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Sunday, January 14, 2007

UOJ IS THE ROTO ROOTER GUY!

UOJ IS THE ROTO ROOTER GUY!
Published originally August 18, 2006 B.C. (Before Convention)
Customer Service Number:1-800-TOLD-YOU.



You buy a house in a good neighborhood and your toilet keeps backing up. Not every day, but just enough for you to realize that your sewer system is a problem. But you're busy, raising a family, making a parnassah, and all the other activities that occupy your time 110%.

So your sewer problem is there, any fool would realize that if your toilet keeps dumping zevel in your living room every few months, you have a sewer problem. In order for you to deal with the problem you must take a real hard look at the root cause of the damaged system. Then you come to realize that the whole neighborhood has shit backing up into their bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms as well.

You call a meeting with your neighbors and decide to buy thicker carpets and have the zevel piped in under the carpet so you don't have to have the crap hit you in the face. You make many melave malkes, conventions and dinners and take the stench with you...because ultimately the stench is you! But now you're in a room where every one smells like shit and you think it's perfume or so they tell you. You now go out and buy knee boots...hoping the charra will not dirty your suit or legs. At the dais of these dinners, you begin to believe that they caused the stench by stuffing your sewers with their bull"shit", so if you called a plumber, they will profit from your sewer problem, because they own the plumbing company.

They continue to stuff up your sewer system with newsletters and proclamations, and their propaganda slowly convinces you that really you don't have a sewer problem at all. It's imagined.....and let's blame the sewer company for selling you inferior pipes."

It's the Goyim stupid"......or people that act like Goyim. And you know what? The plumbers that brought you the news that you have a problem at all, are shgatzim. They use nivel peh, are m'challel Shabbos, they fix sewers on Shabbos...what qualifies them to tell you that your sewer is broken? Never listen to a plumber who uses nivel peh; call your posek, he'll tell you what looks like shit, smells like shit, and has destroyed your lives with these toxic fumes that have penetrated your being, is really nothing more than a tradition that all of us inherited from our ancestors.( What looks like sex abuse, feels like sex abuse,and IS sex abuse, is really, really, NOT sex abuse, it's the psak from a godol that really counts, NOT the law of our Country, or the law of civilized man!)

What to do? All your life you are living in this community, but now this big bad plumber has uncovered for all the world to see, that there really is a huge sewer problem.

SHIT EVERYWHERE!

The Roto Rooter guy insists that the sewer is irreparable; only a total removal of the sewer "system" will remove the problem that has destroyed your home. It must be replaced with brand new pipes and must be installed by reputable plumbers. He apologizes for his frustration and his use of "over the top" language, but has learned from experience that good people don't pay much attention to soft spoken plumbers." Imagine" he says, " If I came to your home in a suit and tie, and spoke the King's English, would you really believe that I'm a plumber?" "Would you really believe that me and me alone can tear out your broken sewer and replace it with a brand new working system that is able to flush out the drek before it becomes a problem? I will install a warning system..we'll call it a black hat alert, the shit detector will sound a siren way in advance, way before your sewer begins to crumble."

"And you know what? It's FREE! I'll do it at no charge. You see I love the people that live in this neighborhood, I JUST HATE THE SMELL! This used to be a beautiful neighborhood, until the drek peddlers moved in.

Your choice my friends, go Roto Rooter, or suffer with the farshtoonkena drek that represents the toxic smell that is destroying your neighborhood.

Go Roto Rooter at no charge, or choose the likes of the mushchasim that are called Fraud Yisroel Belsky, Lipa Margulies, Pinchos Scheinberg, Simcha Kaufman and last but certainly not least, Yudi Kolko.

80 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/01/dov_hikind_and_.html#comment-27745278

This past Shabbos R' Dovid Cohen of Khal Gvul Yaavetz publicly stated that he was the author of the "Open letter to Rav Matisyahu Salomon" regarding the blogs. Rav Cohen stated that he has all his information from his position as the clergyman for Ohel Children's Home.


Is this true?

Sholom said...

Well, I do trust you to remove the old system; but how do we prevent shit from accumulating in the first place?
And doesn't the plumber shit too?

BTW, did anyone ever find out if Belsky actually posted that piece, and if he's aware of my scurrilous reply?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

I don't believe Dovid Cohen said that; IF he did, he's lying through his false teeth!

Anonymous said...

Is there any kind of amicus / friend of the court brief that private citizens not directly involved can file against Margo for either the abuse at Torah Temimah or the thievery from Torah Vodaas?

Anonymous said...

I was in Gvul Yabetz this past Shabbos. R' Cohen said nothing of the sort.

Anonymous said...

http://haemtza.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-are-they-waiting-for.html

Rabbi Shafran also denied the charge that in cases of sexual abuse Batei Din will try to convince litigants to not pursue their complaints. “In cases where there is some degree of doubt, the beit din has a responsibility to counsel against going to authorities until there is proven criminal activity.”

How do we attain that proof without the help of the authorities? Does Agudah have the investigative resources to get proof? If they are unable to ascertain the validity of the charges, what would they do? Ignore the accusations? Allow the accused perpetrator to continue as before? I think this policy is a mistake and is responsible for the perpetuation of a situation that has claimed a great many victims, and destroyed the reputation of Yeshivas Torah Temimah. If there are credible accusations, the authorities ought to be immediately informed. Let them investigate.

I wonder, too, if Rabbi Shafran’s stated reason for not going to the authorities is the only one. I suspect there is also another, less noble one: To protect the reputation of the Torah community by avoiding the attendant negative publicity of a scandal.

Should the Beis Din be the first line of defense in such cases? Normally I would think it should be. But Rabbi Mark Dratch, founder and director of JSafe, an organization addressing abuse in the Jewish community makes the following observation: “(I)f the beit din is used to make the community safer, that´s appropriate. If that relationship is used to bypass the justice system, I think that´s wrong”. He feels, and correctly so in my view that the Batei Din don’t “always work appropriately”. He has in fact "pleaded with members of Agudah to expose the dangers of clerical and familial abuse. (He) said if you don´t expose, victims have no place to turn."

Rabbi Shafran conceded, that there are not now in place any official guidelines in Agudah and expressed the belief that there would be such guidelines in the future.

As the self proclaimed and widely acknowledged repository of Daas Torah in America, I have to wonder why there are no guidelines by Agudah in place yet. What are they waiting for?

Anonymous said...

Your analogy about the sewer was very apt, but, although I am not in awe of most of today's poskim, I don't think we are going to resove this very soon, because the RAHbonnim are just going to keeping covering up all the dirt and whitewashing it. People in high political positions (rabbonus for instance) always win (at least it looks that way). The only thing we can rely on, is that Olom Hofuch hu and that the truth will come out in the next world. Whoever looks like he's on top in this world will be on the bottom in the next worls and vice versa.

Anonymous said...

Monsey Psychologist Accused of Molestion

Monsey, NY (1/14/2007) Some time ago we received a letter from one of our readers accusing a well known Monsey resident and psychologist, Dr. Melvin Sinowitz, PhD. of inappropriate behavior. It is normally not our policy to republish comments or letters from readers however, after doing our do diligence and researching the past activities of Dr. Sinowitz we have concluded that the allegations put forth by the writer is indeed credible. Not only does the writers’ story deserve to be heard but our community needs to be aware of the type of predators that lurk within our midst. On September 17, 1999, Dr. Sinowitz was disciplined by New York State Education Department Office of the Professions, Summaries of Regents Actions on Professional Misconduct and Discipline for making recommendations in a child custody case that were not supported by sufficient data. Dr. Sinowitz's recommendations in the child custody case were made with bias and a wanton disregard for the welfare of the child(ren) involved. He was fined $5,000, his license to practice Psychology was suspended for 2 years and he received 2 years probation. The supporting data and link to the NYS Education Department site will be shown at the end of this article. Given the recent stomach turning events of child abuse that have gripped our community we feel that it is incumbent upon us to reveal the names and information of any accused predator, but only after doing our do diligence and establishing a documented past of deviant behavior. In the case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, accusation upon accusation arose and in each case they were dismissed for a so called lack of evidence. There are many men, both young and old, that to this day, carry the burden of Yehuda Kolko's reign of deviant terror. Although our site is satirical in nature, in a moment of levity we said "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" and decided to use this forum to publicize the story of a young girl who carries around the emotional scars of sexual abuse. It chilled us to the bone to think of a fragile child, from an unstable situation, being taken advantage of by someone she was supposed to trust. The story you are about to read is strictly the authors interpretation of events that took place between her and Dr. Sinowitz. We have no way of knowing whether or not they took place at all. However, given Dr. Sinowitz's documented past history of indifference towards the welfare of children, it is our opinion that he has little or no credibility. We are sure that many of you will ask why someone with such strong accusations would contact our site, which by and large is viewed as a satire on Orthodox Jewish sexuality. Truthfully, even we were suspicious and suspected that this was nothing more than another attempt at bringing down our site with a silly hoax. However, when we asked to speak with our reader by phone she readily contacted us and was candid with us. She told that she had reached out to other frum bloggers and forums and was made to feel as if her allegations where worthless and that she had some "ax to grind". The general feeling she got was that she was nothing more than a rabble rouser causing trouble for another "yid". In our site she felt she would at least get a listen to because of our utter disdain for phonies in the "frum" community and because of the vast amount of traffic that our site gets. Yes, she knew we would "eat this up" and that this would be a front page story should we deem her to be credible. After speaking with her and doing our own research, we feel she is indeed credible and that her story at least deserved to be heard. This post is in no way an indictment of Dr. Sinowitz. Just as we have drawn our own conclusions, we hope you will take the time to do the same. Here is her story, as is, raw, with no corrections and NO editing.:

i am writing this letter/comment to "playchosid" because my most horible memories of my 30 yrs on this earth have recently beeen rekindeled, i am maried with 3 beautiful kinderlach kh,and i dont live in ny any more because of the things that i went through as a child there, but i still keep in touch with my family and friends, and i read on the internet and blogs so i still keep up with all the news and shmooze from n.y. . this year for chanuka we went to ny to visit and we just came back home today on motzi shabbos,but before we left we went to kosher delight in Flatbush with some friends who wanted to treat us, and when we were there my husband ran into an old friend that he went to yeshiva torah temima with, so they shmoozed for a while while i took the children to wash there hands and when my husband came back he said "oh my gosh” i cant believe what is going on there, my old friend just told me that a rebbi from the yeshiva that we went to was in big trouble now because somehow they found out that he was mollesting kids,when i heard those words im telling you my whole body mamesh froze into solid ice, and since i heard it i am so depressd and i have so many bad memories that are coming back and now i cant sleep or eat, because i am so disgusted by it and i feel like i have to say something it would be an averah not to, and that is why i am going to tell you what happend to me,i am from bklyn ny, from a verry frum family. we lived in the heart of the frum comunity, we went to the same schools, and shuls ,bought our food at the same stores and knew the same people, my family was just like all of the other families.exept for one thing,my parents were not together,we did not have a father,we were the broken family.at 17 yrs old i was sent to live with a family in monsey,the picture perfect yidishe heim, the wife a stay home mother,the father a rebbi in a yeshiva,the house always filled with children laughing, shabbos was full of simcha, the table always full of guests,singing nigunim and and giving d'var torah every one of there 11 children b'simcha.i loved them like they were my own family, and they treated me like i was ,sometimes i even wished i was, they were such a good stable yidishe heim,and my own real family was " a broken mishpacha" no matter how alike we were with the other mishpachas in the neighborhood we were still the ones "with no father" the ones from "a divorced family"we also were a family with "only" 3" children a "small" family we were the family who's mother was "that lady who work'd in the store" because she has 3 children to take care of," its such a nebach"and me and my younger sister were the 2girls that no matter how "good" we were how "nice" we were ho "aidel" we were, would not be able to get a "good shiduch" from a "good family "because we were from a broken home ,my mother never gave me a real reason for why i was going to stay with a family in monsey,but i believed it was so maybe i could find a "good" shiduch i was only 17 at the time, i right away became a part of my new family they took me in with open arms and treated me like one of there own, the 12th child,the mother let me use her car and i found a job in a local chasidishe grocery store, but the day after i arrived in my new life my mother called me from brooklyn to see how i was doing, and to also tell me that she didnt want me to feel unwanted , and this was verry good for me and that i should call her if i needed to talk ever,and to let me know that at 4:00 the next day i had an apointmentwith Dr. mel sinowitz a therapist my mother said she thought it would be good for me to go and she had talked to a rov about it and he also said it was a good idea for me, i didnt really want to but i said ok.the next day i was sitting in front of dr sinowitz talking about my family my past my my father marrage and every thing else,i was verry surprised when i left becuse i felt verry relaxed and good about my life and my future, and i actualy looked forward to going to see him again,i saw him for 4 1/2 months and he was so reasuring to me so nice, more like a close friend than a doctor, he would even tell my about things in his life, one day when i went to talk to him i was verry upset,i was crying, my younger sister had been sent to school in connecticut, and she only went home for a shabbos once a month so i didnt see her much, but i spoke to my mother and she told me that my sister was kicked out of school, and she was doing verry bad things and she was friends with a bad crowd, with the "bums"i started crying right away when i started talking about it,and dr sinowtz got up and got a box of tissues and sat next to me and hugged me, i didnt know what to say i was shocked,he was rubbing my back and saying its ok im here for you, then he started to play with my hair, he told me that i was beautifull and he said that it felt good to finally hold me, he was talking about his wife, he said that she was verry heavy and he wasnt attracted to her was telling me that we had a verry special bond and that he was a doctor and he knew what i needed and how to take care of me,i felt verry uncomftorble but i believed him becase he always made me feel good before, when it was time for me to go i got up to leave his office,and he said no dont go you need to stay and get all of this out of your mind, it is not healthy to be so sad so i sat back down and he was hugging me again,and after mabe 10 minutes he was putting his hand up my skirt,i was so embarased, but i was scared to say anything so i just pretended like nothing was happening, he put his hands inside my panties but the whole time my skirt was still covering his hands and for 2 hrs dr. sinowitz talked to me about being happy and having faith and how evrything is "hashgocha protis" and the whole time his hands were inside my panties.when i left i cried so much i felt like i was dirty i wanted to go to the mikva but i couldnt i was not married i was so scared i didnt want to tell anybody because i thought they would not believe me so for 2 yrs i went back twice a week and dr sinowitz would do the same thing to me every time, over the first few weeks he started to do more things to me, he would take out his penis and make it hard but only through his zippe rand he would stand in front of me and play with it and say "do you like this"and he would tell me to give it a kiss, and then he would put his hand in my skirt and he would put his fingers inside me, and also inside my anus. while the whole time he would play with his penis and then when he was almost finished he would say my name and then say turn around now im almost finished and when i would turn around he would pull down my skirt and panties and then he would cum on me and then he would close his pants and tell me how wonderfull i am and he would kiss me with his tounge and then i would go,he never put his penis inside me, but he did everything els to me and every time it was a little bit diffrent exept for when he was finished it was always the same way, on my buttocks , so it got to be a relief when he would say turn around because i new it was almost finished i have never told anyone about this, i am maried with 3 children and my husband dosent even know, i didnt write everything here because it would take forever and it is also to painfull but im writing this because of what rabbi yehuda kolko did when i heard the story it brought back all of these bad memories and i cant make them go away, i feel so bad for the children that he did that to i know how bad they fell to and i also worry about if there are more children that he did it to that nobody knows about because they are scared to tell anyone because then they wont be able to get a "good shiduch"

Perhaps after reading this story you will feel that the writer is a liar with an ax to grind. Perhaps you will cringe because of the “chillul hashem”. Perhaps you will find her story a lie because it was published on our site. Maybe just maybe some of you out there will feel the pain and anguish of this young woman. Maybe some of you will see that child abuse is way more prevalent in our community than we’d care to admit or that the abusers garner way more support than the ones they abuse. We are reasonably sure that will get out fair share of self righteous comments professing their outrage against the accuser. This is in itself is hardly surprising and quite typical of the “frum” community. In the case of Dr. Sinowitz, should these allegations prove to be true, than hopefully this article will trigger an investigation or at the very least make the community aware of a potential threat. If these allegations are not true, than let this post serve as a warning to Dr. Sinowitz and other “child psychologists” who are guilty of unscrupulous behavior, that the life and welfare of a child is not to be toyed with. Manipulating a child’s custody for your own personal gain or because of your personal bias is still a reprehensible act and is still a form of abuse. In closing, let us reiterate that in spite of the satirical nature of this blog and in spite of the adult nature of its content, we will continue to write expose` such as this. We found this article painful to write and took no joy in being privy to such a sordid affair. It is our sincere wish to see the apologists who are allegedly our “Gedolei HaTorah” do a complete about face and acknowledge the fact that there a pedophiles in our midst and that they threaten the lives and welfare of our children. Until then justice will be meted out by the Lord above. The question is….can we wait that long?

Source:
http://www.op.nysed.gov/sep99.htm

Melvin Sinowitz, Hartsdale, NY
Profession: Psychologist;
Lic. No. 004534;
Cal. No. 17982
Regents Action Date: September 17, 1999
Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 2 year suspension, execution of suspension stayed, probation 2 years, $5,000 fine.
Summary: Licensee did not contest charge of making a recommendation regarding child custody when said recommendation was not supported by sufficient evidence in the test data or the case history.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source:

http://www.doctor-source.com/listing-10606744/

Sinowitz, Melvin PhD.

111 N Central Ave

Hartsdale, NY 10530-1903

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

Source:

http://dr.doctorsrealm.com/NewYork/Monsey/SinowitzMelvin.html

Sinowitz, Melvin, CP (Certified Professional)
10 Sophia St
Monsey, NY 10952-2012

Anonymous said...

It's good to see Harry Maryles saying something constructive instead of bellyaching as usual over a friend of his in chinuch who he claims was unjustly accused of abuse. I heard that UOJ offered to get involved and help clear his name if he was in fact falsely blamed but that Harry refuses to cooperate.

Plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is.

Anonymous said...

go for it roto rooter!!
if anybody needs insurance for their house for sewer damage,call GEICO they have the best prices in town, they even came out with an unconfirmed report of leizerowitz getting a wedgy.
to hella winston, once again great peice, thanks.

LEIZEROWITZ VICTIM FOREVER

Anonymous said...

There are perverts out there everywhere, not just in doctor's offices and schools. Before I was married, I was in the country in a bungalow colony. I was staying by my friend who had an apt. in the casino bldg. She wasn't home one day and I was there alone watching her children. A Chasidish man from the bungalow colony had to pick something up from my friend, so he came to my friend's apt. He kept getting close to me and bumping into me and I kept on trying to move away from him. He didn't do anything more than that, but, later I realized that he was doing it intentionally and it was wrong. I never told anyone, I don't even know who he was. I am sure there are others like him out there.

Anonymous said...

What blog did the Sinowitz post come from? Care to share a link?

Anonymous said...

I do not daven in Rabbi schiffenbauer's shul but I do ask him my shailos and I did once ask him his opinion on the Kolko situation. He told me that he preferred not to talk about it. I then asked him if he thought Kolko was innocent or not and he answered me "I dont know." My children don't go to TT so I don't know much about the inner working there but I do know one thing. Rabbi Schiffenbauer himself told me in his own words that he does not know if Kolko is innocent or guilty. Anybody saying that he holds otherwise is simply lying!!

Anonymous said...

I believe you. But why does Rabbi Schiffenbauer chair the Vaad hehorim? It's nothing but a device that aids Margo in his criminal fraud. Anyone with self-respect should step down and let Margo find another puppet to be used. Ask Eli Greenwald. Whenever someone wants to bring an issue to the Vaad's attention, it gets scuttled by Margo or Applegrad and the Vaad never even meets. Rabbi Schiffenbauer should know better.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should start asking your shayles to Maran Gil Student. He seems to be the big expert on things in Flatbush. He's got it all figured out you see. And even when a shayle is a little too big for him he doesn't need to go to gedolei Eretz Yisroel. He's found some local luminaries to consult with. There is Neuhoff, a bochur called Hirsch and a YU rabbi who gives sermons about his favorite movies.

Anonymous said...

"Rabbi Schiffenbauer himself told me in his own words that he does not know if Kolko is innocent or guilty."

Maybe if he wasn't Kolko's next door neighbor for years he would be more inclined to say guilty and he wouldn't yell at his shul for reading the blog?

Anonymous said...

UOJ,

Tell us about the back door dealings regarding your attempt to speak at the Agudah Convention. Were you surprised that they dedicated the plenary session exclusively to you?

Anonymous said...

"a YU rabbi who gives sermons about his favorite movies."

His favorite movie is "A few good men" with Jack Nicholson. He once gave a drasha about it. It wasn't that he tied in the movie. It was that the entire drasha revolved around it. It was probably the first rabbinical sermon in history that got "two thumbs up" from Ebert & Roper.

For parshas Beshalach, Gil Student has put in a request that the rabbi skip yetzias Mitzraim, and speak about this movie instead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_From_Gilligan's_Island

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Schiffenbauer himself told me in his own words that he does not know if Kolko is innocent or guilty. Anybody saying that he holds otherwise is simply lying!!
----

and he told other people that he is innocent. maybe he changed his mind.

Anonymous said...

Who started that rumor about the Novominsker vacationing in Israel? He's down here under the carpet along with the rest of us. That would be me, the rest of the Moe'tzes, the vantzen, and the abuse victims. The carpet does provide a little shelter from all the UOJ inspired shifts in climate. It got a little crowded this week with Avi Shafran moving his office down here.

Anonymous said...

Hey daas tayre. Hirsch is married and has a kid.

Anonymous said...

In Sefer Peninim on the parsha this past Shabbos, Shtayt in Shmos 2:6: "vehinay naar boycheh". Zogt the Baal haturim, this was Aharon. He was moved to tears because his brother Moishe was crying. The limud iz doch that a Yid should feel another's tzaar and to feel the emotion along with them. Children have an ehrenstkeit that allows them to do that. Regrettably, we lose this ability when we grow up. Aharon Hacohen never did which is why he was zoche to wear the choshen oyf zein hartz. The choshen is domeh to the beating heart of a collective Klal Yisroel. What more fitting place to put it ?

R' Yosef Beyda ztl was the founder of the Syrian Bikur Cholim in Flatbush. He once visited a young woman dying of cancer. Her husband nebich left her and the two children. She held an autistic baby in her arms while she explained her nightmare. While this unfolded, the healthy three year old daughter starting crying from the realization that her mother has her hands full and cannot help her. R' Yosef comforted the girl, telling her everything will be all right.

R' Yosef couldn't sleep that night. He saw the pain of the mother and the girl crying, so he cried all night thinking about it.

Also in Flatbush, Kolko & Margulies started destroying the lives of one child after another. Shea Fishman, Avi Shafran and many others were like the father who walked out and threw them to the dogs. A big baal rachmonus, only known as UOJ, heard the cries of the children and stood up where virtually no else had before him. Unlike previous askanim, UOJ was even demonized by the deadbeat "fathers". We should all have kinas sofrim for UOJ's chelek in hatzolas nefoshos.

We know that Shafran, Wachsmann and others read every entry of this blog. Do something meaningful to stop molesters in yeshivos or forever be remembered as disgraces who covered up crimes by attacking the messenger.

Anonymous said...

Haven't seen 'A few good men' yet. I do have it, so now that it has been mentioned in this light, Ill watch it tommorow night. Ill give shiur on it in the Main Bais on Wednesday if anyone is interested.

Anonymous said...

http://www.whysanity.net/monos/fewgood.html

I am trying to reach the prosecutor in Margo's case. I have some tips to give him on how to get under Margo's skin, and get Margo to angrily admit that he ordered the "Code Red" to cover up for Kolko.

Anonymous said...

The midas harachmanus is from an earlier dor so don't listen to it unless the hayntigga Agudah says it's ok.

Anonymous said...

L'achar meah v'esrim shana, make way for UOJ, Elliot Pasik, Eli Greenwald, v'siyatam, whose place is alongside the others fun alleh doros, who heard the cries of Yiddishe kinder and were moved to act.

Anonymous said...

Hey UOJ, isn't it time to pay some attention to those sadistic abusers masquerading as Jews which inhabit so many of our mosdos as well as the perverts.

Everyone knows that the problem of child abuse - I mean physical "punishment" rather than sexual misdeeds - is endemic in our system. I don't think enough is being done to change the situation.

Here in the Uk in particular every kid in every Charedi mosod is subject to being hit without recourse or respite. The days of the bullies must be ended. Let's start a mesira campaign to cure the disease!!!

Anonymous said...

Jack Nicholson does a great job acting the part of an arrogant prick. When they make Margo the movie, he's the leading candidate for the role, although granted he will have to put on a few pounds first and sharpen up on a Hungarian accent.

Maybe Gil Student's rabbi friend wasn't being silly after all. He probably darshaned about A Few Good Men as a moshol for YTT corruption.

Get ready for the finale. Nicholson admits to the prosecution that he ran the cover up from beginning to end. He gets up like nothing happened and starts waltzing away. The judge tells him he's not going anywhere and orders the MPs in the courtroom to arrest him.

Anonymous said...

Rav Salomon has a shlock shamass who helped set up the supervised internet cafe. Every day he prints out from the web, anything that mentions the mashgiach. Rav Salomon usually reads the printouts. One printout that he absolutely refused to read was the open letter.

Anonymous said...

To Gil Student of the world and all his liberal apologists: YOU WANT THE TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Anonymous said...

Then Nicholson claims hes insane and goes to the psych ward where he recieves an unnecessary frontal lobodomy! I think ive seen this one....awesome!!! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!

Anonymous said...

Hehe....One Flew Over the Kolko' Nest!

Anonymous said...

Scandals and disputes plague ultra-Orthodox circles in the U.S.

By Shlomo Shamir
Haaretz - January 16, 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/812945.html


NEW YORK - Disgraceful scandals have been shaking up and embarrassing the Hasidic-Haredi camp in the American Orthodox community. These are what the rabbis describe as "impure incidents" that have recently occurred in Hasidic-Haredi circles to an extent that is mortifying community leaders and activists.

The famous incident that took place recently, and will not soon be forgotten in the Orthodox community, is that of a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) butcher shop owner from Monsey, New York who knowingly sold non-kosher meat to thousands of town residents, most of whom are Haredi. The man, who regularly taught a daily Talmud class and led prayers on the High Holy days, sold treife (non-kosher) meat to yeshivas and other religious institutions. After the shocking story was exposed, a day of fasting and prayer was declared in the town, "to absolve the terrible impediment of eating treife, which carries a severe punishment even when done unintentionally."

Shock and disgust of a kind the American Haredi community has not experienced for years were stirred by photographs published in the media worldwide, of a group of Hasidim with beards and side locks hugging and kissing the president of Iran. The Hasidim who participated in the Holocaust-denial conference in Tehran were not Israeli, and some of them were identified as belonging to a small circle of extremist Hasidim active in New York.

Haredi rabbis and activists in New York are astonished, and hard put to explain how an internal quarrel in the Hasidic Satmar community between the two sons of the previous admor (Hasidic leader), who are each fighting to succeed their father as the head of the Satmar Hasids, reached a non-Jewish court of law. "Heaven forfend," shouted a Hasidic rabbi in a closed meeting of Haredi rabbis that recently took place in Brooklyn. "In our worst nightmares we never imagined that two well-known Hasidic figures would ask for a ruling on their conflict outside a rabbinical court, and would prefer a state court." After all, the rabbi explained, this is a serious prohibition that is defined in the Jewish sources as a desecration of God's name.

The Orthodox community is trying to prevent many serious problems from being publicized. One problem that is arousing great concern is the spreading incidence of drunkenness in Orthodox synagogues. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (the OU) recently sent out an internal flier warning about the unacceptable practice by worshippers who drink large quantities of hard liquor in synagogue before the end of Sabbath morning prayers; this leads to drunkenness and the disgrace of their places of worship.

But what is seen as having the potential for catastrophe, with an immediate and tangible threat to the character and status of the large Hasidic community in New York, are the bitter disputes and conflicts taking place within the large and important Hasidic courts in the United States. In the wake of internal conflicts, which in some cases have spilled over into violence, the two famous Hasidic dynasties - Satmar and Bobov - recently split. Each of these communities is now headed by two rabbinical leaders, who are at odds with one another and whose followers have turned into rival and hostile camps. Lubavitch Hasidism (Chabad), on the other hand, in contrast to its great influence during the lifetime of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, has become mainly an organizational framework that is represented by the thousands of shluhim (emissaries) who operate under its auspices all over the world.

Behind a facade of success and power, major Hasidic courts in the U.S. have recently become arenas for internecine struggles for power and prestige. Factions and rival groups are fighting, sometimes using physical violence, with the declared aim of glorifying the name of the Hasidic leader they favor and insulting the leader they have abandoned.

"It's impossible to exaggerate," complain activists in the Hasidic sector in off-the-record conversations. "The mutual accusations and slander and the acts of subterfuge designed to undermine the authority of the admors, which are taking place today within the two great Hasidic movements in America, have the nature of divine punishment."

"The serious quarrels among Satmar and Bobov Hasidim have released destructive energies that our ancestors never dreamed of," said a Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn.

Conversations with rabbis and activists in the Hasidic community reveal their discomfort and serious concern. According to them, the Hasidic movement in America is in the throes of its most serious crisis since it began to take root in the reality of the new world in the early 1960s and to become involved as a unique stream in the Jewish community.

The expansion and strengthening of American Hasidism was led by the heads of the three major courts - the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum; the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson; and the Bobover Rebbe, Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam.

The disputes that erupted occasionally in the past between the Lubavitch and Satmar Hasidim were mainly ideological in nature and touched on the issue of relations with Israel, which were nurtured by the Lubavitch and rejected by the Satmar. But both of the admors were cautious and did not allow the hotheads among their followers to overstep the boundary they had drawn for the disputes. The Bobover Rebbe made sure not to intervene in any dispute and warned his followers not to become involved in fights and conflicts between the followers of other courts.

The affair of the Hasidim who met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Holocaust-denial conference in Tehran is dismissed by the leaders of the Satmar Hasidim as an event that was inflated by the media in order to undermine the Satmar Hasidim. "It's not even a group, but a small number of sick and crazy individuals who have no connection with Satmar Hasidism," says Rabbi Hertz Frankel, a well-known figure in Brooklyn, who is among the leaders of the Satmar educational network.

"Their meeting with the Iranian president is not their first embarrassing act, or even their worst," explains Frankel. "The old admor, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, was known for avoiding any appearance of cooperation with Arabs. Many years ago, the rabbi cancelled a demonstration in New York against Golda Meir after it became known that Arabs were planning to demonstrate against her."

The real distress felt by the Satmar Hasidim is a result of the irreversible rift between the two brothers, each of whom has designated himself the heir of their late father. Each is serving as admor of one of the two Satmar factions created as a result of the conflict between them. Although one faction, under the leadership of Rabbi Zalman Leib, is based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the other, headed by Rabbi Aharon, is based in Kiryas Joel in upstate New York - the conflicts between the two camps continue, and the fights between them are described as venomous.

Already before the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, passed away last April, there were signs of the dispute between his two sons, Rabbi Aharon, 52, and Rabbi Zalman Leib, 50, who is also known as Yekusiel Yehudah. Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum convened the entire family in his home in Williamsburg on Pesah in 1999, and declared, "I'm not getting any younger and I want to appoint a rabbi in Williamsburg to replace me."

According to people who were close to the late rabbi, his elder son, Aharon, refrained from replying to his father's proposal, and at the same time took steps that were interpreted as a deliberate attempt on his part to take over the leadership of Satmar after his father's death.

On the other hand, his brother, Zalman Leib, remained close to his father. According to his followers, the father showed special signs of affection toward his younger son, and made it clear in various ways that he preferred him to his eldest as the leader of the community.

"The serious dispute in Satmar Hasidism is also perhaps an unavoidable outcome of the significant growth in the number of Hasidim and disciples of this Hasidic court," explains a veteran community activist in Williamsburg.

"Today there is a huge reservoir of Hasidim among the Satmars, which could suffice for five or even seven admors," said a Williamsburg activist. "For the most part, the Hasidim today are American born, and many of them are wealthy even by international standards.

"The disputes cost money, a lot of money," says the man. And in both groups there are elements who are funding the ongoing dispute between the two admors. "Lawyers who represent the two rival brothers in court receive huge fees for professional services, which to date amount to millions of dollars." These huge sums were raised from the donations of wealthy Hasidim.

The quarrel in Bobov Hasidism erupted after the death over a year ago of the previous admor, Rabbi Naftali Halberstam, who was the eldest son of the Admor Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, the man who rehabilitated Bobov Hasidism in the U.S. and turned it into a leading and influential Hasidic center.

Most of the Hasidim designated Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam, the brother of the late admor, who already during the lifetime of his father and his brother was an admired and beloved Hasidic figure. However, the son-in-law of the late admor, Rabbi Mordechai David Ungar, refused to accept his uncle's authority, and declared that he was the heir of the late admor, and the current head of Bobov Hasidism.

Older Hasidim who follow Rabbi Ben Zion claim that his father Rabbi Shlomo used to say that he preferred his son to his son-in-law as his successor and heir to the leadership. That is why in their opinion Ungar is "brazen and quarrelsome."

"It is possible that the splits in the Hasidic courts are not such a bad thing," said a Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn. "The courts have tens of thousands of Hasidim, and they are growing and multiplying. It is possible that the continuing growth will lead to a situation where the admors will not be capable of leading such large communities, and it is a good thing that young people will emerge from these courts and participate in the leadership. The problem is that the splits are accompanied by disputes."

Anonymous said...

"Scandals and disputes plague ultra-Orthodox circles in the U.S."

And not a word about clergy sexual abuse?? The paper should be called Ha Am Haaretz!!

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Steve,

One day I will tell you exactly the reason the Agudah chose me as a target at their convention of fools.

Suffice to say, they fell into a well-planned trap!

Anonymous said...

uoj! keep it up your doing great, wait and see by the time this is over all these so called rabbonim will come tumbling down from whichever world they think they are from.
look at leizerowitz he lived like a king over here inthe usa and he fled with disgrace, kolko is the talk of town that peice of s**t, and plenty of others, just keep the heat on them and they will melt away.
P.S. once again thanks for your sacrifice and all you have done, by the way i think its time to turn the heat up a bit.

LEIZEROWITZ VICTIM FOREVER

Anonymous said...

Oh come on UOJ, we can't take the suspense. Be a sport & tell us how you got the Agudah clowns, hook, line & sinker.

We saw the email that Shafran sent you (posted on Jewish Survivors blog). "Dear Mr. Jew, ...". OMG, was that ever hilarious.

You should just know that many yeshivishe rabbonim / roshei yeshiva think that the "brains" in charge turning the convention into an anti-UOJ orgy is the stupidest thing the Agudah could've done. They also think that Wachsmann's speech was the event's crown jewel of shtussim. "You can't listen to gedolim from a previous dor."

Many of the guests actually didn't know what was going on. They are generally uninformed, but their minds started working after hearing all the obsessive paranoia. Some of them started looking for you on the internet or asking others who follow your site. For those who came informed, they were on the lookout to see if the two leading suspects of UOJ's alter ego was there too. One fellow from Flatbush & one from the West Coast. What a carnival! You can't get better entertainment than this if fly to Vegas for a week.

Anonymous said...

"Because material goods play a significantly smaller role in their lives, the religious are more willing to share with others rather than hoard their money to purchase more material goodies for themselves.

And why does chatter about "social justice" frequently not translate into private deeds? In part because liberal politics often serve as little more than a cheap and effortless way to feel good about oneself. Those who prattle on about the downtrodden Palestinians, for instance, know that they will never be called upon to do anything on their behalf, or bear the cost of the policies they advocate. That will be left to far- away dead Jews.

As George Will points out, anyone can profess all the fine-sounding values he wants. By contrast, virtues - generosity, restraint, discipline, kindness - must be attained, usually with great effort.

When it comes to judging character, it's actions, not words, that count."

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Shafran's dirty Borsalino should be confiscated and replaced with a black DUNCE-CAP!

Anonymous said...

http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/01/moshe-rosenberg-rabbi-yosef-blau-jj.html

A couple of guys purporting to be supporters of Gil Student (it might be Gil himself) keep arguing on the comments section of this blog entry that Gil is being unfairly attacked. Speaking of entertainment, it's a pretty funny read when you the silly posts and see them / him get all worked up.

Anonymous said...

Is Shafran just a stooge taking his orders from Bloom / Zweibel? Who is really calling the shots. Shafran deserves petch anyway for participating in the fraud.

Anonymous said...

“Child protection: Serious Business” blog (1,500 monthly visitors) featured the JTA series on abuse committed by Jewish clergy. Please see below for the text and link.

Thanks and please let us know if you have any questions – thanks again.

http://imaginifbusiness.blogspot.com/2007/01/black-collar-crime-clergy-abuse.html

Anonymous said...

Leizerowitz victim,

What do you mean "turn up the heat". We've got enough problems with the climate already. UOJ has pulled off atmospheric adjustments that are only theorized about if the Earth were to fall out of it's orbit! You know I hate extreme weather events.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Gil is a well-meaning individual but is out of the loop on this issue in particular, and the Haredi world in general.

He means well, but as of yet not been able to demonstrate that he has the capacity to understand the depth of the depravity of mindset that the Haredi Establishment is guilty of.

Molestation coverup is only one of many crimes against humanity, albeit the greatest, that these ignorant and evil rabbis are guilty of.

What greater symbol of evil than PERMITTING our kids' lives to be destroyed under the guise of halacha.

SICK!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I saw someone who looks like Shafran go in to Bencraft Hats and try to shnorr a free hat steaming. There was all kinds of commotion, as if two cats were clawing each other. Shafran, or his look-alike, went running for his life. He was already outside and barreling down the street when Stan Goldstein hurled one of those antique wooden hat brushes that weigh a ton, just narrowly missing him.

Anonymous said...

Appelgrad probably got his brother in-law, Finkel, the contract to supply YTT with his treife chicken, paid for of course, by government funds.

Anonymous said...

Applegrad is Finkel's mechutan, not his shvogger.

One of the rebbeyim wanted to be gozer a yom tzom like in Monsey but Margo wouldn't hear anything of it because it might make the yeshiva look bad. It's not like our Hungarian clientele knows the difference anyway. Treif, shmeif. Some of the parents who send their kids here will drink hot coffee in porcelain mugs at any treif place. Either they are moyradick am haaratzim or they just don't give a damn.

Anonymous said...

UOJ did not mean that evil rabbis "PERMIT" sex abuse. While that is the only extent of it in some cases, he meant that they ENCOURAGE sex abuse, especially in the case of YTT.

UOJ regrets any inconvenience to readers.

Anonymous said...

Some of the parents who send their kids here will drink hot coffee in porcelain mugs at any treif place.

----------------------------------
They must be drinking something a lot stronger than coffee if they keep sending their kids there.

Anonymous said...

Some YTT Hungarian mothers are also mechalel Shabbos around the kitchen. It's really more of a sick and extreme sense of mora heter than it is ignorance.

The fakers also tell everyone they keep Cholov Yisroel, but they have premium Cholov Akum ice cream stashed at the back of the freezer.

No wonder R' Yankev zl said Torah won't have a kiyum in that detestable place.

Anonymous said...

Those J-blog rating events are a fraud. How could they miss UOJ when he has the most informative (& entertaining!) blog around?

Anonymous said...

A rov who is big kanoi and not afraid to lash out at the establishment (that's why he's ignored), tells me there were at least 2 other molesters in YTT over the years besides Kolko.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Anonymous said...

there was atleast one who taught kids just a very young grade - rumor has it has he was paid to leave the state about 10 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Yeh, I'll shed light on it. Margo and YTT housed Kolko for a long time. They provided a warm and hospitable atmosphere for molesters. After a molester was found, they just let him stay and pushed it back under the carpet. Its no surprise that other molesters would also find this environment comfortable.

On the other side of the spectrum we have a school like Kushner. While I don't approve of the hashkafot of Kushner, they had a molestation case and dealt with it immediately. I highly doubt that there will be another molester in Kushner in the near future because they proved to be such an unhospitable atmosphere.

There is no reason that a frummer yeshiva should be more hospitable than any other school in the country. YTT failed as a school, and that rav lashed out because of it. Props and congrats to taht rav.

Anonymous said...

YTT is Hell on Earth said...

A rov who is big kanoi and not afraid to lash out at the establishment (that's why he's ignored), tells me there were at least 2 other molesters in YTT over the years besides Kolko.

Can anyone shed some light on this?


I heard in passing something to this effect. I was told there were other rebbeim in TT that had a silmilar reputation with the students. I don't recall names though.

Anonymous said...

That's right folks. There is no molestation allowed at the modern ortho school named for my family, but procuring prostitutes and other crimes are just fine & dandy.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Moish Finkel! Old buddy, old pal! I've been looking for you! I'm looking to start another food venture where I can pass off bassar becholov as kosher, like I did in the 1970s. I could use an experienced shutaf.

Cheers from one chotay umachtee ess harabim to another!

Anonymous said...

Who paid off the molester to leave the state? Is he still in chinuch and where is he? I know my boy Tuvya will be upset if another Margo employee-molester gets named, but I'm just curious who he is. By the way, please stop calling Tuvya, "bungalow putz" and scrutinizing his real estate. He's very sensitive & feels he's the real victim at YTT.

Anonymous said...

Does someone have a problem with Hungarians? Hee hee, just wait until UOJ finds out who Belsky's financial backers are.

Anonymous said...

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/01/israel-pm-facing-criminal.php

Don't bother me about Mondrowitz. As you can see, I've got my own problems lately.

Anonymous said...

The problem with Gil, in all seriousness, is that he's a BT with a conservative/MO background. So when he looked at the charedi world, all he saw was the good, because the grass is always greener on the other side. Someone who's grown up in the system is less idealistic and more realistic.

As usual, UOJ hit the nail right on the head.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Dratch's father in law, Norman Lamm was in Torah Vodaas at the same time as Margulies. To the best of my knowledge, Rabbi Dratch has so far refused to acknowledge not only the names involved at Torah Temimah, but whenever he writes anything, he just cryptically and vaguely mentions a New York yeshiva.

http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/01/should-mark-dratchs-organization-be.html

Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Should Mark Dratch's Organization Be Called J-UNSAFE?

It has recently been brought to my attention that Rabbi Mark Dratch who is the founder and executive director of the organization called JSAFE is also the committee head of the Rabbinical Council of America's Task Force on Rabbinic Improprieties. For some reason I see this fact as a conflict of interest. How can Rabbi Dratch really advocate for survivors of sex crimes when he also doing his best to protect the assets of the RCA? Remember that Rabbi Mark Dratch is the son-in-law of Rabbi Norman Lamm.

I've heard too many stories of survivors going to him for help and just feeling like they got the run-around. If you are a survivor and went to JSAFE for help, can you let us all know how helpful or unhelpful you found the organization?

I'm scared that JSAFE is really just another arm of the RCA. Please prove to me I'm wrong!

Anonymous said...

Hi.

Don't blame me for my family's problems. As the owner of the NY Observer, I'm one of the good guys. My newspaper broke the story about an askan with the Iggud Haganovim, Boro Park's Ben Barber, who is raising money for DA Charles Hynes. Hynes is of course bought off and will not bring violators of children to justice.

http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/10/hynes-starts-early.html

Brooklyn District Attorney Charlie Hynes is girding for a nasty reelection fight after going after machine powerbroker Clarence Norman. Last night, he spoke at the Borough park residence of Ben Barber, and told an audience of roughly 125 people that he felt he needed to raise $1 million by June.

"He tells people that he is running again, he tells people about his programs and that crime has come down an that he hoped to raise one million or more, which he has done in the past," said Mortimer Matz, a spokesman for Hynes' 2009 reelection campaign, who couldn't confirm last night's meeting but called it possible. "He has brought many cases that involve corruption in Kings County and obviously one is the chairman. Obviously when you do that there is a political structure that isn't going to do to well for you."

Those hard feelings, Matz said, are the reason Hynes is out there so early.

http://www.jewishpress.com/print.do/19847/My_Machberes.html

On Tuesday evening, October 24, Ben Barber, of Elegant Linens, hosted a reception in support of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. Chassidishe neighborhood activists, organizational leaders, as well as representatives of all of the greater Boro Park community, gathered to show their unreserved support of the district attorney, as he prepares early for the 2009 elections.

Mr. Hynes addressed the assembly, describing the substantial reduction of crime during the 16 years of his tenure, stressing the sensitivity his office places on all cases, especially those dealing in family matters.

Mr. Hynes described his approach to drug cases as follows: narcotics users are directed towards rehabilitation programs, but drug dealers are prosecuted with the full force of the law. This emphasis on crime prevention, Mr. Hynes shared, is the core secret of the great reduction in crime. Where 16 years ago citizens of Brooklyn feared going out at night, today Brooklyn is part of the safest large city in America. Mr. Hynes promised that these guidelines will be carried forward in his work in the years to come.

(The guy who wrote the Jewish Press column is an ex-con and friend of Belsky who serves as Director of the Iggud Haganovim)

Anonymous said...

UOJ's comments on Shafran's Borsalino.

R' Yaakov Kaminetzky zl said it's a chilul Hashem for a ben Torah to wear a dirty or dusty hat. He said if you're too lazy to brush / steam it, you are mechuyev to wear a gray hat because the dust is less noticeable.

Who's the Agudah Comptroller? Maybe they can set aside a few bucks for spokesman Avi to look like a mentch.

Anonymous said...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3352019,00.html

A., a 49-year old ultra-Orthodox man, has five daughters and three sons. His two older daughters are already married, and he’s about to marry off his third daughter. But when his friends wish him mazal tov, he makes a face. A daughter’s wedding should be one of the happiest events in a parent’s life, but it’s become a nightmare because sought-after grooms are demanding that the bride’s parents buy the couple an apartment, and preferably in a desirable location.

“It’s a known thing in our community that you have to give the whole package to get a good groom, that is, to pay for the entire wedding and buy an apartment and furniture," Says A. “My two older daughters have husbands from good yeshivas, and each of them got two thirds of an apartment from me. "I spent my entire savings on that, I took a second mortgage and loans. Now I need to buy at least half an apartment for my third daughter, and I have no money. My daughter wanted a God-fearing guy, not a guy who works (as opposed to studying fulltime in yeshiva). That’s a problem. How will I pay back more loans? And what will remain for my younger daughters?”

Many of the ultra-Orthodox have the same problem. After paying back their own home mortgage, the parents must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for their daughters’ weddings. Among the Lithuanians the price is based on how smart and how good a student the groom is. Among the Hassidim, the price is based on the groom’s family’s prestige. When families started going bankrupt there was an outcry against the heads of yeshivas and the grooms who make excessive demands.

The price for a groom

The average ultra-Orthodox family has seven-eight children. Assuming that half are daughters, every family has three-four daughters to marry off. Anyone wanting to marry his daughter off to a talmid chacham, an outstanding student who is completely immersed in the Torah, much pay for at least half of the couple’s apartment, and preferably the entire thing.

An apartment in an ultra-Orthodox complex in Betar Ilit or Modi’in Ilit costs about USD 90,000. If you add the wedding expenditures and the purchase of furniture and electrical appliances, the expenses come to USD 110,000. If we assume that a family pays for only half a package, every ultra-Orthodox family has to part with some USD 200,000 within a few years just to marry off its daughters.

The problem is that the more impressive the groom, the higher the demands. Very high-quality grooms demand an apartment in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak that is as close as possible to the head of their yeshiva. In Jerusalem and Bnei Brak apartment prices are about USD 150,000- USD 250,000. Grooms who are outstanding students with a lot of chutzpah demand that the wife’s parents also pay a small stipend to allow them to live decently.

If a family’s boys are not considered attractive as prospective grooms, then the son also needs to have one third of an apartment. The result is that the average family has to spend half a million dollars in a short period of time, and they have no sources of income. And what is a family with 15 children supposed to do?

In order to finance all of this, parents take out many loans and insane mortgages. The loans have to be paid back, and the interest is high, so the parents make use of free loan societies. But even they have to be paid back, so the parents take more loans from other free loan societies. Another solution is to go to the U.S. or Britain and ask for money from wealthy Jews.


Before the wedding the terms of the match are negotiated. The ultra-Orthodox Bakehillah newspaper, which writes a lot on this issue, has published the price list for a groom. For a prodigy in a prestigious yeshiva such as Kol Torah or Hevron in Jerusalem, Or Yisrael in Petach Tikvah or Bet Matityahu in Bnei Brak, you have to pay for the whole package.


For a groom who is half a prodigy you pay somewhere between the whole package and 80 percent of the apartment. For a good guy you have to pay between half of the package and two thirds of it, and for an average guy you have to pay for half an apartment.


In yeshivas such as Grodna, Be’er Ya’akov, and Haknesset Hagedolah, which are a bit less prestigious than Hevron, they demand two thirds of an apartment for a prodigy and half an apartment for an average guy. In the average yeshivas they demand half an apartment.


“Sometimes you have several offers, and the money the family offers is definitely a significant factor in the decision because then you can sit in yeshiva and study the way you ought to,” says D., a student in a prestigious Jerusalem yeshiva. It’s a market thing, supply and demand. Of course you have to pay for a high-quality groom. At our yeshiva we’re the elite, and people are prepared to pay a lot for a groom.”


Why do the bride’s parents have to take a loan in order to pay for your apartment?


“It’s painful to see parents taking loans, but in order to sit and study in a yeshiva you need funding. You can’t buy an apartment on a yeshiva student’s salary. That’s why the parents need to take money. It’s a wheel that can’t be stopped.”


Sometimes the grooms are more interested in the assets they’re going to receive than in the bride they’ll spend the rest of their life with. Ultra-Orthodox newspapers are full of emotional letters from parents shouting to the Heavens in the hope of influencing the yeshiva heads. Important rabbis are now supporting the parents’ point of view and calling for an end to the economic madness.


The leader in this fight is Rabbi Yehuda Silman, a Rabbinical Court judge in Bnai Brak and an important adjudicator of Jewish law.


“In the Lithuanian yeshivas there’s a situation in which the more guys in the yeshiva get an apartment, the more prestigious the yeshiva becomes,” says Rabbi Silman. “The yeshiva heads encourage this to some extent, and in order to preserve the yeshiva’s reputation, they demand of their students that they make a match conditional on getting an apartment.”


Pressure on the guys

Many times the grooms don’t want complete apartments because they know how their parents suffer, but the yeshiva heads push them to take the apartments with no apologies. After all, the whole package is evidence of the yeshiva’s prestige, and a guy who compromises harms the yeshiva’s good name.

In addition, a guy who compromises has to go to work in order to pay for the apartment, and then he can’t sit and study in yeshiva, which also harms the yeshiva’s good name.


The grandson of Rabbi Haim Kanievsky, one of the most important rabbis in Bnei Brak, was recently quoted in the ultra-Orthodox prss as saying, “My grandfather is unequivocal in his opposition to the demand for the whole package.”


“My grandfather’s opinion is that all expenses, including the purchase of an apartment, must be divided equally between the groom’s side and the bride’s side. As for the apartment, my grandfather says that it’s better for the bride’s side to pay a bit more in order to show respect for the Torah, even a thousand dollars more.”


Rabbi Silman also has a solution: “You can get to a situation in which each side gives USD 15,000, USD 5,000 for the wedding and furniture, and USD 10,000 for the apartment.

The rest is done through a mortgage. Since the young couple can’t pay the mortgage and stay with Torah study, the monthly payment, which are about NIS 1,300 a month, will be divided in the first two years: half will be paid by the parents on both sides, and the other half by the young couple.”

How can the young couple afford it?

“Let them seek income on the side. You have to learn to get by in life. They’re not going to get everything on a silver spoon their entire lives.”

Anonymous said...

There is no "problem" with Gil or any decent human being who wants to prevent child sex abuse. There is a problem with those anonymous critics who, because of their hypercritical attitudes, are discouraging people from getting involved.

Anonymous said...

Do you think Yaakov Applesauce will arrange for Kolko to go to Regency Estates this summer?

Anonymous said...

Do you think Yaakov Applesauce will arrange for Kolko to go to Regency Estates this summer?

Anonymous said...

"The fakers also tell everyone they keep Cholov Yisroel, but they have premium Cholov Akum ice cream stashed at the back of the freezer."

Now that Margo is moving his assets around, maybe that's where he's keeping the proceeds. Although all that money from real estate is not exactly chump change so I hope he has a really big freezer.

Anonymous said...

There is a problem with Gil if he's "educating" the public with false info. UOJ is 100% right that Gil is coming from sincere intentions, but that doesn't negate that Gil has been putting in a favorable light, the very enabler-monsters that must be stopped. (Gil also gets disingenious when you corner him on what he said).

I bet that Gil has never been involved in a molestation case or heard first hand from any victim in our kehillos. If he has no qualifications, he shouldn't be running around the speaker circuit.

Gil also displayed very poor judgement in dealing with a drug addict breaking & entering all over Brooklyn.

Anonymous said...

What's the difference if I sow my seeds of evil for Kolko in Woodridge? As Hella Winston reported, Kolko is going about business as usual to take kiddies to a water park again next summer.

If you really want to stop Kolko, you would probably have to send his picture being led away in handcuffs to every Six Flags and other park with a certain radius.

Anonymous said...

Knock it off,

Elliot Pasik made a very favorable comment about Gil on his Hirhurim blog. Among other things, Gil quoted a Gemara which says - If there is something wrong with the generation, look at the judges.

As far as I know, this was the first occasion Gil publicly spoke about sex abuse - a far cry from your "running around the speaker circuit". And if he does?, so what. He is a clearinghouse of information, a college graduate and musmach, a publisher and author, an activist with a track record (Slifkin), and an overall bright guy.

I'm not getting the Gil critics.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Gil is definitely one of the very good guys! He is an accomplised individual and a yodea sefer. He deserves praise for going forward with R' Slifkin's works.

One must have vast experience working within the Haredi community to understand how farkrumt it became. Gil is an adam chashuv, but only relatively recently joined the Flatbush community and has no knowledge at all that I can glean from his statements, that he comprehends the fall from authentic Judaism, the Haredi Establishment is guilty of.

A true chacham or wise person knows what he does "not" know, ask Elliot Pasik Esq.

Anonymous said...

Israel Schnorrer;

Reminds me of the of the old Crazy Eddie TV commercial:

"It's INSANE!!!!!!"

Now with the new Gedolim ban on Chareidi women getting their 4-year Teacher Licenses, chareidi family economic hardships will increase.

Any wonder the Chilonim hate the Chareidim? No work, no service in Tzahal, gornisht. Kvetch de bank with the attitude of "Es Kumt Mir"

I don't think this was the original Yessocher-Zevulun recipe.

Who will stop the madness?

Anonymous said...

Elliot Pasik followed up with another post over there that politely disagreed with Gil's position on enablers and the establishment. Elliot asked very good questions regarding the chronic silence from the complicit parties.

You list Gil's accomplishments, but as UOJ points out, it does not make him a mumche in this area.

Gil also came under fire for the Brooklyn story he was involved in, or according to those in the know, that he badly bungled. Gil comments on his blog about it. He complains that he "doesn't know" how the story got out.

It seems that another thing that Gil underestimates is that UOJ has the ability to get to the bottom of anything that happened out there. Seemingly, any post that's allowed to remain on the blog, no matter how controversial, is true. You call Gil a "clearinghouse of information", but it's in fact UOJ that's light years ahead of him.

One more observation. Gil also touted another recent speaking event. He himself didn't speak there, but someone else who is an unbelievable am haaretz did. If someone went there at Gil's urging, I hope they didn't get misled by that know-nothing.

Anonymous said...

Boog,

I wonder if UOJ had anything to do with Crazy Eddy Antar being apprehended & locked up!

By the way, there are gedolim like Rav Shteinman who understand that no work equals no money and have been fighting for change. They also don't like that useless batlonim who don't learn anyway park themselves in yeshivos. They think they should go to the frum brigade in Tzahal.

Anonymous said...

Gil deserves a big shkoyech. I think he was the first one that brought to light that that criminal Pinter shmuck instigated the whole Slifkin affair and ran around to get the signatures and make himself relevant. The second I heard he was involved, anything that happened was suspicious. There are many rosh yeshivos who didn't sign because they don't agree with the ban. It seems to me they are hinting that Pinter might've engineered a fraud when they make comments like they don't know if some of the signatures are real and they don't know if some of their rosh yeshiva peers were fed correct information.

To UOJ & the readers. DovBear claims to know that Pinter's buddy Leib Tropper was in on it too. Can anyone corroborate that?

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:22 PM

Was not aware of Rav Shteinman's position on this.

The only Israeli Chareidi leaders that I'm aware of who are pro-work for their Hassidim are the Belzer and Toldos Ahron.

Anonymous said...

http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/account.html

Also involved in the campaign was Yaakov Kalmanowitz's brother, Rabbi Osher Kalmanowitz of the Mir Yeshivah in New York. He did not want to openly involve himself, and so he recruited his friend Rabbi Leib Tropper of Yeshivas Kol Yaakov in Monsey. Rabbi Tropper created a story that was told to the Rabbis were were approached to condemn the books. The story involved two students in his yeshivah, described as "angelic," who allegedly dropped out of yeshivah and left Orthodoxy after reading my books and concluding that "if the Sages could have been wrong about science, then they could have been wrong about everything." Rabbi Elya Wachtfogel, the primary rabbinic authority behind this ban, presented this story as grounds for his campaign. I myself was shaken when I heard about this story, but my mentors were skeptical and advised my to investigate it. The investigation showed that one of them was barely observant to begin with, and dropped out of yeshivah before my book on the Sages' knowledge of science was published. When I discovered the identity of the other student and wrote to ask him if it was true that my books caused him to drop out, he wrote this reply.

reply http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/letter.html

Dear Rabbi Slifkin,
I must conclude that I was very surprised when I read your letter. I have not left religion at all, let alone due to influence from your writing. On the contrary, your books have helped me tremendously!

Anonymous said...

I think Slifkin got some of details a little mixed up. Leib Tropper is not exactly the same age or cup of tea as the Kalmanowitzes. He is most likely friends with Pinter from yeshiva days, so DovBear probably gets it right.

R' Osher is not nearly as extreme as Yankel. If Osher was involved it's because he was manipulated by Leib Pinter who is a liar and criminal snake.

Many in the Mir couldn't understand why a lowlife like Pinter was allowed to march around like he owned the place. He all of a sudden started hanging out one day and raising money because he wanted his son to be a rebbe there. The putz is responsible for tremendous chilul Hashem. After UOJ made a huge shtink about him, the yeshiva was getting criticized enough to finally sideline him.

Pinter's on trial again for big genayvos and could be sent to jail for the rest of his life. He's also not well lately. Something happened that slurs his speech. Hopefully, no one will ever hear from him again.