Broken Vows: The Shocking Murder of Rabbi Fred Neulander's Wife

BROKEN VOWS is the story of NJ rabbi, Fred Neulander, who arrived home to find his wife, Carol, brutally beaten to death. Neulander an upstanding leader of a large and affluent congregation, and by all accounts a charismatic and sympathetic man, maintained his innocence. But when rumors of his sexual affairs began to circulate through the congregation and eventually reached the police, that innocence became questionable. Eventually Neulander was accused of hiring a hit man, synagogue member Leonard Jenoff, to kill Carol. It was seven years after the crime that Neulander was ultimately tried for the murder. Author Eric Francis has produced a solid account of the case. He basically approaches BROKEN VOWS as a reporter, straightforwardly presenting the story without bias and without the irritating drama that lesser writers feel the need to include. He includes a lot of material about Neulander's affair with a Philadelphia radio host, and though there is not much background material on Neulander or Carol, there is plenty on hit man Jenoff. The only problem I have with BROKEN VOWS is that it was written before the end of Neulander's legal saga, so that the story is in effect unfinished. BROKEN VOWS is a professionally written book, and if the reader doesn't mind looking up the final disposition of Neulander's case on the web, it is well worth reading.

This crime was shocking because it involved a beloved mother and figure of a Jewish community in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She was brutally murdered in her home by two men. The shocking twists was that it was her husband, the beloved Rabbi Neulander, who orchestrated the murder in order to avoid a divorce. The Rabbi is no saint because he was having an extramarital affair with one of his congregants, a prominent radio talk show hostess. The Neulander tragedy is sad because we don't expect this to happen so close to home. Poor Carol Neulander! all she wanted was a family and ran a successful business as well. Her murder was particularly heinous and just evil because it was just so brutal. How can a husband especially a Rabbi or even a minister do such a heinous act? He robbed his children of their mother and a community of a beloved figure. Rest in peace, Carol.

This book is concise, and well-written. There are so many stereotypes in our culture as to religious leaders; Catholic priests & sexual abuse, ministers & financial 'shenanigans', Rabbis & murder. Huh?! The latter is the reason why this crime was so shocking. The stereotype that Jews don't commit violent crimes is only that - a stereotype. This book explains what happened to the person who is the only Rabbi in America to have ever been found guilty of murder. As the prior review stated, he was always on the make with women. This brings up the only criticism I have of this book. Why would a man who seemed to have it all: at the top of his field, making a good sum of money, adored by his congregation, a devoted wife, and 3 great children - just WHY would such a man risk everything to have his wife killed?? I think a discussion of some psychological theories would have fit well into this book. It seemed to me that the Rabbi may have been a sexual addict; if so, then he displayed compulsive behavior instead of dealing straight on with his problems. He also displayed a tremendous amount of narcissism: he told his girlfriend that he couldn't get a divorce because his congregation wouldn't accept that. It was probably more that his grandiose ego couldn't accept that; he couldn't 'fail' at anything, because he was just so 'perfect'. This theory makes sense in that, even to this day, the Rabbi denies any wrongdoing. Fortunately, many saw through him. This came to quite a crescendo when two of his three children actually testified against him at his trial. And, like the narcissist that he is, he is appealing his case, of course. So all the world can see, once again, that he is "perfect", of course, a completely innocent man. After all, the rest of the world who is so 'beneath him' are so inferior that they have no right to find him guilty of anything!