The High Holy Days

I never thought I'd use the word "High" and "Holy" in the same sentence, it seems too spiritual - in a time of un-spirituality. I go to shul Yom Kippur night and pray for G-D to forgive me. The crowded shul, made me feel claustrophobic. Somehow my heart wasn't buying into this Yom Kippur davening. There was a fellow to my left who was SCREAMING on top of his lungs. He was yelling from the machzor, and frankly my ears were ringing. Perhaps he REALLY was doing tshuvah, and i commend him for that, but doesn't G-D hear us in any kind of tone. Certainley, yelling and screaming, like the sound resmebling some death metal music, is not what hashem intended from us during yom kippur, is it?

I heard him crying during shemonei esrei, and somehow, this all didn't seem right to me. I wanted to run out of shul right then. I couldn't take not even one more minute of this. I felt in my heart, that this was all one big show. I felt that this day of forgiveness was all an act. Scream, yell, and cry, as did many - what does it all mean if everyone goes back to their sinning ways right after Yom Kippur is over? What kind of movie script is this? What do all those tears shed mean, if we don't mean to change our ways?

So berate me if you will, but i am not buying into this fakearoo mentality, that coincides with frummies doing what they do best - going through the motions of a Rosh hashonah and a Yom Kippur, as if we are really so sorry for our indecent ways and our foolish decisions, and our deadly silence that has killed and ruined many victims of child abuse throughout the decades. I wanted to be forgiven for my misdeeds and my wrongdoing, yet somehow i couldn't bring myself to do it together with everyone else in this crowded shul on this yom kippur night. After shmonei Esrei, i retreated back to my home, and said the rest of the prayers there all by myself. The next day, i went to another synogogue, and found it a lot more refreshing. The people in this shul were mostly senior citizens, and i felt a certain bond and closeness to them. The melodies and songs we sang praising hashem and asking him to forgive us, was very uplifiting and moving. One elderly man who was well into his 90's, asked me if he had to say "vei noaam" by maariv following Neila prayers. I had noticed him throughout davening. I noticed it was hard for him to stand, but he did so anyway. I wanted to hug him and say to him, a man who has reached a ripe old age, such as yourself, has nothing to worry about. The sincerity of this man, overtook me. I wished him "gezunte year" and he wished the same for me. I hope i get to see him next year again.

Well, it is now official. A new Jewish year is here. Will it bear us more treifa chicken and meat scandals? Will child molestation and other forms of child abuse, continue to flourish, in our schools and neighborhoods, or will someone have the guts to put a stop to it? Will power and greed corrupt more of our so called rabbi's and leaders? Will the "frummies" continue to unequivocally defend the evil, and paint the victims as the problem? Will the abuse of the Torah and perversion of it, still be used to bash those who seek the truth? Will all the excuses such as loshon harah, mesira, chilul hashem etc. still be the tactic of the "frummies" who will defend to no end, the malicious and unrepentant people, who do NOTHING to defend and help our children, the victims of every imaginable crimes committed against them?

I am happy that a very bad person is no longer a threat to children. B'H, "Rabbi" Yehuda Nussbaum is no longer employed at YOB. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, and hopefully this man will never ever abuse children again. The question though remains. What about accountability for those who allowed this inexplicable behavior to continue day after day, month after month, and year after year? "Rabbi" Manis Mandel, "Rabbi' Shlomo Mandel, "Rabbi" Yaakov Mandel - All knew good and well about child molestation and abuse charges against Nussbaum, for years and years, and yet tried to cover it up by using the many excuses "frummies" love to use. They blamed the victims, blamed the parents, went into denial, and then started using threats and intimidation to try and back us off. And these people still have jobs in chinuch? That is a huge inexcusable crime. The Mandel's used a series of mob-like maneuvering in a bid to cover their tracks, but as the saying goes - You can run but you cannot hide. Time has come for Shlomo Mandel to rid himself from YOB, or face the inevitable consequences of us getting rid of him.

Now, tell me if this picture makes sense to you. A father searches for a Yeshiva for his pre-1a son. He has a difficult time getting his son in any of the Brooklyn Yeshiva's, because he applied late. He looks into YOB - and they tell the father they will run a full background check on the child, as well as the family of the child. YOB, after much consideration, will accept the child, providing the tuition is adequately paid. Kid comes home from school one day, and tells his father his rebbe hit him (new school year 2006-2007 just started). Father speaks to the rebbe who admits hitting child on the hand. He apologizes and promises it won't happen again. Now, why the father would send his son to YOB after knowing the abuse that goes on there, is a little disturbing to me, but i realize why the father did it, he was desperate. What astounds me even more, though, is that abuse is STILL taking place, this after us exposing YOB and forcing Nussbaum to the unemployment field. Yes, some can make an argument that hitting a child on his hand, is not that terrible, yet, I argue, that it is most definitely very wrong for a rebbe to hit a child, for any reason, even on the hands. There are other non-violent methods that work great in classroom management and in chinuch. It is NOT a Rebbe's place to hit or abuse students in any way - not in pre-1a, not in 5th grade, not in 9th grade, and not in any grade. This is a BIG problem, that occurs WITH the parents approval at the many chasideshe yeshivas, and many non-chasideshe yeshivas. If a parent wants to teach their children right from wrong, and feel hitting them on the hand LIGHTLY, will get the response they were looking for, then even though i do not agree with that technique, i can relate somewhat to that. However, a Rebbe, teacher, or any other outsider, has no business hitting kids, even if they are hitting them LIGHTLY (which more times than not, is a BEATING of a lifetime they won't soon forget).

Perhaps, yeshiva institutions should begin retiring their Rebbeim along with a compensation package, once they reach a certain age. Too many times, these old rebbeim are forced back into the only profession they know, purely for parnassah, and not for the dedication and love of the job. Therefore, they become impatient, arrogant, impulsive, and abusive, and who suffers most because of it? The children! It is time to change that trend now. I am not tying to infer that only old rebeim abuse children, quite the contrary. Young and old can be abusive. However, I think once a rebbe reaches retirement age, it's best he call it a career and get some retirement benefits. This will alive some of the abuse in our yeshiva's. And especially, in the instance of this pre1a rebbe, who I do not think is a bad person, yet, surely he has reached his limitations. And surely the Abu garib mentality that is YOB, has rubbed off on him and others.

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The FBI is examining former Rep. Mark Foley's e-mail exchanges with teenagers to determine if they violated federal law, an agency spokesman said Sunday.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the FBI is "conducting an assessment to see if there's been a violation of federal law." He had no further comment.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert requested Sunday that the Justice Department conduct an investigation into Foley's electronic messages to teenage boys — a lurid scandal that has put House Republicans in political peril.

"As Speaker of the House, I hereby request that the Department of Justice conduct an investigation of Mr. Foley's conduct with current and former House pages to determine to what extent any of his actions violated federal law," Hastert, R-Ill., wrote in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress also called Sunday for a criminal probe. White House counselor Dan Bartlett called the allegations against Foley shocking, but said President Bush hadn't learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a 16-year-old boy and instant messages to other boys before the news broke last week.

"There is going to be, I'm sure, a criminal investigation into the particulars of this case," Bartlett said. "We need to make sure that the page system is one in which children come up here and can work and make sure that they are protected."

Foley, R-Fla., quit Congress on Friday after the disclosure of the e-mails he sent to a former congressional page and sexually suggestive instant messages he sent to other high school pages.

A law enforcement official, who asked for anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said agents from the FBI's cyber division are looking into the text of some of the messages and checking to see how many e-mails were sent and how many computers were used. They are also looking to see if some of the teens who were sent messages will cooperate with the probe.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called the Foley case "repugnant, but equally as bad is the possibility that Republican leaders in the House of Representatives knew there was a problem and ignored it to preserve a congressional seat this election year."

Reid said the case should be handled outside Congress.

"Under laws that Congressman Foley helped write, soliciting sex from a minor online is a federal crime," Reid said. "The alleged crimes here are far outside the scope of any congressional committee, and the attorney general should open a full-scale investigation immediately."

In his letter to Gonzales on Sunday, Hastert asked the Justice Department to investigate "who had specific knowledge of the content of any sexually explicit communications between Mr. Foley and any former or current House pages and what actions such individuals took, if any, to provide them to law enforcement."

The scope of the investigation, Hastert wrote, should include "any and all individuals who may have been aware of this matter — be they members of Congress, employees of the House of Representatives or anyone outside the Congress."

Hastert also sent a letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Sunday requesting that he "direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an investigation of Mr. Foley's conduct with current and former House pages."

Hastert maintained at first that he had learned only last week about the e-mails. But Rep. Thomas Reynolds (news, bio, voting record), head of the House Republican election effort, said Saturday he had told Hastert months ago about concerns Foley sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. Reynolds, R-N.Y., is under attack from Democrats who say he did too little to protect the boy.

Hastert acknowledged over the weekend that his aides had, in fact, referred the matter to the House clerk and to the congressman who was chairman of the board that oversees the page program. Hastert's office said, however, it had not known the e-mails were anything more than "over-friendly."

Majority Republicans engineered a House vote Friday that refers the Foley matter to the House ethics committee, but lets that panel decide whether there should even be an investigation.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, pressed the committee on Sunday to begin investigating and make a preliminary report within 10 days. She demanded to know who knew of the messages, whether Foley had other contacts with pages and when the Republican leadership was notified of Foley's conduct.

"Republican leaders have admitted to knowing about Mr. Foley's outrageous behavior for six months to a year, and they chose to cover it up rather than to protect these children," she wrote.

Congressional pages, a staple of Washington politics since the 1820s, are high school students who serve as temporary gofers in the House and Senate. The program nearly ended in the early 1980s due to alleged sexual misconduct and drug use.

Republican leaders say it is their duty to ensure House pages' safety, and are now creating a toll-free hot line for pages and their families to call to confidentially report any incidents. They also will consider adopting new rules on communications between lawmakers and pages.

Foley, who is 52 and single, was co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. In a statement Friday, he said, "I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."