Above photo was taken very recently of Stefan Colemar!
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Dear UOJ readers,
My name is Israel Moskovits, I am a 21 year old, Chicago-based Orthodox Jewish filmmaking student currently filming a feature length, narrative film titled Narrow Bridge which I wrote, directed and am acting in. It tells the story of a young Jewish college student who was sexually abused by his rabbi as a child and the numerous struggles he encounters as he attempts to heal himself and seek closure. I started this project upon learning of the Rabbi Yehuda Kolko case and view this film an an opportunity to raise awareness of this important subject in a manner that will be approachable and accessible to those that need to hear it most. I feel that the film would be a great tool for educating others about sexual abuse as well as a film survivors can use to aid in their healing process.
I am currently seeking assistance in spreading the film's message either through arranging screenings, publicity, spreading word-of mouth, mass-media outlets, distribution, connections, etc. Any way in which you are able to take part is greatly appreciated.
Feel free to email me with any questions you might have.
Here is a link to the teaser trailer for the film:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2858431796056068698&hl=en
(Copy & Paste)
Here is a blog article about the film:
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-film-narrow-bridge-june-2007-about.html
Thanks UOJ for everything you do!
Israel (Yisrael) Moskovits
IzzyComm Motion Pictures
icmpinfo@gmail.com
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Stefan Colemar's victim writes:
I saw all this information about Stefan Colmer recently and could not believe what I was reading. Stefan is from Belmar New Jersey and I believe I was probably his very first victim of sexual abuse. He is only about 5 or 6 years older than I am, but when I was about 10 I met him for the first time in a shul in Bradley Beach, NJ. He became close to my family and while becoming religous he would spend almost every single shabbos at our house. His parents were divorced. He lived with his mother in Belmar and his father lived with his wife. His mother was not religious and my parents were happy to have him over. For many years he would keep me in my room and sexually abuse me. The first time it happened was at night over either a shabbos or yom tov (I cannot remember for sure) when he was sleeping on a pullout bed in my room. I was petrified when he woke me up and started touching me and doing things to me. He told me if I told ANYONE that nobody would believe me and that it would cause tremendous problems for myself and my family. This went on almost every shabbos untill I went away for Yeshiva. Around that time there was an incident regarding another Rabbi he was spending a Shabbos with and his young son. He was also thrown out of a few schools for problems with other boys. After my parents learned about that they did not want him sleeping over anymore. However, he would still eat shabbos lunch and spend the day at our house. Whenever I came back from Yeshiva he continued to approach me on and off whenever he found himself alone with me. As I got bigger and stronger I started defending myself and after a while all he could do was ask me to do things with him which I would never allow. The last encounter with him was before I got married when he tried to put a hand on me. I grabbed him by the throat and told him if he ever tried that again I would slice his throat open.
Although I was no longer threatened by him I was always scared of him. My parents who still knew nothing ever happened were still very close to him. He would constantly be over at our house learning with my father. Because I was scared for so long and such a long time passed I decided it would be best if I just put it out of my head and tried to forget anything ever happened. I got married and now have 4 beautiful children. The only times I have ever thought of it was when I would see a special on T.V. about child predators. I never told my wife or my parents. I never wanted to be around him but could never throw him out because if I did I would have to say why and I didn't want to discuss it. It almost made me sick when he came to my wedding. But I still could not tell my parents. Even after such a long time I felt not only scared but felt guilty like I did something wrong. I always felt if I told anybody they might not believe me, and even if they did I felt they would think it was my fault. I know this might not make sense to many of you but it just felt better and easier to try and escape it than deal with it. It was my secret and would remain my secret until I died.
The other day I was on the phone with my mother and she told me to Google his name. She would not tell me why but told me I would not believe it. We always suspected him gay and when he got married it shocked my entire family. I refused to go to his wedding or call him to wish him mazal. We were more shocked when he had a child (again, I refused ANY contact). My parents always just thought I didn't like him because he was always a bit strange. while I completely agreed I had no interest in telling them all the details. When I read about what he did to some boys who spent a shabbos by him, chills ran down my back, and tears just started flowing down my face. All I could think about was every shabbos that he did the same or had me do things to him. I told my wife right away who was not sure exactly how to take what I was telling her. I called my mother back crying and tried to tell her the truth. It took a while to get the whole truth out and she was obviously shocked. I did not want to tell my father but she convinced me. Needless to say he was not too pleased. The hurt they had was that this was happening down the hall from them for YEARS under their noses and they had no idea. this was very hard for them to grasp.
My biggest shame is not that I still feel guilty or dirty or scared. Instead I feel that my being scared and not saying anything allowed for this to continue. Had I been able to put my fear aside and come out and say what happened, he would either be in jail or the jewish world would have known about it and this would not have happened to some boys again. For that I apologize to all the famillies and the boys this happened to. I am also shocked that the jewish world would rather not get the authorities involved. For that I am disgusted. If the jewish community would let this animal run around free to do this again than I know what I have to do. I WILL call the Police and do whatever I can to make sure this animal CANNOT do this again. This is not something he can control, and this definately cannot be controlled by Rabonim. If this happened to any of their children I can assure you that they would be in full agreement of putting this person behind bars. If not than this will happen again. I will tell the authorities what happened to me. If there is nothing they can do than there is nothing else I can do. But when he strikes again I do not want to be responsible. Any Rabbi who says the police should not be called will be responsible for the next boy that falls prey to Colmer.
I again would like to apologize to the boys and the famillies for this happening and for not being brave enough to say something years ago when I could have stopped it.
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I'm working with a very experienced person in the field of child sexual abuse who made this comment.
"The more I learn about Stefan Colemar the more disturbed I become -- he appears to be a compulsive, manipulative, deceitful and highly dangerous sex addict who preys on children---- and who has so far been sheltered by rabbis, particularly, it seems, one Lazer Ginsburg".
I have just confirmed to my dis-satisfaction that "Rabbi" Shmuel Kaminetzky has advised parents of Colemar victims NOT TO GO TO THE POLICE!!!
UOJ
************************************************************
URGENT URGENT URGENT
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We are making progress in bringing Colemar to justice! I URGE ANYONE AND EVERYONE WITH ANY INFORMATION AT ALL TO CONTACT:
Michael Lesher, Esq.
mlesher@att.net
www.MichaelLesher.com
(973) 470-0212
PLEASE CONTACT MICHAEL, ASAP!
THANKS!
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You may vote for 5 out of the 6 questions!
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SEE THE SHAIGETZ AND FRAUD YISROEL BELSKY:
Download the Belsky files here:
http://savefile.com/files/53776
(copy & paste)
250 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 250 of 250http://www.counterpunch.org/kolko03302007.html
Israel's Last Chance
By GABRIEL KOLKO
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/03/29/ap3565041.html
How come UOJ never discussed the big chilul Hashem of MetLife shutting down it's Boro Park branch?
Dear UOJ,
Thanks for the plug, book sales are way up. Looking forward to spending Passover together.
David
Why is it assur to simply say that chazal may have erred in their science? -------------------
Ronnie,
Forget about UOJ cap sales in Lakewood, 90% of Monsey and 50% of Brooklyn:-)
Quit while your ahead, Ronnie. You know as much learning as the flounder in your stomach and have no business dismissing anything.
http://www.bjs.com/services/embroidered_apparel.shtml
We would like to thank Ronnie for speaking apikorsus out of his tuchess. We can sell UOJ caps and windbreakers galore to whoever doesn't feel like patronizing him.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,915125,00.html
Is the flounder in Ronnie's stomach the fish that was revealing the end of days in New Square? Rav Matis Salomon called the Rebbe alein to ask about the maaseh. The Rebbe hut 'em gezugt that I'm a big baal dimyon.
Ronnie has complained about everything on this blog from his sweaty underwear when bike riding to Hell, Michigan to his weight problem. Maybe he has a few flounders in his stomach too many.
"Mixing fish with meat"
This is a huge problem in take out stores. When they scoop up food to put in the plastic containers, things fall into other bins. It's not theoretical. It happens all the time. Gourmet on J is the only store I've seen that has plexiglass dividers to prevent cross-contamination. The Vaad of Flatbush is the only hashgocho I know of that has begun raising awareness with the stores.
The public has to complain to force any change, unless that is you don't mind fleishdiks in your fish or vice versa.
"Then there is the employees’ lunch."
At a Pesach hotel under a top hashgocho, the mashgichim were "out to lunch" too. They neglected to post a guard like they were supposed to and I saw one of the workers coming back with a hamburger from Burger King. By the time I alerted the mashgichim and they raided the kitchen, they couldn't find the contraband.
"Another thing to keep in mind is that only Jews and Muslims have the cultural norm to wash their hands after using the toilet."
Correction - while Muslims are supposed to wash before davening, the Maharal points out that many Aravim are farshtunkenna & shmutzy.
"This does not even begin to cover Shabbos violations"
I have seen "kosher" hotels that use steam to heat up all food even though it's only mutter for dovor yovesh.
Will UOJ laugh if a Reform rabbi was arrested for stealing neckties from Louis Vuitton?
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8099/54/
Written by Elma Lia Nascimento
Friday, 30 March 2007
New York raised Rabbi Henry Sobel, 63, one of Brazil's most respected religious leaders and for more than 35 years president of the São Paulo Israelite Congregation (CIP, Congregação Israelita Paulista), Latin America's largest Jewish congregation, has been arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, accused of stealing 4 ties from different upscale stores.
Together with former São Paulo cardinal Evaristo Arns, rabbi Sobel, has been an important force in favor of social justice in Brazil. He was a constant presence at ecumenical celebrations against torture by the Brazilian military dictatorship, in the 1960s and 1970s.
According to the Palm Beach police, which made the arrest last Friday, March 23, the rabbi spent the night in jail and only was released after paying US$ 3,680, US$ 680 for the ties and US$ 3000 as bail. Sobel was taken to the police station at 6;15 pm, on Friday, and only released the next day at 3:30 pm.
After being detained thanks to a camera that captured him stealing the tie, Sobel, at first, denied the theft. He once again denied he was the man shown in pictures of the police precinct's Internet site when the news appeared in the Brazilian media. .
The Florida police report states that the authorities were told Friday afternoon by a saleswoman at a Louis Vuitton store that they suspected an older man had stolen a tie.
After noticing the disappearance of the object the store reviewed the store's surveillance camera tape and found out a client who took a tie, folded it and then left the shop without stopping at the cashier. Later, a policeman recognized the rabbi as the man on the tape.
Questioned by the officer he ended up confessing that he had stolen the tie, after having offered to pay for it. When the police searched inside his car they found, always according to the police report, three other ties, which were also stolen. Sobel told he had paid for them, but could not produce any proof of payment, like a receipt or a store packaging.
Two of the ties valued at US$ 180 and US$ 170 were from Louis Vuitton and Giorgio's. The other two were a Gucci and a Giorgio Armani and cost US$ 155 and US$ 175 respectively. The police called all the stores and found out none of the ties had been paid for.
Before presenting his temporary resignation to his congregation, which was promptly accepted, Sobel released a note to the press in which he says he had no intention of stealing the ties:
"I never intended to steal any object in my entire life. I'm personally used to face crises and charges and I can defend myself. I cannot allow, however, that people attempt to disqualify the moral values that I always stood up for."
Sobel apparently hid the incident even from his wife, the artist Amanda Sobel, who was born in New York and lived in Palm Beach. When asked about the case by a reporter of O Estado de São Paulo she answered:
"I don't believe it. It can only be a lie. He really was there in Florida but he didn't tell me a thing about arrest or ties. It can only be a frame-up. We will prove that this news is entirely false."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/844491.html
Brazil's best-known rabbi, who was charged with shoplifting in Florida last week, was hospitalized on Friday for what doctors called a mood disorder after using drugs that may cause confusion and amnesia.
Rabbi Henry Sobel asked for a suspension from his duties as chief of Sao Paulo Rabbinate on Thursday after media reports that he had been charged with stealing expensive ties.
The Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo said Sobel was admitted "due to an episode of mood disorder, represented by a lack of emotional control and altered behavior." It said he had been taking large quantities of drugs to treat severe insomnia that "cause potential states of mental confusion and amnesia".
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=11477
As the only openly gay "Orthodox rabbi" around, rabbonim and members of the public have called YU to ask them to revoke my semicha which is an abomination for me to advertise. Rabbi Charlop has said they are afraid to in case I sue.
I think Kolko should come out of the closet too.
The Machon Shilo guys who want to abolish the issur kitniyos are from Tzioni yeshivos like Merkaz Hazav, I mean Harav, and such bastions of "higher learning" like Yeshivat Hakotel.
No one gave me credit for the most yeshivish idea ever.
http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS03/703300378
Inside the gutted bus, Winternitz or a congregant pedals a stationary bike with attachments to grind the wheat for the matzo.
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2885
My brother in law Yosef Gutnick is mad at me and won't lend me money. Does anyone know if Edgar Bronfman has a half million to spare or did he say that's it after getting burned by Sruli Singer?
Yup. I'm might pround of myself.
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/NEWS03/703310386
Police were concerned about the potential for a fire or explosion.
The enterprising rabbi boasted this week of his invention - installing an oven and wheat-grinding system using a stationary bike in the rundown school bus. He even rode the bicycle to demonstrate how to grind the wheat.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/03/29/2007-03-29_sentenced_till_death.html
What's the story with Mendel Epstein & Belsky?
It's pretty ironic that Steve Greenberg quotes Norman Lamm in defense of himself and his abhorrant lifestyle. I call on Rabbi Charlop to stop acting like a poulet and do something.
I applaud UOJ for allowing discussion of this topic. Jewish Survivors blog censors anything mentioning the loser. Greenberg is running around to every college campus that will give him a booking to promote the "gay orthodoxy" lunacy. This is the kind of behavior that brought the mabul. Not the actual sin, but promoting it as normal.
I don't know about Hakotel, but Mercaz is capable of producing talmidei chachamim. Some of them do have misguided agendas like permitting tumah on Har Bayis.
Winternitz, putz-yana;
You're an asshole, shmuck, and have caused a massive Chilul Hashem.
You put this Rube Goldberg contraption together, don't get permission from the village authorities, don't tell your neighbors (you could've blown them to smithereens), put your family in Sakana, and then go smile for the reporter and cameras like you're some Westinghouse Science Competition Genius!!??
Du bist una ferd grande!
Let's not be too hard on Winternitz. What's interesting is that in all the articles, Town Building Department officials never actually said the setup is dangerous (as opposed to the police, who go overboard on everything, and this is out of their expertise anyway). In fact, in one article, one Building Department official said he was impressed with the setup, and they just wanted engineering plans - which Winternitz probably couldn't get because of the expense.
anon 1:47 pm
You related to nitz-witz?
Guaranteed if you were nitz-witz next door neighbor and first found out about this from the Press-TV, you'd be more than just a wee-wee upset. You would probably go out and give nitz-witz a "Louima".
But since this matzoh bakery on wheels with gas hoses coming out of the house into the bussy is "NIMBY"
you can be magnanimous.
You make sure something as combustible as Gas is safe before you launch it.
You know as much learning as the flounder in your stomach and have no business dismissing anything.
So Judaism is just some kind of arcane knowledge, possessed only by the adept?
One doesn't have to be an expert to ask a question.
And it's gefilte fish, Rokeach Gold Lable Old Vienna, Delicious Sweet Recipe, as a matter of fact, not flounder.
"Maharal points out that many Aravim are farshtunkenna & shmutzy."
So why does Glatt a la Farte on 18th Ave hire a bunch of them as waiters? Besides, even if they aren't al Qaeda sleeper cells who could chas veshulem poison the food, they are probably spitting in it.
But since this matzoh bakery on wheels with gas hoses coming out of the house into the bussy is "NIMBY"
you can be magnanimous.
You make sure something as combustible as Gas is safe before you launch it.
As long as you use "black pipe" and make sure all the joints have teflon tape, it should be safe. My guess is that his setup is less dangerous than some people have with their backyard grill. Not all observant Jews are complete ignoramuses when it comes to mechanical things. My cousin is a plumber, my brother fixes industrial machinery, and I know at least three guys who do heating and cooling.
It sounds like he did everything to code, but should have gotten the right permits.
UOJ, my sources tell me that Kolko has once again rented a unit in Regency Estates and is planning on returning for Summer 2007. I know the owner of the unit and I think we ought to call him and pressure him into finding another tenant, which is not really that hard to do. If you give me the okay, I will post his name and phone number and we'll get Boog, Gross, Ronnie, and the whole crew to call the guy and tell him what we think.
Motion passed after a unanimous vote by secret ballot.
Let's put the squeeze on the unit owner at Regency and the rest of the Hungarian sicko neighbors.
I threw my chometz in the flames, and watched it burn. now i am ready for the phone number of the units owner so we can burn screwball peice of chometz kolko.
lets go uoj put the number up and the uoj hit squad will do the rest.
I'm waiting for the okay from UOJ and then I'll put it up.
I'm waiting for the okay from UOJ and then I'll put it up.
__________________________________
OK:-)
what nerve!...
you got the okay were are you?
http://www.canonist.com/?p=1392#comment-54923
a Jewish mother Says:
April 1st, 2007 at 11:44 am
Dear Analyzer,
The FISH can be frozen. Many States require that the FISH be frozen.
Finished SUSHI ROLLS cannot be frozen. They also cannot be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days (from Friday until Saturday night or Sunday).
Sushi for 300 is very time consuming to make even by an expert.
Once the sushi rolls are made they must be consumed within a few hours.
As far as lettuce salads, any salad with lettuce needs to be made very close to the time it is served. When dinner begins within two hours after Shabbos, the salads would have to be made and then transported to the simcha hall or hotel if it is off site within the two hours.
I have seen with my own eyes kosher caterers whose kitchen staff makes sushi and salads on Shabbos for Motzai Shabbos affairs. The rice is put into a rice cooker on a timer and the sushi chef comes to work to make the sushi on Shabbos with a Mashgiach. The caterers I have seen do this have also had the fish delivered fresh on Shabbos morning.
If I publish the caterers where I have seen this firsthand with my own eyes including the name of the Rav Hamachshir and the mashgiach who was on duty in the kitchen, will I be sued also???
The Rabbis whom I have asked do not permit this. If yours does, well then you have upon whom to rely. If you feel this is not okay, then don’t eat sushi on Saturday night unless you see it in the refrigerator all prepared in the caterer’s kitchen on Friday.
This blog tells you all you need to know about hungarians.
http://ungaren.blogspot.com
The owner of the unit that Kolko is renting is Mendy Akerman. His number is 718-336-0080.
Stop with bashing Hungarians already. I know some very fine Jews from Hungary. There problems in the Jewish community are sadly not restricted to one ethnic group. Also, that Khazar nonsense feeds right into the Jew haters' myths.
Tonight is Pesach, when we commemorate becoming a people. With all the many problems facing the Jewish community both from within and without I think one thing all of us share is a love for core Torah beliefs - perhaps primary among them the idea of the Jewish people, a people with a special relationship with God.
The Pesach seder is the single most observed Jewish ritual. Over 90% of people who identify as Jews have some kind of ritual meal on Passover. Okay, so not everyone's seder is k'halacha, and not everyone brings down meforshim and midrashim, but tonight the Jewish people are all doing, more or less, the same thing - as we have done for three and a half millenia.
Tonight is a night of watching. Maybe it might be nice if He who watches sees a little bit of achdut and ahavat Yisrael, instead of all the bickering.
Wishing everyone a chag kosher v'sameach
Toads and rabbits to the man of credit.
Dear UOJ,
There have also been cover ups of crimes in the Spanish & French Moroccain kehilot of Toronto. Hazan Alain Oziel, a member of the prominent Oziel family who control the Spanish Petah Tikva synagogue, was imprisoned for molesting boys he was teaching for the bar mitsva. After years of cover ups by the powerful people in charge, some parents decided to go to the police and they also sued the board.
Here are some Toronto Star articles:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/16755559.html?dids=16755559:16755559&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+29%2C+1997&author=By+Gary+Oakes+Toronto+Star&pub=Toronto+Star&edition=&startpage=A.12&desc=Cantor%27s+sentence+cut+after+bypass+surgery+Abuser+to+serve+minimum+term+in+penitentiary
Ex-cantor jailed for attacks on boy
Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont.
Author: by Gary Oakes TORONTO STAR
Date: Feb 4, 1996
Start Page: D.16
Section: NEWS
Text Word Count: 360
Alain Oziel ``wounded the soul'' of the victim, who was a member of his congregation, Mr. Justice Victor Paisley said last week in Ontario Court, general division.
The victim, now 28, cried in the University Ave. courtroom as the judge detailed the sexual abuse he was subjected to by Oziel at the ages of 13 and 14.
Prosecutor Margo MacKinnon recalled that the victim ``cried out in anguish'' as he testified about what Oziel did to him.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/16755559.html?dids=16755559:16755559&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+29%2C+1997&author=By+Gary+Oakes+Toronto+Star&pub=Toronto+Star&edition=&startpage=A.12&desc=Cantor%27s+sentence+cut+after+bypass+surgery+Abuser+to+serve+minimum+term+in+penitentiary
Cantor's sentence cut after bypass surgery Abuser to serve minimum term in penitentiary
Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont.
Author: By Gary Oakes Toronto Star
Date: Mar 29, 1997
Start Page: A.12
Section: NEWS
Text Word Count: 355
A one-time cantor in a North York synagogue has been granted - largely for health reasons - a reduced sentence for the ongoing sexual abuse of a young teenage boy more than a decade ago.
Alain Oziel was sentenced in February, 1996, to five years in prison after Mr. Justice Victor Paisley found that he had ``wounded the soul'' of the victim.
Paisley acknowledged Oziel's age, then 59, and the fact he was in poor health but said: ``He will serve as an example to others - don't do this crime.''
End of item.
At the French Magen David synagogue, a 14 year old was following younger boys into the bathroom to molest them. This was covered up by the rabbi and board members. Someone who found out about it reported it to the Jewish Child Services who conducted a very weak investigation. So called experts said the molester was not a danger even though it later came out that he molested a number of boys. It did not help that parents of the victims were participating in the cover up. There is an expression in French, cete une honte, they did not want anyone knowing about a shameful story.
The molester's father did not want his son, who seems to be mildly retarded, causing anymore trouble so he made sure he never came again to synagogue. The molester is now in his 20s and is working at a kosher bakery.
The rabbi involved in the cover up is a strange man. He was always fighting with people and did not have his contract renewed. He suddenly resigned as the secretary of the Toronto beit din when he was afraid that Rabbi Shochet was going to kick him out. He went to work for a funeral home and you could no longer recognize him. He put on a toupee, leather coat and fake blue contact lenses.
The plague of silence
by Ayelet Cohen Vider
Ynetnews.com
April 4, 2007
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3384509,00.html
When an Orthodox victim dares to reveal her story, society reacts with
harsh and scathing accusations. If she should file a complaint,
everyone often rallies around the abusive authority figure. The plague of
sexual abuse can be found everywhere
Young Orthodox girls report incidents of sexual abuse three times as
much as non-Orthodox girls. Incest among religious families is reported
with the same frequency among religious and non-religious girls and
women. For years we thought that sexual abuse occurred among the wanton
secular society. We dress modestly, do not touch each other and are
protected from all harm.
Over the past few years the wall has begun to crack. Quietly and
secretly the stories are beginning to be heard with hesitant voices and great
worry and fear. It is the fear to blacken the face of this quality
society of which I am a part, the fear to harm a family member, an older
brother, a respected principal, an esteemed rabbi. It is also the fear
that I will harm my chances to be married. They are missiles of fear and
terror, of silence and of closed eyes.
“I wore dirty clothes, I neglected my outer appearance to an extreme,
and I did not allow any teachers or counselors to touch me. In the
beginning they left me alone. Then a wise counselor arrived and asked and
understood, and I told her about my brother. He learns in an esteemed
yeshiva. Every free weekend and vacation when we were home together, he
would come into my room at night and get into my bed and touch me all
over…This is what she told the principal, he promised to take care of
it but he did not do anything”.
Orthodox victims carry the burden of abuse alone for long periods of
time. It is difficult for them to share their situation with others,
first of all because it is difficult for them to digest the abuse; the
contradiction between the honored and good person in whom they believed and
the aggressive and abusive person they have uncovered.
Secondly they have a hard time revealing themselves as abused. In a
small familial society where everyone knows everyone else, if you tell one
person it is as if you have told a hundred and you will become the
conversation of the day.
When the victim dares reveal her story and break the wall of
loneliness, society reacts with harsh and scathing accusations. A high level of
idealization, especially of male spiritual authority figures,
characterizes religious society. The image of the tzaddik (righteous person) is a
factor of spiritual and honored importance. He represents the values to
which we aspire as a holy society - Torah knowledge, good deeds and a
high spiritual level. When a complaint is filed the masses rally around
the powers of authority.
He receives wide support from the men and women around him and since he
is a powerful man he is surrounded and connected to powerful people. In
a confrontation between the accuser and the accused the temptation to
stand with the accused is great. The abuser, in his denial of the act,
speaks to the universal desire not to see badness, not to hear of it or
speak of it. On the other hand, the accuser is asking society to share
her painful journey. Her individual pain and society’s pain in
shattering this idealized figure is a type of smashing of the tablets.
She requires involvement and action, and she demands the ability to
face hard contradictions. This is a harder request and therefore few
answer it. Most would prefer to stay out of the story in the best case, or
enlist for the good of the abuser in the worst case, and the accuser
remains alone again. Now she is no longer alone for everyone is now a
partner in her story, her nakedness is exposed in public, but against the
doubts, accusations and the lack of the desire to believe her she stands
alone.
When we as a movement volunteer to help her and enter the picture, the
arrows are directed at us- the words against us are very aggressive and
belligerent. In attempts to promote treatment we receive suggestions
such as: write a letter of apology and the matter will be closed or
alternatively we receive threats by the top lawyers in the country.
Our collective memory as a society teaches us that even distinguished
educators and esteemed rabbis have fallen in this matter and that this
can be done by anybody to anybody, whether it is a family member, a
maintenance man, driver, principal, teacher, caretaker, doctor or rabbi.
Our awareness of this serves as immunization to this happening again -
for the individual abuser, the individual abused, and we as a society.
Ayelet Vider Cohen is a clinical psychologist, and active in
“Kolech” treating victims of sexual abuse
=
"that Khazar nonsense feeds right into the Jew haters' myths."
Not exactly. Our enemies are making a mountain out of a molehill. Plenty of evidence exists that Hungarian Jews descend from Khazars. It is even written about in seforim. Our enemies try to say that all European Jewry has that lineage. They do this partly to discredit any claims we have to the land of Israel.
And the Hungarians? I have yet to meet a single one who is normal. Do you need anymore proof that the sickos who don't pull their kids out of YTT and who still rub shoulders with Kolko at Weinfeld's & Regency like he's high society?
Someone really opened a can of worms with that Toronto story. The rabbi for many years at the Spanish shul was Rabbi Amram Assayag, until he decided to promote himself to "Chief rabbi" of Ontario Sefardim with the help of unscrupulous financial backers.
http://gamblingmagazine.com/articles/features/jackbanks.htm
This article details how Assayag's new shul was built by Jacques Benquesus aka Jack Banks who was arrested by federal agents in Manhattan for fraud.
There has always been a rivalry between the French & Spanish from Morocco and the French don't appreciate the Chief rabbi act. Even still, Assayag's brother in law who is also Spanish, was the weirdo rabbi at the French shul with the toupee and blue contacts. There are a number of other players in the fraud episode who got away with it in Canada but most certainly would have been arrested if they were US residents.
Ronnie;
Achdus is a noble sentiment and striving especially this time of year.
But knowingly allowing a child molester and sex predator into your bungalow colony that is populated with children and is directly adjacent to Camp Silver Lake (just open the gate and walk across the parking lot)is sheer lunacy.
The name of the place should be changed from "The Regency" to "Lemmings Estates".
A gutten moed.
Where have we seen this before, molestation weaved into the same corrupt tapestry as financial crimes? It doesn't matter if they come from Margulies' old haunt of the Transylvanian / Carpathian mountains or the ranges of North Africa.
The public must start speaking up against white collar crimes if we are to stop those crimes that are sexual in nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Dracula#Profile
I know Margo from Transylvania. Come on guys, a little bloodsucking / moneysucking never hurt any of us Hungarians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_Dracula
I am the son of the first Count Dracula. Margo was my talmid in Roumania where he learned unspeakable torture methods like slapping boys across the face after they were molested by Yudi Kolko.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila_The_Hun
The Draculas shtam from Attila the Hun. Does that mean that Margo is even worse than other Hungarians who at least come from Gerim?
http://www.petahtikva.on.ca/contact.html
It's not nice that UOJ is exposing the Oziel family. What happened to live and let live?
UOJ should have known that rabbis wearing toupees are frauds. If they have any self respect they will get surgical replacement.
They have to face the facts!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Somers#Commercials
Men's Hair Now (featuring Chris "Mad Dog" Russo's opening of "Face the Facts! You are losing your hair and it is not going to grow back!"
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/04/05/chronology_of_the_standoff/
You won't read this in the mainstream media but after UOJ warned me on erev Yomtov, I had no choice but to release the 15 British sailors.
When the yeshiva menahel, Rabbi Aaron Levine went on Sabbatical one year, Rabbi Assayag was tapped to take his place. His substitution was pretty uneventful, too uneventful for Levine who was used to throwing boys down flights of stairs and otherwise screaming and yelling his head off and turning red as a beet. Levine came back with a fury, yelling at a packed beis medrash that he "heard" about all the goings on in his absence, that the boys had it too easy. He heard that 3 guys tried driving to Niagara Falls but had to turn back when the muffler fell off the car. The outgoing rosh yeshiva Rabbi Friedler wouldn't toss the 3 out, so Levine got the incoming Rabbi Ginsberg to expel them before he even started. In the end, thankfully, Rabbi Ginsberg threw Levine out too. There was of course one of those typical cover stories like he's going to pursue other opportunities, in this case a downgrade to elementary school principle where Mrs. Levine's family basically own the place. Even though Assayag didn't bother anyone there, some of the guys still mockingly called him "pain in the Assayag"
Case of Cantor Alain Oziel, Toronto, Canada
1) 2 newspaper articles
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/results.html?
st=advanced&QryTxt=Alain+Oziel&sortby=REVERSE_CHRON&datetype=0&fro
mmonth=01&fromday=01&fromyear=1985&tomonth=04&today=05&toyear=2007
a.
Cantor's sentence cut after bypass surgery Abuser to serve minimum
term in penitentiary
[Final Edition]
Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont.
Author: By Gary Oakes Toronto Star
Date: Mar 29, 1997
A one-time cantor in a North York synagogue has been granted -
largely for health reasons - a reduced sentence for the ongoing
sexual abuse of a young teenage boy more than a decade ago.
Alain Oziel was sentenced in February, 1996, to five years in
prison after Mr. Justice Victor Paisley found that he had
``wounded the soul'' of the victim.
Paisley acknowledged Oziel's age, then 59, and the fact he was in
poor health but said: ``He will serve as an example to others -
don't do this crime.''
b.
Ex-cantor jailed for attacks on boy
[Final Edition]
Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont.
Author: by Gary Oakes TORONTO STAR
Date: Feb 4, 1996
Start Page: D.16
Section: NEWS
Text Word Count: 360
Abstract (Document Summary)
Alain Oziel ``wounded the soul'' of the victim, who was a member
of his congregation, Mr. Justice Victor Paisley said last week in
Ontario Court, general division.
The victim, now 28, cried in the University Ave. courtroom as the
judge detailed the sexual abuse he was subjected to by Oziel at
the ages of 13 and 14.
Prosecutor Margo MacKinnon recalled that the victim ``cried out in
anguish'' as he testified about what Oziel did to him.
2) Legal decision
http://www.canlii.com/eliisa/highlight.do?
text=Alain+Oziel&language=en&searchTitle=Search+all+CanLII+databas
es&path=/en/on/onca/doc/1997/1997canlii549/1997canlii549.html
R. v. Oziel, 1997 CanLII 549 (ON C.A.)
PDF Format
Date: 1997-03-25
Docket: c23735
COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
RE: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) v.
ALAIN OZIEL (Appellant)
BEFORE: HOULDEN, WEILER and LASKIN JJ.A.
COUNSEL: Leo Adler for the appellant
Jamie Klukach for the respondent
HEARD: March 5, 1997
ENDORSEMENT
The appellant was convicted by Paisley J., without a jury, of one
count of indecent assault, gross indecency and attempted buggery
during the period January 1, 1981, to December 31, 1982. He was
sentenced to five years' imprisonment for these offences. He
appeals both his conviction and sentence.
At the outset of this appeal, counsel for the Crown conceded that
inasmuch as the offence known as buggery has been held to be
unconstitutional in R. v. M.(C.) reflex, (1995), 98 C.C.C. (3d)
481, the appeal with respect to conviction should be allowed and
the conviction quashed with respect to this count. We propose to
deal with the balance of the issues raied by the appellant
seriatim.
1. Did the trial judge err in his findings respecting the
time frame and in holding that the time frame was irrelevant?
The trial judge concluded that the complainant was not wrong with
respect to the dates that the alleged offence took place.
Alternatively, the trial judge held that, in the circumstances of
this case, time was not a critical factor and that he was still
satisfied about the truth of the complainant's central
allegations. The appellant submits that the trial judge erred in
finding that the offences took place within the time frame charged
and that time is a critical element of the offences charged.
It is well settled that generally the Crown does not have to
establish that the offence occurred during the time frame alleged
in the indictment. In some situations, such as when an alibi is proffered, time becomes essential.
The complainant testified that all the incidents, except for one,
occurred in the appellant's business premises, North York
Graphics, located at 3645 Bathurst Street. The evidence indicated
that the appellant's business was incorporated on December 13,
1982. The appellant testified that he worked for a company at
another location during the time frame alleged in the indictment.
The independent evidence produced by the appellant indicated that
he carried on business at 3645 Bathurst Street after the time
frame alleged in the indictment. It did not establish that the
appellant did not carry on business at 3645 Bathurst Street during
the time period covered by the indictment and prior to
incorporating his company. It was open to the trial judge to come
to the conclusion that the offence occurred during the time frame
alleged in the indictment. In any event, we are of the opinion
that this is not a situation like Tarnovsky, supra. The
appellant's abililty to make full answer and defence was not
destroyed. At best the business records established that the
events could have taken place during a different time frame, not
that they did not occur. The trial judge found that the business
records did not raise a doubt in his mind and, in our opinion, he
was entitled to do so.This ground of appeal is dismissed.
2. Did the trial judge err in the use he made of the
appellant's criminal record?
In his reasons, the trial judge charged himself that he could only
use the appellant's criminal record in assessing the appellant's
credibility. Notwithstanding this, the appellant submits that the
trial judge used the appellant's criminal record as evidence of
propensity to commit the offences charged. We do not agree.
In examination-in-chief, the appellant testified that he had
pleaded guilty in 1992 to the commission of a sexual assault which
took place between 1989 and 1990. Although the trier of fact must
always be careful when using a record for the same offence as the
offence charged, the trial judge was entitled to use this evidence
in considering the appellant's credibility. We would not allow
the appeal on this basis.
3. Did the trial judge err in ignoring the contradictions
in the complainant's evidence and in the manner in which he dealt
with the contradictions between the complainant's and the
appellant's evidence?
In R. v. S.(W.) reflex, (1994), 90 C.C.C. (3d) 242 this court
held that a positive finding of credibility on the part of the
complainant is insufficient to support a conviction in a case of
sexual assault where there is significant evidence which
contradicts the complainant's allegations. Similarly, demeanor
alone will not suffice to found a conviction where there are
significant inconsistencies and conflicting evidence on the
record: R. v. Norman 1993 CanLII 3387 (ON C.A.), (1993), 87 C.C.C.
(3d) 153 at 170-4. The trier of fact must be satisfied both as to
the credibility and reliability of the witness before convicting.
The appellant submits that, in convicting the appellant, the
trial judge proceeded only on the basis of credibility and not
reliability.
In our opinion, the trial judge made his determination that the
appellant was guilty of the offences alleged in the complaint
after considering both the truthfulness and reliability of the
complainant and we would not allow the appeal on this basis.
4. Did the trial judge err in rejecting the appellant's
version of events without providing reasons for the rejection?
The fact that the trial judge did not specifically articulate his
reasons for rejecting the appellant's evidence does not mean that
the trial judge misapprehended the evidence or failed to grasp its
significance: R. v. Barrett 1995 CanLII 129 (S.C.C.), (1995), 96
C.C.C. (3d) 319 (S.C.C.). The trial judge did address some
aspects of the evidence presented by the defence, specifically the
documentary evidence, and he concluded that the appellant was
nevertheless guilty of the offences charged. We would not give
effect to this ground of appeal.
The appeal as to conviction is dismissed.
5. The Sentence Appeal.
It is acknowledged that there was an element of trust to the
relationship between the appellant and the complainant. Since the
appellant was sentenced he has undergone quadruple by-pass
surgery. He is presently 60 years of age. He is no longer
working and has been unemployed for some time. The offences took
place a long time ago and the trial judge accepted that the
appellant was no longer a present danger to the public and that
there was no need to consider specific deterrence. The appellant
has been ostracized within the Jewish community.
The appellant submits that a penitentiary sentence is not required
and that an appropriate sentence would be a conditional sentence
which could be served in the community.
The trial judge's sentence was imposed on the basis of general
deterrence and denunciation. While we are of the opinion that
these are important considerations, we feel that a sentence must
also reflect the particular circumstances of the individual.
Having regard to the precarious state of the appellant's health, a
fit and proper sentence in the exceptional circumstances of this
case is the minimum penitentiary sentence. Accordingly, we would
grant leave to appeal the sentence, allow the appeal as to
sentence and substitute a sentence of two years.
WHERE LIE STEFAN COLMER?
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