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Sunday, May 18, 2008

THERE WAS A RESTAURANT THAT WAS CALLED KOSHER FOR FORTY YEARS UNTIL..............





From the UOJ Archives - originally published July 20, 2006

There was this restaurant in a very Jewish neighborhood that was owned and run single-handedly by a man with a long beard, and always wore long black clothing and a big black hat even as he stirred the chicken soup.

The entire neighborhood frequented this fleishig (meat) restaurant because they trusted him to serve them kosher food. He certainly looked the part of a religious person; always said baruch Hashem when asked how he was. Everyone was so pleased with this restaurant; it was convenient, well-maintained, housed in a new building, and very upscale. A regular family that was middle-income could not afford to eat there because the prices were very expensive. Yet, everyone wanted to be seen there, and everyone was anxious to tell their friends that they ate there.

So for forty five years people were under the impression that the owner of this restaurant was an upstanding person that they could trust implicitly with kashrus.

One day this person was called to a din Torah for absconding with millions of dollars from his previous employer, and all the proprietary information which was the exclusive property of his previous employer. Not only that, this nice and honest individual used the EXACT same name of his previous employer's restaurant, because his employer's restaurant was considered the finest in New York, was established for fifty years prior, and was frequented by all of the most prominent rabbis.

This restaurant owner, for simplicity purposes, let's call him Lipa. So Lipa hemmed and hawed for years, dragged his feet, delayed and delayed until he could delay no more. Ultimately bais din ruled that he MUST return all the money taken under false pretenses, change the name of his restaurant, and was forbidden to use any and all contacts that he had stolen from his previous employer.

Of course Lipa denied ever doing such terrible things, but in order for him to demonstrate what a nice guy he was, he changed the name of his restaurant. He never returned the stolen money and continued to use ALL the proprietary information that he had stolen from his previous employer. That shrewd devil kept on contacting his previous employer's customer base and insisted that his food was MUCH MORE KOSHER than his previous employer's; in matter of fact that was the reason he left, the food at that restaurant was NOT kosher enough for him.

Time passed and Lipa's restaurant was prospering. Rumors started to surface however that Lipa's employee in charge of the kashrut, was sneaking in non-kosher food into the establishment, because the non-kosher meat was younger and softer, just more pleasant to handle. Let's call this employee Yudi for identification purposes.

Now Yudi used to sneak this non-kosher meat in through the basement when nobody was looking. Yudi loved the excitement of touching this young, tender, non-approved meat.

Since the restaurant was doing so well, Yudi was now in line for a promotion. Yes, Yudi was promoted to handle ALL the youngest of fresh meat and poultry. Lipa was so happy, business was booming.

Now there was a group of people that saw Yudi sneaking in non-kosher meat, so they called the restaurant to bais din. The problem was bais din said the cows and chickens were not reliable witnesses. Moreover a real famous rabbi, you know, like a real life gadol said, that since nobody saw Yudi actually penetrate the cow with his jagged knife, which would render the animal not kosher, the meat must be assumed kosher.

The bais din dismissed without a verdict, rendering Yudi a reliable kosher young meat supervisor. Despite the ugly rumors continuing, Yudi and Lipa were happy as pigs in shit.

But there was one guy in the Jewish neighborhood who knew this was a sham. So he stood on his soapbox on Ocean Parkway and ranted and raved like a lunatic that this bais din was a sham and that Lipa and Yudi were guilty as charged. Everyone dismissed this guy as a nut-case, he just hated rabbis with long beards and black clothing.

Day after day this nut-job pulled out his soapbox and ranted and ranted and ranted......and ranted.............

Then one day people started contacting this crazy and said they saw Yudi sneaking in and touching this forbidden meat. Before you knew it tens of people came forward with exact details how Yudi did this.

A famous attorney - extremely experienced in meat handling illegally, was convinced that the Lipa and Yudi team were guilty as hell. So convinced was he, that he agreed that he would not be paid unless he won the lawsuit. This attorney never lost an improper meat handling case yet.

Dear readers, please comment and tell me if you would trust the kashrus and eat in this restaurant ever again.

160 comments:

Anonymous said...

the hanhola is meeting with chashuva rabbonim to close down restaurants without their hechsher, This is daas toirah.

Big institutions don't close down in a day. If allegations are ignored, they go away. right?

Anonymous said...

It would depend on whether they are willing to get a water filter installed and to only order yoshon.

Anonymous said...

I agree that "Day after day this nut job [OUJ] pulled out his soapbox and ranted and ranted and ranted."

OUJ is 100% a nut job.

Anonymous said...

You get rid of the Yidee and let the customers decide if they want to eat there again. As long as I know that all the other employees are legit, if the food is good, I would eat there. B'teavon!

Anonymous said...

hmmmm, where did you get the idea of writing a story from. Is it from someone who you refuse to post what he writes?

Anonymous said...

This blog is in the final stages of being hacked into. I just have to wait for the check from the fellow that hired me. I have no beef with you personally, I just have to put bread on the table

Anonymous said...

What does that have to do with Waterbury?

Has UOJ caved under pressure on the Waterbury affair?

Anonymous said...

I've never been so mortofied

Anonymous said...

Is tuchis of'n tisch(literally) on the menu?

southernyid said...

Good story great analogy a little too much sexual innuendo. You caould have made the same point without it.

Anonymous said...

What a ridiculous post. What's your point? we all know (especially if we read your blog) the story you are referring to, and it's nothing new. If you have nothing worthwhile to say (and your previous post was also not worth anything, btw), keep quiet. Do you think you gain credibility by posting silly "parables" or expired (50 years ago!) non-issue stories? For Heaven's sake, grow up!

Anonymous said...

The First Thing I Would Do Is To Check Weather The Man Ranting Is Himself "Kosher". If He Used Foul Language To Make His Point And Called Everyone Names No One Would Belive Him.

Anonymous said...

This is a typical uoj infantile allegory reflective of a lack of real evidence and promoting rumour and inuendo.If you can't defecate get off the toilet.

Anonymous said...

Scott Adams, the creator of Diblert, once ran a Dilbert series about a pickle. I thought the cocept was strange and not particularily funny. After two days he cut it short stating that he realized that it was grotesque and not very funny. Hmaven yaven

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History of Child Abuse
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Anonymous said...

Okay, point made, again. With this case in litigation, there really is not much more to say about this particular cast of characters, that you haven't already said ten times over. Sadly, nothing you say is going to convince TT parents from continuing to ignore the obvious. You may want to be concerned that at this point, this blog - your good intentions aside - has gotten repetitive and simply dull.

Anonymous said...

uojs id will be posted on tuvia's blog in the comming days. uoj how many hints do I need to show you that I mean business?

Anonymous said...

If eating non-kosher had the same effects of eating poison (which spiritually it does)no one would ever walk into a restaurant, its just too risky. The Kashruth thing takes away the guilt trip or lets say allows for rationalization.
If we want to know why we have kids turning away from judaism in droves, its this poison of double standards,its this poison of hypocrocy. Adults who are tainted, choose not to see it, since it harms their agenda and infringes on their lifestyle. They therefore must rationilize and defend it. But the pure among us the tekonos shel bais raban its very clear to them whats going on.... and they dont like it!

Anonymous said...

Why no comments posting as of 5:00 pm on 7/20/06, O Your Majesty OUJ?

Anonymous said...

Dear readers, please comment and tell me if you would trust the kashrus and eat in this restaurant ever again.
-----------------------------------

Absolutely. Pass the ketchup.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it this Yudi who also got to "milk" these cows and play with their tities?

I always heard that there were constant but unsubstantiated rumors that Yudi always ended up covered with sh*t, eventhough everyone knew that he smelled.

Wasn't it this Lipa who constantly cleaned Yudi up and covered up the mess that he made all the time?

Anonymous said...

You write it as a fairy tale and then ask if we belive it?

BTW I know this nice Jewish Girl her name is Snow White............are you interested.......

Anonymous said...

How much "meat" did Yudi get to inspect and supervise? From what I understand he liked to receive very young and fresh korbanos. Is this what one considers "Beastophilia"?

Wasn't it R. Twersky that vouched for Lipa's honesty?

And wasn't it R. Belsky that ok'ed the shechita?

And regarding all of the other employees and staff of the restaurant that saw and knew about what was going on but were afraid for their wages and tips, what happened to them?

לא ראיתי, לא שמעתי, לא ידעתי

Anonymous said...

UOJ, you're obviously running out of material. The clocks ticking before you start losing readers to this crap.

Anonymous said...

I'd better try to put up my teuda here before someone else does.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

I'm really serious here guys, please respond honestly if you or anyone in the Haredi community would dare be seen anywhere near this restaraunt, never mind eating there.

Seriously; YES OR NO!

Y.Y. said...

uoj
you're a nutjob

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Anonymous Get Rid Of Yidee,

So you would continue to eat there knowing that the owner of this restaraunt was KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY SERVING NON-KOSHER FOOD!????

Verrrry interesting!

Anonymous said...

But people continue to patronize the restaurant because if they stop eating there their life will be meaningless.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

Are you saying that Shmulka Bernstein's was NEVER kosher?????

Anonymous said...

Not only seving it but eating it himself,without a bracha.

Anonymous said...

Somebody is getting desperate...

I have a gut feeling that the show is over...

UOJ, perhaps you shoudld take a vacation and let things settle down.

The more you post, the less credible you sound.

I won't be surprised if this doesn't make it through your censor.

Shame on you.

From a crusade against molesters it turned into a bashfest against your archenemy Lipa.

Anonymous said...

"The First Thing I Would Do Is To Check Weather"

Very good. Very good advice. Sunny today, rain in the forecast for tomorrow and the weekend.

Would we eat their meat?

Certainly not.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Why do those of you who want to "out" UOJ do stuff like threaten his children? Your threats certainly don't make me want to embrace your form of Judaism.

What do you gain by outing UOJ? What halachas are you following? Which mitzva obligates you to destroy a man and his family?

Because he uses bad language? Because he mocks great Torah scholars?

Or because he is telling the truth and you want to silence him?

Anonymous said...

mr.rosh yeshiva said...
uojs id will be posted on tuvia's blog in the comming days. uoj how many hints do I need to show you that I mean business?
--------

How will we know that you are telling the truth? WE WANT PROOF!

Anonymous said...

This entry sounds scary. If Yudi was misbehaving with farm animals, that's worse than anything we've known about. Margo can get a summons as the YTT boiler room is not zoned as a farm.

Anonymous said...

You're doing an important thing. It's easy to get pissed off and start cursing, but you'll be abdicating your responsibility. You've got to think PR in the war you've chosen; it's vital.

Anonymous said...

http://view.exacttarget.com/?ffcb10-fe8f1271736d067e70-fe0f1d79716d0d7d7c1c77-ff291372716d

To view this email as a web page, go here.

Correction:
The "Dear Reader" letter sent earlier today made reference to a story in this week's Jewish Week about a rabbi dropping a law suit that sought to determine the identity of bloggers accusing him of sexual misbehavior. The rabbi is Mordechai Tendler, not Moshe Tendler.
We sincerely regret the error.

Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher

Anonymous said...

Not exactly the greatest analogy...

A better comparison would be Marina del Rey. Is it run by the mafia? Yea, everybody knows it. Do people who make simchas there support or even condone the mafia's crimes? No. But it's a darn nice place with a daaarrrrrn good smorgasbord.

Nobody cares that YTT is run by mobsters and nobody particularly loves Margulies. But, except for one (and only one FORMER) rebbe, they have the darn best faculty (Jewish & secular), darn best facilities, and attract the brightest kids out there.

And, yes, the food at Marina IS kosher (or so I hope).

Anonymous said...

UOJ threatened me with a big storm, but tropical storm Beryl is missing a direct hit on Brooklyn tonight and travelling on to Cape Cod.

UOJ thinks he controls the weather now too?

Anonymous said...

Fishman, you dumkopf! UOJ was doing longer range forecasting. Try to tune in when they lein Megilas Eicha.

Eicha yashva Shea, haysa kegoylem pshuta.

Anonymous said...

UOJ,,

The last two posts are indeed dumb. Come on don't mess up the great work. Talk to an expert about keeping appeal and masses interested and all. It won'
t work if you post sorry tales of no value. You've gotten too far to write this last one for sure.

Take care!

Anonymous said...

it's a weak argument, uoj. Everybody sends their kids to moisdois with somebody who is corrupt. The world is not a perfect place...yet. Ai, you'll taineh, ytt was the worst of the worst, it ain't true. It's what it is. They process kinder. They all move on. So must you.

In the absence of convictions, not mere civil cases, but criminal ones, ytt isn't any worse than any other place just like it.

So, would you be a gerrer chossid if your father was one and your grandfather and you went to a bad place? Yes. Would you eat there? Yes. Would you do the same if you were Lubavitch? Yes. Would you do the same anywhere else? Probably. Maybe not you, but everybody else.

They didn't serve non kosher food at the catering joint. They still don't. They didn't officially encourage abuse either.

Unless you have facts, recent facts to back up your claims, you are not a tzaddik in pelts.

Anonymous said...

Of course, no one eats there and the restaurant closes down until things quiet down (a year or two), and then the owner opens again, only this time he is supervised by a kashrus organization that promises everything is okay. Some people still won't eat there on principle and because they feel the owner can never be trusted. Others say they must have really been correct all along when they said the owner is an honorable man. In the end your average Joe believes this tumult was some kind of political thing that eventually was resolved. And the worker is working elsewhere by now, someplace where they never heard much about the whole thing and have already been assured that there was never proof of any wrongdoing. Now, if the meat suddenly got up and told the whole story first-hand, would that change anything? If not, I smell a mental disorder.

Anonymous said...

What's with all these Tuvyas here? Who is your leader?

Anonymous said...

We work like a horse.
We eat like a pig.
We like to play chicken.
You can get someone's goat.
We can be as slippery as a snake.
We get dog tired.
We can be as quiet as a mouse.
We can be as quick as a cat.
Some of us are as strong as an ox.
People try to buffalo others.
Some are as ugly as a toad.
We can be as gentle as a lamb.
Sometimes we are as happy as a lark.
Some of us drink like a fish.
We can be as proud as a peacock.
A few of us are as hairy as a gorilla.
You can get a frog in your throat.
We can be a lone wolf.
But I'm having a whale of a time!

You have a riveting web log
and undoubtedly must have
atypical & quiescent potential
for your intended readership.
May I suggest that you do
everything in your power to
honor your encyclopedic/omniscient
Designer/Architect as well
as your revering audience.
As soon as we acknowledge
this Supreme Designer/Architect,
Who has erected the beauteous
fabric of the universe, our minds
must necessarily be ravished with
wonder at this infinate goodness,
wisdom and power.

Please remember to never
restrict anyone's opportunities
for ascertaining uninterrupted
existence for their quintessence.

There is a time for everything,
a season for every activity
under heaven. A time to be
born and a time to die. A
time to plant and a time to
harvest. A time to kill and
a time to heal. A time to
tear down and a time to
rebuild. A time to cry and
a time to laugh. A time to
grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones
and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a
time to turn away. A time to
search and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to
throw away. A time to tear
and a time to mend. A time
to be quiet and a time to
speak up. A time to love
and a time to hate. A time
for war and a time for peace.

Best wishes for continued ascendancy,
Dr. Whoami

P.S. One thing of which I am sure is
that the common culture of my youth
is gone for good. It was hollowed out
by the rise of ethnic "identity politics,"
then splintered beyond hope of repair
by the emergence of the web-based
technologies that so maximized and
facilitated cultural choice as to make
the broad-based offerings of the old
mass media look bland and unchallenging
by comparison."

Paul Mendlowitz said...

R' Excited,

You get it!

Anonymous said...

Now we know why gary isn't covering the story. an error?

Staying loyal to Ner, the hanhola, family, ain't no mistake. UOJ, don't you want a DTL? We'll count your blog as a sefer. We can give you or your relatives an easy semicha the good old fashioned way. Just send in your check and another, sholoim al Yisroel.

Anonymous said...

We Hungarians will visit the blog to dispute UOJ's perfect logic so we can live with ourselves while we send our boys back to YTT even though it remains rotten to the core.

Anonymous said...

r' uoj, whether they out you or not, the more you demonstrate your brilliance with postings like this online, the more power you are giving to the hanhola in every court of opinion in the land. You are like the blog who called wolf. beware. sound stupid, and nobody will pay attention.

you got it!

Anonymous said...

UOJ,
The comments and reactions of most of the readers of this post, come to prove how messed up the community is. They just want more dirt and gossip, but none of it actually sinks in. It's like those morons who watch the five oclock news and think they know something and are informed of their surrondings. I think the dumbasses that don't care enough, or don't think these problems are real quite common deserve to be shot. We should line them up with the molesters and enablers (they actually fall under the category of enables) and have some target practice. After we kill them all, we can go to Israel and help our people kill the Jewish people's other enemies, like Hamas and Hezbollah.

P.S. What happened to OrthRev? Did they take him down? Is he sleeping with the herring in cream suace??

Anonymous said...

Mr. Editor,

"Your threats certainly don't make me want to embrace your form of Judaism."
Oh, and UOJ’s threats? They surely make us LOVE his form of Judiasm…

"What do you gain by outing UOJ?"
What does UOJ gain by cursing rabbonim?
What does UOJ gain by threatening certain individuals who have LIMITED power to make changes? (Gottesman from TU for example

"What halachas are you following?"
Halachos? UOJ?
What crooked halochos is HE following???????
This guy HATES frum jews more then anybody I ever met. His animosity towards anything that smells from is so evident even to the blind.

"Which mitzva obligates you to destroy a man and his family?"
In the name of what god does UOJ continue his biased crusade against YTT and many other PRIVATE individuals who are NOT molesters?

"Because he uses bad language? Because he mocks great Torah scholars?"
YEAS and YES

"Or because he is telling the truth and you want to silence him?"

NO – he has been askedd a million times to stick to the point. Instead, his blinding hatred toward Lipa and some other people has lead him down a road he knows no way out of.

His latest STUPID and OLD comments are proof.

Anonymous said...

Mr.Roshyeshiva, if you call uoj on his house phone or show up to his daf yomi, then maybe he will believe you. But, writing on his blog that you know who he is and are about to out him means nothing to anyone. If you are really that dumb then you must truly be a roshyeshiva.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Some of the comments here mystify me. Just because UOJ doesn't have daily updates about this or that case there are those going, "See? He can't produce any more proof." If his writing quality varies you say he makes a fool of himself. Just like frummies to stand on the sidelines criticizing someone trying to make things better. You guys are whining about UOJ but you seem to keep coming back here for your needed fix so you can continue to feel smugly self-righteous.

How many of you have written for publication? Sh*t, how many of you can even write a coherent three paragraph essay?

Sometimes the opposition to UOJ just mystifies me, leaving my head shaking in disbelief. Why are you guys so obsessed with the idea that UOJ is a bad guy? If he's the bum that you say he is, ignore him, like you frummies have dealt forever with malcontents, rebels and any Jew who could use their brain critically. Just put him in cherem and ignore him. But you can't ignore him.

Anonymous said...

Ayin panim Letorah. UOJ is also correct in a literal sense. There was an alleged kashrus scandal at a popular Brooklyn restaurant. The hashgocha said they caught the establishment, among other things, buying dagim temayim and dropped them like a hot shtik kishke. In fairness to the restaurant, the hashgocha is known to have other motivations at times that are driven by politics and finanicial gain. On the other hand, the meals were so competitively priced that it was difficult to see how they could make a profit unless they cheated, so it's hard to know what really happened and who is telling the truth. The point is however, that the run of the mill fresser from the East 20s kept eating there, impervious to the possibility they were eating treif. The smoother Hungarian types played dumb while the more unrefined would spell it out, that there's no where else that you can stuff your face with such good food for such a low price. Incidentally, the Star-K which picked them up after being dropped, is criticized by rabbonim for certifying them without getting to the bottom of the story. In one shul, where the rov tells his flock not to eat there, the Hungarians, who I know personally, ask you not to bring up the subject and actually admit that they will shy away from that topic with their own rov because they wish to continue eating there.

And then people wonder how YTT could still re-open in Elul.

Anonymous said...

Hee hee! Dis UOJ teenks he can decimate my customer base. He forgets dey are mostly Hungarian like me. Vee shall overcome. Aron Tverski told me to put a vindow by da boiler room and everyting vill be all right.

Anonymous said...

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2006/05/press-conference-to-announce-filing-of.html#c114744122526168687

Margulies will pay a very dear price for his smear campaign against the very people whose lives he destroyed.
Stay tuned!

May 12, 2006

Anonymous said...

So let me get this straight. "Tuvya" accuses UOJ of posting unsubstantiated allegations, yet he might out him by posting his identity without conclusive proof of who he is?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Hi Elisha,

VERY WELL SPOKEN!

That is exactly the way I feel; I'm speaking to a vast majority that are deaf, dumb and plain stupid.

I'm seriously thinking of throwing in the towel!

Anonymous said...

UOJ;

"Throwing in the towel".

Sounds like they got to you.

Anonymous said...

"That is exactly the way I feel; I'm speaking to a vast majority that are deaf, dumb and plain stupid."

Nah, many of them just play the part. They are the Sargeant Schultzes of the heimisher velt. Chazal point out that people cannot live with themselves if they are doing something wrong, so they convince themselves with baloney rationales that they are not.

Anonymous said...

If you have no evidence, and have been malshin Rav Eisemann, you will answer to the one above for being a rochil and mekabel lashon hara unjustly, unfairly, stupidly.

Without proof, you are evil. Throw in the towel. Don't throw in the towel. As a blog, you are unimportant, plaques, no plaques, honors, no semicha, but the damage you've done is greater than any good you might brag about.

The world thinks you are a boor.

Tell them they're stupid.

Anonymous said...

Take it from me. Trying to unmask UOJ is a waste of time and money.

Anonymous said...

Un-Orthodox Jew said...

Hi Elisha,

VERY WELL SPOKEN!

That is exactly the way I feel; I'm speaking to a vast majority that are deaf, dumb and plain stupid.

I'm seriously thinking of throwing in the towel!

July 21, 2006

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

Scared of Mr. Rosh Yeshiva aren't you?

Anonymous said...

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE-- DO THE WORLD A FAVOR AND--

THROW IN THE TOWEL--

Anonymous said...

UOJ,
You can't give up. That’s letting them win. These things take awhile. Its like in Israel, we've been fighting for it for over 50 years and the world still doesn't care. All our cries go basically ignored by the world. So you just have to keep on fighting, and hopefully you/we/the people will have a quick success, and our True Torah and Judaism will have its glory.

Many people, such as myself have alot of faith in you and are cheering you on to save us all.

Anonymous said...

I'm seriously thinking of throwing in the towel!
--------

...and then the terrorists have surely won.

Anonymous said...

what do you want people to do already? even you don't publicize your name. why should the average yankel get involved in something much bigger than himself and risk being blacklisted from schools, camps, shidduchim etc etc

UOJ, you have my attention and I'm willing to help you out, but what can I do?

Ronnie Schreiber said...


"Your threats certainly don't make me want to embrace your form of Judaism."
Oh, and UOJ’s threats? They surely make us LOVE his form of Judiasm…

"What do you gain by outing UOJ?"
What does UOJ gain by cursing rabbonim?
What does UOJ gain by threatening certain individuals who have LIMITED power to make changes? (Gottesman from TU for example

"What halachas are you following?"
Halachos? UOJ?
What crooked halochos is HE following???????
This guy HATES frum jews more then anybody I ever met. His animosity towards anything that smells from is so evident even to the blind.

"Which mitzva obligates you to destroy a man and his family?"
In the name of what god does UOJ continue his biased crusade against YTT and many other PRIVATE individuals who are NOT molesters?


Note how he deflected each of these questions back to UOJ. Frummies first reaction to any criticism is to attack the critic or point out someone who is worse than frummies, like, gasp, the Modern Orthodox.

I posed straightforward questions asking what Torah justification UOJ's critics have for wanting to destroy him. They avoided the question. You decide if they are acting out of love for Torah or love of themselves.

Anonymous said...

If this is what you meant by extensive, national coverage, then I'm very disappointed. You could have done better then that, UOJ.

http://1010wins.com/pages/59544.php

Anonymous said...

where will you throw the towel? maybe we can use it. is it monogrammed?

Anonymous said...

"The point is however, that the run of the mill fresser from the East 20s kept eating there, impervious to the possibility they were eating treif. The smoother Hungarian types played dumb while the more unrefined would spell it out, that there's no where else that you can stuff your face with such good food for such a low price."

So is it the Hungarians who invented the "boich sevoro"?

Anonymous said...

"There was an alleged kashrus scandal at a popular Brooklyn restaurant."

Besides the Flatbush location, the restaurant also has branches in Boro Park and manhattan.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Tuvya can take another one of his "scientific" polls on his bungalow putz crowd to see who eats in restaurants masquerading as kosher.

Anonymous said...

The Vaad of Flatbush is now from the best hashgochos around. Rabbi Goldberg took over the reins from the old guard and cleaned up their old act and they make the other agencies that constantly put them down look like a joke. Of the two hashgochos that were formed, some say in response, to the old Vaad shenanigans, you would be shocked to know what's really going on. As is known to tight lipped kashrus insiders, their standards have completely slipped. One of them has completely lost control with useless mashgichim, with many of the establishments even serving bug infested vegetables. The other does a half hearted job and is prone to major slip ups, which they at least correct when they find out about it.

Anonymous said...

You better throw in the towel or you are finished...You will end up as a dead skunk

Anonymous said...

You are a goner and you know it.

Anonymous said...

You criticize those who generalize about the modern orthos and secular, yet you paint "Frummies" with one broad incriminating stroke.

Anonymous said...

Editor,

You hate the "frummies" just as much as UOJ.


Helping victims is a MITZVAH.

Cursing Rabbonim (and stam frummies) is WRONG.

If you can't see the difference, you need help too.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

You criticize those who generalize about the modern orthos and secular, yet you paint "Frummies" with one broad incriminating stroke.

No. Frummies paint themselves with a broad brush of smug self-righteousness. Is it more important for you to be Frum or for you to be Jewish?

Frummies want to be frum, not Jewish. If you identify as a frummie, that means you care more about frumkeit than Yiddishkeit. You want to wear the label? Go ahead but it comes with the mantle too.

Cursing Rabbonim (and stam frummies) is WRONG.

I don't recall anyone imprecating or condeming anyone. I've seen no curses. Perhaps some coarse language, but no klalahs that I can recall.

Putting aside the question as to whether our self-appointed "Rabbonim" are immune, al pi halacha, from any and all criticism, since when are "frummies" the sine qua non of Judaism? Why is it WRONG to criticize them? You, Tuvya, certainly have no reluctance to criticize other religious Jews with whom you disagree.

Stop thinking that your heilige shit don't stink, Tuvya, it stinks just as bad as mine - sometimes worse.

Narrow minded fools like Tuvya have gleefully watched as the best, brightest and most creative Jews have abandoned frumkeit. It doesn't bother Tuvya et al, because they like how cozy their little club is. Deep down they are happy that the Nazis killed so many frei yidden. They cheer when a "bum" goes of the derech.

Just remember Tuvya, when your granddaughter has a genetic disorder because you and your mechutanim were afraid to mention the families' medical histories for fear of not getting "good" shiduchim, just be sure to tell the hospital staff that nobody from Albert Einstein SoM can treat her. You wouldn't want her treated by someone from such a treif institution as YU.

Anonymous said...

doctors can come from somalia if they're not insomnolent. who cares if they went to yu or nyu? yu?

mount sinai has a better hospital, so does columbia. yur assumptions, editor, are prejudiced. "frum, not jewish?" this is inaccurate, biased. Do you know the meaning of the German, fromm? Who can take your drivel seriously?

Anonymous said...

can anyone fill us in as to what this waterbury scandel is all about??

Anonymous said...

A most interesting set of comments so far on a wide variety of disjointed topics.
The issue of reiteration in blogs or newspapers is not a new one. Newspeople have reopened stories from different angles and editors take great pleasure in mopping up the floor with an opinion from every know direction. Most of these opinions become available at Barnes and Nobles in the form of an expensive hardcover opinion. So this blog, in doing so, isn't breaking any laws.
Being against Jews. Most self-hating Jews, the ones that talk during chazoras hashatz, krias Hatorah, or make kiddush during the Rabbi's sermon (what a misnomer) are more virulent haters of Judaism and Jews than a blog writer. OUJ shouldn't bother himself with YTT and the lot as there are the rest of you who should and would lose your hashgocha based on your vapid practice of Judaism. No boosha, no brains.
Yes, where I grew up, the Irish Catholics wouldn't go to church if it meant that they would rather be in the backyard or by the pool. They just wouldn't go to be seen, they would rather be honest with themselves and play.
Regarding the outing of OUJ. Who cares? Would knowing his name or occupation make his comments or observations more cogent, less cogent? No, I know Thomas Friedman's name and he is still a horse's behind.
Kashrus is a money making business that colludes with restaurants and other food producers to maximize profits for owners and supervisors at the expense of the public. So what's new? This has been going on for years and the public gives it's tacit approval until the exposure of the illicit doings reaches the secular press. After Jim Jensen covered it then it's treif.
There are more than enough ehrlich people out there who cringe at these things. They want to do better for themselves and others. They don't want to be entrapped by the nepotistic and despotic ne'er do wells that have prolifigated in the name of Judaism. Their greatest fear to to wind up just as those they are trying to uproot.

Anonymous said...

Cop from Nanuet jailed on child sex charges
By Suzan Clarke • The Journal News • May 17, 2008

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A New York City police officer from Nanuet has been accused of sexually abusing a child for six years.

Sgt. Jaime Katz of 21 Norwood Place, Nanuet, was arrested Thursday and jailed on $500,000 bond or $350,000 cash bail, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said yesterday.


Katz, 38, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.

A woman who answered the phone at his home yesterday evening declined to comment.

Katz was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual act and one count of third-degree criminal sexual act, all felonies; and with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

The eight-year New York Police Department veteran, who was assigned to the department's Police Academy, is accused of abusing the male victim, whom he met through another police sergeant who was involved with a mentoring program, the prosecutor's office said.

Katz is accused of having engaged in oral and anal sex with the victim at the boy's Manhattan apartment, inside Katz's car and Nanuet home, at the victim's sister's home in Bergen County, N.J., and during various family vacations.

The abuse, alleged to have started in 2002 and lasting through November 2007, took place on a weekly basis, the prosecutor's office said.

Katz will face an additional charge in Rockland of first-degree criminal sexual act for an incident alleged to have occurred on Feb. 14, 2003. Executive District Attorney Gary Lee Heavner said a warrant on the charge was filed Thursday night.

"We haven't been able to serve the warrant based on him not being in Rockland County," Heavner said yesterday.

According to public records, Katz was being held at the Manhattan Detention Center. He is due back in court Wednesday.

The felonies are each punishable by four to seven years in prison. The misdemeanor is subject to one year's jail time.

Clarkstown police searched Katz's home Thursday night, Heavner said.

Some neighbors in the quiet cul-de-sac where Katz lives expressed dismay last night at the allegations. They saw the police cars outside the Katz residence on Thursday and wondered what was going on.

Ellen Caniglia was a lieutenant with the NYPD in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. She has arrested child molesters throughout her career, and found the arrest of her neighbor - whom she did not know very well - shocking.

"He's innocent until proven guilty," she said, adding that one of the reasons she left the Special Victims Unit was that it was very upsetting to see firsthand how severely minors were affected by the abuse.

"He was a police officer, so if he's guilty of this ... I mean, there's good and bad cops, but for a cop to be a child molester, I mean, it's a scary thought," Caniglia said.

Another neighbor, Antoinette Flynn, said she knew Katz in a neighborly way.

"I don't believe it," she said of the allegations. "They're great neighbors, and we've never had a problem."

The investigation was conducted by the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau, the Clarkstown Police Department, the Rockland District Attorney's Office and Bergen County law enforcement.

Katz is a former official of the Gay Officers Action League, an organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender criminal justice professionals.

Prior to being assigned as a sergeant to the NYPD Police Academy for two years, he served the department for eight years as a police officer.

Reach Suzan Clarke at snclarke@lohud.com or 845-578-2414.

Anonymous said...

Leib Tropper is spreading the word that Shmarya and Kelsey wrote a bunch of lies about him.

Tropper claims what actually happened is that the woman in Lexington, Kentucky was mechalel Shabbos befarhesya the first week after her gerus was made official. Tropper says he did not make the decision to nullify her conversion but that it was a psak from his buddy R' Reuven Feinstein.

Ahavah said...

UOJ

It is, really, time to throw in the towel - time to make new communities, new educational cooperatives, and new shul with new leadership, such as yourself.

There might have been a chance at one time to get people to listen, but that time is past. Their fear and willingness to be manipulated in order to "belong" is far in excess of their strength and willingness to pioneer new transparent institutions and communities. They can't think outside the box anymore - they can't even see that they're in one.

Shalom.

Anonymous said...

It's two years later and it's the other side that's not only throwing the towel, but they're being thrown in jail. UOJ, thank you, and don't ever entertain such a thought again. It's clear how badly we need you to expose these criminals.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Todah Steve for the kind words. With the encouragement of good people like yourself - I'm hanging in. It's seriously ugly out there!

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Thanks Ahavah for your gracious words as well. It would be too painful for me to grapple with on a full time basis. The Orthodox Jewish leadership has gone mad - Unbearable! Even the MO guys like the OU are being bought and sold like streetwalkers.

Anonymous said...

Dear UOJ,
I’m not one of your regular fans, but I do periodically check the website to see what’s new. I just wanted to share my recent thoughts. There are 2 things in current events that really leave me dumbfounded.
1. There are so many Americans voting for Obama, despite the serious concerns of his connections with terrorism.
2. Parents of YTT are actually sending their kids back?!?!
Not that there is any real connection between these 2 groups, other than the fact that both of them are comprised of COMPLETE IDIOTS! What the he-- is wrong with these people? Maybe they just don’t have enough living brain cells to make the connection. I’m embarrassed that we have to share the planet with such morons. Why can’t people make intelligent decisions, instead of following the masses like a heard of brainless animals?
Now that I got that out of my system, I want to wish you much hatzlocho, and Hashem should give you the strength to remain focused on your objectives without being distracted by the swarms of idiots who infest our beautiful world.
P.S. I’m willing to bet that the parents of YTT are voting for Obama.

Anonymous said...

The State documents also seem to indicate that after Rubashkin's safety director either quit or was fired in 2006, no one was hired to take his place. Imagine one of the largest slaughterhouses in the world with all kinds of dangerous equipment that leads to frequent injuries but no safety director.

Anonymous said...

http://projectusa.org/2008/05/18/biggest-immig-raid-ever-much-worse-than-you-think/

They must have Lubinsky taking a crash course in Chinese.

Anonymous said...

http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00251

The drugs & gun market were being run out of Rubashkin for at least 10 years.

Anonymous said...

Chinese people never swear.

Asso, asso!

Anonymous said...

Rubashkin prefers Guatemalans because he can get away with paying them even less than Mexicans.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/NEWS/805180339

Guatemala fits the bill.

The country, which is the most populous in Central America, is a mountainous place where only 13 percent of land is fit for agriculture, according to statistics kept by the U.S. government.

Guatemala is still recovering from a 36-year civil war that ended in 1996. Average income there is only 12 percent of income in the United States, and 43 percent of the average income in neighboring Mexico. Income inequality is starker in Guatemala, with the richest 10 percent of people controlling 43 percent of the wealth, compared with 37 percent in Mexico and 30 percent in the United States.

That is why so many poor Guatemalans risk robbery, arrest and heat exhaustion to make the trek to the United States.

Emilsa Monzon Gutierrez, a Guatemalan immigrant who worked at the Postville plant, made the journey last winter.

Monzon is the daughter of a farmhand in rural Guatemala. She is a soft-spoken woman who wears braces and looks younger than her 21 years. She sat at a picnic table outside the Postville church on Friday and described her homeland and her life.

She said her hometown is a place of tiny wooden houses with metal roofs and dirt floors. Food costs are rising, she said, and jobs are scarce. Violence, which is tied to the drug trade, keeps getting worse.

Monzon's family borrowed money so she could try to make it to the United States. She took a bus for nearly a thousand miles from her hometown in southern Guatemala to the U.S. border. Most of the trip was through Mexico, where she saw people with nicer clothes and better houses than most Guatemalans she knew. The roads were in much better condition, she said, and more people had cars.

Despite being better off than Guatemala, Mexico is a poor place with few opportunities. So after reaching northern Mexico, Monzon walked across a desert border area with four other people and made it into the United States. Then she took buses for more than 1,300 miles to Postville, where she joined her brother. The total journey took 27 days.

Monzon said she had no trouble landing a job at Agriprocessors, where she worked from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., with a half hour break for lunch. She spent her nights in a cold, refrigerated room, always rushing to cut feathers off chickens and slap labels on them. She said the work was more grueling than she expected, but it was the only job available.

She hoped to save her $7.50-per-hour wages to start a hair and nail salon in Guatemala. She said she sees no future at the plant, and her parents want her to return home. She probably will go, she said.

Consuelo Lux, 33, and her husband, Julio Ravaric, 38, emigrated from Guatemala last year. They left their three children, ages 9 to 15, with her sister.

The couple said that in Guatemala, up to a dozen people live in a house the size of a U.S. garage. Their home is near a volcano, and the soil is sandy. They struggled to raise one crop of corn per year. It wasn't enough to support their family, they said, so they had to find another way to earn a living. When they left, they said goodbye to relatives as if they might never return, because the trip is so dangerous.

The couple said they borrowed about $6,000 each to pay for the journey, which was accomplished on foot, by bus and by car. Like Monzon, they walked across the desert to cross the U.S. border. Then they went to Postville, which Ravaric's brother had told them was a good, safe place.

Before the raid, they had decided to return home by the end of the year because their children miss them, Lux said. Now, they are unsure what they will do.

Even those who want to go home said they would not volunteer to be deported, because the deportation would remain on their records and could harm them in the future.

Erik Sarazua, who was one of the first Guatemalans in Postville when he arrived seven years ago, said his wife and their two young children probably will go live with relatives in Guatemala. But he cannot afford to go with them, he said, because there is little work there. The best job he could hope to find in Guatemala would pay about $45 a week, which is not enough to support a family, he said.

He probably will leave Postville and look for a job elsewhere in the United States.

Sarazua said he feels sorriest for many recent immigrants who were swept up in last week's raid and now face probable deportation. He said most of those people borrowed thousands of dollars to pay for their trips north. Many put up houses or land as collateral, which they now will lose because they have no way of repaying the loans.

The raid also will devastate hundred of families back home who were supported by wages their relatives made at Agriprocessors, Sarazua said. Workers would pick up their weekly paychecks, then line up at Postville's Western Union office, where they could send money to Guatemala.

"People back home are expecting that money every Friday," he said.

According to the Inter-American Development Bank, Guatemalan workers in the United States sent $3.6 billion home in 2006. The bank estimates that 600,000 Guatemalans are working out of the country, mainly in the United States. The money they send home accounts for 9 percent of Guatemala's economy.

Anonymous said...

"Monsey said...

Leib Tropper is spreading the word that Shmarya and Kelsey wrote a bunch of lies about him.

Tropper claims what actually happened is that the woman in Lexington, Kentucky was mechalel Shabbos befarhesya the first week after her gerus was made official. Tropper says he did not make the decision to nullify her conversion but that it was a psak from his buddy R' Reuven Feinstein."

I am Leah Bourne and I can say with certainty that the above information is another pack of lies on Tropper's account. I was never issued a conversion of any kind, nor was my husband for that matter. It was a week and a half PRIOR to our supposed bet din in New York when he decided to impose moving on us when he had known for 2 1/2 years that it would not be possible for a 57 year old man with seniority to just quit his job. He knew it from day one and had agreed to it. When Tropper reneged on his promises, I told him in no uncertain terms that I expected him to honor his original commitments to create a MODERN orthodox shul in Lexington. When he refused, that was the end of the process - no conversions were ever obtained or issued by Tropper for me or my husband. We refused to capitulate to his last-minute demands and that ended everything before the bet din was even convened.

Let me say that again - we never saw a bet din, so there was no "conversion" that he could annul, unless he's been going around signing conversion papers for intermarried couples without them ever seeing a bet din.

Anonymous said...

BTW, we are shomer shabbat, keep kashrut, and study Torah every week. Tropper is liar. -Leah Bourne.

Anonymous said...

Barry Boyarsky, Woodmere, NY

Profession: Optomestrist; Lic. No. 003622; Cal. No. 23295

Regents Action Date: June 26, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 1 year actual suspension, 1 year stayed suspension, 2 years probation.

Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of having been convicted of Attempted Grand Larceny in the 4th Degree, a class A misdemeanor.

Anonymous said...

Seymour L. Goldman, Great Neck, NY

Profession: Certified Public Accountant; Lic. No. 033987; Cal. No. 23369

Regents Action Date: June 26, 2007

Action: Application to surrender license granted.

Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of having been convicted of Grand Larceny in the 2nd Degree.

Anonymous said...

Gary H. Klein a/k/a Gary Klein a/k/a Gary Kline, West Harrison, NY

Profession: Certified Public Accountant; Lic. No. 057069; Cal. No. 23145

Regents Action Date: June 26, 2007

Action: Found guilty of professional misconduct; Penalty: Suspension for no less than 3 months and until fit to practice as shown in Regents Review Committee report.

Summary: Licensee was found guilty of having been convicted of the crime of Attempted Disseminating Indecent Material to a Minor in the 1st Degree, a felony.

Anonymous said...

Chester N. Rothenberg, Flushing, NY

Profession: Licensed Practical Nurse, Registered Professional Nurse; Lic. Nos. 099288, 353555; Cal. Nos. 23119, 23114

Regents Action Date: July 25, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 1 month actual suspension, 23 months stayed suspension, 2 years probation.

Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of willfully making a false report by failing to perform an assessment of a patient who presented to the emergency room with complaints of chest pain, yet documenting that the assessment had been performed.

Anonymous said...

Marc L. Miller, Plainview, NY

Profession: Psychologist; Lic. No. 005705; Cal. No. 22968

Regents Action Date: July 25, 2007

Action: Application to surrender license granted.

Summary: Licensee admitted to charges of, from late August 2001 until late September 2001, engaging in inappropriate physical contact with a person who was then a psychotherapy patient in his psychology practice, and telling said patient that he loved her; and, from late September 2001 until late December 2001, engaging in intimate physical contact of a sexual nature with the same person.

Anonymous said...

Wayne Jay Forman, Great Neck, NY

Profession: Certified Public Accountant; Lic. No. 052287; Cal. No. 23552

Regents Action Date: September 11, 2007

Action: Application to surrender license granted.

Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of having been convicted of Grand Larceny in the 2nd Degree, a class C felony.

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

Phillip Frank, Brooklyn, NY

Profession: Dentist; Lic. No. 026392; Cal. No. 23597

Regents Action Date: October 23, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 2 year actual suspension, upon termination of suspension 2 years probation, 100 hours public service.

Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of having been convicted of Health Care Fraud under 18 U.S.C. section 1347.

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

Gideon Kay, Roslyn, NY

Profession: Dentist, Lic. No. 029840; Cal. No. 23575

Regents Action Date: October 23, 2007

Action: Application to surrender license granted.

Summary: Licensee did not contest the charge of practicing the profession of dentistry while his ability to practice was impaired by physical disability.

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

Harvey Alan Zucker, New Rochelle, NY and Pelham, NY

Profession: Licensed Practical Nurse, Registered Professional Nurse; Lic. Nos. 231071, 467475; Cal. Nos. 23006, 23005

Regents Action Date: October 23, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: Indefinite actual suspension for not less than 3 months and until fit to practice, upon termination of suspension 2 years probation, $500 fine.

Summary: Licensee admitted to charges of having been convicted of Stalking in the 3rd Degree, Contempt in the 2nd Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 4th Degree.

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

Joseph Ackman, Baltimore, MD

Profession: Pharmacist; Lic. No. 028022; Cal. No. 23417

Regents Action Date: October 23, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 2 year stayed suspension, 2 years probation, $1,000 fine.

Summary: Licensee admitted to charges of pharmacy violations found during inspection of a pharmacy at which he was the supervising pharmacist; cluttered dispensing area; outdated drugs in pharmacy stock; failing to maintain a daily log of prescriptions filled and refilled; and failing to maintain a current biennial inventory of the controlled substances.

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

Howard H. Cohen, New Rochelle, NY

Profession: Certified Public Accountant; Lic. No. 057825; Cal. No. 23496

Regents Action Date: October 23, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: Partial actual suspension for no less than 1 year and until terminated as set forth in consent order application, 2 years probation, $7,500 fine.

Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of auditing procedure errors committed during the course of conducting an audit of the financial statements of an entity, the results of which were submitted to a federal agency.

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

Alissa Hecker Haber, NorthWoodmere, NY

Profession: Licensed Master Social Worker; Lic. No. 051506; Cal. No. 23490

Regents Action Date: October 23, 2007

Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 2 year stayed suspension, 2 years probation, $500 fine.

Summary: Licensee admitted to charges of having been convicted of Attempted Forgery in the 3rd Degree and Attempted Identity Theft in the 3rd Degree, both class B misdemeanors.

Anonymous said...

So if Rubashkin goes out of business, what kind of chazirei am I going to feed all the Fressers at the Agudah Convention?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-iowa-plant-raidmay19,0,3571577.story

But everything has changed after the largest Immigration raid in U.S. history netted nearly 400 workers—including 18 juveniles—at the plant.

"At a time when America is trying to hold on to industries, you know what I see out of this? Kosher chickens coming from China," fumed Rabbi Aaron Goldsmith, a former city councilman who was among many who stood transfixed as Homeland Security helicopters and buses raced past the grazing cows toward their town a week ago.

Anonymous said...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984041.html

Driver: I personally gave Olmert envelopes of cash

Avi Sherman, a limousine driver who drove Olmert during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, testified to police on Thursday that he personally gave Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash from several businessmen, among them Talansky and Abraham.

Sherman also testified that he gave Olmert funds from Abraham, who denied any connection to the money. Sherman said that the money was hidden in packages of the diet drink "Slim Fast," which is a product manufactured by Abraham's company.

Sherman was questioned by the National Fraud Investigations Unit several months ago, before the investigation into Olmert's conduct was launched. However, after Talansky testified some two weeks ago, Sherman was summoned to testify for a second time. Police sources said they were not convinced of Sherman's credibility. According to the sources, the investigators tried to corroborate his testimony this week, but it is not clear whether they will be able to rely on it.

Several days ago, the police confronted Abraham with Sherman. Abraham vehemently denied Sherman's allegations, and denied even knowing who Sherman was.

Anonymous said...

The last paragraph of the article from the Project USA blog is the key. The govt, in a criminal case, would have to prove that Rubashkin and perhaps the lawyer knew that the sponsored aliens would leave after 2 weeks of employment and had committed visa fraud. But what doesn't make sense is why would Rubashkin go through all of this unless he was getting an under the table cash bribe?

Anonymous said...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-israel-olmert-probe-080518,0,4948764.story

For Olmert, the investigation, which has raised questions about his political future, cast a shadow over an opportunity to bask in the twin glows of the Bush visit and the 60th anniversary celebrations.

At an airport welcoming ceremony for Bush when he arrived here Wednesday, an open microphone caught Olmert's reply to National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, who asked the prime minister how he was doing.

"Holding on, holding on," Olmert said.

Anonymous said...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984643.html

Jerusalem police are investigating the possibility that a 27-year-old mentally disabled woman was gang-raped by nine men 10 days ago. It is further suspected that she was raped on two additional occasions in recent days by a total of 14 men.

The first gang rape allegedly occured the day after Independence Day, at the apartment of a man named Itamar Nadav, in Jerusalem's Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Think of something embarrassing but clever that the OU censor won't realize to screen out:

The complexities of keeping a kosher kitchen will be the topic of discussion when OU Kosher’s halachic advisors (poskim), Rabbi Yisroel Belsky and Rabbi Hershel Schachter, explore questions, issues and concerns from viewers on an OU webcast, “Kosher Home, Sweet Home,” to be held Thursday, May 29, at 2:00 p.m. on www.ou.org, and www.ouradio.org.

Specific areas of concern are expected to include separation of dairy and meat, multiple uses of kitchen equipment for dairy and pareve, kosherization of kitchen utensils, need for separate sinks and more.

The webcast is part of OU Kosher’s educational outreach to the community, which includes the OU Kosher Coming to Schools and Communities programs and the Kosher Tidbits postings, now numbering close to 110 on OU Radio.

Audience members are encouraged to send in questions. Before the webcast, they should be directed to Rabbi Eliyahu Safran at safrane@ou.org, fax: 212-613-0775, and during the webcast to Rabbi Eliyahu W. Ferrell at ferrelle@ou.org, fax: 212-613-0701.

Anonymous said...

http://www.jewishpress.com/displaycontent_new.cfm?contentid=31737&contentname=My%20Machberes§ionid=20&mode=a&recnum=0

Yeshiva Torah Vodaath And Mesivta 89th Annual Dinner

Amongst the increasing number of citadels of Torah learning today in America, Yeshiva Torah Vodaath stands tall, proud of its long distinguished history. YTV was established in September of 1918, by a small group of dedicated observant immigrant parents in Brooklyn deeply concerned about Torah education for their children in their new host country. The United States was a true haven to pioneering immigrants, offering every liberty and opportunity except that of Torah education.

The parents intensely desired that their sons have the same opportunity as their counterparts, in the old European hometowns and shtetls, to mature in traditional Torah learning. Twenty students comprised the opening class. The legendary Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, zt”l served as the Yeshiva’s first menahel and as a guiding spirit of growth.

As Jewish immigration continued, the Yeshiva worked ever harder and quickly outgrew its temporary home in a small shul on Keap Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Other short-term lodgings, too, were quickly outgrown until a new building was erected at 206 Wilson Street. Since then, the Yeshiva has grown considerably. It now is effectively occupying a campus on East Ninth Street in Kensington-Flatbush, a Beis Medrash facility in Monsey, and two summer camps serving a student body, from nursery through to post-graduate kollel, which numbers almost 2,000 students.

Since its inception, YTV has had a profound influence on America’s observant Jewry. Its alumni are found in every facet of observant life, as spiritual leaders of congregations, as teachers in yeshivas, and as officers of religious and charitable organizations. Others are pious businessmen and professionals, fully participating, contributing members. Some have also served as political statesmen, enhancing the settings for all yeshivas and for Jews throughout the world. Rabbi Shraga Feivel’s leadership directly resulted in YTV’s readiness to serve all of Klal Yisroel. That leadership continues to this very day.

The Roshei Yeshiva

The roshei yeshiva that have taken part in YTV’s Torah glory, literally a golden chain of tradition, were: Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, zt”l (1886-1948); Rabbi Dovid Lebowitz, zt”l (1889-1941); Rabbi Shlomo Heiman, zt”l (d. 1944); Rabbi Reuven Grozovsky, zt”l (1896-1956); Rabbi Moshe Dov Ber Rivkin, zt”l; Rabbi Aaron Yeshaya Shapiro, zt”l, Rabbi Uri Meir Kahanow, zt”l; Rabbi Shmuel Kushelevitz, zt”l (d. 1963); Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, zt”l (1890-1986); Rabbi Gedalia Schorr, zt”l (1910-1979); Rabbi Moshe Dov Ber Rivkin, zt”l (d. 1976); Rabbi Reuven Fain, zt”l, Rabbi Elya Chazan, zt”l; Rabbi Simcha Sheps, zt”l (1908-1998), Rabbi Elazar Kahanow, zt”l (d. 2006); Rabbi Avrohom Pam, zt”l (1913-2001); Rabbi Asher Katzman, zt”l; Rabbi Nosson Eliyahu Gertzulin, zt”l (1919-2006); and Rabbi Nesanel Quinn, zt”l (1910-2005). They were all preeminent Roshei Yeshiva whose names continue to reverberate throughout the entire world whenever mentioned.

They were the predecessors to, and colleagues of, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky; Rabbi Elya Katz; Rabbi Yisroel Reisman; Rabbi Yosef Savitsky; Rabbi Yitzchok Sekula; and Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, princely names of today’s Roshei Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath.

Remembering Rabbi Aharon Braun, zt”l

On Sunday, May 18, the Yeshiva’s 89th Annual Dinner will be celebrated at Ateres Chaya Hall in Boro Park. The evening will be dedicated to remembering Rabbi Aharon Braun, zt”l (1926-2007), whose aura still permeates Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. The special evening will commemorate the life of a unique man who gave his life to the Yeshiva. The memorial tribute to Rabbi Shraga Feivel will be expressed through the presentation of the Rabbi Aharon Braun, zt”l Memorial Award to Dean and Mrs. Robert Goldschmidt. Dean Goldschmidt is the Dean of Touro College.

Class Of 1983

In addition, admiration and appreciation will be given to YTV’s graduating class of 1983, with many graduates today serving as rabbis, roshei yeshiva, professionals, and fervent laymen.

Who Are Honored? Those That Are Honorable

The Dinner will honor: Rabbi Psachya Fried, Rav of Chevra Bnei Yisroel, with the Kesser Torah Award; Rabbi and Mrs. Chaim Zimmerman with the Shearith Hapleitah Award; Mr. And Mrs. Yaakov Bojman with HaGaon HaRav Pam, zt”l Machzikei Torah Award; Mr. and Mrs. Naftali Minzer with the Yeshiva Ketanah Parents of the Year Award; and Dr. And Mrs. Yehoshua (Jeffrey) Farkas with Professional Alumnus Award. Dr. Farkas is the director of Interventional Neuroradiology at Maimonides Medical Center.

In addition, the Klein family will honor the memory of its patriarch, Dr. Bernard Klein, z”l, who received an award at the 82nd Annual Dinner in 2001, in which the revered Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Pam, zt”l, participated. Mrs. Shirley Klein, Yaakov Klein, and Elieazer Klein, wife and children, will be take part in the dedication.

Gedaliah Weinberger will serve as the dinner chairman, and Rabbi Yoel Ehrenreich as dinner coordinator. Chaim H. Leshkowitz is YTV’s chairman of the board. Shiya Hollander, Gedaliah Weinberger and Moshe Zafir comprise the executive committee. Rabbi Yitzchok Gottdiener heads YTV’s administration, outstandingly assisted by Rabbi Moshe L. Shochet, director of development, and other important staff members.

Yeshiva Torah Vodaath continues to nobly serve Klal Yisroel with its superlative Torah learning, led by gedolei Torah, as well as its superb elementary and high school secular studies departments.

Anonymous said...

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/NEWS/80519022/-1/ENT05

May 19, 2008


Sexual favors expected from some Postville workers

JENNIFER JACOBS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Reports that there was an expectation of sexual favors at Agriprocessors Inc. are beginning to emerge from workers at the Postville meat processing plant, and advocates for immigrants in Postville today are trying to collect and validate the stories.

Sister Mary McCauley, a Roman Catholic nun at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, said workers have said that “there was sexual abuse, that there’s propositioning.”

If a worker wanted, say, a promotion or a shift change, “they’d be brought into a room with three or four men and it was like, ‘Which one do you want? Which one are you going to serve?’” said McCauley in an interview today with Des Moines Register editors and reporters.

“Unfortunately, they are grateful for some of their ESL classes, and they knew what some of those words meant,” McCauley said. “If they had the courage, they could refuse it.”

Agriprocessors' spokesperson could not be reached for comment. A person who answered the telephone at the Postville plant referred calls to the company spokesperson.

Anonymous said...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to release 30 Israeli prisoners, many of whom are serving sentences for such serious crimes as murder, money laundering, drug-trafficking and fraud.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth credits the release to lobbying by leaders of California's Jewish community.

Anonymous said...

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9309674?source=most_viewed

Convicted child molester killed in Salinas state prison

By the Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/19/2008

Anonymous said...

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=2412

This Sunday, May 18 at 10:00 a.m., the annual breakfast for the benefit of Yeshivas Ner Yisrael of Baltimore is to be held at the home of Dr. Joseph and Mrs. Fay Geliebter, 25 Herrick Drive in Lawrence. The scheduled guest speaker is HaRav Tzvi Berkowitz, a senior faculty member of the yeshiva.

Rabbi Berkowitz delivers the most advanced shiur in the yeshiva and is respected throughout the yeshiva world for his scholarship and insight. Many bachurim are attracted to Ner Israel because of the opportunity to attend his shiur. He maintains close ties with alumni, many of whom live in the Five Towns area. It is typical for alumni who have been out of the yeshiva for years to consult with Rav Berkowitz on a regular basis.

Ner Israel Rabbinical College will soon be celebrating its 75th anniversary. Founded by the gaon and gadol HaRav Yaakov Yitzchok haLevi Ruderman in 1933, the yeshiva has close ties to the Five Towns community. Many of its talmidim are leaders in every aspect of communal life in the area and many students come to the yeshiva from the area.

Dr. Geliebter is himself an alumnus, and he and his wife are parents of Ner Israel beis midrash student Yisrael. They have graciously opened their home for this important event. The entire community is invited to participate in this demonstration of kavod haTorah.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

For people who go to the movies and/or watch TV - I urge you to see The Kite Runner - after Lag b'Omer.

Anonymous said...

Were Rabbi Weissmandel's people in the room when women working at Rubashkin were pressured to perform sexual acts on managers? Rabbi Weissmandel says nothing happens at Rubashkin without him knowing about it.

Anonymous said...

Mordechai Tendler is an (honorable) honorary Rubashkin manager.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

The Government will put Weissmandel on the stand. He'll go down with the sinking ship if he perjures himself.

They'll give him all the rope he needs to hang himself. Shades of Margulies in this crackpot!

Anonymous said...

Parsha Summary

Dedicated in honor of our beloved mom, Helen Smith, by Arielle, Elliott, Valerie, and Andreas Soemadi. May we go from strength to strength, indeed. "Hazak, hazak, v'nithazek!"

To sponsor an edition of the Parsha Summary e-mail list, click here

Parshas Bechukosai


Summary of The Weekly Torah Reading:



Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person "goes up" to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading.

1st & 2nd Aliyot: The beginning Pesukim describe the wondrous successes awaiting the nation, so long as they follow G-d's Mitzvos.

3rd Aliya: This Aliya is called the Tochacha - the Rebuke. It is a lengthy description of the terrible punishments awaiting the nation, if they do not follow the Torah. It is customary for the Baal Koreh (the one reading the Torah) to have this Aliya, and to read it faster and more quietly than the rest of the Parsha.

4th Aliya: The established prices for endowments of an individual?s worth, or that of an animal, are listed.

5th, 6th & 7th Aliyot: The final portions deals with endowments of property to the Bais Hamikdash.


Summary of The Haftorah:
Haftorah Bechukosai



Yirmiyahu's words ring with the same urgency and fear as the Tochacha itself. Yirmiyahu was the Navi who beseeched his people to repent before the impending destruction and exile of the nation. He decried the delusions of those who used their ill begotten wealth to serve idols and foreign ideologies. They denied the benevolence of G-d and were destined to go into exile.

The acquisition of wealth through illegal means is a denial of G-d's ability to provide and protect. He who trusts in man for his strength and future is destined to be betrayed. He will be as a lone tree in the wilderness (17:6) bereft of protection or support. On the other hand, he who trusts in G-d will be blessed and secured.

Reemphasizing the message of Sefer Vayikra, Yirmiyahu exhorts the nation to beg G-d for salvation and healing, and to trust His constant love and caring.


Parsha Summary, by Rabbi Aron Tendler and Torah.org.

Anonymous said...

Yonah Weinberg has been indicted, as two more victims (that's four so far) have come forward. How many countless victims have been saved because these survivors did the right thing by going to the police? Before UOJ these alleged molesters would never have been reported.
-----------------------------------
Flatbush, NY - Indictment In Bar Mitzvah Social Worker Abuse Case


Flatbush, NY - Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the indictment of Yonah Weinberg 29, a Flatbush Bar Mitzvah tutor and licensed social worker charged with abusing four male students, one of which was a client.

The victims range in age from 12 to 14 and some were Weinberg's students, from the Khal Beth Abraham synagogue, where Weinberg gave Bar Mitzvah lessons. Other victims include clients from Weinberg's work as a licensed social worker for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.

Initially only two victims reported abuse, but the investigation revealed two additional victims.

Anonymous said...

For people who go to the movies and/or watch TV - I urge you to see The Kite Runner - after Lag b'Omer.

-----------------------------------
A better movie to see is "Sex, Lies and Videotape" featuring Rubashkin, Weissmandel, Lubinsky, and their 700 amigos. Produced and directed by PETA.

Anonymous said...

There is a rumor that the Rubashkins will not financially support any Chabad institution that buys other Lubav shechitah besides his own, like David Elliot / Wise, Montreal or Feigelstock. It will be interesting to see if the Rubashkins force these Lubavs to become vegetarians as the supply dwindles. Yasher koyech to the Lubavs who have been doing the right thing all along and not eating from Rubashkin - period.

As far as Weissmandel, don't forget that R' Yudel Shain alleges that:

A) he is behind the cover up at Kyo restaurant in Monsey through his front man Zushe Blech

B) he is at the beck & call of Levy from OK Labs. Weissmandel is their posek and Levy paid for Weissmandel's new Nitra shul in Monsey. There is a huge sex abuse scandal involving the OK Labs that was covered up with mafia tactics similar to Margulies & Belsky.

C) Sabra Salads as well as Lieber's switched to Weissmandel because they were looking for kulos.

Anonymous said...

Published: 05/06/2008

The rabbi of the largest U.S. Orthodox synagogue outside the New York area was named to lead the Orthodox Union.

Rabbi Steven Weil, 42, of Beth Jacob Congregation in Beverly Hills, Calif., will succeed Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb as the umbrella organization's executive vice president on July 1, 2009.

In a news released, the O.U. called Weil a "charismatic, sought-after orator and skilled fund-raiser." Weil is a graduate of the rabbinical seminary at Yeshiva University and received a master's degree in business from New York University.

His Beverly Hills congregation has 750 member families, according to its Web site.

Weinreb will transition to a new position, executive vice president emeritus, according to the release.

The Orthodox Union is the largest Orthodox umbrella organization in the United States.

Anonymous said...

Without disclosing its location, Satmar announced that it is establishing a new independent community outside of New York City but well within the Greater Metropolitan Area. Satmar has purchased property that will accommodate the building of 2,000 custom spacious homes. To date, the most formidable effort in recent years is that of Satmar. Having studied the successful establishing of observant communities in Israeli cities such as Ashdod and Elad, Satmar’s initiative should prove spectacularly successful, as well.

A New Chassidishe Development

In response to its considerable internal growth, the Satmar community has announced the formation of its Vaad Hadirois (Committee for New Homes) and the opening of its office after Pesach at 331 Rutledge Street, Suite No. 205, in Williamsburg. The office will distribute applications for the purchase of homes, which will be equipped with all anticipated amenities, in a new chassidishe community. It is being established at an undisclosed location in a developed area within commuting distance of other observant communities in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. The new homes will be freestanding and from 1,500 square feet to 3,800 square feet on minimum land parcels of one-quarter acre.

The First Steps

Completed applications must be accompanied with a refundable $5,000 deposit in addition to information as to which shul one is a member of and who is the rav of the shul. The requirement of information of shul affiliation is an indication that the new community will not be exclusively Satmar, but will welcome other chassidishe followings, as well.

The land tract consists of more than 1,000 acres, as opposed to Boro Park or Williamsburg, each of which is situated on less than 700 acres. Satmar’s information disclosure indicates that it is neither in Brooklyn nor in the Catskills. Nevertheless, it is an all-year-round area. More than three years and tens- of- millions- of- dollars have been invested in searching for and developing the acquisition. Vaad Hadirois strongly discourages private speculation as well as individuals visiting the area so as not to create confusion or resentment.

Six different building plans are being offered in a variety of sizes. The target date for the first homeowners to move in to their new homes is Pesach 2009. Construction will start upon submission of the first 150 applications.

First Come, First Served

The first phase of development will be the completion of 150 homes, with the first group of purchasers having the benefit of the lowest prices. In addition, they will also have the option of opening businesses to serve the community, such as the grocery store, pharmacy, shuttle transportation services, etc. First choice on new homes will be given to growing families or newlyweds.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/nyregion/06kent.html

More than 100 artists have begun to return to their loft spaces in a building in Brooklyn, about three months after the Fire Department cited their landlord for a flurry of code violations and forced the residents out.

The residents of the building, most of them working artists and musicians, at 475 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg were allowed back into their lofts on Thursday afternoon after inspectors determined that sufficient fixes had been made and the Fire Department lifted the order to vacate. It was uncertain, though, how many people would return.

The 11-story building was declared a fire hazard late in January after firefighters discovered a small bakery and heaps of matzo grain, which the Fire Department said could explode, in the basement. The building’s standpipe and much of its sprinkler system were also found to be inoperable, and the 200 or so residents were given hours to get out. A yeshiva for girls, which is next door, was shuttered too.

Residents scattered wide, finding shelter with friends or taking sublets. One artist, Jaime Rojo, who lives on the fifth floor, said he and his companion moved 10 times, including a brief stay with their cleaning woman in Bushwick. Several artists lost commissions and gallery shows because of the temporary eviction, and some moved outright, signing leases elsewhere.

In an unusual turn, dozens of the building’s residents helped the landlord, Nachman Brach, fix the violations. The residents became trained in fire safety, cleared debris and mended broken doors. Bart Javier, an architect who lives in the building, compiled data for updated floor plans to hasten the installation of a new sprinkler system.

Anonymous said...

If Margo can claim to be a "rosh yeshiva", then why not?

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_9239295

By Kevin Butler Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/13/2008 12:09:53 AM PDT

LONG BEACH -- Cal State Long Beach is investigating allegations that a professor in its Film and Electronic Arts Department made misrepresentations of his professional background and achievements, according to the department chairman.

Craig Smith, the department chairman, said that the university's Academic Affairs arm is investigating Associate Professor Michael I. Berlin in connection with some items of professional experience that were added to his faculty Web page but were recently removed.

Berlin could not be reached for comment.

Smith noted that two claims on Berlin's faculty Web page - that he got a master's degree from Columbia University and had worked as a clinical psychologist - were removed earlier this month.

Smith said that professors are entitled to due process and a thorough investigation of such allegations.

The changes to Berlin's Web page were made around the time that department Professor Brian Alan Lane e-mailed an essay to faculty on May 2 - later published in the campus paper The Union Weekly - alleging that three faculty members, whom he did not name, had made misrepresentations and misleading statements regarding their professional backgrounds.

Berlin's department Web page before May 2 also said that he was a "Phi Delta Kappa graduate from Columbia University's Master's Program," a member of the American Psychological Association and had worked as a clinical psychologist in New York for many years.

Neither Columbia University nor Columbia University Teachers College has a record of a degree for Berlin, according to university officials.

A master's degree is not listed among his educational accomplishments in a copy of his curriculum vitae examined by the Press-Telegram.

But on his CV, Berlin did type the words "Phi Delta Kappa - Columbia University" immediately underneath his listed Ph.D. from New York's Yeshiva University in "Educational Administration/Organizational Development."

His faculty Web site on May 2 was changed to eliminate any reference to a master's degree. The web bio now states that he "took courses" at Columbia University "in a shared program with Yeshiva University's Ferkauf Graduate School."

Before the Web page was changed, Berlin was described as having "worked as a clinical psychologist in New York for many years" and as being a member of the American Psychological Association.

The name Michael Berlin is not among the list of current members of the American Psychological Association, an official with the organization said.

The New York State Education Department could not find records showing that Berlin currently possesses a state license to practice psychology.

The Press-Telegram was not able to immediately ascertain whether Berlin had a license previously to practice psychology in New York.

After the controversy erupted, the APA membership claim was dropped from Berlin's faculty Web page.

The words "clinical psychologist" were changed to "therapist and counselor," job titles that can be used without possessing a state psychologist license.

Berlin's claim that he produced a television series, "The Outer Limits," also was changed on the Web site, which now states that he "worked on" the show.

Berlin is not among the names of producers of "The Outer Limits" listed on The Internet Movie Database - a Web site that tracks Hollywood credits and projects - though the site does show him as having worked as a writer and executive script consultant on the show.

Also dropped from his faculty Web site was a reference to his work on the television show "Walker, Texas Ranger."

The show is not listed among his credits on the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com. The show also is not listed among his on-screen credits kept by the Writers Guild of America, West.

Anonymous said...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3542016,00.html

Rehovot mayor to be indicted for fraud

Kadima-backed Mayor Shuky Forer to be indicted for alleged breaches of election funding law following hearing

The State Prosecutor's Office has informed Rehovot Mayor Shuky Forer on Sunday that it plans to indict him for breach of trust and conspiracy to commit a crime. Other senior municipality officials will be indicted for even graver offenses.

The investigation against Forer was launched in 2003, but only recently materialized into an indictment. The suspicions against Forer date back to 1998, the year he became mayor, and relate to alleged breaches of the election funding law.

The State Prosecution informed Forer's attorneys Sunday that he may be charged with perjury, conspiracy to commit a crime, breach of trust and other offenses.

Anonymous said...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3904813.ece

Jewish Power list top 30

Gerald Ronson

2 (2) Top Jewish philanthropist once jailed for his part in the Guinness shares scandal who works an 80 hour week and has donated up to £40 million to charity.

Rabbi Avraham Pinter (first cousin of Leib & Shmeckel)

8 (New) Astute and media-friendly, Pinter acts as a bridge between the strictly Orthodox and wider Jewish community and the public at large.

Anonymous said...

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=2400

A Greatness Weekend

By: Larry Gordon
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008

Back in Lawrence, Rav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg, the 97-year-old head of Yeshiva Torah Ore, appeared at several locations and held listeners spellbound with his divrei Torah and stories of Jewish life from another time. Across the way in Far Rockaway, the OU’s Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Weinrib was the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Knesseth Israel. On Sunday morning, the annual breakfast for Kollel Shomrei Hachomos was held. The event featured the presence and remarks by the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Zalman Leib Teitlebaum, and Rabbi Yisroel Reisman of Brooklyn.

On the other side of town on Shabbos day, we were treated to the opportunity to be in the presence of Rav Scheinberg. Born in the United States, the rabbi traveled to study Torah in the Mir Yeshiva in Europe in 1930. From there it was on to Israel, where he founded and now is still the prime moving force behind one of Israel’s foremost and leading yeshivas. For many, Rav Scheinberg is a bridge to what is now a different century, a different time, a time of overcoming what would today certainly be insurmountable obstacles. Reflecting on those times, it now seems that to an extent it was the obstacles and the difficulties themselves that were the building blocks of what is today a flourishing community based on Torah and a Torah way of life that is so vibrant both in Israel and the U.S.

Rav Scheinberg, while a relatively small man, appears bulky because he wears anywhere from 72 to 100 pairs of tzitzis (religious fringes) on a daily basis. It is certainly his age and the many religious garments that he wears that makes it somewhat difficult for him to move around. Rav Scheinberg is well known here, both as a sage and Torah scholar but also as the grandfather of Rabbi and Mrs. Dovid Weinberger of Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Lawrence. Rav Scheinberg travels with one of his sons and grandsons, who also reside in Israel and who assist in running the yeshiva.

In the waning moments of Shabbos, some 200 people gathered in a private home where the rabbi was staying in the hope of hearing some words of Torah and wisdom. He shared with the gathering an encounter with the Chofetz Chaim he had as a 20-year-old newlywed who arrived with his new wife from the U.S. to study Torah at the Mir in Europe.

As the young couple was ushered in to meet with the saintly and elderly rav, they were introduced as having come from America to study. As Rav Scheinberg tells it, the Chofetz Chaim responded: If G-d could come all the way down from the Heavens and give the Torah to people on earth, then a young couple should certainly be able to travel from America to study at the Mir in Europe.

Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com.

Anonymous said...

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/NEWS/805180457/1070/NEWS02

LAKEWOOD — Police and animal control officers removed animal carcasses from a yard in an industrial park on Saturday after receiving a call from a township official about several farm animals living there, authorities said.

Officials brought food and water for about 20 live animals, including two ponies, a cow and three geese, they found in the yard behind 1805 Swarthmore Ave., a building in the township industrial park.

Jeff Golub, chairman of the Lakewood Industrial Commission, who works nearby, said he heard animal sounds while he was looking at a car for sale at the building, which is the headquarters of an organization named Oorah.

"I was getting ready to leave, and I heard a horse whinny," Golub said.

He called the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Saturday morning.

The animals shared the yard behind the building with a playground. A day care center operates at the building as well.

State SPCA officers and representatives from the Popcorn Park Zoo joined township police, animal control and the Board of Health as they investigated what Lakewood Councilman Charles Cunliffe, who spent more than three hours at the site, alleged was an "illegal zoo operation."

"There was even skeletal remains," Golub said.

Police would not allow an Asbury Park Press reporter to enter the yard, but a view over a 6-foot-high stockade fence showed animal waste scattered throughout a dirt yard. Cars and trucks were parked haphazardly behind the building. Tools, garbage and bales of hay were scattered through the yard.

Either ducks or geese had recently laid eggs on one of the bales, and the cow was standing in a makeshift barn.

The line between the yard and the day care's playground was demarcated by a chicken-wire fence.

A view from a shorter, chain-link fence at the rear of the property showed a wooded area where the two ponies were hiding along with two goats.

Mounds of old blacktop and concrete created a berm just behind the stockade fence.

"It's horrifying," said Cunliffe, who was at the scene about 3 p.m.

Police there would not comment. No charges had been filed by 6 p.m. Saturday, but an SPCA officer, who refused to give his name, said the investigation will continue.

Oorah, which is Hebrew for awakening, is a charity that helps pay for summer camp and yeshiva tuition for boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18, according to its Web site. It is affiliated with the other businesses at the same address.

The call menu for Oorah gives prompts for Cucumber Communications, a long-distance telephone provider, and Kars4Kids, which accepts donated used cars.

A voice message left for Oorah and Joy for Our Youth was not immediately returned. There was no answer at Cucumber Communications, and a representative from Kars4Kids hung up.

Police placed "notice to comply" signs at the property Saturday.

"There are alleged state environmental violations, state criminal violations, township health and zoning violations," Cunliffe said.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/05/16/2008-05-16_cops_hunt_hasidic_emt_in_brooklyn_attack.html

The NYPD launched a manhunt Friday for a member of a Hasidic anti-crime patrol believed to have beaten a black Crown Heights college student with a nightstick.

Police released a photo of Yitzhak Shuchat, calling the 25-year-old emergency medical technician a "person of interest" in the high-profile assault.

Shuchat is a member of the Crown Heights Shmira neighborhood patrol and a former NYPD auxiliary police officer, police sources said.

Shuchat, identified by the victim from a photo array, has not been seen in the neighborhood for several weeks. Police fear he may try to leave the country.

Shuchat's uncle, Daniel Goldstein, said police showed up at his Long Island home Thursday hunting for his nephew.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/05/16/2008-05-16_protest_in_crown_heights_after_jewish_te.html

A young Jewish man was allegedly pummeled and robbed by two black men on a Crown Heights street early Friday - raising tensions in a neighborhood sadly familiar with racial strife.

More than 200 members of the neighborhood's Orthodox Jewish community marched to the 71st Precinct stationhouse hours after 16-year-old Alon Sherman was attacked while riding his bicycle to buy baby formula for his 1-year-old brother.

"All of a sudden, a guy came up and - 'boom!' - hit him," the victim's mother, Iris Sherman, said. "We can't live like this."

"How can we raise our children? We have our children in America for the freedom - do we have to lock them in the house?"

The NYPD did not classify the assault as a bias crime, but that did nothing to calm demonstrators who marched on the stationhouse.

"Jewish blood is not cheap!" chanted the crowd. "We want justice!"

"Enough is enough," said marcher Shimon Row, 28. "This is anti-Semitism and racially motivated. Everyone is affected by this."

NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Fox told the crowd the case was being thoroughly investigated.

Alon Sherman had just finished working at a supermarket and was pedaling along Albany Ave. near Empire Blvd. when he was jumped shortly after midnight, police said.

"He didn't see who hit him . . . he blacked out," said the victim's father, Howard Sherman, who said his son's wallet, cell phone and bicycle were stolen.

Alon Sherman suffered a fractured jaw and a concussion and does not remember the assault, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

A witness told cops he saw two black teens steal Sherman's bicycle as he was lying on the ground, Kelly said.

Sherman was treated at Kings County Hospital and returned to his family's home late Friday.

"He can't eat or speak for six weeks," his mom said. "One time, it's my child. Next time, it could be yours."

No arrests have been made.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/05/18/2008-05-18_jewish_teen_on_mend_as_parents_want_hate-1.html

Picture of Alon Sherman's injuries

Anonymous said...

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=2378

Maimonides Hospital (MMC) had agreed to meet with the Boro-Park West Community Association (BPW), to discuss the hospital’s neighborhood development master plan. Local leaders are seriously concerned that the MMC’s recent acquisition of three properties in the heart of the residential area may lead to the destabilization of the community.

BPW reported that at last Friday’s meeting with Maimonides Medical Center (MMC), a shocked delegation from the Boro-Park West Community Association (BPW) heard President Pamela S. Brier admit that she had a “mandate” from the hospital’s Board of Trustees to purchase every available property in the vicinity of the hospital.

Attending the meeting was a local delegation of rabbanim—Satmar Dayan Rav Moshe Friedman, Rav Meir Simcha Bick, and Rabbi Gershon Tennenbaum—as well as political leaders: Assemblyman Dov Hikind, City Council Majority Leader Bill De Blasio, and City Council (Boro Park) candidate Joe Lazar. A surprise guest was mayoral candidate Tony Avella of Queens, who is currently chairman of the New York City Council Committee on Zoning, Buildings, and Franchises. Rabbi William Handler gave a ten-minute briefing, in which he reported that MMC acquired its high-quality brick two-family houses on 48th and 49th Streets by hiring a real-estate broker who used racial intimidation to frighten and harass residents into selling their homes to MMC. The hospital’s purchases led to the eviction or moving of about 200 Orthodox Jewish families from the neighborhood.

President Brier apologized for the “unfortunate” tactics used to acquire these homes: “We’ve been a bad neighbor. But that was in the past. We cannot afford to give up these houses. We need to move on.” Councilman Avello expressed surprise upon hearing President Brier state that the hospital had no master plan for development: “In all of New York City, I have never seen a hospital that has no master plan. This is incredible.” Dov Hikind and Bill De Blasio suggested that MMC make an inventory of all its existing real estate holdings in the neighborhood, together with the purpose of each building, and meet with leaders of BPW in June to discuss how the hospital could work harmoniously with the community to be a “good neighbor.”

Anonymous said...

http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/05/doctrine-of-kashrus.html

I heard from a dear friend "the most important doctrine in kashrus is "Al-nitilas-yu'dayim"


(1 hand washes the other-AKA=Shmoir-li.....).

Anonymous said...

An attorney for Shuchat showed up at Hynes's office to try to cut a deal. Hynes said there are no deals and told the lawyer to take a hike.

Too bad for the Lubobs that they are not as politically connected a$ Yudi Kolko & Mon$trowitz.

Anonymous said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_en_mo/people_lohan

2 hours, 48 minutes ago

NEW YORK - A New York City college student has sued Lindsay Lohan, claiming the "Mean Girls" star took her mink coat without permission and kept it for more than two weeks.

Maria Markova said in a lawsuit filed Monday that Lohan, 21, took the $12,000 golden sheared mink coat while in the nightclub 1 Oak on Jan. 26.

The 22-year-old Markova's lawyer, Merrill Cohen, said Lohan had been sitting next to her client. Cohen said Markova next saw her coat on Lohan in a photo in OK! magazine.

Cohen said she called Lohan's representatives and demanded the return of the coat. She said Markova got the coat back Feb. 14.

Lohan's lawyer, Blair Berk, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the case.

Cohen said the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, asks unspecified damages.

Anonymous said...

May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $129 a barrel in New York for the first time after billionaire hedge-fund manager Boone Pickens said that oil will reach $150 a barrel this year.

Supplies aren't keeping up with demand, Pickens said, echoing comments last week from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. A strengthening of the euro against the dollar added to the gains.

Ahavah said...

From Failed Messiah's webpage:

"BREAKING! European Haredi Rabbis Void All Conversions Done By Israel's Conversion Authority And Rabbi Haim Druckman

Following the lead of Israel's haredim, the largely haredi Conference of European Rabbis has voided every conversion done by Rabbi Haim Druckman and Israel's Conversion Authority."

I mentioned there and I'll mention it again here - the Jewish Civil Wars are in full swing, and most people don't even realize it. Just because we're shooting each other with nullifications and excommunications doesn't mean the victims are any less dead, so to speak. If we were doing this with guns instead of papers it would be all over the news, but many people including most MOs don't even realize they're in danger.

And I had another thought, this civil war is primarily targeted, in the first wave, against converts before it proceeds directly to natural born Jews - don't you think that has a nasty "ethnic cleansing" tinge? Is that really what we've come to?

Anonymous said...

http://www.nj.com/living/times/community/index.ssf?/base/news-4/121125637678230.xml&coll=5

'Lone Bugler' to perform at Memorial Day events

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP -- "The Lone Bugler" of New Jersey will again present his eighth an nual "21 Performance Salute" dur ing Memorial Day week.

Richard Pinter, a retired Army first sergeant, has been playing "Taps" at military funerals and other events for 38 years while serv ing in the military and eight years since his military retirement in 2000.

Anonymous said...

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/NEWS10/805200403

Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil is calling for Agriprocessors Inc. to pay the wages that are owed workers.

"Despite any immigration issues, Iowa law says you are entitled to be paid for the hours that you work," said Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development. "So that's what he's trying to do is clear that up because Agriprocessors says they have no records to pay anybody, whomever they may be."

Staff at Agriprocessors have said the federal government confiscated records, hampering payroll services.

State officials don't doubt that the records are gone, Koonce said Monday, but the workers still must be paid on the official payday for the hours worked.

There's little more the labor division can do to settle any wage dispute unless the worker or a group of workers files an official petition for back wages.

"We can't go on hearsay," Koonce said.

By law, the company would have a chance to respond.

For information on filing a claim, go to IowaWorkforce.org or call (800) 562-4692.

Anonymous said...

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/20/headlines

Huffington Post reports one of Hillary Clinton’s top financial supporters recently offered $1 million to the Young Democrats of America while he pressed for the organization’s two uncommitted superdelegates to endorse Clinton. The billionaire entertainment magnate Haim Saban reportedly made the offer in a call to the group’s president, David Hardt. The group turned down Saban’s offer. Saban has not denied talking to the Young Democrats of America, but he says the report in the Huffington Post is not true.

In Waterloo, Iowa, hundreds of people marched on Sunday to protest last week’s immigration raid at the Agriprocessers kosher meatpacking plant.

In other immigration news, the Rio Grande Guardian reports emergency officials in Texas have developed new evacuation plans during hurricane season that could prevent undocumented immigrants from escaping storms.
According to the paper, school buses will be used to help evacuate local residents during a hurricane. But prior to boarding, all passengers will be screened by Border Patrol agents. Anyone who is not a citizen or legal resident will be barred from the evacuation bus. Instead, they will be detained at a nearby Border Patrol facility that is alleged to be made to withstand hurricanes.

Anonymous said...

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal/judicial/dc/opinions/06opinions/06-1329a.pdf

These must be very high, which consumers eventually pay for with higher meat prices. I didn't know he has so many big shot lawyers working for him. First Nat Lewin and others and now Jeffrey A. Meyer, a former Federal prosecutor who is now a pro-fressor at Quinnipiac University.

Anonymous said...

A missing Orthodox Frenchman may be in Britain after disappearing from Paris. Patrick, or Pinchos, Zini, vanished two days before Pesach and is thought to be in London. He is 37 years old and single. He is 5’10” tall, with light hair and a light complexion.

Anonymous said...

Ahavah,

In many cases potential converts are treated unfairly by the likes of Leib Tropper and other charlatans. Still, one must take into account that improper converts can cause much heartbreak to the Jews they marry and their offspring. An open door policy would be an absolute disaster.

Anonymous said...

Is Richard Pinter the former military bugler that Moishe Weissman hires for tekias shofar?

Anonymous said...

How can my Congressman just cop out on me like this? This will lead UOJ to shout: "Moetzes resign!"

http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20080520-11.html

In a statement posted on his website this morning, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-13) said he will not seek reelection this year. The Staten Island representative said he will continue to serve out the remaining months of his term which ends January 3, 2009.

“This choice was an extremely difficult one, balanced between my dedication to service to our great nation and the need to concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family.”

Fossella’s public problems began may 1, when he was charged with drunk driving in a Washington suburb. His blood alcohol count was more than twice the legal limit in Virginia. He later disclosed he was on his way to visit a mistress with whom he had fathered a three-year-old daughter.

“Despite the personal mistakes I have made, I am Touched by the outpouring of support and encouragement I have received from so many people”, Fossella said, in his one-page statement.

Anonymous said...

I was in Postville in Febuary so Rav Weissmandel knows raaye brurah that there's no way this happened.

http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20080520-8.html

The Kings County District Attorney’s office announced the indictment of Yona Weinberg, 29, a Flatbush Bar Mitzvah tutor and licensed social worker charged with sexual abusing four male students, one of which was a client.

The indictment charges Weinberg with Course of Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the Second Degree, nine counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree, Attempted Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree, and six counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.

The victims range in age from 12 to 14 and some were Weinberg’s students, from the Khal Beth Abraham synagogue, where Weinberg gave Bar Mitzvah lessons. Other victims include clients from Weinberg’s work as a licensed social worker for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.

Initially only two victims reported abuse, but the investigation revealed two additional victims.

Anonymous said...

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page662?oid=207046&sn=Blog%20detail%20back%20button

Where did the church roof go?

Tim Williams and David Gemmell
15 May 2008 02:56

Record-high metals prices tempt even saints.

Folklore has it that economic conditions can be accurately assessed by the rate at which lead (US$2,800 per ton) is pilfered off church roofs. Given recent global boom times it is no surprise that worldwide, more incidents of holy roof theft are being reported.

Until examples like these appear it is often overlooked that most metals are quite capable of being efficiently recycled. All that is required to kick-start the process is suitable motivation. This usually appears in the form of a blanket increase in metal prices; which is precisely what is happening at the moment.

So, because recycling moves in concert with the markets – a fact to which numerous wet churchgoers can attest – it has recently become big business. Predictably it is not driven by an altruistic mining industry, but rather by the fundamentals – enormous amounts of ready cash can be made from flogging scrap metal.

The growing nocturnal disappearance of manhole covers (around $20 each) from city streets across the world bears out this unfortunate truth. As does the misappropriation of beer kegs ($50), something which is occurring with increasing frequency in the US. In South Africa, where telephone line theft is endemic, the province of the Western Cape is now reported to be a net exporter of copper (US$8,600/t). No mean feat for an area without any copper mines.

Last year there were reports from the US of whole lines of parked cars having their exhaust systems plundered. The recyclers were obviously after the platinum ($2,030/oz), palladium ($450/oz), and rhodium ($8,000/oz), in the auto catalysts. The stainless steel casings which they surgically removed were simply a nice bonus. A sign of how the value of stainless steel has risen is that burglars used to take everything except the kitchen sink – now they first take the sink.

Dr Tim Williams is a Mining Analyst based in London. David Gemmell is a Project Manager, Freelance Writer and Author living in Johannesburg.

Ahavah said...

Archie Bunker:

No one is arguing for stamping "Jewish" on the forehead of anyone who walks through the door. What is happening here is the de-legitimizing of historically valid, Modern Orthodox Judaism and a flagrant and blatant attempt to replace it with stringencies our grandparents never heard of, much less Moshe and Aharon - pushing a myth of a monolithic Judaism that never existed, not to mention a quest for a mythical racial purity that also never existed. No one is claiming that woman was wearing low-riders and a spaghetti strap top - she was just wearing pants. It's Modern Orthodoxy that is the target of this movement, not this specific woman. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing something millions of native born Jewish women do every day. There is supposed to be one law for the native born and for the goyim who wish to sojourn as members of the House of Israel. By attacking converts who practice MO, this is just a back-door attack on natural born Jews who practice MO. This isn't about anything else, and never was from day one.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nbc30.com/news/16265146/detail.html

Web Sites Alleged To Lure Consumers With 'Bait And Switch'

Michael Michaud has always loved photography.

When he needed a new camera, he went shopping for one online. He scanned dozens of Web sites for the best price and model and his search eventually ended at stop4camera.com.

"Lowest price with an extra lens and all that, so I went for it," Michaud said.

The camera and lens he wanted was $250 cheaper than everywhere else.

It was a deal that sounded too good to be true, Michaud said. Hours after placing the order, he said, he got a phone call from a Web site representative asking him to verify his purchase and then asking if he would buy another battery, more memory and extended warranties, Michaud said.

He declined.

"Well, then he told me it was on backorder," Michaud said.

He said another two weeks went by and he did not receive the camera, so he called again.

"He says, well if you order this extra stuff we can send you your camera a lot quicker,” Michaud said. “That's when I asked to speak to the manager and of course, the manager wasn't there."

According to the Better Business Bureau, stop4camera.com is just one of several camera-equipment Web sites based in Brooklyn, N.Y. with unsatisfactory records.

Other Web sites accused of similar tactics include wisetronics.com, 86photovideo.com, mywirelessdeal.com and fotoconnection.com and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office is investigating all of them.

"If a consumer is not provided with a product and price as advertised, we want to know about it and we'll take action and we will investigate," Blumenthal said.

In the last 12 months, the Better Business Bureau reported more than 700 complaints against these companies, almost two-thirds of them specifically address concerns with selling practices.

Benjamin Monroe said the practices are unethical and unfair to customers like himself.

"I've been on a lot of forums and people say watch out for this company out of Brooklyn, they have a lot of different storefronts that aren't really storefronts and a lot of Web sites that aren't real," Monroe said.

A quick check at resellratings.com, a Web site dedicated to consumer reviews, shows hundreds of reviews from "very dissatisfied" stop4camera.com customers - the majority of whom provide warnings to future shoppers.

"This kind of scheme goes to the core of what our consumer protection laws are designed to prevent, which is misleading and deceptive ads," Blumenthal said.

The owner of stop4camera.com released a lengthy statement to NBC 30, insisting that its practices are sound.

"Orders over $150 require additional phone verification to prevent fraud. While on the phone, a Stop4camera service rep might answers questions but would not attempt to 'switch' the product the customer ordered. Prices are accurately advertised, and product availability has nothing to do with the purchase of accessories. If a product is backordered, the customer receives the proper notification," the statement says.

Calls were also made to the owner of wisetronics.com, the parent company of 86photovideo.com and mywirelessdeal.com.

After more than 30 minutes on hold and a customer service representative who initially would not let NBC 30 speak to a manager, we were transferred to voicemail.

"The consumer has a responsibility to stand its ground and say I want the product as advertised," Blumenthal said.

Despite numerous attempts to do just that, Michaud eventually cancelled his order.

The attorney general said the best advice is to do your homework before ordering anything online. A quick check with the Better Business Bureau will give you an idea of what kind of company you're dealing with.

Anonymous said...

Keep Pinter out of Mirrer yeshiva - PERIOD.

In the immortal words of R' Elya Jurkanski ztl, "vos shtait offen der yeshiva? Farvus alleh meshigoyim kummin arrein?"

Malach HaMovies said...

UOJ,

When are we finally going to hear the stories that you heard from rav yaakov kaminetzky z"l ???

How much longer do we have to wait ??

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Soon...........

Anonymous said...

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/05/18/2008-05-18_voodoo_ripoffs.html

Sunday, May 18th 2008, 4:00 AM

It's long been understood that special interests hold sway in the state Legislature. But it's now stunningly clear the game is absolutely rigged against taxpayers.

It is now documented that lawmakers not only fail to read the bills they vote on - they don't write them, either. They let labor unions do that.

And it is established that a union consultant inserted bogus numbers into bills to conceal how much the measures would cost the public.

This shameless abdication of responsibility takes the breath away. And New York City representatives, including Brooklyn Assemblyman Peter Abbate and state Sen. Marty Golden, are among the blameworthy.

This being an election year, public employee unions are pressing the Legislature for pension sweeteners - more than enough to break the bank, according to Gov. Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg and others.

By law, such bills must include cost estimates. But lawmakers let an actuary, who collects tens of thousands of dollars from unions, come up with the numbers. He is Jonathan Schwartz, and he told The New York Times he lowballs estimates, using a method he called "a step above voodoo."

Analyzing an early retirement plan for members of District Council 37, Schwartz ludicrously found that it would cost New York City nary a penny - when the city's actuary reliably put the real cost at $88 million a year.

"I got a little carried away," said Schwartz, a former city official who lost his job after testifying falsely in a pension lawsuit.

Confronted with the fraud, Assembly sponsor Abbate confessed to being a puppet. "They drew up the bill; they went to Jonathan Schwartz," he said of DC 37. "We assume he comes up with the real number." Senate sponsor Golden said he didn't know Schwartz was a union operative.

After brushing off the disclosures, Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Assembly would freeze the legislation pending new cost estimates. But, regardless of those estimates, this is not the year to load the city and local governments with new pension costs.

Paterson appears to recognize this truth. He should veto the entire raft of pension legislation for the benefit of taxpayers, who now know why spending is so out of control in New York.

Anonymous said...

Genack & company don't care what is the morally right thing to do. They will only act if Rubashkin is convicted of a felony and even then he doesn't sound sure.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/NEWS/228426413/1006/news

By Adam Belz

The Gazette
adam.belz@gazettecommunications.com

The world's largest kosher certification agency will continue to give its stamp of approval to products made at Agriprocessors, Inc. in Postville.

Rabbis at the Orthodox Union, a New York-based non-profit organization that certifies thousands of meatpacking plants around the world, are still supervising and certifying the kosher products made at the plant, but are watching to see whether the federal government finds the company guilty of any wrongdoing.

Rabbi Menachem Genack, who oversees the Orthodox Union's certification system, said these accusations are serious and may have bearing on the plant's kosher certification.

"We rely on the government to make those judgments ... and we will wait to see where the facts lead," he said. "If Agriprocessors were criminally liable and it were a felony, that would be a matter of great concern."

A rabbi regularly visits the plant, Genack said, and certification is constantly under review.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines released a statement saying that if some of the charges against the company are correct, "the company would warrant the condemnation of the entire Jewish community in Iowa, and of Jews everywhere."

"What makes the circumstance particularly egregious to the Jewish community is that this corporation, which serves as a religious-based business, in producing kosher meat, has seemingly failed to adhere to both civil law and Jewish law," the statement said.

K'hal Adath Jeshurun, a Jewish congregation in New York that offers its own certification, stopped certifying Agriprocessors on April 16.

Rabbi Moses Edelstein would not say why, but said the plant had been certified since it opened in 1989.

Anonymous said...

http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article.php?article_id=10067

Lubinsky said that most of what Agriprocessors has on the market isn’t coming from Postville but from some of its smaller North American plants or South American operation.

“This is a company that has many resources,” he said. “I don’t see a crisis.”

Agriprocessors' dominance of the market is not incidental, Genack said. Most of the small and medium-sized kosher slaughterhouses in the United States have closed since the 1970s and ‘80s. The O.U. is talking to Empire about increasing its poultry output for the near future, but there is no real substitute when it comes to meat.

“Agriprocessors is an important source of meat for the kosher world," he said. "Finding other sources is not trivial.”

Anonymous said...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/COL07/805210389/1019/BUSINESS

May 21, 2008


White-collar crook spills his secrets

BY SUSAN TOMPOR
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Sam E. Antar tells you straight out that white-collar criminals thrive by building a false wall of integrity.

"Yes, we go to church and to synagogue and to mosque and to temple," Antar told a group of money professionals at the CFA Society of Detroit earlier this month.

The criminal takes advantage of your humanity, he said, and considers it a weakness to be exploited.

Be sure to take those words to heart if you want to avoid getting scammed out of your nest egg. For the crook, humanity -- and its very foundation -- are nothing but a way to work you over.

"We are economic predators," Antar stated.

From predator to prey

Antar, 51, lived and breathed fraud as a certified public accountant and later as chief financial officer of the Crazy Eddie consumer electronics chain in the 1970s and 1980s. He now lists his occupation online as: convicted felon.

He has a Web site -- www.whitecollarfraud.com. He has a blog where he shares his views about securities fraud, the accounting profession and Sarbanes-Oxley. And he does time by voluntarily working in forensic accounting and giving dozens of talks each year about the accounting scams used in the Crazy Eddie days.

He talks about the mind of the white-collar criminal. He does not charge for his speeches. He can afford to give speeches for free, he said, because he made money in real estate and because his wife is relatively wealthy.

He has spoken to the chartered financial analysts group in Detroit, law students and business students at Stanford University, an accounting group in Ohio and certified fraud examiners in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Antar, who feared doing hard time, became the government's star witness in the Crazy Eddie stock fraud trail in the early 1990s. He faced 10 years in prison but ultimately spent 6 months under house arrest and paid $30,000 in fines.

Eddie (Crazy Eddie) Antar, Sam E. Antar's cousin, started with one store in Brooklyn and built a chain of more than 40 stores in metropolitan New York. The Crazy Eddie experience included high-pressure sales tactics, wild commercials and wild promises of low prices.

The Antar family made millions, and the company went public in 1984 with one of the hottest initial public offerings. Then a securities fraud case began unfolding in 1987, years before we heard of corporate cons like those at Enron Corp., Tyco International or WorldCom.

Eddie Antar ultimately served time in prison. Investors lost about $145 million. But roughly 35 cents on the dollar was recovered for shareholders, in part because scammed money was in overseas accounts, including in banks in Israel.

Lessons from a scammer

Watching Sam E. Antar talk to chartered financial analysts at Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak, you could see some of the scam artist and showman. He began by saying that the audience could ask any question. Then, he talked -- and showed tapes, including a CNBC interview with him and Eddie Antar -- for more than 2 1/2 hours, leaving little room for questions.

He offered plenty of insight as he spilled his secrets about the Crazy Eddie days of repackaged merchandise sold as new, skimming cash, ceilings stuffed full of unreported cash and bad audits.

White-collar fraud works because young auditors are easy to scam. The Crazy Eddie chain duped investors and inflated its inventories, and company managers carefully orchestrated stacks of boxes to hide empty space in the warehouse. Young auditors wore suits to the audits, Antar said, and they were easily distracted.

"Nobody ever climbed over the boxes," he said.

When fraud is uncovered, he said, it's generally because insiders ultimately turn on ex-cousins, ex-husbands and ex-bosses.

Founder Eddie Antar was married to a woman named Debbie and decided to take up with a girlfriend named Debbie. He later divorced the wife and married the girlfriend. But Antar family rivalries took advantage of that infidelity. His ex-wife charged fraud after her divorce settlement and ultimately hurt Eddie Antar in the government's investigation years later.

"There is no statute of limitations on the fury of a woman scorned," Sam E. Antar said.

He said he lied under oath for two years in depositions with federal regulators.

"You name it, I lied about it," Antar said in an interview.

What to watch out for

His thoughts for investors:


The only way to read financial statements is to start at the bottom in the footnotes, where the real story is told. And he suggested digging up the statements from comparable quarters to see how those footnotes may have changed.


Most individuals should stick with mutual funds, he said, because they don't have time to keep up on individual stocks.

Several times, Antar suggested how important it is to be skeptical, ask questions and realize that white-collar criminals thrive by building a wall of integrity. He suggested that it's important that people be able to learn from the evilness of his crimes.

So, I asked him: Are you building that wall of integrity right now by doing all those free speeches about white-collar crime?

"Never know," he said, nodding.

Contact SUSAN TOMPOR at 313-222-8876 or stompor@freepress.com.

edmanfred wrote:

edward manfredonia states:

Sam E. Antar continues to be a fraud. In Usana's deposition of Barry Minkow, Minkow stated that Sam E. Antar provided him with $250,00. Afterwards, Minkow wrote a negative report on Usana. Sam E. Antar has boasted on his blog that he (Antar) has provided Minkow with funds to issue reports on Herbalife and other companies.

And here is the most important point: Sam E. Antar never mentioned that the Antar family, especially Crazy Eddie Antar, had illegally kept tens of millions of dollars- until after I had mentioned this in a post on2-24-07 on the Overstock Investor Village Board and more importantly after I had reported the same information on 9 April 2007 to Christopher Cox, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sam E. was no financial genius.

Sam E. is a fraud.

Kind regrds,
Ed Manfredonia

Anonymous said...

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/05/track-star-montgomery-gets-four-years-prison

Olympic gold medalist Tim Montgomery was sentenced Friday to 46 months in federal prison for his role in a $5 million counterfeiting check case that also took down two other Olympic gold medal winners, Marion Jones and Steve Riddick.

The penalty is the latest in a string of legal and professional defeats for Montgomery, at one time the fastest human on the planet.

The 33-year-old former Norfolk State University sprinter already has been stripped of his world record and some of his medals after admitting steroid use. He now faces the possibility of receiving double or triple the prison time if he is convicted of unrelated heroin distribution charges filed against him in Norfolk's federal court.

Requests for leniency and mercy by Montgomery and his family were denied on Friday by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas.

"I am very troubled that up until today he has not accepted responsibility," Karas said in court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Danya Perry cited audio and video tapes of Montgomery participating in heroin sales as well as "very incriminating" statements he gave to federal agents after his arrest last week.

Anonymous said...

http://mominisrael.blogspot.com/2008/05/another-cult-exposed-megirot.html

Friday, May 16, 2008
Another cult exposed -- Megirot

"Megirot" (lit. drawers) is one of many recent attempts to help religious women attain a higher spiritual level in their lives. The Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon has an exposé in today's paper about the method and its founder. Women who have been active for many years and have taught using Megirot's methods are calling it a cult. The method has many followers in the religious Zionist community in Israel.

According to the article by Yifat Erlich, Megirot was founded by Sylvia Dahari. A widowed mother of six originally from Gush Katif (the Jewish settlement of Gaza), she wished to share the "secrets" that helped her cope during the period after her husband was murdered in a terrorist attack. She attracted women with her dynamic personality and her ability to transform mundane daily tasks, especially housekeeping, into a quest for reaching a high level of holiness. The women brought the contents of their drawers to the lessons, where Sylvie (or the teachers trained by her) analyzed the objects and drew conclusions about the woman's inner life.

At a lesson attended by the reporter in preparation for the article, Sylvie told of a woman who came to her saying that she wanted a divorce after two years of marriage. They "did a drawer," which contained tapes of children's songs. Sylvie asked why the woman was saving the tapes, and the woman said they were for her children. Sylvie pointed out that tapes would be worthless by the time the children grew up, and the woman was really saving them for herself because she still felt like a child. The woman agreed with Sylvie, and said that she wanted a divorce because she was afraid of growing up and becoming a mother.

The women interviewed in the article, who had been trained by Sylvie to teach the method, continue to be grateful for many things that they learned. However, they were seriously disturbed by Sylvie's focus on sexual matters, including the close emotional relationships she developed with several husbands of her students. She interfered with the students' private lives and mocked students after class. She deliberately came hours late to class, despite knowing that students travelled long distances.

Here are examples from the article:


Sylvie told of her son, whose daughter jumped on him and interrupted his learning. "Do everything so that she will listen to you in the end," instructed Sylvie to her son. "I am breaking your hands," he told the girl, and when she jumped on him again, he turned her hand until a "tick" was heard. "That's it, finished," explained Sylvie to the students. "It won't happen again. Fear of punishment is necessary." [Why do these cults always involve child abuse?]
Two years ago Sylvie began courting L., a married father of seven, who ran a ranch for teens at risk. The two would closet themselves in a room for hours and be seen around the country all hours of the day and night. "Every man has a physical wife and a spiritual wife. I am L.'s spiritual wife," she explained to the students. [Why do these cults always involve sexual impropriety?]
She told L.'s ["physical"] wife, Y., "It's from Hashem, for your own good. I am building his personality and saving him from spiritual death, and you are interfering in the process." Y. was apparently convinced, and sadly told one of the women: "You think this isn't hard for me? Sylvie is working with me on this."

Sylvie gave a class for single women, and concluded that the reason they remained unmarried was their inability to speak openly with men. She recruited L. [see above] and a 17-year-old boy from his ranch, so the women could practice intimate phone conversations with them. When the women suggested that Sylvie herself marry, she replied, "Marry? For what? Why do I need a husband on my head? What is bad about my life? To serve him? So he will limit me? I don't have enough to do?"
Sylvie tells women to carefully guard her husband's honor: to stand up when he gets home, cook what he likes, and get into bed five minutes earlier than he. But if the men disagree with Sylvie about something, it's a different matter entirely.
[We have sex, we have child abuse, so what's left? Money, of course.] Tens of thousands of shekalim went into Sylvie's pocket in the guise of sacred money, with a promise that the donors will merit blessings and be protected from harm. During the course of opening drawers, objects deemed unnecessary or impediments to growth remained with Sylvie. These included electrical appliances, a diamond ring, clothes and more. Women paid to attend lessons, but no receipts were ever given by Sylvie. (Some other teachers do give receipts.)

When haredi women began flocking to meetings in Bnei Brak, the Badatz of the Edah Haredit (one haredi community's religious court) banned it. But it took longer for the religious Zionist rabbis to get the picture. Rabi Eliahu of Safed at one time recommended the Megirot method to women, but no longer. He believes a religious court should be convened to discuss the matter.

And some people seem to think that our community is too cynical. But it's clear to me that we're not suspicious enough. Yemima is another religious woman giving classes to promote spiritual growth; I see advertisements for her everywhere. I'd be interested to know more about her too.

The article has more, but it's Friday afternoon and I've covered the main points.

Any readers who have participated in Megirot are invited to email me at mominisrael@gmail.com .

Anonymous said...

can someone please explain to me why this guy heshy nussbaum is still out there in toronto and allegedly chasing little boys? is there anyone out there that has personally observed him in contact or attempting to make contact with minors?