tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post3195943121042751091..comments2024-03-27T15:07:31.495-04:00Comments on <b><center>Unorthodox-Jew </center></b> <br><small>A Critical View of Orthodox Judaism</small>: Telshe Yeshiva 1943! The Story Of American Orthodox Judaism - From Hope To Hopelessness In Just Six Short Decades!Paul Mendlowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05887774341136059873noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-81892376931832215012014-01-06T13:28:32.331-05:002014-01-06T13:28:32.331-05:00Boy, they have a huge physical facility to maintai...Boy, they have a huge physical facility to maintain! It's a shame that gey'vus and lust for power ruined a previously first-rate institution. Although power-hungry "gedolim" and rebbes are too slow to admit that they're mistaken or sinful, I hope that Telz Cleveland can one day be restored under the hand of purity and chesed.R Wislernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-6363320303284605642014-01-06T11:29:17.353-05:002014-01-06T11:29:17.353-05:00It is my understanding that Telshe has become a th...It is my understanding that Telshe has become a third rate yeshiva --- mostly for the local kids.Paul Mendlowitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05887774341136059873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-83512818925111843232014-01-05T21:54:19.862-05:002014-01-05T21:54:19.862-05:00What exactly is happening at Telz Cleveland these ...What exactly is happening at Telz Cleveland these days? Are their high school and beis medresh programs thriving again? Are they able to support their huge facility?R Wislernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-31529156193610463202008-10-30T14:08:00.000-04:002008-10-30T14:08:00.000-04:00Some little known facts about the pro-Obama rabbi ...Some little known facts about the pro-Obama rabbi Moshe Soloway mentioned <A HREF="http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a13751/News/New_York.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>. When my cousin learned at Ner Israel in Baltimore in the nineties, this scoundrel appeared there in the guise of a Bobover chassid. Soloway became very close to rabbi Joseph (Yossef) Tendler, Ner Israel Mechina principal who proposed him to rabbi Moshe Eisemann. Bisexual Soloway gave up right away his phony chassidus, threw out his <I>gartel</I>, and became rabbi Eisemann's concubine.<BR/><BR/>At the same time he had abundant sexual encounters with local <I>shiksas</I> (something which rabbi Moshe Eisemann could never forgive him). Soloway was caught in the act and quietly thrown out of Baltimore. (Rabbi Aryeh Katzin (a good friend of rabbi Israel Belsky of Torah V'Daas), the principal of the "Sinai Academy" yeshiva in NY who initially shipped Soloway to Ner Israel, drove to Baltimore himself to coordinate a dignified removal of that fraud together with the hefty pack of porn periodicals Soloway stockpiled in his dorm room.)<BR/><BR/>In the Torah-true Judaism that would spell the end of the career for anyone. But not so in our hijacked version of Judaism with Moshe Soloway as its embodiment! Rabbi Joseph Tendler promptly stepped in to bail out his protégé with the help of his brother rabbi Moshe Tendler of the Yeshiva University. Soloway was then lovingly shipped off to Israel. In the course of merely one year he received a rabbinical ordination at "Aish HaTorah" yeshiva in Jerusalem in exchange for some specific favors he did for rabbi Mattis Weinberg. Then Soloway returned to States and (sure enough) was married off by rabbi Joseph Tendler to a girl he later cheated many times. It's striking that rabbi Joseph Tendler even went as far as to be "<I>mesader kidushin</I>" at his wedding ceremony. Wow...<BR/><BR/>In the last few years rabbi Moshe Soloway made a stunning and speedy career as a teacher molester at the YDA Elite High School, a "RockRebbe" (as he prefers to be called), and a marketing and strategy consultant at various companies in NY. Mr. Obama should be really embarrassed to associate himself in any way with this young "dynamic business ethics and religion public speaker" and "a role model."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-82668287812456895082008-10-24T12:00:00.000-04:002008-10-24T12:00:00.000-04:00The Stink in Farts Controls Blood Pressure li...The Stink in Farts Controls Blood Pressure<BR/><BR/> livescience.com – Thu Oct 23<BR/><BR/> smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice, a new study finds. <BR/><BR/>The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide (H2S), can be a little too familiar, as it is expelled by bacteria living in the human colon and eventually makes its way, well, out. <BR/><BR/>The new research found that cells lining mice's blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents' blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). This gas is "no doubt" produced in cells lining human blood vessels too, the researchers said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-26230899674244216322008-10-24T11:04:00.000-04:002008-10-24T11:04:00.000-04:00boruch lanner spoke in the boca synagougue and r...boruch lanner spoke in the boca synagougue and recieved an aliya over simchas torahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-67696822501142540432008-10-24T00:13:00.000-04:002008-10-24T00:13:00.000-04:00http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/nyregion/06silve...http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/nyregion/06silver.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print<BR/><BR/>Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the most powerful defender of trial lawyers in the Legislature, has lent at least $50,000 of his own money to a company that helps finance small law firms that specialize in personal injury lawsuits. <BR/><BR/>Since early last year, Mr. Silver, himself a trial lawyer, made two separate loans to the company, Counsel Financial. The loans come due in 2010, according to his latest ethics disclosure form. Paul R. Cody, the president of Counsel, declined to specify the size of Mr. Silver’s loans, but said such notes generally start at $25,000 each and often are much larger. <BR/><BR/>Mr. Silver has long been criticized by business groups and Republicans for vigorously defending the interests of the trial bar in Albany, something he acknowledges but defends as legal and proper. Some critics, along with government watchdog groups, say his loans to Counsel raise new questions about potential conflicts of interest.<BR/><BR/>Counsel, which is based in Amherst, a Buffalo suburb, is among a small but growing number of companies that finance lawyers who specialize in suing corporations and government agencies. <BR/><BR/>Issuing loans for as much as $50 million and accepting contingency fees as collateral, Counsel has assisted small firms across the country, including ones that have sued New York City and state agencies like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. <BR/><BR/>Perry Weitz and Arthur Luxenberg, the named partners at the Manhattan-based firm where Mr. Silver works, serve as co-chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of Counsel Financial. <BR/><BR/>Lawmakers are considered part-time employees of the state and are permitted to have outside jobs. At the same time, though, the state Public Officers Law prohibits an official from having business interests “in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest.” It also says officials should not do things that “raise suspicion among the public” that they are violating their public trust. <BR/><BR/>Mr. Silver declined to answer questions for this article, but in the past he has firmly rejected assertions that his private legal work creates a conflict of interest for his legislative duties. <BR/><BR/>“I don’t think it’s a conflict,” he told reporters in 2003<BR/><BR/>But Blair Horner, the legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said Mr. Silver’s loans to Counsel raised questions because it was difficult to know who was receiving the company’s assistance.<BR/><BR/>“This is a problem you have with a citizen legislature, all these business relationships raise questions, and on top of it there’s no way for the public to know these relationships are adequately monitored or vetted,” Mr. Horner said. “There’s an ethics black hole when it comes to these issues.” <BR/><BR/>Over the past decade, a relatively small group of specialized lenders to plaintiff’s law firms has emerged as banks have tightened their lending policies. In return for taking on loans based on contingency fees, lenders like Counsel can command double-digit interest rates. <BR/><BR/>The Legislature polices its own ethics, and tight controls are kept on how much is revealed to the public. Lawmakers are required to fill out ethics forms delineating holdings of more than $1,000. They are also required to report whether they fall within five ranges of values: from category A, which is $5,000 or less, to Category F, which is $250,000 or more. The values, however, are whited out by the Legislative Ethics Commission — which is controlled by the Legislature — before the filings are provided to the news media. <BR/><BR/>Little is known about Mr. Silver’s business interests and investments. He has what appears to be a substantial stock portfolio, including 53 stock holdings worth at least $1,000 apiece, according to the filing. And it is not known what he actually does at Weitz & Luxenberg. <BR/><BR/>“The speaker voluntarily limits his legal work to serve only individuals and personal injury cases and does not represent lobbyists or clients who have business before the state,” said his spokesman, Mr. Weiller. <BR/><BR/>He would not say whether the speaker ever appears in court to represent clients or describe his legal work in more detail.<BR/><BR/>Representatives of the law firm declined to comment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-16433537842981183282008-10-24T00:07:00.000-04:002008-10-24T00:07:00.000-04:00Here’s a quick rundown of other public officials (...Here’s a quick rundown of other public officials (at every level) who have been accused and/or convicted of abusing their offices for personal gain over the last week (or so):<BR/><BR/>• On Friday, L.A. City Commissioner Leland Wong was sentenced to five years in state prison. He’d been receiving monthly payments of $5,000 from a Taiwanese shipping firm hoping to get a good lease at the Los Angeles port. He was convicted on counts of bribery, conflict of interest, perjury and embezzlement. <BR/><BR/>• It was announced yesterday that Massachusetts’ Speaker of the House is under investigation to determine whether he didn’t report more than $1.8 million in lobbying fees. <BR/><BR/>• Late last week the Justice Department re-indicted David Safayian, the former chief of staff for the federal government’s General Services Administration and a former administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, for making false statements and obstructing justice. All charges stem back to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-68352070099876686382008-10-23T22:38:00.000-04:002008-10-23T22:38:00.000-04:00Where IS LVF and the other regual ranters?Where IS LVF and the other regual ranters?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-80767912811639659862008-10-23T20:02:00.000-04:002008-10-23T20:02:00.000-04:00This Motzei Shabbos at 11:00 PM at the usual time ...This Motzei Shabbos at 11:00 PM at the usual time and place, 570 AM radio, Dov will be broadcasting another special and unique program about sexual abuse in our community. <BR/><BR/> This time, the topic will include an update of what has been happening over the past several weeks. Dov will deliver a type of State of the Union address, in which he lays out the progress that has been made including the accomplishments of his task force. <BR/><BR/> For all of us who are passionately concerned with children's safety in our community, we simply must tune in to hear the cutting edge knowledge of what is happening and what still needs to happen to protect our children. I'm sure we will all glean even more ideas of what each of us can do to help Dov on his crusade to end this plague once and for all. <BR/><BR/> Yasher Koach to Dov and to all of you, who I'm sure will want to listen in and perhaps call in and participate in the dialogue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-68584108227144645972008-10-23T19:41:00.000-04:002008-10-23T19:41:00.000-04:00http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017...http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017598130&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull<BR/> <BR/>I used to belong to a gay synagogue on the West Coast that made liturgical changes that make no sense at all to anyone who knows any Hebrew. For example, in the Friday night kiddush, they changed the words "mikol ha'amim" - that God selected us and made us special "from all the nations" to "im kol ha'amim" - with all the nations. If one disagrees with the chosenness of the Jews, then "bacharta" and "kidashta" should be dropped, too, because they mean the Jews are chosen and special. I asked about this situation and was told the synagogue didn't want to make so many changes that the tune would no longer work. <BR/>• Reform and some Conservative Jews have tried to do away with the second day of the Jewish holidays, which is generally not observed in Israel, arguing that the reason for the second day is no longer applicable since we have modern calendars. But they also aim to abolish the second day of Rosh Hashana, which is observed in Israel, thus putting the lie to their claimed motivation.<BR/><BR/>• One of the first gay Conservative rabbinical students admitted under the new, inclusive 2006 policy at the Jewish Theological Seminary told a group of gay Jews I was a part of that he does not actually consider himself bound by the policy under which he was admitted. That policy bans penetrative gay sex by all men including rabbinical students, and makes no change in Jewish law's ban on same-sex marriage. But violating those rules appears to be okay because of Conservative Judaism's emphasis on mara d'atra, or consulting local rabbis. This student claims he can flout JTS's policy and even worship idols and commit adultery as long as he can find a single Conservative rabbi to permit him to violate traditional rules in those areas. <BR/><BR/>• Some Jews take the concept of pikuach nefesh (most mitzvot are suspended for saving a life) to places it's not meant to go. For example, I heard a prominent Conservative lesbian rabbi speak on Shabbat afternoon at a Reform temple. She used a marker and pad of paper, because, she said, "we were saving lives" by reinforcing gay self-esteem and thus preventing gay youth from killing themselves. I've spoken to several Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, and her argument does not hold water. One key point: The ban on gay relations is one of the most serious violations, so serious that pikuach nefesh doesn't apply. <BR/><BR/>DavidBenkof@aol.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-14659399766547799562008-10-23T18:13:00.000-04:002008-10-23T18:13:00.000-04:00San Juan Capistrano dentist arrested on sex charge...San Juan Capistrano dentist arrested on sex charges<BR/><BR/>Ghassan Mehtar is arrested by Orange County sheriff's deputies after a female patient accuses him of sexual assault.<BR/><BR/>By Stuart Pfeifer <BR/><BR/> October 23, 2008 <BR/><BR/>Orange County sheriff's deputies have arrested a San Juan Capistrano dentist who allegedly sexually assaulted a female patient under his care, a sheriff's spokesman said today.<BR/><BR/>Ghassan Mehtar was arrested Wednesday after investigators determined he had sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman while treating her in his Camino Capistrano office, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.<BR/><BR/>The woman said told authorities that Mehtar pulled up her clothing to expose her breasts and sexually fondled her as she sat in a dentist's chair. She was alert and not under anesthesia, Amormino said.<BR/><BR/>Employees told investigators that other patients -- primarily Latinas who spoke little English -- had complained that Mehtar abused them as well. Those patients have not filed complaints with sheriff's deputies, Amormino said.<BR/><BR/>Amormino encouraged any other victims to contact authorities. He said sheriff's investigators had no intention of inquiring about victims' immigration status.<BR/><BR/>"We believe he picked these victims because they might be afraid to contact the police," Amormino said. "I want to get the message out that we're not going to ask what your status us. That's not important. What's important is we want to know if you're a victim."<BR/><BR/>Methar was held this morning in lieu of $25,000 bail. He has practiced dentistry in California since 1997, according to Dental Board of California records.<BR/><BR/>Pfiefer is a Times staff writer.<BR/><BR/>stuart.pfiefer@latimes.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-7907988775333401272008-10-23T18:07:00.000-04:002008-10-23T18:07:00.000-04:00WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It seems like a movie plot,...WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It seems like a movie plot, but scientists have developed a way to erase specific memories in mice while leaving others intact and not damaging the brain too much.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-89771774426135217932008-10-23T18:03:00.000-04:002008-10-23T18:03:00.000-04:00NEW YORK – Traders and investment bankers might ha...NEW YORK – Traders and investment bankers might have more to worry about than dwindling bonus pools this year as mass firings on Wall Street are set to hit a record.<BR/><BR/>The fallout from this year's global credit crisis has claimed jobs on all corners of Wall Street, from hedge fund managers to floor traders and beyond. More than 110,000 have lost their jobs so far this year, and some industry experts forecast it could come close to 200,000 before the year is over.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-49683888614850221782008-10-23T17:58:00.000-04:002008-10-23T17:58:00.000-04:00Kindergarten sex ed becoming mandatory in England ...Kindergarten sex ed becoming mandatory in England <BR/><BR/>LONDON (AP) — It's a controversial idea in a land known for prudishness about sex — teaching kids as young as 5 about the birds and bees.<BR/><BR/>But with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe, the British government is bringing sex education to all schools in England — including kindergarten-age children.<BR/><BR/>While countries like France, Holland and China already require sex education, few places demand that it be introduced at such a young age.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-22956639003093773332008-10-23T17:33:00.000-04:002008-10-23T17:33:00.000-04:00Fakers, Phonies and Frauds the "AdHoc" Bais Din is...Fakers, Phonies and Frauds the "AdHoc" Bais Din is. These "rabbis" enforced ZERO of their blank declarations against Mr. Wainhaus. He crashed the weddings of his children despite the vehement protests of the children. The rabbis didn't care about the emotional pain of the chassanim and kallos, only about the pervert. The sick pervert walked down the aisle together with his divorced wife, disregarding the feelings of the chassanim, kallos, and invited guests, yet these skeleton "rabbis" said nothing. He has unfettered access to children in some shuls who think it's the parents problem to watch their own kids, NOT his problem to avoid any kids. He'll probably end up in Heinneman's Haunt where with a nice black hat he'll become kosher again to ply his trade in Baltimore. <BR/><BR/>They are an AdHoc Bais Din they just hock instead of protecting the children. This was a criminal case which should have been allowed to proceed. Were it not for threats made against the victim and his family, Wainhaus would have been in jail long ago. Wainhaus was shuffled into Chicago from Baltimore under the wings of Telz Chicago, and now that "Rav" A.C. Levin is feeling the heat and wrath of the community for a long series of public relations blunders, he's passing Wainhaus back where he came from.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-36711699937438757292008-10-23T17:28:00.000-04:002008-10-23T17:28:00.000-04:00Greenspan sees 'serious problems' with CDSComment ...Greenspan sees 'serious problems' with CDS<BR/><BR/>Comment comes after former Fed chairman praised credit-default swaps in 2002<BR/><BR/>(MarketWatch) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday that there are "serious problems" associated with credit-default swaps, roughly six years after he praised the derivatives. <BR/><BR/>Credit-default swaps, or CDS, offer the buyer protection against companies reneging on debt payments. The market for these derivatives has boomed in the past decade and outstanding contracts now have a notional value of more than $50 trillion. <BR/><BR/>During a November 2002 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., Greenspan said CDS and other financial instruments helped to spread risk to a more diverse range of investors, cushioning the impact of the dot-com bust, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the collapse of Enron, WorldCom and other companies. <BR/><BR/>He also said such instruments helped banks and other financial institutions manage risks better. <BR/>"Instruments that are more complex and less transparent -- such as credit-default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, and credit-linked notes -- have been developed and their use has grown very rapidly in recent years," he said, according to a transcript of his speech.<BR/> <BR/>"The result? Improved credit-risk management together with more and better risk-management tools appear to have significantly reduced loan concentrations in telecommunications and, indeed, other areas and the associated stress on banks and other financial institutions," Greenspan explained. <BR/><BR/>However, the CDS are now being blamed for exacerbating the mortgage-fueled credit crisis, and calls for regulation of the private market have grown. <BR/>On Thursday during congressional testimony, Greenspan said that he was "partially" wrong for advising against more regulation of derivatives earlier this decade. <BR/>"It depends which derivatives we're talking about," he said, according to a transcript of the testimony. "Credit-default swaps, I think, have serious problems associated with them." <BR/><BR/>However, he stressed that other parts of the derivatives market, which have been around longer, such as instruments used to hedge interest-rate and currency risks, are working well. <BR/><BR/>"It's important to distinguish the size of this problem and its nature," he continued. "Excluding credit default swaps, derivatives markets are working well." <BR/> <BR/>Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-19542056226782821822008-10-23T17:05:00.000-04:002008-10-23T17:05:00.000-04:00WARNING: To Parents in Baltimore - ex-Rabbi Tzvi W...WARNING: To Parents in Baltimore - ex-Rabbi Tzvi Wainhaus<BR/><BR/>(Please download pdf file and share it with everyone you know who lives in Baltimore, MD and Chicago, IL)<BR/><BR/>http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Wainhaus_TzviWarning.pdf<BR/><BR/>There is a rumor circulating that ex-Rabbi Tzvi Wainhaus (AKA: Leon Wainhaus) is currently in Baltimore, MD.<BR/><BR/>Ex-Rabbi Tzvi Wainhaus is originally from Chicago and was charged with Public Indecency, after allegations were made of child molestation with students at Hillel Torah North Suburban Day School in Skokie, IL . Wainhaus was sentanced to 2 years supervision. He was court ordered to complete a sex offender evaluation. As a response to this case the Ad Hoc Bais Din (Religious Jewish Court) of Chicago created and made public the following guidelines.<BR/><BR/>If anyone has a photograph of Tzvi Wainhaus, please forward it to The Awareness Center.<BR/><BR/>For more information on this case go to:<BR/>http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Wainhaus_Tzvi.html<BR/><BR/><BR/>-------------------------------------------------------<BR/>Guidelines and Rules Aimed at Protecting Our Children<BR/>Jewish Image Magazine (Page 46)<BR/>Fall 2000, Tishrei 5761<BR/><BR/>The following statement was made public as a result of the Ad Hoc Bais Din of Chicago deliberated on what to do with the allegations made against Rabbi Tzvi Wainhaus of sexual abused children at Hillel Torah.<BR/><BR/>Under NO Circumstances whatsoever may the perpetrator teach in any classroom situation or any private or tutorial situation with any students, nor may he enter any school building at any time under any circumstances. Included in school buildings are any kollel buildings (adult learning center) that are open during non-school hours, such as during the summer, all school holidays, as well as Sundays and after school hours.<BR/><BR/>He may not go to any mikvah (ritual bath) anywhere in the world at any time, including erev Shabbos, Erev Yom Tov, erev Rosh Hashanah and erev Yom HaKipurim.<BR/><BR/>He may not go to any J.C.C. (Jewish Community Center) or any swimming facility anywhere at any time.<BR/><BR/>He many not use the restroom in any synagogue, yeshiva, kollel, or any other Jewish facility at any time, even if this will force him to miss davening (praying) or krias HaTorah or learning. The only exception is during the times that it is permissible to be in a kollel as enumerated above. During those times, and those times only, it is permissible for him to use the restroom.<BR/><BR/>No children, even his own, are allowed in his house at any time while he is present until the ad hoc bais din is advised to the contrary by his therapist.<BR/><BR/>He may not attend any simchas (celebrations), including weddings, bar mitzvahs, bas mitzvahs, kiddushim, brissim, vorts (lectures), banquets, or any other simcha anywhere or any time until the ad hoc bais din is advised to the contrary by his therapist.<BR/><BR/>He must be engaged in regularly scheduled uninterrupted intensive therapy with a therapist with whom the bais din is advised to the contrary by his therapist.<BR/><BR/>The Bais Din (Jewish Court), after much deliberation, and taking into consideration his health problems, will allow him to daven in different area shuls on Shabbos, even though there are children present, with the understanding that every Rav (Rabbi) will be made aware of his name, and to make sure that there is surveillance whenever he leaves the sanctuary to use the restrooms or any other area of the building. Any Rabbi not wishing to take on this responsibility has the right to prohibit him from davening (praying) in their shul.<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Gedaliah Dov Schwartz<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Avraham Chaim Levein<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Shmuel Furest<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Zev CohenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-47928442018352303922008-10-23T16:54:00.000-04:002008-10-23T16:54:00.000-04:00I'm looking for something posted online but Po...I'm looking for something posted online but Potchu Lipschutz of Frankel's shul & Monsey was arrested for molestation and has just gotten out on $2 million bail.<BR/><BR/>Eight child victims have come forward.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-77753611214644674712008-10-23T16:48:00.000-04:002008-10-23T16:48:00.000-04:00By William Heisel _ LA TIMES 10:11 AM, October 23,...By William Heisel _ LA TIMES<BR/> <BR/>10:11 AM, October 23, 2008 <BR/><BR/>A record number of homes were lost to foreclosure in California over the last three months, up 228% from last year to a high of 79,511 homes. MDA DataQuick reported that more homes were taken back by lenders in the three months ended Sept. 30 than at any time since the company started tracking foreclosures in 1992.<BR/><BR/>In the previous three months, which also set a record, 63,316 homes were lost to foreclosure. That's a huge swing from an all-time low just two years ago of 637 in the second quarter of 2005.<BR/><BR/>Nationally, RealtyTrac Inc. reported that the number of homes being repossessed was up 126% over the last three months, totaling 250,091 homes from July to September. The five states with the most foreclosures were California, Florida, Michigan, Arizona and Texas.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, California saw a sharp decline in activity from banks taking the first steps toward foreclosure. The number of default notices that lenders send to homeowners fell last quarter for the first time in three years, down 22.5% from last quarter but up 29.9% from the same period last year.<BR/><BR/>Housing experts say that change is the direct result of a new state law that forces lenders to make repeated attempts to contact a homeowner before foreclosing on the home.<BR/><BR/><BR/>"If that procedural change hadn't kicked in during early September, indications are that third-quarter default filings would have been about the same as the record number filed in this year's second quarter," DataQuick said in a press release.<BR/><BR/>Housing experts continue to predict that foreclosures will rise for the rest of 2008 and into 2009 before hitting their peak.<BR/><BR/>"It will get worse," said Jeff Lazerson, the president of Mortgage Grader, an online mortgage clearinghouse. "It's going to be driven by unemployment and underemployment, and we're seeing those numbers go up. I think we won't see a peak until at least next year."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-31543047709771988052008-10-23T14:48:00.000-04:002008-10-23T14:48:00.000-04:00Congressional committee lamblasts GreenspanThursda...Congressional committee lamblasts Greenspan<BR/><BR/>Thursday October 23, 1:50 pm ET <BR/>By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer <BR/><BR/><BR/>Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told a House committee Thursday that the nation will emerge from the current credit crisis with a "far sounder financial system."<BR/><BR/>"We are in the midst of a once-in-a century credit tsunami," Greenspan told the House Oversight and Reform Committee. But he said that less-risky decisions by investors will help pull the markets out of their slump. "Investors, chastened, will be exceptionally cautious," he said.<BR/><BR/> Committee members weren't buying Greenspan's rosy forecast, lambasting him and two other officials - SEC chairman Christopher Cox and former Treasury Secretary John Snow - for failing to prevent the credit crisis and for refusing to take responsibility for it. In his opening statement, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., committee chairman, said the current economic crisis could have been prevented "if regulators had paid more attention and intervened with responsible legislation. The list of regulatory mistakes and misjudgments is long and the cost to taxpayers and the economy is staggering." Waxman put Greenspan on the spot, asking if he made any mistakes during his tenure as Federal Reserve chairman that may have contributed to the mortgage crisis.<BR/><BR/>Greenspan said he made a mistake in presuming that lenders themselves were more capable than regulators of protecting their finances. He said he was "shocked" when that system "broke down."<BR/><BR/>"I still do not understand exactly how it happened," said Greenspan.<BR/><BR/>Regulatory proposals<BR/><BR/>Greenspan offered some proposals for regulatory changes in his testimony, namely "to require that all securitizers retain a meaningful part of the securities they issue."<BR/><BR/>In other words, he wants to require lenders to own or back part of the loans they issue, rather than pass off the risk to someone else.<BR/><BR/>Greenspan also stated his support for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout approved by Congress, which allows the U.S. government to buy bad mortgage investments from finance firms.<BR/><BR/>The bailout is intended to thaw the credit freeze by freeing up firms to offer new loans. "Indeed, the impact is already being felt," said Greenspan. "Yield spreads are narrowing."<BR/><BR/>But Greenspan also said that whatever regulatory changes are made to respond to the crisis, "they will pale in comparison to the change already evident in today's markets."<BR/><BR/>Because of their hard-won experience, markets "will be far more restrained than would any currently contemplated new regulatory regime," he said.<BR/><BR/>Throughout the hearing, committee members harangued Greenspan, Cox and Snow for dodging blame, and for claiming that they didn't know how bad it was until it was too late.<BR/><BR/>Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., lashed into Cox for waiting until September before urging Congress to regulate credit default swaps, a complex financial instrument that many people blame for spurring the crisis.<BR/><BR/>But Cox replied that Congress shares the blame. "We don't have authority to regulate credit default swaps because Congress hasn't given us this authority," he said.<BR/><BR/>SEC investigations<BR/><BR/>In answer to accusations that he isn't taking enough action to address the crisis, Cox said the SEC is undergoing 50 investigations into subprime lending. High-risk subprime loans have been blamed for helping fuel the housing bubble and its subsequent collapse.<BR/><BR/>Snow also defended his former role with the Treasury. "We didn't duck our responsibilities; we assumed them," he said.<BR/><BR/>But Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said his constituents "seem legitimately angry that people sit here, hearing after hearing, and say it's not their responsibility."<BR/><BR/>Waxman told Greenspan, Cox and Snow that the purpose of their jobs, and the agencies they headed, "is so you can see problems developing, and tell us about them, before the financial crisis. The reality is that there's a long list of warning signs and prominent economists saying things should have been done."<BR/><BR/>Snow and Cox both suggested that greater transparency be imposed on the markets.<BR/><BR/>Snow suggested a "more coordinated and less fragmented approach to financial regulation" with "greater international cooperation."<BR/><BR/>Cox said the SEC has adopted measures to strengthen investor protections against naked short-selling, which allows short-selling without owning or borrowing the stock.<BR/><BR/>He said he has also launched an examination "of the effectiveness of broker-dealers' controls on preventing the spread of false information." This appears designed to address concerns that short sellers, who seek to profit from declines in stock prices, may spread rumors about companies to drive down prices of their stocks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-68144008285501346462008-10-23T13:33:00.000-04:002008-10-23T13:33:00.000-04:00It's hard to believe some Lubavitchers are so igno...It's hard to believe some Lubavitchers are so ignorant to behave this way. The Torah encourages giving friendly greetings to everyone. Socializing is the safeguard for intermarriage. There is no safeguard to the safeguard. It's just plain rude and idiotic.<BR/><BR/>http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=90254§ion=homepage<BR/><BR/>A secular Jewish writer, Stephen Bloom had a sort of religious if visceral epiphany in the middle of trying to report about the unusual ultra-orthodox Jewish group that moved into Postville, Iowa, 20 years ago to run a huge kosher slaughtering plant.<BR/><BR/>Walking with the Hasidic rabbi down the street of the town of 1,300 on a spring morning in the late 1990s, Bloom said “good morning” to a couple of local men fixing the sidewalk.<BR/><BR/>“Don’t do that,” the rabbi said. “We don’t acknowledge them.” <BR/><BR/>“We don’t interact with the locals,” the rabbi said. “That’s the beginning of the Holocaust.”<BR/><BR/>Hasidic kids would begin playing with their Iowan neighbors, then families would start to socialize and soon there would be intermarriage, the rabbi explained. “Then, the Holocaust.” <BR/><BR/>“At that point, my stomach turned,” Bloom said. “And literally, the book turned. This really angered me.”<BR/><BR/>He began seeing the Lubavitcher Hasidim as a cult that saw everyone else, including nonobservant Jews like him as enemies against whom the Hasidim felt free to scheme, ignore, offend, cheat and take advantage of. They would routinely not pay their bills and flout local laws.<BR/><BR/>The slaughterhouse systematically abused employees, as well as the animals, he found.<BR/><BR/>Bloom spoke Monday evening to about 230 people in the Chester Fritz Auditorium at UND in the Hagerty Lecture in Contemporary Media Issues, sitting on stage with UND history professor Kim Porter, a former Iowan, who interviewed him.<BR/><BR/>Bloom’s 2000 book, “Postville: A Clash of Cultures in the Heartland of America,” got great reviews but also angered many Jewish people who thought he had betrayed his own people, Bloom said. It also sparked much discussion among American Jews about how to live out their faith, what it meant to observe Jewish dietary rules and how to interact with the majority Christian population. <BR/><BR/>Bloom said he became tiny Postville’s “shuttle diplomat for a time, explaining the Hasidim to the locals and vice versa. He found the Iowans much more willing to reach out to the Hasidim, who wanted nothing to do with the corn-fed goyim, or gentiles.<BR/><BR/>The experience didn’t make him less observant as a Jew, but it made him less accepting of any religious position, Jewish, Catholic or Lutheran, that defines itself as “you are with them or with us.” <BR/><BR/>That sort of divisive, cult-like thinking breeds fear and hatred, he said.<BR/><BR/>His book brought many attacks against him, including anonymous threatening phone calls, from orthodox Jews who saw him as a traitor. <BR/><BR/>But it also was “giving a voice to the voiceless,” which is his idea of what journalism should do, Bloom said. <BR/><BR/>In St. Paul, a Hasidic mother and daughter approached him in a bookstore and thanked him for the book, saying they had to read it and pass it around secretly but that it helped them to see it in print.<BR/><BR/>The Postville Agriprocessors slaughter plant made big news earlier this year, when federal agents raided it because of the many illegal immigrants working there in a system promoted by the Hasidic owners. <BR/><BR/>He’s come to believe the plant should be shut down because of the “flagrant violations of law,” including immigration, environmental, labor and sexual harassment laws.<BR/><BR/>Now, in an ironic development, the workers in the plant are largely Sudanese refugees, Muslims mostly, producing kosher meat for ultra-orthodox Jews, Bloom said with a smile.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-14554396232161472812008-10-23T12:36:00.000-04:002008-10-23T12:36:00.000-04:00http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover031006.ht...http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover031006.htm<BR/><BR/>In March of 2006 -- almost a full year before he officially announced his candidacy -- Canadian Free Press founding Editor Judi McLeod asked whether there was "a Muslim apostate headed for the White House?" By then it was well known that Obama's biological father had been Muslim, which, by Islamic law, passes that distinction on to the son. But, as McLeod pointed out -- at the time:<BR/><BR/>"little [was] known about who Obama's step father was. But some say that he was an Indonesian national and a Muslim. Still, Obama must have attended school in Indonesia. Is it possible that as a young Muslim boy he went to a Saudi madrassa? Yes, that's a possibility."<BR/><BR/>Indeed, it would be almost a year later, in February of ‘07, that rumors of Obama's early Muslim schooling were confirmed when an AP piece revealed that:<BR/><BR/>"he attended a Muslim school in Indonesia from age 6 to 10. Obama, who was born in Hawaii, lived in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather from 1967 to 1971 and subsequently returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents."<BR/><BR/>In McLeod's 2006 piece, she raised an interesting, albeit provocative, point:<BR/><BR/>"What if Obama is engaged in pious fraud? This is a Muslim practice of pretending not to be Muslim to further the cause of Islam or to ‘defend the faith.' He becomes President and then says, ‘Gee...I think I want to be Muslim again' after he finds the ‘football' in his hands that carries the launch codes for the USA nuke forces."<BR/><BR/>As a fledgling Christian, Obama didn't join just any church. He joined the United Church of Christ.<BR/><BR/>The United Church of Christ is very anti-Israel and supports divestment. It also sponsors speeches at its many functions by the Arab "Christian" pro-terror religious organization, Sabeel. Sabeel holds some of its biggest meetings in Chicago., (www.scoop.,co,nz/stories/HL0510/500139.htm). <BR/><BR/>The Democrats attract the majority of Jewish voters and funding, and this guy is being grooned as their golden boy?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-39001624929087919592008-10-23T12:18:00.000-04:002008-10-23T12:18:00.000-04:00http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=120242547874...http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425478748&pos=ataglance<BR/><BR/>Mark Fass<BR/>New York Law Journal<BR/>October 23, 2008<BR/><BR/>A magistrate judge in Brooklyn has recommended entering a default judgment against the defendants as a sanction for the extreme measures they took to destroy and falsify electronic documents in a federal fraud and RICO action. <BR/><BR/>If confirmed by an Eastern District of New York judge, the case will mark the first time a judge within the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has awarded a default judgment on the basis of tampering with electronic evidence. <BR/><BR/>"Under such exceptional circumstances, the only appropriate non-monetary sanction is a default judgment in plaintiffs' favor, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A)(vi) and the court's inherent powers," Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy wrote in Gutman v. Klein, 03-cv-1570. <BR/><BR/>"First, lesser sanctions would not adequately deter misconduct of this severity. ... This is especially true where, as here, the court has previously imposed lesser sanctions on the responsible party for other discovery misconduct. ... Second, the most serious forms of spoliation merit the harshest sanctions, and in this case, the destruction of evidence was of the worst sort: intentional, thoroughgoing, and (unsuccessfully) concealed." <BR/><BR/>Eastern District of New York Judge Brian Cogan will now consider the recommendation. <BR/><BR/>Plaintiff Aryah Gutman filed the present action in April 2003, accusing his longtime real estate business partner Zalman Klein and others of misappropriating millions of dollars. <BR/><BR/>In August 2008, Gutman filed a motion seeking "a default judgment or similar terminating sanctions," based on Klein's destruction of electronic evidence. <BR/><BR/>Gutman charges in his complaint that Klein's "discovery games" began in 2004, when he "furtively" replaced a laptop containing documents evidencing his role as "the kingpin of the conspiracy to rob" Gutman. <BR/><BR/>An expert's report said Klein also backdated the installation of the replacement computer's operating system to make it appear older, and then uploaded thousands of files while the computer's clock was set to a date months earlier. The report said he also deleted "hundreds if not thousands" of files, then ran a data recovery program to determine if he had "covered his tracks." <BR/><BR/>The plaintiff's counsel, Darren Oved of Oved & Oved, in a memo in support of a default judgment, noted that the 2nd Circuit had yet to address the appropriate remedy for such "duplicitous spoliation and subsequent cover-up." <BR/><BR/>"Plaintiffs have incurred, at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs investigating Mr. Klein's misdeeds, seeking the Court's intervention in vain attempts to obtain Klein's compliance with reasonable and relevant discovery requests, and engaging in seemingly never ending motion practice because of Defendants' recalcitrance," according to the plaintiff's memo. <BR/><BR/>The defendants conceded many of the allegations, though they contested the sanction. <BR/><BR/>"Dismissal is imposed only in extreme circumstances where any alternative or less drastic sanctions would be inappropriate or futile," the defense noted in a memo opposing the motion. <BR/><BR/>In a report issued last week, Magistrate Judge Levy recommended granting Gutman's motion. <BR/><BR/>"While defendants' understanding of computer processes may be faulty, their admissions that [an expert hired by Klein] searched the internet for the Kill Disk and Get Data Back programs; reinstalled the Klein laptop's operating system; copied files onto the Klein laptop from an external source; and altered the Klein laptop's system clock are unmistakable," Magistrate Judge Levy concluded. <BR/><BR/>He recommended a default judgment, citing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the court's discretionary powers. <BR/><BR/>Oved, Gutman's attorney, could not be reached for comment. <BR/><BR/>Barry Feerst of Brooklyn has represented the defendants since 2006. He said his clients intend to file objections to the report.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21519732.post-10067085694019649462008-10-23T12:12:00.000-04:002008-10-23T12:12:00.000-04:00We were wondering why Milton Friedman's matzeiva w...We were wondering why Milton Friedman's matzeiva was jumping around!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com