Sunday, November 07, 2010
"Don't Ask Don't Tell" - Theme of Agudah Convention 2010!
By a contributing editor to NACGMBLAA ( National Association of Circumcized Girly Man Boy Losers At Agudah)
As advertised in the Yated Ne’eman this year’s convention will focus on major issues that are pressing in Klal Yisroel regarding our children. We have publicized the questions that will be addressed, but have not yet given any kind of glimpse at the answers that our Gedolim have “divined”. The following are the questions advertised, with a sneak peek at the solutions that the convention will provide us, based on inside knowledge from someone who was at the last meeting of the Moetzes:
1. How can parents and mechanchim work together to help our youth confront unprecedented challenges?
a) Challenge number one: Internet, cell phones, text messages, CDs, DVDs and MBDs. These are horrors that our parents never had to face. Agudas Yisroel is proud to announce a new campaign: Rabbi Gedalia Weinberger, Shli”ta and Rabbi Abe Biderman, Shli”ta have teamed up under the leadership of Moreinu Harav Avraham Chaim Levine, Shl”ita to invest new resources into providing schools and homes with metal detectors to keep out these challenging infiltrations of modern technology.
b) Another big challenge that parents and mechanchim face is the continued struggle to silence the children who claim they are molested. Those who come up with the exaggerated “tawdry tales” of being sexually abused without even at least being penetrated! In the words of Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, Shli”ta of Aguda’s Project YES: “Lma’an Hashem!” We have warned them that they won’t get shidduchim, we warned their parents that all their other children will be thrown out of yeshivas, and we have told them that they are breaking the issur of mesirah, the worst sin of all, if they go to the cops. But still there are those cowardly and weak children who cannot withstand the challenge of keeping their mouths shut and have fallen victim to the temptation to cry out for help. Moreinu Harav Matisyahu Salmon, Shli”ta and Moreinu Harav Malkiel Kotler, Shli”ta will explain to us how their community in Lakewood even had a family’s house burned down for daring to talk about their son who died after being molested, just to “send them a message,” and how they ran a family out of town to Detroit for daring to go to the police. But it is not enough. We must use the same devious methods as the molesters themselves to “groom” the families into trusting us. Moreinu Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, Shli”ta will explain how he has personally covered up for Yudi Kolko, Moshe Eisemann, Chaim Abrahamson, Shmuel Levitt, Yossef Ahron Kolko and many, many others, while telling victims that they have a mitzvah to reveal their molesters. This trick lets us know who the loudmouths are so they too can be run out of town.
c) The biggest challenge is really for us, the parents and mechanchim. Mishpacha Magazine recently described the newest problem we face: Kids who look the part of good yeshiva boys and bais yaakov girls, but who use drugs, go on the Internet on Shabbos and ignore halacha totally. This is sooooo confusing. We yearn for the days of old, when the off-the-derech boy would grow his hair long, and the off-the-derech girls would dress not tznius, and they would both get tattoos and body piercings. How are we supposed to know which kids to disown? We have no choice but to utilize crime prevention techniques, like giving our children polygraphs and forensic evaluations, to screen out the dangerous ones and protect the innocent.
2. How can we ensure the fiscal viability of our embattled yeshivos?
Some may think that this question is kefirah because only Hashem can make such assurances. Nonsense. It is up to our Gedolim, Shli”ta to divine His will and to keep our sinking enterprise alive by any means necessary. So:
a) We will hear from Nat Lewin, Shli”ta and Pinny Lipshutz, Shli”ta about gathering gantz Klal Yisroel together to defend a white collar criminal, in order to show the Feds that despite the setback of Moreinu the Spinker Rebbe, Shli”ta, they cannot stop us from doing what we need to do to support our family businesses – the yeshivas. We will defend even violent criminals like convicted cop-killer Martin Grossman Z”TL for the same reason. If the government were to think we are weak, they could come after our yeshivas and put an end to money laundering, tax evasion and fraudulent government grants. This, we cannot afford.
b) It’s the tuition stupid! We must sock it to the parents continuing to instruct them to have more children than they can afford so we can hit them up for more tuition and line our pockets with their hard earned money.
c) For those who are getting tired of supporting yeshivos, Agudah has decided to offer an incentive that no self-respecting follower of Daas Torah could refuse. For every financial supporter of our yeshivas we will now have personalized letters of guarantee from the Gedolim of Eretz Yisroel that they will win the lottery, that their children will also win the lottery, and that they will do shidduchim with other people who will also win the lottery.
3. Is educational elitism “pushing” some of our children through the cracks?
The short answer is yes, it is. B”H our yeshivas and bais yaakovs have inculcated an attitude of disdain for anyone who is in any way religiously inferior, and by promoting a kollel lifestyle that cannot possibly work for most people, and educational standards that few can even think about achieving. But we can do better. There are still “undesirable” kids left in our schools. There are high school bais yaakov girls who are willing to marry a so called “working boy”. B’avonoseinu Harabbim, there are schools in Lakewood "ir hakodesh" that have started introducing secular education on the high school level for the purpose of creating adults who can function in the so-called “real world,” not having to resort to a life of dependence on government programs and “genaivishe shtick.” This is unacceptable. Moreinu Harav Ahron Feldman, Shli”ta will inspire the olam with his brilliant analysis of how the chinuch in Eretz Yisroel which does not allow such “bittul zman” must be instituted here, if we are to survive. Our schools must “push” ALL "deviant" children through the cracks so we can succeed in our mission as an Am Hatorah led by Daas Torah divined by Gedolei Torah, and financed by people who are Machshiv Torah.
4. How can we better help our youth forge a meaningful connection with their Yiddishkeit?
First of all, just because some Baalei Teshuvah have started using this term “meaningful” when for thousands of years we used to wish each other simply an “easy fast” before Yom Kippur, does not in any way mean that this concept is a kosher one. In fact, it is quite “New Age,” and Shlomo Carlebachy. “Meaningfulness” is not an authentic Daas Torah word or expression. Rabbi Avi Shafran, Shli”ta will lecture on the dangers of allowing children to question what they are taught, to think critically, or to, chas v’shalom, express even the slightest amount of individuality, and why we must brainwash them into conforming into mindless robots. Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel, Shli”ta will address the radical departure from our Mesorah “presumptuously promoted” in books like Rabbi Slifkin’s, and “The Making of a Gadol”. A panel discussion about finding the true meaning of Yiddishkeit for Jewish girls and women will be co-chaired by Rabbi Leib Tropper, Shli”ta and Rabbi Mordechai Tendler, Shli”ta.
5. Are we doing enough to protect our children from outside influences and dangerous people?
This is complicated. Some think that by dangerous people we mean people like our very own Moreinu Harav Ahron Shechter, Shli”ta, who tells parents to send their “bad” kids to abusive “boot camps” in Jamaica, Moreinu Harav Moshe Eisemann, Shli”ta, who enjoys massaging the behinds of young bochurim, and Moreinu Harav Lipa Margulies, Shli”ta who allows predator pedophiles access to children in the classrooms of his yeshiva. But no, these are the “good guys!”
We are referring to the real dangerous individuals. We have already banned Lipa Shmeltzer, because his concerts can lead to mixed seating, mixed dancing and eventually getting married and sending your kids to modern orthodox schools, rachmana litzlan. But we need to do more to protect our kids from bloggers like UOJ, and child advocates like Rabbi Nochum Rosenberg and Dr. Asher Lipner and Mark Mayer Appel who fill their heads with ideas that are very, very dangerous for us, because they show them how hypocritical and immoral we are. And to this we must regretfully say that the answer is no, we are not doing enough. With Hashem’s help, we “outed” UOJ, really showing him who is boss, and Moreinu the Novominsker Rebbe, Shli”ta has publicly denounced the advocates. But there is much more to be done to protect our children from these people who are so dangerous to the Agudah. On a scale of 1 to 10, we are only at a one, or at most, a one and a half.
In addition to the important message included in these presentations, we will also, I”YH, be showing via a live video hook-up a special presentation from Eretz Yisroel. Rabbi Dr. Avraham Mondrowitz, Shli”ta will give a drasha, on how best to give love to children. We will also feature at the convention Rabbi Yudi Kolko, Shli”ta on how to get the most out of the rebbe - talmid relationship, and Rabbi Weingarten, Shli”ta another former rebbe at Yeshiva Torah Temima, on how fathers can instill real kibbud av in your daughters and get them to fulfill all of your earthly desires. Moreinu Harav Reuvain (EJF) Feinstein, Shli”ta will introduce his nephews, Rabbi Ahron and Mordecai Tendler Shli”ta, who will speak on “Chinuch Habanos: Preparing teen-age girls for marriage – a hands-on approach.” The Tendlers will introduce their uncle Rabbi Sholom Tendler, Vice President of the RCC of California - "When Sleeping With The Women You Give Counsel To - Actually Helps Their Marriage"! He will demonstrate via videos the technique that he uses, and the various mitzvas involved! A video you do not want to miss!
Finally, we want to remind you of our catchy theme for our convention: “For the sake of our precious vulnerable youth, our beautiful and sweet children, our seductive Lolitas, our innocent young boys... Don't Ask Don't Tell!
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52 comments:
Yudi Kolko's son has organized a motzaei Shabbos sports league for little boys at Rabbi Bajnon's Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island in Inwood (a town sandwiched between Far Rockaway & North Lawrence). Rabbi Bajnon is a relative of Rabbi Pinchos "no penetration" Scheinberg.
Is there any guarantee that Yudi Kolko won't tag along with his son if he stays with him for Shabbos?
UOJ,
I am jealous. Such parody, such sarcasm, such a great ability to develop an entire program.
I have heard rumors that they will have a male Oprah clone conduct an event where 400 men will stand up with pictures of the computer or smart phone that harmed them. Then all the devices still around will be burnt. This will be followed by a program where they describe, b'lashon naki the harm these terrible devices caused them.
Another event will have 20 men released from prison who will tell about the terrible harm inflicted on them by mosrim. By video, from jail, the Spinka Rebbe will talk about the fact that one can use lawyers to avoid such tragedies. This will be immediately followed by Pinny the Pitchman schnorring for SMR and others in jail or falsely placed on a registry.
To show everybody the tzurah of an erlich honest gadol they will run videos of Rabbi Schwab again. They can not find any newer footage to make their point.
They will also hand out bumper stickers that say: "Ban mishkav zochor among consenting goyim." Perhaps Mondrowitz can be broadcast from Israel explaining that he would never do this with a consenting goy.
Just make sure the boys all know how to swing a baseball bat and tell them to watch out for "zeidi kolko"
Well, lets talk about the facts. According to the United States Department of Justice, sex offenders reoffend four times more likely than a criminal convicted of robbery, murder, assault or any other charge. Modern psychology has recognized that “recidivism is high among sex offenders because their desire to rape, molest or assault is a psychologically engrained predilection”. A simple Google search turns up this information.
Again, it seems so easy for some to ignore that these offenders have a fundamental drive for abnormal deviant sexual behavior. For many of them, especially pedophiles, there is no “cure”. Many of the studies show that this is similar to being an alcoholic - once a person is an alcoholic, they are ALWAYS and alcoholic, and there will always be a tendency for relapse.
So, yes, it is indeed a liberal inclination and tendency to mitigate punishment and control for these types of offenders. Indeed, that is the general liberal tendency for crime in general. That’s what the word “liberal” means.
Perhaps just Googling John Couey might add context. A man who was released early from a charge of fondling a five-year-old child, after which he abducted, raped, and murdered Jessica Lunsford. There are numerous other examples of this where lone predators have hunted down children in the absence of monitoring and restrictions on their ability to “roam”.
One has to wonder how much “mouth frothing” would commence from Jack about letting these offenders “roam” after his child became a victim of a repeat offender? How much indeed.
.
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/11/06/2010-11-06_tipping_guide_to_nyc__the_ultimate_guide_to_gratuities.html
If you don't tip, car valets have something called the dirt butt scoot, which is when they drop their pants and rub their dirty butts all over your seats. It works better when the car is upholstered."
PARIS (AP) Officials: French Ex-President Jacques Chirac ordered to stand trial in 2nd corruption case.
Sruly, I was wondering where those brown streaks on my upholstery came from after the last Agudah dinner!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-breezes-past-1400-hits-record-high-2010-11-08
Gold breezes past $1,400, hits record high
Lest we forget
http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=6317
Birshus Rav Belsky, I think this news item is even more interessant.
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2010/nov/01/gl_phylis_canion_110310_116480/?news&health
Sugar in beans cause of gas
The problem with flatulence, or what we casually call gas, is produced by the fermentation of the complex sugar oligosaccharide found in beans and some other vegetables, such as cabbage and broccoli. The small intestine does not have the proper enzyme to break this sugar down, but as it passes into the large intestine, bacteria breaks it down and unfortunately ferments the sugar producing hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide gases.
The following list was released by the USDA's Western Laboratory in Berkley, Calif. The list is in order of those beans that produce the most gas, based on the beans sugar content, to the beans that contain the lowest amount of sugar and therefore produce the least amount of gas. Number one is soybeans that are rated 10; pea beans rated nine; black beans rated 8.5; pinto beans also rated at 8.5; California small white beans rated 8; Great Northern beans rated a seven; lima beans rated 6.5; garbanzo beans (chick peas) rated 6; and black-eyed peas rated 5.
The flatulence problem was studied among pilots since gas expands at higher altitudes causing gut discomfort. At 35,000 feet, gas will expand to 5.4 times more than at sea level. In the 1960s, astronauts were selected based on the individuals who produced the least amount of gas. The beans that caused the biggest problems were found to be navy and lima beans, with pinto beans trailing in at third place.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/feds_tie_doc_to_insider_trading_PCe3kIqm5uAxKBAfxqbI2K
A prominent French physician was busted yesterday on charges that he helped a hedge fund avoid a $30 million bloodbath by leaking inside information about a deadly drug trial.
Dr. Yves Benhamou allegedly passed details about the side effects of Albuferon while serving as an adviser to drugmaker Human Genome Sciences Inc. and also working as a consultant to the fund, identified in reports as FrontPoint Partners.
FrontPoint also said it had suspended Dr. Chip Skowron, a co-portfolio manager of its health care funds, Bloomberg reported.
Skowron's name surfaced earlier this week at the Manhattan federal court extortion trial of Rabbi Milton Balkany, who's charged in a $4 million blackmail scheme against Steve Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund.
According to court papers, Benhamou - a liver doc who specializes in hepatitis - learned in late 2007 that two patients receiving high doses of Albuferon developed "interstitial lung disease." Both patients had to be hospitalized and one later died.
Benhamou, 50, allegedly tipped off a portfolio manager at the fund and updated him "on multiple occasions" before Human Genome Sciences announced it would end high-dose tests of the drug due to safety concerns.
By Dec. 7, the unidentified co-conspirator sent an instant message to a trader at FrontPoint, also unidentified in the complaint, directing the trader to sell Human Genome shares, the feds said.
The public revelation, on Jan. 23, 2008, caused the firm's stock price to plummet 44 percent, from $10.02 to $5.62 share.
By then, however, the hedge fund had liquidated its 6.1 million-plus shares of the company, including a block trade of almost 2 million shares just minutes before the market closed the day before.
Benhamou, who was arrested in Boston, was charged in a Manhattan federal court complaint with conspiracy and securities-fraud charges that carry a maximum 25 years in the slammer. He was also slapped with a civil suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Great post but tell us UOJ..why are you selective in your targeting of enablers.
My community of Ramat Bet Shemesh is home to some of the biggest pervs and their enablers that the Jewish world has ever seen.
The tag team of Chaim (attack the protectors) Malinowitz and Elimelech (don't tell on Charedim) Kornfeld have made this city a safe haven to molestors and abusers alike.
Most recently a 50 year old cheder van driver was arrested for showing child porn to his young passengers.
Help us drive these menuvalim and their rabbis from our midst!
Dearest RBS Chevra,
You know that I got involved in various different ways and we saw some results.
The police were notified, it got into the newspapers many times.
Ultimately, I can not publish anything unless I have the names and verified documents and communications with the victims' parents.
Malinowitz and Kornfeld are rishaim gemurim --- it's up to the RBS residents to talk with their mouths and feet.
Give me bona fide police reports, put the victims in contact, and watch what I do!
B'yididus,
UOJ
There must be some explanation for this inaccurate report. Maybe a racist orthodox Jew has infiltrated the NY Times editorial board?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/education/09gap.html
Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected
http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/43728/home-front/
Is it wrong to build publicly subsidized housing designed for New York’s ultra-Orthodox community?
Don't look at me
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/nyregion/10holocaust.html?hp
U.S. Says Holocaust Fund Was Defrauded
http://tzedek-tzedek.blogspot.com/2010/10/man-arrested-in-ramat-bet-shemesh.html
This guy is a chasid of and protected by Smelimelech Kornfed
http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/route_17/1000_kickback_student_gap_year_israeli_yeshiva_day_school_principals
$1000 Kickback Per Student From Gap Year Israeli Yeshiva To Day School Principals
http://www.kehilla.org.il/
When I was growing up in Queens I was close to Rabbi Pinchos Scheinberg who was them mashgiach of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim.
A 67-year-old man was arrested after he was seen using an electric leaf blower with his private parts on public display, police said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/arts/music/11shyne.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
Rapper Finds Order in Orthodox Judaism in Israel
David Noah Jablons, Brooklyn, NY
Profession: Licensed Clinical Social Worker; Lic. No. 050934; Cal. No. 24705
Regents Action Date: June 22, 2010
Penalty agreed upon: 3 month actual suspension, 21 month stayed suspension, 24 months probation, $1,000 fine.
Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of having been convicted of Possessing a Sexual Performance by a Child, a felony.
Noah Fisch, Woodmere, NY
Profession: Pharmacist; Lic. No. 022645; Cal.No. 24968
Regents Action Date: June 22, 2010
Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 2 year stayed suspension, 2 years probation, $2,000 fine.
Summary: Licensee admitted to charges of failing to provide adequate supervision of a pharmacy while employed as a supervising pharmacist in that printouts of all drugs filled and refilled each day were not signed by pharmacists whose initials appeared thereon and contained the initials of non-pharmacists as dispensers, and in that prescriptions for controlled substances were not endorsed by dispensing pharmacists.
Roy Hoffmann, Woodmere, NY
Profession: Certified Public Accountant; Lic. No. 080239; Cal. No. 24935
Regents Action Date: May 17, 2010
Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 1 year stayed suspension, 1 year probation, $2,500 fine.
Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of issuing 2 different reports on the same set of financial statements.
Martin Nissenbaum, New York, NY
Profession: Certified Public Accountant; Lic. No. 039081; Cal. No. 25217
Regents Action Date: September 14, 2010
Action: Application to surrender license granted.
Summary: Licensee admitted to the charge of having been convicted of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Tax Evasion, and Obstructing the Internal Revenue Service, all Federal felonies.
In my perusal of this last weekends international section of Hamodia the following full page add placed by the Business Halacha institute caught my attention. "Business halacha in our daily lives".The program would be conducted by two prominent Flatbush area Rabbis who would address vital questions in an area that we can all use some more input.Upon closer inspection of the areas to be discussed four topics would be covered.Now don't get me wrong.I'm all for conducting business honestly and al pi halacha but two of the topics really grabbed my gut with their "profundity" and "extreme importance" 1)"using a friend's shtender in shul without asking him" (business question?)2)borrowing an umbrella from the coat room for a minute outside in the rain".I kid you not, I had to read this twice to make sure that I read it correctly.I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.My question is tzu bin ich der einsiger shtot meshugenah that finds this to be a travesty? Again,I'm not negating the halachik validity of these topics but are these questions really dealing with what is truly making a chillul Hashem of what so often transpires in the Jewish business world in our time? Are these questions of such vital importance in light of the overwhelming problems and tragedy's that plague the frum community on a daily basis R"L, whether it be molestation,children at risk, the resurrection of antisemitism and so many more problems that are gnawing away at our very existence as a people?Mah nomer umah nedaber.
1)"using a friend's shtender in shul without asking him" (business question?)2)borrowing an umbrella from the coat room for a minute outside in the rain".
*
R' Arthur tierer,
How did you miss it?
The shtender represents the atzei shitim of the Mishkan -- using another's shtender leads to mamash using holy wood (get it?) for znus and eishes ish shelo k'derech.
Umbrella? what's so shver? Black cloth of the umbrella represents a kapote. Steal someone's umbrella is mamash like dressing up in someone else's kapote - going to his house and fooling the wife pretending to be her husband....leads mamash, b'avoneisainu harabim, to znus and eishes ish at it's worst.
The Zohar has made references to the gematrias of wood and umbrella, I just don't have it handy.
Also, I remember seeing somewhere in a sefer; when you combine shtender and umbrella with genaiva, you get "genaiveshe shtick and tumler"; B'avoneisanu harabim, leads to groise tumlers stealing in business.
Reb UOJ
A real tifer vort.
I am humbled by you boundless wisdom.
Tifer Vort - Roshei Teves T.V. or Torah Vodaath.
Torah un daas iz nisht Torah!
http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=13814
Kesher Israel in Washington DC was the only OU shul that made good on threat made by many OU shuls to quit the organization when the OU kept covering up for Baruch Lanner. I'm also impressed that someone leaning Left like Rabbi Barry Freundel signed a letter AGAINST gays, not for.
Filed at 5:53 p.m. EST
HURON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan high school freshman endured merciless taunting from classmates after they learned that she had accused a senior of rape.
The weeks of harassment eventually became too much. On Monday, Samantha Kelly went home from school and hanged herself in this Detroit suburb.
With their key witness dead, prosecutors on Wednesday dropped criminal charges against the older student, saying they had no case without the accuser's testimony.
Samantha's mother screamed at 18-year-old Joseph Tarnopolski after his brief court appearance and had to be restrained by a relative.
The girl's accusations became known to many of her neighbors and classmates last month after she and her mother spoke to a television station about the matter. Samantha's face was blacked out, but word of her allegations quickly spread.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A95UA20101110
i guess by dedicating the convention to "protecting children" AI is kind of admitting that they were wrong to ignore the problem (at best) and silence it (at worst). i suppose that might be a good start, except that they are trying to portray themselves as brave heroes for bringing this issue to light, when in truth they were dragged into it by Klal Yisroel kicking and screaming. don't expect them to give any credit to the real brave ones who brought up this issue at the risk of their livelihoods, reputations and kids shidduchin. Do expect them to attack "blogs" anyway, even though now the blogs seem to have one, at least on this one.
poor chaim duvid esq. all he ever wanted was to be in charge :-(
"poor chaim dovid, all he really wanted was to be in charge"
Can you imagine this scenario:
One day CD develps a conscience, emotional maturity, integrity and compassion for Jewish children all overnight.
He resigns publicly to protest the sickening travesty that has been perpetrated by the Gedolim on our people.
Can you imagine the message that would send the molester protectors? Can you even be masig how validated the survivors of rabbinic abuse would feel? Can you picture how scared and traumatized the molesters and their supporters would be?
Yaish Koneh Olamo B'sha'a Achas. What I wouldn't do to be in his shoes right about now, and have the opportunity to get some major oylam haba. And then he could go practice law or get a real job and live happily ever after.
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/11/08/re-examining-the-friedmans-molestation-case-under-review/
Could this be from the 1% of cases where someone is wrongly accused of molesting?
http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/2216919/
The Rabbi Who Conned Himself
Balkany, veteran of New York politics & religion, says he's been badly misjudged. He was merely on one of his many missions from God
Balkany visited Cohen's firm, SAC Capital, in Stamford, CT. There, he told executives how his Washington connections "began with President Reagan when his wife came to our school. Then he started inviting my wife & myself to the White House. We were there many times as guests." He also had friends in Congress. "Every 6 weeks, a different senator comes to my house for lunch or dinner," he said, ticking off a list including Hatch, Lieberman, Specter, Kennedy & Baucus. He knew law enforcement officials as well. "I'm friends with the Attorney General & because I'm close with the Justice Department, I can come & go almost anywhere," he told the hedge-funders. "I don't need credentials."
He wasn't bragging, he said, but merely explaining how he came to learn about trouble headed Cohen's way. During one of his visits to Otisville, where many Orthodox prisoners are held, an inmate named Hayim Regensberg, convicted in a Ponzi scheme, had approached him: The FBI was offering him early release in exchange for information about insider trading deals involving Cohen.
The rabbi's voice dropped to a whisper: "Regensberg asked me if I knew Cohen, because in the White House, in these parties, you get to meet the big, the famous."
He had done business with other powerful figures, he said. Leona Helmsley gave $2 million when he helped her out in prison. General Motors had given $1 million for his aid with a bill in Congress.
If this were mounted for an audience, you'd see Balkany don his black homburg & exit stage left. Stage right, federal agents enter to disconnect the hidden camera that captured the meeting. The next act would show the rabbi angrily complaining to Cohen's lawyer that his requests were ignored: "They're taking it as some kind of joke," he said. "Good luck to them if that's their attitude."
You would then see him shift tactics to play both ends. On Jan 19, Balkany called federal prosecutors to tip them that Regensberg had knowledge about crimes involving Cohen. He painted his own role differently. Despite "the stigma" of a Jew informing on a fellow Jew, he said he was urging the inmate to tell all. "I made it clear he should cooperate," he told investigator Robert Manchak.
He asked for considerations in return: One inmate should be reassigned to a prison nearer home. Also, reduced sentences should be granted to both Regensberg & Sholom Rubashkin, a Balkany relative who had been "shafted very, very badly" in a case involving abuses at a kosher-meat plant. "As you can see, my requests are not outlandish," he said. "They're not crazy."
http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/2216919/
The Rabbi Who Conned Himself
Balkany, veteran of New York politics & religion, says he's been badly misjudged. He was merely on one of his many missions from God
Balkany visited Cohen's firm, SAC Capital, in Stamford, CT. There, he told executives how his Washington connections "began with President Reagan when his wife came to our school. Then he started inviting my wife & myself to the White House. We were there many times as guests." He also had friends in Congress. "Every 6 weeks, a different senator comes to my house for lunch or dinner," he said, ticking off a list including Hatch, Lieberman, Specter, Kennedy & Baucus. He knew law enforcement officials as well. "I'm friends with the Attorney General & because I'm close with the Justice Department, I can come & go almost anywhere," he told the hedge-funders. "I don't need credentials."
He wasn't bragging, he said, but merely explaining how he came to learn about trouble headed Cohen's way. During one of his visits to Otisville, where many Orthodox prisoners are held, an inmate named Hayim Regensberg, convicted in a Ponzi scheme, had approached him: The FBI was offering him early release in exchange for information about insider trading deals involving Cohen.
The rabbi's voice dropped to a whisper: "Regensberg asked me if I knew Cohen, because in the White House, in these parties, you get to meet the big, the famous."
He had done business with other powerful figures, he said. Leona Helmsley gave $2 million when he helped her out in prison. General Motors had given $1 million for his aid with a bill in Congress.
If this were mounted for an audience, you'd see Balkany don his black homburg & exit stage left. Stage right, federal agents enter to disconnect the hidden camera that captured the meeting. The next act would show the rabbi angrily complaining to Cohen's lawyer that his requests were ignored: "They're taking it as some kind of joke," he said. "Good luck to them if that's their attitude."
You would then see him shift tactics to play both ends. On Jan 19, Balkany called federal prosecutors to tip them that Regensberg had knowledge about crimes involving Cohen. He painted his own role differently. Despite "the stigma" of a Jew informing on a fellow Jew, he said he was urging the inmate to tell all. "I made it clear he should cooperate," he told investigator Robert Manchak.
He asked for considerations in return: One inmate should be reassigned to a prison nearer home. Also, reduced sentences should be granted to both Regensberg & Sholom Rubashkin, a Balkany relative who had been "shafted very, very badly" in a case involving abuses at a kosher-meat plant. "As you can see, my requests are not outlandish," he said. "They're not crazy."
http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/fcas/fcas_docs/2010MAY/2300323722008100SCIV.pdf
If I had to guess, here is a possible sevora of what happened here. The other kids of Avrohom Aron Rubashkin sued to assume ownership as a way to protect his real estate assets so that they couldn't be seized if he was convicted in the Agri case. Once prosecutors dropped charges they had no reason to continue that process.
http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/2155374/
A connected company's license to loot—at the expense of the taxpayers, elderly, and infirm
The story starts in 1994 when a group of wealthy health care moguls put all their chips down on the Republican candidate for governor, George Pataki. Leaders of this push included a nursing home tycoon named Benjamin Landa and a pair of wily operatives out of Williamsburg's Orthodox Jewish community named Joseph Menczer and Joseph Goldberger. They raised some $500,000 for Pataki's campaign, the kind of support that cements deep friendships.
They quickly presented the new governor with a list of favors sought. One had to do with the business of supplying home care attendants for the elderly and infirm.
This notion worked so well that home care costs skyrocketed once unscrupulous for-profit companies recognized their earning opportunities. Patients needing a few hours of care could be served all day long; even better, around-the-clock. Who cared? The government was paying.
In his last year in office in 1994, Mario Cuomo's administration slapped a moratorium on all new home care licenses (in health care babble, they are CHHAs—pronounced "cha's"—for Certified Home Health Agency).
This greatly inconvenienced the health care tycoons. They convinced their new best friend, George Pataki, that the moratorium hurt needy New Yorkers, especially those developmentally disabled or mentally retarded. The administration agreed to authorize a small group of new home care agencies (CHHAs—remember?) to serve these special-needs patients. How could you be against that?
A probe by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo—dubbed "Operation Home Alone"—later found that Excellent's landlord, Immediate Home Care, had routinely used untrained aides with bogus state certificates. The owners eventually pled guilty to defrauding Medicaid of $12 million.
Its mission to serve only disabled New Yorkers was another laugher. In 2008, this needy group accounted for less than 5 percent of its patients
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=8867115
AJC expressed dismay at a religious injunction issued by six orthodox rabbis in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak forbidding residents to rent apartments to African refugees and other migrants. The ruling, based on the rabbis’ interpretation of Halacha, or Jewish religious law, follows a similar call from a group of Tel Aviv rabbis in July, and comes amid rising tension between migrants and established residents of poorer neighborhoods in Israel’s cities.
Yeah!
http://chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=20961
Death Threat Sent to Chabad Rabbi
Dear Reb Arthur and Reb UOJ
While I appreciate your question as to why these seemingly esoteric halachic queries merit a place in a public discourse on business ethics, and while I got a good chuckle from UOJ's good natured laitzonus, I still think that addressing these types of questions is not trivial. Unfortunately, even some of our finest have become desensitized to the notion of boundaries when it comes to other peoples' property. We become big meikilim when it is someone else's assets with which we are dealing. These types of questions can often lead to a broader discussion of related topics that are more serious.
Rav Moshe Feinstein ZT"L insisted that our young boys start learning gemara from Eilu Metzios, though it deals with similar esoterica, in order to sensitize our children to the concept of personal boundaries of ownership (as opposed to finders keepers...). And to teach them that these concepts are Torah and not only keeping kosher and shabbos.
Are there more important issues that face the frum community? Almost certainly. Should we ignore the "little" halachos to concentrate only on the devarim kashos? We dare not.
"i guess by dedicating the convention to "protecting children" AI is kind of admitting that they were wrong to ignore the problem (at best) and silence it (at worst). i suppose that might be a good start, except that they are trying to portray themselves as brave heroes for bringing this issue to light, when in truth they were dragged into it by Klal Yisroel kicking and screaming. don't expect them to give any credit to the real brave ones who brought up this issue at the risk of their livelihoods, reputations and kids shidduchin. Do expect them to attack "blogs" anyway, even though now the blogs seem to have one, at least on this one.
poor chaim duvid esq. all he ever wanted was to be in charge :-( "
We'll see, at the Convention, if they're erliche Yidden.
Its really not so hard to be nice, is it? The Mandel, Pelcovitz book Breaking the Silence has people pissed off, because they refused to give credit to the people who deserve it. They refuse to break the silence about the people who broke the silence. Not right.
The Agudists should klop al cheit a thousand times, and shout from the rooftops the names of every Yid who is fixing the problem while they have sat on their hands.
http://lakewoodsvoice.com/voice/kupat-hair-is-gezel-gamur-proclaims-the-mashgiach/
http://lakewoodsvoice.com/voice/no-more-danishes-in-front-of-bmg/
http://lakewoodsvoice.com/voice/chaim-dovid-zweibel-intermarriage-is-not-so-bad-by-hershel-herskowitz/comment-page-1
___________________________________
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Evening Wrap
___________________________________
SEOUL--President Barack Obama limped toward the close of the Group of 20 summit, weakened by an anemic economic recovery and an election drubbing that has left world leaders questioning U.S. authority.
In private meetings with Mr. Obama Thursday, Chinese President Hu Jintao resisted his pressure on currency revaluation. Mr. Obama also failed to secure a free-trade agreement with South Korea by his imposed Thursday deadline, a blow to a U.S. president who has pledged to double U.S. exports over the next five years.
The G-20 summit is expected to conclude with a communiqu? that papers over differences on fiscal and monetary policy that had burst into the open in the run-up to the gathering.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608024073731214.html?mod=djemTEW_t
Good job Binyamin!
Real Time Economics
Inability to Cut Rates Fuels Joblessness
American consumers borrowed and spent their way into today's slow recovery, and the jobless rate is being held near 10% because the Fed is unable to cut interest rates below zero, says Stanford University economist Robert E. Hall.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/11/11/economist-fed-inability-to-cut-rates-fuels-joblessness/
* * *
Neuhoff, take your pick ... Vantz, Hundt ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/nyregion/12bedbugs.html?hp
Doubts Rise on Bedbug Sniffing Dogs
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/amazon-under-attack-for-sale-of-pedophile-book/?hp
Amazon Under Attack for Sale of Pedophile Book
TechCrunch’s MG Siegler lit the match that led to a firestorm with a blog post that asked why Amazon would allow the book “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure,” into the Kindle online bookstore. Mr. Siegler questioned why a book promoting something that is technically illegal had not been banned by the online retailer.
In response to the blog post, and another by TechCrunch’s founder, Michael Arrington, Amazon issued a statement saying:
Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.
This is when the small debate exploded into an online atom bomb, with thousands of people threatening on Twitter to “boycott Amazon” if the company did not stop selling the book, as well as thousands of Amazon users attacking the book’s author on the book’s page on Amazon.
As of late afternoon Thursday the book had been removed from the site, and the link to the book had been replaced with an error page telling users “We’re sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site.”
http://vvoice.vo.llnwd.net/e12/5610845.28.jpg
The Frankel's shul chevra are wondering when Uncle Milty will be joining everyone in Otisville. Maybe Yankel Applegrad can take his place as the go-to guy on the outside.
This seems to be the nephew with the same name. He is in trouble with the NYC Fire Marshall and is due back in court on Nov. 15th. Can't this family ever stay out of trouble?
Kings Criminal Court
Case # 2010SK010768
Defendant Rubashkin, Sholom
I should see if there is an opening for IRS Commissioner. I have plenty of experience making sure kids in dire straits don't get help.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/business/13missing.html?ref=business&src=me&pagewanted=print
I.R.S. Sits on Data Pointing to Missing Children
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