THE FIRST DOCUMENTED ABUSE CASE AT NER ISRAEL RABBINICAL COLLEGE BY A DORMITORY SUPERVISOR

This story was sent to me by The Awareness Center....Israel Fishman wanted his story publicized. He passed away recently.

The sole purpose of me posting this is to demonstrate that molestation of children by people in authority is not a new phenomena; how it took Israel fifty years to tell his story, and that the very graphic details of his molestation were absolutely burned into his memory for his entire life. He was continually physically molested by NTL until he left the yeshiva. Sexual molestation generally begins by encouraging children to openly discuss their private personal behavior, talking about their innermost normal thoughts, converting them into sins and horrible guilt. Once the victim's secrets are exposed, the predator uses that information to threaten the victim with exposure, and now can perpetrate their crime with little fear of being exposed. In just about every case of sexual abuse that I'm aware of, the abusers' MO are practically identical.

UOJ


by Israel Fishman

Please note the following is graphic. The article below tells of the experiences of an incest survivor that occurred over 50 years ago.

The following took place in 1953. I am not quite 15 years old and the youngest student at the Ner Israel Rabbinical Academy in Baltimore Maryland, which was then located at 4411 Garrison Boulevard.

When I arrived a few months earlier I had been the second youngest student, but the boy who was then the youngest was caught in flagrant delicto with another boy and was tossed out. The boy's father, a rabbi from Richmond, Virginia was the mashgiakh (kosher supervisor) for the large FFV Baking Company there. He must have come in to stay for that particular Sabbath, as traveling on that day is strictly forbidden.

So on that sacred day he approached the head of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Jacob L. Ruderman, who was sitting at the front of the large bais medrash (study hall) pleading with him to give his son a second chance. In front of all the students and teachers, Rabbi Ruderman screamed at the boy's father that he could not talk with him because the matter was absolutely closed, and that the boy must leave immediately. Meanwhile I am living in constant fear that either somebody in the yeshiva will find out all my dark secrets, or that God will surely punish me most severely for my unmentionable, abominable sins.

All the time, however I can't stop thinking of the beautifully gorgeous, angelic looking, red-haired and freckled boy, Hochberg from Hartford, and what might have been. I still shudder when I recall the recent Friday night when a whole bunch of fellow students came to visit me in my dorm room when I was sick. It was a Friday night there were no lights on in the room and all sat or stood around in total darkness. Hochberg, though, sat on my bed, and put his hand under the blanket and groped me. I was so scared, because I was worried that it was an entrapment, and I remained absolutely soft. This is the yeshiva environment in which the following event is taking place.

I have just shut the lights leaving my room for the study hall's evening session. It is a weekday and therefore we have study sessions every evening. Before I actually leave the room I feel somebody's hand on my shoulder who gently but firmly leads me back into my room. The lights remain turned off. His name is NTL. He is an older bokhur, that is, one of the senior students who took responsibility for the moral training of the younger students on a one-to-one basis.

He leads me to the bed where he sits very closely besides me and holds me very tightly around the waist. He is stronger and more powerful than I am. He is also an older bokhur that you have to respect and listen to. I was immobile and frozen.

He tells me that he could tell from the lines under my eyes that I was masturbating (which I already knew was a grave sin, that is the masturbation and not the lines under the eyes per se!), Before long I am confessing to him all the other evil things that I had been doing, including the sex that I had had for many years with my older brother, Calmin. I tell him that it had gone on for nearly six years and had only ended when we separated a few months earlier, with him going to seminary in Cleveland and I, as I said earlier, coming to Baltimore. I feel so relieved in unburdening myself to someone who is so interested in me.

Through the whole long evening (and it feels that it it a very long evening) I am so scared and afraid, feeling that I dare not make a single move, let alone excuse myself to take a pee, which is getting more and more urgent.

I continue to remain in NTL's close embrace, although by now we are standing against a closet door with one of my hands squeezed against the doorknob. By now I don't know what is hurting more, my hand against the doorknob, or having to pee so urgently. But still I dare not move. I am trapped.

NTL makes me promise that I will never, ever, urinate standing up (because doing that I would be touching myself and that might very well lead to masturbation). I must also immediately train myself to sleep only on my side, and not on my belly or back (in order to avoid having a nocturnal emission, which, of course, is also sinful). I am to tell him every time that I transgressed, even if it was just a matter of having a wet dream. Finally, he tells me that I am so indebted to him for what he is doing for me that, even if I had a million dollars, I would have to give it all to him.

I have no awareness of how long I am with NTL; only that my hand is hurting and that I need to pee so badly. I am so afraid of him and I am so overwhelmed by this evening. No one has ever talked to me at such length and especially helping me to overcome my sinful desires.

I have no idea or comprehension where this evening's experience and my relationship with NTL will undeniably and inescapably take me, and what tragic and painful consequences I will have to endure down the road. But all that is in the future (or at least four or so months away.).

NER ISRAEL RABBINICAL COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE HAS A SEXUAL PREDATOR-R' MOSHE EISEMANN AND WILL NOT TERMINATE HIM!

The Victims Write And Their Stories Are Verified!

When I was --- years old, I was a talmid of Ner Israel. At that time, the Mashgiach Ruchni was Rabbi Moshe Eisemann. I became close to him and trusted him totally like a father figure. He is a very sick man. He would tell me he loved me and would hug and kiss me inappropriately. In this day and age, what rebby does this? He tried to control me by telling me loshon harah against my friends and family, and by telling my best friend not to be friends with me, and other ways.

I was very uncomfortable, but thought I was crazy for thinking he was weird. One day, he felt up my rear end IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BEIS MEDRASH! I couldn't believe it. I was shocked, angry and dismayed. But I did not have the guts to even say excuse me, what the hell are you doing. I did have the guts to tell my parents that he was "bothering " me and my mom called him and told him to stay away. He did not listen at first, but had the nerve to approach me a couple more times and to write me a letter threatening that love can easily turn to hate. I may still have that letter.

I know that this story does not sound like much, but there is more. Shortly thereafter, a friend of mine had problems and was thrown out of the dorm. Rabbi Eisemann offered to take him into his house. One night in the middle of the night, thinking my friend was asleep, Rabbi Eisemann went in and put his hand under the cover, and groped my friend's privates. My friend was only ---. He was horrified. The next day he told ......., who went to the hanhalla. Rabbi Herman Neuberger, A"H, reacted by saying that the boy had to leave the yeshiva.

My friend was devastated. He came to me to ask me to come forward. Es Chatai Ani Mazkir Hayom, I wasn't ready completely. I told him if there was any other way to save his brother, he should do it, but if not I would come forward. He found another victim whose father was a huge gvir and who had also been touched inappropriately. So my friend was allowed to stay.

Reb Tzvi Berkowitz,the son-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky of Philadelphia, told my friend not to tell anyone what happened because it could be bad for the yeshiva.

I have suffered for years. Only years later was I able to tell my parents what truly happened. I have still not been able to confront the yeshiva satisfatorily on this issue.A few years ago, I DID tell Shragi Neuberger about it. He is a rebby, and Rabbi Neuberger's son and we were close once upon a time. He did not deny the problem. There had been a bochur who told Reb Dovid Cohen a similar story (a Russian bochur with no political clout) but that the story was "unsubstantiated".

I'm here to substantiate the fact that R. Eisemann has a real problem. What to do, the follow up phone calls have gotten us nowhere. I want to go further, but am afraid of being hurt personally by the yeshiva.

What I would like to know from you is, do you have a way to investigate and find others who have been affected? I'm sure there are. I found another person who said that he was also was felt up on three occassions, and although he was not traumatized he decided to stay away from Rabbi Eisemann. His story happened several years after mine. He also knows of one other person. By the way, I was traumatized mostly because of the relationship I had with Rabbi Eisemann, and also by the covering up and complete lack of caring on the part of the yeshiva. It is true that what happened to me from a sexual standpoint was "not as bad" as some other stories. After all there was no penetration, right??? There might not be a lawsuit, but is that really necessary even at this point? Wouldn't you think that the thought of a scandal now would get them to act? But Rabbi Eisemann is still sitting on the dais at the recent Rabbi Neuberger memory dinner, and what's worse, still talks in learning with unsuspecting yeshiva boys on a daily basis. What is wrong with these people???? Ignorance is only an excuse up to a point, no?!

If you have any ideas or advice for me, I would be so grateful.

One last thing. I thought of you this yomtov. Take a look at the Yalkut Meam Loez on Rus on Vayehi Bimay Shfot Hashoftim. He says that the judges / leaders of Klal Yisroel were judged by the people for their corruption. He writes pages and pages about this. He says that when Moshe Rabeinu "criticized" the Jews saying , a little more and they'll stone me", it was not a put down but praise that the Jewish people don't stand for phony, incompetent, self-interested leaders, but demand integrity from them, no matter who they are. I felt like he was writing about you. Really, take a look, and let me know what you think.

Yasher Koach, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Another victim writes....

I went to Gary Rosenblatt to ask advice. He's the editor of Jewish Week who did the expose on Baruch Lanner. He had been the head of the Jewish paper in Baltimore. He told me that Rabbi Neuberger had been involved in a case in the city (Eisgrau) where he insisted that it be kept quiet and nothing was done. It's as if there is some kind of Mesorah that he had that this is the correct thing to do in these situations. You know, chillul hashem, etc.

Shragi told people that Rabbi Eiseman has a heart condition, and this has to be considered in deciding to act or not. He also said that the Neubergers had been aware for years of Matis Weinberg's problems, but did nothing. He said "Everyone knows that the Neubergers and Weinbergs don't get along well, so they would not have believed us." Come again???

David Mandel from Brooklyn had started a Beis Din in Baltimore to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the frum community.The Beis Din consisted of Shragi, Rav Heinneman, Rav Hopfer, Rabbi Hauer, and Rabbi Goldberger. Shragi said that when Rabbi Heinneman is at the meetings they can't really speak about it because he doesn't get it as well as the rest of them. How do you explain this? A rabbi on Beis Din who does NOT understand the sickness?

According to Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, "There are as many rabbis out there that will hurt you than will help you," and "There ARE no more Gedolim, veharaya, that people come to me with questions that they used to go to gedolim."

Another victim writes....

Did you hear about the two evenings that Ohel had entitled "let's talk about what never happened, but it really did"? The first one featured Rav Pam, Reb Shmuel and Reb Dovid Cohen and was emceed by Sruly Reisman. I gave them an A for effort, but their cluelessness caused, I believe, much pain to the victims/survivors in the audience. Reb Shmuel was asked by a lady what she should do about being molested 30 years ago and never telling anyone. She said that she was recently experienceing psychological symptoms. He told her to see a shrink, but to not tell her husband under any circumstances, because there is no way he would understand. This is in public and on tape. Rav Pam spoke about frum people with psychological issues like OCD, but didn't mention molestation, abuse of any sort, anything to do with sex or what the purpose of the evening was supposed to be. I wonder if someone told him, even? My favorite was of course, Rabbi Reisman, who after offering the caveat that he was not a psychologist, still felt that he had something intelligent to offer on the subject beacause of his experiences with victims. He then told two stories in which he went out of his way to point out that the molester was NOT Jewish. It did not take my years of leaning lamdus to make the diuk that apparently frum people of course don't molest, and that what had happened to many of the people in the room, really didn't happen at all according to the resident Navi expert. To "help" people even more, when asked by one survivor about the feelings of betrayal, he opined that this was not an issue at all, because like Don Rumsfeld said about the war in Iraq, "Stuff happens".

Basically, the message was to victims: we want to help you to get over it... so get over it, ok?

Another victim writes....

I hope you took no offense that I called you meshuga. I think that anyone who is not made meshuga by the horrible world of hypocrisy that is called the frum velt has something really wrong with them. Anyway, sorry for the choice of words. Again, you are my hero.

One thing that impressed me about your approach, is that with the Gerrer situation (the gerrorists) you got the job done and didn't feel the need to "take them down" or to necessarily go after the yeshiva, etc.

I'm mentioning this, because although sometimes the situation calls for drastic measures like multimillion dollar lawsuits and possibly razing a yeshiva to the ground, each situation is different and this whole problem does require sophistication as well as passion. In my case of Ner Yisroel, maybe something subtle like a letter writing campaign, or a few choice phone calls asking politely for Rabbi Eisemann to be taken care of, might do the trick especially now that they see what the problem could lead to.

Another victim writes...

I do not think it is enough to dismiss these people from their jobs. Look at the two guys who were fired. They go to Israel and will most likely end up like Mattis Weinberg molesting again at a later date. What needs to be done is:

Rabbi Eisemann should be told that the community, i.e. hanhalla of yeshiva, will monitor him and talk to his therapist to be sure he is complying. He will be given a job doing something with no child contact, but if he does not comply, he will be punished with fines or something else. His passport should probably be taken away.

His treatment should be comprehensive at a place that specializes in sex offenders and should include objective assessment for pedophilia (lie detector test, sexual deviancy measures, etc.) group therapy, individual therapy, and family therapy.

The yeshiva, as part of the change that needs to be made, should have to track down as many victims as possible and apologize.

Am I asking too much?

Another victim writes.....

You have touched on many issues, and are right on target.

Firstly, Shlomo Gottesman at Torah Umesorah is a big part of the problem, he's known about these problems At Ner Israel for years and is deeply involved in covering up this issue.

The gedolim, at least the ones they call gedolim, are clueless outside their daled amos. As a general rule, the Europeans don't get it, and the great chachomim like R' Ruderman are gone.
The present rabbonim in America are either businessmen protecting their businesses, or shluchim from them. I can't think of one name today that can compare to the toes of a R' Ruderman.

What's worse is that they in their ignorance and self-interests are causing the destruction of authentic Orthodox Judaism. R' Moshe didn't know about N.Y. water? Romaine lettuce?

Chumras upon chumras...where's the beef??? kinderlach's lives and neshomas??????
The Neuberger's behavior come as a shock and will come back to haunt them. What about Tzvi Berkowitz?/ Is he out of his mind or just waiting for the rosh yeshiva's job? Eiseman is sick, he has molested me for years when I went for shabbes to his house. He said it is ok to feel good. How crazy is that???I'm at a loss to explain what's going on. Maybe this is the next dor hamabul...the rishaim seem to be everywhere. I need time to think of an aitza, right now, I'm shocked out of my mind.

Sincerely and all the very best,do not let the Neubergers fool you, they will do nothing.

Another victim writes....

I know five of us that Eiseman masturbated, but I'm not sure how many would agree to help or come forward. There is the Russian boy but only Dovid Cohen know who this bochur is. I'm shocked that Dovid Cohen did not do anything to get rid of Eiseman, he told people years ago that he spoke to the Neubergers and they agreed to fire him.

Another victim writes....

Oh, by the way, you know that Moshe Eisemann went for years and years to Russia to work with unsuspecting Jewish children there under Agudas Yisroel's plan for harbotzas torah.
I'm going to write Neuberger that he really needs to fire Eiseman, pronto. And if Eiseman takes the yeshiva to a din torah (sure) then I'm willing to back up the yeshiva. But I will not help them in any way until he's fired.

Another victim writes...

I have two more victims of Eiseman who might be willing to contact you anonymously. Maybe three. Reb Dovid Cohen was also approached by somebody about Eiseman a while ago. I'm sorry you are having health problems. I'm suffering a lot too. Will it be all over soon? Or will it take as long as YTT is taking? Have you gotten any response from Ner Israel?

Another victim writes.....

I have an insider in Torah Umesorah...they ( Ner Israel) have no interests in doing the right thing at all. They're more concerned about finding me. I went to Herman 12 years ago and told him that Eiseman is sick, so they know full well and decided to do nothing. They learned NOTHING from the Margulies fiasco. I will be going public. Hopfer has been covering for Eisgrau...Eisgrau raped his own daughter, I'm in contact with her.
They're going to learn the hard way. I'll testify if needed!

Another victim writes.....

Apparently someone calling himself UOJ told Reb Sheftel that they've got 10 days to act or else. I had been wondering if they would make the top 3. Suddenly, Shragi says to my friend they are ready to act. Not to botch it up like TT did. He wants to go to a beis din first with Rabbi Hopfer. Many people told him that that's a waste of time, totally unnecessary. All they need to do is retire Eiseman based on 2 credible complaints, period. My friend said what are you afraid of that Eiseman will sue?!! I told him not to worry about Eiseman's heart condition, the victims come first. I think he might have heard me, but we'll see. Either way, I think in 10 days it will all be done. I hope. Shragi asked my friend if you had other victims. You told me that you didn't want to name others to me about other victims. He was very puzzled about how the molestation had taken place in the beis medrash, and I clarified to him that for some very sick individuals, that is what gets their rocks off.
Yasher Koach and keep up the good work. Soon it will be done and you can take a real hiatus and recuperate, I hope.
I'm feeling better already, but it ain't over till its over.

Another victim writes......

On second thought, I don't trust Shragi at all to be looking out for my interests, I don't feel a need to confront Eiseman to his face, and I certainly don't want to have to speak to this guy Hopfer. So, I'm going to call off the charade and tell them to just do what you are calling for, which happens to also be the best thing for all people concerned. I truly hope they do what they need to.

A victim responds to a question that I pose about them calling for an immediate hearing:

No, they did not agree. In matter of fact my friend just got a call from Shragi from Eretz Yisroel, that when he gets back, he wants to have a meeting with me, my friend, any other victims, Rabbi Eiseman and Rabbi Hopfer. I'm not quite sure why they need his involvement. I'm not sure why they need anybody's involvement. It makes me nervous, but I'm willing to help do things their way for now. It's the bottom line that matters. I'm nervous about this too. Shragi now talked to my friend about making "restrictions" for Eiseman, it seems Eiseman is staying, and the talk of his dismissal is a charade.

Any victims of Moshe Eisemann please contact me. I am willing to assist you in legal action against Ner Israel and Eiseman.

The next yeshiva has one week to terminate their in-house sexual abuser!

UOJ

"UOJ - Please Listen. The abuse of power, molestation, and cover-up that you know about does not allow you to rest peacefully....."

A Sophisticated Reader Writes And UOJ Responds.

I'd like to comment on the many opinions being offered whether the good that UOJ has accomplished is being "offset" by the bad.

UOJ - please listen. I can tell from some of your recent comments that you really care. The abuse of power, molestation, and cover-up that you know about does not allow you to rest peacefully. You have been very successful in changing our culture to some degree over the last months. Suddenly, a topic that was never spoken about is on the tips of our tongues. Yeshivas are wary of you. The organizations are on the lookout. The climate is right for change.

As you successfully point out the hypocrisy and evil in our midst, you and many other commenters should make a strong effort to:

1. Use appropriate language instead of the lexicon now used.

2. Attack only those that truly deserve to be attacked - the abusers of power and the molesters. The potshots taken at rabbonim, rabbayim, or even laymen that we have seen on this blog is not appropriate and needs to be curtailed.

3. Stop ridiculing anyone (including this commenter) who calls for a more civil discourse. I believe that most of us are parents. We would be the first to instruct our children that two wrongs do not make a right. We can't justify the feeling of gossip, frivolity and laxity that this blog is identified with on the basis that we are taking up a higher cause - especially when we can accomplish the same thing without resorting to these tactics.

Let's fight the issue of molestation in a strong, take-no-prisoners type of way, but keep foul language, off color, and insulting remarks out of the dialogue. I believe that as you call for a higher level of Judaism - a yearning for the holy religion that it once was - it is a critical error to allow and foster this type of dialogue which decreases individual holiness. As a group, the effect is contagious and more devastating.

UOJ, I respectfully ask you and your readers to think before you respond with knee jerk reactions. Please consider my words which are heartfelt.

I must specifically comment on Rav Elchonon Wasserman. Despite your strong feelings about the decision that Rav Elchonon made, going after him so harshly has left a bad taste in many people's mouths. Now, you have said that we should not read your blog if we don't like your opinions. You are missing the point which is that we like what you are doing. You are important to us. We would like to visit your blog which is the only vehicle where we can have an open discussion about abuse. However, we respect certain boundaries that you have crossed. It is very simple for you to tell us to leave the blog, but you would lose many interested and loyal supporters. Please reconsider your adamant position on certain Gedolim that you have severely criticized.

Regarding R' Elchanan, perhaps your point could have been that people aren't perfect and that you believe that his advice was wrong and that even Rav Elchonon may have realized this. You could extend that further with the Art Scroll type biographies where Gedolim are superhuman and explain why you believe that is dangerous. But the manner that you attacked him, conveys a message that G-D forbids R' Elchanan is in the same category as a Margulies. This is unequivocally wrong. As mentioned, the blog should criticize and publicize the real abusers - not Gedolim or laymen that make mistakes or are imperfect in one way or another.

To the readers:

It is time to get involved. Following the blog and making clever comments is not very difficult. Meanwhile, UOJ is fighting a one man battle. Are you ready to advocate for the independent board that UOJ has spoken about? Would you dare challenge your Yeshiva if an issue of abuse came up? It is easy to feel comfortable on this blog with UOJ as your super hero. It is convenient to wait for UOJ to "take down" the next molester, but where are the parents? You need to get involved in real life. I believe that UOJ has been saying that of late, but I haven't seen any responses. I'd like to see readers respond by name - no more hiding behind anonymous - and offer to support a parent advocacy group.

Let's continuously examine and reexamine our motives. It is easy to insult those who critique this blog, it is much more difficult to absorb good advice even if it is coming from those that you disagree with.

Let's clean up this blog so that it can be a place that we would be proud to take our children to visit. Let's support UOJ by becoming involved parents. Let's move forward by continuing with the positive aspects of this blog while filtering out the negative aspects that we know in our heart of hearts has no place in our very important dialogue.

UOJ RESPONDS:

The pain that all thinking people feel as well as the outrage, is expressed by myself and thousands of readers of this blog. Going through literally thousands of comments and e-mails per week, I am able to put up only a fraction of the comments and read only some of the e-mails. The one time I took off comment moderation as a test, there were 1030 comments until I started moderating again. Unprecedented in Blog history; Jewish or otherwise.

You do make some excellent points and your sincerity has captured the attention of my non-UOJ persona.

I am guilty...guilty of letting it take years for me to transform my mild mannered personality into the "wild-man" UOJ. I'm watching this Jim Jones like behavior for years while trying gently to make a difference by attending board meetings, writing essays, donating large sums of money, all with the proper intent to get a system in the yeshivas and Rabbanut that is guided by the beauty of our Torah. Not a system governed by individual needs, not beautiful edifices, not ostentatious dinners and conventions...simply a system run by yirei Hashem with no other interest than the needs of the klal first, foremost and only!

Instead, we have a system that is corrupt from the mail-room person up to the decision-makers, and everyone in between. How did we get here? Where did this disease of abuse of power and utter corruption come from? Are we students of our holy Torah or are we just a bunch of people dressed in dark clothing, hats, wigs, and tzitzis? (some fools wear more than one pair at a time)

The answer my friends, is the pass we gave to our rabbis that are no more than mortal humans. They have the same temptations that all of us have, and many of them, not all, fall victim to their humanity. They steal, they cheat, they are corrupt. You know why? There is no system of checks and balances that all humanity requires. They are the rabbis/gedolim...who is going to keep them in check?

We have erred. We have turned our rabbis into Gods..they are not, not at all. They are influenced and corrupted by money and power just as we are. We are scrutinized by our peers, they get a pass.

Therefore the trembling anger I have displayed towards R' Elchonon Wasserman. He was a Torah giant; but he was not God, just a mere human, fallible just like any other human. Was he brilliant in Torah? Absolutely! Therefore what exactly? A student wants to escape Nazi Germany...and he writes him back to stay put? Pikuach nefesh replaces a personal theory or opinion that "Y.U.", R' Yitzckok Elchonon in those days, is more dangerous to his talmidim than Hitler? Rabbi Gedalya Schorr and Mike Tress obtain hundreds of visas for his talmidim and he tells them, NO THANKS!?

I was sitting at the hospital bed several years ago of a true "tzaddik gamur"; he was nebach at the end of his life. He was at one of the meetings where his family hosted a reception to honor R' Elchonon in the late 1930's. I was holding his frail, trembling hand as he described to me what transpired after that meeting. The host and the hostess threw themselves at the feet of R' Elchonon in the living room, sobbing and begging uncontrollably...pleading with him NOT to go back to Europe, and to bring his talmidim to the United States.

R' Elchonon was trance-like...he wouldn't budge. "HE KNEW WHAT HASHEM WANTED!" He in fact played God...thousands died against the wishes of Hashem, which commanded us to violate Yom Kippur, Shabbos, Kashrut...do everything one must do to save a single life! For everyone's information, what Art Scroll will NOT tell you, is that Rav Yitzchok Scheiner, the present Rosh Hayeshiva of Kaminetz in Israel, was a talmid of Y.U. at that time. Not too shabby a black hatter I might comment. He was right up there on the infamous list of fools banning Noson Slifkin's works.

So my passion is, in my opinion, well-founded, rooted in common sense and Torah inspired fact. No Chassidic rebbe or any rabbi has Godly powers, they are mere mortals. Remember we are Jews NOT Christians; there are NO intemediaries in our religion. WE have a direct line to God, not one bit less than a person who is wearing eighty pairs of tzitzis, fur hats, round hats, square hats, velvet ones, silk jackets, white Kabbalah coats or any of the cult-like dress that we have succumbed to like children lost in a store full of toys and costumes.

We have let the Pied-Pipers flute us into a generation of meaningless rituals and chumras that are nothing more than the works of dangerous and foolish power grabbers.
Some rabbis do this intentionally, and some are led to this madness by a circle of their leidegayers; people who are human parasites..eating off the flesh of the naive and trusting. When I met with R' Shteinman, to find out that he knew nothing of a virus called herpes, only for him to categorize the New York Dept.of Health as Goyim out to destroy Judaism, I knew this gedolim thing has to go.

When R' Shmuel Kaminetzky responded in the Kolko matter, that we MUST assume Kolko did t'shuva if a recent victim, that was not victimized in the last few months, did NOT come forward, I knew that it was a mitzva to come out with the heavy artillery; lawsuits, secular media, private investigators, the D.A....and anything else I can think of to bring to light the cesspool of leaders that we have selected to guide us through difficult times. When Aaron Twerski disgraces the very essence of our intellect by calling Lipa Margulies an honorable man...there is no stopping me!

So I am upset to the point of being a " crazy person" and every other adjective my detractors can think of. But my accounting will be given to Hashem, not some earthly human; and whenever that day comes, I will go proudly, knowing full well my intentions were pure; no money, plaques, chicken dinners, or any other human reward. I do not want to sully any reward I may or may not get from my Creator.

There will be more...much, much more; this Thursday I will go public with the next yeshiva cover-up and their in-house molester. I will not stop until we have an abuse-free yeshiva system and that includes their enablers.

I will let God judge me and my language; after all, I am human and have shortcomings. I'm willing to take that chance.

Attn: Rabbi Gottesman And The Rabbinical Leaders Of Torah Umesorah And Agudath Israel!

The following e-mail was sent to the leadership of Torah Umesorah and Agudath Israel.
I have deleted the names of the yeshivas and predators for now. If the predators are not dismissed from their positions in ten days, I will go public with the information.

Sat, 24 Jun 2006
From: "Unorthodox Jew"
Subject: Attn: Rabbi Gottesman And The Rabbinical Leaders Of Torah Umesorah And Agudath Israel!

To: umesorah@aol.com

Rabbis,

I have retained a former NYPD detective and nationally renown private investigator. His job is to investigate all credible allegations of abuse that come across my desk.

I can verify based on the evidence and victims' testimony that sexual abuse is taking place at the following yeshivas:

Yeshiva ...........-predator ...........
Yeshiva............-predator............
Yeshiva ...........-predator ...........

The menahalim of these yeshivas are aware of the problem and as of yet not have terminated their employment.
I would like to give you notice of these vile people, and am asking you to get involved and have them removed/terminated at once.

I trust that you understand that if in fact they are not removed immediately, I will do whatever it takes to publicize these peoples' behavior, the ongoing cover-up by the yeshivas, and I will arrange for legal help to the victims.

I sincerely hope that this can be avoided by your immediate involvement.

UOJ

A FATHER OF A SEXUALLY ABUSED CHILD PLEADS TO THE RABBINICAL ESTABLISHMENT TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!

A FATHER'S PLEA FOR HELP.

At the outset, please forgive me for making the assumption that I have something meaningful to offer the survivors of sexual abuse, which I am not, or to the chachomim of this city, also which I am not. I am not an accredited professional. I am however, a father of an innocent child to whom these acts have been committed and, as such, I feel I may have a relevant contribution.

I have learned to see victims of abuse as people that have gone through an individual holocaust. Each victim having been through an event or chain of events that has forever changed not only the victim, but also reaches out to affect families, relatives, schools, communities ,and even into the next generation. The price we pay has nothing to do with the thousands of dollars spent in therapy for so many different issues both related to the assault(s) and their outgrowth (family disunity, Yidden off the derech, drug abuse, promiscuity, and poor school performance), but the toll it is taking on Klal Yisroel's future.

We must choose to understand the nature and scope of the dilemma and plan a clear path forward. As in all matters of Torah, the motivation must be the search for emes. Those who seek to accuse, blame, seek their pound of flesh, desire kavod or satisfy gaivah need not, no-must not be a part of the problem solving and the development of relevant answers for the needs of our community.

We must admit to ourselves what currently exists in our community in order to appropriately respond to those who perpetrate abuse and those who have suffered from it, as up until now the response has been inadequate and inappropriate.

I believe we must understand what the abuse is and is not. Sexual abuse is not an act of inappropriate or misplaced sexual desire. It is an act perpetrated by one in need to control and overpower another individual. Many times this is accomplished by manipulation and at other times by brute strength. Ultimately the result is the same. The victim is left feeling totally powerless in their world, afraid and intimidated by the prospect of a recurrence, guilt ridden, and feeling totally alone while being unable to share what has happened to them with those who care and love them.

It is a criminal act and not one between consenting individuals, even if somehow the perpetrator has manipulated the victim into thinking that the act was desired by the victim. It is the debasing of another human being to satisfy the lust for power and control ;it expresses itself as a sexual act. It robs innocence, it robs self esteem, it robs confidence, it robs one of closeness to G-d, it robs one of families, it robs ones ability to express love and intimacy in appropriate ways, it robs youth, it clouds judgment, it is spiritually, physically, and emotionally painful. It is extremely rare to find a perpetrator that acts only once. It is extremely rare to find a person who has been victimized who is not aware every day of their life of the continuing effects the abuse has had.

Who are the perpetrators? They are almost always males. When this is perpetrated by individuals outside of our community, we try to understand and make it understood that within the world at large, unfortunately, there are goyim such as these. It isn't easy, but the door is left open to understand the events within a Torah context, utilizing daas Torah to help us understand the machla and refuah. The most pressing issue we must cope with is what happens if the perpetrator is from within our own community? Brothers, fathers, cousins, uncles, friends, rabbeim, baalei battim, people we know and would otherwise respect, yeshiva trained or poshuta Yidden. Neighbors, business associates, baalei tsedakah, black hat or kipah srugah. They are here. They who have committed these atrocities are among us.

What are we to say to our beloved when the trust instilled in us of our own community is violated? So many have been robbed of the single most important asset we can use to interpret and understand and reach out to those in need of help.

Many of the accused seem to be protected, their crime hidden from public awareness. Some leave town, only to perpetrate again within another community. There is denial on the part of many that those accused are guilty. When the victim is a child or the accusation comes years after the crime, the testimony is often suspect. Often times, we can only reach the conclusion that there was a victim, something happened, but the details become an issue of debate due to an inability to substantiate the facts.

We must decide how to handle the confirmed perpetrator. It is important to remember that a crime has been committed by a person with a sickness. If I was prone to seizures and drove a car and damaged someone, G-d forbid, I would not expect my rov to get me out of the legal obligations I would have, nor would I expect him to remain quiet if I wanted to transport children in my car at a later time. It would be expected that I would notify people that I was unable to do certain things due to my condition and I would be expected not to put myself in another situation where the safety and well being of another person would be compromised. A person with a cancer can only hope that with G-ds help, he will live his 120 years in remission, but with the realization that once discovered, the disease is forever at risk of re-emerging.

We must come to terms with those who carry within themselves the depths of understanding and knowledge of Torah, yet, have turned their bodies from holy vessels to impure receptacles by an action(s) that seems to refute their outward appearance of being yiray Shomayim. Just as Moshe Rabeinu was not reprimanded for breaking the luchos instead of bringing them into the midst of the unfit Bnai Yisroel at the time of the golden calf, it is understandable to feel that the perpetrators are not worthy of the gifts of Torah they hold and the kavod due them as holy vessels. However, today we lack the Leviim ;those tzadikim who are so pure that they are worthy and able to rid us of the unholy and tainted.

Perpetrators must come clean. They must first admit to themselves, then to their victims and the community at large, what they have done. This is always the first step. It must be public because the victim must have the validation that they were victimized. They have been abused and too often feel responsible and ashamed. When the abuser confesses, enough of the victims self doubt can be removed to allow the door to recovery to begin. We can deal honestly with the abuser and not allow him to be in situations that may cause him to stumble. We can watch, counsel, teach, and guide a person who understands and accepts his failings. We can take this Yid's shortcoming and use them to enhance our community. How many times has the government taken ex-criminals and put them to work preventing the same criminal behavior in others? They speak, they teach, they make aware. They have insight we lack. This is how they can do tshuva. Of course they may NEVER be around children again!

Who are the victims? They are our children, siblings, parents, extended families, friends, neighbors, our kehilas, and our community. We all suffer. The energy expended in the fallout of the effects of abuse is without end. Victims often suffer in silence for years due to fear, shame, and/or guilt. They may repress their horror or be emotionally unable to confront their reality, doubting their own credibility. This is a personal holocaust. Who is going to believe such a thing could happen? How is anyone else going to understand the pain?

The victims often feel it is easier to live in pain than to be forthcoming and be written off as a crank, a liar, a crazy person. Their pain and suffering exhibits itself in ways seemingly unrelated to the abuse. Many become problems academically and behaviorally at school. Their interactions with loved ones may deteriorate. They may not trust. Not just strangers, but even those closest to them. They may carry and exhibit irrational anger. They feel betrayed by their loved ones and others who have the responsibility and obligation to protect them from harm. We often lose them as b'nai mitzvas. We often lose them as members of our families and communities. We lose them to drugs and promiscuity. We may even lose them to be perpetrators themselves, having learned from the criminal behavior of their abuser how, through a warped and sickened perspective, to gain some control into their own out of control lives. The cycle continues. We all suffer.

We must feel it is as much an obligation to educate, inform and warn our children parents, neighbors, and congregations of the threats to our physical and spiritual safety as it is for all other types of criminal activity, whether Torah based or secular statutes.

We understand from Shlomo Hamelech that there is nothing new under the sun. It is our obligation to delve into Torah and find ways to help. The answers are there. We must find the needed refuah for the victims, the perpetrators, and our community. We must not give up on nor lose those we love and those who need our love.

The Agudah's response to the allegations of sexual abuse in their summer camp is way too little and too late. Where were you for forty agonizing years? We, who believe in the Divine involvement in every single act that occurs on Earth and all the galaxies, have to believe that the fire that destroyed the main building at Camp Agudah, the exact day that the Agudah's pathetic counter to the New York Magazine article on sexual abuse among the Orthodox Jewish community was published, was Hashem saying to Klal Yisroel "enough is enough."

May we all be zoche to be closer to Hashem through our efforts.


MONDROWITZ ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

Has anyone contacted you as being a victim of Avrohom Mondrowitz?
I am a victim of his who only came forward as a result of the NY Mag article.
I've been in touch with an Attorney, went to the Brooklyn DA's office to formally file a criminal complaint,
and through my Attorney have been in touch with & given interviews to multiple Press outlets while
maintaining my anonynimity. The reporters are digging for the cause of DA's office quietly dropping the case,
and stories will be appearing shortly.

I believe that there is renewed interest in this case & pressure will be applied to the DA's office
to bring him back. I firmly believe that someone or some group from the "frum" Orthodox community pressured
the DA's office to drop the case. I am trying to find out if other victims have also recently come forward so that we can
pool our resources & pressure the DA's office.

Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

THE DEFENDANT IN A SEXUAL ABUSE LAWSUIT, AGUDATH ISRAEL, RESPONDS FORTY YEARS LATER......

A Matter Of Orthodox Abuse
Rabbi Avi Shafran
True or false?

1) Child abuse does not happen in the Orthodox Jewish community.

2) Child abuse is particularly prevalent there.

3) Halacha-observant living actually encourages child abuse.

4) The Orthodox community has not taken measures to prevent child abuse.

Answers: 1) false 2) false 3) false 4) false.

Abuse of children unquestionably exists in the Orthodox community. So, though, does fanciful speculation of its extent. Consider a recent long, lurid article about a child molestation lawsuit against an Orthodox rabbi.

(Full disclosure: An Agudath Israel-affiliated camp is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit. The allegations include acts said to have been committed against two adolescent boys in the camp, where the alleged abuser was employed some 30 years ago. The other defendants in the lawsuit are Yeshiva & Mesivta Torah Temimah of Flatbush and the alleged abuser, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko.) Oh yes Shafran, full disclosure my ass-UOJ)

Robert Kolker, writing in New York magazine, cleverly and subtly sandwiched an admission of a dearth of statistical evidence about abuse in the Orthodox world between a sinister question and a damning speculation: “Is molestation more common in the Orthodox Jewish community than it is elsewhere? There are no reliable statistics … but there’s reason to believe the answer to that question might be yes.”

The “reason to believe” is based on speculation by Hella Winston, who has written about once-chasidic people who turned their backs on their communities. She recounts how “shocking” it was to hear how “so many boys [emphasis hers] have had this experience.”

Leave aside her unquestioning acceptance of her subjects’ claims. Focus only on the essential, glaring problem of drawing so sweeping a conclusion based on so slender and specialized a sample. Abuse, tragically, may well have been a factor in the trajectory of those disheartened Jews’ lives. And if it was, our hearts must ache with the anguish of the victims. But to consider their agonizing experience as somehow emblematic of chasidic life, much less broader Orthodox life is like deciding there must be a national tuberculosis epidemic after visiting a hospital and seeing “so many” patients there suffering with the disease.

Kolker then goes on to make an even more offensive and groundless speculation, safely qualified with the preface “There are some who believe.” What they believe, he reports, is that “the repression in the ultra-Orthodox community can foster abuse.” By “the repression” he means things like the strict forbiddance of sexual relations before marriage and the Jewish family purity laws that regulate when married couples may and may not engage in intimacy. The “few outlets for an Orthodox man with compulsions” create “a fertile environment for deviance.”

Here snideness slips toward slander, not only of Orthodox Jews but of Judaism itself. Larger society has ample “outlets” for sexual _expression (including many Kolker doesn’t likely prescribe). Yet abuse there is hardly unknown. Might the lack of sexual discipline inherent in a culture of “anything goes” be a greater risk factor for abuse than the ethic of personal responsibility cultivated by Jewish law?

Permit me a counter-hypothesis: A Torah-observant life does not lead to aberrant behavior; it helps prevent it. “I created an evil inclination,” the Talmud quotes the Creator, “And I created the Torah as its antidote [literally: ‘seasoning’].”

That fundamental Jewish truth that human inclinations are harnessed and controlled by Torah-life and Torah-study is self-evident to anyone truly familiar with the Orthodox community. The vast majority of its members are caring and responsible people who lead exemplary lives, free in large measure from societal ills like rape, AIDS, prostitution and marital infidelity that affect their less “repressed” neighbors.

That shouldn’t surprise; halacha-observance stresses family, community, compassion for others, control of anger and passions, ethical ideals. To be sure, there will always be observant individuals who sometimes fail the test of self-control, even with horrendous impacts on the lives of innocents. But that no more indicts Jewish observance than the fact that there are corrupt police or drug-addled doctors renders law enforcement or medicine suspect.

Preparing this essay, I interviewed some of the most respected mental health professionals with experience in the Orthodox world. To a person, they believe (based on their experience; as above, there are no statistics) that the number of child abusers in the Orthodox world is, like that of practitioners of other types of aberrant behavior, below that of general society. Anyone who thinks there is “reason to believe” otherwise has not consulted professionals whose on-the-ground experience uniquely qualifies them to speak to the topic. (Name names Shafran. Pro-Fresser Aaron Twerski?)

At the same time, though, just as bad cops and strung-out MDs must be rooted out, so must we address child abuse, whose victims, tragically, can be emotionally scarred for life. Even if the problem is less prevalent in Orthodox circles than elsewhere, abuse should be nonexistent in a community that believes in the sublime value of children, the momentousness of their upbringing and the consequence of the Torah’s laws to which abusive behavior is unambiguously antithetical.

Anyone who has shown a tendency toward abusive behavior has no business serving as a teacher, counselor or youth leader, and institutions must have procedures in place to ensure that they do not. And, while there is still much to do in this regard, the community can point with some degree of pride to important strides that have already been made.

Many Orthodox schools and summer camps have for years had in place clear policies and effective safeguards to help prevent abuse. Three years ago, the National Society of Hebrew Day Schools published and disseminated internal school guidelines for preventing and dealing with abuse, including reporting to civil authorities when appropriate. Sessions at its conventions focusing on the issue and featuring leading mental health professionals have been standing room only and lasted late into the night. (They came for the food you putz!-UOJ)

Special Jewish courts have been established in a number of Orthodox communities across the country to deal with abuse accusations (and have, in cases of proven guilt or admission of a crime, put suitable restrictions in place). A number of Orthodox mental health organizations and social service groups deal both with victims of child abuse and with abusers. ( You're a filthy liar Shafran-UOJ)

And contemporary rabbinical leaders have publicly spurred their followers to action on the issue. David Mandel, head of the Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, which operates a sexual abuse prevention and treatment program, said, “The degree to which Torah leaders have spoken out [on abuse in the Orthodox community] has been remarkable.” (Mandel is a nasty and sly co-conspirator-UOJ)

Has all that been enough? Nothing is, at least not until abuse is nonexistent in the community. Must more be done? Yes. And it will be.

As progress continues, though, we would do well to avoid the New York magazine mind trap. To imagine that what has defined traditional Jewish life for millennia is somehow a risk factor for abuse is to turn all logic and experience on their heads. The true risk factors, as mental health professionals attest, are things like absent parents, alcohol and drug abuse, lack of support systems and the touting of a Woody Allenesque “the heart wants what it wants” mindset, all considerably underrepresented in the Orthodox community. If any environment can reasonably be imagined to foster the bane of child abuse, it is the charged atmosphere of MTV, R-rated movies, contemporary advertising and uncontrolled Internet usage, not the universe of Jewish values.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PARENTS, STUDENTS AND RABBEIM OF YESHIVAH TORAH TEMIMAH!

In response to everything that has been exposed to the public in the past few months, Lipa Margulies has placed Yudi Kolko on administrative leave. There are those who say this is more than one can expect from someone such as Lipa Margulies and as such we should leave well enough alone.

Others realize that the problem never was Yudi Kolko. It remains an unfortunate fact that pedophiles will attempt to build lives around their prey. That Kolko chose to spend his life around children is no surprise. That Kolko was protected by Margulies should also come as little surprise to anyone who knows him. That Margulies and Kolko were allowed to continue their heinous acts for decades after complaints were made to Torah Temimah, Agudath Israel, Torah U’Mesorah and many others is symptomatic of the core problem.

The problem is with our self anointed rabbinical and lay leadership. In the coming weeks the world will learn of the unimaginably cynical and cruel acts committed by Lipa Margulies with the knowledge and assistance of Shia Fishman (executive director of Torah U’Mesorah,) Pinchus Scheinberg, Yaakov Perlow (Novominsker Rebbe and Agudath Israel’s president and chairman of Agudath Israel’s Council of Torah Sages,) Simcha Kaufman (rebbe in Torah Temimah, employee of Camp Agudah and talmid of Pinchus Scheinberg,) and Elya Svei (former Rosh HaYeshiva of Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, former chairman of the rabbinic administrative board of Torah U’mesorah and former member of Agudath Israel’s Council of Torah Sages.)

Our message is simple.

When your child is running a fever you head straight to the pediatrician. When you have a toothache you go to your dentist. When you have a tax question you meet with your accountant. When you want an insurance policy you go to your insurance agent. When you have a legal question you ask your lawyer. When you find a leak in your home you call your plumber. When you need an extension to your home to house your growing family you hire an architect and a builder. You get the point.

When you or your children are molested or otherwise abused you go to the police to protect yourself and your neighbors and to a mental health professional to deal with the fallout of the abuse. Simple. There is no place for rabbis or lay leaders in this equation. This is not only our opinion. If you won’t rely on your own sense of decency, self preservation and logic, Rav Elyashiv, Rabbi Herschel Schachter, Rabbi Dovid Cohen and countless others from all walks of life declare that it is your obligation to do so.

The problem is more complex.

As a community we have been misled by our rabbonim. For several decades they have taught the dogma of thinly disguised papal infallibility wrapped in a cloak of kappotes and beckeshes. The complexity of this situation lies in the need to deprogram so many of us from this perverse distortion of our holy torah.

Our prescription is crude but effective. Shock treatment.

In a mere few months we have gone from a community deep in a dogma induced stupor to one engaged in a lively debate over the qualifications of our rabbonim and lay leaders possess to deal with our day to day issues.

Parents, students and rabbeim of Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah, our solution has two more stages left. The next stage will impact upon you directly.

We mean you no harm. The vast majority of you are unsuspecting victims who just went along with the flow. Your friends sent their children to Torah Temimah so you did the same. We feel for the disruption in your lives. Please feel for the agonizing pain in the lives of Margulies and Kolko’s many victims. We ask that you feel their pain so that you will not take what will be happening personally.

Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah and Lipa Margulies will be destroyed.

While many may mourn the good that will be destroyed along with the evil most of us understand that the good inherent in our holy Torah can not exist in the presence of Margulies and the institution he built on the blood and souls of our children.

Torah Temimah must be destroyed as a clear message to all that as a community steeped in the values of the Torah we can not tolerate such pure uninhibited evil.

We have fired our opening salvo. The barrage will continue and by September you will not recognize Torah Temimah.

Rabbeim, we understand the pressure you are under. Margulies pays you well and on time. You are comfortable. We suggest you think of the stigma of working alongside Kolko and for a man such as Margulies. We suggest you think about being unemployed without notice. Now is the time for you to either group together and start another yeshiva or find employment elsewhere.

Parents and students, now is the time to protect yourselves and your families and make alternate arrangements for the next school year. Neither you nor your children deserve to be a part of the punishment dealt Margulies for his murder of innocent children. Being a part of Torah Temimah has turned into an unimaginable stigma which will only get worse as more becomes public.

Enroll your children elsewhere.

Aaron Twerski-I am ashamed and greatly angered by what you did. I truly believe that your participation last night has damaged the Jews!

A Very Respected Criminal Defense Attorney Writes:

Dear Professor Twerski:

I apologize for writing this after the fact, and I have as yet heard no reports how the meeting went last night. And while as a criminal defense attorney I truly believe that all are presumed innocent until proven guilty, that is in the eyes of the law, but not in the eyes of a 'kahal' who must be concerned about 35 years of a 'shmu'ah' that has surrounded Rabbis Kolko and Margulies and YTT.

The (so far) lack of proof in the eyes of the law and halacha - although there seem to be many more than 'al pi shnayim aydim' around - may not condemn the parties yet legally, but I believe it does not give anyone the right for others to go out of their way in order to give them the cloak of purity and innocence as this hastily prepared meeting featuring yourself and David Mandel did. Clearly this was a P.R. campaign to make the public believe that Rabbi Margulies is innocent of all 'charges' against him. To the extent that you are (in my humble opinion) prematurely 'mesayai'a' him 'lidvar aveirah' - to perpetuate his claim of innocence in the cover-up - I am ashamed of you and greatly angered by what you did.

I truly believe that your participation last night has brought great harm and damage to the Jewish community at large, to your own reputation, to the institution that you are employed by, and to hundreds and hundreds of innocent kinderlach.

Had you truly been interested in helping alert the community to this problem, you would have received the invitation from Rabbi Margulies and then done all you could to move the meeting to another location, had it sponsored by an independent group, and found a sponsor for an ad and mailing that said "Invitation to all YTT Parents and Parents of any and all Yeshiva students to come hear experts on the topic 'Keeping your children safe and Preventing Abuse' ."

By allowing your name to appear on a YTT letterhead above the signature of Rabbi Margulies, I believe you have wrought upon yourself disgrace and shame. As our chazal have told us, "Oy la'rasha v'oy lishchayno."

e-mail:dbpesq@gmail.com

EXTREMELY URGENT-RABBI SHLOMO MANDEL OF YESHIVA OF BROOKLYN-CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY! AT: a_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com

MY WARNING TO THE "RABBIS" OF ORTHODOX JUDAISM

This is a copy of an e-mail I sent to a friend to pass on to the rabbis.

Dear.....

There's very credible evidence coming in on another large yeshiva doing exactly what Torah Temimah has done. I do not want to start taking down yeshiva after yeshiva, but I will, if need be.

Before I go public with anything further, perhaps you want to set up a meeting with the Moetzes/Torah Umesorah and tell them the following:

1- Lipa Margulies must be removed from Torah Temimah. I don't care how it's done. He can't EVER again be involved in the chinuch of children. Let him open a restaraunt and get Kolko as head waiter, and Belsky as mashgiach for all I care. When Margulies is removed and Shustal or that caliber person becomes rosh yeshiva, with an administrative board like the Chaim Berlin and YTV model, I will move away from the Torah Temimah issue predicated on the following:

a- An independent sex registry is set up for all the yeshivas and Bais Yaakov schools, administered by frum professionals, NO RABBIS!

b-An independent professional panel of ten (men & women) are put together to hear allegations of abuse. They can meet on Sundays on a rotating basis. Three people need to show up once in 3 weeks.

c- If the above happens by August 3rd-Tisha B'Av, they will avoid the third self destruction of the Jews brought on by their own evil behavior.

I'm in the process of retaining a high profile PI, a former NYPD detective, to investigate ALL allegations of abuse, and go STRAIGHT to the media and the authorities with his findings.

Please get back to me by June 10th.

Your Chaver,
UOJ


My friend responds that he's having a problem with the direction the blog is taking.

This is my response to him.

I can appreciate your concerns about the direction of the blog. I'm also very glad to hear about your progress with the pending bill, but it's still pending and so is the registry by Torah Umesorah.

Why not a statement from Torah Umesorah that they are working on one?

Look, you have valid points, I agree that some of the language is questionable, even mine.

But look at the results because of the worthiness of our cause! Kolko is gone and Margulies is ruined!

Do you really think anything would have happened if there was not a lunatic out there ready to take down all the yeshivas that are rotten, and harboring sick, abusive and ill rebbes?

"Rabbi"......is a monster, I verified it over a two week period before I put it up.

I screen 100 posts that have a name on it before I put up one. The masses are enraged, I feel it in their language.

I know people, the best deals and best results are made under pressure and deadlines. YESHIVA.......... is next, if the organizations don't act.

I too feel that I am NOT permitted to go away until major changes are implemented; not promises, not want to, not going to, but implemented permanently.

My dear chaver, (I mean that)...I will go away when the changes are in place NOT A MOMENT BEFORE. I don't trust them and neither should you. They've proven themselves to be rishaim, yes, teshuva is possible, but so far it's a bunch of talk.

Please get back to me by June tenth with a "written" letter of intent agreeing to yesterday's demands, I will then go on hiatus until Aug. 3rd.

If not...they'll be sorry, very sorry.....you know that!

Good Yom-Tov...All my very best,
UOJ

A Call for Submissions – The Other Ba’al Tshuvah Stories

A Call for Submissions – The Other Ba’al Tshuvah Stories


Although this post will appear on Jewschool as well, I just wanted to give a personal note of thanks for this opportunity to UOJ. As some of you may know, I was a writer here before joining Jewschool, and it was here on UOJ that I first began speaking about my own earlier experience as a Jewish fundamentalist, and my problems with famous and powerful kiruv institutions, such as Ohr Somayach. This was a hard thing for me to do, in part because of my own lack of pride in many aspects of that experience. As I expected, I was attacked as crazy, a loser, and weak minded for listening to rabbis in the first place. This from Ultra-Orthodox Jews! But UOJ himself and the core writers of the early days of this blog were very supportive, and most surprising, quite understanding. And I discovered it wasn’t the end of the world to talk about what I thought was wrong in Ultra-Orthodox kiruv, or even what went wrong for me. In the end, I felt a lot stronger. This was made possible by UOJ. I had never spoken about such things publicly. I was finally facing my past as a Jewish fundamentalist.

All too often, the Orthodox community is uninterested in alleviating a frequently destructive situation for so many ba’alei tshuvahs. It is a cold numbers game, and control over as much of their lives as possible is considered ideal, even paramount. The secular Jewish community is all too frequently ignorant about what the problems are, and when they resist what is happening to their children and their friends, end up discussing “hashkafa” issues, which is right where the kiruv masters want the discussion.

What UOJ has proven with his stunning success is that the Orthodox community cannot be trusted to police itself properly, but enforcement must be imposed from outside. And although much of his readership are committed Ultra-Orthodox Jews, there are others, many who may be appropriate for this new project, or know others. ]-- DK

It was only a matter of time before current or former ba’alei tshuvahs banded together to oppose their radical policies and excesses. That time is now.

If the Ultra-Orthodox compilations and movies about Ba’alei Tshuvah are to be believed, most stories follow a similar arc. Secular Jew discovers Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Rejects secular world in its entirety. Marries like-minded newly religious spouse. Lives very fulfilling and meaningful life, and achieves higher and higher spiritual levels.

What is not discussed is the socio-economic devastation to middle-class recruits, the lies, the discouragement of secular education, the dissatisfaction in performing low level jobs for those who listen, the discouragement of vocational ambition, the lack of intensive hard skills offered such as the Hebrew and Aramaic language, the preference given to those from wealthy families, the encouragement of stringency, the encouragement of neurotic and obsessive behavior, marriages arranged not on love but on a value system assimilated usually for only a couple of years, the push for isolation from friends and all but immediate family, and the eventual massive dropout rate of ba’a’lei tshuva.

They must have had a hard time finding anyone with such problems.

That’s why Failed Messiah (Shmarya Rosenberg) and David Kelsey are joining forces. We want to help! And since there are obviously very few such cases judging by all the success stories, we are teaming up together to find these very, very few and isolated cases of dissatisfaction, in the off-chance there are any.

And since the ultra-Orthodox world is so confident of the superior lifestyle they are advocating for secular Jews, we know they won’t mind us compiling a book that raises the difficult issues they must have forgotten to ask in their never ending releases about how much happier everyone is who joins the ranks of Jewish fundamentalism, and presents them to the secular Jewish community. In fact, we know the Ultra-Orthodox kiruv institutions will be thrilled to have Jews who experienced first-hand the joys of Ultra-Orthodox ba’al tshuvah living express how they think things should be different, and what went wrong. And what they think about the institutions and faculty they attended.

If you or anyone you know is a ba’al tshuvah or former ba’al tshuvah, we want to hear his/her story. The unedited version. The version not fit for the holy Artscroll. Essays needed as well! Specific topics preferred.

Please contact us. For more information, please go to http://www.kiruvstories.com/.

Or email us at- submissions@kiruvstories.com.

We need your help!

THE EVOLUTION OF A MURDEROUS FRAUD CALLED LIPA MARGULIES AND THE IMPACT HE HAS ON ALL OF JUDAISM

"As man is a social animal, it is almost certain that he would inherit a tendency to be faithful to his comrades and obedient to the leader of the tribe".

The Descent Of Man by Charles Darwin

How does a low-life become a head of a yeshiva? I asked this question over and over again to myself as I twist and turn trying to fall asleep.

This is what I came up with.

When we view history, especially recent history, I asked myself the same question regarding the onset of the PLO.

Who in the world would want a filthy dirty slob, bad to look at, disgusting to be near,an abomination of a human, a known murderer and thief, to be their leader? Could it be that the masses of the Palestinians were that dumb? Could it be that no matter how rotten a person is, he will find followers that will support him and his evil?

Could the world be that crazy by allowing "Chairman" Arafat the podium at the United Nations with a gun on his hip? Well, the Agudath Israel gave Margulies the podium at the siyum haShas armed with his black hat and gartel!

The parallels between Arafat and Margulies are startling. OK I know some are you are saying " this is the final straw, UOJ is an over the top certified lunatic".

Read on, listen carefully.

1-Who made Arafat "Chairman"- Who made Margulies "Rabbi"?

2-Who raised millions of dollars from all sorts of people only to enrich themselves as they robbed their supporters blind? Who had the SOLE authority to write himself millions of dollars of checks without asking anyone?

3-Who controlled/controls all of the assets of the organizations they led with other people's money? Who recently "SOLD" 55% of their house to the yeshiva and pocketed $1.9 MILLION DOLLARS?

4-Who killed off( emotional killing is murder) all their detractors and slandered those that would not support their evil ways?

5-Who has laundered all sorts of ILLEGAL money through their institutions?

6-Who has defied all logic and kept lying until their dying day?

7-Who unashamedly issued statements that were filthy lies without any hesitation?

8-Who began their institutions on a huge fraud; Palestinian people-Torah Vodaath Of Flatbush!

9-Who has led their groups into the abyss and convinced them that their cause is justifiable according to ancient texts?

10-Who is willing to destroy their peoples because of their illusions of grandeur?


The world is watching and shortly the "fetter Shmiel" will be coming to visit!

AFTER THIRTY EIGHT YEARS OF HARBORING A VICIOUS PEDOPHILE-Y. KOLKO, LIPA MARGULIES, YESHIVA TORAH TEMIMAH AND WILLIE WIESNER RESPOND!

Click image to enlarge:


TT PARENTS:ASK THE "MORON RASHA HAYESHIVA SHLITA" THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS!

1. Daas Torah - name names, which rabbi(s)???

2. Counsel? Who? And who does he represent - the yeshiva? Kolko?

3. Why did Kolko go on leave - no explanation? What would you have done If Kolko DID NOT AGREE to leave?

4. Administrative leave - paid or unpaid?

5. Why the silence as to why the yeshiva did not go to bais din? Which rabbonim (daas Torah) advised him not to go to bais din?

An interesting legal admission from your yeshiva - "always has been to guarantee the welfare of our children". Guarantee? That's a word smart negligence defense lawyers avoid. It could potentially mean you don't have to prove negligence, only that that there was an injury, and the guarantee of safety was breached.

It potentially means strict liability.

Parents: I urge you to get rid of Lipa Margulies immediately and save the yeshiva by hiring an honest and authentic "rosh yeshiva". Call it whatever you want, I'll even let you call it "administrative leave". Margulies is a vile thief and a sub-human. He has caused much damage to all Judaism and has no place in our Torah institutions.

Keep asking yourself" what would I do if it was my child"??? The hundreds of victims were OUR children!

Get rid of him NOW; save the yeshiva!!

If you choose to once again be fooled by Lipa Margulies, and decide to do nothing, beware, I intend to finish the job for you.

AND IT WONT BE PRETTY!!!!

PLEASE TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL ABOUT THE KOLKO/MARGULIES/YESHIVA TORAH TEMIMAH SEX ABUSE SCANDAL-THE WORLD IS WATCHING!

PLEASE CONTINUE THE COMMENTS HERE:

THERE HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTS TO HACK OUR SITE-THE NEW ADDRESS WILL BE AUNORTHODOXJEW.BLOGSPOT.COM IF LIPA MARGULIES'S MAFIA IS SUCCESSFUL!

344 People Downloaded The Complaint Form Against Yudi Kolko - The Greatest Single Tragedy To Smite The Jews Since W.W. Two

The Awareness Center reports the following statistics:

FYI: This is from our stats page. So far, since the filing of the lawsuit against Yeshiva Torah Temimah, Yudi Kolko and Camp Agudah, 344 people downloaded the complaint file on Kolko from our web page.

/complaint_kolko.pdf 344

/Kolko_Yehuda.html 1263
/Kolko_Yudi.html 265

1528 visits to the Kolko web page so far.


"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?" "HOW ABOUT NOW?" "HOW ABOUT..........?"

IS YESHIVA & MESIVTA TORAH TEMIMAH A MODERN DAY IR HANIDACHAS?

Background:

The institution currently known as Yeshiva & Mesivta Torah Temimah (“TT”) was founded by Lipa Margulies (“Margulies”) as Yeshiva Torah Vodaath of Flatbush. As an employee of the authentic Yeshiva Torah Vodaath (“YTV”), one of the oldest and most prestigious Torah institutions in America, Margulies had access to YTV’s proprietary donor information which he absconded with when he departed to start his own school.

Margulies commenced his fraud by misrepresenting himself to donors as an agent of YTV, and donations slated for YTV began fattening TT’s bank account. By the time YTV realized the extent of the brazen fraud being committed by Margulies, millions of dollars had been stolen from them by Margulies. It took several years for YTV to get Margulies into a bais din for a din Torah. The bais din forced Margulies to change his business name. He was ordered to return the stolen money, but never did. He began operating under the name Yeshiva Torah Temimah, F/K/A/ Yeshiva Torah Vodaath of Flatbush.

Kolko:

Margulies hired Yehuda Kolko (“Kolko”) as a rebbe in his new yeshiva. Margulies was immediately made aware of Kolko’s dangerous sexual deviance. Fearful of the potential impact the double whammy an ongoing financial scandal coupled with a child abuse scandal would have on his budding business, Margulies cynically chose to cover up the fact that he had hired a known pedophile and focused instead on building his business.

Kolko in turn focused on grooming and molesting his victims.

Complaints:

As TT grew both in size and prestige, the pedophile issue kept raising its ugly head. Parents and students, with frightening regularity, approached Margulies with complaints against Kolko. Margulies responded by discrediting any victims bold enough to go public and threatening their families with retaliation if they did not stop their victimized children from complaining.

In the mid 1980’s, when a few of the victims managed to convene a bais din to address the horrific accusations against Kolko, Margulies reacted by retaining Rabbi Chaim Pinchus Scheinberg, rosh hayeshiva of Torah Ohr (“Scheinberg”) to interfere with the bais din. Simcha Kaufman (“Kaufman”), is a former student of Scheinberg and currently an employee of both Margulies/TT and Camp Agudah where Kolko worked and abused children for a decade. As a high level employee of Camp Agudah, Kaufman was informed of Kolko’s molestation of young campers as early as the late 1960’s, and together with others, chose to cover up the accusations. Kaufman contacted victims and their supporters to insist they cease and desist from their attempts to rid TT and their community of a dangerous pedophile.

Specifically, Scheinberg called the organizers of the bais din and insisted they stop the din Torah proceedings. He falsely stated that under halacha two witnesses are required for the testimony to be halachically valid, and as there were not two witnesses for any single act of abuse perpetrated by Kolko, all of the accusations must be disregarded.

Scheinberg also contacted victims and asked them to tell him what had been done to them by Kolko. Upon hearing the details of Kolko’s acts of molestation, Scheinberg falsely informed the victims that under halacha, absent penetration or proof of ejaculation, Kolko’s actions against them were not punishable, and that they were obligated to cease and desist in their pursuit of justice.

In doing what he did, Scheinberg knowingly violated clear halacha to the contrary of his stated position, and allowed Margulies and Kolko to continue their perversity. Due to Scheinberg’s gross distortion of halacha, to this day, there are victims of Kolko who believe that the horrific acts of abuse Kolko perpetrated upon them are not actionable under halacha.

Not one to leave anything to chance, Margulies also enlisted the aid of Yehoshua (Shia) Fishman (“Fishman”) (Fishman is the Executive Director of Torah U’Mesorah, the National Society of Hebrew Day Schools in America.) Fishman used his position as representative of Torah U’Mesorah to have one-on-one conversations with victims of Kolko. Introducing himself as the head of Torah U’Mesorah, an organization held in great esteem by yeshiva students, he promised to keep anything told him in the strictest confidence. Reassured, the young victims poured their broken hearts out to Fishman who promised to help them. Fishman promptly reported all stories and victim's names to Margulies and Kaufman. Margulies and Kaufman proceeded to publicly name and discredit each and every victim, one by one. The astonished victims react to this day with fury at Fishman’s betrayal of their confidences. To his credit, Fishman now acknowledges that a horrible injustice was perpetrated upon Margulies and Kolko’s victims, and pleads old age, ill health, and his imminent retirement as the reason for his inaction at this time.

It is of note that Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt"l, instructed the organizers of the bais din to ignore Scheinberg’s perversion of halacha and to persist in their quest. Nonetheless, for over twenty years after Scheinberg’s maniacal interference, Kolko continued molesting young boys.

Having survived the most serious assault against his yeshiva, Margulies assumed he had put the matter behind him and focused on building his businesses. Margulies expanded Kolko’s responsibilities to include administrative duties, one-on-one “tutoring” of select students in TT, and the running of TT’s summer camp in the Catskill Mountains, known as Camp Silver Lake.

Needless to say Kolko’s child molesting continued, resulting in newly shattered lives every year.

Ir Hanidachas:

According to most interpretations, Ir Hanidachas is in reality a practical impossibility and as such is taught as a lesson on how to deal with irredeemable evil. The purpose of this post is not to seriously suggest that TT must be burned down to the ground together with all its inhabitants. To the contrary, many of the rabbeim and students of TT are innocent victims of Margulies. These rabbeim and students will have to spend the rest of their lives distancing themselves from Margulies and TT, and clearing themselves of the horrible stigma of association with TT. This is more punishment than most of them deserve and we wish them no further pain.

However, as with the concept of Ir Hanidachas, Yeshiva & Mesivta Torah Temimah is infused with an evil beyond most of our comprehension. While boy after boy was being sexually assaulted by Kolko in his private office and in the basement of the yeshiva building; at the very same time and in the very same building, the rabbeim and students sat in their classrooms and bais midrash learning, while turning a blind eye to the horrors being committed. When a few of the victims summoned the courage to accuse Kolko, the rest of TT went along quietly with Margulies, and allowed their classmates and talmidim to be villified.

Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah cries out for treatment as an Ir Hanidachas. The Rambam’s requirement that the inhabitants of an Ir Hanidachas be warned has been met. The TT community have been on notice of the midas S'dom being perpetrated by Margulies and Kolko for decades, and were warned publicly and repeatedly of the consequences its continued inaction and refusal to repent would result in.

According to the Ra’avad, the occupants of an Ir Hanidachas are so beyond the pale that even true repentance does not allow for a reprieve. A Tosefta Sanhedrin postulates that in the case of Ir Hanidachas the property of the righteous inhabitants are burned along with everyone else’s. Allow me to expand upon that thought and suggest that the guilt of the “righteous” lies in their silence while they allowed the horrific behavior to continue under the roof they shared with the purveyors of evil. Their silence is interpreted as acquiescence.

What did someone such as Rabbi S.F. Shustal, by many accounts a very special man, do to deserve this indelible blemish on his reputation? Simply stated, he was and remains to this day, silent about the horrors perpetrated by Kolko and Margulies.

While Margulies countenanced and supported Kolko’s murder of our children’s innocent souls, Shustal and his co-workers sat, and continue to sit, silently. They did, and continue to do, nothing to stop Margulies and Kolko.

In response to the argument of “what about the zechusim of the tremendous amount of Torah emanating from the many thousand graduates of TT?”, I refer to the Rambam who in Yesodei Ha’Torah states that a Sefer Torah written by an apikoros must be burned. The Rambam called for the burning of a Sefer Torah written by an apikoros because of the lack of proper intention to be m’kadaish shaim Shomayim as the Sefer Torah was written. Thus, such a Sefer Torah, although on the surface identical with a kosher Sefer Torah, lacks kedusha and as the living embodiment of tumah and sheker its very existence stands in contradiction to everything the Torah represents.

Accordingly, Torah Temimah must be dismantled, Lipa Margulies must be removed immediately, and a board of rosh yeshivas and ehrliche askonim must take over the leadership until a new rosh yeshiva is hired.

It takes no great leap of logic to apply the above to Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah, an institution built by a vile kofer on a foundation of sheker, theft, deception and the blood and souls of innocent children. While Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah might appear at first glance to be a yeshiva similar to other yeshivas, it is in fact the yeshiva equivalent of a Sefer Torah written by a min (non-believer.)

Being a community of sorts, the atrocities committed within the four walls of Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah render it an Ir Hanidachas. As such it is an institution whose eradication from our midst will result in a true kiddush Hashem and will hasten the geulah, may it be G-d’s will.

Attorney Jeff Herman will be on "Talkline with Zev Brenner" tonight at 9:00PM NY AM radio WSNR 620.

Listen to Jeff Herman's interview last night:
TCNTALK@aol.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, you might do the responsible things first:

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

Take your message to the public via the Internet.

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

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

What if that didn't work either?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another Day, Another Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against Yeshiva Torah Temimah

Double Click on Individual Images to Enlarge:

Press conference to announce the filing of a $20 million dollar lawsuit against Yeshiva Torah Temimah, Lipa Margulies, Y. Kolko & Camp Agudah

Press conference to announce the filing of a $20 million dollar lawsuit on behalf of two plaintiffs who claim they were sexually abused as children by Rabbi Yidi Kolko when they were students at Yeshiva Torah Temimah. The lawsuit was filed in Federal Court and is against Yeshiva Torah Temimah, Camp Agudah and Rabbi Yidi Kolko.

When: Friday, May 5, 2006 at 2:00 pm.



Where: Public sidewalk in front of Yeshiva Torah Temimah, 555 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY.



Who: One of the victims and attorney Jeffrey Herman will make a statement and take questions.


Herman & Mermelstein, P.A.

Jeffrey M. Herman, Esq.

18205 Biscayne Blvd.

Suite 2218

Miami, FL 33160



(305) 931-2200

www.hermanlaw.com



DOUBLE-CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE:

LIPA MARGULIES, YESHIVA TORAH TEMIMAH AND YUDI KOLKO MESARAIV L'DIN (IN CONTEMPT OF JEWISH COURT)

LIPA MARGULIES, YESHIVA TORAH TEMIMAH AND YUDI KOLKO IN CONTEMPT OF JEWISH COURT(MESARAIV L'DIN)

As everybody now knows, Margulies and Kolko have ignored repeated Hazmanas and refuse to come to Bais Din. Indeed, they defied three separate Batei Dinim, including two of their own initiation.

SIRUV L’DIN NUMBER ONE:
When the most recent charges of child molestation and cover-up against Yudi Kolko and Lipa Margulies emerged to the public in February, the Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp sent an Hazmana from Rabbi Belsky to Eli Greenwald alleging slander. Eli Greenwald, being a true Torah Jew, immediately responded in writing that he would appear before Bais Din for a Din Torah. The Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp ignored this response to their Hazmana and have yet to appear for this Din Torah.

SIRUV L’DIN NUMBER TWO:
At the request of the Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp, a Bais Din comprised of Rabbis Avrohom Chaim Levin and Shmuel Kaminetzky together with a noted orthodox attorney was set up. The Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp agreed to come to a Din Torah before this Bais Din. A tentative date was set. The Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp changed their position and refused to appear before this Bais Din. It must be noted that this too was a Bais Din convened at their request.

SIRUV L’DIN NUMBER THREE:
Despite the fact that the victims were now well within their rights to go directly to Court, they wanted to give Bais Din one more try. Thus, before filing suit on behalf of the victims and guided by strict Halacha after conferring with Rabonim and Poskim, Attorney Jeffery Herman sent three successive Hazmanas to the Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp demanding they come to the Bais Din of Mechon L’Hoyroh or convene a Bais Din of ZBLA. (see Shailos Uteshuvos Divrei Chaim, Choshen Mishpat, Chelek 2 S’ 46 & the Shailos Uteshuvos Neos Desheh S’ 51, which stand for the premise that an Hazmana need not originate from a Bais Din but may instead be sent directly by the claimant. Indeed, the Bais Din of Mechon L’Hoyroh approved the Hazmanas prior to them being served.)

Despite independently confirming their Halachic obligation to respond to the Hazmana and appear before the Bais Din for a Din Torah, the Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp chose to ignore the Hazmana. While strict Halacha only requires one Hazmana, the victims decided to follow the current practice and sent three Hazmanas. The Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp ignored all three.

MESARAIV L’DIN
At this point the Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp are clearly Mesarvim Ledin.

The Mesaraiv transgresses numerous Torah laws including: “Al Pi Hatorah Asher Yorucha”; “Uvasa El Hashofet Asher Yehiyeh Bayamim Hahem”; “Ad Haelokim Yovo Dvar Shnayhem” and “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof” (All found in Parshios Mishpatim and Shoftim.) The Mesarev, by forcing the other litigant to go to secular Court causes a great Chillul Hashem. As Rashi states in Parshas Mishpotim "do not bring the matter to their courts, for one who brings law cases of Bnei Yisrael before the secular courts profanes the Name of Hashem. The Chillul Hashem that The Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp will be bringing down on Klal Yisroel as a result of their refusal to go to Bais Din is unimaginable and unspeakable.

It is incumbent upon the entire community to loudly condemn Mesarvim Ledin and insist that Hazmanas be responded to. In his article entitled, "Batei Din vs. Secular Courts", published in The Jewish Observer, January 1993, Chaim Dovid Zwiebel argues that the community itself is called upon to play a major role in upholding the honor of Batei Din and enforcing their judgments. He notes that the Agudas Yisroel movement has adopted some internal guidelines designated to isolate anyone who is Mesaraiv L'din. Such an individual forfeits his right:
(1) to be a member-in-good-standing of any Agudah branch Shul;
(2) to be called to the Torah for an Aliya;
(3) to be a Shaliach Tzibbur;
(4) to host any Kiddush or Simcha; and
(5) the individual is to be explicitly advised that he is not welcome in the Shul.

Margulies would rather continue sheltering a child molester and defy Halacha and our Torah while having all his dirty laundry aired in the secular Courts and media, then face a Din Torah.

He chose to continue putting children at risk daily instead of doing his duty and protecting them from further harm.

History will record that the Torah Temimah/Margulies/Kolko camp were hoisted by their own petard.