor the Reform communities teach that a person can "lie to make peace". They reject this type of teaching. So for the time that I was with the Conservative community, it was a relief and a safe place. May Hashem greatly bless those people.

And so, unfortunately, conversion was an extremely bad experience for me. On one hand, I met some of the nicest, loving people that made me feel welcomed to Orthodox Judaism, Baruch Hashem. But on the other hand, in all my life's experiences, some of them that attacked me were the most spiritually vile and premeditatively dishonest people I've ever met. It was horrible.

Finally, in the end, I got apologies and a total of $177,000 to drop the lawsuits. I could have gone to trial and won a whole lot more than $177K, but I just wanted to defend my good name by filing the lawsuits and I wanted to create a record of what they did.

Sometimes it still really disturbs my soul when I think of what they did to me. Many times, especially when I was reminded of their lies, I have wished that I would have taken them to trial to massively embarrass them. (And they would have been massively embarrassed.) But, then, when I re-think it all and ask for Hashem's guidance, I believe it was actually better for me to have walked away.

And, unfortunately, for them, Hashem is not a fish or a frog. Hashem is real and He has eyes and ears and He saw the pre-meditative evil that they did to a convert and He heard the lies they spoke. And so, it's like Rabbi Adatto told me several times, "One day they'll pay a heavy price for what they did."

I did all the legal work myself. And then, after the audio recordings, emails, text messages, interrogatories, requests for admissions and so on and so forth were gathered and all the evidence clearly demonstrated the evil that was done, then I just wanted get away from them. Good riddance.

May Hashem bless those that apologized and bless their families also.

Takes courage and fortitude to apologize.

One day a big book with many stories might be written about the evil that happened. It was terrible.

Baruch Hashem, better days are ahead. B'ezrat Hashem, the living hostages return home alive and soon.

If anyone reading this blog wants to contact Rabbi Block, Rabbi Adatto or Sgt. Miller, then Google them or here are their contact numbers. Rabbi Block 818-335-1474, Rabbi Adatto 818-398-2766 and Detective Miller 602-495-5227. Or if you have any questions for me, then feel free to just send me an email. Am Yisrael Chai. Shalom