Albert Einstein:
The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
Aldous Huxley:
At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.
Blaise Pascal:
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Helen Keller:
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.
Leonardo da Vinci:
He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done.
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http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a14069/News/New_York.html
Anti-Abuse Rabbi Says He’s In Danger
by Hella Winston And Larry Cohler-Esses
A Williamsburg community activist who has spoken out frequently against child sexual abuse in the Brooklyn Orthodox community claimed Monday that his life had been threatened multiple times as a result.
Rabbi Nuchum Rosenberg claimed that the threats culminated last month when he was “shot” on Berry Street, near the Williamsburg Bridge by unknown assailants.
Speaking at a press conference outside the 90th Precinct Police Headquarters in Williamsburg, Rabbi Rosenberg complained that police were unable to protect him. He pointed to a scarlet wound seared in the middle of his forehead to indicate the spot where he was hit.
But in interviews he gave before and after the press conference, Rabbi Rosenberg said he was actually uncertain just what hit him on the forehead,
Delta
saying it could have been a pellet gun or even a rock.
“A car flew by as I was walking, and I felt something hit me,” he told The Jewish Week. “I didn’t see what it was.”
Police sources confirmed Rabbi Rosenberg had filed at least three complaints about being harassed or threatened over the last several months. But he acknowledged that he filed a complaint about the attack on him last month several days after it had occurred. Rabbi Rosenberg said the assault took place on Oct. 16, the fourth day of Sukkot, but that he went to the police only after the eight-day Jewish holiday.
Rabbi Rosenberg, 58, said that prior to this incident he was threatened twice at gunpoint by an unknown person speaking Hebrew who warned him to close down a telephone hotline he operated. The Yiddish language hotline featured recorded messages on which Rabbi Rosenberg addressed a host of sensitive community issues, including child sex abuse, and on which he made often incendiary charges.
On one recorded message obtained by The Jewish Week, Rabbi Rosenberg denounced various individuals by name as an “extortionist,” and a “mafia thug.”
The hotline messages also offered educational warnings to children and their families about what to do if confronted by molesting teachers or other adults and advice on how to protect against it.
On both the recorded messages and at his press conference, Rabbi Rosenberg claimed that a group in the Williamsburg community known as the Meshmeris Ha’Tznius, or Guardians of Modesty, protected pedophiles and other sexual offenders in exchange for money.
“It’s a gang,” he said at the press conference. “They’re getting white envelopes with green leaves inside.”
Law enforcement officials and community leaders have long reported that victims of sex crimes in insular, ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn communities frequently will not go to the authorities, severely limiting their ability to investigate and prosecute such crimes. Most attribute this to social strictures and community and rabbinic pressures against turning to outside, secular authorities that would expose the community to external scrutiny on matters considered shameful.
State Assembly Member Dov Hikind says he has compiled dossiers of at least 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn Orthodox communities, based on first-hand accounts of victims and their families who have come to him. Many involve molestation of children at the hands of yeshiva teachers and rabbis, he says. But “99 percent” will not go to the authorities, he told The New York Times.
Benzion Twerski, an Orthodox psychologist who agreed to serve on a community panel formed by Hikind to address the issue, resigned last September after one week, citing communal pressure on him and his family.
But at his press conference, Rabbi Rosenberg said that in exchange for extortion payoffs by perpetrators, Meshmeris Ha’Tznius in Williamsburg protected sexual predators from exposure and pressured the families of any victims that might think of going to the authorities not to do so.
On his hotline, “I said who they are and what they are,” he said. “I told the stories that they tried to extort $10,000 from this one and $10,000 from that one.
“I even told them stories that when a girl was raped, they went to the rapist and they took out the money from him, and they never gave help to the girl that was raped. They tell the father don’t you dare have anything to do with the people that are trying to investigate. It’s against the Jewish law.”
Rabbi Rosenberg’s claims could not be independently confirmed. But there is no doubt the hotline provoked a fierce firestorm of denunciation against Rabbi Rosenberg.
Last July, 33 rabbis signed a public condemnation of Rabbi Rosenberg published in Der Blatt, a Yiddish language weekly paper based in Williamsburg.
“He speaks all kinds of dirt that the mind can’t tolerate, that come from places that are impure and makes other people impure,” the ad said, warning readers not to call his hotline. “He should stop from his bad ways and shut his dirty mouth.
“This destroyer is like a stone that is thrown at the Jewish people, and his position is like a transgressor who makes the public transgress,” the ad said.
The rabbis stated that Rabbi Rosenberg should not be allowed to pray with any congregation and that no one should hire him as a consultant on the building of ritual baths, which is his profession.
Yitzchak Glick, a member of the Central Rabbinical Congress, a body that represents many of the rabbis who signed onto the ban, declined to comment about the decree or Rosenberg’s allegations.
Another tract, distributed anonymously throughout Williamsburg, depicted a twisting snake with Rabbi Rosenberg’s head superimposed over the serpent’s, his forked tongue sticking out.
“Cursed are you from every wild animal,” the leaflet decried, citing him by name. “The name of this evil person should be obliterated. Get out unholy one. Obliterate the snake (Nuchem Satan) from all corners of the world.”
The ad by the 33 rabbis and others signed by the “Meshmeris Ha’Tznius” denounced Rabbi Rosenberg as a moser, one who endangers a Jewish community by informing on it to secular authorities.
Historically, in the shtetls of Europe, when Jews were persecuted, someone found to be a moser could be put to death. But “there is a general consensus today that this doesn’t apply,” said Rabbi Mark Dratch of JSafe, a group dedicated to preventing child abuse and domestic violence in the Jewish community. “I would [assume] that none of these rabbis were literally calling for his assassination. That said, I am not saying that they did not mean to intimidate him. He was being intimidated.”
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http://www.hasidicnews.com/news25.shtml
Satmar Squabble Rages On
By GIMPEL the SHISTER, HasidicNews.com Writer
WILLIAMSBURG (HN) - The squabbling between the two Satmar Newspapers "Der Yid" and "Das Blat" rages on.
Originally "Der Yid" was the only Satmar newspaper. When the Satmar Congregation split into the Zalmen and Aaron teams, Der Yid ended up as expected in the hands of Zalmen. Aaron's people launched "Das blat as a way of asserting their independence and counter the pro-Zalmen Der Yid.
One of the ironic outcomes of this inner squabbling is the shedding of some traditional no-no's like pictures. Der Yid never used to show any pictures. Das Blat in an attempt to attract readers and perhaps convert them to their cause, started showing pictures. Der Yid quickly followed suit.
One notable prevailing attitude is for one paper not to discuss any news occurring in its opponents team. This is somewhat odd, but quite common in the Satmar world. Ever since Satmar started fighting Belz about 15 years ago, Satmar official media never mentioned anything about Belz, including The Belze Rebbe's highly-publicized visit to the US about seven years ago.
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http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2008/11/rabbi-nachum-rosenberg-victim-advocate.html
Rabbi Nauchm Rosenberg has been advocating for Jewish survivors of sexual violence in Williamsburg/Borough Park (Brooklyn) New York for over 35 years. Over the last several months he had his life threatened if he did not close down a hotline. A little over two weeks ago there was a drive by shooting in which someone shot a him. Please listen to him tell his story and demand that he is protected. His goal is to help survivors make police reports and testify in court to help put an end to sex crimes in his community and around the globe.
NOTE: this is a four part series. Please watch all 4 parts. (Click link above to watch video)
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59 comments:
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbinicalcourts/crc/statements/nytimes021101.cfm
The New York Times
Sunday, February 11, 2001
WHY ARE WE AGAINST THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT AND ITS WARS?
Issued By
The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. & Canada
In the aftermath of the elections in the state of Israel it has become a commonplace that religious Jews and their parties support a candidate who was in favor of slowing down or stopping the peace process. The impression has been created that ultra-Orthodox Jewry, in accordance with traditional Torah belief are the staunchest supporters of maintaining Israel sovereignty over “territories” and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Two thousand years ago, at the time of the Temple’s destruction, the Jewish people were forbidden by the Creator (kesubos 111a) to exercise sovereignty over the Holy Land prior to the Messianic era. They were further forbidden to wage any form of war against other nations during their exile. Rather, the paradigm of Jewish existence in the diaspora is to behave in a civil, honest and grateful manner towards their hosts throughout the world’
For over two thousand years the Jewish people accepted their exile as a Divine decree. Jews never attempted a rebellion against their host nations or other peoples. There were no plans or efforts ever made to wrest the Holy Land from its rulers or inhabitants at any point in the long history of Jewish exile. The sole means employed by Jewry to end their exile, throughout the ages were prayer, penance and good deeds.
In similar fashion, during the waning days of the second Temple, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai defiled the Jewish zealots of his time and initiated surrender talks with the Romans.
This uniformity of belief and practice remained intact until about hundred years ago and the advent of Zionism, Zionist representing a tiny movement, sought the metaphysically impossible. Their stated goal was to reverse the Divine decree of exile.
Zionism, by its very nature, rejects the concept of a divinely imposed exile. In addition, it has been consistently indifferent to the sufferings and dangers to which it and its embodiment, the State of Israel, have inflicted upon Jew and Gentile.
Zionism represents a total and radical break with the beliefs and practices of the Jewish people throughout history.
Consistently, since its inception, our sages and rabbis condemned the Zionist heresy. To this day Torah true Jewry has remained loyal to the heavenly decree of exile. The literature of Orthodox Rabbinic condemnation of Zionism is vast and well known.
It is only logical that during the Israeli State’s 52 years of existence, its most passionate and consistent opponents have been traditional Torah Jews. Therefore, the ongoing suffering and trail of death unleashed upon Jews and non-Jews by the Israeli state are not the work of the faithful remnant of Torah Jews who have always denounced the state’s very existence.
Thus, ultimate heresy of Zionism, its denial of Divine providence over history was inevitable outgrowth of an overall rejection of G-d and Torah which typified the movement’s founders, The Subsequent history of this bizarre ideology has been a ceaseless record of overt anti-Torah acts. Included in this sorry record are indiscriminate and coerced autopsies, mass desecration of cemeteries, conscription of women into the army and recent efforts to lure Rabbinical seminarians into the armed forces.
Recently, much militant rhetoric has been heard from those who describe themselves “religious Zionist”. Sadly their stance is in violation of the millennial beliefs of Torah sages and masses of Jewry.
The goal of Torah Jewry is to live in quite piety and dwell peacefully with all nations and peoples. Those following this Divine agenda are not linked to any wars that are falsely depicted as Jewish wars but are, in reality, Zionist wars.
We conclude with a prayer that the Creator Himself will soon send His messiah to redeem the Earth and all mankind will forever join together in worship of Him.
Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. & Canada
Established in 1952, is a worldwide organization representing over 150 orthodox communities.
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/rabbinicalcourts/crc/statements/011186.cfm
Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada
85 Division Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 112111
384-6765
January 11, 1986
The central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada representing the masses of Orthodox and Hassidic Jews feels impelled to reiterate the Torah true position it has expounded many times in the past.
We decry the shocking statements and accompanying actions of "religious" leaders in the state of Israel. We are especially offended by those who use the revered title "Rabbi" to bring shame upon the Jewish people as a whole by their actions and polemics
As a people we have demonstrated moral principles and greater religious tents to the world. Our tenacity in clinging to our faith has brought us much persecution in our physical exile. Despite this, we have always remained loyal to our traditions.
Among the traditions upheld through the years are three principles that pertain to our ultimate redemption by Moshiach for which we pray daily.
1. We are bound not to create or work to attain a state in the Holy Land before the promised redemption.
2. We are bound to accept the yoke of Diaspora, of exile, until the redemption.
3. We are bound to live in peace and harmony among the nations where Heavenly Providence has dispersed us.
These three principles have been followed without question for millennia. "Religious" zionism took advantage of the "opportunity" of the Holocaust, to manipulate and distort these principles so as to justify their actions in midwifing the birth of the state of Israel; there are religious Jews who have debased and degraded their faith by worshipping the Golden Calf of our day, the Israeli government.
This totally secular state is zionist not Jewish. Under its constitution and governing body, every sort of violation of Judaism is condoned and advanced. This state condones immorality, encourages and abets the profanation of the Holy Sabbath, allows indiscriminate abortions, forces post mortems, countenances the desecration of ancient Jewish graves and has the chutzpah to call itself the "Jewish" state. The "religious" political parties of the State allow themselves to be used to present an appearance of the approval by the Torah their participation is used to whitewash the misdeeds of the State and to prove that their every action is in accord with the Torah, Heaven forbid.
Recently various ultra nationalist zionist movements have emerged that demand permanent annexation of the West Bank. We have witnessed a renewed parody of "religious fervor" by the Gush Emunim, some of whose members are serving sentences for terrorist activities. These extremists, under the guise of religious zeal, have set up several settlements on the West Bank. The notorious "Rabbi" Meir Kahane has called for the expulsion of Arabs from their homes and their deportation to other lands. A group of religious people have established a town on the West Bank called Emanuel.
These acts have been committed in the name of the Sacred Torah.
We cannot, we dare not remain silent.
It is our duty to denounce those who invoke the name of the Almighty in vain. It is our holy obligation and our moral responsibility to cal on them: Stop using these falsehoods and heresies to justify yourselves and your misdeeds. The Jewish faith, as transmitted by the Almighty to our forefathers has not and will never countenance the zionist and nationalistic doctrines of the state of Israel. These false doctrines are compounded of atheism and anti-religious zionism, ideologies alien to Judaism. Let them not be misrepresented to the world as "Jewish".
Our basic desire as G-d fearing Jews is to live in peace with our neighbors in the lands where we reside until the final Divine redemption takes place as promised and peace and harmony will come to all mankind. Amen.
The following explains the statement issued by the Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada.
The true Jewish position on zionism and the state called Israel is found in the Scriptures in the Talmud and in the oral traditions transmitted to us by our parents and teachers.
At the outset of the Jews' exile to Babylonia, the Prophet Jeremiah, in chapter 29 of his book proclaimed G-d's message to all the exiled…Verse seven reads, "Seek out the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray for it to the Almighty, for through its welfare will you have welfare." This has been a cornerstone of Jewish "foreign policy" how to behave in the lands of the nations throughout our ensuing exiles till this very day.
There Jeremiah adds in the name of G-d (verses 8 and 9), "Do not let your false prophets among you and your sorcerers seduce you, do not head your dreamers which you cause them to dream. For they speak falsely to you in My name. I did not send them." This too has applied to all the would-be misleaders of Jewry whether they presented themselves as prophets or as sorcerers or as dreamers of national aspirations.
King Solomon in Song of Songs thrice adjured the "daughters of Jerusalem" not to arouse or bestir the love until it is ready." The Talmud explains that two of the oaths are directed at the Jews, the exiled daughters of Jerusalem, not to unit to take the Holy Land and not to rebel against the nations. The third oath is directed to the nations of the world no to oppress the Jews. Throughout the seventy years of the Babylonian exile, throughout the 200 years of the Hellenic exile and throughout the 1917 since the destruction of G-d's Holy House, we have steadfastly maintained our loyalty to G-d and have not transgressed His oaths. And we have prayed for the welfare of the cities and the countries of our host nations that did not oppress us, and in their welfare we indeed always found ours.
Whoever violates Jeremiah's principles or Solomon's oaths immediately imperils the welfare of Jews locally and elsewhere in the world.
The CRC sound very alike to Netuei Karta in their beliefs and opinions. There is some validity in both groups when they claim that Israeli leaders have been treating its people terribly. But most of their arguments are superficial at best; and they (not Meir Kahane etc.) are the religious zealot loonies who create problems in the world and spread hatred among Jews.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. What irks me, though, is the use of the word "Zionist", as if trying to equate it to a sign of degradation. It is no surprise to me then, that these same people are protecting child predators, issuing decrees, and breaking the limbs of those who they consider unrighteous, immodestly dressed, or those unwilling to obey their every command.
"These acts have been committed in the name of the Sacred Torah.
We cannot, we dare not remain silent."
Then why are they silent when children are being raped by their rebbehs?
Some people believe Emanuel is where I fled to.
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A group of religious people have established a town on the West Bank called Emanuel.
Settler rabbi: The State of Israel is an enemy of the people
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news, Hebron
"The state of Israel has become the enemy of the people and the land of Israel," settler rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe said Tuesday during an emergency meeting on the state's plan to evacuate a house in Hebron whose ownership has been at the center of a bitter dispute for over a year.
The four-story building became a flash point for tensions when settlers moved in early last year after claiming to have purchased it from a Palestinian. But the Palestinian denies the claim and Israeli authorities have not recognized the sale as legal.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday said the settlers will be evacuated from the building, but that defense officials will sit down with them first to try to persuade them to leave voluntarily...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1038565.html
Israeli politicians are rotten to the core but I feel nothing but love for Eretz Yisrael.
Click link for top 50
The Forward 50 celebrates leadership, creativity, impact. It also reminds us how far we still have to go to truly repair the world.
Who do I send my hazmanah to?
Child circumcision to be banned in Denmark?
Proposal to raise circumcision age to 15 causes storm among Jewish community. 'If law is passed, Jews will have to leave place they've been living in for hundreds of years,' says Denmark's chief rabbi
Yigal Rom
COPENHAGEN - At a time where anti-Semitic acts seem to be on the rise in Europe, a bill was proposed in Denmark that will affect mainly Jews – the banning of male child circumcision.
Denmark's National Council for Children has recommended the legislation of a law banning circumcision of boys under the age of 15.
The passing of this law would make the Jewish mitzvah and tradition of circumcising a child on his eighth day a crime.
The country's Ethics Council supported the proposal and now only the parliament's medical committee can intervene and prevent the proposal from being heard.
"Circumcision is the irreversible damage to a child's body before he is given the chance to object," the National Council for Children argued.
The Council further claimed that the banning of male child circumcision was a matter of equality among the sexes.
"Just like female circumcision was banned five years ago, male circumcision should be banned," the Council said.
The new proposal caused a storm among the Jewish and Muslim populations in Denmark, with 95% of the 7,000 Jewish population circumcising their sons.
Denmark's Chief Rabbi Bent Lexner – who is also a certified circumciser in the community – said he hoped the matter would be left alone.
"The comparison between circumcision and the intentional mutilation of the female sex organ in certain societies is simply complete nonsense," Lexner told Yedioth Ahronoth.
"If the law forbidding circumcision is ever passed in Denmark, Jews will have to leave the place they have been living in for hundreds of years."
A priest facing felony child sex abuse charges is filing a civil lawsuit against the family that made those allegations.
Roman Catholic priest John Broderick is suing the family from Palatine Bridge for $500,000.
Broderick served as the family's spiritual advisor, but is accused of sexually abusing three of their children, ages 5 to 11, between October 2005 and May 2007.
The family's lawyer, John Aretakis, says Broderick is using the lawsuit as "a scare tactic".
How fitting that these two fraud putz faces share the same podium. After all, they both promote sweeping under the rug in the name of hashem. Ginsburg running the pidyon shevuim fund for Colmer. Mandel covering for Nussbaum - running around giving speeches like some saint who never hurt a fly.
http://www.hakhel.info/ArchivesPrograms/PurimProgram5765.pdf
While I tend to agree that the "Children at Risk" problem is due in some
part to today's RW education (in that, 150 years ago, it wasn't expected
that all of our teenagers learn all day), this problem is (obviously) also
attributable to other causes. It is impossible to know exactly how much of
the problem is attributable to each cause.
At the '98 Agudah convention, R' Shlomo Mandel (Yeshiva of Brooklyn, son of
R' Manis) stated that he personally interviewed many of these teens, and
that 75% of them admitted that their home environment was not a pleasant
one. This issue (of whether, and if so, how much of, the blame is
attributable to parents) has been debated in previous JO's.
I have heard others attribute the "Children at Risk" plague to a far more
widespread (although not as noticeable) epidemic: the fact that many of us,
while "frum in practice," are "spiritually dead" on the inside. In other
words, if we perform Torah and mitzvos as a matter of routine without any
genuine feeling or true cheshek, why should our children grow up with the
cheshek to be frum yidden? If we can demonstrate to our children the
simchas hachayim that we have when we are fulfilling the dvar Hashem,
perhaps our children will similarly attain this attitude, which should go a
long way towards their remaining within the fold.
Jewish settlers desecrate Hebron mosque and graves
HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) — Jewish settlers angry at an Israeli court order for their eviction from a house in Hebron desecrated a mosque and tombs in the flashpoint West Bank City before dawn on Thursday, witnesses said.
The settlers scrawled "Mohammed is a pig" and "Death to the Arabs" on the front of a mosque and drew the Israeli emblem, the Star of David, on several gravestones in a Muslim cemetery, the witnesses said.
The mosque and cemetery both lie near the Hebron house where dozens of hardline Jewish settlers are defying the order by the Israeli High Court setting last Wednesday a deadline for them to leave or face eviction.
Israeli soldiers are on round-the-clock patrol in the tense neighbourhood.
The ruling, which was slammed by settler leaders, follows a series of violent clashes between Israeli security forces and hardline Jews seeking to erect unauthorised outposts in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967.
The court rejected an appeal by two right-wing organisations against a government order to evacuate the Hebron house, which the settlers claim they had purchased from a Palestinian, who denies selling the house.
The four-storey house at the centre of the dispute was occupied in March 2007 by dozens of hardline Jewish settlers who have dubbed it "the house of peace".
The court ruling said the settlers "should turn to the appropriate legal bodies to prove their ownership over the house and refrain from taking the law into their own hands by occupying the property against the will of its owner."
The settler representatives claimed the house had been bought for 700,000 dollars, but Palestinian Faez Rajabi said he had documents proving he was the legal owner and that the deal had never been completed.
While the court ruling said there were "contradictions and queries" in Rajabi's claims, it also said that documents presented by the settlers in a bid to show ownership "were found by police investigators to be forged."
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081120/NEWS/711209918/1006
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Article published: Nov 20, 2008
Threat aired against Jewish community in Postville
POSTVILLE — Police here are taking seriously an indirect threat against the Jewish community broadcast and posted Thursday on failedmessiah.com, a Web site covering Orthodox Judaism that is focused intently on recent problems at struggling kosher meatpack Agriprocessors.
A disgruntled former Agriprocessors worker, who is not identified by name, told KPVL station manager Jeff Abbas he has heard other disgruntled Agricprocessors workers discussing robbing Postville businesses if "they don't get the money they work for."
The anonymous worker says he has also heard discussion of kidnapping children of Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of the troubled kosher meatpacking plant. "Who they really want is the man running Agriprocessors," who is believed to have money inside his Postville home, the man said.
Abbas said he did not broadcast the interview on his radio station but sent it to failedmessiah.com and played it for local law enforcement agencies.
The failedmessiah.com Web site advised Postville's Jewish schools to evacuate immediately and urged members of the Rubashkin family to take precautions.
"This is like yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater. It goes way beyond free speech," said Aaron Goldsmith, a former Postville City Council member and a leader of Postville's Jewish community. "It's absolutely irresponsible. They're taking some guy's venting and turning it into widespread public panic."
Officer Mitch Seitz said the Postville Police Department is taking the threats seriously and has stepped up patrols in response.
Seitz said Jewish schools are operating normally, and there is no credible evidence anyone is in danger.
Asked his opinion of the KPVL broadcast, Seitz said, "We can't tell radio stations what to say or what not to say."
Seitz said police know the identity of the unnamed man on the broadcast but have no intention to interview him, "because he has committed no crime."
Father Lloyd Ouderkirk, a retired pastor at St. Bridget's Catholic Church in Postville, praised Abbas for going public with the interview.
"It's real; it's reflecting a reality of human pain and trauma caused by continual mistreatment of workers at the Agriprocessors plant," Ouderkirk said.
The Agriprocessors plant, which managers said might resume production today, did not, and employees at the now-shuttered plant were not paid, as they had hoped.
You think I am happy that Agriprocessors has met its demise? I am distraught! The Rubashkins made their bed and they are going to lay in it. But look what they did to Jews all over the world. The haters who hate have more ammunition. Look at those Jews they say. They steal money, underpay their workers, violate human rights, commit animal cruelty - LOOK AT THOSE BAD ASS JEWS - LOOK AT WHAT THEY DO - THEY ARE NOT WHAT THEY SAY THEY ARE.
The foundation of Judaism has been infested with money and greed. The OU and its Rabbi affiliates have been blinded and corrupted by the greenflies. It no longer matters halachacially, as long as the dough keeps rolling in.
By stimulating the minds of Jews with false assurances that all is rosy at the Postville Plant in Iowa, the Rabbis supported a principle that money talks and shit walks. Make no mistake about it. The Rabbis added fuel to this fire and it blew up in their faces.
LOOK AT THOSE HORRIBLE JEWS. THEY ARE THE CHOSEN PEOPLE?
I am one of those "Rabbis" who refused to sign this proclamation. I didn't want to offend Netuei Karta, Satmar, the CRC, and Yaakov Hopfer.
http://www.attacreport.com/plo/response_table.htm
Rabbi Shlomo Mandel Dean, Yeshiva & Mesivta of Brooklyn Brooklyn, NY 9/29/05 (in person) refused 9/29/05
Rabbi Yisroel Pichey Yeshiva & Mesivta of Brooklyn Brooklyn, NY 9/29/05 (in person) refused 9/29/05
Rabbi Moshe Heinemann Rav, Agudath Israel of Baltimore; Rabbinic Admin., Star-K; Vaad HaRabonim of Baltimore Baltimore, MD 8/25/08 (in person) refused 8/25/08
Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer Rav, Shearith Israel Cong.; acting Pres., Vaad HaRabonim of Baltimore Baltimore, MD 8/29/08 (in person) refused 8/29/08
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Exec. VP, Orthodox Union New York, NY 1/27/06 (by phone) refused 1/27/06
Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandl Rav, Nitra-Monsey Monsey, NY 7/9/08 (in person) refused 7/9/08
Rabbi Menachem Genack Kashrus Div., Orthodox Union New York, NY 1/27/06 (by phone) refused 1/30/06
Rabbi David Zwiebel head, legal div., Agudas Israel of America Brooklyn, NY 9/18/05 (in person) refused 9/18/05
Rabbi Eliyahu Shuman Dir. of Supervision, Star-K Baltimore, MD 8/31/08 (in person) refused 8/31/08
Rabbi Pesach Lerner Exec. VP, National Council of Young Israel New York, NY 1/5/06 (in person) refused 1/5/06
Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler Dean, Beth Medrash Govoha Lakewood, NJ 7/23/08 (in person) refused 7/24/08
Dov Hikind New York state assemblyman, 48th district Brooklyn, NY 2/16/06 (in person) refused 2/23/06
Rabbi Shea Hecht Nat’l. C’ttee. for Furtherance of Jewish Education Brooklyn, NY 3/11/05 (in person) refused 3/27/05
Rabbi Mikhel Guzick Asst. Principal, Yeshiva Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin Brooklyn, NY 9/18/05 (in person) refused 9/18/05
Atty. Gen. Mukasey collapses during speech
By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers Matt Apuzzo And Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press Writers 12 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the no-nonsense ally in President Bush's war on terror, was hospitalized Thursday after he collapsed during a late-night speech and lost consciousness.
"Oh, no, no!" people in the audience cried out as Mukasey slumped at the lectern. "Oh, my God!"
The 67-year-old Mukasey, wearing a black tie and tuxedo, was 15 to 20 minutes into an address about terrorism when he began shaking slightly and slurring his words. As he read from his prepared text, he seemed to get stuck on a word, paused, then his head bowed slightly and he swayed. Three or four men in suits rushed on stage and caught him at the podium.
"The attorney general is conscious, conversant and alert," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said after doctors admitted Mukasey to George Washington University Hospital for the night.
Mukasey remained on the stage for 10 minutes being attended to by his FBI security detail and medical personnel present at the conservative Federalist Society dinner, said eyewitness Abigail Thernstrom, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Though he lost consciousness initially, Mukasey appeared to be awake when he was taken from the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in northwest Washington, she said.
"It was hard to watch such a thing," Thernstrom said. "It was horrible."
Justice Department officials appeared anxious and alarmed at George Washington Hospital but spokesman Carr said Mukasey did not transfer his power to Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip.
Justice spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to say whether Mukasey had suffered a stroke. She had no information about his medical history.
A Republican staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jack Daly, who was also at the dinner, said in an e-mail to colleagues sent at 10:20 p.m. EST: "AG Mukasey collapsed in the middle of his keynote address at tonight's fed-soc dinner. He is still on stage after ten minutes and his security detail has called 911. The paramedics just arrived."
Twenty minutes later, Daly added in another e-mail: "Mukasey did regain consciousness before he was taken away."
In the prepared remarks of his address to the annual meeting of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, Mukasey planned to defend the Bush administration's "fundamental reorganization" of the government since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and policies put in place to detain terror suspects. He also was planning to talk about the continuing threat of al-Qaida.
President George W. Bush was informed about Mukasey's collapse, press secretary Dana Perino said.
"The president has him in his thoughts and will be kept apprised and hopes that he will be back up and at 'em again soon," she said.
Bush, a fierce loyalist, ventured outside his circle of friends and Texas associates to tap Mukasey 14 months ago to replace Alberto Gonzales, who had resigned in disgrace. Gonzales, the president's longtime friend and fellow Texan, quit after months of senators' demands for his resignation and investigations that called his credibility into doubt.
In a sun-drenched morning announcement on the White House lawn, Bush introduced Mukasey as "a tough but fair judge" and asked the Senate to confirm him quickly.
"Judge Mukasey is clear-eyed about the threat our nation faces," Bush said, praising his reputation as a smart and strong manager.
Mukasey, the former chief U.S. District Court judge in the Manhattan courthouse just blocks from ground zero, earned a reputation as a tough-on-terrorism jurist with an independent streak.
As a judge, Mukasey ordered the detention of young Muslim men as so-called material witnesses in terrorism cases following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. While those decisions drew sharp criticism from immigration lawyers, Mukasey won praise from Bush administration lawyers.
Mukasey endorsed much of the USA Patriot Act, which Bush pushed through Congress following the terror attacks to secure broad new law-enforcement power.
And yet he once criticized the Bush administration from the bench for overstepping in a terrorism case. As a jurist, he was known for his brusqueness and impatience with people who waste his time.
Before joining the administration, the former judge was a partner at New York-based law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
I have experience kissing the wife of a terrorist. That's what I think Obama saw in my resume that convinced him to make me secretary of state.
The Agriprocessors plant is shut down. Workers are not being paid. An estimated several hundred are stranded, broke, and out of work. And now, we have the first rumblings of a violent reaction.
Jeff Abbas, the indefatiguable force behind Postville radio, recorded a frightening interview this morning with a 50-year-old ex-Agriprocessors employee who warned that other former plant workers -- some of them ex-cons and possessing firearms -- were planning robberies around town and the kidnapping of the Rubashkin children. Abbas says the city does not consider the threat credible, but several law enforcement vehicles are expected in Postville tonight just in case.
A recording of the interview is here.
Meanwhile, a judge is expected to make a determination today about whether Sholom Rubashkin will be held in jail until his trial. And Postville's Jewish community, which numbers in the several hundred, is beginning to feel the pinch. The kosher grocery is reportedly shuttered and folks are without food and -- irony of ironies -- kosher meat. And if that alone isn't worthy of a novel, who comes to the rescue? Rabbi Morris Allen, he of Hekhsher Tzedek fame, whose Minnesota synagogue sent a trailer of food to Postville this week.
Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.
Rubashkin denied bail
By Ami Eden · November 21, 2008
POSTVILLE, Iowa (JTA)—A federal magistrate judge denied bail for the former plant manager of a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa.
Judge Jon Scoles ruled Thursday that Sholom Rubashkin—whose family owned Agriprocessors, what was at one time the country’s largest kosher meatpacking plant—posed a flight risk and would be held until trial. Scoles was not persuaded by Rubashkin’s willingness to post more than a $3 million bond, the bulk of it guaranteed by Jewish residents of Postville who were willing to put up their home equity as a guarantee, the Iowa Independent.
Prosecutors claimed in a hearing Wednesday that a travel bag packed with passports, and $20,000 in cash and silver coins, were found in Rubashkin’s home. Rubashkin’s attorneys claimed that he was deeply connected to his family and the Postville community, and posed no risk of flight.
Rubashkin was arrested last week and charged with orchestrating an accounting scheme that enabled Agriprocessors to borrow more money than it had collateral to cover. At the time of his arrest, Rubashkin was free on another bond resulting from his arrest in late October on charges related to document fraud and the harboring of illegal aliens.
Agriprocessors the compan was the target of a massive federal immigration raid in May. On Nov. 4, the company filed for bankruptcy protections, throwing the national kosher meat supply into crisis.
“The strongest trends presented at Kosherfest 2008 involve the presence of more products that are gourmet, exotic and/or healthy. This was evidenced at the show by the variety of exotic meats (such as elk and bison) a large showing of new wines from producers from all over the globe, and a great number of gluten-free foods.”
In his state of the industry address, Mr. Lubinsky made note of the current shortage of kosher meat, expressing confidence that the “forces of the market would soon generate new sources of kosher meat.” He said that despite the unstable kosher meat market, the industry as a whole experienced double-digit growth for the 8th year in a row, with Passover leading the way.
Marci Hamilton understands the scope and magnitude of the dwindling ethical boundaries which hinder the prosecution of child sexual abuse perpetrators in the Orthodox Jewish community. Reform is desperately needed!
Dov Hikind should stop whining. He must cough up the goods for the betterment of society. His logic and reasoning is flawed. He can't claim to be distraught with the knowledge of over 1000 abuse cases and do nothing about it. Unless, that is he's playing both sides of the spectrum. Conveying his own displeasure while seeking to keep his personal life intact at the expense of future victims.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/11/21/2008-11-21_expose_child_sex_abuse_in_the_orthodox_j.html
Expose child sex abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community
By Marci Hamilton
Friday, November 21st 2008, 4:00 AM
Most people think our culture offers no sympathy to perpetrators of child sexual abuse and goes to great lengths to protect victims. But in reality, sex criminals still get far too much protection and victims far too little help. The most recent reminder is the case of Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is sitting on files that detail such abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community - including the names of 60 accused sexual predators.
Hikind isn't revealing the information to the authorities because, he says, his sources - the people who say they were victims - had sworn him to secrecy and are afraid of becoming outcasts in their community. But the case, and Hikind's excuses, only underline the need for urgent reform.
First, he says that most of the victims are in their late 20s or older, meaning the statutes of limitations have expired and no prosecution or civil lawsuit could be filed. Regrettably, that is true; state law mandates that criminal charges must be filed by the time a victim is 18 and civil claims by 23.
Second, Hikind maintains that the victims spoke to him in confidence. Again, this is correct. If Hikind were a doctor, police officer or one of the other professionals required by state law to report such abuse, he would be prohibited from refusing to inform authorities because of a deal with victims. He is not.
This is infuriating. In the name of protecting victims, a state assemblyman is shielding people accused of committing the most heinous crimes imaginable.
Enough is enough. First, the Brooklyn district attorney should convene a grand jury to investigate abuse within the Orthodox Jewish community - just as the district attorney did in Philadelphia to investigate the Catholic Archdiocese there.
Second, the state mandatory reporter law, which requires health care professionals and others to inform authorities of child abuse cases, must be amended to include elected representatives. There is no sound public policy that justifies permitting these officials to hoard such information to the detriment of children.
Most important, New York must enact Assemblywoman Margaret Markey's bill to extend the statute of limitations on child sex abuse and create a "window" - making it possible for those victims whose statutes of limitations have expired to file, for a set period of time, a civil lawsuit against perpetrators and the institutions that hid the truth.
Most victims need decades to come forward. Current deadlines virtually guarantee that predators are able to abuse many children before (and if) they get caught.
Across the country, a grass-roots movement advocating such window legislation is on the move. In 2002, California passed a one-year window. The result: more than 300 previously unnamed predators were identified.
New York must get in step before more children are victimized - with no legal recourse as far as the eye can see.
Hamilton is a professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University and author of "Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children."
http://www.mujeres.cubaweb.cu/Violencia/violencia-2008/textos/07e.html
Contrary to what most people believed, sexual abuse against minors happens many times in the same areas where they run their daily lives and may be in the hands of people they know.
By Sara Más
Girls and boys are silent; families barely talk about that and it is described by experts as "the best kept secret."
Child sexual abuse is perhaps one of the less visible forms of violence but it becomes a big problem because it is barely recognized or perceived and it is surrounded of taboos, myths, prejudice and shame. However, it is a reality that deeply hurts the family and the people involved.
Most of the people link such rape acts committed by strangers in dark places, far from the common gaze. That certainly happens, but there are other forms of sexual abuse which has among the victims to children, mainly girls, and they occur near the children's own environment.
Girls and boys who have been abused by people they know, keep quiet and hide what is happening, sometimes by fear and threats or simply because they believe that no body is going to believe them. Sometimes that secret accompanies them for a long time in their lives.
Look inside
Many times sexual abuse against minors happens in the same areas where they run their daily lives and it is in the hands of people they know. Do not forget that children have to hide their situation, either because of embarrassment or to protect other family members.
According to partial studies in recent years, the houses of children or even the aggressor’s are among the most common scenarios, preferably during the day, sometimes at night and very early morning. Moreover it is well known that in the vast majority of the events a prior relationship between the victim and the victimizer exists.
While the real facts are hardly reported and this prevents a real idea of its magnitude, the issue deserves attention in order to detect it and prevent it.
However, as some researches indicate there are certain patterns of behaviour. Among the victimizers, the most outstanding characteristic is the use of seduction to obtain the child’s consent or cooperation, although sometimes the fact is simply performed. These are adults who have the child’s confidence, which leads them to accept without misgivings the proximity of the aggressor. However the unknown aggressors employ more deadly, dangerous and active methods, mostly outside of the child’s environment.
To be a girl is risk factor because they are the victims in most of the cases, which could be given by the fact that the majority of attackers are male.
The family, key space
However experts warn about the strong connection between the inappropriate family’s environment because they lacked information on issues relating to sexuality.
Some studies show that a significant percentage of victims used to live without their parents or only one of them; they had endured beatings and punishment as methods of education in their homes, or they came from dysfunctional homes. The relation of vulnerability is explained in the first case because minors are often less guarded and they are easily subject to deception.
Other vulnerable children are those whose family patterns are associated with violence, drug addiction, physical or emotional absence of parents and instability in the educational methods.
Experts say that more than 90 percent of sexually abused children are victims of domestic violence, not by the very fact of the abuse, but because they live in such environments.
At the same time, they define the existence of mental diseases a risk factor. Some specialists have found among their patients that they had required psychological care before being abused. Many of them were children who lived alone with their mothers and were subject to bad relationships between their parents. Besides, the amount of victims in early adolescence may be associated with an increased physical development of their sexual characteristics and their autonomy. But also to the fact that the intellectual and emotional development hasn’t been completed yet and adults are important figures of power.
The abuse does not always show visible physical traces, but it left its mark on the behaviour. The sensitive observation, the responsive attitude and the attentive listening are the best resources for identifying if a child has been exposed to some form of sexual abuse.
For Perla Delgado Valle, prosecutor of the province of Cienfuegos and author of the research "Girls and boys, their right to protection against violence," it is necessary to bear in mind that sexual abuse may occur in all environments, but parents don’t believe that their children can suffer it or are exposed to it.
That is why it is necessary to be warned. "They should also be talking about sexuality and guide them in how to react in case of abuse," she adds. The idea is not to scare them or to develop a negative image of sexuality, but to create conditions to prevent such situations", she said.
the matzav is really bad. We don't know which yid we can trust to do the right thing. teif meat, rabbi sex rapists, jews acting like shagetz.
Teenagers Travel to Crown Heights for Inaugural Unity Weekend
http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/770039/jewish/Teens-Descend-on-Crown-Heights.htm
Thousands of rabbis from around the world gathered in New York Friday to remember their spiritual leader.
The 3,000 emissaries held their 25th Conference at Manhattan's Pier 94, the site where their spiritual leader Grand Rebbe Menachem Schneerson arrived from Europe nearly 70 years ago.
The group then made its way to Cambria Heights, Queens to visit the grave of their late leader, the sixth Lubavitcher Rabbi.
Rabbi David Weitman from Sao Paolo, Brazil said he visited Schneerson's grave "to receive his blessings, to receive new energy, new forces to be able to continue this fantastic work of spreading Judaism all over the world."
The conference addressed the global economic crisis and outreach efforts to Jewish youth.
The next ban I am planning involves another concert whch can be metame the nesfesh of all teenage boys and girls.
British may ban 'happy hour' as drink deaths rise
By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer Gregory Katz, Associated Press Writer Sat Nov 22, 11:20 am ET
LONDON – Britain is considering a ban on "happy hour" discounts at bars and restaurants to curb drinking, a spokesman said Saturday, as health advocates warned that a rise in liver-related deaths among young people may signal a future epidemic.
Health officials will decide on whether to ban the happy hours — designated times for discount drinks — once an independent policy review is published in coming weeks, a health department spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
The proposal was one of several aimed at stemming a trend in binge drinking in recent years, particularly among teenagers and young adults. The government also plans to spend 10 million pounds ($15 million) on a new public awareness campaign, and wants to improve enforcement of laws against underage drinking.
A health advocacy group said some of those young people were now showing signs of liver-related damage usually seen in older people.
Given that it can take 15 to 20 years for liver disease to develop, the British Liver Trust warned that the figures suggested the problem would only get worse.
"We're seeing a steep increase of deaths in people in their 20s and 30s," Trust spokeswoman Imogen Shillito said. "This indicates a big problem for many years to come."
National statistics show a steady rise in the number of alcohol-related deaths that typically fell heavy drinkers in their 40s and 50s who have abused alcohol for decades. From 1991 to 2006, the number of such deaths more than doubled to 8,758.
Alcohol-related deaths among people aged 25 to 29 were 40 percent higher in 2006 than the year before, Shillito said, citing national statistics.
Shillito said low prices for alcohol had helped encourage drinking among British youths, noting "they can buy alcohol with their pocket money."
The government plans to base its new alcohol policies, including possible new programs to help people reduce consumption, on the upcoming review by the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield.
Officials say the report should clarify whether retail practices lead to excessive drinking. They are considering a ban on a number of practices, including drinking games and speed-drinking events popular at some British pubs.
Sara Lee Corp. said Wednesday it will exit the kosher meat business and close a facility that processes kosher hot dogs and meat by the end of January.
The shuttering of the facility in Chicago will mean the loss of about 185 jobs, the company said in a news release.
Sara Lee will no longer make foods under the brands Best's Kosher, Sinai Kosher, Shofar and Wilno. It will also close a Sinai Kosher outlet store located at the plant.
Sara Lee, also known for Jimmy Dean brands and Hillshire Farm, said the news follows an announcement in July that it would close a North American production facility. It said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing at that time that it would record a non-cash pretax impairment charge of between $20 million and $25 million related to the closure. It has since taken that charge.
The decision to stop making the brands is based on Sara Lee's strategy of focusing on categories where it has competitive advantage, CJ Fraleigh, Sara Lee's chief operating officer, North America, said in a statement.
Fraleigh said the company will provide affected employees with severance pay and help finding a job.
Sara Lee said it plans to decommission the plant's equipment and sell the plant, along with the property.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039562.html
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Going on an ethical diet
The American public has been shocked by the revelations of the past few months regarding the unethical treatment of workers at the Agriprocessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. Court charges that allege illegal deductions from paychecks, the use of child labor and employees being robbed of their human dignity have prompted many in the Jewish community to demand that kosher food production must be about more than just the laws of kashrut; kosher food must reflect Jewish ethical values as well.
This is not the first time there has been a demand for greater accountability on the part of the food industry. In 1949, as American Jewry was entering a period marked by physical security and material prosperity, Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer, grandson of Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch, the leader of German Orthodoxy, and himself a leading figure of American Orthodoxy, wrote an essay entitled "Glatt Kosher - Glatt Yosher." In addition to "the conscientious and minute observance of the laws of kashrut," Breuer wrote, Jews must never forget that, "Kosher is intimately related to yosher (correct ethical practice)." God not only requires that we sanctify our physical selves; God demands that we sanctify our social relationships.
Breuer went on to say that the guidelines for accomplishing this are basic: We are commanded to follow the "strict application of the tenets of justice and righteousness, and to avoid even the slightest trace of dishonesty in our business dealings and personal life."
In a similar vein, Rabbi Israel Salanter, the legendary 19th-century founder of the Musar movement, which stressed disciplined ethical practice, understood the relationship between the material, spiritual and ethical elements of Judaism similarly when he said: "The material needs of my neighbor are my spiritual needs."
Since the May 12 raid on the Agriprocessors plant, consumers of kosher products have become particularly conversant with the conditions in which their meat is sometimes produced: Numbers like the almost $10 million in fines for the 96,436 illegal payroll deductions, or the 9,311 criminal misdemeanor charges Aaron and Sholom Rubashkin face for employing at least 32 underage workers, are published in The New York Times and discussed at Shabbat tables around the world.
Perhaps the greatest fallout from the Rubashkin tragedy is that the link between kosher and yosher has been broken, in both the Jewish and non-Jewish public consciousness. Those deeply committed to Jewish ethics and law have been calling for the leadership to address this crisis.
It is in the wake of the events of last summer and in the spirit of Rabbi Breuer's clarion call to "link a drive for Glatt Kosher with an equally intensive one for Glatt Yosher" that Uri L'Tzedek - an Orthodox social-justice organization guided by Torah values and dedicated to promoting discourse, inspiring leaders and empowering the Jewish community toward creating a more just world - is launching what it calls the "Tav HaYosher" (ethical seal) for kosher restaurants in America.
Modeled on the successful "Tav Chevrati" (social seal) campaign launched by the Israeli NGO Bema'aglei Tzedek, Tav HaYosher will be a free service that guarantees a restaurant's commitment to join workers and communities to create a just workplace that meets the basic standards of ethics and decency. Restaurants will be awarded the Tav based on a commitment to three basic rights:
The right to fair pay. According to New York State law, all non-tipped employees must be paid a minimum wage of $7.15 an hour, and tipped employees must earn $4.60 an hour. According to a recent survey of New York city's restaurant industry, 15 percent of employees reported receiving less than minimum wage. This number jumped to 60 percent when asked if they were paid more for overtime.
The right to time. Time is holy. For six days of the week, Jewish tradition encourages us to engage in productive work; on the seventh day we are told to rest. The Torah not only prohibits us from work, but also those around us: children, workers, animals and the strangers in our midst. Legally, restaurant workers cannot work seven days a week (even if they serve pre-paid meals on Shabbat), and they must be provided with certain breaks of 20, 30 or 45 minutes, according to the number of hours worked. Restaurants awarded the Tav will be those following the letter of the secular law and the spirit of the Torah.
The right to dignity and a safe work environment. We are all created in the image of God. What follows from this fundamental human truth is that all people should be able to work in an environment that treats them with dignity: No one should be subject to harassment, abuse or discrimination based on sex, race, religion, language, pregnancy, age, disability, sexual orientation or citizenship status.
It is Uri L'Tzedek's goal, in creating Tav HaYosher, to ensure that those who serve us are paid what they are legally entitled to, given the rest they deserve and afforded the appropriate dignity. In doing so, we will be upholding the highest standards of yashrut alongside our already high standards of kashrut.
With God's help, we hope to implement a system that can protect those who are vulnerable and fulfill God's promise to Abraham, the champion of righteousness and justice, to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.
Rabbi Ari Weiss is the lead professional and Ari Hart and Shmuly Yanklowitz are co-directors of Uri L'Tzedek (http://uriltzedek.webnode.com/).
Banning concerts is within my right. Banning yoga? Not such a bad idea either. Who said Muslims don't share the same hashkofohs as the yidden?
PUTRAJAYA: As expected, the National Fatwa Council yesterday announced that Muslims are prohibited from practising yoga. In declaring yoga haram, the council said it could be traced back to Hinduism and concluded that yoga could erode the faith of Muslims.
Council chairman Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin said the decision was made as yoga involved elements that were against the beliefs of Islam in its physical movements, chanting and worship.
"Many Muslims in the country fail to understand the ultimate aim of yoga.
"It combines physical movements, religious elements, chanting and worshipping for the purpose of achieving inner peace and ultimately to be one with God," he said at a press conference to announce the decision yesterday.
Shukor said once the fatwa was gazetted, it would be passed on to the states to decide on the enforcement.
Malaysia, he said, was not alone in prohibiting yoga among Muslims as the Singaporean and Egyptian Islamic councils had done the same.
Shukor said renowned Islamic scholars were also of the view that yoga could erode the faith of Muslims.
Parents At Odds With Local Assemblyman Over Plans To Ease School Overcrowding
By: Cindi Avila
Overcrowding at a Brooklyn school has parents and teachers battling a local assemblyman. NY1's Cindi Avila filed the following report.
There were many voices that wanted to be heard Thursday night at a Community Board 12 meeting discussing what to do with the overflow of students at P.S. 160 in Borough Park.
"It's really overcrowded and it's kind of hard to learn," said fourth grader Sandra Kralik.
Although everyone agrees 821 students at a school built for 500 is too many, what should happen to the extra 321 kids from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade is where the two sides strongly disagree.
The city has proposed building an annex on an empty lot in the school's back yard; a plan parents and teachers support.
"Build on it, build on it," said parent Lourdes Roman. "It will be an asset to the community to have a good school. It will be great. It will be a better school if we have the space."
But Assemblyman Dov Hikind says with a $50 million price tag, the construction option is too costly.
"When we are talking about budget cuts in education, which will affect this entire community, to go spend $50 million now I think is insane," said Hikind.
Hikind argues the overflow students should fill chairs instead at nearby, underutilized schools, such as P.S. 164, which is little more than a mile away.
"It's not an ideal situation to have to send kids a little bit of a distance away, but some of the schools in the neighborhood are at 83-84 percent capacity," said the assemblyman.
It's ultimately the community board's decision what happens, but one thing is clear, Hikind's point of view is being met with a lot of opposition.
"This is the future of tomorrow, the future scientists," said one parent.
"They don't have access to a library or other things kids in our community have access to," said teacher Jeanine McSharry. "They are having gym in a lunchroom."
"We should have a gym and they should build that school [in the back yard]," said a student.
The community board will vote on the issue at their next meeting on Tuesday.
David Magerman is a 40-year-old with a Ph.D. in computer science who recently left the technology industry to become an investor in the Greater Philadelphia area. His main investment vehicles these days are not financial instruments. Instead, he's investing in our future through Jewish education.
He's formed his own philanthropy called the Kohelet Foundation, because he sees the wisdom of Kohelet - the Hebrew name for the Book of Ecclesiastes - as offering a blunt reminder for the Jewish community to see the current situation as it truly is, without sugarcoating.
Magerman understands what has long been obvious to anyone paying attention to contemporary Jewish life: The future of American Jewry depends on whether we provide our children with a Jewish education. Day schools that provide excellent secular studies alongside a comprehensive program of religious instruction and Hebrew language skills have long been proven to be the best possible venue for educating children to be Jewishly literate and have a sense of Jewish peoplehood.
The problem is that too few children are allowed to take advantage of this opportunity. The reasons for this are twofold.
First is the matter of cost. The exorbitant tuition fees that schools must charge in order to survive make it difficult, if not impossible, for many middle-class families to afford them.
Second, and just as troubling, is that too many American Jews are either ignorant of the value of day schools or are uninterested in them because they see them as too sectarian.
While many have rightly focused on the urgent need to increase the amount of money available for scholarships, until we grow the market for day schools (both in terms of students and donors), the future of the movement will remain uncertain.
MAGERMAN'S RESPONSE is not just to aid the schools, but to challenge these institutions to grow.
The result is a pilot program financed by Magerman's foundation that will center on the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day Schools, an affiliate of Conservative Judaism's Solomon Schechter movement and the largest day school in the Greater Philadelphia region.
The plan will offer families a $6,000 tuition reduction for every new student, regardless of income level, entering gan (kindergarten) at Perelman each of the next three school years, beginning in September 2009. Every child will also get the same amount off of their tuition in first and second grades, and then get $3,000 off from the third through the fifth grades.
The hope is that the lower tuition costs will attract not only families that would otherwise be intimidated by the costs, but also those who are currently sending their kids to non-Jewish private schools...
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404802502&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Shas Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: Secular teachers are 'asses'
By Haaretz Service
Spiritual leader of the Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef called secular teachers in Israel "asses" on Saturday during his weekly sermon.
Yosef has previously voiced his desire that the Education Ministry be handed over to Shas' authority.
In his sermon, the rabbi said that the teachers in the secular education system know nothing, "neither Shabath, nor holiday", and teach only "nonsense", and added that people whose parents placed them in the secular education system are unfortunate.
"What do they teach? They teach history and all sorts of nonsense about world nations, that's all," he said.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir responded harshly to Yosef's remarks, demanding that he publicly apologize for the "ugly comment." She added that the rabbi's sermon was "rude, baseless, and offensive to tens of thousands of public servants who faithfully carry out their difficult work."
MK Ofir Pines-Paz also voiced his objection, saying "we won't allow Shas to turn Israel's teachers into the punching bag of its elections campaign." Pines-Paz added that both Yosef's and Shas Chairman Eli Yishai's express wish to control the education ministry "prove how dangerous a government headed by [Likud Chairman Benjamin] Netanyahu, who refused to divulge the promises he made to Shas in coalition talks, would be."
National Union-National Religious Party Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev said that "Shas deserves the education portfolio about as much as the National Union-NRP deserves the defense portfolio."
"Anyone who refuses to take part in Zionist state education can?t be education ministers, just as those who preach evading mandatory army service can't serve as defense ministers," Orlev explained.
Yishai issued a response to the critical remarks, saying that Orlev was the "architect who destroyed education in his post of Education Ministry director-general, and the destroyer of Zionism in his position of National Union-NRP chairman."
"The Jewish people have not forgotten who began the destruction of the Jewish home, and Shas is still fighting to repair the damage," Yishai added.
Two weeks ago, Rabbi Yosef and Yishai set a goal for their party to attain 18 Knesset seats in the upcoming February elections, an increase of 6 seats from the 12 the party currently holds.
"What do we want in reference to the ministry of education?" asked Yishai as he elaborated on his plans for his next term, "to teach Judaism, tradition, Bar Mitzva, Shabbat, honoring father and mother - this is what Maran (Ovadia Yosef) preaches daily to all the representatives."
Yishai also lashed out at other political parties who have held the education portfolio over the years, saying "every year drug abuse and violence among youth grows, and the level of educations falls."
Secular teachers are 'jackasses'
Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yossef has called secular teachers jackasses. In his weekly lecture broadcast on Shas' website, Yossef said, "There are some miserable people whose parents decided to put them in the secular educational system. Their teachers are jackasses. You need to add the [Hebrew letter] chet, to their titles." (adding the letter chet to the word morim - teachers in Hebrew - creates the word chamorim - jackasses - editor's note).
"What do they teach there?" added Rabbi Ovadia. "They teach them history and all kinds of nonsense learned in nations around the world. That's it."
According to the rabbi, "A strong Shas will demand the Education Ministry in order to pass on a Jewish and value-centered education."
Hikind is a coward. All victims should go to the police and file a report.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6521050&pt=print
Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) -- It started as a discussion about a taboo subject: child molestation among Orthodox Jews.
A Brooklyn assemblyman said that after he broached the subject on his radio show this summer, dozens of people came forward with stories about children being molested in the Orthodox community. As many as four people a day have come to him over the past three months with painful accounts of secrets often kept for decades, accusing more than 60 perpetrators, he said.
But the politician, Dov Hikind, said he won't breach victims' trust by disclosing the private exchanges to prosecutors - or to a lawyer who subpoenaed him in a civil case against a school accused of concealing abuse.
Hikind's campaign has fueled a firestorm in the insular world of Orthodox Judaism, where mounting calls to address sex abuse are met with reluctance to turn to secular authorities. One local rabbi said he got death threats for speaking out.
Story continues below
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"In our community, people don't talk about the things that they've come to my office" and revealed, said Hikind, the Orthodox son of Holocaust survivors.
The outpouring has spurred him to work on devising mechanisms within the Orthodox world for reporting sex abuse and sharing information on school staffers' previous postings. He aims to present a plan to rabbis this winter.
Orthodox Jews strictly follow Jewish law. Studies have found they account for as much as 10 percent of Jews nationwide, and a far greater share in parts of the New York metro area. Some 37 percent of the more than 516,000 Jews in Brooklyn are Orthodox, according to the UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish social-service group.
Critics have said sex abuse claims are sometimes handled quietly in Orthodox rabbinical courts, rather than being reported to authorities, though Orthodox leaders are hardly alone in trying to keep such allegations private.
For decades, Roman Catholic leaders often transferred predatory clergy among parishes without telling parents or police. In a 2007 nationwide investigation of sex abuse by teachers, The Associated Press discovered efforts to stop individual offenders but, overall, a deeply entrenched resistance toward recognizing and fighting abuse.
Some sexual abuse cases involving Orthodox Jewish schools have spilled into the secular legal system in Brooklyn.
In one of the most notorious, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko was charged with sexually abusing boys at an Orthodox school. He admitted no sexual wrongdoing and pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge. Kolko was sentenced to three years of probation and has been dismissed from the school, said his lawyer, Jeffrey Schwartz. The school's lawyer didn't immediately return a telephone call.
Six former students are suing the school, saying it covered up Kolko's misdeeds. Their lawyer subpoenaed Hikind this month, seeking to find out whether he learned anything relevant to the case during his impromptu fact-finding about sexual abuse among the Orthodox.
Brooklyn prosecutors say they are open to hearing the claims, and Hikind said he encourages those who confide in him to talk to the authorities. But none will, he said, for fear of ostracism from a community worried about being stigmatized.
A rabbi and psychologist told Jewish media outlets he was hounded into quitting a task force on child molestati¤icki Polin, the founder of The Awareness Center. The Baltimore-based nonprofit group works with victims of sexual abuse in Jewish communities.
But many observers praise Hikind's campaign.
"We can't achieve solutions without the public spotlight," said Elliot Pasik, an Orthodox attorney who represents plaintiffs in rabbi sex-abuse lawsuits unrelated to Kolko.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=985771
HEBRON, WEST BANK -- Hardline Jewish settlers hunkered down in a house in the West Bank flashpoint city of Hebron on Sunday, vowing to resist a court order to quit the property they insist they bought from a Palestinian.
They warned of violence if Israel attempts to force them out of the building, draped with Israeli blue-and-white flags.
"We own the house, the house belongs to us, we have all the deeds, we have all the documents and we have the right to live peacefully in this house," said spokesman Noam Arnon.
"Terrible things can happen here," he said. "It's in the hands of the government."
Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, is home to some 650 settlers who live in fortified enclaves guarded by Israeli troops in the heart of the city of 180,000 Palestinians.
About 150 more Jewish hardliners, mostly youths, moved into Hebron's settler enclave in the past week to support the 13 families that have been living in the house for a year and a half.
They have welded doors and windows shut and are stocking up on food. On Sunday, Israeli troops, who would be called on to carry out the eviction, were patrolling the building, outside and up on the roof.
The settlers moved into the house in March 2007, saying they had purchased it from its Palestinian owner.
Palestinian Faiz Rajabi said the house was his. "I built it 12 years ago. I wanted to live in it and I was surprised when the settlers attacked the house and occupied it. This is my house, I did not sell it to anyone, I have papers that confirm my ownership," he said.
"I hope that they will leave it soon, I have 25 children and three wives, I want to live in it soon".
One week ago, Israel's High Court gave the settlers three days to vacate the building. Media reports said the eviction order was held up pending a Jewish holiday that ended on Sunday.
Rightwing Jewish supporter Haim Polak, 33, came from New York to support his settler brother in the expected standoff.
"I'm going to stay here, I mean, will they carry me out?" he said.
Since the court ruling last week some settlers have turned violent, say their Palestinian neighbours.
"The settlers throw stones at the house," said Um Muhammed Jabari, pointing to a broken window in her house across from the occupied building.
"We fear our children will be harmed so we take the children to safer places."
A neighbour, Nidal Jabari, said that over the last week more than 50 Palestinian houses had been attacked.
Would you convene the Rabbinate (who covered up the abuse in the first place) and have them look into the situation? What exactly is gained with victims spilling their secrets to you and by next week the predator is back hunting the next kid?
I like Elliot Pasik; but how does he loud Hikind? if I were his client I'd feel betrayed. Whatever happened to Hikind holding press conferences in front of yeshivos that harbor predators? I don't see how that has anything to do with leaking the names of victims.
NEW YORK (AP) — It started as a radio program discussion about a taboo subject: child molestation among members of the insular world of Orthodox Jews.
Since he broached the subject on his radio show this summer, says a state assemblyman, dozens of people have come forward with stories about children being molested in the Orthodox community, which strictly follows Jewish law.
Dov Hikind says as many as four people a day have come to him over the past three months with painful accounts of secrets often kept for decades, accusing more than 60 individuals.
Hikind says he would eventually consider unmasking accused sexual predators but wants to focus now on setting up a broader framework for addressing the issue.
His campaign has set off a firestorm in the Orthodox community, where people are reluctant to involve secular authorities. One rabbi said he got death threats for speaking out.
"In our community, people don't talk about the things that they've come to my office" and revealed, said Hikind, himself an Orthodox Jew.
Among other faiths, the subject has meant turmoil in recent years for the Roman Catholic church. For decades, church leaders often transferred predatory clergy among parishes without telling parents or police. Victims have won millions in settlements from dioceses.
Members of a polygamous offshoot of the Mormon church have been charged with assaulting children in Texas. Children have been removed from the Arkansas compound of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries amid allegations of beatings and sexual abuse.
Hikind said he won't breach victims' trust by disclosing his private exchanges to prosecutors — or to a lawyer who subpoenaed him in a civil case against a school accused of concealing abuse.
However, he has been working on devising mechanisms within the Orthodox world for reporting sex abuse and sharing information on school staffers' previous positions. He aims to present a plan to rabbis this winter.
Studies have found Orthodox Jews account for as much as 10 percent of Jews nationwide, and a far greater share in parts of the New York metro area. Some 37 percent of the more than 516,000 Jews in Brooklyn are Orthodox, according to the UJA-Federation of New York, a Jewish social-service group.
Critics have said sex abuse claims are sometimes handled quietly in Orthodox rabbinical courts, rather than being reported to authorities.
However, some sexual abuse cases involving Orthodox Jewish schools have spilled into the secular legal system in Brooklyn.
In one case, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko was charged with sexually abusing boys at an Orthodox school. He admitted no sexual wrongdoing but pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge. Kolko was sentenced to three years of probation and has been dismissed from the school, said his lawyer, Jeffrey Schwartz. The school's lawyer didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Six former students are suing the school, saying it covered up Kolko's misdeeds. Their lawyer subpoenaed Hikind this month, seeking to find out whether he learned anything relevant to the case during his impromptu fact-finding.
He said lawyers were assessing how to respond to the subpoena.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Michael Dowd said he was willing to safeguard victims' identities but is determined to pursue whatever information Hikind has.
"I don't question his motivation, but at the same time, I don't accept it as a reason" not to provide information that could expose child molesters, said Dowd, who won $11.4 million in damages last year for two people raped as teenagers by a Catholic youth minister on Long Island.
Hikind said he encourages people who confide in him to talk to the authorities. But none will, he said, for fear of ostracism.
One rabbi and psychologist told Jewish media outlets he was hounded into quitting a task force on child molestation, days after Hikind appointed him to lead it in September; the panel is going on with other members. Another New York rabbi told the Daily News this month that vicious fliers and death-threat calls scared him into shutting down a sex abuse victims' hot line he had set up.
Some victims' advocates see little point in collecting information without bringing in law enforcement.
"The only way things are going to be cleaned up" is with authorities' involvement, said Vicki Polin, the founder of The Awareness Center, a Baltimore-based nonprofit group that works with victims of sexual abuse in Jewish communities.
But others praise Hikind's campaign.
"We can't achieve solutions without the public spotlight," said Elliot Pasik, an Orthodox attorney who represents plaintiffs in rabbi sex-abuse lawsuits unrelated to Kolko.
Woe to us if this is the guide of the generation and of its perplexed; if this is the great Torah scholar. The "Land of the Hart" has disappeared, and Ovadia Yosef is king of the land, the land of the ass, ruling in a black skullcap.
he Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada Announces its Position Regarding Ongoing Peace
Posted by Central Rabbinical Congress on 16:06:21 2007/12/16
The Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada Announces its Position Regarding Ongoing Peace Efforts in the Middle East
Statements were made by some Jewish religious, political organizations, that returning parts of the holy land and particular Jerusalem for the sake of peace is prohibited. That is simply not true.
Swords will be beaten into Plowshares
Brooklyn, NY (PRWEB) November 30, 2007 -- CRC applauds the efforts of President Bush by convening the conference in Annapolis, MD to end the conflict and blood-shed in the middle-east. We pray and hope for the success of the conference and its aims.
CRC doesn't routinely make political statements. However, when the truth is distorted and especially by people and organizations that pretend to speak in the name of Torah, CRC is obligated to set the record straight.
Statements were made by some Jewish religious, political organizations, that returning parts of the holy land and particular Jerusalem for the sake of peace is prohibited. That is simply not true.
CRC has previously made public statements confirming that the mere establishment of a Jewish State before the arrival of the Messiah is prohibited by the Torah. Jews are in exile throughout the world, where they have to live in peace and harmony, and be loyal to the residence countries we live in.
Torah principles also proclaim that human life is the most profound cause. Territorial concessions for the sake of saving lives and preventing human suffering are not only sanctioned by the Torah, but required.
Let it be clear that Agudath Israel of America does not represent and their presentations and statement are not reflective of all orthodox Jews in America and elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of orthodox Jews in America and abroad that are true to the religious teaching of the Talmud and sages, are against the declaration of a Sovereign state and opposed to the Israeli government expansionist policies.
May all mankind be worthy of true redemption when the "Swords will be beaten into Plowshares" and G-d's glory will fill the world.
CRC Established in 1952 is a worldwide organization representing over 150 Orthodox communities
>>"We can't achieve solutions >>without the public spotlight," >>said Elliot Pasik, an Orthodox >>attorney who represents >>plaintiffs in rabbi sex-abuse >>lawsuits unrelated to Kolko.
This may be true but how does it excuse Hikind from the obligation of reporting child predators to the authorities?
The reformists shouldn't be complaining. Only if swastika graffiti were spray painted at an Orthodox synagogue would their complaints be valid.
Sitting Shiva for Rubashkin's Turkeys (and other observations)
Posted 11/24/2008 10:22 AM CST
Sure, he's a crook. Yes, he allegedly pocketed union dues and when he owed big bucks in back taxes, Aaron Rubashkin torched his place of business. (He's on the right, below, next to his son). A couple of years later Rubashkin's in Postville, Iowa got closed down for breaking child labor laws, immigration laws and a few other issues. And now, the Rubashkin turkey is no more.
Truth is, they dressed (yes, I know it's a nice way to say they killed the turkey) a damn good turkey. Rubashkin's turkeys were declared the best in many taste tests, including Cooks Illustrated, various Chowhound bulletin boards and newspapers.
We will miss the tasty turkey, but not the tasteless turkey who claims to be a pious man. But maybe they could share the secret with Empire???
This article can be found at:
http://www.chron.com/channel/houstonbelief/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=rabbiweiss&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3ArabbiweissPost%3A36a5635b-9af7-48cf-a784-71431d6642d5
Good thing the fire commissioner isn't hauling our asses to jail after the stunts we pulled by padlocking the exits and creating a major fire hazard.
Yeshiva Ohel Moshe obviously can't cover up their tracks masterfully.
----------------------------------
KINGS Criminal Court
Docket: 2008SK102051
Defendant: YESHIVA OHEL MOSHE
Summons/Incident Date
Summons Date: May 28, 2008
Incident Date: May 28, 2008
Case Related Numbers
Criminal Justice Tracking Number:
NYSID Number:
Arrest Number:
Summons/Ticket Number: 4256753771
Issuing Officer Info
Agency: NYFD - CHIEF FIRE MARSHALL
Officer Command:
ADL condemns Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's attack against secular teachers
The Israel Office of the Anti-Defamation League on Monday condemned Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's attack against secular teachers.
During a lecture on Sunday broadcast via satellite TV, the Shas spiritual leader called secular teachers "asses" and referred to "poor children whose parents put them in secular education."
In a statement, the ADL's Israel Office said it was "shocked and saddened" at Yosef's "incendiary and derogatory" statement, calling on him to "refrain from such language and promote respect for all people in order to heal rifts in Israeli society, particularly between secular and observant Jews."
“In our community, people don’t talk about the things that they’ve come to my office,” said Hikind, himself an Orthodox Jew.
I wonder if Jet Blue has any two for one seats available. I hear the blue chips they serve during snack time is a big hit.
Can any turkey fressers reading this blog tell me what hashgoocheh Goets has?
Kosher Outlet Stocked Despite Slaughterhouse Raid
By KATIE CORONADO | CENTROtampa.com
and STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune
The owner of one of the few kosher specialty outlets in the Tampa Bay area says he should be all set for Thanksgiving, even though the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the nation was shut down in May.
But isn't so sure what the future holds after that.
Goetz and his wife run Jo-El's Kosher Foods, 2619 23rd Ave. N.
Goetz says he had made arrangements for a steady supply of kosher meat before the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down Agriprocessors Inc. in Iowa, so the raid didn't result in his business not receiving any meats.
First, his kosher meat was coming from Miami; now, New York, he said.
Goetz's supply, however, is good for only the next three months, he said, so he'll have to scramble for more. The highest quality kosher meat, he noted, has already become scarce compared with the lesser cuts.
Goetz said he knows what his customers need, but prices have been affected since federal agents raided the Iowa-based slaughterhouse.
"Our pricing structure certainly has gone up on certain items," Goetz said. "Turkeys have gone up 70 cents a pound in the last year."
Customer Alice Martin said she drives from Clearwater to shop at Goetz's market.
"I think customers have to plan," Martin said. "Make sure they have it. I called before I came in today."
Margo - I am not so sure you can get away with two seats for the price of one, and besides I think a little dieting would not hurt your boich at all. Just remember that this is friendly advice from one of your supporters in the quest to keep dirty little boy secrets away from the press. BTW Margo, I think I am an important fellow. Just check Wikipedia for my credentials. The only critique I have is why didn't they mention anything about my Borsalino hat and the importance of getting it steam cleaned for yom tov.
---------------------------------
Avi Shafran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Avi Shafran is a Haredi rabbi who serves as the Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, an organization established to meet the needs and viewpoint of many Haredi Jews in the United States.
Shafran is widely known in the Jewish world as a writer and lecturer. He is the author of a weekly column that is syndicated in the Jewish press in the United States and other anglophone countries, as well as in English language publications in Israel. Many of his articles are directed at a wider Jewish audience, including less observant Jews, and are designed to explain this tradition.
He is very critical of the Jewish Conservative movement's claim of halachic legitimacy. He publicly opposes the possibility of Israel recognizing the legality of Reform and Conservative personal status ceremonies (ie. marriage, divorce, and conversion).
His commentaries are published weekly on the Haredi blog Cross-Currents[1], and are often available at the Jewish World Review as well.
Shafran was the principal of a Jewish Day School in Providence Rhode Island prior to his appointment at the Agudah organization. He presently resides in Staten Island, New York. He is the author of Migrant Soul [2], "the story of a descendant of full-blooded American Indians who married an assimilated Jewess" and then began a "spiritual quest" that ended with both as Orthodox Jews. He is also an author of JewThink [3], a book on basics of Judaism.
[edit] Footnotes
http://www.jewishtimes-sj.com/news/2008/1128/columns/009.html
Just before Yom Kippur in October 1943, Bergson organized 400 Orthodox rabbis to march on Washington to protest what they thought was the Roosevelt administration's indifference to the plight of European Jews. Having been told by Jewish advisers that the committee did not represent the mainstream of American Jewish opinion, FDR did not receive the marchers. But other politicians did meet with them. Regardless of its official reception, the march helped force Congress to hold its first hearings on the plight of Jews in Europe and contributed directly to the creation in January 1944 of a government rescue agency, the War Refugee Board, which played a crucial role in the rescue of as many as 200,000 Jews. This was one of only several major actions by allied governments that saved Jews apart from the general military campaign. Also instigated by Bergson's committee was a "free port" at Fort Ontario in Oswego, N.Y., which saved 982 refugees from eighteen different countries.
Bergson's activities certainly resulted in a greater public awareness of the Holocaust and helped create an atmosphere conducive to changes in American rescue policy. Even Rabbi Wise eventually changed his tune somewhat and helped to persuade FDR to set up the War Refugee Board, even though he refused to acknowledge that stronger, earlier action - such as Bergson's efforts - might have saved many more Jews.
With an eye on the growing financial crisis, Jewish centers operated by Chabad-Lubavitch are refusing to cut programming, all while doing everything possible to trim budgets and rely on an expanded team of local volunteers and donors. But even with the economy in a tailspin, new centers continue to sprout around the globe.
“The first question my colleagues ask me is about my financial situation,” says Rabbi Menachem Hartman, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Vietnam, who is in New York with thousands of his colleagues for the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. “They want to know if there is any way they can assist me.”
Although Vietnam was not hit as hard as other countries at the beginning of the latest economic downturn, times are quickly getting tight, says Hartman. Since moving to Southeast Asia two years ago, he’s rarely asked for donations, but he feels that he may need to start.
Hartman emphasizes, however, that in no way will he cut programming.
“Donations that we receive from foreign visitors have dwindled over the past few months,” he says. “We cut our spending on a personal level, and in ways that the community will not notice.”
“We will all need to work harder now,” echoes Rabbi Levi Kamenitzky, chief rabbi of Tomsk, Russia, who is also in New York for the conference.
The economy forced some cuts to the administrative staff, but “none of the Jewish activities have been compromised,” he says. “The staff understands the financial situation and they are very optimistic. They are willing to invest the additional hours to get us through this difficult period.
“The local community has also stepped forward to assist us,” adds Kamenitzky. “They were already supporting a good portion of the budget, but because of the crisis, they now see that with the growth of the Jewish community, they need to assist even more.”
Even in those places where incoming funds have atrophied, programs continue apace.
“Many donors have ceased their monthly donations,” says Rabbi Chaim Hillel Azimov, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Northern Cyprus. “But we did not un-invite any of the 80 guests who joined us for High Holiday meals, even when we couldn’t find funding for them.”
Azimov, who recently arrived to his community, doesn’t know where he will receive funding for upcoming activities, such as Chanukah. He presses on, though, strengthened by a Chasidic teaching to “think good, and it will be good.”
At sessions dedicated to the state of the economy, which were some of the most heavily-attended at the New York conference, emissaries discussed strategies for minimizing costs and maximizing funds. One Sunday workshop examined ways to look at budgets line by line in an effort to squeeze every extra dollar.
“I spend extra time to look for the best deals,” says Rabbi Shmuel Fuss, co-director of the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Riverside, Calif. “But we are not planning on cutting any of our upcoming programming for Chanukah. We will find the funding somehow.”
A common refrain among conference attendees is gratitude for the continued commitment of top donors, even though they might be giving less in the wake of their own portfolios taking a massive hit. They also point out that in the midst of the crisis, local donors with means have stepped up to help, especially in the United States.
Says Hartman: “I have no words to express my gratitude to the Rohr Family Foundation,” which provides roughly a third of his budget. The foundation got involved thanks to Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, and supports many Chabad Houses throughout the world.
Others look at international businessman and philanthropist Lev Leviev, whose Africa Israel corporation lost some 85 percent of its value, with awe, considering his long history of support for the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Former Soviet Union and other Jewish communities across the globe.
Like their colleagues across the globe, Rabbi Levi and Chana Kamenitsky, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in Tomsk, Russia, have cut their operating budget.
Steady Growth
Despite the financial crisis, the list of communities served by Chabad-Lubavitch has grown over the past year, and continues to grow. According to statistics compiled by Chabad.org, more than 90 new centers opened since last year’s International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. In addition, more than 150 emissaries joined existing centers to help boost activities in the fields of adult education and youth outreach.
New centers opened in India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Israel and places in between. And while times are tough, the centers refuse to shut their doors.
“To the shluchim,” says Brandeis University professor Jonathan D. Sarna, an expert in American Jewish History, using the Hebrew word for emissaries, “it is not just a job, it is a mission. That is what has distinguished the role of the shluchim from other movements.”
“When you think about it, it doesn’t make sense that we’re still here,” says Rabbi Zalman Charytan, who with his wife Nechami established the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center of Acworth, Ga., this year.
(Other U.S. locations that saw new centers this year include Moorpark, Calif.; Rockville, Md.; Pittsford, N.Y.; Holmdel, N.J.; and Arlington, Texas. Internationally, some of the largest growth occurred in France with the establishment of centers in Charenton-le-Pont, Ezanville, Marseille and Montmorency, while campus-based Chabad Houses took root at Imperial College in London; Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.; George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; Loyola College in Montreal; and the Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.)
“I think that nobody really knows what the impact will be,” says Sarna. “All Jewish organizations are suffering. These are tough times; the impact on Chabad will be no different.”
“My entire life, I was educated to give to others,” says Charytan. “When we’re here for just a short time and 80 Jews come to High Holiday services, we know that we’re here to fill a need in the Jewish community.”
In the coming months, new centers will be established in such places as Yassi, Romania; Valencia, Spain; Frederick, Md.; Waterloo, Canada; and Gambetta, France.
“Nobody really understands where Chabad gets its funding,” says Sarna. “I certainly feel that many Chabad Houses are extremely efficient. One can see that they can do a great deal with a small amount of money.”
They should legalize sex acts with kids, Why is it criminal?
www.whec.com
Posted at: 11/25/2008 03:16:48 PM
Ogden man charged with rape, sex abuse takes plea deal
An Ogden man charged with 17 counts including rape, sex abuse and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person took a plea deal early this afternoon at the Hall of Justice.
Joseph Brandt plead guilty to a violent felony of criminal sex act and will spend four years in state prison. Brant will be sentenced in February in front of Judge Affrontti.
Shafran you're a schmuck and a big mouth. You're an unpopular punk and no fan of thd Jews just remember that.
Postville plant overseer named
By TONY LEYS
tleys@dmreg.com
The new de facto leader of Agriprocessors Inc. said Monday that he hopes to restart production at the Postville meatpacking plant as soon as possible.
Joseph Sarachek, a New York bankruptcy lawyer, was appointed by a federal judge last week to serve as the company's trustee. The appointment gives him effective control over the business.
Sarachek was en route to Postville on Monday to tour the plant and try to get a handle on the situation. "Time is of the essence," he said.
The company is in bankruptcy, and it suspended production last Monday. Scores of workers have gone without paychecks for at least two weeks. A makeshift food bank has been offering assistance to people since Friday.
Agriprocessors was Allamakee County's dominant employer, but it has been struggling to survive since last May, when it was the site of a huge immigration raid. Its former top executive, Sholom Rubashkin, is in jail awaiting trial on federal charges of defrauding the company's main lender and of helping immigrant workers gain false papers. Several other former managers also face criminal charges, and state officials have proposed millions of dollars in fines.
The Rubashkin family still owns the business, Sarachek said, "but they're no longer in control." A bankruptcy judge named him Agriprocessors' trustee while the court sorts out how the company's creditors can collect on the tens of millions of dollars they're owed.
Sarachek said the company would be worth more if it were operating. He said he was bringing in two meat-industry experts with experience in kosher meat, which is Agriprocessors' specialty. He declined to discuss a Rubashkin family lawyer's prediction last week that the company would be sold soon. However, he said he has heard from several parties expressing interest in a possible purchase.
Sarachek said he didn't yet know enough details about the situation to predict when the company would be able to issue paychecks. But he said it's crucial that the plant have a labor force to restart production.
Ralph Rosenberg, executive director of the Iowa Civil Rights Division, said several state agencies are helping Postville residents cope with the plant's closure. For example, he said, the Utilities Board is helping tenants prevent shutoffs of power and water service. Workforce Development officials are helping workers sign up for unemployment benefits. The Department of Human Services is helping people get food stamps and other benefits. The Department of Economic Development gave Postville a $698,000 grant to help residents deal with housing, utilities and other needs.
Rosenberg has been serving as the governor's point person in Postville. He said hundreds of families relied on the plant and now need help. He noted that numerous private groups also are assisting. Area churches and community radio station KPVL are providing food. A Minnesota synagogue sent a vanload of kosher food for the many Jewish families that worked at Agriprocessors.
Rosenberg said state experts also would help Postville leaders plan for a long-term recovery from the crisis.
http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/37205/Teens_And_
Teens And "Long" Motzaei Shabbosos
By: Rabbi Yakov Horowitz
Date: Wednesday, November 26 2008
Dear Rabbi Horowitz:
For the past few years, my wife and I have dreaded one aspect of Eastern Standard Time's fall arrival.
Here's our dilemma: We have three teenage children, two girls and a boy, 14-18 years of age. Every Motzaei Shabbos, we have major negotiating sessions with each of them regarding curfew and the appropriateness of the venues they and their friends are looking to go to.
Any suggestions, please? There has got to be a better way!
Rabbi Horowitz Responds
Dear Yitzi:
Reading your letter generated flashbacks - and sweaty palms - as it brought back memories of a few short years ago when my wife and I were raising four teenagers simultaneously (there is a six-year spread between our four married children). Nearly every Motzaei Shabbos was a blur of post-havdalah phone calls to and from friends, with my wife and I trying to keep a handle on where each of the kids was going....
Just because I protected Yudi Kolko and Lipa Margulis doesn't make me a bigot or a hypocrite for writing this.
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Married‚ and the mob
Nov. 25, 2008
avi shafran , THE JERUSALEM POST
From the agitation and anger of the crowds, the din of the car horns and the shouts of "Civil rights now!" and "Bigots!" one would have been forgiven for thinking that the protesters were denouncing some horrific assault on human freedom.
But no, the demonstrations - and church vandalisms and business boycotts - were in protest of California voters‚ passage of the November ballot measure known as Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Any two Californians can, as before, register as "domestic partners" and have the very same rights and responsibilities as married couples under state law. All Proposition 8 sought to do was preserve in law what the word "marriage" has meant for millennia.
Those, though, who were unhappy with the electorate's decision wasted no time in taking to the streets of dozens of American cities and towns to rail against the audacity - the bigotry, as they proclaimed it - of considering gender germane to marriage.
IN SOME cities, tens of thousands turned out for raucous rallies; in many instances, epithets were hurled at counterdemonstrators and even uninvolved bystanders. Although protesters claimed the mantle of the American civil rights movement, several black observers of the Los Angeles demonstration had what has been called the "N-bomb" dropped on them by infuriated demonstrators - a presumed tribute to the fact that blacks voted 2-1 in favor of the proposition. A San Diego family with a "Yes on 8" sign on their front lawn had their car's tires slashed. A San Francisco area group launched a campaign to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Mormon Church because of its support of the marriage initiative. Graffiti was spray-painted on a Mormon church near Sacramento. A group of about 30 activists from a group called "Bash Back!" stormed into a Lansing, Michigan church, unfurled a rainbow flag at the pulpit and proceeded to disrupt services by banging on cans and shouting.
Some, even among those who assign meaning to traditional morality, are not greatly bothered by the push to expand the meaning of marriage. They are content to let people call things whatever they want, and regard the societal push to revamp social mores as benign. The vehemence, violence and general obnoxiousness that characterized some of the protests, though, should give them pause.
AS SHOULD Scott Eckern's forced resignation.
Eckern was the artistic director of the California Musical Theater. He no longer holds that position because anti-Proposition 8 activists uncovered and publicized the fact that he had made a contribution to the other side's campaign. Eckern explained that his donation stemmed from his religious beliefs as a Mormon and expressed sadness that his "personal beliefs and convictions have offended others" and caused "hurt feelings."
But neither his words nor resignation were enough to mollify the mob. An award-winning composer called Eckern to tell him that he would not allow his work to be performed in the theater with which the ex-director had been associated; and an actress called for a boycott of the institution.
It seems clearer than ever that gay activists are not, as was once thought, interested only on being left alone, or, as was later thought, on being granted the same privileges as others. They are fixated, in fact, on creating a society where traditional religious perspectives on homosexuality and marriage are regarded, in law and in social dialogue, as the equivalent of racial or ethnic bias.
The scenario of religious people - and institutions like churches, synagogues and mosques - being branded as bigoted simply for affirming deeply-held religious convictions is around the corner. And eventual prosecution of the same for voicing those convictions is only another corner or two away.
What began as a plea for "rights" is rapidly, and noisily, morphing into an assault on freedom of speech and conscience.
Jews who take their religious tradition seriously will not allow the shifting sands of societal mores to obscure the fact that the Torah forbids homosexual acts, and sanctions only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony. They know, further, that the Talmud and Midrash teach that a saving grace of human society throughout the ages has been its refusal to formalize unions between males.
Which made a scene at one of the recent protests particularly poignant. Rebecca Kaplan, a newly elected Oakland, California city council member, told those gathered outside City Hall how upset she was with the passage of Proposition 8. According to a news report, she "roused the crowd by blowing a shofar, a ram's horn blown as a wind instrument in biblical times. She said it represented a call for solidarity."
Only it doesn't. It represents a call for teshuva, the Hebrew word for repentance, literally "return" - to the teachings of the Jewish religious tradition.
The writer is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404835221&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a14102/News/New_York.html
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by Hella Winston
Special To The Jewish Week
Ever since Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind revealed two months ago that he had assembled files on “hundreds” of people alleging sexual abuse at the hands of Orthodox rabbis and yeshiva employees, he has been under scrutiny both from inside and outside the Orthodox Jewish community.
Now, two weeks after Hikind was served with a subpoena by an attorney representing alleged sexual abuse victims, that scrutiny has intensified.
While many have praised the Brooklyn Democrat for bringing much-needed attention to this issue, early criticism of his efforts came, perhaps surprisingly, from some of the victims’ groups and advocates. They argued that Hikind, while deserving of credit for trying to shed light on the problem, had actually harmed their cause by attempting to deal with the
issue within the Orthodox community. The best route, they claim, is to take such cases directly to law enforcement, who are in the best position to investigate allegations and alone have the power to arrest, prosecute and register offenders.
Michael Dowd, an attorney representing alleged victims of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, a former teacher and principal at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, recently subpoenaed Hikind for records and testimony regarding rabbis and yeshiva employees who have allegedly sexually abused children, and rabbinic leaders who may have protected the abusers. Dowd is interested in any information Hikind may have gathered that could be relevant to his clients’ cases.
At the time Hikind was served, in a story first reported by The Jewish Week, he told the paper that he had given the subpoena to a lawyer for the State Assembly for review, but vowed to “go to jail for 10 years” rather than reveal the names of the alleged victims, whom he has guaranteed anonymity. He repeated this vow to The New York Times in a subsequent story.
It appears that his public stance has thus far had the effect of reframing the issue, turning the focus from exposing and ridding the community of pedophiles to protecting victims.
Hikind has stated that he plans instead to take his information — which he says includes the names of 60 alleged sexual predators — first to the rabbis, as part of a comprehensive effort to address a problem he has characterized as “overwhelming.” He has noted that while he personally encourages victims to go to the police, cultural taboos against informing to the secular authorities, as well as shame and fear of stigma, tend to prevent most strictly Orthodox victims from doing so.
Neither Dowd, Hikind nor a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver would comment publicly on whether or how Hikind has responded to the subpoena. But Dowd does not see compliance with it as in any way at odds with Hikind’s commitment to protect victims. He maintains that he is not seeking to make public the names of victims but is interested in information about alleged perpetrators and their protectors.
“The names of the victims will be protected and not disclosed publicly,” said Dowd, who successfully represented a number of men claiming to have been abused by Catholic priests. “We have no intention of doing damage to victims that have already been abused.
But on the other hand,” he added, “I would say that it’s fairly obvious that as well-intentioned as Assemblyman Hikind is, he hasn’t solved anything of the problem, and until we take some action against the predators, nothing’s going to happen. Unfortunately, the leadership within the community has not been willing to take the kind of action that would oust these people.”
Dowd also stressed that there are mechanisms by which the names of victims can be kept confidential and that he has “had no client in 12 years who was a minor and who was sexually abused whose name has been published in the media. We’ve taken real steps to carve out protective orders to protect the identity of victims. What we want to do is to protect the victims, but not to protect, but to expose, the sexual predators amongst us.”
In an editorial last week, however, the Forward characterized the situation as a “face-off” between a “Catholic lawyer and an Orthodox Jewish legislator” and came out on Hikind’s side. “Getting victims to talk will require far more trust than the police or courts can hope to win,” the editorial asserted.
“Hikind,” the editorial continued, “has that kind of trust and he is making a breakthrough where countless others have failed. He should be allowed to continue developing his methods and pursuing his facts.”
Others, however, have expressed serious reservations about Hikind’s methods.
One of Hikind’s most outspoken critics has been Marci Hamilton, author of “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children” and a professor at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. In an op-ed that appeared in last week’s Daily News, Hamilton accused Hikind, “in the of name of protecting victims” of “shielding people accused of committing the most heinous crimes imaginable.”
Among other things, Hamilton urged the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles Hynes, to convene a grand jury to investigate abuse in the Orthodox communities and called for an amendment to the state mandatory reporter law to include elected representatives.
Meanwhile, Hikind received criticism from his own constituents in Brooklyn’s Orthodox community.
Reacting to postings on the popular blog VosIzNeias.com calling
Hikind a hero and urging him to resist Dowd’s subpoena, the mother of an alleged abuse victim criticized Hikind in a widely circulated e-mail.
Pearl Engelman, whose son Joel has sued United Talmudical Academy in connection with sexual abuse he alleges he suffered at the hands of his fifth-grade teacher when he was 8, warned that Hikind can not become a “martyr/hero to the cause.”
Noting Hikind’s failure to make good on a public promise to prevent her son’s alleged molester, Rabbi Avrohom Reichman, from returning to his teaching job last September, Engelman wrote: “Dov Hikind is no hero! In my book he is an accomplice, because at the very least, if he was not successful in getting Satmar to remove Reichman, it was his great responsibility to innocent children ... to have let the parents, who are being kept in the dark by the school, know that Reichman is a great danger to all children in the school. Hikind [has] given in to the machinations of Satmar who want to keep Reichman in the system at all costs.”
Hikind’s efforts to shine a light on the problem have received qualified praise from Survivors for Justice, a recently formed group of victims of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community.
“We applaud Dov Hikind’s courageous efforts to expose this terrible problem in an effort to eradicate it from our community,” said Lonnie Soury, a spokesman for the group. But, he added, “the rabbis have known about this for decades and have not only done little to end this abberant and illegal behavior, in some quarters they have protected the perpetrators.
“These people must be exposed publicly and be prosecuted in our courts criminally and civilly,” Soury continued. “We must shine a very public light on this problem and, more importantly encourage victims and their families to go to the authorities to expose the pedophiles.”
Does this mean YOB victims can sue us too? Jews like me are more chushuv than Catholics I would think.
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US federal appeals court allows sex-abuse lawsuit against Vatican
November 25, 2008
A US federal appeals court has ruled that three men can proceed with a sex-abuse lawsuit in which the Vatican is named as a defendant. The 6th Circuit said that although the Holy See, as a sovereign nation, is immune from most lawsuits, the plaintiffs can proceed with their argument that Vatican officials were involved in a deliberate effort to cover up evidence of sexual abuse by American priests. The case could be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
The event was sponsored by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in addition to Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens. Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Ama Dwimoh was present at the seminar.
Jerusalem - Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be tried over suspicions that he multiple-billed travel expenses while serving in public office in the years before he became prime minister, Israel's attorney-general announced Wednesday.
Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz made the announcement that he plans to recommend Olmert be indicted over the so-called 'Rishon Tours' affair after a lengthy police investigation, which had ended with police saying enough evidence had been gathered to press charges.
This is one of the reasons people know Agudah has its head buried in the sand.
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Case Two: Agriprocessors violated with abandon a variety of civil and criminal laws and halachic requirements. Among other things, it was accused of abusing animals, gross labor law violations, and bank fraud. Should Agriprocessors be denied kosher certification?
The same certifiers who would deny certification in places where music that might be danced to is played made clear that none of what Agriprocessors did affected the kashrut of its meat. Other rabbis concurred. Thus, “Lapses of business ethics, animal rights issues, worker rights matters — all of these have no effect whatsoever on the kosher value,” Agudath Israel’s Rabbi Avi Shafran recently told a Yeshiva University-sponsored conference.
Music you can dance to does help determine “the kosher value,” but forcing 16-year-old girls to work 20 hours a day does not.
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