With whatever else is happening, PLEASE don't forget: The last effort of Avrohom Mondrowitz -- Mondro the Monster, the Brooklyn Bugger, Rabbi Retro, Doctor Petzel, Sodomy on Two Legs, whatever you want to call the animal -- to escape extradition from Israel for his long-awaited trial in Brooklyn was heard by the Israeli Supreme Court in December. A final decision is likely in the near future!
By my calculations, Mondrowitz's is probably the worst serial child sex abuse case ever against Orthodox Jewish victims, and if it had been up the rabbis -- and the "justice" system in Brooklyn and Israel -- he'd still be laughing at us from his cozy apartment in Jerusalem.
Let's keep up the effort at this crucial moment!
Please! Everyone! Take a few minutes, whenever you can, as often as you can, to call or write Israel's Supreme Court regularly to check on the status of the Mondrowitz case. This will remind court officials, and other politicians, that plenty of people in the U.S. are watching this case closely and care very much about justice being done.
Make no mistake. It's do-or-die time. If Israel's Supremes rule in favor of extradition, Mondrowitz will be sent to New York for trial. If they cave to Mondrowitz and his friends, we'll never see the monster face his victims in a Brooklyn courtroom.
I must tell you that rumors are floating -- maybe more than rumors -- about some sort of deal between various politicians and Ger to protect Mondrowitz from a New York trial: a trial that would blow the lid off the extent of the cover up that went on for years in his case. With a new government forming in Israel, I'm afraid this is even more likely. We've got to do our part to fight back. Let the politicians know they're under scrutiny. That some Jews do care about other Jews. That some Jews know about al sa'amod al dam rei'echa.
You can reach Israel's High Court, Public Affairs Department at 011-972-2-675-9612 and 011-972-2-675-9613. I believe their email address is: tlunotrasham@court.gov.il and the fax number is 011-972-2-651-3191.
No bad behavior, please -- nothing Mondro's lawyers can use to claim "intimidation." But PLEASE, call, email, fax, and repeat! -- with queries about the status of the case. Let them know how many people care, and care enough to keep checking. The word will surely get around.
44 comments:
Israel Ministry of Justice
Public Inquiries- fax 011-972-26466357
Israel High Court
Public Affairs Department- 011-972-2-675-9612
US State Department
Public Communication Division- 202-647-6575
Main Switchboard- 202-647-4000
Please call these numbers and make it clear in no uncertain terms that you want Mondrowitz extradited immediately to the U.S. to face justice. It is the least we can do for his countless victims here that have waited a quarter of a century for this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHyqmryMaS0
I couldn't help thinking of the genaiva from reb shlome when hearing this song
The ganev was always a rotten apple, it didn't start four years ago.
-RY
call the perpetrators protectors in rbs
save our kids!!
Rabbi Kornfeld of the Gra Shul
Kornfeld, Harav Elimelech
Nachal Ayalon 19/8
RBS A
9920485 (H)
the school
Torat Eliyahu
Nachal Arugot 15
991-6137
992-0658
999-7765 (Main Office)
fax 999-8434
Rav David Taksha, principal 057-3177731
Rabbi Shmuel Zalman Eidenson, the head of the Kupa Shel Tzedaka of RBS and of the Talmud Torah
Eidensohn, Shmuel
Nachal Revivim 14/8
RBS A
9998790 (H)
The Markets across the globe lost appx. $3 trillion dollars overnight! Expect a bloodbath on Wall St. today!
The next financial scandal involving Jewish people, Herb and Marion Sandler!
*
Wells Fargo & Co. is the subject of government probes and several shareholder lawsuits stemming from Wachovia Corp’s acquisition of Golden West Financial Corp., according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The class-action suits allege misleading disclosures about Golden West’s mortgage portfolio, collateralized debt obligations and other problem loans.
Several government agencies also are investigating “matters similar to the issues raised in this litigation,” the filing said.
Wells is cooperating fully, it said.
Wachovia’s $25 billion acquisition of Golden West in 2006 led to the bank's near collapse as the mortgage market soured. Many Golden West borrowers have been unable to pay their mortgages after initial low payments reset at higher rates.
Wells (NYSE: WFC) recently bought Charlotte-based Wachovia for $12.7 billion. Wells is based in San Francisco.
Wachovia is the No. 1 lender in the Triangle by deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Golden West history at a glance
1912 World Savings and Loan Association founded.
1963 Herb Sandler, a New York lawyer, and Marion Sandler, a Wall Street analyst, buy the two-branch Oakland S&L for $3.8 million.
1968 Company goes public under its current name, Golden West Financial Corp.
1975 Trans-World merges with Golden West Financial and takes its name. The S&Ls become World Savings and Loan.
1989 - 1993 Dozens of S&Ls fail across country from bad loans. Golden West emerges unscathed and buys pieces of failed thrifts.
1997 Golden West earnings more than double as California housing market booms.
2006 Golden West agrees to sell itself to Wachovia for $24.2 billion.
(Coincidence - Hank Paulson leaves Goldman-Sachs for the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury at the same time and sells his stock in Goldman-Sachs for $500 million dollars.) (now worthless)
DR. ASHER LIPNER'S SPEECH AT THE RALLY YESTERDAY:
Tomorrow night is the yahrtzeit of Moyshe Rabeynu. It is also his birthday. Haman thought of his yarhtziet as a lucky time to destroy the yidden. This connects Moyshe Rabeynu to the story of Purim, which will be next week during which we read Megilas Ester.
What is the real reason that the stories of Moyshe Rabeynu and the story of Esther are so connected? Surely not by the luck that Haman believed in.
The stories of these two great yidden, Moishe and Esther are very similar. And what we need to learn today from each of them can answer this question.
Both of them were living in luxurious royal conditions while their people were suffering. Moyshe Rabeynu was raised in the house of the king, Paraoh. Esther was living as the Queen of Achashverosh. But each felt so connected to their brothers and sisters the Jewish people, that they risked their lives to protect and save them, even though they themselves were not suffering and were not in danger.
What does this kind of heroism require, and can all of us aspire to reach such levels?
With Moyshe we are told in the Torah that it began when he went out of the house of the king. "Vayetze El Echav", he went out to his brothers. He knew who his real family was. While raised as a prince, and as the medrash says, given great power, he nevertheless identified with the lowly slaves who were his people. Next, he was able to understand and empathize with their suffering as it says "Vayar Bsivlosam" and Rashi says, "Nosson Eynav Vleebo Lehyos Meytzar Aleyhem." He put his vision and his heart towards them to feel their pain. He did not keep his head buried in the sand, ignoring the suffering that he had no personal need to see. He searched it out. He cared.
Sexual abuse survivors whom we are here today to support, have for so long felt that nobody cares. Nobody heard their silent screams for help. As children, they were scared, ashamed, terrified and helpless. And as they grew up, they continued to carry the burden of their horrible secret with them alone. We are here today to say we care, and you are no longer alone.
But simply caring was not enough for Moyshe Rabeynu. When he saw a yid being harmed he put himself in harms way and risked his own life to protect him. Just like in the Holocaust there were stories of Nazis coming to chadarim to take only the children. But the rebby refused to stay behind, knowing that he could save himself, but also knowing that his duty to his students' safety made him risk certain death in order not to abandon his children in their final time of need. We too must stand with our children against those who would harm them.
And when he saw one yid about to harm another yid, what did Moyshe do? Did he look away? Make a Beys Din? Was he worried to say something because it would embarrass the abuser's innocent family? Did he say "I better keep quiet, because it will make a "Chillul Hashem" if I make a scene?" No. He said loud and clear, "Rasha, Lama Takeh Reyecha?" Evil one, why do you hit your friend?" We all know that the so called Rasha was referred to as evil even though he had not yet hurt the other, as the medrash points out he had only lifted his hand, and for that was called a Rasha. Why? Because even to threaten another yid, and to scare him and traumatize him is an evil act, worthy of intervention. Moshe did not ask, how bad was the abuse on a scale of one to ten? Was there penetration or not? Inside the clothing or outside? If he saw a Jew abusing another Jew in a way that could cause even emotional harm, even just lifting a hand, before he got to the physical harm, this was evil and had to be stopped.
Now, the Torah does not say that he was even successful in stopping the aggressive act. In fact the abuser had the chutzpah and the arrogance to talk back to Moyshe and to threaten him. I suppose these days, he would have threatened to have Moyshe's children kicked out of yeshivah, or to make sure they would not get shidduchim. So why does the Toyrah tell us the story of Moyshe sticking up for the victim, if he did not necessarily accomplish anything? Vos hot er geofton? What did he accomplish?
The answer is: He accomplished what we are all accomplishing by being here today. He showed the victim you are not alone. I stand with you and speak up for you.
Psychologists who study trauma survivors, whether it is holocaust survivors, survivors of terror attacks or children who have been sexually abused, have time and again shown that a sense of isolation, betrayal and abandonment are at the heart of the pain of the experience. Just like in the Holocaust when people asked "Where was G-d," and the answer, of course is "Where was man?" when the concentration camp victims felt that the entire world wanted them to suffer and to die, because nobody came to their aid. Every trauma survivor feels that at his or her time of need noone was there to help him or her.
Little boys and girls too afraid to tell their parents. Or when it is their parents who hurt them, too afraid to tell others. Adult survivors, too afraid to speak out about their experiences. As one adult survivor of abuse told me, I would have to leave my heimishe community divorce my wife and leave my kids, get a tatoo and pierced ear, and move to Carolina before I could tell people about my molester.
But not anymore. Not since Dov Hikind has led us just like Moyshe Rabeynu to reach out and to speak up and to say Lama Takeh Reyecha? We stand with you. We will never again abandon you kinderlach to your molesters and those who would harm you. We will listen. We will protect you. And to those adult survivors, we want to hear your stories. We will embrace you. We are sorry for betraying you for all these years.
But Dov also knows what Esther Hamalka knew. One person cannot save the Jewish people alone. So he did what Esther has taught us to do at a time of national crisis. "Leych Knos es Koyl Hayehudim." Koyl Hayehudim! All the Jews. It doesn't matter if your child was molested or not. It doesn't matter what particular community you are from. If you are Satmar, or Lubavitch, if you are Bobov or Litvish, if you send your children to Torah Tmimah or to Novominsk or to Ger, to Ner Yisroel or to Lakewood. If you are with a shtreimel and a sheitle, or if you are no longer shoymer shabbos. We are all yidden and we must all come together to beg Hashem to help us, to protect our children from being abused, and to heal the entire community.
Just as that kinus enabled Esther to bring yeshuah to our people so long ago, let us pray that our kinnus and many more like it to come will bring a yeshuah with the safety and the healing that will lead to the ultimate yeshuah of mashiach, bimheira byameynu.
i heard a rumor that shor haboor (SHORR) is one of the thugs behind the scene trying to block mondrowitz from being extridited. can u confirm this . they are both gerroristic chassidim so it wouldnt surprise me .
Steve;
Nice speech but did any of the speakers at the Hikind rally yesterday talk Tachlis and call for the extradition of Mondrowitz?
AIG lost $600 million a day from taxpayers money in the last quarter of 2008; President Obama is giving them another $30 BILLION just because he can. Nice guy!
News by Ryan on March 1, 2009
Get $300 From American Express … You Risky Bastard
This story almost snuck (yes, I know the grammar nazis would prefer me to use the term sneaked here) by my desk this week. But really, it might be the biggest economic indicator of the week. So it’s worth commenting on.
You see, American Express is offering $300 to certain customers if they close their accounts. Sounds nice. But it’s really a brilliant chess move from AMEX.
Why would a credit card company offer $300 to remove card holders when for the last decade credit card companies have been trying as hard as possible to gain market share (number of card holders) in order to impress stock holders? Have you figured it out yet? Yeah, it took me a few minutes too.
Basically, here’s what’s going on. American Express sees the writing on the wall. Our economy is going to hell. People are losing jobs at ridiculous rates. The more people who lose their jobs the less people who can pay off their credit card balances, and the more credit defaults that card companies have to deal with.
Ah. Now it’s starting to make sense, eh?
American Express is basically trying to get people to pay off their credit card balances before they lose their jobs. Makes total sense. Put a carrot out there to get as many risky accounts to pay off their debt as possible so that when the impending credit default crisis finally rears its ugly head, American Express will have buffered its impact as much as possible.
“What AmEx is trying to do is move to the front of the line in terms of getting paid back” by customers who owe debts to multiple lenders, said Michael Taiano, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill & Partners.
Brilliant move. But really, a terrible economic indicator if ever there was one. What we are seeing here is one of the most profitable companies in the world betting on massive job loss in the coming years. Take my word for it. Removing card holders goes against everything this company stood for over the last decade. It cuts against the fundamental business model of acquiring market share that has so dominated this industry. Only something radical could bring about these states of affairs.
For those of you in RBSA who want to know what R' Elimelech Kornfeld is really all about check this link:
http://bhol.co.il/forum/topic.asp?cat_id=4&topic_id=2575155&forum_id=3845
He is nothing more than an egotistical empty frock leading fine residents of RBSA right to hell.
Anon 11:11 AM
You're correct. "Right Hook" schorr is in the thick of it.
Boog,
No molesters were named but everyone knew that Dr. Lipner was referring to Reichman when he said, "Moshe did not ask, how bad was the abuse on a scale of one to ten? Was there penetration or not? Inside the clothing or outside?" It wasn't meant to be a meeting to come up with solutions but rather a rally to show the victims and their families that we care. Overall, a nice turnout and some overdue publicity for the cause.
Steve;
Thanks for the update.
DJIA 6,762.98 -299.95 -4.25%
NASDAQ 1,322.85 -54.99 -3.99% S&P 500 700.84 -34.25 -4.66%
I think the "penetration" line in Asher's speech was referring to Rav Scheinberg's infamous quote.
And the "under the clothes or on top of the clothes" could have been about Eieseman, since this was one of the questions that Rabbi Hopfer asked his victims.
But my personal favorite was when he said that the Rasha today would have threatened Moshe Rabeynu to throw his kids out of yeshivah, like Margolis did to Eli Greenwald, and the Kotlers have been known to do in similar situations. And the "your kids won't get shidduchim" was obviously about the Twerski fiasco.
In response to the tragic passing of a teenager in Lakewood due to a drug overdose:
As all the professionals and rabbis who work with teens at risk and substance abusers will tell you, a large, large percentage have developed these problems as a reaction to the trauma of sexual abuse. While Dov Hikind continues to publicize this problem and to work for solutions in Brooklyn, the Lakewood community and its leaders refuse to address it publicly, sweeping the problem under the rug. The rug has no more room. We must start acknowledging that far too many children in our community have been hurt by our neglecting to put into place reasonable safety plans to protect our children. We continue to minimize the pain caused by this horrible experience, and to let the molesters off the hook. Do the math. How many teens at risk? If, as the professionals say a MAJORITY have been abused, then wouldn't it make sense if there were at least SOME arrests made of those Roydfim who prey upon our innocent kids? Have there been ANY in Lakewood, ever???? As we learn from Shaul Hamelech's terrible mistake in keeping Agag alive in this week's haftarah, "Kol Hamerachem Al Ha'achzarim, Sofo L'achzar al Harachmanim."
To all those who say we should not blame our leaders, you are right. We don't HAVE any leaders. That is why in Brooklyn, Dov Hikind was forced, Bmakom Sheayn Ish to take charge. If those who CALL themselves leaders would actually lead, then they would be the one's to publicly acknowledge the problem and to put efforts into solving it.
I myself was "off the derech" well over a decade ago...and I'm going to explain why because it's important for people to realize how one person can hurt someone to such a degree. I was 15 in a yeshiva high school, and after failing gemarah for 7 consecutive months I was told that if I wouldnt pass the class I would have no choice but to make the work up in the summer, and in yeshiva. Not wanting to give up my summer, my parents hired a Rabbi to help me. For two and a half months straight I studied and studied. There wasn't one test that I failed. In fact I was getting 70's and 80's. I also passed the final. My parents were so proud of me, and more importantly, i was proud of myself and my dedication. I recieved my report card and the teacher failed me with a 64.2 average with 65 being passing (up from my average in the 20's) After many protests....it was made clear to me and my parents...and I quote the teacher..." It's not about the homework or the effort...what the calculator says goes." Needless to say...I was devastated. After that I was hurt that words on this page won't do justice. The last thing I would want to do is learn. So yes, these guys can blame...and many times with just cause. We need to engage these students and build them up again. They need positivity and encouragement. They need to see themselves as worthy people. OUR job is to make them feel accepted. There is no other way.
Obama releases secret Bush anti-terror memos
By DEVLIN BARRETT and MATT APUZZO, AP
posted: 15 MINUTES AGO
WASHINGTON -The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects.
The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants.
The Bush administration eventually abandoned many of the legal conclusions, but the documents themselves had been closely held. By releasing them, President Barack Obama continued a house-cleaning of the previous administration's most contentious policies.
"Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech a few hours before the documents were released. "Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good."
New York - Daughter Testifies At Trial That Her Father Abused Her Since Age 9
Published on: Today at 10:11 PM
News Source: AP
New York - The daughter of an ultra-orthodox Jewish rabbi tearfully testified Monday how her father molested her for the first time at age 9, starting a pattern of abuse that prosecutors say lasted several years.
Afterward, "I felt alone, scared and confused," the woman, now 27, told a jury at her father's sex abuse trial.
The testimony was part of an unusual scene in federal court in Brooklyn, where the rabbi, Israel Weingarten, has chosen to represent himself and could end up cross-examining his own daughter.
In a rambling opening statement, the jailed Weingarten said he had been falsely accused by a daughter who rebelled against a strict upbringing, and suggested that a neighbor was the actual abuser. He also asked jurors not to judge him by his conservative black clothing, comparing it to that worn by George Washington.
"I'm not that different when it comes to our forefathers who were fighting for freedom," he said.
Weingarten, 59, a member of the Satmar community in upstate Monroe, N.Y., was arrested last year on charges he traveled outside the country to have sex with a minor. Prosecutors have said that if convicted, he faces up to 210 months in prison under sentencing guidelines.
The daughter, the second of eight children, first told the FBI in 2003 that she was victimized while living with her family in Hasidic communities in Belgium, and on trips to England and Israel.
"For at least seven years, the defendant sexually abused his daughter on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis," court papers said. "He moved her to different countries in order to continue the abuse and to escape any threat he would be apprehended as word of his abuse began to spread."
The daughter took the stand as the government's first witness wearing an orange scarf and pants suit, and with her hair down _ a mainstream look she said Weingarten forbade while growing up. She claimed her father had told that wearing red, orange or purple was wrong because it "reminds you of a woman's period."
She testified he first violated her one Sunday night after dinner, when he called her into his bedroom.
The daughter was to resume testifying on Tuesday.
"if they had the opportunity like they did to Pearl"
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/27/anti.semitism.campus/index.html
Slain reporter's father fearful of anti-Semitism on campus
By Stan Wilson
CNN
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Jewish students and faculty at California universities fear for their safety on campus because of threats aimed at them over the Middle East conflict, the father of a slain Wall Street Journal reporter said Friday.
Judea Pearl, whose son, Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped and killed by al Qaeda extremists while on assignment in Pakistan in 2002, told reporters at a news conference that anti-Semitic e-mail and verbal threats have escalated since Israel's three-week invasion of Gaza in January.
"I received hate messages (after a recent panel on "Human Rights and Gaza") from someone at UCLA who did not identify himself and said, 'I saw you in Ackerman Union and I know where your office is and I'm going to beat the (expletive) out of you,'" said Pearl, who teaches computer science on UCLA's Westwood campus. "I handed it to the campus police, and they did not do anything."
UCLA spokeswoman Elizabeth Boatright-Simon told CNN there is no record of Pearl's complaint to campus police but said the university plans to meet with him. On its Web site, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block issued a statement about the university's policy.
"The conflict in the Middle East and current events in Gaza are some of the most highly controversial issues of our time, stirring deep emotions on all sides," the statement read.
"We have a responsibility to protect the freedom of expression. We also all have a responsibility to listen and engage -- respectfully -- even as we must understand that not every campus forum on a controversial topic will satisfy passionate and concerned members of the campus and broader communities," said Block.
Pearl and officials at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where the news conference was held, are concerned that administrators on college campuses across the country are not doing enough to foster freedom of expression while protecting Jewish students and faculty members from acts of intimidation on campuses.
"The verbal abuse is there, the intimidation is there, the feeling of helplessness is there, not only among students but among faculty," said Pearl.
Wiesenthal Center officials cited another incident three weeks ago at San Jose State University where the consul general of Israel was verbally abused and forcibly driven from the stage during a guest-speaking engagement aimed at fostering understanding of Jewish culture.
The diplomat, Akiva Tor, had to be escorted out of the room by security officers and campus police before the event ended, according to Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center and Michelle Salinsky, president of Spartans for Israel, the group which co-sponsored the speaking event.
"We were extremely concerned about our safety and Mr. Tor's safety," said Salinsky, a senior majoring in political science. "Mr. Tor said he's never felt more disrespected. This was clearly an infringement of our expression of free speech. I think a lot of Jewish students do not feel safe on campuses because of the escalation of hate perpetrated against Jews."
San Jose State University spokeswoman Pat Harris told CNN the sponsors of the event were responsible for moderating the speaking forum but maintained that officers and security personnel acted appropriately.
In a statement, the university president Jon Whitmore defended the university's policies but expressed concern about the event.
"Our campus places high value on the free exchange of ideas in a manner that is inclusive and respectful of differing views," the statement read.
"At a recent campus event, numerous members of the audience with views differing from the invited speaker were so vocal in their expression of opposition and so uncooperative with the moderator's requests for orderly means of handling questions and answers that they disrupted the event and did not allow the speaker to respond to posed questions. The university fully endorses the free expression of ideas and opinion, but does not condone behavior and methods of expression that disrupt free and orderly discussion."
As part of an effort to promote tolerance, the Wiesenthal Center announced plans to unveil a public service campaign next month which will be distributed online at Columbia University, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, San Jose State University and the University of Chicago, among other campuses.
"There are a lot of Jewish kids in California and elsewhere who are beginning to look elsewhere and saying maybe the UC system is not a user friendly place to go and we can't accept that," said Cooper.
To clarify what the other anonymous wrote:
Toras Eliyahu is the school which currently employs Akiva Kagan who was accused (and is currently under police investigation) of molesting first grade students at Talmud Torah Yishrei Lev where he was employed last year. The Yishrei Lev administration did suspend him and ultimately terminated him. (I have heard about various ways that various people mishandled the case. I don't know so I won't get into it.
See the old posts about this and on the lifeinisrael blog.)
R. Eidensohn is the head of Talmud Torah Toras Moshe which absorbed the former Talmud Torah Yishrei Lev this year. Last year Kagan was employed at Yishrei Lev. Eidensohn had no connection then with Yishrei Lev. Eidensohn also runs the Kupa Shel Tzedaka of RBS Alef.
(By the way, R. Kornfeld also never had any association with Yishrei Lev or Toras Eliyahu. He is however on the Rabbinical Committee of Talmud Torah Toras Moshe along with R. Malinowitz and two other Rabbis. I believe that the accusations against R. Kornfeld had to do with advice/psak? regarding reporting the accused.)
These are the facts.
I have heard accusations of mishandling by a various people, but I haven't heard of any mishandling by Eidensohn.
I am not sure why he is being dragged into this.
If anyone knows of any mishandling on his part, let us know.
Thanks
No money? No problem. Just print as much as you want and devalue the US Dollar to Zero.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A new lending program from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury could generate up to $1 trillion in loans for small businesses and consumers, the government announced Tuesday.
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Bernard Madoff says his wife should be allowed to keep nearly $70 million of assets that are in her name because they are unrelated to the charges of fraud against him, The Wall Street Journal reported. The assets include the $7 million penthouse where Madoff is under house arrest; $45 million of municipal bonds; and $17 million at a bank, the Journal reported. The claim was in a footnote of a federal-court filing on Monday, the Journal reported.
Paterson’s Job Approval at Historic Low
By DANNY HAKIM 7 minutes ago
In a new poll, David A. Paterson got a worse rating than Eliot Spitzer during his prostitution scandal.
Dov Hikind's asifas chizzuk on Sunday called for all schools to install unobstructed windows in school doors and the mother of all male teen whore-houses, the ger yeshiva on 16th ave in boro park still has locks on the doors and no windows.
anybody know mondrowitz's address?
mondrowitz is still being held in jerusalem municiple jail i beleive. if not please order home delivery of a mohel with parkinsons and tremors.
gafne and litzman are at eachothers throut over who gets what in the new israeli parliment. who the hell has time for mondrowitz or the little people of klal yisroel? they are here only to serve us by voting for gimmel.
Kadima's strategy for success
Provoked by the Palestinians' escalating missile campaign, on Sunday evening the Ashkelon Parents Association voted not to send their children to school on Monday.
Ever since the outgoing Kadima government ended Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on January 20, the Palestinians have steadily stepped-up their missile war against Israel. Over the weekend the IDF acknowledged that six weeks later, daily Palestinian missile barrages against Israel have returned to pre-Operation Cast Lead levels. Moreover, the IDF warned that over the past six weeks, Hamas and its sister terror groups have rebuilt their missile arsenals both through imports of Iranian arms from Egypt and through local production lines. They have also brought in fairly advanced anti-aircraft missiles capable of shooting down IAF helicopters.
The proximate cause for the decision to close down schools was the weekend missile strike against a high school in Ashkelon. The direct hit caused massive damage both to the school and to surrounding apartments. IDF inspectors assessed that the Grad missile the Palestinians used in the attack had been locally upgraded. Its warhead was two and a half times bigger than usual.
As Ashkelon's children settled into their living rooms instead of their classrooms on Monday morning, a few hundred kilometers to the south representatives from 80 countries and international organizations convened in Sharm el-Sheikh to pledge billions of dollars in aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza. The US, represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pledged $900 million in assistance.
Also on Monday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the US is curtailing its military aid to Israel. Under new Pentagon guidelines, the Ministry of Defense must give a detailed accounting of how it uses every item it purchases with US aid money. As a consequence, the Defense Ministry issued new instructions to the IDF that from now Israel's purchases from the US will be limited to defensive armaments and systems aimed at preserving its "qualitative edge" against its enemies.
TO UNDERSTAND HOW it came to pass that six weeks after Operation Cast Lead, the US has joined the nations of the world in funding Hamas and is curtailing its military assistance to Israel, it is necessary to understand Israel's domestic politics. Specifically, since as Israel's leaders during Operation Cast Lead Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are responsible for Israel's current predicament, it is necessary to understand their Kadima party's operating rationale.
The main rule of politics that has guided Kadima since its founding in November 2005 is never be perceived as failing. For the past three years, with the active collusion of the local media, Kadima has managed to control the flow of information to the public and so successfully covered up the abject failures of its strategic policies. Its success in last month's elections is testament to its extraordinary capacity to spin and obfuscate information.
THIS KADIMA PRACTICE was first implemented in the lead-up to the 2006 elections. At the time, the media worked with Kadima to suppress information about the strategic significance of Hamas's electoral victory in the January 2006 Palestinian Authority elections. They also blocked reportage and public discussion of the massive build-up of Iranian-supplied arms in Gaza following Israel's withdrawal from the area in September 2005, and the transformation of Gaza's disparate terror cells into Hizbullah-trained and styled paramilitary brigades.
The need for the cover-up was obvious: An open discussion of post-withdrawal developments in Gaza would have demonstrated to the public that Kadima's signature policy of unconditionally surrendering land to the Palestinians was, to put it mildly, insane.
Both the Palestinian cross-border operation in June 2006 that led to the kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Schalit to Gaza, and Hizbullah's similar raid in July 2006 that fomented the summer war in Lebanon demonstrated the dire consequences of Israeli land giveaways. Neither the onslaught from Gaza nor the war from Lebanon would have happened if Israel hadn't left Gaza in 2005 and Lebanon in 2000.
For Kadima it was clear that to survive the events of the summer of 2006, it needed to develop a story line to hide the truth. In Lebanon, hiding the truth meant choosing defeat over victory.
For anyone with even a vague notion about strategy, it was clear at the time that the only way to protect northern Israel from Hizbullah was to deny Hizbullah the use of southern Lebanon as a base of operations. To do that, Israel needed to conquer and maintain control over southern Lebanon. Nothing else could end the Iranian proxy's ability to rain its missiles down on Israel. And given the jihadist nature and foreign command of Hizbullah, Israel has no capacity to deter the paramilitary force.
For Kadima's leaders however, a reconquest of south Lebanon would involve recognizing that their land surrender strategy was wrong. Their governing rationale would be discredited.
So instead they opted for defeat. Rather than fight Hizbullah to victory, they attacked their domestic political opponents by claiming that only warmongers would support a reconquest of south Lebanon. In so doing, they discredited the only viable strategy for victory while sending IDF forces to Lebanon to fight battles whose sole purpose was to run down the clock until the US stepped in and negotiated a truce with the terror army.
The US-mediated ceasefire, which legitimized Hizbullah as a political force and paved the way for its rearmament and takeover of the Lebanese government, was a disaster for Israel. But for Kadima it was a great success. Livni spun the ceasefire as a massive diplomatic accomplishment for herself and Kadima. The willing media went along with the fiction.
Although all the spinning in the world couldn't convince the public to support Kadima's planned unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, Kadima was able to salvage the gist of its defeatist strategy. By pretending that Israel hadn't failed in Lebanon, and defending the view that victory isn't an option, Kadima deftly replaced its unilateral surrender strategy with as strategy of surrendering land in the framework of a "peace process" with the pro-terror, corrupt, unpopular, and anti-Israel Fatah-led PA in Ramallah. That "peace process" in turn kept the land surrender policy on the table by asserting that the main obstacle to peace is Israel's unwillingness to give its land to the Palestinians.
A SIMILAR PATTERN unfolded with Kadima's handling of Operation Cast Lead. Here too it was clear to any semi-sentient observer that the only way to defend southern Israel is to reconquer Gaza. For as long as Hamas controls territory it will use it to fight Israel. And given Hamas's subservience to Iran, its jihadist ideology and its Syrian-based leadership's distance from the front, it is obvious that Israel has no capacity to deter Hamas.
But for Kadima, which owes its existence to its leaders' execution of Israel's 2005 pullout from Gaza, acknowledging that Israel has no option other than reasserting control over Gaza was not an option. Then too, a reconquest of Gaza would discredit Kadima's new-old signature issue of giving away Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
And so, rather than fight to win, Kadima again fought for US intervention. Livni and Olmert claimed again that only warmongering extremists supported reconquering Gaza, and announced that Israel's goal was to deter Hamas. For its part, the media blocked all discussion of whether or not it is possible for Israel to deter Hamas and cooperated in demonizing anyone with the temerity to note that the only way to secure southern Israel is to control Gaza.
Then, as elections approached, Kadima declared that deterrence had been achieved and pulled IDF forces from Gaza. They told us that the continued Palestinian missile offensive against the south was nothing more than the last gasps of a defeated foe. And the media went along with them.
In the lead-up to the elections, the international diplomatic backlash against Israel was underplayed and the strategic meaning of Hamas's continued missile war was widely ignored by both Kadima and the media.
NOW, AS THE LIKUD-LED rightist bloc is forming the next government, information about Israel's actual situation is finally being reported. Not only did Israel not deter Hamas, the inconclusive end of the campaign has paved the way for a massive diplomatic onslaught against Israel and a diplomatic campaign to legitimize Hamas.
Today Israel is being blamed for Hamas's war against it.
Kadima's favorite Palestinian "peace" partners in Fatah are leading an international campaign to indict IDF commanders as war criminals.
While last weekend's bombing of yet another Israeli school was met with international indifference, international leaders lined up to have their photographs taken outside the UNRWA school in Gaza that the IDF attacked in January after Hamas combatants used the building as a missile launching pad against Israeli civilians.
Then there is the US-backed international campaign to force Israel to surrender control over its borders with Gaza to Hamas. Last week Clinton joined her European counterparts in demanding that Israel permit cement, aluminum tubes and other missile components to enter Gaza in order to alleviate the "humanitarian suffering" of the poor Gazans. Furthermore, like Europe, the Obama administration supports the establishment of a Hamas-Fatah government.
IN THE MEANTIME, Kadima pretends that there is nothing to worry about. As The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday, both Livni and Olmert refuse to actively oppose the international campaign to criminalize IDF commanders because doing so would involve criticizing Fatah leaders with whom they claim to have such wonderful ties. Similarly, the Obama administration cannot be criticized because that would mean that Kadima has failed to maintain US support for Israel.
And that's the point. With its policy of never acknowledging failure, Kadima's strategy for dealing with the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead has been on the one hand to ignore what has happened, and on the other hand, to blame Likud for what is transpiring.
Rather than attack Hamas and Fatah in international forums and so defend Ashkelon's schoolchildren at least diplomatically, Livni devotes herself to attacking Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu for refusing to back Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu's view is clear. Surrendering control over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to the Palestinians will endanger Israel. For as long as that remains the case, it is impossible to support Palestinian statehood.
Likud's position is indisputable. But it is also a denunciation of Kadima's governing strategy. So Livni denies the truth to advance her party's interests and condemns Likud for recognizing reality.
In so doing, she has paved the way for an international boycott of the Likud-led government. The Palestinians and their allies throughout the world are already arguing that there is no difference between Likud and Hamas since both of them reject the so-called "two-state solution." Clinton is expected to demand that Netanyahu publically endorse Palestinian statehood during her visit here.
As we absorb the spectacle of world leaders lining up to give their money to Gaza while Israeli schoolchildren are forced to stay home from school, we must understand how we got here. We are here because Kadima has placed its political success above Israel's security.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post
Mall wants Manilow music to drive out unruly teens
Tue Mar 3, 7:17 am ET
AP – WELLINGTON, New Zealand – It'll be Barry Manilow versus the mall rats. The New Zealand city of Christchurch hopes that putting the American crooner's smooth and gentle tones into the mix of music to be broadcast through the central mall district can pacify unruly teens who congregate there_ or at least convince them to go elsewhere.
"The intention is to change the environment in a positive way ... so nobody feels threatened or intimidated," Central City Business Association manager Paul Lonsdale told The Associated Press. "I did not say Barry Manilow is a weapon of mass destruction."
A group of several dozen young people regularly spread rubbish, spray graffiti, get intoxicated, use drugs, swear and intimidate patrons at the outdoor mall, he said.
The city council, police and local property owners covering 410 businesses agree that "nice, easy listening" music like Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You," "Mandy" and other hits might change the behavior of loitering teens.
But one 16-year-old told The Press newspaper that unfashionable music wouldn't deter them.
"We would just bring a stereo and play it louder," Emma Belcher said.
Lonsdale countered that the city would then hit them with anti-noise laws.
Police in Gadsden, Ala., said Feb. 25 that Harold Watson Sr., funeral director for the Watson and Sons Funeral Home, was arrested for allegedly leaving a woman's body to decay in a parked hearse after her relatives failed to pay the bill.
New York - A Los Angeles man who made “donations” to several charitable organizations associated with a New York-based orthodox Jewish group – “donations” that were largely and secretly refunded – has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for attempting to avoid the payment of federal income taxes.
David Hager, 55, of the Hancock Park district of Los Angeles, who pleaded guilty in October to two counts of tax evasion, was sentenced yesterday afternoon by United States District Judge John F. Walter. Judge Walter also imposed a $30,000 fine and ordered Hager to perform 1,500 hours of community service once he is released from prison.
Hager is the first person to be sentenced after admitting that he fraudulently made “contributions” to charities associated with Spinka, a religious group within Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn, New York. Spinka Grand Rabbi Naftali Tzi Weisz, his assistant, several other defendants and five Spinka charities were indicted in late 2007 on a host of federal charges related to a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud U.S. government agencies, to operate an underground money transfer system and to launder money through an Israeli bank (see: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2007/164.html). Several defendants, including Weisz’s assistant, have pleaded guilty and are pending sentencing.
Weisz, along with several individuals and the Spinka charities, are scheduled to go on trial on June 17.
Prosecutors have expanded their investigation to include more than 100 individuals who were contributors to Spinka organizations. Rejecting Hager’s plea for probation yesterday, Judge Walter said that the crime reflected Hager’s “arrogance” and that other contributors who do not come forward to authorities could face "significantly higher" sentences.
In a plea agreement filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles, Hager admitted that he filed federal tax returns for the years 2001 through 2006 that fraudulently claimed deductions for contributions to Spinka organizations.
Hage acknowledged that he was reimbursed 90 cents for every dollar he “donated.” For those years, Hager owes the government $189,169 in back taxes, a figure that must be paid to the Internal Revenue Service within one month.
Hager also admited that he received cash from Spinka organizations in order to give kickbacks to other contributors. During 2005 and 2006, Hager received more than $300,000 in cash that he relayed to others, according to his plea agreement.
The investigation into the Spinka entities and the contributors is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS-Criminal Investigation.
The Lakewood boy that died of a drug overdose over the weekend was a victim of sexual abuse. The boy was involved in a project called "Ashrecha" to help other victims and to bring public awareness to the painful subject. May his death be a wake up call to ALL of us and may he be the last such victim, Amen. May Hashem avenge his blood. These are his words, posted on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=132867835462&topic=8106\
There is thing called child molestation that we have all heard of we all know it happens in different places we all know maybe priests or that creepy uncle.
Let me tell you a little about this thing and first hand what it can do to a kid. A frum child is molested he knows nothing about tummah and kedusha all he knows is that he was violated that his body is a toy thats what gets engraved into his brain not that he is a person worthy of respect but that he is an object a tool. This kid grows up he knows nothing of sex all he knows is that he is dirty and that his rabbis say sex is bad he doesn't understand he thinks he is bad any mussar shmooz he hears it directly at him and this innocent kid begins to believe of himself as a bad person.
Nobody likes being bad he will look for a place with no expectations of him a place were he can be free to fit in a world where everybody is bad....Chances are he will either convince himself this is the normal and pass it in to another innocent child or he will resort to rebelling to prove to himself he is as bad as he thinks he is......Often he will find drugs to take him away to give him an escape from his horrible reality....That being said...
Did you ever notice a support our troops symbol on the back of somebody's car? do you know what that represents? that means that thousands of miles there are people no different then yourself fighting a war and that we support them that gives them the morals they need to keep doing what they must do in order to protect us.
I dont expect to see "save our kids" on the back of all of our cars but is it too much to ask that each and everyone of us do our part???I will not mention names but there was one play group accused cased closed and dealt with. thats a start but that should send a chill down your spine theses are kids we are talking about.... there is another play group that is still open after over 5 cases have been brought against it!!!!! do you love your kids???? theses are the same kids that some vaad in lakewood will put in ad in the paper to protect from cellphone texting or god forbid a concert but did you see an ad saying
Guard your kids!!!!? DO research!!!!! If your in doubt dont send them there!
A play group that has had 5 allegations against it is still open????? Of course its there parnasah we are so worried about...
Maybe i should fill you in on some facts there is a jewish rehab whose name i will not mention that deals with kids whose lives are in danger i spoke to the intake administrator there about the cliental from Lakewood and i was told 99.% of all kids from lakewood Yes lakewood our holy town who doesn't allow text messaging were molested in this town!!!!! and that is what led to there addiction! now some facts of this rehab which has a high success rate 50% dont stay clean and out of all the jewish kids there that leave and relapse there is an average of 3 jewish souls that die a year!!! Murdered by you and me and all of us unwilling to take a stand against these people in our community the rabbis are scared to do anything? its political?? how dare they say that?? this is life and death we are killing kids over here we are condemning them to a life of misery of lonely depression and god forbid of passing on this horrible sickness.
IT IS YOUR DUTY as a Jew, As a Human to find these people in our community and no longer let them live among us!!!! 'Oy le rosha Oy le schayno' I think over here we are all the reshoim if we sit back and do nothing!! and if you dare say you are worried that people in play groups will lose there jobs there is some math you may want to do. a rehab a 6 month program to give a molested kid a chance $5,000 per months totals $30,000 now this place on average has 20 kids per six months thats $60,000 do you want me to count in the average fee of therapy $150-per hour????? or maybe you want the numbers i got from the local funeral homes?????? WAKE UP!!!!!! Ask yourself honestly is it that you are truly concerned about this just isn't your place or do you just not know what to do? I think trying to be worried about innocent money just went the window....
This cannot be hidden any more!!!!! you know something speak up!!! have you been thru this??? share your story, help create support groups Help publicize this letter share your story.... If you are an offender seek help it can be done your amends will not be easy but it can be done.
You can make one fatal mistake and that is to try and hide and think you will get passed by come out help fix the wrong before you will no longer have that chance EVER.
If we all get together as a town to help weed this community it can be done with minimal damage. Anybody innocent who may receive slight setbacks because of this consider it your part in saving a life. ASHRECHA
Hire intelligent employees, get sued for "racism"
I'd love to hear the Liberal "logic" behind this one. Where's Shmarya when you need him?
Testing Testing
Employment tests may be racially biased—but what if they're less biased than human beings?
By Ray Fisman
Posted Tuesday, March 3, 2009, at 7:02 AM ET
The few companies taking on new hires these days may consider themselves lucky—they're not yet bankrupt, and they have their pick among the legions of newly unemployed and overqualified. But even these fortunate few are showing greater care with whom they take on—no one wants to be saddled with dead weight on the payroll in the midst of economic calamity! . Rather than relying solely on interviewers to do the hiring, compani es can choose from among a range of simple and easily administered tests to screen prospective employees for everything from arithmetic skills to personality traits like conscientiousness and extroversion. These tests do help managers pick better workers—it's useful to have cashiers with basic math skills and salesclerks with outgoing personalities. However, they also leave employers vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits under the Equal Employment Opportunities Act, since minorities often perform poorly on the tests.
Ray Fisman is the author of Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations (with Edward Miguel). He is the Lambert Family professo! r of social enterprise and research director of the Social Enterprise Program at the Columbia Business School.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2212235/
Copyright 2009 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC
Steve - i live in lakewood and I have no clue what playgroup you're refferring to, I understand that you cant name names but can you give me some sort of lead so that i can look into it so that i dont send my kids there
It was my brother that died this past shabbos and who wrote that letter, the playgroup he was reffering to first name (of the husband) starts with a "T" last name with an "R"
"I have heard accusations of mishandling by a various people, but I haven't heard of any mishandling by Eidensohn.
I am not sure why he is being dragged into this.
If anyone knows of any mishandling on his part, let us know."
As a lawyer for an organization that assists abused children in Israel I am too familiar with this case in RBSA.
These are the facts (and some of my legal/moral opinion).
Toras Moshe began absorbing Yishrei Lev while the school year was in session. Rabbi Eidensohn as well as Rabbis Kornfeld and Malinowitz were involved in decisions about this rebbe including whether to bring him back for the remaining school year and to bring him back the following year.
In the end many parents voiced concern and it was decided not to bring him back.
However the fact that Malinowitz, Kornfeld and Eidensohn would even consider bringing this man back to children tell us much about them.
Rabbi Eidensohn is culpable in that:
1) He knew of the accusations and never made a report to the local welfare department as mandated by Israeli law. As a school principal (of several schools as I understand) he should know that professionals must report knowledge of accusations. He was already "in on it" being associated with Yishrei Lev/Toras Moshe
2) As the head of a local tzedaka organization Rabbi Eidensohn should be concerned for residents of RBSA including children. he could have put pressure and influence on Toras Eliyahu (as should have Malinowitz and Kornfeld) NOT to hire this man to be around children.
This being said both Rabbis Kornfeld and Malinowitz are certainly more invloved and responsible than Rabbi Eidensohn.
Shame on all three of them for not doing what was proper and legal in protecting other children from this possible danger.
I don't know whether Eidensohn was or is invloved in the Kagan case but I do know him well.
He is the principal of 2 schools in RBSA.
He does run a tzedaka organization called Kupa Shel Tzedada of RBSA.
Rabbi Eidensohn is closely connected to S.Z. Perlstein, the most rabid rabbi in RBSA. Perlstein started the Kupa and later appointed Eidensohn to run it.
Eidensohn is also connected with zealots from RBSB and Bet Shemesh.
Although his Kupa does many good things they are also known here in RBS to use bullying tactics against other organizations and businesses to garner financial support.
On a personal level Eidensohn has a big smile and is very arrogant.
He likes to talk about all that he does and all of the schools he runs, yadda, yadda.
So I will not lay blame on him for Kagan..I can safely say that he would do anything in his power to protect a molester who is charedi.
He has done this before.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/dining/04cert.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
Organics has grown from an $11 billion business in the United States in 2001 to one that now generates more than $20 billion in sales, so the stakes for farmers, processors and certifiers can be high. But the agency overseeing the certifying process has long been considered underfunded and understaffed. Critics have called the system dysfunctional.
Arthur Harvey, a Maine blueberry farmer who does organic inspections, said agents have an incentive to approve companies that are paying them.
“Certifiers have a considerable financial interest in keeping their clients going,” he said.
Meanwhile, consumers are becoming more skeptical about certification, said Laurie Demeritt, president of the Hartman Group, a market research firm.
The national outbreak of salmonella in products with peanuts has been particularly unsettling for shoppers like her who think organic food is safer.
The (OU certified) plants in Texas and Georgia that were sending out contaminated peanut butter and ground peanut products had something else besides rodent infestation, mold and bird droppings. They also had federal organic certification.
Victims and people that have information that is being withheld:
Speak publicly and say your names i have lost my brother to this sickness,
you dont have to be ashamed of giving information that has potential to save lives.
Dont be intimidated and dont let the opinions or ideas of a few (possibly well meaning) rabbis scare you into submission, they and their ideas only have power if we give them power by being scared or intimidated to speak out.
If we band together and speak up and be proud of it, my best freind and kid brother's death will not just be another one of many who have fell victim to this sickness.
Amen selah!
Margo got the idea this morning during his daily ritual when he dashes to the NY Times box in front of his house & back, thinking that no one sees him as his elephant-sized mass moves at a relatively quick pace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/04dead.html?em=&pagewanted=print
March 4, 2009
You’re Dead? That Won’t Stop the Debt Collector
By DAVID STREITFELD
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/03/AR2009030303415.html
By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 4, 2009; Page D03
President Obama said yesterday that he will nominate Julius Genachowski, a technology adviser during the presidential campaign and law school friend, to head the (FCC) Federal Communications Commission.
The announcement came after months of speculation that Genachowski would be tapped for the job and an inadvertent confirmation of his nomination several weeks ago by an administration official during a Sunday morning talk show.
If confirmed, Genachowski will take over a higher-profile FCC charged with devising a strategy to bring new high-speed Internet networks into every home in the nation. But he also will inherit several challenges.
The country is in the midst of a troubled transition from analog broadcast to all-digital television. Congress has struggled to create a communications network for emergency first-responders. And the economy is expected to cast a cloud over the high-tech industry, hampering innovation and competition among telecommunications companies, analysts say.
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