A Reader Writes....
I'm pro the campaign to oust the molester but I wonder whether it is wise to turn this back into a referendum on Gedolei Yisroel. We need to stay focused on the mission to oust the molester and his protector. The anti-Gedolim tirades just give comfort to the pro-molester forces who take comfort - albeit stupidly - in the fact that their hats are blacker and bigger than ours.
If some Gedolei Yisroel intervened in the prior Bais Din, rather than get obsessed with personalities, we should look at the Halachic issues. There is a sound Halachic basis to accept the testimony of women and children when they are the only ones who are likely to have knowledge of the facts. Thats clearly the case here. That, incidentally is part of the Halachic basis for the seven Monsey Rabonim who signed against Rabbi Mordechai Tendler recently based almost solely on the testimony of women.
Thus, in the first instance, that Psak may simply have been erroneous and needs to be rectified the second time around. The second interesting point is that somebody must have solicited the intervention of Rav Scheinberg into a sitting Bais Din comprised of some oustanding talmeidei chachomin and poskim who clearly were capable of deciding the issue themselves. I would posit that that was none other than Kolko or Margulies or both. Anotherwords they actively sought to suppress the truth through a questionable psak rather than allow the Bais Din to proceed. That in itself speaks volumes about their true intentions.
In the latest incarnation of a Bais Din that Margulies agreed to go to a Bais Din comprised of Rabbis Kaminetzky and Levine. Margulies then did an about face and said hes not going until he gets a Psak from Rav Eliyashiv. Its literally identical to what he pulled with Rav Scheinberg. Manipulating and perverting our holy Torah for his nefarious ends. Rather than allow the truth to come out he once again tries to pervert the Halacha under the guise of "daas torah" to suppress the truth.
Lipa Margulies, keep your filthy hands off our precious torah, away from our gedolei yisroel and most importantly, away from our children!!!!!!
UOJ RESPONDS........
I think this IS the perfect time to define what is so loosely termed as Gedolei Yisroel. What does that mean? The guy with the biggest yeshiva? Can someone please define that term to me?
There was a "rabbi" that was hell bent in dismissing the previous bais din on a "technicality" and was able to convince a bais din that heard gut wrenching testimony from victims that their testimony was invalid according to halacha.
Now this behaima wears 80 pairs of tzizis and walks around all day in his Tefillin. Is this guy part of the Gedolei Yisroel? You know what, if he is, I want out of HIS religion.
What Gedolei Yisroel are we talking about exactly..the ones that will permit a Jewish Mafioso to keep his molester rebbe in a classroom?
As long as the "gedolim" do nothing...there are no gedolim only reshaim!
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CLICK! For the full motion to quash: http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-motiontoquashmemo.pdf
24 comments:
Why did you remove the letter from Pasik ESQ?
Will the psak from Wosner in Monsey, allowing testimony of women and ignoring claims of lashon harah, be useful in your campaign?
Although I received the letter of "hazmana l'din" from thirteen separate readers, Mr. Pasik asked me to remove the post.
In deference to him, I did.
Anonymous...re the Wosner psak,
The problem is that there is no psak even with a precedent that makes a difference anymore when it comes to bais din. Any "oisvarf" dayan can rule it doesn't apply and that's the end of it.
For every rav that sided with Wosner...you'll find 100 Hirsh Ginzburgs and Aryeh Ralbags..SOB on the take dayanim, that will quote you Bible and verse otherwise.
Nevertheless our group decided that we are going to prosecute the Bastards in every conceivable venue; bais din, secular world media and a court of law.
This may be of interest to the readers here. I just tried to look up the website of Jewish Voice & Opinion, which is the Teaneck rag that defends the Tendlers. It's been hacked & defaced.
UOJ said:
"...Nevertheless our group decided that we are going to prosecute the Bastards in every conceivable venue; bais din, secular world media and a court of law."
I say to him: Lets see some results already. You talk and you promise, yet its over a month and you have nothing to show. You will say that it takes time to make and present the case. This is true. That explains why there is no court of law yet. You claim you are getting jerked around by R'Margolis and Kolko, that is why there is no besi din yet. You try the jewish media and they ignore you too. That being said, the last of your three options is the secular media. Why havent you tried that route yet? Will they jerk you around too? I doubt that. I think they would be eager to get their hands on and expose a story like this. What are you waiting for? Stop your empty threats or your threats that dont yield results and lets see you do something other than ramble and rant on this site and get people worked up. Lets see some results and lets see if your claims are strong enough to be taken seriously by the media. If they arent then you should stop your rants and go back to your cave.
UOJ:
Rabbi Scheinberg didn't convince the Bais Din that the victim's testimony was invalid. He merely proclaimed that the Bais Din must stop the Din Torah.
Margulies and Kolko intimidated several of the individual Dayonim and the rest is history.
When the book is written, after you have succeeded in exposing Kolko and Margulies for the monsters they are, there will be a lot of red faced "Gedolim" out there.
Keep up your holy work.
Has this witch hunt ever been proven why dosent somone take him to court THE AMERICAN ONE
Ladbrokes places the odds of Kolko running off to Israel in June at 16/1.
They place the odds of Margulies jumping off the roof of the "new building" by June at 79/1.
UOJ
Gedolim can make mistakes too. We have Halachos about making mistakes in open Halacha and making mistakes in judgement. We have Parshios in the Torah about mistakes by the Nasi (the leader) and mistakes by Sanhedrin and mistakes by all of Klal Yisroel. There is a Masechta in Shas – Hoirius – dealing with these issues.
The Chumash is replete with sins of great people. Adam and the Snake. Joseph and his brothers, the Golden Calf etc.
G-d did not reject us or his righteous ones because they sinned. He chose not to define them by their mistakes but by their lifetimes of good deeds. For a mistake one has to repent. Just imagine if any of us were judged in so harsh a light. Who hasn’t made mistakes?
Life is complex. Things are not black and white but shades of grey. Our challenge is to see through the mist and get to the truth. Judging people is g-ds domain not ours. I choose not to make the judgements you make. For what purpose? What do you accomplish?. I say stay on message. Ridiculing a great Talmid Chachom for making what appears to be an erroneous psak halacha is neither helpful nor appropriate. Lets focus on getting it right this time.
are you taking steps to ensure that someone like R Scheinberg doesn't interfere with the new bes din you are trying to set up with R Kamentesky? Imagine going through all the motions again and being duped at the last second again.
Seriously, would R Shmuel stand up to R Elyashiv or R Weintraub or the other Rabbonim who overruled him in the Slifkin Affair? Would the orthodox Jewish attorney or retired judge have the guts/authority to stand up to an interloper?
It seems like Bes Din is the worst route. There is no clear power of authority in a bes din situation (everyone has semicha - even you!, and everyone is a rosh yeshiva). There is also no clear path for discipline - it will be entirely ad hoc. You won't know if you've gotten what you wanted until afterward, and even then where will the enforcement power come from, especially in a weak-willed community where money and kavod talk.
What precautions are being taken to ensure that there are no interlopers this time around? What happens if someone who overspoke R Shmuel on the Slifkin Affair sticks his nose into this bes din/arbitration? Will he win like R Scheinberg did, or will the orthodox attorney/retired judge and R Levine tell him to but out?
What happens when R Elyashiv is misinformed and gives a psak? Maybe you will want to protest it, but will the others?
It seems that Bes Din is the most disadvantageous route for you anyway because you cannot predict your remedy and there will be no means of enforcing it.
This case has to go through a system and Bes Din is not a system, it's an ad hoc system that changes every minute.
This is not"what appears to be an erroneous psak",but an attitude of not giving a damn about the children who are victims.maybe he should stick to his brocho selling business.
We are not talking about rabbonim making a mistake in the every day shailos that can be reversed.
We are talking today about rabbonim who REFUSE to step in to terminate a molester who is a present danger and his boss who is symbolic of the rot that has infested Yiddishkeit.
What is their excuse...they did not know???
Sheinberg knew what he was doing; to give him a pass is tantamount to permitting retzicha under "certain circumstances that suit the individual."
Sheinberg can come out now and say he made a mistake; where is he???
The time has come that the "gedolim" will have to answer FOR EVERY SINGLE PSAK THAT ADVERSELY AFFECTS PEOPLES' LIVES OR THEY WILL BE EXPOSED.
No more hiding behind eighty pairs of tzizis...enough already...
Sheinberg is a rasha gamur for what he did, and for what he's NOT doing now.
And I'm still waiting for some frummie to explain to me how the 80 pairs of tzitzis are normal!
his tzitzis are as normal as most everything home made in the charedi circles. what else is new?
One thing we all have to thank UOJ for is the entertainment factor.
He sure got the Jewish Press all riled up. If Klass didn't already make the ultimate tuchess out of himself in fanatically defending Tendler, it's a real howler how he's trying to take potshots at UOJ like the powerless pipsqueak that he is.
I am not too fond of Scheinberg. He might be a talmid chochom but try seeing him without being pressured to donate a large sums of money to his yeshivah. His handlers are some of the most money grubbing chayos out there.
This character and his bloodsucking relatives are interested in one thing money.
BROCHOS FOR SALE!!! BROCHOS FOR SALE!!!
STEP RIGHT UP SEE THE FIFTY PAIRS OF TZITZIS MAN!!
BROCHOS FOR SALE!!!!
Dear Rabbi Margulies:
I represent the interests of several victims who claim to have been sexually assaulted by one of your employees, Rabbi Yudi Kolko; I additionally represent the interests of several current yeshiva parents.
The victims and parents are demanding that you immediately terminate the employment of Rabbi Kolko; and additionally bar him from tutoring any children.
Your institution should be made aware of the following laws: N.Y. Penal Law section 2601, entitled, Endangering the Welfare of a Child - this law provides that it is a misdemeanor for a person charged with the custody of a child to prevent such child from becoming abused; N.Y. Education Law 3204, which requires that a nonpublic school only employ teachers who are "competent"; N.Y. Social Services Law section 413, which requires that schools report evidence of abuse to the N.Y.S. Central Register of Child Abuse, and the violation of this statute is a misdemeanor. The New York courts have additionally long recognized the common-law doctrine of "in loco parentis" - just as a parent is required to safeguard the welfare and security of his or her child, so too is a school, which stands in place of the parent, during the school day. See, e.g., Pratt v. Robinson, 39 N.Y.2d 554 (1976).
If you decline to terminate his employment, the victims and parents are prepared to immediately proceed to arbitration under rabbinic auspices. Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levine, who are board members of Torah U'Mesorah, are both acceptable. The third member of the panel should be an orthodox Jewish attorney, or retired judge. The relief requested shall include, but not be limited to, the termination of Rabbi Kolko's employment in Yeshiva Torah Temimah and any other youth-setting; and the revocation of his s'micha, rabbinic ordination. This arbitration shall specifically exclude any claims for money damages, which can be made in another forum at a later date.
I caution you that the continued employment of Rabbi Kolko constitutes a grave danger to children. If you need any persuading of this fact, I call your attention to this excerpt from the book, "Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders, Who They Are, How They Operate, and How We Can Protect Ourselves and Our Children", authored by Anna Salter, Ph.D. (Basic Books 2003), at p.59:
"The best estimates today, based on an analysis of forty-three studies of
treatment and reoffense rates, is that current methods of cognitive-
behavioral treatment can reduce sexual offending by close to half in the
relatively short run. The impact of treatment can be summed up in an
odds ratio of .60.....
But sixty out of one hundred sex offenders would still reoffend after
the most effective treatment available today, and that means we are a long way from 'curing' pedophilia or rape. Note also these results were
for the short run. No one really knows the impact of treatment in the
long run.
No one in my field today even speaks of a 'cure,' any more than alcohol
and drug counselors speak of a cure for alcoholism or drug addiction."
Dr. Salter earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology from Harvard University. She has written two academic books on the treatment of sex offenders, one of which has gone into fifteen printings and has been called the Bible of sex offender treatment. In 1997, she was awarded the Significant Achievement Award from the Association of the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), given to one person in the world every year. ATSA is the largest organization of its type.
Further, if you still need more convincing of the grave danger that Rabbi Kolko presents, I refer you to the report mandated by federal law, "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature", issued in June 2004, and authored by Prof. Charol Shakeshaft of Hofstra University, another leading expert in the field. This 113-page report is available on the website of the U.S. Department of Education.
I am copying this letter to your board chairman, and I additionally request that you share this letter with all of your yeshiva officers and board members. Further, I am copying this letter to Rabbi Kamenetsky and Rabbi Levine to indicate assent to their serving as panel members.
I await your advice, either directly from you, or your attorney.
Very truly yours,
Elliot B. Pasik
cc: Willie Wiesner,
Yeshiva Torah Temimah Board Chairman
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky
c/o Yeshiva of Philadelphia
Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levine
c/o Yeshiva Telz of Chicago
March 21, 2006 10:26 AM
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Link to Letter sent to R Margulies
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2006/03/allegations-against-rabbi-yidi-kolko.html
The above is not the letter received by Margulies and Kolko.
The actual letter has language demanding they live up to their agreement to appear before the Bais Din which was organized by a Torah Temimah supporter.
Margulies and Kolko are now refusing to appear before this Bais Din.
UOJ
"Sheinberg knew what he was doing; to give him a pass is tantamount to permitting retzicha....
Sheinberg is a rasha gamur for what he did ...."
Many Gedolim, even in response to the latest incarnation of the Kolko scandal, believe that it is their sacred duty to protect the Yeshiva system from any blemish. They fear that the eruption of such a scandal will cause the demise of the entire Yeshiva system. While I believe that this approach is Kineged Halacha and Daas Torah and extremely misguided I would still not use the term term "rasha gamur".
I also agree that we are dealing here with Dinei Nefashos a fact that they appear not to apprehend. Nevertheless, a Dayan can make a mistake in Dinei Nefashos as well.
There are many misconceptions about molestation that people from a certain generation just don't get or are unwilling to face.
You suggest "he knew what he was doing" that he fully understood the horrific ramifications of what he did, knew that what he was doing was against Halacha and did it anyway. I think the jury's still out on that. I would like to believe that he just doesn't appreciate the enormity of this matter or its correct Halachic implications.
For example, the one Gadol you suscribe to in previous posts was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I think most people agree that the Meshichistin in Lubavitch have made a complete churban of both Judaism and Lubavitch. And the question arises did the Rebbe know and want this. I ask you if he was such as brilliant man didn't he realize that evreybody in Lubavitch was saying he was Moshiach. Of course he knew. And yet you admire him.
The flaw in the aforementioned Gedolim's reasoning is that if the Yeshiva system can only survive by supressing molestation, the whole system should be shut down. Not tommorow but today, immediately. The Netziv closed down Volozhin when the Government decreed they have to study Russian. Yeshivas only exist to do the will of Hashem. They cannot be predicated on violating basic precepts of the Torah. If truth, getting rid of these rotten apples will only serve to strenghten and purify the Yeshiva system tremendously. We don't need these menuvalim to thrive. The notion that we do is truly flawed.
"Many Gedolim, even in response to the latest incarnation of the Kolko scandal, believe that it is their sacred duty to protect the Yeshiva system from any blemish. They fear that the eruption of such a scandal will cause the demise of the entire Yeshiva system. While I believe that this approach is Kineged Halacha and Daas Torah and extremely misguided I would still not use the term term "rasha gamur"."
Doesn't it say in Pirkei Avos that a smart person can see the future? If the gedolim are working to prevent this matter from becoming public in order to protect the yesivas, then they are guilty of knowingly placing a band aid on a gaping wound. This is tantamount to murder.
If the gedolim were so smart and worthy of the respect the Gedolim sticker printers heap on them, they'd be proactively working to self-correct the system, rather than sticking their bloated heads in the sand and hoping reality will go away.
In the business world, a CEO who plays games while stock value plummets typically gets crucified by the shareholders. Why should this matter, which is supposedly so "Lehavdil Holier" and far more critical, be dealt with so gently.
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