Victims of domestic violence, sex assaults will share in Passover Seder holy dinner in Brooklyn!

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2011/04/17/2011-04-17_victims_of_domestic_violence_sex_assaults_will_share_in_passover_seder_holy_dinn.html#ixzz1JnUGRLBf


BY Simone Weichselbaum
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, April 17th 2011

The Passover spirit of freedom has a whole new meaning for crime victims putting together a special Seder where they will share stories about abuse, during the holy dinner.

Survivors of domestic violence, sex assaults and child abuse will pack into the B'nai Israel of Linden Heights synagogue on Ninth Ave. in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn Monday and Tuesday night.

Passover honors the Israelite slaves' escape from Egypt with a 15-step meal called a Seder where stories of bondage are mixed in with the matzo.

Organizer Annie Kay, 33, spent the past month preparing to feed 500 victims and their families, explaining that the horror of living through a crime is no different than the nightmare of being a slave. "They need a family. The rabbis want to keep it so it looks like crimes in our community don't happen," said Kay, a Hasidic Jew who changed her name after launching the Coalition Against Legal Abuse in New York back in February.

The Jewish law of mesira prohibits a Jew from snitching to cops on another Jew but some rabbis give a pass depending on the crime. Still, if a victim comes forward in one of the city's insular Orthodox Jewish communities, families are usually shunned at schools, synagogues and work.

A Borough Park woman named Chaya, 22, said her dad used to beat her with metal coat hangers when she was a kid. "I have a feeling for people hurt by abuse," said Chaya, who spent the week peeling potatoes in preparation for the two big meals. "I want to help others have a comfortable life."

So far, 386 cooked chickens are sitting in fridges along with 14 pounds of coleslaw and 50 pounds of gefilte fish. "It doesn't matter how many people will come. We will feed everybody," said Kay. "We want more people to feel empowered to speak out."

sweichselbaum@nydailynews.com

Sexual Abuse - " Just a Game"-" Tawdry Tales"- " I Didn't Notice Abuse at RJJ!"

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2065579,00.html?xid=rss-world&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fworld+%28TIME%3A+Top+World+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

The Belgian Catholic Church must have felt it hit a nadir last year when it had to face harrowing revelations of rampant child sex abuse among its priesthood. However, the church's reputation is now at a new low, thanks to the ill-judged comments of the disgraced former Bishop of Bruges, who in April 2010 admitted to abusing his nephew. Belgians have been left in open-mouthed disbelief after the airing of a TV interview with Roger Vangheluwe in which he glossed over his history of abusing children.

Speaking on Belgian television on Thursday evening, April 14, Vangheluwe, 74, said he had in fact abused a second nephew as well. That would have been shocking enough: last year, when Vangheluwe initially owned up to the abuse — and stepped down as bishop — the move unleashed a flood of revelations by other victims of abuse in the church.

But it was no tearful confession that Belgians witnessed on Thursday. Looking relaxed and sometimes smiling, Vangheluwe described the sexual abuse as no more than "a little piece of intimacy." While he claimed to recognize that he had done wrong and said he often went to confession about it, Vangheluwe played down his actions. "I had the strong impression that my nephew didn't mind at all. On the contrary. It was not brutal sex. I never used bodily, physical violence," he said. The abuse of his first nephew, in the 1970s and '80s, he said, "started as, I would call it, a game." At the time, the boy was just 5, and the abuse would last 13 years. The abuse of the second nephew, he said, was "merely over a year." Despite this, Vangheluwe insisted, "I don't have the impression at all that I am a pedophile." Following the interview, the first nephew said through his lawyer that he did not want to comment; the identity of the second nephew is not yet known.

The interview drew almost immediate rebuke. Prime Minister Yves Leterme said Vangheluwe's remarks "go beyond the boundary of what is acceptable" and called on the Catholic Church to "assume its responsibilities." Vice Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx said the interview was "disgusting," adding that Vangheluwe "showed a complete disdain for his victims." Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck urged the Vatican to punish the former bishop. "It is a slap in the face of his victims and all victims," he said. And Carina Van Cauter, vice chair of the parliamentary committee investigating sexual abuse, said Vangheluwe "tried to turn his victims into culprits. He throws salt in their wounds."

The church also responded fiercely, with bishops lining up to condemn Vangheluwe. The Bishop of Ghent, Luc Van Looy, said he was "ashamed, shocked, upset and angry. By trivializing the abuse, Vangheluwe is deepening the indescribable suffering of victims." Josef De Kesel, Vangheluwe's successor as Bishop of Bruges, said, "It's unbelievable, and so damaging for all involved — firstly the victims, but also us, our credibility."

Victims groups reacted with weary disgust. "I was angry but not surprised," says Linda Opdebeeck, president of the support group Human Rights in the Church. "[Vangheluwe] is just like the monk who abused me 30 years ago and never accepted any responsibility. Vangheluwe will never recognize what he did, never understand the gravity of his actions, even though it was legal rape."

Gabriel Ringlet, a priest and influential Catholic figure in Belgium, says that while Vangheluwe's interview was repulsive, it also risks undermining the wider campaign against child abuse. "If we focus too much on him, we might forget the bigger problems," says Ringlet, who has urged the church to issue an unequivocal apology, punish the pedophiles and compensate victims. "The pedophilia is linked to the church's authority. When the priest suggests his abuse is part of his holy function, it is difficult for a child or parishioner to denounce him."

Despite his admission, Vangheluwe does not face criminal prosecution, because the abuses occurred decades ago, beyond Belgium's statute of limitations for sex abuse. The Vatican had sent the former bishop to an abbey in the Loire valley in France weeks ago for "spiritual and psychological treatment" in the wake of last year's abuse admission. It's not known whether the church knew of his second victim. Vangheluwe could be stripped of his priesthood, but that was also an option following his first abuse confession — and it still hasn't happened.

Nor has there been much progress in Belgium over the past year when it comes to abuse by clergy. As the scandal has escalated, the head of the Belgian Church, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, has been reluctant to take firm action beyond a vague expression of regret. Léonard, an archconservative who frequently conducts mass in Latin, is widely seen as being out of touch with his flock. Two weeks ago, he was targeted by custard-pie-throwing activists angry over his description of AIDS as a kind of "intrinsic justice" punishing gays.

Dirk Jacobs, a sociology professor at Brussels Free University, says the Vatican must act forcefully now if it wants to salvage some of its credibility and moral authority in Belgium and abroad. "But it might still be seen as too little, too late," Jacobs says. "The image we have is of the church as an institution of power, foremost worried about its reputation, disconnected from the real world and with a twisted view of sexuality." However, there is little indication that the Vatican is ready for an image overhaul. And one year after he resigned in disgrace, Roger Vangheluwe appears — like the Vatican — to be in denial about the problem.

בור שופכין הוא שבור והוא לא יוכל לתקון - The Cesspool is Broken and it can't be Fixed!

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2006/08/uoj-is-roto-rooter-guy.html

In the spirit of the upcoming Passover holiday, I felt the need to write a new song with original UOJ lyrics. Now, I realize being the Roto Rooter Guy ( click above link - newcomers), this is not good for business! But, who cares? Everything seems broken, especially the spirit of humankind! So, I wrote the above lyrics as the title to my new holiday song; after searching the Psalms (Tehillim) and finding nothing there quite hit the nail on the head befitting the times we live in, as the above title.

As if we did not have enough with the Leib Tropper Conversion scandals, now comes information along to me that none other than Rabbi Shlomo Miller from Toronto, Canada was responsible for converting to Judaism, the notorious "alleged" con-man, Sandy Craig Hutchens/Moshe Alexander, who was a criminal since he was 15 years old, convicted of many different crimes, and who is now 51. Rabbi Shlomo Miller "converted" him in 2005. Hutchens converted to Orthodox Judaism, according to sources, strictly to prey on the non-suspecting Orthodox Jews and their money, who relied on Miller for his "wise man" status throughout the Orthodox Jewish community worldwide.

Instead of dealing with this issue boldly and head-on, Miller issues the following Kol-Koreh!

CLICK TO ENLARGE:



די סעספּול איז איבערגעבליבענע און עס קאַן ניט זייַן פאַרפעסטיקט Dayeinu!

SUFFERING IN SILENCE WINS EMMY FOR BEST RELIGION NEWS STORY

At the 54th Annual New York Emmy Awards this week, reporter Tara Rosenblum was awarded an Emmy for her piece, Suffering in Silence. This television report tells the story of former Kiryas Joel resident, Shlomo Weiss, who was sexually abused by his father from early childhood to age 16.

Community rabbis covered up the abuse and protected his father.

We applaud Shlomo for having the courage to go public with his experience of abuse. When SFJ approached Shlomo and asked him if he would be willing to tell his story on television he didn't hesitate. "I have to protect my family and community," was his immediate response.

As a teenager, Shlomo tried to protect himself; he reported the abuse to his teachers in Nitra Yeshiva and also to the most prominent rabbis in his community.

Instead of bringing the complaint to law enforcement, they sent Shlomo out of the country to keep him quiet.

In sharp contrast, Shlomo's father was allowed to continue driving a school bus in Kiryas Joel and to this day has unrestricted access to children.

Shlomo's message to the community is that the only way we can put a stop to the ongoing cover-up of child sexual abuse and the community's protection of offenders is to report abuse directly to law enforcement.

Thank you, Shlomo, for your selfless courage. You've undoubtedly saved lives by telling your story.

Thank you, Tara, for patiently working with us and producing such a powerful report. Children everywhere are safer as a result of your work.

For additional information please visit our website:www.sfjny.org.
Contact us:info@sfjny.org.

Yeshivas Should Not Exist If They Violate The Basic Precepts Of The Torah!

The UOJ Archives - March 21, 2006

Dear UOJ,

You wrote: "Sheinberg knew what he was doing; to give him a pass is tantamount to permitting retzicha....

"Sheinberg is a rasha gamur for what he did ...."

Many Gedolim, even in response to the latest incarnation of the Kolko scandal, believe that it is their sacred duty to protect the Yeshiva system from any blemish. They fear that the eruption of such a scandal will cause the demise of the entire Yeshiva system. While I believe that this approach is Kineged Halacha and Daas Torah and extremely misguided, I would still not use the term term "rasha gamur".

I also agree that we are dealing here with Dinei Nefashos a fact that they appear not to apprehend. Nevertheless, a Dayan can make a mistake in Dinei Nefashos as well. There are many misconceptions about molestation that people from a certain generation just don't get or are unwilling to face.

You suggest "he knew what he was doing" that he fully understood the horrific ramifications of what he did, knew that what he was doing was against Halacha and did it anyway. I think the jury's still out on that. I would like to believe that he just doesn't appreciate the enormity of this matter or its correct Halachic implications.

For example, the one Gadol you suscribe to in previous posts was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I think most people agree that the Meshichistin in Lubavitch have made a complete churban of both Judaism and Lubavitch. And the question arises did the Rebbe know and want this. I ask you if he was such as brilliant man didn't he realize that everybody in Lubavitch was saying he was Moshiach. Of course he knew. And yet you admire him.

The flaw in the aforementioned Gedolim's reasoning is that if the Yeshiva system can only survive by suppressing molestation, the whole system should be shut down. Not tommorow but today, immediately. The Netziv closed down Volozhin when the Government decreed they have to study Russian. Yeshivas only exist to do the will of Hashem. They cannot be predicated on violating basic precepts of the Torah. If truth, getting rid of these rotten apples will only serve to strenghten and purify the Yeshiva system tremendously. We don't need these menuvalim to thrive. The notion that we do is truly flawed.

Hasidic Man on Trial for Sexual Assault!

http://yubeacon.com/2011/03/news/chasidic-man-on-trial-for-sexual-assault/

by Simi Lampert

At 10:15 on Friday morning, Nechemya Weberman was seen before the judge in the Kings County Supreme Court for what promises to be a long trial involving his alleged rape and sexual assault of a 12 year old girl for three years as she was seeing him as a therapy patient. Weberman was arrested in connection with this on February 23rd and is currently out on $15,000 bail.

Weberman’s lawyer, a slick looking man in an expensive suit, turned down Judge Patricia Dimangos’ offer of five years imprisonment and maintained a pleading of not guilty. The court scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, May 11th for the next step in the proceedings. The trial itself has not been yet set. These proceedings can drag out for months or years, often wearing the victim and her supporters thin.

The defendant is a 53 year old married, unlicensed therapist from the sequestered community of Williamsburg, New York, where almost everyone is Chasidic. The courtroom was filled with Hasidim, most of whom were there to support the victim. Weberman’s wife, son, and two sisters sat in the back corner, avoiding the glances of curious audience members.

“I didn’t know about it until last year,” said the victim’s mother, R, in a distraught voice. “By that point he had messed up some of my other kids too. We were seeing him as a family therapist.”

The victim is currently 16 years old and has been to another therapist since she left Weberman a year ago. It was this therapist who discovered the alleged actions of Weberman and informed her parents.

Weberman was ordered to stay away from the victim for the coming six weeks and to refrain from any contact with her.

“I take this sort of thing very seriously,” stated Dimango severely.

The defense attorney made one motion. The police department had searched Weberman’s house recently with a warrant to look for photographs pertaining to the case. The warrant had called for no opening of closets and drawers but apparently the police had ignored that clause. It was determined that any materials found under this warrant was not admissible to the court.

The prospect of a court case for a member of the Chasidic clan, especially a case as covering the taboo topic of sexual assault, is nearly unheard of and highly rare.

The progress of the community in recent years in accepting that this could happen and should be spoken about, has been colossal.

When asked whether the community was supportive of her case and her daughter’s situation, Rachel replied emphatically, “Yes!”

Online forums have been abuzz with this story ever since Weberman was first arrested. Some comments are by others claiming to be molested by this man, while others say such things as “a Hasidic holy rabbi would never commit this crime. You are all anti-Semitic!”

The fact that another hearing was taking place 11 floors below this case in the same building at the same time, involving another Chasid from Williamsburg who allegedly raped a young boy in a mikvah is a mark of just how far the community has come. The defendant in that case, Meir Dascalowitz, a 27 year old, has been out on bail for ten months now, claiming to need psychiatric evaluation for mental instability. His hearing was postponed yet again today, as his lawyer maintained that the psychiatrist who saw Dascalowitz was not fit to assess him as the therapist speaks only English and no Yiddish.

On March 8 a Grand Jury indictment was entered into the court record. Weberman was charged with 150 felonies all involving sexual crimes with a child, including one B felony in the first degree, 145 D felonies and 4 E felonies. Among other things he was specifically charged with the B felony in the 1st degree, of “a course of sexual conduct” with his victim when she was twelve where the act had to have been either oral, anal, or vaginal sex, or penetrating her vaginally or anally with a foreign object which caused injury. A defendant in a similar case was only convicted of eight D felonies and was sentenced to 10-32 years. In theory, Weberman’s sentence, if he is convicted on all charges, could top Bernie Madoff’s by several hundred years.

Before Weberman entered the courtroom this morning, a 30 year old former Chasid, now bedecked in jeans, chains, eye makeup, black nail polish, and long black hair went over to him. He held up a picture of a young boy.

“Do you remember molesting me?” He demanded. “Do you?”*

Five noted activists (among 50) who came to court to support the victims of sex-abuse:

l-R: Rabbi Nochum Rosenberg, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, Mark M. Appel, Zvi Gluck, Dr. Asher Lipner

Photos - courtesy of:

Can't Happen To Your Kids? Are You Sure?

***German Kids Yes - Jewish Kids No? *** GOLEM - "Ged"OY"lim" - I'm Talkin' To You!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/europe/24briefs-Statute.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

World Briefing | EUROPE
Germany: Change to Abuse Statute - By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 23, 2011

Under legislation approved by the cabinet on Wednesday, Germans who were sexually abused as children are expected to have as long as 30 years after they turn 21 to bring accusations in court. The previous statute of limitations on civil abuse cases was three years. Criminal cases have a statute of limitations of 3 to 30 years, depending on the charges. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger praised the legislation as strengthening victims’ rights. Parliament is expected to pass the legislation this year.

"The Church is the Bear Stearns of Pedophilia!" (and you know what happened to Bear Stearns)

Jewish Pedophiles Go Unpunished in Hasidic Community!

None of the nearly $1 million set aside to tackle sex abuse in New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities has been spent, even as another program set up to help scrambles for cash.

The state has earmarked $950,000 since April 2009 to fund Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s plans to teach Hasidic Jews to speak up against child molestation.

But the money sits untouched as Hikind figures out the details of Shomrei Yeldainu – Hebrew for “Guardians of our Children” – the Daily News has learned.

“You have to develop something that is done correctly working with the rabbis and leaders,” said Hikind (D-Brooklyn).

The $950,000 was included in the 2009 state budget for the Office of Family and Children’s Services, said Matt Anderson, a budget spokesman for Gov. Paterson.

It’s the first time the state has funded a sex abuse program geared toward helping a specific ethnic group.

“Apparently, the Hasidim will only go to the Hasidim for help,” said Edward Borges, an FCS spokesman.

I’ve written and spoken before on the terrible situation in the NY Orthodox Jewish community that allows child rapists to go unchecked and unpunished. It has been said that if you want to be a pedophile, this is THE place to prey.

The reason the problem exists is to a large extent, summarized in the last sentence: they only go to their own for help. Naturally, when you have this kind of a cult mentality, “their own” are often supporters of the rapists, not the victims (as disgusting as that sounds).

If the money for helping victims is going untouched, then the undeniable conclusion is that it is not serving the purpose for which it is intended. What is the Jewish community doing to spread the word that here is help from OUTSIDE the group? I suspect the answer is NOTHING. This is a cult, and just like every other cult they abhor outsiders because outsiders make sense and provide justice, as opposed to the utter subservience dished out by the cult.

The problem is compounded by a fear of the government appearing antisemitic if they press into the problem. This must not be used as an excuse. Children are being hurt, and it is the government’s job to step in and protect the children. Use the money to fund publicity to the Jewish children, and provide a few undercover cops to root out the swine.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re a child rapist, you’re not all that worried about the invisible man-in-the-sky, so no kosher meals in prison unless you pay for it yourself! Okey Dokey?

Sexual Abuse by Rabbis - Where is the Public Outcry?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments:

Reporter Paul Vitello of the New York Times showed the shocking extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. He also details the cover-ups that have long been aided and abetted by law enforcement.

Where have all the church-and-state advocates been all these years when Orthodox rabbis were allowed by the D.A.’s office to settle these cases “internally”? Where have all the professional victims’ groups been in staging protests outside synagogues? Where have all the sue-happy lawyers been seeking to plunder the Orthodox? Where have all the comedians and late-night entertainers been in cracking jokes about rabbis raping kids?

It’s not just Orthodox Jews who have been given a pass: no group has gotten away easier than public school employees. Consider this. Because public school students have only 90 days to file suit, it is already too late to prosecute a teacher—in virtually every state—who molested a minor as recently as last spring. But if the offense took place in a Catholic school, the student has years to file suit. Not only that, molesting teachers are still shuffled from one school district to another; it’s called “passing the trash.”

Orthodox Jews try cases of child rape in rabbinical courts. Imagine if the Catholic Church failed to report abuse cases to the authorities and decided instead to institute its own ecclesial courts? Vittelo's article quotes a Jewish attorney urging law enforcement to recognize “religious sensitivities” for the guilty by seeking alternatives to prison. Allow a Catholic attorney to advise the same and it’s called corruption.

Last year, 60 minors in this small Jewish community said they were abused.

Catholics are fed up with the duplicity. It’s not just Roman Polanski who can rape and run with impunity these days. The politics of child rape is sickening.

Rabbi Mordecai Tendler - former rabbi of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, which he founded by offering free group sex in New York

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Tendler

Rabbi Mordecai Tendler is the former sub-standard and mediocre rabbi of an Orthodox Jewish community, which he founded by offering lots of free group sex in New Hempstead, New York. He was known among Orthodox Jews "as a calypso singer, scholar, educator, and bottom-of-the-barrel community leader". His last name had everything to do with his getting the job.[1]

[edit] Family Tendler was born into an American Orthodox family. He is the son of Rabbi Moshe Tendler, (an expert in Jewish medical ethics) and his maternal grandfather is Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the leading 20th Century American rabbinic decisors (posek). He is the brother of the prominent porn star, Rabbi Aron 'Superboy' Tendler, who the Adult Video Network has nominated twice for their special philanderer-clergy award (although he is supposedly not very well-endowed).

Uncle (Pretty Boy) Sholom Tendler out West, is well known as the Community Banger (Tendler's version of the Community Kollel - come and hang out), any woman, any size, with any disease is welcome at his office or under his desk. Tendler serves as a vice president of the RCC - Rabbinical Council of California; noted for his erudition in the various colors of menstrual blood on ladies undergarments. He has copyrighted the halachic slogan - "Got Blood?"

First cousins of the Tendler boys are the Shisgal twins; they gained notoriety in the Orthodox Jewish community by posing for Penthouse Magazine. Bob Guccione, the publisher, ultimately, was paid a large sum of money by an anonymous Jewish community member not to publish the photographs (Guccione got real lucky!). Rumor has it that they were sexually molested as youngsters by a close family member.


As the posek's grandson and disciple, Mordecai Tendler worked closely with R. Feinstein in administering his efforts to a promulgate responsa on many matters of Jewish law (halakhah). Moreover, Tendler helped prepare and edit various volumes of Feinstein's responsa for publication in the Igrot Moshe series.

[edit] Allegations of misconduct - Due to allegations of sexual misconduct and his non-cooperation with an investigation, his membership in the Rabbinical Council of America was revoked in 2005,[2][3] and in 2006, he was removed from his Rabbinical position.[4] Tendler has continued to deny the allegations of both the plaintiffs and anonymous bloggers.[5] In 2007, the Appellate Division, 1st Department, of the New York State Supreme Court affirmed the lower court ruling, that dismissed the lawsuit brought by one of the plaintiffs against Tendler.[1]

Legal proceedings between Tendler and the bloggers were still ongoing as of 2008.[6]

[edit] References1.^ a b Wise, David (August 24, 2007). "Divided Panel Rules 'Seduction' Claims Against Rabbi Are Barred by N.Y. Law". New York Law Journal. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1187859736882. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
2.^ "Open Letter to the Jewish Community". Rabbinical Council of America. June 27, 2005. http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100606. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
3.^ "Clarification Regarding Rabbi M. Tendler and Bet Din". Rabbinical Council of America. December 30, 2005. http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100637. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
4.^ Macintosh, Jeane; David Hafetz (March 1, 2006). "Rabbi Expelled from Shul" (Internet Archive). News (New York Post): p. 7. Archived from the original on Unknown. http://web.archive.org/web/20060525194745/http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/64418.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
5.^ Spence, Rebecca (July 14, 2006). "Rabbi Challenges Right to Anonymity on Internet". The Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/452/. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
6.^ Bright, Arthur (July 30, 2008). "Tendler v. Does". Citizen Media Law Project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/tendler-v-does. Retrieved 2008-08-29.

"Tropper is more of a medium size hustler!"

Evanston Jew to UOJ:

I want to say something about the comparison between Tropper and Berlusconi. If Tropper never showed up on the Orthodox stage the entire community would be better off. I personally don't see any redeeming features to Tropper. OTOH he's not a major person, more of a medium size hustler. If he doesn't return to public life the problem is solved...

UOJ to EJ:

Tropper, indeed a hustler, was well on his way to controlling all or most Orthodox conversions in the USA. Imagine if he was a big-time hustler!

The big league hustlers are the rabbis that took any money from this guy, or that showed up at his events. Why, even Shmuel Kaminetzky waited until his partner in Philly, R' Elya Svei passed away (Svei despised Tropper), no sooner was his body cold, did Kaminetzky participate in these EJF orgies and take money from Tropper.

Tropper is Orthodox Judaism today - hustlers with their pants down and hands out!

Uncle Joe!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/oh_no_uncle_joe_m4LJcP6mF92Gd74FTuwaWL

Brooklyn camp counselor charged in kid-sex case
By JAMIE SCHRAM, WILLIAM J. GORTA and CHUCK BENNETT

"City Yossi" - Joseph Passof, a retired New York City schoolteacher known by the nickname "Uncle Joe," is accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy in a bathroom last summer, authorities said.

The counselor was slapped with a slew of sex-abuse charges for the heinous July assault, in which he allegedly sneaked up behind his young victim and attacked him in front of a 4-year-old camper.

"That's Uncle Joe, bad person," the young witness told investigators when he was shown a photograph of Passof, police sources said.

The 65-year-old, who spent 36 years on staff at the Flatbush Park Jewish Center Day Camp, was arrested Wednesday and pleaded not guilty yesterday.

A camp photo shows the tubby teacher surrounded by child playthings and a pile of kids' clothes. Camp director Kevin Adelson didn't return calls and e-mails for comment.

Passof's defense lawyer, Jay Cohen, said Passof is impotent because of high blood pressure and diabetes.

Cohen said the accusation was fabricated by the mother of the witness, who had been chastised by Passof and another counselor.

Joseph Passof, a retired New York City schoolteacher known by the nickname "Uncle Joe," is accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy in a bathroom last summer, authorities said.

The counselor was slapped with a slew of sex-abuse charges for the heinous July assault, in which he allegedly sneaked up behind his young victim and attacked him in front of a 4-year-old camper.

Cohen said Passof had actually walked in on the two boys in the bathroom "experimenting" with their pants down.

Passof, who plans to testify before a grand jury, says he only yelled at them to pull their pants up and denied any abuse, according to Cohen.

Passof appears prominently on the Web site of Flatbush Park Jewish Center Day Camp, which costs $3,000 for eight weeks and accepts kids from ages 4 to 14.

There are pictures of a portly-looking Passof sitting on a child's jungle gym and another section touts his skills in preparing fish sticks for the campers.

He was ordered held on $50,000 bail or bond.

Passof taught at city schools, including PS 99 Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature in Midwood, Brooklyn, from 1984 until his retirement in 2003.

The Department of Education said he had no disciplinary history.

jamie.schram@nypost.com

The Disposable Jew by Michael Lesher Esq.

A MUST READ IN ITS ENTIRETY - CLICK ON LINK BELOW:
http://www.amyneustein.com/pubs/disposablejew.doc

...“When you’re abused as a child,” says one of my clients, “and you grow up to be an adult, and you know the man who violated you was never punished, the violation never leaves you. You’re never whole. People,” he adds, meaning his coreligionists, “have got to understand that.” Or, as another victim put it: “Every day that the perpetrator is living openly, knowing that nothing is being done to him, that no one cares, is another day of being victimized all over again.”

My connection to these people is inseparable from the theme of continuing victimization. The man my clients accuse of abusing them – a Hasidic psychologist/school administrator named Avrohom Mondrowitz, who won the trust of the Brooklyn Orthodox community with the title “rabbi” – has remained unpunished for over twenty-five years. Though authorities believe Mondrowitz sodomized or otherwise abused hundreds of Orthodox Jewish children in the early 1980s, not one of their families reported him to police.

After the parents of a few non-Jewish children (who were also allegedly abused by Mondrowitz) did press first-degree sodomy and child abuse charges against him, Mondrowitz fled the country in December 1984 and reappeared in Jerusalem, where he lived undisturbed for the next twenty-three years. Technically he was a wanted fugitive – but at the urging of the Orthodox Jewish community in both countries, legal authorities were content to leave Mondrowitz a free man until steadily mounting public pressure resulted in his arrest in November 2007.

In fact, if rabbinic leaders had had their way, he would never have been arrested. “It was a long time ago,” was how one prominent rabbi responded, as recently as the summer of 2006, to my suggestion that Mondrowitz should face prosecution. “What for?”...

Who Governs The Jews?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/opinion/01tue3.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Editorial - The New York Times

Acts of Contrition
Published: February 28, 2011

One can scarcely imagine the pain borne into St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin last month at a Mass — “A Liturgy of Lament and Repentance” — offered for the victims of sexually abusive priests.

It was a reminder that the scandal, a global catastrophe for the Roman Catholic Church and a national tragedy in Ireland, is also a universe of individual tragedies. But there was also hope that some church leaders, at least, are facing up to that pain and that catastrophe. The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and Cardinal Séan O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, presided over the Mass, which went to unusual lengths to involve victims and to gaze unflinchingly at their suffering.

With 400 people in attendance, lectors read long passages from official reports on decades of abuse in Irish parishes and schools — horrific reading for a sacred space. A few victims interrupted the proceedings with their own stories of shame and terror.

Just as unusual, even startling, was the way the archbishop and cardinal made personal the church’s act of contrition. They lay prostrate in silence before a bare altar. They washed and dried the feet of eight abuse victims — just as the Catholic clergy do at Mass on Holy Thursday to recall how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, a gesture of humility and service.

Archbishop Martin offered what may be the most specific apology yet, showing an understanding — rare among his peers — of the difference between lip service and true repentance. “When I say ‘sorry,’ ” the archbishop said, “I am in charge. When I ask forgiveness, however, I am no longer in charge. I am in the hands of the others. Only you can forgive me; only God can forgive me.”

Not all survivors of abuse will likely accept the apology. They are right that the church has a long way to go to cleaning house and repairing trust with its flock. Reforms are lagging, many victims are still waiting for compensation and a full accounting of crimes. Some predator priests are still in ministry. Bishops have largely avoided punishment or credible repentance.

Still, gestures and ritual can be meaningful, and forgiveness has to begin somewhere, which is why the Dublin Mass seemed to be a true step forward. “We want to be part of a church that puts survivors, the victims of abuse, first,” Cardinal O’Malley said, getting it right.

And for that Sunday, anyway, the victims took precedence. “What the hell did I do wrong as a child?” asked a man, Robert Dempsey, who told of being abused in a mental institution. “What the hell did any of us do?”

***

President and Founder of The Jewish Board of Advocates for Children - JBAC - Elliot Pasik Esq. writes:

The umos ha'olam not only get kind words, but the Church also, without compulsion of law, provides free therapy for the victims. The Church is now also in strict compliance with all American background check and mandatory reporting laws.

The Jews, in May 2009, receive a tongue lashing from Rosh Aguda Rabbi Perlow who, at the annual Aguda dinner says: Only gedolim can divine what is good for the Jews, not well-meaning baal ha'battim, nor presumptous bloggers and picketers.

Their Executive Vice President, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Esq., echoed the same theme when he told the NY Times, in October 2009: I hope the Brooklyn DA isn't making a power grab from the rabbis, by prosecuting orthodox Jewish sex abusers.

Last night, on PBS, Channel 13, there was a riveting documentary about the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 people died, mostly young Jewish women. About half were teens. The fire started from a dropped cigarette. The two rich factory owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, had locked all the doors, and there was overcrowding. The owners escaped the fire by scampering to the roof, and crossing to an adjacent building. Nobody told the workers. The owners were acquitted of manslaughter, and collected the insurance money. The NYS Legislature responded with 32 new laws, covering worker safety, child labor, and fire equipment. The fire department ladders reached only to the 6th floor, not to the 8th floor.

The academic commentators at the end of the documentary said that the fire produced a sea change on how people felt they should be governed. Pre-fire, people believed that the factories and workers were a private relationship only. Post-fire, there was a consensus that worker safety was subject to public policy.

So 32 new laws got passed!

Halavei!

Elliot Pasik

Call for OHEL Leadership Change!

Press Release - Ohel Jewish Childrens Home and Family Services

Call for OHEL Leadership Change

CONTACT:The Voice of Justice - VoiceOfJustice613@gmail.com
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Sunday, February 27, 2011

The recent revelations about OHEL Jewish Children’s Home and Family Services in Brooklyn written by Hella Winston of the Jewish Week on February 24, 2011 were, without question, profoundly disturbing, but sadly, not entirely unexpected.

For many years OHEL has been awash with rumors and allegations regarding their staff not reporting incidences of sexual abuse to proper authorities as required by law. In addition, many supervisors at OHEL have reportedly instructed staff not to report the allegations of sex abuse. These allegations of OHEL’s non-compliance with Federal and state reporting guidelines put the entire organization in jeopardy of losing its government funding and non-profit status. It also puts senior staff and Board of Directors in jeopardy of possible criminal prosecution.

Further, serious concerns have surfaced in the community concerning the partnership and relationship between OHEL and KOL TZEDEK, which is a project of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, created to combat sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community. KOL TZEDEK's mission statement calls for providing support and assistance to victims and their families. Unfortunately this relationship appears to be a political one, without any substance at all. OHEL, a major partner with KOL TZEDEK, has not provided any emergency support to victims or families of the victims, especially in the recent high profile sex cases in the community, all of which resulted in convictions.

Neither David Mandel, the CEO of OHEL, nor any one of OHEL’s staff, have ever been present at any of the court trials relating to sexual abuse in our community, nor have they reached out to any of the families involved with any compassion or assistance. OHEL, which is one of the largest non-profit agencies in the New York City area, providing mental health and foster care services, should have reached out and offered its services to victims, alleged victims, and their families.

As Rabbi Yosef Blau, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, pointed out, OHEL is an extremely important institution in our community and operates vital programs that are crucial and needed for the families in our community. However, these troubling issues cannot be swept under the rug. They must be dealt with in order to banish the dark clouds that impede OHEL’s overall effectiveness and compliance.

We respectfully ask OHEL’s Board of Directors to initiate an external investigation. A team of independent professionals, not associated with OHEL, must be invited in to carry out these duties. The external investigation and the implementation of their suggestions will hopefully bring about reinvigorated and honest leadership to the helm of OHEL. This investigation should be similar to the investigation of the Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) wherein confidence was successfully restored, (specifically after the Baruch Lanner scandal), resulting in the hiring of a new executive leader. We hope for similar results in this matter.

We firmly believe that bring new leadership to OHEL, specifically a CEO with clinical experience, to guide the agency through this pivotal and difficult period in the agency’s history, will help to restore OHEL’s original vision and vital mission of protecting Jewish children and strengthening Jewish families.***

Excerpts from The Jewish Week's piece by noted author Hella Winston PhD:

Rabbi Yosef Blau, mashgiach ruchani (spiritual adviser) of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and a longtime advocate for abuse survivors, told The Jewish Week referring to the mother’s case as well as others of which he has knowledge.

“They have been the point men for the community [on this issue] and they have accepted the approach of the community, which is never to go to the police. They endlessly [hide] behind technicalities,” Rabbi Blau continued.

“Because [Ohel is] an agency that does wonderful things for children,” Rabbi Blau added, referring to the homes and services Ohel provides for foster children, it is not an agency he would like to see disappear. However, with respect to the handling of child sexual abuse, Rabbi Blau believes that Ohel “is the problem, in a nutshell. They [have shown that they are] not able to deal with the situation that they are legally required and morally required [to deal with]. The workers are all sincere people,” the rabbi added. “Solutions [to the current problem] would involve changing [Ohel’s] leadership. [And] you will know there’s change when they start reporting.”

Do It My Vey - Gay Tzu Der Po-Li-Tzei!!!

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/02/25/brooklyn-rabbi-accused-of-molesting-girl-since-she-was-12/

Brooklyn ‘Rabbi’ Accused Of Molesting Girl Since She Was 12
Community Upset By Charges Against Nechemya Weberman
(NOT BY WHAT WEBERMAN DID - UOJ)
February 25, 2011

By Pablo Guzmán, CBS 2 News

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A father was convinced his 16-year-old daughter was having a relationship with a 17-year-old boy, so the father set up a hidden camera in the house. What he recorded shocked him — what he saw the daughter doing to please the young man.

They are Orthodox Jews, in Brooklyn. The father had already taken the daughter to seek counseling with Rabbi Nechemya Weberman in years past. Just as he had taken her older sister. It is a common practice in the community for a respected person to be a counselor, or serve as a therapist. Weberman is affiliated, police said, with Brooklyn’s United Talmudic Community, a yeshiva.

Now, the father went to the Brooklyn DA’s office with the tape, and Rabbi Weberman. The Brooklyn DA’s office has set up special channels of communication to bridge cultural gaps that might be beneficial to both sides. However, the more that investigators talked to the parties involved — especially when they spoke with them separately — the more that there were questions which indicated something was not right. Around Feb. 16, the girl told a counselor at school that the rabbi has been raping her for years. The counselor reported it, and when the investigators talked to her again, she claimed there were at least 16 incidents at 263 Classon Avenue, in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, which serves as Weberman’s home and office. It is where the counseling sessions took place. The girl told investigators it began in 2007, when she was 12; and continued through 2010.

Detectives assembled sufficient preliminary evidence to start a case; and arrested Weberman on Wednesday. He was brought to Brooklyn Criminal Court that night, and told he was being charged with rape, endangering the welfare of a child, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct against a child, and engaging in a criminal sexual act.

The Orthodox Jewish community that has gone to Weberman as a therapist and counselor, especially for young people, are in shock. Reeling. The debate has even gone to blogs on the Internet. But Weberman’s lawyer, George Farkas, told me, people should not jump to conclusions, warning that this all began within what he called “a dysfunctional family,” referring to the father setting up the hidden camera and the possibility that the daughter is striking out in anger against her father, who is trying to shut down her relationship with her boyfriend and slam Weberman in the process.

“The charges (against Weberman) are horrendous. They are disgusting. And they’re despicable. Not just — it’s absolutely awful. But what I will tell you is that this man will die before he’s branded a child molestor,” Farkas said.

Sources in the case said Weberman is not a licensed therapist. But on Friday NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly added one thing more: “The rabbi … is NOT a rabbi! He’s a 52-year-old male arrested for molestation of a young woman who is still a minor.”

After hearing this, I called Farkas, Weberman’s attorney. He took a deep breath.

“Have I asked to see his rabbinical diploma? No. Does he have a congregation? No. Does the Gentile world always understand when my world uses the term ‘rabbi’? No. I think you do, Pablo,” Farkas said. “We know each other. But many do not. Now: with that said, have people taken their children for years to see him as a counselor? Yes. Is he viewed as a therapist? Yes. Is he ‘respected’? Yes.”

Another respected member of the Brooklyn Orthodox community told me, “This is all very difficult for us. There is unfortunately a ‘tradition’, if you will, of the pedophile continuing to function, when he is in such a respected position. And the victim being ostracized. We have worked hard to change this. But it has been a long, uphill battle. Now, I do not know this man. But I will say this: since word began circulating, people are talking. Others are coming forward. I believe there may be as many as five other people who are preparing to report their own encounters with this man. We have to see what happens in the justice system.”

Some who are involved in the case have told me that is exactly what’s happening. More evidence is being presented, right now, to a grand jury.

Rabbi Weberman is due back in court March 9. Detectives are gathering information for a possible indictment.


Pediatrician in Abuse Case Killed Himself
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: February 25, 2011

Dr. Melvin D. Levine, a nationally known pediatrician who was found dead last week, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a medical examiner said on Friday.

Levine, 71, was found in the woods near his Rougemont, N.C., home with a gunshot wound to his forehead. His death was reported a day after a class-action sexual abuse and malpractice suit was filed against him in Boston.

A report by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina said officers went to Dr. Levine’s home the night of Feb. 17 after his wife reported finding a suicide note, but they were not initially able to find his body. The contents of the note have not been released.

The Boston lawsuit charges that Dr. Levine performed unnecessary genital exams on 40 boys while at Children’s Hospital Boston from 1966 to 1985.

Although Dr. Levine, a Rhodes scholar, had long been dogged by charges of sexually abusing young male patients, he had maintained that he was innocent. He was never convicted on any abuse charge, and never faced criminal charges.

On Friday The Boston Globe reported that several men who said they had been molested as young boys had described encounters in which they said Dr. Levine groped, fondled or performed oral sex on them. One recalled a trip on which he and Dr. Levine were in the same bed, saying that when the doctor took off his clothes, he put his arm around the boy and fondled him.

Christopher Dean, now a 50-year-old architect in Roslindale, Mass., said Friday that for four years, starting when he was 9, he went twice a year to Dr. Levine’s office for a “checkup” that was simply an occasion for molestation.

“It started when he came to my school in Brookline, saw me in the nurse’s office, fondled me, and then said he would like to see me as a private patient,” said Mr. Dean, a plaintiff in the Boston suit, which will proceed against Mr. Levine’s estate. “I came out in tears and in shock, but didn’t tell anyone.”

Several plaintiffs said that Dr. Levine’s abuse had clouded their lives, and that they hoped for resolution in the lawsuit.

“It left me feeling very awkward; I never forgot it, and I always kept track of Dr. Levine,” said Donald Roy, now 46, who said he was abused by Dr. Levine at age 10, when he was having surgery at Children’s Hospital. “My mother knew what was going on because Dr. Levine invited me to visit his house, and I said I just wasn’t going to go, and I explained why. But she didn’t know what to do with it.”

Carmen Durso, a Boston lawyer for the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, filed his first suit against Dr. Levine in 2005, and followed with four more complaints before holding a news conference in 2008 at which he announced the charges. Those charges were resolved, but last week Mr. Durso held a news conference announcing the new complaints.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/us/26levine.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Lessons From Libya - A Tale Of 2 Hats!

"Kadafi's biggest mistake was that he built his whole regime on pure fear," said Omar Amer, a member of the Libyan Youth Movement, a protest group that spreads its message through Facebook. "He totally abandoned civilizing Libya. He neglected education and development projects. He left the majority of his people in the dark ages and built his might on fear through torturing and killing political dissidents in public.

"But the fear that Kadafi built his empire with is gone, and that was his last shelter," Amer added.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-libya-kadafi-20110222,0,7334029.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews+%28L.A.+Times+-+Top+News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:

Press Release - Meir Dascalowtiz
Statement from the Voice of Justice
In Defense of Abused Children

CONTACT: MARK M. APPEL (917) 804-3942 cell
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Monday, February 21, 2011

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, admitted serial child rapist, Meir Dascalowitz will appear in Kings County Supreme Court to plead to charges related to his many felony and misdemeanor sex crimes against children.

Dascalowitz’s charges include criminal sex acts with a child under 14, sexual misconduct with a minor, and sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, almost 100 felony sexual abuse charges in total. Dascalowitz’s attorney is likely to have his client plead insanity. In order for our community to be safe, we need to show the public and Judge Riviezzo that we will not tolerate these crimes against our children and that we believe perpetrators of these heinous sex crimes should be held accountable in a court of law.

At previous court appearances, Dascalowitz has managed to garner support from individuals who mock, intimate, and harrass Dascalowitz’s victims and witnesses outside the hearings. The Voice of Justice is calling upon the Jewish community to gather in the courtroom on Wednesday February 23, 2011 at 9:00 AM to show support to victims of this dangerous admitted criminal, and their families.

To show your support of Dascalowitz’s victims, to demand justice, and to send a message that criminals who abuse children in the Jewish community deserve to and will be punished, please attend the Dascalowitz plea hearing below:

Wednesday, February 23, 2011
9:00 AM
Kings County Supreme Court
320 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY
Judge Riviezzo

THE REAL PROBLEM IS NOT TALKING ABOUT “IT” TO OUR CHILDREN, AT HOME AND IN SCHOOL-PART TWO

THE UOJ ARCHIVES - JULY 13, 2006

What I write below will likely not be news to any of the intelligent people who read this blog and support UOJ but may be news to some people on the fringe.

The most upsetting part of the whitewash meeting held at YTT in June in which David Mandel and Aron Twerski spoke – besides Rabbi Twerski’s undeserved, premature, ill-timed and ill-advised “haskamah” of Margo as “a man of great honor” - is this part of the story as reported by Jennifer Friedlin in the Jewish Week:

“[W]hen an audience member asked whether sex education could help to strengthen children’s knowledge of inappropriate behavior and empower them to come forward if someone violated them, Mandel responded that sex education was ‘not something realistic’ in a community that stresses modesty.”

There is so much wrong with that sentence, that it sends shivers up my spine.

1. Sexual abuse has about as much to do with sex and sex education, as rape has to do with making love.

What we have learned over the past thirty years is that rape is not a sex act but an act of violence and violation, of dominance, control and power. Many rapists, although clearly not all, have difficulty finding voluntary sexual partners. While they do achieve their own sexual gratification during the rape, it is through fear, power, intimidation, (and not through the intimacy shared between lovers) that is the tool to their climax. It is sick, perverse, criminal and traumatizing.

Similarly, sexual abuse of minors is not an act of love. It is a sick, perverse act of seduction of the helpless, of taking advantage by wielding power, intimidation, humiliation and violence. It is no less traumatizing than rape – for in its essence, it is rape.

2. Although sex education should be taught in all yeshivas, one can teach about sexual abuse without even using the term “sex” – and without getting into the mechanics of sex and sexual education.

We have really great educators who have spent decades testing age appropriate sexual education from very young ages (e.g., 4-6-year-olds and up), and every study shows that it does not cause an increase in teenage sexual activity – despite our primitives beliefs in the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox community to the contrary.

But lets say we’re right. Let’s say that Mandel is right – that sex education in a community that stresses modesty is not realistic. Teaching about abuse and about unwanted touching of a child’s private parts, and what is inappropriate behavior on the part of parents, teachers, Rabbis, and camp counselors, has nothing to do with sex! It can be taught without causing nightmares, without causing trauma, without talking about the mechanics of sex, etc.

There are well-trained, frum professionals: social workers, psychologists, doctors and nurses who are ready to come into our schools and inform our kids in a way that will make them feel less traumatized and less stigmatized about what has happened to them and about coming forward. It can be discussed by these professionals in a frum and tzne’usdikeh way.

But we refuse to do it. Why??? Because we are our own kids worst enemy! We are led by small-minded naysayers, by the “sha-shtill” crowd – the Margulies, the Twerskis, the Mandels, the Shafrans, the Schicks of our world - who believe that if we don’t talk about it, if we hush it up, it is a smaller problem that it really is, it will go away or it won’t even exist.

WE ARE SICK!

Not too long ago, I remember when the more modern yeshivas were faced with the following dilemma: They became fully aware of the fact that there are anorexics and bulimics in the girls’ schools. They knew there are drug experimenters among the boys and the girls. But if we teach them about the evils of these practices, aren’t we admitting to the world that THE KIDS IN OUR SCHOOL ARE BAD KIDS? Won’t the schools NOT tackling these problems point at those who do and say “They have that problem; not us.” And won’t that cause parents to enroll their kids elsewhere?

To an extent, the yeshivas were right. Small-minded people sometimes do think that way. But to their credit they came up with a solution. The modern day schools all banded together and decided to introduce those topics into their schools AT THE SAME TIME. They said, “We don’t know if it’s a problem here, but we do know it exists and we want to help our kids avoid it. So we’re not going to stick our heads in the sand ever again.” And besides the education they offered to their high school students, they made parents attend sessions at night on these topics. I attended them more than once. They had yeshiva kids who had been through drug rehab come and tell their first hand stories and talk about how wasted they were and how they almost lost their lives. Let me tell you, there is nothing more disturbing and nothing leaves a greater impression on you, than seeing a boy in a yarmulke or a girl in a long black skirt tell you about how they woke up after a three-day drug binge and didn’t know what day or time it was, where they were, or in whose bed they had slept – and what they had done there.

I thank God that those yeshivas had the courage to institute this education.

We need the same courage to introduce the subject of sexual abuse. And it cannot be limited to the modern yeshivos. It has to be across the board, in every one of them, including the chasidishe ones.

3. We have to teach all our children in school about inappropriate touching. We have to teach them about child abuse and the difference between a “potch” and a beating. We have to talk to our children about spousal abuse. And who to talk to if they witness it and how to report it.

And it can’t be reported to our existing ill-equipped rebbeim and principals. It has to be appropriately trained counselors, ombudsman and watchdogs.

And this education must take place in the schools for the following reasons:

(A) Most parents will not discuss it with their children at home.
(B) Most parents are not trained to discuss it properly.

We must have blanket education of all of our kids on this subject in a uniform manner in order for it to be most effective.

I’ve seen and reviewed the Torah Umesorah guidelines on child abuse. In and of themselves, they are not bad. The problem is: (1) They have not been uniformly and widely implemented, and are NOT mandatory (2) Without educating all our children about abuse, the guidelines are meaningless even if they were implemented and (3) There is no one in place who is appropriately trained for our children to report abuse to.

We can talk to our girls about taharas hamishpacha, we can discuss in graphic detail their menstrual flow, about why they should use sanitary napkins and not tampons, about why they should not hand a sefer directly to a rebbe – but we can’t talk (to our girls and our boys) about inappropriate touching!? I find that absurd.

I know that there are some stickers in frum homes with an abuse hotline number on it. But it is not in enough homes.

I guarantee you that for every call to Hatzalah, there is someone who should be calling or wants to call an abuse hotline, but doesn’t know whom to call. There should be an abuse hotline sticker under every Hatzalah sticker in every Jewish home.

And none of that matters if we don’t educate our kids in school about what abuse is and isn’t.

Watch 60 Minutes - Sunday - February 20, 2011

Sen. Scott Brown has revealed he was sexually abused by a camp counselor as a child.

Published February 16, 2011
FoxNews.com

The Massachusetts Republican, who rose to political stardom when he won the seat held by the late Ted Kennedy a year ago, is expected to discuss the childhood abuse in his book, "Against All Odds."

Saying he's never told anybody about the trauma, Brown opened during an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" set to air Sunday. Though he also suffered physical abuse at the hands of his stepfathers, Brown revealed he was sexually abused, multiple times, by a camp counselor who threatened to "kill" him if he talked about it.

"Fortunately, nothing was ever fully consummated, so to speak, but it was certainly, back then, very traumatic," Brown said. "He said 'If you tell anybody, you know, I'll kill you. I will make sure that no one believes you.'"

Brown said not even his mother knew about the abuse, explaining he was "embarrassed" and "hurt" by what he went through.

"When people find people like me at that young vulnerable age, who are basically lost, the thing that they have over you is, they make you believe that no one will believe you," the senator said.

Brown issued a brief written statement Wednesday addressing the subject matter in his upcoming book.

"My book is about overcoming obstacles. The physical and sexual abuse is in my book," Brown said. "It's a part of my life, but it certainly isn't the only part of my life story which I tell. My book will be out on Monday and I hope people will read it and be inspired by its message."

A Brown aide noted that when he was a state legislator, Brown worked on a number of bills to toughen sex-offender laws and strengthen protections for victims. He also proposes eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual abuse.

According to CBS, Brown explained in the interview that writing about the incidents felt cathartic. In the interview, he recalled how he also at one point wished he could have bought the house where he used to live with one abusive stepfather when it came up for sale -- so he could destroy it.

"I said, 'Man, I wish I had the money. I'd just buy this thing and burn it down,'" Brown said.

He suggested his past has made him stronger as a politician.

"When I'm getting the crap beat out of me outside, in the political spectrum, I'm like, 'Psst. This is nothing. Bring it on. Let's go'."

"No, People Will Make Us Free!"

U.S. Policy to Address Internet Freedom
By MARK LANDLER - THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: February 14, 2011

WASHINGTON — Days after Facebook and Twitter added fuel to a revolt in Egypt, the Obama administration plans to announce a new policy on Internet freedom, designed to help people get around barriers in cyberspace while making it harder for autocratic governments to use the same technology to repress dissent.

The State Department’s policy, a year in the making, has been bogged down by fierce debates over which projects it should support, and even more basically, whether to view the Internet primarily as a weapon to topple repressive regimes or as a tool that autocrats can use to root out and crush dissent.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will lay out the policy in a speech on Tuesday, acknowledged the Internet’s dual role in an address a year ago, and administration officials said she would touch on that theme again, noting how social networks were used by both protesters and governments in the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries.

The State Department plans to finance programs like circumvention services, which enable users to evade Internet firewalls, and training for human rights workers on how to secure their e-mail from surveillance or wipe incriminating data from cellphones if they are detained by the police.

Though the policy has been on the drawing board for months, it has new urgency in light of the turmoil in the Arab world, because it will be part of a larger debate over how the United States weighs its alliances with entrenched leaders against the young people inspired by the events in Tunisia and Egypt.

Administration officials say that the emphasis on a broad array of projects — hotly disputed by some technology experts and human rights activists — reflects their view that technology can be a force that leads to democratic change, but is not a “magic bullet” that brings down repressive regimes.

“People are so enamored of the technology,” said Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. “People have a view that technology will make us free. No, people will make us free.”

Click On Link To Read The Entire Article:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/15clinton.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua2

Belsky Hazmana to Greenwald

Coming to America!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4633892/Adults-who-turn-a-blind-eye-to-kids-abuse-will-be-prosecuted


Failure to protect a child from abuse will finally become illegal this year, more than 12 months after Justice Minister Simon Power first announced it.

Mr Power said in December 2009 that the Government would make it a crime for adults to turn a blind eye to risk of death, serious injury or sexual assault of a child or vulnerable adult, such as the elderly, in their homes.

This followed Law Commission recommendations in the wake of the deaths of twins Chris and Cru Kahui in 2006.

Mr Power had said he would introduce a bill early last year as part of reform of the Crimes Act. However, this work had proved complex and the tougher child abuse laws would now be enshrined in separate legislation, the Crimes Act Amendment Bill, he said yesterday. He hoped to make an announcement before the end of next month.

"The legislation will ensure that it will no longer be an excuse to say you were not involved in abusing a child when you lived in the house and knew of the abuse taking place."

Prime Minister John Key, in a statement to Parliament yesterday, confirmed legislation would include tougher penalties for child abuse and measures to improve the treatment of children who appeared in court as witnesses and victims.

Further changes may stem from a ministerial inquiry into the case of a nine-year-old Auckland girl who was allegedly tortured by her parents, and the abuse concealed by several people.

"Despite decades of good intentions from government, we're still failing too many of our kids," Mr Key said.

The Law Commission recommended doubling to 10 years the maximum sentence for cruelty to children after the Kahui case, in which no-one was convicted and relatives were reluctant to co-operate with the police investigation.