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| Dr. Harvey Erlich |
Nov 15, 2012, 05:00 pm Man Charged In Historical Sexual Assault Investigation, Harvey Erlich, 58, Police Believe There May Be More Victims
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Danny Wool has left a new comment on your post "Another Arrest In The Toronto Jewish Community For...":
Let me be clear here. No one is talking about "commenc[ing] the destruction of a man and [I agree] more importantly, his family." I believe that a press release is forthcoming, and it is only a matter of time.
At the same time, I wish you would consider the lives that were already destroyed because of what happened, even if it was so long ago. Those scars are real.
In my yeshiva days I learned that chataim bein adam lehaveiro, Yom Kippur eino mechaper" (Yom Kippur does not atone for sins between people). As one of the victims (yes, I said it), I cannot even begin to think of forgiveness unless there is a full public confession of what happened, not just to me, but to everyone else who was victimized. I expect that from both the perpetrators yimach shemam (may their names be erased) because only then will I be able to begin the process of yimach zichram (may the memory of them and what they did be erased).
When I was in the choir we used to sing, Ivdu et Hashem besimha, bo'u lefanav birnana. These are words every Orthodox kid knows. They come from Psalms 100, and are recited every weekday as part of the morning prayer service. When I used to pray, I found them ironic. They tell us to serve God with happiness, but they always reminded me of the choir, and that always left me depressed.
As I grew older, I learned that this is what is called a trigger (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_trigger). What a horrible realization that was--the very invocation to be happy, especially when serving God, actually evoked one of the most traumatic events of my life. By extension, the very act of prayer becomes a trigger--the very kind of thing that survivors learn to avoid.
To put matters into perspective, prayer was one of the things that was stolen from me by those two animals. And there was much, much more--things that can never be returned.
As for the silence from the community, shetika kehoda'a (silence is the equivalent of admission). I regard the Jewish community's silence as their admission of what happened and, by extension, of their acceptance of what happened too.
You asked, How can we know that the charges are true? There is one simple way. Ask the perpetrators. Demand that they tell you the truth, regardless of the consequences. The truth will come out anyway. They will be recognized for what they did. Maybe by admitting it now, they can, at least, begin to show the first signs of remorse.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/torontopircheichoir
100 comments:
Choirs are perfect for true pedophiles who prefer pre-pubescent boys.
Another choir master of some repute and success, Shmuel Borger, director of Amudei Shaish, closed it without explanation, while it was quite successful. To this day, I cannot get any clear explanation for its closure.
This was a long time coming. People have known about this for years, but there was this conspiracy of silence in the Orthodox community. I congratulate the Toronto police for taking the necessary steps. At least it will bring some closure to the victims. I can only urge other victims to come forward and put an end to this ugly episode.
This is a ripple effect from Nussbaum, all it took was one. Now those that committed the crimes will pay for them.
Wow now Erlich he was also in the choir. I wonder if he and Heshy Nussbaum were working together on these poor kids. There must be dozens of victims from both of them.
There are dozens of victims. All I can say is that if you were a victim, speak up. If you know a victim, encourage them to speak up. If you don't feel the need to do it for yourself, do it for the sake of all the other victims, so many of whom have had this hanging over them for decades.
I am in Toronto and have looked all over for a source to this story. Have found nothing in the press or police reports.
We've all heard the rumors and they may be true, but there still needs to be some valid source before we commence destruction of a man and more importantly his family. On the web others are using UOJ as the source.
I sure hope the tail is not wagging the dog here.
Let me be clear here. No one is talking about "commenc[ing] the destruction of a man and [I agree] more importantly, his family." I believe that a press release is forthcoming, and it is only a matter of time.
At the same time, I wish you would consider the lives that were already destroyed because of what happened, even if it was so long ago. Those scars are real.
In my yeshiva days I learned that chataim bein adam lehaveiro, Yom Kippur eino mechaper" (Yom Kippur does not atone for sins between people). As one of the victims (yes, I said it), I cannot even begin to think of forgiveness unless there is a full public confession of what happened, not just to me, but to everyone else who was victimized. I expect that from both the perpetrators yimach shemam (may their names be erased) because only then will I be able to begin the process of yimach zichram (may the memory of them and what they did be erased).
When I was in the choir we used to sing, Ivdu et Hashem besimha, bo'u lefanav birnana. These are words every Orthodox kid knows. They come from Psalms 100, and are recited every weekday as part of the morning prayer service. When I used to pray, I found them ironic. They tell us to serve God with happiness, but they always reminded me of the choir, and that always left me depressed.
As I grew older, I learned that this is what is called a trigger (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_trigger). What a horrible realization that was--the very invocation to be happy, especially when serving God, actually evoked one of the most traumatic events of my life. By extension, the very act of prayer becomes a trigger--the very kind of thing that survivors learn to avoid.
To put matters into perspective, prayer was one of the things that was stolen from me by those two animals. And there was much, much more--things that can never be returned.
As for the silence from the community, shetika kehoda'a (silence is the equivalent of admission). I regard the Jewish community's silence as their admission of what happened and, by extension, of their acceptance of what happened too.
You asked, How can we know that the charges are true? There is one simple way. Ask the perpetrators. Demand that they tell you the truth, regardless of the consequences. The truth will come out anyway. They will be recognized for what they did. Maybe by admitting it now, they can, at least, begin to show the first signs of remorse.
...... and he is (was) my dentist !!
If it is true that leaders in the orthodox community knew about these crimes and conspired to conceal them, they are guilty of the worst complicity and deserving of punishment, be it criminal prosecution and/or civil law suits. This is similar to the Jerry Sanduski case in the States where the people who conspired in the silence, had heavy punishment meted out to them too.
These types of allegations are always a tragedy no matter how you look at it. There is no good outcome and we need to trust the legal system to attempt to find the truth.
If the allegations are true a young child(ren) was victimized and suffered a life of pain that will continue regardless of the outcome of a trial. If true the family of the alleged perpetrator are also victims and will face the pain of knowing that soemone they love and have looked up to all their life is actaully a sexual predator.
If false a innocent man's life has been ireversably destroyed. Those who love him will forever look at him differently. If false the alleged victim will face the shame of never being believed and will be treated as a crazy person who has made false allegations.
We have a legal system with all of its flaws but it is the only system we have and we have no choice but to place our trust in it. To assume an allegation is fact is foolishness just as it is foolish to assume that the victim is blatantly lying. The only fact that people like us can state with certainty is "WE DON'T KNOW". Instead of jumping to conclusions try to feel for all those involved that will now have their life ireversably altered. A tragedy for all.
dear eddie
ask in toronto all the members of the kol chaerim chior why they disbanded and if they thought there was some truth to the story
and then ask yourself when the rabbis in toronto knew about erlich and heshy and then ask yourself as i am tody why i ever gave aguda a dime
Dear Anonymous,
I don't know anything about why this choir disbanded years ago. I think it would be kind of ridiculious for me to inquire with choir memebers what they knew or didn't know. I think that is what police and prosecutors are for. Whatever the reason for a choir disbanding I am not sure how it brings proof of innocence or proof of guilt.
I have no knowledge about what rabbis in Toronto knew or didn't know 30 years ago.
Why this tragedy has anything to do with Agudah and why you regret giving them your dime I have no idea. This is a alleged crime against children that has no coonection to a organization or group. Those who hurt children unfortunately can be found in every walk of life disconnected from religion, career, affiliation etc.
You are so certain about what did or did not occur 30 years ago and who knew or didn't know. I once again say I DON'T KNOW.
There is so much wrong with what Eddie wrote that I feel it demands an answer.
He wrote: “If the allegations are true a young child(ren) was victimized and suffered a life of pain.” That is true. So far, five or six victims have come forward. Though we do not know who each other is, we are all middle aged men now (I am 49), who have carried this with us for most of our lives. It affected us—and the people who have not come forward—in many different ways, in varying degrees of severity, but rest assured that if we are willing to go to the police after all these years and reopen these old wounds, something of that pain still exists within us.
But then he wrote: “that will continue regardless of the outcome of a trial.” This is actually dismissive of the pain. Yes, there will be scars, but there are things we can do to alleviate that pain. Recognition by the community at large that we were victimized under their watch would help to alleviate that pain. An admission of guilt by the people responsible would help to alleviate that pain. Financial restitution for the damage caused by these monsters would help to alleviate the pain, and I am talking in very pragmatic terms, as I scrounge around trying to figure out how to pay for my next therapy session. The scars will persist, but the pain can be alleviated.
Then he wrote: “If true the family of the alleged perpetrator are also victims and will face the pain of knowing that someone they love and have looked up to all their life is actually a sexual predator.” This isn’t only painful to hear. It is pure chutzpah. This false moral equivalency goes to the very heart of the problem. The victims suffered, but so did the family of the perpetrator, so don’t punish the perpetrator? What about the victims’ families that also suffered, often without even knowing why their son displayed all the classic symptoms of victimhood? Even worse, however, it goes against the very justice system that Eddie seems to support. Don’t punish the murderer because it will affect his family. Is that too extreme? How about: Don’t punish the rapist because it will hurt his family? Yes, Eddie, we were raped, and comparing our suffering to the shame of the families of our rapists only makes the pain “that will continue regardless of the outcome of a trial” much worse.
And this is only in the “If true…” category. How completely dismissive of the five children who have come forward after all these years. And yet you go on to say, “If false…” as if it is just as valid to argue that all of us—and the many others who have not come forward—are lying. In other words, you are turning the tables and raising the possibility that we are the perpetrators and those two monsters are actually the victims. I advise you to do a quick Google search for “Victim blaming” and “secondary victimization.” As for my perspective on it: by aligning yourself with the perpetrators, you become one with the perpetrators.
And Eddie does align himself with the perpetrators. He wrote: “Instead of jumping to conclusions try to feel for all those involved that will now have their lives irreversibly altered.” No. Our lives were irreversibly altered some 35 years ago. Right now we are simply trying to take some of our humanity back. I for one will not let you deny me that.
Harvey Erlich used to come often late at night to the Ner Yisroel Toronto dormitory & hang around for hours with young boys of 14 & 15. One of the boys is today rosh chabura in Mir. The Menahel Rabbi Aaron Levine saw Erlich around but did nothing. Maybe Levine was negligent or maybe no one in those days would have imagined a dentist is a child molester. HOWEVER, Heshy Nussbaum is 1st cousin of Aaron's wife. How much did Levine know?
My friend told me that when he was in Ner Israel Harvey tried to jump into bed with him. My friend told him to get the f##k out. I will ask him once there are court proceedings if he would be a witness for the Crown. I heard Levine was crazy.
I agree with Danny and back him up 100%, both of us are victims that came forward.
Heshi has been arrested again on several more charges. More victims have come forward.
Both Heshi and Harvey worked together in the Choir. These cases are connected and there are countless victims from both of these criminals.
If there are any other victims that are still hesitating to come forward, please contact me at survivorofhn@gmail.com I can help you and explain the process in an anonymous and safe setting.
Survivor of HN
Eddie, maybe you don't know, but you can know. I can assure you that Eitz Chaim knew, because my family informed Eitz Chaim several years later, and nothing came of it. I can assure you the Agudah knows, because the following summer, the "rabbi" was suddenly removed as Head Counselor from Camp Agudah, and subsequently removed as a teacher from Eitz Chaim. It was at that time that the "rabbi's" wife left him. Of course, the Agudah also made sure to find him a job. Oh, and the "dentist's" name came up at that time too.
So yes, they knew. The real question for me now is not whether you know or not but whether you want to know.
Yerachmiel - Shmuel Borger had very serious financial problems at the time, which probably had something to do with closing the choir. He also had a successful simcha band, which he also closed. I never heard anything linking him to pedophilia.
Levine does have anger management issues. He is physically abusive. Threw boys down flights of stairs. The Ner janitor, a Greek named Chris, was also molesting. The cover story for firing him is that he was getting "too farshmoozed with the bochurim". In the '70s the bochurim called Levine "Squinty" for squinting & grimacing so hard to see who was on time for shacharis. Let's see how hard he squints when they drag his derriere into court.
BTW, I'm not personally shocked at the allegations, as I always heard rumours - I only would like to add that this is the 3rd arrest in our community in 5 months -
In addition I would like to state the Harvey does have a twin Brother named Eddie who could very well be the person on this blog defending his actions.
Unfortunately this has already happened and many of the affected parties have been suffering all their lives - may this be the start of some closure and give those other the courage to come forward.
To be clear I am not Harvey's twin brother and had no idea his twin brother is named Eddie. I simply chose that name randomly (obviously it is not my real name). I am just a simple no-one from Toronto who thinks that this is a horrible situation. I wonder if everyone realizes that they are just throwing around allegations without reason. We have a court system to deal with this matter and decide whether to allegations are real and what punishment is warranted. Realize that most of what people write are not what they know but what they think they know and what they have "heard". I choose to place my faith in the court system and accept whatever outcome comes about.
Eddie, I just want to be clear too. I am not simply throwing around allegations. I am one of those people who went to the police to describe my own experiences--not allegations--and when (if?) it goes to court, I will stand there, look those two things in the eye and say, "You did this." That is why I was also willing to use my full name here, instead of some internet moniker. I am no longer ashamed and no longer afraid.
As for allegations, if the community had looked into these allegations 30 years ago, perhaps there would be fewer victims. If the community had decided to help the victims and not just make sure that the "rabbi" (yimach shemo) had a parnasa once it was decided that he can no longer teach, perhaps the sadness and anger and frustration could have been resolved years ago. They did not.
I too put my faith in the court system. In fact, that is why I went to the courts, instead of to the rabbis. I am accusing these two men, but I am also accusing the community that allowed them to happen.
eddie you should be ASHAMED
this is not throwing around allegations
this is charged and victimes are coming forward
you can choose to have blinders on or you can choose to see how the coverup existed thu aguda eitz chayim rabbis and more
im sorry for harveys kids but i am not sorry that these allegations which will be proven true are now out
my regret is that we cant haul into court the enablers who protected him but maybe that day will come and you eddie will then say why did the victims come forward .
i think you need to post why you are protecting these people and not protesting the coverup and applauding those victims who have come forward to protect all the others.
you can stand with harvey and heshy and aguda and eitzchayim or stand with people who care about jewish children
Danny Wool,
are you the son or the nephew of the late Rabbi Wool? I vaguely remember a Danny Wool who I think was Rabbi Wool's nephew. And if you are the nephew, are you from Montreal or did you only go to yeshiva there?
Correct me if I'm wrong but what does Etz Chaim have to with this? I'm not aware of any any connection that Harvey Erlich has to them and Heshy Nussbaum was fired from his rebbe position there despite that his family founded the place. They did give Levine a fat cat position there when he was kicked out of Ner Yisroel.
I am jogging my memory trying to remember if Harvey was one of the big machers who came to the Sunday morning board meetings at Ner Yisroel with Rabbi Moishe Friedman.
Anonymous, I am the son of. I am from Toronto, but I left for Israel in 1981.
Dear Anonymous,
I am not ashamed of my view. I honestly applaud those who have come forward and have no doubt what tremendous bravery it takes to do so. I think that if it would be possible to bring to trail "enablers" that would be wonerful too. If people covered things up may they be convicted or accesory and go to jail too. I stand with no one. At the same time I truly embrace the principle of "innocent until PROVEN guilty". I cannot know the truth simply from what people say or write and therefore will accept the truth that comes form a trail and conviction or from an acquital. I have no truck or trade with Harvey, Heshi or anyone else. I am a simple no one who chooses to trust the law and the courts becasue tro do otherwise is to embrace the vigilantism of the third world. In halacha and in the secular courts we embrace the principle of "Innocent unitl proven guilty" and I have no choice but to hold fast to that principle. When the facts are proven / disproven and the alleged perpatrators are convicted or acquitted I will then be able to honestly say I now know the truth or at least the truth I am able to know. How can I know otherwise?
Although I was not abused myself by Heshi Nussbaum, some of my friends were. I remember going to Camp Agudah and having Heshi take his ubiquitous van with all the kids inside. He would give us turns steering the vehicle on the highway while we sat on his lap and he held our legs down (at that age, we could not reach the pedals). Everyone knew what was happening - even before it became full knowledge. He did act as mashgiach for COR at locations outside of T.O. I would warn all staff to beware of Heshi while I was there. His connections helped him get back into the good graces of the community. Heshi attended some kind of therapy in the States and he was rendered "cured". He was fully rehabilitated in the Agudah circles. Hashem should help all of his victims and give them the courage to put this creep away for good.
Eddie as in Eddie Goldberg? He was the dorm counselor in Ner Israel when Harvey was lurking around late at night but I think he would have broken Harvey in half if he knew there was any molesting going on.
To the former camper in Camp Agudah. What you are describing is exactly what I see as the problem. The community took steps to "rehabilitate" him, to find him work, and to make sure that he could eventually make his way back into the good graces of the community. During that entire time, NOTHING was done to help his victims. They were ignored.
As for Eddie, your argument is ridiculous and offensive. We should be quiet because he hasn't been convicted yet? If we had remained quiet, he would never have been charged in the first place. It's the silence that allowed this to go on in the first place.
Danny,
I have no idea how you concluded that from my words I am telling people to be quite or remain silent. That would be ridiculious. Of course people need to come forward but to accept (as a third party) that allegations are facts is impossible. I don't understand why you are taking anyone who is not willing to accept that allegations are established facts as being on one side or the other. As I third party who does not know the "truth" All I am saying is that I will wait for a verdict from a court before being able to say that they verifiably commited a crime. Why do you have a problem with people like me saying they I DO NOT KNOW and will not condemn anyone as a criminal until they are convicted? Keep talking and keep bringing people forward to make the case in a court of law but accept that people like me cannot decide based simply on allegations and will choose to wait till a competent court passes judgement.
Tickle me Elmo!
They should have funneled the payoff through YTT & Yonason Tendler, but Tendler's old digs in Sea Gate are currently washed out in the Atlantic.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/elmo-sex-accuser-paid-recant-report-article-1.1203699
Elmo puppeteer accuser was paid $125,000 to recant underage sex allegations: report
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9673177/Jimmy-Savile-engineered-his-TV-shows-to-abuse-children.html
Don't vorry about Harvey. Jim'll fix it!
heshi nussbaum was also sometimes around the dorm in ner in those days or rather late nights because his wacko son effy was attending the yeshiva. levine hates cousins heshi's & effy's guts but was probably forced to take him due to family pressure. effy was going around telling younger kids about graphic sexual fantasies. one of the freshies from yesodei hatorah snitched on him but effy was still allowed to stay. they finally turfed effy one day, i think it was because of an act of vandalism
and yuck, i remember levine calling out endearingly to his wife honey nussbaum as a high pitched honeeeeeey
There was no uniform cover up in Toronto. R' Shlomo Miller I've heard was warning people about Harvey being dangerous. There wasn't much else anyone could do until victims started mustering enough courage to go to the police.
The authorities in Toronto are feckless and a disgrace who are worse than the rabbis who covered up. Metro Police did nothing when child abusers at the Bobover cheder skipped the country to go back to Boro Park. Once the RCMP claimed to not be able to find someone. They just didn't feel like it as the perp was tracked down in 3 days time in Europe by a Toronto Star reporter. Toronto Child & Family Services covered up for a molester at a Sephardic shul. The "solution" was to ban him from the shul & get him a job at a COR bakery.
The Wall St Journal lambasted Metro Police for their handling of the Dovid Rosenzweig murder. They refused to classify it as a hate crime even though the killer had a clearly anti-Semitic motive & screamed "he's a rabbi" while plunging a 12 inch knife into Rosenzweig hyd.
"Anonymous said...
Although I was not abused myself by Heshi Nussbaum, some of my friends were."
I urge you to speak with your friends. Please tell them to go forward, it will help them heal and get some justice. They may seem fine to you, trust me they are not. I was the first one to come forward, it wasn't easy. Because this happened with them in Camp Agudah they may have knowledge of many of the enablers that covered things up. It was in Camp Agudah that someone went forward to the Rabbis. Then it was covered up. The community needs to be held accountable for what they did. Please have your friends contact me at survivorofhn@gmail.com I can help them through the process with the police.
Survivor of HN
This is how a responsible organization handles sexual assault by authority figures.
This is the email that was sent out to the membership of Shaarei Shomayim. Did the Agudah or Eitz Chaim ever send something like this out? I doubt it, they had to cover it up. It makes me proud that I was an active member of Sharrei Shomayim during my youth.
An Important Memo from the President
Dear,
Yesterday we were contacted by Toronto Police Services advising that Harvey Erlich, a former choir teacher at Shaarei Shomayim, was arrested on two sexual assault related charges involving two boys ages 11 and 13 between the years 1975 and 1980. The police have not revealed their identities. The police have reported that one of the incidents is alleged to have occurred at the synagogue.
We are taking this matter very seriously and are cooperating fully with the Toronto Police. This matter is currently before the courts.
We are communicating with you to notify you of this situation, and request that if you have any knowledge regarding these allegations to please come forward and contact the Toronto Police at 416-808-3200.
As a community, we are deeply saddened by this news and our thoughts and prayers go out to those who may have been affected.
Shabbat Shalom.
President
Survivor of HN
Written by a blogress named Dina:
Did you know that at the Hachnasos Kallah Dinner, they actually produced a journal profusely thanking Heshi Nussbaum!? I was there. I saw it! I have the journal! They thanked Heshi for all his help, delivering flowers, etc. etc. They actually printed a journal where Heshi is praised and lavished with kavod and recognition. They're not even embarrassed to put it in writing. What a punch in the face to all the victims. How sick is this community?
What if the Toronto Agudah rov R' Moishe Mordche Lowy learned in Telz at the same time as YOB's Shloyma Mandel?
Danny Wool, I have seen you elsewhere blog an attack on Shneur Weinberg. How exactly is he complicit in the Nussbaum scandal? He fired Nussbaum if anything. In the late '70s early '80s I don't think there was such a concept yet as Toronto Police arresting someone because a student said he was tickled or groped. It wasn't even that long ago in the '50s & maybe even '60s that you could assault someone by punching the daylights out of them and Toronto Police would not press any charges.
Shmarya is rallying to the defense of the convicted Great Neck Friedman molesters but only because an orthodox doctor named Pelcovitz was involved with the alleged victims. Shmarya completely ignores that a Federal Circuit Court judge criticized the overzealousness of the lower court judge, police & prosecutor. The Federal judge did not even criticize Pelcovitz or any other doctor but Shmarya would have you believe Pelcovitz is the only villain in the story of the yet unproven wrongful convictions.
Shmarya gets a vantz up his crack anytime he smells an orthodox Jew within 50 miles.
I don't want to get into all the details of my issues with Weinberg, but suffice it to say that he knew even before the predator was fired. So did many other people on the school's board, but they simply chose to ignore it.
My greatest complaint is with the community that covered it up and made efforts to help that particular perpetrator by finding him a job, etc. In that time, however, under his watch, what was done by Eitz Chaim to help the kids who were hurt? They were abandoned and left to fend for themselves, each in their own way.
I challenge him and all the surviving members of the Eitz Chaim administration of that time (as well as the administrations of Agudah, etc.) to come out with a public statement along these lines:
"Yes, we knew. When it was confirmed beyond any doubt, we took the appropriate steps given the era in which it occurred, but we could have done more, and we should have done more. We can still do more. We must take a lesson from the Mishna in Sotah 9:6), which asks: Vechi al da'ateinu alta sheziknei beit din shofchei damim hem? (Can we imagine that the elders of the court had spilled blood?). The Mishna answers yes, because they did not do enough. Here too, we did not do enough, and require atonement (from God) and forgiveness (from the victims) for that."
That would be a start.
We are not talking about tickling or groping, the victims were sexually molested. There is no excuse whether it is the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and so on. During the late 70's the police would take a crime like this seriously and if I am the wrong then the Rabbi's should have.
Survivor of HN
Danny, you have already identified yourself so why not put on the table your issues with Rabbi Shneur K. Weinberg. I always wonder when I hear old Eitz Chaim boys attacking him. He was hated by many but I'm not sure how justified the hatred is. A lot of it might stem from immaturity. I will admit that whenever he punished me he was doing his job because I misbehaved and he was not harsh about it. I do question his judgement of keeping certain inappropriate & physically abusive figures on staff like "Rabbi" Azagury. And he may have been covering up for "Rabbi" Rand although they were both eventually let go too. I say may because Rand was a good liar who may have fooled him. Weinberg & his prized son in law Kestenbaum can be very rude at times to old talmidim and maybe their relationship with Levine was very close, but what are the facts? There was a scandal at Ner with the son of a Weinberg mechutan which was not covered up. Granted that episode was handled by Rabbi Friedler before Levine could get his hands on it.
Rand, Kestenbaum, and Levine were all after my time, so I know nothing about them. Like I said, people knew before they were put in a situation where they had no choice but to take action against the "rabbi." At least one more person--and likely more--was assaulted because of their inaction.
http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet/flash.html
Once in a while the menahel Shlomo Jacobovits would waddle in doing his penguin waltz and interrupt an assault in progress in the middle of an Eitz Chaim shiur room but he was too aloof to catch on.
What about Aaron Levine's slap happy brother Malcolm Levine? Is he still slapping the boys up at Eitz Chaim?
There are so many weird personalities and interconnected associations between Eitz Chaim & Ner Yisroel. Friedman & Jacobovits were both thrown out of the house by their wives so they moved into an apartment together.
Moshe Friedman is incidentally best friends with ex-BAYT rabbi Baruch Taub who is related to a mega thief named Pinter and allegedly covered up for child molesters starting with Baruch Lanner at NCSY to Amram Bendahan & Harvey Eherlich at the BAYT. Taub is a BT who attended Ner Yisroel Baltimore & Chaim Berlin, which are really good places to get grounded in these sort of things.
"Taub is a BT who attended .. Chaim Berlin"
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
Happy Feet
It's interesting what you are saying about certain people. One of the people you named was a Youth Director at Shaarei Shomayim while Harvey was involved with the choir. I knew him, he didn't seem to be much of a threat, but then again none of them ever seem to be.
I hope those that actaully wish to be taken seriously by people in the community and by the authorities understand that hip style machine gun character assasination does very little for their credibility. This blog is focused on the alleged crimes of H. Nussbaum and H. Erhlich. Why would you not want to ensure that it stays that way and that the focus stays onm the alleged victims?
How we have moved to M. Freidman (Now he is a bad man because he got divorced?), A. Bendahan (ridiculious!!) and a man convicted of mortgage fraud named Pinter (what connection to these alleged crimes can he possibly have?) is beyond me. Who next??? People throw out named with inuendo / supposition and you all wonder why normal people take what is written her sceptically? What does all that have to do with the alleged perpatrators and the alleged victims? The average person reading what is written here will likely conclude that people here are a bit nuts and that what is written here cannot be taken seriously. At the end of the day that ultimately does the biggest disservice to the alleged victims...the people that people here claim to want to help.
by the way pinter has been in jail twice and has used his connections to help molesters
he is fair game
eddie in my book anyone who helps coer up molestation is guilty
myname will be in the know
"Malcolm Levine? Is he still slapping the boys up at Eitz Chaim?"
Vhat's wrong vit dat? A little (or not so little) frask a heen ind a her is git far chinuch.
This post should be kept up on top for a while.
Which molesters did Pinter help?
Eddie, just admit it already that you are a planted shill & advocate for Toronto's embattled pedophiles.
Stop pretending that you have no clue that Bendahan has a criminal record in Georgia and fled Florida for England when the FBI learned of his presence in the Miami area.
I don't know about the "average" person, but smart people are on to the game that you B.S. artists in the "establishment" have been getting away with. Do a shidduch with Leib Pinter because the businessmen at Artscroll & other shysters have manufactured a veneer of righteousness for the scumbag who cannot stop stealing $100,000,000s and even sold treif meat sandwiches to Jews when he saw there was money in it. Just send your sons to Brisk and that's what "average" people think are choshuv. You can tell what someone is by his mechutonim & friends. Both Baruch Taub and Aaron Levine did shidduchim with crooks and moneyed ones at that as they did a great job of picking pockets and ruining lives.
What's "nuts" is that it's lowlives like you who & your associates who invite kitrug and you are indeed fooling the "average" people.
Before the yeshiva position in his hometown Toronto, A. Levine was many years ago a rabbi in Long Branch, New Jersey when Baruch Lanner was already with NCSY there. I wonder if Lanner ever operated out of Levine's shul. Baruch Taub was the head of NCSY overseeing Lanner before Joe Tannenbaum made him rabbi of the fledgling community in Thornhill north of Toronto city limits.
Leib Pinter is currently in jail for the 2nd time serving a 15 year sentence. He almost went to jail another time in between but the FBI could not absolutely prove that he was behind the heist of his own jewelry store. When Pinter's "kidnapped" shutaf came to "bentch Hagomel" in the shtiebel of the Kozover Rebbe in Flatbush, the oylam was convinced it was brocho levotolo becuase the kidnapping was staged so they booed & hissed him while he was at the sefer Torah. There are still other shenanigans Pinter was involved in that are too stomach turning to get into.
on the lighter side of things it would be really funny if moish friedman was getting free dental work from harvey. i don't want to elaborate but for those of you who know the inner workings of his relationship with the yeshiva board members, you must be rotfl.
on the other hand, one of harvey's former patients has blogged about harvey being the dentist from hell who butchered his mouth to milk insurance, so maybe it's not so funny after all
Shlomo Jacobovits is brother of Lord Rabbi Dr. Emmanuel, Knight & former Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. The choshuvah rabbonim in England would walk out of the room when he walked in.
A full investigation needs to be conducted of Amram Bendahan's movements in Toronto. What was he up to in the early days at Shaarey Shamayim and the Moroccan shuls he was hanging around? When he escaped back from Atlanta, did Rabbi Taub in fact lie to the FBI as alleged that Bendahan had "died"? Rabbi Taub has the BAYT board mesmerized so that they will not even consider that anything bad could have happened.
It's also too much of a coincidence that Taub's former associates from NCSY were covering up for Bendahan as well as round 2 of Baruch Lanner in Florida, which continues.
The original topic here is Paysach Krohn doing a procedure that the gedolei Eretz Yisroel say possels both the bris milah & the mohel from doing milah again. The poskim of Boro Park Hatzoloh banned Krohn from speaking at their events after they were shown proof on video.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2011/06/paysach-krohn-professional-of-botched.html?showComment=1353218090334#c5339404017985070904
Es passt that Krohn was allowed to speak at the Agudah convention with all the Esav style fressing going on there. It's midas Esav to draw blood sheloi kehoigen & it's midas Esav to fress azoi vee meh fresst bei Agudah convention.
In Brisk they say over that you see in gantz Tanach & Shas, the word haleetaini used in two different contexts. One context is like a camel opening wide to be shovel fed a sach essen becuase it's too lazy to exert any effort. The other context is to slowly eat a small amount of food to savor it. The Toirah uses a word having both contexts because Esav was a za baal tayvahnik & fresser that he was alternating between both kinds of fressing.
Anonymous/Scoreboard...L. Pinter was jailed twice for his actions and might even have staged his own store hiest (of course that would just be an unsubstantiated allegations) but to state "L. Pinter used his connections to help molesters" is just a bunch of BS. The only connection he has to Toronto is that his daughter married R Taub's son. The convictions for his misbehavior /fraud came years after the shidduch. This all has nothing to do with HN or HE and why you even bother bringing up this guy is beyond me. All you do is make youselves look ridiculious shooting at everyone you can think of. If you think this adds credibility to HN or HE's alleged victims you are completely out to lunch. In fact it does the opposite.
I am very serious...Planted shill? advocate for embattled pedophiles? Once agin such silliness just takes away from the credibility of HN and HE's alleged victims and makes the average person more sceptical. If you knew who I was you would know that such accusations of being an advocate for pedophiles or even part of the "establishment" is just laughable and insane...Obviously with the shoot from the hip nonesense here most sane people would never post under their realname otherwise they would be tarred and feather by people like you in 15 minutes. Bendahan has/had a warrant in Georgia for unpaid child support not child molestation. To try to imply that this is the case is misleading. Statement like those further undermines the credibility of those who need it right now. Trying to tar R.Taub because of his mechutan is silly. If you have a problem or personalm issue with R. Taub that is fine and well but still it has nothing to do HN or HE's alleged victims and trying to bring him into this just once again makes you look crazy.
Clarke Ave...A Bendahan was in Toronto nearly 20+ years ago and there were no claims made about him that were negative at that time. If you think a full investigation of his movements need to be conducted by all means I wish you luck heading up such an investigation. Looking forward to the expose. He was hired by the board consisting of many many shul members(not R. Taub who could not hire or fire anyone in the shul) and came with strong recommendations. He was choosen after a serious search process was conducted and was the best out of the candidates presented to the board. I was a teenager at that time and he was a great Youth Director by m,ost people's recollection. The shul let him go simply because it could not afford a full time Youth Director and went without one for many many years after A. Bendaham left simply due to financial constraints. If you think R Taub had a close relationmship with A. Bendahan then you are so in fantasy land it is laughable. For anyone who remembers that time it was not a close realtionship at all between the two. In any case to make a silly claim that R. Taub told the FBI that A. Bendaham died is just nonsensicle and without foundation. If you have a source for such a claim please share. Once again making such crazy claims without any foundation makes the credibility of those on this site and especially those that are the alleged victims questionable. There is more then enough horrible things to examine about the alleged crimes of HN and HE that going of on a conspiratorial adventure leading to L. Pinter and A. Bendaham distracts from the real issue. What crazy claim will come next?
To Eddie,
I don't know who you are, or where you grew up, but your whole attitude toward this disgusting stain on the Toronto religious community, is beyond disturbing.
Most fair minded people also believe in 'innocent until proven guilty'. However, these two sickos and their perverted behavior were completely open secrets in the Toronto religious community from the early 1970's on. Despite my (thankfully) being female, I remember clear as day hearing about Heshy, as well as Harvey. These predators were notorious pedophiles, discussed by many, and often, over decades...
One of the worst things about hearing of Heshy's arrest this summer, is that it came as absolutely no surprise at all. I remember as a child hearing that Heshy was fired from his position at Eitz Chaim because he liked to 'touch boys on their underwear'. What did I know as a 10 year old what that meant?! As a grown woman and mother, I am sickened at how it was accepted so matter-of-fact.
Why do I recall so clearly and with such conviction? Because his wife - who left him when the scandal broke - was my teacher at the time. Additionally, as a child, I attended the Agudah with my family, where I remember Heshy remaining a revered member of the Kehila, while at the same time, hearing how he likes to touch little boys. Also, Heshy was one of the most dynamic and popular teachers at Eitz Chaim at the time, and it was extremely curious, even from a 10 yr old's vantage point, why a teacher as 'loved' as he, could be fired, and his wife leave him. No-one in TO at the time DIDN'T know.
I applaud and support those who have come forward. How scary and painful it must be to relive such trauma so many decades later.
Special note to Danny Wool. Kol Hakovod to you for stating your name, which will hopefully embolden more victims such as yourself, to come forward.
So Eddie, please stop pouring pounds of salt on the still gaping wounds of all Heshy and Harvey's victims. Stop doubting that their molestations occurred, just because a court of justice has yet to declare it so. Think how hard it must have been for them to come forward,no only to the police, but to their wives and children. People don't do such things; decades later, unless they are seeking to heal from very serious and very real trauma.
Please lay off the victims, and stop giving at least in these forums) pedophiles the benefit of the doubt.
Former Torontonian
To Eddie,
I don't know who you are, or where you grew up, but your whole attitude toward this disgusting stain on the Toronto religious community, is beyond disturbing.
Most fair minded people also believe in 'innocent until proven guilty'. However, these two sickos and their perverted behavior were completely open secrets in the Toronto religious community from the early 1970's on. Despite my (thankfully) being female, I remember clear as day hearing about Heshy, as well as Harvey. These predators were notorious pedophiles, discussed by many, and often, over decades...
One of the worst things about hearing of Heshy's arrest this summer, is that it came as absolutely no surprise at all. I remember as a child hearing that Heshy was fired from his position at Eitz Chaim because he liked to 'touch boys on their underwear'. What did I know as a 10 year old what that meant?! As a grown woman and mother, I am sickened at how it was accepted so matter-of-fact.
Why do I recall so clearly and with such conviction? Because his wife - who left him when the scandal broke - was my teacher at the time. Additionally, as a child, I attended the Agudah with my family, where I remember Heshy remaining a revered member of the Kehila, while at the same time, hearing how he likes to touch little boys. Also, Heshy was one of the most dynamic and popular teachers at Eitz Chaim at the time, and it was extremely curious, even from a 10 yr old's vantage point, why a teacher as 'loved' as he, could be fired, and his wife leave him. No-one in TO at the time DIDN'T know.
I applaud and support those who have come forward. How scary and painful it must be to relive such trauma so many decades later.
Special note to Danny Wool. Kol Hakovod to you for stating your name, which will hopefully embolden more victims such as yourself, to come forward.
So Eddie, please stop pouring pounds of salt on the still gaping wounds of all Heshy and Harvey's victims. Stop doubting that their molestations occurred, just because a court of justice has yet to declare it so. Think how hard it must have been for them to come forward,no only to the police, but to their wives and children. People don't do such things; decades later, unless they are seeking to heal from very serious and very real trauma.
Please lay off the victims, and stop giving at least in these forums) pedophiles the benefit of the doubt.
Former Torontonian
Bendahan was also leader of the orthodox minyan in the basement of Shaarei Shamayim as Shaarei Shamayim was not yet orthodox in those days with their microphone & non-kosher mechitzah.
There was incidentally a house back then that backed on to Shaarei Shamayim's parking lot that was converted into a cheder for the Tosh Chassidim. There were notorious beatings of children there that left them scarred for life. We are talking about little bodies covered in black & blue bruises and serious injuries.
What does jailbird Leib Pinter have going on with Nosson Scherman that his kids & Taub's kids have major paying jobs at Artscroll? This is on top of the howler that Artscroll continues to publish & distribute the "musser sefer" of the incarcerated thief who used his connections to get into the Otisville satellite division of Sing Sing, the most luxurious prison in the country.
Thank you Eddie for finally tripping over yourself to show just what a fraud you are.
Pinter's most infamous crimes as everyone knows led to his imprisonment in the 1970s. You are a liar for pretending his criminal record is something new.
Pinter pulled off a multi-million fraud against the Federal government. It shook the highest levels all the way to the Oval Office. A Senator who Pinter bribed also went to prison. Several members of the frum community were locked up because they refused to squeal. Pinter was not human being enough to admit to his crimes so that these innocent men could go back to their families. Pinter was investigated by Congress for the treif sandwiches he sold to Jewish public school children labeled "kosher".
Pinter and his entire extended family including Rabbi Taub's son are currently under investigation for money laundering through Pinter's Bikovsker Kollel. You see, the massive mortgage fraud of which Federal investigators have not yet finished sorting through all the shell companies has not yet come to a final tally. In the meantime, most of the foreclosures of poor people in Brooklyn & Queens were used as a vehicle for Pinter to line his pockets. How "endearing" this makes Klal Yisroel to everyone. What makes Eddie want so badly to be cast with the lot of these scoundrels?
Even "Moshiach" can't save Leib Pinter. His wife is a cousin of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, something that they never advertise.
Scoreboard...If I was incorrect about when L. Pinter went to jail I apologize. All the same this is irrelevant to the topic of HN, HE and their allegaed victims. From what I knew the convictions and jail sentence came well after the shidduch but maybe I was mistaken. Within the context of this blog...who cares? Sadly there are currently Yeshivas of people in Jail for various crimes one of which is L. Pinter. You can go on an on about the various misdeeds of men like L. Pinter and their crimes but at the end of the day this has nothing to do with HN or HE and their victims. If you want to go on and on about men like L. Pinter then start a blog about fraud and finciancial crimes in the Jewish community especially as you seem to know alot about him, his extended family, where they work, who they know, congressional hearings into sandwiches, the Oval Office, etc etc etc. Have fun but trying to make a connection to what is the topic at hand (child sex abuse) seems rather ridiculious.
Hey dray kop, aka Eddie,
It's all interconnected. Corrupt rabbis both cover for molesters and cozy up to ganovim, in fact do shidduchim with them, so they can share in their ill gotten money pots.
And they keep the colossal fraud going so they can keep profiting off it and maintaining the kovod they generate for themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L09qnRfZY-k
Movin' on up ... they finally got a piece of the (stolen) pie!
Eddie is just soooo impressed by rabbis who know how to deliver eloquent sounding sermons on Shabbos morning. Too bad that child molester Baruch Lanner's protectors in the rabbinate do not have real Torah values.
Rabbi Baruch Taub - Leib Pinter
Rabbi Rafi Butler - the Spongetech scandal on Wall St & the money trail through various non-profits
Rabbi Steven Weil - look into his history in Detroit & Beverly Hills where he steamrolled anyone who was a political threat before the vote came up for his contract
Eddie tries to embody letzonus echad docheh meah tochachos.
Eddie, keen on protecting his buddies, starts making snide remarks that pursuing justice and or taking a moral stand is just a bunch of silly people "having fun".
Your attempts to shut down the conversation are as worthy as the treif baloney in Pinter's sandwiches.
Danny, you once spoke to my Eitz Chaim class around 1988 about your experience in the IDF and the accident with your eye. I thought you were a hero then, but I didn't realize just what sort of tzadik-hero you truly are. I never forgot your dedication and I never will.
Thanks for having the courage to come forward to expose the sleaze. Courageous people like you make schools and camps safe for the next generation. God bless.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsqt0y_harveys-makes-your-hamburger-a-beautiful-thing-1984_shortfilms#.UKsK7-Q8B8E
Maybe is there is a more direct connection from Pinter to Harvey lol. Isn't Harvey also known for treif sandwiches?
i know the type in bayt that form the personality cult around rabbi taub. they refuse to think about any questions or inconsistencies that arise. they brush off as impossible that anyone tolerated by the rabbi could be a molester. these people love themselves and thrive off being sycophants to rabbi taub because they think it builds their own respectability & prestige.
pathetic!
rabbi taub was also head of cor that employs heshy nussbaum as mashgiach
Danny Wool, in case there is any confusion, I don't think the comment about "Rabbi" Rand is referring to the current Exec VP Rabbi Dan Rand. I think it is referring to the Sadigura chossid "Rabbi" Rand who taught 7th grade in Eitz Chaim many years ago. I assume there is no relation between the two men. The earlier Rand could not find a rebbe position after Eitz Chaim terminated him so he became an English teacher of all things, which as absurd as that is, was only possible at Yesodei Hatorah before Borenstein was ousted by the board. The earlier Rand had a signature form of abuse whereby he dragged boys from their desks on to the floor as he twisted their arm and then proceeded to stomp their still twisted arm & torso with his stocky legs. There has been a blogger who is on that case who calls himself Twistleton Stompleton. Rand was a fanatic who pushed his brand of hashkafa that can be described as a cross between Satmar and an immature juvenile. He was quick to cover up his outbursts when they reached the ears of the parents & Rabbi Weinberg. Rabbi Weinberg for sure suspected something was amiss. It's not clear & there's no proof if there was an initial cover up on his part as well.
All of that was after my time. After leaving Eitz Chaim, I tried to have very little to do with the school, even though my family was still involved. After leaving Toronto, I had very little to do with the community. I think it is fairly common for abuse victims to turn their backs on the communities, just as the communities turned their backs on them.
Believe it or not, Eitz Chaim actually had a case of a rebbe abused by a student. A big fat Morroccan oaf in Grade 8 was acting up by shacharis so when Rabbi Lurie tried to stop him he tossed Rabbi Lurie into a closet, causing the shelves to collapse & bury poor Rabbi Lurie under an avalanche of siddurim. Several rabbis pounced on the oaf and dragged him out. Don't remember if he was expelled or just suspended for 2 weeks.
There was a large fraud ring arrested a couple of years ago by the RCMP. They haven't been put on trial yet. The ringleader is Sidney Lugassy who was in Eitz Chaim in Heshy Nussbaum's days.
Jefferson...You are trying to make conections that are not actually there. Making conspiracy story type of interconnectedness makes you look silly and sound like a kook. Inuendo is not fact.
Birds of a feather said...Are you trying to blame Baruch Lanner's abuse on those who he worked with in the same organization. I am sure you are aware that abusers are masters at hiding themselves and it is ridiculious to assume that other's knew what he did.
Anonymous...I am not trying to shut down the conversation and none of these people you mention are my "buddies". I am just pointing out where people are confusing baseless defamtion and unsubstantiated inuendo about people who have no connection to HE, HN or their alleged vitims with actual facts. I also think such baseless commetns do not serve any purpose within the context of what this page is really about...child abuse.
Atkinson...Rabbi Taub was never the head of the COR. The COR is affilaited with CJC/UJA. Feel free to check for yourself (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsqt0y_harveys-makes-your-hamburger-a-beautiful-thing-1984_shortfilms#.UKsK7-Q8B8E). It is ok that you have distain for Rabbi Taub but at least defame him accurately and honestly.
Atkinson...I mistakenly added the wrong link . Here is the correct one.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COR)
Interconnectedness is very real and prevelant. It is not limited to Toronto. Molester advocate Yisroel Belsky is always lining his pockets with dirty money. Incest advocate Moshe Green does the same thing. He was put in cherem after he took a lot of money to challenge the legitimate get on behalf of a major financial supporter. (Belsky needs no introduction and the list is too long). The examples are almost endless in our community as we move further away from Har Sinai and the Torah that was given there.
Eddie is a fool if he thinks he can just whitewash over Lanner's bosses at OU-NCSY. They were all kicked out of the organization (for appearance sake anyway) after they were found guilty by forensic investigators as outlined in the Joel Report. Ironically, it was Moses Tendler who gave the psak to terminate all these rabbis for protecting Lanner when it later emerged his brother & two sons are also molesters.
Taub was head of the Vaad Harabbanim of Toronto with is also a COR & CJC affiliate and which makes all the important decisions at the COR. They are in effect the COR.
Good chance that "Eddie" is the son of Rabbi Taub who is both an Artscroll author and a lawyer. Whoever "Eddie" is, his writing style isn't bad and he sure obfuscates like a slimy liar, I mean lawyer.
eddie itunfortunately its all interlinked
pinter belsky butler lanner schmeltczer ( now at torah temima ) ou aguda and webberman from willy all abused or covered up for abusers or serial gropers
nussbaum ehrlich are tips of the iceberg all the rabbis who heard the rumors for yeaRS by the way and did n othing
are guilty of lo saamod al dam reieicha
wherther your rabbi taubs son or not is irrelevant Taub knew about rumors on harvey and never investigated
Rafael Butler invoked the Nuremberg Defense that an "adam gadol" told him not to do anything about Lanner. His loser friends in the rabbinate including very high up officials in the RCA have no hesitation to repeat Butler's tripe in his defense. They act as though it is a normal line of defense, despite that it goes against written RCA policy and is straight from the Nazis trying in vain to save themselves from the gallows.
Is Margo insane? Why would he want Shmeltzer who already has rumors following him?
http://www.cjnews.com/canada/kashrut-agency-denies-coercion-labour-case
The Kashruth Council of Canada is defending itself against allegations that it’s pressuring a group of mashgichim to give back money it was ordered to pay them by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
On Aug. 16, a ministry inspection found that over a five-month period in 2011, the Kashruth Council, which oversees the COR kosher symbol, had violated the Employment Standards Act with respect to minimum wage, public holiday pay, vacation time, work hours, and public holidays.
One mashgiach, who spoke to The CJN but asked not to be identified, said he was cautioned by a friend not to sign the document: “Who knows what you’re signing?”
He said Kashruth Council staff then paid him a visit at work. “They surrounded me, they pulled out my [unsigned waiver]” and others’ signed forms. “They’re showing me this one, this one, ‘You know him? Why don’t you sign?’” They left, saying, “‘I hope you’ll do the right thing,’ [but later, called] me back: ‘We’re still waiting.’”
The intensity of those demands seemed disproportionate to him. “Something must… be up if they really want my signature. That’s the scary part... They’re saying I’m the only one that didn’t sign. They’re really desperate ... ”
Taub's son, the lawyer & Artscroll mechaber. His wife ran away from him taking the 6 kids saying he was emotionally & psychologically abusive. The Taubs had the rabbonim in their pocket so they gave the wife a hard time. Taub then hooked up with that dumb putz pro-molester shrink Shimon Russell who had a really bad strategy in as far as protecting Taub so the rabbonim finally believed the wife.
This Taub's ex-brother in law is Lakewood child molester & registered sex offender Yehuda Oratz who was a talmid of Yudi Kolko.
Taub is not the only Leib Pinter mechutan. There is also Tress ...
And what does UOJ think of Artscroll describing Mike Tress's fundraising prowess that he got Berel Belsky to sell his car for Hatzolah funds?
Eddie could very well be Eddie G., Periodontist, trying to be the 'voice of reason'... so used to cover up for Harvey Erlich's dental crimes, referred to him (by Erlich.) Eddie G. would try to salvage the salvageable, while profiting from these referrals. Shocked by the news about Erlich, he must have searched the net and posted the original (and subsequent) posts.
I believe that Dr Harvey Erlich is driven by a compulsion for which there is no known effective treatment. He has in him great kindness which often extends to the giving of himself to others. This is clear to see from his many acts of kindness and charity and his many good deeds. But Harvey had long ago extended his giving nature into areas of transgression in the most giving domain of sexuality. I believe that when he assaulted me 30 years ago that in some twisted understanding only known to him it was almost as if he was gifting me a sexual act. I feel Harvey still has little comprehension of why he should not have conducted himself in such a manner. But being in a society we have safeguards in place. We have laws which both from Biblical injunction and by social construct function to moderate and to protect people fron being damaged and even those inclined to transgress from also damaging themselves. Harvey needed to be secured. I have learned that his homosexual proclivities were common knowledge as early along as while Harvey was still attending Ner Israel Yeshiva. And almost no-one from then until now did any more than mutter in secrecy. I became a victim to Harvey because many in the Toronto Jewish community and many of its leaders did not do their duty and protect me from Harvey. And they chose to leave Harvey to his own vices and by turning aside they failed to protect Harvey from himself. He was allowed to be actively involved with the Jewish Education Progam. He used their shabbas placement list to get to young men. Harvey was active in Aish Hatorah both in Toronto and in Israel where he continued his presuits. It is with deeply mixed emotions that I experience this new phase in the dirty secret relationship we have that Harvey forced upon me.
It is with me every day. And I am grateful to the one who first went to the police and to Danny Wool. I hope we can talk one day.
Harvey ... was allowed to be actively involved with the Jewish Education Progam
JEP was formerly a subsidiary of the Agudah. And do you know why the Agudah legally separated themselves from JEP even as they continued to fund it for years afterward? (The funding too was cut recently for different reasons).
It's because the Lanner scandal spooked the heck out of the Agudah when they saw the OU was on the hook for crimes at the NCSY subsidiary.
The questions begs, who did the Agudah know was molesting inside JEP that they were afraid of the Lanner effect?
One of the rabbis in charge of Aish Toronto is brother in law of Nosson Dovid Rabinowich, a modern Chaim Berliner wearing a short suit who bills himself the Partzever Rebbe in Flatbush. I hope Aish doesn't use the madrich "written" by Rabinowich for beginners to learn the Talmud because it was proven that Rabinowich plagiarized the sefer from an obscure Reform rabbi in 1800s Germany. Dayanim & poskim say there is a chiyuv to publicize what Rabinowich did because it is forbidden to use the sefer.
The Aish movement overall has some sketchy hashkofos & practices that some American roshei yeshiva were on to & were trying to demonstrate to Rav Schach ztl what Aish are really doing. Aish did a good job of keeping things under the radar until Rav Schach passed away.
Not everything Aish does in the name of making BTs is "kosher". This may surprise a lot of people in Toronto and even among not very informed NY yeshiva circles.
As Harvey is 58 years old, he would have started high school at Ner Toronto sometime around 1969 or 1970. That is smack dab in the middle of all the turmoil with R' Yaakov Weinberg & the student rebellion. Rav Weinberg fled to Baltimore, and Toronto was completely cut off by Baltimore as Rav Weinberg accused the board of siding with rebellious students. Even when Toronto then went under Lakewood's wing (at least in name) and got a new rosh yeshiva from Breuer's, the yeshiva remained in a state of chaos for many years. It was the only Charedi yeshiva in the world that had large numbers of mechalalei Shabbos among the student body then numbering 400. Bochurim were openly bringing TVs to watch pornography on Shabbos night. (Canadian regulators allow porn on regular TV during late weekend hours). There were bochurim involved in grand theft auto in the surrounding area. There were bochurim hooking up with girls from the Mizrachi high school to have sex, presumably without mikva. It would come as no surprise if there were also gay escapades. There were Lakewood kollel members who considered taking rebbe positions in the yeshiva who were warned by gedolim at the time that Ner Yisroel Toronto has a "bad reputation". It took almost a decade to clean up the mess. They overreacted in doing so in the form of an improper menahel who way overstepped his bounds & abused his power.
JWB recently dug this up from archives:
Student Rabbi expelled for 'causing unrest'
Toronto Star (Canada), Sat., May 31, 1969 p.6
An American student has been expelled from Ner Israel Yeshiva College on Finch Ave. for allegedly causing unrest among studentd at the associated Ner Israel high School on the same campus.
Faculty president Rabbi J. S. Weinberg said Joseph Markin, 22, a visiting student was "out permanently" for "deliberately provoking younger students into feeling that injustices had been done before discussing the matter with me."
Markin studying to become a rabbi, said he was accused of instigating a protest demonstration last Wednesday. He said he knew about the protest but did not suggest it or take part.
Rabbi Weinberg denied that there had been a demonstration, but said some people had tried to cause trouble. A mimeographed list of "abuses" by Rabbi Weinberg, including staff changes, was circulated at the high school and the college.
The rabbi said a high school student had been "interrogated against his will." He said he was taking disciplinary action against those responsible.
(NAME REMOVED), 16, a high school student, said he was assaulted by two college students seeking names of those behind the protest.
(NAME REMOVED) said he and 14 other students were suspended for a day on Wednesday morning to prevent them from holding the protest. Rabbi Weinberg said 15 students were suspended for oversleeping and missing morning prayers.
This Joseph Markin went on to become a lawyer & municipal politician. He temporarily left Toronto in 1976 to go to a NY yeshiva to obtain the semicha that he could not complete in Ner Yisroel. He opened Toronto's kosher wine store La Kerem in 1986.
http://www.lsuc.com/with.aspx?id=383
A few months ago he was suspended by the Law Society of (Upper) Canada & fined about $10,000 for shady associations with a disbarred lawyer.
His brother Murray Markin, who was also a local politician and worked with a Jewish organization for disadvantaged children, has an even more bizarre bio. At one point during an election campaign, he was hospitalized after a large dog chased him down a street causing him to trip over a sewer grate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Markin
The end of Murray Markin's career was when he was arrested for selling $3000 worth of cocaine to an undercover police officer.
I would like to add a few thoughts to this.
Please understand, that I am not trying to defend anyone or take sides. Decisions of guilt are for he Police to prove, based on valid claims and the for the courts to decide, of which I am neither. I do feel for the people making the claims, and hope that Justice is done.
That said, I would like to add two things:
1) I was in choirs with both Harvey and Heshy... I never experienced or heard of any issues with either of them.
2) I would like to point out, that one of the most destructive issues that faces Am Yisroel today is Loshon Hora, no less than Pedophelia.
I am NOT in any way saying that these issues should not be brought forth, I AM IN EVERY WAY saying that to attach Organizations, Rabbis and even other Choir masters from other another country to this issue much of which has been based on speculation, is a job for the Police to handle and NOT something to be used to heap more fuel on the fire.
Please stick to the facts!
Hearsay is more detrimental to the claims of the victims than helpfull...
So what you are saying is that the after learning of a child molestation the Chofetz Chayim would have remained as silent as the rabbis in our community did. It is so much easier. This fixation on this incidental concept of Loshon Horo is so prevalent in the Orthodox world because it asks of the Jew to to something that comes naturally. It asks us to do nothing. And so many of us do it with great kavannah. Do not stand idly by the blood of your friend. Forget it. No best seller in that. I wish some-one would have at least given me some words of caution before I was sexually assaulted by Harvey. If some-one just said "keep your distance.." .. then maybe tonight I wouldn't be expecting to again wake up from my sleep when he slips back into my tormented dreams. And as a victim which Eddie is not.. I will tell you that Eddies flippant attitude and holier than thou words hurt.
I am NOT in any way saying the Chofetz Chaim would have kept silent.
I am saying, that with all the allegations and accusations involved,
I'm surprised that no one has shlepped him in to this as well...
Why go to the point of bringing every little crack to the point of Sexual harassment?
I'm sure the dreams and the history are hurtfull, I'm sure they are serious.
But why cloud it over with all the other connections into every institution and figure in the history of Toronto?
Stick with the facts - your issues will be much more clear for the public to realize and deal with...
TO EDDIE:
If Bendahan is such a good yid, why does he continue to jump from town to town like a criminal? As an adult he has moved from Montreal, to New York, to Georgia, to Toronto, to Florida, to London and is now living Israel. He has been removed from every youth position he has held. It is a BIG RED FLAG when an adult is removed from even one youth position, let alone multiple positions in working with children.
Notice how Eddie became mute / turned anonymous after being identified as Eddie Glick, Periodontist? His initial post was in support of /solidarity with his BUSINESS associate Harvey Erlich, DDS. This explains why you wouldn't have seen any postings from him prior to Erlich making the news in mid November. Although "Eddie" took a 'balanced view', it was apparent on which side of the fence he sat and still sits albeit being a bit more sympathetic with victims, or he wouldn't be human! reading their plight for justice... yet forever holing on to his 'logic'.
Rabbi wool was a disgusting pig, he assaulted me and many other students. A violent and evil man who every single student hated and was a cancer on our community. We are lucky he is gone
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