Wife of imprisoned celebrity rabbi overdoses on medication

Deborah Rivka Pinto rushed to hospital after collapsing in family home in apparent suicide attempt

Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Deborah Rivka Pinto, wife of celebrity rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, October 1, 2014. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Deborah Rivka Pinto, wife of celebrity rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, October 1, 2014. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The wife of an imprisoned celebrity rabbi was hospitalized Wednesday night after she took an overdose of medication.

Magen David Adom paramedics were dispatched to the Pinto home in Ashdod after Deborah Rivka Pinto collapsed, the ultra-Orthodox Kikar HaShabat website reported.

Medics administered first aid to the unconscious woman and then took her to the Barzilai Medical Center. The report did not note what condition she was in.

In October 2012, Pinto was lightly hurt in a suicide attempt with a drug overdose as her spouse was being questioned by police.

Her husband, Yoshiyahu Pinto, began a year-long prison sentence February 16 for attempted bribery and obstruction of justice in a case that embroiled senior officers within the Israel Police’s national anti-corruption unit. In May 2015, the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Pinto to a year in prison and a NIS 1 million ($260,000) fine after the rabbi pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain.

File: Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto seen in the Tel Aviv District Court in Tel Aviv on April 14, 2015. (photo credit: FLASH90)
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto in the Tel Aviv District Court in Tel Aviv on April 14, 2015. (FLASH90)

Under the deal, Pinto agreed to testify against Menashe Arviv, the former head of the police’s anti-corruption unit, who was suspected of receiving benefits from businessmen associated with the rabbi.

Pinto’s lawyers alleged to the State Attorney’s Office that Arviv had accepted favors illegally and provided secret information in return. Arviv was last questioned by police in September. Charges have not been brought against him. The scandal prompted Arviv to take an extended vacation, and then, in February, to resign after 36 years of service in the police, though he maintained his innocence.

The Haredim 10 website reported Wednesday that earlier in the week two brothers, who are not previously acquainted with the Pinto family and who are being held in connection with a case that is under a gag order, had demanded from Pinto’s family and friends hundreds of thousands of shekels in protection money to look after Pinto in prison. Prison services were reported to have increased the protection around Pinto, who suffers from cancer, at the medical facility of Nitzan Prison in Ramle to ensure his safety.

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