A Reasonable Case for Reason!

Edited to conform to my belief system

"When I became convinced after a lifetime of soul-searching and truth-seeking, as to the accuracy of my beliefs, that most all the myths are in fact myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison came tumbling down -- and fell hard, the dungeon was flooded with bright light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust.

I was free -- free to think, to express my thoughts - free to live my own ideal within the framework of the Torah I loved - free to live for myself, for the benefit of humankind, and those I loved -- free to use all my faculties, and my senses -- free to spread imagination's wings -- free to investigate, to guess, to dream, to hope -- free to judge and determine for myself -- free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds from "religious" crackpots, all the "inspired" books that ignoramuses have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past -- free from corrupt and evil clergy and their delusions -- free from all the "called" and "set apart" -- free from the sanctified mistakes and holy lies ---free from the fear of contrived eternal pain -- free from the monsters in clergy garb who claim some divine power -- free from human devils and the like.

For the first time I was free.

There were no prohibited places in the realm of thought - no air - no space - where a delirious clergyman can penetrate -- no chains for my limbs -- no lashes for my back --no fires for my flesh -- no following another's misguided step - no need to bow -- to kiss hands -- to partake in holy frauds -- nor cringe nor crawl or utter lying words.

I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly and joyously faced all the worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain -- to all the wise, the good, the brave, of every time and land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of mankind.

And I vowed to grasp the torch (shraga) that they held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still."

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)
UOJ (19..-20..)

Europeanization! Today's Churban

From Wikipedia: "Tisha B'Av (Hebrew: תשעה באב‎ or ט׳ באב, "the Ninth of Av,") is an annual fast day in Judaism, named for the ninth day (Tisha) of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. The fast commemorates the destruction of both the First Temple and Second Temple in Jerusalem, which occurred about 656 years apart, but on the same Hebrew calendar date. Accordingly, the day has been called the "saddest day in Jewish history".

The parallels to the ongoing destruction of the America we once knew, are gut-wrenching! Our safe-haven --- free from persecution from whatever we believe in, whether they be religious, secular or anywhere in between, are being tampered with, where I'm concerned that the "new America" that is evolving will destroy us as a free people.

Nobody says it better than my dearest friend, Mr. Alvan Shane.

http://www.libertywept.org/

by Alvan I. Shane

A few months ago ObamaCare passed, in spite of a strident, opposed majority. Progressives claimed it would improve health services, making us more like the European democracies, but many felt America's healthcare was already the best,taking responsibility to afford it; others who don't can still get care from Medicare/ Medicaid, the VA, free clinics and nonprofit/religious orgs.

Given this, it was still their top priority. Jobs could wait. They had the power.This wasn't about desperately needed health care for millions, so much as a warning shot across the bow of our ship of state: new kid in town.

Recall FDR with his New Deal during the Depression. Many of those programs are still with us today, though experts argue a temporary fix could have sufficed. Then LBJ with his Great Society. Now Obama imposing this blatant fraud, which scholars believe is illegal & unconstitutional. It will also cost more and deliver less.

Seizing control of healthcare is another step in our metamorphosis from a democratic republic to a socialized democracy. Our government is growing by leaps and bounds while the real engine of freedom, the private sector, stagnates. Spending and debt sky-rocket and FDR/LBJ go broke, their programs unsustainable. Healthcare is no different.

These models don't work. We need only look to Europe, places like Greece or Spain,to see the proof. There's no American Dream in those places! They don't lead our lives, have our appetites or enjoy our opportunities! They can't understand our hopes and dreams or ever do for the world what we've done. Yet some here want to be like them. Give the free ride and forfeit America's unique exceptionalism.

I'm absolutely convinced we're trending left at our peril. It's a slippery slope getting steeper, careening us toward bigger government, less freedom and a soft but quickening tyranny. It's changing the essence of who we are. Continue down this path and we'll lose our identity into the murky geopolitical pool that is fast becoming the new reality. It's failing around the globe, and it will fail here, too.

Look back through history. Empires rose and fell. They bloated out, or leaders ignored the people's will, or diversity weakened unity, all causing them to lose the culture/tradition that had made them great. In every case a winning mix of power & freedom changed, history got ignored, and the glue of their success dissolved. Re-learn those lessons! We're no different! If we fundamentally change who we are, we are lost!

Fix healthcare without nationalizing it. Return to constitutional governance. Let federalism and state's rights return to their correct equilibrium. Take steps to insure/guarantee that government always reflects the will of an informed majority! Return the work ethic to America. Encourage the average Joe to look to himself, before looking to government.

Introspect on who we are, our beliefs, the things we call absolutes. What long ago fonts of inculcation and acculturation gave birth to these values? Are children of today being taught the same, to be hard working and industrious? Look around you for the answer!

We are our brother's keeper, not government. Forcing the latter misinterprets Americanism. Asking government to redistribute wealth by taking from the doers or counseling how this is good is not in/of the pedigree of this nation. This mindset is unrepresentative of traditional American values, and instead exemplifies socialist European values.

We aren't about those values or extremes. We're center-right/left but always near a middle where family, education, work & God are at the heart of our beliefs. Though idealized here, twenty generations of us thought these precepts were reasonable, and accepted them under the countenance and behest of a just but limited government.

If we now subscribe to the notion we're an unjust nation of haves & have nots, that we allow injustice to prevail, the weak to languish and poverty to perpetuate, we will be participating in the demise of the greatest nation on earth and in all of history. These are the stakes. A seismic shift is underway pounding at the underpinnings of our republic; side-stepping the constitution; discouraging entrepreneurship and self-accountability; deconstructing our basic institutions of family, school and religion; promulgating the invasion of our space and exploitation of our wealth.

We can't escape these truths and so must wonder, can we survive this onslaught to emerge better and stronger, or will we know the fate of all who've gone before?

Are we the progeny of our forefathers or some new breed of proto-Americans acting more like offshoots of European extraction? That system is collapsing financially, with political instability close behind. Will we risk our children's future, our entire way of life, betting we can do their socialism thing better than they can?

Government must reflect the will of the People! Small, limited government bows to our will.Large governments, like this one, bow to no one! We erred installing it, and will come to regret it. It is setting inappropriate goals as we speak, and our constitutional contract is disintegrating. The exquisite social experiment, the brilliant success that has been America, will end.

America is in peril! Remove the ideologues. Demand rescission of Obamacare. Secure the borders and govern/control all illegals. Reduce the size of government. Honor our fallen and revere the Constitution. Come November, vote toward the center! Toward Tradition! Against the status quo!

Vote to save America!

Stay their course and watch as we devolve into a typical bankrupt Europeanism. No more sovereignty. No national identity. No exceptionalism. No more American Dream.

The closest man-made thing to utopia, will be gone.


Alvan I. Shane
Author, The Day Liberty Wept

EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters!

http://www.eff.org/cases/hersh-v-cohen
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/13

July 14th, 2010

New York - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) this week served a motion to quash dragnet subpoenas that put privacy and anonymity at risk for the operators of dozens of Internet blogs and potentially hundreds of commenters.

The subpoenas stem from a state lawsuit filed by New York residents Miriam and Michael Hersh alleging a conspiracy to interfere with their business interests. Issued to Google and Yahoo, the subpoenas demand the identities of users of ten email accounts, operators of 30 blogs and a website that had featured discussions of the plaintiffs among other matters, and the identities of everyone who had ever commented on those sites.

"The First Amendment protects individuals' right to speak anonymously and forces litigants to justify any attempts to unmask anonymous critics," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Litigants cannot forcibly identify entire communities of online speakers -- which include many speakers who no one would claim did anything wrong -- simply because the litigants are curious."

In the motion served on Monday, EFF urged the Supreme Court for Kings County, New York, to quash the subpoenas for failing to satisfy the requirements imposed by the First Amendment, as well as the requirements imposed by New York state law and the federal Stored Communications Act.

"Overbroad subpoenas targeting anonymous speakers without cause naturally creates a chilling effect that may discourage others from exercising their constitutional rights to participate in conversations that take place online," said Zimmerman. "We are asking the court to enforce these reasonable safeguards so that the rights of innocent speakers do not become collateral damage in a dispute between others."

Ron Lazebnik and the Samuelson-Glushko Intellectual Property & Information Law Clinic at Fordham University School of Law assisted EFF in the serving of this motion.

For the full motion to quash:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/hersh_v_cohen/UOJ-motiontoquashmemo.pd...

Kolko The Sequel!

To read the entire story - CLICK ABOVE TITLED LINK:

Abuse Took Years to Ignite Belgian Clergy Inquiry
By DOREEN CARVAJAL and STEPHEN CASTLE
Published: July 12, 2010

WESTVLETEREN, Belgium — Behind an aggressive investigation of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Belgium that drew condemnation from the pope himself lies a stark family tragedy: the molestation, for years, of a youth by his uncle, the bishop of Bruges; the prelate’s abrupt resignation when a friend of the nephew finally threatened to make the abuse public; and now the grass-roots fury of almost 500 people complaining of abuse by priests.

The first resignation of a European bishop for abusing a child relative came unexpectedly on April 23. At 73, the Bruges bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, Belgium’s longest-serving prelate, tersely announced his retirement and acknowledged molesting “a boy in my close entourage.”

The boy, not named, was his own nephew, now in his early 40s.

The nephew’s story, pieced together through documents and interviews with him and others, shows that the nephew, acting after years of torment and strong evidence of church inaction, finally forced the bishop’s hand when the friend sent e-mail messages to all of Belgium’s bishops threatening to expose Bishop Vangheluwe.

For nearly 25 years, the nephew said, he sought to alert others that he had been molested by his uncle. Abuse started when he was 10, according to a retired priest, the Rev. Rik Devillé, who said he had tried to warn Belgium’s cardinal, Godfried Danneels, about the Bruges prelate’s abuse 14 years ago, but was berated for doing so......

Catholics Acting Like Jews!

Editorial
The Pope’s Duty
Published: July 8, 2010

When rolling scandal forced the American Catholic bishops conference to take action against pedophile priests, the prelates issued a tough policy requiring accused child molesters be reported immediately to secular authorities. This mandate finally acknowledged that crimes against children should take priority over bureaucratic church policies that served to cloak rogue priests and bishops in a fog of ecclesiastical evasion.

Eight years after the American church’s overdue order, it is shocking that Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican have not yet applied it to the worldwide Roman Catholic Church. The pedophilia scandal has erupted in other nations, leaving parents concerned about a repetition of the harrowing experience in America, where more than 700 priests had to be dismissed across a three-year period. Yet the Vatican is reportedly working on new “guidelines” — not mandates. They are likely to fall short of zero-tolerance and other requirements in the American church that parishes and communities be alerted to abusers.

It is becoming clear that, as a Vatican administrator for two decades, the future pope handled the pedophilia scandal with no great distinction. Church policy under his aegis was too often a study in confusion and frustration for diocesan authorities looking for firm guidance from Rome, according to an investigative report by Laurie Goodstein and David Halbfinger in The Times. Alarmed bishops in English-speaking nations put unusual pressure on the Vatican to have a secret meeting in 2000 to consider stronger countermeasures.

Unfortunately, a dynamic policy has yet to emerge. As new reports arise of pedophile abuses and diocesan cover-ups in Europe, Chile and Brazil, Benedict has had to face the scandal and its victims more directly. He has put aside defensive Vatican complaints about anti-Catholic persecution and admitted the problem is “born from the sin in the church.”

In this spirit, Benedict has the obligation to shepherd not just guidelines but credible mandates that all priest-abusers and bishops who abetted their crimes face disclosure and punishment.

"Mr. President, Whose Side Are You On?"

Obama: Israelis Suspicious Of Me Because My Middle Name Is Hussein!

Watch The Entire Clip!

B'Tzelem Elokim?

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE:


Excerpted from Living and Dreaming with God

"...Perhaps They Believe That Their Generosity Will Purchase Love, Respect Or Forgiveness"....

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE:





Asst. D.A. Paul Turley never heard back from Mother Teresa (surprise), nor was the $1.25 Million Dollars ever returned to its rightful owners!

Protect A Child - It Could Be Your Own!

PINNED POST - NO COMMENTS! CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE - PRINT & PASS THEM OUT IN SHUL!

Parents in our community have been powerless until now to really keep their children safe from sexual abuse. Please keep in mind that if one parent feels empowered to call the police about their child's molestation, hundreds of other children can be saved. One child molester can, when left unconfronted, molest literally hundreds of children over the course of his or her lifetime. Those who work in the field know all too well of cases in which entire classes of children have been molested by a rebbe or a teacher. So even those of us who feel that we would do the right thing and call the police, are not protecting our kids unless we convince our neighbors to do so as well.

Therefore we are starting a public service announcement campaign to bring awareness about the issue of sex abuse, utilizing law enforcement, and creating safe schools and camps.

The top half of the above flyer is going to be put on billboards starting in the Catskill Mountains in time for the summer season. We are also having it professionally translated into Yiddish.

For this project we need funding; the JBAC is turning to you.

Each billboard can cost over one thousand dollars for a single month. Please do what you can. Every dollar is used to get the message out. This message WILL save lives of Jewish children.

Please make checks payable to Jewish Board of Advocates for Children Inc., It should be spelled out. It is tax deductible. We are a 501c3. Kindly send it to: Elliot Pasik Esq., 52 East Olive Street, Long Beach, NY 11561. For checks under $250.00, the cancelled check is a receipt. Checks over $250, we'll issue a receipt.

Thank you for all of your support.

Educate Your Children!

Yes, We Need Achdus!

Guest Post By Steve - Long Time Friend Of UOJ

The navi Yeshaya gives us the answer in the very first perek with two words, "ASHERU CHAMOTZ"- STRENGTHEN THE VICTIMS! The gemara in Sanhedrin explains: "ASHERU CHAMOTZ VELO CHOMETZ"- STRENGTHEN THE VICTIM AND NOT THE CRIMINAL!

This is the type of achdus that was lacking at the time of the destruction of the two temples. The navi cried out, save yourselves by doing teshuva. Save yourselves by caring for the victims, the widows and orphans. Save yourselves by getting rid of your corrupt leaders who are the friends of thieves and love bribes . However, the people did not listen. They instead rallied around their false prophets, their corrupt leaders and the gangsters of that generation. It is said that every generation that the bais hamikdash is not built is as guilty as the generation when it was destroyed.

We have still not learned our lesson. Instead of unanimously rallying around the cause of victims of sexual abuse, we see rabbis and community leaders rallying around the child molesters. Read the latest Daily News article about Baruch Lebovits if you don't believe me. See how many people came to support him in court versus how many who came to support his brave victim. See how his victims have been villified and attacked while pidyon shvuyim funds are being collected for him and other child molesters. Have these people gone insane? No, we have been this insane since the time of Yeshaya. Nothing has changed. That is why we are still in galus. We still have our false prophets who tell us everything is fine and dandy, our corrupt leaders who are friends of thieves and love shochad and who refuse to even acknowledge those that have been victimized. What has changed?

Nothing!

As for Sholom Rubashkin, nebach, it is a human tragedy. Yes, the sentence was excessive. Anti-semitism? I don't think so. The man made one fatal mistake after another. For close to ten years, he refused to heed the call to change the way he operated his business. We begged him to do something about the reports of worker abuse, animal abuse, immigration law violations, identity fraud, health and safety violations, EPA violations, kashrus and labeling issues, etc.,etc. Yet, all we heard back were denials from him, his lawyers and his PR spinmeisters. After the raid and his indictment, instead of cooperating with the authorities, he stubbornly refused to change his ways. Instead of accepting a plea deal, he committed bank fraud, tampered with evidence, violated his bail terms and ultimately perjured himself on the witness stand. I don't put blame him alone for all his troubles.

His partners, coworkers, lawyers, PR team, the OU and Weissmandl all share in the blame and chillul hashem that took place at Agriprocessors. SMR is not an evil person. A stubborn, misguided and corrupt businessman maybe, but not evil. For the crimes he committed, a 27 year sentence is ridiculous. However,his arrogance and lack of contrition along with some bad advice all served to grease his skids. Pleading for leniency on behalf of such an individual is noble. I myself signed a petition calling for leniency. However, to make this into a cause celebre and playing the race card is not in our best interests. Further antagonizing the judge and the US justice system is also not wise and it severely backfired in this case. Try and help the man, yes, but please stop with the histrionics and this "achdus" business.

Yes, we need achdus.

Gilad Shalit needs our achdus. The victims of child sexual abuse need our achdus. The State of Israel needs our achdus. The countless poor people need our achdus. The orphans, widows and agunos need our achdus. Let's show achdus where it really counts and where it really means something. Asheru Chamotz Velo Chometz! I will keep repeating it until it starts to sink in.

Why Every Yeshiva Must Be Audited!

The Power of a Single Blogger!

Guest post by Tropper is Troubled.

Events have moved very quickly this past week and Jews/Israelis have been thrust into the media spotlight with intensity. The way Israel stopped the Gaza blockade busters after it was provoked into action unleashed a storm of, well not pro-Israel sentiment, but rather a torrent of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic venting in the world media and on the streets of many nations.

Once again, Israel was hated and demonized for taking preemptive action against its enemies, almost to the day 43 years since the outbreak of the Six Day War in 1967.The anti-Israel mobs took to the streets aided and abetted by the self-hating Jews and Israel bashers of all stripes and shades. People in the media referred to Israelis in the worst stereotypes of Jews worthy of the Nazis.

While the world was huffing and puffing with all this hate, across the Atlantic at a little-noticed "Jewish heritage month celebration" at the White House (it's not clear what "heritage" was being celebrated there because lately the White House people seem to be surprised that most of the world's Jews do not adhere to the standard group-think so common to secular political Jewish groups), something significant happened!

What happened?

At the height of the ships trying to break the Gaza blockade and with Israel being excoriated, none other than Ms. Helen Thomas, the senior correspondent at the White House, both in age and status, put her foot in her mouth when innocently asked about the event at the White House she chose to throw her notorious verbal nuke at Israel and it's people to tell Israel, meaning its Jews, to "get the hell out of Palestine...and go back 'home' to Poland, Germany and America" that is till reverberating across the news media and when her videotaped live comments were posted online, she was forced to eat humble pie, was fired, condemned by the White House spokesperson and had to apologize.

What was she doing and what was she thinking?

She is not senile, but she was throwing a life-support to the beleaguered blockade-busters who were causing havoc for Israel and she was in effect joining in with all the world's anti-Semites and Israel bashers who were calling for Israel's scalp. While it turned out to be her personal Titanic, it hurt Israel but it taught an even deeper lesson.

What is missed is that Helen Thomas was brought down by a one, until now unknown, Jewish blogger !

The most distinguished voice in journalism at the White House for 50 years, allowed to hector, lecture and interrogate US presidents in public, and one of Israel's most strident and sly critics was cut off at the knees and exposed as a duplicitous anti-Semitic hate-monger and biased anti-Israel advocate and instantly defrocked of her status as a reputable journalist.

The power of one blogger brought down Helen Thomas and it should as a warning to all those who cling to power in the old-fashioned way and hope that their nefarious views and deeds will remain hidden. Tropper learned this the hard way, as have many others, most notably Nixon with the tapes of his White House conversations and the Linda Tripp tapes of Monica Lewinsky exposing Clinton's behavior.

The until-now unknown Jewish blogger is an online rabbi, someone who has tried to make a living from work in the media over the years, or so he claims, with credentials from the Conservative JTS. He is no different to tens of thousands of other Jewish bloggers many of them rabbis of all shades and denominations who hope to make splash and a difference with their blogs or websites.

On his site/blog, Rabbi David Nesenoff's main "credential" is that he is the "Founder, RabbiLIVE.com" and as he explains about himself at:

http://www.rabbilive.com/RabbiLIVE/About.html:

"No Need To Wait... It's LIVE !

Anne Frank, while hiding for two years during World War II's Holocaust, wrote in her diary: 'How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.' Certainly in our new world of speed of light, sound bite, and mega byte there is no rhyme or reason to wait when it comes to helping our fellow man and woman. Slow motion, time delay, and reruns must be substituted with LIVE. RabbiLIVE.com is dedicated to preparing, repairing, caring, and sparing the world... and doing so now... in real time as captured on video at real LIVE events with real LIVE people concerning real LIVE issues reported by a real LIVE rabbi.

Israel, politics, family, religion, the arts, peace, war, controversy, celebrity, events, celebrations, rallies, sermons, and of course even, if not especially, comedy make up our lives. The rabbi must sometimes leave the pulpit and mingle with life’s fellows and foibles. The new literature, for good or bad, is video. RabbiLIVE presents LIVE literature that exposes and proposes...teaches and preaches. -Rabbi David F. Nesenoff."

He's earned his ten minutes of fame, that's for sure, but more importantly he has taught a very important lesson in this television+cyber-age with it's 24 hour news cycles and live blogospheres, that with the ability to use words and especially with a small recorder or video camera (it could be in a cell phone or pen) a tiny 25 second sound bite can expose a cancer, deliver a mortal blow to bring down falsehood and hate and equalizing an otherwise unequal battle between puffed up ego maniacal over-confident abusers of the Jewish people and the few who are bravely perpetually struggling against them.

New Hampshire cases of sexual assault of a minor, the statute of limitations starts 22 years after the victim turns 18

I THOUGHT I HEARD IT ALL!

http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/teenager_forced_to_apologize_to_her_church_for_being_raped

In 1997, 15-year-old Tina Anderson became pregnant after being raped repeatedly by an older man she knew from church. Shockingly, when her pastor found out, he forced her to apologize in front of the entire congregation in Concord, New Hampshire, and then promptly helped whisk her away to live in Colorado.

According to Tina, the first time she was raped by Ernest Willis, it was in the backseat of his car after he'd given her a driving lesson. She didn't tell anyone because she was terrified that she'd be blamed. After being raped by Willis again, Tina became pregnant. Willis, ever the vile human-being, offered to drive her out-of-state for an abortion or to punch her in the stomach to cause a miscarriage. It was at this point that Tina confided in her mother, who in turn notified their pastor, Chuck Phelps.

It turns out, she was right was right to fear being blamed. In a disgusting turn of events, Phelps told Tina she would have to go before the entire congregation to apologize for her sins. Excuse me? It seems that Phelps explained to Tina that while Willis "may have been 99 percent responsible," she needs to confess to her "1 percent guilt in the situation."

After Tina acquiesced in this humiliating act of victim-blaming, the church and her family shipped her off to live in Colorado against her wishes, where she was instructed to give the baby up for adoption. While Phelps did contact the police about Willis — you know, since he was 99% guilty and all — it became nearly impossible for them to do anything about it since Tina was now hidden away in Colorado.

This appalling story is finally seeing the light of day because Tina Anderson decided to come forward this year. Sadly, it wasn't until this February that Tina truly realized that the assault on her was, in fact, zero percent her responsibility. That's when she decided it was time to share her experience with others and to seek justice for what had happened to her as a teenager.

You might have noticed that I am using her real name, something highly unusual in rape cases because victims' names are protected. This is because Tina wanted it this way. She wanted you to know exactly who she is and what was done to her, not only by Ernest Willis, but by those she entrusted to protect her.

Since Tina came forward, Willis has been arrested and released on bail. In New Hampshire, in cases of sexual assault of a minor, the statute of limitations does not run out until 22 years after the victim turns 18. Just as importantly, police are investigating exactly how much church leaders knew about the rape. Of course, if the adults in Concord — meaning Phelps, Tina's family, and every church congregant who heard Tina's "confession" and sat silent — had acted compassionately and responsibly back in 1997, they would have saved Tina over a decade of heartache and their community a lifetime of guilt.

Roxann MtJoy is a freelance writer and case manager at a domestic violence shelter. She is producing and directing a documentary on women's colleges in the United States.

Urgent! Seeking Information about a Boro Park Child Molestor.

The UOJ Archives - September 3, 2007



Dear UOJ,

After I wrote the article on August 2 about my experience with a predator (read here) I was contacted by someone with a horrifying story that demands immediate action. This reader identified the man in my story and he painstakingly relayed details of his own ghastly experiences with this monster over three decades ago. This child molester has been targeting innocent children (and young adults) in Boro Park for over thirty years and nothing has been done! I am seeking any information on BEREL GOLDMAN, such as where he lives and where he is employed. Action (within the parameters of the law) will be taken and I pity him (and his employer) if he is currently still in chinuch.

I shudder when I think of how many victims he must have ruined for so many years. UOJ, there is a fire raging in Boro Park and it must be extinguished! The attitude of cover-up in the chassidishe velt is fueled by a clannish attitutude that is worse than the shanda of the Kolko/Margulies/Scheinberg/Belsky fiasco.

Here is the tell-all email that was sent to me by someone who has never recovered from the pain he suffered as an innocent child.

UOJ & friends, this is not a sensational piece of yellow quasi-journalism. This is a serious matter that requires the help of your vast audience. I and this victim implore the community to provide further information on:

Berel Goldman
Age: mid-to-upper 50’s
Height: approx 5’6
Built: Stocky
Hair/Beard: black with streaks of gray
Skin color: olive
Eyes: blue (a little bloodshot)

This monster wears chassidishe garb and has been seen walking around Boro Park and Flatbush and often engages in seemingly harmless conversation with young men and children.

Email sent to me:

Hello,

It took me a few days to get the courage to write back to you since I am still haunted by this guy and it brings back to me very bad memories that will live with me for the rest of my life....
I would hope that this letter gets posted on the UOJ blog and gets to the appropriate channels so that we get rid of this pervert and molester once and for all...
I have kept this in me for many years and I want to get it out of my system at this time...
I am now in my lower forties now and this started around 35 years ago when I was in the fourth grade in the Bobover Yeshiva..
The guy who we are talking about was my rebbe that year and his name is Berel Goldman...
He was in his low twenties at that time, he was very strong and muscular and he used to take me and lift me up with his hands and seat me on his lap and flex his big muscles at me and ask me if i liked it and while on his lap he would touched me all over including my penis thru my pants.
One day in middle of the year after I got to sit on his lap again, he told me to come out of the classroom with him and he took me to the bathroom and he locked the door and he exposed his penis to me and told me to rub it with my hands, I get very scared and terrified but he grabbed my hand and forced me to rub him while he unzipped my pants and was fondling my penis until he masturbated, of course at that age I did not know what this was and I started to cry, he told me that I better not tell anybody or he would punish me...I was scared and did not .a week later he did it to another kid in the class..he happened to tell his mother about it, and she called my mother and told her that he did it to me also, my mother asked me about it and I told her what happened..My mother and the other lady went to the principal and told him, and the answer was that he can not do anything about it, since this rebbe is from a prominent family in the shul and he does not want to ruin their name, our parents were furious and I left the yeshiva for a different yeshiva for the rest of the year and returned only the following year..He continued being a rebbi for a few years until he was fired and the reason was because the principal's son was to enter his grade...
After he was fired, he went to the Viener Yeshiva and was fired from there too..
Since I know him from shul, I know that he did not stop and he continues to molest kids and teenagers in shuls and in yeshivas and in mikvas..
I wrote this email with my heart full of pain of what this guy did to me and to many others...

Thank You Very Much

For The 5th Year Child Sex-Abuse Bill Dies In Legislature!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/nyregion/03abuse.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

PINNED POST - NO COMMENTS ON THIS THREAD PLEASE!


http://www.nychildvictimsact.org/

"They are the true heroes of the human race, but for whom we should still be living in caves......"

"Psychoanalysis has demonstrated the ambiguous nature of our thinking processes. Indeed, the power of rationalization, this counterfeit of reason, is one of the most puzzling human phenomena. If we were not accustomed to it, man's rationalizing effort would clearly appear to us as similar to a paranoid system. The paranoid person can be very intelligent, make excellent use of his reason in all areas of life except in that isolated part where his paranoid system is involved. The rationalizing person does exactly the same. We talk to an intelligent Stalinist who exhibits a great capacity to make use of his reason in many areas of thought. When we come to discuss Stalinism with him, however, we are suddenly confronted with a closed system of thought, the only function of which is to prove that his allegiance to Stalinism is in line with and not contradictory to reason.

He will deny certain obvious facts, distort others, or, inasmuch as he agrees to certain facts and statements, he will explain his attitude as logical and consistent.

He will at the same time declare that the fascist cult of the leader is one of the most obnoxious features of authoritarianism and claim that the Stalinist cult of the leader is something entirely different, that it is the genuine expression of the people's love for Stalin. When you tell him that is what the Nazis claimed too, he will smile tolerantly about your want of perception or accuse you of being the lackey of capitalism. He will find a thousand and one reasons why Russian nationalism is not nationalism, why authoritarianism is democracy, why slave labor is designed to educate and improve anti-social elements. The arguments which are used to defend or explain the deeds of the Inquisition or those used to explain racial or sex prejudices are illustrations of the same rationalizing capacity.

The degree to which man uses his thinking to rationalize irrational passions and to justify the actions of his group, shows how great the distance which man has still to travel in order to become Homo Sapiens. But we must go beyond such an awareness. We must try to understand the reasons for this phenomenon lest we fall into the error of believing that man's readiness for rationalization is a part of "human nature" which nothing can change.

Man by origin is a herd animal.

His actions are determined by an instinctive impulse to follow the leader and to have close contact with the other animals around him. Inasmuch as we are sheep, there is no greater threat to our existence than to lose this contact with the herd and to be isolated. Right and wrong, true and false are determined by the herd. But we are not only sheep. We are also human; we are endowed with awareness of ourselves, endowed with reason which by its very nature is independent of the herd. Our actions can be determined by the results of our thinking regardless of whether or not the truth is shared by others.

The split between our sheep nature and our human nature is the basis for two kinds of orientations: the orientation by proximity to the herd and the orientation by reason. Rationalization is a compromise between our sheep nature and our human capacity to think. The latter forces us to make believe that everything we do can stand the test of reason, and that is why we tend to make it appear that our irrational opinions and decisions are reasonable. But inasmuch as we are sheep, reason is not our real guide; we are guided by an entirely different principle, that of herd allegiance.

The ambiguity of thinking, the dichotomy between reason and a rationalizing intellect, is the expression of a basic dichotomy of man, the coextensive need for bondage and freedom. The unfolding and full emergence of reason is dependent on the attainment of full freedom and independence.

Until this is accomplished, man will tend to accept for truth that which the majority of the group wants to be true; his judgment is determined by the need for contact with the herd and by fear of being isolated from it.

A few individuals can stand this isolation and say the truth in spite of the danger of losing touch. They are the true heroes of the human race, but for whom we should still be living in caves......"

Psychoanalysis and Religion
1950, Erich Fromm
Chapter III, An Analysis of Some Types of Religious Experience

We urge the N.Y. Legislature to rise above lobbying by the Catholics - Orthodox Jewish officials - pass The Childs Victims Act!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/opinion/16sun2.html?ref=opinion

Editorial
Justice for Child Abuse Victims
Published: May 14, 2010

The Catholic Church is working against the interests of child abuse victims in state legislatures around the country. In recent weeks, lobbying by the church has blocked measures in Wisconsin, Arizona and Connecticut intended to widen the legal window for victims to file lawsuits against hidden predators.

We urge the New York State Legislature to rise above intense lobbying by the New York State Catholic Conference and Orthodox Jewish officials and pass the overdue Child Victims Act. Like a similar measure enacted in 2003 by California, it would create a one-time, one-year suspension of the statute of limitations for bringing civil lawsuits over the sexual abuse of children.

Once that window closes, people alleging abuse would have until age 28 to bring a claim. Current law sets the limit at 23 in most circumstances.

The measure recognizes that it typically takes many years before victims are ready to come forward. The measure also recognizes the Catholic Church’s history of intimidating victims and burying abuses in church files, creating a shroud of secrecy that extended in many cases until victims were in their 30s or older, well beyond existing time limits for prosecutions or civil lawsuits.

An earlier version of the bill passed the Assembly in 2006, 2007 and 2008, but the Senate, then under Republican control, refused to consider it. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver expresses strong support for the latest bill, amended to cover abuses by both religious and non- religious entities. But he is insistent that the Senate act first before requiring his members to cast another politically sensitive vote on the issue.

The Senate Codes Committee is set to consider the measure by mid-June. The committee’s chairman, Eric Schneiderman, Democrat of Manhattan, should work to ensure passage of the bill, which has safeguards against the filing of bogus claims.

The Catholic Church fears a wave of costly settlements and damage awards like those that followed California’s temporary lifting of the statute of limitations several years ago. Those concerns, and the difficulty of trying to judge decades-old accusations, are outweighed by the need to afford victims a measure of justice, the demands of public safety, and the injustice of rewarding any group for covering up sexual abuse of children.

Agudath Israel to UOJ: Welcome Back!

http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=2387




Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Agudah to UOJ: Welcome Back

It appears that the Agudah, with their pathetic grasping at straws of controversy to appear relevant, has resurrected UOJ -- the Patron Saint of Children Who are Sexually Abused by Religious Figures and Those Who Harbor Them. UOJ, after being 'outed' this spring by some self-appointed thugs who believe themselves to be defenders of Torah and Gedolim, slipped into the background with a farewell post just before Rosh Hashanah. Sadly, it appeared as though UOJ would relegated to asterisk status in Jewish history, despite his valiant and timely attacks on a viciously apathetic status quo that preferred the spiritual murder of Jewish children over decisive action.

And all was quiet as Rosh Yeshivas, executive directors, and some yeshivishe egomaniacs in the sleepy slum of Waterbury, CT. rejoiced at the miraculous bullet dodging they had just witnessed. Evidently, the 'humiliation' weapon -- a thin reference to ruined shidduchim and tainted yichus -- had succeeded in preserving the perversity of ultra-orthodox apathy.

But something was afoot. Deep within the bowels of 42 Broadway, across some shiny overpriced conference table, the Wizards of Was realized that their destiny lay in murdering the mandate bearer: blogs. Ironically, if they would actually read the blogs instead of dismissing them as the tools of Satan, they would have been able to resurrect themselves and actively contribute to the betterment and solidification of American Orthodoxy. Instead, they took the short way out.

"Let's bash blogs," the Daas Torahniks declared. "We must create a new enemy, now that the Nazis are gone, Jewish busdrivers can wear yarmulkes to work without fear, we've given up on "at-risk" kids (poorly trained mentors are the answer....right?), and we've selected our guest of honor for this year's dinner..." The obvious answer was blogs.

The dispensers of Daas Torah, concerned with the impact blogs were having on their destructive hegemony and possible ramifications that would have on future fundraising seconded the motion. "Blogs are bad," they bellowed. "We must rid our homes and neighborhoods of blogs." Then they returned to worrying about why the frummest girls schools produce graduates who ignore tznius, despite 14 years of subversive inculcation, and how to close the Pandora's box of frummer-than-though kashrus which has inexplicably led to America's most religious neighborhood to eat traif meat for half a decade.

Blogs are bad. Blogs are bad. Yeah, let's stick it to that UnOrthodox fellow. Who is he anyway to blame us for child molestation? We TOLD people that separate seating weddings would solve everything. And as long as they don't listen in the Five Towns, we can't be held responsible for what happens to little boys in Brooklyn."

So the convention program, with a half dozen cutsie teaser ads were drafted and everyone was happy. "Blogs are bad!," said the Agudah big shots. "When we're done with them, we'll be able to ridicule molestation victims with impunity in the Jewish Week." The Daas Torah dispensers cried, "Blogs are Bad. And now, we can get back to banning intangible objects, like books and sheitels, which we can burn, and actual people whom we can besmirch, excommunicate and threaten. It was so much easier in the old days."

But they didn't count on themselves making the same mistake as they have made time and time again: life moves fast. People forget. They are busy. If things go away, they are forgotten. It's the same reason why sexual molestation victims fade away. If people forget, their pain is buried, for they themselves to choke on, alone. But when old news gets dredged up. When books that appear objectionable are given attention, or banned, they take on a life of their own. When forgotten blogs are given main stage forums at major fundraising events....they return to life.

And so, UOJ, in all his glory has been vindicated and resurrected, unlike the Agudah, which is as pathetic and irrelevant as it has been for the past decade, UOJ has attracted a well written,logical counterpart:

http://rabbimatisyahusalomon.blogspot.com

which features a several thousand word letter detailing the vast and grievous gaps in communal leadership and compassion by our so-called gedolim.

The progeny of UOJ also provides an lucid timeline of events that led up to UOJ and more importantly the serious lack of judgment, compasison, and leadership of the dispensers of Daas Torah. And, incidentally, offers a nod to the one straight shooter of our generation, Rabbi Avigdor Miller, who told certain askanim, to, so to speak -- damn the torpedoes and blow this mother sky high. (I paraphrased a bit).

So, to the chagrin of every frummie on the dark hatted side of the color spectrum, UOJ is back. Ironically, the very intention of the Agudah, to declare their moral victory over bloggers and reclaim their relevance has instead tossed the moral imperative to bloggers such as UOJ. Blogs are more relevant and necessary than ever before.

As for UOJ, he sounds more mature, and as always -- is dead on correct about the travesty that has been perpetrated over 40 years of inaction, intimidation, and malicious ineptitude.

Welcome back UOJ. Klal Yisroel needs you!

posted by Still Wonderin'

http://stillwonderin.blogspot.com/2006/12/agudah-to-uoj-welcome-back.html#links

"Like the Catholic Church, Orthodox Jews have beliefs that create a separate world from which child sex abuse victims cannot escape".

http://writ. news.findlaw. com/hamilton/ 20100429. html


"The recent scandals (and convictions) involving Rabbi Yehuda Kolko and Rabbi Baruch Lebovits were a result of the victims bravely coming forward even despite community pressure, and they are surely an indication that the tide has been turning".

How Other Religious Organizations Echo the Roman Catholic Church's Rule Against Scandal, A Precept that Entrenches and Perpetuates Cycles of Child Sex Abuse: Orthodox Judaism, Part Two in a Two-Part Series
By MARCI A. HAMILTON

Thursday, April 29, 2010

This is Part Two in a two-part series of columns on religions, other than the Catholic Church, that possess precepts that have the effect of leaving clergy child sex abuse unpunished. Part One can be found here. – Ed.

In the past two weeks, there have been yet more revelations about the Catholic Church's mishandling of child sex abuse, with, for example, European bishops forced to resign. In my last column, I described, based on church documents and case law, some of the pitfalls in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' approach to child sex abuse within the organization. In this column, I will address the struggles of institutions within the Orthodox Jewish community on these issues.

Like Other Faiths, Orthodox Judaism Is Wary of Secular Authority – But There Are Exceptions

Like the Catholic Church, Orthodox Jews have certain beliefs that tend to create a separate world from which child sex abuse victims cannot escape. The key question with respect to every religious organization that is dealing with hidden, ongoing, or persistent child sex abuse is this one: What will it take to liberate the victims? External pressures from sources such as the media and the legal system can make a difference, but it may also take some re-examination and soul-searching with respect to some of the institution's religiously motivated practices. The Orthodox Jews are making steady and promising progress in this arena. The ultra-Orthodox Jews, unfortunately, are not.

The Jewish law of "Chilul HaShem," which means literally "a desecration of God's name," warns believers not to bring shame on the community. This is the closest analogue in the Jewish tradition to the Catholic rule against scandal. And, there is the Jewish law against "mesira," or informing on another Jew to the authorities. Roughly translated, according to Rabbi Yosef Blau of Yeshiva University (my home institution) , it means "Don't go to secular authorities," and thus can be used as a reason not to report child sex abuse to police or civil authorities. The law against arka'ot, or proceeding in secular courts, also has presented barriers.

As with all important Jewish concepts, the meaning of each these precepts lies in particular interpretations. According to Rabbi Blau, the prohibition against mesira, though widely honored, may not be relevant in democratic societies. The purpose of the law was to protect Jews from tyrannical governments, such as Nazi Germany's. Thus, the prohibition was created to protect Jews from the government. The same reasoning does not apply in a legitimate democracy.

Moreover, there are exceptions to mesira – for instance, when circumstances are such that the religion's internal mechanisms cannot deal with an internal problem. And a perfect example, according to Blau, is child sex abuse. But observant Jews may not be willing to act in contravention of a law like the prohibition against mesira without first consulting a rabbi on whether the exception actually holds in the particular case, which can delay, if not forestall, reporting.

Yet, the Rabbinical Council of America at its Convention this week issued a resolution that would seem to open the door to reporting abuse:

•[The RCA] reaffirms its unqualified condemnation of all forms of child abuse.
•It reaffirms its halakhic position that the prohibitions of mesirah and arka'ot do not apply in cases of abuse.
•It will regularly issue on its website and to the media appropriate statements of condemnation when public attention is drawn to a case in which Jews are either victims or perpetrators of abuse.
•It will regularly evaluate the competence of its members in understanding and responding to issues of child abuse and initiate training and continuing educational opportunities for all of its members in this area every year.
•The members of the RCA address the issues of child abuse in their communities in at least one sermon, lecture or article within the next twelve months, and that contact information for local abuse services be displayed in a public place in all synagogues, schools, and Jewish community institutions serviced by its members.

Other Aspects of Jewish Law May Also Make It More Difficult for Child Sex Abuse Victims to Find Justice

Unfortunately, the prohibition against mesira is not the only precept of Jewish law that has made it difficult for child sex abuse victims to get help. There is also the prohibition of "lashon hara," which means "evil tongue," and forbids speaking badly of others. It creates an impediment to survivors even telling members of their own communities about the abuse, let alone the civil authorities. Some supporters of adults who have been accused of abuse also have invoked lashon hara to prohibit others from telling outsiders.

There are also cultural elements at play. "Shidduch" means "finding a spouse," and in some circles, the drive to find a marriage partner is a very powerful force. For the most part, religious Jews enter into arranged marriages in which one's lineage and family reputation determine desirability on the marriage market. Making a good match, or "Shidduch," is of paramount importance within these communities. The stigma of being a victim of abuse can deter marriage partners. Therefore, there is strong incentive for the entire family to stay mum about the issue, and for the victim himself, or herself, never to mention it.

In addition, there has been strong communal pressure in Orthodox communities to keep the problem internal. This element has decreased in the Orthodox community, which is divided among diverse synagogues and congregations, but it remains a force in the ultra-Orthodox community, as I will discuss below.

Finally, there has been the problem of denial. Of course, we see denial in many child sex abuse situations, whether the context is religious or secular. The difference here is that, in the Jewish community, denial regarding clergy child sex abuse has been worsened by the belief that one should keep the halakh (Jewish law), which plays an important role in creating a self-identity for the Jewish communities. Living an observant life is transformative. An Orthodox Jew believes he or she will become a better person by keeping the laws, and that belief can translate, for some, into a decision generally to ignore modern studies or media on any issue, because the modern information could have the capacity to call into question their entire lifestyle. When the issue is child abuse, the consequences of that belief can be tragic.

In sum, within Orthodox Judaism, some adhere to a set of internal rules the effect of which is to prevent child sex abuse victims from speaking about their abuse, getting help, or filing criminal charges against perpetrators. Fortunately, however, secular law has provided some of the pressure that is needed to establish a pathway out for the victims. The recent scandals (and convictions) involving Rabbi Yehuda Kolko and Rabbi Baruch Lebovits were a result of the victims bravely coming forward even despite community pressure, and they are surely an indication that the tide has been turning.

Orthodox Jews Should Be Praised for Openly Debating What Should Be Done About Clergy Child Sex Abuse – and Acknowledging that It Occurs.

Moreover, there has been a healthy and open debate among Orthodox Jews regarding what to do about this very serious problem. The Flatbush Shomrim announced this last week that child sex abusers should be prosecuted, and advised fellow Jews to report sex abuse directly to the authorities. Ben Hirsch, the President of Survivors for Justice – the first organization of its kind in the Jewish community – praised this move in an op-ed for the Jewish Star.

As with the Catholic survivors' movement, Hirsch explained that secrecy has been in the leaders' interest, not the children's:

"[O]ne does not have to be a cynic to conclude that the rabbinic establishment has a vested interest in keeping reports of abuse within the community. For leaders who could be facing criminal and civil liability, invoking concepts like mesira and chilul Hashem to stop people from reporting is little more than a form of self-protection. Self-protection that, as the past 40 years have shown, has come at the expense of the protection of our community's children."

Hirsch then likened the Jewish situation to that of the Catholics:

"[T]he cover-ups have resulted in hundreds of victims whose abuse could have been prevented. Dealing with reports of sexual abuse internally covers-up the crime, usually with catastrophic results when the pedophile strikes again–something we are hearing about daily in reports about the Catholic Church and frighteningly in our own community as well.

The Torah teaches us to avoid offering counsel in situations where we may be a nogea b'dovor (an interested party). This applies equally to rabbis, whom the Torah nowhere exempts from this rule. As such, because of their inherent conflicts of interest in this issue, I respectfully suggest that rabbis be precluded from being involved in this issue except in very limited ways–namely, encouraging people publicly and in private to go directly to the authorities and supporting them practically, emotionally and socially in that process."

Hirsch offers persuasive arguments, and remarkable conclusions, that bode well for child sex abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the ultra-Orthodox, or Chasidic, Jewish community, which as of now is far from being able to aid the victims within the community. A recent announcement in New Square reiterated the principle that abuse should not be reported to the authorities, although it did at least establish a path for reporting the abuse to an internal committee.

As we know from the other universes within which child sex abuse has been a problem, keeping the issue internal is never the best – or even a good, or acceptable – path for the victims. In addition, there is another impediment to justice in this community: Rabbi Blau noted that Chasidic community members defer to the Jewish Laws of Tzniut, which command modesty in both dress and speech and in turn forestall discussion regarding private body parts and improper touch. Victims therefore may lack even the basic vocabulary to report the abuse. And the community is so closed off that communal pressure to keep the issue secret is extraordinary, with few, if any, openings for outside forces such as police, prosecutors, or the media to bring the victims some relief.

Still, there are glimmers of hope from within even the ultra-Orthodox community. Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv has ruled that the Jewish law not only does not bar reporting, but rather "one should report (an abuser) to the secular government authorities [police, etc.]; and in this there is benefit to society . . ." Thus, the exception to the law against reporting is actually quite strong. That means the barriers to reporting in the ultra-Orthodox universe are more cultural than legal.

Of all of the religious organizations facing these issues, the Orthodox Jews appear to be moving most quickly to the position that the child victim's needs must trump the organization's preferences, even when it means re-examining common interpretations of certain religious prohibitions. For that, the community deserves praise.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marci Hamilton, a FindLaw columnist, is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (Cambridge 2008). A review of Justice Denied appeared on this site on June 25, 2008. Her previous book is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005), now available in paperback. Her email is hamilton02@aol. com.

What To Do When Leaders Go Bad?

Yagoda Commons
215 Lexington Ave. (at 33rd St.)
Yeshiva University, Beren Campus

Refreshments will be served - ["The Day The RCA Became Agudah"]
Free and open to the public with valid picture ID
ASL INTERPRETED
WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE

RSVP: ethics@yu.edu or (212) 960-0826

This panel will examine corruption as a failure of public integrity, and will include both Halakhic and secular perspectives. Issues to be discussed include political corruption in Israel and the United States and misconduct by community and religious leaders as well as those in politics and government. Co-sponsored by the Center for Ethics at YU, Social Justice Society, YU College Democrats, YU College Republicans, and Political Science Society

"Change You Can Count On!"

MAZEL TOV! - REAL CHANGE YOU CAN COUNT ON!


April 27, 2010 -- Whereas we have become increasingly aware of incidents of the sexual and physical abuse of children in our community; and

Whereas, there have been a number of high profile cases in which Orthodox rabbis have been indicted or convicted for child abuse or child endangerment; and

Whereas the lives and futures of many of these victims and their families are harmed in significant ways: suicide, post traumatic stress syndrome, inability to form healthy relationships, inability to develop healthy intimate relationships, etc.; and

Whereas many victims of abuse in our community still remain silent and do not come forward to accuse perpetrators or seek help for fear of stigma, personal and familial consequences, or perceived halakhic concerns; and

Whereas the Rabbinical Council of America has resolved through past resolutions its condemnation of abuse and its censure of abusers, and has affirmed, under the guidance and direction of its poskim (Rabbinic decisors,) that the prohibitions of mesirah (reporting crimes to the civil authorities) and arka’ot (adjudication in civil courts) do not apply in cases of abuse and in fact, it is halakhically obligatory to make such reports; and

Whereas reiterating this long held position can serve to provide pastoral and halakhic leadership, support, direction and affirmation to abuse survivors and their families and advocates.

Therefore, the Rabbinical Council of America resolves that

• It reaffirms its unqualified condemnation of all forms of child abuse.

• It reaffirms its halakhic position that the prohibitions of mesirah and arka’ot do not apply in cases of abuse.

• It will regularly issue on its website and to the media appropriate statements of condemnation when public attention is drawn to a case in which Jews are either victims or perpetrators of abuse.

• It will regularly evaluate the competence of its members in understanding and responding to issues of child abuse and initiate training and continuing educational opportunities for all of its members in this area every year.

• The members of the RCA address the issues of child abuse in their communities in at least one sermon, lecture or article within the next twelve months, and that contact information for local abuse services be displayed in a public place in all synagogues, schools, and Jewish community institutions serviced by its members.

Gevald!

Yeshiva Torah Vodaath Versus Lipa Margulies!

.... During the tenure and under the direction of the Rosh Hayeshiva - Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky ztvk"l:

*

Rabbi Malkiel Kotler & Lipa Margulies




Lipa Margulies left the employ of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath's office in 1956, where he had access to Torah Vodaath's donor list and all its proprietary information. He took the Yeshiva's name, raised money for his own enterprise under the guise of YTV; and it took R' Yaakov Kaminetzky 10 years to finally get Margulies to agree to come to Bais Din. The deed to 150 Ocean Parkway (Margulies' original child rape address) was held in Trust until Bais Din would render its ruling or "if the parties came to an agreement".

The agreement under R' Yaakov's stewardship of YTV, was that Lipa Margulies and all his "entities", would be subject to an audit by an agreed upon accounting firm, to ascertain that no money raised by Margulies, came from YTV's donor pool (as Margulies claimed).

It took another 11 years for this matter to be "resolved", all the while Margulies was still calling his "Hot KOLKO Club", "Yeshiva Torah Vodaath of Flatbush".

... And the Jewish community would do nothing about it, and trusted this miscreant with providing a "Jewish education" to its children, as well as securing their emotional and physical safety!

How, and under what circumstances was this matter resolved? Stay tuned for Part Two!

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE AND PRINT!