Sunday, April 08, 2007

Rabbi, Teacher, Molester - Ephraim Shapiro’s mark on the Baltimore Jewish community.

(Part of a continuing series on child molestation within the Jewish community)
*********************************************************

Rabbi, Teacher, Molester
Ephraim Shapiro’s mark on the Baltimore Jewish community.

Phil Jacobs
Executive Editor
Baltimore Jewish times


(Part of a continuing series on child molestation within the Jewish community)

Photographer Murray Levin has looked through his camera lenses countless times, capturing Jewish weddings, bar mitzvahs and other joyous events.
The one “picture,” he however can’t stop focusing on isn’t in his camera, but in his 64-year-old memory.

It’s an image of a bar mitzvah lesson at the old Agudas Achim Synagogue. It’s the shame that came along with his teacher the now deceased Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, placing his hand down the 12-year-old Murray Levin’s pants and fondling him.
With at least half a dozen maftir lessons, came the rabbi’s touch.

But it wasn’t just Murray Levin.

The former Talmudical Academy teacher, by one influential Baltimore rabbi’s estimates, molested hundreds of this area’s sons, grandsons and brothers.

Bob Glickstein, 65, another survivor of Rabbi Shapiro’s, figures it could be thousands.

One thing that hasn’t survived for Glickstein is any connection to Judaism. Living now in Vero Beach, Fla., this yoga instructor calls his bar mitzvah day “the worst day of my life, because I had to have Rabbi Shapiro there.” He married out of the faith, had a child and raised him as a non-Jew. He not so jokingly calls himself an “anti-Semite.”

This was part of the cost of Rabbi Shapiro’s actions.

Rabbi Shapiro, who died in the early 1980s, remains “alive” in the memories of so many. His collateral damage is everywhere. A weekly Kiddush of respected businessmen meets, and the topics invariably turns to the sexual molestation the rabbi heaped on many of them.

A bite on the ear.

A “French” kiss.

Anal intercourse.

Masturbation.


All these terms are difficult to read, but they all are connected to Rabbi Shapiro’s “maftir” lessons.

Local rabbis requested that Rabbi Shapiro’s name not be used in this article to spare his family any further embarrassment.

(see following “Why we must mention names, deceased or alive.”)

The following are interviews with three of the Rabbi’s “survivors.”
If you are a survivor or if you know of someone who survived any sexual molestation, you have an audience here.

Murray Levin

The way Murray Levin sees it, sexual predators live in a world of “no risk and total reward.”

Organized Judaism, be it synagogues, schools or community groups bury this news or distract, he said.

“I don’t think they see themselves getting apprehended,” said Mr. Levin. “They are bright people, great communicators and intellectual. And they will continue until we bring out the trauma they cause. We have to create an environment that shows them they can’t continue without severe consequences.”

Mr. Levin held his molestation in for decades. And he does not want anyone else to hold back. Most of all, he sees it as a calling that the older survivors do what they can to protect all future generations even if it means teaching little children to speak out.”

“Families,” he said, are going to have to speak up. We have to become the predator of the predators.”

Mr. Levin was molested in a portable building at the Agudas Achim Synagogue on the 3600 block of Reisterstown Road near Coldspring Lane. He was studying for his bar mitzvah, which would take place at Shaarei Zion.

“Rabbi Shapiro was grooming me with French kissing and masturbation,” said Mr. Levin.

Mr. Levin kept it all quiet. He didn’t know that there was a possibility of someone else involved until four years after his bar mitzvah. He was watching a football game with a couple of friends on TV. The friends pretended to tackle one another like football players, and one of them randomly said,

“Rabbi Shapiro stuck his fingers in my ass.”

That was Mr. Levin’s first clue that he wasn’t alone.

In between his molestation, Mr. Levin, who would lead junior services in shul, and who described himself as a gifted and talented child, captain of the safety patrol, began to fall internally. His image of self, his trust in boundaries and other people failed.

To this day, even though he makes a great deal of his living photographing the Jewish community, Mr. Levin wonders what might have been with his life had it not been violated.

“Many of us are still hiding,” he said with a quiet voice.

“To me, anybody could be a pedophile,” he said. “Everybody who works with or who is near our children need to be scrutinized. I want everyone to be aware of who you pass responsibility of your children to.”

Bob Glickstein

He doesn’t want much to do with Judaism.

He can still “feel” the texture of Rabbi Shapiro’s moustache against his face when he was being kissed.

Bob Glickstein’s Jewish “upbringing” ended during his bar mitzvah lessons with Rabbi Shapiro at Agudas Achim.

“He used religion to molest young boys,” said Mr. Glickstein.

This 65-year-old yoga instructor talks candidly in a Vero Beach, Fla. coffee bar called Cacophony. He has only told a couple of people about his molestation.
But he wants the word out there now.

“Rabbi Shapiro knew what he was doing,” said Mr. Glickstein. “He had a boys group he called the Akiba Boys of Agudas Achim. They would do chores around the shul. But meanwhile, he was molesting them. He had a system of bar mitzvah lessons that would feed into his molestation. Everything he did was about molesting boys.

“It was a horrific experience,” he added. “He would call me into his office. “He’d start playing with you.”

It was difficult for Mr. Glickstein to continue. He sat up straight, perhaps finding confidence in a yoga posture, and he remembered some more.

He called his bar mitzvah the worst day of his life, because Rabbi Shapiro was in attendance. The rabbi was also at his father’s funeral.

Mr. Glickstein kept it to himself, yet he used it as part of his influence to start looking into other religions, such as eastern religions. A short marriage to a non-Jew resulted in a son, who he raised out of the faith.

There was nothing joking about this comment on his face.

“I am basically anti-Semitic,” he said. “I like Jews, but I just need to stay away from them (as a result of his molestations).

“There’s always been a lot of fear and anger in my life that comes as a result of Rabbi Shapiro’s actions,” he said. “There’s never a time that passes that I don’t think about him. There’s anger and there’s fear.”

Mr. Glickstein said that he’s always had difficulty since the molestations, which happened four to six times, when it comes to authority figures and establishing close relationships.

David Framowitz

David Framowitz was an 11th-grade Talmudical Academy student from Brooklyn, N.Y., boarding in the school's dormitory. He said he was molested by Rabbi Shapiro on three separate occasions.

When Rabbi Shapiro attempted a fourth try, the high school junior threatened to kill the rabbi.

Mr. Framowitz, 49, remembers that Rabbi Shapiro was the dormitory counselor.

He would lie in the beds of students, reaching to fondle them. And it was common he'd try to kiss them on the lips.

Mr. Framowitz, who now lives in Israel, was a major source for a New York Magazine article last year based on his $20 million federal lawsuit against Rabbi Yehudah Kolko and Yeshiva Torah Temimah of Flatbush in Brooklyn. (Mr. Framowitz said Rabbi Kolko molested him when he was around 12.)

"I became a student for seven months [at] TA in Baltimore," said Mr. Framowitz. "I had Rabbi Shapiro attack me three times. The last time I told him, ‘You touch me one more time, I'll kill you.'

"He was the dorm counselor. He'd walk around and French kiss boys, poke them with his fingers. He'd lie across you when you were in bed. He'd play with you."

Mr. Framowitz would tell his mother, who insisted he leave TA immediately. None of the other boys he knew wanted to discuss Rabbi Shapiro.

He then gave several reasons why people stay so silent. "There's a fear factor," he said. "There's a worry over shidduchim [finding a match for marriage]. ‘What are the neighbors going to say? It can't happen to a nice Jewish family. A rabbi doesn't do these things, especially a frum rabbi. There's something wrong with the boy. It's not the Jewish way, it's not the frum way. It can't be.'"

Last September during a visit to Baltimore, Mr. Framowitz decided to pay an unscheduled visit to Talmudical Academy. It was his first time there since 1974.

He met with Rabbi Yehuda Lefkowitz, the school’s executive director.

“I told Rabbi Lefkowitz that I was a victim of Shapiro’s,” “His face went white. “I told him I wasn’t there to cause trouble or threaten anything.

But what I wanted from TA was for the school to investigate and to find other victims. I told him I thought there should be some sort of monetary scholarship fund to pay for the therapy of the victims. And I wanted a letter of apology.

His response to me was there’s nobody here from those days, it’s a whole new administration and faculty. I gave him my email and a business card.

It’s now March. I haven’t heard a thing from him.”

Rabbi Lefkowitz said that he passed the information along immediately to school’s board, and “nobody took it as a joking matter.”

Rabbi Shapiro is Deceased. Why Print This?

He can’t defend himself.

He’s deceased, what difference does it make now?

This is an embarrassment to his family.


These are just three of the reasons why we were asked not to print the name of the deceased “Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro.”

“He can’t defend himself.”

He died in 1989. He was eulogized before 700 people as a “kind man.” There are estimates as high as hundreds of molestation victims who weren’t able to “defend” themselves while the rabbi was alive. There are young men whose lives were changed forever because of his acts. Some of these men are more figuratively “dead” than Rabbi Shapiro will ever be. They need our help, compassion and therapeutic assistance. It wasn’t their fault. They can heal now.

• “He’s deceased, what difference does it make now?

A large percentage of sexual molestors were molested themselves. Survivors may find answers and empowerment if they know that their molestor was actually a survivor of Ephraim Shapiro’s.

• “This is an embarrassment to his family.”

The models of discussion and behind-the-scenes declarations against molestation is not working, especially in the Orthodox community. At best, a person is taken away from a setting of teaching children or sometimes sent out of town. Arrests, the courage of a survivor to charge his molester, doesn’t happen a great deal of the time.

Names.

Perhaps if the pedophile knows that this is now about names and his association to names of innocent relatives. Perhaps, just perhaps that will keep another child safe for a day.
___________________________________________________

On behalf of the many thousands of Jewish children, both boys and girls, that have been sexually abused by so-called Orthodox rabbis, I applaud The Baltimore Jewish Times and Mr. Phil Jacobs for undertaking this noble project. I'm certain the local "rabbis" are not sending them flowers. The full story will appear this coming weekend, after Pesach, in The Baltimore Jewish Times ; the article that was posted here was an abbreviated version. I will re-post the article this weekend in conjunction with The Baltimore Jewish Times' printing. Any rabbi that ever, no matter when, sexually abused a child, will have their turn as - "rabbi child molester of the week". Smile for the cameras you filthy animals......, and if you intend to die on me to escape my wrath, "please" don't think twice, go-for-it; I'll chase you after you drop dead! I'll write the hespedim (eulogies) from now on.
__________________________________________

Sexual molestation victims of Leizerowitz and his enabler
David Olewski, it is critical that you contact immediately!:

Eric H. Green at
Law Offices of Eric H. Green and Associates
295 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10017-6304
Phone: (212) 532-2450

And award winning journalist Kristen Lombardi: klombardi@villagevoice.com

Ms. Lombardi broke the back of the Boston Archdiocese, and was able to revive the Abraham Mondrowitz case in the D.A.'s office. Your anonymity is guaranteed!


UOJ

154 comments:

  1. What happened to all the comments from the original version of this post?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Case of Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro
    http://www.theaware nesscenter. org/Shapiro_ Yisroel.html

    Background History
    One of the many traditions in the orthodox community of Baltimore is not to
    report sex crimes to law enforcement or Child Protective Services (CPS). The
    reason was for fear that doing so would start another pogrom.

    Instead the custom has been for rabbis to handle things quietly and
    discreetly. It's also not uncommon for signs to be posted by concerned community
    members warning others of the dangers the alleged sex offender poses to children.

    This is exactly what happened a few years ago. Allegations were made that
    Yisroel Shapiro had molested children. The pious rabbis of Baltimore decided
    they could handle the "situation" on their own. A decision was reached that they
    believed Yisroel was guilty. The agreement was that Yisroel Shapiro would have
    a career where he no longer had contact with children. Shapiro is married and
    has children living in his home. Child Protection Services (CPS) was never
    notified, nor was a police report made, making it virtually impossible for there
    to be an adequate investigation, possible arrest and trial. Without these
    these things happening it makes it impossible for there to be a possibility for
    Yisroel Shapiro ending up on the sex offender registry.

    A small group of concerned citizens created flyer's and posted signs in the
    community in hopes of preventing another child from being molested, yet not
    much has happened since then.

    One of the issues that was neglected to be mentioned was the fact that
    Yisroel Shapiro was the son of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, who at one time was prominent
    rabbi in Baltimore. Besides being a rabbi of a synagogue, his father was the
    principal of a the Talmudic Academy of Baltimore. Recently one of Baltimore's
    secrets was made public. You see Yisroel's father, also had a problem with his
    "urges". Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro had been allegedly molesting boys for over
    fifty years.

    The way the ultra-orthodox rabbis of Baltimore operate is very similar to
    the way the Catholic church deals with allegations. They do what they can to
    silence the victims. They are also more concerned with protecting their own
    personal images and assets, then they are in keeping children safe.

    Can you imagine the PR nightmare the rabbis of Baltimore were faced with?
    The son of a prominent rabbi, who also allegedly molesting children was
    following in his father's footsteps. Yisroel brother's also hold very prominent
    positions in Baltimore and around the country. The tradition has always been to
    protect family members of sex offenders over protecting family members of sexually
    abused children. As a community we need to understand that family members of
    both offenders and those who have been sexually violated need support. They
    are not responsible for the actions of the offender, except if they willingly
    cover up these crimes -- which could lead to more children being abused.

    It's unknown at this time if the children who were allegedly victimized by
    Yisroel Shapiro ever received rape crisis counseling. It is also unknown if
    Yisroel Shapiro ever received sex offender treatment by a qualified mental health
    provider.

    There is no statute of limitations on crimes against children. It's not to
    late to file a police report and have him investigation. If you or someone you
    know was victimized by Yisroel Shapiro please contact your local rape crisis
    center. They are there to protect your rights and can help you make a police
    report. Rape crisis center's offer free rape counseling and legal advocacy.

    One of the local rape crisis center's near the Jewish community in Baltimore
    is:

    STTAR Center
    (Sexual Trauma Treatment, Advocacy and Recovery Center)
    Main Number: 410-290-6432
    24-hour Hot-line: 866-723-3003

    Also see:
    1. Case of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro
    2. When A Family Member Molests
    3. Rabbis Investigating Sex Crimes
    4. The Awareness Center's Brochure

    ReplyDelete
  3. The poll question is not entirely fair. I have emunas chochomim in the true chochomim before the perversions that were shaped at 42 Broadway.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 52 comments from the original post:

    Avi L. Shafran said...
    It is longstanding policy of the Agudath Israel to neither confirm, deny or otherwise comment on stories of this nature. Especially when the accused was the mesader kiddushin many years ago in Baltimore.

    7:49 PM, April 05, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    Shafran you putz, maybe your bosses at the Agudah have you muzzled, but let's hear from your elderly father about his mesader kiddushin Rabbi Shapiro.

    8:59 PM, April 05, 2007
    Torontonian said...
    I read that stuff last post about the cover ups at the Sfardi shuls. I didn't know too much about the sex abuse but the shuls I know of are full of peasants. There is always all kinds of crap being brought to the board that gets covered up like fist fights in front of the open sefer Torah. The Sfardi minyan in Eitz Chaim almost got kicked out by the school because of various episodes. There was also a Sfardi rabbi in town in his 40s who was reportedly chasing girls, just barely adults, in their late teens.

    9:08 PM, April 05, 2007
    Ovadya Cohen said...
    http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/845911.html

    I'm the mayor of Ramat Gan who just admitted to some pretty naughty things.

    9:18 PM, April 05, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    Is Lefkowitz going to investigate now?

    Will the reporter follow through?

    10:19 PM, April 05, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    Phil Jacobs neglected to tell the whole story in this piece. Where's the part about Ephraim Shapiro's son being a child molester too.

    When the allegations first broke the victims were silenced. No police report was made. His son was moved around a bit. He's now a butcher in Baltimore.

    If you are a victim of the son of Ephraim Shapiro you still have time to file a police report and have criminal charges brought up against him. There is no statute of limitations in Maryland.

    10:07 AM, April 06, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    Tackling abuse cases in Toronto is a huge problem. As the case at the French synagogue Magen David illustrates, even when Jewish Child Services and supposed professionals from a hospital are brought in, they are sometimes complicit in the cover up. There have been stories in other shuls and yeshivot where even the police were so pathetic, that the abusers were given ample time to pack up their belongings and flee the country. What do you expect from a sleepy country that let the Mohawk Indians hijack the only bridge into Montreal then beg them for 3 months to just go away. Welcome to Canada.

    10:46 AM, April 06, 2007
    Naftoli Schwartz said...
    http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/NEWS03/704030397/1019/SPECIAL02

    Winternitz wasn't the only matzo fiasco this year.

    11:07 AM, April 06, 2007
    Moishe Ber Beck said...
    http://www.nypost.com/seven/04032007/news/regionalnews/fiery_rhetoric_regionalnews_erin_calabrese_and_hasani_gittens.htm

    Does anyone know if UOJ had to do with this?

    11:10 AM, April 06, 2007
    Edgar Bronfman said...
    You haven't heard the last about Sruli Singer.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/us/06jewish.html

    The controversy surrounding the World Jewish Congress, the tiny nonprofit organization that won billions for Holocaust survivors, continued this week, as its chief patron, Edgar M. Bronfman, accused its former leader, Israel Singer, of misusing money and concealing “significant information.”

    “I learned that a man I called my rabbi, my friend and even my son had undermined the very principles of morality and integrity we fought together to preserve around the world,” Mr. Bronfman, the group’s president, wrote in a March 30 letter to congress affiliates in Europe and elsewhere. The letter also accused Mr. Singer of spending the organization’s money for his personal use and of lying to Mr. Bronfman.

    Bronfman said Mr. Singer “never paid taxes on the money he took for his own use.”

    11:25 AM, April 06, 2007
    Bathurst-Lawrence said...
    "Sfardi rabbi in town in his 40s who was reportedly chasing girls, just barely adults, in their late teens."

    I understand that the rosh yeshiva R' Dovid Kaplan gave incriminating (in a civil sense) testimony against him in court. What he said is a secret from what I can tell. Does anyone know what he told he the court? It may not have had anything to do with chasing young girls which could have started after the court case.

    11:39 AM, April 06, 2007
    THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHO SCREW AROUND WITH UOJ! said...
    We don't care what Julie Berman says about his friend Sruly. We want him out of the Claims COnference too.

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879257458&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

    Australians call for Singer's ouster

    Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 5, 2007

    Australian Jewry's leading body on Thursday called for the immediate ouster of deposed former World Jewish Congress chairman Israel Singer from his position as president of the Claims Conference following recent allegations of financial improprieties, calling Singer morally tainted by corruption charges.

    "As the protector of assets of Holocaust survivors, the Claims Conference cannot afford to be associated with any person who has been the subject of allegations of financial impropriety, misuse of charitable funds or conduct that amounts to what is commonly understood to be corruption," an April 2 letter by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to the leaders of the Claims Conference reads.

    "The Claims Conference must not engage, employ or appoint any officer whose moral authority can be challenged in any way," the letter, released on Thursday states. "The office of president of the Claims Conference...must... only be held by a person with an unblemished reputation."

    Singer, who has served as the president of the Claims Conference for over five years, and is up for reelection in July, has categorically denied the allegations of financial irregularities.

    Claims Conference Chairman Julius Berman said Thursday that the organization would deal with the issue after Pessah. Berman added that he would consult with the organization's membership later this month, and then formulate a position on the matter.

    The Australian Jewish body, which had disassociated itself from the World Jewish Congress last year following earlier allegations of financial improprieties, said recent claims against Singer by group president Edgar M. Bronfman alleging Singer was stealing his cash only reinforced it's view that Singer was not morally fit for the office.

    "Given recent controversy regarding the policy of financial allocations of the Claims Conference, the Claims Conference will surely be inviting scandal and controversy to its own institution if Rabbi Singer, who is largely responsible for the financial irregularities at the WJC, maintains any further leadership role," the letter, signed by organization President Grahame J. Leonard, states.

    The Australian Jewish community has long been a backer of one of Singer's fiercest critics, Isi Leibler, a former WJC vice president, who served as a one-time head of the Australian Jewish community.

    "Can a body controlling billions of dollars of Holocaust restitution funds morally continue to retain as its president a man found by the attorney-general of the State of New York to have 'violated his fiduciary duties as a trustee of charitable assets?'" the Australian letter asks.

    As president of the Claims Conference, Singer negotiates with foreign governments over Holocaust reparations, while Berman runs the organization's day-to-day operations, including its financial management.

    Berman has previously said that the allegations of financial improprieties leveled against Singer were "internal feuding" in the organization, and would not immediately affect his position as president of the Claims Conference.

    He noted that his position about Singer may not necessarily reflect the view of the other board members, and stressed that the situation was very fluid.

    Singer's attorney Stanley Arkin has called the Bronfman charges "sad, sick and shameful," but said that he would "engage in balanced constructive dialogue" with the organization before pursuing possible legal action.

    11:39 AM, April 06, 2007
    Baltimore Survivor Looking For Other Survivors said...
    Looking For Survivors of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro's Son
    NOTE: Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro has more then one son. Allegations were made against only one of them.

    I am a survivor who was abused in Baltimore. When I tried to get help I was basically silenced. I am trying to find other survivors of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro's son. If you were victimized by him or anyone else in Baltimore please contact me at: baltimoresurvivors@gmail.com

    11:41 AM, April 06, 2007
    The Mossad said...
    How did UOJ get the article on Shapiro, it was scheduled to print next week?

    11:43 AM, April 06, 2007
    Steven I Weiss said...
    It's just like UOJ to ruin my simchas Yomtov with more bad news about Singer.

    11:48 AM, April 06, 2007
    Chaim Dovid Zweibel Esq said...
    The Catholic Church are my kind of people.

    http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/religion/323163,CST-NWS-leg02.article

    Church opposes more time for victims to sue
    Bill would help those claiming child sex abuse

    April 2, 2007
    BY WHITNEY WOODWARD Sun-Times Springfield Bureau
    SPRINGFIELD -- A bid to let all childhood sexual abuse victims sue those who harmed them -- even decades after the fact -- has prompted the Catholic Church to take on victim advocates in an effort to kill the measure.

    Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) introduced a bill that would give victims of childhood sexual abuse a two-year period after the bill becomes law in which to sue those responsible, but gutted it after protests from church officials.

    The bill would have opened a window for lawsuits even if the statute of limitations -- or time period in which legal action can be taken -- had expired.

    If the original proposal becomes law, the measure would open the flood gates for lawsuits concerning abuse that happened years ago which the church had no knowledge of, said Gilligan Student, a spokesman with the Confused Conference on what UOJ is all about.

    2:34 PM, April 06, 2007
    LVF said...
    Alert

    Shomrim warn – beware of strange car services!

    The Boro Park Shomrim have issued an urgent warning to community members

    – DO NOT trust your safety to any car service driver you are not familiar with, and
    especially, that of your children.
    The patrol issued its warning following a most unfortunate incident in which a
    driver took advantage of a child – and Shomrim efforts to investigate the matter
    were hindered by hostile and uncooperative employees at two car service
    companies, who attempted to "cover up" for the offending driver. Only through
    their persistence were the Shomrim finally able to get to the truth, find out what
    went on – and make sure that the driver involved will be punished.

    The patrol is warning local residents NOT TO PATRONIZE the "Mazel" and
    "Mexicana" car services, given their most unhelpful efforts to hinder the
    investigation.

    "These two car services cannot be trusted," a Shomrim coordinator warned. "If
    their people will lie to us while we are trying to get a bad guy off the streets, you
    can imagine that they could try to take advantage of you too."

    The Shomrim urge residents to avoid the use of car services if possible, since
    many of them have in the past been known to hire all kinds of shady characters
    with little or know background checking. "You don’t know who you are getting in a
    car with," they note. If possible, arrange rides with friends or family members.

    If you must use a car service, don’t just pick one out of the phone book; ask
    around and only use one – preferably heimish – which people you trust have used
    and had a good experience with. Even so, be cautious. If it can possibly be
    avoided, DO NOT ALLOW UNESCORTED CHILDREN to ride in cabs by themselves

    – an adult should go with them. Women should also be wary about riding alone.
    Any untoward incidents involving car service drivers should be IMMEDIATELY
    reported to the Shomrim via the 24-hour Emergency Hotline number,

    Emergency Number 718-871-6666
    -----------------------------------

    Now if only we would be in a situation were the shomrim would warn us parents do not send your kids to these 2 schools b/c they don't do backround checks on their employees..
    UOJ.. YOU MIGHT JUST MAKE THESE WISHFUL THINKINGS A REALITY!

    A GUTEN MOIED

    2:37 PM, April 06, 2007
    Loser Watch said...
    http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/04/a_farewell_of_s.html

    Shmarya / Scotty Rosenberg has just announced that his hashkofos have changed yet again. This time he says he may become completely secular or convert to another religion or non-belief. The kicker is the last paragraph. The old bochur keeps getting more & more bitter. Maybe now that he's no longer frum, he still can't get laid.

    2:46 PM, April 06, 2007
    OU Watch said...
    http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070406/NEWS/704060322

    Bad behavior by another OU client.

    3:24 PM, April 06, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    THE true ORTHODOX AGGADAH:

    Why should Hungarian Putze's not send boys to YTT for some ball bouncing in the boiler room?

    And y should ger stop sending boys to olewski's mesifta on 16th Ave for rub ups and cover ups by Leizerowitz AND FRIENDS (stay tuned)?

    Dee dritter kashe iz............. (said with your thumb or middle finger protreuding from a closed fist and a hook of the arm)

    The answer if I remember correctly izzzzzzz because since way back when, in the days of Mondrowisz and Shapiro we were already a bunch of thoughtless passive no-brainers and if it were not for UOJ and his likes sitting up till the wee hours of the morning (zman kriyas shma shel shachris)....... defending our own children whom we refuse to defend ourselves, then our children and our childrens children would forever be enslaved by the memories and effects of being reamed and rubbed and fondled and french kissed by our chochoms who are roshes while we parents act like Tams and the DA behaves like a Sh'Einoi yodaia Lishol at best.

    Merry Yom K'Purim everyone....and fuck all of u stinkin child abuser rabbis!

    3:25 PM, April 06, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    So Kolko now drives around in his old car as a car service driver? Is Colmer looking for an all cash job too? Maybe Leizerowitz can get reshus to get a license too, Or is a license to kill upgradable?

    De Ferd-er kasha izst: Can Juravel do dispatch duty from a federal slammer?

    The answer is: I'm gonna puke from all these nauseating slimeballs.

    3:30 PM, April 06, 2007
    "You are either with The Un-Orthodox Jew - "UOJ"- or against him!"....... said...
    Loser Watch,

    I put up your comment so I may disagree with you. Shmarya has done a great service to Judaism. There are so many people who, because of him, don't think that THEY are the crazy ones.

    It's the sewer that has become organized Orthodox Judaism that has thrown all "thinking" people back on their heels, not the people that report their findings.

    I hope Shmarya stays on, he is vital to the "truth" getting out; hopefully his brilliant reporting will convince all thinking Jews to do something about all of our plights!

    Not his, mine, yours, but all of us have been had!

    4:49 PM, April 06, 2007
    Loser Watch said...
    Shmarya was doing somewhat of a service until not long ago. Many of his older posts were on the ball. Lately, he talks as if nothing in frumkeit is noble kaviyochol, even before the decline. The guy is full of venom and has even been taking swipes at the chachmei Hatalmud. Now his so-called farewell post announces he may become a kofer baikkur. This has nothing to do with the reporting that Shmarya did for years.

    5:21 PM, April 06, 2007
    Dorothy Rabinowitz said...
    http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009887

    Maybe UOJ could use his influence to get these fall guys off the hook.

    5:37 PM, April 06, 2007
    Associated Press said...
    By JOHN PAIN, Associated Press Writer
    30 minutes ago



    MIAMI - Five convicted sex offenders are living under a noisy highway bridge with the state's grudging approval because an ordinance intended to keep predators away from children made it nearly impossible for them to find housing.

    Some of them sleep on cardboard raised slightly off the ground to avoid the rats. One of the men beds down on a pallet with a blanket and pillow. Some have been there for several weeks.

    "You just pray to God every night, so if you fall asleep for a minute or two, you know, nothing happens to you," said 30-year-old Javier Diaz, who arrived this week. He was sentenced in 2005 to three years' probation for lewd and lascivious conduct involving a girl under 16.

    The conditions are a consequence of laws passed here and elsewhere around the country to bar sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places children gather. Miami-Dade County's 2005 ordinance — adopted partly in reaction to the case of a convicted sex offender who raped a 9-year-old Florida girl and buried her alive — says sex offenders must live at least 2,500 feet from schools.

    "They've often said that some of the laws will force people to live under a bridge," said Charles Onley, a research associate at the federally funded Center for Sex Offender Management. "This is probably the first story that I've seen that confirms that."

    The five men under the Julia Tuttle Causeway are the only known sex offenders authorized to live outdoors in Florida, said state Corrections Department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

    "This is not an ideal situation for anybody, but at this point we don't have any other options," she said. "We're still looking. The offenders are still actively searching for residences."

    But she conceded a point that many experts have made: This "is a problem that is going to have to be addressed. If we drive these offenders so far underground or we can't supervise them because they become so transient, it's not making us safer."

    County Commissioner Jose Diaz said he had no qualms about the ordinance he created.

    "My main concern is the victims, the children that are the innocent ones that these predators attack and ruin their lives," Diaz said. "No one really told them to do this crime."

    The men must stay at the bridge between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because a parole officer checks on them nearly every night, Plessinger said.

    They have fishing poles to catch food, cook with small stoves, use battery-powered TVs and radios and keep their belongings in plastic bags. Javier Diaz has trouble charging the GPS tracking device he is required to wear; there are no power outlets nearby.

    The whoosh of cars passing overhead echoes loudly under the causeway, which runs over Biscayne Bay, connecting Miami and Miami Beach.

    About 100 feet away are the bay's blue-green waters, where a family with young children played in the water this week. In the near distance, luxury condominiums rise from the coastline.

    Javier Diaz said he and the other men fear for their lives, especially because of "crazy people who might try to come harm sex offenders."

    The five committed such crimes as sexual battery, molestation, abuse and grand theft. Many of the offenses were against children. The state moved the men under the bridge from their previous home — a lot next to a center for sexually abused children and close to a day care center — after they were unable to find affordable housing that did not violate the sex-offender ordinance.

    Twenty-two states and hundreds of municipalities have sex offender residency restrictions, according to a California Research Bureau report from last August.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Matt Sedensky contributed to this report.

    5:40 PM, April 06, 2007
    The Jewish Press said...
    By JOHN PAIN, Associated Press Writer




    MIAMI - Five convicted sex offenders are living under a noisy highway bridge with the state's grudging approval because an ordinance intended to keep predators away from children made it nearly impossible for them to find housing.

    Some of them sleep on cardboard raised slightly off the ground to avoid the rats. One of the men beds down on a pallet with a blanket and pillow. Some have been there for several weeks.

    "You just pray to God every night, so if you fall asleep for a minute or two, you know, nothing happens to you," said 30-year-old Javier Diaz, who arrived this week. He was sentenced in 2005 to three years' probation for lewd and lascivious conduct involving a girl under 16.

    The conditions are a consequence of laws passed here and elsewhere around the country to bar sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places children gather. Miami-Dade County's 2005 ordinance — adopted partly in reaction to the case of a convicted sex offender who raped a 9-year-old Florida girl and buried her alive — says sex offenders must live at least 2,500 feet from schools.

    "They've often said that some of the laws will force people to live under a bridge," said Charles Onley, a research associate at the federally funded Center for Sex Offender Management. "This is probably the first story that I've seen that confirms that."

    The five men under the Julia Tuttle Causeway are the only known sex offenders authorized to live outdoors in Florida, said state Corrections Department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

    "This is not an ideal situation for anybody, but at this point we don't have any other options," she said. "We're still looking. The offenders are still actively searching for residences."

    But she conceded a point that many experts have made: This "is a problem that is going to have to be addressed. If we drive these offenders so far underground or we can't supervise them because they become so transient, it's not making us safer."

    County Commissioner Jose Diaz said he had no qualms about the ordinance he created.

    "My main concern is the victims, the children that are the innocent ones that these predators attack and ruin their lives," Diaz said. "No one really told them to do this crime."

    The men must stay at the bridge between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because a parole officer checks on them nearly every night, Plessinger said.

    They have fishing poles to catch food, cook with small stoves, use battery-powered TVs and radios and keep their belongings in plastic bags. Jason Maoz has trouble charging the GPS tracking device he is required to wear; there are no power outlets nearby.

    The whoosh of cars passing overhead echoes loudly under the causeway, which runs over Biscayne Bay, connecting Miami and Miami Beach.

    About 100 feet away are the bay's blue-green waters, where a family with young children played in the water this week. In the near distance, luxury condominiums rise from the coastline.

    Jason Maoz said he and the other men fear for their lives, especially because of "crazy people who might try to come harm sex offenders."

    The five committed such crimes as sexual battery, molestation, abuse and grand theft. Many of the offenses were against children. The state moved the men under the bridge from their previous home — a lot next to a center for sexually abused children and close to a day care center — after they were unable to find affordable housing that did not violate the sex-offender ordinance.

    Twenty-two states and hundreds of municipalities have sex offender residency restrictions, according to a California Research Bureau report from last August.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Matt Sedensky contributed to this report.

    5:48 PM, April 06, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    (Shapiro)-"He died in 1989. He was eulogized before 700 people as a “kind man.”

    One of the best UOJ lines ever comes to mind.
    "Did you ever attend a hesped where the speakers called the dead guy a scumbag?"

    7:35 PM, April 06, 2007
    Practical Joker said...
    "Did you ever attend a hesped where the speakers called the dead guy a scumbag?"

    Let UOJ be maspid Grubba Lipa Margulies when the time comes.

    9:03 PM, April 07, 2007
    Yisroel Shapiro said...
    http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/shapiro_yisroel.html

    Never mind dead people. Avi Shafran will never say a word about a live molester, especially when my daddy was mesader kiddushin for his daddy.

    9:18 PM, April 07, 2007
    Internal Revenue Service said...
    Has anyone heard a rumor that Sruly Singer is being hired by the Agudath Israel?

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879268616&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

    Bronfman: I fired Singer to avoid IRS penalty

    Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 8, 2007

    The president of the New York-based World Jewish Congress, Edgar M. Bronfman, has said he fired his longtime confidante and former group chairman Israel Singer to avoid an IRS penalty.

    "Without our own action to maintain integrity, the New York State attorney-general and the US Internal Revenue Service can apply sanctions to the WJC itself," Bronfman wrote in a March 30 letter to organization officials.

    9:23 PM, April 07, 2007
    Isi Leibler said...
    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879199762&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

    Save the World Jewish Congress

    ISI LEIBLER , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 28, 2007

    Almost three years have passed since I became aware of serious financial irregularities within the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and called for an independent audit.

    My proposal was not merely rebuffed but together with those who supported my request, I was censured, demonized and ultimately forced out of the organization.

    The cover-up was ruthless and brutal. I still remember the anonymous posters plastered throughout Jerusalem calling on Jews to place me in excommunication from the community.

    But ultimately truth prevailed.

    The damning report of the New York State Attorney-General, released January 31, 2006, should have ended the story. But no: an irrational rage overcame the WJC leaders who launched a vindictive $6 million libel suit against me. It backfired and they were obliged to withdraw and ordered by the court to pay my costs. Moreover, the failed libel suit created a worldwide furor and led to even more damning disclosures of previous improprieties, including millions of dollars of unreconciled funds from a WJC account in Switzerland as well as details of expense account extravaganzas that astounded even the sharpest critics.

    The final chapter in this unhappy and demoralizing scandal was the recent decision by WJC president Edgar Bronfman to dispense with the services of his former secretary-general without prior consultation with his colleagues. Subsequent internal political intrigues challenging his judgment obliged Bronfman to publicly spell out some of the unedifying reasons justifying his decision. That reignited the media scandal-fest worldwide.

    While I cannot deny satisfaction for being vindicated, I am genuinely distressed that the WJC which I have served for so many years has been besmirched and so fundamentally compromised that today its very future is in doubt. I wish to state categorically that my objective was never to harm the WJC but to insist on clear governance and financial transparency; to reform and democratize the organization. Had our appeal for an independent audit made three years ago been endorsed, this entire issue could have been resolved internally without the shameful flood of public scandal.

    Ever since, the WJC has been in virtual freefall. It squandered millions of dollars in legal fees and other payments in the course of frenzied but futile efforts to cover up financial improprieties. As a result, its financial resources are close to exhaustion and its ability to raise future funds has been enormously damaged.

    For three years, at a time when the Jewish people were being confronted with enormous problems and anti-Semitism had become a global plague, the WJC was utterly impotent, concentrating exclusively on defending itself from critics.

    Worst of all, the cover-up backfired, generating a flow of scandal which deeply embarrassed Jews throughout the world and provided grist for the mills of anti-Semites and enemies of our people.

    EVERY DIASPORA Jewish organization based on public funding must heed the important lessons to be learned from this tragic meltdown of a distinguished international Jewish organization.

    The most important is the need for organizations to ensure that senior lay leaders and professionals must at all times remain accountable to a board or executive. When, either by default or design, senior officials begin operating beyond the framework of governance, corruption becomes ingrained.

    The tragic downfall of the World Jewish Congress is truly encapsulated in Lord Acton's famous dictum "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

    Every executive officer must be aware of his personal responsibility for maintaining the propriety of the organization, especially in relation to financial affairs. When WJC leaders initially failed to condemn the improprieties of a single person out of deference to his perceived former contributions, they paved the way for the lies, cover-ups, and disasters which subsequently engulfed the organization.

    The New York State Attorney-General has now imposed on the WJC a structure designed to provide checks and balances and ensure financial transparency. But to be meaningful, these structures must ensure that governance is applied in substance as well as in form. That requires genuine accountability, consultations and collective responsibility. Above all, it obliges leaders to be personally sensitive to democratic procedures. The days of a WJC being a one-man personal fiefdom are over.

    There is also the need to adopt a dramatically different moral approach to the utilization of public funds. Mr. Bronfman has undoubtedly been an extraordinarily generous donor. But approximately 90% of WJC funds were contributed not by Bronfman, but by the American Jewish public. These funds must be recognized as sacrosanct and treated accordingly. That implies that expenses should not only be reasonable but must be transparent. A situation in which one official could exploit expenses as a vehicle for leading a profligate lifestyle must never recur. Salaries and expenses must be as transparent as they are in public companies and the public sector. Above all, donors have the right to know how their funds are being applied.

    The World Jewish Congress is today on the verge of imploding. And alas, after the global media exposure of the scandals, the majority of Jews today would probably endorse the closedown of this once-venerable organization.

    That would be tragic and would necessitate the creation of a new global body.

    Whereas the powerful American Jewish community can stand alone, other Jewish communities need a body like the World Jewish Congress, not the least in Latin America and Europe.

    A reformed WJC should encompass a broad spectrum of Jewish political and religious attitudes and provide an arena for international consultations and strategizing. It must be in the vanguard of the struggle against global anti-Semitism and develop alliances with other groups on a broad range of issues. It should also be at the forefront of the battle to buttress the legitimacy, welfare and future of the Jewish state. It must provide support for embattled and isolated Jewish communities.

    How can the World Jewish Congress close the chapter on this unhappy affair and move forward with a dynamic and creative agenda? In the first instance the current leaders should call for elections and make way for a new team, untainted by the recent scandals. They can retire with dignity, taking pride in their successful role in the historic campaign for restitution and other notable achievements which will occupy a place of honor in Jewish history.

    There is an urgent need to heal the divisions and concede that major mistakes were made in the past.

    Apologies are called for. There must be a determination to move forward on the basis of genuine governance and display greater sensitivity to the concerns of the regional branches and constituents. That means that in future no major policy decisions should be made in the absence of prior consultations intended to achieve consensus.

    This is the time for a rejuvenated World Jewish Congress in association with the leading American Jewish agencies to look to the future and confront the enormous challenges and perils facing our Jewish people.

    The writer, a veteran international Jewish leader was formerly chairman of the governing board and senior vice president of the World Jewish Congress. ileibler@netvision.net.il

    9:36 PM, April 07, 2007
    Putz Watch said...
    http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C04%5C08%5Cstory_8-4-2007_pg7_1

    Who is this putz Rabbi Barry Star who is supporting a Muslim terrorist and fraudster?

    9:39 PM, April 07, 2007
    Sher Lefever said...
    Thanks to UOJ for providing inspiration.

    http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/internetmolester0405-CR.html

    Internet vigilante helps nab child predator
    Kevin Kennedy
    12 News
    Apr. 5, 2007 09:01 PM

    Sher Lefever spends about eight hours a day working on her computer. The Valley mother has several internet businesses. She may want to start thinking about starting a new one, tracking child predators.

    Last week Lefever helped Federal Agents in Georgia locate a convicted child predator. "We got him, we got him and now we need to go after the next and the next." said Lefever.

    Lefever contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and notified them about 33-year-old Douglas Reed.

    The Adairsille, Georgia resident was reportedly using the internet to contact underage kids. Reed is a convicted child molester who was arrested back in 1992.

    When Federal Agents searched Reed's home they found his computer that allegedly contained images of child pornography.

    Lefever knows the harm predators can cause for a family, three of her kids have been molested. "This guy was talking to little girls and little children, sexually working his way into their lives." said Lefever.

    The Valley mother has set up a website to help people spot child predators and how to report them. Lefever knows there are more predators out there, which is why she will continue to look for them.

    http://www.myspace.com/childpredatorbusters

    Sher Lefever's Website

    9:50 PM, April 07, 2007
    John Krueger said...
    http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/112853.html

    I guess I won't be going to Uman anymore for Yamim Noraim.

    9:53 PM, April 07, 2007
    Do they send their kids to YTT? said...
    http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070402/26653_Megachurch_Embraces_Molester%3B_Congregants_Leave.htm

    Megachurch Embraces Molester; Congregants Leave

    The father of a 3-year-old girl who was molested by a congregant left the megachurch along with his family when church members began showing support for the accused man.

    Mon, Apr. 02, 2007 Posted: 08:44:54 AM EST

    10:00 PM, April 07, 2007
    El Al said...
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3385008,00.html

    Why not El Al

    Here is an anti-Zionist confession. I never fly El Al. For years now, one flying adventure with them was enough for me to admit to the Israeli leadership that if I am landing in Tel Aviv – why start the experience at Kennedy airport? I don’t mean the behavior you all know about – the pushing, the shoving, elbows, and arguments. Actually I am talking about this behavior but mean that when I fly El Al I am also doing God’s work.

    The last time it happened, I almost caused an incident requiring use of the emergency exit. It was three hours after we had taken off. I had finally succeeded in finding a comfortable position for my long legs and began to feel drowsy. The women next to me stopped arguing and David stopped shouting to his buddy Moshe to take pictures of the clouds. Exactly at that moment, when my body had at last achieved some calm and quiet, I got hit in the head. “Ben Ladin,” I opened my eyes in fear, “is that you?” It wasn’t Bin Laden but a bearded guy who looked like him.

    “Time to pray Shachrit,” he ordered me as he stroked his beard sending the leftovers of his meal into my lap. “No thanks, I gave at the office,” I said. I moaned a little and closed my eyes. But the envoy from the Holy One Blessed Be He would not give up. “Come, it’s a mitzvah. It will only take ten minutes.”

    I remained firm in my refusal at the same time trying to figure out how he knew that dawn was breaking outside when it was still pitch black. I regretted in my heart all the physics classes that I skipped in school, but even more I regretted the fellow standing next to me who refused to take no for an answer.

    Eventually, the yeshiva student left. I though the praying episode was over but after five minutes I found out I was wrong. A whole group of them congregated in the front of the plane and began to pray shachrit right in my face. When we landed in Israel, I kissed the holy ground.

    Yaniv Halily is Yedioth Ahronoth’s N.Y. correspondent. His column is published in Yedioth America

    10:42 PM, April 07, 2007
    Yerushalmi guy said...
    http://media.centredaily.com/smedia/2007/04/07/11/449-Israel_The_Ultra_Orthodox.sff.standalone.prod_affiliate.42.jpg

    The horror stories that UOJ reveals get me really worked up!

    10:50 PM, April 07, 2007
    boog said...
    What is it about our religion that leads to this deviant behavior?

    11:36 PM, April 07, 2007
    Yerushalmi Reality Show said...
    http://www.sunherald.com/311/story/26196-p4.html

    Economics are a much more pressing issue. Because of the cutbacks in subsidies and a tight job market, about half the community is thought to be living in poverty. Few rabbinical rulings have caused as much dismay of late as a ban on post-secondary degrees for women - the main breadwinners in haredi society because so many of the men study Torah full time. The move is liable to push the haredim even deeper into poverty.

    The ruling may have been driven by hard-liners who blame an apparent rise in the haredi divorce rate on women entering the workplace.

    Austerity is now in vogue. A radio reality show features 13 religious families competing at cutting their expenditure on food, utilities and clothes. Whoever pinches the most pennies wins a household appliance worth $4,500.

    12:01 AM, April 08, 2007
    Everyone Wants to be UOJ said...
    75-year-old San Mateo man accused of molesting 3 boy patients

    John Cote,S.F. Chronicle Staff Writer
    Friday, April 6, 2007


    (04-06) 15:18 PDT REDWOOD CITY -- A San Mateo County judge today slashed bail for a highly regarded child psychiatrist who appeared in court after being arrested and charged with molesting three former patients more than a decade ago.
    Dr. William Ayres, 75, a former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, said nothing at the hearing. His arrest Thursday capped a four-year investigation into allegations that he molested boys who were his patients dating back to the late 1960s.
    Superior Court Judge Thomas McGinn Smith reduced Ayres' bail to $250,000 a day after another judge had set it at $1.5 million in the arrest warrant served at Ayres' San Mateo home at about 6 p.m. Thursday.
    Prosecutor Melissa McKowan said she was "shocked" and "very disappointed" at the decision to lower bail, saying Ayres faced up to 112 years in prison and posed a flight risk. She called Ayres' alleged conduct "a gross violation of trust that absolutely can not go unanswered."
    McKowan said 21 men had come forward saying they had been victims, but childhood sexual assault charges could be brought only for victims who are less than 29 years old or if the alleged abuse occurred after Jan. 1, 1988.
    Ayres' attorney, Vincent O'Malley, called the charges against Ayres "crazy." The psychiatrist is in failing health and had been aware of the investigation of him for three years yet did not flee, O'Malley said.
    Prosecutors have charged Ayres with 14 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old. The charges accuse the psychiatrist of masturbating three boys between 1991 and 1994 starting when they were ages 9, 11 and 12, court documents show.
    The victims are referred to in court documents as "Child John Doe" followed by a number.
    Ayres told one of them that no one would believe him if he complained about the psychiatrist's conduct, according to prosecutors.
    For decades, the psychiatrist with the ruddy face and reddish beard was a fixture in San Mateo County mental health circles and had access to political figures.
    He served with San Mateo County District Attorney Jim Fox and Supervisor Richard Gordon on the county's Children and Families First Commission, and in 2002 he was honored by the county board of supervisors with a lifetime achievement award for "his tireless effort to improve the lives of children and adolescents."
    During his long and distinguished career as a local child psychiatrist, he received dozens of patient referrals from the San Mateo County juvenile justice system, records show.
    His arrest stunned some who had know Ayres professionally for years.
    "I was shocked and surprised when this all came out," Dr. High Ridlehuber said today. Ridlehuber was part of a San Mateo psychiatric corporation in the 1970s that Ayres helped found.
    "I think people in a position of authority and power have a unique entree into people's lives, and that's particularly true of physicians," Ridlehuber said. "I think the individuals who do go on to the point where they molest a child or have ongoing sexual relations ... are extraordinarily skillful people in knowing how to secure a child and manipulate them."
    From 1993 to 1995, Ayres served as president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the leading professional medical association for child psychiatrists with more than 7,500 members nationwide.
    Callagy said the doctor did not resist arrest and was "very stoic" when officers arrived at his home Thursday night.
    Ayres is being held in San Mateo County jail on $1.5 million bail. His arrest follows years of accusations against the doctor that raised red flags but never amounted to a criminal case. It was only after San Mateo police received a complaint in 2002 that authorities obtained a search warrant in March 2006 for Ayers' medical records, police said.
    The records produced a list of 800 names of former patients whose contact with Ayres could fall within current statutes of limitations, police said. Police interviewed the patients and identified alleged victims that led to the current prosecution, Callagy said.
    Some of the other accusations, documented in public records but which never led to criminal charges, include:
    -- At least five men, none of whom are alleged victims in the criminal case, have claimed that Ayres molested them in their youth, according to police reports, civil depositions and a Child Protective Services report.
    -- One of those former patients sued Ayres in December 2003, accusing the psychiatrist of masturbating him under the guise of a medical exam on multiple occasions in the late 1970s when the patient was 13 years old. The case was settled confidentially in 2005.
    -- Police investigated at least two other molestation reports against Ayres before the 2003 lawsuit, records and deposition transcripts show. One was determined to be "unfounded" in 1987, and the alleged victim in the other didn't cooperate with police, according to those records and statements.
    -- At least two other men came forward separately in 2005 saying Ayres had also molested them as teens in the 1960s and 1970s, but the cases could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired, police reports show.
    One of those former patients, whose name was redacted from the report, told San Mateo police he arrived early for an appointment one day and saw another teenage boy emerge from Ayres' office.
    "The victim said the look on the other boy's face was like, 'He's going to do it to you, too,' " the report read.
    In the 2003 lawsuit, which was filed against Ayres and his medical group, Peninsula Psychiatric Associates, attorneys for the former patient accused the psychiatrist of exploiting his position of power and trust to prey upon young boys who were patients.
    The lawsuit contended the alleged victim, referred to in court documents as James Doe, was not Ayres' first molestation victim. The lawsuit alleged "there were at least four others, and possibly more."
    The two sides reached a confidential settlement in July 2005, after which Ayres' attorney said the psychiatrist did not concede any wrongdoing.
    Ayres said under oath he didn't remember the alleged victim and denied molesting him, according to a transcript of his deposition in the lawsuit.
    "It is very common that I'll be having lunch and a person in their 30s will come up to me and say, 'Aren't you Dr. Ayres? I wanted to thank you again for the help,' " Ayres said in his deposition. "I'll look at them, and I won't know who the hell they are. It turns out I saw them when they were in seventh grade."
    Ayres also acknowledged he sometimes conducted physical examinations of juvenile patients, according to the transcript.
    "I do not think there is any standard of care that says it's inappropriate for a physician who is a child psychiatrist, that they should not do physical examinations," Ayres said, according to the transcript.
    He said the county's juvenile justice system, its court-appointed attorney program, pediatricians and social workers all referred patients to him for years, and he estimated in 2004 that he had seen about 2,000 patients in 40 years of practice in the county.
    He evaluated a patient referred by juvenile court Judge Marta Diaz as recently as March 2003, even though San Mateo police or the county social services department had received at least three complaints of molestation by that time, records show.
    One molestation report was filed with the county's social services department in June 1987, but San Mateo police decided it was unfounded, records show.
    Police also investigated a Folsom Prison inmate's allegation that Ayres had molested him, according to the transcript of police Det. Randall Billingsley's 2004 deposition in the civil case.
    The inmate, who had been convicted of armed robbery, told a nurse during an evaluation at Atascadero State Hospital that Ayres had molested him during court-ordered sessions, Billingsley said. The detective said he was unclear on the outcome of that original investigation by his department. The inmate refused to talk to Billingsley when he followed up about 10 years later, the detective said.
    A third incident was reported to San Mateo police in November 2002, records show. The alleged victim balked when police asked him to try to get Ayres to confess over a recorded phone call or to wear a wire and confront the psychiatrist in person, the police report read.
    That victim later filed the civil suit against Ayres after a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down a state law that had retroactively extended the statute of limitations for child molestation and allowed prosecutions years after the crimes allegedly occurred.
    After the 1987 complaint, Ayres continued to receive county and court referrals, documents show.
    San Mateo County Superior Court paid Ayres $27,350 for 68 separate psychiatric services from March 1997 until November 2003, according to county financial records. Neither the court nor the county retains records of who received government payments before 1995, officials said.
    In addition, the county paid Ayres $1,098 for three invoices between September 1995 and March 2003, records show. The county also paid Peninsula Psychiatric Associates $30,522 for 45 invoices between January 1998 and December 2003, but the records don't specify whether the money went to Ayres or other doctors in his medical group.
    "He continued to be a primary care provider of the county for years," said Jeff Lugerner, who was a licensed clinical social worker when he brought the 1987 complaint to authorities after one of Ayres' former patients told Lugerner the psychiatrist had fondled him when he was 15 years old.
    "He continued to be sent families and kids who put their trust in him when the county knew that there was this report put in by me and possibly others," Lugerner said. "That's what's shocking to me. How do you continue to send people to somebody like that when you have had a claim filed against them?"
    The San Mateo Police Department investigated the 1987 complaint and determined it was unfounded, the social services report read. The police file from that case could not be located in 2005, another police report indicated.
    Jennie Loft, a spokeswoman for the county's Human Services Agency, the successor agency that received Lugerner's original complaint, referred questions to County Counsel Thomas Casey, who said he couldn't comment on how the county handled earlier complaints against Ayres.
    Ayres' physician's license is current, according to the state medical board. In 2005, Ayres' civil attorney said the psychiatrist "only practices on a very limited, part-time basis." The American Medical Association currently lists his status as inactive.
    The alleged victim who filed the November 2002 police report sued Ayres a few months later. In the lawsuit, "James Doe" was described as a vibrant and outgoing teen with a high IQ and a recognized gift for writing, drawing cartoons and public speaking.
    In 1977, however, the 13-year-old boy was about to undergo surgery because he'd been born with ears that stuck out, and his doctor and parents believed the corrective procedure would help him avoid embarrassment, according to the suit. His pediatrician referred the boy to Ayres for counseling.
    After nurturing the boy's trust and friendship by giving him a chess set and building toy models with him, Ayres allegedly began pulling down the boy's pants and fondling him, the suit alleged. The molestation allegedly occurred on at least a half-dozen occasions into 1978, and the boy was allegedly too fearful to challenge the doctor's authority, according to the lawsuit.
    The once-gregarious teen turned introverted and angry, according to the suit, his grades plummeted and he dropped out of high school.

    12:28 AM, April 08, 2007
    Anonymous said...
    Chag Sameach UOJ.

    You are doing a terrific job.

    http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20070403&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=704030349&SectionCat=NEWS01&Template=printart

    Memories called key in abuse suits
    Delaware men say they repressed recollection of priests' molestation

    By BETH MILLER, The News Journal
    Posted Tuesday, April 3, 2007

    The debate over how humans remember, repress and recover memories may soon reach state courtrooms, as two men who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests in Delaware pursue civil suits.

    If not for the recovery of long-lost memories, the lawsuits -- both alleging abuses that occurred more than 20 years ago -- would be prohibited by Delaware's civil statute of limitations, a law that sets a two-year deadline for filing such claims. Both plaintiffs, Eric Eden and Douglas J. McClure, say they buried the memories of the abuses for years, making them inherently unknowable, a claim that can prevail over the legal time limit.

    To win, the men must persuade a jury that it is possible for such memories to be inaccessible and that, once recovered, their memories are valid.

    Memory is always part of courtroom debate. What a witness remembers and forgets, and the differences between witnesses' memories, often are the focus of scrutiny and cross-examination.

    Statutes of limitations are meant to preserve a defendant's right to a fair trial by preventing verdicts skewed by fading memories, lack of documentation and difficulty finding witnesses.

    But the time limits for civil and criminal cases vary widely around the nation -- from Delaware's two-year civil limit to no limit at all.

    In Delaware, claims for injuries that were inherently unknowable -- for example, health problems that emerge decades after exposure to asbestos -- have been allowed, albeit rarely, even after the statute of limitations had expired.

    Many clinical specialists say a child's response to sexual abuse could fall into that inherently unknowable category. Children do what they must to survive the abuse, they say, even if it means putting it out of their minds for decades, or forever.

    I see that in my young patients every day -- 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds who have just been abused, and the abuse is validated, said Dr. Joy Silberg, coordinator of Trauma Disorders Services for Children at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore. If I ask them to try to remember that, they may say, 'Don't ask me. It hurts my brain.' ... They're working at getting it out of their head. A few weeks later, they won't tell you. ... Your mind pushes it away until you can't access it when you try.

    People who have gone through traumatic events sometimes retrieve the memory later, Silberg said.

    But arguing that the statute of limitations should be suspended in a case of recovered memory will raise significant questions about how that happens, and what are reliable means of recovering memories, said Jules Epstein, who teaches criminal law and evidence at Widener University School of Law.

    Expert debate

    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by mental health workers recognizes multiple forms of memory loss, and says sexual abuse can be a cause.

    The repressed-memory concept came under fire in the 1990s, when some claims of sexual and ritual abuse emerged from therapy sessions, wound up in courtrooms and were either proved false or never sufficiently corroborated.

    After the clergy sexual abuse scandal emerged nationally in 2002, though, many victims came forward, saying their memories of abuse -- many of which were substantiated -- had been triggered by the news.

    Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus of the University of California at Irvine believes repressed memories are a myth, saying her research has shown false memories can be invented or suggested by poor therapists.

    When people tell a detailed, emotional story, it sounds believable, Loftus said. It's hard for people to think, 'It could be all a creation,' she said. These people now have an explanation for their problems in life, for their destructive thoughts and behaviors -- it's not their fault.

    But proving that memories can be false does not prove that valid memories cannot be recovered. There is not a single clinician who treats torture victims, veterans, car accident victims, rape victims, child abuse victims who has the notion that trauma does not wreak havoc with memory, said Dr. Bessel A. van der Kolk, a psychiatrist who is the medical director of the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, Mass.

    Van der Kolk, who was a principal member of the team that first defined post-traumatic stress disorder, said trauma and abuse can disturb the way the brain organizes memory.

    The things that bring it back are sensory stimuli that remind people, he said. Something sets up the circuit in the brain, activates other sensory phenomena, and activates a certain memory -- a smell, a sound, a touch in a particular way, the smell of alcohol on somebody's breath.

    Clinical psychologist Richard McNally of Harvard University said he does not deny the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder. But, he said, trauma makes memories hard to deal with, not hard to recall.

    Not thinking about something for a long time is not the same as being unable to remember it. That is an absolutely vital distinction, McNally said. Most people who have been truly traumatized, they don't forget these things.

    Last week, a Wilmington jury awarded Navy Cmdr. Kenneth Whitwell $41 million in his sexual abuse civil case against a former priest and teacher at Archmere Academy. Whitwell, who sued in federal court under Vermont's lengthier statute of limitations, said he didn't realize the harm the abuse had caused until undergoing therapy years later.

    Dr. Carol A. Tavani, a Delaware neuropsychiatrist who testified on Whitwell's behalf, said children who have been sexually abused sometimes do forget. The mind goes into autopilot, she said, repressing the memory and causing what is called traumatic amnesia.

    The mind tries to protect you from what is too painful to look at, she said.

    Pain and trust

    Experts on both sides say sexually exploited children may not grasp what has been done to them until adulthood, when they understand the true nature of the offense.

    In typical cases of child sexual abuse by a priest, a trusting relationship is exploited, McNally said. And that can lessen the traumatic effects, he said. They're not threatening to kill them or their pets, it's in the context of relationship -- 'This is how I care for you.'

    But James M. Walsh, a Newark-based pastoral counselor, said the damage of abuse worsens when the abuser is a trusted person -- a parent or pastor, for example. The bigger the amount of trust, the bigger the emotional scar, Walsh said. If it's your biological father or priest or rabbi -- who do we trust more than our own parents and clergy people?

    The debate on what is known about memory continues. Silberg said science can be clear without being conclusive and persuasive to all.

    And that likely will be part of the challenge ahead for jurors in the Eden and McClure cases.
    Witnesses get up and say things all the time where there is no physical corroboration, Widener's Epstein said. For better or worse, that's the job we give to the jury.

    12:32 AM, April 08, 2007
    Mordechai Yomtov said...
    Just because Belsky supports Margo it doesn't mean he will automatically get a job at Rubashkin. He might have to convert to Chabadism first.

    12:49 AM, April 08, 2007
    Richard Rosenbaum said...
    http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5058854

    What's UOJ's position on immigration?

    12:59 AM, April 08, 2007
    Israeli Putz said...
    Israel would be a great place if there weren't any Israelis.

    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879220427&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

    Israel tops the world in rate of malicious Internet activity

    Joshua Freeman, THE JERUSALEM POST

    1:03 AM, April 08, 2007
    Yisroel Shapiro said...
    yisroel shapiro
    http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/shapiro_yisroel.html

    1:08 AM, April 08, 2007
    Mendel Rand said...
    UOJ should be a little more dan lekaf zchus.

    http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.1313270.0.freed_from_jail_after_war_nightmares.php

    Mendel Rand, 76, of Golders Green, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February after being convicted for his involvement in a £6.9 million money laundering operation in November 2004.

    But last Friday the Court of Appeal decided to free Rand after hearing how time behind bars reminded him of being terrified while in hiding from the Nazis in squalid conditions in his native Poland.

    Freeing Rand, Mr Justice Openshaw labelled the 76-year-old the wretched old man', adding that letting him go was an act of mercy'.

    Jonathan Goldberg QC, representing Rand, said that a rabbi who visited Rand in prison said his incarceration was bringing back nightmares of his war experience as a young man.

    The court heard Rand had been suffering flashbacks of the war since being imprisoned.

    The court heard that, prior to his conviction, Rand had been an upstanding member of the Chasidic Jewish community in Golders Green and a respected businessman.

    Mr Goldberg said Rand's family had been ostracised by some in the tight-knit community. "I'm told it will mean he's not invited to people's homes as he once was," he said.

    The court was also told Rand's elderly wife had been severely injured in a car accident and was house-bound without his care.

    Mr Goldberg added that the long delay between conviction and sentence, which occurred partly because of the ongoing trials of Rand's co-accused, had meant his client had been forced to wait four-and-a-half years for justice.

    "We submit, for an old man, with the worry of this hanging over him and his family, that is an exceptional factor of punishment," Mr Goldberg said.

    Rand's prison sentence was replaced with a two-year suspended sentence. He will face a confiscation hearing, to deal with his ill-gotten gains, in April in Manchester.

    1:12 AM, April 08, 2007
    Mendel Rubashkin said...
    http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/09/Brandontimes/Forget_typed_notes__r.shtml

    Then again, Belsky can always team up with me for my YouTube gigs.

    1:23 AM, April 08, 2007
    Picture of Mendel Rand said...
    http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=6011

    1:30 AM, April 08, 2007
    Belz said...
    Leave Rand alone, he built our mosdos in Manchester.

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/166/166659_career_criminal_laundered_cig_money.html

    Brian Beck, of Wateringpool Lane, Preston, who owns European Fine Arts and Antiques, in Cannon Street, also in Preston, was arrested by Customs and Excise in 1999 following a two-year-old operation code-named Gumshoe.

    Manchester Crown Court heard he was a major player in a multi-million pound international syndicate which laundered the proceeds from smuggled cigarettes.

    His co-defendants, jewellery salesman Simcha Shadmi of Upper Park Road, in Prestwich, pensioner Mendel Rand, formerly of Bury New Road, Salford, and Damien O'Connor, of Dorrington Road, Lancaster, had also been convicted of money laundering.

    http://www.prestontoday.net/ViewArticle.aspx?sectionid=73&articleid=1069451

    Beck and jewellery salesman Shadmi, of Upper Park Road, Salford, had known each other for decades. Beck, and his father before him, were longtime friends and business associates of Shadmi's father, Israel, who is now dead.
    Simcha, who had at least five regular customers among Preston's jewellers, became a frequent visitor to European Fine Arts and Antiques.
    The Shadmis may have been Beck's introduction into the Orthodox Jewish community of Manchester – although he had Jewish blood on his father's side.
    How much he was held in esteem there is shown by the fact that three respected figures of that community, including Shadmi, stood in the dock alongside him during the first trial last year.
    Among them was 74-year-old Mendel Rand, pillar of the Jewish Community and patron of a Jewish religious institution known as the Belz School, Manchester. Rand was found guilty at the original trial last year.
    Beck is likely to have met career criminal
    O'Connor, of Dorrington Road, Lancaster, through the antiques trade.
    He admitted when arrested that he used O'Connor as hired muscle to collect unpaid debts, both in England and for contacts abroad. Indeed, he and O'Connor were seen meeting with conspirators in Vienna and Brussels. Beck said that he had simply recommended O'Connor's debt collecting services to them.
    Between 1999 and 2002 Beck flew to an enormous number of foreign destinations, including Amsterdam, Athens, Belgrade, Brussels, Dubai, Prague, Sofia, Skopje, St Petersburg, Vienna, Zagreb and Zurich – mostly short overnight visits, paying for most of them in cash.

    Investigators, concealed in a special observation point, saw both Shadmi and O'Connor making frequent visits to Beck's shop.
    They observed clandestine meetings in superstore car parks, or at motorway service stations. Parcels, boxes, holdalls and rucksacks were seen and photographed being handed over.
    They listened in as Beck held meetings in incongruous surroundings such as the cafes in Marks & Spencer or BHS, in the bar of the Jarvis Hotel, Leyland or in the Palm Court bar of the Sheraton Hotel in Park Lane, London.
    Beck was heard saying things like: "It'll cost
    £10, 000, every time you want to work with them..." and "Customs won't check it, it'll be in transit..." and "You can use whatever cover load you want: timber, plastic, doors..."
    He was frequently seen making calls from public callboxes on Fishergate, despite being only yards from the landline at his shop. Often, he had his mobile phone on him, too.
    Officers say this is a common device used by the guilty to prevent calls being traced back to them. Beck also faxed foreign numbers using a machine at another business a few doors down, North West Drawing and Office Supplies.
    Owner David Woodburn was told that Beck's own fax machine was broken. Later, he told officers that Beck had once mentioned to him that he had "invested a lot of money in transporting cigarettes from Eastern Europe".
    Beck was seen in company with smugglers, including West Midlands man David Beasley and
    convicted alcohol smuggler Michael McManus.
    In one meeting with McManus, Beck was heard saying into his mobile, "I'm with them now… it's ten grand a container… I'll want two grand for my trouble."
    The court heard how Beasley attempted to flee when he was stopped in a van containing 1.28 million smuggled GB Classic cigarettes in July 2002 – just 11 days after a meeting with Beck in which the pair squeezed into a phonebox together to call Shadmi – but officers arrested him and nine others and he was convicted at Preston Crown Court in January.
    As the customs net tightened, they began to seize the mysterious boxes, bags and parcels.
    Mendel Rand was tailed on a journey to Newcastle and back to conspirator Sidney Friedland's home, which was then raided. A holdall was found in the bath containing £200,000.
    Separate amounts, thought to be the conspirators commission, were found squirreled away in Rand's car. Friedland was spotted trying to hide a scrap of paper on which was the number of a Swiss bank account.

    Altogether, Customs made six swoops and seized £591,768 in a six week period.
    Most damning of all, when they searched a London home owned by Rand, officers found a black and red accounts ledger written in Hebrew and Yiddish. Forensic accountants concluded that it was a classic record of a money launderer's book of accounts.
    In interviews, Beck protested that he was merely trying to set up a legitimate cigarette importation business. He claimed that the cash seized by customs was money he owed to Shadmi, borrowed to fund an art deal that fell through.
    But he refused to testify in his own defence – as did all his co-defendants – a calculated gamble.
    Today, as he faces jail for his activities, it would appear that all of Preston's master money launderer's gambles have failed to pay off.

    1:50 AM, April 08, 2007
    Neal Kadisha said...
    UOJ hasn't had much to say about scummy Sefardim.

    http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=12290

    Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Henry W. Shatford ordered Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) founder Neil Kadisha to pay over $100 million in damages for embezzling funds, calling Kadisha a “common thief” after being found guilty of stealing funds from a widow.

    The case arose from Kadisha’s actions while a trustee of funds earmarked for Dafna Uzyel, the widow of Kadisha’s friend, and her young children. The trusts, which gave Kadisha effective control over Uzyel’s assets, were established at the urging of Kadisha and his personal attorney who represented both Kadisha, as trustee, and Uzyel, as beneficiary - creating a conflict of interest.

    The case was conducted over more than seven years, including four in trial. “This well-supported and articulate decision by Judge Shatford marks the culmination of a highly complex four year trial and resulted from a Herculean effort to uncover Kadisha’s perjury, backdating of documents and embezzlements as a trustee for personal gain, without regard to the welfare of the beneficiaries,” said Samuel Krane of Krane & Smith in Encino, the lead trial attorney, who, along with Linda Rottman of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps represented, Dafna Uzyel and her two children, Izzet and Joelle.

    Deceptions uncovered at Kadisha’s trial included back-dated trial documents and promissory notes, million dollar “loans” to nonexistent individuals, and intentionally misleading accountings of millions of dollars in embezzled funds, some of which was used to buy Qualcomm stock.

    (Neal Kadisha is one of the richest people in the Persian Jewish community and in LA Jewish life. He is married to Dora, a daughter of the wealthy Persian Nazarian family.)

    2:01 AM, April 08, 2007
    Rabbi Chagai Batzri said...
    http://lukeford.net/blog/?p=189

    How come UOJ hasn't come after me yet?

    2:09 AM, April 08, 2007
    Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon said...
    http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=2907

    Orthodox Rabbis call for ban on net
    The Jewish Chronicle reported on February 16 that Orthodox Jewish communities in Britain are calling for a ban in the use of the “morally dangerous” internet in Jewish schools and homes. This follows a meeting in Gateshead last month, addressed by Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon from Lakewood, New Jersey. The Rabbis ruled it was forbidden to have the internet in homes without a written permit from religious leaders.

    9:29 AM, April 08, 2007

    ReplyDelete
  5. Someone be so kind as to inform Matty Salomon that the Internet boat left the dock a long time ago.

    Too late, baby, much too late.

    Do a thorough "Bedikas Chometz" of the BMG dorms, Matty; you'll be surprised at what you find. Some of your Kollel Yungerleit are very resourceful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "The Rabbis ruled it was forbidden to have the internet in homes without a written permit from religious leaders."
    ___________________________________

    Ameneded to read: Permit only valid if written and signed by Simcha ("Porno-Horno") Klohr.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The way the ultra-orthodox rabbis of Baltimore operate is very similar to
    the way the Catholic church deals with allegations



    I do not think it is accurate and it is doing injustice to the Church. The Church with all its faults did not have her recent popes, JP2 and Benedict XVI say that it is OK to molest children as long as you do not penetrate them.

    Take this Pinchas Scheinberg !

    ReplyDelete
  8. Actually, the RCC is in a better position to deal with the issue of molesting clergy than the frum community. The RCC is a single organization, with a clear hierarchy and power to enforce its decisions. If the church decides so, a priest will never find a position in another parish or Catholic school.

    Since every Ortho Jewish school is independent and every rabbi is a free agent, with nobody to report to, there is no mechanism to prevent a pedophile rebbe who has been fired from finding other employment in chinuch. This is independent of other problems like coverups and harassing victims and their families.

    Add the fact that Torah Umesorah, the closest thing to an umbrella organization that can enforce standards, seems to be unconcerned with pedophiles, it's not surprising that we find ourselves in this position.

    NP: The Art of Dying - All Things Must Pass, George Harrison, a'h'.

    ReplyDelete
  9. boog said...
    "The Rabbis ruled it was forbidden to have the internet in homes without a written permit from religious leaders."
    ___________________________________

    boog.. how could you forget that the signature will not be worth a thing w/o the shtemple of the "ICHUD MOLESTAS GUR"

    ReplyDelete
  10. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846015.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. http://www.canonist.com/?p=1398

    Steve Weiss making a tuchess out of himself again with his latest attack on UOJ.

    ReplyDelete
  12. lvf;

    You are correct.

    Excessive intake of potato starch can
    affect memory.

    ReplyDelete
  13. NEW YORK (AP) The nation's Roman Catholic bishops and religious orders say they received 714 new clergy sex abuse claims in 2006.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Putzola;

    Steven Weiss is a legend in his own mind, fiddling with journalistic rules of etiquette in the comfort of his study while Yiddish neshamos are burning.

    Keep debating the "good debate" with yourself, Steven, while UOJ continues to get results.

    The low-lives that have been outed in these last few years by UOJ would still be plying their trade if not for him. The organizations Weiss mentions have done diddly-squat and as a matter of fact have been instrumental in obstructing justice and preventing court-mandated reporters from discharging their responsibilities.

    The inane drivel Weiss writes is just more of the establishment crap that has been part and parcel of Agudah/Torah Umesorah/Ohel MO all these years.

    These sex predators have gotten a wake-up call from UOJ: You can run, but you can no longer hide.

    ReplyDelete
  15. boog i'm your biggest fan,love your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  16. joe Says:

    April 11th, 2007 at 10:56 am
    David- I agree in principal with your take. But in fact UOJ has proven himself to be very careful and very accurate with pinpoint precision. There are some nut-jobs in the comment section, but he said that he does not vouch for the accuracy in the comment section. He is spending his own resources and seemingly a huge amount of time outing the molestors and their enablers and importantly, has not been wrong yet. Regardless of the numbers of predators and crooked rabbis that were outed (incredible numbers) it’s the issue that he got the world to focus on. Now that’s a huge feat, after forty years of doing nothing about rabbi molestors and the enabling of them by rabbis and grand rabbis and gedolim and Orthodox organizations, one guy comes out of nowhere and gets it on the table, on TV, in the international media and in everyone’s mouth. Absolutely incredible. Let’s acknowledge this stupendous feat for Heaven’s sake! Steve, get a life!

    joe Says:

    April 11th, 2007 at 10:57 am
    typo on the word “principle”

    ReplyDelete
  17. jewishwhistleblower Says:

    April 11th, 2007 at 1:50 am
    >As to journalistic standards, they’ve been a repeated success,
    >are the true reason many abusive rabbis are out of their
    >positions,

    Really?

    I think it’s fairly clear that is nonsense. Here is a case in point, Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller’s unprovoked physical assault on Rachel Neuwirth. It’s fairly clear from coverage and editorials in the Jewish press that we have a very low level of reporting and analysis in our Jewish press. Frankly, it appears that fact-checking has been replaced by “journalists” who are in actuality more spin-doctors and advocates then reporters. Will they correct the record? Of course not.

    See: ...

    As I said … “our journalists are simply utter failures.”

    MO MAN Says:

    April 11th, 2007 at 8:20 am
    Monsey Tzaddik & JWB,
    Stepen Colmar was running a kiddie playgroup in the backyard of the Mir Yeshiva and backed and supported by the yeshiva and Rabbi Lazer Ginzberg. A few parents contacted UOJ and again another sexual predator went on the run to Passaic and then off to Israel. UOJ got Lesher the lawyer involved, arranged the asifa in Passaic, got the rabbis involved, they bought his house and basically threw him out of there. In Israel UOJ again got Colmar on the run when he tried to buy a house.I heard through a rabbi friend that UOJ has him followed and even got his picture through a long range lense by his detective. This is dedication. This costs serious time and money. This man UOJ is unreal. How anyone can claim his methods don’t work is beyond my comprehension. The establishment is quaking in their boots, not because of SIW’s “journalism ethics”

    David in DC Says:

    April 11th, 2007 at 10:15 am
    The right to confront one’s accuser is fundamental.

    As attractive as jwb’s argument is: “The point is to protect children everything else is irrelevant…”, ultimately this “point” can swallow humanity up.

    It happened in pre-Revolutionary War Salem, Mass. and in the dark McCarthyite days that Arthur Miller skewers in his retelling of the story of Salem (The Crucible).

    Whistleblowers need protection and the Jewish community has, in large measure, failed the whistle-blowers.

    But the solution is not to swathe whistle-blowers in impenetrable anonymity. It is to support and praise and protect them when they have the courage to tell what they know to a journalist, blogger or — ideally — a cop.

    It is to find them lawyers, and, even more importantly, to find lawyers (prosecutors and tort lawyers both) for the victims on whose behalf they advocate.

    Relying on anonymous accusers will, in all cases, eventually lead to the wrong people holding the invincible, anonymous whistle.

    I use Salem and McCarthy as my examples because I saw an especially bad production of the Crucible recently — and even bad acting cannot trump or muffle the essential bit of truth Miller got so right.

    But history is liberally strewn with equally bad examples.

    Unchecked power to accuse is a recipe for disaster.

    I’l end where I started:

    The right to confront one’s accuser is fundamental.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Haaretz - News in Brief
    by Eli Ashkenazi
    Haaretz
    April 11, 2007
    http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/847261. html

    A 50-year-old resident of Tiberias was indicted yesterday at the Nazareth District Court, charged with raping his nieces. The indictment details a long
    list of severe sexual abuse and rape, listed in 10 specific cases. The girl suffered from severe psychological trauma as a result of the abuse.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Boog -

    You keep associating Klohr with Porn. Have you caught him red-handed in his office? Do you have first hand knowledge of his affinity for such material or, just cranking the rumor mill?

    "Inquiring minds want to know"

    ReplyDelete
  20. http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/shapiro_yisroel.html

    This is playing dirty. Did UOJ provide the Awareness Center with my picture today?

    ReplyDelete
  21. UOJ,

    Harry Maryles' grandson is receiving chemo for cancer. I wanted to pass along the name of Reuven Ben Tova Chaya so your readers and supporters can pray for his refuah sh'leyma.

    ReplyDelete
  22. UOJniks,

    Perhaps you have noticed the slick mailings, cds and dvds from Oorah, the kiruv rechokim organization (who also own the Cucumber Communications long distance service and a car donation program). I asked them on their web site's contact form for information on the percentage of their budget that goes towards providing services and the percentage spent on administrative salaries and fund raising. This is a normal request that most secular non-profits will readily provide upon request.

    What was their response?

    This:

    From: OorahKR@aol.com
    Subject: Re: general oorah contact form
    To: [snip]@sbcglobal.net


    r u thinking of making a substantial donation?

    ReplyDelete
  23. It's time to start asking why Julie Berman is so keen on protecting Sruli Singer.

    http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/11118.htm

    Over the past year, escalating complaints and demands for greater transparency have been directed against the management of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany Inc. (Claims Conference), the organization responsible for recovering and distributing Jewish assets plundered by the Nazis.

    Many of the complaints are long standing and were exposed in 1997 in a series of articles by Netty C. Gross in the Jerusalem Report. The central issue remains the allegation that whereas the Claims Conference does disclose allocations, it lacks transparency in the manner by which it allocates funds. Critics insist that it functions more like an old boys club than a representative body, and that the Board is merely a rubber stamp endorsing the decisions of a few machers who make decisions amongst themselves and only consult their key constituents. This is confirmed by the fact that the board never meaningfully challenges allocations submitted by the selection committee.

    As the vast majority of directors are themselves representatives of organizations benefiting from distributions, they are also disinclined to rock the boat by attempting to reform the structure. That is possibly why the government of Israel and the Jewish Agency -- both major beneficiaries of Claims Conference funds -- have hitherto failed to demand greater transparency and bring about reforms to the composition of the board which remains virtually unchanged since it was created in 1951. That it no longer reflects the reality of current Jewish life, is exemplified by the fact that that virtually extinct organizations like the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Jewish Labor Committee still retain similar board status to the Jewish Agency.

    The most passionate complaint is that as a consequence of years of delayed processing and neglect, despite being one of the wealthiest foundations in the world, many aged survivors in poor health will not live to receive their restitution entitlements. In recent years the efficiency of processing applications has improved, but there are still numerous complaints. Rank and file survivors also insist that their representatives on the board no longer adequately represent their interests. Having regard to the millions provided by the Germans for administrative expenses, it is regrettable that an independent ombudsman structure was not established. That may have enabled complaints to have been objectively assessed and survivors could have avoided resorting to American and German courts to resolve their problems.

    The allegations that senior executive salaries and expenses are extravagant may be unjustified but should nevertheless be open to public scrutiny. However there are valid grounds for questioning fees expended to middlemen, consultants, lawyers and public relations organizations.

    There are mounting complaints that the Claims Conference still fails to fully disclose its assets and that Jewish properties appropriated by the Nazis were sold by the Claims Conference without providing adequate notice to heirs to register claims. Ugly rumors are circulating concerning the Frankfurt Claims Conference office which operates a huge real estate empire and disposes properties in what critics describe as a "shady" non competitive manner. Recently, class action proceedings were instituted in a German court by Gabriele Hammerstein, alleging that the Claims Conference had blocked her claim to her parent's sanatorium. Allegedly, this is merely the tip of the iceberg because the value of assets from East Germany alone allegedly amounts to billions of dollars. In addition, there are increasing murmurings about plundered Jewish artworks which the Claims Conference is apparently also reluctant to fully disclose. All these issues could be laid to rest if genuine transparency applied.

    Finally there is the ongoing debate whether the Claims Conference has adequately memorialized the German victims of Nazi persecution whose property still provides millions in restitution funds. This is exemplified by the plaque at Yad Vashem acknowledging by name senior directors of the Claims Conference for grants bestowed rather than bracketing the bequest with victims of the Holocaust.

    The rising disquiet about management will be intensified following the bizarre response by Claims Conference Chairman Julius Berman to calls for Israel Singer to step down from the Claims Conference Presidency after the WJC fired him.

    Instead of declining to comment prior to consulting his board, Berman responded that "our position for years has been -- and remains -- that this sounds like an internal fight within the World Jewish Congress and it would be inappropriate to allow the dispute to come out into the public at the Claim Conference." He added "In my opinion, Singer can continue to function because of who he is and what he represents."

    Berman does not represent any organization on the Claims Conference board but is a senior partner in a major law firm, an Orthodox rabbi, and a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. After virtually the entire global media and many anti Semitic websites had been disseminating the lurid WJC scandal, his ex cathedra announcement that Singer could stay on and negotiate with governments on behalf of the Jewish people astonished the Jewish world.

    The New York Jewish Week editorial asked "Now that Singer has become a liability found to have violated his fiduciary responsibilities to the WJC, can the Claims Conference ... allow him to stay on as a leader championing morality and righteousness?"

    The Orthodox weekly Jewish Press editorial queried "whether someone with a serious cloud over his head can continue to function effectively as the lead representative of the Jewish community in an effort to address one of history's most profound moral issues. This, frankly, is a question that should have been asked several years ago when the attorney general of the State of New York came to some rather negative conclusions about Mr. Singer's stewardship of WJC finances, although no criminality was found."

    Berman's surprising response has now polarized questions about the moral compass of the Claims Conference leadership. Clearly, an organization acting as trustee for Jewish restitution funds must not only be pristine pure, but its officers cannot even be remotely perceived as being in any way associated with improprieties.

    Berman's statement will hopefully also accelerate demands by the Government of Israel and leading Jewish organizations to insist on a long overdue review of the Claims Conference structure.

    Whatever the outcome, the need to thoroughly restructure and enable the Claims Conference to reflect the reality of Jewish life, must become a top priority. If the complaints prove to be unfounded, transparency will at least put an end to false rumors. After the WJC debacle, we must ensure that the vastly more important Claims Conference whose decisions will have a profound impact on the future of the Jewish people, is managed by a regime of good governance in a totally transparent manner and fulfills its mandate of serving the interests of survivors and heirs, as well as enshrining the memory of those who perished during the Holocaust.

    ReplyDelete
  24. http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2948

    In a letter to the leadership of the Claims Conference, ECAJ president Grahame Leonard wrote: "As the protector of assets of Holocaust survivors, the Claims Conference cannot afford to be associated with any person who has been the subject of allegations of financial impropriety, misuse of charitable funds or conduct that amounts to what is commonly understood to be corruption.

    According to the ECAJ, major ethical issues will surround the Claims Conference should Rabbi Singer remain as president.

    In his letter Leonard said: "Given recent controversy regarding the policy of financial allocations of the Claims Conference, the Claims Conference will surely be inviting scandal and controversy to its own institution if Rabbi Singer, who is largely responsible for the financial irregularities at the WJC, maintains any further leadership role.

    "What message are we sending to the world if we allow the Claims Conference, the body purportedly representing world Jewry in negotiations for reparations and restitution for Holocaust victims and survivors, to be formally represented in such negotiations by a man whose reputation has been so tarnished by personal impropriety and who has been found to have improperly used charitable assets for his personal benefit?"

    ReplyDelete
  25. http://www.jstandard.com/articles/2495/1/Opening-a-dialogue-on-eating-disorders

    This is in response to Margo's trouble sticking to a diet.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Isser;

    You're very good with double entendres.

    "First-hand" experience?

    ReplyDelete
  27. Boog -

    I said "First-Hand knowledge" NOT experience. You're good at dodging the question though, cuz you didn't answer it. I'm just trying to know why you've been making numerous associations of Klohr + Porn.

    If that's the "etzem zach" of how he spends his time in his office, then let him take his "givaldige nissayon" and mooch off someone else.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Julie Berman, a good man, is working off yesterday's reputation. What person in their right mind could support Singer considering the AG's report? That he chooses to call it a WJC issue, just demonstrates that he prefers the lie than the truth. More spin and coverups just hurt the organizations, Julie, you know better. Singer should be suspended until you at the very least, verify the AG's report and the WJC's claims!

    How dare you put the Claims Conference reputation on the line because of your unabashed chutzpah to think we're all idiots? Another putz in Jewish life develops Alzheimers at his desk! Julie, retire, before you destroy your life's good reputation; you are throwing it in the trash when you espouse this idiotic garble!

    ReplyDelete
  29. UOJ
    Who else developed Alzheimers at his desk? (great line)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Well, I don't exactly claim to remember everything I did at Margo's behest. Maybe that's "selective amnesia"?

    ReplyDelete
  31. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009895

    I like the Steven I Weiss approach to things. You get to say who all the bad guys are without properly explaining yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Oorah's modus operendi has been the subject of an expose in a major newspaper, I believe the St Louis Post Dispatch. Oorah caught the paper's attention after running radio ads targeting the general population in that city. The cucumber operation is apparently owned by Yahoo Mintz, son of the Staten Island mashgiach. It's one way to make a living in Lakewood.

    ReplyDelete
  33. http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/04/another-new-case-thats-old-from-chicago.html

    This controversy has been floating around for years. Does UOJ or anyone know if there's anything to it?

    ReplyDelete
  34. Self-styled rosh yeshivos moving into mansions have the same barometer.

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003661508_ceohomeindex11.html


    When your CEO buys a megamansion, is it time to dump stock?
    By Rachel Beck

    The Associated Press

    ReplyDelete
  35. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846701.html

    Oh no! The Mishtara traced Abba's money to me! Wait until UOJ finds out!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Has anyone seen Sruly Singer?

    http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=26647

    11-Apr-07

    ISRAELI Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was questioned for four hours yesterday as a witness in a corruption probe against a senior aide, police said.

    "The national police fraud investigations unit took testimony from Prime Minister Olmert for four hours in connection with the case of the Israeli Tax Authority," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

    Olmert's personal secretary and close aide of 30 years, Shula Zaken, was placed under house arrest in February as part of the probe into the ITA.

    Its chief, Jacky Matza, has resigned in connection with the case and at least 15 ITA employees are also under investigation.

    Police began investigating the ITA in January amid allegations that appointments, including that of Matza, were influenced by powerful businessmen in exchange for promises of favourable tax treatment.

    ReplyDelete
  37. The owner is always bragging to everyone that the OU makes all their official meetings in his restaurant because he has the best kashrus of any OU establishment and that he always treats his workers like mentchen.

    http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/dec/dec15b_05.html

    New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced today that Mr. Broadway Kosher Deli, and its owners, have agreed to pay $300,000 in back wages to workers as part of a settlement of a lawsuit in which the restaurant was alleged to have violated minimum wage laws by underpaying its workers.

    The settlement provides that R. Gross Dairy Kosher Restaurant, Inc.--which operates a res Mr. Broadway Kosher Deli at 1372 Broadway in Manhattan-- will not only pay the workers restitution, but will also be subject to monitoring to assure future compliance with all minimum wage and overtime laws. The restaurant has workers who serve food on its premises and others who deliver throughout the five boroughs of New York City. All will receive back wages under the settlement.

    "The agreement filed in state court guarantees that the workers will now receive the compensation to which they are entitled by law. It is part of an ongoing effort to guarantee fair wages and working conditions for the labor force in the restaurant industry" Spitzer said. "My office will continue to aggressively investigate wage violations, and we encourage workers to come forward and report these violations."

    Spitzer’s office began its investigation into federal and state minimum wage violations by the restaurant in May 2005 after receiving complaints from employees. The investigation revealed that from November 2001 until at least October 2004 delivery workers were routinely working up to fourteen hours per day, six or seven days per week, for daily wages of only $15. Busboys, dishwashers and kitchen staff received neither the required minimum wage nor compensation for overtime work. The Attorney General filed a lawsuit seeking recovery of all unpaid wages for the restaurant’s 90 employees, at least 45 of whom are delivery workers.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Does anyone know why a bunch of lawsuits have been launched against the Kosher Gym?

    ReplyDelete
  39. http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/04/more_hasidic_vi.html

    Let's give Satmar a run for their money.

    ReplyDelete
  40. How could UOJ of all people miss that I was in the news again recently?

    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=90992

    Single mom sucked in by home sellers
    Monthly payment was higher than her income

    BY JUAN GONZALEZ
    DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST

    Posted Friday, March 30th 2007, 4:00 AM

    Four years ago, Sandra Barkley, a single parent and an employee of the New York City Housing Authority, got fed up with rising rents in Brooklyn and decided to buy her first house.

    A friend of hers recommended a firm called United Homes LLC, which has sold more than 1,000 homes during the past few years in minority neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens.

    Within two weeks, Barkley was signing a stack of mortgage documents at the closing for her new two-family home on Hancock St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

    That's right, two weeks - which is sure to amaze anyone who has ever purchased a piece of property.

    The folks at United Homes weren't just lightning fast, they were uncommonly helpful. They provided Barkley with a lawyer; they secured her 95% financing from a company called Olympia Mortgage Co., and they kept assuring her she could easily meet her monthly payments by renting the upstairs apartment.

    But Barkley and a half-dozen other black plaintiffs are now suing United Homes in Brooklyn Federal Court.

    All allege that the company was part of a ring of appraisers, lenders and lawyers that conspired to defraud minority families by "flipping" properties, inflating their prices and saddling inexperienced homebuyers with predatory loans.

    Housing advocates say a big part of the foreclosure crisis spreading across the nation is not simply a result of risky lending. They say there are many signs of fraud.

    Barkley, for example, claims the United Homes salesman didn't tell her until the day of the closing, even though she repeatedly asked him, the actual price of her new home.

    The price turned out to be $359,000 for a home United had purchased for $153,000 - less than three months earlier.

    Barkley also claims she never received a written good-faith estimate of costs from Olympia Mortgage prior to the closing. That estimate, required by federal law, is supposed to list all costs and terms associated with a loan.

    "[United] built up my level of trust, they seemed very knowledgeable and they kept telling me they had my best interest at heart," Barkley said.

    Even though Barkley provided Olympia's representative with pay stubs that showed her salary was only $2,300 per month, she did not learn until the day of the closing that the two "piggyback" loans Olympia was providing her - one at an adjustable rate of up to 11.6% and the other at 12.5% with a huge balloon payment after 15 years - required monthly payments of $2,536 a month.

    In other words, her mortgage payments were higher than her income.

    Where, you might ask, was Barkley's lawyer in all this? She fired the first one - the one United gave her - a few days before the closing. But she immediately got an unsolicited call from a second lawyer who informed her he would be representing her.

    "These people were very high-pressure in the final days before the closing," Barkley said.

    Barkley didn't know it then, but now assumes that United also gave her the second lawyer.

    "United Homes categorically denies there was any conspiracy to harm these homebuyers in any way," said company attorney Alan Vinegrad. "They had the right to hire their own lawyers, inspectors and engineers, whether recommended by United or not."

    "These plaintiffs," Vinegrad added, "represent an extremely small number of more than 1,200 satisfied customers that United has done business with over the years."

    The court papers, however, raise many questions about the United Homes sales. Barkley's Olympia mortgage, for example, was immediately purchased by a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston that specializes in marketing what the company calls NINA's, short for "No Interest, No Asset" loans.

    A January 2003 internal appraisal for Credit Suisse concluded that Barkley's home was worth only $260,000 when it was sold. That appraisal labeled the loan "high risk." Still the bank went ahead and purchased the loan, then marketed it as part of a bigger securities package.

    A lawyer for Credit Suisse, which is also named in the United Homes lawsuit, refused to comment about the case.

    As for Olympia Mortgage Co., it has been the subject of several investigations of its lending practices in recent years. The state Banking Department suspended its license in September 2004, and California followed suit early in 2005.

    In December 2004, the U.S. Justice Department accused Fannie Mae, the huge secondary loan buyer, of accepting money in a loan fraud scheme that involved Olympia Mortgage and United Homes LLC. Fannie Mae admitting no wrongdoing but ended up paying a $7.5 million fine.

    Olympia's attorney Eric Grannis did not return my call for comment.

    ReplyDelete
  41. http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:3LBmkmRUxsIJ:gothamgazette.com/community/4/news/383+%22Eric+Grannis%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4

    Pinter's / Olympia's lawyer Eric Grannis is married to NYC Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz. Pinter always weasels his in where the political connections are.

    I wonder what Mayor Bloomberg & Christie Quinn would say about Moskowitz in bed with the biggest ganav in history?

    ReplyDelete
  42. I have ambitions to become the next mayor. That will really empower Leib & Shmelka Pinter.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Jewish Survivor is looking for more information on the case of Margie Shabat of Chicago, IL

    http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/04/another-new-case-thats-old-from-chicago.html

    ReplyDelete
  44. http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110009905

    UOJ taught me how to fight City Hall and win.

    ReplyDelete
  45. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009903

    My old friend from the heim, Margulies, suggested that I travel to Syria. There's a certain geshmack in being a Hungarian putz with a thick accent.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Just the name--kosher gym--probably opens themselves up to be sued. It is not glatt!

    With great sadness I read the jewish survivors website this morning and the Chicago illuyim have and continue to behave poorly.

    Please post this story--jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com Case of Margie Shabat - Chicago, IL

    What is the story with Reb Abba?

    ReplyDelete
  47. http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2007/04/10/78626.htm

    The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest and former canon lawyer for the Vatican in the United States, was among those urging lawmakers to pass the bill.

    Doyle said the Catholic church has put its own power and finances above the interests of victims of sexual abuse by priests, and that children and the vulnerable have been devalued because they are defenseless.

    "They are overshadowed by the specter of money and power,'' said Doyle, who has testified in sexual abuse cases around the country.

    Doyle and Marci Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and expert in child sexual abuse cases, both said that bankruptcy filings by five U.S. dioceses amid civil claims over sexual abuse were made not to protect church finances, but to avoid disclosure of church secrets in civil lawsuits.

    Doyle rejected the notion that the bill amounted to Catholic bashing, adding that any institution that would allow and cover up criminal wrongdoing "needs to be bashed.''

    "That's not prejudice; that's truth-telling,'' he said.

    Hamilton assured lawmakers that the "lookback'' provision allowing lawsuits that were previously barred would not violate either the federal or state constitutions. She also noted that most cases of child sexual abuse do not involve the Catholic church or other organizations, but incest among family members.

    ReplyDelete
  48. http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/NEWS02/704100419

    Margo does the same thing, except instead of putting up a website, he goes to rich Brooklyn Hungarians to shnorr for his legal defense fund.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Goings on in the basement under Mr. Broadway Kosher Deli. Is this the big draw for OU meetings?

    http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=2&vlcompdetlkey=0000480468

    Complaint at: 1372 BROADWAY BIN: 1080609 Borough: MANHATTAN ZIP: 10018
    Re: OPERATING AN ADULT PHYSICAL CULTURE ESTABLISHMENT IN CELLARA MASSAGE ROOM WAS SET UP AND INSPECTOR WAS INFORMED THAT MASSAGES AREGIVEN TO MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX

    Category Code: 99 OTHER

    Last Inspection: 12/27/2001 - - BY BADGE # 1776 MATTERA PHILLIP EXECUTIVE
    Disposition: 12/28/2001 - - A1 - VIOLATION SERVED
    Disposition Entered By: RMA 12/28/2001
    Comments: OPERATING AN ADULT PHYSICAL CULTURE ESTABLISHMENT.MASSAGES
    GIVEN TO MEMBERS OF OPPOSITE SEX.OTHER VIOL.#122701CZSTF05PM
    DOB Violation #: 122701ZSTF01PM

    ReplyDelete
  50. http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009908

    That's right Tom Lantos. If the Justice Dept wants to indict anyone for violating the federal Logan Act, we should tell them it was Margo's idea.

    ReplyDelete
  51. http://david.zakar.com/blog/?p=207

    The full article from the forthcoming Jewish Times article is floating on the web. In case you were wondering who it’s about: Ephraim Shapiro. Don’t worry about protecting your kids from him - he’s not alive anymore. The bad news is, there are some very convincing allegations against his son, too.

    I’m trying to remember where I heard this stuff before, but I was eminently unsurprised when I saw that name. This isn’t the secret it’s been made out to be.

    I have some things to say later, but for now: the rabbis in Baltimore need to realize that “taking a hard stance” a week before a damning article comes out is not exactly “taking a hard stance”. It’s damage control. Lying to your congregants that you’re somehow on top of this issue when it clearly and apparently just got forced out onto you is a heck of a thing.

    (Out of respect to Phil Jacobs, who, I should mention, was an observant Jew last time I checked, I’m not reposting his article. Suffice it to say, I held him in great esteem before this, and moreso after.)

    ReplyDelete
  52. http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/fcas/FCAS_docs/2005DEC/30040363920051SCIV.PDF

    Oh yes. I am very, very nice and a big mentch when I talk to my employees. Why should the Attorney General care if I fleece my employees out of their hard earned wages. The OU doesn't seem to care.

    ReplyDelete
  53. http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/04/looking-for-survivors-of-rabbi-ephraim.html

    Anonymous said...
    Is this Shapiro related to the R' Shapiro who is/or was, the assistant pricipal at Beis Yaakov High School?

    Anonymous said...
    Yisroel Shapiro used to teach at Bais Yaakov until it came out he was molesting students there. His brother is covering up for him. No police report was made.

    Isn't the principal of a school mandated to report when he suspects students are being harmed?

    What excuse does he have for not following the law of the land?

    Anonymous said...
    he never taught in bais yaakov. misinformation to smear a family member

    Anonymous said...
    Smearing the Shapiro family name???
    I think the opposite has happened.

    What has the Shapiro family ever done for the victims? Absolutely nothing. Instead the family has been harboring two criminals. One by the name of Yisroel Shapiro and the other by the name of Ephraim Shapiro. Everyone in the community knew about these two individuals, yet everyone was afraid to speak out.

    The Shapiro family was only interested in protected their "good name". They never stopped to help any of the victims of their brother or father.

    I'm sorry if the Shapiro children are offended. They will have to learn to deal with their own personal feelings on this one. They should have reported their brother to law enforcement.

    Until financial restitution is paid to all of the victims of both Yisroel and Ephraim Shapiro, I will feel no mercy for them. I wonder if they could put themselves in the shoes of young teenagers who's lives were altered because of the actions of their brother and father?

    One should look at these crimes in the same light as they would someone who murdered a child.

    Shame on anyone who is concerned with the "good name" of the Shapiro's.

    All I can do is thank all the survivors for coming forward. I just hope they all file police reports and the criminals are faced with jail time.

    Anonymous said...
    Didn't Shapiro teach at TA and not Bais Yaakov. The rumors floating around is that he also liked the boys.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Who owns United Homes? There must be some deeper connection wherever that snake Leib Pinter is slithering around.

    ReplyDelete
  55. It's precisely because of places like Broadway Deli that the Conservative JTS is causing huge embarrassment for the OU. Their so called Tzedek hechsher also oversees employee abuse. The OU is going to to be forced to make sure their clients behave like civilized human beings if they are to save face.

    There was a restaurant on the Teaneck-Englewood border that was providing a female massage specialist as a treat for men on Father's Day. It was really obscene that the customers were lying on a stretcher at the front of the restaurant in plain view of the diners and anyone passing by on the street while this woman touched them all over. A rov from outside the area complained to the RCBC / Bergen Kashrus.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Is there something in Baltimore's water supply that there are so many abusers and an army of enablers?

    ReplyDelete
  57. Moti Zilber is a Dib that hangs out with the lowlives at David Toiv's shul. Based on what kind of house he lives in, he's probably living beyond his means thanks to the money he withheld from his staff. Spitzer is forcing him to pay back te 300k within two years. With that kind of predicament, he probably needs a daily massage.

    ReplyDelete
  58. WHen it emerged the the bum at the center of the Belsky bittul kidushin was patronizing a zona, he claimed it was legit because she was just a masseuse.

    ReplyDelete
  59. http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/fcas/FCAS_docs/2007MAR/2300102632007100SCIV.PDF

    The OU's Avrohom Keller testified against Bitton alongside the 2 shkutzim from Le Marais.

    Keller has also been badmouthing Bitton in comments on the blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  60. lvf u lier,

    I'M BOOG'S BIGGEST FAN!

    ReplyDelete
  61. http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=12247

    UOJ should mind his own business.

    ReplyDelete
  62. S. Daniel Abraham is related to Rabbi Basil "Pickled" Herring who headed the RCA.

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/israeli-fraud-squad-to-question-lowy/2007/04/12/1175971263369.html

    ISRAELI detectives are planning to travel to Australia to interview billionaire Frank Lowy about a corruption investigation involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to a report yesterday in Israel's leading newspaper.

    The mass circulation Yedioth Ahronoth reported that National Fraud Squad detectives will depart for Australia and the US soon in a bid to question Mr Lowy and US billionaire Daniel Abraham about Mr Olmert's alleged role in the sale of the partially state-owned Bank Leumi.

    Mr Olmert has been accused of attempting to change the terms of the sale tender to favour Messrs Lowy and Abraham when he was serving as finance minister, although the bank was eventually sold to other bidders.

    Statements issued on Mr Lowy's behalf have denied any role in the affair, saying he withdrew his interest in the matter before tenders were issued. Mr Abraham did not bid either.

    Responding to news of the police investigation in January, the Lowy family group said Mr Lowy had known Mr Olmert for many years but had never made any financial contribution to him or any of his campaigns.

    "The international consortium examined the bid documents and conducted due diligence but decided not to proceed with the bid and took no further part in the process," the statement said.

    "Mr Lowy categorically rejects any suggestion that he or anyone acting on his behalf behaved improperly and is confident the inquiry will bear this out."

    Citing an unnamed police source, the Yedioth article said that Israeli investigators had discussed inviting Mr Lowy and Mr Abraham to come to Israel to be interviewed but concluded that "this is complicated".

    The source said: "The two must be questioned in order to form a full picture of the evidence in the investigation prior to the expected interrogation of the Prime Minister in the affair."

    The investigation into the sale of Bank Leumi is one of several corruption and criminal allegations facing the embattled Mr Olmert and other senior Israeli leaders.

    In the latest controversy to emerge, it was reported last weekend that the charismatic right-wing Minister for Strategic Threats, Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the anti-Arab Yisrael Beiteinu party, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a business consultancy set up by his 21 year-old daughter and funded by unknown foreign donors.

    ReplyDelete
  63. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Mar/20070319Busi001.asp

    Mabrouk.

    ReplyDelete
  64. You realize that this latest Pinter scam is going to hit us all in the wallet. Reuters reports today that Schumer is pushing for legislation to bail the poor Blacks out. Schumer is a putz. He also wants to bail out the losers who weren't defrauded but just got in over their heads with houses they can't afford.

    Why is Pinter still walking the streets in one piece? Why is Schumer still reelected every time by the dumb voters?

    ReplyDelete
  65. http://www.reuters.com/article/fundsFundsNews/idUSN1040539320070410

    Remember AB Watley, the online stock broker that used an attractive woman in their ads? They were charged with fraud and shut down.

    ReplyDelete
  66. united homes is run by a bunch of israeli crooks building houses from brooklyn all the way to far- rockaway

    ReplyDelete
  67. UOJ, when I asked some yenta in Toronto about the Kuhls, he claims that George's brother was killed assassination style many years ago when he was away at yeshiva, possibly as a revenge killing against the father. This source is not always reliable. Do you know anything about this?

    ReplyDelete
  68. Please refer all questions to Jacob Perlow (a gadol in this generation)

    http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/21242/My_Machberes.html

    Rally To Fight The Internet

    Community Torah leaders and the directors and administrators of yeshivas and girls schools in Boro Park have jointly called for parents to gather at Ateres Chaya hall, 1415 54th Street, on Monday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. Immediately following Minchah, the assembled will hear speakers describe the hard facts of the Internet and how the community’s youth are being affected by it. Actual situations that were the outcome of Internet access will be reported and the parental responsibilities will be reviewed. Keynote speakers will include Rabbi Moshe Green, Monsey rosh yeshiva, and Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman, rosh yeshiva Meor Yitzchok.

    ReplyDelete
  69. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Apr/20070411News027.asp

    After consulting with Shea Fishman, we have decided to let a professor stay on even though he once raped a 9 year old boy. Shea told us everything the victim told him which aided our assessment.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Moti Zilber is a Dib that hangs out with the lowlives at David Toiv's shul. Based on what kind of house he lives in, he's probably living beyond his means thanks to the money he withheld from his staff.
    ----------
    I protest. The people who daven there are very far from being lowlives. Some of the nicest people I have ever met daven there. Also, Moti's house is not the way you make it seem.

    ReplyDelete
  71. http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/04/the_war_on_children.html

    ReplyDelete
  72. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/04/09/news/local/131664.txt

    ReplyDelete
  73. badass big dav olewski master cuver-upper and ella fisher the agudah godol gave pep talks to the ger boys in a mass rally at the 18th avenue school. probably gave the kids some choice pointers on pleasing the staff and going along with cover ups.

    and the investigation into the highschool trashing goes on.............

    ReplyDelete
  74. http://presence.baltiblogs.com/2007/04/12/baltimore_rabbis_address_sexual_abuse_in_the_jewish_community.html



    Just before the last days of Pesach, congregants of Shomrei Emunah received an email from R. Gottlieb that he would be addressing the entire shul on "a very important and timely issue confronting our community," over Yom Tov. Speculation abounded as to the topic, but most thought the issue at hand was sexual abuse in Baltimore community.

    The second day of Yom Tov, R. Gottlieb did indeed devote his drasha to the topic of sexual abuse. The drasha came in advance of a letter that is being sent to the Baltimore community with a statement adopted by the Va'ad HaRabbonim of Baltimore on the issue of sexual abuse.

    Since taboo and silence are the two greatest enablers of abuse, R. Gottlieb asked us to resist our natural inclination to do several things:


    * To deny allegations are true.

    * To hide behind the laws of lashon hara or chillul Hashem (*).

    * To minimize the damage done to those that are victimized.

    * To not talk about the issue of sexual abuse with our children.

    R. Gottlieb acknowledged that, in the past, cases of abuse have been mishandled because of giving in to these natural inclinations, and that, even if the intentions were from a good place, that this resulted in even greater damage.

    The Va'ad is in the process of putting together a systematic approach that will delineate proper behavior in an effort to prevent sexual abuse, such as guidelines for schools and educators. As an example, the Va'ad is looking to the city of Chicago, which recently formed a special beis din to address claims in an open and forthright manner. This will hopefully help prevent incidents of sexual abuse from occurring, as well as help ensure an open process of addressing incidents that do arise, God forbid. There is also the very real concern of false accusations, which, R. Gottlieb also mentioned, has occurred as well.

    More details will be available in the letter coming sometime this week. R. Gottlieb is also in the process of formalizing his remarks and will make them available to those that are interested. My thoughts will follow in a separate post.

    * By "ignoring" the laws of lashon hara, it is my understanding that R. Gottlieb did not mean that issues of abuse are open for public discussion, nor that one should readily believe anything that is printed in the press or on the web. Rather, if one knows of a case of abuse and does not investigate, or does not report it, or does not inform others of the potential danger, out of a fear of spreading "lashon hara," they are in error. There is no issue of lashon hara if you are protecting an innocent person from damage. This is commonly applied in the realm of shidduchim.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Let us know what "Ichud Molestas Gur"
    is advising their brethren about this issue.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Anonymous 1:07,

    Julius Kuhl's son was murdered assasination style, his entire body was riddled with bullets as he walked in the street from a passerby in a car. Reports that there was 25-30 bullets pumped in to him.

    ReplyDelete
  77. jewishwhistleblower Says:

    April 12th, 2007 at 10:20 am
    >Unchecked power to accuse is a recipe for disaster.

    No one is going to take seriously ANY anonymous source or allegations UNLESS there is a track record. There is a world of difference between claims made in the tabloids and those made in the Washington Post.

    UOJ has a track record better than the Jewish Press, Jewish Voice and Opinion and the Jewish Week combined, that’s why UOJ is being taken seriously.

    I would note that to date NO one has sued UOJ let alone won a lawsuit against UOJ. The civil courts and media are a check against UOJ’s power to accuse.

    I know of extremely few false allegations in the frum community, they are virtually non-existent. The last ones I can think of involved corrupt Brooklyn Judge Gerald Garson who took kickbacks in custody cases in the frum community. False allegations were part of the dirty tactics utilized by those involved in paying off Garson.

    >The right to confront one’s accuser is fundamental.

    Really? It appears to me than NONE of those accused by UOJ have any intention OR desire to confront their accusers. They just want to silence and intimidtate anyone who dares expose the truth and that’s been effective for decades due to the moral failings of our leadership and rabbonim.

    When you have monsters who prey on children, that sodomize and rape pre-teens in the washroooms of our synagogues, yeshivahs and shuls, how do you propose we address the problem? Are we to remain silent and rely on the courage and strength on the most vulnerable to confront the powerful adults who’ve abused and threatened them to protect us? Of course not. We must stand and protect them by any means we can.

    Our leaders convene corrupt bais dins to silence survivors and PREVENT reporting to the PROPER TRAINED authorities, they use their rabbinical authority to protect the abusers. How do we counter that? How do we protect the vulnerable in our communities from these predators. We expose the predators. We expose the enablers. We take away the silence they’ve demand and all too often achieve. We take away their anonymity that allows them to prey without fear. We force our community to discuss the problem, to confront it publicly. This is how we change our system. While SIW talks about UOJ’s words being “damaging to the cause of permanently removing abusive clergy”, the opposite is true. The publicity and public discourse he has forced is the ONLY effective way of bringing change.

    Don’t believe me? Folks, look at the massive efforts in Baltimore going on right now by the rabbonim in Baltimore to try and effect damage control to preserve the moral authority of rabbanim who stood utterly silent in the face of the abuse of children by their colleagues, including Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro who is believed to have abused 100s if not 1000s of children.

    The secret meetings currently taking place among the Baltimore rabbonim have or are going to produce public speeches, letters and probably a special bais din to deal with abuse. All of this before Phil Jacobs article has even been printed. Why the rush? The public exposure of abusers and enablers in the community that has and continues to occur despite their best efforts to put an end to it. UOJ can certainly take part of that credit as can many advocates.

    Our leaders do not respond to the tears or cries of children. They ONLY respond to public exposure. So be it.

    We do not simply want to stop one or two predators, we want to transform our community so that predators can no longer thrive through the silence and protection our community have afforded them. So we give them that which they most truly fear … publicity. The predators fear the light of day.

    ReplyDelete
  78. boog..
    the "ichud molestas gur" is living up to its name.. they continue to rape the ger comm. body, soul and financially.
    they demand money from the gerer in america and only give to the mosdos in israel, the schools in america? who gives a shit! from them on the issue of molestation, not a word! never.
    i've mentioned it before, the new money man for these molester enablers is a guy by the name of khon, he used to schnorr either for ohel or chush i'm not sure, but i do know that he is making $250,000.00 a year.
    why would they not try and help some yungerleit that have no bread to put on the table b/c all they know is to sit on their tuchis in kollel and shtip a toog, the ichud should help them in the least to find a job.
    boog what can we do its corrupted through and through.

    ReplyDelete
  79. There's no question that there are nice people at Toiv's shul but there is also a very distinct group of lowlives. That place attracts the neighborhood leftovers that wouldn't fit in anywhere else.

    ReplyDelete
  80. http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/12644/

    Julius Berman likes Sruly Singer because he gives a very masculine handshake.

    ReplyDelete
  81. I wonder which yeshiva Kuhl was at when he was nebich whacked. My source tells me that the Kuhls did not leave a trail of IOUs with the frum community as far as he knows. If there was anything questionable he thinks it was with goyish business contacts. Because of the Kuhl involvement in construction and it's "120 percent", it's very likely the old man raised the ire of la Cosa Nostra. Still, my source advises not getting into any arrangements with this family.

    ReplyDelete
  82. In regard to the Yosef Meystel case mentioned above, the following comment is on Jewishsurvivors:

    Anonymous said...
    Yossi Meystel is being protected by Rabbi Eichenstein on Devon [the Novominsker Rebbe brother-in-law]. The shul is called Chicago Center for Torah and Chessed.

    Yossi is the Gabbai in the shul. Rabbi Eichenstein is currently "unaware" of any information regarding Yossi. Concerned parties should contact Rabbi Tzvi Bider, Executive Director at the shul office.

    Let the cover-ups begin!!

    ****

    Chicago Center for Torah and Chessed has many children around. The rabbi must stop lying and finally become "aware" of who is standing by the Bimah.

    ReplyDelete
  83. That Toiv shul defender is pathetic. He's obviously embarassed of his association. He crawled out last year with the same language when people were making fun. So Zilber screws over his hires and he's still the nicest guy around? You're not fooling anyone who has been there and seen the Toiv clowns acting like idiots and cracking dirty jokes during davening. It was so bad that the rabbi considered shutting the place down at one point. I wonnder where the misfits would have gone then.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Did anyone call Akerman to ask why he's renting his bungalow to Yudi Kolko?

    ReplyDelete
  85. I was going to call Akerman but I first need to take a survey at Regency to find out if there's anyone left on planet Earth who still doesn't know about UOJ.

    ReplyDelete
  86. "Perhaps I should have consulted with the entire group before I made that painful decision," Bronfman wrote. "The reason I didn’t is I knew that so many of you would have a real problem facing Israel’s(Singer) "sickness" and my need to start the cleaning process where it had to start.

    "Please be calm. And think it through," he concluded. "I have only the best interest of the WJC in mind."

    ReplyDelete
  87. What's up suckers? How do you like our cozy business model? We rip off the blacks and tell Chuckie Schumer to make you all pay for it.

    http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/12/real_estate/foreclosures_prevention.moneymag/index.htm

    A number of states are aiding subprime homeowners with assistance plans, but critics say that won't stop foreclosures from climbing.
    By Stephen Gandel, Money magazine senior writer
    April 12 2007: 4:12 PM EDT
    NEW YORK (Money) -- Non-profits and lawmakers are stepping up efforts to help people at risk of losing their homes. But critics contend the programs will do little to stem the nation's rising tide of foreclosures.

    On Wednesday, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), a nonprofit devoted to helping people who have been the victim of predatory lending, announced a $1 billion program that will refinance strapped borrowers out of adjustable mortgages with soaring rates into low fixed-rate 30-year loans.

    In New York, Sen. Charles Schumer is pushing that state to create a foreclosure task force that would provide financial counseling and education to homeowners who run into difficulty paying their mortgage. Nationally, Schumer thinks the government should spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bail borrowers out of loans they are having difficultly paying.

    "We are sending a message to the victims of predatory mortgages that there is hope," said Bruce Marks, who heads NACA.

    Critics of the programs, though, contend they are a waste of public funds. Last year, a study by professors at Cleveland State University found that 60 percent of the delinquent borrowers who participated in a local government-sponsored counseling program ended up defaulting.

    What's more, many troubled borrowers who are offered new loans in an effort to help them keep their homes end up defaulting anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  88. http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/12/news/companies/imus_cbs_cancel/index.htm

    It's not fair that I get roughed up for making pretty benign comments about Blacks but the Pinters screw them out of their life savings and get away with it.

    ReplyDelete
  89. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18144579&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574905&rfi=6

    After prosecutors failed to warn a judge about threats a rape suspect made to a Hollis woman who he later allegedly murdered, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes acknowledged that his office had made an “honest mistake.”

    ReplyDelete
  90. http://www.flatbushlife.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18144985&BRD=2384&PAG=461&dept_id=576288&rfi=6

    Is this sick or what?

    ReplyDelete
  91. http://blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=3182

    Charles Hynes, who was affectionately referred to as the forum’s “non-woman,” spoke movingly about his own mother being a victim of domestic violence and his childhood experience working their way through a nightmare system to try to get help.

    ReplyDelete
  92. http://1010wins.com/pages/341422.php?contentType=4&contentId=401375

    Am I the only criminal that Hynes managed to put away? You'd think the guy is drunk on the same Irish Whiskey that his abusive father was always high on.

    ReplyDelete
  93. http://www.nypost.com/seven/04102007/news/regionalnews/da__killer_taunts_kin_of_victim_regionalnews_alex_ginsberg.htm

    ReplyDelete
  94. http://www.nypost.com/seven/03232007/postopinion/editorials/law__disorder__svu_editorials_.htm

    Why is the Post accusing me of lying to cover up for Hynes?

    ReplyDelete
  95. Is the official Kuhl version of the story that the kid died in a car accident? That's the fodder that SIW & the Canonistas are putting out.

    ReplyDelete
  96. UOJ is too modest. He should take credit for more of his behind the scenes work :o)

    http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/848002.html

    Underworld money man Benny Revizada was sentenced yesterday to 40 months in jail for a number of financial crimes. The sentence, the result of a plea bargain, is to be served in addition to the 50 months he is currently serving for his part in the collapse of the Trade Bank. Revizada was convicted two weeks ago on charges including money laundering, providing banking services without a license, and obstruction of justice. Revizada was also fined NIS 500,000 and NIS 510,000 was confiscated from his accounts. The judge agreed to reduce Revizada's sentence by seven and a half months for time served.

    ReplyDelete
  97. UOJ is going to blow the lid off a mega-scandal here.

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05E0D7163AF934A25753C1A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

    As this NY Times article outlines, the Pinters have been in bed with United Homes in defrauding easy targets, ie. minorities in neighborhoods such as Bed-Sty & Jamaica.

    Mendel Epstein's son in law goes by the same last name as the United Homes owner. Mendel Epstein's son in law is also friends with one of this next group of guys from Flatbush and Williamsburg who were doing the same thing as the Pinters & United Homes with the added twist of using goyim as fronts.

    http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/new_york_ag_complaint_targets_flipping_scheme_in_minority_neighborhoods/

    New York AG Complaint Targets Flipping Scheme in Minority Neighborhoods
    A lawsuit alleging that a group of real estate sellers, mortgage brokers, attorneys, and appraisers pursued a fraudulent real estate flipping scheme targeting minority neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York was filed by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Consent decrees have been entered into with some of the defendants that will provide substantial monetary relief to victims and stringent oversight of future real estate activities by the settling defendants. The defendants named in the lawsuit are:

    Isaac Katz, Brooklyn, New York
    Yoel Silberstein, Brooklyn, New York
    Amenophis Alleyne, Plainfield, New Jersey
    Shaya Saks, Brooklyn, New York, mortgage broker
    Theodore Welz, Brooklyn, New York, mortgage broker
    Benzion Frankel, Brooklyn, New York, attorney
    Rephoel A. Weitzner, Brooklyn, New York, attorney
    Devon Clarke, Brooklyn, New York, attorney
    Joseph Treff, Brooklyn, New York, attorney
    Erik B. Johnson, Ronkonkoma, New York, appraiser - Johnson and Rose Appraisal Services
    Jeffery Richardson, Brooklyn, New York, appraiser

    According to the lawsuit, defendants Isaac Katz and Yoel Silberstein devised a scheme in which they purchased distressed properties in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, East New York and Bushwick, and then enlisted the services of a front-man, mortgage brokers, and real estate lawyers to dupe purchasers and lending institutions in order to obtain significant resale profits.

    The lawsuit alleges that defendant Amenophis Alleyne found prospective minority buyers with excellent credit to purchase the properties. The minority buyers, many of whom were Alleyne‘s family and friends, allegedly were told that the properties were “investment opportunities” that could be purchased with no money down. They were also assured that rental income they would receive from prospective tenants would more than cover any mortgage payments.

    According to the complaint, the mortgage brokers, defendants Theodore Welz and Shaya Saks, induced banks into issuing loans for the properties by preparing loan applications that misrepresented the borrowers’ income and assets and falsely stated that the borrowers were making significant down payments. According to the lawsuit, the banks were also provided with false appraisals, prepared by real estate appraisers including defendants Jeffery Richardson and Erik Johnson, that significantly inflated the values of the properties.

    Defendants Benzion Frankel, Rephoel Weitzner, Devon Clarke, and Joseph Treff, the real estate attorneys who represented the lenders, the buyers and the sellers at the closings, prepared loan documents and public filings (including deeds and real estate transfer tax records) that allegedly misrepresented the actual sales prices of the properties.

    According to the lawsuit, defendants Katz and Silberstein reaped substantial profits from their fraudulent scheme, which was carried out dozens of times between 2002 and early this year. In one case identified in the suit, they purchased a property for $205,000 and sold it later the same day for $370,000. The buyers, the lawsuit alleges, were unaware that their “no money down” deals were being accomplished only by hiding the true nature of the transactions from their lenders. As a result, many buyers were saddled with large, high-interest-rate mortgages they could not afford. Some allegedly ended up in default and foreclosure, ruining their once-excellent credit. The lawsuit further alleges that the scheme artificially inflated market prices of homes in the affected neighborhoods as appraisers, sellers, real estate brokers and others seeking to value properties in those areas relied on the false sales prices reported in deeds and other public records.

    ”The perpetrators of this scam promised minority home buyers an opportunity to climb the economic ladder,” Spitzer said. ”In reality, the defendants profited handsomely while their victims saw their financial security impaired or even ruined. By imposing significant monetary penalties on the participants in the scheme, we hope to send the message that fraudulent and discriminatory real estate deals will not be tolerated in the State of New York.”

    The Attorney General has entered into consent decrees resolving the lawsuit against defendants Katz, Silberstein, Welz and Saks. The decrees require:

    � payment of nearly $1.8 million in restitution and penalties;

    � a detailed accounting of the real estate transactions conducted by the mortgage fraud ring;

    � extensive monitoring of future real estate activities by defendants Katz and Silberstein; and

    � significant restrictions on mortgage brokering activities by defendants Welz and Saks.

    The funds remitted pursuant to the decrees will be used to compensate victims of the scheme who file complaints with the Attorney General. Any remaining funds will be retained by the State as penalties.

    The lawsuit will proceed against defendant Alleyne as well as defendants Clarke, the lawyer for the buyers at the closings; Frankel and Weitzner, lawyers for the defrauded banks; Treff, the lawyer for defendants Katz and Silberstein; and Richardson and Johnson, the appraisers.

    Properties were not identified in the Complaint by address but only by street name, including: Belmont Avenue, Hart Street, Cleveland Street, Chauncey Street, Halsey Street, Lafayette Avenue and East 55th Street.

    This defendant Isaac Katz is connected with the Mafia Boss Louis Kestenbaum that defrauds the state and federal gov’t with fraudelant grants, its about time these Chasidic thugs are laid to rest.

    Posted by elisa

    ReplyDelete
  98. Steve Weiss doesn't even post new material anymore. He's degenerated into acting as the official rebuttal site against what UOJ says.

    ReplyDelete
  99. http://www.attorneysnyc.com/law/profile.html

    As one of Pinter's many lawyers I must say this site is quite interesting. I could spot UOJ's talent from a mile away.

    ReplyDelete
  100. http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2006/nov/BK-Mortgagecomplaint.pdf

    What a kiddush Hashem. These guys hired a black fellow as they put it to get a schvartzer to defraud the other schvartzers.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Pinter's gotten a little wiser in his old age and seems to know his clientele better. At the real estate closings, instead of offering complimentary meat & cheese sandwiches, he was giving fried chicken and watermelon.

    ReplyDelete
  102. http://www.freshdirect.com/department.jsp?deptId=kos&trk=gnav

    Can you believe I found a company to plaster my image on their website?

    ReplyDelete
  103. Bentzi Frankel lives around Ave M. Treff lives on East 29th P & Quentin. I think Treff's office is in Williamsburg which would explain the chassidisher connection.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Are there any lawyers or mortgage brokers here who can explain if Pinter's mortgage flips are the same thing or different than the Ponzi scheme that prosecutors nailed Olympia mortgage for. The original article in American Banker Magazine was talking in industry code.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Has anyone called Akerman (718-336-0080) to ask him why he's renting his unit to Kolko?

    ReplyDelete
  106. sexual molestation victims of leizerowitz and the enabler olewski should know that it is critical that they contact
    Eric H. Green at
    Law Offices of Eric H. Green and Associates
    295 Madison Ave
    New York, NY 10017-6304
    Phone: (212) 532-2450

    ReplyDelete
  107. is this the olewski that speaks so eloquently at aguda fress-conventions?

    ReplyDelete
  108. why are you so into suing leizerowitz and the ger yeshiva? if you are a victim of him or know someone who was, send them to the 2 therapists in manhattan who have alot of experience with leizerowitz victims.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Phonebook results for 718-336-0080
    Mendy Akerman (718) 336-0080 1724 Avenue O, Brooklyn, NY 11230

    This is a house or two away from the palace that Margo was building for his son. After he decided to judgement proof himself from UOJ & the victims, construction was halted and the house was put up for sale.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Is Pinter trying to corner my market on Soul Food? I thought he was barred by a federal judge from doing anymore lunches. He can feed as people as he wants in Bedford-Styvesant but his fried chicken still isn't coated with the Colonel's secret recipe. He should go back to farkoifing treif as kosher.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Colonel, you anti-Semitic alter kacker. Your secret recipe is hogwash.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Sanders#Death_and_legacy

    In 1985, investigative journalist William Poundstone wrote a book, Big Secrets [ISBN 0688048307], which analyzed and revealed (among other things) the secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken (lab tests found only traces of salt and pepper, not eleven herbs and spices), and provided readers several methods for duplicating the product.

    ReplyDelete
  112. That was Fillmore that Margo listed the McMansion with? I thought it was Etty Hammer.

    I wonder if UOJ will cut me in on the condos at 555 Ocean Pkwy?

    ReplyDelete
  113. No relation to William.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Poundstone#Arrest

    In 2001 Poundstone was arrested on a felony warrant for three counts of committing a lewd act on an unidentified girl under the age of 14. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office also stated that Poundstone was charged with endangering two other unidentified girls and two boys. [2] The lewd conduct charges, found to be without basis, were dropped. Even though Poundstone's personal manager, Bonnie Burns of Burns & Burns Management, said, "I know Paula Poundstone well enough to know these charges are 100 percent incorrect," Poundstone pled no contest to charges of felony child endangerment and misdemeanor inflicting injury on a child. Few details were released, but the prosecutor indicated that the charges were a result of an incident in which Poundstone was driving her children while intoxicated. Poundstone was sentenced to five years probation and 180 days in an alcohol rehabilitation program. Following completion of the program, she was granted full custody of her adopted children but permanently lost custody of two other children who were in Poundstone's home as part of the foster care system.

    ReplyDelete
  114. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3387142,00.html

    This is too ridiculous to post in it's entirety.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Which yeshiva did billionaire Sam Zell go to? There was no Telz. Is he too old to have been by R' Aron Soloveitchik in Brisk?

    http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=17506

    Zell, a billionaire Chicago real estate developer, is the apparent winner in the battle for control of the Tribune Co., owner of the Times, the Chicago Tribune, several other newspapers, television stations, etc.

    Chicago Tribune reporters Michael Oneal and David Greising that noted, "Zell is known for his explosive, often profane outbursts

    Zell's family fled Poland the day before the Nazis invaded. An article in Dividend Alumni magazine, a publication of the University of Michigan's business school, tells how Zell's father, Bernard Zell, a grain broker, led his wife and young daughter on an 18-month journey across the Soviet Union to Japan and arrived in the United States in 1941.

    Forbes.com said his net worth is $4.5 billion. He began by buying a bunch of magazines, including Playboy, after his yeshiva classes in Chicago, taking them back to the suburbs on the train and selling them at a big markup to fellow students

    ReplyDelete
  116. Any updates on Colmer?

    ReplyDelete
  117. lvf;

    Contact Immediately:

    Eric H. Green at
    Law Offices of Eric H. Green and Associates
    295 Madison Ave
    New York, NY 10017-6304
    Phone: (212) 532-2450

    Tell him what leizer did to you and the coverup by Ichud Molestas Gur.

    Only way to flush these bums out.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Speaking of financial scams, Houdini money hijinks, and outright theft by the uneligible ( Section 8, Credits, Low-Cost Health Benefits by under-reporting on-the-books income, and the list goes on),
    has anyone noticed that none of our "Revered Rabbanim" will ever speak out and darshan on the absolute necessity and primacy of dealing honestly, ethically, and correctly in business?

    Shabbos Shuva Droshos? No.

    Mussar from the Pulpit? No.

    Weekly Shul Shiur on Business Ethics and how to handle various Scenarios? No.

    Major Symposium at the Annual Agudah Conventon? No.
    (If they did schedule it, would probably be chaired by their Honoree "Rabbi" Sruly Singer).

    And the list goes on. See above.

    Instead what do we get from these virtuous paragons in our Rabbanuth?

    Shturm und Drang red-in-the face hysterics on:

    1.Bugs in the water.
    2.Indian Hair Shaytels
    3.Bugs in the Bodek
    4.The Primacy and necessity of all healthy able-bodied young men to sit in Kollel "Ad Meah Ve'Esrim" regardless of their abilities thus developing and perpetuating an "Erev Rav" underclass of parasitic Schnorrers.

    Rabbonim, Shame on you all!

    ReplyDelete
  119. Where's that Toiv shul apologist putz who denied every fact posted? Anyone who drives down the block sees that Zilber has the biggest house except for Moishe Scheinerman. Someone should show Spitzer's press release to il Supremo and he'll scream about Broadway Deli from the bima considering that it's not under Kehilla Kashrus.

    ReplyDelete
  120. UOJ:
    When are you going to reveal the name of the 3rd victim in the article? The one who said that Shapiro was worse than Kolko. It's already up on the BJT website.

    ReplyDelete
  121. "outright theft by the uneligible ( Section 8, Credits, Low-Cost Health Benefits by under-reporting on-the-books income, and the list goes on)"

    I know a loser who goes around crowing that he's been ripped off by assorted crooks. Some of it may be true but he doesn't volunteer that he himself is a crook. He figured out a way of not paying back bank loans without ruining his credit. He goes around from bank to bank which is how he supports himself. I'm not divulging what his trick is because I'm sure that some reading this will try the same thing. He is not active in his profession because he is busy pursuing huge real estate deals. He also has left a trail around town of unpaid legal bills exceeding $1 million. The lawyers get taken in by their own greed and promise of payment when the deal closes. The deals virtually never close because the financeers eventually figure out that the schmo has no money of his own. He even found a shady company that creates bogus net worth statements for him claiming that he's worth millions.

    There are people out there who delude themselves into thinking that they own a building. They tell everyone in shul and go home to tell the wife. This guy talks in terms of entire city blocks and throws around names like Vivendi (Europe) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Le Marais operates under the legal name GK Grill.

    Court: New York Civil Supreme Index Number: 102580/1996 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: S & R PROPERTIES OF N.Y. vs. GK GRILL LLC
    Case Type: Other Commercial
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date: 12/15/1997
    Date NOI Due: 05/22/1997 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 05/22/1996
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: ABDUS-SALAAM, SHEILA

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: ISRAEL WEINSTOCK Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    140-06 ROCKAWAY BEACH BLVD.
    BELLE HARBOR, N. Y. 11694
    1-718 318-1000

    Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
    ROBERT V. FERRARI Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    630 THIRD AVENUE 16TH. FL.
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10017
    212 972-7040

    Court: New York Civil Supreme Index Number: 115065/1999 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: GOLDBERG, BETH vs. GK GRILL
    Case Type: Other Torts
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date: 06/14/2000
    Date NOI Due: 12/28/2000 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 12/29/1999
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: YORK, LOUIS B.

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: BAUMAN & KUNKIS Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    225 WEST 34TH STREET
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10122
    212 564-3555
    Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
    NATHAN LOSMAN, ESQ. Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    3 UNIVERSITY PLAZA
    HACKENSACK, N.J. 07601
    1-201-342-1315

    Court: Suffolk Civil Supreme Index Number: 022775/1996 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE vs. GK GRILL LLC
    Case Type: Contract
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date: 06/22/2000
    Date NOI Due: 03/09/2001 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 03/09/2000
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: DENISE F. MOLIA

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: ANES FRIEDMAN LEVENTHAL SNYDER Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    266 SMITHTOWN BOULEVARD
    NESCONSET, NY 11767
    (631) 467-6337

    ReplyDelete
  123. Does anyone know the story here?

    Court: Rockland Civil Supreme Index Number: 000476/1991 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: TENDLER,MOSES DAVID vs. KLEIN,MELVIN A.
    Case Type: Other ("Not One Of The Above")
    Track: Unknown
    Disposition Date: 02/04/1991
    Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 01/28/1991
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: JOAN B. LEFKOWITZ

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: GREENBAUM BENEDICT & MORAN Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    1 BLUE HILL PLAZA
    PEARL RIVER, NY 10965
    914/735-0101

    ReplyDelete
  124. Kuhl & the gang claim that the niftar died in a car accident which may or may not be true. "Car accident" is a pretty ubiquitous cover story that has been used elsewhere. There was an ex-yeshiva guy who was known to be a drug addict. He was found dead at a sleazy motel known for drugs and prostitution. He was last seen entering the motel in the company of some unseemly companions. He most probably died of an overdose which cannot be proven 100% as there was no autopsy. The family hung their heads in shame and told everyone he died from complications of a car accident even though the incident was reported by the press.

    ReplyDelete
  125. There was the son of a diamond dealer who was killed in his hotel room in Belgium for the sins of his father, and the story-line was he died in a car accident. That's the MO used, can't say I blame them. Who is going to admit that his kid was killed because of the father's misconduct?

    ReplyDelete
  126. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Ritchie

    Snatch was about Antwerp diamond dealers. Maybe I should make a movie about Sruly Singer.

    ReplyDelete
  127. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool_&_the_Gang

    Whatchu be sayin' 'bout our homeboy George Kuhl?

    ReplyDelete
  128. http://www.greatrestaurantsmag.com/KOSHER/restaurant_view/10/

    I was one of the owners of the Box Tree. Sruly Singer, Guy Ritchie and his zona wife Madonna used to stop by. Madonna had a nasty attitude and was a terrible tipper.

    ReplyDelete
  129. http://presence.baltiblogs.com/2007/04/13/vaad_harabbonim_of_baltimore_abuse_in_our_community.html

    This is a scan of the letter that the baltimore vaad sent out. Of course uoj had nothing to do with it. and my name is sruly singer. special thanks to phil jacobs as well.

    so who is leading who?

    ReplyDelete
  130. http://presence.baltiblogs.com/vaad1.html

    http://presence.baltiblogs.com/vaad2.html

    Read the above two pages in order.

    Something doesn't seem right. It's too little too late from rabbonim here who masterminded the cover ups.

    The wording here was very carefully crafted by a lawyer no doubt. They still leave wriggle room for not going public about a molester in the line about investigating claims & "counterclaims."

    ReplyDelete
  131. There are 261 civil actions in NY involving Olympia Mortgage. Either Pinter is foreclosing on someone who didn't pay or Pinter is being sued for his representations. About half the foreclosures are against frum sounding names or shuls. I doubt that Pinter went to beis din before court.

    Some interesting details:

    - Pinter foreclosed on one of the Balkanys.

    - Pinter was sued by Independence Bank. Independence was represented by Eric Grannis who usually represents Pinter.

    Not everything is as it seems. These two cases may have been contrived for shifty reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Scans and transcriptions posted here:

    http://presence.baltiblogs.com/2007/04/13/vaad_harabbonim_of_baltimore_abuse_in_our_community.html

    ReplyDelete
  133. Everybody is lying except SIW=Absurd+UO.
    _________________________________________________

    In 2005, a report by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers sought to analyze a decade’s worth of financial documentation from WJC’s Geneva office but was unable to account for $3.8 million of WJC money. A separate Internal Revenue Service investigation into the organization’s finances is under way.

    In explaining WJC’s, action, Herbits said that the WJC was continuing to comply with reporting requirements established by the New York Attorney General’s Office, and that the information that had emerged since the initial probe essentially had forced the organization’s hand.

    In an interview, Herbits said he understood that people were upset about the process of the firing, but insisted that the substance of the action was correct. Bronfman made a similar distinction in his letter to Besnainou.

    “Perhaps I should have consulted with the entire group before I made that painful decision,” Bronfman wrote. “The reason I didn’t is I knew that so many of you would have a real problem facing Israel’s sickness and my need to start the cleaning process where it had to start.

    “Please be calm. And think it through,” he concluded. “I have only the best interest of the WJC in mind.”

    This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

    ReplyDelete
  134. VAAD HARABBONIM - RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF GREATER BALTIMORE

    April 11, 2007

    Abuse in Our Community

    There is no subject more painful for us to discuss than the issue of sexual abuse within our community. Yet at this point we believe it is the subject most necessary to address. We must acknowledge that this horrible form of abuse exists — and has existed for generations — in our community as well. This issue must be confronted directly and we believe that this discussion can be a first step towards the necessary and achievable goal of ridding our community of this scourge.

    We feel it essential to discuss this matter directly with you, as the greatest allies of the abuser are ignorance and silence. The abuser preys on people who cannot understand that what he is doing to them is so very wrong. And the abuser thrives in an environment where he is confident that his victims will not report what they have experienced or where their reports of abuse will not be taken seriously. We therefore urge you to discuss this matter in a sensitive and non-alarming manner with your children so that they will clearly understand that they should forcefully refuse and immediately report inappropriate touch. They need to know that should, Heaven forbid, something like this ever occur to them, they will have somewhere to turn. And if they turn to you, you must respond compassionately, deliberately and with competent rabbinic and/or professional guidance, understanding that the thoughtful measure of your response will have enormous impact on your child’s future.
    We feel additionally compelled to discuss this issue openly in order to assist — in some small way — in the healing of survivors. Abuse often creates terrible confusion in the minds of its victims who may not understand the terrible wrong they have experienced, or who may blame themselves for the abuse. Addressing the issue clearly and definitively allows survivors of abuse to see that our contempt is reserved for those who violated them, whereas they — the survivors — are so richly deserving of our compassion and our respect.

    We cannot speak with certainty to the prevalence of abuse in our community. It is clear however that any single abuser will often have many victims. Those who abuse within the family — and this horror absolutely does happen — often victimize numerous family members. A coach, camp counselor, teacher, principal or rabbi who abuses his charges throughout his career has had the opportunity to abuse hundreds of children. We can say without question that across the nation we have had prolific abusers in these positions, and consequently, we have hundreds of survivors in our communities.

    The damage that abuse can cause is devastating and potentially life altering: it commonly ruins an individual’s sense of self, their ability to trust others, and their ability to engage in a healthy intimate relationship. Furthennore, there is a growing consensus amongst mental health professionals serving the observant community that many of our “teens-at-risk” issues were generated by incidents of abuse, The risks of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse and other self-destructive behaviors are all increased dramatically by abuse.

    As such it is already well established by our own Poskim that an abuser is to be considered a Rodef (literally, a pursue?’), effectively poised to destroy innocent lives and, therefore, virtually all means may be used to stop him and bring him to justice. Communities and day schools — with the blessing of Gedolei Yisroel — have encouraged and facilitated the reporting of these crimes to the local authorities, who are most equipped to investigate and prosecute these complex claims.

    In the past, many mistakes were made in handling these situations. Abusers were often not recognized for what they were, as it was too difficult to believe that otherwise good people could do such things, nor was it sufficiently appreciated what damage such acts could cause. It was often thought that if the abuser was spoken to or warned, and perhaps moved to a different environment, he would never do these things again. In responding this way many terrible mistakes were made arid tragic consequences resulted. We have seen too often the immediate or eventual failure of these “behind-the-scenes agreements” to keep the perpetrators away from others. Naïveté and a lack of understanding of the insidious nature of these perpetrators have allowed the toll of victims to rise. These failures haunt us — but they also motivate us to respond more effectively and wisely in the future.

    An abuser is not simply a lustful person, plagued by a Taavah — a desire — that can be addressed with sincere Teshuva. He has a severe illness, that may be incurable, and that is at best enormously difficult to manage. Publicizing his status as an abuser — while causing enormous damage to his own family — may be the only way to truly protect the community from him.

    Can we produce the same result — safety for the community — without going public? We do not know if we can. We do know that we as rabbis are not qualified to manage the behavior of such a person such that we can confidently say that he poses no threat to his community. Understanding, treating and managing this illness is a highly complex field that we are not properly trained in. There are specialized professionals in this area whose experience and expertise we must call upon to guide us. They — as experts in this most complex field — may consider specific situations to be safely manageable using a professionally designed — and consistently and vigilantly guided — protocol for the individual abuser. But in many cases the most effective method to protect the community will be in publicizing the abuser’s identity. In all situations we must be mindful that our obligation to protect future potential victims of sexual abuse is paramount.

    A final word about false accusations: We are very sensitive about the possibility of false accusations which, themselves, cause enormous pain and damage. This obliges us, therefore, to ensure at the outset that claims and counterclaims are investigated objectively and fairly by those most trained and equipped to do so.

    The issues discussed here are most complex and very painful. But they must be discussed and this problem must be addressed.

    Allow us to summarize with a few action points.
    I. We must educate our children about inappropriate touch, so that they will clearly understand that they should forcefully refuse and immediately report inappropriate touch.

    2. Credible concerns of abuse must be reported to the authorities who have the expertise, experience and wisdom to thoroughly and responsibly investigate them. We — as Rabbonim — are committed to facilitating and supporting this process.

    3. We must have — and we are in the process of developing — a clear approach to protecting our community, both here and elsewhere, from established or strongly suspected abusers. This approach could possibly include a professionally designed — and consistently and vigilantly guided — management protocol for the individual. Many situations will require the drastic step of publicizing the identity and the dangers posed by the perpetrator.

    Effective action can really go a long way. If we can begin to approach this issue wisely and confidently we can create a climate where abuse would rarely occur and where, if it does happen, it would always be addressed promptly.

    We pray that Hashem spare us such tragedies in the future, and that He grant us the wisdom and the courage to responsibly address the threats we currently face.

    R. Elan Adler, Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation

    R. Reuben Arieh, Ohr HaMizrach Congregation

    R. Menachem Goldberger, Congregation Tiferes Yisroel

    R. Emanuel Goldfeiz, Congregation Beit Yaakov

    R. Dovid Gottlieb, Cong. Shmorei Emunah

    R. Moshe Hauer, Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion

    R. Dovid Heber, KAYTT and Star-K

    R. Moshe Heinemann, Agudath Israel of Baltimore and Star-K

    R. Yaakov Hopfer, Sheiris Yisroel / Glen Ave Shul

    R. Shmuel Kaplan, Chabad Lubavitch of Baltimore

    R. Nesanel Kostelitz, Machzikei Torah Congregation (Sternhill's) / Community Kollel

    R. Chaim Landau, Ner Tamid

    R. Elchonon Lisbon, Bais Lubavitch

    R. Sheftel Neuberger, Ner Israel Rabbinical College

    R. Gavriel Newman, Beth Jacob Congregation (merging with Beth Tfiloh

    R. Shlomo Salfer, Winands Road Synagogue Center

    R. Jonathan Seidemann, Kehilath B'nai Torah

    R. Simcha Shafran, Adath Yeshurun and Secretary of Bais Din of Baltimore

    R. Mordechai Shuchatowitz, Agudath Israel of Greenspring and Av Beis Din of Baltimore

    R. Shmuel Silber, Suburban Orthodox

    R. Amrom Taub, Arugas Habosem Congregation

    R. Y. Zvi Weiss, Bais Haknesses of Baltimore

    R. Mitchell Wohlberg, Beth Tfiloh

    Additional signatws will be appended later, as no: all of the Rabbis available during the Pesach season.

    ReplyDelete
  135. How could Tatty humiliate me like that and sign his name with the Baltimorons? We are supposed to deny, deny, deny and attack UOJ.

    ReplyDelete
  136. http://www.canonist.com/?p=1398

    Something Stinks Says:

    April 13th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
    UO Man / Absurd Spam / SIW are the real mechutzofim. Anyone, JWB included, has a right to demand accountability from the Baltimore rabbonim who have been facilitating more cover ups than in any other city in the country.

    You empty suits wave around your big ethical sticks but meanwhile children continue to be abused.

    Another pirush in Pnei Hakelev is that the so called “leaders” keep looking over their shoulders to tailor their leadership to the feelings of the hamon am, just like the dog fetching the stick that keeps looking back at it’s master. G-d forbid that you highly ethical standard bearers should violate any journalistic or otherwise principles while children are irrepairably harmed. You three either ignore or go so far as to lie and misrepresent that people much greater than you like Rav Schechter have given their haskamma to UOJ’s main objective and bedieved tactics.

    UO Man / Absurd Spam / SIW, fit one more novel interpretation of Pnei Hakelev. They are one in the same, like Cerberus, the 3-headed hound that guards the entrance to Hades / Hell. But just like Cerberus is a myth, so is any claim that UOJ is harming the “real” fight against abusers, the same “real” fight that hasn’t existed for decades if left up to the establishment and clowns with a keyboard like UO Man / Absurd Spam / SIW.

    And let’s see Steven apply his journalistic know how to reporting on the movement afoot to get Israel Singer thrown out of the Claims Conference and accusations that he hasn’t paid his taxes.

    I never got personal against SIW until he made it personal on Chol Hamoed with his barrage of insults about “idiotic kanoim” etc. It’s besides the fact that he makes no sense. I did not display or feel sinah for Singer. I’m just pointing out that Steven conveniently ignores stories that don’t suit him. It’s also pretty evident that Steven has a bone to pick with UOJ for his attacks on Singer.

    I went into Pesach feeling pretty ambivalent about the Kuhls, even giving them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s just say that after I asked around, I heard some things that make me pretty uncomfortable. I don’t know that what I heard is true and I don’t know that it has ever been publicized by the media, so I can’t justify transcribing it verbatim in a public forum. Some of what I heard has been posted recently by UOJ. For the record, UOJ is probably correct as far as most hotels that indeed have very substandard kashrus standards on Pesach. Many of the “scholar-in-residence” rabbis should be ashamed of themselves. I am comfortable with my choice of stay after consulting with industry insiders and outsiders.

    Finally, financial misdeeds are another huge problem that has not been tackled. It sets the stage for other misdeeds and has also been swept under the carpet by tush kisser organizations and rabbis looking for donations of the dirty money. Thanks to UOJ, some yeshivos were forced to part ways with not just molesters, but ganovim as well who walked around like they owned the place.

    Is this a case of “hypocrisy” or kol haposel UO Man, bemumo posul?

    UO Man pretends not to know about the IRS investigation. I’m not saying Singer is guilty of anything, just that the issue can be discussed instead of stifled by the SIW gang, who then try to undermine everything UOJ does on account of it.

    Your arguments are as broken as the non-working Crain’s NY Business link you posted.

    ReplyDelete
  137. Letter from the Vaad of Baltimore. Many are saying it was drafted by Mark Dratch.

    http://theawarenesscenter.org/legal.html#Letter

    He's the ex-brother-in-law of Simcha Weinberg and the son-in-law of Norman Lamm of Yeshiva University.

    ReplyDelete
  138. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1654839.ece

    Was it UOJ who ratted me out about the payoffs to my Arab girlfriend? It doesn't look good on your resume when you get canned by the World Bank.

    ReplyDelete
  139. http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/13/news/companies/ca_restitution.reut/

    $800 million is small potatoes by the time UOJ is finished with Margo.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Court: Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 027236/2006 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: GLATZER,ROSE D. vs. EPSTEIN,MENDEL RABBI
    Case Type: Special Proceedings
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date:
    Date NOI Due: 09/11/2007 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 09/11/2006
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: MARK I. PARTNOW (PT. 43)

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: DOLLINGER,GONSKI,GP&H Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    ONE OLD COUNTRY ROAD
    CARLE PLACE, NY 11514
    516 747-1010

    Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
    WENDY G. SONNEBORN, ESQ. Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    123-35 82ND ROAD, #2L
    KEW GARDENS, NY 11415
    718 261-7222

    ReplyDelete
  141. Court: Queens Civil Supreme Index Number: 006507/2007 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: BABAYOFF, YAIR vs. QUEENS RABBINICAL COURT ETAL
    Case Type: Other Special Proceedings
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date: 03/13/2007
    Date NOI Due: 03/12/2008 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 03/13/2007
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: ALLAN B. WEISS

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: YAIR BABAYOFF - Prose Attorney Type: Pro se Status: Active

    ReplyDelete
  142. Is this foreclosure on a YTT real estate holding upstate?

    Court: Erie Civil Supreme Index Number: 004403/2004 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: MBBA 2003-A vs. TORAH TEMIMAH SCHOOL
    Case Type: Foreclosure
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date: 08/10/2004
    Date NOI Due: 08/03/2005 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 08/03/2004
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: JOHN F. O'DONNELL

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: RICHARD BEERS/PHILLIPS, LYTLE Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    1400 FIRST FEDERAL PLAZA
    ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 14614
    (585)238-2000

    Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
    STEVEN J. BAUM, P.C. Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    P.O. BOX 1291
    BUFFALO, NY 14240
    716-204-2400

    SUSAN CUFF/NYS ATTORNEY GENERAL Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    THE CAPITOL
    ALBANY, NY 12224
    518-474-8625

    ReplyDelete
  143. Court: Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 011181/2006 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: CHAIT,CHAIM vs. YESHIVA TORAH VODAATH &
    Case Type: Other Torts Negligence
    Track: Standard
    Disposition Date:
    Date NOI Due: 09/19/2007 NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
    Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 09/19/2006
    Jury Status:
    Justice Name: LAURA LEE JACOBSON (PT.21)

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: HERSCHEL KULEFSKY Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    111 JOHN STREET STE 1230
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10038
    (212) 693 - 1671

    Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
    CARTAFALSA,SLATTERY,TURPIN&MET Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    165 BROADWAY, 28TH FLOOR
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10006
    212-225-7700

    ReplyDelete
  144. Anyone know why I sued Obermeister?

    Court: Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 040984/1991 Upstate RJI Number:
    Case Name: BOLLAG,ISRAEL vs. AHAVAS,YESHIVA TORAH
    Case Type: Contract
    Track: Unknown
    Disposition Date: 05/15/1995
    Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: 08/27/1993 Disposition Deadline: 11/28/1994
    Calendar Number: 1992-001261T RJI Filed: 01/14/1992
    Jury Status: Jury At Plaintiff's Request
    Justice Name: JULES L. SPODEK (PT. 19)

    Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: JULIEN & SCHLESINGER Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    150 WILLIAM STREET
    NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10038
    (212) 962 - 8020

    Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
    L SALZMAN Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    2116 AVENUE J
    BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11210
    718 338 3183

    FRANK AURIEMMA/LEONARD J FALCONE Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
    9619 PITKIN AVENUE
    OZONE PARK, NEW YORK 11417
    (718) 835 - 4342

    ReplyDelete
  145. http://www.nynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS03/704130449

    Has anyone noticed how all the illegal apts crammed into Monsey make driving around town a marathon?

    ReplyDelete
  146. The OU client scandal is bigger than you know. Zilber's co-defendant at Mr. Broadway is Eddie / Israel Fishbaum who is also the owner of J-II Pizza across the street. He's Zilber's cousin and is also under the OU. J-II is home base of the "flying pizzas" that get shipped via Fedex.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Yet a third defendant at Mr. Broadway is Chaim Dadi from Hollis Hills, a neighborhood of pricey mansions. Zilber lived in Canarsie before moving to Flatbush. His current house is said to be 7 bedrooms plus another couple illegally carved out in the basement. Neighbors think he wouldn't be able to afford it even with the money he took from his workers without help from the mother in law, Dora Richter, living with him. She once fell on a sidewalk and sued the hell out of the homeowner.

    ReplyDelete
  148. "Pesachia", "Pinchos" Wolfowitz;

    Ven der putz shtaight, ligt der kop in drerd.

    Hope the World Bank Board of Directors throws you out on your Tuchis.

    If it happens do you think Honey Shaha Reza will stay with you? She's gone in the blink of your eye.

    Just remember to not make the mistake of Jon Corzine. Fasten your seatbelt.

    ReplyDelete
  149. "Pesachia", "Pinchos"

    You were set up by the liberal, pacifist, Arab coalition for your Neo-con architectural orchestration of the "Bush Iraq Plan" and you bit the bait by falling into the "hole" mit der gantsa putz.

    Sayonara.

    ReplyDelete
  150. When I first read the letter from the vaad my heart felt worm because I could see that finally action is being taken. But then I was thinking what those clowns did for many years.

    Nothing, It was not until UOJ and to lesser extent JWB put them on notice. I have the feeling this letter is merely a damage control to Jacobs’ article

    ReplyDelete
  151. Monsey Tzadik;

    You say your heart felt "worm" [sic]after reading the Vaads whitewash letter.

    What a correct and truly appropriate visceral reaction/response and how timingly fitting to yesterdays Parsha of Shemini which discusses "Sherotzim" in detail.

    You are truly a Tzadik. Pleased to meet your acquaintence.

    Chazak Ve'Emotz.

    ReplyDelete
  152. Did anyone have any experiance with using Ohel's Joan Hertz as a Sexual Abuse counsler

    sally

    ReplyDelete
  153. Yair Israel Babayoff is a serial harasser schemer and extortionist. He has a record of at least 8 arrests as per public record and is widely regarded in his community as a pariah having cyber-bullied and stalked many into giving him his way. He should be avoided at all costs: https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nyedce/1:2012cv06073/337172/9

    ReplyDelete
  154. i would like to respond to this if you dont i will commence legal action against you

    ReplyDelete