Slightly edited in - some wording for current relevance without changing the meaning of the essay; the intent of the writer remains intact as if he had written this today.....
"What, then, is the cause of this evil?
Doubtless that to ordinary people,the Jewish religion
has consisted, in regarding the clergy as a
position worthy of respect, its offices as sources of income,
and its rabbis as deserving the highest honor.
For as soon as this abuse of all forms began
in the synagogues, yeshivas and kashruth organizations,
the worst men acquired a great desire
to administer the sacred offices;
the love of propagating divine religion
degenerated into sordid greed and ambition,
and the house of worship itself into a theater,
where one hears not learned ecclesiastics,
but orators, each possessed by a longing,
not to teach the people, but to carry them away
with admiration for himself,
to censure publicly those who disagree,
and to teach only those new and unfamiliar doctrines
which the people most admire.
From this, of course, there had to come great quarrels,
envy, and hate, whose violence no passage of time could lessen.
It is no wonder, then, that nothing worthy has remained of the Jewish religion that used to be, beyond its external ceremony, by which the people seem more to flatter God than to worship Him, no wonder that the Jewish faith is nothing now but credulity and prejudices.
And what prejudices!
They turn men from rational beings into beasts,
since they completely prevent everyone from using
his free judgment and from distinguishing
the true from the false,
and seem deliberately designed to put out the light
of the intellect entirely.
Piety—good heavens!—
And the Jewish religion now consists in absurd mysteries, and those who scorn reason completely, and reject the intellect as corrupt by nature, they are the ones who are most undeservedly thought to have the divine light - Of course if they only had even the least spark of divine light, they would not rave so proudly, but would learn to worship God more wisely, and would surpass others in love, not, as now, in hate.
Instead of persecuting with such a hostile spirit those who disagree with them, they would pity them — if, indeed, they feared for the salvation of the others, and not for their own position".
Written by B.S. - Edited by P.M.
The above is the intellectual version of "UOJ is The Roto Rooter Guy"; Read after breakfast!
115 comments:
Every human institution is at risk of being corrupt since humans are inherently flawed.
All that means is that it's a struggle to keep those institutions honest. Overstatements that hysterically exaggerate the problem contribute nothing to improving the situation.
you've co-opted a quote about Christianity that comes laden with the assumption that real religion must be rational, that's an arrogant position and ignores the fact that we can no more rationally understand G-d than a cockroach can hum Beethoven's 5th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer
And from whom dare I assume this post was plagiarized from?
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=f4d4d63c-1cfa-4da6-9d7c-17a7e25f0018
I should have to turned to UOJ instead, but Belsky told me he prefers mafia tactics.
Overstatements that hysterically exaggerate the problem contribute nothing to improving the situation.
ou've co-opted a quote about Christianity that comes laden with the assumption that real religion must be rational, that's an arrogant position and ignores the fact that we can no more rationally understand G-d than a cockroach can hum Beethoven's 5th.-------------------
Firstly...far from an overstatement, rather, IMO, a dastardly understatement of our current situation.
Second....religion in general was on the writer's mind, while his focus was indeed Judaism.
UOJ, how was the park last week at North Woodmere? Enjoy your outing?
Who is really to blame?
by Jonathan Rosenbum
Palestine Post
June 1, 2007
....
The decision to convert - i.e., to accept the yoke of mitzvot - is perhaps the most momentous a person can make precisely because it can never be reversed. From the viewpoint of halacha, just as a born Jew can never shed that status, so too a "sincere" convert.
That much is clear.
The only difference in the Ashdod case was that the woman whose conversion was annulled had been converted by a beit din composed of "Orthodox" rabbis. Yet, the woman admitted, the beit din had apparently made no effort to ascertain whether she intended to accept the halachic system as binding upon her and use her conversion as a trick to marry and financially rape Jewish men.
She had never kept some of the most basic and stringent aspects of halacha after her conversion, and the rabbinate NEVER investigated her checkered past.
In one case, the "convert" grew up in a criminal family, where the family lived off stolen goods, had family outings to stores where the entire family was taught by their father how to steal, fraudulent welfare claims, multiple abortions, multiple rapes, and her father was a convicted felon and was imprisoned for attempted murder of her mother!
Orthodox rabbis - even some with long white beards - who perform conversions without making any effort to ascertain the candidate's commitment to mitzvah observance and ethical conduct, and often in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary, is, unfortunately, also an old story.
IT IS NOT those who uphold strict standards for conversion who show a lack of love and concern for the convert, but rather those who ignore the halachic requirement of a sincere commitment to mitzva observance and ethical behavior as the Torah demands!
A universally recognized standard is the greatest protection for the "sincere" convert, and the implementation of such a standard by "responsible" rabbinical courts is the key to the complete integration of the "sincere" convert into the Jewish people, without any concern that someone will someday question his or her conversion.
The fraudulent conversions should be recognized as that; the rabbinical organizations have once again violated their fiduciary obligations to the Jewish people by permitting conversions of people that are not fit mentally, predisposed by their background to commit crimes of all sort, and have no intent at all to honor all the moral and ethical commitments that come with being a Jew.
Lighting Shabbos candles, does not cut it!
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/06/never-doubt-that-small-group-of.html
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
posted by Yehuda Shain
Anonymous said...
Ver zogt? Sounds like a quote from UOJ :o)
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/06/china-based-products-kashrus-concerns.html
In the International arena of kashrus, it is common knowledge that the STAR-K is the one in the fore front of being "mach'riv" any possible control of kashrus in China.
Is it the Dollar ($$$$$$) or just "choch'ma"? [see Koheles 1/17-Rashi-Yuh'da'ti..] or both?
http://askshifra.blogspot.com/2006/09/jewish-debt.html
Very sad post with over 200 comments from the yeshivishe crowd that are saddled with debts and choked by yeshiva tuition.
http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnews/2007/05/wannabe_molester_gets_sentenci.html
Sentencing for a Susquehanna Twp. spiritual leader who was convicted of soliciting sex over the Internet from what he believed were 12-year-old girls was postponed today because of his medical condition.
Dauphin County Judge Bruce S. Bratton granted a continuance to Steven Jacob Mojecki to Aug. 28 after Mojecki's attorney, Sanford Krevsky, said his client was undergoing chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and his immune system had been drastically reduced.
Mojecki was wearing a surgical mask at the proceeding and carrying a ziplock bag full of prescription medicines.
Deputy Attorney General Anthony Forray told Bratton he believed Mojecki was a danger to the community and should have been sentenced. He said Mojecki is facing the possibilty of at least five years in jail if Bratton follows state sentencing guidelines.
Bratton tightened up Mojecki's bail restrictions, placing him on house arrest until the sentencing. He said he would be disinclined to grant any further continuances.
Mojecki, 46, is a co-founder of the Messianic Synagogue Beit HaShem, a group that follows Jewish traditions but believes that Jesus is the messiah. It is not affiliated with local Jewish organizations.
He was working as a computer technician at Harrisburg Area Community College when when he contacted an agent of the attorney general's office who was posing as a 12-year-old girl and asked for sex. He said he had had sex with a 16-year-old and looked forward to having sex with someone even younger.
In November, Mojecki, using the screen name "hbg-pervy-male" and using a similar false identity contacted another agent posing as a girl and solicited sex. The person described himself the same way and also used the same alias and phone number, authorities said.
UOJ
1. You've got stones to publish a quote from Spinoza.
2.ואין כל-חדש, תחת השמש
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.....Yoel B. Come on down!!!
UOJ is right that this entire post is plagiarized. I'm so insulted that he used my trademark "Come on down" line, that I'm retiring.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/THINGS0206/705160307/1002/NEWS01
Bob Barker bids farewell to 35 years in pricing game
Disclaimer: this is a difficult subject. For every person in need there is an ausnutzer trying to get a free ride on everyone else's dime.
http://askshifra.blogspot.com/2006/09/jewish-debt.html#c115931045090997434
At 6:40 PM, Anonymous said...
I can't believe no one commented on the torture of going through the "tuition committee" financial aid process! It's the most hurtful, embarrassing, anti-torahdik experience you could go through. No matter what you say,they don't believe you and assume you are just a schnorrer.Then they give you some obscene offer, like $1000 off your $40,000 bill!
I'm just glad that I only had three kids, and that in only a few more years I will be done. It's Queens college for all of them. We don't believe in debt, either for Yeshiva or undergraduate school.
By the way my husband and I are both well educated professionals, but we've gone through lay offs and other hardships. If I were a young couple just starting out, I would have no choice but to send the kids to public school. I would pick my community based on that, and just hope that NCSY and Kiruv camps can do the job. Public school kids get a lot of inexpensive opportunities for religious experiences that are funded by wealthy donors, and so are very reasonable.
You don't know what obscene means.
http://askshifra.blogspot.com/2006/09/jewish-debt.html#c115930290588140182
At 4:35 PM, makingendsmeet said...
live in the five towns.
combined income of between 325k to 350k
tuition is over 50k
mortgage and line of credit payments (bought house before boom)
send kids to camps (local and sleepaway).
life insurance coverage.
go on vacation once a year.
house needs to be painted, and we need furniture.
put away 10k in 401k
we are just paying our bills.
hardly ever go to resteraunts except wok tov.
count in rising gas and electric costs.
i havent bought a suit in years.
believe it or not, we are just making it.
you can assume higher than 40% (taxes) because of AMT and SS.
5k a month for tuition
mortgage and loc is 2200 a month.
gas and electric
various insurances (home, car, life, umbrella, medical) is at least 1k a month.
car leases is 350
so we have 9k a month for expenses without food or vacation/pesach or camp.
the other 6k a month:
we put away 1k for 401k
pesach/camp is 1k. (more if we go way to a cheap place)
vacation is 1k (if we go once alone, and once as family)
down to 3k a month
food
clothing
gas for car
house maintenance (lawn, sprinkler, and house issues)
wok tov - 2 or 3 times a month (20$ a pop).
internet/phone
newspaper
haircuts
thats another 1k a month.
so we are down to 2k.
some of the income is bonus and benefits that are not guarenteed. also taxes are more than 40% due to AMT, that knocks off 1k a month.
lirr/mta is 250 a month.
we are down to 750$ a month.
shul expenses and assorted tzedakkah
wedding and bar mitzvah gifts
birthday parties and gifts for shabbos invites.
reciprocating shabbos invites
chanuka and pesach gifts
medical co pays
get the kids toys once in a while.
and we have a little left over.
and we dont live in a fancy home, nor drive fancy car.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/06/02/nascar-drivers-show-support-for-convicted-child-molester/
NASCAR Drivers Show Support for Convicted Child Molester
Beware men in Boro Park. Your wife may be going to Ohel Family Services Domestic Abuse program. this is what they feed them there.
They encourage the wives to come in secret and before you know it they will have convinced your wife that you are abusive and she should leave you
http://www.ohelfamily.org/articles_drill.cfm?Art_ID=46
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3408026,00.html
'Take billionaires out of WJC'
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3404450,00.html
Let me tell you a little secret. Despite what people tend to think, haredi women do not go to synagogue services. All the stories about whispering and gossip in the women’s section are about our modern Orthodox sisters. A haredi woman will show her face in synagogue perhaps at Rosh Hashanah, and at most on Yom Kippur. So what do haredi women do on Friday night and other nights?
The average haredi woman lives around the clock. Her schedule includes all 24 hours in the day, with no option to slack off just because she’s tired. What would drive an average woman crazy is the normal way of life in Bnei Brak and other such places.
It would not be unrealistic to tell a story of a woman who sat up every night for an entire week checking exams, unable to calm down her child who was screaming from teething pain. Or the story of a woman with five children, all of them with chickenpox, who is already a regular visitor to a doctor who sees 70 patients a day, and he still remembers her first name. And what will happen tonight? Thanks very much for asking. She managed to sleep for exactly 10 minutes when the baby finally fell asleep on the washing machine, in the middle of the spin cycle, and woke up again during the second rinse cycle.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3407387,00.html
Haredi rescue groups' bitter battle
Two organizations engaged in providing emergency medical attention across country take each other to court following painful split
Neta Sela
The battle that has been raging between two haredi rescue organizations, Ichud Hatzalah (better known abroad as Israel Rescue and Hatzalah) and Hatzolah Israel, has possibly come to an end this week, after a rabbinical court ruled against the former group and accused it of fraudulent fundraising.
The two organizations provide initial emergency medical treatment until an ambulance arrives to the scene of accidents or terror attacks.
Hatzolah Israel, the haredi branch of Magen David Adom, was founded in 1991 by Rabbi Moshe Halbershtam, who passed away last year. The organization has been run in recent years by chairman of the board, David Greenwald.
During the Second Lebanon War, many of the organization's volunteers in the north complained of severe lack of equipment needed for daily operations. This resulted in a crisis within the organization that led several of Hatzolah Israel heads to resign from the group and establish a new organization, Ichud Hatzalah.
In response, Hatzolah Israel petitioned the rabbinical court in Jerusalem in a bid to prevent the establishment of the new organization, claiming that the resigning members took with them equipment that belonged to the mother group, including motorbikes, medical equipment and beepers.
Court orders operations frozen
Ichud Israel in turn filed a petition demanding that Hatzolah Israel account for all funds that have been raised by the organization.
A legal battle ensued, during which the two organizations traded accusations of fraud.
This week, the Jerusalem rabbinical court finally ruled on the case, and found Ichud Hatzalah guilty of deceitful fundraising. The court forbade Ichud Hatzalah or Israel Rescue and Hatzalah in the US from engaging in any sort of activity, including fundraising, until further notice from the court.
The rabbinical judges slammed the organization for continuing to raise money by presenting material on their website that belongs to Hatzolah Israel, and ordered the group to give back equipment, documents and the list of donors taken from the mother organization.
Ichud Hatzalah said in response that it has never been a party in the court case. "The organization's directorate will continue to do its utmost to improve the wellbeing of its 750 volunteers, who are involved in saving lives throughout Israel with devotion and dedication."
The next time your kids' yeshiva cries poverty, find out if they are getting these low interest loans that are almost free.
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=55802&v=3886690811
Nonprofit private schools meeting certain requirements are eligible for "triple tax-exempt bonds," a financing option by which academies can secure lower interest rates on borrowed funds and pay off the money over a longer period of time than with traditional bank loans.
The bonds are also available to religious schools — recent program beneficiaries include Yeshiva Har Torah in Little Neck, the Hannah Senesh Community Day School in Carroll Gardens, and Bais Sarah in Boro Park, all Jewish schools — though the city funding must be earmarked for capital improvements related to schools' nonreligious curricula.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180867542307&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
A Chinese-language international TV station called New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) recently broadcast a news item on Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's adamant prohibition of Jews deriving any benefit from Chinese organ harvesting, even in life-threatening situations.
Elyashiv, the most respected halachic authority among haredi Lithuanian Jewry, ruled over a month ago that it was forbidden to use organs harvested from members of the Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that is being persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime.
Although Elyashiv did not mention the Falun Gong by name, he said it was a desecration of God's name for Jews to exploit the moral corruption of the Chinese regime, which kills political prisoners with the aim of turning a profit by selling their heart, kidney, lungs and other organs.
NTDTV, which calls itself "one of the few sources of uncensored news for the Chinese people," thought its hundreds of millions of viewers would be interested in learning what Judaism has to say about organ trafficking.
Elyashiv's halachic opinion was voiced in response to a question posed by a Jewish doctor. The doctor asked him if he could accompany his Jewish patient to China for the organ transplant. The doctor explained to the nonagenarian rabbi that the Chinese authorities had set up detention camps for thousands of members of the Falun Gong, who are considered enemies of the state. The lives of these detainees were valueless in the eyes of the Chinese authorities, he said. However, the Chinese quickly realized that they could turn a quick profit from trafficking in the organs of the Falan Gong prisoners.
During a conference of Lev Le'achim, an organization that encourages secular Jews to embrace Orthodoxy, Rabbi Yitzhak Zilverstein, the son-in-law of Elyashiv and an expert in Jewish medical ethics, related his father-in-law's answer to the doctor's question.
"It is a desecration of God's name to use organs taken from political prisoners," said Zilverstein in the name of Elyashiv.
"Even in life-threatening cases it is forbidden to receive treatment, especially the chosen people, the Jewish people, who are commanded 'do not murder.' They must not travel to China to get an organ transplant."
Other rabbis who have come out against using Chinese organs include Menahem Porush, former Agudat Yisrael MK; Shlomo Aviner, head of the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva; and Yuval Cherlow, one of the heads of the Petah Tikva Hesder Yeshiva and rabbis of the Sanhedrin, a revival of the ancient Jewish governing body.
According to Ro'i Bar-Ilan, an Israeli representative of the Falun Gong, all Israeli health funds suspended their funding of organ transplants in China. Some private insurance companies still fund Chinese organ transplants.
Dr. Jacob Levee, director of the heart transplant unit at Sheba Medical Center, put the figure since 2004 at 200-300 kidney transplants performed on Israelis in China, 20 heart transplants and 10 liver transplants.
In Israel there is no legislation prohibiting organ transplants. NTDTV in Israel commented that the TV station, which is broadcast from New York via satellite to China, has used its media to arouse public outrage against the organ harvesting and persecution of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong is a spiritual movement that advocates adhering to three principle traits: truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. Adherents try to constantly scrutinize their behavior in an attempt to act in accordance with these three traits. In addition, five meditations are used.
The movement began in China in 1992 with the initial encouragement of the Chinese authorities. But in 1999 Falun Gong was outlawed after the Chinese authorities discovered that the movement was amazingly successful, with between 70 million and 100 million adherents. Apparently the Chinese authorities saw it as a threat to the state.
what is this latest pashkivel on {duvid kahn from "gvil yavetz, ohel, artscroll, irgun hatzolah flatbush",} the paskivel states that yakkov perlow and shmuel kaminetzki "ein lohem tafkid vitachlis. there are also phone numbers there for more info.
718-376-7388
718-376-7423
george
718-627-0400
718-252-1680
uoj, is this from you?
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/npo/344447359.html
Yudi Kolko applied for this job, but he's overqualified.
Can LVF explain what the letter from Dovid Cohen is about?
Yudel Shain & friends have been giving a flogging this week in the comments to Eckstein / YeshivaWorld for being a politically correct hypocrite and moron.
This is Leib Pinter's good buddy who reportedly helped him carry out the hatchet job on Slifkin.
From Shmarya:
Rabbi Yonosson Rosenblum discusses with approval the work of the Monsey-based haredi group, Eternal Jewish Family. EJF, founded and run by Rabbi Leib Tropper, is a major player in the haredi move to control the conversion process worldwide.
Rabbi Tropper, who is also the founder and rosh yeshiva of Kol Yakov, a Monsey-based haredi ba'al teshuva yeshiva, is a controversial figure.
Rabbi Tropper has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics to lure potential converts from intermarried families. In one southern city, Rabbi Tropper promised potential converts that a mikva would be built and a shul opened – no one would need to move to Monsey or another Orthodox enclave. But, when the time for conversion neared, no mikva existed and no synagogue functioned. The promised rabbi Tropper was to send had not arrived. Then, Rabbi Tropper dropped a bombshell. These potential converts, all serious, all had studied for more than a year, would have to move from the southern United States to Monsey, New York – or their conversions were off.
Rabbi Tropper told me these converts confused his hopes with promises. But in email correspondence shared with me, Rabbi Tropper admits in part to misleading these poor people.
Further, there are cities with mikvas, Modern Orthodox congregations and YU-trained rabbis relatively close to where these people live. They could drive for an hour and a half and spend Shabbat and holidays with families there until a congregation can open in their home town. Rabbi Tropper did not propose that option. (In their home town, by the way, there are other such Tropper-involved families facing similar decisions, and where one or two observant Jews live. Some of those potential converts have been said to be fearful that Tropper will cut them off, too, if they speak out about his dishonesty.)
The husband of this family is in his 50s. He has years vested at his job with a pension due on retirement. He will lose all that if he moves, along with facing the problem of finding a new job at that age. Rabbi Tropper made many cloud-like promises – this friend in Monsey will find something for you or that man who works for the city will take care of you – but nothing concrete, and the family was unwilling to trust a man who had already lied to them.
Rabbi Tropper summarily threw the eldest son of this family out of his yeshiva, leaving him broke with no way to get to the airport and back home. He claimed the boy was not serious about his learning yet the boy's teachers had given the family nothing but praise – until the day they refused to move to Monsey. This teenager had to borrow money to get home.
Tropper had promised the family the boy would be able to get his GED at Kol Yakov, and he urged them to withdraw the child from public school and send him to Monsey and Tropper's yeshiva. But Tropper made no arrangements for that GED. It did not matter, however, because the boy was ineligible for a GED under NY law because he was too young. He lost a year, and had to regroup and restructure his life, all because Rabbi Leib Tropper cannot tell the truth.
These people spent thousands of dollars on new kitchen appliances and dishes, kept strictly kosher and did whatever Rabbi Tropper demanded. They appeared on Tropper's EJF website praising the organization and were used by Tropper as examples of his "successful" approach. This material was apparently shown to Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Israel's Sefardic chief rabbi, and to other Israeli haredi leaders who later moved to block acceptance of all Rabbinical Council of America (Modern Orthodox) conversions. Now this family is "lost" to "Yiddishkeit" because of Tropper's failings.
(By the way, I, along with David Kelsey, pitched this story to a major Jewish newspaper last year. The paper, familiar with this blog, would not assign the story to me because I'm too close to the issue and too outspoken. But they were not aware of Kelsey's blog, and were willing to assign it to him. Or, if we wanted, we could do it as an op-ed. I was game for that; Kelsey was not. In the end, we turned it down hoping the paper would relent. It did not. No one else has the story, so, as far as I know, this is the first place this has appeared.)
While it is true that Rabbi Rosenblum can hardly be expected to know the details of this story, there are other similar stories about Rabbi Tropper. A bit of poking might have served Rabbi Rosenblum well.
Kiryas Joel, Monroe, NY - Fake Psychotherapist Extracted Phony Confession from Father
Kiryas Joel, Monroe, NY - State officials have slapped a self-styled psychotherapist to the Hasidic community with a $1,000 fine and probation after a judge found he extracted a phony "confession" from a father accused of abusing his daughters.
William "Zev" Ballen of upstate Monsey, a licensed social worker who was reprimanded last year for calling himself a psychotherapist without a state psychotherapy degree, treated the father in 2005 after the dad agreed to counseling to help defuse his wife's accusations.
At the end of the sessions, the dad, Mr. Landau, a cook in the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, signed a statement admitting that he'd had abused his girls. But a family-court judge found the counseling sessions were a trap for Landau and dismissed the statement as not credible.
Judge Andrew Bivone said: "The statements made by Mr. Landau were as a result of the coercive impact of this 'investigation' in which all involved made it clear to Mr. Landau what he was required to admit."
Ballen admitted to the charge of failing to keep records during the meetings with Landau in exchange for a fine and one year of probation.
"There has never been any filing with the disciplinary board in almost 30 years that questioned my competency or care for my clients," Ballen said. [NY Post]
Passaic, NJ - Audit Can't Account for $500,000 of Funds at Preschool
Passaic, NJ - The director of a pre-K program cannot account for nearly $500,000 in state funds she received, according to an audit by the state Department of Education.
Some of the money went to shopping sprees, a personal loan to an employee and to make a home mortgage payment, according to the report.
The audit of the Children's Heimeshe Workshop's, found that Director Libby Leibowitz, who worked in the child-care provider business for 19 years and operates another preschool under the same name in Brooklyn, could not provide proof that thousands of dollars of state money she spent went to benefit the school.
The report said that checks worth $44,668 were written out to petty cash, but that Leibowitz could not say where the money went. She also used state money to make a personal mortgage payment, and could not provide receipts for all of $360,000 in various debit card charges and nearly $50,000 in additional discretionary spending.
Leibowitz acknowledged that the accounting practices were due to "negligence" on her part but said she was forced into using the state money because the school district failed to repay her on time.
Schools Superintendent Robert Holster said that as a result of the audit, he recommended the school board not renew Heimeshe's contract for the 2007-2008 year.
But teachers at the preschool said they were concerned about losing their jobs, and parents were concerned about where the children who attend the school might go next year. The school serves kosher lunches, observes Jewish holidays and employs Orthodox Jewish teachers to meet the needs of its 75 students, the majority of whom are from the city's Orthodox Jewish community.
But school board member Victor Santiago said he favored the pre-k center being under district control, suggesting that providing kosher food could be contracted out to a caterer.
The education department has referred the audit to the state Attorney General's Office for review. [NorthJersey]
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/06/haredi_spokesma.html#comments
I have being living in Monsey all my life and I am familiar with tropper, he is evil person. Most of the people here do not like him or his yeshiva, he used to be nobody and considered a weirdo before he converted a shiksa from rich southern American family (Kaplan) and got an access to a lot of money. (Someone else writes she was converted by Young Israel's Rabbi Herbie Bomzer & Chabad)
He is rumored to engage in inappropriate behavior and JWB should look into it.
Even before his rise to fame he was known to make his students cut off any contact
with their families. He controls their shiduch and forces them to cancel it if he does not like to girl (he got now his own BT shiduch services).
Students who left the yeshiva and decided to practice MO, Tropper tried to get them fired from their job. Students who decided to go to college Tropper bad mouthed them with their new community and new rabbi,
For converts, he convinced intermarried couple to cancel their RCA beis din and to go with him only to cancel the woman conversion because they did not want
to move to black hat community, this after the couple
had children.
I can go on and on but I will just ad about his background, he is best friend with Leib Pinter a serial crook, he got his semicha from Pini Scheinberg of the ‘No Pentration, No harm done’ and he is cousin of Shlomo Carlebach another sexual predator.
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Carlebach_Shlomo.html
I believe the reason the community let people like Kolko and Shapiro molest tens of children for decades is because we let people like Tropper to position of
power
Tropper would not be able to do all those things if Thomas Kaplan was not sponsoring him. Kaplan is the founder of Apex Silver (www.apexsilver.com) a public held company we have to let him , the shareholders and financial writers know what Tropper his doing with their money.
His students are the weirdest of all the BT mills students here. They walk around spewing hate against Modern Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews, Chabbad, the state of Israel and the most hated one, the evil one, the big imposter; rabbi Noach Weinberg.
Tropper hates Rabbi Weinberg more than anything in the world.
Maybe we could ping it to the UOJ, he gets results
LVF has left a new comment on your post "This Entire Post Is Plagiarized!":
what is this latest pashkivel on {duvid kahn from "gvil yavetz, ohel, artscroll, irgun hatzolah flatbush",} the paskivel states that yakkov perlow and shmuel kaminetzki "ein lohem tafkid vitachlis. there are also phone numbers there for more info.
718-376-7388
718-376-7423
george
718-627-0400
718-252-1680
uoj, is this from you?
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My Dear Chaver LVF,
I have been occupied lately with tzurchei tzibbur b'emunah,...It's overwhelming me completely,as to the horrors in the name of Torah. I'm sorry that I have not been responsive to your e-mails and to those of other chaverim.
I am not responsible for that pashkevil, but all of us have emboldened a new system of justice, since the bais din process has completely broken down by the Haredim, to the point of no return in sight!
I encourage all people that have contacted me about various issues, to avoid bais din completely. If I suspected a scintilla of fraud and corruption to that particular bais din or rabbonim, I have urged many good people to take their matters to court.
DO NOT VIOLATE ANY GOVERNMENT LAWS!
Consult with attorneys as to the applicable laws, but avoid corrupt batei din!
Pashkevilim, if true, are a great way of meting out justice to the criminals. BAIS DIN BY THE HAREDIM IS BROKEN!
The RCA should be explored as an alternative!
http://www.northjersey.com/print.php?qstr=ZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxNDQ3ODEmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz
State says she can't account for $500,000 in aid
Saturday, June 2, 2007
By MEREDITH MANDELL
HERALD NEWS
MICHAEL KARAS / HERALD NEWS
PASSAIC -- The director of a pre-K program cannot account for nearly $500,000 in state funds she received in 2005-06, according to an audit by the state Department of Education.
Some of the money went to shopping sprees at stores like Victoria's Secret, a personal loan to an employee and to make a home mortgage payment, according to the report.
The audit of the Children's Heimeshe Workshop's 2005-06 finances, done by the department's Office of Compliance and Investigation, found that Director Libby Leibowitz could not provide proof that thousands of dollars of state money she spent went to benefit the school.
The education department has referred the audit to the state Attorney General's Office for review, said department spokesman Rich Vespucci. Reviewing the school's books, state investigators could not determine the source of funds for certain payments, including a $7,000 loan to one of Leibowitz's employees, which the audit said was later repaid.
The report also said checks worth $44,668 were written out to petty cash, but that Leibowitz could not say where the money went. Leibowitz also used state money to make a $3,661 personal mortgage payment and recorded charges to Kohl's, Jin's Nail, Mary Unisex Beauty and Hosiery Planet that auditors could not prove were to help the school. Auditors also found that Leibowitz could not provide receipts for all of $360,000 in various debit card charges and nearly $50,000 in additional discretionary spending.
The report also found Leibowitz didn't conduct proper employee criminal background checks, required by law, nor appropriately spend all the money she was given for classroom technology.
Investigators noted a lack of computers in the classrooms, even though the program was given money to provide two in every room.
The school district budgeted $788,573 in state aid to the school during the 2005-06 year, the education department said. This school year, the budget for Heimeshe was $847,826.
Leibowitz acknowledged Friday that the accounting practices were due to "negligence" on her part but said she was forced into using the state money because the school district failed to repay her on time.
She said when she opened her school in the six trailers on the grounds of School 1 in October 2005, the district did not budget for startup costs such as supplies and furniture. With the approval of Maria Garcia, then the director of the district's early childhood learning program, Leibowitz said she used $15,000 of her personal funds to buy supplies.
She said the school district did not repay her until March of the following year.
"I expended myself $15,000, which I thought would be immediately repaid and I ran short on my own family expenses," she said.
Schools Superintendent Robert Holster could not say on Friday whether Leibowitz's budget included startup supplies. He said he could not comment further because the matter is under investigation. Garcia no longer works for the district.
Holster said that as a result of the audit, he recommended the school board not renew Heimeshe's contract for the 2007-2008 year, and that it appears at this time that the district will run the pre-K program.
"No matter what the outcome is, children will have seats in September there," Holster said.
But Friday afternoon, teachers at the preschool said they were concerned about losing their jobs, and parents were concerned about where the children who attend the school might go next year. The school serves kosher lunches, observes Jewish holidays and employs Orthodox Jewish teachers to meet the needs of its 75 students, the majority of whom are from the city's Orthodox Jewish community.
"A large percentage of them (parents) were drawn to this site because of the Jewish administration," said teacher Mindy Elyakin. "If they had a problem with the administration, they could have just changed it," she said. "There is no reason to close down the school and leave parents and teachers in the lurch."
But school board member Victor Santiago said he favored the pre-k center being under district control, suggesting that providing kosher food could be contracted out to a caterer.
"My personal opinion is that any child care should be provided by the district," he said. "When you privatize and funnel out the services this is what you get."
Vespucci said that the Passaic Board of Education is responsible for verifying Heimeshe's expenditures and paying back any missing money. The audit noted that the school district lacked a fiscal specialist and did not give Leibowitz guidance in running the program.
Leibowitz said she has since written a corrective action plan and hired an independent auditor to help her appeal the results of the audit. Leibowitz has worked in the child-care provider business for 19 years and operates another preschool under the same name in Brooklyn, according to the audit report.
"It was totally accounting errors and that's why I hired my own auditor and paid a fortune so they could fix it," Leibowitz said. "I wouldn't do it maliciously; it was negligence."
There are fake shrinks in Monsey too. Not just Lakewood.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042007/news/regionalnews/shrink_rap__fake_perv_confession_regionalnews_alex_ginsberg.htm
June 4, 2007 -- State officials have slapped a self-styled psychotherapist to the Hasidic community with a $1,000 fine and probation after a judge found he extracted a phony "confession" from a father accused of sexually abusing his daughters.
William "Zev" Ballen of upstate Monsey, a licensed social worker who was reprimanded last year for calling himself a psychotherapist without a state psychotherapy degree, treated the father in 2005 after the dad agreed to counseling to help defuse his wife's accusations.
At the end of the sessions, the dad, Abraham Landau, a cook in the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, signed a statement admitting that he'd had sexual contact with his girls. But a family-court judge found the counseling sessions were a trap for Landau and dismissed the statement as not credible.
Judge Andrew Bivone said: "The statements made by Mr. Landau were as a result of the coercive impact of this 'investigation' in which all involved made it clear to Mr. Landau what he was required to admit."
Ballen later admitted to the charge of failing to keep records during the meetings with Landau in exchange for a fine and one year of probation.
Arrested as co-conspirators in the first scam were Leo Schwartz & Casper Weiss, also of Brooklyn.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042007/news/regionalnews/conman_is_facing_new_fraud_raps_regionalnews_jamie_schram.htm
June 4, 2007 -- A Brooklyn man already in jail for one boiler-room investment scheme was hit with more charges of selling fake stock to investors, police sources said.
John Blot, 27, of Bedford Avenue, was charged May 30 with second-degree grand larceny in connection with an alleged scam that netted about $1.2 million from nearly 90 victims between 2003 and 2005.
Blot had pleaded guilty in October and was sentenced to 36 months in prison for his part in a boiler-room ruse that bilked clients across the country, including New York and Connecticut.
In the latest scheme, prosecutors said, Blot and his partners operated under the fake banner of Westwood Holdings Inc., at 40 Exchange Place in lower Manhattan.
They made unsolicited calls offering opportunities to buy stock in a fake company called ATM Express.
Victims sent their money to Blot and his partners and never saw anything in return. One sent more than $50,000 over nine months.
Libby Leibowitz of Passaic / Brooklyn runs her other operation across the street from Mirrer yeshiva.
This whole thing with Leib Tropper smells fishy. First, he is friends with super ganiv Pinter. Second, he appears out of nowhere and starts running around the globe to farkoyf his geirus binge, claiming to have R' Reuven Feinstein's haskomma. Since when is R' Reuven the big authority in this miktzoah of halocho? It's also not so poshut that you do kiruv on intermarried couples, in case you encourage people to get intermarried in the first place. Someone should go to Rav Elyashev to figure out if Tropper is running a scam.
And how much money does Tropper take as a fee for geirus?
"Libby Leibowitz of Passaic / Brooklyn runs her other operation across the street from Mirrer yeshiva."
At 511 Ave R. I wonder if Colmer hung out over there.
It's also suspicious that the Jewish Press is supporting Tropper's campaign and giving him plenty of free ad space disguised as pictorial reporting. I wonder if he has his own beis din or if he's using the Iggud Haganovim.
This week's paper shows a very WASPy looking Steve Edwards sitting and joking with Tropper who has his BIG BOICH hanging out.
I have to find out who Blot from Bedford Ave is. It's very interesting that he was committing boiler room crimes. I wonder if that's the same kind of boiler room like at YTT?
Before these misinformed people get worked up into a frenzy and start bothering Apex Silver Mines about Leib Tropper and Thomas Kaplan, let's get the facts straight.
It's true that Kaplan left hedge fund management in 1993 to found Apex but he retired in 2004 and was replaced by Phelps Dodge exec Jeff Clevenger.
Apex started as a Cayman Islands holding company in shutfus with George & Paul Soros.
http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2000/0807/6604064a.html
See this Forbes article for the background.
I hope UOJ gets to the bottom of what Tropper is doing. Sounds like he might be messing up a lot of people.
Tom Kaplan started Leor Energy, a gas exploration outfit in Houston when he resigned from Apex.
He's also the biggest individual shareholder in some companies like Afplats (African Platinum) and Southern African Resources (palladium mining) and likes sticking his nose into internal affairs. He's gone so far as to take out full page ads worth 400k in the Wall St Journal & London's Financial Times.
He's an Oxford Phd who may be currently living in Switzerland like Dovid Cohen's pals Pinky Green and Marc Rich.
Who was Leib Tropper married to the first time? Did he leave her for the giyoress?
Does anyone know who is funding Tropper's trips all over to meet with every beis din doing giyur so he can push his "Eternal Jewish Family" brand?
It's certainly odd that he's a one man show and that he's being taken seriously.
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/
Tropper's organizations are funded by the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation, run by Thomas Kaplan and his Portugese / Brazillian nephew named Guma Aguiar who heads Leor Energy.
http://www.horizons.edu/descrip.htm
Tropper claims his yeshiva is guided by R' Yaakov Kaminetzky. Did he have any shaychus with him? Does the mishpocho have a problem with his name being used?
http://www.horizons.edu/basp.htm
And Tropper's yeshiva always had a reputation of a reject yeshiva. He is giving a semicha program here. What kind of rabbis does he put out? Has anyone even heard of a Kol Yaakov / "Horizons" musmach?
Does OUJ or anyone else out there in bloggerland know whatever happened to to the case of Aaron Tomas vs. Shmuel (Rabbi that is) Fuerst. What does OUJ think about Aaron Tomas's case? I pasted here his web sight for anyone interested in reading his side of the story. It involves a parent being excommunicated by the Chicago beit din while trying to seek redress against a community member who repeatedly molested his son?
There's nobody to complain to. There's no masthead, no company, no reporter, no editor, there's nothing. UOJ, this is shameful. You should delete every reference to Rabbi Tropper. Otherwise, you're a megalomaniac, you're drunk with power, and out of control. Child sex abuse, based on first-hand victim accounts, is one thing, but now you're making wild allegations against a credible, a pioneer in the teshuva movement, with no evidence about anything.
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The comment section should be considered a "global" chazaras hashatz/kriat hatorah forum. I have a longstanding policy for not endorsing the veracity of any of the comments posted here.
Since we do not have a credible forum to air our grievances, there is no reliable Haredi bais din to speak of...they all can be bought (few rare exceptions)...there is no really reliable unbiased Jewish media (exceptions are few outside the Haredi world)...this is the clearinghouse for the olam.
I do not endorse any of the comments as truth; they may be, they may be not. That's what its come to. The Jewish wild west. Thanks to your local gadol/Haredi rabbi!
Dear UOJ
Please keep the information about Tropper on your blog. You may save potential BTs and converts the sorrow and the misery that can be caused by Tropper.
There are kind rabbis who work with BTs and kind rabbis who work with converts.
Please let those people (BTs and converts) know that there are issues with Tropper and let them make their own decision.
God Bless You
God Bless You
------
Thanks Daniel,
Its been a while since anyone blessed me!
The only musmach from Tropper I ever heard of was some loser involved in a kashrus scandal on the West Coast. Tropper claims that the guy only stopped by his yeshiva for a short while and did not go through the semicha program. Efshar yo, efshar nit. It's easy to disassociate yourself from an embarrassment after the fact.
It's also strange that Tropper's semicha program is mechayev dinei geirus according to that link.
It's true that these are half truths about Tropper. Like his picture in the Jewish Fress this week with Steve Edwards. That was no BIG BOICH hanging out - it was HUMUNGOUS.
I just found out, that at least according to the Yated, Rav Elyashev and Rav Wosner are behind Tropper's geirus thing. The point of it was to oppose the Rabbanut giyur, yet at the same time, they got Yona Metzger involved. Go figure. I still don't like that this guy is friends with Pinter and may have helped in mowing down Slifkin. Lo lechinam holech hazarzir etzel ....
The Yated refers to Kaplan as "R' Thomas Kaplan". What a galechter to call someone with a Notzri name "Reb". Lillian Jean is his mother.
Is there anyone here from YU who can find out why R' Hershel Schechter attended Tropper's conference in Florida and if he holds of him?
A Rabbi Dovid Jacobs is Tropper's executive director. He must be related to Marvin Jacobs Esq. of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, who is chairman of Tropper's events. Co-chairman is a Kaplan nephew with a frum sounding name for a change.
Tropper has pulled in some other heavy hitters like Rav Kook from Rechovot and Dayan Ehrentreu from London.
Yeshiva Tuition Obscenities said...
Disclaimer: this is a difficult subject. For every person in need there is an ausnutzer trying to get a free ride on everyone else's dime.
Like the roshei yeshiva, yeshiva administrators, and heads of frum mosdot, whose children's tuition are paid by their institutions - in addition to their salaries.
Tropper claims his yeshiva is guided by R' Yaakov Kaminetzky. Did he have any shaychus with him?
________
Every putz who saw R' Yaakov at a melave malke claims they had a shaychos with him. This is the ploy they use with all the dead gedolim. Who is gonna say different?
It nauseates me to see Rav Pam's picture on every stupid envelope of Shuvu, inside the fold, under the fold, on the label, soon on a Shuvu stamp! It's sickening, he never would have approved.
All this grandstanding in the name of dead true gedolim is worse than pathetic.
It's hard for me to build up compassion for someone who can't make it on $300K a year.
send kids to camps (local and sleepaway).
A completely unnecessary expense. Kids can survive without summer camp.
go on vacation once a year.
At a cost of thousands. Buy a tent and some gear and go camping instead. State forest campgrounds cost about $6 a night for a camp site.
house needs to be painted,
If you're smart enough to have six figure incomes I think you can figure out how to use a roller and brush. Paying someone to paint a room is going to cost at least $200 a room. Interior enamel is $10-$20 a gallon and two gallons should be enough for any residential room.
and we need furniture.
Why? Because the old stuff is falling apart or because it isn't stylish anymore?
hardly ever go to resteraunts except wok tov...
wok tov - 2 or 3 times a month (20$ a pop)
And this is a necessary expense? Why, so your wife won't resent you on mikva night?
i havent bought a suit in years.
Value City has some decent Italian designed and made in China suits that look pretty good and are less than $200. Alternatively, try a resale shop. Or are you too good to wear used clothing?
you can assume higher than 40% (taxes) because of AMT and SS.
Start a home business on the side so you can write off some of your mortgage and utility expenses.
car leases is 350
For $2000-$3000 you can buy a perfectly serviceable used car and ditch your lease. It will last at least as long as your lease term. And if status is important, you can buy a 5 or 6 year old Jaguar XJ8 (and only a Jaguar expert can spot the difference between a 10 year old XJ and a new one) for about half the price of a new Toyota Camry.
pesach/camp is 1k. (more if we go way to a cheap place)
vacation is 1k (if we go once alone, and once as family)
All unnecessary expenses.
house maintenance (lawn, sprinkler, and house issues)
Once again, if you can earn a six figure salary, you can figure out how to do most home maintenance jobs. You want to pay some guy $65 to turn on your sprinkler system, go ahead, but it's only three or four valves and turning on the clock. You can buy a power mower at KMart for about $120 on sale and cut your own grass, or buy a hand reel mower for even less and not only save on gardening costs but you won't have to go to the gym so much.
internet/phone
newspaper
Subscribing to a newspaper when you have internet service is a waste.
haircuts
You can learn how to cut your kids' hair yourself. Your wife can cut yours. Nidda isn't a problem because nobody needs their hair cut more than once a month.
lirr/mta is 250 a month.
Then what do you need your cars for?
and we dont live in a fancy home, nor drive fancy car.
Depends what you mean by fancy. If you live in the Five Towns, your house is worth at least half a million.
Tropper also tells people he was ben-bayis in Rav Moshe Feinstein home and was like a son to him because he grew up on the lower east side.
Tropper also tells people he was ben-bayis in Rav Moshe Feinstein home and was like a son to him because he grew up on the lower east side.
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I'll wager he even has a photo of R' Moshe in his dining room. That proves it!
vitachlis
And what about Brylcreem?
And Tropper's yeshiva always had a reputation of a reject yeshiva.
I really wish you guys would stop using the term "reject yeshiva". It's terrible to call our fellow Jews rejects, a step away from calling them bums. The only reason why there are rejects is because the yeshiva system fails them.
OT but important to parents of boys:
I highly recommend that you get your young sons a book called The Dangerous Book For Boys.
It is filled with all sorts of projects and information that boys used to do, like build stuff.
Here's the Amazon review
Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own).
Most Rabbonim Today are Cowards said...
The only musmach from Tropper I ever heard of was some loser involved in a kashrus scandal on the West Coast. Tropper claims that the guy only stopped by his yeshiva for a short while and did not go through the semicha program. Efshar yo, efshar nit. It's easy to disassociate yourself from an embarrassment after the fact.
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I do not know if that the one, but Tropper has a talmid (I do not know about his semicha) Yaakov Barros who was an assistant rabbi in San Francisco and became a rabbi in South Fallsburg under strange circumstances after the shul there fired the previous rabbi (MO) and installed Barros.
Barros is being awarded something in Kol Yaakov dinner later this year.
Calling Tropper a putz and a yutz is one thing, what gives on Menken?
I need more or I will take it down. Who did he confess to...who can verify this allegation?
Vicky has accused him of having some kind of sexual relationship with one of the young women who worked for Project Genesis. For a while, his alleged victim had a blog that described what he did, and claimed he apologized for it. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the blog and it may have been taken down.
Vicky thinks it's abuse because he was 20 years older than her ("just out of her teens"), but it's clear that if there was any relationship it was consensual and between two adults, regardless of whatever halachic or clergy behavior standards that may have been violated.
but it's clear that if there was any relationship it was consensual and between two adults, regardless of whatever halachic or clergy behavior standards that may have been violated.
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Clear to whom?
Nachum Eisenstein is the brains behind the ejf, Troppers organization. Rabbi Elyashiv just signs on the dotted line, but Nachum is pulling all of the strings. See addrabbi's archives for some background.
Clear to whom?
The 'victim' indicated in her blog that the relationship was consensual albeit inappropriate.
..........The bottom line is clear:
Adolescents in this sample and in the United States are experiencing high rates of violence and depression, with a growing number of them committing suicide," Drs. Amy E. Bonomi and Kelly Kelleher of Ohio State University in Columbus write in an accompanying editorial.
Olshen and her team analyzed results of a survey of 8,080 high school students 14 or older to better understand the relationship among suicide attempts, sexual assault and dating violence.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among teens, they note. Suicide attempts are common among high schoolers and put them at risk of engaging in other risky behaviors.
Overall, the researchers found that 11.7 percent of girls and 7.2 percent of boys reported having tried to kill themselves at least once in the previous year, while 9.6 percent of girls and 5.4 percent reported having been sexually assaulted during their lifetime.
Although the study focused on public high school students in one urban area, the findings can probably be generalized to urban youth across the country, Olshen and her colleagues suggest. "Clinicians, educators and other professionals should be trained to routinely screen for violence victimization and should have a low threshold for referring these at-risk teenagers for mental health services."
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, June 2007.
"Clear to whom?" that "if there was any relationship it was consensual and between two adults, regardless of whatever halachic or clergy behavior standards that may have been violated."
Ronnie don't forget wrote the book on Older men landing younger women. He has groisse taynos that the "froomies" consider it inappropriate. Hee hee.
Jewish Survivor blogger alleges that Menken confessed his sins to R' Shmuel Kamenetzky but blamed the girl for "seducing" him.
Tropper claimed at a Newark, NJ conference that he also has the backing of R' Dovid Feinstein. What does that mean? He called R' Dovid to ask a shayla or two?
Tropper just had another conference recently in Phoenix and has plans to open an office there shortly. It's weird that the rov there, Rabbi Rebibo, who runs a joke hashgocho, is onboard with Tropper, all the while that he espouses some strange shitos on geirus. Rebibo told the media that geirus with marriage of a Yid in mind is ok, as long as they also have some interest in Yiddishkeit. That's the biggest psul of shema yitain ainav ba / aina bo.
R' Nochum Eisenstein is Av Beis Din of the Yerushalmi Beis Din Tzedek LeGiyur and rov of Maalot Dafna.
Allegedly Leib Tropper was married to a daughter of Rav Margolin, the student of Rav Aaron Kotler, who used to live in Crown Heights. He divorced his first wife and shortly married a woman whom he was mekarev to Yiddishkeit. Some say that this resume should disqualify Rabbi Leib Tropper from spearheading this global organization. Some dispute this account. Some jokingly say that it is not a problem because You want a man who understands love not some eunuch lawyer geek from Lakewood.
One of the Rabbis on Boston Beis Din already indicated that he was slighted and he will not support Tropper. The following questions are of interest. Is it true that R' Aharon Feldman from Baltimore withdrew his participation, and if so, why? Also, why the Chicago Rabbinical council will not attend?
Other participants: The Bostoner Rebbe, Rav Lau, R' Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, R' Shmuel Dishon and R' Moishe Soloveitchik.
R' Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of Moscow; R' Pesach Lerner, Young Israel; Harav Mordechai Neugroschel, Arachim; R' Shlomo Rybak, RCA; Dovid Rosengard, Esq. - Master of Ceremonies; Malcolm Hoenlein, Nat Lewin, R' Aharon Kahn (Beis Din of Lakewood), R" Pinchos Rabinowitz (Beis Din of Monsey), R' Baruch Zaitchik (JEP), Rabbi Moshe Krupka (OU), Rabbi Avraham Union (Lubavitcher on the Rabbinic Council of California) and Rabbi Eli Gewitz (Torah Umesorah).
The controversial figure Rabbi Tovia Singer is also involved in Tropper's gerus campaign and has gotten the microphone at events.
It's an outrage that these schmos get to decide everything. Let's just stick to the old system of knowing on our own who the reliable rabbis are. I'd hate to see Tropper destroy someone he doesn't like over politics. Oh sorry, he may have already done that to Slifkin.
"Every putz who saw R' Yaakov at a melave malke claims they had a shaychos with him."
They also do it with the Brisker Rov who is more in vogue depending on velcherra kreizen meh redt veggen.
It was Yaakov Barros from San Francisco. I don't remember all the details now. I think he was endorsing "standards" that no rabbi in his right mind would. It attracted enough attention that even East Coast rabbonim were contacting Tropper, who then tried to mach aveck any achrayus on himself for Barros. He made it sound like the guy was there for a month by accident or something.
If Tropper is now honoring Barros this is an outrage.
The shul in South Fallsburg must be the one near the yeshiva where Kreitman was the rov. It's the only other year round minyan.
http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/18044/Progress_On_Conversions.html
The shmucks at the Jewish Press editorial board call Tropper a "highly regarded rosh yeshiva".
It must take a lot to make it to the JP's Hall of Fame with Mordechai Tendler and their heroes from the Iggud Haganovim.
"R. Moshe Feinstein was no dummy."
Thanks Gilligan, I feel better now.
"They also do it with the Brisker Rov"
There's one big name out there who always quotes from the Brisker Rov in his sefer as if he's a talmid muvhok. It turns out he just went to hear the rov speak by shalosh seudos.
Yo, dudes. Tropper really gets around with Kaplan funding his conference circuit. I'm talkin' like Amsterdam, Washington DC, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, Montreal, you name it.
http://www.weil.com/wgm/pages/Controller.jsp?z=l&sz=p&db=common/firmdir.ns5&d=EAD7261777939A93852564CD00553F94&v=0&f=New%20York
It's not nice making fun of Leib Tropper's boich, although he makes fun of me because I'm not obese and calls me Starvin' Marvin.
Ronnie don't forget wrote the book on Older men landing younger women.
Don't have the first clue about landing younger women. Or older women either. Will die alone. Would be better off sublimating. If I could shut off that part of my brain I would.
He has groisse taynos that the "froomies" consider it inappropriate. Hee hee.
No big complaints. Just pointed out that 25 year old women go unmarried when in earlier days unattached women would marry older widowers who needed someone to help them raise their kids.
Just because I point out that standards have changed dramatically in "traditional" behavior is no reason to make personal attacks on me.
The situation is aggravating enough that I really don't need this kind of shit. Go fuck yourself.
It seems like you can't count on anyone for good food unless you attend the Agudah convention.
All kidding aside, don't you hate it when kosher restaurants cut every corner and jip you?
Some of them are notorious for misrepresenting entrees on their menu. They describe them as having certain ingredients but what you actually get is completely different with cheaper ingredients.
Sushi Metzuyan in Queens seems to have jipped us tonight by doing just that. Shmucks.
UOJ
Sorry for the nivul peh. I generally don't care when people say negative shit about me unless it's a lie. Hell, I'm pretty open about my own flaws. But even I have my limits to how much abuse I'll tolerate.
I wonder if these assholes make fun of the way cripples walk.
Overall, the researchers found that 11.7 percent of girls and 7.2 percent of boys reported having tried to kill themselves at least once in the previous year,
The difference is that girls make cries and use suicide methods like pills that are usually not effective and end up with them in the hospital. Boys, on the other hand, use methods that work, like inhaling a gun, driving into a tree or mixed pills and booze.
"R. Moshe Feinstein was no dummy."
I was once telling some chuchem who is a rov out of town about something I heard from R' Zelig Epstein shlita. He says, "oh, Reb Zelig! I know he is big because R' Dovid Cohen holds of him."
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=9090
Convicted and jailed child molester Rabbi Michael Ozair also is a Tropper musmach but Tropper denies it saying he was there but he wasn't really there.
Ozair’s Web site states that "his rabbinical training was at Kol Yaacov Torah Center in Monsey, N.Y." However, administrators at Kol Yaacov tell a different story, saying he applied to the school and visited it in August 1997, but never enrolled.
"He said he wanted to try it out, so he popped in for a couple of hours a week for about six weeks, but he was never officially accepted as a student," said Rabbi Leib Tropper, the school’s educational director.)
Tropper (ltropper@horizons.edu),
We know you have a computer in your office and you are following this saga there or on your blackberry.
You said earlier that it is all exaggerations and half truths so why they do not say those things about Rabbi Weinberg or landsman Rabbi Yakov Horowitz ? They also work with difficult cases, probably more difficult than the cases you deal with.
So maybe the allegations about you have some truth to them, there is no smoke without fire.
My advise to you is to walk down the street to rabbi Horowitz house and in bidchilu verichmu ask forgiveness from him and ask him to teach you a lesson in derech eretz you putz
The controversial figure Rabbi Tovia Singer is also involved in Tropper's gerus campaign and has gotten the microphone at events.
Tovia is very talented, a very persuasive speaker. His ex wife was a complete babe. I wouldn't want him dating my sister, but he has his talents.
AutoWorld:
If that "tuition complaint" letter would of showed up in front of our committee, I'd pull out my big red "DENIED" stamp.
Tis the season!
You are 100% on the mark with that one.
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/kamenetsky.html
How come nobody told me that Sholom Kamenetzky is lecturing at the University of Pennsylvania?
Dos haist a steera tzum Philly yeshiva!
Vos vet nebich zein mit der kinder?!
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3408879,00.html
Ronald Lauder and Mendel Kaplan, have been implicated in the financial mismanagement of the WJC by virtue of serving, respectively, as WJC treasurer and chair of the governing board, during the years of sloppy fiscal leadership.
Yosef Israel Abramowitz blogs daily at www.Peoplehood.org, founded SocialAction.com, served as chair of the Koret International JewishBook Awards last year and is a former member of the World Jewish Congress Executive. He is a member of Kol Dor and co-chairs the third annual global Jewish Social Action Month this coming Cheshvan.
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200706/fees.html
A majority of small retailers say they are not treated fairly by their credit-processing firms, a new survey shows.
Few small retailers understand the rates charged by credit- and debit-card processing firms and many suspect they're getting ripped off, according to a new survey.
Of 400 retailers surveyed nationwide, only 21 percent said they understood the often complex fee structures, while only 26 percent felt they were being treated fairly, according to Heartland Payment Systems, a Princeton, N.J.-based payment-processing firm.
Business owners may have reason to worry. Last week, the attorney general of Missouri sued First Capital Bankcard, a Kansas City, Mo., payment-processing firm, for deceptive practices, including charging inflated fees. More than 35 merchants had complained about the firm, with reported losses as high as $2,000, according to the attorney general's office.
"Running a small business is challenging enough without having to worry about someone scamming you," Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said in statement.
A month earlier, the Federal District Court in Oregon froze the assets of Merchant Processing, a Beaverton, Ore.-based payment processing firm with thousands of small-business clients across the nation. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the firm allegedly lured merchants with promises of lower processing fees, instead charging additional fees hidden in contract fine print.
The trade commission is currently seeking injunctions against the company, along with refunds for its clients.
Diamondcard Credit Card Processing
Rating:
BBB-A Very High Rating.
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Bureau Summary and Analysis of customer complaints and company responses:
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Complaint Closing Statistics
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No. of Cmpl Type of Response
0 Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
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1 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
0 Refusing to make an adjustment
2 Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
0 Unanswered
0 Unassigned
3-Total
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This company is not a member of the Better Business Bureau. This fact does not disparage the company in any way.
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No question about the truth of this company's advertising has come to our attention.
Other Considerations:
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Company Name Address City/State/Postal Type of Business
Diamondcard Credit Card Processing
(Diamondcard Processing Company) 7828 Haven Ave # 100 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 Credit Cards - Protection Service
Diamondcard Credit Card Processing
(Diamondcard Processing Company) 3535 Inland Empire Blvd Ste 28 Ontario, CA 91764 Credit Cards - Protection Service
Diamondcard Credit Card Processing
(Diamondcard Processing Company) 1911 Commecenter E Ste 206 San Bernardino, CA 92408 Credit Cards - Protection Service
Diamondcard Credit Card Processing
(Diamondcard Processing Company) 3200 Inland Empire Blvd Ste 217 Ontario, CA 91764 Credit Cards - Protection Service
Diamondcard Processing 533 Airport Blvd Ste 400 Burlingame, CA 94010 General Merchandise - Retail
Diamond Card Exchange, Inc. 1005 W Fayett Syracuse, NY 13204 Mail Order & Catalog Shopping
Diamond Card Exchange 394 Kennard St Saint Paul, MN 55106 Collectibles
Isn't this pathetic?
http://www.gambling911.com/Sopranos-Finale-Betting-Odds-060507.html
Note to Washington State residents, it is a Class C felony to bet on the Sopranos with a sentence similar to that of a child molester or drug dealer.
(Sopranos bets are primarily placed on Bodog.com. The owner is a Canadian who lives in Costa Rica and refuses to answer questions about his personal income taxes. He is wanted by the FBI for allowing US residents to gamble. He cannot ever fly back to Canada because the Feds will divert his plane to a US Airport to arrest him. This is one law that makes little sense. The guy is not American so leave him alone)
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/06/glucosamine-fish-oils.html#1055775596122382755
"MT (mashgiach temidi) for canned tuna comes a dime a dozen. You might be surprised to know that even the OU does it for Pesach production."
NOT ANY MORE-THE STAR-K STOPPED THAT ALSO- 'CAUSE THE STAR-K DID IT FOR CHEAPER VIA "NO-MASHGIACH" SO THE OU HAD TO COMPETE BY ALSO "NO-MASHGIACH"
THE STAR-K HAS ON THEIR TUNA cans MASHGIACH-TEMIDI (the mashgiach's name-I guess) AND BISHUL-YISROEL.
I SHOWED THE STAR-K'S (POLLACK & SHUMAN) THAT IT WAS COOKED ON SHABBOS (BISHUL-YISROEL) AND THE CAN CONTAINED "CLAM" INSTEAD OF TUNA.
WHILE IN THEIR OFFICE, THEY WEREN'T ABLE TO FIND THAT THEY EVEN PAID A MASHGIACH LET ALONE NO REPORT FROM A MASHGIACH
I was kibbitzing. I didn't realize the topic would get you so upset.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/03/Business/Unmasking_Lou_Pearlma.shtml
How did Tropper get the job as the establishment's front man? I suppose doing Pinter's dirty work helped his resume with the mafia that feeds info to rav Elyashev who learns locked up in a room for 14 hours a day and doesn't know about all the frauds out there.
Yesterday's Anon. at 5:00 p.m. was not Rabbi Leib Tropper.
"Anon. at 5:00 p.m. was not Rabbi Leib Tropper."
OK Tropper shlock shamass, so tell us what Tropper says about all this :o)
So now we know that YTT, the Brooklyn DA's office, the Agudah and Tropper's people have stooges dedicated to monitoring UOJ. I wonder who else? The OU? The Star-K?
UOJ, this business with the WJC must stop. The "free and open" elections they are talking about are nothing but a fraud. Matt Bronfman is a minuvel ben minuvel who was married to shiksas and might have been supporting the iranians by laundering money through IDB, and seems to have been involved with shady dealings there to the extent that he was kicked off the board. Lauder was accused of bribing sruly singer in the WJC report last month - an accusation that was amazingly deleted from the report when lauder and bronfman teamed up. Regardless, he was involved in the WJC's finances as TREASURER for crying out loud during all the bad years of alleged mismanagement (not to mention his stint at the JNF, which was misrun for years). They are being supported by shrill gadfly isi leibler who seems to only notice financial mismanagement when its convenient for him.
This supposed change of leadership is as bad as what preceded it. You should publicly attack these ganovim and make sure the public knows the truth about their history.
Jewish "leadership" is a misnomer if these guys win. You should push for all these guys, including herbits, bronfman, lauder and all associated with them to go, and bring in fresh new people like einat wilf. Maybe YOU should run! that would be a great thing for jews indeed (and this organization might actually get something done).
chazak veamatz
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/06/never-doubt-that-small-group-of.html
Yudel Shain is on a roll this week against Rabbi Teichman and his hashgocho. Some of his comments are above. He's basically saying that Teichman made a churva of the Los Angeles kashrus scene and that everyone else including the RCC are not reliable by virtue of them not having a backbone to stop Teichman.
Yudel advises no one eat from any LA hashgocho.
Can we hear some input from UOJ and whoever else might have some knowledge of this?
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/06/never-doubt-that-small-group-of.html#3019958168291748717
Anonymous said...
Reb Yudel,
Would you know if the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT"L personally ate Rubashkin?
Yehuda Shain said...
"AIVER MIN HACHEI ? NEVER!
Fresser said...
All kidding aside, don't you hate it when kosher restaurants cut every corner and jip you?
....
Sushi Metzuyan in Queens seems to have jipped us tonight by doing just that. Shmucks.
Does it bother you when goyim say that someone jewed them down?
Jip, or more accurately, gyp, is a slur against the Roma, aka Gypsies.
Apologies to Ronnie said...
I was kibbitzing. I didn't realize the topic would get you so upset.
I apologize for my intemperate reaction.
It's just that I've mentioned this phenomenon before on this and other blogs, and every time I do, someone will think that it's because I'm interested in young woman or make a crack about my personal life.
I'm 52. The number of 25 year old women that are mature enough in their outlook or experience to be at all compatible is small. It's silly to even consider it. A woman in her mid to late 30s, though is not unrealistic. At that point she's at least a grown up. Whether I am or not, is another question. While you can't deny that younger women generally are more physically attractive, when considering the whole woman, there's no competition. Also, I've never had a woman tell me she was hornier at 20 than at 38.
As for May-December marriages, well, they are common enough to have idioms like May-December marriages. Fred Thompson is married to a woman 20 years his junior. I'm not saying I can bag a trophy wife (though I have flirted semi-successfully with a supermodel), but plenty of older men marry younger women.
rav Elyashev who learns locked up in a room for 14 hours a day and doesn't know about all the frauds out there.
Rav Elyashev's psak and comments condemning organ transplants in China using organs harvested from murdered political prisoners is praiseworthy. Many chareidim are so insular that it is heartening to see someone like Rav Elyashev speak out on human rights.
He divorced his first wife and shortly married a woman whom he was mekarev to Yiddishkeit
----------------------
WTF ? , Now we are poskim like r’ Akiva that you can divorce your wife if you find a better looking woman? I cannot believe that rabbonim did say not anything and they let him run those organizations.
I guess with Kaplan’s money he can buy any rabbi he wants to
I have the invitation to Kol Yaakov annual dinner. Yaakov Barros is awarded Marbitz Torah and Leib Tropper is awarded marbitz isha .
Does anybody knows why Yaakov Barros (the marbitz and talmid muvhak of Tropper) did not get the job in the shul in San Francisco where he was assistant rabbi for many years? They apparently selected a Southern kollel guy with no shul experience.
Also, was Tropper behind the firing of the previous rabbi in South Fallsburg where Barros got the job after he left San Francisco?
The rabbi in South Fallsburg, Gottlieb, got himself fired. He was not there when needed as he felt yomtov was his vacation time and did little to revitalize a small shul. It was pathetic as he has a large family and being a charismatic or an effective teacher to the unaffiliated was not his strong point. I don't know how much can truly be done to revitalize South Fallsburg but in some ways the issues faced there are much more wholesome than those discussed on your blog.
I understand that Barros has raised the Kashruth standards at the shul to nearly what it was under Rabbi Kreitman, O"H. It is a friendly place to spend Shabbos.
for those of you bashing Rabbi Tropper, in the name of truth, Rabbi Tropper has multiple Semichos, a veritable who's who in previous generation's leaders. So, no, he did not get Semicha in only one place. He was extremely close to Reb Yaakov and I have photos of Reb Yaakov in Kol Yaakov, as well as other notable gedolim. I was privileged to meet many of his Talmidim, and he produces great men.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2011mc00290/383539/3/3.pdf
Guma's mother is separately suing her brother Tom Kaplan on behalf of herself and Guma's sister Angelika and her husband and other relatives.
http://www.arrestcourtinfo.com/Criminal-Records/FL/HCSO/1995/03/20/JUSTIN-DREW/
This might be the same Justin Drew, presumably a goy, who is married to Guma's sister. This mugshot was taken after an arrest for grand theft.
When evidence pointed several times towards Guma having hacked Kaplan's email, Guma invoked the 5th.
http://ralphlosey.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/report-and-recommendation.pdf
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
There have been several feuds in Kaplan and Aguiar’s family. Kaplan was estranged from his father, Jason Kaplan, for fifteen years. In 2003, he unsuccessfully attempted a reconciliation with this father. In January 2003, Kaplan’s father threatened to harm Kaplan’s wife and children and Kaplan threatened to kill his father. Kaplan and
his father have since made amends.
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