Despite a New York judge’s recent condemnation of the practice, several national rabbinic leaders said they thought Orthodox rabbinic courts should continue to screen allegations of sexual abuse and decide whether they should be forwarded to law enforcement for prosecution.
“Sometimes, unfortunately, people make allegations which have no substance because they have an agenda,” said Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, the organizing body of Modern Orthodox rabbis.
He said the rabbinic courts, or beit dins, are useful because they allow “for an investigation to see if there’s substance, and if there is, it’s immediately referred” to civil authorities.
David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a leading umbrella group of ultra-traditional Orthodox organizations, agreed that religious courts can play a positive role in sexual-abuse cases.
“I think there are people in the community who are concerned about certain things that the secular authorities might not be concerned about,” Zweibel said. “If a child has to be removed from a family, if you are not sensitive to religious concerns of the family, they might be placed in a home setting that would not facilitate the child’s observance of religion.”
During the September 29 sentencing of a 31-year-old Orthodox bar mitzvah tutor convicted of sexually abusing two boys, New York State Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach lashed out at the Orthodox community for “a communal attitude that seems to impose greater opprobrium on the victims than the perpetrator.” He termed the role played by such rabbinic courts in particular “inappropriate,” saying that these courts were “incapable” of dealing with criminal matters.
The FORWARD reports.
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86 comments:
He said the rabbinic courts, or beit dins, are useful because they allow “for an investigation to see if there’s substance, and if there is, it’s immediately referred” to civil authorities.
Yeah.. If your son or daughter told you so and so abused them don't believe them. Send them to the Rabbis who have absolutely no training, and have a proven track record of sweeping under the rug.
Yeah.. Send them to the Rabbis because they are better investigators than the police.
Yeah.. Send them to the Rabbis for a brainwash free of charge.
Yeah.. Send them to the Rabbis who have NO conflict of interest.
Yeah.. Send them to the Rabbis because they really have the power to enforce the laws of the land.
Yeah.. Send them to the Rabbis and insist the Jews don't need any "police protection" anymore. Let tax dollars we save go towards the construction of more Orthodox courts.
Weisberg sounds like the typical "put it under the carpet" putz.
These midgets just can't face the truth!
_
“There are all kind of tools that are available to a community and a beit din that are not available to a judge. "If there are enough reasonable facts that responsible people can make a reasonable decision that there might be something going on here, they can really lay it out to that person” by threatening to kick perpetrators out of their religious congregations and taking other measures.
“The last thing we would want to do is cover something up or put it under the carpet,” Weisberg said."
Rabbi Yosef Blau is one of very few Rabbis we can trust.
David Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a leading umbrella group of ultra-traditional Orthodox organizations, agreed that religious courts can play a positive role in sexual-abuse cases.
“I think there are people in the community who are concerned about certain things that the secular authorities might not be concerned about,” Zweibel said. “If a child has to be removed from a family, if you are not sensitive to religious concerns of the family, they might be placed in a home setting that would not facilitate the child’s observance of religion.”
According to Weisberg, the beit din calls in law enforcement when the law requires it to, or when a victim asks it to. But, he said, “Sometimes the evidence is just not there, especially when you’re dealing with children.
Finkelstein is the only one who slipped through our fingers.
The group includes rabbis alongside social workers, therapists and medical professionals, he said.
We have the same setup here at Ohel, just ask Avi Mondrowitz or Dovid Cohen.
“The last thing we would want to do is cover something up or put it under the carpet,” Weisberg said.
“I think there are people in the community who are concerned about certain things that the secular authorities might not be concerned about,” Zweibel said. “If a child has to be removed from a family, if you are not sensitive to religious concerns of the family, they might be placed in a home setting that would not facilitate the child’s observance of religion.”
“Sometimes, unfortunately, people make allegations which have no substance because they have an agenda,” said Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, the organizing body of Modern Orthodox rabbis.
Blau exonerated me. Proof that the system didn't work. But Blau isn't ordinary, he later helped put me in jail.
If only every rabbi was as open and honest like he, predators wouldn't be free to abuse as I did.
Blau has balls. Trust me I know.
During the trial, Brown described in detail how Pipitone wrestled with the boys in play and rubbed against them in a sexual manner while they were lying down.
But his defense attorney, Kevin Kearon, tried to convince jurors that wrestling can sometimes be therapeutic for children with certain problems.
Dear Mr. President,
We respectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, from your Administration. It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in this capacity.
As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America's schools-an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children. As evidence of this, Mr. Jennings wrote the foreword for a book titled Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling. Throughout his career, Mr. Jennings has made it his mission to establish special protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students to the exclusion of all other students. The totality of Mr. Jennings' career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug free schools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings who has, for more than 20 years, almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.
Equally troubling is Mr. Jennings' self-described history of ignoring the sexual abuse of a child. In his book, One Teacher in Ten, Mr. Jennings recounts a 15-year old student confiding in him that he had a sexual relationship with a much older man. Mr. Jennings' only response was to ask if the underage boy used a condom. As a mandatory reporter, Mr. Jennings was required by law to report child abuse, including sex crimes. Mr. Jennings cannot serve as the "safe schools" czar when his record demonstrates a willingness to overlook the sexual abuse of a child.
As the "safe schools" czar, Mr. Jennings is also charged with ensuring our schools and students are drug free. It is clear that Mr. Jennings is unfit to serve in this capacity, as well. His own history of unrepentant drug and alcohol abuse indicates that he is of the opinion that getting drunk and high as a young person is acceptable. In his memoir, Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son, Mr. Jennings describes his use of illegal drugs, without expressing regret or acknowledging the devastating effects illegal drug use can have on a person's life.
Everyone that deals with the education of the most vulnerable must be a positive role model. Our children are not blessed with the wisdom to discern and reject. Children presume the adults who educate them are approved by the larger society and their parents. Kevin Jennings cannot gain the approval of parents who want their children safe and their schools drug free. You should replace him with someone who has a record of educating children in a safe and moral environment.
Given these very serious issues with Mr. Jennings' record, we urge you to remove him immediately.
MYFOXNY.COM - More women have come forward with accusations of sex abuse against a New Jersey fertility doctor, according to a Record report.
The six additional women came forward after Dr. Alfredo Garcia's arrest in September based on accusations from other patients. He has offices in Hackensack and Clifton. The women who spoke to police had been his patients from back in the 1980s until recently.
Garcia faces charges in Passaic and Bergen counties. The Bergen County prosecutor said that the new allegations will be put the grand jury.
Garcia's lawyer has said his client denies the accusations.
Jurors reached a verdict in the sex and drugs trial of a Butler County doctor. The panel found pediatrician Mark Blankenburg guilty on 16 sex charges in the case.
Blankenburg molested young patients at his practice. He faced dozens of charges including gross sexual imposition, corruption of a minor and compelling prostitution. The jury has been deliberating those counts since yesterday. Blankenburg stood before the verdict was delivered, but sat down midway through the process.
A judge will determine Mark Blankenburg's guilt on 25 remaining counts that include bribery and drug trafficking. He is accused of giving his patients money and drugs to keep quiet about the alleged molestation. Defense attorneys have said the sex allegations are false and that accusers extorted money and drugs.
Blankenburg's twin brother, also a pediatrician, faces trial on 22 similar charges. His trial is set to begin in April of 2010.
Local 12 is in the courtroom and we'll have more on Local 12 First at Four.
Childhood neglect and abuse can leave mental and physical scars, but that's not all -- a new study says there may also be a correlation between abuse and obesity.
Kopd6enc Researchers looked at court records of 410 children up to age 11 from 1967 to 1971 in a Midwest county who had court-substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect. They were matched with 303 children of similar ages, sex, race and ethnicity and social class who had no abuse or neglect. On a followup of both groups about 30 years later, their body mass index scores were compared.
Among whites, those who were abused and neglected overall and those who were physically abused had significantly higher BMI scores as adults than the control group. Childhood physical abuse predicted higher adult BMI scores even when controlling for demographics, smoking and drinking alcohol. However, childhood sexual abuse or neglect were not predictive of having a higher BMI as an adult.
While this doesn't prove a causative effect, the study authors propose two theories why BMI scores could be higher among these groups: The physical abuse could have had affected the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, in turn increasing peripheral cortisol, which has been associated with abdominal obesity. That axis is a part of the neuroendicrine system and controls functions such as calorie burning and reactions to stress. Also, overeating could be a way of coping with the trauma of abuse.
The study appears in the October issue of the journal Obesity.
-Jeannine Stein
Researchers use nanotech to detect early-stage cancer
Stanford team combines nanotech, microchips to improve fight against elusive cancers
Sharon Gaudin
October 16, 2009 (Computerworld) Stanford University researchers used nanotechnology and magnetics to create a biosensor that they said should be able to detect cancer in its early stages, making a cure more likely.
The sensor, which sits on a microchip, is 1,000 times more sensitive than cancer detectors used clinically today, according to scientists at Stanford, in Palo Alto, Calif. The researchers announced this week that the sensors have been effective in finding early-stage tumors in mice, giving them hope that it can be equally successful in detecting elusive cancers in humans.
"In the early stage [of a cancer], the protein biomarker level in blood is very, very low, so you need ultra-sensitive technology to detect it," said Shan Wang, professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford, in a statement. "If you can detect it early, you can have early intervention and you have a much better chance to cure that person."
Wang also noted that the biosensor could be used to determine whether chemotherapy or other cancer treatments are working after only a few days. It currently takes months to determine the success of such treatments.
The sensor is able to detect cancer-associated protein biomarkers at a concentration as low as one part out of a hundred billion, according to Stanford.
Nanotechnology has been a key part of a lot of cancer-fighting research efforts in recent months.
Late last month, researchers at the University of Toronto also used nanomaterials to develop a microchip they say is also sensitive enough to detect early stage cancer when it is most treatable. The chip is designed to detect the type of cancer and its severity.
And in August, scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine announced that a team of researchers are creating "nanobees" to fight cancerous tumors. They are using nanoparticles to deliver the primary component of bee venom, called melittin, through the body to kill cancerous tumor cells. In an experiment with mice, the nanobees were used to target cancerous tumors and effectively halted their growth, researchers said. In some cases, they added, the nanobees caused the tumors to shrink.
Also in August, researchers at MIT announced that they had used nanoparticles to deliver genes that killed ovarian tumors in mice . The researchers said the tests could lead to a new treatment for ovarian cancer.
The Stanford researchers arranged an array of 64 nanosensors on a microchip. Each sensor can be set to detect a different kind of cancer biomarker.
"The idea that you could essentially ... measure a broad diversity of biomolecules that are at such a wide range of concentrations with such sensitivity is really, truly remarkable," said Charles Drescher, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, in a statement. "I think we'll all be very excited if this really does pan out."
David Zwiebel is an honorable horse's ass.
Zweibel makes a good point. We must be sensitive. We don't want any molesters going to jail and have the gentiles take their children away.
Due to allegations of sexual impropriety, Kiryat Bialik's only state-salaried rabbi, appointed by the Chief Rabbinate, temporarily suspended himself recently while he launched his legal defense. In his absence, Rabbi Mauricio Balter has become the town's unofficial chief rabbi. On Yom Kippur, around 600 people attended the Kol Nidre prayer at his synagogue, and even more came for the concluding Ne'ila prayer.
The way to deal with sexual abuse is threatening victim's parents and dropping rumors around town that victim is not even frum.
And I always thought there was nothing the Church and I could agree on.
The general pattern was for church leadership to take the man's side and either do nothing or cover up the offence, McCallum said. This had happened in the Petrie case.
Our position is this is too old. Our rabbomin also informed us senior citizens have immunity. In this case it's not noygeah because were dealing with goyim.
Finally the community is waking up to this plague they wished would have stayed under the carpet.
If we can ever get justice for the victims of Mondrowitz, that will go a long way in restoring trust in the legal system.
But as a pessimist I am beginning to wonder if that will ever happen.
Mondrowitz has a lot of protection from people who don't want to see a can of worms opened.
I think politicians and community pressure are holding back the gates of justice.
Some people hold there are two versions of the torah that was given over at har-sinai. One for covering-up abuse and one for committing abuse.
Jewish Council Against Family Violence
Thursday, October 22, 2009 | 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM
Jewish Council Against Family Violence
& Jewish Women International present:
RABBI DR. ABRAHAM J. TWERSKI
From Self Control to Out of Control: The Spectrum of Control in Relationships
Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski is an international authority in the mental health field especially in regard to chemical dependency. He appears frequently as a radio and television guest as well as a frequent lecturer on a topics including domestic violence, stress, self-esteem, spirituality and chemical dependency.
Twerski has written 40 books including: The Shame Borne in Silence: Spouse Abuse in the Jewish Community, Substance Abusing High Achievers, Life's Too Short, and I'd Like to Call For Help, But I Don't Know The Number.
Twerski held a pulpit until he graduated from Marquette U. Medical School and completed his psychiatric residency at the University of Pittsburgh Western Psychiatric Institute. For 20 years, he was Clinical Director of the Department of Psychiatry at St. Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh, and currently is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the U. of Pittsburgh . He is also the Founder and Medical Director Emeritus of Gateway Rehabilitation Center, cited as one of the 12 best U.S. drug and alcohol treatment centers by Forbes magazine.
Three Opportunities to Hear Twerski
on Thursday, October 22:
Find the one(s) that fits for you!
1. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
• The Professional’s Perspective on Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community – Training for mental health, medical, and health professionals to increase their understanding of domestic violence in the Jewish Community.
• TIME: 9:00-11:00am
• PLACE: Jewish Federation Kopolow Building
• COST: FREE
• CEUs: This Program approved by NASW for 1.5 Continuing Ed. Contact Hours.
2. RABBI TRAINING
• The Intersection Between Domestic Violence and Halacha (Jewish Law) – Training for rabbis, rebbetzins (rabbis’ wives), mikvah attendants, and others who are intimately involved in Jewish family life to raise awareness of domestic violence and how to handle problems with sensitivity.
• TIME: 1:00-3:00pm
• PLACE: The Jewish Federation Koppolow Building
• COST: FREE
3. COMMUNITY LECTURE & DESSERT RECEPTION ( Jon Rubin Catering)
• From Self Control to Out of Control: The Spectrum of Control in Relationships – Community lecture and dessert reception designed to promote a wider understanding of the role that control plays in families and other relationships
• TIME: 7:00-9:00pm
• PLACE: Washington University Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts - Steinberg Auditorium
• COST: $18 Individual Ticket // $10 Student Ticket
PLEASE CONTACT US TO REGISTER!
Call 314-422-1246 or jcafvstl@gmail.com
JCAFV, P. O. Box 11804, Clayton, MO 63105
Time:
07:00 PM to 09:00 PM
Location:
Washington University Sam Fox School of Design,
Steinberg Auditorium,
MO
Contact:
Yael Kula,
Phone: 566-3577
Chutzpah!
Barak: Don't abstain from women's singing
Defense minister tells military conversion court trainees they have his approval 'to listen to women when they sing nicely.' Aide to Rabbi Elyashiv: Since when is Barak a rabbinical authority?
My wife must have written this while I was bathing in the mikvah.
Too bad her intercession enraged the judge. Obviously the judge is an am-haaretz.
90 letters in my book is enough grounds to gain an acquittal.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a16922/News/New_York.html
Reichbach referred to one letter in particular, written by a Mrs. Mandel and expressing sadness “that Weinberg’s love of humankind has turned against him,” as being “the height of chutzpah.
Interesting article. Physical & sexual abuse is prevalent here too.
"100 years of chinuch" sign we so proudly display - is a remez for beating and abusing talmidim - all altz leshem shomayim.
http://tzedek-tzedek.blogspot.com/2009/09/rabbis-dealing-with-abuse.html
---------------------------
By Rabbi Yosef Blau
My experience is with the Orthodox community in America but from what I have heard the situation in Israel is similar. As in many other personal areas, Orthodox Jews, when they are informed about abuse, instinctively turn to their rabbis. Unfortunately the rabbis (with the exception of young rabbis recently trained in modern Orthodox rabbinical schools) have no training and are not equipped to evaluate the accusations. When the accusations are about other Orthodox rabbis they assume that such behavior is impossible. While it is true that most abuse takes place within families, teachers have access to many potential victims and even a small number guilty can molest hundreds of children.
Our assumption that observance creates better people makes it difficult to believe that the abuse has happened, and if it did, then the abuser was someone not religious and certainly not a Torah teacher. Halakhic standards of proof are essentially impossible to achieve, as the victims are children and women who are ineligible to be witnesses. The shame associated with being violated in the Orthodox world also promotes the notion that people should not go public. Rabbis, even when suspicious that molestation has occurred, will usually advise silence to protect the family's good name.
Batei Din in our times are not effective in dealing with criminal behavior. Lacking the investigative arm of the police and having restrictive standards of testimony they can not establish guilt. When the culprit is charismatic, he can often get protégés who feel indebted to him to lie to the Beis Din. It takes years before those who have been abused as youngsters to openly face their abuser.
The desire to protect the image of the community from an outside seen as basically hostile, both prevents going to authorities or media and turns the whistleblowers into the perpetrators. There is a perverted sense of Chillul Hashem that places the blame, not on those whose behavior mocks their external look of piety, but places it instead on those who unmask them.
When the issue becomes protecting the role of the rabbinate rather then stopping abuse, defensive articles are written, but children are not protected. In America, there is a growing awareness that no community is spared from having abusers in its midst. Orthodox mental health professionals have prepared materials to help children and their parents recognize signs of abuse which are being used. The taboo of calling the police (mesira) is slowly being replaced by following the pesak of almost all the gedolim that abusers are ongoing dangers and that secular authorities must be informed.
Rav Yosef is dauntless. I highly admire his foresight and candid mind.
If only the rabbinate were billowing with Rabbi Yosef Blau's.......
Case of Rabbi Lewis Brenner (AKA: Lippa Brenner) (Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted of child molestation. The original charges included 14 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the third degree,
a Class E felony, in exchange for a sentence of five years' probation.)
Rabbi Accused of Child Sexual Abuse Previously Molested at Chabad Shul, Was Convicted, Head Chabad Rabbi Says He Was Not Involved In These “Rumors”. (Rumors? Wasn’t the perp convicted?)
Chabad’s International Co-head and emissary to the White House, Rabbi Avaham Shemtov says child sex abuse that took place in his synagogue is beyond his purview. (Righttttttttttttttttttt)
Shemtov said that there were “lots of rumor that flew back and forth” about Levitt over the years, but he never got involved, and the rumors have stopped.
“No one came to me either seeking a solution or asking for help,” said Shemtov. (FailedMessiah.com)
The article may be found here Local Rabbi Faces Abuse Charges in Boston Court
Now let me get this straight. You supervise people and you have no clue what is going on? Come onnnnnnnnnnnnn. It has come to be a joke in many circles I travel that once the Chabad movement was known for kiruv and outreach are now being known for pedophilia, scams, and a whole slew of other things. I mean what’s with these people? And no, I am not only bashing Chabad, I am telling it like it is.
And I love the part about the rumors. Yeah, so the perp got convicted by a court of law and it is a rumor? Stop smoking crack and get real. And here is the picture of the PIG. Yup looks like a real winner huh? Well the puppy dog eyes will not save you cua you got caught peeing in the wind. Oh but there’s more.
In the past decade, Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt, 63, has faced similar charges here in Philadelphia.
Local court records show that in three separate cases, from August 2001 to May 2003, Levitt — who also goes by the first name Zusia — was arrested on various charges related to claims of indecent assault against three boys from the Rhawnhurst section in the Northeast.
In one case, Levitt entered a plea of no contest to indecent assault and corrupting a minor — both classified as misdemeanors. He was sentenced in 2004 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to five years probation, which will be up in December.
63 years old? Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Dude, lay off the Viagra and do what other 63 year olds do and chill in Florida. Well, maybe not Florida cuz I live here; but, play shuffleboard, bacci or something. Sheesh.
These people make me sick the nerve of these phoney baloney religious people taking advantage of children. They should be chemically castrated or killed. Why doesn’t someone just beat their ass?
Daas Torah comment section.
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2009/10/reporting-abuse-is-becoming-more.html
observer said...
I wonder if the Times should be cued into the fact that Rabbonim should tell yidn they are mechuyav to go to the police when they know of molestation and have no way of being sure that there is no risk to other children, especially since bizmaneinu, no rav can assure that a molester will not move to other mosdos, neighborhoods, or even countries. I bedavka don't understand what the logic is for a besdin unless the parents want financial compensation or the molester want to accuse the parents of causing him damage. Why would you need a bet din rather than a rav to determine if there are issues of pikuach nefesh. And isnt pikuach nefesh d'oraita, and shouldn't sofek d'oraita be handled l'chumrah?
Sadly, I also think the Times implies that yidn are going to the police because of weaker yiddishkeit. But actually they are going there because they no longer give their rabbonim a chezkus kashrus when it comes to molesting. So of course they are driven to paskening for themselves.
I am sure that those rabbonim who develop a reputation as machmirim on pikuach nefesh and masei sodom will be consulted by parents before they go to the police.
Based on the record to date, a yid who gives frum rabbonim a chezkas kashrus for dealing with molesting is endangering other children. I know these seems harsh. By how else do we explain the serial molesters who stayed in positions for many years in spite of many complaints.
I heard R. Eisenman urge people no to contribute to Ger because it protects a molester. Does anyone understand why they are doing it and why Litzman is using his position to protect additional molesters?
[please do not use "anonymous" as an identity]
October 15, 2009 7:57 AM
Dave said...
I'll take a Godol Hador like the Gerrer Rebbe over this Rabbi Eisenman any day.
October 15, 2009 8:00 AM
ragazze madre said...
I'll take a Godol Hador like the Gerrer Rebbe over this Rabbi Eisenman any day.
ragazze madre said...
I'll take a Godol Hador like the Gerrer Rebbe over this Rabbi Eisenman any day.
====================================
I am sure you do not have children.
If only the rabbinate were billowing with Rabbi Yosef Blau's.......
CLASSINESS, ATTITUDE, BRAIN USAGE, MENTAL MAKE-UP, ETHOS AND CHARACTER.
Daas Torah blog
observer said...
I wonder if the Times should be cued into the fact that Rabbonim should tell yidn they are mechuyav to go to the police when they know of molestation and have no way of being sure that there is no risk to other children, especially since bizmaneinu, no rav can assure that a molester will not move to other mosdos, neighborhoods, or even countries. I bedavka don't understand what the logic is for a besdin unless the parents want financial compensation or the molester want to accuse the parents of causing him damage. Why would you need a bet din rather than a rav to determine if there are issues of pikuach nefesh. And isnt pikuach nefesh d'oraita, and shouldn't sofek d'oraita be handled l'chumrah?
Sadly, I also think the Times implies that yidn are going to the police because of weaker yiddishkeit. But actually they are going there because they no longer give their rabbonim a chezkus kashrus when it comes to molesting. So of course they are driven to paskening for themselves.
I am sure that those rabbonim who develop a reputation as machmirim on pikuach nefesh and masei sodom will be consulted by parents before they go to the police.
Based on the record to date, a yid who gives frum rabbonim a chezkas kashrus for dealing with molesting is endangering other children. I know these seems harsh. By how else do we explain the serial molesters who stayed in positions for many years in spite of many complaints.
I heard R. Eisenman urge people no to contribute to Ger because it protects a molester. Does anyone understand why they are doing it and why Litzman is using his position to protect additional molesters?
Some rumblings about gangsterism running amok in this yeshiva, most recently, forcing a son to be moser on his father, apparently for no good reason at all.
_______________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshivat_Aderet_Eliyahu
Yeshivat Aderet Eliyahu (ישיבת אדרת אליהו), commonly referred to as "Zilberman's," is a Haredi, Lithuanian yeshiva located between the Jewish and Muslim quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Yeshiva encompasses three buildings, including the main Beit Midrash (study hall) called "Galicia," as well as a Yeshiva Ketana (yeshiva highschool) near the Armenian quarter, and an elementary school, also in the Old City.
Although in many ways a traditional ultra-Orthodox yeshiva, it differs from most yeshivas in its commitment to following the teachings of the Vilna Gaon and rejecting any influence of Hasidic teaching. In addition, Zilberman's is well known for endorsing the newly found Techelet (blue dye extracted from sea snails and used to color fringes of tzitzit) as authentic and encouraging its students to wear tzitzit dyed with it. Wearing tefillin (phalacteries) throughout the day is also encouraged, unlike most yeshivas where tefillin is only worn briefly for morning prayer. Zilberman's also features a simpler, more straightforward teaching method for Talmud and the Bible. Returning to traditional teaching methods abandoned by the Yeshiva world, students of Zilberman's have set study schedule including Torah, Tanach (Prophets, Writings), Mishna, and Talmud; the method of Talmud study does not involve intense scrutiny of commentaries and has more focus on the text itself.
The yeshiva was founded in the 1970's by Rabbi Zilberman. As he was an orphan, he did not grow up with the guidance of any specific sect of orthodoxy, and was able to search independently to find what he felt was the most accurate stream of Judaism. Eventually he found the Vilna Gaon's teachings to be by far the most faithful to Judaism, and founded the yeshiva and yeshiva ketana. Since then, many new schools have been established throughout Israel and in Jewish communities abroad based on the model of Zilberman's. Some of these schools do not share Zilberman's Haredi, ultra-orthodox character, and many are associated with the National Religious and Settler movements. Three of these schools were founded by a student of Rabbi Zilberman; one in Beit El (dedicated to Rabbi Binyamin Kahane), one in Yitzhar and one in Hebron now administered by Baruch Marzel. The largest, the Beit El yeshiva, has nearly 250 students (as of 9/2007). Despite its own strong right wing and nationalistic leanings (many of its younger students are affiliated with or sympathetic towards the Hill-top settler movement), Zilberman's is firmly Haredi/ultra-orthodox. Following Rabbi Avigdor Nevenzahl's ban on entering the Temple Mount, Zilberman's followed suit.
After Rabbi Zilberman's death in the late 1990's, his sons took over management and leadership of the yeshiva.
Activist and President of The National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education Rabbi Shea Hecht declared on the Dov Hikind show last night that embattled businessman Sholom Rubashkin will be vindicated. Rabbi Hecht strongly argued that the Rubashkin case puts all Orthodox Jews on trial, claiming that the U.S. justice system needs improvement.
As an example, the rabbi cited the recent New Jersey arrests in which every defendant with a Jewish last name had bail raised to double or triple that of their non-Jewish counterparts. The interview was conduct by community activist Jo Lazar.
Haredi urges: Give a year of your lives to save ailing rabbi
An ultra-Orthodox supporter of former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who has been hospitalized in a serious condition for more than a month, has urged the Haredi public to "donate" a year of their lives to spur the rabbi's recovery.
The man made the call in a message he published in the religious weekly Besheva a few days ago.
He told Haaretz on Monday that since the publication of the advertisement, hundreds of Hasidim have told him of their intentions to sacrifice, at least symbolically, different periods of time from their lives in order to extend the lifespan of the rabbi. Advertisement
"This is my own private initiative," said the man, who requested to remain anonymous. "In my eyes, it's like donating a kidney or an organ to a sickly patient. This isn't a big sacrifice for the donators. I've seen how upset people have been since the rabbi was hospitalized, and this initiative cheers them up."
The idea to donate a period of time from one's life and transfer it to that of another is not based on any kind of Jewish law, although the man said the idea was taken from Talmudic literature, and different interpretations indicate that the idea is in fact possible.
Neturei Karta: Returning Shalit not a commandment
Letter sent to mailing list of activists of radical group asserts, 'Gilad does not keep mitzvoth. According to his statements on video, he eats in non-kosher restaurants. Shabbat must not be violated in order to save his life.' Haredi headquarters in response: This is ingratitude towards someone who dedicates his life to Israel. Rabbi Eliashiv ruled he must be rescued
Kobi Nahshoni Published: 10.19.09, 17:47 / Israel Jewish Scene
"The mitzvah of redeeming prisoners does not apply to captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit because he does not keep the mitzvoth and observe the Torah," claimed members of the extremist haredi group Neturei Karta in Israel. According to them, this is "a simple halachic truth" that the central stream of haredi Judaism is trying to hide, but that "this is the Torah and it will not be changed."
A letter titled "The truth must be told" sent to the community's mailing list by one of its most prominent activists claimed: "Gilad Shalit, who does not observe the Torah and the commandments – and the recent video informed us where he eats (at restaurants in the Galilee under Druze sector Badatz kosher certification), and that he even publicly violates the Sabbath and does not lay phylacteries, is not at all 'your brother.' There is no obligation to redeem him or to rescue him according to Jewish law. Shabbat must not be violated in the case of saving his life.
"Unfortunately, around the national calf called Gilad Shalit, everyone blindly dances. It does not occur to them that, with all the pain and sorrow and 'the baby taken prisoner', there is halacha (Jewish law) first and foremost," wrote the author.
"Until this day, we have yet to hear this simple halchic truth from any 'haredi speaker' on duty, but this is the simple truth, and the truth, as you know, cannot be changed."
The Neturei Karta letter explained that this does not mean that Shalit should not be rescued at all because there is a chance that he will become religious. However, "if Gilad is released in order to continue violating the Sabbath, eating in Druze restaurants, and not laying tefillin, etc., then there is no mitzvah here, and certainly not the mitzvah of redeeming prisoners," claimed the letter.
'Returning Gilad one of most important mitzvahs'
Association of Friends of the Sons of Torah for Gilad Shalit said in response that this generation's decisor (posek hador) Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv ruled unequivocally that the mitzvah – one of the most important in the Torah – applies to Gilad Shalit in Gaza.
Am I really that scary looking, or am I just a bigoted female trying to look scary?
Paediatrician Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson claims Tynan told the real estate agent accompanying her that "I don't care (who buys the apartment) as long as they are not Jewish" adding that a lot of "scary" Jewish ladies had previously viewed the home.
What if Polanski were an abusive priest?
There's quite a conversation going on in the religion blogosphere about the contrast between the case of Roman Polanksi (famed filmmaker, accused of raping 13-year-old girl decades ago, on the lam, and now, after finally being arrested in Switzerland, winning public support from fellow entertainers and European public officials) and that of multiple priests (not famous, accused of abusing minors decades ago, etc.).
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, was first out of the box, posting an item headlined, "Father Polanski Would Go to Jail,'' at On Faith. An excerpt:
Polanski's defenders, including a 2008 HBO documentary, argue that he should not be punished. They say that the girl was willing and sexually experienced and she has forgiven him (after receiving a settlement). They even cite his tragic childhood and life as an excuse. And besides, it is ancient history.
Such arguments from pedophile priests would be laughed out of court and lambasted by everyone, and rightly so. It makes no difference that the girl is willing and sexually experienced, it is a crime. It is the role of the court, not the victim, to decide who goes to jail and for how long.
It is not as if Polanski is the only Hollywood celebrity to be accused of child abuse. Woody Allen and Michael Jackson come to mind. I am sure that with a little research the media could come up with quite a list. The Catholic Church has rightly been put under a microscope when 4 percent of its priests were involved in abuse, but what about the film industry?
The world has truly changed. Entertainment is the new religion with sex, violence and money the new Trinity. The directors and stars are worshiped and quickly forgiven for any infraction as long as the PR agent is a skilled as a saintly confessor. Entertainment, not religion, is the new opiate of the people and we don't want our supply disturbed.
Is there a double standard here? You bet.
Next up was the Rev. James Martin, associate editor of America magazine, writing, "If he were in a collar there would be no boo-hooing about his recent plight. There would be zero pity for him." An excerpt from his post, which was titled, "If Polanski Were Wearing a Collar ":
Can you imagine a petition being circulated among actors, directors and producers in the United States to have a Catholic priest reinstated in his parish after he had abused a 13-year-old child? If you believe this about Polanski--that his good deeds offset his guilt and that enough time has passed--do you believe the same about pedophile priests?
Multiple others are chiming in as well. David Gibson, writing for Politics Daily, also asks, "Comparisons are by their nature invidious. But what if Roman Polanksi were wearing a Roman collar? Would "Monsignor Polanksi" receive the same considerations?" Peter Smith, a religion writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal, wonders, "Let's say Roman Polanski was a priest who, say, fled the country and for decades avoid serving a sentence for statutory rape. Well, the question is a bit obvious. Would anyone sympathize with the end of his longtime fugitive status for his statutory rape conviction? Wouldn't people be indignant if a Catholic organization honored him in exile?" Many other religion writers are asking the same, from USA Today's Cathy Lynn Grossman, to Reuters's Tom Heneghan. And Rod Dreher, blogging as BeliefNet's Crunchy Con, takes the argument even further, writing:
In our culture, when it comes to sex, celebrities are beyond good and evil. At least Polanski isn't a orthodox Catholic or committed Evangelical of any sort. In his cultural milieu, that would be the unforgivable sin.
And besides, it is ancient history.
That's right! Leave it be.
Have they no shame?
Roman Polanksi's only averirah
is having znus with a girl
as opposed to a boy. but even then; does not the source mention the girl was willing and sexually experienced and she has forgiven him (after receiving a settlement)?
Key figure in NJ corruption probe pleads guilty
By DAVID PORTER (AP) – 47 minutes ago
NEWARK, N.J. — The central figure in a huge New Jersey corruption investigation pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud and money laundering charges Tuesday.
Solomon Dwek's work for the government as a cooperating witness directly led to the arrests of 44 people in July, but it was his turn in court Tuesday.
Wearing a dark suit and light blue tie, the 37-year-old Dwek stood before U.S. District Judge Jose Linares and admitted his role in a multimillion-dollar bank fraud scheme in 2006. He acknowledged depositing two $25 million checks drawn on a closed account and using them to make wire transfers to separate banks totaling nearly $23 million.
Bank fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years, and the maximum for money laundering is 10 years, but Dwek would face nine to 11 years under federal sentencing guidelines. Linares can adjust that range up or down when he sentences Dwek on Feb. 9, and the U.S. attorney's office said it may recommend a lighter sentence based on Dwek's ongoing cooperation.
Michael Himmel, an attorney representing Dwek, did not comment as he left court Tuesday.
Dwek was a key component of the corruption investigation, dubbed "Operation Bid Rig." Seven people who were arrested for accepting money from Dwek have pleaded guilty, but his testimony will be at the heart of the government's case if others go to trial.
Dwek was arrested in May 2006 in New Jersey and released on $10 million bond. By the following year, he had become a cooperating witness, posing as a corrupt businessman in the government's investigation of an alleged money laundering ring that operated between Israel and Jewish communities in Brooklyn and Deal, N.J.
Dwek's father, a prominent Deal rabbi, was not arrested.
According to the U.S. attorney's office, the rabbis involved in the ring laundered more than $3 million through Jewish charities for Dwek over a two-year period beginning in June 2007.
The investigation veered into the public sector in the summer of 2007 when alleged money laundering contact Moshe "Michael" Altman, a northern New Jersey real estate developer, introduced Dwek to Jersey City building inspector John Guarini, according to federal charging documents.
Prosecutors allege Guarini accepted $20,000 from Dwek in a meeting in an apartment building boiler room in exchange for helping Dwek, posing as a developer, get zoning approvals.
From there, Dwek gained introductions to more than two dozen other public officials including two state Assemblymen, three mayors and Jersey City's deputy mayor and municipal council president, the government alleges.
During secretly taped meetings, Dwek offered the officials bribes to help him with permits and approvals for various development projects.
It sounds like many yeshivot and religious institutions were pocketing money knowing there was shtick involved. They too should be charged.
-----------------------------------
*
Dwek used his connections with the rabbis to launder millions of dollars he claimed to be hiding from the banks in the bankruptcy that came after his arrest.
Talking of “schnookie deals,” he told them he was involved in a new counterfeiting scheme involving knock-off high fashion bags. According to prosecutors, he wrote checks to yeshivas and other religious institutions and got back cash, minus a percentage that would be taken for the transaction.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133952
Rabbi Medan warned, “Islam is a real threat to Christian Europe, and the United States also is in danger, although further down the road.” He said it is not a coincidence that Turkey and the rest of Europe are on the attack against Israel, especially since the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign in Gaza.
"After the Six-Day War, in which the victor [Israel] was clear, the world and applauded Foreign Minister Abba Eban in the United Nations when he said that Israel never again will return to ‘Auschwitz borders' before the war," the rabbi emphasized. “After the Yom Kippur war, when the unjustifiable feeling was that we lost, third world countries’ relations with us deteriorated. Now we are considered weak, despite our strong economy and army.”
What a piece of Dweck. Money everywhere and none offered to me. Where do I forward my hazmanas to?
Dwek pleads guilty to $50 million bank fraud
One-time mogul was key to sting; cooperation may help cut sentence
Rabbi Elyashiv: Refuse Money from IFCJ
Cheshvan 3, 5770, 21 October 09 05:44
by Gil Ronen
(Israelnationalnews.com) Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, one of the top Torah authorities in the hareidi-religious world, has issued a ruling that says that the public may not take money from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (Keren HaYedidut) headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.
Groups that take money from the fund are flouting the Torah's prohibition of idolatry, Rabbi Elyashiv said, and they even aid future missionary activities and grant them legitimacy. “We regret to say that we have learned that several institutions, organizations and charity groups have made mistakes of this nature,” he added.
Taking money from this fund is an “unclean” act, the elderly rabbi said. Other rabbis who made
similar decisions include R. Samuel Auerbach, R Nissim Kerlitz, R. Ovadia Yosef, R. Mordechai Eliyahu and others.
The IFCJ was founded in Chicago in 1983 by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. The fact that it takes money from Christian groups causes much suspicion in some religious Jewish circles. However, other religious circles have no problem with the group.
A rabbi has been charged with raping a teenage girl and a sexually and physically assaulting her siblings in the Petah Tikva city of Israel.
The 42-year-old rabbi not only raped the 16-year-old teen but also molested her 14-year-old sister and physically assaulted her 15-year-old brother.
The victim's family says that the carnal crimes were all committed inside the local synagogue.
The shocking revelation is the latest in a series of sexual abuse by Israeli rabbis. Last year, a 60-year old rabbi was arrested in Petah Tikva for raping a woman who regularly visited him to get his blessing and good-luck amulets.
Israeli authorities later said that the man was not a Jewish cleric and had been posing as a rabbi.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109239§ionid=351020202
The attorney for a former Madera County Supervisor accused of child molestation says, his client is in the hospital with pneumonia.
Multimedia
Watch The Video
81 year old Harry Baker is accused of molesting a 13 year old girl in a motel room two years ago.
Wednesday, Baker's attorney Rick Berman says the serious illness is the reason why baker was not able to appear in court for his arraignment for the past two scheduled appearances.
Stay with KSEE 24 News for the latest on this developing story.
The biggest mass murder in Fresno history took center stage on Doctor Phil Thursday.
Members of the Wesson family appeared on the nationally syndicated talk show.
Marcus Wesson was convicted of murdering nine of his seventeen children back in march of 2004.
Today, the children talked about the sexual abuse, as well as the controlling nature of their father, and the chilling moments before the murders.
Wesson is currently on death row at San Quentin.
The coats at 42 Broadway are at it again.
Hypocritical Agudath Israel destroy legislation intended to shield children and expose predators, but not so in support for “hate crimes” legislation.
These scumbags with their selfish motives are a complete disgrace!
Dear America,
Let me share with you my visions, I like to call it "CHANGE," change you can depend on.
These young men burning churches and what not after my inauguration, are just poor tortured sons of goddamn bitches.
Now even if they turn out to be racist pigs wearing pink lipstick, who am I to complain or judge.
The Americans voted in the first black president, even though he has ties to a bigot in his own right, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
So I guess it really all evens out in the end.
Kind of like me taking a fist to my face at a bris. Good thing I wasn't beaten to death.
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BANGALORE: A 22-year-old engineering graduate tried to rape a three-year-old girl and eventually paid for it with his life. Praveen Kumar of Mico
Layout was beaten black and blue by people who caught him in the act on October 15. He succumbed to the injuries on Tuesday night.
Praveen lured a neighbourhood child with chocolate into his car, took her to a secluded place and tried to rape her. To muffle her cries, he played music at a high volume.
A security guard of a nearby apartment sensed something was wrong, peeped into the car and caught Praveen red-handed. When he opened the door, Praveen tried to run over him. However, people around the place thrashed the offender and called the police who shifted him to Nimhans. Praveen had completed his engineering course from MS Ramaiah College and said to be suffering from some psychological problems.
Convicted con man Bernard Madoff, who slept on luxury linens and dined at the finest restaurants, is now sleeping in the lower bunk of a two man cell in a federal prison, with a 21-year-old convicted drug dealer for a roommate and a child molester cooking his pizza, according to a new victims' lawsuit filed by the lone outsider to visit him behind bars.
Convicted Child Molester Sets Himself On Fire During Tulsa Stand-Off
Johnnie J. Hobbs has been imprisoned for lewd molestation and showing obscene material to a minor.
Johnnie J. Hobbs has been imprisoned for lewd molestation and showing obscene material to a minor.
Hobbs was being served with a warrant in a child molestation case. Deputies and police surround the property.
Enlarge this picture
Hobbs was being served with a warrant in a child molestation case. Deputies and police surround the property.
Hobbs barricaded himself in this van after being served with a child molestation warrant.
Enlarge this picture
Hobbs barricaded himself in this van after being served with a child molestation warrant.
NewsOn6.com
TULSA, OK -- A man died after setting himself on fire during a stand-off with Tulsa law enforcement in the 14100 block of East Apache. According to the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department, a parole and probation deputy went to serve a felony arrest warrant to Johnnie J. Hobbs, a convicted child molester.
Hobbs barricaded himself inside a van at about 3 p.m. Thursday.
"He poured some kind of flammable liquid in the floor of the van and set it on fire," said Chief Deputy Tim Albin with TCSO.
The officers called in the Tulsa Fire Department, and the fire in the van burned out on its own, Albin said.
"We did a tactical approach to the van, got the doors opened and discovered the subject's body inside the van," he said.
Hobbs, 47, has several convictions for lewd molestaton, lewd or indecent proposals/acts with a child and showing obscene materials to a minor.
"I guess he didn't want to go back to prison," the chief deputy said.
Tulsa County Sheriff's Office deputies and Tulsa Police are still investigating at this time.
"We've never had anyone suicide-out by fire," Albin said. "This is unique.
This dilemma is not new, and it must be said that no honest person can dismiss it out of hand. There is no doubt that, in many ways, Israel's Arab citizens are in an almost impossible position. Viewed as potential traitors by their Jewish fellow citizens and as collaborators by much of the Arab world, they are constantly required to prove their loyalties to both sides, as task that would be well beyond anyone's capacities. I once asked an Arab co-worker why Azmi Bishara, a prominent Israeli-Arab politician and former member of the Knesset, defected to Syria rather than face espionage charges. I had seen Bishara speak at university, and while I found his ideology odious his brilliance could not be questioned. To my mind, Bishara was simply too smart to have done something so obviously stupid. My co-worker simply smiled and said, "Its because he's an Israeli Arab." Bishara, he was saying, had felt the need to prove himself to the rest of the Arab world, and ended up destroying his life and career as a result. It must be admitted that, to a certain degree, this makes sense. The situation of the Israeli Arabs is, in some ways, almost Kafkaesque, and the push-pull of their various identities and loyalties must eventually become simply maddening.
Nor are Israel's critics entirely wrong about racism and discrimination in Israeli society. Israelis, for obvious reasons, tend to be reflexively anti-racist; but fear and anger can have an extraordinarily deleterious effect on a human being, and no one who has lived in Israel for any amount of time can honestly deny that racism is a serious problem in Israel, and since the start of the second intifada it has gotten steadily worse. A simple walk through Jerusalem can become chilling when one begins to read the local graffiti, which often includes the phrase "Kahane was right! Expel the Arabs!" a reference to Meir Kahane, an American-born extremist rabbi who was banned from the Knesset in the 1980s for, among other things, advocating "transfer," a euphemism for expelling Israel's Arab population. There is also no doubt that Israel's Arabs are, on the whole, poorer, less educated, more geographically marginalized, and tend to be employed in menial professions in greater numbers than their Jewish counterparts. It is not wholly unusual to find out that the man mopping the floors at the bank has an MA in education. While discrimination is not the only reason for this situation, it is certainly one of them.
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/43/32_43_bm_crazy_web_fight.html
“People called me and said, ‘This can’t really be you,’” said Rabbi David Niederman — head of the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg, who has also been a victim of Interweb impersonators.
“Everybody with some brain understands and knows that it’s not David Niederman commenting — but in order to understand that, you have to know who David Niederman is,” he said. “Somebody who does not know David Niederman gets a distorted picture of what I am and what I stand for.”
Just because I was drinking beer in the backroom pretending to care about children, does not automatically classify me as a buffoon.
"Hide the Predator Act," is a bill that protects pedophilia and those who practice it.
Free country means the liberty and freedom to have sexual relations with children.
---------------------------------
When it comes to protecting our children from sexual predators, no honest public servant should ever play politics as usual with legislation aimed at strengthening such protections. It's time elected officials stop cutting back room deals where only a select few profit and start passing legislation that benefits all the families in our communities.
Sadly, Vito Lopez cares more about back room deals than he does about protecting children.
Our images of bravery usually come wrapped in Army green or police-force blue.
But bravery comes in blond, too.
Jenna Quinn may look more like a beauty queen than an icon of bravery, but her courage is something to behold.
Jenna is a triumphant survivor of sexual abuse.
No, more than mere survivor, she has become a valiant warrior against sexual abuse of children and adolescents.
A new Texas law bears her name. And the 22-year-old Carrollton woman leaves today for Boston, where she will meet with legislators and others to encourage the fight against sexual molestation.
We first met Jenna here five years ago. She was 17 years old and already showing her courage.
Victims of sex crimes usually aren't named in news stories, but Jenna wanted her name used. She wanted to be a model of openness to other victims.
See, Jenna had previously tried to be brave in a very different way. For several years, starting at age 13, she worked very hard to keep a secret.
The secret: She was being sexually molested by her father's best friend.
His family and hers were practically one big family – always together, sharing meals, celebrating holidays, traveling as a group.
Because Jenna knew that telling her secret would devastate so many others, she decided to suffer the ordeal alone. And suffer she did, undergoing so much emotional torment that she came close to suicide.
Finally telling her secret brought such sweet relief that she has been on a campaign ever since to spare others her torment.
The first step in that campaign was telling her story in my column, just a few days after her molester was sentenced to 20 years in prison. "I'm not scared. Don't you be scared," she told other victims at the time.
She followed that by telling her story for a short documentary film, It's Not Just Jenna. Kellie Quinn, Jenna's mom, said the film is now used in schools all around the state to heighten awareness of sexual abuse – particularly that it's most often perpetrated by a close, trusted person.
Jenna said her proudest moment came in August when Gov. Rick Perry held a ceremony to sign "Jenna's Law." The legislation creates a state task force on sexual abuse and requires schools to implement more education and prevention measures.
The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, praised Jenna for both proposing the idea and helping get it passed. "Her passionate testimony and strong dedication effectively moved this bill through the legislative process," he said.
Jenna said she hopes the warning signs of abuse will become better known, leading to earlier detection. "It takes pressure off the victim and puts more responsibility on parents and caretakers," Jenna said.
Along with all these accomplishments, Jenna managed to graduate in just three years with a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Dallas.
And she graduated with honors, no less.
As far as her molester, Jenna said she's disappointed that he still hasn't apologized. But she said she has forgiven him. "I just feel sorry for him," she said.
Their two families are no longer close. But Jenna was thrilled to get a note of congratulations on Jenna's Law from her molester's ex-wife.
"It meant everything to me," she said.
Jenna is excited about starting graduate school in January. She plans to become a counselor working with autistic children.
"I feel as though I've been restored fully," she said. "I couldn't be any better. I feel blessed."
No one has addressed the problem of Government theft of taxpayer funds.
The Orthodox Jewish community contributes millions of dolloars to the Government–Ciry, State, adn Federal. Much of this money is allocated to “education.”
But the Government(s) then turn around and tell us Orthodox Jews that, while all children are equal in America, some are more equal than others–Jewish students are NOT entitled to the same funding as secular public school students.
So, we Jewish parents must pay for “education” twice–once for the “public” schools, and again for our own schools.
Our school administrators are starved for money to properly run their schools. Teachers are paid late; students are deprived of adequate services.–This is a national scandal!
It was not always thus. Before Horace Mann started the secular wave of education in the Massachusets school system, in the late 1800’s, Government gave full aid and assistance to all religious schools. The “separation of church and state” is a very recent “constitutional” creation, by secularists whose goal it is to cripple and ultimately dismantle the religious school systems in this country.
…And it’s working. The Catholic school system–this country’s largest parochial system–is closing schools, left and right.
Without justifying the Rebbe’s activities, I think it is only fair to observe that the Rebbe used the money to fund his chool system, which is under enormous financial pressure, as are all parochioal school systems.
The take-home lesson for us is that, if we want to avoid such problems in the future, we need to devote more of our community’s resources to adequately funding our intentionally-starved school systems.
Saying Tehillim and giving lectures on morality are not enough!
The Long Shadow of Scandal
Now and Then
By Jonathan D. Sarna
Loshan Hara is forbidden.
Even if proof points to some
mistakes rabbonim made
in the past.
It is a great disappointment the
bashing of talmidei chachomim.
We must be don lekaf zechus. This means not to be blinded
by heretics.
Leave the pain of the past behind, and hashem will heal the hurt.
Is that really the going rate these days? Jeffery Herman will not get a penny from us for his John Does'.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Catholic Diocese of Belleville has paid $1.2 million to settle a 6-year-old "John Doe" lawsuit filed by a former altar boy who said he was molested by his parish priest.
The settlement, announced Thursday by the diocese, was confirmed by Belleville attorney Mike Weilmuenster, who said the money has been paid to his client. Negotiations were worked out last week.
It is the first time since the early 1990s when sexual abuse of minors by priests became a widespread public scandal in the Belleville Diocese that the diocese has paid money to a victim as part of a settlement.
The diocese' statement said: "On the occasion of this settlement, The Diocese of Belleville continues to express regret for any instance of sexual abuse of a minor by a member of its clergy. We remain steadfastly committed to our Child Protection Policy and will continue to assist victims and their families in furtherance of that policy."
The settlement dates from 2003 and was filed in connection and about the same time as a similar lawsuit filed by James Wisniewski of Champaign against the Rev. Raymond Kownacki, of Dupo, who was accused of sexually molesting Wisniewski for years.
The $1.2 million settlement also stems from a lawsuit naming Kownacki as the abuser.
Upon recommendation of a diocesan review board, Kownacki was banned more than a decade ago from performing priestly duties because of allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Wisniewski was awarded $5 million by a St. Clair County jury in August of last year. The diocese has appealed that award to the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon.
Kownacki has stated he will not comment.
"This victim was simply the next in line of the Kownacki victims," Weilmuenster said. "He's not a Johnny-come-lately. He's been there every step of the way for six years."
The attorney said he believes that "widespread outrage" following publicity from the Wisniewski trial may have spurred the diocese to settle this case. During that trial, unrefuted trial testimony and official church documents placed in evidence showed that church officials in the 1970s and 1980s knew that Kownacki had abused underage boys and girls but did nothing to protect the public.
Weilmuenster said his firm represents three other men, including two known only as "John Doe," who have filed suit against the diocese alleging sexual abuse by a priest.
The John Doe awarded $1.2 million was an altar boy at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem about the same time as Wisniewski served as an altar boy, court records show. Like Wisniewski, he claimed in legal arguments that he was entitled to bring the court action despite the fact the normal statute of limitations had long passed. In the case of John Doe and Wisniewski, arguments were successful that the statute of limitations did not start tolling until the victims realized that they had been psychologically damaged by the abuse.
Attorneys for insurance companies representing the diocese "supplied us with copies of policies a foot high," Weilmuenster said, but the attorney added that he could not learn how much of the settlement actually came from insurance.
Diocese spokesman David Spotanski could not be reached.
Weilmuenster said that while a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision concerning the statute of limitations virtually prohibits victims of sex abuse who were born before Jan. 1, 1964, from filing lawsuits who were born before Jan. 1, 1964, he said all victims should still come forward.
The diocese also has urged victims to come forward.
Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com or 239-2625.
Sixty-year-old Archbishop Richard Burke, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was ordained a priest in the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, known as the Kiltegan Fathers, in Co Wicklow, in 1975. He was ordained a bishop in 1997, and installed as Archbishop of Benin, Nigeria, in March of last year.
In a statement yesterday, the society said it had received a complaint last December from a 40-year-old woman against the archbishop. “She alleged that she was sexually abused as a child by Richard Burke. We expressed the deep sorrow and regret of the society for the suffering the complainant and her family are going through, and we affirmed the society’s commitment to child protection,” it added.
“We assured her that the society’s child protection policy and procedures would be adhered to. The society offered to provide counselling for the complainant.”
The statement pointed out that although Archbishop Burke was a member of the society, he had ceased to be under its jurisdiction when he became a bishop and was now under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See.
“However, he agreed to follow the society’s child protection procedures and voluntarily withdrew from ministry while the complaint is being investigated,” it added.
Victims of alleged sexual abuse gathered in Saginaw County to launch a series of prevention programs aimed at stopping future cases of abuse through churches, or other religious entities. The Group SNAP or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests met to encourage possible victims to report the crimes to authorities and help add to the list of registered sex offenders in the state.
“Bay County just had the sweep (with) their police force and looked for all the sex offenders on the list and found that out of nine, five weren’t on the list. That’s because they moved. We’re trying to get the known sex offenders, the ones that are not on that list, on the list,” said Brad Sylvester, president of the Saginaw chapter of SNAP.
At least the child molesters we employ don't have to worry about getting AIDS. We are pretty confident our boys and girls are AIDS-FREE.
-
THE government has ordered an investigation after claims in a new documentary that 106 of the 366 pupils at a Bulawayo primary school had been sexually abused.
At least 15 of the children have tested positive for HIV, film-maker Thandazani Nkomo said.
Nkomo began making the documentary after he was “touched” by the plight of the children. He hoped the film would “prompt authorities into action”, he told The Standard.
This is exactly what I have been trying to tell people - YES it DOES happen in this community! People seem to be in a fantasy land here in Broooklyn, NY - they seem to think (and say), "a frum yid would never do that" - but they need to wake up! Simply looking and acting frum on the outside does not make it so... That attitude is exactly why the pedophiles continue to do these heinous things - because others don't think it happens in the community - and it sure does! People need to be educated so that we can protect the children! (and the pedophiles need to be executed! - yes, you read that correctly - executed for their crimes against G-d and humanity!)
It is sad to see Rabbonim who are actively involved and still running Yeshiva Neveh Zion today, continuing to live in denial more than 20 years after Rabbi Sobel sodomized young, innocent, and vulnerable children, by posting such ridiculous defenses to his despicable actions. "Adam" is a Neveh Rebbe who continues to defend all of his bad decision making over the past 30 years. When "Adam" will be big enough to admit that he and all the other Rabbanim care more about protecting their personal livlihoods than about destroying another Jewish person's life, maybe he will see fit to post an apology to all of Rabbi Sobel's victims who are forever haunted by his criminal behavior.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6439916/Israeli-orthodox-rabbis-ban-all-lift-travel-on-the-Sabbath.html
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a group of rabbis led by Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the 99-year-old leader of Israel's Lithuanian non-Hasidic ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi community, has ruled that even kosher lifts contravene Jewish law.
The rabbis said they had reached their decision after holding consultations with "certified lift technicians and engineers".
belsky requested our expertise and ordered
some handcuffing and bone breaking tips for us to employ against those who were moser on elior chen.
There is only one cult leader on this planet, and that is Yeshivas Chaim Berlin, run by yours truly!
Cult Leader Elior Chen on Way to Israel
Reported: 17:59 PM - Oct/27/09
Follow Israel news briefs on and
(IsraelNN.com)
Israeli authorities have been informed by Brazil that they have cleared the way for the extradition to Israel of wanted alleged child abuser Elior Chen, who fled the country when an investigation was launched against him over charges that he ran a cult, posing as a "rabbi" who encouraged his followers to abuse their children.
Chen may be on a plane back to Israel as soon as Tuesday night. He will be arrested by police upon his arrival, and transferred to a holding cell in Jerusalem, where he will be interviewed by prosecutors.
Shlechter,
You forgot about me. Nu.. where is my kovod? You saying i am not worthy?
last i checked you and i were busy looking all shtaddy at the agudah function,shaking hands like any cult leaders would.
Memeila, Elior Chen is exactly the type of rebbe i would hire to discipline our chutzpanyaks.
I could even picture it.
Nussbaum 4th grade, Flagler 5th grade, Chen 6th grade??? No.. Maybe mashgiach???
Belsky would do anything for money. Stuff some $$$ under the table and he'll fabricate some heter.
Like the time he wanted to give a get to my wife without even trying to discourage her at the time.
His eyes bulged, he named his price and was ready to proceed until cooler minds prevailed and saved the marriage.
'Religious law reason why school turned down boy'
(UKPA) – 10 hours ago
A top London Jewish school accused of race discrimination has argued at the Supreme Court that a boy was refused admission because he was not a Jew according to the rules set by the Chief Rabbi.
The boy's father is Jewish by birth, but his mother is Jewish by conversion conducted at a progressive synagogue which is not recognised by the Orthodox faith.
JFS (formerly the Jews' Free School) in Brent went to the highest court in the land after three judges at the Court of Appeal ruled in June this year that this entry criteria racially discriminated against the boy, referred to as M.
David Pannick QC, representing the school, told a panel of nine Justices of the Supreme Court headed by Lord Phillips that this was a dispute about religious law.
M would be regarded as Jewish by a Jewish school who applied criteria under Reform, Masorti or Liberal Judaism but not by Orthodox Jews. Lord Pannick said: "The difference in the result is not on the ground of M's ethnic origins. It is on the ground of a religious dispute between Rabbis about who is a Jew."
He said the appeal concerned whether or not the adoption of an oversubscription criteria giving priority to children recognised by the Chief Rabbi to be Jewish is racial discrimination contrary to the Race Relations Act.
The mother of the boy converted to Judaism in a non-Orthodox procedure not recognised by the Chief Rabbi, said Lord Pannick.
"Our case is that the refusal of the place to M was not an act of race discrimination - that is less favourable treatment on the grounds of ethnic origin. We say M failed to secure a place at the school because and only because of the religious criteria applied by the Chief Rabbi as to who is Jewish."
He said the school had adopted "legitimate and proper" criteria because a faith school was entitled to adopt a policy which gives priority to children who are members of the religious faith as defined by the religious authority of that faith.
The appeal judges had misinterpreted the law in finding that the school's admission criteria discriminated on racial grounds, said Lord Pannick. He said the criteria applied to all children - many children with Jewish ethnic origins do not qualify and some children who lack ethnic origins are admitted. The hearing continues.
Hey there everybody how you doing? Just popped in to comment on some you-tube video so appealing to my eyes. It has to do with this five year old boy. He makes my body have a sensation so warm and fuzzy.
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Video: Five-year-old Romanian weightlifter becomes Internet star
These obnoxious Neturei Karta scum take extremism to a whole new level, one obtained through smokescreens and disguises. Reprehensible!
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http://www.dailynews-record.com/opinion_details.php?AID=41853&CHID=32
Extreme Rabbi An Enemy Of Israel Posted 2009-10-26
By Gary C. Stein
YEARS AGO, I wrote in a book review that its author wrote “without fear and without research.” Such is also the case with Dennis Herr’s recent letter (“Indictment and Hope From Rabbi Cohen,” Oct. 10).
What is obvious is that Herr has little knowledge of Judaism, even less of Orthodox Judaism, and hardly any at all about the specific rabbi he mentions, Ahron Cohen. As an Orthodox Jew, Cohen certainly does not speak for all, or even most, Jews. If Mr. Herr had done some research, he would realize that Rabbi Cohen doesn’t even speak for most Orthodox Jews.
Rabbi Cohen is a leader and major spokesman for a fringe, ultra-Orthodox movement that calls itself Neturei Karta, literally “Guardians of the City,” but which the group loosely translates as “Guardians of the Faith” (see their Web site at www.nkusa.org/aboutus/index.cfm). The members of this group “refuse to recognize the right of anyone to establish a ‘Jewish’ state during the present period of exile,” until the coming of the true Messiah (and they are certainly not talking about Jesus).
That is their primary belief — it used to be a more widely accepted Orthodox belief — and whatever they have to say in condemning Israel’s “policy of colonialism, ethnic cleansing and terrorism” is merely a smokescreen.
When members of this group met with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in March 2006, the Jerusalem Post noted that the group insisted that the Iranian dictator only sought “a world free of Zionism, since this is nothing more than wishing for a better world dominated by peace and calm.” One would have to be naïve, indeed, to think that Rabbi Cohen actually believes, as stated in the quotation cited by Mr. Herr, that “firm but peaceful pressure” from the likes of Ahmadinejad would bring about the demise of the State of Israel.
As for Cohen himself, he is a rabbi from Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. He spoke at the Holocaust Denial conference in Iran in 2006 that was sponsored by the Iranian foreign ministry. Although in the past he had denied that the Holocaust actually happened, Cohen changed his mind because, as he said, there were too many eyewitnesses to what happened to explain it away.
Instead, he decided that the Jews who died in the Holocaust deserved it, because God wouldn’t have allowed such suffering to happen unless the people who were killed deserved to die. He has said that “the one who perpetrates the suffering is obviously guilty, but he will never succeed if the victim did not deserve it in one way or another.” That statement alone indicates how far out of the mainstream of humanity the rabbi has positioned himself.
In 2006, after Cohen returned from the Holocaust conference in Iran, The Times of London quoted Rabbi Yehuda Brodie, registrar of the Jewish Ecclesiastical Court for Greater Manchester, on Rabbi Cohen because of his involvement with Ahmadinejad: “Rabbi Cohen has for a long time been ostracised by the vast majority of Jews for associating with and thus giving support and legitimacy to the enemies of Israel and the Jewish nation. He represents an insignificant minority. His involvement is a stab in the heart of the Jewish community and of all decent law-abiding people.” I think that this is too mild a rebuke in response to the rabbi’s truly evil pronouncements.
Not all Jews support all of the policies of the Israeli government. However, almost all of us support the right of Israel to exist as an independent state, which the enemies of Israel deny. Rabbi Cohen’s extremism does nothing to advance the relations between Israelis and Palestinians or the current conditions under which each of them lives. Instead, it only confuses the real issues by inserting a purely one-sided religious point of view into what should be a reasonable solution to an exasperating political situation.
Although I am a firm believer in free speech and open debate, the fact that the DN-R would print a quotation from such a contemptible individual is not surprising, but it is outrageous.
Mr. Stein is president of Harrisonburg’s Beth El Congregation.
Nursing home sued for alleged sex abuse
http://www.newstrib.com/articles/news/local/default.asp?article=9E603CBA8F90641CC59D1C999B6C3318681AE0013370BD0A
An Ottawa man has sued La Salle County Nursing Home on behalf of a female relative, whom he alleges was sexually abused by an unnamed, former resident June 5.
Henry Elzer filed the seven-count lawsuit Monday in La Salle County Circuit Court seeking at least $250,000 from the nursing home for allegedly failing to protect the woman. The victim, he said, suffered a fractured pelvic or pubic bone during the act, the lawsuit indicated.
The lawsuit also alleged the woman broke a leg when nursing home staff dropped her — or caused her to fall — some time between Nov. 24 and Nov. 27, 2006.
Elzer’s lawsuit also seeks another $100,000 from Ottawa Regional Hospital and Healthcare Center, in a secondary count not related to the alleged sexual abuse, for separate injuries the woman sustained on Nov. 27, 2006.
That day, he alleges, the woman was seated in an improperly secured wheelchair while traveling in a van, which braked and caused the wheelchair to tip. The operator of the van was described as an employee of Community Hospital of Ottawa (now Ottawa Regional) and/or La Salle County Nursing Home.
Morris attorney Mark Rigazio represents Elzer. Rigazio could not be reached for comment before press time today.
An Ottawa Regional spokeswoman declined comment. An attorney for La Salle County did not return a call seeking comment before press time today.
Summonses were issued Monday for the hospital and the nursing home; court records gave no indication of whether either party received a copy of the lawsuit.
Court dates are pending. The case is assigned to Chief Judge James A. Lanuti.
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is one of the people who looked the other way, swept under the rug, and left sexual abuse sufferers to hang by their throats. So for him to pen this is nothing short of a smack in the face.
go to the link at-- http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/41207/
'Abusive rabbi' transferred for investigation by J'lem Police
The 'abusive rabbi', Elior Chen, arrived at the Jerusalem Police headquarters in the Russian Compound and was immediately transferred for investigation.
Chen landed in Israel Wednesday morning a year-and-a-half after feeling to Canada, and from there to Brazil. Chen is suspected of instructing his followers to severely abuse children. He was extradited to Israel from Brazil after an international warrant was issued for his arrest and the State Prosecution struck a special extradition deal between the two countries. (Efrat Weiss)
Perv: I’m danger to kids Judge: You’re free to go
A HIGH-risk sex offender yesterday walked free from court - despite admitting he is a danger to children.
Warped Lee Chapman, 23, sexually assaulted a helpless schoolboy who had called at his home on an errand.
And the pervert later told cops he is afraid to be left with kids, because of what he "may do".
But a judge refused to jail Chapman when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday - despite reports warning there was a significant risk of him re-offending.
Instead, Lord Hodge ordered the pervert to have treatment, telling him: "You need to undertake a programme to address your thoughts and behaviour."
Chapman, of Aberdeen, earlier admitted an indecency charge against the lad, then aged 11-12, in an attack between November 2007 and November 2008.
The fiend had faced another sex rap against a younger boy, but the Crown accepted his not-guilty plea. Defence counsel Frances McMenamin QC claimed Chapman's "problems were not going to go away" unless he got specialist help.
Lord Hodge noted the offenders's "significant learning difficulties" and gave him three years' probation for treatment.
Chapman was put on the sex offenders' register and ordered to do 100 hours' community service.
Mr. Chen's lawyer is a genius. His strategy is to deny any abuse ever took place, very similar plan that I have, only with me it extends further, like bullying parents and threating alleged victims and sweeping as much shmootz under the rug as possible, say tehillim and hope it disappears like a magic trick.
According to the charge sheet, the members of the group held the younger boy, A, under a stream of water until he choked, burned his fingers with a cigarette lighter and would strip him, put him outside and poor hot and cold water over him.
It said the older boy, N, then aged four, was put next to a heater until he was severely burned and his skin was starting to peel, and then poured alcohol and salt on the wounds.
An investigation was opened after the boys were brought for medical treatment in March 2008.
Mr Chen's lawyer Ariel Atari said on Wednesday that the incidents in question "never happened", the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahranot reported.
"He will look at them during the probe, listen to them, and that's it. He will say whatever he has to say at court," he was quoted as saying.
Last year, Mr Atari said his client denied any intent to injure children, and fled Israel because he did not trust its legal system, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The trial of the four followers is continuing in Israel.
Orthodox hope guilty plea in sex case changes approach to predators
Orthodox community members hope an admission by one of their own to exposing two 14-year-old boys to alcohol and porn in an attempt to lure them into sex is a watershed moment that will change the way their culture deals with sexual predators.
Already a convicted Megan's Law offender, Mitchell Levinton of Passaic Park told a judge in Paterson that he tried to pay the boys to give him oral sex after having them masturbate in front of him in 2006, while working for a kosher catering company.
Vicki Polin, founder and CEO of the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault, told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM this morning that she hopes the community continues "to rely on law enforcement and child protective services when there is a case of suspicions of child abuse and or neglect" by any member, instead of dealing with it privately.
A self-styled rabbi has arrived in Israel after being extradited from Brazil to stand trial on grotesque child abuse charges. Elior Noam Chen was arrested in Sao Paolo over a year ago - over allegations of poisoning and mutilating children in rituals.
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