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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

ALL PEOPLE WITH AN IQ OF FIFTY OR BELOW ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THE YE"SHIVAH" TORAH TEMIMAH CIRCUS MONDAY NIGHT!

UOJ ARCHIVES - June 10, 2006

******SPECIAL PERFORMANCES BY YUDI KOLKO THE WORLD CLASS BEITZIM JUGGLER & *********LIPA THE CLOWN/GONIFF/MAGICIAN MARGULIES - WATCH HIM MAKE YOUR MONEY VANISH FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT IN TO HIS - RIGHT BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES! LISTEN TO HIM TELL YOU STORIES THAT YOU NEVER HEARD BEFORE, AND CAN ONLY BE HEARD BY THIS NOW WORLD FAMOUS MAGGID OF SHEKER.

THIS IS AN EVENT YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS, BRING YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN (ESPECIALLY THE BOYS BETWEEN 9-14 YEARS OF AGE) TO WATCH THE GREATEST FREAK SHOW IN JEWISH HISTORY.


Click Images To Enlarge:




Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools
One Belmont Avenue, Suite 618, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1609
(610) 617-1100 Fax: (610) 617-1106
info@ces-msa.org

NOTICE:

Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools HAS ACCREDITED THE SCHOOL BELOW. DUE TO THE CHARGES OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND COVER UP ALLEGED AGAINST THE SCHOOL THE CERTIFICATION IS BEING REVIEWED. WE REQUEST THAT ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHARGES CONTACT US AT THE ABOVE. ALL INFORMATION WILL BE HELD IN ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE.

SCHOOL:

Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah

Head Of School: Rabbi Yaakov Applegrad
School Information: 555 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11218
Phone: 718-853-8500
Fax: 718-438-5779
E-mail: apple@ytt.edu
School Details: Level Of School: K-12
School Type: Religious School
Enrollment Size: 858
First Accredited Date: 5/1/2003
Last Accredited Date: 5/1/2003
The current homepage was last updated: 5/31/2006
District: NOT PART OF A SYSTEM OF SCHOOLS


******************************************************

Abuse changes brains of suicide victims

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

Tuesday - May 6, 2008



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Suicide victims who were abused as children have clear genetic changes in their brains, Canadian researchers reported on Tuesday in a finding they said shows neglect can cause biological effects.

The findings offer potential ways to find people at high risk of suicide, and perhaps to treat them and prevent future suicides.

And, the researchers said, they also offer insights into how neglect and abuse can perpetuate unhealthy behavior through the generations.

Moshe Szyf of McGill University in Montreal and colleagues studied the brains of 18 men who committed suicide and who were also abused or neglected as children, and compared them to 12 men who also died suddenly but from other causes, and who were not abused, although some had various psychiatric problems such as anxiety disorders.

They found changes in the genetic material of all 18 suicide victims. The changes were not in the genes themselves, but in the ribosomal RNA, which is the genetic material that makes proteins that in turn make cells function.

These changes involved a chemical process called methylation, a so-called epigenetic change involving the processes of turning genes on and off, they reported in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, available at http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002085 .

"The big remaining questions are whether scientists could detect similar changes in blood DNA -- which could lead to diagnostic tests -- and whether we could design interventions to erase these differences in epigenetic markings," Szyf said in a statement.

Dr. Eric Nestler of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas said both drugs and psychotherapy may act to reverse some of these changes......

226 comments:

1 – 200 of 226   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

Garbage! Every single one of them. I guess Mandel is on the payroll too. Hisiger is stam a piece of drek - denying everything when he knew damn well that there was a virus in TT all these years.

I'm dizzy from all this spin, lock 'em all up!

Anonymous said...

i really can not believe that twersky is falling for this shi*.
UNTILL THE YESHIVA COMES OUT WITH SOME SORT OF LEGIT APOLOGY THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR ANY PROFFESSIONAL TO COME AND SPEAK THERE.
ITS ALL A FARCE.

Anonymous said...

I was not intending to go but because of this farce, I will go to take attendance and forward you the names of all the people that attend. Please post their names on your world famous blog. There's got to be some penalty for being this dumb. I'm pulling out my kids and putting them in the Mir.

Anonymous said...

JUST HOW DUMB IS TWERSKI AND MANDEL. THEY HAVE NO RIGHT STEPPING FOOT IN THE SEWER OF OCEAN PARKWAY. I"M A SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTOR TO OHEL, NO MORE!

Anonymous said...

I'm shocked that Twersky fell for this charade and spin. If I'm not mistaken he suffered from abuse as a child, and so should be more sensitive to being played.

If anything; this upcoming Monday night Forum at YTT underscores how formidable margo is and that you underestimate him at your own peril. Turn your back on him for a second and he'll plunge the shiv in mucho deep.

Clever, diabolical, drek tinaf.

Comparing him to Yassar Arafat was being charitable.

"Rosh Yeshiva", my Ass.

Anonymous said...

it seems pretty clear that YTT will be experiencing a major enrollment drop in the coming year and they are desperate to save a sinking ship.

I don't know if anyone noticed but 3 weeks ago there was an advertisment in the Jewish Press from Yeshiva Torah Voddath (the real one) stating that they will not be accepting any new applicatons for the coming year.

Also, YTT knows darn well that many parents are looking to enroll their children in other yeshivas.

Anonymous said...

David Mandel? I cannot believe that he is involved in anything sleazy. I know this guy for years. I am not his friend, an employee of his or a buddy from the shul. Heck, I'm not even Jewish. But even I know that he would not be involved in any cover up of any abuse. Although from what I have read of this, even going to this place to try and help will leave a stink on him. He had better be careful.

Anonymous said...

I am calling for a boycott of the meeting on Monday night. No parent has a right to participate in this continued cover-up.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,
I will be glad to take pictures of the event for you.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Aron Twerski refused to sit on the bais din with R'Levin and R' Kaminetsky, but he can be paid to walk into the TT cesspool.
Aron, You're on my s*** list, watch out!

exposemolesters said...

The nerve of margulis. What a pompous creep. This guy has no business running a yeshiva.

Any parent that attends this circus should have their head examined and be fined an undisclosable sum.

May as well just throw away Judiasim, Gentiles know how to act better than this. No wonder so many people go off the derech, this is not Judiasm, it's fakeism!

Anonymous said...

No speech by Lipa Geldwirth?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone bothered to start adding up how many cases of sexual abuse have David Mandel and the "honorable" Ha Rav Dovid Cohen covered up?

What is Mandel's education in? If you check it out you'd be sickened that he's trying to come across as an "expert".

How many survivors have the two of them told that they didn't believe them?

Anonymous said...

Does this twersky know anything about child sexual abuse? The answer is NO!

They are just playing the name game again.

Anonymous said...

UJO
you might want to start digging into O'hel. You'd be amazed at what's going on there. Just ask about their past "sex offender's program". Who ran it? Is it still going? what is the educational background of those treating offenders?

If you aske the right questions, you would be terifide at that answers.

Anonymous said...

UoJ
First off- you did not post my first comment in regard to Dean Twerski.
as my second comment- Just because He is not willing to be part of the beis din doesnt mean anything more then this, "allegations are from 35 years ago regardless if they are true."
Understand I am not discussing the truth of the claims( i personally believe them)
so why dont you just stay the fu^k away from him
He's a good man
Besides which I will make it my business to ask him on monday why he is wiling to speak at this event.

Anonymous said...

Margulies is trying to recreate himself and his tarnished image as an advocate and pioneer on behalf of abuse victims.

As sick as this may sound, many YTT parents (and others) will fall for this hook, line and sinker.

Perhaps Margulies will even get a seat on the Independent Investigative Panel that Torah U Mesorah sets up.

Imagine that... Margulies, the 21st century leading expert and advocate on the issue of child abuse in our Yeshivas.

He will surely be rewarded by moving up in stature from mere "Tehilim Zugger" to perhaps the "Mesayim" at the next Siyum Hashas.

Parents at YTT: You have a CHIYUV to ensure that this travesty does not take place under your watch.

BOARD MEMBERS of YTT: You have an OBLIGATION to ensure that this perversion is prevented.

Remember that if you sit by idly and allow this man to present himself to the world in this manner, you could have prevented it from happening.

Now is the time to act.

Anonymous said...

Attention all YTT Parents:

Be prepared to challenge the "sophisticated professionals" and the Administration on Monday night with questions that relate to your concerns about the current situation. This open forum is the time to talk.

1. Ask them whether they believe Kolko is guilty and what they are doing about it.

2. Ask whether Kolko will be allowed back in the Yeshiva.

3. Ask why Rabbi Margulies did not do anything about this for over 20 years.

4. Ask how your child will be safe in Camp Silver Lake when Rabbi Applegrad has just helped Kolko secure a bungalow at The Regency next door.

5. Ask what they are currently doing to address these situations and whether they can verify that their Yeshiva is currently molester free.

6. Ask whether or not a parent can step forward to talk to the administration about a molester without fear of retribution as the Yeshiva has recently attacked a parent who had the courage to call the Yeshiva and ask that Kolko be let go.

7. Ask the Presenters why they are presenting at a Yeshiva that has still not conducted an independent investigation into the "alleged" abuse by a long time Rebbi and Principal and into the "alleged" corruption and coverup of the molestation by its owner and Rosh Yeshiva.

Please think of your own orignal questions and fire away.

Please do not sit back and listen to a few hours' worth of prepared PR statements without responding with questions pertaining to the real issues of the day.

Anonymous said...

So basically, what we have here is Lipa and Willie calling these well-known people like David Mandel and Twerski to speak so that the idiot parents will now think that TT is being vouched for. How clever.

You can't fool God!

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's not too late. Maybe we can send a message to David Mandel and to the board of Ohel including Moshe Hellman that Lo Zu Haderech! Why not sponsor an educational event instead for all parents in the community about how not to let this disaster happen again? Maybe even honor some of the adult victims by having them tell the parents their horrible stories and what they've had to endure. Imagine the educational impact of an evening like that. Bring in David Framowitz to speak to the parents. What rationale is there to participate in an event that seeks to perpetuate the cover up of child molestation? Doesn't Ohel care about the children?

Anonymous said...

What is this world coming to, when after 40 years of covering up for a child molestor, a yeshiva can be honored by community leaders without so much as an apology? Have they no shame? Have our leaders no brains?

Anonymous said...

I never understood the issur in the Torah of not sacrificing your children to Molech. Who would do such a crazy thing? But now I see that there are "respectable" "normal" "frum" parents in our community who will support a yeshiva at the risk of their own children being sacrificed for the god of kavod, or the community herd mentality, or some kind of mass denial, or to be honest, I don't know what, but it seems a lot like Molech.

Anonymous said...

Are they restricting admission to YTT parents or can outsiders sneak in to the meeting?

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. I wonder if showing up to the YTT forum will do anything to improve my image.

Anonymous said...

Zweibel's stylist says that Sruly Singer can't wear the same wardrobe to both the Agudah dinner and the YTT forum. Otherwise, Boog will never let him hear the end of it.

Anonymous said...

Parents of YTT, and anyone else who plans on attending this circus on Monday night:


I think it is imperative that someone discretely videotape or even audio tape the proceedings. I'd be very gratetful - and perhaps UOJ would put it up on this blog for our scrutiny. All regular contributors to this blog would love to view the faces of the parents, the professionals(Especially Twerski) and Lipa himself to see how they may distort or plainly lie to cover up the facts.

PLEASE!!! This is your chance to fire up the grill and toast these guys! Ask crucial questions, don't accept common cliches for answers(see anon above)

TAKE NO PRISONERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

At the end of last week someone criticized Rabbi Mordechai Willig which I think is unfair.

After initially defending Lanner, Rabbi Willig made a public apology in front of a packed beis medrash, and has since made an about face in dealing with abusers.

Rabbi Willig was man enough to admit he made a mistake and is now behaving like a mentch.

We need more Rabbi Willigs in this world and maybe Lipa Geldwerth can learn a thing or two from him.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what the story is with Rabbi Hershel Kurzrock from Young Israel of Kensington and his beis din?

Anonymous said...

"Zwiebel's Stylist" is an oxymoron to the nth degree. Good title for Spielberg's next movie.

Abe Foxman; You are a disgrace. For a Holocaust Survivor to hold and advocate the positions you do is an abomination and desecration to the 6 million Kedoshim. "Mehorsayich U.Mechorvayich, Ye'Tzeyu."

Videotaping tomorrow night's "Forum" at YTT is an excellent idea and posting a link to the audio-video on this UOJ Blog will be an eye-opener, no doubt.
Let's get this out to everybody, disbelievers included.

Can someone contact the PETA Videotape photographer to handle this assignment.
He did an excellent job at Rubashkin's Postville, IA plant.

Call Nat Popper at The Forward, and NY Magazine. I'm sure they will be interested in covering this Meeting.

Anonymous said...

The people running this forum must think they are some kind of "higher authority". In reality, they are about as trustworthy as the supervision on Hebrew National.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ralbag, maybe you can figure out how to make a cut off the freak forum on Monday night.

Anonymous said...

So YTT i holding a class about the proper way to handle abuse.

In a related story, OJ Simpson will consuct classes in improving your marriage and Stuttering John will teach The Art of Public Speaking.

Anonymous said...

Kolko and Margo could use some help from O.J. Simpson, because they have got to find the "real" molesters.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Attn: David Mandel and Aron Tweski,

I will have the secular press at the YTT circus tomorrow night.

Your reputations will forever be stained with the tears of the hundreds of victims that were molested under the very roof of the building you intend to be in tomorrow.

I urge you NOT to attend, Margulies is using your good names to whitewash his criminal behavior.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ralbag;

Stay in Holland. If you play your cards right and kiss up to the right people, maybe they'll also appoint you Rav of
their Red Light District.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

I reckon you otta have the press down at Regency in 3 weeks askin' them Hungarians why they allow a pedophile to lurk amongst 'em.

This is waaaar!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Mandel, Dr. Twersky, and esteemed speakers,
If you care about the children as you say you do,
How can you have allowed this tragedy to happen, knowingly?

Ohel knew and didn't do a thing.
The yeshiva actively covered it up.
Tonight we still hear no apology.
By acting like nothing happened you are (and here is the key word) RETRAUMATIZING the victims.

Yes, the one group of people who were not invited to express themselves tonight and are not represented.

By denying their pain and suffering and allowing the yeshiva to continue business as usual
the message you are giving is that it is ok for people to take advantage of you in the name of saving the yeshiva.

We all owe them better than that. Because if we don't care about other people's children, how can we expect others to care about ours?

And what message does it give our own children that we send them to a school that doesn't even apologize when it destroys the lives of its students.?

Anonymous said...

I'm having new T-shirts made up.

Picture of Lipa margo on the front with this caption on top:

"YASSER KOACH"

Anonymous said...

UOJ, are there any victims, even older ones, whose parents are former parents of YTT who could try to show up and speak out? What about going to the media? We have to start getting people to picket and demonstrate outside of YTT, and outside of Ohel. If every person, myself included, who has posted anger on UOJ, would unite and publicly demontrate, it would be an awesome kiddush hashem and I'm sure we could get media coverage. Call the press, the New York mag, Jewish Week, Jewish Press, NY Post, I don't know. If we could get a really big demonstration of "Frum Citizens United to Protect Our Children", outside of YTT. We could get television stations. Again, a kiddush Hashem and a humiliation to Margo. A wake-up call to parents. It doesn't have to be only YTT parents. How do we get this going? Did your mass mailing accomplish anything last time?
Maybe it's time to do another mailing this time with the financial fraud documents you have commited by Leopold Margulies?
We need to stop this Hitler y'mach shmo.

Anonymous said...

Why not ask the fellow who's renting his bumgalow to Kolko why he's allowing it?

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Wow. This is fascinating. A heavyweight battle between an anonymous (and deep pocketed) Jew and established Orthodoxy. Established Orthodoxy is quickly siding with the molesters.

UOJ, don't back down. Work your Rolodex and get every secular media outlet that you know to show up at the event. A TV truck would be great.

Actually, I would urge Mandel and Twerski to attend and show that they have some credibility by addressing the Kolko case directly. That would be an ideal situation - have them pull a Natan HaNavi vs David HaMelech moment - l'havdil eleph havdalot. David did tshuvah, Margo will go to his grave unrepentant.

This event is beyond chutzpah. But it will work. Frum Jews work very hard at avoiding reality. I wouldn't be surprised if a significant percentage of YTT parents know virtually nothing about the Kolko issue.

UOJ, these are wicked people. They will do anything. For all we know, Margo may kick Kolko to the curb at Monday's event and try to paint himself as the new advocate for victims.

If Established Orthodoxy has decided that damage control to the image of EO is the critical thing, than the fix is already in. Aguday, Torah U'Mesorah, et al will coopt the issue. They will set up their own "independent" registry.

Anonymous said...

I said this months ago before UOJ senbt out his mailing and the disbelievers and dissemblers were running amuck:

Agudah, Torah Umesorah, and our Leaders" lackys are front-runners who stick their middle fingers up in the air to guage which way the wind is blowing.

If they see the tide turning in favor of UOJ,(and it now is) they'll co-opt the issue and make believe they were in favor all along.

Look for Dovid ("The Stylist") Zwiebel to write a lengthy polemic, "Friend of The Court" brief in favor of a Registry, etc. and for the Moetzes, headed by the Novominsker to chair a gravitas meeting and issue a Kol Koreh.

Perhaps even a plenary session at next years Agudah Convention?

Ronnie Schreiber said...

BTW, does anyone know how the various Artscroll/Mesorah entities are structured? My guess is that they use the 501c3 foundation to make the book sponsorship (the author's salary while writing the book plus production costs) tax deductible, while letting the folks running the publication and typesetting side earn salaries through the sale of the books. I'm sure everything is on the up and up - the Mesorah boards are made up of experienced businessmen, Tisch, Schottenstein, etc. so the set up is probably legal, but my guess is that Sherman and Zlotowitz have made a bundle.

Besides, their Shir HaShirim does violence to the text and their new "patented" interlinear translations are counter-intuitive, difficult to read, and just plain dumb. The Metsudah interlinear siddurim and machzorim are much better, breaking up the Hebrew into natural phrases helping with the rhythm of the tefilot.

I dunno. Judaica Press and Feldheim had more substance.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Many of the works at Art Scroll are worthwhile, and Scherman And Zlotowitz are certainly entitled to earn a good living.

The stealing from Slifkin fiasco by not paying him, and the nonsense gedolim/comic book series, however, has cast aspersions, rightfully so on their trustworthiness.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

boog,

All movements need radicals to make the core issues more acceptible to the mainstream masses.

In the early days of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), the organized Jewish world wanted nothing to do with the issue or with the young troublemakers. There were no Freedom Seders or Fifth Cups for our missing brothers and sisters. SSSJ leaders couldn't even get a hearing at establishment Jewish groups. Then R. Meir Kahane, H'y'd', started making some noise, Soviet consul windows got shot out, offices of an impresario doing business with the USSR were bombed (killing a young woman), and suddenly the SSSJ started looking respectible by comparison. JDL's actions put the issue on the front burner and forced the establishment to deal with it.

Greenpeace and the Sierra Club need the Earth Liberation Front crazies.

This issue needed UOJ to put it on the front burner.

Established Orthodoxy may yet be prodded into doing the right thing. I doubt it, but it could happen.

NP: The Ultimate Rascals

Anonymous said...

I hope people plan on showing up tomorrow to protest this forum. We need to show people that not everyone is falling fot YTT's crap. I plan on being there and am trying to get a group of other young people to protest. Please, anyone here who claims to be angry by this fiasco, put your money where your mouth is and just show up. If there IS any media there, it would look pretty pathetic to the world that the jewish community is not speaking out. We have these stupid ass riots in Boro Park when some old fart gets a ticket, but most people don't have the balls to show their face.

Aslo if anyone has a bullhorn, please bring it. I doubt we'll be able to get too close, because those animals have will have the police there blocking it all of.

"Mi L'Hashem Ailay"!!!

Ronnie Schreiber said...

UOJ,

Has Artscroll published anything on the Rambam or Ramchal?

Like all publishers, they have a particular vision of what they want to publish. Gezunterhei! They also have a particular vision of Judaism. I realize some FFBs put Artscroll down as watered down, not worthy of serious study. Ironically, I agree that Artscroll represents some dumbing down of Judaism, but I think the problem is one of ideology, hashkafa, not quality. They have their own idea of daled amot.

I'd like to say that Artscroll has helped me in my spiritual path, but I'd attended ortho shuls since my youth w/ my zayde and was familiar with the Birnbaum siddur long before Artscroll published their first Megilas Esther. When I've needed to do serious research in Nach, if my Hebrew skills couldn't cut a Mikraot G'dolot, I've found the Judaica Press translations to be more usefull than Artscroll.

Artscroll has certainly helped many Jews, but there is something so party line about them that I now reach for a different siddur in shul. On Shavuot, I used the R. David de Sola Pool edition, a delightful discovery.

UOJ, do you know if anyone currently publishes any of the old siddurim/machzorim like the Machzor Vitry or Avudraham?

Anonymous said...

Attention Parents:

We can not allow Torah Mesorah/Agudah to make fools of us by setting up their Internal Registry and/or "Independent Board."

1. They have proven that they are not trustworthy as we all know and will put their interests before the interests of OUR CHILDREN.

2. It is the ultimate smack in the face and unmitigated gall for these "Leaders" who have caused so much pain and suffering to so many innocent victims to now raise their "Kosher" CHAZIR HOOVES to the world as advocates for victims. This will cause tremendous AGMAS NEFESH, pain, distress and re-victimization for all abuse victims everywhere.

3. PARENTS: YOU can not allow this to happen. SUPPORT the call for a true independent system that will be conducted outside of the auspices of Torah Mesorah/Agudah.

4. If we can form a widespread Parents Organization, success will be that much easier!!!

5. Now is the time to act. It is an "EIS L'ASOS." This is not the time to sit on the fence as most of you have done until now.

Anonymous said...

"Artscroll represents some dumbing down of Judaism"

Who said that? Let me at him!

Anonymous said...

UOJ, you posted about kolko's pleading guilty all over the blogs. IS this true? Boog is backing you up, so I'm more inclined to beleive it - is this part of your hiatus?
check out canonist and dovbear and krumasabagel and atowncrier...
if its true, yasher koach!! you da man

Anonymous said...

"Agudah, Torah Umesorah, and our Leaders" lackys are front-runners who stick their middle fingers up in the air to guage which way the wind is blowing."

Amen, brother.

Anonymous said...

UOJ can you confirm the post appearing on Canonist this morning regarding a recent victim coming forward? I'm wondering why this does not appear here.

Anonymous said...

This post was left on a different thread. Please read.

UOJ, no need to post this, but I wanted to let you know of the hatzolas nefoshos the blog has performed. You will recall the anonymous post from the boy overseas protecting his younger brother from being abused by his father by continuing to endure the assaults himself. I am the poster who posted the bishvili email address. The boy did contact me.

Since that post, both boys are now in foster care, and the victim has started counseling. I am not comfortable posting, but think you should know. Nor can I take even some of the credit as it was the boy's strength that got him through.


TO all readers of this blog:

When I saw the boy's story, I posted word's of encoragement to the boy. However, "Bishvili" went one step further. He left his e-mail address. As a result, the boy contacted him. Years of misery for this boy have abruptly and happily ended, literally overnight as a result of one e-mail. The boy and his brother, as noted above, are now in foster care.

Imagine how this boy's life has changed. It is now full of hope and potential for the first time in years (for both him and his brother). He is literally reborn. Of course, there is much work to be done, but the flame has been lit.

I contacted Bishvili and confirmed the story with him. He will be rewarded greatly for saving these childrens' lives from years of misery and despair. Of course, it is all made possible through the forum that UOJ has provided to us.

I would like to end by saying that we should learn from bishvili and be proactive in assisting those who need our help. Others could have done the same, but he was the only one that posted an e-mail address and for this he will be eternally rewarded.

Please send your positive comments regarding this great act that bishvili has preformed and, in general, use this forum to inquire about the well-being of this boy and his brother. His story touched all our hearts. Let us not use his story just to make it part of our "cause." Rather, each story of abuse should touch us in a personal way to the point that we should want to reach out and help the victim in the way that bishvili did.

I wish the boy and his brother healing and success in their new life. May Hashem be with you in everything you do and may you receive all of the Berochos of Birchas Kohanim in the past week's Parsha. You both truly deserve it!

Bishvili, may Hashem bless you for your great work!

Anonymous said...

UOJ,
You know the folks at O'hel and Ner Israel have a lot in common. You should look into it.

Anonymous said...

A proud Hungarian vill never give up to UOJ, even if it means more humiliation.

Anonymous said...

"You know the folks at O'hel and Ner Israel have a lot in common."

Ner Yisroel is known to have put out many molester musmachim including those connected to the very top, but could that poster please elaborate on whatever info he has about Ohel?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

There is an internet imposter putting up posts in my name on other blogs.

If the news that you read on other sites with my name on it does not appear here, it is NOT me.

There has been at least one under-age victim that has agreed to come forward.

This will set the stage for potential criminal charges filed against Kolko, Margulies and Torah Temimah.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

Do you mean the 22 year-old that Jeff Herman discussed on Talkline with Zev Brenner who is still under the statute of limitations or do you mean someone else who is presently under 18?

Anonymous said...

UOJ, the imposters are proliferating. There's one on orthomom, one on failedmessiah, and one on atowncrier
why are people impersonating you?

Anonymous said...

UOJ -Please give details of
Scherman and Zlotowitz stealing form Slifkin. Scherman has close ties with some prominent
Modern Orthodox and I may be able to pressure him thru them and right a wrong.

Anonymous said...

Can someone explain to me why
R. Scheinberg allegedly torpedoed
the Bais Din process if he now
says any form of abuse is forbidden
(ie even without penetration?)

Anonymous said...

UOJ, the Gig is up.

Time to focus on the two who are close to home whom yoou have first-hand info about.

Stop attempting to quelch your own guilt by going after easy targets with half baked information.

Stop being a coward and spill the real goods. If you don't I will beginning with your identity.

If you still doubt me, Let me drop a hint: Phone home.

Anonymous said...

If you are too chicken to publish my posting, it doesn't matter. I will back off if you expose your brothers and others involved, even without identifying yourself, If not I will launch a blog that will dwarf yours in terms of the scandal it will generate

Anonymous said...

You can get into a lot of trouble blowing someone's cover.

Anonymous said...

That's right Scooter. We're not just talking about some losers like Joe Wilson & Valerie Plame. UOJ has done a great service for the klal. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should have his investigators and special prosecutors all over this guy.

Anonymous said...

To All the Ohel Higher Ups.
I have been a staunch supporter of yours both moraly and finacially for many years now.

If it is indeed true that you are having Dr. Mandel or anyone else speak at this YTT gathering whom represents OHEL ,with out first getting a public apology from YTT for harboring a molester then i am ready to cut ALL my ties with OHEL.
Plus i will make sure that other big supporters will do the same.
If you think this is a joke try me out.
What you are doing is a BIG SLAP IN THE FACE of the victims and of judaism.
LO ZOO HADERECH.
Think before you make a BIG mistake.

Anonymous said...

Artscroll used a lot of material from Slifkin's perek shira book in their own book, and then pulled the acknowledgement to him when he had his books banned. They eventually put the acknowledgment back in.

Anonymous said...

Check out R.Dovid Cohen,the posek for Ohel and his cover-up for child molesters.

Anonymous said...

"Can someone explain to me why R. Scheinberg allegedly torpedoed
the Bais Din process"

Can someone create a list of relatives of R. Scheinberg who have had allegations made against them? Or how many of R. Scheinberg relatives claimed they were sexually abused?

There's quite a few.

Jewish Survivors said...

CALL TO ACTION: Calling For the Extradition of Mordechai Gafni Back To Israel (aka: Marc Gafni, Mordechai Winiarz)http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2006/06/call-to-action-calling-for-extradition.html

Paul Mendlowitz said...

I have NOT posted recently on ANY site other than to claim that there's a cyberspace impersonator using my identity.

The last posts I made was on Failed Messiah and Jewschool and that was a few weeks ago.

To delegitimize my imposter, I will NOT post any comments on any site for the forseeable future.

UOJ

Anonymous said...

What people do not seem to understand is that these problems are endemic and have been going on for decades. This is simply the tip of the iceberg that will never surface.

The real problem is that we have raised now generations of Children of the Secret. If you are a victim of sexual molestation or incest - you must be kept quiet.

So why all the huff? The fix is in and will stay in. Only a few people in our world have the courage and the TRAINING to go into the shadows and help victims.
And yet the only way to find these rebbes and rebbetzins is to find the way into the underground. And even as I type this not nearly all of do not know I am quite certain of what I speak.

Ignoring evil is like drinking poisoned waters. You might fantasize that your life is filled with spring water. Cold, pure and right as rain. Feel even contentment in a world of ignorance and blind submission. Ignore what you see.

But in the end, if you dare open your eyes you would discover that life around you has been violated by men who are riddled with disease, lies, and vermin.

Not taking that into account means that we leave children and mothers to lie in a bed of tears, suffering and even death. The real kicker is that what do you do when you see the suffering and do nothing about it?

You either help or ignore. Lying about the truth about what is happening to our children and mothers has become a historical past time.

Underneath of course- there is no truth to defend, only writhing maggots of evil that consume the very flesh and soul of each neshama. All consumed in the screaming silence. With evil, ignorance never can be bliss. You do not need a posek to know these facts. Sniff the air and smell the truth.

This cuts much much deeper than even our 'un-Orthodox Jew' knows or imagines.

The saddest truth of all is that most if not all of our children can be helped. Even worse -the help is not that hard to accomplish.

Let me put it this way. I have simply surfaced here to tell you that even with posts and press nothing is really being done.

Do not be lulled and sanitized into thinking that because a few people speak that anything will be really done. Do you actually think that our people who are in real trouble are going to come forward or even seek help by anyone who even speaks on these issues?

Let me pare this down to two examples.

1) Do you think a rebbetzin of a prominent family who has 9 children is going to seek safety in a known Jewish sponsored frum shelter? If you even say yes, then you have no idea what the real risks are, not to mention how one mother can stay safe in one building with 9 kinderlach.

2)Rightly so there are blogs.But also understand that when you wake up and realize how terrible the situation is ...often it is very hard to keep the tongue silent. Ethics are like downed electrical wires everywhere. Even on both sides.

Want to read a fascinating tale of what I speak? Google back in time: Swami Muktananda sexual abuse and then read the New Yorker article or any other long article that covered his outing. Warning it is very long. He was at one time the biggest guru in the western world. Now thank Gd dead. His organization today thrives.

In the end, it seems, we blame the victims.

Look for example at the charatah and teshuvah allegedly of Gafni. He said something to the effect well over a decade or two ago, 'I was a terrible man. But you must remember the girl was 14 going on 35."

That was accepted by countless Modern Orthodox rabbis and he was made famous by the leader of the Jewish renewal movement.

Find me one article today that jumps on that one statement that left gafni free to do his ways for over 20 years.
Those who spoke and noticed learned decades ago to go underground and help people.

No one is coming to save these children. In our community predators always rise again after a proper time of required exile or death. Here and there of course is the necessary korban and nothing more.

However do not though think that there are not yidden in the shadows giving their all to help our people.

I may comment and show up again but do not count on it. But a dose or reality is healthy for the very few here that read these postings.

And yes I love the humor here too.

And no I do not apologize for getting heavy and bringing on these sobering comments. We all must be witnesses.

Anonymous said...

David Retter is right on target. Margo & co are running out of time and come summer will lose the sons of any parents with all their marbles.

Anonymous said...

No one is coming to save these children. In our community predators always rise again after a proper time of required exile or death. Here and there of course is the necessary korban and nothing more.
__________________________________

Not so. This will not end until it's over. There will never again be a culture of molester protection and cover in our education system.

Margulies will go down in history as the vile subhuman he is and will forever stand for the Mem Tes Sharai Tumah our yeshiva system reached before it was rescued.

We will survive the downfall of Adolph Margulies. Klal Yisroel will be liberated from this Nazi trained monster. We will thrive.

Anonymous said...

"After initially defending Lanner, Rabbi Willig made a public apology in front of a packed beis medrash, and has since made an about face in dealing with abusers.

Rabbi Willig was man enough to admit he made a mistake and is now behaving like a mentch."

Yeah. He protected Lanner for years. After taking heat in the papers for protecting the abuser, he "aplogized." He may not be a good guy, but he is a good politician. He knew the time had come to apologize or the heat would only get worse. Trust me, he's not the type to apologize if he doesn't have to.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"After initially defending Lanner, Rabbi Willig made a public apology in front of a packed beis medrash, and has since made an about face in dealing with abusers.

Rabbi Willig was man enough to admit he made a mistake and is now behaving like a mentch."

Yeah. He protected Lanner for years. After taking heat in the papers for protecting the abuser, he "aplogized." He may not be a good guy, but he is a good politician. He knew the time had come to apologize or the heat would only get worse. Trust me, he's not the type to apologize if he doesn't have to.
------------------------------
and your point is??

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Anonymous, you are right that the problem is endemic but the corruption goes back centuries, not just decades. While individual rabbis have provided leadership, whatever organized rabbinic leadership Jews have had has often failed us. That's just a simple and sad fact of history. Another fact is that since traditional Judaism started hemorhaging in the 19th century, the rabbinic leadership has preferred to blame the masses of Jews for abandoning Yiddishkeit rather than admit their own failures in keeping their flocks faithful.

Perhaps the role of rabbinic leadership can be illustrated by R. Elchanan Wasserman who left the safety of a fund raising tour in America to go back to his certain death with his students in Europe. Better the Jews should stay and die in Europe than live in the treife medina of the United States.

Anonymous said...

The Nazi's killed their victims and used their bodies to manufacture soap and lamp shades.

Margulies and Applegrad destroy hundreds of children's lives by protecting Kolko and than use the negative publicity to have a "Forum" on abuse.

Hitler and Himmler would be proud of their protégé Margulies and his star pupil Applegrad.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
"After initially defending Lanner, Rabbi Willig made a public apology in front of a packed beis medrash, and has since made an about face in dealing with abusers.

Rabbi Willig was man enough to admit he made a mistake and is now behaving like a mentch."

Yeah. He protected Lanner for years. After taking heat in the papers for protecting the abuser, he "aplogized." He may not be a good guy, but he is a good politician. He knew the time had come to apologize or the heat would only get worse. Trust me, he's not the type to apologize if he doesn't have to.
------------------------------
and your point is??"

------------------------------

My point is that the guy saying that it's not fair to criticize willig is wrong. It's very fair.

Anonymous said...

UOJ there are still people posting in your name. whats this about? are they trying to mess with your credibility? dovbear, atowncrier and canonist's reporting that you have a press conference on friday. whats going on?

Anonymous said...

you may critize willig for doing what he did but give him credit for publicly apologizing.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Willig was man enough to admit he made a mistake and is now behaving like a mentch.
_______________________

Fact. Rabbi Willig has learned from his mistakes and is now on the straight and narrow.

Fact. If the Flatbush community had a few Rabbis like Rabbi Willig, Kolko would have been long gone and lives would have been saved.

Fact. Rabbi Willig has taken the position that Kolko must be taken down and kept away from kids at all costs.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Crooklyn,

One more time, there is a cyberspace imposter commenting in my name on other sites. I am NOT posting on any other site!

This could be a prankster or a person making statements that are untrue to hurt my credibilty.

Anonymous said...

UOJ, I'm sorry to see that there are people out there who would stoop to impersonating you in order to ruin your credibility and interfere with your important work. People who dont read you regularly are being fooled by this fraud into thinking that you're a liar. I'm worried that by just posting here you are opening yourself to all sorts of problems in the wider world of jewish blogging. You have to confront these people - demand that the blogs that posted these false comments take them down. I see you made this attempt on canonist (but they keep at it anyway), but there's no disclaimer from you on orthomom or shmarya or atowncrier, and your impostor on krum has called your legit post there into question. I hope you are matzliach against this new attack, but I'm concerned that regular readers there will continue to be fooled. only you can save this from happening.
Good luck and chazak veamatz!

Anonymous said...

One more time, there is a cyberspace imposter commenting in my name on other sites. I am NOT posting on any other site!
__________________________

As Brooklyn Judaism is liberated from Adolph Margulies and Heinrich Applegrad, UOJ’s imposter and wannabe Julius Streicher will be exposed for the Margulies backed fraud he is. Stay tuned.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Crooklyn,
Thanks for your kind words.

Certain bloggers have been notified but are being intentionally rude by leaving the imposter's comments up.

Sort of "blogger envy" going on with a few bloggers.

The "only" authentic UOJ comments are posted here and NO OTHER SITE.

Who knows what certain bloggers would do to get the world's attention as we have?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Editor,

I have a post on the original site, unorthodoxjew.blogspot.com, regarding R' Wasserman's behavior, and his guilt in causing thousands of innocent people to be exterminated in Baranovich.

Included in that post is a letter from him saying that it would be better for his talmidim to remain in Europe rather than come to America and wind up in Y.U.

He was one of many "rabbis" that died with innocent blood on his soul.

Anonymous said...

..."The following letter was written by R. Wasserman from Toledo, Ohio, in 1938, to a young student (R. Elchonon Hertzman, from Mir and later of New York) requesting his help in escaping the Nazis. It's a famous letter written shortly before WWII:
1. "I received your letter, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do. The yeshivos in America which can bring talmidim from overseas are the yeshivah of Dr. Revel (YU) and [HTC in Chicago]. However, both are places of spiritual danger because they are run in a spirit of disloyalty to the Torah. Therefore, of what benefit would it be to escape [Europe] from physical danger to spiritual danger."

Anonymous said...

UOJ- could u please put that post about Reb Elchanan here too. I couldnt find it on the old site.

Reb Elchanan refused to come to YU
at all even to give one shiur.
R. Shimon Shkop was at YU for a year and wanted to stay but R. C.
Ozer called him back. R. Baruch Ber
gave some shiurim at YU when he was here visiting (despite the fact
some Chareidim and even members of his family will deny this as a lie!!!)

I am bothered by the criticism of Reb Elchanan. Firstly, whose to say he could have gotten those talmidim out? Immigration to USA
was not a simple matter, especially for non-clergy. Secondly, nobody thought
the Germans, a cultured society
would commit such acts. That they did so was a shock to all. Thirdly,
Reb Elchanan should be applauded
for returning despite the dangers
that lurked. He loved and cared deeply about his talmidim and could not abandon them.

Anonymous said...

Margo is YASSER KOACH.

Know it, Never Understimate it, Fight it.

Anonymous said...

Charles Kushner is due to be released from prison in August.
Watch your back.
http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Kushner&Middle=&FirstName=Charles&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=0&y=0

Anonymous said...

"you may critize willig for doing what he did but give him credit for publicly apologizing. "

That's my point; he gets NO credit. He's politically astute enough to know that he had hit the point where he had no choice but to make a public apology. It was the best decision for HIMSELF.

Anonymous said...

Mr UOJ, your blame the victim posture vis a vis Reb Elchanan Wasserman and the Kedoshim of Baranovitch, is repugnant. True, perhaps Reb Elchonon and other rabbonim, and secular leaders, of the time can be faulted with failing to grasp the enormity of the evil of Nazism and what it intended to do to the Jews. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wonder if you in your arrogance would have been capable of making a better decision. We should remember that any judgment we render on the failures of leadership during the holocaust are from the comfort of our nice and cozy armchairs. It is true that we should learn lessons from that time and we are probably guilty of not really learning lessons, but to say Reb Elchonon died with innocent blood on his hands and thereby imply that he was a murderer, when he in fact was murdererd together with his talmidim and was a true captain going down with his ship, is reprehensible.

Anonymous said...

More facts.

The basher is just plain wrong for dumping on Rabbi Willig. People make mistakes but Rabbi Willig has made a commendable turnaround to start acting in good faith. He's certainly better than what else we've got out there and is an example for them.

Since having the courage to do the right thing, Rabbi Willig is part of the minority that is coming under attack from the abuser cover-up mafia. A couple of no-name modern orthodox rabbis have also spoken up but it helps to have a major talmid chochom like Rabbi Willig on the side of the good guys. (Rabbi Blau is no slouch either)

As far as Reb Elchonon, I don't understand this latest outburst. Seemingly no one here, including UOJ (unless he's a real alter shmageggy) was there to judge them. The way I understand it, there are 2 ways of looking at it.

As the Brisker dayan said, because it was a tzeit of hester ponim, no one knew what was going to happen.

Or you could say there were people in previous generations from the kedoshei elyon who were way above us and knew things we cannot know. The Chofetz Chaim himself knew that he could not interfere with the Nazi death machine and declined when asked to be mekalel Hitler y's when he was elected in the early 1930s. I will say with confidance though that the Chofetz Chaim and Reb Elchonon would put Kolko and Margo out of business if they were still around. They wouldn't be sitting around twiddling their thumbs like the spineless cowards who make up today's rabbonus.

Anonymous said...

Margo obviously planned the forum to take place with almost no advance notice, knowing full well that time to react would have Ohel and Dean Twerski under siege. if there was time for an organized campaign against this, they would have bailed out of Margo's sinking ship.

The public has a duty to immediately inform UOJ of any sudden movements this snake makes.

Anonymous said...

If the rabbonus doesn't have the guts to deal with Kolko and Margo, there are other ways to go about this.

I could have my buddy Russell Simmons call down our home boys from the 'hood.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

My comment on R' Wasserman was intended to make a point or two that applies to today's Jews.

Facts:

1-R' Wasserman was well aware that keeping his talmidim in Baranovich was participating in their death sentence

2-He was in the U.S.A. and was well aware that the Nazis were exterminating Jews throughout Europe.

3-He sent his son Simcha out of Europe to America.

4-While a great talmud chochom, no gadol would have "participated" in the slaughter of so many innocent Jews.

5-The same applies today. Some rabbis are well versed in the Torah, but are morons in worldly affairs.

6-Think for yourselves; if something sounds idiotic, it is, regardless of what some guy with a beard who has been holed up in his private enterprise may tell you.

ADMITNOTHING said...

Kolko is a punk and Margo is just a wannabee.

Learn about real tough jews....

www.toughjews.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

What you're seeing in the defenders of R' Wasserman is the Artscrollization of the gedolim - they are perfect people, beyond human, who can never be wrong about anything. We are mere mortals who know nothing and must look to these demigods for guidance.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Just for the record, I encourage anyone and everyone who has something of importance to say to open their own site.

We must have open forums to give and get vital information, circumventing the Jewish media who censor just about everything that does not fit in to their "personal" Jewish agenda.

Blog away people, ONE person can make a difference!

Anonymous said...

"The basher is just plain wrong for dumping on Rabbi Willig. People make mistakes but Rabbi Willig has made a commendable turnaround to start acting in good faith. He's certainly better than what else we've got out there and is an example for them."

I'm not the original basher, but I agree he's an example. See, he's smart enough to realize that it was poor politics to keep covering for his buddy at the expense of the abuse of little children. The other fools are too dumb to figure out what's good for themselves.

Now ideally, we could get someone who actually cared about someone other than himself. I'm no expert in this area, but Rabbi Blau seems to have been doing a good job.

Anonymous said...

When one knows of a crime being committed, or a potential crime being planned, he has a legal and moral obligation to report such.

When one hears about someone committing a crime or planning a crime, he has a legal and moral obligation to report such.

When one assists someone in committing a crime, he is as guilty as the person actually committing the crime.

When one assists someone to cover up a crime, he is aiding the crime.

When one sees or hears about a murder, and you know who the murderer is, you have an obligation to report such to the authorities.

When one knows of a group of people involved in covering up murder, you have an obligation to report such to the authorities.

In all the above, if one wants to stay innocent, one would make sure to stay as far away from contact with anyone involved in such so that you one not be implicated as being part of or having knowledge of such crimes.

So why aren't people reporting the crimes that have been committed in YTT to the civil authorities?

And why aren't people staying far away from those involved in such crimes?

And why are respected persons such as Mandel & Twerski showing up at YTT, the scene of what is surely an ongoing cover up of murder, the murder of young boys?

Why isn't there ongoing and constant demonstrations outside of YTT?

Where are our supposed leaders?

Mandel & Twerski - how do you even agree to step foot in YTT and actively agree to becoming players in Margo's cover-up?

Anonymous said...

Blog away, nasty people, better than just ONE person, many.

How can you dare to presume what Reb Elchonon did or did not know?

Did Reb Simcha tell you when a guest in your home?

I think not.

Anonymous said...

You say that Reb Elchonon knew Jews were being exterminated all over Europe and Knowingly condemed his talmidim in Baranovich to death. I would like to see proof to those contentions. The letter you cited from Reb Elchonon advising his talmid to remain in Europe was from 1938.That is way before any mass exterminations of the Jews and before the wanasee conference took place.
Already in 1938 it was notoriously difficult and quite nearly impossible to secure a visa or affidavit for a Jew to come to America - I know because my parents barely made it out. Even had all the Rabbonim of Europe declared that every Jew Should leave Europe, it would have been meaningless, because no country in the world would allow the Jews in. It was this shunning of the Jews by the rest of the world that helped convince Hitler that the Jews were Hefker. Please place the blame for the Churban of European Jewery where it really belongs and stop distorting history. I am sure that the many non Orthodox,non religious Jews, and half Jews who were murdered by the Nazis did not consult with any Rabbonim or Gedolim about staying in Europe,or Africa for that matter - Jews of Libya who were also killed by the Nazis.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mark Schneier;

Get back into the sandbox and leave this to UOJ.

Why don't you just concentrate on keeping your shmekel in a tumescent state and your pants/zipper locked.

Anonymous said...

Ohel has probably wanted to get into the yeshivas for years as have other people interested in addressing the problem of abuse. It is a "Shanda" that when they finally get the opportunity, it is in the context of a huge coverup. But the really much bigger shanda is that no other yeshiva will let them in, and no parent group of any yeshiva has insisted and demanded it of the hanhalla. THIS to me is the Chillul Hashem. Who could imagine that Jewish "frum" parents would insist on the protection and safety of their children any less than goyim do. it is one thing to be behind the times on secular education, work ethic, even business ethics and civil responsibility. But caring for your own children's safety???? And people wonder why mashiach has not yet come.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone contacted Gary Rosenblatt in the Jewish Week about this event? Certainly it is newsworthy in the Jewish community and if the "frum" papers won't cover it, why won't he? After all, he's the one who exposed Baruch Lanner AND the OU saving countless NCSY children from further abuse. Do yeshiva children deserve any less? As a matter of fact, maybe I'll call him myself.

Anonymous said...

R' Elchonon contemplated the possibility (however remote) of his talmidim coming to America. The "perils" of modernity clearly outweighed, in his mind, the clear and present danger. A comparison between the "spiritual" and physical well-being was openly made and a decision was subsequently rendered. Admit R' Elchonon made a grave mistake. No one is infalliable.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Some more facts for you. We have documents in our hands from Rabbis in pre-war America pleading with R' Elchonon to leave Europe immediately.

If the children of Rabbi Gedalya Schorr and Mike Tress will be honest with you, they will confirm that they had obtained hundreds of visas from the State Dept. for the talmidim of R' Elchonon.

IT"S A LIE TO BELIEVE THAT R'ELCHONON KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING!
PIKUACH NEFESH TAKES PRECEDENCE TO ANY PARANOID FEAR HE HAD ABOUT Y.U.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

Your June 10th deadline has passed. Any updates?

Anonymous said...

The mere fact that Reb Elchonon was able to make it back to Poland proves that the war hadn't even broken out, let alone extermination of Jews. The Allies and Axis had not yet started a naval blockade that prevented the movement of ships.

UOJ, this is not just a misguided witch hunt, but a really old story that distracts from the monsters on Ocean Pkwy.

I guess next will be Orthorev or Mr. Know-It-All "Editor" who will blame the Chmielnitzki massacres of Tach veTat on the Shach and Rav Shamshon Ostropoli.

Anonymous said...

Hello, we are the alter zaydes of some of the disgruntled characters here. Don't forget that we blamed Moishe Rabbeinu for killing people too.

Anonymous said...

The world should know that R' Elchonon was offered separate housing and facilities at Y.U., and did not need to incorporate his yeshiva as part of Y.U.
In addition Yeshiva Rabbi Jacob Joseph and Yeshiva Tora V'Daas offered his talmidim safe haven from the Nazis.
To believe anything else is a continued distortion of the truth.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

I AM URGING THE CONCERNED PUBLIC TO CALL OHEL PROTESTING THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THIS DISGRACEFUL COVER-UP!

TO BE AFFILIATED IN ANY WAY WITH THE MURDERER MARGULIES IS A TRAVESTY AND WILL FOREVER LEAVE A STAIN ON OHEL!

HOW CAN ANYONE DARE TO STEP IN TO A BUILDING WHERE HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN WERE MOLESTED WITH THE TACIT APPROVAL OF THE GANGSTER LIPA MARGULIES.

CALL ARON TWERSKI, CALL TORAH UMESORAH, CALL ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO KNOWS TWERSKI AND MANDEL AND DEMAND THAT THEY DO NOT DARE SHOW UP AT YTT TONIGHT OR EVER!
TALK ABOUT CHILLUL HASHEM!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I don't understand you people ... if there is a real problem, stop spreading l"h and *GO TO THE POLICE*!

Anonymous said...

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Adler.html

Case of Simcha Adler

Counselor at Ohel Children's Home and Family Service Group Home Borough Park, Brooklyn.

Simcha Adler, plea-bargained charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child down to attempted sodomy, court records show. His punishment: five years' probation and psychological counseling. Adler was arrested on June 22, 1992, and released on $2,000 bail, then plea-bargained his way to freedom on Aug. 12 - less than two months later. "Ohel should have screamed murder, but it didn't".

Now-retired sex-crimes Detective Sal Catafumo recently told The Post that his 1984 investigation of a bogus Borough Park rabbi who had reportedly molested "hundreds" of children - including some Ohel orphans - while working as a child counselor got nowhere when cops tried to question the agency. The rabbi was indicted, but he fled to Israel.

Email Groups for the Awareness Center

If you would like to be a part of our emailing list, please subscribe to one or both egroups. The Awareness Center egroup is extremely active. It is suggested you set your mail controls at yahoo for a daily log. Just click on the links below and send a blank email to the address already supplied:

* TheAwarenessCenter-subscribe@yahoo.com
* PressRelease_TheAwarenessCenter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.

Table of Contents:

1.

Victims Learn Kid-Sex Fiend Served No Time; Nightmare Lingers For Kid-Sex Victims, Exlusive (09/21/1999)
2.

Compassion, Care and Concern At Ohel's Children's Home (09/24/1999)

Also see: Case of Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz

Victims Learn Kid-Sex Fiend Served No Time; Nightmare Lingers For Kid-Sex Victims, Exlusive

By Douglas Montero

The New York Post - September 21, 1999, Tuesday

SECTION: All Editions; Pg. 003

MICHAEL vividly remembers the knife pressed against his throat.

He was 11, face down in bed at an upstate summer camp for Jewish orphans, when his partially clad counselor mounted him and threatened to kill him if he screamed.

"I was telling him to stop because it really hurt," said Michael, now 19.

For nearly two months, between games, outdoor activities and Orthodox religious observances, Michael would return to the horror of his cottage and forced sex with the 24-year-old man, he recalled.

Michael said he saw the same counselor sexually abuse his roommate and best friend, Robert, also 11 at the time.

Robert remembers vague abuse, but not specific acts.

Along with Michael, he claims the attacks continued at the Ohel Children's Home and Family Service Group Home in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

Michael and Robert say their complaints to other staffers were ignored for a year, until a worker caught the counselor straddling Michael.

Police were called and Michael remembers telling sex-crimes investigators in June 1992 that he wanted "justice."

The two boys hid the scars of the abuse for nine years. And then, last month, they discovered what had happened to their attacker:

He walked.

Simcha Adler, now 33, plea-bargained charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child down to attempted sodomy, court records show.

His punishment: five years' probation and psychological counseling.

"It's a crime that he could walk away ... and have a normal life," said Michael, now a mailroom worker in Midtown. "This man ruined my life."

Robert vaguely remembers Ohel workers telling him that Adler had been given probation.

"I was [angry], but I couldn't do anything - I wasn't smart enough to do anything," said Robert, now a City College freshman who wants to be an optometrist.

"He should be in jail for the rest of his life," said Robert, who was placed in Ohel because he was sexually abused by his mother.

Michael and Robert have contacted lawyers to find out if they can properly punish Adler. They also want to know if Ohel - their legal guardian - can be held accountable for failing to vigorously nail the pedophile to a prison cell wall.

Although the statute of limitations for suing is three years, the countdown didn't begin until they turned 18.

Adler was arrested on June 22, 1992, and released on $2,000 bail, then plea-bargained his way to freedom on Aug. 12 - less than two months later.

Ohel should have screamed murder, but it didn't.

Ohel fired Adler in May 1992, after two years of employment, but agency officials wouldn't say whether his termination stemmed from the sexual abuse.

Adler was charged with entering Robert's room and sexually molesting him.

"I could feel him coming before he even got in to my room," Robert said. "I knew what was going on, and I would fall asleep - I guess I was in shock ... Then I would wake up again and realize he was still on top of me."

Adler also was charged with fondling Michael in the shower.

"The counselors would take the kids to the showers and they [the kids] would bathe in their shorts," Michael recalled. "He [Adler] always made me take my shorts off.

"I couldn't sleep at night because I didn't know when he would walk into my room."

Michael and Robert angrily charge Ohel swept the abuse "under the rug" to avoid a legal battle that might ruin its reputation.

A former Ohel employee told The Post the boys' allegations were not taken seriously or investigated by Ohel because Michael was thought to be a "liar."

Ohel spokesman Gerald McKelvey would not respond to the ex-employee's comments. "Because of confidentiality concerns, Ohel cannot comment directly on previous or former clients," he said.

But Ohel has a history of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse.

Now-retired sex-crimes Detective Sal Catafumo recently told The Post that his 1984 investigation of a bogus Borough Park rabbi who had reportedly molested "hundreds" of children - including some Ohel orphans - while working as a child counselor got nowhere when cops tried to question the agency.

"They weren't cooperating," Catafumo said. "Kids ... had complained to Ohel and it was swept under the rug ... [and] never reported ..."

The rabbi was indicted, but he fled to Israel.

McKelvey and Ohel CEO David Mandel deny that the agency ignored kids' complaints about both Adler and the fake rabbi.

McKelvey dismissed Catafumo's claims as "absolutely false," and said Ohel "cooperated fully with authorities in the matter and was deeply involved in the treatment of the victims in this case."

In general, said Mandel, "any allegations made by anyone are taken very seriously and are investigated."

The psychological trauma of the year long series of attacks is apparent in both Michael and Robert, who still live in Ohel housing because they don't have money, parents or any place to go.

Robert said he's never dated a girl because he wanted to focus on school. He spent the past summer watching TV and playing video games.

Asked if the sexual attacks might have something to do with his fear of dating, he said, "I don't know - I never thought about it like that."

Robert takes a battery of prescription drugs to deal with his attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and a mood disorder.

Michael admitted he began seducing other orphaned boys at 14. A heterosexual, he says he is aroused by rape scenes. Medical records show he also suffers from ADHD and mood disorders.

The owner of a Borough Park building where Adler, until recently, had been living told The Post that the former counselor - who married in December and moved to Jerusalem - admitted to her several years ago that he was a pedophile.

She said his confession came after Ohel officials knocked on her door and told her to keep an eye on her children.

"He [Adler] told me he was sexually abused [as a child]," said the woman, who requested anonymity.

Adler was sent to Ohel at age 3 after his mother died, said his foster mother, Barbara Ackerman, who added that he underwent extensive therapy following his arrest.

"Once it was brought to our attention, we watched him," she said. "He dealt with it and he handled it ... He is doing well."

GRAPHIC: LIVES 'RUINED': Michael and Robert, their faces obscured, tell The Post's Douglas Montero of their ordeal at the hands of a counselor with Brooklyn's Ohel Children's Home eight years ago, when they were 11. Sam Costanza

(Top)

Compassion, Care and Concern At Ohel's Children's Home

The New York Post - September 24, 1999, Friday

SECTION: All Editions; Pg. 030

Douglas Montero's piece on sex-abuse allegations against a counselor at Ohel Children's Home does not reflect the fact that Ohel gave him two interviews and provided him with extensive information ("Victims Learn Kid-Sex Fiend Served No Time," Sept. 21).

Ohel reported to the Administration for Children's Services immediately after the accusations were made eight years ago. ACS investigated and determined the accusations unfounded. Far from "turning a blind eye to sexual abuse," Ohel fully and willingly cooperates with all authorities ininvestigations of any kind. Whenever any allegation is made concerning the safety or well-being of a child or adult in Ohel's care, we immediately investigate. If the child in question has been placed in our care by the ACS, we immediately notify ACS and the Department of Social Services, which then conduct their own independent investigations.

Since its founding in 1969,Ohel has successfully treated thousands of children and families, many of whom are victims of sexual abuse. Within the Jewish community, and throughout our city, Ohel is known as a reliable organization that responds professionally to the most difficult situations involving domestic and child abuse and families in crisis, including people with mental illness or other severe disabilities.

It is most unfortunate that Mr. Montero - who was given the opportunity to visit Ohel and learn first-hand about our 600 employees and 650 volunteers who provide vital services to 1,800 people every day - chose to create the inaccurate and false impression that Ohel doesn't respond to victims of abuse. Our entire mission and our proud record of compassion, care and concern prove the opposite. David Mandel, Chief Executive Officer Ohel Children's Homeand Family Services, Brooklyn

Anonymous said...

E-mail us
askohel@ohelfamily.org


Call us
888-311-OHEL
718-851-6300


Write us
Ohel Children's Home & Family Services
4510 16th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11204

Fax us
718-851-2772

Anonymous said...

http://ytt.edu/

Is this a hackable site or only for email?

I wouldn't give a damn if Margo gets a taste of his own medicine after hacking UOJ.

Anonymous said...

Are the cops going to be on hand in case anyone heckles Margo? Or is Margo going to squat his fat rumpus in his office and watch this with CCTV?

Anonymous said...

no one knows whats true...
our rabbonim should decide
as far as im concerned this is all lashon hara and or motzai shaim ra...

let our gedolim decide...

orthorev, uoj etc... who r ur rabbonim that u accept as legit?
did u ask a shaila before starting ur crusade??

before each one of ur posts i think u should ask a shaila, and then proceed ur post with a haskama

it will give u alot more validity

Anonymous said...

Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools
One Belmont Avenue, Suite 618, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1609
(610) 617-1100 Fax: (610) 617-1106
info@ces-msa.org

NOTICE:

Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools HAS ACCREDITED THE SCHOOL BELOW. DUE TO THE CHARGES OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND COVER UP ALLEGED AGAINST THE SCHOOL THE CERTIFICATION IS BEING REVIEWED. WE REQUEST THAT ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHARGES CONTACT US AT THE ABOVE. ALL INFORMATION WILL BE HELD IN ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE.

SCHOOL:

Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah

Head Of School: Rabbi Yaakov Applegrad
School Information: 555 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11218

Phone: 718-853-8500
Fax: 718-438-5779
E-mail: apple@ytt.edu
School Details: Level Of School: K-12
School Type: Religious School
Enrollment Size: 858
First Accredited Date: 5/1/2003
Last Accredited Date: 5/1/2003
The current homepage was last updated: 5/31/2006
District: NOT PART OF A SYSTEM OF SCHOOLS

Anonymous said...

Back to the ToMo discussion - the place does not allow novels, doesn't let the kids go to town, etc. Totally agree with Orthorev that the place is messed up. What happens to the students there is either: (a) they become fafrumte freaks, or (b) they get burnt out and hate Judaism. And with all the allegations, a full investigation ought to occur.

Anonymous said...

the email address on the web site is not working. Here is David Mandel's email address:


dm@ohelfamily.org

Anonymous said...

Call David Mandel @ 718-851-6300 or email at dm@ohelfamily.org urging him to cancel his appearance. Do it in a respectful manner so that he may listen.

Anonymous said...

Subject: Attention David Mandel
To: askohel@ohelfamily.org

Dear Mr. Mandel:

I was dismayed to learn of your participation in what is so obvious a desperate publicity stunt on the part of Torah Temimah. I can't imagine how you, a staunch supporter and protector of children in harm's way, allying with an organization that has been accused of horrendous abuse and a sickening cover-up. It is a slap in the face to the victims who have come forward and to those who are on the brink of doing so. With your participation you are inappropriately acting as judge and jury, condemning the accusers. Are you truly doing what is best for the childlren, as you so proudly proclaim to be your mission?

I am all for an independent forum, sponsored by your organization, in a neutral locale and setting. I urge you to change your mind, for once you attend this travesty you can never reverse your actions.


A concerned member of the Klal.

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, please don't bug me with emails advocating your opinion on my presence at the forum.

Dean's Office

lawdean@hofstra.edu

Anonymous said...

"Back to the ToMo discussion - the place does not allow novels, doesn't let the kids go to town, etc. Totally agree with Orthorev that the place is messed up. What happens to the students there is either: (a) they become fafrumte freaks, or (b) they get burnt out and hate Judaism. And with all the allegations, a full investigation ought to occur."
__________________________________

Either way we pay.

The Amish are "farfrumt" but at least self-sufficient and don't mooch.

With our Farfrumt, they ban everything in sight but expect you to support them with the attitude of "Es koomt Meer".

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Mandel:

I was dismayed to learn of your participation in tonight's forum held at Yeshiva Torah Temimah. I can't imagine how you, a staunch supporter and protector of children in harm's way, are allying with an organization that has been accused of horrendous abuse and a sickening cover-up. It is a slap in the face to the victims who have come forward and to those who are on the brink of doing so. With your participation, you are inappropriately acting as judge and jury, condemning the accusers. Are you truly doing what is best for the childlren, as you so proudly proclaim to be your mission?

I am all for an independent forum, sponsored by your organization, in a neutral locale and setting. I urge you to change your mind, for once you attend this travesty you can only with great difficulty reverse your actions.


A concerned member of the Klal.

Anonymous said...

The discussion is intense. Good. But for all you here- how many of you knew of Rabbi Yehuda Fine and his book out over ten years ago. Times Square Rabbi-Finding the Hope in Lost Kid's Lives. He went straight after all of this alone and even had a bestseller in recovery. But not from our world.
Every wonder why you never saw the book for sale in Brooklyn? Ever listen to his warnings two decades ago?

Have any clue as to how many countless kids he has helped for nearly 25 years?

Anyone know why no one speaks to him from his yeshiva Chaim Berlin?

Point being- we are in the middle of a big storm and it will die down. Too much is at risk here and there are too many 'dirty hands' to deal with any of this.

Review the Lanner case. Remember the
active motzei shem rah and lashon harah about the one woman who put him away? Where did everyone else go?

Think he will not rise again? I do not gamble but if there was a Vegas line on lanner the odds would be he will rehab his way back somewhere again.

What about the hooplah surrounding Matis Weinberg? Why was he set free after what happened at Keren Yeshiva?
And his way of life now in Israel.

And watch next for a plethora of articles and 'cavod 'writings from our so- called experts who will also be lining up at the 'cash cow speaking circuit' getting all of the collection plate.

Point being. We need more lawsuits. And some wins in court. We need to reject those who clearly are compromised and do some research in our community as to who really will, does and can help children.

Some of you will do your due diligence and take a real look at what the predators continue to do, but might even look into the tzedeka fluff of the so-called organizations that help 'quote' our kids.

This is a top to bottom problem. Imagine that we have not just predators, but we also have predators who do not molest but make money claiming they help victims.

The key is to stay very focused. Find the people who have real bonafides to speak out.
Bring them in. Snoop around everything.

Hey we didn't spend our lives learning to not be able to take a sugyah from Shaas and use those skills to vet real life situations.

Let's see a year from now if we are still working this sugyah. Let's see if we have brought the people who really have and continue to help the victims. And not settle for anything less.

That will be the acid test. Maybe history will produce the beginnings of a real tikkun. But also there is a taaveh for the titilatting news and then there are the mothers and the children.

Which road will be traveled?

Anonymous said...

UOJ

While your crusade is just, I can see that history is not your strong
point. The fact is that the Nazis
y"s did not start mass killings of
Jews until after the invasion of Russia in June 1941 when they set up four divisions of Einsatzgrupen
and shot Jews into pits(ie Babi Yar). To my knowledge Reb Elchanan
had left America back Baranovitch
in early 1940- so there's no way
he'd know of mass killings!

Anonymous said...

""After initially defending Lanner, Rabbi Willig made a public apology in front of a packed beis medrash, and has since made an about face in dealing with abusers.

Rabbi Willig was man enough to admit he made a mistake and is now behaving like a mentch."

Yeah. He protected Lanner for years. After taking heat in the papers for protecting the abuser, he "aplogized." He may not be a good guy, but he is a good politician. He knew the time had come to apologize or the heat would only get worse. Trust me, he's not the type to apologize if he doesn't have to."

No kidding. His politics is sickening. Condescending to the masses and a butt licker to those with money or power, which wouldn't be so bad except that he is a dayan for the "uncorrupt" beis din.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

Keep after Kolko and Margo with the persistence of a hard core Yekke.

Anonymous said...

Still no word from "daas torah" on the whole issue of abuse. Unreal. Anyone who still puts all his trust in these clowns has an IQ below 25.

People, start asking your "rabbis" their opinions, and start posting whoever is for or against!

Anonymous said...

Who is the guy who keeps making fun of fat, grubba Hungarians from the Agudah?

Put up your dukes big talker. You're just jealous that we all have fancy table top shtenders.

Anonymous said...

BREAKING NEWS:

At tonight’s “Forum” Adolph Hitler broke down crying, “if I accidentally hurt any Jewish people, I humbly apologize.”

Oops, wrong generation.

At tonight’s “Forum” Hitler’s prodigy, Lipa “Hitler” Margulies, crying crocodile tears, read from a prepared statement saying that “if there are really any victims, and they were molested in my yeshiva by my star Rebbe, and they suffered Tzaar, then I am sad.”

Aaron “Joseph Goebbels” Twerski introduced himself as an old and dear friend of Hitler and assured those assembled that “just as one lone war does not define a leader so too one lone incident does not make a yeshiva.” Twersky continued on to say that the mere fact that countless boys claim they were molested by Hitler and his Capo Kolko, does not prove anything. Torah Temimah is still a good place, maybe even, as Hitler proclaimed loudly, the best place.

Let’s focus on the future, they all said. The glorious future of the Third Reich of Margulies.

I say; THINK AGAIN!

Margulies, Twersky, Applegrad and Kaufman. Get into your bunker. You ain’t seen nothing yet. We have just begun to fight. You will be repaid for every ounce of Tzaar you caused innocent children. Not only is Torah Temimah finished, you animals are finished too. You will live the rest of your lives with an unimaginable mark of shame.

L’Maan Yishmeru V’Yirau.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Proofreader:

You missed another typo. It's in the last sentence of the first paragraph. There are also some syntax errors that you skipped over...

Anonymous said...

it is a simple fact that reb elchonon new that his return to europe would result in his death - or that that was a fairly likely outcome. His return journey from America took him through England where people - far more aware of the situation than America Jews were - begged him not to go...he went anyway.

One might conjecture that he felt some degree of guilt, and that may have been a factor in his decision to reutrn --- but there is no question that the act of returning was, in itself, courageous.

Anonymous said...

WELL?

Did anyone out there go to YTT tonight? Can somebody please post what transpired?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

The real issue is the fallibility of ALL humans. As much Torah knowledge a rabbi may have, he's not God, and should dare not play God.

The letter to R' Wasserman from his student was written in 1938, there is other correspondence dating back to 1935.

The hundreds of talmidim that could have been saved is forever a stain and a symbol of human frailties. For a rabbi to cause his own death by going back, his choice.

To bring a premature death to thousands for playing God, that's a whole other story.

Anonymous said...

The irony here is that you criticize the gedolim for not having self doubt - for not wondering for an instant that they might be wrong. But you and your lynch mob are the people with the least self doubt that I've ever encountered. You have more hubris and arrogance than any rabbi inhistory since you think that everything you assume or think or hear is correct. You have written hundreds of easily refutable "facts" with utter certainty on this site, yet somehow, you've never considered, even for a second that you might be playing with fire.
Playing god? don't make me laugh. You and your cronies have the worst god complex possible, and you're completely blind to the patent hypocrisy of your position.

The comfort here (cold as it is) is that all reigns of terror eventually turn on their creators, and all witch hunts eventually implicate their hunters. You too will be savaged by this spirit of reckless accusation and childishly joyful mockery you've set up.

Al dateift, said hillel to the skull on the water, and how right he was.

Anonymous said...

How did they handle sexual abuse in eastern Europe? If it's statistically predictable, it must have happened. Did they cover everything up - or is this phenomenenon fairly uncommon?
_____________________________

They fired the Melamed. There was no big discussion, any suspicion and he was fired.

It took the likes of Margulies to change the rules. Time to fire his ass.

Anonymous said...

True UOJ that a Rabbi is fallible
but you are alleging that Reb Elchanan knew they would be killed and is directly culpable.
There is no proof of that at all.
Remember that the Germans in WW I
treated Jews much more decently than the Russians, so although
he sensed a notion of danger he
probably couldn't have imagined the extent.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Lone Voice:

Do you have any better solutions to the Kolko Margulies situation?

Anonymous said...

Applegrad is head of school? When did this happen? Would this make him in any way liable? Or does this somehow get Margolies off the hook?

Anonymous said...

Parents warned to check summer camps for possible pedophiles
By RUTH EGLASH
Jerusalem Post
June 13, 2006
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150035839062&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1150035839062&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

With summer camp registration in full swing, parents should be wary of
the individual counselors assigned to care for their offspring on a
day-to-day basis, according to Yitzhak Kadman, director of the National
Council for the Child.

"Pedophiles often search out work with children," Kadman warned on
Monday.

While there is a law stating that all institutions working with
children must require their workers to provide a letter from the police
stating whether they have a background in sexual crimes, many summer camps
and companies that transport the children to them do not do background
checks on their workers and the police do not enforce the law, said
Kadman.

"The problem here is twofold: first, there are no checks, and second,
there is simply not enough awareness of the requirements," he said.

"Last year we took a list of summer camps and called their directors,"
continued Kadman. "What we found was that 95 percent of them either did
not have the required letters or they did not even know that they were
required to produce such documentation.

"It is very easy, all the employee needs to do is take the name and ID
number of a worker and run it by the police," said Kadman. "The police
need to do what we did, go into the camps, ask for a list of workers
and ask for the letters. If there are no letters then the camp
[directors] must be prosecuted."

Gal Yardeni, who has been running weekly after-school programs and
summer camps for children for the past 25 years, said that he has never
heard of such a law.

"I lived in Los Angeles for three years and everywhere I went they
asked for a letter from the police. I believe this is a very important
issue," said Yardeni. "The demand needs to come from higher up. The city
needs to request that every camp has those letters."

The director of a large Jerusalem-based summer camp, which caters to
children from abroad, also said that she had not heard of the law
requiring camps to ask for police letters from staff.

"I did not know about this law, I did not receive any information about
it," she said. "But now I will double check the backgrounds of my
staff."

Kadman pointed out that even on the official Education Ministry Web
site under the section of summer camps there was no mention of checking
into the background of staff working at camps.

"The ministry published a list advising parents what to look for when
choosing a summer camp. First aid and shade are very important but they
forgot to write that all camp workers need to have a letter from the
police stating they have no criminal record," said Kadman. The National
Council for the Child complained to the ministry last week and since
then the Web site list has been modified.

"No one has explained this law to the camps or the drivers who take the
kids there; the places say they do not know about the law," said
Kadman.

Asst.-Cmdr. Suzy Ben-Baruch, head of the Israel Police's youth
department, explained that in 2004 a law was brought into effect stating that
anyone wishing to work in an environment with children needed permission
from the police.

However, she said that there was no budget provided to raise awareness
of the law to private individuals who were running programs for
children.

"The law comes from the Education Ministry but the problem is with
private camps who do not know about it. Parents need to be aware and ask to
see the permission letters," said Ben-Baruch, adding that her
department runs a wide range of programs for youth raising awareness to issues
such as alcohol and drug abuse, as well as watching out for pedophiles.

"We run programs for those who request our services," she said.

Ben-Baruch added, however, that the law itself is problematic. "The
letter will only highlight sex offenders who were sentenced to more than
one year in prison," she said. "If someone received a lighter sentence
it will not show up, allowing him to get a job with children. I believe
the law needs changing."

Anonymous said...

It's clear from seforim hakedoshim that there are Amalekim who hide amongst us. They descend from Amalekim who snuck in through the Erev Rav.

Amalek means Am molak. In other words, you need to sever them with melika.

UOJ, please do the honors in ripping their heads off.

Anonymous said...

Come on guys. Someone has to be able to give us a play by play from last night's circus.

Anonymous said...

The guys with Chevra Kadisha were so angry about the farce in YTT last night, they wanted to come down with the cemetary shovels to smack Margo.

Anonymous said...

Margo probably thinks he can keep Temimah running as long as he regularly organizes feel-good sessions for group therapy.

What a sham.

Anonymous said...

To the poster suggesting he is a lone voice of reason (or perhaps alone voice of reason), your quotation of the mishna in Avos is indeed prescient, however, not for the reason you intended. While a child's understanding of that mishna might simply lead to the conclusion that "what goes around comes around," as you intend, the true meaning is far more germane to this blog, and not simply in a metaphorical sense.

Why did Hillel happen upon the skull floating on the water and not simply resting on the ground? After all, according to you the lesson wouldn’t have been any different. In addition we know that not every punishment one endures directly reflects his own actions. Was Rebbi Akiva’s death (or any other of the ten martyrs for that matter) demonstrative of some act he caused in his lifetime? Of course not!

Hillel did not literally see what is described in the mishna. Like many kedoshim who were murdered in Churban Europe, what Hillel saw was a person whose existence was obliterated from this world, “washed away” in the sense that there was no trace of him. The mishna’s use of water as a metaphor is significant because water has the power to wash something away so effectively that it erases any trace of what once was. Ask any one who used to live in New Orleans. Water can cause just as much damage as fire.

What Hillel saw was a person whose existence was washed away from this world. Hillel discerned that because he had obliterated someone from this world, he too, was now being obliterated himself. Yet we know that tzaddikim never die. Maaseh avos siman lbonim. Righteous people can never be “washed away” because even in death they leave a legacy of deeds which continues to impact on the world.

Much the same can be said for this blog. Say what you will about its originator, but the lasting mark on Klal Yisrael is destined to be significant. You can criticize the tone here, the language, the attitude, the unmistakable chutzpah. Yet you fail to grasp that this is all in response to decades of cover up, decades of enabling. We are closer to ending the abuse then we have ever been, no thanks to those that pervert the Torah and abuse its laws to hide their nefarious deeds.

Ask yourself one simple question. If what previous doros were doing was so right, then why do we find ourselves mired deeper than ever in the same golus? I suggest you square yourself, be a man, and ask the hard questions. Obviously something was wrong, someone or many “someones” were being meakeiv the geulah.

Think about the significance the Torah places on orphans and widows, and on protecting the weak, and then ask yourself whether or not it makes perfect sense that those that preyed on the weak were the ones who kept the redemption from occurring. If we can’t protect our weak, of what purpose would redemption serve?

I commend you for your use of Hillel’s message, one that says that right is might, that the work of the righteous will endure everlasting recognition, for such can only be described as the Work of the Lord Almighty.

Anonymous said...

Re: Reb Elchonon,
I had the zcus of speaking to Reb Tuvia Goldstein A'H 20 years ago for two hours about the plight of his fellow talmidim, and of their Rosh Hayeshive, Reb Elchonon. He said that Reb Elchonon did not believe that the horrors would reach him as quickly as it did, and was looking for alternitive places to go. When he realized his error he decided to go back, and at least be with his Talmidim. He is not alive to defend himself, so please leave him be. "Al tadin es chavercha ad sheyagiya limkomo" Please don't judge him. Let's just concentrate on the Bastards at hand.

Anonymous said...

One Purim he confided to two of his closest talmidim that he was childless for the sins of his father.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

John Q.,

Are you mishpacha to William Safire?
How about a guest headliner?

Anonymous said...

Did Mandel from Ohel show up last night?

Anonymous said...

I was traumatized by a rebby I was close with who touched me inappropriately when I was a young bochur studying in an established, main stream yeshiva many years ago. Although it has been difficult, I choose to live and to work in the frum community in Brooklyn. Almost all of my best friends are yeshivish people. Many of them know my history and my struggles and feel very bad for me. However, none of them have been able to help me in my search for a rov who has the chochma, the heart and the integrity to stand up and help victims of yeshiva abuse.

I have thank G-d, experienced much healing from reading this blog and finding people of power and wisdom in our community who care. I often wonder if UOJ is none other than Eliyahu Hanavi, who legend has it is always the anonymous savior of the downtrodden Jews. Whoever UOJ is, what he has done is nothing short of Haschalta Deguela.

What I think we would all like to see is a new generation of young rabbinic leaders who are REAL people. Who keep the REAL Torah, by sticking up for the underdog, the way Reb Chaim Soloveitchik defined the job description of a Rabbi. (Qoted by his grandson Reb Yoshel Ber, in Halachic Man)

Does anyone know of even one Rabbi in all of Brooklyn who will champion the cause of protecting our children? Who will speak out for what's right? Who will risk the ire of the powers that be and challene the smug complacence of Klal Yisroel and their so called "leaders"? I have been searching in vain for years, but have not given up.

I
dream of a day when Jewish parents care more about their children'semotional and spiritual wellbeing than about the image they portray to others of being a "chashuve" family that deserve the "best shidduchim (i.e. money, yicchus, prestige). To get to this day will require not only leadership of people like UOJ and others on this blog, but also the spritual leaders of REAL Rabbis. Know any?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone gone to Rav Zelig Epstein?

Anonymous said...

Hello. My name is Jennifer Friedlin and I am a reporter seeking responses to the YTT event last night. If you were there, I would very much like to know whether you thought the event addressed your concerns regarding sex abuse. Please contact me at The Jewish Week, 212-921-7822 x251.

Anonymous said...

John Q. Publicstein -- I love your posts. They are refreshingly intelligent, thought-out, and well-articulated (with a minimum of spelling and grammar mistakes!). Please keep contributing!

Anonymous said...

Enough talk about Rabbi Wasserman! This is a ploy from Margo and his goons to avoid the topic at hand, namely, their covering up Kolko! Let him know that we're not finished yet!

As far as real rabbis, Rabbi Yosef Viener.

Anonymous said...

Which reporters were in attendance last night?

Anonymous said...

Hey Boog, you big mouth. You've got something to say about our rabbi, Marc Schneier?

ADMITNOTHING said...

What happened at the meeting. Did anyone in attendance have the nerve to confront them ?

It kills me that the mainstream jewish newspapers are silent on the issues of YTT and Gur.

Its a slap in the face to anyone that has been subjected to this kind of immoral behaviour.

Anonymous said...

Quest: How do you separate the Administrators from the Boys in Camp Silver Lake ?

Ans: With a crow bar

Anonymous said...

Where is the list of Kool-Aid drinking parents that are going along with this baloney?

Anonymous said...

Orthodox Registry for Prevention of Abuse in Yeshivas in America
is accepting applications.

My namew is Shoshana Reisman. Who am I? I am just an Observant Jewish Woman who cares. As part of my psychological studies I have witnessed and come to know victims of sexual abuse. It is a life changing, damaging event. The consistent message from the victims is that they feel that no one really cares or wants to hear the truth. Being involved with these victims as well as watching the changes that can happen thanks to UOJ and his blog has prompted me to help start the Orthodox Registry for prevention of Abuse in the Yeshivas of America.

Our Mission Statement
We are a group of concerned Orthodox Jews, ranging from Doctors,lawyers, and Rabbi's to Psychologists, Teachers and parents who will be forming the first sex/abuse registry and making the by laws for handling all abuse complaints with in Orthodox Yeshivas and camps. Our goal is to
1. Establish a safe place for victims to come with out fear of being ostracized from the community.
2. We will work hand in hand with the New York Police Department and their experts on pedophiles in the school system to set up a sex registry for all confirmed predators of children.
3. We will set up a sex registry in all Yeshivas and Camps across America mandating that every teacher must go through a (sex registry) screening before being hired
These are just a few of the regulations we will be setting up.

We will have a board that meets every month at 9am for 90 minutes on the first Sunday of the month in New York City (adjustments for holidays). There may be pay (I am in contact with a baal tzeddakah who is very interested in making this happen, I am trying to get a good salary for each person to motivate members to participate)

Our first Board Meeting will be Sunday August 13th, 2006 in New York City, location to be announced.

I am excited to say that I already have one Observant Attorney on Board who is starting on the by laws and one Psychologist who specializes in abuse. We need 16 people. 12 for the board with 4 alternates.

Please, I emplore you. What is 90 minutes of your time, once a month? Imagine, you can be a part of history making in the Orthodox Jewish world.

All interested participants please email me at orthodoxregistry@yahoo.com please include a brief description of your qualifications.

Here is a list again of what we are looking for


1. Doctor (Pediatrics)
2. Lawyer
3. Orthodox Rabbi who is survivor of sexual abuse
4. Recovering Victims working a 12 step program
5. One Yeshiva Student (male 18 years old at least)
6. Parents
7. Nurse
8. Pyshologist (experience with pedophiles)
9. Businessman
10 Social Worker
11. Teacher in Yeshiva
12. Yeshiva student (female at least 18)

In loving sevice to Klal
Yisroel,

Shoshana

Anonymous said...

"Its a slap in the face to anyone that has been subjected to this kind of immoral behaviour."

You're not kidding.

Especially for little abuse victims that Kolko takes by the hand into Margo's office.

Anonymous said...

Are the wordes of a shikkur da'as Toireh? Since when can anyone speak for the ribbono shel olam as to the management and meaning of his world? Every childless couple is cut off because of the sins of their parents? Is this credible? Which sins? The sin of combatting secular studies?

Would UOJ, iconoclast that he is, welcome a shidduch with a family without yichus, prestige, money?
(step to the front of the line).

Anonymous said...

I'm just a bit curious about history. Was Margulis the first guy to either conceive of, or institutionalize the concept of a Yeshiva being a "for-profit" family entity? Who else has done this?
I think in general its a reprehensible thing to do. Why should families who are struggling ante up to feed his private enterprise? I guess he might answer he's only taking "S'char Batalah." Then again, I'm not sure what else he's qualified to do.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,
Is the Leizerowitz story true or not?

http://chaptzem.blogspot.com/2006/06/gerer-mesivta-closes-down-its.html#comments


By the way, check out this article.
I truly deserve to inherit the mantle of Kotzk/Ger.
This is Kotzk/Ger for the 21st century.

http://masoret.hevre.co.il/hydepark/item.asp?id=1751&cat_id=7

Anonymous said...

What has Rabbi Viener done to help victims? What has he said on this subject? What makes him a REAL rabbi different from the rest?

Anonymous said...

Yeshivas YTT and Gur:

Giving new meaning to the expression:

Shalom Al Yisroel

Anonymous said...

Ask the Roshei yeshiva why the jews were killed in the Holocaust and they will tell you that, the jews weren't keeping the Torah, going off the derech etc. etc. Why are they allowed to conjecture?
Below is an example:

http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol03/v03n045.shtml#16


Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 09:39:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: micha@aishdas.org (Micha Berger)
Subject: Re: Talmidie R. Avkio and the Holocaust



Me:
> As to whether this sets a precedent for our descendents 500 years from now to
> find a sin that caused the holocaust... There's a clear difference, as the
> holocaust was a national tragedy, killing the potentially sinfull and the
> newborn alike.

Richard Wolpoe asks:
: I'm not sure what's meant by "national tragedy" Wouldn't the death of the 24k
: talmidim also consititue a "national tragedy?

What I meant was that since the holocaust included people who clearly
weren't guilty -- such as newborns -- there's no way we can understand it
as a retribution for the victims' sins. That is unlike R' Akiva's students,
where they are being identified as the guilty individuals, each dying for
their own sin.

Perhaps the nation's sins could be identified to explain how the holocaust
worked within din (perhaps not), but nothing that would explain why these
particular people had to be its victims. At best we could say the nation
as a whole got punished for it as a whole's sins. Which, as I mentioned, is
all any of the tochachos guarantee in terms of s'char va'onesh in this world.

-mi

--
Micha Berger (973) 916-0287 MMG"H for 6-May-99: Chamishi, Behar-Bechukosai
micha@aishdas.org A"H O"Ch 317:23-29
http://www.aishdas.org Eruvin 76a
For a mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah its light. Kuzari II 13-1

Anonymous said...

Any parent who still insists on keeping their sons in YTT should get their head examined.

I am probably going to open a can of worms for some readers here but I believe this is a symptom of a larger problem; redifas gashmius and kavod. Even after all the monstrosities that have come to light, they still think YTT is a status symbol. R' Yaakov Kaminetzky ztl said that redifas gashmius in America is "avoda zara mamash."

Another manifestation is evident with the "House Poor" in the 5 Towns. Every shlepper's wife wants to be choshuv and where the action is so they force their husbands to sacrifice everything for a house with a shtatty 516 area code. They can't afford it, so they hardly own a piece of furniture and keep Tomchei Shabbos busy as a beehive delivering them some free grub.

Anonymous said...

Why does Orthorev get to litter the blog with the same exact blah blah blah rant over and over again, blah blah blah.

It's word for word every time, except he forgot this time about Agudah of Ave L Isaac Gross's fat stomach, blah blah blah.

It makes one wonder what "MENTAL DISORDER" Orthorev suffers from himself.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Agudah of Ave L, what's the story with former shul president Berger who moved to that demented Hungarian shul in Monsey?

And what ever happened to the arsonist member who burned the old building down? Is he still in jail?

Anonymous said...

Orthorev,

You are out of control...you will find no believers in anything you say. By your ranting, you have propped up orthodoxy by showing you are just some wacko. You also lower the credibility of what others say in this blog so you just harm the cause...

Anonymous said...

Orthorev,

You're sounding silly now. Stop comparing this with Nazi Germany. It is insulting.

Anonymous said...

Ortho;

You're on the ball. These Rabbonim could have taught Jim Jones a thing or two about cultism and keeping the m-asses in line.

Gur shut down their Mesifta because of the homo hanky-panky goings on. Not a word out of them. Their cover-up and silence makes Deep Throat look like an Amateur.

Anonymous said...

broken;

ortho figures Chazoreh of the Inyan will
hopefully penetrate. We have a lot of Farshtopte Kep amongst us.

Anonymous said...

Thing about Orthorev is, no one has been able to argue on his points! All you guys can do is call him names. So what if he's a one-trick pony? He makes great points and nobody's been able to respond to him (or UOJ for that matter).

Anonymous said...

Speaking of shunning Indian Hair Wigs:

How is it that some women who are makpid to have the kosher-approved with plumbas no-Indian Avodah Zorah sheitels, think nothing of walking around with their snoods showing half a head of uncovered hair?

Anonymous said...

OrthoRov might be a little meshugga, but who wouldn't be when they become aware of what this community is allowing to happen. I cannot speak for UOJ, but perhaps he posts Orthorov's rantings as a way of showing what these problems can do to people. Perhaps OrthoRov has PostTraumaticStressDisorder because of secondary trauma of watching an entire community sit by and allow its own children to be horribly abused. I say, keep him on.

Anonymous said...

That could be those shuls run by baal habotim. There's Stroli's, but Rubinstein's is definitely the worst. Rubinstein is a little roly-poly Hungarian guy. The Rubinstein lowlives like it without a ruv. When they bring one in for appearance sake veil es passt nisht uhn a ruv, it's usually some choshuve talmid chochom who had no idea what kind of Hungarian demons he was getting involved with, before they throw him out as if he's a sack of manure.

Anonymous said...

Ortho,

You have made it clear on multiple occasions that all frum people - especially those in Brooklyn - are crazy.
I live in Brooklyn and I conside myself "frum". Tell me why I am crazy. Not my Rav or my typical Brooklyn frum neighbors. Me. Why (aside from my dignifying your nuttiness) am I in particular crazy?

Anonymous said...

tt parent:

What in particular bothered you about Margo's speech? I wasn't there - just curious.

Anonymous said...

Sir/Ma'am:

I see you had blogged briefly on the Solomon Dwek matter. If you have
any information you could pass along, it would be greatly appreciated.
We are continuing our coverage of Dwek's affairs.

Jason Method
Projects Reporter
Asbury Park Press
732-643-4236

Anonymous said...

There's been no evidence of anal penetration that I've seen, and I'm following this pretty closely. Various types of sexual molestation, yes, but not anal penetration. Repeating it, over and over again, OrthoRev, doesn't make it true.

Let's not stoop to the tactics of the evildoers.

A lie travels halfway around the world before the truth has time to put its pants on: Mark Twain.

Anonymous said...

In case that flew over anyone's head, Rabbi Breuer was responding to David "son of sam" Berkowitz and referring to the Hungarian shuls in the Suffern area of Monsey. Rubinstein's shul has the creme de la creme of the worst Hungarian scum around.

Anonymous said...

To the person who asked why he is crazy if he is frum:

Unless you don't do any sins ever, you are crazy, because the gemora says that ain adam chote ele im cen nichnos bo ruach shtus.

We are all crazy for sitting quietly as children are molested. We buy Jewish newspapers that care about many issues of lesser importance (I'm not only talking about bugs in water, etc.) and nothing about the abuse of children in our heilige yeshivas.

We are all crazy for giving money to these yeshivas who refuse to listen to the plights of victims. And Torah Tmima is not the only one, (YOB, Gur, Ner Yisroel, etc.)

We are all crazy because we daven in shuls of Robbonim who speak about every other issue with passion and concern, but have nothing to say for the helpless victims, not to mention the horrible chillul hashem that comes about from these coverups when they get out.

We are all crazy because we have not called our District Attorney to prosecute the abusers because we fear the "chillul hashem" even after Newsday did a piece a year ago in which it said that in Brooklyn there are 2 codes of law, one for the Jews and one for everyone else. Talk about chillul hashem. This was after the papers to extradite Mondrowitz and bring him to justice, mysteriously disappeared due to community pressure.

We are all crazy that we send our children to schools in which they are not safe, and do nothing to demand their safety from the educators who we trust them to.

I don't think keeping the Torah is crazy, but being Frum in Brooklyn the way we do it really is

A MENTAL DISORDER.

We need massive therapy to help us all learn proper values and how to deal with reality. It will heal us and make us better Jews as well. Let's get help.

Anonymous said...

http://www.1010wins.com/pages/45953.php

Anonymous said...

Ortho;

The Silence (Our rabbanut) of The Lambs.

Just think: 40 weeks to their next Shabbos Hagodol Droshos.

Anonymous said...

Jason from APP, here's what we know:

This whole thing is one big sketch. Ibe! It really is haram. Haazit, Dwek needs the floos, and the itchy's joke about it. In the meantime their rabbis are neeking little boys! Ert! Like some little kids bedarts should be attractive to a rabbi! That Kolko guy is a kelb, shoofing abo like it was a rib steak! I heard he even likes when the little kids make darats he smells them! I'm biffing from this guy. Why he can't neek his chadameh like every other igay is beyond me. Hey good luck to you, alah ma'ak. Keep up the work.

Anonymous said...

Must be getting crowded in Otisville.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/nyregion/13census.html

In New York City and the five suburban counties in New York State, the number of people ages 18 to 44 increased by 1.5 percent in the 1990's. Upstate, it declined by 10 percent.

Over all, the upstate population grew by 1.1 percent in the 1990's — slower than the rate for any state except West Virginia and North Dakota.

Population growth upstate might have lagged even more but for the influx of 21,000 prison inmates, who accounted for 30 percent of new residents.

Anonymous said...

Who says the weak law will even be enforced ? The Agudah must be rubbing their hands with glee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/nyregion/13mbrfs-009.html

Some of New Jersey's state-financed preschools have failed to conduct required background checks on teachers and other employees, according to a published report. The Record of Bergen County found that the required checks, intended to prevent criminals and child abusers from working with children, are frequently incomplete or nonexistent. In 2005, proof that every required check had been completed was missing at 24 out of the 31 school districts in which the state is required to provide free preschool, the newspaper reported.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any info on a Rebbe who was fired from YSV in Monsey? Does anyone know of any victims of sex abuse at YSV? Did the school cover for him?

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/middleeast/07olmert.html?hp

May 7, 2008
Focus Turns to Long Island Philanthropist as Israeli Prime Minister Is Investigated

By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
A Long Island philanthropist and fund-raiser for Israeli charities is at the center of a growing storm surrounding Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that has riveted and agitated Israel despite a veil of secrecy over the continuing investigation.

The philanthropist, Morris Talansky, 75, was apparently approached last month by the Israeli authorities when he arrived at the Tel Aviv airport to spend Passover with his daughter and son, who live in Jerusalem. It is unclear whether Mr. Talansky, who has yet to return from Israel, is only a witness or also a suspect in the case.

Israeli prosecutors asked a Jerusalem court on Tuesday for permission to take testimony from a foreign man, widely understood to be Mr. Talansky, even though prosecutors have yet to file any charges in the matter. Their inquiry appears to center on suspicion of bribery or campaign finance irregularities involving Mr. Olmert in or around 1999. At that time, Mr. Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and was running against Ariel Sharon for the leadership of the Likud Party.

The police have imposed a strict order forbidding publication of information about the case in Israel. Mr. Talansky’s name and nationality have not been made public, but details of the investigation have circulated among politicians and journalists there in recent days. The New York Post published his name on Tuesday, leading Israeli radio announcers to tell listeners to go to the newspaper’s Web site without saying why.

Mr. Olmert has told his cabinet and associates that once the investigation is completed, rumors that he took bribes and may face a legal morass that could topple him will prove baseless.

But the speculation about his future has weakened him politically even as he undertakes delicate negotiations with Israel’s neighbors under pressure from the Bush administration. Opposition politicians say he should not negotiate with the Palestinians or send messages to the Syrians under such circumstances.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just returned from Jerusalem, and President Bush is due there next week as part of an American push to close an Israeli-Palestinian peace framework by the end of his term.

The fund-raising in 1999 that prompted the investigation into Mr. Olmert also led to campaign finance charges against people close to Mr. Sharon. His son, Omri Sharon, is serving a prison term as a result of that case.

Mr. Talansky, an Orthodox Jew who briefly led a congregation in Portland, Ore., in the 1950s as a young rabbinical graduate of Yeshiva University, turned to business and philanthropy in his later career, when he lived mainly in the New York suburbs.

His first marriage, to Miriam Kriger, ended after 40 years, and two of their three children moved to Israel. He and his current wife, Helene, live in Woodsburgh in southwestern Nassau County, in a nine-room red-brick colonial that he paid $1.175 million for in 2004. He also lists that as his business address, and lists himself as the chief executive of Global Resources Group, an investment firm.

A man answering the phone at the Talansky house on Monday said, “They’re not going to return your call,” and would not take a message. No one responded to a knock on the door on Tuesday.

Within Jewish circles, Mr. Talansky is best known for the years he spent as a fund-raiser for the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. The hospital is popular with American Jewry, and its American fund-raising arm took in $20 million in gifts in 2002, a recent peak, according to available tax returns. Paul Glasser, the national executive director for the American organization, said Mr. Talansky had not worked for the charity since 1997. But the organization reported on its 2004 tax return that Mr. Talansky earned $90,000 that year as a consultant, with the organization pulling in more than $14 million from outside sources.

Tax records also show that Mr. Talansky served as the main contact and treasurer for the American branch of the New Jerusalem Foundation, a charity closely associated with Mr. Olmert that raises money for causes in and around Jerusalem. The American branch received its tax exemption in the United States in 1999, when Mr. Olmert was in his sixth year as mayor of Jerusalem.

According to the charity’s recent tax returns, it has had ups and downs, raising as much as $376,000 in contributions, gifts and grants in 2000, but only $76,000 in 2005.

Describing its mission as providing “social, educational and recreational activities in Israel,” the charity reported spending thousands of dollars to buy school supplies and to run camps for needy children in Israel and arranging recreational trips for residents of northern Israel who had been closeted in bomb shelters during recent hostilities.

A registered Democrat, Mr. Talansky has donated to many American candidates on both sides of the aisle. He gave President Bush $1,000 in 2003, and was a generous donor to Rudolph W. Giuliani in 2000. Among his Democratic beneficiaries have been President Bill Clinton in 1995; Thomas S. Foley, then the House speaker, in 1994; and Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 1992.

Several relatives of Mr. Talansky in the United States who were reached on Monday and Tuesday by telephone said they knew nothing about his predicament and had first heard about it in the press. “He’s a very smart man, and a very generous man,” said Dr. Arthur Talansky, a nephew in Great Neck, N.Y.

Relatives said he used his means and connections to support many charitable organizations in the Jewish world. “He’s not a poor man, that I know,” said Rabbi Abraham Talansky, a cousin in Brooklyn. “He’s a man who could give $10,000, like nothing.”

The rabbi discounted one theory making the rounds in Israel that his cousin might be embroiled in a political effort to topple the centrist Israeli prime minister. “He’s no extremist in any way,” said Rabbi Talansky.

One instance of Mr. Talansky’s involvement in political and business affairs in Israel is a lawsuit he and other investors filed last year in Federal District Court in New York against an Israeli satellite company that they had helped back financially. The suit contends that an Israeli-run defense manufacturer involved in the joint venture was putting diplomatic considerations ahead of business interests in its international marketing efforts.

Mr. Talansky and the other plaintiffs, including a member of the prominent Reichmann family of Canada, claimed that the satellite company was being barred from offering access to its satellite images to countries like Venezuela that might be viewed as hostile to Israeli interests.

Anonymous said...

Chabad of Midtown Manhattan.
509 Fifth Avenue – Second Floor between 42nd & 43rd St.

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/33725/

New York, NY, United States, 05/05/2008 - On Thursday May 8th, The Institute of American and Talmudic Law (IAT Law) will be hosting a program about Alternative Sentencing with Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, which will include the Bible's perspective on this high-profile issue.

Brooklyn (Kings County) District Attorney Charles J. Hynes will explore Alternative Sentencing and Rehabilitation Programs for non-violent offenders, in an Institute of American and Talmudic Law (IAT Law) seminar at Chabad-Lubavitch of Midtown Manhattan. Mr. Hynes will discuss the Success of the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Program (DTAP) as a model for fundamental change. The program has demonstrated impressive retention rates statistically significant reductions in recidivism rates in non-violent offenders.
Unique, to IAT Law, the Talmudic scholar Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe will also explore whether there are there similar methods in Judaic law, as well as, how the Judaic legal code views alternative sentencing?

IAT Law primarily provides entertaining CLE seminars for attorneys; however, this program can be useful for all those interested in issues related to law, and in particular drug enforcement.

Charles J. Hynes is serving his fifth term as the District Attorney of Kings County (Brooklyn), New York. A graduate of St. John’s University School of Law, his public service is extensive: as a public defender and as a Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney; in 1975 as Special State Prosecutor to investigate nursing home fraud, creating a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that became a national model; in 1980 as Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department; and from 1983 to 1985 as a Commissioner for the New York State Commission of Investigation. In 1985 District Attorney Hynes was appointed as Special State Prosecutor for the New York City Criminal Justice System, later prosecuting the murder of Michael Griffith in Howard Beach, Queens. Since 1983, District Attorney Hynes continues to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees for the New York State Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection; the American Bar Association; the ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions; First Vice Chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section and recipient of their 2005 “Minister of Justice Award;” and a Vice President of the National District Attorneys Association. He co-authored “Incident at Howard Beach” and contributed to “The Regulation of Nursing Homes: A Case Study.” His first novel, “Triple Homicide,” was published in 2007. District Attorney Hynes is also an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at St. John‚s University, Fordham University and Brooklyn Law School.

The seminar will be followed by a complimentary buffet dinner. Special group rates and rates for non-attorneys are available.

For more Information please visit contact: (212)-302-2444 or (888) 937-5060.

Source: The Institute of American & Talmudic Law

Anonymous said...

http://www.chabadmidtown.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/258267/jewish/Thursday-Classes-with-Rabbi-Shlomo-Yaffe.htm

When you call to ask what time Hynes will be here, don't tip anyone off about your intentions or Hynes might have another UOJ-inspired "Emergency" and not show up!

Anonymous said...

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/05062008/news/regionalnews/israel_scandals_li_link_109573.htm

Talansky is apparently set to sing to Israeli authorities about his alleged role in the scheme, sources said.

"It looks serious, and it looks like they have a state witness" in Talansky, one source said.

It was unclear what the alleged payments to Olmert were for, but sources said they involved hefty amounts of cash.

Talansky repeatedly appears - sometimes under the nickname "The Laundry Man" - in the logs of financial dealings kept by Olmert's longtime aide, Shula Zakan, a source said.

Anonymous said...

http://www2.nysun.com/pf.php?id=58352&v=1709810121

Investors in an Israeli satellite company are asking an American judge to punish the company for refusing to provide access to the spacecraft and their sensitive imagery to the Venezuelan strongman, Hugo Chavez, who is an ally of Israel's enemy Iran.

At issue is a leading satellite imagery company, jointly owned by private investors and an Israeli government-run defense manufacturer. The company, called ImageSat, rents out spy satellites to foreign countries that don't have their own.

The investors claim that the Israeli-owned part of the company is killing off several profitable contracts because of diplomatic considerations. For example, the suit says that the Israeli Ministry of Defense pressured the company to renege on a multimillion-dollar contract with Venezuela.

President Chavez has forged an alliance with Iran in recent years, to the consternation of both America and Israel.

The suit also claims that the venture canceled a contract with Angola so that it could sell to South Africa, historically another Israeli ally. Politics got in the way of business with Russia and Taiwan as well, the suit claims.

As the suit moves forward, it could disclose back-channel communications between Israel and America.

The nine investors who brought the suit are mostly American and Israeli, and many of them were founding partners of ImageSat. The Americans are Stephen M. Wilson, Michael Morris, Joel Levine, Morris Talansky and Abraham Moshel. The Israeli investors are Moshe Bar-Lev, Patrick Rosenbaum and Haim Yifrah. A Canadian, Albert Reichmann, is another investor listed.

They are suing for more than $6 billion in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan before Judge Laura Taylor Swain. Ira Matetsky of Ganfer & Shore filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs. An initial court date is set for October 12.

In essence, the suit shows a rift between the private investors and the government-run defense company, Israel Aerospace Industries. The investors wanted the satellite company to be profitable. The defense manufacturer wanted it be patriotic, the suit claims.

Stephen Wilson, an American investor and the lead plaintiff in the case, founded ImageSat in 1994. At the time, Israel and its defense manufacturer were "desperately seeking new sources of financing for the Israeli military space program," so they signed on to the idea and accepted the fact that the company would have to be apolitical, the suit says.

From the very beginning, ImageSat's political independence was a "fundamental, indeed essential, element of its business plan," the suit says.

The only limit imposed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense was that ImageSat could not sell satellites to any country within 1,550 miles of Israel, a radius that includes nations that have fought wars against Israel, such as Lebanon and Syria. Israel also forbade ImageSat from selling to "rogue states" as defined by America and Israel, consisting of Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.

At first, Israel lived up to its promise to keep its hands off ImageSat, according to the suit. In 1998, to prove that ImageSat would be allowed to function independently, the Israeli Ministry of Defense issued licenses allowing ImageSat to sell to 60 countries, including Venezuela in 1998.

The Ministry of Defense even refused a request by the American government to suspend ImageSat's business with India after that country tested a nuclear weapon in 1998, according to the suit.

But after 2000, Israel Aerospace Industries deserted its hands-off approach and began steering the company according to Israel's geopolitical interests, the suit says.

Venezuela provides the most blatant example of political meddling described in the suit. Mr. Wilson began pitching a deal to the Venezuelan government in 1999 and even moved to the country in 2001. By 2002, he had convinced Caracas to rent spy satellites from ImageSat for a price of $18 million or more a year, the suit says.

But while Mr. Wilson was on vacation in 2002, Israel Aerospace Industries halted the deal, the suit alleges. The company convinced Mr. Wilson to delay his return to Caracas so that he wouldn't find out that the deal had been secretly killed, the suit says. Mr. Wilson says he only found out the truth when a Venezuelan Air Force general told him the story.

"Defendants were motivated by the deteriorating international relationship between the United States and Venezuela and Israel's desire to improve and maintain its historically good relations with the United States," the suit says.

A spokesman for Israel Aerospace Industries could not be reached for comment.

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