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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Response To Un-Orthodox Jew Blogsite And It's Mistakes About Hassidim And Kabbala & Anger At Torah Leadership!

by Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn

The Unorthodox Jew blogsite end of January has an article beginning, "Make no mistake, Chassidism is not part of authentic Judaism." In the article all Kabbalists are referred to as non-authentic, as Kabbala is not part of the tradition from Sinai. Thus, the Zohar, Ari z"l are not "authentic." He writes, "there is no known link of mesorah or chain of events, going back to that time, from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochoi to the Ari z"l." Chassidim, he maintains, are not authentic Jews, because they rely heavily on Kabbala. He writes that since Kabbala was not at Sinai, this would "eliminate the Zohar or Kabbalah from effectively being part of Judaism."

The author of the blog then proceeds to enlighten us that "Chassidim, have their entire canon (or myths) based entirely on the writings of the Zohar, and the rantings of an unlearned bal agalah or horse and buggy driver, known as the Baal Shem Tov or the Besht. The Besht, being the very first Forest Ranger, hanging out with the animals in the forest and talking to the trees, set a precedent for today's rebbes who hang out in their ghettos with their animals . " Also, "The Vilna Gaon called the Besht a heretic and a lunatic, and considered that movement outside of Judaism. Rabbi Aaron Kotler refused to let Chassidim into Lakewood. When he ultimately relented under great pressure, he forbade them to wear their shtreimels in the bais medrash."

I studied in Lakewood under Reb Aharon Kotler. I remember clearly that his son-in-law, a Chosid, who married his adopted daughter, sat up front of the Beit HaMedrash right in front of Reb Aharon (who sat facing everyone else) wearing Hassidic clothes. I remember clearly seeing Reb Aharon welcome his best friend, the Chassidic Rebbe of Kupishnitz, with such love and affection. This is what I saw. I also heard from reliable sources that Reb Aharon was once asked by a student why he so respected the Kupishnitser Rebbe, and treated him so wondrously. Reb Aharon answered that the purity of this rebbe was what the goal of every Jew is. Everyone knows that the entire Agudas Israel founded by the Chofetz Chaim was filled with Hassidic rebbes such as the Gerrer Rebbe who was very close to the Chofetz Chaim and his disciple Reb Elchonon Wasserman. Reb Elchonon was very close with the Slonimer Rebbe and would go on Shabbos Shalosh Seudose to hear his talks.

Reb Aharon did not let Chassidic students in under pressure. Litvishe Yeshivas in Europe such as Kaminets, with Reb Baruch Ber, had Hassidic students. Reb Baruch Ber was careful to respect these students and their rebbes. He once wrote to a rebbe that he wanted more such students, but the rebbe said that these were all that he had of the caliber to learn by Reb Baruch Ber. This is from the recent book on Reb Baruch Ber HaRavv HaDomeh LiMaloch. Reb Baruch Ber would quote his rebbes, not Hassidic rebbes, but he then would say that he did not quote Hassidic rebbes because he never learned from them, but he respected them. This was meant to encourage the Hassidic students not to be bad that they never heard Hassiduce from Reb Baruch Ber.

We now turn to the issue of Kabbala. The UOJ blog considers it outside of authentic Judaism because it didn't come from Sinai. He considers Kabbala a Hassidic abberation. But this is completely wrong. Reb Aharon Kotler once quoted the Vilna Gaon who compared himself with the Shaagas Aryeh. Both knew the entire Torah by heart. But "he and I in niglo. I and him in Kabbalo." The main effort of the Vilna Gaon was Kabbala. He wrote many books on Kabbala and his students were great Kabbalists, such as Reb Chaim Vollozner. The great Kabbalist Reb Menachem Mendel of Shekelov was a Litvak known as "the third generation from the Gro," because he studied Kabbala under a student of the Gro.

Kabbala is mentioned clearly in the Talmud in masechta Chagiga perek Ain Dorshim. The passages in the Sefer Yechezkel about visions are clearly Kabbalistic. Therefore, at Sinai the revealed and hidden law were revealed to Moshe. In Chagiga we find open study of Kabbala, the maaseh merkovo, the maaseh beraishis, and these are quoted by Rambam in Mishneh Torah. In Rambam's time, before him and after him, there were those who studied Kabbala in the style of the ten Sefiroth and other concepts found in Lurian Kabbala. However, in those days all was hidden. Ramban's Kabbala in his commentary on Chumash is not revealed but only hinted. The Lurian Kabbala, following by only a few years the revelation of Reb Moshe Kardevero, was a public revelation of Kabbala, one that has continued to this day. The Ari z"l lived in Tsefas together with the Radvaz and Rabbi Yosef Karo who were the leading Niglo authorities and poskim in the entire world. The entire community was filled with Torah and great scholars who studied niglo and nistor, and nobody considered the Ari z"l to be outside of the pale. The opposite was true. They all wanted to learn his Kabbala, but he resisted with all of his might, because he only wanted Rabbi Chaim Vital and maybe a tiny group, but the pressure was too much and he had to admit others.

All Orthodox Jews embrace Kabbala. The Sefardim and Taimonim have glorious Kabbala traditions, and even simple people read the Zohar. Lithuanians follow the Gro who was a mighty Kabbalist. Hassidim follow the Besht who was a mighty Kabbalist. All of this is authentic Judaism...

Anger at Torah Leadership

by Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

The Internet is filled with anger at Torah leadership. Recently, some prominent Torah scholars have taken to present their opinions about the Internet, and this simply made things hotter. There is a cycle to the situation. Someone does something or says something that offends certain rabbis. The rabbis respond, and this stokes the fires instead of calming things. There are many Torah Jews on the Internet, but it seems at times that the anger is greater than the love and reverence we expect. Why? What is going on?

I have been angry at the Torah community for a generation. A new type of "gadol" took over after the European greats died. A new kind of Torah Judaism is alive in the world. I hate it. I fought it in my seforim, in brochures and letters to the community, even on the radio. I did this not because I rebel against Gedolim, but because I was very close to them, and they were upset but silent, and I will not be silent.

I once opened my mouth full blast in a shul in Jerusalem in front of a close relative of a great Gadol. He was very puzzled and upset, because I was a talmid of his relative. At first he made faces and mumbled and finally his puzzlement changed to a broad smile. A wise man, he did not tell me directly why he now understood. He hinted from a Torah peshat on Chumash that Shimon and Levi did what Yaacov wanted done, even though it was a horrible thing to do. I don't say that this is what I meant, but my point is that he realized I was saying what great people could not. If they would say it the world would come to an end. If I say it, whoever wants to listen, fine, and if not, no damage is done.

What do I hate? Here is a list:


2500 girls aged 25 on a Shadchon's list. Other shadchonim won't take a girl because it is a waste of his time.

A bas talmid chochom is rejected, by the Rosh Yeshiva's "daas Torah" in favor of a rich baal habos. The Shulchan Aruch quotes the gemora that one must sell everything to marry a bas Talmid Chochom.

A girl is taught to marry a great scholar, but the great scholar's rebbe tells him to
marry someone rich.

Everyone must be a gadol. Whoever works is a failure. The gemora and Shulchan Aruch say just the opposite.

Everyone must take after marriage and not earn. Rambam, Rabbeinu Yona and Rashi say that if you take you have no Olam Habo.

Parents ready to retire must fork over fortunes to support the "jewel" who learns and doesn't work. "Everyone" must go to kollel, which is against the Shulchan Aruch and destroys many men, their working wives, and children who have no mother.
It also destroys the desperate parents who have to pay sometimes by selling their homes.

This spiritual sewage produces no gedolim. But it gets worse and worse.

Learn, don't work, and take government programs.
This again is a violation of the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch.

The Talmud says, "A child not taught to earn will be a thief."
Do we just say rip off the parents and trust in HaShem? What happens then?

The divorce situation is a disaster, and will surely lead to mamzerut. But there is nobody to talk to about it.

Kashruth for a baal nefesh will end in a few years due to genetic engineering and the absence of mirsas in global food companies. Nobody cares....... ( mirsas is defined as fear of getting caught by inspectors for using non-kosher products -since the vast majority of food and chemical companies do not have mashgichim t'midim- or supervisors on the premises at all-UOJ)

Family and marriage are torn to shreds by "daas Torah."

There are many people out there who don't articulate things this way, but they are getting angrier all of the time.

The Torah world is a can of gasoline, and I want to throw in the match.


Rav Eidensohn has written seforim with haskomos from Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, and Rav Wosner. He learned with Rav Ahron Kotler, Rav Moshe Feinstein, and other undisputed gedolei Torah.

118 comments:

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Rabbi Eidensohn,

I feel honored and humbled that you would not only read my writings, but take the time to rebut and respond.

I have great respect for you; I reserve the right to respond in kind.

Anonymous said...

UOJ is right on his view of R' Aron not permitting shtreimlech in the bais medrash on Shabbos (when else) until 1957-8.

Anonymous said...

I don't care much for the topic at hand, but I am very impressed with the tone of the Rabbi's letter. He discusses the issue and doesn't attack the messenger. I don't know who he is, but G-d bless him.

Anonymous said...

With all the respect to the rabbi, you repeat stories about other rabbis that we have no way of verifying if they're true.

I grew up with stories about this and that, as I matured I realized that for the most part they are exaggerations at best, and outright untruths at worst.

This does not minimize the fact that rabbis today, whether they are Kabbalists, Hassidim, or just plain rabbis, they have all let us down.

On something so basic to our survival as a people as child molestation, all of them decided it just was not that important to deal with.

Frankly, I'm tired of these rabbi-stories of who did what or said what 100-1000 years ago.

What have they done for us today that affects our lives? Or rather the question should be, what have they not done that they should have done?

Ronnie Schreiber said...

With all due respect to Rav Eidensohn, the issue isn't so much whether Judaism has a mystical tradition. It does, and the mesorah points out how dangerous the pardes can be.

I find it interesting, though, that R. Eidensohn doesn't mention what I feel is one of UOJ's central points in his post about Kabbala/Chassidus (which is more about non Jewish concepts and practices in Chassidus than about the general subject of Jewish mysticism), the allegation that Moshe de Leon was the true author of the Zohar. While there may be references to kabbalistic concepts within the corpus of traditional Judaism that predate de Leon, one cannot find reference to a work called The Zohar. While de Leon undoubtedly was working from some traditional concepts, is it k'firah to question that Shimon Bar Yochai was the author of the Zohar?

Also, if the Zohar and Kabbala can take "credit" for the Chassidic movement, they also have to bear some of the responsibility for the Sabbatean debacle.

Anonymous said...

Frankly, I'm tired of these rabbi-stories of who did what or said what 100-1000 years ago.

What have they done for us today that affects our lives? Or rather the question should be, what have they not done that they should have done?


Right on. Today is what matters. And tomorrow too. Addressing the future is what growth is all about. I too am tired of century-old rebbe stories...

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

I'm very happy you posted this letter. You were factually incorrect on yesterdays post & you did the right thing posting this letter so at least you "Chassidim" will realize that while you may have the facts right about current events, you don't know much about Kaballah or Chassidism.

Anonymous said...

Shlomo Carlebach was thrown out of Lakewood when Rabbi Kotler found out that he visited the Rebbe of Lubavitch regularly. This was in the fifties when Chabad was not viewed as a threat to conventional Judaism.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Gross and Ronnie,

You've expressed my exact sentiments with your usual eloquence.

Anonymous said...

I wish that Agudah would give dissenters same space in their domain as UOJ give to somebody who express an oposite opinion. In any case, the Rabbi was very respectfull and answered to the point. I do not know much about the Lakewood Yeshivah vis a vis Chasidism, but some of what the Rabbi had said about Kabbala and Judasim seems to be more in tune with what we know then what UOJ had said about that. I was not too comfortable reading the ideological part of UOJ's article.
On the other hand, I totally agree that we should eradicate any criminal activities in our midst. It appears that there is some rampant corruption and cover up in many sectors of Orthodox Judaism. I fully support UOJ in the effort to fight those phenomena.

Anonymous said...

There is a more comtemporary issue with Chassidishe in Lakewood. The type of chossid trying to get into Lakewood & other Litvishe yeshivos is not the same as in R' Aron's days. Some Litvishe yeshivos had been completely overrun by Chassidishe such as Beis Hatalmud & Stamford and to a lesser extent some other yeshivos. Roshei yeshiva then became careful not to make the same mistake. Lakewood had a population control method that capped the Chassidim at about 10%. The modern day Chassidim started coming in two forms, either metzuyonim with admirable hasmodo or baalei kishron who are terrible batlonim and even worse troublemakers. Besides that Lakewood offers them many freedoms not available in Villiamsburg, like driving cars, these characters never had any hashgocho where they came from and proceeded to destroy the dormitory. That's what happens when you skip high school and go straight to Beis Hatalmud at 14 where there is no real supervision. You then come to Lakewood as an overgrown infant who engages in waterfights at 3 am and runs around spraying fire extinguishers while yelling "Hatzula". Some of you are sober and others are high on vodka and smash the empty bottles as part of the festivities. They were a bunch of nocturnal vampires who arose the next morning at 11 am to prepare for mikva. Even Lazer Stefansky's Swiss accented monotone at 10 am ordering them to get up had no impact. Since R' Shneur held it is a nefoshos shayla to throw anyone out because they'll never find a shidduch, it took years for the roshei yeshiva to finally move on one bezunderra bad bunch that actually sparked fistfights with neighboring rooms who could never sleep. There were some Litvishe that were bad news but they either stayed in Brooklyn most of the week oe were partying in Atlantic City. They didn't hang out to destroy the seviva. This is the reason why Chassidishe were farhered only by R' Yisroel Neuman who is the toughest and he would test them on the entire masechta. But even that couldn't filter out the party animals with the biggest potential. I never had a problem with Chassidim until I learned in Lakewood.

Anonymous said...

Carlebach follower,

I don't think you have accurate information. First off, both R' Aron & the Brisker Rov had problems with Lubavitch starting with the first sicha that was published in 1952. These geonim saw what was coming. Even still, I have many reasons to believe that R' Aron did not punish Carlebach for visits to the rebbe. An alter Telzer, Rav Shochet, who later became a Lubob had a son learning by R' Aron. R' Aron knew he was visiting M.M. Schneursohn and even gave him a wink once. R' Aron did have a problem with Carlebach's musical obsession which he felt would be Carlebach's undoing, according to some other R' Aron talmidim I spoke to. A talmid of R' Aron who is no longer frum, Aron Gleich, relates another story to me which is plausable but perhaps too unsavory for me to repeat in public.

Anonymous said...

The Great UOJ,

It's nice you posted the response, or a "rebuttal" to your assertions in your previous posting titled "The Enemy Within-Part Three-Chassidism Is Not Judaism". I say this to highlight an important ingredient that I feel is being pushed aside, neglected, and misrepresented by Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn. If you're going to debate your history and knowledge of the Kabalistic element and origin, just say so. Why, make it sound like this is some awesome knockout against blogger UOJ.

Clearly the focus of UOJ's pursuit is for children's safety and well being. UOJ expressed the taboo of fakeness, deceit, corruption, and murder - in the Jewish arena circles, but particularly the epidemic of many Chasidim who desecrate the name of Judiasim, and even the many non-Chasidim who are doing the same. That was UOJ's MAIN point I believe.

I do not think UOJ"s intentions was to knock mysticism at all, but rather to bring focus and attention to the Torah these impostor-Jews (Chasidim and all included)are holding hostage.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing Rabbi stories of a different era and time. It's 2007 and stop bs' ing us with greatness pills. Who cares which Rabbi was the greatest kabalistic sage, or who founded mysticism. Is that that going to help us fight against child molesters posing as rabbi's? Will it stop Yeshiva's from stealing government money? Is it going to stop Yoily and Shmiel from leading a double life full of corruption and disgrace? Will it be an encouragement to some Rabbi who refuses to acknowledge any blame or responsibility, even though the truth is so brutally honest it smacks him on his fat behind on his way out of the mikvah, to stand up for Hashem's Torah?
Will it restore Judiasim to the way it ought to be practiced?

Ronnie, welcome back.

UOJ - Show no mercy to these sick monsters who are hijacking our religion.

'''''' Unforgiven ''''''''

Ronnie Schreiber said...

gross said...

....
Right on. Today is what matters. And tomorrow too. Addressing the future is what growth is all about. I too am tired of century-old rebbe stories...


They can be inspirational as long as we remember that they are stories, not Torah MiSinai. Personally, I've always enjoyed Chassidic tales, though it would be nice if I had the language skills to not have to rely on Buber and others, who have their own agendas. Somehow I think that Levi Yitzchak of Birditchev, would resonate with UOJ's perspective.

With apologies to Iyov:

It was the 17th century and HaKodesh Baruch Hu summons HaSatan.

"So Satan, tell me what have you been doing?"

"I've been traveling. Here and there. In and out. Checking out the scene"

"Have you considered my righteous servant Israel?"

"The Jews?! They're only righteous because they have no choice. You're always letting the goyim bust their balls and most of them have no opportunities for a better life. I bet that if you gave them some freedom and affluence, and open up the ghettos so they can enter secular society you'll find them to be less than righteous."

"Sounds like a good bet."

So God put his markers down. He wanted to cover his bases so he first bet on a scholar named Eliyahu who lived in Vilnius, Lithuania for the smart asses, and then added a bet on a wagon driver named Yisroel from Medziboz, Poland for those more emotionally disposed. The Accuser went with Moses Mendelsohn.


NP: Revolver - The Beatles (Shakespeare was correct. What a piece of work is man! Those boys were very talented.)

PS: UOJ, not all the admorim were self serving. I've read much of what's available about the Jews saved by the Japanese (may the memory of Sugihara be a blessing) and have come across a few documented stories about R. Shimon Kalish, the Amshenover, who seems to have encouraged his followers to leave and provided great chizuk to his fellow refugees as they made it through the USSR, Japan and then Shanghai. He was pretty bright too. When asked by the Japanese why their allies, the Germans, hated the Jews so, he said "because they know we are orientals".

If I could write dialog, I'd love to write a play called Sempo & Oskar. The curtain opens and we see two men at a table in a bar, having drinks. They are both sharp dressers and enjoy their booze and the company of attractive women. One, Sempo, is Japanese, a spy and a diplomat for a brutal militaristic empire. The other, Oskar, is German, an alcoholic war profiteer. They talk of their failures after the war. Oskar could never make a success out of himself, and Sempo had to start a new career, having pissed off his superiors. People keep coming up to one or the other, thanking him and saying what a saint he is, but they both deny it. "It was nothing. I did what I had to do. There was no other real choice." In time we discover that the bar is located in Heaven and the two boozers are named Schindler and Sugihara.

Anonymous said...

All this is very nice in defending kabalah and all, but how do you explain the chassidim today? Rioting in Boro Park, many refusing to work despite having 15 kids, ripping off the government.... Maybe they were useful a few hundred years ago, but these days chassidim are as useless at ____s on a nun.

Anonymous said...

Eidensohn........... based on his website he is obssessed with sex www.sinaicentral.com/kedusho

Anonymous said...

Could Ronnie please do us a favor instead of boring us with unnecessary verbiage? First, instead of posting long excerpts, that most people aren't interested in reading anyway, just post a link or source. Second, we don't really gives a rat's tuchess which song is playing in the background every times he posts. He does a good job of posting things on his own website when he wants to like the Belsky letters, so let him create his own page with favorite tunes.

These Ronnie megillos really turn this blog from a pleasure of a read to an obstacle course that can put you to sleep.

Mamma mia

Anonymous said...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz said...
Could Ronnie please do us a favor instead of boring us with unnecessary verbiage? First, instead of posting long excerpts, that most people aren't interested in reading anyway, just post a link or source. Second, we don't really gives a rat's tuchess which song is playing in the background every times he posts.
-----------
I like Ronnie, but there needs to be a cap on the maximum number of words he can use per message posted.

Anonymous said...

I think that almost everyone reading this blog has missed UOJ's point. The message is: Take things the way want to take them. Not everything that someone says is the absolute truth and everyone is entitled to an opinion. Remember that all humans make mistakes including some of your roshei yeshivas and "so-called" rabbi's.

UOJ is entitled to express his opinions about any rabbi that he wants to. It does not mean that you have to believe him. Acknowledge the fact that there are opinions out there that are counter to those of your local moronic cult leader or the Yated . There is life beyond those pathetic pictures of goons sitting and handing out kugel with their hands.

We live in a society of Sdodom where money gets to peoples heads and they think that they sit next to the kisei hakavod if not on it. In the end, many of the leaders of our society will be charged with these high crimes.

Am Yisrael Chai

AmEchad

Anonymous said...

OUJ, wish you were around when I was a kid.
I've been beaten my brains out from a parent in the name of religion. This sicko gets honored everywhere- (I asked someone why I was told well this parent has a lot of friends and $ is $.) Everything was covered up-the school wouldn't have believed a word and the symptoms were completely ignored. I'm still in therapy for it.

Anyone to contact for the support that you offer?
tired of supporting therapists.

Anonymous said...

Discord with Lubavitch goes back further. I'm told that R' Aron & Rav Kalmanowitz had taynos on the frierdikke rebbe. Failed Messiah had a lot of source material on that a while back. Lately though he's changed and will lash at anyone frum, not just Lubavitchers. R' Boruch Ber had huge taynos on the old rebbe even before that. People have given eidus that R' Boruch Ber said "sifsei sheker tayolamna" before the alter rebbe had a debilitating stroke. What's interesant is that Lubavitchers often act in a very immature & vindictive way. When the Chabad beis din lashed out at R' Elya Svei in a full page attack in der Algemeiner, they used the same posuk that R' Boruch Ber said. Also, that Telzer come Lubavitcher Schochet has another son who learned in Philly. He now calls those days "chatos neoorai" and lashes out at virtually any Litvak. He claims that gedolim had taynos on Rav kalmanowitz over the hatzola. I couldn't find anyone to back that up and suspect it's just retaliation for crticism of his alter rebbe.

Anonymous said...

To doze Chassidishe guys making trrouble in da dormitory, if vee are hearing von more peep, your rrroom vill be dismantled.

And please don't pour sugar in my gas tank again, even if you slip the cash under my office door to pay for it on erev Rosh Hashana.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

UOJ, your call on this one. I'm just immature enough to like to tweak their noses.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz said...

Could Ronnie please do us a favor instead of boring us with unnecessary verbiage? First, instead of posting long excerpts, that most people aren't interested in reading anyway, just post a link or source.


Verbose? Prolix? Logorrhea? Moi?

But I digress.

Boy, you froomies are so easy to annoy. Good thing I'm too mature to provoke you.

People with critical thinking skills, unlike yourself, are capable of skipping over posts. They also are capable of discerning between a quote and original writing. People who know how to use their mouse button can just click on a comment to hide it.

These comments are moderated. Nothing gets posted without UOJ's consent. I leave it up to him. If he wants one of my comments posted, he lets it go up. If he doesn't (and he has spiked some of my comments), it doesn't go up. If you have a problem, take it up with the landlord, UOJ, not me.

Second, we don't really gives a rat's tuchess which song is playing in the background every times he posts.

"every time"?

To begin with, my Now Playing comments list albums, not individual songs. Revolver isn't a song, it's an album title you cultural philistine. More to your point, my last comment was the first time I did a NP note since I resumed commenting here. I don't do it "every time". While I indeed love music, I don't play it 24 hrs a day. Sometimes it's quiet here. Sometimes I make a little noise on the Bozoer Rebbe's Heilige Harmonica (some day I'll put together A Few Jews Blues Band). Sometimes I listen to talk radio. Sometimes there's just the hum from the cooling fans on the computers. Sometimes a four head embroidery machine is stitching away.

Aren't sight and hearing wonderful brachas? God could have just given us vision, but He also gave us beautiful things to see and the ability to craft those beautiful things. God could have just given us the ability to hear, but He also gave us lovely things to hear and the ability to make music.

NP: Laura Ingraham (she's cute and single - too bad she's a Catholic, but she does have Dore Gold on now talking about Arab/Palestinian historical revisionism concerning Jewish holy sites in Yerushalayim.)

I realize you are incapable of appreciating music that doesn't include the lyrics "Oy yoy yoy yoy" set to Vegas lounge lizard arrangements of melodies stolen from goyim ("Halacha prohibits reproduction of this recording. Our fans are not allowed to copy our CDs but we don't feel a moral need to pay royalties when we are the ones doing the copying"). Im tam v'reiach ain l'hitvakeiach. Some of us, however, appreciate real music.

He does a good job of posting things on his own website when he wants to like the Belsky letters, so let him create his own page with favorite tunes.

I could be wrong, as it has been a very long time since I've posted on my Bozoyon blog, but I'm pretty sure that I've never commented about R. Belsky and his letters there. Some of my other websites are either commerce sites like Infidel Attire (feel free to buy a shirt with Am Yisrael Chai in Arabic) or Rokem Needle Arts (or buy custom Challah covers). Others are automotive news sites like Auto Report India or Chevy Camaro News. None of them are appropriate venues for discussing the issue of respected rabbis who protect pedophiles.

NP: Greatest Hits - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (w/ Howie Epstein on the bass)

These Ronnie megillos really turn this blog from a pleasure of a read to an obstacle course that can put you to sleep.

See my comment above regarding skipping or hiding comments. Though I appreciate some of the writing here, I'm not sure, in light of UOJ's usual topics, that calling his blog a "pleasure" is appropriate, though I can understand how vicarious vampires like you might get your jollies here.

Mamma mia

And what a hot woman she is too. Last night she was amazing.

[Sorry UOJ, it was low hanging fruit]

On Deck: Mozart's 40th Symphony - George Szell and the Cleveland SO

Anonymous said...

Since R' Gross asked for more details, here goes.

Yudel Shain runs his own hashgocho that is very machmir & no nonsense. People making simchos hire him to enhance whatever supervision the caterer has. At one such affair 8 years ago at the Atrium he smelled a rat. When he began investigating, the trail led to Finkel who couldn't produce any receipts and who was behaving fishy. Shain forced the Atrium to kasher the kitchen and got them to agree to never allow Finkels birds in again. Shain went to Breslauer and other rabbonim but just got the typical response of oy vey chas veshalom meh ken nisht mekabel zein. UOJ posted a 212 tel# last year run by Satmar where you can hear a recording of a 90 minute interview with Shain about this. If you go to Shain's Yudelstake blog he has some entries at the end of 2006 about how Breslauer's people and Yankel Reisman's people (from 5 Towns) are the same working under two different names. He accuses them of covering up kashrus scandals besides the Finkel disaster. It's outrageous if true because Reisman's ARK claims to use every chumra.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Ummat Is'rail Hiyyah

Anonymous said...

He refers to IBM's Nazi collaboration (first uncovered by investigative reporter Edwin Black). I believe after investgating it myself that it was a different company that ended up later as a hybrid morph that is now IBM.

It's true that most blue chips had complicit subsidiaries but not to the extent that they actually worked Jews to death directly like GM or Ford who financed the American Nazi party member Father Coughlin yemach smoy to incite against Jews on the radio. Ford is still a family run business. One of the Fords recently auctioned off for about 100 grand an original portrait of Adolf Hitler. I hope Ford goes belly up. Ford & Coughlin instigated the Christie Pitts riots in Toronto in the 1930s(read the books written on that) that took the life of Jews that were attacked. Fortunately though, the Jews rose up on the second day and fought back with a vengeance. They starting arriving by the truckload armed with baseball bats & pitchforks and clobbered the shkotzim.

So at least Ronnie admits that GM sucked until 5 years ago but mechanics won't hold back the rest of the story like even 2004 models coming in with burnt out window motors which is GMs trademark. The only GM make that might be ok is Saab because they bought it from the Swedes and Car & Driver says it has the best maintainence outlook. I'm finished with GM after all 4 windows burnt out on me and others in my family.

I don't own a Braun coffeemaker but I wouldn't have a problem anyway as they were bought by a Dutch conglomerate in the 80s or 90s. I have a preference for an actual German brand called Krupps. Many Yekkes will tell you the untold story of how Mr. Krupps saved their family from the Nazis much like a Schindler.

Ronnie should switch allegiances because the Detroit auto industry is all washed up.

Anonymous said...

http://www.chevyssrforum.com/blogarchive/belsky2.pdf

Belsky letters posted by Ronnie on his own mirrored site.

If he tries to deny it I have proof that he's lying.

Anonymous said...

When the Brisker Rov saw the first sicha from Menachem Mendel, hot er gezogt, dem meshugena maint az er iz moshiach.

When R' Aron Kotler saw the first sicha he became angry and threw it on the floor. Someone was there when it happened. It was Snider who used to own "Odd Job".

Anonymous said...

Another instance of attempting to "sweep things under the rug".
Shhh, If we don't say anything, it doesn't exist. Why am I not the least bit surprised about the publisher getting phone calls from "RABBIS" in NY not to run the story. Read on....


[b]Yeshiva Winter Break Marred By Teen Suicide[/b]

In an apparent suicide, a twelfth grader at the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in Woodmere, NY, jumped from the eleventh floor of a Miami beachfront hotel this past Friday.

Philip "Tuli" Kagan, of Lawrence, NY, was spending the Yeshiva winter break in Miami with his father. According to a preliminary report released Monday to the Florida Jewish News by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner, witnesses observed him jump from the eleventh floor of the hotel to the alley below at approximately 11:50 AM. He was pronounced dead on the scene. The medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.

Police Captain Greg Roy was the first officer to arrive on the scene. After Kagan was pronounced dead, Roy went to the boy’s room, where he met his father, Howard Kagan, and informed him of his son’s death. Kagan told Roy that his son had a history of depression for which he had been taking medication, but that nothing had occurred in recent days to spark the suicide. In the police report, however, Kagan is quoted as saying that his son had been depressed for the past two days.

"There is no single cause of suicide," said Dr. Tom Hunter, a pediatric/adolescent psychiatrist with a private practice in Coral Gables. "Suicidal behavior is often complex and complicated. And we only have the father’s perspective. Vacation itself can be stressful, and there could have been other stressors that the father didn’t know about."

Tuli Kagan was buried Sunday in Hewlett, NY.

Speaking at the funeral, Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky, principal of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach D.R.S. Yeshiva High School for Boys, described Tuli as someone who attached himself to the needs of others, who was always there to give a fellow student a ride somewhere when he needed one, and would do anything for his friends. Even on his trip to Florida, Rabbi Kaminetsky recounted, Tuli "invited some friends to spend time with him and his father, and he knew they had nowhere to stay, so he booked a hotel room for them without telling them; he just said he had a place for them."

Kaminetsky also told of Tuli’s desire to effect his own spiritual and religious growth. "He was totally comfortable coming into my office, to sit down and talk about life’s challenges, things that were going well for him, and things that he wanted to improve. His whole life this past year has been about his desire to improve himself in every way possible."

But despite his attempts at self-improvement, Tuli was "troubled," according to "Lisa," a twelfth grader from Miami Beach, who was in his travel group on a 2006 teen summer tour.

In fact, prior to leaving on the 2006 summer tour, Kagan was hospitalized in New York after he attempted suicide by swallowing a large quantity of pain killers, according to medical records obtained from North Shore Hospital by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner. He had previously been diagnosed with depression and had been taking Lexapro, an anti-depressant, for about a month.

"Lisa" ran into Kagan in Miami Beach the day before his death and recalled thinking that he seemed fine. "I was surprised and happy to see him in such high spirits," she said.

According to Miami Beach clinical psychologist Dr. Norman Goldwasser, this is not uncommon, and demonstrates the need for vigilance on the part of parents and friends of people who are recovering from depression. "In fact, many depressed, disturbed individuals are too emotionally shut down to do anything about their suicidal thinking and feelings," Goldwasser said. "Once their energy levels increase, they are actually at a higher risk of committing suicide."

Grief counselors coordinated by Chai Lifeline were on hand at Hebrew Academy of Long Beach when students returned to school Monday morning, however they were there strictly to deal with the loss; public discussion of suicide was shunned.

"Studies have shown there is no benefit to bringing the whole school together to talk about a suicide," Hunter said. "It’s better to identify those who are at a greater risk and deal with them one on one."

But it’s also important not to sweep suicide under the rug, according to Jackie Rosen, founder and Executive Director of the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention.

"The suicide figures we have available today are off by as much as 50% because so many go unreported," said Rosen. "Many one-car accidents, overdoses, and falls from high places are classified as accidental because the family insists on covering up the true cause of death.

"But silence is deadly," Rosen added. "If you don’t talk about it, you are preventing people who suffer from clinical depression—the leading cause of suicide—from getting the help they so desperately need. You can’t live in reality unless you confront what happened."

Rosen also said that teens are especially at risk because of the immense pressures that are piled upon them: testing, bullying, being different, pressure to succeed, and limited access to working or traveling parents.

Kagan was the youngest suicide victim Captain Roy has encountered so far in his career as a police officer. "[At this age] you don’t even know enough about life to decide whether or not it’s worth living," Roy said.

February 1, 2007 7:05 AM


[b]Florida Jewish News said... [/b]I encountered some of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make with regard to dealing with requests that I not allow a story to run. In the end, I decided to run it, and based on the formula I described in the opening sentence of this column, I can tell you that it is the most important article that has ever appeared in this newspaper.

But I also believe that the process through which I determined that the story would appear is almost as important as the story itself. So I would like to use this week’s Avi’s Corner to share with you some background about the story that appears here. But first, you should read the story. Don’t worry, I’ll mark your place. You can come back here when you’re done.

• • • • •

So imagine this scene: I’ve spent the better part of a day speaking with police, rabbis, psychologists, medical examiners, and suicidologists. I’ve been to the hotel where the boy stayed, and I’ve stood in the alley where he fell to his death just three days prior. It’s 6:00 PM and I’m emotionally drained and wishing for a happier story, when my phone rings.

It’s a rabbi from New York begging me not to print the story. His reason: people close to the deceased haven’t been told that it was a suicide. They believe it was a slip-and-fall accident. The truth, he says, would literally kill them.

Later on, I get another call. Another rabbi; this one also happens to be a psychologist. He also makes a case for not printing the story. His reason: Copycat Suicide.

You see, there’s a trend in this world we call home in which media reports of suicides influence others to follow suit. Studies have shown that during the week following a nationally televised report of a suicide, there is a marked increase in the number of suicides, when compared to the same week of the previous year.

And the trend pre-dates the advent of television. One of the earliest known associations between the media and suicide arose from Goethe’s novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther), published in 1774. In that work the hero shoots himself after an ill-fated love, and shortly after its publication there were many reports of young men using the same method to kill themselves. This resulted in a ban of the book in several places. Hence the term "Werther effect", used in technical literature to designate copycat suicides.

Since then, we’ve had Marilyn Monroe, Jonestown, Columbine, Kurt Cobain, and most recently, Saddam Hussein (even though his death was not self-inflicted, its broadcast led to an increase in suicides by hanging).

So now I was confronted with a gut-wrenching quandary: Bring the important issue of teenage suicide to the attention of my readers, and doing so could quite possibly save the life of a teen who might otherwise have been the next victim. But it could also create the next victim. To make matters worse, publicizing the tragedy would go against the grieving family’s wishes.

I spent a chunk of the rest of the night speaking to even more rabbis and psychologists. Of course, not one of them could give me a yes or no answer, but each conversation shed a little light on a few more issues.

I also read around 50 pages of materials from various suicide prevention organizations that offered guidelines for media outlets on how to report responsibly on the subject of suicide. To prevent copycats, I learned, I would need to treat this story differently than most. It wasn’t enough that the information be factual; facts had to be omitted to avoid sensationalizing the act. That’s why you didn’t read exactly where it happened, details of how it happened, what the boy told his father to enable him to leave the room without raising suspicion, or what it was that he injested in his earlier suicide attempt. There were no photos of the victim or the scene (other than a close-up of a Yahrtzeit candle), and the story was not carried on the front page of the paper (even though it was important enough to be the only story on the front page). Furthermore, it was accompanied by information to help readers identify warning signs and where they can go to get help when it’s warranted. (Please note: these are just a few of the many issues concerning the proper reporting of suicide; this article should not be used as a guide for reporters, teachers, bloggers, editors, or other people responsible for transmitting sensitive information.)

Next came the issue of the family’s wishes. This wasn’t nearly as easy as the copycat issue, since no one seems to be publishing guides on how to deal with the friends and family of suicide victims when said friends and family are in complete and utter denial as to the realty of said suicide.

Rather, I needed to research the possible harm that could come from not publishing the article. In Covering Suicide Worldwide: Media Responsibilities, a guide published by The PressWise Trust (U.K.), the author poses the following:

"What is the potential harm that could come from not reporting the story? For example, if a teenager kills himself other young people are likely to hear about the death. But parents might not know about the death of the young person without media coverage. Parents would not know that they should be especially alert to changes in the behaviour of their children who might be in shock. News coverage can serve as an alert that parents should be open with their kids about this sensitive topic."

To me, that paragraph alone was enough to make my decision. But my conversation the next morning with Jackie Rosen (who founded the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention as a way to create a silver lining in the dark cloud of her own son’s suicide) sealed the deal.

Silence is deadly.

That’s what Jackie said.

She also told me that the youngest recorded case of suicide in Broward County was that of a nine-year-old. Not nineteen. Nine.

Silence is deadly.

The collective Jewish community does not own a rug big enough to sweep a fraction of its ills underneath. We need to confront them head-on.

I spent a great deal of time this week speaking with my colleague Mayer Fertig, Publisher and Editor in Chief of The Jewish Star in Long Island. Mayer and I were both affected greatly by this story. Like Mayer, I know that I am not the same man I was when I showed up to work Monday morning, unaware of the horrible story that awaited me.

In his Publisher’s Message this week, Mayer writes:

It’s numbing, really. Learning that another precious young person is gone before his or her time. It’s guaranteed to stop any parent cold, to consider how, after all the blood, sweat and tears those parents surely put into their child, there’s nothing left but memories. All the joy, the heartache, the late night feedings, the upset stomach that comes on at two in the morning, the PTA meetings, the stitches, the bar or bat mitzvah — after all that, they’ll never know how their child’s story would have ended. Where all his potential might have led. What her children would have looked like.

But as hard as such tragedies are on the adults, they can take a much deeper toll on children — the classmates, the schoolmates, children from the same shul. They’re probably not thinking about whether their lost friend would have had cute babies one day. Rather, they might be thinking about themselves. Could it happen to them? One of the therapists who went to DRS HALB this past Monday reported hearing just that question from a devastated youngster. Of course, the professionals whose job it is to help young people get past events like these are also on the lookout for occasionally darker thoughts as well.

But the people best positioned to see our children though such traumas are we, their parents. More than ever, our children who have once again witnessed the harsher side of life need us. They need a hug and a kiss. They need our attention, they need our time.

I’m going home now to give my children a hug and a kiss. They’ll be sound asleep and they won’t know I’m there, but that’s okay. I’ll be doing it more for me than for them.

But while I’m there, I’ll make them this promise: I will never allow a warning sign to be swept under the rug. I will never deny a symptom because it makes me uncomfortable. I will never trick myself into believing them to be the way I wish they were, instead of the way they really are.

I will never choose silence.

Because silence is deadly.

February 1, 2007 7:09 AM

Anonymous said...

Regarding my earlier post on the Suicide. Does anyone know if "Maybe" this kid went to YTT fo r Elementary School?? I am NOT assuming, just asking.

Anonymous said...

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=544306&category=&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=12/13/2006

A rabbi and his wife pleaded guilty to embezzling $150,000 from the estate of the rabbi's father. The Albany Times Union reports:

A rabbi and his wife who were accused of pilphering a dead relative's estate have staved off prison terms by agreeing to serve periods of probation and repay $150,000.

Mark and Debra Berger, both 50 … will be held jointly liable for restitution to the relatives who brought charges after a probate court repayment plan didn't occur fast enough…

Mark Berger's father lived with the couple for years… He gave them power of attorney to handle not only his affairs, but to help provide for them, [the couple's atorney] explained: ``After his death, Debra continued to exercise that power of attorney.''

The Albany County District Attorney's office accused the couple of spending the money on trips to California, Florida and Israel, and on clothing, dinners out and jewelry. The alleged scam was discovered during the probate process, authorities said.

Although originally charged with second-degree grand larceny, and facing 5 to 15 years in state prison, if convicted, Debra Berger pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny on Tuesday, and will serve 5 years' probation.

Mark Berger, also known as Moshe, and a rabbi without a congregation, faced 1 to 4 years behind bars if found guilty of first-degree falsifying a business record, a felony. However, the former kosher food inspector for Vaad HaKashruth of the Capital Region pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of petit larceny, and will serve three years of probation.…

The Bergers must hand over a check for $50,000 at their Jan. 30 sentencing and repay the $100,000 balance in amortized payments over five years…

The rabbi's siblings apparently got the criminal prosecition when the rabbi didn't repay the stolen money on schedule.

http://www.timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?StoryID=558880&Category=REGION&LinkFrom=RSS

In her statement to the court, Soucy said she begged for scholarships to send her three special needs children to religious school and later learned the Bergers were using family money for a private, boarding school education for both their children, as well as for trips abroad.

Soucy said she drove a worn van and struggled to buy a decent house, while Debra had an $11,000 shopping spree during a Disney vacation.

A civil case is pending.

Anonymous said...

R' Aron Kotler was such a teefa giant that only two and a half talmidim understood the shiur the first year. They were Shloyma Carlebach, Eiseman's father (yes that Eiseman) and the half was Elya Shvei.

Anonymous said...

That was a childish comment on Rabbi Eidensohn's supposed sex "obsession". With all the garbage out there on the internet from lowlives or that misguided soul Shmuely Boteach, it's good that he provides a proper alternative for people searching for this kid of stuff.

There are rabbonim who want to deal with the internet as a reality and try to make it better since everyone is here anyway. The Novominsker won't hear anything of it. You should be applauding Rav Eidensohn for being in the first group instead of acting like a mindless Agudah robot.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

AMEN! V'AMEN!

Anonymous said...

I noticed those posts before about Ezriel Tauber. I was once in a din Torah with a real bunch of lowlives who give Tauber money. They threatened me that I must meet with Tauber or else. Rabbonim told me that I shouldn't be worried to meet because Tauber isn't THAT foolish to do anything stupid when he hears which rabbonim are involved. It turns out that Tauber almost had a heart attack & couldn't wait to end the meeting as soon as he heard the names of the rabbonim that included one of the gedolei hador and a rov who wants to nail Tauber's hyde to the wall because of the scandal with him in the 1970s. He dropped his supporters like a hot potato but he still did one stupid thing. He shoved his sefer in my face and pressured me to buy it as I was leaving.

Anonymous said...

Copied from Eidensohn's Site:
Looks like he & UOJ do have some things they see eye-to-eye on.

Response to a question on Sexuality

It is easy to say, hey, maintain your self-respect. It is also not so easy to tell the woman what to do when her husband gives her a disease he picked up with another woman. We have to know that the evil inclination is stronger than most people, and when someone has a problem, it doesn't go away. We therefore encourage people to satisfy their spouse, to make sure that nothing goes outside the home.

Years ago, when I first began working with sexual problems in the community, I found more than I was able to assimilate. I remember the nurse who told me something and tried to restrain her mirth when I had no idea what she was talking about. Those of us who are not there in the emergency rooms just don't know what is going on out there. Those who are active, as I was in my younger years, with child molesters, etc., know that what the Rambam says, that no Jewish community ever existed where there was no adultery, is true today as it always was. I spoke to the Brisker Rov's son, Reb Refoel zt"l, the senior expert on community matters in Jerusalem, and he laughed at me when I presented my limited understanding of just how bad things are. From time to time I think I have reached the end, and then, some therapist or expert laughs at me, and tells me the next stage. You would never believe it, never.

Take it from me. Don't mess around with that yetser Horo. A senior rabbi has said, "Take off the makeup when you go in the street, but don't be modest in the home."

A lengthy responsa on this is available in my Hebrew work, "Teshuvos Bayis Ne'Emon, Laws of Ribbis. It is about monetary law, or usury, but there is on lengthy responsa to a woman who wanted to be too modest, without, of course, mentioning any names.

Shalom,

Dovid Eidensohn

Ronnie Schreiber said...

It's true that most blue chips had complicit subsidiaries but not to the extent that they actually worked Jews to death directly like GM or Ford who financed the American Nazi party member Father Coughlin yemach smoy to incite against Jews on the radio.

I live about three miles from The Shrine of the Little Flower, and it's one of the few churches that inspires me to follow an old Jewish tradition concerning ecclesiastical expectoration. I've had friends who went to Shrine High. Coughlin was scum, but I don't think there's any evidence that he was a member of the American Nazi party or the Nazi Bund. Henry Ford's virulent antisemitism is well documented, pace The Dearborn Independent and his publishing of The International Jew. However, I haven't seen any documentation of financial support of Coughlin by either Ford or GM. If you have any, please produce the documentation.

Ford is still a family run business. One of the Fords recently auctioned off for about 100 grand an original portrait of Adolf Hitler. I hope Ford goes belly up.

Isn't there something in a book called the Torah about not punishing children for the sins of their fathers?

Please produce documentation that any of the Ford family auctioned off a portrait of Hitler. An admittedly cursory search on Google for Ford, portrait and Hitler only shows that Yemach Shemo had a portrait of Henry Ford in his office.

The Ford family is well aware of how crazy Henry Ford was. He almost destroyed the family business three different times (by not moving past the Model T, by shutting down the company in the switchover to the Model A, and when he regained control during WWII when his son Edsel died). The family believes that Henry contributed to Edsel's death from cancer by keeping Edsel under his thumb. After Eleanor Ford (Edsel's widow) and Clara Ford (Henry's wife) threatened to sell their stock (which totaled 51% of Ford) if Henry didn't step down. This allowed his grandson Henry Ford II to take control of the company. The Deuce and his "whiz kids" saved the company with the revolutionary 1949 Ford. Henry Ford II was a stalwart supporter of Israel, in part due to his close friendship with Max Fisher. Ford II established a knockdown assembly plant in Israel, supported Jewish philanthropies, and to this day the FoMoCo does substantial business with Israel. One of the Fords, I think it is Benson, married a Jewish woman, and while he didn't convert, he's a bit of a judeophile and has donated a sefer Torah to a local temple and is a financial supporter of Aish HaTorah. His cousin Billy, who recently stepped down as CEO of Ford, has seen the anti-jihad pro-Israel film Obsession and has shared it with family members.

So at least Ronnie admits that GM sucked until 5 years ago but mechanics won't hold back the rest of the story like even 2004 models coming in with burnt out window motors which is GMs trademark. The only GM make that might be ok is Saab because they bought it from the Swedes and Car & Driver says it has the best maintainence outlook. I'm finished with GM after all 4 windows burnt out on me and others in my family.

I didn't say that GM sucked. I said that it was ironic that you said they haven't made "decent cars" in years when the quality of their cars is measurably better than years ago. It's funny that you think highly of Saab, since at least two of their models aren't manufactured in Saab factories, but rather other facilities under GM control. Did you know that the Saab 9.2 is a Subaru?

So GM had a problem with window motors. Maybe they spec'd the wrong part. Maybe their vendor has crappy quality control. When you manufacture a product, stuff happens. I worked for a tier 1 supplier and no matter how much testing you do, their is nothing like the real world to show up reliability issues. Chrysler had a serious reliability problem with the series 604 automatic transmissions in their minivans. The important thing is how they deal with the problem. If the dealer gave you a hard time, the manufacturer can't control that. If GM, however, didn't fix the problem, then flame away. However, I'd be interested to know if you've ever manufactured anything.

Ronnie should switch allegiances because the Detroit auto industry is all washed up.

As I said in a different thread, even Toyota's management says that GM and Ford are turning things around.

One of out seven Americans is employed by the transportation industry. We've already seen huge chunks of our manufacturing and machine tool industries shuttered. If you hate GM and Ford so much that you want them to go bankrupt, just remember that GM not only spends about $65 billion a year in parts purchases, it's also the largest pension payer in the country. Are you willing to see all those vendors and pensioneers in poverty?

Anonymous said...

That certainly was a "childish" comment about Rav Eidensohn. I speculate it came from one of his enemies. The rabbi has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights.

He has other websites on a wide variety of issues, and is a deep thinker, and prolific writer.

His three-volume seforim, Bayis Ne'emon, dealing with monetary and family law issues, has haskomos from Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner.

His sefer, Stories of Rosh Yeshivas: The Torah That Was, The Torah That Will Be, is autobiographical, and contains biographical material and his learning and interactions with such historic gedolim as Rav Moshe, Rav Yaakov, Rav Ahron Kotler, Rav Shrara Feivel Mendlowitz, and others. I recommend it highly.

Anonymous said...

The Briskers have been saying for years that the Agudah stinks. They have acute enough senses that they detected the rot before the rest of us did.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Denial is a river that runs through Ronnie Schreiber said...

http://www.chevyssrforum.com/blogarchive/belsky2.pdf

Belsky letters posted by Ronnie on his own mirrored site.

If he tries to deny it I have proof that he's lying.


Your yeshiva must not have had a very good English program. Your reading comprehension is very poor.

This is what I posted:

I could be wrong, as it has been a very long time since I've posted on my Bozoyon blog, but I'm pretty sure that I've never commented about R. Belsky and his letters there.

Excuse me if I forgot that I put up the pdf files. That's why I wrote "I could be wrong". What part of "I could be wrong" don't you understand? In the context of my acknowledging that I might be in error and not remember 100% of what I've posted or uploaded to my sites, what moral right do you have to say that I am "lying". The fact is, however, that I simply put up the pdf files for download and never commented about them on my own web sites.

Your love of your fellow Jews is overwhelming. Your affection really inspires me to want to emulate your lifestyle and hashkafa. Why would anyone want to live a bitter hate filled life like you do?

Anonymous said...

Gil Student is looking for an aggressive salesman at Yashar Books. Maybe he should give Ezriel Tauber a call.

Anonymous said...

What the Beis Hatalmud lunatics did in Lakewood was kid's play. South Fallsburg stopped letting bochurim from outside come for the summers because of what those lunatics did to be machariv the dorm. They aged a brand new building in one summer like it was 30 years old. Never mind the tzigarettel butts, the carpets were saturated with the diet coke they shpritzed everywhere. These chassidishe mazikim have no shame and no decency.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

UOJ,

I'd like to ask a question of those who have come into personal contact with some of the chassidic rebbes UOJ mentioned, or with Margulies and Kolko, about their affect and comportment.

Our mesorah teaches us that one learns Torah not just from a teacher's words but also from their actions and the way they carry themselves.

There is the famous story of the disciple who hid under his master's bed so he could learn the Torah way of making love to one's spouse. Another story speaks of a disciple traveling to see how a tzadik tied his shoes.

I just had to walk over to a nearby office building and my path took me past the local kollel. On the way there I noticed the rosh kollel walking to his house next door. He is an acknowledged talmid chacham, and a personal friend, but I've always been struck by how humbly he walks and his self-deprecating humor.

UOJ, do the rebbes you mentioned walk humbly?

Anonymous said...

You did in fact leave room for error, although I find it hard to believe you would forget about the Belsky letters after making the effort to upload them & publicize that you did so. I quickly ran through your post because I don't have patience anymore to read every word of what you write. Your posts could be a lot more concise & compact. The meat of what you write is hidden in a haystack of gobbledygook.

Anonymous said...

The Briskers think I shtink? That's not good for my PR. Can anyone recommend a good deodorant?

Anonymous said...

Exactly the lowlives that Brisk would hold are stinky poos do anything to get their kids into Brisk to make themselves choshev.

Starting with Finkel & Pinter and on to the Agudah knackers. At least R' Avrom Yehoshua made Moishy Pinter sit around waiting in the Mir first but I thought he doesn't take anyone whose hands are filthy with shvartz gelt.

Anonymous said...

Just one schmo won't do. My pal Gil Student is looking for "a few good men"

Anonymous said...

Someone posted a comment here:

http://chaptzem.blogspot.com/2006/02/rabbi-yidi-kolko-accuser-gets.html

That Bentzi Schiffybauer has something to do with getting Eli Teitelbaum fired. Is this a joke or is there something to it?

Anonymous said...

attention UOJ:
I recently heard that there was a boom in section 8 in which thousands of Boro Parkers applied.
Each of them were required to pay a heimeshe BP yid $30 fee for the application process and was later told that there was a mistake in the application and now everyone hasto go to the city agency to reaplly. They're saying it's because they (the program) didn't want to help the yiden.
Have you heard anything?

Anonymous said...

I wonder which Hungarian ferd is pocketing all the money from the bogus applications. Did he skip the country yet? This is a scaled version of a scam that guys do for Pesach hotels. Either the oylam gets kicked out in the middle of yomtov because the organizers didn't pay enough or in at least one case, people flew to some remote island erev Pesach to find out there's no matzos or anything else.

Anonymous said...

At the Chabad shtiebel on Ocean pkwy, we like UOJ's plans to convert YTT to condos. It's great for real estate appreciation and we won't see Margo wobbling down the street anymore like a big sourpuss.

Anonymous said...

MISGUIDED AND WITHOUT SANCTION

Dear Yated Editor,

How sad it was to read about what a few individuals are attempting to do in Lakewood.

For a fringe group to initiate a recall of Committeeman Charles Cunliffe without public sanction from the Roshei Hayeshiva in Lakewood is unacceptable, unprecedented and incomprehensible. I write to protest this chillul Hashem and lack of respect.

With Rabbi Moshe Weisberg speaking out publicly at the Township Meeting against this recall, and with our two frum committeemen, Menashe Miller and Meir Lichtenstein, supporting Mr. Cunliffe, why should the tzibbur be hurt by the misguided efforts of a few?

Anonymous Putz Idiot From Lakewood

Anonymous said...

NEWS From Dais V'Doofis Division Of The Yated Sheeeekkkkkeeeerrrrr!


Rabbi Gafni Proposes That All Students be Required to Learn Torah

By Eliezer Rauchberger

"Our existence as a people is in the merit of lomdei Torah and in their merit we are here in Eretz Yisroel," said MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni on Monday, responding to a provocative law to require all yeshiva students to perform civil service work and take part in one month of military training per year.

"The worst aspect of the proposed law is that it views all service as service for the benefit of society — with the exception of Torah study.

I intend to table a bill, in light of the collapse of the education system in Israel, to require every secular youth to study Torah in a Torah-based institution during the summer break.

Under no condition will we consent to any change in the status of yeshiva students."

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Edited version:

Apologies to Ronnie said...

Apology accepted in the same sincerity with which it was offered.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Original draft (way more fun)

Apologies to Ronnie said...

Apology accepted in the same sincerity with which it was offered.

You did in fact leave room for error, although I find it hard to believe you would forget about the Belsky letters after making the effort to upload them & publicize that you did so.

I'm sorry if I assumed you meant that I had blogged about it. I couldn't recall haven't commented about it at my own sites. This all took place many months ago. I put it up when it was hard to access the original document, told people where it was and then forgot about it. If experienced reporters who take notes can have faulty memories (see the Scooter Libby trial), I suppose I can too.

I publish, let's see.... 7 automotive web sites, 3 e-commerce storefronts, and a shopping cart. Thousands of pages and files. I've posted thousands of comments at blogs (I was an early reader of LGF). Uploading a file is only an effort if I use FrontPage, lol [to the humor impaired that was a Microsoft joke]. So FTPing a file or two and posting a couple of comments on a blog is not particularly memorable.

I quickly ran through your post because I don't have patience anymore to read every word of what you write. Your posts could be a lot more concise & compact.

Agreed. I'd be a more persuasive writer if I was more to the point. Stephen King in his non-fiction On Writing says that one should be able to edit out about a third of the original draft. He's correct, of course. I suppose I could be less wordy, but I like word play. I like words. I love it when a writer uses a word I have to look up. I also like to digress. I get to the point eventually, but taking the scenic route is more fun.

In the above paragraph after "He's correct, of course" I was going to write "less is more". Then I thought about the phrase. It's most commonly associated with architect Mies van der Rowe though it comes from a Robert Browning poem (the same one that includes the phrase Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?). So instead I thought about writing "Whether in architecture or poetry, less is more" because it's a bit less cliched. Then I thought, how ironic, I'm discussing brevity in writing while simultaneously padding things out rhetorically. It's just amusing to me to digress on "less is more" for a paragraph.

Maybe I got it from watching Myron Cohen on Ed Sullivan. I wonder if his LPs have been reissued on CD. Anyone know? To use music as a comparison, I like many kinds of music, but I've noticed that I enjoy classical, jazz and improvisational rock, aka jambands. Those three genres have in common the idea of taking an idea or theme and developing it, expanding on it, sometimes moving away from it, and then returning to the theme. I like guitar players and comedians who can riff.

But I digress.

Seriously speaking, if people don't get my point, I've failed. I'm pretty sure everyone here can figure out where I stand.

Shakespeare (not that I'm comparing myself to the greatest English writer ever and please, I don't want to debate about Merchant of Venice) could have been more concise and compact, but then we'd have "Suicide?" instead of "To be or not to be? That is the question."


The meat of what you write is hidden in a haystack of gobbledygook.


Well, at least you acknowledge that there is some meat there.

Not exactly a mixed metaphor, but how do you pile gobbledygook into a stack of hay? A haystack is a stack of hay, not a stack of gook.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

"Our existence as a people is in the merit of lomdei Torah and in their merit we are here in Eretz Yisroel," said MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni on Monday, responding to a provocative law to require all yeshiva students to perform civil service work and take part in one month of military training per year.

Hey, Rabbi Gafni, remember Lo ta'amod al dam rei'echa?

Remember dina d'malchusa dina?

Putting aside the resentment and chillul HaShem that chareidi draft dodgers cause. Putting aside the responsibility of Jews to defend each other. Who says Rabbi Gafni's "lomdei Torah" have real merit as Torah scholars?

Rabbi Gafni, it would be one thing if they were actually engaged in learning Torah. How many do real scholarship?

Charles Murray just wrote a series of essays in the Wall Street Journal about intelligence and college. He divided students into three groups. Those who shouldn't be in college because they are simply not smart enough to handle the challenge of true college level academics. Those who shouldn't be in college because they aren't interested in academics and can apply their intelligence to other skills and professions. And those who are smart enough to handle the material and interested in it as well, and they should be the only ones in school.

I know we think that Jews are smart. Jews may indeed be smarter than average, but that doesn't mean we are all geniuses. We're not like Lake Wobegon's mythical children who are all above average. It also doesn't mean that some of our geniuses have talents and interests that can benefit themselves and the Jewish people in other ways than regurgitating material they don't really understand.

Roughly half of the people in yeshiva are below average intelligence. Even if Jews are smarter than avg, surely at least a third or 40% are below average intelligence. While I won't minimize the religious, personal and spiritual value of learning Torah, let's not pretend that they are capable of real Torah scholarship.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Eidensohn appears to be confusing early kabbalah, with Lurianic Kabbalah. The first is what is, *perhaps* mentioned in the gemara. The second is what Shabbatai Tsvi and the hasidim popularized. Quite a difference.

Anonymous said...

Shmarya,

"Confusing"? That's not the way to phrase a comment or question to Rabbi Eidensohn. You trumpet the lack of derech eretz amongst the chareidim on your blog. Where's yours? He's light years above you.

Anonymous said...

Shmarya has degenerated into a bitter alter kacker who seems to be mad at the world. I don't know if it's because he hasn't gotten laid in years or if he's on the way that Rashi outlines of first hating all rabbonim, then the Torah then Hashem himself. Someone else should start an anti-Lubavitch blog the way Failed Messiah used to be.

Anonymous said...

Hazeet. Now Ronnie is saying drush on Torah scholarship? Next Gil Student is going to come down to Ahiezer to tell us about Halabi minhagim.

Anonymous said...

So Shmarya said that R' Eidensohn is confusing versions of Kabbalah. So f***ing what! Is R.E. infallible? Get real. Shmarya is a learned individual and displays the capability and knowledge to question whomever he chooses.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Anonymous at 9:04,

No need for invective at Shmarya. There's no lack of derech eretz in his post.

Shmarya,

You're mistaken. Rabbi Eidensohn is not confusing the two, he's asserting that Lurianic Kabbala is authentic to the Kabbala of the Rambam and the Gemara.

UOJ,

Say what you will about chassidism and chassidus, it's unquestionable that the 16th century in Tzvat produced a great flowering of Judaism. You do, I presume, say Lech Dodi, don't you?

Since we know that the Pardes is powerful and dangerous, we should not be surprised at developments like Shabbtai Tzvi and certain aspects of Chassidism.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Ronnie, I will be addressing your very point on Motzei Shabbos in my response to the rabbi.

Anonymous said...

Dear Gross, Ronnie, and Shmarya,

I'm the anon. who gave some mild
tochacha to Shmarya for writing that Rabbi Eidensohn was confused. Before I wrote what I wrote, I considered whether Shmarya was on such a madreiga that he would take such tochacha to heart, and possibly make a correction. I've read the Failed Messiah blog very carefully for many months, I assure you, and concluded that Shmarya is on such a madreiga.

Let's hear what historic gedolei Torah have written about Rav Eidensohn's multi-volume seforim, Hilchose Bayis Ne'emon, which address monetary and family laws:

Rav Moshe Feinstein: "...Rabbi Dovid Eliyohu Eidensohn is known to me for many years as one who delves deeply to clarify complicated laws."

Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky: "...I know this young rabbi well...he toils in Torah until he has clarified the topic according to the law and has a clear decision".

Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner: "A Torah scholar who deserves much praise. 'Words of truth are discerned'. His words proceed from the heart and are written lishmo."

Rav Eidensohn is a deep thinker, and prolific writer. You can read his many thoughts on contemporary issues on sinaicentral.com. He fights the good fight, and has many sharp things to say about today's situation, I assure you.

I highly recommend his sefer, "Stories of Rosh Yeshivas: The Torah That Was, The Torah That Will Be", which I am reading now. The sefer contains some autobiographical material, and also biographies and the author's learning and interactions with historic gedolei Torah such as Rav Moshe, Rav Yaakov, Rav Ahron Kotler, Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, Dr. Shmuel Toledano, and others.

Anonymous said...

The New Hempstead blog is reporting that 700 people showed up Wed night to the chassuna that Mordy Tendler made for his daughter. It's claimed that Rav Bresslauer showed up to say mazal tov. If true, this is very disturbing. Rav Bresslauer heard the tape that proves Tendler was engaged in adultery with married women. Any rov worth his salt has poskened that the tape is a raaya. So here you have Rav Bresslauer of Finkel chicken fame being mechabed a noaif who has also been issuing bogus gittin (see the kol koray from R' Shlomo Miller that attacks both Belsky & Tendler).

Anonymous said...

Tendler is my kind of guy. How come I wasn't invited to the chassuna?

Anonymous said...

I don't care who gave Rabbi E smicha, or who endorsed his books. The fact is, Rabbi E conflates pre-Lurianic and Lurianic kabbalah and they are in truth completely different systems. (I would point out the repeated heresies that grew out of Lurianic kabbalah– Shabbatai Tsvi and his successors, the Frankists, and, yes, sections of the hasidic movement, just to name a few – while few, if any, arose from pre-Ari kabbalah.)

Nothing personal is meant by this. It's just a fact as, I might add, it is a fact that haredi education is very weak, especially for males, when it comes to history, so it's not surprising even someone like Rabbi E would make that mistake.

As for the deference some of you want me to show Rabbi E or any other haredi rabbi, sorry, but I'm long past that. Go here and read the long list of major haredi rabbis who knew about Kolko. Ask youself why none of these gedolim and leaders went to the police. Then think about the number of boys whose lives were destroyed by Kolko why these gedolim worried about lashon hara and mesira.

Rabbi E may be a wonderful man. But he is part and parcel of a group that allowed tremendous crimes to be committed, all in the name of "upholding" halakha.

Any extra respect for the position of rabbi that I once had is now gone. You can quote halakha until you're blue in the face but it won't bring that respect back, and I will not fake it to humor you or Rabbi E.

Anonymous said...

http://sec.edgar-online.com/1998/01/29/17/0000950131-98-000420/Section41.asp

"This is a scaled version of a scam that guys do for Pesach hotels."

Be careful if anyone with our names are partners in a hotel. Our specialty is to run hotels into the ground, squeeze whatever profits are there and screw the guests.

Before we went to Florida, we pulled off that classic at the Tamarac Hotel in Ulster County, NY. The roof kept caving in on people sleeping in the middle of the night while we just told them to take a hike and laughed all the way to the bank with their money that wasn't refunded. Finally, the roof caved into the kitchen before Pesach and the Health Dept had us padlocked. We called some guests during bedikas chometz to tell them they're up dreck's creek without a paddle for Pesach. We got tired at 10 pm and decided to call it a night. We started calling more guests in the morning during sreifas chometz but we didn't get to all of them which is their tough luck. There were some yesomim & old almonos with no family and nowhere to go who were waiting for the bus at noon that never came. We called up our friend Margo who shares our sense of humor and oh man we couldn't stop laughing about how all these poor people got screwed over.

Anonymous said...

"Lakewood Putz",

Any relation to Neuhoff? Anyway, since when does the Lakewood Vaad do anything without a wink & nod from BMG?

Goldfisher from Antwerp summed it up best in his Flemish / Israeli accent: "Lakewood shmucks!"

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Shmarya, it's unfortunate that it's come to this. My rabbi likes to call people tzadik. I once told him it made me feel uncomfortable and he said that until he knew any better he assumed that people were good.

The idea of haskamot used to mean something, particularly if those endorsing the work are of impeccable character and know the author personally, as seems to be the case here. I think Rabbi E at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Gross, are there any rabbis you respect? Any rabbis for whom you would stand when they enter a room or go up for a bracha at a wedding?

Baruch HaShem that I know at least a couple of those.

NP: MP3s by Steve Kimock

Anonymous said...

Two weeks ago in Kiryas Joel, a 20 year old bochur committed suicide with an electric saw. The family used to live in Tosh. Would anyone know if this tzubrochene neshomo was molested?

Anonymous said...

Don't mind our honorary president, Shmarya Rosenberg. He's so bent out of shape about rabbis that he won't admit that some rabbis would have given the go ahead for police involvement if the victims and their families weren't terrified about being identified because it's bad for shidduchim. He's right about the lowlife rabbis who covered up but he can't see straight and wants to mow down anyone wearing a hat.

Here you have uber-Liberal Scotty Rosenberg who always fights for racial equality for Blacks but when it comes to those in black hats, it's all guilt by association.

Anonymous said...

Since someone mentioned Goldfisher, it's worthwhile to take a moment to explain another example of how the system is screwed up. Yeshivishe shmucks won't do anything about molesters because it's "loshon hora" blah blah. So someone in Lakewood once ordered ammunition through the mail. When it was intercepted in the office, someone just assumed it might be Goldfisher for a completely ridiculous reason and messed him up in a shidduch when he was almost engaged. It was later revealed that someone else ordered the ammo. Until this day if Goldfisher sees that yoyo in the street he will scream kolos & brakim at him. The 3 roshei yeshiva who had nothing to do with it felt so awful that they always gave him special attention after that and let him have his own private minyan in the dorm.

"Lakewood shmucks" indeed.

Anonymous said...

Tosh happens to harbor criminals from time to time, wether knowingly or unknowingly. The criminals figure some remote mountain town with a chassidish population is the perfect cover. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police goes through every so often to look for them. There is another town in the Laurentian mountains, a few exits away on the hwy, that is the base of Shlomo Helbrans and his cult following. Helbrans who is a rogue offshoot of Satmar was the guy wanted for kidnapping Shai Fhima. There is all kinds of molestation & statutory rape going on in that commune, especially since they are into marrying girls just barely bas mitzva. This place is so out of the mainstream that maybe even UOJ wouldn't be able to shut them down.

Anonymous said...

On second thought, I think I was too quick in criticizing Shmarya for saying Rabbi E is confused. I'm still getting accustomed to communicating by email. Forget about it.

Anonymous said...

I happen to be a Ronnie critic but that comment at 2:23 am was excellent. Except for his usual musical advertisment, his post was on the money and to the point.

Anonymous said...

Ein minit, so if Kolko & Margo run away to Tosh, would Gil Student then say that they are only "remotely" guilty?

Anonymous said...

http://www.sinaicentral.com/Torahtimes/anger_at_torah_leadership.htm

Looks like he stole some lines from UOJ.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

To the commenter who posted the information of the suicide at Kiryas Joel; the boy from Tosh,

PLEASE CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY:

a_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com

YOU WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS!

Anonymous said...

I don't think the sensatious detail about the method of suicide needs to be mentioned. It's probably irresponsible. Although I do agree that it does drive the tragicness of it home in a huge way.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

I do believe the gory details are a part of the story, ONLY to describe the desperation of individuals that obviously were ignored.

I know of another case years ago in Lakewood where a dear soul sawed his head off because he felt he could not feed his large family.

We need to start talking about these tragedies and the causes that bring people to act in desperate ways.

Anonymous said...

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-40393.html

There was all kinds of unfortunate stuff that went on in Long Beach. A suicide and a murder in a bizarre way on Halloween night. The murder victims father feels the yeshiva is hiding some of the details. One mystery that police could never figure out is who put the lit candle next to the niftar after the crime scene was sealed off.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

In the second letter Rabbi Eidensohn said,

Learn, don't work, and take government programs. This again is a violation of the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch.
The Talmud says, "A child not taught to learn will be a thief." Do we just say rip off the parents and trust in HaShem? What happens then?


I believe the esteemed rabbi made a typo> As I was taught the saying, it should have read "a child not taught to earn will be a thief."

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Gross, are there any rabbis you respect? Any rabbis for whom you would stand when they enter a room or go up for a bracha at a wedding?

BTW, Gross, in rereading this it appears to me that it sounds a little hostile, which was not my intention. It was a sincere question.

The fact that there are rabbis like Dovid Eidensohn gives me hope. You don't have to agree with someone 100% of the time on 100% of subjects to recognize their stature.

Anonymous said...

From Vos Iz Neias:

Midwood, Brooklyn, NY - Five Jewish Teenagers Indicted in Attack on Arab-American Man

Midwood, Brooklyn, NY - Five Jewish teenagers have been indicted in the attack on an Arab-American man in Brooklyn.
Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes says the teens have been charged with gang assault and menacing.

According to prosecutors, the teens attacked the 24-year-old victim as he ate ice cream outside a Dunkin' Donuts on the 1500 block of Avenue "M" in Brooklyn section of NY last October. One of the teens knocked the ice cream from the man's hands as another spit in his face while another teenager held the victim from behind so he couldn't fight back calling him a "terrorist" and "Go back to your country". One of the assailants was armed with a pair of brass knuckles and broke the victim's nose.
An employee from the store called police.

Three of the suspects face up to 15 years in prison



The moron Hynes chooses to prosecute a few punks who had a fight with an Arab, while he allows the sodomizer of Jewish children, Mondrowitz, to roam freely for over twenty years!! What a tough guy!! It's time to expose this fraud for what he is, another corrupt politician on the take, and throw him out of office!

I'm not condoning in any way what those punks did, no matter how provoked they were. An indictment with possible jail time of 15 yrs. is excessive. If they get 15 yrs, how many years do Kolko and Mondrowitz deserve to get?

Anonymous said...

Have you seen the book "Eyes to See" by Rabbi Yom Tov Schwarz? Seems like something up Rabbi Eidensohn's ally.

Anonymous said...

Eyes to See is a courageous call by Rabbi Yom Tov Schwarz, a leading ultra-Orthodox sage, for fundamental change in the Torah-observant community. In it, the author calls for the abolition of a dangerous new phenomenon – the tendency among various Orthodox groups to establish their own insulated networks of schools and other institutions – because divisiveness and discord are a natural consequence of this factionalism within Jewish society. He implores Orthodox Jewry to designate a fast day in remembrance of the Holocaust, as indifference to the greatest tragedy in Jewish history can only sow cruelty and breed immorality. The author also calls upon Orthodox Jewry to re-assess the manner in which we relate both to our non-religious brethren and our non-Jewish neighbors, highlighting the Torah’s command that we be compassionate and honest with all people, and that we strive to glorify G-d’s Name and bring honor to the Torah by the manner in which we behave in even the most mundane aspects of our daily lives.

Eyes to See: Recovering Ethical Torah Principles Lost in the Holocaust was written with the goal of restoring integrity, compassion, unity and kiddush HaShem to their central role in the observance of Torah and mitzvos, as Halacha demands. This will serve to correct a number of serious errors and misconceptions of Torah views, values and obligations that resulted from the annihilation of nearly all of the great European Torah leaders in the Holocaust. This destruction left a young generation of bereft and bewildered survivors without the great Torah personalities necessary to educate and impress upon them the absolute centrality of these traditions and laws for correct Torah observance.

Eyes to See is a powerful work, brilliantly woven from biblical, talmudic and later rabbinical writings. It paints a magnificent view of traditional Judaism, revealing that morality and ethics, honesty and integrity, and compassion and kindness are so basic to authentic Torah Judaism that they define Jewishness itself.

This work also includes an incisive analysis of how the pre-Holocaust rabbinic infrastructure was destroyed and never rebuilt and lays out a framework for regaining the trust and respect rabbinical courts ought to have. Similarly, Eyes to See presents a blueprint for the arrest and reversal of the frightening decline of great Torah scholarship, despite an ever-growing number of yeshivas and kollels.

Edited and translated by Rabbi Avraham Leib Schwarz


About the Author:
Rabbi Yom Tov Schwarz was born in Oswencim (Auschwitz), Poland in 1921. Recognized at a young age as a scholar and child prodigy, he entered the famed Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin at the age of fifteen. After miraculously surviving over two years in ghettos and two years in concentration camps, Rabbi Schwarz became the Chief Rabbi of Luneburg, Germany in 1947. He settled in the US in 1951 and has served as the Rav of K’hal Nachlas Yaakov in Brooklyn, NY (previously of Queens, NY) for the past forty years.

Rabbi Schwarz is the author of a number of published scholarly works in Hebrew, the latest of which is the multi-volume collection of responsa Adnei Nechoshes, comprising his halachic decisions on a broad range of the most serious legal issues of our time. Its originality, creativity and clarity, coupled with far-reaching erudition in Talmudic and rabbinic literature, has resulted in the establishment of Rabbi Schwarz as an authority of wide repute, though he is not as well-known outside of scholarly circles.

An expanded biography of the author by Rabbi Yaakov Schwarz and Rabbi Avraham Leib Schwarz, sons of the author, appears at the end of the book.

Anonymous said...

It would be a big mitzva if someone is willing to put his name out front in a campaign to get rid of Hynes. You would need someone's financial backing too to publish ads. It would probably have to be in the pricy NY Times because The Jewish Press would not run the ads because they are part and parcel of the Iggud Haganovim who has Hynes paid off to leave molesters alone and to target victims of their corrupt "beis din" actions. If you are new to this blog, there are articles out there in the NY Observer & Daily News that shows Iggud activists raising money for Hynes and ABC News legal experts have said Hynes doesn't have a legal leg to stand on in giving Mondrowitz a pass. It may also come to light soon that Margo's high placed buddies got Hynes to slow down on YTT. Don't forget that Belsky is also an Iggud member and Twerski has been known to throw his fancy titles around. The Yated would also try to weasel their way out of printing the ads I'm sure. Shea Fishman must be telling them that "the climate isn't right."

Anonymous said...

RUBASHKIN MOTTO:

Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have, WE THAT WITH LABELS! you can get whatever label you want "the meat is all the same".

Rubashkin / Supreme has a brilliant business strategy to have the Rav Hamachshir also be a "salesman" for the meat. It was a wise decision as they are very good salesmen.

Conflict of interest was never a concern for a "Used car salesmen" (We all know we can have full faith & trust in a used car salesman, Right?

What is surprising, is that a Dayan from England currently residing in Boro Park (for the past 15 years +-) is also a salesman even though he isn't a Rav Hamachshir of Rubashkin / Supreme (not withstanding the fact that he issued a letter of approval) .


The Rubashkin meat operation is 85% a non-kosher operation.
Rubashkin earns most of his money from the non-kosher operation,but earns more per pound on the kosher-that is the incentive to label as much as possible "kosher".


The Rubashkin people will lie, will switch labels, let the Goim control the labels,etc.

The on site Rav Hamachshir that was previously the Rav Hamachshir at Empire was forced out of Empire as he was found on numerous occassions to be in the catagory of "...Neveilah mitachas yodoi" which he is not permitted to ever be employeed in the Schechita" field, yet he is the on-site Rav Hamachshir".

Why other kashrus certifiers do not want to use M.M.W. products 'cause he was caught numerous times that "He will intentionaly mislead the truth seekers" (I hope you know what that means without me "esplaining it".

In Kashrus such an individual is unreliable "as you don't know what is true & what isn't".

I have color pictures of Rubashkin meat sold to a butcher "with the kidneys still attached" "that is chailev di'oraisah" according to all.

Anonymous said...

There is a lawyer named Michael Lesher who has worked tirelessly on the Mondrowitz case. In fact, he recently appeared on Nightline discussing abuse in the Jewish community. His website is michaellesher.com.

It would help if some pressure was put on Governor Spitzer, Senator Schumer and Senator Hillary. As far as the Israeli Embassy is concerned, all they're waiting for is a phone call or letter from Hynes' office. They've been waiting for twenty years!!

Anonymous said...

Rgearding Kabalah:

Litvaks, Chassidim and Sefardim accepted kabalah. The GRA did argue with the ARI while Chassidim would never argue on the ARI. That is one difference amongst many such as Tzimtzum, etc.

Then there is the question of the origin of the Zohar which the ARI bases himself on. It could be an issue if the Zohar was not written by RSBY as that seems to be why it was considered to be on such a high level.

Most modern scholars believe that Moses D'Leon wrote the Zohar or a group of people over a thousand years after RSBY was niftar.

I discussed this with a religous scholar who wholeheatedly agreed with this opinion. However, he also believed that the concepts were not new and that the Zohar was more of a compilation of pre-existing ideas. This theory has merit.

The fact that Shabtai Tzvi misused the Zohar and that he based on himself on Lurianic Kabbalah does not mean that Lurianic Kabalah is not authentic and that the Kabalah that predated the Zohar - not associated with Lurianic kabalah - is the authentic version. All it means is that the Zohar was incorrectly used/interpreted by Shabtai Tzvi. Man has free choice after all.

Why was there no similar incident before Zoharic Kabalah? Because after the Zohar, a masterpiece of a book according to all for many reasons, Kabalah and seforim on the topic became widespread. Interest in the topic grew. The more people were in contact with it, the greater the chance that something would go wrong if it fell into the wrong hands. The original Kabalah was studies by a select few and well-guarded.

To summarize, I am disagreeing with Shmarya who claims that the reason for issues stemming from the Zohar have to do with the content of the Zohar or Lurianic Kabalah. I believe that Zohar, etc. was a continuation/explanation of the Original kabalah. The reason for the damage has to do with access to the topic not with the content.

UOJ's main issue seems to be with the conduct of today's chassidim. This does not relate at all to the issue of the Zohar and kabbalah. I am not sure why conduct amongst some is so bad, but let's find the reason and not erroneously conclude that kabbalah is somehow connected to it.

Anonymous said...

I've been communicating with Rabbi Eidensohn for about a year. In the past few months, we've publicly lectured together at different locations in Monsey and Passaic. I brought his article about Chassidim and Kabbala to the attention of UOJ, who immediately posted it. Rav Eidensohn is a brilliant, independent thinker - and as we can all read above, totally unafraid to speak out against the conventional wisdom. He's been doing so for decades. He has several web sites, grouped under sinaicentral.com, where some of his writings appear.

I also recommend the brilliant sefer, Eyes to See, by Rabbi Yom Tov Schwarz, which addresses contemporary challenges. I frequently reread various chapters.

Elliot Pasik, Esq.

Anonymous said...

Ronnie,

Yes, there are rabbis whom I respect but they are mostly obscure and aren't rosh yeshivas or rabbis of exclusive minyanim. They wear regular clothing and bent down hats...

On second thought, Rabbi Herbst in Brooklyn is pretty authentic and a humble person, with exceptional middos. I know he was mentioned in a lawsuit regarding a messy divorce, but my dealings with him left me with a positive feeling. An anecdotal example: A few years ago I davened on Yom Kippur by his shul (a pretty right-wing place) and just before neilah he got up and said the following (I am paraphrasing here) :"There is not much time for a speech but I want to reiterate something I feel is of the utmost importance. You can daven as hard as you want, but if you owe somebody money or you are not honest in business, it won't help you..." That's all he said. He didn't preach about tznius or kavanah or loshon horah...he is a posek and he deals with all sorts of trouble affecting yidden and he knows what's important.

What is a rabbi anyway? Smicha and integrity is apparently no longer required to earn the title. "Choshuve rabbonim" today, were mere bursars and "color war generals" yesterday. The only difference is they might have received a little yerusha today, enabling them to purchase a fine-looking kapote and an up-hat - it's the shpitz that counts, don't forget...

Back to your question, I can think of a couple of rabbis I admire. One is a mesivta rebbi in a rather mainstream, charedi-as-it-gets yeshiva and the other one works in a store by day and is involved with his family, tzedaka organization, and the beis medrash at night. He has a simple (ten-year-old?) car and doesn't go hotels for yom tov.

Another future rabbi I respect learns no less than 12 hours a day, doesn't own a car, just recently accepted a cell phone from his brother (albeit reluctantly and for emergency use only) and really respects those who are in college or working and remain frum..."It's really hard to be frum nowadays," he says, I give anyone who is out of the protected walls of the yeshiva and still frum, more credit than someone who sits and learns all day."

Anonymous said...

Ok Gross, I've had it with you. I know that comment about former color war generals was a snipe at me, so you're now public enemy #2 after UOJ. My levush still gets me plenty of kovod so who gets the last laugh?

Anonymous said...

What's UOJ's opinion on asbestos? Can it be as dangerous to children as molestation?

Ronnie Schreiber said...

gross said...

Ronnie,

Yes, there are rabbis whom I respect but they are mostly obscure and aren't rosh yeshivas or rabbis of exclusive minyanim. They wear regular clothing and bent down hats...


The fact that the lamed vavnikim are hidden and are only 36, and the many stories about Eliyahu HaNavi appearing as someone else are lessons lost on many frum Jews. The greatest Jews rarely make it to the dais at banquets.

I very much admire the roshei kollel here, in great part because though they are acknowledged Torah scholars they are remarkably humble men (isn't it terrible that I had to add the "though"?) - not so humble that they aren't willing to take a stand (the rosh kollel has been lecturing on the age of the universe lately), but very humble and sweet people who aren't afraid to be friendly and humorous.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Another future rabbi I respect learns no less than 12 hours a day, doesn't own a car, just recently accepted a cell phone from his brother (albeit reluctantly and for emergency use only) and really respects those who are in college or working and remain frum..."It's really hard to be frum nowadays," he says, I give anyone who is out of the protected walls of the yeshiva and still frum, more credit than someone who sits and learns all day."

A quarter of the Shulchan Aruch is business law. Since the mesora favors learning applied to the performance of mitzvot, these are not hypotheticals.

Anonymous said...

My husband and many of his siblings and friends were molested in their school years by more than one teacher in their school. None of them spoke out, except to eachother. Many other atrocities occured, such as acts of brutal physical violence, but his parents were discouraged from going to authorities, as it was considered a Chillul Hashem, and they were told to accept an apology.

Years later, my husband married, but had a tumultuous relationship, and the marriage ended. Soon, he married me, and we had several children, but he was very bitter. Bitter against the religious school system, ignorant parents, ignorant members of society, and bitter against religion and society as a whole. Unfortunately, his anger and hatred resulted in the destruction of our marriage, and my children are without a father, and I am without a husband, after suffering years of verbal abuse.

It's time to speak out. Look how many families are destroyed over this? They're not secrets they take to their graves, these children grow up confused and betrayed and learn not to trust those that are expected to be close to them. hey ultimately destroy the lives of others, and dire consequences can never be reversed or repaired.

Break the silence. I begged him to expose those men, but he said it was water under the bridge.... I know it was not, he only pretended he was not bothered by it.

Stop the violence against our children. Save my sons.

Anonymous said...

The Long Beach suicide victim was a boy who had been under Mondrowitz's "care" for a while. The question remains why these incidents have been hushed up.

exposemolesters said...

Shavuah Tov UOJ, It's a great pleasure to have the voice of sanity back at his helm.
There's at least one thing that
I learned from being Jewish - Being Jewish assures us of NOTHING.
Here we have gedoili hador offering a dubious psak that molestation is defined only as penetration.
Shlomo Mandel, continues to sweep his crimes
under the rug by continuing to allow Child Molester Yehuda Nussbaum to
tutor boys at YOB, while being paid off the books.
Yehuda Kolko still shows his ugly face in shul, while the Rabbi's and everyone else don't even think to themselves - maybe we should throw him out. Ditto for Nussbaum.
Avrom Mondrowits is being saved by Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, due to Hynes stubborness,
as well as his fear of alienating the Jewish community whom he hopes will vote to keep him in office. To make matters worse, Mondrowitz lives openly and without fear of any retribution.
His neighbors in the holy land don't bother to ex-communicate him.

The Rabonim are SO currupt with greed, power, and evil-doing, we may as well appoint Al Sharpton to take their place, he will probably put them to shame.

So much for the MYTH and excuse making of rabonim who claim, that it is prohibited to expose molesters because how will their children find a mate. Come again Rabbi?
Sadistic Shatnez Checker/Molester Yehuda Nussbaum just had sheva brochos for his daughter, wonder which psychopath would want to marry into his family?

Anonymous said...

http://www.jewishtimes.com/News/6266.stm

The Baltimore Jewish Times usually avoids sexual abuse reporting with all the homegrown horror stories connected to NIRC. However, they just picked up the JTA report on the YTT scandal.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032007/news/regionalnews/a_sabbath_sabotage_regionalnews_david_andreatta__education_reporter.htm

February 3, 2007 -- It was high holy chaos hours before the Jewish Sabbath yesterday, as school bus companies scrambled to retrieve students at scores of yeshivas whose traditional early Friday dismissals were botched by the city's school-bus bosses.

"The schedule was completely not the way it should be, you can't believe it," said Yehuda Tunkel, executive director of the Yeshiva of Brooklyn. "Early dismissal was turned into late dismissal."

Rabbis and yeshiva directors across the city said they were flooded with phone calls from parents worried that their children would be waiting for hours to be picked up, or that they wouldn't be home before sundown.

Anonymous said...

Hofstra Law dean will resign
BY OLIVIA WINSLOW
Newsday Staff Writer

February 2, 2007, 8:11 PM EST

The dean of Hofstra University's law school has announced he plans to resign July 31 for health reasons, an unexpected development that means the university must conduct another search for a dean after having just ended one two years ago.

"It is with intense sadness that I inform you of my intention to resign as dean on July 31, 2007," Aaron D. Twerski wrote in a Feb. 1 e-mail to colleagues.

Twerski, 67, cited his quadruple-bypass surgery two weeks ago and his cardiologist's insistence that the dean's commute from his Brooklyn home to the Hempstead campus and his work responsibilities "are not in my best interest."

"I cannot tell you how painful this decision is for me," Twerski wrote.

"The past two years have been an exciting challenge," he added, praising the support from his colleagues as well as that from university President Stuart Rabinowitz and Provost Herman Berliner, "who have provided resources and moral support at every step along the way."

Twerski, who was a professor in Hofstra's law school from 1972 to 1986 and later taught at Brooklyn Law School, returned to Hofstra in 2005 as dean after the university held a two-year search, Berliner said.

Twerski's selection drew attention because he was said to be the first Hasidic Jew to lead an American law school. That designation aside, he was considered a legal scholar and authority on product liability law who authored more than 70 articles and two case law books.

"His stepping down as dean is a tremendous loss to us," Berliner said. "The best way to describe him is he's an exemplary dean and an inspirational figure."

Berliner added that Twerski brought "a sense of dynamism" to his post.

"Aaron knew it was a very strong faculty" at the law school," he said. But Berliner said Twerski "wanted everything looked at. ... He worked on multiple aspects."

For instance, Berliner said, Twerski and the law school faculty revised the entire first-year curriculum.

"He brought a tremendous energy level and commitment to legal education," he said.

Berliner said it was too soon to say when Hofstra would begin another dean search. Usually, the university hires an executive search firm, and a committee of faculty members, administrators and trustees is formed to evaluate applicants.

Anonymous said...

Taken from the matt solomon website: Word is that Kolko is cooperating with the DA and helping them go after Margulies in exchange for a deal.


I say bullsh*t.

Anonymous said...

I work in strange ways.

Ronnie Schreiber said...


2500 girls aged 25 on a Shadchon's list. Other shadchonim won't take a girl because it is a waste of his time.


I wonder how many of those 2500 25 year old women would consider marrying a man 10 or 20 years older than them?
I wonder how many of their Bais Yakov classmates would discourage them from doing so?
I wonder how many fathers and mothers would rather their daughter be a spinster than marrying a man the parents' own age.

Of course nobody in the frum community is willing to say critical word one about the 22 year old poretzes who want naive 19 year old hotties.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

BTW, I mentioned Rabbi Eidensohn's name to my hosts at lunch today and they had nothing but superlative things to say about him and his wife from the time my hosts lived back east. They described him as a man of integrity who won't compromise on things that count.

Anonymous said...

Ronnie has a bias & vested interest to not attack the Detroit auto industry, whom he relies on for a living.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:e1uP_zB68PsJ:www.orange-papers.org/orange-rroot540.html+ford+coughlin&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

Ford met with some Jewish leaders and declared peace. But Ford really just switched to using front men like Father Charles Coughlin, the father of hate radio, to promote his opinions. Father Coughlin republished, with the help of Henry Ford and his secretary Ernest Liebold, more rabidly hateful anti-Semitic literature, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion

Father Coughlin got financial and other help from Henry Ford, who had supposedly renounced anti-Semitism and made peace with Jewish leaders, but who had really simply switched to using Father Coughlin as a front man. Father Coughlin probably even got the text for the Protocols from Ford's personal secretary Ernest E. Liebold, who was a central figure in Ford's campaign against the Jews.
See Father Coughlin and the New Deal, pp. 193-196, and Radio Priest; Charles Coughlin, The Father of Hate Radio, by Donald Warren, pages 145 to 153.

And Father Coughlin was probably also receiving funds from Nazi Germany as well as Henry Ford. See Radio Priest, pages 232 to 244.

And Coughlin was actively disseminating Nazi propaganda: "Some of Coughlin's writings followed speeches of Joseph Goebbels word for word." (Radio Priest, page 244.)

A U.S. Department of Justice internal memorandum said,

"...there is at least one occasion upon which [Father Coughlin's magazine] Social Justice reprinted in almost identical form a speech delivered by Joseph Goebbels. The Social Justice article gave no credit to Goebbels and did not in any way indicate that it was a reprint of Goebbel's speech. In addition to the Goebbels article we have testimony from one witness, the Reverend Dr. Cole of Boston, that on one occasion when he visited Coughlin at Royal Oak he saw Nazi propaganda leaflets stacked upon the shelves of Coughlin's library. Dr. Cole can specifically identify the Goebbels speech in pamphlet form, printed in English, as having been on Coughlin's shelf."
(Radio Priest; Charles Coughlin, The Father of Hate Radio, Donald Warren, page 251.)

Ronnie then whines that Henry Ford ym's offspring should be granted some imaginary protection afforded by the Torah that they not be punished for his sins. What a laugh.

The exact year that a Ford family member who is a Ford Executive auctioned off his portrait of Hitler was 19 years ago. I read it in the papers and unless you have Lexis nexis, you can't search that far back.

Ronnie then goes on to whitewash the current day Ford as a bunch of Jew lovers which is preposterous. A series of Wall St Journal articles proves otherwise:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/rbartley/?id=110004283

The Ford Foundation funds a gaggle of Islamic charities, including the Palestinian NGO network (PNGO) and the Palestinian Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment. These organizations were instrumental in turning the 2001 human rights conference in Durban into such an anti-Semitic festival that Secretary of State Colin Powell withdrew the U.S. delegation. Now Edwin Black of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has calculated that the two groups were funded not principally by Arabs but by Ford. With the crackdown on Islamic charities, U.S. government officials are questioning whether the foundation knows where its money is going. One of Mr. Black's articles in the New York Sun reports that Ford Foundation President Susan Berresford has assured Rep. Jerrold Nadler that "we will not fund groups that espouse anti-Semitism, promote violence, or deny the legitimacy of Israel's existence."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/responses.html?article_id=110004482

Pretty Ugly
Don Carlstrom - White Bear Lake, Minn.

Henry Ford II resigned from the board of directors of the foundation his grandfather established because it was funding causes too liberal for his tastes. If it is now engaged in this ugly allegation of funding the Palestinians, the practice must be exposed. We have all we can handle to stop foreigners from funding anti-American terrorism let alone a group that was funded as tax-exempt from proceeds of the purchasers of Ford Motor products.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004482

Henry Ford's 'Legacy'
The foundation he created gets into Middle East trouble.

Friday, December 26, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST

The quip going around nonprofit circles these days is that the Ford Foundation's support for Palestinian extremists is the one area of funding it could defend on the grounds of donor intent--an allusion to the notorious anti-Semitism of automaker and founder Henry Ford.

But Chuck Grassley, for one, is not amused. In response to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency series detailing Ford's support for Palestinian NGOs crusading against Israel, the Iowa Republican has announced that the Senate Finance Committee will review the matter. In so doing, we hope it raises a question long overdue for Congressional scrutiny: How U.S. tax laws intended to encourage charity have had the unintended effect of spawning a foundation priesthood funded into perpetuity and insulated from public accountability.

This lack of accountability is bad enough even when it involves small foundations that stray from their benefactor's purposes. But with $10 billion in assets and offices that stretch from Santiago to Hanoi, Ford today has become a major player in international affairs--with the potential to run afoul of U.S. interests abroad.

That's precisely what happened in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, where a U.N. conference ostensibly called to combat racism became a world stage for anti-Americanism and the crudest kind of anti-Semitic imagery. So ugly did Durban become that Secretary of State Colin Powell ordered the American delegation to return home.

In his "Funding Hate" series for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Edwin Black quotes some of those who had witnessed the Durban spectacle as originally guessing that the funding for all this anti-Semitic propaganda must have come from, say, Saudi Arabia. In fact, he says, much of it came from Ford. In 2000 and 2001 alone, Mr. Black notes, Ford distributed $35 million to 272 Arab and pro-Palestinian organizations--with at least some of these millions going to those that transformed Durban into a circus.
Among the noisiest of these recipients was the Palestinian Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (LAW), which since 1997 has received $1.1 million from Ford. Mr. Black reports that LAW's officers assumed leadership positions on the Durban steering committees that were instrumental in making the thrust of that conference an international indictment of the state of Israel.

Or take PNGO--an umbrella group of 90 Palestinian NGOs that's also received more than $1 million from Ford. Its director is quoted as admitting that PNGO gets almost no Arab support and that Ford is its biggest funder. Yet this is the same group that denounced as "unacceptable" a U.S. government requirement that Palestinian NGOs partnering with tax-exempt American charities sign a pledge promising that no funds would ever find their way to "advocate or support terrorist activities."

After first digging in her heels, Ford President Susan Berresford acknowledged in a November 17 letter to Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) that she and her colleagues at Ford "now recognize that we did not have a clear picture of the activities, organizations and people involved."

Funding for LAW, she tells us, has been cut off because of financial irregularities, and Ford is in the midst of investigating its other grantees. Not only does Ford abhor any anti-Semitism, she says, the funding that was featured in Mr. Black's series represents only a fraction of what is really a broad Ford effort to build a moderate Palestinian civil society.

Sounds good. But it's not as if this is the first time Ford has been questioned about its Middle East funding. The New York Sun reports that as far back as 1999 editors at the Jewish weekly Forward ran a story entitled "Latest Ford Foundation Grantees Would Sure Make Henry I Proud." Nothing happened. The difference today is a post-9/11 environment, where the combination of press exposure and Congressional pressure has made it harder for Ford to look the other way.
Mr. Black's articles report that State, Justice and the IRS are looking into the matter, as well they should. But Congress has a special responsibility with regard to foundations, because Congress writes the tax laws that spawned these empires. Not least of the perverse incentives here is a provision in the tax code--one that Ford lobbied hard to preserve--that allows foundations to count office expenses against the 5% of their assets they are required to give out each year to charity.

We hope Senator Grassley goes through with hearings, not only to find out where all that Ford money ended up in the Middle East but also to raise the larger public issue of whether the tax code is being used to subsidize attacks on American interests. Foundations are a growing part of U.S. life and are playing an ever larger role in political debate. Under current law they are also tax subsidized for eternity. Congress hasn't revisited that policy since 1981, and it's about time it did.

Next: Saab. Ronnie said one model is made by Subaru. Subaru is essentially a Japanese company that GM owns a share of.

Ronnie ends off with another laughable comment that we must laud GM because of their pension plan. That pension plan was the recipe for disaster that assured their doom even if GM cars didn't suck. I haven't been able to find all the Wall St Journal articles that debunk the myth that Ronnie proposes here, but here's a really humourous blurb that sums it up pretty well:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110006660

Business Advice From the New York Times

"Wal-Mart critics often note that corporations like Ford and G.M. led a race to the top, providing high wages and generous benefits that other companies emulated. They ask why Wal-Mart, with some $10 billion in profit on about $288 billion in revenue last year, cannot act similarly."--New York Times, May 4

"Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its corporate credit ratings to junk status for both General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. (F). . . . The decision by one of the nation's most respected ratings agencies comes as the two iconic American automakers are losing market share at home to Asian automakers, seeing sales soften for their most profitable models and are facing enormous health care and post-retirement liabilities."--Associated Press, May 5

Anonymous said...

"I wonder how many of those 2500 25 year old women would consider marrying a man 10 or 20 years older than them?"

20 years difference is not appropriate. A huge problem that has existed in shidduchim from before the singles crisis are the losers in their 40s & 50s with chaloymos that they are entitled to girls decades younger than them. Brooklyn is teaming with these losers who show up all the time at singles events billed for a younger crowd. You see these horny fiends literally chasing girls around. They are often tossed off the premesis by the organizers. The OU director of special events, Frank Buchweitz, is usually more polite and just warns them not to come back again.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering who Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz is. He's the guy who all of a sudden plunged into the abuse issue, faster than Gil Student off a diving board. It turns out he is an Agudah official who heads Project YES. Even if he means well, he is muzzled from saying the right things as long as he's on the payroll. No wonder he erased any remez to YTT from his blog.

Anonymous said...

Did you hear that folks? We can all breath easy now that whoever fed Ronnie some cholent today holds of Rabbi Eidensohn.

Stay tuned for next Shabbos. Ronnie is told over schnapps & herring that Rabbi Moishe Feinstein is reliable too!

You can always count on this blog for the latest breaking news!

Anonymous said...

The Chofetz Chaim cites the Ari Zal approvingly in the Mishna Berura, Siman Aleph, Seif Aleph. What's good enough for the Chofetz Chaim is good enough for me.

Anonymous said...

Agudah Activity said...

I was wondering who Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz is. He's the guy who all of a sudden plunged into the abuse issue, faster than Gil Student off a diving board. It turns out he is an Agudah official who heads Project YES. Even if he means well, he is muzzled from saying the right things as long as he's on the payroll. No wonder he erased any remez to YTT from his blog.

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

My thoughts exactly. "Rabbi" Horowitz chose the youth-at-risk circuit for a chance at fame. The problem is he's all fluff. What makes him the expert? Does he have a degree? What about this putz?

http://www.rabbihorowitz.com/PYes/ResourceDetails.cfm?Book_ID=157&ThisGroup_ID=245&Type=Resource

What, no initials after his name? He’s entrusted with helping kids “with religious problems.” Shouldn’t there be at least a couple of sentences about his credentials? Horowitz offers just a name with a phone number and parents are just supposed to trust this guy?

I have personal stories of this man (Daniel Mechanic) He's bad news and doesn't belong dealing with "youth-at-risk." The problem is parents are so desperate they'll trust anyone. For the most part, the youth-at-risk movement is crap.

Anonymous said...

Gross,

Daniel Mechanic is a featured celebrity this Pesach for the 2nd year running at a Florida hotel along with Ephraim Bryks' brother in law Paysach Krohn. What I find interesting about this destination is that I only know of two guys offhand (from Flatbush) who take their families there. Both of these guys are shallow, attention hungry idiots who make sure to go to the in place where everyone will see them. They are also corrupt in business. The organizers have been running versions of the ad in the Jewish Press that have quoted guests including these two clowns praising their stay last year. Maybe the message here is to go out and cheat, steal so you can spend Pesach with this all-star line up.

Anonymous said...

Never trust a guy with a comb-over.

How can anyone trust a "scholar-in-residence" who whores himself out in exchange for a free ticket to a pesach program? It's more than attention they're hungry for - it's a week of fressing in the sun.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Ronnie doesn't get it right said...

Ronnie has a bias & vested interest to not attack the Detroit auto industry, whom he relies on for a living.

And just how do I rely on the Detroit auto industry for a living? I don't currently work for any car companies or their suppliers. I don't do embroidery for any of the car companies, in fact I've been accused of copyright violations by both GM and Chrysler for some of my embroidery designs. I publish some automotive news web sites that cover some domestic models, but I also publish sites about the industry in China and India. Does that make me rely on Indian car companies for my living.

I'm just interested in people being fair. As I said before, every car company selling cars in North America has good product, the Detroit mfgs included.

Ronnie then whines that Henry Ford ym's offspring should be granted some imaginary protection afforded by the Torah that they not be punished for his sins. What a laugh.

As I said, the family knows the old man was a crackpot and the company has had good relations with Israel and the Jewish community here since the times of Henry Ford II, Ford's grandson.

The exact year that a Ford family member who is a Ford Executive auctioned off his portrait of Hitler was 19 years ago. I read it in the papers and unless you have Lexis nexis, you can't search that far back.

In other words, it's a rumor until you can prove it. The Ford company and family are incredibly sensitive over the issue of antisemitism precisely because they are aware of the crackpot's history. I doubt strongly that any Ford family member or company executive would have done this. Until you can produce a clipping or citation, it's an urban legend.

I'm sure that Toyota and Nissan (who scrupulously adhered to the Arab boycott of Israel in past years) will be happy to take your money.

Ronnie then goes on to whitewash the current day Ford as a bunch of Jew lovers which is preposterous. A series of Wall St Journal articles proves otherwise:

[boilerplate about the Ford Foundation snipped]

Boy, you really are uninformed. The Ford family has absolutely nothing to do with the operation and funding philosophies of the Ford Foundation. As a matter of fact, many foundations started by wealthy families, have embraced left wing philosophies quite at odds with the founding families' attitudes and interests. The Ford Foundation is completely independent of the Ford Family. You even cited how Henry Ford II resigned from the board of the Ford Foundation in protest yet you don't give him credit for doing the right thing.

You have very poor reading comprehension. Either that or you're an idiot. Perhaps both.


Next: Saab. Ronnie said one model is made by Subaru. Subaru is essentially a Japanese company that GM owns a share of.


GM no longer owns a significant interest in Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent corporation. They sold their stake last year (I believe selling off their share of Subaru was a mistake, btw). Toyota (which already owned a piece of FHI) bought GM's shares and now has substantial control of Subaru. You said that Saabs were better than GM products and I was pointing out that some Saabs were essentially identical to other GM affiliated products. The Saab 9.2 is a Subaru WRX with different sheet metal. The Saab 9.7 is a Chevy TrailBlazer.

Ronnie ends off with another laughable comment that we must laud GM because of their pension plan. That pension plan was the recipe for disaster that assured their doom even if GM cars didn't suck.

My point was not to laud them but rather point out the downside to a GM bankruptcy. US tax laws favored paying employees with benefits in lieu of cash and GM was foolish to agree with the pension demands, but the reality is that GM pays more in pensions than any other single entity in the US. If GM goes bankrupt, are you willing for the taxpayers to support those pensioneers?

Are you willing to support a national health plan that would put American manufacturers on equal footing with those in Europe and Japan?

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Inappropriate Comment by Ronnie said...

"I wonder how many of those 2500 25 year old women would consider marrying a man 10 or 20 years older than them?"

20 years difference is not appropriate.


So what was good enough for previous generations of Jews (a younger woman marrying an older widower was not uncommon) is now "inappropriate"?

What's not appropriate about a 20 year age difference? Explain why it's inappropriate.

Ronnie Schreiber said...

Yasher Koach to Ronnie said...

Did you hear that folks? We can all breath easy now that whoever fed Ronnie some cholent today holds of Rabbi Eidensohn.

Stay tuned for next Shabbos. Ronnie is told over schnapps & herring that Rabbi Moishe Feinstein is reliable too!

You can always count on this blog for the latest breaking news!


Well excuuuuuuse me. I simply asked my friend if he knew the name. Perhaps if you weren't such a coward, you would use your real name and we could ask people about your reputation.