Apparently, you're not the only one wondering. From the OU.org site: Will you be spending Pesach at home? Yes No Just for the Sedarim Just for Chol HaMoed
But what are the motivating forces behind all those Yidden going to hotels? I can assure you it isn't the guys paying the hotels bills or the ones telling their wives that dirt isn't chametz.
This is something I suspect can be laid at the feet of those on the distaff side.
The OU wants to gauge, I assume, the number of people willing to pay $20, for a one dollar bill, to further their hidden agenda.
I want to know how many people and families are going into serious debt to keep up with the Cohens for no good reason other than this insanity being the "in" thing.
I want to know how many people and families are going into serious debt to keep up with the Cohens for no good reason other than this insanity being the "in" thing.
I think this is mostly a New York thing. While I know folks who travel for Pesach just about all are visiting relatives. Perhaps some of the wealthier folks go to a hotel, but they travel a lot anyway so it isn't a keeping up with the Cohens thing.
It's interesting about the differences between frumkeit in the New York area and "out of town".
But then the whole "out of town" thing shows how provincial New Yorkers are in general. Of course with the mindset of minhag Yisrael k'dat hu, NY behavior has a tendency to spread. Amazing how Bais Yakov girls in the midwest sound like they're from Brooklyn.
Ronnie hasn't had much exposure to all this because the typical Detroit "froomie" works a 9 to 5 job and calls it quits. They have no ambitions of striking it rich to feed all these habits. While NY is at one extreme, Detroit is certainly at the other, more so than any other out-of-town.
I witnessed with disgust, the behavior of a bunch of peasants at a Pesach hotel in the Northeast. It wasn't just the children who were trained well by their parents, but the adults as well. The caterer provided oversized styrofoam containers for day trip lunches. These containers were misappropriated by the vultures who used them to hoard all kinds of goodies. Immediately after being placed on tables, all kinds of items like chocolate cake, brownies and strawberries were scooped up by lone gluttons who wouldn't leave behind so much as a scrap for anyone else. It is improbable that the sheer volume of these pilfered snacks were consumed. Some of it would later turn up uneaten and strewn around the hotel.
One particularly shocking incident involved a rov / Lubavitcher meshulach who was brought by the hotel organizers to perform a minor function. Some expensive chocolate truffles were set out in the tea room. The Lubavitcher hyena ran in with his trademark dirty shirt hanging out to steamshovel the chocolates into his pants pockets. A bunch of Boro Park Hungarians present who had eyed the truffles, blew their fuses, commenting that the Chabadsker Chocoholic then ran outside on a warm day, were the chocolates no doubt melted in his pockets. They added that grubba Boro Park chassidim who hold by the eruv have been taking to showing up at Shabbos kiddushim and piling as much food as they can into the undercarriage of their baby strollers.
Yesterday was the first time I have had a meal at a "pesach hotel." We came (after dumping $200 for 3 a family of three at Sea World)as the dinner guests of a family who was spending their entire pesach a the hotel.
As an outside observer who has never experienced this before, I was struck by how many comments I heard from people complaining about having to eat...as if anyone was forcing them to do so. A person we passed remarked, "food again, huh" as we walked to dinner. I heard 6-7 such comments over the course of my 3 hour stay.
The most egregious example was when we went to visit the "tea room" This is a communal room filled with snacks and goodies available 24 hours a day for the entire pesach. Pesach has strict rules regarding food. While one is not lacking the food he may want on Passover, I was amazed at what they had available 24/7 the Tea Room. I saw cakes and candies the likes of which I never imagined as Pesach compatible.
As I walked into the room, literally not believing what I was seeing, some guy walked in and said, "Oy, if I see this room one more time...."
This is after the veal dinner.....This was snack food. No one forced him into this room to eat more....but he complained as if someone had a gun to his head forcing him to eat pesach pound cake. I don't get it. Especially considering that everyone who heard these comments, acted as if they were funny, original lines.
I once witnessed on acharon shel Pesach, when you can't even look at food anymore, the fattest lady in the whole place went into the tea room after lunch and was popping snacks in her mouth like she never saw food before.
Unnerving Touch by Phil Jacobs, Executive Editor Baltimore Jewish Times MARCH 16, 2007
A businessman with rabbinic ordination had a friendly confrontation with another friend, also a businessman. Both men, happily married with families, had been sexually molested while teens by a now-deceased rabbi (Ephraim Shapiro) of an area yeshiva and synagogue. It should be noted that men as old as their mid-60s have contacted the Baltimore Jewish Times about this man.
From: The Awareness Center, Inc.:
Up until recently those who are survivors of any form of childhood sexual abuse really had no voice, especially those who were molested by those with any form of authority or power within a community. The following information is to provide information on the political clout that surrounded Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro.
Black and white photograph of a wedding taking place at Agudas Achim at 4239 Park Heights Avenue. Rabbi Simcha Shafran is marrying Pauline Kahn on March 13, 1949, and Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro is officiating.
Someone who sounds a lot like Steve Weiss is posting on Steve Weiss's blog under the pseudonym "Absurdistan". It's highly probably that IT IS Steve Weiss who is too much of a coward to post as himself. He employs 4 SIW tactics. He attacks the credibility of UOJ. He defends Sruli Singer. He uses the word "absurd" which Weiss uses when he doesn't agree. He pedals Weiss's crap that journalistic rules of identifying yourself apply to the masses (except I guess when SIW poses under an alias)
Does UOJ confirm, deny or not comment on this latest allegation?
UOJ should not have to answer wether he is PM, just wether he has a longstanding quarrel with Singer.
UO Man Says:
... I have it on high authority that UOJ has a longstanding beef with Singer that has absolutely ZERO to do with this.
(Let’s just say that Mendelowitz’s kids are embarrassed by him, believe he is UOJ, and one of them has confirmed that Paul Mendelowitz) has always had long-standing bad blood with Srooli Singer. Since their days in Brooklyn.
It has been established as fact that I have NO personal beef with:
Kolko Eisemann Leizerowitz Nussbaum Twerski
AND I HAVE NO PERSONAL BEEF WITH SINGER. I'M THRILLED TO HAVE HIM OUT OF THE WJC; HE'S A PERSON WHO ABUSED HIS JOB AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF JEWS, AND HAS STOLEN PUBLIC FUNDS!
Absurdistan makes me suspect that the Bungalow Putz is back in business. He disguised himself pretty well with other people's MOs until he started frothing about the evils being done to Belsky.
March 19th, 2007 at 12:48 pm One more thing. I’m a talmid of Rav Schachter, he spoke glowingly of UOJ in private to me (I had a shaila with one of my kid’s accusations against a teacher), and said without UOJ, the molestation issue and the rampant coverups would never have come out. (he said “UOJ” is not perfect as noone is”)
absurdistan Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
And for the rest of the peanut gallery, RHS has demonstrated a clear and public (in a number of situations, including his shiur and at a gathering recently in toronto) disapproval for UOJ’s methods and atnics, as well as his personality. UOJ has misrepresented his support for exposure of molesters as wholehearted support for UOJ’s actions and various crusades. That is called abusing a godol’s name.
absurdistan Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:54 pm that’s funny, he’s spoken pretty negatively about him to me. whom to beleive.
absurdistan Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:57 pm uch this is a waste of time. UOJ’s supporters are sadly as blind to the truth as are the people they accuse. I’m afraid this thuggery will continue until someone publicly exposes this man for the hypocrite and thug he is. it wont happen, though, since the Jewish people have always been am kshei oref. UOJ’s just an heir to dasan and aviram and korach, and all the rest of the bellyachers in JHI.
Something Stinks Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 1:32 pm Absurdistan is actually a citizen of La La Land because his thought process is not anchored in reality. Even confused souls like Gil Student who can’t make up their minds about UOJ, admit that he is saving children.
He keeps dodging the issues himself, like refusing to admit that RHS posekened UOJ had a right to attack Kolko, Margulies and others.
What a pathetic little man he is, so bent out of shape and bitter that has to take down UOJ’s supporters by speaking ill of of the klal, in this and previous generations. The heirs to the reshoim arurim are those that facilitate retzichos and “thuggery” of young children. Who then is symbolic of the Am kshei oref?
And for someone who is so critical of MO MAN’s sense of refinement, I appreciate how Absurd starts off his last bit of blather, “uch.”
Something Stinks Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 1:39 pm Rav Schechter’s and Rav Blau’s statements in support of UOJ are publicly available on the web. Surely, if as Absurd claims, there are a plethora of speaking events where RHS criticized UOJ, there must be a Toronto or YU affiliated website with an audio link. Until he produces it there is no reason to believe him.
Why do I somehow suspect he will never furnish any proof?
UOJ commenters have raised the question of wether Absurd may be Tuvya Neuhoff, an employee of Margulies who counterblogged against UOJ at Belsky’s urging. It’s certainly an intruiging question.
Whatever the merits are in the Singer case, this story highlights the sad state of affairs in secular Jewish orgs. A bunch of self-appointed rich guys and nobodies are running around purporting to represent us. The Bronfmans and Mort Zuckermans of this world who want to bask in Yiddishe limelight while marrying out of the faith are a disgrace that stinks to the Heavens. What about the Isha Kushis asher lakach Edgar Bronfman Jr.? Is she going to start the next WJC project, like promoting interracial shidduchim?
the typical Detroit "froomie" works a 9 to 5 job and calls it quits. They have no ambitions of striking it rich to feed all these habits. While NY is at one extreme, Detroit is certainly at the other, more so than any other out-of-town.
Nice to hear something positive about my hometown for a change.
That's not to say there aren't some wealthy frum Jews here who live comfortably. There's the Microsoft Millionaire and others. Bunny clearly has some ambition. Marvin's kids do pretty well (though his son, who has been my attorney, told me that his dad, who was worth about $50 million when he died, didn't spoil his kids and insisted that they get an education and a profession), and Marvin's mechutan Willie wasn't exactly poor. Dr. & Dr. L have moved out of town, but their home in Bingham Farms overlooked a beautiful ravine with a branch of the Rouge. There's the "library" over on Karen which has to be about 6000 sq ft. I live on Raine, which is slowly being 'gentrified'. There are 6 large footprint houses on my block, including a 8000 sq foot home three doors down from me. Most of them involved 'tear downs', buying an existing home, demolishing it and building a larger home. The most recent new home is about 4000 sq ft and belongs to a woman who owns more than one home. I'm not sure of AN's level of Jewish observance but the home was being built so she could spend Shabbas in Oak Park. Unfortunately, when the house was about 95% finished, a tradesman accidentally set a fire and the house was a total loss. A neighbor was saying it was a "tragedy". I told her that a rich person losing her third home, empty of possessions, seemed like more of an inconvenience than a tragedy.
That being said, none of the people above live particularly ostentatious lifestyles considering their income levels. They live in Oak Park, not West Bloomfield. They drive Caddys, Lexi and Mercs, not Lambos.
UOJ: Anyone that helps themselves to public funds is a thief and should never again be allowed to be an official in any organization. How else do you determine a person's credibility if not in a case like Singer's? I happen to believe you had a hand in this, although it's obvious a lot of people were after him. You never claimed to be the only person chasing Singer, and I saw nowhere your claim that you were responsible solely, other than what you said that you put people together as in other well known cases. Kudos to you and your bravery, every thief in Jewish public life is wary of you as well as the Agudah's Mafia, and every sick putz that would like to put his grubby hands on Jewish kids and their enablers. You obviously are fearless. G-d protect you from your many enemies. You are a true Jewish hero world-over!
Recently the case of Rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro has been made public. It’s not a new case it’s one that’s been kept as a deep dark secret in the Baltimore Jewish community for over fifty years.
Over the last five years I have spoken to several survivors of this alleged sex offender, many sharing their stories and struggles, yet many were too afraid to mention his name -- even to me, let alone publicly. You see Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro was a highly connected and respected individual in the Jewish community of Baltimore. Think about it -- who would want to believe a child claiming molestation by this great and powerful rebbe?
Most children who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse never go on to molest other children, yet those who molest children have often been victimized themselves.
Since the 1950's there have been new child molesters named that have had a connection to the Baltimore community (i.e. Rabbi Matis Weinberg, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, Rabbi Aron Boruch Tendler, Rabbi Moshe Eisemann, Shmuel Juravel, etc.). I am not like many others who have wondered who molested these alleged molesters? Could it have been Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro? It's very possible that he had access to Matis Weinberg, Ephraim Bryks, Aron Boruch Tendler as children. I don't have the answer to that question and I am not attempting to make excuses for alleged or convicted sex offenders. I'm just trying to put a puzzle together that has been playing out in my head for years.
I too am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. One of my offenders was also sent away to a boarding school when he was very young. At one time this offender disclosed to me that he was gang raped several times by a group of older students at his school. I am not unlike the survivors in Baltimore or from any other community. I too am afraid of naming my offender. I too am still in a place of protecting the identities of those who harmed me.Â
As strange as it may sound there are times I'm thankful to my offenders for what they did to me, without them I would not be doing what I do today. I doubt that I would have been dedicated to my life to educating our communities and or protecting others. I might have ended up being an interior designer instead.
I am not unlike many of the survivors of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro. I too ask myself, what will it take for me to publicly name my offenders? I can't expect other survivors to do something that I myself still have not done, yet I totally honor and respect them when they do.
What's most important for us all to remember is that we can as a people stop these sorts of crimes from happening. We need to honor and respect those who come forward and share their experiences. We need to honor and respect those who advocate for the truth to be told. We all need to be honest and caring. We have all been victimized each and every time a child is abused. We all need to be kind to ourselves and do what it takes to protect one more child from being harmed.
Vicki deserves a lot of the credit in exposing the molesters. She has been unjustly maligned and persecuted throughout and yet, she continues her tireless work on behalf of the kahal. Vicki, we all owe you!!
r'boog... it is obvious to me that you know the ger oilem well, if so then you should know that moishe fogel the gerer rav in america only got the power that he has today some years back. years ago when i know for a fact that a victims parents had a long talk with him about their son and leizerowitz, he did not have the power he has today, today anything that happens in ger goes through him, for example the kosher phones, he was not to happy about it b/c of all the flaws in it, but he let it be. back then the rosh yeshiva of the ger mesivta was "BIG DAVE" OLEWSKI, AND HE HAD THE POWER OVER WHAT HAPPENS IN THAT BUILDING, AND HE DID ZILCH, i know of a parent from lakewood that his son came home for an off shabbos and found out about prick leizerowitz, he went to big dave, and was told to keep quite, as the matter will be taken care of. now i am not saying that had m. foigel raised hell about the issue things might have been diferent, i dont know, as i said he was not the powerfull guy that he is today. therefore i will continue to investigate the issue, but as i have called for, david olewski has to resign, and i will continue taking steps making sure that happens. yasher koach boog for standing up for whats right!
When I was a kid the rabbonim had us clean out the telephone receiver, use a comb to clean shag carpeting, and make sure to burn the vacuum cleaner bag. It was bad then but then came the new wave and all the chumros like no combat roach killer, etc.
The obscenity is that we are forced to asay lecha rav--make a two bit into a rav and blindly follow him. With all the chumros many working women have had it with their husband's mandated chumros (on Pesach it is okay derabbonon to go nuts) and opt to take the lesser obscenity and go away and not relive the Egyptian slavery.
What about the Isha Kushis asher lakach Edgar Bronfman Jr.? Is she going to start the next WJC project, like promoting interracial shidduchim?
It's sad. You were making such a strong point till you had to reveal your racism. What difference does the color of the shikse have to do with anything?
Nothing wrong with interracial shidduchim as long as they are both Jews. I know at least three interracial couples. One of the black Jews I know is quite a talmid chacham and lives in Eretz Yisrael with his wife and kids. Another is the daughter of gerim, possibly African because she's from France and is married to an Ashkenazi from Israel. Then there's my friend M, originally from Detroit, who married an old friend of mine and now lives down the street.
Oh, wait, there's also DF. He's biracial and was adopted by a Jewish couple. He became a BT while in high school. While in college he told his parents, both college professors, he wanted to learn in kollel and his parents agreed, providing he finished his degree. After learning in kollel for a couple of years, he boned up on his science, got into a top 5 med school and is raising a beautiful Jewish family.
Halevi any of your kids should be as erliche yidden as the people I mentioned.
She has been unjustly maligned and persecuted throughout
Not so unjustly I believe. She deserves credit for what she's done, but sometimes it reminds me of a broken clock still being correct twice a day. I'll concede that she may be onto something about NI, but I don't find her 100% credible all the time.
Ronnie, she's been proven right every time, just like UOJ. People make that same silly statement about UOJ regarding the broken clock. Vicki checks her sources thoroughly, just like UOJ, and thanks in large part to her efforts, our children are a lot safer. This is not to take anything away from what UOJ has done or is constantly doing. You must give credit where credit is due, despite your feelings regarding TS.
TS is a charming rogue. She just keeps asserting something that to my knowledge is not true and I was privy to the reasons why TS left.
I'm not saying that most of the people listed on the Awareness Center site aren't guilty. Or that Vickie isn't doing some service to the Jewish community. I'm saying that a) she's obsessed and has little perspective and b) the one specific allegation that she makes that I happen to have personal knowledge of does not accord with my knowledge of the situation and c) I have directly challenged her on many blogs about that and she's never responded to me once and keeps making the allegation.
Vickie is a little like Debka. Well meaning but not always accurate.
UOJ,
ReplyDeleteApparently, you're not the only one wondering. From the OU.org site:
Will you be spending Pesach at home?
Yes
No
Just for the Sedarim
Just for Chol HaMoed
But what are the motivating forces behind all those Yidden going to hotels? I can assure you it isn't the guys paying the hotels bills or the ones telling their wives that dirt isn't chametz.
This is something I suspect can be laid at the feet of those on the distaff side.
Ronnie,
ReplyDeleteThe OU wants to gauge, I assume, the number of people willing to pay $20, for a one dollar bill, to further their hidden agenda.
I want to know how many people and families are going into serious debt to keep up with the Cohens for no good reason other than this insanity being the "in" thing.
ReplyDeleteI want to know how many people and families are going into serious debt to keep up with the Cohens for no good reason other than this insanity being the "in" thing.
I think this is mostly a New York thing. While I know folks who travel for Pesach just about all are visiting relatives. Perhaps some of the wealthier folks go to a hotel, but they travel a lot anyway so it isn't a keeping up with the Cohens thing.
It's interesting about the differences between frumkeit in the New York area and "out of town".
But then the whole "out of town" thing shows how provincial New Yorkers are in general. Of course with the mindset of minhag Yisrael k'dat hu, NY behavior has a tendency to spread. Amazing how Bais Yakov girls in the midwest sound like they're from Brooklyn.
Ronnie hasn't had much exposure to all this because the typical Detroit "froomie" works a 9 to 5 job and calls it quits. They have no ambitions of striking it rich to feed all these habits. While NY is at one extreme, Detroit is certainly at the other, more so than any other out-of-town.
ReplyDeletehttp://nfonss.blogspot.com/2006/04/pesach-hotel.html#114580859885904595
ReplyDeleteI witnessed with disgust, the behavior of a bunch of peasants at a Pesach hotel in the Northeast. It wasn't just the children who were trained well by their parents, but the adults as well. The caterer provided oversized styrofoam containers for day trip lunches. These containers were misappropriated by the vultures who used them to hoard all kinds of goodies. Immediately after being placed on tables, all kinds of items like chocolate cake, brownies and strawberries were scooped up by lone gluttons who wouldn't leave behind so much as a scrap for anyone else. It is improbable that the sheer volume of these pilfered snacks were consumed. Some of it would later turn up uneaten and strewn around the hotel.
One particularly shocking incident involved a rov / Lubavitcher meshulach who was brought by the hotel organizers to perform a minor function. Some expensive chocolate truffles were set out in the tea room. The Lubavitcher hyena ran in with his trademark dirty shirt hanging out to steamshovel the chocolates into his pants pockets. A bunch of Boro Park Hungarians present who had eyed the truffles, blew their fuses, commenting that the Chabadsker Chocoholic then ran outside on a warm day, were the chocolates no doubt melted in his pockets. They added that grubba Boro Park chassidim who hold by the eruv have been taking to showing up at Shabbos kiddushim and piling as much food as they can into the undercarriage of their baby strollers.
# posted by The League of Extraordinary Fressers
http://nfonss.blogspot.com/2006/04/pesach-hotel.html
ReplyDeleteYesterday was the first time I have had a meal at a "pesach hotel." We came (after dumping $200 for 3 a family of three at Sea World)as the dinner guests of a family who was spending their entire pesach a the hotel.
As an outside observer who has never experienced this before, I was struck by how many comments I heard from people complaining about having to eat...as if anyone was forcing them to do so. A person we passed remarked, "food again, huh" as we walked to dinner. I heard 6-7 such comments over the course of my 3 hour stay.
The most egregious example was when we went to visit the "tea room" This is a communal room filled with snacks and goodies available 24 hours a day for the entire pesach. Pesach has strict rules regarding food. While one is not lacking the food he may want on Passover, I was amazed at what they had available 24/7 the Tea Room. I saw cakes and candies the likes of which I never imagined as Pesach compatible.
As I walked into the room, literally not believing what I was seeing, some guy walked in and said, "Oy, if I see this room one more time...."
This is after the veal dinner.....This was snack food. No one forced him into this room to eat more....but he complained as if someone had a gun to his head forcing him to eat pesach pound cake. I don't get it. Especially considering that everyone who heard these comments, acted as if they were funny, original lines.
The ambulances show up every year at the hotels because gorging can be dangerous for the obese, elderly and those with health issues.
ReplyDeleteIt's unbelievable what lengths people will go to to try to get their money's worth.
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/03/case-of-rabbi-ephraim-shapiro.html
ReplyDeleteHow do you expect me to take a stand against molesters when an accused molester was the mesader kiddushin for my parents?
I once witnessed on acharon shel Pesach, when you can't even look at food anymore, the fattest lady in the whole place went into the tea room after lunch and was popping snacks in her mouth like she never saw food before.
ReplyDeleteFrom: Baltimore Jewish Times
ReplyDeleteUnnerving Touch
by Phil Jacobs, Executive Editor
Baltimore Jewish Times
MARCH 16, 2007
A businessman with rabbinic ordination had a friendly confrontation with another friend, also a businessman. Both men, happily married with families, had been sexually molested while teens by a now-deceased rabbi (Ephraim Shapiro) of an area yeshiva and synagogue. It should be noted that men as old as their mid-60s have contacted the Baltimore Jewish Times about this man.
From: The Awareness Center, Inc.:
Up until recently those who are survivors of any form of childhood sexual abuse really had no voice, especially those who were molested by those with any form of authority or power within a community. The following information is to provide information on the political clout that surrounded Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro.
Black and white photograph of a wedding taking place at Agudas Achim at 4239 Park Heights Avenue. Rabbi Simcha Shafran is marrying Pauline Kahn on March 13, 1949, and Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro is officiating.
Was Avi Shafran molested? I'll get Applegrad to start putting out the word that he's just a reject who never made it in yeshiva.
ReplyDeleteYou can read more about Rabbi Ephraim Frank Shapiro here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theawarenesscenter.org/shapiro_ephraim.html
If you are a survivor of Rabbi Shapiro, or know of anyone who might have been sexually victimized, please contact us at:
ReplyDeletetavictims @yahoo.com
so that you can be included in our future lawsuit against TA.
http://www.canonist.com/?p=1389#comments
ReplyDeleteSomeone who sounds a lot like Steve Weiss is posting on Steve Weiss's blog under the pseudonym "Absurdistan". It's highly probably that IT IS Steve Weiss who is too much of a coward to post as himself. He employs 4 SIW tactics. He attacks the credibility of UOJ. He defends Sruli Singer. He uses the word "absurd" which Weiss uses when he doesn't agree. He pedals Weiss's crap that journalistic rules of identifying yourself apply to the masses (except I guess when SIW poses under an alias)
http://www.canonist.com/?p=1389#comment-52560
ReplyDeleteDoes UOJ confirm, deny or not comment on this latest allegation?
UOJ should not have to answer wether he is PM, just wether he has a longstanding quarrel with Singer.
UO Man Says:
... I have it on high authority that UOJ has a longstanding beef with Singer that has absolutely ZERO to do with this.
(Let’s just say that Mendelowitz’s kids are embarrassed by him, believe he is UOJ, and one of them has confirmed that Paul Mendelowitz) has always had long-standing bad blood with Srooli Singer. Since their days in Brooklyn.
http://www.peoplehood.org/?p=685
ReplyDeletehttp://www.canonist.com/?p=1389#comment-52599
ReplyDelete"Absurdistan" now claims that Boog is Ben Hirsch in a post where he defends Belsky and says that UOJ's greatest "crime" is smearing Belsky.
Why is this on Canonist? It should be on Looney Tunes.
It has been established as fact that I have NO personal beef with:
ReplyDeleteKolko
Eisemann
Leizerowitz
Nussbaum
Twerski
AND I HAVE NO PERSONAL BEEF WITH SINGER. I'M THRILLED TO HAVE HIM OUT OF THE WJC; HE'S A PERSON WHO ABUSED HIS JOB AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF JEWS, AND HAS STOLEN PUBLIC FUNDS!
As to who I am, keep guessing!
BTW; UOJ's kids are very proud of him!!!!!!!!!!
Absurdistan makes me suspect that the Bungalow Putz is back in business. He disguised himself pretty well with other people's MOs until he started frothing about the evils being done to Belsky.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.canonist.com/?p=1389#comment-52629
ReplyDeletejoe Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
One more thing. I’m a talmid of Rav Schachter, he spoke glowingly of UOJ in private to me (I had a shaila with one of my kid’s accusations against a teacher), and said without UOJ, the molestation issue and the rampant coverups would never have come out. (he said “UOJ” is not perfect as noone is”)
absurdistan Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
And for the rest of the peanut gallery, RHS has demonstrated a clear and public (in a number of situations, including his shiur and at a gathering recently in toronto) disapproval for UOJ’s methods and atnics, as well as his personality. UOJ has misrepresented his support for exposure of molesters as wholehearted support for UOJ’s actions and various crusades. That is called abusing a godol’s name.
absurdistan Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
that’s funny, he’s spoken pretty negatively about him to me. whom to beleive.
absurdistan Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
uch this is a waste of time. UOJ’s supporters are sadly as blind to the truth as are the people they accuse. I’m afraid this thuggery will continue until someone publicly exposes this man for the hypocrite and thug he is. it wont happen, though, since the Jewish people have always been am kshei oref. UOJ’s just an heir to dasan and aviram and korach, and all the rest of the bellyachers in JHI.
Something Stinks Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Absurdistan is actually a citizen of La La Land because his thought process is not anchored in reality. Even confused souls like Gil Student who can’t make up their minds about UOJ, admit that he is saving children.
He keeps dodging the issues himself, like refusing to admit that RHS posekened UOJ had a right to attack Kolko, Margulies and others.
What a pathetic little man he is, so bent out of shape and bitter that has to take down UOJ’s supporters by speaking ill of of the klal, in this and previous generations. The heirs to the reshoim arurim are those that facilitate retzichos and “thuggery” of young children. Who then is symbolic of the Am kshei oref?
And for someone who is so critical of MO MAN’s sense of refinement, I appreciate how Absurd starts off his last bit of blather, “uch.”
Something Stinks Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Rav Schechter’s and Rav Blau’s statements in support of UOJ are publicly available on the web. Surely, if as Absurd claims, there are a plethora of speaking events where RHS criticized UOJ, there must be a Toronto or YU affiliated website with an audio link. Until he produces it there is no reason to believe him.
Why do I somehow suspect he will never furnish any proof?
UOJ commenters have raised the question of wether Absurd may be Tuvya Neuhoff, an employee of Margulies who counterblogged against UOJ at Belsky’s urging. It’s certainly an intruiging question.
Whatever the merits are in the Singer case, this story highlights the sad state of affairs in secular Jewish orgs. A bunch of self-appointed rich guys and nobodies are running around purporting to represent us. The Bronfmans and Mort Zuckermans of this world who want to bask in Yiddishe limelight while marrying out of the faith are a disgrace that stinks to the Heavens. What about the Isha Kushis asher lakach Edgar Bronfman Jr.? Is she going to start the next WJC project, like promoting interracial shidduchim?
ReplyDeleteI just left a call for Jackie Mason to get back to me ASAP and let me know who I really am.
ReplyDeletethe typical Detroit "froomie" works a 9 to 5 job and calls it quits. They have no ambitions of striking it rich to feed all these habits. While NY is at one extreme, Detroit is certainly at the other, more so than any other out-of-town.
ReplyDeleteNice to hear something positive about my hometown for a change.
That's not to say there aren't some wealthy frum Jews here who live comfortably. There's the Microsoft Millionaire and others. Bunny clearly has some ambition. Marvin's kids do pretty well (though his son, who has been my attorney, told me that his dad, who was worth about $50 million when he died, didn't spoil his kids and insisted that they get an education and a profession), and Marvin's mechutan Willie wasn't exactly poor. Dr. & Dr. L have moved out of town, but their home in Bingham Farms overlooked a beautiful ravine with a branch of the Rouge. There's the "library" over on Karen which has to be about 6000 sq ft. I live on Raine, which is slowly being 'gentrified'. There are 6 large footprint houses on my block, including a 8000 sq foot home three doors down from me. Most of them involved 'tear downs', buying an existing home, demolishing it and building a larger home. The most recent new home is about 4000 sq ft and belongs to a woman who owns more than one home. I'm not sure of AN's level of Jewish observance but the home was being built so she could spend Shabbas in Oak Park. Unfortunately, when the house was about 95% finished, a tradesman accidentally set a fire and the house was a total loss. A neighbor was saying it was a "tragedy". I told her that a rich person losing her third home, empty of possessions, seemed like more of an inconvenience than a tragedy.
That being said, none of the people above live particularly ostentatious lifestyles considering their income levels. They live in Oak Park, not West Bloomfield. They drive Caddys, Lexi and Mercs, not Lambos.
UOJ: Anyone that helps themselves to public funds is a thief and should never again be allowed to be an official in any organization. How else do you determine a person's credibility if not in a case like Singer's? I happen to believe you had a hand in this, although it's obvious a lot of people were after him.
ReplyDeleteYou never claimed to be the only person chasing Singer, and I saw nowhere your claim that you were responsible solely, other than what you said that you put people together as in other well known cases. Kudos to you and your bravery, every thief in Jewish public life is wary of you as well as the Agudah's Mafia, and every sick putz that would like to put his grubby hands on Jewish kids and their enablers. You obviously are fearless. G-d protect you from your many enemies. You are a true Jewish hero world-over!
Traditions That Must Be Broken
ReplyDelete© (2007) by Vicki Polin, MA, ATR, LCPC
Executive Director - The Awareness Center, Inc.
soon to be up at: http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/TraditonsBroken.pdf
Recently the case of Rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro has been made public. It’s not a new case it’s one that’s been kept as a deep dark secret in the Baltimore Jewish community for over fifty years.
Over the last five years I have spoken to several survivors of this alleged sex offender, many sharing their stories and struggles, yet many were too afraid to mention his name -- even to me, let alone publicly. You see Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro was a highly connected and respected individual in the Jewish community of Baltimore. Think about it -- who would want to believe a child claiming molestation by this great and powerful rebbe?
Most children who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse never go on to molest other children, yet those who molest children have often been victimized themselves.
Since the 1950's there have been new child molesters named that have had a connection to the Baltimore community (i.e. Rabbi Matis Weinberg, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, Rabbi Aron Boruch Tendler, Rabbi Moshe Eisemann, Shmuel Juravel, etc.). I am not like many others who have wondered who molested these alleged molesters? Could it have been Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro? It's very possible that he had access to Matis Weinberg, Ephraim Bryks, Aron Boruch Tendler as children. I don't have the answer to that question and I am not attempting to make excuses for alleged or convicted sex offenders. I'm just trying to put a puzzle together that has been playing out in my head for years.
I too am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. One of my offenders was also sent away to a boarding school when he was very young. At one time this offender disclosed to me that he was gang raped several times by a group of older students at his school. I am not unlike the survivors in Baltimore or from any other community. I too am afraid of naming my offender. I too am still in a place of protecting the identities of those who harmed me.Â
As strange as it may sound there are times I'm thankful to my offenders for what they did to me, without them I would not be doing what I do today. I doubt that I would have been dedicated to my life to educating our communities and or protecting others. I might have ended up being an interior designer instead.
I am not unlike many of the survivors of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro. I too ask myself, what will it take for me to publicly name my offenders? I can't expect other survivors to do something that I myself still have not done, yet I totally honor and respect them when they do.
What's most important for us all to remember is that we can as a people stop these sorts of crimes from happening. We need to honor and respect those who come forward and share their experiences. We need to honor and respect those who advocate for the truth to be told. We all need to be honest and caring. We have all been victimized each and every time a child is abused. We all need to be kind to ourselves and do what it takes to protect one more child from being harmed.
Vicki deserves a lot of the credit in exposing the molesters. She has been unjustly maligned and persecuted throughout and yet, she continues her tireless work on behalf of the kahal. Vicki, we all owe you!!
ReplyDeleteboog said...
ReplyDeletelvf;
What about Moshe Fogel?
10:32 PM, March 17, 2007
r'boog...
it is obvious to me that you know the ger oilem well, if so then you should know that moishe fogel the gerer rav in america only got the power that he has today some years back.
years ago when i know for a fact that a victims parents had a long talk with him about their son and leizerowitz, he did not have the power he has today, today anything that happens in ger goes through him, for example the kosher phones, he was not to happy about it b/c of all the flaws in it, but he let it be.
back then the rosh yeshiva of the ger mesivta was "BIG DAVE" OLEWSKI, AND HE HAD THE POWER OVER WHAT HAPPENS IN THAT BUILDING, AND HE DID ZILCH, i know of a parent from lakewood that his son came home for an off shabbos and found out about prick leizerowitz, he went to big dave, and was told to keep quite, as the matter will be taken care of.
now i am not saying that had m. foigel raised hell about the issue things might have been diferent, i dont know, as i said he was not the powerfull guy that he is today.
therefore i will continue to investigate the issue, but as i have called for, david olewski has to resign, and i will continue taking steps making sure that happens.
yasher koach boog for standing up for whats right!
When I was a kid the rabbonim had us clean out the telephone receiver, use a comb to clean shag carpeting, and make sure to burn the vacuum cleaner bag. It was bad then but then came the new wave and all the chumros like no combat roach killer, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe obscenity is that we are forced to asay lecha rav--make a two bit into a rav and blindly follow him. With all the chumros many working women have had it with their husband's mandated chumros (on Pesach it is okay derabbonon to go nuts) and opt to take the lesser obscenity and go away and not relive the Egyptian slavery.
What is the story with
ReplyDeleteGorelick
Is there someone going on at a Swiss yeshiva? I have a feeling UOJ is involved here somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Isha Kushis asher lakach Edgar Bronfman Jr.? Is she going to start the next WJC project, like promoting interracial shidduchim?
ReplyDeleteIt's sad. You were making such a strong point till you had to reveal your racism. What difference does the color of the shikse have to do with anything?
Nothing wrong with interracial shidduchim as long as they are both Jews. I know at least three interracial couples. One of the black Jews I know is quite a talmid chacham and lives in Eretz Yisrael with his wife and kids. Another is the daughter of gerim, possibly African because she's from France and is married to an Ashkenazi from Israel. Then there's my friend M, originally from Detroit, who married an old friend of mine and now lives down the street.
Oh, wait, there's also DF. He's biracial and was adopted by a Jewish couple. He became a BT while in high school. While in college he told his parents, both college professors, he wanted to learn in kollel and his parents agreed, providing he finished his degree. After learning in kollel for a couple of years, he boned up on his science, got into a top 5 med school and is raising a beautiful Jewish family.
Halevi any of your kids should be as erliche yidden as the people I mentioned.
UOJ,
Racist Jews make me puke.
She has been unjustly maligned and persecuted throughout
ReplyDeleteNot so unjustly I believe. She deserves credit for what she's done, but sometimes it reminds me of a broken clock still being correct twice a day. I'll concede that she may be onto something about NI, but I don't find her 100% credible all the time.
Ronnie, she's been proven right every time, just like UOJ. People make that same silly statement about UOJ regarding the broken clock. Vicki checks her sources thoroughly, just like UOJ, and thanks in large part to her efforts, our children are a lot safer. This is not to take anything away from what UOJ has done or is constantly doing. You must give credit where credit is due, despite your feelings regarding TS.
ReplyDeleteTS is a charming rogue. She just keeps asserting something that to my knowledge is not true and I was privy to the reasons why TS left.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that most of the people listed on the Awareness Center site aren't guilty. Or that Vickie isn't doing some service to the Jewish community. I'm saying that a) she's obsessed and has little perspective and b) the one specific allegation that she makes that I happen to have personal knowledge of does not accord with my knowledge of the situation and c) I have directly challenged her on many blogs about that and she's never responded to me once and keeps making the allegation.
Vickie is a little like Debka. Well meaning but not always accurate.