1-I really thought about showing up at the Agudah convention!
2-It is becoming more apparent to me that Lipa Margulies had the childrens' interest at heart when he decided to make Kolko the assistant principal at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn - New York!
3-Yaakov Applegrad convinced me that he knew nothing about Kolko being accused of raping little boys!
4-I ate matza shmura last night with the hashgocho of Yisroel Belsky!
5-I slept with a picture of Moshe Eisemann under my pillow!
6-I invited Avi Shafran to my pool for a Kool-Aid party!
7-I learned daf yomi with Rabbi Efraim Shapiro this morning!
8- I asked the mohel Yitzchak Fisher to infect me....because so far so good... as far as I can tell!
9-I invited Shalom, Mordecai and Aron Tendler to a sleepover at my house!
10-I believe Matisyahu Salomon - that only one pedophile in the Charedi community slipped through his fingers!
You may add your own list!
71 comments:
welcome back you scared all of us.
So was the site hacked? If so, any indication who was behind it?
The picture under the headline looks like the character played by Micahel Douglas who has a nervous breakdown and shoots up the whole downtown Los Angeles.
Some of the services were disabled, as before. But Blogger was helpful this time.
welcome back which ephraim shapiro
i hope not the one in miami
by the way i wonder if it was a greendollar then iot would never slip thru mattisyahu solomons finger
ps the 11th sign your losing it
you went to l;akewood for the shabbos they all came to brooklyn because you wanted to make sure someone was learning in nj
Funny stuff.
A lechtigen chanukah R'uoj, And I sure am glad your back.
http://www.videodouble.com/video/welcome-back-kotter-montage-1065130/
Welcome back,
Only in Margo's dreams you had a one-way ticket out.
Welcome back,
To that same old place (555 Ocean Pkwy) that you laughed about.
Well the names have remained the same since you hung around,
But those Agudah Convention Fressers have gained more weight, becoming big & round.
Who'd have thought the Gerrorists would fear ya (Who'd have thought the Gerrorists would fear ya)
Here where we need ya (Here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease Avi L Shafran a lot cause we've hot him on the spot, welcome back UOJ,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3584/1/Rabbis-want-death-penalty-killed
Some 50 rabbis in this state, including a number from this area, have written to the New Jersey Legislature urging it to abolish the death penalty.
Rabbi Robert Scheinberg, religious leader of the United Synagogue in Hoboken and a member of the commission, is actively engaged in supporting that position.
The rabbinic letter, together with a list of signatories, can be found at www.njadp.org. Co-writers of the letter included Rabbi Benjamin Kelsen, an Orthodox rabbi from Teaneck; Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff from the Reform movement; and Rabbi Gerald Zelizer, former president of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly.
As leaders of our religious and ethical communities in New York, we share certain core beliefs in universal truths and historical commitment to social justice for all. We are united in our conviction that incarceration of pedophiles and the death penalty is immoral in principle and unjust in application. It violates our belief in the intrinsic worth of all human beings and our potential for spiritual regeneration. Criminal justice procedures are inconsistent and weighted against the rich, the powerful, Agudah gluttons, members of Frankel's synagogue and persons with erectile disabilities. Errors can lead to the punishment and potential execution of the innocent. Jail time and the death penalty are also costly and unproven as a deterrent. This organization therefore calls for an end to punishment. We also urge the President to declare an immediate halt to extraditions.
Leopold Margulies
Israel Belsky
Aaron Twerski Esq.
Dr. Josef Mengele
David Mandell Mba
Jacob Applegrad
William Wiesner
Ben Zion Schiffenbauer
Avi L Shafran
David Zweibel Esq.
Jacob Perlow
David Olefsky
Elijah Fisher
Leib Pinter
Samuel Pinter
Nathan Scherman
Jerry Greenwald
Jacob Klass
Richard Klass
Naomi Klass Mauer
Mordecai Tendler
Lewis Brenner
Ephraim Bryks
Moses Faskowitz
Passover Krohn
Israel Singer
Aldrich Ames
Dr. Charles "Bungalow Putz" Neuhoff
William Jefferson Clinton
Sen. Hillary Clinton
Marvin Schick Esq.
David Schick
Joseph Frankel
Hayim Weinfeld
Joel Kolko
Stefan Colmer
Abraham Mondrowitz
Jack Abramoff
Ralph Herzka
Leib Tropper
Ben Barber
Charles Hynes
Gershon Tannenbaum
Gershon Spiegel
Mendel Epstein
Peretz Steinberg
Moses Rubashkin
Milton Balkany
Isaiah Boymelgreen
Isaiah Thomas
James Dolan
David "son of Sam" Berkowitz
Alan Horowitz
Marc Rich
Pincus Green
Judah Engelmayer
Jose de Mereilles
Fidel Castro
Avi Moskowitz
Hayim Book
Charles Manson
David Cohen
U.S. intelligence services were seeking to influence political policy-making with their assessment Iran had halted its nuclear arms program in 2003, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said.
Der Spiegel magazine quoted Bolton on Saturday as saying the aim of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), contradicting his and President George W. Bush's own oft-stated position, was not to provide the latest intelligence on Iran.
"This is politics disguised as intelligence," Bolton was quoted as saying in an article appearing in next week's edition.
Bolton described the NIE, released on Monday, as a "quasi-putsch" by the agencies, Der Spiegel said.
Bolton has long criticized Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for refusing to declare that there was hard evidence Tehran was trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year Bolton said: "Regime change or the use of force are the only available options to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapons
capability, if they want it."
Bolton refused to comment on speculation that UOJ is planning a tactical strike.
This should stop UOJ from making fun of my education.
http://www.antonnews.com/floralparkdispatch/2007/12/07/opinion/
From the Desk of Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy
The following provisions, among others, were included in the Committee passed legislation:
- Language to ensure degrees from rabbinical schools will be able to continue to be recognized as the equivalent of baccalaureate degrees.
UOJ,
A friend of mine recently brought to my attention the idea/conspiracy of the "New World Order". (Here is a link explaining what the "New World Order" is: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4PpMdTmVMpo ) There are many other videos on YouTube on the subject as well.
Can you please share your thoughts on this topic?
Thanks,
A Chosid
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932088.html
The spat between the Zionist Federation and the Orthodox community in the United Kingdom over the invitation issued to "Mr. Gay International," Nathan Shaked, has once again highlighted a key debate in the Israel-advocacy world. Shaked, you may recall, is the smooth-talking Israeli who was invited by Britain's Zionist Federation to visit this month so as to give young Jewish and non-Jewish Brits an opportunity to see "another face" of Israel. Representatives of the Orthodox United Synagogue have threatened to withdraw their support from the federation if the invitation is not rescinded, calling the move, in the words of one rabbinical official, "absolutely repugnant."
Take it from me, these kind of disputes can get ugly.
http://www.thejc.com/Home.aspx?ParentId=m11&AId=56627&ATypeId=1&secid=11&prev=true
Samuel Hayek, the chairman of Keren Kayemeth Le’Israel’s new UK branch, this week revealed that the cost of its two-year-old legal dispute with its former British associate, JNF UK, has run into millions — even before next year’s scheduled High Court trial.
Mr Hayek said that he and his recently appointed board “were horrified to learn that the estimated cost to date, for our side alone for the legal action, is approximately £2 million before the substantial costs of the trial. We assume that JNF have accumulated a similar cost.”
A fraylechen Chanukka to LVF and all friends.
Chosid,
While there is no doubt that many people in power would like to see a "new world order" as actually suggested with those words by - Bush 41, in one of his state of the union addresses; when 9/11 is tossed in to the mix as proof, the sponsors of these propaganda pieces are bona-fide nut-jobs!
With the ugly chance that the Democrats can realistically take over the White House in 08, there is much cause for concern that the U.S. would be turned in to a socialist country. That I do believe.
Some of the present perceptions of losing freedoms, are unfortunately needed to secure our country from horrible mistakes in judgment by our government with our foreign policy in the Mid-East, over the last 50 years...since the Suez crisis in 1956 and progressively worsening.
The immigration crisis..and it is a crisis, and a potential Hillary presidency is something that should cause us all great concern. And yes G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney turned out to be total bumbling idiots in handling the Iraq war and it's aftermath.
Global conspiracy? Not quite yet..thanks for raising the issue!
I believe the Fed will lower interest rates (fed funds - overnight lending rate which affects consumers directly) by 25 basis points (not 50)on Tuesday. This is like putting a band-aid on Avi Shafran's brain!
The inflation factor will begin to kick in to high gear.
http://www.band-aid.com/
Avi Shafran actually called our 800 number to inquire if anything would work for his farshtunkenna kop.
Wednesday, December 12 is the scheduled court date for Avrohom Mondrowitz. To be decided is if Mondrowitz will remain incarcerated, if he will be given house arrest or if he will be released entirely. The extradition itself will be decided on at a later date, and that date itself has been delayed because during the past few days Mondrowitz replaced his longtime attorney. The new attorney requires time to get up to speed on the case, and the court is likely to grant that time. Israeli sources tell me Mondrowitz may be extradited three months from now. But they also tell me he may be extradited three years from now – either is equally likely, as is the possibility he will never be extradited.
What does all this mean?
If you want to clean up the rabbi-on-boy sexual abuse and other related problems that plague haredi society, you need to help keep the pressure on. That means coming forward if you are a victim of Mondrowitz or other rabbi pedophiles or if you have information regarding the ongoing coverup of this sexual abuse.
If you're not a victim but still want to make a difference, please make your voice heard. Write letters and leave blog comments. And urge your friends and neighbors to act. Try to band together and form parents organizations. Then use those organizations to demand mandatory background checks for all religious school employees and other measures meant to stop child sexual abuse.
The time to act is now, while a window of opportunity is still open. Work fast, because your friends at Agudah are working very hard to slam that window shut. Time is truly slipping away.
Johnson & Johnson are lying. I asked if they have invisible Band-Aids or something similar in color to dust covered black felt to fix a tear in a Borsalino.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NeZBBVtK-So
Kolko & Mondrowitz are Misyavnim who re-introduced "Gymnos" back into the "rabbonus".
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikWRXUS0eOV2UkLVXUZBIeoeDG3AD8TBJM181
JERUSALEM (AP) — Sixty years after jumping off a bridge to his death, the last descendant of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, was buried Wednesday in a Jerusalem cemetery bearing his grandfather's name — bringing an end to a torturous family saga and finally fulfilling Herzl's century-old will.
Herzl's son also committed suicide. He had a daughter who was mentally ill and another who was killed in the Holocaust. In the past year, three of the founder's four descendants have been buried in Israel — no easy task because of rabbinical injunctions against Jewish burials for those who have killed themselves or converted to other religions.
Stephen Theodore Norman's remains were exhumed Thursday in Washington, D.C., where he was buried in the cemetery of the Adas Israel congregation after his death in 1946.
On Wednesday he was reburied near his grandfather on a warm, cloudless afternoon, with hundreds of dignitaries and distant Herzl relatives in attendance.
"His vision was realized, and now there is an exemplary nation," said Liora Herzl, the great-granddaughter of Herzl's cousin. But she noted that Zionism's founder left behind a broken, cash-strapped family. "He was completely consumed with his commitment to the Zionist idea, and his family ultimately paid the price for that."
Norman was the lone family member committed to Herzl's Zionist cause. He read about his grandfather's work and was active in his movement.
His parents sent him from Austria to an English boarding school just before World War II to escape the Nazi threat. There he anglicized his name from Neumann to Norman to avoid anti-Semitism and joined the British army, serving as an officer during the war.
In 1945, he made a short visit to Palestine and was deeply impressed by the emerging society envisioned by his grandfather, writing that the Jewish children "bore the mark of freedom."
The following year, while serving as an attache at the British Embassy in Washington, he learned about the deaths of his parents during the Holocaust and committed suicide. He was 28.
In 1949, a year after Israel's independence, Herzl's body was brought to Jerusalem and buried in the Mount Herzl Cemetery, which later became the final resting place of Israel's leaders and war heroes. The bodies of Herzl's parents and sister were brought soon after, and last year the bodies of two of his children, Pauline and Hans, joined them in Jerusalem. Pauline suffered from mental illness and died in 1930, apparently of a morphine overdose, and Hans committed suicide when he learned of her death.
Jewish prohibitions against suicide, plus Hans' conversion to Christianity, initially deterred rabbinic authorities from allowing the bodies of Herzl's children to be buried in Israel, and the idea was shelved in the 1950s. Ultimately, Shlomo Amar, one of Israel's chief rabbis, issued a religious ruling allowing for the reburial of Hans and, later, Norman.
Herzl's wife, Julie, did not share her husband's Zionist fervor and was not included in his will. She died in 1907, was cremated, and the location of her ashes are unknown.
10 reasons uoj came back
he was refused the job as aguda press representative
he was refused the job as ger press person
werdiger wouldnt pay him off
rabbi frankels shul didnt need a new gabbai
dovid cohen( the loser who calls himself a rabbi ) doesnt need a new shammos
modorowitz asked for a different cellmate
margulies asked for a different cellmate
kolko asked for a different cellmate
torsa timmimah refused UOJ for the new first grade teacher (you need to molest som,eone to be hired
agida camp director position was filled
ohel actually paid the families that they are providers for the correct amount
keep up the good work
http://youtube.com/watch?v=y1zJxyPPK8c
Why hasn't Avi Shafran written an op-ed about this yet?
Is it true that R' Shmuel Kaminetzky was asked to become YTV rosh yeshiva when R' Yaakov was niftar?
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=18596
The history of popular kabbalah in America doesn't begin with the Kabbalah Centre. It begins with a poor Polish Russian-born rabbi named Levi Krakovsky.
As Myers tells it, Krakovsky followed his teacher, Yehuda Ashlag, to Palestine in 1922. Ashlag considered himself a disciple of the 16th-century kabbalistic master Isaac Luria, whose esoteric system of understanding the deeper, divine meanings of Torah influenced all future generations of Jewish and non-Jewish mystics. (In the age of "The Da Vinci Code," it's easy to see the appeal of a system of images and symbols that claims the Bible's real, true essence is "a code that establishes correspondences between the divine realm and the earthly realm.")
On the death of his wife, Krakovsky placed his five children in a Jerusalem orphanage and came to New York to bring kabbalah to American Jewry. He failed. In post-war America, Jews wanted their religion staid, rational and practically Protestant. After two more marriages and an itinerant life spent carrying a satchel full of his English-language kabbalah book from Jewish community to community, Krakovsky -- a character in search of a Michael Chabon short story if ever there was one -- died in 1966.
"Kabbalah destroys families," his son, Shlomo, said by way of eulogy.
But before he died, Krakovsky met Shraga Feivel Gruberger in Brooklyn. Gruberger, born in Brooklyn in 1929, was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi at yeshiva TorahVaDat. Already successful in real estate and insurance, Gruberger decided to devote his life to spreading the understanding of Jewish mysticism he had received via the chain of Ashlag, Krakovsky and his colleague, Yehuda Brandwein -- kabbalah means "that which is received."
It was the 1960s. Gruberger -- who by now went by the anglicized name of Phillip Berg -- promoted kabbalah as a way to keep young Jews out of the cults and away from non-Jewish religions that were sweeping them up. One study at the time found that Jews, just 2 percent to 3 percent of the American population, constituted between 6 and 20 percent of the membership of radical new religions. Berg, Myers writes, wanted to "show alienated and spiritually hungry Jews that their own religious heritage contained everything they needed for fulfillment."
Berg's genius was in making something that was dense and esoteric into something highly accessible. What Ashlag wanted to teach to all Orthodox Jews, what his disciple Krakovsky wanted to teach to all Jews, Berg wanted to teach to all -- period.
Moreover, the involvement of Madonna raises one of the central and most controversial features of the Centre: its outreach to non-Jews.
In a 2004 interview on National Public Radio, Terry Gross asked Madonna if she planned to convert.
"Oh please, don't make me sick!" Madonna exclaimed. "I'm never going to be Jewish, and I hate that phrase."
The pop star was reflecting a Centre teaching that what it offers is not Jewish
Someone close to YTV refuses to get more specific but he says Belsky is no longer invited to Agudah Fresser functions and that the YTV board is upset at him although it's nothing serious enough to get him fired.
My source says he doesn't believe that Belsky was trying to get Brenner allowed back on YTV property because the board won't even listen to him.
It's not over the bittul kiddushin because the board is in bed with fellow board member Fuchs who paid for it.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/105740.html
Published: 12/06/2007
Israel's satellite television provider drew censure for a commercial spoofing fervently Orthodox Jews.
The YES satellite service recently began airing an ad for its HDTV shows in which hundreds of male dancers dressed as yeshiva students storm into the streets and strut angrily to shouts of "Oy vey!" and "It's Sodom and Gomorrah, it's against the Torah!" The scene is set to the music of the Village People's hit song "YMCA."
After receiving complaints from religious viewers, Israel's Second Broadcasting Authority, which deals with private television channels, asked YES to yank the ad.
"I have a problem when they cast the haredi sector as a violent and incited group," Yossi Elituv, a member of the Second Broadcasting Authority's board, told Ma'ariv. "If an ad like that were to be screened in Europe, we would immediately lodge a complaint."
YES said it would review the matter.
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 Mrs Isbee, Rabbi Brull, 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/committees/exec
Is it true that R' Shmuel Kaminetzky was asked to become YTV rosh yeshiva when R' Yaakov was niftar?
-----------No!
In the current issue of The Jewish Press:
Learning Our Lesson
As a lawyer representing many alleged victims of Avrohom Mondrowitz, and a sociologist who has raised awareness about this case for 20 years, we commend you for your editorial on this indicted child abuser’s recent arrest in Israel after evading justice for over two decades (“Justice Delayed – and Possibly Denied,” Nov. 23). As you say, the case proves the need for a “more honest approach to the very real problem of pedophilia and abuse in the Orthodox community,” including “unhesitating resort to secular law-enforcement authorities.”
You are also correct in deploring the fact that Mondrowitz “was indicted in 1984 only in connection with the charges made by the parents of non-Jewish children.”
But to blame the Jewish victims’ parents for their “apparent disinclination to come forward” is not really fair. Those parents did not act of their own accord. Our extensive information indicates that there were rabbis who were aware of at least dozens of Orthodox Jewish Mondrowitz victims when the official charges were being assembled. Rather than helping the victims’ families to seek justice against the man whose alleged crimes had so devastated a community, these rabbis either took no action or actively discouraged the families from taking part in the law enforcement process against Mondrowitz. When he fled to Israel, they again counseled silence, leaving the victims and their advocates to pursue the case without any support from their spiritual leaders.
If we are to learn from the Mondrowitz case, we must learn a different rabbinic approach to child sexual abuse. Otherwise, we will share the responsibility for the victimization of children whose need for justice is thwarted by the rabbis they trust.
Michael Lesher, Esq.
Amy Neustein, Ph.D.
(Via E-Mail)
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/features/article.jsp?content=20071207_165453_3032
Former lawyer Fred Shapiro served two separate prison terms for fraud. (He too now lectures on business ethics.)
-2lbs of Rubashkin chicken quarters in advanced stages of putrefaction: $5.79+ applicable taxes.
-Free night in hotel, plus airfare to tropical destinations and big bucks for your moisad: $49.36 in gas and tolls to the next EJF convention.
-Knowing that your fraudulent giyur machine is being stopped in its tracks: PRICELESS!
For everything else in life, there's KaplanCard!
http://www.kgoam810.com/Article.asp?id=527431&spid=15884
Breaking news: Dov Bear's mentor has been indicted on charges of posession of child pornography. Radical leftist radio host Bernie Ward -you'll only need to listen to him for 3 minutes to realize he's DB's main inspiration; same topics, same mindset, same perversion- has been put in the slammer for posessing kiddie porn. Seems he's a good The Who fan, or at least remembers well how Pete Townshend got out of it (not because he's rich and famous): he was researching the subject for writing a book! Hail to literacy! Rock musicians and radio hosts authoring books on children's sexuality! Ha ha ha, these guys have degrees in anthropology and sociology from Oxford! Isn't it kinda akin to bloggers explaining chazal and Torah?
http://crime.blogs.com/tre/2007/03/media_bias.html
ACLU boss who fought mandated internet filtering in public libraries arrested with kiddie porn. How many times did DB mention it to you?
http://theantisemite.blogspot.com/2007/12/speed-plough.html
Mainstream Charedi leadership will finally have to learn to face serious problems even if they come at the expense of their honor and image of immaculate sanctity.
It seems like Mondrowitz raped all he saw - now his abettors reap what they sow.
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1919592007
Al Lombardo, a polygrapher at the District Attorney's office in Brooklyn, who puts 1,500 murderers each year through a lie-detector test.
Lombardo also works with the NFL to identify and rehabilitate drugs cheats before they fail tests: if an American footballer fails the polygraph he either confesses or faces withering scrutiny. "There is no reasonable argument against a polygraph," says Lombardo. "An athlete can cite nerves, but you don't fail because you're nervous, you fail because you lied."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/342683_darboe08.html?source=mypi
Nursing aide sentenced in rape of stroke victim
- There was a board member that quit when or shortly after Rabbi Dovid Cohen was picked as Ohel's rov but I "can't elaborate".
- UOJ is "wrong" as Dovid Cohen came after Mondrowitz and became a board member even later.
- You have to separate Rabbi Dovid Cohen the posek from Rabbi Dovid Cohen the board member. Someone that worked at Ohel and other orgs used to call him as well as other rabbonim. If he poskens a certain way go blow his brains out but don't blame it on Ohel. An issue would only arise if he was already sitting on the board and the board decides a certain way.
- You can't blame Ohel for hiring Mondrowitz because it's difficult to tell credentials are forged.
- What did they find in Mondrowitz's house? That he was really UOJ??? How should I know what they found in his house? I didn't know that he was under
investigation in Israel.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/12/rubashkins-rav-weismandels-supreme.html#c8742961515437253472
There was a takana made in the 1920's that made it assur for people to own slaughterhouses AND Kosher provision plants. It was signed by the prominent Rabbonim in America.
Reb Moshe added his signature 50 years later, to affirm the validity of it.
No Bais Din can annul it or refute it, unless they are an equal or greater Bais Din. So far, I can't think of anyone today that wopuld admit that they are greater than Reb Moshe.
If you are interested, I can see if a copy is available and forward it to this blog. What we do with that information is up to us.
Be careful - Rubashkin and his henchmen read this blog and will be preparing to counteract this. I already heard that 1) The takana only applies to New York and 2) There was no Kashrus in America before 1956, so it does not apply anymore.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/NEWS04/712070385/1002/NEWS01
Vermont man alleges he found condom in Burger King burger
December 7, 2007
This is the e-mail I just sent the ministry of justice in israel, I urge all who enjoy and read this blog to do the same and keep the pressure on them and the israeli consul as well for the next few days, its just a little chanukah present for UOJ, and the many victims out there.
feedback@mfa.gov.il
YaelK@justice.gov.il
Subject: Court appearance of A. Mondrowitz
To: "Ministry of justice" YaelK@justice.gov.il
Shalom,
I was informed by sources in Israel, that on Wednesday, December 12 is the scheduled court date for Avrohom Mondrowitz. To be decided is if Mondrowitz will remain incarcerated, if he will be given house arrest or if he will be released entirely. The extradition itself will be decided on at a later date, and that date itself has been delayed because during the past few days Mondrowitz replaced his longtime attorney.
Please, we trust you do the right thing, and do whatever it takes to keep this person away from kids for the rest of his life, and that you use all your powers to have him extradited so that he will face his victims in court.
With all due respect,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120501340.html
President Bush will announce this afternoon an agreement with major mortgage firms to freeze interest rates for five years for financially troubled homeowners -- a plan advocates say will help forestall a major foreclosure crisis but some conservatives say amounts to a bailout of people who made bad financial decisions.
On Capitol Hill yesterday, some Republican lawmakers and their aides expressed concern that the plan would anger homeowners and others who stayed out of the subprime mortgage mess.
Darren McKinney, 48, a renter in the District, said he has been waiting for housing prices to fall so he can buy a condo without resorting to a dubious loan. He turned down an opportunity to buy his 600-square-foot apartment for $310,000 in late 2004 because he thought it was "absurdly overpriced."
Now the government is rewarding people who made irresponsible decisions and bought homes beyond their means, he said.
"There are those of us who purposely sat on the sidelines during the course of the last three years while the senseless frenzy was going on, and we presumed the free market would be allowed to correct itself," McKinney said. "The government is now meddling in the market and looking to prop up lenders and borrowers alike, and those of us who wisely bided our time get screwed."
Yesterday, lawmakers expressed concern over the accountability of nonprofit groups that would receive public funds under the administration's plan. Some taxpayer money -- about $200 million -- would go to nonprofit groups staffing a national credit-counseling hotline for troubled homeowners. Some Republicans worried that about the expanding role of local housing authorities, which can be difficult to police.
"In some ways it's worse than a taxpayer bailout," said John Berlau, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the institute. "It pressures an industry to essentially alter the terms of millions of contracts, and it's going to make investors think twice about investing in America again."
Others, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), criticized the plan for not going far enough. Yesterday, the Democratic presidential candidate called for a moratorium of at least 90 days on subprime mortgage borrowers facing foreclosure and a five-year rate freeze on all subprime loans.
It looks like the stain of tolerating child sex abuse in its midst has penetrated deeper into the consciousness of the Aguda leadership - whoever that is - than anybody ever thought. They are now reflexively lashing out, without examining the roots of the blog phenomenon.
The roots are these: In September 2005, a man named David wrote his true story of child sex abuse on the UOJ blog. He told the world he was molested by Kolko at Torah Temimah in the 1980s, he complained about it, and nobody did a thing. Over the next few months, word got around about the post, lawyers started getting involved, UOJ made media contacts, and in May 2006, New York published its expose about Kolko and Torah Temimah. Other sex predators were identified on the UOJ blog and elsewhere, the coverups were written about for all the world to see, and there are now multiple indictments, civil suits, and even extraditions from Israel. All of this is on Aguda's watch. Even worse, they've been talking about the child sex abuse problem for years at various conferences and forums, but doing almost nothing of a practical nature to stop it.
The existence of Aguda's blog problem is owed to the fact that Aguda failed in its job to either protect the children attending its yeshivas, and when abuse has occurred, failed to secure some small measure of justice for the victims.
The blogs are a democratic phenomenon, and Torah does have democratic elements. Corrupt and inefficient rabbis and community leaders need to be fired from their jobs. A great roar of Jewish democracy, and even kedusha can be heard on the blogs. Our people can stomach a lot, but child sex abuse? No.
So what does Aguda do? They give us an article two months ago in the which the author gives us the sage advice that parents should watch their children. Duh. Two months later, still another Aguda issur is issued, for blogs.
No systematic change. No promise of cooperation with secular, legal authorities. No cheshbon hanefesh for the mistakes of the past. All we get is classic Aguda.
The additional truth is that the Aguda constituency is changing. They look Aguda, they think MO. They've gone to college, they read newsppaers, they own computers, and they've lost respect for rabbinic leadership. This is a sea change, and Aguda can print a dozen more reactionary anti-blog articles, and it underground earthquake will not reverse itself.
This is good news for the MOs and the TIDE people. Our challenge is to pick up where Aguda has left off, and start bringing efficiency and honest to the yeshiva and day school world.
Painful to watch
It is so sad and yet so predictable that the Jewish Observer allows drivel like this in its pages. They ‘shiver’ and are outraged by scorn heaped on Gedolei Yisroel… when they are guilty of it themselves. Can anyone ever forget the shameful bio they did on Rav Soloveitchik? Can anyone underestimate the hurt that was generated to his family and thousands of his Talmidim? That’s OK?! What’s the matter with these people?!
One might think that he is only speaking about certain blogs who are unquestioningly being Mevazeh (disparaging) ‘Gedolim and Talmidei Chachamim’. I might have agreed with him then. I have in fact been very critical of such tactics even in cases where there were good results. One can be critical and effective without being disparaging.
EDITED VERSION:
Then of course you have the dorm counselor molestors, the rebbe molestors, the teacher molestors, and the assorted other molestors. Heck, yeshivas get more action than a diamond district kurvah during fleet week.
The other day some kids on the block were telling me about the times Colmer used to show them "his car". Is there a new definition for the word "car" or something?
In any case, if one day Stefan Colmer were to show up on East 15th Street again, I think I would drive my real "car" straight into his face.
Colmer you sick pervert, telling little kids to come see "your car". I hope the judge throws his Gemorah at you, and drives his car over you too.
I am sure there are a lot of inmates in prison who will want to show Colmer their cars and maybe drive all over his face too.
So when is he comming home to New York? We are planning a party. No Cars please.
Moishe Rubashkin's newspaper comes out in Crown Hts usually on Thursdays. If you read his editorial you can throw up. The lies he writes are just amazing. Now he is starting a sefer Torah for achdus (Rubashkin farce style). He never stops to amaze the mind how depraved he is.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=18598
Is it permissible for an Orthodox family to play host to a Jewish couple if they don't observe laws mandating sexual abstinence in the period surrounding menstruation?
That was among the questions posed to two leading rabbinic authorities in late November at the 85th national convention of Agudath Israel of America, the main umbrella body for ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, Jewry.
The answer: It is, if the room has two beds.
The session, titled, "Kosher Kiruv: Halachic Dos and Don'ts," was part of a broad push to make kiruv, or outreach to nonobservant Jews, a mainstay among the rank-and-file of haredim.
At a plenary session titled, "American Jewry at Cliff's Edge," speakers cited worrisome statistics about American Jewish assimilation and stressed the responsibility of individuals to support efforts to help draw nonobservant Jews closer to their heritage.
"Mr. Curnutt said an official in one state, Kentucky, told him his offer was rejected in part because the people likely to be caught cheating were also likely to be campaign contributors."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/business/07taxes.html
December 7, 2007
Ex-I.R.S. Agent Says Tax Evasion by Real Estate Partners Is Huge
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — Investors in real estate partnerships evade billions of dollars in federal taxes each year, even though detecting this type of cheating is easy, a former specialist in partnerships for the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.
The states, especially New York, also lose vast sums, according to the specialist, Jerry Curnutt, who retired from the tax agency in 2000
Mr. Curnutt, who now works from his home in Arlington, Tex., said that a statistical report released by the I.R.S. last week indicated that cheating on the reporting of real estate partnership gains was growing sharply.
“Nationally, in 2005, at least $20 billion of gain from real estate tax shelters was unreported,” he said, “and in New York State, the epicenter of the business, the figure may be as high as $5 billion.”
Those figures suggest that the federal government was shorted $5 billion and New York State about $385 million from real estate tax shelter partnerships.
But while the I.R.S. gave Mr. Curnutt multiple awards for identifying ways to catch partnership cheats, and he ran seminars for both I.R.S. and state tax auditors to teach his techniques, it never adopted his audit strategy.
The I.R.S. did execute Mr. Curnutt’s plan to give the states data needed to identify tax cheating among real estate partners.
Mr. Curnutt singled out New York State tax officials for not using that data, even though New York defines income almost exactly the same way the federal government does, making it easy to mine the I.R.S. reports.
Mr. Curnutt offered to help 29 states, including New York, ferret out tax cheats, working for expenses and earning a modest fee only if he found significant amounts of untaxed or undertaxed income. Only one state, Pennsylvania, retained Mr. Curnutt, though it ranked far down on his list of states where tax reporting rules made such cheating a particular problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/business/09scruggs.html
December 9, 2007
Court Intrigue for the King of Torts
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Clarksdale, Miss.
EVER since Richard Scruggs was indicted on federal conspiracy and bribery charges about two weeks ago, legal eagles have asked whether a renowned lawyer who earned a reputation as the “King of Torts” would really risk his reputation, his freedom, his wealth and, of course, his career, by offering $50,000 to sway a judge
Considering all the body odor on an Israeli bus, one would have to be pretty desperate!
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847295322&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
A caricature depicting the Egged Bus Cooperative as a restaurant waiter serving pork to a haredi customer smacks of anti-Semitism, an Egged spokesman said on Sunday.
"If such a caricature were published in a Jewish community in the Diaspora, it would be denounced immediately as virulently anti-Semitic," said Aryeh Frankel, a haredi PR man from the Gal Advertising firm who represents Egged.
But a resident of Givat Shaul and one of the activists responsible for the publication of the pamphlet who preferred to remain anonymous defended the cartoon.
"For us, the situation in many parts of Jerusalem is as if Egged were forcing us to eat something un-kosher," said the man, who added that the caricature was approved by the rabbis.
The caricature appears on a pamphlet published recently by "The Council For Kosher Transportation - Har Nof, Givat Shaul" that blames Egged for being insensitive to haredi customers' religious strictures which require strict separation of men and women on buses.
Most of the pamphlet's eight pages are devoted to quotes from speeches given by prominent rabbis of Har Nof and Givat Shaul during a rally over the summer in Har Nof. The rabbis complain that the excessive crowding on the 11 and 15 buses forces passengers to transgress prohibitions against coming into contact with the opposite sex. The close proximity of men to women also causes men to fantasize, another prohibition.
One rabbi is quoted as saying: "They [Egged] are bringing to our doorsteps mixed buses which leads to bad thoughts and serious pitfalls caused by the crowded buses." Other rabbis said that the punishment for bad thoughts was losing favor in God's eyes, which could in turn lead to disaster.
The anonymous activist who spoke with The Jerusalem Post said that the situation had not improved and a major rally protesting Egged's policy was being planned for the coming weeks.
Egged's Frankel said that while the company understood the special needs of the haredi community, the people behind the pamphlet had gone too far.
"They have trampled basic values of respect and lowered themselves to base anti-Semitism and in so doing delegitimized their cause," said Frankel.
"Egged has 34 'designated' bus lines that segregate men and women in accordance with the religious sensitivities of the haredi populace. Just last week we launched a new line from Kiryat Sanz, Netanya to Jerusalem. But on inner-city lines that also serve the general [secular] public we cannot set up designated lines. Instead, we added a line - 15a - which services Har Nof and Givat Shaul in addition to the regular 11 and 15 buses."
Frankel added that by its very nature, mass transportation was crowded during rush hour and there was nothing that could be done to change that fact. "That's the way it is in the New York subway, in the Paris Metro and in the British Underground," he noted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/nyregion/10lakewood.html?ei=5087&em=&en=4b7309ba90bf76d5&ex=1197435600&pagewanted=print
December 10, 2007
As Orthodox Population Grows, So Do Tensions
By KAREEM FAHIM
The only Muslim reporter at the NY Times does this story.
Honesty demands recognition that UOJ was successful beyond anyone's imagination - because of the unbearable scorn heaped on the rabbis, both molestors and enablers. And besides all the attention on this issue turned out to be true - including the coverups - for decades. Who cares if they don't like it? Lives for these corrupt rabbis will never be the same. I for one can't get enough of what UOJ says; it's brutal honesty at it's most caustic, and forever changed the Jewish rabbinical landscape.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22100473/
Seems like many employees and managers have forgotten the many ethical lapses among businesses just a few years ago epitomized by Enron.
The corporate crookedness of the past may be destined to repeat itself based on a new business ethics study.
"We have this idea that we should be tolerant of other and other peoples views. That we should never speak out and criticize when we see someone is doing something wrong," says James Otteson, professor of philosophy and economics at Yeshiva University. "People increasingly keep their mouths shut even if people are lying, dishonest, or stealing. People think, 'it’s not my place.'"
I hope they don't switch more neveilos to the "kosher" side to make up the increased cost.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21794792/
WASHINGTON - Employers will have to pay the full cost for almost all personal safety equipment used by their workers, the Labor Department said Wednesday, a move advocates say will prevents thousands of on-the-job injuries.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule, proposed in 1999 but never adopted in final form until now, would require employers to pay for personal protective equipment, or PPE, like protective clothing and other gear.
The rule takes effect in six months.
I loved learning the history of the macabees in school, i don't remember what book it was we learnt, but it was quite dramatic and exciting...a bit like Roman history really with everyone killing their brothers, mothers, sisters and uncles and fathers...
I think the Rabbis of the day weren't pleased because after the chashmanoim had rededicated the temple due to only being of Levy tribe they were not meant to be rulers, but they wanted to rule too and then got caught up in the whole power thing it went to their heads. A bit like the Rabbis of today, except there aren't many people condemning them for their terrible actions. Instead they are called Gedolim.
FREE SCREENING of the Film NARROW BRIDGE:
Confronting Sexual Abuse in the Jewish Community
Seating is Limited - Reservations Required!
There are two opportunities coming up to catch the controversial, acclaimed film "Narrow Bridge", which has been making waves in the Orthodox Jewish community. it is the first film of its kind to break the silence on the issue of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. The film will be shown in Washington, DC on December 18, 2007, 6:00 PM at the Cleveland Park Library and in Baltimore on January 2, 2008 at Pikesville Library at 6:00 PM.
In the near future dates for screenings in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be published
Following the film there will be a panel of experts in the field of sexual abuse to answer questions.
These events are sponsored by The Awareness Center, Inc., (the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault) www.theawarenesscenter.org.
For more information call: 443-857-5560 or send an e-mail to vickipolin @ aol.com.
Seats are going fast so make a reservation today!
December 18th - Washington, DC Panel will include:
(Cleveland Park Library, 6:00 PM)
• Vicki Polin, MA, NCC, LCPC - Founder and Executive Director, The Awareness Center, Inc.
• Nicole Jalazo, MSW, LCSW - Childhelp USA, Experienced working with survivors, including sexually reactive children.
• Murray Levin, JD - Photographer, Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse, and Advocate for Legislative Changes.
• Bob Russell - Legislative Coordinator, SNAP-MD (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
• Rachel Steamer, JD - Attorney who specializes in representing survivors of child sexual abuse.
January 2nd - Baltimore Panel will include:
(Pikesville Library, 6:00 PM)
• Mesa Leventhal Baker, MD - Medical Director, Baltimore Child Abuse Center
• Murray Levin, JD - Photographer, Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse, and Advocate for legislative changes.
• Vicki Polin, MA, NCC, LCPC - Executive Director, The Awareness Center, Inc.
• Bob Russell - Legislative Coordinator, SNAP-MD (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
• Joyanna Silberg, PhD - Coordinator of Trauma Disorder Services for Children at Sheppard Pratt Hospital.
Panel Members Bio:
Mesa Leventhal Baker, MD
Dr. Baker is on the advisory board of The Awareness Center. She has been board certified in pediatrics since 1991 and a Fellow of the AAPsince 1994. She has held Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatric posts with the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda and the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu. She is currently an Associate Professor in Pediatrics with the University of Maryland and a Special Consultant in Child Abuse to Sinai Hospital.
After working in private pediatrics and forensic pediatrics part-time for a year, Dr. Baker became the Medical Director of the Baltimore Child Abuse Center in 1998.For the past 6 years at the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Dr. Baker has seen 600-700 children per year, to reach a total of well over 3000 forensic sexual abuse exams.
Nicole Jalazo, MSW, LCSW - Childhelp USA, Experienced working with survivors, including sexually reactive children. Nicole's full bio will be posted soon.
Murray Levin, JD
Murray Levin is a well known photographer in the Baltimore Jewish community. He is also a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. After 52 years, Mr. Levin finally had the courage to share his story with the Baltimore Jewish Times article, "Baltimore Confronts Sexual Abuse in Rabbinate". Since going public Murray has testified at the Senate committee hearing in Annapolis, Maryland and also at the hearing at the Executive Office of the Mayor - Council of the District of Columbia, for the Childhood Sexual Abuse Prevention Amendment Act 2007. Murray also attended the media event at Cardozo Law School in September, 2007.
Vicki Polin, MA, LCPC, NCC, ATR-BC
Vicki Polin is the founder and executive director of The Awareness Center. Vicki is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in the state of Illinois and is a Board Certified Art Therapist.
In the past Vicki has qualified as an expert witness and provided testimony in juvenile court on cases related to childhood sexual abuse and neglect. She has presented educational and experiential seminars to community groups, universities, and at professional conferences on both a local and national level. Vicki served as a board member of several different not-for-profit organizations, which included VOICES in Action, Inc and Alternative Behavior Treatment Centers: For Juvenile Sex Offenders and Sexually Reactive Youth). Vicki also served on the planning committee of Jewish Women International (JWI) 2nd International Conference on Domestic Abuse.
Bob Russell
Bob Russell is the Legislative Coordinator of SNAP-MD (Survivors Network of Abusive Priests). Bob first disclosed publicly that he was molested by a Catholic priest as a child in July, 2001. To his credit, Mr. Russell became the force behind his school publicly apologizing for allowing the victimization to occur and also disclosing their role in covering up the sex crimes. Bob also made sure that his school contacted every student that attended between the years of 1969-1973, in an effort to find other survivors.
Bob's activism continues to this very day by coordinating the legislative movement in Maryland to abolish the statute of limitations or granting "windows legislation" regarding the civil laws that govern child sexual abuse.
Joyanna Silberg, Ph.D.
Dr. Silberg is the Coordinator of Trauma Disorder Services for Children at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and past president for the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. In addition to her role as a clinician, Dr. Silberg is an Associate Editor for The Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Trauma Practice.
Dr. Silberg is the recipient of the Walter P. Klopfer Award, 1992, for outstanding research contribution and the Cornelia Wilbur Award, 1997, for clinical excellence. She is the co-editor of the book Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors (Haworth Press, 2002). She has presented at 100s of professional conferences and conducts training workshops around the world on the treatment of traumatized and dissociative children. She has authored approximately 20 professional articles and book chapters.
Rachel Steamer, JD, Esq.
Rachel Steamer is a lawyer who specializes in representing survivors of sexual abuse. Notably, as an associate at the law firm of Ross & Rubino, LLP, Rachel was involved in litigating more than 100 cases in coordinated proceedings against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Diocese of San Diego. A graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Yeshiva University) in New York City, Rachel acted as chief research assistant to noted First Amendment scholar Professor Marci A. Hamilton, with whom she co-authored The Religious Origins of Disestablishment Principles, 81 N.D. L. Rev. 1755 (2006). Rachel is admitted to practice law in New York.
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/harnof.html
Fear and loathing in Har Nof
By Stuart Winer, Additional reporting by Hilary Leila Krieger
Jerusalem Post
Friday, March 7, 2003 -- In the last two months, public revelations of child molestation have caused fear and shock in the predominantly haredi neighborhood of Har Nof. As police try to combat the incidents of abuse, the community must combat a code of silence which has traditionally pushed such abuse below the surface.
"The haredi community is not used to talking to strangers on any subject, " said Dov Bernstein, supervisor for the Jerusalem area investigators of the Child Investigation Service at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. "Add to that the problem of them being victims of sexual attacks and it can be very difficult."
Yet police succeeded in arresting two long-time abusers this winter. In early January, a 17-year-old haredi Har Nof resident admitted to sexually abusing young boys. The police said he had raped and sodomized 15 to 20 children from the ages of five to 10 in a local synagogue. And one month later, a 27-year-old non-haredi man from Har Nof admitted to committing over 25 acts of molestation on girls aged six to 11 over the past three years, according to Jerusalem Police Spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.
But there are scores of other cases in the neighborhood that go unprosecuted for lack of evidence; in many instances they are not even reported. Now that the topic has been brought to the public's attention, everyone seems to know someone who has been affected by the phenomena.
"No one knows names," said Bertha Goldstein as she watched a group of children playing on Rehov Kaplan in Har Nof. "But there are men approaching children."
Over the past months local Har Nof newsletters have carried numerous appeals for parents to remain alert after children were accosted in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood.
"I recently heard of a guy who tried to stop a 12- year-old girl from leaving a building. She way lucky because some other girls walked in and she managed to run for it," Goldstein said. "Everyone thought these were isolated incidents but now they are beginning to piece things together."
"People are now very cautious about letting their children walk around alone," Goldstein said. "Even 12 and 13-year-old girls are not allowed out by themselves."
When victims do go to the authorities, they often find there's not much that can be done. One Har Nof mother recounted that after her 18-year-old daughter was fondled by an unknown haredi man in the elevator of their apartment complex one afternoon last summer, she filed a complaint with the police.
She said the complaint was a means of taking action, "[But] I don' t know if it does any good."
She noted that no arrest was ever made but didn't blame the police.
"I don't think the police can really do anything," she said, explaining, "he [the perpetrator] looks like the rest of the population. What would he do to stand out? It has to be residents, who know he's different and doesn't belong."
That's one of the reasons she said she believes speaking out about incidents of abuse is important. "If everybody called [attention to potential abusers], maybe we could do something about these weirdos."
Once she and her daughter began to talk about what had happened, they found that several friends and neighbors had experienced similar traumas.
"There's a lot of stuff going on in Har Nof," the mother said, noting that her daughter's experience "wasn't such an isolated case ... Frequently I've found out that people have gone through this."
While she said the women whom she told about the molestation were supportive and as a result felt freer to talk about their own similar experiences, she expressed some annoyance that no one had shared these incidents with her before.
"They weren't common knowledge. I didn't know I should be worried and alert."
Even so, she said her daughter thought twice about entering the elevator when she saw a strange man inside. When she noticed a second-grader also in the lift, she decided it was safe to enter.
"As soon as the doors closed he began to handle [fondle] my daughter, to grope her," the mother described. "She yelled at him and he got out and ran."
Afterwards, the mother recollected how her daughter "was very shaken, " as was the young girl who witnessed the attack.
But her daughter told her, "I have to go out now or I won't be able to go out."
The alternative would have been that "she would get crippled by fear, " the mother added. "It strikes your security. You don't trust anybody."
The sense of mistrust applies to the community as a whole, the mother explained.
"One would think that ostensibly in a religious neighborhood, people behave better," she said. "I think that we assume a certain kind of [safety]. We don't play around. We live by the Torah. Guys don't bother girls. Men stay married. It's not a free-for-all in terms of morality ... One individual can wreak a lot of havoc. "
But experts contacted by In Jerusalem said they didn't have any statistics to track whether rates of sexual abuse are higher or lower in haredi communities than in the public at large.
But Haim Walder, manager of the Center for the Child and Family in Bnei Brak, an organization that deals with child abuse in the haredi community, said that while "petty crime is almost unheard of in the haredi community, sexual crime is more common and more of a problem. People don't even think about it going on."
Walder, himself haredi, added, "The biggest problem is closure. People don't want to report it or talk about it."
"We found in Har Nof that we knew a lot of information but parents were not prepared to talk. We knew things were going on but people would not come forward," Bernstein said.
Yifat Boyer, an attorney at the National Council for the Child, an organization that provides legal aid for children, agreed that the lack of openness makes tackling child abuse in communities like Har Nof difficult.
"Even the people who are trying to address the issue in the haredi community don't talk about sex, or sexuality, or even use words like that."
"You don't want to overexpose the specifics of the threat the way a lot of media tends to go into graphic detail," Walder said. "On the other hand we don't want to ignore it."
Walder said that community leaders face the dilemma of how to warn children without exposing them to things that they don't want them to know about. The solution, in his opinion, is to give over the message in a way that is acceptable to community sensitivities.
"For example, there is a kid's book with a story that explains it is important to keep away from strangers without explaining what the danger is," Walder explained. He added that the idea is to encourage children to talk more about what happens to them.
At the same time he noted, "In some ways it is better not to scare the children" about concepts such as incest, inicidents of which he claimed is rare.
Boyer said educating children about incest in the haredi community can be a real problem due to the absolute authority wielded by haredi parents.
"You can't tell haredi children not to do what their father tells them to do," Boyer said.
Bernstein said that in some cases it can take years for children to realize that something happened to them.
Bernstein theorized that the dogma of benevolence and generosity on which haredi youth is raised may make them easy targets.
"There is a method to seducing children, of getting close to them. Child molesters know just how to talk to children to gain their confidence, " Bernstein said. "Since haredi youth are educated to believe in helping people whenever they can, they are easier to seduce."
Bernstein suggested that in some cases the hospitality inherent in haredi communities can result in predators being invited right into victims' homes.
"They also want to help each other and to help ba'alei tshuva (the newly observant), Bernstein added. "So it is confusing to the children who see their parents inviting these people into their homes and then they are not sure if there is something wrong when they interfere with them."
And the unwillingness to challenge authority extends to the means of dealing with cases, which Boyer said often revolve around the rabbis.
"Even when a rabbi knows about a case in his community he is less likely to report it to the authorities but will try to deal with it himself," he said. "That could be because they don't recognize the authorities and they also don't want the story to get out."
Additionally, Walder said, "Sometimes the victim suffers at the expense of the public and the media who have a field day, and that is something that the rabbis did not want to happen.The idea is to help the victim and the community."
Bernstein said that all victims of sexual abuse need to receive treatment. If denied it, the results can be dire. Studies have shown that victims of child sexual abuse who are not treated are prone to become abusers themselves as adults.
"The more serious the initial attack, the more intensive the treatment must be," Bernstein said. "It takes time, sometimes even up to three years of treatment, but it is critical."
Bernstein said some rabbinic leaders are taking special training and there are additional courses for religious women to help them to deal with these situations.
"People who do try to deal with incidents by intuition or from the Holy Scriptures can do even more damage," Bernstein said. "I know of cases in which rabbis said, 'It's not so bad,' or they drove families out of the community instead of trying to deal with the problem."
Har Nof resident and school principal Yizhak Soffer, said he feels that community leaders could be doing more.
"The cover-up attitude is stupid," he said. "The correct attitude is to be on the offensive. They should be supervising education, be much more aware of strangers, teach basic self-defense so that the kids know what to do if something happens."
Because of the difficulties in breaking into the closed community on a subject that is not only intimate, but also taboo, Bernstein said the investigators apply a method known as "joining."
He explained, "We often investigate in stages. First we build confidence by getting to know the children, and talking about neutral subjects."
"We are really in early days with dealing with it," Boyer said. "We are trying to hold a meeting with the people in the haredi community to try and make in-roads."
"It all starts with the rabbi," Bernstein said. "The more the rabbis are involved, the more likely the community is to involve outsiders in the process. I know one rabbi who managed to persuade some families to go to the police although they didn't want to at first."
Bernstein sees the first stage to tackling the problem in gaining the support of the community leaders.
"The more the rabbis are prepared to listen to us, even if they have suspicions, they will understand that we have the same interests: to protect the children."
The process of apprehending and punishing pedophiles in this country is a long and complicated one that can continue for years. First the perpetrator must be identified and subsequently arrested. The 27-year- old arrested in Har Nof last month carried out attacks for three years before being apprehended after a girl came forward with details of how he had molested her in a residential building. After police began investing the case, other victims spoke out.
There are many instances when the accused is released until the case comes to court. The 17-year-old arrested in January is currently under house arrest at his brother's.
Prosecution procedures begin when police receive a complaint from a victim. If, on the basis of initial evidence, the state attorney' s office decides to prosecute, then the child investigators take over. According to the law, children under the age of 14 are forbidden from providing testimony in court in order to protect them from difficult questioning. Instead of the child, the investigator who handled the case gives testimony.
All investigations with the children are videotaped from the first interview until the end of the investigation. The tape is then submitted to the court, where the judges watch all the footage and the investigator give testimony in place of the victim. Child abuse investigator Dov Bernstein said that in some cases the investigator decides that the victim can give evidence if the child seems confident and strong enough to do so. Usually, however, it is the investigator who speaks in the name of the child, a circumstance that Bernstein says is unique in the whole world.
By law, anyone who knows of a case and doesn't report it to the authorities can be sentenced to six months in prison.
"There is a legal requirement to report incidents that apply not just to community leaders or educators but all members of the public too, " Bernstein said. "There have been cases in the past when rabbis were investigated."
UOJ, if you have solid information that he shouldn't be around children, you should pressure the Williamsburg lab which is Nussbaum's parent organization.
I'm not sure which is the main Williamsburg lab, there are two listed:
Williamsburg
Fishel Zeigerman
(718) 388-4221
Williamsburg
Menachem Herzog (Office)
(718) 782-6961
These 3 labs in Flatbush & Lakewood have a lot of clout in Shaatnez and could tell people to stay away from him:
Lakewood
Yoel Schocket
(732) 905-2628
Lakewood
Yossef Sayagh
(732) 364-7056
Flatbush
Aharon Dreebin
(718) 382-5689
"Haim Walder, manager of the Center for the Child and Family in Bnei Brak, an organization that deals with child abuse in the haredi community, said that while "petty crime is almost unheard of in the haredi community, sexual crime is more common and more of a problem."
Every yeshiva including Lakewood has some petty thieves who go to work in the dorm.
"By law, anyone who knows of a case and doesn't report it to the authorities can be sentenced to six months in prison.
"There is a legal requirement to report incidents that apply not just to community leaders or educators but all members of the public too, " Bernstein said. "There have been cases in the past when rabbis were investigated."
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2007/12/rubashkins-rav-weismandels-supreme.html
Anonymous said...
What do you think of Shop Rite OU glatt Hot dogs? Where are they made? are they for unzere?Just for you if you had a choice between those and Rubashkins what would you choose?
Sun Dec 09, 03:27:00 PM 2007
================================
A little secret. Shoprite kosher hotdogs ARE made in the Rubashkins plant.
Anonymous said...
Shoprite's motto is "Always Fresh". How can they say that when Rubashkin hotdogs are forcibly recalled by the government for being spoiled?
Anonymous said...
What about the meat at Shop Rite of Ave I under Rav Beck from Flatbush?
Anonymous said...
I don't remember the source of Rabbi Beck's meat but he is otherwise a great hashgocho. He is one of only 2 hashgochos (5 Towns is the other) that requires every leaf of lettuce to be checked on both sides under a light box.
I stopped shopping there because it's so hectic. The checkout lines are always a zoo and I am embarrassed by how some of the heimishe act annoying the cashiers and making a chilul Hashem.
A while ago Rabbi Beck reinforced his seals on the Shoprite sushi and cut fruit under his hashgocho. Someone brought to his attention that they could be forced open and be switched or contaminated. Vehoraya, shvartzos were seen breaking open the fruit containers to steal and fress part of the contents. You almost need a set of tools to break the seals now. I guess you could call them "behayme proof".
Yudel Shain said...
I think that Rabbi Beck does allow Shop=Rite to butcher & package Rubashkin meats. If that is so, It's shocking that he should allow it.
But there was one other individual who was a key player. He too was Charedi. His name was Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz. He headed a major Yeshiva in New York and founded Torah U’Mesorah. That institution has built and spread the day school movement all over this country. I truly believe that these two individuals are the most responsible for creating the Torah world of today and its products are mostly Charedi. It will be from those ranks that Judaism will be perpetuated.
But as anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, it isn’t all a bed of roses. As vital as the leadership of Charedi leaders like Rav Aharon Kotler and Reb Shraga Feival were to the existence of the Torah world as we know it today, it has evolved into something I don’t believe its founders ever intended with a resultant great many problems.
This is how David Weprin tries to fool shul rabbis to let him drop off his campaign literature for the mispalelim. He approaches them that he does things to "help the community". He doesn't mention intermarriage, gays or how everything he does requires raising taxes to pay for it which is what tax-and-spend Liberal Democrats do. Weprin was recently asked by a reporter about the Federal deficit. He gave a figure which he understated the real amount by $10 billion! He is either a bald faced liar or doesn't have a clue about anything. The Kings County Republican Party has released a series of recordings of Weprin being asked by reporters about things you would think he has a prepared answer for, including Israel. Weprin always hems & haws and cannot give a straight answer.
The family of Leiby Kletzky wants his admitted butcher to fork over $100 million for kidnapping, killing and dismembering the 8-year-old Brooklyn boy.
Leiby's father, Nachman Kletzky, is seeking the massive haul in punitive damages from Levi Aron, who has been charged with killing the boy after abducting him as he walked home from camp last month, a lawsuit disclosed Monday shows.
The civil suit, filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court, says that Leiby "was terrorized, physically and psychologically assaulted and injured, and was murdered and his body dismembered, with parts of his body hidden in a refrigerator."
The suit was filed on behalf of Nachman Kletzky, who only learned in recent weeks of the gruesome details of his son's death, a source said.
Aron, 35, confessed to killing Leiby, whom he met by chance July 11 as the boy wandered the streets of Borough Park.
Aron told authorities he poisoned the boy with pills and smothered him with a towel in his Kensington apartment after panicking when he realized an extensive search was underway, court documents show.
Aron has told authorities he hears voices in his head, but he was deemed fit to stand trial. His defense team has said they'll seek an insanity defense.
Lawyers for Aron and Nachman Kletzky did not immediately return calls for comment regarding the civil suit.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/08/29/2011-08-29_leiby_kletzkys_family_sues_levi_aron_admitted_killer_of_8yearold_brooklyn_boy_fo.html#ixzz1WS2nZBkK
Leading Chabadnik Rabbi Blames Hurricane Irene On US Middle East Policy
Rabbi Sholom DovBer Wolpo, who holds no official position in Chabad but who is arguably the most popular rabbi in the Chabad street in Israel, says God sent punishment to the US in the form of Hurricane Irene to punish America for its Mideast policies.
Rabbi Sholom DovBer Wolpo
According to Kikar Shabbat, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Wolpo, the Chabadnik rabbi who the head of SOS Israel and who has called for the overthrow of Israel's government and the establishment of a theocracy in its place based on the teachings of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, blames Hurricane Iriene on US policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.
Wolpo is arguably the most popular and most influential rabbi for Chabad followers in Israel, even though he holds no official position in the movement.
Kikar Shabbat also notes several other forays into theodicy by right wing and haredi figures, including Rabbi Ovadia Yosef blaming Hurricane Katrina on President George W. Bush's Middle East policies and saying that New Orleans was full of black people and black people don't learn Torah and are therefore not good for anything, so God drowned them.
Nobody could understand the pain and grief of the Kletzky family!
I surmise the lawsuit against Aron is an outlash against what happened to their son. I imagine an attorney told them that someday Aron could write a book, authorize a movie...therefore that would give the Kletzky family first tabs on any revenues forever from Aron's life story.
Wolpo is a Meshichist fruitcake
dear UOJ
i was told that that is precisely the reason for the lawsuit
in addition there are rumors that jewish organizations such as ohel treated levi aharon and may be able to be criminally or civily responsible
I am in contact with law enforcement; they have contacted OHEL, they deny ever treating Levi Aron.
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