Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Monster On The Loose: Avrohom Mondrowitz Abominations Has Possibly Snared More Victims In Israel














The FORWARD reports

Mondrowitz Escapes Another Trial

By Nathan Jeffay

Published January 20, 2010

For several dozen Americans who say they were sexually abused as children, news from Israel on January 14 ripped the scab off a still unhealed wound. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that Avrohom Mondrowitz, their alleged abuser, will not be extradited to stand trial in America.

But that is not the only recent decision regarding Mondrowitz. The Forward has learned that Israeli prosecutors have decided Mondrowitz will not be charged in connection with child pornography they say they found in his home in 2007.

Justice Ministry spokeswoman, Adi Simchovitz said that the child pornography case against Mondrowitz was closed in March 2009 “for lack of evidence.” She declined to offer any details.

Under Israeli law, possession of child pornography is a criminal offense.

Mondrowitz, an American Orthodox rabbi and psychotherapist, fled the United States in 1985, before an arrest warrant could be executed on an indictment handed down against him for child abuse. He will be released from house arrest in Jerusalem on January 24, unless the Israeli government appeals.

Survivors for Justice, a New York-based support group for Orthodox victims of sexual abuse, termed the court’s extradition decision a “travesty.”

“At the very least, the authorities in Israel should be pursuing criminal charges against Mondrowitz for recent crimes that both they and the U.S. authorities have clear and convincing evidence of,” said SFJ president Ben Hirsch.

The saga of Mondrowitz’s escape from extradition began when he was indicted in Brooklyn on multiple counts of sodomy and sexual abuse of five children.

He fled to Israel, where courts ruled that because Israel’s definition of rape did not include sodomy, Mondrowitz had not broken Israeli law and could not be extradited.

Then, in 2007, the U.S. – Israel extradition agreement was amended to cover homosexual rape and his case was reconsidered. The Israeli government jailed him and sought an extension of his incarceration. At a hearing, prosecutors cited four pornographic films they said had been found during a search of his Jerusalem home. Judge Shimon Feinberg agreed to an extension, noting the government’s claim that Mondrowitz was “a threat to the public as evidenced by the material discovered in his home.” Mondrowitz was ultimately granted house arrest.

The Supreme Court ruled it could not apply the 2007 amendment retroactively.

Michael Lesher, a Passaic, N. J., attorney who represents six American Jews who claim Mondrowitz abused them as children, said, “We know now, which we didn’t before, just what kind of denial we are facing.

“We feel outrage, we feel bitterness and we feel rising anger that bringing Mondrowitz to justice is being resisted.”

One of the first instances in America involving ultra-Orthodox teachers and rabbis preying on their students to come to public attention, the Mondrowitz case is thought to have been prompted by complaints from more than 100 accusers, most of whom encountered Mondrowitz in the 1980s when he was practicing as a psychologist in Brooklyn.

Although Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes instituted the extradition proceedings against Mondrowitz in 2007, he has come under fire from child advocates who say he should have done so earlier.

Even Mondrowitz’s attorney, Eitan Maoz, echoed this view after the extradition ruling. He told the Jewish Star, a Long Island weekly, “In 1988, the law was amended in a way that the route to extradition was open and the district attorney was notified. But they did not do anything until 2007, when they decided to apply.”

Hynes has said that since the crime occurred before the law changed, the extradition request could not be applied retroactively.

Now, child advocates are waiting to hear whether the government will appeal the extradition ruling, issued by a limited bench of three Supreme Court justices who heard the case. The government has 45 days to decide. A single judge will then decide whether to accept the appeal. If accepted, the case would go before an expanded Supreme Court panel.

Maoz, Mondrowitz’s lawyer, called the court’s ruling “a very brave decision… especially at this time when the request for extradition came from the U.S.” He declined to comment on other matters relating to Mondrowitz.

Contact Nathan Jeffay at jeffay@forward.com

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

The Jewish Week Reports

Mondrowitz May Have Been Treating Boys Long After Indictment


by Hella Winston
Special To The Jewish Week

With alleged Brooklyn child molester Avrohom Mondrowitz under house arrest until Jan. 24 following last week’s decision by the Israeli Supreme Court to deny his extradition to the U.S., new evidence has emerged that appears to indicate that Mondrowitz was treating adolescent boys in Israel as recently as 2006.

According to a document provided to The Jewish Week by New Jersey attorney Michael Lesher, and apparently obtained from Mondrowitz’s computer, Mondrowitz appears to have conducted an interview with and “assessment” of a 15-year-old boy who had been engaging in “improper behaviours [sic] with his peers.”

While the document contains the boy’s name, The Jewish Week is not publishing it to protect the identity of a minor.

It appears from the report, written as a letter and dated June 19, 2006, that Mondrowitz — who fled Brooklyn to Israel in late 1984 and was indicted on sodomy charges in 1985 — actually saw the teen in person, as opposed, for example, to having been sent a file for his review about the case. The boy is described in the letter as a “pleasant, neatly dressed, and polite 15-year-old.”

The assessment indicates that the boy was being seen by Mondrowitz in part regarding “normal hormonal and physical changes in his body.” It also notes that “Early adolescents may discover pleasurable self-stimulation. They form close friendships with peers and may experiment with them, or sometimes with somewhat younger peers, usually to satisfy curiosity. This quite normal experimentation phase usually fades and disappears.”

The lengthy report concludes with Mondrowitz suggesting that the boy “will appreciate and grow positively in Midos [positive characteristics] and Maasim Tovim” [good deeds] from “close interaction with a knowledgeable Mashgiach or other Torah-true guidance figure.”

The document indicates that the assessment was made at the request of the boy’s father and a Benyamin Rosenstein, whom, the documents make clear, is the father of Jerusalem City Councilman Shlomo Rosenstein, a member of the United Torah Judaism party.

The Jewish Week tried but was unable to reach Shlomo Rosenstein at his City Council office.
Mondrowitz’s name appears at the end of the assessment, followed by the credentials “Ph.D., L.N.H.A.” (Licensed Nursing Home Administrator), however there is no evidence he ever received a doctoral degree. Indeed, on a resumé obtained by The Jewish Week, Mondrowitz claimed to have earned a doctorate in clinical psychology in 1977 from “Teachers College, Colombia [sic] University.” A New York Police Department detective, now retired, is quoted in a 2007 article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz saying that all of his diplomas, including his rabbinic ordination, are “fakes.”

According to Lesher, an attorney in Passaic, N.J., author and advocate who represents several men allegedly sexually abused by Mondrowitz, “The new evidence we have suggests that Mondrowitz was serving as a psychologist in Israel, despite many assurances from rabbis over the years [to the contrary].
“That,” Lesher continued, “is a stunning contradiction of what we have been led to believe all these years.”

Other documents provided by Lesher seem to suggest that Mondrowitz had discussed plans for a project, referred to only as “AOL,” with someone named Mr. Myers. While it is unclear from the documents precisely what “AOL” is, the letter suggests it is an “endeavor” in some way related to “alternative therapeutic interventions that have assisted and greatly improved the situation and success of many children and their families.”

The letter is written on Mondrowitz’s letterhead, containing his current address and phone number in Jerusalem, and his name is preceded by “Dr.”

The Jewish Week also obtained an index of material found on Mondrowitz’s hard drive, information that was also provided to the chief superintendent of Israel’s division of computer crime, Avi Aviv, in early 2007. The index notes that the drive contained two graphic video clips. One of the clips features “two young boys sitting together on a bed and getting undressed”; another depicts two boys engaged in “graphic” sexual activity.

The index also lists dozens of URLs for pornographic Web sites, some involving what appear to be minors, visited by the computer. It also notes the existence of e-mails written from Mondrowitz’s e-mail address to customer support at sites that appear to feature child pornography asking why his access is being denied when he paid for access to the sites.

According to the index, there is also evidence that Mondrowitz used an iMule program, which is a site used to share illegal images. The index also lists items apparently related to the “Thornhill University,” a bogus university from which Mondrowitz allegedly issued degrees and credentials. (Thornhill, sometimes described as a “degree mill,” appears on several lists of universities that have no legal authority to issue degrees.) These included e-mail folders for the aliases of various Thornhill University “employees,” including its president, Theodore Thorton. The drive also contained logos from various universities, presumably used in the creation of fake diplomas.

Reached Monday at their Jerusalem home, Mondrowitz’s wife, Raizel, said that Mondrowitz was “unavailable.” But she emphatically denied that he had been treating boys in Israel, though she did say he “had been a psychologist in Brooklyn.”

“He hasn’t had anything to do with treating anyone in 25 years,” she said.

She also told The Jewish Week that the letters suggesting otherwise were “absolute lies” from “the same people who have been going after him for years.”

Mondrowitz and his family have professed his innocence since he fled to Israel in 1984. After he left the U.S., he was indicted in absentia on four counts of sodomy and eight counts of sexual abuse in the first degree against four non-Jewish children in Brooklyn. (While Jewish children were among Mondrowitz’s alleged victims, they were not part of the grand jury that indicted him and thus not part of this case).


During his time in Brooklyn, Mondrowitz ran a child-counseling program out of his home and worked in a special-education school for boys that had connections to Ohel Children and Family Services. One of his alleged Jewish victims told The Jewish Week he was referred to Mondrowitz for counseling directly by Ohel. Several others made their way to him because he had a reputation within the community for being able to help “troubled” boys.

Prior to Mondrowitz’s arrest pursuant to an extradition request by the United States in late 2007 — and months after the Israeli authorities were alerted to Mondrowitz’s involvement in child pornography and the granting of bogus degrees — Israeli police found evidence of his involvement with films containing child pornography, according to court papers.

Mondrowitz has not been charged with any crimes in connection with these activities.
\
An e-mail to Aviv seeking comment on whether an arrest was planned was not returned. An e-mail to the spokesman for the Israeli State Attorney’s office was also not returned.

Recently, it came to light in a story on the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Web site, SignOnSanDiego.com, that a California Air Resources Board scientist from San Diego, Hien Tran, had bought a fake degree in applied statistics from Thornhill University.

According to Ben Hirsch, president of the advocacy group Survivors for Justice, “The Israeli government’s continued failure, thus far, to honor the Unites States’ request for the extradition of Avrohom Mondrowitz to face trial for the heinous crimes he was indicted for in 1984, raises troubling questions. That forced sodomy was legally not an extraditable offense in 1984 was a travesty then, and Israel’s failure to extradite Mondrowitz, now that the law in Israel has been corrected, is a travesty now.

“At the very least, the authorities in Israel should be pursuing criminal charges against Mondrowitz for recent crimes that both they and the U.S. authorities have clear and convincing evidence of. ... An indicted serial child rapist such as Mondrowitz has no place in any civilized society. He deserves to be judged by a Brooklyn jury for the unspeakable crimes he committed in Brooklyn.”

The new evidence about Mondrowitz’s actions since being indicted in 1985 comes after last week’s decision by the Israeli Supreme Court to deny what is the second extradition request made by the U.S. (An article on the ruling appeared last Wednesday on The Jewish Week Web site.)

Israeli state attorneys have until Jan. 24, 10 days after the court ruling, to decide whether to request an additional hearing.
\
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office expressed disappointment last Thursday after the ruling, which overturned a lower-court decision that Mondrowitz should be extradited to the U.S. for trial.

“We are disappointed by the decision,” said Jerry Schmetterer, director of public information for the DA’s office, which had been seeking Mondrowitz’s extradition. “We are working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Israel Ministry of Justice to see what remedies are available.”

Asked to elaborate, Schmetterer told The Jewish Week the remedies “would possibly be in the area of further appeals.”

At the time Mondrowitz fled to Israel in 1984, the extradition treaty between Israel and the U.S. did not cover charges of sodomy, which was among the crimes for which he was indicted. The first extradition request regarding Mondrowitz came in 1985, but the appeal was denied. A new request was filed after the treaty was amended in 2007. Last Thursday’s decision was on Mondrowitz’s appeal of that request.
This article was posted on The Jewish Week Web site, www.thejewishweek.com, on Monday, Jan. 18.
===============================================================

Haaretz Reports

Last update - 06:35 20/01/2010
Accused child molester Mondrowitz wins first battle against extradition
By Aviva Lori, Haaretz Correspondent

For the more than two years he was in prison, Avrohom Mondrowitz prayed to God for his freedom.

Two weeks ago, a three-judge Supreme Court panel ruled to release him to house arrest, reversing an earlier Jerusalem District Court decision that the 62-year-old member of the Gur Hasidic sect would be extradited to the United States for the alleged molestation of more than 100 children and adolescents.

Born in Poland, Mondrowitz immigrated to Israel with his family after World War II. In the 1950s, he immigrated again, to Chicago.

By the 1980s he was living in Brooklyn, where he presented himself as a rabbi and psychologist, an expert in childhood and adolescent problems, even though he had no accreditation in the field.

In 2007, former patients of Mondrowitz and students at the yeshiva at which he taught described to Haaretz just what happened behind closed doors.

The parents of Mark Weiss, then 14 years old, came from Chicago to Brooklyn for treatment with Mondrowitz. Weiss had nowhere to sleep, and his self-styled therapist invited him into his home.

"My parents knew and trusted Mondrowitz," said Weiss, now 42. "His family was on vacation in the Catskills, and he came to pick me up at the airport. At first it was a lot of fun; he took me all over the place.

"At night he came into my bed and touched me. He did everything, including acts of sodomy. I was naive - I didn't understand exactly what was going on. I thought it was part of him being nice," Weiss recalled.

Today Weiss is active in Survivors for Justice, an organization created in the United States by victims of Mondrowitz.

In 1984, the New York Police Department collected testimony from Mondrowitz's victims and their parents in the ultra-Orthodox communities of Brooklyn.

Officers drafted a 13-part indictment including first-degree sodomy, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

Authorities in New York issued an arrest warrant, but when police came to detain him, Mondrowitz and his family had fled to Israel.

The U.S. Justice Department immediately issued an extradition request, but the extradition agreement between the United States and Israel did not include charges of sodomy, but only rape.

In Israel, Mondrowitz - married and the father of seven children - continued teaching in a yeshiva and counseling children. He is also suspected of having sold forged university degrees to anyone willing to pay.

Israel Police investigators have found significant material testifying to offenses both sexual and otherwise, including pedophile films and forged degrees from universities around the world.

Mondrowitz was first questioned by Israeli authorities in October 2007, then released to limited house arrest.

In January of that year, the Israel-U.S. extradition treaty was amended to include any offense that carries a sentence of one year or more.

The U.S. Justice Department immediately issued a new request for Mondrowitz's incarceration.

According to U.S. law, Mondrowitz's alleged offenses are not affected by a statute of limitations, given that the suspect fled to a foreign country.

Too much time has passed

One night in November 2007, Mondrowitz was seized at his home in Jerusalem's Nahlaot neighborhood and taken into custody, and a week later released to house arrest.

Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia wrote in the ruling that even if the alleged offenses had not exceeded the statute of limitations, Mondrowitz should not be extradited because the length of time passed since they allegedly occurred would make a fair trial impossible.

The court also ruled that Israel and the United States could have changed the extradition treaty long before they did, and even if it was amended in 2007, Mondrowitz was still entitled to the presumption of innocence.

In the coming days the State Prosecutor's Office will likely ask the Supreme Court to hold an additional hearing on Mondrowitz's case.

The New York-based president of Survivors for Justice, Ben Hirsch, said, "We won't rest and we won't be quiet until Mondrowitz is brought to a fair trial in Brooklyn, where he committed his criminal acts. How many children's lives will be ruined by that monster before the Israeli authorities decide to put an end to it? Should we understand from the Supreme Court's ruling that it is recommending that the U.S. government forcibly kidnap Mondrowitz to bring him to trial?"
==============================================================

The Jewish Star reports

Assessing blame, further options in notorious case

By Michael Orbach

Issue of January 22, 2010/ 7 Shvat 5770

Avrohom Mondrowitz will not be extradited to New York to be tried on multiple counts of child sexual abuse, Israel’s Supreme Court has decided. His attorney says the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is to blame but even one of the DA’s harshest critics calls that “preposterous.”
Mondrowitz, a charismatic, self-styled rabbi who faked his psychology credentials, was indicted for sexually abusing several Brooklyn boys a month after he fled to Israel in 1984. He is widely suspected of molesting dozens of boys, many of whom, twenty years later, are still unwilling to come forward.

The case is more involved that that of a single individual accused of committing serious crimes. The social service agency Ohel has vigorously denied having referred clients to Mondrowitz for counseling; and leaders of the frum community, specifically the Council of Jewish Organizations of Borough Park, were thought to have warned him of his impending arrest.
Elizabeth Holtzman, Brooklyn’s district attorney at the time, sought Mondrowitz’s extradition. However, the charges against him were not extraditable under the treaty between Israel and the United States in force at the time. That changed in 1988, but the next district attorney, Charles Hynes, chose to not pursue the case until 2007 when the treaty changed again. Hynes has been accused of sitting on the case under pressure from the same Borough Park communal leaders. After a renewed interest in the case, extradition proceedings began in earnest in 2007. Mondrowitz appealed and in a decision issued by the Israeli Supreme Court on Jan. 14, his appeal was sustained.
“The delay in the appellant’s extradition process — currently measured at 23 years — which could have been prevented by an earlier amendment of the extradition agreement, places a legal and ethical obstacle before the completion of the extradition,” wrote Justice Ayala Procaccia.

Eitan Moaz, Mondrowitz’s lawyer, attributed the defense’s success to inaction by the district attorney.
“In 1988 the law was amended in a way that the route to extradition was open and the district attorney was notified,” he explained.” But they did not do anything until 2007, when they decided to apply.”

“I’m not saying it was his fault, it was his decision,” he added. “This case was buried under ground.”

Moaz praised the judge’s decision, calling it “brave,” especially in light of the relationship between the United States and Israel.

Hynes is currently also fighting a Freedom of Information Act request by attorney Michael Lesher, concerning the DA’s conduct in the Mondrowitz case. On Nov. 23, 2009, a judge ordered Hynes to turn over to Lesher all of the documents concerning the district attorney’s handling of Mondrowitz.

“If the District Attorney has been telling the truth about his role in the attempted Mondrowitz extradition, he has nothing to hide; if he has not been telling the truth, he has no right to hide,” Lesher wrote in his affidavit.

Reached by phone on the day of the Israeli Supreme Court decision, Lesher became Hynes’ unlikely defender.

“It’s preposterous to blame the DA for the fact that Israel and America simply did not negotiate a new extradition treaty fast enough. I don’t say that as a defender of Hynes — he did plenty to bury the case -— but it isn’t his fault that the extradition treaty didn’t change sooner.”

“It was the wrong decision and protects a man whose crimes extend … far beyond him,” he said about the decision. “If prosecuted it [the case] would reveal so much about the corrupt underside of the society he comes from. All we ever wanted was simply for him to come to trial like others accused of such crimes. If he did come to trial we would learn a lot of unpleasant things, but invaluable things. I think there were a lot of people who didn’t want that to happen.”

Lesher added that said he believed the court’s decision had been made for “political considerations.”

Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesperson for the DA said that they were “disappointed” by the Israeli decision.

“We’re working with the [U.S.] Department of Justice and the [Israeli] Ministry of Justice to see what remedies are available,” he said.

If there is any further recourse that could see Mondrowitz brought back to New York, it’s a long shot, at best, according to his attorney, Moaz, who believes that Israel’s Supreme Court would need to call a new session with a panel of seven judges.

The decision to set Mondrowitz free “raise[s] troubling questions,” according to Ben Hirsch, president of Survivors for Justice, an advocacy organization for victims of sexual abuse inside the Jewish community.

“We are working with counsel to determine what can be done to help bring Mondrowitz to the U.S. to face trial for the terrible crimes [of which] he stands accused. We are saddened that Mondrowitz’s victims have been deprived of this important step towards closure and we will not rest until every possible legal means to bring this matter to the close it deserves have been exhausted,” he said via email.

The question now becomes what will happen to Mondrowitz. He remains under house arrest after being moved from the prison where he spent the last two years.

He is set to go free on bail in ten days. Documents Michael Lesher provided to the Jewish Star indicate that as recently as 2006 Mondrowitz was actively counseling adolescents under the same false credentials he used in the United States 20 years ago.

In an evaluation of a boy named Eliyahu, who engaged in “improper behaviors with his peers,” Mondrowitz wrote that the boy’s experimentation was “normal.”
“They form close relationships with peers and may experiment with them, or sometimes with somewhat younger peers, usually to satisfy curiosity. This quite normal experimentation phase usually fades and disappears,” Mondrowitz wrote.

Eliyahu would “benefit” from close interaction with a knowledgeable mashgiach or other Torah-true guidance figure,” Mondrowitz recommended.

“An adult supporting figure could teach and encourage Eliyahu that, like hunger, thirst, or other basic needs, other desires must be controlled, channeled and satisfied in the proper time, place and manner.”

In another set of documents, a Jerusalem City Council member, Shlomo Rozenshtein, responded to Mondrowitz’s pitch to develop a “Spiritual Centre” near the Kotel, cc’ing then-Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski on the e-mail.

“The City of Jerusalem and the State of Israel have a deep interest in an idea as beautiful and challenging as your ‘Spiritual Centre,’” he wrote.

At the Mondrowitz residence in Jerusalem a woman who answered the phone wouldn’t put Mondrowitz on the phone to speak with a reporter.

“Sorry,” she said before hanging up.

For at least one of Mondrowitz’s alleged victims, his freedom and the judge’s verdict are frightening.

“It’s not about vengeance. It’s about getting him of the street. I think the world is a less safe place because he’s out and feels empowered,” said Mark Weiss. “It’s pitiful, is what it is. I think humanity has dropped the ball.”


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For more on Mondrowitz,
just Google his name. You can also Visit Survivors For Justice.

81 comments:

around the blogs said...

http://tzedek-tzedek.blogspot.com/2010/01/mondrovitz-when-justice-failed.html

Mondrowitz – When Justice Failed
You'll excuse the comparison, because the alleged crimes are very different, but the inability of the international legal system in over twenty years to bring Abraham Mondrowitz to justice, reminds me of the failure to bring John Demjanjuk to justice.

In both cases, the international legal system, involving extraditions (Israel, USA) and the abject failures of courts on both sides of the Atlantic to deliver justice, have only delivered humiliation for all those who fight for a victim's right to see justice done, and to have the chance to attempt closure, even decades later.

According to The Awareness Center's file on Mondrowitz, he was born in Tel Aviv in 1947 and later moved with his family to Chicago. He is the son of a prominent rabbi. In the late 1970's Mondrowitz moved to Brooklyn, NY and in the late 1970s presented himself to Orthodox educational institutions as a rabbi and clinical psychologist.

While in New York Mondrowitz provided psychological treatment to children from the mixed Jewish-Italian Borough Park neighborhood where he lived. He also opened a yeshiva for children with behavioral problems.

Four children, all from Italian families and all neighbors of Mondrowitz, complained of sexual abuse perpetrated by Mondrowitz. Jewish victims also eventually testified against him, but only after the statute of limitations had expired.

After many delays (and claims that the Charles Hynes the DA was attempting to 'disappear' the case, in deference to the influential Borough Park community), in 1985 a New York State court charged Mondrowitz with eight counts of child abuse in the first degree, endangering the welfare of a child and five counts of sodomy in the first degree.
Mondrowitz and his family fled to Jerusalem after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

At the time of the indictment, sodomy of boys was not an extraditable crime, since it was not defined as rape under Israeli law. In 1988, the Knesset changed that law, apparently opening the way for Mondrowitz's extradition.

In recent years, more of Mondrowitz' Jewish alleged victims have come forward, especially since the use of blogs and forums has allowed those victims to disclose information and network, without being required to reveal their identities.

Survivors for Justice was established by Ben Hirsch, and rallied abuse survivors of Jewish pedophiles and assembled advocacy resources. Survivors for Justice have been particularly active in tracking down Mondrowitz and promoting an aggressive legal approach to finally bringing him from Israel, to face court in the USA.

It's now 2010, 25 years after the legal system originally stepped in to stop Mondrowitz from allegedly attacking and raping children.

This past Thursday, the Supreme Court in Israel accepted Mondrowitz's appeal against extradition, on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out, and therefore his right to due process would be compromised in the USA.

This is a devastating blow to those who have waited and fought for over two decades for this alleged pedophile Abraham Mondrowtiz to face a criminal trial, and for his numerous reported victims to finally give their testimony.

Charles Hynes is an ass said...

He should be investigated for his putrid lackadaisical approach and forced to resign his position.

Eitan Moaz said...

I should be so lucky to deal with Mr.Hynes in the future. Without his help my client would've been in an American prison years ago.

Eitan Moaz, Mondrowitz’s lawyer, attributed the defense’s success to inaction by the district attorney.
“In 1988 the law was amended in a way that the route to extradition was open and the district attorney was notified,” he explained.” But they did not do anything until 2007, when they decided to apply.”

“I’m not saying it was his fault, it was his decision,” he added. “This case was buried under ground.”

Moaz praised the judge’s decision, calling it “brave,” especially in light of the relationship between the United States and Israel.

talking about The Jewish Star said...

http://www.forward.com/articles/123924/
-------------------------------

The paper has not shied away, for example, from reporting on the child sex-abuse scandals that have riled the Orthodox world. Its most recent issue had stories on the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision not to extradite accused child molester Avrohom Mondrowitz and the sex scandal involving Rabbi Leib Tropper, the founder of Eternal Jewish Family, an organization advocating strict conversion standards.

“They are willing to tackle controversial stories that most Orthodox papers won’t touch, or if they do touch it, they do so with a preconceived conclusion,” said Shmarya Rosenberg, whose blog, Failed Messiah, offers a consistently critical take on the Orthodox community.

Rosenberg sees The Jewish Star’s planned expansion as a sign “that there are Orthodox Jews in increasing numbers who realize that the papers they usually read are just full of spin and advertising cloaked as news. And they want to know what the truth is.”

5TJT said...

Lawyer Alleges Institutional Cover-Up in Mondrowitz Case
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman
Published on Thursday, January 21, 2010 - COMMENTS (4)
Abraham Mondrowitz can be known as the man with nine lives. How so?

1. Twenty five years ago, he was somehow able to elude any charges being pressed by the young men that he counseled in his role as a therapist working for Yeshivas.
2. He was able to avoid any repercussions to his ability to be hired by yeshiva after Yeshiva.
3. He managed to elude prosecution in the United States while living here.
4. He managed to flee the United States and live in Israel when finally facing an indictment by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
5. He managed to avoid the repercussions of a cherem placed upon him by the Bais Yoseph Bais Din and signed by Rav Elya Svei zatzal.
6. He managed to avoid extradition back to the United States because the crime he was to be charged with was not in the extradition treaty between Israel and the United States at the time.
7. He managed to have recent charges of possession of child pornography (in Jerusalem, 2007) dismissed by an Israeli court as reported in an article yesterday in the Forward.
8. He managed to get a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court frustrating the latest efforts to face justice in the United States.
9. Through it all, he has managed to continue providing “counseling” even while “on the lam” in Israel.

The question is, how has he been so successful? Michael Lesher, an attorney representing six Orthodox Jews who allege that they were victims of Mondrowitz, believes that he has the answer. He issued a statement this week saying, "We know now, IF we didn’t before, just what kind of denial we are facing. In fact, we've been facing denial from the beginning -- so we're angry but not really surprised: we've seen coverups all along by powerful figures in the Orthodox community (and the politicians they influence).”

Lesher, an author and lawyer, has been at the forefront of leading the battle in courts against molesters and those abusing children. His book, “From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers Are Running from the Family Courts—and What Can Be Done about It” has been hailed as an indictment against the Family Court system in the United States and an excellent guide as to what to do. He has helped mothers across the country who face an uphill battle in their efforts in court.

What is surprising, however, is that it was Rav Elya Svei zatzal, one of the leading Rabbinic figures in the United States, who signed onto the ruling of the Bais Din not to help Mondrowitz. The Bais Yoseph Bais Din has one of the most sterling reputations in the country as well.

Lesher further stated , “We feel outrage, we feel bitterness and we feel rising anger that bringing Mondrowitz to justice is being resisted AS IT HAS FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS… The real story is not about one bad decision freeing one bad man; it is part of a larger and longer pattern involving many important parts of the Orthodox Jewish community.”

Lesher believes that the effort to protect Mondrowitz even extends to Jewish newspapers. He writes in his comments on an article that appeared in the Forward on a blog run by a certain Scott Rosenberg, “I'm afraid it's no accident that this is not being reported, and that even my quotations are being carved up [in newspapers] to avoid any suggestion of a larger institutional cover-up. Jewish media are no less vulnerable to political pressure than other institutions. And lots of influential people do not want the whole truth told in this sordid but crucially important tale.”

Anonymous said...

It is important to note, however, that false allegations are often alleged by unscrupulous people and each allegation must be carefully scrutinized.

I agree with most of Rabbi Yair Hoffman's article, but insinuating false allegations are made often, is in of itself an egregious lie.

The fact is a very small minority fabricate allegations of sexual abuse, especially children - and I'm not aware of even a single such case in the Orthodox community.

penetration schinberg said...

Trial Begins for NYPD Officers Accused of Sodomy

NEW YORK (AP/ 1010 WINS) -- Lawyers defending three police officers charged in a subway station baton sex attack case portrayed the accuser as a scam artist who made up the story to get money from the city.

In opening statements on Thursday, defense lawyer John Patton said tattoo parlor employee Michael Mineo was not sodomized and there was no evidence to prove Mineo's statements that he was attacked with a police baton on Oct. 15, 2008.


Juliet Papa reports

"Once you've seen Mr. Mineo, you'll find him a theatrical, posing type of individual who's going to make a claim,'' said Patton, who represents Officer Richard Kern.

Kern is charged with aggravated sexual abuse and assault. He is on trial with officers Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales, who are accused of covering up the attack. They are charged with hindering prosecution and official misconduct.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

Assistant District Attorney Charles Guria said a confrontation that began with officers spotting the tattooed Mineo smoking marijuana ended with a vicious attack.

"I don't care what kind of law Michael Mineo broke, there's no explanation, no excuse,'' Guria told jurors.

The prosecutor said officers saw Mineo and a friend smoking pot outside a fast-food restaurant. Realizing he had been spotted, Mineo swallowed what was left of the joint and ran for the subway, where he was attacked, Guria said.

Guria said Mineo's DNA was found on Kern's police baton, his boxer shorts were ripped and he was admitted to the hospital with injuries.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people alleging sexual assault, but shortly after the attack Mineo's lawyers issued a news release naming him with his approval.

Mineo has filed a civil suit against the city for $220 million. Those proceedings will come after the criminal case.

Last May, Mineo filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, the Police Department and four officers. Three of the four officers were indicted.

Gabriel Byrne said...

Hollywood actor Gabriel Byrne has revealed he was sexually abused as a child in Ireland and later as he trained as a priest in England.

Byrne, who starred in The Usual Suspects and Enemy of the State told Irish television he was abused by Christian Brothers when he was an altar boy in Dublin, the Telegraph reported.

He said: 'It was a fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man, and you didn't want to be left in the dressing room with him.'

Byrne was abused by a member of the clergy when he moved to England at the age of 11 to train as a priest.

He revealed to Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne: 'It didn't go on over a prolonged period but it happened at a very, very vulnerable moment.'

Byrne, a father of two, admitted the abuse he endured had left him 'deeply hurt' and had taken him many years to come to terms with.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1244605/Gabriel-Byrne-speaks-childhood-sex-abuse-hands-clergy.html#ixzz0dIgjuBkc

agudas israel senior citizens division said...

A 50-year-old Angoon man was sentenced last week to 8½ years in prison for sexually abusing two children in the early 1980s.

George Jim Jr. was sentenced Friday in Sitka Superior Court for two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree, each Class A felonies, for molesting the two girls in Angoon in 1983. Both victims were under the age of 10 when the crime occurred.

"A Class A felony is one of the highest felonies," Sitka Assistant District Attorney Jean Seaton said. "Sexual abuse of a minor, under these circumstances, is right below a homicide."

There were no formal charges brought against Jim during the initial investigation in 1983. The case was reopened in 2008 when new information was discovered, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

Jim waived his right to a jury trial and took a plea agreement with the prosecution. In addition to serving 8½ years in prison, Jim had another 8 years suspended and will be on probation for 10 years following his release from prison.

Jim was originally indicted on 15 counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree.

Jim would have likely been sentenced to more time in prison had he committed the crimes under the state's current sexual abuse statutes.

"It's what the sentences would have been at the time he committed the offenses, which is what we have to look at," Seaton said. "It would be a 20- to 30-year sentence under today's statutes."

Had he committed the crimes under today's statutes, Jim would also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Since the acts were committed in the early 1980s, he will not be required to register upon release from prison, Seaton said.

There has been a lot of litigation about whether or not people should be required to register as a sex offender regardless of when the crimes took place, she added.

"There have been other court cases where that principle was set forth, that it is not retroactive," Seaton said. "And the theory behind that was ... it might have been a deterrent at that time."

If Jim commits another sex crime in the future, however, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, she said.

He is presently incarcerated at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

• Contact reporter Eric Morrison at eric.morrison@juneauempire.com.

DOPES said...

WHAT ABOUT ADVOCATING TO ABOLISH THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS? THAT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THIS

USA - Rabbis Urge Release of Sholom Rubashkin

24 Jan 2010
Prominent U.S. Rabbis Urge Release of Sholom Rubashkin
While He Awaits Sentencing
News Conference at National Press Club

A group of the nation's most prominent Rabbis will hold a news conference Tuesday to oppose the premature imprisonment of Sholom Rubashkin, former vice president of Agriprocessors, Inc., once the country's largest kosher meat processing plant. The Rabbis will urge the U.S. Department of Justice to closely scrutinize the demands by federal prosecutors in Iowa that Rubashkin be imprisoned before he is sentenced. The group also will request a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Rubashkin, 51, was convicted last year in federal court in Sioux Falls, S.D. of bank fraud, and prosecutors are demanding he receive a minimum of 27 years in prison. The bail issue is pending before the full Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on a petition for rehearing en banc.

What:
News Conference calling for meeting with Attorney General Holder and urging U.S. Department of Justice to review the Rubashkin case.

Who: Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Exec. V.P., National Council of Young Israel
Rabbi David Zwiebel, Executive Vice President, Agudath Israel
Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, Rabbinical Alliance of America
Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin, Rabbinical Association of Brownstone, Brooklyn
Rabbi Chaim Schwartz, Executive Director, Rabbinical Board of Queens, NY
Representatives of the Aleph Institute and Rabbinical Council of America

When: 1:30 PM, Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Where: National Press Club, Murrow Room, 529 14 Street, NW, Washington, DC

###



Contact Information
Debra Caruso
DJC Communications
212-907-0051
debra@djccommunications.com
Jeff Simmons
917-673-0024
jeffasimmons@yahoo.com


Source: newsroom - meattradenewsdaily.co.uk

Solomon Dwek said...

First trial set to begin in NJ corruption probe

By SAMANTHA HENRY
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 24, 2010; 3:46 PM

NEWARK, N.J. -- The most eagerly awaited video release in New Jersey won't be showing in theaters, but will screen exclusively at a Newark federal courthouse, starting this week.

With the first trial in New Jersey's largest ever corruption probe set to begin, the public finally will get to see Solomon Dwek in action: a government cooperator who secretly recorded hours of meetings at restaurants, diners and parking lots over two years, showing religious leaders, politicians and municipal employees in various states of alleged wrongdoing.

It has been six months since the mammoth corruption bust resulted in 44 arrests. The dramatic July 23 takedown featured early morning raids from synagogues to city halls and allegations of bribes distributed in cash-stuffed cereal boxes. Prosecutors say the money laundering operations were so large they were referred to as laundromats.

It also produced one of the more memorable perp walks in New Jersey's history: Elderly rabbis in long black coats, sweat-suited municipal employees and assorted bleary-eyed elected officials paraded in handcuffs off a fleet of buses for processing at FBI headquarters.

Among the defendants: Three mayors, two state assemblymen and other public officials charged with corruption, prominent rabbis from Brooklyn and Deal, N.J. charged with money laundering, and in one case, a man charged with brokering the sale of a human kidney.

Ten have pleaded guilty, and the rest are awaiting trial or in plea negotiations.

The first to go to trial is former Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, who faces extortion and bribery charges. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday.

But the man everyone wants to hear from is Dwek, the cooperating witness that the U.S. government is hanging almost its entire case on. Prosecutors are hoping a jury will believe a man who pleaded guilty to a $23 million bank fraud and faces additional lawsuits for an alleged real estate Ponzi scheme.

Dwek, the son of a prominent rabbi, was a real estate speculator before his 2006 arrest for bank fraud. As part of a plea agreement, he agreed to help the government by secretly taping dozens of meetings in which he sought to launder money from bankruptcy proceedings through Jewish charitable organizations in the tight-knit Orthodox enclave he grew up in. He also posed as a real estate developer seeking influence with public officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/24/AR2010012401979_pf.html

Eli said...

http://www.wpix.com/news/local/wpix-pix-investigates-groom-secret,0,1866633.story


PIX TRAFFIC ALERT: East and West bound Lanes of GWB Closed Due To Overturned Vehicle, Causing Up To 2 hour Delays
PIX Investigates: A Groom's Dark Secrets?

BY MARY MURPHY wpix.com

10:27 PM EST, January 19, 2010
BOROUGH PARK, N.Y. (WPIX) - A Borough Park rabbi is knocking a newspaper report that a bridegroom who committed suicide this past November had told a friend the rabbi sexually abused him as a youth. PIX Investigates asked Rabbi Baruch Lebovits about the report in the New York Post, which quotes an unnamed, family friend of 24-year old Motty Borger. The friend's father told the Post Borger had pointed to Rabbi Lebovits as his abuser, before he died. "It's not true," Rabbi Lebovits told PIX Investigates from the front door of his Brooklyn home. "It's a lie."

Lebovits is currently facing charges of abuse involving three, different boys in Brooklyn. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Medical Examiner ruled Motty Borger's death was a suicide, and police say he jumped from the 7th floor balcony of a Borough Park hotel last November 5th, while his new bride slept inside their room. The couple had married just two days before. One family friend refuses to believe it was suicide: "He did not jump," Malki Sharf, one of the wedding guests, insisted. "He wasn't feeling well the night before. He took Motrin or Tylenol. He came out here and fell over." How did he seem at the wedding, PIX Investigates asked Sharf. "Perfectly fine," she responded. Another man claimed, "On the outside, he looked like the happiest man ever."

But Dr. Asher Lipner from the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children told PIX Investigates: "Therapists in the community talk about many people who struggle with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, all stemming from the fact these people have been abused as children." Lipner did not treat Motty Borger for any psychological trouble, but he noted: "Oftentimes, there is a sense in our community that getting married will help people deal with a lot of emotional problems…and it's possible that somebody could have been pushed to get married and felt pressure from the community, before they were ready to."

The insular, ultra-Orthodox, Hasidic communities have been reluctant to publicly discuss allegations of sexual abuse. But PIX Investigates has reported on the massive campaign, in the last year, to get families to report abuse to law enforcement--even without approval from family rabbis.

24-year-old Joel Engelman, who claims he was sexually abused by his principal when he was just 8 years old, has now formed the Jewish Survivors Network: He says this of surviving molestation: "It impacts you especially, just in general, in being able to trust someone….a lot of issues of closeness, intimacy, sexual dysfunction and general depression and anxiety."

Rabbi Shloime Mandel the putz drek fake said...

Fire Nussbaum and hand in your resignation.

exposemolesters said...

Watch PIX Investigates: A Groom's Dark Secrets? and perhaps you will be consumed with gloom, as I was, for this is another one of those stories with no happy ending.

PIX interviews Dr. Asher Lipner, an incredible man anchoring the vessel of human recovery, and himself an abuse survivor. He is truly a source of inspiration and a safe haven for those who underwent victimization.

Joel Engelman continues to amaze me with his candid soft-spoken tone, relaying in stark terms some of the devastating effects of child molestation. Indeed, he is a standard-bearer for justice and a role-model to many.

justice said...

I find it disturbing Shmuel Borgor is implicated in his son's molesting, that people know and refuse to substantiate it with law enforcement.

This reminds me of molest victims turned away by rabbis & friends.

snake rov said...

"This reminds me of molest victims turned away by rabbis & friends."

I believe you are referring to me. When finding out a father was calling the police to report Yeshiva of Brooklyn for molestation by Rabbi Y. Nussbaum, I convinced him not to. The trick up my sleeve was to stall the process and come up with a lie that the matter will be dealt with and the abuser fired. suffice to say, it was a ploy that worked.

Years later, when the statute of limitations expired, once again the matter was brought to my attention through this blog.

A ruckus was made as to why Nussbaum was still teaching boys at YOB. I was fully prepared with my bag of tricks, telling the victim and his family Nussbaum will be fired and that victim will receive an apology letter. This again was a lie.

I was a double agent reporting my progress to Rabbi Shloime Mandel. I informed him that I exhausted all avenues in trying to make this chilul hashem go away.

I know that gehenim is waiting for me. I am The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

exposemolesters said...

That's not even the half of it!

avi shafran the putz said...

Shafran defended kolko. What gives him the voice over sudden?

http://www.sacbee.com/842/story/2489339.html

In the U.S., home to the world's second-largest Jewish community after Israel, there's been no similar boycott call, said Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for the haredi Agudath Israel of America group. But he said he could identify with the rabbis' concerns.

The blogosphere "may have worthy offerings but it is saturated, too, with hatred, lies, half-truths and slander," Shafran said in an e-mail. He said when sites allow anonymous comments, "the potential for what is Jewishly wrong is magnified exponentially."

Agudath Israel of America has never maintained a Web site, Shafran said, for fear that would "send a subliminal message to people that the Web is a place they should regard as benign."

Andy Dick said...

http://gossiponthis.com/2010/01/25/andy-dick-arrested/

spit said...

Interesting the Torah which was spat on is the means to secure the release of the spit menace.

Just as mind boggling is bozo Zwiebel, whose organizational policies hijack the rights of child molest casualties.

Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn 1 said...

A Blogging Rabbi Under Attack

Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn lives in Har Nof, Jerusalem. He is the author of the much acclaimed Daas Torah Sefer, the Yad Moshe Index on Igros Moshe, and operator of a blog entitled DaasTorah. He has also been one of the few individuals strong enough and brave enough to stand up against bullying in the Orthodox Torah world.

Even before the Tropper scandal, Rabbi Eidensohn has been exposing the misrepresentations, the bullying, and the unfair practices that this organization has used against Bnei Torah, Geirim, and numerous others.

Now he, like many others who have attempted to shed light on some very questionable practices, is being attacked. A writer that claims he is from Lakewood writes about a Jewish bookstore in Lakewood as follows:

“For your info. I recently went into a VERY popular otzar hasforim of a very popular yeshiva here in lakewood ( Im not saying any names). one that is used by many talmidei chachamim 24/7; There are a few Yad moshes on the shelf there. every single Yad moshe in the cover by your name said the following (in hebrew) ‘Rasha merusha, mevazeh talmidei chachamim v'gedolei hador R"L. Baal blog shel motzi shem rah v'lashon horah vchoo. R"L.’”

There is little doubt as to who might have authored the graffiti on the Seforim. To damage someone else’s property with a turn of phrase that has consistently been employed by one of the people at the center of the controversy only shows how desperate people can become.

Rabbi Eidensohn has shown that the organization known as the Eternal Jewish Foundation (EJF) has insinuated itself improperly onto the Geirus scene.

Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn 2 said...

His blog has shown that EJF has changed the rules of the game and has not been very forthcoming about it. Throughout Jewish history, Yiddishkeit has never been a missionary religion. Christianity and Islam have - but not, lehavdil, Yiddishkeit. Rabbi Eidensohn has respectfully shown that this is the position of the Eida Chareidis in Eretz Yisroel - twice.

Rabbi Eidensohn has shown in his blog how the EJF and its associates have taken it upon themselves to undermine the acceptability of numerous Geirim and the Batei Dinim and Rabbonim that oversaw their conversions. They claim that they are committed to lifting and raising the standards of Geirus. But, in fact, many, many Rabbonim have said that this organization has overstepped its bounds. Numerous Rabbonim and Poskim throughout New York City and throughout the country will corroborate this.

Few will put it in print like Rabbi Eidensohn, but just ask your regular Rav or Posaik - anyone that has dealt with Geirus issues. He has spoken out about their heavy-handed methods - methods quite foreign to the manner in which Klal Yisroel has always conducted itself.




Was there manipulation involved in getting many Rabbinic personalities to join with the organization? The letter from Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel Shlita (published on Matzav) washing his hands of associating with the organization and declaring that he had never
authorized his “taking over” the helm of the EJF is most instructive. Does it not indicate a most heinous manipulation of our Gedolei Yisroel? How many more such manipulations happened? Allegedly, there are letters that support both the former leader of the organization and the organization’s activities as well. How many manipulations were involved in obtaining these? Have the authors of these letters been shown the evidence?

The author claiming that he studies at Lakewood writes:

Dear Rabbi Eidenshon (sic),
I just heard of your blog recently. I live in Lakewood and have used the Yad moshe many many times I always thought to myself what an amazing person R' Eidenshon must be to put together this monumental work.. Well I must tell you R' Eidenshon never in my life would I have imagined that the auther of the Yad Moshe was the blog owner of a filthy motzi shem rah/ lashon horah blog that is full of bizui talmidei chachamim. many many talmidei Chachamim. I cant tell you how shocked I was. I couldnt stop thinking about it for days. How does such a thing happen?! I have to tell you that my emunas talmidei chachamim fell after learning who you really are.. Im sorry to say you should be ashamed of yourself!

Actually, Rabbi Eidensohn should be quite proud. His determination to set right a wrong can only be described as heroic. His emunas Chachomim and respect for and consultation with Daas Torah are paragons of virtuous behavior. His example is a shining example of Torah gevurah and should be emulated by others everywhere.

Anonymous said...

LETTER: Law would help victims of child abuse

EDITOR: A recent public hearing discussed the state Child Victims Act, which would repeal the state's civil statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases involving clergy and incest. Under existing law, victims can sue now until they reach the age of 35. The bill, modeled after legislation passed in California and Delaware, would create a three-year window for victims who had been barred from suing. The California law resulted in identification of 300 previously unknown sex offenders and we hope it would have a similar effect here.

Victims and child safety advocates argue that church concerns should not derail the bill because only a small percentage of these cases involved clergy.

This Child Victims Act is an effort to change Wisconsin law and allow more victims of child sexual abuse to bring their predators to court.

One of its supporters, Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, said, "By opening the statute of limitations, we will be able to cast a wider net to catch these individuals who sexually prey on children." We as citizens need to let our representatives know we take child sex crimes seriously and will not tolerate anything else than a full and reasonable set of laws in Wisconsin to protect children and punish offenders.

Contact your Senate and Assembly lawmakers and ask them to support these bills. To find your legislators and their contact information go to this website: http://tinyurl.com/mwwzm4 or call 1-800-362-9472.

Alice B. Younger,

Stratford

Greg said...

We really need to overturn the current SOL so every victim can seek due justice.

exposemolesters said...

Support the Child Victims Act
NYS Assembly Bill A2596. Senate Bill S5893


...New York law, as currently structured, favors child predators over their victims.... It does so by arbitrarily setting the statute of limitations so that survivors are locked out of the courthouse. Survivors typically need decades to come forward but, in New York, the statute of limitations is unduly complicated and short. Since the survivors cannot get their claims into the legal system, their predators are not named to the public and, therefore, can continue to operate under the cloak of anonymity. That is precisely what they do, into old age.”--Assemblywoman Margaret Markey and Marci Hamilton, who holds the Paul R. Verkull Chair in Public Law at Yeshiva University's Cardoza School of Law.

tropper will squeeze you said...

Rav Dunner Responds To EJF Attack

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=5778

Some real facts:

EJF is an organization entirely funded by a (well-meaning) secular Jew whose interests are the preservation of wildcats that are endangered by encroaching civilization and the preservation of Jewry, which is endangered by intermarriage. His solution for the latter is to encourage the non-Jewish partner to convert—the same approach taken by the Reform and, more recently, the Conservatives. The EJF has a Rolodex containing batei din across the USA to which it refers potential converts whom it claims to have selected and vetted.

Many of those batei din have expressed surprise that potential geirim were being referred to them—small and relatively inexperienced batei din—instead of being sent to the big established batei din in the major centers of Yiddishkeit. The reason is simply that the EJF refers cases that it claims are ready for giyur to a small beis din that will accept their recommendation when a larger more established beis din would not consider the case in any way suitable. (Additionally, the EJF besmirches the name of batei din with track records measured in decades and whose credentials are impeccable but who have the temerity to question their judgment and qualifications.)

Rabbanim from small towns across the USA were continually surprised over the last few years that intermarried couples whom they reckoned were unready for giyur—even though they might qualify with a year or two of work—were leaving town and returning a month or two later, having been converted through an EJF recommendation and officially having been mentored successfully by the EJF. In many of these instances, the levels of observance were insufficient to start with and diminished subsequently, with many ending up only nominally practicing Jews.

To burnish their credentials as the only chareidi purveyors of geirus, the game plan was to present themselves as the most chareidi organization out there, by buying their way into the chatzer of the gedolim by giving kickbacks to the various individuals who attempt to surround the gedolim. By the steady drip-feeding of a few thousand here and there to help with a chasunah or pay off some chovos or support a pet project, Tropper managed to buy his way in and then parade his ability to get photo-ops, as if that made him a ne’eman of the gedolim.

Douglas Perlitz said...

I'm just another child molester in
disguise.

<

Federal prosecutors said Thursday that they now have evidence that the Connecticut founder of an internationally known residential charity for children in Haiti sexually abused nearly twice as many poor and homeless boys as originally suspected.

A federal grand jury in Bridgeport returned a new indictment Thursday against Douglas Perlitz, 39, accusing him of traveling to Haiti and engaging in sexual conduct with 18 minor boys. When he was originally charged in September, Perlitz was charged with crimes associated with 10 boys.

Perlitz is accused of assaulting the children between 1998 and 2008 and then trying to block various investigations after the allegations became public in 2007. Federal investigators said Perlitz tried to buy off victims and conceal computer records. He has been denied bail and locked up since his arrest Sept. 16.

Authorities have said they believe Perlitz used the cover of a well known charity closely associated with the Catholic church to extort sexual favors from the poorest children in the hemisphere's poorest country. They said he threatened to expel children from his charity's housing and return them to the streets if they refused his demands...

abused at yob said...

Yeshiva of Brooklyn is one of the worst places to send a kid to. Some crazy stories in the boys and girls school-- much of it already mentioned here and elsewhere -- prospective parents considering yeshivas should cut out yob from consideration unless you just don't care to fuck up another human life.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Eidensohn is being attacked because he speaks the truth, and individuals out there who daven 3 times a day are the attackers.

Sexual Abuse Effects said...

Sexual abuse effects on children and youth can be evident in emotional, physical and behavioural ways. These effects can be just as devastating whether there was only one occurrence or there were repeated occurrences. Sexual abuse cannot be compared, because each abuse experience is unique.


Learn more:

http://www.child-abuse-effects.com/sexual-abuse-effects.html

margo said...

January 28, 2010
Former school bus driver sentenced for sex abuse


The Associated Press

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (AP) - A former Wyoming County school bus driver is going to prison for up to 20 years for sexually abusing a 16-year-old female student.

Robert Thomas was sentenced to 10 to 20 years Thursday by Wyoming County Circuit Judge Robert Burnside. The 47-year-old Thomas was convicted in November of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian.

Police say the abuse occurred in 2007.

___

Information from: WVVA-TV, http://www.wvva.com

cutting out the crap said...

I hate Rabbis that stab you in the back. They need to stop pretending.

shlomo mandel doesn't care about abuse said...

Sexual abuse effects on children and youth can be evident in emotional, physical and behavioural ways. These effects can be just as devastating whether there was only one occurrence or there were repeated occurrences. Sexual abuse cannot be compared, because each abuse experience is unique.


Vulnerability Factors:

Children are vulnerable to sexual abuse because of their age, size and innocence. When a child or youth is molested, she/he learns that adults cannot be trusted for care and protection: well-being is disregarded, and there is a lack of support and protection. These lead to grief, depression, extreme dependency, inability to judge trustworthiness in others, mistrust, anger and hostility. And as if all that isn't enough, children's bodies often respond to the sexual abuse, bringing on shame and guilt.

Points to consider:

» Children/youth are unable to protect themselves and stop the abuse.
» Children/youth are susceptible to force.
» Children/youth are susceptible to the use of trickery by offenders.
» Often times, children/youth have no control over their own bodies.
» All too often, children/youth are unable to make others believe them.

The above factors lead to:

» anxiety
» fear
» shame
» a sense of inadequacy
» the need to control situations and others
» a perception of self as victim
» identification with the aggressor

Motty Borger said...

FACT: Children with a history of sexual molestation are ten times more likely to attempt suicide (Conference on Child Victimization & Child Offending, 200015).

Sexual abuse effects on the child or youth are connected to the child/youth's life before, during and after the sexual contact. We must understand that the effects apply every bit as much to the disclosure and intervention as it does to the abuse itself. Sexual abuse effects continue long after the abuse stops.

Alan Dershowitz said...

Goldstone is a traitor to the Jewish people

Prominent political commentator Professor Alan Dershowitz slammed jurist Richard Goldstone, the architect of a UN report which accuses Israel of Gaza war crimes, saying he is a traitor to the Jewish people, Army Radio reported Sunday.

Dershowitz and Goldstone have been colleagues and close friends for many years before the UN Gaza probe, but once Goldstone published his report the ties between the two were severed. "The Goldstone report is a defamation written by an evil, evil man," Dershowitz said.

In an interview with Army Radio, Dershowitz said he is appalled by the report and can't fathom how it could have been written by a Jew. He said it is as if a Jew would have written the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and that the jurist is using the fact that his last name is 'Goldstone' to substantiate the report's defamation against the Jewish people.

Dershowitz said he doesn?t believe he should be a part of an Israeli internal inquiry into last winter's Gaza offensive, but said that he would be happy to help if he was asked to.

The professor said that in his opinion, the best way to deal with the report is to set up an Israeli committee headed by a reputable Israeli judge, suggesting former Supreme Court presidents Aharon Barak and Meir Shamgar.

Former minister and Meretz chairwoman Shulamit Aloni responded to Dershowitz's comments, saying that Goldstone is far from a traitor. "Dershowitz's statements border on hate. Goldstone is a Zionist Jew who was simply doing his job," Aloni told Army Radio.

Aloni further went on to say that Dershowitz is a despicable man who opposes the left and supports the settlers. "His opinion doesn't count in my eyes, and the way he speaks of Goldstone is disgraceful," Aloni said.

"The Goldstone report isn't entirely accurate, though we cannot ignore the fact that we did violate international law - the IDF used phosphorus and bombed schools and hospitals," said Aloni.

The former minister also attacked the defense minister, saying "Ehud Barak is the most dangerous man in the state of Israel."

Reuven said...

Dwek's testimony leaves no doubt as to how easy it is to bribe officials, hence, a dramatic cover up on all facets - including child sexual abuse - is a reality to be reckoned with.

Kola D’lo Posik said...

Monsey Rabbis on Leib Tropper
Further Interview

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=5814

On January 21, 10 Rabbi Dovid Ribiat released an interview regarding the Tropper scandal. His remarks generated a lot of interest, and he was asked on Jan. 29 for another brief interview to address some of the many questions that have since been raised.

Rabbi Ribiat heads the Kollel Ohr Yaakov of Forshay in Monsey NY, and is regarded as a prominent Halachic authority across the US. He is also the author of several Seforim, including the world-renowned four-volume work on the 39 Melochos of Shabbos.

Interviewer: I know that you have said that you do not wish to be thrust onto the public stage. May I ask why you have agreed to do these interviews?

RR: Firstly, please understand that I am not acting as an official spokesman for the Rabbonim of Monsey, only as an individual Rabbi. I’ve consented to this only because several Rabbis, myself included, realized that there is perception in the public that the Rabbonim are unwilling to act on this very serious matter. We hoped that explaining some of the difficult issues involved could help people who are justifiably concerned to see that this was not the case. I hope we can make a positive difference.

INT: I believe that you have, Rabbi. Now, in the previous interview, you repeatedly emphasized the lack of evidence in the case of Tropper. Many are asking why evidence is necessary if Tropper himself is not denying the tapes?

RR: The Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivah I have spoken with have told me that he has vehemently denied the authenticity of the tapes to them. However, I definitely agree that his failure to deny them publicly, or to indicate that he is trying to disprove them raises very strong suspicions. A Beis Din can, and I’m sure will, demand an explanation. But they cannot take action, or even make statements, without proof...

Continued-----

Yated Ne’eman said...

Editor and Publisher of Yated Ne’eman, Rabbi Pinchus Lipshutz, through his regular appeals in the weekly newspaper, has raised more than $200,000 from June-November 2009, towards the Rubashkin defense fund, says the Committee of Concerned Anash for Pidyon Shivuyim. The Yated newspaper, based in Monsey, NY, enjoys one of the largest international Jewish readerships • Full Story
.
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17246

protecting abusers is worse said...

As bad a human being as Dwek is, and he's low class, it doesn't even remotely compare to a predator who molests helpless children; and to a larger scale those who protect such callously.

Kiryas Joel said...

On Wednesday night, State Police responded to the property of the Bnai Joel School located on CR 105 in the Town of Woodbury. Troopers with assistance of the Town of Woodbury PD located a group of Yeshiva students from the main congregation in the Village of Kiryas Joel attempting to trespass onto the property and disrupt a wedding which was in progress.

Police said their investigation determined the wedding was the first officiated without the presence or approval of the main congregation. A rabbi performing the ceremony was not typically recognized by the congregation. The group was dispersed without incident.

During the evening, disturbances continued when several residents from Kiryas Joel were telephonically harassed by Yeshiva students from the main congregation UTA school because of the wedding.

On Thursday evening, Troopers were summonsed to the area of Satmar Drive in the Village of Kiryas Joel. The Yeshiva students from the main congregation had a non-resident rent a small box van. The Yeshiva students then mounted speakers to the van and played an audible broadcast denouncing the wedding from the previous evening. The van with its occupants began to protest throughout Kiryas Joel until it became gridlocked in traffic preventing at least 30 vehicles from moving.

Upon arrival of State Police, a large group from the dissident congregation had gathered around the van. The occupants of the van were taken back to the Monroe barracks and issued several traffic tickets while the vehicles and crowd were dispersed by additional troopers.

On Friday afternoon, another small box van with audible speakers was utilized by the Yeshiva students from the main congregation and parked in the vicinity of the public parking lot located near the synagogue in the Village of Kiryas Joel. An audible broadcast continued until the speakers were removed by a group from the dissident congregation.

On Saturday evening, State Police responded to the parking lot of the main synagogue on Garfield Road. Upon arrival there were several hundred people gathered and a vehicle had been overturned by the disorderly group prior to arrival of troopers.

Troopers, with the assistance of the Town of Woodbury Police and the Village of Monroe Police, were able to disperse the crowd and have the vehicle removed. The owner of the vehicle was determined to be a relative of one of the parties married on Wednesday night.

State Police said they would continue to diligently patrol the area to prevent further activities from occurring and to keep the residents safe.

child molester yudel nussbaum of YOB said...

A Georgia man charged with molesting seven sons of family friends fatally shot himself at home during a break in his trial, authorities in Monroe, Ga., said.

Jeffrey Ford Clarke, 50, shot himself Monday morning rather than return to court, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said.

"I guess he gave himself the death penalty," Porter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a story published Tuesday.

Clarke had been facing charges that would have meant between 25 and 400 years in prison if convicted.

He was charged with a combined 19 counts of aggravated child molestation, child molestation and sexual exploitation of children for allegedly abusing the sons of family friends during sleepovers at his home, Assistant District Attorney Lisa Jones said.

The victims, now ages 11 to 29, were ages 8 to 10 when they were molested, Jones said.

"Those boys had to come in and all of them had to tell some of the most horrible things that ever happened to them in their life," Jones said.

"He forced them to do it, and then he ended it like this."

Yeshiva of Brooklyn said...

A man is arrested and accused of sexually assaulting young teenage boys. Investigators say he targeted the teens, using things they like to do to earn their trust. And there could be more victims out there too scared to come forward.

Allene Lambert says she was always suspicious of her next door neighbor, Ronnie Lee Odom.

"When his wife was at work he wouldn't let his own kids come out and play, but he had every neighborhood kid out here to play," Lambert said. "Every boy he could think of and he would take them off on 4-wheelers and take them off in the woods by themselves. It was something that I knew was wrong."

Court documents show Odom lived on a remote and rural street in the small community of Old River Winfree in Liberty County, where Odom is accused of having sex with underage boys. Neighbors say Odom moved out several months ago.

A letter released by Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive says there is 'no comment' on the Odom case and authorities refuse to release Odom's mug shot.

Odom was arrested in Chambers County and is behind bars in the Chambers County Jail, charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of sexual assault of a child.

The victims, at least four teenage boys, have been referred to Bridgehaven Children's Advocacy Center in Liberty for interviews and counseling. Authorities believe there may be more victims. As for neighbors, they worry about the future.

"What if he gets out on bond or something? My son runs up and down here playing, so of course I'm concerned," said neighbor Barbie Tannehill.

Odom remains behind bars. If there are other victims, officials in Chambers County are asking them to come forward and give their story to authorities.

yudi kolko's friend said...

600 years in prison for molester

By Dana Littlefield, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

SAN DIEGO COURTS — An ex-convict found guilty of molesting four boys in separate incidents, including a 12-year-old at San Onofre State Beach, was sentenced yesterday to more than 600 years to life in prison.

Hubert Dymitr Haraszewski, 34, from Palmdale, was convicted last month in Vista Superior Court of 23 charges including child molestation, posing a minor for child pornography, and possession, distribution and duplication of child pornography.

The incidents involved boys between the ages of 10 and 15, and took place in San Diego, Los Angeles and Ventura counties, prosecutors said.

Before the case went to trial, Haraszewski pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. However, a jury determined he was legally sane when he committed the crimes in 1994, 1995 and 2007.

Deputy District Attorney Patricia Lavermicocca said Haraszewski befriended young boys and gained their trust by engaging them in sports, such as biking or roller-skating. In October 2007, he took one of the victims — whom he met in Costa Mesa — on a camping trip to San Onofre State Beach, where he molested the boy in a cave.

Haraszewski spent nine years in prison after he was convicted of child molestation in Ventura County in 1996, the prosecutor said.

contradiction said...

Lee Tucker is sentenced to 8 years for attacking a Rabbi. Yaakov Weiss, for raping little boys, will get the max of 60 days, if any at all. There's something wrong with the system.

Here's another one. Rabbi Yehuda Levin raves against homosexuality, going as far as blaming the earthquake in Haiti for it.

Besides that he sounds like a dud, where is Levin to be found when children are sexually abused by the likes of his own people, where is his voice then?

Why doesn't Levin berate the facilitators who mastermind the cover up of these sex crimes, isn't it as much of a sin as homosexuality, at the very least?

tropper will squeeze you said...

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=5826

Late this morning Leib Tropper, the head of Yeshiva Kol Yaakov in Monsey resigned his position as Rosh Yeshiva of the institution. The new incoming Rosh Yeshiva is Rabbi Dovid Stefansky Shlita, a maggid shiur in the Yeshiva. Kol Yaakov is staffed by fine Talmidei Chachomim among whom are some quite distinguished Torah scholars.

Tropper indicated that he was resigning so that the Monsey-based Bais Din will not continue their investigations into allegations against him.

The Yeshiva building is owned by a corporation entitled “Kol Yaakov Torah Center, Inc. It is located at 29 West Maple Avenue, Monsey, NY 10952.

The three principals of the corporation that owns the property are Leib Tropper, David Jacobs, and Moshe Raice.

“This is a welcome first step,” said one askan involved in the investigation, “however, the Torah community needs written assurances that Tropper’s name will be taken off the paperwork and Rabbi Stefansky’s name will be placed in his stead. Also, further steps need to be taken to ensure that this is not just a ploy and that he will not have anything further to do with the Yeshiva.”

Previously, Rabbi Elya Svei Zatzal had made a similar request in regard to Leib Tropper, the 5TJT was told by a prominent Rosh Yeshiva.

“There were indications that Tropper still had plans to return to the helm of the Eternal Jewish Foundation notwithstanding his December 12th resignation, so it is important to ensure that this type of thing does not happen,” remarked a legal consultant to the Monsey-based Bais Din. “It is our hope that Leib Tropper will cooperate with the Bais Din.”

“Expenses associated with this investigation could reach tens of thousands of dollars,” the consultant continued, “so hopefully we can wrap this up shortly.”

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel said...

I show my face in support of Rubashkin's release, but not for support of Child victims act of NY - legislation aimed to seek justice for sex offenses against our own brethren.

Yisroel Richtberg said...

One Friday night 33 years ago, when Yisroel Richtberg was 12 years old, an older boy sneaked into his dorm room at his Chasidic yeshiva in Israel, pulled off Richtberg's pajama pants and raped him. The same thing happened the next Shabbat.

The boy told Richtberg (not his real name) that if he ever told anyone, the two would be blacklisted at all the yeshivas, and the attacker said he would kill himself.

Richtberg didn't tell.

Instead, he sank into a cycle of depression, shame and isolation, one that would lead to a 20-year addiction to prostitutes, pornography and drugs, fronted by a double-life as an upstanding Chasidic rabbi, businessman and father of 12.

Today, Richtberg is alive to tell his story because he got help from therapists and 12-step programs. He has made it his life's mission to help others conquer an addiction so coated with shame that it resides at the very bottom of the hierarchies of addiction.

Identified in the 1970s by Patrick Carnes, author of "Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction" (Hazelden, 2001), sex addiction has the same psychological and physiological underpinnings as alcoholism, drug abuse and other addictions, but cultural proscriptions against openly addressing sexual behavior problems have made it one of the least understood of the addictive disorders. Addicts are either feared as offenders, which only a small percentage are, or mockingly revered with a that-sounds-like-fun wink.

But addicts say there is no pleasure in being a slave to a compulsion so strong that it affects the body and mind as acutely as a drug.

"There is still this judgment of 'what a sleazy guy,' but what they don't understand is that the addict has a psycho-biological disorder in which he is seeking a drug that he himself produces," said Robert Weiss, clinical director of the Sexual Recovery Institute, on Olympic Boulevard, just outside Beverly Hills. "He is literally dosing himself with his own neurochemistry, like a drug addict with a needle in his arm."

Whether acting out by compulsively masturbating to pornography, having serial affairs, frequenting prostitutes or habitually seeking homosexual or heterosexual one-night stands, sex addicts sink into a pit of shame and self-loathing, often threatening their families and livelihood.

It is difficult to determine whether the incidence of addiction is higher or lower in the Jewish community than in the general population, where Carnes estimates that about 5 percent to 8 percent of adults have a sexual compulsivity disorder. Conversations with several mental health professionals who work with the Jewish community, from ultra-Orthodox to unaffiliated, revealed that all had a significant number of patients dealing with sex addiction, including several rabbis. Several pulpit rabbis revealed that congregants had sought counseling from them about sex addiction.

Weiss believes the vast majority of sex addicts are men, and pointed out that female sex addicts might be too embarrassed to seek help, or might be getting paid to act out as prostitutes or exotic dancers.

Weiss estimates that about 20 percent of addicts are sexual offenders, usually engaging in exhibitionism or voyeurism. Occasionally addicts are guilty of molestation or rape, but not all sex offenders are addicts..

child molester enabler shlomo mandel said...

If homosexuality can cause earthquakes,. what does employing a child molester Rabbi cause?

agudas israel senior citizens division said...

www.baltimoresun.com/features/faith/bal-sex-abuse-0205,0,4757718.story
baltimoresun.com
Frederick police charge retired priest in altar boy sex abuse case

Associated Press

12:01 PM EST, February 5, 2010

Frederick County authorities have filed child abuse charges against a retired Catholic priest for alleged offenses against an altar boy in 1976.

Monsignor Thomas Bevan, 73, of Cascade was released on $25,000 bail Thursday. He was indicted on two counts of child abuse Jan. 22 but the charges were kept sealed until Thursday, when an arrest warrant was served.

Assistant State's Attorney Lindell Angel says Bevan sexually abused a 10-year-old boy in 1976 when he was associate pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Frederick.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore says Bevan denied the allegations when confronted by church officials in August.

The archdiocese removed Bevan in August as pastor of the Church of St. Patrick in Cumberland.

Cure Cancer said...

NEW YORK, N.Y., Feb. 4 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Marty Niedelman (www.martivation.com), a pharmacist from New York, claims he has the answer which will lead to the cure of Cancer. He feels that all the research scientists are leaning toward his conclusion, but are taking too much time to succeed. He has written an article explaining what he knows about the subject. The purpose of this article is to motivate all the researchers to perfect the cure now.

Through the years, Marty has seen scattered articles and news alerts about the cure for Cancer. These usually state that it will take several years to perfect the cure of a limited type of Cancer. Then, he doesn't hear anything more. Marty feels that the time for action is now.

Being a Pharmacist for over forty years, Marty is familiar with the pharmaceutical industry and the state of disease. There are scientists, researchers, and doctors who are more knowledgeable in the subject than he is.

But, sometimes simplicity has a way of eluding all of us.

By going to www.martivation.com and clicking on articles, the "Theory On Cancer Cure - Fact or Fiction," can be printed for free.

Then, by e-mailing it to everyone you know, Marty feels "we will get the attention of all those people who have the expertise to make the cure for Cancer a reality."


NEWS SOURCE: Marty Niedelman

Send2Press® is the originating wire service for this story.

PRESS RELEASE PERMALINK: http://www.send2press.com/newswire/2010-02-0204-002.shtm

not the torah way said...

It's s shanda that children are susceptible to becoming the next victims of sex crimes, because of our Moetzos Gedolei HaTorah.

weasels said...

The fact is as long as the powers that represent orthodoxy turn a blind eye to abuse, there will be more frequent injustices.

It's no surprise that the despondent will have suicidal thoughts and may carry it out.

This mindset is a reflection on the irresistible need to pile up the dirt under the rug, rather than act compassionately to do what is just and right; not infinitely defending those who wear black hats and know gemarah.

Martin Grossman said...

Florida rabbis seek to prevent Jew's execution

Martin Grossman, 45, convicted of murdering female police officer 26 years ago. His execution approved by Florida governor, scheduled to take place in nine days

Yitzhak Benhorin
Published: 02.07.10, 18:07 / Israel News

WASHINGTON – Florida rabbis in recent days have been working to prevent the execution of Martin Grossman, 45, who was convicted of murdering a female police officer in a nature reserve 26 years ago.


A petition submitted to Florida Governor Charlie Crist pleaded with him to have pity on Grossman, who is scheduled to be executed with a lethal injection in nine days.


Grossman was 19 when he and his 17-year-old friend traveled to an isolated nature reserve to fire a stolen handgun. The two were approached by wildlife officer Peggy Park, 26, who asked Grossman for his weapon license.


Grossman pleaded with her to let him go, as he was violating his probation for a burglary charge, but she refused. When she tried to call for help over the radio, Grossman hit her 20 to 30 times, and when she tried to reach her weapon and fired one shot, Grossman shot her in the back of the head.



Grossman's friend, Thayne Taylor, served three years in prison for his involvement in the incident, while Grossman himself was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.


Grossman's lawyer appealed to the Florida Supreme Court in a bid to stop the execution, saying that his client did not undergo a psychiatric evaluation during his trial.


Last week, Governor Crist signed Grossman's death warrant, after years of legal discussions. Now the Aleph Institute – a rabbinical institution caring for Jewish prisoners – is attempting to convince the government to hold a hearing and pardon Grossman.


Rabbi Menachem Katz, who visited Grossman in jail over the past 15 years, says that the Jewish prisoner has reformed and regrets his actions. If the sentence is implemented, Grossman will be the 25th person to be executed in the state of Florida in the past decade.

avi shafran the putz said...

Defending our Rabbonnim is a full time job, as is blaming the messenger.
--------------------------------------

http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/02/rabbi_albert_lewis_the_merit_o.html

mlive.com
Rabbi Albert Lewis: The merit of working and seeking work
By Al Lewis | The Grand Rapids Press
February 07, 2010, 7:22AM

The “working class” is in the news, and every political speech must include something about us.

I have begun to chuckle when I hear the term. I envision a poorly taught adult English class in which the instructor is trying to define the verb “to work.”

Defining ‘working’

The teacher gives the example: “I am working; I was working; I will be working.”

One of the older students responds and expresses his confusion to the teacher:

“I used to work full time, and then part time. I don’t have a real job right now, but I’m working to find more work, and I’m working every day just to hold onto my sanity and provide whatever I can for my family. I may not be bringing in a check, but I feel I am checking every move I make just to stay afloat. So, I consider myself working.”

Another older student raises her hand and makes the comment: “I ‘used to’ work. I mean I had a full-time job and was able to retire. But, in today’s economy, just like the other student said, I’m working at making decisions that are critical to my life and family. It’s not like I’m sitting back watching cash flow through my mail slot.”

There are people who don’t actually work because they have enough money and financial managers to “do the job.” They are a minuscule percentage of our population.

I am happy for them and, sometimes, even jealous. But even they worry.

And there are those who are so severely disabled they cannot work but would take great pride in a job that would give them the chance to package nuts and bolts and interact with other people.

“Working class” is too often misunderstood as people who labor at one marketable task or another; physical, intellectual or both. The definition is too limited.

More than a job

“Working class” is even more a psychological and emotional state of well-being. It suggests I am capable, contributing, giving, caring, and that I have inherent value and dignity.

If I lose a job in manufacturing or service or teaching, my personal sense of value sends me back out to the greater marketplace. When that market shrinks, I expand my search. And when that seeking is unfruitful, I go more deeply inward and pray that I will be able to hold onto my “self” while my world erodes.

My teacher, Father Henri J.M. Nouwen, taught that every person, even before birth, is loved and valued by God and held with dignity and respect.

The rabbis taught one of the questions asked before admittance to Heaven is: “Did you perform honorable work?”

Today, they would ask: “Did you, a person born of honor, perform or seek honorable work?” And, when the answer is “yes,” the gates of heaven and the arms of all who know and love you are opened wide. And the chorus sings: “Welcome, oh working-class man or woman. Remember God works and seeks work, too.”

In truth, our value is not only in what we do, but equally in what we tried to do. The rabbis say “a person must be judged by what he intended to do, not (only) by what he did.”

Let us then praise and respect those who work and intend to work. They are surely in the image of God. With them, we are the working class.

Albert Lewis is rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids and rabbi of Temple Beth El of Traverse City. Contact him at yourlife@grpress.com.

Mordechai Tzemach ben [son of] Mazal said...

Rabbi Eliyahu in Critical Condition
Shevat 23, 5770, 07 February 10 02:30
by Hillel Fendel

(Israelnationalnews.com) The condition of former Chief Rabbi Rishon Letzion Mordechai Eliyahu took a turn for the worse over the Sabbath, and he is now listed in critical condition. The family requests prayers from the public.

Hospitalized in the emergency open-heart ward, Rabbi Eliyahu’s family is at his bedside. The rabbi is on a respirator, and the hospital staff is attempting to stabilize his condition.

His students emphasized that their main request is for the public to pray for the health of Mordechai Tzemach ben [son of] Mazal. A prayer service was held at 3 PM Sunday at the gravesite of the Hida, the 18th-century scholar Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, in the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem. A women’s prayer service will be held Sunday evening at 8:30 at Rabbi Eliyahu’s synagogue in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem.

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky of Bnei Brak, a leading sage of the hareidi-religious public, has joined in the call to hold prayer services around the country on behalf of Rabbi Eliyahu.

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who served as Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi from 1983 until 1993, has been hospitalized for most of the past 20 months, following open-heart surgery and a stroke.

Ariel Atari said...

The attorney for a self-declared rabbi indicted for abusing several young children was charged himself on Sunday with obstructing court proceedings and allegedly harassing the main witnesses slated to testify against him in court.

Suspect Elior Chen, who was extradited from Brazil last year, and several of his followers allegedly used knives, hammers and other instruments to abuse children as young as 3 and 4 years old in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit in February and March 2008.

Attorney Ariel Atari was charged on Sunday with visiting M. - the woman who was charged and convicted of abusing her children while living with Chen - in 2008, while Chen was in exile in Brazil.

In March 2009, after being charged with child abuse, the woman agreed to a plea bargain in which she would serve a limited sentence on the condition that she would testify against Chen and other suspects.

Atari apparently presented her with evidence that contradicts her testimony, and actively gave the witness the wrong impression that it was permitted to talk to him, despite the fact that he was legally forbidden to have any contact with a witness for the prosecution.

During her conversation with Atari, he told her that Chen was worried about her, and described him as a good person who had her best interests at heart.

He also told her that he had seen the evidence complied against his client, including her son's medical file following the abuse, and told her that her son's physical ailments could be interpreted as the result of an accident.

He reminded her that she was confused and under a great deal of pressure at the time of the incident, and that she told her friend about the abuse while in a delicate emotional state.

The indictment against Atari also states that he told her that the facts were distorted beyond measure by her husband, and he repeated his views several times until she eventually told him that Chen forced her into submission.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh said...

Damn, Mossad is tough!

agudas israel senior citizens division said...

Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz is right. These cases are way too old.
-

Police charge retired priest in altar boy sex abuse case

Frederick County authorities have filed child abuse charges against a retired Catholic priest for alleged offenses against an altar boy in 1976. Monsignor Thomas Bevan, 73, of Cascade was released on $25,000 bail Thursday. He was indicted on two counts of child abuse Jan. 22 but the charges were kept sealed until Thursday, when an arrest warrant was served. Assistant State's Attorney Lindell Angel says Bevan sexually abused a 10-year-old boy in 1976 when he was associate pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Frederick. The Archdiocese of Baltimore says Bevan denied the allegations when confronted by church officials in August. The archdiocese removed Bevan in August as pastor of the Church of St. Patrick in Cumberland.

Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks said...

This man should be behind bars.

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/bryks_ephraim.html

Iran talking about our 'gedolim' said...

Iran: Jewish people are mad, led by lunatics

Published: 02.08.10, 18:42 / Israel News

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has called the Jewish people "mad" being led by "lunatics."


During an interview with the al-Jazeera network, Mottaki said that Iran does not take Israel's threats of attacking its nuclear facilities seriously, but stressed that the Islamic Republic must be ready for an Israeli strike. According to him, the Israeli regime is at its weakest state in three years. (

Orlando Colon said...

A Rochester man is accused of sexually abusing a young girl inside a Jewish temple in Irondequoit.

Orlando Colon is charged with first degree sexual abuse.

We obtained a copy of his statements to police.

Colon admitted he sexually abused one girl at Temple Beth David.

He is not Jewish, but he said he went to the temple to find God, because, “Jesus was a Rabbi.”

Police say it turned criminal after the service was over.

The president of the temple, Martin Presberg, said, “Temple Beth David is a very welcoming community and what we want to do is we want to use that welcoming stance that we have to everyone and use it to enhance our security.”

Police say after the service Saturday morning, at around noon, Colon was downstairs trying to sexually abuse at least one nine-year-old girl. It was the first time Colon was ever in the temple.

Presberg said, “So while everyone is welcome to come, we’ll be paying a little bit closer attention to people who aren’t necessarily part of the community.”

Presberg talked about enhanced security at the temple. He said the downstairs area, where they have a school, is now off limits. He also said temple members will man certain doorways. He said it’s just a matter of heightened awareness. Their guard was down, and he said it’s not going to happen again.

Presberg said, “If we’re paying attention to people because we want them to feel at home, we’ll be paying attention to them as well and observe if something unusual or inappropriate starts to happen.”

Kristina Karle, Assistant District Attorney and the prosecutor in the case, said, “Am I surprised of where this is alleged to have occurred? Not really.”

“We see when there are allegations of child sexual abuse that oftentimes people will go to where children are at. We’ve seen it with daycare centers, churches, schools,” Karle said.

The most disturbing part of this case might be Colon’s statement to police. He told them he went to the temple “trying to find God.” He said he was “hallucinating,” and at one point, thought he saw the “doors of Heaven.”

He said he “did expose myself” and admitted he committed “lewd sexual acts.”

Karle said, “When you read it in his statement that was given to the police, there are things in there that are alarming and concerning.”

Colon’s statements to police are some of the strangest stuff you’ve ever heard.

Anonymous said...

The Global Citizen: The Victim Without a Voice

http://blog.newvoices.org/?p=2490

Rabbi Dr. Bernard Lander a'h said...

Dr. Bernard Lander, 94, was remembered by family members, friends and associates as a hands-on but modest administrator who took the lead in ensuring that observant Jews had the educational tools to earn a living.

"For bnei Torah, he built yeshivas and kollelim," said his son, Rabbi Daniel Lander. "For the unaffiliated, he built colleges as a means of outreach and building kiruv."

The younger Lander serves as rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva Ohr HaChaim in Kew Gardens Hills, founded by his father in memory of his wife, Sarah Rivkah Lander. Dr. Lander's funeral was held there Tuesday morning.

"Thousands attained the dignity of parnassa because of my father," said Rabbi Lander. "He built different colleges for different populations."

Dr. Lander founded Touro in 1970 with a class of 35 students in a midtown office building. Since then, its student body has grown to approximately 23,000, on 29 campuses in the U.S., Europe and Israel.

"There was a common misconception that Touro College was a private business, and he was a successful businessman," said Rabbi Hershel Schachter of Yeshiva University.

"But Touro is not-for-profit. He received a salary far below his counterparts from other institutions."

Mourners recalled a leader whose energy and passion endured to his last days.

"He started Touro at age 55; that took guts," said Rabbi Menachem Genack of the Orthodox Union. "He had a prophetic quality, he never aged, and he knew the future."

Dr. Lander received his semicha from Yeshiva University and went on to earn a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University, where he wrote a dissertation on juvenile delinquency.

He was an associate director of the Mayor's Committee on Unity, established in 1944 by then-New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, which became the city's first Commission on Human Rights.

For More: http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/42496/

New York Times said...

Rabbis in Training Receive Lessons in Real-Life Traumas
By PAUL VITELLO

After four years of training, most rabbinical students can speak fluent Hebrew, give a passable exegesis on any Biblical passage and deliver a fine sermon.

Very few, however, know what to do when they have to inform parents that their child has been killed in an accident.

Directors of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in Upper Manhattan grappled with this training gap for years before settling on a way of at least simulating real life in a classroom: They have been inviting actors and acting students to sit across a table from seminarians and act out roles — as stunned parents, suicidal teenagers, terminally ill V.I.P.’s “or anything we can think of,” said Rabbi Marc Penner, the seminary’s director of rabbinical training, “to try to shock the students.”

The actors work through a New York agency called Professional Actors Training and Helping, which also finds role-players for medical students being introduced to the real-life emotions of sick people and their families. Some are stage veterans, like the Broadway and Off Broadway actor Joy Seligsohn, who in a recent class played an elderly woman dealing with the indignities and sense of invisibility that many older people confront.

Most are novice actors and recent drama school graduates like Keith Hendershot, 20, of Canton, Ohio, who on Tuesday brought his dramatic skills to the advanced pastoral counseling class in the role of Keith, a tormented victim of childhood sexual abuse who visits his rabbi to talk, but seems unable to bring up the subject.

The teachers, Rabbi Penner and Dr. David Pelcovitz, a psychologist, give the actors a sketch of the scenario, and a minimum of direction. In one outline, the actor is to told to act “uncomfortably.” In another, the actor is instructed, “Cry if you can.”

Most of the characterization is improvised.

“So, Keith. How’s things? What’s happening?” said Yechiel Shaffer, 25, the rabbinical student who took the first turn during Tuesday’s exercise. He folded his hands.

“Not much, not too much,” said Keith, picking at his cuticles. “Hey, so, how are you?”

They circled for a while. The student rabbi elicited some information about “inappropriate” behavior on the part of an adult family member. Then there was a long silence.

The student waited, a little like a chess player waiting for an opponent’s next move.

“Cut!” said Rabbi Penner. “Who wants to comment on how we’re doing so far?”

Yeshiva of Brooklyn - A century of all sorts of abuse said...

The people who say we abuse children confuse chinuch with abuse.

-------------------------------------

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict, who meets Irish bishops next week over a pedophilia scandal involving priests, said the Roman Catholic church must keep its guard up against those who violate the rights of children.

Addressing participants of a Vatican conference on protecting childhood, Benedict acknowledged that "unfortunately, in a number of cases, some of its (the Church) members acted in contrast to this commitment".

Benedict will meet bishops from Irish dioceses to discuss the Murphy Commission Report, a damning indictment of child sex abuse by priests in Irealand which has already led to the resignation of two Irish bishops.

Released in late November, the government report said Church leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland had covered up widespread abuse of children by priests for 30 years.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Church+must+keep+guard+versus+pedophilia+Pope/2537562/story.html#ixzz0fFqpk1Cz

Israel's great thinkers said...

We now change our minds to permit only hashgacha certified cites to reopen. This doesn't halt us from reversing our decision for content deemed inappropriate.

shlomo mandel of yob: resign now! said...

As the Irish bishops prepare for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the sex-abuse scandal in their country, a group of abuse victims has asked the Pope to replace all bishops who were involved in a cover-up of priestly misconduct.

After a group of the Irish bishops met with abuse victims-- the second such meeting-- critics of the hierarchy questioned why lay Catholics would not be involved in the meeting with the Pope. A former Jesuit provincial suggested that the fallout from the Murphy Commission report warranted a synod of the Church in Ireland, to discuss a radical restructuring.

Chaim said...

I am stunned that mandel is stubbornly refusing to fire Nussbaum, he is constantly lecturing to follow in the holy torah etc., and he he is opposing his very own words.

CHABAD said...

My visit to R' Sholom Rubashkin
By Rabbi Shalom Gurewicz

My job in Kashrus takes me to Cedar Rapids, Iowa every month. Knowing that Sholom Mordechai is sitting in prison there, I applied last month to visit him. I was approved and visited him yesterday. He was so happy to see me besides for the fact of just having a visitor, he had also been placed in solitary confinement the night before and nobody including his wife and attorney knew about it yet and he was not allowed to make calls • Full Story
Chabad.info Editorial Staff
28 Shvat 5770 (12.02.2010)
Rabbi Avrohom Blesofsky, Chabad Shliach of Iowa City, about 30 minutes away, visits him every other day. What a Mitzvah!

My zeida, Nochum Zalman Gurewicz, once took my aunt Ida to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe. She told the Rebbe that her husband Hershel was not a Chossid but a ‘finer poshuter yid’- a simple Jew (in fact he was a Yid a Talmud Chochom). The Rebbe answered her ‘un vos is a Chossid? A finer poshuter Yid!’- ‘and what is a Chossid, a fine simple Jew!’

Sholom Mordechai is a Chossid. His actions in prison had me thinking if my ‘Chassidishkeit’ and behavior in freedom is the way it should be.

While in prison, Sholom Mordechai has requested to shower every morning. He does not do this for the same reason most people shower in the morning but this was his way of going to the Mikvah before Davening. He will not Daven unless he showers first.

CHABAD said...

His toilet is in the actual cell so in order not to Daven with a toilet in the room he has taken his sheets and made a Mechitzah around the toilet. At one point when his ‘cell mate’ complained of contraband they did a search on the cell and took down his mechitzah.

He told me that in the morning when he woke up in solitary confinement he started saying Tehilim (Sholom Mordechai is known for saying the whole Tehilim daily even before prison) and then he started to cry. Immediately he stopped himself and looked up to Hashem and said what am I crying for and began laughing away and then began to sing and dance in the cell five nigunim including Nepolian’s march, a known Lubavitcher song.

He would take some of the water that was given to him to drink and save it in a bag for neglevasser. He would not watch TV even with not much else to do there. He felt that once you compromise your spiritual values it is a slippery slope downhill. All the other prisoners had to do was watch TV, he had his seforim. He said that when they didn’t watch TV they would be yelling things at each other and there were also screams of ‘there is a Jew here, kill the ….Jews’. He would read a lot of Tanya which gave him Chizuk throughout the hardship to remain positive.

When he was put into solitary confinement, the small closet like room had a slab of concrete which was his bed. He looked worried how he would sleep on it without any mattress or something soft. During a small reprieve from the cell, a fellow African American from another of these solitary confinement cells screams out to him ‘hey Rabbi’! Turns out he was from Franklyn Avenue in Brooklyn which is right near Crown Heights. He told him that a small thin mattress is bought to the room from 10pm to 5am and he should not worry.

He told me the story I think of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe while he was in prison he said that at one point he felt like this was Mesechta Gehainom but it was Chelek Beis! Sholom Mordechai felt the same way now in solitary confinement.

On my way out of the prison I shared the elevator with a lawyer who looked at me and said ‘you are a Rabbi correct?’ then he said ‘that means you are Jewish.’ Then he said ‘Well I am a Christian who loves Jews’ to which I responded that we all need to love each other. I then proceeded to tell him about my visit and he was somewhat familiar with the Rubashkin story. He was shocked to hear about the way he was being treated which is horrific.

We learned a small bit of a Sicha from the Rebbe about the geula from Mitzrayim. Sholom Moredchai was pointing out and trying to understand how it could be that all the Yidden who were taken out of Mitzraim never even made it to Eretz Yisroel? It was bewildering to him.
.

Let us be inspired and let Hashem together with our Tefilos and all our good Hachlotos help this Chossid get out of prison and be able to continue his life as a Chossid together with his family and community in Postville who are waiting to see him again, and all of this with Moshiach Tzidkeinu NOW!!!

Rabbi Shalom Gurewicz
Chicago, IL

avi shafran said...

A prison inmate who showers under such conditions grabs my attention right away.

He will not Daven unless he showers first

agudah pigs won't say this said...

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/83835022.html

Talk to police first
Sexual abuse is a crime, and it needs to be reported first to law enforcement, not to officials of other institutions.

Posted: Feb. 8, 2010 |(19) Comments

If you are a victim of sexual abuse or if you know someone who has been sexually abused or you know of a case of sexual abuse, you need to report that to the police or other civil authority before you report it to anyone else. You don't first report it to a school principal, teacher, counselor, minister, rabbi, imam, priest or bishop. You go to the police.

Sexual abuse is a crime and needs to be reported to the proper law enforcement agency just as any other crime should be. And it should be the policy of any institution - schools, churches, youth organizations - to encourage victims and others to report such crimes to civil authorities.

That's the way the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese has seen the issue. The archdiocese's notification statement, which is posted on its Web site at www.archmil.org, directs those with complaints of sexual abuse involving victims younger than age 18 to notify civil authorities. That should apply to all victims of sexual abuse, regardless of age, but the archdiocese is pointing in the right direction.

The La Crosse diocese is not. That diocese's policy directs those with accusations of clergy sexual abuse involving children to notify the diocese, which will keep the allegation confidential and assess what the appropriate response should be, including what the reporting requirements might be. The diocese informs authorities of allegations of sexual abuse that involve children, but the Web site does not explicitly tell people to contact civil authorities. It should, and that's a policy change rightly being sought by Eau Claire Police Chief Jerry Matysik.

The La Crosse diocese needs to change its policy statement, and newly appointed Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who came to Milwaukee from La Crosse, needs to reassure civil authorities and the community here that he will continue the statement that's been in effect in Milwaukee. Victims, authorities and the community at large deserve to know that Listecki won't change the statement to what it was under his authority in La Crosse.

Listecki also could help by clarifying a statement he made at a legislative hearing last month when he said that the La Crosse policy had been changed. He may have simply misheard a question; there was no intent to be untruthful, an archdiocesan spokeswoman told us. But the policy remains unchanged on the La Crosse diocese's Web site at href="http://www.dioceseoflacrosse.com.

Sexual abuse is first and foremost a crime; it needs to be treated as such by every person and every institution. Anyone aware of a crime has a moral responsibility to report it to the proper civil authorities.

replace cowardly rabbis said...

While religious conservatives are vocal on issues of sexuality—from pre-marital sex to masturbation to abortion—progressive religious leaders have largely ‘abstained’ from discussing these matters in the pulpit. A new report urges more clergy education and openness on sexuality issues.

Crown Heights Kashrus said...

CH Kashrus Certification Remains on AgriStar
Despite the removal of Rav Menachem Meir Weissmandl’s supervision, Crown Heights Kashrus is not breaking ties with AgriStar plant, Rabbi Berel Levertov has said. The removal of the supervision given to AgriStar poultry and meat plant in Postville, Iowa, by Rav Weissmandel has put the Kosher industry in a frenzy.
YN
30 Shvat 5770 (14.02.2010)
Rav Weissmandl, head of the Nitra community in Monsey, terminated his hashgacha in a public letter this past Wednesday.

“As of this Friday, Erev Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim, my kosher certification will no longer be in force and I take no further responsibly for its kashrus. The public should take note,” he wrote.

Those include products that are packaged under the “Aaron’s Best,” “Supreme Kosher” and “Agri Star” labels.

The company, founded by the Rubashkin family, is now owned by Hershey Friedman, president of Montreal-based Polystar plastic packaging.

But CHK - Vaad Hakashrus of Crown Heights said Friday their certification on the Shor Habor label by AgriStar remains the same.

“No changes have been made, since there are no kashrus problems,” Rabbi Berel Levertov, Kashrus Coordinator for CHK, wrote in a letter on Friday.

“It seems that another hechsher will be replacing Rav Weissmandl (and this is the only reason for the change),” he explained.

He said that Shor Habor products are per the guidelines set by Rabbi Avraham Osdoba and the late Rabbi Kalman Yehuda Marlow z”l.

“Those who eat Aaron’s Best or Supreme Kosher have to reexamine their standards if they will continue to eat OU glatt without a chareidi hechsher,” Rabbi Levertov said.

CHK also provides supervision to David Elliot, Wise organic, Heartland kosher and Ezra.

http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17425

Yeshiva of Brooklyn - A century of all sorts of abuse said...

A 16-year-old has been charged in Spencer County with abusing a 3-year-old while baby-sitting after state police received a complaint from the victim's family Tuesday.

The family filed the complaint after they returned to their home and found the 3-year-old with multiple injuries that were consistent with child abuse, according to a release from state police.

The family took the child to Jewish Hospital in Shelbyville, and he was transferred to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville with serious injuries, state police spokesman Ronald Turley said.

The 16-year-old is charged with three counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and fourth-degree assault. Turley did not say whether the teen was male or female.

"These charges are pretty serious," Turley said. "We lodged the juvenile in a juvenile facility. That kind of gives you an idea of how bad it is."

State police are investigating. The names of those involved are not being released because of their ages.

Anonymous said...

We need to save children, but our 'leaders' don't want the ugly truth revealed.

They daven and mean well, but their actions speak volumes. They would rather have our vulnerable perish than admit the truth; then correct wrongs to protect future generations.

Evil!

End result is gehinim awaits their entrance.

Yeshiva of Brooklyn - A century of all sorts of abuse said...

February 15, 2010
A trail of charges for sex offense, little jail time

The Sun's Julie Scharper this weekend chronicled the life and crimes of Thomas Leggs Jr., the Eastern Shore man indicted last week in the killing of an 11-year-old girl. Leggs has a long history of allegations of sex abuse, but for various reasons escaped serious penalties. His case has raised questions about the effectiveness of laws regarding sex offenders and spurred talk of reform in Annapolis this session:

Leggs' link to the Foxwell case has prompted scrutiny in Annapolis, with some lawmakers questioning why emergency legislation in 2006 that called for extended supervision of certain sex offenders and for the creation of a Sexual Offenders Advisory Board to assess the state's handling of such offenders both failed to get off the ground.

The O'Malley administration, which contends that the advisory board was not adequately set up and that other sex offender provisions are unworkable or unconstitutional, has responded by announcing that the board will be reactivated and strengthened, with former Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. as chairman.

Though arguing that Gov. Martin O'Malley had improved sex offender supervision without the advisory board, the administration also unveiled 2010 legislative initiatives that they say go beyond what was envisioned in 2006.

The House of Delegates is slated to hear a host of sex offender bills, including the governor's, on Feb. 23. A Senate hearing has not been scheduled.

Advocates welcome the measures, but many say they don't go far enough. And while the sex offender registry can be a helpful tool for vigilant parents, it's merely an address registry. An offender can be furtively molesting children but be listed as compliant on the registry because his address is up-to-date.

"If we don't convict child molesters, it doesn't matter how strong the penalties are or how well the registry is enforced," said Lisae C. Jordan, a lawyer with the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "People think, 'If I just check the sex offender registry, my children will be safe,' and that couldn't be further from the truth."

Avinoam Braverman said...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3847194,00.html

Pedophile who chatted with 1,000 girls charged with rape

Avinoam Braverman convicted of multiple sexual offenses against young girls, including rape, sodomy, and indecent acts. According to indictment, he spoke with girls online, sexually harassed them, met with some of them and sexually assaulted them. He allegedly paid one of them NIS 200 'to do everything to me'

public service message said...

One must be extremely cautious when donating money to Haiti. Many flukes are taking it and using it for their own pleasure. Same applies in similar circumstances; and even with raising bail for Shlomo Rubashkin. Don't donate stupidly.

around the blogs said...

Awsome post by theunuorthodoxjew.';';';''

This Is What Its Come Down To!

PURIM FEVER - THE UOJ ARCHIVES

http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2007/08/this-is-what-its-come-down-to.html

Rabbi Mordechai Elon said...

Takana forum member says got death threat

Following sexual harassment accusations made against Rabbi Mordechai Elon, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein tells his students: 'I got a threatening letter from an associate of Rabbi Elon, who said he would hurt me in any way he could'
Kobi Nahshoni

A member of the Takana forum says he has received death threats following the revelation of sexual harassment accusations made against Rabbi Mordechai Elon. Talking to his students at the Har Etzion Yeshiva on Wednesday, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein said, "I got a letter filled with threats from an associate of Rabbi Elon, who said he would hurt me in any way he could."


The rabbi, 75, also mentioned malicious calls made in the late hours of the night on the backdrop of the affair, which was revealed in the past few days.


Disbelief
Show of support in Migdal: We believe in Rabbi Elon / Sharon Roffe-Ofir
Dozens of supporters, students, and rabbis from around country flood into northern town of Migdal to show support for rabbi warned Monday by religious forum for handling sexual harassment. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu: I felt like my flesh was being cut; we must not let him be alone
Full story
In an emotional conversation, during which Lichtenstein broke into tears several times, he protested the hostile attitude on the part of Elon's students. "Is this our payment for hours of lessons?"


Rabbi Lichtenstein, one of the leaders of Religious Zionism, is perceived as the senior rabbinical figure (together with Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, in the panel discussing Alon's case.


"We are not talking about one case only. I wish it was just one case," he said, referring to the affair which stirred up Religious Zionism. Addressing claims that Rabbi Elon was suffering injustice, he said, "They are talking about blackmail. Blackmail? What blackmail? Who enjoys this? The distress is serious and deep."


Rabbi Lichtenstein went on to address the circumstances which led to the affair's exposure, saying that "there was an accumulation of incidents, but the commotion did not begin because of that. We would not go out to the media over that. The problem was to the case in question and there were people who were hurt. There were people whose family life was badly hurt, people who suffered mentally.


"We tried to convince the person to deal with it and overcome it and take it back," he said. "I begged him. I told him, 'You are ruining yourself and ruining your life. With such a glorious future on the way. For what? On the one hand, we thought it was insane. In a few minutes of dubious pleasure a person risks everything."


Eventually, the rabbi said, he decided to come out with the affair about a week ago, when one of the forum members was sent to give Rabbi Elon a last warning. Shortly afterwards another incident, which he referred to as very serious, was discovered by Takana.


"It was all done heavy-heartedly," he said. "Believe me, I am aware of the damage caused to the man and his family. His wife is broken and worn out. We had to do it."

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!!!!!!!