THE UOJ " CRIMINAL-JEW-LIFE" MAGAZINE--THE YEAR IN PICTURES!

Shalom Tendler & Friends

MY WARNING TO THE "RABBIS" OF ORTHODOX JUDAISM

Sunday, June 04, 2006---The UOJ Archives
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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 the YTV model, I will move away from the Torah Temimah issue predicated on the following:

a- An independent sex-abuse 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 2006 - 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! Kolko is gone and Margulies is ruined regardless of the show he puts up!

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 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 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

Posted by "UOJ" - "The Un-Orthodox Jew" at Sunday, June 04, 2006

RABBI YEHUDA KOLKO INDICTED - AGAIN!

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Lipa Margulies in Hungary...circa 1935

Executive board members of Yeshiva Torah Temimah attempting to restrain Lipa Margulies at a smorgasboard at a recent Jewish wedding:

Lipa Margulies - Principal Of Yeshiva Torah Temimah and member of Agudath Israel giving the crowd his "I'm not a crook" speech:



Yehuda Kolko--His hands in his own pants--for a change!




On Friday, August 17, 2007 - A Brooklyn grand jury indicted Rabbi Yehuda Kolko - again - This time for sexually molesting a six year old child in a classroom of Yeshiva Torah Temimah three years ago.
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SEE THE SHAIGETZ AND FRAUD YISROEL BELSKY:
Download the Belsky files here:
http://savefile.com/files/53776
(copy & paste)

Readers rage......

Kolko was molesting students for over 40 years and Margolies knew. For 40 years and Simcha Kaufman knew. For 40 years and Nosson Scherman knew. For 40 years and Eli Teitelbaum knew. For 40 years and Shia Fishman knew. For 40 years and just about every Rav knew. To know more go and read the detailed timeline at:

http://rabbimatisyahusalomon.blogspot.com/

Every one in Boro Park and Flatbush knew about Kolko, but they all kept silent. Hundreds if not thousands knew about Kolko. Students, campers, partners, fellow rebbeim - they all knew.

Rumors about Kolko's deeds were know throughout the Yeshiva world, people laughed about the "Kolko - Cocoa club" - everyone knew.

Right now there are hundreds of Kolko victims suffering because of this ongoing "Silence of the Rabbis". In some cases victims never ever told their parents - and they are suffering.

Others have been brainwashed to think that it never happened to them, or that they shouldn't ever speak about it for whatever reason - and they are suffering.

These victims are all suffering.

And these victims are all mixed up.

No one, absolutely no one is sticking up for them, no one is willing to believe them, no one is willing to deal with their problems, no one is willing to get them the help that they so desperately need.

Where are all of the rabbanim who let this travesty continue for 40 years? Where are all the community rabbi's? Where are all the so-called Gedolim?

These victims, these poor neshomos, need help. Their stories must come out. Their horrors must be told.

Parents, brothers, sisters - if your dear child or sibling was sick - you'd run to every doctor to get him help. If they, Chas Ve'Shalom, had a serious disease, you'd spend whatever monies you'd have to get him help.

These victims are all sick. Very sick. They are all sufferring - sufferring emotionally and mentally because of this terrible disease that they unfortunately were exposed to. They need help.

So what are you waiting for?!!!

Firstly - contact the Special Victims Unit of the NYPD and tell them that your son was infected by Kolko - a serial molester - who has caused your child to be very sick.

Secondly, contact a good lawyer, and sue the pants off Kolko. He had a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to protect your child and instead he infected your child with a disease that will affect your child for the rest of his life. For that he should and has to pay.

The same goes for his enablers. The people who knew and did absolutely nothing to stop him. The people who gave him a private office, a private bathroom, the people who gave him the opportunity to be with your child and infect him with an infection that will only givehim pain and anguish for the rest of his life.

For this they must pay. They all must pay. Everyone who knew, even if it were only rumors, but they did absolutely nothing, did not ask, did not investigate, did not inform the proper authorities, they must all pay.

These children, these young men - they all need help - long term psychological and emotional help.

Someone has to pay for Kolko's crimes against humanity.

And another by Steve.............

Every time I watch the short trailer for the film "Narrow Bridge", which is based on the Kolko story, I start shaking and crying. Similarly, I dread entering the halls of YTT where all these countless atrocities were committed.

I am baffled how loving and caring parents can continue to send their children to this Den of Horrors? How is this place still operating after all of these revelations? L'MAAN HASHEM, SHUT IT DOWN ALREADY!!!! After the churban, young Jewish boys being led into exile by the enemy, would throw themselves off the boats rather than allow themselves to be subjected to such horrors. Today we have parents who willingly and knowingly sacrifice their children to the Molech.

They can rationalize all they want by saying that they didn't know before, and now that Kolko is gone, the place is safe. I compare YTT to Abu Ghraib prison. Last year, the US military shut down Abu Ghraib after the revelations of prisoner abuse. They reasoned that a place where such atrocities (Arab prisoners on a leash, oh my)occurred should be shut down. This was after the perpetrators were caught. Al achas kamma vekamma, we should padlock 555 Ocean Parkway! Al achas kamma vekamma, Lipa Margulies should be put out of the chinuch business and locked up together with Kolko.

The irony of this all is that Yudi Kolko can be hired as a rebbe tomorrow. There is no sex offender registry, no background check requirements, and there is no ban against him. Avrohom Fried and Yaakov Shewekwy have been placed in cherem for performing in front of men and women (seated separately). They can no longer perform,in Jerusalem at least, nor serve as cantors. There is no such ban against Yudi Kolko. Nor is there a ban against Avrohom Mondrowitz who is currently employed as a professor in Jerusalem. This is Daas Torah? OLAM HAFUCH!!!!

It's not too late for these parents to come to their senses and pull their kids out of that hell hole. There are several top yeshivos that will gladly take your children. Stop feeding them to the Molech of Lipa Margulies. Think of those boys who threw themselves off the boats, then think of Kolko's victims. If that's not enough, please watch the trailer of "Narrow Bridge" at narrowbridgefilm.com. If that doesn't move you to act, then nothing will.

And Rabbi Yosef Blau, shlita.........

The new indictment is a horrifying reminder of the ongoing danger to children of denial and delay in responding to accusations of sexual abuse. Recently on this blog defenders of the Charedi world have pointed out the flaws of the modern Orthodox. They are correct that the scandal of protecting sexual abusers is a broad phenomenon in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. This does not reduce the responsibility of the rabbinical leadership within a particular group to protect potential victims. An admission of failure in the past is a necessary step in honestly dealing with this problem. When such acknowledgment is viewed as an attack on "emunas chachamim" the vulnerable will remain at risk.

Yosef Blau

For Melave Malke - Throw the Jew Down the Well!!

SEEKING ADDITIONAL VICTIMS OF RABBI MOSHE EISEMANN OF NER ISRAEL RABBINICAL COLLEGE - BALTIMORE

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The Month Of Elul Is Upon Us - A Time For Reflection

It was a beautiful morning. I had risen early and sat out on the balcony at my winter vacation spot on Miami Beach. Watching the massive tides crashing into each other; and seemingly being able to understand why at one time people thought the Earth was flat. The Atlantic met the heavens as far as I was able to discern with the naked eye.

The year was 1985, the month was January, and my excitement to greet the day was palpable. I loved Miami that time of year, for different reasons than the school-kid on winter break, or than the Hungarians being able to catch up on their poker game, or the Brooklyn women able to show off their new - pool-wigs and two piece bathing suits from Christian Dior. ( Yeah...my wife told me)

I treasured this time of year because I was able to relax and spend precious time with Moreinu Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky zt"l, who spent the last winters of his life in a comfortable Miami rooming house on Collins Avenue.

I went off to daven at the Miami Kollel, and then called Rebbetzin Kaminetzky asking if the Rosh Yeshiva was able to give his shiur that day. The Rosh Yeshiva was weak and frail she said, but planned on giving the shiur in Mesechta Chullin at 11 a.m.

I had not seen the Rosh Yeshiva for a year; I would keep a notebook of thoughts that I would discuss with him when we met either at his Monsey home or in Miami.

The shiur lasted for forty minutes; it was clear that he was struggling with his health. It seemed that it had taken a turn in the wrong direction. After the shiur, Rav Yaakov would answer some questions from the attendees; I always wondered why the entire Miami was not there, rather than the 8-12 seniors (besides me) that came.

Rav Yaakov then ate a light lunch, carefully prepared by his rebbetzin. I was asked in to their dwelling, but as always, I waited for Rav Yaakov outside on the porch.

Rav Yaakov always apologized for "keeping me waiting", while I knew I would sit there forever waiting to speak with the "Rosh Yeshiva" of America. This day was different than many others; Rav Yaakov seemed very subdued, and said in Yiddish..."I am but a half-person, my memory is failing, I can only remember what happened many years ago but not recent events"...

Rav Yaakov had a wonderful wry sense of humor and enjoyed "some" of my healthy cynicism. To cheer him up, I took the liberty of asking him if the plaque the Agudah gave him at the last siyum ha'shas for completing shas was something he valued. He gave me a healthy smile; he said he valued it as much as yesterday's (tzeitung) newspaper.

My list of items to discuss were many, but I understood that my time today with him could be limited, so I began with the issues that I wanted to ask him all my life, but never was able to gather up the courage.

I will list the five topics that I covered in depth with the Rosh Yeshiva over the next week I spent in Miami, plus other thoughts he had on community issues as it pertained to askanims' level of input and involvement in yeshivas, shuls, and religious organizations. At the time, I needed his wisdom on a new project of mine, that brought down the wrath of the community on my head for all the wrong reasons. I was gratified that both he and Rav Pam zt"l, not only agreed with me, but encouraged me greatly. That project is thriving today beyond any one's wildest imagination, baruch Hashem.

The topics:

1- The machlokes (political war) in Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in the mid-1960s between him and Rav Gedalia Schorr z"l, that brought the yeshiva to its knees and to the brink of disaster, and truly to this day never recovered its past glory.

2- His outrage and his outspoken position against the establishment of "Yeshiva Torah Vodaath of Flatbush" later to become Yeshiva Torah Temimah, after a near decade long din Torah that forced Lipa Margulies to change the name.

3-His position on secular studies, and college in particular, for the American yeshiva student.

4- His understanding of the function of Agudath Israel of America and the inherent potential dangers of that organization under the charismatic Moshe Sherer, who in my opinion, used the rosh yeshivas often, as window dressing, for his self-aggrandizement. (He did not disagree; more in an in-depth piece)

5-The not so gradual metamorphism of yeshivas being run by baal habatim, some truly dedicated and wise, but many not, and yeshivas being run by families rather than the most qualified yirei Hashem and lomdei Torah.

To be continued......

Narrow Bridge - The film is now complete!

Narrow Bridge is a narrative film that chronicles a young Jewish man's struggle to overcome memories of how he was molested by his rabbi when he was a child and deals extensively with the day-to-day anxiety and alienation felt by survivors of sexual abuse. Based on the true story of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko of Yeshiva Torah Temimah - Brooklyn - New York - and the trail of victims he left over a forty year period of molesting children in yeshivas and summer camps, as the rabbis were acutely aware; and enabled him to be around children, and did nothing other than coverup the crime.

The film is now complete. It has great potential as a therapeutic and educational tool in regards to the issue of sexual abuse in all communities. Several organizations have already inquired about holding viewings of the film. I am looking to arrange screenings around the United States and elsewhere as well as possible distribution. If you want more information about the film, are interested in holding a screening or can otherwise get involved, please feel free to contact me.

The main website for the film is here:

http://www.narrowbridgefilm.com

Trailers for the film are available here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23PJUB76L98

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2858431796056068698

Israel Moskovits
IzzyComm Motion Pictures
icmpinfo@gmail.com

STEFAN COLMER and the BUGS in the WATER...NEW BOOK FOR TORAH TEMIMAH STUDENTS BY ART SCROLL.."MESORAH" SERIES

THIS BOOK SPONSORED IN PART(LOWER PART)...AND WITH MUCH LOVE BY THE TENDLER FAMILY AND YESHIVA BIRCAS YITZCHOK - LOS ANGELES...SHALOM TENDLER CHILDREN SUPERVISOR

A friend and reader writes......

I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist. And I don't want to be accused of practicing any of those fine scientific/medical professions without a license. But in my life experiences, I've noticed something about passionate, vocalized extremism. When someone is expressing very passionate views, and they are doing it loudly or emotionally and it strikes the average person as being "over the top," it usually means one of two things: Either the speaker has "drunk the kool-aid," meaning that they believe what they are saying totally, or they using this intense and extreme expressiveness to cover up their own deficiencies in practice or belief.

Some examples will help explain what I mean. Congressman Mark Foley was passionate and outspoken in his public speeches attacking sexual predators and then it turned out he was a sexual predator preying on underage male Congressional pages. I remember many years ago in my shul, a long-time member got up at a meeting and railed against the shul not being frum enough, not doing enough to make sure the children of the community were frummer, etc. He said things that raised many eyebrows given the fact that he was not that wildly frum himself. Many people could not figure out where this was coming from. Two weeks later, he left his wife and kids and ran off with his non-Jewish black secretary. His actions that day explained a lot about his performance at the meeting two weeks earlier.

I write this because I knew Stefan Colmer, not well and not intimately, but enough to recognize his face and name and to have spoken to him a few times. He was a computer consultant doing occasional work for a firm I was with. I also saw him at a midtown mincha minyan from time to time.

It was at that mincha minyan some time ago that we started talking about water filters and bugs in the water in Flatbush. Because the water panic had come on the heels of the Indian-hair sheitel panic – which, according to most poskim, turned out to be misguided and overblown – I was naturally skeptical of "trafe water." While I was not well-read on the subject, I expressed my opinion that the panic was overblown, and that microscopic particles of whatever in the water cannot be halachically impermissible. He argued passionately that I was factually wrong, (I may have been,) and that these things were visible to the naked eye. He told me he was installing filters and was using bottled water for drinking and cooking until then. He spoke passionately about having to live a proper life of halacha and adhering to all the rules and piskei halacha of our Gedolim.

I have thought back to that conversation many times since the revelations here - and subsequently in the press - of his alleged vile sexual misconduct against yeshiva boys, which was taking place about the time that we had that conversation. Excuse my sarcasm, but I'm so glad that while he was allegedly molesting young yeshiva students, Stefan was not imbibing in bug-laden, trafe water. What a tzaddik!

UOJ---What should I have done?

Dear UOJ,

Erev Shabbos Nachamu, after several shaggy weeks, I eagerly stepped into the small, crowed barber shop on New Utrecht Ave. in Boro Park . I took my place among the people waiting, some chatting on their cell phones or tapping on their blackberrys, others, reading a magazine or just staring straight ahead as if watching paint dry. Within a minute or two, a short, heavy, unusually dark-skinned chasid in his upper 40s walked in and looked around. I watched him head toward an empty chair at the end of the row, where he sat at down next to the tall, lanky, dark haired “modern chasid” in his 20s. I suddenly froze. The man who just walked in was the same animal who tried to molest me in the bathroom of a Brooklyn yeshiva more than a decade ago.

I was a tall, skinny fourteen-year-old at the time and attended a well-known, and rather large Brooklyn yeshiva. It was a litvishe yeshiva and the foremost of its kind. A typical day in yeshiva often ended at 10pm after a night of mishmar and basketball.

I remember once stopping off at the pay phone at the end of the hall next to the beis medrash to call a friend before heading home for the night. After around ten minutes of talking I was interrupted by a man who asked me where the bathroom was. (Years ago, our yeshiva doors were always unlocked and sometimes, members of the community would walk in to use the beis medrash if the larger one down the block was too crowded. It wasn’t entirely uncommon then, to see complete strangers stroll in and out of our mesivta building. Although when I was in eleventh grade the hanhala started keeping the doors locked at night and the entire student body was provided with a key.)

I pointed the man down the hall and continued chatting with my friend for another ten or fifteen minutes. When I was done, I headed to the bathroom which was adjacent to the stairs leading to the street. I was at the urinal when the door opened and guess who walked in? The short, fat, dark-haired chasid who asked me where the bathroom was at least ten minutes earlier. I thought it was strange that it took him so long to find the bathroom when it wasn’t more than thirty feet away. Where was he during the rest of my phone conversation? The halls were empty and I would have passed him on the way. In retrospect, the only place he could have been was either in the bais medrash, or, standing in the nook where the candy and soda machines were situated. There was a hidden spot next the machines where I often ducked in order to avoid being seen by the menahel, roaming the hallways during class. That candy machine area was right across from the bathroom.

I was hesitant to “go” because of the stranger who took the spot just near the one right next to me. The unspoken bathroom rule in yeshiva was to use the one furthest from anyone already there. I glanced at him with caution and he smiled and I noticed his piercing blue eyes that seemed to look straight through me. He began to talk to me and ask me questions about the yeshiva, like who my rebbi was, how big was the school, did I like my rebbi? I tried to answer with quick “yes and no” answers but them he grew strangely persistent. He stepped back a few feet from the urinal and I noticed he was exposed and was furiously playing with himself. I immediately froze and barely understood what was happening. It seemed as if I were standing there for hours. Without washing my hands, I backed away and reached for the door, as he was headed toward me He seemed upset and told me to stay because he was enjoying the conversation. I was praying for someone else to join us so this would end. It was too late, and I was probably one of the only ones remaining in the building. I said I had to go and I grabbed the door handle and bolted out. I was scared to leave because it was pretty late and dark and who knows? He might follow me. Although I did not look back I imagined that the man must be pursuing me. Instead of leaving the building, I ran upstairs as fast as my quivering legs could take me. He could not know the building as I did. I ran toward the gym on the third floor after I heard the thumping of basketballs, reverberating in the stairwell. Breathless, I headed inside the gym where I saw a classmate of mine along with someone from another grade playing a one-on-one. I remember I was shaking and I did not want to arouse attention so I sat down on a locker-room bench. The next thing I remember, it was nearly midnight and I carefully tiptoed down the stairs and ran home as fast as my legs could carry me.

Back to the barbershop nearly fifteen years later and there is the man, sitting next to the guy in his 20s, having an animated conversation. My thoughts were racing and I noticed the man staring at me a few times. I could never forget those cold blue eyes. I noticed him stare intently at the young guy’s face while speaking to him. It seemed as if he was attempting to make some sort of continual eye contact, ignoring the understood social “rule” of intermittently looking away from your conversation-partner for a brief moment.

I watched as every so often he would deliberately gently tap the young guy’s arm as if it were a subconscious communication component. I had an urge to get up and confront the guy but I didn’t want to look silly. Me, a “modern” young man, “accosting” a middle-age heimishe yid, in Boro Park , would land me on the wrong side of judgment. I thought maybe the young guy, being a somewhat more open-minded, modern chasidishe type would probably have zero tolerance for a complete stranger accused of being a pervert, and would probably identify with me more so than with this fat animal, but still I remained seated.

I waited for a specific barber and soon the fat animal took his place next to mine for a five-minute haircut. He carefully held on to his payos as the Russian barber, with his hair clipper set at “zero” finished the job. When he was done, the young guy said a quick goodbye to him and ascended the chair just occupied by the fat pervert. After the fat pervert paid for his haircut, he returned to the chair and gently placed his hand on the young person’s arm and stared at him for several seconds, saying “goodbye…nice to meet you….” The young guy seemed to have been oblivious that the pervert was being very touchy. I could not believe it as I watched the pervert then make a move to leave the barbershop, when he quickly turned around for another goodbye, smile, and pat on the arm. As I watched the scene play out in the mirror in front of me, this time I sensed just a bit of annoyance on the part of the “prey.”

After the pervert left, I almost started a conversation with the young guy, intending to tell him the story and to warn him to be careful if he ever meets the guy again. I refrained from doing so. I was too enraged and a little shaken up. Besides, the barbershop was crowded by now and I could not face the prospect of someone overhearing me and doubting my veracity.

UOJ--What should I have done?

The moralizers: crooks, quacks, kooks, creeps, and cruds in the clergy - crimes committed by religious leaders

The moralizers: crooks, quacks, kooks, creeps, and cruds in the clergy - crimes committed by religious leaders -

Humanist, July-August, 1993 by James A. Haught

Give me that old-time religion. . . . Pentecostal evangelist Mario Leyva of Columbus, Georgia, railed in public against "filth" and "smut" In private, he sodomized more than 100 church boys. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 1989. Two assistant pastors got 12 and 15 years for transporting the boys state to state for orgies.

Give me that old-time religion. . . . The Reverend Roy Yanke of Beverly Hills, Michigan, pleaded guilty in 1991 to robbing 14 banks of $47,000 to pay for his daily use of prostitutes. He got seven years in prison.

Give me that old-time religion. . . . Some 400 U.S. Catholic priests have been charged with child molesting in the past decade, and the church has paid an estimated $400 million in damages and costs. One priest, James Porter, is accused of abusing perhaps 100 victims in three states--including a boy in a full body cast who couldn't move to resist.

It's good enough for me. . . . Born-again con-artist Michael Douglas of Antioch, Illinois, who specialized in investments for wealthy fundamentalists, got a 12-year sentence in 1991 for swindling 131 people out of $31 million.

It was good for Paul and Silas. . . . Army chaplain aide Steven Ritchie of Fort Lewis, Washington, was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 1990 for raping a six-week-old baby girl.

It was good for Paul and Silas. . . . Radio evangelist Willie Winters of Kalamazoo, Michigan, already serving two life terms for a shooting spree, was indicted again in 1992 on charges of killing his brother-in-law for $22,000 in insurance money. It was good for Paul and Silas. . . . The Reverend Jerry Wilson of Monticello, Indiana, who said his preaching came "from God Himself," had a sexual affair with his secretary at the Bible Tabernacle Church and planted a bomb to kill her husband. In 1992, Wilson was sentenced to 108 years in prison.

And it's good enough for me.

I'm a newspaper editor. Day after day, I watch the carnival of life via the news wires. To me, the most fascinating oddities in the show..... are those men who say God called them to cleanse impurities from others.

I'm leery of people who talk to invisible beings--but at least some in the praying set are kind and tolerant. The unkind ones demand laws to use the police power of the state to make everyone obey their taboos. They hate sex, and they're relentless in demanding censorship of movies and magazines, condemning unwed mothers and homosexuals, denouncing sex education and birth-control programs. They attained a pinnacle at the 1992 Republican convention when millionaire evangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell crowed over the GOP's endorsement of their agenda.

Nearly ever community has some of these crusaders clamoring for moralistic laws. Right-winger Patrick Buchanan was correct when he told the Republican delegates: "There is a religious war going on in this country for the soul of America." The war waxes and wanes but never ceases. Endlessly, the issue is whether all Americans will be forced to live by the strictures of zealots who think they are morally superior.

It was good for the Hebrew children . . . Evangelist Don McCary of Chattanooga, Tennessee, drew a 72-year prison sentence in 1992 for sodomizing four boys. His twin brother, Christian comedian Ron McCary, is in prison for raping a six-year-old boy. Their older brother, the Reverend Richard McCary, previously was imprisoned for child-molesting.

It was good for the Hebrew children. . . . The Reverend Richard Snipstead of Minnesota, president of a fundamentalist Lutheran group which denounces homosexuals, confessed in 1992 that he's had 20 years of gay relationships, that he has AIDS, and that he gave the disease to his wife.

It's that old-time religion. . . . Catholic priest William Joffe of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was jailed in 1992 for embezzling $264,000 from his parish.

And it's good enough for me. . . . Fountain of Life evangelist Jim Whittington of Greenville, North Carolina, was indicted in 1992 on charges of swindling a paraplegic woman out of $900,000. He called the federal charge an attack "on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ."

It makes you love everybody. . . .The Reverend Duane Smith, who operated a born-again Christian school in LaPorte, Indiana, got a 12-year prison term in 1991 for molesting pupils.

It makes you love everybody. . . . The Reverend James Weller of Redwood, California, was convicted in 1990 of 27 forcible sex crimes against children, some only 10 years old. He drew 48 years in prison.

It's that old-time religion. . . . Church deacon Henry Meinholtz, 53, of Kingston, Massachusetts, was convicted in 1991 of raping and suffocating a 13-year-old girl.

And it's good enough for me.

Many years ago, when I was a young thinker and knew practically everything, it seemed clear to me that magical, moralistic, moronic religion soon would disappear, because people were becoming too educated for such superstition.

So much for young thinkers. The opposite occurred: fundamentalism not only survived, it rose to dominance in America. Mainline Protestant churches with university-educated clergy are dying, losing members by the millions. But the born-again realm is booming.

(Think of the farce at the 1992 GOP national convention: the president and the ruling party respectfully listened to televangelist Pat Robertson, who claims that his prayers can deflect hurricanes, whose latest book says President Bush's Gulf War was part of a satanic plot to establish "the New World Order of the Antichrist," and who wrote that the equal-rights movement "encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians." Loonies like this aren't taken seriously in other modern nations.)

America has an unwritten rule that all religion must be "respected"--never subjected to public scoffing. But an ugly tide of sex offenses and other crimes by ministers is eroding this code of silence. Critical reports are emerging.

Los Angeles Times religion columnist Russell Chandler did research in 1990 and found 2,000 cases of sexual molestation by clergy pending in the courts. John Cleary, general counsel of Church Mutual Insurance Co., which covers ministers, said: "Today, the number of credible sexual abuse and misconduct cases is astounding."

Some of these men are among the moralizers asking state authorities to jail sellers of sexy videos and books, to halt Medicaid abortions for poor girls, and to impose state-mandated prayer upon school children. Their hypocrisy is galling.

I live in the Appalachian Bible Belt, where politicians are nearly as holy as evangelists. A yearly feature in West Virginia is the state government prayer breakfast, where elected officials attest their piety. At one such breakfast not so long ago, the leading supplicants were Governor Arch Moore, Senate President Dan Tonkovich, and visiting Congressman Patrick Swindall of Georgia, a darling of the fundamentalist New Right. A couple of years later, all three were in federal prison for corruption.

Old-time religion is having a heyday in America. Its champions seek to dictate behavior rules for all of us--to take away our freedom to make choices for ourselves. We must fight back. We should look at Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and the rest and say the obvious: these scumbags are not morally superior to us. In fact, they are inferior, and it is insulting for them to tell us how to live. We will not allow it.

James A. Haught is the editor of the Charleton Gazette

THE UOJ POST OF THE WEEK AWARD GOES TO......

Miriam From Jerusalem

".....I am at war with ignorance and intolerance. I am at war with decisions by rabbinic leaders which I believe are harmful to Klal Yisroel. I am at war with any individual or group that causes a Chilul HaShem. And I will continue speaking out on those issues. NOT because I am at war with people, but because I am at war with what they do. Even if they do so in the name of God! Those who act in ways which create a Chilul HaShem while claiming to be doing a Kiddush HaShem will succeed only in the former and fail in the latter.

Am I always right on every issue? That is my hope, but I freely admit that I may be wrong on some issues. Since I am only a human being with only finite wisdom, all I can do is follow my conscience. A conscience that was formed by my upbringing, my education, and my experience. I see an injustice and I use my own God given intelligence to analyze and comment on it. That is the least anyone can ask of a human being.

But to sit silently by while our world, the Torah world, goes to hell in a hand-basket, even though the road to it is paved with the best of intentions... is to violate at least the spirit if not the letter of the Torah's admonition Lo Samod Al Dam Reiacha. Do not stand idly by, while your friend's blood is being spilled. And my friend is Klal Yisroel, all of it... or an individual part of it.

To look the other way when an individual or a group of people who identify... and are identified by others... as religious Jews, while they commit grievous Chilulei HaShem...to ignore decisions that affect the well being of tens of thousands of religious Jews by rabbinic leaders who refuse to make necessary changes in their communities... to sweep under the rug violations of a sexual nature by others because it reflects badly on 'us' at the expense of the victims... well, I'm not going to do that.

Just to be clear. I do not say that I have an exclusive monopoly on the truth in those instances in which I speak out.[ And I am not in any way accusing any of the rabbinic leadership of our people of nefarious motives or evil, God forbid. They are all certainly great people who are far more knowledgeable than I am in Torah. People with great wisdom indeed. And I am absolutely convinced that their decisions are based on their best interpretation of justice and right as seen through the eyes of the Torah as they understand it.(For the historical record-I absolutely do not agree with this statement that is parenthisized, Miriam does not know the facts or the evidence - UOJ- *** more below)] But even though I am not as great as these people, I will still speak out if I feel their decisions are wrong in spite of their great wisdom. People can disagree with me and that is their right. But I am not going to stop.

And anyone else who sees injustice should speak out as well. Often! Until they are heard. When there is injustice in the world, especially in our world, the Torah world, we must do everything in our power to try and stop it, without creating other injustices in the process. That is why I speak out. That is why we all should."
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****The terrible honest mistake Miriam makes (in parenthesis) is based on an error in our thinking. Yes, there are rabbis with Torah knowledge that may have more Torah knowledge than the average Jew. Does that necessarily mean they have more knowledge or any knowledge on sexual abuse?

Does that mean that any rabbi whether on the East Coast Or West Coast, that was aware that a teacher was a child molester, and permitted that teacher to be among kids, is not a criminal, rasha, and an evil despicable vicious ignoramus?

Do these people have any wisdom? Does common sense mean anything? We must learn that the answer is a resounding NO!!! The rabbis can not be trusted blindly. There must be accountability from every person, every institution, everyone that is in public life.

Look at Kashruth! Half of the foods certified as kosher are clearly NOT! The plants supposedly under kosher supervision, have NO supervision. Who are they afraid of? Belsky? Heinemann? The biggest money-grubbing pigs in Kashruth. Who is watching anyone at the various plants around the world? NOBODY! Nobody is watching in America...do you think the Chinese give a hoot about some putz with a beard that shows up at their plant twice a year to pick up their check?

No Miriam, the rabbis of this generation are imitators of real rabbis. There may be some with Torah knowledge, so what, too many of them are horrible humans (not all). We must trust nobody because of their clothing. We must trust nobody blindly! Nobody! Look at the situation of Orthodox Judaism and cry!

UOJ


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BREAKING NEWS

Hit the bastards in their pockets...the only language they understand!

LA church to pay $600M for clergy abuse By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer


LOS ANGELES - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday.

Attorneys for the archdiocese and the plaintiffs are expected to announce the deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been made public.

The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs — an average of $1.2 million to $1.3 million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources said.

The settlements would push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.

It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split among the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement, and final details were being ironed out.

Lead plaintiffs' attorney Ray Boucher confirmed the sides were working on a deal but would not discuss specifics. He said that negotiations would continue through the weekend and that there were still many unresolved aspects.

Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, declined to comment on any settlement details.

"The archdiocese will be in court Monday morning," he said.

Steven Sanchez, 47, was one of the plaintiffs set to go to trial Monday. He was expected to testify in the trial involving the late Rev. Clinton Hagenbach.

Sanchez, a financial adviser, said the past few months have been especially difficult because he had to repeat his story of abuse for depositions with his attorneys and archdiocese attorneys in preparation for trial.

"We're 48 hours away from starting the trial, and I've been spending a lot of time getting emotionally prepared to take them on, but I'm glad," he said. "It's been a long five years."

The settlement would be the largest ever by a Roman Catholic archdiocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100 million.

Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses — Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego — sought bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far.

The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60 million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s and after 1987 — periods when it had little or no sexual abuse insurance. Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a settlement.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently ruled that Mahony could be called to testify in the second trial on schedule, and attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.

The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive damages — something that could have opened the church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling had been expanded to other cases.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.

It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split among the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement, and final details were being ironed out.

Lead plaintiffs' attorney Ray Boucher confirmed the sides were working on a deal but would not discuss specifics. He said that negotiations would continue through the weekend and that there were still many unresolved aspects.

Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, declined to comment on any settlement details.

"The archdiocese will be in court Monday morning," he said.

Steven Sanchez, 47, was one of the plaintiffs set to go to trial Monday. He was expected to testify in the trial involving the late Rev. Clinton Hagenbach.

Sanchez, a financial adviser, said the past few months have been especially difficult because he had to repeat his story of abuse for depositions with his attorneys and archdiocese attorneys in preparation for trial.

"We're 48 hours away from starting the trial, and I've been spending a lot of time getting emotionally prepared to take them on, but I'm glad," he said. "It's been a long five years."

The settlement would be the largest ever by a Roman Catholic archdiocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100 million.

Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses — Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego — sought bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far.

The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60 million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s and after 1987 — periods when it had little or no sexual abuse insurance. Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a settlement.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently ruled that Mahony could be called to testify in the second trial on schedule, and attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.

The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive damages — something that could have opened the church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling had been expanded to other cases.
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