Dear UOJ,
I am a member of Bais Tfilla Yona Avraham, the shul of Rabbi Malinowitz in Ramat Bet Shemesh. As you know Rabbi Malinowitz has put a cherem on Lema'an Achai, the great chesed organization of our city.
His ban has to do with his strong opinion of not reporting child abuse to the authorities. David Morris, the founder of Lema'an Achai is an advocate for children safety and protection. This has put him at odds with Malinowitz.
Instead of making a personal issue with Morris, Malinowitz has chosen to punish David through a ban on Lema'an Achai. Although I continue to support tham I do know that most of our shul follows the ban and this has hurt Lema'an Achai in a serious way.
Well it looks like someone has finally had enough. I received this letter in the mail which addresses the issue and provides a letter of support for Lema'an Achai that Rabbi Malinowitz signed before david Morris became invloved with child abuse.
It is simple then that the ONLY reason Malinowitz has banned them is their founder's stance on child protection.
This man (Malinowitz) is a danger and must be stopped.
Sincerely,
********
בס''ד
Dear Fellow BTYA Member,
A terrible situation exists in our community and the time has come to address it. For way too long the exceptional organization, Lema'an Achai, has been banned from official fundraising inside BTYA. The time has come for us to open our hearts to this noble cause and the great work that they do in Ramat Bet Shemesh.
ולא שת לבו גם לזאת
Our Rav, a well known תלמיד חכם doesn't allow Lema'an Achai to actively fundraise in our shul. This is the case even though there are members of BTYA as well as scores of RBS families who receive assistance on a regular basis from them. The Rav is aware of this and yet….
ולא שת לבו גם לזאת
Why doesn't the Rav allow them to fundraise? Why does he encourage people to give elsewhere? Only because he has a personal issue with a board member of Lema'an Achai. And what is the issue? The policy of whether or not to report child abuse to the authorities. So rather than agree to disagree agreeably with this board member our Rav has decided to punish him through Lema'an Achai and the poor of our community.
ולא שת לבו גם לזאת
New members to our community who don't know the history mistakenly think that there is something inherently wrong with Lema'an Achai. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Rav has openly supported Lema'an Achai in the past as the attached letter proves. He now uses this campaign against Lema'an Achai simply as a tool of revenge.
ולא שת לבו גם לזאת
Lema'an Achai has nothing to do with this issue and yet the Rav continues to ban them from the shul. The Rav must know that we can hold him as our rav and posek and still disagree with his policy against a most worthy tzedaka and chesed organization. We can support the Rav and Lema'an Achai. Let us use this time of the שובבי''ם to fix the avla being carried out in our community. Lema'an Achai doesn't discriminate in who it helps because of the person's shul. We shouldn't discriminate against Lema'an Achai because of our shul!
Ask yourself…am I doing all that I can and should for Lema'an Achai?
Sincerely,
BTYA Members Who Love the Rav and Lema'an Achai