Daat Emes Vs. "Daat Torah"- You Decide!

from Talk Reason

Response to Rabbi Segal
By Naftali Zeligman

Dear Rav Segal,

Some time ago you published a brochure Zachor Cherpatcha Mini Naval ("Remember Your Shame of a Villain") as an attempt to answer the claims of the Daat Emet pamphlets. Maybe your intention was to defend our Torah and to sanctify the name of G-d, but you missed the mark because of your lack of knowledge in the matters spoken of, because of arrogance and grumbling, and because of even more severe things, as we shall show. You wrote 53 pages to answer 5 Daat Emet pamphlets and even complained that doing this is a bitul Torah, but half of the things written are abuse, cursing, and bad language.

You called the author of the pamphlets "a villain," "a sick person," "a crazy one," compared him to Hitler, and used many other harmful and offensive titles hardly conceivable for the Sons of Israel, "bashful, merciful, and performing charity" (Yevamot 79a). All this writing is a definite bitul Torah and isn't a way to sanctify G-d's name, nor does it help to answer the Daat Emet questions, so it's a pity for us that a rabbi wrote this.

Maybe the fact people you wrote about left the way of Torah frustrated you so much you had no control of your instincts, but even this does not come from piety nor from love of Torah, but rather from a lack of knowledge in those matters, unforgivable for a person writing about them.

You should know about the responsa of the Ridbaz, part 4, section 187, in which the Ridbaz was asked about a preacher in a synagogue whose speech seemed to emit an air of heresy. In his answer he agreed that the things spoken were heresy, and then wrote in these plain words: "And I have not found a reason why he should be exempted from the punishment except that he is mistaken in his deductions, and his hope is his failure. This is surely no more severe than somebody who makes mistakes in any of the fundamentals of the faith because of his erroneous deductions, yet he isn't called a heretic for this.

Hillel was a great man, yet he erred on one of the fundamentals of the faith when he said, 'There's no Mashiach for Israel, for they had already devoured him in the days of Hezekiah.' Despite this mistake he was not thought a heretic, G-d forbid, for if he was, how could we learn from his words? And the reason is clear -- for his heresy lies only in thinking his deductive conclusions are true, so he is like one compelled to do a sin and therefore is exempted." Until here the words of the Ridbaz, and the conclusion is clear: one who leaves the way of Torah because of his logical conclusions is not a heretic, and the author of the pamphlets should be compared to Hillel rather than to Hitler.

Not only did you not know this, despite being a Rosh Yeshiva, you also do not know lot of more trivial and well-published things you wrote about in your brochure, and we shall explain each one in turn.

On the first page of your work you stated that the sun sets in the west, as proof of what is written: "And the host of Heaven bows down to You," for the Divine Presence is in the west. But this you forgot: the moon moves around the Earth from west to east, in just the opposite direction to the sun (Encyclopaedia Britannica, moon). Is the moon not part of "the host of Heaven"? Or does the Divine Presence move from west to east at night? This whole claim is ridiculous and worthless; why do you write about things you haven't even begun to study?

On page 5 you cited the prophet Amos' famous words as referring to the outreach movement in our days: "A time is coming -- declares my Lord G-d when I will send a famine upon the land: not a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord." True enough, this is Amos 8:11, but for some reason you forgot the next verse, Amos 8:12 -- "Men shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it." Rashi writes about these verses: "The Divine Spirit will leave them." It's clear that Amos described not a return to G-d, but G-d leaving his people helpless and losing holiness; the prophet's intention was the opposite of yours.

Then you went on, and like a peddler, pulled out all those arguments for "Torah from Heaven" given at seminars by Arachim and similar organizations.

You did this several more times, without any connection to the Daat Emet questions, fulfilling our rabbis' saying ,"he was called about wheat and confessed about barley." Regarding the matter of rational proofs for the Torah, there is a book titled "Guidance for the Yeshiva student from the letters of Rav Ya'akov Yisrael Kannevsky," which includes a letter to the Steipler Rebbe from a yeshiva student who had questions in matters of faith, asking for a solution. The Steipler's answer was that there's no rational solution for this problem, only meritorious suggestions. He advised the student to study Torah assiduously and to observe the Sabbath in all its nuances. If this young man was ready to observe the Sabbath stringently and with all his might, surely he didn't want to become an apostate. At that point, had there been any rational proof for Torah from Heaven, the Steipler would have given it to him; since he didn't give it, it means there's no such proof.

But even in those "proofs" you made many mistakes. First you wrote (on page 6) that on Mount Sinai G-d revealed Himself to all the People of Israel in a prophetic vision, which is above the vision of the senses. Then they passed this knowledge on to all their sons, and their sons to their sons, etc. until our days, so that for us it has more validity as a historical event than World War I, which only some people saw and reported to their sons. Until here are your words, and in only these few sentences you erred at least three times:

1) Rambam describes the Sinai Revelation as an event experienced by the senses alone: "Our eyes and not a stranger's saw, and our ears and not another's heard the fire and the voices and the torches" (Laws of the Torah Fundamentals, 8:1).

2) The fathers told this to their sons not as a personal testimony (we do not have 600,000 personal testimonies nor any other number), but as the performance of a commandment. What they must say is also strictly defined by Halacha, not by what they heard from their fathers. All that recitation of these stories testifies to is that the teller has accepted the yoke of the Torah and commandments for his own reasons, not necessarily because of this or any other historical event.

3) About World War II we know not only and not mainly from personal stories, but from historical evidence: documents, chronicles, news items of the war period, and so on. All this evidence has come from different sources, not always with a personal interest in the content of their testimony. All the evidence has been thoroughly cross-checked; the picture we have today is the result of all those verifications, so that it is quite an objective description of reality. Not so for the Sinai Revelation, which is not reported in any independent historic sources whose validity may be verified, nor is there any archeological evidence it really happened. For example, there's not a single remnant of the altar and the twelve stone pillars Moses built at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:4). In short, the Sinai Revelation clearly fails to meet the criteria of a historical event.

You made all these mistakes in just a few lines of your work. There are many other places in which you didn't understand the matter you were writing about. On page 6 you claimed that the Torah contains Halachic guidance even for the age of modern technology, as brought by the later poskim. But you must understand: if you accept any specific document as a guide for all times and make all your conclusions based on it, it is you (or those whose authority you accept) who find the connections between the letter of the law and the current situation; the law itself, though, says nothing about it. Neither the Torah nor the Talmud mention a motor car and both of them are full of regulations on how to deal with oxen and donkeys, but when the motor car was invented, people asked their rabbis about it, and they tried to find something similar in the Torah and Talmud -- not always successfully.

Concerning the drashot of the Sages and their derivation from the rules of grammar of the Holy Tongue, another grievous failure was made. First, no one before Malbim (19th century CE) mentions that opinion; the Rambam, in comparison, recognizes only "the 13 ways in which Torah is elucidated, and similar things." But even Malbim's opinion is too problematic to rely upon as you do. The first of Malbim's 613 rules is: "The opinion of Chazal agrees with the opinion of the linguists that there's no root in the Holy Language longer than three letters. It is said that those of four are composed of two or three words and some of them came from other languages." This clearly contradicts what is claimed by the Jewish tradition, that the whole world was created in the Holy Tongue and it is the source of all languages.

In rule 259 Malbim states: "The word nefesh includes the adult and the minor, males and females…" But what can we do? In Exodus 12:16 it is written -- "For seven days should you eat matzot… for everyone who eats leaven, that nefesh will be cut off from Israel, from the first day till the seventh." It is the law of Torah that any punishment for sin, including "cutting off the nefesh," is only meted out to those over the age of 13. Here the word nefesh does not include the minor, and so Malbim was clearly wrong. But even these "rules" of Malbim's are not really rules, and Chazal did with them as they pleased, as we shall see immediately. Rule 613 states: "In the place where the word et or any preposition was expected and it is absent, we may interpret it as we want. And thus, since it is written three times ve-samach yado without an et, they elucidated three laws as though it were written ve-samach be-yado, and this is the rule for all such cases." According to the rules of the Holy Tongue G-d gave us the freedom to interpret such cases as we want, yet Chazal came and took this freedom from us by elucidating from these words of the Torah three very specific laws -- "his hand (yado) and not his son's hand, his hand and not his slave's hand, his hand and not his emissary's hand" (see Malbim on parashat Vayikra, paragraph 28).

Concerning the principles you claimed the Torah first formulated and which now have become the basics of world morality, you should know that all the commandments "between a man and his fellow", including the ban on killing and the ban on stealing, charity, loving one's neighbor, care for slaves and disdain of slavery, and even the returning of lost property, are, according to the Torah, between Jews only. One may not cure Gentiles on the Sabbath nor return their loss, and there is a commandment to enslave them forever (Leviticus 25:45-46). This is hardly the basics of world morality.

About "deep Halachic definitions for all the matters of Torah" (page 7 of Zachor Cherpatcha), we wonder how you did not know that the rule of chazaka, for example, was very commonly accepted in the Roman legal system as presumptio (even now in all the European languages it is called by variants of this name) hundreds of years before it was stated in the Mishna.

The "practical recommendations" of the Torah are also not very practical. Ikvota Di-M'shicha, paragraph 27, advises dividing one's money into three parts: one third should be buried, one third invested in business, and one third kept as cash on hand. The economic effect of following such advice is rather doubtful; the money buried will certainly be eaten by inflation in a few years. If everybody followed this advice the amount of investment in the economy would decrease, and the economy's growth would come to a stand-still.

Maybe in Talmudic times this advice was clever, but it clearly contradicts the rules of a modern economy. In general, isn't it wiser to consult a stockbroker when investing money, and a doctor when ill? Incidentally, how much time did you invest in studying geometry? You are so amazed by the Vilna Gaon's Ayil Meshulash, quite a primitive description of the simple Euclidian geometry taught in any high school in the Gaon's era.

This is not the place to discuss prophecies in the Torah, but it should be noted that the contemporary "Ingathering of Exiles" was accompanied not by a return to Judaism, but rather by massive leaving of the faith which has created a clear secular majority in modern Israel. It is also useful to remember that hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews left the country seeking a better life -- is this the "Ingathering of Exiles" the Torah wrote about?

And after this foreword, let us move on to your arguments against Daat Emet. The whole issue of the hare eating its excrement is an insult to the Torah and should certainly be considered a public desecration of G-d's name. That phenomenon has nothing to do with the concept of ha'alaat gerah, which quite clearly assumes something is brought up, not thrown down like excrement. About this sort of claim Ibn Ezra said in his commentary on Daniel 1:1 "How is it possible that a man should say one word and mean another; one who says this would be thought mad, etc., and it would be better were he to say he does not know than to twist the words of the Living G-d." You remarked that "ma'aleh gerah does not necessarily come up from the bowels, because according to Rashi's gerah is the chewed food itself, and ma'aleh gerah means eating the chewed food."

This is simply a lie, for Rashi himself (on Leviticus 11:3) stated that "Ma'alat gerah means that [an animal] brings its food up and vomits it from its bowels and returns it to its mouth to pound it and to grind it well." Nowhere does Rashi state that gerah is chewed food, nor do any of the Bible commentators. What happened to "Keep away from lies" (Exodus 23:7)? The eating of excrement is very common in many kinds of animals, including lemurs (a kind of monkeys); if this is considered ha'alaat gerah, there are many more than four species of animals with one sign of kashrut.

But how far shall we go with ignorance and lack of thought? On page 15 you wrote that "Were the hyrax permitted for eating because it is ma'aleh gerah, it would be possible to say that the question… is a good question … and the only reason the Torah gave signs of kashrut was so one who sees that animal will not mistakenly say the animal is kosher for it is ma'aleh gerah." Yet how could one say the hyrax is kosher when it doesn't have split hooves?

The shesu'a (an animal with a split spine) is also a very problematic issue, one you don't seem to have the slightest clue about. Why do you write about things you don't understand? The Malbim on Leviticus 11 paragraph 73, which you cited as a source, was seriously mistaken, perhaps because he did not study the matter either, and the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the sons. He wrote about a South American animal called tayassu which has two spines; he meant the animal named peccary, whose Latin name is indeed tayassu. But this animal doesn't have two spines; it has one, like all other animals, and Malbim simply was wrong. Since this animal is not a pig but a different species (peccaries divide into three species, actually), and yet has split hooves and is not ma'aleh gerah in any way at all, the words of the Gemara that "there's none with split hooves and impure but the pig" (Hulin 59a) are false, and the wise one will fall silent.

Concerning fish, you cited the Mishnah in Nidah 51: "All that have scales have fins", and to prove this you wrote (on page 18) that there's no edible fish which has scales and doesn't have fins. But the Mishnah didn't speak of edible fish only, nor only of all fish, but of all the water creatures in the world ("All that have scales…") Surely your intention was to the case described by the Ma'adaney Yom-Tov on Hulin 66b about stinkus marinus -- a fish with scales and without fins. The Ma'adaney Yom-Tov himself asked how this can be reconciled with the words of Gemara, but his explanation is totally different from yours. In any case, if you take the text of the Mishnah literally, it is not true. If you have arrived at a question, why not give a halachic source where it is discussed, for the one who quotes a matter in the name of its author...?

You made another very large and serious mistake when you wrote, after once again listing all the "proofs" for Torah from Heaven: "But what are all those things compared to the hare's calmly chewing jaws… See what can be done to somebody by one small hyrax…" (page 20). This is a complete misunderstanding of the scientific method, and certain to lead to the disgrace of the Torah and its scholars. Any research in our world is based on facts discovered through experiments; even if we have a strong, well-based theory which explains all the experiments done until now and then a completely anonymous student comes along and conducts one small experiment that cannot be explained by the theory -- the theory isn't right, no matter who constructed it and how many proofs there are for it. If a theory doesn't correctly describe reality, it is wrong, period. All its proofs must still be dealt with, but this doesn't convert wrong to right.

In particular, the "Torah codes" to which you appealed as a rescue from "questions on Torah" are completely ridiculous.

No one in the mathematical world today takes it seriously; it is mere trickery and fraud. The mechanisms of the trickery perpetrated by Witztum et al. were thoroughly described by Prof. Brendan McKay et al. in their paper in Statistical Science, June 1999, and there is even a letter signed by more than 50 of the world's most prominent mathematicians (PhDs and senior academic personnel) calling the "Torah codes" "a theory without foundation." Among those who signed this petition are G-d-fearing Jews, and the issue doesn't make any difference in their faith. Maybe you didn't study the matter properly before writing about it, but now you can get the relevant information. The petition is published at http://math.caltech.edu/code/petition.html.

It is also not clear why you again and again number the great sages of Israel of different generations like some peddler, recounting their praises and returning again and again to the idea that it's impossible for all of them to be liars. As though it were impossible for good people to mistake complete lies for truth!

Even Rambam himself considered Ptolemaic astronomic theory, which had Earth in the center of the Universe and the sun and stars and planets rotating around it, true. Rambam even gave his Halachic verdict that this picture of the world is true in Laws of Torah Fundamentals, chapter 3. But now every schoolchild knows this theory is wrong, and Earth rotates around the sun. Was Rambam a liar? No, he was just mistaken.

You wrote that Chazal could err, as could any other person, and proved this by plain words from Halachic sources. Then you cited the Sefer Hachinuch as saying that "even if [the Sages] err in any matter, it is not appropriate for us to argue with them; we shall follow their error. It is better to make one mistake as long as everybody is obliged to follow their always good opinion." But this is the whole issue -- if they can err like anybody else, is their opinion really "always good"? Isn't the opinion of those who do not err in these matters better? Forget Einstein's complicated formulas -- if he would say that 2x2 are not 4, would he still be considered a wise man, and should we follow his theories blindly? See what we wrote above about the scientific method.

Ramban did write that Chazal received their knowledge in matters of nature from Moses our Teacher: "All that was said through prophecy, from the matter of the chariot and the matter of creation, and what was received of them by the sages, with the four lower powers -- mineral, vegetable, the mobile soul and the speaking soul -- all were said to Moses our Teacher" (foreword to Ramban's commentary on Genesis), and all your shouting at the Daat Emet author that he faked Ramban's words is nothing but a lack of attention and bad character. Then you sinned once more through a lack of attention when writing (on page 23) that Chazal could not know the whole truth in "other wisdoms [not Halacha] that are less practical."

But Daat Emet showed clearly that not only did the Sages err in "external sciences," but that based on their errors they made Halachic verdicts for generations; if the laws of Shabbat and kashrut are "not practical," what is practical? Then you again peddled all the good characteristics of Chazal, this time from the Steipler's Hayei Olam: holiness, awareness, piety, etc. What has this to do with their lack of knowledge on matters of reality?

Not only did you lack attention, you even distorted the explicit words of our sages. Igrot Moshe on Even HaEzer, part 2, paragraph 3 which you referred to on page 26 as something to rely on, does state that the laws of treifot in animals were determined according to reality at the time of the Sinai Revelation, but he clearly determines it for treifot in animals only! For treifot in people, concerning the laws of a murderer, it is actual reality which determines, and this is even more true for other laws which have no connection to treifot at all (like the killing of lice on Shabbat, which that section of your work deals with).

Is somebody who cannot repeat his rabbi's words worthy of being a Rosh Yeshiva?

You wrote many more ridiculous things about those lice. You totally misunderstood the whole matter of parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis is regular sexual reproduction except that the female provides her own impregnating material for the egg she produces. Is this "creation from mold"? Is this reproduction in which there is no resemblance between the inanimate material which births and the living thing which is born? Something born through parthenogenesis is exactly like the being which birthed it, with its genes. On the other hand, what similarity is there between mold (or flesh, sweat, or rags) and a living, crawling louse? The lice which reproduce by parthenogenesis exist mainly on birds, and a few exist on mammals; there is no way they can survive on humans. Therefore, of course, they have no relation to this topic, which deals with lice on people's heads and clothing.

And what knowledge does one need to say that lice reproduction "is not like the reproduction of rams which can grow in all circumstances" (page 28). Can the red rams grow on the North Pole? Or in the depths of the Sahara desert? Surely not, for they can not accommodate themselves to such places. Maybe we should say, following your logic, that red rams are born from the plants they eat?

"The whole lice species" cannot be "a less vital creature," as you write, for there's no connection between one species of lice and another. To refer to all lice as a "lice species" is like referring to cows and camels as one species -- the absurdity is clear. Moreover, there are other creatures which reproduce parthenogenetically. You wrote that it's actually permitted to kill them on Shabbat, but the sages forbade it because of a doubt. But if parthenogenesis is a permit to kill creatures which reproduce that way, what kind of doubt is there?

You also did not understand the issue of evolution, because according to modern biology it took billions of years before high-level creatures like mammals evolved from single-cell creatures. The development of a human embryo really does resemble the stages of evolution, as does the development of other embryos. This is a scientific fact which was made abundantly clear hundreds of times (see Encyclopaedia Britannica, evolution, Embryonic development and vestiges). There's nothing "ridiculous" in it (as you wrote on page 29), just as there's nothing ridiculous in the law of gravity. All this happens before a human (or an animal) is born, but a human is born as a human from another human; this is the case for all other creatures. Nowhere and in no way could a mouse, a very complicated mammal, "evolve" directly from dirt, and all these stories are absurd.

You also didn't fully understand the issue of the drusa, and followed a false path. Ribash's quote about doctors and natural scientists who "are without any doubt mocking us" about the laws of drisa and the like is simply ridiculous. Are all the doctors and all the natural scientists in the world busy with mocking Halacha? Tens of thousands of these scientists never even heard about the laws of drisa, so they cannot mock them. Those who close their eyes so as not to see the truth are making fools of themselves, nothing more. Even if an animal is determined as treifa because of drisa only when it is impossible to check the matter, why should we wonder whether it was damaged by a "venom" which never existed? The fact that the drusa is the only treifa stated explicitly in the Torah just makes the matter worse -- the only treifa stated in the Torah is a total fiction, for there's no reason at all for an animal being damaged in that way. In any case, viruses and poison have nothing in common. The word 'virus,' aside from 'venom,' also means 'vile liquid.' But viruses are neither liquid nor poison. They can even reproduce, and who has ever seen liquid reproducing? One cannot 'project' viruses, they spread by themselves, and the Gemara definitely says the beast which attacks the drusa "projects its venom when retracting its nails" (Hulin 53a). Viruses also spread from the moment the predator sticks its nails into the prey's flesh, not when it retracts its nails, and if the predator's paw was cut off after it was stuck into the prey's flesh, the viruses have much more time to spread and damage the prey, but according to the Gemara it's still kosher. Our Sages thought not of viruses, but of a real and perceptible venom which does not exist.

The matter of gestation periods of snakes and other creatures is much more interesting, but the picture is actually just the opposite of what you have described. For many years scientists thought that in some species of snakes the female can in some way preserve semen for several years after intercourse. But no one ever thought it could be preserved for seven years; even in your citation from the encyclopedia HaChai VehaTzomeach Shel Eretz Yisrael the maximal period of such preservation is reported as only six years. Recently researchers found that no preservation occurs at all, but that some species of snakes reproduce parthenogenetically, that is, a female produces an egg and it develops without fertilization by spermatozoa. This fact was officially recognized by several scientific associations including the Colorado Herpetological Society (see http://coloherp.org/cb-news/cbn-9811/Parthenogenesis.html). When a snake is seen to give birth six years after intercourse with a male, this doesn't mean it preserved the semen for years -- the offspring was brought into the world by parthenogenesis. Never is the gestation period of a snake longer than 24 months, so Chazal definitely erred. But that's not what's important. What this story does is compare two ways of seeking the truth: the first by experimenting and watching the results, and the second by elucidating the words of a text considered holy. What we must accept is that the first way, the scientific method, always gives the true result, while the second way might be good for interpreting the text, but clearly fails to determine anything about reality.

In vain did you blame the author of Daat Emet of roguery concerning different animals' gestation periods. He didn't mention dogs, pigs, and cats due to a lack of space, but that Chazal was mistaken about the length of animals' pregnancies is quite clear from what was said, so he only cited the Gemara phrase in which they spoke of animals "giving birth once in three years." The gestation periods of the cat, dog, and others are just more testimony of Chazal's lack of knowledge in matters of nature. Similarly, their Halachic determination that a woman gives birth only after 271 days of pregnancy (Nidah 38b) -- they just calculated the gematria of the word herayon (pregnancy), and who cares what happens in real life?! And none of these animals in the Gemara are like the adder, for whom 70 years is the period from birth to pregnancy, not the gestation period. The Gemara there (Bechorot 8a) determines a correspondence between the gestation periods of animals and times of fruit ripening on trees. The adder is compared to the carob, which the Gemara explicitly says takes 70 years from planting to giving fruit; the logical conclusion is that it also takes the adder 70 years before it becomes pregnant. But nothing like that is said of other animals! Only their gestation periods are mentioned along with the periods of trees' fruit ripening. What reason do we have to think something other than what is written? And besides, can a dog become pregnant 50 days after it is born? Chazal definitely didn't know the gestation periods of the animals living in their own homes, nor did they perform any special observations to learn them -- the scientific method of experiment and observation was totally alien to them, as it was to most of the world until the modern era.

You also did not refute the Daat Emet claims about anatomy, nor did you write anything consistent and clear. On page 33 you wrote that Rashi "didn't enlarge upon the explanation" of cardiac anatomy, because "it makes no difference in Halacha". Only a fool does not see that Rashi's whole explanation is incorrect. He didn't need "to enlarge upon" it, he needed to write it correctly, which he didn't. There is no "middle chamber" of the heart, or there are two "middle chambers" if one wants to call them that. And again you followed the primrose path of kal vachomer taken from the Yad Yehuda, who "didn't turn apostate." When researching any part of reality, it doesn't matter what the previous researchers did in their personal lives. The only thing that does matter is what the facts say. See what we cited above from the Ridbaz's responsa.

Again, in vain did you accuse the author of Daat Emet of distorting the Yad Yehuda's words. Never did the pamphlet say Chazal erred on the issue of the heart! All that he said is that Rashba, Rashi, and Ran erred, and that following them the Shulchan Aruch ruled their error into Halacha. As one who has read the 'anatomy' entry in Encyclopaedia Hebraica (see below), you should cite here the encyclopedia's words that in the Talmud "there's no mention of Aristotle's erroneous opinion, accepted by Ibn Sina, that there are three chambers in the heart" (page 407).

Perhaps you were frightened that this citation could not only lead your readers to understand that this opinion held by the Rashba and others is erroneous, they would also figure out that the Rishonim learned it from Gentile researchers and thus turned the Gentiles' erroneous opinion into Halacha forever.

What about your sentence "Even in [the Daat Emet author's] opinion there's no need to turn apostate because of the error of a Rishon" (page 34)? He does not speak of turning apostate. He states that Halachic rulings are not from the Heavens but are man-made and therefore may and do contain a lot of errors. It is inconceivable that all of these came from the Divine Presence at Sinai.

Not only do you lack integrity, you lack understanding, too.

You counted some of Rashba's writings (on page 35) as evidence for his "wide knowledge" in matters of reality. It is not knowledge that may be seen in those sections of Rashba's responsa, but rather the opposite: in part 1, section 9, he denounced the sciences and revealed a complete misunderstanding of a magnet's function, in section 413 he spoke of the healing powers of different things (which is mystics, but not science), and in section 415 he went so far as to forbid the study of natural sciences for anybody less than 25 years old! A wise man will be frustrated to think of how many diseases would not have been healed and how many pious Jews would have died if everybody strictly followed Rashba's ruling. What Rashba wrote about anatomy in part 1, section 29, was taken completely from the Gemara. It is not a witness to his knowledge of anatomy but of his knowledge of Gemara. Where the Gemara erred or said nothing, he certainly would have misspoken, as happened on the issue of the heart.

Don't you realize the absurdity in a sentence like "as though they had never checked a human heart after death" (page 35). How could Rishonim, who were like angels, perform autopsies? It is forbidden by Halacha and many Hareidi leaders fought against it during the early years of the State of Israel?!

Do you think your readers are fools who can neither read nor understand and do not know the events of not-so-ancient history? Or do you think any means are permitted to prevent a person from leaving Orthodox beliefs?

You continued on this path when discussing the Tania's words that "there is no blood in the heart's right chamber." If "For blood is the soul" may only be said of blood containing oxygen, should blood from the right chamber be exempted from the prohibition against blood eating learned from this verse in Deuteronomy 12:23? Or do you simply use any excuse, hoping something would be persuasive?

So, too, with the issue of windpipes, did you err and lead your readers into error or even worse. Thus you wrote that the "Gemara in Hulin 45a says there are three tubes in the body: one spreads out to the heart, one spreads out to the lungs, and one spreads out to the liver… And it is not written [in the Gemara] where these tubes start, just where they end" (page 36). You meant that the Gemara was not mistaken, "only" the Rishonim were, but how could you forget that in all Talmudic sources the anatomical term kaneh (tube) stands for the windpipe only, that is, a tube or system of tubes that carries air? There never has been any tube that carries air to the heart or to the liver; they receive oxygen from blood. The Gemara also states that those "tubes" do "spread out" to the heart, liver and lungs; from the context it is clear that there is one tube (windpipe) from which all three spread. This is clearly an error and an absurdity in the words of the Gemara itself. Therefore the Yad Yehuda wrote that Rashba erred because "this is what seemed to him the import of the words of the Gemara." All your accusations against Daat Emet for faking are baseless and nothing but lashon hara.

It is useful to note that the Steipler wrote (on Hulin, paragraph 17) that "there is a vein that goes from the liver to the lungs," and this is wrong. This is the error Daat Emet spoke of, and even you admitted that "there is no visible path from the lungs to the liver" (page 37). Thus, even you point out our Sages' errors, as is proper for a learned person, but then why be angry with Daat Emet? They do exactly the same!

Even after admitting the main point of the Daat Emet pamphlets, you went on for some reason, blaming and cursing, until you started faking and distorting.

On page 37 you cited the Encyclopaedia Hebraica (entry anatomy) in support of your claims: "The anatomy in the Talmud is rich in details, and its function is the description of normal and abnormal forms of the body, in place of the Greek theory of humors. The details are sometimes amazing in their precision -- to the extent of mentioning small cartilages in the structure of the windpipe which were discovered by Western anatomy only in the 17th century." "And then," you wrote [in your own name and not as a citation], "it [Hebraica] continues and states that all those amazingly exact details are brought in the Gemara not systematically, but 'only as they were needed for the solution of Halachic problems'." Maybe in the hopes of strengthening the faith you didn't cite the exact words of the Hebraica. It said: "…which were discovered by Western anatomy only in the 17th century. On the other hand, they [the anatomic details in the Talmud] are deficient -- probably because they are not brought systematically, but randomly: only as they were needed for the solution of Halachic problems" end of citation (Encyclopaedia Hebraica, anatomy, p. 408). The Hebraica's words mean quite the opposite of what you say. If this is not faking and distortion, what is??? Maybe you forgot that a sect of liars doesn't receive the Divine Presence (Sanhedrin 103a).

Similarly did you err and fake and curse on issues of astronomy.

First you assaulted the Daat Emet author for continuing his claims against Chazal after he brought proof that Torah is not from Heaven, as though it were forbidden to ask questions. Even the Talmud commentators like Rashi and Tosfot sometimes give a number of different suppositions on a Talmudic issue. Since when is a high-level discussion on matters of Torah "fire and blood," as you wrote on page 41?

After finally confessing that you simply don't understand the Daat Emet claims (why, then, did you write 53 pages about them?), you blamed its author for your lack of understanding and called him "insane," "a sadist and a masochist at the same time," and other obscene names, and for some reason brought his family life into things -- do you really think it helps you refute his claims, which are strictly based on reality?

On page 42 you went so far as to write that the Daat Emet author even served jail time -- a complete lie. How can you be unafraid of the Halachic (and civil) prohibition against slandering? Is this the proper behavior of a pious Jew or, more likely, a desecration of G-d's name, G-d forbid?

Even here you couldn't stop yourself from distorting the explicit words of our Sages. Thus, on the issue of the sunset and twilight you cited the words of Daat Emet that "[the Jews] always acted according to Rabeinu Tam, and there wasn't any other Halachic viewpoint," and then you cited the Chida's Birkei Yosef on Orach Chayim 261 as a ruling that the custom of Halachic behavior in the Land of Israel was always that of the Geonim, not of Rabeinu Tam. What kind of fool doesn't see that in Birkei Yosef on Orach Chayim 261 the words "Land of Israel" do not appear at all? What appears is "the districts of Israel" (gelilot Yisrael), meaning 'the different places of the Jewish Diaspora,' not 'the Land of Israel' (Eretz Yisrael). But what is more important, all the Chida does in Birkei Yosef there is: 1) refute all attempts to rule Halacha according to the "viewpoint of Geonim"; 2) deny such a viewpoint ever existed, and 3) state that all the Rishonim shared Rabeinu Tam's opinion, because it is obvious from the words of the Talmud. On all of these he disagrees with Maharam Alashkar, but he is a real tana demesayea to the Daat Emet author, and you are the one who helped to find such an honorable Halachic foundation for his words, thus earning the merit of Torah study.

Then you distorted the Daat Emet citation from Rav Tikutchinsky, "the erroneous calculation of the calendar is somewhat of a desecration of G-d's name." Never did Daat Emet say it specifically concerns Rabeinu Tam's opinion. It is, rather, a general remark, and a very reasonable one.

Your lack of understanding showed itself once more on page 44, where you wrote that it is obvious Chazal had a Divine tradition concerning astronomy, for they had their own opinion in those matters, different from the Gentile scholars, "and where could they [Chazal] 'invent' such an opinion from, if not of the tradition or of their Divine Spirit?" Do you think Chazal couldn't have had their own theories on astronomy? After all, they dealt with it; albeit not too successfully, but they must have had some theories on the matter.

Even more interesting is what you wrote on page 44 about Malbim's interpretation of the word raki'a (firmament): "After he [Malbim] considered some different opinions of the Rishonim and rejected them according to the knowledge of our days…" And here you, too, accepted that our Sages OBM, Rishonim who were like angels, simply erred in matters of reality. Such an error may be recognized not only by themselves, as you claimed on page 21, but even by one who lives centuries after them, based only on reality itself. Again, this is exactly what Daat Emet says, so why do you curse and blame them? From the words of approbation for your brochure from Rav Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinmann, may he live long, we should conclude that the Daat Emet author was absolutely right on that point and that his pamphlets are worthy of study in Torah strongholds just as Rav Steinmann's own words are.

The Daat Emet author managed not to make errors in the simplest and basic matters of understanding our world, which you failed to do. What, if not a harmful and serious error, is your claim that "it is impossible to rely on the scientists… because scientific theories replace one another every morning and night" (pages 44-45)? Or a similar remark on page 47 about "a leavening power" present in water that was hot and got cold, whose existence is denied by science: "But does science already explain everything?"

True, scientific theories do not always survive for a long time, but scientific observations do; seeing a bottle is an observation, and no theory could ever suppose it is a cup. The fact of Earth being a sphere is a scientific observation, and every theory should simply accept it as stipulated. The fact is that there's nothing special in formerly hot cold water compared to regular cold water, nor does it affect in any special way the process of dough becoming leaven. The difference between theory and perception is a basic rule known to every beginner who studies matters of reality.

Another example of your lack of knowledge of very simple things is a statement that "the matters of the firmament are secrets of the Torah" (page 45). How could astronomy, studied by all Gentile schoolchildren, be "secrets of the Torah"? You also write that "even from the scientific viewpoint it is impossible to define exactly the movement of the stars, which are really 'flying in the air,' because those stars are connected to each other by the complicated forces of gravity." Don't you even know the simplest facts? 1) There's nothing complicated about gravity itself; it is the large number of objects which creates sophistication. 2) The problem of calculating the movements of the heavenly bodies is merely technical, not essential. 3) Nowadays, with the aid of computers, the astronomers can perform all such calculations with astonishing accuracy.

Your description of gravity as "an undefined force" is nothing but an error -- since Newton (17th century) gravity has been well-defined; what is undefined is the cause for it being this way and not another, if there is any meaning to the term 'cause' concerning this matter.

By the way, Edison didn't "invent" electricity. Electricity cannot be "invented" at all, for it is an existing natural phenomenon, it can only be discovered. Static electricity had already been discovered by ancient Greeks, and electric current was discovered in the beginning of the 19th century, decades before Edison was born. What Edison really invented were electric lights for everyday use; he also constructed the first central power station (Encyclopaedia Britannica, electricity).

You also erred in your statement that our notion of Earth rotating around the sun is only "deceptive, for according to Einstein all motion is only one object moving relative to another, so it is impossible to define what rotates and what does not, and both of them [the sun and Earth] rotate one around the other" (page 47).

Anyone the least bit acquainted with the theory of relativity should know that this sentence is correct only when speaking of constant-speed motion [without acceleration] on a straight line; when speaking of rotation, even constant-speed, there's always a centripetal acceleration, and thus it is possible to define what rotates around what. It is, of course, Earth that rotates around the sun, regardless of Rambam's Halachic rulings in Laws of the Torah Fundamentals, part 3. And even you, following your own trend to find mistakes about reality in our Sages' words, wrote on page 46 that "nowadays, Earth isn't considered the center of the Universe," and even tried to learn a moral lesson from this fact -- in clear contrast to Rambam's words there. You did what was right, for Rambam simply erred.

But in vain did you try to present (on page 46) the statement of the Jerusalem Talmud (Avodah Zarah chapter 3) "that the world is made like a ball" as evidence of Chazal's knowledge of astronomy. For the full statement of the Jerusalem Talmud is: "…that the world is made like a ball. Rabbi Yonah said: Alexander the Macedonian, when he wanted to rise above, rose and rose until he saw the world like a ball, and the sea like a plate." Here is how these words are interpreted by Tosfot (Avodah Zarah, 41a): "Like a ball -- that the world is round, as is said in the Jerusalem Talmud, … the sea like a plate -- it means the ocean which surrounds all the world."

According to our sages, the ocean isn't a part of the world. It is something plate-like which surrounds the ball-like world. This can be hardly considered knowledge of astronomy. What is more crucial is that the Jerusalem Talmud describes a Greek statue of a goddess holding a ball and rules that it is forbidden, for holding a ball may be interpreted as an expression of the goddess' power over the world.

The Talmud itself rules that knowledge of the world's shape was Greek, not Jewish!

Our Sages were so amazed about the source of this knowledge that they found no better source for it than to "send" Alexander the Great on a "space flight." This shows exactly how vast was Chazal's lack of natural knowledge.

The Greeks already knew the true shape of Earth in the 5th century BCE -- 800 years before the Jerusalem Talmud was written and 200 years before Alexander the Great, when Philoleas, a pupil of Pythagoras, stated that the Earth is spherical (Encyclopaedia Hebraica, astronomy, p. 780). Claudius Ptolemy, in the 2nd century CE, even managed to measure Earth's perimeter quite exactly, and the results of his measures are cited, among others, by Rambam in his Foreword to the Mishna Commentary.

Knowledge of astronomic matters came to our Sages not from Sinai, but from Greek pagan worshippers. And Alexander the Great, of course, never made a space flight -- the first one who did so was Yuri Gagarin, 2300 years after him.

Another of your harmful and severe errors is the following explanation: "… how is it that the springs in the Land of Israel are warm at night when the sun shines over America? That would be possible only if Earth was thin or the springs so deep they went through to the opposite side of the world, which is not the reality. Maybe a special natural phenomenon occurs there, not known nowadays" (page 46).

But every child in the third grade knows the cause for this phenomenon: after being warmed during the daytime, the ground (and the water, too) loses heat slower than the air, so relative to the air, springs are warm at night.

You'd better study nature before writing about it, for your writing makes Torah scholars look like clowns.

You wrote that the Chazon Ish's viewpoint about when the stars appear is in full accordance with the Vilna Gaon's ruling that the time mentioned in the Gemara (three quarters of a mil) is specific to the Babylonian geographic parallel and the months of Tishrei and Nissan, and must be recalculated in every place according to its geographic coordinates. But the parallel of Babylon (Iraq) is more or less the same as of the Land of Israel, so according to Chazon Ish the Vilna Gaon erred, as did the Gemara! About that Daat Emet said: "Every Halachic authority has its reason, each one has its explanation, and the words of the Gemara fall into a deep pit."
You continued with absurdities even on Pamphlet 5, writing quantities of text without the slightest understanding of the matters you're writing about.

You brought the Targum on I Chronicles 12:33 as evidence of our Sages' knowledge of calendar calculation. Didn't you know that the Targum was written in the 2nd century CE, long after the legend of the tribe of Issachar as outstanding astronomers was spread far and wide? The tribe of Issachar itself, however, was exiled to Assyria, along with the rest of the 10 tribes, 900 years before. There was then and there is now no way of determining what kind of astronomic knowledge they had, if any. The Book of Chronicles itself says nothing about astronomy -- its words are "And of the sons of Issachar, able to understand the times, to know what Israel will do…" Nothing more. Nor can we know what was written in "the books written by the Sages of Israel of the tribe of Issachar during the prophetic period," mentioned by Rambam (Laws of Sanctifying the Month, 17:24).

What we can determine definitely is that the present Judaic calendar was based on the calculations made by pagan-worshipping Gentile astronomers, as Rambam himself wrote. Daat Emet merely cited his words.

You also wrote that our present method of calendar calculation is Halacha given to Moses at Sinai, and cited Rambam's words in Laws of Sanctifying the Month 5:1 as saying that nowadays, when we have no Sanhedrin, it is Halacha to Moses from Sinai to determine the calendar according to those calculations.

But how could you forget that Rambam himself relates those calculations to the Greek astronomers?

Do you see yourself as more pious than the Chazon Ish, who wrote (on Orach Chayim, 140) that "[Rambam's] meaning was not that all the details were transmitted in Halacha, but it was transmitted that the Sages have the power to establish a consistent calculation according to which the years will be determined, so that the solar years will match the lunar ones… But it is not impossible to establish another calculation that will adjust the lunar and the solar years."

You also erred in stating (on page 50) that Socrates received his wisdom from Asaf HaKorchi and Achitophel, because those two lived at the time of David, while Socrates lived 500 years later. If you cited this from Torat Ha'Olah by Rema, then Rema erred, too. Plato never traveled to the Land of Israel, despite what you wrote on page 51, but he traveled to Italy, Greece, and Egypt (Encyclopaedia Britannica). There's no evidence of basic changes in his philosophy after those travels.

There is no trustworthy report that Aristotle ever met any Jewish sage, nor is there any of so drastic a change in his philosophy as acceptance of the Jewish faith. The life of Aristotle is known to us in detail to his very last days, and the lack of evidence of such a dramatic change is evidence of its absence.

Then you again gave your readers an illustration of our Sages' misunderstanding of both the simplest matters of reality and the words of their predecessors. We mean your reference to the Chatam Sofer's novella on Bava Batra 21a, where he states that though Rambam said Gentile calculations of intercalation are faultless, this is not correct, for "fault has already been found in them… anyway, they err in the 11 days that are between the festivals of Russia and the Germans, which error is known to originate with the Pope… but in our traditional calculation, no mistake nor change was found…."

He (and you, which isn't surprising) didn't understand the difference between solar- and lunisolar-year intercalation! The difference between the festivals of Russia and the Germans is nothing but the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, adopted by the Greek-Orthodox and the Catholic churches correspondingly.

This has nothing to do with the calculations of the lunar month, to which Rambam referred in his words about Gentile calculations being faultless. And they are really faultless, for the 19-year cycle you so praised in the name of Abarbanel was introduced by the Greek astronomer Meton in the 5th century BCE, and probably was known to the Chinese in the 8th century BCE (Encyclopaedia Britannica, calendar). So Ptolemy never could praise the Jews for this calculation; it was not theirs.

But you did a fine thing in finding another tana demesayea for Daat Emet, this time Rabbi David Ganz. But again you show your lack of understanding, for never did Daat Emet state that the Gemara itself didn't distinguish between the average lunar month and the real one. The one who really didn't distinguish between them was the late forger who added the "12 and 793" to the Gemara many years after it was written. The tradition of incompetent forgers is a very ancient one, and a wise man will understand.

Nor did the Daat Emet author blame Maharil for not understanding the difference between the real and the average month; he blamed Chafetz Chayim and our generation's rabbis. It is now possible to calculate every real lunar month with a high degree of accuracy, so there's no need to rely on the average of "29, 12 and 793" as they do in their lack of knowledge. But even the Maharil's instruction to rely on that average is highly problematic, for what does the general correspondence of this calculation with the natural calendar have to do with any specific month, which can differ from the average by a whole 14 hours?

Though you also revealed complete ignorance and misunderstanding in matters of astronomy, you nevertheless tried to rely on experts when defending the Halachic calculations and refuting the Gentile ones. You wrote "and an expert told me" (pages 47, 49), but it's a pity you didn't specify the names of those experts so your readers could verify your words. Based on previous experience, we might well consider that the way you used those "references" fulfilled our Sages' words: "And the one who wants to lie will push aside evidence, for this is the way of the men of mockery who don't have any clue and do not know what they are saying: they draw on subjects whose study and knowledge are not well-publicized" (The Responsa of Noda BiYehudah, second edition, Yore De'ah, paragraph 181).

You have done nothing in Zachor Cherpatcha but curse, use foul language, reveal ignorance and misunderstanding, and sometimes even fake and distort, as we have seen above.

Maybe you forgot the words of Yam Shel Shlomo on Bava Kama, page 38, that it is better to die than to lie in matters of Torah. It seems clear that your point was not discussing matters and answering the questions, but by any means preventing your religious readers from becoming secular. It shouldn't be called "answers to the words of a mentally disturbed person," as you wrote, but religious propaganda.

For example, just after you began discussing anatomy (on page 34), you made sure to write that "meanwhile, the Reform Jews stood right up and pinned up the filth written by their new hero, the man who will wage their struggle, for he even knows Aramaic."

First, where did you get such information about the Reform community, whose members you probably never met? Second and most important, what does this have to do with the facts described in the Daat Emet pamphlets? Another example is your strange habit of hawking the Sages of Israel at every opportunity like a peddler and singing their praises without any connection to the context.

Even if all that praise is true, what does it have to do with the simple fact that those Sages frequently erred on matters of reality? Maybe you tried to find an excuse for yourself using a kal vachomer: "If those great Sages were able to err, my words are certainly allowed to be wrong and erroneous." This kal vachomer is true, for your words are wrong and erroneous and even worse, as we have shown above.

We can only conclude with the words of our teacher Rambam in the foreword to his Eight Chapters: "accept the truth from anybody who said it." We will wish that upon ourselves, upon you, and upon all the House of Israel; G-d's seal is truth.

Yours,

Naftali Zeligman

WARNING - ATTENTION ALL FRUM JEWS!... YOU NOW KNOW ABOUT PUBLIC ENEMY # 1- WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - From the UOJ Archives exactly one year ago.

WARNING-ATTENTION ALL FRUM JEWS!

Lipa Margulies: As I see it you have 24 hours to make a decision which may determine the fate of your life's work.

Door number 1:

Fire the chronic child molester Kolko and you get to die with your business somewhat intact.

Door number 2:

Assume you can threaten and buy your way out of this looming disaster and you leave this world in absolute and utter disgrace.

I'm here to inform you that if Kolko is not out of Torah Temima today, you will be facing your Waterloo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki all rolled into one nice neat package. No more dinners, no more $50,000.00 club members and no more board members to take advantage of. Don't be stupid, you have too much to lose. We have allowed you to build up a big business in our community.We should have ousted you years ago; you are HUMAN TINAF!

All we ask is that you not subject our children to a molester.
Do the right thing, get rid of this child molester today.

You never had to deal with a force as powerful as this; WE WILL CONTINUE OUR EFFORTS UNTIL OUR GOAL IS MET, NO BUYING YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS SCANDAL!

The letter below is being mailed TONIGHT to thousands of Orthodox Jewish households in Boro Park, Kensington and Flatbush. I am asking my readers to please copy the letter from this post and e-mail it to as many people as possible. Together, we can put a stop to this depravity.

WARNING-ATTENTION ALL OF JUDAISM.......... There is a chronic child molester in our midst. He is not in hiding nor is he being kept away from our children. Shockingly, he is a rebbe in Yeshiva Torah Temima located at 507 & 555 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. Rabbi Lipa Margulies knows of this rebbe’s history of sexually molesting children. Rabbi Lipa Margulies refuses to remove this predator from his yeshiva. Specifically, Rabbi Lipa Margulies has been informed, repeatedly and from sources independent of each other, that Rabbi Yudi Kolko has sexually molested countless children during his long career around children.Rabbi Yudi Kolko sexually molested children in Camp Agudah. Rabbi Yudi Kolko sexually molested children in Yeshiva Karlin Stolin. Rabbi Yidi Kolko sexually molested children in Camp MaNaVu. Rabbi Yudi Kolko spends his life around our children. It bears repeating that Rabbi Yudi Kolko is currently a rebbe in Yeshiva Torah Temima.

We have a problem.

This is not to say that our wonderful community has more child molesters than other communities. We may even have substantially fewer. The problem is in our propensity to ignore the covering up of these horrendous incidents. Child molesters must be exposed and removed from our midst. Our children must not be subjected to molesters while in school. Rabbi Lipa Margulies must stop his unconscionable employment of this molester and his covering up of this threat. Rabbi Yudi Kolko must resign his position immediately. We can not rest until our children are safe from this scourge.This mailing should not have been necessary. Both Rabbi Yudi Kolko and Rabbi Lipa Margulies were given advance copies of this letter and advised if Rabbi Yudi Kolko left Yeshiva Torah Temima immediately, this mailing would be stopped. Rabbi Yudi Kolko responded: “the matter has been taken care of” coupled with an offer to meet with his victims in person, one at a time. Rabbi Lipa Margulies responded: “I don’t think he is still a threat and I am responsible for the children” followed by “Anyone who doesn’t like it, doesn’t have to send their children to my yeshiva.” In short, neither of these mechanchim deny the facts, they simply refuse to do the right thing. We are writing to ask you to speak out and help bring an end to this nightmare. Please call Rabbi Yudi Kolko at 1-718-252-6642 and ask him to resign his position immediately. Please call Rabbi Lipa Margulies at 1-718-438-1900 and ask him to dismiss Rabbi Yudi Kolko immediately. Child molesters must be kept away from our children. Our children deserve no less.......

Lipa Margulies, read this news flash very seriously.

Attorney: Spokane Church Offers SettlementBy NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS-Associated Press/AP Online02/01/2006 5:43 PM SPOKANE, Wash. -

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which filed for bankruptcy after being barraged with sex-abuse lawsuits, has offered a $45.7 million settlement to 75 people who say they were molested by priests. Bishop William Skylstad publicly apologized Wednesday to the victims "for the terrible wrongs inflicted on you in the past." He urged Catholics to accept the proposed settlement, which will require money from individual parishes. "To those of you who say this settlement will be a burden, I would say that this scandal is a burden we can no longer afford not to resolve," said Skylstad, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Plaintiffs' lawyer James Stang said a committee representing alleged victims voted Tuesday night to recommend that the offer be accepted. Under the proposed settlement, the diocese agreed not to describe the plaintiffs as "alleged victims" anymore and to give them the opportunity to address parishes and write about their experiences in the diocesan newspaper. Skylstad also would go to each parish where abuse occurred to identify the offending clergymen, Stang said. Skylstad also agreed to support the abolition of statutes of limitations on sex crimes, write letters to abused individuals and their families and add two members of a victims group to a board that reviews clergy sex abuse complaints, Stang said. Some of those who would benefit financially from the offer said the diocese's other concessions were more important. "Civil litigation was the only way to hold them accountable," abuse victim Mike Corrigan said at a news conference Wednesday. "Most of us would rather they went to jail than get money out of them." Stang said the offer must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and by the victims individually within 120 days. The settlement would cover all those who have already sued the diocese. There is no provision for anyone who might bring a claim in the future. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004, citing claims by abuse victims totaling about $77 million against assets of about $11 million. Two other U.S. dioceses - Tucson, Ariz., and Portland, Ore. - have filed for bankruptcy because of sex abuse claims. A $22.2 million settlement was reached last summer in Tucson, while a federal judge in Portland ruled last month that trials involving as many as 100 plaintiffs could move forward.

posted by The Un-Orthodox Jew - "UOJ" Wednesday, February 01, 2006

454 Comments:

UOJ'S "VIRTUAL" LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY CONVENTION-THE BAAL MACHSHAVA OF THE WEEK AWARD GOES TO THESE THREE COMMENTERS!

Each week I will select the best comment of the week and post it for the world to see. This week there were three excellent comments that stand out, and I'm in agreement with their thoughts. (mostly:-) Each winner may e-mail their real name, if they choose to, and I'll gladly post it. The commenters now have an incentive to create thoughtful, meaningful and powerful comments that will resonate loudly throughout cyberspace. From now until Pesach, each winner may e-mail me the name & address of a family that is in need of maos chitim (money for Passover). These names will remain anonymous forever.

As a rule the comments must be:

1-Sharp
2-Factual
3-Pithy
4-Meaningful.


Anonymous Mr. Emes..........

UOJ's point - and he has a point - is that current events cannot be understood in a vacuum. The history is relevant. We Jews are in a long decline. Our communal child sex abuse problem needs to be understood in a historical context - and then we can fix it.I too disagree with much, but not all, of what UOJ has written about kabbalah and Chassidus. They are a legitimate part of Judaism, just as Rav Eidensohn wrote. Someone else wrote the Chofetz Chaim mentions the Ari, and that works for me too. I'm nowhere near any of these madreigas, by the way.But, G-d help us, look what the Chassidic movements have morphed into. Also, the yeshivish movement. We are disgusting. As if the thievery, the phony kollel movement and actual physical infighting were bad enough, who could imagine pedophilia. Who could image the coverups?Just think - here we are, sixty years after the Holocaust, its as if we've learned nothing. Our leading organizations and Torah leadership do not merely stand by, but are also complicit! This is horrifying beyond words!This is neo-Moloch. It is child sacrifice, for the sake of money, honor, power. Some Chassidim believe it is permissible to steal from a non-Jew. From that krum attitude, look what we have now. Pedophilia. Shomer mitzvos adult Jewish men pleasuring themselves with Jewish children. Rachmana latzlan. And the yeshiva rabbis have covered this up, at worst, or done nothing, at best.In our history, we do have a warped view of what religion should be. It is a fact that some European rabbis believed that both America and Israel were treife, and they instructed their people to stay where they were. And they did, and they died. This is just as warped as a rabbi saying no penetration is not molestation, and foiling a beis din.You can both believe in Daas Torah, and not believe in rabbinic infallibility. Rabbis possess wisdom, and rabbis make mistake. The Chofetz Chaim, who we all believe in, told Rabbi Wasserman, his talmid muvhak, that he made a mistake in not fighting Communism harder than he did. He still would have lost, he said, but the Communists would not have emerged as strongly as they did. So the Chofetz Chaim made a mistake. And if one Yid in those days had said, the Chofetz Chaim is wrong, we need to fight Communism as hard as we can, that Yid would have been right, and the Chofetz Chaim wrong.The Daas Torah of the Chofetz Chaim would have been wrong.History is relevant.

STEVE..............

What's shocking is the number of "heimishe" grocery stores that carry the Rubashkin/Aaron's/Supreme line. The allegations against their Postville plant regarding kashrut violations, tzaar baalei chayim and employee rights violations, should have closed them down a long time ago. Remember, nobody believed Rabbi Shain eight years ago regarding Shevach. Many of those same people were crying last Yom Kippur night during Kol Nidre, "ki lchol haam bishgaga". According to Rav Yudel, "Rubashkin was the forerunner to Shevach, only they are more elaborate with their schemes." When you have a cholei bsakana and the only food you have available for him is Hebrew National or Rubashkin, he says to feed the sick person Hebrew National. A well respected mashgiach as Rabbi Shain would not put his reputation on the line if there were not serious issues with Rubashkin. Personally, I stopped buying their products when the Kosher Spot scandal broke, with the owner buying "kosher" meat from Rubashkin and labelling it "glatt kosher". The foul-mouthed truck drivers have full access to labels and plumbas that they can sell to any lowlife storeowner looking to cheat. When you have a company that's in the treife meat business as well, where they cannot compete in that market, it behooves them to label as much as possible "glatt kosher". Now they came up with the fraudulent label "glatt kosher chicken". As far back as I can remember, chicken was either kosher or not kosher. This is another means to defraud the consumer into thinking their product is superior. Then they place the phony OU symbol, while nobody from the OU even visited their plant. As long as the OU gets paid, it doesn't really matter, does it? They are certifying that they know tbe mashgiach, whatever that's worth. It's reached a point where I know certain rabbis that have become vegetarians, not even eating meat on Shabbos and Yom Tov.The state of kashrut today is probably as bad as it was 70 years ago during the days of RSFM. The phony mashgichim go under the title of "kulo ohev shochad verodef salmonim", and there's plenty that run abound. Phony mashgichim that cover up kashrut violations and phony rashei yeshivos that cover up sexual abuse. This is the sad state of affairs we are in today. One can choose to ignore Rabbi Shain's rantings to stop buying Rubashkin as well as one can choose to ignore UOJ's rantings to stop sending your kids to YTT. Just remember that Rav Yudel was right regarding Shevach and UOJ was right regarding Kolko, Nussbaum, Eiseman and Leizerowitz. Just remember, next Kol Nidre, you can no longer claim "ki lchol haam bishgaga". You have been duly warned!! --

ZA...............

The current culture of cover-up is based on three pillars. I've said it before and will repeat it again and again because if we do not understand and shake the pillars of the culture, that evil culture will continue to spread its evilness on all of us.The first pillar of the cover-up culture is the Issur Mesirah. We keep criminals who affect both the surrounding world and our own world, just so that we will not be Moser them to the gentiles. Firstly, I do not believe that the Issur Mesira is that encompassing that it would prevent us from giving away real criminals. We probably could consider them as people that the gentiles specified for specific (and probably justified) reasons. For such people there is no Issur. For those who believe that one is aloud to steal from a gentile or from the government, those probably have the Din of Rodef, because if their deeds become known then the gentiles and the government may come after all of us. And people who molest young boys, young girls or anybody else for that matter, they for sure have the Din of Rodef and since we may not punish them, the only viable solution is actually give them to the authorities.But there is even deeper problem that we neglect to notice and this is the corrupting effect of having criminals in our midst. If they are successful, others may see them as heroes and follow their footsteps. Those who are with higher morale may not go for that but they may be desensitized to criminal acts and may not see the problem.The second pillar of the cover-up culture is the Issur Loshon Ha-Ra. Think about it, the Chofetz Cahyim took a relatively minor and obscure Issur and elevated it to be the fourteenth Ikkar of Emunah, next to the old established thirteen Ikkarim of the Rambam. But this Issur is now abused. One may not come with real issues about somebody else since the Mekhubad Rabbi Listener would refuse to listen and obviously would refuse to act. Just take the story about R' Yudel Shain finding that Shevach was supplying Treifos some eight years ago and R' Braslauer refused to listen as an example. We took that Issur out of context and out of proportion and it is back firing.The third and, in my opinion, the most serious pillar of that culture is R' Shimon Schwab's Issur of writing Jewish History, magnified by his recommendation to write inspiring stories with only good things about people of previous generations. There are several problems here. Firstly, who is to say what is good and inspiring and what is not. For example, is the fact that R' Moshe Feinstein used to read the New York Times a good one because in that way he kept himself informed or is it bad because how could he read such Schmutz? Another issue is the well known maxim (not known in the frummie world for obvious reasons) that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. If we do not read R' Wasserman letter and we are not aware about his false ideas then how could we prevent repeating such deeds.But the most serious offence of this notion is the desensitizing effect on society. We are so used to society mandated cover-up, that we do not even see how wrong it is. Think about it, R' Schwab called for an organized campaign of cover-up and the only thing many of us do is to mock and laugh about the resulting C.I.S and Artscroll hagiography publication, better known as The Life of the Saints Series.These three pillars must be cut out, smashed and destroyed Im Hafetzey Hayim Anahnu --

The FACTS about "daas Torah"

The following letter was written by R. Wasserman from Toledo, Ohio, in 1938, to a young student (R. Elchonon Hertzman, from Mir and later of New York) requesting his help in escaping the Nazis. It's a famous letter written shortly before WWII:

"I received your letter, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do. The yeshivos in America which can bring talmidim from overseas are the yeshivah of Dr. Revel (YU) and [HTC in Chicago]. However, both are places of spiritual danger because they are run in a spirit of disloyalty to the Torah. Therefore, of what benefit would it be to escape [Europe] from physical danger to spiritual danger."

The letter is quoted in Hebrew in the excellent and inspiring Art Scroll history series book: Reb Elchonon: The Life and Ideals of Rabbi Elchonon Bunim Wasserman of Baranovich by Aharon Sorski. I do not want to give the impression that R. Wasserman was being heartless. Later on in the letter, he refers the talmid to Rabbi Shlomo Hymen at Torah Va Das (where Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky was Rosh Yeshiva) in Brooklyn, who will help.

Another good book: Silver Era in American Jewish Orthodoxy: Rabbi Eliezer and His Generation by Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff.There were only two Torah sages willing to stand up to YU before WWII. R. Wasserman and R. Aharon Kotler. YU sent over the pious rabbi (R. Henkin, good friend of R. Moshe Feinstein, grandfather of the R. Henkin (Nishmat feminist leader) training these putatively Orthodox women rabbis) to R. Wasserman to bring him to YU.

Torah scholar Amitai Bin-Nun writes: "I'm ashamed to admit reading this blog, especially in its current state, but I recall this letter (not to escape Europe to go to YU) being quoted in Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff's book "Bernard Revel: Builder of American Orthodoxy", so it should be easily verifiable. The other Yeshiva, if I recall correctly, was HTC in Skokie.

UOJ Notes- Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman was urged to bring over all of his students to Yeshiva Torah Vodaath and Rabbi Shlomo Hyman had agreed to step aside as the Rosh Hayeshiva and gladly have R' Elchonon take his place. Instead he went back to Europe where he was slaughtered along with his students . He is quoted in his "Kovetz Maamarim" as saying he intended himself and his students to be a "korbon" or a sacrifice, on behalf of American Jewry. So much for "daas Torah" and "gedolim infallibility".

Response To Un-Orthodox Jew Blogsite And It's Mistakes About Hassidim And Kabbala & Anger At Torah Leadership!

by Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn

The Unorthodox Jew blogsite end of January has an article beginning, "Make no mistake, Chassidism is not part of authentic Judaism." In the article all Kabbalists are referred to as non-authentic, as Kabbala is not part of the tradition from Sinai. Thus, the Zohar, Ari z"l are not "authentic." He writes, "there is no known link of mesorah or chain of events, going back to that time, from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochoi to the Ari z"l." Chassidim, he maintains, are not authentic Jews, because they rely heavily on Kabbala. He writes that since Kabbala was not at Sinai, this would "eliminate the Zohar or Kabbalah from effectively being part of Judaism."

The author of the blog then proceeds to enlighten us that "Chassidim, have their entire canon (or myths) based entirely on the writings of the Zohar, and the rantings of an unlearned bal agalah or horse and buggy driver, known as the Baal Shem Tov or the Besht. The Besht, being the very first Forest Ranger, hanging out with the animals in the forest and talking to the trees, set a precedent for today's rebbes who hang out in their ghettos with their animals . " Also, "The Vilna Gaon called the Besht a heretic and a lunatic, and considered that movement outside of Judaism. Rabbi Aaron Kotler refused to let Chassidim into Lakewood. When he ultimately relented under great pressure, he forbade them to wear their shtreimels in the bais medrash."

I studied in Lakewood under Reb Aharon Kotler. I remember clearly that his son-in-law, a Chosid, who married his adopted daughter, sat up front of the Beit HaMedrash right in front of Reb Aharon (who sat facing everyone else) wearing Hassidic clothes. I remember clearly seeing Reb Aharon welcome his best friend, the Chassidic Rebbe of Kupishnitz, with such love and affection. This is what I saw. I also heard from reliable sources that Reb Aharon was once asked by a student why he so respected the Kupishnitser Rebbe, and treated him so wondrously. Reb Aharon answered that the purity of this rebbe was what the goal of every Jew is. Everyone knows that the entire Agudas Israel founded by the Chofetz Chaim was filled with Hassidic rebbes such as the Gerrer Rebbe who was very close to the Chofetz Chaim and his disciple Reb Elchonon Wasserman. Reb Elchonon was very close with the Slonimer Rebbe and would go on Shabbos Shalosh Seudose to hear his talks.

Reb Aharon did not let Chassidic students in under pressure. Litvishe Yeshivas in Europe such as Kaminets, with Reb Baruch Ber, had Hassidic students. Reb Baruch Ber was careful to respect these students and their rebbes. He once wrote to a rebbe that he wanted more such students, but the rebbe said that these were all that he had of the caliber to learn by Reb Baruch Ber. This is from the recent book on Reb Baruch Ber HaRavv HaDomeh LiMaloch. Reb Baruch Ber would quote his rebbes, not Hassidic rebbes, but he then would say that he did not quote Hassidic rebbes because he never learned from them, but he respected them. This was meant to encourage the Hassidic students not to be bad that they never heard Hassiduce from Reb Baruch Ber.

We now turn to the issue of Kabbala. The UOJ blog considers it outside of authentic Judaism because it didn't come from Sinai. He considers Kabbala a Hassidic abberation. But this is completely wrong. Reb Aharon Kotler once quoted the Vilna Gaon who compared himself with the Shaagas Aryeh. Both knew the entire Torah by heart. But "he and I in niglo. I and him in Kabbalo." The main effort of the Vilna Gaon was Kabbala. He wrote many books on Kabbala and his students were great Kabbalists, such as Reb Chaim Vollozner. The great Kabbalist Reb Menachem Mendel of Shekelov was a Litvak known as "the third generation from the Gro," because he studied Kabbala under a student of the Gro.

Kabbala is mentioned clearly in the Talmud in masechta Chagiga perek Ain Dorshim. The passages in the Sefer Yechezkel about visions are clearly Kabbalistic. Therefore, at Sinai the revealed and hidden law were revealed to Moshe. In Chagiga we find open study of Kabbala, the maaseh merkovo, the maaseh beraishis, and these are quoted by Rambam in Mishneh Torah. In Rambam's time, before him and after him, there were those who studied Kabbala in the style of the ten Sefiroth and other concepts found in Lurian Kabbala. However, in those days all was hidden. Ramban's Kabbala in his commentary on Chumash is not revealed but only hinted. The Lurian Kabbala, following by only a few years the revelation of Reb Moshe Kardevero, was a public revelation of Kabbala, one that has continued to this day. The Ari z"l lived in Tsefas together with the Radvaz and Rabbi Yosef Karo who were the leading Niglo authorities and poskim in the entire world. The entire community was filled with Torah and great scholars who studied niglo and nistor, and nobody considered the Ari z"l to be outside of the pale. The opposite was true. They all wanted to learn his Kabbala, but he resisted with all of his might, because he only wanted Rabbi Chaim Vital and maybe a tiny group, but the pressure was too much and he had to admit others.

All Orthodox Jews embrace Kabbala. The Sefardim and Taimonim have glorious Kabbala traditions, and even simple people read the Zohar. Lithuanians follow the Gro who was a mighty Kabbalist. Hassidim follow the Besht who was a mighty Kabbalist. All of this is authentic Judaism...

Anger at Torah Leadership

by Rabbi Dovid E. Eidensohn

The Internet is filled with anger at Torah leadership. Recently, some prominent Torah scholars have taken to present their opinions about the Internet, and this simply made things hotter. There is a cycle to the situation. Someone does something or says something that offends certain rabbis. The rabbis respond, and this stokes the fires instead of calming things. There are many Torah Jews on the Internet, but it seems at times that the anger is greater than the love and reverence we expect. Why? What is going on?

I have been angry at the Torah community for a generation. A new type of "gadol" took over after the European greats died. A new kind of Torah Judaism is alive in the world. I hate it. I fought it in my seforim, in brochures and letters to the community, even on the radio. I did this not because I rebel against Gedolim, but because I was very close to them, and they were upset but silent, and I will not be silent.

I once opened my mouth full blast in a shul in Jerusalem in front of a close relative of a great Gadol. He was very puzzled and upset, because I was a talmid of his relative. At first he made faces and mumbled and finally his puzzlement changed to a broad smile. A wise man, he did not tell me directly why he now understood. He hinted from a Torah peshat on Chumash that Shimon and Levi did what Yaacov wanted done, even though it was a horrible thing to do. I don't say that this is what I meant, but my point is that he realized I was saying what great people could not. If they would say it the world would come to an end. If I say it, whoever wants to listen, fine, and if not, no damage is done.

What do I hate? Here is a list:

2500 girls aged 25 on a Shadchon's list. Other shadchonim won't take a girl because it is a waste of his time.

A bas talmid chochom is rejected, by the Rosh Yeshiva's "daas Torah" in favor of a rich baal habos. The Shulchan Aruch quotes the gemora that one must sell everything to marry a bas Talmid Chochom.

A girl is taught to marry a great scholar, but the great scholar's rebbe tells him to marry someone rich.

Everyone must be a gadol. Whoever works is a failure. The gemora and Shulchan Aruch say just the opposite.

Everyone must take after marriage and not earn. Rambam, Rabbeinu Yona and Rashi say that if you take you have no Olam Habo.

Parents ready to retire must fork over fortunes to support the "jewel" who learns and doesn't work. "Everyone" must go to kollel, which is against the Shulchan Aruch and destroys many men, their working wives, and children who have no mother. It also destroys the desperate parents who have to pay sometimes by selling their homes.

This spiritual sewage produces no gedolim. But it gets worse and worse.

Learn, don't work, and take government programs. This again is a violation of the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch.

The Talmud says, "A child not taught to earn will be a thief." Do we just say rip off the parents and trust in HaShem? What happens then?

The divorce situation is a disaster, and will surely lead to mamzerut. But there is nobody to talk to about it.

Kashruth for a baal nefesh will end in a few years due to genetic engineering and the absence of mirsas in global food companies. Nobody cares....... ( mirsas is defined as fear of getting caught by inspectors for using non-kosher products -since the vast majority of food and chemical companies do not have mashgichim t'midim- or supervisors on the premises at all-UOJ)

Family and marriage are torn to shreds by "daas Torah."

There are many people out there who don't articulate things this way, but they are getting angrier all of the time.

The Torah world is a can of gasoline, and I want to throw in the match.


Rav Eidensohn has written seforim with haskomos from Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, and Rav Wosner. He learned with Rav Ahron Kotler, Rav Moshe Feinstein, and other undisputed gedolei Torah.

The Enemy Within-Part Three-Chassidism Is Not Judaism

The Enemy Within-Part Three-Chassidism Is Not Judaism - From The UOJ Classics
Originally Posted January 30, 2007

Make no mistake, Chassidism is not part of authentic Judaism. In matter of fact it is closer to Christianity than to Judaism. Orthodox Jews believe that ALL of the principles of Judaism were given to Moshe at Sinai. The written Torah and the oral Torah were dictated to Moshe by Hashem for the forty days he was at Sinai. The roots of the Chassidic movement did not begin until the thirteenth century, when Moses De-Leon started the writings of the Zohar. About three hundred years later, Isaac Luria (ARI) started preaching this mystic garble. The Ari as he was known, was an enigma. He purported to preach the thoughts of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who lived fifteen hundred years earlier. The problem is that there was no known link of mesorah or chain of events, going back to that time, from RSBY to him or to De-Leon.

Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah m'Sinai was transmitted from father to son, generation after generation, traceable back to Moshe. The fact that there was no link from the Ari or De-Leon to RSBY, and therefore no link back to Sinai, would eliminate the Zohar or Kabballah from effectively being part of Judaism. The most we can rationally say about the Zohar, that it was a" theory" of a few people, and no more. Chassidim, have their entire canon (or myths) based entirely on the writings of the Zohar, and the rantings of an unlearned bal agalah or horse and buggy driver, known as the Baal Shem Tov or the Besht. The Besht, being the very first Forest Ranger, hanging out with the animals in the forest and talking to the trees, set a precedent for todays rebbes who hang out in their ghettos with their animals . Tales of the Besht are just that, buba - maases, or in English, fairy tales . (In Brooklyn we call it unadulterated BS).

The Vilna Gaon called the Besht a heretic and a lunatic, and considered that movement outside of Judaism. Rabbi Aron Kotler refused to let chassidim into Lakewood. When he ultimately relented under great pressure, he forbade them to wear their shtreimels in the bais medrash. It is difficult enough for any Jew to really comprehend Torah m'Sinai, but that is emunah; who in their right mind can possibly believe the stupidity of the chassidic nonsense which emanates from an ignoramus? Imagine if you will, Art Scroll gedolim stories, turning into another branch of Judaism in a few hundred years. The entire concept of the kabbalistic ten sfiros, the sum total of the sfiros representing Hashem; how far away is that from Christianity, where the Trinity is the sum total of their Divinity? How far away is the tzaddik or rebbe, who through his holiness, is capable of representing the chassid to Hashem; to "Yushka", who through him only can you reach the Kingdom Of God? The" coming ressurection" of the Lubavitcher Rebbe demonstrates how far afield of Judaism ALL the chassidic groups have gone.

The Gerrer Rebbe is now assurring his flock, that Moshiach will arrive in the next year or so. He is a sick, delusional idiot who deserves a good flogging. Hey, putz, if Moshiach is coming in the next year or so, he surely did not tell an ignoramus like you. You behaima, stop taking whatever drugs you are on. When he doesn't come, then what? You make me sick, feh!

The entire concept of a Jew needing an intemediary to get heard by Hashem was and is a fraud. One should have to dump their entire head down the toilet in shame, if they believe in this apikorsus. This dveykus garbage, where one should cleave to their rebbe, is the BIGGGEST mentally dysfunctional illness of Chassidism. Who the hell is this rebbe that he should be cleaved to? I will tell you who, gangsters. The Mafia godfathers, also had their underlings cleave to them. The same type of fear, one physical, one emotional. How in the world does anyone buy into this? How ill does one have to be to cleave to a putz without a job? His ONLY job is screwing you out of your money and independence. What in the world do you need this parasite for? Have these scam artists so emotionally paralyzed you, that if you let go of them , you fear Divine retribution? We have watched in horror the goings on among the chassidim. They have bastardized our faith with their hocus pocus. Their rebbes are the greatest con artists of the group, bleeding their sheep for whatever, and having them go to jail for their thefts. Buddhists, Hindus and Scientologists have more credibilty than these groups of peasants. The original post war rebbes of Satmar and Klausenberg were well intentioned and learned people. They gave their lives to the klal, and had an honest agenda. One can differ with their world view which I do with vehemence, especially Satmar, but one has to respect their drive to reestablish and rebuild the lives of the remnants of their respective communities.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel, was a brilliant and charismatic figure, who had his own agenda of note. Unfortunately his movement went awry with sheer insanity, especially the Moshiach movement, which catapaulted his religion into something other than Judaism. He could have stopped it, either he went crazy in his old age, or worse, he believed it. Nevertheless, he left an unmatched legacy of chessed and kiruv, that has way surpassed any other chassidic groups. These three rebbes were legitimate heirs of their respective chassidus, they were talmidei chachomim and sincere people. They believed in their own brands of Judaism, although it was based on voodoo theories. The only reason I can somehow tolerate them, is because as human beings they had integrity. The money they raised, was for their version of what was good for Yiddishkeit. They were self-sacrificing, and I believe well intentioned, although absolutely wrong in their distinct approaches . They filled a need at the time, which was to restore sanity to their followers after the war. They should have discontinued this demented ideology, and embrace Torah true Judaism. But something weird happens to people when scores of people put them on a pedestal. Their sense of self gets distorted, and if they become the ultimate authority without anyone to answer to, megalomania sets in. "Absolute power corrupts, absolutely". The chassidus of today is organized crime, no more. They, the Mafia, also had big hats, and stole whatever they could. Every single chassidus today, is corrupt from head to toe. Their rebbes lead and mislead their idiot followers to a life of frivolity.
Meaningless gatherings, to waiting up all night to get a bracha from the top honcho, is just another con game. There is no meaning in dancing and swaying with the rebbe. There is no sense in partaking from his leftover food. There is no benefit in getting a feel good bracha from these guys. It is ONE BIG HOAX, and the joke is on you, you demented behaimas.

The present Satmar is composed of a bunch of hoodlums with their rebbe at the helm, and is a shameful example of what went wrong with all these chassidic movements. Satmar gave birth to the Neturai Karta, the behaimas that met with Arafat, may he drop dead again. The first Rebbe, unfortunately, was off the wall with his hate of what he called the Medinas Yisroel. He was the prime mover and shaker, pitting Jew against Jew. I am sure, that his soul is paying the price for this form of terrorism. For whatever his thoughts on the secular Jews, his hate mongering was the sign of a man who was irrational and worse. He approved and condoned the open displays of hate from his followers. The present rebbe, a former stockbroker and a shady one to boot, inherited the job because R' Yoel had no sons. On the merits of his right to this job, other than being a Teitelbaum, he had none.

There was another Joel Teitelbaum, who was a cousin of the rebbe. He came over after the war, and called himself the Satmar Rebbe. He raised money, until his cousin and other people from Satmar came, and put an end to his fraud. He changed his name to the Kirhauser Rebbe. He was uncovered to be a KAPO, or a Nazi collaborator, during the war. In other words, he beat the hell out of fellow Jews and worse. When one of his kids were doing a shidduch, and the prospective machatunim met, the machatainester fainted on the spot because she recognized him as the kapo that beat her almost to death. No, this shidduch did not take place. He established a shul, and became a "mover and shaker" in the nursing home business. He" moved" dead bodies from freezer to freezer, collecting their social security checks in the meanwhile. The ones that were still alive, he" shaked" whatever money they had out of them, by stealing their mail and bank accounts. He defrauded the government and every single investor that trusted him. After all, he was a rebbe! He should rot in hell! The Spinka Rebbe was whisked away one Shabbos during davening by the police, he screamed Shabbos, Shabbos!! The people he abused in his nursing homes had nobody to scream to when he abused them, stole their social security checks, and gave them rotten food. When the old people died, this great tzaddik, may he rot in hell, froze their bodies, to be able to keep collecting the government stipends. He was part of the notorious Bergman family, or the "Nursing Home Mafia" as described by the New York Times. It's in their blood, they are sick! Damn these animals; the mitzvah of burying the dead within twenty four hours of death, goes in the garbage when there is money to be stolen. The mitzvah of "escorting the dead" to him meant, escort, "after" all the money was sucked out of the family and the social security number. His two behaimeshe gangster mamzeirim run Spinka today. Monkeys in black garb.

Hertz Frankel, aka the" Satmar Gonniff" stole tens of millions of dollars throughout his thirty years at Satmar. The government finally caught up with him, he plea bargained, and stayed out of jail. Do not tell me that the Rebbe did not know where all these millions came from.

Leib Pinter, the notorious Bnai Torah fraudster, stole millions of dollars for non existent government lunch programs. EVERY SINGLE CHASSIDIC MOSAD PARTICIPATED WILLFULLY AND KNOWINGLY WITH PINTER. Munkascz, Vishnitz, Ger, Belz, Satmar, Skver, Bobov, and all the other midgets with fur hats and long filthy black bathrobes, had a direct hand in this and all other government frauds through Pinter and his cohorts. Pinter went to jail. Pinter has been indicted again for mortgage fraud. He is the "energizer" goniff, he keeps stealing & stealing & stealing.....When they got caught, these nice guys, rebbes, threw the front men to the dogs.

There was drug money laundering, and drug selling through Bobov. Maher Reiss went to jail. The Munkaczer's brother, the Dinover Rebbe, brother in-law of the Vyepoler Rebbe (Frankel's shul in Flatbush), was caught drug smuggling. But they have pretty shuls and fancy homes. Every single time records had to be produced, all of a sudden the files somehow got destroyed by fire. WOW! Hashem certainly created this "nes "so these thieves can keep their businesses going. "Viheney boar b'aish v'hasneh ukol!", these guys certainly deserved Divine intervention, as Moshe did! This time somehow, Hashem decided that the fire SHOULD destroy the phony records.

Skver, Bobov, Munkascz, Satmar, Gur....all had fire sales. YOU CRIMINALS ALTER THE TORAH TO SUIT YOUR DEMENTIA. YOU ALL BELONG IN MENTAL HOSPITALS WHEN YOU GET OUT OF JAIL. YOU GUYS SICKEN ME! THERE IS NOT AN HONEST PERSON AMONG YOU! I HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR AL CAPONE THAN I HAVE FOR YOU. HE DID NOT HIDE HIS FRAUD AND THEFT BEHIND GOD!

Shlomo Halberstam, the first misfit of Bobov, landed in New York after the war. He had his butt fired at the first shul that hired him, because he could not learn a blatt G'mora. This holy genius moved to Crown Heights and ran a kindergarten. His job was to give the kids candies. I swear this is true, I spoke to one of those" kids. "A few lunatic admirers of this Don Juan, decided to move him to Boro Park. So what that he had no clue about learning. He made them feel good, what else matters? He was a master at his game. So what that his father advised his kehilla in Poland not to worry about the Nazis, and assurred them that no harm would come to them. He was a" holy" man, surely his bracha had G-D's seal of approval. Well, you know the end of that story.

The "holy" men from Gur and Belz gave the same advice to their followers. The Belzer Rebbe snuck out of Poland in middle of the night to Israel, as he kept advising his followers to stay put. They would do and say anything to hold on to their little kingdoms. Can you not see that these guys are meaningless people, who without the soap box you put them on would be wagon drivers? The fight going on at Bobov now for the "malchus," is about money and power, it has NOTHING TO DO WITH G-D. One guy is a bigger retard than the other. Take away the real estate and money, they both would be driving cabs.

Years ago, Stoliner chassidim crowned a nine year old kid as their rebbe. You tell me that these guys are normal.

The Chabad telethon sums up the present day status of that group. The Rebbe's picture is their avoda zara. You have Christians, Asians, shvartzes, and drug addicts doing the hora around the Rebbe. Cunin and his family have managed to accumulate one hundred fifty million dollars in real estate, and have ruined people's lives by having the secular courts confiscate any property that housed a "Chabad shul", even though they, the Cunin's, had nothing to do with it. In other words, they became the franchisers for the Chabad name. The Kentucky Fried Chicken of chassidus, with Cunin as Colonel Sanders.

When a bais din ruled AGAINST Cunin, this shyster, who has free access to first rate attorneys, took it to secular court, AGAINST THE RULING OF THE "CHABAD" BAIS DIN. This" holy" guy, has a direct line to the Rebbe, and I am sure that is what the Rebbe advised him to do. Cunin hangs out every month at the kever, midst a whole community of Lubavitchers who are waiting for him to dust himself off and reveal himself. Cunin has got to know something we don't .A historical note of interest. None of the direct descendants of the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Shneur Zalman, are frum. In matter of fact one of his sons converted to Catholicism. The sad part about all of this, because the world today is in such upheavel, people look to other people to make them feel good. The chances of this mental illness called chassidus to go away any time soon, is not promising. People are spending billions of dollars on anti-depressants and other types of feel good drugs. The guys in the black coats are their Opium. If you will continue to rely on people for all that is wrong in your life, why not put true ehrliche Yiden at the helm. Why settle for ignoramuses and thieves? Do away with these purveyors of idiotic dogma and rituals. Do not wait for the Moshiach, you be your own liberator. There are no "seventy two virgins"waiting for you, or whatever your version of that BS is.

GOOD LUCK!

ON THANKSGIVING THESE RABBIS BECAME TURKEY!

What the rabbi said
Jerusalem Post - January 24, 2006
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467798122&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Sir, - Readers of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's recent series on clergy sexual abuse may have been misled by the report's assertion that the meaning of words spoken by a respected rabbinic authority at last year's Agudath Israel of America national convention is, as the article put it, "open to interpretation." The rabbinic authority, the article asserted, admitted "that haredim are indeed guilty of sweeping things under the carpet."

The writer of the series has acknowledged to me that he had not at the time listened to a recording of the speech.

Rabbi Salomon's words, however, could not have been clearer. He pointed out how some people like to accuse the haredi community of "sweeping things under the carpet." They are right, he went on to explain, but not in the way they mean. "Do they know how many perpetrators" of sins against others "have been dealt with?" No, he averred, because when actions are taken against individuals who have proven themselves untrustworthy, Orthodox leaders do not trumpet their actions. And even as they take what steps are necessary to protect others, he added, they also seek to protect human dignity.

Moreover, Rabbi Salomon declared that when crimes are asserted but not proven, Jews must be guided not by a mob mentality but by the Torah.

The JTA article may well be right that "several Web site and blog contributors" chose to interpret Rabbi Salomon's remarks as an admission that "haredi officials often look the other way when clergy sex abuse takes place in their midst." But that says something only about those Web site and blog contributors, and nothing at all about what Rabbi Salomon actually said.

RABBI AVI SHAFRAN
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America

A Thoughtful, Measured UOJ (Or UOJ on Valium) - WHAT IF??????????

From The UOJ Archives - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 B.C. (Before Convention)

Regular readers of my blog are accustomed to my in-your-face tone and firebrand ranting on a host of topics affecting our community.

Worry not; I have no intention of changing my stripes. Tomorrow bright and early, I will be back to ranting and challenging the powers that be.

But just for today, as hundreds of thousands of decent, law-abiding, spiritual members of Klal Yisroel are in the process of mourning the desecration of Hashem and our Torah caused by the lawsuit against Kolko, Margulies and Torah Temimah, I ask you to be intellectually honest and walk a mile in my shoes, or better yet, walk many miles in the tattered souls of the victims, making some assumptions:

What if every one of the allegations listed in the New York Magazine article is true?

What if the three lawsuits are in fact the tip of the iceberg in the rape of our children by Kolko and Margulies?

What if there was a pattern of terror,“ a second round of abuse" directed at those who reported these abuses? Not for weeks, months or years, but decades?

What if Margulies was repeatedly offered a quiet and discreet resolution of this matter, with Kolko offered a paid leave while a hearing was conducted, and a registry of sexual molesters established by Torah Umesorah, to see to it that molesters don't get shuttled from school to school?

What if you actually listened firsthand to the pain and suffering of the victims? What if you heard them talk about the confusion, anger, rage and their struggle to get their lives back on track?

What if you heard them ask you how Kolko and Margulies can continue to have the respect of our community while they wallow in despair and agony?

What if you felt that there was a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to the innocent children under the care of Kolko and Margulies?

What if you heard that Margulies had the unmitigated gall to recently conduct an asifa of his "talmidim" in Lakewood to set the stage for opening a branch of his "kiddy molesting business" there?

What if you saw the intimidation and terror that was directed at anyone who challenged the powers that be and stood up for the rights of our children?

Well, you might do the responsible things first:

Send them messages and messengers that you "have the goods" and beg them to do the right thing.

Take your message to the public via the Internet.

Send a mailing to the community, hoping against hope that someone, somewhere, would convince Margulies to let reason prevail.

Issue clear warnings and datelines should he refuse to do what is correct and moral.

What if that didn't work either?

What if you felt that you, and perhaps you alone, had the courage, means and fierce determination to stop the insanity and finally after all these decades protect our children?

What if you spent sleepless nights over the past few years feeling that you are not doing everything in your power to protect our children, and permit a confirmed embezzler called Lipa Margulies to get away with not only theft of millions of dollars from Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, but from pretending to run a Torah institution, while a vile predator is hanging around a thousand kids every day?

What if you have documents in hand from a psak bais din to force Margulies for ten years to change the name of "his" yeshiva? What happens if you have documents in your hands from estate attorneys designating their clients' money to Yeshiva Torah Vodaath then in Williamsburg, to be cashed by the vicious thief and embezzler Lipa Margulies?

What if you were convinced that Torah Temimah's very bricks and cement were purchased with stolen money?

What if you felt that Margulies would never respond to reasonable people, but "maybe" only to the ranting of a "wild maniac"?

I have no doubt that history will judge Margulies to be the wicked, heartless, soulless fiend who regularly expelled "average" children from his school to maintain his elitist image. It was the cruel and evil Margulies who repeatedly refused to bring resource rebbeim and programs into his school, allowing kids to drown or transfer to more compassionate, responsible mosdos. It was none other than this rasha of the generation, Lipa Margulies, that was the first to turn the sacred mission of chinuch habanim into a personal, corrupt, nepotism-filled fiefdom and "pig"gy-bank.

History will be brutal to this self-righteous thief, vile and evil man, and confirmed embezzler called Lipa Margulies.

Tomorrow, I vow to continue my crusade to finally bring safety to our children and other vital issues to our community that are being swept underneath beards, black hats, kapotes, bekishes, shtreimels and OU certified kosher plastic tablecloths, all in the name of Torah.

Today, however, I ask you to think about the terrible desecration of Hashem and His Torah, that this corrupt, evil, vile man brought to all of us.

UOJ IS THE ROTO ROOTER GUY!

UOJ IS THE ROTO ROOTER GUY!
Published originally August 18, 2006 B.C. (Before Convention)
Customer Service Number:1-800-TOLD-YOU.


You buy a house in a good neighborhood and your toilet keeps backing up. Not every day, but just enough for you to realize that your sewer system is a problem. But you're busy, raising a family, making a parnassah, and all the other activities that occupy your time 110%.

So your sewer problem is there, any fool would realize that if your toilet keeps dumping zevel in your living room every few months, you have a sewer problem. In order for you to deal with the problem you must take a real hard look at the root cause of the damaged system. Then you come to realize that the whole neighborhood has shit backing up into their bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms as well.

You call a meeting with your neighbors and decide to buy thicker carpets and have the zevel piped in under the carpet so you don't have to have the crap hit you in the face. You make many melave malkes, conventions and dinners and take the stench with you...because ultimately the stench is you! But now you're in a room where every one smells like shit and you think it's perfume or so they tell you. You now go out and buy knee boots...hoping the charra will not dirty your suit or legs. At the dais of these dinners, you begin to believe that they caused the stench by stuffing your sewers with their bull"shit", so if you called a plumber, they will profit from your sewer problem, because they own the plumbing company.

They continue to stuff up your sewer system with newsletters and proclamations, and their propaganda slowly convinces you that really you don't have a sewer problem at all. It's imagined.....and let's blame the sewer company for selling you inferior pipes."

It's the Goyim stupid"......or people that act like Goyim. And you know what? The plumbers that brought you the news that you have a problem at all, are shgatzim. They use nivel peh, are m'challel Shabbos, they fix sewers on Shabbos...what qualifies them to tell you that your sewer is broken? Never listen to a plumber who uses nivel peh; call your posek, he'll tell you what looks like shit, smells like shit, and has destroyed your lives with these toxic fumes that have penetrated your being, is really nothing more than a tradition that all of us inherited from our ancestors.( What looks like sex abuse, feels like sex abuse,and IS sex abuse, is really, really, NOT sex abuse, it's the psak from a godol that really counts, NOT the law of our Country, or the law of civilized man!)

What to do? All your life you are living in this community, but now this big bad plumber has uncovered for all the world to see, that there really is a huge sewer problem.

SHIT EVERYWHERE!

The Roto Rooter guy insists that the sewer is irreparable; only a total removal of the sewer "system" will remove the problem that has destroyed your home. It must be replaced with brand new pipes and must be installed by reputable plumbers. He apologizes for his frustration and his use of "over the top" language, but has learned from experience that good people don't pay much attention to soft spoken plumbers." Imagine" he says, " If I came to your home in a suit and tie, and spoke the King's English, would you really believe that I'm a plumber?" "Would you really believe that me and me alone can tear out your broken sewer and replace it with a brand new working system that is able to flush out the drek before it becomes a problem? I will install a warning system..we'll call it a black hat alert, the shit detector will sound a siren way in advance, way before your sewer begins to crumble."

"And you know what? It's FREE! I'll do it at no charge. You see I love the people that live in this neighborhood, I JUST HATE THE SMELL! This used to be a beautiful neighborhood, until the drek peddlers moved in.

Your choice my friends, go Roto Rooter, or suffer with the farshtoonkena drek that represents the toxic smell that is destroying your neighborhood.

Go Roto Rooter at no charge, or choose the likes of the mushchasim that are called Fraud Yisroel Belsky, Lipa Margulies, Pinchos Scheinberg, Simcha Kaufman and last but certainly not least, Yudi Kolko.

HELLA WINSTON....A GREAT CHAMPION OF THE TRUTH, WRITES MORE OF THE TRUTH...AGAIN!

So Many Rules.....,

By Hella Winston


The first time 12-year-old David Framowitz had his genitals fondled by a respected teacher from his yeshiva, he panicked, desperate to flee the parked car in which the man had given him a ride to school. Later, when he told his parents about what had happened, they dismissed his story, unable to fathom that a rabbi could be capable of such behavior. Not wanting to cause trouble, Framowitz continued to suffer the abuse in silence, until he changed schools two years later. Now 48 and the plaintiff in a civil suit against this rabbi, and the school and camp that employed him, Framowitz has come forward to tell his story. Not surprisingly, reactions to it in the ultra Orthodox world have hardly been encouraging for other victims.

Download PDF for all the graphics:Cut and Paste the link below for the entire article:

http://www.lilith.org/pdfs/LilithWinter2006_Hella1.pdf