EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!

EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A group of fifty parents from ten schools in New York sent this letter to eight Senators.

Dear Honorable Senator,

Pastor Martin Niemoller, wrote the famous poem, First They Came. He described the apathy people had towards the plight of those afflicted during the Second World War. The point was to teach a stark lesson, if you sit idly by while your neighbor suffers, you will be left to fend for yourself with no one to protest when you are suffering.

For too long our children in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools have been victims of the insidious crime of sexual molestation. Those individuals and families who protested the abominable behaviors were blacklisted, threatened, and ridiculed. All attempts at working things through internal measures failed. The rabbis forbade any legal involvement to protect our children. Our children are on drugs and committing suicide as a result of the violations made against them.

We cannot remain apathetic to the plight of our children. The Markey/Duane bill opening a window through which the victims can achieve a small amount of justice, is the least we can do for our children. Orthodox Jewish schools which supervised their staff, took an interest in each student’s safety, and made school a place of security have nothing to lose. Those schools that willfully neglected their fiduciary trust of providing a safe and nurturing environment, don’t deserve the title Orthodox Jewish Day School and must be closed down.

Society is judged by its weakest link. Orthodox Jewry’s weakest link is the protection of our youth. We need your help passing laws to keep our children safe. Most of Orthodox Jewry (besides for Agudath Israel) fully supports this valuable piece of legislation.

Yours Truly,

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good job, parents!

Now go to our web site, and endorse the additional legislation that New York's religious and nonpublic schools need. Read our Position Paper addressed to the NYS Legislature at, www.jewishadvocates.org

Anonymous said...

It saddens me a great deal that the Baltimore Jewish community is more concerned with the fact that a JCC may be open on a Saturday afternoon (during Shabbat) then it is with protecting Jewish children's lives from the sexual predators who are being protected by our rabbonim. What will it take for the community to organize a protest against them? Here's a list of a few of the alleged and convicted sex offenders with a connection to the Baltimore community:


Case of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann (AKA: Moshe Eiseman) - Mashgiach Ruchni Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Baltimore, MD)
Case Of Rabbi Aron Tendler, L.A., Santa Clara, Ca., Baltimore
Case Of Rabbi Shalom Tendler, Baltimore, Santa Clara, Ca., Los Angeles
Case Of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, Baltimore, Monsey, N.Y.
Case of Rabbi Benyamin Yaakov Fleischman (AKA Benyamin Fleischman, Ben Fleischman)- Photographer (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Cantor Stuart Friedman (Halifax,Canada-Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore)
Case of Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt (Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD)
Case of Rabbi Jacob A. Max (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Rabbi Yaakov Menken (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Yisroel Shapiro (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Rabbi Matis Weinberg (Baltimore, MD, Santa Clara, CA and Har Nof, Israel)
Case of Stanley Ashman (AKA: Stanley Virgil Ashman, Butch Ashman) (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Philip Bender, Consultant (Columbia, MD; Baltimore, MD)
Case of Aron Goldberger (Baltimore, MD, Israel)
Case of Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Samuel (Shmuel) Juravel Savannah, GA (formerly of Baltimore, MD)
Case of Martin Kaufman (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Anton Nikolayevich Lipin (Baltimore, MD)
The Case of the Students of Ner Israel Yeshiva in the 1950's (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Steven Howard Oken (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Ephraim Ohana (AKA: Efraim Ohana) (Baltimore, MD)
Case of Wayne Stephen Young - Fish Store Owner (Baltimore, MD)

david said...

It is amazing that vicki polin signs as anonymous, while making it blatantly obvious that she posted the 2nd comment!

Avi Shafran For The Agudath Israel said...

Miss California will keep title, Moetzes decides

Associated Fressers

Miss California Carrie Prejean, whose comments about gay marriage set off a firestorm, will keep her crown, The Moetzes Gedolei Torah announced today.

The controversy began nearly a month ago, when Prejean was asked about her views on same-sex marriage during the nationally televised Miss USA pageant. Although she said she believed people were entitled to do as they liked, she said marriage should only be recognized as an institution between a man and a woman.

Avi Shafran said he had no problem with Prejean's comments. "She gave a very honest answer when asked a tough question," he said at a New York press conference with Prejean sitting next to him. "It was the same answer the president of the United States gave... She has to be commended."

Shafran also said he reviewed semi-nude photos of Prejean that have surfaced in recent days and concluded they should not disqualify her. "We are in the 21st century," said Dovid Zwiebel. "We have determined that the pictures taken were fine."

For her part, Prejean attacked some of her critics as spreading "hateful" rumors about her and said she was simply standing up for her beliefs.

"These attacks by Shmarya Rosenberg must stop" she cried!

Thank a lot Rabbi Horowitz said...

now R Y. Horowitz's drivel is being espoused by the torah-true yidden on YWN,

FORGET ABOUT SHELLEY. WHERE IS DOV HIKIND, WHO REPRESENTS BORO-PARK, THE LARGEST ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES?

DOV, YOUR SILENCE IS DEAFENING! SHAME ON YOU!

P.S. State Senator Tom Duane is an open pratitioner of Toeva himself, represnting Greenwich Village in Manhattan. He is also the lead sponsor of the Markey bill to allow Mosdos hatorah to be sued for real or imagined abuses 30 years after the fact, leading to bankruptcy in endless legal proceedings. He has specifically exempted the Public Schools, where the overwhelming majority of such abuses take place, from any liability.

The Orthodox (and Catholic) leaders will be kept busy with lawsuit, preventing them from working to stop the new Toeva laws.

Do you now understand the connection between these two bills? "

imagined abuses? i s this serious?

this is from a YWN article about the new Gay-marriage bill in NY.

and R' Horowitz's reasoning about the connection with the Markey bill has caught right on with that crowd

Thank a lot Rabbi Horowitz said...

and a response in agreement with that quote:

"also, does anyone care to connect the tzoros coming to the velt. As the toivah issue gains more acceptence so does the midas hadin pile up more tzores….WTC 1993, 9/11, kathrina floods ,financial meltdow and now swine flu"

no, sure, couldnt be the Retzicha of our children at the hands of monsters and those who cover for them. must be a Gay-marraige thing.
When are these lunatics gonna stop trying to use every issue they are against to blame every problem that befalls the world?

Captain of the Titanic said...

Agudath Israel has stated its position twice against Gay marriage. Rabbi Horowitz was not authorized to write his article defending the Moetzes. He is not politically astute enough to manage the barrage of criticism for his article. He was recommended to lock down his website, to only allow writers with the proper hashkafah to offer their opinions.

Agudath Israel lobbyists were telling us, that the politicians were offended by Rabbi Horowitz's abrasive tone. Rav Zweibekl decided to reverse Agudah decision and decided to invite PRO-GAY Mayor Bloomberg to address our dinner this Sunday night. The politicians still want nothing to do with us. I think our ship is doomed. We've hit an iceberg.

morris said...

WHERE THE COMMUNITY SHOULD BE PROTESTING SEX OFFENDERS, INSTEAD THE CORRUPT BATEI DIN LIKE RCC FROM LOS ANGELES RUN BY AVROHOM UNION ARE HARRASSING INNOCENT MEN (WITH RALLIES BY ORA) WHO DIDNT GIVE A GET AT THEIR BAIS DIN BUT INSTEAD CHOSE ANOTHER. LOOK AT THIS CORRUPTION!!!

Dear Community

I'm sorry to have to burst the bubble and have the truth stare you in the face, but I had a meeting with Meir, and he has provided me evidence to back him up. Those of you that are not interested in knowing the true facts, please stop reading and delete this email!!!! Yesterday some of you protested at the Kin home in an effort to get Meir Kin to give his wife a GET. Unfortunately you have been all fed a bag of lies by the RCC, ORA and their cohorts. For those of you who dont know; an AGUNA is a woman whose husband is lost at sea with no verification if he's alive, as well as a husband who REFUSES TO EVER GIVE A GET. Only these 2 circumstances justifies a title of "AGUNA". Meir Kin has written a GET at a Bais Din In Monsey, NY and is waiting for Lonna Kin to pick it up. It Is ridiculous and reprehensible for people to make false claims such as "its not kosher etc" or "its not a respectable Bais Din" etc...The fact remains that Meir has shown his willingness to end the matter. Additionally, what many of you dont know, is Lonna Kin's history of being a mean-spirited woman, vicious and unrelenting fighter. Lets begin with the following facts and then you make a judgement of who is wrong here. 1) Lonna continues to fight her first husband, Dr Steven Presser, 10 years after her divorce with him.She has not allowed him to visit with his daughters. Additionally she has not followed the terms of her divorce agreement with him which stipulated that any future conflicts shall be remedied in a "BAIS DIN" and not the civil courts. (BTW see the links, and attachments that I have provided for you to verify the facts in this letter). AT THE LUKEFORD LINK SEE AT THE BOTTOM WHERE HE SAYS 'MORRIS EMAILS" ETC.. http://lukeford.net/blog/?p=8408; http://mishpattsedek.com/Justice-Denied-LA.htm
2) By reading the attached letters and links you can see that Meir has attempted to have his matter adjudicated at a "recognized Bais Din" from the getgo, but Lonna went immediately to the courts. shes an expert in delaying things as she had started a Divorce petition in 12/2004, and subsequently dismissed her divorce action on 1/2007. Why would anyone dismiss a divorce action after 2 years in the court, with each side spending $100,000 plus dollars??? After dismissing her Divorce action, she proceeded to Family Court
and ready for this!!!!!!! she obtained a gag order which stated that under penalty of jail, meir is forbidden to reveal certain facts to a Bais Din!!!! (SEE RABBI GOBIOFF LETTERS, INCLUDING ONE TO THE JUDGE WHERE SHE ALMOST HAD HIM JAILED FOR SPEAKING TO RABBI GOBIOFF!)Well this order is still in effect!!! THEN SHE PROCEEDS TO GET A SEIRUV ON MEIR FROM HER COUSIN (ARYEH RALBAG) BAIS DIN. LAST I HEARD, FAMILY TIES INVALIDATES A JUDGE OR BAIS DIN!!!ADDITIONALLY RABBI GINZBERG FROM THE VERY SAME BAIS DIN SAW THIS PERPERTRATED FRAUD AND ISSUED MEIR A LETTER THAT NO SEIRUV SHOULD BE ISSUED!!! THEN SHE HAS THE RCC DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!!! DO YOU SEE THE PICTURE HERE???Therefore in laymens terms this means: Meir cant have a fair Din Torah!! So essentially to sum it up, you have a clever woman, who takes a man to civil court (which btw is forbidden in the Torah like eating pork if not worse and she did this immediately w/o any rabbinic permission!!!! and then obtains a GAG order to prevent him from revealing what went on in the house, and after achieving her goals in the court she has all of you fooled into fighting for her to obtain a GET wherever she so desires, AND REFUSES TO ACCEPT THE GET THAT WAS WRITTEN ALREADY, without allowing him due process in a bais din!!! Let me ask you why has Lonna Gagged him? what is the illegal behavior that she has been doing and wants no one to know? why is she fighting 2 ex-husbands at the same time? So ladies and Gentlemen, this case is purely political as Lonna is a Ralbag whose cousin is a rabbi in brooklyn who has an in with "rabbi schachter" who has connections to the RCC who jointly have "pulled some strings " to make it appear like he's a recalcitrant husband!!! I will now leave you the links to read and attachments as they speak for themselves. One of the worst sins are Loshon Hora and Motzi shem ra. meir kin has been victimized by Lonna for 4 years now, he has left her a GET in Monsey, NY, she can move on with her life if she so chooses, but "somebody" has advised her not to pick it up, but instead to "SCREAM AGUNAH, AGUNAH, AGUNAH". This is not the Torahs depiction of an Agunah, and anyone who describes her as an AGUNAH is lying, distorting the truth and will pay in heaven for spreading needless and baseless hatred.

Anonymous said...

Anyone interested, seriously, in participating in a quiet but effective protest at the Aguda dinner, in which a small group of nicely and frumly dressed men and women greet the attendees with a smile and a flier asking them to think about the travesty they are supporting and to aks their local gedolim about it please contact the jewish board of advocates at their website jewishadvocates.com or the survivors for justice, survivorsforjustice.com.

Anonymous said...

i know lana presser kin and she is a kind and wise woman

there are storiesthat cant be told here because of tchildreun but before anyonebelieves all they just read please i have a bridge for you for sale and i want you to use meir as a broker lol

Anonymous said...

It also saddens me that Vicki Polin has yet to post about the Akiva Kagan case.
This danger to our children is still in the classroom in Ramat Bet Shemesh. His case is now in the office of the AG of Israel but his Charedi school continues to protect him while his victims languish.

Come on Vicki...this guy has been proven to have done something but you don't even hint to it.

Anonymous said...

I thought UOJ had earlier said he thinks Yisroel Meir Kin is getting a raw deal from corrupt rabbonim.

Paul Mendlowitz said...

I thought UOJ had earlier said he thinks Yisroel Meir Kin is getting a raw deal from corrupt rabbonim.

--------

Absolutely! Avrohom Union is a gangster!

Meir, stay strong! The RCC will be torn down!

herschel schlechter said...

Lonna Kin is still fighting her first husband, dr steven presser. can anyone show me another "frum" woman who is fighting 2 ex- husbands at the same time and has been declared sane?

Anonymous said...

Abrogated Responsibility

Rabbi Horowitz should have come out foursquare in favor of the Markey Bill. His failure to support it is a terrible disappointment for abuse victims and their advocates, both lay and professional, particularly in light of the work he has done in the past to end abuse in our communities.

While Rabbi Horowitz, the Agudah and the Moetzes may have the right intentions, they need to dig deeper and engage in honest introspection if they indeed wish to address the horrors of abuse and make our yeshivas safe from predators. Indeed, has there been a more egregious abrogation of our communal responsibility in the modern era than our failure to protect our children from men who ostensibly represent our Torah and heritage?

Rabbi Horowitz's stated concern with what he sees as anti-religious motivation on the part of some of the bill's supporters is misplaced. Similar "window legislation" has done nothing to jeopardize institutions while prosecuting offenders. We need to accept Markey for what it is - an opportunity to help hundreds of victims and potential victims, and to put our private yet communally funded institutions on notice. We will not, nor can we, rest until our yeshivas are free from the abuse that has been perpetrated there unchecked for far too long.

Perry Dubinsky
Monsey, NY

Anonymous said...

Motivation Is Secondary

The abuse problem facing us today mirrors what the Catholic Church went through a few years ago. For far too long abuse of our most precious assets were occurring and then covered up by our rebbeim and yeshivas. We, in turn, were in denial, perhaps because over the years we have sadly elevated our rebbeim from educated leaders who answered personal shailos to pontiff-like levels of infallibility and higher holiness.

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz is a tzaddik who has been at the forefront of this difficult issue. And he made many good points in his op-ed article. He is also probably correct in questioning the motives of some of the bill's supporters.

Respectfully, though, I don't really care what the motivation is. Similar legislation elsewhere has proved helpful in uncovering cases of abuse. Victims have finally had their voices heard with similar legislation. Even with an ulterior motive the authors are acting more morally than have many of our community leaders over the years.

Motti Wein

Flushing, NY

Agudath Israel Professional Career Services said...

Agudath Israel is proud to announce a new award at its dinner this Sunday night.

The Agudath Israel Employer of the Year Award

To Chesky Weiss for pocketing child support payments from his employee garnished wages.

He exemplifies what Agudath Israel POrofessional Career Services strives to represent.

Titanic Under Water said...

Sources report that The Jewish Observer will be shutting down its operation after over four decades of publishing. Published by Agudas Yisroel of America, the magazine has struggled in recent years, with dwindling readership and increasing costs. Published since 1963, it was printed nine months a year; the January and February issues were combined, and there were no issues in July or August. The magazine’s website contains PDF copies of portions of some previous issues dating back to 2002.

The Jewish Observer was founded by Dr. Ernst L. Bodenheimer and Rabbi Moshe Sherer. For the last many year, it was been led by its esteemed editor, Rabbi Nisson Wolpin.

Its editorial board members were Rabbi Joseph Elias, Rabbi Abba Brudny, Reb Yoseph Friedenson, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kirzner, Rabbi Nosson Shcerman and Professor Aaron Twerski.

Sources say that a consensus was reached by the Agudah, led by the Rosh Agudas Yisroel, Rav Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, that the time has come to close the magazine.

Truth Be Told said...

Re: Yisroel Meir Kin. Certainly Mr. Kin is "getting a raw deal from corrupt "rabbonim" and feminist groups like ORA, but unfortunately there are many other cases where Jewish men are being mosered, persecuted, defamed, and stripped of their rights.

Earlier postings have correctly noted that the RCA "Bais Din" is a FEMINIST bais din. It is quite dangerous for any Jewish man to sign a shtar birurin (arbitration contract) with many batei din today. Feminist batei din will turn a blind eye to a wife's brutal aggression against her husband in archaos (non-Jewish courts). A wife can litigate in court without valid halachic permission, rob her husband of his home and assets, jail him repeatedly, and cause him unspeakable pain by denying him any contact with his children. Of course no sanctions or seruvim will be applied to his wife by the feminist batei din.

But if the wife is demanding a GET, the feminist batei din will come roaring like wild lions to force a GET out of the husband. They will issue bogus seruvim to ruin his reputation and destroy his parnasa, after which he will be threatened with jail by his wife's lawyer and the judge for being unable to pay the insanely high court ordered child support and alimony. Next the "agunot" mafia such as ORA will aid and abet the wife behind the scenes while publicly harassing and defaming the husband.

However, a wife does not have to be in a corrupt Bais Din for her husband's rights to be trampled on. There are numerous corrupt feminist "rabbis" today who will give Jewish wives bogus heterim to sue their husbands in court with the same results specified above. "Rav" Dovid Cohen of Flatbush (shul is near Ave. M I believe) is notorious for giving out these bogus heterim.

If you are having marital problems and your wife is talking to a corrupt feminist "rabbi" such as Dovid Cohen, welcome to the Feminist Police State! You may possibly be evicted from your house by the police, with 10 minutes to pack your bags, after being served a bogus restraining order (or order of protection, etc depending on your state) with false charges against you. After which any contact with your wife or children, even by email or telephone, is a violation of the restraining order and will result in your arrest and criminal charges will be filed against you.

Final Note: Two Batei Din which are considered halacha abiding, fair, and non-corrupt by divorcing men are Rav Geshtetner's bais din (Shar Hamishpot, Monsey, NY) and Rav Abraham's bais din (Kedushas Levi, Monsey, NY).

Anonymous said...

I AGREE WITH TRUE BE TOLD. DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ORA. STAY AWAY FROM LONNA KIN AS FAR AS YOU CAN. SHE DESTROYED 2 MARRIAGES AND WANTS TO A THIRD. ONLY THE 2 BATEI DINIM LISTED ABOVE CAN BE TRUSTED TO GIVE A MAN "A FAIR SHAKE". IF YOU SIGN A SHTAR BIRURIM IN ANY OTHER BAIS DIN, YOU MIGHT AS WELL KISS YOUR LIFE AWAY.OUR RABBIS OF THIS GENERATION ARE PANDERING THE FEMINISTS, OR COVERING FOR MOLESTERS, ALL FOR MONEY AND GLORY.

Anonymous said...

Reb Leibel Landesman of Spring Valley is purported to be a straight shooter with gittin. He will absolutely refuse to be mesader a get if he believes someone didn't play fair or the marriage is salvagable.

YID said...

Can someone let us know info about Machon L'Horaah in Monsey