Behind Every Harassed Child? A Whole Lot of Clueless Adults!

“Bully,” Lee Hirsch’s moving and troubling documentary about the misery some children inflict upon others, arrives at a moment when bullying, long tolerated as a fact of life, is being redefined as a social problem. “Just kids being kids” can no longer be an acceptable response to the kind of sustained physical and emotional abuse that damages the lives of young people whose only sin is appearing weak or weird to their peers.

Lee Hirsch, the director of “Bully,” spoke about his film when it screened during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (and, at that time, was called “The Bully Project.”)

And while the film focuses on the specific struggles of five families in four states, it is also about — and part of — the emergence of a movement. It documents a shift in consciousness of the kind that occurs when isolated, oppressed individuals discover that they are not alone and begin the difficult work of altering intolerable conditions widely regarded as normal.

The feeling of aloneness is one of the most painful consequences of bullying. It is also, in some ways, a cause of it, since it is almost always socially isolated children (the new kid, the fat kid, the gay kid, the strange kid) who are singled out for mistreatment. For some reason — for any number of reasons that hover unspoken around the edges of Mr. Hirsch’s inquiry — adults often fail to protect their vulnerable charges.

Alex, a 14-year-old in Sioux City, Iowa, whose daily routine includes being teased, humiliated and assaulted (especially on the school bus), cannot bear to tell his parents what is going on. He even sticks up for his tormenters, who he says are “just messing around” when they stab him with pencils and call him vile names.

“If not for them, what friends do I have?” he asks his distraught, confused mother.

It’s a heartbreaking moment. Equally sad — and also infuriating and painfully revealing — is a scene in which an assistant principal at Alex’s middle school tries to settle a conflict between two boys who apparently had been fighting at recess. When she insists that they shake hands, one eagerly obliges, with a smile and an apology. The other sullenly resists, and as she scolds him for his noncooperation (letting his antagonist go), it becomes clear that this boy is the victim, and that the assistant principal’s rushed attempt to be fair is in fact perpetuating a terrible and continuing injustice.

Later, after this same well-meaning, clueless educator has similarly mishandled a meeting with Alex’s parents — showing them pictures of her grandchildren; chirpily insisting that the bus where Alex has been terrorized is “good as gold” — Alex’s mother says “she politicianed us.”

There is more “politicianing” on display in “Bully” than actual bullying, though Mr. Hirsch’s camera does capture a few horrifying episodes (one of them so alarming that he shared it with parents and school officials).

 In spite of its title, the film is really about the victims, their parents and the powerful grown-ups who let them down.

A school superintendent in Georgia denies that bullying is a big problem in her district, in spite of the suicide of Tyler Long, a 17-year-old student who took his life after enduring years of harassment and ostracism. A sheriff in Yazoo County, Miss., tallies, with dry, bureaucratic relish, the 45 felony counts faced by Ja’Meya Jackson, a 14-year-old girl who pulled out a gun on a crowded school bus. Nothing can justify such a crime, he says.

That may be true, but his insistence on a narrow, legalistic understanding of Ja’Meya’s case betrays a profound lack of concern about the sustained and systematic abuse that she experienced at the hands of her schoolmates.

It gets worse. In a small town in Oklahoma, Ty Smalley’s suicide left behind loving parents and a devoted best friend, a self-described former bully whose insights are among the most accurate and devastating in the movie.

After Kelby Johnson, a high school student in another part of Oklahoma, came out as a lesbian, she and her family were shunned by neighbors and former friends, and Kelby was taunted by teachers as well as fellow students.

Mr. Hirsch weaves together these stories with compassion and tact, and he wisely refrains from making scapegoats of the bullies who cause Alex, Ja’Meya, Tyler, Ty and Kelby so much pain. “Bully” forces you to confront not the cruelty of specific children — who have their own problems, and their good sides as well — but rather the extent to which that cruelty is embedded in our schools and therefore in our society as a whole.....

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/movies/bully-a-documentary-by-lee-hirsch.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120330

MOVIE TRAILER:
http://youtu.be/W1g9RV9OKhg

Can't Take It Anymore!!!

“What has not happened up to now is for church officials to be held criminally accountable...”

The landmark trial of a senior official of the Philadelphia Archdiocese who is accused of shielding priests who sexually abused children and reassigning them to unwary parishes began on Monday with prosecutors charging that the official “paid lip service to child protection and protected the church at all costs.”

The defendant, Msgr. William J. Lynn, 61, is the first Roman Catholic supervisor in the country to be tried on felony charges of endangering children and conspiracy — not on allegations that he molested children himself, but that he protected suspect priests and reassigned them to jobs where they continued to rape, grope or otherwise abuse boys and girls.

One of Monsignor Lynn’s lines of defense was indicated in an opening statement when his lawyers suggested that he had acted responsibly and reported allegations of abuse to higher officials, including a recently deceased cardinal. (BLAME THE DEAD GUY DEFENSE)

The trial is a milestone, legal experts said, in the legal battles lasting decades over sex abuse by priests. For years, many Catholic dioceses have been battered by civil suits seeking monetary damages for failing to stop errant priests. More recently, prosecutors have brought criminal charges against abusers.

“What has not happened up to now is for church officials to be held criminally accountable,” said Timothy D. Lytton, a professor of law at the Albany Law School and an expert on Catholic abuse cases.

Whatever the outcome, he said, this trial “will dramatically increase the pressure on diocese officials to fulfill the church’s promises to be more transparent and accountable.”

More immediately, the trial promises to further roil the 1.5 million-member Philadelphia Archdiocese, which was convulsed by grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011 alleging that it had not responded forcefully to dozens of credible abuse complaints and had allowed known offenders to have continued contact with children.

From 1992 to 2004, Monsignor Lynn, who maintains he is innocent, was secretary of the clergy in the archdiocese, directing priests’ job assignments and handling complaints about their behavior.

An assistant district attorney, Jacqueline Coelho, told the jury that Monsignor Lynn had repeatedly played down credible reports of child abuse, stashing them away in secret files.

“The victims are met with skepticism, and the priests are believed at all costs,” Ms. Coelho said in a 58-minute opening statement in Common Pleas Court.

The scathing grand jury report released in January 2011, which led to the charges, described examples in which Monsignor Lynn “knowingly allowed priests who had sexually abused minors to be assigned to positions where unsuspecting parents and teachers would entrust children to their care.”

The report alleged that Monsignor Lynn had acted with the leader of the archdiocese at the time — Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, who died in January — to shield the archdiocese from scandal and financial liability.

As the trial began, Monsignor Lynn, sitting between two lawyers and dressed in a black suit with a clerical collar, answered “not guilty” to all charges. He could face up to 28 years in prison if convicted of the two counts of endangerment and two counts of conspiracy.

Thomas Bergstrom, a defense lawyer, said in his opening statement on Monday that his client had reported abuse allegations to senior, clergy including Cardinal Bevilacqua.

“Everything that Monsignor Lynn did with respect to the allegations of abuse was put in writing and sent up the chain,” Mr. Bergstrom said.  (BLAME THE DEAD GUY DEFENSE)

He also attacked prosecution assertions that Monsignor Lynn had been responsible for appointing suspect priests to positions where they could prey on more children. “The only man in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that could appoint a priest to any location is Cardinal Bevilacqua,” Mr. Bergstrom said.

Mr. Bergstrom also said the cardinal had directed the shredding of a list of suspected or actual sex offenders Monsignor Lynn obtained from a “secret archive file.”

The trial is likely to feature the videotaped testimony of Cardinal Bevilacqua, who died of cancer and dementia at age 88.....

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/us/supervising-priest-goes-on-trial-in-philadelphia.html?src=recg



 

The defendant, Msgr. William J. Lynn


 

Somebodys Gotta Keep an Eye on The Crazies! Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go

                                                                    חנך לנער על פי דרכו



Michael Pearl - Another Evil & Sadistic Clergyman

 READ CLIP AND MUST WATCH VIDEO:
 http://www.q13fox.com/videogallery/68819341/News/author-defends-his-book
http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-author-of-controversial-child-discipline-book-to-train-up-a-child-defends-himself-20120314,0,584368.story

Michael Pearl was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, in a good home, by parents who were faithful to point him to God. Mike, a graduate of Crighton College in Memphis, has been active in evangelism and the work of the Ministry since he was a teenager. He worked with Memphis Union Mission for 25 years, while he also ministered in hospitals and churches to the many military families in Memphis. Mike also pastored churches during that period.

About twenty two years ago, Mike and his wife Debi moved to rural Tennessee where they continued in the work by holding Bible studies in local homes, which eventually led to regular meetings of the local body of believers, and the starting of the prison ministry where Mike still ministers every Saturday. God eventually led them into the ministry of writing on child training and family relationships, which they now feel is their life's work and calling. The result of this work led to the formation of No Greater Joy Ministries (NGJ), a 501(c)(3). The largest project that NGJ has ever been involved in is the Good and Evil Project, a work to translate the Illustrated Bible Storybook Good and Evil (G & E) into 100 languages. G & E has 25 languages in print, and another 40 languages in the process of being translated or edited. The book is available in black and white and full color in English and Spanish.

In addition to the child training ministry, the work of the prison ministry, missions, and Bible studies, the Pearls have an active family life. They have been married 37 years; have 5 children, and 14 grandchildren with more on the way.

Rabbi Dov Fischer Updates his Website - Eliminates all references to Avraham Union and the RCC!

READ: http://www.rabbidov.com/conversion/conversion.htm

Rabbi Fischer has a compelling and believable story; I take him at his word. He claims to have absolutely no ties to Leib Tropper, never did, nor to Tropper's EJF. He also states that the only Conversion to Judaism that he assisted in was for a 70 year old widow.

He gave up a rather substantial income to devote his life to rabbonus; I take him at his word again.

The previous link to his website was over four years old while he was settling into Irvine, and to his dismay was faced with a slew of sham conversions by a popular, and to many, a well-regarded Orthodox New York based organization.

My attacks were not aimed at Rabbi Fischer, but rather at the pandemic of fraudulent Orthodox conversions to Judaism by organizations that have proven themselves to be scam artists in many areas of halacha. Their list of gentiles that they convert, not only remain gentiles, but have disgraced us, the members of the Nation of Israel. That includes the OU, the RCA, and the RCC. I have a list of these so-called converts - one day to be published right here on UOJ. History has taught us that these gentiles, in too many cases, turn out to be the greatest haters of the Jewish nation.

I ask my readers to review the new link above, and direct any and all inquiries you may have on this matter directly to him at:

Rabbi Dov Fischer
Rav, Young Israel of Orange County
5319 University Drive ( # 122 )
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 551-1515 (Rabbi's Office)
ravesq@cox.net

Standing Up for the Silent - 13 Million American Children will be Bullied this Year!

In Theatres March 30, 2012 - Yirtzei Hashem! SEE IT! I did at the pre-screening - EXCELLENT!

Beating A Dead Horse!

FAILEDMESSIAH EXCLUSIVE



A Very Dead Pinchas Scheinberg

 FM EXCLUSIVE - CLICK: http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/03/scheinberg-letter-2006-kolko-innocent-456.html

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PULITZER PRIZE WINNER  - "ON THE RABBI'S KNEE"- CLICK: http://nymag.com/news/features/17010/



Yehuda Kolko - 25 Long Years After Pinchas Scheinberg Ruled Him Innocent
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READ MORE ON THE KOLKO COVERUP - CLICK: http://rabbimatisyahusalomon.blogspot.com/

Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods!



Leib Tropper and his Convert Whore Shannon Orand - Pimped Her Out To His Friends And Used Her as His Mistress!

 Leib Tropper Plying His Trade in Greater San Diego California Vicinity.

CLICK: http://www.linkedin.com/in/leibtropper 

2 Hours To Abe Union/RCC in L.A.



CLICK: http://mapq.st/FQmUR5

CLICK: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/kristof-where-pimps-peddle-their-goods.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

I changed only a few words around:

A  man approached her and told her she was attractive. She thought that he was a Tropper, and she was flattered. He told her that he wanted her to be his girlfriend, she recalls wistfully. Within a few weeks, he was prostituting her — even as she continued to study to become a Jew. Shannon didn’t run away partly because of a feeling that there was a romantic bond.

 READ:  http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060930/news_1c30convert.html

"Rabbi Leib Tropper, who runs a school in Monsey, N.Y., for Jews who lack basic religious education, started Eternal Jewish Family a year ago to train rabbinic courts on proper conversion for non-Jewish spouses. Tropper says hundreds of rabbis have attended the training sessions.

 10,000 (Approximately) People a Year Convert to Judaism - It is a huge business - Just about NONE of them Remain True to Observant Judaism. There are few exceptions!

Conversion to Judaism with Rav Dov Fischer & Rabbi Union/RCC - Proselytizing Against Halacha!

Dov Fischer



Avraham Union



 

The Talmud speaks of situations in which mitzvah (commandment) observance is the traditional requirement for acceptance into Jewish society. When such is the case, even the insincere proselyte has to conform to the norm. Thus, of necessity, her conversion may result in religious observance. BUT because our current society is free and permissive, conversion does not necessarily result in mitzvah (commandment) observance. In addition, those who interdate or intermarry, are obviously totally uncommitted to Judaism, and it is highly improbable that they will build Torah homes, once their Christian partners have converted. It is highly unlikely, too, that a female proselyte, will be more observant than her Jewish husband, who by his very behavior, in choosing a gentile for a wife, demonstrates that he is far removed from Jewish values.

Leib Tropper charged no fees to his converts and was affiliated with Rabbi Union in Los Angeles as well. Here comes  Avraham Union "Tropperizing" in Orange County! And I'll keep the pressure on! Hey Union do you get to convert the kids too? How about Bubby? Uncle John? Do you get a crack at Father Chris? (Pun Intended)....Update me on the mohel you use for the male children of these conversions. What school do these kids go to? Chabad getting a piece of the action? Maybe I'll pay a visit to your shul and shmooze it up with your people. Yeah....I look like my photo - I'll even say hello! Any success stories you care to share?

Union is using you - He's a thieving pea in a very small stinking pod! And now the world knows! 

UOJ




CLICK TO ENLARGE


*

Young Israel of Orange County

Purchase Rav Fischer's Books

Conversion to Judaism under the Sponsorship of Rav Fischer

On Converting to Judaism :

An Authentic Jewish Conversion Under Orthodox Jewish Auspices Differs Profoundly from Anything Else You Otherwise May Have Encountered or Been Told at Other Orange County Temples:

•There Are No Short Cuts.

•You Not Only Must Learn Judaism but Must Internalize a Commitment to Live the Torah Life Every Day for the Rest of Your Life.

•It Is Not About Passing a Test After Taking a 6-Month or 12-Month Class, but About Honestly Making the Shabbat, the Kosher Dietary Rules, the Rules of Heightened Business Ethics and Personal Honesty, and Even the Laws of Sacred Home Life a Part of Your Life and That of Your Family.

(GOOGLE KEYWORDS:)
Converting to Judaism (Orthodox Jewish) in Irvine Orange County California through Rabbi Dov Fischer. Orthodox Judaism conversion in Orange County Irvine California. Orthodox Jewish Judaism conversion under Rabbi Fischer. Gerus. Giyur. Converting to Judaism Orthodox in Irvine Orange County California through Rabbi Dov Fischer. Orthodox Judaism conversion in Orange County Irvine California. Orthodox Jewish Judaism conversion under Rabbi Fischer. Gerus. Giyur. Converting to Judaism Orthodox in Irvine Orange County California through Rabbi Dov Fischer. Orthodox Judaism conversion in Orange County Irvine California. Orthodox Jewish Judaism conversion under Rabbi Fischer. Gerus. Giyur. Converting to Judaism Orthodox in Irvine Orange County California through Rabbi Dov Fischer. Orthodox Judaism conversion in Orange County Irvine California. Orthodox Jewish Judaism conversion under Rabbi Fischer. Gerus. Giyur.

NOTICE THE AMOUNT OF KEYWORDS USESD ON SEARCH ENGINES.

Several times every year, I am approached by individuals or couples in Orange County who would like to know more about converting to Judaism. “What does it entail?” I am asked. “And how does ‘converting Orthodox’ differ from converting with a Conservative or Reform Rabbi? What will be expected of me? Will my children be accepted as Jewish?”

The brief answer is: it is not that simple. We are Orthodox. Consequently, our very world view of conversion is defined by our understanding of G-d’s word as articulated in the Written Torah and amplified in the Oral Law. Thus, a conversion to Judaism is not merely about joining a new family or joining a new team. It is not merely about changing holidays, learning some Hebrew, singing “Hava Nagila,” or showing a love for Israel or feeling bad about the Holocaust. Rather, conversion is about adopting a new personal way of life.

I cannot adequately emphasize that last sentence. When you convert to Judaism, your entire lifestyle changes – forever. You begin every morning by reciting certain prayers. If you are male, you not only must pray three times daily, but you must don tefillin every morning for the rest of your life (except for Sabbaths, Biblical festivals, and one modified rule on a specific Fast Day) – and you must worship daily in a minyan service at synagogue. Your eating habits will change – because they must. You no longer will eat non-kosher food or patronize restaurants that lack proper kosher supervision and certification. For the rest of your life, you will wait several hours after eating meat or poultry before you may eat something dairy. Every week, your Friday nights (after sunset) and Saturdays (until nightfall) will be governed by the rules of the “Day of Rest.” Some of those rules will delight you. Some will take some time assimilating into your view of “rest.” When you are invited to a “wine and cheese” social, you will be concerned whether the wine is kosher and whether the cheese is kosher – so, typically, you will not attend wine-and-cheese events sponsored outside your new faith community. Meanwhile, you will be expected to spend the rest of your life making some time every day, at least some time every week, to learn and study Torah texts, to keep growing. Your children, when you have them, will have to attend a yeshiva day school. Not a public school. Not a “community Jewish school.” And even your personal lives, the intimacy of husband and wife, will be governed by Torah law.

That’s a whole bunch for an opening paragraph. But there is so very much more. And that is why, unlike a “Reform conversion” or a “Conservative conversion,” an “Orthodox conversion” entails and demands so much more than just learning the laws and lifestyle. Rather, you will have to live the laws and lifestyle -- for the rest of your life. And for that reason, your conversion will take quite a bit longer than the other kinds of programs. Because your study regime will be aimed not merely at teaching you the information but also at helping guide you into absorbing the information and assimilating our practices and beliefs into the rest of your life’s works.

Remember that high school course in which you scored an “A” on your final exam and report card – but whose substance you barely remember today? Maybe it was biology class. Maybe world history. You memorized everything there was to know about the amoeba or the paramecium. You memorized all the dynasties of China’s early power families. You memorized the kings of France and England, the dates of their wars. You knew it all so perfectly for the final exam, and your “A” on the report card demonstrated your knowledge.

But today you are a doctor, and you don’t know the “Wars of the Roses” from the “War of the Roses.” The Hundred Years War? Henry I? Henry II? John I? John II? How many Johns were there? Henrys? And, for that matter, Phillips?

When you study for “conversion” outside an Orthodox Torah framework, your teachers will have a curriculum for you, and they will teach you. You will learn a great deal. You will take the test. Your program may run three months. Maybe six months. Maybe a bit longer.

But – five years later – will you be reciting the blessing thanking G-d for water before you drink a cup of water? Will you be reciting the blessings thanking G-d for other foods? After your meals, will you be reciting the closing blessings? Will you be at daily services, donning tefillin, praying the services daily? Will you be living what you were taught? Maybe.

By contrast, there is no “maybe” in an Orthodox “conversion.” Your program will last longer – much longer.  At least a year. More like two years. Sometimes even longer. You not only will learn the curriculum, but you will live it – every day, every meal, every Sabbath, every holiday. You will be expected, within six months, to be residing within a half-mile’s walking-distance from your sponsoring rabbi’s Orthodox synagogue. If I am your sponsoring Rav, for example, you will have to be residing within half a mile of my Shul. Even as you study a comprehensive curriculum with your assigned mentor, meeting once every week, you also will be required to attend my weekly Tuesday night class on Chumash/ Rashi commentary/ Contemporary Halakhah (Jewish Law and Practice). Families in my shul will invite you to join them for Shabbat meals. Often, Ellen and I will ask you to join us and our invited guests for a Shabbat or Yom Tov (Holiday) meal. We will talk. We will learn. We will laugh. And, in a very real way, we will become extended family.

Your weekly class with the mentor will continue, week after week. Your attendance at my weekly Tuesday night Chumash-Rashi-Halakhah class will continue, week after week. You will attend Shul, recite blessings of thanks, and increasingly take on more and more of the Torah lifestyle. For a year. Longer.

All the while, your progress will be monitored by the Beth Din (Rabbinic Panel) of the Rabbinical Council of California (RCC). It will be they who initially approve you for the “conversion” program. You will meet with them in Los Angeles once every three months, or so, as they monitor your progress and growth, get to know you. And it will be they who ultimately signal the “green light” – again, perhaps after a year, perhaps after two years, perhaps even longer – for your day of “conversion.”

So, with that introduction, let’s look closer at the “nuts and bolts” – the steps along the path:

I.

First, I will ask you to write me a substantive note, a letter or statement as to what you are looking for. What motivates your query. Why you would want to take on such a life. Tell me your story.

Through my offices, as your sponsoring rabbi, I will guide you as you begin the process that culminates in your living an absolutely Torah-true life, observing the Shabbat according to its laws, eating strictly kosher in and out of the home, etc.

You will not be alone. Ellen and I are close with at least 15 couples in which a spouse, typically the wife, has converted to Judaism, while the Jewish-born spouse, typically the husband, has become Torah-observant en route. Presently, I am working with three more such couples on an active “conversion” path. During these past few months, we recently celebrated two new “conversions.”

The thing is, I can sponsor a “conversion” only when the prospective convert (and the significant other, where there is a couple) undertake unequivocally to live a fully Torah-directed life, which means in short time – observing Shabbat (including attending worship services on Shabbat, but no driving on Shabbat, no turning lights on and off, no TV on Shabbat, no money, not using the phone, etc.); observing kashrut (including establishing a kitchen with two sets of dishes/ flatware/ cookware, strict purchase of kosher-only cheeses, breads, and wines, and evolving towards kosher-only eating out of the home, too).

To reach this level of practice, it becomes absolutely mandatory within the first six months that you are in the program for you to establish a permanent residency within walking distance of my Shul. Otherwise, how can I observe and celebrate your growth and evolution, invite you occasionally for Shabbat meals spontaneously, and assure you are plugged into other avenues of Shabbat meal invites? That is, how else can I sponsor you?

So, as Step One, please write me your story. Thereafter, perhaps, we can set a meeting.

II.

Once I have read your story, we can set a time to sit and meet in my office. I can share insights with you, and you can emerge better informed of what it means to become a Jew – really, authentically, to become and live as a Jew as that term and lifestyle have been understood for thousands of years.

III.

If you choose to proceed after we have met, your next step on the “conversion” process entails your calling Rav Union, the executive director of the Rabbinical Council of California (RCC). You would tell Rav Union that you have met with Rav Dov Fischer in Irvine, who laid out the process for you. As noted above, it is a process that can take maybe two years, maybe three – well transcending a year of study . . . as the period of study also begins the period of practice, and it can take some two or three years of practice until it becomes really internalized within you – keeping and observing Shabbat properly, keeping kosher in-and-out of the home, living the Torah life.

In that next stage, then, you meet personally with Rav Union, and – if he emerges persuaded that your candidacy is rooted in a sincere readiness to take on a Torah lifestyle (along with your significant other, if there is one) – he assigns you books to read.

IV.

A month or two later, when you feel you have read and mastered the assigned volumes and have absorbed their essence, you would call Rav Union and ask that he set an appointment for your initial meeting with a 3-rabbi panel (the “Beth Din” or “Bayt Din”). The Rabbinical Panel typically includes Rav Union and two other prominent rabbis. At that meeting, again at the RCC’s Los Angeles offices, they get to know you, too. Every three months or so thereafter, you travel to Los Angeles, where the RCC office is based, and you again meet with the Bayt Din. At each such meeting, they speak with you and continue gauging your evolution.

V.

Throughout this process, every week, from the time that the RCC Rabbinical Panel decides you are ready to start learning, you study at least twice weekly here in Irvine –

i.once-weekly with a same-gender mentor in Irvine, whom RCC will designate for you as your personal mentor through the multi-year process, and the other time each week at my Tuesday night Chumash-Rashi-Halakhah class from 7:30-9:00 p.m.

Over time, you learn – you learn an enormous amount – and, much more importantly to the process, you practice what you learn. You live what you learn. You grow, and you evolve. In time, a conversion date is set when the RCC Rabbinic Panel feels you are ready. The Beth Din/Bayt Din makes that decision in consultation with your mentor and with your sponsoring Rav.

If you think about it, American citizens who break American law retain their American citizenship. Felons may lose the franchise but not citizenship. By contrast, immigrants who wish to naturalize – essentially, to “convert” to Americans -- must meet a higher, longer, more demanding, pure standard. So it is with Jews and Judaism. If the “significant other” will not live the lifestyle, then there can be no “conversion.” If the couple cannot live within walking distance of a Shul, then they cannot possibly attend Shabbat services at Shul every week in a manner that conforms to halakha. Because, on Shabbat, a Jew must walk, not drive. And one must go to Shul.

There is no question but that our standards and requirements reduce the number of people who opt to pursue a “conversion” course in our ranks. But every “convert” in our Torah community becomes a leader in the community of Torah fellowship because, once you are in with your spouse, you not only talk the talk – but you walk the walk. On Shabbat.

Within walking distance of us, and within our Eruv, there are apartments to rent at Parkwest Apartments. There are condominia to rent or buy at Rancho San Joaquin Apartments. You may want to “Google” them and contact them. This is what my wife and I had to do when we moved to Irvine. This is what all Jews must do – we must live within walking distance of a Shul. If we cannot afford to live within walking distance of a Shul in Irvine, then we find another community, more affordable, and live within walking distance of that Shul. For some, it means leaving L.A. and moving to Seattle or Portland or Cincinnati.

If you do opt to pursue an Orthodox “conversion” from a residence based in Irvine, I would be honored to act as your sponsoring Rav – the RCC’s representative in Irvine – guiding you and your mentor, overseeing your progress, teaching you, and welcoming you into my congregation’s life. Some of my most meaningful relationships have arrived from this role.

A final word: money. I do not charge or accept any remuneration, payment, or other gift or emolument for time I devote to your “conversion” process as your sponsoring Rav. There are certain nominal fees that the RCC may charge, and your mentor may receive a fee. In all, you will find that the “conversion” framework is not viewed as a meaningful source of funding within the Orthodox Torah community.


READ MORE BEFORE THE LINK IS TAKEN DOWN :http://www.rabbidov.com/conversion/conversion.htm

pros·e·ly·tize verb \ˈprä-s(ə-)lə-ˌtīz\

pros·e·ly·tizedpros·e·ly·tiz·ing

Definition of PROSELYTIZE

intransitive verb

1: to induce someone to convert to one's faith

2: to recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause

transitive verb

: to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause

— pros·e·ly·ti·za·tion \ˌprä-s(ə-)lə-tə-ˈzā-shən, ˌprä-sə-ˌlī-tə-\ noun

— pros·e·ly·tiz·er \ˈprä-s(ə-)lə-ˌtī-zər\ noun

See proselytize defined for English-language learners »

He uses his position to proselytize for the causes that he supports.

They are a sport-shirted, discomforted lot, pacing, puffing feverishly on cigarettes, perspiring freely and proselytizing furiously. —Nicholas Dawidoff, Sports Illustrated, 19 Aug. 1991

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proselytize



Leib Tropper - The Master of Conversions!



Potential Converts Available at AIPAC - Jump on them Union before Tropper gets them!

 CLICK: http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/toolbar.html?4t=extlink&4u=http://forward.com/articles/153025/aipac-not-just-for-jews-anymore/ 

Why I Tore Up My Membership Card at The Agudath Israel of America Many Years Ago!

"It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer."

 Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs - By GREG SMITH

 TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.

It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.

But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.

I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.

When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.

Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to leave.

How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.

What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym...

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=1&nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20120314

The New Tomorrow is Here Yesterday!

 CLICK:http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/after-244-years-encyclopaedia-britannica-stops-the-presses/?ref=global-home

 CLICK:http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/share-the-road/

"SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.”

Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group

Mr. Donohue said leading bishops he knew had resolved to fight back more aggressively against the group: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”

Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose more than two decades of e-mails that could include correspondence with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, the police, prosecutors and journalists.

The group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the litigation. But the group has been subpoenaed five times in recent months in Kansas City and St. Louis, and its national director, David Clohessy, was questioned by a battery of lawyers for more than six hours this year. A judge in Kansas City ruled that the network must comply because it “almost certainly” had information relevant to the case.

The network and its allies say the legal action is part of a campaign by the church to cripple an organization that has been the most visible defender of victims, and a relentless adversary, for more than two decades. “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and an advocate for victims of clergy sex crimes, “it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s what they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”

Lawyers for the church and priests say they cannot comment because of a judge’s order. But William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a church advocacy group in New York, said targeting the network was justified because “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.”

Mr. Donohue said leading bishops he knew had resolved to fight back more aggressively against the group: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”

He said bishops were also rethinking their approach of paying large settlements to groups of victims. “The church has been too quick to write a check, and I think they’ve realized it would be a lot less expensive in the long run if we fought them one by one,” Mr. Donohue said.

However, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, said Mr. Donohue was incorrect.

“There is no national strategy,” she said, and there was no meeting where legal counsel for the bishops decided to get more aggressive.

Mr. Clohessy and others founded the survivors network as a loose collective of volunteers who had been victimized by Catholic priests. Their goal was to help others grapple with the emotional and psychological fallout. They make referrals to therapists and lawyers, and hold protests outside church offices.

The group has three paid staff members, two part-time administrators and volunteers who lead 55 chapters in the United States and about 8 overseas. Its total revenue for 2010 was $352,903, some of it donations by lawyers who have sued the church. The group says it has spent about $50,000 and hundreds of hours of staff time since the subpoenas began, and is now arranging for lawyers who will work pro bono.

When the scandal over clergy sexual abuse reached a peak in Boston in 2002, American bishops met at their conference in Dallas with network members who gave emotional testimony about the toll of the abuse. But relations have deteriorated since then, and SNAP members say bishops now refuse to meet with them.

The first indication that the network would be caught up in legal proceedings came from Kansas City, where Bishop Robert W. Finn last year became the first American bishop ever to be criminally indicted for failure to report suspected child abuse.

Mr. Clohessy received a subpoena in October at his St. Louis home, where he works, regarding the case John Doe B.P. v. the Rev. Michael Tierney and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Four plaintiffs are accusing Father Tierney of sexually abusing them years ago. The cases would be outside the statute of limitations in Missouri, but the plaintiffs contend they recovered their memories of abuse only recently.

The subpoena asked that Mr. Clohessy turn over all documents in the last 23 years that mention repressed memory, any current or former priest in Kansas City, the diocese, Father Tierney, John Doe or Rebecca Randles, the attorney for the plaintiffs.

The church’s lawyers say they need to see SNAP’s records to investigate whether Ms. Randles violated a gag order by giving the group information about one of the Tierney cases before it was filed, which the group then included in a news release.....

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/us/catholic-church-pressures-victims-network-with-subpoenas.html?pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_ee_20120313

"U'shmartem es Nafshoseichem" - The Importance of Healthy Eating!

I have been a vegetarian on and off for 15 years. I'm now a full fledged vegetarian; and at my desired weight of 20 years ago, and have never been in better physical health thank God. My memory and mental acuity have always been outstanding, but is even sharper now. Everything is so perfectly clear. My yearly physicals drive my doctors crazy."Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it". "You're in better shape than most teenagers I see". While it may not be for everyone, cutting back on animal consumption is a great idea. You are what you eat! There are no guarantees about anything, but I challenge my readers to try it for 90 days. Let me know the results. (I'm not on commission)....and yes, I care.

Chazak!



READ ARTICLE:
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/finally-fake-chicken-worth-eating.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB#commentsContainer

Holy Water-Gate!

 CLICK: http://www.holywater-gate.com/

 CLICK: http://media.philly.com/documents/clergyAbuse2-finalReport.pdf

DOWNLOAD THE GRAND JURY REPORT FROM THE ABOVE LINK - IMPOSSIBLE TO WRAP MY BRAIN AROUND THE EVIL PERPETRATED BY THESE NON-HUMAN MONSTERS - THE ALLIES OF THE AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA - AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.

"...The Institutionalization of Child Rape & Torture in Every Country on Earth..."

Jewish babies exposed to herpes in New York, thousands of American children injured for life after the rape and torture they suffered at the hands of a compliant Catholic priesthood,… it's not just your mental health that is challenged by faith. Anyone who says that this evil deserves legal protection is exactly as guilty as the filthy old men who delight in inflicting it. What a pity!!!!


By Christopher Hitchens

I can never read the name "Michael Bloomberg" without an automatic free-association that flashes up in my mind. "Little putz," is what my internal prompter always cues to me. Obviously this and other intuitions must be prompted by whatever grand intelligence originally designed me, because here's what I read on page B5 of the New York Times on Friday, Aug. 26:

A circumcision ritual practiced by some Orthodox Jews has alarmed city health officials, who say it may have led to three cases of herpes—one of them fatal—in infants. … The practice is known as oral suction, or in Hebrew, metzitzah b'peh: after removing the foreskin of the penis, the practitioner, or mohel, sucks the blood from the wound to clean it.

The continuing scandal of this practice, which most Jews abandoned many years ago, is newly illustrated by the death of one little boy from type-1 herpes, and the infection of two others, in Staten Island and Brooklyn, after they had been subjected to this ritual by the same mohel. Let's be clear what's involved here. The Times refers to an article published last year in the journal Pediatrics that argued that metzitzah b'peh carries a serious health risk and is, for that reason alone, a violation of Jewish law. ("We suspect … that this entity is underreported for cultural reasons and that the studies described here are only the "tip of the iceberg" of the true incidence of the disease," the authors note). None of this should be hard to comprehend: If it risks the life or health of an infant, then no religious allegiance is or should be required for its condemnation. Q.E.D., as you might say.

What's Bloomberg got to do with this, you may be impatient to know by now. Well, the mayor of the great city where these children were deliberately exposed to infection and death has had a meeting with the Orthodox authorities who like to see this happening to small putzes, and he has expressed himself thus, on his own radio show, again as per the Times:

We're going to do a study, and make sure that everyone is safe and at the same time, it is not the government's business to tell people how to practice their religion.

Study? What study? Can't the fool get through an article by a Jewish authority in Pediatrics? For the Times reporter to add that Mayor Bloomberg's comment appeared to be designed not to "upset a group that can be a formidable voting bloc" was, in the circumstances, worse than superfluous.

Where to start with this? I could wish that Bloomberg were always so careful about keeping out of other peoples' business: He has made it legally impossible to have a cigarette and a cocktail at the same time, anywhere in the city. But I'll trade him his stupid prohibitionist ban if he states clearly that it is the government's business to protect children from religious fanatics. Female genital mutilation, for example, is quite rightly banned under federal law, and no religious exemption is, or ever should be, permitted. The Mormons were obliged to give up polygamy and forcible marriage before they, or the state of Utah, could be part of the United States. A Christian Scientist who denies urgent medical treatment to his or her children may well be hauled up for reckless endangerment, as may those whose churches teach redemption through violent corporal punishment. The First Amendment does indeed forbid any infringement of religious freedom, but it is not, as was once said, part of a suicide pact, let alone a child-abuse one.

Let's by all means hear from Rabbi David Niederman of the United Jewish Organization in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who emerged from his meeting with Bloomberg to inform us that: "The Orthodox Jewish community will continue the practice that has been practiced for over 5,000 years. We do not change. And we will not change." You can preach it, rabbi, but you have no more right to practice it than a Muslim imam who preaches the duty of holy war has the right to put his teachings into effect. And Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer, the 57-year-old man who ministered to the three boys in question, is currently under a court order that forbids him from doing it again—pending an investigation by the health department. What "investigation?" If another man of that age were found to be slicing the foreskins of little boys and then sucking their penises and their blood, he would be in jail—one hopes—so fast that his feet wouldn't touch the ground. If he then told the court that God ordered him to do it, he would be offering precisely the defense that thousands of psychos have already made so familiar. Preach it rabbi. Preach it to the judge.

A few years ago I traveled to Calcutta with the brilliant photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has made the eradication of polio his signature cause. In 2001, there was a real chance that this childhood-wrecking and frequently lethal malady could go the way of smallpox. Only a few outposts, usually in very bad war zones like Afghanistan, had not been reported as "clear." (The two sides in the civil war in El Salvador observed a truce so that the vaccine could be safely distributed.) But some mullahs in Bengal spread the rumor that the vaccine led to impotence and diarrhea (a bad combo) and urged mothers to keep their children away from the nurses and physicians. Most Bengalis are too smart to listen to ravings like these, which exactly resemble the view of Dr. Timothy Dwight, one of America's founding divines, that vaccination against smallpox was an interference with the divine design. However, in northern Nigeria, where imams now hold state power in many provinces, the polio vaccine has been denounced as a plot "by the US and the UN [!]" to "sterilize Muslims." In consequence of this fatwa, the disease has returned to Nigeria this year and also spread back to several African countries that thought they had bidden farewell to it. Decades of patient and skillful work have been ruined, along with the lives of uncounted children.

Jewish babies exposed to herpes in New York, thousands of American children injured for life after the rape and torture they suffered at the hands of a compliant Catholic priesthood, prelates and mullahs outbidding each other in denial of AIDS … it's not just your mental health that is challenged by faith. Anyone who says that this evil deserves legal protection is exactly as guilty as the filthy old men who delight in inflicting it. What a pity!!!!

READ THE UOJ ARCHIVES BEFORE I KNEW HOW TO TYPE - AUGUST 2005:
http://unorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html

More Shepherds Leading their Flock...and Caring "For the Children"

An Open Letter to Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan - Archbishop of New York - from an Orthodox Jew called UOJ

Dear Cardinal Dolan,

Let's get some of the niceties out of the way, so I can tell you how I really feel about you and your fellow members of the clergy, yes the Jewish ones too.

You've been promoted to Archbishop of New York and now Cardinal - Mazel Tov! I guess you can now wear any color shmatte, not only black. Good for you, have fun!

 Now listen up!

I read your letter below Cardinal, while we can agree that Government should have a very limited role in peoples' lives, your professing to have childrens' interests as one of your claims to fame, is nothing short of nauseating.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57390125/?tag=currentVideoInfo;videoMetaInfo

Now read the comments from your flock:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-18560_162-57390125.html?assetTypeId=41&blogId=&tag=accordionB;commentWrapper

Why don't you watch the video CBS 60 Minutes had on the other night - or read the transcript above?

 Get Chaim Dovid Zweibel to sit on your lap and watch it with you - I'll buy the popcorn. The disturbing relationship you and C.D. have regarding the Markey Bill - screams about the values you share. 98% percent of Catholic women use birth control, so what's the charade here? Your churches are empty, nobody takes you guys seriously anymore other than the other guys in colorful getups. By the way, I have not seen your outrage expressed anywhere about the tens of thousands of kids' lives your "shepherds" destroyed globally.

So here's one Jew that wants to express to you that while you probably are a jovial type of guy, I don't buy one word of what you're selling. I believe 2012 is the year when the Markey Bill becomes law, learn Russian and consider trying your hand as a driver for a Brooklyn car service. The lawyers are coming.....

UOJ

Last Friday, a letter was sent by from Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. What follows are some excerpts. (You can read a pdf of the entire letter at the bottom of this post.)


My brother bishops,

. . . Thank you, brothers, for the opportunity to provide this update to you and the dioceses you serve. Many of you have expressed your thanks for what we have achieved together in so few weeks, especially the data provided and the leadership given by brother bishops, our conference staff and Catholic faithful. And you now ask the obvious question, “What’s next?” Please allow me to share with you now some thoughts about events and efforts to date and where we might go next.


Since January 20, when the final, restrictive HHS Rule was first announced, we have become certain of two things: religious freedom is under attack, and we will not cease our struggle to protect it. . . . As pastors and shepherds, each of us would prefer to spend our energy engaged in and promoting the works of mercy to which the Church is dedicated: healing the sick, teaching our youth, and helping the poor. Yet, precisely because we are pastors and shepherds, we recognize that each of the ministries entrusted to us by Jesus is now in jeopardy due to this bureaucratic intrusion into the internal life of the church. You and I both know well that we were doing those extensive and noble works rather well without these radical new constrictive and forbidding mandates. Our Church has a long tradition of effective partnership with government and the wider community in the service of the sick, our children, our elders, and the poor at home and abroad, and we sure hope to continue it.


Of course, we maintained from the start that this is not a “Catholic” fight alone. I like to quote as often as possible a nurse who emailed me, “I’m not so much mad about all this as a Catholic, but as an American.” And as we recall, a Baptist minister, Governor Mike Huckabee, observed, “In this matter, we’re all Catholics.” No doubt you have heard numerous statements just like these. We are grateful to know so many of our fellow Americans, especially our friends in the ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, stand together in this important moment in our country. They know that this is not just about sterilization, abortifacients, and chemical contraception. It’s about religious freedom, the sacred right of any Church to define its own teaching and ministry.


When the President announced on January 20th that the choking mandates from HHS would remain, not only we bishops and our Catholic faithful, but people of every faith, or none at all, rallied in protest. The worry that we had expressed — that such government control was contrary to our deepest political values — was eloquently articulated by constitutional scholars and leaders of every creed.


On February 10th, the President announced that the insurance providers would have to pay the bill, instead of the Church’s schools, hospitals, clinics, or vast network of charitable outreach having to do so. He considered this “concession” adequate. Did this help? We wondered if it would, and you will recall that the Conference announced at first that, while withholding final judgment, we would certainly give the President’s proposal close scrutiny.


Well, we did — and as you know, we are as worried as ever. For one, there was not even a nod to the deeper concerns about trespassing upon religious freedom, or of modifying the HHS’ attempt to define the how and who of our ministry. Two, since a big part of our ministries are “self-insured,” we still ask how this protects us. We’ll still have to pay and, in addition to that, we’ll still have to maintain in our policies practices which our Church has consistently taught are grave wrongs in which we cannot participate. And what about forcing individual believers to pay for what violates their religious freedom and conscience? We can’t abandon the hard working person of faith who has a right to religious freedom. And three, there was still no resolution about the handcuffs placed upon renowned Catholic charitable agencies, both national and international, and their exclusion from contracts just because they will not refer victims of human trafficking, immigrants and refugees, and the hungry of the world, for abortions, sterilization, or contraception. In many ways, the announcement of February 10 solved little and complicated a lot. We now have more questions than answers, more confusion than clarity.


Two, we will ardently continue to seek a rescinding of the suffocating mandates that require us to violate our moral convictions, or at least insist upon a much wider latitude to the exemptions so that churches can be free of the new, rigidly narrow definition of church, minister and ministry that would prevent us from helping those in need, educating children and healing the sick, no matter their religion.



READ ENTIRE LETTER FROM DOLAN :

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/upload/Dolan-to-all-bishops-HHS.pdf

Standing Up to the Catholic Church from Within - Finally!

"...We must keep in mind that we will be better offerings if we repent..."



Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, Rabbi Aron Kotler, Rabbi Blau



....It was first in 1921 that Reb Elchonon returned to Poland, to Baranovitch, where he was asked to head the local yeshiva, Ohel Torah. He was to head the yeshiva till the war years when he, together with hundreds of his students sanctified the Almighty's name. Witnesses have recounted that dreadful day--eleventh day in Tamuz, 5701 when the murderers came in. He was in the midst of learning Tractate Nidoh. Reb Elchonon spoke quietly and calmly, as was his practice. Not even the sound of his voice was changed. On his face, his customary earnestness. His tone betrayed no feeling for self, and he did not attempt to say good-bye to his son, Reb Naftali. He spoke to everyone, to the whole House of Israel.


"In Heaven it appears that they deem us to be righteous because our bodies have been chosen to stone for the Jewish people. Therefore, we must repent now, immediately. There is not much time. We must keep in mind that we will be better offerings if we repent. In this way we will save the lives of our brethren overseas.  "Let no thought enter our minds, G-d forbid, which is abominable and which renders an offering unfit. We are now fulfilling the greatest mizvah. With fire she was destroyed and with fire she will be rebuilt. The very fire which consumes our bodies will one day rebuild the Jewish people."

In the summer of 1937 at the third convention of the rabbinical leaders of Agudath Israel held in Mariband, which included hundreds of rabbis, heads of yeshiva religious academies and grand rabbis of Chassidic communities from a number of countries, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman stood out from among all of them.

 Rabbi Shmuel Aharon Pardes of Chicago, the editor of the rabbinical journal Hapardes, who participated at this convention and who was present at meetings of the Council of Torah Sages that were held during the convention, describes Rabbi Wasserman as follows: “Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, who stood above all the other participants walked with his face towards the ground. His long beard has turned white, and his fear of G-d preceded his scholarly wisdom. He reigns supreme above all the other members of the Council of Torah Sages and the convention itself. He intersperses his speech with simple metaphors hidden with great wisdom that penetrates the hearts of each person according to his level. He is the major disciple of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, the author of the halachic work, Mishna Brurah, and every word he utters is spiced with teachings and wise metaphors from his teacher. When Rabbi Wasserman enters the meeting of the Council, everyone stands in respect, and he asked to speak before anyone else.

On Sunday on the evening of 16th of the Hebrew month of Elul [August 23, 1937], the rabbinical leaders met to discuss the issue of a “Jewish State.” The meeting was stormy, and it dealt with the issue of the Three Oaths. A great dispute broke out in the session, and Rabbi Wasserman expressed pungent words that shocked his listeners. The following is what he said:

“We must emphasize and declare the position of our holy Torah in order to banish any confusion of ideas. Inasmuch as there are Jews who are Torah-observant who say that a Jewish State would be the “beginning of the Redemption,” we must inform them of the position of our Torah that this is nothing less than the beginning of a new Exile! What do I mean? After all, Jews have been living in Exile for some two thousand years, so how can this be a “beginning” of a new Exile? My intention is to expose the so-called Jewish Communists. An Exile such as this has never existed until today. None of us can even describe such an exile, an Exile under Jews! Only Jews from Russia have a slight sense of this situation, even though the regime there is not a “Jewish” one. One of the great rabbis of this generation recently told me that the term “beginning of the Redemption” in reference to the Zionist movement makes his hair stand on end!

In Hapardes (Year 11, Issue 7) Rabbi Pardes describes what he saw at the Convention:

“Rabbi Wasserman, Rabbi Kotler, Rabbi Rottenberg from Antwerp, rabbis from Czechoslovakia and Hungary were unanimous in rejecting any proposal for a “Jewish State” on either side of the Jordan River, even if it were established as a religious state because such a regime would be a form of heresy in our faith in the belief in the coming of the Messiah, and especially since this little “Jewish” state would be built on heresy and desecration of the Name of G-d.

Who Has Destroyed More, the Arabs or the Zionists? http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbi_quotes/WhoHasDestroyedMore.pdf (This essay was written by Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman zt'l after the disturbances in Hebron in 1929 which left some 50-60 yeshiva students dead and is very apropos the most recent events on the West Bank. Ed.)

READ ENTIRE TRUE TORAH:

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbi_quotes/wasserman.cfm

I DO NOT VOUCH FOR THE ACCURACY OF THE ENTIRE ARTICLE OTHER THAN WHAT APPEARS ABOVE.

UOJ