Tuesday, January 01, 2008

2007 A year child molesters dominated the news


CALL TO ACTION:

If you or anyone you know was sexually violated by Rabbi Yehuda Kolko contact Jeff Herman at: 1-800-686-9921

  • December 7, 2006 -- Rabbi Yehuda Kolko was arrested in New York City following a long-term investigation, police said.He was charged with four counts of sexual abuse, including two felony counts, and endangering the welfare of a child. The alleged victim was in the first grade during the 2002-03 school year. Video


  • May 5, 2006 Rabbi Yudi Kolko and Yeshiva Torah Temimah were hit with a $20 million civil lawsuit accusing him of molesting two students more than 25 years ago.One of the alleged victims said Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, 60, sexually assaulted him when he was a seventh-grade student.


  • September 12, 2007 -- Rabbi Yehuda Kolko was re-arrested on new charges for allegedly molesting another boy at at Yeshiva Torah Temimah. Rabbi Kolko's wife was able to raise the bail to $50,000 bond, $25,000 cash within the hour and he was released in time to pray at evening Rosh Hashanah services.

By ALEX GINSBERG

New York Post - September 13, 2007

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09132007/news/regionalnews/rabbi_hit_with_new_perv_rap.htm

September 13, 2007 -- A Brooklyn rabbi already facing trial for allegedly molesting two students was charged yesterday with fondling a third.

Rabbi Joel Kolko, an administrator and a teacher at a Midwood yeshiva, posted $25,000 additional bail a few hours before sundown signaled the start of Rosh Hashanah.

He had been free on $5,000 bail, awaiting trial on charges he touched a 6-year-old boy in one of his classes, as well as a now-31-year-old former student who confronted the rabbi about abuse he claimed occurred decades ago.

The new sex-abuse and child-endangerment charges focus on a 2005 incident in which Kolko alleged fondled the genitals of a first-grade boy.

Lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz scoffed at the new accusations, saying they were fabricated by a disgruntled former student now dragging the rabbi's name through the mud on an Internet blog, The Unorthodox Jew, and trying to recruit new victims to bring cases.

"In 21 years of trying criminal cases, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I have never seen a case so weak," Schwartz told the judge, adding that his client had taken and passed two polygraph tests and been cleared by a rabbinical court.

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December 3, 1984 -- Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman's office said Mondrowitz was named in an arrest warrant charging him with two counts of sex abuse". At the time, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz worked in special education school for boys in Brooklyn, that had connections with Ohel Children and Family Services in Brooklyn, New York. He was responsible for about 20-25 young children who already had either emotional problems and/or learning disabilities.

October 11, 2007 -- Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes finally signed papers requesting the U.S. Justice Department extradite Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz back to the United States. Fled to Israel months after charges were first brought up against him twenty-three years ago.

November 16, 2007 -- Israeli police arrested Avrohom Mondrowitz, a Gur Hasid who was suspected of sexually abusing children in the United States was arrested pending extradition orders to the U.S.

November 18, 2007 - At the extraditon Hearing for Alleged Serial Child Molester, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, the judge extended Mondrowitz's detention until November 27, at which point he will decide whether Mondrowitz will remain in jail or be placed under house arrest. Mondrowitz's attorney, David Ofek, said he plans to appeal the decision to keep Mondrowitz in custody.

November 29, 2007 - The Israeli Minister of Justice released that Mondrowitz's extradition case is being handled by the Department of International Affairs of the Office of the State Attorney (prosecutors Nili Gesser and Marlene Mazel-Herskowitz) and in cooperation with the Israeli Police's Interpol Department.

Breaking: Activists Cheer Arrest of Monrowitz in Israel

by Adam Dickter

New York Jewish Week - November 16, 2007

http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a1065/News/New_York.html

The fugitive chasidic man accused of abusing four boys whose parents brought them to him for psychotherapy was arrested in Israel today and now awaits extradition to the U.S., a step his accusers have been seeking for more than 20 years, Haaretz reported. Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, who worked in Borough Park, is a member of the Gur sect who fled to Israel in 1985 after being indicted on eight counts of child abuse and four counts of sodomy. The alleged victims ranged in age from 9 to 15.

One of the accusers claims he came to Mondrowitz to be treated after being abused by a teacher, only to then be abused again by Mondrowitz, whose credentials as both a rabbi and psychologist have been disputed by critics who have delved into his background.

The case has been a political thorn in the side of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes for years as sex-abuse watchdogs accused him of reluctance to apprehend and prosecute Mondrowitz for fear of offending Orthodox voters. The case has also been notorious because of allegations that teachers and rabbis in Mondrowitz's community looked the other way when confronted with accusations against him.

Hynes has said, through a spokesman, that until recent changes in extradition law between the U.S. were made, Mondrowitz was beyond his reach.

Earlier this week Israeli authorities nabbed another man accused of molesting Orthodox boys, Stefan Colmer, whose extradition was also sought by Hynes.

Mondrowitz lived in Tel Aviv and moved to Chicago in the 1950s, attending the Telshe yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, according to Haaretz. He became a respected commentator and lecturer and opened a psychotherapy practice.

Rabbi Mark Dratch, founder of Jsafe, an organization supporting victims of sexual abuse in the Jewish community, said he has spoken with two of Mondrowitz's accusers, and believes there may be "hundreds" more.

"This is a tremendous step toward justice," said the rabbi of the pending extradition. "It gives hope to his victims and victims of other perpetrators may now be encouraged to step forward."

He said the Mondrowitz case was particularly notorious because of the large number of victims and because of the pressure on victims in the community not to come forward."

In the years since, says Rabbi Dratch, "across the spectrum of the community there is a lot more awareness and programs and safeguards in place, but we still have a long way to go. There are still issues to be addressed, such as fear of reporting to legal authorities." Amy Neustein, an activist who is writing a book about rabbinic abuse, called the arrest of Mondrowitz "a ray of sunshine for the victims because of the pain they have carried around for almost 25 years."

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Accused of molesting several boys for over a fifty year period. Rabbi Shapiro was born in New York on July 22, 1916, and died April 7, 1989, in Baltimore, MD. His name is listed on this web page as a way of validate and empowering those he allegedly sexually abused.

Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro was a graduate of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and Yeshiva University, New York, NY. He moved to Baltimore in 1941 to serve as the spiritual leader of Congregation Agudas Achim. In 1955 moved to New Rochelle, NY and then returned to Baltimore in 1957 to serve as rabbi at Tifereth Israel Anshe Sphard Congregation and also the principal of the Talmudical Academy until retiring in 1982. While working at the Talmudical Academy, Rabbi Shapiro worked as a guidance counselor and dorm counselor. Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro died in 1989 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Rabbi's Abuse Victims Suffer Years Later

By Phil Jacobs

Baltimore Jewish Times - April 13, 2007

http://jewishtimes.com/3126.stm

This article is part of a continuing series on child molestation within the Jewish community.

Photographer Murray Levin has looked through his camera lenses countless times, capturing Jewish weddings, bar mitzvahs and other joyous events. The one "picture," however, he can't stop focusing on isn't in his camera but in his 64-year-old memory.

It's an image of a bar mitzvah lesson at the old Agudas Achim Synagogue. It's the shame that came along with his teacher, the now-deceased Rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro, placing his hand down the 12-year-old Murray Levin's pants and fondling him.

With at least half a dozen maftir lessons came the rabbi's touch.

But it wasn't just Murray Levin.

The former Talmudical Academy principal, by one influential Baltimore rabbi's estimate, molested hundreds of times.

Bob Glickstein, 65, another survivor of Rabbi Shapiro's fondlings, figures it could be thousands. One thing that hasn't survived for Mr. Glickstein is any connection to Judaism. Living now in Vero Beach, Fla., this yoga instructor calls his bar mitzvah day "the worst day of my life, because I had to have Rabbi Shapiro there."

Mr. Glickstein married out of the faith, had a child and raised him as a non-Jew. He not so jokingly calls himself an "anti-Semite."

This was part of the cost of Rabbi Shapiro's actions.

Rabbi Shapiro, who died in April 1989, remains "alive" in the memories of so many. His collateral damage is everywhere. A weekly Kiddush of respected businessmen meets, and the topic invariably turns to the sexual molestation the rabbi heaped on many of them.

Several local rabbis recently expressed profound compassion for the victims, encouraging them to seek qualified, professional help. Indeed, at two major Orthodox synagogues on the last day of Passover, rabbis spoke from the pulpit on the issue of child molestation. The Vaad Ha Rabbonim in a meeting last week issued a statement to the community condemning sexual molestation and supporting survivors to seek help.

The following are interviews with three of the rabbi's "survivors."

If you are a survivor or if you know of someone who survived any sexual molestation, you have an audience here.

Murray Levin

The way Murray Levin sees it, sexual predators live in a world of "no risk and total reward."

Organized Judaism Ũ be it congregations, schools or community groups Ũ buries this news or distracts, he said.

"I don't think they see themselves getting apprehended," Mr. Levin said of predators. "They are bright people, great communicators and intellectual. And they will continue until we bring out the trauma they cause. We have to create an environment that shows them they can't continue without severe consequences."

Mr. Levin held his molestation in for decades. He does not want anyone else to hold back. Most of all, he sees it as a calling that older survivors must do what they can to protect all future generations, even if it means "teaching little children to speak out."

"Families," he said, "are going to have to speak up. We have to become the predator of the predators."

Mr. Levin was molested by Rabbi Shapiro and by one other person connected to the Agudas Achim Synagogue in the 3600 block of Reisterstown Road near Cold Spring Lane. He was studying for his bar mitzvah, which would take place at Shaarei Zion Synagogue.

"Rabbi Shapiro was grooming me with French kissing and masturbation," said Mr. Levin.

Mr. Levin kept it all quiet. He didn't know that there was a possibility of someone else involved until four years after his bar mitzvah. He was watching a football game on TV with a couple of friends. The friends pretended to tackle one another like football players, and one of them randomly said, "Rabbi Shapiro stuck his fingers in my ass."

That was Mr. Levin's first clue that he wasn't alone.

In between his molestation, Mr. Levin Ũ who would lead junior services in shul and who described himself as a gifted and talented child, captain of the safety patrol, and concert master of his high school orchestra Ũ began to fall internally. His image of self, his trust in boundaries and other people failed.

To this day, even though he makes a great deal of his living photographing the Jewish community, Mr. Levin wonders what might have been with his life had it not been violated.

"Many of us are still hiding," he said with a quiet voice.

"To me, anybody could be a pedophile," he said. "Everybody who works with or who is near our children need to be scrutinized. I want everyone to be aware of who you pass responsibility of your children to. I would like to see these predators at least be given an opportunity for rehabilitation, to be useful. But they have to be compelled to seek help. Also, people need to know who the pedophiles are, if they are alive or if they are dead. "

Bob Glickstein

He doesn't want much to do with Judaism.

He can still "feel" the texture of Rabbi Shapiro's mustache against his face when he was being kissed.

Bob Glickstein's Jewish "upbringing" ended during his bar mitzvah lessons with Rabbi Shapiro at Agudas Achim.

"He used religion to molest young boys," said Mr. Glickstein.

Mr. Glickstein talks candidly in a Vero Beach coffee bar called Cacophony. He has only told a couple of people about his molestation.

But he wants the word out there now.

"Rabbi Shapiro knew what he was doing," said Mr. Glickstein. "He had a boys group he called the Akiba Boys of Agudas Achim. They would do chores around the shul. But meanwhile, he was molesting them. He had a system of bar mitzvah lessons that would feed into his molestation. Everything he did was about molesting boys.

"It was a horrific experience," he added. "He would call me into his office. He'd start playing with you."

It was difficult for Mr. Glickstein to continue. He sat up straight, perhaps finding confidence in a yoga posture, and he remembered some more.

He called his bar mitzvah the worst day of his life, because Rabbi Shapiro was in attendance. The rabbi was also at his father's funeral.

Mr. Glickstein kept it to himself, yet he used it as part of his influence to start looking into other religions, such as Eastern religions. A short marriage to a non-Jew resulted in a son, whom he raised out of the faith.

There was nothing joking about this comment on his face. "I am basically anti-Semitic," he said. "I like Jews, but I just need to stay away from them [as a result of his molestations].

"There's always been a lot of fear and anger in my life that comes as a result of Rabbi Shapiro's actions," he said. "There's never a time that passes that I don't think about him. There's anger and there's fear."

Mr. Glickstein said that he's always had difficulty since the molestations, which happened four to six times, when it comes to authority figures and establishing close relationships.

David Framowitz

David Framowitz was an 11th-grade Talmudical Academy student from Brooklyn, N.Y., boarding in the school's dormitory. He said he was molested by Rabbi Shapiro on three separate occasions.

When Rabbi Shapiro attempted a fourth try, the high school junior threatened to kill the rabbi.

Mr. Framowitz, 49, remembers that Rabbi Shapiro was the dormitory counselor. He would lie in the beds of students, reaching to fondle them. And it was common he'd try to kiss them on the lips.

Mr. Framowitz, who now lives in Israel, was a major source for a New York Magazine article last year based on his $20 million federal lawsuit against Rabbi Yehudah Kolko and Yeshiva Torah Temimah of Flatbush in Brooklyn. (Mr. Framowitz said Rabbi Kolko molested him when he was around 12.)

"I became a student for seven months [at] TA in Baltimore," said Mr. Framowitz. "I had Rabbi Shapiro attack me three times. The last time I told him, ŨYou touch me one more time, I'll kill you.'

"He was the dorm counselor. He'd walk around and French kiss boys, poke them with his fingers. He'd lie across you when you were in bed. He'd play with you."

Mr. Framowitz would tell his mother, who insisted he leave TA immediately. None of the other boys he knew wanted to discuss Rabbi Shapiro.

He then gave several reasons why people stay so silent. "There's a fear factor," he said. "There's a worry over shidduchim [finding a match for marriage]. ŨWhat are the neighbors going to say? It can't happen to a nice Jewish family. A rabbi doesn't do these things, especially a frum rabbi. There's something wrong with the boy. It's not the Jewish way, it's not the frum way. It can't be.'"

Last September during a visit to Baltimore, Mr. Framowitz decided to pay an unscheduled visit to Talmudical Academy. It was his first time there since 1974.

He met with Rabbi Yehuda Lefkowitz, the school's executive director. "I told Rabbi Lefkowitz that I was a victim of Shapiro's," said Mr. Framowitz. "I told him I thought there should be some sort of monetary scholarship fund to pay for the therapy of the victims."

Rabbi Lefkowitz informed the school's board, and grimly said "nobody took it as a joking matter."

Mr. Framowitz said he thinks there are well over 1,000 people who were molested by Rabbi Shapiro.

"The guy was a real sicko," said Mr. Framowitz. "He was worse than Kolko. I've made it through my life, but this is something you don't forget ever. It's always with you, always there. And if I'm not busy or not doing things, my mind wanders back to those days."

Rabbi Shapiro Is Deceased. Why Print This?

"He can't defend himself."

"He's deceased, what difference does it make now?"

"This is an embarrassment to his family."

These are just three of the reasons why we were asked not to print the name of the deceased Rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro. Pikesville area mental health professionals offer suggestions to several concerns.

"He can't defend himself."

He died in 1989. He was eulogized before 700 people as a "man of deep religious devotion, Torah scholarship and gentle kindnesses, to his family, his students and to many in the community."

There are estimates of hundreds of molestation victims who weren't able to "defend" themselves while the rabbi was alive. There are young men whose lives were changed forever because of his acts. Some of these men are more figuratively "dead" than Rabbi Shapiro will ever be. They need our help, compassion and therapeutic assistance. It wasn't their fault. They can perhaps heal now.

"He's deceased, what difference does it make now?

Survivors may find answers and empowerment if they know that their molester was actually a survivor of Rabbi Shapiro's. Mental health professionals are legally obligated to report deceased perpetrators to Protective Services. The ensuing investigations focus on all of the perpetrator's survivors, and the subsequent possibility that they have or are currently molesting children as well. Given the reality that survivors are vulnerable to molesting others, and the cycle continues to perpetuate itself, it is imperative that the names of all perpetrators ŨŨ dead and alive ŨŨ are disclosed.

"This is an embarrassment to his family."

The models of discussion and behind-the-scenes declarations against molestation are not working, suggest one therapist, especially in the Orthodox community. At best, a person is taken away from a setting of teaching children, or sometimes sent out of town. Arrests, the courage of a survivor to charge his molester, don't happen a great deal of the time.

Names.

Perhaps if a pedophile knows that this is now about names and his association to names of innocent relatives. Perhaps, just perhaps, that will keep another child safe for a day.

Who Was Rabbi Shapiro?

Rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro was the former principal of Talmudical Academy. His April 1989 funeral services were held at the Old Court Road yeshiva.He was 72 when he died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Rabbi Shapiro was the son of Russian immigrants. He was born on New York's Lower East Side. A graduate of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and Yeshiva University, Rabbi Shapiro came to Baltimore in 1941 as spiritual leader of Congregation Agudas Achim.

He left in 1955 to become rabbi of a congregation in New Rochelle, N.Y. Two years later, he returned here to become the rabbi at the Tifereth Israel Anshe Sphard Congregation on Dolfield Avenue. He held that position until 1968.

In addition, he served as principal of TA, as well as working as a guidance counselor and a dorm counselor. When he retired in 1982, he was honored for 25 years of service to the yeshiva.

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Arrested after allegations were made of child sexual abuse. Shapiro is the son of the deceased alleged serial sexual predator - Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro. Yisroel Shapiro was born in 1950.

October, 2004 -- A flyer was posted in the Jewish community in Baltimore as a way to warn community members of the allegations made against Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro.

July, 13, 2007 -- Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro became the target of a State's Attorney's Office investigation, when a few adult survivors filed a police report alleging that they were sexually victimized as children.

December 5, 2007 -- According to Tammy Griffin-Lawman of the Baltimore City, State's Attorneys office, Yisroel Shapiro was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual offense in the third degree, sexual offense in the fourth degree and battery.

CALL TO ACTION: Case of Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro

Demanding Transparency and Accountability from our Religious Leaders!

December 28, 2007

Back on April 11, 2007, the Vaad HaRabbonim/Rabbinical Council of Greater Baltimore signed a letter and made public a statement about dealing with "Abuse in Our Community".

To this day the members of the Vaad who signed the letter have not been held accountable for the issues they addressed. For the last four years the rabbonim of Baltimore have been aware that allegations were made against Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro, yet did nothing more then have him stop teaching bar mitzvah students -- and then helped in arranging for this alleged sex offender to have a job working for Wasserman and Lemberger's. The status quo in the Baltimore community has been to ensure those who are alleged to have molested children have a way to make a living, yet doing nothing to help those who have been sexually violated.

It's a well known fact in the orthodox community of Baltimore that Yisroel Shapiro daven's (prays) at Congregation Darchi Tzedek synagogue, located on Seven Mile Lane. This is a synagogue in which children can be seen running in and out of. One would think that Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz's first concern would be to make sure the children of his shul were protected and to start asking if any children might have already been molested so that he could assist in them getting help. To this day Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz has never issued public statement warning his congregants of the fact that Shapiro was arrested and charged with child molestation. Unless a parent read The Awareness Center's web page, has been reading blogs or another parent told them, they are unaware that there is an alleged sexual predator amongst them.

The Awareness Center is asking that everyone contact Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz and the Baltimore Vaad HaRabbonim Rabbinical and ask them to:

  1. Make public the plan they established to notify parents in the community of the potential dangers of their children being left alone with Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro.


  2. We are also asking that this statement include the safety plan created when Yisroel Shapiro is davening at Darchi Tzedek or any synagogue. They also need to make public the safety plan they established for Wasserman's and Lemberger," the retail business in which Shapiro is employed and also for any other public location Shapiro may enter.

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer - President

Vaad Harabbonim of Baltimore

410-358-3450

Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz

Congregation Darchei Tzedek

410-653-1688

410-486-0445 (Rabbi Horowitz)

7307 7 Mile Lane

Pikesville, MD 21208

Members of the Vaad HaRabbonim

1. Rabbi Elan Adler, Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation

2. Rabbi Reuben Arieh, Ohr HaMizrach Congregation

3. Rabbi Menachem Goldberger, Congregation Tiferes Yisroel

4. Rabbi Emanuel Goldfeiz, Congregation Beit Yaakov

5. Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, Cong. Shmorei Emunah

6. Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion

7. Rabbi Dovid Haber, KAYTT and Star-K

8. Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, Agudath Israel of Baltimore and Star-K

9. Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, Sheiris Yisroel

10. Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, Chabad Lubavitch of Baltimore

11. Rabbi Nesanel Kostelitz, Machzikei Torah Congregation and the Community Kollel

12. Rabbi Chaim Landau, Ner Tamid

13. Rabbi Elchonon Lisbon, Bais Lubavitch - Chabad of Park Heights

14. Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger, Ner Israel Rabbinical College and High School

15. Rabbi Gavriel Newman, Beth Jacob Congregation

16. Rabbi Shlomo Salfer, Winands Road Synagogue Center

17. Rabbi Jonathan Seidemann, Kehilath B'nai Torah

18. Rabbi Simcha Shafran, Adath Yeshurun and the Bais Din of Baltimore

19. Rabbi Mordechai Shuchatowitz, Agudath Israel of Greenspring and Av Beis Din of Baltimore

20. Rabbi Shmuel Silber, Suburban Orthodox

21. Rabbi Amrom Taub, Arugas Habosem Congregation

22. Rabbi Y. Zvi Weiss, Bais Haknesses of Baltimore

23. Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, Beth Tfiloh

City bar mitzvah teacher charged with sex offenses - Incidents involving two boys allegedly occurred more than a decade ago

By Melissa Harris

Baltimore Sun - December 18, 2007

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-assault1218,0,4417731.story?coll=bal_travel_util

A former bar mitzvah lessons teacher in Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community has been charged with sex offenses against two boys that are alleged to have occurred more than a decade ago, according to the city state's attorney's office.

The boys were learning to chant passages from the Torah at Israel Shapiro's home on Olympia Avenue on separate occasions in September 1988 and June 1994 when the offenses are said to have occurred, according to court documents.

Shapiro was charged Dec. 4 with felony child abuse, second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense in both cases. The boys, who are related, came forward in June, according to Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford.

Prosecutors handling the case were not in their office Tuesday, and the men making the accusations did not return phone calls Tuesday.

Accusations against Shapiro were known in the Orthodox community as early as 2004, when alleged victims began circulating a flier with Shapiro's name and picture, according to Vicki Polin of the Awareness Center Inc., which is an advocate on behalf of Jewish victims of sexual abuse in Baltimore.

Polin has posted a copy of the flier on the center's Web site.

According to court documents, Shapiro put the boys, then age 12 and 13, on his lap while they practiced chanting the Torah. One of the victims reported that Shapiro would touch him inappropriately over his clothing, and the other said he was held on Shapiro's lap against his will and touched inappropriately.

Shapiro, 57, works in a kosher butcher shop, according to the

Jewish Times, which reported extensively on the allegations in June.

A phone message left Tuesday at Shapiro's house was not returned.

Arthur C. Abramson, director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, said that the organization recently became aware of the allegations but had not been involved in the matter or Shapiro's removal from teaching.

"The Orthodox community -- that end of the Orthodox community -- tends to be very insular," Abramson said. "Information can circulate very rapidly within the framework of the Orthodox community, and it doesn't necessarily get out into more general circles unless reported by The Sun or the Jewish Times."

In April, amid discussions in the Orthodox community about the allegations, Vaad HaRabbonim of Baltimore, the city's Council of Orthodox rabbis, released a letter on "Abuse in Our Community."

"We feel it essential to discuss this matter directly with you, as the greatest allies of the abuser are ignorance and silence," according to the letter, which was signed by nearly two dozen rabbis.

Shapiro is out on a combined $175,000 bail in the two cases.

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CALL TO ACTION: Case of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann and Ner Israel Rabbinical College

Click here: to download flier in to print out

There have been serious allegations of clergy sexual abuse made against Rabbi Moshe Eisemann. It's also been reported that the administration at Ner Israel Rabbinical College and several of the rabbonim in Baltimore have been inept in handling this case appropriately. For these reasons The Awareness Center, Inc. is demanding the following:

  1. Rabbi Moshe Eisemann immediately find new living arrangements and be move off the campus of Ner Israel.


  2. Rabbi Eisemann cease teaching and or tutoring students in his home or else where.


  3. Rabbi Moshe Eisemann have absolutely no contact with children or male adults under the age of 40. (According to Jewish custom, forty is the age in which a man is considered mature enough to study Kabbalah and less likely be able to be sexually manipulated by an sexual predator).


  4. Rabbi Moshe Eisemann be immediately evaluated by a licensed mental health professional who specializes in sex offenders. The professional must be approved by The Awareness Center, Inc. to insure the professional is not biased nor associated with Ner Israel or others.


  5. Artscroll/Mesorah publications cease and desist from publishing, selling or distributing any books created by Moshe Eisemann.


  6. All books written by Moshe Eisemann be banned by every yeshiva (seminaries) in the US and abroad.


  7. Rabbi Moshe Eisemann not be allowed to leave the United States.


  8. Ner Israel Rabbinical College finance a team of child abuse experts who will evaluate all past and present students of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann to determine if there are any more survivors. The team of experts will be approved by The Awareness Center to insure things are handled properly and appropriately.

Contact The Following:

Ner Israel Rabbinical College (and High School):

Phone: 410-484-7200

  • Rabbi Aharon Feldman - Rosh Yeshiva (Head of the School)

  • Rabbi Beryl Weisbord - Dean of Students

  • Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger - President

  • Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer - Shearith Yisrael (Glen Ave. Shul):

  • Phone: 410-466-3060 Fax: 410-367-9183

Artscroll/Mesorah Publications

Phone: 718-921-9000 Fax: 718-680-1875

  • Rabbi Nosson Scherman, the General Editor

  • Meir Zlotowitz - Founder of Artscroll Publications

Ner Israel Rabbi Alleged Abuser

When Whispers Get Louder - Abuse Questions Raised on Ner Israel's Rabbi Moshe Eisemann

By Phil Jacobs

Baltimore Jewish Times (Page 24) - September 1, 2007

http://www.jewishtimes.com/scripts/edition.pl?stay=1&SubSectionID=48&ID=3241

The whispering got louder in the summer of 2006. Rabbi Moshe Eisemann, 71, a beloved longtime Ner Israel Rabbinical College scholar, teacher and author, was associated with the words "alleged molester."

A Baltimore-area pulpit rabbi and Ner Israel colleague left Rabbi Eisemann off the invitation list to his daughter's wedding, because of the uncertainty of it all.

The blogs, the Internet sites, were teeming with allegations of molestations by many rabbis, including Rabbi Eisemann. There have never been any complaints or charges filed with the police against the rabbi.

When students identified themselves as victims to Ner Israel, the school allegedly chose Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, president of the Baltimore Vaad HaRabonim, to look into the accusations.

Rabbi Hopfer, spiritual leader of Shearith Israel Congregation in Upper Park Heights, is not on the faculty or staff of Ner Israel. He did not return two telephone calls to the Baltimore Jewish Times made in early August of this year. His response could have cleared up much of the speculation. He also chose not to respond to a personal letter mailed to him by the Jewish Times on Aug. 5, 2007, pertaining to the status of Rabbi Eisemann. The letter was referred to by Rabbi Eisemann in a recent conversation he had with the Jewish Times.

Ner Israel's response to a request for answers on the subject was an e-mail from its president, Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger, which read: "Ner Israel takes claims and complaints of abuse made by an individual very seriously. It has implemented an independent process to investigate and deal with such claims and complaints as necessary. Given the sensitivity and nature of the subject, and the Yeshiva's concern for all involved, both claimant and accused, it is the policy of the Yeshiva to refrain from discussing or commenting on these matters."

The Jewish Times had asked: "Is Rabbi Eisemann still teaching at Ner Israel? Is he still living on campus in faculty housing?"

In the summer of 2006, this reporter telephoned Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger and asked these two questions. Rabbi Neuberger replied that "Rabbi Eisemann would most likely retire from the Ner Israel faculty" and "most likely move off of campus."

There was, according to a source close to the Vaad HaRabonim, no actual din Torah (rabbinic court ruling) in Baltimore concerning Rabbi Eisemann. Instead, the source confirmed that Rabbi Hopfer was asked to act as sort of a one-man decision maker.

The source said he thinks Rabbi Eisemann admitted some of the abuses to Rabbi Hopfer.

The abuses, according to another source, "weren't extreme, but were on the cusp of abuse," such as back-rubbing or kissing.

The source added that Rabbi Eisemann was allegedly also told to work through some of his issues with a therapist not connected to Ner Israel. That therapist, according to the source, did not consider Rabbi Eisemann's actions "terrible abuse."

Also, Rabbi Hopfer, according to the source, said that Rabbi Eisemann was "contrite."

Still, he was — based allegedly on Rabbi Hopfer's recommendations — retired from teaching students.

But in an interview last week with the Jewish Times, Rabbi Eisemann said that he denied any of the allegations of molestation. He also said that he was still "seeing students" and "still living on Yeshiva Lane," and was never directed by any rabbinic authority to leave campus or stop teaching.

"The whole story [concerning the molestations] is really removed from me," Rabbi Eisemann said. "I can't get involved in it. I feel totally removed from it. I haven't looked at any blogs or Internet sites, though people have told me about them.

"It is not I," he continued. "I have a life to live, and I don't have the strength to deal with these rumors. I have done no harm to anyone. It's all wrong, and I can't even dignify it."

But on Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, an e-mail arrived at the Jewish Times from Rabbi Eisemann. It simply stated: "After reflecting on our brief telephone conversation, I wish to make it clear that I voluntarily retired from Ner Israel in August 2006."

One source said: "You have Eisemann denying all of this. You have Ner Israel's legal statement. You have Rabbi Hopfer's judgment call. Also, Rabbi Hopfer found Eisemann's accuser credible. Put it all together, this is what you have."

Earlier in the summer, Rabbi Eisemann was in the Upper Park Heights neighborhood for Shabbat. Rabbi Moshe Heinemann gave him a VIP seat at the Agudath Israel Synagogue to daven. Rabbi Heinemann was one of 22 rabbis who signed a community letter last April of condemnation against child molestation.

Also, in Rabbi Eisemann's book, "Music Made in Heaven," copyright 2007, Rabbi Aharon Feldman, rosh yeshiva of Ner Israel, writes in a forward: "Rabbi Eisemann has deeply influenced the students at Ner Israel with his classes for over 30 years."

Perhaps the first public comments concerning Rabbi Eisemann came from the blog Unorthodox Jew and from a blog called Chaptzem.

One anonymous blogger wrote, "When I was __ years old, I was a talmid [student] of Ner Israel. At that time, the Mashgiach Ruchni [spiritual adviser] was Rabbi Moshe Eisemann. I became close to him and trusted him totally like a father figure. He is a very sick man. He would tell me he loved me and would hug and kiss me inappropriately."

Another anonymous blogger wrote that he met with New York Jewish Week publisher and editor Gary Rosenblatt, who wrote the expose on the molestations by former NCSY executive Rabbi Baruch Lanner. The blogger wanted advice on where he should go with his story of molestation.

Mr. Rosenblatt said he did receive a phone call from an alleged victim who wanted to discuss the issue of molestation specifically at Ner Israel. But, according to Mr. Rosenblatt, Rabbi Eisemann's name was never discussed.

Then there was another contact made. This time, it was with Rabbi Yosef Blau, a faculty member of Yeshiva University of New York. According to the YU website, "Rabbi Yosef Blau has been the masgiach ruchani (spiritual guidance counselor) at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary since 1977. He also is spiritual guidance counselor for students at the university's undergraduate schools and colleges for men." He is also the current president of the RZA (Religious Zionists of America). The Jewish Times traveled to Manhattan to meet with him.

The rabbi, who has counseled many sexually molested Jewish men and women, explained that he had ongoing contact with an individual who reported that Rabbi Eisemann had behaved inappropriately with him and others. He was loyal to the yeshiva, but was troubled by the lack of response to the allegations.

"Through him, I became aware of the process where Ner Israel graduates who had complained to the administration were asked to tell their stories to Rabbi Hopfer," said Rabbi Blau. "After he spoke with Rabbi Hopfer, he informed me that it was clear that Rabbi Hopfer believed the allegations. There would be an agreement that Rabbi Eisemann would be retired. There was a decision to leave him on the grounds so he wouldn't go somewhere else where they couldn't take responsibility. Rabbi Eisemann was allegedly retired without any explanation given. He stayed on campus. The fellow I am counseling is still somewhat disappointed with these results. But on the other hand, he didn't want to hurt the yeshiva and is filled with mixed feelings."

Former Student Speaks Up

Mike Simms sits for a crowded but comfortable late lunch at the Hometown Buffet, a favorite restaurant location of his in Phoenix, Ariz. It's 115 degrees this afternoon, a day when a cold drink and a piece of fruit would do.

Instead, he's got the steamship round au jus on his plate, along with a salad and some hot potatoes and brown gravy.

Mike, who has graying long hair and a gregarious personality, brings up words like Rashi and drasha during informal conversation. He jokes that this is probably the first time those words have ever been spoken at the Hometown Buffet.

He's almost certainly correct.

A Hispanic woman comes over and takes away his empty plate. He gets up and goes for more.

Mike Simms, originally Zev Simanowitz, has come a long way since he was a student of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann, a teacher, author and scholar at Baltimore's Ner Israel Rabbinical College.

Mr. Simms, a Phoenix-area locksmith, former community newspaper publisher and writer, was Rabbi Eisemann's student in the 1960s at the Philadelphia Talmudical Academy.

He said he doesn't remember much from his classes with Rabbi Eisemann. But he does recall his former teacher had a "habit of staring at people's crotches. I knew that being around him there was an ongoing assault on my privates. He'd stare at my privates to the point where it made me uncomfortable."

So uncomfortable that as a young teen, Mr. Simms went to a local store and purchased an athletic supporter that would flatten out any hint of his genitals.

"I remembered that soon after I put on the jockstrap, he looked at me with this face of, `What happened?'" Mr. Simms said. It worsened, according to Mr. Simms. One day after school, he found himself alone in the classroom with the rabbi.

"I remember distinctly him trying to calm me down. He was talking to me about masturbation. He told me it was sh'cha'tat zera [destruction of the seed]," he said. "That was all very nice, but I didn't ask him for the lecture. I remember him saying that if you are not multiplying with your sperm, you are not multiplying. When he came out with this, I got like 40 shades of red."

Then Mr. Simms left the room, but not before he believes Rabbi Eisemann touched him on his rear end twice.

There were other troubling signs, recounted Mr. Simms.

"When he was teaching, he'd have sitting on his desk a boy who happened to be the smartest kid in the class," he continued. "He was slight of build, short and cute with glasses and curly light brown hair. Eisemann would sit there and this kid would sit at his right hand in front of the class. Eisemann would be patting his tush forever, almost caressing it at times.

"I was overwhelmed," he continued. "What do you say about the rebbe with the beard doing something like this?

"If Rabbi Eisemann was here in front of me now, I guess I'd say to him that I wish I had the courage to say something along the way even though I know I would have been ignored. I wish I had been more knowledgeable about the subject so that I could not have been so naive," he added.

Mr. Simms would go on to graduate from a different yeshiva. But when it came to continuing his Jewish education, he decided to go away from it to the extreme, joining the U.S. Marines. He stayed single all of his life.

In the Phoenix restaurant, he said the Rabbi Eisemann incident wasn't the exclusive reason he wasn't interested in Judaism any longer. It was just part of the process that turned him off.

"People like me could have been directed better," he said. "But everyone did the same thing, `Shut up and do this.' They would tear the covers off of Agatha Christie books because there was a woman on them. They lost us to unorthodoxy and to wandering in the land. They didn't teach us spirituality. They taught us religion. It was sit-down-and-shut-up stuff."

Mr. Simms takes some gulps of coffee from a brown cup.

"This was all a huge chilul HaShem," he said. "For me, it was an encounter with evil. But it was also the whole Tevya, `Fiddler on the Roof' thing. There was no room for question; You did things because you were told to do them. Even if it meant getting molested. Who knows what this guy did? Who knows?"

Mike Simms answered his cell phone on this day in August. It was time to go.

Someone was locked out.

=================================================================


Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks

This page is dedicated in the memory of Daniel Levin

Winnipeg, Canada

New York, NY

Lakewood, NJ

WARNING: Rabbi Ephraim Bryks and Marriage Counseling

Ephrayim Bryks has become a rabbinic marriage counselor. The term marriage counselor or life coach can be used by anyone. He is not the only "rabbi" suspected of sexual abuse using one of these titles to access vulnerable individuals or couples both here and in Israel. Consulting actual professionals is expensive and unless the community publicly warns against going to these charlatans (often worse) many innocents will continue to be hurt.

Rabbi Yosef Blau

Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Rabbi Lipa Brenner and Alleged Sex Offender Rabbi Ephraim Bryks

The Awareness Center - November 12, 2007

The following article was written by Rabbi Paysach Krohn, and is about convicted sex offender, Rabbi (Lewis) Lipa Brenner. While reading the article remember that Rabbi Ephraim Bryks's wife is Rabbi Lipa Brenner's daughter; and Rabbi Paysach Krohn is married to Rabbi Ephraim Bryks sister.

It's a known fact that Rabbi Paysach Krohn has a long history of protecting those who allegedly, perpetrate crimes against children. An example of this is the fact that to this day he still helps his brother-in-law, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks get speaking engagements.

In the book "Around The Magid's Table", Rabbi Paysach Krohn portrays Rabbi Brenner as a righteous man even though he was being accused as being a child molester at the time. When Artscroll learned that Rabbi Brenner was barred from Yeshiva Torah Vodaas because of his sex crimes, they removed the story from later editions of the book. Back in the 1990's rumors circulated that Krohn new about the allegations when he published his book, yet decided to ignore them.

The original charges against Rabbi Brenner included, 14 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. Brenner agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the third degree, a Class E felony, in exchange for a sentence of five years' probation.

Prosecutors said Brenner had sexual contact with a youth he met in the bathroom of the synagogue they both attended. The molestation's allegedly took place over a three-year period that ended in 1995 when the victim was 15 years old.

On June 24, 2007, both Rabbi Paysach Krohn and Rabbi Ephraim Bryks presented at a Shabbaton (weekend retreat)

CALL TO ACTION: Contact Rabbi Paysach Krohn and ask him to stop promoting alleged child molester, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks. Remind him if another child is harmed that he could be held liable in a civil suit.

Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Certified Mohel

E-mail: pkrohn@brisquest.com

Toll Free: 866-846-6900

NY: 718-846-6900

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BEWARE! - Convicted child molester Yechiel Brauner gets new car

Chaptzem Blog - August 01, 2007

http://chaptzem.blogspot.com/2007/08/beware-convicted-child-molester-yechiel.html

Convicted Boro-Park child molester Yechiel Brauner was seen driving a new car that is not listed on his offender registry entry. The car is a light blue late 90's model Mercury Grand Marquis with the license plate number BHZ 5385. There is a handicap permit hanging from the rear-view mirror and the back lights of the car are broken and have lens tape on them. Warn your children and teenagers not to accept any rides from the man driving this car.

Brooklyn DA Announces Indictment of Three Men For Stealing a Home from Elderly Cancer Victim

Brooklyn Eagle - Janurary 2, 2007

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/archive/category.php?category_id=4&id=10453

BROOKLYN — Three Brooklyn men were indicted this week for allegedly stealing an elderly woman's home while she was dying of cancer. A fourth man remains at large.

The defendants are charged with forging documents to give defendant Russell Pitt power of attorney over a building the woman owned at 39 Herkimer St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The indictment charges that in September 2004, Pitt and Nathen Farkas sold the home to Winston Roche. Roche, who is also charged in the scheme, allegedly divided the $476,000 mortgage with the other defendants. The woman died in 2005.

Defendant Jerry Brauner, who notarized Pitt's power of attorney, is charged with falsifying a notary public renewal application in which he denied that he was a convicted felon.

At their arraignments Wednesday, Farkas, 31, and Brauner, 53, were held in lieu of $85,000 bail. Bail for Roche, 59, was set at $45,000. Police are still searching for Pitt.

Brauner is charged with offering a false instrument for filing. Charges against Farkas, Roche, and Pitt include second-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree conspiracy and second-degree forgery.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Vaccaro is prosecuting the case for the Kings County District Attorney's Office.

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News in Brief

Haaretz - May 24, 2007

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/862986.html

A 15-year-old girl has come forward accusing Rabbi Shimon Gerlick, rabbi of Nahariya's Western Galilee Hospital and of the city's Amidar neighborhood, of indecent behavior. The popular rabbi was arrested three weeks ago after an 8-year-old and a woman, 30, accused him of indecent acts. He was held without bail, but is now under house arrest. (Jack Khoury)

Popular Nahariya rabbi arrested for alleged indecent acts

By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent

Haaretz - May 24, 2007

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/862921.html

The arrest of a popular Nahariya rabbi for allegedly committing indecent sexual acts was made public Thursday, after a judicial gag order was lifted.

Rabbi Shimon Gerlick serves as rabbi of the Nahariya hospital as well as rabbi of the city's Amidar neighborhood.

Police arrested him three weeks ago after an 8-year-old girl and 30-year-old woman accused him of indecent sexual acts. Police extended the remand of the rabbi twice before putting him under house arrest last week.

A 15-year-old girl came forward and issued a third complaint against the rabbi while he was under arrest, police said.

The 8-year-old, who was escorted to the police station by her family, said that when she was five she visited synagogue where the rabbi took her to a secluded area and sexually abused her.

The 30-year-old, who is married, said the rabbi sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions. Once when she came to him for counseling at the hospital and another time when she met him at a shop in the city. In her testimony she said that in both incidents Gerlick took her hand and placed it on his crotch.

The 15-year-old testified that she met the rabbi near one of the synagogues in town where he committed indecent acts.

All of the charges against the rabbi relate to incidents that took place in the past few years. Brigadier General Faraj Faras, Nahariya police chief, said that the decision to arrest Gerlick was only made after each of the complainants' testimonies had been checked and found truthful.

Rabbi Gerlick is a well-known and admired figure in Nahariya. Over the years he has carried out the wedding ceremonies of hundreds of couples in the town and the surrounding area. Acquaintances were shocked to hear of the charges. One close friend told Haaretz: "We don?t believe it. This is a rabbi that everyone knows on account of his understanding and wisdom. He is a very warm man, its impossible to believe he's capable of such acts."

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Global manhunt ends child molester's flight - Alan Horowitz, 60, arrested in India after jumping parole last June

By Jordan Carleo-Evangelist

Times Union - Wednesday, May 23, 2007

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=591762&category=FRONTPG&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=5/23/2007

Alan Horowitz, the notorious child molester who boldly dispatched a good-bye letter of sorts to his parole officer last year after bolting abroad, has been arrested in India, authorities said.

The arrest -- made Tuesday in India at 3:48 p.m., which was early Tuesday here -- ends a remarkable 11-month global manhunt for a man authorities describe as a remorseless predator with a brilliant mind.

A tip e-mailed to the "America's Most Wanted" television program steered authorities toward Horowitz -- one of New York's 100 most-wanted fugitives -- in Mahabalipuram, a city of about 12,000 on India's southeastern coast, parole officials said.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which joined the hunt for the Harvard-educated Level 3 sex offender in November, confirmed that Horowitz, 60, a trained rabbi, had been taken into custody.

Citing the sensitivity of the process of having Horowitz returned to the United States, the federal agency declined further comment.

Horowitz is being held on a U.S. warrant and is not accused of additional crimes in India, said Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the state Division of Parole.

Johnson said local authorities are examining Horowitz' travel documents, which included U.S. and Israeli passports. It could be days or weeks, he said, before Horowitz is returned to the United States, where he would face at least a parole violation, if not more charges.

The former psychiatrist who specialized in adolescents has dual citizenship in the United States and Israel. But he had no permission to leave the country, parole officials have said.

Retired Schenectady Police Investigator Peter McGrath, who tracked Horowitz across the country while trying to build a case against him more than a decade ago, said Tuesday he never doubted authorities would eventually find the man, who he counts among the most cunning predators he ever encountered.

"I knew they would (get him). I know the guys working on the case, and I knew they would," a pleased McGrath said after he was told of Horowitz' apprehension. "That's great."

In 1991, Horowitz was charged in Schenectady with more than 35 counts of sexual abuse and sodomy against three boys and a girl, all younger than 17. He later pleaded guilty and served more than 13 years in prison before he was paroled in 2004 as a highest-level sex offender.

Horowitz' documented criminal past dates to at least 1982 in Maryland, where he received five years' probation for "perverted sex practices," according to parole officials. But McGrath has said he believes there were more victims elsewhere who never came forward.

Once he was paroled in New York, Horowitz abided by the strict conditions of his release for about two years before apparently hopping a plane from New Jersey to Tokyo last June 8, just 24 hours after meeting with his parole officer, authorities have said.

Later that month, Horowitz' parole officer received a letter from him postmarked in Israel saying he'd never return to the United States -- a clear-cut violation of his parole, which lasts until 2011.

bout the same time Horowitz jumped parole, he informed another branch of state law enforcement -- the Division of Criminal Justice Services, which runs the sex offender registry -- that he was supposedly living in a Tel Aviv apartment complex. Whether he ever did, and where else he may have visited while on the run, was not clear Tuesday.

Jon Leiberman, a correspondent for "America's Most Wanted," which aired a segment on Horowitz in February, said the tip that turned the case came early this month.

"Obviously he thought he could go to India and blend in," Leiberman said.

NY rabbi convicted of sexually abusing children arrested in India

Associated Press - May 23, 2007

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=6558714&nav=2aKD

CHENNAI, India (AP) - An American rabbi convicted of sexually abusing children has been arrested in southern India after nearly a year on the run across Asia.

Police in India say Alan Jay Horowitz was arrested at a seaside resort (Mahabalipuram) in a town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. A senior police official say the arrest came after a tip was received from Interpol.

US authorities are expected to soon begin extradition proceedings for Horowitz, who was wanted for violating his parole in New York state by leaving the United States.

The 60-year-old Horowitz is an ordained orthodox rabbi and a child psychiatrist. He was convicted by a New York court in 1991 of sexually abusing children aged ten to 17 and spent 15 years in prison before being paroled in November 2004.

He left the United States in the spring of 2006 and reportedly visited a number of spots in Asia, including Thailand and Hong Kong, before arriving in India.

United States Marshals Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

July 08, 2007

Deputy U.S. Marshals Gary Mattison (518) 365-969;

U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security (571) 345-2509;

U.S. Marshals Office of Public Affairs (202) 307-9065

http://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2007/070807.htm

CHILD MOLESTING RABBI ALAN HOROWITZ FINALLY BACK IN THE U.S. TO ANSWER TO JUSTICE

Washington, DC -- At approximately 4 a.m. today, convicted child molester Rabbi Alan Horowitz of New York state was brought back to the U.S. to finally answer for his unspeakable crimes against children. Horowitz was flown into Newark New Jersey International Airport and was met by the U.S. Marshals and other law enforcement agencies.

Led by the U.S. Marshals and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the investigative efforts into the whereabouts of Horowitz came to an end when he was arrested on May 22 at a seaside resort in southern India. He had been sitting in a foreign jail cell awaiting deportation until now.

Horowitz, an ordained Orthodox Rabbi and ivy league-educated child psychologist, was convicted of 34 counts of child molestation in Schenectady County, New York. He may have imported illegal materials into the prison where he was serving time – extending his sentence, and previously he had been convicted of "perverted sexual practices" in Maryland. During the

1980s, while living in Israel, police launched an investigation into charges that Horowitz was sexually abusing some of his second wife's children. He fled back to the United States. Even earlier in his life, he faced a similar investigation while living in North Carolina.

Most recently, he fled New York state parole in 2006, but continued to use internet communications while hiding in India. "To locate him we used a network of tipsters and some of the most extensive electronic surveillance techniques we've ever employed," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Gary Mattison (Northern District of New York). Mattison was the case Deputy assigned to work alongside New York authorities.

When it came time for the actual arrest, special agents of the State Department stepped in. "Diplomatic Security's regional offices in India maintain an excellent working relationship with local law enforcement," said Greg Starr, Director of State Department's Diplomatic Security Service. "That type of close, worldwide capability gave us an unparalleled ability to help apprehend this fugitive." Horowitz was on the run from authorities for 11-months in a global manhunt. He was arrested by local police in Mahabalipuram, India. Authorities now are determining the most effective approach for returning him to law enforcement in the U.S. Last year, U.S. Marshals completed almost 500 fugitive extraditions and deportations. The federal charge against Horowitz, "unlawful flight to avoid prosecution," was based on state parole violation warrants related to his 13-year imprisonment for sexual molestation of minors.

================================================================

Serial child molester sentenced to 150 years

Updated 1/29/2007 5:53 PM ETSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A man prosecutors said was one of the nation's most prolific child molesters was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison for abusing two 12-year-old boys.

Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 64, who also had been convicted of sexual assaults in several states over three decades, was sentenced to the maximum term on 11 felony counts of child molestation and one misdemeanor charge of child pornography possession.

Schwartzmiller represented himself during his trial last year but asked for an attorney to represent him during the sentencing phase.

During the nearly three-week trial, prosecutor Steve Fein showed jurors a map of the "places and decades where the defendant has molested young boys." It included an estimated 100 accusers dating to 1969 in eight U.S. states, Mexico and Brazil.

When Schwartzmiller was arrested in June 2005, investigators found a memoir describing abuse, binders full of child pornography and 1,500 notebook pages with headings including "blond boys," "no, but yes boys," and "best of the best, 13 and under."

Schwartzmiller, who acted as his own attorney during his October trial, told jurors that he was innocent and maligned by a society that doesn't accept men who love boys.

During his testimony, Schwartzmiller said the memoir and notebook entries were fiction.

He blamed roommate Frederick Everts — also a convicted child molester — for the child porn. Schwartzmiller also said he could not have molested the two San Jose boys, who are cousins, because he was either at a construction job or bedridden with a bad back at the time.

Although police say Schwartzmiller appears to have spent much of the past three decades years in California, he has also been arrested on child molestation charges in New York, Idaho, Oregon, Arkansas and Washington. He has lived in Nevada, Texas and Washington.

Schwartzmiller has used aliases including Dean Harmon and Dean Miller, authorities said. He apparently gained the trust of victims and parents by working as a home renovation contractor. He didn't register as a sex offender so he did not appear in the "Megan's Law" databases in California or other states, police said.

Police said Schwartzmiller befriended the two San Jose boys with gifts, invited them to his house for video games and movies, and molested them.

Judge Edward Lee said that despite Schwartzmiller's legal savvy in getting some previous charges dismissed, he will spend the rest of his days filing appeals from a prison cell.

"For all that above-average intelligence and charm, I have a couple of faults (with you) — an English teacher might call them tragic faults," Lee said. "You have no empathy for your victims; that's not particularly unusual. And you cannot see yourself as others see you."

===============================================================


Case of Rabbi David Alan Stein

(AKA: David Stein, David A. Stein)

B.A. in Sociology - University of California, San Diego

Master of Hebrew Letters, M.A. in Rabbinic Studies

Rabbinic Ordination - Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies

Former Dean of Jewish Life / Campus Rabbi - American Hebrew Academy, Greensboro, NC

Insurance Company - San Clemente, CA

If you or anyone you know was sexually abused by Rabbi David A.Stern contact the North Carolina Coaltion Against Sexual Assault: 919-870-8881 or Toll Free: 888-737-CASA (2272). Or The Awareness Center 443-857-5560.

The administration at American Hebrew Academy deserves an award for doing all the right things in the handling this case. Rabbi David Stein is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative). He was charged with eight counts of having sex with a student. The alleged sex acts occurred on campus during the 2006-07 school year. The student was a 16-year-old male.

Rabbi Stern was a frequent speaker at Beth David Synagogue also in Greensboro, North Carolina.

School rabbi charged with sexual acts with student

By Jennifer Fernandez

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/NRSTAFF/71017004

GREENSBORO — The American Hebrew Academy's former director of campus life is facing charges that he had sex with a student, police said.

Rabbi David Alan Stein, 35, is expected to turn himself in today, Greensboro police Sgt. A.T. McHenry said.

Stein left the school in the spring, shortly after police began their investigation, police Capt. Gary Hastings said.

Since then, Stein has been in San Clemente, Calif., living with his parents and working at an insurance company, McHenry said.

Stein is charged with eight counts of having sex with a student, McHenry said.

Police spent months investigating the complaint, seizing school computers to examine them for evidence, Hastings said. The order for Stein's arrest was issued last week, he said.

The incidents took place sometime during the 2006-07 school year on campus, Hastings said.

The student involved is a 16-year-old male, Hastings said. He did not know if the student was still enrolled at the school.

School officials alerted police after a student came forward with a complaint, Glenn Drew, executive director of the American Hebrew Academy, said Tuesday afternoon in a prepared statement. He said Stein was fired.

It was unclear Tuesday how long Stein had been working at the school.

"This has been a painful incident for the Academy community," Drew said, "but we remain committed to protecting our students and serving justice."

The co-ed boarding school serves 135 high school students and employs 80, school officials said.

Students come from all over the world to attend the Academy, which combines college preparatory and Jewish studies.

The school sits on a 100-acre wooded campus off Hobbs Road in northwest Guilford County.

McHenry would not comment on whether more students were involved or if further charges are pending. Hastings said the investigation is continuing.

"Of course," McHenry said about the student's family, "they want justice done."

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jfernandez@news-record.com

==============================================================

June 25, 2007

Nogales, Ariz. - Jay Gillilland, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, has been sentenced to 6,242 years in jail for sexually exploiting his young daughter over the course of two years.

Gillilland was arrested on drug charges in 2004 when police officers discovered child pornography on his home computer while executing a search warrant. During a subsequent search of a storage locker Gillilland had rented in Nogales, officers discovered more than two hours of videotape depicting him sexually abusing his daughter, who was between six and eight years old at the time.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were brought in to consult on the case by the Office of the Inspector General because of their expertise in child pornography. Nogales agents coordinated with the Santa Cruz County Criminal Investigative Division to set up the computer forensic examination, retrieved evidence of molestation and certified the videos through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"I am glad that my agents were able to help make sure this monster will be imprisoned for the rest of his life," said Special Agent in Charge Alonzo Peña, head of the ICE Office of Investigation in Arizona. "Nothing makes me prouder than protecting children from these predators."

In March, a jury found Gillilland guilty of 317 counts of molestation of a child, sexual conduct with a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and child abuse. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge James Soto sentenced Gillilland to 174 consecutive sentences of 35 years to life on the sexual conduct charges.


ICE welcomes the assistance of the public in catching child predators. Members of the public wishing to report suspicious activity may contact ICE at 1-866-347-2423 or Operation.Predator@dhs.gov. Additionally, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an ICE partner on Operation Predator, can be contacted at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.ice.gov/exec/leaving.asp?http://www.cybertipline.com

================================================================

Feds Nail Another Top Tenner

The fall of this top tenner began in mid-April 2007 when a friend of Goldberg's received a call from the fugitive himself. The friend instantly alerted the authorities, telling them that Goldberg was hiding out in Montreal. Unfortunately, that's all the information they had.

Then, on May 11th, an anonymous tipster in Montreal heard an interesting story from a friend. That friend worked as a non-profit counselor who had a very intriguing client. That client, who went by the name Terry Wayne Kearns, admitted that he was a fugitive from justice from the United States but said the charges against him were trumped up.

The counselor told the friend who went to the internet for more information. She logged on the the FBI's website and found who she thought Terry Wayne Kearns really was: Richard Goldberg. The tipster told the counselor of her findings and the next time the counselor met with Kearns, the question was posed: "Are you Richard Goldberg?" Kearns said he was.

This tipster alerted the authorities who knew, based on earlier information, that this tip sounded strong. The FBI agent in Ottawa contacted Interpol Ottowa, as well as the Montreal Police SWAT team and the Canadian Border Services Agency to descend on Richard Goldberg. At 1 a.m. EST, authorities found Goldberg who readily admitted his true identity. Fingerprints later confirmed that they had, in fact, nabbed the FBI top tenner.

At his sentencing, Goldberg bowed his head and said, "I never did anything to be mean to anyone." In a written letter to the court, he says it was the children he preyed on who who set him up.

U.S. District Judge John Walter said Goldberg is a "deeply disturbed individual" with a "lack of remorse beyond belief."

He'll serve the next two decades behind bars.

==================================================================

Alleged child molester could face 99 years in prison

by Channel 2 News Staff
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A 62-year-old man accused of molesting a young child could face up to 99 years in prison if he's found guilty.

Victor Oustigoff was arraigned Wednesday afternoon at the Anchorage Jail. He's charged with the sexual abuse of a 3 year-old last month.

Anchorage Police say after questioning Oustigoff, they now suspect him of sexually abusing five other children, all girls between the ages of two and nine between 2003 and 2007.

Detectives are looking into several other cases where Oustigoff may be involved.

========================================================================

Crestview man gets 70 years for child molestation

December 27, 2007 - 9:45AM
A Crestview man was sentenced Wednesday to 70 years in prison for repeatedly molesting a girl, starting when she was 10 years old, according to a release from the state attorney’s office.

Michael Dale Gray, 32, was convicted Nov. 16 after a jury heard charges that he “routinely took the little girl into his bedroom, sexually battered and molested her while another child was in another room,” according to the release.

He threatened to kill himself in front of her if she told anyone, the release states.
Investigators also said Gray used routine excessive physical force to punish both the girl and the young boy. Lawmen say the abuse began in 2004 when the girl was 10 and continued in 2006 after she turned 12.

Gray was charged with sexual battery on a victim 12 years or older and lewd or lascivious molestation on a victim less than 12 years old. Both crimes are first-degree felonies. He also faced two counts of child abuse without great bodily harm, a third-degree felony.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff ’s Office and Department of Children and Families investigated the case.

========================================================================

Catholics raise millions to settle abuse cases

By John Stucke
The Spokesman-Review

Eastern Washington's Catholic community has raised most of the money needed to settle clergy childhood sex-abuse cases, surpassing expectations and ensuring that the diocese will emerge from bankruptcy.

"This could have been very divisive," said Robert Hailey, of the Association of Parishes. "But in the end this was a fundraiser that brought people together. We're overwhelmed by their generosity."

Parishes have collected $8 million of the $10 million pledged.

The money is helping to pay for the overall $48 million settlement needed to end the bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane. The rest comes from the sale of diocese property and insurance payments, among other sources.

The campaign is unlike any in Spokane history, and it stands alone in the United States as the only bankruptcy or legal settlement that collected cash from the pockets of parishioners. In other diocese settlements around the country, the money came from investment funds or other financial means without depending on new money from the pews.

Hailey said donations came from every corner of the diocese, which includes 82 parishes in 13 counties.

"We were getting $100, $500 and $1,000 at a time from people at all parishes," he said. "It was truly made possible by the gifts of many."

The parishes were able to borrow the remaining $2 million from Spokane-based AmericanWest Bank. The loan is a five-year note at 7.15 percent interest. More than a dozen parishes signed promissory notes to secure the loan.

The successful campaign also enables the independent trust established to receive the money to finish disbursing payments to victims early — in February instead of October 2009, according to court records filed Friday afternoon.

Diocese attorney Shaun Cross said it was hoped "the timely payment of the victims' claims will provide at least some measure of finality for them and the beginning of healing for everyone involved,"

There were 176 people who filed sex-abuse claims against the diocese. About 36 settled their cases. The remaining 140 agreed to participate in a claim-handling apparatus that attempted to discern the truth of the claims and assign each a cash value.

While the framework of this claims matrix was public, its findings are being kept secret, including how many of the 140 claims were found to have merit and the severity of the sexual abuse.

The diocese has so far publicly acknowledged the names of 28 clergy who admitted or have been credibly accused of pedophilia. Of those, 17 are deceased.

On its Web site, the diocese lists 10 who were diocesan priests; 14 Jesuits; two Franciscan clergy; one Benedictine clergy; and one Marianist clergy. The settlement calls for the names of other suspected priests to remain confidential unless the victim asks for the name to be made public.

Cross said the settlement would erase any remaining legal liabilities of the diocese, including 19 lawsuits that had been suspended during the bankruptcy, filed in December 2004.

The only remaining issue is future claims of sex abuse against clergy, which may be made by adult victims able to show they lacked the mental acuity to file a bankruptcy claim in a timely manner, or by sexually abused children who have not yet reported incidents.

Victims may continue to press lawsuits against the individual priests and Catholic organizations — including the Jesuits.

For the diocese, full funding of the settlement should end years of tumult.

"The fact the diocese and parishes have fully performed all of their obligations under the plan is a tribute to all the hard work and tremendous sacrifice of literally thousands of individuals," Cross said.

Parish contributions exceeded the expectations of professional fundraisers who feared parishioners would balk, sickened by the sex-abuse scandal and outraged by the approximately $8 million in legal fees.

In the end, Cross said, it was a grassroots effort run by parishioners and priests.

"People came together because we needed to do it," Hailey said. "The message we took to the people was this: We must make the sacrifice for someone else's wrongs. God's idea of fairness is not always the same as yours and mine."

=================================================================

Former L.A. priest pleads guilty to sexual abuse of boys

ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:41 p.m. December 3, 2007
LOS ANGELES – A former priest who figured prominently in the sex abuse scandal that plagued the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese pleaded guilty Monday to molesting two boys and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Michael Stephen Baker, 60, was sentenced as part of a plea deal entered in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The announcement of the agreement came on the same day the archdiocese paid a large share of the $660 million it has agreed to provide to settle cases with more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse.

About $500 million was wired to victims as part of the largest payout by any diocese since the scandal emerged in Boston in 2002, said Ray Boucher, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

Baker is considered by some to be a symbol of the archdiocese's reluctance to deal with problem priests.

“The sentence they're going to give him is a pittance compared to the destruction that he has created,” Boucher said.

Baker was charged in 2002 with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims, but those charges were dismissed a year later after the U.S. Supreme Court voided a California law that allowed the prosecution of cases involving acts that occurred before 1988.

Baker's plea involved the sexual abuse of two boys between 1994 and 1998, when he was a priest in Los Angeles. One of the victims was an altar boy, and some of the incidents occurred in rectories.

Neither victim was in the courtroom. But with the former priest sitting at the defense table wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, a half-dozen people came forward to tell the judge that Baker abused them or a family member.

There were similar elements in several of their stories, with the incidents leading to drug and alcohol use, depression and sometimes thoughts of suicide.

Matt Severson, whom authorities said was one of Baker's early victims, recalled being 9 when he first met “Father Mike.” Baker was a family friend, and tickling by the priest eventually turned to fondling and within a year to kissing and oral sex, Severson, now 40, said in court.

“I felt trapped in an alternate universe between fear and silence,” he said.

According to the archdiocese, Baker had told Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1986 that he had molested young boys from 1978 to 1985. Mahony did not notify police but sent Baker to a residential facility that treated priests for sexual abuse problems.

In the years that followed, Baker was assigned to nine different parishes but barred from having one-on-one contact with minors. He violated those restrictions three times, according to church personnel file summaries that the archdiocese has released.

Mahony removed Baker from the ministry in 2000. In January 2006, Baker was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from a vacation in Thailand.

Authorities said outside court that the investigation into clergy abuse was ongoing.

“We are not done,” said Bill Hodgeman, an investigator with the district attorney's office. “We will go where the competent evidence takes us.”

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

I applaud your effort and fight. Please keep it up. For my sake and my children's sake.

exposemolesters said...

2007 Top 30 Rabbi Fraudsters (not necessarily in this particular order)

1) Shlomo Mandel
2) Shmuel Kamenetzky
3) Matisyauh Solomon
4) Novminsker Rav
5) Leib Tropper
6) Avner German
7) Aaron Shechter
8) Aaron Twersky
9) Avi Shafran
10) Lipa Margulis
11) Gerorrist Rebbe
12) Dovid Olewski
13) Dovid Choen
14) Yisroel Belsky
15) Lazar Ginsberg
16) Milton Balkany
17) Paysach Krohn
18) Moshe Heinemann
19) Yaakov Hopfer
20) Aharon Feldman
21) Beryl Weisbord
22) Sheftel Neuberger
23) Pinchus Schinberg
24) Shalom Tendler
25) Aaron Tendler
26) Mordy Tendler
27) David Zwiebel
28) Tzvi Muller
29) Eliezer Eisgrau
30) Matis Weinberg

exposemolesters said...

2008 NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS!

1) "Rabbi's" who enable abuse BEWARE
You will continue to be hunted down like the animals you are, and exposed.

2) Child Molesters; whomever you are, think hard and long before messing up some kids life; because I will make it my business to ruin yours.

3) WARNING to Counterfeit Jews. Go to the Mikvah and daven Mincha all you want, and eat your glatt treif, but don't you dare go around screwing it up for everybody else, or I will plaster you along with all the other sleaze buckets.

exposemolesters said...

And in the first piece of news of 2008 - What do you know - It's the Grand Rabbi of Spinka
--------------------------------
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106191.html

Spinka rabbi pleads not guilty

Published: 01/01/2008

The Grand Rabbi of Spinka pleaded not guilty to tax fraud and money laundering charges.

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Weisz and five other members of the New York City-based Hasidic sect pleaded not guilty to U.S. federal charges Monday that they arranged and profited from accepting inflated charitable donations that saved the donors millions of dollars in federal income taxes.

They were arrested after a 37-count indictment was unsealed Dec. 18. Five Spinka charitable organizations, all in Brooklyn, were also named in the case.

Prosecutors allege the scheme cheated the U.S. Internal Revenue Service out of at least $33 million.

The Spinka sect originated in Romania and its adherents are centered in Israel, Europe and Brooklyn.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi, 5 Others Plead Not Guilty To Tax Fraud
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― The leader of an Orthodox Jewish sect and five other men accused of tax fraud and money laundering pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Brooklyn, N.Y., resident Naftali Tzi Weisz, the 59-year-old Grand Rabbi of Spinka, was indicted by a federal grand jury Dec. 18 for allegedly taking part in a scheme that cheated the Internal Revenue Service out of at least $33 million in donations to Spinka charities.

Spinka is the name of a Hasidic sect within Orthodox Judaism. The group is named for the European town along the border of Romania and Hungary where it originated.

The six men were accompanied in court by their attorneys and about five supporters at this morning's hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Rosenberg.

Their trial is scheduled for Feb. 12.

According to the indictment, donors to Spinka charities were paid illegal kickbacks, refunding up to 95 percent of the donations, which were laundered through the Israel-based Mizrahi Bank and businesses in downtown Los Angeles' jewelry district.

The donors then claimed a tax deduction on the full amount, prosecutors said.

Weisz is currently free on $2 million bond.

Other named defendants are Gabbai Moshe Zigelman, 60, also of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Joseph Roth, 66, of Tel Aviv, Israel; Yaacov Zeivald, 43, of Valley Village; Los Angeles residents Alan Jay Friedman, 43, and Yosef Nachum Naiman, 55; as well as five Spinka charities.

All six men face lengthy terms in federal prison if convicted on all charges.

Zigelman and the other defendants are free on bond except for Roth, an assistant manager at Mizrahi Bank, who remains in custody. On Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Tillman granted Roth $1.9 million bond, but stayed his decision so prosecutors could appeal it to another judge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel O'Brien said Friday that there is a significant risk that Roth will flee to Israel, which has a law forbidding the extradition of its citizens.

Anonymous said...

I'm a peace loving Jew from Netuei Karta. The President of Iran is a nice man. What is all this fuss about?

Zionists harass Austrian Rabbi
Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:44:38
Rabbi Moishe Aryeh Friedman
Anti-Zionist political activist, Rabbi Moishe Aryeh Friedman has fallen victim to the Zionist Jewish Community Leaders of Austria.

Upon return from a recent two-month trip to Tehran Rabbi Friedman and his family found their house burgled and their valuable Hebrew Scrolls gone.

Last week the Austrian court in charge of the case ruled that the Austrian Zionist Jewish Community known as the IKG (Israelitische Kultus Gemeinde) must immediately return the stolen items to the Friedman family.

Meanwhile, the IKG claimed responsibility for the burglary in a statement to the Austrian Press Agency (APA) stating the Rabbi's visit to Iran and his anti-holocaust remarks as their motive.

Although the IKG has been informed of the court ruling, it has refused to acknowledge the court rule and return the stolen items.

This is not the first time the community has commited crimes against its opponents in Austria. Recently the IKG was fined two million Euros by an Austrian court for expelling Friedman's children from school.

The Austrian Justice Minister, Maria Berger has confirmed that 460.008 Euros has already been collected.

However, the IKG has declared all court orders 'entirely irrelevant, maintaining it will oppose any ruling trough violence.

In an Interview with Press TV Rabbi Friedman said the 'evil and dangerous' actions of the IKG 'as the long arm of the zionist regime are acts of terror endangering the law and order and national security of Europe.'

He also called on Austrian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and stop recognizing the IKG as a so-called religious community.

Anonymous said...

If a woman has hyphenated last names it is ossur to do that. Come to my house and I will annul such a marriage. Make sure to have my asking fee ready when you arrive.

---

Rabbi slams use of hyphenated last names

Zomet Institute head says 'feminist trend' of women preserving their maiden name undermines family values
Kobi Nahshoni

"A hyphenated last name for women undermines family values," head of the Zomet institute Rabbi Yisrael Rozen writes in an article to be published in the Shabbat Beshabbato leaflet this weekend.



In his article, Rozen maintains that the custom of preserving the woman's maiden name alongside the husband's name creates "a slippery slope" that could lead to giving different surnames to the children in the family.



"I don't consider myself a full-fledged conservative, but I completely object to feminism when it hurts family values, and it does!" Rozen states.



"It is clear to me that a hyphenated name for married woman is just the beginning of the process. There are already women who keep their maiden mane alone, as if saying, 'Marriage is only a secondary aspect of life,' 'Who needs to know that I'm married,' and 'This is an invasion of privacy.'"



This ideology, says the rabbi, "Is wrapped up in nice words to appear as egalitarianism and a preservation of personal identity."


'Family should have one head of family'

Rozen claims that he sympathizes with women's desire to preserve a link to their familial heritage, and the need of career women to maintain their reputation, but adds that the trend is founded on "a feminist message which strays from the patriarchal tradition and makes a statement that women are not the husband's property."



However, he says that the harm done to family values is evident. "The tradition and heritage of a family unit includes the role of head of the family. Those who give up this component take part in the trend of shattering family values."



The right thing, Rozen concludes, would be to "return to family tradition in which each woman has her first name and each family has its one, and only, name."

Anonymous said...

Guilty plea given in sex abuse on reservation
By Josh Verges, Argus Leader
Published: January 1, 2008

A 27-year-old man Friday admitted to having sexual contact with a boy on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation.

Todd Kal Wilcox was indicted in September on several sexual abuse charges and pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to one count.

The victim was 10 or 11 at the time of the crimes, which occurred between 1999 and 2001, according to court documents. One charge, which will be dropped under a plea agreement, alleged that Wilcox also engaged in a sexual act with the boy in 2004 or 2005.

Sentencing is set for March 31; Wilcox could get up to 20 years in prison.

exposemolesters said...

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=47189

Sexual, Physical, Emotional or Verbal Abuse: Are you a Victim?

Stephany Alexander
December 27, 2007

From bullying and manipulative mind games to sexual harassment and elder care neglect, sexual, physical, emotional and verbal abuse is rampant in our society. No one is immune from these kinds of abusive people, but everyone can make healthy choices to end those destructive relationship patterns.

Different Types of Abuse

We tend to think of domestic abuse as physical violence or assault on a wife but in reality, domestic abuse is the summary of physically, sexually and psychologically abusive behaviors directed by one partner against another, regardless of their marital status or gender. Usually, when one form of abuse exists, it is coupled with other forms as well. Physical assault is the obvious form of Domestic Violence, the most visible, and also the most lethal. Assaults start small, maybe a small shove during an argument, or forcefully grabbing your wrist, but over time, physical abuse usually becomes more severe, and more frequent, and can result in the death of the victim.

Physical Abuse: Physical abuse is any act of violence on the victim, and can include: slapping, kicking, shoving, choking, pinching, pulling hair, punching, throwing things, forced feeding, burning, beating, use of weapons (gun, knives, or any object), or physical restraint - pinning against wall, floor, bed etc.

Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse may be defined as any sexual encounter without consent and includes any unwanted touching, forced sexual activity, be it oral, anal or vaginal, forcing the victim to perform sexual acts, painful or degrading acts during intercourse, and exploitation through photography or prostitution. Sexual Abuse involves: excessive jealousy; calling you sexually derogatory names; forcing unwanted sexual act; criticizing you sexually; forcing you to strip; sadistic sexual acts; withholding sex and/or affection; minimizing or denying your feelings about sex or sexual preferences; forcing sex after physical assault; using coercion to force sex; taking unwanted sexual photos; or forcing you into prostitution.

According to a poll of over 8,000 women conducted by WomanSavers.com, over 54% of women said they were sexually molested by an adult male as a child. Statistics such as these are staggering and unless our laws are changed, it is doubtful these statistics will decline in the near future.

Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse is more delicate. Quite often such abuse goes unseen, as even the victim does not know that she is being abused. Although emotional abuse does not leave black eyes or visible bruises, it often seriously damages your self-esteem. Emotional abuse is cruel and scars your essence.

Verbal Abuse: When thinking of Verbal Abuse we tend to imagine the abuser hurling insulting names at the victim, and while this obviously does happen, there are many more forms than name-calling. The abuser may use insulting, critical or humiliating remarks, he may withhold conversation and refuse to discuss issues, or he may keep you up all night insisting on talking when you need sleep. Verbal abuse undermines your sense of worth, your self-concept by discounting your opinions, ideals, or beliefs.

Verbal abuse include: Yelling or shouting at you; insulting you or your family; making threats; being sarcastic about or criticizing your interests, opinions or beliefs; humiliating you either in private or in company; sneering, growling, name-calling; withholding approval, appreciation, or conversation.

All of these abusive behaviors prohibit normal, healthy interaction between the two adults as well as a lack of respect for individual thoughts, feelings, and opinions. A healthy, mutual interaction and conversation between two persons respect and promote the right of each partner to their own individual thoughts, perceptions and values.

Anonymous said...

How is this guy allowed to be a Rabbi; he's Black?

The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

Black rabbi seeks to bridge racial Jewish divide
Ben Harris / jta , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 2, 2008

Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, wants you to know that he likes gefilte fish - a lot.

"I love it," he told JTA in a recent interview. "I love lox. I love borscht. Some of my congregants don't even know what borscht is."

Funnye's congregants are predominantly African Americans from the South Side of Chicago, so perhaps that's no surprise. But while gefilte fish won't be debuting anytime soon at the kiddush at Beth Shalom, the rabbi is bringing his congregants closer to the broader Chicago Jewish community in ways most of his African American rabbinical colleagues have not yet dared.

"I have made it my point, on a personal level, to involve myself in the Jewish community," Funnye said. "I've worked for Jewish organizations. I've graduated from Jewish institutions. My children went to Jewish day school."

Just a few weeks ago, he attended the White House Chanukah party.

"It's important for me, on a very personal level, for my children and for other Jews, to see Judaism is beyond any racial group," Funnye said.

Black Jewish congregations - most prefer to be called "Hebrews" or "Israelites" - have existed in the United States since the first decades of the 20th century, but they generally have remained apart from the broader Jewish community.

In part, the divide is a legacy of segregation that still separates black and white churches, as well as synagogues. It also stems from what Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, describes as the Jewish community's "obsessively silly" preoccupation with who qualifies as a Jew.

"I think Jews, having been rejected, persecuted and discriminated against all these centuries, have incorporated a kind of self-criticism and overbearing concern with who's in and who's out," Tobin said. "It's kind of an internalized oppression at this point. While it's a legitimate concern, Jews have become obsessed with it. You don't find Catholics, Episcopalians and Muslims spending the amount of time Jews do deciding who's a real Muslim and who's a real Catholic."

The problem is exacerbated by the belief, central to the black Jewish narrative, that the original Jews were Africans. Like other African Americans who have embraced non-Christian faiths, black Jews see in Judaism a means to recapture a heritage denied them by the slave trade - a fact that likely explains their great affinity for the story of Exodus. As a result, some are reluctant to undergo conversion or otherwise take steps that might promote greater acceptance by the white Ashkenazi majority for fear it would undermine their claims to be of Jewish descent.

"We are people that are coming back into the knowledge of who we are," said Moshe Ben Yisrael, the Chicago synagogue's president, who everyone refers to as Elder Moshe. "We are finding out something about our identity. We identify with the God of the Tanach, of Israel."

Funnye is one of the few Jews, black or white, working actively to bridge the racial divide among Jews. He is believed to be the only black rabbi in the country to serve on his local board of rabbis, and he cooperates with a number of Jewish communal institutions, including Tobin's institute, where he is a research associate. He encourages exchanges between his congregation and mainstream synagogues in Chicago's northern suburbs.

Funnye was ordained at the Israelite Rabbinical Academy in New York, where all such black Israelite rabbis are trained.

"What's interesting about Capers is that he bridges the world between white, normative mainstream Judaism in the United States," Tobin said. "He's unique, which is unfortunate."

Funnye's acceptance by the broader Jewish community was made possible in part by his willingness to undergo a formal conversion - or "reversion" as he likes to say - with a mixed rabbinic court of Orthodox and Conservative rabbis in 1985.

All newcomers to Beth Shalom are required to do the same, including immersion in a mikvah and, for men, a ritual drawing of blood to symbolize the covenant. For men who are not circumcised, Funnye makes them undergo the full procedure, conducted under anesthetic with the assistance of an Orthodox urologist. He estimates that he has converted 40 members of his congregation.

"If they came here to this congregation under my leadership and under my tutelage, then they had to go through the 'standard halachic precepts' for one to be a Jew," Funnye said. "But that does not diminish our understanding that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were Jews of color."

Though it's been two decades since Funnye first participated formally in a mainstream Jewish organization, the memory still causes him to stretch out in his chair, throw his head back and let out a hearty belly laugh.

"I wasn't invited to the first Jewish-African American conclaves," Funnye recalled. "Until one Protestant, very prominent minister, back in the 80s, made an accusation about the Jews being racist and using black people. And one rabbi said, 'Oh no. We have black Jews!'"

Services at Beth Shalom would be familiar to any shul-goer. The full Torah portion is read in Hebrew from a scroll. Prayers are chanted mostly in English from the Artscroll Siddur, a widely used Orthodox prayerbook.

Men and women sit separately, but there is no physical barrier, or mechitzah, between them. After services, Funnye blesses the wine and bread in Hebrew before digging into a lunch of chicken, turkey and spaghetti.

But the congregation also maintains traditions uniquely their own that are deeply colored by the African-American experience. After the Torah service, a Gospel-style choir takes the stage and - accompanied by a CD and live drums and guitar - performs several numbers, including "Lift Every Voice," also known as the "Black National Anthem." Men greet each other by grasping at the elbow and bringing their heads together three times, symbolic of the three forefathers. Some wear pendants with maps of Africa around their necks.

When associate rabbi Joshua Salter - also ordained at the Israelite Rabbinical Academy in New York - stood to "bring the message" at a recent service, he strutted around the stage like a Baptist preacher, delivering his lines in a call-and-response style while congregants cried out "Teach" and "Hallelujah."

When he finished, Salter gave a "shout out" to members of the congregation who were sick.

Later in the afternoon, in one of the synagogue classrooms, Elder Moshe delivered a rambling talk on current events, covering topics as diverse as racial violence in Louisiana and the prospects for reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. His politics, which included harsh words for the Bush administration, were presented as lessons stemming from the Bible.

"Our Judaism is not the Judaism of just nodding and waving and going along with the program," Elder Moshe said afterwards. "Our thing is: We are provoked to think. It says we should be a light unto the nations, right? That's the way we look on it. So how can we be a light if we going right along locked in lockstep with a system that is bent on destruction of God's people?"

Funnye was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal church. Many of his congregants also were raised as Christians and tell broadly similar stories of having felt disconnected from their faith until stumbling upon Judaism.

Bruce Carey, a social worker who commutes to Beth Shalom from Gary, Ind., said Christianity never made sense to him as a child but Judaism helped reconnect him with his African identity.

James Brazelton, who "reverted" with his wife and daughter and took on the name Yahath Ben Yahudah, said his spiritual awakening occurred while watching "The Ten Commandments," the classic dramatization of the Exodus story by Cecil B. DeMille. "It overwhelmed me with fear," Brazelton said of the film.

Dinah Levi, who grew up Baptist and had a bat mitzvah at 56, said she's always struck when she meets Ashkenazi Jews who can't believe there are black Jews.

"They're always surprised," Levi said, "and they should not be."

Anonymous said...

Odessa Rabbi Condemns Inaction of Authorities in Face of Antisemitic Hate Speech


(January 2, 2008)

Avraam Wolf, the chief rabbi of Odessa, Ukraine, sharply criticized Ukrainian officials for not doing enough to combat antisemitic propaganda, according to UCSJ's Lviv monitor. In a statement sent to the press after leaflets calling for the murder of Jews were distributed around the city of Odessa, Rabbi Wolf wrote that:

"The antisemitic rhetoric of several Ukrainian politicians and programs shown on Odessa television stations have so far not met with a proper response from the three branches of the Ukrainian government."

He added that police often treat vandalism of Jewish property in the city as "mere hooliganism" instead of investigating it seriously. The leaflets are signed by a group calling itself the Russian Orthodox Public of Odessa.

Anonymous said...

What about dismantling the terrorist infrastructure? Those previous "peace" talks which call for just that don't exist anymore?
---------------------------------

Abbas says Bush must speak out on Israeli settlements

CAIRO (AFP) — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday that US President George W. Bush must speak out against Israeli settlements during his visit to the region next week, because they were making peace talks impossible.

"When he arrives in the region President Bush must speak clearly about eliminating all obstacles which are hindering negotiations and settlement activity is the main obstacle," Abbas said.

"It is impossible for negotiations to continue as long as settlements continue," he said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

Bush is due to begin a regional tour, his first at president, on January 9.

The issue of settlements has been the main issue of discord since Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert revived peace talks at a US conference in late November after a near seven-year hiatus.

Since then, Israel has announced two expansions of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem -- moves slammed by Palestinians and criticised by Israel's main ally Washington.

Abbas also said he hope that reason would prevail over Hamas after the Islamists rejected his call for dialogue aimed at halting the factional struggle that has torn the territories apart.

On Monday, he said he was willing to enter into a dialogue with Hamas but only if it first returned the beleaguered coastal strip to his control, a condition Hamas has repeatedly rejected.

"The initial reaction from Hamas was not encouraging, but we hope that reason will prevail to allow a positive response," Abbas said after Hamas rejected that call.

The Islamist Hamas movement has ruled the Gaza Strip since June, when it drove out security forces loyal to Abbas in a week of deadly clashes.

Later Tuesday, Abbas renewed his calls for talks with Hamas following a meeting in Amman with Jordan's King Abdullah II, the royal palace said.

"We don't have any conditions to start a dialogue with Hamas, but we hope that they would get the message and end their coup," Abbas was quoted as saying.

"Our calls for talks were sincere and the current Palestinian situation must come to an end and dialogue must prevail."

Meanwhile, a radical Israeli rabbi said Wednesday night Olmert should be hanged for considering any territorial concessions to the Palestinians, whom he called Nazis.

"This traitor, Ehud Olmert, collaborates with the Nazis, and if we were a state of law, he ought to be hanged along with (Deputy Prime Minister) Haim Ramon, (Foreign Minister) Tzipi Livni and (Defence Minister) Ehud Barak, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe was quoted by public television as saying.

The rabbi, president of a group that fiercely opposes any territorial concessions, was speaking to a gathering of ultra-nationalist rabbis in Tel Aviv.

exposemolesters said...

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7863988

Head of BLM's Kanab field office charged with child sex abuse
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
01/02/2008

KANAB - The head of the Bureau of Land Management's field office in Kanab has been charged with 13 felonies in two separate cases involving sexual abuse of a child.
Rex Lee Smart was arrested Friday and booked into Kane County's jail. He later was released after posting a $125,000 bail.
In one case, Smart, 60, is charged with sodomy on a child, attempted rape of a child, three counts of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. All are first-degree felonies.
He also is charged with two second-degree felony counts of sexual abuse of a child.
According to court documents, the alleged crimes occurred sometime between May 15 and June 15, 2005, at Smart's house in Kanab and involved a 9-year-old girl.
The documents state that Smart fondled the girl, exposed himself to her and forced her to have oral sex and intercourse.
"The child stated that she was scared to death when this event took place," the court papers state.
In the second case, which allegedly occurred Sept. 9, 2006, Smart is charged with sodomy, three counts of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping involving the same child.
Documents state that on that date, Smart was at a Lions Club demolition derby at the Kaneplex rodeo facility, south of Kanab, when he took the

victim, then 10 years old, in his truck to teach her to drive.
He allegedly drove the vehicle away to a location where he was able to view all roads leading to and from the Kaneplex facility and laid her down on the seat of the truck against her will. Smart then took off her clothes, fondled her and had oral sex with her, according to court documents.
Kanab Police Detective Osvaldo Macias said Wednesday that he began investigating Smart about two weeks ago after Utah Division of Child and Family Services received an anonymous call alerting them to the alleged abuses.
"I went out and starting knocking on doors," Macias said. "I dropped everything to work on the case."
The detective said "aggravated" was added to some of the charges because Smart was acting as a baby sitter at the time, giving him a position of trust over the young victim.
Kanab Police Chief Tom Cram said the inquiry is continuing to see if there are other victims.
Smart is scheduled to appear in Kanab's 6th District Court on Jan. 11.
The BLM said it is evaluating the situation and plans to issue a statement later.
mhavnes@sltrib.com

Anonymous said...

Farmington Schools shows progress in sex abuse fight
Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/02/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

It's certainly not the kind of national attention a public school district seeks.

The Associated Press last week released an in-depth story about Farmington Municipal School's struggles in dealing with a sexual abuse case involving a substitute teacher in 2002. The story was an integral part of a national AP investigation that found 2,570 educators nationwide had their teaching credentials revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned in a four-year period following sexual abuse allegations.

The investigative piece was one of the top four stories listed on the daily story budget for the national Associated Press wire service. Many newspapers throughout the country, and parts of the world, likely chose to publish the story Dec. 27. The Daily Times opted to run it as its lead story that day.

Arthur Brokop, a substitute teacher on the elementary school level, served three years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting three first-graders in 2002. The families of the young girls sued the school district — two of them
Advertisement
settling out of court for about $300,000 each; the other being awarded $2.65 million after a trial.

That time still is viewed as a black period for Farmington schools. Superintendent Janel Ryan, who was not in the top leadership role for the district when in the incidents took place, said the district was negligent and vowed to take major steps to help avoid sexual abuse in the classroom.

To her credit, and the credit of many others in the school district, Farmington now is viewed as a model on how to take a terrible situation and move forward to ensure drastic improvements are made. Robert Shoop, a Kansas State University professor who wrote a book called "Sexual Exploitation in Schools: How to Spot it and Stop It," said there can never be a guarantee that bad things won't happen, but added schools can, and should, do everything possible to build in safeguards for students.

In response to the sexual abuse cases, Ryan invited Shoop to Farmington for a full day of training with principals.

"I had to do something," she told The Associated Press. "If it's taught me anything, it's if there's an element of suspicion you investigate."

Ryan and other staff members have helped put numerous changes in place, including:

# Local and federal background checks are done on every new employee.

# All employees, from janitors to teachers, go through extensive sexual misconduct training.

# Employees must sign a code of ethics, which includes a portion on sexual abuse.

# Even when police are called into the school setting, administrators not involved in a particular case perform their own internal investigation.

# All classroom doors now have windows, and substitutes are instructed to keep doors open and are supposed to be monitored by neighboring teachers. Brokop fondled the three young girls through their clothing behind a windowless classroom door.

It all comes down to a "zero tolerance" stance for Farmington Municipal Schools — as well it should. Students must be protected and feel safe when they are in the care of local schools. Education always should be the top priority, and not one student should feel threatened by those entrusted to teach them on a regular basis.

The nation now knows Farmington's school sexual abuse story. Readers throughout the country also should know that the local school district is not sitting idly by, waiting for the next incident to happen. Led by Ryan, Farmington Schools is working hard to do what it can to avoid a return to the dark days of 2002.

Anything less is unacceptable.

Anonymous said...

This guy who was allegedly sodomized by Baltimore City Police Officers is not to my knowledge a religious Jew, so why should we care? If it were a yid, then it would be a Chilul Hashem to report it; so either way there is nothing that can be done. That's my Psak Halochoh!
-----------------------------------

Man Likely To Sue Police For $100M For Sex Abuse
Reporting
Mike Hellgren
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Lawyers for a man who claims a Baltimore City police officer sodomized him while two more officers watched are preparing to slap the city with a one hundred million dollar lawsuit. Mike Hellgren reports on the alleged abuse of power.

The allegations started at Jefferson and Curley streets on October 22. Steven Vernarelli was on his way to Johns Hopkins Hospital when three officers stopped him.

His lawyer, Gary Bowen, claims those officers asked if he had any money. He gave them $20 and things took a startling turn.

"The police officers then took the money, tore it into shreds, too part of that 20 dollar bill and committed an act of sexual sadism, shall we say," Bowen said.

Bowen alleges one officer sodomized his client with the money while two more watched and laughed, then threatened him.

"`You better get out of here in five seconds. If you don't, we're going to drag you into the alley and beat the [expletive] out of you,'" Bowen said.

Vernarelli called an ambulance and was taken to Mercy Hospital. He says he also called police to report what happened.

Baltimore City Police tell Eyewitness News they don't comment on pending litigation and declined to say anything else about this case.

Vernarelli's lawyer sent a letter to the city solicitor announcing a one hundred million dollar civil lawsuit against Baltimore.

"I've seen worse cases of direct police physical brutality, but nothing of this sort of sexually sadistic nature," Bowen said.

Bowen says his client later identified the officers through photographs as part of a police investigation, but police will not reveal the officers' names.

"He was first told the police officers would be indicted. That hasn't happened," he said.

Bowen points to the case of Abner Louima in New York City who was sodomized by police with a broomstick. That case sparked protests and Louima eventually won a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

"When this happens, two things happen. First of all, respect for law enforcement and the law declines and also, civil liberties decline," Bowen said. "This misconduct must stop. It must end."

The alleged victim claims he never had any prior contact with these officers

Anonymous said...

Priest arrested over sex abuse claims

ARRESTED: Father William Green, priest at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in New Springs
WORSHIP: Holy Family in New Springs

By David Taylor
A priest from Wigan has been arrested by police investigating allegations of sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.
Father William Green was arrested by Greater Manchester Police last week in relation to an "historic allegation of sexual abuse" dating back to the seventies.

Shocked worshippers at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church on Cale Lane, New Springs were told about the claims at Saturday mass by a bishop from the Diocese of Salford.

The congregation was informed that the allegations were from "some" years ago and that it was church policy under the circumstances that Father Green leave the parish while investigations are underway.
He has been released by police following questioning and bailed until March 10.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed: "A 66-year-old man from the Aspull area was arrested on Monday, December 17, 2007 on suspicion of sexual abuse.
"The arrest is in relation to historic allegatio
ns of sexual abuse.
"The man has been bailed until 10 March 2008 pending further inquiries."

One member of the congregation who didn't want to be named said: "Everyone is completely shocked by these allegations but it's important to remember that these are allegations. People have been left shocked and shattered."

Father Green, who has been at Holy Family for 15 years, was not at his presbytery next to the church.
A spokesman from the Diocese of Salford said: "Father Green is on administrative leave while the police conduct their inquiries.

"Father Green was arrested on Monday, December 17, on suspicion of sexual abuse in relation to historic allegations dating back to the 1970s.

"The church authorities have been co-operating fully with the police in assisting with their investigations."
The diocese has appointed a temporary priest to look after the parish in the interim.

Last Updated: 02 January 2008 2:01 PM

Anonymous said...

I like little boys and he likes little girls. I hope he gets off easy!

Cops: paramedic sexually abused child

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
Wednesday, January 2, 2008

ROTTERDAM -- A town of Rotterdam paramedic accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl is expected to be fired from his job, Rotterdam police said.

David Harnett, 31, South Westcott Road was charged Tuesday night with predatory child sexual assault and rape for alleged contact with the girl, police said.

Investigators began their probe after getting a complaint from Child Protective Services about 4 p.m. New Year's Day for an incident last month. Town police Lt. Michael Brown said police are investigating whether there may have been other incidents.

Harnett had been employed as a full-time civilian paramedic in Rotterdam for about four years, beginning in 2002, and then most recently worked as paramedic one day a week for the town, officials said.

Harnett was arraigned Tuesday and sent to the Schenectady County jail without bail. He is due back in court Thursday.

exposemolesters said...

It is imperative for sexual abuse survivors as part of the healing process to see their tormentor punished for their crimes. My message to the victims of clergy abuse is - NEVER GIVE UP HOPE!

http://www.thestar.co.uk/doncaster/39Sex-abuse-hell-behind-me.3630622.jp

'Sex abuse hell behind me now'

A YOUNG woman who tried to kill herself is looking forward to a fresh start in 2008 after seeing the sex predator who almost ruined her life go to jail for eight years.
The 20-year-old student, who cannot be identified, expressed her relief after Doncaster pensioner Harry Hansford was sent to prison for sexual offences committed against her and another girl more than a decade ago.

Hansford, aged 64, of Wordsworth Avenue, Campsall, groomed the girls and indecently assaulted them between 1992 and 1999. But it was not until she reached 18 that one of his victims blurted out what she and her friend had been through with the pervert, who took advantage of them in his home, sometimes while his wife was in another room.

At his four-day trial at Doncaster Crown Court last month, Hansford denied 14 charges and was acquitted of three but found guilty on the other 11.

Sentencing was delayed until the judge had seen a report on the defendant but after reading it he handed down an eight-year sentence on three of the most serious crimes, with other concurrent terms of three years and two years. He also made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order against Hanford for when he is released from prison.

Afterwards the 20-year-old said the sickening secret of what she had to endure only came out when she took a drugs overdose in the bathroom of her home.

"It was a bad time with other things in my life and I tried to kill myself. The main reason for it was what Hansford did to me. As soon as I told my mum she rang the police and it all came out.

"I had blocked it out from the ages of 11 to 15 but I had been thinking about it a lot.

"We were very pleased with the sentence because it was a lot more than we thought he'd get because of the age of the offences. It's a great relief that it's all over but I would urge anybody in a similar position to come forward because the police will listen and act. I am such a happy person now that it has come out."

Her friend, who is 22, also believes justice has been served by the jail term for the offences committed against her when she was aged 10 to 14.

"At that time we just thought i
t was something that happened and we were too young to know any different. My parents were shocked when they found out because they had no idea this was going on. My mum felt guilty but it wasn't her fault and there is no bad feeling. Hopefully Hansford won't be able to do this any more when he comes out."

After the case Pc Phil Wakefield said: "Following a thorough investigation from Doncaster Police which has led to the conviction of Harry Hansford, the victims have now received closure on their traumatic experiences.

"This sentence sends out the message that justice can be served on historical cases and people should be encouraged to come forward if they have had similar experiences."

Last Updated: 02 January 2008 9:19 AM

Anonymous said...

http://bp1.blogger.com/_WC3VtDsRQjc/R3w7WGHnxsI/AAAAAAAAA6M/sWv5pQL5M38/s1600-h/KAJ%2520Rubashkin%2520Letter%5B1%5D.jpg

But Rubashkin Fressers still have excuses to fress it.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi wants Olmert hanged

Published: 01/03/2008

A right-wing Israeli rabbi drew censure after calling for Ehud Olmert and other government leaders to be executed.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, a Chabad rabbi in Israel, was shown on television Wednesday addressing a demonstration against the Olmert government's peace moves with the Palestinian Authority.

"The terrible traitor, Ehud Olmert, who gives these Nazis weapons, who gives money, who frees their murderous terrorists, this man, like Ariel Sharon, collaborates with the Nazis," Wolpe said in his speech.

He added that the prime minister, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be "hanged from the gallows" were Israel run properly.

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted the remarks, which apparently were heard without protest by several religious lawmakers who attended the rally.

Ramon in a statement said Wolpe's behavior recalled the incitement that led to the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Yoel Hasson, a lawmaker with Olmert's Kadima party, said he would ask Israel's attorney general to take legal steps against Wolpe, who leads a messianic faction.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America condemned Wolpe's comments.

"While we -- and many other supporters of the State of Israel -- often find ourselves in disagreement with the Government of Israel on certain policy matters, it is unconscionable to cross the line into hate, violence and threats," the statement from O.U. President Stephen Savitsky and Executive Vice President Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb said.

Anonymous said...

I want to comment on the Orthodox Union's (OU) annual West Coast Convention, which ended last week. A few points. What kind of woman has the name Bacon? What kind of crazy parent names their daughter after pig meat? Ha! Had you there for a moment didn't I? Let's get down to the real issues. The Reform and Conservative movments who think they're Jewish could think again. They are not following the commandments of the Torah.
---



2008-01-04

Law and disorder



By David Suissa


Only in Los Angeles can you have a convention of Orthodox Jews where the keynote address is given by a woman named Bacon, the special guest speaker is a famous

Hollywood film critic and the executive director begins his Shabbat sermon by talking about Christmas.

I'm referring to the Orthodox Union's (OU) annual West Coast Convention, which ended last week. Here in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, you couldn't go too far without seeing their colorful blue banners promoting the event.

This year, I noticed a tinge of anxiety percolating just beneath the surface of the convention, a sense that there are big challenges ahead for the Orthodox movement.

Of course, the Orthodox are hardly alone in feeling anxious. These days, every movement in Judaism seems to be going through some sort of defining challenge. The Reform Jews are dealing with how to accommodate a growing interest in religious rituals among some of their members, while staying true to the movement's liberal identity. Conservatives are in a state of perpetual crisis -- whether dealing with specific issues like gay marriage, or larger philosophical ones like how much pluralism they can tolerate in their own movement and stay viable.

And the Orthodox, well, they might look confident on the outside -- they are, after all, the champion protectors of God's commandments -- but dig beneath the surface, and you'll see a healthy dose of anxiety.

Just look, for example, at some of the subjects at this year's OU convention: "Guaranteeing Continuity: Keeping our Children Jewish and Orthodox" (Karen Bacon); "The Jew in the Modern World, the Modern World in the Jew: Are we too Integrated?" (panel discussion); "Media Messages vs. Jewish Messages" (film critic and conservative talk show host Michael Medved); "Jewish Continuity and Destiny" (Rabbi Marvin Hier); and "The Tuition Crisis and Seven Ways to Address It: An Existential Challenge for the Jewish Community" (Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb).

Those are not the subjects of a cocky movement.

They feel more like the subjects of a marketing seminar, as if an OU committee got together and said: Our brand is being threatened by a secular world that does not share our values. How do we deal with this threat without isolating ourselves?

I sensed some of this anxiety when I went to B'nai David Judea Congregation on Shabbat morning to hear Rabbi Weinreb, the executive director of the OU, give the weekly sermon.

Right off the bat, the rabbi brought up that all-consuming annual threat to Jewish identity: Christmas. How should Orthodox Jews navigate in a Christian world, especially at this time of year, when the symbols of Christianity are so dominant?

Rabbi Weinreb quoted a scholar who is part of the Conservative movement (professor Elliot Dorff) to explain a key difference between Judaism and Christianity: In Judaism, beliefs flow from behavior, while in Christianity, behavior flows from beliefs. The Jewish tradition doesn't ask us to believe in doing good, or even to feel good, before actually doing good. We're supposed to do it anyway.

And what is this "good"? For the Torah observant, the rabbi went on, it revolves around the Shulchan Aruch, the code of halacha (Jewish law) compiled in the 16th century. Just like the Constitution of the United States is the timeless code of law that protects our free society, the halacha is the timeless code of law that protects Judaism's and the Jewish people's continued survival.

In this world of law, no subject is too small. Is the new coloring agent on M&M chocolates kosher according to the OU? No sweat, the rabbi assured us. The Shulchan Aruch provides the answers.

Then the rabbi complicated the picture: The halacha doesn't have all the answers, he admitted. How could it? Who knew, for example, about stem cell research 500 years ago? What do we do when the halacha doesn't spell things out?

The rabbi used the Torah portion of the week to introduce the metaphor of the bow and arrow. When the law is not clear, the rabbi explained, we must tremble before God and aim very, very carefully, as with a bow and arrow. It's with this metaphorical bow and arrow that the OU decided to come out in favor of stem cell research a few years ago.

The Orthodox way, the rabbi concluded, is not that it refuses to re-examine Jewish law to reflect changing circumstances, but that it is extremely careful before doing so. He called it the "poetry in Halacha," and quoted a well-known saying by Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook: "Just like there are rules in poetry, there is poetry in rules."

Apparently, though, that is too much poetry for some people.

When you talk to Orthodox machers behind the scenes, you hear about this silent anxiety today in the Orthodox world about some of its members "flipping" into the Yeshiva world and becoming ultra-Orthodox. This subject didn't make it to the OU Convention, and it's not likely to ever make it. It's simply too awkward for an Orthodox movement to acknowledge that it is not Orthodox enough for some of its members.

Maybe that's why we're always hearing about the Orthodox movement moving more and more to the right. It's one thing to feel threatened by the seductive come-ons of a secular society, but to feel threatened by a "more religious" movement, one that is even more obedient of Jewish law? That cuts too close to the bone.

This might also explain the safe public agenda of the OU convention, where the "enemy" is that easy target used by religious movements everywhere: The modern world and its empty values.

No wonder there's anxiety in the Orthodox world. As if the white beard of Santa Claus wasn't enough, now you have the black beards of the ultra-Orthodox, which seduce you with their own antidote to the modern world: the promise of absolute certainty.



David Suissa, an advertising executive, is founder of OLAM magazine and Meals4Israel.com. He can be reached at dsuissa@olam.org.

Anonymous said...

What an honor to be selected as a powerful foreigner. I'm a gadol who has influnence all over the world. If I uncover any sex abusers in Russia or elswhere, I will ship them off to Baltimore!
--------------------------

Ukrainian rabbis seen as 'powerful foreigners'

Published: 01/02/2008

A Kiev weekly magazine cited two prominent Ukrainian rabbis among the most "powerful foreigners" in the country.

Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, one of the chief rabbis of Kiev and Ukraine, and Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky, the chief rabbi of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community and region, made the Russian-language weekly magazine Focus list of 15 “powerful foreigners.”

The rabbis, who were named along with the U.S. and Russian ambassadors, were said to seriously influence developments in Ukraine.

Anonymous said...

New Yeshiva Gets a Warm Welcome Despite a Damp, Drizzly Day
January 03, 2008 - Bryan Schwartzman, Staff Writer

The opening festivities and Torah dedication for Yeshiva Tiferes Avigdor included a clarinetist, who played outside before the ceremony's start.

A cold, steady rain fell as darkness descended, but the weather didn't dampen many spirits in the considerable crowd that had gathered. More than 120 people had been drawn to the Rhawnhurst section of Philadelphia to mark the birth of a new Jewish institution -- a talmudic yeshiva -- in a corner of the city that has seen its fair share of synagogue closures in recent years.

A Torah was carried -- wrapped in plastic and covered by a chupah -- down the streets to its destination at the school. Men, women and children sang and danced as a clarinetist supplied tunes that seemed to emanate straight from the ancestral towns and villages -- the shtetlach -- of Eastern Europe. About a half-dozen men carried torches, which helped illuminate the way as daylight faded.

Yeshiva Tiferes Avigdor, an Orthodox Talmudic academy for post-high school boys situated at the corner of Langdon Street and Summerdale Avenue, actually opened its doors in September, but at the time, the administrator was reticent to seek publicity or grant interviews.

So, Sunday represented the official welcome by the community as a newly completed Torah scroll was delivered to the yeshiva. The procession started outside the home of Rabbi Dov A. Brisman, a member of Philadelphia's Orthodox rabbinical court, or Beit Din.

Once the participants went inside the building -- located a little less than a mile from Brisman's home -- they grew more boisterous, as men continued to circle with the scroll for half an hour. As they danced, footsteps thundered in the small, crowded room, overpowering the traditional melody that accompanied the celebration.

"Today is a historic day," announced Rabbi Avrohom Novitsky, founder of the Aitz Chaim Synagogue Center of Rhawnhurst, which opened in the exact spot as the yeshiva back in 1965.

By 2001, Novitsky had retired, but the small congregation persevered until roughly three years ago, when it finally closed. For a time, the building housed Ohr Somayach Philadelphia, a Jewish outreach organization geared toward youth, but that closed earlier this year.

Rabbi Yehuda Brog, the Rosh Yeshiva, or head of school, of Tiferes Avigdor, already ran one school in Brooklyn and said that he was looking to start a second, though he hadn't a specific location in mind. Brog -- grandson of Baltimore-born Rabbi Avigdor Miller, after whom the yeshiva is named -- noted that he decided on Northeast Philadelphia only after he learned that the building had become available.

"We started the whole operation in six weeks," he said, adding that the school's 10 to 20 students -- he wouldn't give an exact number -- were recruited from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland.

Brog explained that some students are living in the house attached to the yeshiva building; Novitsky had lived in that home while he led the Aitz Chaim congregation. Brog wouldn't specify where other students lived.

Issue With the City
There's just one problem: Brog had not obtained permission from the city to convert the house into a dormitory facility, according to Bob Solvibile, commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

Since 1965, the property has been zoned for use as a synagogue, religious school and rabbi's residence, but not a dorm, according to city records. Another employee in the commissioner's office stated that the city doesn't plan to take any action at this time.

It's not clear whether obtaining the proper zoning would be as simple as filling out an application, or if it entails a hearing.

Brog denied that he'd done anything improper. He said that a house is obviously intended to be lived in, so zoning approval is not needed in order for people to dwell in one.

Miller's son, Rabbi Shmuel Miller, spoke at the Torah dedication ceremony. He normally lectures in Yiddish, but on this day spoke to attendees in English.

At the yeshiva, the students are instructed in a what Brog called "Yinglish," a mixture of Yiddish and English.

Miller called the yeshiva the heart of a community: "The leaders of klal Yisrael will be taught in this Beit Hamidrash."

In addition to his numerous teachings on the Torah and Talmud, the late Miller, who died in 2001 at the age of 92, was also known as a vocal opponent of political Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel. Echoing the teachings of many Eastern European rabbis, Miller argued that secular Zionism represented an attempt to usurp God's authority, and that a true Jewish homeland could only be established after the advent of the Messiah.

"We are not involved in politics at all," said Brog. "It's not a question of whether it is good or not good. He felt that was not the way for redemption to come. But now that there is a state, everybody has to deal with it."

Brog added that his grandfather "stood for one thing -- to serve Hashem. The obligation of every Jew is to serve Hashem."

exposemolesters said...

Rav Zachariah Gelley and Rav Yisroel Mantel deserve a lot of credit for pulling the plug on Rubashkins. KAJ made the right decision. Hopefully other Kashrus Supervisons will follw suit!

Anonymous said...

Grand Rabbi denies taking part in £16.5m tax-dodging scam

03 January 2008

By By Tom Tugend, Los Angeles

The Grand Rabbi of Spinka, head of a Brooklyn-based Chasidic sect, and five other men have pleaded not guilty to federal charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

Naftali Tzvi Weisz, the 59-year-old Grand Rabbi, and the other accused appeared in the US District Court in Los Angeles before Judge Alicia Rosenberg, who set February 12 for trial.

A federal grand jury indicted the men and five Spinka charities on December 18 on charges of participating in a fraudulent kickback scheme that cheated the Internal Revenue Service of at least $33 million (£16.5m).

In the alleged scheme, donors to Spinka charities were refunded up to 95 per cent of their donations, who then claimed the full amounts as tax deductions.

The kickbacks were laundered through the Mizrahi Bank in Tel Aviv and businesses in the Los Angeles jewelry district, according to prosecutors.

Other named defendants are the rabbi’s gabbai, or assistant, Moshe Zigelman, 60, also of Brooklyn, Joseph Roth, 66, of Tel Aviv, and three Los Angeles area residents, Yaacov Zeivald, 43, Alan Jay Friedman, 43, and Yosef Nachum Naiman, 55.

Rabbi Weisz and Mr Zigelman allegedly made more than $750,000 (£375,000) from the transactions.

All were freed on bond, except Mr Roth, an assistant manager at the Mizrahi Bank, who was considered a flight risk to Israel.

Mr Roth had been granted a $1.9 million bond (£960,000) by another magistrate, but who stayed the decision so that government prosecutors could draft an appeal. The defendants face lengthy terms in prison terms if convicted of the charges.

Anonymous said...

Why is shmita controversy important?

Both Zionist and haredi methods practiced during Sabbatical year are unsatisfactory since they contradict the entire purpose of Zionism
Prof. Rabbi David Golinkin


For the past few months, a controversy has been raging in the State of Israel: How should Shmita (the Sabbatical year) be observed? Most Israelis view this as an esoteric argument between the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) and Religious Zionists. They may also think that the problem was solved by the recent Supreme Court decision on October 23rd, which instructed the Chief Rabbinate to follow its own Heter Mechira (symbolic sale of the Land of Israel to non-Jews). They are wrong. This argument touches on the very essence of Zionism as Israel turns 60.



According to biblical law, the Land of Israel must lie fallow during the Sabbatical year (Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:1-7). Haredi farmers follow the Hazon Ish, Rabbi Isaiah Karelitz, who prohibits exporting produce from the Shmita year, but allows certain leniencies such as hydroponics.



Other farmers harvest the Shmita year's produce as "Rabbinic Court agents" and sell it through an Otzar Bet Din (Rabbinic Court Warehouse). This legal fiction can help the individual farmer, but it will not solve the State of Israel’s dilemma because produce distributed through an Otzar Bet Din retains the sanctity of Shmita. It may not be thrown in the garbage; it may not be eaten by non-Jews; it may not be sold; and it may not be exported abroad.



Some haredi settlements are supported by donations from abroad during the Shmita year. As for consumers, most haredi Jews buy their produce during the Shmita year from Arabs. If all Israeli Jews followed these methods, Jewish agriculture in Israel would collapse; if the State of Israel followed these methods, Agrexco would go bankrupt and Israel would lose one billion dollars in agricultural exports every year.



On the other hand, according to Rabbi Kuk's Heter Mechira method, the land and everything planted on it are sold to a non-Jew for a period of two years (so that the Shmita year is covertly included in the sale). It is thus permissible to buy and sell Shmita produce, since it belongs to a non-Jew. It is also possible to engage in work that is only rabbinically prohibited such as irrigating, weeding, fertilizing and removing stones. On the other hand, the five kinds of activities that are prohibited by the Torah – sowing, pruning, reaping, harvesting grapes and plowing - are still prohibited during the Shmita year.



Historically, the Chief Rabbinate followed the Heter Mechira. However, this year, due to haredi pressure, the Heter Mechira was performed as usual, but the Chief Rabbinate gave local rabbinic councils the right to ignore it and demand that supermarkets and restaurants in their towns must buy all their produce from Arabs. Indeed, the local rabbinates of at least nine cities with over one million inhabitants immediately declared that this is exactly what they would do. The potential loss to Jewish farmers was estimated at 700 million to 2 billion shekels.




The rabbis of Tzohar, a group of liberal Orthodox rabbis, then threatened to set up rival kashrut supervision and certify all the food establishments who follow the Heter Mechira. Finally, on October 23, 2007, Israel’s High Court of Justice invalidated Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger’s decision; if the Rabbinate itself had performed the Heter Mechira, it could not claim that it is not legitimate! The Court ruled that the Chief Rabbinate must overrule any local rabbi opposed to the Heter and appoint in his place a rabbi who will follow the Heter Mechira.



All of the methods described above are unsatisfactory since they contradict the entire purpose of Zionism.


End of part 1 – to be continued


Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin is the President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

exposemolesters said...

http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a1616/News/New_York.html

Lanner To Be Released From Jail Next Week
Former NCSY leader will have served three years of seven-year sentence for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.
Rabbi Baruch Lanner, in a New Jersey state prison for three years, will be on parole for four years. New Jersey Department of corrections


by Gary Rosenblatt
Editor and Publisher

After serving nearly three years for sexually assaulting two teenage girls in his charge in the mid-1990s, Rabbi Baruch Lanner, the former yeshiva principal and a longtime leader of the Orthodox Union’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth, is scheduled to be released from a New Jersey state prison next week, The Jewish Week has learned.


The rabbi, 58, was sentenced to up to seven years and has been in custody at Southwoods State Prison in Bridgeton for 35 months, following his conviction for criminal sexual contact.

The charges leading to his arrest and imprisonment came from two former students who attended Hillel High School in Deal, N.J. where Rabbi Lanner was principal.

He was tried and convicted in 2002, then released after less than a


week in jail pending an appeal. He was returned to serve his sentence on Feb. 10, 2005, after his conviction was upheld, and will now be released “to parole supervision for the balance of his sentence,” according to Neal Buccino, public information officer for the New Jersey State Parole Board.

Allegations that the rabbi had sexually and psychologically abused scores of teenagers in NCSY had been made over a 30-year period, but no action was taken until his behavior was first reported in The Jewish Week in June 2000.

The rabbi was terminated the day after the article was published, and the OU commissioned an extensive study that found “profound errors of judgment” among the leadership of the organization and called for sweeping reforms.

Major personnel changes were made at the OU, and stricter policies regarding parental supervision of and involvement in youth activities at NCSY were put in place.

The Orthodox Union declined to comment on Rabbi Lanner’s impending release.

But Richard Joel, who chaired the independent OU investigation when he was head of international Hillel and is now president of Yeshiva University, noted that “the system of justice has worked, he [Rabbi Lanner] has served his time, and I hope he gets on with his life — in another field — and builds something with it because he is a very bright man.

“This whole matter is not just about Baruch Lanner,” he continued, “and it has made our community more aware, more vigilant,” and made people recognize that “the responsibility for the welfare of our children rests with each of us.”

The parents of the younger of the two girls who brought charges against Rabbi Lanner and testified in his trial, and whose names were not made public to protect their privacy, told The Jewish Week: “We hope that what happened will serve to educate the community. These situations must be dealt with forthrightly and not be swept aside,” they said.

Elie Hiller, who worked with Rabbi Lanner for four years at NCSY and later testified against him at a bet din in 1989, said he and others who have been following the case for years “knew this day was coming,” when the rabbi would be released.

“I expect some of the victims will have a bit of anxiety, but I hope they realize that his release does not change the fact that he has a criminal record and remains on the Megan’s Law list,” which makes public the names of sex offenders in New Jersey and requires them to register their whereabouts with authorities.

Hiller said he hopes those who were abused by Rabbi Lanner “are at a place in their lives where they are making their lives whole and that they won’t feel intimidated. At the very least,” he said, “people will now be reminded that he has been in jail and that the brave ones who spoke out had a real effect” on Jewish communal life.

Hiller added that he is hopeful that Rabbi Lanner will not be given another position, here or in Israel, that would put him in contact with young people

Anonymous said...

OU Condemns Hate Speech Against Prime Minister Olmert
January 03, 2008
For Immediate Release

ORTHODOX UNION CONDEMNS HATEFUL AND VIOLENT SPEECH AGAINST PRIME MINISTER OLMERT

Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation's largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, released the following statement by President Stephen J. Savitsky and Executive Vice President Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb in response to remarks by Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe at a rally in Israel where he reportedly compared Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Nazi collaborators and suggested the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Vice Premier Haim Ramon and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be "hung from the gallows" in a properly run state:

"We unequivocally condemn Rabbi Wolpe's statements. They are beyond the pale of legitimate democratic protest and have no basis in Jewish law or hashkafa (philosophy).

While we - and many other supporters of the State of Israel - often find ourselves in disagreement with the Government of Israel on certain policy matters, it is unconscionable to cross the line into hate, violence and threats. Debate and dissent must be conducted civilly and respectfully in accordance with our Torah, whose "ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all of whose pathways are of peace."

We call upon all God-fearing Jews to act in a manner that brings praise to God, his People, Land and Torah."

Anonymous said...

If they come after me and i'm forced to settle, I will demand that all the boys in my Yeshiva pledge to collect the money. If they don't collect what they pledged; I will call upon Yudel Nussbaum to sexually and physically assault them. That should teach them a lesson they'll never forget!
--------------------------

Jesuits Settle Indian Sex Abuse Suit

By JOHN K. WILEY – 18 hours ago

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — An order of Roman Catholic priests announced a $5 million settlement Thursday with 16 people who said they were sexually abused while attending a boarding school on an American Indian reservation.

The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuit Order of priests, will pay $4.8 million in cash to the abuse victims and raise another $200,000 for the homeless in the area, the Jesuits and lawyers for the accusers said.

The Jesuits operated St. Mary's Mission and School near Omak for more than 60 years until turning it over to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in 1973. The tribes now operate the school as the Paschal Sherman Indian School.

The 15 women and one man claimed they were sexually abused by a school superior and a Jesuit worker in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The accusers were elementary school pupils at the time and are now in their 40s and 50s.

"I am profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering of these people, and for the violation of trust which they have felt," the Very Rev. John D. Whitney, head of the Oregon Province, said in a news release.

"It was at the invitation of the native communities that Jesuits first came to the Northwest, and we hold that as a sacred calling," Whitney said. "We are deeply apologetic for the ways in which we have not fully realized the grace of this invitation."

The Oregon Province covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. It also agreed in November to pay $50 million to more than 100 Alaska Natives who allege sexual abuse.

The accused abusers are still alive and living under supervision in Jesuit residences.

John Allison, a lawyer for the accusers, said the settlement was reached after several days of mediation and included talks involving Whitney and several claimants.

"We are very pleased that this settlement was reached without the long and grueling battle in the courts we've seen in too many other cases," Allison in a news release issued jointly with Whitney.

Some of the claims became public during bankruptcy proceedings involving the Spokane Catholic Diocese in 2006, Allison said. The settlement announced Thursday is separate from the $48 million settlement reached last year with about 150 people who were abused by clergy in the Spokane diocese.

Anonymous said...

Last update - 10:52 05/01/2008
The battle over Rabbi Nachman's tomb
By Tom Segev

During his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert paid a condolence call to a family of followers of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. Olmert asked courteously if there was anything he could do for the mourners.

Fortunately, they asked only this: that if he should ever become prime minister, he would act to bring Rabbi Nachman's remains from the city of Uman, in Ukraine, for reburial in Jerusalem. Olmert promised.

The Prime Minister's Office was recently involved in bringing the remains of the family of Theodor Herzl to Israel. It was a good story. With the country's 60th anniversary of independence approaching, Olmert wants something even more beautiful, and what could be more beautiful, more Jewish, more stately and more appropriate for Independence Day than interring the remains of Rabbi Nachman on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem? Everyone will be happy at this funeral, and happiness, after all, is one of the main tenets of Rabbi Nachman's doctrine.

The Bratslav Hasidim are indeed a community of happiness, although when we speak of "Bratslav Hasidim," it is necessary to be precise: they are not all cut from the same cloth. Israelis are mostly familiar with those who dance at traffic lights with boom boxes and paint the mysterious sequence "Na - Nach - Nachman" on walls. They are the ones who want Rabbi Nachman's remains to be interred in Jerusalem.

Alongside the populist branch are those identified with the World Breslov [Bratslav] Center; they do not want Olmert to interrupt their rebbe's rest. He was buried in Uman at his explicit instructions. His tomb projects magic that is liable, heaven forbid, to dissipate if it is moved; and anyway, who authorized the government of the Zionist state to seize control of his heritage?

Rabbi Nachman's tomb attracts about 30,000 Hasidim a year, most of them from Israel and the United States. With their numbers rising all the time, the Hasidim decided to expand the synagogue adjacent to the tomb. That was about 10 years ago. In Ukraine these things are done - how to put it? - the way they are in the Jerusalem Municipality, more or less: by a fusion of big capital and government. The Hasidim found a contractor who is also a member of parliament, Petro Kuzmenko by name. He is a member of the party whose leader is now the country's prime minister. A goy with a Jewish partner.

Agreement was reached on a project that was to cost $5 million. In return for the plans, the Bratslavers agreed to pay $195,000; they gave $95,000 as a down payment. The Ukrainian parliamentarian sent plans, but the Hasidim were dissatisfied and said they would pay no more.

However, it then emerged that in their naivete they had signed a contract obliging them to pay $1,000 for every day of payment arrears, and before they could say Na - Nach - Nachman the debt had swelled to $3 million, and the holy tomb was liable to become the goy's personal property.

Distraught, the Bratslav Hasidim tried to reason with the man. They agreed to give him $100,000, $200,000, $350,000; the goy wanted $3 million. The negotiations broke down. Tension rose in the Prime Minister's Office. Who said there are no happy funerals?

Then the Bratslavers hired the services of attorney Gilad Corinaldi from Jerusalem, who specializes in crisis management. Corinaldi grasped immediately that courts in Ukraine are not the ideal arena for Jews. He flew to Kiev to talk to the Israeli ambassador, Zina Kalay-Kleitman. God was on his side, and minutes before the lawyer was received by the ambassador it was announced on the radio that Ukraine's president, Victor Yushchenko, had accepted an invitation to visit Israel.

The ambassador did not find it difficult to understand that the people of Israel can under no circumstances give up the holy grave; the lawyer warned that tens of thousands of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) demonstrators were liable to be waiting for Yushchenko at the airport, that his whole visit might be dominated by their protests, that no one would talk any longer about Ukraine being admitted to the European Union one day, and who knows - even The New York Times might take an interest in the story. The ambassador, like all ambassadors, promised to report to her government.

In the meantime, Corinaldi made contact with someone who knows someone in the bureau of President Yushchenko. Yushchenko himself called the goy parliamentarian. He is not from his party, but still, a call from the president is something. Afterward, attorney Corinaldi got a call from Yushchenko's bureau asking if he would be so kind as to make time to meet with the president during his visit to Jerusalem. To the meeting, in the King David Hotel, the lawyer brought Rabbi Daniel Dayan, a Hollywood actor who became religiously observant and is a senior Bratslav figure. Dayan did what Jews always did when they went to talk to the paritz: He gave Yushchenko a fine silver goblet. Mrs. Yushchenko, who is also of American origin, acted as interpreter. Both of them were properly impressed.

The battle for the tomb is now under way on several levels. All the Bratslav Hasidim wanted to rescue it from the goy's clutches; some of them wanted to move the remains to Israel. So does the Prime Minister's Office. Yushchenko, one can assume, wanted only quiet, and the city fathers of Uman did not want to lose the tens of thousands of tourists; they are planning to build a new airport not far from their city.
This week, the government of Ukraine declared the tomb of Rabbi Nachman a national heritage site. On the occasion of the tomb's rescue, a Foreign Ministry delegation went to Uman to celebrate its victory over the Prime Minister's Office. Corinaldi says: "Those who did not want Jewish ownership of Rebbe Nachman?s grave received it under Israeli,Ukrainian and international aegis."

Winners: Bratslav Hasidim, Uman tourist promoters, Foreign Ministry. Losers: that goy and the Prime Minister's Office. The goy may get a few more dollars, but he will have to make do with that. The Prime Minister's Office is not giving up easily: It has asked Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef whether there is any halakhic impediment to transferring the holy remains to Jerusalem. One way or another, a proud state like Ukraine is not now likely to give up a national asset such as Rabbi Nachman's tomb.

Moses in Jerusalem

Ahead of the 30th anniversary of Israel's independence, prime minister Menachem Begin sent a message to Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek asking his opinion of how the event should be marked. Less than a year after Begin's election, which ousted Labor after 29 years, Kollek was still finding it hard to come to terms with the change. He therefore suggested that the prime minister ask the Pope to lend Israel Michelangel's sculpture of Moses, which would be placed at the site of the Western Wall.

The Prime Minister's Office, not realizing at first that Kollek was making fun of Begin, made cautious overtures to the religious public about whether the statue, with the horns on its forehead, would offend their sensibilities. Why should they be upset, Kollek said in a message to Begin; after all I did not suggest asking for the statue of David, who is not circumcised. Kollek was a rare bird among the country's founding fathers: He had a sense of humor. This week marked the first anniversary of his death.

Anonymous said...

Kosher Cat
Heter mechira for pets

Young religious cat-lover found an innovative solution for the halachic ban on spaying pets: He sold his cat Ponti to a Muslim friend, who had the animal neutered, and then bought it back from her. Rabbi: Solution contradicts Halacha
Kobi Nahshoni


Shmuel Dovrat, a young religious animal lover, recently came up with a creative solution for the halachic ban on neutering pets. Dovrat sold his beloved cat Ponti to a Muslim friend who spayed the feline, and bought it back from her immediately after the procedure.




"Our cat, Pontius Pilatus, reached sexual maturity and started peeing all over the house," Dovrat recounted, explaining this is one of the side effects of sexual arousal in cats.



Dovrat and his wife realized that without spaying Ponti they would not be able to keep him, but every halachic ruling they consulted made it clear that neutering an animal was strictly forbidden.



Throwing Ponti out into the street would have been cruel, and leaving him in the current situation would have also caused the cat to suffer, said Dovrat. And so, he and his wife decided to explore halachic sources in a bid to seek a solution to the dilemma.




Ponti. An inspiration for halachic solutions (Photo: Shmuel Dovrat)



After thoroughly reading through the rulings of some of the greatest Halacha adjudicators, Dovrat came to the conclusion that the halachic ban on neutering refers to farm animals, and not to pets.



However, in order to be absolutely sure his actions did not violate Jewish law, he decided to sell Ponti to a Muslim friend and have her take the cat to the vet for the operation. Once the cat has recovered, Dovrat bought it back from the friend, paying the same price he got for selling it earlier, and also reimbursing her for the cost of the operation.



"I have no doubt that an adjudicator knows more about the Halacha than I do, but I feel uncomfortable with some of the rulings. I don't like to be fed halachic solutions with a spoon. It's always important for me to know the source and understand the process that led to the ruling," Dovrat explained.


Animals as 'entertainment'

However, Ramat Gan's Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, who about a year ago ruled that surgical neutering was forbidden by the Halacha, said he did not agree with Dovrat's solution.




Ariel explained that while the great adjudicators indeed allowed Jews to let their Muslim neighbor spay their animal for them, if he wished to do so, they were never allowed to initiate such a moved themselves.



Ariel, who supports "hormonal neutering," also rejected the claim that refraining from spaying a pet constitutes cruelty to animals. "People buy dogs and cats in order to entertain their children, and not out of concern for the pets' welfare. If they are worried that the animals might have puppies and that no home could be found for them, they should find another form of entertainment to begin with," he stated.

Anonymous said...

Understanding JDL’s role in Free Soviet Jewry movement

BY: LARRY HERSH Special to the CJN


In the 1960s and ’70s, the plight of many Soviet Jews who were attempting unsuccessfully to emigrate became public.


At the time, the U.S. and Soviet Union were engaged in cultural-exchange programs. Touring the Soviet Union under U.S. State Department auspices were some of our symphony orchestras, concert pianists, Broadway dance companies, and jazz and swing ensembles. Touring the U.S. were two famous Russian ballet companies and a world-renowned Russian folk-dance company.


The situation for Jews wanting to leave the Soviet Union, however, only worsened, and the Free Soviet Jewry movement began. The first organized movement occurred here in Cleveland at The West Temple (see cover story). In time, a Free Soviet Jewry committee was established in every major city in the U.S.


However, the Free Soviet Jewry movement got nowhere. The Soviet Union did not answer letters and requests or respond to pleas. The U.S. State Department was not helpful either. our State Department felt that the U.S.-USSR cultural exchange program could not be jeopardized because of Jewish emigration requests. The attitude of the U.S. State Department and the USSR echoed attitudes of 1934-1938.


Then “the call” was made.


“The call” was always a telephone call to the Jewish Defense League (JDL), headed by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane and nationally headquartered in New York City.


“The call” came from someone at the synagogue or temple. Often it was the rabbi. The problem was explained; assistance requested and, always, the caller demanded anonymity, explaining that he could not be associated with hooliganism.


In response to these calls, JDL always made three requests: (1) Could the shul, temple, committee contribute manpower? (2) Could it contribute to the JDL? (3) Could it make a public statement praising the JDL?


The response was always the same. “We are respected, respectable people. We do not participate in rowdiness; though we appreciate JDL, we cannot condone JDL.”


Nonetheless, JDL immediately set about its task. This required finding a place or places to create disruption and turmoil without inflicting physical damage to people. The venue chose performances of the Soviet Russian dance company for the U.S./USSR cultural-exchange program.


The disruption must be civil disobedience rather than terrorism. People are not to be hurt. The hope is that attention will be paid to the wannabe émigrés. (See “Levels” list above)


The JDL’s actions worked. The Soviet Union and U.S. State Department did have a strong investment in the cultural-exchange program. Talks began involving the legislative offices of Cong. Charles Vanik (D-Ohio.) and Sen. Henry “Scoop”Jackson (D-Wash.), the Free Soviet Jewry committees, the Soviet foreign secretary, and the U.S. State Department.


JDL refused to participate in negotiations, deferring to the Free Soviet Jewry committees. Overtures to the JDL to “call off the dogs” were also refused, initially.


JDL did cease its civil-disobedience program to fulfill a request made by the Free Soviet Jewry committee, who felt it would make them look good if it were perceived that they had the power to “call off the dogs.”


The people who negotiated the freedom of Soviet Jews to emigrate should be forever praised. But it should never be forgotten that it was the late Rabbi Meir Kahane and JDL that brought the Soviet Union and the U.S. State Department to that negotiating table by rats, mice, stink bombs, smoke bombs, pickets, demonstrations, and thousands of young heroes lying in a D.C. street blocking traffic and accepting arrest.


The U.S. and USSR did not come willingly, but were rather dragged kicking and screaming to that pro-Jewish table. So? What else is new?


The JDL got Soviet and State Department attention.


Larry Hersh was Cleveland coordinator of JDL during the Free Soviet Jewry movement.


Levels of action taken by JDL


• Informational booths and tables politely talking to theater patrons about refuseniks.


• Peaceful picketing of doorways to the theater before the performance.


• Release of rats and/or mice throughout the theater in New York City during performances (in late 1960s and ’70s).


• Firing of stink bombs and smoke bombs in theater in New York.


• Peaceful demonstration, complete with permit, in Washington, D.C., in which demonstrators lay down in the street and had to be carried off, thereby disrupting traffic.

Anonymous said...

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2008/01/uoj-please-listen-abuse-of-power.html#c6022859974752502641

Keep up the work UOJ said...
DEAR UOJ

IT works
shlomo mandel was going to speak in florida at an aguda conference but was told that people would ask him about the abuse issues in his yehivas and coverups
shockingly he cancelled his trip

Anonymous said...

I have no comment!
---------------------------

Cardinal: Pray for Sexual Abuse Victims

17 hours ago

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican cardinal is calling for special prayer sessions worldwide for the victims of sexual abuse by priests.

A letter has been sent to bishops urging them to promote initiatives in their dioceses for special prayers, Cardinal Claudio Hummes said in an interview published in Saturday's edition of Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano. He did not indicate when such initiatives might begin.

"There have always been problems because we are all sinners," said Hummes, who heads the Vatican office overseeing priests worldwide.

"But in these times some truly very grave deeds have come to light," he said in a reference to the scandals of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

Many dioceses around the world, particularly in the United States, have been shaken by sex abuse scandals in the last few years.

"Obviously one must always keep in mind that only a minimal part of the clergy has been involved in grave situations," Hummes said. "Not even 1 percent is involved with problems of moral and sexual conduct."

Anonymous said...

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-ho.ellis06jan06,0,2769964.story
baltimoresun.com
Sex-abuse trial to start tomorrow
Former teacher charged with illicit contact with students

By Tyeesha Dixon

Sun reporter

January 6, 2008


The jury trial for Joseph Samuel Ellis, the former Glenelg High School history teacher accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with several female students, is scheduled to begin tomorrow in Howard County Circuit Court.

Ellis, 26, of Elkridge, is charged with sex abuse of a minor, two counts of a fourth-degree sex offense, indecent exposure, displaying obscene material to a minor and misusing a telephone for obscene purposes.

Police arrested Ellis last Jan. 8, after students accused him of various crimes: exposing himself to one student in a classroom, sending inappropriate computer messages to another and meeting a third girl in a park to provide her with alcohol. He was fired in April.

Ellis was the first of three Howard County public school teachers arrested during the 2006-2007 school year, accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with students. Each has been fired.

The others were Alan Meade Beier, 53, a former chemistry and physics teacher at River Hill High School, and Kirsten Ann Kinley, 28, a former special-education teacher at Marriotts Ridge High School. Beier, who was accused of undressing and photographing a 16-year-old boy in his classroom and fondling a 17-year-old female student, was arrested Jan. 12. His trial was postponed and has not been rescheduled.

Kinley pleaded guilty in August to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy while she was a teacher at Hammond Middle School in late 2004 and early 2005. The boy was not a student at Hammond Middle. Kinley was sentenced to serve 18 months at the county detention center in November.

Prosecutors dropped charges in November against Alan Silberman, a former Howard High School guidance counselor arrested in May after police said they found crack cocaine in his car.

In a pretrial motions hearing in November, a judge ruled that the contents of a cell phone and other items police obtained in Ellis' case can be used at trial, despite his attorney's argument that search warrants used to obtain the items from his home, cell phone and computer included language that was not specific enough.


tyeesha.dixon@baltsun.com

Anonymous said...

Victims tell of Brooklyn priest sex abuse

BY ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, January 6th 2008, 4:00 AM

Father Zatarga liked to watch.

That's what one of the men said as he recounted how more than 20 years ago the priest told him to undress and stand naked in front of a mirror while the priest watched.

"Here he was, supposedly living a life of service in the name of the Lord, but he was doing this to his children," said the victim, now a 39-year-old New York City lawyer. "He was aiming for heaven but he was going the other way."

Msgr. George Zatarga of the Diocese of Brooklyn was placed on administrative leave after he admitted to "inappropriate behavior" during his 40-year career, according to a Dec. 1 letter from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio to parishioners.

At least five men have told the diocese that Zatarga molested them as teenagers, sources told the Daily News. A sixth victim told The News of the decades-old abuse but did not file a formal complaint with the diocese.

The most recent allegations stemmed from 2007, when the priest took an 18-year-old young man to Zatarga's home outside upstate Saratoga Springs.

The News interviewed three of the men who said they were among those abused.

The 65-year-old monsignor was barred from priestly duties and packed off to a counseling program, which sources identified as the St. Luke Institute for the religious in Silver Spring, Md.

Zatarga did not return a phone call for comment placed at the institute. However, church leaders apologized for his betrayal. "I sincerely apologize to the victims for the emotional suffering endured by sexual abuse by any member of the clergy," said DiMarzio.

For his victims - those who complained to the diocese, as well as one who came forward to The News - it was a relief to have the secret exposed.

"I had one-on-one counseling sessions. He was a marriage counselor to my parents before they got divorced. He was in my house every week," said the lawyer, who learned of Zatarga's admission when his father sent him a newspaper article.

The lawyer, who asked not to be named, said Zatarga invited him to the Saratoga Springs house for a retreat.

Then a student at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, he confided to Zatarga, the school chaplain, that he was involved with a girl, his first.

Zatarga, Molloy's chaplain from 1979 to 1989, said sex outside marriage was a sin, but there were other ways to feel good.

The priest told the teen to strip, and then started to stroke his shoulders and outer thigh.

"He called what he was doing counseling, and a sign of trust between us, having me take off my clothes. When he touched my shoulder, and asked if I had an erection, I started to cry, and said I had to leave," the lawyer said. "I thought I was going to hell."

The victim told his mother what happened but said he tried never to think of it again. He never filed a complaint, though his father wrote the school last year.

The pattern of betrayal was similar for another family, where three brothers said "Father George" molested each of them.

"It's disgusting - the entire family," said the middle brother, now a 46-year-old electrical technician. "How could someone mess up teenagers like this?"

Zatarga met the boys' parents when he was the priest at St. Gertrude's in Rockaway, the sons said, and they all became fast friends. "Father George" attended nearly every family function, counseled the eldest son, a foster child, and took the boys, individually, on upstate retreats.

"We had gone to the house upstate, but on the way back the car broke down. We wound up in the woods. Then the touching," said the youngest brother, a 45-year-old male nurse. "He used the guise that it was 'extreme counseling' and I could not tell anyone because it would ruin his reputation and our family."

It wasn't until fall 2006 that - as grown men in their 40s - the brothers discovered all three had been abused.

Even then, they didn't consider turning in Zatarga, a friend of their parents for more than 40 years.

Then, last February, the middle brother learned the priest had offered "counseling" to his then-18-year-old and 24-year-old sons.

"You bury things deep, but when it's your own kids. ... I couldn't live with that," the teen's father said. He went to church leaders, who notified the diocese.

His complaint led to Zatarga's removal from American Martyrs Parish in Bayside, sources said.

Zatarga was in the Bayside parish for about two years, but none of the allegations stemmed from his time there. At least one of the alleged victims attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, where Zatarga was chaplain from 1971 until 1979.

Only the recent incident against the now-19-year-old is current enough to bring criminal charges, law enforcement sources said. The Saratoga County district attorney's office and the state police are investigating.

"I didn't really want to see him go to jail," the middle brother said. "I think he'll burn in hell."

agendar@nydailynews.com

Anonymous said...

If there is even a shred of doubt you must aquit. This is a miscarriage of justice!
--------------------------
Superior Court upholds sex-abuse conviction

BY SANDRA K. REABUCK
The Tribune-Democrat

EBENSBURG— Even though two young victims’ testimony was not flawless at trial, the state Superior Court has upheld the conviction of a former Scalp Level man on charges that he sexually abused the girls.
Anthony Ray Thompson, 44, was sentenced last year by Judge Norman Krumenacker to 21 to 60 years on multiple counts of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related charges.
Thompson, who has maintained he is innocent, has contended that the girls lied on the witness stand at his trial in November 2005. He now is at the Albion State Correctional Institution near Erie.
The girls, who were 4 and 6 years old at the time of the incidents, testified that they were abused by Thompson in late 2003.
The Superior Court said, “Our review of the testimony of the two minor victims demonstrates that the evidence presented was not seamless. Indeed, in our experience, a victim’s testimony is seldom without some flaw.”
But, despite that, the court pointed out that Krumenacker, as trial, judge “had heard the testimony of the children and (his) conscience was not shocked by the verdict. Our review of the testimony gives us absolutely no reason to disagree.”
Assistant District Attorney Tamara Bernstein, who prosecuted the case, said that the young victims will be reassured with Thompson’s appeal being dismissed.
She has maintained that the girls’ testimony was credible and that they know the difference between truthfulness and lies.
“In cases like this, there may not be any other witnesses because the abuse takes place behind closed doors. It (the ruling) will bring a sense of finality, and a huge weight will be lifted off them,” she said.
Timothy Burns, who is Thompson’s court-appointed appeals attorney, said that he will be discussing with his client whether to ask the state Supreme Court to accept the case for review.
The appellate court also rejected Thompson’s claims that he was not given a speedy trial and that his trial attorney, John Kasaback, had not provided effective legal counsel.

exposemolesters said...

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-abuse0104,0,2690471.story
baltimoresun.com
Man, 61, accused of child sex abuse

January 4, 2008


A Harford County grand jury has indicted a Bel Air businessman on 218 counts of sexual child abuse, investigators said yesterday.

William Leslie Harrison, 61, was indicted Wednesday on charges that included sexual child abuse and third-degree sex offense, the Harford County state's attorney's office said.

Harrison, the former owner of Trenton Properties on Main Street, is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy who worked for him during the 10 months that began in October 2006.

Harrison, who was arrested last month, was released from the Harford County Detention Center on $1 million bond.

The Harford County Child Advocacy Center is investigating to determine whether there are other victims.

Investigators have said that in the past, Harrison has employed several boys the same age as the teenager.

Anonymous said...

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2008/01/uoj-please-listen-abuse-of-power.html#c6022859974752502641

Keep up the work UOJ said...
DEAR UOJ

IT works
shlomo mandel was going to speak in florida at an aguda conference but was told that people would ask him about the abuse issues in his yehivas and coverups
shockingly he cancelled his trip

exposemolesters said...

Hey check out Avi Shafran's latest article "Danger in the blogosphere." If you're in the mood of some real comic relief this will surely have you singing the lyrics "I'v heard this tune before."

Loshan Horah syndrome - Saving lives (the lives of innocent children) in essence is forbidden according to Avi Shafran because one is then guilty of Motzei Shem Rah and Loshan Harah. This is a very twisted manipulation and play on words - which shafran spins so frequently when he cares to comment on anything but sexual abuse in the Jewish community.

Shafran knows damn well that Rabbi Yehuda Kolko is a child predator. If he doesn't realize this by now, he is an even bigger ignoramus double talking turd than we know him to be.

According to Shafran the red line you do not cross is questioning the "Rabbonim" and "gedolim." By those standards the "Rabbi" can never do any wrong to anything or anybody at anytime because they are infallible. Is that argument rational? What's the rationale for the PR Of Agudah and their big loudmouth of deceit, Rabbi Avi Shafran, for shoving the child molestation issue aside like they would a piece of dandruff on their Borsalino hats and jackets? Their utter silence and continued silence on the plague that has spread well into the Jewish orthodox world - From Ultra-Orthodox, to Modern Orthodox, to Conservadox, Conservatives, to Reform, Traditional, and you name it - is something that should be addressed - Not ignored. Yet, like Agudas Israel has done or not done with the Johnothan Pollard travesty - speaks for itself on the political agenda of the Avi Shafran twisted lies and distortions; all the while using the Torah he distorts as his defense. Thats ludicrous!

How does Shafran explain the Sheinberg "penetration" ruling?
How does a gadol send an admitted sex offender to another city to continue offending there?
What happens if someone G-D forbids rapes your child - Rabbi Avi Shafran? Would you still spew your venom for the blogosphere who speak the truth you don't want spoken?

How does Shafran defend the "Rabbonim" and "Gedolim" who enable abuse? By telling the Jews to be ROBOTS. What he expects is for ALL Jews to blindly believe in the infallibility of their rabbinical leadership, especially in the matter of child abuse. We are expected to ignore the midas harachamim we all are supposed to display for other yidden and stay quiet and not report alleged abuse to the police. If the victims report abuse to the Rabbi's they are most likely to become double victims. Rabbi's have proven themselves to be involved in cover ups and abuse - so victims can't go there. Comes along the master of manipulation Avi Shafran, And he says we can't believe these stories and rumors because they are being circulated on the evil internet. Nevermind that Avi Shafran's articles are on the internet; the venue of darkness and spider webs. Why make his articles available online if in his own words in reference to the evil internet; he refers to it as the "pollution of the most pernicious sort"?

How does Avi Shafran allow his material to be distributed on the evil internet, will one not be tempted to engage in immoral and sinful net surfing according to his distorted logic? Where does it end. How about learning Torah on the internet?

The Bible states (Leviticus 19:14): "You shall not curse the deaf nor place a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God - I am your Lord." In Hebrew, the sin of placing a stumbling block before a blind person is referred to as lifnei iver lo sitten michshol (before the blind do not place a stumbling block), or succinctly as lifnei iver.

In shafran speak; any confrontation on critical pikuach nesfesh issues such as sexual abuse in the Jewish community is off limits (assuming it even gets reported to authorities after the Rabbi's are finished with their cover up and denials.)

More and more Jews are beginning to see Agudas Israel Of America for what they are and what they are not. Shafran can distort the truth and sugar coat it with his terminology, but more and more Jews of all faiths and level of observance know what he is. He's the epitome of fraud. He's full of baloney. "Rabbi Avi Shafran is guilty of "You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds”.

There are so many misleading points in this article that Shafran conveniently makes or omits. Like failing to mention that bloggers have done much good and that without some bloggers who care more than Avi Shafran does, Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse may be much more rapant, especially in the Yeshivah world.

Sexual abuse, child molestation - does matter to society and to the safety of other human beings. People need to know how to prevent it from reoccurring. Avi Shafran prefers that another child get abused over reporting a Rabbi who enabled abuse. Avi Shafran makes the horrible choice that another child has to get abused because we have to believe in "Torah Values" - The very same values Avi Shafran exploits for his own benefit. What a Rishusdicka attitude. Chaval al Hazman!

The debris, sewage, and slop oozing out of the likes of not only Avi Shafran - but people of the same arrogant and cowardly views, is an unfortunate byproduct of tainted Jewish leadership and corrupt egos and powers.

Rabbi Avi Shafran has Jewish blood on his hands. How he sleeps at night I do not know!

Anonymous said...

This is exactly what I have been trying to tell people - YES it DOES happen in this community! People seem to be in a fantasy land here in Broooklyn, NY - they seem to think (and say), "a frum yid would never do that" - but they need to wake up! Simply looking and acting frum on the outside does not make it so... That attitude is exactly why the pedophiles continue to do these heinous things - because others don't think it happens in the community - and it sure does! People need to be educated so that we can protect the children! (and the pedophiles need to be executed! - yes, you read that correctly - executed for their crimes against G-d and humanity!)

Anonymous said...

CHILD ABUSER: The following person is a child abuser - Name: Rochelle Kempler (but uses the false last name of Fink), address: 5201 14th Ave. Apt. 6F, Brooklyn, NY 11219, phone number: 718-438-0025, SS#: 085-60-7582... In addition to being a child abuser, she is a theif, a lesbian, and mentally deranged (she plays with and eats her own feces - yuck!); and it is believed that she is a hermaphrodite. She masquerades as a frum Jew, but she is NOT! She needs to be run out of decent society, and removed from our community!

About Me

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It is unfortunate that it has come to this. It is a big darn shame it has come to this. It is very hurtful that it has come to this. But yet, IT HAS COME TO THIS. It has come at the price of a GREAT CHILUL HASHEM. It has come to Hashem having to allow his holy name to be DESECRATED so that his CHILDREN remain SAFE. Shame on all those responsible for enabling and permitting Hashem's name to be desecrated! When you save children you save the future. You save the future you save generations. You save generations you save lives. You save lives you have saved the world!!!!!!!