Thursday, February 05, 2009

Call Me Crazy!

1- Working on Sunday - I kept the CC muted TV in my office on Bloomberg News not on the Superbowl channel. I hate "Steelers" and "Cardinals"!

2- I do not care what kind of car my neighbor drives.

3 - Fun for me is speed-reading 10-20 books on religion, history, science, philosophy.... at Barnes & Noble on a given Sunday with a cup of Starbucks!

4 - I told my sister that I don't care if she thinks me crazy because I put a picture up on UOJ. (She did say I'm better looking in person - I agree -- but she'd say anything to get me to take it down - she lives in Lakewood, whaddya expect?)

5 - I don't care what anyone thinks about me and never did!

6 - Blessed with a 170 IQ - I still say hello happily, and converse freely with immigrants that came across the Mexican border legally, that are in my employ, mow my lawn and clean my house -- on issues that are important to them! I always praise them warmly on a job well done and never fail to ask how their family is. Why? Because I genuinely care about their welfare!

7 - The more hate mail I get - the better I feel!

8 - I don't give a hoot about how many square feet of living space my neighbor has. The more dumpsters in front of his house for home expansion and renovations every year - the more pity I have for him!

9 - I never go to parties other than dropping my head in to my accountant's New Years party as a courtesy!

10 - I own 14 suits - I wear one a day (yeah - one at a time wise guys) and send them to the cleaners - 7 per week. I am very passionate in all my endeavors during the day and the suit I wear is generally soaked through with sweat and looks like I slept in it.

11 - Whenever I ask a question to someone I know - I know their answer before they respond!

15 - I never wear the same tie twice in a given month!

16 - I am extremely shy!

17 - Once I enter a shul - I never speak divrei chol!

18 - I completed Shas three times with all Rashi and most Tosefos (and some rishonim) without ArtScroll or Soncino (once before ArtScroll was born). I said a daf yomi for 3 years. I received a maggid shiur daf yomi plaque from Moshe Sherer, and threw it in the garbage upon receipt.

19 - In general, conversations with most people never last more than a few minutes. I find most people possessed with themselves and very boring! There are exceptions - not many!

20 - I hate the telephone! Cell phone conversations, at the max, (barring emergencies) last one minute!

21 - My S'micha, one of the signatories happens to be R' Arthur's uncle -- says I'm a baki b'kama v'kama sugyas b'Shas (gimmee a break I'm only 20), with b'kius and charifus in Gemora, Poskim, Pilpul and Halacha and another 300 words of praise and accomplishments in Torah and middos (embarrassing). {If they only knew what became of me}

22 - Attending weddings is an uncomfortable chore that I try to avoid. With the statistics of divorce (and misery) in the Jewish community increasing rapidly - chances are high that the poor parents throwing the wedding party will be paying for marriage counselling and ultimately and sadly in many cases, a rabbi that writes gittin. {This is what goes through my mind at the chupah - will this couple make it? - spoils everything - I don't care who the chazzan is}

23 - I remember over 1000 telephone numbers.

24 - I type with one finger! I play the piano with ten fingers - on Purim, I throw in a couple of toes!

25 - I sleep no more than 4 hours per night!

26 - I remember every license plate on every car I owned.

27 - I used to live in Brooklyn 11, New York - with an Evergreen phone number EV 7 - 7818. Then we moved to Brooklyn 13, New York - with a President phone number - PR 4- 4142 - private line 467-4336.

28 - I am very happy with my lot in life.

29 - I tell people "try to be happy 70% of your day."

30 - After my kids got married I told them "if you need money, lose my phone number." {Truth be told, they have been disrespectful to this request}

31 - Everything to me is black & white - no gray area.

32 - I'm either loved or hated - no pareve feelings towards me. (No kidding Margo)

That's all for now...folks!

60 comments:

  1. You forgot to mention your level of sheer boredness!

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  2. I used to play ball with your son at the JCC near NIRC. Good player although he shot a bit too much!

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  3. are we gonna have to wait 3 years for the next bme installment?

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  4. It was recently revealed that ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos takes part in daily "profane" phone conversations with Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala.

    ... Oh yeah, and the daily calls also include Obama Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.

    As Politico reports:

    Stephanopoulos' role is as the analyst and the skeptic. "George is really a big-systems thinker," Begala said. "As a journalist, he is half of a political scientist, and because he's not in the partisan battles anymore, he sees things differently."

    It is not unusual for a journalist like Stephanpoulos to reach out to sources. What is unusual, is for him to give daily advice to them. Of course, having formerly served as a political operative for Bill Clinton's '92 campaign, he has known these operatives for years.

    Still, for obvious reasons, this creates a conflict of interest. As host of "This Week," Stephanopoulos is charged with interviewing politicians like Emanuel and his boss Barack Obama.

    Of course, we can only imagine what the press would have said if it were revealed that, say, Brit Hume participated in a daily conference call with Karl Rove. This, of course, would be a huge scandal. ... Make no mistake, the double-standard is alive and well.

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  5. Anonymous 7:19,

    Great point !!

    C'mon UOJ, Spill the beans !!

    Is there a writers strike or something ? Even a television series is on once a week !!

    By the way, did any of your relatives/siblings ostracize you or did not invite you to their simchas because of all of the (good) work you have been doing for the past few years ?

    Also, did Reb Yakov give you any information that you didn't already know. Because it seems that you knew alot even before speaking with him.

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  6. Yeah...MH - I have not received a check from Blogger for quite a long time!

    Hey.. gotta keep everyone in suspense, so you keep coming back.

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  7. Keeping everyone in suspense is one thing. But for so long ??

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  8. Hey, petition Blogger for my paycheck - I do have a real job, and I don't blog in a basement or in my underwear:-)

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  9. Ok. I'm sorry. What about these other questions below ?

    By the way, did any of your relatives/siblings ostracize you or did not invite you to their simchas because of all of the (good) work you have been doing for the past few years ?

    Also, did Reb Yakov give you any information that you didn't already know ? Because it seems that you knew alot even before speaking with him.

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  10. OK MH - here's something to pacify you. R' Yaakov Kaminetzky ztvk"l received a daf yomi plaque from the Agudah for completing Shas. How's that for chutzpah from Sherer?

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  11. Yes MH, there has been some fallout in the family - we're past that now with some acknowledgement by them of accomplishment.

    I did seek beth din intervention prior to going public. They refused repeatedly to come to bais din, as I knew they would.

    I did not seek anyone's permission to advocate for the greatest crime against Jewish children ever imagined.

    Unimaginable crimes deserve unimaginable responses.

    Yes, R' Yaakov shed light on many issues that haunted me.

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  12. UOJ,

    Thanks for throwing me a bone. I can't believe Sherer did that ?? How demeaning and condescending !!

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  13. What convinced you that reb yakov z"l was head and shoulders above all of the other "gedolim" ?

    Besides of course for what we know from the probably censored Artscroll biography.

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  14. I should be so crazy

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  15. US suspends peanut co from federal contracts

    Reuters - 38 minutes ago

    WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The company whose peanut butter and paste has been linked to an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has been suspended from federal government contracts, the US Agriculture Department said on Thursday.

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  16. the plaque sent to R' Yaakov.

    R' Berel hot amol gezugt az Moishe Sherer & Morgan Studios machen gedolim. (or at least zey meynen azoy)

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  17. "I do have a real job, and I don't blog in a basement or in my underwear:-)"

    Phew! So then our favorite blogger doesn't share that embarassing resume with Shmarya ben Alfred!

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  18. Jerusalem - Police revealed a revealed a stunning conspiracy of silence involving the abuse of two children, ages four and nine, by a male relative. The investigation also revealed that the children's parents, their rabbi and their neighbors were all aware of the abuse, but chose to keep quiet.

    Senior police NCO Aliza Aroch, who is the lead investigator in the case, said that police were contacted by a social worker, who reported getting a call from a woman who claimed to have witnessed the man molest the nine-year-old while they were at a doctor's waiting room.

    The woman informed the doctor of what she saw and the two immediately contacted the social worker and the police. Both were deposed and the police promptly arrested the suspect.

    The man, said Aroch, admitted the incident and assured the court it was a one-time digression. The Jerusalem District Court, however, ordered his arrest remanded for three days.

    With the suspect in custody, the police began questioning the boy's parents and discovered that their nine-year-old son was suffering from autism and that they had two other children – a four-year-old boy and a two-year-old toddler.

    After ascertaining that the suspect was a relative, investigators were amazed to learn that not only did the mother know the man was abusing both her sons, she had witnessed the acts on several occasions and did nothing.

    She also told the police that her nine-year-old son had been subjected to the suspect's abuse since the age of two. The police suspect all three children also suffered physical abuse.

    When asked why she did nothing, the mother reportedly told the investigators that she was "powerless."

    During the course of the investigation, the police also found that several neighbors witnessed the suspect molesting the children in public, but failed to report him.

    The children's father claimed that he consulted his rabbi, who told him that unless he witnesses the acts himself, reporting it would be like rendering a "Din Moser."

    Once the gravity of the situation became apparent, the court ordered all three children be removed from home. The Jerusalem District Court also remanded both parents for five days.

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  19. To upper case Steve (more like head-case Steve, there is no such word as "boredness". If you don't like this blog, then get lost. Speaking of head cases, we should all pray for the immediate refuah sheleima of Rabbi Schorr. He is seen on this video grabbing the microphone from Lipa Schmeltzer in the middle of a song. This was at the Lipschitz(Pinny of the Yated)-Feldman wedding at Ateres Chaya.

    http://chaptzem.blogspot.com/

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  20. You are lying when you say you never cxared what anyone thought of you. If that were true you would not have hidden your identity for years

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  21. "you would not have hidden your identity for years"

    Tzvay dinim.

    UOJ could still care less what people THINK.

    ANother reason to hide your identity is because people can harm you.

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  22. I do not live in a vacuum, a responsible person would be expected to consider a variety of factors other than one's own circumstances.

    I do not regret anything I've done other than not acting sooner. Truthfully though, as soon as I had definitive proof, I did act.

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  23. Had I not tears in my eyes from the private and public stories that I've heard and witnessed regarding shidduchim I would be rolling on the floor laughing until drowning in tears. The mirror reveals a sad bunch of underachieving wannabes who attempt to squeeze out the last vestiges of honor for themselves. I wanted a very simple life. A job. A wife that was attentive, kind and welcoming. Children who would respect tradition and recognize the authority of the Father in Heaven and at home. I wanted a truly observant Jewish life. Not Orthodox. Observant. I am in tears. My family is no more. I'm alone. It is my fault, they say. I wasn't doing enough. I didn't find a job or didn't get a better one. I was too harsh. I was too soft. I disciplined inconsistently. I didn't rip off my wife's clothes for 14 days in a row. I have no words to describe my co-religionists who demand the rewards of this world and who believe they are entitled to the rewards in this and the next world. Who entitled them? Hashem? He entitled no one. You have to bust your butt to get to the head of the line. And there is no guarantee that the head of the line is your place. You just have to strive to get there. You don't get to be the first amongst equals - it doesn't shtim.
    I don't want sympathy I will come out on the other end of this leg of the journey a stronger and better person. It may work out yet. Life is not reel, it's real. Your friends may be lying to you to cover up their own issues, count on it.

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  24. It is the measure of a man to see what he has returned to his fellows compared to what he has taken. It is the sad reality that we have created a world of give and take where one gives while others take (or they are on the take). These 32 points are humorous but honest. They reflect a man who has given and watched others rip off. It is devoid of the pretentiousness of entitlement. It makes fun of the naked chase for honor and respect. It deliciously recants the ignoble knighting of Pharasic demagogues; their sole authority granted by keeping the minions barefoot and pregnant. Some will print them out and hand them out or hang them on a wall. Others will ignore them and vacuously ridicule the simple truth contained therein. Our mirror reflects a disturbed picture. We have been pummeled by our desire for complacency. We want and we desire and we demand and we tantrum and we connive and ... we lose by not striving. Observant Judaism is arrived at by levels. No two people are at the same level and no one person stays at the same level. It is a conscious choice to go up or to go down. A brillant mind is not a guarantee of success. Learning in the "best" yeshiva is not a guarantee of Yiras Shomayim. Success starts at home. You have to learn success at the knee of someone successful. Of course, defining successful is an important step in the learning process. Who makes a house in Boro Park and a Lexus the measure of success? Who makes Lakewood the measure of success? Who makes the indifferent to outrageous acts of indecency a measure of success? I'm looking in the mirror. Do I think that having a Lexus is important? I walk or take public transportation - I don't have a car. A house, I had one and now I'm in a basement again. A family that sits and talks to each other is that successful. A job is that success. The Gemara tells us that after 120 years we will be asked 3 questions. The answers to these questions are a measure of how successful we have been regarding our d'veykus to Hashem. That's how success should be measured in d'veykus. UOJ has made a very humorous list. I think that we need to look at the mirror and determine our success rates. I'm poor when I look into the mirror.

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  25. http://www.ExposingZupnik.com/

    http://ExposingZupnik.Blogspot.com/

    http://YouTube.com/ExposingZupnik

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  26. i have been following your blog for a long time and i thank you for sharing it.
    I also had a great person for a rebbi shmuel berenbaum though i later became breslov. and also saw alot of abuse in the frum world. recently i have decided on a modified rambam approach

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  27. R' Shmuel zl is big on the Rambam.

    You had to become a Breslover to figure that out?

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  28. February 6, 2009 --
    Uh-oh - it's worse than anyone thought: A report this week by investment bank UBS says the city's economic nosedive has only just begun.

    Unemployment, the report said, may soon reach 10.5 percent - the peak level for the area during the mid-'70s.

    Home prices, already down 14 percent from their recent high, are likely to plummet even faster - dropping another 20 to 25 percent, "if not more."

    That's not a wakeup call - it's a foghorn blast on steroids, straight into the eardrum.

    So: You think maybe now City Hall and Albany will wise up?

    One thing's for sure: If they don't, the bottom for New York will be pretty low indeed.

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  29. At no time ...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/nyregion/06kings.html

    February 6, 2009

    Abuse Is Found at a Psychiatric Unit Run by the City

    By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

    The federal government has documented a pattern of sexual and other violent assaults among patients at the psychiatric unit of a city-run Brooklyn hospital where a woman died in June on the floor of the emergency waiting room while staff members ignored her.

    After a yearlong investigation, the Department of Justice portrayed the unit at Kings County Hospital Center as a nightmarish place where patients were not treated for suicidal behavior, were routinely subdued with physical restraints and drugs instead of receiving individualized psychiatric treatment, and were frequently abused by other patients.

    The details are laid out in a 58-page report to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg that was made public on Thursday.

    The investigators found that the psychiatric service operated like a prison. The report said that instead of meaningful treatment and diagnosis, the patients received frequent visual checks by the staff, and that even when patients were supposedly under watch, violence and attempted suicides occurred.

    Among the most serious incidents the report documented were an October brawl among six patients that left one needing surgery, and an autistic patient being forced to perform oral sex in November. The report also included allegations that a woman was raped and that a 14-year-old was forced to engage in oral sex by a 16-year-old.

    All four incidents occurred after the highly publicized death of Esmin Green, a Jamaican immigrant with a history of depression, who collapsed on the floor of the emergency waiting room after waiting nearly 24 hours to be seen. A surveillance video showed Ms. Green, 49, lying on the floor for nearly an hour; during that time, a guard came in to check on her by wheeling his chair along, and another staff member prodded her with a foot.

    “While perhaps unique in the extent of the harm that resulted, the tragic case of Ms. Green typifies the patterns of inadequate care and treatment,” reads the report, from Loretta King, an acting assistant attorney general, and Benton J. Campbell, the United States attorney in Brooklyn.

    The report, a summary account of the federal investigation that resulted from a 2007 lawsuit by the New York Civil Liberties Union and others, found at least three cases, including Ms. Green’s, when employees falsified records to hide their neglect.

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  30. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/world/asia/06quake.html

    Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, left 80,000 people dead or missing, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists are suggesting that the calamity was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir built close to the earthquake’s geological fault line.

    A Columbia University scientist who studied the quake has said that it may have been triggered by the weight of 320 million tons of water in the Zipingpu Reservoir less than a mile from a well-known major fault. His conclusions, presented to the American Geophysical Union in December, coincide with a new finding by Chinese geophysicists that the dam caused significant seismic changes before the earthquake.

    The grieving parents of thousands of schoolchildren killed in the disaster have already made the 7.9-magnitude earthquake a political issue, charging that children died needlessly in unsafe school buildings approved by negligent or corrupt officials.

    More public anger erupted last year when the government failed to prevent the sale of tainted milk powder that sickened nearly 300,000 children and killed six.

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  31. I understand what you are trying to do here but let me please ask several questions,
    1. Wouldn't you be more credible if you would write articulately without the ludeness and vulgarity and mangled English. This makes you seem like a ranting, illiterate prustok, rather than a mentch with ideals.
    2. Why do you always mention your semicha as if it were something special and unique. Every shmoe who ever set foot in Torah Vadas (myself included) recieved semicha from them (I guess they wanted to be mechazek us). I tossed it long ago, it's not even worth latzur al pi tzluchis.
    3. I agree that there is a toeles in speaking out against certain people. But what is there to gain when you mock those long dead and burried, who have no connection to any current events?
    4. Why does Lakewood appear to be under your radar? All the people you love to hate, such as Rabbis Schechter and Belski, are saints compared to the kotlers.If you really have a sister in Lakewood you should at least know about this a little.
    Please note that I am not writing with hostillity, merely constructively

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  32. The Schorr vs. Lipa situation at Rabbi Lipschutz’s son wedding has cemented what “rabbis” are all about. The fact that a “rabbi” came out of the crowd and EMBARRASED HIM IN PUBLIC is so sickening. How can a person who claims to represent Torah, not know that embarrassing someone in public is like killing him? What justification does he have to act like a raging bull? Was his sin of making a chassunah leibedik a reason for such a reaction?

    This is too similar to what happened here with Rabbi Finkel. YTT called a public lynching for him in a home where kids were listening and repeated the information. This was of course Okayed by the vaad hachinuch including Rabbi Zucker, and Fuerst. Again publicly embarrass a fellow Jew, and taking away his parnassah for standing up against abuse both are types of murder. How can “rabbis” justify their behaviors? Torah is two-faced. When things benefit the “rabbis” they switch stripes and change halachah for their benefit.
    They leave dangerous people out on the streets, in shuls, in classrooms, but Finkel and Lipa they got to go. What is wrong with these people? If a twenty year old can see the difference between right and wrong, how can “daas Torah” not see this?

    Yet every time stories like this happen (Slifkin, Lipa, Finkel etc.) you hear how calm and appropriate they acted towards those who dumped garbage on their heads. How do these people do it? How do they not dish it out against the crazed maniacs who humiliated them?

    Also, you NEVER hear “rabbis” apologizing, repaying, or rebuilding the lives they tore down. What is their Torah worth if they act like drunken peasants?
    This is totally eroding my respect for “daas Torah”, and “rabbis” in general. Rabbis seem to be the worst of society, not leaders to be looked up to. Hopefully, Rabbi Lipschutz will address the issue HEAD ON, in his editorial next week.

    Until then, can anyone answer these questions just to help keep a few guys keep with our bankrupt religion a little longer?

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  33. Did anyone witness Schoor Ha-Boor ripping the microphone from Lipa Schmeltzer. And who is yelling GO TO HELL???

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  34. Boruch,

    I would very much like to speak with you. If you are inclined to, kindly e-mail your phone number to me.

    UOJ

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  35. Let me guess. Avremel Schorr will tell reporters calling his house that he can't discuss the matter because he's just about to leave for a "trip out of town"?

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  36. I don't know if this has any connection but I had a parsha with a girl that was close to Zupnik. People were trying to tell me she's not very nice but I have to admit I was blinded by her brains & beauty that were both exceptional. She did throw her roommate out of her condo for seemingly little reason and was nasty to me after I dated her for several months.

    She was also close to some baal habos who thinks he's G-d's gift to mankind. She kept complaining that this jerk wanted her to end it. He is a hyper-Yekke who thinks you are a gornisht, if like him and her, you don't have at least 2 advanced degrees. One day he arrogantly tells me: "I told her to end it but she's not listening to me, so I will do it for her". His wife had earlier implied to me that someone with a yeshiva degree (no matter how intelligent & successful you are) should not be pursuing girls with 2 masters degrees.

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  37. The disgrace that should anger and outrage everyone here, the real issue that everyone should be unanimous on, is that for DECADES our rabbonim and lay leaders FAILED to prosecute rabbeim where accusations followed with more accusations and these rabbeim REMAINED in classrooms where they continued to molest children. THIS IS A DISGRACE. This is what you would expect from the catholic church. IT HAPPENED in Klal Yisroel. WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED THAT IT HAPPENED IN OUR LIFETIME.

    Stop for a minute and imagine your child, that you brought to a psychologist. You imagine for the 40 minutes you're in that waitingroom that the issues that brought you there are being addressed. Now imagine you have x-ray vision, and with this gift of sight, you see your child, your flesh and blood, being assaulted, with his pants at his ankles, his face pressed against a desk, tears rolling off his face, and Mondrowitz, the doctor, crushing this child, your child, squeezing the life out of this child, along with his soul.

    Would any one who sees that then blog here about how Shaul in Monsey hates Satmar? I bet that person would come here and blog about how their child is now a body with no soul. That person would ask how could the Chosen people, the Am Hanivchar allow this? How could we allow animals like Mondrowitz to dance free? Bchol dor vador oimdim aleinu lchaloiseinu. The enemy in this dor is in our ranks. We allowed Kolko the zchus to teach our youth. KOLKO BETRAYED ALL OF US. How can you NOT be outraged? And is anyone so naive as to think that these two were the end of the problem? Yegutkin was the most recent perpetrator to be outed. He is not, I assure you, the last.

    You can call me all the names you want. Your wasting your time. I don't care, and I'm not the problem.

    Of course, we will differ on one point or another, one case or another. Any reasonable person allows for and expects that. But how can there be any argument whatsoever that ending sexual abuse within Klal Yisroel is an absolute priority?

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  38. It's pretty obvious who that Yekka is. Even Zupnick calls the guy the "kaful shmoyneh" Yekka. Someone do him a favor a pull out the pitchfork that he has crammed way up his tuchoss.

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  39. Shaul hits thwe nail on the head. We are all screwed over.

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  40. http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2009/02/guest-post-the-tenacity-of-unreasonable-beliefs-why-do-people-believe-that-the-torah-we-have-was-giv.html

    What's next for Shmarya? Being kofer beikkur?

    Here he is pushing denial of Torah Misinai. This guy should be on Broadway with this pseudo-intellectual show he puts on. It's almost as pathetic as when he wrote to the Federal judge in the Rubashkin case and identified himself as the (underwear-clad) blogger, as if anyone gives a hoot if some unemployed loser is the owner of Failed Messiah.

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  41. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pick for Labor secretary faced questions over her husband's unpaid business taxes on Thursday, the latest in a string of embarrassing tax revelations that have hampered Obama's efforts to seat a cabinet.

    A Senate panel delayed its vote on Labor Secretary-designate Hilda Solis after the newspaper USA Today reported that her husband paid about $6,400 on Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding against his business for as long as 16 years.

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  42. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/business/07peanut.html?hp

    School lunch programs in three states — California, Idaho and Minnesota — have been told not to use any peanut products that they received from the federal government in the last two years because of concerns that they could be tainted.

    The peanut products came from the Georgia factory at the center of the nationwide salmonella scare, but were not among the products initially recalled last month.

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  43. I learned with Uoj bichavrusa for many years. He is a very humble person. I believe he only talks about his semicha because the rabbonim have attacked him bitterly. Tora V'daas issues many different forms of semicha, Uoj has the best smicha ever offered by tora V'daas. I believe him to be a genius based on my years of learning with him. I heard from a rm in tora v'daas who learned chullin and orach chaim with him, that his mind is one in a million. Please show derech eretz for him, he deserves it.

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  44. "I heard from a rm in tora v'daas who learned chullin and orach chaim with him, that his mind is one in a million."

    Unless he meant one in a million as in a meshugenna, I'll send him a hazmana to retract.

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  45. UOJ is an honorable man.

    He was never involved in mike-knappings, lynchings or book bannings.

    Gevalt! It sounds like the KKK in the 60's. What happened to the real rabbis???

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  46. Von in a million?

    Vus meint? Ven did UOJ make his first million?

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  47. UOJ,

    Who do you like to talk with? Who are your friends? After 3 years and having made a world of a difference, where do you now see our world going? Is there anything that Klal Yisroel can now do to change directions? Is there any person alive you look up to?
    What words from Reb Yaakov can you quote that gave you chizzuk in your darkest hour?

    Let's face it, you whet our appetite for information and enquiring minds...

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  48. Above Anon:

    R' Yaakov told me various different times, a person must strive for personal shleimus without people's haskama. I consulted with him on various different undertakings, his response consistently was to ignore "public opinion" - "the public's opinion can not be trusted for yashrus or emes."

    I find solace and comfort in his memory, wisdom, and acknowledgment that I knew right from wrong, ikar from taful, yashrus from rishus...

    I am comfortable with who I am, imperfect and all. I am my own harshest critic. I do not seek anyone's haskama for any of the work I do, publicly and privately. I believe in myself, and can honestly say that I never sought out kavod or have any ulterior personal motive for anything I do.

    I run my life on very simple principles - right and wrong. I will attack rishus and evil whenever it confronts me or I become aware of it and believe I can successfully challenge it and prevail (or make a difference), (I certainly will give it my all on every undertaking), and embrace yosher and emes with the same zeal and passion.

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  49. 22 - Attending weddings is an uncomfortable chore that I try to avoid. With the statistics of divorce (and misery) in the Jewish community increasing rapidly - chances are high that the poor parents throwing the wedding party will be paying for marriage counselling and ultimately and sadly in many cases, a rabbi that writes gittin. {This is what goes through my mind at the chupah - will this couple make it? - spoils everything - I don't care who the chazzan is}


    The sure way to have a "Bayis shesofo lehisbatel" to quote Rav Chaim Kanievski is:

    When people get married and other people have strong hakpados against it.

    When a chassan or kallah uses their simchah as a catalyst for harm to others.

    When a chassan/kallah are not moicheh for the bizyoines caused by their wedding.

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  50. Check this out from the life of rubin blog !!

    This is an open letter to Rabbi Avrohom Schorr.

    I hope that somehow this letter will find itself on your desk. I write this with the sincere hope that you will try to see this from a perspective outside your own.

    This latest chapter in your battle against Lipa has created a huge embarrassment in Klal Yisroel. I understand that you think what you are doing is right, but even so, the way in which you are going about it is just wrong. How many of our holiest Tzadikim forwent their own Kovod just to avoid embarrassing another Yid?

    I don’t think it’s a secret that you have a personal vendetta against Lipa Schmeltzer. I don’t think it’s particularly his music, I think it’s specifically Lipa and his style of being B’Simcha other Yidden. There have been hundreds of concerts over the last decades and you never went after them the way you did last years “Big Event.” There have been dozens of extremely popular Jewish singers and you never went after them the way you do Lipa. The only conclusion left is that it’s Lipa himself which makes you so angry.

    I have always been under the impression that Middos and Shmiros Halashon are two extremely important things. Allowing Kaas affect you as it did by that wedding is a very bad thing. I think being unable to control ones Kaas is something that we all battle with, but hope that our leaders would surely be able to overcome this.

    I don’t see how you could call out something as serious as Avoidos Zarah on a person. You may disagree with his style or even his music, but to make a charge of idol worship is the most serious offense in our entire religion. Being an idol worshiper is even worse than being a heretic. At least a heretic believes in G-d,he just chooses to ignore Him.

    I would argue that making such a false charge most definitely falls under the Issur of Shmiras Halashon. If you truly believe that he is guilty of causing Avoidah Zara then wouldn’t it be better to sit with him and try to discuss it with him in a private conversation?

    What gives you the right to cause such embarrassment to another Yid? This is not something we would expect from a true Torah giant, since they would know better. Can you imagine the holy Reb Moishe Feinstein ZT”L doing something like this? Can you imagine any of our holy previous Rebbe’s and Gedolim causing such massive embarrassment to a Yid who devotes his entire life to bringing Simcha to people?

    I’m afraid that people look the other way because of your level of accomplishments in the field of learning Torah. Yom Kippur we learn that Hashem will not forgive us for our sins until we first ask forgiveness from our fellow man. Hashem puts man before His own Kavod.

    You are in a position to positively affect thousands and thousands of Yidden. Many people do look up to you, and they will follow you blindly because we live in an age where some people value you simply based on you being a Talmud Chachom. Being that from what I have been told you are a big Talmud Chachom, you should know that embarrassing another person is a very serious offense. I think that to repair the serious and very real damage that has been done you need to issue a letter signed by you publicly asking Lipa Schmeltzer for Mechila.

    We must band together not only when tragedy strikes our people like it did in India. We must always band together and show each other mutual respect and love. I think that it’s time to put this poisonous and venomous vendetta behind you and to try to put your strengths to better use by helping Yidden everywhere come to respect our Gedolim, respect Daas Torah and most importantly respect each other. After all it was due to Sinas Chinam that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed and we will only be Zoche the Geulah Sh’leimah through true Ahavas Yisroel and love for our fellow Jew. Whether they live in Monsey, Lakewood, Boro park, Flatbush, Crown Heights, Manhattan, Yerushalayim, or anywhere in between.

    I hope that you will have given my words some thought and that you can find it in your heart to put this Sinah for another Yid behind you to avoid more Chillul Hashem and damage to Daas Torah. I hope that we can all join together in Simcha and you will help us get to the ultimate Simcha, the Biyas HaMoshiach, Bimhaira V’yamienu Mamash.

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  51. UOJ...Could you talk some more about Torah Vodaath, Williamsburg and the relations between its leading personalities say between 1945-65. You know so much, you hint at this knowledge from time to time and yet you hide much more than you reveal. I think what you have to say is of great value for our understanding of the growth of Orthodoxy in its classical period and would be of great historical value.

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  52. UOJ...Could you talk some more about Torah Vodaath, Williamsburg and the.....

    *

    I intend to - vu nemt men de tzeit?

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  53. Please take a few minutes to pray for the full recovery of Rav Elyashiv, shlita (R' Yosef Sholom ben Chaya Musha), who was reportedly hospitalized at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Sunday night.

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  54. What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup?

    The Italian - throws the cup and walks away in a fit of rage.

    The Frenchman - takes out the fly, and drinks the coffee.

    The Chinese - eats the fly and throws away the coffee.

    The Russian - drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra with no charge.

    The Israeli - sells the coffee to the Frenchman, the fly to the Chinese, buys himself a new cup of coffee and uses the extra money to invent a Device that prevents flies from falling into coffee.

    The Palestinian - blames the Israeli for the fly falling into his coffee, protests the act of aggression to the UN, takes a loan from the European Union for a new cup of coffee, uses the money to purchase explosives and then blows up the coffee house where the Italian, the Frenchman, the Chinese, and the Russian are trying to explain to the Israeli why he should give away his cup of coffee to the Palestinian.

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  55. I am against abuse of any kind, even with microphones.

    I never understood the pleasure of abusing someone with a microphone.

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  56. UOJ:

    Please write a post to be mechazek those who were mevuzah bifnei kol am v'aidah by the alleged "Daas Torah" of our generation, be it in Boro Park, Chicago, Los Angeles, Israel, etc.

    As much as supporters, and fellow rabbonim try to impress on them that they must apologize, rectify, and rebuild the aggrieved parties in as public a manner as they embarrassed the person, they feel it would be a bizui haTorah to apologize.

    When one of the rabbonim involved in embarrassing someone publicly was approached, he said "Okay, I'm wrong, but since this isn't something he can take me to din Torah about, he has to be moichel me by Tefillah Zaka anyway". He conveniently forgot the financial losses incurred as a result of his actions.

    The only way to restore pride in Yiddishkeit will be to follow Yisro and choose men of valor, God-fearing people, men of truth who shun bribery. Rabbonim who walk humbly among people, who acknowledge their own shortcomings, and repay damages when they destroy people.

    PLease write with passion.

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  57. Schorr, Avraham
    1860 52nd Street
    Brooklyn, NY 11204
    (718)232-6145

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  58. The author of the sites listed below deserves a great Yashar Koach. Finally one of the most evil and arrogant frauds operating an Orthodox business has been exposed. Regrettably there are a number of other evil frauds operating Baal Tshuvah businesses in Passaic. G-d willing they will all be exposed and defrocked soon.

    http://www.ExposingZupnik.com/

    http://ExposingZupnik.Blogspot.com/

    http://YouTube.com/ExposingZupnik

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  59. Why is everyone getting their Fruit of the Looms bunched up in a snit over A. Schorr?

    Look at his history: The guy is Fruit Loops.

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