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To All Jewish People Of Goodwill Around The World:
The final communications with two of the most evil Jews alive today are over. The UOJ team wanted to follow Jewish law by having our grievances heard in bais din.
Lipa Margulies and Yudi Kolko have not responded.
I do not need to spell out what our next step will be.
This is the beginning of the end of Yeshivah Torah Temimah...my advice to members of the staff and to the parents of the students is to look for another place for yourselves and your children.
Rabbis Schustal and Greenfeld, there is a group of wealthy baalei-batim that are willing to back you in opening up a new yeshiva. Ultimately, you need to consider your own future and the future of hundreds of talmidim that will follow you wherever you go. It will take some time; there will be no more Torah Temimah as it exists today. You are welcome to contact me for more details.
Please watch this blog for the latest developments "after" they happen...I do not intend to give notice to the rishaim prior to the next set of events.
We tried....
UOJ
PROOF THAT THE ASHER YATZER GEDOLIM
ARE JUST THAT:
1-FULL PAGE AD IN THE YATED AGAINST PRE-PACKAGED ROMAINE LETTUCE SIGNED BY 60 MORONS WHO HATE HEINNEMAN.
2-AD IN THE HAMODIA, SIGNED BY THE NURSING HOME BRIGADE, AGAINST "THE MAKING OF A GADOL"(DUMBEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN, BY THE DUMBEST PUTZ EVER BORN-UOJ)
3-PAGE TWO AD IN THE YATED INVITING THE "OILAM" TO SHIMSHI SHERER'S DRASHA ON HOW TO MARRY RICH. SEPARATE ADVICE FOR MEN AND WOMEN.(SPONSORED BY THE MOSHE SHERER "JEWISH GROOMING" FOUNDATION.)
4-FULL PAGE AD IN THE JEWISH PRESS ON THE AGUDAH'S UPCOMING DINNER; ONE OF THE HONOREES BEING WJC'S SWINDLER OF THE YEAR, AND PROUD CHAVRUSA IN LEARNING TORAH WITH CARDINAL LUSTIGER AND OTHER CATHOLIC CHURCH MEMBERS, RABBI DOCTOR ISRAEL(BRONFMAN'S WATER BOY) SINGER!
NOT A WORD ABOUT THE REFUSAL OF GANGSTER MARGULIES AND PEDOPHILE KOLKO'S REFUSAL TO COME TO BAIS DIN:
******* PRICELESS!!! *******
More wisdom from the Asher Yatzer Nursing Home Brigade!
Apr. 23, 2006 10:14 | Updated Apr. 23, 2006 15:10
Rabbis call for Yisrael Valis' release
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel met with haredi leaders Sunday afternoon to discuss the possibility of releasing Yisrael Valis on bail. Valis was arrested on suspicion of killing his three-month-old son.
Officials in the district attorney's office stressed that they would wait to decide on bail until they received a psychiatric evaluation on Valis.
A previous meeting scheduled to take place between the district attorney and haredi leaders was cancelled following violent haredi protests over Valis' arrest
Earlier Sunday, Jerusalem rabbis Shalom Elyashiv and Haim Kanievski released a halachic decree declaring that Valis was innocent.
One of the rabbis, speaking to Israel Radio, said that the basis for the decree was that Valis' wife was still supporting him, and that if he had indeed killed his son, she would not be at his side still.
Valis is facing manslaughter charges for beating his baby son to death. He allegedly hurled the boy against the wall after the infant started to cry, and is suspected of repeatedly biting, beating, pinching and punching the infant since his birth. Valis reportedly "did not accept him" due to a defect in the child's neck muscles, police said.
Extremist elements in the haredi community had previously threatened to riot and to "make Jerusalem burn" if the alleged killer is not released from custody, even though police said that he has admitted beating his child.
In a previous effort to ease tensions, rabbinical sages and Valis' family issued a statement two weeks ago calling on protesters to refrain from violence and from burning trash on the street.
Jerusalem Municipality spokesman Gidi Schmerling said last Saturday that haredi riots over the last week have caused NIS 140,000 in damage, including the destruction of 30 city garbage bins.
*************************************************************
ADDED AUGUST 27, 2008
- Click here for more blooper videos
BREAKING NEWS:
Satmar Teacher Sued By Former Student For Sexual Abuse
- THE JEWISH WEEK
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a13292/News/New_York.html
Sent in by Archie Bunker
392 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 392 of 392To claim uoj doesn't get results is a false claim.
When will uoj take on the Federations and their executive salaries, their waste.
Be an equal opportunity offender.
Anonymous: what results? Point to one other than editorials in some penny ante jewish newspaper and some ambulance chasing lawyer sending out emails. The world you orthojews live in is so amusingly small.
Mark Gordon is my type of guy.
He sees rught through the lies and deceipt of UOJ.
Chazak ve'emarz.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Hey Gordon, so you're a neurologist, big deal. All you can do is diagnose, you can't cure anybody, must be frustrating, that explains things.
You're amoral. A gonif - that means thief, stupid - is getting a prestigious award, that doesn't bother you. Why should it? You can't relate to people, the patients you get are only referrals from other doctors. You probably do a lot of insurance work, doing 5 minute exams, certifying everybody as healthy and cutting off their benefits. What normal human being would use you as a doctor? You're a good example of what the Gemara (that means Talmud, the oral law, genius) says: The best of the doctors go to Gehinnom (that means Hell, where people go after they die to be punished for their sins, such as talking like a shaygitz, like you do.)
Do teshuva (that means repentance)!
By the way, Jews don't eat bread during Passover, just matza, try to remember.
UOJ,
What time is Zman Srayfah in Torah Temima?
Physician heal thyself. Dr. Gordon, only a fool would put his name to the vulgar comments you wrote. Check yourself into a psychiatric hospital. Refuah shleimah.
Letter from Rabbi Orbach:
Rabbi M Orbach
22 Skylark Drive
Spring Valley, NY 10977
Between DAAS BAALEI BATIM and DAAS
TORAH
Dear Editor, (The Jewish Observer)
Your recent issue (April/Nissan, 5766) concerning Metzizta B'Peh was a most enlightening and frustrating read. It would have been too easy to ignore this affront on our Mesorah, but a minimal sense of responsibility to the Klal allows me no such liberty.Never before have I so clearly seen and understood the dictum ''Daas Baalei Batim Hu Hepech Daas Torah'', than was obvious in the contrast between your ''insider's account'' and the scholarly article of Rabbi Reisman.While Rabbi Reisman eruditely clarified a Torah perspective on this issue, the prolix essay was a mixture of self-congratulatory posturing and a subtle outcry of a ''sour grapes'' attitude. To an outsider, it would seem that this essay was primarily about asserting Agudath Israel's lay leaders' monopoly on politically correct shtadlanus while the topic of our cherished Mesorah was deftly used as camouflage. The author implores the readership for recognition and credit for his efforts, (the first-person pronoun, (i.e. I, we, our etc.) was used no less than 41 times in his vainglorious narrative). Many of your constituency's Rabbonim and askonim believe that the Agudah may be doing more harm than good in this campaign. To paraphrase the words of an American president, ''What is good for the Adudah, is no longer necessarily good for the Jews''.While Rabbi Reisman's ''A Call to Reason'' deplored intellectual dishonesty, Mr. Zweibel quotes Harav Elyashiv ''Shlit''a'' and others of our Gedolei Yisroel in passing, but adroitly fails to mention that they were and are the architects of what was maliciously labeled as ''shtadlanus folly of the highest order''.When these ''misguided rabbonim and askonim'' valiantly convened a Rabbinical meeting (February 23/06 in Ateres Chaya, Brooklyn) to discuss ideas for shtadlanus in this matter, over 250 Rabbonim from across the Chareidi spectrum showed up en-masse to show their confidence in them. Meanwhile, Agudath Israel's askonim seem to be on the wrong side of Daas Torah, in the view of many, if not most, of the Rabbonim that occupy the dais at Agudah functions. When the acclaimed leader of pre-war Lithuanian Jewry, Harav Chaim Oizer Grozhensky, was approached for his opinion on establishing Agudas Yisroel, his (unfortunately, prophetic) concern was that it will eventually be governed by the ''secretarin'' (bureaucrats), and not by its Torah leadership.As someone who has been close to this issue from the very start, it seems that the lay leaders of Agudas Israel tidied their affectation ''arrows'' early on in this campaign and only then painted their rationalism ''target'' based on what they desired the Daas Torah to be.To parse the entire article with its many errors of omission and commission would be too painful and time-consuming. Suffice it to say, that slowly but surely, the Agudah is becoming an irrelevant relic of our past, that no longer represents the Bnei Torah world and its Rabbonim.
Hachoseim B'dema.
Mordechai Orbach
Marah D'asra, Cong. Sharei Tefila
Monsey, NY
Hey anonymous, thanks for the hebrew lesson, but I know a little something about that. I grew up religious, but it was really the fact that every other orthodox jew is a dathan or aviram - a bellyaching childish adult who thinks he can do better than ALL the other leaders but has never lifted a finger for the community -that made me seek a community with a little more maturity and goodheartedness. Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure that there's another word hebrew phrase you're looking for - I beleive lashon hara is one of those things you're not supposed to do. I'd bet that doctors are higher up in hell than people who defame other people without cause or truth behind them, but I'm no theologian.
I am a doctor who cares very deeply for his patients, however - so unless you know about how much time I spend with my patients and how much I spend of my time caring for uninsured patients, please shut the hell up.
And thanks for the matzo tip - but I'm pretty sure that Jesus had it right - what comes out of your mouth is more important than what goes into it.
As for the other anonymous, I'm standing behind my name, you're hiding behind yours. I'll wager that my position gets more respect in the world outside of your little cloister.
I'd wish you all happy passover, but you guys dont even have a clue what its about.
April 12, 2006
Anonymous said...
Hey Gordon, so you're a neurologist, big deal. All you can do is diagnose, you can't cure anybody, must be frustrating, that explains things.
You're amoral. A gonif - that means thief, stupid - is getting a prestigious award, that doesn't bother you. Why should it? You can't relate to people, the patients you get are only referrals from other doctors. You probably do a lot of insurance work, doing 5 minute exams, certifying everybody as healthy and cutting off their benefits. What normal human being would use you as a doctor? You're a good example of what the Gemara (that means Talmud, the oral law, genius) says: The best of the doctors go to Gehinnom (that means Hell, where people go after they die to be punished for their sins, such as talking like a shaygitz, like you do.)
Do teshuva (that means repentance)!
By the way, Jews don't eat bread during Passover, just matza, try to remember.
==================================
I may not agree with Dr. Gordon regarding the TT issue but certainly the above comment is totally un called for . Hopefully you will never need another doctor in your life but on the very remote chance that you will, just remember what you wrote above.
Your comment was written to and insulted lots of Drs. in the medical field. I would assume that you dont daven three times a day with even simple kavana because if you did you would know that in shmoneh esray we say the brocho of refanu hashem,
Jerusalem, Israel
- Chareidim Protests For Arresting One Of Them
Jerusalem, Israel - Hundreds of Jerusalem’s Chareidi-religious community took to the streets on Friday morning in a violent protest, demanding community member Yisrael Valis to be released from jail.
Valis was placed under arrest, allegedly for beating his three-month-old son. When the infant died of his massive injuries in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in the capital, police charged him with manslaughter.
Leading rabbis of the Eida H'chareidis Rabbinical Court are accusing authorities of using the case to target them unjustifiably, stating with absolute certainty that the young father did not cause the death of his infant son.
Protestors hurled rocks at cars and city inspectors and closed the area of Kikar H'Shabbas, which borders on the Geula and Meah Shearim neighborhoods. Leaders vow the protests will continue until such time Valis is released from custody.
Some rabbi's who visited the 19-year-old father charged with manslaughter say they are convinced he is not guilty of the murder. "It's impossible that the father would kill his son. If he indeed did it, it's a sign he's sick," Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch said after visiting Valas.
After the visit, Rabbi Shternbuch said: "We still cannot determine whether he confessed or not. It certainly wasn't a murder. The question is whether this was a case of carelessness or negligence. We'll figure out this matter. We reject the possibility he did it maliciously."
Meanwhile, leading Orthodox figures have been in close touch with police officials, and have demanded Valas' release to house arrest. "I spoke with the police chief in Jerusalem. I told him that for now we're against the protests. If he was a murderer, than obviously he should not be released for the safety of the public, but that's not the case," Rabbi Shternbuch said.
When asked about biting signs on the infant's body, the rabbi said: "The bite wasn't something that endangered the child."
The infant's grandmother on the mother's side, Liba Weinstock, said. "It's very difficult for the mother to handle this alone without her husband. They didn't let him out for the Seder…we're certain he's innocent."
On Sunday, a large, official ultra-Orthodox protest is planned to express support for the father. In the past week, leading figures in the Orthodox community have been trying to enlist the support of the entire Orthodox community, and have been meeting with influential rabbis to that end.
Some rabbi's who visited the 19-year-old father charged with manslaughter say they are convinced he is not guilty of the murder. "It's impossible that the father would kill his son. If he indeed did it, it's a sign he's sick," Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch said after visiting Valas.
===================================
Its interesting to note how Rav shternbuch could say for certain that he is not guilty of murder
I guess he became a psyciatrist overnight.
I guess he would say that men never beat thier wives or vise versa because how could one spouse even consider beating the other .
How about a child molester Rabbi Shternbuch? Are they also non exsistant? which Rosh Yeshiva would allow such behavior in thier schools
Rav shternbuch ,
Are these stone throwers also not guilty because chareidim do NOT throw rocks?
Just think a little before you make the entire orthodoxy one big laughing stock
It is also interesting to note How (Rav) Shternbuch actually went to the valles home to look around and talk to the parents.
However When it came to the Slifkin affair which in my opinion was also murder of the entire family not a single Rabbi came to speak to him including shternbuch .
I guess if slifkin dressed like a proper yerushalmi it wouldve been a different story.
I Doc, though I thank you for your support of our profession from the juvenile attacks of some of the posters here, I have to point out one other thing before I check out - you refer to my position on the kolko matter and say you disagree with it. But I never really put forth my position here. In fact, if there's some teacher or rabbi or priest who's molesting students OF COURSE he should be removed from his position and prevented from doing much harm, as long as there's a smidgen of evidence. Similarly, if there's evidence of personal theft with malicious intent by the officer of a corporation,he should be removed.
However, the following points must be made:
1) I have never seen a shred of evidence against kolko or anyone else other than the author of this blog's say-so, and a few letters from lawyers working on a contingency fee basis. Now granted, not being from the orthodox community, I dont know much about this issue, and have never heard of this kolko before this. But I can say that in the catholic abuse cases, the complaints were valid and confirmed by real agencies. Here, I have nothing to hang my belief on other than some anonymous blogger's word.
2) I can clearly doubt his say-so b/c he's (and his crew of cretins) repeatedly written vicious gossip not to mention verifiably false things about other community leaders such as Singer (stealing money from holocaust survivors as a blatant example, not to mention a horrendous smear against his late father in law (who also turns out to be a hero, having saved thousands of people in WWII) that was shown to be false and unorthodox actually took it down as though he never posted it), the agudah (they're all on the dark side, no doubt), the publishers of artscroll (ditto), dov hiking (quixotically, that he's gay??)etc.
3) there's a certain lack of trust I have in people whose world view is that EVERYONE out there is wholly 100% bad except for them, and a few hand picked saints. It speaks of an immature and narcisstic view of the universe, and does not lend them credibility.
4) thankfully there are investigative legal bodies that address these issues. Sadly, their refusal to press charges is viewed in political light - consequently, if the DA decides that there is not enough evidence to try kolko, it is not possible to assume that he's innocent, only that the DA was bought off. The same is true for singer - the AG found him non-criminal, and yet the response of the bottom feeders here? Spitzer sold out. Of course, its kind of creative that way - like the sabbateans deciding that its important to sin to bring the redemption as the only way of dealing with their messiah's conversion to islam, so too when your accusations get thrown out, the only way to avert a crisis of faith (that maybe, possibly, you might be wrong and owe people apologies) is to assume that the WHOLE system is corrupt. (not to mention that there are plenty of people who'd like to avoid criminal charges without lunatics yelling for their heads - dont you think that if the AG were for sale he'd sell out to them first - after all theyre safer? No, of course not. We think these people are guilty, and we are infallible.)
So, to make a long post shorter - I doc, I dont think there's anything wrong with exposing corruption or molestation, - in fact its admirable. but it needs to be done by adults, in a responsible way, and without any taint of self interest or personal gain. The person making the accusation needs to put his name on the line to SOMEONE so that he or she isnt just accusing anyone he or she feels like without consequences. And finally, there needs to be an endpoint of guilt determination. What would it take to convince you that this person is innocent and you're wrong? if the answer is nothing, its not appropriate for you to raise the issue - leave it to people with depth and judgement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 9 . 2006 — Shvat 11, 5766
Jewish world weighs the impact of financial impropriety at the WJC
By Chanan Tigay
NEW YORK (JTA) – When a top official of the World Jewish Congress was relieved of financial management responsibilities after an investigation found financial impropriety, some members of the Jewish community saw it as a wake-up call for other Jewish groups.
As non-profits grow, they said, their leaders ought to stand back and evaluate how their finances flow.
Others, though, saw the situation at the World Jewish Congress, which was found to have lacked “appropriate financial controls” and to have made “inappropriate disbursements” to top WJC officials, as unique, and unlikely to lead to any significant re-evaluation of current practices.
Either way, word that Rabbi Israel Singer, the most public face of the world body, will no longer be allowed to take part in the group’s fundraising and financial management, was creating a buzz in the halls of US Jewish organizations.
“I think when any such thing happens, it’s the kind of thing that makes you kind of stand back and say, ‘This is a wake-up call, how are we doing in this regard?’” said Susan Shevitz, former director of the Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service at Brandeis University.
“It calls attention to the need for really good practice – responsible, competent practice in these arenas.”
“Jewish organizations need to focus much harder than they sometimes do on issues of management,” said Jacob Ukeles, president of Ukeles Associates, which does management consulting and policy research for the organized Jewish community.
“If this is a wake-up call, great. I’m not sure that people look at it that way, because I think that, at some level, each situation is idiosyncratic. This is a complex melange of personalities and facts. I don’t know objectively if there are lessons to be learned,” he said.
In an agreement reached with the New York state’s attorney general, whose office conducted the investigation, Singer has also stepped down from his position as chairman of the group and has agreed to repay some $300,000 in personal expenses he had charged to the WJC.
The investigation uncovered no criminal wrongdoing or loss of charitable funds.
It is too early to know the impact of the investigation on the organization, which has constituent bodies around the world, and is best known in recent years for negotiating Holocaust restitution agreements around the world, most of them by Singer himself.
New York’s attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, launched his investigation in 2004 after Isi Leibler, a former senior vice president of the WJC, went public with a 12-page memo detailing allegations of financial wrongdoing by WJC officials.
The attorney general’s investigation found that in 2003 Singer made a series of unusual money transfers totaling $1.2 million to European bank accounts in an effort to launch an employee pension fund. He did so, the report said, without seeking authorization from any of WJC’s governing bodies or keeping a record of the fund in the group’s files.
And while Spitzer’s report found that these and other questionable financial moves at the congress highlighted a lackadaisical approach to financial controls, the irregularities did not compromise the group’s core mission.
Spitzer’s investigation found that the WJC had made inappropriate disbursements to some of its officials. One executive received compensation for a child’s school tuition and taxes were not paid on it. Other officials submitted credit card bills that were not properly scrutinized.
In Singer’s case, the Attorney General’s Office said, the inappropriate disbursements totalled more than $300,000. Among other such payments, Spitzer’s office said, Singer had charged some personal expenses to the WJC on a credit card he used principally for congress business; and had used WJC funds for car lease payments and insurance for family members.
Singer has repaid close to $215,000 already and was expected to return an additional $132,000 this week, the WJC said.
In addition to Singer, WJC’s former executive director, Elan Steinberg was barred from playing any future role in the group’s finances.
Steinberg, who is no longer associated with the group, could not be reached for comment.
Singer, who was travelling in Greece, could not be reached for comment, but he said in a statement: “I sincerely regret that at times my almost exclusive focus on execution of our mission diverted my attention from important administrative activities.”
The group’s secretary-general, Stephen Herbits, who was brought on as the WJC was grappling with the allegations, said the group has already made significant changes.
“There was a wide variety” of such disbursements as a “result of sloppy record-keeping,” Herbits said. “That was true of all of the executives here.
“The time and resources that have gone into reforming the WJC’s governance processes over the past 16 months have been necessary and well-spent,” Herbits said. “The organization is now stronger than ever and moving forward with its vital mission.”
At the attorney general’s urging, the WJC has agreed to – and begun – implementing a series of steps to ensure better financial oversight, including forming an audit committee, hiring a chief financial officer, computerizing records, implementing travel and reimbursement procedures, and creating a new fundraising entity to improve solicitation practices.
In an effort to ensure continued compliance, the WJC will remain under tighter scrutiny than most other non-profits, a spokesman for Spitzer said.
“We find it’s a common problem with not-for-profit organizations – the people involved are dedicated to good work but sometimes they lack the expertise or they lack the proper commitment to following a fairly rigourous set of rules and procedures that all not-for-profits must follow,” Darren Dopf said.
For his part, Singer now has a new role as chairman of the newly created WJC policy council.
Singer “will be free to focus on the political, diplomatic and issue-based matters of the organization,” Herbits said. “Those responsibilities have always been Israel Singer’s greatest strength and passion.”
Herbits said, “The need to fight a barrage of baseless and vindictive allegations being thrown about by” Leibler required a “shameful waste of critical resources” by the WJC.
This week the WJC sued Leibler in Israel for defamation.
Leibler, for his part, said he was vindicated by the report.
It “goes well beyond anything that any of those who raised questions even implied, and the facts set out in the report are damning and speak for themselves,” he said from his home in Israel.
“The report has exposed the malpractices and the chaos in the administration of Israel Singer and has at least forced the WJC to choose the reforms which I’ve been calling for.”
In the wider Jewish world, Jeffrey Solomon, president of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, said that the public airing of WJC’s troubles may serve to confirm an impression of Jewish organizations already held by some critics.
“For many people they have a thousand reasons why they don’t want to be involved in organized Jewish life, organized charitable life. This rationalizes that lack of involvement,” he said. “For people who are involved it really makes no difference. It is what it is.”
One Jewish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the lack of financial oversight at the WJC was so extreme that it was unlikely that other groups would take lessons from it.
“Everybody should be looking at” their financial controls, “but I think that most places have pretty good safeguards,” he said. “They do not operate in a parallel way.”
Department of Law
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
Department of Law
The State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
For More Information:
518-473-5525
For Immediate Release
January 31, 2006
WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS ADOPTS GOVERNANCE REFORMS
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced an agreement that resolves an investigation of possible financial improprieties at the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and its American affiliate.
Under the agreement, WJC, an association formed under Swiss law but based in New York City, and its affiliate, American Section, a New York not-for-profit corporation, will formalize a series of reforms undertaken during the course of the Attorney General’s investigation.
"Today’s agreement recognizes the obligation of all charitable organizations – particularly those funded through the donations of members of the public – to safeguard their assets through effective financial oversight and accountability," Spitzer said.
The Attorney General’s office, which regulates all not-for-profit entities raising funds and/or maintaining charitable assets in New York, began an inquiry of WJC in late 2004 after receiving reports of possible misuse of funds.
After an extensive review of financial records and interviews with dozens of persons, the Attorney General’s office concluded that the organizations lacked appropriate financial controls to safeguard charitable assets and failed to keep adequate records regarding their fund-raising activities. The investigation did not reveal criminal conduct.
The investigation focused particularly on an unusual transfer of funds by WJC’s former Secretary General and Governing Board Chair, Israel Singer. In early 2003, Mr. Singer transferred $1.2 million from a bank account controlled by the American Section to bank accounts in Europe. The purpose of the transfers was to establish a pension fund for WJC employees. However, Mr. Singer’s actions were not approved by any governing body of WJC and were undertaken without appropriate measures to protect WJC’s ownership interest or ensure return of the monies.
Neither WJC nor American Section suffered losses from this transaction, but it did highlight major deficiencies in the organizations’ administration and helped spark the adoption and implementation of previously-absent financial controls.
The investigation also revealed a series of inappropriate disbursements to senior to WJC employees. These disbursements consisted of payments for insurance for family members, car lease payments and personal credit card charges, as well as undocumented accrued vacation and sick leave, some of which already have been repaid. In the case of Mr. Singer, the inappropriate disbursements totaled over $300,000.
Earlier this month, Mr. Singer stepped down from his chairmanship of the Governing Board to chair WJC’s newly created Policy Council, an advisory body. Under the agreement, Singer and Elan Steinberg – who currently is not affiliated with WJC or American Section but previously held senior positions at both organizations – will be able to assist WJC in efforts promoting its mission but will have no connection to the financial management, supervision or oversight of fund-raising activities of WJC, American Section or any affiliated entity.
The agreement recognizes and makes permanent other reforms instituted by WJC and American Section during the course of the investigation. These include:
• Creation of an audit committee and Chief Financial Officer position;
• Computerization of all financial records;
• Creation of an employment manual outlining official procedures and policies;
• Implementation of travel and reimbursement procedures; and
• Creation of a new fund-raising entity to improve solicitation practices.
The Attorney General commended WJC for undertaking these reforms and cooperating with his office’s investigation.
As part of the agreement, WJC and American Section will make periodic reports to the Attorney General’s office on their compliance with the reform requirements.
WJC was founded in 1936 to foster the unity of Jewish people and fight persecution that was occurring in Nazi Germany. After the war, the organization was a leader in obtaining restitution for victims of the Holocaust.
The investigation was conducted by Section Chief Carolyn T. Ellis and Assistant Attorney General Tamar Eisenstat, with supervision from Bureau Chief Gerald A. Rosenberg, of the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau.
Attachment:
WJC AOD
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RE: The Valis case
Do I really want to be in the same religion as these cretins?
Look, we already know that they beat their wives and kids. They live in a world where any personal struggle must never be acknowledged, no flaw, at least no serious flaw, can be admitted to.
Of course, the problem is not restricted to chareidim. The ortho community in general only wants smiley happy Jews. We only acknowledge a real problem when you can't coverup the overdoses in Jerusalem yeshivas or a Kolko or Tendler scandal hits the secular news media. And then the first reaction is always to circle the wagons.
There are some serious social and psychological pathologies common in the orthodox Jewish world.
Doctors found signs of repeated abuse on the body of the Valis child. Abuse that appeared to occur over a period of time. In addition to the fatal injuries and mentioned bite marks, the medical professionals found signs of earlier injuries and bruising. The father confessed to abusing, biting and killing his child. In any other community this would be an open and shut case of child abuse. But then, no problem can be admitted. Chareidim don't beat their kids. Now move along.
If Rabbi Sternbuch wants to dance on the head of a pin over the issue of murder or manslaughter he can. My question to him and to anyone who would defend the behavior of the chareidi community in this crime is if the young father who abused and killed his son was named LeShaun Washington, was black and lived in Detroit, and some African Americans started a riot over his arrest, would you be as sympathetic to them?
Well then. Thanks for that contribution: an article with these three "money" quotes, each of which makes my point quite succinctly:
1) "The investigation uncovered no criminal wrongdoing or loss of charitable funds."
2) "And while Spitzer’s report found that these and other questionable financial moves at the congress highlighted a lackadaisical approach to financial controls, the irregularities did not compromise the group’s core mission."
3) "“We find it’s a common problem with not-for-profit organizations – the people involved are dedicated to good work but sometimes they lack the expertise or they lack the proper commitment to following a fairly rigourous set of rules and procedures that all not-for-profits must follow,” Darren Dopf said."
So lets see: no charity money stolen, no criminal conduct, nothing but a lack of "the proper commitment to following a fairly rigourous set of rules and procedures."
Hmm. Sounds like a ringing indictment to me. "Good work" is what government agencies said about ken lay, right? Oh no, they didn't, wait, they indicted them! In fact, though the point has been made a number of times, you still keep missing it - so here goes one more:
The very fact that you repeatedly use words like "criminal" and "swindler" leaches you of any credibility when the proponderance of evidence points to a problem of process and not content.
So, once again, my point stands. When you will not listen to any arguments to the contrary, and you'll accuse even the toughest of prosecutors of being corrupt, and you'll show that you HAD no end point or way for the people you're accusing to exonerate themselves, then you display yourself to be not a legitimate reformer, but a bitter hatefull petty troll seeking the limelight at all costs, even if you have to ruin people's lives to get there.
And if you dont post this, you have even less credibility, since its a direct and to the point rebuttal of your last "argument."
http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/4781.htm
The speech the WJC doesn't want its members to hear
By Isi Leibler January 10, 2005
The following speech was written for delivery to the WJC Plenary on January 10, 2005. Leibler, Sr. Vice President of the organization, was not allowed to address the plenary before or after being summarily dismissed from his position.
Many of you do not know me personally. I have served the WJC faithfully for over 40 years, longer than nearly all of you in this hall. During those years, I was head of the Australian Jewish community for three terms and one of the earliest Diaspora Jewish leaders to become involved with Lishkat Hakesher in the struggle for Soviet Jewry, well before it became fashionable to do so. I was also directly involved in negotiations leading to diplomatic relations between Israel and China and India.
I have a record of fighting for what I believe is right, no matter how unpopular. I have never been one to give in to threats or intimidation.
.
Five years ago when I first raised alarm bells about governance at the WJC, I was literally howled down.
18 months ago, I learnt that Mr. Bronfman was no longer the primary financial backer of the WJC and that the bulk of funding came from American donors. I realized that managing a publicly funded body without a semblance of financial transparency -- not even submitting a balance sheet to an Executive for review - meant that the WJC was in blatant breach of American law. I therefore decided once more to raise the issue of governance and financial transparency.
Israel Singer begged me not to proceed. He undertook to work with me to ensure that genuine reforms would be implemented. I demanded, and it was agreed, that a Task Force on Governance be set up to ensure that a proper system of checks and balances be introduced. In return, I was reluctantly persuaded to concentrate on the future and not to analyze or examine the past. The President invited me to join an Operations Committee with Elan Steinberg and Singer to manage the WJC on an interim basis until the Task Force completed its work.
In June 2004, after 6 months of trying to come to grips with the financial basis of the WJC and being continuously stonewalled by Singer, the Operations Committee moved a resolution demanding access to all payments.
It was only then that Steinberg and I became aware that unauthorized payments, salaries and expenses were still being incurred in a manner no reputable body claiming to adhere to financial transparency could tolerate. We also realized that we shared a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the WJC was not breaching any statutory regulations.
Let me give you a few examples.
Since Israel Singer had retired as a professional and assumed a lay role as Chairman of the Governing Board, he repeatedly announced to the media - and everyone willing to listen to him - that he no longer received a single cent from public funds. Yet we discovered that in fact he was receiving an income equivalent to his former salary. Initially he told us it was paid by Bronfman. But we discovered that the funds were in fact being paid from a WJC payroll. Mr. Herbits subsequently creatively described Singer's income as "ex gratia payments for a pension". However, this arrangement was concealed from me when he asked me to sign yet another pension agreement for $150,000 per annum with Mr. Bronfman and Ms. Sommer. More importantly, nobody on the Executive was ever aware of these arrangements.
We learnt that Singer authorized a termination payment of over a million dollars to our former Secretary General, Avi Beker, for a position occupied for just over one year. Yet just over a year earlier, Beker had already received full and generous compensation for his services in Israel. Once again, Singer told me that that Bronfman paid this amount personally. But later it transpired that these payments also came from the WJC. The Executive was also unaware of this.
We also learned that Singer facilitated substantial donations from WJC funds to organizations some of whose representatives sit on the Executive and are present here. Worthy organizations and worthy causes, but not directly related to WJC programs or approved by the WJC.
There were also other questionable payments without authorization, e.g. one consultant received $200,000 per annum yet if I named him I wager that none of you would even recognize his name. I could go on about other major expenses not formally ratified.
I never sought to assume the role of a judge on such matters and that is why I called for a comprehensive independent audit of the organization.
Two weeks after these revelations, we were stunned when Daniel Lack, the Legal Adviser of the WJC in Geneva for almost 30 years, drew our attention to the existence of a secret bank account containing $1.2 million, transferred in installments from the NY office, by Singer. Nobody - neither myself, Prof. Dinstein, Elan Steinberg, the Geneva office and its legal adviser, or any executive member - was aware of the existence of that account despite having asked Singer on numerous occasions to provide us with a full breakdown of local and international WJC accounts. The only person aware of the account (beyond Singer) was a WJC bookkeeper in Switzerland who had been dismissed for financial irregularities.
The saga included a lightning secret visit by Singer to Geneva during which he dragged the dismissed bookkeeper from his hospital sick bed in order to liquidate that account which was transferred to London. Were it not for a technicality which exposed the account to the Geneva office, we would still be in the dark. Singer's initial explanation for transferring the account from Geneva to London was that Avi Beker would have misappropriated the funds. More recently Herbits claimed that the director of the Geneva office was too young and inexperienced and the funds were placed in a secret account in Geneva in order to prevent her having access to it. Incredible nonsense! In fact the money was transferred from New York to Geneva even before the director Maya Ben Chaim had been installed. Besides, even, the Secretary General Avi Beker claims that he was unaware of the account or only learnt about it just before his dramatic retirement.
According to press reports, the account was transferred to Singer's friend Zvi Barak and deposited by him into a custodian account in Singer's name or in the joint names of Singer and his wife. We have still not been informed who authorized Singer to carry out these strange transactions. Nor have we been told on behalf of whom Barak held the account. I therefore challenge you. Tell us, in whose name Barak held the funds in his custody and tell us who authorized these bizarre transactions. We are entitled to straight answers.
The money returned intact. But be under no illusions. This money was not included in any breakdown of WJC assets prior to its discovery and although Herbits keeps repeating that it remained at all times under the control of the WJC, the fact remains that no WJC officer had signatory rights and we had to pursue Barak for three weeks until it was recovered.
Then Daniel Lack provided Herbits with more details. Apparently the Geneva Office Director had been instructed by Avi Beker to carry out an investigation. That seems to have preceded Beker's retirement with the golden handshake. Herbits refused to pass the information from Lack to the Executive dismissing it as the ravings of a "disgruntled former employee". I have these extraordinary incriminating documents here!
If we are to be genuinely transparent, I ask why has the former Legal Adviser been silenced? Why was he been specifically ordered by an unelected official not to disclose any information or documents to any party including WJC executive members? What kind of body refuses to consider allegations of financial irregularities from its own Legal Adviser? Are we to totally disregard our fiduciary obligations?
I therefore call on this body to reject such a blatant breach of transparency and to invite Mr. Lack and Ms Ben Haim, both of whom are here today and were excluded from even entering the hall to address us. Mr.Lack could explain to you directly the circumstances which led him, in his capacity as legal adviser, to demand that the organization hold an independent audit in order to protect the WJC from allegations of impropriety and financial irregularities.
Aside from that, lies, more lies and contradictions were conveyed about the account. Singer could not even get his own story straight. Initially he and even his lawyer insisted that the account, provided by the Jewish Agency, was earmarked for his personal pension -- but he had to backtrack when the Jewish Agency denied the story.
On the day the money was finally repatriated to the WJC, the giant cover up began. The Geneva Office had already been closed with both Ben Haim and Lack dismissed. Steinberg and I, not realizing Singer had another agenda, endorsed his recommendation to close the Geneva office based on misleading information, including a highly overstated budget.
Realizing that these awful issues could develop into a serious crisis, I prepared a memorandum and requested a meeting with Mr. Bronfman to alert him. Despite efforts by Professor Dinstein and others, the meeting never eventuated. Instead, Singer went to the Jewish media with copies of my memorandum and other documents obtained illegally from my computer. Singer was unable to explain to the media how he had access to confidential material from my computer especially since I never used the WJC network for these communications.
I stress that I have irrefutable evidence conclusively proving that Singer was unquestionably the first to approach the media with these issues, providing them with copies of my memorandum before I had even distributed it to the Executive. If any of you doubt me, I invite you to communicate with the Jewish Week and Forward who initially broke the story.
Likewise, the suggestion that I am responsible for the Attorney- General's intervention is rubbish. Those who are perceived to have engaged in questionable activities only have themselves to blame.
On the other hand the efforts by Singer to derail a serious internal investigation by making the issue public initially succeeded. But even before Singer went to the press, on the day the money was repatriated to New York, the Operations Committee was dissolved. Elan Steinberg the senior professional and key architect for our campaign against anti-Semitism was brutally excluded from the newly created Steering Committee and I was effectively marginalized and unceremoniously expelled from the Steering Committee at its very first meeting. At the same time, the third remaining member of the former Operations Committee, Singer, the central figure in the Geneva account, was elevated and began spearheading a campaign to discredit and expel his former colleagues.
Then Mr. Herbits, described by Mr. Bronfman as his "right hand man", was appointed to manage the WJC. At first, he claimed that after reviewing the accounts he was satisfied that apart from a few inconsequential errors, all was in order. Today, no doubt encouraged by the interest displayed in the WJC by the New York Attorney General, Herbits concedes that governance and financial transparency were lacking.
After the Swiss Jewish community intensified their demands for an independent audit the cover up campaign was accelerated. Every single person who raised questions about financial transparency was demonized, intimidated or expelled.
But worse still. In a disgusting politburo style resolution, which will go down as one of the most abominable acts ever undertaken by a WJC body, Professor Donath, the President of the Swiss Jewish Community was censured and threatened with expulsion from the EJC Presidium unless he withdrew his request for an independent audit. Those involved in that resolution should hang their heads in shame.
What kind of organization refuses to address serious allegations presented by its own legal adviser? What kind of organization becomes hysterical in resisting a genuine independent audit if it has nothing to hide?
I am delighted that we have ended the nonsense of referring to money trail documents as audits. I am pleased that Mr. Herbits has finally acknowledged that contrary to earlier statements, until now no genuine comprehensive audit has taken place.
I am also gratified that the WJC has finally agreed to conduct an audit in accordance with the demands of the Swiss Jewish Community.
But I am under no illusions. The audit must be genuine and independent. An independent audit should not even be indirectly conducted, scoped or supervised by Mr. Bronfman's appointee.
The most fundamental questions raised in respect of Geneva relate to who authorized the bizarre series of transactions? Why was the existence of the Geneva account and the funds transferred from that account to Advocate Barak hidden and not disclosed in a breakdown of all assets of the WJC, including bank accounts. What was the explanation for the conspiratorial sequence of events following the termination of the book-keeper? Why did Singer rush behind everyone's back to Geneva immediately after learning of the termination of the book-keeper for financial irregularities? What was so urgent that he had to pull the book-keeper out of a hospital bed, knowing that he had been dismissed for financial irregularities, to empty the secret account. Why couldn't he advise Geneva staff members to effect any transfer? Why the secrecy? In whose name, did Barak hold the custodian account? What about the details set out by the WJC Legal Adviser, Mr. Daniel Lack in his memorandums to Mr. Herbits? Although Mr. Herbits refused to disclose them to members of the Executive claiming that such facts were not material, these issues must be covered by the auditors.
A few additional observations. Contrary to the disgusting lies being disseminated, I never sought to displace Bronfman or anyone else. Nor have I indulged in character defamation. My only crime was to dare to expose the utter lack of governance and transparency in this organization and to endorse the call of our own legal adviser for an independent audit.
What humbug it is to allege we are motivated by malice or ambition when the central party involved in these bizarre affairs personally threatened to "destroy" the President of a Jewish community together with his family unless he withdrew his demand for an independent audit.
I have also been subject to intimidation. Each time the issue of governance arose, threats both implied and overt, were made to me. I was strongly urged that it would be in my best interests not to attend this Assembly. That I would be "destroyed".
You just have to see the public billboards in Jerusalem this Shabbat to get a flavor. Here is a poster I obtained just before boarding the flight from Israel. Headed "Beware an Informer", a bogus non-existent rabbinical council calls for a Cherem -- excommunication -- for having sold my soul to the devil. It concludes by saying "World Jewry must not rest until Isi Leibler, the contemptible evildoer -- the disease -- is eradicated from our midst." I leave it to you to guess who initiated this filth?
What does it say about governance and transparency when every person, without exception, who refused to endorse the party line and asked "awkward" questions has been thrown out of the organization? You can spin it any way you like, but the public is not stupid.
A public organization which purports to represent Jews all over the world cannot continue to operate as though it were a personal fiefdom. The WJC has over 400,000 American Jewish donors. We owe them a duty to ensure complete transparency.
Had the steps now being undertaken been implemented at the outset or had the problems been dealt with internally in a constructive manner as was my intention, we could have spared ourselves the awful media exposure, We could also have avoided the enquiries by the New York Attorney General. We would certainly have avoided the incredible cost of this premature Assembly.
This Assembly is in fact constitutionally questionable because in addition to being summoned at incredibly short notice, the American Jewish Community, the largest and most influential Jewish community in the world is not truly represented here. The American Section is in violation of its own by-laws. For example, the Chairman is obliged to rotate every two years, yet the current Chairperson has held office continuously for thirteen years. Elections are obligatory every two years but the American Section has effectively not even held a meeting over the past four years.
Some of you may be aware that two weeks ago I met with Stephen Herbits. There were efforts to come to an understanding. It was suggested that I express public satisfaction with the initiatives to introduce governance being taken by Mr. Herbits which certainly does represent a vindication for what I have been striving.
However, I was not prepared to compromise on the conduct of a truly independent comprehensive audit or be party to any cover up. I would not be willing to once more fall into a swamp if there is a calculated effort to protect any person who may have abused his WJC role for personal gain or as a means to retain power.
Let me reiterate that the Swiss account is not the core problem of governance. It merely exemplifies the breakdowns that inevitably occur when there is a complete lack of governance and transparency in an organization. My concerns are with the overall financial operations of the organization and the complete absence of checks and balances and controls over expenses, payments and disbursements. Those concerns remain valid. The audit must therefore cover all finances of the WJC worldwide. For the sake of the integrity of this organization, we cannot simply sweep under the carpet serious breaches which took place in the recent past which could amount to millions of dollars.
And if an independent audit should determine that any leader in this organization has misused or misappropriated substantial funds, or abused procedures for his own personal benefit or as an instrument of power, such a person cannot be permitted to maintain a leadership position.
I also find it difficult to come to terms with a purportedly new regime of governance when a newly established Finance Committee is headed by Mr. Coby Benatoff, one of the key architects of the shameful campaign to expel Professor Donath, the head of a Jewish community for the "crime" of asking for an independent audit. A person who behaves in this manner is unfit to hold office in any public body and least of all to head a Finance Committee. To have Mr. Benatoff supervise a finance committee and be responsible for the appointment of an audit committee can only be regarded as a sick joke!
We are told in the Torah -- Zedek, Zedek, Tirdof. I call on my former WJC colleagues to do just that. Failing to raise their voices against the expulsion and demonization of all those who call for reform they become accomplices to a cover up. I stand here and condemn anyone who aided, abetted or stood by whilst a few ruthless individuals expelled, intimidated, demonized and tried to destroy the dedicated and honest people who demanded an independent audit.
I have engaged in a struggle against overwhelming odds to achieve governance in the WJC. I am pleased that Mr. Herbits is now admitting that the WJC was operated like a one man band or a feudal principality rather than an organization funded by the public. I have no doubt that in time the WJC will become transformed into a more democratic body. In that context I take pride that I have been fully vindicated.
The WJC, is an organization with historic achievements. But even if I had your support, I would not, in good conscience, remain an office bearer in an organization which remains under the control of the same leaders who led us into this morass.
I take great pride in the realization that Jewish people power is a reality and remain confident that in the not too distant future, this organization will resume its role as a respected spokesman for the Jewish people and I pay tribute to the large number of the Jews throughout the world who have supported me in this otherwise lonely battle.
Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
Isi Leibler , former head of the Australian Jewish community, now lives in Jerusalem. He was a leading personality in the movement to free Soviet Jewry and is a prolific writer on Jewish affairs.
ileibler@netvision.net.il
Yes, from the horse's mouth, yet again: "After an extensive review of financial records and interviews with dozens of persons, the Attorney General’s office concluded that the organizations lacked appropriate financial controls to safeguard charitable assets and failed to keep adequate records regarding their fund-raising activities. The investigation did not reveal criminal conduct."
Once again, No criminal conduct. Yeah. Right. The AG is corrupt or stupid. But unorthdox found it. Thank god for him.
And the coup de grace, a screed full of inaccuracies and lies, written by Liebler, the very man who made the accusations for political gain and out of spite. That's kind of like Liebler quoting this blog as irrefutable evidence of his case. Not exactly watertight.
Im not suprised that you turned to him for support, however. You and Leibler are birds of a feather. You both are shrill men who thrive on attacking others, and who claim victory when its apparent to all that theyve lost. You both assume guilt EVEN when proven innocent, elide inconvenient facts and more or less make nuisances of yourselves.
Well, you thought you were providing evidence, but what you really did was show 2 documents proving my point, and a third written by a madman. Good show.
MYSTERY MEMO IN WJC CASE
June 12, 2005
by Richard Johnson
New York Post
Edgar Bronfman Sr., whose family made billions with Seagram, is having a big problem over the relatively small sum of $1.2 million that went missing from the World Jewish Congress, of which he is president.
The New York Times has killed two stories by reporter Stephanie Strom about state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation into possible corruption at the WJC, but PAGE SIX has obtained a document opponents of Bronfman are referring to as a potential "smoking gun."
The document, a 2002 memorandum of understanding between Chairman of the Governing Board Israel Singer and two businessmen, could explain why five payments totaling $1.2 million were transferred from WJC accounts in New York to a numbered bank account in Switzerland.
Although the agreement was never signed, Singer's hand-written notes in the margins show he was ready to go into business with Curtis Hoxter of New Rochelle and Zvi Barak of Ramat Gan, Israel, in a public-relations company, Worldwide Consulting Inc.
Hoxter was already working with Singer, who had hired him as a $200,000-a-year consultant for WJC. Barak is the lawyer who had control of the transferred $1.2 million.
Singer was going to own 40 percent of the new company - but only after bringing in p.r. contracts worth $2 million a year.
"The timing and control of the money indicates that it was going to be used to fund projects that would contribute towards Israel Singer's portion of Worldwide Consulting Inc.," said one source.
As we reported in February, Spitzer's office launched an "informal" investigation into the financial improprieties at the WJC after its longtime senior vice president, Australian travel magnate Isi Leibler, discovered the transfer of the $1.2 million.
The Times was looking into WJC's finances and into reports that Spitzer is reluctant to pursue his probe because Bronfman is powerful among Democrats who could help in Spitzer's campaign for governor. A Times rep declined to comment.
Robert Abrams, Spitzer's predecessor as state AG, has been brought in to "handle" the matter for the WJC.
Abrams told us there is "absolutely no connection" between Singer's proposed business venture and the $1.2 million. "The $1.2 million was money set aside for a pension program," Abrams said.
Oh! So spectacular. You really CAN'T read, can you? The AG's report (the real thing, the AOD, not the picture book version press release you probably read - ask a big boy for help with the words longer than 2 syllables, ok?) actually said quite clearly that this "secret memo" and the "evil plan" to set up this "shadowy organization" never existed. oops. You're quoting out of date news that's so false that even the post's page six gave up on. But I was right when I compared you to jared stern last week. You guys are of the same mendacious (that means lying) ilk.
Get your "facts" straight before you post them, genius.
Posted Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech
Alphabetical index (text)
Quick navigation Mr Irving, take me to ...... your main alphabetical index... your current newsletter... where you will be speaking... news on your legal battles... you and your family... your career so far... how to buy your books... free downloads of your books... how to help your fighting fund... your letters to the press... your publishing Home Page
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The only financial wrongdoing, he said, were the accountant's payments to himself, which he attributed to that man's possible dementia. -- Isn't that always the way?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York, November 30, 2004
Money-Shifting Uproar Shakes World Jewish Congress
Rabbi Israel Singer, WJC chief
By Stephanie Strom
THE World Jewish Congress is in turmoil, two decades after the billionaire Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. (below) rescued it from crushing debts and propelled it to remarkable successes.
With just a few dozen employees and an $8 million annual operating budget, the congress, a nonprofit organization, brought to light the Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations chief, [Website note: Waldheim turned out to have been G2, Intelligence officer, in a minor Wehrmacht unit] and forced Swiss banks to pay more than $1 billion to settle Holocaust-related claims.
Now the organization that criticized those banks for their lack of transparency and accountability finds itself under attack on similar accusations -- and from within the Jewish community.
An odd series of money transfers totaling $1.2 million first to a Swiss account and then to one in London has critics crying foul and questioning whether the money was improperly moved by Israel Singer, the 62-year-old rabbi (above right) who has generally led the organization since 1985.
Four people who pressed for a full audit of the money transfer have left the congress or been dismissed, and another has been suspended from a subsidiary organization
The Geneva accountant who, together with Rabbi Singer, signed for the money's transfer to an account in London has been fired for paying himself roughly $1,900 a month more than his approved salary. The Geneva office was then ordered closed -- although after two employees who raised questions were let go, the organization has since decided to keep it open.
None of the transferred money is missing, and a review of the paper trail by the congress's auditor uncovered no irregularities, said Stephen E. Herbits, who was brought in by Mr. Bronfman in September to complete an overhaul of the organization that began last year. The only financial wrongdoing, he said, were the accountant's payments to himself, which he attributed to that man's possible dementia.
Mr. Herbits said he was concerned that the uproar over the money transfer threatened to destroy the organization and that it had complicated efforts to strengthen oversight and rewrite the group's constitution. "I am horrified by the time and cost and embarrassment and potential damage that this is doing and for reasons that are not substantive and have come up by pure desire for influencing politics and having prestige," Mr. Herbits said.
Isi Leibler, a retired Australian businessman, [actually a billionaire, right] said the Geneva money transfer was symptomatic of the organization's feeble controls over management and money. Mr. Leibler was ousted in September from the organization's steering committee but remains senior vice president, a titular role.
"I want a clear investigation," Mr. Leibler said. "If people have done wrong things, they should go, and the organization should establish financial transparency, accountability and checks and balances over its money."
Mr. Bronfman, who built the Seagram Company Ltd. into one of the world's premier purveyors of liquor, was virtually the organization's sole backer at one point, and he continues to contribute about $2 million a year.
For years, Mr. Bronfman and Rabbi Singer ran the congress as a fief, Mr. Leibler said. "I accepted that because I felt that Mr. Bronfman was himself giving the bulk of the funds," Mr. Leibler said. "I'm now aware that about 80 percent of money comes from 400,000 donors who provide money to the American section, but the organization is still effectively controlled by Rabbi Singer, who operates under jurisdiction of Mr. Bronfman."
Rabbi Singer, who is responsible for billions of dollars in Holocaust reparations and restitution through his leadership of the Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, declined to comment. So did Mr. Bronfman, the president of the congress. Mr. Herbits said he was speaking on their behalf.
The $1.2 million was moved out of the congress's New York account into a numbered UBS account in Switzerland in five installments from October 2002 through February 2003.
The people running the Geneva office were unaware of the account, according to a letter to Mr. Herbits from Daniel Lack, a lawyer who had worked for the congress in Geneva for 29 years.
But the Geneva office did discover a problem with the accountant's pay soon after a young lawyer, Maya Ben-Haim Rosen, took its helm. She told the man his services would no longer be needed, and briefed Rabbi Singer and another official about the problem in London in July 2003, according to Mr. Lack's letter.
Two days after that meeting, Rabbi Singer flew to Geneva. He coaxed the accountant out of a medical center, where he was recuperating from a heart problem, and took him to the bank to sign the order transferring the $1.2 million to a London account of Zvi Barak.
The transfer order describes the money as "for the pension." Mr. Barak, a lawyer in Israel who has handled pension business, is a friend of Rabbi Singer and declined to comment on the matter.
According to the letter, Mr. Lack and Ms. Ben-Haim Rosen learned of the account only when they received a statement in October 2003 showing that it had been overdrawn by $40 because no money was left in the account to cover the transfer charges.
Mr. Lack's letter, dated Sept. 19, 2004, was supplied to The New York Times by Facts, a Swiss news weekly against which the congress has begun legal proceedings. Mr. Lack, whom Mr. Herbits described as a disgruntled former employee, declined to comment.
Ms. Ben-Haim Rosen and Mr. Lack were dismissed when the Geneva office was closed.
WHEN questions arose about the transfers, Rabbi Singer was quoted in a Jewish publication as saying that the money had been given to the World Jewish Congress by the Jewish Agency for Israel, possibly to create a pension for him. In later publications, he said the money was for pensions for the organization.
But Mr. Leibler and other critics say they suspect he was trying to create a personal pension account. Rabbi Singer is paid $226,000 a year as an "ex gratia pension" for his previous work and now serves as chairman of the governing body.
The Jewish Agency denied that the money had been set aside for pensions. "That is totally incorrect," said Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the agency, which helps immigration to Israel. He said the agency sent $1.5 million in 2001 to the congress's general account in New York.
Mr. Herbits said that the bulk of that money was transferred to Switzerland to broaden its pension plan. Only the employees in Geneva had pensions, and the organization wanted to cover all its roughly 30 employees, some of whom are part time.
He said the money was put into a dormant account -- not a secret one -- to avoid giving discretion of so much money to a new employee.
"A statement went to the office each month and was opened by the secretary," Mr. Herbits said.
Ultimately, he said, the plan to build a pension program in Switzerland failed. The money was then transferred to Mr. Barak because he is an expert in pensions, Mr. Herbits said. Mr. Barak is chairman of the Jewish Agency's employee pension fund.
The transfer was retraced by Loeb & Troper, a New York accounting firm that has done work for the congress for years. "Based upon our review of the documents, we are not aware of any irregularities," the firm wrote in a letter to the congress.
Mr. Herbits said that report, which was repeated by German and Belgian law firms, established that the $1.2 million never left the organization's control, as critics have contended.
But some others say that these reports merely traced the movement of the money and lacked independence because of Loeb & Troper's history as the congress's auditor.
"We also asked why this money movement was done and who had ordered it," said Alfred Donath, a retired professor of nuclear medicine who is president of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities. The Swiss group, with Mr. Donath, has been suspended from the governing body of the European Jewish Congress because of its persistent demand for more information. "Those questions were not answered."
Mr. Herbits said he had answered all the questions of the Swiss Federation and had addressed all the critics' concerns. He also noted that Mr. Leibler had voted to close the Geneva office in his previous role.
The restructuring at the Congress is starting to take hold. Mr. Herbits has created a personnel manual with guidelines on travel spending, has installed a cash management system, has put together a finance committee that will meet next month and has created new policies to govern the hiring of consultants and the disbursal of money.
"Governance and financial management have been weak," he said, "and I'm fixing it."
The New York Times Company
UOJ,
Are there any surprises in store this Chol Hamoed for Kolko and Margo or are we in for a dull Yontef ?
And now, in a bizarre turn of events, you cite an article taken from David Irving's website (I know, I know, you havent heard of him in brooklyn - well guess what - he's a holocaus denier, a rabid anti semite, and a person with even less credibility than you.).
Guess what. I work. Hard. My sundays are very very important. I'd love to spend the rest of the day showing the world exactly what a poor arguer you are and how wrong your position is, but I have obligations.
Ta ta.
Remember - the key word in all these articles (except for leibler's little rant) is "no criminal activity."
Yessir. You are a libeller, plain and simple.
WJC hosts Catholic-Jewish encounter in New York
March 30, 2006
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has hosted a Jewish-Catholic encounter in New York. Through the program, 30 Catholic clerics experienced Judaism as it lives today in a free and open society. The Catholic clerics – cardinals, bishops and priests from Europe and Latin America – visited various Yeshivot and Jewish institutions, and met with rabbis and rabbinical students. The American Orthodox Seminary had invited the clerics to participate directly in the life of their study hall. The group held open discussions on religion in modern society and on the conflicts between competing values in a secular world, amongst other subjects.
Bernie Lander,
We are saving the entertainment for after "yontiff"
Pretty clear, Gordon, that you're defending big drek.
Spitzer is a pol who wants to get elected and won't let a petty 1.2 mil+ from mouse-face sruly stand in his way. He "massaged" the investigation so that sruly can no longer get his grubby hands on the gelt, leibler gets his transparent financial controls for the baby he has nurtured and given over 40 years of his life to, and Spitzer comes out looking like the people's champion for bringning fiscal responsibility to not for profit organizations and maintains his ability to get the big bucks from the well-heeled Jewish money guys.
Win-Win for everybody. Spitzer comes out smelling like a rose, Leibler is happy, and sruly gets to save his pock-marked face by being switched to another position where he can't touch the gelt.
The Art of The Deal. The good ones get it done, smoothly.
Now why don't you be a good little neurologist, take your special neuro- hammer and give your self a good strong reverse hit in the knee so that you kick yourself up your ass.
Uoj,
We had 2 counts of the 10 MAKOS this year . Any count of the dead?
And I guess the final word is in. After trying pitifully to muster any kind of evidence, all unorthodox can resort to is childish name calling (and this continued bizarre accusation that I'm singer in disguise - get it straight, dumbass, I'm not him).
Plain and simple, an investigation by one of the toughest prosecuotors in the country cleared singer of criminal conduct. Until you address that point, you're the only fool here. (its interersting that any student of logic can show how idiotic unorthodox is - he reasons that since there are people who are criminals who are free, anyone found not to be a criminal is naturally really one who got away. Thats an impressive fallacy.)
And boog, you're actually less intelligent than your idol (or alter ego?). 1) spitzer would have looked 10 times better had he found malfeasance and reported it. He had nothing to gain from a cover up - dont you think he'd be offered one by everyone he investiagtes? Do you really think he'd risk bad press for corruptiuon in an election he has had in the bag since last year to make a problem go away for no personal gain? You are not much of a political thinker if you think so. 2) calling leibler happy about this ouitcome is almost comical. Just see for yourself some of the bullshit he's sent out about how unhappy he is with the outcome and how he wants far more (alas, we dont always get what we want). He wanted an indictment, and he just didnt have the goods, or anything close to them.
the two of you are really dense if you cant address the points I'm bringing up directly. So I'll go back to using my "hammers" on people with functional cerebral cortexes. You two are pretty much vegetables yourselves.
Oh, and one last point - to anyone who knows ANYTHING about the jewish world - calling leibler the man who nurtured the WJC like a baby for 40 years is riotously funny. This is something I've followed for a long time - the man has accomplished nothing in his life regarding this org. He doesnt give money, he doesnt really bring any negotiating power to the table, and has been a lay leader his entire career. He was so despised in the org that he was thrown out unanimously. The only backers he has are from his own country and the swiss jews who have hated the orgnization since the swiss bank days.
Sorry, you brooklyn ghetto jews really are living in your own alternate reality. At least I respect the ones who are luddites and stay in their cloister - you try and make it in the wide world, but youre sort of like the country bumpkin who comes to the big city. You gawk, misinterpret everything, and assume that everyone's as gauche as you are.
best of luck.
Anon..on the makos,
We are saving the funerals for after Pesach...they will be big ones!
02/04/05. The Jewish Week.
At Last, An Attempt To Monitor Abuse.
Gary Rosenblatt - Editor and Publisher
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five years ago, when I was researching allegations of sexual abuse made against Rabbi Baruch Lanner, I called an official at the Rabbinical Council of America, the rabbinic body of the Orthodox Union, who told me that his group did not have specific guidelines for dealing with members accused of abuse because it never happened.
Much has changed since then. Rabbi Lanner is in jail for his crime, and the RCA, acknowledging reality, has adopted procedures for dealing with colleagues charged with misbehavior.
[There is a] need for clear policies and guidelines, and trained personnel to deal with allegations of abuse. That’s just what Rabbi Mark Dratch plans to do when he leaves his Stamford, Conn., pulpit this June and launches JSafe, The Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse Free Environment. It will be the first serious attempt in the Jewish community to establish and maintain standards and procedures dealing with child abuse, domestic violence and professional improprieties. Rabbi Dratch, a vice president of the RCA who led the effort to create its task force on rabbinic improprieties, is hoping that JSafe, a non-profit organization, will be of service to schools, camps, synagogues and organizations across the denominations and around the country, a kind of “Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” he said, that will create awareness in the community, offer training, and provide oversight.
Abuse is an issue “whose time has come,” Rabbi Dratch noted, and though he credited the community with taking steps to deal with the problem in the last several years, he believes “a lot more has to be done.” Denial is still a major concern, he said, particularly among Orthodox Jews whose worries about the stigma sometimes prevent them from contacting the authorities.
As one who has been calling for the community to establish a mechanism to police itself more effectively in these areas, I applaud Rabbi Dratch’s ambitious effort and seriousness of purpose. A veteran of 15 years of writing about and dealing with abuse issues, he observes that “there are too many holes in the system” and that the problem is widespread, compounded by the fact that “there is no single hierarchy or unifying infrastructure that enables [the community] to set standards for training or to hold professionals responsible in these areas.”
His plan is for JSafe to create a certification program that will be “the gold standard” for training professionals and volunteers, establishing policies and guidelines for proper behavior, and offering guidance on dealing with abuse. Each organization certified by JSafe will be responsible to manage its own compliance, but will give JSafe the right of oversight. In addition, JSafe, which will be based in the New York area, will offer seminars, newsletters, journals and books on topics related to protecting people and making the community aware of the issues.
Rabbi Dratch is hoping that JSafe will not only help in terms of training, guidance and awareness, but become the standard that parents will look for and demand when his organization sets up operation over the next year.
It couldn’t come a moment too soon.
http://www.jsafe.org/index.htm
Would anyone that knows how to read have Israel Singer run their accounting department or trust Singer with anything to do with money? The fact that he stayed out of jail or avoided criminal prosecution just means that EVERY SINGLE POLITICIAN HAS A PRICE!
About ProjectTruth/Aaron Thomas
My birthday is July 1954. Hometown, Memphis Tennessee. Like you, I love my children and am outraged at serious tampering with my family. Maybe losing several children along the way has made me more sensitive.
My parents started keeping Shabbos when I was seven. I went to a Hebrew Day School, Yeshiva High School, Beis Midrash in Israel, and a couple years of Kollel.
In 1981, after losing our three-year-old Ruchama to Tay-Sachs, I left Memphis real estate management and we moved to Chicago with her twin brother and our bechor, to teach in the Arie Crown Hebrew Day School. In 1982, after beautiful Chana was born with Tay-Sachs, we immigrated to Israel to return to Kollel. When our funds ran out, I turned to construction for a livelihood. I found my niche in the design, production, and installation of customized porch enclosures in the Chareidi neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Through the force of blessing and tefillah of the two greatest gedolim in the world, and the untold heroism of my wife, today we are wealthy with ten amazingly talented children - five sons and five daughters, five blonde and five fiery red.
In 1996, while we were recuperating from witnessing our five-year-old son hurled to his fate by a speeding car, Danny and Margie Shabat convinced us to trust them to serve as overseas, Chicago summer parents, to our most gifted child. The Shabats then perpetrated what is certainly one of the most comprehensive sexual abuse crimes ever. Ask Chicago’s prestigious Project Shield what then classically occurs in the family.
Discovering (miraculously) the heinous concealed crime long after it had rooted into the family fabric, I decided to confront it aggressively and openly.
This entire situation has been profoundly damaging. The perpetrators and their Rabbinic protector have yet to answer for their actions. Only after lifting the Rabbinic cloak under which they are hiding, can the perpetrators be effectively confronted. Your decision to Take a Stand and mail in one of the 2423 verified return envelopes will determine the ultimate outcome.
You need to do what’s good for the Community. I would do it for you. Let’s set a good example for the world.
Aaron Thomas
I am a psychiatrist and I have been following these comments with fascination. Mark, you have shown your transparency very clearly. No one, who does not have personal involvement in the Singer case, would repeatedly come back to argue and try for the last word. Several times, you mentioned reasons why you have to leave, and won't be back, and yet you keep commenting.
I have no horse in this race. I really don't know if you or UOJ are correct, but just so you know what it looks like to those reading this, it suggests that you are either Singer, or someone close to him. No one else would keep debating these points that have been hashed and rehashed and no one else cares about. In fact, I am fairly certain that UOJ is only commenting about the Singer situation, because he thinks it is funny to have you keep coming back. I don't share his sense of humor, but that is what it looks like from here.
My advice to you is to just go away. The readership here doesn't care about getting every fact straight, and you care way too much to be impartial.
CONFRONTING ABUSE IN THE ORTHODOX COMMUNITY
(This article first appeared in NEFESH)
By Rabbi Yosef Blau
It is no longer possible to ignore the tragic reality that sexual, physical and emotional
abuse exists within the Orthodox community. Recent revelations about rabbis and
teachers abusing adolescents, often continuing to abuse for decades, dramatically remind
us that our existing mechanisms are failing to deal with the problem. I am not aware of
any statistics which clarify whether the numbers of offenders is substantial, but even a
small number can traumatize hundreds of victims.
The full measure of the horrendous nature of abuse is not always apparent from a
technical halakhic perspective. Two teenagers touching each other inappropriately are
guilty of the same sin as a forty-year old rabbi touching a thirteen- year old female
student. We intuitively recognize that the rabbi has used his position as an authority
figure to manipulate a vulnerable child, though she is an adult according to halakha. A
pedophile who abuses minors even if he gets their approval is halakhicly a rapist but not
if he does the same with an adolescent boy or girl.
It is even more difficult to pinpoint the sin when dealing with emotional abuse and
manipulation. While one can make similar technical arguments in other areas of halakha,
its significance in this context is its use as cover for the many who do not want to deal
with the full implications of confronting rabbinical abuse. Not wanting to see themselves
as lacking sympathy for victims, people can claim to be concerned about preserving
halkhic standards. How rare it is to have two witnesses who saw the abuse.
Even when the pattern of abuse is clear the question remains how to effectively deal with
the abuser in a way that at least limits his ability to move elsewhere and continue to abuse
new people. Schools fire abusive teachers who then move to another community and
start teaching (and abusing) in the new yeshiva. Going public is seen as causing a chilul
Hashem and going to secular authorities as mesira.
Virtually all poskim agree that if there is danger to future victims then there is no
halakhic issue of mesira but practically the taboo of mesira remains. Victims are
discouraged from coming forward on other grounds as well. It will hurt potential
shidduchim, not only for the victim but for members of his family as well. Compassion
is expressed for the reputations of members of the abuser’s family as well. The
probability that the family members may have suffered abuse themselves and suffer from
being in ongoing contact with the abuser, is not understood.
Taking the accusation to a Beis Din unfortunately is rarely effective. Few rabbis have
any training in recognizing abuse and the rabbinical courts have no investigative arm.
Some abusers are charismatic leaders and have followers who will say whatever they ask
them to say. Perjury to a Beis Din is not punished and in many cases the witness, in
support of his mentor, has no difficulty with distorting what occurred. The cultic element
in the guru’s leadership is hard for us to acknowledge. A rabbi promoting Judaism is
seen as incapable of being a cult leader.
Newspapers, particularly Jewish newspapers are assumed to be anti-Orthodox. Speaking
to them is almost the act of a traitor. Yet at the present time the media has played a
primary role in the increased awareness of this problem and an abuser whose name that
has appeared in the media is unlikely to be hired by a new school or youth movement.
Two recent cases point to differing approaches now being used. In one story from Israel
a commission including a rabbi, a psychologist and a judge evaluated allegations and the
accused was fired from his teaching position. He hired a lawyer and is fighting for
reinstatement. The Israeli media have picked up the story. A recent article in Maariv
broadened the discussion to quote varying views about rabbis counseling married women.
The other case involved allegations that had been investigated twenty years ago and a
resulting agreement that an individual would leave Jewish education, which was not
effectively enforced. After two decades it became difficult to reconstruct what had
occurred. Supporters of the accused spoke freely to the media while victims used
pseudonyms. New allegations surfaced and a major expose appeared in the papers and a
new Beit Din was formed to decide how to deal with the accusations. While no formal
announcement has been made, their apparent decision was to send the case to a religious
court in Israel that will deal with the charges.
Despite growing awareness and concern no consensus has yet emerged. Rabbis are not
trained to recognize abuse nor given an approach to aid them in responding when they
realize that it is occurring. Principals are not equipped to respond to accusations against
teachers in their schools. Rabbinical organizations do not have rules of appropriate
conduct. Accused abusers retain memberships in these organizations without any process
to remove their names.
Our community has not been educated to recognize abuse nor to appreciate the ongoing
trauma of victims. Headlines in newspapers are not effective educational tools. Often
the response is to express anger at the paper and then ignore the abuse. Until the
mentality of the community changes little progress will be made.
Even if a method will be developed to get rabbinical approval for victims to go to the
police much of the problem will remain. Not every manifestation of abuse involves
criminal behavior. “Rabbis” who seduce women as part of outreach or marital therapy
are not guilty of a punishable offence. Proper utilization of secular authorities is a
necessary step but clearly not a total solution.
In Chicago, after there were a number of serious incidents, a special Beit Din, whose
members are respected across the Orthodox spectrum, was established to deal with
accusations of abuse. Similar rabbinical courts in other major cities, whose judges would
be trained to recognize abuse and would have appropriate mental health professionals as
consultants, should be introduced. Creating special rabbinical courts is a powerful
statement that a serious problem needs to be addressed.
Nefesh professionals have a critical role to play in educating the Orthodox community,
in treating and supporting victims and in serving as consultants for schools and
organizations. Only people who are trained can lead a systematic campaign explaining
the nature of abuse and the need to confront it openly. Stigma has to be removed from
victims. Invariably when the identity of an abuser is revealed the response of far too
many is “We have known that for years.” Enabling abusers to continue, covering their
crimes to protect the image of the community, contribute to innocents being traumatized.
Judith Herman in her book on trauma points out that both the abuser and the victims turn
to others for support. The victim needs action while the abuser only asks for our silence.
It is time to stop the silence. The true chilul Hashem is that we allow victims to continue
to suffer in order to preserve our community’s image.
Dr. Mark;
I have addressed your points very directly. Are you aphasic?
RE: Spitzer: Tough, Yes, agreed. Also very clever. Got his cake and is eating it too. Looks at the NYS demographics and specifically NYC, and sees well-heeled Jews, both Dems and Repubs in a position to help him financially.
Election in the bag? CF. Dewey, 1948. Ain't over until the fat lady sings.
Pollsters are like the Weathermen: Neveeyai Sheker. You can never have too much campaign money. Made his point about transparency and accountability, has the jewish non-profits putting accounting safeguards in place but did not go to the extreme by screwing singer and pissing off the Jewish contributors. Smart.
Leibler: Whining? Yes. Knows what drek Singer is and wanted an indictment. Nevertheless happy that singer can't get his grubby hands on the money.
To the last commenter - I am not really invested in this matter either, and have expended altogether too much time on it (it helps that its a sunday and that I'm not actually at work). But truth be told, this issue has really resonated with me - I feel as though there are people out there who are ruining the name of a man I admire and have followed from afar for a long time. I keep posting b/c I am an optimist - I like to beleive that even the most stubborn idiots can change their minds. Only someone who beleives in the possibility of man to change for the better would remain practicing medicine as long as I have. So I stuck this argument out, b/c I felt like I was making valid points, and it was all too easy to do against such shoddy argumentation. Frankly, though, you're right, I do seem somewhat obsessed with this issue, and I appreciate the adivce - it will allow me to get on with teh stuff I'm doing that's actually useful to someone.
But I am left with a profound sadness - that such people exist in this world that are so obsessed with their sense of self importance that they'd go to the ends of the earth to smear people for their own gratitifcation.
I guess I'm still hoping for the readership here to recognize the fallacy of this demented man's quest.
Parenthetically, the blog world is kind of addictive once you start. I am equally vehement about posting on issues relating to abortion, gay marriage and national health insurance, as well as israeli politics in other forums. Once you get onto a thread, its tough to get out, so thanks for your help.
Good luck to you all, but not the guy in charge here. I profoundly hope he gets his soon.
Remember - not everything you read is the truth - and not every accusation is founded.
Healthy skepticism is the only way reformers keep from becoming witch hunters.
God bless and happy passover.
Israel/Mark...
The more you comment the better I look...keep coming back...only a thief exposed can get so upset! Come on Israel...return all the money you stole, just remember if you are found anywhere near a bookeeper or a WJC accountant you will be put on "Crown Royale" tasting duty.
The Rabbi and the Geneva Account
by Daniel Ganzfried
The World Jewish Congress is at the brink of disaster. Impropriety, embezzlement, money laundering: these are the accusations directed against Israel Singer, the strong man of the WJC. Singer ordered the transfer of $1.2 million dollars from the WJC to an account owned by his friend. Now Jews throughout the world demand unreserved clarification.
Such a proud organization! In 1998 the World Jewish Congress (WJC) humiliated Switzerland, extracting 1.25 billion dollars from its banks - as compensation for a few dozen million dollars, based on unaccounted Jewish accounts.
It had been a long time since WJC President Edgar Bronfman and his New York-based Secretary General Israel Singer had cause to be so delighted; perhaps as far back as the end of the Eighties, when they succeeded in exposing the Nazi past of the Austrian President. The State Department placed the gaunt statesman on its Black List, and Mr. Kurt Waldheim, former UN Secretary General, was effectively prohibited from setting foot on US soil. Not bad.
Another unforgettable example: In 1952, WJC president Nachum Goldman brokered an agreement between post-war Germany and Israel. The Germans paid compensation for the crimes committed by the Nazis. Thus the young state became the legal successor of the murdered Jews, and at the same time solidified its claim of being the representative of the entire Jewish nation - a doctrine that made Israel immune against criticism and outside involvement. From that point, the World Jewish Congress served as its international promoter.
The WJC's political birth certificate was issued in 1942. On the 20th of January the Nazis, assembled in a Villa on the shore of Lake Wannsee in Berlin and adopted the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question", i.e. the application of mass murder as an industrialized enterprise. Gerhard Riegner, a young lawyer and the Geneva based representative of the WJC since its establishment in 1936, was one of the first to learn of the unthinkable. True, his telegram to the State Department did not have the desired effect, but his act did justify the role of the WJC as the vanguard of the Jewish People.
Today, the roof organization comprising some 80 national and international Jewish organizations is struggling for its survival - and the battle is being waged within the organisation itself. The allegations being made range from impropriety, embezzlement and even money laundering. The conflict takes place in Switzerland. The main roles are played by the two men heading the organisation: Edgar Bronfman, billionaire, former owner of the booze empire Seagrams, who has served as WJC President since 1981; and Israel Singer, ordained rabbi, who has been the WJC's strong man since the mid-Eighties.
The grounds for the conflict relate to $1.2 million, allegedly hived off from a secret WJC account by Singer for private purposes, who acted with Bronfmans approval. What is clear is that on July 1 2003, Singer personally arranged the transfer of that money to a friend in Israel - without informing any relevant WJC personnel in Geneva. As a consequence, the umbrella body of the Swiss Jewish communities (SIG) was effected. The Geneva-based President, Alfred Donath, acting on behalf of the Swiss Jewish community requested clarification as to what had transpired. But the 72 years old Professer and medical doctor was immediately inundated by verbal abuse and insult from Singer which placed him under intense pressure.
What happened?
In 2001, the World Jewish Congress received 1.5 million dollars from its Israeli associate organization, the Jewish Agency. Earlier, due to its own budgetary problems, this semi-governmental organization had decided to terminate all payments to Jewish organizations outside of Israel. But Singer, was concerned with his financial problems. He manages to squeeze this final payment to New York from the Agency. What he does not inform his friends in Jerusalem is that the money is not intended for WJC activities, but for his own personal pension. In September, Singer intended to give up his position as Secretary General to a successor, and would be elected Chairman of the Board of Governors of the WJC, an honorary post. Singer would receive an annual compensation of more than $200,000. But who knows how long that would last? A pension would just be fine. How shall he obtain it?
In separate installments to Geneva UBS Account
The legal requirements in New York proved to be too complicated and the Israeli branch also does not provide any attractive options. So he parks the money in an account of the somewhat inactive office in Geneva with only an ailing, eighty year old bookkeeper serving as watchdog over its financial matters. In a number of transfers from the WJC headquarters in New York, a total of 1.2 million dollars are deposited at the Chemin Louis Dunant branch of the UBS bank. The last two transfers of $150,000 and $200,000 are banked on January 10 and February 11, 2003, respectively. The beneficiary account no. 0240-255888.60K is categorized as "SPECIALE". At that point, Singer and the aged bookkeeper are the only persons aware of its existence.
Then, at the turn of the year 2002/2003, the new Secretary General employs a dynamic young woman, Maya Ben-Haim, as office director at the office located by the Rhone. The 29 year old woman has no knowledge of the million dollar deal, but she does discover other "alarming irregularities" in the books. She does not hesitate to inform the bookkeeper on June 24 that she intends to dispense with his services and gives him notice for the end of September. On June 29, 2003, she meets her boss in London and submits a report regarding financial irregularities and the dismissal of the book-keeper. "The most important question seems to be, why he withdraws 2,200 Swiss Francs in cash each month in addition to his salary". Later, a witness would say that Singer looked "somewhat shocked".
However, at that point in time, none of the people present were aware of how much money is in fact involved. And what does Singer do?
Hurriedly he sets out for Geneva. In a lightning operation he drags the ailing bookkeeper from his nursing home to the bank. He is in a hurry: It is July 1st. The terminated bookkeeper's signatory rights will terminate on the following day. Everything works out well. Together they strip the secret account of every one of the 1.2 million dollars. Later this will prove to have been a mistake.
The amount designated as "For the pension", is transferred to Singer's friend, Zvi Barak. The money is henceforth deposited in an account owned by Barak at the HSBC bank in London.
Singer arranges for the Geneva office to close
For an extended period, the money transfer remained unknown by the Geneva WJC office. It could have remained unknown to this day. But on October 2, 2003, the young director's attention is drawn to a strange bank statement: Following an individual international transfer of 1.2 million dollars account 0240-255888.60K closes with a debit balance of $40.73. The account did not have sufficient funds to cover the bank charges. Ms. Ben-Haim is shocked. The attorney of the Geneva WJC office, too, shakes his head in astonishment. She immediately informed New York. Avi Beker, Singer's successor in the position of Secretary General, issues immediately an order to conduct an internal investigation.
Then, in November, the second surprise: Avi Beker retires from the WJC, and WJC management circles say that he was provided with a golden parachute of one million dollars. In the absence of a Secretary General, ongoing WJC business is managed by a newly created Operations Committee which, in addition to Israel Singer, comprises of WJC Vice President Isi Leibler and Executive Director Elan Steinberg. Neither of the latter were aware of the events in Geneva. As part of their "general efforts to restructure the WJC", the gentlemen visit the Geneva office on November 19. Judging by the minutes, they are still ignorant about the Geneva account at this point. The visit is followed by additional visits in December. Neither of them are informed, not even by their colleague Singer.
At Singer's recommendation, the Operations Committee closes the Geneva office on March 30, 2004. All employees are given notice with immediate effect. In a letter to the Geneva director, the Operations Committee declares: "The WJC has decided to discontinue the maintenance of a permanent representation in Geneva". The employees are laid-off with immediate effect. Ms. Ben-Haim turned to the Labor Court, contesting both her dismissal and the office closure. She first obtains a delay and later receives personal compensation.
The one remaining person is the long time legal adviser of the WJC Geneva office, Daniel Lack. It is he who alerts the president of the Swiss Jewish Community Federation (SIG). On April 25, Alfred Donath writes to Edgar Bronfman, requesting in a polite but firm tone, the need to implement an audit. He also asks why the Geneva office is being closed so suddenly and requests that the decision to close the office be reconsidered.
On July 14, attorney Lack writes a letter headed "Confidential" to Israel Singer, talking about "certain potential and serious irregularities". He warns him. "I believe an audit performed by an independent company is required. I understand that the situation may be quite delicate for you, but we must act, act visibly. We must protect the WJC from all kinds of accusations of impropriety, embezzlement and money laundering".
Lack also informs the WJC. Thus for the first time, the Operations Committee is informed about the events in Geneva. On July 18 Singer, Leibler and Steinberg meet again. According to the minutes, Singer assures his colleagues that the $1.2 million constitutes an "authorized money transfer to the benefit of WJC pension". However, they insist on the reimbursement of the 1.2 million dollars, and the transfer of all the money to a special WJC account in New York. Singer is disqualified from involvement in the issues because of his personal interest. At that point the money had earned $12,000 dollars interest, a fact that is "acknowledged with satisfaction". But Leibler's and Steinberg's satisfaction does not last long.
After comprehending the content of the letter from Lack they demand information from their colleague Singer regarding the suspicious transfer of money. The response does not take long: On August 16 they are informed by an email headed "private and confidential" from WJC president Edgar Bronfman, of a decision to dismantle the Operations Committee, and to substitute it with a Steering Committee.
Bronfman launches counter attack
Bronfman installs "my right hand at Seagrams", Stephen Herbits, to head the brand new committee. The 62 year old was at one time a US Department of Defense official under Donald Rumsfeld. Bronfman trusts him to "fight off all attacks against the WJC", and prophetically warns his colleagues in a memorandum: "I consider all these attacks as attacking my office, my integrity and my person. No effort should be too great, no expense too high, in the battle against these disgusting libels."
But the annoying Swiss will not be easily placated after Singer's attack on their leader, Alfred Donath. They demand a thorough audit in Geneva. Vice president Isi Leibler, too, keeps on nagging. With his soft-spoken voice uttering sharp words, the 70 year old Leibler in Jerusalem demands clarification. "I believe that I am speaking on behalf of the majority of 400,000 donors, who are entitled to request responsible management, transparency and accountability. The times when leaders and managers handled their organizations as their personal fiefdoms are over."
In fact, in the light of the Geneva affair many donors suspect that other questionable business transactions may emerge from behind the secret account. Together with Isi Leibler and the Swiss Jews, they demand a comprehensive and independent audit of all of the WJC's financial operations conducted during recent years; and they also insist that the publication of all financial reports for those periods be released and insist on transparency in respect to all assets and bank accounts everywhere in the world.
This could mark the end of this non-profit organization that disposes of an annual $8 millon budget, and that has been run by Bronfman and Singer like their own little business for too long. Just like their main sponsor Edgar Bronfman, the other 400,000 donators also deduct their contributions from their taxes. Now they must be concerned about the income tax inspectors' interest in the WJC.
In order to at least appease the Swiss, Bronfman sent his new head man Stephen Herbits across the ocean. Amongst his luggage he was carrying a hastily assembled auditors report on the Geneva account, prepared by the accounting firm Loeb & Troper. On October 28 he meets the SIG delegation in Zurich. But having regard to the fact that this firm has been working for the WJC American section for years, there were doubts regarding the New York auditors' independence. Consequently at the end of the evening meeting, the Swiss Jewish group refused to sign the "mutual agreement" prepared in advance by Herbits.
The Swiss Jews reiterated their demand for unreserved clarification of Singer's "Geneva-Gate" (The Jewish weekly "Tachles"). Herbits was able to provide his dissatisfied Swiss Jews only one little piece of comfort: "The Geneva office of the WJC will not be closed. Quite the contrary, I am currently recruiting a new team." But here, too, the other side senses a trick: Who can guarantee that the relevant files stored in the deserted office in the Rue de Varemblé will be left intact until then?
What remains is the involvement of the authorities. Until now, the spokesperson for Geneva's district attorney's office says, they had never dealt with the WJC in relation to this matter. However, Isi Leibler concedes that this could be a possible outcome. Until then, the truth regarding the WJC account is well kept in the Geneva UBS branch, protected by the Swiss banking secrecy, which Singer to this day claims was the main reason, why the $1.25 billion settlement amount agreed on in 1998 is proceeding so slowly.
Who would have thought that the fate of the World Jewish Congress would one day be determined by a secret account in a major Swiss bank?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was originally published in FACTS (Switzerland), no. 45
Daniel Ganzfried's web site is at http://www.ganzfried.ch
Posted here November 9, 2004
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=7406
2001-09-07
An End to Denial
By Julie Wiener
The Borough Park section of Brooklyn is one of America’s most visibly Jewish neighborhoods.
On several residential blocks of one- and two-family brick homes, almost every front door has a mezuzah. Modestly dressed women push strollers, while girls in dresses and boys in tzitzit and kippot play on the sidewalks. Sixteenth Avenue, one of the main drags, is lined with religious study centers and yeshivot, small synagogues and Judaica stores.
And in the middle of it all is an agency that runs a treatment program for Orthodox Jewish pedophiles.
Orthodox pedophiles?
For years, most people in the Orthodox world assumed their religious way of life and tight-knit communities insulated them from problems rocking the larger world, like sexual abuse.
There is still a great deal of resistance to discussing the issue, and a lingering feeling among many victims and advocates that Orthodox institutions are more concerned with protecting the reputations of men accused of sexual abuse than with believing or helping victims.
But fueled by a combination of factors — recent scandals, a growing cadre of Orthodox psychotherapists in whom Orthodox Jews feel comfortable confiding, and American society’s growing openness about sensitive social problems — that sense of insularity is eroding.
Among the indicators of change:
In the wake of public allegations last year that Rabbi Baruch Lanner, a high-ranking professional in the Orthodox Union’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth, had sexually abused more than 20 teen-age girls, the O.U., which had been accused of protecting Lanner, underwent an investigation by an independent commission, made some key staff changes and vowed to implement policies to prevent future abuse.
Four years ago, at the request of the Brooklyn district attorney’s, ofice, Borough Park’s Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services — which already treated Jewish survivors of sexual abuse — created the first-ever treatment program specifically for Orthodox sex offenders. More than 30 people, half referred through the criminal justice system and half through rabbis and Jewish communal leaders, have received evaluation or treatment through the program; more are on a waiting list.
At its convention this year, the Rabbinical Council of America, which represents 1,100 mainstream Orthodox rabbis, held an open and detailed discussion about sexual abuse, led by Dr. Susan Shulman, a pediatrician who served on the O.U.’s commission investigating the Lanner scandal and who lectures frequently about sexual abuse.
In the aftermath of two publicized cases of pedophilia — one concerning a rabbi teaching at a day school and another concerning a kosher butcher — the Chicago Rabbinical Council recently created a special beit din, or rabbinical court, to address sexual abuse. The court, which has four rabbis from different sectors of the local Orthodox community, consults with a team of psychologists, social workers and lawyers.
According to David Mandel, chief executive officer of Ohel, Orthodox schools and other institutions increasingly are hosting workshops educating parents and teachers on how to prevent abuse against children and how to identify the symptoms indicating that a child may have been abused. In the past year, Ohel participated in more than 12 seminars or conference sessions on the topic, about twice as many as in previous years.
Sexual abuse is hardly unique to the Orthodox community, and many who work in the field say there appear to be far fewer incidents in the Jewish community than in American society as a whole.
Problems like victims’ reluctance to come forward, difficulty proving cases, and a tendency of people not to want to believe accusations are vexing issues in any community. Even when caught, sexual abusers are difficult to treat, and many experts say they must be watched vigilantly because they never fully recover.
But there are certain aspects of Orthodox life that make such problems especially challenging.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the wall of silence and denial.
"We’re a community that would like to believe that our religious lives prevent these problems," said Rabbi Yosef Blau, a spiritual guidance counselor at Yeshiva University’s rabbinic seminary and someone known as an advocate for victims of sexual abuse.
Samuel Heilman, a professor of Jewish studies and sociology at the City University of New York, said the presence of sexual abuse "calls into question some of the deeply held values of Orthodoxy — mainly that if you maintain a strict attachment to Jewish tradition and values, somehow that would insulate you from all that is evil in society."
In addition, there is a historic Jewish tendency, particularly acute in the Orthodox world, to keep quiet about sensitive issues for fear of publicly scandalizing the community.
Many Orthodox Jews also fear that embarrassing information could jeopardize future wedding matches for individuals and their families.
Another obstacle is that the many demands of an Orthodox lifestyle — and the fact that Orthodox Jews must live within walking distance of synagogue — make Orthodox communities tight-knit. That can make it hard for a victim to come forward, particularly if the abuser is prominent or well liked.
When the perpetrator is a rabbi or other respected member of the community, victims have an even greater difficulty, given Orthodox Judaism’s reverence for rabbinical authority figures.
"If a kid goes to a parent and says, ‘My rebbe did something to me,’ the parents tend to believe the rabbi, not the child," Blau said.
Perhaps the greatest challenge is that most Orthodox institutions lack a formal system for preventing or reporting abuse.
Rabbi Gedalia Schwartz, chief presiding rabbi of the Chicago Rabbinical Council and the Beit Din of America, a national rabbinical court under RCA auspices, urges victims to go to the police as well.
"Some might say, send [the abuser] to another community," Schwartz said. "That’s no good because if he goes to another community he will do the same thing."
However, some communities do just that.
In her RCA speech, Shulman told of an anonymous rabbi who impregnated a student while he was principal of a school for Jewish girls with learning disabilities. When he was fired, he moved to another community where he is "still a prominent rabbi."
Despite the remaining challenges, some in the Orthodox world find solace in the fact that the topic is now on the table and that some treatment programs are out there.
"People are discussing a topic that truly wasn’t discussed," Ohel’s Mandel point out.
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Last update - 01:56 25/11/2005
Neither this nor that
By Zipi Shohat
Nadav Segal used to enter the men's room at the new central bus station in Tel Aviv, take off his black suit and tzitzit ?(fringed undergarment?), and put on a pair of corduroy pants and a T-shirt. He would store his hat in a cardboard box and switch his black skullcap with a knitted one. He would tuck his earlocks behind his ears. With this new identity, Segal felt like a new man, free. Today, the 24 year-old is an actor.
Segal was 16 and a half when he began his transition to what he calls the "free world." Every week, for six months, he would travel on Friday afternoons to the bus station. "I would roam around there and feel like I was on a magical island, paradise, where there are lots of girls and you could look at them without someone telling you it is forbidden," he recalls. "I felt supreme happiness, even spiritual pleasure."
Today, Segal is trying to adjust to the new world he chose for himself. He originally learned about acting through a friend, Menachem Lang, who is the same age and also "crossed the border," leaving ultra-Orthodox life for the secular world. For Lang, the transition occurred at a Jewish cemetery in Bnei Brak, where he slept in a Christian coffin for weeks. He was then 17, and had already managed to get married and divorced, and to develop a career as a sought-after cantor in Israel and abroad.
The circuitous paths of the two men's lives served as the basis and inspiration for the new play by Yehoshua Sobol, "Kol Nidrei," now being performed at the Herzliya Theater and directed by Gedalia Beser. They also have the leading roles. On stage, as in their previous lives, they are ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students living a double life; they study Gemara during the day and at night, change their appearance, sneak off to nightclubs in the big city and turn into secular men.
Also appearing in the play is Gili Yoskovich, a woman with an ultra-Orthodox background who studied acting with them ?(at Impro, with Ilan Moskowitz and Avi Malka?). Yoskovich plays Esther, the wife of Nahman ?(Lang?). She arrived on the scene at a later stage, after the play was already written. But its contents are very familiar to her.
Sobol's "Kol Nidrei" ?(which means literally "all vows," and is the name of an important prayer from the Yom Kippur eve liturgy?) presents the twilight zone in which they live their double lives, the moment of transition from there to here, the attraction and repulsion of both worlds − the world they abandoned and the one they set their sights upon.
"The theater has never dealt with the friction and transition from the ultra-Orthodox to the secular world in such a sharp way," Sobol says. "I am trying here to touch something that transpires under the surface and bursts out with great power."
'We are cursed'
Segal was born to an ultra-Orthodox father and a mother from the national-religious camp. He is the fifth of six children in a family living in a settlement in the West Bank. He learned at a traditional religious heder in Immanuel, but began to have doubts when he was 12 years old. He asked questions then about his community's archaic dress and the curly earlocks, but did not receive any answers. The method of education, which included being hit, angered him. "I was shocked that the kids were slapped right and left. If someone lost his place in the Gemara for a moment, he would immediate receive a slap."
And there was also the matter of girls. It was forbidden to look at them. They were not supposed to interest him at all, but that was not the way he felt. "I was attracted to a girl who was a friend of my cousin and I felt like I was doing something wrong, that something in me was flawed. I felt like a sinner. I started to feel disgusted with my life. I felt like a prisoner in jail."
Segal wanted to flee from that jail, and to do it quickly. His escape took him on a circuitous route to a Chabad yeshiva in Kiryat Gat, but the sense of imprisonment remained. The prohibition on talking with girls continued, the daily immersions in the mikveh ?(ritual bath?), with its smelly water, disgusted him. He would fall asleep during prayers. But there was also a ray of light: The Chabad custom of trying to persuade secular passersby to put on tefillin ?(phylacteries?). "This was a way to meet secular people and see girls," he explains.
At this juncture, he decided to cross over into the other world, quietly, via an almost ritualistic act of changing clothes.
In the play, this moment is fateful; Sobol attributes great importance to it. After all, the theater is built on wardrobe changes and changes of identity. This act occurs near the beginning of the play, after Haim ?(Segal?) tells his pregnant wife that he has been going to Tel Aviv to enjoy its nightlife after the rebbe's Friday evening tisch ?(literally, table?). This confession, despite the shock it engenders, gives Haim a momentary feeling of freedom: "Finally, we'll emerge from this crazy hell," he says to Nahman. "We'll start to live like normal human beings." But Nahman has his doubts. "Normal people? You're dreaming. We're cursed, Haim. We'll never be normal."
Did you have a similar moment of revealing the truth to your family?
Segal: "It was during the Sukkot holiday. I told my father that I was not going to return to the yeshiva. It was a difficult conversation. He tried to persuade me, but I was decisive. We made a compromise that I would go to a yeshiva that was less conservative. He made a written contract with me in which I promised not to remove my tzitzit, not to wear a knitted skullcap and not to wear jeans."
But Segal did not obey any of the terms of the contract. A year later, when he was 17, he packed his things and traveled to the Netanya seashore. His relations with his family were completely severed. With the help of an acquaintance, he moved to Tel Aviv after spending several nights on the beach. He made his living from odd jobs at a restaurant, as a drummer at weddings, and in cantorial appearances at cemeteries and memorial events. He was then inducted into the Israel Defense Forces and assigned to the elite Egoz unit. The army recognized him as a "lone soldier," without a family. He lives today with his girlfriend in Tel Aviv. His parents have never visited him at his home, but he does visit them every few weeks and feels fortunate that they did not sit shiva ?(observe the week-long mourning ritual?) over him.
Child prodigy
Segal met Lang at the Dror nonprofit organization that assists religious teenagers who are in the process of making a transition to the secular world, and they have remained friends since. Lang, also 24, was born in the community of Ir Ovot in the Arava, where ultra-Orthodox families live together with Christians who are seeking to convert to Judaism. His father was a Christian who converted; his mother had become a religiously observant Jew. He spent his early childhood in the Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem, but when he was eight years old, the family, which already numbered eight children, moved to Bnei Brak.
He learned at a heder and spoke, wrote and read only Yiddish. They called him "Velvi" there. He did not speak any Hebrew at all until he married, at age 16. Like Segal, he also suffered from the harsh methods of punishment while in the heder, but in his case the blows were delivered with a cane. They hit him when he did not pay attention for a moment to the rebbe, when he did not know how to interpret a verse of scripture.
"This was real abuse," he says. "Almost every day I would vomit from fear before entering the heder. When the rebbe entered the classroom, the first thing he would do was to take out the Gemara, the humash [Five Books of Moses] and the cane."
Because of his sweet voice, Lang was considered a child prodigy. From an early age, he appeared at gatherings of the ultra-Orthodox, at tisches. When he was 14, he already worked as a cantor in a synagogue. They married him off to Rivka two years later. "This happened because they wanted me to be the cantor on Rosh Hashanah and it is forbidden for a cantor on this holiday to be unmarried. This is because, according to the halakha ?(traditional Jewish law?), he needs to have something to pray about and if he is married, he has woes."
The young couple lived in the Amidar neighborhood near Bnei Brak. She designed wigs and he continued to be a successful cantor, appearing in Israel and abroad. About a year later, they got divorced. He was 17; she was 18.
"As a divorced man and as the son of a convert, my stock in the ultra-Orthodox community was not high. The attempts to find a match continued, but they brought me unsuitable girls, each one worse than the previous one. I continued as a cantor and at a certain stage I began to appear in Tel Aviv." The contact with the big city generated a sudden change. "One day I shaved off the beard and earlocks, and I went to sleep in the cemetery in Bnei Brak. I slept inside a coffin and it was quite comfortable. When I woke up in the morning, I looked at the sky and cried."
Nahman, in the play, says his Christian coffin is "my home ... Here they'll give me some quiet." As an actor, Lang is surprising and appears to be a real discovery, with a mesmerizing stage presence, a sense of rhythm and a pleasant voice that stirs the emotions.
In his life, as on stage, the way back to his ultra-Orthodox home was blocked after shaving off his beard and earlocks. "I slept in the cemetery for three weeks and no one looked for me. At night, I would go to a bakery in Bnei Brak, which belongs to a newly religious Jew, and he gave me pita to eat. Eventually I began to work at the bakery and instead of a cantor, I became a baker."
Today he lives in South Tel Aviv and has already appeared in two films of Amos Gitai, "Kedma" and "Promised Land," as well as two directed by Yehuda Barkan. Six months ago, he reestablished contact with his mother. But he can only visit his parents? home at night, after his little brothers go to sleep. His father continues to ignore him.
"He is busy in his room, looks at me and goes away," Lang says. "He is closed like a charity box, but I love him. I haven't seen my older brother for three and a half years, since I became free. I only see my little brothers when they are sleeping, and I cry. I miss them."
A double life
Among the three, Gili Yoskovich, 22, is the only one who has maintained a close and ongoing relationship with her family. For this reason, she does not divulge many details. Yoskovich has been divorced for three years. As a daughter of a typical ultra-Orthodox family, who lived with her six siblings in Bnei Brak, she married thanks to an arranged match at 18.
"The insights came during a crisis in the marriage," she recalls. "It always bothered me that the length of stockings and skirts was more important than other things, that the main thing in the ultra-Orthodox world is to keep the rules. The moment my marriage broke up, I had the courage to take action. I moved to Tel Aviv, finished my matriculation, worked in an import-export office, earned a living for myself, rented an apartment. When I visit my parents, I wear a long skirt and a shirt that does not expose anything. It bothers them that I am living with a boyfriend, but they respect my way."
Today she supports herself by working in a jeans manufacturing business. Her sister designs the jeans and she markets them.
Esther, the character Yoskovich plays, works in a high-tech company and her marriage is also on the rocks. The contact with the secular world leads her to eventually abandon her ultra-Orthodox roots.
The interface between the religious and secular worlds has interested Sobol for years. "My sense is that there is just a footstep between ultra-Orthodox and secular existence, and that the transition happens in a moment," he says.
Sobol heard about the stories of the three from Tamar Dror, after whom the nonprofit organization is named. "I asked to meet other people who experienced extreme, dramatic situations like these. I met someone who lives a double life in the full meaning of the term. We met a girl who left religion the day she was told that she had a match. I felt that this is a very unusual perspective."
In a way, "Kol Nidrei" connects with "Soul of a Jew," another Sobol play, written years ago. "If 'Soul of a Jew' gives expression to the Jewish crisis against the background of the emergence of Zionism, here we deal with the Israeli soul in which I see the mishmash, the strange mix, of secularity and religiosity. This is an explosive combination," Sobol says.
The play takes place on a dramatic night in the characters' lives in which an explosion occurs − an explosion that has simmered under the surface for a long time.
"The explosion is the moment of transition," Sobol explains. "Until that moment, they live double lives: ultra-Orthodox during the day, secular at night. In their souls, it is neither this nor that, or both this and that."
It seems that this combination of secularity and religiosity is also palpable during an encounter with the three actors in a Tel Aviv cafe. They carry no external traces of their past. But when you listen to them, you hear the hesitation, the doubt, the longing. Perhaps Sobol is right in saying that within the soul there is neither this nor that, or both this and that.
What remains with them from their religious background? Segal continues to put on tefillin every morning, but says this is mainly symbolic, adding: "I have worked things out. I feel good about my way of life."
Yoskovich: "I am no longer ultra-Orthodox, but I am also not secular. The change that occurred within me is that I do not do anything out of coercion, but by choice."
Lang also continues to put on tefillin. But unlike his friend, he feels as if he is "walking on a tightrope over an abyss, alone between heaven and earth."
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Relevant excerpts from New York Magazine............
Almost a year of relative calm followed the creation of the Operations Committee—and then the real problems started. In July 2004, a Swiss lawyer named Daniel Lack, who had suddenly been dismissed after 29 years in the WJC Geneva office, informed the Operations Committee of the $1.2 million Swiss bank account.
The story he told was essentially the following: Over a five-month period, Israel Singer quietly made five deposits totaling $1.2 million into a UBS account in Geneva. The last deposit, $200,000, was made in February 2003.
The money, according to Singer, came from a $1.5 million payment to the World Jewish Congress by the Jewish Agency in Israel. The two organizations have a historical link, and for years, whenever money was available, the Jewish Agency has contributed to the WJC.
As putative head of the organization, Singer—who relinquished the secretary-general’s title almost two years ago—had acted on his own. None of the people in charge of the WJC office in Geneva knew about the bank account.
However, when a young lawyer named Maya Ben-Haim Rosen was hired to run the Geneva office, she found that the bookkeeper was overpaying himself by $1,900 a month. She wanted to fire him immediately, but couldn’t because he was in the hospital recuperating from a heart ailment. At a meeting in London on June 29, 2003, she told the details to Singer and Avi Beker, who had replaced Singer as secretary-general of the WJC. The date is important because two days later, Singer flew to Geneva.
He located the bookkeeper and literally got him out of his convalescent bed. Singer took the bookkeeper to the bank, and had him sign off on a transfer of the funds to a London account held by an Israeli lawyer.
Leibler claims the people in the Geneva office only found out about the account several months later, in October, when the bank sent an overdraft notice. Since the account had been emptied, there were no funds to cover the $40 transfer fee.
Herbits argues vehemently, however, that the information was readily available to the people in the Geneva office. All they had to do was look for it.
Maya Ben-Haim Rosen was authorized to investigate the account. But over the next several months, she, along with Beker and Daniel Lack (the longtime legal adviser in the Geneva office), all of whom had pushed for a full investigation of the account, were dismissed. And the Geneva office, where the World Jewish Congress began 68 years ago, was closed. Beker, who had been secretary-general for only a year, was given a seven-figure payment that included a confidentiality agreement. Rosen also received a buyout that stipulated silence.
Israel/Mark...
Why are so many people picking on you?
Israel you scumbag,
Sick and elderly people are not even off-limits to you.
News
Lawsuit Increases Scrutiny of World Jewish Congress
By NATHANIEL POPPER
January 20, 2006
While the World Jewish Congress continues to be under investigation by the New York attorney general, a separate lawsuit in Israel is bringing further scrutiny on two top figures close to the organization.
Israel Singer, chairman of the WJC, and Zvi Barak, a consultant to the organization, are coming under fire in a lawsuit filed by Vera Keller, the widow of a former WJC supporter. Keller's late husband, Leslie, set up a foundation in 2000 that is now run by Barak and Singer's son, Elie, and also an Israeli relative of Keller whose role in the case is unclear.
The case is being pursued by Vera Keller's grandnephew, Menachem Kahn, who has her power of attorney. The complaint alleges that since Leslie Keller died in early 2003, the $1 million foundation has given out grants with no accountability to Vera Keller and her family. Kahn's affidavit also says that Israel Singer attempted to wrest control of Keller's will in the months before Keller died.
The lawyer representing the foundation's trustees, Elad Mann, said the case "has no standing on the procedural grounds or on its merits. It will be dismissed in a short time."
Calls to Israel Singer were directed to the secretary general of the WJC, Stephen Herbits. Herbits said that the WJC had no role in the case. However, Herbits has compiled a report on it, which says that the allegations involved "are scurrilous and completely false."
Singer and Barak, a Tel Aviv attorney whose offices are the mailing address for the foundation, are also at the center of a dispute over transfers to and from the WJC's Geneva bank account. That dispute arose after Singer transferred $1.2 million from a Geneva bank account to a custodial account controlled by Barak in London. Barak had no official role in the WJC at the time, but he has since become a consultant to the organization. The case in Israel involves criticism of Barak and Singer from persons outside the circle of critics who have been hammering at the WJC over the Geneva controversy.
Some of the charges in the Keller case involve Singer. Two of Keller's grandnephews state in their affidavits that Singer tried to convince Keller to sign a will that would have made Singer the executor of Keller's will, along with another associate of Keller, David Moskovits.
One of the grandnephews, Kahn, told the Forward that a few weeks after Leslie Keller died, in March 2003, Moskovits and Singer came to Vera Keller's house and presented the will naming them as executors as a done deal — a deal from which Kahn says they later backed away.
Singer's son, Elie, told the Forward: "This is false and the suggestion is preposterous. These outrageous accusations do not merit a response."
Kahn's version is also refuted in an affidavit written by Moskovits. He states that Keller became good friends with Singer in his last 15 years, and it was Keller who asked Singer to sign the will and become his executor. According to Moskovits, Singer turned down the request multiple times.
Moskovits states that the lawsuit was brought by "a few of Keller's relatives who seem to have misrepresented the intentions of Mr. Keller... because it seems they think they could benefit financially from doing so."
A lawyer for Vera Keller said the lawsuit came about only after the foundation trustees refused to release basic financial information about the foundation to Vera Keller — particularly information about where the foundation's grants were going.
"We came into this extremely innocently, thinking we would ask for information and get it," said a lawyer in the office of Menachem Harutz, which is representing the Kellers. "We had no idea how complicated everything would be."
The foundation did present financial documents for 2003 and 2004 in its response to the lawsuit. Most of the grants in 2003 — after Leslie Keller died — went to Jewish research projects. But the first grant after Keller's death, for $5,000, went to the WJC office in Buenos Aires.
The foundation was created in 2000, with the goal of aiding "study and research of the Jewish heritage."
When the foundation was created, Israel Singer was listed as a trustee along with two WJC employees. When those two left the WJC in 2003 and 2004 Barak and Elie Singer were chosen to replace them at the foundation.
The grandnephews have asked the court to allow the family to appoint new trustees who will carry out Leslie Keller's original wishes. The case is scheduled to open February 8 in Jerusalem district court.
An “Unorthodox” Therapy of an Ultra-Orthodox Adolescent
Judith S.B. Guedalia, Ph.D. Leah Haber, Ph.D.
Editor’s note: In addition to the rabbis consulted by the authors, ASSIA-Jewish Medical Ethics has approached a number of leading halachic authorities, seeking their opinions on the course of treatment outlined in this case study. These authorities were kind enough to provide us with their written responses, including halachic sources, justifying the therapy. They emphasized that this is not a generally applicable ruling; each case must be individually dealt with by a competent halachic authority.
Acting out can be an expression of a conduct disorder. When a person experiences conflict, his or her frustrations are often played out through inappropriate behavior, of which there are many subcategories. In the following case report, we will discuss an instance of conduct disorder and the effective cognitive therapy as best exemplified by Colin A. Ross’s model. It must be noted that not only the therapy model used but also the referral itself can be described as “unorthodox” given the cultural realities of this case, as will be seen. The Patient The patient, whom we will call Yisrael, was a sixteen-year-old boy from a close-knit hasidic sect that, like many haredi groups, sets strict parameters on its members’ lifestyles. These communities are not open to the attitudes or developments of secular society and attempt to shield their members from its influences. Nonconformist behavior is frowned upon and eliminated, especially violations of 325
326 Mental Health
Orthodox Jewish law (halacha).1Yisrael had already been expelled from one yeshiva entirely and from the dormitory of another because of repeated incidents in which other boys sexually stimulated him, brought him to ejaculate, and he did the same to them. Yisrael stressed that finding willing partners was not difficult and he never forced anyone to partici- pate. Understanding the Jewish position on masturbation is essential to fully grasping the severity of Yisrael’s conduct disorder. Accord- ing to Kitsur Shulhan Arukh, a popular work on Jewish law, “spilling seed” is among the most severe prohibitions in the Torah, similar to that of adultery. Loss of any potential for creating life is com- parable to killing, and therefore one who engages in it is ostracized. Many restrictions are placed upon the Jewish male so that he should not come to perform this sin: he is not allowed to think about women in a sexual way, he is not allowed to watch animals copulating, certain foods are prohibited at night, and he may only sleep on his side, not on his back or stomach.2 For a boy who cannot – or does not want to – control his urges, repeated masturbation can cause tremendous feelings of guilt. Over the course of therapy, it became clear that Yisrael was acting out certain conflicts. Shortly before the problem began, his young, married cousin died. He was profoundly affected by this and it raised serious questions in his mind about death and the injustice of a young man dying, leaving a widow and orphans. To make matters worse, the Rebbe or Admor (“our master, our teacher, our rabbi”), the revered leader of his community, had assured the family that the cousin would live. Not long afterwards, the Rebbe died as well. Yisrael’s religious beliefs, which were tied into a magical faith in the powers of the Rebbe, were deeply shaken. In hasidic communities, mythic qualities are ascribed to the Rebbe. He is seen as the intermediary between his followers and God. Everything he comes into contact with takes on mystical significance – for example, it is considered a great merit to be present at the Friday-night gathering called the tish and to receive a piece of bread that the Rebbe has touched (sherayim). The Rebbe is
.
1. Yoram Bilu and Eliezer Witztum, “Working with Ultra-Orthodox Patients: Guide- lines for a Culturally Sensitive Therapy,” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 17 (1993): 197-233. 2. Kitsur Shulhan Arukh 151.
An “Unorthodox” Therapy of an Ultra-Orthodox Adolescent 327
the source of advice, often about the most minute matters. His words are cherished and his instructions are obeyed to the letter. One can understand, therefore, why the Rebbe’s death had such a devastating effect on Yisrael, especially considering his particular circumstances. Yisrael’s antisocial behavior can be understood as a cry for help, for a way to reconcile the conflict that was shaking the very foundations of his faith, his lifelines: his connection to religion and his community. From the halachic perspective, masturbation is in- timately connected to the interplay between life and death, the potential for life and its destruction. “Spilling seed” might have been his way of challenging or defying God: “Will you kill me just as you killed my cousin?” Masturbation can also be seen as part of normal development. In Yisrael’s community, however, this normalcy is repressed and seen as an inability or lack of desire to control the sexual urge. It must be noted that hasidic boys are, for the most part, separated from women (other than their immediate family mem- bers) starting at the age of three. Their contact with women, therefore, is limited. After Bar Mitsva (thirteen years of age), their daily routine involves sitting and studying for most of the day. No time is allotted for exercise or any other sort of physical release, which is seen as glorifying the body and therefore forbidden. Even non-Hasidic teenagers have trouble maintaining a healthy, balanced attitude toward their bodies and growing sexuality. In the hasidic context Yisrael’s behavior was much more aberrant, widening the circle of damage. Yisrael’s parents were interviewed by the therapist and his father in particular presented as a disorganized person who had difficulty setting limits. He appeared disheveled and clearly did not know how to relate to the therapist in a professional manner – for example, at the end of the first session he asked Yisrael in the office whether he felt the therapist had done a good job. The lack of standards and limits in the boy’s household undoubtedly con- tributed to his inability to control his urges in an appropriate way. There may be another reason why Yisrael’s conduct disorder took on such a pronounced sexual tone. It seems that the patient grew up in a household where sexual tension was rife and actions with a sexual overtone may have been a way of expressing frust- ration and/or asserting control. The salience of this particular
328 Mental Health
symptom of his crisis, therefore, was hardly surprising. Yisrael’s conduct disorder was not simply a repressed sexual urge gone awry or the result of growing up in a home with inappro- priate parameters for behavior. As stated, it was a cry for help from a confused and torn individual. Only an extremely severe and pressing conflict would cause him to endanger his position in his community – as he said to the therapist early on, “If I don’t have hasidut, I don’t have life.” Yisrael knew perfectly well that his behavior would result in ostracization from his community – as previously mentioned, he had already been expelled from one yeshiva entirely and from the dormitory of the yeshiva he was then attending. Course of Treatment Yisrael was treated over a ten-month period, first in one-hour biweekly sessions, then in weekly sessions. Therapy was based on a model formulated by Colin A. Ross for dissociative identity dis- order.3 This therapy follows the cognitive model and is based on collaboration between patient and therapist. In this particular therapy, the therapeutic relationship was emphasized. Yisrael was made to feel valued as a person by the therapist and, as a result, he began to value himself independently. The atmosphere was a com- fortable one in which he and the therapist built a relationship based on mutual respect, even friendship. Ross states that gentleness, flexibility, humor, and the ther- apist’s ability to listen should characterize the therapy. The therapy style is problem-oriented and ahistorical, focusing on the problem at hand and its solution as opposed to probing into the past. The relationship aspect of Ross’s model was particularly important. Yisrael had entered the therapy believing that he was worthless and the relationship with the therapist demonstrated that he was not. Someone in a position of importance – a doctor in a hospital, no less! – found him worth befriending. That his parents, who were not well-off, had found the money to pay for the therapy sessions seemed to reinforce his growing sense of self-worth. Despite the asocial quality of his problem and the embarrassment he was causing his family, he was not being written off. In addition, .
3. Ross’s model can be found in Marie Blackburn and Kate Davidson, Cognitive Therapy for Depression and Anxiety, pp. 51-53.
An “Unorthodox” Therapy of an Ultra-Orthodox Adolescent 329
his yeshiva allowed him to continue attending (although he was stigmatized by not being allowed to board). Ross’s first step is to address the faulty learning model. Yisrael’s dysfunctional behavior was attributed to maladapted learning. An important part of his therapy, therefore, was to acquire more functional learning methods. At the beginning of the therapy, it was immediately clear that Yisrael was ignorant of – and curious about – human anatomy in general and sexual matters in particular. This was due to his extremely parochial upbringing, which censored all information about such matters, deeming them immodest. To correct his ignorance, the therapist showed Yisrael a child- ren’s book about the different parts of the human body and their functions.4 For the first time, he was able to be open about these taboo topics. He was able to converse openly with a woman, something which simply was not possible in his community, and this boosted his confidence as a young man. The ignorance and unclean atmosphere that had, for him, characterized sexual issues were replaced with awareness and a sense of control. The sanitized atmosphere of the hospital and his white-coated therapist helped him regard sexuality in a different, more positive way. He began to feel better about himself as a man and developed an understanding of the feelings and urges he had been unable to discuss with anyone else. Another form of relearning occurred when Yisrael became more aware of his emotions and moods. The “How Am I Feeling Today?” poster, which shows different faces displaying various emo- tions and states of mind, was a particularly helpful tool.5 Yisrael would, on his own initiative, search the poster for a face that matched his mood. He realized that the “guilty” face was one he used when he was insulting someone else. It was in the safe environment of the therapist’s office that he felt secure enough to admit this. He also realized that through his own actions he was degrading himself and creating his intense guilt feelings. Yisrael’s new environment, during therapy, was unlike any he had ever experienced and may have been an important factor facilitating his learning. It was easier to reconstruct his idea of
.
4. Gina Ingoglia, Look Inside Your Body (n.p.: Grosset and Dunlop, 1989). 5. Therapeutic Interventions.
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reality after his reality had, indeed, changed. Yisrael had been in therapy before. His therapist – a religious, bearded male – reminded him of the world from which he came. He had terminated the therapy because he “did not feel that it was helping.” Now he was seeing a female therapist who, though religious and able to understand his background, was part of the larger world and thus able to help him see a broader reality. Therapeutic Homework Homework is an integral part of Ross’s therapeutic process. The idea is to give the patient a more active role in the therapy, thereby cementing and developing what is accomplished during the therapy sessions. In this case, the therapist took something over which Yisrael felt he had no control – masturbation – and attempted to give him a certain amount of control. Paradoxically, his assignment was to masturbate. Five times per day, three days per week, he had to masturbate, immersing himself in the ritual bath (miqve) each day that he masturbated (the miqve is prescribed by Hasidic custom for anyone who ejaculates sperm). His actions – which, until now, he could not control – were raised to a voluntary and controllable level. The nexus of control was thus shifted from Yisrael to the therapist and then back to Yisrael again. The realization that he was in control of his actions increased his self-respect; he no longer saw himself at the mercy of mysterious, uncontrollable urges. Yisrael was given a second “homework assignment.” He would occasionally travel by bus to visit relatives in an ultra-Orthodox enclave about an hour away. Because of security considerations in Israel, the passenger seated in the front seat of the bus must be physically able to help the bus driver in case of a terrorist attack (much like the airplane passenger seated by the emergency exit). Yisrael’s assignment was to sit in the front seat every time he went to visit his relatives, putting himself in a position of responsibility, thus reinforcing his growing self-confidence. It served a second purpose: it kept him from the back of the bus, where troublemakers tend to sit. As stated above, collaboration between therapist and patient is
An “Unorthodox” Therapy of an Ultra-Orthodox Adolescent 331
a prominent characteristic of Ross’s therapy model.6 In this case, the therapist contributed her medical, psychological, and worldly knowledge, and Yisrael contributed by sharing parts of his world that the therapist had no access to – the Rebbe’s tish, for example. Ross’s therapy is active and directive. While the therapist must create a warm atmosphere, he or she must also be focused and fairly strict about the treatment. This particular therapy’s structure was consistently maintained. Each session opened the same way. Yisrael would report how often he had masturbated, how he felt about it, and whether he felt he was developing more control. The discussion would take its own course from there, but even if only briefly, each session began the same way. Ross’s model uses the method of Socratic questioning, which leads the patient to independently identify his own feelings rather than passively be diagnosed by the therapist. Since this method of questioning is used in the Talmud, it was familiar to Yisrael and he was able to internalize it to help identify his problems even though the therapy process itself was completely foreign to him. A bridge was built between the two worlds, and his ability to relate the two helped in the progression of the therapy. Socratic questioning succeeded in taking Yisrael on a cognitive journey starting in his own community and reaching the new and different world of the therapist’s office. He was ultimately able to return to his own community with a deeper understanding of himself. He came to realize what was truly important to him: his community and the sense of belonging it engendered. Openness is another characteristic of Ross’s therapy model. It was imperative that Yisrael and the therapist be open with each other. During the first appointment, when Yisrael told the therapist that he engaged in homosexual acts, she was very clear with him about the unacceptability of his conduct. She told him that he was abusing himself as well as others, stressing that just as he would not allow someone to reach into his pocket and steal his money, so was this a form of being taken advantage of, of self-abuse, and she would not tolerate it. He mentioned frequenting a public park where male and female prostitutes gather and where unprotected sex takes place. Again, the therapist made it very clear that she
.
6. See Samuel Heilman and Eliezer Witztum, “Patients, Chaperons and Healers: Enlarging the Therapeutic Encounter,” Social Science and Medicine 39, no. 1 (1994): 133-43.
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would terminate the therapy if he continued going to this park. “I don’t want to work with a dead person,” she stated, because of his risk of contracting AIDS through unprotected sex. The therapist came to symbolize openness because she acted as a window to the outside world. For someone who was not even allowed to read the secular press (the hasidic community generally reads its own, censored newspapers), this was an eye-opening ex- perience. It was at this time, the summer of 1997, that the Sojourner vehicle, Rover, was exploring planet Mars. Yisrael was interested in Rover’s progress and the therapist kept him updated on its journey, a journey that became a symbol for Yisrael’s own. Just as Rover had to navigate rocks and hard places to gain knowledge and under- standing, so did Yisrael have to endure the difficulties of therapy to gain a deeper understanding of himself. Ross outlines five session targets, goals to be achieved over the course of therapy: defining the problem, identifying associated negative thoughts, answering negative thoughts, evaluating the effect of the answer on belief in original thought and on emotion, and establishing how the answer could be pursued in action. Once his conduct disorder and acting out were identified, Yisrael and the therapist began identifying his associated negative thoughts, or mindset. In addition to the religious conflicts pre- viously described, Yisrael’s problem with masturbation created feelings of alienation from and anger toward his community. He felt trapped because he had no outlet for his sexual urges. Engaging in a practice forbidden by Jewish law – which he equated with murder – created intense feelings of guilt, frustration, and worthlessness. The therapeutic relationship was effective in battling these negative thoughts. Through it, Yisrael began to feel valued as a person. He formed a friendship with the therapist as they laughed together, talked together, and built a relationship of mutual respect and fondness, and this relationship played a large role in disproving his belief that he was worthless and “bad.” He began to realize that while his behavior was unacceptable, he had the power to control it and to set boundaries. This was further reinforced by the homework assignments discussed earlier. Additionally, continuing to attend yeshiva and to board there once a week allowed him to test and verify his new perceptions in the “real” world. For someone from a community where innovations are frowned
An “Unorthodox” Therapy of an Ultra-Orthodox Adolescent 333
upon and suspected, where openness about feelings and opinions is not the norm, the therapeutic experience had the potential to be frighteningly unsettling. Yisrael’s rosh yeshiva, therefore, appointed a teacher from the community to discuss his problems with him and to explain why it was unacceptable from the community’s perspec- tive. The parallel processing was effective in keeping him rooted in his own world while journeying to new and unknown, yet often enlightening and liberating frontiers. Discussion From the perspective of cognitive therapy, the therapy was effective because of its success in changing the way Yisrael thought. Faulty thought processes were identified, analyzed, and replaced. Certain beliefs had irrevocably changed. Even before he entered therapy, the bases of his religious belief had been shaken by the deaths of his cousin and the Rebbe. To help reconcile this, the therapist introduced the concept of death and new beginnings. She had recently lost her father at almost the same time that her grandchild was born. Her experience acted as a metaphor for his. Through the new insight and more sophisticated understanding he had gained, he was able to resolve his own issues through the experiences of the therapist. As Bowen suggests, it is not only the therapeutic alliance that can be therapeutic, but the therapist him or herself. It is significant that Yisrael shared a talmudic insight (devar Tora) that the Rebbe had delivered before his passing. It showed that he was able to reaccept him as a pious and wise man. Another aspect of his new mindset was a greater respect for women. His therapist was an Orthodox woman who was also a professional, respected by his father and by the leaders of his community. He had confided in her and worked through his problems with her. She had been able to understand him and even to discuss Torah, a topic seen by his community as beyond the abilities of a woman. Just as the Rover metaphor was so significant, so too were others used during the therapy. Metaphor is effective in therapy because it functions as meta-communication; its meanings are absorbed on a number of different levels. A significant symbolic exchange occurred when Yisrael brought sunflower seeds to eat during the session. Sunflower seeds are a
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popular ethnic snack in Israel. Their flesh is tasty, but the shell is large and messy to remove. When Yisrael asked the therapist whether she would mind if he ate them during the session, she said that she felt that they had their place, but that they mostly create more mess than food. They may look big, but there is little nourishing value in them. While it may be acceptable to eat them, it is important to put the mess in its place. Implicit in her response was that she was prepared to accept his faults, but that he had to learn to identify them and with them directly – in other words, to put them in their place. Another symbolic event occurred on Purim, when children dress up in costumes and deliver packages of food to friends and neighbors. Yisrael dressed up as a monster for the therapist. Hiding and revealing at the same time, he used the customs of the holiday to test his own identity. Was he a monster, as he appeared on the outside, or a “good guy,” as he was on the inside? Through the therapy, particularly through metaphors such as these, healthier and more positive metaphors replaced Yisrael’s negative thoughts. Many of his former ideas about the world had been shattered, but he replaced them with new, healthier ones. What was there in the relationship between patient and therapist that allowed changes in such basic, ingrained patterns of thought to take place? A psychodynamic perspective on the therapy will help explain why the cognitive changes occurred. Transference and countertransference played pivotal roles in the therapeutic relationship. Boys in his community live in dor- mitories from the age of thirteen until they are married. Even beforehand, as mentioned, once they reach the age of three and begin to attend heder, they are separated from their mothers and sisters for most of the day. This highlights the uniqueness of Yisrael’s interaction with the female therapist, and the trans- ferential experience that simultaneously occurred on many levels. The therapeutic relationship became the relationship with his mother that Yisrael never had. Separated as he was from her, and from any other loving, nurturing female figure, he had no one to turn to when experiencing sexual or existential confusion. The therapist was an accessible female who cared about him (as demonstrated by her firm refusal to allow him to engage in any behavior that would endanger his life), who valued him as a person, and who wanted to help him work through his issues. Through the
An “Unorthodox” Therapy of an Ultra-Orthodox Adolescent 335
relationship with the therapist, he resolved the relationship with the mother he had never, for all intents and purposes, had. Although in reality he never would have been able to have such an open relationship with his mother, the transferential relationship with the therapist gave Yisrael the opportunity to attach to his “mother” and then separate from her when he had gained the self- confidence and maturity (from the relationship itself) to do so. Yisrael’s cognitive and emotional perspectives underwent a change once he had resolved an early deficiency in his psychological devel- opment. Countertransference occurred on the part of the therapist. Since Yisrael was in need of a mother, the therapist adapted to play that role. She created an atmosphere in which he felt comfortable disclosing himself, making himself vulnerable but also open to help. She showed respect and trust for him and he ultimately recipro- cated. This partnership is what allowed for resolution of Yisrael’s issues and his return to a predominantly male world. The therapy sessions were to end at the conclusion of the yeshiva academic year, roughly corresponding to the month of July. As July approached, the sessions took on a different tone. Yisrael began bringing stories of the late Rebbe’s acts of piety and also related lessons he had learned in his talmud studies. At the therapist’s request, the yeshiva increased the number of times he was allowed board, from once a week to twice. This was a tangible effect of his newfound faith in himself and proof of the yeshiva’s faith in him. These events seemed to signify a rapprochement with his community, with himself. Is reentry into the environment that fostered the problem considered a success? We maintain that it certainly is. When assisting individuals from different cultural backgrounds, avoiding imposing one’s own values is imperative. The therapist must, whenever possible, assume the patient’s perspective and help him achieve his goal without transplanting him into the therapist’s world, which may be foreign to him. This particular patient wanted, more than anything else, to return to his community as a functioning member. This desire was reflected in his “contractual statement” at his first meeting with the therapist: “If I don’t have hasidut, I don’t have life.” Yet, although he was able to return as a functioning, contributing member of the hasidic community, his journey into a broader and more accepting world had rendered him different.
Eli Greenwald aka Zip. My sources tell me that yidi kicked you out of manavu one summer. Should I suppose that you have nothing personal against him for doing that to you? Are your motivations and biases as clear as you make them out to be?
And you are (were) called "zip" for a reason. Who helped you write that post? There were some words longer than two syllables.
Get a life Zip!!!!
What a great therapist!
UOJ, if we recall correctly, in a past post you said various things about yourself, including the fact that you give a shiur.
WOuld you mind sharing with your readership:
What type of shiur you give and whose seforim you use, considering the fact that there aren't many who find favor in your eyes.
Your answer to this question would greatly assist the few who can even still read these comments.
Then, of course, you have the option of not answering the question or posting this, as you continually do.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Hey UOJ, on a related topic, I have a couple of questions about your blog profile. You mention that you have s'micha. (So I guess we should be calling you Rabbi UOJ)It also appears that you are proud of this - which you should be if you indeed "earned it". Is the ROsh Yeshiva who sigend your S'micha alive? Do you consider him a true and deserving leader? Have you discussed any of your broad issues with him? What would he think of this blog? The profile further says that your goal is to to change the way we select our leaders. Could you, for the benefit of your readers, give a two or three sentence summary of how we currently select our leaders. It's not imediately clear to me. So many of the people who some might currently be described as leaders appear to have no real credentials beyond the fact that they have a shul which for any number of reasons (location, freedom to talk during davening, good networkng opportunities) has managed to attract a sizable and financially flush memebrship. The extent of the influence these "leaders" have exists mostly in the their own minds and the minds of the baalei Batim whose Kovod lust they feed. But I'm curious as to your basic definition of how leaders are "chosen".
I thought they were to be served legally on Erev Yom Tov. What happened?
uoj is above reproach. He has a truckload of plaques. He is dean of the blogging rabbis on the internet, a blog rabbi's rabbi, a leader's leader. He read Weekly Reader.
He never talks in Shul.
He never sucks up to rich ba'ale batim. He is one.
So there. Another wannabe.
kolko went to israel for yom tov , he could not have been served erev yomtov
Maybe on his way back from the airport he will get it . Who knows.
Get the the process server a limo driver outfit and a sign that says Kolko.
What airline is Kolko flying ? Can someone forward his picture to El Al and the U.S. Air Marshall Service ? These professionals are trained to subdue perverts who stick their filthy paws in little boys pants.
Why hasn't anyone contacted my office ?
I can have Kolko and Margo checked out by the NYPD's special victims unit.
UOJ, instead of answering my question about the shiur you claim to give, you posted a fake post, under anonymous, further questioning your semicha and other such quetions, completely ignoring my question.
SO I'll ask again for you to shiur information on this shiur you claim to be giving on a regular basis.
ANd please, this time don't follow up my question with a fake post about your semicha.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Margolis could have been served, and Kolko could have been served by the Sec of state, and then personally upon his return. Pesach has passed and the Makkos did not happen. After 20 years he gets away again.
UOJ, Seems like you're all TALK and no ACTION!!!
Thank you UOJ for wasting our time with the lawyers, and Robert Kolker. Thank you for getting all victems hopes up high. Thanks for nothing.
so UOJ, who bought YOU out?
To Anonymous and all other quick to judge posters. What have you done to help these vitims???? So far UOJ has been the only one to do anything. He said he would send out the letter to the community, most of you jumped all over him and called him a liar etc. and perhaps the letter went out late but it went out.
UOJ found an attoney who handles pedophiles and referred victims and for the first time in 30 years something is being done about the lies and hypocrisy in Orthodoxy....I've worked in law firms for years.....sometimes things are delayed...this reminds me of the golden calf. Jews biggest faults have always been Jew against Jew.
I believe in UOJ and give him the benefit of the doubt. He has made incredible headway so far, and he obviously cares and is doing something instead of being cowardly and being the first to negatively comment on this blog like some of you.
It's sickening......This is truly the root of all of our problems in the Jewish Community...being so quick to jump on the negative bandwagon as soon as we have one tiny bit of doubt or fear!
Get a grip! UOJ, I have been following you all along from day one. I believe in you and your cause. It is just a matter of time. Justice will be done! UOJ, I want you to know that I as well as many others are thankful and believe in what you are doing!
Thank you and Thank G-d for giving you the courage to keep fighting despite all odds!
what happened to this site ?
Please watch this site for updates "after" the fact. I will not give any nechama to the enemies of our children and our "Judaism" by informing them what's going down.
I can not be bought...I have earned the trust of the klal..please watch this site as the events unfold.
Chazak Klal Yisroel...
If the 3 hazmanas have come & gone without any reaction from Kolko and Margo, there's no reason why court papers can't be filed this week. We expect UOJ to immediately inform us of any such filings.
The first post-Pesach issue of NY Magazine is out. This was supposed to feature the Kolko-Margo scandal, but there's nothing of it posted online. What happened with Robert Kolker ?
I hope you post this comment:
uoj is nothing but a quack. You are the opposite of "emor me'at v'aseh harbeh"--you talk alot but have no results to show. While you had some credibility at the begining of your crusade, you lost it a long time ago, as alot of the posts on this site say. Additionally, your last post is circular and makes no sense. You say to watch the site for updates after the fact, and that you will not inform people of what is going down. yet one sentence later you say to watch the events as they unfold. Believe me, if anything does happen, we will be watching it live in the media, not on this website. You seem to be at a loss of what to answer all the people who you promised to have results and in the confusion you make it real clear that you have no plan and are just stalling for time. UOJ its time for you to be quiet. stop your stupidity. nobody has any faith in you. go back to where you came from, and if there are any developments we hope to read them and see them elsewhere. By the way, this does not mean that i am pro kolko/margules. I am on the side of truth, and so far you have yet to prove anything. I am all for invesyigating the facts, but i am not a fan of you and your immature method.
Eli Greenwald is ill in the hospital, and may not get better. Ben Hirsh in next.
Major dittos to UOJ and whoever has the courage to go after Kolko and Margo.
Can some of my fellow YTT alumni explain how this works ?
I received a poorly written invite to the dinner, le zaycher the rebbetzin.
Shaul Greenwald is the director of alumni relations, and Avrohom Greenwald is an alumni awardee, along with Pinny Fischer.
Shimmy Lax is journal chairman.
???????
what's the problem - are they too young, too obviously connected or comething else?
Ruach Chaim update - After Pesach each class has lost 2-3 boys, with some losing more. The fifth grade rebbe (the third one this year) has quit. Registration is supposedly closing this Thursday, although only a handful have registered. Klor is starting to panic, but it seems he is not yet prepared to admit defeat.
They are all great people.UOJ-Go do something useful with your time instead of trying to make a racket out of nothing from nothing.All these people being honored wouldnt have taken the honor if all your tellings are true so my suggestion is to get a lifebecause you never know what is going to happen.
UOJ, you say to watch this site for updates.
Please amke sure to wake me up.
I'd rather get a root canal done. This blog makes watching paint dry seem fun.
What a bore.
I'm moving on perhaps.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Well, I'm back.
It didn't take much time to realize that I have nothing else to do.
I may be bored but UOJ is the best thing that ever happened to me after all.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Oy veyes mere! You naysayers are sickening! Such negativity! Uch. It's disgusting. You wish you were UOJ! You wish you could have the courage or the "juevos" like my spanish neighbors would say to make the changes that UOJ has made so far.
What happened to a little emuna and bitachon?????Just like the golden calf! You must be those Jewish relatives!
UOJ we are with you! We think you are doing great work for the Jewish people and we give you alot of kudos for starting this blog and starting the changes that needed to happen to Orthodoxy for years!
The naysayers remind me of children. "What have you done for me lately? What have you done for me in the last five minutes? Ignore them UOJ. they are like flies on day old raisen challah!
I believe in you and the cause!
By the way, UOJ I have four daughters of marriagebale age if you are single. The oldest isn't a beauty but Oy can she cook and soo fine, but if you marry her then in seven years I'll give you the pretty one!
Keep up the good work UOJ!!!
Klor has lost like 100 pounds. He looks like a ghost. His mother in law also died yesterday.
The place is a total joke. I know 6 families who are pulling all their kids out of that rats nest.
Can someone fill me in on the current status of Leib and Shmelka Pinter? They seem to be going about business as usual which is weird.
Olympia Mortgage and Leib were named in a fraud indictment by Fannie Mae and the states of California and Connecticut in 2005. Newspaper accounts said they are still under investigation by the Justice Dept, HUD and the NY State Banking Dept. Shmelka also shows up as the target of suits in Texas and elsewhere.
Leib's son Moishe was made a rebbe in Mir after a nice payoff and is an officer of some Pinter enterprises.
Why are these creeps not in jail ? Do they have a court date ? I did hear from eyewitnesses that Olympia's office was raided by investigators who hauled away all kinds of documents.
Hey Tatty,
I can tell you that I know Leib Pinter's boys Moishie and Zvi from Brisk and Lakewood. Zvi is also now a rebbe in Bucks County Yeshiva. I wonder if anyone was payed off over there too. And didn't Shmelka's kid become the de facto rov in Westgate after they gobbled up all the real estate ?
NEWSFLASH JUST IN:
AGUDAH ANNOUNCES PINTER BROS. TO BE GUESTS OF HONOR AT THEIR 2007 ANNUAL DINNER
Dear un-orthodox Jew,
I agree those ingredients exist. We definitely can use a great deal of reform in our Yeshivos, and it is being done.
However I find a tremendous flaw in your whole project. By calling yourself "unorthodox" you imply that you don't believe in any of the orthodox ways. You seem to be criticizing from the outside, not from within.
Do you believe in the premise that there has to be a "Shevet Levi" that devotes itself to torah, as stated in Rambam?
Do you believe that the study of Torah (in the proper way) has a beneficial effect on the entire world, spiritually and materially, as stated countlessly in Chaza"l?
Do you believe that a good Kollel could have a positive effect on a community?
Do you believe Halachah should be observed in detail? Do you believe the 'Shulchan Aruch' is binding? and therefor studied as such? (Do you? from your variety of posts it seems that you don't know too much of it, especially the one about "Malkiel". Besides, you don't seam to observe the laws of 'Lashon Hora' too well)
If you don't believe in the above, then instead of talking about all the problems, bigotry and extortion (which exist in the non-orthodox world just the same, if not worst), and let's argue about the basic belief is it true or not.
If you believe in the above, then why don't you post positive examples of those who are doing it the way they should. It certainly will work better if you do so. If your whole purpose is getting rid of the bad within why do you come across as favoring anything that is negative regardless of how well educated and well informed is the writer?
It is a crime (correct me if I'm wrong) to post such stories as "criticism of orthodox jewry" .When a orthodox figure is found guilty it's definitely our duty to correct it, but it doesn't mean he did it because he is orthodox, and we all know how true that is. And those who cover up for the criminal are also not doing it because they are orthodox, and how true that is... just open any non jewish newspaper.
The whole picture is missing here. The fact is, we have the lowest crime rate (despite our "poverty"), and the lowest divorce rate. In Lakewood NJ the divorce rate and crime rate is lower than... Weather Rabbi Ahron Kotler (Lakewood) or Rabbi Ruderman (Baltimore) was right is not the decision of doctors and lawyers, the same way a Rabbi shouldn't decide a medical question.
Some of your posts are so ignorant of the facts that I can't even begin with them.
The non-orthodox world has a lot to be accountable for. I even know they have ignorant people publishing web sites...
--
Posted by M.D.Shwekey to UN-ORTHODOX JEW at 4/25/2006 06:47:47 PM
Dispute Over Rabbi's Successor Heats Up.
(Judge is forced to issue an "order" for Jews to behave like civilized humans.I thought religious Jews settle their disputes in bais din-UOJ)
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: April 25, 2006
The dispute over which of Moses Teitelbaum's sons will succeed him as the grand rabbi of the Satmar sect of Hasidic Jews raged in and out of court for the last six years of his life.
Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum Is Dead at 91 Rabbi Teitelbaum's death last night appears unlikely to bring the controversy to a close.
Less than two hours after the rabbi died, as tens of thousands of grieving Satmars thronged the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Kiryas Joel, N.Y., a judge in Orange County issued several orders. Rabbi Teitelbaum's third son, Zalmen, lives in Williamsburg; his eldest son, Aaron, lives in Kiryas Joel in Orange County.
The orders were issued by Judge Stewart A. Rosenwasser at the request of Aaron Teitelbaum's supporters. They included measures to maintain order and decorum during the funeral and the mourning period to follow, and to make sure that neither Aaron's nor Zalmen's supporters were shut out.
But Zalmen Teitelbaum's supporters say the orders also contain language intended to solidify the claim to power of Aaron's supporters.
They appealed the orders this afternoon, and an appellate judge agreed to strike much of the ruling they objected to.
Zalmen's supporters also said the Satmars' own rabbinical court formally declared Zalmen the sect's new grand rabbi last night [[Monday]].
A spokesman for Aaron's supporters, Richard J. Schwartz, said that Judge Rosenwasser's rulings were meant to apply only to the funeral and related events, not to settle the overall dispute. And he added that it was the Satmar board of directors, not the grand rabbi or the rabbinical court, that would appoint the next grand rabbi.
People who have been observing the battle for years do not expect a quick capitulation by either side.
"Since 2001," said David M. Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in New York, "every facet of this disagreement has ended up in the civil courts. I would expect that the issue of succession will go there, too."
The stakes are high both materially and spiritually. The Satmars, a fast-growing sect of some 100,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews, based in Williamsburg but spread around the world, run a vast private school system, real estate holdings worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a famed matzo factory and a network of social services.
Like other Hasidim, the Satmars vest tremendous authority in their grand rabbi; he is the arbiter of every aspect of their spiritual lives as well as the guiding voice of the community.
The Satmar grand rabbi, Moses Teitelbaum, who was 91 when he died on Monday, named Zalmen head of the sect's main synagogue in Williamsburg in 1999. Years before, he had named Aaron head of the congregation in Kiryas Joel, a Satmar enclave 55 miles northwest of New York City. The brothers are both in their mid-50's.
Zalmen's supporters, most of whom live in Brooklyn, said the Williamsburg appointment made him the logical successor to the grand rabbi. Supporters of Aaron, most of whom live in Kiryas Joel, said the appointment of the younger son was fraudulent and filed the first of several suits.
The dispute has occasionally erupted into violence. More than two dozen people were arrested in a fight in the Williamsburg synagogue last year after Judge Rosenwasser issued another ruling that supported Aaron's position.
Despite the gathering and dispersing of huge crowds last night and today, there has been little unrest and no arrests. But the jockeying goes on as ever.
One of Judge Rosenwasser's orders Monday night gave Zalmen Teitelbaum's faction until Wednesday morning to counter a holding that the head of the pro-Aaron faction, Berl Friedman, as the rightful president of the board of the Williamsburg congregation, was authorized to take action to ensure that the funeral proceeds peacefully.
The order also instructed the police in New York City and in Kiryas Joel to assist Mr. Friedman.
The wording was similar to parts of Judge Rosenwasser's decision in February, which held that Mr. Friedman is the head of the congregation's board. But that decision was immediately appealed, and in March, an appellate panel froze it from taking effect until various appeals are resolved.
The lawyer for Zalmen's supporters, Scott E. Mollen, called Judge Rosenwasser's new order "an obvious effort to do an end run around the Appellate Division's order of March 2006."
Late this afternoon, a judge in the Appellate Division, Joseph Covello, struck the parts of Judge Rosenwasser's order that granted powers to Mr. Friedman. Other parts of the order will be argued before Judge Rosenwasser on Wednesday morning.
Mr. Schwartz said the order that Aaron's supporters sought, and that Judge Rosenwasser granted Monday, was intended simply to ensure civil behavior during the period of mourning. "Now that some of the controls have been removed from the initial ruling," he said, "we trust that all members of the community will continue to behave as orderly and peacefully as they have thus far."
David Weber, one of the thousands of mourners who gathered outside the grand rabbi's residence on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg this morning, said that while the question of who succeeds Moses Teitelbaum was crucial, peace was paramount.
"We hope whatever is going to be, will be very peaceful," he said. That, he added, would be "the best way to honor the rebbe."
(WE AINT SEEN NOTHING YET-UOJ)
Parole service to recommend release of alleged child-killer
By Yuval Yoaz, Yair Ettinger and Jonathan Lis
The parole service will recommend releasing Yisrael Vales, the 19-year-old ultra-Orthodox man accused of killing his three-month-old son a month ago.
A parole review prepared at the request of the Jerusalem district prosecutor's office will be submitted to the Jerusalem District Court at Vales' remand extension hearing this morning.
Prosecution sources said last night they had yet to finalize their position on releasing Vales from custody. An effort apparently will be made to find an arrangement that will enable his delivery into the custody of individuals who will vouch for him.
Vales was indicted two weeks ago on manslaughter charges. The indictment, which initially included charges of abusing a minor, assaulting a minor, and causing grievous bodily harm, was amended after the baby died of injuries at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem.
Just hours after he was arrested at the hospital, Vales admitted to ongoing abuse of his baby son, Yitzhak Shmuel. The baby was rushed to the hospital at the beginning of this month unconscious and suffering from cerebral and eye hemorrhages, and died several days later.
Vales gave interrogators three reasons for the abuse: the baby's ceaseless crying, anger at his wife for working nights at a clothing store and disgust at his son's congenital muscular torticollis, a deformity of the neck.
Vales detailed the abuse in a written police statement made public yesterday on Channel 10 news. He admitted to bashing the baby against the wall, punching and slapping him, pinching his neck and chest, and biting him on the neck.
Vales said he began abusing the baby about two weeks before the final incident. He denied any abuse of his wife, but admitted that he slapped her occasionally.
After Vales' arrest, ultra-Orthodox groups mounted violent demonstrations in Jerusalem in an effort to secure his release.
The Jerusalem district attorney, Eli Abarbanel, met with ultra-Orthodox representatives Sunday to discuss the matter.
A previously scheduled meeting was canceled due to the violent protests. The prosecution stressed there were no negotiations over Vales' release, and the purpose of the meeting was simply to listen to the Haredi representatives who had requested it.
The prosecution announced that its position on releasing Vales would be determined according to standard procedure and after receiving a custody review from the parole service, but sources were in no hurry to join the parole service's recommendation last night.
The review deals with the question of whether Vales is dangerous, and concludes that he no longer poses a threat to anyone.
Haredim rally in capital
An ultra-Orthodox group yesterday evening demonstrated opposite the Russian Compound police facility in Jerusalem, where Vales is being held.
The demonstration's organizers, members of the Atra Kadisha organization, protested the intention to release Vales under certain restrictions, demanding that all proceedings against him be dropped.
Vales' family said in response that "the demonstration is superfluous."
According to understandings reached prior to today's court hearing, Vales would remain under house arrest at his grandmother's home in the Mea She'arim neighborhood.
Vales was visited in jail yesterday by his wife's brother-in-law, Zvi Eisenstein, who has been serving as spokesman for the family.
Eisenstein said that Vales requested that there be no celebrations in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea She'arim after his anticipated release today, because he and his wife are still in mourning for their son.
My father has a large Yeshiva, and I heard him railing against the Catholic church. He was indignant about how they could just move these depraved priests around to different cities once they were accused.
I told him that this happens ALL THE TIME in yeshivas, and I told him that he would have done the EXACT same thing if he was in that situation. If one of his rebbeim was found molesting a kid, he'd fire the guy, but he'd try to sweep it under the rug to the extent possible. The guy would then move to another yeshiva and start over.
I personally was molested when I was 13 years old (I'm in my 40's now) in a very prominent brand-name yeshiva, by a prominent brand-name Rov. I actually went to the Rosh HaYeshiva, and my reward was that I got thrown out of the Yeshiva. It was my word against his.
I learned a valuable lesson about keeping my mouth shut. Today he writes articles in very frum magazines and newspapers, and it makes me want to vomit. I know of at least one other such story in a different Yeshiva. Don't think this molestation is unusual.
Kudos to you for trying to do something about it.
: )
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Yeshivas Should Not Exist If They Violate The Basic Precepts Of The Torah!":
My father has a large Yeshiva, and I heard him railing against the Catholic church. He was indignant about how they could just move these depraved priests around to different cities once they were accused. I told him that this happens ALL THE TIME in yeshivas, and I told him that he would have done the EXACT same thing if he was in that situation. If one of his rebbeim was found molesting a kid, he'd fire the guy, but he'd try to sweep it under the rug to the extent possible. The guy would then move to another yeshiva and start over. I personally was molested when I was 13 years old (I'm in my 40's now) in a very prominent brand-name yeshiva, by a prominent brand-name Rov. I actually went to the Rosh HaYeshiva, and my reward was that I got thrown out of the Yeshiva. It was my word against his. I learned a valuable lesson about keeping my mouth shut. Today he writes articles in very frum magazines and newspapers, and it makes me want to vomit. I know of at least one other such story in a different Yeshiva. Don't think this molestation is unusual. Kudos to you for trying to do something about it.
Anon,
If your "rebbe" is still in a yeshiva somewhere please post it...you can e-mail me as well to:
a_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com.
People are wondering what I'm going to do about it...the same thing that's going to happen to Kolko shortly.
Eli Greenwald is ill in the hospital, and may not get better.
=========================
To the demented lowlife who wrote the above comment:
If you are a Baal Bitochen and believe in Midah K'neged Midah, you had better rush and ask Eli mechila or make sure your medical insurance is up to date.
What has happened to our people? When did people such as this infiltrate our community?
So Leib Pinter's wife is the principle of Masores Bais Yaakov. What a farce.
http://www.buckscountyyeshiva.org/staff_rel.html
Rabbi Zvi Pinter, Gemara Bekius, Chullin
Rabbi Pinter is a graduate of Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, N.J. where he studied for 15 years. Prior to learning in Lakewood he was in Brisk in Jerusalem for 2 years learning with Rabbi Avrohom Yehoshua Solevertchik.
Rabbi Pinter has extensive educational experience with teens and adults being a lecturer in Manalapan, and Lakewood, N.J. For the past few summers he has worked at Camp Romemu.
Rabbi Pinter stems from generations of Mechanchim. His mother is Principal of Mesores High School in Brooklyn. His grandfather Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Shurken was a world renowned Rosh Yeshiva in Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin for close to three decades. Rabbi Pinter currently lives in Lakewood, N.J. with his wife and six children.
UOJ-You are destroying my life. Last night I was screaming UOJ in my sleep, now my wife wants to know who is AaJay. I said UOJ..she is going to the rov. Can't you please get the H out of my life?
Please tell me what's the latest?
Pinter gets Nosson Sherman or Zlotowitz to issue his farcical seforim at Artscroll and those of his relatives. The Taubs are Pinter mechutonim.
http://www.artscroll.com/Books/loth.html
The Laws of Tzedakah and Maaser
A Comprehensive Guide
By Rabbi Shimon Taub
Rabbi Shimon Taub, a scholar of note, has mastered these laws and shares them with us.
In Memory of Joe Tanenbaum A"H
Foreword - by Rabbi Baruch Taub
Someone tells me that some innocent little kids are being molested and a couple of alter kackers called Kolko and Margo have something to do with it. Where do I find these guys ?
Fuhgeddaboutit
Is Kolko teaching today? Did they allow him back in the classroom. Please advise.
Anon-
Please contact the attorney Herman, in Florida. You are not alone. There are several of us so far who are his clients.
Pinter is such a lowlife he thinks he can do whatever he wants with my salami.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/godolhador/112284377358176893/#180379
Salami and Cheese Put In a 'Kosher' Sandwich
New York Times
February 20, 1978
Salami and Cheese Put In a 'Kosher' Sandwhich
When Representative Elizabeth Hotlzman first started investigating complaints about the B'nai Torah Institute's operation of a summer feeding program, a Queens woman telephoned the Congresswoman's assistant, Elizabeth Lang, to describe the "Kosher" food she was receiving from the Queens Assistance Program, a B'nai Torah affiliate.
The woman said she specifically requested kosher food, but salami and cheese sandwiches were delivered to her site - a clear violation of Jewish laws that forbid the consumption of meat with dairy products.
"She told me she called the program and they put the 'Rabbi' on," Miss Lang recalled. "The Rabbi said, 'if it's kosher salami and kosher cheese, it's a kosher sandwich.'"
I have heard that the feds rounded up many people and made them sit for a little while to make them squeal on Pinter's lunch program. These poor guys went to Reb Moishe who said they cannot be moyser on the shmuck. It's been said that if Pinter was even a tiny fraction of a mentch, he would have confessed to various things that would have kept the others out of prison.
Hell, no. Pinter is as low as they come.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/godolhador/112284377358176893/#180319
Hey neighbor of pinter
All his books were written by others. If you were really a neighbor you would know enough to stay away from him. I really don't want to post about all the people's lives he has tried to destroy. Please don't make me do it
"The Taubs are Pinter mechutonim.
Rabbi Shimon Taub, a scholar of note"
What about the way Shimon Taub treated his ex-wife ?
Does that make him a certified shmuck of note according to Artscroll ?
To the person taking my my name - enduoj@hotmail.com - I say thank you: after all, imitation is the finest form of flattery.
If you enjoy psoting stupid things under my name, go right ahead. That doesn't negate the emails I receive on a daily basis supporting our effort to put UOJ away.
Just today I decided to peruse UOJ's old sight which we successfully hacked. I think it would behoove every person reading this to take a look there - unorthodoxjew@blogspot.com - and read once again all the disgusting things UOJ has written about anyone and everyone, from gedolim, rabbonim, roshei yeshiva, baalebatim, laymen, women, children, baalei teshuvah, chassidim, misnagdim, right-wingers, left-wingers, modern orthodox, the yeshiva world, kollel, bochurim, etc.
Read it and see once again why we are dealing with a seriously depraved individual who is so severely ill.
Read for yourself this holier-than-everyone-else attitude from someone who is so corrupt and vile himself that it boggles the mind.
Let us not forget who we are dealing with here.
And to the guy who posted using my name - when the quality of your writing improves far beyond first-grade level, you might fool people into thinking that you are enduoj@hotmail.com. As long as you continue writing like you are a pre-1-a student, it s clear to everyone that you are an imposter.
We will continue our important work tracking UOJ's comments and following his every move from when he leaves his house to when he returns home.
enduoj@hotmail.com
http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/DocSearch.dll/ViewImage?Doc_ID=2006041201135001
Nice to see some more property in the menuvels name. More to distribute to his victims.
enduoj:
Do you keep a log? Can you please share it with us?
To the idiot "real" EndUOJ:
It is clear that nobody who matters has joined your pitiful campaign. This issue is of greater importance and reach than your little mind can ever imagine. Anyone who has any real connection to whatever remains of our "leaders" knows full well that the FACT that Kolko is a child molester and that Margulies is guilty of a scandalous cover up is undeniable (as facts generally tend to be.)
This is a crisis of epic proportions that has reached a boiling point and has gotten so out of hand that there remains no choice but to take this issue to a mind-blowing level. Surely there will be many who might start with the “could’ve should’ve stories” but there has been ample time to take care of the problem (and more importantly, several decades to remove Kolko from any position involving children.)
As it stands, our “leadership” (the Agudah, the “Gedolim,” and all the Rabbonim have clearly “spoken” with their public silence and have showed all of us that they are indeed impotent as this has gone way above their heads. The direct and indirect power that Margulies has had over all of them will soon be worthle$$. Margulies is a pompous Hungarian and he doesn’t understand that he can’t “pay off” the public.
Those who truly care have been left with little choice. Perhaps it is time to realize that you and others in denial should wake up and remove your “ignoramus caps” from your empty heads. “Wild things are happening” and you’re sleeping.
I am sorry that I cannot provide a log of our activities, as that would greatly jeopardize what we want to achieve.
B"H we have successfully curtailed some of UOJ's efforts and have carefully considered every option as we go forward.
We have no doubt that Hashem will be on our side as we put an end to the evil doings of an evil person.
If UOJ's motive was in the right place and he was truthfully trying to protect our community, that would be one thing.
It is clear, however, that that is not the case at all.
The man lacks any sense of responsibility or sensibility.
He has approached delicate subjects with extreme immaturity and recklessness and has attempted to make a mockery of the Torah world.
We cannot, and will not, tolerate such behavior without retribution.
We will not rest until weput an end to this daily chillul Hashem that is UOJ.
enduoj@hotmail.com
To the person who emailed me about distributing ENDUOJ T-shirts, I apologize but that is not the tone of our campaign.
This is not color war; this is a serious effort to remove from our midst an evil individual.
What he does in his own life is his business.
But when he takes his rhetoric to
the public arena, such as on the internet, as he has done since the inception of his infamous blog, we have to respond - just as we have done and we will continue to do.
We will not tire.
So, sorry about the T-shirts, but thank you for your support.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Endouj, you want to remove a evil person from our midst ? Remove Kolko and Lipa! Otherwise SHUT THE HELL UP!
Pinter's wife is the principle of Masores ? No wonder that school sucks. It's kind of unfortunate though that they are attracting some of the bum element that Machon Bais Yaakov used to have a monopoly on.
By the way, Kolko is back in town going about his business. What's up with him ?
According to the register at the NYC Dept of Finance, it seems that Pinter has recently remortgaged his house at 1783 East 9th St, using the "Chesed Credit Union" or Midwood Federal Credit Union, which is a block away from Olympia. You can do a search on Pinter at the same website that has Margo's purchase of 621 Ditmas. Leib is sometimes spelled Lieb. Shmelka goes under Sam / Samuel / Leon. The wives are Shaindy / Sheila.
Shmelka has been buying real estate together with a fellow named Moishee Schlafrig.
Are these companies another fraudulent Pinter front ?
http://creditunionaccess.com/cu23764.htm
Midwood Federal Credit Union (Inactive) of Brooklyn, NY has 1,130 members and assets of $5 million. The credit union has 4 full time employees and no part time employees
Midwood Federal Credit Union
1322 Avenue J
I'll tell you why all these guys Kolko, Pinter and Margo are so screwed up. I tried to pitch Herbalife to them when they came to daven maariv at Landau's shul and they wouldn't even listen to me.
"Are these companies another fraudulent Pinter front ?"
Would that include Camp Horim that wasn't in Pinter's name ?
Another scum of the earth joins David Schick and the Frankel's shul crowd at Otisville.
http://www.leisuretimetours.com/arizona_biltmore.htm
There is a frum pesach group in this hotel every year under Phoenix Vaad hakashrus
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/
(full article not available anymore online, replaced by later abbreviated article in 2)
Haggerty agreed when defense attorney Frederick Petti asked that Taus serve his time at the Otisville federal prison camp in New York, a medium-security facility designed to house Jewish inmates. "Mr. Taus is a deeply religious man," Petti said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/metro_west_news/1144734210282740.xml?oregonian?wn&coll=7
A lawyer gets 13 months for arranging for sex through an undercover officer
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
HOLLY DANKS
Thinking he was about to have sex with a 15-year-old virgin, Irachmil B. Taus cautiously glanced around the ritzy hotel room.
After checking the room for police, Taus set down a bag of pastries and a gold-and-diamond tennis bracelet and counted out $1,000 in hundred-dollar bills. The Beverly Hills, Calif., lawyer had already paid $600 to a man Taus believed was bringing his underage daughter from the Portland area to the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix.
Hillsboro police Detective Cheryl Banks, a member of the FBI Innocent Images task force out of Portland, watched the November 2004 transaction on a closed-circuit TV in an adjoining room.
"I knew it, it's a setup," Taus said after Banks and other agents arrested him on charges of enticing someone to travel across state lines for the purpose of having sex with a minor.
Taus, 67, was sentenced Monday to 13 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the charge. Judge Ancer L. Haggerty of U.S. District Court in Portland also ordered Taus to pay a $25,000 fine, stay away from minors for three years of post-prison supervision and register as a sex offender based on the laws of the state where he ends up living.
"I apologize to the court, to my friends and, of course, to my family," Taus said during his sentencing. "My actions were foolish and I regret them very much. I want to make amends."
Banks acknowledged that she set up Taus. But, she quickly noted, it was he who contacted her in October 2004 in an AOL chat room labeled "Taboo." Undercover officers, Banks said, give suspects "every chance to back out."
"You just have to get into the mind-set of a sex offender," Banks said. "I have to think like a pervert. It was very difficult, very strange. I felt creepy."
Banks continues to investigate child abuse cases for the Hillsboro Police Department, which pulled her off the FBI task force this year for budget reasons.
Beth Anne Steele, FBI spokeswoman in Portland, said the local task force is one of about two dozen across the country focused on child porn and online predators.
The Portland team has won more than 20 convictions since it started in 2002, Steele said. A Beaverton detective is joining the task force now that Banks has left.
Holly Danks: 503-221-4377; hollydanks@news.oregonian.com
I was always wondering who was the owner of Horim?
Kleinkaufman? Pinter? Weinberg?
I don't have access to expensive databases to look up court filings, but Pinter was supposedly banned in the 70s from owning another camp or yeshiva. I've heard at various times that Camp Horim was under the names of Donner or Bochner
To Gross, Anonymous and the others who seem so perturbed about our activities to end UOJ, I'd like to clarify a few points:
1. Yes, we know who UOJ is and where he resides. He can deny his identity from today to tomorrow, but, to answer question, the answer is a resounding Yes.
2. Our stand is as follows: If there are people who have committed crimes and acted inappropriatey, then action must be taken in a responsible and effective fashion. We will not defend any person who has committed illegal, immoral or otherwise unacceptable activites.
However, we feel that these issues should be dealt with by intelligent and responsible individuals, not by loose cannons like UOJ. UOJ has undermined our own efforts in curtailing offenders in schools. UOJ has more than once posted information on this blog which have rendered much of our efforts - including having two people working in Brooklyn yeshivos fired - worthless.
UOJ will tell you he is doing holy work, but we know good and well that besides for the dispicable way with which he goes about his business - both in real life and in his alter-ego life here on the bog - he has done more damage than good in our effort to clean up schools and yeshivos in the frum community.
3. Our main goal, after protecting and doing whatever we can for the frum community, is to put an end to UOJ, once and for all.
We have hacked his blog in the past, but such action is only temporary.
We will continue to expend all our efforts to remove this person from our midst.
Thank you.
enduoj@hotmail.com
You think we're joking around? I'll show you we're not.
First, the clown idiot phony UOJ (endouj.blogspot.com) is no more. Check for yourself. We did away with him today.
i cannot tell you how. Just know we are strong and getting stronger.
Second, I have a websight now to. Its called EndUOJ.blogspot.com (I know how to spell not like that phony who was pretending to be me) so I got it right.
All those who are with me come join the team that is on the right side of the UOJ debakel.
We will not back down and we will not tire of our efforts until those who deny us our heyligeh Torah are defeated.
enduoj@hotmail.com
Mendel, why you so interested? Jealous that you couldn't keep a yeshiva open? That's okay, your blackmailing for a living suits you. You are pitiful.
BULLSHIT FOR SALE-MIRACLES WILL HAPPEN TO YOU FOR ONLY $400. SEND THE MONEY IMMEDIATELY!!!!!
MANY PEOPLE RECEIVE AMAZING HELP WITH DIFFICULT PROBLEMS, IN THE ZCHUS OF MAHARAL TZINTZ ZT”L
As the Rebbe lay on his bed, his strength ebbing, the air was filled with tension. He was surrounded by his best students, who were all brilliant talmidei chachomim in their own right, and they strained to hear their revered mentor’s final words, his parting advice to them before he left this world.
Then the Rebbe gestured weakly and pointed to one of the walls of his modest dwelling, saying, “Please bring me the wooden tablet from there.”When this was done, the Rebbe, with his last bit of strength, wrote on it the words that would resonate throughout the centuries, and which would have a profoundly beneficial effect on all who heeded them: “I shall act as an advocate on behalf of whoever helps print my sefarim.” Seeing the astonishment on the faces of his students at this bold declaration, the Rebbe assured them, “A merchant does not hang up a sign in his shop unless he has merchandise to sell!”
A few minutes later, the tzaddik’s pure soul departed for its journey to the upper realms. He is interred in the great bais olom in Warsaw, and on his matzivoh is the promise he made in his last moments in this world.
Who was this extraordinary tzaddik? His name was Moreinu Harav Aryeh Leib (Maharal) Tzintz. The great gaon wrote many sefarim, and he was very much interested in seeing to it that they were printed and distributed. That is why he made the promise which he did.
Indeed, there are many stories told of people who were helped in miraculous ways after they undertook to print the sefarim of the gaon. The organization which is dedicated to the publication of the Maharal’s seforim knows of many cases of people who have seen yeshuos which are clearly miraculous. These involve recovery from life-threatening diseases, obtaining good parnassa, finding proper shidduchim, nachas from children, etc.
Here is one example: Mr. S is a well-known businessman, a G-d-fearing and warmhearted Yid. Hashem has blessed him with wealth, and he utilizes his money wisely, giving to tzedaka and worthy causes with an open hand.
It happened once that in one of his business dealings with another company, he made a serious misstep. As a result, the other firm started legal proceedings against him, and he soon realized that this blunder would probably cost him many tens of millions of dollars. He quickly hired the best lawyers available, attorneys who were famed for their expertise with this particular type of problem, and paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars for their services. However, after examining and analyzing the case, they told Mr. S that quite frankly, they could hold out little hope for him, despite their best efforts.
This was devastating news; even for a man of Mr. S’s considerable wealth, the tremendous losses that he faced would be a very serious blow. However, a close friend gave him some excellent advice. “There is another lawyer who is much more effective than any of those you’ve hired, and whose words carry a great deal of weight in Shomayim, with a corresponding impact down here.” After learning of the Maharal Tzintz’s promise to help those who assist in publishing his seforim, Mr. S lost no time in contacting the Machon. He insisted on paying the entire cost of the sefer which was then being readied for print, so that the “attorney” would begin working on the case immediately.
As soon as he made this wise move, things started happening with such astounding speed, that Mr. S is visibly moved every time he talks about it. The case against him simply fell apart, and those at the opposing company who wished to do him harm were summarily dismissed from their posts. In fact, the other company was forced to pay Mr. S’s legal expenses!
Now, on the occasion of the gaon’s yahrzeit on the 3rd of Iyar, the Institute for Publication of the Mahral Tzintz’s sefarim is affording the public a rare opportunity: for only $400, one can order 18 Seforim of any of the four new Sefarim that are being published over the coming year: Maayanei HaChachma on Bava Metzia, Chelek Bais and Daled; Sefer Yayin Hamesameach, on Hilchos Yayin Nesech; and Pirkei Avos with the commentary of the Maharal Tzintz. The Sefarim will be distributed to Shuls and Yeshivos of the donor’s choosing. This is a great opportunity to gain a great zchus, and to be helped by the advocacy of the great tzaddik and gaon, as so many others have been miraculously helped through the centuries.
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Wasn't that Bochner guy Pinter's partner in the jewelry holdup ? What a bunch of miserable wretches.
I'm upset that Pinter wouldn't let me supervise the kashrus for the lunch program. All these guys are just greedy whores. Margo won't even give me a piece of the action in the YTT dining room. You might think he would be in a generous mood after he rakes it in selling the bochurim the food he gets from the government. Nada.
I can't believe that some dopes actually buy Pinter's sforim. As far as Margo, I'm tired of him plodding around my store like a fat ferd. I'm about this close from barring him from the premises.
That's nothing Harvey. There's some fat jerk with a lange reckel and a Hungarian accent who comes in next door for the takeout food and asks to sample a bite of everything before he orders it. By the sound of it, I think it might be Margo.
It's interesting to see how a blog's comment thread weaves its way around from one theme to the next. Right now we seem to be focused on the UOJ vs. ENDUOJ debate. Let's see if we can crystalize the two camps' positions
UOJ and supporters. So what if UOJ is a vulgar, irreverant boor. All great revolutions are led by rebels and at least he's trying to get something very important done. So let's put up with the balance of his immaturity as long as he brings down Kolko.
ENDUOJ and supporters. We are also trying to rid the community of this danger (are you?) So why do we need UOJ's distracting Sharpton-like hystrionics
So, the questions are:
ENDUOJ: What exactly are these more dignified efforts you are making to rid the community of the threat posed by Kolko? If you actually know everything about UOJ and are commited to achieving the same constructive goal I'm sure you could reach out to him and share resources
UOJ: Why couldn't you continue to pursue your ostensibly noble cause (potentially with ENDUOJ) without being a vulgar irreverant boor?
Stay away from the Pinters. I am someone who is not in constant contact with them but I do know them. It's bad enough if they steal from taxpayers and customers of Olympia Mortgage and cause the biggest chillul H in the yeshiva world. The Pinters are just not nice people bain adam lachavyro. Not that Shmelka and his boys are very nice but especially Leib and one of his sons are mean enough that they visibly feel enjoyment at other peoples' misfortunes. It boggles the mind that the establishment still kisses their feet that have become enriched through thievery. Klal Yisroel needs a yeshua because of people like the Pinters.
People like Pinter give a bad name to all legitimate tzedaka organizations like Tomchei Shabbos. All it takes is one bad apple and the outside world thinks that all of us are dishonest.
in order to get a siruv the bes din must issue 3 registered letters to the defendant. letters issued by the parties or the party's lawyer is not enough.
HTH
Pinter, Kolko and Margo don't even know how to spend the money they've stolen / amassed. Their homes are in poor taste. They should hire an interior decorator.
Can someone explain Margo's recent acquisition of 621 Ditmas? $520,000 is a lot less than the going market rate on a two-family home in the neighborhood. Something is not right.
Help! I'm poorly written and rife with typos...all alone without even a comment. :(
Jewish Lawyer:
Why the need for a Siruv? A true believer would have responded to the first informal request to have this matter adjudicated before Das Torah.
Not only did Margulies renege on his agreement to appear before a panel of Gedolim convened just for him, he ignored four subsequent formal Hazmanas to appear for a Din Torah. Halacha requires only one Hazmana.
The Hazmanas sent to Margulies are Halachicaly valid. Whether or not a Bais Din will issue a Siruv for his blatant disregard of these Hazmanas is on no relevance or import.
The Torah obligates us to bring our disputes before a Bais Din for adjudication Al Pi Das Torah. When one of the parties to the dispute is a Koifer and refuses to appear before Bais Din, Halacha permits the matter to be brought to the secular courts.
Margulies has shown his true colors. He chose to imperil his life’s work in order to continue protecting a violent child molester. He will now have to deal with the consequences of his actions.
Duh. Cash ?
Margo bought the house from the Nathans. Who are they and what is their connection to him?
If Margo's about to be sued, isn't this a bad time to be adding to his real estate portfolio ?
Margo is a megalomaniac. His behavior is that of an insane man.
I DON'T CARE IF MY BLOG HAS A SPELLING ERROR IN IT YOU DOLT.
ALL I CARE ABOUT IS RIGHTING THE WRONGS PERPRTATED BY UOJ AND HIS FACTIONS!!!
GET ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND ABANDON THIS MENUVAL. UOJ WILL LEAD YOU RIGHT TO HELL!!!
THIS IS TO THE JERK WHO REGISTERED MY EMAIL ADDRESS AND NOW PRETENDS HE IS ME. THE RIBBONO SHEL OLAM KNOWS WHO WE ARE. HE DOESN'T NEED EMAIL ADDRESSES AND BLOGS TO TELL THE RESHOIM FROM THE TZADDIKIM. STOP PRETENDING.
IF YOU WANT TO BE ME THEN JOIN OUR SIUDE. BUT STOP IMPERSONATING THE TRUE MESSENGERS.
enduoj@hotmail.com
I am the messenger of God! I am doing God's work! I know what God wants and I also know who will be in hell. There's one thing I don't know though, and that is: Kolko is a pedophile & Lipa is a wicked person. The party is over Lil' Leopold!
enduoj and endouj, your act is tiring, perhaps try something else like jumping off the roof of YTT to get some attention.
To all the anonymous naysayers who have put UOJ down in his efforts and doubted him and his cause:
When the law suit get's filed...and it will...You owe a big apology to UOJ....and I hope you will learn a lesson on how not to be so quick to judge.
Remember we are Jews!!! "A light un to other nations!" When Jews see that there is a pedophile and a protector in our mist for 35 years we are supposed to do something about it....finally this is what UOJ is doing and has been doing.
Yasher Koach to UOJ....and I will look forward to the apologies from all of you anonymous negative posters!
why all the talk about hazmanot?just go to the D.A. and get this taken care of! Why all the B.S.?
I just read the article in the "New York" Magazine. All I can say is, I hope the truth is revealed, and for all those who stepped up to the forces against you - I clap my hands. right or wrong, truth or false - there must be a way to educate our children and prevent something like this from ever happening again. and to all those who oppose this idea - a Big F*** You. Maybe someone can create a blog that is dedicated to getting something done for the future.
I just want to say that I have been aware of these problems in the frum world for a long time. My problem was that I went to a yeshiva that was the earthy equal of Gan Eden.(The Mir in Brooklyn)
I never really got to see the evil of the so called frum world until it was too late (and Ohel got hold of my children and raped them one by one while I was trying to get custody in ourt)
I am happy at least a little bit of the truth about the frum is coming out.
Outside of yeshiva world the frum are not really frum. They have the appearance of frum. But there is no Torah by them.
Now my fear is the have infiltrated the Yeshiva world Torah.
When the all the hilarious impersonations were in full swing on this blog.
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=160273
Daniel Mark with the yarmulka.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-likick275817848aug27,0,4841721.story
A Melville man who was a purchasing agent for a mammoth power plant in Queens pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting $167,000 in bribes and kickbacks from a plant's vendor, according to federal officials.
Edward Goldblatt, a former purchasing warehouse assistant at the New York Power Authority's Charles Poletti Power Project in Astoria, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, at the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. In addition, Goldblatt pleaded guilty to income tax evasion for not reporting the money as income, prosecutors said.
Goldblatt had the power authority overpay for some of the vendors' supplies by $86,000, officials said. Goldblatt and the vendor split the overcharge, with Goldblatt pocketing $43,000, the prosecutors said. The vendor paid Goldblatt an additional $124,000 in bribes in the scheme, which ran from 2003 to 2007, officials said. The vendor's name was not disclosed.
Goldblatt oversaw the purchase of millions of dollars in goods and services, which were supposed to be awarded by competitive bidding, officials said.
Some of the bribes to Goldblatt were paid in the form of gift certificates for restaurants, entertainment and travel, electronics, hair salon treatments, cigars and payments on luxury car leases, officials said.
Goldblatt's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
Goldblatt faces up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 5 years on income tax evasion. Goldblatt also may be required to pay fines, restitution and back taxes.
The Justice Department prosecuted Goldblatt's case, part of its ongoing investigation into anticompetitive practices in the power generating industry.
http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=93411669&m=93411658
R' Shmuel Herzfeld on National Public Radio calls for rabbonim to investigate Rubashkin.
Listen to Rabbi Genack beat around the bush on how the OU supposedly bears no achrayus. Genack talks to the public here like we are a bunch of dopes. He still pretends that he forced Sholom Rubashkin to "step down". It's pathetic how Genack compares Rubashkin meat to candy bars that people complain are not healthy even though they are approved by the FDA.
The best part is when Rabbi Herzfeld says the OU is nogaya badavar, Genack changes the subject by attacking the Dept of Homeland Security for picking on poor illegals who he says are at the "bottom of the totem pole". It's good to see that the one principal that Genack always holds to, if not Torah hashkofos, is his Liberal Democrat philosophy of criticizing the Bush Administration over the poor illegal immigrant underdogs.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/08/rubashkin-weismandel-behind-scenes.html
Rabbi Genack's fundraising said...
http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4604/1/NORPAC-to-host-McCain-fund-raiser
Hillary Clinton — for whom NORPAC raised $300,000 under the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Genack
http://www.forward.com/articles/13836/
And here's Rabbi Genack wishing that Obama takes Hillary as his running mate.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080826/NEWS09/808260387/-1/BUSINESS04
So he must have felt like he was having a heart attack yesterday when Obama attacked Rubashkin abuses.
Anonymous said...
http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4632/1/McCain-fund-raiser-draws-crowd-and-cash
Rabbi Menachem Genack, another of NORPAC’s founding members and a Democratic Party insider, attended the roundtable as Chouake’s guest. While he agrees with McCain on some issues and disagrees with him on others, it was Lieberman’s presence that drew him.
"You can see the tremendous respect that Sen. McCain has for Sen. Lieberman," the Englewood rabbi and Orthodox Union’s kashrut division administrator and CEO said. "That’s why I’m convinced he would play an important role if McCain is elected president."
Genack particularly disagrees with McCain on the senator’s position against a higher gas tax. He praised him, however, for taking "a principled stand" against subsidies for ethanol, the production of which Genack said has raised food prices across the board.
False images of both candidates have emerged in the election, said Genack, who was to be a delegate to this year’s Democratic National Convention but recently withdrew because of a scheduling conflict.
"There are two lies in this campaign," he said. "One is that Obama is a Muslim who studied in a madrassa. The other is that McCain is George Bush. He is not."
Anonymous said...
The OU gets a lot of clout this way and can perhaps sway the next president to leave Rubashkin alone.
http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/082108/njMcCainVisitToState.html
Republican John McCain visited New Jersey Aug. 12 and left with $1.5 million in new contributions, much of it raised at two events sponsored by members of the state’s Jewish community.
In a lunchtime gathering, McCain’s wife, Cindy, helped raise between $100,000 and $200,000 at a private meeting in the Rumson home of Lewis Eisenberg, a veteran Jewish philanthropist and former chair of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
But the bulk of the money came in an evening fund-raiser in Teaneck, where a crowd that included Orthodox rabbis, college students, and elected officials donated an estimated $1.3 million.
Some 500 supporters — most of whom paid $1,000 and up for admission — gathered in the Glen Pointe Marriott Grand Ballroom to hear from the candidate himself and one of his most ardent supporters, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Ind.-Conn.).
The event was sponsored by NORPAC, the nonpartisan political action committee which raises funds for candidates it considers strongly pro-Israel.
NORPAC officials said the event was not an official endorsement of McCain, and that if members of the group requested it, the PAC would assist in a fund-raiser for Democrat Barack Obama (see sidebar).
Supporters waited more than an hour for the Republican candidate to appear.
Meanwhile, in a separate smaller room, the two senators and Cindy McCain were at a private roundtable session with some 40 major donors.
“These are the people who have raised or given $25,000 or more for his campaign,” explained Ben Chouake, the Englewood physician who is NORPAC’s president.
Rabbi Menachem Genack of Englewood, chief executive officer of the Orthodox Union’s Kashrus Division and another traditionally Democratic voter, was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton who attended the roundtable discussion as one of Chouake’s invited guests.
Genack said he was struck by “how close McCain is to Joe Lieberman. I am convinced that were McCain to win, Lieberman would either be secretary of state or secretary of defense.”
The rabbi, who has met with both McCain and Obama, called both men “impressive,” even as he deplored negative attacks coming from both candidates’ camps.
Anonymous said...
Are Rabbi Genack and his chevre justified greasing the palms of politicians with millions of dollars when people cannot afford yeshiva tuition & food for Shabbos?
http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/family_locator.shtml
Sprint Family Locator is the convenient, reliable and secure way to find family members — instantly — from any web enabled mobile phone or the web.
Key Features
Real-time interactive maps with street addresses and landmarks
Safety ChecksSM. Send automatic notifications of child's location on specific days and at precise times.
See where children have been with maps featuring breadcrumb trails and text-based reporting.
Access is password-controlled so only parents and guardians can locate children.
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/08/26/news.harlow.0826.fraud.cnnmoney
Rubashkin has a point. Everyone is breaking the law in the meat industry. So don't make a big deal about my mortgage fraud either.
He lives in Brooklyn.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/07/30/national/a141243D83.DTL
Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) --
Yes, Michael Wax stank. He's the first to admit it. The 440-pound New York City man said he was playing poker in an Atlantic City casino for 17 hours Tuesday and didn't have time to clean up. He understands why grossed-out gamblers complained about his body odor, but said he didn't deserve stinky treatment from the casino that asked him to leave.
Wax said he told casino officials: "There's no question I stink. I'm not denying it. I do have an odor. I've been playing for 17 hours."
The 54-year-old limousine company owner, who says he is a frequent gambler at the Borgata, said a poker room manager followed him into the restroom and informed him that patrons at his table were complaining about his body odor.
When the Brooklyn man tried to retake his seat at the table, he said a manager told him to leave. He said he asked for a free room to freshen up, and the casino refused.
He promptly filed a complaint about his treatment with the Casino Control Commission. His complaint will be reviewed to determine whether any state gambling laws or regulations were violated, a commission spokesman said Wednesday.
Wax said his instincts tell him to find a different casino to patronize, but he likes gambling at the Borgata. He said the casino was out of line to tell him he stinks in front of other patrons.
"I would like an apology," Wax said.
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
Mon Aug 25, 5:02 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Talk about animal magnetism, cows seem to have a built-in compass. No bull: Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world.
The AP neglected to mention that whiskered cows have an even more acute sense of direction than the rest of the bovine species.
Problem bank list keeps growing
FDIC says list of troubled banks in 2nd quarter grows to 117 with $78 billion in assets - up from 90 banks, $26 billion in assets in 1st quarter.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of troubled banks on the government's watch list grew dramatically last quarter.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported Tuesday that the number of firms on its so-called problem bank list grew to 117 during the second quarter - its highest level since the middle of 2003. There were 90 banks on the problem list in the first quarter.
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair expressed little surprise at the increase and warned that the number would grow.
"More banks will come on the list as credit problems worsen and assets of problem institutions will continue to rise," said Bair in a press conference.
The number of troubled institutions has moved steadily higher this year - nearly doubling from 61 at the same time a year ago - as banks across the country struggle to cope with the fallout in the housing market and rising loan losses.
Problem banks typically face difficulties with their finances, or are suffering through operations or management issues that pose a threat to their existence.
Banks included on the problem list are considered the most likely institutions to fail, although few institutions actually reach that point - just 13% of banks on the FDIC's problem list have failed on average.
The FDIC, one of the top regulators of the nation's banking system, doesn't reveal the names of the banks on the list, but it does give the total assets of these institutions.
That number was $78.3 billion during the quarter, up sharply from $26.3 billion the previous quarter. The lion's share of that figure included the Pasadena, Calif.-based mortgage lender IndyMac, which boasted assets of $32 billion before it collapsed in mid-July. (Since IndyMac (IDMC) failed in the third quarter, it was on the problem list for the second quarter.)
"What is evident is that the size of the new banks added to the list are extraordinarily small," said Gary Townsend, a former bank analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, who now serves as the president of the Chevy Chase, Md.-based Hill-Townsend Capital.
Failing firms
Including IndyMac, nine banks have failed so far this year.
The most recent failure came last Friday with the Topeka, Kansas-based Columbian Bank and Trust. As is typically the case, the FDIC orchestrated the sale of the company's branches and deposits to another institution, in this case selling them to the Chillicothe, Mo.-based Citizens Bank & Trust.
In the event of a failure, the FDIC fully insures individual accounts up to $100,000 per deposit and $250,000 for most retirement accounts.
Indeed, bank failures are widely expected to continue - particularly among those institutions who tend to generate most of their business from commercial real estate, especially construction and development loans, said John Corston, an associate director at the FDIC.
"That area is fairly stressed and we're seeing more institutions now becoming problems by virtue of their exposure there," Corston said.
Analysts, as well as the FDIC, are quick to point out that the number of failures so far isn't close to the numbers seen during the savings & loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. During that tumultuous period, more than 1,000 institutions failed.
But as an increasing number of banks have gone bust, Bair warned Tuesday that the industry may soon face higher premiums to help replenish the FDIC fund used to insure depositors of failed institutions.
Another tough quarter
Overall, the second quarter proved to be yet another difficult period for the nation's banks as industry profits fell 87% to $5 billion from $36.8 billion a year ago.
Driving that decline, in part, was a surge in loan-loss provisions. Facing additional deterioration in the housing market and further weakness in the broader economy, FDIC-insured banks set aside $50.2 billion during the quarter, more than four times the quarterly total of $11.4 billion from a year ago.
At the same time, net charge-offs, or loans banks don't think are collectable, continued to rise, totaling $26.4 billion in the second quarter - its highest level since 1991.
Banks also saw their first decline in assets since 2002. Total assets fell $68.6 billion during the quarter, the largest drop since early 1991.
As the housing market continues to sink, bankers have been reining in their lending. Real estate construction and development loans, for instance, registered their first quarterly decline since early 1997, falling by $5.4 billion, or 0.9%.
But FDIC officials said this tightening is crucial to helping the banks and the economy heal.
"The ongoing adjustments to credit standards are absolutely necessary to put the industry on a sounder footing to extend credit and finance economic activity down the road," said Rich Brown, the FDIC's chief economist.
Banks also took steps to preserve capital during the quarter. Just over half of the more than 4,000 banks that paid a quarterly dividend last year reported paying out a smaller amount, or no dividend whatsoever, during this year's second quarter, the FDIC said.
First Published: August 26, 2008: 3:08 PM EDT
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/08/25/2008-08-25_abuse_rap_grows_for_park_ave_gynecologis-2.html
Abuse rap grows for Park Ave. gynecologist ghoul
BY Barbara Ross and Dave Goldiner
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, August 25th 2008, 10:32 PM
Three more women have accused a Hasidic businessman of posing as a gynecologist to molest them in a Park Ave. doctor's office, officials charged Monday.
Zalman Silber, 41, of upstate Monsey, was hit with a new 22-count indictment accusing him of sexual abuse, forcible touching and impersonating a doctor.
The ex-owner of the NY Skyride simulated tour at the Empire State Building allegedly lured the three to his office with promises of a $100 fee. He said they had to undergo tests for an insurance company, but instead fondled them in 2003 and 2004.
Silber's lawyer denied the accusations, which he claimed were cooked up by his client's "disgruntled" ex-wife.
Silber, who faces up to four years in prison for the most serious charges, was accused in June of feeling up two women. He remains free on $10,000 bail. He also faces charges in Rockland County of molesting a woman with the help of a now-fired Ramapo cop.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3586810,00.html
And they thought Lipa Schmeltzer was bad ...
http://www.forward.com/articles/13842/
The Bokhers of Summer
http://72.32.91.50/content.cfm?contentid=35548&sContentID=3
The Jewish Press urges voters in the 64th Assembly District in Lower Manhattan to reaffirm their support for Assemblyman Sheldon Silver in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, September 9.
Indeed, his advocacy for seniors and the disadvantaged has been nothing short of remarkable.
So remarkable in fact that he enables the Agudah & Catholic Church to continue allowing sex offenders unfettered access to children.
We are also informed by Boog that he does not attend cops funerals because he is too busy.
I'm going to appeal. The judge is biased because he reads UOJ's blog!
http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/pdfs/2008/2008_32321.pdf
The faction of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum of the divided Satmar Hassidic sect won a victory from the Brooklyn courts Tuesday, just in time for the most significant event on the Satmar calendar.
On Wednesday, the biggest current day Jewish pilgrimage outside of Israel will make its way to Monroe, NY. Close to 50,000 people will visit the tomb of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum the founder of Satmar Hasidim on the 29th anniversary of the Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum's death.
But a dispute that erupted eight years ago after a faction led by Zalmen Teitelbaum, the younger son of former Grand Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum who died in April 2006, tried to take control over the Williamsburg Congregation, has divided the sect in two.
On Monday, a Brooklyn Judge denied the breakaway faction, followers of Zalmen Teitelbaum judicial recognition of their claim to be the leaders of the Williamsburg Congregation, a very significant congregation in the worldwide Satmar sect.
Kings County Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrosio held that a faction aligned with Rabbi Zalmen Teitelbaum, could not claim legal entitlement to control the Williamsburg Congregation.
According to Justice Ambrosio, attempts by the Zalmen faction to claim hold on the property, is beyond the court's purview. Justice Ambrosio found that the Zalmen faction had "misinterpreted" earlier court decisions, and found no legal basis to support their disputed claim to be the lawful leaders of the Congregation.
The tactics used by each side flipped 180 degrees. In the past followers of Aaron Teitelbaum, the older son, claimed the dispute between the two factions was in the courts domain. But the courts have continued to claim it is beyond their purview. In the latest battle they decided to follow the logic of the court, and claimed that the dispute was non-justiciable and should be brought before a rabbinic court.
Asked to explain the reversal of their legal argument, Jeffrey D. Buss an attorney for the Aaron camp, gave two reasons. First, the courts had been very clear that they would not get involved. Second, his clients are the stronger of the two factions within the community, with a majority of the worldwide Satmar community recognizing Rabbi Aaron as the new Grand Rabbi. According to Mr. Buss, it is traditional for the older son to inherit the position of Grand Rabbi.
The Aaron camp is celebrating the recent court decision as a major victory.
bOO...OOG, BOO...OOG! GROSS? ANYONE HERE? AHYEKU!! oH THE GOOD OLD DAYS WERE HAVE THEY GONE, just wanted to let you know, we really miss you.
US thrifts 2Q loss of $5.4B is second largest ever
Wednesday August 27, 1:38 pm ET
By Marcy Gordon, AP Business Writer
US thrifts lost $5.4 billion in second quarter; set aside record $14 billion for problem loans
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. thrifts lost $5.4 billion in the second quarter and set aside a record amount to cover losses from bad mortgages and other loans.
Data from the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision released Wednesday show federally-insured savings and loan institutions posted their second-largest quarterly loss ever in the April-June period, after the $8.8 billion loss in the fourth quarter of last year. Heavily focused on mortgage lending, thrifts have been stung by mounting home-loan defaults.
The $5.4 billion quarterly loss compared with net profits of $3.8 billion in the year-ago period, and a loss of $627 million in the first quarter.
The 829 thrifts also set aside a record $14 billion to cover losses from bad mortgages and other loans.
John Reich, the thrift agency's director, said 98 percent of institutions still have adequate capital to weather the housing and economic turbulence.
"I look for glimmers of hope," Reich said at a news briefing. "The glimmer of hope here is that the industry as a whole is structurally profitable."
The slump in the housing market and credit-market tumult will eventually turn around after the cycle -- which now appears to be at its midpoint -- is exhausted, Reich said.
Reich and other banking regulators have been pointing out differences between the current situation and the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, citing banks' stronger capital positions and a fatter federal deposit insurance fund.
The report from the agency, a division of the Treasury Department, came a day after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the number of troubled banks and thrifts jumped to 117 -- the highest level since mid-2003. The FDIC also said profits earned by banks and savings and loans plunged by 86 percent in the second quarter, to $5 billion.
The thrift agency said its number of problem institutions grew to 17 at the end of the second quarter from 10 a year earlier.
The agency said the amount that savings associations set aside for problem loans soared in the second quarter to 3.68 percent of average assets from 0.38 percent a year earlier.
Thrifts differ from banks in that, by law, they must have at least 65 percent of their lending in mortgages and other consumer loans -- making them particularly vulnerable to the persistent housing downturn. The institutions regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision range in size from big lenders like Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. and Sovereign Bancorp Inc. of Philadelphia to small community banks.
Shares of Washington Mutual dipped 4 cents to $3.55 in afternoon trading, while Sovereign Bancorp added 18 cents to $8.79.
As a percentage of total assets, thrifts' troubled assets rose to the highest level since the early 1990s, the final years of the savings and loan crisis. They came in at 2.68 percent of assets for the quarter, up from 0.95 percent in the year-ago period.
Like banks, thrifts are being closely examined by federal inspectors for signs of heavy exposure to declining markets or troubled areas such as construction and real estate loans.
The largest bank failure in years occurred in July and involved a thrift. Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac Bank was the biggest regulated thrift to fail and the second-largest financial institution to close in U.S. history, after Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984. It was taken over by the FDIC with about $32 billion in assets and deposits of $19 billion.
IndyMac succumbed to the pressures weighing on institutions of all sizes nationwide: tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures.
Eight other FDIC-insured banks have failed so far this year, compared with three in all of 2007, and more are expected to collapse this year.
I need to get my job back as a security guard at the office building in Borough Park where the guy jumped off the building.
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=1003
Activist R' Nuchem Rosenberg Shuts Down His Telephone Hotline - Cites Death Threats
Aug 27, 2008
Brooklyn, N.Y. -- Controversial activist R' Nuchem Rosenberg announced Tuesday [listen HERE and HERE] that his telephone hotline has permanently closed down. Citing death threats from various groups unhappy with his public pontificating, he said that he has been advised by Rabbinic leaders that his obligation to publicize the ills of society as he sees them extends only so far; once it became apparent that his life was at stake, he says he was advised that he should cease operations.
On the hotline, which R' Rosenberg claimed had thousands of listeners, R' Rosenberg championed a host of issues, ranging from transparency in Kashrus to the promoting of Tznius among young couples. But by far the issue that was most prominently featured by R' Rosenberg was his crusade against child molesters and those who harbor them, especially in the context of Yeshivos.
R' Rosenberg railed at those responsible for what he said was an ongoing cover-up in the Orthodox - and particularly the Chasidish - community. He advanced the opinion that child molestation in Yeshivos is a much more widespread phenomenon than commonly acknowledged, affecting hundreds of children each year. He stated that when victims do step forward, their claims are routinely swept under the rug, and the perpetrators typically allowed to continue serving as Cheder Rebbes, Menahalim, Rabbonim, camp staffers, and other positions that give them contiued access to children.
In recent months, R' Rosenberg was under ever increasing pressure to close down his operation. A Kol Koreh published several weeks ago in the Brooklyn area Yiddish media [see HERE] forbid listening to his hotline. The Kol Koreh was signed by representatives of many major Chasidish groups, including, Bobov, Satmar, and Vizhnitz. The Kol Koreh characterized R' Rosenberg's telephone monologues as "disgusting" and "perversion" and stated that numerous young people had already been damaged by listening to his words. The Rabbonim added that R' Rosenberg had been warned many times to cease in his activities, but since he had refused so, the public ban was necessary.
For his part, R' Rosenberg stated that although forced to acquiesce and close the telephone hotline, he remains unrepentant. He claimed that his activities had the support of many "Gedolei HaDor" and "serious Rabbonim", and discounted opinions such as those expressed in the Kol Koreh.
In his Yiddish farewell message, he refers to the now defunct hotline as having "taught Klal Yisrael so many important things - Tznius, Keduash, Tahara, young men should stop their bad ways, so many Bachurim should not be thrown out (of Mosdos Hatorah), and one should definitely not cause harm to children and Bachurim, even Mechanchim and Melamdim . . . "
He added that although the hotline will be closed, he still hopes to advocate for the issues that he believes in through other means.
He ended his English farewell message by saying: "I hope B'Ezras Hashem to continue on a quiet level. Bye-bye to everybody."
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a13292/News/New_York.html
BREAKING NEWS: Satmar Teacher Sued By Former Student For Sexual Abuse
by Staff Report
A teacher at a prominent Satmar yeshiva in Williamsburg is being sued by a
former student for sexual assault and abuse.
In court papers filed Wednesday, Joel Engelman is seeking $5 million in
damages from Rabbi Avorohom Reichman, the yeshiva, the United Talmudical
Academy and the Satmar Bungalow Colony, where Reichman also teaches in the
sect¹s summer camp in upstate White Lake.
The civil complaint alleges that Engelman, now 23, was 8 years old in 1993
when Rabbi Reichman sexually assaulted him. The suit alleges that Engelman
suffered psychological and physical injury, which required medical and
psychological treatment, as a result of the abuse.
The suit also alleges that the school ³continues to lack basic rules
protecting children from sexual assault.
It states that a deal was in place in April whereby the Engelman family
agreed not to pursue legal action in return for Reichman¹s resignation from
the school and the camp. But Rabbi Reichman, according to the suit, was
videotaped teaching at the camp in July, after the statute of limitations
for a criminal prosecution had run out.
The defendants fraudulently induced Joel Engelman to enter into this
exchange of mutual promises, and oral contract, the suit alleges.
It also claims that various Satmar officials investigated Engelman's
allegations and found that there were multiple, credible complaints of
sexual abuse made against Reichman.
Calls to United Talmudical Academy and the Satmar Bungalow Colony for
comment were not returned.
I really didn¹t want this to get into the courts, Engelman told The Jewish
Week. Had they done things differently [and fired Reichman], I probably
wouldn't have sued. This is the last thing I wanted.
Engelman¹s sexual abuse allegations are the latest in a string of such
charges made by former male yeshiva students in ultra-Orthodox schools in
Brooklyn.
Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, a first grade teacher at Yeshiva Torah Temima in
Flatbush, recently plead guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of
a child after being charged with several counts of sexual abuse. Brooklyn
District Attorney Charles Hynes defended the last-minute plea, citing the
young age of the plaintiff.
Several civil suits pending against Rabbi Kolko and the school seek a total
some $50 million in damages.
Isn't it $100 million?
bOO...OOG, BOO...OOG! GROSS? ANYONE HERE? AHYEKU!! oH THE GOOD OLD DAYS WERE HAVE THEY GONE, just wanted to let you know, we really miss you.
--------------------------
LVF, HINENI!
Boog where are you? I miss all of you! Let's have a little board member reunion here in honor of the nostalgia that this archived gem evokes! Long live UOJ and much love to Joel Engleman!
By the way, I can just vomit from the shameless brown-nosing on the part of the Jewish Observer toward the Satmar terrorists...
The name of the man is: Naftaly ben Anna
Man Disappearred in Lake
Please Join In for his rescue
On Monday a Chareidi father in his 30's from Los Angeles took his children boating in a small lake.
the 3 years old fell overboard and the father jumped in to rescue her.
The girl was saved but the father was dragged away by a current.
There are search teams on land and in the water but they cannot find him.
the מקובל הרב אדרת advised that the WHOLE WORLD should say
עלינו לשבח עד ועל כן נקוה
seven times forward and then seven times backwards.
He hopes that in this זכות there will be a ישועה בקרוב.
Please participate by at least saying some Tehillim!
the aguda rabbi in Los Angeles instigated my divorce because of my sin of learning Torah full time. My wife later got married to a pedophile.
Thank you aguda for all the good work.
http://www.switched.com/2008/08/26/microsoft-adds-porn-mode-to-internet-explorer-8/
Worried about your girlfriend, wife, or mom seeing all the dirty stuff you check out online? Well, fear not, perv, as Microsoft's 8th edition of Internet Explorer (IE) will include a feature that lets you surf the Web without a trace of what you checked out.
The new tool, called InPrivate Browsing, will debut later this month in the second Beta version of IE 8. When you, um, turn this feature on, IE will not save your browsing or search history, cookies, form data, or passwords, and will clear its cache when you're, um, done. While Microsoft says it's designed for people using public or shared computers, do we really need to explain why this is being dubbed "porn mode?"
Indicted U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens wins primary
By STEVE QUINN, Associated Press Writer
Pesach Lerner called me this morning to proclaim his solidarity with Microsoft. He says that UOJ should not rush to judgement before all the facts are in.
As a matter of fact, it turns out that an unpaid intern inserted the porno cover up feature without permission.
I am against covering up the electronic trail of molestation of any kind.
That was one mighty strange phonecall from Pesach Lerner. I don't know exactly where he was calling from but there were a bunch of cows mooing away loudly in the background.
Bill Gates always had the reputation of being a karga cheapskate. He didn't even offer us an all-expenses paid junket to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, so that we can declare them a safe & kosher operation.
I know all to well what terrorism means, having barely escaped several terrorist attacks while living in Israel.
But there are different types of terrorism, and not just physical.
I have seen and met employees at Agri (now former employees) who were too afraid to look anyone in the eye or speak up. Walking through the plant the body language - eyes averted, shoulders slumped - they reeked of fear. I have seen notices handed out by Agri to employees warning people not to speak to visiting Rabbis or outsiders who might be associated with unions - notices with a drawings of the devil on them, just to be sure that the illiterate employees would get the message.
Were these employees terrorized? You bet they were. They feared for their jobs and worse!
Just after some Agri employees signed on to a class action suit against the company, one of the led plantiff's garage mysteriously burned to the ground!
Talk to the women who were demeaned and terrorized by demands for sex.
Were these people terrorized? You bet your ass they were.
And why did this terrorism take place - so you could eat a cheap shtickel of kosher fliesch. So the next time you sit down to a piece of Rubashkin meat, before you put the first fork full in your mouth think about the pain and suffering that took place. Think, because you can no longer claim ignorance. And if you can still eat, know that you are complicit in perhaps the greatest Chillul Hashem to take place in the kosher world in our lifetime.
That guy "Rinat member" who was deleted is certainly correct that super-lawyer Ben Brafman is defending pedophile Adam Melzer.
Brafman is a neighbor & friend of Melzer's parents in Lawrence.
Poor Tuvya Chaim Neuhoff is going through his annual end of summer crisis now that the bungalow season is winding down. He needs everyone's support at this difficult time. He should be given encouragement that life goes on outside Sullivan County as it is possible to conduct his surveys in Flatbush too.
Something really rubs me the wrong way when I think about just how Ben Brafman made his fortune.
He was the agent for Gambino mafia thugs who murdered all kinds of people. He fronted for the the Manhattan nightclub with the transvestyte bouncer who killed patrons he didn't like. Then there was other kinds of filth like P. Diddy and anti-Semitic pedophile Michael Jackson.
http://news.aol.com/article/nervous-new-orleans-eyes-killer-storm/136385
I had to leave the Democrat Convention in Denver early after being pestered by Shia Fishman. He's convinced that UOJ is scoring another direct hit with Hurricane Gustav just to make choizek out of me.
http://news.aol.com/article/police-disabled-palestinian-siblings/150838?cid=14
BEIT AWWA, West Bank -A Palestinian couple locked their disabled son and daughter away for decades out of fear they would ruin the marriage prospects of a healthy child if discovered, police said Wednesday.
The case highlights the shame felt by families who have children with disabilities in Palestinian society — made worse because of poor services and the practice of marriages between first cousins.
"This is sad, shameful and awful," rights activist Imad Abumohr said.
Few people in the rural town of Beit Awwa knew of Basam Musalmeh, 38, and his sister Nawal, 42. They were kept since childhood in two concrete rooms that stank of sweat and urine adjoining the family's house.
Police found them Tuesday night while searching for Hamas loyalists and criminals, said an official who asked not to be identified because the Palestinian Authority publicly denies it cracks down on the militant group.
Palestinian police commander Samih Saify said officers heard noises while searching the house and found the brother naked and the sister wearing a flimsy nightdress.
Their father was detained. Their mother died a few years ago, the family said. Police returned the siblings to the home because there was no other place for them. The family said their stepmother would care for them.
On Wednesday, the siblings appeared to have been bathed and freshly dressed. Their rooms were tidied, though the smell was overwhelming.
The brother and sister have not been diagnosed with a specific mental illness, said their uncle, Mohammed Musalmeh. They do not speak or recognize other people.
An Associated Press reporter walked into the sister's room, where she sat on a metal-frame bed wearing a dress. She did not appear to acknowledge the stranger's presence.
Abumohr said there was a shortage of institutions for the disabled in the West Bank. Saify said he hoped an Israeli institution could take the siblings.
Abumohr said the Musalmeh case was not unheard of.
He said last year they were called on to rescue a 17-year-old youth with mental disabilities who had been thrown into a garbage bin. Abumohr said the boy had scars on his stomach, neck, hands and feet where he'd apparently been tied up.
"I'm sure there are other cases of hidden people in the rural areas," he said.
The siblings' father, Ibrahim Musalmeh, married his first cousin and had eight children — five with disabilities who died in childhood; Nawal and Bassam; and another son, who has since married, the family said.
Arab communities often favor marriages between first cousins as a way of keeping inheritances within the family. It is not considered incest, and there is little awareness that such marriages increase the chance that children will have disabilities.
The siblings' uncle, Mohammed, said the family could not find long-term care for them and hid them to avoid bringing shame on the family.
Many Arabs stigmatize disabled children and refuse to marry their siblings, fearing they will bear children with disabilities.
Mohammed Musalmeh said the family did not want the brother and sister to be mocked.
"If they go outside, people will laugh at them," their 67-year-old uncle said.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26439996
Lehman Brothers, the ailing Wall Street bank, plans to lay off as many as 1,500 employees, or nearly 6 percent of its work force, before it announces third-quarter results on Sept. 15, a person briefed on the plans said Thursday.
Lehman has already laid off 6,000 people since June 2007
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2008/01/25/half-of-american-households-pay-no-income-taxes/
Half of American households pay no income taxes
Tracy Coenen
Sound bytes from politicians often promote class warfare... citing how evil "tax cuts for the wealthy" are and pressing for more tax relief for the lower and middle classes. Listening to them, you would think that the lower and middle classes are carrying a disproportionately high share of the tax burden, wouldn't you?
Well it's time to debunk that myth with a little dose of reality. The Tax Foundation puts American income taxes in perspective with these facts. The organization's analysis of the tax laws and rates indicates that have of American households pay no income tax at all.
In fact, many millions of households actually get far more money from the federal government than they have ever paid in income taxes. A study released last year by the Tax Foundation compared the amount of taxes paid by individuals versus the value of government spending received.
The study showed that the bottom 20% of households in America receive almost $15 in federal spending for each $1 they paid in federal taxes. In contrast, the top 20% of American households received only 32 cents in federal spending for each $1 they paid in federal taxes.
Why is it this way? Lower income families often have no income tax burden under our system, and are even entitled to certain refundable credits. So if we want to put the income tax burden in perspective, this is really an important analysis. Instead of listening to politicians pander for votes with cries of a huge financial burden on the lower class taxpayers, maybe we should be standing up and asking them to be more honest with their claims.
Why is this issue coming up now? Well the proposed "tax rebate" checks are going to be given to many Americans, including those who didn't even pay any income taxes. It's not much of a "rebate" if you didn't pay taxes in the first place. It's more of a handout, and maybe we'd do everyone a favor if we called it what it is. Another step toward Socialism.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Brafman
Benjamin Brafman is a criminal defense attorney based in New York. He maintains a small firm (Brafman Associates) in a prominent NYC building and has handled cases for some high profile celebrity clients.
Ben Brafman's first such client was Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, who was ultimately acquitted from his 1999 illegal weapons and bribery charges. The criminal charges stemmed from a nightclub brawl, while accompanied by then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and Combs' usual entourage, and witnessed by over 100 other people. Despite the numerous prosecution witnesses to Combs' culpability, and Combs' fame, Brafman's legal skills produced a unanimous 'not guilty' verdict.
Until replaced in April 2004 by Robert Blake attorney Thomas Mesereau, Brafman was an integral part of the Michael Jackson defense team—along with his co-counsel, Los Angeles celebrity attorney Mark Geragos—for the 2005 child molestation trial.
Brafman also represents Radio DJ Star, who was arrested by hate-crime unit detectives on charges of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated harassment, criminal possession of a weapon and failure to report a change of address on his gun permit after being tricked into going to a New York police station to surrender his 9 mm handgun. The DJ was later released on $2,000 cash bail.
Ben Brafman is also featured on Lawline.com, as an expert on criminal law.
Brafman is a practicing Orthodox Jew and resides in Lawrence, NY.
If you've never seen it, the commercial is hilarious.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/08/28/natural-male-enhancement-founder-gets-enhanced-prison-sentence/
'Natural male enhancement' founder gets enhanced prison sentence
Posted Aug 28th 2008 2:03PM by Melly Alazraki
Oh, if I had never seen those obnoxious "Smiling Bob" commercials...
It's the weirdest thing; it's like we've never grew out of those days when peddlers went from town to town selling one bogus potion or another. Somehow, despite regulations and laws, many of those fraudsters still manage to pull the wool over so many eyes and sell their products by the millions. Perhaps it's the promised hope that we just can't resist.
Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals is one such company, known for making and marketing Enzyte, the so called "once a day natural male enhancement" -- whatever that means. From the commercials it can mean anything from self confidence to bigger appendages I guess, but it's called a sexual enhancement.
Good news, though. The founder of Berkeley, Steve Warshak, joined the infamous WorldCom's Ebbers and Enron's Skilling with his own 25-year jail sentence on Wednesday. He was convicted earlier this year on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.
According to the AP, "Federal prosecutors accused the company of bilking customers out of $100 million through a series of deceptive ads, manipulated credit card transactions and refusal to accept returns or cancel orders." Berkeley Premium and other defendants were ordered to forfeit $500 million.
The judge called it a "case about greed," but I also call it a case of unbelievable naivete (and I won't say bordering what) on the part of the millions who bought into Berkeley's claims. In their defense, however, it's quite possible many thought that since drugs are regulated by the FDA, and since advertising is regulated by the FTC, then perhaps there was some truth to the Enzyte claims. Indeed, when comparing Viagra commercials to beer commercials it could be perhaps confusing to see when valid medical claims stop and fantasies begin. Maybe the regulators should be stricter, especially with nutritional supplements.
While over half a billion dollars would be forfeited, I doubt any consumers would get their money back unless they come forward. And I don't think many, if any, would. Perhaps authorities could use the money to further crack down on other such fraudsters.
If you somehow missed the "Smiling Bob" Enzyte commercials, here are a few:
(Click on the video links)
UOJ calls me the "huge putz" because he thinks I'm an Enzyte customer.
I was sorry to hear that R' Nuchem is closing the hotline down. If he felt threatened - he should concern himself about his safety.
I can't stress enough to parents - if you believe your child has told you the truth about being violated ( just about all children tell the truth in this area, because of the shame factor) - the police are in the best position to help you and your child.
I am advising everyone to call the police - that's what they get paid for - and the failure to get them involved in the past, has created this epidemic.
R'Gross - The chairman of the board - WELCOME HOME! I believe you were perhaps my first supporter ( when it was dangerous) - and you certainly were instrumental in kicking off the blog!
R' Boog - I heard you're back from Iraq with some WMDs - after three tours - say hello to the chevrah and let those WMDs of yours resonate throughout the blogosphere!
I'm just not happy with UOJ's journalistic standards. Can you imagine how many molesters I would have nabbed with the appropriate standards?
Hey Weiss, how's your pal Juda Engelmayer? That was very journalistic of him to criminally impersonate Rubashkin critics to make them look bad.
Speaking of huge putzes from the Lower East Side, did you see Shelly "I don't go to police funerals" Silver running for the cameras at the DNC Convention? There are a bunch of Chassidish bozos there too. And Genack from the OU couldn't make it at the last minute because of a schedule conflict.
Moishe Scheinerman was supposed to take Genack's place at the Convention. But when he heard that Rav Halberstam is machshir the mikvos in Denver, he cancelled at the last minute too.
Shmarya reported this week that patience has run out for Rubashkin flacks Juda Engelmayer and Ronn Torossian. They are too arrogant to apologize for the criminal impersonations so Morris Allen and the Conservative movement are going ahead with a lawsuit and discussions to press charges with the Manhattan District Attorney.
EdWeek Magazine is reporting that fears of the Postville school district collapsing never panned out. All kinds of children came out of the woodwork right after the Agri raid and started attending classes. This fits with allegations from one of Shmarya's sources that well over 10% of Rubashkin employees were minors. This puts the number at between 100 to 200 employees, well over the 57 kids that were actually collared by Federal agents that day.
http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=2966
The 5 Towns Jewish Times, published by Larry Gordon who grew up davening in 770, has been on a crusade to protect Rubashkin and promote them to the fresser public.
Here they are backhandedly attacking Mayer Fertig of the Long Island Jewish Star for criticizing Rubashkin and the cover up crew of rabbis from the 3 hour tour. They accuse Fertig of acting like a baby and only being critical because he's insulted he also wasn't offered a free trip.
They are really scratching the barrel here for one lame argument after another to be matzdik themselves.
- They ridiculously assert that there is no such thing as negios on the pro-Rubashkin group part as long as they are moydeh that Rubashkin paid for the trip, that negios only exist if you keep it a secret.
- The video posted on YouTube by Young Israel lawyer Nachi Troodler is "proof" that Rubashkin is 100% kosher. No mention that the video has been picked apart by critics.
- Secular reporters in Washington DC are given to drink from $100 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue Label Scotch but Rubashkin provided no booze.
- The food Rubashkin gave the 25 rabbis to fress on did not have the din of a free meal. It had the din of a conference which in the world of journalism is not considered a conflict of interest.
- They were following NY Times guidelines that you may accept free travel expenses if it is difficult to make your own arrangements. They pretend as if the NY Times is free of bias when it is the most biased of all major newspapers and frequently mocked by the Wall Street Journal for this.
- The rebbitzens of the 25 rabbis were upset that their husbands traveled to Postville which makes it so it's impossible that they had negios.
- They define the money laid out by Rubashkin as a "davar mu'at" al pi Shulchan Aruch. I estimate it cost Rubashkin $100,000 which is a huge sum.
- They say journalists traveling with the President on Air Force One do not have to share the cost of highly expensive jet fuel.
They make no mention of the fact that the 25 rabbis were picked because they are friendly to Rubashkin interests and that no independent rabbonim who offered to pay their own way were allowed to attend.
Iowa's Department of Public Safety's Division of Criminal Investigation was at Agriprocessors this morning and executed search warrants. Shmarya confirmed this with Iowa DCI.
An eyewitness reports DCI agents arrested an unspecified number of people at Agriprocessors during the execution of those warrants. No word yet on whether those arrested are management, or if any of them are Rubashkins.
DCI would not confirm or deny the arrests and referred people to the office of Iowa's Attorney General. The AG's office says it hopes to have a statement ready later today.
Rumor has it that itcha meir safrnovitch, the gerer chosid who founded tohar hamachnah in jerusalem, and who was reported about in the jerusalem post a few days ago fled the israeli police and is in america right now, if anyone has more info please post if confirmed and were he is staying, phone number and address if possible.
lets get these taliban bastards once and for all.
The biggest scandal of all with the article from "Ben Nathan" is that I don't think there is such a person named Ben Nathan working for the 5 Towns Jewish Times. He uses the same personal email address from Verizon (vze37jka@verizon.net) as Rabbi Yair Hoffman, the Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim talmid & menahel of Tiferet girls high school in Lawrence, who is a 5TJT reporter.
A third person using the same email address is "Eliyahu ben Calev" who promotes Rabbi Hoffman's articles on blogs.
http://kitniyos.blogspot.com/2007/04/rabbi-yair-hoffman-on-kitniyos.html
Above is one example.
The same person is also running Pirkeiavos.net, a website for R' Irving Bunim's lectures.
"Ben Nathan" has also been promoting Matzav.com based in Hewlett.
Rabbi Hoffman also seems to be a contributor to the questionable kashrus website run by the Abadi family.
So, Rabbi Hoffman, are you scared to criticize and insult Mayer Fertig using your real name?
You are a hypocrite, especially considering this other article you wrote:
http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=2864
Why the Lashon HaRa about Rubashkin?
By Ben Nathan
Statement of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office – Friday, August 29, 2008.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office previously has acknowledged that at the request of the Allamakee County Attorney the AG’s Office is serving in the role of prosecutor in the enforcement of state laws in connection with investigations arising out of the May 12 activities at the Agriprocessors Postville facility. We are assisting the DCI and the Iowa State Division of Labor, which are the investigating agencies. That investigation is not yet complete.
In connection with that investigation, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and assisting agencies executed a search warrant Friday at the Agriprocessors facility in Postville. No one was arrested.
------------------------------
The blogger breaking the story understands a computer(s) and other equipment, possibly including band saws, were seized.
He was told that yesterday, agents of Iowa OSHA were in Agriprocessors and were upset by what he believes are continued, repeat safety violations – including unguarded band saws.
In the May raid, Federal agents seized Agri's computers in accounting & human resources. This time they may have taken the Rubashkin executive computers.
A source tells the FM blog this afternoon that State agents in today's raid were looking for evidence that Agri KNEW they were hiring minors; a teacher he knows who works at the school told him that they came to the school yesterday asking for a yearbook; the high school kids create one every year containing pics of all the high school kids and events that happen through the year. Sounds like the DCI investigators wanted to compare pics of the kids to the info they got from Agri, possibly proving that Agri knew these kids were minors to begin with!!
You say it like no other.
Man do you speak the truth and i have witnessed the whole truth in life.
ZZ
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