Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Footprints in the Snow


The UOJ Archives - December 2010

December (Kislev) was always my favorite month. For many reasons. I was born within a few hours of that day of the other well-known charismatic Jew -- with dark hair and a beard. I am craftier than he was though, the Establishment's attempt to nail me to the shtender was unsuccessful; and that's where the similarities end, depending on who you talk to of course.

The cold weather was a reprieve for me from the hot New York summers. The lights of Chanukah burning bright in our window; and the peace that came along with the long winter nights was inspirational. As my children grew, it became our most festive Jewish holiday; dancing together around the lit menorah.

I was always puzzled why Chanukah was so dear to me. Perhaps because one of my names in Aramaic means flame/torch and the other name means "bright one" or "shining one" in German? And yes, I loved the snow, that beautiful white snow that covered and brightened the filthy New York streets, seeming, at least temporarily, to cover the dark secrets of those streets. As a child, snowball fights were actually a neighborhood event. Parents would join in to help their kids slug it out with their friends.

And when we moved into the new neighborhood, the closest shul that I felt comfortable with was on the other side of the tracks. There was a new shtibel being set up in the living room of a very nice man. It was hard to say no to him, although I never found my place there. So I found myself mostly walking over to my parents home and davening with my father at his local shtibel. Initially, thinking somehow I could make it work. I hate shtibels, every community member should belong to a shul with a real rav, not some hokey-pokey voodoo kook, or a flunky with flair.

I remember getting up very early in the winter months when it snowed, sitting in my beautiful bechora's room, watching her sleep, constantly putting my hand by her nose to make certain she was breathing, and watching the snow fall and enjoying the peace that it brought me. There's something special forever for the child that made you a father. There was not a living soul yet in the street at 4 a.m.

I would be in her room until 5 a.m. or so, when off I went by foot to say a shiur to the two elderly Jews at the local synagogue (as opposed to a shul) where I davened shacharit in the weekdays as well. From two elderly Jews it became three, four, five...the aged and infirmed rabbi could not believe his eyes. He barely had a minyan until I moved in, in less than six months there were some twenty five people davening at the 6 o'clock minyan.

I would have liked to believe that on those snowy mornings, my footprints in the snow that I left going to daven, would be there on the way home. Of course, that never happened. Other people were walking the streets as well, or the snow turned to slush, or rain washed it away.

Or maybe they're still there, I just can't see them.

Life moves along, and we moved away...there were shuls, shtibels and kosher establishments galore.

The new neighborhood was aesthetically beautiful; shortly after we moved we were blessed with my youngest favorite child. She drove me nuts; the more the merrier. She could do no wrong, ever!

It was full of plastic people and I had a difficult time getting used to the "what's in it for me" mentality. So I went about my business focusing on my career and my family. "They" tried to induce and seduce me into getting involved in what they called "community affairs"; I called it mundane affairs of ego-maniacs who would do anything to see their names on buildings, organization stationary, and getting to sit on a table slightly elevated from the other tables at school dinners.

I left footprints in the sand; I'm fairly certain the low tides washed them away.

Or maybe they're still there, I just can't see them.

And as I became ashamed of myself for not getting with the program -- my staff operated the computers for my organization, I was still using my Rolodex, had a massive business card album comprising some 7200 business cards of every person I ever met who had one, and dictating letters to my assistant, I took a beginners class in January 2005 at a local computer training school. They taught me how to turn on the computer, the basics of e-mail, and how to get online.

And one evening in March 2005 I came across a Blog, I said to myself, "I can do that", and so I did.

I left footprints in cyberspace; the Establishment attempted to "wash them away".

They're still there, and the world sees them!

104 comments:

  1. wow
    you are one fascinating individual!!

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  2. kol hakavod
    you have made an impression on those who had no voice and were shoved aside by the jewish community. you gave a voice.

    and yes you made an impression on thos who couldnt be impressed upon who tread a little more carefully and try to cover the tracks of those individuals who molested our wonderful children and destroyed the neshamos of so many.

    and yes you allowed those people who needed to join with someone to have a voice and raise thier voices jointly with you

    yes you have much to be proud of

    chazak

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  3. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/19wrestler.html

    Rabbi George Finkelstein from YU's MTA high school / Great Synagogue of Jerusalem might invoke this argument that it doesn't make him a molester.

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  4. A ha! Moydeh geven vus er iz areingemisht in der treifena internet!

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  5. OFF TOPIC- BUT MAYBE NOT

    A Brooklyn born Satmar menuval left footprints from Jerusalem and Antwerp to Monsey and Kiryas Joel. This one's name is Yisroel Moshe Weingarten and he is serving 33 years for shlepping his daughter around the world to use her sexually.

    His defenders, like the defenders of Kolko and others protest his tzidkus and innocence. But I have posted the smoking gun, a letter from one Satmar principal in Antwerp to a beit din in Monsey spelling out the ugly details. Yet they did not call the police to protect his daughter and other children. This in spite of the fact that there was no denial, no claims of nisht geferlach. In fact they said Weingarten did things "karov l'giluy arayos mamash."

    See: http://frumfollies.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/what-was-said-inside-satmar-about-yisroel-moshe-weingarten/

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  6. R' Yerachmiel:

    Keep up your important work.

    Chazak!

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  7. Ana shluchi derabonon. Please allow yeshivos to collapse while we funnel all of Klal Yisroel's money to bail out Rubashkin from his latest self-imposed legal problems.

    http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=12422849

    A federal judge has ordered the family that owned a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa to pay more than $2 million after defaulting on agreements with one of their banks, which has since collapsed.

    US District Judge Edward McManus on Thursday entered summary judgment in favor of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp & Value Recovery Group against Sholom & Tzvi Rubashkin & their father, Aaron Rubashkin.

    The family owned Agriprocessors meatpacking in Postville, the site of a 2008 raid in which 389 illegal immigrants were detained. The plant filed for bankruptcy & was sold.

    Sholom Rubashkin was later convicted on federal fraud charges, sentenced to 27 years in prison & ordered to pay $27 million restitution. Prosecutors said he intentionally deceived the lender & told employees to create fake invoices to show First Bank the plant had more money than it did.

    Omni Bank sued after the Rubashkins stopped making payments on $300,000 they received for a property rental company in Postville & on equipment they were renting from the bank, including conveyor belts, labeling machines & computers.

    Federal regulators shut down Omni after it filed the lawsuit, saying it engaged in "unsafe practices" making bad real estate loans.

    The FDIC was appointed Omni's receiver. Value Recovery Group bought the debt Aaron Rubashkin owed on the leases & joined the case.

    Court records show the Rubashkins personally guaranteed $300,000 for the rental company, Nevel Properties. McManus ruled the trio owes the FDIC $290,000 plus interest. Nevel rented apartments to Agriprocessors employees.

    McManus also ordered Aaron Rubashkin to pay Value Recovery Group $1.8 million for equipment leases, the amount owed after equipment was sold during bankruptcy, plus interest.

    Michael Mallaney, a lawyer who represented the Rubashkins, had asked the court for more time to file a motion opposing summary judgment, but U.S. Magistrate Jon Scoles rejected that request in October. Scoles said the defendants had failed to show cause for the extension.

    "Here, defendants have made virtually no effort to actively defend this case," he wrote.

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  8. Kranc Iz Er ("sick is he" in Yiddish)2:24 PM, December 19, 2010

    The tale of Gershon Kranczer, the Krancer aka Kranc-iz-er, 9

    Given that it is now about three+ weeks that der Krancer Kranczer has fled to Israel and left no tracks of his own as he hides out with his 21 year old "legally blind" son Osher Anshil, and he ain't that "blind" if he knows how to keep well out of sight for so long and do as he is told by his savvy pappy, who in spite of his own roving goo-goo eyes knows how to hide like a Haredi rabbit down a deep rabbit hole.

    What is the difference between the Kranczer incest scandal and the Watergate scandal "Deep Throat"?

    In the case of the Watergate Deep Throat, the source of the information for Nixon's spying on political enemies was first hidden and revealed much later, but in the case of Gershon Kranczer he was first under the eyes and supervision of the most paranoid rabbis, such as Aron Schechter of Chaim Berlin, yet has now gone into hiding befitting the Deep Throat of Watergate.

    No doubt, Kranczer is relying on the help of his Haredi buddies and family in Israel to keep him hidden and out of sight forever, as if he has ceased to exist and probably has taken on a new forged identity for both himself and his son. Obviously he and his friends who are hiding him know enough and have seen enough rabbis go to jail in America to know that he will face serious legal consequences for his sins of moral turpitude befitting a Shabtai Tzvi or even a Marquis de Sade.

    But how long can anyone hide on the scale of a Dr. Mengele? Will he have plastic surgery on his face too? What is going through his sick mind as he has turned his wife into a virtual AGUNAH while his minor kids under 18 have been taken away from him and his wife by the state authorities, his sons are facing various legal actions, and his oldest daughter of 25 has gotten divorced? How much damage does he want to cause?

    It seems he couldn't give a damn and would rather hide like a coward than come back and start the long process of facing up to his misdeeds and doing teshuva (repentance), even if it means sitting in jail. After all what is he going to answer on his Final Judgment Day after 120?

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  9. You should just know this about the OU. The OU shul in New Orleans is led by a so called rabbi named Uri Topolosky even though the OU poskim said that graduates from Avi Weiss's yeshiva cannot be mara d'atra. Young Israel is listening to the psak but the OU does not listen to their own poskim. Topolosky gives hashgacha on restaurants and started a joint beit din where he sits with Reform and Conservative rabbis to do conversions. Since Chabad does not let Reform and Conservative use their mikva for conversion, Topolosky is raising money to build another mikva. Topolosky attends kabbalat Shabbat services at the Reform to show solidarity with them and trades pulpits on Shabbat mornings with the Reform rabbi. This goes against everything in the OU constitution but the OU doesn't care. Some rabbis from out of town were shocked when they were apprised and even more shocked that the OU is giving them the runaround. There are people working under OU VP Rabbi Steven Weil and the OU president Mr. Savitsky who seem to be Avi Weiss sympathizers. They will not let you reach the presidium and argue to defend Topolosky. They pass you off to David Olivestone the OU media spokesman who gives you a bunch of patronizing hogwash that he is appalled but that the OU cannot intervene in member synagogue affairs.

    Someone at a national Jewish organization told me off the record that I should reach out to Rabbi Shain. After I commented there the readers suggested I also venture on over to this website.

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  10. The issue with SMR today, is not whether he was found guilty of criminal acts. He was.

    Even though some members of the legal community expressed that the judge "merely" met the Federal guidlines for his sentence, there's a very sad sense that cosmic justice was not done.

    SMR - 27 Years -- Yehuda Kolko - 0

    Lipa Margulies - 0

    Shea Fishman - 0

    Jack Perlow - 0

    Sam Kaminetzky - 0

    I don't know when you're suppose to throw in the towel on a guy that's more an idiot than a criminal.

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  11. Did anyone notice the public attack from Aryeh Ginzberg (Chofetz Chaim 5 Towns) on people not planning to attend the Rubashkin assifah to raise millions of dollars from 5 Towns residents when yeshivos can't pay their bills?

    In a rare display of unity because for once they can agree on something, which is brainwashing the public with their self-serving Rubashkin agenda, you have Agudah, Young Israel, YU, OU, Lubavitch and the newspapers who get ad money from Rubashkin & OU, joining forces.

    I don't believe for a second what they are saying in the name of Rav Shteiman that Rubashkin doesn't even deserve "one year in jail because that's what the biggest rasha gets in gehinom". I believe they are lying and exaggerating to further their agenda. You cannot compare onshim in olam hazeh to the next world which are at least 60 times worse. It is not true that the biggest rasha is only punished for 12 months. Some reshaim are not allowed to enter gehinom for a while which is an even worse punishment. The biggest reshaim have their neshomos destroyed. You don't need to learn scary sefarim like Reishis Chochmah. This is in kisvei Chofetz Chaim.

    The letter they got Rav Hershel Schechter to issue did mention he does not condone criminal activity but did he even bother to read the letter he quotes from the former attorneys general? They write that they are not familiar with the facts in the Rubashkin case.

    Don't be fooled by corrupt organizational heads who are pulling the race card like shvartzas to scream anti-Semitism and alilas dam. The problem is tough sentencing guidelines which many goyim are also dealt. Many rabbanim who signed are not being told all the facts. Rav Sternbuch holds that supporting every criminal with a beard is wrong and turns the goyim against us.

    And remember who Aryeh Ginzberg is. He participated in the Kolko cover up in another public letter.

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  12. Spotlight on the Queens Vaad7:24 PM, December 19, 2010

    We were wondering if Chaim "KVH Synagogue Council" Schwartz was able to take out time this past week from his busy schedule of impersonating & blogging against Queens Vaad critics to attend the dinner for American Friends of Bet El. The guest of honor at the dinner was his boss, Queens Vaad president Rabbi Dr. Richard Weiss. The committee for AFO Bet El includes various Queens Vaad rabbis like Steven Pruzansky (who is still a VHQ member despite moving to New Jersey) and rabbis from non-orthodox streams like Bruce Ginsburg from the 5 Towns. Queens Vaad rabbis to the Left just love anything that even sounds Zionist as it appeals to the modern orthodox Queens type who substitutes Zionism for frumkeit. Such an event should make Chaim Schwartz feel heimish since it's just like old times at KVH Boston where orthodox and not frum rabbis are one big happy family on the Synagogue Council that was assered by all the gedolim and even YU. It doesn't matter that Schwartz served at the same time as the head of Agudah New England since it's his modus operandi to be a yeshivishe maniac dressed in black while following orders from the Left wing fringes.

    http://www.csoiwoodmere.com/pages/aboutus.htm

    As a matter of fact he may even know JTS musmach Bruce Ginsburg as he was also previously in Boston.

    There was an added bonus at the dinner. The convicted criminal and perpetual rodef kavod Dr. Paul Brody who is a big macher at Queens Vaad shuls pulled his usual stunt where he comes running up to stick his face in when the newspapers are snapping pictures of dignitaries. Rosho verubo came diving in when they were taking a picture of Gov. Mike Huckabee, an Xtian Tzioni supporter of AFO Bet El.

    ReplyDelete
  13. http://www.alljewishlinks.com/somber-farewell-melava-malka-for-spinka-rebbe-before-being-sent-to-prison/

    Spinka Chasidim In Boro Park Bid Farewell to Their Beloved Rebbe in a Melava Malka that was planned for the rebbe before he is going to prison for 24 month.

    The incarceration of the rebbe was supposed to be about seven months ago (May 24), but after an appeal filed by his lawyers, his sentence was postponed until this Tuesday (December 16th).

    The 24 months is the maximum but after calculating a third, to come down for good behavior, the Rebbe would sit about 15 months in prison.

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  14. I'm reaching out the the organizers of the SMR event Wednesday evening in general, and Rabbi Lipschutz in particular; kindly have an American flag in the proximity of the podium and say a kapitel Tehillim for the USA.

    When the YouTube video goes viral, the world will see we are grateful Americans that have a gripe with a particular sentencing verdict and not with this great country. And yes, that should be explicitly said in your opening remarks.

    Let's agree on this one for Heaven's sake!

    Chazak,

    UOJ

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  15. R' UOJ,

    You may be letting your humanity get the best of you by placing too much hope in fools. One of the rabbonim with limited brain function who covered up for Colmer gave a shmuz after Sept. 11th criticizing unzerra displaying Old Glory.

    Regards

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  16. If all those Mexicans and Guatemalans start launching civil suits against Rubashkin, it's going to turn into a quagmire that could last years.

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  17. Chicago has been suffering from many terrible tragedies for quite a while now. Terminal illness, accidents, fires, etc.

    Someone just told us a very interesting story and we'd like to know if anyone heard of this. Apparently in the early 1900's a Rav from Eretz Yisroel visited Chicago and was upset with the community at the lack of respect he received here. He then put a curse on the city. While this sounds superficial and Baal Gaavadik, although we don't really know the whole story, it is apparently true as we did ask a well respected Rav just this morning. He unfortunately does not remember the name of the Rav involved in this story. We are asking because maybe there's a chance to reverse this curse by having people daven at his kever. So if anyone out there has heard of this and knows the name of the Rav, we would appreciate it if you could tell us. This is not for Lashon Hara - but it is to help our city!

    Thank you for any help you can give us.

    ReplyDelete
  18. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/nyregion/20haitians.html

    Worry Rises Among Haitians as U.S. Plans to Resume Deportations

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  19. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/us/politics/20states.html?hp

    Proposed Amendment Would Enable States to Repeal Federal Law

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  20. I loaned $10,000 interest free to a Lubavitcher doctor (a former yeshiva classmate and one-time schochet) several years ago. He said he had bad credit (medical school loans + large family brood) and needed the money to lease x-ray equipment for his lucrative summer practice in the Catskills. At the end of the summer, he paid me back $5,000, but I've been hounding him for the balance already three years now.

    No amount of cajoling seems to work to claw my money back from this black-clad bearded personage, who cites every reason under the sun for not paying me: he's a poor businessman, has a new investor in his medical practice, is getting married to a young bimbo third wife imported from the Ukraine, has gotten said wife preggers with twins, is borrowing money for his own rent, has to travel to Ukraine to daven with Reb Nachman in Uman, etc.

    I tell the guy, "I have to borrow money, at interest, to pay my bills, finance my credit card balances. Why should you get this multi-year, free ride on me???" Gemach my arse!

    This whole affair is making me into a sonei-Lubavitch because it teaches its own community leaders, e.g., doctors, to borrow and not repay.

    I just want my money back, and they can take all their Rebbe crap and shove it where the sun doesn't shine, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  21. http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/Saving-Rubashkin-goes-local,2114?sub_id=2114&print=1

    Pinny Lipschutz talks out of both sides of his mouth. His own newspaper keeps insinuating anti-Semitism as the cause of Rubashkin's problems but denies it in a Jewish Star interview, laying blame instead with Shmorris Allen, a Conservative rabbi, and the Forward newspaper.

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  22. If anyone was wondering why Queens Vaad president Yoel Schonfeld has a tendency to say things that are a direct quote from the Notzri "New Testament" as has been pointed out on Yudel's blog, this may explain it as he is rabbi of Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills:

    http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/MissionariestargetreligiousJews,1889?sub_id=1889&print=1

    a high profile effort is currently underway in the New York area by Chosen People Ministries, the oldest Messianic Jewish Christian organization in the country. The campaign includes billboards, posters, and advertisements, including full pages in The New York Times, about chapter 53 in the Book of Isaiah. It is the brainchild of Dr. Mitch Glaser, president of Chosen People Ministries.

    Glaser had his bar mitzvah at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, he said, though his family kept neither Shabbos nor kashrus. While working in California after high school, Glaser said he discovered Jesus.

    Today, Glaser claims to follow Jewish custom and practice.

    "We've created a very Jewish life," he maintained. "We are shomer Shabbos and my home is, I would say, traif-less. It's not necessarily kosher. We celebrate the holidays and yet Yeshuah is at the center of it."

    Glaser refers to Jesus as Yeshuah in conversation and maintains there is no inherent conflict between being a practicing Jew and believing in Jesus. According to Ruth Guggenheim of the Baltimore branch of Jews for Judaism, a Jewish anti-missionary organization, this makes organizations like Chosen People Ministries all the more dangerous.

    "They're not your Bubbie's missionary," Guggenheim explained.

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  23. The rabbi in Chicago sounds like the "Ridvaz", Rav Yaakov Dovid Willowsky.

    He barely escaped with his life after a contract was put out on his life by the local butchers mafia.

    He passed away the first night of Rosh Hashana (5614)(Sept. 22, 1913) in Tzefas.

    For those wishing to daven at his kever, it's a bit of a trip from Chicago...

    You can read more about him here:
    http://www.elmorahillsminyan.org/Home/gedolim/american-gedolim/kashrus

    ReplyDelete
  24. http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=200173

    A scandal that is rocking the Breslov community of Shuvu Banim has taken another twist, with its spiritual leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland's return to his Jerusalem home from his hiding place in the North on Saturday night, after breaking away from 10 years of captivity, during which he says he was little more than a marionette controlled by his son and grandson.

    Some two weeks ago, prominent members of the small Jerusalem-based community found a DVD outside their homes, containing videos and documents proving that the 73- year-old Berland was in fact being controlled by his son, Rabbi Nachman Berland, and grandson Nathan Berland, who for years prevented direct access to the older man and dictated his every move and action.

    Shortly afterward, Eliezer staged his kidnapping to flee to the North, where he took refuge in Moshav Amirim, initially not disclosing his whereabouts. In a phone call with some 20 of his closest hassidim, Eliezer recalled the torment he underwent.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Fried Frank is stacked with you despicable orthodox Jews

    http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202476365910&src

    Top Fried Frank Partners to Be Deposed in Discrimination Suit

    Nate Raymond
    New York Law Journal
    December 20, 2010

    Ms. Kamps, who is a lesbian, was fired by Fried Frank in January 2009. She sued the firm for $50 million last December for allegedly denying her promotion to partner because she is gay and for failing to prevent her supervisors from harassing her. Fried Frank has denied wrongdoing.

    ReplyDelete
  26. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/12/20/world/international-us-pope-abuse.html?hp

    Church Must Reform After Abuse Scandal, Pope Says

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  27. http://www.necn.com/12/20/10/Vt-murderers-kosher-appeal-denied/landing_newengland.html?&blockID=3&apID=260572a0a7e74447ae29628771a06eaf

    The Vermont Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a convicted murderer who complained that the Florida jail where he's housed does not serve him kosher food.

    The Rutland Herald says last week's decision by a three-judge panel affirms a lower court's decision rejecting Charles Gundlah's complaint that the state was bound to provide for his dietary preferences. The former Brattleboro man was convicted of killing a Newfane schoolteacher in 1992.

    Gundlah is a practicing Jew and has requested kosher meals from jail officials in Florida, where he was transferred in 1998. But Florida jails prohibit kosher meals for security and economic reasons. Instead, their jails eliminated pork and pork products.

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  28. Notice how the Ridvaz and other gedolim like RSFM warned about the charlatans in rabbinic garb defrauding the public with phony kashrus but when UOJ, R' Yudel Shain and the critics of the Queens hashgocho say the same thing, they are demonized by the self-appointed organizational "leaders" as nutjobs, apikorsim, lowlives, etc

    ReplyDelete
  29. R' Nuchem calls Charlie Hynes's court Jew for cover ups, the Lubavitcher lady Hanna White - Hanna Whitewash

    He says that the US Army Lubavitcher chaplain Rabbi Jacob Goldstein is in cahoots with her.

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  30. http://topics.myfoxboston.com/m/35994496/pedophile-s-guide-author-arrested.htm

    Pedophile Author Gets Arrested

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  31. UOJ still has a sense of humor after working like a superhuman for years with little sleep?

    "Somebody called me a lowlife?"

    HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

    The one who has been calling you nasty names lately is Chaim Schwartz of the Queens Vaad who previously worked for the Agudah. We know it's him because he was sending obnoxious emails to someone at JBAC and the same talking points from the emails showed up on Yudel's blog. He never comments over here because he holds that you are an apikoros gomur. The guy is a hypocrite who for a paycheck goes against the very Daas Toirah he pretends to defend.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Tell Chaimel 'tis the season of peace on earth....he should please stop hurting my feelings:-))

    ReplyDelete
  33. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/gov-paterson-fined-62125-for-taking-world-series-tickets/

    Updated, 1:11 p.m. | The state ethics commission has fined Gov. David A. Paterson $62,125 for soliciting and accepting five free tickets to the 2009 World Series from the New York Yankees.

    The Commission on Public Integrity noted that the Yankees have “myriad and continuing” issues before state government, including real estate, stadium development and tax matters, creating a clear conflict of interest for Mr. Paterson.

    In its finding, the commission also concluded that the governor had lied about his acceptance of the tickets, saying that Mr. Paterson’s testimony, in which he said he always intended to pay for them, was refuted by his own staff, Yankees officials and documentary evidence, “not to mention common sense.”

    “The moral and ethical tone of any organization is set at the top,” said Michael G. Cherkasky, the commission’s chairman. “Unfortunately, the governor set a totally inappropriate tone by his dishonest and unethical conduct. Such conduct cannot be tolerated by any New York State employee, particularly our governor.”

    “When members of the media learned of his conduct, he attempted to cover up his misdeeds” by backdating a check, and when questioned under oath about the check, “the governor told a story” that was not true, the commission concluded.

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  34. How did Rabbi Ziskind get stuck with a son-in-law who is such a piece of work like Fette Chaimel?

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  35. You wouldn't believe what Chaimel has been up to for the last year via telephone to cover up and intimidate after people started figuring out what he's really up to.

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  36. There is a Ziskind who is Queens Vaad field manager for Kew Gardens Hills. Is that a Schwartz brother in law or cousin that he brought on? Political patronage at it's best.

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  37. http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/20/32715.htm

    December 20, 2010

    Abbott's Similac baby formula with insect morsels gave a baby "persistent illness" & 2 years of stomach problems that necessitated numerous visits to specialists, the boy's parents say.

    "It was not until plaintiffs learned of the recall of Similac infant formula that they learned the truth that Similac they fed L.S. almost exclusively was infested with beetle larvae & insect parts," according to the complaint in Dade County Court.

    Joseph & Dunia Sabga also sued Publix Super Markets & CVS Pharmacy on behalf of their son.

    "Soon after birth, L.S. began a diet of Similac as his almost exclusive source of nourishment," the parents say.

    L.S. had to endure 2 years of doctor visits to treat L.S. for gastrointestinal problems, eating problems & other complications. Plaintiffs even provided L.S. Similac 'sensitive' formula, unaware L.S.'s gastrointestinal sensitivity was caused by adulterated Similac itself."

    The parents contacted Abbott to let it know they thought they bought a bad batch of Similac because the smell made them nauseous.

    On Sept 22, 2010 - 5 months after plaintiff emailed Abbott about Similac - Abbott announced consumers should immediately stop using Similac powder because they contain beetles or larvae.

    "Though L.S. no longer consumes Similac, he continues to have difficulty & appears to have developed long term eating disorders due to adulterated Similac during critical formative stages of his first years of life.

    They seek equitable & injunctive relief

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  38. http://www.onpointnews.com/NEWS/Woman-Sues-TV-Preacher-for-Failing-to-Disclose-Affair.html

    ReplyDelete
  39. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/f-c-c-poised-to-pass-net-neutrality-order/?hp

    F.C.C. Poised to Pass Net Neutrality Order

    By BRIAN STELTER

    The F.C.C.’s chairman, Julius Genachowski (Menachem Genack's first cousin), outlined a framework for net neutrality earlier this month, touching off a debate about the role of the government in regulating Internet access.

    Critics have condemned Genachowski’s proposal as “fake net neutrality.” One of those critics, Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, said over the weekend that the F.C.C. was effectively allowing discrimination on the Internet by adopting weak rules for wireless Internet access.

    “Maybe you like Google Maps. Well, tough,” Mr. Franken said on the Senate floor. “If the F.C.C. passes this weak rule, Verizon will be able to cut off access to the Google Maps app on your phone & force you to use their own mapping program, even if it's not as good. And even if they charge money, when Google Maps is free.”

    He continued, “If corporations are allowed to prioritize content on the Internet, or they are allowed to block apps you access on your iPhone, there is nothing to prevent those same corporations from censoring political speech.”

    Two Republican commissioners, Meredith Baker & Robert McDowell, are expected to oppose it. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Mr. McDowell asserted that “nothing is broken that needs fixing.”

    ReplyDelete
  40. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703395204576023452250748540.html

    The FCC's Threat to Internet Freedom

    'Net neutrality' sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation & create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.

    No Republican members endorsed the measure.

    Still feeling quixotic pressure to fight an imaginary problem, the FCC leadership this fall pushed a small group of hand-picked industry players toward a "choice" between a bad option (broad regulation already struck down in April by the D.C. federal appeals court) or a worse option (phone monopoly-style regulation). Experiencing more coercion than consensus or compromise, a smaller industry group on Dec. 1 gave qualified support for the bad option. The FCC's action will spark a billable-hours bonanza as lawyers litigate the meaning of "reasonable" network management for years to come. How's that for regulatory certainty?

    To date, the FCC hasn't ruled out increasing its power further by using phone monopoly laws, directly or indirectly regulating rates someday, or expanding its reach deeper into mobile broadband. The most expansive regulatory regimes frequently started out modest & innocuous before incrementally growing into heavy-handed behemoths.

    On this winter solstice, we witness jaw-dropping interventionist chutzpah as the FCC bypasses branches of government in dogged pursuit of needless & harmful regulation. The darkest day of the year may end up marking a long winter night for Internet freedom.

    Mr. McDowell is a Republican commissioner of the F.C.C.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Genachowski is much more dangerous than his cousin Menachem Genack. Genack may be a Leftist but he is only a Clinton supporter. Genachowski is a puppet of Obama and his Marxist dictatorship. Obama had tried and failed to push the "Fairness Doctrine", the falsely named attempt to shut down right wing discussion on radio and internet. Genachowski is now helping Obama ram through the same idea in a way that evades Congress.

    ReplyDelete
  42. New York prosecutors are poised to file civil fraud charges against Ernst & Young for its alleged role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers, saying the Big Four accounting firm stood by while the investment bank misled investors about its financial health, people familiar with the matter said.

    ReplyDelete
  43. You know that Obama is really dangerous when hard core Liberals like Al Franken start complaining.

    ReplyDelete
  44. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_jersey&id=7849497

    It's probably better that Yossel Burstzyn doesn't speak directly to the police about this one. Last time he approached the police he was wrestled to the ground.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Yeah, Ernst & Young up for fraud charges. What about that arrogant putz Dick Fuld? Is he still living in that $10 million house in Lloyd Harbor on Long Island's North Shore?

    ReplyDelete
  46. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/12/sentencing_postponed_in_case_o.html

    Sentencing postponed in case of Bayonne man convicted of raping wife; religion was cited as a defense

    ReplyDelete
  47. Marbeh nechosim marbeh daagah. Just use the fire pump by the curb.

    http://www.onpointnews.com/NEWS/Court-OKs-Case-Over-Dangerous-Toilet-Roll-Dispenser.html

    A bizarre restroom accident has taken personal injury law in a novel direction, with a divided Michigan Supreme Court ruling that a woman can sue a restaurant where she allegedly broke her hand while using a toilet roll dispenser.

    It's hard to imagine a more innocuous appliance but Sandra Schooley alleges that the cover on a plastic toilet-paper dispenser at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Taylor, Mich., fell onto her because it was not in the “locked” position. In a Dec. 3 decision, a 4-3 majority of the Michigan Supreme Court said the case should go to trial.

    “It would be improper for this Court to rule that an ordinary instrument like a toilet paper dispenser could never cause compensable harm for the mere reason that it is used in people’s day-to-day lives,” Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly wrote.

    ReplyDelete
  48. "Why did Richard Joel’s Salary go up?

    by Ben Atlas on 12.20.2010. 8:14am

    The President’s of the Yeshiva University salary has gone up by $153,651 between 2008 and 2009. In 2009 he was making $853,651 instead of $750,000 in 2008 (link). Note that the survey doesn’t include the other benefits like the deferred compensation, the retirement pay, bonus, use of housing, tuition, medical, etc. The benefits often can exceed the salary itself (see examples here and YU is a tiny school by comparison). This underlines the structural problem, there is no consequence for the performance at the top and the entire economic collapse is absorbed by the poor and the middle class. There has to be a connection between a performance and compensation. Specifically Richard Joel should be responsible for the Yeshiva’s massive loss of endowment on his watch, including to Berine Madoff investments. There is a simple Nassim Taleb’s maxim – “Captains go down with ships, all captains & all ships.” Not much will change till this rule becomes a part of the financial culture. Well I am out of the loop on YU, what did Richard Joel do to deserve the raise during the great recession? And this is not just an individual institution, almost all Jewish institutions today, from a small Chabad House in Montana to the mega metropolitan federations, they all lack the essential ingredients – ethics, sense of shame and transparency. Why write about this, the rank and file seems not to care or not to notice? This is why I am and many others become disenfranchised from the Jewish people, it’s the culture rotten to the very core. Instead we have the socialist brother Senator Bernie Sanders eloquently describe the situation:

    Sen Bernie Sanders Amazing Speech! [There is a war going on,and it's not in Afghanistan...]"

    ReplyDelete
  49. Stormin' Norman Lamm12:19 AM, December 21, 2010

    I hope Ben Atlas doesn't find out how much compensation YU is still giving me for being a blowhard emeritus who doesn't actively work for the school anymore but I think I'm still in charge like when I told the Jerusalem Post recently that Avi Weiss has the right idea to ordain woman rabbis except that he's pushing the envelope too quickly.

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  50. I hope linking to Bernie Sanders was an attempt at humor. He is an avowed Socialist who acts as the outspoken conscience of the Obama-Pelosi camp. The top earners are the most productive people in the country who the Socialists and Marxists want to penalize and transfer their hard earned money to loafers like Shmarya. Speaking of which, Shmarya seems to have a paying job for the first time in decades, writing a column for the fringe radical Heeb Magazine. Maybe now he can stop shnorring money from his readers.

    I investigated SHmarya's accusation that Rabbi Yair Hoffman is "lying" to cover up for the "Haredi" couple on the People's Court with the ruined sheitel. I am no fan of Hoffman who does a lot of dishonest things to defend Rubashkin and the OU but Hoffman seems to be telling the truth here from what I can gather. It is Shmarya who lies so he can convince people to join him in the misery of leaving the fold.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Yeah, why does Lamm get a free multi-million dollar dwelling for life on YU's dime?

    ReplyDelete
  52. Vaad haVacuum of Queens10:02 AM, December 21, 2010

    The Queens Vaad likes to run a vaad hakashrus in a vacuum which means that they make up leniencies and loopholes as they go along which doesn't conform to any normative standard of other hashgochos or even basic halacha. When you catch them with their hoyzen down, first they deny, then they fight, and when it can no longer be covered up, they come up with krumme Toyrahs to farentfer. The tzad hashoveh usually boils down to profit in some way, shape or form and/or Left wing ideology of the people in charge who put up yeshivishe maniac Chaim Schwartz as a front so that Kew Gardens and Chofetz Chaim yeshiva don't get restless.

    There are problems galore - and severe ones - that stem from Queens Vaad mashgichim doing a very poor job of monitoring but these examples are what the Queens Vaad are fully aware of and couldn't care less:

    Food under hashgocho of Conservative / Reform rabbis who even get to put up secondary teudah that misleadingly makes it appear they are orthodox

    Not frum restaurant owners, caterers, butchers etc allowed to operate without mashgiach temidi which goes against their own policy

    Goyishe employees or concessioneers setting up idols inside frum-owned businesses

    False advertisement of cholov Yisroel while it is fully and systematically contaminated by non-cholov Yisroel

    False advertisement that vegetables are consistently checked for insects

    False representation that all items on store shelves meet an accepted level of kashrus

    Failure to produce a psak they claim to adhere to when gedolim come out in writing against their reprehensible practices

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  53. R' Nuchem told me the story behind the nasty blog badmouthing him from pedophile Burich Lebovits's kids that suddenly disappeared overnight. He said that Charlie Hynes advised them that in 10 years their father could be paroled but if the parole board hears about the blog they will not rule in his favor.

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  54. "Archie Bunker said...I hope linking to Bernie Sanders was an attempt at humor."

    Nope Archie, if you had bothered to take a look you can see that Ben Atlas posts the 13 minute link to Senator Sanders on YouTube on his Why did Richard Joel’s Salary go up?.

    It's no joke actually.

    It would seem that the point is to remind ourselves that "the natives are restless"... all over -- as the US economy collapsed and was bailed out by Uncle Sam, Greece and Ireland went bankrupt. Riots by pensioners in France, voters in Italy and students in Britain. Shaky economies in Spain, Portugal and much of Europe. Japan not stable, China overloaded with US currency as if it was Confederate dollars, the rise of Obama, the "Tea Party" on the right and rumblings on the left, Islam unrepentant, whether from Iran or Mecca, and flush with petro-cash for making trouble, and that gives you a RECIPE for....REVOLUTION!

    It's in the air, as the US economy keeps on tanking due to the capitalists' greed and leftists beurocratic takeovers of all levels of government, local, state and federal, and Uncle Sam again pumping in fake dollars to prop the whole rotten structure up as it collapses, the middle class is dead in the water, the rich get richer and the poor are left out in the cold, it looks pretty grim. This cannot go on forever.

    ReplyDelete
  55. http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20101220-europe-new-plan?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=101221&utm_content=readmore&elq=d539182b35544e4b90361262e4e41d03


    The Euro is play money as well!

    ReplyDelete
  56. ....but if the parole board hears about the blog they will not rule in his favor....
    *
    They'll hear about the blog - I marked my calendar!

    ReplyDelete
  57. "Anonymous said...Yeah, why does Lamm get a free multi-million dollar dwelling for life on YU's dime?"

    Rabbi Dr. Norman Nochum Lamm is still THE one and only official Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbis Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, until 120. Lamm is an alumnus of Torah Vodaas and had originally wanted to be a professional chemist researcher until he was talked out of it by Rabbi Belkin and joined YU.

    Richard Joel is the first layman (baalebos) to hold the position of President of Yeshiva University and "CEO" of RIETS a new title created for him. Prior to that, every president of YU was also its official top and only official Rosh Yeshiva. Thus Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel z"l was YU's first president and its first rosh yeshiva. He hired Rav Moshe Soloveitchik z"l to be the top maggid shiur and "unofficial" "rosh yeshiva", but Revel was the only official rosh yeshiva, and at that time the secular YU and its RIETS rabbinical school were one body.

    When Revel and Moshe Soloveitchik passed away close to each other, Moshe's son Rav Dr. J.B. Soloveitchik inherited his father's position, but he was NOT the top official rosh yeshiva, and stayed on to reside in Boston and commute to NY weekly. It was Rabbi Dr. Samuel Belkin z"l who took over both of Revel's official roles and titles, president and rosh yeshiva, and it was his decision to split RIETS from YU's secular status as a college for federal aid reasons, a move that Soloveitchik opposed as going against YU's ethos.

    Lamm succeeded Belkin as both president and rosh yeshiva, but with his retirement a new formula had to be found, so Lamm is now "Chancellor" of YU and remains rosh yeshiva of RIETS, while Richard Joel is president of YU and only "CEO" of RIETS.

    But Lamm deserves his rewards, he pulled YU out bankruptcy and launched it on a path to become one of America's top colleges, listed as one of the top 50 colleges in (recently defunct) US News & World Report. Lamm enlisted and motivated many wealthy people to help YU grow astronomically. It remains to be seen if Richard Joel can equal let alone better the legendary Norman Lamm.

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  58. In 1989 and 1990 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir asked Lamm to help defuse the crisis related to the "Who is a Jew?" issue, which had erupted when a Reform convert wanted to make aliyah (emigration to the State of Israel). Lamm devised a solution for the denominational crisis which required delicate diplomacy as well as good will on all sides. In response to Lamm, Shamir appointed Israeli Cabinet Secretary Elyakim Rubenstein, later a member of the Supreme Court, who negotiated secretly for many months with rabbis from Conservative, Reform and Orthodox Judaism, including faculty at Yeshiva University, with Lamm as Rosh ha-Yeshiva. The plan called for the creation of a joint panel that interviewed people who were converting to Judaism and considering making aliyah, and would refer them to a beit din (rabbinic court of Judaism) that would convert the candidate following traditional halakha.

    All negotiating parties came to agreement: (1) Conversions must be carried out according to halakha, (2) the beit din overseeing the conversion would be Orthodox, perhaps appointed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and (3) there would be a committee consisting of representatives of all three groups to interview potential converts as to their sincerity. Many Reform rabbis took offense at the notion that the beit din must be strictly halakhic and Orthodox, but they acquiesced. However, when word about this project became public, a number of leading Haredi rabbis issued a statement denouncing the project, condemning it as a "travesty of halakha". Rabbi Moshe Sherer, then the Chairman of Agudath Israel World Organization, stated that "Yes, we played a role in putting an end to that farce, and I'm proud we did.,”(Landau, p.320) Lamm condemned this interference by Sherer, stating that this was "the most damaging thing that he [Sherer] ever did in his brilliant forty year career."

    Lamm wanted this to be only the beginning of a solution to Jewish disunity. He stated that had this unified conversion plan not been destroyed, he wanted to extend this program to the area of halakhic Jewish divorces, thus ending the problem of mamzerut. (Landau, p.320)

    In 1997 the issue of "Who is a Jew?" again arose in the State of Israel, and Lamm publicly backed the Neeman commission, a group of Orthodox, Masorti (Conservative) and Progressive (Reform) rabbis working to develop joint programs for conversion to Judaism. In 1997 he gave a speech at the World Council of Orthodox Leadership, in Glen Springs, N.Y., urging Orthodox Jews to support this effort.

    Rabbi Lamm told his listeners that they should value and encourage the efforts of non-Orthodox leaders to more seriously integrate traditional Jewish practices into the lives of their followers. They should welcome the creation of Reform and Conservative day schools and not see them as a threat to their own. In many communities, Orthodox day schools, or Orthodox-oriented community day schools, have large numbers of students from non-Orthodox families. The liberal movements should be appreciated and encouraged because they are doing something Jewish, even if it is not the way that Orthodox Jews would like them to. Lamm stated that "What they are doing is something, and something is better than nothing". In an interview, Lamm said "I'm very openly attacking the notion that we sometimes find in the Orthodox community that “being a goy” is better than being a non-Orthodox Jew". (Cohen, 1997)

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  59. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Nisht pushet

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/us/22rain.html?hp

    LA CAÑADA-FLINTRIDGE, Calif. — Southern Californians on Tuesday braced for the latest in a cycle of powerful storms that has inundated the region with as much as 14 inches of rain, flooding freeways, causing power outages and forcing evacuations.

    In northeastern Los Angeles County, an area ravaged by a wildfire last year and flooding from rainstorms in February, emergency officials on Tuesday prepared for the possibility of flash floods and mudslides from denuded foothills.

    At higher elevations in the Sierras, the precipitation fell as heavy snow, with reports of 9 to 13 feet of accumulation in some places.

    ReplyDelete
  61. In response to "WIKI said..."

    Kindly note that while Lamm has been a great president for yeshiva university and has done a good job of delegating the running of RIETS to Rav Hershel Schechter, that does not mean to say that his hashkofa (philosophy) is perfect or should become the "golden standard" especially in the thorny matter of conversions that involves the deepest levels of Halacha and cannot be solved by any one party or group, be it from the left, right, or center, insisting that "their way" is the "best" way.

    Lamm gave it a shot, and was shot down. It was only natural that anything connected to Reform in our times would be shot down by almost all Orthodox rabbis, simply because Reform has reneged on Yiddishkeit and Halacha by accepting patrilineal descent over 30 years ago that means that kids in Reform families born to non-Jewish mothers are "officially" "Jewish" according to Reform, something that neither Orthodox nor Conservatives can accept.

    It is one thing to have some public meetings and gatherings to remember the Holocaust, show solidarity with Israel, or speak out on issues effecting the world, but it is quite another matter and on another league to bring in Reform clergy, many of whom are themselves not Halachically Jews, to help "define" and "redefine" who is and is not a Jew. That would be like inviting the arsonists to put out the raging fires of assimilation, intermarriage and apostasy (as many Reform congregations co-host and work with Christian clergy and congregations and co-officiate at mixed-faith wedding ceremonies.)

    So let's get some perspective here and understand why it was that Lamm, Neemaan and today's Avigdor Liberman, while all having the best intentions, but they cannot "impose" Halachic solutions upon the Halachic world, especially since they are not Halachists and do not represent the world of Jewish law in the areas of conversions. Greater minds and greater powers, like Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l or The Chazon Ish z"l, for example, are needed for that.

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  62. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jill-jacobs/rabbinical-school-breaks-_b_797739.html

    The hypocrite Shmarya is nowhere to be found when a supreme body of Conservative Judaism is caught union-busting. When Rubashkin, Alle and Flaum do it, Shmarya can't shut his yapper pie hole.

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  63. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/australian-84-jailed-for-faking-war-record/?hp

    Does this mean Margo can be arrested for pretending he's a rosh yeshiva?

    ReplyDelete
  64. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DdpsaegqGNM/TPgBGwp_zPI/AAAAAAAAApM/jr88fPptRXI/s1600/RAV_NACHUM_ADERABAH_Page_2.jpg

    R' Nuchem Rosenberg wrote this halacha teshuva that al pi Shulchan Aruch, the phony cherem put on him by corrupt rebbes & rabbonim who are trying to cover up for molesters & noyafim has no chalos

    Several non-corrupt rabbonim were moyche against the corrupt by calling R' Nuchem to an assifa of 100s of people to give him an award after Satmar was mevazeh him befarhesya with shekorim in their newspapers

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DdpsaegqGNM/TPgBKgkx5bI/AAAAAAAAApQ/QvMRzWJ2fqs/s1600/RAV_NACHUM_ADERABAH_Page_3.jpg

    The teshuva continues that farkert, corrupt rabbonim who issue phony charamos are themselves put in cherem min hashamayim (Shulchan Aruch)

    The corrupt rabbonim also posseled his mikvos shelo al pi din for which there is a klala

    And the Satmar bums who signed against him are also in cherem for going to arkaos against each other over money

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DdpsaegqGNM/TPgBCxcvcmI/AAAAAAAAApI/mQsn2ydZU0E/s1600/RAV_NACHUM_ADERABAH_Page_1.jpg

    Many of the corrupt rabbonim who signed the phony cherem are giving hashgochos

    Satmar hashgochos & Vaad of Kiryas Yoel
    Belzer hashgochos
    Skverer hashgochos
    Viener Monsey hashgocho
    Kossover hashgocho Boro Park
    Hillel Weinberger - Nitra
    Yechezkel Gold - Monsey
    Meshulem Berel Polatsek - Maged Yehuda

    Afilu einer vus zitzt oyf der Moetzes, der Mattersdorfer

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  65. You've opened my eyes. You've also helped change the mindset of many Jews across the world, including my own, in only a few years. I no longer see things the way I used to see things. Thank you UOJ!

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  66. Cut it out already. Norman Lamm does not have the "best intentions". He's just a more patient and polished version of Avi Weiss who wants to destroy orthodoxy to conform to his warped ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Spotlight on the Queens Vaad10:09 AM, December 22, 2010

    Chaim Schwartz posting on Yudel's blog yesterday as the impersonator of Queens Vaad critics inferred his krumkeiten yet again that there is somehow something wrong with knowing hilchos akum to protect yourself from being oiver. It bugs him that he thought he could akshin zich about the cat idol from the Shinto religion at the sushi place but ultimately had to remove it after rabbonim in town started asking embarrassing questions. He is back to akshining about the fish idol that is still there.

    Chaim Schwartz should speak to his hero Rav Belsky who researched the parsha of Eastern religions and poskens that there is still an issur Torah of kosem ksamim for idols that are not directly worshipped. Chaim Schwartz argued on the blog that there is no issur because the kosem is only on the goy. This is not true as the goy is being kosem to bring more business to the frum store owner which is the etzem purpose of both the cat and fish idols in the Shinto religion. Rav Belsky says the issur is even on something as benign as creating a peaceful atmosphere with arranging furniture in a room according to the "Feng Shui" method because the kosem that the Torah assers is the summoning of koichos.

    Why can't you do the right thing just because you don't like the people who were meorrer? (Schwartz don't forget is the guy who holds that people who dare disagree with him are "egotistical". It would do him some good to look in the mirror).

    ReplyDelete
  68. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/business/22lockout.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

    You don't know how right UOJ was that Bank of America are crooks. Read this story.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Shmarya gets results11:01 AM, December 22, 2010

    This is what happens when Obama is President. Every branch of government starts rewriting laws to benefit the Brothas and the Muslims. Credit histories are usually a reliable indicator if someone is a good employee. The Obama Administration's argument is the same as saying imprisonment is racist because more Blacks commit crimes than Whites.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/business/22kaplan.html

    Sending a sharp warning to employers nationwide, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Kaplan Higher Education Corporation on Tuesday, accusing it of discriminating against black job applicants through the way it uses credit histories in its hiring process.

    Justine Lisser, an E.E.O.C. spokeswoman, said that credit histories were often inaccurate and might not be a good indicator of a person’s qualifications for a particular job. “Credit histories were not compiled to show responsibility,” she said. “They were compiled to show whether or not someone was paying the bills, which is not always the same thing.”

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  70. Spotlight on the Queens Vaad11:10 AM, December 22, 2010

    Chaim Schwartz even had the gall to say that the michtav from R' Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz ztl against corrupt rabbonei machshir is "egotistical material".

    Schwartz must crawling under his skin that as far back as 90 years ago when the michtav was written, someone already had his number.

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  71. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/us/politics/23military.html?hp

    WASHINGTON — The military’s longstanding ban on service by gays and lesbians came to a historic and symbolic end on Wednesday, as President Obama signed legislation repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,”

    The audience for the ceremony included a who’s who of gay activists

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  72. Chaim Schwartz even had the gall to say that the michtav from R' Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz ztl against corrupt rabbonei machshir is "egotistical material".

    *

    That's the final straw with Chaimel - please e-mail his photo, time to get him up on the sidebar.

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  73. I'm glad to see that Chaimel is such an obedient lap dog for us at the Agudah. When I got up to attack UOJ in a speech at the Agudah convention, I made a cryptic comment that we are Daas Torah and we will tell you if you can listen to gedolim from previous doros. Chaimel was smart enough to figure out I was referring to the michtav from RSFM.

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  74. I wonder if the Novominsker was asked by the Mattersdorfer to sign against R' Nochum but was smart enough to know that it would come back to bite him.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Filed at 10:35 a.m. EST

    GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge in Mississippi has sentenced a man to 30 years in prison on charges of coercing an underage girl to pose with poisonous snakes for child pornography.

    John Joseph Maillet pleaded guilty in September to one count of production of child pornography. He was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden.

    Maillet, of Port Jervis, N.Y., was living in Carriere, Miss., where the alleged crime took place. He was arrested in August.

    Prosecutors say the girl was 15 when Maillet first enticed her in April 2007 to pose for pictures that included his pet snakes.

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  76. http://images.townnews.com/queenscourier.com/content/articles/2010/12/06/news/top_stories/doc4cfcec79a6ddd649644800.jpg

    Chaim Schwartz with the red beard standing next to Belsky's friend & accomplice from the bittul kiddushin, Peretz Steinberg

    http://images.townnews.com/yournabe.com/content/articles/2010/06/28/queens/qns_vaad_harabonin_50th_anniversary_20100624.jpg

    Chaim Schwartz standing next to Yoel Schonfeld at a party thrown for the Queens Vaad by openly gay Christie Quinn. You should see the ferociously anti-gay quotes from Schwartz in the Boston Globe when he used to work for the Agudah. The pay is better at the pro-gay Queens Vaad.

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  77. Filed at 1:13 p.m. EST

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — Celebrity attorney Michael "Mickey" Sherman will spend one year and one day in federal prison for failing to pay his taxes.

    Sherman was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, where he was also ordered to pay $320,000 in penalties and interest. He must report to prison March 16.

    Sherman pleaded guilty in June to willingly failing to pay about $420,000 in taxes for 2001 and 2002 while spending money instead on lavish expenses.

    Sherman represented Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel when Skakel was convicted in 2002 of killing a teenage neighbor in Greenwich in 1975. He has also appeared frequently on national television shows as a legal analyst.

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  78. rabbis kalish,perr,brown and forst did not endorse rubashkin rally

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  79. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQnKiT9W_xE&feature=related

    Even we don't give Rubashkin every cent we have. We raise money with Elly Kleinman for radical Liberals like Eric Schneiderman who were pioneers in pushing the gay agenda.

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  80. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23trading.html?hp

    Vhy did Belsky tell me to use dis Bungalow Putz guy vhen der is software dat can patchke mit UOJ?

    ReplyDelete
  81. Can someone photoshop a good picture of Perlow, Kaminetzky and Chaimel wearing a UOJ cap? The winner gets a FREE UOJ cap.

    GO!

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  82. Anyone here from the Miami area know the story with Kaploun from Monsey?

    I hear that he massered on Eli Schmeltzer and some other people so they are trying to organize a cherem against him with the approval of the Novominsker. So far most of the shuls won't let him daven by them but the yeshivos don't want to get involved with throwing out his kids.

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  83. lets have a ytv update, please!
    why did they drop the name "mesifta talmudaical seminary"

    ReplyDelete
  84. Kaploun may be the son of Rabbi Kaploun from Forshay, a grouchy Lubavitcher who gives hashgocho on hotels. I remember at the Concord in Kiamesha that he had a modern son who wore jeans. The rabbi got upset at me when I asked him to announce by davening that the independent restaurant in the basement is treif after I saw the place jam packed and every guy fressing in there was wearing a yarmulka. He scowled at me that it's none of his business that they have to ask before walking into each part of the building if it's kosher. I guess he was also more interested in keeping his job than doing the right thing and having the hotel upset at him. He didn't say anything that one of the two shuls in the hotel was from the 2% of Conservative that daven with a mechitzah that no one can tell the difference until they get to krias Hatorah.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Bloomberg, Bloomberg Sues ECB to Force Disclosure of How Greece's Swaps Hid Deficit

    By Elisa Martinuzzi and Alan Katz - Dec 22, 2010

    Bloomberg News filed a lawsuit against the European Central Bank, seeking the disclosure of documents showing how Greece used derivatives to hide its fiscal deficit and helped trigger the region’s sovereign debt crisis.

    The lawsuit asks the European Union’s General Court in Luxembourg to overturn a decision by the ECB not to disclose two internal documents drafted for the central bank’s six-member executive board in Frankfurt this year. The notes show how Greece used swaps to hide its borrowings, according to a March 3 cover page attached to the papers obtained by Bloomberg News.

    ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet withheld the documents after the EU and International Monetary Fund led a 110 billion- euro bailout ($144 billion) for Greece. The dossier should be disclosed to stop governments from employing the derivatives in a similar way again and to show how EU authorities acted on information they had on the swaps, according to the suit, filed by Bloomberg Finance LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

    The EU is dependent “on member states taking an open and transparent approach in relation to their levels of debt,” Bloomberg said in its suit. “If Greece has failed to take such an approach in the past, there is a compelling public interest in relevant information being disclosed.”

    An ECB spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit, which is based on the EU’s freedom of information rules.

    Freedom of Information

    The ECB case follows a 2008 lawsuit by Bloomberg LP seeking disclosure of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s records on emergency lending under the Freedom of Information Act. A group of banks is appealing to the Supreme Court over lower-court decisions ordering the Fed to identify loan recipients.

    “Bloomberg is committed to transparent markets all over the world,” said Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News. “Decisions made behind closed doors helped contribute to the global economic havoc of the last few years. Money flees secrecy and unanswered questions undermine the financial system and give some participants an unfair advantage. Confidence in markets grows with information,” he said. “Bloomberg wants the ECB, as well as the Federal Reserve and other financial institutions around the world, to end this damaging opacity.”

    ReplyDelete
  86. (Continued):

    Bloomberg, Bloomberg Sues ECB to Force Disclosure of How Greece's Swaps Hid Deficit

    The Greek government didn’t originally disclose the swaps, designed to help it comply with the deficit and debt rules it agreed to meet when it joined the euro in 2001. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, said last month the swaps added 5.3 billion euros to the country’s debt, without giving details. Repeated revisions of Greece’s national accounts, beginning last year, spurred a surge in borrowing costs that pushed the country to the brink of default and triggered a region-wide debt crisis.

    Public Confidence

    The ECB must consider demands for access to public documents under a March 2004 EU directive. Individuals and companies can then appeal to the European Ombudsman, which reports to the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice.

    “The information contained in the two documents would undermine the public confidence as regards the effective conduct of economic policy,” Trichet wrote in an Oct. 21 letter, turning down Bloomberg’s request for the documents. Disclosure “bears, in the current very vulnerable market environment, the substantial and acute risk of adding to volatility and instability.”

    ECB officials first spotted “a swap operation in unusual terms” in April 2009, seven months before the Greek crisis erupted, according to the March 3 cover note.

    “It is wholly unclear what (if anything) the ECB did at that time to investigate further,” Bloomberg’s suit says.

    ‘Need to Know’

    “Disclosure would help prevent these situations repeating themselves,” said Michael Spence, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 for his research on asymmetric information in markets. “It’s a tough call. Not everything can be disclosed, but markets need to know.”

    Greece entered into a “large” number of private, off- market swaps from 2001 through 2007, Luxembourg-based Eurostat said in a report on Nov. 15. The agreements, which led to higher debt, were analyzed “in detail,” Eurostat said. A follow-up report on Greek data including swaps is due in weeks, a spokesman said at the time.

    “We entered the European Union with great effort,” George Petalotis, a Greek government spokesman, told reporters in Athens today. “We don’t tolerate anyone doubting that. Whoever possesses different evidence can bring it out.”

    ReplyDelete
  87. "Pashkevil bans Vos Iz Neias

    by Ben Atlas on 12.22.2010.12:06pm

    Idiots, instead of banning Vos Iz Neias for transgressing the Ten Commandments and the wholesale stealing of the content written by other journalists (the sin of Shmarya), they ban Vos Iz Neias for some niyuf in the haoros AKA “comments” (funny) or mere sofek d’rabonnan sexual abuse (where is the sig of the “no penetration” Pinchas Scheinberg (no one can penetrate him he got too many tzitzis))? Anyway, if they banned the “Internet”, how do they know? Way to go Rebbelah! Hopefully we will merit the collapse of Judaism in front of our very eyes, mamash!

    But given Lipa’s precedent this will hurt the ganev and the censor who runs VIN. Thumbs up to that!"

    ReplyDelete
  88. Kings Civil Supreme
    Index Number: 009490/2005
    Case Name: ZOBERMAN,YEHUDA vs. NOVOMINSK,YESHIVAS
    Case Type: Other Torts Negligence
    Track: Complex

    Novominsk settled after being on trial for 3 years

    ReplyDelete
  89. Kings County Civil Court
    Index Number: CV-048121-02/KI
    Case Name: KRANCZER, GERSHON
    KRANCZER, CHANA SARA
    vs.
    STRICKER, GORDON
    Case Type: Civil

    ReplyDelete
  90. http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=14039

    Here's something you don't see every day, a machlokes R' Belsky and R' Kaminetzky.

    ReplyDelete
  91. The rumors are that Satmar askan Isaac Abraham owns VIN and his eidim runs it

    http://twitpic.com/3idy37/full

    Shimon Weiser from Williamsburg is allegedly the behind the ban. He allegedly works for the Zalmi Leib faction of Satmar.

    According to a source, Weiser is supposedly “obsessed with tznius. He's always busy with bans etc.”

    Weiser’s brother is Moshe Weiser, an NYPD Liason, and former Williamsburg Shomrim member. He was kicked out of Shomrim for various unstated reasons.

    Weiser also has another brother, Benjamin Weiser, the owner of Fidelity, the credit card processing company. Fidelity has advertised on VIN for years.

    Shimon Weiser is on the Community Board and has a goverment job at UJO. Why should taxpayers put up with this?

    ReplyDelete
  92. http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/kosher-nation.html

    *Kosher Nation*
    The author is Sue Fishkoff and the subtitle is Why More and More of America's Food Answers to a Higher Authority. This late arrival is one of my favorite non-fiction books of the year, superb both on its topic and on the history and economics of certification more generally. Here is one excerpt:

    "If they want to sell their product in the United States and they are not kosher, no one will buy it," points out Menachem Lubinsky. "Coca-Cola won't buy it, Kellogg's won't buy it. They'll be cut out of the market. If you're in China or Thailand and you want to export, you have absolutely no choice but to seek out kosher certification." Some companies get certification to fill one order from a U.S.-based manufacturer and then drop it when the order is complete, only to reapply when the next order comes in.

    Definitely recommended.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Asher "Tali-Ban" Friedman10:45 AM, December 23, 2010

    This putz Weiser must be retaliating against me. I ran the whole show with Schorr Habor against Lipa Schmeltzer and now he won't cut me in for some action against VIN.

    ReplyDelete
  94. I once argued respectfully against one of VIN's agendas and he seemed to have blocked me for life from posting because of it. Except for the insults and name calling from the owner of Failed Messiah, he is no different than Shmarya as far as censorship and slant.

    ReplyDelete
  95. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/world/23wikileaks-assange.html?hp

    Assange has gone on a media offensive, continuing to charge he is the victim of a smear campaign led by the US, which is weighing criminal prosecution for leaks of 750,000 classified documents.

    In an interview, he compared himself to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., saying when he was jailed in London, a black guard handed him a card saying, “I only have 2 heroes in the world, King & you.”

    In the interview, he also compared the obloquy directed at WikiLeaks by the Obama administration & other critics with the “persecution” endured by American Jews in the 1950s. He added, “I’m not the Jewish people,” but suggested that the common thread was that supporters of WikiLeaks & Jews were “people who believe in freedom of speech & accountability.”

    Assange also denied prior contact with Bradley Manning, the Army private jailed on charges he leaked 1000s of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

    ---

    Margulies has gone on a media offensive, continuing to charge he is the victim of a smear campaign led by UOJ, who is instigating criminal prosecution for 750,000 acts of molestation in YTT's basement.

    In an interview, he compared himself to the Pope, saying when he was at the Agudah convention, a fresser handed him a card saying, “I only have 2 heroes in the world, YTT & the Vatican.”

    In the interview, he also compared the obloquy directed at YTT by UOJ & other critics with the “persecution” endured by Hungarian Jewish immigrants in the 1950s. He added, “I’m not the bus driver UOJ claims I am,” but suggested that the common thread was that supporters of YTT & Agudah were “people who believe in the safety of their bank accounts.”

    Margulies also denied prior contact with Bungalow Putz Neuhoff, the psychologist exposed on charges he blogged 1000s of lies to protect YTT.

    ReplyDelete
  96. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/pdf/lien_sale/brooklyn_10_day.pdf

    100s more liens on Boro Park / Flatbush homes that the City is selling at auction

    ReplyDelete
  97. Thank goodness for the Pope! I thought Margo was going to be one of those dime a dozen megalomaniacs who compares himself to me.

    ReplyDelete
  98. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704774604576035913635854704.html

    Several officials in White Plains have stepped up their efforts to oust Mayor Adam Bradley following his domestic-abuse conviction earlier this month.

    Members of the White Plains Common Council have said they plan to ask Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo to remove Mr. Bradley from his post. Council members are also seeking legal clarity as to whether the city's charter gives them the power to remove the mayor. At a special meeting Wednesday night, the council passed a no-confidence resolution asking the mayor to resign.

    The escalation began shortly after Mr. Bradley was found guilty this month on five attempted assault, criminal ...

    ReplyDelete
  99. What's the story with Belsky's son in law Rechnitz taking over top positions all over like Torah Umesorah and Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation?

    ReplyDelete
  100. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/nyregion/24commute.html?hp

    Gov. David A. Paterson weighed in on a controversial, racially tinged case on Thursday, announcing that he had commuted the prison sentence of a black Long Island man convicted of manslaughter after fatally shooting an unarmed white teenager outside the man’s house in August 2006.

    ReplyDelete
  101. "Anonymous said...

    Kings County Civil Court

    Index Number: CV-048121-02/KI

    Case Name: KRANCZER, GERSHON

    KRANCZER, CHANA SARA

    vs.

    STRICKER, GORDON

    Case Type: Civil"

    Don't underestimate Gershon Kranczer, he went to NYU Law School (probably didn't graduate because he went to Chaim Berlin yeshiva when he frummed up), and he's pretty cagey and quick with legal matters.

    ReplyDelete
  102. 1) Your profile is incomplete. It does not have your name. What is your name?

    2) What are you hoping to accomplish with this blog, other than putting vinegar in the mouths of potential baalei teshuva, as well as those on the edge of the cliff of going off the derech?

    3) Just because there are some bad apples in the barrel does not in any way spoil the entire barrel. A shmuck is a shmuck with or without a black hat. Our job is to what we know is right, not to be detectives and policemen and "out" those who are doing the opposite.

    ReplyDelete