Last update - 17:25 14/11/2007
U.S. asks Israel to extradite ultra-Orthodox Jew accused of child abuse
By Aviva Lori, Haaretz Correspondent
tags: extradition, U.S., Gur Hassid
The U.S. Justice Department has asked Israel to facilitate the extradition of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man suspected of raping and sexually abusing dozens of boys.
Avrohom Mondrowitz was investigated by the New York Police Department in the 1980s and was indicted for sex crimes against four boys in Brooklyn, N.Y., but fled to Israel before he could be arrested.
According to witness reports, 60-year-old Mondrowitz, a married father of seven, would pose as a psychologist specializing in the treatment of children that suffered sexual abuse.
One of Mondrowitz's victims, 40-year-old Chicago resident Mark Weiss, who, as a child, was sent by his parents to New York for therapy with Mondrowitz after he had dropped out of several educational frameworks, recounted his ordeal. "[Mondrowitz's] family was at a cottage in the Catskills and I was sleeping at his house. at night he suddenly touched me. I was naive. I thought he was being nice, that he was trying to make me feel better," said Weiss. "It was all a big Fraud," he concluded.
Regarding the way the affair was handled by rabbis within the community, Weiss said: "[The rabbis] paralyzed an entire generation. When one of them destroys another person, they do nothing."
Mondrowitz currently resides in Jerusalem. Over the years he has worked in several educational institutions, but he is now unemployed, and allegedly supports himself by selling forged academic degrees.
A month ago, police summoned him for an interrogation over Web sites that he had visited, and then released him on conditions.
Mondrowitz refused to answer questions regarding the allegations against him.
The full story will appear in the weekend edition of Haaretz newspaper.****
**********************************
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE THAT WANT TO HAVE THEIR VOICES HEARD ON THE AVROHOM MONDROWITZ EXTRADITION REQUEST FROM THE U.S. DEPT. OF JUSTICE!
*******Department Of Justice In Israel...Be Polite********
Ministry of Justice
Main telephone: 011-972-2-646-6666
Department of Public Inquiries telephone: 011-972-2-646-6340/6321
Fax: 011-972-2-646-6357
Mailing Address:
Ministry of Justice
Salah-a-Din 29
P.O. Box 49029
Jerusalem 91490
Israel Fax: 011-972-2-628-543
E-Mail:YaelK@justice.gov.il
(Furnished by my dear chaver LVF)
The Minister's name is Daniel Friedman.
Steve sent the following e-mail to the Israeli Justice Department:(LVF, thanks for the info): UOJ endorsed!
Subject: Avrohom Mondrowitz' Extradition
To: YaelK@justice.gov.il
I am writing today to ask that the Israeli government comply with the U.S. Department of Justice request to have Avrohom Mondrowitz extradited to face charges of rape and sodomy. I am asking that this request be fulfilled at once and that justice should not be delayed any further. The scores of Mondrowitz victims have been waiting unjustly for 23 years now and it would be highly unethical for your government to delay this matter. Please note, the American public and the Jewish community will not rest or stand still if justice is delayed any further in this case. I hope that you appreciate the urgency of this matter and work diligently to expedite the extradition
Hatzlachah!
Who'll Rid Us of the Pedophile Priests?
By Joan Smith
Same Story - Less Colorful Yarmulke:
I recently attended a seminar at which an eminent philosopher described how he would react if he died and found himself, against his expectations, ushered into the presence of God. He would simply explain, he said, that autocratic forms of government are outmoded and demand a timetable for democratic elections. He has a point: churches are far from being democratic institutions and they do not even, judging by the extraordinary behaviour of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, consider themselves subject to the laws that other citizens are expected to uphold. So the imminent arrival in Rome of all the American cardinals for a crisis meeting with the Pope reminds me of a Hollywood movie, the kind where the heads of mafia families are summoned for a dressing-down by the capo di tutti capi.
What is on the agenda when they meet in the Vatican on Tuesday is nothing less than a conspiracy to protect US priests who have molested children, and in some cases raped them, over a period of two decades. Priests like William Effinger, for instance, who confessed to sexually abusing an altar boy in 1979 and was shielded by Rembert Weakland, Archbishop of Milwaukee, for 13 years. Or John Geoghan, a Boston priest who was the subject of dozens of allegations of sexual abuse. Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston, knew about the allegations but transferred him from parish to parish.
Effinger and Geoghan are just two of 3,000 Catholic priests facing allegations of sexual abuse in the US. Nor is the scandal confined to one side of the Atlantic; a French bishop was given a three-month suspended sentence last year for failing to report a paedophile priest, who was eventually jailed for rape, to the police. I have never been a fan of the vow of celibacy. But I don't think allowing priests to marry would address the problem of paedophilia, which is as much about power and secrecy as it is about sexuality.
This scandal arises from the church's assumption that its own moral authority was sufficient to deter serial sex offenders. Even now, when the scale of the abuse is being exposed in hundreds of criminal investigations, senior churchmen are having to be dragged kicking and screaming to co-operate.
Senior clerics have effectively been operating a parallel and clandestine system of justice, so used to regulating the sex lives of their congregations that they apparently believed it would also work with parish priests.
But priests are part of the power structure. Priests with paedophile tendencies seem to have judged correctly that their calling would protect them against allegations of sexually abusing minors. There is a kind of erotic excitement attached to the exercise of power and there is no reason to believe that priests are untouched by it. Rather, they enjoy not just status in the community, but unparalleled opportunities to be alone with vulnerable young people. Add the lure of the forbidden and you have a blueprint for trouble.
The meeting between the Pope and the American cardinals is scheduled to last three days....Agudah Convention-like. But I doubt whether John Paul II is the man to deal with a scandal that has come near to destroying the authority of his church in the US. Like a mafia boss, he can issue rebukes and insist on changes. But secular habits of democracy and openness are unlikely to come easily to an organisation built on secrecy, repression and a tragically mistaken assumption of its superior moral values.* * *
******************************
Israel OKs extradition of Brooklyn pedophile suspect
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Monday, November 12th 2007, 4:00 AM
JERUSALEM - A suspected Brooklyn pedophile hiding from sex abuse charges in Israel will become the first American extradited to the U.S. under a revamped treaty, a Jerusalem court ruled Sunday.
Stefan Colmer, 30, was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on charges he sexually abused two 13-year-old boys from the ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn where he lived.
Hoping to avoid arrest, Colmer, a computer technician and salesman, fled to Israel and changed his name to David Cohen.
Jerusalem police arrested Colmer in June and have held him pending Sunday's extradition hearing, at which an Israeli judge ruled he must be returned to face the charges in Brooklyn.
Before a January change to the treaty, Israel and the U.S. had agreed to extradite suspected sex criminals only if they had been charged with rape.
Colmer is suspected of performing oral sex on the two boys over several months last year after luring them to his home from a nearby yeshiva high school, according to the U.S. Justice Department's extradition request.
The Brooklyn grand jury indicted Colmer on eight counts of criminal sexual acts. If found guilty, he could face up to seven years in prison.
The Justice Department also has requested the extradition of another alleged Brooklyn child molester, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, who fled to Jerusalem 23 years ago amid allegations the former counselor and principal molested four boys.
Mondrowitz was arrested last month by Israeli police but was released.
The Israeli Justice Ministry has refused to comment on the case. Attorney Michael Lesher, who represents six men who have accused Mondrowitz of molesting them as children, said Mondrowitz must be returned to face charges.
"I am certainly delighted to see that Colmer will be extradited to face justice in Brooklyn," Lesher said. "But we certainly will not rest until the same is done with Avrohom Mondrowitz."
195 comments:
Rabbis & imams see eye to eye
BY ARI GOLDMAN
ON RELIGION
Sunday, November 11th 2007,
A small group of rabbis and imams gathered last week in Manhattan for an extraordinary interfaith summit. The clergymen spent half the day in a synagogue and the other half at a mosque. In the evening, they met at a kosher restaurant in midtown, broke bread together and talked late into the night.
There were a lot of complicated and contentious issues to thrash out: discrimination, prejudice, extremism, poverty and, not the least, the enduring Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But of greatest value, many of the participants said, was getting to know one another on a personal level, and realizing that they had many shared beliefs and values.
"We exchanged our cards. We exchanged our theology, our thinking, our etiquette," said Malik Sakhawat Hussain, the imam of the Al-Mahdi mosque in Coney Island, Brooklyn. "And we found we have much more in common than we thought."
Hussain said that in recent years a great deal of emphasis has been put on dialogue between Christian and Muslim clergy. After spending a day with rabbis, he said that imam-rabbi dialogue can be even more fruitful.
He mentioned commonalities in dress, diet, gender roles and language.
"You say, 'Shalom,' we say, 'Salaam,'" he told one rabbi. "You say, 'Amen,' we say, 'Amin.'"
The event, held Wednesday at the New York Synagogue and the Islamic Cultural Center, was billed as the first National Summit of Imams and Rabbis. Twenty-four clergymen from across the U.S. participated. On the Muslim side, they included both Sunnis and Shiites. And on the Jewish side, they were Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.
The dialogue was organized by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a group that works to promote reconciliation and understanding through dialogue. Rabbi Marc Schneier of the New York Synagogue is the president, and Russell Simmons of Def Jam Records is the founder.
"The best thing a Jewish leader can do is fight Islamophobia," Simmons said when the group gathered for dinner. "And the best thing a Muslim leader can do is fight anti-Semitism."
Schneier said that he was moved to convene the dialogue because of two trends: the growing "clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West and the rising number of Muslims in the U.S., who are increasingly living side-by-side with Jews.
"We have a great opportunity to work with a more centrist Muslim community," the rabbi said. "Perhaps we can begin to export this kind of model to other countries around the world and maybe in some small way, we can make a difference."
Syed Zaheer-ul Hassan, an imam from Trumbull, Conn., said he was not worried about taking small steps. He shared an Islamic legend about the great ancestor of both faiths, the man the Jews call Abraham and Muslims call Ibrahim.
"Ibrahim would never eat alone," Hassan told the group. "He would only eat when he had guests."
Once, three guests dined with Ibrahim and wanted to pay for the meal. Ibrahim said there was no charge, but the guests insisted. "Don't give me any money," said Ibrahim, "but accept the ideology of one God."
That was too much of a price for the visitors. They refused. "Then don't accept," Ibrahim said, "just bow your heads to the ground."
The imam continued, "As they bowed, Ibrahim looked to the heavens and said, 'Okay, God. You take it from here.'"
He then turned to the assembled rabbis and imams and said, "We've done our duty. God, we now need your help."
religion@nydailynews.com
a rav scheinberg clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryA9GgJRgng
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380789016&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel will extradite Steven Colmer, who is accused of molesting two American minors, to the United States, the Jerusalem District Court decided Sunday.
That article from Ari Goldman is more than useless. It's detrimental in providing a false sense of hope. Does the reporter, a YU grad, daven at Schneier's fake "Orthodox" synagogue where anything goes?
Islamic ideology is full of hatred and directs it's members to act like the the two-faced snakes that they are. Schneier should stick to jamming with the bros from the ghetto.
That Daily News article is a big letdown. Did the Gerrorists manipulate the legal system to get Monstrowitz released?
Dear Mr. Putz,
Not at all...there's a reason for everything!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310578,00.html
Three people have been arrested in the brutal decapitation death of a registered sex offender in Michigan whose headless body was left to burn in a subdivision
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/11/kosher-fest-2007.html
Kosher fest took place in NYC on Sunday & Monday November 11th & 12th 2007.
Some observations:
Many of the booths had food items heated or baked on premises. The booths were manned by non-religious personell. When questioned who baked the goods? They responded (the non-religious) they did it at some oven in the back or what they they had in the booth.
Did any ony kasher the ovens? were the ovens maintained under some kashrus supervission? There were no signs to indicate same.
Some of the visitors were asked "can you light my oven?, I'll be ready in a few minutes-by the time he came back it was on already.
We observed a new supplier of beef that had on display an 8 bone rib. I asked him which side of the rib has the 13th rib bone? he wasn't sure what I was talking about. The ribs are cut 5 & 7 Bones that total 12 ribs, if one sees an 8 bone rib -, it means that they cut a 5 & 8 bone which equals 13 bones-we don't use the 13th bone at all, it's part of the hind quarter.
Anonymous said...
Are the fressers seen stuffing their faces on the treif side this year or did they finally wisen up?
Yudel Shain is undoubtably a UOJ plant, sent to disrupt our enjoyment in fressing at the KosherFress trade show.
Margo showed up at KosherFest and tried to sneak in using Belsky's pass. Security guards from George Little Management Co & NYS Troopers who police the Javits Center refused him entry.
Margo started making a scene and demanded they go get Lubinsky who will let him in.
UOJ, what the hell can be the reason for letting him go? Where is Lesher on this. And where are those modern day Pinhas Ben Aharon Hakoheins? i.e. Steve, LVF and Boog and his distant relations that he can't and wont admit to? We've come so far why drop the ball now?
I will get even with UOJ for being behind this.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/11/rubashkins-winning-in-new-business.html#c3260914686553054515
Anonymous said...
Was at Kosherdest today. Did not see any labels that said
YS FRESS
BUT did see a lot of refrigerator magnets and papers blasting Rubashkin. Especially in the mens bathroom. Who are these people?
http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/DA/NewsReleases/2007/11-08-07.html
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Joseph Levine, a 59-year-old recently disbarred attorney from Hewlett, has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $300,000 from two clients he was hired to represent in legal matters during the past year. Mr. Levine is facing felony counts of Grand Larceny in the Second and Third Degrees, and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree.
“Lawyers are hired into positions of trust, often during a difficult time of someone’s life,” said Rice. “The betrayal of that trust is something my administration takes very seriously and will continue to investigate and prosecute aggressively.”
Rice said that in December of 2006, the defendant counseled a Rockville Centre woman to settle a personal injury lawsuit that awarded his client $300,000. On December 27, 2006, Mr. Levine traveled to the Pennsylvania office of the insurance carrier to pressure the insurance company into cutting the check immediately because his client’s daughter was having heart surgery and the woman needed the money. The insurance adjuster issued the $300,000.00 check to the defendant. Mr. Levine then forged the signatures of his client and her husband and deposited the check at the Woodmere branch of his Signature bank account. Levine’s bank account shows the $300,000.00 deposit on December 28, 2006. By March, after months of writing dozens of checks from this account, his balance on the account stood at a negative $139.44. To date, the defendant has forwarded none of the settlement proceeds to his client. The District Attorney’s Office received the complaint on March 19, 2007.
He was disbarred on June 26, 2007.
The defendant was arrested by District Attorney Investigators Thursday morning. He will be arraigned later today in First District Court, Hempstead. Mr. Levine faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
Jewish Survivors said...
If anyone is looking for an attorney to represent them and the abuse occurred in New York or New Jersey contact Steve Rubinio. He comes highly recommended by The Awareness Center.
www.rossandrubino.com/profiles.html
609-487-9864
UOJ, what the hell can be the reason for letting him go? Where is Lesher on this. And where are those modern day Pinhas Ben Aharon Hakoheins? i.e. Steve, LVF and Boog and his distant relations that he can't and wont admit to? We've come so far why drop the ball now?
---------------
My Friend,
Nobody is dropping any ball. Mondrowitz can not leave the country. Every case is different.
Rise in number of abused haredi women
New generation of rabbis encouraging battered Orthodox women to seek help, involve police. Welfare minister: Conspiracy of silence on this issue slowly being broken
by David Regev
The number of calls made to hotlines for victims of domestic violence in the Orthodox community has increased three-fold over the past few years, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.
The number of haredi women who called the hotlines jumped from 477 in 2004 to 1,402 in 2007, while the number of women who were housed in shelters for battered women each month nearly doubled, from 24 to 40 on average.
Attorney Noah Korman, who established the first shelter for abused haredi women in 2000 and opened a second one two years later said, "The phenomenon of violence against women exists in the Orthodox community just as it does in any other, but it was not made public as it was in the secular sector. Haredi women preferred to keep it secret. It must be remembered that domestic violence brings great shame on an Orthodox family."
According to him, haredi women turned to the hotlines and shelters as a last resort.
"Women who arrived here did so after suffering years of abuse, when they felt they were in danger and could not take it anymore," Korman said.
'It's strictly forbidden to beat a woman'
He said the change in the rabbis' position regarding the phenomenon was also instrumental encouraging more abused women in the community to seek help.
"Haredi women are becoming more and more aware of the dangers related to domestic violence, and the new generation of rabbis is encouraging them to file complaints and break the cycle (of violence)," Korman said.
David Yosef, the rabbi of Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood and the son of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, declared on Wednesday that it was "strictly forbidden to beat a woman.
"If the need arises to involve the police in this matter, then they should be involved," he said.
Korman said most of the violent incidents against haredi women take place on Shabbat due to the fact that on weekdays the men are usually studying at yeshiva or tending to other matters.
He said that in many cases the violence erupts at the Shabbat diner table, adding that many of the haredi women arrive at the shelters with their children, "sometimes with nine or 10 of them".
On Wednesday Welfare Minister Issac Herzog visited a shelter for battered haredi women for the first time.
"The conspiracy of silence regarding violence against Orthodox women is slowly being broken, and we plan on helping them as best we can," he said.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/nov/12/made_china_consumer_craze/
I thought I was safe. I wasn’t a child, so I wasn’t likely to suck on lead-paint toys. I wasn’t a pet, so I wouldn’t get melamine-tainted wheat gluten in my food. Then Sanjay Gupta knocked me out of my safety net.
On CNN last weekend, he happened to mention that a whopping 50 percent of the active ingredients in our American-made pharmaceuticals are imported from China. At first, I figured, sure, who knows what’s in those generics? No, the good doctor was not talking about generics, but expensive brand-name drugs and over-the-counter medications. They may be manufactured here, said Sanjay, but the active ingredients come from China.
Well, of course, that makes sense: Our giant pharmaceutical companies aren’t making enough profits, so they must buy cheap ingredients from China to boost their bottom line.
Guess what FDA’s oversight amounts to on these Chinese-made active ingredients? The FDA must formally be invited by the Chinese government to inspect a supplier being used by an American company. Then the Chinese government gives that company a 30- to 60-day notice that the FDA will be coming around. Finally, the Chinese companies themselves generally provide the Chinese translators.
http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfm?contentid=25849&mode=a§ionid=1&contentname=Rabbinic_Rally_Against_Alleged_Get_Abuse&recnum=0
http://www.daashakohol.com/archives/183#comment-8721
In the zchus that hundten didn’t bark by yetzias Mitzrayim, shteit "lakelev tashlichun osoh" Memayla, the Kadmonim say that anyone who sells neveilos & treifos as kosher is stealing from the dogs. They even bring down a maaysah that one butcher selling neveilos as kosher was attacked & torn to pieces by a pack of wild dogs. Mida keneged mida. He stole from them so they took from him.
Are the Rubashkins listening?
Unless there's something the readers don't yet know, releasing Mondrowitz makes little sense from a law enforcement standpoint.
UOJ has written that he has already tried to flee the country.
Ain lecha flight risk gedolah mizu and there are certainly countries he could escape to that have no extradition treaty with both the US & Israel.
How is it that UOJ was the only person (besides me) that knew Mondrowitz got arrested. Everybody was saying that he wasn't arrested.
cuz' UOJ is de mishtara and crawling up my tuchess too.
this blogmaster is effffffen genius.
Mondrowitz is trapped in Israel! His passports have been confiscated. His life as he knows it...is over. He can always hang himself, something I encourage him to do.
What's stopping Mondrowitz from stowing away on a ship to Cyprus?
I agree with the other posters that as long as Mondrowitz isn't behind bars he remains a flight risk.
Yamim yagidu.....
It's surprising that the Rubinsteins from Toronto would partner with Rubashkin nephew Shaya Boymelgreen. Rubinstein's usual shutfim are Tommy Hofstedter & Uhr.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000264356&fid=1725
Azorim Investment, Development and Construction Ltd. (TASE: AZRM), controlled by chairman Shaya Boymelgreen, and Canadel Development of Canada are investing NIS 150 million in the construction of an apartment-hotel at the Herzliya Marina. Each 60-square meter unit will be sold for between $400,000 and $550,000. The five-star hotel is due to open in 2009
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 5:18 PM
To: Web Customer Relations
Subject: Trader Joe's General Feedback Form
Comments: It is highly regrettable that you decided to carry Aaron's
Rubashkin turkeys. This brand is not recognized by mainstream Orthodox
Jews as being kosher. Furthermore, Agriprocessors the company that
produces Aaron's, has had several federal violations related to cruelty
to animals, workers rights and several health violations. Here is one
of several articles:
http://www.forward.com/articles/11401/
The entire beef, poultry and egg industry had 34 recalls in 2006, while
AgriProcessors had two during the past eight months alone - both Class
I, the highest risk level.
In both March and September of 2006, the USDA sent the AgriProcessors
plant manager a "Letter of Warning" reviewing a series of problems. At
the end of the three-page September letter, the inspector wrote that
the
slaughterhouse's efforts to correct the problems had been
"ineffective."
The letter concluded that "these findings lead us to question your
ability to maintain sanitary conditions, and to produce a safe and
wholesome product."
AgriProcessors is the largest producer of kosher beef, and markets its
product under the Aaron's Best and Supreme Kosher labels, among others.
A spokesman for AgriProcessors did not return calls seeking comment.
Felicia Nestor, a Food & Water Watch expert on the meat and poultry
industry, who reviewed the USDA documents at the request of the Forward
said that the issues at the AgriProcessors plant are "systemic
problems."
"It seems like there are just problems throughout this," said Nestor,
who is a senior policy analyst at Food & Water Watch, a consumer
advocacy group. "We're talking about problems in beef, chicken, lamb
and
turkey."
There were at least 18 records in which AgriProcessors was cited for
fecal matter appearing on the animals being prepared. During December -
after the plant had received its letter of warning - AgriProcessors
received six warnings for fecal matter within 10 days. On December 26,
the inspector wrote that during multiple checks of 10 chickens, "fecal
contamination varied between 70 and 80%." Other problems, including
bile
contamination, were noted at the time. After a number of warnings, the
inspector wrote that "further planned actions have either not been
implemented or have not been effective."
There were also at least five instances in which AgriProcessors was
cited for not taking the required measures to fend off mad cow disease.
This is not the first time that AgriProcessors has landed in trouble
because of documents released by the USDA in response to a request from
the FOIA. In 2006, PETA secured the release of documents in which USDA
officials censured AgriProcessors for the inhumane treatment of its
animals
I request that you pull all these products out of your freezers and
send
them back to Agriprocessors for a full refund. You do not need this
type of negative publicity.
-----------------------------------
Hi, Steve-
Thanks for your email. This Thanksgiving, Trader Joe's will be selling
Trader Joe's Brand All Natural, Brined Fresh Young Turkey at $1.69/lb
and TJ's Brand All Natural, Glatt Kosher Fresh Young Turkey at
$1.99/lb.
Thanks for shopping with us,
Marci
Customer Relations
-----------------------------------
Marci,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I was unaware that TJ's has their own private label of kosher poultry. Please advise the source of this poultry and under which supervisory agency it is being produced. Furthermore, please note that there is no such thing as "glatt kosher" poultry (despite such deceptive advertising by Agriprocessors among others). Poultry is either classified as "kosher" or "unkosher", there is no mid-tier. I think you have confused poultry with beef.
Don't be surprised that Mondrowitz was released from prison. There is a large pidyon shvuyim fund in his name. It won't help him in the long run however.
We must put pressure on the Israeli government (I believe it's their foreign ministry that handles this) to comply with the U.S. Justice Department request and to extradite Mondrowitz immediately. If someone can direct us to the proper Israeli authorities, we will make sure to put the heat on. Hamatchil B'Mitzva Omrim Lo G'Mor.
The Israeli authorities and members of the media monitor this site closely. You are all welcome to comment here, it will certainly be read. In addition all important information sent here via comment or e-mail winds up in the right hands.
There are many things I can't put through at this critical time. I hope the readership understands that much is being done to bring the scumbag/lowlife Mondrowitz back here to face justice.
The Agudah and Twerski can't help him, give up guys, there's a new rough and tough sheriff in town.
No rachmones!
I was just thinking...
There must be plenty of people in the Israeli Authorities and Media who would love to embarrass a "Haredi Rabbi" and brand him a child molester. They would sure get a lot of bang for the buck with this case...hmm...
The Israeli authorities and members of the media monitor this site closely. You are all welcome to comment here, it will certainly be read. In addition all important information sent here via comment or e-mail winds up in the right hands.
--------------------------------
Yea tell me about it, my guys are shitten their pants reading this site, vani omer lohem sh'hu yelech lhizdayen, just look at the dogs he sicked on me yesterday attacking all the goverment buildings like that in broad daylight, he has no shame? who is this uoj guy? I want to ask mosad to find out who he is, but im afraid that word will get out that im using mosad for personal business and uoj is going to have another scandel on his hands to report about me.
But doesn't money talk, especially in corrupt Israeli society? And doesn't Ger have a LOT of money??
Social Worker said...
VAAD L'HATZOLAS NIDCHEI YISROEL
http://www.thevaad.com/
RABBINICAL COMMITTEE
HARAV AARON SCHECHTER
HARAV YAAKOV PERLOW
HARAV YAAKOV HOROWITZ
HARAV YITZCHOK FEIGELSTOCK
HARAV YOSEF HARARI RAFUL
HARAV MALKIEL KOTLER
HARAV MOSHE EISEMANN
HARAV FEIVEL COHEN
HARAV SHMUEL KAMINETZKY
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
RABBI NAFTOLI CUKIER
EPHRAIM HASENFELD
BARUCH HERTZ
Anyone that has any complaints about molestation or abuse connected with the Vaad can call board member Baruch Barry Hertz's wife Joan Hertz she is a social worker at Ohel
Http://www.nysed.gov/coms/op001/opscr2?profcd=72&plicno=063197
and she will surly know what to do or how to advise her husband. Her number at Ohel is 718 851 6300 and her home number is (718) 258-8274 and she lives at 1304 E Seventh St
Brooklyn, NY 11230-5104.
check out these
campaign contributions
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?zip=11230&last=Hertz&first=Barry
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?zip=11230&last=HERTZ&first=JOAN
Joan Hertz also operates a school for children
Haor Beacon School, 2884 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11229, 7183765400
Will Ohel take actiion on this
Why is everyone ganging up on my sons & now my nephew Shaya Boymelgreen?
The Brownstoner Blog gathered some reviews of Novo, the condominium development at 4th Avenue and Third Street, dubbed “The New Park Slope” by Boymelgreen Developers.
“It’s pretty ugly and out of character with the area. The problem with this place is that it’s been about three years in the making and they’ve used non-union labor and haven’t been very friendly with the neighborhood ... Basically, I think it looks like a low-income housing project.”
And Boris didn’t mince words with his review: “Looks like a big brown turd.”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124213
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) As of this past Thursday, the most "Jewish" site in eastern Europe - the gravesite of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov - is in danger of being auctioned off to foreign ownership. This, following the rejection by the Ukrainian Supreme Court of an appeal by a Breslov Hassidic group, and the instatement of a ruling obligating the latter to pay $3 million - or risk losing the holy site.
The original debt, $100,000, has now mushroomed to $3 million, because of a clause in the contract stipulating a fee of 0.9% for each day the payment is delayed, as well as a fine of $2.5 million.
I wonder if I can get pay parity with YU. Does anyone know how much the Tort Putz was making before "resigning" from Hofstra?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11132007/news/regionalnews/it_really_pays_to_be_a_college_prexy_51746.htm
November 13, 2007 -- Payouts to higher-education presidents keep soaring
Other top local earners included Yeshiva University President Richard Joel ($619,700), Juilliard President Joseph Polisi ($617,839) and New School President Bob Kerrey ($603,267).
yoav.gonen@nypost.com
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380645077&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Newly appointed World Jewish Congress secretary-general Michael Schneider has settled a bitter year-old dispute over control of the organization's Jerusalem office, officials said Wednesday.
Schneider said the amount of funding to be allocated to the Jerusalem office would be decided in the next week to 10 days, adding that the WJC, which was hit with a major drop in contributions during the feuding, was making budgetary revisions worldwide.
"I expect people to come together in the organization as one team," Schneider said. "The Jewish people have enough problems."
Also Wednesday, Schneider said a lawsuit filed by the organization under its previous leadership against veteran group leader Israel Singer was dormant.
Kosher Fest has come & gone again with participation this time by the NYC DOHMH. The Health Dept was on hand to help fressers fress with all the same geshmak minus the trans fat.
As reported earlier, the Jewish anti-Semite, Assistant Commissioner Lynn Silver who controls the Chronic Disease Bureau has been continuing her purge. It's been learned she had enlisted a goon to do much of her dirty work probably following the lead of Belsky's Bungalow Putz appointment. Silver is using some psycho Chinese lady who is exceedingly ugly. She has huge moles on her face and wears a shade of lipstick that will blind you. She talks like a motormouth. All you see are the huge moles & lipstick moving at a furious pace.
Silver has now made her bureau Judenrein. The last frum person left is no longer working there. Oh and the division for trans fat fressers did squeeze kosher information for the Kosher Fest trade show out of frum employees while they were still around.
This article doesn't mention that the trip was organized by Sruly's French pal Pierre Besnainu.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/105031.html
Some 300 Jews, most of them French and some of them new immigrants to Israel, docked in Haifa port Thursday after an overnight trip from Cyprus aboard a ship meant to commemorate the legendary "Exodus" of 1947.
The original Exodus, which was made famous by a Leon Uris novel and Hollywood film of the same name, carried 4,500 Holocaust survivors from France to what was then Palestine, only to be forced back by British authorities. Many of its passengers were interned in Cyprus.
"My parents were turned away from 68 countries 60 years ago," said Israel Singer, honorary president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, who joined Thursday's voyage. "This is a pilgrimage for me."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims
A "Pilgrimage"?
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXJEJThi5E3DOwJY9TOiMDt2Bg7QD8SKTC6G1
By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS – Nov 1, 2007
... said Israel Singer, chairman of the Council for World Jewry, who is American.
http://www.forward.com/articles/9605/
The American Jewish Congress, once a leading voice of grass-roots liberal activism, has experienced a wave of drastic personnel cuts, downsizing of key domestic programs, regional office closings, and the departure of the organization’s president and half its board.
At the center of the controversy is the organization’s chairman, businessman Jack Rosen, a major donor to President Bill Clinton in the 1990s who later embraced President Bush.
Since the beginning of his first two-term stint as president of the organization, which ran from 1998 to 2004, Rosen has been accused of attempting to dismantle its grass-roots, chapter-based governing structure. Critics point to the creation in late 2004 of the Council for World Jewry, an AJCongress offshoot chaired by Rosen that deals solely with foreign policy issues. The council’s most visible success was the establishment of a formal relationship with the Pakistani government, crowned by a dinner last year in honor of President Pervez Musharraf. Similar efforts are under way with Central Asian countries, as well as with Malaysia and Indonesia. Rosen recently returned from Libya, where he met with mercurial strongman Muammar Gadhafi. The council also has forged alliances with hawkish Jewish groups in France and in Russia.
“Jack has repeatedly said he wants an organization modeled on the World Jewish Congress, with only a small staff [that would worry] about Israel and foreign policy issues,” said one of several former and current AJCongress members and employees interviewed for this article. Most of those interviewed requested anonymity.
Much of the current upheaval dates back to 2004, when Rosen completed his maximum two terms as president and was succeeded by Paul Miller, a former officer of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Rosen set about launching the Council for World Jewry as a spin-off organization. Shortly afterward, he was given the newly created title of AJCongress chairman.
Rosen said the council was created as a body that could attract foreign supporters - who are barred from sitting on the AJCongress board - as well as more conservative ones.
In short order, however, tensions arose between Miller and the man who had brought him on board, executive director Goldstein. According to several sources who requested anonymity, Goldstein was upset by Miller’s plan to bring in Alon Pinkas, Israel’s outgoing consul general in New York, as the organization’s top professional.
“Alon was Paul’s idea to put his stamp on the organization, and it turned out to be an embarrassment,” a former AJCongress official said. The plan collapsed when Pinkas was forbidden by Israel from taking a local job in the city in which he served.
In response to the perceived snub, several sources said, Goldstein teamed up with Rosen against Miller, eventually prompting Miller and most of his board allies to leave AJCongress earlier this year, officially for personal reasons. They have since been replaced by people close to Rosen, sources said.
Rosen and Goldstein both denied any involvement in the Miller episode. “He did not tell me why he left,” Rosen said. “Being president of a not-for-profit is sometimes difficult because you are not in full control; there are many public appearances, and some people just don’t enjoy it.”
Miller did not respond to several requests for comment.
A former general counsel with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Miller had been brought on board because of his fundraising abilities. His departure, announced to the board in January, and the departure of most of his moneyed allies on the board reportedly provoked a budget crisis, prompting Goldstein to slash payroll. Goldstein said that the episode had an impact of about $200,000 - out of a total annual budget of $6 million. According to Goldstein, the organization already has made up the loss by finding new sources of revenue, and it is likely to end the year in the black.
“I am cutting staff — but that cut is not motivated by deficits,” Goldstein wrote in an e-mail to the Forward. “Rather, our board insists on our cutting ineffective, unproductive programs that could distract us from our main mission.”
Rosen “absolutely” rejected the notion that the episode had hurt the organization’s finances.
Most of the “$25 million in the bank” evoked by Rosen comes from the sale of the organization’s headquarters in founder Wise’s former mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side of Manhattan, which netted more than $16 million.
The proceeds have been placed in a trust, and only the interest can be used for the operating budget unless the board votes to let the executive director draw from principal. Similar restrictions exist for two other trusts supporting the organization, set up by the estate of the Steinberg family (the Lillian and Martin Steinberg Trust) and aimed at social programs in America and in Israel.
is UOJ aware and can he publisize that the aguda convention in fla will be having avi shafran as a speaker and a few of his other cronies
it would be nice to let people knopw who he is
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380792285&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Police rabbi suspected of corruption
Rebecca Anna Stoil , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 12, 2007
Allegations of corruption in the police have already reached high levels, with top corruption-busters and even the country's former top cop among the suspects. On Sunday a new name was added when it was revealed that the Justice Department's Police Investigative Department (PID) is investigating the Israel Police's chief rabbi, Dep.-Cmdr. Rabbi Eliyahu Mugrabi, under suspicion of receiving illegal kickbacks for presiding over family events.
Mugrabi, who was questioned at least once by investigators, has been for several weeks the subject of a PID probe into numerous incidents in which he allegedly received money to preside over circumcisions and weddings.
He is also suspected of acting as a go-between in deals between owners of ritual objects shops and police officers, receiving valuable gifts from shop owners, and for accepting "repentance money" before the High Holy Days under the claim that he was donating the money to charity. In at least one case, Mugrabi is suspected of using his position within the police to intimidate a victim into compliance.
People close to the rabbi dismissed the charges as vicious rumors, spread by people who are jealous of his success.
Mugrabi was appointed just over a year ago, by former Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi. He previously served as the chief rabbi of the Jerusalem Police District and of the Border Police.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380772114&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Praying, yes - but begging, no.
That's the state's decision after years of mounting complaints of aggressive - and often violent - behavior by scores of beggars at the Western Wall.
The long-delayed decision to enforce the ruling starting Thursday was taken after groups of beggars disregarded warnings from Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch over the last year not to harass visitors.
A year and a half ago, Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz instructed Rabinovitch and police to act against the beggars in accordance with the law. The haredi rabbi first tried to persuade the charity-seekers to change their violent ways, assuring them that if they asked for money in a respectful fashion he would not distance them from the holy site.
His pleas fell on deaf ears, and organized groups of beggars continued to come from the central region and violently harass visitors.
"They really went overboard and became brutal," Rabinovitch said, adding that he had received thousands of complaints from visitors, some of whom were even deceived into paying admission to enter the site. "It pains me that we have come to this."
Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said police were helping to remove violent beggars. But many of the panhandlers vowed not to leave.
For years, it has been almost impossible to reach the Western Wall without being accosted by a platoon of beggars rattling change or dangling ribbons for sale.
Visitors have been physically assaulted for giving "too little," while a donation - especially a sizable one - to one beggar often results in a swarm of others eager to get their share.
On Thursday, the beggars had been distanced from the Wall itself, but were still stopping visitors in the adjacent plaza, with their calls for a dollar or a euro in exchange for a red ribbon or a skullcap.
The Jerusalem Municipality has said the beggars usually do not accept assistance offered by city social workers.
UOJ says on the sidebar that all "noted askanim" get a free DVD. Is there any chance I can get one? Fartscroll calls me a "scholar of note".
http://www.divine.ca/en/fun-and-entertainment/articles/c_19_i_3104/weird-justice-1.html
Israel
It is illegal to pick your nose on the Sabbath. This law was passed by a rabbi to preserve the sanctity of the holy day, but the rule is not enforced by Israeli secular law. However, it is applicable to the worldwide Jewish community.
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/11/eternal-jewish-fraud.html
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Eternal Jewish Fraud
With the “Eternal Jewish Family Convention” in full swing, the war of words between the internationally accredited giyur experts is also in full swing. Somehow, -and I do not, by any stretch of the word, imply any dishonesty from anyone’s side- in a strange twist of reality, all MO experts are of the opinion that it is a terrible injustice to centralize giyur, and that every neighborhood grocer must have the authority to be megayer any Gentile candidate, while all charedi experts have no doubt that any and all giyur must pass via a bais-din “entrusted” by Rav Elyashiv (Read: the thug Yossi Efrati – by any means not an איש אפרתי). In the halachic aspect of the matter too, all seasoned experts surprisingly followed their own party line.
What they did not realize was that their cherished rabbis, regardless of creed, color or religious persuasion, were hi-fiveing each other behind the scenes. The accursed convention is not about giyur but about money. The whole EJF thing is a fraud. Some people who are inept at creative and honest businesses found ways to make money on giyurim. There are many ways to obtain money for giyurim; secular people reluctant to marry Gentiles (because granny said so) are willing to pay a hefty price to convert their bride/groom. Many Gentiles from the former Soviet bloc find it convenient to get a free pass to Israel (including the ‘New Oleh’ package), and people who have difficulties finding a spouse for various reasons, can have now a convert from Russia. And there is a plethora of other reasons. There is also a secular, extreme leftist man named Thomas Kaplan, married to a Gentile woman (whose name is proudly displayed on the EJF site as patron), enamoured with George Soros’ obsession with “open society”. That person is unfortunately extremely wealthy, and he is the funding source behind EJF and its main perpetrators. This whole giyur scam will have a devastating effect on Jewish life and society. 1st, now that we were given Giyur Made Easy™, it will break down the last barrier that frei Jews had: intermarriage. Of course, the EJF do-gooders (no sarcasm implied: they really do good… for themselves) will scream that they only target (Target? Wot? Since when are Jews proselising?) already assimilated couples… Yeah right! And that will not send a message that intermarriage isn’t a one-way ticket anymore?
EJF is the brainchild of Yehudah Leib Tropper of Monsey, Rosh Yeshiva of Kol Yaakov - a yeshiva for baalei tshuva. This “rabbi” is not new to controversy. My hunch is that he got into the giyur business via his sister-in-law, also a baalas tshuva, who adopted a gentile boy. (Tropper himself divorced his first wife and married a giyores. He is also connected, perhaps related to Tom Kaplan who is married to a shiksa and funds this whole thing) In any event, he cashes in big time on giyurim, the only innovation to his trick is to mainstreamize and legitimize his crime against Judaism by claiming he goes to “save” intermarried families. In other words, he invents an antidote for any possible scandals in the future. For giyur scams are not new, and from time to time a rabbi is caught red handed. Tropper just guarantees himself against a flagrant delicto and also ensures his rights to the business. The EJF site proudly proclaims that Reb Moishe ZTS”L ruled that intermarried families have to be reached out to. This is an absolute lie. What Reb Moishe said (nowhere in writing) is that if a Gentile married to a Jew/esse wants to convert, it is possible to forego the obligation to reject him several times before proceeding with giyyur. Tropper also usurped Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel – I was present at a phone conversation with him and he denied any endorsement or agreement to the EJF, yet his photo is still on EJF’s site.
I post here Rav Yossef Bloch’s speech about the EJF. Unfortunately even he is not fully aware of the real scope of this horrible calamity. He doesn’t know what goes on is Israel. I’ll leave those details for another time. Suffice to say that there is a major giyur business both in Israel and abroad. The nubers are in the tens of thousands, not only thousands as R’ Y. Bloch says. And some of the most glittery rabbis are involved.
Click here for Rav Yosef Bloch’s full lecture. There are 4 installments of the audio file about 10 minutes each.
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/RSternbuch_KiruvNonJew_Aug07_heb.pdf
There are also some Aish Hatorah rabbis involved in this stupidity. They claim they have their posek which I wonder if it's Tropper.
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/RSternbuch_KiruvNonJew_Aug07_eng.pdf
The 2nd link is the English translation of the kol koray.
This was after Shmarya left dumb comments on Joe's blog.
Shmarya really shows himself to be a tuchess sometimes.
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/11/eternal-jewish-fraud.html#c4376292861212893015
Shmarya, darling, having a bad day? Or is it just too much coke and alcohol again?
Since when was R' Moishe a proselyzing Mormon? "Encourage"? Care to bring up anything more tangible than "everyone knows"? AFAIK everyone knows just the opposite. Anything in writng, or eyewitnesses? To the best of my knowledge even his sons don't outright say he "encouraged".
"No kiruv organization walked away from intermarried people." Really? Examples maybe, of some Aish/Ohr Sameach Jehova's Witnesses?
He said shkotzim about those who intermarry. I see no wrong with that.
"Rabbi Bloch, however, is not much better." Typical Goebbels drivel. You don't even know him. He never harmed anyone, never converted nor bamboozled anyone to join his yeshiva etc. Oh yes, he has a big nose because air is free. I'm sure you'd love to throw a little cyclon-B at him, as you'd love to all haredim.
I understand your deep hatred of all those who dare disagree with Your Majesty and live as they chose. I am fully aware that grandpa Alfred had a great influence on you, as you are manipulative as he was. You admit: "I should add that kiruv rabbis often tried to break up intermarriages." When? did they go to dig in their private lives or was it the intermarried Jew who came to them? Convenient to ignore circumstances, isn't it. Why? There was no EJF, Tropper or SHmarya around? "But if the non-Jewish spouse showed interest in Judaism, they switched to kiruv mode." Ahhhh, in other words, once a Jew WANTED to get closer to observance thay had the option not to break up the marriage, if the spouse WANTED. No "kiruv" BS nor proselizing.
"Also, other "streams" of Judaism started outreach to intermarrieds." Sure - Conservative, Reform, Bundist and bolsheviks like yourself.
"leading Sefardi rabbis encouraging conversion for intermarrieds." Leading? Leading whom? Mr. Shmarya ben Alfred Rosenberg? You gotta be kidding me. Are you talking about those being more leninent with Marranos?
Actually, the sepharadic congreagations of Latin America and Syria have and old ban on conversions - total ban, my friend.
But I'm sure our seasoned intellectual friend who lives his life in front of a computer screen and Larry Flynt's outlets knows a great deal more than anyone else in the world. It is very easy to dig up unique cases with special circumstances and waving them as "the universally accepted norm" - exactly what Tropper does - and then trying to mainstreamize them.
Why don't you find yourself a nasty gentile woman like yourself and build a family? You could adopt one of Rubashkin's sick cows and raise her to be a good enlightened girl.
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/11/eternal-jewish-fraud.html#c983910490873178795
Not enough has been done to expose Tropper's ties to the lowlife Leib Pinter. Lo lechinom holech hazarzir etzel .... . They are supposed to be good friends from way back and recently collaborated on destroying Slifkin. I do not know enough to pass judgement on Slifkin but anything that Pinter engineers is suspect which is why one rosh yeshiva I know would not sign against Slifkin. The rosh yeshiva also mentioned that a "mafia" surrounds Rav Elyashev and it is difficult to know what he really holds.
Leib Pinter has been aptly described as the "Energizer Ganev".
He was behind super-frauds in the 1970s that landed him in prison. He collected grants for a "yeshiva" bigger than Lakewood that never existed. He bribed a corrupt Senator who was also jailed and as reported by the NY Times and former Congresswoman Holtzmann, sold (kosher-labeled) treif meat & cheese sandwiches to Jewish school children which clearly makes him a chotay umachtee es horabim who we should be mevazeh in public.
Leib Pinter was later involved in a suspicious "heist" of gold & jewelry. Investigators could not prove it was staged to bring criminal charges but his claim was dismissed by the insurance company.
Pinter is under a Federal court order that he not own any camps which is why his Camp Horim is under someone else's name.
Leib Pinter & his brother Shmelka are currently on trial for a Ponzi scheme that led to Federal agents raiding & shuttering Pinter's Olympia Mortgage. Besides looting in excess of $100 million the court is hearing evidence that they assisted Ron (Yaron) Hershco's scam to target gullible minorities. The Pinters & Hershco ran a classic mortgage fraud of sucking away people's life savings before foreclosing on their house under fraudulent circumstances.
Leib Pinter lives around the corner from Mirrer yeshiva yet he almost never stepped foot in there for decades. One day, he just started hanging around and raising money for them. This was conveniently right before he wanted to make his son Moishe the 9th grade rebbe. Moishe Pinter's shver, Rabbi Herzl Kranz is another scam artist with a history. Moishe himself is an officer of Olympia Mortgage.
Leib Pinter is published by Artscroll as a "scholar of note". Pinter has a number of relatives with cozy jobs at Artscroll.
For those who care...I looked into the Leib Tropper's yeshiva and his other nonsense. In my opinion, the man is a fraud of the highest level.
Has he ever done some good in his life? I'm sure he did.
The man is a dangerous demagogue!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Rosenberg
Me & Shmarya (Scotty Rosenberg) have more in common than you think.
Shmarya defends poor anti-Semitic Ukranian murderers as being egged on by annoying Jews.
I always had a disagreement with Hitler & Himmler. They felt that Slavs, including Ukranians, are an inferior race but I always held them to be Aryans too.
R' Yudel posted the link to R' Yosef Bloch and is encouraging people to listen to it.
It's very scary that R' Reuven Feinstein of all people is going along with Tropper, while allegedly being paid handsomely, when his own father R' Moishe ztl is having his psak distorted by Bahayma Tropper.
Barry Hertz can bring up the Vaad Nidchei Yisroel at the coming Agudah convention
It's very scary that R' Reuven Feinstein of all people is going along with Tropper............
He's not his father, no where close!
Every Jew should participate in stopping Tropper in his tracks.
We could use help from UOJ.
Tropper is not a moral authority to decide who is an authentic Jew. He is in a position to abuse the powers he grabbed to cause untold harm & suffering to innocent people. It's true that many rabbis are not rauy to be megayer but Tropper will possel many others who don't deserve it, perhaps out of dishonesty, vindictiveness & pettiness.
Many true gerim will suffer if Tropper is allowed to proceed. Causing them to suffer is prohibited by lavin and a klalah.
This is all in Tropper's guise of doing the right thing while he makes a churban with creating scores of improper gerim himself.
A gameplan of Tropper's that boils down to money and personal negios.
Similar to the Feinsteins, R' Shmuel Kaminetzky let Margo get away with murder when R' Yaakov zl never woould have.
R' Shmuel and many other cowards in a position to speak should have raised their voices in public.
I think the pictures on the side take away the value of what you are doing. Many people who would believe in what you are publishing when they see them feel that all you have is a ax to grind - and the articles are part of that. If you would remove the pictures it will add credence to your site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell
"In a time of universal deceit, speaking the truth is an act of revolution!"
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/11/raging-silence-jaccuse.html
The worst case of sexual abuse and coverup thereof ever happened in a Mizrahi yeshiva, Netiv Meir, when, after serving a three-year jail term for nineteen counts of rape, statutory rape, sexual miscinduct etc., the Rosh Yeshiva, Ze’ev Kopolevitch was brought back to the yeshiva. The Israeli papers at the time of the court case allege that rabbis Chaim Druckman and Avraham Shapira knew, or heard allegation of Kopolevitch’s actions yet remained silent. Not once did any blogger bring this up.
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/11/raging-silence-jaccuse.html
Modern Orthodoxy’s two major publications, the Jewish Press and the Jewish Week steadfastly protected Mordechai Tendler, as well as his brothers who allegedly molested high school girls. Actually Harry Maryles openly said that he accepts UOJ’s accusations against Kolko but not Tendler.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/11/17/wmid117.xml
Zalman Gilchensky, 37, a Jerusalem rabbi who set up a centre to monitor the anti-Semitic attacks in Israel, has recorded at least 500 incidents over the past year in which Russians have been involved in attacks, issuing anti-Semitic pamphlets, and in graffiti incidents for which they were arrested by police. He is heading a campaign to change the law, which, he says, allows emigration to Israel simply because one family member had a Jewish grandfather.
Last week, Mr Gilchensky organised the first public demonstration over the issue outside the Jerusalem offices of the Jewish Agency. He argues that the agency's rush to bring in new immigrants is endangering the state of Israel.
The agency has admitted that it is disturbed by the anti-Semitism, but says it will not shift over the right of return. Yehuda Weinrab, a spokesman, said: "To change the law of return would betray the trust with the Jewish community and Leib Tropper's BIG STOMACH as a whole."
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/11/raging-silence-jaccuse.html
There is now an alleged rapist, accused of assaulting girls on dates. To date, not a word has been said about him, no warnings, no blog rants. This guy goes over to little girls at weddings and is cajoling them, saying how pretty they are, in front of their parents.
These are but a few blatant examples of how negative events MO society are willfully ignored; yet similar events in haredi society are exploited by these bloggers, not to sound the alarm nor to eradicate the events themselves but to smear and delegitimize everyone who doesn’t agree with them. No big deal, you may say, who are these bloggers after all, and what is their influence. This is a valid claim. However, the great minds and leaders of YU are all over their message boards, tacitly or cunningly encouraging this trend.
I accuse Dov Bear, Gil Student, Harry Maryles, Cross-Currents and the heads of YU who regularly appear on these blogs of a pact of silence in this horrendous atrocity. How come you all claim to be independent thinkers, original and nuanced, yet you seem to be synchronized and somehow always sing the same tune? What will you say when this problem blows out of its current proportions? What will you do when a bigger shul in Israel is torched?
Well, don’t bother answering. I know the answer. You’ll say if only the haredim had accepted Evolution, (the mainstream version, of course), joined the IDF (like the bagel fressing blogging wussies who never held a gun) and observed Yom Haatzmaut, and of course accepted the giyurs of your local grocer, ah, then it would have never happened. Or they'll just become part of Israeli day-to-day life... like terrorr attacks.
Now bow your heads in shame and join forces to stop this before it’s too late. We can discuss evolution, halocha and history later.
I remember when Leib Tropper came to town.
The Vaad made fools out of themselves with all the mutual backscratching. They were giving Tropper chashivus while he was singing praises about their beis din doing giyur "100% correct".
The photo op was even more ridiculous. Tropper was sitting down with his gigantic stomach flopped out while some Vaad members were standing around with big grins, Dudi Merling (R' Yaakov Rosenheim's great-grandson) and Immanuel (brother of that arrogant jerk who who hangs out all day with the women at Shevy sheitels in Flatbush).
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922991.html
Cash-filled envelope hints Hirchson corruption dates back to 80s
By Guy Leshem, TheMarker Correspondent
The police's national fraud squad, which is investigating the fraud and theft allegations against former finance minister Abraham Hirchson, received an envelope stuffed with cash Sunday. It was found by chance in the archive of the National Workers Organization (NWO), and the words "for Ovadia Cohen" were written on it.
Cohen was a organization's treasurer, and is one of its former senior officials being investigated. Cohen, who was also Hirchson's closest confidant during the years of the suspected fraud, is one of the chief suspects in the operation in which cash was allegedly stolen from the union and transferred to Hirchson and some of his associates a suspected total of over NIS 12 million from the late 1990s through 2005.
But the envelope, found by an archive worker who was cleaning out files before their computerization, contained 576 old shekels. This suggests that the method of passing on cash-stuffed envelopes dates way back to the early 1980s, before the New Israeli Shekel debuted.
The envelope carries the logo and name of the "Center for the Heritage of Jewish Bravery," the previous name of the March of the Living organization that Hirchson headed.
NWO head Yair Shalem passed the envelope on to the police. "For months I have been busy reorganizing and cleaning up the NWO, and I am constantly amazed by what went on here," Shalem told TheMarker Sunday.
http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3351/1/Rabbi-Shulman-goes-to-Washington%3F
I remember when Rabbi Shulman visiting here in Fair Lawn NJ for Shabbos. He's very Left-Wing Liberal.
It's a hoot that he's running for Congress.
How is Rabbi Dovid Tropper related to Leib? It's hilarious that he's a paid Fressing consultant.
http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/14469/
"There is a general impression about kosher products that people look for and expect quality in; for example, people buy [kosher] because they want to eat fresh, tasty and healthy meals," explained Brooklyn-based Rabbi David Tropper, a Kosher ChefsDiet consultant who has worked as a liaison with the religious community for the company since its inception in 2003.
"I focus on the way the business interacts with Orthodox people, but interest in kosher products also goes beyond that community," he continued. "There is and will continue to be a growing awareness of kosher products by more and more people -- and not only Jewish people."
Daily home delivery of freshly prepared meals (either glatt kosher for meat or cholov Yisroel for dairy, the most stringently supervised method for kosher foods) is available, as are frozen meals, which come in a Styrofoam cooler on dry ice. The fresh option is available in New York and parts of New Jersey; frozen can be had in all states.
"The meals are for people who want to lose weight, and for those who have no time to cook and prepare meals for themselves. The bottom line for both groups is that they're eating healthy, getting variety and, with no shopping and no cooking, it's very convenient also," remarked Tropper.
Some of the numerous ChefsDiet (1-866-805-8108, www.chefsdiet.com) selections include a Western omelet with home fries for breakfast, tricolor cheese tortellini for lunch, and pot roast with roasted parsnips and string beans for dinner.
Senator Chuck Schumer said the nation’s subprime mortgage crisis will lead to nearly 15,000 foreclosures in the city, and will cost the state $9.4 billion in lost property values and $102 million in lost property taxes, reported the Daily News. A report by the Joint Economic Committee released last week said 4,864 Brooklyn homeowners are facing foreclosure (the majority people of color in neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant and East New York). Schumer is calling for federal action against the lending practices of “really slimy mortgage brokers” who grant mortgages to people with credit histories that don’t rate high enough for a conventional mortgage, often with interest rates that skyrocket after two or three years.
Not only will the city take a financial hit because of subprime mortgages, but entire communities will be devastated as families are left in financial ruin, unable to invest in their futures or the upkeep of their neighborhoods.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380801048&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
ADL conference explores 'cyberhate'
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL
This is the e-mail I sent today to the israeli consul.
Shalom,
To whom ever this may concern,
As a friend of 1 of avroham mondrowitzs victims I would like to know what the israeli authorities are doing with regard the extradition request from the brooklyn DA to have indictment # 7693/84 extradited and brought to justice, Its about time to have this child molester face his victims in a court of law, its been a painfull 23 years for his victims, please give over to the proper authorities in israel that people in brooklyn including me are growing restless and want to see him extradited and tried, please do so if only for the sake of his many victims that still seek closer with their sad chapter in life.
Thank you, please I'm awaiting your response.
Uoj, can you put together a list of judges or higher ups in israel that can influence the mondrowitz case, please phone numbers and their e-mails.
Thanks in advance. are you Barry Hertz? If you are why dont you take care of the problem.
PLEASE STOP AVI SHAFRAN FROM SPEAKING IN FLA
THE WHOLE AGUDA HERE IS A JOKE
PLEASE PUBLISIZE WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT AVI SHAFRAN
SO WE CAN LET THE FLA PEOPLE KNOW
UOJ is right. A nice few Very deep pockets have a vested interest not to see Monstrowitz extradited. The corrupt press in Israel and the even more corrupt government will cover this up for the right price and the right deals. Proof: Maariv, Yediot and the 3rd paper whose name escapes me at this moment, have never and will never run an article or series on Mondrowitz and other baby bangers who have fled to the promised land.
You guys have to criticize me & Leib separately as we each have minds of our own.
Many people who would believe in what you are publishing when they see them feel that all you have is a ax to grind -
------------------------
They are absolutely correct....with the vast "majority" of the corrupt Orthodox Jewish establishment.
LVF,
Yasher koach! Can you post the e-mail address of the Israeli Consulate so we can all write to them. Also, anyone who has contact information for Israel's Justice department, please post.
Ohel Family Services doesnt want him extradited because it will open a can of worms for them. It could trigger new inspections into what they are doing now.
I agree that UOJ should stop posting that Joan Hertz nonsense. Once is more than enough, but it's been posted at least a dozen times. There should be some rules regarding spamming.
I agree that UOJ should stop posting that Joan Hertz nonsense. Once is more than enough, but it's been posted at least a dozen times. There should be some rules regarding spamming.
I agree that UOJ should stop posting that Joan Hertz nonsense. Once is more than enough, but it's been posted at least a dozen times. There should be some rules regarding spamming.
I agree that UOJ should stop posting that Joan Hertz nonsense. Once is more than enough, but it's been posted at least a dozen times. There should be some rules regarding spamming.
I agree that UOJ should stop posting that Joan Hertz nonsense. Once is more than enough, but it's been posted at least a dozen times. There should be some rules regarding spamming.
R' Steve,
I believe I got the message:-)
If Ohel recomends a social worker or psych or therapist always check them out first. Make sure they dont have a history of abuse
Domestic spying inquiry restarted at UOJ By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
UOJ I see Steve from Ohel is trying to silence Ohels critics. Beware
Israel Ministry of Justice
Main telephone: 011-972-2-646-6666
Department of Public Inquiries telephone: 011-972-2-646-6340/6321
Fax: 011-972-2-646-6357
Mailing Address:
Ministry of Justice
Salah-a-Din 29
P.O. Box 49029
Jerusalem 91490
Israel
I think that this is the general e-mail at the israeli consul,
feedback@mfa.gov.il
This year’s national Agudath Israel convention will focus on the theme: “American Jewry at Cliff’s Edge: Our Role in Bringing Jews Back to Torah.” According to organizers, the convention program will take a hard look at the potential attrition of the Jewish community in coming generations and what role Torah Jewry can and must play in helping stem the terrible tide of assimilation and intermarriage.
“This convention is not just about kiruv,” says Agudath Israel executive vice president Rabbi Shmuel Bloom. “It’s about looking inside ourselves to rediscover what it is exciting and compelling about Yiddishkeit and making it our mission to convey that passion and excitement to our brothers and sisters who are so far from Torah.”
The convention will also mark the commencement of a Sefer Torah writing project l’zecher nishmas Rabbi Moshe Sherer, zt’l, that will culminate at the annual Agudah dinner on June 1, 2008, just days after the beloved late Agudah leader’s 10th yahrzeit on 21 Iyar.
The 85th National Convention of Agudath Israel of America will be held Thursday through Sunday, November 22- 25, at the Stamford Westin Hotel in Stamford, CT.
Israeli Embassy and Consulate Contact Sheet
Embassy Washington DC
Ambassador: Sallai Meridor
3514 International Dr. N.W.
Washington DC 20008
Tel: 202-364-5500
Email: info@israelemb.org
Consulates
Atlanta
Consul General: Reda Mansour
1100 Spring St. N.W. Suite 440 Atlanta, Georgia 30309
Tel: (404) 487-6500
Fax: (404) 487-6555
Email: information@atlanta.mfa.gov.il
Boston
Consul General: Nadav Tamir
20 Park Plaza, Suite 1020
Boston, MA 02116
Tel: (617) 535-0200
Fax: (617) 535-0255
Chicago
Consul General Barukh Binah
111 East Wacker Drive
Suite 1308
Chicago, IL 60601
Tel: (312)297-4800
Fax: (312)297-4855/4865
Email: contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il
Houston
Consul General: Asher Yarden
24 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1500
Houston, Texas 77046
Tel: (713) 627 3780
Fax: (713) 627 0149
Email: consular.dep@houston.mfa.gov.il
Los Angeles
Consul General: Ehud Danoch
6380 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1700
Los Angeles, Ca 90048
Tel: (323) 852-5500
Fax: (323) 852-5566
Email: info@losangeles.mfa.gov.il
Miami
Consul General: Ofer Bavly
100 North Biscayne (Yitzhak Rabin) Boulevard
Suite 1800
Miami, Florida 33132
Tel: 305-925-9400
Fax: 305-925-9455
Email: info@miami.mfa.gov.il
New York
Consul General: Asaf Shariv
800 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 499-5426
Email: feedback@newyork.mfa.gov.il
Philadelphia
Consul General: Uriel Palti
230 South 15th Street
Suite 8
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel: 215-546-5556
Fax: 215-545-3986
Email: info@philadelphia.mfa.gov.il
here is the private e-mail of the head from ministry of justice, as uoj said, be polite, we dont want shabak/mosad comin after us.
YaelK@justice.gov.il
Oh brother, this is all I need right now!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/business/14regan.html
November 14, 2007
Giuliani-Kerik Angle in Suit by Ex-Publisher
By RUSS BUETTNER
Judith Regan, the former book publisher, says in a lawsuit filed yesterday protesting her dismissal by the News Corporation, the media conglomerate, that a senior executive there encouraged her to lie to federal investigators about her past affair with Bernard B. Kerik after he had been nominated to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.
The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.
Ms. Regan makes the charge at the start of a 70-page filing that seeks $100 million in damages for what she says was a campaign to smear and discredit her by her bosses at HarperCollins and its parent company, News Corporation, after her project to publish a book with O. J. Simpson was abandoned amid a storm of protest.
In the civil complaint filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Ms. Regan says the company has long sought to promote Mr. Giuliani’s ambitions. But the lawsuit does not elaborate on that charge, identify the executive who she says pressured her to mislead investigators, or offer details to support her claim.
In fact, the allegation about the executive makes up a small part of a much broader array of claims about what she says was her improper removal from a job atop one of the more commercially successful book publishing operations.
A News Corporation spokeswoman who declined to be named said that the company saw no merit in the filing. A spokeswoman for Mr. Giuliani declined to comment.
Ms. Regan had an affair with Mr. Kerik, who is married, beginning in the spring of 2001, when her imprint, ReganBooks, began work on his memoir, “The Lost Son.” In December 2004, after the relationship had ended and shortly after Mr. Kerik’s homeland security nomination fell apart, newspapers reported that the two had carried on the affair at an apartment near ground zero that had been donated as a haven for rescue and recovery workers.
Mr. Kerik claimed in 2004 that he had withdrawn his nomination because of problems with the hiring of a nanny. He was indicted last week on federal tax fraud and other charges.
“Defendants were well aware that Regan had a personal relationship with Kerik,” the complaint says. “In fact, a senior executive in the News Corporation organization told Regan that he believed she had information about Kerik that, if disclosed, would harm Giuliani’s presidential campaign. This executive advised Regan to lie to, and to withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik.”
One of Ms. Regan’s lawyers, Brian C. Kerr of the firm of Dreier L.L.P., said she had evidence to support her claim that she had been advised to lie to federal investigators who were vetting Mr. Kerik and who might have sought to question her about their romantic involvement. But Mr. Kerr declined to discuss the nature of the evidence.
Ms. Regan was fired on Dec. 15, 2006, after a month of withering publicity surrounding her plan to publish a hypothetical confession of O. J. Simpson to the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald L. Goldman. The release of the book, “If I Did It,” was to be tied to the broadcasting of Ms. Regan’s interview of Mr. Simpson on Fox.
A second book, a novel that imagined drunken and lascivious escapades by Mickey Mantle, drew another round of outrage.
At the time, Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corporation, called the Simpson book “ill considered.” Ms. Regan was fired and her imprint shut down after a HarperCollins lawyer, Mark Jackson, claimed she had used an anti-Semitic remark in describing the internal campaign to fire her as a “Jewish cabal.”
Ms. Regan asserts in her lawsuit that she never used the term “Jewish cabal” and that both the Mantle book and the Simpson project were approved by a range of HarperCollins executives.
Mr. Murdoch himself, the suit says, signed off on the Simpson book during a dinner with Ms. Regan on Feb. 14, 2006.
Most of the complaint explores what Ms. Regan says was an effort to discredit and defame her starting in November 2006, including the release of what she calls false and defamatory statements by company executives to The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, and to The New York Times.
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/11/call-to-action-rabbi-paysach-krohn-and.html
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Call To Action: Rabbi Paysach Krohn and Alleged Sex Offender, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
From The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter:
CALL TO ACTION:
Contact Rabbi Paysach Krohn and demand that he stop promoting alleged child molester, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks. Remind him if another child is harmed that he could be held liable in a civil suit.
Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Certified Mohel
E-mail: pkrohn@brisquest.com
Toll Free: 866-846-6900
NY: 718-846-6900
Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Rabbi Lipa Brenner and Alleged Sex Offender Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
The following article was written by Rabbi Paysach Krohn, and is about convicted sex offender, Rabbi (Lewis) Lipa Brenner. While reading the article remember that Rabbi Paysach Krohn is married to Rabbi Ephraim Bryks's sister. Rabbi Ephraim Bryks's wife is Rabbi Lipa Brenner's daughter.
It's a known fact that Rabbi Paysach Krohn has a long history of protecting those who allegedly, perpetrate crimes against children. An example of this is the fact that to this day he still helps his brother-in-law, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks get speaking engagements.
In the book "Around The Magid's Table", Rabbi Paysach Krohn portrays Rabbi Brenner as a righteous man even though he was being accused as being a child molester at the time. When Artscroll learned that Rabbi Brenner was barred from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas because of his sex crimes, they removed the story from later editions of the book. Back in the 1990's rumors circulated that Krohn new about the allegations when he published his book, yet decided to ignore them.
The original charges against Rabbi Brenner included, 14 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. Brenner agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the third degree, a Class E felony, in exchange for a sentence of five years' probation.
Prosecutors said Brenner had sexual contact with a youth he met in the bathroom of the synagogue they both attended. The molestation's allegedly took place over a three-year period that ended in 1995 when the victim was 15 years old.
Also see:
On June 24, 2007, both Rabbi Paysach Krohn and Rabbi Ephraim Bryks presented at a Shabbaton (weekend retreat)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
Case of Rabbi Lippa Brenner
The AKO (Association of Kashrus Organizations) had their meeting yesterday since everyone was around for KosherFress anyway.
R' Yudel has information that they are covering up the scandal of tarfus during "kosher" oil truck & tanker transport. They have warned their members to not even raise the issue.
http://www.akokosher.org/
Rabbi Sholem Fishbane - CRC Chicago
Executive Director
Rabbi Abe Sharp - CRC Chicago
Executive Assistant
Executive Committee
Rabbi Moshe Elefant - OU
Rabbi Saul Emanuel - Montreal
Rabbi Menachem Genack - OU
Rabbi Don Yoel Levy - OK
Dr. Avrom Pollak - Star K
Rabbi Ari Senter - Chof K
Rabbi Avraham Teichman - LA
Also complicit are other members from the 5 Towns Vaad, COR Toronto & Gissinger from Lakewood.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/924047.html
Police arrested Monday the Chabad Youth Organization's chairman, its chief accountant, and several other people suspected of embezzling millions of Shekels, through tax evasion, and laundering money for several businessmen.
The covert investigation has been going on for eight months.
Chabad is a non-profit organization with an annual budget of NIS 30 million. 20 percent of its funding comes from the state; the remainder comes predominantly from donations.
Police Commander Avi Mantzur, who is heading the investigation, told Army Radio that "the matter is still being examined. We have no knowledge of the involvement of political groups in the embezzlement, but we do know that several well known businessmen fell pray to the fraud. Money was transferred to bank accounts, many of them private. We are talking about enormous amounts of money that were pocketed by the four suspects in Israel and abroad, probably in the U.S."
Haaretz covers Mondrowitz after being criticized for being silent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/924055.html
Last update - 16:52 14/11/2007
U.S. asks Israel to extradite man wanted for molesting minors
By Aviva Lori, Haaretz Correspondent
The United States Justice Department has asked Israel to extradite a ultra-Orthodox Jew suspected of raping and sexually abusing dozens of boys.
Avrohom Mondrowitz was investigated by the New York Police Department in the 1980s and was indicted for sex crimes against four boys in Brooklyn, N.Y, but succeeded in fleeing to Israel before he was arrested.
According to witness reports, Mondrowitz , 60, a married father of seven, would pose as a psychologist specializing in the treatment of children that suffered sexual abuse.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/11/ako-association-of-kashrus.html
Are they reliable?
http://www.ukkosher.org/
U-K Kashrus Organization, Uriburu 774 4°B (1027),
Cap. Fed. - Buenos Aires - Argentina (5411) 4951-8366; Fax: (5411) 4952-9422. Rabbi Gavriel Yabra, Rabbinic Director. Rabii Moshe Silberberg, Rabbi Abraham Shrem, Rabbi Eliahu Cohen, Rabbinic Coordinator. Rabbi Moshe Szusterman, Field Supervisor.
Jacobo Weiss said...
For your information UK Kosher a k inside a U is the worst hashgocha that exists, Mr Yabra came into business, to supervise products for his fathers store, the father buy the son supervises, the rabbis in Argentina called for a Din torah and he refused to attend.
Bnai torah and frum jews dont accept or use his hashgocho, and furthermore, anything supervised by UK is rejected at all shules in Argenita, regardless of believe, sefaradi, ashkenazi, Agudah, Chabad or Satmer.
In the US the OK, OU, Star-K and Kof-K have said that he is not reliable, and so the LBD, Badatz, Igud etc.
Recently, he tried to call Rabbi Libersohn to a Din torah in Monsey at the Machon Lehoroho for refusing his kashruth, and Yabra himself didn't show up.....
Wow, the 2nd time in 2 days that Montreal Vaad's Saul Emmanuel gets toichocho on UOJ.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/taking-ebay-bids-on-the-grand-rabbis-glasses/
Gold-rimmed glasses reportedly worn for many years by Shlomo Halberstam, the revered grand rabbi of the Brooklyn-based Bobov Hasidim, are available in an auction with an asking price of $350,000. Rabbi Halberstam died in 2000. Daniel Givotovsky, who works in a computer store in Brooklyn and is a frequent eBay trader, said the family of an optometrist who had treated the grand rabbi had given him the glasses to sell on eBay for a commission. He declined to identify the family.
Mr. Givotovsky said these were an old pair of glasses worn by the rabbi, which he left with the optometrist when he received a prescription for a new pair in 1994. The eBay sale site includes a photograph of the prescription, from the Rand Eye Institute in Pompano Beach, Fla., which had the rabbi’s name misspelled. The auction ends Nov. 15; there are no bids yet.
The sale drew expressions of discomfort from at least one figure closely associated with the Borough Park neighborhood where the Hasidic group is based. “If somebody was going to buy a sefer Torah and wanted to spend a million dollars I’d say ‘God bless him,’” said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Democrat of Brooklyn, referring to the Torah scroll. “A sefer Torah is holy. No one’s glasses are holy. I find the whole thing totally distasteful.”
The grand rabbi, a charismatic figure who helped rebuild the Bobov sect after it was decimated by the Holocaust, and who turned it into one of the world’s leading Hasidic communities, died in Brooklyn at age 92. He was a majestic looking man with a great silver beard who kept the group glued together and avoided the schisms that afflicted other Hasidic groups.
The grand rabbi’s son and successor, Naftali Halberstam, died in 2005, at age 74. The Bobov have split over issues of succession and power, and the factions operate out of two separate institutions in Borough Park.
Samuel Heilman (trying to make himself relevant as usual), a sociology professor and authority on Jewish studies at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City Unversity of New York, and the author of “Defenders of the Faith: Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewry” (University of California Press, 2000), doubted any Bobov Hasid would bid on the, glasses because such a sale would be unseemly. A rebbe’s possessions are customarily held by the family after his death, he said. “Part of a rebbe is mystification and selling items that belong to him demystifies him,” Dr. Heilman said. “I suspect that people who try to protect his legacy would be very much opposed to anything like that.”
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/taking-ebay-bids-on-the-grand-rabbis-glasses/#comment-88014
I emailed the seller (via eBay) to ask what $125 for shipping gets the Buyer that USPS, DHL, FedEx and/or UPS don’t already provide…I’ll post his response later (assuming I get a repsonse).
Everyone knows Sellers try to ‘make money back’ with the (unregulated) shipping charges on eBay, but for an asking price of $350k plus, you can’t throw in shipping?
— Posted by Joshua Leisner
I'm glad to read that Lewis Brenner has been barred from Entering Torah Vodaath.
Has UOJ uncovered any new information on Belsky's efforts to protect his child rapist friend?
I know a lot of you people don't like South Africans & our annoying accents but please leave me & my brother Saul alone.
It's none of anyone's business if I hang out all day with the women at my wife Shevy's salon.
And did UOJ have anything to do with massering on us for running an illegal business in our house on East 17th St? The rent on Coney Island Ave we are forced to pay now is really expensive.
How gracious of Leib Tropper to decide for everyone which batei din are reliable in his estimation to do gerus.
Curiously, some of these rabbonim give questionable / unreliable hashgocho on food.
Is the mechutzef excluding anyone not on the list?
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/rabbis/bateidinlist.htm
Beis Din of Yerushalayim Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein 011-972-225-322047
Beis Din of Monsey Rabbi Pinchus Rabinowitz 845-425-1315
Beis Din of Philadelphia Rabbi Aharon Felder 215-745-2968
Beis Din Merkaz HaRabbanim Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik 312-543-3945
Beis Din of Cleveland Rabbi Yisroel Grumer 216-321-5002
Beis Din of New York-Emek Halacha Rabbi Yisroel Dov Webster 718-236-9244
Beis Din of RCC- Los Angeles Rabbi Avraham Union 213-389-3382 ext 13
Beis Din of Milwaukee Rabbi Mendel Senderovic 414-234-8635
Beis Din of Montreal, Canada Rabbi Yonoson Binyomin Weiss 514-739-6363
Beis Din of Miami Rabbi Mendel Senderovic 414-234-8635
Beis Din of Houston Rabbi Yehoshua Wender 713-729-8870
Beis Din of Cincinati Rabbi Zelig Scharfstein 513-731-4671
Beis Din of Lakewood Rabbi Dov Kahan 732-905-5922
UOJ, Tske it from me, as a victim of Mondrowits that is not a photo of Avrohom Mondrowitz. Unless he had radical plastic surgery the last 6 months this aint him! I would recognize him in a flash. The pic out there of him inside a store (ABC news photo?) is the genuine monster. This one is either a distrasction by his protectors or a vicious prank on Vikki Polin.
Can someone ask R' Dovid Feinstein why he is going along with Tropper?
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/about.htm
Operating under the guidance and halachic rulings of HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashev (or at least as far as Efrati claims), HaRav Dovid Feinstein and HaRav Reuven Feinstein
http://eternal.smugmug.com/gallery/3417375#191365887
Who wants a little schnapps glezel? I want to glug down the whole bottle.
I'm smug, just like the smugmug picture hosting service.
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/ejfvideo.htm
Tom Kaplan must have paid about 25k to produce this glitzy video for Tropper.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/924055.html
UOJ, I'll vouch for the authenticity of this pic. Sure as hell this IS him. I nearly shit in my pants when "someone" sent me to this link. Hasn,t changed much over the years. unless he changed below the belt. g-d, to see that trapped mouse fear in his eyes and face.
http://kvetcher.jewschool.com/2007/11/13/the-enforcer/
But you might ask, who is this Rabbi Leib Tropper? Well, he taught at Dark Light in Jerusalem, and then helped found an Ohr Somayach branch in Monsey. But it wasn’t frum enough for him, so he started Kol Yaakov. Kol Yaakov offers a dystopian world view. Secular studies are rejected outright.
Rabbi Tropper played Minister of Dirty Tricks to slander Rabbi Slifkin, the Zoo Rabbi. He claimed he knew of two whole cases of young men who had “fried out” because of reading Slifkin’s Old Earth science. It doesn’t even matter, but the two cases he brought were anyway complete bullshit. One of the examples he brought disputed his religious commitment had changed in any significant way – he had merely gone to Yeshiva University (which, to be fair, is for a man like Tropper, the worst expression of heresy, but not to those outside of right-wing ultra-Orthodox circles), and the other one was never frum in the first place.
But to give Tropper credit, he doesn’t just lie about you; he blatantly deceives and lies to your face. He has lied to potential converts, with heart-wrenching results, punishing them over the slightest of infractions, both haredi, or just according to Tropper’s own rulebook, which he apparently makes up as he goes along.
If he did this unintentionally, this guy should be faking it in the second fiddle section of the Rockland Community Orchestra, not heading an effort to standardize conversions. But it is more likely that he is a quite capable and manipulative person, who tolerates little dissent and allows for precious few mitigating circumstances.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3471240,00.html
The police's fraud unit on Wednesday morning arrested a senior Chabad member on suspicion of evading millions of Israeli shekels in taxes.
The man was arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport as he returned from a fundraising tour in the United States.
Simultaneously, dozens of police detectives raided the village of Kfar Chabad, confiscated documents and detained for questioning movement activists suspected of being involved in the fraud affair.
The arrest was conducted following a secret investigation held over the past eight months, after the airport intelligence unit received information that an association linked to young Chabad members was being used to cover up tax evasion.
According to the suspicions, the suspect used fictitious bank accounts for money laundering purposes. The police also suspect that the funds raised by the association in the past few years for education, aid and charity activities were transferred to "straw accounts" in Israel and abroad and were withdrawn for private purposes, including payments to the association members.
'Association supported by State'
Commander Avi Mansour, head of the police's central district investigation department, told Ynet, "This is a wide-scale affair which we have been conducting secretly over the past few months. This association's annual budget totals about NIS 30 million ($7.6 million) and it receives from the State some NIS 7 million ($1.7 million) a year."
"This investigation included dozens of Chabad officials," a police source said. "In the past, disputes between organization members led to lawsuits, and the material obtained on the organization points to severe tax offenses. The organization will find it very difficult to continue with its activities following these arrests."
The Chabad movement supported opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in his premiership campaign in 1996. It has links to some governmental institutions and its members recently accompanied Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during his visit to the US.
Please replace the bogus pic of ondrowitz with the real and up to date one at the haaretz link posted above. he would make a grand model for fear factor. those facial features say fear in more ways than words can. my guess is the photograher wore a now banned UOJ cap that some uoj henchman gave to haaretz staff. seeing uoj through the wrong end of the barrel would cause even leizerowitz to soil his lange gatches (rabeinee tam's for those in rio linda)
If Mondrowitz is forging degrees from US universities, that will open a whole new can of worms, both criminally and he will see a flurry of suits against him to recover damages.
In case anyone is wondering, please see the update on the top of UOJ's post from Haaretz.
http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/account.html
Rabbi Tropper created a story that was told to the Rabbis were were approached to condemn the books. The story involved two students in his yeshivah, described as "angelic," who allegedly dropped out of yeshivah and left Orthodoxy after reading my books and concluding that "if the Sages could have been wrong about science, then they could have been wrong about everything." Rabbi Elya Wachtfogel, the primary rabbinic authority behind this ban, presented this story as grounds for his campaign. I myself was shaken when I heard about this story, but my mentors were skeptical and advised my to investigate it. The investigation showed that one of them was barely observant to begin with, and dropped out of yeshivah before my book on the Sages' knowledge of science was published. When I discovered the identity of the other student and wrote to ask him if it was true that my books caused him to drop out, he wrote this reply:
http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/letter.html
Rabbi Leib Pinter may have been the original person to have launched the campaign. However, Rabbi Pinter subsequently became the subject of a legal investigation (not his first or second) and was unable to be further involved in the campaign against my work.
http://godolhador.blogspot.com/2005/04/lies-of-kanoim-exposed.html
Leib Tropper was a prime instigator of this false story, and has been harassing Rabbi Slifkin ever since.
There was a claim to some of the ban signers (Rav Refoel Schorr, for instance) that they were only signing a private letter to be sent to Feldheim Publishers, one that would not say anything about the books being kefira and apikorsus, and not any kind of public declaration. This seems to have been a clever trick, as Rav Schor's name wound up appearing on the posters and advertisements.
Pinter & Tropper presented one text to some of the signatories, but then another text was used in the actual ban. This was verified by Rav Aharon Feldman, who visited Rav Eliashiv personally. Rav Eliashiv said that he had not signed anything which called the books kefirah.
Question
If the Torah case against Rabbi Slifkin’s books was so clear, why was it necessary to engage in such lies in order to elicit the prized signatures of the Gedolim ?
I just checked major American Chabad blogs and websites. They make no mention of the arrests or the scandal. No surprise there.
Lubavitch Youth is Chabad's major Israeli organization, the parent body, so to speak, of hundreds (so they claim) of Chabad Houses. It is headed by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aronow and is also the parent body of the now-closed yeshiva in Rostov. The 13 students deported from Russia 10 days ago are his.
I'm reading a lot here about Rabbi Leib Tropper. I know him a long time, and I have never seen any of the bad behaviours attributed to him here.
The perfect rabbi has not been invented. They make mistakes. Even assuming the truth of some of the claims here, that he accepted some donations from dubious sources, he disagrees with Rabbi Slifkin's ideas, and also the YU hashkofa, and he gave advice to a few people which did not turn out for the best - it is what it is. These are mistakes, at worst. No crimes, no venality, mistakes.
I also can't understand why the critics keep harping on his divorce, and his teaching baalei teshuva. Are we Catholics, who don't allow for divorce? Is there a gemara Gittin? Is there something suspect about teaching BTs?
Many of Rabbi Tropper's rabbinic colleagues have no difficulty with him, including Rabbi Dovid Feinstein. Surely, that says something.
Much of what gets printed here is true, but some of this is getting ugly and goes too far. Rabbi Tropper has done a great job over the years in kiruv at Ohr Somayach and Kol Yaakov. He's a father and husband, and has ventured into an area, geirus, which has chronically needed some direction. The hyper-criticism goes too far. None of us would want this type of microscope on us.
UOJ just put up Jack Abramoff's black-Borsalino enhanced picture on the sidebar. That putz, who is currently incarcerated in a Federal pen, is the big money behind Leib Pinter's mechutan Herzl Kranz.
The "Inside Edition" TV news show last night featured this putz in Manhattan wearing a yarmulka who was confronted by reporters:
http://www.insideedition.com/ourstories/reports/story.aspx?storyid=1056
The price of parking in some cities has gone through the roof. A permanent garage space can go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But, an INSIDE EDITION investigation found that many people have found a crafty way to park for free but it isn't legal, so why are they getting away with it?
Driving through a big city is frustrating enough, but finding a legal parking spot on the street can sometimes be near impossible. Parking in a garage can sometime cost more than $50 dollars a day!
But what about the cars INSIDE EDITION found parked right on the sidewalk? Still another car was parked way too close to a fire hydrant without any worry of getting ticketed or towed.
INSIDE EDITION learned that in New York City if one can obtain an official-looking parking placard, preferably with the word "police" somewhere on it, the vehicle owner can park almost anywhere with the placard featured on the dashboard. Chances are the owner will not even be ticketed!
INSIDE EDITION found another vehicle, this one belonging to a doctor, parked day after day in a no standing zone right in front of the doctor's office. The doctor never received a ticket, but ironically, the car behind his gets one.
Inside the doctor's car INSIDE EDITION saw an official-looking Amtrak police placard. But, the Amtrak police tell INSIDE EDITION they don't even issue parking placards.
When Senior Investigative Correspondent, Matt Meagher approached the doctor he says the state law allows him to park in front of his office for up to an hour if he's seeing an emergency patient. But, INSIDE EDITION had seen him parked there day after day, sometimes all day long. However, the doctor denies using the permit to park for free, and maintains that he is acting within New York state law.
INSIDE EDITION attempted to speak with the traffic enforcement officer about why he was not ticketing the doctor's car, but he did not want to talk.
The penalties for misusing parking placards can be as high as $500 dollars. In some instances your license can even be suspended.
Fan:
Thanks...Chazak back at ya!
To the defender of Lieg Tropper,
I have worked with the results of his mistakes. i.e. we were left to deal with a young BT that tropper brainwashed into unrealisticly following his crooked daas tora that nearly cost him his marriage. All this aside and assuming he dosn't have to apologize for improper 1on1 advice. HOWEVER! trying to ruin rabbi slifkin (i'm no fan OR detractor of slifkins. i'm a chassid and not involved in this particular field in theorisms) and slandering his name and printing outright lies and forging signed documents.....etc. for that we don't have mesechte gittin...for that we have mesechte Succah where the punishment for false letters besmirching ones livlihood and charachter are dealt with of all places, for that the gemorah intimates that hell isn't punishment enough for a ass like Tropper. Now that u bring up his intersting second marriage, i'm reminded of the gemarah about mechutzufim and mamzerim. dunno......
Mr. Tropper Defender either hasn't listened to the criticism from Rabbis Bloch & Sternbuch or is being dishonest.
And what about falsely claiming that Rabbi Wachtfogel supports him?
http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2007/11/looking-for-survivors-of-rabbi-ben-zion.html#2884113071227658349
Using the legal system in the United States is much better then paying someone a visit. The goal is for him to be arrested and there be a trial. If Sobel molested anyone in the United States and then fled the country before the statute of limitations ran out, there's a chance that he can still be held accountable for his actions.
Many survivors dream of having their offenders be convicted. Even after 50 - 60 years.
The other important thing to remember is that once someone files a police report on their offender it makes them eligiable for the Federally funded Victim-Witness Act. The funds can be used to pay for counseling. Those who have been sexually victimized should never have to pay out of pocket expenses to heal from a violent crime. All sex crimes are considered violent crimes.
Let's hear more about R. Yaakov, R. Schorr and the Agudah.
Enough of this perversion drek.
R' Enough,
I'm working on it. It's very painful!
UOJ - Don't stop what you're doing! You are making history! Don't stop!
Rabbi Herbert Bomzer converted the non Jewish girlfriend of a Jewish man we know well. She never kept any mitzvot at anytime. Nor did she study Judaism. Rabbi Bomzer was paid 10k to do this conversion about 10 years ago.
Rabbi David Lehrfield has done conversions on dozens of Gentile women who we know personally were "intimately" (better word?) involved with Jewish men. None of these women were at all mitzvah observant and none had studied Judaism for more than a few months at most. Rabbi Lehrfield does not charge more than a nominal fee for conversion and sincerely believes that this is the only way of preventing intermarriage in the Orthodox community (which is not as prevalent as among Reform and Conservative but is still at about 15-20% according to recent estimates).
Along with Rabbi Lehrfield there are several others of whom we have first hand knowledge of participation in conversions involving women who are intimately involved (either via civil contract or not) with Jewish men, these are Pinchas Weberman, Casriel Brusowankin, Shalom Lipskar, Jose Galimidi, Amram Amsalem, Yair Shemesh, Yosef Korf and Asher Suissa (the last three of whom are personally beneficiaries of this practice).
These conversions were all performed within weeks of either 1). the discovery that the woman who was cohabiting with the Jewish man was not Jewish, or 2). the Jewish man presented his pregnant non Jewish girlfriend to the Rabbi and said he was going to enter into a civil union with her.
I know of two cases in particular in which Jewish men divorced their Jewish wives and abandoned their Jewish children in order to "cohabit" and enter into a civil union with non Jewish women who were visibly pregnant. Amram Amselem "converted" both of the women involved within weeks of each man divorcing his Jewish wife.
These types of "conversions" are not only NOT a valid way of preventing intermarriage, but a way of facilitating and encouraging it as borne by the ever increasing rates of intermarriage among ALL sectors of American Jews.
It's one thing with fake "gedolim" and their misbehavior but it should be much easier to stop crap jobs like Pinter & Tropper who don't even have the Agudah issued title.
STOP PINTER & TROPPER.
Speaking of illegal parking placards, is Pinter still parked in front of the Mir with the permit from Shmelka's shul?
Someone should convince Tropper to go on a diet too.
Shmarya has really been showing his newfound true colors lately.
A) The hypocrite keeps booting Chareidi posters who "insult" other readers. Of course he manages to stretch the definition of an insult miles from anything recognizably insulting.
So now his favored posters call a Charedi lady named Renee a "bitch", in violation of the blog rules, but Shmarya does nothing & his inner circle groupies are defending it.
B) The Tropper scandal has attracted some putz named Mordechai who is married to a non-Jewish woman and keeps bringing "raayos" from Tanach that it is mutter.
Shmarya, who jumps all over frum people who post the littlest detail he doesn't like, never challenges Mordechai.
The Rabbi Y.L. Bloch tape exposing the FRAUD named Leib Tropper is selling like hotcakes in Lakewood shuls for those who don't have internet.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/11/kosher-fest-2007.html
Kosher fest took place in NYC on Sunday & Monday November 11th & 12th 2007.
Observed: non-mevushal wines poured by non-Jews,
The crackers that were bought outside by a non-Jewish worker to be served with cholov yisroel cheese were NOT KOSHER,
Frum people eating at the non-kosher booths of the joint Asian show,
Dairy and pareve cakes mixed together -- remember meat is being served here --
One booth serving all three -- dairy, pareve, and meat products,
Bishul akum,
Use of non-kosher utensils brought in and claimed to be "new"...
This was the biggest show ever -- in kosher blunders.
Menachem Lubinsky says BLOGGERS are no good for Kashrus!
"Give me your crooks, your perves, Your criminal masses yearning to stay free ..." Israeli equivalent to the quote of emma lazarus on the base of the statue of liberty.
You've called me the defender of Rabbi Tropper.
The critics write very intensely, that's for sure. I think you noticed that I didn't challenge any of your factual statements. I'm not in a position to do that. I will do some investigating, however, although I don't plan on making this my life's work.
I just wish you wouldn't be so vituperative. And black and white. Momzerim? I don't think so.
I want to make a very clear statement of fact that I will expound upon at a later date with various factual evidence:
THE RCC OF CALIFORNIA AND RABBI UNION ARE NOT A QUALIFIED BAIS DIN TO BE RELIED ON FOR ANYTHING!
Leib Tropper is a fraud measuring up to the stature of Lipa Margulies, Twerski and the entire criminal Agudah leadership!
Let's leave his kids and his family out of this!!!!
Another Fact:
Yisroel Belsky and convicted child molester Lipa Brenner are friends today and have been even after Brenner was convicted!
Belsky was the major protagonist attesting to Brenner's innocence, and attempting to have Brenner to continue to be allowed in Yeshiva Torah Vodaath even after his conviction!
Go trust Belsky with kashrus or anything! The world has gone nuts!
BELSKY IS A RASHA GAMUR!
If you are a victim of sexual abuse and live in Baltimore keep your mouth shut if you need financial assistance from Ahavas Yisrael.
If you have been donating to this fund, STOP!
The word is out that if you speak out you will be cut off. It's happened to four friends of mine so far.
What happens is that victims get called into meetings by either Mrs Isbee or Eli Schlossberg.
They are told that Ahavas Yisrael is running out of money and that they have met the maximum amount that they will pay per family or individual person.
I have another friend who was told that they could no longer help pay for medication, yet they did have the money to hire mover to get them out of town.
http://www.ahavasyisrael.org/contact.php
from the haaretz article,
"A month ago, police summoned him for an interrogation over Web sites that he had visited, and then released him on conditions."
I wonder what those web sites were, Now I dont thimk they would interegate someone for checkin out some porn unless the models were under 18, here goes to show to all those that claim this sicko was healed and its been 23 years w/o incident in israel and we should just leave this alone, aint gonna happen this guy is sick and getting sicker, we will not stop untill he enters prison, they ought to lock him up and flush the key.
Tropper would not answer questions about Rabbi Amar. He just danced around them several times.
http://www.canonist.com/?p=763
In trying to get deeper into the story from last week, I spoke to Rabbi Leib Tropper of Eternal Jewish Family.
EJF is endeavoring to create, adopt and apply more uniform standards for conversion, Tropper said. He explained that this is derived in part from the concern that average rabbis not especially expert in conversion may be conducting them “amongst the Orthodox, even,” and that it’s not just Modern Orthodox who might be doing it: “I know people who are Chasidic rabbis who are not well-versed.” (And Tropper is??)
The standards they’re looking to implement include “That the rabbis who are performing conversion have to be versed and tested in the laws of conversion…we don’t allow, for example, rabbis who are the leaders, the one who inspired them to be a Jewish couple, to be on the rabbinic court [that oversees their conversion]…we also don’t allow people to extort money,” meaning that they place a limit for compensation of $1000 to the entire court handling a conversion, or roughly $330 apiece.
A practice that the EJF is seeking to cut down on is “Rabbinic courts that issue conversions, but don’t release the certificate until after 6 months or 2 years, in case he goes back.” This is a problem, Tropper said, because “you can’t revert a conversion.”
Towards establishing these standards, “We set up rabbinic courts – six of them we have in America…hopefully we’ll have more in Europe and England.”
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000275137&fid=942
Officers from Israel Police Central Region Fraud Unit and Israel Tax Authority investigators have arrested the director of Chabad Youth Organization in Israel, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Ahronov, the nonprofit organization's (NPO) accountant, and one of its authorized signatories, on suspicion of embezzlement amounting to tens of millions shekels and tax fraud running into hundreds of millions of shekels. The four men are suspected of theft, fraudulent receiving, and money laundering, in which leading businessmen are also thought to be involved.
Ahronov was arrested this morning on return from a fund raising campaign abroad, as detectives raided the NPO's offices in Kfar Chabad. At web posting, the four men were due to appear at the Ramla Magistrates Court for a remand hearing.
Police began an undercover inquiry into Chabad Youth Organization following a complaint by the Registrar of Nonprofit Organizations about irregularities in the NPO's management. The inquiry revealed that funds intended as donations were transferred to private accounts held by the director and others. It was also discovered that receipts issued for donations were not entered on the NPO's books.
Adv. Gideon Fisher, the lawyer representing Ahronov and Lubavitch-Chabad, said the investigators were trying to blame the NPO's officers for fraud that they themselves had uncovered. "The inquiry began following a lawsuit the NPO filed against its former treasurer, in which it claimed he embezzled more than NIS 30 million. In his defense, the treasurer sought to divert attention from his own actions by making absurd claims in an attempt to smear the NPO's director and Chabad leaders."
For our Israeli and Hebrew speaking freeloaders:-)
מאת אביבה לורי
אברהם מונדרוביץ, חסיד גור, הציג עצמו כפסיכולוג המתמחה בטיפול בנערים שעברו התעללות מינית, אך חשוד שתקף אותם בעצמו. הוא חמק לישראל לאחר שהוגש נגדו כתב אישום
תגיות: הסגרה, אונס, ארה"ב
מונדרוביץ. הציג עצמו כפסיכולוג המתמחה בטיפול בנערים שעברו התעללות מינית
תצלום: דניאל כהן
משרד המשפטים האמריקאי הגיש לישראל לפני כחודשיים בקשת הסגרה כנגד אברהם מונדרוביץ, חסיד גור שחשוד בביצוע מעשי אונס והתעללות מינית בעשרות נערים בארה"ב. נגד מונדרוביץ הוגש כתב אישום שכלל תלונות של ארבעה נערים תושבי שכונת מגוריו בברוקלין באמצע שנות ה-80. אולם הוא הצליח לחמוק לישראל לפני שמומשה פקודת המעצר שהוגשה נגדו.
מעדויות שמובאות במוסף "הארץ" שיתפרסם בסוף השבוע, עולה כי מונדרוביץ, כבן 60, נשוי ואב לשבעה, הציג את עצמו כבעל כמה תארים מאוניברסיטאות שונות ואף כפסיכולוג המתמחה בטיפול בנערים במצוקה שעברו התעללות מינית. אולם ההורים ששלחו את ילדיהם לטיפול אצלו לא ידעו כי הוא בעצמו פוגע בילדים.
מארק וייס, בן 40 משיקאגו, מספר כי לאחר שהתקשה להסתגל למסגרות חינוכיות שלחו אותו הוריו בגיל 14 לניו יורק לטיפול קצר-טווח אצל הפסיכולוג. מונדרוביץ אסף אותו משדה התעופה, לקח אותו למסעדה, אחר כך ללונה פארק ובסוף לדירה שלו ברחוב 60. לדברי וייס "המשפחה שלו היתה בקוטג' בהרי הקטסקיל ואני ישנתי איתו בבית. הוא שאל אותי איפה אני רוצה לישון, במיטה של הבן שלו או איתו, אני זוכר שהוא יצר איזו אווירה של פחד כלפי השינה בחדר של הבן שלו, אז אמרתי שאני רוצה לישון איתו. בלילה הוא פתאום נגע בי. מההתחלה ועד הסוף, כולל מעשה סדום. הייתי נאיווי, לא הבנתי מה זה בדיוק, חשבתי שזה חלק מהנחמדות, שככה הוא רוצה שאני ארגיש טוב".
וייס גם לא זוכר שיחות טיפוליות שערך עימו מונדרוביץ. "הכל היה תרמית אחת גדולה. בבוקר הוא היה למטה במרתף, מקבל פציינטים, וכשלא היו לו פציינטים הוא הסתובב איתי בכל מיני מקומות וכל לילה היה בא אלי למיטה". בנוגע ליחס הרבנים אל המקרה של מונדרוביץ אמר וייס: "הם שיתקו דור שלם. כשאחד מהם הורס אנשים אחרים, הם לא עושים כלום. הדברים האלה הרבה יותר חשובים משמיטה ומתולעים בחסה".
בישראל מתגורר מונדרוביץ בירושלים. במשך השנים עבד במוסדות חינוך שונים, אולם כיום, ככל הידוע, הוא אינו מועסק. לפי החשד הוא מתפרנס מהנפקת תארים אקדמיים לכל דורש. בעיקר לסטודנטים ממדינות העולם השלישי. ברשותו סמלים ולוגואים של אוניברסיטאות שונות בעולם, חותמות, דוגמאות חתימה וטופסי הרשמה. משטרת ישראל שנחשפה לאתרים בהם גולש מונדרוביץ באינטרנט זימנה אותו לפני כחודש לחקירה שממנה הוא שוחרר לביתו בתנאים מגבילים.
אברהם מונדרוביץ סירב להגיב לכתבה. הוא טרק את הטלפון עוד לפני ששמע את הטענות נגדו.
הכתבה המלאה תתפרסם בסוף השבוע במוסף הארץ.
The Hebrew article implies Mondrowitz is forging American university diplomas.
The Hebrew article implies Mondrowitz is forging American university diplomas.
...........
and selling them to KIDS from third world countries!
Am I missing something?
Tropper tells SIW that the procedure of holding gerus papers has to stop, because in his words, you can't reverse a gerus.
Tropper doesn't seem to make any sense. The whole purpose of holding the papers is an extra insurance policy that careful batei din utilize. If the person is chozer lesuro because they weren't genuine, they don't have any proof of giyur which as Judge Judy would say is "perfect".
It sounds like Tropper may be grabbing at straws in an attempt to invalidate various rabbis he doesn't like anyway.
Ohel Insider said...
UOJ I see Steve from Ohel is trying to silence Ohels critics. Beware
-----------------------------------
Steve from Ohel? I wish I can pull in the kind of money that their workers make. The only thing I know about Ohel is that their CEO, David Mandel is a dangerous man. He's the one who addressed the YTT parents in June of '06 and stated that a pedophile teacher can be rehabilitated and teach again (of course without listing any legitimate sources). He also wrote that "brilliant" JO article last month. The man has no experience or education in dealing with sexual abuse, and yet he is often called upon for "expert" analysis. I put this scumbag in the same category as Menachem Lubinsky, Avi Shafran and Marvin Schick-shills that write and work for the corrupt Establishment.
As for my issue with you, Sir Spamalot, that "social worker" post, to the casual reader looks more like an advertisement for Ohel than a condemnation. I see how you're trying to connect Eisemann to Joan Hertz in a roundabout way through her husband. It is very poorly written and is incoherent. I think you can do a lot better than that. How about one long post outlining all the abuses at Ohel that you're aware of? You need to make it focused, concise and to the point if you want people to take you seriously. Note my sixteen point post outlining the kashrut issues at Rubashkin. I posted it once on Rav Yudel's site and it was posted here once. There is no need to repost the same information. Stay clear and focused and you will be a lot more successful in your efforts.
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/conference2_ad.htm
Please speak to any of these people you might know who are collaborating with Tropper.
Pass along the files from Rabbis Bloch, Wachtfogel, Shain & Sternbuch:
R' Hershel Schechter - YU & the OU
Rav Kook - Rechovot
Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu - London
R' Yoel Adelman - Young Israel of Smithtown NY & the Vaad of Queens
Marvin Jacob Esq. - Partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Nachman Auerbach - Managing Director at Goldman Sachs
Yudel & his cronies were busy running around trying to find treif at the trade show. All they had to do was stand in front of the Agri booth where everything was treif!
I am a criminal defense attorney so maybe I have just a little bit of an understanding as to how criminal investigations work.
First, confiscation of files is absolutely imperative and commonplace when you are building a case especially for crimes like embezzlement which can only be proved by evidence like checks, bank statements, documents and the like.
Secondly, the absolute worst defense is the conspiracy theory defense. "The police are persecuting me"; "the State is conspiring against me." These all fail for the most part. But since we cannot accuse the State of Israel of Anti-Semitism (though Naturei Karta does its best) we must accuse them of conspiracy.
Still, they are innocent until the proof is in. I have my differences with Chabad but I pray the charges are not true. I get no joy in the misfortunes of others. But in my experience where there is smoke there is usually fire and if these folks are guilty I would not be shocked. Let us pray for a good outcome and that they are all given fair trials.
As I wrote just over one year ago:
Lubavitch Youth (Tzach) in Israel is embroiled in a lawsuit over more than $3 million in missing funds. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Aranow, the head of Tzach, accuses his former CFO Yosef Segal of stealing the money. Segal accuses Aronow of taking al that money – and much more, of croynism and illegal payments to friends and family, and of stealing money specifically earmarked for Children of Chernobyl. Tzach gets about $20 million annually from the Israeli government alone.
Aronow refused to go to police, he claims, because of mesira, the prohibition against informing. This could be true. But the government refused to clear Tzach's nonprofit status until the police were called and the thefts investigated. Aronow refused to make that call so the government did it for him. Knowing how readily Aronow has resorted to secular couts and authorities in the past, I think Aronow and his henchmen are dirty, and have done everything Segal claims – and more. Which is the real reason Aronow would not call the police. Segal himself may have stolen money – or he may be innocent. Time will tell.
I think time has told and Aronow is going down.
I sent the following e-mail to the Israeli Justice Department:(LVF, thanks for the info):
Subject: Avrohom Mondrowitz' Extradition
To: YaelK@justice.gov.il
I am writing today to ask that the Israeli government comply with the U.S. Department of Justice request to have Avrohom Mondrowitz extradited to face charges of rape and sodomy. I am asking that this request be fulfilled at once and that justice should not be delayed any further. The scores of Mondrowitz victims have been waiting unjustly for 23 years now and it would be highly unethical for your government to delay this matter. Please note, the American public and the Jewish community will not rest or stand still if justice is delayed any further in this case. I hope that you appreciate the urgency of this matter and work diligently to expedite the extradition.
Reading Radloh's rant against Chabad shluchim timed, I suppose, to coincide with the International Conference of Chabad Emissaries (shluchim) which ended Monday morning, brought to mind my only attendance at one of those conferences.
As I walked down Eastern Parkway to convention, which was then small enough to be held in Crown Heights, a cab pulled to the curb in front of me, about 40 feet from the entrance to the convention. As I got closer to the cab I watched an elderly man trying with difficulty to get out of the back seat. Perhaps two dozen Chabad rabbis passed him by as they hurried to enter, some glancing at him as they walked but none stopping to offer assistance.
I stopped and helped the man out of the cab, and then walked after him into the convention.
Who was this man?
Mendel Futerfas.
I saw similar scenes in 770 over the years with Rabbi Shmaryahu Gourary, the Rebbe's elder brother-in-law and the man who for many years ran and sustained Chabad's yeshivas.
And here in Minnesota I also saw the same thing, with a friend's elderly mother and with others.
Why are things this way? I really do not know. But if ever God gave me a sign to get out of Chabad, it was that day on the streets of Crown Heights.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=14749
In the days of communism’s fierce grip on the Soviet Union, there lived a Chasidic Jew named Reb Mendel Futerfas. Reb Mendel repeatedly put his life at risk with his efforts to promote Jewish education behind the Iron Curtain and for some 14 years was incarcerated in prisons and labor camps for his “crime” of teaching Torah. While in the Siberian gulags, he spent most of his free time studying and praying
"and selling them to KIDS from third world countries!"
-----------------------
More accurately, he is selling fake degrees to pedophiles requiring degrees to gain access to children. Not surprising, considering how he gained access to his victims in New York. As you may recall, Mondrowitz claimed to be a qualified psychologist and falsified degrees to bolster his claim.
Ohel never bothered checking his bona fides and Torah Umesorah (Shia Fishman & Elya Svei) covered his ass after he was exposed as a prolific child molester.
UOJ: this story deserves its own thread. The full article promises to be a blockbuster.
I have attempted several times to post comments on Jewish Survivor blog about Belsky enabling Kolko, Margo & Brenner. For some odd reason, Vicky won't allow through criticism of Belsky but she let's me criticize anyone else. I don't get it.
Hey guys, I run the Israeli Yated. We give Tropper & the intermarried Kaplan billionaires all the chashivus & coverage they want as long as they pay tribute to Daas Tayre.
And if UOJ wants to poke fun at freeloaders, most of these rabbonim filled out forms to be considered for a free trip by Kaplan. Pretty much anyone who attended was granted free airfare & hotel room.
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5766/VYK66aflorida.htm
More than 260 rabbonim and spouses (who are often involved in the conversion process of women) shared their experiences. The presence of so many rabbonim from overseas gave the conference an international flavor. In addition to the US and Israel, rabbonim came from Australia, South Africa, Canada, Nova Scotia, France, Switzerland, Holland, Poland, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Kaplan and his nephew Yehuda Dovid Kaplan, co-chairmen of the Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride Through Education Project, said that the conference was an extraordinary tribute to the rabbonim, "for their interest in creating Jewish unity through the adoption of universal standards in conversion. The sincerity and genuine commitment to help the Jewish people is a huge Kiddush Hashem."
Rabbi Dovid Jacobs, executive director of the Eternal Jewish Family, said, "The conference went a long way in putting this issue on the international Jewish agenda."
More than 1000 rabbis applied to attend the conference, which is why the Eternal Jewish Family is planning additional events in other major US cities. The next major conference in the US is planned for Boston in the Fall.
Rabbi Leib Tropper, dean of Yeshiva Kol Yaakov, called the conference "a monumental achievement by daas Torah throughout the world." He added: "We are well on the way towards adopting universal standards for conversions in intermarriage. We will be sending a strong message that when it comes to geirus in intermarriage, there is only one halochoh."
The allegation made here tonight that Rabbis Shea Fishman & Elya Svei engineered the Mondrowitz cover up.
Numbers 1 and 2 are down.
Who's next?
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/105268.html
Stefan Colmer will become the first American extradited from Israel on sex abuse charges.
Although Rabbi Slifkin has his sources
he has written letters claimimg
the mabul was a myth and the
Chasam Sofer (responsum 356) has
ruled that anyone denying an event
quoted in Torah is a heretic, so the issue is by no means simple.
Even Rabbi Slifkin starts his
lectures telling the audience to
consult their Posek b/f attending.
Here is the e-mail I sent to israels ministry of justice, I urge evryone to take a few minutes and send a small e-mail just to let them know that this is a case being watched very closly in brooklyn and in the chareidi world, its the least we can do for mondrowitzs victims.
Subject: Please extradite Mondrowitz
To: "Ministry of justice" YaelK@justice.gov.il
Shalom,
In the year 1984, charges of sexual abuse by a Rabbi/Dr. Avroham Mondrowitz led to his indictment, of State vs. mondrowitz no.7693/84, but prior to his arrest he escaped to israel and is living freely in jerusalem among many children and was a professor at a university.
Now the reason why he was not extradited at the time is israel who had a treaty with the u.s. did not consider male rape a crime, in 1988 they changed their laws to include that as well, but that was a bit to late for the then DA of brooklyn who started the process but never finished b/c she left office in 1989.
In 1989 Charles J. Hynes became the D.A. of brooklyn, he immediatly stopped the process of the extradition, for no reason at all, even after hearing first hand from mondrowitz's victims, to no avail, The DA's pockets are lined with the jewish voting bloc and their money, that is why he does not want to pursue this matter any further, for it was a painfull story to the jewish leadership and they wanted it forgotten, but that is impossible for there are to many of his victims that are still bleeding today 23 years after this monster fled justice,
Finally a few months ago the us state department requested his extradition from their israeli counterparts, I beg of you to do the right thing and do whatever is in your powers to get this man back to brooklyn to face his victims in a court of law, its the minumum you can do to ease some of their suffering, here is the article in haaretz news about him.
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/924046.html
Please help your fellow jew in getting closer of this sad chapter in their life,
all the best
Sexual Abuse
by Rabbi Avi Shafran
New York Jewish Week
November 7, 2007
The headline of your article on a recent study about sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community (“No Religious Haven From Abuse: New study finds Orthodox women are sexually victimized as much as other American women are,” Oct. 26) is grossly misleading.
A little Statistics 101: A “self-selecting” sample — like the women who responded to flyers providing questionnaires about their sexual lives and attitudes — is simply not comparable to another sample whose members were selected at random. For this reason, the study itself, which appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry, emphasizes that “those who chose to participate may not be representative of the [Orthodox] population,” and that the unfeasibility of obtaining a representative sample constitutes a “major limitation of this study.”
The study also notes that “there was a high proportion of subjects receiving mental health treatment in this group [the sample recruited for the study].”
And so the article’s unequivocal claim that “Orthodox Jewish women suffer as much [abuse] as other American women,” based as it is on comparing, in effect, apples and tractors, is not supported by the study cited.
If a self-selecting Orthodox sample — including “a high proportion of subjects receiving mental health treatment” — yields about the same percentage of abuse victims as a “larger world” representational one, it would seem to indicate, if anything at all, that the problem is considerably less common in the Orthodox community.
Abuse is a serious problem and, tragically, it exists and must be addressed in every community. Misrepresenting its extent in any subset of society does no service to that goal.
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
Manhattan
Letter To The Editor
by Yosef Blau
New York Jewish Week
November 12, 2007
Rabbi Rabbi Avi Shafran's letter (Nov 9) questioning the accuracy of the study described in the article "No Religious Haven From Abuse" (Oct. 26) reflects both the strength and weakness of a professional defender of a community. Self esteem is protected but problems are denied rather than addressed. The study is about the effect going to Mikvah regularly hason marital happiness. Questions about health, both mental and physical, and history of sexual abuse were included to separate out other factors that might influence marital happiness. The results are limited to women who are neither too young nor to old to go to mikvah and who were willing to fill out a lengthy questionaire. It is difficult to claim that these limitations should bias the resulting percentage of women who reported incidents of sexual abuse in either direction. The Orthodox Jewish community is begining to create mechanisms to protect our children and women. The assertion, which is not based on any study, that only a tiny percentage have suffered from abuse is not helpful.
Missing The Point On Sexual Abuse
by Yaakov Blau
New York Jewish Week
November 14, 2007
In a Nov. 9 letter to the editor, Rabbi Avi Shafran questioned the validity of the study about sexual abuse in the Orthodox community. One point that he stressed more than once was that the sample had “a high proportion of subjects receiving mental health treatment.” Somehow in Rabbi Shafran’s mind, this undermines the legitimacy of what those subjects had to say.
Well, I think he missed a fairly obvious point. The reason so many receive mental health treatment is most likely because they suffered sexual abuse. I suppose that Rabbi Shafran thinks that all the abuse victims in the non-Orthodox world (he is willing to admit that abuse goes on in some parts of the world) live well-balanced lives with no aftereffects caused by the abuse they suffered.
In general, Rabbi Shafran seems to feel that his job is to always explain why the Agudah world does not share any of the problems that plague the rest of America, and his columns and letters are constantly exonerating that community of any problems. I think that the Agudah community would be much better served by facing up to its problems and dealing with them, rather than persisting to keep its head in the sand.
Rabbi Yaakov Blau
Teaneck, N.J.
Letter to the Editor
Sexual Abuse Statistics
by Michael J. Salamon
New York Jewish Week
November 14, 2007
Rabbi Avi Shafran (Nov. 9) responded to your article “No Religious Haven From Abuse: New study finds Orthodox women are sexually victimized as much as other American women are” (Oct. 26) in a most disingenuous fashion. While his statement that the headline is grossly misleading may be accurate, his interpretation of the research is in fact more misleading.
It is true, as Rabbi Shafran states, that a self-selecting sample is not comparable to a sample selected at random. But to suggest that this implies that rates are lower is to display a deep misunderstanding of statistics. Comparability is affected by selection. However, to understand the true meaning of it in this case requires a knowledge of survey research and statistical design referred to as non-parametric
statistics. Someone with knowledge of these scientific techniques would in fact know that it is just as likely that this is an under-representation. In other words, based on this one study one might just as easily conclude that there may be a higher rate of abuse in the Orthodox community than in the general population.
Further, to imply that because many of these women are receiving mental health services somehow makes the study less reliable shows a complete lack of understanding of the trauma caused by sexual abuse. It is a fact, supported by an abundance of research over many years, that sexual trauma causes significant psychological problems for many people. Indeed, in randomly selected groups, those reporting a history of sexual abuse are also more likely to be receiving mental health services.
I suggest that Rabbi Shafran, or other doubters, speak with mental health providers in the Orthodox community. He will find that the problem is quite real and very much present. To dismiss this critical survey in so offhanded a fashion is to deny the community the help it needs.
by Michael J. Salamon
Senior Psychologist/Director
Adult Developmental Center
Hewlett, L.I.
Dr. Salamon is also on the Executive Board of Directors of The Awareness Center, Inc.
More figures involved who should be implored to back off from Tropper:
David Rosengard Esq. - Boston
R' Mordechai Neugreschel - Gateways
R' Shmuel Lazer Stern - Dayan on Rav Wosner's beis din / Chug Chasam Sofer Bnei Brak
R' Nochum Eisenstein, chairman of the Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur founded by R' Chaim Kreiswirth zt'l
Rav David Abuchatzeira - rov of Yavneh
R' Yosef Sheinin - Chief Rabbi of Ashdod
Rav Eliyahu Haishrick - Beis Din of Beer Sheva
Rav Yisroel Roshetsky - rov of the Chermon Approaches region
Rav Ratzon Aroussi - rov of Kiryat Ono
R' Levi Yitzchak Horowitz - Bostoner Rebbe
R' Yisroel Meir Lau - Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv
R' Boruch Mordche Ezrachi - Rosh Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel
R' Shmuel Dishon - Rosh Yeshiva Stolin
R' Moshe Soloveitchik - Chicago
R' Pinchas Goldschmidt - Chief Rabbi of Moscow
R' Yaacov Katz - Rosh Kollel Yad Chaim Mordechai, Cleveland
R' Pesach Lerner - Executive VP, National Council of Young Israel
R' Shlomo Rybak - RCA
Malcolm Hoenlein - Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Nat Lewin Esq. - Agudah & Rubashkin hack
http://mentalblog.com/2006/10/giur-factory-rolls-into-boston.html
Money: Obviously the big money push behind the effort. Let me tell you Rabbi Amar might go for fun to meet the Kazakh Mufti, but Rabbi Amar, Rabbi Lau and other dignitaries will not come to the farkakte city with a quarter million Jews like Boston for nothing. Honestly people here do not understand why they have chosen the Bean Town as the venue. Officially the effort is supported by Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation and Tom Kaplan. Its been alleged that Rabbi Leib Tropper who runs BT yeshiva in Monsey Kol Yaakov helped convert one of Tom Kaplans family relatives.
Allegedly Rabbi 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.
One of the Rabbis on Boston Beis Din already indicated that he was slighted and he will not attend the conference. The following questions are of interest. Is it true that R. Aharon Feldman from Baltimore withdrew his participation in this event, and if so, why? Also, why the leadership of the Chicago Rabbinical council will not attend?
Schneur Zalman of NY commenting: Frankly this conference does not interest me as Orthodoxy is so loosely organized and there are so many Lone Ranger Orthodox and (not so) Orthodox rabbis that very little control can be exerted over them. But as far as rabbi Tropper goes, let us not become callous to some serious issues. Obviously a Jewish layman can do whatever he wants as long as its legal and moral. But lets face it a Rabbi and leader is held to a higher standard. This woman he married was not only someone who he was involved in bringing to orthodoxy, she was also a very attractive model, if my memory serves me correctly. A long story about her appeared in the Women's section of the JEWISH PRESS about 10 years ago. There are many stories about Orthodox Rabbis in good standing who divorced their wives to marry girls who they converted or helped in bringing to Judaism. Nothing wrong, but how does the former wife feel, how do the children feel, when mommy is dumped by a "sexy newcomer" to Judaism? You are right romance is important, but the alternative to Rabbi T. is not a eunech, there are numerous Rabbis, etc. from all sorts of Yeshivoth with "no history " who have the guts, ideals and ability to lead such an organization. Should Orthodoxy reward the concept trophy wives too?
grose commenting: Schneur, go ask Rav Tropper for Mechilah. You all got your facts wrong. Rabbi Tropper was divorced a LONG time before he was mekarev his current wife. He was not mekarev her for the sake of marrying her. He gave a class in NYC that she attended and she (and I know her personally) decided to marry him. In fact, Rabbi Tropper's rebbetzin is an amazing human being (and yes, she was beautiful enough to model - but she also graduated Ivy League with a degree in psychiatry and ran a successful business) who happens to be on very good terms with his ex-wife. The divorce had NOTHING to do with the current rebbetzin.
Schneur Zalman of NY commenting: If the facts about R. Tropper are not as I stated (and nowhere did I accuse him of any moral, or halachic misdeeds), then I apologize to the readers for misleading and potentially hurtful information. As I said rabbis have to be held to a higher standard. If in fact he was long divorced etc, I am wrong and apologize to him and the readers. As Reb Yoel Kahan said - "taisi" and I am sorry.
Joe Izrael's agenda is also not so simple. While I appreciate that he is exposing Bahayma Tropper, I have read very harsh screeds from him where he blasts all gerim. He will not accept any ger which he feels are being metamei Klal Yisroel.
No Torah authority agrees with him and just like Bahayma Tropper, he is causing gerim to suffer with his cruel words.
In January 2008, Tropper & Kaplan plan on bringing the Nocturnal Jewish Fraud to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/tzemach/116213629004055183/
I was asked by Tropper's gabbay Balaban to leave (the Boston conference). He actually asked Tropper on what to do with me.
You should have seen this guy shaking when I told him I am a blogger and I don’t have an invitation. Makes you wonder what do they have to hide. Idiots, one doesn’t need to sit on the conferences to learn the dirt about them. Even if I don't go I will have a full report tomorrow morning from people who they went out of their way to invite.
Mrs Liba Tropper is not a giyores; she is a baalas tshuva and indeed is a former model from a wealthy background.
Tropper is has a rich past. He didn't grow up in a haredi environment, and was criticised many times by Monsey Rabbis. Shmarya lies about his motives for opening Kol Yaakov. He wants to have the business for himself, period. Kol Yaakov is notoriously less "frum" than Ohr Somayach. Only thing, now he wants his EJF project, replete with corrupt batei din to get traction and approval. Before the first convention he went to Israel and together with Efrati, who has practically unlimited power in the Israel and Jerusalem Rabanut, they somehow bamboozled R Elyashiv that the horrible situation of gerus in the US must be curtailed (which in and on itself is true) and that they (ha ha what a joke) will fix the problem. What they "forgot" to tell R Elyashiv is that fixing the problem would not only consist of lining their own pockets but choking the competition, i.e. the other corrupt serial giyur machines. Of course when he came back and started hustling his super-honest Jew saving mission and waving RE as his posterboy, the LW crowd went banans fearing their turf was being trespassed on. SO they turned the whole thing into a MO vs. haredi issue. I can fortell the next thing is Tropper shedding crocodile tears about how he's being attacked both from the left and the right, which ostensibly is proof that he's right. This juggernaut must be stopped in its tracks immediately.
BTW UOJ I'd appreciate if you take off the comments written in my name from the "tatty I miss you" article. THX.
PS - I'm happy the ALf Rosenberg thing wasn't lost oun you guys. Keep it up.
I know Tropper from my time in Monsey, he used to hang in Tuvia’s for hours. I spoke to him few times, he seems to be very nice guy but definitely very goofy. I cannot believe he is big shot now. I also heard some strange rumors about him.
BTW, He is a cousin of shlomo carlebach
If you've ever visited Denmark, you'd know the infamous story and history of their once upon a time kollel that existed there. Not too long ago, there was a Kollel in Copenhagen where young avreichim from Israel would come to study for a few years and were supported by the local community there. Their leader, the Rosh HaKollel was a man who seemed to be as ehrlich as it gets with a righteous long bear and a fine pious family. To cut the long story short.... One day he met a sweet hot Danish chick someplace. He liked her and the rest is history. Though he had already been married for a number of years and raised several children, he abandoned them all. He divorced his life-long rebbetzin and went on with this newly found Dane. Along with that story the Kollel disappeared, but this Rosh Kollel still lives withe community in Copenhagen. He's quite known there, especially for his couragous move to drop the wife and move in with a new one.
You'd think that he's not religous anymore and dumped his Judaism along with the wife. But no, he's still there and made her too into some religous monk. They even send their kids to the local jewish school there.
Oooopss - forgot from 1st comment - Tropper is now playing super-frummer and holy crusader against Slifkin (who isn't completely innocent either, but that's a different story. Certainly not like Tropper) and such stuff to show how tough and in-line with the establishment he is.
"Let's leave his kids and his family out of this!!!!" - UOJ.
I agree with this 100%. It's very easy to bring up shmutz on family etc. Condemn the man based on his actions, leave his wife alone. I don't think she's involved in anyhting he does. She's not stupid, but she's kinda naive. Leave her out of this.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/11/kyo-restaurant.html
They keep catching the Monsey Japanese restaurant with treif fish yet Rabbi Gissinger doesn't take off his hashgocho.
Also in Monsey, do not eat at Yeshiva of Spring Valley.
Do not eat in the Williamsburg chassuna halls Eden Palace & The Concord.
AP
Posted: 2007-11-13 22:45:55
MICCOSUKEE TRIBE INDIAN RESERVATION, Fla. (Nov. 13) - A man who jumped into a lake to flee police was killed by an alligator more than 9-feet long, officials said Tuesday.
The man, whose name has not been released, was allegedly burglarizing a vehicle in the parking lot of the Miccosukee Resort and Convention Center on Thursday. He ran when police arrived at the scene, said Dexter Lehtinen, one of the tribe's police legal advisors.
Tribal police divers searched for the man that night, then again Friday morning and afternoon. During the third dive, the body was recovered. It bore alligator teeth marks on the upper torso.
The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department said the cause of death was an alligator attack.
An accomplice in the alleged burglary has been arrested. The Miccosukee tribe, which is not obligated to follow Florida's open records laws, declined to release his name. Without a name, the Miami-Dade state attorney's office was unable to comment on whether the man has been charged.
The alligator believed to be responsible for the death has been killed. A coroner was scheduled to examine the 9-foot-3 reptile Wednesday for human hair or skin, said Brian Wood, owner of All American Gator Products, which is storing the gator in a cooler for now. It will then be incinerated or buried, he said.
A sign at the lake warns people: "Danger Live Alligators." Wood said in other alligator habitats, signs also warn people not to feed the creatures.
"They become too comfortable being around humans and they equate humans to food," Wood said. "Generally if a gator sees a person, he goes the other way, he goes down, he hides. This gator was aggressive, not afraid of people."
http://www.daashakohol.com/archives/184
In the latest episode of “We couldn’t make this stuff up” Moshe Rubashkin filed harassment charges with the Police against Nochum Light, the son of Rabbi Shmuel Light, recently fired CHJCC Director of Weatherization. Nochum Light is Moshe Rubashkin’s nephew.
Nochum Light came to the Council offices yesterday, November 13, apparently to speak with Mr. Rubashkin about his father’s employment. When Mr. Rubashkin saw him he ordered the bookkeeper, Mrs. Uminer, to call 911. Three Police cars were seen outside the Council for about an hour. Mr. Light told the Police that he came to speak with Mr. Rubashkin. Rubashkin filed a report with the Police alleging criminal charges of harassment. There were no allegations of violence. The Police did not arrest Mr. Light, despite Mr. Rubashkin’s charges, citing the lack of evidence to justify harassment.
After being assaulted by Moshe Rubashkin several months ago, Shmuel Light was, despite Rabbi Osdoba’s ruling to the contrary, fired from his employment after 27 years. At first Mr. Light remained home asking for a Din Torah to hear his charges of violence, intimidation and assault. Since the Din Torah was delayed, Rabbi Osdoba ruled, in writing, that Mr. Rubashkin must return Rabbi Light to his position in the Council at full pay, pending the Din Torah. Rabbi Light did return to the Council, but not to his position, and he was paid at only 80% of his salary. Several weeks ago Mr. Rubashkin told him to leave the Council offices and not return. He has not been paid since.
After the episode today one Council employee (who refused to be identified) noted that when Rubashkin assaulted Rabbi Light months ago, the Rabbonim discouraged Rabbi Light from filing a police report and proferring charges. It was therefore somewhat ironic that Mr. Rubashkin now hastened to call the Police and file a report. “We are so used to Rubashkin’s outrageous behavior,” they said, “that it doesn’t even surprise anyone any more.” They quickly added, “When are elections?”
Rubashkin’s three year term on the popularly elected Board of Directors of the CHJCC will come to an end in January of 2008. The election body of Crown Heights, the Netzigim, are expected to announce the schedule for elections in the near future.
Many observers feel that Mr. Rubashkin will have great difficulty winning another election. He is generally regarded as mismanaging the Jewish Community Council, indiscriminately firing employees, losing grants and displaying multiple episodes of publicly losing control of himself, including episodes of violence. He has forced elections of his own hand-picked Rabbonim to the Beis Din and allegedly runs the Council as a one-man show. Others feel that he has a large election budget and has shown his ability to buy votes and manipulate election results.
Nevertheless, Rubashkin is quoted by Lang and Plotkin, that he is seeking to block and delay the holding of elections, in a bid to retain power and avoid the uncertainty of reelection.
This latest episode of seeking to have his nephew arrested on criminal charges is not expected to help him, in his attempt to block elections
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 12:06 am and is filed under 5768 Elections for Vaad Hakohol & Gaboim, Community News, Rubashkin, Rubashkin's Violence in C.H.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Question Says:
November 15th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Isn’t Nochum Light the son in law of Yossi Rubashkin, Moshes oldest brother? So he wanted to arrest his own nieces husdband? What does the Rubashkin family saying about this?
Desperation Says:
November 15th, 2007 at 1:41 am
Rubashkin is like a drug adict that has a urge for drugs and would do anything to get them. He needs money, he is in constant need for money to operate his dictadorship and he will do anything to have it even taking away a yungermans food from his mouth!
Af a Meshugener, Fregt Men Nit Kein Kashes Says:
November 15th, 2007 at 2:25 am
What’s the Kashe, how he can arrest his own relative?
You don’t understand how or why, he can do a thing like that?
You didn’t know who Rubashkin is, until now?
If you thought he was normal, then you had a good Kashe.
Call and email Ohel and tell them not to obstruct the extradition.
They know that a can of worms will be opened for them.
After all David Mandel beleives they can be cured. He said so in jewish Week
Contact Information:
David Mandel
E-mail: DM@ohelfamily.org
Phone: 718-851-6300
Tropper "used to hang for hours in Tuvya's"?
Would that be my blog or the Monsey seforim store?
It's always good to meet a fellow Bungalow-Putz-in-Arms.
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=923994&contrassID=2&subContrassID=13&sbSubContrassID=0
This article metions that he worked for Ohel
עצות כיצד לטפל בילדים, הקים ישיבה לילדים במצוקה, היה פעיל ב"אוהל", ארגון גדול בניו יורק לילדים מבתים הרוסים ויתומים, ולבסוף תלה בכניסה לבית
Oy vey, now UOJ is even deputizing alligators in the Everglades?
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/objects/pages/PrintArticle.jhtml?itemNo=923994
עודכן ב- 07:37 14/11/2007
במרתף, מאחורי הדלת, פעם אחר פעם
דתיים יוצאי ברוקלין שטופלו בילדותם אצל חסיד גור אברהם מונדרוביץ, טוענים שהאיש אנס אותם, ביצע בהם מעשים מגונים והתעלל בהם ובעשרות חבריהם שנשלחו אליו לטיפול. ערב מעצרו בארצות הברית, הוא נמלט לישראל, המשיך ללמד ילדים ולעסוק בפעילות פדופילית. עכשיו, כשהחלו להתמודד עם הטראומה, הם דורשים את הסגרתו ומעזים לספר על מה שעולל להם בחסות קשר השתיקה של הקהילה החרדית
מאת אביבה לורי | צילום: דניאל כהן
לפני כמה שנים הוא בא לישראל עם משימה אחת: "למצוא ולהרוג אותו". כך, בפשטות. הוא מספר שלא חשב פעמיים. הוא התכוון לעשות את זה. "אשתי הבינה. היא ידעה מה אני מרגיש והתקשרה לחברים בארץ, והם לא עזבו אותי לרגע. הצילו אותי מעצמי. בלעדיהם, אין לי ספק שזה היה נגמר ברצח". א' הוא לא היחיד שנושא בלבו, במשך יותר מ-20 שנים, מחשבות על רצח בדם קר. לטענתו, יש לו עוד מאות אחים לצרה. גברים בשנות ה-30 וה-40 לחייהם שהיו לפני שניים או שלושה עשורים ילדים ונערים, תלמידי ישיבות בברוקלין. הם, לדבריו, הקורבנות של אברהם מונדרוביץ שחי היום בשכונת נחלאות בירושלים.
מונדרוביץ הוא חסיד גור, שהציג עצמו כרב וכפסיכולוג ואיש שהיתה לו השפעה עצומה בקהילת גור בברוקלין בתחילת שנות ה-80. היתה לו שם ישיבה וקליניקה פרטית לטיפול בילדים ומתבגרים במצוקה. אבל במקום ללמד, לחנך ולסייע, משטרת ברוקלין חושדת שהוא התעלל מינית בתלמידיו, במטופלים שלו, בילדים מהשכונה, בחברים של בניו. חושדת שפגע בהם באפלת משרדו ובביתו. בישיבה, במכונית, בקוטג' שהיה שייך למשפחתו בהרי הקטסקיל, בלונה פארקים ובגנים ציבוריים. בכל מקום. ביום ובלילה. והרבנים המכובדים בקהילה ובישיבה הפנו בצניעות את מבטם לצד השני. ידעו, ראו ושתקו.
ניסויים בילדים
א', בן 40 היום. הוא נולד וגדל בברוקלין למשפחה אורתודוקסית. כשהיה בן שבע הותקף מינית ברחוב על ידי אדם זר. "וזה כבר השאיר עלי סימן", הוא מספר. "זה היה כמו הקדמה לדברים שקרו אחר כך". את הדברים שקרו אחר כך חוללו, לדבריו, שני רבנים מכובדים. הראשון מורה נערץ בברוקלין, השני היה מונדרוביץ.
א' לא סיפר להוריו. הוא שמר את הזוועה בסוד והסתגר. "הפכתי לטרבל מייקר", הוא אומר. "זרקו אותי מישיבה אחת ואחר כך מאחרת, הייתי נע ונד, איבדתי את ההערכה העצמית ולא היה אכפת לי מכלום. החלק הכי קשה היה כשסיפרתי לרבנים בישיבה מה עשו לי. הם פשוט התעלמו ממני ולא עשו כלום".
כשהיה בן 15 הרבנים שיכנעו את הוריו של א', שלא ידעו כיצד להתמודד עם בנם הסורר, לשלוח אותו אל מי שהציג עצמו כפסיכולוג חרדי בשם מונדרוביץ שגר ברחוב 60 בבורואו פארק בברוקלין כדי לקבל עזרה. "נאלצתי ללכת אליו שלוש או ארבע פעמים בשבוע בגלל שהייתי מקרה מאוד מיוחד", הוא אומר, "מהרגע הראשון משהו בו הטריד אותי. לא אהבתי את הדרך שבה הוא הביט בי. אחרי הפעם הראשונה חזרתי הביתה ואמרתי שאני לא רוצה ללכת אליו יותר, אבל הוא בא אלינו ודיבר עם הורי והם שיכנעו אותי לחזור אליו".
א' המשיך ללכת למונדרוביץ במשך כחודשיים. אבל הטיפולים מיד לבשו כיוון מוזר. "לא לקח יותר משני ביקורים והוא הפסיק להתעניין בבעיות שלי והתחיל להתעסק אתי", הוא טוען.
א' מספר שבתחילה התרגש מאוד, נפתח אל מונדרוביץ סיפר לו מה שעולל לו המורה שלו, והוא במקום לתמוך, התחיל לנגוע בו. "הייתי בשוק. לא ידעתי מה לעשות. האיש שאתה אמור לבטוח בו והולך כדי לקבל עזרה, תוקף אותך. קפאתי ונאטמתי לגמרי. הייתי מרוקן מרגשות. אני קורא לו 'הר דוקטור', הוא עשה ניסויים בילדים יהודים".
הבנת מה קורה?
"מיד הבנתי. זה היה כמו משחק. קשה להסביר, רק מי שעבר חוויה כזאת יכול להבין. התוקף יודע שאתה טרף קל, שהוא יכול לשחק ברגשות שלך כי אתה נמצא בנקודה הכי חלשה שלך. הוא לא יתעסק עם הבחורים הקשוחים, אלא עם החלשים והמסכנים. וככה זה נמשך, בכל פעם שהייתי בא אליו. הוא אפילו לא ניסה להעמיד פנים שהוא מטפל בי. היה ישר ניגש לעניין. היה לוקח אותי לסרטים, היינו הולכים לטייל בחוץ וכל הזמן נוגע".
למה לא ברחת?
"אני שואל את עצמי את השאלה הזאת מאות פעמים. אני נחנק כשאני חושב על זה. זה משגע אותי. לא ברחתי בגלל שחשבתי שאני לא בסדר. שאני זונה. האמנתי שזה הגורל שלי. שזה מה שמגיע לי, עובדה שזה קרה יותר מפעם אחת. עמוק בפנים ידעתי שזה לא בסדר, אבל לא יכולתי לשלוט בזה. ניסיתי להילחם בהורי, אמרתי שאני לא רוצה ללכת אליו, אבל הם הכריחו אותי כדי שהישיבה תסכים לקבל אותי בחזרה, זה היה התנאי של הרבנים, שהוא יגיד שנרפאתי. ובאמת כעבור חודשיים, הישיבה קיבלה אותי בחזרה, ואז הפסקתי ללכת אליו. הודעתי להורי שאני לא הולך לשם יותר וזהו".
אבל כעבור שבועיים נזרק שוב מהישיבה. באותו קיץ שלחו אותו הוריו למחנה אבל גם שם הוא הסתבך בצרות. הוריו המיואשים התקשרו למונדרוביץ וביקשו ממנו עזרה. "הייתי מתבגר כועס ומרדן", הוא אומר, כעסתי על הדת, על השיטה, על הממסד וכל מי שייצג את הממסד. שנאתי את כל העולם ונלחמתי בכל. מונדרוביץ בא למחנה, וכשראיתי אותו מרחוק, ברחתי. אבא שלי לא הבין מה קורה, 'הוא בסך הכל רוצה לעזור לך', הוא אמר לי, ואני זוכר שאמרתי לו 'הוא הומו, תרחיק אותו ממני'".
בשנת הלימודים האחרונה, בכיתה י"ב, א' נשבר לרסיסים. הוא לא למד בשום מסגרת וחי ברחובות. אף שרשמית גמר את לימודיו - "עזבתי את בית הספר, כלומר, בית הספר עזב אותי. היה לנו הסכם, אמרו לי: 'אנחנו ניתן לך תעודת סיום, רק אל תבוא לבית הספר'" - רוב הזמן היה תחת השפעה של סמים ואלכוהול. הוריו לא היו מסוגלים לתקשר איתו. ואז נזרק אליו גלגל הצלה. "מישהו אסף אותי אליו, טיפל בי והציל את חיי. סיפרתי לו הכל והוא האמין לי. הוא שאל: 'מה אני יכול לעשות כדי להפחית את הכאב שלך?' אמרתי 'זה לא יקרה לפני שאתקע את המסמר האחרון בארון המתים של כל האנשים שפגעו בי - אני רוצה שהצדק ייעשה'".
א' מספר שהיו לו חלומות מאוד ברורים ופלסטיים, מפורטים עד לפרט האחרון, איך הוא הורג אותם. כל לילה החלום חזר על עצמו וזה הפך לאובססיה עם השנים. "הם ממש לקחו ממני את החיים שלי".
רצית לנקום?
"זה לא עניין של נקמה. האנשים האלה חולים וצריך לטפל בהם כמו בכלבים שוטים. אחרת הם ימשיכו לעשות את מה שהם עושים. הם לקחו ממני משהו שאף פעם לא יוחזר לי ואף פעם לא אוכל לשכוח, ואולי אני לא צריך לשכוח. אנשים כמוני צריכים לשאת את זה ולהפיץ את העובדה שהמפלצות האלה עדיין מסתובבות ברחובות. עלי הוטל התפקיד להזהיר את האנשים מפניהם".
בעזרת הבחור שסייע לו פנה א' למשטרה והגיש תלונה נגד מונדרוביץ. "לא ידעתי אז שיש עוד ילדים שהוא פגע בהם. חשבתי שזה רק אני. היום אני מכיר לפחות עשרה אנשים שהיו קורבנות שלו, אבל אני יודע שהיו מאות".
כיצד הגיבו הוריך?
"הם הרגישו כאב נוראי ורגשי אשמה על זה ששלחו אותי אליו. אבל כעבור כמה ימים נודע לי שהוא ברח לישראל ועכשיו חי בירושלים חיים נוחים של יהודי מכובד".
א' אומר ש"מונדרוביץ ניצל ילדים שהיו במצבים הכי רגישים ושבירים בחיים שלהם. ילדים שנזרקו לרחוב ואף אחד לא רצה אותם, מי יאמין לילד רחוב במצב כזה לעומת רב מכובד? זה מחליא אותי. אנשים חייבים לדעת את האמת איך הוא הרס מאות ילדים. זה הוסתר יותר מדי שנים. כולם ישבו בשקט והמשיכו בחיים שלהם כאילו זה מעולם לא קרה, אבל אנחנו חיים כל יום עם הכאב והעינוי".
א' אומר שאת העינוי הזה שום דבר לא ירפא. "ושום טיפול נפשי לא באמת יעזור כאן. עברו יותר מ-20 שנים ואני עדיין רואה את הכל בבהירות כאילו שזה קרה אתמול".
היום א' נשוי ויש לו ילדים. אורח חייו דתי, למרות שברגעי השפל, כשהתגלגל ברחובות, הסיר את הכיפה ובעט באמונה. על אף שאשתו וילדיו מודעים להתעללות שעבר הוא לא מוכן לחשוף את זהותו. הוא אומר שעדיין מקנן בו הספק. המורא של החברה הדתית שגדל והתחנך בה מאיים ומפחיד אותו. אבל לא רק הוא מרגיש נרדף. רוב מי שרואים עצמם קורבנותיו של מונדרוביץ חיים במחתרת, חוששים מחשיפה.
פסיכולוג העדה
אברהם מונדרוביץ, בן 60, נולד, ככל הנראה, בפולין ועלה לישראל עם משפחתו אחרי מלחמת העולם השנייה. הוא גדל בתל אביב, אך בשנות ה-50 היגרה משפחתו לשיקאגו. הוא למד בתיכון ובישיבת טלסה, של הליטאים, בווייקליף שבאוהיו. בשנות ה-70 הוא הופיע בברוקלין מצויד ברשימה של תארים אקדמיים, סיפר שהוא בעל תואר שני במדעים, דוקטור בפסיכולוגיה קלינית מאוניברסיטת קולומביה ותואר דוקטור נוסף במינהל החינוך מאוניברסיטת פלורידה, וכמובן בעל הסמכה לרבנות. ריבוי התארים עשה רושם על היהודים בברוקלין ומונדרוביץ החל לרכוש לעצמו מעמד. הוא כתב מאמרים בנושאי חינוך בעיתונות החרדית, היתה לו תוכנית ברדיו שבה נתן למאזינים עצות כיצד לטפל בילדים, הקים ישיבה לילדים במצוקה, היה פעיל ב"אוהל", ארגון גדול בניו יורק לילדים מבתים הרוסים ויתומים, ולבסוף תלה בכניסה לבית מגוריו שלט "פסיכולוג", והתחיל לקבל מטופלים. "הוא בנה לעצמו שם והיה מאוד מכובד בקהילה", אומר חסיד מברוקלין. "הפנו אליו ילדים, מקרים קשים מ'אוהל' והוא טיפל בהם. גם רבנים הפנו אליו ילדים לטיפול. המומחיות שלו היתה טיפול בילדים שעברו התעללות מינית".
האנשים שביקרו במשרדו אשר במרתף ביתו כילדים, זוכרים אותו מתפאר ב"קיר התהילה", שעליו היו תלויות ממוסגרות כל הדיפלומות והתעודות המעידות על כשירותו לטפל באנשים. אלא שלדברי פטרישה קהו, חוקרת במשטרת ניו יורק לשעבר "התברר שככל הנראה התעודות שלו מזויפות, כולל ההסמכה לרבנות".
לפי החשד, באותו משרד, מאחורי דלת סגורה ווילונות מוגפים, הוא פגע בילדים. התעלל בהם מינית, ביצע בהם מעשי סדום. במקרים רבים, כשההורים יושבים בחדר הסמוך וממתינים בסבלנות לסוף הטיפול. כך, לפי המידע הרב שנאסף במשטרת ברוקלין, ועל פי עדויות הילדים.
הבנתי מה קרה
מארק וייס, בן 40 משיקאגו, גדל במשפחה אורתודוקסית למהדרין אבל הרגיש בגיל ההתבגרות שסגנון החיים הדתי הנוקשה לא מתאים לו. בגיל 12 המשפחה באה לשנת שבתון לישראל ובגיל 13 שלחו אותו לישיבה פחות מחמירה בסן פרנסיסקו. הוא לא הצטיין בלימודים והרגיש שם עוף מוזר. כעבור שנה הודיעו לו בישיבה שלא יוכל להמשיך שם והוריו המודאגים שלחו אותו לניו יורק לטיפול קצר-טווח אצל פסיכולוג מהולל. "הייתי בן 14, וההורים שלי שלחו אותי במטוס. הם הכירו את ההורים של מונדרוביץ בשיקגו, לפעמים הייתי הולך עם אבא שלי לבית הכנסת של אבא שלו. מונדרוביץ עצמו למד בישיבה שבה אבא שלי היה רב. הוא היה בן אדם מוכר. שלחו אותי אליו לשבוע, שבוע וחצי, שיסדר לי את הראש".
מונדרוביץ יצא מגדרו כדי להנעים לוייס את שהותו. בא לאסוף אותו משדה התעופה, לקח אותו למסעדה, אחר כך ללונה פארק ובסוף לדירה שלו ברחוב 60. לדברי וייס "המשפחה שלו היתה בקוטג' בהרי הקטסקיל ואני ישנתי איתו בבית. בהתחלה היה נורא כיף. הוא לקח אותי לכל מיני מקומות ואני ספגתי כל דבר חדש, זו היתה מלכודת מושלמת. בלילה הוא שאל אותי איפה אני רוצה לישון, במיטה של הבן שלו או איתו, אני זוכר שהוא יצר איזו אווירה של פחד כלפי השינה בחדר של הבן שלו, אז אמרתי שאני רוצה לישון איתו. בלילה הוא פתאום נגע בי. מההתחלה ועד הסוף, כולל מעשה סדום. הייתי נאיווי, לא הבנתי מה זה בדיוק, חשבתי שזה חלק מהנחמדות, שככה הוא רוצה שאני ארגיש טוב".
מה קרה בשיחות הטיפוליות איתו?
"לא זוכר שהיו שיחות. הכל היה תרמית אחת גדולה. בבוקר הוא היה למטה במרתף, מקבל פציינטים, וכשלא היו לו פציינטים הוא הסתובב איתי בכל מיני מקומות וכל לילה היה בא אלי למיטה ובשבת נסענו לקוטג' של המשפחה".
בגיל 16 נשלח וייס לשנתיים לפנימייה בקרית טבעון, אחר כך חזר לשיקאגו וקבר את זכרו של מונדרוביץ עמוק-עמוק בתחתית התודעה. הוא לא סיפר לאף אחד שום דבר. כאילו זה לא היה. אבל יום אחד, בחג סוכות, הוא היה בבית הכנסת ופתאום ראה את מונדרוביץ. וייס ניגש אליו, רצה לברך אותו לשלום, אבל אז, הוא אומר, פתאום קיבל הארה. "הבנתי מה באמת קרה. קפאתי על מקומי, הסתובבתי וברחתי הביתה. בדרך התחלתי לבכות ואמא שלי שאלה מה הבעיה. סיפרתי לה, אבל היה לה קשה לקבל את זה. אחר כך אבא שלי חזר הביתה ואמא שלי סיפרה לו, וגם לו היה קשה לקבל את זה. הוא ניסה לבדוק אולי אני טועה. אחר כך הלכתי לחבר שלי וסיפרתי גם לו והוא לא האמין, ואז התחלתי לחשוב שאולי באמת אני טועה. אבל אחרי שבוע התקשר אלי רב, ביקש שאבוא אליו הביתה. נכנסתי למשרדו והוא שאל: 'היית שולח את הילדים שלך למונדרוביץ?' זה היה כמו פצצה בראש. הייתי בהלם ואחרי כמה דקות אמרתי: 'לא, לא הייתי שולח'. הוא שאל למה וסיפרתי לו - אבל שוב לא קרה דבר".
וייס נשוי ואב לשלושה ילדים, גר בניו ג'רזי ומתקין מערכות קולנוע ביתיות. ב-2001 ראה מודעה בעיתון דתי על כינוס רבנים בניו יורק בנושא התעללות מינית בילדים. "נסעתי לשם", הוא מספר, "אבל זה היה בושה וחרפה. הבנתי תוך כמה דקות שהם בכלל לא מבינים מה באמת קורה. הם חושבים שאצלם זה לא כמו אצל הגויים או החילונים, והם חושבים שהם יודעים איך לעזור לילדים. האמת היא שאין להם מושג כי הם מטאטאים הכל מתחת לשטיח - והכל בגלל השידוכים, כי האנשים האלה, אם ייוודע מה עבר עליהם, אין להם ביקוש".
אתה כועס על הרבנים?
"הם שיתקו דור שלם. כשאחד מהם הורס אנשים אחרים, הם לא עושים כלום. הדברים האלה הרבה יותר חשובים משמיטה ומתולעים בחסה".
מכות לעיני כל
ג', בן 44, מניו יורק, נשוי ואב לילדים, בן של רב, הכיר את מונדרוביץ כראש ישיבת "בית שלום", שבה למד מגיל 11 עד 16. "הוא התעלל בי במשך הרבה שנים", טוען ג', "אסף ילדים פגיעים מבתים שבורים שלא הסתדרו טוב עם ההורים שלהם, והתעלל בהם. אותי הוא היה לוקח להרים, היה לו שם קוטג', היה מביא רובי אוויר והיה משחק איתנו, היינו מתחרים איתו. הוא היה מנצח אותנו כדי שיוכל אחר כך לעשות לנו מה שרצה כפרס על ניצחונותיו. היה אז סרט מלוכלך במנהטן בשם 'קליגולה' והוא היה לוקח אותי לסרט הזה. הייתי אז בן 14, ובסרט הוא היה שם עלי ידיים, נוגע בי ובעצמו".
ידעת שזה רע?
"לא בטוח שידעתי. הוא היה אדם מבוגר, ראש ישיבה, היה נותן לי הרבה כסף, היה קונה לי דברים. וכשכבר הבנתי, באתי יום אחד לבית הספר ועברתי מילד לילד, אמרתי להם להתרחק ממנו. ואז הוא נכנס לכיתה, ולעיני כולם הרביץ לי מכות, ממש חזקות, בשתי ידיו, בפנים ובגב שלי. זה היה כבר בסוף התיכון, הייתי בן 18. וכל הזמן הוא אמר לי שאני מוזר ושלעולם לא אתחתן".
סיפרת להוריך?
"מעולם לא. פחדתי שהוא ירביץ לי".
איך חיים עם סיפור כזה?
"קשה מאוד. אני חי עם רגשי אשם נוראים שאולי עשיתי משהו רע שכל זה הגיע לי. אני בן אדם מאוד אגרסיווי כלפי אנשים כשנדמה לי שהם מתקרבים לילדים שלי. אני מגן עליהם יותר מדי, והפכתי להיות מאוד חשדן. כל השנים הדחקתי הכל ורק לאחרונה התחלתי לקבל טיפול מקצועי".
245 שנות מאסר
בתחילת שנות ה-80, כשמונדרוביץ היה בשיא תפארתו, אדם נשוא פנים, נשוי ואב לשבעה ילדים, התחילו לרחוש בקהילה האורתודוקסית שמועות שעברו מפה לאוזן על סוג הטיפול שהוא נותן, והישיבה שלו נסגרה. ב-21 בנובמבר 1984 קיבלה החוקרת פטרישה קהו מתחנת המשטרה בברוקלין שיחת טלפון אנונימית מאדם שסיפר על קורבנות רבים של מונדרוביץ.
"לא אשכח את זה אף פעם כי זה יום הולדתי", אומרת קהו בשיחת טלפון. "עבדתי כחוקרת במחלקה לעבירות מין. זו היתה שיחה איומה, אבל יותר נוראים היו הסיפורים של הקורבנות שמצאנו באותו לילה. אני והשותף שלי יצאנו מיד לשטח, הגענו לרחוב שלו ושם פגשנו ילדים, לא יהודים - הרחוב שלו היה מעורב, גרו שם יהודים ואיטלקים - והתברר שהוא היה חבר של כולם, וכל ההורים חשבו שהוא כזה בחור נפלא.
"סיפרו שהיה לוקח את הילדים לסופי שבוע וקונה להם אופניים ואצלי מיד נדלקה נורה אדומה וביקשתי מההורים לשוחח עם הילדים בנפרד. הילד הראשון שדיברתי איתו נשבר וסיפר מיד מה קרה וכך גם כל הילדים האחרים בבלוק. בסך הכל מצאנו באותו לילה חמישה קורבנות. מהם קיבלנו שמות של ילדים נוספים והמשכנו לחקור, ואז קיבלתי שוב שיחה אנונימית מאדם שטען שהוא רב והוא סיפר לי על ילדים יהודים שהוא פגע בהם. הלכתי לישיבה, רציתי לחקור ילדים נוספים - אבל פשוט לא נתנו לי להיכנס".
בסופה הולידה החקירה ארבע תלונות של ילדים בני 11 עד 16, כולם ממוצא איטלקי, שהובילו להגשת כתב אישום עם 13 סעיפים: חמישה על מעשי סדום מדרגה ראשונה ושמונה על התעללות מינית בילדים, גם מדרגה ראשונה. אלו עבירות שהעונש המקסימלי עליהן במדינת ניו יורק הוא מאסר של 25 שנים על כל סעיף מחמשת הסעיפים ו-15 שנה, על כל סעיף משמונת הסעיפים, בסך הכל עונש מצטבר של 245 שנה. כעבור שבועיים הוציא משרד התובע הכללי פקודת מאסר. קהו ושותפה, סאל קטפולמו, נסעו לביתו של מונדרוביץ עם הצו ומצאו דירה ריקה.
"קיבלתי את הצו מהשופט באמצע הלילה אבל כשהגענו לשם הוא כבר לא היה", אומרת קהו. "מצאנו בחדר העבודה שלו רשימות עם שמות של מאות ילדים וחומר פורנוגרפי-פדופילי רב. אחר כך התברר שאשתו וילדיו התחבאו אצל קרובי משפחה והוא נסע להוריו לשיקאגו, משם כנראה לקנדה ואחר כך לישראל. אם את שואלת אותי אז כל העסק הזה עבד לאט מדי. משרד התובע התמהמה והוא הצליח לברוח".
לא יכולת לעשות משהו כדי לזרז את התהליך?
"אני הייתי רק שוטרת. לא פוליטיקאית כמו התובע הכללי. אם זה היה תלוי בי, הייתי מוציאה צו מאסר מיד אחרי שהילדים התלוננו. אני מאוד שמחה שעכשיו האנשים האלה, הילדים היהודים שהותקפו על ידו, החליטו לדבר כי אז כשניסינו להגיע אליהם ולחקור אותם, לא זכינו לשיתוף פעולה, אבל עכשיו, כשהם הורים בעצמם, הם מבינים את חשיבות העניין. האיש הזה היה צריך לשבת כבר 23 שנים בכלא. זה מאוד מתסכל, במיוחד אחרי ששמעתי את כל הסיפורים עליו".
לקהו נודע כי בישראל מונדרוביץ ממשיך ללמד ולהיות בסביבת ילדים, "זה איום ונורא. צריך להזהיר את כולם מפניו. אני רק מקווה שאלוהים יתן לי נקודת זכות, אחרי כל המאמצים שעשיתי, למרות שבחשבון הסופי, לא הצלחתי".
אינטרנט ותעודות
בימים אלה אברהם מונדרוביץ לא מרבה לצאת מביתו שבנחלאות. המקום האחרון שהיה מועסק בו, המכללה האקדמית להנדסה בירושלים, כבר לא מעסיק אותו יותר. "הוא לימד אצלנו עד סוף השנה האחרונה", אומר דניאל ברמן דובר המכללה.
למה הוא כבר לא עובד אצלכם?
"בגלל מה שאת יודעת. את הדברים שאת שמעת - גם אנחנו שמענו".
בחיפושיו אחר עבודה פנה מונדרוביץ לעיריית הרצליה והציע את עצמו לתפקיד מנהל אגף החינוך, הרווחה, תרבות, נוער וספורט; וכשלא הצליח ניסה תפקיד פחות יוקרתי - מנהל בית הורים, גם בהרצליה. הוא טען שיש לו ניסיון רב בטיפול בקשישים.
קורות חייו של מונדרוביץ גמישים ומשתנים בהתאם לנסיבות. לכל בקשת עבודה הוא מצרף קורות חיים בהתאם לדרישות - או כפי שהוא בעצמו הגדיר באחד המקרים: יש לו "כושר נדיר לגמישות והסתגלות".
ההסתגלות אצלו כל כך מהירה עד שקשה לעקוב. ב-1977, כתוב באחד מקורות החיים שחיבר שהוא בעל תואר דוקטור בפסיכולוגיה קלינית מאוניברסיטת קולומביה בניו יורק; במקום אחר הוא כתב שבדיוק באותה שנה גמר תואר שני במינהל החינוך באוניברסיטה של לונג איילנד והמשיך מיד לתואר שני במינהל עסקים בהרווארד, במסלול של יזמות עסקית, ואילו את הדוקטורט בפסיכולוגיה גמר רק ב-1984 בקולומביה. אלא שבמקום אחר ציין שהתואר מ-1984 אינו בפסיכולוגיה קלינית אלא התפתחותית, ולא מאוניברסיטת ניו יורק אלא מאוניברסיטת קולומביה שבפלורידה. בדף קורות חיים אחר הוא מציין שהדוקטורט שלו בפסיכולוגיה קלינית הוא בכלל מאוניברסיטת היד שבפלורידה.
את רוב מרצו משקיע היום מונדרוביץ, בשעות הפנאי הרבות העומדות לרשותו, באינטרנט: הוא צופה בסרטונים של תעלולים סדיסטיים, ובתמונות ובסרטונים פדופיליים. באחד הסרטונים נראים שני קטינים מתעלסים ומאוננים.
בזמן הנותר יש חשד כי מונדרוביץ מתפרנס מהנפקת תארים אקדמיים לכל דורש. בעיקר לסטודנטים ממדינות העולם השלישי. ברשותו סמלים ולוגואים של אוניברסיטאות שונות בעולם, חותמות, דוגמאות חתימה וטופסי הרשמה. את מרבית הסטודנטים הוא מפנה לאוניברסיטת טורנהיל בלונדון, שמעניקה תארים בהתכתבות ויש לה סניף בברוקלין שבניו יורק. על המכתבים שנשלחים לסטודנטים חתום ד"ר ג'ורג' קולמן, איש הקש של מונדרוביץ, שספק אם הוא בכלל קיים. סטודנט שביקש תואר דוקטור בפיזיקה גרעינית קיבל תשובה מאותו ד"ר קולמן שהוא מגזים, ושעל פי ההשגים האקדמיים שלו עד כה המקסימום שאפשר לעשות בשבילו הוא להעניק לו תואר שני באחד המקצועות הפחות יוקרתיים כמו חינוך או סוציולוגיה. תמורת תואר דוקטור בתיאולוגיה ואוונגליזם, למשל, מקבל ד"ר קולמן 2,000 דולר.
משטרת ישראל מתעניינת בעיסוקיו השונים של מונדרוביץ באינטרנט וזימנה אותו לפני כחודש, ב-18 באוקטובר, לחקירה שממנה הוא שוחרר לביתו בתנאים מגבילים, מספר עו"ד אדריאן דניאלס, ממשרדו של עו"ד יגאל ארנון שנמצא בקשר עם גורמים במשטרה. "אני עושה את זה ללא שכר, כי חשבתי שזה לטובת הציבור", הוא אומר.
אבי אביב, ראש מחלקת עבירות מחשב במשטרה, אישר את דבר החקירה אך סירב למסור עליה פרטים.
בר-הסגרה
כבר בפברואר 1985 הוכן כתב אישום ולביתו הריק של מונדרוביץ נשלח זימון לבית המשפט. אולם רק בספטמבר של אותה שנה ביקשה אליזבת הולדמן, התובעת הכללית בברוקלין, את הסגרתו מישראל. אבל בישראל באותה תקופה, הדבר לא היה אפשרי: ראשית, רק ב-1988 הוכר בישראל מעשה סדום כאונס לכל דבר, גם כשהוא נעשה נגד גבר; ושנית, האמנה להסגרה עם ארצות הברית כללה באותה תקופה אונס שנעשה נגד רצונה של אשה אך לא מעשה סדום נגד רצונו של גבר. "היינו מוכנים אז, לפנים משורת הדין, לפרש מעשה סדום כבר-הסגרה, בתנאי שגם האמריקאים ישנו את זה באמנה שלהם, אבל הם לא הסכימו, ולכן החלטנו לא להסגיר את מונדרוביץ", אומרת עו"ד עירית קאהן, שעמדה בראש המחלקה הבינלאומית במשרד המשפטים. "לאחרונה שונתה אמנת ההסגרה עם ארצות הברית ועל פיה אפשר להסגיר על כל עבירה שהעונש עליה הוא יותר משנה מאסר". על אף השינוי בחוק הישראלי האמריקאים לא הזדרזו לבקש שוב את הסגרתו של מונדרוביץ. הקורבנות מפנים אצבע מאשימה כלפי התובע הכללי של ברוקלין, צ'רלס היינס. "זה תפקיד נבחר", אומר עו"ד מיכאל לשר, שמייצג שישה מקורבנותיו של מונדרוביץ, ומציע את ההסבר שלו לכך שבקשת ההסגרה התמהמהה: "לקהילה החרדית בברוקלין יש משקל אלקטורלי גדול מאוד. היינס נבחר ב-1989 בתמיכת האורתודוקסים ואף אחד לא רץ להתאבד בגלל פושע שיושב בשקט בישראל".
בשנה האחרונה החלה הקהילה בברוקלין לרתוח. הילדים של אז, מי שרואים עצמם קורבנותיו של מונדרוביץ, התארגנו ופנו, באמצעות לשר, למשרד התובע הכללי, הפעילו לחצים להוציא נגד מונדרוביץ בקשת הסגרה חדשה. כולם אמרו שאם יתבקשו, יסכימו להעיד בבית המשפט. כתוצאה מכך, בפברואר השנה העביר משרד התובע בברוקלין את כל החומר למשרד המשפטים האמריקאי. "ב-6 בספטמבר העביר משרד המשפטים האמריקאי בקשת הסגרה רשמית למדינת ישראל", נמסר בתגובה מלשכת דוברת משרד המשפטים בוושינגטון. "אין על זה התיישנות", אומר לשר. "במקרה של מעשה סדום אתה רק חייב להיות מואשם תוך חמש שנים מביצוע העבירה, והוא הואשם, אבל לא הובא לבית המשפט בגלל שברח. בנוסף לכך קיימת הגבלה של זמן מאז שהואשמת עד שנשפטת, אבל במקרה שהנאשם עוזב את אזור השיפוט שלו, התקנה הזאת מוקפאת, לכן אין שום בעיה להסגיר את מונדרוביץ ולהביא אותו למשפט". באיזה שלב מצוי הליך ההסגרה היום? ממשרד המשפטים נמסר שאין הפרקליטות נוהגת להתייחס לבקשות הסגרה, בין אם הוגשו ובין אם לאו.
עובד כמו רעל
ד"ר איימי נוישטיין, סוציולוגית חוקרת מניו יורק, הקדישה את 25 השנים האחרונות ללכידתו של מונדרוביץ. היא הקימה עם אנשים נוספים קבוצה של יהודים אורתודוקסים בברוקלין ששמה לה למטרה לאתר את מונדרוביץ ולהביא אותו למשפט. אחר כך הקימה מרכז מחקר בניו יורק שנקרא "עזרו לנו להשיב את הילדים", ובמסגרתו היא חוקרת את תופעת הפדופיליה בחברה היהודית הסגורה. היא כתבה שני ספרים, עובדת עם קורבנות תקיפה מינית ועוזרת להם להתמודד. "השאיפה שלי להוציא את הצדק לאור ולהביא את מונדרוביץ למשפט, הפכה לאובססיה, כי מכל המתעללים, הוא הגרוע ביותר. על פי האישומים הוא היה מתעלל בילדים לאור היום, ביצע את הפשעים האלה לפני עמיתיו. סיפרו לי אנשים שהיו עדים לכך בישיבה שהוא עבד בה. כולם ידעו את זה וכיסו עליו. כסוציולוגית אני שואלת, אם זה מה שקורה כשהכל כל כך גלוי, מה קורה כשהדברים פחות גלויים? ברור לגמרי שמונדרוביץ לא לבד. הוא מיקרוקוסמוס של חברה אורתודוקסית שהפדופיליה חוגגת בה, השימוש בפורנוגרפיה פורח וידוע לכל, אבל זה מוחבא מתחת לשטיח. בשנות ה-80 היה שם פחד גדול שאם הוא יתחיל לדבר, הוא יפיל רבים אחרים".
נוישטיין ואחרים בברוקלין מספרים על שלושה מקרי התאבדות של צעירים, ומקרה אחד, בשנה שעברה, של אדם מבוגר. כל השלושה הלכו אל מונדרוביץ ל"טיפול". לדברי נוישטיין המשפחות מאמינות שיש קשר בין הדברים.
א' אומר שהוא לגמרי מבין ילד שירצה להתאבד אחרי שעבר התעללות אצל מונדרוביץ "מאוד קשה לחיות עם כל כך הרבה כאב ואשמה. אין לי ספק גם שחלק מהקורבנות האלה, יעשו אותם דברים לאחרים. אני בטוח שזה עובד כמו רעל שהזריקו לך בילדות ואתה מעביר את זה הלאה".
וייס לא חשב אף פעם להתאבד אבל יכול להבין את אלה שהמחשבה עברה במוחם. "אני עדיין חי, וזה לא מובן מאליו. יש אנשים שהתאבדו ויש אחרים שמסתובבים כמו משוגעים".
אברהם מונדרוביץ סירב להגיב לכתבה. הוא טרק את הטלפון עוד לפני ששמע את הטענות נגדו. *
BERLIN (Reuters) - A convicted pedophile sentenced to do community service in a German kindergarten will return to court next week to face charges of abusing two children there, a regional prosecutor's office said Thursday.
The man was allowed to work as a janitor at the Evangelical Kindergarten St Petri in Melle, near the northern city of Osnabrueck, because a court worker missed three prior pedophilia convictions on his record, said Alexander Retemeyer, spokesman for the Osnabrueck prosecutor's office.
The man, identified only as A.B., had been sentenced to 720 hours of community service earlier this year for working on the sly while collecting welfare payments.
"The colleague didn't pay attention and didn't see he had a sexual conviction, so she allowed him to serve in a kindergarten," Retemeyer said. "She didn't read the file."
The prior convictions date from 1988-1990, when the man was living in the former East Germany, Retemeyer said. Though the convictions are listed in the man's criminal record, the details are unclear because prosecutors cannot access his East German police file.
Police arrested the man in April after the head of the kindergarten reported he had fondled himself in front of two children.
What is the Gerrer Rebbe doing to fight the extradition?
What is the Gerrer Rebbe doing to fight the extradition?
----------------
He brought Yitzchak Kaduri and his buddy Mr. Moshiach to the mishtara and gave them a pulsa d'nura!
Shulchan Arukh (Yoreh De'ah 251:10) writes that if someone comes and asks for food (or money for food), then we give it to him immediately because it is a matter of life and death. But if he comes for clothing (or anything else), we must verify that he truly needs the money.
Just last week, R. Shlomo Aviner sent out the following question and answer:
Question: When I visit the Kotel, there are so many people asking for money, should I give money to the beggars? What about people on the street? What about people who knock on my door and ask for money?
Answer:
A. Most Beggars are Swindlers
The Halachah is that we do not give money to beggars until we clarify that they are truly poor. This is a "Takanat Chazal" (Ruling of our Sages) since most beggars are swindlers. This ruling is found in the Gemara in Baba Batra (9a) and the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah 251:10) and it applies to this day. Ninety percent of people who ask for money today are swindlers. If someone asks for money we do not give it until he provides verification from a reliable Rabbi. If someone asks for food, however, we give him immediately. What if he is being deceptive? It is a potentially life-threatening situation and we therefore provide food without delay. Today, most beggars in Israel do not ask for food because there are many soup kitchens, and if you offer them food, they say that they prefer money...
In sum: We only give tzedakah to people who we can verify are poor or to trustworthy organizations. Give to one, two, three trustworthy organizations. It is not possible to provide for every poor person in any event. Most beggars are not evil people, they are mentally and emotionally unstable. We do not judge them, but we only give tzedakah to actual poor people.
Perhaps I am misapplying this rule, but it seems to me that when giving to an organization one must also verify that the organization is performing charitable work and that it needs more money to perform its good work. If not, perhaps there is no mitzvah in giving to them.
Yet, how many charitable organizations open their books to the public so we can verify whether they truly need money and whether the money we give to them is used for charity? And if not to the public, which I understand is not necessarily a good deal, then have an independent auditor certify their financial statements. I don't doubt that yeshivos are significantly underfunded and need to raise money from the public. But how can I give any money to them when I am unable to verify that the money given to them is used appropriately? Religious organizations in the US are exempt from filing certain forms so we are unable to verify this on our own. So what are we supposed to do?
I supposed I will ask a posek when and (hopefully not but) if I am asked to be honored by a charitable organization, whether I am allowed to do so if their financials are not audited. Perhaps, despite all the wonderful people there and due simply to inadequate management rather than ill will, they are not using their funds properly and do not qualify as a charity. Otherwise, how am I allowed to give them money or encourage others to do so? Aren't we concerned that the large sums of money we are allocating to charity are not being used to fulfill the mitzvah, as per Jeremiah's curse?
Finally, why isn't everyone in our community demanding this? Maybe if tuition vouchers or some other similar program is approved, the government will require audited financials from any school that receives such money. That, I think, might be an extremely positive unintended outcome. But until then, why are we ignoring this simple concept. Regardless of whether halakhah requires it, it's just common sense which perhaps, as the saying goes, isn't so common.
UPDATE: A commenter directed us to this excellent resource: Just-Tzedakah.org.
We know you are closely following what is being written about you here and elsewhere in the blogosphere, even reaching out to the bloggers in some cases.
You will be exposed for the FRAUD that you are so stay tuned to this page.
And get out of the gerus business before you have to be carried out on a hydraulic stretcher.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/924568.html
here is the article in english.
"UOJ" - "The Un-Orthodox Jew" said...
What is the Gerrer Rebbe doing to fight the extradition?
----------------
He brought Yitzchak Kaduri and his buddy Mr. Moshiach to the mishtara and gave them a pulsa d'nura!
11:24 AM, November 15, 2007
Uoj, lets be fair!
I am no big chusid of the man i was brought up to love and fear as the man of god, but to make such a statement as he is fighting his extradition w/o facts backing it up, I dont want bull shit, either give us the facts or you take down that comment, I just want to be fair.
Yudi Kolko is due back in court on Dec. 5th and Mutterperl on Nov. 20th.
Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 017214/1991 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: ROSENFELD EDITH & SAMUEL vs. OHEL CHILDREN'S HOME
Case Type: Other Torts Negligence
Track: Unknown
Disposition Date: 09/30/1994
Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: 04/30/1993 Disposition Deadline: 08/01/1994
Calendar Number: 1991-013743T RJI Filed: 07/01/1991
Jury Status: Jury At Plaintiff's Request
Justice Name: RICHARD D. HUTTNER
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: ERIC H GREEN Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
295 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10017
(212) 532-2450
Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
JACOBOWITZ SPESSARD &GARFINKEL Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
110 WILLIAM STREET, 17TH FL.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10038
212 809-8000
Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 013219/1992 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: KAPLAN,SAMUIL vs. OHEL CHILDREN'S HOME
Case Type: Other Torts Negligence
Track: Unknown
Disposition Date: 11/03/1993
Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
Calendar Number: 1992-022729M RJI Filed: 11/17/1992
Jury Status:
Justice Name: GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: GRAE & RYBICKI,P.C. Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
1688 VICTORY BOULEVARD
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. 10314
718-720-7000
Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
KEVIN L KELLY Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
335 ADAMS STREET
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 12201
(718) 422 - 3566
Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 015777/1992 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: LIBERMAN,TATYANA & ARNOLD vs. OHEL CHILDREN'S HOME
Case Type: Motor Vehicle
Track: Unknown
Disposition Date: 11/27/1996
Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: 06/16/1995 Disposition Deadline: 09/16/1996
Calendar Number: 1992-018915T RJI Filed: 09/17/1992
Jury Status: Jury At Plaintiff's Request
Justice Name: MICHAEL H. FEINBERG
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: JANOFF & GUREVICH, P.C. Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
216 EAST 49TH STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10017
212-768-0666
Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 031016/1999 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: FINNO,MARIE vs. OHEL CHILDREN'S HOME
Case Type: Other
Track: Standard
Disposition Date: 05/30/2000
Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
Calendar Number: RJI Filed: 09/03/1999
Jury Status:
Justice Name: RICHARD D. HUTTNER
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: CANTOR,COSCIA & SCHUSTAL Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
87-78 BAY PARKWAY
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11214
718-238-1400
Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 044620/2000 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: AZZARA,MICHAEL vs. OHEL CHILDREN'S HOME & FAMILY
Case Type: Other Torts
Track: Complex
Disposition Date: 07/28/2005
Date NOI Due: 07/16/2004 NOI Filed: 07/29/2004 Disposition Deadline: 10/30/2005
Calendar Number: 2004-011885T RJI Filed: 07/18/2001
Jury Status: Jury At Plaintiff's Request
Justice Name: SCHMIDT-SCP
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: GINSBERG & BROOME Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
225 BROADWAY
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10007
(212) 227-4225
Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
AHMUTY,DEMERS & MCMANUS, ESQ. Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
200 I.U. WILLETS ROAD
ALBERTSON, NEW YORK 11507
516 294-5433
Kings Civil Supreme Index Number: 014204/1992 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: OHEL CHILDREN'S HOME vs. LEAVE TO DISPOSE OF
Case Type: Other
Track: Unknown
Disposition Date: 02/03/1993
Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: Disposition Deadline:
Calendar Number: 1992-009763M RJI Filed: 05/14/1992
Jury Status:
Justice Name: WILLIAM J. GARRY (PT. 28)
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: AKABAS & COHEN Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
488 MADISON AVENUE, 11TH FL
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022
(212) 308 - 8505
Nassau Civil Supreme Index Number: 023187/1994 Upstate RJI Number:
Case Name: MILTZ, MICHELE vs. OHEL
Case Type: Other Torts Negligence
Track: Complex
Disposition Date: 02/03/2004
Date NOI Due: NOI Filed: 06/21/1999 Disposition Deadline: 09/21/2000
Calendar Number: 1999H3309 RJI Filed: 12/29/1994
Jury Status: Jury At Plaintiff's Request
Justice Name: JOHN P. DUNNE
Attorney/Firm For Plaintiff: WEIL & KESTENBAUM Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
29-50 UNION STREET
FLUSHING NY 11355
718 961-7161
Attorney/Firm For Defendant:
MONTFORT, HEALY,MCGUIRE ETAL Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
1140 FRANKLIN AVE POB7677
GARDEN CITY, NY 11530
516- 747-4082
MORICI & MORICI Attorney Type: Attorney Of Record Status: Active
1399 FRANKLIN AVE., STE. 201
GARDEN CITY, NY 11530
516-873-1902
The records are on Federal Govt websites that are being publicized but Rubashkin brazenly calls them lies.
Rubashkin Fressers should be worried about getting Swiss cheese perforations in their brains.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/11/rubashkin-mad-cow.html
There is some sort of calls & Emails out there that the USDA has found 250 violations at Rubashkin. Some of those violations are regarding MAD-COW.
As far as we know the situation at Rubashkin is that there is a sophisticated system in place of "NO-TRACEABILITY" which it seems to be what the USDA is saying.
If there is "NO-TRACEABILITY" you can never track your MAD-COW, you can never be sure that any cut of meat is kosher, it may very well be "TREIF" with a Rubashkin, Supreme, KAJ, etc label.
It is very serious situation at the AGRI Rubashkin plants re: kashrus, Treif -Traceabilty etc.
We all remember the PETA video that clearly demonstrated the "Treif-system" employed at the plant.
The Rubashkin plant's products display different labels which is strictly a marketing tool, it doesn't indicate that there any better or different standards because of the label. They will label every thing with any label the customer wants.
All of the "Rabonim-Machshirim" e.g. Weismandel, Brody, Hatchual, KAJ even with the best intentions can't control the labeling. Yes, you may be eating "Treif" with a beautiful kosher supreme label. (ask Rabbi Brody)
The Rubashkin responded to the emails & calls that are currently circulating, THEIR RESPONSE HAS MANY INACCURACIES which others may call blantant lies.
"The respected rabbis of the community modestly averted their gaze. They knew, they saw, they were silent."
Don't look at me. These were mistomme rabbonim from either Flatbush or the country.
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