It is well worth your time to listen to it in its entirety.
Best wishes for a wonderful New Year.
Mark (Mutty) Weiss -- Co-Founder Survivors For Justice
Link to file:
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/746504113/39f4325885816b4a26293d417260cae5
*
PSAK FROM THE UOJ BAIS DIN WITH SEAL OF THE KKK:
The first day of Sukkot is Shabbos; the mitzva min ha'Torah to "take a lulav and esrog" ( the 4 minim) is only the first day of the chag - which is muktzah this year because of Shabbos (for various reasons beyond the scope of this psak).
There is absolutely no reason to pay more than $20-$40 for a lulav and esrog this year -- walk out of the store and go to another one if your esrog dealer does not agree to accept your offer. The cost to them on average for the 4 minim is approximately $10.
Sincerely,
Dayan UOJ --- PPPPPPPosek/Paskunyak
That's why R' Eisenman is a true rav. He speaks about the protests in Israel, he speaks about abuse, and he does not back down.
ReplyDeletePassaic is lucky to have him
Rabbosai,
ReplyDelete( http://bit.ly/2l6xzQ )
is a good way to keep up the pressure up against pedophiles during Sukkos. And it will hopefully raise more awareness, and with Hashem's help we will keep our children safe.
The Rubashkin daughter featured in this "Pidyon Shuvuyim" fundraising video for Shalom Rubashkin http://vimeo.com/6743394 is Rosa Weiss, wife of Rabbi Yaakov Weiss who was charged with sexual abuse in upstate NY....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=834832&category=YTCOLONIE
"In both cases, the indictment alleged that Weiss had sexual contact "consisting of placing his penis in contact with said child's buttocks." The incidents allegedly took place inside a pool, called a mikveh, used by some Jews for ritual purification, according to his attorney."
Rabbi Soloveichik you make us proud! You are living up to the teachings of your father.
ReplyDeleteStand up for the person in need, regardless of the pressure.
Go from strength to strength!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/movies/30polanski.html
ReplyDeletePolanski's lawyer Herve Temime is named after Torah Temime.
I am someone who trusted Eisenmann for years until he stabbed me in the back for no reason at all. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing!
ReplyDelete>Sweet Charity. You swindle an 80-year-old widow out of her $240,000 home. You steal $56,000 from the city's welfare department. You pass $17,000 of bad checks.
ReplyDeleteNo problem if you're Simon Jacobson, a Brooklyn resident with political connections in the Orthodox Jewish community. First, District Attorney Joe Hynes allows his indictment to be dismissed for lack of evidence. Surely, it's coincidence that Hynes was running for governor and sought the Orthodox Jewish community's support.
Only the persistence of the police Special Frauds Squad and the outrage of Hynes' own staff, who contacted Your Humble Servant, caused Hynes to get Jacobson indicted last year.
Enter Abe Diamond, Jack Weinman, Hirsch Wulliger and Saul Perlstein, board members of the Brooklyn-based Keren Aniyim charity, operating out of the advertising agency of Mordy Mehlman at 1314 Ave. J.
Apparently, there aren't enough truly needy people in the world, so Diamond, Weinman, Wulliger and Perlstein solicited 10 donors-whom a spokesman for the charity refused to identify-to contribute money for Jacobson to make full restitution and serve the minimum sentence.
The money (the $313,000 plus $25,000 bail) was paid not to the victims but to Jacobson, who then gave it to the court for the victims, allowing him to obtain a minimum 6-month jail term, which began Friday. As Hynes' top aide, Dennis Hawkins, explained, "If Jacobson had to spend more time in jail, he may not have been able to repay the money."<
http://nypdconfidential.com/columns/2000/000410.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574439243760133458.html
ReplyDeletePresident Obama's effort to deny that his mandate to buy insurance is a tax has taken another thumping, this time from fellow Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee.
Chairman Max Baucus's bill includes the so-called individual mandate, along with what he calls a $1,900 "excise tax" if you don't buy health insurance. (It had been as much as $3,800 but Democrats reduced the amount last week to minimize the political sticker shock.) And, lo, it turns out that if you don't pay that tax, the IRS could punish you with a $25,000 fine or up to a year in jail, or both.
Under questioning last week, Tom Barthold, the chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, admitted that the individual mandate would become a part of the Internal Revenue Code and that failing to comply "could be criminal, yes, if it were considered an attempt to defraud." Mr. Barthold noted in a follow-up letter that the willful failure to file would be a simple misdemeanor, punishable by the $25,000 fine or jail time under Section 7203.
So failure to pay the mandate would be enforced like tax evasion, but Mr. Obama still claims it isn't a tax. "You can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase," Mr. Obama insisted last week to ABC interviewer George Stephanopoulos. Accusing critics of dishonesty is becoming this President's default argument, but is Mr. Barthold also part of the plot?
In the 1994 health-care debate, the Congressional Budget Office called the individual mandate "an unprecedented form of federal action." This is because "The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States."
This coercion will be even more onerous today because everyone will be forced to buy insurance that the new taxes and regulations of ObamaCare will make far more expensive. Too bad Mr. Obama's rhetorical tax evasion can't be punished by the IRS.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574434933462691154.html
ReplyDeleteHealth 'Reform' Is Income Redistribution
While many Americans are upset by ObamaCare’s $1 trillion price tag, Congress is contemplating other changes with little analysis or debate. These changes would create a massively unfair form of income redistribution and create incentives for many not to buy health insurance at all.
Let's start with basics: Insurance protects against the risk of something bad happening. When your house is on fire you no longer need protection against risk. You need a fireman and cash to rebuild your home. But suppose the government requires insurers to sell you fire "insurance" while your house is on fire and says you can pay the same premium as people whose houses are not on fire. The result would be that few homeowners would buy insurance until their houses were on fire.
The same could happen under health insurance reform. Here's how: President Obama proposes to require insurers to sell policies to everyone no matter what their health status. By itself this requirement, called "guaranteed issue," would just mean that insurers would charge predictably sick people the extremely high insurance premiums that reflect their future expected costs. But if Congress adds another requirement, called "community rating," insurers' ability to charge higher premiums for higher risks will be sharply limited.
Thus a healthy 25-year-old and a 55-year-old with cancer would pay nearly the same premium for a health policy. Mr. Obama and his allies emphasize the benefits for the 55-year old. But the 25-year-old, who may also have a lower income, would pay significantly more than needed to cover his expected costs.
Like the homeowner who waits until his house is on fire to buy insurance, younger, poorer, healthier workers will rationally choose to avoid paying high premiums now to subsidize insurance for someone else. After all, they can always get a policy if they get sick.
To avoid this outcome, most congressional Democrats and some Republicans would combine guaranteed issue and community rating with the requirement that all workers buy health insurance—that is, an "individual mandate." This solves the incentive problem, and guarantees that both the healthy poor 25-year-old and the sick higher-income 55-year-old have heath insurance.
But the combination of a guaranteed issue, community rating and an individual mandate means that younger, healthier, lower-income earners would be forced to subsidize older, sicker, higher-income earners. And because these subsidies are buried within health-insurance premiums, the massive income redistribution is hidden from public view and not debated.
If Congress goes down this road, health insurance premiums will increase dramatically for the overwhelming majority of people. Even if Congress mandates that everyone have health insurance, many will choose to go without and pay the tax penalty. If you think people are dissatisfied with health care now, wait until they understand that Congress voted to mandate hidden premium increases and lower wages.
There are wiser and more equitable ways to ensure that every American has access to affordable health insurance. Policy experts and state policy makers have experimented with different solutions, including high risk pools and taxpayer-funded vouchers subsidized for those who are both poor and sick. Medicaid, charity care, and uncompensated care provided by hospitals cover some of these costs today.
These solutions are imperfect, but so are the reforms being proposed in Congress. Congress should be explicit about who will pay more under its plans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/us/politics/29reid.html
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON — The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has secured a special deal protecting his state against the costs of expanding Medicaid under one of the major health care bills moving through Congress.
Mr. Reid, a Democrat, complained about the impact on Nevada when the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, unveiled his bill on Sept. 16.
Now Mr. Baucus has modified the bill to spare Nevada and three other states, and Mr. Reid, who faces a potentially difficult race for re-election next year, is taking credit for getting a “major increase” in federal money for his state.
"Despite my endorsement and all the efforts of Vito Lopez our man David Yassky lost to Mr. Liu. Why did everyone vote our candidate down? Why is the community no longer listening to me?"
ReplyDeleteRabbi David "Ben Niddah" Niederman following the September 29,2009 election loss of David Yassky for NYC Comptroller
This is an outrage!
ReplyDeleteFiled at 12:44 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- The pilots who landed a US Airways jet safely in the Hudson River are reuniting in a cockpit for the first time for a flight out of New York.
Capt. Chesley ''Sully'' Sullenberger and 1st Officer Jeffrey Skiles are slated to fly from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday.
US Airways announced earlier that Sullenberger would return to the cockpit. He will make regular flights and supervise other pilots as part of the airline's safety management team.
Sullenberger ditched his Airbus A320 in the Hudson on Jan. 15 after a collision with geese killed power in both engines minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia for Charlotte. All 155 people on the plane survived.
UOJ outranks the failure that is Shmarya.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.urlappraisal.net/search.php?textSearch=www.theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com
Your Site is Worth
$27,273.49
Unique Monthly Visitor Estimate: 49,802,028
21 September 2009
ReplyDeleteWorkers at a pizza-making plant in the Republic of Ireland are set to step up a strike after being sacked for allegedly viewing porn.
Staff at Green Isle Foods in Co Kildare have won cross-union support for their protest.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has granted their union, the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), permission for an all-out picket at the factory in Naas.
The plant may face serious disruption today if other union members, including suppliers and An Post workers, refuse to pass the picket.
The company said three workers lost their jobs after viewing "adult material" and breaching the company's internet policy. But their union claims they are being scapegoated.
"One of our members received an email from outside the plant and was essentially dismissed for receiving an email," said TEEU general secretary designate, Eamon Devoy.
Over 40 workers went on strike last month after the workers lost their jobs.
The TEEU said the sackings were linked to a separate incident when the company sent a confidential file about seven redundancies to a worker by mistake.
It said workers who viewed the file were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement and faced suspension.
The union said it took action because the company would not negotiate a fair disciplinary process.
Source Irish Independent
We would be well served to take a refresher course in the "Galus 101" imparted to us by previous generations. Too many of us are ignoring these sage teachings and needlessly exuding the kind of negative energy in very public venues that threatens to undermine the unprecedented tranquility we have enjoyed over the past seventy years.
ReplyDeleteDuring this time period we have evolved from "Please allow us to live in peace" to "I'm glad to be living in peace" to "I have every right to live in peace" to "We will always live in peace no matter what we do."
In the past few months alone, our community has endured a seemingly endless barrage of negative publicity with the ongoing terrible chillul Hashem caused by the violent protests in Eretz Yisrael, high-profile abuse and financial scandals, and several bitter battles between zoning boards and health departments in the Catskills and members of heimishe kehillos that generated screaming headlines in local newspapers throughout the summer months. I strongly feel that in the aggregate these all represent an existential threat to the menuchas hanefesh we currently enjoy.
Let us collectively and individually use this Yom Tov of Sukkos to reflect upon steps we can take to "lower the flames" and revert to the personal examples of ne'imus and tznius that we had the zechus to observe in the lives of our parents.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10360994-71.html
ReplyDeleteiPhone farting-app rivals clear up the stink
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/swans-of-prospect-park-go-from-elegant-to-aggressive/
ReplyDeleteSeptember 30, 2009, 7:30 AM
Swans of Prospect Park Go From Elegant to Murderous
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/pf/taxes/who_pays_taxes/index.htm
ReplyDelete47% will pay no federal income tax
An increasing number of households end up owing nothing in major federal taxes, but the situation may not be sustainable over the long run.
Have you heard about the latest ANTI-SEMITISH CONSPIRACY against my new-found friends, the Lubavs?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2009/09/28/axbz_cloughcol_0928.html
Riverside National Bank, in fact, recently filed another foreclosure lawsuit against a house of worship - the Chabad House Lubavitch of Palm Beach in North Palm Beach. In a lawsuit, Riverside alleges that the Jewish Orthodox group failed to repay $696,189 on two loans backed by Chabad property on Prosperity Farms Road. Rabbi Schlomo Ezagui, a fixture in the community for more than a decade, declined to comment.
It's worth noting that these houses of worship aren't alone in their financial woes. Riverside National Bank itself is in trouble, reporting a $77.3 million net loss for the second quarter, according to Bauer Financial, which downgraded the bank's safety rating to zero.
Meanwhile, the Chabad-Lubavitch of Greater Boynton Beach has decided the best defense is a strong offense against its lender, Stonegate Bank of Fort Lauderdale. In a September lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, the Chabad claims Stonegate did a "bait-and-switch" on a loan made in 2007 to refinance two parcels on El Clair Ranch Road, including the Chabad, plus new money for construction of additional buildings.
The Chabad was seeking a $4 million to $4.6 million loan. But the Chabad ended up with a loan of only $3.8 million at 7.5 percent, with promises that construction funding would come later, the complaint alleges. Later never came, according to the complaint.
In addition to claims of fraud, the lawsuit claims Stonegate officials engaged in civil conspiracy.
"I'm shocked," Stonegate Bank President David Seleski said. "Obviously, we work with our customers, but I'm very surprised by these assertions. Whatever is going on, I'm sure it will be worked out amicably between the parties." Rabbi Sholom Ciment did not return a phone call seeking comment.
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/staten_island_optometrist_accu.html
ReplyDeleteBy Staten Island Advance
September 30, 2009, 1:29PM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island optometrist bilked taxpayers for nearly a quarter-million dollars my making false claims to the Department of Health over a five-year period, according to a state audit released today.
Dr. Kenneth Horowitz -- who practices out of his Willowbrook office at 927 Willowbrook Rd.-- allegedly billed the New York State Medicaid program for $240,000 in unsupported and inappropriate claims and submitted claims for 221 to 777 Medicaid recipients annually between 2003 and 2008. His Medicaid claim reimbursement -- approximately $370,000 -- was nearly twice the average claim reimbursement for all Medicaid optometrists, the audit found.
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/State_charges_dropped_in_porn_case_20090930
ReplyDeleteBUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A judge has dropped charges against a Buffalo man accused of trying to buy a girl, 4, to use to make a pornographic movie.
City Court Judge agreed with the request made by Aaron Glazer, Erie County prosecutor, to dismiss charges including attempted rape and attempted sexual assault.
Joseph Koehn, 26, was arrested in August. A police informant had told News 4 that Koehn claimed he would pay up to $25,000 in exchange for a girl.
Shortly after his arrest, Koehn was turned over to federal authorities.
He is a registered sex offender, for earlier incidents involving a different underage girl.
September 30, 2009
ReplyDeleteKosher slaughterhouse exec pleads guilty
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The former chief financial officer for a kosher slaughterhouse in northeast Iowa has pleaded guilty to conspiring to make false statements to a bank.
Mitchel Meltzer is the latest executive of Agriprocessors Inc. to reach a deal with prosecutors.
Agriprocessors was the site of a May 2008 immigration raid that led to the arrest of 389 illegal workers and eventual charges against former executive Sholom Rubashkin and several managers.
Rubashkin is accused of lying about the value of the plant’s collateral so it could get a lone.
Prosecutors say that Meltzer on Monday admitted conspiring with others to make false statements to a bank in connection with requests for advances on a loan. The 50-year-old Postville man faces up to five years in prison.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/sep/30/man-accused-showing-porn-children/
ReplyDeleteVicky says a certain guy who once lived in Baltimore is a pedophile for showing porn to children. UOJ says he exercised very poor judgement but is not a pedophile.
UOJ may be right but it is still a felony.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CN) - Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik faces up to 142 years in prison and $4.75 million in fines if convicted on all 15 counts of a federal indictment that was announced Monday. Kerik, whose nomination for Homeland Security secretary in 2004 was derailed when it was revealed he had employed an undocumented nanny, is charged with tax fraud, obstructing the IRS, theft of honest services, and making false statements to the federal government and on a loan application.
ReplyDeleteAP - Kenneth D. Lewis, chief executive of Bank of America,
ReplyDeleteexpected to step down, bank sources say.
A former Santa Barbara, Calif., life insurance agent will pay $2.1 million to the victims of an annuities churning case, many of whom are seniors.
ReplyDeleteDavid Abraham, 48, a former employee of Brown & Brown Insurance in Santa Barbara, pleaded guilty to felony grand theft and in addition to restitution will spend 90 days in jail and another five years on probation, according to California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
Abraham was charged with twisting and churning annuity policies of his clients, the majority of which were senior citizens. According to Poizner’s office, after selling a client an annuity policy, Abraham would wait until the policy was at least 1 year old so he would retain a commission, then transfer the annuity policy to another company.
The transfer would result in a sizeable commission for the former agent, while the policyholders faced surrender charges of more than 10% of the principal.
Abraham was accused of repeating the scheme for several years and when asked about the surrender charges, he told clients that the new companies would pay bonuses to make up for the surrender penalties, according to the insurance department.
The clients were not informed, however, that they needed to maintain their annuities for a specified period of time to see those bonuses. Abraham’s clients suffered penalties amounting to more than $2.1 million as a result of his actions, while the former agent made more than $1 million in commissions, authorities said.
Investigators with the insurance department also found that Abraham changed his clients’ mailing addresses to his own home address on the new policies to conceal his actions. They also alleged that Abraham fabricated policy statements with inaccurate figures using the original annuity company letterhead.
“Stealing from seniors is a particularly deplorable crime,” Poizner said in a statement. “[Insurance department] investigators will continue to work with local authorities to bring these criminals to justice.”
There is a Dr. Kenneth Horowitz who is a mechutan of R' Rafael Grossman, the rov of Baron Hirsch shul in Memphis and past president of the RCA and Beis Din of America.
ReplyDeleteOU affiliated shul Ahavat Achim.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases09/pr20090717b.html
Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that a Fair Lawn dentist pleaded guilty today to defrauding the Medicaid program of nearly $100,000 by billing for procedures that were not performed.
According to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza Dagli, Joshua Prensky, 33, of Fair Lawn, a licensed dentist employed by New Jersey Mobile Dentist P.A. of Colts Neck, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. in Monmouth County to an accusation that charged him with third-degree conspiracy to commit Medicaid fraud. The charge stems from an ongoing investigation by the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
At the guilty plea hearing, Prensky admitted that between January 1, 2007, and March 6, 2009, he and others not named in the accusation completed consult forms and submitted bills to the Medicaid program falsely claiming that various dental procedures and services were provided to Medicaid patients which, in fact, were not provided. The investigation determined that as a result of the fraudulent billing, Medicaid allegedly paid New Jersey Mobile Dentist nearly $100,000 to which it was not entitled. New Jersey Mobile Dentist contracts with individual dentists to provide “mobile” dental services in various nursing homes and assisted living facilities throughout New Jersey.
Sgt. Kathleen Casey, Auditor Kim Geis and Deputy Attorney General Debra A. Conrad are assigned to the investigation into this case. Deputy Attorney General Conrad represented the state at the guilty plea hearing.
“Abuse of the Medicaid program and insurance fraud by persons who hold professional licenses are particularly disturbing crimes,” said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Dagli. “Not only do such Medicaid fraud schemes involve theft of tax dollars, they also represent a theft from a program designed to assist persons who cannot afford health insurance or health care services.”
Prensky is scheduled to appear before Judge Mellaci on Nov. 20 to be sentenced.
Third-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence of five years in state prison and a $15,000 fine.
As part of his plea, Prensky also agreed to pay restitution and a civil penalty totaling $84,340 to the State of New Jersey through the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General, which commenced operations in 2009 to investigate fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicaid program.
In addition, the Division of Criminal Justice will notify the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs of Prensky’s conviction, which may result in legal action against his professional license.
Acting Prosecutor Dagli noted that some important cases have started with anonymous tips. People who are concerned about insurance cheating and have information about fraud can report it anonymously by calling the toll-free hotline 1-877-55-FRAUD or visiting the Web site www.njinsurancefraud.org. State regulations permit an award to be paid to an eligible person who provides information that leads to an arrest, prosecution and conviction for insurance fraud.
R' Yankel,
ReplyDeleteIf I read your copied above post correctly, I hear shades of "why can't we all get along?"
That's the wrong message for the coming "z'man simchasenu".
We can't all get along when there's such unrest and dissatisfaction in our community with the people that are our "self-proclaimed" leaders and are directly responsible for the bal hagan worldwide.
Upgelernt fun Rodney King.
ReplyDeleteThere is a scam being run out of a store called Brooklyn Essentials on 86th St in Bensonhurst by Brian Goldstein and his son Josh.
ReplyDeleteThrough a warehouse in Staten Island, they are running websites that supposedly sell brand name merchandise. They are actually selling very bad fakes.
Never buy from a websites that only claims to get you brand names without actually displaying the items.
These con artists hoodwinked Cablevision's NY1 to interview them on TV and scored two profile articles in Enterpreneur Magazine. They used aliases and told the reporters that they are doing many millions in sales which is a big lie.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/us/01pentagon.html?hp
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON — In an unusual show of support for allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces, an article in an official military journal argues forcefully for repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, which requires homosexuals in the services to keep their sexual orientation secret.
The article, which appears in Joint Force Quarterly was reviewed before publication by the office of Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/a-spirited-paterson-says-he-can-beat-giuliani/
ReplyDeleteSeptember 30, 2009, 6:00 PM
A Spirited Paterson Says He ‘Can Beat’ Giuliani
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/09/28/the-guardian-hollywood-unites-to-defend-polanski/
ReplyDeleteHollywood Unites to Defend Polanski
by John Nolte
Pleading guilty to unlawful sex with an underage girl — the drugging, raping and sodomizing of a 13 year-old — isn’t stopping Hollywood from ginning up an indignation campaign over the possibility of fugitive director Roman Polanski being held accountable for his crimes. Yes, these are the values of those who control the most powerful propaganda device ever created. Which begs a question: If his unspeakable deed doesn’t meet the standard, what exactly would Roman Polanski have to do in order to become a pariah in this town … I mean, besides vote for Sarah Palin?
My favorite part of the below story is Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times questioning the ethics of the LA district attorney for extraditing Polanski “at a time of severe statewide budget cuts.”
Now the Left worries about government spending! This reckless, out of control, bringing-child-rapists-to-justice spending must stop!
Maybe I’m just a simplistic right-winger but everything stops for me upon learning a child was raped. That doesn’t mean we don’t eventually examine judicial misconduct or government spending, but only after we throw away the key.
The Guardian: Roman Polanski arrest: Hollywood unites in his defence
“The surprise detention of Roman Polanski has been met with indignation in Hollywood and sparked a flurry of media speculation over the real reason behind Saturday night’s arrest in Zurich.
“Film mogul Harvey Weinstein has got behind a campaign by French film-makers calling on US authorities not to extradite the Oscar-winning Polish director in connection with a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor dating back more than three decades.
“Weinstein entered the fray at the personal behest of Cannes film festival director Thierry Fremaux and will now use his considerable influence and campaigning heft to enlist the support of Hollywood.
“”We’re calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation,” Weinstein said, reviving a theme he adopted earlier in the year after he bought international distribution rights at Sundance to the HBO documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.
“The film uncovered flaws in the legal case against the director, prompting Weinstein to allude to a possible campaign to get the charges against Polanski dropped.
“Writing in the Los Angeles Times this morning, film columnist Patrick Goldstein questioned the ethics of a potential move by the LA County district attorney’s office to spend taxpayer’s money on extraditing Polanski at a time of severe statewide budget cuts.”
You can read the full piece here.
By RACHEL ZOLL (AP) – 2 days ago
ReplyDeleteNEW YORK — Organized religion was already in trouble before the fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances.
The Great Recession made things worse.
It's further drained the financial resources of many congregations, seminaries and religious day schools. Some congregations have disappeared and schools have been closed. In areas hit hardest by the recession, worshippers have moved away to find jobs, leaving those who remain to minister to communities struggling with rising home foreclosures, unemployment and uncertainty.
"In 2010, I think we're going to see 10 or 15 percent of congregations saying they're in serious financial trouble," says David Roozen, a lead researcher for the Faith Communities Today multi-faith survey, which measures congregational health annually. "With around 320,000 or 350,000 congregations, that's a hell of a lot of them."
"I'm really still in the mourning process," says Eve Fein, former head of the now-shuttered Morasha Jewish Day School in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
The school, a center of religious life for students and their parents, had been relying on a sale of some of its property to stay afloat but land values dropped, forcing Morasha to shut down in June.
"I don't think any of us who were in it have really recovered," Fein says. "The school was 23 years old. I raised my kids there."
In the Great Depression, one of the bigger impacts was the loss of Jewish religious schools, which are key to continuing the faith from one generation to the next. Jonathan Sarna, a Brandeis University historian and author of "American Judaism," says enrollment in Jewish schools plummeted in some cities and many young Jews of that period didn't have a chance to study their religion.
Today, some parents, regardless of faith, can no longer afford the thousands of dollars in tuition it costs to send a child to a religious day school. Church officials fear these parents won't re-endroll their kids if family finances improve because it might be disruptive once they've settled into a new school.
Enrollment in one group of 120 Jewish community day schools is down by about 7 percent this academic year, according to Marc Kramer, executive director of RAVSAK, a network of the schools. A few schools lost as many as 30 percent of their students. Many of the hundreds of other Jewish day schools, which are affiliated with Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements, are also in a financial crunch.
Kramer says 2009-10 will be a "make or break" year for Jewish education, partly because of the additional damage to endowments and donors from Bernard Madoff's colossal fraud.
Overall, U.S. Jewish groups are estimated to have lost about one-quarter of their wealth.
"It's going to be painful," Kramer says. "There will be some losses."
I wonder if we can sign her up with Fartscroll.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=18315
Author recants Holocaust tale
Biography’s subject believed to be a fraud, has fled Longmont
http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/63001297.html
ReplyDeleteMan Faces Child Endangerment Charges in Boston; Connected with Vampire Cult Site
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/madoff/2009/09/27/Arvedlund_927.html
ReplyDeleteFinancial journalist Erin Arvedlund was working for Barron's in the spring of 2001 when she started hearing things about a hedge-fund manager name Bernard Madoff.
He supposedly ran a billion-dollar-plus fund and used a very exotic strategy called "split-strike conversion."
She found it "very strange" that no one on the trading floor knew him or did business with him, yet he traded billions of dollars of options and made money every year.
Through one of her expert sources — whom she describes as a "turbo nerd" — Arvedlund found that Madoff's returns seemed to be manufactured.
After further investigation, she discovered several red flags, including Madoff telling investors to keep quiet about him managing their money.
"As in any business, someone who's doing well wants to brag about it," Arvedlund said. "I found this very odd that he didn't want anyone to know that he was running their money. This guy was running one of the biggest hedge funds on Wall Street. That didn't make any sense."
In her May 2001 article "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Arvedlund was the first financial journalist to question the mystery surrounding Madoff's investment practices.
After Madoff's arrest, Arvedlund wrote the book Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff (Penguin/August 2009).
Another red flag she discovered: Madoff didn't keep any of the fees; instead he let those who raised money for him keep the profits — unheard of on Wall Street.
After many weeks of trying to get an interview with Madoff, Arvedlund finally spoke to him by phone the day before the story ran.
"The line was very scratchy," she said. "He claimed he was over in Switzerland. He was very affable. He didn't seem rattled at all, and he pretty much told me nothing."
The story was published on May 7, 2001, a Saturday. The following Monday, Arvedlund sat at her desk waiting for an angry phone call from Madoff, his sons or investors.
"There was silence," she said.
"I didn't know whether I was just plain crazy or made a huge mistake. There are times in life when you have a gut feeling that what you're doing is right, and no one believes you."
What Arvedlund didn't know at the time was Boston-based investment company math whiz Harry Markopolos was on a personal mission to expose Madoff. Markopolos tried to replicate Madoff's strategy and knew Madoff's returns were impossible to achieve. Markopolos sent eight letters of complaint to the SEC over the years.
ReplyDeleteFast forward eight years. Arvedlund left journalism in 2005, went to work at a hedge fund and was laid off in early December.
On Dec. 11, she was sitting in her Philadelphia apartment, wearing sweat pants and wondering what she was going to do with the rest of her life, when she heard on CNBC that Madoff had been arrested.
"I thought, 'Holy s—-, they finally got him,'" she said.
"I didn't know it was a Ponzi scheme. I didn't know that it had grown to what he said was $65 billion in assets. All I had known all along was he wasn't doing what he said he was doing."
Arvedlund predicts there will be more indictments in the next couple of months.
"I think Peter Madoff (his brother) is most likely to get indicted, possibly before the end of the year," she said. "He was signing off on phony statements, so right there he could go to jail.
Arvedlund: "I think Ruth is much more the Lady MacBeth figure than people give her credit for. She was very ambitious in a time when women were not encouraged to be ambitious. I have no proof of this and it's not in the book. I'm just telling you because that is what I think."
"There've been rumors around the last couple of weeks that the sons may be indicted. I think the reason that Frank DiPascali will not be sentenced until May is they're trying to get as much information out of him as possible and that probably includes giving up family members."
"There's some evidence that some of the bigger investors who were also fundraisers were using Madoff as a tax shelter. I think the reason they haven't been indicted is because they don't know what to charge them with yet. It might be a case like how they got Al Capone on tax evasion. Robert Jaffe was not a registered investment adviser, but it wasn't illegal to raise money."
Anyone who believes Jaffe was innocent has their head in the sand. Many people are covering for him saying he was too stupid. But, he did raise more than $1 billion for Uncle Bernie and took a 15% fee for his troubles. And, many of those investors are still very friendly to him. Would you be if he had screwed you out of big $?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2663630/Nursery-worker-admits-child-sex-attacks.html
ReplyDeleteMarried women arrested for deviant sex attacks on little kids.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,558181,00.html
ReplyDeleteColorado Man in Wheelchair Tackles Suspected Child Molester in Walmart
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/30/obamas-safe-schools-czar-admits-bad-handling-teen-sex-case/
ReplyDeleteObama's 'Safe Schools' Czar Admits He Poorly Handled Underage Sex Case
Kevin Jennings was teaching high school in 1988 when a gay student confessed an involvement with an older man. Rather than reporting it, he told the boy, "I hope you knew to use a condom."
By Maxim Lott
FOXNews.com
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Jennings, the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, was teaching high school in Concord, Mass., in 1988 when a sophomore boy confessed an involvement with a man in Boston. He told the boy, "I hope you knew to use a condom."
In a statement, Jennings said: "Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities."
Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says Jennings' past remarks about the incident call into question the sincerity of his new statement.
"It's not as though, 'oh, this was a youthful mistake I made as a brand-new teacher, but now that I'm an adult I realize that I handled it wrong.' Because he has told this story as recently as last year, in another book, and has not expressed any regret until now. So that indicates to me that this is more out of political necessity than it is about genuine remorse," Sprigg told FOX News.
Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton declined to comment on Jennings' statements about the incident, since it took place in 1988.
But, Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, dived into the fray, saying he is "honored" to work with Jennings, whom he defended as "uniquely qualified for his job" -- a sign the White House is digging in against the mounting criticism.
Jennings also released a statement on his past writings on drug use.
"I have written about the factors that have led me to use drugs as a teen. This experience qualifies me to help students and teachers who are confronting these issues today."
Jennings wrote: "I got stoned often and went out to the beach overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned."
Sprigg said he would like to see a more specific statement from Jennings.
"We still haven't heard a clear and explicit statement from him that no one of any age should use illegal drugs, including marijuana. That would seem to be a prerequisite for the position he is in," he said.
He also said that the whole situation reflected poorly on the vetting procedures of the Obama administration.
"I suspect that the vetting procedure for Jennings was fairly superficial... This controversy about the possible statutory rape was raised in 2004 when he received an award from the NEA. So it's not like it's been a secret. So I think it shows yet another failure of the Obama administration's vetting process."
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Detroit-area broker for allegedly defrauding elderly investors by selling interests in a firm that claimed it had telecommunications deals with hotels and truck stops.
ReplyDeleteFrank Bluestein, 59, reaped at least $3.8 million for himself and his company, Fast Frank Inc., by encouraging investors to refinance their homes to participate in a $250 million Ponzi scheme run by Edward May and his company, E-M Management Co. LLC, the SEC said. Bluestein raised $74 million and the SEC said he was the most successful salesperson for May, who was sued in 2007 for running the scam.
Bluestein falsely told investors he conducted due diligence in E-M, which claimed to have contracts to install and service telecommunications equipment with hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, the SEC said in a complaint filed at federal court in Michigan. Most, if not all, of the purported contracts didn’t exist, the agency said.
Bluestein didn’t know about the scam, has been cooperating for more than a year and provided documents to the agency, said his attorney, David Foster. The regulator didn’t claim in its complaint that Bluestein signed checks, received bank statements or that his name was mentioned in offering documents “that would show he had any actual knowledge that this was an alleged Ponzi scheme,” Foster said.
“His lies, false assurances, and unscrupulous tactics put many investors at risk of losing not only their life savings, but also their homes,” said Merri Jo Gillette, director of the SEC’s regional office in Chicago.
Several of Bluestein’s 800 clients in Michigan and California used home-equity lines of credit to borrow $100,000 or more, and he encouraged one investor to borrow $1 million on her home to buy interests in the Ed May projects, the SEC said. May had 1,200 clients.
JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities charged an enigmatic Russian-born tycoon who has fled the country with fraud and money laundering, according to court documents filed Thursday.
ReplyDeleteProsecutors say Arkady Gaydamak conspired with senior Israeli banking executives to conceal financial activities worth around $175 million. Officers of one of Israel’s leading banks were also indicted.
Gaydamak became a celebrity in Israel even though he did not speak Hebrew and despite a checkered past. He faces an international arrest warrant because of a French investigation into alleged arms trafficking to Angola in the early 1990s.
He bought a popular football club in Jerusalem and underwrote high-profile philanthropic projects, like a beachside vacation village for Israelis fleeing Hezbollah rocket fire in the north of the country in 2006.
He left Israel late last year for Russia under a growing cloud of suspicion of financial crimes, and after his campaign to become mayor of Jerusalem ended in a humiliating defeat.
One of the charges listed in the indictment against him involves the attempted purchase of a Dutch company through a front-man with the help of officials at Poalim Trust Services, a subsidiary of Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s second-largest bank.
Gaydamak faces charges of fraud for failing to declare himself the company’s true buyer.
Two senior Poalim directors and the company’s legal adviser were also named in the indictment, along with a lower-ranking staffer at one of the bank’s branches.
Gaydamak’s lawyer, David Libai, rejected the accusations against his client.
http://www.javno.com/en-world/protestants-and-jews-have-more-pedophiles_276891
ReplyDeleteSilvano Maria Tomasi, Pope’s representative at the Office of the UN and specialized agencies in Geneva, responded to pedophilia accusations.
He claims that the Catholic Church has taken this issue very seriously, but that a main problem lies in other Christian and Jewish denominations. He also adds that ephobia is a much larger problem than pedophilia.
English secularist Keith Porteous Wood, has sent some very harsh criticism to the Catholic Church and he requested that the Vatican opens its archives to the public and acknowledges all the hushed cases of sexual abuse.
He also asks that those who are responsible for the current situation come forth and receive their punishment. In addition to this, he expects an apology from the Church asking that they admit their involvement with numerous abuse affairs.
'The worst is in the Jewish communities and protestant churches'
Tomasi was not reserved with criticism either and citing data published by the daily Christian Science Monitor, which was founded a hundred years ago by the Christian Science Church, said that the Catholic Church cleaned its house, Jutarnji List writes.
According to their figures the majority of the US child abuse cases happens in the Protestant churches and Jewish communities, says Tomasi.
However, the problem of pedophilia or ephobilia does not end here, and instead, it continues to supply media with continuous scandal reports. The latest one was the case of a 69-year-old bishop from Canada whose laptop was discovered to contain large amounts of child pornography.
The bishop, who was accused for distribution and sale of child pornography, was discovered after his computer was randomly examined at the Ottawa airport.
Bishop Raymond Lahey was returning from the United States when the Canadian border police found the disputed photographs on his computer. He immediately resigned from the Catholic Church position.
In his letter, in which he announced that he would no longer serve as a bishop, he explained to his congregation that he was leaving because of ‘spiritual renewal’, AFP writes.
Lahey became known to the public when he mediated a program that paid 13 million Canadian dollars to a large number of victims who claimed that they were sexually abused by priests since the 1950’s.
He addressed the families of the victims in August when he told them that he hopes ‘that they would never have to deal with this detestable behavior ever again’.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6245665/Dwarves-found-theme-park-commune-to-escape-bullying.html
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why UOJ sent me a travel voucher to this place.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113377170
ReplyDeleteProtestant and Jewish representatives were quick to respond condemning the Church's attempt to spread around the blame and defending their own approaches to the problem.
Yona Weinberg, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to 13 months in prison for sexually abusing two boys. Weinberg, 31, was convicted last June of seven counts of sexual abuse in the second degree and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
ReplyDeleteAt his sentencing today, the District Attorney’s Office requested the maximum sentence, of two years.
The victims were ages 12 and 13 at the time. One was one of Weinberg’s students, from the Khal Beth Abraham synagogue, where Weinberg gave Bar Mitzvah lessons. The other was a client from Weinberg’s work as a licensed social worker for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services.
Terrence J. Myers, 61, Gouverneur, NY, was traveling south on County Route 6, Oswegatchie, when he struck three horses that were walking in the southbound land of the roadway. Due to an unlighted road, Myers failed to notice the horses and was unable to take evasive action to avoid striking same.
ReplyDeleteAll horses were deceased at scene. Owner of the horses, Harvey Swartzentruver, 35, Ogdensburg, NY, was notified and removed the horses from the roadway.
Myers declined medical treatment at the scene.
Nude intruder caught in swimming pool, covered in feces: cops
ReplyDeleteTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, October 1st 2009
Shmarya pretends that he is the only one to have posted the Passaic audio link, days after UOJ did, and even longer after UOJ started touting the event which surely SHmarya must have been aware of.
ReplyDeleteAfter a reader called Shmarya on his inconsistencies, he claimed he was unaware which is unlikely.
When the reader criticized Shmarya for not giving shkoyach to Rabbi Eisenmann, he came up with a bunch of lame excuses, criticized the reader back and went on to attack Dr. Asher Lipner.
Shmarya has also started a shnorr campaign, using the excuse of the upcoming Rubashkin trial to weasel a new state of the art wifi equipped laptop out of the public.
ReplyDeleteHe does cite some other nominal expenses.
This is rich. Here is Shmarya who spews venom 24/7 at "Haredim" for not working, yet the unemployed bum who still lives in his mother's basement at 51 years of age, cannot work enough or any hours to afford a bus ticket from Minnesota and $40 a night at Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn in neighboring South Dakota.
Boston Globe | September 25, 2009
ReplyDeleteRabbi Stanley Zusia Levitt, 63, of Philadelphia is expected to surrender to Suffolk County authorities Oct. 17, the date of his scheduled arraignment on four counts of indecent assault and battery on persons under 14. Prosecutors accuse Levitt of assaulting two preteen boys while he served as a teacher at the Maimonides School in Brookline. School officials could not be reached for comment.
Levitt moved to the Philadelphia area in the 1980s. Records from the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania show he was charged there with several similar offenses, including indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children, indecent exposure, and unlawful restraint. He was found not guilty of the exposure and restraint charges, but pleaded no contest, which carries the same weight as a conviction, to indecent assault and corrupting a minor and was sentenced to probation on both offenses.
It was not clear yesterday whether Levitt was listed as a sex offender or continued to teach after leaving Maimonides or where he might have worked after leaving the state.
Shame on publisher Gary Rosenblatt for allowing this crappy Liberal editorializing in favor of Obama.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rabbi Spolter is foolish because Antar did not repay the victims.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a16818/News/New_York.html
by Adam Dickter
Assistant Managing Editor
When Sam Antar recites the viduy list of sins in the Yom Kippur liturgy Monday, it will be a like a checklist of his past.
He has stolen. He has cheated. He has betrayed. He has caused others to sin.
And by his own admission, he loved every minute of it.
“I enjoyed committing my crimes, and I did it for fun and profit,” says the former chief financial officer of the Crazy Eddie electronics chain, who helped bilk customers, investors and the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
For 18 years, beginning when he was 14, he rose through the ranks of a fraudulent company that grew from a pop-and-son operation in Flatbush to 43 outlets in the tri-state area, until 1987, when investors seized control of the audacious corporation and its founder fled to Israel.
Ultimately, Sam’s plea deal saved himself and his father, Eddy Antar, who was also implicated in the scheme, from prison. The senior Antar was not prosecuted, while Sam copped to three felony counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
He was sentenced to six months of house arrest and 1,200 hours of community service working with kids who have attention deficit disorder. He also paid $30,000 in fines — less than a drop in the bucket in the scale of his multi-million dollar scheme.
Antar is in good company on an increasingly penitent American landscape. NFL quarterback Michael Vick seeks redemption for his cruelty to animals. Disgraced ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer tries to shake his licentious reputation for a political comeback. South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson apologizes for calling President Barack Obama a liar on live TV.
After hearing him on a National Public Radio podcast, Rabbi Reuven Spolter of Orot College of Education in Elkana, Israel, reached out to Antar and featured his story twice on his blog, Chopping Wood, as an example of teshuvah.
In his war on white-collar crime, chronicled on his Web site, whitecollarfraud.com, Antar has made some interesting friends and enemies. In the former category is Barry Minkow, the convicted carpet-cleaning company fraudster who became a Christian minister and, like Antar, a lecturer on corporate fraud.
In the latter category is Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, with whom Antar has engaged in a protracted public battle, claiming on his blog that the company has manipulated its stock price. Their feud has gotten so ugly that Antar and his supporters have accused Byrne of anti-Semitic blog posts about them.The Anti-Defamation League declined to get involved.
In an interview Tuesday, Byrne said Antar had posted “over 10,000 times on message boards [on business-related sites] over three years throwing mud. It’s a smear campaign, and it’s particularly sick when he brings in Judaism.” He was referring to the charges of anti-Semitism.
Tropper runs into static in the Blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteThe Blogosphere has been cruel to Tropper and his Eternal Jewish Family (EJF) scheme.
It was not suppoed to be that way.
No doubt in their naivete and being drunk on the power that came from from the tens of millions from Dr. Tom Kaplan and his equally rich nephew Guma Aguiar, first through the family foundation they set up, the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation and now even after Guma Aguiar dumped them while Tropper continues to fly solo on the seat of his pants hanging by the thread of one benefactor only, Tom Kaplan, they still imagine that blogging or posting dumbell ads an the Internet can and should have helped their cause.
But it has not, as the very openess and freedom of the Internet and the easiness of blogging has allowed more opponents from left, right and center to oppose Tropper and EJF that in the history of any one single rabbi except perhaps than in the case of the notorious case of Rabbi Kolko.
From the start, Tropper and EJF have obviously hired paid publicists to put up self-promotional blogs, feed fake press releases and on social networking sites for Tropper and EJF like on Facebook that in a year has eight fans, including Randy, Ryan and Sheila who have no connection to the upcoming "dayanim conference" promoted and in any case, since when do dayanim have Facebook accounts or want what they do promoted through Facebook or would they want to be associated with any such site such as EJF's Hub page Converting to the Orthodox Jewish Faith that pitches "The Rewards of Being Jewish. You don't have to be born with Jewish bloodlines to practice, believe, and reap the rewards of Judaism" presumably dayanim do not go looking for people to sell Judaism to, but Tropper and his EJF PR minions don't care what dayanim think, as long as EJF can get do what they want to do, on many places on the Internet like this that really don't amount to heap of beans on the Internet with its billions of pages of stupid content.
But that is not where the real headaches and battles have been for Tropper and EJF on the Internet as a variety of sharp-witted bloggers from all sides of the Jewish spectrum, secular, Charedi, Modern Orthodox, less religious and mildly religious have picked apart and reported upon Tropper's and EJF's workings. An it has not been a pretty sight to read and behold.
Note that Shmarya was kofer on yetzias Mitzrayim this week.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishchronicle.org/article.php?article_id=11764
“The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews” surprised me. I hardly recognized it as the work of David Mamet, whose angry characters I’ve seen shouting profanities at each other across the theater stage.
Yet this controversial, thought provoking book, which I thought would remind me of Isaac Deutscher’s “The Non Jewish Jew,” contained ideas I would sooner have expected in a book by Shmuley Boteach.
I recognized the David Mamet whose indictment of his childhood Reform Judaism, “A Plain Brown Wrapper” appeared in Tikkun in 1988. In other words, despite Mamet’s biting irony, the Orthodox and lovers of Israel who might fear this book should breathe a deep sigh of relief.
Mamet discusses the “unaligned Jew, the Jew only by an interesting quirk of heredity — that Jew who refers to his forebears much as a wealthy man might allude to an ancestor who was a horse thief.”
He addresses the book to this same reader, whom he claims was the subject and intended recipient of the Torah itself: the apikoris, or the rasha (“Wicked Son”) of the Haggadah who excludes himself from the Passover celebration:
Mamet speaks to the “Wicked Son,” who asks, “What does all this mean to you?” To the Jews who, in the 60s, envied the Black Power Movement; who in the 90s, envied the Palestinians; who weep at Exodus but jeer at the Israel Defense Forces; who nod when Tevye praises tradition but fidget through the seder; who might take their curiosity to a dogfight, to a bordello or an opium den but find ludicrous the notion of a visit to the synagogue,” he writes in the introduction.
His subjects, he says, have abandoned the heritage the world has taught them to despise, identified with their oppressors, and transferred their fealty to the stronger group from which they wish to gain acceptance.
Yet they can only seek comfort and community among their fellow Jewish apostates, happy to announce their ignorance of tradition, to denigrate Jewish observance, and to berate Israel. Mamet says these Jews, even if they don’t realize it, are deeply troubled people.
He argues that the disaffected Jew, ignorant of his people’s ways, suffers a deeper malaise that may hinder his moral and intellectual growth.
Bloggers of all stripes united against Tropper and EJF
ReplyDeleteThere isn't a single known independent pro-Tropper or pro-EJF blogger.
Tropper's own support comes by means of highly paid publicists who without fail always sing his praises in a ratio of at least ten to one in every promotional ad or article about what EJF has been doing the last couple of years, mostly spending the tens of millions of Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar to bring rabbis to free conferences and to host free seminars for interfaith couples to convince the non-Jews to convert, and to fly Tropper around the world promoting his new EJF cult which already has a nice staff of paid hacks to man offices in America and Israel.
But instead of the web helping Tropper, it has unleashed a storm of critics who have picked holes in every aspect of his fly by night scheme to convert as many gentiles who are married to Jews that he can get to.
One of the first and earliest critics of Tropper since 2007 has been Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn on his Daat Torah blog that also serves as the voice of Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch the renowned Charedi posek and one of the heads of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Eidah HaChareidit's Beth Din.
Relying on rulings against Tropper's plans to reach out to gentiles married to Jews through EJF in a programmatic way, Rabbi Sternbuch and the ultra-Orthodox Eidah HaChareidit's Beth Din issued not one, not two, but three officially signed and sealed letters of warning to Tropper that Rabbi Eidensohn bravely posted on his blog obviously with Rabbi Sternbuch's permission making Rabbi Sternbuch a vicarious blogger too, that Tropper naturally promptly ignored.
The ultra-Orthodox's Eidah HaChareidit's Beth Din then called on all rabbis not to attend Tropper's events and to stay far away from EJF and its events:
Kiruv for someone with a Jewish father and a non‑Jewish mother by Rabbi Sternbuch was aimed at Tropper and EJF when he says "You mentioned that a number of American rabbis have given halachic rulings that his participation in the program should be encouraged because he might convert. Do not associate yourself with their programs. You will receive much greater reward by disassociating from them than the possible benefit that might result."
Tropper tramples the Charedim, and they bite back by blogging.
ReplyDeleteThe ultra-Orthodox Eidah HaChareidit's Beth Din was even more adament in Concerning the Holiness of the Jewish People – the Holy Nation "The senior dayanim of the Bedatz met today to discuss allegations that certain kiruv activists are actively proselytizing the children of intermarried couples to convince them to convert – even though according to Torah law there is no halachic relationship with their Jewish fathers. They are calling for the acceptance of these non-Jewish children in Jewish programs and religious schools. Such an action is literally a disaster and self‑destructive. It is self‑evident that such a program is absolutely prohibited by the Torah."
Since Tropper felt none of this applied to him or EJF they went even further Bedatz Letter regarding EJF signed by Gaavad "stop and break off association with this organization (Eternal Jewish Family) which is a danger to the future of the Jewish people. Even isolated cases of this type of conversion (of intermarried couples) are extremely problematic..Distinguished Rabbi shlita, please act according to your understanding and wisdom and desist from participating in this program (of the Eternal Jewish Family). It is a public danger. G‑d should assist you."
Now to any normal Charedi rabbi this would be devastating news, to be attacked and reprimanded by the ultra-Orthodox's Eidah HaChareidit's Beth Din, who not only call upon Tropper to cease and desist from his schemes but also call for a ban on attendiung his events and the letters were mailed out to hundreds of such rabbis who were planning to attend EJF conferences, but Tropper was not fazed, he just tossed what they had to say into the garbage, insulting them along the way with scornful words for Rabbi Sternbuch as Rabbi Eidensohn reports on his blog, and Tropper refuses to recognise any criticims of his ways and that EJF will bring more harm than good.
Money begats power and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that: “One sign to company insiders that something was up: Lewis returned to work after Labor Day in a full beard, which no one at the bank had ever seen before.”
ReplyDeleteIt turns out the Bank of America insiders were on to something. In many cases, growing facial hair signals a significant change in someone’s frame of mind. Psychiatrists say men grow beards to appear macho or to hide something (like a double chin) or as a sign of rebellion.
What about the reverse route that Gov.-by-accident David Paterson took, going from full beard to moustache to clean shaven in a short time?
ReplyDeleteModern Orthodox bloggers confirm Tropper and EJF as insulting and persona non grata
ReplyDeleteGil Student makes a stand against Tropper.
Some of the most devastating attacks on EJF with Tropper at its helm have come from two of the most widely admired Modern Orthodox, or as close to Centrist as you can come, blogs: Rabbis Gil Student of NY and Harry Maryles of Chicago.
It is to the great credit of Rabbi Gil Student that on his widely read and respected blog he reported on the PR catastrophe that befell Tropper and EJF when Tropper's partner in mischief, and maybe even the guy Tropper takes orders from on the sly because Eisenstein has access to haredi big Rav Alyashiv in Jerusalem whom he notoriously manipulates.
Tropper allowed Eisenstein to speak at an early 2007 EJF convention and Eisenstin used the honor to rip into the Modern Orthodox rabbinate. This was all duly reported on Gil Student's Hirhurim blog to the everlasting chagrin of Tropper who has been unable to wipe that disgusting yoke off his, Eisenstein's and EJF's face.
Here's how it went: "Conversion and the Age of the Universe A commenter posted here and on other blogs that at this week's conference of the Eternal Jewish Family, R. Nachum Eisenstein announced from the podium that R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv told him that any rabbi who believes that the world is more than approximately 6,000 years old is a heretic and may not perform conversion (link). I have confirmed the essence of the story -- that R. Eisenstein said such a thing to the audience. I have not confirmed whether R. Elyashiv actually told him that."
"Conversion and the Age of the Universe II: I was contacted by R. Leib Tropper, who presented at the recent EJF conference discussed in this post, and he offered the following clarifications (in my words, which he approved): 1. R. Tropper does not believe that R. Eisenstein said in the name of Rav Elyashiv that someone who believes that the world is older than 6,000 years is a heretic. Rather, he is not worthy of being a dayan. Presumably, this means that the past conversions he performed are still valid..3. R. Tropper stated that dayanim should dress conservatively and that even secular courts have dress codes. However, he did not state that dayanim who do not dress appropriately are disqualified from serving as dayanim."
To Gil Student's credit he does not buy Tropper's spinmeistering and as it turns it out it was a watershed event that resulted in not just Rabbi Hershel Shachter Rosh yeshiva of RIETS but also the entire YU, RCA and Modern Orthodox establishment seeing Tropper's true skull and crossbones colors and finally understanding that EJF had not come to praise them but to bury them.
The entire episode was recorded, discussed and stays put as a record of shame and a blot on Tropper, Eisenstein and EJF.
The only thing that sounds right here is the name of the website
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/lifestyle/celebrations/x1789522518/Newton-Notables
Jack Nusan Porter of Newton was the recipient the Robin Williams Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching and Service at the American Sociological Association’s annual meetings Aug. 11 in San Francisco. Professor David Meyers of the University of California-Irvine, chairman of the Selection Committee, compared Porter to Jane Addams for his combination of social activism and writings, especially his research into comparative genocide, the sociology of the Holocaust and conflict resolution, and commended him for opening up a brand new field of study in genocide studies.
Porter, born in Ukraine and the child of Holocaust survivors, has written or edited more than 30 books and 600 articles and essays, including “Genocide and Human Rights: A Global Anthology,” “The Genocidal Mind” and “Is Sociology Dead? Social Theory and Social Praxis in a Postmodern Era.”
Rav Elyashev is not exactly manipulated.
ReplyDeleteIt is well known however that he is surrounded by a cadre of bullies who illegitimately affix his signature to various agendas of their own.
Just this week, it was proven that Rav Elyashev did not consent to having his signature added in a deceptive way to a letter that tried to do away with a psak from R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach on shabbos elevators.
Don't Let the Door Hit You In The Ass, Ken Lewis!
ReplyDeleteBy Matt Koppenheffer
October 1, 2009 The day is rapidly approaching when Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) will be done with the Ken Lewis era. Yesterday, Lewis announced that he will retire as both CEO and director of the bank as of the end of this year.
Why am I excited about the departure of B of A's head honcho? As a shareholder, I've watched Lewis chase growth and try to please Wall Street analysts by playing fast and loose with what was once a solid, conservative bank. The result was that mismanaged risk left the bank standing short-less along with the likes of Citigroup (NYSE: C) when the proverbial tide went out.
Seen on the Blogosphere: Tropper causes left and right of Orthodoxy to unite against him and condemn his EJF scheme.
ReplyDeleteRarely does it happen, if at all, that the left wing of Orthodoxy will be in total harmony with the right wing Charedim regarding a problematic rabbi and his program, but this is exactly what Tropper has brought upon himself -- and it's all been reported and done in full public view by the left's and right's own bloggers. Rabbi Gil Student's Hirhurim blog and Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn's Daat Torah blog agree that Tropper spells trouble and that EJF is bad for the Jews.
Gil Student, a moderate Orthodox blogger who now works for the Orthodox Union, saw the actions and appeals of the Ultra-Orthodox Eidah Hachareidit's Beth Din regarding Tropper as a huge plus. Here's what he says on his blog:
"More Conversion Developments: The following letter was disseminated by the Badatz (religious court) of the Edah Charedis of Jerusalem, a very right-wing but influential and respected group of scholars. I don't know where they receive their information about what will lead to more intermarriage on a different continent and am therefore skeptical whether they have any right to issue a ruling on this matter, especially since no one asked them. But since they are delegitimizing the Eternal Jewish Family organization, that itself is trying to delegitimize Modern Orthodox rabbis (I, II), I see the turnabout as a welcome development...{he then posts the letter from the Eidah that was posted on rabbi Daniel Eidensohn's blog at Bedatz letter regarding conversion - Bedatz letter regarding conversion: Rav Sternbuch, shlita approved translation by Daniel Eidensohn}
But there are still more voices in this blogging churus united against Tropper and his cultish EJF schemes.
Rabbi Dr. Porter used to be the chaplain at Northwestern U.
ReplyDeleteHe is a left winger who can't stand Charedim and follows the hashkafa of Habonim-Dror (Socialist Labor Zionism). Even though this is the same crowd as the rabidly chiloni Shomer Hatzair, they were joined in America by extremely misguided modern orthodox.
Famous graduates of the movement include Golda Meir, Mordechai Richler, Jonathan Freedland, Tony Judt, Sacha Baron Cohen (who claims to be "orthodox"), Leonard Fein (founding editor of the Conservatives' Moment magazine) & J.J. Goldberg (anti-orthodox editor-in-chief of The Forward).
It's pretty funny that Shmarya is trying to capitalize on this by screaming that Porter is a rabbi since another alumnus of the movement of Seth Rogen who starred in and co-produced the movie called "The 40 year old virgin".
Jinx Jinx Jinx!
ReplyDeletehttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/sullenberger-flies-fateful-route-again-to-cheers/?hp
October 1, 2009, 1:33 PM
Sullenberger Flies Fateful Route Again, to Cheers
Jack Porter who was born as Nusia Jakub Putchik, cannot be considered orthodox, no matter how much Vicky Polin and Failed Scotty Rosenberg relish the idea.
ReplyDeleteHe grew up as a hard core Socialist in 1940s & 1950s Milwaukee and only decided to become a "rabbi" in the 1990s. He attended some Reform-Conservative joke school in Riverdale called Academy for Jewish Religion and then took a pulpit at a non-Orthodox temple in the Bohemian utopia of Key West, Florida.
Porter was known for his "kiruv" in Florida of homosexuals, transvestites and intermarried Cubans known as "Jewbans".
Who knows ... Maybe his arrest was a Tropper conspiracy to get rid of a competitor?
MO Blogger from Chicago adds to Bloggers' KO of Tropper and CO.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Harry Maryles is from Chicago and he knows Tropper's buddy Rabbi Nochum Eisenstein.
He does not have too many kind words for either Eisenstein, Tropper or EJF.
And he too, like Rabbi Gil Student sees great merit in the opposition of the Jerusalem based Eidah Hachareidit's Beth Din firm opposition to Tropper and EJF.
There is no love lost between Maryles and Eisenstein, so he will naturally have no love for Eisenstein's partner as they enable each other. As Maryles puts it on his Haemtza Emes VeMunah blog:
"Eisenstein’s War against the Jews: The latest salvo in this war was fired last week from a podium by one of its top generals, Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein who declared thousands of Orthodox Jews to be heretics, many of them Jews of great religious stature. Jews who dare to seek sensible answers to sincere questions are the enemy. Questions they had about some of the most fundamental elements of nature which point to an ancient universe..Rabbi Eisenstein would have us believe that he is in effect ‘Rav Elyashiv’ now. And many people see him this way. When he speaks they hear Rav Elyashiv. It’s not that he is lying about what Rav Elyashiv says. But he is definitely hearing Rav Elyashiv through his own zealous mind ...a mind which is determined to push his own agenda. He was a zealot when I knew him as a young student at HTC. And he is a zealot now. In my view this is a criminal act of epic proportions. In my view, Rabbi Eisenstein is defining Torah Jewry in his own image while claiming the mantle of Rav Elyashiv. And in the process he is driving deeper and deeper a wedge that may end up cutting off masses of Orthodox Jewry as illegitimate."
Maryles openly scorns Eisenstein on his blog:
"Are You a Convert To Judaism? Think Again!: How many more lives will this man ruin? Rabbi Norman Eisenstein, a man who I recall was a known Kanoi when he was still an adolescent student in Skokie Yeshiva has inserted himself into the recent controversy over Rabbi Druckman’s conversions. In fact he may very well be behind it. He is supposedly Rav Elyashiv’s right hand man. And the Dayanim who voided those conversions were Rav Elyashiv’s appointees. Rabbi Eisenstein has come out and supported the decision taken by them - invalidating the conversions of hundreds if not thousands of Jews converted by Rabbi Chaim Druckman."
Being a rabbi, even a very learned one, and having good middos, do not automatically go hand in hand.
Maryles's blogging mauls Tropper.
ReplyDeleteBut our main subject is how Rabbi Maryles mocks Tropper and his EJF scheme, all based on the announcement from the Eidah Hachareidit via Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn's blog:
" The Eternal Jewish Family: There has been a proclamation issued by the Edah Hacharedis which its authors wish to disseminate and which has been made available to the public by Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn. It basically condemns a new organization that deals with Halachic conversions called The Eternal Jewish Family (EJF). The proclamation has already appeared on many blogs including Hirhurim..Rabbi Sternbuch has gotten the Edah HaCharedis rabbis on board with his Psak and has come out with a proclamation de-legitimizing EJF..In my view the controversy created by EJF is so great that de-legitimizing it is a good thing. The controversy was created by Rabbi Eisenstien. He wanted only ‘believers’ to qualify as a Dayan... a judge on the new conversion Beis Din. The conversion court system that would result after the process of conversion be standardized. It would require that rabbis not have heretical beliefs. Rabbi Eisenstein wanted to make clear that believers in an ancient universe disqualify them from serving on a conversion Beis Din..It is ironic that the Edah has condemned EJF..But whatever the reason, I’m glad they did it. If what comes out of such an organization can so contribute to the divide in Klal Yisroel it deserves to go into the ash bin of history."
Then Maryles reports one of the worst indictments known against Tropper in the filed of conversions:
"Raising the Bar on Conversions: The most recent event reported in the media – if true - is quite shocking. It should put to bed any doubt about whether there is a war against modern Orthodoxy by certain Rabbanim in the Charedi world. Rabbi Leib Tropper, founder and head of EJF nullified one of his own conversions. The reason? According the article:
Tropper did not revoke Sarah’s conversion because she bowed down to idols, accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior, or identified with the atheist philosophies of Christopher Hitchens. She didn’t renounce any universally accepted tenet of Judaism. Sarah’s conversion was ruled invalid because she did what many Modern Orthodox women do every day: get dressed and go out of the house. Sarah’s conversion was reversed because Tropper heard that she had worn pants, and occasionally—only when shopping outside the Jewish neighborhood—she had left her hair uncovered. So there you have it. If this story is true, a convert was stripped of her Judaism even though she was observant of Shabbos, Kashrus, and Taharas HaMishpacha. And so too were her post conversion children stripped of their Judasim. That is how her husband reported it. According to one of the authors who contacted me - attempts to reach Rabbi Tropper for comment were unsuccessful. He apparently refuses to deny or confirm any part of the report. And as if that weren’t enough there is another horror story about EJF and Rabbi Tropper reported there as well. Read it and weep!"
Weep indeed.
Never in the history of blogging, and of course in the history of recent Orthodoxy, did the left, right and center of Orthodox and Haredi Judaism condemn a supposed fellow rabbi and his scheme as strongly and as easily as they did when it came down to the case of Tropper and the cultish EJF.
The voices apposing Tropper as expressed in the Blogosphere went even further.
Tropper gets torpedoed by even more bloggers. "Failed Messiah": Bombs away!
ReplyDeleteNot just Charedi Bloggers like Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn and speaking for Rav Sternbuch, and centrist and Modern Orthodox bloggers like Rabbis Gil Student and Harry Maryles, much admired and read for their clarity of expression and broad-mindedness, but a variety of other bloggers not afraid of Tropper and seeing through his nutty EJF scheme keep up a barrage of blogging against Tropper.
The UOJ blog has dealt with the Tropper fraud phenomenon for a few years by circulatinh his name.
The Chabad chosid and controversial anti-Charedi blogger "Failed Messiah" has been on Tropper's trail for a while and has the most comprehensive collection of material and comments about Tropper and his associates as a Google search of his blog shows.
The FM has had some scathing things of his own to say about Tropper, EJF, Eisenstein and more, and what's even more interesting is what some of his frank free-wheeling posters have to say, and it's all tough and depressing reading if you have the stomach for it, it's worth it, for the in-depth coverage it offers albeit from FM's own hardcore disdain of Charedim. But from the "thesis-antithesis" ying-and-yang of the FM's blog versus Tropper's and Eisenstein's doings and goings on, a very torrid and sorry picture emerges. The following are just examples, and there is lots more:
"The Secret Agreement Behind The RCA-Rabbinate Conversion Deal – Rabbis Whose Synagogues Have Womens Prayer Groups May Not Sit As Conversion Judges: ..Eichenstein, Tropper & Co., working for Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and other haredi gedolim, hoped to completely destroy the RCA through denying all RCA converts Jewish status."
Tropper is hit by the "Failed Messiah" blog.
ReplyDelete"Haredi Spokesman Attacks Former Chief Rabbi, Defends Haredi Rabbi Who Voided Woman's Conversion 15 Years After The Fact – Endorses Haredi Organization Linked To Bait-And-Switch Conversion Tactics
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblum has done a despicable thing..Rabbi Rosenblum discusses with approval the work of the Monsey-based haredi group, Eternal Jewish Family. EJF, founded and run by Rabbi Leib Tropper, is a major player in the haredi move to control the conversion process worldwide. Rabbi Tropper, who is also the founder and rosh yeshiva of Kol Yakov, a Monsey-based haredi ba'al teshuva yeshiva, is a controversial figure. Rabbi Tropper has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics to lure potential converts from intermarried families. In one southern city, Rabbi Tropper promised potential converts that a mikva would be built and a shul opened – no one would need to move to Monsey or another Orthodox enclave. But, when the time for conversion neared, no mikva existed and no synagogue functioned. The promised rabbi Tropper was to send had not arrived. Then, Rabbi Tropper dropped a bombshell. These potential converts, all serious, all had studied for more than a year, would have to move from the southern United States to Monsey, New York – or their conversions were off. Rabbi Tropper told me these converts confused his hopes with promises. But in email correspondence shared with me, Rabbi Tropper admits in part to misleading these poor people.."
"Did the RCA Give In To Haredi Pressure On Conversions?Eternal Jewish Family's leader – Rabbi Leib Tropper – and Rabbi Eisenstein are very close. They work closely together and share the same basic worldview. Rabbi Tropper, in fact, was a leading
player in getting the so-called gedolim to ban Rabbi Slifkin and his books. And Rabbi Tropper has done worse than that, things that should make the RCA stay far away from him. Instead, ignorant and, one could argue, willfully blind, they draw close to him, convinced he means well when it is already clear that he does not."
"Failed Messiah" blog's untiring revelations of Troppper's tactics
ReplyDelete"Eternal Jewish Family To Tighten Grip On Conversion In North America?: Eternal Jewish Family is a haredi-run Monsey, New York-based organization that seeks to standardize conversions worldwide. EJF is headed by Rabbi Leib Tropper, a controversial haredi "outreach professional" who is also the rosh yeshiva of Kol Yakov, a ba'al teshuva yeshiva in Monsey. Rabbi Tropper and EJF work hand-in-hand with Rabbi Nochum Eisenstein, chairman of the Israel-based haredi Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur, whose goal's Rabbi Tropper shares. For his part, Rabbi Eisenstein is a close confidant of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the so-called gadol hador, the preëminent leader in the haredi community worldwide.
Rabbi Tropper has been accused in the past of using bait-and-switch tactics to ensnare potential converts, and of using deception and outright lies to keep them on board. Sometimes Rabbi Tropper's bunko tactics fail him. What happens then?
Rabbi Tropper has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics to lure potential converts from intermarried families. In one southern city, Rabbi Tropper promised potential converts that a mikva would be built and a shul opened – no one would need to move to Monsey or another Orthodox enclave. But, when the time for conversion neared, no mikva existed and no synagogue functioned. The promised rabbi Tropper was to send had not arrived. Then, Rabbi Tropper dropped a bombshell. These potential converts, all serious, all had studied for more than a year, would have to move from the southern United States to Monsey, New York – or their conversions were off.
Rabbi Tropper told me these converts confused his hopes with promises. But in email correspondence shared with me, Rabbi Tropper admits in part to misleading these poor people.
"Eternal Jewish Family Joins Fight Against Religious Zionist Conversions: Rabbi Leib Tropper convened a meeting in Jerusalem to fight against moderate Orthodox conversions – especially…conversions done by Israel's Conversion Authority and its head, Rabbi Haim Druckman. Yeshiva World reports: Gedolei Yisroel at Special Meeting: No Compromise on “Kabolas Ohl Mitzvos” of Converts June 11, 2008..4. Tropper's statement made in the name of "Gedolei Yisrael" that "conversions can only be performed in established batei din and not batei din that are set up for the purpose of doing giyur and whose conversion must be redone, is a clear call to void all conversions done by Israel's Conversion Authority and Rabbi Druckman. At the same time, Tropper's statement can be read as an attack on the Rabbinical Council of America's new conversion court system. 5. The EJF press release was written by Lubicom – Menachem Lubinsky's PR group.."
Tropper's meddling and trouble making in the most sensitive and delicate or religious matters know no bounds or barriers. How'd you like your local math tutor, or lawn scaper, doing brain surgery on you? You don't have to like the "Failed Messiah" but his blog says lots of things that are too frighteningly true!
Jewcy's expose of Tropper.
ReplyDelete"Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis Are Reversing Conversions By the Fistful: IN JUNE 2006, ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Leib Tropper nullified a conversion over a year after supervising it himself. He decided that the convert, whom we will call “Sarah,” had become a Jew under “false Pretext [sic].” Rabbi Tropper informed Sarah’s husband, “Avraham,” that his wife’s conversion had been registered as nullified with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and that the child produced by their marriage would not be regarded as Jewish, either. Finally, Rabbi Tropper declared that it was “forbidden” for Avraham to be married to Sarah. “Even if she decides to become observant,” Rabbi Tropper wrote via email, “she will need a new conversion,” and the couple would require a “new halachic marriage.”
and:
"Haredi's Most Wanted: The 5 Worst Offenders: Rabbi Leib Tropper Age: 57 or 58 Last Seen: Revoking his own conversions. A follower of Elyashiv, Tropper heads EJF, which seeks to convert non-Jewish spouses of mixed marriages to ultra-Orthodox Judaism—while at the same time marginalizing Orthodox rabbis who don’t march to Rabbi Elyashiv’s tune. Originally a North American organization, EJF is slated to have a couples seminar this November in Israel. Tropper told potential converts already in the conversion process with Modern Orthodox rabbis that they should move their conversions to EJF to “ensure” acceptance by Israel’s state rabbinate. Like Elyashiv’s Israeli acolytes, Tropper has also revoked at least one conversion. Tropper (together with another haredi rabbi, Leib Pinter, who is now on trial for his alleged role in a $44 million mortgage fraud) is said to have spearheaded the 2004 ban against the Zoo Rabbi, Natan Slifkin, and his books. Slifkin’s “crimes”? Following the lead of medieval rabbis and modern savants like Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Slifkin wrote that the scientific and medical opinions of ancient Jewish sages may have been in error. He also attempted to show that the opening chapters of Genesis can jibe with a universe far older than the 5768 years Orthodoxy commonly holds. Both positions are frequently held by Modern Orthodox rabbis, and were—before the ban—a mainstay of the ultra-Orthodox kiruv movement. (The kiruv movement is, in effect, made up of ultra-Orthodox missionaries out to “convert” Jews to ultra-Orthodoxy. Its main players internationally are Aish HaTorah and Ohr Somayach. Chabad functions in a similar fashion, but has been opposed to anything but a literal understanding of Genesis from the get go.) The ban against Slifkin was signed by dozens of ultra-Orthodox rabbis. Who was the lead signatory? The Gadol Hador, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv."
Not pretty reading, but then again anything to do with Tropper and EJF is not a pretty subject.
(IsraelNN.com) Former President of Argentina Carlos Menem was charged Thursday with obstructing justice in an investigation into the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires.
ReplyDeleteMenem, 78, served as president of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is accused of covering up the possible involvement of an Argentine businessman of Syrian origin like Menem. Menem's brother Munir is a suspect in the case as well.
Menem appeared in court in connection with the alleged cover-up in March. At the time, he refused to respond to the prosecution's questions.
Eighty-five people were murdered in the AMIA bombing, and hundreds more were wounded. Two years earlier, a bombing at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people.
The bombing remains unsolved to this day. Argentinean investigators have accused Iran of directing the bombing, and in 2007 obtained international arrest warrants for several Iranians. In response, Iranian officials accused Argentina of carrying out the bombing in order to implicate Iran.
Menem has faced charges before for alleged corruption during his term as Argentina's president. He has been accused of exporting arms to Ecuador and Croatia in the 1990s, and of planning a 1995 explosion at a munitions plant in order to cover up the illegal sales. He has also been charged with taking bribes and embezzling funds.
That sounds either dumb or cunning of Gil Student to dictate which countries the Badatz can rule in halacha.
ReplyDeleteThere were bozo rabbis even in the time of the Achronim who made similar arguments for ulterior motives. They were slammed in public letters at the time by the gedolei hador who pointed out that Torah does not know geographic boundaries.
Harry Maryles is in error when he says that Eisenstein is presenting himself as Rav Elyashev's right hand man. It is Yosef Efrati that is best known for that.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's interesting that even the Badatz does not consider the modern rabbis to be kofrim as Eisenstein does but rather non-kofrim who happen to hold some heretical views without realizing it.
Maryles meanwhile has no business downplaying the woman wearing pants and no head covering. While it may not be a reason to revoke a conversion, it is certainly a reason not to grant one.
As far as I know, Maryles is just a businessman who happens to have semicha. Who makes him some big authority to weigh in these matters?
Stop pasting that skewered garbage from Failed Messiah and David Kelsey's Jewcy.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's good that they are giving a pounding to Tropper, they are trying to take down all of frumkeit with him.
Tropper has never produced anything in writing from Rav Elyashev and had to take down haskomos from various rabbonim on his website after complaints from R' Elya Ber Wachtfogel and others that they never agreed with EJF.
Bloggers from left, right and center of Orthodoxy, and some from beyondhammer away at Tropper while he and Eisenstein retreat into their online EJF bunkers.
ReplyDelete(Correction: the "Failed Messiah" blogger is a self-declared lapsed Chabad chosid.)
Rabbi Gil Student of the Hirhurim blog, like Rabbi Harry Maryless of the Haemtza Emes Ve-Emunah blog, remains upfront and honest in his agreement with Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn of the Daat Torah blog: "More Conversion Developments: The following letter was disseminated by the Badatz (religious court) of the Edah Charedis of Jerusalem, a very right-wing but influential and respected group of scholars. I don't know where they receive their information about what will lead to more intermarriage on a different continent and am therefore skeptical whether they have any right to issue a ruling on this matter, especially since no one asked them. But since they are delegitimizing the Eternal Jewish Family organization, that itself is trying to delegitimize Modern Orthodox rabbis (I, II ), I see the turnabout as a welcome development." {He then posts the original and translation of the official letter from the BATS taken from Rabbi Eidensohn's blog, in a sign of total agreement when it comes to opposition to Tropper and EJF: Bedatz letter regarding conversion and Bedatz letter regarding conversion Rav Sternbuch, shlita approved translation by Daniel Eidensohn}.
Not to be outdone, both Tropper and Eisenstein have used their own blogs or host sites to launch their own counter-attacks, that only dig them into deeper holes as they reveal the truth of the opposition to them and to why they frighten the heck out of a wide spectrum of bloggers, meaning in this case real life Orthodox and Charedi rabbis and concerned Jews.
Eisenstein's private blog to attack the world that conscripts Tropper and EJF.
ReplyDeleteThe chareidi.shemayisrael.com Deiah Vedibur site hosts a VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR segment to promote the views of Eisenstein and naturally Tropper and EJF are in it and praised to high heavne often enough. A latest post confirms that it is still at war with the MO RCA rabbis:
"American RCA "Converts" Loyal Christian: Rabbis from the US-based Rabbinical Council of America have "converted" to Judaism a woman who openly declared her loyalty to Christian beliefs.
Just over six months ago the woman, who was engaged to an assimilated Jew, took her first exam on the way to conversion. When asked about her belief in the holy Torah and the Jewish religion she unambiguously replied that she believes in Judaism "but also in the New Testament." Despite this, the Rabbis went ahead with her conversion.
Three months ago the conversion candidate in question, who studies at a university in northern New Jersey, was on her winter break. According to testimonials that even reached the rabbis in charge of her conversion at the time, she took part in Christmas celebrations with her Christian parents and family.
When she contacted the head of the RCA beis din, he appointed to his bench two rabbis involved in wholesale conversions, setting up a "special beis din" to convert her. These rabbis are sadly well-known in the American Torah world for their compromising approach to halacha. They have converted dozens of non-Jews without examining their real intent, thereby increasing the threat of assimilation spreading throughout the US.
Spokesmen for Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Giyur founded by HaRav Chaim Kreiswirth zt"l and Eternal Jewish Family expressed astonishment over the shamelessness of converting someone who did not conceal her loyalty to Christianity.
In another development, the RCA granted a problematic rabbi from their ranks permission to perform conversions. This rabbi is well-known in the US for allowing low mechitzos in botei knesses, Torah readings in women's minyanim and he even advised appointing a woman posek in every shul "to avoid discriminating against women."
When this rabbi became involved in conversions a few years ago, chareidi rabbonim in the US came out against him, saying his conversions cannot be relied on at all. Nevertheless the RCA has now given him permission to perform conversions.
Eternal Jewish Family is voicing grave concerns over the RCA's conduct and has reiterated calls by gedolei Yisroel zt"l vylct"a not to perform false or dubious conversions that lack legitimate oversight and raze the walls of Kerem Beis Yisroel.
The Israeli Chief Rabbinate sent a letter to the U.S. stating that it does not recognize these conversions.
According to reports, the RCA has been disseminating misleading information on rabbonim approved by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate to perform conversions outside of Israel, creating the false impression that certain rabbonim are authorized to perform conversions though their names have never appeared on the list of approved conversion rabbis."
These guys just love fighting with other Jews, but what are they going to do when their backers tell them to get lost, like Guma Aguiar who, crazy as it may sound, was both of a gentile father and married to a gentile woman and having kids with her, when he was supporting them to the hilt, while they kept it a secret, all the better to to "accuse" the world of lax standards while they kept their dirty hypocritical secrets about Guma Aguiar hidden in the scarily dark EJF skeleton closet.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House went on record Thursday against allowing detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to be transferred to the United States, even to face trial or to be jailed in maximum-security prisons.
ReplyDeleteThe 258-163 vote on a nonbinding recommendation put Democrats controlling the House in a difficult spot and prompted senior lawmakers to postpone unveiling a House-Senate agreement on a homeland security funding bill.
If such a ban were to become law, the Obama administration would be hard-pressed to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January as Obama has promised.
Eighty-eight Democrats broke with Obama and House leaders on the nonbinding recommendation, an ominous sign for future votes. It would be difficult for lawmakers to change their positions without drawing withering criticism from political adversaries.
"Who makes him (Maryles) some big authority to weigh in these matters?"
ReplyDeleteBlogger Yossi Izrael once summed it up that Maryles probably stays up all night thinking what to write on his blog.
Tropper's blogs, too little too late.
ReplyDelete(Observation: Rabbis Harry Maryles and Gil Student run much respected blogs that serve as both news sources and opinion outlets that reflect the Modern Orthodox and Centrist outlook for hundreds of thousands of such Jews. They are reporting, describing and explaining what is happening. They do not decide Jewish law. No one said that they are. They are expressing opinions of people and subjects, as they are reflective of the way the Modern Orthodox world and the RCA view these matters without being tied to particular party lines. It is as bloggers that they have credibility, and if that credibility agrees with Charedi bloggers like Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn based on the rulings of Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, and all the other rabbis on the Eidah Hachreidis Beth Din, on the matter of EJF and Rabbi Tropper, then all the more so are their views reliable barometers of MO and RCA opinion. But the issues are far broader than that.)
In the meantime, Tropper has not let the grass grow under his feet and as a sign that he obviously takes bloggers who oppose him and EJF very seriously, he has launched not one but two blogs to counter attack his detractors which he has not had much success with so far because it comes across as more self-laudatory and self-praising commentary.
He has even resorted to a ruthless mercenary slasher blogger, who trolls and flames away in classical Internet trolling and flaming wars, known as "Roni" on Rabbi Eidensohn's Daat Torah blog to defend Tropper and EJF at all costs, even when facts and Jewish law as expressed by Rabbi Eidensohn and based on Rabbi Strenbuch prove them 100% wrong.
So there is, in addition to Tropper's sites for kol yaakov yeshiva and horizons and the EJF sites, also two blogs now: rabbileibtropper.com where he raises many issues often quite controversial but there is no talk back allowed, like in all good dictatorships, and a low-functioning blog for EJF at eternallyjewish.com that seems to be on life support all the time.
Tropper knows that the Internet is important to his cause, mainly it's about self-promotion in the end, but he has lost the online war already, as all the above examples show the cat is out of the bag and his true colors have been revealed, and little can be salvaged by him posting self-praising comments on his own blogs, that function as another form of PR rather than as impartial and critical takes on his shady and tough dealings.
By JAMES TARANTO
ReplyDeleteRoman Polanski - famous movie director, infamous sex offender and fugitive from justice - was arrested in Switzerland on a 1978 American warrant. Here's the background, from London's Guardian:
Polanski was 44 and already a twice-Oscar-nominated director in March 1977 when he had sex with . . . a 13-year-old model he had hired for a photoshoot, at Jack Nicholson's house in Los Angeles. He has argued that the sex was consensual, saying the girl was "not unresponsive," though [she] said he drugged her with painkillers and champagne before carrying out a "very scary" assault.
The director pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse in a deal with prosecutors that saw them drop charges of rape, drugging and sodomy, which could have carried a life sentence, but fled the country in February 1978 when it became apparent that he was likely to serve time in prison.
Virtually the entire entertainment industry, along with a few journalists, has gone to work making excuses for Polanski. Some of those excuses are quite shocking. One line of argument actually ends up treating the fact that the victim was only 13 as if it were a mitigating factor.
"I know it wasn't rape-rape," the Guardian quotes entertainer Whoopi Goldberg as saying. "It was something else but I don't believe it was rape-rape. He went to jail and when they let him out he was like, 'You know what, this guy's going to give me a hundred years in jail. I'm not staying.' So that's why he left." The Associated Press quotes Debra Tate, sister of Polanski's second wife, Sharon Tate, who "says Polanski did not forcibly have sex with the girl, calling it a 'consensual matter.' "
Again, the girl was 13, far below the age of consent. As a matter of law, it could not have been a "consensual matter." It is true that the use of force is not a necessary element of statutory rape, the crime to which Polanski pleaded guilty before fleeing the country to escape the consequences of his guilt. It does not follow from this, however, that the crime did not involve violence.
The victim's grand-jury testimony was unsealed a few years ago and posted on The Smoking Gun. Her description of the encounter is consistent with forcible rape, or "rape-rape" in Goldberg's ugly formulation. The victim testified that Polanski gave her champagne and methaqualone, a sedative popularly known as Quaaludes that was often used recreationally in the 1970s. She testified that despite being under the influence of these substances, she said "no" at each stage of the sexual encounter: when he kissed her, when he placed his mouth on her genitals (or, as she put it in a heartbreaking malapropism, when "he started performing cuddliness"), when he performed intercourse, and when he sodomized her.
In a similar case involving an adult victim, the rape charge might have been plea-bargained down to assault or reckless endangerment--lesser but still violent crimes. Sex with a child is so grievously wrong that it is a crime even when it doesn't involve violence. It is a perversion of logic to minimize Polanski's crime merely because the victim was young enough that she could have been raped without force.
ReplyDeleteThe other contender for most twisted Polanski defense comes from the Washington Post's Anne Applebaum, in a Web post titled "The Outrageous Arrest of Roman Polanski":
He can be blamed, it is true, for his original, panicky decision to flee. But for this decision I see mitigating circumstances, not least an understandable fear of irrational punishment. Polanski's mother died in Auschwitz. His father survived Mauthausen. He himself survived the Krakow ghetto, and later emigrated from communist Poland.
To cite the Holocaust as an excuse just seems obscene. Hitler has a lot to answer for, but all his crimes were committed long before 1977.
Applebaum raises another familiar pro-Polanski talking point:
The girl, now 45, has said more than once that she forgives him, that she can live with the memory, that she does not want him to be put back in court or in jail, and that a new trial will hurt her husband and children.
One can certainly sympathize with the victim's desire to be done with this--especially since some of Polanski's defenders are casting aspersions on her in order to make their man look less culpable. (Although her name has been made public, we've left it out of this item as a small, if futile, gesture of decency.) After Polanski is extradited, the judge should take the victim's views into account in pronouncing sentence. But America does not practice vigilante justice. Victims have the power neither to mete out punishment nor to grant clemency. Further, Polanski's flight from justice is a separate matter. If he is convicted, it is a crime against the state, not against any individual.
It must also be said that the victim's ordeal would have been over decades ago if Polanski had stayed to face his punishment. It would be unjust to reward him for prolonging her plight even if it is what she now says she wants.
According to a comment on Failed Messiah, the victim of Jack Porter is a certain blogress who once appeared on Oprah.
ReplyDeleteShmarya addresses the comment but does not dispute that contention.
The person making that shocking revealation attacks the blogress by insinuating that Porter merely tried getting romantic but that she is incapable of appreciating it. He says that the judge refused Porter to allow evidence of that infamous Oprah appearance, vehamayvin yovin.
Oh come on now.
ReplyDeleteThe RCA has very problematic rabbis who were doing sham conversions. The RCA leadership themselves know it and the only credit you can give Tropper is for being the fire under their behinds to finally rein them in, which they did.
The problem remains that Tropper wants to stop pretty much the entire RCA.
Gil Student's hashkafot were once compared here to trying to nail Jello to the wall. You can never get a definitive answer out of him because he is profit driven to appease all sides. He publishes fringe RCA rabbi Michael Broyde, a king of suspicious conversions, while at the same time not wanting to get right wing orthodox angry at him.
Oh, you mean that Jewish woman who claimed her family were engaged in Satanic human sacrifices!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,182549,00.html
ReplyDeleteWell at least we know now that Jack Porter has a preference for well-proportioned women.
Maybe this anti-Tropper guy can tell us if Tropper will be making a cameo appearance in the new season of Mad Men on AMC.
ReplyDeleteJakub Porter was born to Poilishe partisan parents in the Ukraine at the end of WWII and moved to Milwaukee a number of years later.
ReplyDeleteHe claims to have "orthodox" semicha but in Riverdale there are plenty of lowlives who vaguely if at all fit that description like Avi Weiss and Yitz Greenberg. The head of the freye yeshiva he attended is a YU grad although he is hardly frum anymore.
(CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama has been steadfast in his pledge that he won't raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. But that doesn't mean only high-income households will be subject to higher taxes.
ReplyDeleteAn increasing number of influential Democrats and fiscal-policy experts have signaled that lawmakers will have to get a handle on the deficit. And they recommend seriously considering the creation of a value-added tax (VAT) on top of the federal income tax.
That could mean more money out of everyone's pockets when buying virtually anything -- sweaters, school books, furniture, pottery classes, dinners out.
A VAT is tax on consumption similar to a national sales tax. But it's not just paid at the cash register. It's levied at every stage of production. So all businesses involved in making a product or performing a service would pay a VAT. And then the end-user -- such as the retail customer -- ponies up as well.
David Letterman reveals $2M sex affair extortion plot; CBS News producer Robert Halderman busted
ReplyDeleteBY Richard Huff, George Rush and Samuel Goldsmith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, October 2nd 2009
A top CBS News producer was busted Thursday for trying to shake down David Letterman - threatening to expose the late-night funnyman's affairs with several female staffers in a movie and book.
The "Late Show" host revealed the stunning plot on last night's show in an extraordinary confession to viewers - and admitted he had indeed slept with several women who work at the show.
He went on to explain that a man identified by police as Robert Halderman, a 51-year-old Emmy Award-winning producer, found out that he was sleeping with several staff members.
Halderman allegedly threatened to expose the 62-year-old Letterman, who married his girlfriend, Regina Lasko, of 23 years in March, unless he forked over a staggering $2 million.
"This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," Letterman told viewers. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury.
"Now of course we get to what was it was - we get to all the creepy stuff," Letterman said, taking a more serious tone.
"I have had sex with women who work for me on this show."
"Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would - especially for the women," he joked.
"But that's a decision for them, if they want to go public and talk.
Halderman, who was being held on attempted grand larceny charges, has directed dozens of "48 Hours" documentaries, from the Winter Olympics to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
A "Late Show" staffer, 31-year-old Stephanie Birkitt, once lived with Halderman, according to public records.
Letterman said the shakedown started three weeks ago - when he found a package in his car.
"I don't usually receive packages at 6 in the morning in the backseat of my car," he joked.
"So I get to looking through it, and there's letters in the package and it says, 'I know that you do some terrible, terrible things, and I can prove that you do those terrible things.'
"And sure enough, there was some stuff in the pages that proved I did those terrible things," he said.
Letterman called his lawyer, and the two men set up a meeting with Halderman, who told them he was dead serious.
Letterman and his lawyer called the Manhattan district attorney's office, "And we say, 'Can we run a couple of things by you guys?'
"So we took the stuff down there and they said, 'Well, hello, this is blackmail,'" he said. The lawyer set up two subsequent meetings and gave Halderman a phony check for $2 million.
Ha'aretz
ReplyDeleteIsraelis seeking compensation from an American suspected of real estate fraud complained this week that police are not doing enough to investigate allegations against the man, who is implicated in forgery, withholding payment and libel.
Despite numerous fraud complaints and lawsuits in civil court against him, American businessman Abraham Enden from New York visited Israel this week, without being called in for questioning, say complainants.
Police and the courts are processing at least six different complaints against Enden, an ultra-Orthodox man in his fifties who specializes in locating heirs in the U.S. and the U.K. to property in Israel. The lawsuits and probes are all pending. Enden has not been convicted of wrongdoing and denies all the allegations made against him.
The police's border control unit said Enden was allowed to enter and leave Israel because no warrant for his detention has been issued, while a spokesperson for the police's fraud squad confirmed the unit is looking into Enden's actions, but would not elaborate.
Documents obtained by Anglo File suggest Enden presents himself as a rabbi, but Enden - in a telephone call this week - refused to answer questions about his rabbinic status.
One of the people who consider themselves a victim of Enden's actions is Peter Revers from the U.K., who last year hired Enden to sell property in Israel that Revers had inherited. Revers said Enden sold the property for a higher price than the one stated in the deed of sale, and then skimmed the difference.
"After the Custodian General released the money gained from the sale of the property which Peter Revers was entitled to inherit, the money was illegally taken out of the country by Enden," alleged Peter Revers' lawyer in Israel, Amir Goldfarb.
"The fact that Enden can come in and out of Israel despite such allegations casts a question mark on the police's determination to deal with this complex case involving a U.S. citizen," said one complainant against Enden, who spoke on condition of anonymity lest he "antagonize the police."
Tzipora Herzlich, an attorney from Tel Aviv who had represented Enden, this year complained to police that Enden had filed an allegedly falsified document giving him power of attorney for the sale of an asset in the center of the country.
Another complaint against Enden came from a law firm in Tel Aviv acting on behalf of Ruth Jacobson, a now-deceased elderly Jewish South African woman who lived in California. The law firm's attorneys claim that Enden interfered with deals to sell the dead woman's property.
Eli Shabo, a contractor from Afula, told Anglo File that Enden owed him money which he refused to pay for services rendered in two land deals - one for the Pikus family from Manhattan and the other for the Pinkus family in upstate New York - in which Enden was involved.
An attorney from Tel Aviv who represents foreign asset holders and who is familiar with Enden's case, says that Enden uses a network of contacts - called "sniffers" - who tell him about unclaimed property and inheritances in Israel. Other contacts in the U.S. and the U.K. help him track down inheritors, whom he then asks for a power of attorney to handle the assets' sale for a fee, said the attorney.
ReplyDeleteContacted by Anglo File on his Israeli telephone yesterday, Enden flatly denied all the allegations against him, adding: "Anything you write will be false." Enden then said he did not want to discuss the matter before hanging up the phone.
"Throw a pebble in the Israeli real estate market, and you will hit someone who's been stung by Enden," says the Tel Aviv attorney, who has represented people who say they have been cheated by Enden. The Brooklyn businessman, says the attorney, has a history of not paying associates and alleged accomplices.
"Enden repeatedly refuses to pay people who locate assets for him," says the attorney from Tel Aviv. "Then he does not pay the people for whom he sells the property. Then he does not pay lawyers whose services he required in facilitating transactions. Finally, perhaps the tax authorities in the U.S. or Israel need to ask themselves whether he pays them."
Two veteran lawyers from Tel Aviv, who represented Enden until he had a falling out with them over payment of fees they say they are owed, say that Enden makes use of his religious affiliation to gain the trust of Americans with Jewish roots.
"One cannot overstate the effect that Enden, who is a charming and charismatic man who portrays himself as a rabbi, has on people with distant Jewish roots in the U.S.," said one of the lawyers, who asked that his name be withheld.
His fellow lawyer added that Enden - who speaks fluent Hebrew after living in Israel for a period and whose two sons live in Israel - "fully exploits" the fact that some foreign inheritors "think of Israel as a strip of desert with camels, Jews and Arabs and cannot imagine that even undeveloped lots here can cost millions of dollars."
A Calabrian etrog tragedy
ReplyDeleteMatthew Wagner • THE JERUSALEM POST
This year Moshe, a resident of Kfar Chabad, wanted to play by the rules. Instead of smuggling as he had done in previous years he wanted to go legit.
Moshe is an importer of the "Yanova etrog" an expensive variety of citron grown in Calabria, a region on the southwestern tip of Italy.
This fruit is sought after by members of the Chabad-Lubavitch hassidic movement, for use in the religious festivities during Succot.
But according to Moshe, who used a fictitious name to protect his identity, his attempt to behave lawfully backfired.
"My entire shipment of etrogim was ruined by Agriculture Ministry officials last Thursday," Moshe said this week.
"The shipment arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport where it was inspected by officials from the Agriculture Ministry and then they sprayed it with some kind of pesticide. A few hours later the etrogim started rotting.
"I lost everything, everything.
"I think they did it on purpose to protect local growers from competition."
The ministry said in response that "the State of Israel does not normally permit imports of citrus fruits due to various pests, insects and diseases.
"In an unusual move, this year the Agriculture Ministry permitted the import of etrogim from Calabria out of consideration for the desires of the public. To allow this import, however, the Agriculture Ministry's plant protection agency must prevent contamination.
"The etrogim that are imported are inspected upon arrival and undergo a fumigation treatment. This treatment is administered carefully and has been proven to cause no damage to fruit. All the etrogs were treated in this way."
The ministry spokeswoman said that she was not aware of any case in which a shipment of etrogim was destroyed.
"Without receiving shipment details we have no way of providing more specific information. However, any shipment found to be contaminated is either returned to its source or destroyed immediately."
The type of etrog grown in Calabria has a long history. Chabad in particular go to great lengths to obtain the fruit, which is sold in the US for about $150 each and in Israel for slightly less.
The founder of Chabad, Rabbi Schneer Zalman of Ladi, claimed that the etrog from Calabria was the one used by Moses the very first time the holiday was celebrated in the desert.
The last rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was careful to use only etrogim from Calabria.
Part of the reason for the fruit's popularity is the long tradition from generation to generation of supervision that has ensured that the fruit was never grafted with a lemon.
The Yanova etrog was commonly obtained by Jews in the Italian port city of Genoa as early as the Middle Ages.
Every year in the summer a delegation of rabbis who provide supervision during the picking of the fruit arrive in Santa Maria Del Cedro, a town in Calabria. The name means "Saint Mary of the Citron."
Moshe, meanwhile, has learned a lesson from his ordeal, which has caused him a financial loss of thousands of dollars.
"Next year I am not going to be a good boy. Like everybody else, I will smuggle the etrogim into Israel in suitcases and sell them in the black market. This proves that when you try to play by the rules you get burned."
Is that one of the Gerrorist Endens?
ReplyDeletehttp://gazetteonline.com/breaking-news/2009/10/01/friends-of-sholom-ad-aggravates-agriprocessors-trial-judge
ReplyDeleteThe Federal judge trying my shvogger Sholom Rubashkin must be reading the blogs and is disgusted by Shmarya's shnorring as much as everyone else. She has ruled that no one may blog from the courtroom which precludes Shmarya's excuse to shnorr a new laptop.
Shmarya thinks he's some major sleuth this morning for Googling the address of who placed a newspaper ad defending Rubashkin, that also angered the judge.
It of course was revealed that my son Levi Balkany was behind it.
I hope UOJ or Yudel don't dig up that the ad was paid for through the appeals of Pinny Lipschutz and the Novominsker or all hell will break loose.
At least we'll be able to declare a mistrial because of the ad.
There are more Arabs among them than people realize. These aren't just Mexican gardeners.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/us/politics/02immig.html
Although President Obama has put off an immigration overhaul until next year, the federal agency in charge of approving visas is planning ahead for the possibility of giving legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, the agency’s director said Thursday.
“We are under way to prepare for that,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the director of the agency, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in an interview.
Currently, the citizenship agency can handle applications from about six million immigrants a year, Mr. Mayorkas said, including the time-consuming collection of fingerprints and other biometric identity information. Under some plans for legalization, the agency might receive that many applications in a few weeks.
I think Levi Balkany is lying.
ReplyDeleteThe ad states that Rubashkin was the only one from 29 companies raided to get criminal charges instead of civil charges. Some of the others definitely have either criminal charges or continuing investigations into laying charges.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airdog26-pg,0,7429694.photogallery
ReplyDeleteThe Lubavs in Los Angeles can forget about Yanover smuggling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/nyregion/02escape.html
ReplyDeleteA well-dressed prisoner who escaped from the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse Wednesday morning after he was mistaken for a lawyer was arrested Thursday night as he was stepping off a bus in Upper Manhattan, the police said.
The escapee, Ronald Tackman, was near a friend’s house when he was caught on 175th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights just before 9 p.m., the police said.
Those officers and others will face disciplinary action after an investigation into the escape is complete, said Stephen J. Morello, a department spokesman, who declined to comment on specific failures in the officers’ performances. The reassignments were made on Wednesday evening.
The escape was considered a “systemic failure” and has prompted a review of security procedures and staffing levels in all city jails, Mr. Morello said.
As an added security measure, beginning on Friday, all 69 inmates at Rikers Island who require special monitoring because they are considered escape risks are to be outfitted in bright orange jumpsuits whenever they travel from the jail to court, Mr. Morello said.
Mr. Tackman, 56, who was dressed in a three-piece suit, somehow slipped out of a gated corridor on the 12th floor of the courthouse on Centre Street. He walked down a flight of stairs to the holding area of an 11th-floor courtroom, where a court officer accepted his word that he was a lawyer. Then he walked out the courtroom door and left the building.
Rabbi Margulies is very concerned this morning and had me contact the Dept of Corrections for further information on the girth of Ronald Tackman. Balkany had promised Rabbi Margulies that the only brand new size 75xx jumpsuit in the gemach would be reserved for him.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little hard getting the information needed as prisoner privacy rules preclude the Dept from telling us if Tackman is also a baal bassar.
COPENHAGEN (AP) Chicago is eliminated in first round of voting for the 2016 Olympics.
ReplyDeleteHave Your Carpet Professionally swept under
ReplyDeleteRemove ghastly abuse with high quality carpet sweeping.
VisitHere
http://junderpags.com/t/c/948/t1/bz8997.html
It looks like Shmarya is facing his first lawsuit with Jack Porter threatening to sue him for defamation.
ReplyDeleteEven Shmarya's anti-orthodox supporters are pissed at him seeing this as a guy who tried getting romantic with the nutty Baltimore woman and now faces her ruining his life because he put his arm around her and squeezed her tush or something like that. They are both not frum and this is normal behavior unless you are writing a blog in Baltimore that sees half the world as sexually deviant.
If Shmarya keeps being a stubborn tuchess about it he might have marshalls confiscate his only possession, the 386 computer that he blogs from. The bottom line is that Porter received "probation before judgment" which means he will probably never have a criminal record.
It's a good thing that Shmarya is such a star dectective and holding the moral high ground for all us lost souls.
ReplyDeleteHe just found out that Balkany donated small amounts of money to Republican election campaigns and plastered it on a blog post.
What would we do without Shmarya uncovering these hideous scandals?
Hey putz, don't you know that Arlen Specter betrayed the GOP and jumped to Obama and the Democraps?
This is why you think that the public owes it to you to buy you a new computer?
The 14-year-old missing girl has been found this morning safe in Jupiter, FL, by Jupiter Police Department.
ReplyDelete----
Boca Raton, FL - Police and Miami-Dade Shmira Patrol are requesting the publics help for a missing girl who was last seen Yom Kippur afternoon at 4:00 PM near the Boca Raton Synagogue
14-year-old, red head, Rose Hoffman was last seen riding a red 10-speed bike near the shul yesterday afternoon, wearing a white V neck t-shirt with blue shorts, black adidas with pink & green trim.
If you have any information or more details please contact Miami-Dade Shmira Patrol hot line at 305-999-3379
http://www.vosizneias.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/rose-missing.jpg
ReplyDeleteMaybe Rose Hoffman was trying to get away from Baruch Lanner who has moved to Boca and is being protected by a modern orthodox rabbi in town.
A rov in NY observed Lanner right before his move South acting very creepy around some kids.
Patrick Gaspard, considered one of the most powerful figures in the Obama White House, is a "longtime ACORN operative" and former union official, according to a report posted Monday on the American Spectator's online blog.
ReplyDeleteGaspard's name recently surfaced as the official President Obama dispatched to urge beleaguered New York Gov. David Paterson not to run for another term. Paterson insists he'll continue to run for governor even without Obama's support.
Gaspard has extensive ties to organized labor and community-organizing groups. One measure of his influence in the White House: He holds the same "political affairs director" title that belonged to Karl Rove during the Bush administration.
The Spectator's Matthew Vadum, a senior editor at the Capital Research Center think tank, reported that Gaspard was the New York political director for top ACORN official Bertha Lewis before 2003. Lewis is the CEO and "chief organizer" for ACORN, which is the subject of more than a dozen investigations for vote-registration fraud nationwide.
The House and Senate recently moved to cut off ACORN funding after a series of videos revealed the willingness of its staff to help establish a reputed child-prostitution ring based in San Salvador. Obama refused to support ending federal funding for ACORN, however, telling ABC: "It's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to."
Vadum cited the blog maintained by ACORN founder Wade Rathke, ChiefOrganizer.org, as his source for the Gaspard-ACORN link.
In May, Rathke described how officials of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) teamed up with HealthCare Reform Czar Nancy-Ann DeParle to pry big price concessions from private health firms.
Speaking of the advantage that comes from having powerful friends in high places, Rathke wrote: "Tell me that (Local) 1199’s former political director, Patrick Gaspard (who was ACORN New York’s political director before that) didn’t reach out from the White House and help make that happen, and I’ll tell you to take some remedial classes in 'politics 101.'"
The Spectator described Gaspard "ACORN's Man in the White House." It also reported that he was national field director in 2004 for American Coming Together (ACT), a get-out-the-vote organization.
The FEC hit ACT with a $775,000 fine for campaign-finance violations — one of the largest FEC fines ever — and it reportedly ceased operations in 2005.
Gaspard also worked for eight years for SEIU Local 1199, a hospital workers local, according to the Village Voice.
The Spectator report detailed what it calls the "fuzzy" line between the SEIU and ACORN.
Vadum reported that SEIU Local 880 and the SEIU Local 100 that Rathke heads are "part of the ACORN network of organizations."
He reported that the locals were listed as such on ACORN's Web site, buts the references recently were removed.
http://news.aol.com/article/recession-doesnt-hurt-international/695836
ReplyDelete(Oct. 1) -- In this job market, people will do some crazy things.
Say, for instance, flailing around with their clothes on fire, plunging 50 feet into an enormous air bag, or being catapulted through the air headfirst like a human missile.
He has even resorted to a ruthless mercenary slasher blogger, who trolls and flames away in classical Internet trolling and flaming wars, known as "Roni" on Rabbi Eidensohn's Daat Torah blog to defend Tropper and EJF at all costs, even when facts and Jewish law as expressed by Rabbi Eidensohn and based on Rabbi Strenbuch prove them 100% wrong.
ReplyDelete“Roni” is Tropper bicvodo ubatzmo. People know Tropper can recognize him in an instance. He even does not pretend to behave like he is someone else.
In another development, the RCA granted a problematic rabbi from their ranks permission to perform conversions. This rabbi is well-known in the US for allowing low mechitzos in botei knesses, Torah readings in women's minyanim and he even advised appointing a woman posek in every shul "to avoid discriminating against women."
ReplyDeleteThis is Rav Lokkstein , Tropper hates him with a a vengeance because of the mechitza in KJ and also Rav Lookstein’s beard is not up to Tropper’ high standards.
The RCA still does not realize that Tropper wants to burry them, look the letter the RCA’s fearless leader Basil Herring write to Tropper. Written like a sheep begging the wolf to eat her last.
From: Basil Herring
To: Rabbi Leib Tropper
Sent: Mon May 11 16:03:42 2009
Subject: RE: EJF - E-News - May 2009
Dear Rav Tropper:
This is a most helpful statement and clarification, and I thank you for issuing it. You are indeed a man of your word, and I look forward to the additional public clarifications, as discussed.
Kol tuv, and be’hatzlachah in all of your work on behalf of the Klal.
Basil Herring
Cynicism makes for terrible kiruv and even worse geirut, so stay away from this bunch of connivers:
ReplyDeleteNot only is the Gateways organizations on Tropper's and EJF's "recommended" list of Kiruv Organizations "Eternal Jewish Family - External Links"
There is a planned joint seminar in the works between Tropper's EJF and GATEWAYS:
EJF Student Shabbaton with Gateways Stamford, CT
10/16/2009 - 10/18/2009
A Shabbaton in conjunction with Gateways focusing on intermarriage prevention. The event will include 100 students, and staff from both organizations.
Call on anyone you know to protest and boycott the GATEWAYS organizations to stop them from exposing their students to Tropper's fanaticism and EJF's entrapment scams now enabled by "Gateways" !
Call, EMail and Fax the GATEWAYS people to protest their joint venture with Tropper/EJF:
From GATEWAYS: CONTACT US:
GATEWAYS Main Office
11 Wallenberg Circle, Monsey, NY 10952
Email: office@gatewaysonline.com
Phones:
800-722-3191
845-352-0393
Fax 845-352-0394
GATEWAYS Director of Operations
Rabbi Avrumy Jordan
845-352-0393 x108
GATEWAYS Public Relations Liason
Dr. Robyn Fischer
845-352-0393 x107
GATEWAYS: Director of Russian Programming
Rabbi Mordechai Tokarski
718-332-1506
GATEWAYS: Director of Collegiate Programming
Rabbi Reuven Ibragimov
1-800-742-2228
Director of Special Projects
Rabbi Yisroel Cherns
845-352-0393 x115
GATEWAYS: Event Registration
Ms. Tammi Lit
845-352-0393 x127
GATEWAYS: Webmaster
Mr. Danny Glix
845-290-8726