Nechemya Weberman

One of the most shocking child sex scandals in recent memory unfolded in an insular community in the hipster capital of the world, where a prominent hasidic counselor sexually abused a teenage girl...and the community largely turned on the girl.

THE DEVIL OF WILLIAMSBURGH!

   

One of the most shocking child sex scandals in recent memory unfolded in an insular community in the hipster capital of the world, where a prominent hasidic counselor sexually abused a teenage girl...and the community largely turned on the girl. One of the most shocking child sex scandals in recent memory unfolded in an insular community in the hipster capital of the world, where a prominent hasidic counselor sexually abused a teenage girl...and the community largely turned on the girl.....

  WATCH 30 MINUTE VIDEO:

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/inside-a-different-kind-of-religious-sex-scandal/51fffe862b8c2a20f000095c

 

The Torah and child sexual abuse

by Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Everything we build and teach our children, all our investments and dedication to good, all our moral standards, our entire education system, can be wiped out in one fell swoop when we or our children are violated.

The first of all ethical and Torah axioms must be stated at the outset: No one has a right to in any way violate in any way the body or soul of another human being.

 Indeed, we don’t even have the right to mutilate our own bodies, because your body does not belong to you; it is “Divine property.”

No crime is worse that assaulting another’s dignity — which is compared to the dignity of G-d Himself, being that every person was created in the Divine Image. Even a hanged murderer must not be defiled and his body not left to hang overnight because it reflects the Divine Image. How much more so — infinitely more so — regarding a live person and innocent child.

Abuse, in any form or shape, physical, psychological, verbal, emotional or sexual, is above all a violent crime — a terrible crime. Abusing another (even if it’s intangible) is no different than taking a weapon and beating someone to a pulp. And because of its terrible long-term effects, the crime is that much worse.

The next question is this: What are our obligations as parents, teachers, writers, Web site editors or just plain adult citizens when it comes to abuse?

On one hand, we are talking about protecting innocent people from criminal predators, which clearly is a major obligation and a priority concern. On the other hand, we do have laws prohibiting embarrassing people (even criminals) in public, always hopeful, allowing people to correct their ways. We have laws about avoiding gossip and speaking ill about others (lashon harah), and not feeding into the base instinct of “talking about others” or “mob mentality” witch-hunting expeditions.

We have several obligations when we see or know about a crime, as well as obligations to prevent further crimes:

1) A witness to a crime who does not testify “must bear his guilt” (Leviticus 5:1).

2) “Do not place a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14), which includes the obligation to warn someone from a danger we are aware of. If you see someone walking down the street and you know that farther down the block there is an uncovered pit in the ground or a man with a gun, you are obligated to warn him. If we are aware of a predator, we must do everything possible to protect people from him.

3) “Do not stand still over your neighbor’s blood (when your neighbor’s life is in danger)” (Leviticus 19:16). It’s interesting to note that this commandment follows (in the same verse) “do not go around as a gossiper among your people,” suggesting that gossip is an issue only when no life is in danger. But if a life is in danger, then “do not stand still” even if means speaking about it in public.

4) “You must admonish your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). If one does not admonish, then he is responsible for the other’s sin (Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive 205; see Shabbat 54b. 119b). Although at the outset rebuke must be done “in private, kindly and gently,” not to embarrass him publicly (Arkhin 16b; Sefer HaMitzvot, Negative 305), but if it doesn’t help, the obligation is to admonish him in public (Rambam Deos 6:8. Shulchan Aruch HaRav Hilchos Onaah v’Gneivas Daas 30).

This is true even about a crime that does not affect other people. All the care taken about public shame is because the crime does not affect the public. And even then, there are situations where the admonishment must be done publicly. By contrast, in our discussion about abuse, which affects others, all these restrictions do not apply: Embarrassment of a criminal is never an excuse or a reason to put anyone else in potential danger.

Based on the above, I would submit the following criteria to determine whether to publish and publicize the name of a molester:

1) The abuse must be established without a shred of (reasonable) doubt. Because just as we must protect the potential victims of abuse, we also are obligated to protect the reputations of the innocent, and not wrongly accuse anyone without evidence or witnesses.

 2) Publicizing the fact will serve as a deterrent or even possible deterrent of further crimes, or will warn and protect possible future victims. If that is true, then lashon harah does not apply. It would be the equivalent of saying that it is lashon harah to warn someone of a weapon-wielding criminal who may cause harm.

3) Even if a name is not available to be publicized, the issue of abuse itself must be addressed for the same reasons stated: to make the public aware of the dangers, to protect innocent children.

The argument that publicity will give the community a “bad name” and “why wash our dirty laundry in public?” does not supersede the obligation to protect the innocent from being hurt.
Anyone who suggests that abuse must be overlooked, because (as one person told me) it “happens all the time” and “by many people, including our leaders,” or for any other reasons — is not different from ignoring any other crime, and is in itself a grave crime.

One could even argue that the greatest “kiddush HaShem” (sanctifying God’s name) is when a Torah-based community demonstrates that it doesn’t just mechanically follow the laws or isn’t merely concerned with reputations, but that it sets and demands the highest standard of accountability among its citizens, and invests the greatest possible measures to protect its children from predators, create trust and absolutely will not tolerate any breach or abuse. That the greatest sin of all is ignoring or minimizing crimes being perpetrated against our most innocent and vulnerable members: our children.

In conclusion: The bottom line in all matters regarding abuse is one and only one thing: protecting the innocent. Not the reputation of an individual, not the reputation of the community, not anything but the welfare of our children. In every given case, whether to publicize, whether to take any other action, the question that must be asked is this: What is best for the victims? Will or can this action help prevent someone from being hurt or not? If the answer is yes or even maybe yes, then the action should be taken.

The crisis has reached a boiling point where it must be addressed and brought to the attention of the public to make everyone aware of the dangers, the long-term consequences and the zero-tolerance policy that needs to be applied to every form of abuse.

Anything less would be irresponsible, immoral and, yes, in some way complicit.

---

Rabbi Simon Jacobson is the author of the best-selling book “Toward a Meaningful Life.” He heads The Meaningful Life Center (meaningfullife.com), in Manhattan, N.Y., which bridges the secular and the spiritual through a wide variety of live and on-line programming.

Expert: Child sex abuse an ‘epidemic’

                    

BELVIDERE — Last week’s arrest of a Belvidere North High School teacher charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault shined light on a crime often referred to as “the silent epidemic.”

The crime is silent, in part, because nearly three out of four children or 73 percent of the victims do not tell anyone about the abuse for at least one year, while many never say anything at all, said Darkness to Light President and CEO Jolie Logan.


It’s also an epidemic in part because child sexual abuse ranks second to homicide as the most expensive victim crime in the U.S., where immediate and long-term costs exceed $35 billion annually, according to the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse & Neglect. The study is a congressionally mandated periodic research to assess the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the United States.

Cathy Townsend of Darkness to Light said educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react to child sexual abuse is the mission of the Charleston, S.C.-based non-profit.

 Darkness to Light has provided training to more than 30,000 of South Carolina’s 54,000 teachers. School districts in the state are recognized as some of the country’s most progressive in preventing child sex abuse.

Jenee A. Blackert, 30, of Poplar Grove was charged Thursday with four counts of criminal sexual assault. It marks the second time in six years a Belvidere School District teacher has been charged with a sexual crime involving a student.

School District Superintendent Michael Houselog said all complaints of sexual abuse are taken seriously and investigated by school officials and, if necessary, law enforcement.

“Our students have not been bashful in reporting,” he said. “When kids are made to feel uncomfortable, we follow up on it.”

Townsend said one of the best steps a school district can take to prevent child abuse by a teacher is eliminate the opportunity for it by limiting one-on-one encounters.

She said a code of conduct should specify where and when a teacher can touch a child.
“A pat on the shoulder, a high-five? Fine. A pat on the butt? No.”

She also said a child should never ride alone with a teacher.

Red flags or precursors to child sex abuse include signs of “grooming.”

“Showing increasing affection to a child, patting and then hugging, gift giving. The child loses sense of where the boundaries lie,” Townsend said. “When the offender makes their move, the student often thinks, ‘Oh. I owe it to him.’”

Townsend said families also can be groomed.

“The teacher will baby-sit a child, take the child to a ball game. Parents are often honored that a teacher is taking extra time and attention with their child.”

While parents are left feeling betrayed upon learning their child was abused by a teacher, Townsend said the short- and long-term effects on the child can include changes in behavior, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school and alcoholism.

According to Darkness to Light, in 95 percent of all child sexual abuse cases, the offender is someone the child knows and trusts.

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

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Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1592820063/Expert-Child-sex-abuse-an-epidemic#ixzz2bxPRSZBg 

The Dangers Of "Willful Blindness"!

"Willful blindness is a legal concept which means, if there's information that you could know and you should know but you somehow manage not to know, the law deems that you're willfully blind. You have chosen not to know. There's a lot of willful blindness around these days. You can see willful blindness in banks, when thousands of people sold mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. You could see them in banks when interest rates were manipulated and everyone around knew what was going on, but everyone studiously ignored it. You can see willful blindness in the Catholic Church, where decades of child abuse went ignored. You could see willful blindness in the run-up to the Iraq War. Willful blindness exists on epic scales like those, and it also exists on very small scales, in people's families, in people's homes and communities, and particularly in organizations and institutions.

 Companies that have been studied for willful blindness can be asked questions like, "Are there issues at work that people are afraid to raise?" And when academics have done studies like this of corporations in the United States, what they find is 85 percent of people say yes. Eighty-five percent of people know there's a problem, but they won't say anything. And when I duplicated the research in Europe, asking all the same questions, I found exactly the same number. Eighty-five percent. That's a lot of silence. It's a lot of blindness. And what's really interesting is that when I go to companies in Switzerland, they tell me, "This is a uniquely Swiss problem." And when I go to Germany, they say, "Oh yes, this is the German disease." And when I go to companies in England, they say, "Oh, yeah, the British are really bad at this." And the truth is, this is a human problem. We're all, under certain circumstances, willfully blind.

What the research shows is that some people are blind out of fear. They're afraid of retaliation. And some people are blind because they think, well, seeing anything is just futile. Nothing's ever going to change. If we make a protest, if we protest against the Iraq War, nothing changes, so why bother? Better not to see this stuff at all.

And the recurrent theme that I encounter all the time is people say, "Well, you know, the people who do see, they're whistleblowers, and we all know what happens to them." So there's this profound mythology around whistleblowers which says, first of all, they're all crazy. But what I've found going around the world and talking to whistleblowers is, actually, they're very loyal and quite often very conservative people. They're hugely dedicated to the institutions that they work for, and the reason that they speak up, the reason they insist on seeing, is because they care so much about the institution and want to keep it healthy."

Gayla Benefield was just doing her job -- until she uncovered an awful secret about her hometown that meant its mortality rate was 80 times higher than anywhere else in the U.S. But when she tried to tell people about it, she learned an even more shocking truth: People didn’t want to know. In a talk that’s part history lesson, part call-to-action, Margaret Heffernan demonstrates the danger of "willful blindness" and praises ordinary people like Benefield who are willing to speak up.

WATCH VIDEO:
http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_the_dangers_of_willful_blindness.html?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2013-08-12

Advertise on NYTimes.com

Owner of Music Schools Charged With Molesting 9-Year-Old

 

In April, the girl’s mother walked in on the owner, Ilya Lehman, during a private lesson at the girl’s home on the Upper West Side, prosecutors said. The mother found Mr. Lehman inappropriately touching the girl, prosecutors said in court records, and the next day the girl told her mother that Mr. Lehman had repeatedly touched her under her panties and had her touch him inside his underwear.       

The girl’s parents soon after confronted Mr. Lehman, a naturalized United States citizen from Russia, and he left for Russia, returned to New York briefly, then went back to Russia again, according to prosecutors. He was arrested on July 15 at Kennedy International Airport as he returned to New York after nearly three months.

      

Mr. Lehman runs three locations of his music and dance school, The Early Ear, on the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan. The schools offer classes for children from 4 months to 5 years old, according to its Web site.

      

Mr. Lehman modeled the schools after a program he created in the former Soviet Union, with the objective to prepare students for private instruction by age 5, according to a 2004 article published in The New York Observer. The article said that Mr. Lehman has a doctorate in music from the Moscow Conservatory and founded the school with his son, Michael, in 1992.

      

“The most important point,” he was quoted as saying, was “that kids love you.”

      

Because he is considered a flight risk, Mr. Lehman has been held without bail since his arrest. He appeared at State Supreme Court on Wednesday and was arraigned on two counts of sexual abuse, each of which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

      

Mr. Lehman’s lawyer, Raymond R. Granger, pleaded not guilty on his client’s behalf and then said that Mr. Lehman was having difficulty understanding the proceeding. Justice Jill Konviser scheduled another appearance, with an interpreter present, for Thursday morning.

      

Outside of court, Mr. Granger said his client would fight the charges.

      

“This case is based entirely on a statement from a child who originally stated that nothing inappropriate had happened, and whose subsequent statement to the contrary was made under what may have been extremely suggestive circumstances,” he said.

      

Justice Konviser asked Nahal Batmanghelidj, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, whether Mr. Lehman had been offered a plea deal. Ms. Batmanghelidj said he had not because more victims may come forward.

      

“At this time, we don’t know what direction this investigation is heading,” Ms. Batmanghelidj said.

A spokeswoman for Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said in a statement that parents who are concerned because their children have worked with Mr. Lehman can contact the office’s child abuse hot line at (212) 335-4308.

      

“If parents plan on speaking with their own children about this matter, they should feel free to consult the D.A.’s office or an appropriate Web site for guidance on such conversations,” said the spokeswoman, Joan Vollero.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/nyregion/owner-of-music-schools-charged-with-molesting-9-year-old.html?ref=nyregion

"Jews For Money" - Shameless!

There are greedy landlords renting properties in Lakewood to convicted & very dangerous child molesters on the State Police registry as well as pimps & drug dealers as they are the only tenants willing to pay a very high rent no one else would be willing to pay and they pay it in cash. There is a network between these landlords where they will provide recommendations of which criminal is a good payer. Denmark Lane which is a predominately frum street in Jackson just over the Lakewood border had a drug dealer renting an upscale house from a heimishe. One day SWAT came & blocked off the street to arrest the dealer and his associates and confiscate their large stash of heroin. These rentals are also a magnet for prostitutes coming day & night for these tenants. And there are dedicated houses of prostitution renting from "us".

There are at least a dozen molesters in Lakewood who are renting from heimishe landlords as proven by online property tax records. These molesters who are on the NJ State Police registry are all not Jewish. Some of them are exceedingly more dangerous & violent than typical molesters. Some are living in the middle of frum developments where children are playing in the street or yards not visible from the street, all without adult supervision. The description on the registry of what some of these creeps have done to random victims will make you shake. (There are also 2 "frum" offenders living in Lakewood who own their own homes)

 

There are some rabbonim who sort of want to do something about it but they are scratching their rears more than coming up with a timely & effective plan. Some of the landlords are very powerful and it is feared that personalities in the "establishment" might have their gullibility played on to protect the landlords. You wouldn't believe some of the naive parents in Lakewood how I hear they are asking if maybe the non-Jewish molesters "did teshuva?", etc, and still let their kids play outside unsupervised. (I guess if Kolko could have done "teshuva" then why not lowlife non-Jews too?)

LOOK AT THE CREEPS:

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/142-north-oakland-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2467532

 

Joseph Schon 1654 49th St, Brooklyn

 

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

KEARY J BRADLEY
Male Black
142 NORTH OAKLAND STREET
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701
OFFENDER SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AN INFANT

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/269-n-hope-chapel-road-jackson-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2435060

Esther Tress is the wife of Zvi Tress in Toronto. Their kids in Lakewood manage several properties for them and a lot of people are intimidated by them and afraid to say anything.

 

This house is on a very large property, the first in Jackson NJ that backs on to several homes on Shonny Dr in Lakewood and some on New Central in Lakewood. There is no fence on part of the perimeter. Many frum children are playing in the area unsupervised.

 

Tress's molester was originally on the registry with a very violent description. Then he disappeared for a while before resurfacing with the description replaced with "modus operandi under review" which might mean a lawyer was hired to dispute his description.

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

LUIS M ROSAPONCE
Male Other
269 NORTH HOPE CHAPEL ROAD
JACKSON TWP, NJ 08527
 

AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT

 

Victims:  x -  Under13   x -  Male 

M.O. UNDER REVIEW

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1405-marshall-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2482102

The Lakewood address for Meilech & Chaya Wislicki  is only a PO box. they seem to live in Boro Park at 1649 51st St and go to the bungalows at Silver Pond cottages in South Fallsburg.

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

WILLIAM H JENKINS
Male Black
1405 MARSHALL STREET
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT

Victims:  x -  Under13   x -  Under18   x -  Female

 

VICTIMIZED FAMILY MEMBER AND NEIGHBOR

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/500-clifton-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2464172

The rabbi of Sons of Israel which owns this building is Tendler, son of the Tendler who was menahel of Ner Yisroel Baltimore.

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

ANDRE C GADSON
Male Black
500 CLIFTON AVENUE APT 305
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD

Victims:  x -  Under18   x -  Female

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/259-zachary-court-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2472033

Moshe Koot / Katz. Online records show that the the Koots & Katzes are mishpocho

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

EDWIN J JORDAN
Male Black
259 ZACHARY COURT
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONTACT

Victims:  x -  Under18   x -  Female

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/19-holly-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2475099

Aryeh Weinstein - there is more than one aryeh weinstein. this is probably the one who is a real estate developer

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

TIMOTHY M PEACE
Male Black
19 HOLLY STREET
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

OFFENDER WAS CONVICTED OF 2 COUNTS OF ENDANGERING
THE WELFARE OF A CHILD FOR EXPOSING HIMSELF WITH TWO
TEENAGE FEMALES.
IN 2001 OFFENDER WAS CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
WITH TEENAGE FEMALE

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/496-massachusetts-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2471683

Shmuel Benvenisti might be a  Sefardi who lives in the Deal area but owns businesses in Lakewood

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

GEORGE J MOREY
Male White
496 MASSACHUSETTS AV APT 6
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A CHILD

Victims:  x -  Under13   x -  Male   x -  Female

OFFENDER VICTIMIZED CHILDREN WHILE BABYSITTING

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/524-massachusetts-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2471750

Naftoly Weber from Williamsburg is a notorious slumlord who owns S&Y Realty.

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

CHARLES L LLOYD
Male Black
524 MASSACHUSETTS AVE #5
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Victims:  x -  Under18   x -  Female

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/45-brian-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2466933

 

Nathan Mermelstein of 146 West Caranetta Dr is one owner at least of this real estate holding company

 

http://www.trulia.com/voices/profile/Real_Estate_Pro-Lakewood_NJ-6267412/

the company's phone number belongs to Mermelstein

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

ROBERTO RIVERA
Male Black
45 BRYAN STREET
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT

Victims:  x -  Under13   x -  Female

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1511-august-drive-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2468219

Eytan & Blimi (Herskowitz) Aviv (any relation to Lakewood's anti-corruption crusader Hershel?)

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

MICHAEL A TRANCHINA
Male White
1511 AUGUST DRIVE
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Victims:  x -  Under18   x -  Female

OBTAINED ACCESS TO VICTIMS
THROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD

http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/sr.cgi?&district=1515&ms_user=&srnum=5862974&block=89&lot=3&qual=

MOSESON, MORDECHAI
201 FOURTEENTH ST
LAKEWOOD NJ

Property location: 316 1st St

http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/m4.cgi?district=1515&l02=151500089____00003_________M

6 APTS

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

MICHAEL P SCOTT
Male White
316 1ST STREET APT 1C
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

COMPLETE STRANGER TO VICTIM. HE REAR ENDED VICTIM'S MOTOR
VEHICLE AFTERWHICH HE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED VICTIM & ATTEMPTED
TO KILL VICTIM BY BEATING HER HEAD ON ROCKS WHICH BROKE
HER JAW.

http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/m4.cgi?district=1515&l02=151501440____00002_306C1000M

The Wiesners are Conservative Jews in Edison who before that lived in Lakewood & Brooklyn

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

ALBERT T MALLIA
Male White
306 JOSEPH DRIVE
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Victims:  x -  Under18   x -  Female

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1162-idalia-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2477579

Chanie Lieberman of Far Rockaway (who appears to be related to the sofer Rabbi Moshe Lieberman) might be the only landlord unaware there is a molester living at their property as someone may have illegally subleased the basement.

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

GEORGE P DECROSTA
Male White
1162 IDALIA AVENUE BSMNT APT
LAKEWOOD, NJ 08701

CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONTACT

Victims:  x -  Under18   x -  Female

REGISTRANT APPROACHED YOUNG FEMALE STRANGERS
ON THE STREET
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/19/officials-crack-human-trafficking-ring-in-nj/2567717/

The video here shows 1093 Brook Rd where Federal agents raided a house of prostitution rented from a frum doctor. It is across the street from Mesivta Keren HaTorah & the frum development including the street where the doctor himself lives.

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1093-brook-road-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2466542

Dr. Marcos Alfie lives around the corner at 3 Lucerne. It is actually a mostly chassidishe development where all the streets are named for resorts in Schweitz that chassidim frequent, such as "Arosa".

http://radaris.com/p/Marcos/Alfie/

Alfie is a Sefardi who previously lived in Detroit & Brooklyn. He is married to Sara Laniado

http://www.meridianhealth.com/MH/HealthInformation/Publications/KidViewsMagazine/2011/Fall2011/CouldYourChildHaveAcidReflux.cfm

Marcos Alfie, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

Time Magazine believes that Alfie's tenants have ties to a notorious drug cartel in Mexico:

http://world.time.com/2013/07/31/the-mexican-drug-cartels-other-business-sex-trafficking/

Narco gangs like the Zetas — a criminal army founded by defectors from the Mexican military — have diversified their portfolio to include kidnapping, extortion, theft of crude oil, gun running and lucrative human-trafficking networks.

This month, police in New Jersey arrested six Mexican nationals on sex-trafficking and organized-crime charges following a raid on a brothel in the town of Lakewood.
Gangs like the Zetas are involved in human trafficking at many links on the chain. Cartels control most of Mexico’s smuggling networks through which victims are moved,

 

In one account taken by the former deputy Orozco, a woman from El Salvador described how she was kidnapped by the Zetas in Mexico, repeatedly raped and then also forced to cook and wash bloody clothes and machetes. While she was finally freed by one of her captors, other women are believed to experience similar brutal treatment before ultimately being murdered. This month, a mother located the body of her daughter in Oaxaca state after a two-year-long search; she discovered that her daughter had been held by a gang of Zetas and was repeatedly raped before being decapitated.

In western Michoacán state, the brutal Knights Templar cartel is alleged to have kidnapped large numbers of girls and held them for sex. Jose Manuel Mireles, a doctor who has become the leader of an armed vigilante group fighting the cartel in the village of Tepalcatepec, said the cartel’s systematic use of rape as a tool of terror was the final spark that made residents take up guns this year. “They arrived at people’s houses and said, ‘Bathe your daughter, she is going to stay with me for some time,’ and they wouldn’t return her until she was pregnant,” Mireles said in  a video testimony

Diocese Creditors (Mostly Abuse Victims) Can’t Access $50 Million in Catholic Cemetery Trust Assets, Because of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Eugene Volokh • August 5, 2013 2:47 am

 

So holds last week’s district court decision in In re Archdiocese of Milwaukee (E.D. Wis. July 29, 2013).

I’m skeptical about this result. I do think that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should be read to apply to such federal litigation, and it may well be that requiring a church to pay funds that it views as dedicated to Catholic cemetery maintenance is a “substantial burden” on the church’s religious beliefs. Nonetheless, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (and similar statutes and state constitutional rules in the about half the states that have such statutes or rules), religious exemption claims are trumped by a compelling government interest, when rejecting the claim is necessary to vindicate the interest. And it seems to me that there’s a compelling interest in making sure that people are compensated by their injurers, even when the defendants believe they have a religious duty to use the money for other purposes.

The most common claim for broad religious freedom protections is that people should free to follow their religions, so long as they don’t harm others. Jefferson’s defense of religious freedom, for instance, was justified by the argument that someone’s “say[ing] there are twenty gods, or no God ... neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Madison wrote that religion should be “immun[e] ... from civil jurisdiction, in every case where it does not trespass on private rights or the public peace.” Similarly, Michael McConnell, one of the leading authors on free exercise law, argues that we should be “free to practice our religions so long as we do not injure others.”

But here it looks like RFRA is indeed being used to do something much like “pick[ing the creditors'] pocket,” “trespass[ing] on private rights,” and “injur[ing] others” by depriving them of what would otherwise be their legally rightful compensation. That a church believes that it must use its property for some purpose other than compensating those that it has injured should not, I think, affect the legal entitlements of those who have indeed been injured.

Indeed, as I understand the court’s logic — which doesn’t seem to turn on the trust being any separate sort of entity from the church — a church could always refuse to pay a judgment (in bankruptcy out of it) if a state or federal RFRA or state constitutional religious freedom clause applied, so long as the church felt that it had a religious obligation to use that money for other purposes (burial, charity, worship, upkeep of churches, and so on). Indeed, even a religious individual could refuse to pay such a judgment to the extent that he felt a religious obligation to spend his money on other things, whether donating to his church, helping his family, protecting the livelihood his employees, or saving the world.

(If there were some religiously neutral principle of trust law under which separate trusts such as this aren’t reachable by creditors, then the church should prevail, because the law in that instance would not be treating those assets as something to which the creditors have a right. But I don’t think the court’s opinion relies on any such general trust law principle; instead, it apparently denies creditors compensation out of funds that would normally be available to them, if defendant didn’t have religious obligations.)

I realize that some cases have held that RFRA protects debtors’ rights to continue tithing their property to a church, even when creditors claim that this money should be rightfully paid to them. (The opinion in this case cites those cases.) But I’m skeptical about those cases, too — and an opinion such as this one is something of a reductio ad absurdum of the logic of those cases, since it uses RFRA to shield not just 10% of creditors’ usually rather meager income, but $50 million.

Whether churches should indeed be liable to abuse victims for negligently hiring or negligently supervising priests is an interesting question. But once a church is indeed held liable, it seems to me that those creditors’ — and other tort creditors’ — claims to church property shouldn’t be trumped by the church’s felt religious obligations.

http://www.volokh.com/2013/08/05/diocese-creditors-mostly-abuse-victims-cant-access-50-million-in-catholic-cemetery-trust-assets-because-of-the-religious-freedom-restoration-act/

"Jews For Money" -- Without Any Shame!

 A Friend Of UOJ WRITES:

There are greedy landlords renting in Lakewood to pimps & drug dealers as they are the only tenants willing to pay a very high rent no one else would be willing to pay and they pay it in cash. There is a network between these landlords where they will provide recommendations of which criminal is a good payer.

Denmark Lane which is a predominately Jewish street in Jackson just over the Lakewood border had a drug dealer renting an upscale house from a heimishe. One day SWAT came & blocked off the street to arrest the dealer and his associates and confiscate their large stash of heroin. These rentals are also a magnet for prostitutes coming day & night for these tenants.

LOOK AT THE CREEPS:

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1511-august-drive-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2468219 

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/45-brian-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2466933

Mermelstein of 146 West Caranetta Dr is one owner at least of this real estate holding company

http://www.trulia.com/voices/profile/Real_Estate_Pro-Lakewood_NJ-6267412/

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/524-massachusetts-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2471750

Weber is a notorious slumlord who owns S&Y Realty

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/496-massachusetts-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2471683

Benvenisti might be a  Sefardi who lives in the deal area but owns businesses in Lakewood

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/19-holly-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2475099

  Aryeh Weinstein.

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/259-zachary-court-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2472033

Online records show that the the Koots & Katzes are mishpocho

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/500-clifton-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2464172

The rabbi of Sons of Israel which owns this building is Tendler, son of the Tendler who was menahel of Ner Yisroel Baltimore

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1162-idalia-avenue-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2477579

 Chanie Lieberman is related to the sofer in Woodmere, Rabbi Moshe Lieberman

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/1405-marshall-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2482102

The Lakewood address for them is only a PO box. they seem to live in Boro Park at 1649 51st St and go to the bungalows at Silver Pond cottages in South Fallsburg.

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/142-north-oakland-street-lakewood-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2467532

Joseph Schon 1654 49th St, Brooklyn

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

http://www.njtaxrecords.net/r/269-n-hope-chapel-road-jackson-ocean-county-nj-property-tax-record-2435060

Esther Tress is the wife of Zvi Tress in Toronto. Their kids in Lakewood manage several properties for them and a lot of people are intimidated by them and afraid to say anything.

This house is on a very large property, the first in Jackson NJ that backs on to several homes on Shonny Dr in Lakewood and also some on New Central in Lakewood. There is no fence on part of the perimeter. Many frum children are playing unsupervised.

https://www16.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp

http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/m4.cgi?district=1515&l02=151501440____00002_306C1000M

Wiesner yarshened the house from his father, a Conservative Jew who moved from Brooklyn to Lakewood to Edison.

There are at least a dozen molesters in Lakewood who are renting from heimishe landlords as proven by online property tax records. These molesters who are on the NJ State Police registry are all not Jewish. Some of them are exceedingly more dangerous & violent than typical molesters. Some are living in the middle of frum developments where children are playing in the street or yards not visible from the street, all without adult supervision. The description on the registry of what some of these creeps have done to random victims will make you shake.

There are some rabbonim who sort of want to do something about it but they are scratching their rears more than coming up with a timely & effective plan. Some of the landlords are very powerful and it is feared that R' Malkiel / R' Dovid might have their gullibility played on to protect the landlords. You wouldn't believe some of the naive idiot parents in Lakewood how I hear they are asking if maybe the non-Jewish molesters "did teshuva?", etc, and still let their kids play outside unsupervised. (I guess if Kolko could have done "teshuva" then why not lowlife shvartzas & Hispanics too?)

An Important Essay Addressing The Core Woes Plaguing The Global Jewish Community!

 by Aharon Hersh Fried, PhD - Klal Perspectives Summer Edition

Where Should We Begin?

A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS IN KENYA, seeking to protect a collection of valuable acacia trees from the harmful grazing of elephants, giraffes and other large mammals, erected a fence around them. Unexpectedly, a number of these “protected” trees declined.

A closer examination of the trees and the animal life they supported revealed that these trees provided shelter and food (in the form of nectars) to three species of ants, while the insects protected the tree against pests, like stem-boring beetles. The scientists found that when elephants, giraffes and other large mammals could no longer graze on the acacias, the trees produced less of the nectar needed to support an aggressively defensive species of ants that was fighting off the beetles. As this ant colony size decreased, and a new and less protective ant species became dominant over the others, the acacias became vulnerable to scale insects and wood-boring beetles.

Overall, the researchers found that the death rate of the fenced-in trees was double that of unfenced ones, and they grew 65 percent more slowly.[1] Thus, because the intricate interrelationships of the ecological environment had not been adequately taken into account, the scientists’ “protective” measure served instead to bring about substantial harm.

 Fundamentals of Leadership

This incident illustrates the complexity and responsibility in decision making that accompanies and defines leadership.

 Attempting to solve a “problem at hand” cannot be undertaken without first understanding its ecology, i.e. in what environment it resides, what fosters it and what limits it, and what unintended consequences may result from proposed solutions. Perhaps most clearly, this incident underscores the importance of having real information about the “facts on the ground.” It is simply irresponsible to base important decisions on hunches and hypotheses, regardless of how logical and convincing they may seem.

If we were to succeed at organizing our communities into a Kehilla structure that would adhere to the advice and rulings of a central committee akin to the Va’ad Arba Aratzos, it would behoove the members of that Va’ad to have an informed framework for problem solving and decision making – one with a strong foundation of fact-finding and research.

To ensure that the takonos of such a Va’ad be considered a בנין זקנים, the Va’ad would need to appreciate that any change (read takono) introduced into a community will affect more than its immediately apparent goal, with repercussions to consider. Decision makers will need to acknowledge and understand the complex interconnectedness and interdependence of the many individuals and institutions in each community.[2] Thus, individuals belong to families, which they affect and that affect them. Families and institutions (such as schools, shuls, and many more), exist in neighborhoods and communities which they affect and that affect them. Neighborhoods and communities and are located in towns and in cities – each with their own unique culture and social and economic realities – which affect them, and which are also affected by them. And everyone affects and is affected by the larger culture of the country in which they live.

Consequently, a Va’ad would need to appreciate that the same problems presenting in different communities may require very different solutions. Factors to be considered include not only each community’s nuanced colorations of minhag, belief and practice (Ashkenazi, Sefardi, Yeshivish, Chassidic, Modern Orthodox, and more), but also the characteristics and influences of the general non-Jewish population within which the Jewish community is embedded. As the Steipler Gaon advised someone asking about curriculum in an American Yeshiva, “Go ask people who are involved in elementary education. But remember that not all that is good for Bnei Brak is good for Cleveland.” And, of course, the Va’ad will need to identify those principles that are so fundamental and universal that they apply to all alike – at least conceptually, if not always in implementation.

As a “fly on the wall” at the Va’ad’s deliberations, one might witness the frustrations they would confront in trying to address the needs of the klal clearly and objectively. Individuals and delegations from each segment and constituency of American Orthodoxy would advocate what they believe to be everyone’s most pressing problems. The Va’ad would need to distinguish between communal and individual problems, set priorities, and identify the issues, decisions and governance that should be addressed locally and which policies should be addressed with a national perspective. And they would need to acquire an understanding both of the factors that contribute to a community’s problems, as well as those that give them strength and protection.

If it is to be responsible and effective, all of the Va’ad’s functions would require proper research. Otherwise, it is likely to do nothing more than function reactively to impulse diagnosis and the crisis-de-jour. If created today, the Va’ad’s greatest frustration would likely be the dearth of available information necessary for such communal decision making.

In reality, of course, adequate and objective information, and the actual research to support communal decisions, are necessary to any form of communal leadership. The astounding paucity of communal data and information may be the very reason that the creation of a Va’ad, or any form of a global infrastructure for American Orthodoxy, seems simply unimaginable and not even worthy of investment or exploration. In fact, it may also be the cause of the currently diminished role and respect for any form of communal leadership and infrastructure. If American Orthodoxy has aspirations of tackling its challenges in a responsible manner and in constructing an infrastructure deserving of respect and deference, the community must first establish and sustain a strong multidisciplinary data-gathering task force that will produce the information and data necessary to proper decision-making.

The Product of Research

Some may be wondering whether such research is really necessary. Can’t anybody with half a brain simply look around our communities and see what causes what, and what needs to be fixed? In fact, of course, this view – widespread and self-evident as it may seem – is fundamentally erroneous.

For years, our community’s approach to identifying and addressing problems has followed a recognizable and predictable pattern. A good, well-intentioned person or group notices a problem in their community. Studying the problem within the confines of their communities, and based on their personal experiences, they reach a conclusion about the culprit or cause of the problem. The purported cause will then be publicized and decried, sometimes accompanied by a call for an all-out effort to eliminate the alleged cause and thereby eradicate the problem. Everyone then gets busy eradicating the purported cause, but not attending to the problem itself. Unfortunately, this approach has rarely worked.

An example of this approach has been the community’s approach to “children at risk.” Depending on what is in vogue, and on the background and interests of those decrying the problem, this phenomenon has been blamed on any one of a series of causes, including kriah (Hebrew reading) problems, poor teaching of Gemoro, a curriculum which is impossible for some children to keep up with, poor self-esteem, broken homes, Jewish schools rejecting children, faulty parenting, incompetent rabbeyim or teachers, and communities being insufficiently accepting of children who “march to the beat of a different drummer.” Additional culprits have been the lack of discipline in homes and schools, physical or sexual abuse of children, schools failing to teach enough hashkafa, parents and teachers unwilling or unable to answer children’s questions about Jewish belief and practice, the media, and of course, the Internet.

At different times, each of the above has been cited as the major cause of the problem, supported by allegedly authoritative “statistics,” which themselves are most often incomplete or totally fictitious, and almost always unaccompanied by a citation or any reference to their source.[3] In response to each alleged cause being promoted, those who are the alleged perpetrators of the cause, as well as those who should have prevented the cause, immediately point to examples of children at risk who were not impacted by the purported cause as well as children who had been subject to the purported cause but were “unaffected.”[4] After an initial ballyhoo with much finger pointing, the various claims and counterclaims usually cancel each other out and the alleged cause fades from the radar screen. The challenge of “children at risk” thus remains and may actually be growing. But as a communal agenda, the concern has receded in favor of other “problems of the hour,” without ever having been properly or thoroughly addressed.

Aside from the flawed methodology of assigning a causative role to any single factor, the identification of a single primary cause harmfully deflects responsibility from all the other possible contributing causes. For example, if the established premise is that the sexual abuse of children and the Internet create all the children at risk, scant attention will be paid to kriah problems, to our failure to answer children’s questions, to physical and mental abuse in dysfunctional homes and schools or to any of the other important issues mentioned above. The “causes” of children at risk, of course, may very well be, “all of the above,” albeit at different times for different children. The truth is that all these factors need to be addressed.

Key Dimensions of the Research Process

Absent proper research, the community is unable to construct a methodically sound and consistent approach to addressing any of its challenges. In order to demonstrate the value, and in fact the necessity, of quality research in addressing community challenges, I offer here an in-depth, research-based analysis of the “children at risk” phenomenon. This discussion is intended to serve as an example of how a given challenge can be explored in a manner that leads to meaningful opportunities for legitimate solutions. I trust the reader will find this a valuable exercise.

Step I - Ascertaining the “What” of our problems

A prerequisite to addressing problems is identifying their nature and prevalence. Are they rampant or localized? For example, unsubstantiated numbers abound regarding the number of children who are either “off the derech,” or who are only “walking the walk, and talking the talk.” Articles decry the massive numbers of teens keeping a “half-Shabbos,” i.e. texting on Shabbos. But how real are these numbers? Even if a small survey has actually been conducted in some circumscribed community, are the numbers produced true for all communities? Some argue that details do not matter because “even one is too much!” Certainly every Jew is precious, but the first step in remedying a problem is identifying its scope, delineating its parameters, and, by so doing, possibly finding clues that highlight its causes.

This is the model used in medicine. Before medical researchers can speak of the etiology of an illness, they perform an epidemiological study. Identifying the exact populations or locations in which an illness occurs frequently provides clues about what may be contributing to the cause of that illness.[5]

Step II – Identifying Contributing Causes

It is important to avoid thinking in terms of “what causes the illness,” but rather in terms of “what contributes to the cause of the illness.” The distinction is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, years of experience have taught researchers that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain definitive causes, especially in the social sciences. Thus, most assertions of “cause and effect” are based on observations of the confluence of two events. For example, one may point out that “most boys who are off the derech have been beaten by punitive parents.” In actuality, finding that two factors tend to occur together merely indicates that they are co-related. It says little or nothing about cause and effect. After all, has it been established which is the cause and which is the effect?

For example, the finding that a very high percentage of juvenile delinquents have been beaten by their fathers does not necessarily mean that “children who are beaten become juvenile delinquents.” It is equally plausible that “children with difficult natures and anti-social personalities tend to bring out the worst in their parents and, as a result, get beaten.” It may also be true that the two factors – fathers beating children and children becoming Juvenile Delinquents – are not at all causally linked, but are rather both a result of a third factor, such as poverty. Perhaps fathers failing to make a living are tense, on edge, and angry, and thus prone to beating their children. And it may also be true that children raised in poverty, pining for luxuries enjoyed by others and seeing no obvious way to achieve success themselves, are more prone to delinquency to earn a quick buck. Thus, the presence of two factors, abusive fathers and juvenile delinquents, are not necessarily cause and effect. The basic rule in research is “correlation is not causation.”

Another, and perhaps even more pertinent, reason for shying away from the term “cause” is that research in the social sciences and in education has revealed that a single factor is rarely the cause of any problem. To quote one prominent researcher in the area of juvenile delinquency (Jessor 1993)[6], “Research has shown us that no single variable (such as self-esteem), no single setting (such as the inner city), no single explanatory concept (e.g. genetics, personality, environment), can handle the data. Instead, we have a web-of-causation, i.e. many factors that directly or indirectly have an impact on a person’s development.”

Not only do most problems have multiple causes, but almost every “cause” that puts an individual at risk for developing a specific problem may be offset by some other factor that tends to protect from and to prevent the development of that same problem. For example, a boy growing up in a strife-filled home, who is rejected by his school due to persistent failing, may nevertheless grow up healthy if there is a family member, an older friend, a religious leader, or simply an interested adult who takes him under his wing, inviting him to his home where he may experience some normalcy. Perhaps this caring adult will teach the child a skill or a trade that helps him feel successful in some way. Research must thus look not only at what causes “at risk” behavior, but also at what prevents such behavior from developing despite the presence of risk factors.

In light of the above, instead of seeking and speaking of a problem’s causes and culprits, it is more productive to speak of “risk factors” and “protective factors.” Factors that put a person at risk of developing a given problem should be identified, as should factors that protect against the debilitating effects of the risk factors.

It must also be understood that explanatory domains for behavior are bidirectional and reciprocal, i.e., they affect each other and are reactive to each other. For example, a child who is doing poorly in school may, as a result, also receive negative messages at home, and thus perform even more poorly in school. The entire “web of causation” must be studied – both how events and factors directly and indirectly affect children, and how children are affected by them, both positively and negatively.

Perhaps this concept can be clarified with an example from research on the problem of juvenile delinquency. The table below is taken from Jessor’s paper on the study of juvenile delinquency, cited above.

The table presents the various levels and domains of causation for juvenile delinquency. It is organized into three levels, as follows:

The various risk and protective factors that may contribute, positively or negatively, to the development of risk behavior amongst adolescents [top row of the chart]. This includes factors in various life domains, including: biological predispositions, a child’s actual social environment, the child’s perceived environment, the child’s personality and his actual current repertoire of behaviors. Each of these domains contains some factors which may increase the probability of a child’s engaging in risky behavior (i.e. risk factors), and also some factors that may decrease the probability of a child’s engaging in risky behavior (i.e. protective factors).

The various risky behaviors in which adolescents engage (e.g. truancy, drug use, drunk driving, etc.).

The outcomes of risky behaviors (e.g. poor health, school failure, compromised job prospects, low self-esteem, poverty).

Note that in the first row there are bi-directional, horizontal arrows pointing from one domain to another. The message is that factors in one domain may influence factors in another, and also be influenced by them. For example, a child with a difficult temperament will tend to see life more negatively and will also react to negative events in his social life.

There are also bi-directional, vertical arrows pointing in both directions. These convey that life is dynamic, and that once a child has engaged in a particular behavior, such behavior is likely to affect other factors in the child’s life. For example, a child who completes his school-work and realizes some success will also be changing his perceived environment, and perhaps even his friends. By driving drunk, a child negatively affects his own self-image and his perceived chances in life. While this process is certainly complex, it is also encouraging since it provides many avenues for improving lives in our communities.

Step III – Planning and Attempting Solutions

The fruits of research not only illustrate the web of a problem’s causation, but also the web of factors that operate to protect against that same problem. Research not only points to multifaceted, comprehensive solutions, it highlights which dimensions of communal life warrant improvement and the likely results we can hope to see from possible changes. Research can also demonstrate how a few minor changes can have a large effect, even when the underlying problems cannot be solved.

Furthermore, even once solutions are being implemented, continued research makes it possible to measure progress realistically and it can alert to any need for fine-tuning or for large-scale changes.

The Scope of Necessary Research, and How to Proceed

The first dimension of a research plan for community analysis is to ascertain the breadth and depth of the community’s problems in the sphere of concern. Using chinuch as an example, below is a prototypical approach, equally applicable to other spheres:

Step I: List the various problem areas in chinuch, including those that result in problems, those that result from problems, and those that do both.

Applying this methodology to the painful area of “children at risk,” (as in “off the derech”), the first step – as in any research project – is to conduct a review of all relevant literature. What research has been conducted regarding juvenile delinquency in the general population, and what are their findings? Though “off the derech” is not necessarily the same as “juvenile delinquency,” and the Orthodox community is culturally distinct, there remain enough parallels to deem the study of existing research on juvenile delinquency a worthy starting point.

In the general literature, as in the Orthodox community, various causes and culprits have been identified, which can be divided as follows:

Problems residing in children (i.e. Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, emotional or personality disorders, the hubris of adolescence, and the like).

Problems residing in the schools: Poor teaching, curricula appropriate only for the elite (whether by dint of level of difficulty or content), elitism, rejection of children on academic, intellectual, religious, or social grounds (they are not from the “right” families).

Problems in the home: Strife, disorganization, poverty, lack of communication, abuse and/or neglect.

Problems in the community: Lack of communal organization, an exclusive social hierarchy, including in who is respected and honored, who is granted recognition and privilege and who gets shidduchim.

Problems in the larger culture: Its insidious intrusion and influence, the low and base moral and ethical level of popular entertainment, the dangers of social media and the Internet, the easy availability and access to smut. Some suggest that the influence of the scientific attitude and the general culture of rationalism and free-thinking negatively influence our children.

No doubt, each of these factors plays some role, whether contributing to a problem, being fed by and in turn worsening a problem or serving as risk factors (or to some children, even protective factors).

This comprehensive approach will not lead to solving, or even substantially affecting, all of these problems. And there is no guarantee that the research literature will be full of great insights and ideas ready to be implemented. Much can be learned, however, from reviewing the literature and seeing how the progressive accumulation of information about problems has informed solutions in many communities, and in many cases very effectively. We do not always have to start from scratch and “reinvent the wheel.”

Step II: Conduct actual research within the Orthodox community, with the initial goal of identifying and quantifying the extent of the problems –for example, what percentage of Orthodox children actually go “off the derech.”

One approach to such a study might be to randomly select twenty elementary schools that are representative and inclusive of some of American Orthodoxy’s key demographics (i.e., “in-town,” “out-of-town,” Chassidic, Yeshivish, Modern-Orthodox). The graduating (8th grade) class of the year 2000 would be reviewed, student by student, determining the current status of each student. At the simplest level, this review would provide an introductory estimate of the percentage of children who go off the derech. It would identify any significant differences between the varying categories of schools and communities. For purposes of comparison, it would also be important to record the percentage of children entering each school’s preschool that are from observant homes, and what percentage of an elementary school’s population continues to a Jewish high school.

The questions would then be further refined to gain further knowledge. School records would reveal how well each child was progressing, and whether anything stood out, such as struggling with kriah, or in other parts of the curriculum, or sudden changes in grades. Teacher’s comments could also provide insight into the emotional and behavioral state of each child, as well as their social situation.

The findings regarding the impact of school and community categories would be instructive to both parents and educators.[7] Without identifying the individual schools, we may be able to point to higher percentages of children at risk in one population than in another, or we might find the same, but with different profiles pointing to different risk factors in each population. We may find that children with learning problems were at greater risk, or we may not. We may discover what protective factors helped some children grow in a healthy manner, where others did not. Research may thereby instruct the community as to which dimensions of our schools require strengthening and which need to be modified, what programs need to be added, and which of our programs may be harmful and should be discontinued.

Research Programs in other Areas

Research of this type can be conducted in many areas, such as the problems of divorce and the increase in broken engagements. Many “causes” have been suggested for these problems: the lack of midos, immaturity, the lack of education and preparation for marriage, the Internet, the lack of parnassah (livelihood), and plain and simple lust. To pick one area of interest, many have suggested that at a fundamental level, an insufficient emphasis on midos is at fault, and that we have raised a generation of people who feel entitled to get their way – how they want it, and when they want it – and that they are not willing or ready to work on a relationship. Is this so? There is some very interesting research and some interesting research tools that have been developed for the study of values and the extent to which people hold them and guide their behavior by them. If we do find that our young people lack values or midos, it would then behoove us to ask what protective factors exist in the many marriages that do remain intact. Again, this would be a complex set of activities, but it would lead to possible fruitful knowledge and change.

A proper think tank, peopled by a multidisciplinary team of researchers as well as by businessmen, talmidei chachomim, and serious baalei batim, could, over time, with the guidance of professionals learn to ask the right research questions, formulate ways to answer them, and come up with practical advice and suggestions for change and improvement in our communities. This will provide a Va’ad of rabbinic leaders with the information that is so crucial for responsible decision making.

Aharon Hersh Fried, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychology and Education at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University and maintains a private practice in Psychology.

NOTES

[1] Palmer, T.M. et al (2008). Breakdown of an Ant-Plant Mutualism Follows the Loss of Large Herbivores from an African Savanna. Science 11 January 2008

[2] The individuals (men, women, and children), family units (nuclear and extended), schools (elementary, high school, and beyond, girl’s schools, boy’s schools, schools for the learning disabled, for the severely disabled, for the handicapped, as well as for those of our young who are seen as dysfunctional, “off the derech”, or delinquent), shuls, batei dinim, kolelim, hospitals, batei avos, chesed organizations (bikur cholim, tomchei Shabbos, Kimche D’Pischa, Hachnasas Kallah), kiruv organizations, the wedding halls, fund raising institutions, parnassah generating institutions, and umbrella organizations serving as liaisons to government agencies and to the general population are all intertwined and interdependent, often with overlapping directorates, and at times with at least partially or temporarily competing agendas.

[3] There is a very telling video on YouTube of a “mover” in Eretz Yisroel trying to convince Reb Aharon Leib Steinman Shlita to place a ban on the modern Jewish singers and musicians. At one point he exclaims, “Most of those who leave the Torah way of life (Poshrim) leave as a result of their listening to these singers!” Reb Aryeh Leib asks him, “But I was told that the Poshrim are caused by the Internet?” at which point the “mover” backtracks and says, “Yes, but it’s via the Internet that they get the discs of these singers.”

[4] I well remember, when in the early days of the “children at risk” brouhaha; when the Jewish Observer published not one, but two special editions on the topic (November 1999 and March 2000), a mechanech, whom I highly respect, telling me that all the children at risk he has seen, even those who were unsuccessful in their learning, came from problematic families. It was not the Yeshivos who were at fault, and there was little or nothing they could do about it.

[5] To cite one example from medical research: In a paper published in 1989 [Olshan, Andrew F., Baird, Patricia A. Teschketa, Kay Paternal Occupational Exposures and the Risk of Down Syndromes, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 44:646-651, 1989) a study is described wherein 1,008 cases of live-born Down’s syndrome in British Columbia, Canada, were identified for the period 1952-73. An analysis of the occupations of the fathers of these children showed that they were likely to be working in occupations which exposed them to solvents. Thus the study of prevalence led to discovery of a probable cause.

[6] Jessor, Richard, Successful Adolescent Development Among Youth in High Risk Settings, American Psychologist , 117-126, February 1993

[7] This would of course be a somewhat weak study, being that much of the data would be retrospective in nature, i.e. looking back and gathering data from the past. Future studies could follow children prospectively from childhood to adulthood. Rich data and information has been gathered in this way in other communities. We need to begin somewhere.