The Agudath Israel Defense - The Child Rapists Are Us - Innocent by Association!

*אנחנו זונות - היינו למכור את האמהות שלנו בשקל*

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31iht-edcohen31.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua212

......."The response has been a gathering French outrage. I interviewed Strauss-Kahn long ago. He struck me as charming and very smart. Most impressive to me was that he seemed determined to modernize French socialism, a process too long delayed with the result that the French Socialist Party is a European dinosaur.

None of this, however, has anything to do with whether he attempted rape and forcibly imprisoned a 32-year-old chambermaid. Nor, of course, does his distinguished stewardship of the International Monetary Fund. The talent of Strauss-Kahn, 62, is not the issue.

Yet his French cohorts — men just as charming and smart as Strauss-Kahn — have made it their business to say, in essence, that he could not have done what he is accused of doing because he is one of us. He is, in effect, innocent by association"......

Oh, s’il vous please!

....."Perhaps Lévy’s defense was the most extraordinary, for its cavalier dismissal of the African woman at the heart of the drama when African victims have been a focus of his various campaigns, but even more so for its language on Strauss-Kahn: “Charming, seductive, yes, certainly; a friend to women and, first of all, to his own woman, naturally; but this brutal and violent individual, this wild animal, this primate, obviously no, it’s absurd.”

And here we are. There are plenty of facts, incidents and complaints — never fully investigated by the French press — to suggest that the serious charges against Strauss-Kahn are not “absurd” and that a young African woman’s voice raised against violent abuse by the powerful should have its day in court.

Bin Laden is dead. The Jews went to work. Suite 2806 is just a number".

Facts count!

[Blogger] Conspiracy theories are the refuge of the disempowered!

....And So It Will Be!

Sex Scandals in Religion & Their Coverups!

***THE WALL OF SILENCE***

http://www.earthbook.tv/religion/channelhome/channelvideos/149/

CLICK ABOVE LINK:

RABBI DANIEL EIDENSOHN SPEAKS:

I listened in dismay to R' Shlomo Gottesman's presentation of halachic issues of child abuse. He picked a very narrow perspective in answering the question of whether halacha allows going to the police to report abuse. The presentation involved snippets from the collection of teshuvos found in volume 15 of Yeshurun. He concluded that it was in fact permitted to go to the police but only if a rabbi had established that there was some - deliberately vague - level of evidence called raglayim ledavar and that this was for tikun olam (improvement to society). It was asserted that both these conditions could only be determined by a rabbi. In other words one risked being guilty of mesira (informing) and thus lose olam habah if reporting was done directly without first consulting a rabbi. Thus the focus of his presentation was on preserving rabbinic authority in abuse cases when the rabbi is not capable of dealing with it and the police need to be involved.

He also claimed that requiring a rabbi to decide whether abuse could be reported did not violate mandated reporting laws. . He did not say how this is possible but just asked the audience to trust him that it was possible to reconcile the mandated reporting requirement to report abuse and the requirement to allow a rabbi to decide whether abuse is to be reported. It is astounding that he so glibly stated this since he is a very competent lawyer and presumably knows that this is very problematic and that he is unlikely to find any judge or secular social agency to agree with him. He also claimed that there was no need to utilize the concept of rodef (self-protection) since a rabbi could decide on calling the police by tikun olam alone. That is strange since the concept of rodef is a significant factor even in the teshuvos of the gedolim that he was citing. Why would the gedolim utilize this concept if it wasn't necessary?

So what was really wrong with what he said? The fact is that by entirely focusing on the assertion that permission must first be gotten from a rabbi before contacting the police - he avoided dealing with the complexity of the issue of abuse as it happens in the Orthodox community. He obviously felt this was not of general interest but as he put it, this is what an individual needs to speak privately with a rabbi because each case is different.

Unfortunately he squandered an important opportunity. What he should have done was to ask a different question. Not under what conditions is calling the police mesira - but the real question is what does the Orthodox community need to do to protect the children? He failed to note that there are clearly times when a rabbi does not need to be consulted and that furthermore there are clearly times when a rabbi who says not to report should be ignored. He failed to address the more important issue of whether going to the police without community involvement and with pressure on parents not to file a complaint is really protecting the children. He failed to address the fear of reporting because of shidduchim and the danger that a child will be kicked out of school if he/she is found to have been abused. He failed to note that the Aguda has insisted that the financial well being of its institutions are more important than the welfare of the children. That cover ups to protect reputations of rabbis come before the sanity and safety of our children.

But perhaps his biggest failure was to address the betrayal of the abuse victims by the rabbis and community and the severe psychological and religious damage this betrayal causes. It is commonly observed by those who work with off the derech children that most of these children have been abused.

So yes - there is a legitimate halachic problem of how to deal with mesira - but in reality the issue of abuse is not primarily about how to preserve rabbinic authority - but how to protect our children.

Rabbi Hershel Schechter's Orthodox Jew!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1388060/Ivanka-Trump-pregnant-pin-poses-bunny-outfit.html

Hershel Schechter/RCA - What Religion Did You Convert Trump To? - Mushchasim That You Are - הסוטים של היהדות!

Ivanka Trump lights up Baltimore, Submitted by peek on Tue, 11/23/2010 - 10:38am.

http://www.citypeek.com/baltimore/blog-entry/ivanka-trump-lights-baltimore-call-duty-teen-gift-idea-centro-gem



(Ivanka Trump and Maggie Cordish at Tatu Asian Grill, Baltimore’s newest hot spot adjacent to Power Plant Live!)

Ivanka Trump was recently a guest at TATU ASIAN RESTAURANT in Baltimore's POWER PLANT LIVE. Restaurant. TATU has quickly become one of Baltimore's newest hot spots to see and be seen. Whether for a cocktail pre or post dinner or a concert or a 3 hour meal, TATU is a great choice. Wonderful location, valet parking (just next to Ruth's Chris on Water Street. CITYPEEK calls TATU- "a hot, sexy, sushi bordello!"

And you NEVER KNOW WHO you will see.

TATU Baltimore,
614 Water Street
Power Plant Live
Baltimore, MD 21202
Phone: (410) 244-7385
Types: Asian Fusion, Bar Scene, Dancing-Nightclub, Neighborhood favorite, Notable Wine List, Romantic
Hours: 5PM - 12AM
Days Closed: Monday

TATU Baltimore, an explosive celebration of Asian cuisine featuring three of the most popular styles of cooking from the Orient and bringing them together on a powerful stage set. The menu is separated into three distinct categories: Chinois Pan Asian, the artful combination of Asian ingredients with French technique; Hunan and Szechwan Chinese, traditional Chinese classics and Japanese Sushi. TATU showcases a plush sake lounge, private tatami rooms and a full sushi bar, all captured in an intoxicating 1930’s Deco Shanghai setting in Baltimore's Power Plant Live.

Agudath Israel to UOJ: Welcome Back! *Five Years Later*

http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=2387
CLICK ABOVE LINK:

Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - The UOJ Classics!
Agudah to UOJ: Welcome Back

It appears that the Agudah, with their pathetic grasping at straws of controversy to appear relevant, has resurrected UOJ -- the Patron Saint of Children Who are Sexually Abused by Religious Figures and Those Who Harbor Them. UOJ, after being 'outed' this spring by some self-appointed thugs who believe themselves to be defenders of Torah and Gedolim, slipped into the background with a farewell post just before Rosh Hashanah. Sadly, it appeared as though UOJ would relegated to asterisk status in Jewish history, despite his valiant and timely attacks on a viciously apathetic status quo that preferred the spiritual murder of Jewish children over decisive action.

And all was quiet as Rosh Yeshivas, executive directors, and some yeshivishe egomaniacs in the sleepy slum of Waterbury, CT. rejoiced at the miraculous bullet dodging they had just witnessed. Evidently, the 'humiliation' weapon -- a thin reference to ruined shidduchim and tainted yichus -- had succeeded in preserving the perversity of ultra-orthodox apathy.

But something was afoot. Deep within the bowels of 42 Broadway, across some shiny overpriced conference table, the Wizards of Was realized that their destiny lay in murdering the mandate bearer: blogs. Ironically, if they would actually read the blogs instead of dismissing them as the tools of Satan, they would have been able to resurrect themselves and actively contribute to the betterment and solidification of American Orthodoxy. Instead, they took the short way out.

"Let's bash blogs," the Daas Torahniks declared. "We must create a new enemy, now that the Nazis are gone, Jewish busdrivers can wear yarmulkes to work without fear, we've given up on "at-risk" kids (poorly trained mentors are the answer....right?), and we've selected our guest of honor for this year's dinner..." The obvious answer was blogs.

The dispensers of Daas Torah, concerned with the impact blogs were having on their destructive hegemony and possible ramifications that would have on future fundraising seconded the motion. "Blogs are bad," they bellowed. "We must rid our homes and neighborhoods of blogs." Then they returned to worrying about why the frummest girls schools produce graduates who ignore tznius, despite 14 years of subversive inculcation, and how to close the Pandora's box of frummer-than-though kashrus which has inexplicably led to America's most religious neighborhood to eat traif meat for half a decade.

Blogs are bad. Blogs are bad. Yeah, let's stick it to that UnOrthodox fellow. Who is he anyway to blame us for child molestation? We TOLD people that separate seating weddings would solve everything. And as long as they don't listen in the Five Towns, we can't be held responsible for what happens to little boys in Brooklyn."

So the convention program, with a half dozen cutsie teaser ads were drafted and everyone was happy. "Blogs are bad!," said the Agudah big shots. "When we're done with them, we'll be able to ridicule molestation victims with impunity in the Jewish Week." The Daas Torah dispensers cried, "Blogs are Bad. And now, we can get back to banning intangible objects, like books and sheitels, which we can burn, and actual people whom we can besmirch, excommunicate and threaten. It was so much easier in the old days."

But they didn't count on themselves making the same mistake as they have made time and time again: life moves fast. People forget. They are busy. If things go away, they are forgotten. It's the same reason why sexual molestation victims fade away. If people forget, their pain is buried, for they themselves to choke on, alone. But when old news gets dredged up. When books that appear objectionable are given attention, or banned, they take on a life of their own. When forgotten blogs are given main stage forums at major fundraising events....they return to life.

And so, UOJ, in all his glory has been vindicated and resurrected, unlike the Agudah, which is as pathetic and irrelevant as it has been for the past decade, UOJ has attracted a well written,logical counterpart:

http://rabbimatisyahusalomon.blogspot.com

which features a several thousand word letter detailing the vast and grievous gaps in communal leadership and compassion by our so-called gedolim.

The progeny of UOJ also provides an lucid timeline of events that led up to UOJ and more importantly the serious lack of judgment, compasison, and leadership of the dispensers of Daas Torah. And, incidentally, offers a nod to the one straight shooter of our generation, Rabbi Avigdor Miller, who told certain askanim, to, so to speak -- damn the torpedoes and blow this mother sky high. (I paraphrased a bit).

So, to the chagrin of every frummie on the dark hatted side of the color spectrum, UOJ is back. Ironically, the very intention of the Agudah, to declare their moral victory over bloggers and reclaim their relevance has instead tossed the moral imperative to bloggers such as UOJ. Blogs are more relevant and necessary than ever before.

As for UOJ, he sounds more mature, and as always -- is dead on correct about the travesty that has been perpetrated over 40 years of inaction, intimidation, and malicious ineptitude.

Welcome back UOJ. Klal Yisroel needs you!

posted by Still Wonderin'

Records Release to Be Considered in Decades-Old Sex Abuse Case

http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/index.jsp
Records Release to Be Considered in Decades-Old Sex Abuse Case
by Joel Stashenko

New York Law Journal
May 10, 2011

ALBANY - The state's highest court has agreed to consider the release of records in a decades-old sex abuse case that an attorney claims will disclose political favoritism by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes toward leaders of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Michael Lesher contends that the request for disclosure of records he has long sought will indicate that Mr. Hynes and others in his office were never serious about prosecuting molestation charges that emerged in the mid-1980s against Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz.

Mr. Lesher, who represents alleged victims of the rabbi, said yesterday that the Court of Appeal's determination could shed light on why Mr. Mondrowitz was not prosecuted more aggressively in Brooklyn before he fled to Israel in 1985.

"I am not sure what we would find to tell the truth," Mr. Lesher said. "But this case has been characterized by such a long history of cover-up by leaders of the Jewish Orthodox communities and political leaders connected with the case that it has required an extraordinary effort even up to this point to figure out what has actually happened."

Mr. Lesher represents a half-dozen clients who contend they were sexually abused by Mr. Mondrowitz. Mr. Mondrowitz was indicted in 1985 for sodomy, sexual abuse and other counts in New York.

Mr. Lesher's suit contends that the Brooklyn District Attorney's office declined to aggressively seek Mr. Mondrowitz's extradition to the United States.

Mr. Hynes announced in 2007 that he would seek extradition of Mr. Mondrowitz. But he later said that a new treaty signed that year between Israel and the United States seemed to preclude the release of the information being sought by Mr. Lesher.

According to Jewish Week, the Israeli court in January 2010 declined to confirm a lower court ruling to affirm Mr. Mondrowitz's extradition.

Jerry Schmetterer, director of public information for Mr. Hynes' office, told the newspaper, "We are disappointed by the decision. We are working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Israel Ministry of Justice to see that remedies are available."

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice David B. Vaughn had originally granted Mr. Lesher access to the materials under the state's Freedom of Information law. But an Appellate Division, Second Department, panel ruled unanimously in Lesher v. Hynes, 80 AD3d 611 (2011), that it agreed with the district attorney that the release of the documents could interfere with an investigation that was still on-going.

This was sufficient to "exempt the documents from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law," the unanimous panel held in an unsigned opinion by Justices Joseph Covello, Daniel D. Angiolillo, Thomas A. Dickerson and Ariel E. Belen (NYLJ, Jan. 19).

However, Mr. Lesher argued that the Israeli Supreme Court has essentially precluded the possibility that Mr. Mondrowitz could be prosecuted in the United States. Therefore, he suggested there would not be any ongoing investigation.

Nevertheless, Mr. Lesher said he wants to press the case in New York as a means of discovering if Brooklyn prosecutors properly pursued Mr. Mondrowitz as a pedophile.

The Court of Appeals' decision to hear the case was made without comment. The Court almost never hears appeals of unanimous decisions below.

The judges are likely to hear oral arguments in October or November, once the appeals and counter-appeals papers have been filed.

Mr. Lesher, an attorney in Passaic, N.J., said he considers himself a writer first who has disclosed child abuse cases in New York previously. But he filed the papers in the FOIL case and said he expects to argue it before the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Lesher is registered to practice in New York and New Jersey, he said.

Mr. Schmetterer declined yesterday to comment on the Court of Appeals' decision to hear the case, citing the pending nature of the action.

He said the office attempted through the U.S. State Department to extradite Mr. Mondrowitz and was blocked by Israel's high court, which ruled that the charges Mr. Mondrowitz faced in the United States were not extraditable offenses. After two years of incarceration as the case was being adjudicated, Mr. Mondrowitz has been released and is free in Israel, Mr. Schmetterer said yesterday.

Should Mr. Mondrowitz attempt to re-enter the United States, Mr. Schmetterer said he would be arrested and prosecuted.

"We are prepared to arrest him after he gets off an airplane," Mr. Schmetterer said. "He's under indictment here on five charges."

State Police charged Sullivan County man with sexually abusing boy!

http://strausnews.com/articles/2011/04/29/photo_news/news/8.txt


Monroe - State Police at Monroe have charged a 52-year-old Kiamesha Lake man with driving a 14-year-old boy to the America’s Best Value Inn located in the Town of Woodbury and having sexual contact with the child.

An investigator said the case began after the mother of the boy came to the State Police barracks in Monroe to report the incident. Police said the investigation showed that Joseph Gelbman, 52, of 191 Gibber Road in the Sullivan County community of Kiamesha Lake, had been at the motel on April 14 with the youngster.

Gelbman was arrested April 21 and charged with third-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors.

He was arraigned before Town of Woodbury Justice David V. Hasin and released on $1,500 bail.