Yudi Kolko's nephew from Lakewood, Yossi Kolko, a thirty three year old single man, that taught in a yeshiva and was a counselor in an Orthodox Jewish summer camp, was arrested last week for child sex-abuse. The difference this time, is that allegedly, one of his many victims, is a very close blood relative of a faculty member of the Lakewood Yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha, and they went to the police.
It was bound to become public knowledge, not that this is the first time a staff member of a yeshiva's family were victims of child sex-abuse by a rebbe or another adult member of the Jewish community. But...now it's slamming the door in Matisyahu Salomon's lying face for being the pompous putz that he is for claiming to be handling all these allegations (that don't exist) in a "dignified" manner for all involved. When push came to shove, and it was an "aigener kint", Rabbi so and so from the Lakewood Yeshiva told Salomon to let the door hit him in the tuchis, he'll take action that should be taken by every parent, going to the police.
And the attitude that is still prevalent today in these idiot circles of rabbis, is that they're immune from these horrific tragedies. Why do they believe that? Because somehow these hallucinating psychos, are so pathetic that they actually believe their own lies.
I want to be clear, any child that is victimized hurts my heart. But these insane parents who refuse to immunize their own children by having a "Faith Healer" tend to their children's urgent mental medical needs, will just have to learn the hard way.
When is enough, enough? When do you realize that if YOU don't do something about this pandemic of child sex-abuse, your own loved ones will suffer, that it's just a matter of time?
And to all the Matisyahu Salomons I say -- the damage you caused to innocent children and their families is unforgivable!
YUDI KOLKO ALERT!!!!!
A friend of UOJ writes..
Yudi Kolko has taken up residence -- "for the rest of the summer", according to his wife -- at 162 Laurel Park Road, Fallsburg, NY, which is within the PINES ESTATES complex. His presence there has caused a bit of a stir....there are at least one hundred children there, and a number of parents -- are understandably concerned. Unfortunately, there is ample evidence to believe that the roshei yeshiva at the Yeshiva of South Fallsburg initially told their minions that Kolko is Kosher V'Yashar. While they have quietly moved off that position, it seems that he's unwilling to undo the damage the yeshiva did, by now rightly declaring him a menace to children.
I'm at a loss as to what to do. I think a warning should be posted to anyone with children that's even contemplating renting a place in the PINES ESTATES, advising them to go elsewhere......Maybe, if the kool aid drinking yeshivaleit are effected where it really hurts -- in their pockets -- they might actually rise up against this cancer and throw him out too. I understand he initially rented a place in a Chassidishe colony in Woodburne, but when they got wind of him, they packed his bags for him and threw him out.
EVERY SIGNATURE MATTERS - THIS BILL MUST PASS!
CLICK - GOAL - 100,000 NEW SIGNATURES! 75,000 SIGNATURES HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED TO GOVERNOR CUOMO!
EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters
CLICK! For the full motion to quash: http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-motiontoquashmemo.pdf
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
THIS IS NOT DAAS TORAH! THIS IS PURE CORRUPTION IN SUPPORT OF MORE CORRUPTION!
Another spot-on post by Steve:
"An open letter has been sent from Rabbi Perlow requesting pidyon shvuyim funds for Sholom Rubashkin. After "divining" from the Torah that he must "vigorously" oppose the Child Victims Act which would protect Jewish children from sexual molesters, he has now "divined" that it is important to further support and protect the criminal element amongst us. He has "divined" that we must support the supporters of Chillul Hashem. To borrow Boog's terminology, does it get sicker than this?
This coming Shabbos is called Shabbos Chazon, the Shabbos before Tisha B'Av. It is called that because we read the haftorah of "Chazon Yeshaya" the first chapter of that sefer, where the navi rebukes the leadership of the Jewish people. The navi exhorts the people to do justice and to strengthen the downtrodden. He tells the masses not to follow the corrupt ways of their leaders. For the leaders had become wayward companions of thieves, who love bribes and illegal payments while they refuse to do heed the cause of widows and orphans. The navi commands the people to "Asheru Chamotz", strengthen the victim. The gemara in Sanhedrin further explains "Asheru Chamotz V'Lo Chometz", strengthen the victim, not the perpetrator.(Rashi: Hanigzal V'lo Hagazlan). Rabbi Perlow and the Agudah have followed the example of the leaders at the time of Yeshaya. They have prioritized supporting the criminals while thwarting any type of legislation to help the victims. Do you think Avi Shafran's love letter to Bernie Madoff was just a minor case of brainlock? It had to be sanctioned by the same group of chavrei ganovim!
When you read these words of the haftorah this Shabbos, you will realize why we are still in mourning and why we still have Tisha B'Av. It's time to wake up and face the reality: SARAYICH SORERIM V'CHAVREI GANOVIM!
It's not too late to rise up and say,....
ENOUGH! THESE ARE NOT OUR LEADERS!
THIS IS NOT DAAS TORAH! THIS IS PURE CORRUPTION IN SUPPORT OF MORE CORRUPTION!
Let's rise up and support the victims of child sexual abuse by "vigorously" supporting the Markey bill.
Let's rise up and protect our children from these sexual predators by exposing them, one at a time.
Let's rise up and condemn all types of criminal behavior in our community.
Let's rise up and condemn the rioting and Chillul Hashem that is taking place in Yerushalayim, which is burning yet again.
Let's rise up and condemn the apologetics of Pinny Lipshitz of the Yated who is now heading Rubashkin's pidyon shvuyim fund. The navi Yeshaya is once again calling upon us to act.
Let us listen this time."
"An open letter has been sent from Rabbi Perlow requesting pidyon shvuyim funds for Sholom Rubashkin. After "divining" from the Torah that he must "vigorously" oppose the Child Victims Act which would protect Jewish children from sexual molesters, he has now "divined" that it is important to further support and protect the criminal element amongst us. He has "divined" that we must support the supporters of Chillul Hashem. To borrow Boog's terminology, does it get sicker than this?
This coming Shabbos is called Shabbos Chazon, the Shabbos before Tisha B'Av. It is called that because we read the haftorah of "Chazon Yeshaya" the first chapter of that sefer, where the navi rebukes the leadership of the Jewish people. The navi exhorts the people to do justice and to strengthen the downtrodden. He tells the masses not to follow the corrupt ways of their leaders. For the leaders had become wayward companions of thieves, who love bribes and illegal payments while they refuse to do heed the cause of widows and orphans. The navi commands the people to "Asheru Chamotz", strengthen the victim. The gemara in Sanhedrin further explains "Asheru Chamotz V'Lo Chometz", strengthen the victim, not the perpetrator.(Rashi: Hanigzal V'lo Hagazlan). Rabbi Perlow and the Agudah have followed the example of the leaders at the time of Yeshaya. They have prioritized supporting the criminals while thwarting any type of legislation to help the victims. Do you think Avi Shafran's love letter to Bernie Madoff was just a minor case of brainlock? It had to be sanctioned by the same group of chavrei ganovim!
When you read these words of the haftorah this Shabbos, you will realize why we are still in mourning and why we still have Tisha B'Av. It's time to wake up and face the reality: SARAYICH SORERIM V'CHAVREI GANOVIM!
It's not too late to rise up and say,....
ENOUGH! THESE ARE NOT OUR LEADERS!
THIS IS NOT DAAS TORAH! THIS IS PURE CORRUPTION IN SUPPORT OF MORE CORRUPTION!
Let's rise up and support the victims of child sexual abuse by "vigorously" supporting the Markey bill.
Let's rise up and protect our children from these sexual predators by exposing them, one at a time.
Let's rise up and condemn all types of criminal behavior in our community.
Let's rise up and condemn the rioting and Chillul Hashem that is taking place in Yerushalayim, which is burning yet again.
Let's rise up and condemn the apologetics of Pinny Lipshitz of the Yated who is now heading Rubashkin's pidyon shvuyim fund. The navi Yeshaya is once again calling upon us to act.
Let us listen this time."
Monday, July 20, 2009
Camp counselor at private Lakewood school charged with sexually assaulting boy!
http://www.app.com/article/20090720/NEWS/90720060/1070/NEWS02
Camp counselor at private Lakewood school charged with sexually assaulting boy By Michelle Sahn • STAFF WRITER • July 20, 2009
LAKEWOOD — A camp counselor who worked at a program run at a Lakewood private school has been arrested on charges that he sexually assaulted a young boy.
Yosef A. Kolko, 33, of Gefen Drive, Lakewood, who worked as a camp counselor at Yachad, a summer camp based out of Bais Hatorah School on Swathmore Drive, was arrested Sunday, authorities said.
He was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Authorities said the criminal activity occurred within the past year, and the victim was a boy under the age of 13.
Bail for Kolko was set at $125,000 and if he is released on bail, he is not allowed to have contact with the victim or anyone else under the age of 18, according to the complaint.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Senior Investigation Colleen Lynch in the special victims unit at 732-929-2027, Ext. 2905 or Lakewood Detective Thomas D'Elia at 732-363-0200.
Camp counselor at private Lakewood school charged with sexually assaulting boy By Michelle Sahn • STAFF WRITER • July 20, 2009
LAKEWOOD — A camp counselor who worked at a program run at a Lakewood private school has been arrested on charges that he sexually assaulted a young boy.
Yosef A. Kolko, 33, of Gefen Drive, Lakewood, who worked as a camp counselor at Yachad, a summer camp based out of Bais Hatorah School on Swathmore Drive, was arrested Sunday, authorities said.
He was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Authorities said the criminal activity occurred within the past year, and the victim was a boy under the age of 13.
Bail for Kolko was set at $125,000 and if he is released on bail, he is not allowed to have contact with the victim or anyone else under the age of 18, according to the complaint.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Senior Investigation Colleen Lynch in the special victims unit at 732-929-2027, Ext. 2905 or Lakewood Detective Thomas D'Elia at 732-363-0200.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
But the greatest evil of Rosenblum's column lies less in what he says than in what he doesn’t say.
Jonathan Rosenblum’s recent attempt to wish away child sex abuse allegations in Ramat Beit Shemesh (“Think Again: Those Primitive Haredim – Yet Again,” Jerusalem Post, June 11, 2009) is so full of false assumptions and disingenuous gibes aimed at anyone audacious enough to challenge Orthodox rabbis on the issue (critics just don’t like the haredim, he suggests, even when the critics are themselves haredim) that no short response can do justice to them all.
But the greatest evil of his column lies less in what he says than in what he doesn’t say. For in Rosenblum’s head-in-the-sand world, when a fact reflects poorly on haredi rabbis, it doesn’t even get to see the light.
You’d never know, from Rosenblum’s writing, that anyone had made more than a few careless accusations about child sex abuse in Ramat Beit Shemesh. But of course they did: the complaints – all quoted in the Ha-aretz article Rosenblum responds to – were both specific and severe. A mother complained that when she reported her own child’s abuse (with “proof,” according to the article), the rabbis in Ramat Beit Shemesh “called me a liar and said that this kind of thing does not happen here.” Another parent, whose abuse allegation was supported by professional evaluators, spoke of “a combination of denial, protecting your good name and not involving the secular world” which, he said, characterizes his community’s rabbinic leadership. In fact, he told the reporter that “his family was threatened and pressured by community leaders not to pursue the matter with the police,” and even the abused child was “ostracized by most former classmates.”
How does Rosenblum deal with those charges? Simple: he doesn’t.
Nor does Rosenblum, who boasts of his acquaintance with Ramat Beit Shemesh’s “young, worldly and energetic” rabbis, ever tell the reader what those vigorous sages actually know about child sex abuse. One of them is quoted as prescribing “vigilance”; but all their energy and worldliness combined cannot give Rosenblum’s readers a single clue about what they look for in an alleged child sex abuse case, or how they look, or whom they consult, if anyone.
Rosenblum is even silent on what may be the most important question of all: whether these rabbis encourage their congregants to report to police without first seeking a rabbi’s specific approval. Rosenblum suggests vaguely that they must favor police reports on suspected offenders because a prominent haredi rabbi has authorized the practice. (He doesn’t name the rabbi, perhaps because – if Rabbi Elyashiv is the one he means – he misrepresents Elyashiv’s published view as more pro-reporting than it really is.) But if, in fact, the Ramat Beit Shemesh rabbis insist on being the ones who decide whether an allegation may move on to secular authorities, Rosenblum’s defense only means that the rabbis may support reporting a given case, assuming that they themselves are persuaded of the sufficiency of the evidence. How is that standard to be satisfied? Again, Rosenblum doesn’t say.
The disingenuousness of Rosenblum’s silence on these critical points is particularly offensive when juxtaposed with his sanctimonious outcry against the critics of Ramat Beit Shemesh’s rabbis. In attacking the parents, and David Morris, who has supported them, Rosenblum is uninhibitedly nasty: he accuses Morris, for instance, of making a “wild claim” and demanding that “a teacher should be automatically fired the first time any student complains of untoward behavior, and he and his family stigmatized for life.” Of course, Morris never demanded any such thing.
But more important, Rosenblum’s choice of targets – his selective invective – exposes the real point of his defense. It really doesn’t matter to Rosenblum, finally, whether the rabbis deny the reality of sex abuse charges, cover up for the guilty, and blame the victims. If they do all that, it’s simply proof to Rosenblum that blaming victims for telling the truth really can be better than taking action against those they accuse. The only thing certain is that one cannot criticize the rabbis.
Rosenblum even strengthens this bizarre implication with one of the strangest claims I have ever seen in print: that rabbis choose to stand between victims and law enforcement for the victims’ own good:
The rabbis’ preference for working behind the scenes derives . . . from a considered philosophy about what is best for victims, their families and the community. The knowledge that incidents will be publicized can keep victims or their parents from coming forward. In addition, publicity can lead to hysteria . . .
Well, there you have it, folks: the reporting of child sex abuse cases actually inhibits the reporting of child sex abuse cases. Even worse, it can cause “hysteria.” Wouldn’t want that, now, would we?
All in all, Rosenblum’s column – which claims to disprove the existence of child sex abuse cover-ups in Orthodox communities – is itself a kind of cover-up. Not only does Rosenblum refuse to discuss any of the key questions, he simply assumes they don’t exist.
As a contributor to the first book-length treatment of child sex abuse in Jewish communities (Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals, Brandeis University Press, 2009), I must add that Rosenblum’s denial is depressingly familiar. But if our communal spokesmen don’t start doing any better than this, we can only be headed for disaster in the long run. The political philosopher Leo Strauss once said of such empty theorizing that it amounted to “fiddling while Rome burns” – and he added these ominously relevant words: “It is excused by two facts: it does not know that it fiddles, and it does not know that Rome burns.”
Michael Lesher
22 Leitch Place
Passaic NJ 07055
(973) 470-0212
MichaelLesher@optonline.net
www.MichaelLesher.com
But the greatest evil of his column lies less in what he says than in what he doesn’t say. For in Rosenblum’s head-in-the-sand world, when a fact reflects poorly on haredi rabbis, it doesn’t even get to see the light.
You’d never know, from Rosenblum’s writing, that anyone had made more than a few careless accusations about child sex abuse in Ramat Beit Shemesh. But of course they did: the complaints – all quoted in the Ha-aretz article Rosenblum responds to – were both specific and severe. A mother complained that when she reported her own child’s abuse (with “proof,” according to the article), the rabbis in Ramat Beit Shemesh “called me a liar and said that this kind of thing does not happen here.” Another parent, whose abuse allegation was supported by professional evaluators, spoke of “a combination of denial, protecting your good name and not involving the secular world” which, he said, characterizes his community’s rabbinic leadership. In fact, he told the reporter that “his family was threatened and pressured by community leaders not to pursue the matter with the police,” and even the abused child was “ostracized by most former classmates.”
How does Rosenblum deal with those charges? Simple: he doesn’t.
Nor does Rosenblum, who boasts of his acquaintance with Ramat Beit Shemesh’s “young, worldly and energetic” rabbis, ever tell the reader what those vigorous sages actually know about child sex abuse. One of them is quoted as prescribing “vigilance”; but all their energy and worldliness combined cannot give Rosenblum’s readers a single clue about what they look for in an alleged child sex abuse case, or how they look, or whom they consult, if anyone.
Rosenblum is even silent on what may be the most important question of all: whether these rabbis encourage their congregants to report to police without first seeking a rabbi’s specific approval. Rosenblum suggests vaguely that they must favor police reports on suspected offenders because a prominent haredi rabbi has authorized the practice. (He doesn’t name the rabbi, perhaps because – if Rabbi Elyashiv is the one he means – he misrepresents Elyashiv’s published view as more pro-reporting than it really is.) But if, in fact, the Ramat Beit Shemesh rabbis insist on being the ones who decide whether an allegation may move on to secular authorities, Rosenblum’s defense only means that the rabbis may support reporting a given case, assuming that they themselves are persuaded of the sufficiency of the evidence. How is that standard to be satisfied? Again, Rosenblum doesn’t say.
The disingenuousness of Rosenblum’s silence on these critical points is particularly offensive when juxtaposed with his sanctimonious outcry against the critics of Ramat Beit Shemesh’s rabbis. In attacking the parents, and David Morris, who has supported them, Rosenblum is uninhibitedly nasty: he accuses Morris, for instance, of making a “wild claim” and demanding that “a teacher should be automatically fired the first time any student complains of untoward behavior, and he and his family stigmatized for life.” Of course, Morris never demanded any such thing.
But more important, Rosenblum’s choice of targets – his selective invective – exposes the real point of his defense. It really doesn’t matter to Rosenblum, finally, whether the rabbis deny the reality of sex abuse charges, cover up for the guilty, and blame the victims. If they do all that, it’s simply proof to Rosenblum that blaming victims for telling the truth really can be better than taking action against those they accuse. The only thing certain is that one cannot criticize the rabbis.
Rosenblum even strengthens this bizarre implication with one of the strangest claims I have ever seen in print: that rabbis choose to stand between victims and law enforcement for the victims’ own good:
The rabbis’ preference for working behind the scenes derives . . . from a considered philosophy about what is best for victims, their families and the community. The knowledge that incidents will be publicized can keep victims or their parents from coming forward. In addition, publicity can lead to hysteria . . .
Well, there you have it, folks: the reporting of child sex abuse cases actually inhibits the reporting of child sex abuse cases. Even worse, it can cause “hysteria.” Wouldn’t want that, now, would we?
All in all, Rosenblum’s column – which claims to disprove the existence of child sex abuse cover-ups in Orthodox communities – is itself a kind of cover-up. Not only does Rosenblum refuse to discuss any of the key questions, he simply assumes they don’t exist.
As a contributor to the first book-length treatment of child sex abuse in Jewish communities (Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals, Brandeis University Press, 2009), I must add that Rosenblum’s denial is depressingly familiar. But if our communal spokesmen don’t start doing any better than this, we can only be headed for disaster in the long run. The political philosopher Leo Strauss once said of such empty theorizing that it amounted to “fiddling while Rome burns” – and he added these ominously relevant words: “It is excused by two facts: it does not know that it fiddles, and it does not know that Rome burns.”
Michael Lesher
22 Leitch Place
Passaic NJ 07055
(973) 470-0212
MichaelLesher@optonline.net
www.MichaelLesher.com
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Ultra-Religious Catholic Journalist Interviews Three Priests About The Catholic Church's Involvement Of Child Sexual Abuse!
by John O'Futzyutz
When I sat down with these three American priests who are well versed in the English language, I was really taken in by their knowledge of Scripture as it relates to the "in-topic" of today, child molestation by the Catholic clergy. The focus quickly shifted to their "older cousins", the Jews, particularly rabbis, for reasons unknown to them, covered up child sexual abuse in their Hebrew schools, summer camps, and houses of worship.
Now I know these three priests well, they would have no reason to change the subject; they are smart, they grew up in orthodox Catholic homes, and clearly believe the Pope as the infallible messenger of god and the other two parts of god's cosmic makeup, Spirit and Son. The pope would never, for example, apologize for child-abuse by thousands of priests, if he was not really sorry. He is so sorry that he moved the "Lipa Margulies" of the Church, Cardinal Bernard Law, to the Vatican, as one of the pope's right hand people. In matter of fact, my Catholic antennae was pricked by this bold decision, borrowing this phrase with permission from my friend, a Jewish journalist in the Jerusalem Post, Jonathan Rosenblum.
The English speaking priests certainly convinced me that they have no reason at all to go against the pope's unambiguous message; if you are ever in doubt about the sexual proclivities of a priest, or about a Cardinal moving priests around from parish to parish; rather than call the police, send him to Rome, they have a great job for him with a lot of different multi-colored hats and shmattes. If you are dumb enough to get caught, deny that any priest ever molested a child, if pressed really hard by an "Enlightened one", say, "yeah, we found out about one who slipped through our fingers, and no we do not sweep or sell rugs, we are not merchants -- but if another child molester does exist, the police may be called."
So that's that, the Pope Hador speaks, the priests listen, we know all that, right?
Wondering what was going on with the Jews, now that I got the alleged priest problem out of the way, I contacted my fellow Yale schoolmate, Jonathan Rosenblum, who I understand became the drugged mouthpiece for ultra-orthodox Jews, especially in Israel.
Jonathan tells me a very similar kind of strange goings-on in the Ramat Bet Shemesh town, a suburb of Jerusalem. He spoke as well to three rabbis (something the Jews and Catholics have in common the number three as in Trinity, as in upsherin, as in moving on Tuesday - yom shlishi (ki tov twice plus one on yom rishon) three portions of cholent at kiddush, three main dishes at Pesach hotels, three dunks in the mikve) --- in that town, and was assured that these parents who claim to have had their child molested in a Hebrew school, was a bunch of cholent poop. Why would these English speaking rabbis lie? What do they have to gain? They care only about the well-being of their congregants and the Jewish community, just like the English speaking rabbis in the U.S.A. They even remember that they asked people to leave town, they can't be sure why, but probably because they molested someone. They even invited an Ohel employee, Dr. Schulman, to address the community on how to mitigate damages from families whose children were allegedly abused by rabbis in schools.
"In 1996, the Village Voice ["A Child's at Stake," by Adam Fifield and Michael Lesher] reported that an Ohel advisory board member, Susan Schulman, commented that she always deferred to rabbinic advice before making a child-abuse report, although she acknowledged that she 'could be arrested' for doing so." [Emphasis added.] This is what's coming to Ramat Bet Shemesh!
And this quote really tickled my fancy; "It is well known that these accusing parents just hate rabbis and don't really care about their children's welfare at all, and would destroy their own kids and drag their families through the mud just for the sake of making rabbis look bad", according to Rosenblum's sources in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community.
In matter of fact Jonathan said, the Jewish pope, so to speak, the greatest rabbi of the generation (96 years young and even remembers his name without a teleprompter), who is schooled in every single area of humanity, decreed that only if rabbis believe child molestation took place, after many meetings by the local rabbis, and a unanimous decision by all the rabbis and zonas in town, and the child is screened by their handpicked Orthodox therapists, with a degree or not, then if none of these people ever used a cell-phone without a hechsher, or shopped in a store without a kosher certificate on all the women's clothing, or sat on a bus where women and men are not separated by a shower curtain, then one may be permitted to go to a shomer Shabbos police station, where every police person eats Rubashkin glatt kosher meat that is not cooked in a Heinemann Kitchen Aid kosher Yom-Tov oven and whose wives do not wear wigs from India.
Now, Jonathan and I go back a long way; I felt ashamed that I would have to ask him this question, but a good journalist must be thorough.
"Jonathan, and when you met with the alleged molested children and their parents, what exactly did they tell you?"
"Well John", he said, "after taking to the three rabbis, why would I need to talk to the victims and their parents?"
In fact Rosenblum permitted me to use his quote in the Jerusalem Post as the new "gospel" for the Jewish community.....
"The rabbis' preference for working behind the scenes derives not from a desire to sweep problems under the rug, but from a considered philosophy about what is best for victims, their families and the community. The knowledge that incidents will be publicized can keep victims or their parents from coming forward. In addition, publicity can lead to hysteria in which parents become convinced that their children are at great risk in school. (In fact, more abuse takes place within families or involves older children as perpetrators.)"
Now, even me being a "Goy" knows this is the new lying Shafran-Schick-Salomon limerick coming from the Torah Giants of America, certainly expected to make a huge splash to the English and Yiddish speaking members of the Jewish community worldwide. Perhaps it may even wind up in a radio commercial.
Jonathan, even the Goyim are ashamed of you!
When I sat down with these three American priests who are well versed in the English language, I was really taken in by their knowledge of Scripture as it relates to the "in-topic" of today, child molestation by the Catholic clergy. The focus quickly shifted to their "older cousins", the Jews, particularly rabbis, for reasons unknown to them, covered up child sexual abuse in their Hebrew schools, summer camps, and houses of worship.
Now I know these three priests well, they would have no reason to change the subject; they are smart, they grew up in orthodox Catholic homes, and clearly believe the Pope as the infallible messenger of god and the other two parts of god's cosmic makeup, Spirit and Son. The pope would never, for example, apologize for child-abuse by thousands of priests, if he was not really sorry. He is so sorry that he moved the "Lipa Margulies" of the Church, Cardinal Bernard Law, to the Vatican, as one of the pope's right hand people. In matter of fact, my Catholic antennae was pricked by this bold decision, borrowing this phrase with permission from my friend, a Jewish journalist in the Jerusalem Post, Jonathan Rosenblum.
The English speaking priests certainly convinced me that they have no reason at all to go against the pope's unambiguous message; if you are ever in doubt about the sexual proclivities of a priest, or about a Cardinal moving priests around from parish to parish; rather than call the police, send him to Rome, they have a great job for him with a lot of different multi-colored hats and shmattes. If you are dumb enough to get caught, deny that any priest ever molested a child, if pressed really hard by an "Enlightened one", say, "yeah, we found out about one who slipped through our fingers, and no we do not sweep or sell rugs, we are not merchants -- but if another child molester does exist, the police may be called."
So that's that, the Pope Hador speaks, the priests listen, we know all that, right?
Wondering what was going on with the Jews, now that I got the alleged priest problem out of the way, I contacted my fellow Yale schoolmate, Jonathan Rosenblum, who I understand became the drugged mouthpiece for ultra-orthodox Jews, especially in Israel.
Jonathan tells me a very similar kind of strange goings-on in the Ramat Bet Shemesh town, a suburb of Jerusalem. He spoke as well to three rabbis (something the Jews and Catholics have in common the number three as in Trinity, as in upsherin, as in moving on Tuesday - yom shlishi (ki tov twice plus one on yom rishon) three portions of cholent at kiddush, three main dishes at Pesach hotels, three dunks in the mikve) --- in that town, and was assured that these parents who claim to have had their child molested in a Hebrew school, was a bunch of cholent poop. Why would these English speaking rabbis lie? What do they have to gain? They care only about the well-being of their congregants and the Jewish community, just like the English speaking rabbis in the U.S.A. They even remember that they asked people to leave town, they can't be sure why, but probably because they molested someone. They even invited an Ohel employee, Dr. Schulman, to address the community on how to mitigate damages from families whose children were allegedly abused by rabbis in schools.
"In 1996, the Village Voice ["A Child's at Stake," by Adam Fifield and Michael Lesher] reported that an Ohel advisory board member, Susan Schulman, commented that she always deferred to rabbinic advice before making a child-abuse report, although she acknowledged that she 'could be arrested' for doing so." [Emphasis added.] This is what's coming to Ramat Bet Shemesh!
And this quote really tickled my fancy; "It is well known that these accusing parents just hate rabbis and don't really care about their children's welfare at all, and would destroy their own kids and drag their families through the mud just for the sake of making rabbis look bad", according to Rosenblum's sources in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community.
In matter of fact Jonathan said, the Jewish pope, so to speak, the greatest rabbi of the generation (96 years young and even remembers his name without a teleprompter), who is schooled in every single area of humanity, decreed that only if rabbis believe child molestation took place, after many meetings by the local rabbis, and a unanimous decision by all the rabbis and zonas in town, and the child is screened by their handpicked Orthodox therapists, with a degree or not, then if none of these people ever used a cell-phone without a hechsher, or shopped in a store without a kosher certificate on all the women's clothing, or sat on a bus where women and men are not separated by a shower curtain, then one may be permitted to go to a shomer Shabbos police station, where every police person eats Rubashkin glatt kosher meat that is not cooked in a Heinemann Kitchen Aid kosher Yom-Tov oven and whose wives do not wear wigs from India.
Now, Jonathan and I go back a long way; I felt ashamed that I would have to ask him this question, but a good journalist must be thorough.
"Jonathan, and when you met with the alleged molested children and their parents, what exactly did they tell you?"
"Well John", he said, "after taking to the three rabbis, why would I need to talk to the victims and their parents?"
In fact Rosenblum permitted me to use his quote in the Jerusalem Post as the new "gospel" for the Jewish community.....
"The rabbis' preference for working behind the scenes derives not from a desire to sweep problems under the rug, but from a considered philosophy about what is best for victims, their families and the community. The knowledge that incidents will be publicized can keep victims or their parents from coming forward. In addition, publicity can lead to hysteria in which parents become convinced that their children are at great risk in school. (In fact, more abuse takes place within families or involves older children as perpetrators.)"
Now, even me being a "Goy" knows this is the new lying Shafran-Schick-Salomon limerick coming from the Torah Giants of America, certainly expected to make a huge splash to the English and Yiddish speaking members of the Jewish community worldwide. Perhaps it may even wind up in a radio commercial.
Jonathan, even the Goyim are ashamed of you!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey - ..."I will lead the debate about this landmark legislation..."
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
"I Was Blessed That I Lived In Pittsburgh"
STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND WATCH THIS CLIP!
Dear Fellow Advocates,
I wish to publicly apologize for a wrong I did to Sheldon Silver last week by saying he aligned himself with Satmar in trying to kill the Markey bill. My information was unfortunately incorrect! And I say to Sheldon Silver “I am so very sorry and I humbly apologize for the wrong accusation”.
It turns out that Sheldon Silver is actually championing our cause, and he deserves our fullest support.
Please, fellow advocates, it is of utmost importance at this critical point in the battle for passage of the Markey bill to let Sheldon Silver and Marge Markey know of our support and I am personally begging you all to call : (emails are not effective; but calls get logged)
Sheldon Silver’s office: 212-312-1420 or 518-455-3791
Marge Markey’s office: 718-651-3185 or 518-455-4755
to let their staff know that each and every one of us thank these legislators for their work on our behalf and especially for Sheldon Silver’s support of the Markey bill. Besides needing our accolades, the legislators crucially need our calls to strengthen their position in their struggle to get the bill passed.
With many thanks and best regards,
Pearl Engelman,
Joel Engelman's Mother
Dear Fellow Advocates,
I wish to publicly apologize for a wrong I did to Sheldon Silver last week by saying he aligned himself with Satmar in trying to kill the Markey bill. My information was unfortunately incorrect! And I say to Sheldon Silver “I am so very sorry and I humbly apologize for the wrong accusation”.
It turns out that Sheldon Silver is actually championing our cause, and he deserves our fullest support.
Please, fellow advocates, it is of utmost importance at this critical point in the battle for passage of the Markey bill to let Sheldon Silver and Marge Markey know of our support and I am personally begging you all to call : (emails are not effective; but calls get logged)
Sheldon Silver’s office: 212-312-1420 or 518-455-3791
Marge Markey’s office: 718-651-3185 or 518-455-4755
to let their staff know that each and every one of us thank these legislators for their work on our behalf and especially for Sheldon Silver’s support of the Markey bill. Besides needing our accolades, the legislators crucially need our calls to strengthen their position in their struggle to get the bill passed.
With many thanks and best regards,
Pearl Engelman,
Joel Engelman's Mother
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Revolution On The Streets Of New York!
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:
Confronting Pedophilia: Two Views
The Markey Bill And Beyond: If The Rabbis Really Cared ...
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Lipner
Special To The Jewish Week
For years I was a proud, card-carrying member of Agudath Israel of America, a leading haredi communal organization; sadly, I have allowed my membership to lapse. But I, like many others, do not feel that I left the Agudah.
Rather the Agudah has left us.
The Agudah has come out in opposition to the Child Victims Act, known as the “Markey Bill” in the New York State Legislature (its lead sponsor is Queens Assemblywoman Marge Markey). The bill would allow victims of childhood sexual abuse recourse toward obtaining justice against their abusers by providing a one-year “window” in which to file a civil lawsuit at any age, and would extend the statute of limitations for pressing criminal charges from age 23 to 28.
Many survivors of child abuse have been waiting for years in shame, pain and agony, hoping that one day our religious leaders would hear their cries and address their plight. Survivors were just beginning to feel empowered and accepted after recent media attention and political and communal statements calling attention to their suffering.
Courageously, some survivors were able to speak out, and there were those who traveled to Albany last month to lobby for passage of the Markey bill. Orthodox Jews stood together with Catholics and Protestants, blacks and whites, to support survivors of child abuse and to ensure protection for children in the future. But we were deeply disappointed to learn, on the bus ride home, that the Agudah and Torah Umesorah, the National Association of Hebrew Day Schools, whom parents expect to promote child welfare and school safety, had come out against the bill.
One survivor of abuse from 29 years ago, a friend of mine, wondered aloud: “Does it take a situation where the children or grandchildren of the religious leadership are molested before they will finally start doing the right thing?”
The Agudah is concerned with yeshivas and other institutions becoming financially insolvent due to lawsuits, should Markey pass. But the only lawsuits that could possibly win are those against yeshivas that knowingly harbored molesters, not the vast majority of innocent institutions. Are we to believe that yeshivas that would enable the abuse of innocent Jewish children are, in the words of the Agudah and Torah Umersorah, the “lifeblood of our community?”
On the one hand, the Markey bill is not necessarily an absolute litmus test of whether the rabbis care or not about victims of sexual abuse. But the fact is that Agudah’s denunciation of the Child Victims Act marks the first time that the current gedolim (Torah sages) have acknowledged the problem of sexual abuse — and then only to focus on the institutions they are afraid will be financially hurt by it. As I have heard repeatedly from those who have suffered, this leads survivors of abuse to feel that the rabbis care more about the financial safety of their institutions than the physical, emotional and spiritual safety of the children.
Survivors of abuse wonder why the rabbis remained silent for so many years about this issue. Yated Neeman, the primary haredi newspaper, reported recently that the leading rabbis have been meeting to discuss the problem for at least five years. So why is it only now that they publicly admit that molestation exists in their community? And where is the apology to the victims for not protecting them all this time, for not believing them and for silencing their voices?
Why have these rabbinic leaders not openly endorsed the position paper of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children (www.jewishadvoctes.org), which calls for mandated reporting of suspicion of abuse by rabbis and teachers in yeshivas; mandated fingerprinting and background checks of all employees in yeshivas; mandated safety plans with full transparency and written instructions to parents; and mandated firing and punishment of employees for any sexual or physical abuse?
These actions should have begun already — voluntarily — even before legislation is enacted. It is a chilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name) that our yeshivas would need the government to legislate and enforce the fundamentals of our Torah. Enforcement of these values, which conform to halacha, would be easy enough for our leaders. Any school that does not provide for the safety of our children should be deemed as outside of Orthodoxy, as would be a school that sponsored a Tisha b’Av dance party or Yom Kippur banquet.
Surely if a school was found to be distributing treif lollipops it would soon be forced to shut its doors.
Why have the gedolim not yet signed a proclamation stating that both victims and witnesses of abuse must go to the police, as some rabbinic authorities have stated? Why have they fostered the misperception that it is forbidden to do so because of mesirah (the prohibition of reporting Jews to non-Jewish authorities)? Why do they not also clarify to the uninformed that sexual abuse is a sin and a crime whether there is sexual penetration or not — that it includes such mistreatment as fondling, coercing a child to touch an adult sexually, exhibitionism, voyeurism and even inappropriate sexual speech to a child?
If the rabbinic leaders are too afraid of damaging their own institutions to support the Markey bill, let them implement the above suggestions. That surely would go a long way toward reaching out to survivors and promoting healing and teshuva in our community.
Asher Lipner is vice president of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children and works as a therapist with survivors of abuse and their families.
*
Bill’s ‘Window’ Unfair, Yet More Must Be Done
Rabbi David Zwiebel
Special To The Jewish Week
As reported in these pages one week ago, a small group of protesters picketed this year’s annual dinner of Agudath Israel of America to show their displeasure with Agudath Israel’s opposition to the “Markey bill” — legislation pending in Albany that would, among other things, suspend for one year the statute of limitations in New York for any civil claims based on allegations of childhood sexual abuse.
The picketers handed out a one-page color flier bearing the logo of Agudath Israel, with the header “A message from Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice President, Agudath Israel of America.” At the conclusion of the message appeared a photograph of said executive vice president — me — followed by the tagline: “Agudas Yisroel: Our children are our future.”
The purported message itself was quite an eye-opener. It described Agudath Israel’s opposition to the Markey bill as having been motivated by personal concern regarding potential legal claims the bill would allow to be brought against Agudath Israel itself and the yeshivot headed by the organization’s senior rabbinic leadership. It claimed, in classic first-person confessional prose, that “I have been ordered to work tirelessly with our partner in this holy mission, the Catholic Conference of New York State, to oppose this legislation. ... My job is to follow orders and I am obligated to obey ... or lose my job.”
As readers may have guessed, the message was fabricated. I never wrote it. It was materially false.
It was a cheap shmatte! (rag).
And yet, in a certain sense, it was a welcome contribution.
Sexual abuse of children is an unspeakably terrible thing. And, to our great pain and chagrin, we in the Orthodox Jewish community have discovered over recent years that it is also apparently a far more common thing than any of us had ever imagined. Whether, as some claim, the problem is even greater in Orthodox circles than in broader society, whether it is just as bad or whether it is less prevalent, the bottom line is by now clear and undeniable: significant numbers of children growing up in Orthodox homes and attending Orthodox institutions are victims of sexual abuse.
It is also by now clear and undeniable that the scars left by such abuse are often deep and permanent, affecting victims’ social and emotional development, undermining their religious identification and observance, even leading to acts of self-destruction.
Once we could say we didn’t know. Now we know. And part of the reason we know is that victims and their advocates — like those who picketed our dinner — have made their voices heard. As I told a Jewish Week reporter last week, these people have a special claim on our attention and conscience.
But their brash indictment of our organizations and rabbinic leaders is both misguided and offensive.
As it became apparent that the problem of childhood sexual abuse in Orthodox circles was a serious one — both in scope and in severity — responsible rabbinic leaders began to assess and address the situation. With little fanfare, away from the media limelight, the Vaad Roshei Yeshiva (senior yeshiva deans) of Torah Umesorah – The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, and the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudath Israel, convened many meetings to discuss the problem and develop meaningful responses. This led, six years ago, to the publication by Torah Umesorah (with a strong assist from the professionals at Ohel) of internal school guidelines for preventing and dealing with abuse, including reporting to civil authorities when appropriate. Workshops on the topic are a regular feature of Torah Umesorah conventions.
Agudath Israel, similarly, has developed guidelines for Jewish summer camps, as well as for its year-round extracurricular youth programs.
The organizations have encouraged schools and camps to urge their parent bodies to talk to their children about inappropriate touch. They have encouraged institutions to perform background checks on all prospective employees, including a criminal records check, and have supported laws authorizing non-public schools to screen prospective employees through a state fingerprint checking system.
On the rabbinic front, halachic responsa have been published addressing the question of reporting cases of suspected abuse to the secular authorities. Special Jewish courts have been established in several Orthodox communities across the country to deal with allegations of abuse.
But yes, despite all this — and despite recognizing that yet additional steps need to be considered — Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah oppose the Markey bill.
More precisely, we oppose one specific aspect of the Markey bill. As our organizations’ joint statement makes clear, we would not object to legislation designed to give victims greater recourse against their abusers. Our concern is with the bill’s potentially crippling real-world impact on Jewish schools, camps and synagogues — institutions that are the very lifeblood of our community — and their hard-pressed parent bodies and supporters who have no connection whatsoever to decades-old claims of abuse.
One can still maintain that, even so, it makes sense to suspend the statute of limitations for civil suits against institutions. Reasonable people can debate the issue. But opposition to the Markey bill’s “window” does not bespeak, as has been repeatedly and angrily charged by some of the bill’s proponents, lack of concern, God forbid, for victims.
No one at Agudath Israel or Torah Umesorah has ever insinuated that proponents of the bill don’t care about Jewish schools. We know that the bill’s proponents are well-meaning even if, in our view, they are not adequately weighing all the factors. We only wish they would extend to those of us who oppose the bill similar courtesy — or at least the courtesy of not disseminating fabricated “statements” designed to cast us and our community’s most revered rabbinic leaders in a poor light.
The picketers, though, are right. Our children are our future. They — and the schools that play such a central role in their Jewish development — are the most precious resources the Jewish community possesses. They deserve, both of them, our care and protection.
The Agudath Israel will give a free snuggie to any child that can prove that he was molested in a yeshiva, that's how much we really care -- and we'll throw in a free snuggie-slipper socks if you were molested twice! (*shipping & handling $100 - tax deductible checks to Novominsker Yeshiva*)
Rabbi David Zwiebel is executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America.
*
As usual, Steve gets it exactly right!
Zwiebel and the Agudah have been very consistent in the past 5-6 years in their approach to this problem. Despite what they want you to believe, they have come out against every piece of proposed legislation that would have given any sense of protection to our children.
They came out against mandatory reporting in 2005 when Zwiebel himself was quoted as saying that "this bill would take away the power of the rabbis to do their own investigating."
They opposed mandatory fingerprinting and background checks (although they now claim that they will not fight it). Now they are "vigorously opposed" to the Child Victims Act- the Markey bill. You would think that if they were having meetings for 5-6 years on the subject, that by now our children would be safer from child molesters.
Instead, they have handed the molesters one victory after another by continuing the coverups, the muzzling of the victims and the lack of any safety guidelines. This is how they have been "dealing" with the issue.
When he says that they "encouraged" institutions to do background checks, he knows very well that it is toothless and meaningless. None of the yeshivos will voluntarily fingerprint their employees and perform background checks. The RCA put out guidelines in 2003, 2005 and 2007 calling for mandatory reporting, fingerprinting, and background checks. They have also come out publicly in favor of the Markey bill? What has the Agudah done other than to thwart all of these efforts?
The Markey bill is the ONLY way that we are going to be able to expose these child molesters.
Those that were victimized and are past the SOL have no recourse at this point. What are they supposed to do, shout from the rooftops? If they go to Dov Hikind, he will only open a new file and keep the molester's name confidential. They can't go to the DA since it is past the SOL (even in new cases Hynes will make sure the perp is not prosecuted if he is well "connected"). If they try to convene a bais din, they will be laughed out of the community if not excommunicated entirely.
If they post on UOJ, they will be called liars, motzi shem ra, cowards, heretics, etc. The only recourse they have is to sue the molesters and those that wronged them in the past. Only those lawsuits that have credibility will see the light of day. In California, they were able to expose over three hundred sexual predators when they passed a similar bill.
We need to ignore these liars and hypocrites at the Agudah and work to pass this legislation in Albany immediately. We have no more time to waste bickering with these enablers.
R' Steve - Honorary Doctorate Of Truth - UOJ University!
Confronting Pedophilia: Two Views
The Markey Bill And Beyond: If The Rabbis Really Cared ...
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Lipner
Special To The Jewish Week
For years I was a proud, card-carrying member of Agudath Israel of America, a leading haredi communal organization; sadly, I have allowed my membership to lapse. But I, like many others, do not feel that I left the Agudah.
Rather the Agudah has left us.
The Agudah has come out in opposition to the Child Victims Act, known as the “Markey Bill” in the New York State Legislature (its lead sponsor is Queens Assemblywoman Marge Markey). The bill would allow victims of childhood sexual abuse recourse toward obtaining justice against their abusers by providing a one-year “window” in which to file a civil lawsuit at any age, and would extend the statute of limitations for pressing criminal charges from age 23 to 28.
Many survivors of child abuse have been waiting for years in shame, pain and agony, hoping that one day our religious leaders would hear their cries and address their plight. Survivors were just beginning to feel empowered and accepted after recent media attention and political and communal statements calling attention to their suffering.
Courageously, some survivors were able to speak out, and there were those who traveled to Albany last month to lobby for passage of the Markey bill. Orthodox Jews stood together with Catholics and Protestants, blacks and whites, to support survivors of child abuse and to ensure protection for children in the future. But we were deeply disappointed to learn, on the bus ride home, that the Agudah and Torah Umesorah, the National Association of Hebrew Day Schools, whom parents expect to promote child welfare and school safety, had come out against the bill.
One survivor of abuse from 29 years ago, a friend of mine, wondered aloud: “Does it take a situation where the children or grandchildren of the religious leadership are molested before they will finally start doing the right thing?”
The Agudah is concerned with yeshivas and other institutions becoming financially insolvent due to lawsuits, should Markey pass. But the only lawsuits that could possibly win are those against yeshivas that knowingly harbored molesters, not the vast majority of innocent institutions. Are we to believe that yeshivas that would enable the abuse of innocent Jewish children are, in the words of the Agudah and Torah Umersorah, the “lifeblood of our community?”
On the one hand, the Markey bill is not necessarily an absolute litmus test of whether the rabbis care or not about victims of sexual abuse. But the fact is that Agudah’s denunciation of the Child Victims Act marks the first time that the current gedolim (Torah sages) have acknowledged the problem of sexual abuse — and then only to focus on the institutions they are afraid will be financially hurt by it. As I have heard repeatedly from those who have suffered, this leads survivors of abuse to feel that the rabbis care more about the financial safety of their institutions than the physical, emotional and spiritual safety of the children.
Survivors of abuse wonder why the rabbis remained silent for so many years about this issue. Yated Neeman, the primary haredi newspaper, reported recently that the leading rabbis have been meeting to discuss the problem for at least five years. So why is it only now that they publicly admit that molestation exists in their community? And where is the apology to the victims for not protecting them all this time, for not believing them and for silencing their voices?
Why have these rabbinic leaders not openly endorsed the position paper of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children (www.jewishadvoctes.org), which calls for mandated reporting of suspicion of abuse by rabbis and teachers in yeshivas; mandated fingerprinting and background checks of all employees in yeshivas; mandated safety plans with full transparency and written instructions to parents; and mandated firing and punishment of employees for any sexual or physical abuse?
These actions should have begun already — voluntarily — even before legislation is enacted. It is a chilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name) that our yeshivas would need the government to legislate and enforce the fundamentals of our Torah. Enforcement of these values, which conform to halacha, would be easy enough for our leaders. Any school that does not provide for the safety of our children should be deemed as outside of Orthodoxy, as would be a school that sponsored a Tisha b’Av dance party or Yom Kippur banquet.
Surely if a school was found to be distributing treif lollipops it would soon be forced to shut its doors.
Why have the gedolim not yet signed a proclamation stating that both victims and witnesses of abuse must go to the police, as some rabbinic authorities have stated? Why have they fostered the misperception that it is forbidden to do so because of mesirah (the prohibition of reporting Jews to non-Jewish authorities)? Why do they not also clarify to the uninformed that sexual abuse is a sin and a crime whether there is sexual penetration or not — that it includes such mistreatment as fondling, coercing a child to touch an adult sexually, exhibitionism, voyeurism and even inappropriate sexual speech to a child?
If the rabbinic leaders are too afraid of damaging their own institutions to support the Markey bill, let them implement the above suggestions. That surely would go a long way toward reaching out to survivors and promoting healing and teshuva in our community.
Asher Lipner is vice president of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children and works as a therapist with survivors of abuse and their families.
*
Bill’s ‘Window’ Unfair, Yet More Must Be Done
Rabbi David Zwiebel
Special To The Jewish Week
As reported in these pages one week ago, a small group of protesters picketed this year’s annual dinner of Agudath Israel of America to show their displeasure with Agudath Israel’s opposition to the “Markey bill” — legislation pending in Albany that would, among other things, suspend for one year the statute of limitations in New York for any civil claims based on allegations of childhood sexual abuse.
The picketers handed out a one-page color flier bearing the logo of Agudath Israel, with the header “A message from Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Executive Vice President, Agudath Israel of America.” At the conclusion of the message appeared a photograph of said executive vice president — me — followed by the tagline: “Agudas Yisroel: Our children are our future.”
The purported message itself was quite an eye-opener. It described Agudath Israel’s opposition to the Markey bill as having been motivated by personal concern regarding potential legal claims the bill would allow to be brought against Agudath Israel itself and the yeshivot headed by the organization’s senior rabbinic leadership. It claimed, in classic first-person confessional prose, that “I have been ordered to work tirelessly with our partner in this holy mission, the Catholic Conference of New York State, to oppose this legislation. ... My job is to follow orders and I am obligated to obey ... or lose my job.”
As readers may have guessed, the message was fabricated. I never wrote it. It was materially false.
It was a cheap shmatte! (rag).
And yet, in a certain sense, it was a welcome contribution.
Sexual abuse of children is an unspeakably terrible thing. And, to our great pain and chagrin, we in the Orthodox Jewish community have discovered over recent years that it is also apparently a far more common thing than any of us had ever imagined. Whether, as some claim, the problem is even greater in Orthodox circles than in broader society, whether it is just as bad or whether it is less prevalent, the bottom line is by now clear and undeniable: significant numbers of children growing up in Orthodox homes and attending Orthodox institutions are victims of sexual abuse.
It is also by now clear and undeniable that the scars left by such abuse are often deep and permanent, affecting victims’ social and emotional development, undermining their religious identification and observance, even leading to acts of self-destruction.
Once we could say we didn’t know. Now we know. And part of the reason we know is that victims and their advocates — like those who picketed our dinner — have made their voices heard. As I told a Jewish Week reporter last week, these people have a special claim on our attention and conscience.
But their brash indictment of our organizations and rabbinic leaders is both misguided and offensive.
As it became apparent that the problem of childhood sexual abuse in Orthodox circles was a serious one — both in scope and in severity — responsible rabbinic leaders began to assess and address the situation. With little fanfare, away from the media limelight, the Vaad Roshei Yeshiva (senior yeshiva deans) of Torah Umesorah – The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, and the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudath Israel, convened many meetings to discuss the problem and develop meaningful responses. This led, six years ago, to the publication by Torah Umesorah (with a strong assist from the professionals at Ohel) of internal school guidelines for preventing and dealing with abuse, including reporting to civil authorities when appropriate. Workshops on the topic are a regular feature of Torah Umesorah conventions.
Agudath Israel, similarly, has developed guidelines for Jewish summer camps, as well as for its year-round extracurricular youth programs.
The organizations have encouraged schools and camps to urge their parent bodies to talk to their children about inappropriate touch. They have encouraged institutions to perform background checks on all prospective employees, including a criminal records check, and have supported laws authorizing non-public schools to screen prospective employees through a state fingerprint checking system.
On the rabbinic front, halachic responsa have been published addressing the question of reporting cases of suspected abuse to the secular authorities. Special Jewish courts have been established in several Orthodox communities across the country to deal with allegations of abuse.
But yes, despite all this — and despite recognizing that yet additional steps need to be considered — Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah oppose the Markey bill.
More precisely, we oppose one specific aspect of the Markey bill. As our organizations’ joint statement makes clear, we would not object to legislation designed to give victims greater recourse against their abusers. Our concern is with the bill’s potentially crippling real-world impact on Jewish schools, camps and synagogues — institutions that are the very lifeblood of our community — and their hard-pressed parent bodies and supporters who have no connection whatsoever to decades-old claims of abuse.
One can still maintain that, even so, it makes sense to suspend the statute of limitations for civil suits against institutions. Reasonable people can debate the issue. But opposition to the Markey bill’s “window” does not bespeak, as has been repeatedly and angrily charged by some of the bill’s proponents, lack of concern, God forbid, for victims.
No one at Agudath Israel or Torah Umesorah has ever insinuated that proponents of the bill don’t care about Jewish schools. We know that the bill’s proponents are well-meaning even if, in our view, they are not adequately weighing all the factors. We only wish they would extend to those of us who oppose the bill similar courtesy — or at least the courtesy of not disseminating fabricated “statements” designed to cast us and our community’s most revered rabbinic leaders in a poor light.
The picketers, though, are right. Our children are our future. They — and the schools that play such a central role in their Jewish development — are the most precious resources the Jewish community possesses. They deserve, both of them, our care and protection.
The Agudath Israel will give a free snuggie to any child that can prove that he was molested in a yeshiva, that's how much we really care -- and we'll throw in a free snuggie-slipper socks if you were molested twice! (*shipping & handling $100 - tax deductible checks to Novominsker Yeshiva*)
Rabbi David Zwiebel is executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America.
*
As usual, Steve gets it exactly right!
Zwiebel and the Agudah have been very consistent in the past 5-6 years in their approach to this problem. Despite what they want you to believe, they have come out against every piece of proposed legislation that would have given any sense of protection to our children.
They came out against mandatory reporting in 2005 when Zwiebel himself was quoted as saying that "this bill would take away the power of the rabbis to do their own investigating."
They opposed mandatory fingerprinting and background checks (although they now claim that they will not fight it). Now they are "vigorously opposed" to the Child Victims Act- the Markey bill. You would think that if they were having meetings for 5-6 years on the subject, that by now our children would be safer from child molesters.
Instead, they have handed the molesters one victory after another by continuing the coverups, the muzzling of the victims and the lack of any safety guidelines. This is how they have been "dealing" with the issue.
When he says that they "encouraged" institutions to do background checks, he knows very well that it is toothless and meaningless. None of the yeshivos will voluntarily fingerprint their employees and perform background checks. The RCA put out guidelines in 2003, 2005 and 2007 calling for mandatory reporting, fingerprinting, and background checks. They have also come out publicly in favor of the Markey bill? What has the Agudah done other than to thwart all of these efforts?
The Markey bill is the ONLY way that we are going to be able to expose these child molesters.
Those that were victimized and are past the SOL have no recourse at this point. What are they supposed to do, shout from the rooftops? If they go to Dov Hikind, he will only open a new file and keep the molester's name confidential. They can't go to the DA since it is past the SOL (even in new cases Hynes will make sure the perp is not prosecuted if he is well "connected"). If they try to convene a bais din, they will be laughed out of the community if not excommunicated entirely.
If they post on UOJ, they will be called liars, motzi shem ra, cowards, heretics, etc. The only recourse they have is to sue the molesters and those that wronged them in the past. Only those lawsuits that have credibility will see the light of day. In California, they were able to expose over three hundred sexual predators when they passed a similar bill.
We need to ignore these liars and hypocrites at the Agudah and work to pass this legislation in Albany immediately. We have no more time to waste bickering with these enablers.
R' Steve - Honorary Doctorate Of Truth - UOJ University!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The Funeral At The New York Hilton - May 17, 2009
When Yudi Kolko got arrested, believe it or not, I broke down with emotion. Tears welled up in my eyes. I felt bad for us Jews, especially Jewish children who have been tortured by the likes of him, Lipa Margulies, Yisroel Belsky and the entire Agudath Israel.
Children, whose only crime was being in a yeshiva or in an Orthodox Jewish summer camp like Camp Agudah. Children whose emotional well-being was crippled for life, and were cast aside like trash on the filthy streets of Brooklyn. Their families were threatened if they "spoke up", or if they sought redress at the local police station. "Whispers" of a "nebach" child would spread around the community like a flu-like virus, destined to destroy the families that were not "immunized" by money and protectsia.
And a great job these scumbags did indeed.
Families destroyed, children going off to worlds they hoped would ease their pain and shame. Suicides, drug overdoses, alcoholism....and anything that would distract them from their miseries; heaped upon these innocent souls by our rabbis, gedolim, community leaders, bastard organizations like the Agudath Israel, and shamefully what has become Torah Umesorah.
So when the dumb-ass ignoramus, Yaakov Perlow, got up to speak at the Agudath Israel dinner last Sunday, after I was informed of his opening lines, I again broke down with emotion -- for us!
Is this the best we've got? Is there no shame left among the Jews? Do we dare permit ourselves to have this charlatan "divine" his words on the Jewish community. In front of a roomful of obvious peasants, he spouts out his words of such idiocy, that the Heavens had to break down and weep.
Every person sitting in that room in the Hilton that did not walk out, is an accomplice to this madman's agenda. Trample on the truth when it suits you, at any expense.
My third grade rebbe was correct; two of the things that separate us from dogs are; humans have no loyalty, and dogs relieve their waste wherever they feel like it.
Children, whose only crime was being in a yeshiva or in an Orthodox Jewish summer camp like Camp Agudah. Children whose emotional well-being was crippled for life, and were cast aside like trash on the filthy streets of Brooklyn. Their families were threatened if they "spoke up", or if they sought redress at the local police station. "Whispers" of a "nebach" child would spread around the community like a flu-like virus, destined to destroy the families that were not "immunized" by money and protectsia.
And a great job these scumbags did indeed.
Families destroyed, children going off to worlds they hoped would ease their pain and shame. Suicides, drug overdoses, alcoholism....and anything that would distract them from their miseries; heaped upon these innocent souls by our rabbis, gedolim, community leaders, bastard organizations like the Agudath Israel, and shamefully what has become Torah Umesorah.
So when the dumb-ass ignoramus, Yaakov Perlow, got up to speak at the Agudath Israel dinner last Sunday, after I was informed of his opening lines, I again broke down with emotion -- for us!
Is this the best we've got? Is there no shame left among the Jews? Do we dare permit ourselves to have this charlatan "divine" his words on the Jewish community. In front of a roomful of obvious peasants, he spouts out his words of such idiocy, that the Heavens had to break down and weep.
Every person sitting in that room in the Hilton that did not walk out, is an accomplice to this madman's agenda. Trample on the truth when it suits you, at any expense.
My third grade rebbe was correct; two of the things that separate us from dogs are; humans have no loyalty, and dogs relieve their waste wherever they feel like it.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Libertywept.org - It's always been about the truth!
This post will stay at the top for one week; newer posts will appear just below this one!
You know, I've devoted a lot of time to the the tragic crime of child sex-abuse in the Jewish community, and focused on the criminal and corrupt leadership who chose, and still choose, to bury these crimes under some God-forsaken religious doctrine called "daas Torah" -- nonsense that they invented to keep the truth from emerging on very serious topics, and to protect their criminal activities!
Well, another cause has presented itself to me, one affecting not only the Jewish community, but the entire country and perhaps the well-being of civilization itself.
I know and love the above author Alvan Shane as a brother, I trust his judgment and intellect, and I am proud to present to the world his new book. He never wrote a book before, but he is outraged as to what's happening to our country.
His book just arrived, self-published, and you can buy it now. The book's focal point is the event that almost took our country down on September 11, 2001. But his embellishments and descriptions of what's been happening to America during the past dozen years or so, is an eye-opener. I don't know how he was able to squeeze so much information into a relatively small book. He uses an economy of words, says exactly what he thinks -- UOJ style!
I read a lot of books, too many that are a waste of my time. Some bestsellers keep me scratching my head, asking myself -- who can read this stupidity?
Al and I go back a long way. We discuss and debate many things. At times, we agree to disagree, and save it for another day. Even when he's "absolutely wrong", his opinions and intellect gives me reason to doubt, for a fleeting moment, whether I'm really the smartest guy I know. (UOJ sense of humor)
Enough already, he'll be angry at all the praise, especially from a man like me, who thinks almost everyone I meet is an idiot! (UOJ sense of humor)
You need to all read this book, hear his arguments, grasp his tremendously insightful concepts! You owe it to yourselves to read controversial, educated opinions. The book is written beautifully, you'll be glad you made this small purchase.
Go to:libertywept.org
The book retails at amazon.com for $19.95 plus shipping, handling and packaging, but going to libertywept.org and putting in the promo code {XYK09UOJ}, you're able to purchase it for only $15.95 for a very limited time - free shipping and handling in the U.S.A. (plus tax in California only).
Most important, Al and his dear wife Barbara, created a non-profit organization called F.A.C.T., all proceeds from this book will go to this entity, to be used in an ongoing effort to investigate all suspect acts that are disguised as truths, by the U.S. government. Your purchase is tax-deductible. Now go order his book on-line at:libertywept.org
UOJ
You know, I've devoted a lot of time to the the tragic crime of child sex-abuse in the Jewish community, and focused on the criminal and corrupt leadership who chose, and still choose, to bury these crimes under some God-forsaken religious doctrine called "daas Torah" -- nonsense that they invented to keep the truth from emerging on very serious topics, and to protect their criminal activities!
Well, another cause has presented itself to me, one affecting not only the Jewish community, but the entire country and perhaps the well-being of civilization itself.
I know and love the above author Alvan Shane as a brother, I trust his judgment and intellect, and I am proud to present to the world his new book. He never wrote a book before, but he is outraged as to what's happening to our country.
His book just arrived, self-published, and you can buy it now. The book's focal point is the event that almost took our country down on September 11, 2001. But his embellishments and descriptions of what's been happening to America during the past dozen years or so, is an eye-opener. I don't know how he was able to squeeze so much information into a relatively small book. He uses an economy of words, says exactly what he thinks -- UOJ style!
I read a lot of books, too many that are a waste of my time. Some bestsellers keep me scratching my head, asking myself -- who can read this stupidity?
Al and I go back a long way. We discuss and debate many things. At times, we agree to disagree, and save it for another day. Even when he's "absolutely wrong", his opinions and intellect gives me reason to doubt, for a fleeting moment, whether I'm really the smartest guy I know. (UOJ sense of humor)
Enough already, he'll be angry at all the praise, especially from a man like me, who thinks almost everyone I meet is an idiot! (UOJ sense of humor)
You need to all read this book, hear his arguments, grasp his tremendously insightful concepts! You owe it to yourselves to read controversial, educated opinions. The book is written beautifully, you'll be glad you made this small purchase.
Go to:libertywept.org
The book retails at amazon.com for $19.95 plus shipping, handling and packaging, but going to libertywept.org and putting in the promo code {XYK09UOJ}, you're able to purchase it for only $15.95 for a very limited time - free shipping and handling in the U.S.A. (plus tax in California only).
Most important, Al and his dear wife Barbara, created a non-profit organization called F.A.C.T., all proceeds from this book will go to this entity, to be used in an ongoing effort to investigate all suspect acts that are disguised as truths, by the U.S. government. Your purchase is tax-deductible. Now go order his book on-line at:libertywept.org
UOJ
A group of fifty parents from ten schools in New York sent this letter to eight Senators.
Dear Honorable Senator,
Pastor Martin Niemoller, wrote the famous poem, First They Came. He described the apathy people had towards the plight of those afflicted during the Second World War. The point was to teach a stark lesson, if you sit idly by while your neighbor suffers, you will be left to fend for yourself with no one to protest when you are suffering.
For too long our children in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools have been victims of the insidious crime of sexual molestation. Those individuals and families who protested the abominable behaviors were blacklisted, threatened, and ridiculed. All attempts at working things through internal measures failed. The rabbis forbade any legal involvement to protect our children. Our children are on drugs and committing suicide as a result of the violations made against them.
We cannot remain apathetic to the plight of our children. The Markey/Duane bill opening a window through which the victims can achieve a small amount of justice, is the least we can do for our children. Orthodox Jewish schools which supervised their staff, took an interest in each student’s safety, and made school a place of security have nothing to lose. Those schools that willfully neglected their fiduciary trust of providing a safe and nurturing environment, don’t deserve the title Orthodox Jewish Day School and must be closed down.
Society is judged by its weakest link. Orthodox Jewry’s weakest link is the protection of our youth. We need your help passing laws to keep our children safe. Most of Orthodox Jewry (besides for Agudath Israel) fully supports this valuable piece of legislation.
Yours Truly,
Pastor Martin Niemoller, wrote the famous poem, First They Came. He described the apathy people had towards the plight of those afflicted during the Second World War. The point was to teach a stark lesson, if you sit idly by while your neighbor suffers, you will be left to fend for yourself with no one to protest when you are suffering.
For too long our children in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools have been victims of the insidious crime of sexual molestation. Those individuals and families who protested the abominable behaviors were blacklisted, threatened, and ridiculed. All attempts at working things through internal measures failed. The rabbis forbade any legal involvement to protect our children. Our children are on drugs and committing suicide as a result of the violations made against them.
We cannot remain apathetic to the plight of our children. The Markey/Duane bill opening a window through which the victims can achieve a small amount of justice, is the least we can do for our children. Orthodox Jewish schools which supervised their staff, took an interest in each student’s safety, and made school a place of security have nothing to lose. Those schools that willfully neglected their fiduciary trust of providing a safe and nurturing environment, don’t deserve the title Orthodox Jewish Day School and must be closed down.
Society is judged by its weakest link. Orthodox Jewry’s weakest link is the protection of our youth. We need your help passing laws to keep our children safe. Most of Orthodox Jewry (besides for Agudath Israel) fully supports this valuable piece of legislation.
Yours Truly,
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
OHEL TURNS 'EM LOOSE TO PREY ON CHILDREN!
For anyone who may have wondered whether Ohel Children's Home and Family Services might really be in the business of helping our community, read the Jewish Week article by Hella Winston on the shameful case of Stefan Colmer ("A Suspected Pedophile Eludes the System" - thejewishweek.com) to get a taste of the truth.
Read there how Colmer was treated in Ohel's offenders' program long before he allegedly abused kids from in and around the Mir Yeshiva.
Read how he pulled out of the program on his own -- my sources say because he was getting married and didn't want his wife to know the truth -- and went about his "business." And read how when Colmer did this, Ohel did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Ohel didn't monitor his actions.
Ohel didn't ask where he was spending his time.
Ohel didn't take any steps to ensure he wasn't around children.
Ohel didn't warn anyone at the Mir, or anywhere else, that it might be a problem to have Colmer inviting young boys, alone, to his home.
And Ohel didn't contact the REAL authorities.
This is the first time we've ever got to see the inside of that shadowy "offenders' program" Ohel ran for years, supposedly in close cooperation with the Brooklyn D.A. This is our first sample of the way the system worked. And how did it work?
According to the indictment, Colmer sexually abused AT LEAST TWO OTHER YOUNG BOYS ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS AFTER OHEL CUT HIM LOOSE! -- that's how! WHILE OHEL SAT ON ITS HANDS AND STAYED SILENT. Actually, my sources say there were plenty of other boys, too. Unfortunately, they were talked out of coming forward to police.(Surprise!)
So here's what happened:
Ohel knew it had an offender. It let the offender walk away with no police report. And did nothing -- NOTHING! Not an act, not a word, not a hint! And now, according to the D.A.'s indictment, innocent lives have been shattered because of that inaction. Do you believe, after this, that the holy alliance of Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes and Ohel -- the same pair that gave us the Colmer case -- is going to protect our children as part of Kol Tzedek? And this, my friends, is just the beginning.
Michael Lesher (who is quoted in the new article) played a major role in bringing Colmer to justice. But Michael has a lot more to say about Hynes, Ohel and Ohel's rabbi, Dovid Cohen. The Colmer case doesn't stand alone! You can (and should) read all about it in Michael's two chapters in a new book, Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals (Brandeis University Press, 2009), edited by Amy Neustein. (The book is just out and can be bought or ordered from Barnes & Noble.) You can read there about other cases that "eluded the system." Or rather, exemplified the "system." Because the truth is, these people are not about solving the problem........ They're about covering it up!
Read there how Colmer was treated in Ohel's offenders' program long before he allegedly abused kids from in and around the Mir Yeshiva.
Read how he pulled out of the program on his own -- my sources say because he was getting married and didn't want his wife to know the truth -- and went about his "business." And read how when Colmer did this, Ohel did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Ohel didn't monitor his actions.
Ohel didn't ask where he was spending his time.
Ohel didn't take any steps to ensure he wasn't around children.
Ohel didn't warn anyone at the Mir, or anywhere else, that it might be a problem to have Colmer inviting young boys, alone, to his home.
And Ohel didn't contact the REAL authorities.
This is the first time we've ever got to see the inside of that shadowy "offenders' program" Ohel ran for years, supposedly in close cooperation with the Brooklyn D.A. This is our first sample of the way the system worked. And how did it work?
According to the indictment, Colmer sexually abused AT LEAST TWO OTHER YOUNG BOYS ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS AFTER OHEL CUT HIM LOOSE! -- that's how! WHILE OHEL SAT ON ITS HANDS AND STAYED SILENT. Actually, my sources say there were plenty of other boys, too. Unfortunately, they were talked out of coming forward to police.(Surprise!)
So here's what happened:
Ohel knew it had an offender. It let the offender walk away with no police report. And did nothing -- NOTHING! Not an act, not a word, not a hint! And now, according to the D.A.'s indictment, innocent lives have been shattered because of that inaction. Do you believe, after this, that the holy alliance of Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes and Ohel -- the same pair that gave us the Colmer case -- is going to protect our children as part of Kol Tzedek? And this, my friends, is just the beginning.
Michael Lesher (who is quoted in the new article) played a major role in bringing Colmer to justice. But Michael has a lot more to say about Hynes, Ohel and Ohel's rabbi, Dovid Cohen. The Colmer case doesn't stand alone! You can (and should) read all about it in Michael's two chapters in a new book, Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals (Brandeis University Press, 2009), edited by Amy Neustein. (The book is just out and can be bought or ordered from Barnes & Noble.) You can read there about other cases that "eluded the system." Or rather, exemplified the "system." Because the truth is, these people are not about solving the problem........ They're about covering it up!
Monday, May 04, 2009
Tough Problems Require A Sustainable Solution!
The truth is, that it is more about the masses getting stronger, wiser, and angrier, then it is about taking the Agudah down. They are doing a better job taking themselves down than I could possibly take credit for.
And the only reason we're getting them to acknowledge the huge problem of child sex-abuse, is because of the Information Highway.
If there would still be the Yated and Hamodia only, even the Jewish Drek, there would be no acknowledgment at all.
So we're not fooled, at the least, I'm not.
I'm in a unique position to know what makes these guys tick, and be an outsider.
Whatever the motivations of Rabbi Horowitz are regarding the Markey Bill, the Insider that he really is, blindsided him. And I do not say that as necessarily a negative; he has a long and successful record of accomplishments and has made a dent in getting this problem out in the open.
What I am saying is; that he can't possibly understand that his aligning himself with the anti-Markey proponents, negates, in the eyes of sex-abuse survivors and their families, a genuine life-long hurt that does not go away with a Rebbe's bracha, or interpretation of some rosh yeshiva's "daas Torah."
So while I'm certain that he is a very sensitive and caring individual, by cozying- up with the anti-Markey people, he demonstrated, at least to me, that his "caring" is limited. And that's where the Insider that he is, hurt him in the eyes of the masses.
It is my perception of that "additional" lack of sensitivity to all the people in the past that were hurt so very badly, that has caused my discomfort with his decision to go anti-Markey! You can't write off ruined lives, suicides, crippled dreams and a complete lack of caring by leaders, with an article in The Jewish Press. The rabbis that were in a position to fix this chronic, tragic problem, knew, and did everything they could to intimidate the victims and empower the criminals.
UOJ
Click On Image To Enlarge:
And the only reason we're getting them to acknowledge the huge problem of child sex-abuse, is because of the Information Highway.
If there would still be the Yated and Hamodia only, even the Jewish Drek, there would be no acknowledgment at all.
So we're not fooled, at the least, I'm not.
I'm in a unique position to know what makes these guys tick, and be an outsider.
Whatever the motivations of Rabbi Horowitz are regarding the Markey Bill, the Insider that he really is, blindsided him. And I do not say that as necessarily a negative; he has a long and successful record of accomplishments and has made a dent in getting this problem out in the open.
What I am saying is; that he can't possibly understand that his aligning himself with the anti-Markey proponents, negates, in the eyes of sex-abuse survivors and their families, a genuine life-long hurt that does not go away with a Rebbe's bracha, or interpretation of some rosh yeshiva's "daas Torah."
So while I'm certain that he is a very sensitive and caring individual, by cozying- up with the anti-Markey people, he demonstrated, at least to me, that his "caring" is limited. And that's where the Insider that he is, hurt him in the eyes of the masses.
It is my perception of that "additional" lack of sensitivity to all the people in the past that were hurt so very badly, that has caused my discomfort with his decision to go anti-Markey! You can't write off ruined lives, suicides, crippled dreams and a complete lack of caring by leaders, with an article in The Jewish Press. The rabbis that were in a position to fix this chronic, tragic problem, knew, and did everything they could to intimidate the victims and empower the criminals.
UOJ
Click On Image To Enlarge:
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Jewish Board Of Advocates Statement
Thanks Steve.
THE JBAC RESPONDS:
In response to the Agudah’s unfortunate position:
We can clearly see without a shadow of a doubt the fear running through the veins of the executive membership of the AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA AND TORAH UMESORAH - THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HEBREW DAY SCHOOLS. WE had an amazing lobby day in Albany, and we can state without a shadow of a doubt that we had a very positive reception and response.
It was truly history in the making, a day that one could only hope for and yet with the help of the Almighty has finally come to fruition. We were a diverse group of ALL religions, ALL backgrounds, All organizations, ALL groups, ALL stories, ALL there for the same reason and the same cause standing in unison behind Assemblywoman Margaret Markey and Senator Thomas Duane for one full hour at a press conference, and then breaking up into individual groups for the rest of the day walking through the Assembly and the Capital speaking to OUR state representatives face to face; human beings one to another speaking truth and honesty crossing ALL barriers of race, religion, bias, bigotry, class, finance, etc. Chasidim and misnagdim stood side by side with gentiles male and female, children, parents and grandparents; clergy and laymen. The playing field was leveled. We were all there for the same cause, either as victims, family of victims or advocates for victims and children.
We relayed certain information that they were previously unaware of and quite shocked to learn such as the non-public school system has no laws governing them as far as child safety is concerned. No mandatory finger-printing and background checks of staff, no teacher licensing, no mandatory reporting system on abuse or molestation. As the well known joke (unfortunate not funny) goes “if you’re a pedophile YOUR safe in our system”. Mrs. Engelman made a point of informing our legislatures that every male teacher that is charged with teaching Torah or religious subjects is referred to as Rabbi and it does not mean that they have studied in rabbinical seminary nor has received rabbinical ordination. So just because they bear the title it does not mean they deserve the title nor the respect and honor that goes with it.
It was truly a Kidush Hashem standing on the same platform with Rabbi Nochum Rosenberg and Rabbi Gershon Tanenbaum, the Director of the Igud Harabonim of America, author of the “My Machberes” column for the Jewish Press, along with the other Rabbonim he brought with him. Rabbi Tanenbaum’s words were inspirational to the crowd especially the victims. Joel Engelman was the first speaker after Assemblywoman Margaret Markey and Senator Thomas Duane who clearly presented their reasons behind this bill. Joel spoke about how he was victimized at the tender age of 8 years old by Rabbi Avrhohom Reichman of the United Talmudical Academy, who as he spoke is still in front of a classroom of young children, basically a field of young and vulnerable prey and still no one has taken any type of precaution to protect the children by removing him or separating him from his evil and illegal inclinations. There were at least 5 other chassidishe men standing behind the speakers who had similar stories, and another 5 who were frum and not chassidishe. There were others in the audience who were no longer Frum but used to be. This of course in addition to victims from non-Jewish backgrounds. Obviously not everyone was brave enough to stand behind the speakers to be photographed for all to see. Kudos to all for stepping forward whether in front of the cameras or behind.
Note to the Agudah that is called bravery and Kidush Hashem, they are willing to come forward to “SAVE” the lives of other Yiddish neshomas. And WE all stood there for a full hour while everyone had a turn Jew and catholic, priest, nun, alter boy, and gemarah kup who was stripped of their faith by those who should have been encouraging and promoting their unique and individual connection and relationship with their maker.
And of course our own Frum Assemblyman Dov Hikind stood side by side with us and with the authors of the bills for all to see that he stands firm in his conviction of co-sponsoring this bill and supporting the passage of same. Why else would he stand there with all of us for the press conference and the photo opportunity? What message is he sending to you the Agudath Israel of America when he stands with the victims that he took testimony from, that he cried with, that he understood their betrayal because YOU did nothing to help them and aid them; you did nothing to protect them, to believe them, to stop their abusers from continuing their reign of terror and destroying other young children.
Marci Hamilton took the floor. Marci Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair of Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a widely-regarded scholar in constitutional law. She is an expert on and advocate for the U.S. Constitution's required separation of church and state. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University in 1979 then earned a Masters degree at Pennsylvania State University and a juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. She served as a law clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Marci was very eloquent and very carefully vacated any misconceptions that the YOU the Agudah and others seem to use as a smoke screen for your positions. To paraphrase: the Markey bill is following the guidelines set forth in the open window legislation of the California and Delaware bills where no civil litigations were allowed to move forward without a “certificate of merit” from a qualified mental professional. This would absolutely disqualify your contention of “capricious litigation”. Furthermore, the “open window” bill produces extremely low numbers of false claims we repeat “proven false” claims but revealed a record breaking additional 360 previously unknown pedophiles that those states have now registered and citizens are now aware of and can protect themselves from.
There is a statistical study which revealed that every repeat offender known as a serial pedophile will in his/her lifetime commit 400 acts of abuse also appropriately referred to as violence in their lifespan. YOU, the Agudah are smart enough to run those numbers for yourselves but we can help you with that, an additional 360 x 400, that is 144,000 acts of violence against children that may be averted in the states of California and Delaware. Don’t you want to claim that you can do that for our children as well? And yet with the great Jewish population in the state of California we did not hear of even one Jewish institution that was forced to close or forced into bankruptcy due to this one year open window of opportunity. Would you care to explain that? Is it because no one sued them or because they had less Frum Jewish pedophiles than we do here? Either way it doesn’t show much cause for your position.
It is quite clear that when you speak of the “fundamental interest of our community” you speak of the “financial” interest of our community because basically that is ALL you are concerned with. No not actually you are also concerned with losing face for your organization and the Rabbinical members who themselves are “nogeah b’davar” because they are personally involved or because they are involved in the cover-up, either way a conflict of interest; absolutely not capable of making a proper or unbiased decision in this case. As you say “Our rabbinic and lay leaderships are acutely aware of the emotional trauma and damage caused by the perpetrators of such abuse.” They are aware, because they have always been aware and have chosen to do nothing, again, they are nogeah b’dovor and therefore not qualified to make an unbiased decision in this case. They should be respectfully exempt from this decision for obvious reasons and only those who have never been touched by this issue should be allowed to have a say in it.
Why is it that when Reb Elyashiv offers a psak everyone listens as if it came from Har Sinai itself, but in this case when his psak clearly states that perpetrators should be handed over to the authorities his words are ignored like poison? Had he followed his psak with “and their wives’ sheitels should be burnt”, maybe, maybe at least there would have been a bon fire. A valid question would be, did the executive members of the Agudah discuss this issue with the Gedolim of Eretz Yisroel and get some guidance from them before coming to this conclusion? Was Reb Elyashiv consulted?
Now lets look at your financial concern.
I am surprised that you do not have faith in the myriads of religious CPA’s and Attorneys who we are quite sure are already hard at work (just in case) closing old corporations and opening new ones to hide any assets that Yeshivas and other institutions have. In the event that, which is highly unlikely, anyone would actually go so far as to sue and receive an award from same, there would never be any money, any building, any asset left in the name of the institution that would have been in business at the time of the event. Come on, we are all Yiddish Kep here, we know how the game is played. It is an insult to the intelligence of the K’lal that you think we are fooled by this smoke screen. And WE also know that YOU know that 95% of all victims are not interested in monetary compensation. All they are interested in is putting their abusers out of business and making sure they never ever have access to innocent children again.
So what really is your motivation behind this?
We know, you are still protecting the pedophiles and their protectors. YOU still don’t want to come clean. You still wish to honor them and not disgrace them by allowing their names to become public. You are still more concerned with their reputation than with allowing the victims of their crimes to have the opportunity to start healing and finding some closure to their misery.
SHAME ON YOU!
If you recall back in the 1960’s Emile Zola coined the phrase J’ACCUSE against the French government in reference to the Dreyfus case. I am going to say those words to you here and now.
J’ACCUSE
For putting the honor of the Jewish religious pedophiles first and foremost before the welfare of their victims. “the burden of litigation expense or legal liability for ancient claims would fall squarely on an entirely innocent group - the current parent body”. That is a complete and utter fallacy and you are trying to misguide the public because they have total faith and trust in you as we once did. The current financial body should hire representation to absolutely REFUSE to defend the institution and the pedophiles they harbor. THEY should demand the immediate dismissal of said pedophile and any administrator who was connected to the case and absolutely forbid any tuition funds or any other funds to be used in defense of either. As stated before, the corporation at the time of abuse would no longer be current if the CPA’s and attorneys are doing their jobs for cases that happened way in the past. Cases that happened in the past 10-12 years would be covered under their insurance policies which have sexual abuse riders. So again, YOU the Agudah are trying to SCARE and frighten the Olam to fall into line behind you.
J’ACCUSE
“Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah have taken a number of concrete steps to help ensure that Jewish schools, extra-curricular youth programs and summer camps implement policies and procedures designed to protect children against such abuse. Our organizations have also supported legislative efforts to furnish such protection, including the recently enacted legislation in New York authorizing nonpublic schools to screen all prospective employees through the state's fingerprint checking system. ”
What exactly have you done and how has it helped? Yes you have supported the legislation with lip service, but what have you done to implement it, basically nothing.
J’ACCUSE
YOU who have implemented TAKANOS not suggestions, on how many guests one can invite to their own Simcha, limiting the parnasah a caterer makes, how many musicians a person can hire for their own simcha, limiting the parnasah a musician makes, but did nothing to implement the fingerprinting and background checks in all Yeshivos! YOU did not make that mandatory! You just supported the bill and allowed for those who wanted to comply. Where were the TAKANOS to prevent child abuse and molestation of our precious children?
J’ACCUSE
YOU could have saved thousands, upon thousands of young innocent neshomas but you didn’t.
J’ACCUSE
For the good things that the Agudath Israel has done for K’lal Yisroel you have neglected on a tremendously large scale the biggest responsibility any Jewish organization of such magnitude has and that is to protect our innocent neshomas!
You have a great big chelek in the pain and suffering of thousands of yiddishe kinderlach and their families for tearing their lives apart and for pushing and shoving them off the derech.
And now instead of showing them and all the children, the future of K’lal Yisroel that YOU stand for honesty and integrity, exactly what we teach and expect from our children YOU want to absolve ALL the guilty parties of their responsibility and accountability? Is this the hypocrisy that you choose to continue to role model for our children?
YOU had and still have an opportunity of teshuva and of helping to allow the healing to begin but you refuse to step up to the plate.
WE can’t force you to do the right thing; we can only ask you to. But whether you do or don’t, the bill will go forth and it will pass because every day it gains support, and with each day’s gain, those who approve and support the bill continue to garner more and more support, and it is growing like a wildfire because it is the right thing to do. Hashem will help us uncover the truth and reveal the identities of all the dangerous individuals who hide amongst us, who are not ashamed to defile our youth within the walls of mekomos kedoshim like yeshivas, mikvaot and shuls. The health and welfare of our children far outweighs the financial concerns of institutions real or imagined.
These institutions know how to protect themselves but children don’t and that is why WE have to find ways to help them, as Margaret Markey, Thomas Duane, and the fine states of California and Delaware have. So with you or without you WE know right from wrong, WE understand good from evil, WE know the good guys from the bad guys, WE know who to honor and respect and who to turn away from. Hashem has given us strict guidelines in the Sheva Mitzvos B’nei Noach. Those who cross those lines, do not deserve the honor and respect you insist on bestowing upon them. Anyone with an ounce of seichel Hashem has given them will see through your smoke screen and contact their Legislative representatives to throw their support behind this bill.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Sherree Belsky Director Kids Count Foundation (For Reference: Sherree Belsky – Maiden name Gottesman -second Generation Holocaust survivor – Auschwitz death camps; Belsky (Bielski – Bielski Brothers- Jewish partisans saved 1,200 Jews in the Russian and polish forests in the Holocaust)
Rabbi Dr. Asher Lipner Ph.D Vice President Jewish Board of Advocates for Children
Elie Hiller Jewish Educator West Orange, NJ
Mrs. Pearl Engelman Mother of Joel Engelman Brooklyn, N.Y.
*
The RCA Statement On The Markey Bill
March 20, 2009
Dear Ms. Markey:
The Rabbinical Council of America represents more than 1,000 modern and centrist orthodox rabbis. We are the rabbinic arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
We support Bill No. A.02596, sponsored by you, which would extend the civil and criminal statutes of limitations for sex abuse victims.
Child sex abuse is a horrendous crime. Victims often bear the scars for entire lifetimes. They are at higher risk for clinical depression, substance abuse, and suicide.
Many victims are overcome by feelings of confusion, shame, and embarrassment. As children and teens, they are psychologically and emotionally unable to deal with the court system. Only later, as adults, and often with therapy, do they feel comfortable in working with the judicial system. Unfortunately, arbitrary statutes of limitations stand in their way.
Jewish law and tradition recognize the need for our justice system to protect the most vulnerable among us. Lowering the statute of limitations bar for child sex abuse victims would serve that purpose. Sexual predators are often recidivists and need to be incarcerated, and classified as convicted sex offenders, in order to assure public safety. Sex abuse victims deserve to be fairly compensated for their grievous injuries. Your bill will assure these laudatory goals.
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Basil Herring
Executive Vice-President
THE JBAC RESPONDS:
In response to the Agudah’s unfortunate position:
We can clearly see without a shadow of a doubt the fear running through the veins of the executive membership of the AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA AND TORAH UMESORAH - THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HEBREW DAY SCHOOLS. WE had an amazing lobby day in Albany, and we can state without a shadow of a doubt that we had a very positive reception and response.
It was truly history in the making, a day that one could only hope for and yet with the help of the Almighty has finally come to fruition. We were a diverse group of ALL religions, ALL backgrounds, All organizations, ALL groups, ALL stories, ALL there for the same reason and the same cause standing in unison behind Assemblywoman Margaret Markey and Senator Thomas Duane for one full hour at a press conference, and then breaking up into individual groups for the rest of the day walking through the Assembly and the Capital speaking to OUR state representatives face to face; human beings one to another speaking truth and honesty crossing ALL barriers of race, religion, bias, bigotry, class, finance, etc. Chasidim and misnagdim stood side by side with gentiles male and female, children, parents and grandparents; clergy and laymen. The playing field was leveled. We were all there for the same cause, either as victims, family of victims or advocates for victims and children.
We relayed certain information that they were previously unaware of and quite shocked to learn such as the non-public school system has no laws governing them as far as child safety is concerned. No mandatory finger-printing and background checks of staff, no teacher licensing, no mandatory reporting system on abuse or molestation. As the well known joke (unfortunate not funny) goes “if you’re a pedophile YOUR safe in our system”. Mrs. Engelman made a point of informing our legislatures that every male teacher that is charged with teaching Torah or religious subjects is referred to as Rabbi and it does not mean that they have studied in rabbinical seminary nor has received rabbinical ordination. So just because they bear the title it does not mean they deserve the title nor the respect and honor that goes with it.
It was truly a Kidush Hashem standing on the same platform with Rabbi Nochum Rosenberg and Rabbi Gershon Tanenbaum, the Director of the Igud Harabonim of America, author of the “My Machberes” column for the Jewish Press, along with the other Rabbonim he brought with him. Rabbi Tanenbaum’s words were inspirational to the crowd especially the victims. Joel Engelman was the first speaker after Assemblywoman Margaret Markey and Senator Thomas Duane who clearly presented their reasons behind this bill. Joel spoke about how he was victimized at the tender age of 8 years old by Rabbi Avrhohom Reichman of the United Talmudical Academy, who as he spoke is still in front of a classroom of young children, basically a field of young and vulnerable prey and still no one has taken any type of precaution to protect the children by removing him or separating him from his evil and illegal inclinations. There were at least 5 other chassidishe men standing behind the speakers who had similar stories, and another 5 who were frum and not chassidishe. There were others in the audience who were no longer Frum but used to be. This of course in addition to victims from non-Jewish backgrounds. Obviously not everyone was brave enough to stand behind the speakers to be photographed for all to see. Kudos to all for stepping forward whether in front of the cameras or behind.
Note to the Agudah that is called bravery and Kidush Hashem, they are willing to come forward to “SAVE” the lives of other Yiddish neshomas. And WE all stood there for a full hour while everyone had a turn Jew and catholic, priest, nun, alter boy, and gemarah kup who was stripped of their faith by those who should have been encouraging and promoting their unique and individual connection and relationship with their maker.
And of course our own Frum Assemblyman Dov Hikind stood side by side with us and with the authors of the bills for all to see that he stands firm in his conviction of co-sponsoring this bill and supporting the passage of same. Why else would he stand there with all of us for the press conference and the photo opportunity? What message is he sending to you the Agudath Israel of America when he stands with the victims that he took testimony from, that he cried with, that he understood their betrayal because YOU did nothing to help them and aid them; you did nothing to protect them, to believe them, to stop their abusers from continuing their reign of terror and destroying other young children.
Marci Hamilton took the floor. Marci Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair of Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a widely-regarded scholar in constitutional law. She is an expert on and advocate for the U.S. Constitution's required separation of church and state. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University in 1979 then earned a Masters degree at Pennsylvania State University and a juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. She served as a law clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the Supreme Court of the United States and Chief Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Marci was very eloquent and very carefully vacated any misconceptions that the YOU the Agudah and others seem to use as a smoke screen for your positions. To paraphrase: the Markey bill is following the guidelines set forth in the open window legislation of the California and Delaware bills where no civil litigations were allowed to move forward without a “certificate of merit” from a qualified mental professional. This would absolutely disqualify your contention of “capricious litigation”. Furthermore, the “open window” bill produces extremely low numbers of false claims we repeat “proven false” claims but revealed a record breaking additional 360 previously unknown pedophiles that those states have now registered and citizens are now aware of and can protect themselves from.
There is a statistical study which revealed that every repeat offender known as a serial pedophile will in his/her lifetime commit 400 acts of abuse also appropriately referred to as violence in their lifespan. YOU, the Agudah are smart enough to run those numbers for yourselves but we can help you with that, an additional 360 x 400, that is 144,000 acts of violence against children that may be averted in the states of California and Delaware. Don’t you want to claim that you can do that for our children as well? And yet with the great Jewish population in the state of California we did not hear of even one Jewish institution that was forced to close or forced into bankruptcy due to this one year open window of opportunity. Would you care to explain that? Is it because no one sued them or because they had less Frum Jewish pedophiles than we do here? Either way it doesn’t show much cause for your position.
It is quite clear that when you speak of the “fundamental interest of our community” you speak of the “financial” interest of our community because basically that is ALL you are concerned with. No not actually you are also concerned with losing face for your organization and the Rabbinical members who themselves are “nogeah b’davar” because they are personally involved or because they are involved in the cover-up, either way a conflict of interest; absolutely not capable of making a proper or unbiased decision in this case. As you say “Our rabbinic and lay leaderships are acutely aware of the emotional trauma and damage caused by the perpetrators of such abuse.” They are aware, because they have always been aware and have chosen to do nothing, again, they are nogeah b’dovor and therefore not qualified to make an unbiased decision in this case. They should be respectfully exempt from this decision for obvious reasons and only those who have never been touched by this issue should be allowed to have a say in it.
Why is it that when Reb Elyashiv offers a psak everyone listens as if it came from Har Sinai itself, but in this case when his psak clearly states that perpetrators should be handed over to the authorities his words are ignored like poison? Had he followed his psak with “and their wives’ sheitels should be burnt”, maybe, maybe at least there would have been a bon fire. A valid question would be, did the executive members of the Agudah discuss this issue with the Gedolim of Eretz Yisroel and get some guidance from them before coming to this conclusion? Was Reb Elyashiv consulted?
Now lets look at your financial concern.
I am surprised that you do not have faith in the myriads of religious CPA’s and Attorneys who we are quite sure are already hard at work (just in case) closing old corporations and opening new ones to hide any assets that Yeshivas and other institutions have. In the event that, which is highly unlikely, anyone would actually go so far as to sue and receive an award from same, there would never be any money, any building, any asset left in the name of the institution that would have been in business at the time of the event. Come on, we are all Yiddish Kep here, we know how the game is played. It is an insult to the intelligence of the K’lal that you think we are fooled by this smoke screen. And WE also know that YOU know that 95% of all victims are not interested in monetary compensation. All they are interested in is putting their abusers out of business and making sure they never ever have access to innocent children again.
So what really is your motivation behind this?
We know, you are still protecting the pedophiles and their protectors. YOU still don’t want to come clean. You still wish to honor them and not disgrace them by allowing their names to become public. You are still more concerned with their reputation than with allowing the victims of their crimes to have the opportunity to start healing and finding some closure to their misery.
SHAME ON YOU!
If you recall back in the 1960’s Emile Zola coined the phrase J’ACCUSE against the French government in reference to the Dreyfus case. I am going to say those words to you here and now.
J’ACCUSE
For putting the honor of the Jewish religious pedophiles first and foremost before the welfare of their victims. “the burden of litigation expense or legal liability for ancient claims would fall squarely on an entirely innocent group - the current parent body”. That is a complete and utter fallacy and you are trying to misguide the public because they have total faith and trust in you as we once did. The current financial body should hire representation to absolutely REFUSE to defend the institution and the pedophiles they harbor. THEY should demand the immediate dismissal of said pedophile and any administrator who was connected to the case and absolutely forbid any tuition funds or any other funds to be used in defense of either. As stated before, the corporation at the time of abuse would no longer be current if the CPA’s and attorneys are doing their jobs for cases that happened way in the past. Cases that happened in the past 10-12 years would be covered under their insurance policies which have sexual abuse riders. So again, YOU the Agudah are trying to SCARE and frighten the Olam to fall into line behind you.
J’ACCUSE
“Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah have taken a number of concrete steps to help ensure that Jewish schools, extra-curricular youth programs and summer camps implement policies and procedures designed to protect children against such abuse. Our organizations have also supported legislative efforts to furnish such protection, including the recently enacted legislation in New York authorizing nonpublic schools to screen all prospective employees through the state's fingerprint checking system. ”
What exactly have you done and how has it helped? Yes you have supported the legislation with lip service, but what have you done to implement it, basically nothing.
J’ACCUSE
YOU who have implemented TAKANOS not suggestions, on how many guests one can invite to their own Simcha, limiting the parnasah a caterer makes, how many musicians a person can hire for their own simcha, limiting the parnasah a musician makes, but did nothing to implement the fingerprinting and background checks in all Yeshivos! YOU did not make that mandatory! You just supported the bill and allowed for those who wanted to comply. Where were the TAKANOS to prevent child abuse and molestation of our precious children?
J’ACCUSE
YOU could have saved thousands, upon thousands of young innocent neshomas but you didn’t.
J’ACCUSE
For the good things that the Agudath Israel has done for K’lal Yisroel you have neglected on a tremendously large scale the biggest responsibility any Jewish organization of such magnitude has and that is to protect our innocent neshomas!
You have a great big chelek in the pain and suffering of thousands of yiddishe kinderlach and their families for tearing their lives apart and for pushing and shoving them off the derech.
And now instead of showing them and all the children, the future of K’lal Yisroel that YOU stand for honesty and integrity, exactly what we teach and expect from our children YOU want to absolve ALL the guilty parties of their responsibility and accountability? Is this the hypocrisy that you choose to continue to role model for our children?
YOU had and still have an opportunity of teshuva and of helping to allow the healing to begin but you refuse to step up to the plate.
WE can’t force you to do the right thing; we can only ask you to. But whether you do or don’t, the bill will go forth and it will pass because every day it gains support, and with each day’s gain, those who approve and support the bill continue to garner more and more support, and it is growing like a wildfire because it is the right thing to do. Hashem will help us uncover the truth and reveal the identities of all the dangerous individuals who hide amongst us, who are not ashamed to defile our youth within the walls of mekomos kedoshim like yeshivas, mikvaot and shuls. The health and welfare of our children far outweighs the financial concerns of institutions real or imagined.
These institutions know how to protect themselves but children don’t and that is why WE have to find ways to help them, as Margaret Markey, Thomas Duane, and the fine states of California and Delaware have. So with you or without you WE know right from wrong, WE understand good from evil, WE know the good guys from the bad guys, WE know who to honor and respect and who to turn away from. Hashem has given us strict guidelines in the Sheva Mitzvos B’nei Noach. Those who cross those lines, do not deserve the honor and respect you insist on bestowing upon them. Anyone with an ounce of seichel Hashem has given them will see through your smoke screen and contact their Legislative representatives to throw their support behind this bill.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Sherree Belsky Director Kids Count Foundation (For Reference: Sherree Belsky – Maiden name Gottesman -second Generation Holocaust survivor – Auschwitz death camps; Belsky (Bielski – Bielski Brothers- Jewish partisans saved 1,200 Jews in the Russian and polish forests in the Holocaust)
Rabbi Dr. Asher Lipner Ph.D Vice President Jewish Board of Advocates for Children
Elie Hiller Jewish Educator West Orange, NJ
Mrs. Pearl Engelman Mother of Joel Engelman Brooklyn, N.Y.
*
The RCA Statement On The Markey Bill
March 20, 2009
Dear Ms. Markey:
The Rabbinical Council of America represents more than 1,000 modern and centrist orthodox rabbis. We are the rabbinic arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
We support Bill No. A.02596, sponsored by you, which would extend the civil and criminal statutes of limitations for sex abuse victims.
Child sex abuse is a horrendous crime. Victims often bear the scars for entire lifetimes. They are at higher risk for clinical depression, substance abuse, and suicide.
Many victims are overcome by feelings of confusion, shame, and embarrassment. As children and teens, they are psychologically and emotionally unable to deal with the court system. Only later, as adults, and often with therapy, do they feel comfortable in working with the judicial system. Unfortunately, arbitrary statutes of limitations stand in their way.
Jewish law and tradition recognize the need for our justice system to protect the most vulnerable among us. Lowering the statute of limitations bar for child sex abuse victims would serve that purpose. Sexual predators are often recidivists and need to be incarcerated, and classified as convicted sex offenders, in order to assure public safety. Sex abuse victims deserve to be fairly compensated for their grievous injuries. Your bill will assure these laudatory goals.
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Basil Herring
Executive Vice-President
Monday, April 27, 2009
Dear Hashem,
A victim of abuse writes....
Dear Hashem,
I’m at the end of my strength in Emunah.
As a victim of abuse, I was told by YOUR guardians of YOUR Torah that it’s Asur to inform the authorities. Instead of caring about my feelings, pain and soul, they played with me more. YOUR rabbis, called me a liar, threatened my safety, threatened my education, tried to ruin my father’s salary, and more all to protect YOUR honor. YOU watched and did nothing.
Now, YOUR Agudah anointed rabbis have decided to prevent YOUR other children from being protected, all because of fear for their real estate.
Hashem, YOU know what YOU had in mind when YOU wrote YOUR Torah. YOU have been silent too long, and allowed these Agudah anointed rabbis to twist it for their sick pleasure. Help from the authorities was blocked by YOUR people, increasing statute of limitations are being blocked by them too, YOUR bais dins are a corrupt kickback scheme going to the highest bidder. YOU know that my pain is still under YOUR statute of limitations. Please make it up to me already.
Only YOU know how to correct a broken system, only YOU know how to turn a victim into a winner, and a Rodef into one running for his life. It’s time to wake up YOUR Agudah anointed rabbis, and the mentally stunted richies who installed these corrupt evildoers as YOUR messengers to destroy our lives. It’s time for YOU to do justice. Let YOUR Torah be followed, not the malicious lies the Agudah rabbis spread about YOUR Torah.
I don’t want to be pushy, I’ll allow until Pesach Sheni for these imposters to step aside and close shop and pass the torch to those not afraid to follow YOUR Torah. But, then please, please, please turn things over. My only hope for Justice is YOU.
Please don’t let me down.
*
Anonymous writes:
You know, personal experience goes a long way, here, and quite frankly and with all due respect to the "great sages" of our generation, these head in the sand beards - and I am speaking from personal experience - take their egos way beyond their capabilities. Many yeshivos seek out so-called "daas toireh" and these alleged leaders - who know nothing about many of the chidren and cases they are speaking - pasken shailos on these children with the same regard as answering some hausfrau who dropped a chicken wing in the milchig sink how to kasher it.
DISGRACEFUL!
You heard it here folks. Boruch Dayan Emes. DAAS TORAH IS DEAD.
That the Agudah could oppose this bill, Zwiebel should wake up and realize that the nice guy I met 20 years ago sold out. This guy is a disgrace to the race. The CA and DE legislation make it crystal clear that not only do these so called ancient cases never make it - but HUNDREDS of pervs get caught. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys know who they are protecting and refuse to out them. SICK.
The Agudah is meakeiv the geulah with this nazi-like stance. Protect the superior race of yeshivos. That's what they say. Protect our moisdois. HAH! Protect the Almighty Dollar is their truth. These guys shuckle fine and good, but when it comes to a dollar they'll sell all the victims of rape and torture that the Kolkos and Mondrowitzs destroyed.
The Agudah is a sham. Sherer is rolling in his grave.
All we ask is that the children be put first. And the Agudah says no.
Well, let them call me for money again. And when I tell the shik yingle who calls that the Agudah protects rapists from prosecution, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll take me off their call list.
*
Published With Permission
Dear UOJ,
FYI, I sent a letter to Shafran and the other goons. Below is their response. I feel like the last post of yours to Hashem could have been written by me. I am at my wits end. When these guys get up there, they will have a lot to answer for.
Gentlemen,
I was quite surprised to see your statement that you are against the
latest bill making its way to passage in NYS. I was surprised because
usually when something is a done deal, you're usually smart enough not to
come out against it. In addition, your claims that it will bankrupt
institutions are faulty.
When a window like this opened up in California,
no such thing happened. All this just points to is that
you are merely covering up, yet again. It is inconceivable
that we have an organization that is actually against protecting children.
And please don't tell me that Agudah is for it.
It took years for the Agudah to reverse itself visa vis the fingerprinting legislation. I am terribly upset about this.
Please tell me that it was a miscommunication, or that it was solely some sort of crazy PR move. If this actually is the policy of the Agudah and its Moetzes, then the frum Jewish community is in lots of trouble.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bernie Madoff's biggest fan and admirer responds
Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXXX,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the joint Agudath Israel-Torah
Umesorah statement regarding proposed new laws amending the existing
statutes of limitation regarding child sexual abuse claims.
Regarding important issues like this, our stances are formulated
by our rabbinic leadership. You may feel that the members of the
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the Vaad Roshei Yeshiva of Torah Umesorah
are misguided here, but I hope you will permit us to remain true to our principles, the principles of Klal Yisroel since Sinai, that the einei ha’eida exist to guide us, not the other way around.
There are a number of errors in your short note. We did not “reverse” any
position on the legislation permitting nonpublic schools to fingerprint
employees for the purpose of ensuring they have no criminal records; nor
are we “covering up”, or have we ever done so, for anyone.
Our position is not, chas visholom, “against protecting children.” As the
statement notes, we do not oppose even an expansion of the statute of
limitations to bring civil or criminal claims against perpetrators. But
our Gedolim feel we cannot support laws that would encourage ancient
claims against yeshivas that could destroy institutions that are the
lifeblood of Klal Yisroel.
It is clear indeed that you are “terribly upset” about our position on the
issue. I think what you are really terribly upset about is the issue
itself, the reprehensible crime of child abuse. That is something well
worth being upset about, as we are too, I assure you. But being upset
must not permit us to make decisions that, while they might be
well-intentioned, have not been well thought-out.
May we see the day soon when all children are safe from abuse of every sort.
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
*
The decisions of the rabbis have been "well thought-out" --- and have been for the last 50 years!
UOJ
Dear Hashem,
I’m at the end of my strength in Emunah.
As a victim of abuse, I was told by YOUR guardians of YOUR Torah that it’s Asur to inform the authorities. Instead of caring about my feelings, pain and soul, they played with me more. YOUR rabbis, called me a liar, threatened my safety, threatened my education, tried to ruin my father’s salary, and more all to protect YOUR honor. YOU watched and did nothing.
Now, YOUR Agudah anointed rabbis have decided to prevent YOUR other children from being protected, all because of fear for their real estate.
Hashem, YOU know what YOU had in mind when YOU wrote YOUR Torah. YOU have been silent too long, and allowed these Agudah anointed rabbis to twist it for their sick pleasure. Help from the authorities was blocked by YOUR people, increasing statute of limitations are being blocked by them too, YOUR bais dins are a corrupt kickback scheme going to the highest bidder. YOU know that my pain is still under YOUR statute of limitations. Please make it up to me already.
Only YOU know how to correct a broken system, only YOU know how to turn a victim into a winner, and a Rodef into one running for his life. It’s time to wake up YOUR Agudah anointed rabbis, and the mentally stunted richies who installed these corrupt evildoers as YOUR messengers to destroy our lives. It’s time for YOU to do justice. Let YOUR Torah be followed, not the malicious lies the Agudah rabbis spread about YOUR Torah.
I don’t want to be pushy, I’ll allow until Pesach Sheni for these imposters to step aside and close shop and pass the torch to those not afraid to follow YOUR Torah. But, then please, please, please turn things over. My only hope for Justice is YOU.
Please don’t let me down.
*
Anonymous writes:
You know, personal experience goes a long way, here, and quite frankly and with all due respect to the "great sages" of our generation, these head in the sand beards - and I am speaking from personal experience - take their egos way beyond their capabilities. Many yeshivos seek out so-called "daas toireh" and these alleged leaders - who know nothing about many of the chidren and cases they are speaking - pasken shailos on these children with the same regard as answering some hausfrau who dropped a chicken wing in the milchig sink how to kasher it.
DISGRACEFUL!
You heard it here folks. Boruch Dayan Emes. DAAS TORAH IS DEAD.
That the Agudah could oppose this bill, Zwiebel should wake up and realize that the nice guy I met 20 years ago sold out. This guy is a disgrace to the race. The CA and DE legislation make it crystal clear that not only do these so called ancient cases never make it - but HUNDREDS of pervs get caught. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys know who they are protecting and refuse to out them. SICK.
The Agudah is meakeiv the geulah with this nazi-like stance. Protect the superior race of yeshivos. That's what they say. Protect our moisdois. HAH! Protect the Almighty Dollar is their truth. These guys shuckle fine and good, but when it comes to a dollar they'll sell all the victims of rape and torture that the Kolkos and Mondrowitzs destroyed.
The Agudah is a sham. Sherer is rolling in his grave.
All we ask is that the children be put first. And the Agudah says no.
Well, let them call me for money again. And when I tell the shik yingle who calls that the Agudah protects rapists from prosecution, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll take me off their call list.
*
Published With Permission
Dear UOJ,
FYI, I sent a letter to Shafran and the other goons. Below is their response. I feel like the last post of yours to Hashem could have been written by me. I am at my wits end. When these guys get up there, they will have a lot to answer for.
Gentlemen,
I was quite surprised to see your statement that you are against the
latest bill making its way to passage in NYS. I was surprised because
usually when something is a done deal, you're usually smart enough not to
come out against it. In addition, your claims that it will bankrupt
institutions are faulty.
When a window like this opened up in California,
no such thing happened. All this just points to is that
you are merely covering up, yet again. It is inconceivable
that we have an organization that is actually against protecting children.
And please don't tell me that Agudah is for it.
It took years for the Agudah to reverse itself visa vis the fingerprinting legislation. I am terribly upset about this.
Please tell me that it was a miscommunication, or that it was solely some sort of crazy PR move. If this actually is the policy of the Agudah and its Moetzes, then the frum Jewish community is in lots of trouble.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bernie Madoff's biggest fan and admirer responds
Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXXX,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the joint Agudath Israel-Torah
Umesorah statement regarding proposed new laws amending the existing
statutes of limitation regarding child sexual abuse claims.
Regarding important issues like this, our stances are formulated
by our rabbinic leadership. You may feel that the members of the
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the Vaad Roshei Yeshiva of Torah Umesorah
are misguided here, but I hope you will permit us to remain true to our principles, the principles of Klal Yisroel since Sinai, that the einei ha’eida exist to guide us, not the other way around.
There are a number of errors in your short note. We did not “reverse” any
position on the legislation permitting nonpublic schools to fingerprint
employees for the purpose of ensuring they have no criminal records; nor
are we “covering up”, or have we ever done so, for anyone.
Our position is not, chas visholom, “against protecting children.” As the
statement notes, we do not oppose even an expansion of the statute of
limitations to bring civil or criminal claims against perpetrators. But
our Gedolim feel we cannot support laws that would encourage ancient
claims against yeshivas that could destroy institutions that are the
lifeblood of Klal Yisroel.
It is clear indeed that you are “terribly upset” about our position on the
issue. I think what you are really terribly upset about is the issue
itself, the reprehensible crime of child abuse. That is something well
worth being upset about, as we are too, I assure you. But being upset
must not permit us to make decisions that, while they might be
well-intentioned, have not been well thought-out.
May we see the day soon when all children are safe from abuse of every sort.
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
*
The decisions of the rabbis have been "well thought-out" --- and have been for the last 50 years!
UOJ
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Gedolim/Rabbis Of The Agudath Israel & Torah Umesorah Have Decided To Keep The Criminal Cover-Up Going Strong!
For Immediate Release: April 21, 2009
For Further Information
Contact: Rabbi Avi Shafran
212 797-9000 ext. #303
Agudath Israel of America and Torah Umesorah – The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, upon consultation with their respective rabbinic leaderships, respectfully submit this statement regarding legislative proposals to amend existing statutes of limitations for civil claims, including claims against schools and other communal institutions, based on allegations of child sexual abuse. We do so only after much serious thought, after weighing all relevant arguments and for the sole purpose of protecting the most fundamental interests of our community.
Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah fully acknowledge the horror of child sexual abuse and the devastating long-term scars it all too often creates. Our rabbinic and lay leaderships are acutely aware of the emotional trauma and damage caused by the perpetrators of such abuse. Our hearts go out to their victims, and we share in their pain. We realize that for too long many victims have suffered alone. We are committed as a community to do whatever we can to root out perpetrators of child abuse from our schools and other communal institutions, and to help victims on the road to healing and recovery.
Indeed, in recent years, as awareness has increased and sensitivity has been heightened regarding the incidence of sexual abuse and its severity, both in the broader society around us and in our community specifically, Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah have taken a number of concrete steps to help ensure that Jewish schools, extra-curricular youth programs and summer camps implement policies and procedures designed to protect children against such abuse. Our organizations have also supported legislative efforts to furnish such protection, including the recently enacted legislation in New York authorizing nonpublic schools to screen all prospective employees through the state’s fingerprint checking system.
With respect to the proposed amendments to existing statutes of limitations, Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah fully understand that the trauma of abuse is often so great that young adults may not be emotionally prepared to file claims against their abusers within the traditional limitations period. Strict adherence to the existing statutes of limitations could thus operate to preclude certain legitimate claims and protect perpetrators of abuse. Our organizations would therefore have no objection to legislation designed to give victims of abuse greater recourse against perpetrators. Nor would we object to extending statutes of limitations for criminal proceedings against perpetrators.
What Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah must object to, however, is legislation that could literally destroy schools, houses of worship that sponsor youth programs, summer camps and other institutions that are the very lifeblood of our community.
To take perhaps the most problematic example of such legislation, bills have been introduced in New York and other states that would create a one year window during which any civil claim based upon child sexual abuse could be brought, even against schools and other communal institutions, regardless of how long ago the incident is alleged to have taken place. One could envision a scenario in which a senior citizen might choose to bring a claim against a school for an incident that allegedly occurred over half-a-century ago when the claimant was a child. The fact that the alleged perpetrator may have passed on, or that the administration of the school may have changed several times since the alleged abuse, or that the school no longer has any records or insurance policies dating back to the time the abuse allegedly occurred, or even any records of the individual ever having attended the school, would be of no moment whatsoever under the proposed bill. The current school administration, entirely ignorant of what may or may not have occurred so many years ago, would be forced to defend the school in a court of law, incur the high expenses of legal fees and diversion of human resources, and face potentially crippling financial liability.
It is important to recognize that Jewish schools are independent entities supported wholly by parental tuition and fundraising. Therefore, the burden of litigation expense or legal liability for ancient claims would fall squarely on an entirely innocent group – the current parent body. Needless to say, in today’s perilous financial climate, as many parents are unable to meet even their basic tuition obligations and schools struggle to remain fiscally viable, this burden would be extremely difficult to bear, and could ultimately lead to school closures.
Stated simply, legislation that would do away with the statute of limitations completely, even if only for a one-year period, could subject schools and other vital institutions to ancient claims and capricious litigation, and place their very existence in severe jeopardy.
Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah most vigorously oppose any such legislation.
We must continue to seek out ways to protect our precious children and help eradicate molestation and other forms of abuse. We must also redouble our efforts to help those who have suffered the horrors of child abuse obtain the healing they so desperately need. However, we dare not bring down our most vital communal institutions in the process.
For Further Information
Contact: Rabbi Avi Shafran
212 797-9000 ext. #303
Agudath Israel of America and Torah Umesorah – The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, upon consultation with their respective rabbinic leaderships, respectfully submit this statement regarding legislative proposals to amend existing statutes of limitations for civil claims, including claims against schools and other communal institutions, based on allegations of child sexual abuse. We do so only after much serious thought, after weighing all relevant arguments and for the sole purpose of protecting the most fundamental interests of our community.
Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah fully acknowledge the horror of child sexual abuse and the devastating long-term scars it all too often creates. Our rabbinic and lay leaderships are acutely aware of the emotional trauma and damage caused by the perpetrators of such abuse. Our hearts go out to their victims, and we share in their pain. We realize that for too long many victims have suffered alone. We are committed as a community to do whatever we can to root out perpetrators of child abuse from our schools and other communal institutions, and to help victims on the road to healing and recovery.
Indeed, in recent years, as awareness has increased and sensitivity has been heightened regarding the incidence of sexual abuse and its severity, both in the broader society around us and in our community specifically, Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah have taken a number of concrete steps to help ensure that Jewish schools, extra-curricular youth programs and summer camps implement policies and procedures designed to protect children against such abuse. Our organizations have also supported legislative efforts to furnish such protection, including the recently enacted legislation in New York authorizing nonpublic schools to screen all prospective employees through the state’s fingerprint checking system.
With respect to the proposed amendments to existing statutes of limitations, Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah fully understand that the trauma of abuse is often so great that young adults may not be emotionally prepared to file claims against their abusers within the traditional limitations period. Strict adherence to the existing statutes of limitations could thus operate to preclude certain legitimate claims and protect perpetrators of abuse. Our organizations would therefore have no objection to legislation designed to give victims of abuse greater recourse against perpetrators. Nor would we object to extending statutes of limitations for criminal proceedings against perpetrators.
What Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah must object to, however, is legislation that could literally destroy schools, houses of worship that sponsor youth programs, summer camps and other institutions that are the very lifeblood of our community.
To take perhaps the most problematic example of such legislation, bills have been introduced in New York and other states that would create a one year window during which any civil claim based upon child sexual abuse could be brought, even against schools and other communal institutions, regardless of how long ago the incident is alleged to have taken place. One could envision a scenario in which a senior citizen might choose to bring a claim against a school for an incident that allegedly occurred over half-a-century ago when the claimant was a child. The fact that the alleged perpetrator may have passed on, or that the administration of the school may have changed several times since the alleged abuse, or that the school no longer has any records or insurance policies dating back to the time the abuse allegedly occurred, or even any records of the individual ever having attended the school, would be of no moment whatsoever under the proposed bill. The current school administration, entirely ignorant of what may or may not have occurred so many years ago, would be forced to defend the school in a court of law, incur the high expenses of legal fees and diversion of human resources, and face potentially crippling financial liability.
It is important to recognize that Jewish schools are independent entities supported wholly by parental tuition and fundraising. Therefore, the burden of litigation expense or legal liability for ancient claims would fall squarely on an entirely innocent group – the current parent body. Needless to say, in today’s perilous financial climate, as many parents are unable to meet even their basic tuition obligations and schools struggle to remain fiscally viable, this burden would be extremely difficult to bear, and could ultimately lead to school closures.
Stated simply, legislation that would do away with the statute of limitations completely, even if only for a one-year period, could subject schools and other vital institutions to ancient claims and capricious litigation, and place their very existence in severe jeopardy.
Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah most vigorously oppose any such legislation.
We must continue to seek out ways to protect our precious children and help eradicate molestation and other forms of abuse. We must also redouble our efforts to help those who have suffered the horrors of child abuse obtain the healing they so desperately need. However, we dare not bring down our most vital communal institutions in the process.
Friday, April 17, 2009
This coming Tuesday - April 21st, 2009 - we can make a difference!
NY State has the most lenient laws against sexual predators for kids. This coming Tuesday April 21st, 2009 - we can make a difference!
Right now, the laws actually protect the predators of our children. The predators walk free to do it again and again, and can't be prosecuted in many cases because the statute of limitations has run out.
This coming Tuesday April 21st, 2009, child advocacy groups from all over New York are coming together to lobby for Assemblywoman's "Markey Child Victims Act" in Albany. The political system will take us seriously if we come out and show our support of the bill. That's how it works. Our strength is in numbers. You can make a real difference in helping the Markey Bill to pass, every person counts.
Am Echad urges you to stand up for our children and come with us to Albany! If you don't care enough to fight for the well-being of your children, who will? The Agudath Israel's cavorting with the Catholic Church to block this bill must be prevented at all costs! If this bill does not pass, the vicious sexual predator(s) that may be in your child's school, will forever be swept under the Agudah's rug!
SurvivorsForJustice.org has graciously arranged for free bus transportation from Manhattan and Brooklyn and will provide you with a glatt kosher lunch, no charge. (What true Jew can say NO to free?) We will be leaving early Tuesday morning and coming back approx 4 pm. We look forward to spending the day with you, meeting assemblymen and high ranking politicians together, and providing an educational experience for you on many important issues.
Please email Mark Appel at MARKMAPPEL@AOL.COM or call him at 212-873-3938 for bus departure locations and information.
We can't sit by as our children are wronged. We must act.
This cause is endorsed by Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Alan Schwartz, RCA Rabbinical Council of America and other leading rabbis.
Right now, the laws actually protect the predators of our children. The predators walk free to do it again and again, and can't be prosecuted in many cases because the statute of limitations has run out.
This coming Tuesday April 21st, 2009, child advocacy groups from all over New York are coming together to lobby for Assemblywoman's "Markey Child Victims Act" in Albany. The political system will take us seriously if we come out and show our support of the bill. That's how it works. Our strength is in numbers. You can make a real difference in helping the Markey Bill to pass, every person counts.
Am Echad urges you to stand up for our children and come with us to Albany! If you don't care enough to fight for the well-being of your children, who will? The Agudath Israel's cavorting with the Catholic Church to block this bill must be prevented at all costs! If this bill does not pass, the vicious sexual predator(s) that may be in your child's school, will forever be swept under the Agudah's rug!
SurvivorsForJustice.org has graciously arranged for free bus transportation from Manhattan and Brooklyn and will provide you with a glatt kosher lunch, no charge. (What true Jew can say NO to free?) We will be leaving early Tuesday morning and coming back approx 4 pm. We look forward to spending the day with you, meeting assemblymen and high ranking politicians together, and providing an educational experience for you on many important issues.
Please email Mark Appel at MARKMAPPEL@AOL.COM or call him at 212-873-3938 for bus departure locations and information.
We can't sit by as our children are wronged. We must act.
This cause is endorsed by Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Alan Schwartz, RCA Rabbinical Council of America and other leading rabbis.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Bungalow Putz Part Deux & The "Brooklyn 19" DA Orchestra Conducted By Charlie Hynes - Playing At A Yeshiva Basement Near You!
SPONSORED BY THE AGUDATH ISRAEL & OHEL FAMILY SERVICES - MASTER OF CEREMONIES MARVIN SCHICK! LIMITED ENGAGEMENT THIS CHOL HAMOED --- BROOKLYN 19 ORCHESTRA FIRST TIME PLAYING TOGETHER ON STAGE! --- TICKETS AVAILABLE AT ALL TORAH TRUE YESHIVAS!
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WITH CAMEO APPEARANCES BY SHALOM, MORDECAI AND ARON TENDLER ---THE TENDLER TRINITY OF HUMAN GARBAGE!
Mah Nishtana:
The Four Kashyas of Our Kinderlach, Some of Whom Are No Longer at the Seder
Why is the sexual abuse of children treated differently than all other communal issues?
1) In all other areas of halacha, we enforce the highest level of tznius and morality, but in this area of halacha - we ignore the rape of children.
2) In all other areas of kashrus, we demand the highest level of reliability, certification and supervision, but in the sanctity of children's own bodies - we demand none.
3) On all other matters, we follow the psak of Rav Eliyashiv, but when Rav Eliyashiv gives a psak urging victims of sexual abuse to report their abusers to the police - we ignore him.
4) In all other areas of a child's life, we fight and demand for their rights, (we lobby for bussing, for textbooks, for school lunch programs...) but when it comes to the sexual abuse of children - we lobby to protect our children’s abusers.
Tatty Answers:
You see my child...
The answer to all the four questions is:
Call 911
We can't sit and expect Agudah to solve all the problems.
You see my child....
Our gedolim are too busy for you. They are busy banning concerts, banning books, having photo-ops all over the country, ripping microphones out of singers hands, and defending Bernie Madoff.
You see my child...
Agudah made a convention a few years ago, and declared that all non Moetzes rabbis could not be classified as a "gadol". Therefore Rabbi Yosef Karo who wrote the Shulchan Aruch is irrelevant by these great "scholars". Rav Elyashiv is a moderner in their eyes.
You see my child...
There are so many children who don't have a Seder anymore because of them being sexually abused in yeshivas and elsewhere. So many teens are dead from drug overdoses and alcohol abuse, caused by drowning out the pain. Yet the Agudah could care less about them. Only their supporters and those who toe the line are important.
My dear child...
Follow the law.
Use the police to uphold the law.
Convince others to to the same.
Then...
Shfoch Chamoscha El Agudah Asher Lo Yeda'Ucha. People who distort the Torah like them.
.jpg)
WITH CAMEO APPEARANCES BY SHALOM, MORDECAI AND ARON TENDLER ---THE TENDLER TRINITY OF HUMAN GARBAGE!
Mah Nishtana:
The Four Kashyas of Our Kinderlach, Some of Whom Are No Longer at the Seder
Why is the sexual abuse of children treated differently than all other communal issues?
1) In all other areas of halacha, we enforce the highest level of tznius and morality, but in this area of halacha - we ignore the rape of children.
2) In all other areas of kashrus, we demand the highest level of reliability, certification and supervision, but in the sanctity of children's own bodies - we demand none.
3) On all other matters, we follow the psak of Rav Eliyashiv, but when Rav Eliyashiv gives a psak urging victims of sexual abuse to report their abusers to the police - we ignore him.
4) In all other areas of a child's life, we fight and demand for their rights, (we lobby for bussing, for textbooks, for school lunch programs...) but when it comes to the sexual abuse of children - we lobby to protect our children’s abusers.
Tatty Answers:
You see my child...
The answer to all the four questions is:
Call 911
We can't sit and expect Agudah to solve all the problems.
You see my child....
Our gedolim are too busy for you. They are busy banning concerts, banning books, having photo-ops all over the country, ripping microphones out of singers hands, and defending Bernie Madoff.
You see my child...
Agudah made a convention a few years ago, and declared that all non Moetzes rabbis could not be classified as a "gadol". Therefore Rabbi Yosef Karo who wrote the Shulchan Aruch is irrelevant by these great "scholars". Rav Elyashiv is a moderner in their eyes.
You see my child...
There are so many children who don't have a Seder anymore because of them being sexually abused in yeshivas and elsewhere. So many teens are dead from drug overdoses and alcohol abuse, caused by drowning out the pain. Yet the Agudah could care less about them. Only their supporters and those who toe the line are important.
My dear child...
Follow the law.
Use the police to uphold the law.
Convince others to to the same.
Then...
Shfoch Chamoscha El Agudah Asher Lo Yeda'Ucha. People who distort the Torah like them.
Friday, April 03, 2009
The Mindset Of A Very Ill Man - Avi Shafran - and the Organization He Works For - Spokesperson For The Agudath Israel Of America
This is NOT a parody - All public statements are pre-authorized by the rabbis at the Agudath Israel.
New York - Something tells me I won’t make any new friends (and might even lose some old ones) if I confess to harboring some admiration for Bernard Madoff.
And to make things worse, I can’t muster much for Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed a full commercial airliner in the Hudson River back in January.
Let me try to explain. Please.
Mr. Madoff committed a serious economic crime on an unprecedented scale for such wrongdoing, and in the process ruined the financial futures of numerous people and institutions, including charitable ones, worldwide. There can be no denying that.
Yet I can’t quite bring myself to join the large, loud chorus of those who have condemned him to – to take Ralph Blumenthal’s judgment in The New York Times Magazine – the Pit, the deepest circle of Dante’s Inferno. Others have devised and publicly proclaimed creative and exquisite tortures of their own for the disgraced businessman – Woody Allen fantasized Madoff being attacked by clients reincarnated as lobsters, and Elie Wiesel wished the investor confined to a solitary cell and forced to watch his victims on a screen bewail their changed fortunes. The fury of the bilked has yielded opprobrium and loathing that isn’t visited on mass murderers.
I think the revulsion may say more about the revolted – and our money-obsessed and vengeance-obsessed society – than it does about Madoff. His crime, after all, was really remarkable only for its longevity and its scope. The Torah teaches that stealing is a sin, but it doesn’t differentiate between misappropriating a million dollars and pilfering a dime. And as to the sheer number of people defrauded by the thief of the moment, well, anyone who cheats on his federal income tax is defrauding 300 million of his fellow citizens. Few though, in such cases, invoke Dante.
What is more, Madoff likely began his crime spree in the hope of rewarding, not swindling, investors, and by the time it became clear he wouldn’t be able to do that, he was already deeply entangled – and daily becoming more entangled – in the web he wove.
None of that, though, is to belittle the great pain Mr. Madoff caused, and is certainly no cause for affording the iniquitous investment broker respect. No, what I admire about him has to do with his owning up to his crime.
Think about it. The man knew for years that his scheme would eventually come apart and that prosecution loomed, yet he took no steps to flee, huge bribe in hand, to some country lacking extradition treaties. Idi Amin, we might recall, died of old age in luxury. Madoff’s millions, moreover, could have easily bought him a new face and identity papers; he could spent his senior years tanned and well-fed among the sunbirds of Miami Beach.
Instead, though, he chose to essentially turn himself in and admit guilt. He apologized to his victims, acknowledging that he had “deeply hurt many, many people,” and adding, “I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done.”
No one can know if those words reflect the feelings in his heart, but I don’t claim any right to doubt that they do. And facing one’s sins and regretting them is the essence of teshuvah – which we are all enjoined to do for our personal aveiros, however small or large.
No such sublimity of spirit, though, was in evidence in any of the public acts or words of Mr. Sullenberger. He saved 155 lives, no doubt about it, and is certainly owed the hakoras hatov of those he saved, and of their families and friends. And he executed tremendous skill.
But no moral choice was involved in his act. He was on the plane too, after all; his own life depended on undertaking his feat no less than the lives of others. He did what anyone in terrible circumstances would do: try to stay alive. He was fortunate (as were his passengers) that he possessed the talents requisite to the task, but that’s a tribute to his training, and to the One Who instilled such astounding abilities in His creations (and Whose help the captain was not quoted as acknowledging). Basketball players are highly skilled, too – and heroes, in fact, to some. But I have never managed to understand that latter fact.
Sully has reportedly inked a $3 million book deal with HarperCollins, and is also planning a second book of inspirational poems; Bernie, likely for the rest of his life, will languish in jail.
That may make societal sense, but personally, I’m still unmoved by the pilot, and, at least somewhat, inspired by the penitent.
New York - Something tells me I won’t make any new friends (and might even lose some old ones) if I confess to harboring some admiration for Bernard Madoff.
And to make things worse, I can’t muster much for Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed a full commercial airliner in the Hudson River back in January.
Let me try to explain. Please.
Mr. Madoff committed a serious economic crime on an unprecedented scale for such wrongdoing, and in the process ruined the financial futures of numerous people and institutions, including charitable ones, worldwide. There can be no denying that.
Yet I can’t quite bring myself to join the large, loud chorus of those who have condemned him to – to take Ralph Blumenthal’s judgment in The New York Times Magazine – the Pit, the deepest circle of Dante’s Inferno. Others have devised and publicly proclaimed creative and exquisite tortures of their own for the disgraced businessman – Woody Allen fantasized Madoff being attacked by clients reincarnated as lobsters, and Elie Wiesel wished the investor confined to a solitary cell and forced to watch his victims on a screen bewail their changed fortunes. The fury of the bilked has yielded opprobrium and loathing that isn’t visited on mass murderers.
I think the revulsion may say more about the revolted – and our money-obsessed and vengeance-obsessed society – than it does about Madoff. His crime, after all, was really remarkable only for its longevity and its scope. The Torah teaches that stealing is a sin, but it doesn’t differentiate between misappropriating a million dollars and pilfering a dime. And as to the sheer number of people defrauded by the thief of the moment, well, anyone who cheats on his federal income tax is defrauding 300 million of his fellow citizens. Few though, in such cases, invoke Dante.
What is more, Madoff likely began his crime spree in the hope of rewarding, not swindling, investors, and by the time it became clear he wouldn’t be able to do that, he was already deeply entangled – and daily becoming more entangled – in the web he wove.
None of that, though, is to belittle the great pain Mr. Madoff caused, and is certainly no cause for affording the iniquitous investment broker respect. No, what I admire about him has to do with his owning up to his crime.
Think about it. The man knew for years that his scheme would eventually come apart and that prosecution loomed, yet he took no steps to flee, huge bribe in hand, to some country lacking extradition treaties. Idi Amin, we might recall, died of old age in luxury. Madoff’s millions, moreover, could have easily bought him a new face and identity papers; he could spent his senior years tanned and well-fed among the sunbirds of Miami Beach.
Instead, though, he chose to essentially turn himself in and admit guilt. He apologized to his victims, acknowledging that he had “deeply hurt many, many people,” and adding, “I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done.”
No one can know if those words reflect the feelings in his heart, but I don’t claim any right to doubt that they do. And facing one’s sins and regretting them is the essence of teshuvah – which we are all enjoined to do for our personal aveiros, however small or large.
No such sublimity of spirit, though, was in evidence in any of the public acts or words of Mr. Sullenberger. He saved 155 lives, no doubt about it, and is certainly owed the hakoras hatov of those he saved, and of their families and friends. And he executed tremendous skill.
But no moral choice was involved in his act. He was on the plane too, after all; his own life depended on undertaking his feat no less than the lives of others. He did what anyone in terrible circumstances would do: try to stay alive. He was fortunate (as were his passengers) that he possessed the talents requisite to the task, but that’s a tribute to his training, and to the One Who instilled such astounding abilities in His creations (and Whose help the captain was not quoted as acknowledging). Basketball players are highly skilled, too – and heroes, in fact, to some. But I have never managed to understand that latter fact.
Sully has reportedly inked a $3 million book deal with HarperCollins, and is also planning a second book of inspirational poems; Bernie, likely for the rest of his life, will languish in jail.
That may make societal sense, but personally, I’m still unmoved by the pilot, and, at least somewhat, inspired by the penitent.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
This is a day that will live in infamy for all children of New York State!
by survivor of abuse
"The Lopez Bill" made it this time by a vote of 18 - 1. This is a day that will live in infamy for all children of New York State.
As for Dov Hikind...how could you Dov? We backed you. We believed in you. We gave you time. We gave you a chance. We even looked the other way when you backed out of your promise to help Joel Engleman get rid of Reichman and save innocent Satmar kids. We should have listened to Pearl Engelman about you.
And you sell us out to the Agudah, Satmar and the Catholic Church? You deny those of us who were abused as children the right to sue our abusers? You won't do anything to stop them? You won't do anything to help us? But at least allow us to defend ourselves. It is like the Nazis not allowing Jews to have guns. You have taken away the one potential way that innocent children can get justice for what has been perpetrated on them by your friends, Dov. Why?
Shame on you. You are neither a "frum" Jew nor a caring person. You are "nuch" a politician, and we will not forget what you have done.
Shame on you and your whole family. Shame, shame shame. How can you look any Jewish child in the face now? Knowing that for the sake of "getting along with Satmar and Agudah and the Catholic Church" you took away the only weapon given to a victim of abuse by the United States government? You took away their chance to have their day in court! The victims of Mondrowitz and Kolko and all the rest will never forget and never forgive.
"The Lopez Bill" made it this time by a vote of 18 - 1. This is a day that will live in infamy for all children of New York State.
As for Dov Hikind...how could you Dov? We backed you. We believed in you. We gave you time. We gave you a chance. We even looked the other way when you backed out of your promise to help Joel Engleman get rid of Reichman and save innocent Satmar kids. We should have listened to Pearl Engelman about you.
And you sell us out to the Agudah, Satmar and the Catholic Church? You deny those of us who were abused as children the right to sue our abusers? You won't do anything to stop them? You won't do anything to help us? But at least allow us to defend ourselves. It is like the Nazis not allowing Jews to have guns. You have taken away the one potential way that innocent children can get justice for what has been perpetrated on them by your friends, Dov. Why?
Shame on you. You are neither a "frum" Jew nor a caring person. You are "nuch" a politician, and we will not forget what you have done.
Shame on you and your whole family. Shame, shame shame. How can you look any Jewish child in the face now? Knowing that for the sake of "getting along with Satmar and Agudah and the Catholic Church" you took away the only weapon given to a victim of abuse by the United States government? You took away their chance to have their day in court! The victims of Mondrowitz and Kolko and all the rest will never forget and never forgive.
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