http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/13
July 14th, 2010
New York - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) this week served a motion to quash dragnet subpoenas that put privacy and anonymity at risk for the operators of dozens of Internet blogs and potentially hundreds of commenters.
The subpoenas stem from a state lawsuit filed by New York residents Miriam and Michael Hersh alleging a conspiracy to interfere with their business interests. Issued to Google and Yahoo, the subpoenas demand the identities of users of ten email accounts, operators of 30 blogs and a website that had featured discussions of the plaintiffs among other matters, and the identities of everyone who had ever commented on those sites.
"The First Amendment protects individuals' right to speak anonymously and forces litigants to justify any attempts to unmask anonymous critics," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Litigants cannot forcibly identify entire communities of online speakers -- which include many speakers who no one would claim did anything wrong -- simply because the litigants are curious."
In the motion served on Monday, EFF urged the Supreme Court for Kings County, New York, to quash the subpoenas for failing to satisfy the requirements imposed by the First Amendment, as well as the requirements imposed by New York state law and the federal Stored Communications Act.
"Overbroad subpoenas targeting anonymous speakers without cause naturally creates a chilling effect that may discourage others from exercising their constitutional rights to participate in conversations that take place online," said Zimmerman. "We are asking the court to enforce these reasonable safeguards so that the rights of innocent speakers do not become collateral damage in a dispute between others."
Ron Lazebnik and the Samuelson-Glushko Intellectual Property & Information Law Clinic at Fordham University School of Law assisted EFF in the serving of this motion.
For the full motion to quash:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-motiontoquashmemo.pd...
85 comments:
Five Questions for Michael Hersh:
Firstly, what is Michael Hersh doing going to secular court during the Three Weeks and the Nine Days?
Secondly, what is Michael Hersh doing going to secular court at all? Especially when he has a case against an all-Jewish "opposition" mostly Orthodox, his starting point should be a bais din, ANY bais din, of his choosing, and then proceed from there. So again, what is his heter, and who gave it to him, to TRY to drag other Orthodox Jews, including rabbis, into secular court evidently using non-Jewish attorneys too?
Thirdly, why does Michael Hersh want to take the Wolbe family, the son and grandson of one of the most famous gedolim, thinkers, and authors of the Torah world Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt"l to secular court and what does he hope to gain from that?
Fourthly, why doesn't Michael Hersh realize he is making a huge chillul Hashem berabim, yet AGAIN? He does not want to let the past go but insists on continuing his quest for revenge.
Fifthly, what does Michael Hersh hope to achieve by dragging into secular court about 15 parties (not counting possible "John Does") and sending subpoenas to over 30 Email address owners, blog owners when the same events have been reported online by responsible newspapers, organizations, communal workers and rabbis? In fact both the revered Rabbis Shmuel Kaminetsky and Dovid Feinstein opposed the incarceration of Isaac Hersh Roman Era and Slave Age-style, when this is actually Modern Times in the Information Age. Within Agudath Israel of America's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah they opposed Michael Hersh's Rabbi Aron Schechter of the Brooklyn Chaim Berlin yeshiva, causing a bitter split. This will not help Klal Yisroel, nor will it help Achdus. It is not Ahavas Yisroel nor does it make sense. The Torah says "lo ta'amod al dam rei'echa" so people felt compelled to speak up and try to help Isaac Hersh, and it says that "lo signov" refers to the prohibition of kidnapping, so people were outraged by the way Isaac Hersh was shackled and taken off to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. This is poshut peshat.
This is a heartfelt plea to Michael Hersh and his friends to STOP and WITHDRAW their ill-advised actions, legal and otherwise, at this time because it will only harm their cause. They let the worms out the can years ago that cannot now retroactively be forced back in and shut up by the misuse of very expensive legal tactics that in any case fly in the face of Jewish Law itself.
Firstly, what is Michael Hersh doing going to secular court during the Three Weeks and the Nine Days?
Secondly, what is Michael Hersh doing going to secular court at all? Especially when he has a case against an all-Jewish "opposition" mostly Orthodox, his starting point should be a bais din, ANY bais din, of his choosing, and then proceed from there. So again, what is his heter, and who gave it to him, to TRY to drag other Orthodox Jews, including rabbis, into secular court evidently using non-Jewish attorneys too?
Thirdly, why does Michael Hersh want to take the Wolbe family, the son and grandson of one of the most famous gedolim, thinkers, and authors of the Torah world Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt"l to secular court and what does he hope to gain from that?
Fourthly, why doesn't Michael Hersh realize he is making a huge chillul Hashem berabim, yet AGAIN? He does not want to let the past go but insists on continuing his quest for revenge.
Fifthly, what does Michael Hersh hope to achieve by dragging into secular court about 15 parties (not counting possible "John Does") and sending subpoenas to over 30 Email address owners, blog owners when the same events have been reported online by responsible newspapers, organizations, communal workers and rabbis. In fact both the revered Rabbis Shmuel Kaminetsky and Dovid Feinstein opposed the incarceration of Isaac Hersh Roman Era and Slave Age-style, when this is actually Modern Times in the Information Age. Within Agudath Israel of America's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah they opposed Michael Hersh's Rabbi Aron Schechter of the Brooklyn Chaim Berlin yeshiva, causing a bitter split. This will not help Klal Yisroel, nor will it help Achdus. It is not Ahavas Yisroel nor does it make sense. The Torah says "lo ta'amod al dam rei'echa" so people felt compelled to speak up and try to help Isaac Hersh, and it says that "lo signov" refers to the prohibition of kidnapping, so people were outraged by the way Isaac Hersh was shackled and taken off to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. This is poshut peshat.
This is a heartfelt plea to Michael Hersh and his friends to STOP and WITHDRAW their ill-advised actions, legal and otherwise, at this time because it will only harm their cause? They let the worms out the can years ago that cannot now retroactively be forced back in and shut up by the misuse of very expensive legal tactics that in any case fly in the face of Jewish Law itself.
Five Questions for Michael Hersh:
Firstly, what is Michael Hersh doing going to secular court during the Three Weeks and the Nine Days?
Secondly, what is Michael Hersh doing going to secular court at all? Especially when he has a case against an all-Jewish "opposition" mostly Orthodox, his starting point should be a bais din, ANY bais din, of his choosing, and then proceed from there. So again, what is his heter, and who gave it to him, to TRY to drag other Orthodox Jews, including rabbis, into secular court evidently using non-Jewish attorneys too?
Thirdly, why does Michael Hersh want to take the Wolbe family, the son and grandson of one of the most famous gedolim, thinkers, and authors of the Torah world Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt"l to secular court and what does he hope to gain from that?
Fourthly, why doesn't Michael Hersh realize he is making a huge chillul Hashem berabim, yet AGAIN? He does not want to let the past go but insists on continuing his quest for revenge.
Five Questions for Michael Hersh:
Fifthly, what does Michael Hersh hope to achieve by dragging into secular court about 15 parties (not counting possible "John Does") and sending subpoenas to over 30 Email address owners, blog owners when the same events have been reported online by responsible newspapers, organizations, communal workers and rabbis. In fact both the revered Rabbis Shmuel Kaminetsky and Dovid Feinstein opposed the incarceration of Isaac Hersh Roman Era and Slave Age-style, when this is actually Modern Times in the Information Age. Within Agudath Israel of America's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah they opposed Michael Hersh's Rabbi Aron Schechter of the Brooklyn Chaim Berlin yeshiva, causing a bitter split. This will not help Klal Yisroel, nor will it help Achdus. It is not Ahavas Yisroel nor does it make sense. The Torah says "lo ta'amod al dam rei'echa" so people felt compelled to speak up and try to help Isaac Hersh, and it says that "lo signov" refers to the prohibition of kidnapping, so people were outraged by the way Isaac Hersh was shackled and taken off to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. This is poshut peshat.
This is a heartfelt plea to Michael Hersh and his friends to STOP and WITHDRAW their ill-advised actions, legal and otherwise, at this time because it will only harm their cause. They let the worms out the can years ago that cannot now retroactively be forced back in and shut up by the misuse of very expensive legal tactics that in any case fly in the face of Jewish Law itself.
Great news. I read the motion (thanks for the link) and found it logical even to someone is not familiar legal proceedings.
Even though the motion displays common sense, don't let your guard down. With civil liberties disappearing quickly in this administration (presidential power to shut down internet for up to four months, corporations having no limit of influence [via contributions] to political parties, etc.), it would not be surprising if free speech was encroached upon.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Michael Hersh "scrubs" the web 1:
Will Michael Hersh also sue and subpoena Emails and blogs, of the mainstream media, legal and human rights organizations and even Yeshiva University, for their interest and reporting of events?
CITATIONS for case from media and organizations:
*New York Daily News: Jewish family sues Jamaican reform school for troubled teens (March 25th 2008): "A battle has erupted in the Orthodox Jewish community over a Brooklyn teenager sent by his prominent family to a behavior boot camp accused of terrifying abuse...The couple has a prominent supporter in Rabbi Aaron Schecter, head of Brooklyn's tight-knit Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, according to the suit..."
*Re-reported in The New York Times (N.Y./Region. City Room. March 25, 2008): "...Isaac Hersh, 16, who was sent by his family to a behavioral “boot camp” in Jamaica that his lawyer says has abused him. The boy’s father, Michael Hersh, is chief executive of a large Orthodox volunteer ambulance service, Hatzalah; the boy, one of eight children, had been living with another Orthodox family in Texas. [Daily News]"
*Re-reported in Teen Advocates USA (Online Since 1999. March 25, 2008)
Michael Hersh "scrubs" the web 2:
*New York Daily News: I was beaten & bound in boot camp, claims Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox teen (March 28th 2008): "A Brooklyn teen banished to a behavior boot camp in Jamaica by his family - sparking an internal battle among ultra-Orthodox Jews - is back in the United States after a showdown on the island nation. Isaac Hersh, 16, landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey Friday after his father was persuaded to let him leave Tranquility Bay, a private reform school...The story so divided the religious community that Isaac's father, Michael Hersh, was forced to take a leave of absence from his job as CEO of Hatzalah, the large, Brooklyn-based volunteer ambulance corps. Friends of the Hersh family described Isaac as a troubled son who had clashed with his parents for years. Others described him as a normal teen. He is living in an undisclosed location while custody arrangements are worked out."
*Article in Yeshiva University's The Commentator student newspaper: Tragedy Then Triumph (April 8, 2008): (Dramatic report worth reading).
*In Vos Iz Neias: Brooklyn, NY - CEO of Hatzolah's Teen In Gulag Camp, Embroil's Siblings, And Community. (March 25, 2008)
*Again in Vos Iz Neias: Brooklyn, NY - Questions Raised After Issac Hersh Rescue (April 3, 2008)
*More in Vos Iz Neias: Brooklyn, NY - Rabbis: Tranquility Bay Not An Option For Any Jewish Child (April 16, 2008), with original protest letter from Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky, Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski and Dr. David Pelcovitz published in The Jewish Press dated April 14, 2008.
The question is if Frucht will keep pouring money into a bottomless pit of a hopeless suit without merit or if he will now cut his losses and run.
Michael Hersh "scrubs" the web 2:
*New York Daily News: I was beaten & bound in boot camp, claims Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox teen (March 28th 2008): "A Brooklyn teen banished to a behavior boot camp in Jamaica by his family - sparking an internal battle among ultra-Orthodox Jews - is back in the United States after a showdown on the island nation. Isaac Hersh, 16, landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey Friday after his father was persuaded to let him leave Tranquility Bay, a private reform school...The story so divided the religious community that Isaac's father, Michael Hersh, was forced to take a leave of absence from his job as CEO of Hatzalah, the large, Brooklyn-based volunteer ambulance corps. Friends of the Hersh family described Isaac as a troubled son who had clashed with his parents for years. Others described him as a normal teen. He is living in an undisclosed location while custody arrangements are worked out."
*Article in Yeshiva University's The Commentator student newspaper: Tragedy Then Triumph (April 8, 2008): (Dramatic report worth reading).
*In Vos Iz Neias: Brooklyn, NY - CEO of Hatzolah's Teen In Gulag Camp, Embroil's Siblings, And Community. (March 25, 2008)
*Again in Vos Iz Neias: Brooklyn, NY - Questions Raised After Issac Hersh Rescue. (April 3, 2008)
Michael Hersh "scrubs" the web 3:
*COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE: RECENT LAWSUIT FILED ON BEHALF OF A TEEN: VIOLATION OF DUTY TO PROTECT A MINOR, DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION, MEDICAL NEGLECT, CHILD ABUSE: "This lawsuit alleges a minor child, Isaac Hersh, was forcefully and against his will taken to a facility for troubled youth, Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. Because of documented cases of abuse at Tranquility Bay, and because of the forceful nature in which the boy disappeared, his community actively sought to assist in his rescue. The Law Offices of Joshua M. Ambush located in Baltimore, Maryland, filed the Complaint on behalf of the Washington Center for Peace and Justice on March 19, 2008, and against the parents and the State Department. This was a novel approach that worked. Mr. Ambush indicated he did not sue WWASPS, as has been done in the past. The focus of this suit was to force the State Department to do everything they are mandated by law to do in order to protect abused minor children abroad.
Read the Complaint and the Motion to Dismiss below. After the suit was filed, the State Department took action and Isaac was released. The case was subsequently dismissed."
*From the New York Jewish Week: Breaking: Brooklyn Teen Released from Jamaica (March 30, 2008) (many Jewish week articles and others have already been scrubbed, but they remain as posted and saved on other blogs and sites.)
Michael Hersh's legal targets: Jonathan M. Ambush, Esq.
Let's not forget that Michael Hersh's war againat the bloggers he does not like is not the starting point of all this. There are many earlier starting points. The subpoenas against bloggers and Emails is an "appendix" to the case against a whole slew of other people Michael Hersh does not like (why else would he take so many of them to court and create all this legal maneuvering, reign of terror, waste of time, and blackmail worthy of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" !?)
Among the many individuals against whom Michael Hersh launched his present case (which we still have not gotten a full copy of, to know what this current case is all about) is a person named Joshua M Ambush who happens to be the attorney who filed the original case on behalf of Isaac Hersh in 2008. See above:
"VIOLATION OF DUTY TO PROTECT A MINOR, DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION, MEDICAL NEGLECT, CHILD ABUSE: "This lawsuit alleges a minor child, Isaac Hersh, was forcefully and against his will taken to a facility for troubled youth, Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. Because of documented cases of abuse at Tranquility Bay, and because of the forceful nature in which the boy disappeared, his community actively sought to assist in his rescue. The Law Offices of Joshua M. Ambush located in Baltimore, Maryland, filed the Complaint on behalf of the Washington Center for Peace and Justice on March 19, 2008, and against the parents and the State Department."
So now it seems Joshua M. Ambush must also "face the ire" of Michael Hersh in a fit of spite.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/disaffected_synagogue_leaders_push_change_young_israel
Disaffected Synagogue Leaders Push For Change In Young Israel
Reps of 18 synagogues rally support to make national organization ‘more transparent, accountable and responsive.’
Stewart Ain -- The Jewish Week
Any truth to the blogged rumor that the Agudah has fired lawyer Mordy Avigdor, brother of the indicted New Haven rabbi?
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/01/09/us/09religion01/popup.jpg
Now that Shmarya kept all the money he shnorred for false Rubashkin trial pretenses, I hope he at least splurges on fixing up this hellhole of a squalid dump he lives in.
Hurry up Queens Vaad! Figure out how you are going to bashmutz this guy now!
http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial_opinion/letters/exposing_abusers
Exposing Abusers
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Chaim Wieder
Keep up the good work in exposing people that pose a threat to our children (“A Decade Later, More Willingness To Confront Rabbinic Abuse,” June 18).
Organizations like the Queens Va’ad have been ignoring the issue of sexual abuse for too long. Those in leadership positions should understand that people need to be aware of the dangers that exist in our schools and our shuls.
Let’s put our efforts into helping victims and potential victims of abuse, instead of worrying so much about the perpetrators.
Luzi Lipshitz / Tuchess Whistler had Rav Schlesinger thrown out of the shul because he couldn't control him like a puppet.
Luzi is also a crony of Ezriel Tauber, the crook and mesarev din who pretends to be a ruv & maggid.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northnorthwest/ct-met-skokie-plane-crash-0715-20100715,0,364121.story
With his grandchildren visiting from Israel, Skokie resident Moshe Menora was eager to share his passion for flying, taking four of them on a trip to Mackinac Island.
But something went wrong shortly after he took off to return from Michigan, and the plane crashed on the edge of an interstate highway, killing Menora, 73, and three granddaughters, authorities said Wednesday.
The lone survivor of Tuesday's crash, Yossie Menora, 13, was thrown from the plane, a Beech Baron 58, and suffered burns on 60 percent of his body, Kovalsky said. He was airlifted to a hospital in Michigan.
The boy's father, Sholom Menora — who lost two daughters in the crash — told relatives from the Michigan hospital that the plane had split in half. The boy was in the rear of the plane at takeoff, family members said.
Sara Klein, 17, Rebecca Menora, 16, and Rachel Menora, 14, died. Along the way home, the funeral procession stopped for prayers Wednesday at Camp Agudah Midwest, an overnight camp for Orthodox Jewish children, Kovalsky said.
"They stopped by there and made a little memorial service," she said. A funeral was scheduled Wednesday night at the Congregation Or Torah in Skokie. On Thursday, the bodies will be flown to Israel for burial (Har Hamenuchos), she said.
"He is just a wonderful person, a wonderful businessman, very honest, a tremendous amount of integrity," said Sharon Leahy, executive director of operations for Menora's real estate company, Tri-United Management, based in Skokie.
Menora was born in Haifa, Israel, and his father was a rabbi there
He moved to New York in 1958 and met his wife, Sema, a rabbi's daughter. Menora ran a kosher meat market before getting into real estate. They moved to the Chicago area shortly thereafter.
The Queens Vaad, Elchanan Zohn and Ohel treasurer David Jacobson have been profiting hand$omely by ripping little dead orphans out of the ground and reselling the burial plots. The orphans were not even reburied because then there goes their profit.
What exactly is Elchanan Zohn's $$$ arrangement with SCI or Service Corporation International, the Texas based conglomerate that is parent company of the following funeral homes:
Forest Park Chapel
114-03 Queens Boulevard , Forest Hills, NY 11375
Riverside Memorial Chapel
114-03 Queens Boulevard , Forest Hills, NY 11375
Boulevard Chapels
114-03 Queens Boulevard , Forest Hills, NY 11375
Schwartz Brothers-Jeffer Memorial Chapel
114-03 Queens Boulevard , Forest Hills, NY 11375
Who was behind the murder of one of the 4 witnesses of the crimes at the cemeteries? Lowlives who are so called "rabbis" at Queens Vaad threatened to have witnesses killed by the Italian mafia so that their lucrative crimes would not be exposed. The NYPD never solved the murder.
No one has gone to the FBI and secular press before but times are a changin'.
You will pay for these unspeakable crimes.
http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/aftermath-of-rescue-boy%E2%80%99s-father%C2%A0sues/
It's incredible that R' Aron Schechter told Hersh to go arkoyos without beis din, something that even a NY judge questioned.
Hello Mr. BMG CEO, the crime which the son of the OU's Rabbi Luban was charged with was witness tampering which is worse than intimidation.
http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/letter-to-the-editor%C2%A07-16/
To the Editor:
The individual charged with intimidation is not a faculty or staff member, employee, nor representative of Beth Medrash Govoha (Witness tampering charged in abuse case; July 9, 2010). We consider intimidation in any form or format to be entirely wrong and improper.
Rabbi Aaron Kotler
Lakewood, NJ
Which Agudah Fresser Convention did this guy attend? Certainly not the one that was dedicated to attacking UOJ.
http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/letter-to-the-editor%C2%A07-16/
To the Editor:
Your cover story about the indictment of a 31-year-old man in Lakewood for witness tampering (“Witness tampering charged in abuse case”; July 9, 2010) was a great service to the community for at least three reasons.
First, many still feel the “community” can handle child abuse cases better than the authorities. Yet, at the recent Agudah convention I attended, we were instructed to contact the police if there is a suspicion of child abuse.
Second, some people may think they have the right to free speech to espouse and encourage that matters like child abuse should be handled through beis din, but they could find themselves in violation of the secular law. In a New Jersey case called State v. Crescenzi, an appeals court rejected such a constitutional challenge of free speech noting “when the public interest in discovering the truth in official proceedings is balanced against a party’s right to speak, that party’s right is minuscule.” A “beis din only” defense to prevent chillul HaShem will not go too far before any jury hearing a child abuse, witness tampering trial.
Finally, it astounds me that people willingly and openly talk to the police without the advice of counsel. The government’s proof in the case would have been substantially harder without the young man talking so freely. Unless you call the police, they do not come to your house just to shmooze or have coffee. Be smart; call a lawyer before you talk too much.
Alexander (Abba Shmuel) Novak, Esq.
Cedarhurst
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/world/europe/16vatican.html?hp
Vatican Rules Equate Pedophilia and Ordaining Women
By RACHEL DONADIO 1:20 PM ET
The new rules, which make it easier to discipline priests, fell short of the hopes of advocates for victims.
(First in a series...)
The comprehensive report from The Jewish Star (Issue of July 15, 2010) "Aftermath of rescue: boy’s father sues" is absolutely incredible.
Seems that by the time the subpoenas to Google and Yahoo in June 2010 came rolling around there had already been enough law suits filed by Michael Hersh to fill several garbage dumpsters with more frivolous legal garbage being produced by him even at this time.
It's really worth it to read the whole story in The Jewish Star. It actually points to the heart of the problem: i.e. Aron Schechter of Chaim Berlin yeshiva in Brooklyn who not only refuses to put a muzzle and leash on the rabid and litigious Michael Hersh, but is obviously enabling him as he has all along. This kind of twisted "talmid-rav" relationship needs some explanation.
But for now, it is mind blowing to read how Michael Hersh has run rough shod over dozens of people in his quest for....well, for what you may ask? This question can only be answered by world class psychiatrists because what kind of "person" does things that Michael Hersh has done and continues to do?
Plenty of parents have bad and rotten kids. Plenty of parents suffer from tza'ar gidul bonim, it's one of the things Adam and Eve were cursed for, but normal Yiddishe parents do not act on the scale of cruelty like Michael Hersh when their kids act out. The cruelty and craziness and litigiousness he displays is rooted in his past and in his non-Torahdikke personality, the fact that he became religious at around college age and that he has a long way to go before he understands what the simple word "rachmonus" means, it seems he never will, and he is paying for that.
As fate would have it, over time he cozied up to Aron Schechter, and of course the fact he was making big bucks made him more appealing in Schechter's eyes, so Schechter the shoichet, as he is want to do, was fattening the unwitting Michael Hersh goose, while Michael Hersh played his own game of manipulation of the Schechter big daddy figure and now look what's happened, both their names are mud and sinking down a black hole for the crimes against humanity they have committed, as the story in The Jewish Star repeats the sordid tales about how Isaac and Sol Hersh became like drek in their father's hands and how Aron Schechter would always see it only from Michael Hersh's point of view.
More later....
I would like to hear a Chaim Berliner justify their Rosh Yeshiva thumbing his nose at HaRav HaGaon Moshe Feinstein, ZT"L. How can they be associated with that Yeshiva knowing what a piece of trash the Rosh Yeshiva is. I don't get it. Neither do I understand why R' Dovid Feinstein apparently never took a stand against RAS in defending the honor of his holy father. I would not want to be a part of any organization which gives Kavod to RAS, even moreso if I am R' Dovid.
RAS committed a virtually unforgiveable act, in my opinion.
It is people like Rabbi Aaron Schachter that make me not trust our so called leaders.
Amen v'amen R' Itchie Mayer.
What was the point of Hersh suing Shmarya?
As one of the Conservative rabbi readers of Failed Messiah has pointed out, the guy doesn't have a pot to pish in.
Meanwhile this is poetic justice on the NCYI thug Steve Mostofsky. After defending these child abusers for years, Hersh takes him for $40,000. He's really looking like the monkey now that UOJ replaced his picture with.
I think UOJ would agree it's time that Pinny took a pounding for using Margo's camp as musser haskeil.
The only limud of tzitzis from Margo is the "tzitzis maniac" helping to cover up Kolko's retzicha.
http://rabbipinchoslipschutz.blogspot.com/2010/07/ihr-zolt-nit-zorgen.html
Just last week, a woman called me and related an incident involving her son at Camp Silver Lake. Campers playing ball wished to take off their tzitzis in order to be a bit cooler. “How can you remove your tzitzis,” this woman’s son asked his friends, “when Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin is moser nefesh to wear his tzitzis?” Young boys playing ball in the heat of a summer day resist the urge to remove their tzitzis, inspired by the thought of Sholom Mordechai’s mesirus nefesh for this mitzvah. That’s what this campaign represents.
R' Archie,
The UOJ bais din just recessed after the holech yailech on whether or not to allow you to give R' Pinny a pounding.
It wasn't easy, but the counclusion that was arrived at was:
GO AHEAD AND GIVE HIM A GEZUNTE POUNDING!
Sorry R' Pinny - fair is fair!
Signed:
UOJ - The only No Mattress Gelt bais din!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/nyregion/16nemazee.html
A Park Avenue financier and political donor who pleaded guilty to stealing $292 million from three banks in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced on Thursday to 12 years in prison.
The financier, Hassan Nemazee, had donated to philanthropic causes and given money to Democrats like Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry
http://www.vosizneias.com/59980/2010/07/13/monsey-ny-jewish-man-sues-ex-wife-to-get-100k-dlrs-engagement-ring-back
Why hasn't anyone tipped us off yet about Luzi Lipschitz splurging on a ring worth $100,000?
Especially because he is a son of Potchi, we really aren't expected to believe it was bought with kosher, declared money, are we?
http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?100709+sholom
So at Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley in Chandler, Jewish life goes on. The small Conservative congregation is making plans for fall while dealing with the uncertainty of its rabbi's future as he faces criminal charges.
Bramly was arrested March 23 by the U.S. Marshals Service and arraigned in New York on March 26 on charges of statutory rape and sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl in March 2000. He has vehemently denied the charges and entered a not guilty plea on May 17, Bramly's attorney, Alan Lewis, said.
Bramly, who has served the congregation since August 2006, has been placed on paid administrative leave since March 25.
Bramly is receiving full compensation while on administrative leave.
Baker said the congregation was seeking to balance its ethical and moral responsibilities to Bramly while taking steps to meet its needs.
Bramly's legal case may go on for months, according to Lewis. The next hearing is set for July 20; Lewis expects a trial date will be set at the next proceeding, which will occur a month or two after the July hearing, with a trial date set several months after that.
http://dalje.com/en-bestseller/frogs-in-water/314382
Imams are not immune, either. In a 2005 story out from Pakistan during an AIDS day conference, one of the speakers, Dr. Liaquat Husain, explained the rampant spread of AIDS there by the problem of “sodomy in the madrassas.” He revealed that there had been in that year 500 reported cases of sexual abuse, none of which had been successfully prosecuted. There have also been recent instances of Bosnian imams molesting young girls, and in February 2010, an imam was accused of raping three boys.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12001567409683/
July 1st picture & video of pedophile Stanley Levitt in court.
The Jewish Star article states about the Hersh twins:
Isaac currently works in retail in Manhattan. Shlomo is a member of an elite IDF unit. Neither twin is believed to be in contact with either parent.
If Shlomo is a member of an elite IDF unit, I would think that they would have discovered any psychological problems that he may have had. I applaud the resilence of these boys against all the hell that they've been put through.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/world/europe/16britain.html?hp
The oil giant BP faced a new furor on Thursday as it confirmed that it had lobbied the British government to conclude a prisoner-transfer agreement that the Libyan government wanted to secure the release of the only person ever convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing over Scotland, which killed 270 people, 189 of them Americans.
The acknowledgment came after American legislators, grappling with the controversy over the company’s disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill, called for an investigation into BP’s actions in the case of the freed man, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi.
I'm a modern orthodox putz thief whose kids are in YU.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/07/12/mtl-police-investigate-suspected-ponzi-scheme.html
Montreal police are investigating an unregistered financial adviser in connection with what they suspect was a Ponzi scheme.
Police are probing the activities of Perry Newman of Hampstead, Que., after investors in New York said they lost millions of dollars.
Newman and his company, Dover Financial Corp., were declared bankrupt by a Montreal court on Monday.
Clients bilked
Montreal insolvency lawyer Neil Stein is representing Edith Olanoff, a New Yorker who invested $7.5 million over the last five years with Newman.
Stein said Newman told his client that all her financial reports were going through an American brokerage firm called FC Stone.
Olanoff became concerned when she tried to withdraw money to buy a house in Israel, and Newman didn't answer her emails.
In May, Olanoff tried to call the firm to check on her account.
"She received a call back from the FBI, telling her that all the statements were forgeries, and fictitious, and that the letterheads in question hadn't been used by FC Stone in over 10 years," Stein said.
The lawyer said the scheme targeted members of New York's Orthodox Jewish community.
Police are asking members of Montreal's Orthodox community to come forward if they had dealings with Newman.
"Some people can be ashamed that they lost money in that scam but [it's important] to tell us what happened," said Mario Lamotte, commander of the Montreal police fraud squad.
Lawyers have identified about a dozen clients in New York, but investigators believe Newman likely had clients in Montreal as well.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Montreal+linked+alleged+scam/3279881/story.html
Newman makes promises, finds excuses, tells her the money has been "flagged" by the IRS and the Canada Revenue Agency, even claiming to be unable to send the money because he is in the ICU with his dying mother. That's when Olanoff called her lawyers.
On June 29 at 10 a.m., a 911 call brought an ambulance to the Newman home on Harrow Crescent. Perry Newman was taken to the Montreal General Hospital with self-inflicted knife wounds to the upper body.
Perry Newman - going back 15 or so years, formerly from London, where he fled after, get this, he staged a robbery, hired thugs to beat him up, claimed they stole a fortune but got cuaght and ran to Canada (after a failed "suicide attempt"). Now he's at it again. Haven't heard his name for a long time. What a crook!
Let's hope Yossi didn't read too many of Hefner's magazines to get a background in this case!
http://www.jkleinlawfirm.com/playboy-pla.html
Joseph Klein is investigating the Board of Directors of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. for possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with a proposal from Hugh Hefner to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock of Playboy not currently owned by Hefner for $5.50 per share in cash. Hefner owns 69.5% of Playboy's Class A common stock and 27.7% of the Class B common stock and has stated that he is not interested in any sale or merger of Playboy, selling his shares to any third party or entering into discussions with any
other financial sponsor for a transaction of the nature proposed in the letter.
The investigation focuses on whether the consideration offered to Playboy’s stockholders is unfair, inadequate, and substantially below the fair market value of Playboy. The investigation further concerns whether Hugh Hefner, as the controlling shareholder of the Company, as well as the Board of Playboy may have breached their fiduciary duties by failing to act in the best interests of Playboy’s stockholders in connection with any sales process relating to the Company.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2010/07/14/medicaid_ripoff-2/
Two Brooklyn-based Medicaid providers controlled by an individual disqualified from the state Medicaid program have pleaded guilty to grand larceny and been ordered to repay $44 million to taxpayers.
ANR Advance Medical Care Inc. (ANR), a home health care agency, and Rainbow Medical P.C., a primary care clinic, both pleaded guilty in Kings County State Supreme Court to felony charges of stealing a total $44 million from the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program.
Defendants in the pending indictment include ... Arthur Gutman, Israel.
http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/07/14/rice-nyc-man-scammed-nassau-lenders-out-of-5-3m/
A Brooklyn man has been accused of obtaining $5.3 million in mortgages from two Nassau County lenders by using fake documents and a dead attorney’s signature.
A grand jury indicted Mayer Goldberger on two counts of grand larceny, two counts criminal possession of a forged instrument and scheme to defraud.
The 46-year-old was arraigned Wednesday in Nassau County court where a judge set his bail at $400,000 bond or $200,000 cash.
Goldberger obtained $1.4 million in loans on properties in Hartford, Conn. in 2002 and 2003, later falsely stated the loans had been paid off and used forged documents to obtain a $3 million loan from New York Community Bank in 2006, Nassau County prosecutors said.
He then allegedly used the forged documents again to take a $2.3 million loan from BRT Realty Trust in Great Neck in 2008. Goldberger also prepared his own title report through a company he owned, a conflict of interest that the lender was unaware of, which covered up the existence of the prior loans, prosecutors said.
In addition, Goldberger allegedly used the signature of a deceased attorney on the fraudulent title documents.
The $2.3 million BRT loan went into default in January 2009, prosecutors said.
Goldberger’s attorney, Robert McDonald, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Goldberger faces up to 30 years in prison. He is due back in court on July 28.
(AFP) - Oscar-winning movie star Sean Connery and his wife Micheline have been placed under investigation in Spain over allegations of tax fraud, the first step to formal charges, local media reported Thursday.
Investigators suspect a property firm linked to the 79-year-old Scottish actor failed to pay €1.6 million ($2 million) in taxes, the Spanish newspaper Sur reported on its website, citing judicial sources.
The unpaid taxes reportedly stemmed from the sale of development rights to land on the outskirts of the Mediterranean resort of Malaga, the paper said.
AFP was not able to immediately confirm the report.
The James Bond star, who currently lives in the Bahamas with his wife, was named in May in a separate money laundering investigation involving the sale of a luxury seaside villa just east of Marbella, which is near Malaga.
Connery sold the villa, named Malibu, in 1999 reportedly for around $9 million.
(Dow Jones Newswires) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reached a $550 million settlement with Goldman Sachs Group that will resolve its lawsuit against the firm alleging it misled investors in a subprime mortgage product, the agency announced Thursday.
The SEC sued Goldman in April, charging it with fraud in marketing of a complex financial product called Abacus 2007-AC1 that was based on mortgage-backed securities.
In agreeing to the SEC's largest-ever penalty paid by a Wall Street firm, Goldman acknowledged that its marketing materials for the product contained incomplete information, the SEC said.
Goldman denied any wrongdoing in the SEC lawsuit but has been under pressure from shareholders to reach a settlement on the fraud lawsuit and other SEC probes.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/15/thousands-sex-offenders-issued-passports-travel-abroad/
The State Department did not know until this year that it has the authority -- signed into law by President Bush in December 2008 -- to deny passports to people convicted of crimes relating to the sex tourism industry, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.
That same report revealed that 4,500 registered sex offenders, including 30 federal employees, received U.S. passports in fiscal year 2008.
GAO reported that the State Department was informed of its authority in April 2010 after congressional investigators began to study the number of sex offenders who are granted U.S. passports.
The State Department does not have the authority to deny passports to Americans based on their registry in the sex offender database.
However, the GAO report, issued to Senate Finance Committee co-chairmen Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, noted that the State Department can deny passports to people who "crossed an international border to commit an act based on which the individual was subsequently convicted under the federal 'sex tourism' statute, but only during the period the individual is imprisoned or on parole or supervised release."
"I'm shocked that GAO had to inform the State Department that Congress made individuals convicted of sex tourism ineligible for passports back in December 2008," Grassley said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "It's inexcusable that the State Department did nothing to enforce that provision for 14 months.
In its investigation of 30 randomly picked individuals identified as on the Sex Offender Registry and receiving passports, the GAO found several troubling cases.
"In one case study, the sex offender was issued a passport in his name while in prison, which is allowed under federal law, while another was issued a passport after becoming delinquent in child support, an offense for which State must deny passports. Based on interviews with local police departments, several of our cases showed that sex offenders left the country and moved to Mexico," the report reads.
The State Department lists Mexico as a sex tourism destination.
According to GAO, about half of the 4,500 sex offenders who received passports lived in five states -- California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Michigan -- and at least 12 individuals were approved landlords in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 housing program during the two years before the study's time frame.
Additionally, 30 of the sex offenders who are federal employees were identified through salary data provided by the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Postal Service and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.
It's just incredible what torture Michael Hersh is imposing on his own family.
Just read what The Jewish Star reports from all the affidavits from rabbis, family members and professionals.
What he has done and is doing is diabolical sadomasochism. An enemy could not inflict on his kith and kin what he has done to them single-handedly. Never mind his attacks on people outside his family, but what type of person fights their own flesh and blood for years in courts etc, and then blames the for his own troubles and troubled state? It's definitely one for the classics. This is the type of person Aron Schechter of Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn is not just supporting but holding up as some sort of "paragon" and "hero" when it's an obvious travesty to everyone but Michael Hersh and Aron Schechter. Then again, a rabbi that defies the rulings and request of various batei din for over 30 years and can live with being a mesarev ledin (in contempt of bais din), and still supports Leib Tropper to the hilt, is not your run of the mill local friendly Orthodox rabbi either.
Let's count the family members Michael Hersh is torturing with his frivolous law suits and more. Michael Hersh has battled and tramples on his own twin sons, Isaac and Sol in his current cases. His wife's two sisters and their families. His wife's parents. His own brother. His own parents, and who knows who else he would like to make walk the legal walking planks he installs wherever he he shows up. All this is known from court papers and cases or police reports he has filed against them. And he says it's their fault he's not employable. Where's Johny Carson when you need him?
His wife's parents have testified in court that their daughter Miriam, a brilliant and lovely girl, is entirely under the "brainwashing" and spell of Michael. Her parents in court papers, Rosa and Elliot Greher, one of Silver Spring's (in Maryland) leading Torah families, the nicest people one can hope to meet, who raised a son with downs syndrome like a normal child and worked to mainstream him in the local Jewish day school successfully, have testified that Michael and sadly Miriam are not okay. By now the world knows that.
Michael's wife Miriam is a pure victim even though he uses her name first on court papers, before she fell under Michael's spell she was a lovely gifted brilliant girl from far off Silver Spring not familiar withthe ways and wiles of Brooklyn gangsters like Michael. She has suffered a sad fate at his hands and is to be pitied. She is in an unenviable situation and should be kept out of what Michael does, he should not be allowed to use her as a human shield.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/07/fort_lauderdale_has_hefty_comm.html
Victoria Park residents are upset about a Jewish sect whose very popular, elderly leader has moved into the neighborhood, attracting people to the 7,000 square foot home.
Residents complained in emails to Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom that scores of people have religious meetings at the home that involve stomping and noise. They say a Hasidic Jewish Sect, The Tosh, from Montreal, Canada, has moved there.
“There is no doubt in our minds that the Rabbi is a very spiritual man,’’ resident Larry Eskesen wrote to his commissioner, “ … but does he have to be spiritual so noisily?’’
BP also stands for Borough Park...
freelakewood.blogspot.com blogs again exposing duplicity !
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2010/07/aftermath-of-rescue-boys-father-sues.html
The checks that are paying the lawyers for hersh are drawn on an account of Chaim berlin called Gur Aryeh Institute (CB Kollel). !!!
There was talk of R aaron shechter leaving moetzes over his...shame r zelig was niftar....
the reyd is that The novominsker was the one who stopped the removal of RAs from the MGHATorah due to Avrohom fruchthandler's 1 million dollar a year commitment to torah umesorah......
What's wrong with the Chaim Berlin thought process?
Both Luzi Lipschitz and Aron Schechter seem to be doing illegal things but instead of keeping a low profile, they start high profile public machlokes that will likely bring Federal investigations.
I'm that moderner Stitchiner chussid who lives behind the Gerrorist yeshiva at the corner of 52nd St.
I used to pull my tzaddikl act of driving to Tush Town once a month to see der Rebbe. What am I going to do now that he's all the way down in South Florida?
Any updates at all? I dont live near a "chulent" community so I was wondering hwere he is? what hes up to? Married still?
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/nyc.terror.plot.2.1809389.html
FBI Report: NYC Restaurants Targeted By Terrorists
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/16/1732768/six-charged-in-south-florida-mortgage.html
Six South Floridians were arrested Wednesday on charges of grand theft. They are accused of being involved in a scam that netted more than $2 million in fraudulent mortgages, the state Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud said.
Investigators allege that Alan Weitz, 58, of Fort Lauderdale, vice president of Bal Bay Properties, and his son, Brandon Weitz, 28, of Miami Beach, who was working for his father's company, recruited straw buyers who were offered $3,000 each to allow their names to be used on mortgage loan applications. The homes were bought with the understanding that the properties would be quit-claimed to an actual buyer.
The other four people charged are Sean McCarthy, 28, of Plantation; Brett Lewin, 27, of Plantation; Corey Lewin, 30, of Davie; and Daniel Scala, 28, of Miami.
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=19685
Check out R' Malkiel Kotler here.
http://www.communitym.com/article.asp?article_id=100934&article_type=0
Missionary literature has been circulating throughout the Flatbush and Boro Park (and other Jewish) neighborhoods over this past month. Many people have reported receiving the book “Ten Amazing Jews – They Thought for Themselves” in their mailbox. The book is written by Sid Roth, a well-known figure in the “Jews for J” organization. This book appears to contain many Jewish references, and may thus be misconstrued as legitimate. However, as the numerous negative reviews on Amazon.com clearly indicate, the book is a deceitful attempt to proselytize gullible or ignorant Jews. One reviewer wrote: “As a Jew, this book is completely insulting to my way of life and my religion. Mr. Roth is no Jew. He is a Christian…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/health/policy/18health.html
WASHINGTON — When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”
In a brief defending the law, the Justice Department says the requirement for people to carry insurance or pay the penalty is “a valid exercise” of Congress’s power to impose taxes.
“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” the president said last September, in a spirited exchange with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week.”
When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.”
Moreover, the department says the penalty is a tax because it will raise substantial revenue: $4 billion a year by 2017, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In addition, the department notes, the penalty is imposed and collected under the Internal Revenue Code, and people must report it on their tax returns “as an addition to income tax liability.”
Mr. Obama “has not been honest with the American people about the nature of this bill,” Mr. Balkin said last month at a meeting of the American Constitution Society
“This is the first time that Congress has ever ordered Americans to use their own money to purchase a particular good or service,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah.
The Biden for President campaign committee owes the Treasury more than $219,000 because it accepted excessive campaign contributions and understated the value of a trip taken on a private plane in the 2008 campaign, the Federal Election Commission said in a new report.
Auditors from the agency found numerous violations of campaign finance rules by the committee that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. used in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/business/18choice.html
As the Obama administration begins to enact the new national health care law, the country’s biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.
The plans, being tested in places like San Diego, New York and Chicago, are likely to appeal especially to small businesses that already provide insurance to their employees, but are concerned about the ever-spiraling cost of coverage.
But large employers, as well, are starting to show some interest, and insurers and consultants expect that, over time, businesses of all sizes will gravitate toward these plans in an effort to cut costs.
The tradeoff, they say, is that more Americans will be asked to pay higher prices for the privilege of choosing or keeping their own doctors if they are outside the new networks. That could come as a surprise to many who remember the repeated assurances from President Obama and other officials that consumers would retain a variety of health-care choices.
This facility had the haskomo of R' Aron & Hersh to reprogram children. Did UOJ bring the Feds down on them?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/health/17columbia.html
Columbia University has quietly suspended research at a nationally prominent brain-imaging center and reassigned its top managers after federal investigators found that it had routinely injected mental patients with drugs that contained potentially dangerous impurities.
a new week, a new story...
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2010/07/hersh-case-defendant-rafael-cohen.html
The defendant Rafael Cohen is the step-son of Rabbi Shlomo Friefeld zt"l. I find it hard to believe that Yeshiva Chaim Berlin can not deal with this case internally. After all Rabbi Friefeld was a very close student of Rav Hutner zt"l. I am simply astounded that considering the gedolim who are directly or indirectly involved - that the sides have not resolved the issue already. It is mind boggling that intelligent, sensitive people and frum people are now involved in a 400 million dollar lawsuit in a secular court. The chilul hashem attendant not only from the charges in this case but the fact that the Jews - who are known as a wise and understanding people - have to turn to goyim to resolve their disputes.
Another troubling aspect, at a time when the Orthodox community is reeling from the financial disaster brought on by the Recession - where are they getting money to hire lawyers for these lawsuits? As a minimum I would estimate it will cost each party to the dispute $100,000. Obviously neither side has that type of money and it is apparently being supplied by well meaning wealthy individuals. That money is going to lawyers - not to yeshivos or other worthy causes.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/perth-butcher-selling-horse-meat-sent-death-threats/story-e6frg13u-1225892256145
Perth butcher selling horse meat sent death threats
The butcher called for intelligent and ``grown-up'' debate instead of abuse and threats.
``Jewish people don't bash me because I eat pork, Hindus don't bash me because I eat beef and I don't bash Thai people because they eat dog,'' he said.
http://www.thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/8769727/article-Reading-Chabad-family-reaches-out-to-recovering-addicts--?instance=home_news_metro_right
Orthodox rabbi from the Midwest checks into drug rehab center in Reading PA. Needs special permission to hear havdala from local Chabad shaliach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Carlebach_(rabbi)
The designated new rosh yeshiva was to be Rabbi Aaron Schechter and it was assumed that Rabbi Carlebach would continue as the official mashgiach ruchani. However, about three years prior to Rabbi Hutner's death in 1980 a serious dispute arose between Rabbi Carlebach and Rabbi Hutner and his disciples. The end of this internal struggle resulted in Rabbi Carlebach being denied access to the yeshiva. However he refused to relinquish the title of mashgiach ruchani. Rabbi Carlebach attempted to bring the termination of his employment and the manner in which it was done to adjudication with various batei din but Rabbi Hutner maintained, after much persuasion by Rabbi Shechter, that he was not subject to such proceedings in this instance; that has been the position of his designated heirs who took complete control of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin following Rabbi Hutner's death in 1980. However Rabbi Moshe Feinstein disagreed, and ruled that the Yeshiva must continue to pay Rabbi Carlebach a salary until they come to a Din Torah. Regardless, Yeshivas Rabeinu Chaim Berlin refused to comply, which caused Rabbi Moshe Feinstein to rule that Rabbi Shechter had the status of a lo tzayis dina (one who refuses to comply with a Din Torah), and therefore had lost the ability to make certain claims in Jewish courts. This cost the Yeshiva heavily when they wanted to buy a building on their block and would have definitely had the right to in Jewish courts being that they were the closest to the building, however since they lost their rights in Beis Din they lost the building to another Yeshiva (Veretzky).
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=36565
A state Department of Correction officer who is charged with sexually abusing a 5-year-old boy was scheduled for a pretrial hearing in Kings County Supreme Court Wednesday.
Dashawn Holloway worked at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester County. He allegedly grabbed the child somewhere in Brooklyn.
He is charged with sexual abuse, as well as second-degree burglary (sexually motivated) for allegedly grabbing the young boy.
Kings County Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Foley is presiding over the case.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704862404575350521289269784.html
In a similar English case last month at Hove Crown Court, seven activists were acquitted after causing £180,000 in damage to an arms factory owned by a company that sold military equipment to Israel, when they argued they were seeking to prevent "Israeli war crimes" against Palestinians.
The activists had broken into the factory at night, having previously videotaped interviews declaring their intention to smash it up. Yet with hostility to the Jewish state now at white-hot levels in Britain, such otherwise criminal activity is deemed to be justified by a jury if it is committed in the cause of damaging Israeli interests.
Even the judge in this case, George Bathurst-Norman, appears to have agreed. In his summing-up, he instructed the jury that "you may well think that hell on earth would not be an understatement of what the Gazans suffered in that time." He also highlighted the testimony to the court by Caroline Lucas, a Green member of Parliament, who argued that supposedly "all democratic paths had been exhausted" before the activists had embarked upon their action. What "democratic paths"? Israel was trying to prevent Hamas—considered a terrorist organization even by Her Majesty's government—from firing rockets at Israeli civilians.
Whatever one's view of that conflict, it is a political opinion. It surely should have nothing to do with the exercise of English law designed to protect people's property against criminal damage. It really has come to something when a British judge appears to be encouraging a jury to excuse criminal activity because he sympathizes with the political motive behind it. Thus the impartial administration of justice is now giving way in Britain to bias, bigotry and ideology.
Something very similar is happening in America, too. In May, the U.S. Justice Department suddenly dismissed a voter-intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. Dressed in black uniforms and jackboots, with one of them menacingly tapping a baton, they stood at the entrance of a Philadelphia polling booth on the day Barack Obama was elected president, hurling threats and insults at people turning up to vote, such as "white devils" or "You're about to be ruled by the black man, cracker."
Despite witness testimonies and even video footage proving their guilt, all charges were dropped against three of the defendants and a mild restraining order was applied to a fourth. The only reason given by the Justice Department was that "the facts and the law" did not support proceeding with the indictment. The lead attorney on the case, J. Christian Adams, resigned in protest. In his eyes, this was an open and shut case of voter intimidation. "It doesn't get any easier than this," he said.
To Mr. Adams, there was no doubt about the real reason for the abandonment of this case. There is a "pervasive hostility to bringing these sorts of civil-rights cases" where the victims are white and the perpetrators are black.
http://www.livescience.com/health/gut-viruses-unique-fingerprint-100715.html
Your Poop Is Unique: Gut Viruses Different in Every Person
By LiveScience Staff
posted: 14 July 2010
Jimmy Winkelmann imitates UOJ's Agudah ferd-tuchess parody
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575321230041321508.html
Jimmy Winkelmann started a clothing company several years ago to mock fellow students who wore the outdoorsy The North Face brand, despite having no inclination to venture into the wilderness. He dubbed his company "The South Butt" and flipped The North Face's half-dome logo to look like buttocks.
But at least one party wasn't amused: The North Face.
Mr. Winkelmann, now a student at the University of Missouri at Columbia, received a cease-and-desist letter from the company last summer.
I am sick and tired of all these so called rabbonim and gedolim who tell us not go to secular courts but when they and their insiders need to get something done or it is their money which is on the line they run to the secular court ie Bobov, Satmar, Shechter, Tropper
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2010/07/hersh-case-defendant-rafael-cohen.html
Daas Torah said...
So please explain to me with your inside information what Mr. Hersh hopes to gain by a public spectacle in a secular trial. 1) Does he expect to get his job back at Hatzala? 2) Does he think that this trial - which has been condemned in private by many major rabbonim - enhances his reputation even if he should win? 3) Is he willing to settle this before beis din? Obviously he is not in it for the money because the cost of what he has spent on lawyers is more than he can hope to win in a judgment. 4) Is he aware that there is serious disenchantment - among the donors of Yeshiva Chaim Berlin as well as many of the community - with this embarrassing public battle? 5) As a psychologist it is obvious that the claims against the defendants and in particular and what he claims are their motivation will be impossible to prove - especially since Mr. Hersh's own relatives including his father and brother are willing to testify against him.
To put in bluntly Mr. Hersh and his backers have chosen a suicidal path which can only cause destruction. There is absolutely no constructive purpose that can be accomplished in using the atom bomb of a public secular trial.
The other issue that has been brought up is that this is necessary to defend the honor of his rebbe. As someone who has close ties to Chaim Berlin - let me tell you that there are many Chaim Berliners who are embarrassed that the emperor has no clothes but are afraid to tell him.
Realistically the matter would have better been served by going to the Aguda and asking them to arbitrate - not dictate.
Kavod haTorah and reputation will not be achieved through a public secular trial.
Matt said...
Norman wrote:"BTW. I think you are treading in unsafe territory R' Schechter and his people will bring you down."
Wow, so now Chaim Berlin is a mob organization/family. Since when do Rosh Yeshiva's need to bring people down who disagree with them?
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Celebrate+cultural+differences+mixed+race+marriages/2998869/story.html
Celebrate cultural differences in mixed-race marriages
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_7089.shtml
Farrakhan: Blacks are True Children of Israel
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan June 26 delved deeply into the subject, using the words of his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, biblical prophecy and an analysis of historical data to solve the mystery and declare: The prophetic children of Israel are not living in the modern Jewish state in the Middle East but are, in fact, the Black man and woman of America.
The Minister's words answered a question posed in the title of his lecture, “Who are the Real Children of Israel?” The message was delivered before a standing room only crowd of 5,000 people crammed into the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center—where every seat was sold in the main auditorium and where seats in an overflow room, or simply a place to stand in the building, were prized commodities.
The Nation of Islam minister explained how scriptural references were used to frame and create social and political reality as Zionist thinkers and leaders justified and carved out the modern Jewish state.
Jewish control of the Black economy
Continue reading ...
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100716/NEWS/7160369/-1/duffyblog/Harassment-lawsuit-targets-Postville-plant
A former employee at Agri Star in Postville alleges in a lawsuit that the plant failed to protect her from a supervisor's sexual harassment.
Heather Moen contends that her supervisor, Anthony Brown, made unwanted sexual advances when she worked in the slaughterhouse's deli department. The advances included touching and inappropriate remarks, according to the lawsuit.
Moen says she complained to other supervisors and was moved to a different department. But the harassment from Brown and another unnamed supervisor continued, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit names only Agri Star as a defendant.
The lawsuit was filed as a state case in Allamakee County District Court but was transferred Thursday to federal court in Iowa's Northern District.
sarahg1122 wrote:
tony brown has done this more than one time my freind works there right now tony brown did alot of things to her as well she is to scared to say anything thinklin she will get fired i dont believe this is the way things should be people should feel safe at work youd think with new owners they would take care of situations like these to show they want to improve themselves it seems as tough its still the same old agri will it ever change?maybe if tey respect this women that could be a start other wise they should just shut the doors and let someone that resoects people but the place an run it right
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/06/28/sex-scandals-shake-church-of-sweden/
After another wave of sex scandals has hit the institution this year, the Church of Sweden is trying to limit damage and maintain the faith of its flock. The Church has been dealing with a steady flow of publicised sexual incidents for a number of years, and things have yet to cool down.
In April, branches of the Church in Stockholm, Lund and Vaxjo had to deal with several incidents related to sex such as a priest who has having an inappropriate relationship with a 15 year-old, a priest who slept with a grieving widow, and a third who was caught abusing women with language on an Internet dating site.
The sexual assault reports already filed over the past few years show numerous incidents involving priests and deacons from nearly every district in Sweden. The cases involve everything from sexual harassment to porn-surfing priests.
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2008/06/19/priests-can-have-affairs-too-it%E2%80%99s-the-law/
A man who was fired for having an affair with a married woman recently received a favourable ruling from Sweden’s Labour Court.
The court ruled in favour of a priest who said he was unlawfully terminated from his employment for having an affair with a married member of his congregation, according to reports in The Local.
The priest was fired after the woman’s angry husband informed the parish vicar and the bishop of the affair. The church leadership felt the priest’s actions were inappropriate.
The angry man directly confronted the priest several times and the two physically fought in October 2005. Police were unable to determine, in their investigation of the incident, which man struck first.
In a letter received by the priest in December 2005, the church leadership informed him that his actions and behaviour were seriously damaging the reputation of the church. The decision to terminate the priest was supported by the Swedish Church’s complaint board and the diocese in Vasteras.
In August 2006, the priest began legal proceedings, claiming he had been wrongfully terminated from his employment. The case was brought before the Vastmanland District Court, who ruled in favour of the priest.
The Labour Court reaffirmed the first decision and awarded the priest lost wages as well as compensation worth 100,000 kronor (USD 16,700) for the insult he received in losing his job.
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/04/15/norwegian-catholic-church-confirms-child-abuse-case/
The Norwegian Roman Catholic Church has admitted that a Trondheim bishop has resigned after pleading guilty to abusing an altar boy.
59-year-old German Bishop, Georg Muller, was reported by the present Trondheim bishop, Bernt Eidsvig, as having admitted to the abuse of an altar boy several years ago after being presented with the claims in June last year. Muller at the time asked to be released from his position.
http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/35759/obama-link-firm-drops-anti-israel-campaign
An American public relations firm with ties to President Obama has decided not to renew a contract to orchestrate a campaign aimed at breaking the blockade of the Gaza Strip after Jewish organisations expressed dismay at the arrangement.
Fenton Communications - which boasts on its website that "we only represent causes we believe in ourselves" -- was being paid $240,000 for communications work this year for Al Fakhoora, a group that participated in the flotilla to Gaza. The money came from the office of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the second wife of the emir of Qatar.
Fakhoora's stated mission is organising a campaign to secure education for Palestinian students in Gaza and the West Bank.
However, Farook Burney, the director of Fakhoora, told students at the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Qatar Foundation last month that "Al Fakhoora has launched an advocacy campaign to file legal charges against Israel and change the public perception in the West about its actions."
Fenton had taken a lot of heat in the Jewish blogosphere over the contract.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/opinion/18dowd.html?src=tp
In The New Republic, Garry Wills wrote about his struggle to come to terms with the sins of his church: Jesus “is the one who said, ‘Whatever you did to any of my brothers, even the lowliest, you did to me.’ That means that the priests abusing the vulnerable young were doing that to Jesus, raping Jesus. Any clerical functionary who shows more sympathy for the predator priests than for their victims instantly disqualified himself as a follower of Jesus. The cardinals said they must care for their own, going to jail if necessary to protect a priest. We say the same thing, but the ‘our own’ we care for are the victimized, the poor, the violated. They are Jesus.”
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