THE UOJ ARCHIVES JANUARY 2008:
Background - Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al., Case No.04cv268 - was tried in a bench trial from September 26, 2005 to November 4, 2005 before Judge John E. Jones III. On December 20, 2005 Judge Jones issued his 139-page findings of fact and decision, ruling that the Dover mandate was unconstitutional, and barring intelligent design from being taught in Pennsylvania's Middle District public school science classrooms. He used the phrase " breathtaking inanity" to describe the position of the board of Dover - getting the school involved in this "legal maelstrom".
Judge John E. Jones was appointed to the federal bench by President George Bush in 2002. He is a devout Christian and a Conservative, politically. He was nobody's fool, he knew the damage "religion" can cause - taught by the wrong people, in the wrong setting, for the wrong reasons.
His ruling in summary: Religion has no place in a science classroom!
As an opinionated Orthodox Jew (in case you did not know that), I must believe his decision was a prudent one. Which deity were we going to teach the children about? Inevitably, not the God we believe in. With 90% of the country claiming to be of a Christian denomination, and 80% claiming to believe in the Christian deity, what chance did the Jewish children have in learning about the God of the Jews...the God that led us out of Egypt, with the intent of us becoming the light on to the nations?
"Breathtaking inanity" indeed! ID is not a science, it is a belief system, that the Muslims, for example, want to capitalize on - to kill every man, woman and child that refuses to believe in Allah!
Oh - what damage "religion" - used as a tool of exploitation - can do!
So when "religious" groups or organizations, infiltrate the political arena, we must be very suspicious of their agenda!
ALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS!
We must clinically and critically examine, what exactly are they trying to accomplish? What's good for the goose, is not necessarily good for the gander.
The epic battle that we are experiencing today in the Orthodox Jewish world, is NOT an ideological or theoretical battle. They - would have you believe that. It is clearly about - the falsehoods and damage that rabbis are able to wreak on the masses - if they go unchecked. Not all rabbis, no sirree, but many...even most!
This is not about us believing in the authority of the Torah or the Chazal.
We do or we must!!!
This is about our value system placed in the hands of charlatans, fraudsters, and perverters of the Torah! We can not - should not - must not - believe that because there is no explicit Halacha banning penetration of a child's anus by an adult, therefore it is somehow acceptable in our society!
Certainly - not worrisome enough - to ban that " non-penetrator" from our yeshivas!? And certainly not troubling enough - to keep that "non-penetrator" away from our children!?
My God - the breathtaking inanity - the unmitigated gall - that every single Orthodox Jewish organization did not take out full page ads in the Sunday New York Times - disassociating themselves from the lunatic rabbi, Pinchos Scheinberg, that ruled.....
"PENETRATION OF A CHILD'S ANUS IS THE ONLY CRITERIA IN DEEMING A PERSON A CHILD MOLESTER"!
And what about the fact that Yeshiva Torah Temimah, Lipa Margulies & Yehuda Kolko - under the advisement of the charlatan of our generation - Yisroel Belsky - were instructed not to go to bais din? Does that count for anything? Does it?
What possibly could the motives be - to lobby the state legislature against background checks of every individual in private schools? What on earth can the motives be when rabbis instruct victims of child-rape not to go to the police? What kind of human being could that person or group be? Can they be spokespeople for our religion? Are these hucksters deserving to represent us...speak for us...lobby for our benefit...represent Orthodox Jews and the Torah to the world? They make Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart look like saints!
This battle is for the sanity and minds of Orthodox Jews! This is a battle against the scheming evildoers that have somehow claimed our Judaism as their private dynasty. To enrich themselves, to grasp whatever power that they can get their grubby hands on, whatever money they can squeeze out of Washington, or local government, for their personal agenda!
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" are the immortal words of Carl Sagan. Is there any evidence that these rabbis care about our children enough - to seriously tackle the sex-abuse issue in our communities? Of course not! It's a charade! Was there any statement at all that the "penetration" psak was an error? Anything? Of course not!
What then are their claims to represent me, you, my children, your children and my community? Because they claim Torah knowledge? So what? Therefore what? Have they demonstrated the capacity to understand simple right and wrong? If our children's safety is up for sale, what else is there for us to trust their judgment on?
Look at the "legal maelstrom" they brought on us across continents!
Can there be anything more perverted than their stand now - against bloggers? What's next? Your freedom? Are you ready to throw that away? Freedom to know what's going on in your childrens' schools - about the people you pay blood-money to - to educate your child? Freedom to know that you are a victim of a fraud called gedolim? So what if it's ugly to see in print!?
IT IS UGLY!!!
It's horrifying to think that anyone can trust these very people - where only a few months ago, Shmuel Kaminetzky urged the victims' parents of Stefan Colmer - NOT TO GO TO THE POLICE!
My God...how insane have we become...that we can't protect our children in any legal way we deem fit without their permission. In other Brooklyn communities, these guys would be "swimming with the fishes".
Don't let anyone ever tell you that you need to stop thinking! Don't dare let anyone dictate to you what you may or may not do to protect your families. If a thief breaks in to the sanctity of your home, and threatens your children and family, do away with them in any fashion you deem appropriate! No rabbinical dispensation needed! If blood is splattered all over the place - so be it! Who says it has to be pretty?
Religion in the hands of hustlers and frauds is dangerous! When lashon hara or mesira takes a front seat over your child's welfare...WATCH OUT! The blogosphere is the new media; raw, unfiltered, and not for the faint of heart. You want cute stories, don't come here. You want the down & dirty, the way I feel in my heart, the pain I experience - about what happened to my Judaism...read my blog. If not...get lost. Nobody forces you to read UOJ.
The blogosphere was able to break the backs of the criminals that endangered every single Jewish child in a yeshiva! That's good enough reason to thank God for the Internet! I do not need any other reason, nor permission from self-professed "scholars". Lives saved! People's lives given a new hope and sense of justice; good enough for me!
Watch out for the people that want to foist their perverted belief system on you.
Religion in the hands of very evil people, can destroy skyscrapers with airplanes!