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Monday, January 07, 2008

BORUCH DAYAN HA'EMES! - MOREINU RAV SHMUEL BERENBAUM ZT"L - הרב רבי רפאל שמואל ברנבוים זצוק'’ל




Mir Yeshiva Release On Yeshiva World:.......Photograph of funeral - The Associated Press.

אוי לספינה שאבדה קברניטה

נפלה עטרת ראשינו פאר הדור ותפארתו

הי גאון הי חסיד

עמוד התורה והחסד

זקן ראש הישיבות משרידי הדור הישן

מורינו ורבינו מרן

הגאון האדיר רשכבה”ג

הרב רבי רפאל שמואל ברנבוים זצוק'’ל

ראש הישיבה דישיבת מיר

הלוי’ה יתקיים בבית מדרשו

1791 OCEAN PARKWAY

ביום ב’ בשעה 8:45 בבקר

ישיבת מיר

The levaya will be leaving the Yeshiva at 11 A.M.

to JFK, EL AL Cargo, Bldg. 23

וכל בית ישראל יבכו את השרפה אשר שרף ד’

77 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to get to the levaya from Westchester.

El Al customer service doesn't know where the cargo building is.

I'm on the phone right now with JFK customer service at 718-244-4444

Anyone know how to get to building 23?

Anonymous said...

I'm coming in from Westchester.

It took me 45 minutes to figure out how to get to cargo building 23 at JFK because El Al doesn't have a clue. JFK customer service says to follow signs from the Van Wyck for car rental return and then make a right on to North Service Rd.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Get on Google Earth; or get in to a cab!

Anonymous said...

leaving in a few minutes. i think building 23 is near American airlines and you are allowed to park in front of cargo buildings

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this invaluable service. I'm leaving my office in Nassau. There's an extra imperative to be mechabed Rav Shmuel who is a bigger gadol than anyone belonging to the Agudah.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

The only comments permitted on UOJ today will be individual stories or accounts of the greatness of the Gaon Maran Rosh Yeshiva ztvk'l!

Please gather any relevant information and post your own hespedim!

Oy Ribbono Shel Olam; How much more punishment can we bear? Have rachmonus on your children!

Anonymous said...

Oy meh haya lanu. Vechol Yisroel yivku ...

Anonymous said...

The lavaya will be broadcast on Kol Haloshon - free dial in
shiurim.

The instructions are one of the following:

1. Dial 212-444-1100 and then push option 8
2. Dial 718-906-6400 and then push option *
or if you do not have free long distance
3. Dial 443-957-4610 and then push option *

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen anything like this since the funeral of Rav Moshe Feinstein. At the airport there were buses full of srugies from yeshivas on Long Island, what looked like a bus of Satmar from Monroe and Syrians in leather jackets from Brooklyn. Everyone came to pay their respects to Rav Berenbaum.

Anonymous said...

Ocean Parkway and Ave R are STILL closed.

And good luck trying to drive out of Kennedy.

Anonymous said...

With all due respect for the gr8 rabbi and your desire to limit corespondence to the loss at hand, where are the thousands that should come out to mourn the loss of hundreds of yiddishe neshomes to rabbinic molestation? Have you an inkling as to the multitudes of molestation victims banging down the doors of professional counselors outside our community in search for desperately needed healing? Why is it that NO ONE in the Ultra O community has taken a loud public stand on the issue forcing victims to seek refuge by such MO greats like rabbis Blau and Schachter? Where are the UltraO gedolim and askonim? Where are the common folk. The dead and dying neshomas ruined by our perverted mechanchem don't ever get recognition of loss. We are not a light unto the peoples. We have fallen to the depths where we now look up at the christian faith which has faced its sexual issues albeit by force and we have yet to attain that level of repentence. On tisha B'Av we bemoan the loss of our mikdash and wail over the fact that boys were raped en masse. Yet today we couldn't give a damn!

Anonymous said...

While Sol Werdyger danced those fancy steps at the wedding of his offspring in Canada, gur was stepping on the souls of Mondrowitz's victims by the rov of gur yerushalayim opening his home to Mondrowitz, the most prolific jewish molester of modern times.

Anonymous said...

I see on two threads now posters taking vague potshots at the Rosh yeshiva ztvkl.

R' Shmuel in my estimation was one of the people who did not quite understand abuse because he could not fathom the evil that men are capable of.

He understood that the tachlis of a Yid is to learn Torah and refused to go to Agudah Fresser events. The Agudah sent him limousines several times to coax him to come but he wouldn't get in the car. R' Shmuel was also not happy with the Moetzes. I can assure you that he was never complicit in any Agudah cover ups. The only place you would find R' Shmuel was in the beis midrash. There was nothing besides learning in his life.

We no longer have gedolim that are perfect in every way but R' Shmuel comes close to those of generations past. The rosh yeshiva also understood American bochurim and did not treat them like babies if he saw them reading a newspaper, etc. You never got a silly overreaction like in so many yeshivos. You got a friendly smile and pat on the back where he instead focused on getting you more interested in learning than mundane pursuits.

Anonymous said...

Any word on a levaya in Mir in Israel?

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Berenbaum once was staying in the home of a very wealthy person. The rich guy complained to the handlers that he wants the rabbi out of his house because he didn't like that he stuck his nose into his personal affairs and told him off about how he conducts himself. He woke up at 5 am to go to work and Rabbi Berenbaum was already awake and learning. He realized that Rabbi Berenbaum is sincere, changed his mind and gave Mirrer Yeshiva a donation in the 10s of thousands of dollars.

Anonymous said...

It seemed to be a relatively small turnout at the airport when comparing to the main levaya. I didn't recognize any family members but I guess they have to prepare to go to Israel.

I didn't see any big names at JFK except for R' Aron Schechter, R' Elya Brudny & R' Abba Gorelick.

Anonymous said...

So he was a Godol B'Torah. Gedolei Hador goes for those with the rare quality of gadlos btorah AND understanding of human nature or the desire to understand human nature AND do something about it.
BTW, it was only asked what his approach to Colmer was. Nothing was implied. Nor was it potshots. The only pot here would have been....a crackpot perhaps.

Anonymous said...

Adam was but human-this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.

Anonymous said...

The Mayor's Office of Emergency Management is in charge of crowd control for this scale. There must have been at least 75,000 people at the levaya in Flatbush.

The traffic reporters were really stressing with oomph what a LARGE funeral it is.

Anonymous said...

"R' Shmuel in my estimation was one of the people who did not quite understand abuse because he could not fathom the evil that men are capable of."

I once had a discussion with him about something rather disturbing. He commented: "Oy yoy yoy, vos ken nebich zein ohn Tayreh"

Anonymous said...

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jan07/0,4670,ObitBerenbaum,00.html

By ULA ILNYTZKY, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK —

Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum, a Talmudic scholar who led a yeshiva in Brooklyn for more than 50 years after fleeing Nazi-occupied Poland and briefly taking refuge in Shanghai, has died. He was 87.

Berenbaum died Sunday after a long struggle with cancer, said Rabbi Pinchos Hecht, executive director of the 1,200-member Mir Yeshiva. Another branch of the yeshiva is in Jerusalem, with an estimated 4,000 students.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a statement praising Berenbaum, noting that he built the Jewish academy "into one of the largest centers for Torah study in the world."

Berenbaum was born in Poland and studied in a yeshiva in the town of Mir before World War II. As the Nazis rolled across Eastern Europe, Berenbaum and other yeshiva students fled across the Soviet Union and resettled in Shanghai, China. From there, they eventually emigrated to the United States.

Steven Bayme, national director of contemporary Jewish life at the American Jewish Congress, said the yeshiva helped preserve "a world that was otherwise lost."

"The rescue of the institution during the Holocaust by going to Shanghai was an act of incredible daring. It took enormous courage and perseverance," Bayme said.

Thousands of mourners turned out for a funeral in Brooklyn on Monday. His body was to be flown to Israel on Tuesday for burial in Jerusalem, Hecht said.

Anonymous said...

Who was the rov that fainted during the hespid by Rav Schustal?

Anonymous said...

Who was that heavy set chassidish in charge kind of guy hocking around with all the cops at the airport?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum, a Talmudic scholar who led a yeshiva in Brooklyn for more than 50 years after fleeing Nazi-occupied Poland and briefly taking refuge in Shanghai, has died. He was 87.
-------------

Hundreds...of potential R' Shmuels - were lost in Baranovich!!!

Anonymous said...

Who were the maspidim?

Paul Mendlowitz said...

Who was that heavy set chassidish in charge kind of guy hocking around with all the cops at the airport?

---------------

The Spinka Rebbe!

I'm sorry..I couldn't resist!

Anonymous said...

R' Shmuel Berenbaum and R' Elya Jurkanski both learned by R' Elchonon in Baranovich before the alter Mir. I never heard them speak anything but words of praise for R' Elchonon.

UOJ, you have been asked many times by readers to cough up what you have on R' Elchonon. If you have any document or even a quote from any adam gadol that had taynos on him then please produce it. It is otherwise very difficult to accept your opinion.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

My question is...how many potential R' Shmuels were lost in Baranovich?

Anonymous said...

Whoever was not destined to be saved from Baranovich was lost. One of the Baranovicher-Mirrers escaped Lita but was taken off the train and arrested by the KGB at one of the last stops before Japan. He was never seen again and probably died in a Siberian gulag.

Anonymous said...

R' Shmuel came from a Slonimer chassidish family that owned a farm in the sticks. Many Slonimers went to learn in Baranovitch.

Anonymous said...

That was Chacham Yosef Harari-Raful tha fainted during the hespedim. There was a big commotion.

Anonymous said...

"The Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury CT was placed under lockdown on Sunday morning - under orders of the Waterbury Police Department. The circumstances are still unclear, but apparently the police were in pursuit of a dangerous man armed with a gun in the area of the Yeshiva.

Police quickly alerted the Yeshiva K’tana to keep the building secured, and not allow anyone to either enter - or exit the building.

Waterbury Police, along with K9 from the Connecticut State Police responded with heavy force and after 30 tense minutes safely apprehended the perp in a nearby basement."

There was an armed robbery in the Mirrer yeshiva in my days. R' Shmuel said the oylam is learning good because no one got hurt but isn't learning good enough because he came in the building.

Anonymous said...

UOJ...you mean like a Beth Din of Rav Shmuels hearing the Kolko case all those years ago instead of a Beth Din of Scheinberg's...hmm, that could have saved dozens...hundreds of broken lives...

Or several more dozen Rav Shmuels spread throughout our Yeshiva system teaching us and our children...hmm, that could have helped too. But does that mean there would be no UOJ today? I suspect Rav UOJ would gladly not have taken up this "job."

Anonymous said...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iqj7olbO4ZcsoADMSAW68kvfywxQD8U17Q7O1

The AP put of pictures of the levaya before he did.

Anonymous said...

Which sons and sons in law will take R' Shmuel's place?

Who made this statement to the newspaper?

http://www.mercurynews.com/natbreakingnews/ci_7903971?nclick_check=1

Leadership of the Brooklyn yeshiva will pass to Berenbaum's nephew, Rabbi Osher Kalmanowitz.

Anonymous said...

R' Shmuel ztl couldn't stand Margo but the fat ferd probably went to the levaya anyway to show he's a mover & shaker.

Anonymous said...

R' Shmuel wouldn't even go to the siyum Hashas. It was still too much Agudah hoopla that took away from learning.

Anonymous said...

Brooklyn DA Announces Extradition of Accused Sex Offender from Israel
by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net),
published online 01-07-2008

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN – Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes Monday announced that Stefan Colmer, 31, would return to the United States to face charges he sodomized two 13-year-old boys in his Midwood home in 2006.
Colmer is the first person to be extradited from Israel to the United States under a newly negotiated extradition treaty between the two countries. He is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

After learning he was under investigation, in February 2007, Colmer fled to Israel. A new extradition treaty between the United States and Israel, which went into effect Jan. 10, 2007, allowed Colmer to be returned to Brooklyn. Prior to the newly amended treaty, the crimes for which Colmer is charged were not subject to extradition.

The indictment charges that between March and May 2006, Colmer sodomized two teenage boys on numerous occasions.

Colmer is charged with eight counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, eight counts of Sexual Misconduct, 19 Counts of Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

The new treaty may also allow for the extradition of Avrohom Mondrowitz, who claimed to be a rabbi and posed as a school psychologist in Borough Park during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was indicted in 1984 for sodomizing young boys and fled to Israel after learning he was under investigation. Since then, Mondrowitz has remained in Israel, protected by the now-defunct treaty. He was recently arrested there after the treaty was amended, and extradition proceedings are pending.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Doerfler is prosecuting Colmer

Anonymous said...

"He was never seen again and probably died in a Siberian gulag."

That was the bochur who knew the chochmo of reading palms. He read his own palm that he would meet a bad end and was very frightened while on the Trans-Siberian railroad. The gedolim said after that that it is better not to use that chochmo.

R' Avrohom Subbotnik writes in his biography that many Jews were placed by the Russian reshoyim in the same gulags as Nazi war criminals who killed the few Jews they missed during the war, as the Communists turned a blind eye.

Anonymous said...

I can't even count how many slobs showed up to the levaya in filthy hats.

Can't you slobs at least dust them off for the kovod of R' Shmuel?

Sheesh.

R' Yaakov Kaminetzky said it's a chilul Hashem for a ben Torah to go in public like that and if you are too lazy to take care of yourself, you should wear a gray hat.

Anonymous said...

"R' Shmuel ztl couldn't stand Margo"

He wore it on his sleeve. You could say there was at least one really feste episode when Margo really got the message that R' Shmuel knows what a ZERO he is.

Anonymous said...

R' Shmuel had a chavrusa at 6:30 am. He once had to be mesader kiddushin in Montreal and couldn't get a flight back to NY after the chuppa so he had the chaffeur drive him back to NY through the night.

Anonymous said...

In his Boruch Dayan Emess section there is a weird story about a frum guy from Riverdale dying on the Tappan Zee bridge a few weeks ago. Because he wouldn't give the name and it was otherwise written in such a farkakta way, I figured he was covering up for a suicide. I did a search and see that the guy did in fact jump off the bridge and die from his injuries in the Hudson river.

Why bother mentioning it at all if it's done so cryptically and foolishly?

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/nyregion/08berenbaum.html

January 8, 2008
Shmuel Berenbaum, 87, Talmudic Scholar, Is Dead
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jonathan Rosenblum, director of Am Echad, an advocacy group in Israel that works to build bridges between ultra-Orthodox Jews and others, said that while Rabbi Berenbaum had no public position in America, “he was the one who was consulted on anything connected to Torah learning in the Torah world,” adding, “He taught Torah for over 50 years, and he never repeated himself.”

Anonymous said...

"R' Shmuel had a chavrusa at 6:30 am. He once had to be mesader kiddushin in Montreal and couldn't get a flight back to NY after the chuppa so he had the chaffeur drive him back to NY through the night."

- the way I heard the story it was Gedaliah Ciner's chasunah and he grabbed a ride with some bochurim through the night instead of waiting for a flight the next morning. just to get that seder.

Anonymous said...

Shmarya's DNA does not allow him to comment on someone's death unless he takes a swipe at them. He dragged Rabbi Blumenkrantz through the mud before they could even bury the poor guy in it and he's now criticizing R' Shmuel Berenbaum for signing the ban against Slifkin.

Commenter "Archie Bunker" puts things in perspective:

Rabbi Berenbaum was likely duped by master criminal Leib Pinter, the engineer of the hit job on Slifkin. Pinter has been hanging around the Mirrer yeshiva for the last number of years. He lives around the corner but almost never came around the yeshiva until he wanted his son to get a rebbe job in the high school. All of a sudden he's the yeshiva's best friend and he starts raising big money for them.

Rabbi Berenbaum did not read newspapers and did not know of the plethora of criminal acts committed by Pinter. I know this because of a discussion I had with a very close relative of his, also on staff at the yeshiva. This rabbi also does not read newspapers and while vaguely aware of only Pinter's first of many criminal acts, is under the impression that the charges were trumped up.

- Editor's note: I saw Pinter stinking up the levaya today. The thieving weasel is probably getting ready to work over the next generation of the Berenbaum clan now so he can keep taking advantage.

Anonymous said...

"it was Gedaliah Ciner's chasunah and he grabbed a ride with some bochurim"

The bochur was his dedicated driver at the time, Betzalel Leiser. His chavrusa was a gvir from Flatbush named Bodner. Not the convicted scam artist from Monsey by the same name.

Anonymous said...

http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/01/confused-or-convinced.html#c5345391809712150432

Anonymous said...
R' Shmuel Berenbaum ztvk"l would not go beshita to Agudah Fresser Conventions, even when the Agudah sent limousines and begged him to come. In the zechus that the rosh yeshiva was not mevatel from his Gemora, he was nitzil from Rubashkin tarfus too.

Anonymous said...

It's a chutzpah that Margo recently was maspid at the levaya for R' Elya's grandson, Shaul Jurkanski.

Anonymous said...

The modern orthodox guy who nebich jumped to his death left behind 3 kids. Lately I wonder with every suicide if it was an abuse victim.

Anonymous said...

Leizerowitz is being lined up by the movers and shakers right behind Mondrowitz to follow in the footsteps of Colmer back to the good ole USA where justice can still takes a stand on behalf of those whom the religious courts (i.e. batei din and rabbonim) have so miserably failed. Agenda for Aguda: Pidyon Shvuim for these murderers and extreme PR on behalf of the bumbling fools who they call gedolei ha-whore.

Anonymous said...

Yudi Kolko was molesting 40 years ago at Mirrer yeshiva. I wonder if had the nerve to show up at the levaya.

Anonymous said...

That was a very bizarre suicide off the Tappan Zee. He davened by Avi Weiss's left wing shul. His car screeched to a halt and almost caused a chain collision. He then bolted for the edge and jumped before anyone could bat an eyelash. The body washed up on the Tarrytown shore.

Anonymous said...

Leib wasn't the only Pinter at the levaya. One of them was acting like some big shot putz in charge.

Amazing how all the ketanim are kofetz berosh.

Anonymous said...

R' Shmuel ztl was a perfect example that any perfectly normal kid could develop into a gadol baTorah. He was always cool, especially in his youth when he wore sharp white suits with pants pressed so crisply that the crease could cut like a knife.

Anonymous said...

T-Mobile is owned by those Nazis at Deutsche Telekom.

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/14933/

January 03, 2008 - Bryan Schwartzman, Staff Writer

Despite the continued objections of nearby residents and several religious leaders, the Lower Moreland Township's Zoning Hearing Board voted unanimously to approve construction of a 130-foot T-Mobile cell-phone tower on land that, depending upon whom you ask, is either adjacent to, or part of, cemetery grounds.

An attorney representing a vocal group opposed to the project promised an appeal.

T-Mobile has asserted that the tower will be erected on leased land in front of the Lamb Funeral Home. According to the 21-page decision released by the board, the structure won't technically sit on the same property as the burial sites at Shalom Memorial Park and Forest Hills cemetery, although the same corporation does own all the land in question.

Opponents dispute that claim and argue that the tower's construction will be in direct proximity to burial sites.

Monsignor Paul V. Dogherty of St. Albert the Great Catholic Church in Lower Moreland and Rabbi Solomon Isaacson of Congregation Beth Solomon Kollel and Community Center in Philadelphia expressed discomfort at the idea of using burial grounds for commercial use.

"This is a terrible disgrace," said Isaacson, reached the day after the decision became public. The rabbi claimed that the tower would represent a desecration of the burial grounds, although he acknowledged that nothing in Jewish law says so explicitly.

"Certain things are appropriate," he said. "You wouldn't walk into a church or synagogue wearing a bikini. There is no law, but it is not appropriate. A cell tower has its place and its uses, but not here."

Anonymous said...

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/NATION/801080381

WASHINGTON -- After an unprecedented year of toy recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is adding staff at the nation's busiest ports and pledging to work more closely with U.S. Customs to stop suspect imports and identify hazards before toys hit the market.

In other headlines
• Talmudic scholar, leader dies: Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum, a Talmudic scholar who led a yeshiva in Brooklyn for more than 50 years after fleeing Nazi-occupied Poland and briefly taking refuge in Shanghai, China, died Sunday. He was 87.

Anonymous said...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-obit-berenbaum,1,4039608.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

Berenbaum died Sunday after a long struggle with cancer, said Rabbi Pinchos Hecht, executive director of the 1,200-member Mir Yeshiva. Another branch of the yeshiva is in Jerusalem, with an estimated 4,000 students.

Tens of thousands of mourners turned out for a funeral Monday in Brooklyn, Hecht said, citing police estimates. He said Berenbaum's body would be flown to Israel on Tuesday for burial in Jerusalem.

Anonymous said...

So far:

Newsday, NY
amNewYork, New York
Houston Chronicle
Macon Telegraph, GA
Contra Costa Times, CA
Town Hall, DC
Seattle Post Intelligencer
News & Observer, NC
KTAR.com, AZ
Oakland Tribune, CA
Kansas City Star, MO
Charlotte Observer, NC
Modesto Bee, CA
Monterey County Herald, CA
The Guardian, UK
PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Bellingham Herald, WA
Las Cruces Sun-News, NM
TheNewsTribune.com, WA
Forbes Magazine Online
New Orleans Times-Picayune
El Paso Times, TX
Pioneer Press, MN
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN
Tuscaloosa News, AL
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, GA
KOB.com, NM
PennLive.com, PA
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
Biloxi Sun Herald, MS
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA
Staten Island Advance
Miami Herald
Times Daily, AL
The Oregonian - OregonLive.com
WNYT, NY
News 10 NBC, NY
Kentucky.com
Philadelphia Inquirer
Ha'aretz, Israel
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, PA
International Herald Tribune, France
Daily Mail - Charleston, WV
Worcester Telegram, MA
Centre Daily Times, PA
San Diego Union Tribune
Auburn Citizen, NY
Orlando Sentinel, FL
Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA
New York Sun

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_Berenbaum

Rabbi Berernbaum was born in Poland in 1922 and was a student at Ohel Torah Yeshiva in Baranovich, led by Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman. He later studied in the Mir Yeshiva located in the town of Mir, Poland. At the onset of World War II, he traveled with the rest of the Mir Yeshiva to Vilna, Lithuania, where they remained for three weeks, awaiting visas to travel abroad. After receiving destination visas to Curacao, a Dutch protectorate in the Caribbean, they were given travel visas by the Japanese Consul in Kaunas, Chiune Sugihara. The yeshiva traveled across the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok in a trip that took over 2 months. From there they traveled to Kobe, Japan, where they remained for 7 months before being settled by the Japanese Government in Shanghai, China.

Rabbi Berenbaum traveled with the remnants of the Yeshiva to the United States where they settled in their current location in Brooklyn, NY. There he became engaged to the eldest daughter of Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Avrohom Kalmanovitz. In 1952, after the passing of his father-in-law, he became the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mirrer Yeshiva together with his brother-in-law Rabbi Shraga Moshe Kalmanovitz. He led the yeshiva for the next 56 years, teaching thousands of students during that period. His diligence was legendary, he would sit the entire day in the yeshiva's study hall speaking with the young students in learning. As a policy, he would not attend any functions or weddings until after the afternoon seder in the yeshiva was over. This would cause many weddings to take place late in the evening so as to allow him to officiate. He was very sharp witted, and would not hesitate to single out those whom he felt were not meeting their standards. He was vehemently opposed to his yeshiva students going to college, and in the later years banned it outright.

>>> Ahem, R' Shmuel holds yungerleit who need parnossa should go to a private Jewish or X-tian university

Rabbi Berenbaum died on January 6, 2008, at his home in Brooklyn, NY from medical complications due to stomach cancer, aged 87. His funeral, held on January 7, was attended by tens of thousands of mourners[1]. His body was flown to Israel for Burial.

Anonymous said...

http://toldot.ru/images/Rabbi_Berenbaum.jpg

Without Eckstein's dumb YeshivaWorld logo splashed all over it.

Anonymous said...

http://www.vosizneias.com/2008/01/brooklyn-ny-thousands-attend-funeral-of.html

Anonymous said...

http://alfassa.com/palms.html

Fortune Telling and Palm Reading are Not Part of Judaism

By Shelomo Alfassa / Revised version: January 5, 2008

The events that take place in the privacy of these sessions between the rabbi and his unsuspecting victim often fall under the rubric of Practical Kabbalah. The people who come to have their fate told and who provide a donation to the rabbi (or his yeshiva, camp or kollel), have no idea that: 1) many times these people are not great Torah scholars or even rabbis; and, 2) they are going against Jewish law by visiting with these men. This paper strives to advise people, male and female, that these charlatans are nothing more than fakes.

COMMENTS & RESPONSES FROM THE PUBLIC

"Just wanted to warn other women about the Rabbi xxxx xxxx who just visited New York and Brazil. I understand that this is a second complaint about him. He had promissed a friend of mine that only he can cure her, if she would have sex with him. I understand that he is married and has kids and lives in Israel." --Anonymous

"Please be aware. This just happened. Rabbi xxxx xxxx, from Israel, is in New York and he has a website wehre he claims to be an oracle to tell the past and future. He has just acted inapropriately with a single woman, who trusted him, and has known him for months. He is married and lives in Israel and claims to be a student of Rabbi Kaduri. Rabbi xxxx xxxx told this single woman to go to the mikvah so he could sleep with her over Shabbos! He then went on to hold her hand. She was appalled and shattered over the behavior of a Rabbi coming on to her. Could you check into this guy? Hopefully this is his first misstep and he can do teshuvah." --Anonymous

"I could not beleive that Rabbi xxxx xxxx told me that HE was my husband in a past life. What is this all about." --Anonymous

"It was very odd when the rabbi came to my house to give me a blessing and read my hands. He came in and closed the door behind him, this is against the halacha, he made me feel uncomfortable." --Anonymous

"I'd appreciate a copy of your paper. There is an epidemic of Jewish women visiting psychics in my area." --Anonymous

If you would like to contact me, or share your experiences about anything
in this paper, please email at the following address:

shelomo@alfassa.com

http://alfassa.com/palms.pdf

PDF weblink for the paper that brings from Rav Schach ztl and many others the issur of this thing.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Friedman_Stuart.html

Picture of Baltimore pedophile Chazan Stuart Friedman

Anonymous said...

http://jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/2008/01/from-awareness-centers-daily-newsletter.html#507240770716808749

Anonymous said...
There's a problem with calling Rabbi Hopfer about this case, the Eisemann case or any of the others.

Hopfer's secretary screens all messages before forwarding them to the rabbi.

His secretary just so happens to be Rabbi Moshe Eisemann's daughter.

Anonymous said...

Uoj, this never would have happened if not for you,Chazak !!

New York Post

ISRAEL EXTRADITES B'KLYN 'PERV'
By STEFANIE COHEN

January 8, 2008 -- An accused pedophile was extradited from Israel yesterday to face charges he sodomized two 13-year-old boys, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said yesterday.

Stefan Colmer, 30, a computer technician, is the first person returned to the United States under a new provision in a treaty with Israel that covers male sex victims. He fled in February after learning he was being probed, and was busted in Jerusalem in June.

The investigation into Colmer began following rumors he had lured boys outside a yeshiva to his nearby home.

The new provision may also allow for the extradition of Avrohom Mondrowitz, who claimed to be a rabbi and posed as a school psychologist in Borough Park during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He was indicted in 1984 for sodomizing young boys, and fled to Israel after learning he was under investigation. He was recently arrested there, and extradition proceedings are pending.

Anonymous said...

http://wcbstv.com/seenon/jewish.graves.desecrated.2.624707.html

Hundreds Of Gravestones Toppled At Jewish Cemetery

Anonymous said...

Enough already about the suicide. He was suffering terribly from medical treatments that were not working and just found out he had to start all over and probably would still not be cured. His wife and children had been thru Hell and back already watching him suffer.

He was the nicest guys you'd ever meet and doesn't deserve speculation on a public blog about his motivations.

Is your life so empty that you need to drag the man's memory thru the mud to get your jollies?

Take my word for it, there are more enjoyable ways to kiss away your share in the world to come.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01082008/news/regionalnews/israel_extradites_bklyn_perv_183962.htm

January 8, 2008 -- An accused pedophile was extradited from Israel yesterday to face charges he sodomized two 13-year-old boys, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said yesterday.

Anonymous said...

It would be true if you leave Rubashkin out of the picture.

http://www.koshertoday.com/portal/news.asp#news3

To Tell the Truth: Kosher Meats are Healthier
New York... Truth Publishing prides itself in covering issues and concerns without being influenced by advertising or other monies paid for feature articles to some publishers. In a recent edition, Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health, concluded that kosher meats are healthier than non-kosher meats.

He extensively applauds the method of slaughter and notes: 'Done correctly, a kosher slaughter causes very little or no discernible suffering to the animal.' Another important attribute of kosher, he writes, is the fact that meat from a diseased animal cannot be considered kosher. 'In fact, with meat labeled Glatt Kosher, the lungs of the mammal have been checked for lesions and parasites and any other indications of illness. Only producers who have earned a disease-free status are used, and to better insure this high quality meat, the animals are given more room and not fed any animal by-products.' Adams points out that 'kosher animals are young animals and so are less likely to contract diseases such as Mad Cow Disease.' The Truth Publishing article concludes: 'The intent is to point out that if a person still wants to eat meat, but is concerned with humane issues, he/she might want to consider trying kosher meats. Also, if a person is eliminating meat for health reasons, but really misses his/her burger, kosher ground meat might be an occasional treat to consider.'

The article goes beyond pointing out that kosher meat is healthier. It makes the case that the 'humane treatment of animals is important on a nutritional level too.' The primary reason is that 'kosher slaughterers are extensively trained in how to treat the animal, the knife and the actual cutting.'

Anonymous said...

http://www.koshertoday.com/portal/news.asp#news2

Changing a Hechsher Can be a Marketing Nightmare
New York... Each year many companies quietly replace their kosher certifications for a variety of reasons, most notably either to upgrade their 'hechsher' (kosher certification) or for monetary reasons. Sometimes, it does not pass quietly as the rumor mill works overtime in search of the 'real reason' for the change. Bloggers and their commentators can have a field day when a high profile company makes a change. That is what happened last week when AgriProcessor announced that it was removing the hechsher of the KAJ (Khal Adas Jeshurun). Agriprocessor announced that it was consolidating its kashrus supervision behind the Orthodox Union and Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandl of Monsey, NY. Rabbi Weissmandl, a well known authority in kashrus, was appointed three years ago to elevate the standards of kashrus in the whole plant and to specifically certify the production of products under the Supreme Kosher label, says an Agri press release. According to Sholom M. Rubashkin, 'the company made a marketing decision to expand the certification role of Rabbi Weissmandl to include products manufactured under the Aaron´s Best brand in addition to the longstanding certification by the Orthodox Union. While stressing that the change was not made for kashrus reasons, KAJ had planned for an orderly transition that would take effect in mid-April. This would also have allowed the prestigious community to find an alternate source of supply of meat. But when Agri learned that KAJ was set to announce the transition, it sought to preempt the KAJ announcement with its own ads and press releases, setting off a great deal of confusion, although there is no apparent change in the plans of Agri and KAJ.

The change in certification can have an effect on any establishment as it did with the KYO Restaurant in Monsey, NY when it changed the mashgiach (supervisor). According to Rabbi Zushe Blech, a well known authority in kashrus who now oversees the mashgiach and kashrus at the restaurant to allay the concerns of the community, 'the kashrus of the establishment was never affected.'

Anonymous said...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/5425555.html

NEW YORK — A Broadway actor accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl at a theater and in his home pleaded guilty Thursday to two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a minor.

James Barbour, 41, pleaded guilty in exchange for 60 days in jail and three years probation when he is sentenced Feb. 29. Because the counts are misdemeanors, he will not have to register as a sex offender.

Despite guilty pleas to endangering a child, Barbour admitted to the court — at the prosecutor's insistence — many of the sexual specifics of which he was originally accused.

Barbour, who played the beast in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," was starring on Broadway in "Jane Eyre" in June 2001 when a high school drama teacher arranged for the girl — an aspiring actress — and her parents to see the musical.

The actor admitted that when the girl came backstage alone to see him after the show on the last weekend of its run, he began touching her sexually.

The next month, the teen visited Barbour at his Upper West Side apartment where another instance of sexual touching occurred, the actor told the court. He said he knew the girl was 15.

Barbour's lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, said his client pleaded guilty so he could put this case behind him and get on with his career.

"By pleading guilty to misdemeanors, he doesn't have to register (as a sex offender), and that's important," the lawyer said. "He wouldn't have been able to travel without reporting, and he wouldn't have been able to work with children."

Fischetti blamed the girl for Barbour's troubles and questioned her motives, saying, "She initiated both of these sexual encounters and then waited five years before filing a complaint against him."

Meanwhile, Fischetti has a case before the state Court of Appeals, New York's highest tribunal, seeking permission to publish the victim's name in ads that ask men to report whether she ever filed false sex abuse charges against them.

The judge had barred Fischetti from running such ads or setting up a telephone hot line to receive calls about her.

Anonymous said...

WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT???!!!

Anonymous said...

May the Rosh Yeshiva ZTVK"L and Rav Elchonen ZTVK"L be melitzei yosher to ensure that you UOJ rot in gehinnom for eternity. Not that you actually need their help.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Yisroel Belsky stated to his shiur at Torah Vodaas on Tuesday that he was surprised that Rabbi Birnbaum's levaya had such a large turnout. Rabbi Belsky then added that he too would hope to get such a turnout. When this was later repeated to some of the Kollel yingerleit in Torah Vodaath, one chashuver yingerman said aloud "If Belsky would promise the olam that he will drop dead within the next 24 hours, I'm sure we can put together a large crowd that would be happy and eager to come and bury his corpse."
When I heard the above story, I thought to myself "We should only be so lucky to see that farshtunkina menuval buried once and for all." May it happen speedily in

Anonymous said...

our days..... AMEN

Anonymous said...

Very well said. Only, Yisroel Belsky, as previously written up by UOJ to be walking sewage in Torah Vodaath, should get the royal flush out of the Jewish community forever.