I’ve always said that the truth about abused children in Orthodox communities is going to come out.
I mean the WHOLE truth – not just about the children being used by molester rabbis and rebbeim, but the cover-ups by rabbis, politicians, Agudah, OU, Shafran, Schick, Rosenblum, etc., etc., etc…. The whole nasty, mind-blowing, covered-up truth.
And, my friends, it IS coming out – a little at a time. There’s already more out there than meets the eye. You just have to know where to look.
The first place you might want to look is the new book Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals (Brandeis University Press, 2009), edited by Dr. Amy Neustein.
For instance, did you notice that the Jewish Week’s FRONT PAGE story on charedi child abuse this week mentions Tempest in the Temple? . . . But I’ll bet writer Steve Lipman wasn’t allowed to tell you what the book shows about child-abuse cover-ups… and Brooklyn D.A. Charles “Joe” Hynes.
Or, did you notice this week’s Jewish Press? Most of you are probably so sick of that paper you may not have noticed that Tempest in the Temple got reviewed this week on page F2, and by none other than David Morris of Lema’an Achai (a truth-teller about child sex abuse in Ramat Beit Shemesh).
But here’s what I mean about the truth coming out – even in the charedi media! Here’s what Jewish Press/David Morris has to say about Tempest in its review this week:
[One] powerful narrative is “The Fugitive and the Forgotten” by Michael Lesher . . . in which he describes his role in the case of alleged multiple child attacker, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz. . . . In spite of some 25 years of stalling by various authorities in the US and Israel . . . Mondrowitz was finally arrested in Israel in 2007 and is now in custody pending extradition to the US.
Neustein and Lesher’s “Justice Interrupted” reviews the case of Rabbi Solomon Hafner who was “cleared” of abuse charges by the Bobov Bet Din (religious court) while the alleged victim was chased out of town. They also explore the Mondrowitz case and that of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko. In all three cases, the DA, Charles “Joe” Hynes seems to have participated in whitewashing, or obfuscating, due apparently to political considerations.
Yes, it’s all true… And that’s only the rough outline!
Read the book and see how bad it really is.
Michael Lesher’s role in these cases is not news, but in these chapters, he (with Amy Neustein in “Justice Interrupted”) lays out in detail the way rabbis, the “gedolim” and the criminal authorities are trying to fool us into believing they really care about child abuse. (Just think “Kol Tzedek” – and keep a straight face if you can.)
Here are a few points to be learned from just those two chapters in Tempest:
· D.A. Hynes’ office deliberately buried the Mondrowitz case in September 1993 by telling federal authorities to stop attempts to bring him back from Israel.
· Lesher has mounting evidence that Ohel Children’s Home (home of “Kol Tzedek”) sent foster children to Mondrowitz and covered up the abuse they suffered.
· The D.A.’s office, with help from federal officials, tried to “disappear” a copy of Mondrowitz’s hard drive, obtained by Lesher, that appeared to show Mondrowitz had illegally downloaded hard-core child porn in Israel.
· Rabbis with important information about Mondrowitz have refused to share it, despite Lesher’s requests.
· Member of the D.A.’s Jewish Advisory Council told Amy Neustein that Mondrowitz should not be prosecuted at all.
· The D.A. – who has said he doesn’t allow rabbis to interfere with his child sex abuse cases – took orders from a rabbinic court (headed by Rabbi Dovid Feinstein) to drop the case against the Bobov rabbi Shlomo Hafner.
· There is evidence he has done similar things in other child sex abuse cases.
There’s more – and more important information in other chapters – but this will give you some idea why it’s important to read this book – AND SEE WHAT THE JEWISH MEDIA ISN’T TELLING YOU. YET.
There’s a reason this information isn’t blaring at you from the Jewish Week, or from the Post or the Times, for that matter. The real news is too hot for the media to handle. After all, they get hoo-ha crime stories from Joe Hynes… and they don’t want to lose that connection.
But we need to know the truth. And repeat it. And repeat it. And repeat it.
Hynes, the rabbis, Ohel, the Agudah, etc., etc., are playing us for suckers, folks. We can’t let them get away with it. This is our revolution and we’re gonna have to work to keep them from stealing it.
So . . . take a look at Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals, and tell me if I’m wrong. You can order the book from Barnes & Noble (I did), or get it from amazon.com or cheapbooks.com.
Read it and bawl your eyes out. I did!
Tropper is Troubled :-)))
ReplyDeleteThe Jewish World can keep trying to cover up the truth. Eventually it will all come out.
ReplyDeleteThe victims of abuse know what a daily fight to survive really means. It's people like you, UOJ that are really helping the victims. I wish we could set up some type of organization in America and Israel for the victims to turn to for proper help - therapy, support etc...
If people would only undertand that once someone is molested, they need to fight for the rest of their lives. It is something that comes up during, teenage years, marriage, and relationships. It never ever really goes away.
Statistics show that one in every four women and one in every five men gets molested during their life. Just think about all the people walking around with this inside of them.
UOJ, It's because of you that I am still Shomer Torah Umitzvos.
Thank you for bringing truth into the world.
Tropper's private simcha becomes a propaganda tool. III
ReplyDelete"Rabbi Tropper’s Simcha.
Letters of Brocho were received from Hagaonim Rav Shaul Alter, Shlit”a, Rav Chaim Kanyevsky, Shlit”a, Harav M.Y. Lefkowitz, Shlit”a, Harav Shmuel Auerbach, Shlit”a, Maran Harav Eliyashuv, Shlit”a and Maran Harav A.L. Steinman, Shlit”a.
[Letters of brocha? Like what? They sent back the reply cards and wrote "mazel tov" on them? Let's see those letters published. Why does he need to mention letters for a chasuna? Does it make EJF kosher? Tropper is a man who divorced his first wife when he bumped into a secular naive beautiful model and then got her a quicky brainwashing at a sem, finally gave his first wife a get after holding her off as an aguna, and married the new miss sexy in a few months. Does such a man deserve letters of praise from the greats of the Torah world? He should be condemned and sent to Devil's Island, Dreyfus was an honest and better man by far, he was innocent!, yet here they are dancing away with their sly agent as if they don't have a care in the world about what lies beneath the facade of the falseness. It makes absolutely no sense.]
Special Guests: Mr. & Mrs. Tom & Dafna Kaplan, Mr. & Mrs. M. Honlein, Mr. & Mrs. M. Lubinsky and Mr. & Mrs. Deniss Rapps attended."
[Aside from Malcolm Honlein who is just a talkative yotz and why he shows up with this crowd is a mystery, here's the real inner mafia funding and running the Tropper/EJF monster machine and fully enabling his operation. The names speak for themselves. Tom and Daphne Kaplan the naive billionaire not-even-BTs, they are not even religiuous these saviors of the wild cats and panthers who love to watch tigers mate multiple times, who hand over to Tropper tens of millions of dollars so he can bribe the ones who will bite his bull, and do his bidding. Menachem Lubinsky of LUBICOM is the highly paid PR and propaganda minister of Tropper promoting the EJF scheme far and wide, and Dennis Rapps is the puppet of Aron Shechter and Abe Fruchthandler of Chaim Berlin yeshiva, who give Rapps orders behind the scenes, while Rapps works with Tropper and Lubinsky to promote the EJF conspiracy to control not just conversions in the Orthodox world but to empower Tropper beyond his real place which should be in his little dinky yeshiva in Monsey and not running around the world like a macher and making out like he is the world's greatest gadol when he is just a terrifyng menace that will yet be stopped.]
Boy does Agudah look stupid. While the Holzbergs HYD were being murdered last year, they were eating cholent and beer.
ReplyDeleteThis year, while Sholom sits in cold isolation, they will be ingesting cappucinos and solving problems.
Useless, completely useless.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5AF1SU20091116
ReplyDeleteRussia's Medvedev warns of climate catastrophe
Mon Nov 16
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/us/17visa.html
ReplyDeleteNovember 17, 2009
Taint of Corruption Is No Barrier to U.S. Visa for Millionaire
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/nyregion/17paterson.html?hp
ReplyDeleteGov. David A. Paterson on Monday criticized the Obama administration’s decision to try five men linked to the Sept. 11 attacks in a civilian court in Manhattan.
Mr. Paterson is not the only Democrat to raise questions about the move: Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has said that military commissions were a more appropriate venue.
Filed at 9:29 a.m. ET
ReplyDeleteTACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A wealthy Bonney Lake, Wash., pilot who used money, alcohol and manipulation to molest more than a dozen boys has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Weldon Marc Gilbert, who worked as a pilot for UPS, was sentenced Monday in Tacoma by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors wrote that the 49-year-old Gilbert remains ''incapable of real remorse'' for the damage he did to at least 17 boys as young as 10.
Gilbert tearfully apologized during the sentencing hearing. He earlier pleaded guilty to production of child pornography, transporting a minor across state lines for illegal sexual activity and obstruction of justice.
Under the plea agreement, a helicopter, two cars, a float plane, a boat and some property belonging to Gilbert will be forfeited and sold, with the proceeds placed in a fund for the victims.
You guys should stop making fun of Shmarya. He is not getting a job for idealistic reasons so that minority people do not feel alone.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/us/17county.html
A Racial Divide Is Bridged by Recession
By SHAILA DEWAN
In Henry County, Ga., as both blacks and whites struggle financially, neighbors commiserate across racial lines
Kings County Civil Court
ReplyDeleteIndex Number: CV-105346-08/KI
Case Name: CITIBANK (SOUTH DAKOTA), NA
vs.
WIESNER, LEOPOLD
Case Type: Civil
Classification: Consumer Credit
Filing Date: 09/02/2008
Disposition Date: 11/24/2008
Kings County Civil Court
ReplyDeleteIndex Number: RE-411729-06/KI
Case Name: BROOKLYN UNION GAS COMPANY, DBA KEYSPAN
vs.
NEUHOFF, CHARLES
NEUHOFF, SHANI
Case Type: Replevin
Classification: General
Filing Date: 05/31/2006
Breindy Reiss got a protective order against Neuhoff's father and was in court with him for almost 10 years.
ReplyDeleteKings Civil Supreme
Index Number: 012063/1983
Case Name: REISS,BREINDY vs. NEUHOFF,SOL D
Case Type: Medical Malpractice
Track: Unknown
RJI Filed: 09/15/1986
Date NOI Due:
NOI Filed: 01/25/1991
Disposition Deadline: 04/27/1992
Disposition Date: 03/22/1995
Kings Civil Supreme
Index Number: 006594/1988
Case Name: HOLTZBERT,MOSHE vs. DR. SOL NEUHOFF
Case Type: Medical Malpractice
Track: Unknown
RJI Filed: 04/06/1988
01/28/1993 Supreme Trial Verdict For Plaintiff
Kings Civil Supreme
Index Number: 015359/2006
Case Name: KLUGMAN,ALIZA vs. NEUHOFF,SOL DAVID M.D.
Case Type: Medical Malpractice
Track: Complex
RJI Filed: 07/12/2006
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=Hvperwu/YngzOwYM+Ff55w==&system=prod
ReplyDeletehttps://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=VqP9OCWO37jubJjVxYhS+Q==&system=prod
ReplyDeletehttps://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=VqP9OCWO37hDXWx+j9Awmw==&system=prod
ReplyDeleteWhy are they trying to drag me into the Zaks lawsuit?
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=hU2t/NCvOlAocJyYbCNIRQ==&system=prod
ReplyDeletePHILLIP J. MURPHY, an attorney duly an attorney duly admitted to practice law
before the Courts of the State of New York, hereby affirms the following to be true under
penalties of perjury and states that:
1. I am the attorney for defendants MOSDOS CHOFETZ CHAIM, INC. d/b/a
YESHIVA CHOFETZ CHAIM and RABBI ZAKS in the above captioned matter and, as such,
am fully familiar with the facts and circumstances set forth herein.
3. By way of background this case is a an action on a note made by defendant
Mosdos payable to plaintiff’s assignor the amount of $600,000.00. Rabbi Aryeh Zaks is
named as a defendant herein based on plaintiff’s claim that he failed to disclose and/or wilfully
concealed certain material facts from plaintiff’‘s assignor at the time the note was made.
Discovery in this case is partially complete and the case is next scheduled for a conference in
Part 39 on December 2, 2009.
4. It is with regret that the undersigned moves to withdraw as counsel in this matter
as I have represented the Rabbis associated with the Yeshiva on numerous matters over many
years. However, the defendants have been extraordinarily uncooperative in this matter as far
as complying with the discovery that has been completed (“pulling teeth”) and totally
uncooperative as it relates to the discovery that was due November 6, 2009.
6. In addition to numerous phone calls placed in an attempt secure defendants’
cooperation in this matter the undersigned sent e-mails to the Rabbi pleading with him to
cooperate in this matter. No cooperation was forthcoming.
7. I have great respect for the Rabbi and recognize that he is extremely busy.
However, I will not chase after him in a “kindergarten” like fashion in an attempt to secure his
cooperation in a legal matter which one would assume he would be interested in.
8. It is axiomatic that a client’s failure to cooperate constitutes grounds for an
attorney to withdraw.
November 12, 2009
PHILLIP J. MURPHY, ESQ.
WASHINGTON (AP) Army says suicides almost sure to top last year's.
ReplyDeleteRockland Civil Supreme
ReplyDeleteIndex Number: 010543/2008
Case Name: MONSEY LUMBER & SUPPLY CO., vs. MOSDOS CHOFETZ CHAIM INC.
Case Type: Mechanics'S Liens
Track: Standard
RJI Filed: 09/24/2008
Morris Fisch is a rov in Boro Park at 1450 52nd St
ReplyDeleteNew York County Civil Court
Index Number: CV-025984-03/NY
Case Name: FISCH, MORRIS
vs.
ZAKS, ARYE
RADAR, NET
Case Type: Civil
Classification:
Filing Date: 05/23/2003
Disposition Date: 09/09/2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/business/economy/18econ.html
ReplyDeleteIf wholesale prices aren't going up then why are kosher food prices going up like crazy? There was just a big increase on Kedem grape juice at BJ's Wholesale Club.
Filed at 1:42 p.m. ET
ReplyDeleteMIAMI (AP) -- More than 14,700 U.S. taxpayers came forward to disclose billions in offshore bank accounts in 70 countries under a voluntary Internal Revenue Service program allowing most to avoid criminal prosecution as long as they pay what they owe, IRS officials said Tuesday.
A flood of people came forward in the last days before the amnesty program expired Oct. 15, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said.
Well, I didn't do anything criminal. I only asked them to not deliver papers that had stories about Kolko and other molesters.
ReplyDeleteFiled at 1:40 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- A law enforcement official says the New York Police Department raided circulation offices at some of the nation's largest newspapers as part of a union corruption probe.
The official says the offices of The New York Times, the New York Post, El Diario and the Daily News of New York were raided Tuesday. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The official says the newspaper delivery system around the city is under investigation and the news organizations are not involved.
The 1,600-member union that delivers papers was previously accused by the Manhattan district attorney's office of being run by the mob.
What's up with the Zaks family? They have so many lawsuits against them that they are too numerous to list.
ReplyDeleteCan we stop with this one horse agenda, already? Move on.
ReplyDeleteHey big talker, if you don't like one-horse agendas, then why don't you post something yourself?
ReplyDeleteEveryone's a critic.
Filed at 3:45 p.m. ET
ReplyDeleteALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York's Senate and Assembly leaders agreed Tuesday on toughening state law to make driving drunk with a child in the vehicle a felony.
The deal will also require offenders to have devices installed that will keep their engine from starting if their breath shows they are drunk.
A conviction would be punishable by up to four years in prison if a child up to 15 years old was in the vehicle. There are longer prison terms if the child is injured. Its supporters say it will be a strong deterrent. Currently, there is no additional charge if a driver convicted of DWI had a child in the car when stopped.
Senators credited the New York Daily News for its series of articles on the issue they said pressured lawmakers to come to agreement.
They continued to accuse the Assembly Democratic majority and Speaker Sheldon Silver of trying to "water down" the bill, a contention Silver and Assembly members in the Democratic conference dispute.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574539792069224238.html
ReplyDeleteNOVEMBER 16, 2009
Holder's al Qaeda Incentive Plan
The worse the terrorist, the more rights he has?
By WILLIAM McGURN
When it comes to terrorists, you would think that an al Qaeda operative who targets an American mom sitting in her office or a child on a flight back home is many degrees worse than a Taliban soldier picked up after a firefight with U.S. Army troops.
Your instinct would be correct, because at the heart of terrorism is the monstrous idea that the former is as legitimate a target as the latter. Unfortunately, by dispatching Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al Qaeda leaders to federal criminal court for trial, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be undermining this distinction. And the perverse message that decision will send to terrorists all over this dangerous world is this: If you kill civilians on American soil you will have greater protections than if you attack our military overseas.
"A fundamental purpose of rules such as the Geneva Conventions is to give those at war an incentive for more civilized behavior—and not targeting civilians is arguably the most sacred of these principles," says William Burck, a former federal prosecutor and Bush White House lawyer who dealt with national security issues. "It demolishes this principle to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed even more legal protections than the Geneva Conventions provide a uniformed soldier fighting in a recognized war zone."
Terrorists recognize none of these things. They are best understood as associations of people plotting and carrying out war crimes, whether that means sowing fear with direct and indiscriminate attacks on marketplaces, offices and airlines—or by engaging enemy troops without distinguishing uniforms, so that the surrounding civilians essentially become used as human shields. Terrorists reject both the laws of war and the laws of American civil society. To put it another way, they reject both the authority and the obligations their legal rights imply.
None of this seems to bother Mr. Holder. Since he dropped his bombshell on Friday, much commentary has focused on the possibility that KSM might be found not guilty. That, however, is unlikely: Mr. Holder is not a fool, and everyone in the Obama administration appreciates the backlash that would occur if a KSM trial results in an acquittal. Thus, the men he will send for trial will be those against whom he has the most evidence.
The perversity here is that the overwhelming evidence of their war crimes gain them protections denied a soldier fighting in accord with the rules of war.
It even gains them more protections than their associates who attack military targets. This double standard means that the perpetrators of the USS Cole bombing are sent to military tribunals while the perpetrators of 9/11 are sent to federal court.
Mr. Holder has invited any number of dangers: making the Manhattan courtroom a target for terrorist attack, inviting the disclosure of sensitive intelligence, opening the possibility that some al Qaeda operative will be acquitted and released within the U.S., etc.
Worst of all, he says, is turning the laws of war upside down: Why fight the Marines and risk getting killed yourself or locked up in Bagram forever when you can blow up American citizens on their own streets and gain the legal protections that give you a chance to go free? With this one step, Mr. Holder is giving al Qaeda a ghastly incentive: to focus more of their attacks on American civilians on American home soil.
"It is foolish to think that al Qaeda does not train to our system and look for our vulnerabilities," says Mr. McCarthy. "Remember what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his captors when we got him, 'I'll see you in New York with my lawyer.' It seems he knows our weaknesses better than our government does."
Was Shmuel Borger pressured or paid off by Agudath Israel founded Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation to release a public statement?
ReplyDeleteWas Shmuel Borger in his right mind when he made his statement?
Was making up with an enemy the only lesson he took out of this senseless tragedy?
Doesn't Shmuel understand that family estrangement and friends not inviting to simchas have very valid reasons?
Wasn't specialized relationship coaching for molestation victims, REPORTING to authorities, not lying to the potential bride, and get your child the help they need instead of suppressing it a more logical lesson to learn from his son's death?
How can he look the Gutman's and other molestation victims in the eye and say, "I have no blood on my hands"?
The recorded message was not an inspiration, it was a slap in the face.
November 12, 2009
ReplyDeleteDear Chaver,
On behalf of the Young Leadership Division of Agudath Israel of America, I take pleasure in inviting you, together with the young leadership of Marine Park, to participate in the 87th National Convention of Agudath Israel of America, November 26-29, at the Hilton Hotel, East Brunswick, N.J.
It is a unique opportunity to listen, discuss and debate the “hot button” issues affecting our Torah communities and gain an appreciation for the greater needs and challenges of Klal Yisroel. Indeed, as you will see by the attached program highlighted, we have designed this year’s program with many of the issues affecting young baalebatim occupying prominent places on the agenda.
You will enjoy a warm, heimish atmosphere in the presence of our Gedolei Yisroel and prominent Askonim. All sessions are free and open to the public (Thursday, Friday, Motzoei Shabbos and Sunday). However, in order to fully appreciate the convention’s full impact I encourage you to join us for its entirety which includes a beautiful Shabbos. I guarantee you will walk away inspired and uplifted with a chizuk and determination to achieve greater heights of Kiddush Hashem in your own community.
We have arranged a special rate for young leaders who will register for the convention. Babysitting, Pirchei and Bnos programs will be provided if you who choose to bring your children for the Shabbos.
Please contact me at 212-797-9000 ext 225 or email me at yfeinstein@agudathisrael.org to discuss convention arrangements.
I look forward to greeting you personally.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Yonah Feinstein
Director of Special Projects
November 12, 2009
ReplyDeleteDear Chaver,
On behalf of the Young Leadership Division of Agudah Fressers of America, I take pleasure in inviting you, together with the young leadership of Marine Park, to participate in the 87th Fresser Convention of Agudath Israel of America, November 26-29, at the Hilton Hotel, East Brunswick, N.J.
It is a unique opportunity to fress, discuss menu critiques and the “hot button” issues affecting our communities and gain an appreciation for the greater needs and challenges of molesters. Indeed, as you will see by the attached program highlighted, we have designed this year’s program with many of the issues affecting young baalebatim occupying prominent places on the agenda.
You will enjoy a warm, heimish atmosphere in the presence of our Ketanei Yisroel and pedophile Askonim. All sessions are free and open to the public (Thursday, Friday, Motzoei Shabbos and Sunday). However, in order to fully appreciate the convention’s full impact I encourage you to join us for its entirety which includes a beautiful Shabbos. I guarantee you will walk away with a full stomach and uplifted with choyzek and determination to achieve greater heights of Chilul Hashem in your own community.
We have arranged a special rate for young leaders who will register for the convention. Babysitting, Pirchei and Bnos programs will be provided if you who choose to bring your children for the Shabbos.
Please contact me at 212-797-9000 ext 225 or email me at yfeinstein@agudathisrael.org to discuss convention arrangements.
I look forward to greeting you personally.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Yonah Feinstein
Director of Special Fressing
Subject to Change (if UOJ interferes)
ReplyDeleteAGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA
87th ANNUAL CONVENTION
Hilton Hotel East Brunswick, NJ
9-12 Kislev 5770/ November 26-29 2009
AREIVIM ZEH LOZEH
Dealing Decisively – And Jewishly –
With the Challenges We Face
Thursday Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
Tangled Up in the Web
Real Problems, Real Solutions
Panelists:
• Phillip Rosenthal
Internet & Technology Addiction Expert
• Rabbi Chaim Aaron Weinberg
Menahel, Yeshiva Ateret Torah
• David Kohn
Social Worker, Private Practice
Thinking Outside the Shidduch Box
Evaluating New Approaches to an Old Problem
Panelists:
• Moshe Pogrow
NASI Project
• Jeff Cohn
Founder & Creator, ShidduchVision
• Rabbi Sender Kaszirer
Rosh Yeshiva, Mesivta of Eatontown
• Mendel Zilberberg Esq.
Member, Board of Directors, Invei Hagefen
• Rabbi Reuven Drucker
Rav, Agudath Israel of Edison
Seventy Years Later
The Need to Keep Churban Europe Before the Eyes of Our Young
Panelists:
• Reb Yosef Friedenson
Editor, Dos Yiddishe Vort
• Rabbi Pinchas Goldberg
Project Coordinator, Zichron Kidoshim, Agudath Israel
• Rabbi Shalom Friedman
Director, Zechor Yemos Olam, Torah Umesorah
• Elly Kleinman
Founder, Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center
Thursday Afternoon
Agudah Women of America: Reception
Speaker:
• Rebbetzin Rivka Eichenstein
Mechaneches, Bais Yaakov Intensive Seminar & Manhattan High School
Thursday Night Plenary Session:
Agudath Israel:The Year in Review
Audio - Visual Presentation
Yisroel Asher Becho Espo’or
Promoting K’vod Shomayim in Our Business and Interpersonal Dealings
Speakers:
• Novominsker Rebbe
• Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon
Mashgiach Ruchani, Bais Medrash Govoha, Lakewood
• Rabbi Avrohom Pam zt”l (Video)
• Rabbi Shimon Schwab zt”l (Video)
Thursday Night Special Sessions
1. Community Economic Action Plan: Phase II
2. Project YES Parenting Session
Friday Morning Concurrent Sessions:
ReplyDeleteDenying “At Risk” a Foothold
The Importance of Prevention and Early Intervention
Panelists:
• Rabbi Ephraim Levi
Director, Pirchei Agudath Israel
• Rabbi Eli Shulman
Princial Hebrew Studies, Yeshiva Orchos Chaim
• Richard Altabe
Principal, Magen David Yeshiva High School
• Rabbi Yerachmiel Milstein
Executive Vice President, Project Chazon
• Rabbi Dovid Nojowitz
National Director, Torah Umesorah
Standing Up to the “New Normal”
Contemporary Culture’s Assault on Torah Values
Panelists:
• Rabbi Abba Cohen
Director, Washington Office, Agudath Israel of America
• Avrohom Birnbaum
• Dr. Irving Lebovics
President, Agudath Israel California
• Rabbi Aryeh Zev Ginsberg
Rav, Chofetz Chaim Torah Center, Cedarhurst
Beyond the Beis Medrash
Ensuring That When the Yeshiva is Left, It’s Not Left Behind
Panelists:
• Rabbi Benzion Shaefer
Founder, The Schmuez
• Rabbi Pinchas Jung
Menahel, Beis Rochel
• Avi Schron
• Rabbi Shimon Greenfield
Ram, Yeshivas Amek Hatorah, Lakewood
• Moshe Davis (Chicago)
Arvus in Action
Our Communal Responsibility Victims of the Economic Collapse
Panelists:
• Sender Rapaport
Director, Hamasbia
• Yaakov Nussbaum
Executive Director, Mesila (Lakewood)
• Shia Rubenstein
Executive Vice President, Jewish Community Council of Marine Park
• Rabbi Yechiel Kaufman
Rav, Congregation Anshei Sefard
Friday Morning Special Sessions
1. New Jersey Yeshivos:
New Opportunities for Government Funding
2. Rabbonim and Shul Presidents: Special Seminar on Issues of Dina D’Malchusa Dina
Erev Shabbos Shiur
• Rabbi Avrohom Nesonel Zucker
Rosh Yeshiva, Gedola Ohr Yisroel
Kabbolas Shabbos Men
ReplyDeleteSpeaker:
• Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levin
Rosh HaYeshiva, Telshe Yeshiva (Chicago)
Kabbolas Shabbos Women
Speaker:
• Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff
Rav, Agudath Israel, Bais Binyamin
Friday Night
Men Only
Confronting Modern Day Nisyonos Affecting Kedushas HaBayis
Speakers:
• Rabbi Ahron Feldman
Rosh HaYeshiva, Ner Yisroel, Baltimore
• Rabbi Avrohom Schorr
Rav, Congregation Tiferes Yaakov
• Rabbi Zev Cohen
Rav, Congregation Adas Yeshurin, Chicago
Women Only
The Role of the Aishes Chayil in Preserving Kedushas HaBayis
Speakers:
• Rabbi Zev Cohen
• Rabbi Avrohom Schorr
Oneg Shabbos
Rabbi Doniel Alter
Leil Shabbos with the Magid
Speaker:
• Rabbi Paysach Krohn
Author, the Magid Series
Shabbos Shacharis
Speaker:
• Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler
Rosh HaYeshiva, Bais Medrash Govoha
Shabbos Afternoon Session
Speakers:
• Rabbi Yaakov Asher
Mayor, Bnei Brak
• Rabbi Avrohom Yosef Leizerson
Chairman, Chinuch Atzmai
Shalosh Seudos
English:
• Rabbi Yosef Harari Raful
Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshivat Ateret Torah
• Rabbi Elisha Horowitz
Rav, Bais Medrash Heichel Dovid
Yiddish:
• Rabbi Yaakov Abramowitz
Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Gevoha D”Chasidei Gur
• Rabbi Elozor Dovid Rapaport
Rav, Congregation Zichron Avrohom Yaakov
• Rabbi Yitzchok Sorotzkin
Rosh HaYeshiva, Telshe Yeshiva
Shalosh Seudos Women
Seizing the Moment
Speaker:
• Mrs. Shira Smiles
Noted Mechaneches
Motzoei Shabbos Keynote Session
ReplyDelete1) Speakers:
• Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Leiff
Rav, Agudath Israel, Bais Binyamin
• Rabbi Doniel Alter
Rosh Kollel, Kollel Ari Shebi’chabura Yerushalayim
• Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel
Executive Vice President, Agudath Israel of America
2) A Tribute to Rav Elya Svei, zt”l
Speakers:
• Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman (Video)
Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshiva Gaon Yaakov
• Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky
Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshiva Gedola of Philadelphia
• Rabbi Yehuda Svei
Rosh HaYeshiva, Yeshiva Gedola of Philadelphia
• Excerpts of the Rosh Hayeshivas
Droshos at Agudas Yisroel Functions
Motzei Shabbos Women
Invei Hagefen Shidduch Meeting
Chairs:
• Mrs. Shoshana Feinstein
• Mrs. Shirley Lebovics
Sunday Morning:
Plenary Session 1
Sheep and Wolves
The Uneasy Jewish Presence in an Increasingly Hostile World
Speakers:
• Moishe Zvi Reicher
International Law Expert
• Malcolm Hoenlein
Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of President, Major Jewish Organizations
Plenary Session 2
We are Not Immune
Facing Up to the Reality of Substance Abuse and Compulsive Behaviors
Speakers:
• Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski MD
Founder, Gateway Rehabilitation Center
• Dr. Yosef Rosenshein
Founder, Petach
• Rabbi Yisroel Reisman
Rav, Agudath Israel of Madison
Sunday Morning Women’s Shiur
Creating Inner and Outer Dignity
Speakers:
• Mrs. Shira Smiles
By JAMES TARANTO
ReplyDeleteNew York's Gov. David Paterson is not happy with the White House's decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other enemy combatants to New York for civilian trials, reports WCBS-TV:
"This is not a decision that I would have made. I think terrorism isn't just attack, it's anxiety and I think you feel the anxiety and frustration of New Yorkers who took the bullet for the rest of the country," he said.
Paterson's comments break with Democrats, who generally support the President's decision.
"Our country was attacked on its own soil on September 11, 2001 and New York was very much the epicenter of that attack. Over 2,700 lives were lost," he said. "It's very painful. We're still having trouble getting over it. We still have been unable to rebuild that site and having those terrorists so close to the attack is gonna be an encumbrance on all New Yorkers."
Paterson also said that the White House warned him six months ago this very situation would happen.
Whoa, hold on a second, Governor? The White House told you six months ago that they were going to put your constituents through this? Gee, thanks for letting us know.
Here's a question: If the White House made up its mind about this six months ago--that would be in May, roughly four months after President Obama's inauguration--why did it wait until last week to make the announcement? That it was the week after an election is bound to raise suspicions that the timing was politically motivated.
A friend of mine told me today that he knows a melamad in a chassidishe yeshiva who was molested as a youngster. Well of course at the time it was kept quiet.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago when welcoming his new students he found out that the father of one of the new students was his molester !!!!
Although the pain was horrible he of course had to go through the entire year dealing with the child and parent (molester) without saying a word.
We live in a SICK SICK community !!
UOJ,
ReplyDeleteMost of us are still interested in the YTV story...
Maybe you could start off by recreating that post of yours from a few years ago when you were a small boy in monsey and then go from there...
No pressure but we have been waiting a long time. Imagine you being in our shoes...
MH:
ReplyDeleteI need to remain focused on this sordid topic.
For now, while I'm trying hard to connect the dots, I'm asking parents to monitor their children's extra-curricular activities away from home; who they're with in ANY setting, where adults are spending an inordinate amounts of time with kids.
Baseball games, Pirchei- type groups, Shabbatons, boys choirs...
I am with Malach Hamovies. I do want the end of the YTV story.
ReplyDeleteBTW, in honor of the upcoming Agudah convention I am thinking of a satirical description of the planned program. Naturally Rabbi S. of BMG will be doing a sales pitch devices for sweeping things, the shidduch session will present statistical charts, the session on bussiness ethics will list the ten best mob accountants, etc. I hope I pull it off.
I think there will be more relating to YB and SB's misdeeds per 7fatcow.com. Also look forward to stories about SB's brushes with the police over domestic violence. By the time it is over there will not be any sympathy left.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/business/18syms.html
ReplyDeleteSy Syms, who pioneered selling off-price clothing and built his retail chain, the Syms Corporation, into a national brand, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.
Mr. Syms died of heart failure after suffering from heart disease for many years, said his daughter Marcy Syms. Ms. Syms took over from her father as chief executive of Syms, which today has 52 stores, in 1998. Mr. Syms remained chairman of the company until his death.
Mr. Syms built a career, and a life, fighting the conventional way of doing business.
He was born Seymour Merinsky, and grew up in Brooklyn, the youngest of eight living children born to Russian immigrants.
Sy Syms spent many years contributing to diverse charities, including Boys Town of Jerusalem
The father of the boy who once accused Michael Jackson of molestation has committed suicide, authorities said Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteBeverly Hills dentist Evan Chandler, 65, was found dead in Jersey City, N.J., in a luxury waterfront apartment.
A Jersey City official said Chandler was found in bed with a single gunshot wound to his head. He was still holding the gun when the body was found.
A source confirmed the death, which occurred on Nov. 5.
Police said it does not appear that he left behind a suicide note.
The former dentist and aspiring screenwriter had several cosmetic procedures, rendering him virtually unrecognizable from the way he looked since the Jackson matter, a family source said.
In the early 1990s, Chandler reported Jackson to the authorities in both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, claiming the King of Pop molested his son, Jordan, who was just 13 at the time.
Another dead body in Jersey City? I hope they don't blame me.
ReplyDeleteBy JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD • Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
ReplyDeletePOSTVILLE - The former chief financial officer at Agriprocessors was hired by the kosher meat plant's new owners in August, and remained at the company even after he pleaded guilty to financial fraud and detailed his crimes in court.
Mitch Meltzer worked as an accountant at Agri Star Meat and Poultry LLC, which bought Agriprocessors last summer, until sometime last week, around the time the Courier called seeking information on Meltzer's position at the company.
In late September, Meltzer pleaded guilty to conspiring to make false statements to a bank. He was released on bond, and agreed to testify in the financial fraud trial of former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin. Meltzer faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years probation.
Meltzer was fired in March by Agriprocessors' government-appointed trustee, Joseph Saracheck. Saracheck declined to comment on his reasons behind the move.
In a written statement, Agri Star CEO Hershey Friedman confirmed Meltzer is no longer employed at the plant but declined further comment.
Here's what Shmarya was whining about last night:
ReplyDeleteHerschel Tzig published a post last year claiming I lived in Rubashkin's basement for three years, took immense amounts of charity from him, used his car, and ate his food.
And now, Tzig claimed, I had turned on this kind man who helped me.
I pointed out to Tzig that I had never lived in Rubashkin's house, never taken charity from him, never used his car, and had never taken handouts from him. I also pointed out this was completely verifiable and told him how he could easily verify it.
Tzig refused to do that and he refused to take down his post – which was circulated in emails and on Chabad blogs and was used to whip up hatred against me.
That Rubashkin's son and sometime spokesperson Getzel, who clearly knows Tzig is lying, did not correct Tzig – or that the Rabbis Feller, who also know Tzig is lying and who were asked to correct those lies but refused, or that others close to Chabad's leader Rabbi Yudel Krinsky (my former friend) who also knew but remained silent, shows how truly devoid of honesty and ethics Chabad is.
When Rubashkin was convicted, Tzig sent me an email asking me if I was happy:
when's the party at your house?
are you giving a kiddush this week?
(At least Shmarya doesn't deny that he's still freeloading in his mother's basement at 51 years old)
Shmarya is using weasel words to hide that he always ate free meals on shabbos by Rubashkin and his relatives. In his denial there is a Clinton style definition of "charity" & "handouts" which he means as money and not food.
ReplyDeleteBut all that brisket and everyhting else that Shmarya devoured like a big fresser costs a lot of money too.
Zeh Hayom Assa Hashem Nagilla Venismecha Bo!
ReplyDeleteTravel agent Boruch Lebovitz the brother of the Nickolsburger Rebbe was arrested and charged in a close to 200 count indictment for sexual abuse of young boys.
Does anyone know if the rabbi at Young Israel of Sunnyside Queens is no longer there because he found a better job or if he was kicked out by the big shot lawyer who thinks he owns the place?
ReplyDeleteThis putz fresser lawyer does pro bono work for the Agudah but only if it's some case where he thinks he can get chashivus and himself on television.
An investigation is being launched into the Rubashkin Pidyon Shvuyim Fund. The donations are not tax exempt and any person that donates will have their names turned over to the IRS. Paypal has already been asked by the Feds to provide a list of people giving money
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you Shmarya Haters think you'll find such a receptive audience on this blog.
ReplyDeleteRegardles, and further regardless whether he ever benefited from the Rubashkins -- why would that be relevant to their criminal behavior?
I too have heard many beautiful examples of their chesed and tzedaka.
But please don't confuse how a person spends his wealth with how a person earns his wealth.
Doing mitzvos with stolen money somewhat diminishes the mitzvah, wouldn't you agree?
Keeping down the price of kosher meat -- not at the expense of it coming via slave labor.
So ... it does not make a difference of even one iota whether Shmarya ever benefited from the Rubashkins.
Add to that, that his denial seems to be pretty strong and easily corroborated.
Andybee, get it through your head that most frum people can't stand Shmarya.
ReplyDeleteThere is something wrong in any case with the way he completely obsesses over Rubashkin after having benefited from him for years. Are you ignorant of how Avrohom Avinu had to show hakaras hatov to very bad people who did small acts of kindness for him?
And it really is an obsession. Shmarya broadcasts everything just short of how many times Rubashkin scratches his tuchess every hour.
Yawn:
ReplyDeleteAd hominem attacks are the last refuge of the incompetent. If Rubashkin is innocent, kindly show some evidence the court didn't see and prove it. Whether or not a person blogging about his criminal, unethical, immoral, and torah-prohibited behavior ever ate anything at his house is completely immaterial - especially when there's not a shred of evidence proving it ever happened. Is this the best you can do? If you don't like Shmarya's blog, don't read it. When you actually have something substantive and intelligent to say, by all means let us know. So far, you haven't.
Anyone remember this fat putz in Adelphia yeshiva before he went off the derech?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/torontos-middle-east-proxy-war/article1354645/
Rabbi Yossi Sapirman, of Toronto's Beth Torah conservative congregation, says the problem is that many Jews are so fixated on past horrors and future threats that they can't live in the present. His next group trip to Israel, he hopes, will be about three things – wine, art and cheese. No government official briefings, no tours of Holocaust memorials.
http://theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/41661/Important+Legal+Workshop+Comes+to+Lakewood+New+Jersey.html
ReplyDeleteContinuing its pursuit of spreading knowledge of pertinent laws and rules to the Orthodox community, Agudath Israel of America, in conjunction with Agudath Israel of New Jersey, will be hosting a legal workshop to take place at the Park Terrace hall in Lakewood, New Jersey on the evening of Thursday, November 12, 2009, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
A panel of prestigious lawyers and an accountant has been assembled, each an expert in his area. The panel will consist of: Robert C. Cleary, Esq., a partner at the law firm of Proskauer Rose LLP who has formerly served as the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey and Illinois, and as the chief of the Major Crimes Unit for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; Mark D. Harris, Esq., also a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP, who specializes in white-collar criminal defense and is also a former federal prosecutor; Avraham C. Moskowitz, Esq., partner at the law firm of Moskowitz Book & Walsh LLP and a former federal prosecutor;
-------------
Avraham Moskowitz is the modern orthodox lawyer representing Lipa Margulies in the Kolko case. His partner Chaim Book is accused of covering up for Kolko many years ago in camp.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/10/elderly_couple_from_kenner_ord.html
ReplyDeleteAn elderly couple from Kenner were sentenced to prison this week for defrauding the government of more than $150,000 after Hurricane Katrina.
Jerome Foreman, 82, must serve two years, three months of confinement, his wife, Catherine, 75, one year, authorities said. They were sentenced Wednesday in Gulfport, Miss., by U.S. District Judge Halil Ozerden, whom President George W. Bush nominated to the bench.
http://media.nola.com/crime_impact/other/foreman%20letters.pdf
The judge handed down the penalties after receiving letters of character reference for the Foremans from seven people, including their daughter, their rabbi and Jerome Foreman's business attorney and accountant.
http://www.gatesofprayer.org/leadership/rabbi/
(REFORM) RABBI ROBERT H. LOEWY
Congregation Gates of Prayer
Metairie, LA
H&H bagel man may hand over lots of dough in tax cheat case
ReplyDeleteBy LAURA ITALIANO • NY Post
The city's biggest bagel maker will suffer a million-dollar hole in the middle of his finances if convicted of ground-breaking tax-cheat charges, the Manhattan DA said today.
H & H Bagels -- an iconic, Upper West Side-based operation that boasts of making 80,000 bagels a day -- stiffed the state on some $400,000 in taxes, DA Robert Morgenthau said in announcing the arrest of company founder Helmer Toro.
If convicted, the 59-year-old boiled-dough poobah, who founded the company in 1972, faces more than a baker's dozen years in prison -- up to 15 -- on grand larceny, and could be hit with a $1.2 million bill for restitution, penalties and interest, officials said
A. Gayle missed my point. Rubashkin is guilty but Shmarya is way too fixated on him especially in light of being neheneh so much from Rubashkin's table.
ReplyDeleteOn the second point, I think A. Gayle is smart & educated enough to know the limud of hakaras hatov but chooses to ignore it while playing dumb.
The Waterloo Iowa Courier's Jens Manuel Krogstad's Twitter feed notes that the government told the judge today that Hosam Amara, former Agri supervisor on the lam in Israel, received $4,000 from Sholom Rubashkin who encouraged him to flee.
ReplyDeleteAmara called prosecutors in March hoping to cut a deal in exchange for that info.
Rubashkin told me the best thing I could do was go back to Israel, Amara allegedly said.
Amara managed to sneak into Israel without knowledge of Israeli authorities, last entering in Aug. 2009 via Jordan River border.
Amara also confirmed to government that Zev Levi, another Agriprocessors manager, is hiding in Israel.
Amara allegedly ran a used car scam that required undocumented workers to buy poor quality used cars from Amara at highly inflated prices in order to get hired by Agriprocessors.
Shmarya admitted that he may have eaten 10 Shabbos meals by one Rubashkin relative. People with intimate knowledge of that particular relative say that Shmarya fressed there at least 20 times. When Shmarya discusses this, the mashmaus is that he ate by Sholom and the other Rubashkins as well, but not as many times.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how large the Rubashkin family is, those are a lot of free meals that he shnorred.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/middleeast/19mideast.html?hp
ReplyDeleteThis is where Boog can find Dov Hikind in case he's wondering where he disappeared to this week.
CALL TO ACTION: Demanding Rabbi Baruch Lanner’s Tier Two Sex Offender Registry Status Be Reinstated.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theaware nesscenter. org/LannerCallTo Action.pdf
Parole for convicted sex offender, Rabbi Baruch Lanner is schedule to end on November 23, 2009.
Rabbi Baruch Lanner can no longer be found on the New Jersey (Megan’s Law) nor National Sex Offender Registry. It appears that the state of New Jersey held a special “Confidential Hearing” a few months ago which changed Rabbi Lanner’s sex offender “Tier Level” from Level Two, to Level One. This “confidential” hearing was so “confidential that not one of Lanner’s victims were notified, nor given opportunity to be present or provide testimony.
According to New Jersey’s state law, a sex offender placed on “Tier One”, is considered to for those at a "low risk of re-offense." This offender is one who, based on such factors as the type of crime, the lack of violence in his behavior, the lack of a substantial criminal history and the existence of ties to the community, presents a relatively low risk of harm to the community.
According to the NJ guideline link below, Tier Two offenders encompass those who are a "moderate risk of re-offense," thus constituting a relatively moderate risk of harm to the community in that the pertinent documents demonstrate that they are relatively likely to re- offend in comparison to Tier One offenders, warranting limited notice for the protection of the public.
According to the Public Summary of the Report of the NCSY Special Commission, dated December 21, 2000 (see link below); and also the article New York Jewish week article “Stolen Innocence”, (June 23, 2000) -- Rabbi Baruch Lanner has a long history of emotionally, physical and sexually assaulting numerous students under his direction since the 1970’s. His offenses include kissing and foundling female students, kicking boys in the groin, taking a knife to a young man, propositioning girls in a yeshiva high school where he was principal. Considering these facts how is it that the judge in the “confidential hearing”, could have determined that a man who was abusing children for over thirty years could no longer be a danger to the community?
The Awareness Center is asking everyone to call Laura Hook, the Assistant Prosecutor in Union County and demand that she do everything in her power to have Rabbi Baruch Lanner Tier Two Sex Offender status be reinstated. We are also asking that Lanner be required to be on the National Sex Offender Registry for the remainder of his life. This is the only hope we have that we can prevent Rabbi Baruch Lanner from creating any more victims (either adults and or children).
For more information on this case:
http://www.theaware nesscenter. org/Lanner_ Baruch.html
The Joel Report - Public Summary of the Report of the NCSY Special Commission (December 21, 2000)
http://www.theaware nesscenter. org/Lanner_ JoelReport. pdf
Stolen Innocence: Rabbi Baruch Lanner, the charismatic magnet of NCSY, was revered in the Orthodox Union youth group, despite longtime reports of abuse of teens. By Gary Rosenblatt; The Jewish Week - June 23, 2000
http://www.theaware nesscenter. org/Lanner_ StolenInnocence. pdf
NJ Megan’s Law Guidelines which include the risk assessment scale:
http://www.nj. gov/oag/dcj/ megan/meganguide lines-2-07. pdf
Contact Information
Laura Hook
Assistant Prosecutor
Union County Prosecutor's Office
32 Rahway Avenue
Elizabeth, NJ 07202
908-527-4500
FAX 908-351-0814
I wonder if Avi Moskowitz is the brother of that weirdo Gary Moskowitz who depending on which way the wind is blowing is either a Conservative or Orthodox rabbi.
ReplyDeleteThey both have had long hair that cover their ears at times. Gary was thrown out of several shuls as rabbi and is the putz who is now trying to get shuls to pay him big bucks to train them to fight back against Arab terrorists with guns and karate. Yudel Shain has been on his case this week because he is one of the many quacks working at Queens Vaad shuls. Gary just became the assistant rabbi of a modern orthodox shul in Forest Hills.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5211473593155072151&hl=en#
ReplyDeleteIt's bad enough that Shmuel Borger produces the Meshichist videos for 770 but this is his voiceover which is really scary.
I don't know if I believe a word he says after this.
Church of Scientology accused of torture and forced abortions UK Times online November 19, 2009
ReplyDeleteThe Church of Scientology faces the prospect of a police investigation in Australia after being accused of torture and embezzlement and of forcing employees to have abortions.
Nick Xenophon, an independent senator, presented letters to the Australian Parliament from seven former Scientologists which he said showed that the secretive church was a front for physical violence, intimidation and blackmail.
“I am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers,” he told the Australian Senate in Canberra. He called for a Senate inquiry...
Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister,said that many Australians had “real concerns” about Scientology. “I share some of those concerns,” he added. “We would like to proceed in a cautious and methodical way in examining those matters and then we’ll decide what, if further, parliamentary action is necessary.”
Aaron Saxton, a member of the church in Australia and the US between 1989 and 1996, said in one of the letters that he had participated in the “forced confinement and torture” of others. Other letters described how individuals were pressured to hand over large sums of money to the church, leaving them in poverty.
Carmel Underwood, a former executive director of the Sydney branch of the church, wrote that Scientology executives covered up a case of child molestation and pressured pregnant staff to abort their babies so they could keep working for the church. “There are many who are still suffering and being abused financially, physically and mentally,” she wrote...
“Scientology is not a religious organisation — it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs,” Mr Xenophon said. “The letters received by me contain extensive allegations of crimes and abuses that are truly shocking.
“These victims of Scientology claim it is an abusive, manipulative, violent and criminal organisation, and that criminality is condoned at the highest levels.”...
Last month the Church of Scientology in France was fined €600,000 (£545,000) after being found guilty of cheating vulnerable members out of their life savings.
Former followers, who are willing to be questioned by police over the allegations, reported crimes ranging from forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation and blackmail..."
www.nerleelef.com/Nitzotzot/apr3.rtf
ReplyDeleteRabbi Rafi Butler has some interesting connections for someone kicked out of the OU for the Lanner cover up.
The office of his Afikim Foundation is at the same address as National Council of Young Israel.
http://www.nerleelef.com/
He's still doing kiruv work for Ner LeElef.
Afikim's Ventures Press is publishing the books of Dr. Pelcovitz.
When Arthur posted here last year that Shmarya was shnorring off Sholom Rubashkin, Shmarya got wind of it and emphatically denied it on his website. Despite Ahava Gayle running to Shmarya's defense (Archie has mentioned a theory that explains it), it is not plausible that Shmarya didn't eat at Rubashkin's table on a frequent basis.
ReplyDeleteShmarya was a Lubav BT and Rubashkin was the Chabad shaliach in his hometown. Shmarya would have been attracted to Rubashkin's table like a fliegel to a shtick dreck.
Just because someone is frum doesn't mean that they cannot have emotional problems.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when they may have been molested by another frumik.
For the frum world to deny and cover all this up makes things even worse.
For every suicide within the frum community that is recognized by the Medical Examiner and NYPD you can bet that there are many, many more that are never recognized as such.
This is not avodas HaShem. This is pure hilul HaShem on the part of the bearded wonders who claim to represent Hashem and Torah.
Their punishment will be in both this and the next world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/nyregion/19bruno.html
ReplyDeleteClients Fuzzy Over What Bruno Did for Them
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ottawa-aiding-india-in-mumbai-massacre-probe/article1366013/
ReplyDeleteHere's the latest on the international investigation of how it was plotted. Previous reports have mentioned that one of these Pakkis from Chicago had posed as a baal teshuva or ger to scout out the building. The FBI recently confiscated a copy of Rabbi Donin's sefer "How to pray as a Jew" that he was using to dupe the Holtzbergs.
You Shmarya Haters complain that he is obsessed. Yet it is you who seem to be.
ReplyDeleteAnd perhaps with all of your postings under different names, you're just one person. (Archie?)
Regardless, yes his blog is very concerned with the Rubashkin matter -- a matter which is a major chillul Hashem.
So, if he offends you so. Don't log onto his blog. If you're so upset at his statments, you're obviously reading his writings.
What is truly offensive, is that you bring your obsessions here -- including nasty things which you said about A.Gail.
Shmuel Borger molested Motty Borger
ReplyDeleteThe father molested the son!
http://7fatcow.com/2009/11/17/woe-to-the-eyes-and-ears/
Latest on Motty Borger’s Dad, Shmuel
ReplyDeleteThe blogger Shitalpin alleges that Shmuel Borger, Motty’s father, was a molestor.
It is without joy or rancor that I write what I am about to. It is only to reveal the perniciousness of a disease and its spread when unchecked. I have from an extremely reliable source which I will not reveal so the decision is yours whether to believe this or not.
ReplyDeleteFirst, that Shmuel Borger, Motty's father, is a known molester. Secondly, that he molested Motty himself. Third, that Motty himself molested others. I have heard many times of these chains of molestaion many times from professionals in the field. I and everyone else I spoke to found Shmuel Borger's anouncement out of place and detached from reality. Now i understand it. Unfortunately, more details to come.
Shmuel Borger started the Amudei Sheish choir if anybody knows of stories back then please come forward. Only then will the police investigate Shmuel’s molestation of his children and stepdaughter.
ReplyDeleteThe AJOP Follies is very pleased to confirm the observations of "OU Crony Watch said...Rabbi Rafi Butler has some interesting connections for someone kicked out of the OU for the Lanner cover up. The office of his Afikim Foundation is at the same address as National Council of Young Israel."
ReplyDeleteThe AJOP Follies was able to track down Raphael Butler and get some impressions from him about his days as one of the original founding "twelve outreach specialists" (apostles all) as Gerry Weisberg referred to them when he recuited them, that sheds light on his current work.
Hi Rabbi Butler tell us about some memorable times at AJOP:
Well, to get to the point, you see I am very efficient and always cut to the chase, when AJOP was facing its worst crisis and was maybe even going to go defunct because of incompetence and lack of oversight that also led to the ransacking of AJOP by the crook Hershel Leiner who was supposed to be "saving" it, a hurried meeting was called at the OU offices and I had such great time watching this circus. Little did I know that I would be kicked out of the OU myself pretty soon, but as the bozo from NIRC Shiya Milkowsky who was the supposed new AJOP "president" was called in to explain what the hell happened with Hershel Leiner in Monsey ripping AJOP to shreds on his watch, he was told he had to resign and then my buddy Shlomo Porter took over as AJOP president, but Porter was based in Baltimore, Maryland while AJOP was still being watched by its parent foundation, Sanford Bernstein's AVICHAI Foundation in New York, so they had to get a guy to patch things up.
I have great connections with the NIRC guys, they are just my speed, they are sooo cool. So I cooked up this scheme with my buddy Pesach Chometz Lerner who had hijacked the NCYI recently and together, with the blessings of Jack Weinberg the supposed head of the NIRCs that the NIRCS themselves tried to push out a dozen times, and we all came up with this ingenious idea to hire our old friend Shmuel Stauber, an old-time NIRC trickster with a name like mud who years ago had left his wife (she remarried Rabbi Yehuda acobs the other mashgiach of Lakewood yeshiva) and ran off with some secretary and then dumped her and married a naive stupid BT. He sooo charming ol' Stauber we just love dhim to bits. In fact I would have hired him for the NCSY if I could but that is another story.
Oh, hohoho, hehehe, and hahaha, we really tricked everyone who was so desperate because even though no one in their right minds would hire Stauber, but I did it you see, see how clever I am, and then Stauber got cracking to bring over AJOP to the NCYI to let Lerner patchka with it too, but Lerner couldn't get much out of AJOP, even though he thought it could be a big money magnet-cash cow for him but it turned out to be a yoke around his chometzdikka chicken neck, so he dumped AJOP too.
So in the end, we had better things to do and when Jack Weinberg died and they had to run to bring in R Shmuel Kaminetsky and the Novominsker Dodo, R Shmuel knew Stauber and told Porter to get rid of him presto. So there went our brilliant idea, but Stauber was still able and go off and do those magic tricks and mind games he likes to play with people. He was sooo in love with that nice young new BT gal he married as wife #3, isn't kiruv wonderful when we can bring naive BTs into the arms of the likes of Stauber? Yowza.
I am very efficient. In my trail I leave tricks and shamed organizations as I go sailin' alon' raisin' money, yohohoho, hahaha, hehehe. Ah but I will not reveal the tricks of my success, I just smile toothily and wear nice expensive suits and speak fancy as if I am some big honcho when I am just an overgrown pisher on wheels. Oops, did I just say that? Please don't say it over, what would Rabbi Lanner say if he caught me talking with my potty mouth?
Gotta go now, more tricks to do and more money to suck out from donors, after all this is also "outreach" you know.
And who are you andybee? Ahavah Gayle's husband?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that's nasty is Shmarya's agenda and that you two losers are the only ones fighting on his behalf. It's more like you don't belong on this blog. In any case, UOJ allows criticisms of other blogs here. He doesn't run a bully pulpit like Shmarya to erase any view he doesn't approve of.
So piss off.
Chief Operating Officer is Mrs. Gitty Schachter who is also with AJOP.
ReplyDeleteExecutive Director was Barry Mase who was lured away last year to head the new OU division of media sales.
And don't bug Rafi about his nice suits. You have to look like a fancy guy when you are the rabbi of all the movers & shakers of the hashkama minyan in Young Israel of Jamaica Estates.
I beleive that נחום ראזענבערג mentioned that this "Rabbi" Gary Moskowitz has a history of inappropriate conduct with children.
ReplyDeleteDon't try to make any insinuations about me and Rabbi Butler.
ReplyDeleteWe've got Rafi's "story" to the public down pat. He bears no guilt because he vas just vollowing zie orrderrs of zie "Gedolim" to do nothing about Lanner.
Phone: 410-653-AJOP (2567)
ReplyDeleteFax: 410-653-6315
Address: 1705 Reisterstown Road
Baltimore MD 21208
E-mail: NationalDirector@AJOP.com
Website: www.ajop.com
Director: Rabbi Itchie Lowenbraun
Convention
Annual Convention of Kiruv Professionals from around the World. The convention is usually held in late January, in Baltimore.
Kiruv Chabura
AJOP brings together more than 50 heads of national and local outreach organizations in the New York/Tri-State area meet semi-annually to hear lectures with questions & answers and to discuss issues of concern.
Kiruv Newsletter
E-newsletter on what is happening around the world for outreach professionals.
Sleeping Giant
Sleeping Giant Project - Project designed to harness the potential of the observant community to do kiruv
On-line Programming Ideas
AJOP, Project Genesis and Ner LeElef will shortly be launching a web-site providing kiruv materials and ideas for the kiruv professional.
Other Projects
Shared Speakers Project
One People, One Family, One Shabbos
Pesach Seder Placement World Wide, Run in conjunction with Binyomin Jolkovsky's www.jewishworldreview.com
Ongoing Resource as Kiruv Clearinghouse: Job placements, Kiruv learning materials, How to reach outreach organizations, Who to speak to regarding various outreach issues, Problem solving and crisis management, online directory of outreach professionals and interested lay people from around the world.
EJF's Doron Kornbluth is also working for Rabbi Schuster's Heritage House:
ReplyDeletePOB 14503
Old City, Jerusalem 91145 ISRAEL
E-mail: heritage@netvision.net.il
Website: www.heritage.org.il
Director: Rabbi Meir Schuster
Hostels
Provides free lodging for Jewish teens and young adults in Jerusalem's Old City.
"INNERNET" Magazine
www.innernet.org.il
Selected articles from Jewish books, magazines and other sources.
Love and Legacy Seminar
Contact: Doron Kornbluth
e-mail: tikvaket@netvision.net.il
A kit comprised of two trigger field videos: one on intermarriage and one on Jewish pride as a basis for discussion; a guide book that includes questions, quotes, background information and insights into group dynamics; a CD-ROM with advertising material. The package is distributed for free, on condition that the organization commits to a time-frame for running the seminar as well as for doing follow-up
Beit HaDefus 11 - Komat Knisah
ReplyDeleteGivat Shaul, Jerusalem, ISRAEL
E-mail: nerlelef@barak-online.net
Website: Men's Site: www.Nerleelef.com
Women's Site: www.Nerlelef.org
Directors: Rabbi Yirmiyahu Abramov, Rabbi Avraham Edelstein, Rabbi Dovid Refson, Rabbi Eliezer Rosner
Ner LeElef is a training and placement organization for outreach professionals. There are separate training programs for different language groups, as well as a specialized teachers training program. Ner LeElef also assists its graduates in the development of their projects in the field.
Nitzotzot Min HaNer
Monthly in-depth newsletter via e-mail on various contemporary topics.
To Subscribe send an e-mail to heritage@netvision.net.il
Ner LeElef Books
Books on Science, Evolution, Israel and the Nations, Women's Issues (2 books), Proofs, Suffering, Sources, Holocaust, American Society, Quotes, Short Answers to Most Frequently Asked Questions, Leadership and Management, Prayer. Russian and Spanish translations to several of the books.
Some copies of books can be obtained on the AJOP Web site, www.ajop.com, under resources.
To order either as a book or CD-ROM contact: Nerlelef@barak-online.net - Attention the Resource Center Librarian.
Resource Library
Ner LeElef stocks thousands of books, articles, videos and cassettes on a wide spectrum of kiruv related issues. For a catalogue, or for information concerning a particular topic contact Nerlelef@barak-online.net - Attention the Resource Center Librarian.
On-line Programming Ideas
AJOP, Project Genesis and Ner LeElef will shortly be launching a web-site providing kiruv materials and ideas for the kiruv professional.
989 Sixth Avenue, 10th floor
ReplyDeleteNew York, NY 10018
E-mail: info@njop.org
Website: www.njop.org
Directors: Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald
Hebrew Reading Crash Courses or Read Hebrew (America/Canada): rha@njop.org
Turn Friday Night Into Shabbat or Shabbat Across America/Canada: saa@njop.org
Crash Course in Basic Judaism: ccbj@njop.org
Beginners' Services: yr@njop.org
"Ask the Rabbi" questions: Rabbi@njop.org
NJOP publications: Sarah Rochel Reid sr@njop.org
Special Events (including Model Seder Workshops): Amy Vogel amyv@njop.org
Many of these programs are run across America as national programs, such as Read Hebrew America, Shabbat Across America, etc.
Project Genesis
ReplyDeletePhone: 410-602-1350
Address: 122 Slade Ave. Ste. 203
Baltimore, MD 21208
E-mail: menken@torah.org
Website: www.torah.org
Director: Rabbi Yaakov Menken, x120
Rabbi Avraham Rosenblum, Director of New Educational Media, x122
Offers outreach organizations free internet services:
Domain registration, Site hosting, Databases, Mailing lists, Standard forms, Template-driven Site Builder, Calendar Tool, Event Registration System
AJOP, Project Genesis and Ner LeElef will shortly be launching a web-site providing kiruv materials and ideas for the kiruv professional
Stauber has two sons that I know. One of them is a good boy and the other was arrested for something.
ReplyDeleteDear "Archie Bunker's Groupie".
ReplyDeleteArchie Bunker has no groupies. You are (quite obviously) Archie Bunker himself. -- The same guy who named himself after a fictitious racist TV character.
'Nuff said.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a17231/News/New_York.html
ReplyDeleteGussie Wertheimer, 85, a member of the shul for 50 years, says she initially saw the new rabbi as more of a granddaughter than a spiritual leader.
“I was 100 percent against it. I’m a traditional person. If I mention the word rabbi, I immediately think it’s a man,” Wertheimer said. “Somehow I just couldn’t picture myself relating to her and hearing her as a rabbi at the pulpit.”
But she changed her mind abruptly when she returned to Queens from Florida this summer and learned about the scandal involving Orthodox rabbis in the Syrian community in Brooklyn and New Jersey.
“I was thinking to myself, here I’m against a woman rabbi, and there are these very Orthodox rabbis who would not even shake my hand or come near me,” Wertheimer said. “When I went to the election, instead of ‘no’ I wrote ‘yes.’”
http://tzedek-tzedek.blogspot.com/2009/11/mazal-tov-to-children-of-israel.html
ReplyDeleteLook at the moronic comments after the story from the morons who follow every piece from Eckstein:
ReplyDeletehttp://theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/41943/Pashkavilim:+Eliezer+Chen+is+the+New+Dreyfus.html
Pashkavilim: Eliezer Chen is the New Dreyfus
November 11, 2009
While most feel the alleged acts of Eliezer Chen are despicable, seeking to distance themselves from a man portraying himself as a rabbi, one who stands accused of abusing and torturing children, some feel the need to attack police and the system following his extradition from Brazil to face charges for his alleged crimes.
Some of the pashkavilim seen in Meah Shearim accuse the state of targeting Chen because he is a member of the chareidi community, accusing police of conducting a “Dreyfus affair against the chareidi community”, always seeking the “blood of the chareidi community”.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Educating To End Abuse
ReplyDeleteVicki Polin, Founder/Director of The Awareness Center will be featured on Educating To End Abuse, a talk show you can watch on the internet that deals with clergy sexual abuse, primarily of those victimized as adults.
Date:
Thursday - November 19, 2009
Friday - November 20, 2009 (Australia, Israel and Europe)
Time:
USA / Canada International
8:00 PM (Eastern) Noon (Melbourne, Australia)
7:00 PM (Central) 3:00 AM (Jerusalem, Israel)
6:00 PM (Mountain) 1:00 AM (London, England)
5:00 PM (Pacific)
TUNE IN LIFE ON www.KCTU.com
Call in Toll Free with your Comments and Questions
1-866-905-8855
Background information on clergy sexual abuse of adults (over the age of 18) and Educating To End Abuse
Part 1 - Silent Majority Adult Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse (NOW conference 2008)
Part 2 - Statistics on Clergy Sexual Abuse of adult women (NOW conference 2008)
Part 3 - Peggy Warrens Presentation on Surviving Clergy Sexual Abuse as an Adult (NOW conference 2008)
=
http://www.beth-torah.org/who_we_are/mission_vision.php
ReplyDeleteRabbi Mark H. Levin is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. Graduated in 1971 from Boston University, magna cum laude with distinction in religion, Rabbi Levin received his Master of Arts in Hebrew letters from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 1974. His Certificate in Jewish Communal Studies in 1974, and was ordained in 1976.
He serves on a number of boards locally and nationally, writes religion columns for the Kansas City Star, and answers questions for the “Ask the Rabbi” service of the Union of Reform Judaism.
http://www.examiner.com/x-19303-Dayton-Crime-Examiner~y2009m11d6-Clergy-sex-abuse-victims-want-action-on-2-accused-bishops
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is upset after they claim that Kansas City MO's Catholic officials continue to say and do virtually nothing about two Kansas City priests who became bishops, were sent elsewhere, were sued for molesting boys and have had such suits against them settled. The alleged predators are Bishop Joseph Hart and Bishop Joseph V. Sullivan.
Last month, a civil child sex abuse lawsuit accusing Sullivan of abuse was settled for $225,000 (http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2009/09_10/2009_10_16_Thomas_SexAbuse.htm). Last year, five men settled similar child molestation cases against Hart (http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/0708/2008_08_21_CasperStarTribune_KansasCity.htm).
Yet Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn refuses to disclose lawsuits or settlements involving either predator, acknowledge their guilt, or reach out to their victims.
In 2007, according to the KC Star, the Kansas City Diocese contributed $10,000 to help settle a case against Sullivan but failed to disclose it to parishioners or the public. That lawsuit charged that Sullivan sexually abused a boy during visits to Hawaii from 1969 to 1977.
Every diocese is required to have a 'review board' that "reviews cases and makes recommendations to the bishop about the status of the accused." SNAP has seen no evidence that the KC board has ever investigated allegations against either bishop.
According to the diocesan website, members of the Kansas City MO diocesan review board include Jill McGee (Chairperson), Rabbi Mark Levin, James Caccamo, Fr. Robert Stewart, Msgr. Robert Murphy and Leslie Guillot.
http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2027512/Sunday-The-Rabbi-Met-The-Queen.html
ReplyDeleteMaybe Arthur can explain how this is not issur negiah.
http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/41207/
ReplyDeleteRabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
(Funniest statement he makes in his op-ed:) New York's Five Towns contain all that is the best in American Orthodox Judaism.
Sexual abuse, substance abuse, disillusioned youth, cynicism and spiritual thirst, unemployment and its tragic aftermath, the struggles of small communities to survive, and of large communities to cope with severe financial pressures - all these weighed on me and took all of my creative energies.
------------
Exactly what has Weinreb done to combat sex abuse? Some would say absolutely nothing.
Weinreb does plenty of tuchess lecking for a guy who was only interim rabbi in Woodmere for 2 months.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/41207/
Bob Gordon writes a comment on Weinreb's op-ed basically accusing Weinreb of lying when he says there is no talking during davening at Young Israel of Woodmere. Gordon says the talking is so out of control that he was forced to leave the shul to daven somewhere else.
Sam Cohen agrees with Gordon and accuses Weinreb of saying any lie so as not to rock the boat.
Dr. Abraham Berger also agrees and says that no matter what Hershel Billet did he could never shut up the blabbermouths in the shul.
Shimon Davis is the 4th shul member to dispute Weinreb:
"I have attended services in that synagogue. As a participant, poor decorum was evident and unfortunately disruptive. (The rabbi had to stop the service several times to remind the congregation that it was improper to converse during the Torah reading.)
Such unruly behavior undermines spirituality and renders all serious prayer ineffectual.
I think this is an issue that serious worshippers should discuss objectively. (I can understand how such disruptions would discourage individuals who seek to worship HaShem in a serene milieu which is conducive to prayer. Most people who go to a synagogue do not want to engage in gratuitous conversation during services.)
There are obviously many sincere people who have been disenchanted by such unseemly conduct. This might be one reason why many Jews are reluctant to go to shul."
Others who do not sign their names are also critical of Weinreb's covering up.
Barry Mase works for both the OU and Rafi Butler's group.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Butler was never really kicked out except in an illusion where the OU is covering up.
November 19, 2009
ReplyDeleteStimulus Watchdog: Job Creation Data Flawed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:22 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government watchdog overseeing economic stimulus spending says the White House was too quick to take credit for saving or creating 640,000 jobs.
The White House trumpeted job figures released last month, saying they proved the administration is on track to save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.
But Earl Devaney, whose agency collected and released the data, said Thursday there are too many errors to know how many jobs have been created. Under questioning on Capitol Hill, he agreed the White House should have acknowledged the doubt surrounding the numbers.
He said the downside of the unprecedented transparency is embarrassment, and there's enough embarrassment over the accounting problems to go around.
The Queens Vaad & former President and current Treasurer of OHEL, David Jacobson, may hold the record for desecration of Jewish children's graves under his care and control with a whopping 11,000+ graves.
ReplyDeletesee:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020529055836/http://www.jewishinterest.com/
and the Rav Elyashev psak they haven't followed:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030115112513/www.jewishinterest.com/MokomSholom/rav.htm
And the rabbonim of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens who remain silent (although they take over $1 million in Taharah revenues primarily from David Jacobson's operations according to Guidestar):
List of rabbonim:
www.queensvaad.org/about_vaad/members.cfm
Vaad Harabonim of Queens tax statements:
http://www.guidestar.org/Documents/2002/112/774/2002-112774666-1-9.pdf
More Grave Danger In Queens
copyright © 1997 Moshe A. Handler
Important Correction: The printed version of our Jewish Interest Magazine inadvertently claimed that Rabbi Zohn's son worked for David Jacobson. The version of the article that should have been printed is this one with the correct claim that two of David Jacobson's sons had worked for Rabbi Zohn. We regret the error due to the wrong draft of the story going to print. This draft is the correct one.We regret our error.
This is an article that I have spent over two years trying not to write. I have no choice now. Two separate Rabbonim have ruled that I am under Halachic obligation to write it. They feel that the only progress ever made on this subject was due to the previous articles I wrote about it. They now feel no further progress will take place unless I write about it again. Sadly, I know they are right and that the only hope to solve this problem is to publicize it.
Four years ago, I was approached by three people, David Gevertzman, David Priever and Florence Marmor. They told me a story about Mokom Sholom, a cemetery on Liberty Avenue between 80th and 81st street in Queens. David Gevertzman was trying to find the grave of his great grandmother, who records indicated was buried there. He had enlisted the aid of Priever and Marmor, both whom were qualified Genealogists. As they searched for David's Great Grandmother they were shocked at what they discovered.
At least one fifth of the headstones at Mokom Sholom cemetery were missing. Completely gone. There were no signs of the graves that had previously been marked. At first they didn't believe it themselves. They set out on a course of checking paper trails, obtaining aerial photos and speaking to witnesses who lived in the area. The evidence was concrete. Someone had removed all above ground traces of thousands of graves. These were burials all made by the UHC (United Hebrew Charities using land that was donated by Congregation Darech Amuno of Manhattan.) What should have looked like a full cemetery now looked empty.
I arranged a meeting in Boro Park with Rabbi Elchonon Zohn, head of the Chevra Kadisha of the Vaad Horabonnim of Queens. Rabbi Zohn assured me that he was told by David Jacobson, the cemetery operator, that Mokom Sholom was empty. If however, the people who charged the cemetery contained graves could prove it, he would see that the cemetery would remain untouched. (Only in dire emergency does Jewish law permit burying one person on top of another.) This proved to be a false promise. I should have realized this when in order to impress me with how close he was to Jacobson, Rabbi Zohn told me that Jacobson's son was at that time working for him. Nevertheless, I asked for and Priever, Gevertzman and Marmor provided me with, mountains of proof which were later presented to Rabbi Zohn and some other members of the Vaad. We hoped they would do the right thing.
Some of the proof we had and showed included;
ReplyDeleteAerial photos over the years that showed markers on graves in previous years but no trace of any markers now.
Letters written to the cemetery commission by relatives of the dead people complaining of missing graves in the cemetery.
Photos of piled up removed headstones.
Testimony of neighbors who lived near the cemetery who remembered graves in the now empty looking area.
Documents from the cemetery commission files stating the cemetery was completely filled.
A state report by one Perry A. Fischer, detailing how the cemetery trustees were forbidden by Rabbis in previous years to reuse graves because there already were burials there and how when they attempted to bury where there appeared to be no bodies they always uncovered bodies and had to stop.
Correspondence between David Jacobson, the current Mokom Sholom operator, to one New York Recycling Company complaining that they were charging him too much to cover over the graves that were present. His method and his workers could do it for less.
A year by year log of just how many burials took place in Mokom Sholom calculated from Darech Amuno yearly reports.
Of course there was much, much more.
Despite the overwhelming proof offered to Rabbi Zohn, it became apparent he really did not want to see the proof we showed him. What he really wanted was to go ahead, give a "heter" and cover a known Jewish Cemetery so he could allow Jacobson to bury bodies in a clean field. After giving a full six months to have meeting after meeting and examine the evidence, I realized the obvious. Rabbi Zohn was assuring Vaad members that there were no problems at Mokom Sholom. He had every intention of allowing the covering of twelve thousand Jewish Graves with fresh dirt and every intention of allowing David Jacobson to sell these graves to unsuspecting Russians looking for burial plots. They would never question whether there were previous burials at that location. I could only guess at the motives but perhaps the words "big profits" would have something to do with it.
Since I soon realized, I was not being dealt with honestly and would be unable to stop them quietly, I used the only weapon I had left... publicity. I published the full story in The Jewish Interest Magazine. Thirty thousand copies of the magazine were distributed in the Boro Park and Flatbush area. It had a major effect. It stopped their plans dead. No one would cover the graves in the glare of publicity.
David Gevertzman was not fully satisfied. He wanted to make sure this issue would be settled for good and wanted to be sure they would not try this again. So he had a messenger sent to Rabbi Elyashev in Israel. Rabbi Elyashev is considered the Godol Hador today. The Rabbi sent back written notice that not only was it forbidden by Jewish law to pour earth over Mokom Sholom but as much as possible it was Halachicly required to restore the cemetery to it's former condition. We published the original text of the letter in The Jewish Interest Magazine. That to us seemed to end all the arguments about Mokom Sholom or so we thought.
New reports started coming in. A friend of mine in Israel called to tell me that representatives of the Vaad, including Rabbi Zohn, had flown out to Rabbi Elyashev. For two days they worked on convincing him that he made a mistake in ruling Mokom Sholom untouchable. They seemed to be making headway. But something they said on the third day set off alarms. Rav Elyashev realized they were lying and them told them flatly he would not reverse his Psak Din. The stunned Rabbis returned home in the same position as before. We were fairly satisfied that the cemetery was safe.
Things seemed quiet. But in the summer of 1997 I heard new stories. Rabbi Zohn was now telling people that he had a Halachic ruling stating Rav Elyashev had Halachic jurisdiction only in Israel and not in the United States. He now admitted that although he knew that there were graves in Mokom Sholom, it would be permissible to cover them in order to make money to use for repair of nearby Bayside cemetery, a cemetery that even now is not run by Jacobson, but was expected to go bankrupt soon and be given to him. Rabbi Elyashev's Psak din was to be considered irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteIncredible!!
Covering Jewish dead in the USA was never done before! To do so would violate a most basic tenet of Judaism - respect for the dead. If this ruling goes forward, it would mean that in later years Jewish graves could regularly be covered over if money could be made from it (for good purposes only of course) and this ruling will by cited as the precedent! Covering over Jewish dead of one cemetery to support another could become a regular occurrence!
We recruited other Rabbis to enter the fray. (Most Rabonnim don't want to help because they don't wish to battle other Rabonnim.) After a recent major meeting of the Vaad I received a call from one Rav. He wanted to let me know that the Rabbi Zohn was only afraid of one person. Me. (little old me? Not really. What he's really afraid of is people knowing the truth) The Rav informed me that he had ruled that I had the Halachic obligation to write a full article and expose what was going on in order to stop it since this was the only way it could be stopped. Soon another Rav called me. He too demanded I write this article. You are now reading the results of their request.
I met Rabbi Zohn and Rabbi Steinberg in front of Rabbi Steinberg's Shul a few months ago. Between heated shouts at me, Rabbi Zohn admitted that were it not for my articles exposing their intentions, Mokom Sholom would be covered over with another six feet of dirt and there would be double burials there today. He denied promising me that if I proved there were graves at Mokom Sholom he would stop the double burials (an out and out lie.) He confirmed to me that he felt he did not have to follow Rabbi Elyashev's Psak Din. He also said that if David Jacobson suddenly poured earth over Mokom Sholom at his own whim there is nothing anyone could do. (Apparently, this is now the plan according to my sources.)
This may be true but we are supposed to be a Jewish community. We wouldn't allow the Czar or a communist government to wipe out all traces of a Jewish cemetery so can we allow two so called Jewish frum rabbis do it?
Rabbi Elchonon Zohn should not be allowed to rule on cemetery matters where David Jacobson is involved as he has been doing. Rabbi Zohn is a Nogaiah Badovor. There are witnesses who have told me he has taken gratuities from funeral homes as an award for sending them business even while forbidding his workers from to do so. (Gratuities reportedly have included, freezerfulls of Thanksgiving turkeys, fancy luggage and other items.) Many members of the Vaad, have reported to me that he has, a real interesting Tachrichim hustle going on. It is reported David Jacobson's two sons had worked for Rabbi Zohn. (Rabbi Zohn told me this himself.) In addition, Rabbi Zohn has had and continues to have great financial benefit working with Jacobson. Rabbi Zohn has now gotten the contract to do most or all Taharas for "Kehilla Chapels" a funeral home run by David Jacobson's son and wife. Since "Kehilla" has now taken over all UHC, (United Hebrew Community, otherwise known as Adath Yisroel) burials from Kirshenbaum Bros, it does a major amount of burials. (An interesting side note to this is that David Jacobson is the director of the UHC.) Halacha clearly forbids one who is involved as deeply as Rabbi Zohn is to rule on issues affecting Jacobson yet he has been doing so for years.
The Vaad has clearly been fooled by this man. He has misled them greatly while betraying their trust. How could the Vaad Horabbonim of Queens fall for this phony?
ReplyDeleteThe Vaad should immediately issue a letter acknowledging the cemetery is full (they already admit this privately) and acknowledging clear evidence that Rabbis previously banned new burials in Mokom Sholom.
A permanent memorial should be put up in the now empty field acknowledging and memorializing the people who are buried there. (If they are agreeable to this, we can supply thousands of names of people who are buried in Mokom Sholom.) Halacha requires markers in Jewish cemeteries.
The Vaad should look into having Rabbi Zohn replaced. Certainly, he cannot be trusted to work without strong supervision. The sweetheart deals with funeral homes and suppliers are not fitting for someone doing holy work. It may seem like he is irreplaceable but in truth Rabbis in the Vaad have secretly told me that there are many candidates who can take his place. He should not be allowed to maintain a position where Vaad members fear for their livelihoods if they oppose him.
Certainly, this article should be considered an official Halachic protest against the use of Mokom Sholom as a virgin cemetery. A Michoa (protest).
The Vaad Horabonnim of Queens should publicly proclaim the ban of covering known graves in Mokom Sholom. This would go a long way towards restoring public trust. Any member of the Vaad with ties to Jacobson should have no business making decisions on Jacobson cemeteries.
David Jacobson should publicly acknowledge the ban and be halachicly forbidden to cover over or remove headstones from any Jewish graves in the many Jewish cemeteries he runs, funeral homes and monument stores he is associated with in New York, New Jersey and Staten Island should not be patronized if he does not cooperate with Halachic rulings. If he will not accept this, then Rabbonim all over should issue a ban on using Jacobson's services and connected funeral homes and monument stores. The situation at Mokom Sholom does not require that precedent should be set in the United States to cover up Jewish dead.
It should be publicly acknowledged that at one time, Mokom Sholom graves were properly marked (as late as 1961.) It should be noted, that those monuments were removed with the express purpose of covering graves of already dead people, (mostly children under sixteen) to gain profit. There should be no reward, even thirty years later for trying to steal Jewsih graves.
We should strongly consider that someone undertake to catalog all Jewish burials in New York and make it available as a public database to insure moves like this can never be pulled off again. With computers, it is very easy to make burial records accessible to all. With burial logs publicly available, it will be hard to "make graves disappear" as has been done in Mokom Sholom. (No doubt in other cemeteries we don't know about too. In the four years since I started writing about Mokom Sholom, I've received report after report about missing graves in Washington cemetery in Brooklyn. I've been told that of all people, Rabbi Zohn certified this cemetery as Okay)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that it has taken four years to get to this point. In my wildest imagination, I never dreamt that I would have to battle supposedly religious Rabbis to stop them from covering over a cemetery full of Jewish dead right here in our own back yard in Queens. In the past four years, I have been accused of being "Mevazeh Talmid Chochom" for exposing these wrongs. Now, because of this Halachic ruling I am writing about this subject again. Truthfully, I cannot even understand the controversy. Are Jewish graves so valueless that we can erase all traces of them at whim?
It is my sincere wish that the Vaad Horabonim do the right thing and make sure this travesty will never happen in order that their good name survive. If they insist on not doing the right thing, I will do whatever is needed to publicize their direct violation of Halachic ruling. My first duty is to truth and to the protection of the thousands of Neshomos in Mokom Sholom who must have someone to speak out for them.
My latest reports are that there are some in the Vaad who have been willing to go along with Zohn because they felt the Vaad needed the money. At one meeting, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld courageously stood up and demanded there should be no more burials at Mokom Sholom. He has been rewarded for his courage. He is no longer asked to attend meetings where Mokom Sholom is discussed. Reportedly, he is no longer on the New York State Cemetery Board.
As of today, I have been warned Rabbi Zohn has organized meetings designed to rally Rabbonim to his side. I advise these well meaning Rabbonim to speak to me before they make any rulings.
Archie is right and andy and ah gayle are hypocrites.
ReplyDeleteShmarya blocks all kinds of people so they are forced to come to uoj.
And it suits ah gayle just fine to cheer on tropper is troubled. We know why that is.
Uoj can check my ip I probably don't live anywhere near archie.
Tropper is going to do backflips when he finds out about this.
ReplyDeletehttp://lubavitch.com/news/article/2027638/Developing-Relationships-Businesspeople-Professionals-Work-With-Chabad-Leaders-To-Advance-Jewish-Life.html
In an address to the general session of the event, Mr. Guma Aguiar, energy industrialist and owner of the Beitar Jerusalem football team, spoke about the life-altering effect Chabad's work had on him. Raised without any Jewish observance, Aguiar did not know that he was Jewish until he was 26 years old.
A chance encounter with Rabbi Moshe Meir Lipszyc of Ft. Lauderdale, led Aguiar to deepen his spiritual connections. Aguiar has since become an active philanthropist supporting Jewish outreach in Israel and the Diaspora. Mr. Aguiar says he draw inspiration from the Shluchim he so admires.
“It is our duty to reach out on all levels," he said. "From the community to the individual, we must bring the message and the legacy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to fruition."
In his concluding remarks to the session, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, the educational division of Chabad-Lubavitch, noted the power of the partnerships forged between Chabad representatives and the lay leaders.
Ohel's David Jacobson was davening by Rabbi London at Ocean Ave & Ave T until the shul was confiscated by the Feds because of a fraud scheme.
ReplyDeleteJacobson was then one the ex-London guys who hijacked the board of R' Yisroel Reisman's shul and voted to move the shul all the way down to their area. Many of the Agudah of Madison members did not know what was happening until it was too late. There was a huge fight. Because Rav Reisman refused to go against these rich guys from London, a lot of members left the Agudah in disgust. The Agudah was further hijacked by very modern elements from Young Israel of Bedford Bay after the new building opened. These guys talk or chew gum through the whole Shabbos davening then go home to walk their dogs. The Agudah is now often referred to as "Young Israel of Madison".
Jacobson walks around the Agudah with his nose high in the air like he's hot stuff and what comes out of his mouth shmecks fun gayveh. He is one of the fancier dressed guys there. I didn't know he is being mevazeh meisim to get rich.
The more these 2 whiners complain about your Shmarya commentary, the more you should do it.
ReplyDelete"http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2027512/Sunday-The-Rabbi-Met-The-Queen.html
ReplyDeleteMaybe Arthur can explain how this is not issur negiah."
First of all I am not the poisaik for the UOJ blog or any other but I would suggest that you learn hilchos negiah in depth before you post any more idiotic statements about about this subject.
In any case many poskim are of the opinion that negiah is permissible under certain circumstances,namely chillul Hashem.
When the Lubavitcher Rebbi was faced with a situation of a woman offering her hand to be shaken, his response would be "My mother taught me not to touch that which is not mine".Enough said.
Arthur,
ReplyDeleteWho says the Chabad rabbi can put himself in the matzav of the Queen touching him if it's mistaver that she will?
Are there any British Agudah fressers here who know if he could have gotten away with declining the award out of humbleness or if it's considered too much of a patch in punim?
When the new Reisman shul first opened there was a Mirrer yeshiva bochur in the neighborhood who wanted to learn there on Shabbos nights because the next place with a lot of seforim was a far walk.
ReplyDeleteBecause David Jacobson was strutting around like Mr. Big Shot Putz In Charge, the bochur explained to him the situation and asked for the combination to open the lock on the front door. Jacobson acted like a rude snob and refused to give this bochur the combo. He had to call the rov who gladly gave it to him. And it's not like the bochur was a stranger. He was a familiar face to Jacobson because he was davening there too.
"Arthur,
ReplyDelete"Who says the Chabad rabbi can put himself in the matzav of the Queen touching him if it's mistaver that she will?"
Come on the woman is in her mid eighty's.Stop with the putzivatishe questions.
What would have done if you were faced with a similar situation?
My G-D ,where do these morons come from?
Of course these situations only come up with "Chabad"rabbis.
Get real.
1 - There was no negiah al derech chibah.
ReplyDelete2 - It was in a bais malchus - Esther was guilty of much more.
3 - There was no negiah in a private place, which could "lead" to arayos. (hundreds of people in the room including security and photographers)
4 - Rightfully so, you do not embarass anyone, especially not a "queen". (Of what - I have no idea what her purpose is)
5 - The shliach may not have even known she was going to touch his "jacket".
Cut it out chevra, he did the right thing, yes, even a Chabad shliach can occasionally get it right:-)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Call it udder shock. A South Carolina woman who heard a giant splash in her backyard discovered a 650-pound cow had fallen into her swimming pool. WSPA-TV reports that the cow fell into Kathy Wydareny's covered pool on Monday night. The Anderson resident says the cow belonged to her neighbor.
ReplyDeleteWydareny was startled by a "giant whoosh" and took a flashlight out to investigate. She called 911 after spotting the cow.
It took five men from the county rescue team to free the cow using a sling.
Wydareny believes the cow got loose and just kept walking, thinking the pool cover was solid ground.
The cow is doing well. Wydareny hopes her homeowner's insurance will cover the damage to her pool.
___
Information from: WSPA-TV, http://www.wspa.com
"Because David Jacobson was strutting around like Mr. Big Shot Putz In Charge ..."
ReplyDeleteYou're right that he struts around like a putz but it's nice that Jacobson THINKS he's in charge.
650 pounds?
ReplyDeleteWow! Sounds like Rabbi Margulies has made progress on that latest diet he tried!
Here are some shluchim who "occasionally got it right"
ReplyDeleteChabad held a memorial dinner on Wednesday in honor of Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg and his wife Rivka, who were killed when terrorists raided the Chabad house in Mumbai a year ago on the Hebrew calendar.
A crowd of well over 2,000 guests filled a massive tent in Kfar Chabad set up outside the replica of the Rebbe's house in Brooklyn. A service manager said over 100 people worked the event, including at least 80 waiters. Organizers said the demand for tickets was “enormous” and that thousands of people who wanted to attend were turned away.
The event was a bittersweet celebration of sorts, as the Hebrew anniversary of the terror attack also fell on the third birthday of Moishe, Rabbi Holzberg's son, whose life was saved when he was spirited away from the attack by his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel. For Orthodox Jews, a boy does not cut his hair until his third birthday and the event is cause for a celebration.
Across a blue-grey curtain on the wall of the womens' section of the tent, dozens of blue and white balloons spelled out “Moishe, three years old.” Moishe himself was carried in by Sandra shortly before the beginning of the event, and stood before a gaggle of reporters and cameras, calmly, even lazily, taking in the spectacle.
The celebration and memorial was organized by the Chabad Youth Organization, with their slogan “with all the love to everyone” splashed across banners throughout the tent, alongside silhouette drawings of the Holzbergs and Moishe.
Gavriel and Rivka, who was five months pregnant at the time of the attack, were gunned down along with four others when Pakistani Islamists struck the Chabad house as part of coordinated attacks throughout India's largest city that left at least 173 people dead.
The Head of the Chabad Youth Organization in Israel Rabbi Yosef Aharonov said that although the attack was a tragic event, the terrorists “only killed their [the victims'] bodies; their spirits and what they stood for, and what the Chabad Rebbe taught about Jews helping Jews all over the world lives on.”
Aharonov added that there was “no question” that security had been beefed up at Chabad facilities worldwide since the attack, but that it was a concern addressed by local security forces in the countries in which Chabad operates.
Rabbi Holzberg's father, Rabbi Nachman Holzberg, told The Jerusalem Post that the outpouring of support for his family has been tremendous over the past year, and that Moishe was doing very well. Holzberg also expressed his hope that the tragedy “will only bring the entire world closer to redemption.”
Samuel, surrounded by a sea of reporters and swarmed by well-wishers from the moment she entered with Moishe, said that she was feeling a mix of emotions at the event, both great happiness that Moishe was doing well and sadness at the fact that his parents could not be with him.
Samuel said that “the baby is fine, he's a normal kid, he plays, he jumps.”
She added that while she was happy in Israel and the country was beautiful, she would probably only stay another one or two years because after that Moishe would no longer need her. Sandra said that although he suffered a great loss, Moishe had received great support fromhis family, and especially from his grandparents.
When asked if she had a message to give to the world, she said, “to carry on life, be strong and that's it.”
Thanks for the update on Moshele's well-being.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the Motty Borger tragedy, Rabbi Horowitz, together with Dr. Twerski, wrote an article about the importance of sexual abuse victims to seek help and not to keep their pain inside. It is highly hypocritical of Rabbi Horowitz to be advising adults who were sexually abused as children. Rabbi Horowitz was a vocal opponent of the Child Victims Act, even going on public radio to voice his opinion. The Child Victims Act would be the only recourse for these past victims. Nobody will believe these victims years after the abuse if not for the possibility of them seeking legal action. Rabbi Horowitz along with Vito Lopez, David Niederman, the Agudah and the Catholic Church have worked to insure that these victims are forever muzzled.
ReplyDeleteYou want these poor victims to seek professional help? What kind of closure are you offering them? Their molesters will be protected indefinitely thanks to your lobbying. The community continues to shun these victims and label them as "damaged goods". What incentive do they have to come forward and risk being exposed, thereby ruining shidduchim prospects for themselves and their families. Until the stigma is removed from sexual abuse victims and until we stop protecting the molesters, there is no reason for these victims to speak out. Without any sense of closure and without the community's love, understanding and acceptance, there is no psychotherapist that can help these victims. The first step to healing is passing the Child Victims Act, over Rabbi Horowitz' objections and over the rest of the axis of evil's objections. Let's make it happen
THE AFOREMENTIONED ARTICE PART 1:
ReplyDeleteAbuse Survivors; Please Do Not Suffer Alone
By: Dr. Benzion Twerski and Rabbi Yakov Horowitz
In recent days, reports have circulated in the media and on the Internet about the tragic early passing of yet another young man in our community. Those reports indicate that the trauma of childhood abuse followed him and complicated his adult life to the point that it impinged on the quality of his personal relationships.
It is not the intent of these lines to substantiate these reports nor is it to dismiss them. Rather, we wish to use the opportunity presented by this horrible calamity and the dialogue it has created on the internet and in the street to once again loudly and forcefully reiterate the message we have been projecting for many years to victims of abuse – “Please reach out for help and do not suffer alone.”
For even in the event that the facts as reported in this particular tragedy are not accurate, they are most certainly consistent with the pattern we have unfortunately seen over and over again, where victims of childhood abuse go through unspeakable agony as they attempt to singlehandedly deal with the toxic aftereffects of the trauma they suffered in their formative years. We have each encountered numerous instances where untreated childhood abuse follows victims into adulthood, shredding their marriages and rendering them often incapable of entering into a loving and intimate relationship with their spouses until a trained mental health professional helps them sort things out. We have each been involved with more than a few childhood abuse victims who became addicted to heroin and/or cocaine, in an unsuccessful attempt to wash away the searing pain of their trauma. We have each paid more than a few shiva calls to families of abuse victims, who years and even decades later took their own lives.
PART 2:
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of reasons why abuse victims would not avail themselves of intervention and assistance. Some are understandably reluctant or frightened to share the facts of their abuse with others. Others, who did have the courage to confide in adults in their lives were encouraged or intimidated into remaining silent – especially if the perpetrator is a respected individual or a close family member. This sends a horrible message to the victim – that he or she has done something that cannot see the light of day. The result is a that a never-ending video loop now plays in the mind of the victim, as societal pressure abuses them again and again, by forcing them to remain silent and unsupported.
There are many events that simultaneously involve more than one “system.” For example, when one gets arrested for driving under the influence which caused injuries or death, there are criminal penalties for drunk driving and financial reparations due for the damages caused. However, neither of these tracks deals with the fact that the perpetrator has a drinking problem. Courts realize they cannot treat alcoholism, as revoking licenses, impounding cars, and even jail terms will not prevent recidivism – especially if treatment is warranted but not followed.
Various efforts have been undertaken in recent years – all of which are necessary – in the arenas of prevention, education, training, and the need for reporting. And we both have proudly participated in many of them. However, despite the fact that these initiatives and the awareness they generate are often soothing to past abuse victims, none of these help them regain their footing. Only therapy by a licensed and trained professional can accomplish that.
We are therefore reaching out to anyone who was ever abused or molested in their childhood years and begging you to please do yourself the ultimate favor and get help.
Therapy may not solve all issues in your life, but it will do much to make your future brighter and filled with greater promise. In fact, many survivors thrive and build beautiful lives for themselves and their families following successful treatment.
It may be true that some people are resilient and survive with little apparent damage (apparent is the operative word). However, this is not the norm, and with the dangers involved, we would not recommend that you even risk this small chance. So; for your sake, and for the sake of your spouse and children, please, please get help.
Part 3:
ReplyDeleteThis may mean several things:
Contact a mental health professional who is experienced in counseling trauma victims. (I strongly feel that well-intentioned individuals like me, who do not have professional training in abuse treatment, are not equipped to deal with these issues and should limit our involvement to supporting the efforts of the professionals, and steering those who seek our guidance in these matters directly to them. Y.H.)
Get information about trauma and its effects.
Connect with other victims/survivors. The camaraderie and support are invaluable.
We strongly suggest that you ignore those who inform you, that getting married and starting a family will help you, “Get over it.” Experience has taught us that it will often complicate things rather than heal them.
Please, please do not suffer alone. Reach out for help today.
In closing, we offer you our sincere and heartfelt bracha that Hashem grant you menuchas hanefesh and simchas hachayim (tranquility and joy) in your lives.
© 2009 Dr. Benzion Twerski and Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, all rights reserved
Rabbi Yakov Horowitz is a regular columnist in The Jewish Press. Dr. Benzion Twerski is a renowned and much sought-after mental health professional who holds a Ph.D. in psychology from University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Twerski has been one of the leading voices in our community on the issue of child abuse for more than a decade. He lives and practices in Brooklyn, N.Y. and can be reached at btwerski@gmail.com
Hi UOJ,
ReplyDeleteHow about getting your buddy Robert Kolker from New York magazine to investigate the story of Motty Borger being molested by his own father Shmuel Borger.
There are also allegations that he beat his first wife, and the police were called to his home a number of times (with a possible police record).
In addition, his adopted daughter had a nervous breakdown possibly due to his molesting her.
One more thing, he also possibly committed financial fraud.
http://frumfollies.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/latest-on-motty-borgers-dad-shmuel-nov-18-9-pm-est/
and
http://7fatcow.com/2009/11/17/woe-to-the-eyes-and-ears/
Yerachmiel:
ReplyDeleteGet me [alleged] victims of Borger willing to put their names to the allegations...I'll take care of the rest!
I thought Neuhoff went into psychology.
ReplyDeleteFerd, Buffalo, Ku .... What the heck?
Did he have a mid-life crisis and switch his career track to zoology or something?
Can UOJ or anyone verify a comment that has showed up on the blogs?
ReplyDeletePedophile Boruch Lebovits davens by the Burshteener Rebbe. The Burshteener and his brother the Galanter Rebbe are the sons of man who was put away for heroin dealing.
http://honestlyfrum.blogspot.com/2009/11/rav-elyashiv-or-his-kanoim-got-it-right_19.html
ReplyDeleteIt appears that a compromise has been reached in the Intel fiasco and Intel has agreed to hire only non Jewish workers in their plant on shabbos, a plant that has been operating on shabbos for the last 24 years. Problem solved, no chillul shabbos, all are happy. Right? WRONG! This compromise is not good enough for the head of the Eidah Hacharedus, Rav Tuvia Weiss. Not only has he sent his thugs out to protest and will continue to do so, but now, according to a report on Yeshiva World, he is trying to bring pressure to Intel in America by requesting that the Undsdorfer Rebbe use his "influence" in the United States to meet with Intel execs in California to have them close the plant totally on shabbos. He said that until a compromise of "his liking" is reached he will continue with his antics by sending his thugs out to protest. This guy cannot be serious, on so many levels. First off he is greatly mistaken if he thinks some rebbe can just walk into the world headquarters over at Intel and request a meeting to make demands, they will laugh the guy out (then people like R' Pinkey Lipschutz and others wonder why charedim are painted in the media as being out of touch with reality) . Second if Intel has in good faith come to the table and compromised a deal which acceptable, what will the Eidah demand next of Intel (and by extension any company wishing to open in Israel)? Separate work areas for men and woman? Dress codes?
But this time there is a twist to the story. The Jerusalem Post is reporting that not only has Rav Elyashiv signed onto the deal but his kanoim are even considering sending people to protest in front of Rabbi Weiss' house. This could get interesting. Who will those who have been screaming that this is about companies not being open on shabbos now support? Will they stand by their principals and continue to protest because of the precedent that this may set, as they said, or will they now listen to their Gadol Hador Rav Elyashiv and not only stop protesting Intel but protest in front of Rabbi Weiss' house? What I would give to be in Israel this shabbos (for so many reasons), I am sure that if this takes place it will be a site to be seen. Who will throw the first punch?
As a charedi friend of mine pointed out to me last night, at a time when companies around the world are divesting itself from Israel and boycotting their products, is protesting a company that employs 6500 Israelis, including charedim, really the right thing to do? At what point do they walk outside their little worlds and see how our actions effect Jews not only in Israel but around the world? What kind of a message does this send to other companies that are interested in investing and doing business in Israel? As one commenter on VIN put it :"Intel has gone as far as it can go without shutting down the plant--which is really what the chareidi[m] want. They live in mortal fear that real job opportunities will be available to their bochurim who might, chas vachalilah go out and get a parnassah. As long as there are no jobs, they can continue sending their rabbonim to JFK every motzi shabbos for a week to beg money for their kehillah who are starving and lack sufficient funds to attend next week's demonstration. It is more important to keep these jobs and expand productive opportunities in EY than it is to capitulate to these absurd shabbos demands which even Rav Elyashiv has said are no longer an issue once the workers are all goyim."
Since Rubashkin is going away for a long time, the Feds have dropped all the immigration charges to save taxpayer dollars on what would be a redundant trial.
ReplyDeleteSo Shmarya is now being cornered about returning the money he shnorred specifically for the trial. He is refusing to give back a Red (pun intended) penny, saying he "might" show up for the sentencing, that takes about 60 seconds.
Can you believe this turd?
By the way, I never realized what a bunch of sickos make up Shmarya's fan club.
ReplyDeleteHis following of Conservative / Conservadox / YCT rabbis had really disgusting comments to make about the Motty Borger tragedy. Those two lowlives David Willig and "Chicago Sam" were talking aloud all kinds of macabre but phony speculation like their bogus claim that Haredim don't know how to have sex or even get an erection and he may have jumped out of frustration.
Shmarya is becoming more & more unhinged as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteHe has either become completely paranoid or he is getting sloppy with his calculated lies to smear Rav Elyashev in saying things about him that no one in their right mind would ever believe.
Shmarya's presentation of the Intel story is that Rav ELyashev only said he is ok with the compromise so as to not scare away Western donations to Litvishe yeshivos. But at the same time Shmarya claims, Rav Elyashev is secretly still sending out all the yeshiva bochrim to join the riots with the extremists against the company.
Wow! It's such a massive conspiracy and secret and no one in the world has gotten these clandestine instructions except for Shmarya.
You know, before my IPs were blocked from posting at Shmarya's blog, he had some supporters just like Andy and Ahavah Gayle that would use their argumentative skills in attempts to silence and humiliate me. You see, Liberals are all for all kinds of opinions and free speech until it conflicts with their own views at which point they become Mini-Me versions of Joseph Stalin.
ReplyDeleteIt never worked and several of them who lost the said arguments resorted to such foul language that even Shmarya was forced to oppose it.
Btw AndyBee, are you Ahavah Gayle's spouse?
Archie, i just finished reading your 3 postings. I think you're unravelling and becoming a bit unhinged in your anti-Shmarya rants.
ReplyDeleteReally, most of us ... just don't care. And most of us think Failed Messiah has done excellent work in exposing the thuggery in Postville.
I am not related to Ahava Gail, but she seems decent and certainly unworthy on your scorn and nasty words.
Free Speech allows you to start your own blog and post to your heart's content. Your many, many fans who wish to follow your every word and thought will no doubt do so.
Free Speech does not entitle you to post comments where ever you wish. Each blog has its own rules and can chose to weed out the comments it finds objectionable.
Does anyone know why that weirdo Sorscher calls his dysfunctional yeshiva after him? Sorscher was also nailed by the Feds last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.shabbosyeshiva.com/index.php
And Yeshiva Haichal Hatorah is still under London himself. It is bankrolled by this controversial guy who is worth half a billion dollars:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/nyregion/19landlord.html
In the feudal world of Bronx real estate, where a handful of landlords claim ownership to its skyline of cramped apartments, Jacob Selechnik is most certainly royalty.
He has been buying buildings in the city’s poorest borough for nearly 50 years, amassing an empire that reached a peak of more than 7,000 apartments. Brokers estimate his net worth at more than half a billion dollars.
The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, which has monitored Mr. Selechnik’s management practices since the 1970s, nicknamed him “Jake the Snake,” claiming that he mismanaged his buildings.
Harold Shultz, who worked for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 1974 to 2007, said that during his tenure, Mr. Selechnik “rose to the top of the pile for attention by the litigation bureau.”
In 2006, there were 23,000 violations in 104 buildings associated with Mr. Selechnik and his family.
“I can sleep very comfortably at night. I know I made every possible effort to provide essential services,” he said. Mr. Selechnik was born in Guatemala City, where his parents moved in the 1920s from Lithuania. In 1956, he arrived in Manhattan to study at the Yeshiva Haichel Hatorah. Mr. Selechnik, an opera fan who savors Puccini, wanted to become a cantor.
While taking music classes at Yeshiva University several years later, he worked at a Bronx rental office, where he heard about two buildings for sale, at 1269 and 1271 Morris Avenue. In the early 1960s, he bought them for $1,000. Soon, landlords who wanted to escape the Bronx’s growing blight started selling their buildings to Mr. Selechnik.
He drives a 1989 Oldsmobile and rents a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx. He said he pays a nominal amount for rent in exchange for sharing his construction workers with his landlord. Other than the $5,000 he gives to a yeshiva each month and saving for his grandchildren’s and great-grandchild’s education, he spends his money on his buildings, he says.
“If you saw him, you probably would want to lend him a few dollars to get a cup of coffee,” said Marco Lala, an associate vice president for investments of Marcus & Millichap, who has sold Mr. Selechnik a dozen buildings over the past decade.
His reputation worries government agencies and tenants-rights groups. Mary Dailey, who worked for the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition from 1986 to 2005, said it considered Mr. Selechnik “one of the most problematic” landlords in the borough because his properties were “chronically run down.” In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she helped organize campaigns against his effort to buy more buildings, she said.
AndyBee, you have been told ad naseum that you are very smug for taking the unwarranted liberty of speaking on everyone's behalf. The only other kvetcher supporting you is a woman who has a (misguided) personal reason to support Shmarya's assault on all rabbis, even the good rabbis.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge opponent of Rubashkin as anyone following my posts knows so it's really disingenuous of you to insinuate that I object to Shmarya's material in that area. What I do object to is his shnorring for trial related travel & lodging when he never bothered to put on a pair of pants & leave the comforts of his mother's basement.
You're right that every blog has it's own rules. But what you can't get through your thick skull is that UOJ sets the rules here, not AndyBee.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2009/11/according-to-all-accepted.html
ReplyDeleteMany are very concerned about the current status of ניקור. May we acept in the broad sense, the מנהגי ניקור that was being utilized in certain specific areas of Europe as the standard for everyone in the USA? There are the מנהגי ארץ ישראל which was set up by Reb Yeshuah Leib among others.
מנהגי פוילען אשכנז, ספרד וכדומה were some of the accepted minhagim for the majority of those currently residing in the USA.
May one accept or even certify a nikur that is not all encompassing of all of the accepted minhugim? NO!
The מנהגי סאטמר, ציילעם, פעסט, אונגארן were not the same as all of the other countries. When Glatt started in the USA, the only ones that ate glaat were the ones from אונגארן. Now in the USA the majority of the ones that use glatt are from all the other countries that had different minhagim in nikkur.
There is no justification for the purveyors of glatt & their certifiers to accept a ניקור that does not encompass all of the מנהגים. It is interesting to note the Satmar butcher stores (who are the only ones that perhaps could have accepted that nikur), yet they do not accept the ניקור אונגארן.
Therefore the parts that are may have an issue of Nikur chelev are; plate, ribs,breast, brisket, chopped meat, skirt steak, hangers, (ox-tail).
The parts that don't have a chelev issue are; chuck, neck, shoulder, shank, arm, chop meat from these cuts.
The "Shimon Mendelowitz" nikkur encompasses all of the accepted Minhagim.
BY DONNELLE ELLER • Des Moines Register
ReplyDeleteThe new owners of the former AgriProcessors in Postville received $600,000 in state assistance, plus tax credits, Thursday for a $15 million proposal to update and modernize the Kosher beef and poultry meatpacking plant.
Agri Star Meat & Poultry, owned by Canadian Hershey Friedman (but managed by all of Sholom Rubashkin's relatives), says it will remodel the plant and introduce a new line of oven-baked beef and chicken, state documents show. The company plans to retain 168 jobs and create 140 jobs. Employees will earn at least $11.65 an hour, records show.
The Iowa Economic Development Board agreed to provide the company with $600,000 in loans and grants, plus an estimated $941,652 in tax credits, based on the company’s capital investment in the plant.
Board member Robert Riley said the plant is important to the northeast Iowa community and state. The company said will process about 500 cattle each day. “The cattle processing capacity is essential for Iowa,” said Riley.
The company also received $145,000 in local tax abatements over five years and $50,000 in state job-training assistance.
How will we get away after this with the phony propaganda that Rubashkin was the "only" person investigated?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20immig.html
WASHINGTON — Immigration enforcement officials said Thursday that they were expanding a program for auditing companies that might have hired illegal immigrants and had notified 1,000 companies this week that they would have to undergo such a review.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/business/22loans.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteAs millions of Americans struggle to hold on to their homes, Wall Street has found a way to make money from the mortgage mess.
Investment funds are buying billions of dollars’ worth of home loans, discounted from the loans’ original value. Then, in what might seem an act of charity, the funds are helping homeowners by reducing the size of the loans.
But as part of these deals, the mortgages are being refinanced through lenders that work with government agencies like the Federal Housing Administration. This enables the funds to pocket sizable profits by reselling new, government-insured loans to other federal agencies, which then bundle the mortgages into securities for sale to investors.
While homeowners save money, the arrangement shifts nearly all the risk for the loans to the federal government — and, ultimately, taxpayers — at a time when Americans are falling behind on their mortgage payments in record numbers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/business/20limits.html?em=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteSAN FRANCISCO — In January, Mike Rowland was so broke that he had to raid his retirement savings to move here from Boston.
A week ago, he and a couple of buddies bought a two-unit apartment building for nearly a million dollars. They had only a little cash to bring to the table but, with the federal government insuring the transaction, a large down payment was not necessary.
“It was kind of crazy we could get this big a loan,” said Mr. Rowland, 27. “If a government official came out here, I would slap him a high-five.”
In its efforts to prop up a shattered housing market, the government is greatly extending its traditional support of real estate, including guaranteeing the mortgages of middle-class and even upper-class buyers against default.
In 2007, the government did not insure a single mortgage in this city, one of the most expensive in the country. Buyers here, as well as in Manhattan, Santa Monica and every other wealthy area, were presumed to be able to handle the steep prices and correspondingly hefty down payments on their own.
Now the government is guaranteeing an average of six mortgages a week here. Real estate agents say the insurance is such a good deal that there will soon be many more.
Policy changes like the shift in insurance, while often introduced on a temporary basis, are becoming so popular that they could prove difficult to undo. With government finances already under great strain, the policy expansions are creating new risks for American taxpayers.
The Internal Revenue Service is giving tax rebates to first-time buyers, and soon to move-up buyers, in a program beset by accusations of fraud. And the government agency that issues mortgage insurance, the Federal Housing Administration, is underwriting loans at quadruple the rate of three years ago even as its reserves to cover defaults are dwindling. On Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association said more than one in six F.H.A. borrowers was behind on payments.
“Is this going to be the next wave of the housing downturn?” asked Eileen Bermingham, an agent with Pacific Union. “With such a minimal down payment, how do we make sure people don’t get in over their heads?”
Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview that he planned to introduce legislation next year raising the maximum F.H.A. loan by $100,000, to $839,750.
His bill would make the new limits permanent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/movies/21precious.html
ReplyDelete“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” the new film about an obese, poor, illiterate, young black woman who is sexually and emotionally abused, has sparked this heartfelt and at times heated debate about its meaning in the two weeks since its limited release.
A father repeatedly rapes and impregnates his daughter in “The Color Purple” (as does the father in “Precious”), enraging some critics (mostly men) who asserted that the book and the film treated black men harshly. “Precious” has avoided that kind of backlash, but “people are suspicious of narratives that don’t put us in the best light,” Professor Neal said. The roots of that suspicion, he said, can be found in a long history of negative images in popular culture that helped keep black people in their place by reinforcing the notion of their inferiority.
Professor Neal was among dozens of black people interviewed about their perspectives on “Precious.” Perhaps the most provocative salvo against the movie was fired by Armond White, the chief film critic of The New York Press and the chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle.
“Not since ‘The Birth of a Nation’ has a mainstream movie demeaned the idea of black American life as much as ‘Precious,’ ” Mr. White wrote in his review. “Full of brazenly racist clichés (Precious steals and eats an entire bucket of fried chicken), it is a sociological horror show.”
“Black pathology sells,” Mr. White said in an interview. “It’s an over-the-top political fantasy that works only because it demeans blacks, women and poor people.”
Luvon Roberson, a public relations specialist in Manhattan, said that some of her friends had told her that “Precious” was a cascade of stereotypes, but that she found it a “deeply moving” way to show the beauty and innocence of a poor, fat, dark-skinned woman.
Set in Harlem in the late 1980s, the movie focuses on Claireece Jones, a teenager known as Precious, who is sexually and emotionally abused by her enraged, foul-mouthed mother, Mary (played by the actor and comedian Mo’Nique). They rely on welfare; Precious is H.I.V.-positive; and the first of her two children (both by her father) has Down’s syndrome. Precious fantasizes about having a light-skinned boyfriend and about herself as a thin, white girl.
“Precious” puts a much-needed spotlight on the underclass, said Nathan McCall, a novelist and former newspaper reporter who teaches a course on the history of African-American images at Emory University. But, he added, Lee Daniels, the film’s director, could have avoided some stereotypes by not making light-complexioned actors the good guys or showing Precious eating a bucket of chicken, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/opinion/21madoff.html
ReplyDeleteThe last time the estate tax was changed was in 2001. At that time, President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress sought to repeal the estate tax immediately, but settled for establishing gradual changes, which over eight years increased the amount of an inheritance that could pass free of tax to $3.5 million from $1 million, and reduced the maximum estate tax rate to 45 percent from 55 percent. Next year, the law calls for there to be no estate tax at all. Then, in 2011, everything is to abruptly reverse course, returning to pre-2001 tax act levels: a $1 million exemption and a 55 percent tax rate.
Don’t mess with the Donald.
ReplyDeleteThat is what an Albany-area businessman, Jared E. Abbruzzese, learned after a meeting several years ago with Donald J. Trump, the real estate developer and reality-television personality behind “The Apprentice.”
Mr. Abbruzzese, who was introduced to Mr. Trump by Joseph L. Bruno, then the Senate majority leader, testified in Mr. Bruno’s federal corruption trial Friday morning that he had hoped the meeting might eventually yield a deal to develop golf courses, an interest of Mr. Abbruzzese’s and one of Mr. Trump’s many ventures.
But that is not quite what happened.
“It was amazing,” Mr. Abbruzzese said. Though he went in to work out a potential deal with Mr. Trump, Mr. Abbruzzese told jurors, “I came out of there having bought a membership in one of his clubs.”
“The art of the deal,” Mr. Abbruzzese said sarcastically, referring to his own business acumen. “He walked over me. It cost me money. I got nothing out of it.”
Well, not quite nothing: Mr. Abbruzzese noted that he had won an up-close view of Mr. Trump’s signature hair.
“He does comb his hair from the side and swirl it around,” Mr. Abbruzzese noted.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/city-moves-to-restrict-front-yard-driveways/
ReplyDeleteEast 24th between P & Quentin is almost all frum. There is a big putz who used to live on that block who cut out an illegal driveway and painted NO PARKING in big yellow letters. He would harass neighbors who dared park in the legal spot that he stole from taxpayers. This is also assur lechol hadeyos.
One day, some high ranking Board of Ed official came to visit Madison High School around the corner and parked in the spot. The putz came running out of his house to scream at her and intimidate her. This woman knew enough to know it was an illegal driveway and told him so. When he wouldn't stop harassing her, she told him he would regret it. The DOT and DOB came down to levy a massive fine and he was hauled into court to be ordered to remove the illegal driveway.
This jerk who lives in the East 30s now also used to lecture residents in the East 20s that they should not even slightly block the sidewalk when their cars are in their (legal) driveways.
PUTZ!
"Move over, Bernie Madoff. Tip your hat to a trillion-dollar scam," said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., likening the ObamaCare bill's supporters to the imprisoned investor who fleeced millions.
ReplyDeleteDoes the dryer have Shabbos mode hechsher from Heinemann?
ReplyDeleteFRESNO, Calif. - A 14-year-old with a baby face told investigators he drowned his 4-year-old neighbor in a bathtub then hid the body in a dryer because the child was going to reveal the teen molested him, according to an affidavit released when he appeared in court Wednesday.
So much for Shmarya and his fairweather friends a.k.a. the big phonies from the Conservative "Hechsher Tzedek"
ReplyDeletePark Slope is the most Liberal neighborhood in NYC after Greenwich Village.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/11/20/2009-11-20_stiffing_workers_labor_dept_names_park_slope_eateries.html
They ought to be ashamed.
Nearly two dozen Park Slope restaurants stiffed their own employees nearly $1 million - in some cases paying workers as little as $2.75 an hour.
"I'm disgusted to hear this," said Laurie Kellogg, 52, of Park Slope, a regular customer at the Olive Vine Café on Fifth Ave., where workers were underpaid more than $200,000, according to the state Department of Labor.
"I'm going to boycott until they change."
Labor Department investigators conducted a surprise sweep of 23 randomly selected Park Slope restaurants on April 29, sending16 state agents to interview employees and check payroll documents to make sure workers were being paid in compliance with state law.
All but two of the restaurants were charged with minimum wage, overtime and other basic wage violations.
Archie,
ReplyDeleteI care about the message not about the messenger, I do not care if Shmaria ate by Rubashkin, has ménage à trois with Rubashkin's daughters. Shmaria Exposed Rubashkin, Tropper and others and like UOJ has a guarantee seat in Gan Eden
Is that Pesach Tropper is the son of Tropper from previous marriage? current marriage? or some other arrangement ?
ReplyDeleteMonsey,
ReplyDeleteCut it out already.
I have been very vocal against Rubashkin for a long time.
The difference between UOJ & Shmarya is that UOJ is trying to fix the problems in Klal Yisroel while Shmarya is using Rubashkin and everything else as a tool to convince people to leave religion. He is not even so much an Artistotle type baal tayvanik who turns to kefira to be able to live with himself. Shmarya is a different breed of apikoros. One who was a failure in life and tries to drag everyone else into his Black Hole of personal anger & misery as payback because Chabad didn't find him a shidduch and empty their coffers to to buy apartments on Arzei Habirah or in Hertzeliya for Falashas.
The guy has become so blinded in his rage that he tries to create news out of nothing and makes little or no sense.
There is a David Jacobson in Brooklyn who has been sued by American Express and all kinds of banks for not paying his bills.
ReplyDeleteMordechai Tendler is still trying to sue his old shul. The trial resumes this week on Tues.
ReplyDeleteRockland Civil Supreme
Index Number: 002284/2006
Case Name: TENDLER, MORDECHAI vs. BAIS KNESSES OF NEW HEMPSTEAD
The Washington Post's Slate Magazine is demanding that illegal immigrants be covered under Obama Hell-Care.
ReplyDeleteThey cheshbon that it would "only" cost each taxpayer an extra $312 a year. Never trust Liberal math as the real figure is always exponentially higher.
Filed at 12:18 p.m. ET
ReplyDeleteNEW YORK (AP) -- The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.
Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain ''their assessment of American foreign policy,'' Fenstermaker said.
''Their assessment is negative,'' he said.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/complaint-box-picky-eaters/?hp
ReplyDeleteNovember 20, 2009, 10:38 AM
Complaint Box | Picky Eaters
By SUSAN GOLDBERG
Having friends over for dinner used to involve a minimal and fairly unremarkable to-do list: There were groceries to buy, along with flowers and a couple of bottles of semi-respectable wine. I would put out some guest towels and a collection of fancy soaps that were off limits to blood relatives, and then — voilà! — dinner was served. Preparing for a dinner party these days is far more complex, thanks to a vast and bewildering array of dietary needs that seem to have suddenly overtaken everyone I know.
The very last straw was a friend who called before her family came for dinner and — without a hint of shame — presented me with a detailed list of their food requirements: Her son requires a pasta side dish with every meal, and none of them eat the dark meat of chicken, which she dismissed savagely as “dreck.”
I have had enough with people who want to have it their way, and I am done catering to the quirks of food-obsessed numskulls. If you eat in my home, I will grudgingly respect medically diagnosed allergies, since it puts a pall on conversation when a guest goes into anaphylactic shock at the dinner table. But beyond that, I expect you to eat what you can, ignore the rest and not make trouble. On Thursday, 15 people are sitting down to dinner at my house, and with God as my witness, I promise you this: There will be dark meat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/business/23rates.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteWith the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government’s tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically. Other forecasters say the figure could be much higher.
In concrete terms, an additional $500 billion a year in interest expense would total more than the combined federal budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/nyregion/23rangel.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteNovember 23, 2009
Under Scrutiny, Rangel Is Frayed but Defiant
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and JIM RUTENBERG
WASHINGTON — On the House floor during a debate over health care reform, he taunted a colleague who had been calling for his ouster. At a recent fund-raiser, he complained that the House speaker Nancy Pelosi had made an end run around him and his committee. Confronted by a persistent conservative activist in a hallway known as Boog, he let loose an expletive, telling the man to mind his own business.
There seems to be little joy in being Representative Charles B. Rangel these days.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford faces 37 charges of breaking ethics laws
ReplyDeleteNew York Daily News - David Saltonstall - 19 minutes ago
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is accused of breaking ethics laws by using taxpayer money for pricey airline seats.
Lou Dobbs Considers Possible Presidential Run
ReplyDeleteFOX News
Unorthodox Uoj Jew - Facebook Dobbs for President?
ReplyDeleteVus Zugt UOJ:
Ich hab shoen gegeben mine haskoma on Facebook November 12, 2009 - vile Rupert Murdoch hut nuch nit gevashen nagel vaser!
*
The Nation -- Parsing the Lou Dobbs bombshell, I can't help wondering if the pudgy populist is planning a run for president in 2012.
My guess: yes.
And if he does, I'll bet he'll do so as a Peron-style, would-be Ross Perot. It could be America's first truly fascist electoral effort.
November 12 at 9:12am
No "bickering about Shmarya", huh?
ReplyDeleteYou have to love how the guy could be channeling his resources towards something productive like exposing molesters. But no. He's busy bellyaching that the airport in Israel has 2 orthodox shuls but no church, no mosque and no egalitarian temple. Not that he gives a damn for Reform & Conservative but they come in handy when trying to bash the orthodox.
Shmarya's demand for a mosque of all things is rather peculiar. When was the last time a Jew was allowed in Mecca?
http://www.hfalert.com/headlines.php?hid=66521
ReplyDeleteHedge funds that profited from a suspected $500 million Ponzi scheme in Florida will likely have to relinquish their gains to investors who lost money in the scam.
At least three hedge funds - Centurion Credit, Clockwork Capital and Platinum Management - loaned money to investors in a Fort Lauderdale operation that claimed to finance legal-settlement payments. A lawyer who headed the operation, Scott Rothstein, is now under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Authorities have seized Rothstein's personal assets and his firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt, has been turned over to a court-appointed receiver.
A bankruptcy judge is expected to be appointed on Friday. Soon after, the judge will open a 90-day window during which an estimated 375 investors can file claims to recoup their losses. Legal experts say the court will likely track down early investors that made money off the scheme - including hedge funds that helped finance the operation - and order them to give up their profits to reimburse later investors who were left holding the bag. Some hedge funds could be among the investors that lost money on the scheme and, therefore, could benefit from the clawbacks.
It's unclear how much Centurion, Clockwork and Platinum made or lost by lending money to investors in Rothstein's operation. However, Platinum has said it had nothing invested in the scheme at the time the alleged fraud was exposed earlier this month - suggesting it may have pocketed profits.
Rothstein pitched his investment scheme as a legal-settlement-financing operation that worked like this: He would make discounted lump-sum payments to plaintiffs who had won out-of-court settlements but didn't want to wait months or years to receive the full amounts. Rothstein and his investors would profit as they received the full settlement payments.
One of Rothstein's biggest investors, Banyon Funding of Las Vegas, pitched the scheme to at least 15 hedge fund operators. Managers were invited to lend money to Banyon at interest rates of 20-25%. Banyon, in turn, made profits of 300%-plus on an annualized basis.
Clockwork is the latest hedge fund operator to be tied to the scheme. Headed by Abraxas "A.J." Discala, the firm appears to have been set up for the sole purpose of lending to Banyon and making direct investments in Rothstein's operation. Clockwork invested at least $30 million overall.
Before Clockwork, Discala ran Brax Capital, a Beverly Hills firm that billed itself as a merchant bank. Brax is now out of business. Discala is the ex-husband of actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, best known for her role as Meadow Soprano on "The Sopranos."
Platinum, a $500 million New York firm headed by Mark Nordlicht, loaned at least $50 million to Banyon. Centurion's exposure was at least $20 million. The New York firm, with more than $400 million under management, is headed by Murray Huberfeld. As of September, the firm's flagship Centurion Credit Group fund claimed a four-year track record with only one down month.
As investors await action by the bankruptcy court, many are planning lawsuits aimed at various parties in the alleged fraud, including TD Bank. Investors were told in early 2009 that $570 million was being held in an escrow account at a TD branch in Osceola, Fla. Some investors now accuse bank officials of offering false assurances about the money. TD Bank has said it is cooperating with the investigation.
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/22192/rabbi-took-kosher-food-five-day-coke-binge
ReplyDeleteRabbi took kosher food to five-day coke binge
By Jonathan Kalmus, November 20, 2009
http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=5244
ReplyDeleteLarry Gordon has taken a break from promoting Rubashkin. Now he has the 5 Towns Jewish Times promoting ORA.
They are saying at Yudel's that Huberfeld was not the only guy to take a bath with Rothstein, that Bodner lost $25 million and that Schron & Tabak also lost big bucks.
ReplyDelete