"The Church is the Bear Stearns of Pedophilia!" (and you know what happened to Bear Stearns)

Jewish Pedophiles Go Unpunished in Hasidic Community!

None of the nearly $1 million set aside to tackle sex abuse in New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities has been spent, even as another program set up to help scrambles for cash.

The state has earmarked $950,000 since April 2009 to fund Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s plans to teach Hasidic Jews to speak up against child molestation.

But the money sits untouched as Hikind figures out the details of Shomrei Yeldainu – Hebrew for “Guardians of our Children” – the Daily News has learned.

“You have to develop something that is done correctly working with the rabbis and leaders,” said Hikind (D-Brooklyn).

The $950,000 was included in the 2009 state budget for the Office of Family and Children’s Services, said Matt Anderson, a budget spokesman for Gov. Paterson.

It’s the first time the state has funded a sex abuse program geared toward helping a specific ethnic group.

“Apparently, the Hasidim will only go to the Hasidim for help,” said Edward Borges, an FCS spokesman.

I’ve written and spoken before on the terrible situation in the NY Orthodox Jewish community that allows child rapists to go unchecked and unpunished. It has been said that if you want to be a pedophile, this is THE place to prey.

The reason the problem exists is to a large extent, summarized in the last sentence: they only go to their own for help. Naturally, when you have this kind of a cult mentality, “their own” are often supporters of the rapists, not the victims (as disgusting as that sounds).

If the money for helping victims is going untouched, then the undeniable conclusion is that it is not serving the purpose for which it is intended. What is the Jewish community doing to spread the word that here is help from OUTSIDE the group? I suspect the answer is NOTHING. This is a cult, and just like every other cult they abhor outsiders because outsiders make sense and provide justice, as opposed to the utter subservience dished out by the cult.

The problem is compounded by a fear of the government appearing antisemitic if they press into the problem. This must not be used as an excuse. Children are being hurt, and it is the government’s job to step in and protect the children. Use the money to fund publicity to the Jewish children, and provide a few undercover cops to root out the swine.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re a child rapist, you’re not all that worried about the invisible man-in-the-sky, so no kosher meals in prison unless you pay for it yourself! Okey Dokey?

Sexual Abuse by Rabbis - Where is the Public Outcry?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments:

Reporter Paul Vitello of the New York Times showed the shocking extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community. He also details the cover-ups that have long been aided and abetted by law enforcement.

Where have all the church-and-state advocates been all these years when Orthodox rabbis were allowed by the D.A.’s office to settle these cases “internally”? Where have all the professional victims’ groups been in staging protests outside synagogues? Where have all the sue-happy lawyers been seeking to plunder the Orthodox? Where have all the comedians and late-night entertainers been in cracking jokes about rabbis raping kids?

It’s not just Orthodox Jews who have been given a pass: no group has gotten away easier than public school employees. Consider this. Because public school students have only 90 days to file suit, it is already too late to prosecute a teacher—in virtually every state—who molested a minor as recently as last spring. But if the offense took place in a Catholic school, the student has years to file suit. Not only that, molesting teachers are still shuffled from one school district to another; it’s called “passing the trash.”

Orthodox Jews try cases of child rape in rabbinical courts. Imagine if the Catholic Church failed to report abuse cases to the authorities and decided instead to institute its own ecclesial courts? Vittelo's article quotes a Jewish attorney urging law enforcement to recognize “religious sensitivities” for the guilty by seeking alternatives to prison. Allow a Catholic attorney to advise the same and it’s called corruption.

Last year, 60 minors in this small Jewish community said they were abused.

Catholics are fed up with the duplicity. It’s not just Roman Polanski who can rape and run with impunity these days. The politics of child rape is sickening.

Rabbi Mordecai Tendler - former rabbi of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, which he founded by offering free group sex in New York

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Tendler

Rabbi Mordecai Tendler is the former sub-standard and mediocre rabbi of an Orthodox Jewish community, which he founded by offering lots of free group sex in New Hempstead, New York. He was known among Orthodox Jews "as a calypso singer, scholar, educator, and bottom-of-the-barrel community leader". His last name had everything to do with his getting the job.[1]

[edit] Family Tendler was born into an American Orthodox family. He is the son of Rabbi Moshe Tendler, (an expert in Jewish medical ethics) and his maternal grandfather is Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the leading 20th Century American rabbinic decisors (posek). He is the brother of the prominent porn star, Rabbi Aron 'Superboy' Tendler, who the Adult Video Network has nominated twice for their special philanderer-clergy award (although he is supposedly not very well-endowed).

Uncle (Pretty Boy) Sholom Tendler out West, is well known as the Community Banger (Tendler's version of the Community Kollel - come and hang out), any woman, any size, with any disease is welcome at his office or under his desk. Tendler serves as a vice president of the RCC - Rabbinical Council of California; noted for his erudition in the various colors of menstrual blood on ladies undergarments. He has copyrighted the halachic slogan - "Got Blood?"

First cousins of the Tendler boys are the Shisgal twins; they gained notoriety in the Orthodox Jewish community by posing for Penthouse Magazine. Bob Guccione, the publisher, ultimately, was paid a large sum of money by an anonymous Jewish community member not to publish the photographs (Guccione got real lucky!). Rumor has it that they were sexually molested as youngsters by a close family member.


As the posek's grandson and disciple, Mordecai Tendler worked closely with R. Feinstein in administering his efforts to a promulgate responsa on many matters of Jewish law (halakhah). Moreover, Tendler helped prepare and edit various volumes of Feinstein's responsa for publication in the Igrot Moshe series.

[edit] Allegations of misconduct - Due to allegations of sexual misconduct and his non-cooperation with an investigation, his membership in the Rabbinical Council of America was revoked in 2005,[2][3] and in 2006, he was removed from his Rabbinical position.[4] Tendler has continued to deny the allegations of both the plaintiffs and anonymous bloggers.[5] In 2007, the Appellate Division, 1st Department, of the New York State Supreme Court affirmed the lower court ruling, that dismissed the lawsuit brought by one of the plaintiffs against Tendler.[1]

Legal proceedings between Tendler and the bloggers were still ongoing as of 2008.[6]

[edit] References1.^ a b Wise, David (August 24, 2007). "Divided Panel Rules 'Seduction' Claims Against Rabbi Are Barred by N.Y. Law". New York Law Journal. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1187859736882. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
2.^ "Open Letter to the Jewish Community". Rabbinical Council of America. June 27, 2005. http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100606. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
3.^ "Clarification Regarding Rabbi M. Tendler and Bet Din". Rabbinical Council of America. December 30, 2005. http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100637. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
4.^ Macintosh, Jeane; David Hafetz (March 1, 2006). "Rabbi Expelled from Shul" (Internet Archive). News (New York Post): p. 7. Archived from the original on Unknown. http://web.archive.org/web/20060525194745/http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/64418.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
5.^ Spence, Rebecca (July 14, 2006). "Rabbi Challenges Right to Anonymity on Internet". The Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/452/. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
6.^ Bright, Arthur (July 30, 2008). "Tendler v. Does". Citizen Media Law Project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/tendler-v-does. Retrieved 2008-08-29.

"Tropper is more of a medium size hustler!"

Evanston Jew to UOJ:

I want to say something about the comparison between Tropper and Berlusconi. If Tropper never showed up on the Orthodox stage the entire community would be better off. I personally don't see any redeeming features to Tropper. OTOH he's not a major person, more of a medium size hustler. If he doesn't return to public life the problem is solved...

UOJ to EJ:

Tropper, indeed a hustler, was well on his way to controlling all or most Orthodox conversions in the USA. Imagine if he was a big-time hustler!

The big league hustlers are the rabbis that took any money from this guy, or that showed up at his events. Why, even Shmuel Kaminetzky waited until his partner in Philly, R' Elya Svei passed away (Svei despised Tropper), no sooner was his body cold, did Kaminetzky participate in these EJF orgies and take money from Tropper.

Tropper is Orthodox Judaism today - hustlers with their pants down and hands out!

Uncle Joe!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/oh_no_uncle_joe_m4LJcP6mF92Gd74FTuwaWL

Brooklyn camp counselor charged in kid-sex case
By JAMIE SCHRAM, WILLIAM J. GORTA and CHUCK BENNETT

"City Yossi" - Joseph Passof, a retired New York City schoolteacher known by the nickname "Uncle Joe," is accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy in a bathroom last summer, authorities said.

The counselor was slapped with a slew of sex-abuse charges for the heinous July assault, in which he allegedly sneaked up behind his young victim and attacked him in front of a 4-year-old camper.

"That's Uncle Joe, bad person," the young witness told investigators when he was shown a photograph of Passof, police sources said.

The 65-year-old, who spent 36 years on staff at the Flatbush Park Jewish Center Day Camp, was arrested Wednesday and pleaded not guilty yesterday.

A camp photo shows the tubby teacher surrounded by child playthings and a pile of kids' clothes. Camp director Kevin Adelson didn't return calls and e-mails for comment.

Passof's defense lawyer, Jay Cohen, said Passof is impotent because of high blood pressure and diabetes.

Cohen said the accusation was fabricated by the mother of the witness, who had been chastised by Passof and another counselor.

Joseph Passof, a retired New York City schoolteacher known by the nickname "Uncle Joe," is accused of molesting a 5-year-old boy in a bathroom last summer, authorities said.

The counselor was slapped with a slew of sex-abuse charges for the heinous July assault, in which he allegedly sneaked up behind his young victim and attacked him in front of a 4-year-old camper.

Cohen said Passof had actually walked in on the two boys in the bathroom "experimenting" with their pants down.

Passof, who plans to testify before a grand jury, says he only yelled at them to pull their pants up and denied any abuse, according to Cohen.

Passof appears prominently on the Web site of Flatbush Park Jewish Center Day Camp, which costs $3,000 for eight weeks and accepts kids from ages 4 to 14.

There are pictures of a portly-looking Passof sitting on a child's jungle gym and another section touts his skills in preparing fish sticks for the campers.

He was ordered held on $50,000 bail or bond.

Passof taught at city schools, including PS 99 Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature in Midwood, Brooklyn, from 1984 until his retirement in 2003.

The Department of Education said he had no disciplinary history.

jamie.schram@nypost.com

The Disposable Jew by Michael Lesher Esq.

A MUST READ IN ITS ENTIRETY - CLICK ON LINK BELOW:
http://www.amyneustein.com/pubs/disposablejew.doc

...“When you’re abused as a child,” says one of my clients, “and you grow up to be an adult, and you know the man who violated you was never punished, the violation never leaves you. You’re never whole. People,” he adds, meaning his coreligionists, “have got to understand that.” Or, as another victim put it: “Every day that the perpetrator is living openly, knowing that nothing is being done to him, that no one cares, is another day of being victimized all over again.”

My connection to these people is inseparable from the theme of continuing victimization. The man my clients accuse of abusing them – a Hasidic psychologist/school administrator named Avrohom Mondrowitz, who won the trust of the Brooklyn Orthodox community with the title “rabbi” – has remained unpunished for over twenty-five years. Though authorities believe Mondrowitz sodomized or otherwise abused hundreds of Orthodox Jewish children in the early 1980s, not one of their families reported him to police.

After the parents of a few non-Jewish children (who were also allegedly abused by Mondrowitz) did press first-degree sodomy and child abuse charges against him, Mondrowitz fled the country in December 1984 and reappeared in Jerusalem, where he lived undisturbed for the next twenty-three years. Technically he was a wanted fugitive – but at the urging of the Orthodox Jewish community in both countries, legal authorities were content to leave Mondrowitz a free man until steadily mounting public pressure resulted in his arrest in November 2007.

In fact, if rabbinic leaders had had their way, he would never have been arrested. “It was a long time ago,” was how one prominent rabbi responded, as recently as the summer of 2006, to my suggestion that Mondrowitz should face prosecution. “What for?”...

Who Governs The Jews?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/opinion/01tue3.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Editorial - The New York Times

Acts of Contrition
Published: February 28, 2011

One can scarcely imagine the pain borne into St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin last month at a Mass — “A Liturgy of Lament and Repentance” — offered for the victims of sexually abusive priests.

It was a reminder that the scandal, a global catastrophe for the Roman Catholic Church and a national tragedy in Ireland, is also a universe of individual tragedies. But there was also hope that some church leaders, at least, are facing up to that pain and that catastrophe. The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and Cardinal Séan O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, presided over the Mass, which went to unusual lengths to involve victims and to gaze unflinchingly at their suffering.

With 400 people in attendance, lectors read long passages from official reports on decades of abuse in Irish parishes and schools — horrific reading for a sacred space. A few victims interrupted the proceedings with their own stories of shame and terror.

Just as unusual, even startling, was the way the archbishop and cardinal made personal the church’s act of contrition. They lay prostrate in silence before a bare altar. They washed and dried the feet of eight abuse victims — just as the Catholic clergy do at Mass on Holy Thursday to recall how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, a gesture of humility and service.

Archbishop Martin offered what may be the most specific apology yet, showing an understanding — rare among his peers — of the difference between lip service and true repentance. “When I say ‘sorry,’ ” the archbishop said, “I am in charge. When I ask forgiveness, however, I am no longer in charge. I am in the hands of the others. Only you can forgive me; only God can forgive me.”

Not all survivors of abuse will likely accept the apology. They are right that the church has a long way to go to cleaning house and repairing trust with its flock. Reforms are lagging, many victims are still waiting for compensation and a full accounting of crimes. Some predator priests are still in ministry. Bishops have largely avoided punishment or credible repentance.

Still, gestures and ritual can be meaningful, and forgiveness has to begin somewhere, which is why the Dublin Mass seemed to be a true step forward. “We want to be part of a church that puts survivors, the victims of abuse, first,” Cardinal O’Malley said, getting it right.

And for that Sunday, anyway, the victims took precedence. “What the hell did I do wrong as a child?” asked a man, Robert Dempsey, who told of being abused in a mental institution. “What the hell did any of us do?”

***

President and Founder of The Jewish Board of Advocates for Children - JBAC - Elliot Pasik Esq. writes:

The umos ha'olam not only get kind words, but the Church also, without compulsion of law, provides free therapy for the victims. The Church is now also in strict compliance with all American background check and mandatory reporting laws.

The Jews, in May 2009, receive a tongue lashing from Rosh Aguda Rabbi Perlow who, at the annual Aguda dinner says: Only gedolim can divine what is good for the Jews, not well-meaning baal ha'battim, nor presumptous bloggers and picketers.

Their Executive Vice President, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Esq., echoed the same theme when he told the NY Times, in October 2009: I hope the Brooklyn DA isn't making a power grab from the rabbis, by prosecuting orthodox Jewish sex abusers.

Last night, on PBS, Channel 13, there was a riveting documentary about the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 people died, mostly young Jewish women. About half were teens. The fire started from a dropped cigarette. The two rich factory owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, had locked all the doors, and there was overcrowding. The owners escaped the fire by scampering to the roof, and crossing to an adjacent building. Nobody told the workers. The owners were acquitted of manslaughter, and collected the insurance money. The NYS Legislature responded with 32 new laws, covering worker safety, child labor, and fire equipment. The fire department ladders reached only to the 6th floor, not to the 8th floor.

The academic commentators at the end of the documentary said that the fire produced a sea change on how people felt they should be governed. Pre-fire, people believed that the factories and workers were a private relationship only. Post-fire, there was a consensus that worker safety was subject to public policy.

So 32 new laws got passed!

Halavei!

Elliot Pasik

Call for OHEL Leadership Change!

Press Release - Ohel Jewish Childrens Home and Family Services

Call for OHEL Leadership Change

CONTACT:The Voice of Justice - VoiceOfJustice613@gmail.com
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Sunday, February 27, 2011

The recent revelations about OHEL Jewish Children’s Home and Family Services in Brooklyn written by Hella Winston of the Jewish Week on February 24, 2011 were, without question, profoundly disturbing, but sadly, not entirely unexpected.

For many years OHEL has been awash with rumors and allegations regarding their staff not reporting incidences of sexual abuse to proper authorities as required by law. In addition, many supervisors at OHEL have reportedly instructed staff not to report the allegations of sex abuse. These allegations of OHEL’s non-compliance with Federal and state reporting guidelines put the entire organization in jeopardy of losing its government funding and non-profit status. It also puts senior staff and Board of Directors in jeopardy of possible criminal prosecution.

Further, serious concerns have surfaced in the community concerning the partnership and relationship between OHEL and KOL TZEDEK, which is a project of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, created to combat sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community. KOL TZEDEK's mission statement calls for providing support and assistance to victims and their families. Unfortunately this relationship appears to be a political one, without any substance at all. OHEL, a major partner with KOL TZEDEK, has not provided any emergency support to victims or families of the victims, especially in the recent high profile sex cases in the community, all of which resulted in convictions.

Neither David Mandel, the CEO of OHEL, nor any one of OHEL’s staff, have ever been present at any of the court trials relating to sexual abuse in our community, nor have they reached out to any of the families involved with any compassion or assistance. OHEL, which is one of the largest non-profit agencies in the New York City area, providing mental health and foster care services, should have reached out and offered its services to victims, alleged victims, and their families.

As Rabbi Yosef Blau, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, pointed out, OHEL is an extremely important institution in our community and operates vital programs that are crucial and needed for the families in our community. However, these troubling issues cannot be swept under the rug. They must be dealt with in order to banish the dark clouds that impede OHEL’s overall effectiveness and compliance.

We respectfully ask OHEL’s Board of Directors to initiate an external investigation. A team of independent professionals, not associated with OHEL, must be invited in to carry out these duties. The external investigation and the implementation of their suggestions will hopefully bring about reinvigorated and honest leadership to the helm of OHEL. This investigation should be similar to the investigation of the Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) wherein confidence was successfully restored, (specifically after the Baruch Lanner scandal), resulting in the hiring of a new executive leader. We hope for similar results in this matter.

We firmly believe that bring new leadership to OHEL, specifically a CEO with clinical experience, to guide the agency through this pivotal and difficult period in the agency’s history, will help to restore OHEL’s original vision and vital mission of protecting Jewish children and strengthening Jewish families.***

Excerpts from The Jewish Week's piece by noted author Hella Winston PhD:

Rabbi Yosef Blau, mashgiach ruchani (spiritual adviser) of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and a longtime advocate for abuse survivors, told The Jewish Week referring to the mother’s case as well as others of which he has knowledge.

“They have been the point men for the community [on this issue] and they have accepted the approach of the community, which is never to go to the police. They endlessly [hide] behind technicalities,” Rabbi Blau continued.

“Because [Ohel is] an agency that does wonderful things for children,” Rabbi Blau added, referring to the homes and services Ohel provides for foster children, it is not an agency he would like to see disappear. However, with respect to the handling of child sexual abuse, Rabbi Blau believes that Ohel “is the problem, in a nutshell. They [have shown that they are] not able to deal with the situation that they are legally required and morally required [to deal with]. The workers are all sincere people,” the rabbi added. “Solutions [to the current problem] would involve changing [Ohel’s] leadership. [And] you will know there’s change when they start reporting.”

Do It My Vey - Gay Tzu Der Po-Li-Tzei!!!

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/02/25/brooklyn-rabbi-accused-of-molesting-girl-since-she-was-12/

Brooklyn ‘Rabbi’ Accused Of Molesting Girl Since She Was 12
Community Upset By Charges Against Nechemya Weberman
(NOT BY WHAT WEBERMAN DID - UOJ)
February 25, 2011

By Pablo Guzmán, CBS 2 News

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A father was convinced his 16-year-old daughter was having a relationship with a 17-year-old boy, so the father set up a hidden camera in the house. What he recorded shocked him — what he saw the daughter doing to please the young man.

They are Orthodox Jews, in Brooklyn. The father had already taken the daughter to seek counseling with Rabbi Nechemya Weberman in years past. Just as he had taken her older sister. It is a common practice in the community for a respected person to be a counselor, or serve as a therapist. Weberman is affiliated, police said, with Brooklyn’s United Talmudic Community, a yeshiva.

Now, the father went to the Brooklyn DA’s office with the tape, and Rabbi Weberman. The Brooklyn DA’s office has set up special channels of communication to bridge cultural gaps that might be beneficial to both sides. However, the more that investigators talked to the parties involved — especially when they spoke with them separately — the more that there were questions which indicated something was not right. Around Feb. 16, the girl told a counselor at school that the rabbi has been raping her for years. The counselor reported it, and when the investigators talked to her again, she claimed there were at least 16 incidents at 263 Classon Avenue, in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, which serves as Weberman’s home and office. It is where the counseling sessions took place. The girl told investigators it began in 2007, when she was 12; and continued through 2010.

Detectives assembled sufficient preliminary evidence to start a case; and arrested Weberman on Wednesday. He was brought to Brooklyn Criminal Court that night, and told he was being charged with rape, endangering the welfare of a child, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct against a child, and engaging in a criminal sexual act.

The Orthodox Jewish community that has gone to Weberman as a therapist and counselor, especially for young people, are in shock. Reeling. The debate has even gone to blogs on the Internet. But Weberman’s lawyer, George Farkas, told me, people should not jump to conclusions, warning that this all began within what he called “a dysfunctional family,” referring to the father setting up the hidden camera and the possibility that the daughter is striking out in anger against her father, who is trying to shut down her relationship with her boyfriend and slam Weberman in the process.

“The charges (against Weberman) are horrendous. They are disgusting. And they’re despicable. Not just — it’s absolutely awful. But what I will tell you is that this man will die before he’s branded a child molestor,” Farkas said.

Sources in the case said Weberman is not a licensed therapist. But on Friday NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly added one thing more: “The rabbi … is NOT a rabbi! He’s a 52-year-old male arrested for molestation of a young woman who is still a minor.”

After hearing this, I called Farkas, Weberman’s attorney. He took a deep breath.

“Have I asked to see his rabbinical diploma? No. Does he have a congregation? No. Does the Gentile world always understand when my world uses the term ‘rabbi’? No. I think you do, Pablo,” Farkas said. “We know each other. But many do not. Now: with that said, have people taken their children for years to see him as a counselor? Yes. Is he viewed as a therapist? Yes. Is he ‘respected’? Yes.”

Another respected member of the Brooklyn Orthodox community told me, “This is all very difficult for us. There is unfortunately a ‘tradition’, if you will, of the pedophile continuing to function, when he is in such a respected position. And the victim being ostracized. We have worked hard to change this. But it has been a long, uphill battle. Now, I do not know this man. But I will say this: since word began circulating, people are talking. Others are coming forward. I believe there may be as many as five other people who are preparing to report their own encounters with this man. We have to see what happens in the justice system.”

Some who are involved in the case have told me that is exactly what’s happening. More evidence is being presented, right now, to a grand jury.

Rabbi Weberman is due back in court March 9. Detectives are gathering information for a possible indictment.


Pediatrician in Abuse Case Killed Himself
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: February 25, 2011

Dr. Melvin D. Levine, a nationally known pediatrician who was found dead last week, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a medical examiner said on Friday.

Levine, 71, was found in the woods near his Rougemont, N.C., home with a gunshot wound to his forehead. His death was reported a day after a class-action sexual abuse and malpractice suit was filed against him in Boston.

A report by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina said officers went to Dr. Levine’s home the night of Feb. 17 after his wife reported finding a suicide note, but they were not initially able to find his body. The contents of the note have not been released.

The Boston lawsuit charges that Dr. Levine performed unnecessary genital exams on 40 boys while at Children’s Hospital Boston from 1966 to 1985.

Although Dr. Levine, a Rhodes scholar, had long been dogged by charges of sexually abusing young male patients, he had maintained that he was innocent. He was never convicted on any abuse charge, and never faced criminal charges.

On Friday The Boston Globe reported that several men who said they had been molested as young boys had described encounters in which they said Dr. Levine groped, fondled or performed oral sex on them. One recalled a trip on which he and Dr. Levine were in the same bed, saying that when the doctor took off his clothes, he put his arm around the boy and fondled him.

Christopher Dean, now a 50-year-old architect in Roslindale, Mass., said Friday that for four years, starting when he was 9, he went twice a year to Dr. Levine’s office for a “checkup” that was simply an occasion for molestation.

“It started when he came to my school in Brookline, saw me in the nurse’s office, fondled me, and then said he would like to see me as a private patient,” said Mr. Dean, a plaintiff in the Boston suit, which will proceed against Mr. Levine’s estate. “I came out in tears and in shock, but didn’t tell anyone.”

Several plaintiffs said that Dr. Levine’s abuse had clouded their lives, and that they hoped for resolution in the lawsuit.

“It left me feeling very awkward; I never forgot it, and I always kept track of Dr. Levine,” said Donald Roy, now 46, who said he was abused by Dr. Levine at age 10, when he was having surgery at Children’s Hospital. “My mother knew what was going on because Dr. Levine invited me to visit his house, and I said I just wasn’t going to go, and I explained why. But she didn’t know what to do with it.”

Carmen Durso, a Boston lawyer for the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, filed his first suit against Dr. Levine in 2005, and followed with four more complaints before holding a news conference in 2008 at which he announced the charges. Those charges were resolved, but last week Mr. Durso held a news conference announcing the new complaints.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/us/26levine.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Lessons From Libya - A Tale Of 2 Hats!

"Kadafi's biggest mistake was that he built his whole regime on pure fear," said Omar Amer, a member of the Libyan Youth Movement, a protest group that spreads its message through Facebook. "He totally abandoned civilizing Libya. He neglected education and development projects. He left the majority of his people in the dark ages and built his might on fear through torturing and killing political dissidents in public.

"But the fear that Kadafi built his empire with is gone, and that was his last shelter," Amer added.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-libya-kadafi-20110222,0,7334029.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews+%28L.A.+Times+-+Top+News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:

Press Release - Meir Dascalowtiz
Statement from the Voice of Justice
In Defense of Abused Children

CONTACT: MARK M. APPEL (917) 804-3942 cell
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Monday, February 21, 2011

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, admitted serial child rapist, Meir Dascalowitz will appear in Kings County Supreme Court to plead to charges related to his many felony and misdemeanor sex crimes against children.

Dascalowitz’s charges include criminal sex acts with a child under 14, sexual misconduct with a minor, and sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, almost 100 felony sexual abuse charges in total. Dascalowitz’s attorney is likely to have his client plead insanity. In order for our community to be safe, we need to show the public and Judge Riviezzo that we will not tolerate these crimes against our children and that we believe perpetrators of these heinous sex crimes should be held accountable in a court of law.

At previous court appearances, Dascalowitz has managed to garner support from individuals who mock, intimate, and harrass Dascalowitz’s victims and witnesses outside the hearings. The Voice of Justice is calling upon the Jewish community to gather in the courtroom on Wednesday February 23, 2011 at 9:00 AM to show support to victims of this dangerous admitted criminal, and their families.

To show your support of Dascalowitz’s victims, to demand justice, and to send a message that criminals who abuse children in the Jewish community deserve to and will be punished, please attend the Dascalowitz plea hearing below:

Wednesday, February 23, 2011
9:00 AM
Kings County Supreme Court
320 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY
Judge Riviezzo

THE REAL PROBLEM IS NOT TALKING ABOUT “IT” TO OUR CHILDREN, AT HOME AND IN SCHOOL-PART TWO

THE UOJ ARCHIVES - JULY 13, 2006

What I write below will likely not be news to any of the intelligent people who read this blog and support UOJ but may be news to some people on the fringe.

The most upsetting part of the whitewash meeting held at YTT in June in which David Mandel and Aron Twerski spoke – besides Rabbi Twerski’s undeserved, premature, ill-timed and ill-advised “haskamah” of Margo as “a man of great honor” - is this part of the story as reported by Jennifer Friedlin in the Jewish Week:

“[W]hen an audience member asked whether sex education could help to strengthen children’s knowledge of inappropriate behavior and empower them to come forward if someone violated them, Mandel responded that sex education was ‘not something realistic’ in a community that stresses modesty.”

There is so much wrong with that sentence, that it sends shivers up my spine.

1. Sexual abuse has about as much to do with sex and sex education, as rape has to do with making love.

What we have learned over the past thirty years is that rape is not a sex act but an act of violence and violation, of dominance, control and power. Many rapists, although clearly not all, have difficulty finding voluntary sexual partners. While they do achieve their own sexual gratification during the rape, it is through fear, power, intimidation, (and not through the intimacy shared between lovers) that is the tool to their climax. It is sick, perverse, criminal and traumatizing.

Similarly, sexual abuse of minors is not an act of love. It is a sick, perverse act of seduction of the helpless, of taking advantage by wielding power, intimidation, humiliation and violence. It is no less traumatizing than rape – for in its essence, it is rape.

2. Although sex education should be taught in all yeshivas, one can teach about sexual abuse without even using the term “sex” – and without getting into the mechanics of sex and sexual education.

We have really great educators who have spent decades testing age appropriate sexual education from very young ages (e.g., 4-6-year-olds and up), and every study shows that it does not cause an increase in teenage sexual activity – despite our primitives beliefs in the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox community to the contrary.

But lets say we’re right. Let’s say that Mandel is right – that sex education in a community that stresses modesty is not realistic. Teaching about abuse and about unwanted touching of a child’s private parts, and what is inappropriate behavior on the part of parents, teachers, Rabbis, and camp counselors, has nothing to do with sex! It can be taught without causing nightmares, without causing trauma, without talking about the mechanics of sex, etc.

There are well-trained, frum professionals: social workers, psychologists, doctors and nurses who are ready to come into our schools and inform our kids in a way that will make them feel less traumatized and less stigmatized about what has happened to them and about coming forward. It can be discussed by these professionals in a frum and tzne’usdikeh way.

But we refuse to do it. Why??? Because we are our own kids worst enemy! We are led by small-minded naysayers, by the “sha-shtill” crowd – the Margulies, the Twerskis, the Mandels, the Shafrans, the Schicks of our world - who believe that if we don’t talk about it, if we hush it up, it is a smaller problem that it really is, it will go away or it won’t even exist.

WE ARE SICK!

Not too long ago, I remember when the more modern yeshivas were faced with the following dilemma: They became fully aware of the fact that there are anorexics and bulimics in the girls’ schools. They knew there are drug experimenters among the boys and the girls. But if we teach them about the evils of these practices, aren’t we admitting to the world that THE KIDS IN OUR SCHOOL ARE BAD KIDS? Won’t the schools NOT tackling these problems point at those who do and say “They have that problem; not us.” And won’t that cause parents to enroll their kids elsewhere?

To an extent, the yeshivas were right. Small-minded people sometimes do think that way. But to their credit they came up with a solution. The modern day schools all banded together and decided to introduce those topics into their schools AT THE SAME TIME. They said, “We don’t know if it’s a problem here, but we do know it exists and we want to help our kids avoid it. So we’re not going to stick our heads in the sand ever again.” And besides the education they offered to their high school students, they made parents attend sessions at night on these topics. I attended them more than once. They had yeshiva kids who had been through drug rehab come and tell their first hand stories and talk about how wasted they were and how they almost lost their lives. Let me tell you, there is nothing more disturbing and nothing leaves a greater impression on you, than seeing a boy in a yarmulke or a girl in a long black skirt tell you about how they woke up after a three-day drug binge and didn’t know what day or time it was, where they were, or in whose bed they had slept – and what they had done there.

I thank God that those yeshivas had the courage to institute this education.

We need the same courage to introduce the subject of sexual abuse. And it cannot be limited to the modern yeshivos. It has to be across the board, in every one of them, including the chasidishe ones.

3. We have to teach all our children in school about inappropriate touching. We have to teach them about child abuse and the difference between a “potch” and a beating. We have to talk to our children about spousal abuse. And who to talk to if they witness it and how to report it.

And it can’t be reported to our existing ill-equipped rebbeim and principals. It has to be appropriately trained counselors, ombudsman and watchdogs.

And this education must take place in the schools for the following reasons:

(A) Most parents will not discuss it with their children at home.
(B) Most parents are not trained to discuss it properly.

We must have blanket education of all of our kids on this subject in a uniform manner in order for it to be most effective.

I’ve seen and reviewed the Torah Umesorah guidelines on child abuse. In and of themselves, they are not bad. The problem is: (1) They have not been uniformly and widely implemented, and are NOT mandatory (2) Without educating all our children about abuse, the guidelines are meaningless even if they were implemented and (3) There is no one in place who is appropriately trained for our children to report abuse to.

We can talk to our girls about taharas hamishpacha, we can discuss in graphic detail their menstrual flow, about why they should use sanitary napkins and not tampons, about why they should not hand a sefer directly to a rebbe – but we can’t talk (to our girls and our boys) about inappropriate touching!? I find that absurd.

I know that there are some stickers in frum homes with an abuse hotline number on it. But it is not in enough homes.

I guarantee you that for every call to Hatzalah, there is someone who should be calling or wants to call an abuse hotline, but doesn’t know whom to call. There should be an abuse hotline sticker under every Hatzalah sticker in every Jewish home.

And none of that matters if we don’t educate our kids in school about what abuse is and isn’t.

Watch 60 Minutes - Sunday - February 20, 2011

Sen. Scott Brown has revealed he was sexually abused by a camp counselor as a child.

Published February 16, 2011
FoxNews.com

The Massachusetts Republican, who rose to political stardom when he won the seat held by the late Ted Kennedy a year ago, is expected to discuss the childhood abuse in his book, "Against All Odds."

Saying he's never told anybody about the trauma, Brown opened during an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" set to air Sunday. Though he also suffered physical abuse at the hands of his stepfathers, Brown revealed he was sexually abused, multiple times, by a camp counselor who threatened to "kill" him if he talked about it.

"Fortunately, nothing was ever fully consummated, so to speak, but it was certainly, back then, very traumatic," Brown said. "He said 'If you tell anybody, you know, I'll kill you. I will make sure that no one believes you.'"

Brown said not even his mother knew about the abuse, explaining he was "embarrassed" and "hurt" by what he went through.

"When people find people like me at that young vulnerable age, who are basically lost, the thing that they have over you is, they make you believe that no one will believe you," the senator said.

Brown issued a brief written statement Wednesday addressing the subject matter in his upcoming book.

"My book is about overcoming obstacles. The physical and sexual abuse is in my book," Brown said. "It's a part of my life, but it certainly isn't the only part of my life story which I tell. My book will be out on Monday and I hope people will read it and be inspired by its message."

A Brown aide noted that when he was a state legislator, Brown worked on a number of bills to toughen sex-offender laws and strengthen protections for victims. He also proposes eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual abuse.

According to CBS, Brown explained in the interview that writing about the incidents felt cathartic. In the interview, he recalled how he also at one point wished he could have bought the house where he used to live with one abusive stepfather when it came up for sale -- so he could destroy it.

"I said, 'Man, I wish I had the money. I'd just buy this thing and burn it down,'" Brown said.

He suggested his past has made him stronger as a politician.

"When I'm getting the crap beat out of me outside, in the political spectrum, I'm like, 'Psst. This is nothing. Bring it on. Let's go'."

"No, People Will Make Us Free!"

U.S. Policy to Address Internet Freedom
By MARK LANDLER - THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: February 14, 2011

WASHINGTON — Days after Facebook and Twitter added fuel to a revolt in Egypt, the Obama administration plans to announce a new policy on Internet freedom, designed to help people get around barriers in cyberspace while making it harder for autocratic governments to use the same technology to repress dissent.

The State Department’s policy, a year in the making, has been bogged down by fierce debates over which projects it should support, and even more basically, whether to view the Internet primarily as a weapon to topple repressive regimes or as a tool that autocrats can use to root out and crush dissent.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will lay out the policy in a speech on Tuesday, acknowledged the Internet’s dual role in an address a year ago, and administration officials said she would touch on that theme again, noting how social networks were used by both protesters and governments in the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries.

The State Department plans to finance programs like circumvention services, which enable users to evade Internet firewalls, and training for human rights workers on how to secure their e-mail from surveillance or wipe incriminating data from cellphones if they are detained by the police.

Though the policy has been on the drawing board for months, it has new urgency in light of the turmoil in the Arab world, because it will be part of a larger debate over how the United States weighs its alliances with entrenched leaders against the young people inspired by the events in Tunisia and Egypt.

Administration officials say that the emphasis on a broad array of projects — hotly disputed by some technology experts and human rights activists — reflects their view that technology can be a force that leads to democratic change, but is not a “magic bullet” that brings down repressive regimes.

“People are so enamored of the technology,” said Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. “People have a view that technology will make us free. No, people will make us free.”

Click On Link To Read The Entire Article:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/15clinton.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua2

Belsky Hazmana to Greenwald

Coming to America!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4633892/Adults-who-turn-a-blind-eye-to-kids-abuse-will-be-prosecuted


Failure to protect a child from abuse will finally become illegal this year, more than 12 months after Justice Minister Simon Power first announced it.

Mr Power said in December 2009 that the Government would make it a crime for adults to turn a blind eye to risk of death, serious injury or sexual assault of a child or vulnerable adult, such as the elderly, in their homes.

This followed Law Commission recommendations in the wake of the deaths of twins Chris and Cru Kahui in 2006.

Mr Power had said he would introduce a bill early last year as part of reform of the Crimes Act. However, this work had proved complex and the tougher child abuse laws would now be enshrined in separate legislation, the Crimes Act Amendment Bill, he said yesterday. He hoped to make an announcement before the end of next month.

"The legislation will ensure that it will no longer be an excuse to say you were not involved in abusing a child when you lived in the house and knew of the abuse taking place."

Prime Minister John Key, in a statement to Parliament yesterday, confirmed legislation would include tougher penalties for child abuse and measures to improve the treatment of children who appeared in court as witnesses and victims.

Further changes may stem from a ministerial inquiry into the case of a nine-year-old Auckland girl who was allegedly tortured by her parents, and the abuse concealed by several people.

"Despite decades of good intentions from government, we're still failing too many of our kids," Mr Key said.

The Law Commission recommended doubling to 10 years the maximum sentence for cruelty to children after the Kahui case, in which no-one was convicted and relatives were reluctant to co-operate with the police investigation.

All Too Familiar With All Corrupt Systems - Rich at the Top - Uneducated and Desperate at the Bottom!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/hosni_richest_in_world_GREpxbXwb5jEUu0ygxikzM?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d519e06a76ae0d3%2C0

Mubarak Worth More Than $70 Billion - NEWSMAX.COM

Friday, 04 Feb 2011

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his family have amassed a fortune estimated at $70 billion according to analysis by Middle East experts poll by the London Guardian. And very little of that stash is kept in his own country, they say. Much of his wealth is in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.

How does a dictator get so rich? Over 30 years as president, and before that a senior military officer, allowed Mubarak has access to the oligarchs who control much of the investment capital in Egypt’s very closed, highly bureaucratic system. Investment deals have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits for Mubarak. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in up-market homes and hotels.

According to a report last year in the Arabic newspaper Al Khabar, Mubarak has properties in Manhattan and exclusive Beverly Hills addresses on Rodeo Drive.

His sons, Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires. A protest outside Gamal's ostentatious home at 28 Wilton Place in Belgravia, central London, highlighted the family's appetite for western trophy assets.

Amaney Jamal, a political science professor at Princeton University, told the Guardian that the estimate of $40 billion to $70 billion was comparable with the vast wealth of leaders in other Gulf countries.

"The business ventures from his military and government service accumulated to his personal wealth," she told ABC news. "There was a lot of corruption in this regime and stifling of public resources for personal gain.

"This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition. These leaders plan on this."



Poverty: Trapped by a poor education
By Heba Saleh

Published: December 15 2010 16:48 | Last updated: December 15 2010 16:48

The unpaved, rubbish-strewn alleys of Ezbet Gabra Zarifa, a Cairo slum, are in shadow because the shacks are huddled too close together to allow the sunlight to penetrate. The area is on the eastern edge of the city near the tanneries where its people find irregular low-paid work. It is one of many pockets of extreme poverty dotting Egypt and housing the poorest 20 per cent of the population.

But Ezbet Gabra Zarifa is also the scene of a two-year pilot project, sponsored by the government, which aims to break the transfer of poverty from parents to children. The Conditional Cash Transfers scheme gives mothers in 165 selected families a monthly stipend of $35 against obligations which include keeping children in school, attending meetings on health and hygiene and, crucially, receiving guidance and a monthly visit from a social worker.

“The cash transfer helps me to pay for lessons for my daughters,” says Reda Saad, an illiterate mother of four who lives with her entire family in one room. “My husband’s job is to unload trucks carrying skins to the tanneries. He might earn E£20 a day [less than $4], but it is irregular, so he doesn’t always bring money home.”

Hania Sholkamy, the anthropologist heading the programme, says work has already started to take it to 44,000 families in villages in the governorates of Assiut and Sohag in Upper Egypt. Rural areas in the south account for more than 40 per cent of the poverty in the country.

“This is the only programme that creates capacity to deal with poverty,” she says. “It provides a social protection floor which has to come before you can even give something like micro credit.”

Roughly 20 per cent of Egyptians live below the World Bank poverty line. Another 20 per cent, who hover above it, are considered near-poor. According to the government’s latest household expenditure survey in 2008, four-fifths of Egyptian families have less than $3,000 to spend each year.

Reducing poverty remains one of the government’s biggest challenges. So far, economic growth has had only a limited impact on those at the bottom of the scale. Before the global crisis hit, growth averaging 7 per cent between 2006 and 2008 produced a reduction in poverty from 23.4 per cent to 18.9 per cent. Since then, however, one of the highest rates of food price inflation in the world has wiped out much of the gain, with the poverty rate reaching 21.6 per cent.

Expensive food has added to the pressures on Egyptians, provoking a long string of localised protests and strikes by civil servants and workers. Protesters’ demands have been focused on the issues of pay and benefits and the government has usually tried to satisfy them, preventing their anger from acquiring a more political hue.

In addition, tough policing and the regime’s low tolerance for dissent ensure that opposition movements remain weak and unable to capitalise on public disgruntlement over prices.

To forestall any potential social explosion, Egypt has for decades subsidised some food and all fuel for its citizens. This year $11.5bn is allocated to fuel and $2.3bn to subsidising food, accounting for just over 20 per cent of all public spending and costing more than health and education combined.

Ministers say they recognise that the subsidies are a blunt and wasteful weapon for combating poverty, often benefiting the rich more than the poor and diverting valuable resources from crucial sectors such as infrastructure, health and education. There are plans to phase out some subsidies and better target others, but the implementation is expected to be gradual and hampered by fears of adding to both inflation and social disgruntlement. The start date is not likely to come before presidential elections next September.

“Egypt’s poor – generation after generation – have been marginalised and deprived of those rights which have been shown to break the cycle of poverty,” says this year’s Egypt Human Development Report. “Egypt is way behind other middle-income countries, let alone emerging economies, in raising basic standards of health, nutrition and education of the most vulnerable members of its population, namely children and youth.”

The report says that low educational attainment is the big factor in transmitting poverty across generations. It describes education as “the most obstinate divide that discriminates across society between the haves and the have-nots”. It recommends an overhaul of the country’s basic educational and vocational training systems.

Indeed, paying for private lessons for children who are already attending state schools is one of the heaviest burdens on poor families.

The World Bank says that spending by families on education is 2.5 times the amount spent by the government. Even the very poor find that they have to set aside hefty chunks of their small incomes to pay for lessons, sometimes from the same teachers responsible for their children at school.

Costly education, along with pressures that force the poor to send their children to work, mean that the drop-out rate is highest among the lowest strata of society. This in turn ensures that the children of the poor end up with low-paid work and fail to emerge from the poverty trap.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation Successfully gets Court to Throw out Subpoenas against UOJ & other Bloggers!

IMPORTANT - Zev Brenner's Radio Show Will Be About Israel Weingarten SATURDAY EVENING MIDNIGHT!

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This coming Saturday night, January 29, at midnight, , the Zev Brenner show will lead off with with a segment about Yisroel Moshe Weingarten. Weingarten is a Satmar hasid convicted of crimes relating to sexual abuse of his daughter. There will be important new information from Mr. Max Gold, an attorney from the United Kingdom. He represented Leah Weingarten against her father at the request of leading ultra orthodox rabbis in Gateshead. He will discuss the reasons these rabbis got involved and some of the evidence against Weingarten. Others on that segment include Rabbi Yosef Blau and Mr. Abe Kiss of Monsey.

The Zev Brenner Show airs in NYC on WMCA 570 AM, WSNR 620 AM, and in Miami on WKAT 1360 AM.

The show is also live streamed at http://www.talklinecommunications.com/

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On Friday, January 21, 2011, The court tossed out the subpoenas seeking the identities of UOJ's anonymous commenters in the Hersh v. Cohen matter. This means that Google and Yahoo will not be required to turn over the names in question pursuant to the subpoenas. The court noted during the hearing (and as we had argued), the Plaintiffs had not been able to satisfy their burden to demonstrate that any of the statements generally complained about were actionable or even relevant to the current litigation.

On behalf of myself and all Bloggers (Jewish or otherwise) nationwide, I am grateful to the EFF, Matt Zimmerman Esq. and his team, the Fordham Law Clinic and Ron Lazebnik Esq. for their tireless efforts on our behalf and on behalf of all Americans guaranteed under our Constitution to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression.

Thanks Matt. Thanks Ron.

UOJ

This Man (Rabbi Malinowitz) is a Danger and Must Be Stopped!

Dear UOJ,

I am a member of Bais Tfilla Yona Avraham, the shul of Rabbi Malinowitz in Ramat Bet Shemesh. As you know Rabbi Malinowitz has put a cherem on Lema'an Achai, the great chesed organization of our city.

His ban has to do with his strong opinion of not reporting child abuse to the authorities. David Morris, the founder of Lema'an Achai is an advocate for children safety and protection. This has put him at odds with Malinowitz.

Instead of making a personal issue with Morris, Malinowitz has chosen to punish David through a ban on Lema'an Achai. Although I continue to support tham I do know that most of our shul follows the ban and this has hurt Lema'an Achai in a serious way.

Well it looks like someone has finally had enough. I received this letter in the mail which addresses the issue and provides a letter of support for Lema'an Achai that Rabbi Malinowitz signed before david Morris became invloved with child abuse.

It is simple then that the ONLY reason Malinowitz has banned them is their founder's stance on child protection.

This man (Malinowitz) is a danger and must be stopped.

Sincerely,

********

בס''ד

Dear Fellow BTYA Member,

A terrible situation exists in our community and the time has come to address it. For way too long the exceptional organization, Lema'an Achai, has been banned from official fundraising inside BTYA. The time has come for us to open our hearts to this noble cause and the great work that they do in Ramat Bet Shemesh.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת

Our Rav, a well known תלמיד חכם doesn't allow Lema'an Achai to actively fundraise in our shul. This is the case even though there are members of BTYA as well as scores of RBS families who receive assistance on a regular basis from them. The Rav is aware of this and yet….
ולא שת לבו גם לזאת



Why doesn't the Rav allow them to fundraise? Why does he encourage people to give elsewhere? Only because he has a personal issue with a board member of Lema'an Achai. And what is the issue? The policy of whether or not to report child abuse to the authorities. So rather than agree to disagree agreeably with this board member our Rav has decided to punish him through Lema'an Achai and the poor of our community.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת

New members to our community who don't know the history mistakenly think that there is something inherently wrong with Lema'an Achai. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Rav has openly supported Lema'an Achai in the past as the attached letter proves. He now uses this campaign against Lema'an Achai simply as a tool of revenge.

ולא שת לבו גם לזאת

Lema'an Achai has nothing to do with this issue and yet the Rav continues to ban them from the shul. The Rav must know that we can hold him as our rav and posek and still disagree with his policy against a most worthy tzedaka and chesed organization. We can support the Rav and Lema'an Achai. Let us use this time of the שובבי''ם to fix the avla being carried out in our community. Lema'an Achai doesn't discriminate in who it helps because of the person's shul. We shouldn't discriminate against Lema'an Achai because of our shul!

Ask yourself…am I doing all that I can and should for Lema'an Achai?

Sincerely,

BTYA Members Who Love the Rav and Lema'an Achai

The Yated gears up for war on Jewish bloggers!

Guest post by poster "Tropper-Hersh-Kranczer"

The latest USA English Hamodia ALSO had the same ad as the Yated of January 14, 2011, denouncing the Internet by the Moetzes Council of Torah Sages of Agudath Israel of America:

On page C17 of January 12, 2011 HAMODIA, in Hebrew with English translation is the full page "Kol Koreh" ad against the Internet, signed by Rabbis Aron Shechter, Aron Feldman, Avroham Levin, Harari Raful, Dovid Feinstein, Aryeh Kotler, Shmuel Kaminetsky, Yaakov Perlow, Yitzchok Feigelstock, Simcha Ehrenfeld.

The ad was put in both the Yated and Hamodia to make sure that all sectors get the message, since Yated is geared for the "Litvish" crowd and the Hamodia is meant for the "Chasidish" crowd.

But here is the really BIG news, in case anyone has any remaining doubts that the new front, and it is a serious one, being opened up here is against the entire Internet, specifically the Jewish blogosphere, that does not take its orders from Agudah World Headquarters, go read the lead EDITORIAL in the same edition of the Yated that carries the anti-Internet ad from the Agudah rabbis, written by none other than the Yated's publisher and editor in chief Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz with the screaming headline on the USA English Yated Ne'eman, January 14, 2011, page 3, continued on page 48, that shouts out:

"Editor's View

IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND

by Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz"

Go out and buy or get a copy, it's still around, and read it for yourself! It is an outrageous and provocative DECLARATION OF WAR against the Jewish blogosphere by Rabbi Lipschutz in turn now acting as a puppet for his bosses, a move so blind and reckless, that it's obvious he has been ordered to do so and it is in sync with the unfolding WAR ON THE JEWISH BLOGS that really started in all seriousness with the Hersh case when he included them in his legal (?) defenses/attacks, then with the recent attacks against the VIN news blog, the attack on Jewish blogger Harry Maryles by Matzav.com a puppet site of Yated, and now the reposting and repetition of old "bans" against the Internet in general in the Yated and Hamodia, and now the Yated owner driving home the message, in case anyone was in any doubt what the aim is here, in Rabbi Lipschutz own words based on contorted logic:

"...Liberal bloggers and journalists have for days been blaming Rush Limbaugh [for the shooting by a deranged man of a congresswoman in Tucson, Arizona]...A similar campaign to disparage frum Yidden in the religious Jewish media has been underway for some time...by anonymous BLOGGERS, and certain publications...these people, by virtue of their access to the public through a so-called "religious" BLOG, have the ability to promote their agenda...the purveyors of daily doses of scandal and morbidity are able to draw in a wide circle of unsuspecting readers...On these BLOGS, religious leaders are consistently vilified...they are portrayed as corrupt, willing tools of strongmen. The people who write, post and comment on the insiduous BLOGS are upset about the way frum Yidden help each other...those who take aim at our leadership...will be EXPOSED and SHUNNED".

Thank you Rabbi Lipschutz for clarifying what is going on and who is in your gun-sights. It proves that the simultaneous "kol koreh" is NOT really aimed at the problem of online porn, but on a much "bigger" (for you) problem, the bloggers you hate so much because they feel free to exercise their democratic right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, indicating freedom of thought.

Thank you Rabbi Lipschutz for also clarifying that you have now openly aligned yourself with Michael Hersh whose attacks on freedom of speech are being fought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) (retained by UOJ on behalf of all Jewish bloggers) posted at "Hersh v. Cohen" http://www.eff.org/cases/hersh-v-cohen. Child-abuser Hersh has the full backing of Rabbi Aron Shechter, who you are now trying to cover for at all costs by creating more side-shows who is nervous after posts on a truly "religious blog" run by a Haredi rabbi in Jerusalem revealed that Hersh lawsuit:Case dismissed with prejudice against most defendants, January 4, 2011, and that what may be next in line about Hersh appeals dismissal of case - next step might be a countersuit involving Yeshiva Chaim Berlin! January 7, 2011, and not backing off that Hersh case: Everything was done under Rav Aaron Schechter, shlita's supervision January 9, 2011, on such a "religious blog" run by Rabbi Dr. Daniel Eidensohn who in turn seeks his guidance from Rav Moshe Sternbuch whose weekly Torah teachings you approvingly publish each week in your paper.

So what are you going to do? Start a WAR ON THE JEWISH BLOGGERS that will backfire because it will:

1. Irrevocably drag you and your paper the Yated and your OWN Matzav.com blog into a morass of legal and ethical questions revolving around the hot button issues of freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the freedom loving USA. Remember, you are not in Czarist Russia now.

2. Irrevocably tie you in and drag you down with the drawn out unpopular (except with Aron Schechter) case of Michael Hersh that already has the Electronic Frontier Foundation fighting on behalf of the bloggers and Jewish media: "July 14th, 2010 - EFF Urges Court to Block Dragnet Subpoenas Targeting Online Commenters Privacy and Anonymity at Risk in New York Conspiracy Suit, that first Hersh/Shechter wanted to destroy and now joined by you through the Yated and your Matzav.com news blog. Is this the road you want to go down? The EFF will be more than happy to take you on!!!

3. Your WAR ON THE JEWISH BLOGS will get the attention of the general media and will certainly get the attention of the worldwide blogosphere on the world-wide-web, and the kind of things you are threatening like destroying anonymity and fighting bloggers rather than dealing and writing and responding to the legitimate issues they raise.

4. It will make you look so tyrannical and old fashioned that you may lose what little readership you have. At most your paper that reaches tens of thousands of your already-converted flocks, who don't have time for papers because the serious ones are learning daf yomi, struggling with parnosah, or in kollel or raising and supporting large families, will lose out as millions, perhaps even hundreds of millions of Jewish and non-Jewish readers online will be disgusted with your tactics and goals and zeal to do the wrong thing by covering up corruption and shutting up people who are seeking the redress they don't normally get.

5. By launching an all out WAR ON JEWISH BLOGS you will be compounding the problems by adding fuel to the flames and you will not be able to get away alleging that you are merely protecting the innocent from online pornography or the good name of the Gedolim, but you, and the people behind you, meaning the very Moetzes Council of Torah Sages that you are trying to "shield" will be seen for what it is once questions will be asked what all the fuss is about, and then you will have to answer why you remain silent about the Tropper-Hersh-Kranczer and other scandals, yet you attack those who do want to talk about it and seek realistic solutions. This will reveal not just how out of touch you are about the realities of technology, the Internet, the Information Age and modern communications, and stifling debate in a free society, but YOU will be responsible for creating a truly global chillul Hashem.

Unfortunately the omens are not good for you. The three mega chillul Hashem's of the Tropper-Hersh-Kranczer fiascos under the tutelage of Rabbi Aron Shechter, have not resulted in him pausing in his mad quest to destroy and stifle all murmurings he hates, but now with this WAR ON THE JEWISH BLOGGERS being twinned by you to that same battle that Hersh/Shechter have been waging against the same Jewish bloggers, will make you, the Yated, Matzav.com, partners to an even bigger chillul Hashem, r"l.

Kindly also note that Aron Shechter is already in automatic cherem (because he is a lo tzayis dino and being a mesarev ledin) after he refused to answer a hazmona to a din Torah from Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l and after rejecting three hazmonas from the Satmar CRC Bais Din over 30 years ago, see CRC Summons 7392, CRC Summons 7572, CRC Summons 7573.

Think it over, is it worth it for you and your backers? Remember you will never be able to shut down the Internet and it is all-pervasive, as you well know. You can still pull back from the cliff.

RABBIS DECLARE CONVICTED DAUGHTER RAPIST - INNOCENT!

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/03/11/2009-03-11_rabbi_israel_weingarten_found_guilty_of_.html

Rabbi Israel Weingarten found guilty of molesting daughter
BY John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 11th 2009, 9:21 PM

A Hasidic rabbi who defended himself against charges of molesting his daughter over a seven-year period was convicted on all counts Wednesday by a jury in Brooklyn Federal Court.

The victim, now 27, was escorted into the courtroom by U.S. marshals for the verdict, and sat in the front row opposite six siblings, ages 13 to 23, who support their father Israel Weingarten.

Showing no emotion after he was found guilty of transporting the victim to Belgium, Israel and New York to commit sex crimes against her, Weingarten complained to the judge that he did not have time to prepare for the trial.

Weingarten faces up to 50 years in prison when he's sentenced by Judge John Gleeson on April 3.

The victim dresses in modern clothes, wears makeup and has left the Satmar sect. She agreed to speak to reporters and was asked how she felt being cross-examined on the witness stand by her father.

"Like being molested again," she said. "He thought he still had power over me. I think it was cruel to do that to me."

"I wish he wasn't my father."

The victim was adamant about being in the courtroom for the verdict. "I've been waiting my whole life for this," she said. "I didn't think the day would come when there would be justice, and I had to see it with my own eyes."

The mother and a brother of the victim testified on her behalf, with the mother saying she caught the pair in bed once and the brother saying their father had brainwashed them. They were not in court Wednesday, but the other six of Weingarten's children lashed out at the victim, their mother and the government.

"My sister? I didn't look at her. She's not even human," said Yakev Weingarten, 18.

Another sibling, Chayeh, who testified that her mother molested the victim, said they will hire a lawyer to appeal the conviction.

Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell called the verdict "an important vindication for victims who have the courage not only to survive the ordeal of sexual abuse, but to come forward despite outside pressure."

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:

May God Bless You Mr. President!

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/obamas-arizona-speech-transcript-video/69467/

President Obama's Arizona Speech: Transcript
By Garance Franke-Ruta
Jan 12 2011, 8:55 PM ET
As Prepared for Delivery.

To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.

There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.

As Scripture tells us:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders - representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation's capital. Gabby called it "Congress on Your Corner" - just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.

That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman's bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday - they too represented what is best in America.

Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.

George and Dorothy Morris - "Dot" to her friends - were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away.

A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she'd often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together - about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again." When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.

Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion - but his true passion was people. As Gabby's outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved - talking with people and seeing how he could help. Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.

And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer. She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, "We are so blessed. We have the best life." And she'd pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.

Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken - and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.

Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I can tell you this - she knows we're here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.

And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives. And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt.

These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned - as it was on Saturday morning.

Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us. It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?

You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations - to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do - it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, "when I looked for light, then came darkness." Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.

For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.

So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.

But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

After all, that's what most of us do when we lose someone in our family - especially if the loss is unexpected. We're shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward. We reflect on the past. Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look backward - but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame - but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.

That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions - that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires. For those who were harmed, those who were killed - they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis - she's our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son. In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America's fidelity to the law. In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.

And in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.

So deserving of our love.

And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.

The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.

I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here - they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope." On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. "I hope you help those in need," read one. "I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we've lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.