Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Agudah Motto: Sanctuary For Pedophiles...






Protest At Agudah

Rally outside Agudah dinner protested group’s opposition to pedophile legislation. Hella Winston
Rally outside Agudah dinner protested group’s opposition to pedophile legislation. Hella Winston

Click Here For Jewish Week article

by Hella Winston

The battle over legislation that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse for one year took to the streets Sunday night, complete with a dose of sophisticated street theater.
The scene was the New York Hilton Hotel, where the haredi umbrella group Agudath Israel was holding its annual dinner. The organization — along with Torah Umesorah, the Orthodox educational network, and the Catholic Church — opposes a bill authored by Assemblywoman Marge Markey that, if passed, could potentially end up costing Orthodox institutions tens of millions of dollars. The bill provides a one-year window during which alleged victims can file civil suits regardless of when the abuse took place.
A small group of supporters of the Markey bill, in standard protest style, picketed the Agudah dinner, displaying signs that read “Agudah Stop Protecting Pedophiles.” But the group went a step further. It handed out forged fliers designed to look exactly like those e-mailed to Agudah members. On one side was a copy of the Agudah’s joint press release with Torah Umesorah opposing the Markey Bill. On the other was a fake statement from Rabbi David Zwiebel, Agudah’s executive vice president for government and public affairs.
The fake message — in which “Rabbi Zwiebel” claims to have been ordered to work with the Catholic Conference of New York State in this “holy mission” and calls upon Agudah members to decide how the organization should respond to the “epidemic of sexual abuse” —— appeared real enough to at least one Jewish leader who saw it. He called The Jewish Week to tip the paper off about the “statement.”
Among the protesters were Mark Appel, a community activist from the Upper West Side; Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, an activist and advocate from Williamsburg who claims he was shot in the head for speaking out about child sexual abuse in his community; Levi Goldenberg, also from Williamsburg and the founder of an organization called The Committee for Safeguarding Orthodox Jewish Children; and Joe DiAngello, a member of the group Survivors for Justice who alleges he was raped in a mikveh when he was 7.
According to Rabbi Rosenberg, the protesters were there “[to let] Jewish people who are supposed to be Torah-observant people know that we are not allowed to have any kind of pedophilia in our community. And [unfortunately] the Agudah and these rabbis with them are backing these pedophiles on a very, very bad level.”
He referred specifically to the case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, who is alleged to have abused what some believe could be dozens of children with impunity for over four decades, both in schools and at the Agudah-owned Camp Agudah, Inc.
At one point, the protesters got into a confrontation with Israel Lefkowitz, who identified himself as an Agudah trustee “proud to be an Agudist since 1940.” Through the open window of his car as he entered the Hilton, he told protesters that he “was against sexual harassment for all the children.”
When asked by The Jewish Week whether he thought people should report allegations of abuse directly to the police, Lefkowitz did not respond, but chided the protesters for demonstrating in public.
“We are on the same side,” he told them. “The problem [with the Markey bill] is that somebody can wake up after 40 years and say that he was molested.”
Rabbi Zwiebel said in an e-mail, “Obviously I don’t like it when people use my name and image falsely.
“But,” Rabbi Zwiebel added, “Lefkowitz is essentially right: the protesters are our brothers and sisters, and they have a special claim on our attention and conscience. We may have disagreements over specific strategies and approaches, which at least from our end we are determined to keep civil, but we need to remember who/what the real ‘enemy’ is: apathy about the underlying problem. I hope the day will come when we can all look back and say that we took steps that made a real difference.”

Jewish Week article here

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"What Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah must object to, however, is legislation that could literally destroy schools, houses of worship that sponsor youth programs, summer camps and other institutions that are the very lifeblood of our community."

Visit VIN for complete statement!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

2B or not 2B a Frummie Fraud - The Beards Are a Crying Shame!!!



The compromise supported by the 5 Towns Jewish Times and others is nothing more than a sham to discourage and prevent victims from ever seeking civil justice

The Zalkin Law Firm Explains Why a Compromise with Institutions that Harbored Pedophiles is Bad Policy

Sexual Abuse Attorney Irwin Zalkin explains why a compromise with the institutions that harbored pedophiles is bad policy.

New York, New York (PRWEB) May 6, 2009 -- Recently, the New York Assembly has begun to consider whether it should limit the amount of money that a jury can award to remedy the damage endured by a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. That proposal was supported in a recent article in 5 Towns Jewish Times, entitled "Sexual Abuse Legislation: A Proposed Strategy For Reform," by David Mandel. Under the proposed scheme, regardless of the facts in a case and the financial cost to the survivor of taking on well funded and insured religious corporations at trial, the most that can be recovered is $500,000. The attorney representing the victim would be limited to a 10% fee. "Such a compromise, to please pedophiles and their masters, is bad policy," states Irwin Zalkin, an attorney helping survivors of childhood sexual abuse (http://www.zalkin.com) across the country. "The compromise supported by the 5 Towns Jewish Times and others is nothing more than a sham to discourage and prevent victims from ever seeking civil justice," said Zalkin.

As Zalkin explains, "The institutions protected by the compromise supported by Mandel and 5 Towns Jewish Times are those who have purposely engaged in acts which deceived whole communities regarding the safety of children left in their care."

"The offending institutions have insurance and their own substantial resources to hire the biggest most expensive law firms to put on million dollar defenses. The survivor, of course, has none of these resources," states Zalkin. He further explains that: "For survivors their only hope of equaling the playing field is to hire a lawyer on a contingency basis who gets nothing if there is no recovery. That lawyer has to spend thousands of hours of work and advance the thousands of dollars to hire a team of professionals including, investigators; forensic experts in psychiatry or psychology; and various disciplines of rehabilitation; experts regarding what were the best practices to follow when caring for children; and economists." "The compromise scheme would ensure that, at the most, a long suffering David must once again take the field against a well conditioned and equipped Goliath. At the end of the day the wounded child remains forever maimed," said Zalkin.

With offices in New York and San Diego, The Zalkin Law Firm is one of the premier sexual abuse and personal injury law firms in the country. The firm's lawyers have achieved groundbreaking results in numerous high-profile clergy abuse (http://www.nyclergyabuse.com) cases across the United States. Mr. Zalkin has negotiated over $200 million in settlements in Catholic clergy sex abuse (http://news.zalkin.com) cases.

Mr. Zalkin is available to speak to the media about clergy sexual abuse and the Child Victim's Act of New York (A2596). Please call Lisa Maynes (212-889-1300) to arrange interviews. To speak to Mr. Zalkin about legal representation, please call The Zalkin Law Firm (212-889-1300).

Contact Information
Irwin Zalkin
The Zalkin Law Firm, P.C.
http://www.Zalkin.com
800-724-3235

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/05/prweb2390414.htm

About Me

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