EXCLUSIVE: Revised, tougher Child Victims Act set to be introduced in NYS Legislature
Supporters of the Child Victims Act march across the Brooklyn Bridge on June 4, 2017.
ALBANY
– State lawmakers will soon introduce a revised, tougher bill designed
to make it easier for victims of child victims abuse to seek justice as
adults, the Daily News has learned.
The
latest draft obtained by the Daily News would raise the top age that a
child sex abuse survivor can bring a civil lawsuit to 55, up from the
current 23.
Gov. Cuomo last week and a previous version of the bill in the Legislature had sought to raise the age to 50.
A
criminal case involving child sex abuse would be able to be brought
until the survivor’s 28th birthday if it’s a felony and 25th if it’s a
misdemeanor, which matches the governor’s legislation and previous
legislative bills that passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly but died
in the Senate that until January was run by the Republicans.
Going
forward, the bill also does away with a requirement that a minor abused
at a public institution like a school must file within 90 days of the
attack of an intent to sue. Under the latest draft, someone sexually
assaulted at a public institution would be able to bring a civil lawsuit
up to his or her 55th birthday.
But
with research showing that many survivors don’t begin dealing with what
happened to them until later in life, lawmakers ultimately decided
giving them even more time to bring a civil lawsuit would be
appropriate, Senate bill sponsor Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) explained.
A
criminal case involving child sex abuse would be able to be brought
until the survivor’s 28th birthday if it’s a felony and 25th if it’s a
misdemeanor, which matches the governor’s legislation and previous
legislative bills that passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly but died
in the Senate that until January was run by the Republicans.Going
forward, the bill also does away with a requirement that a minor abused
at a public institution like a school must file within 90 days of the
attack of an intent to sue. Under the latest draft, someone sexually
assaulted at a public institution would be able to bring a civil lawsuit
up to his or her 55th birthday. The draft also includes a one-year lookback window to revive old cases that under current law cannot be filed.
The
latest draft includes language designed to ensure that window will be
open to those abused at both private and public institutions.
Child
sex abuse survivor Fred Marigliano holds a sign supporting the CVA at a
rally near City Hall in June 2017. The new bill would reportedly raise
the top age that a child sex abuse survivor can bring a civil lawsuit to
55, up from the current 23
Timothy
Cardinal Dolan had groused that the Child Victims Act language
introduced in the governor’s budget proposal last week was vague as to
whether it would treat public and private institutions the same.
Though
Cuomo and the legislative bill sponsors had denied that was the case,
the Legislature’s emerging legislation would specify that those abused
at a school or other public institution could revive an old case even if
they had failed to file a 90-day notice of claim.
After
more than a decade-and-a-half of intense lobbying—and the Democrats now
controlling both houses of the Legislature--survivors and advocates
could see a vote on the Child Victims Act within a week or two, insiders
say.
“It is a watershed moment for adult survivors of child sex abuse,” Hoylman said. “It’s been a long slog.”
Assembly
sponsor Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) added that “I think everybody
will be pleased because we will be providing a path to justice in court
and with a look-back window to revive old cases.”
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the
most prominent rabbis of this generation, made a shocking statement,
claiming that the Messiah will precede the upcoming Israeli elections.
Several rabbis noted that the writing is on the wall and the signs that
the process leading up to the Messiah has already begun…for those who
have the eyes to see it.
Rabbi Yekutiel Fish, an expert in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) gave a lesson this week in which he discussed how the Messiah was imminent. Rabbi Fish cited Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky,
one of the most prominent Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis of this
generation, who began foretelling the arrival of the Messiah just a few
years ago.
“It is written
that in the days leading up to the Messiah, tzaddikim (righteous men)
will begin to announce his arrival but some people, those who have not
prepared for His arrival, will laugh at the righteous and the learned,”
Rabbi Fish said, warning that it is forbidden to mock the righteous.
Rabbi Kanievsky’s full
given-name is Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim ben (the son of) Miriam. Rabbi Fish
noted that first letters of each of Rabbi Kanievsky’s Hebrew names can
be rearranged to spell “Moshiach.”
Fish
emphasized that Kanievsky was especially suited for presaging the
arrival of the Messiah. Not only is Rabbi Kanievsky one of the most
learned and righteous Jews alive today, there is another indication of
his connection to the Moshiach (Messiah). Rabbi Kanievsky’s full
given-name is Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim ben (the son of) Miriam. Rabbi Fish
noted that first letters of each of Rabbi Kanievsky’s Hebrew names can
be rearranged to spell “Moshiach.”
Rabbi
Fish related a story that is just now being told within Haredi circles
in Israel. A young Torah scholar from outside of Israel was hosted for
the Sabbath a few weeks ago at the house of a follower of Rabbi
Kanievsky. The young man visited Kanievsky during the Sabbath. He asked
the rabbi if he should apply for Israeli citizenship in order to vote
for the Haredi party in the Israeli elections being held on April 9.
“There is no need,” Rabbi Kanievsky answered. “The Messiah will already be here before the elections.”
The
young man was unsure that he had heard the rabbi correctly so after he
departed from the house, he asked Kanievsky’s grandson, a venerated
rabbi in his own right, to confirm the answer. The grandson entered the
rabbi’s chamber and asked again: ‘Should the young man apply for
citizenship before the elections?’
Rabbi Kanievsky responded, “I already told him that there is no need. The Messiah will be here before the elections.”
Rabbi Kanievsky’s statement was also discussed by Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, an expert in Torah codes, in a recent video. Using a Torah program that searches for equidistant letter sequences in the Bible, Rabbi Glazerson did
a search for relevant expressions concerning Kanievsky’s announcement.
He noted that the term “יבוא משיח” (the Messiah will come) appears once
in Leviticus 23 adjacent to the letters “תשעט” signifying the current
Hebrew year, 5779.
The
rabbi also noted that included in the table was the word “מפורים” (from
Purim). The holiday of Purim will fall on March 21 this year, three and a
half weeks before the Israeli elections.
Disgraced rabbi convicted of sexual assault to be de-ordained
Rabbi accused of sexual assault years after conviction for the same offense could lose his title as a rabbi.
Moti Elon
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel began the process of revoking
the title of rabbi from Moti Elon following the new allegations against
him.
Elon was convicted
of performing an indecent act with a minor while taking advantage of
being in a position of authority in 2013. He was given a sentence of
jail time and fined NIS 10,000.
According to the report of Akiva Weiss in Kan 11, the legal
adviser of the rabbinate sent a letter to Rabbi Elon in which the legal
adviser wrote that he has three weeks to present his position before the
meeting of the disciplinary committee of the Chief Rabbinate.
Many of those who supported Elon in 2013 changed their positions in
light of the most recent allegations against him. Rabbi Chaim Druckman,
one of the leading religious Zionist rabbis in Israel, called on Elon to
cease teaching and avoid all contact with students.
Last week,
Rabbi Drickman wrote: "As soon as I received the information, and after
conferring with other rabbis, I delivered an order that Rabbi Elon
should not be allowed to deliver lectures or host any other public
activities for the greater public, and that he should not have any
private meetings with youth."
"Obviously, following our obligation to fulfill the commandment,
“V’haya machanecha kadosh, and your camps shall be holy,” we must take
every necessary action in order to create a safe, protective and
respectful environment for everyone."
NYS Bill Could Bankrupt Yeshivas - (The Ones That Harbored Child Rapists, and Covered Up For Them - They Should Go Bankrupt and the Criminals Locked Up) - The Idiots at The Jewish Press Weigh In!
Now that the Democrats have a clear majority in the New York
State Senate, they have moved fast to pass many socially progressive
bills that had long stalled in the legislature while the Republicans
were in control. On Tuesday, the legislature passed both the Gender
Expression Non-Discrimination Act and a bill banning conversion therapy
(see the Dispatch From The Culture War Front column on page 21).
Likewise, it is likely that there are now enough votes to pass the
Child Victims Act, legislation extending the statue of limitations for
legal actions based upon allegations of childhood sex abuse.
Under the current law in New York, both criminal and civil sex
abuse cases cannot be brought after age 23. Some versions of the
legislation that may be passed would generally set age 28 as the cut off
to press criminal charges and age 50 for bringing civil cases.
The bill would also open up a one-year window for all past victims of
child sexual abuse to file a civil claim, no matter how long ago it
was.
Proposals for such legislation have been around for at least a decade
and were drafted to deal with the special problem of repression that
often face sexual abuse victims. Many studies had concluded that some
victims are unable to come to grips with and understand what happened to
them until years after the fact. Yet the legislation languished because
of evidentiary concerns: memories fade, what exactly occurred, if
anything, could not be clear in the accuser’s mind. Moreover, the
ability of an accused to defend himself and gather evidence would
obviously be undermined.
Thus, if the bill passes, anyone can bring a lawsuit, even an
unfounded one. But the mechanisms of the court systems are such that an
accused must defend against allegations. That, of course, requires a
lawyer, which is generally quite expensive for these kinds of cases, or
the defendant would effectively be deemed guilty. Without insurance to
fight this, which most institutions don’t have, yeshivas would be
financially destroyed, regardless of the outcome of the case. Attorneys
for plaintiffs would likely take on such cases on a contingency basis,
counting on schools to cave early on, and accept a quick settlement,
even after simply receiving a lawyer’s letter.
Nobody condones abusing children – and we mean nobody. Whenever it
happens – to any child, Jewish or not – it is a deplorable and horrific
affront to everything we as a Torah-abiding community hold sacred. And
community members must do everything in their power to prevent sexual,
physical and psychological abuse of children, no matter who the
perpetrator is. People should go to the secular authorities so they can
prosecute those who dare harm our littlest ones.
We can and do advocate for a dozen sensible things to do to help
victims of sexual abuse. And we would be happy for legislators to seek
input from community leaders as to how the legislation can be improved.
But we cannot endorse the Child Victims Act as it is currently being
drafted. It puts the survival of our entire educational enterprise at
existential risk.
Editorial: The Need For Soul Searching By Our Jewish Institutions
One of the most powerful elements of the Yom Kippur service is
the “Al Chet” prayer as congregants beat their breasts and recite a long
litany of declarations that begins, “For the sin which we have
committed … .”
In Jewish tradition, we can’t be forgiven for a sin unless and
until we acknowledge it and seek forgiveness. And each of us knows how
difficult it can be to own up to a wrongdoing, especially in public.
That’s why it is worth noting when the leaders of a communal
institution have the collective courage to come forward and take
responsibility for a past grievance. Two such instances occurred this
past week.
Hillel International has completed its six-month investigation
into “claims by staff members of sexual harassment by donors,”
according to a statement intended only for staff and lay leaders but
obtained by The Jewish Week. Hillel found that “the complaints were
justified, and that the individuals had been subjected to inappropriate
comments and/or suggestions by one or more of our donors.” One of those
donors was philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, who issued an apology.
(See story here.)
On Hillel probe: Mega-philanthropist
Michael Steinhardt, above, responded to The Jewish Week that he was
“sorry and deeply regret[s] causing any embarrassment, discomfort or
pain, which was never my intention.”
Noting that in one of those cases Hillel’s response “was not
timely, thereby causing additional harm,” the statement said: “It pains
us greatly that anyone in the Hillel movement could be subjected to any
form of harassment. We have apologized to these respected
professionals.”
The statement will not be made public and did not name the donors, as
some in the community would have preferred. (Sources close to the
investigation said it was “a very small number.”) But the fact that
Hillel voluntarily initiated the lengthy, costly and painful process of
an internal investigation, through an outside law firm, is admirable.
Shira Berkovits, the founder and CEO of Sacred Spaces, an
organization that seeks to prevent institutional abuse in the Jewish
community and was engaged by Hillel 10 months ago, told us it is all too
rare for organizations facing allegations of this nature to undertake
an investigation into their own handling of a case. More often, she
said, organizations act in the face of media exposure or a lawsuit. To
act “prior to any such public exposure is a form of cheshbon hanefesh,
or soul searching, for which Hillel should be commended.”
Last Saturday night, SAR Academy of Riverdale marked its 50th
anniversary with a range of remembrances, videos, performances by the
student choir and a dinner with many hundreds of attendees. Amidst the
celebratory mood and praise for the visionaries who merged three
struggling day schools — Salanter, Akiba and Riverdale — and created one
innovative and vibrant success, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, one of
the founders and honorees, struck a sober note.
SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY.
“For all this excellence, I must acknowledge a tragic failure,” he told the hushed crowd. He noted that an investigation
this year found that “four decades ago we had a faculty member who
abused students … and was not held accountable for his actions,”
referring to the case of Stanley Rosenfeld, who spent years teaching at
SAR, The Ramaz School and Westchester Day School and was alleged to have
abused scores of students. In 2001, he plead no contest to two counts
of sexual molestation.
“We failed to protect those students, and we feel their pain,” Rabbi
Greenberg said. “This is a sin for which there is no forgiveness.
Thousands more [students] were treated right, but that is no
consolation. Each child is of infinite value, so this is an infinite
failure.”
It was a powerful statement, along with a pledge to “keep this
painful memory before us constantly” and an assurance that “strong
steps” have been taken to prevent further occurrences.
Apologies and new policies, however vital, do not take away the pain
for those who have suffered. But they are important starting points for
Hillel and SAR, and a model, however flawed and delayed, for other
institutions in our community to look inward honestly and have the
courage to assess themselves and pledge to do better.
Peace
plan will reportedly include establishment of Palestinian state in 90%
of Judea and Samaria, with part of eastern J'lem its capital.
Arutz Sheva Staff, 16/01/19 20:58
Will the “Deal of the Century” peace plan of the Trump administration demand far-reaching concessions from Israel?
Hadashot 13 reported that the peace plan formulated by the
White House and which President Trump is interested in presenting in the
coming months includes the establishment of a Palestinian state in
about 90 percent of Judea and Samaria, with at least part of eastern
Jerusalem as its capital.
The report, which was quoted from an
American source, said that the Americans would demand that isolated
settlements outside the blocs not be expanded and outposts considered
illegal by Israeli law be evacuated.
The source claimed that the Palestinian state would be built on more
than twice the total area of Areas A and B under the control of the
Palestinian Authority today.
He added that Trump would seek to
divide Jerusalem from a sovereign perspective into two capitals -
Israel's in the west of the city and parts of eastern Jerusalem, and the
Palestinian one in the Arab neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem.
Under the plan, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and the Mount of
Olives would reportedly remain under Israeli sovereignty, but with full
administrative partnership with the Palestinians.
Trump peace plan: divide Jerusalem, Palestinian state on 85-90% of W.Bank
The report, based on a source who took part in a briefing in
Washington on the plan, said it calls for the annexation of the large
settlements and the evacuation of some settlement outposts.
******
May 2017 - UOJ Opinion
"Living proof of
evolution. A hump short of a camel. Mentally qualified for handicapped
parking. So dumb, blondes tell jokes about him. So stupid, mind readers
charge him half price. A "crackpot" without the cholent" Takes him 1.5 hours to watch "60 Minutes".
The system can deal with a crooked president. But not a crazy one.
How going to synagogue regularly turned me into a dumpster diver
Cnaan Liphshiz examines binned avocados at Amsterdam’s Albert Cuyp Market
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — I was recently offered a handout while rummaging for food in a heap of trash as my two small children looked on.
It happened all because I wanted to start attending synagogue regularly.
To be clear, I’m writing this neither as a plea for pity nor an
indictment against organized religion. I’m actually grateful for how my
shul landed me in a heap of garbage.
You see, collecting and eating vegetables and fruit that have been
thrown away has made my family’s diet healthier, improved our quality
time together and helped us live up to our environmental convictions. On
Jan. 20, we will be celebrating Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish holiday celebrating trees, fruits and the environment.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. First let me explain how I ended up joining the community of freegans, or dumpster divers, as we like to be called (though my wife prefers “Garbage Pail Kids”).
It began in the summer, when I decided to start taking my children on
weekends to the Chabad shul located near this city’s famed Albert Cuyp
Market.
Pushing them along in a buggy at closing time, I saw greengrocers
binning full crates of still-fresh luxury items: avocados, mangoes,
kiwis and persimmons ($1.50 each). Some were rotten. Mostly, though,
there were boxes full of perfectly edible items: mushrooms, asparagus,
raspberries and blueberries. There were honey melons and pricey herbs
like cilantro, thyme, dill, basil and ginger.
I placed a few items in the buggy’s basket before davening, and a greengrocer gave me the thumbs up.
“It’s all good food,” he said. But by the start of business the
following week, he added, it will have developed spots or gone soft,
“and then it’d get binned anyway ’cause no one would buy it.”
From one weekly Torah portion to another, I perfected my foraging skills and gear.
I began taking a larger buggy and a fleet of reusable plastic bags. I
started wearing boots and other dumpster-worthy attire. I got better at
discerning levels of ripeness. And my children learned to be patient
while I looked for food. I often held up various finds, explaining which
part of the world they come from and what the plant that produces them
looks like.
I only realized how this must look two days before Christmas, when a
kind Spanish tourist handed me 5 euros. He was clearly shocked by the
sight of a seemingly desperate man standing at the height of winter in a
pile of trash amid a flock of herons picking at the fish remains,
cleaning off produce and announcing it enthusiastically to his infant
children.
Then it got slightly awkward.
I explained that I didn’t need his money. He dismissed my protest as
pride and implored me to take it “for the children,” adding “There is no
shame in receiving help.”
Shoppers take in the Albert Cuyp Market in 2005
That may be true, but there’s shame aplenty in wasting food – at least in Judaism.
The prohibition against doing so – “do not destroy” — appears in the Torah
in a verse devoted to the rules of war. Even when laying siege to a
city to starve its residents into surrendering, the verse stipulates,
“do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat
their fruit.”
“Do not destroy” is also the reason that in my native Israel, edible
foods and bread especially are often set aside and placed separate from
the trash bins. In case no people claim them, they must be given to
animals, according to some rabbis, including Pinchas Badosh of the
Israeli city of Beit Shean. He ruled recently that leftovers must not
even be placed near other types of garbage to improve their chances of
being eaten.
For descendants of Holocaust survivors like myself, there’s an added
aversion to waste that I learned from my grandmother early in childhood.
She described the potato peels that she once encountered in her bowl of
soup at Auschwitz, saying she had never tasted anything more delicious.
She ate those peels as a young woman weighing 85 pounds, she would say.
Unfortunately, the Jewish state does not quite live up to the Jewish principles on wastage.
In Israel, about 35 percent of food gets binned, resulting in an annual loss of $5.2 billion, according to a 2018 report. Of that, nearly half is thrown away by retailers and consumers.
Beyond the loss of the produce itself, this waste represents
gratuitous damage to the environment through the carbon footprint of
producing and transporting the food — not to mention fertilizers and the
suffering of animals involved in its production.
The loss in Israel is similar to the world average, but it’s
significantly higher than in EU countries like the Netherlands, where
only 20 percent of food is lost.
It’s the result of an ambitious effort in which Dutch supermarket
chains are obliged to label and significantly discount soon-to-expire
food and transfer unsold produce to a network of food banks.
My wife and I kind of started our own food bank: We cook wholesale
over the weekend — small tubs of asparagus soup are a common sight — and
distribute the result among anyone willing to take it.
It has brought us closer to people outside our comfortable little
circle: less fortunate neighbors who respond to our offers of free food
on the neighborhood WhatsApp group and Facebook page.
It has helped us save money (about $150 a month) while simultaneously
realizing our goal to reduce meat consumption — another major cause for
pollution worldwide. We’ve become quite creative in the kitchen. Our
meals now are scrumptious and healthy affairs.
The weekend cooking marathons reduced the amount of time we spend on
preparing weekday dinners, affording us more time together. They also
brought our family closer because we have dinner every Shabbat now at my
father-in-law’s, who lives conveniently near the market.
I even made new friends with fellow scavengers; we exchange tips and loot.
Marianne is a retired Jewish woman who sets aside and sends to
Israeli charities whatever money she saves by foraging. Jamal hands out
produce at his mosque. And Pieter, well, he’s probably addicted to weed
and forages to free up dope money.
Most important perhaps is how foraging is helping me teach my
children the value of food and expose them to what many millions of
people must do to grow, ship, sell and cook it.
Maybe it’s time to take the educating down a notch on this front, though.
Last week I saw my boy inviting classmates at his posh Jewish kindergarten to join him in the yard and “look for good food.”
New Yorkers should pay attention to the yeshiva schools controversy
Schools that deprive children of basic skills get millions of taxpayer dollars
After years of focus on the major educational
deficiencies within many ultra-orthodox or Hasidic schools in New York,
the state Education Department in November issued updated guidelines
that included clarification on “substantial equivalency” requirements
for nonpublic schools.
As these guidelines apply to all private schools, it’s been met with a
bit of an uproar. Several politicians have been swift to pander to
Agudath Israel—an Orthodox Jewish advocacy organization—and yeshiva
leaders by portraying this as an assault on yeshivas and calling on the
state to back off.
Schools in the Orthodox Jewish community exist along a spectrum. The
Modern Orthodox schools offer a well-rounded Jewish education as well as
a robust secular education, by which I mean instruction in English,
math, science, history, physical education, etc. Graduates of these
Modern Orthodox schools do quite well academically and professionally,
and their successes are now being touted as “proof” that the yeshiva
system works and is even superior to public schools.
On the other end of the spectrum are the
Hasidic schools, particularly boys' high schools, where the school day
is dominated by Judaic studies. Secular studies are either given short
shrift or not taught at all. Their students don’t typically graduate
with a state-recognized high school diploma.
Unfortunately, an initial misreading of the
revised guidelines worried parents of students in well-performing
yeshivas that the state would require an unreasonable six to seven hours
a day of secular studies. The state then clarified that the
distribution of hours from which that estimate was drawn covered a
two-year period, which means the actual requirement is around
three-and-a-half hours per day.
But Agudath Israel cynically exploited that
momentary confusion and rallied the Modern Orthodox to the defense of
the ultra-Orthodox and the Hasidic yeshivas—the schools with serious
educational deficiencies. Agudath Israel and a Borough Park-Williamsburg
group formed in 2016
called Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools have
unfortunately framed this as an attack on the community’s religious
beliefs, labeling educational advocates as outsiders set on destroying
its way of life.
In fact, the majority of those advocating
for educational improvement are former Hasidic students who were never
provided a proper education. They care deeply about the Jewish community
and about the education and welfare of children.
Portraying the guidelines as an attack on all yeshivas is
shortsighted, foolish and dangerous. The education of thousands of
children is at stake. One can choose to be misinformed or one can take
the time to learn the truth. If the state succumbs to special-interest
pressure, the ultimate victims will be more generations of Hasidic
children.
New Yorkers should be paying close attention for several reasons.
Hasidic schools receive millions of taxpayer dollars. With students
emerging without a high school education or even basic English language
skills, their career prospects are limited and their families struggle
from the start.
A parent’s right to choose to send a child to yeshiva is
unquestionable, but there is no parental or communal right to deny
children the tools necessary to survive and thrive.
It is no secret that thousands of young Hasidic families, primarily
in the communities of Williamsburg, New Square and Kiryas Joel, depend
on government aid to survive. Now that their children attend the same or
similar schools, we can expect the cycle to continue for another
generation.
Advocating for secular education is not about providing abstract
information in the classroom. It’s about giving young Jewish men the
means through which they can lead dignified lives and support their
families, which is a tall order without proper education. They should
have the options of joining the workforce and reap opportunities
available to all U.S. citizens. Far from being a threat to the
community, secular education is the only way to save the community.
Shlomo Noskow is an
emergency physician practicing in New York. He is on the board at
Yaffed, an organization advocating for improved education in Hasidic
schools.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Thursday a new telephone hotline for individuals to report child sex abuse.
The hotline number is 410-576-6312.
Victims of an abuser associated with a school or place of worship, or
any individual who knows about the abuse, can share this information by
calling the hotline number above or by email to: report@oag.state.md.us.
Callers may be asked, but are not required to say, the caller’s name
and contact information, name of abuser, where the abuse occurred,
timeframe of the abuse and any other details they would like to report.
In some cases, they may refer the information reported to their office to the local State’s Attorney where the abuse occurred.
A major philanthropist who has contributed millions of
dollars to Bnei Akiva and its various institutions as well as other
national-religious organizations has frozen donations to the
organization, The Jerusalem Post has learned, because of the expected
participation of Rabbi Haim Druckman at the movement’s upcoming world
conference.
Druckman, chairman of Bnei Akiva yeshivas and
seminaries – and perhaps the most influential rabbi in the
national-religious sector – has been heavily criticized for having
publicly backed Rabbi Moti Elon after he was convicted of sexual
molestation in 2013, stated that the judge was wrong to convict him, and
inviting Elon to lecture at his Ohr Etzion Yeshiva in Merkaz Shapira.
Druckman has faced further criticism in recent week for failing to
apologize or express regret for that support, after evidence arose
several weeks ago of new incidents of sexual abuse by Elon in the last
12 months.
The
philanthropist said he was therefore freezing financial support to Bnei
Akiva until it acts on the issue, stating explicitly that the
organization must not provide a platform of any kind for “Elon
supporters.”
On Thursday evening, Hadashot News quoted a letter
sent recently by Druckman to a third party who had ostensibly written to
him about their disappointment in his actions.
Hadashot quoted
Druckman’s reply where he said: “I feel your true pain over my silence
regarding the new information that emerged about Rabbi Mordechai Elon,”
adding that he had also been pained by the criticism directed at
himself.
He said, however, that “I thought that from the perspective of truth I needed to act and not necessarily speak.”
Druckman said that as soon as the information reached him, he
together with other rabbis instructed Elon to stop delivering lessons,
halt all public activities and to stop holding personal meetings with
youths. He added that anyone who had been harmed by Elon could approach
him for help.
In December, the Uvda investigative reporting program revealed that allegedly Elon had sexually molested a youth in
a private meeting with him. The youth had audio and video evidence
which he presented to Druckman, and to rabbis Yaakov Ariel and Shmuel
Eliyahu.
The three rabbis subsequently told Elon to cease all public activity, as Druckman related in his letter.
On
Thursday, former Bnei Akiva chairman Daniel Goldman said he was
boycotting the upcoming world conference because Druckman was going to
be an honorary guest.
Goldman said he could not “in all
conscience” attend “alongside Rav Druckman, until he is prepared to
accept responsibility for his decisions with respect to Rav [Mordechai]
Elon.”
Earlier this week, the Post reported on another alleged
victim of Elon who said he was molested by the rabbi in 2002 when he was
the dean of the prestigious Horev Yeshiva high school.
Sex offender rabbi ‘negotiated with deputy minister’ for public comeback
Recording shows Eliezer Berland’s aides
offering followers’ political backing in Jerusalem mayoral race in
exchange for photo op with ultra-Orthodox leaders
Rabbi
Eliezer Berland (L), a convicted sex offender, meets with UTJ's Meir
Porush at a Beit Shemesh wedding on January 6, 2019
A popular rabbi convicted of sexual offenses has been
negotiating his public rehabilitation with ultra-Orthodox politicians in
exchange for his followers’ political support, according to a
television report on Tuesday.
After evading arrest for three years, Eliezer Berland, 80, was
sentenced to 18 months in prison in November 2016 on two counts of
indecent acts and one case of assault, as part of a plea deal. He was
freed after five months, in part due to ill health.
Now, his associates are working to bring him back into the fold, according to a recording obtained by Hadashot.
In the recording, captured before the October municipal elections in
Jerusalem, an aide to Berland, Natan Bezenson, is heard speaking with
United Torah Judaism’s MK Meir Porush.
The TV report was aired days after Deputy Education Minister Porush
was photographed speaking with Berland at a wedding, sparking an outcry.
UTJ is comprised of two parties, the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel
and the Lithuanian Degel HaTorah. The parties ran separately in the
local elections, and Berland’s supporters apparently made use of this
rivalry to offer the support of his followers in exchange for
legitimization.
“Today in the ultra-Orthodox community [Berland] is an outcast,”
Bezenson says in the recording. “We really have a very simple demand,
very simple, a single demand: that [leading rabbis] will accept him.”
He then suggested a photo op where Berland will meet with Hasidic
leaders and call to vote for Agudath Israel in the local elections.
Porush responded that this would be unlikely to happen, and the aide
pressed him. “They need to make some effort to honor him, some minimal
show of respect, some minimal recognition. If he’s not a human being,
then why do you need his votes?”
Bezenson went on to threaten to “ally with your enemies” and bring down Agudath Israel.
The offer did not appear to go ahead, and Berland eventually
supported an independent slate in the first round of municipal elections
in Jerusalem, which did not win a significant number of votes. He later
supported Shas’s preferred candidate in the mayoral runoff, Moshe Lion,
after Shas leader Aryeh Deri sent several associates to be photographed
with the rabbi.
Porush was heavily criticized in online ultra-Orthodox forums for
meeting with Berland this week during the Beit Shemesh wedding of
Berland’s great-grandson.
The two were photographed conversing during the event.
Long considered a cult-like leader to thousands of his followers
from the Bratslav sect, Berland fled Israel in 2013 amid allegations
that he had molested several female followers, one of them a minor.
According to the indictment, Berland would often receive people in
his homes in Jerusalem and its suburb Beitar Illit, and hold private
meetings intended for spiritual guidance, counseling or benedictions.
The rabbi would sometimes take advantage of the meetings and of his
position in the community to engage in sexual acts with women, including
minors, according to the charges against him.
He was on the run from authorities until 2016, avoiding several
Israeli attempts to extradite him. He moved between Zimbabwe,
Switzerland, the Netherlands and South Africa, accompanied by a group of
devout followers numbering around 40 families. Berland was apprehended
by South African authorities, extradited to Israel, and detained upon
his arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport in July 2016.
“What about the people who clean and sweep in the school?” argued
Kamenetzky. “They are mostly Mexican and are unvaccinated. If there was a
problem, the children would already have gotten sick.”“I see
vaccinations as the problem. It’s a hoax. Even the Salk vaccine [against
polio] is a hoax. It is just big business.”
Worst measles outbreak in decades sweeps New York as cases surge in Oregon, Washington and abroad
At least 160 people in New York have been infected with measles
One in 20 children that get the highly-contagious virus develop pneumonia, and one to two per 1,000 die
The disease can only be prevented by vaccination
Over 90 percent of babies in the US are vaccinated
But people of certain religions and ideologies sometimes refuse to get their children vacccinated
In New York, the infection is spreading primarily among Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and Rockland County
Cases
of measles have reached a 20-year high in several New York counties
amid an outbreak that threatens to reach epidemic proportions, experts
say.
At least 160 people have been
infected by the virus, which typically strikes children, in New York and
unusual outbreaks have been reported internationally.
The
worst affected areas so far are Rockland County - where 105 cases have
been reported - and an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, where
at least 55 have been infected.
Meanwhile, 25 other states have reported outbreaks, with numbers climbing particularly high in Oregon and Washington.
A body-covering red splotchy rash
is the tell-tale sign of the measles infection that has struck at least
160 people in New York - and outbreaks have been reported in Oregon and
Washington
Measles is only
preventable by vaccination, and health officials in the worst affected
areas are scrambling to speed up shots schedules in the most blighted
areas.
Among other countries, Israel has seen a recent resurgence in measles.
In October, the sudden uptick in cases in New York City was linked to an unvaccinated traveler from Israel.
Though
the details of the Oregon and Washington cases have not been released
as publicly, the Washington outbreak was traced to an unvaccinated child
who had traveled to the state from another country.
The measles vaccine was introduced in the US in 1963 and, ever since, the virus has been a minimal threat.
But
among those not inoculated against it, measles is among the most
contagious diseases in the world and can be life-threatening.
Measles often begins with a fever, sore throat, runny nose and cough but there are a few tell-tale signs of the infection.
Eventually, a rash
composed of large red blotches materializes, first on the face,
spreading until it eventually covers the whole body.
As the infection worsens, complications can include diarrhea, lung infections and brain swelling.
Some one in 20 children that contract measles develop pneumonia, making it highly dangerous to young kids.
Babies are supposed to
get the shot in two doses. The first dose should be given between the
first 12 and 15 months of life, and the second between ages four and
six, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC)
recommendations.
As of May 2017, the
CDC estimated that about 91 percent of children under three had received
at least their first dose of the MMR shot.
In recent years, however, there has been a growing - though largely unfounded - movement against vaccinations.
Some populations have a longer history of reticence against shots.
Some
members of both the Amish and Orthodox Jewish faiths believe that their
religions' edicts, histories or some combinations of the two prohibit
them from getting their children vaccinated.
One
of the arguments made by Orthodox Jews is that if a dangerous disease
becomes rare - thanks to high rates of vaccination among the general
population, typically - then getting shots for their children may do
more 'harm' than good and thus be against Orthodox Jewish law.
But
in 2013, for example, a measles outbreak struck the neighborhood of
Williamsburg in New York City's Brooklyn borough. The 58 infections were
contained entirely in the Orthodox Jewish community there.
The outbreaks that have emerged in recent months have followed a similar pattern.
One
unvaccinated child from Brooklyn reportedly traveled to Israel,
contracted the virus, then returned to its home in New York and spread
the infection to other unvaccinated kids in the community.
In
Oregon, there has been a moderate influx of Orthodox Jews (particularly
in Portland). However, it is less clear what is fueling the outbreaks
there or in Washington.
There has been
some increase in the number of children not getting vaccines, but the
majority of the population in both states is still protected.
Rockland
County, New York, is home to a number of all-Orthodox villages and the
population of Orthodox Jews has been growing rapidly throughout the area
in recent years.
John Lyon,
spokesperson for the Rockland County Health Department said that the
outbreak has struck unvaccinated communities there.
'We're
making some progress, but this is one of the most contagious diseases
out there in unvaccinated populations,' he told Daily Mail Online.
So
far, the county has given over 11,000 vaccinations to children there,
but is still struggling to contain the virus's rapid spread.
In
2016, a poll showed Trump beating Hillary Clinton 66% to 22% among
Orthodox Jews. This wasn’t as unusual as it sounds. In New York City,
Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods light up as islands in a lefty sea. Romney won over 90% of the vote in some Orthodox Jewish areas. Traditional
religious beliefs are associated with conservative politics among Jews
the same way that they are among Christians. 60% of Jews who attended
weekly religious services disapproved of Obama while those who didn’t,
mostly supported him. Why do American Jews lean much more to the left?
Because only 11% of American Jews attend weekly synagogue services. Well
below the 40% national average. Only 34% of American Jews are
certain that they believe in G-d. What do they believe in? When asked
what it means to be Jewish, 56% mentioned social justice, 42% comedy and
only 19% percent mentioned anything involving religion. Meanwhile 63%
of Israeli Jews believe “completely” in G-d. Last year, Trump’s
approval rating among Orthodox Jews was at 71%. The American Jewish
Committee’s Survey wrote the results up glumly as “We have seen the
future, and it looks Orthodox". Establishment Jewish groups,
which suddenly woke up and realized that the majority of Jewish children
in New York City were Orthodox Jews, are preparing to fight that
future. If those children are allowed to grow up Orthodox, the end of
the Jewish Left will have arrived. And so they came after the children. The
New York State Department of Education now threatens to shut down
Jewish schools and report parents who refuse to send their children to
leftist government schools to child protection authorities. As in the
Soviet Union, giving a child a Jewish education would be treated as
evidence of child abuse. The government would be able to abduct children
for the crime of receiving a Jewish education. The new "Indian Residential Schools" had arrived. Jewish
schools aren’t the only targets of this discriminatory campaign by the
educational establishment. Catholic schools have also come under attack
with the Archdiocese of New York posting an editorial that declares,
“Leviathan has now focused its attention on religious schools here in
New York, with the clear intention of either forcing them to submit to
its authority or face destruction.” The public face of the
campaign against Jewish schools is YAFFED or Young Advocates for Fair
Education. Its members claim to be the products of Orthodox Jewish
schools whose poor education left them so unprepared for the real world
that all they were able to do was launch an extremely effective
statewide campaign whose press releases and talking points are quoted
verbatim in every single media outlet. As in March for Our Lives, young faces are used to hide the agendas of the old lefties behind the curtain. While
Naftuli Moster, YAFFED’s executive director, plays its equivalent of
David Hogg, speaking to media outlets and appearing at forums to discuss
the incredible intellectual disadvantage that the same educational
system that produced generations of visionary thinkers and geniuses
burdened him with, Hannah Rothstein, a not remotely “young” Baruch
College prof, serves as its president. Hannah Rothstein also
serves on the board of Footsteps, an organization working to secularize
Orthodox Jews and transition them to an irreligious lifestyle. She’s a
Trump critic and an Obama supporter. She has also donated to
Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Al Franken, Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker.
Her repeated out of state donations, some through ActBlue, show a woman
passionate about the Left. And the growing Orthodox Jewish population
poses a threat to everything that Rothstein has been funding. Moster,
YAFFED’s public face, is also a Footsteps graduate. Pesach Eisen, a
Yaffed member who testified in its cause, is a Footsteps member and a
fellow with the radical leftist Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
which denies the existence of lefty anti-Semitism even as it defends
leftist anti-Semites. Eisen demonstrates how Footsteps and YAFFED act as
arms of the broader anti-Jewish Left. And Moster has, in turn, defended the anti-Semitic Women’s March. Anita
Altman serves on the Board of Directors of YAFFED and her bio boasts of
helping numerous Footsteps clients. In 2014, she had signed an angry
letter, declaring, “AIPAC speaks for Israel’s hard-line government and
its right-wing supporters, and for them alone; it does not speak for
us.” The signatories included a range of anti-Israel activists,
supporters of BDS and defenders of anti-Semitic terrorism. Altman has also signed a letter backing anti-Semitic Farrakhan supporter Linda Sarsour. Altman
is, unsurprisingly, no fan of religious Jews. In a bizarre interview,
which repeatedly warns of a "khasidic takeover", she complained that
there is "fear" when "it comes to government dealing with these
fundamentalist communities." Then she compared Orthodox Jews to Iran. That’s the medieval bigotry behind YAFFED and the war on Orthodox Jewish schools. YAFFED’s
bid is all about lefties using the government to deal with
“fundamentalists” under the guise of helping the few formerly Orthodox
members of Footsteps being used as fronts for the hateful operation. Altman
isn’t the only anti-Israel activist in YAFFED. Its communications
director, Abigail Beatty, also allegedly works for the anti-Israel NIF,
an organization notorious for its funding of leftist and BDS group. YAFFED
claims to advocate for “the rights of Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox
children”. But it appears to be another face of Footsteps: an
organization advocating against the traditional religious practices of
Orthodox Judaism. The people behind YAFFED have the right to
advocate for discriminatory policies targeting the Orthodox Jewish
community, in order to force Jewish parents to take their children out
of Jewish schools. They have the right to do so in the name of their radical leftist politics and hatred of religion. But
they have no right to masquerade as an organization fighting for the
rights of the very people they are persecuting. Instead of highlighting
these obvious connections, the media has chosen to act as the echo
chamber for YAFFED while denying the Jewish communities targeted by
Altman and her ilk, a voice. Anonymous stories and bots have
been used to manufacture a group of Orthodox Jewish parents and children
who are “suffering” in the Jewish school system, but oddly, choose not
to leave it. These astroturf tactics are being used to justify discrimination and harassment of a religious community. It’s
about more than just the bigotry of Anita Altman, obsessed with
recreating Philip Roth’s Eli the Fanatic. Behind the fresh young faces,
there are elderly veterans of the lefty political establishment, many
with backgrounds in education and academia, who see religious Jewish
education as a threat. An economic threat and also a political threat. In
a letter to a Democrat councilmember, David Bloomfield, claimed that
the war on Jewish schools would enable their students to “vote outside
the confines of their deterministic communities”. Bloomfield has
written a number of articles and appeared at Yaffed forums attempting
to pressure the government into cracking down on Jewish schools. At stake are two very different visions of education and the future. Secretary
of Education Betsy DeVos recently visited Orthodox Jewish schools and
touted them as models of school choice. There is no word in the English
language that the Left hates more than “choice”. The education
lobby has gone to war against charter schools. And Orthodox Jewish
schools are seen as even worse than charter schools. They don’t bow to
the teachers’ unions. The money their parents spend on education doesn’t
end up in the pockets of union bosses and their Democrat political
allies. The Orthodox Jewish community has helped drive the
expansion of voucher programs. And school choice is an existential
threat to the educational establishment and the political power of the
Left. Orthodox Jewish communities have fueled support for school
choice not only in New York, but in swing states like Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Florida, endangering presidential elections. Something had to be done about those pesky Jews. Now something is being done. The
Left’s vision of the educational system is Footsteps and Yaffed writ
large, a machine for destroying communities, undermining their
traditions, and crushing parental authority so that academics can
reinvent the children in their own cultural and political image. That’s
what happened to American Jews. Now the same people who a
century ago turned a generation of immigrants from believers in G-d to
believers in social justice see another Jewish demographic threat and
want to do it all over again. On Sabbath, hundreds of thousands
of Orthodox Jews will read the story of how an ancient Egyptian leader
grew disgusted with rising Jewish demographics. "Behold, the numbers of
the children of Israel are too many," he tells his political allies.
"Come, let us deal cunningly with them, lest they multiply." On
Fifth Avenue, the establishment pharaohs, whose faith is not in Isis or
Hathor, but in progressive social justice, look at the children in
Jewish schools across New York City and bitterly echo his words.
