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http://www.oorah.org/about.htm
Oorah, which means "Awaken," was founded in 1980 with the goal of awakening Jewish children and their families to their heritage.We seek out families who are interested in enriching their spiritual lives, and provide them with the right resources to succeed.
We enable children to enroll in Jewish day schools or yeshivos, where they receive a full religious and secular education straight through high school.
While the children learn and grow, we bring adult education opportunities to the parents, as well as all the ritual objects and support they need to live a full Jewish life.
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At Oorah . . .• We don’t use an ad agency
• We don’t use a public relations firm
• We don’t use a marketing firm
• We don’t pay executive or professional salaries
• We do our mailings in house
• We don’t rent mailing lists
• We mail at maximum discounted bulk non-profit rates
• We do graphics in house
• We do photography in-house
• Prizes are sponsored
• We have virtually no overhead
• Most work is done by talented volunteers
Almost every dollar donated goes directly to kiruv work
Tizku L'Mitzvos
To Volunteer please call 1.800.21.OORAH ext: 105
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Partial list of "gedolim" who support Oorah:
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| Harav Isaac Ausband | Harav Leib Bakst | Harav Yisroel Belsky | Harav Haim Benoliel |
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| Harav Shmuel Berenbaum | Harav Chaim Bressler | Harav Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld (Matesdorfer Rav) | Harav Yitzchok Feigelstock |
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| Harav Reuven Feinstein | Harav Aharon Feldman | Harav Elya Fisher | Harav Zecharya Gelley |
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| Harav Naftali Halberstam | Harav Moshe Heineman | Harav Yisroel Meir Kagan | Harav Shmuel Kamenetsky |
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| Harav Malkiel Kotler | Harav Henoch Leibowitz | Harav Yisroel Avraham Portugal (Skulener Rebbe) | Harav Shlomo Mandel |
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| Harav Shlomo Miller | Harav Yisroel Perkovsky | Harav Yaakov Perlow (Novominsker Rebbe) | Chacham Yosef Harari Raful |
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| Harav Yosef Rosenblum | Harav Matisyahu Salomon | Harav Aaron Schechter | Harav Shlomo Feivel Schustal |
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| Harav Don Ungarisher | Harav Elya Ber Wachtfogel | Harav Yitzchok Wasserman | Harav Shlomo Wolbe |
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| Harav Moshe Wolfson | |||
Car Donations
Free Vacation with your car donation.
Kars4kids Car Donation program will accept your used car donations. With your vehicle donation, you'll receive a tax deductible receipt, plus a free vacation!
The car donations process is simple and convenient.
We have experienced, trained operators ready and willing to help and guide you through the car donation process. To donate a car, call Kars 4 Kids between 8 AM and 11 PM, Sunday through Friday or simply fill out the car donations form.
Kars for Kids will provide hassle free pick-up when you donate a car. The average pickup time for your car is usually between 24-48 hours. There is absolutely no charge when you donate a car!
Auto Donations to Cars for Kids will benefit Joy for Our Youth, an IRS registered tax-exempt 501(c)(3). All proceeds from your auto donation will help JOY provide food, clothing, education and guidance to children from the ages of six to eighteen.
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Car Donations - Cucumber Phone Service -
Unlimited Long Distance - Lipa Shmeltzer - Ask the Rabbi - kars4kids - SUKKAH
All proceeds of Kirby Card sales benefit Oorah Outreach programs.
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An excellent blog is "Gruntig". Worthwhile to check it out at:
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70 comments:
I can't beleive I donated money to Oorah. I'm calling them now to tell them I no longer support their cause.
This is a BIG CHILUL HASHEM. Any words from the "gedolim" on this? No of course not! They solicit millions of dollars without mentioning that it is benefiting "Orthodox Jews." How convenient of them! 7 million to Oorah? And a measly 2 million for "disadvantaged kids" on the street?
Ganovim!
I need a barf bag!
The sick part is who knows how much gelt the ferds are putting into their own pockets. Channel 11 should have pressed charges. They were too nice!
Love what you do EM. Keep it up!
What's the # 1 thing enablers tell the klal? Don't call the police, go to the Rabbis. I find it quite ironic that for an organization backed by these same "gedolim" they didn't hesitate to call the police, and event went so far as to block the reporters from leaving - with their Kars-4-kids vehicle. I am so ashamed of these "Rabbis" and their "non-profit organizations."
Another charity scam by a Jew. This one soliciting money for kids with leukemia!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/nyregion/03concert.html?em&ex=1204693200&en=1b2ffb5b554cee33&ei=5087%0A
March 3, 2008
A Clash Between Popular Culture and Orthodox Piety
By DAN LEVIN
For thousands of Orthodox Jews, the “Big Event” — a concert featuring the popular Hasidic entertainer Lipa Schmeltzer — was supposed to happen next Sunday at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. But fans and organizers were shocked to learn late last month that a group of rabbis had issued an edict against the show, effectively canceling it.
The decree, published in Hebrew in the Orthodox newspaper Hamodia and signed by 33 rabbis, warned that the sight of dancing and singing performers would cause “ribaldry and lightheadedness” that would lure young people away from spiritual purity. It prohibited Orthodox Jews from attending the concert and called on Mr. Schmeltzer to back out.
The ban has inflamed tensions among ultra-Orthodox Jews over how to address the influences of popular culture, and it has thrust what has largely been an internal debate into public view.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose Brooklyn district includes many Hasidic neighborhoods, said the ban had triggered unprecedented dissent and outrage among Hasidim. “In all my 26 years of representing this community, I can’t remember anything that has so shaken the people,” Mr. Hikind said on Sunday.
The growing fame of Mr. Schmeltzer, who weaves pop melodies with traditional Hasidic songs, has troubled some Hasidim, who have chided him for introducing Jewish youth to secular musical styles. Others fear his popularity could rival that of the rabbis, who wield spiritual authority over Hasidic daily life.
In an effort to assuage those fears and uphold the religious practice of modesty, the concert organizers had promised separate entrances and seating for the more than 5,000 men and women who had been expected to attend, and Mr. Schmeltzer had agreed to perform only traditional Hasidic songs.
But that was not enough to prevent two community leaders in Brooklyn from mobilizing opposition to the show, which was raising money for an Israeli charity that finances weddings for orphans. In late February, the two men, Asher Friedman and Rabbi Avraham Shor, demanded that the concert be canceled. Using the text of an edict that had been used to ban a concert in Israel, they warned that the concert would “strip the youth of every shred of fear of heaven.” They said they were acting on behalf of a group of Israeli rabbis, and ultimately, 33 American rabbis signed the edict.
Sheya Mendlowitz, the concert’s producer, said Mr. Friedman and Mr. Shor had known about the concert for months but had acted without warning, just two weeks before the show, causing $700,000 in losses.
“These two activists stirred up all the trouble,” said Mr. Mendlowitz, who has worked in the Hasidic music business for 27 years. “They just wanted to sabotage us.”
Days later, Mr. Schmeltzer, who lives in Monsey, N.Y., announced that he would not perform. In an interview on Rabbi Zev J. Brenner’s syndicated radio program, he said that he had no choice but to obey the decree. “I have a career, I have a wife and kids to support, I have a mortgage to pay, I have to get out of the fire,” Mr. Schmeltzer said. He then withdrew from a concert in London as well.
When Mr. Mendlowitz canceled the show, he insisted that advertisers, Madison Square Garden and the more than 3,000 ticket holders — who paid between $50 and $500 — would be reimbursed. He added that Mr. Friedman had offered to help offset the losses — but only if Mr. Mendlowitz agreed to retire from the Hasidic concert business, a condition Mr. Mendlowitz rejected.
A man answering Mr. Friedman’s cellphone, who declined to identify himself, refused to discuss the concert.
The controversy has provided a rare glimpse into the deeply secretive Hasidic world. In recent days, debate over the ban has raged on blogs and on the radio, which provide participants the anonymity to challenge their religious leaders. “The rabbis are dictators,” said one writer on the blog Vos Iz Neias. Others defended their spiritual leaders, saying that they were protecting young people. “Our rabbis must know more than we do, what effect this concert, or the performers in general have on our children,” wrote another.
Some critics say the rabbis were manipulated, and one signer, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky of Philadelphia, told Hamodia that the rabbis did not verify the claim that the edict had been approved by Israeli rabbis. “Usually we meet together. This time, with time pressing, we did not meet together, and maybe it was not the right thing,” he said, according to Hamodia.
But Rabbi Brenner said that despite any misgivings, there was no indication that the rabbis were prepared to rescind the ban, which could call their infallibility into question. “They have the weight of the Torah behind them,” he said. “I don’t recall a ban ever being lifted.”
Assemblyman Hikind said he planned to meet with the rabbis involved. “Suddenly, when it comes to faith in the rabbis, there is this big question mark,” he said. “And when you don’t explain to the young people, you lose them, plain and simple.”
How can they possibly claim that they have virtually no over head? Did you ever take a peek at thier place in industrial park in lakewood? Most people there if not all are NOT voulenteers. They are hard working men and women that get paid by OOrah . what a bunch of crock.
March 3, 2008
Rabbis Stop Hasidic Concert at Madison Square Garden
An influential group of rabbis have put the kibosh on a concert planned for next Sunday at MSG’s WaMu theater. Billed as The Big Event, the show was to be headlined by popular Hasidic pop singer Lipa Schmeltzer and raise money for an Israeli charity that finances weddings for orphans. But after an edict was issued against the event, Schmeltzer dropped out, saying, “I have to get out of the fire.”
Two Brooklyn community leaders, Asher Friedman and Rabbi Avraham Shor, mobilized opposition to the concert late last month, warning that the concert would promote “ribaldry and lightheadedness… [and] strip the youth of every shred of fear of heaven.” Some Hasidim criticize Friedman for corrupting Jewish youth with secular musical styles, others warn his popularity might eclipse the authority of the rabbis.
Schmeltzer had agreed to sing only traditional Hasidic songs; gender segregated entrances and seating had also been arranged. But this was not enough for the 33 rabbis who signed the edict, and promoters estimate their losses at $700,000. (Ticket holders had paid between $50 and $500.) Promoter Sheya Mendlowitz says "In the end it narrowed down to two people that went and obtained signatures in a very slimy and shady way, two very dangerous people."
For an illuminating peek into the controversy surrounding Lipa Schmeltzer, take a scroll through the 350-plus comments on this Yeshiva World article. Here’s commenter #91: “We have now banned sporting events, concerts, amusement parks, the circus & malls among other things. Of course I don’t argue with the p’sak on these. But what in heavens name do we want people to do realistically for recreation?”
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/03/122659.php
I don't know if Meir Kahane saved Soviet Jewry - though he certainly put the issue on the front pages of the newspapers - but he undoubtedly saved thousands of American Jewish youths like me, not only those who joined his Jewish Defense League, but those who benefited collaterally from it. And for that, whatever his failings, I, for one, am in his debt.
America's Rabbi Shmuley Boteach will address the mistreatment of women in this country at Southern Utah University's upcoming Women's Week conference.
Boteach, who has been labeled a "cultural phenomenon" and called "America's favorite rabbi," has spoken out on such topics as dating, the American male, accomplishment and facing fears, parenting and talking with children and other issues emerging in evolving culture.
The award-winning preacher has written multiple books and addressed multiple crowds on controversial topics.
Boteach's lecture, titled "Hating Women: The Growing Mistreatment in American Culture and What We Must do to Combat It," will be held in the Great Hall of SUU's Hunter Conference Center at noon Wednesday.
Whoever wants to convert to Judaism must do so on my terms only.
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Parents take Britain's biggest Jewish school to high court
Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent
Tuesday March 4, 2008
The Guardian
The admissions policy of Britain's largest Jewish school will be challenged in the high court today by parents whose child was refused a place because they are not considered to be Jewish.
The parents, who have not been named, are using legal aid to fight the refusal by JFS, formerly known as the Jewish Free School, because the office of the chief rabbi, the school's religious authority, did not recognise the mother's conversion to Judaism. Jewish custom dictates that the faith line passes through the mother.
They are seeking a judicial review in private hearings expected to last three days.
Another couple, David and Kate Lightman, whose daughter's application to JFS was rejected because Mrs Lightman's conversion was also regarded as invalid, have said they support the legal challenge, adding that other children have been excluded from the school for similar reasons.
Mrs Lightman, who has taught English at the school for 17 years, converted to Judaism in Israel more than 20 years ago under the auspices of the country's chief rabbi."
Children from at least two other families who consider themselves Jewish have also been refused places at JFS, which insists the preference shown to pupils whose mothers were born Jewish is a religious issue and not a racial one.
The school has 2,000 pupils; Ofsted has described it as outstanding and it is oversubscribed every academic year.
Philip Hunter, the chief schools adjudicator, ordered JFS to scrap admissions criteria designed to be used if the school was undersubscribed. But he did not tell JFS to alter the main part of its code, which favours non-practising children whose mothers were born Jewish over those whose mothers converted to the religion.
They want us to pay for their mistakes? Are they for real? The loser asher yatzer mamzerim, want us to pay for their silly bans and KK? I'm trying not to vomit but...
Ever see those piercing eyes look through you like a dagger? Those are the evil eyes of "rabbi" Avrohm Shorr. Take a look at his b'm door and who do you see as his idol, none other than the Mr. penetration putz, C.P.S.
Rabbi Yosef: Pray for soldiers' well-being
By Yair Ettinger
The spiritual leader of Shas, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, called for the prayer for the well-being of IDF soldiers to be said not only on Shabbat, but also on Mondays and Thursdays, days during which the Torah is read during the morning service. "Our soldiers, the IDF, contribute themselves selflessly, enter the lion's den... how they need to be blessed. Had it not been for them, would we have time to study the Torah? To turn to the books?" he said on Saturday night during his weekly sermon in Jerusalem.
A prayer for the safety of soldiers has never been accepted by all ultra-Orthodox factions, but Yosef broke the taboo on this several years ago. During his address on Saturday, he went further. "It is not enough [to say the prayer only on Shabbat]. We need to say the prayer on Monday and Thursday too, so that God can save them, so they can return to their homes for a good life and peace." (Yair Ettinger)
Israeli Officers Visit Crown Heights
A delegation of high-ranking Israel Defense Force officers visited the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y. The 12 lieutenant colonels from all branches of the Israeli military first stopped at Lubavitch World Headquarters, where they heard about the particular care shown by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, for Israel’s soldiers, and the Chabad-Lubavitch philosophy that propels its adherents to visit IDF forces at forward bases and throughout the country.
A delegation of Israeli soldiers’ first stop during a visit to the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y., was Lubavitch World Headquarters, the landmark brick building at 770 Eastern Parkway where the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, met with hundreds of thousands of people. The delegation was part of the Gvanim IDF project, which exposes Israeli officers to different Jewish communities.
Why not choose me as a mohel? I'm good at it, and I can always use more money to promote my shita's.
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UZHGOROD, Ukraine – The Jewish community of Uzhgorod has good reason for celebration, with the circumcision of one of its own. The boy, who will soon be undergoing his Bar Mitzva, was eager to mark this tradition before his official coming of age.
The ceremony was performed by Chief Mohel of Ukraine Yakov Gaisinovich. The Brit Mila involved the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Ukraine, Meir Stambler, who traveled here from Dnepropetrovsk, as well as Chief Rabbi of Zhitomir, Central and Western Ukraine Shlomo Wilhelm.
It is of great significance that the customary festive meal following the operation took place in the newly-renovated home of the Chief Rabbi of Uzhgorod, Menachem Taichman. In early October of 2007, vandals broke into his home and set fire to it an all of its contents. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the incident.
On this joyous occasion, the boy chose a new name for himself - Isroel. The communal feast involved family, friends and community members. "For us, this Brit Mila is dear, since it has become a symbol of the victory of good and holiness, over everything that defies goodness," commented Chief Rabbi of Uzhgorod Menachem Taikhman. "In this room, where we have already marked dozens of Brit prior to the arson, we will do everything possible to ensure that such joyful events will continue to take place here".
Make no mistakes about it. There are two groups responsible for "the big event" calamity.
1) the askanim
2) the gedolim
Both of these groups are thuggish amateurs who sabotaged a concert that should never have been cancelled (kal vachomer two weeks before the event) in the first place. For a Hasc concert we don't get such dire warnings! Is there a difference between that and lipa shmeltzer? The gedolim really goofed this one up. The askanim better pay up every red cent dime of monetary loss they have caused to the innocents. The great holy scholars of this generation are far and few!
It is inconceivable how brazenly and easily the ashar yatzar numb nuts ripped off and deceived thousands upon thousand of people.
When people see the Kars-4kids billboards, hear Radio commercials with a catchy Uncle Moishe tune, their hearts naturally feel empathy for those poor kids. Had they known that it was just another deception ploy, of course they wouldn't want to donate their cars to the swindlers. Question is asked; How can 'DAS TOIREH' lie, twist, deceive, mislead, and dictate derech hachayim to us when they have Jewish blood on their hands? How do they get away with such falsehoods?
Could you imagine if Kars-4-Kids was a Jews for Jesus money making operation, who do you think would be the first to ban them? Who's signatures from the ketanim would be the first to sign his name. Margo? Kamenetsky? Perlow? Belski? Shechter?
It goes without saying that the PR of Agudas Israel would be the first ones to jump on the bandwagon. Right Avi?.
Why does everybody have to know how abusive I am? My school is a little "strict" nu, so what? Isn't beating kids to a pulp part of Chinuch? I advise all my Rabbeim to use physical and psychological torture on the students, what is the problem with that? How else can you be mechanech them? I run my yeshiva like a jail, I know! Nu? So What? I just hope I don't get caught thats all! That is why I run around like a chicken without a head. I know my luck is going to run out sooner or later, it's the inevitable!
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Mar 1 2008 Victoria Ward In Jersey
POLICE probing the horrors of the Haut de la Garenne kids' home have found a trapdoor leading to the cellars where children were allegedly raped, drugged and flogged.
Former residents at the Jersey care home told police about the secret hatch.
And yesterday, deputy police chief Lenny Harper confirmed that it had been discovered.
He said: "We've uncovered what we have been referring to as a trapdoor. It is a space in the floorboards.
"The size and location corroborates what we've been told by victims. It's a homemade entrance in the floor above the cellar."
Forensics officers searching the cellars had already found a set of shackles and a bath secured to the ground.
Detectives fear the remains of as many as seven children may have been hidden in and around the home, known by locals as Colditz.
More than 160 former residents have told police they were abused.
Some of the crimes allegedly date back 40 years. Police are looking at a list of 40 possible suspects.
Journalists were yesterday shown the ground-floor stairwell, just feet from the door to the cellars, where a child's skull and other remains were found under a concrete floor last Saturday.
Forensics experts have spent more than 30 hours searching the small area for evidence. They have removed the concrete and are sifting through the rubble beneath.
The skull was discovered after a dog trained to sniff out human remains reacted strongly at the site.
The dog gave similar reactions in the cellar area, where children were allegedly tortured in "punishment rooms".
There are at least two chambers in the cellar area. They had been bricked up, possibly in a bid to conceal evidence.
Police are also searching for a third secret room after a tip-off from a former member of staff at the home.
Experts are slowly excavating the first of the cellar rooms, using diggers to remove large amounts of debris. Every piece of rubble will have to be examined.
More searches are taking place in the grounds, at spots where the "corpse sniffer dog" reacted.
Mr Harper said police have been told that bones were buried in a field next to the home.
He added: "We do not know what the remains are. They are still in the ground."
It's understood the police team will also search for clues in two pits in the courtyard of Haut de la Garenne.
The pits, each more than 10 feet deep, were originally designed to store rain water but it's feared they may have been used as dungeons.
A number of victims have told how they were locked in a "deep, dark place" before being abused.
One former resident of the home claimed yesterday that an ex-member of staff tried to silence him after he went to the police.
Steve, 38, said the woman contacted him through a friend. He added: "This person suggested I have a good life, a very good job, a family, I've left the island, it's all in the past and dredging it up won't help matters.
"I said that I had already spoken to the police.
"She said, 'Well, I know that but if they speak to you again, certainly about the remains, it would be in your best interests to keep a low profile.'"
Steve is one of a handful of people who spent their entire childhoods at Haut de la Garenne. He knows of the kids who "disappeared".
He said he was abused by staff, visitors and even other children at the home. He recalled: "When I was eight I was cornered one day. I thought I was in with the gang but I was grabbed and stripped of my clothes and told to have sex with this girl who was about 15.
"Of course I couldn't because I was too young but I had to pretend. If I didn't, they'd whip me with nettles and chuck stones at me.
"I was also made to stand in a corner until I couldn't stand up any more because I wouldn't go to sleep at night.
"When that didn't get the desired effect, they got all the people from the home to come to the bottom field.
"We were paraded out in our pyjamas and chased around the field by a staff member with a cane. When he caught you, he'd whip you.
"At the end of it, my pyjamas were ripped, I had cut legs and could barely breathe.
"I remember one of the staff said, 'This isn't right'."
Steve said the cellar area of the home was known as Baintree and kids were sent there when they misbehaved.
He added: "We knew there were canes there. I don't know about shackles but we knew about pillory stock things."
Builders who converted Haut de la Garenne into a youth hostel four years ago have told how they found shackles mounted on a wooden block and a bundle of "about five large canes".
Jersey's government have denied the workmen's claims.
Another alleged victim told how children at Haut de La Garenne were "groomed by paedophiles". Carl Denning, now 49, said: "It was always at night when we were put to bed.
"Lights went out. Occasionally somebody would come in and mess around with one of us in the dormitory. It was sexual."
Mr Harper revealed yesterday that two more former residents had come forward with "extremely serious allegations" of sex abuse at the home.
As the inquiry continues to grow, Jersey police have called in reinforcements from the mainland. Twelve specialist detectives from forces across England and Wales are set to join the team.
Excuse me Raboisai! I never felt such boosha in my life before. Why have you omitted my name up above. I would probably the first to sign a ban on Kars 4 Kids if c'v it was run by "Jews for Jesus" lehemshol. A gadol like me has the last laugh because we are getting supported by yidden AND the goyim. Isn't that great? We gedolim sure know how to con people into donating money to such worthy causes. It's too easy Cough. Cough. (laughing).
How can they possibly claim that they have virtually no over head? Did you ever take a peek at thier place in industrial park in lakewood? Most people there if not all are NOT voulenteers. They are hard working men and women that get paid by OOrah . what a bunch of crock.
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This anon is 100% correct! How in the world do they claim no overhead?
I can't believe how low these Rabbonim have seeped to with their misrepresentations. This is a colossal Chilul Hashem by the "gedolim."
A bunch of lying animals!
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We don’t use an ad agency
• We don’t use a public relations firm
• We don’t use a marketing firm
• We don’t pay executive or professional salaries
• We do our mailings in house
• We don’t rent mailing lists
• We mail at maximum discounted bulk non-profit rates
• We do graphics in house
• We do photography in-house
• Prizes are sponsored
• We have virtually no overhead
• Most work is done by talented volunteers
Almost every dollar donated goes directly to kiruv work
Tizku L'Mitzvos
Why the big fuss over our slaughtering methods. Stop it already, you're really making us look bad!
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Chief rabbi urges more humane slaughter methods
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 4, 2008
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger met Monday evening with importers of South American kosher meat to encourage them to phase out the "shackle and hoist" slaughter method and adopt the more humane "rotating pen" method.
Although the Chief Rabbinate has condoned the shackle and hoist method for decades, a clandestine video shot in October 2007 and circulated on the Internet by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sparked new scrutiny.
Metzger, who is in charge of kosher supervision for the Rabbinate, has been under pressure from animal rights groups to stop the slaughter method.
Two weeks ago The Jerusalem Post reported that Metzger intended to meet with importers to persuade them to stop the shackle and hoist method. Even the Orthodox Union, the largest kosher supervision organization in the world, has advised the Rabbinate to discontinue shackling and hoisting at slaughterhouses that provide Israel with kosher meat.
There was an "international attack initiated by organizations for the prevention of cruelty to animals against the kosher way of slaughtering," Metzger was quoted as saying during the meeting, in a press release from the Chief Rabbinate.
This quote reflected the feeling among many rabbis in the Rabbinate that PETA's criticism was designed to undermine kosher slaughtering altogether.
Sources within the Rabbinate have voiced concerns that Metzger's willingness to compromise on the shackle and hoist issue would shed a negative light on kosher slaughtering as a whole.
In the PETA video, filmed inside a slaughterhouse in Montevideo, Uruguay, a cow is shown hanging from a single leg, struggling and bellowing.
After the animal is put on the ground, it is shown writhing and being restrained by several workers who step on it and prod it before the cut. According to PETA the entire procedure takes more than three minutes.
During the meeting, Metzger told the importers that the shackle and hoist method was "primitive" and instructed the importers "to exert major pressure on the slaughterhouses they work with to make them adopt the rotating pen method."
According to this method, the cow is placed in a pen and flipped upside down. The cow is slaughtered in this inverted position.
Israel imports most of its meat, both kosher and non-kosher, from South America. Even the non-kosher meat is often derived from animals slaughtered in the shackle and hoist method. It becomes non-kosher after failing to meet various halachic requirements that have nothing to do with animal cruelty.
Most South American slaughterhouses, and several older Israeli ones, prepare cows for slaughter by tying the animal's hind leg to a shackle that is attached to a mechanical derrick and hoisting the cow off its feet.
The cow is then lowered to the ground on its side and held by three men - one at the head, one at the hindquarter and a third by one of the forelegs - while a fourth man, a shochet ritual slaughterer, cuts through the trachea and the esophagus.
Jewish slaughter in danger, chief rabbi tells importers
Rabbi Metzger initiates meeting with meat importers, asks them to pressure slaughterhouses in South America to adopt 'boxing' method which does not cause animals undue distress. 'The koshering organizations are under attack, and Jews are presented as cruel people,' he warns
Rabbinate: Import meat only if ‘morally slaughtered’
At Orthodox Union and Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s insistence, only meat slaughtered in more humane fashion not causing animal undue distress to be given kosher certification. Importers take note.
PETA and the Torah? Following the lead of The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to animals, which has long protested against cruel “lift and bind” slaughter techniques practiced in many United States and South American slaughterhouses, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has also decided to work to eliminate such techniques.
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
05/03/2008
'The carob tree is waiting for us'
By Nadav Shragai
The slogan "We will remember and return" is a moderate replacement for "We will not forget, we will not forgive" among some uprooted Gaza settlers. It turns out that it is difficult to live for years with anger and malice, which do not allow forgiveness. It is easier to pin new hopes on the dream of return.
Thus the memorial ceremonies held by some evacuees from the Gush Katif settlements are gradually assuming their own unique character. At the last event - held on Tu Bishvat (Jewish Arbor Day, which fell in January this year) at the Kissufim Forest, the closest place to where their homes stood - the evacuees spoke of their destroyed homes and their yearnings for their land, while the teenagers and younger children swore to return to the area from which they had been forcefully uprooted.
About two and a half years ago, they planted a forest here that was divided into 21 sections, one for each of the settlements in Gush Katif, and this year, they visited the site again. During the ceremony at Kissufim marking "two years of exile," Ami Shaked, the stalwart former chief of security for the Gaza Coast Regional Council, addressed the approximately 1,000 youngsters gathered there. His voice cracked as he echoed Joseph's last will, at the end of the Book of Genesis: "I am making an oath with you, children of Gush Katif, that you deal kindly with me. Even if I am very old, you shall take me with you, and if I die, you shall carry up my bones from here and bury me in the field that is mine on the border of the Muasi, under the palm tree."
A few weeks ago, many religious Zionist schools held a "Gush Katif Day." The programming for the day covered all aspects of the life that existed there for 35 years - the world of Torah and education, the flourishing agriculture and the different communities - as well as hopes for the future.
"The Gush Katif exiles are taking responsibility for the 'we will remember and return' legacy," said Rabbi Kobi Bornstein of the Katif Communities Council Documentation and Commemoration Center. "Gush Katif belongs to the whole Jewish people, but the uprooted have assumed the responsibility for the Jewish people's yearnings for that place."
Bornstein is not calling for breaking through the fences around Gaza. But he recently explained: "I tell people who wonder at our resolve, 'Now that we have returned to the Land of Israel, how difficult is it to return to Gush Katif?' After all, if 200 years ago we had heard students of the Vilna Gaon speaking about returning to Israel, we would have thought they were delusional. On the day of the Likud referendum (May 3, 2005), my children and I planted a carob tree beside our house. The house was destroyed, but not the tree. My children know that the carob tree is waiting for us, just as the lone oak tree waited for the return of Jews to Gush Etzion."
For many of the Gush Katif evacuees, this is an abstract dream, but they are unwilling to give it up. Today, most of them are preoccupied with the brutal war for survival, with no permanent homes or jobs and caravan sites that look more and more like the bygone transit camps. Soldiers in the Kissufim area speak of former residents of the Gush who come here and stand silently near what used to be the Kissufim crossing into Gush Katif and gaze tearfully at the horizon. Micha Hadad, principal of Midreshet Hadarom girls' seminary, which was once part of Neveh Dekalim and has relocated to Moshav Shekef, in the Lachish region, said he is among those who come "to listen to the silence and yearn."
Others have kept the keys to their destroyed homes, just like the Palestinian refugees who lost their homes 60 years ago.
Ari Odes, principal of the Midreshet Netzarim seminary, which has been rebuilt in Yavul in the Halutza Sands region, has been taking groups of tourists to observation points overlooking what was once Gush Katif. From the fence surrounding Netiv Ha'asara, the ruins of Nissanit are clearly visible just a few hundred meters away. Odes wants to encourage the memory of and yearning for Gush Katif, just as the children of Gush Etzion would gaze at the lone oak tree that was all that remained of that community (destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948), and as the residents of Jerusalem used to climb onto their rooftops before 1967, to look toward the Old City and the Western Wall.
There are even some who want to take action and make Kissufim into something more. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Safed, has already participated in a march aimed at breaking through the Israel Defense Forces roadblocks on the way to Nissanit. Eliyahu was joined by Knesset members Uri Ariel and Aryeh Eldad (National Union). Eliyahu has also gotten rabbis, public figures and ordinary Israelis to sign a manifesto calling for a return to Gush Katif.
"We need 100 courageous people to come with sleeping bags and equipment ... We were expelled under false pretenses and we have to restore truth to its rightful place," said Eliyahu.
Eldad speaks openly of "demanding our right of return," warning: "Anyone who thinks the homes from which Gaza residents were exiled will be forgotten is deluding himself."
Ariel, who shares the idea that the time has come to demand this "right of return," says, "The mistake of the disengagement, which has brought such a terrible security situation on Israeli society, must be rectified."
They are hard working men and women that get paid by OOrah . what a bunch of crock.
==================================
Just another fabrication by Oorah and the "Gedoilei Hador."
The forgery of the truth is nothing new to them. Woe is to us for having such despicable "leaders!"
Sounds like something we would do!
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Monroe Town ZBA rules rabbi violates building code with matzo-bakery garage
Published: February 29, 2008
Monroe - Rabbi Herman Wagschal of Congregation Lanzut and his attorney, Dennis Lynch, appeared before the Monroe Town Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to justify a code violation involving the garage at the rabbi’s residence on Seven Springs Road.
He claimed the garage is used for religious purposes. The garage also contains a bake oven and is being used to manufacture matzos, a form of unleavened bread.
The problem began when Wagschal expanded the one-car garage on the large home to a three-car structure without any building permit, doing so despite the issuance of a “stop work” order by the town building inspector last year. The expanded structure also violates the 50-foot side-yard setback requirement by only allowing 20 feet. Wagschal is seeking a variance from the code requirement.
The ZBA admonished Wagschal and Lynch, stating that variances are requested from the ZBA before construction begins. Lynch claimed his client didn’t know a permit was required. “If health and safety is not involved, a permit is not required,” Lynch said.
He presented a list of previous variances that were granted by the board. “We’re ready to address this issue in justice court,” he added.
During the public comment segment of the meeting, speaker Kevin Cannon questioned: “Was this built to be originally used as a garage? They are currently baking there, isn’t it against the health code to park a car in a bakery?
A neighbor, Eli Neuhauser, argued that 20 people work in the garage. “With 5- synagogues in Kiryas Joel, none have matzo bakeries,” he said.
The zoning of Wagschal’s 2.6 acre property is classified as Rural Residential (RR) which precludes commercial business activity.
Neuhauser claimed that he counted 25 cars, two 18-wheelers and four FedEx trucks visiting the location in a one-hour period and the delivery of 15 to 20 cylinders of propane.
Three other speakers commented in support of the matzo-operation. “It’s no where near as bad as he claims,” one person said, although Neuhauser claimed the speakers were Wagschal’s sons and son-in-law.
Lynch commented: “I want to be judged on this case, not rumor, or innuendo or alleged facts that are not part of the case.”
He mentioned that some of the issues were resolved and “We’re here to mitigate our damages.”
The matzo baking operation was not within the purview of the ZBA hearing. The ZBA will continue with the variance issue at the next meeting.
Teachers who want to help students become good people need to value themselves even if society doesn't, a celebrity rabbi told the Edmonton teachers' convention Thursday.
"Our kids are waiting for someone to take us to the mountaintop, for someone to inspire us with a vision of what we can be," Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said in a keynote address to more than 1,800 teachers at the Shaw Conference Centre. "If you can't inspire yourself, how can you inspire a child?"
Rarely appreciated, acknowledged or otherwise celebrated, teachers "are the unsung heroes of our culture," Boteach said.
"Unsung because most kids today don't wake up in the morning reading a People magazine which highlights the life of the average teacher. Unsung because knowledge and education are no longer values which truly inspire."
Boteach, 41, is a bestselling author of self-help books who hosts a hit reality TV show called Shalom in the Home. He was rabbi at Oxford University for 11 years and in 2006 was named by Newsweek as the most famous rabbi in the United States.
I've been getting away with my crimes until now and I'll take it to the grave with me.
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03/04/2008
Priest accused of sex abuse dies
A long time Roman Catholic priest, forced to step down after he was accused of sex abuse, has died.
Reverend John Steger served at Saint Jude The Apostle Church in Gates for close to 40 years. Two years ago, he was accused of inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl in the church rectory.
He was placed on administrative leave and remained on leave at the time of his death pending the outcome of those criminal charges.
Reverend Steger was 81.
What a pompous and arrogant view. What planet is this shmuck living on?
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http://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2008/03/limits-of-fanatacism-dont-kid.html
How do you know what they investigated and what they offered? Do we have no obligation at all to be dan lekaf zechus? If we can’t do it for the facts we believe we know, can’t we at least do it in the areas where we clearly don’t know? In the worst case scenario, I will admit that such action would indeed cause me great consternation – but only in the case of my personal rabbeim and mentors. I am not so heavily invested in the leaders of other parts of the community, may HKBH give them all long prosperous lives.
It doesn't cease to astound me. Whenever we think that the ashar yazar dwarfs can't possibly make it any worse, they do just that. They're killing us!
http://www.northjersey.com/news/charitywatch/13928727.html
Looking for donated autos is big business in New Jersey
Sunday, January 20, 2008
BY HARVY LIPMAN
STAFF WRITER
Billboards for the Outreach Center may be ubiquitous, but it's hardly the only car-donation charity with an extensive local advertising campaign.
The radio airwaves in recent weeks were filled with ads seeking vehicle donations to organizations that help the blind, children in need or the poor generally.
One of them -- Heritage for the Blind -- is located on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, just four blocks from the Avenue K building the Outreach Center shares with an Orthodox synagogue.
Heritage for the Blind claims on its Web site to use its car-donation money to pay for the publication of Braille and large-print materials.
"Each year, thousands of these texts are distributed free of charge to blind and visually impaired individuals and various organizations in the United States as well as overseas," the Web site states.
It also spends very little of the money it raises on those programs. According to its 2005 federal tax return (the most recent available), Heritage for the Blind raised $2.4 million that year, and spent nearly $3.3 million -- eating into its reserves.
But just $495,133 of that spending went for its programs. It spent more than $2.7 million on fund raising and management expenses. At the same time, Heritage paid its director, Steven Toiv, and two employees with the same last name -- Shrage Toiv and Yehuda Toiv -- a total of $300,384.
Steven Toiv declined to answer questions about Heritage's operation, instead providing a statement blaming the organization's financial difficulties on federal tax-law changes that took effect in 2005, restricting individual deductions for car donations.
JOY for Our Youth is the organization behind the Kars4Kids radio jingle broadcast in commercials across the metropolitan region.
The Lakewood-based group took in more than $9 million in 2006, according to its most recent tax return, and gave $7.6 million to Oorah, another Lakewood charity formed in 1980, which describes its purpose on its Web site as "awakening Jewish children and their families to their heritage. We enable children to enroll in Jewish day schools or yeshivas, where they receive a full religious and secular education straight through high school."
But donors listening to the Kars4Kids radio ads or looking at its Web site would be hard-pressed to know the group has a religious purpose. The radio spots make no mention of it.
On its Web site, the group calls itself "an international organization providing for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of distressed and at-risk youth."
A photo prominently displayed on the page until this month pictured a classroom with three children -- two of them black. Links to three Jewish charities are listed at the bottom of the home page, in very small type.
Mark J. Kurzmann, a lawyer in Pearl River, N.Y., who represents Oorah, said neither group makes any attempt to hide its purpose. The pictures on the Web site are "stock photos," he said, adding that JOY has decided to remove them to avoid any confusion.
"Let me point out, however, that there are African-American and Asian-American children who go to the summer camps they support," Kurzmann said.
But just $495,133 of that spending went for its programs. It spent more than $2.7 million on fund raising and management expenses. At the same time, Heritage paid its director, Steven Toiv, and two employees with the same last name -- Shrage Toiv and Yehuda Toiv -- a total of $300,384.
This is sheker. This is Looshan Hora. This is Motzee shem rah. This is nisht de emes.
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http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/44759/comments.html
Of note, is that one of the signatures was that of a Rabbi Lipa Margolis whose ultra-orthodox Yeshiva was the center of the nascent controversy surrounding one if its teachers, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, who has allegedly been molesting children for well over 30 years, reported on previously in this magazine. Not only is the hypocrisy astounding, but the fact that Margolis is still well regarded enough to have his signature sought after and included illustrates the amazing denial by the leadership and members of the ultra orthodox Jewish community as to the real problems in their midst. Perhaps child sexual abuse is too enormous and sophisticated a topic for simple minded people so they are fed dumbed down more manageable restrictions such as a this one.
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/child_sexual_abuse
Child Sexual Abuse
No. 9; Updated July 2004
Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened, and the legal procedure for validating an episode is difficult. The problem should be identified, the abuse stopped, and the child should receive professional help. The long-term emotional and psychological damage of sexual abuse can be devastating to the child.
Child sexual abuse can take place within the family, by a parent, step-parent, sibling or other relative; or outside the home, for example, by a friend, neighbor, child care person, teacher, or stranger. When sexual abuse has occurred, a child can develop a variety of distressing feelings, thoughts and behaviors.
No child is psychologically prepared to cope with repeated sexual stimulation. Even a two or three year old, who cannot know the sexual activity is wrong, will develop problems resulting from the inability to cope with the overstimulation.
The child of five or older who knows and cares for the abuser becomes trapped between affection or loyalty for the person, and the sense that the sexual activities are terribly wrong. If the child tries to break away from the sexual relationship, the abuser may threaten the child with violence or loss of love. When sexual abuse occurs within the family, the child may fear the anger, jealousy or shame of other family members, or be afraid the family will break up if the secret is told.
A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal.
Some children who have been sexually abused have difficulty relating to others except on sexual terms. Some sexually abused children become child abusers or prostitutes, or have other serious problems when they reach adulthood.
Often there are no obvious physical signs of child sexual abuse. Some signs can only be detected on physical exam by a physician.
Sexually abused children may develop the following:
* unusual interest in or avoidance of all things of a sexual nature
* sleep problems or nightmares
* depression or withdrawal from friends or family
* seductiveness
* statements that their bodies are dirty or damaged, or fear that there is something wrong with them in the genital area
* refusal to go to school
* delinquency/conduct problems
* secretiveness
* aspects of sexual molestation in drawings, games, fantasies
* unusual aggressiveness, or
* suicidal behavior
Child sexual abusers can make the child extremely fearful of telling, and only when a special effort has helped the child to feel safe, can the child talk freely. If a child says that he or she has been molested, parents should try to remain calm and reassure the child that what happened was not their fault. Parents should seek a medical examination and psychiatric consultation.
Parents can prevent or lessen the chance of sexual abuse by:
* Telling children that if someone tries to touch your body and do things that make you feel funny, say NO to that person and tell me right away
* Teaching children that respect does not mean blind obedience to adults and to authority, for example, don't tell children to, Always do everything the teacher or baby-sitter tells you to do
* Encouraging professional prevention programs in the local school system
Sexually abused children and their families need immediate professional evaluation and treatment. Child and adolescent psychiatrists can help abused children regain a sense of self-esteem, cope with feelings of guilt about the abuse, and begin the process of overcoming the trauma. Such treatment can help reduce the risk that the child will develop serious problems as an adult.
For additional information see Facts for Families:
I am extremely perturbed by all this chazerai from our so called 'daas torah'. Never in my life have I seen such blatant abuse of EVERYTHING that is so sacred and holy to us. The question that keeps coming to mind, is where are their (the Rabbonim) PRIORITIES at? It's a rhetorical question. We all know where, up their asses, and it's been stuck there a long long time!
Isn't derech eretz kadma latorah? It matters nothing how much Torah knowledge they have - if at the very least they are not moral and just in their methods. They can bombard am yisrael with bans and stringencies until the end of time, and yet at the end of the day they will remain the cowards they are!
I think the best way for yidden to protect themselves against the costly 'mistakes' of the Rabbonim is to stop supporting them. Don't support these fraudsters. No more donations to their 'charities'. If someone needs help they can go to a real charity. Don't show up to their speeches. Exile them from your life. This "Rabbi" fanaticism has got to end.
We need to send the Rabbonim a message they will not be able to ignore.
Until that happens, we're going to sink in the quicksand, submerged and damaged forever. Nebach!
We deserve a fresh start free of these delinquents. They should all retire or die on the streets.
You must consider my mental state of mind when I was busy forcing myself on little boys.
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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/lawyer_tell_jurors_to_consider.html
Lawyer tells jurors to consider mental state in handyman sex abuse case
by Rudy Larini/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday March 04, 2008
Monmouth County detective Robert Angelini identifies video cameras found at the home of defendant Clement Bilski Jr.
A lawyer for an Ocean Township handyman charged with videotaping himself sexually assaulting children told jurors today to consider the man's mental state when the attacks occurred.
The attorney for Clement Bilski Jr., 43, conceded his client repeatedly abused a girl as he worked on her parents' home from 1997 to 2003 while she was between 2 and 7 years old. But he urged them to weigh his psychological condition.
"What was the mental state of Mr. Bilski? ... "it is not just the doing of the act. It is the act plus the mind at the same time," said the lawyer, John Gowins.
His comments came during opening statements today in Superior Court in Freehold, where Bilski, 45, faces 150 counts of sexual assault. Prosecutors contend he videotaped the attacks, and both the prosecution and the defense told jurors they would show footage during the trial.
"The videos that you will see are real," Gowins said. "We will make no argument that what you are seeing is not real. We will make no argument that what you are seeing is not horrific."
He declined to elaborate on his defense outside the courtroom.
Bilski, who is single and lives alone, originally was indicted in August 2006 on 429 counts of counts of sexual assault that involved multiple victims, but a judge pared the case to 150 counts and a single victim.
With jurors facing a widescreen television in the courtroom, Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Clark told the panel Bilski videotaped each and every act, videos that were confiscated from his home in April 2006.
He said the assaults occurred in various locations in and outside the house, with Bilski taking precautions such as locking doors to avoid detection.
"The defendant took every opportunity that he had with this child to sexually assault her," Clark said. "His determination was only exceeded by his daring."
The case had come to light after Maryland authorities notified New Jersey State Police that a computer traced to Bilski was "sharing" with other Internet users a video depicting the sexual assault of a child. When police searched his home, they found numerous videotapes of child pornography and actual sexual assaults, as well as various video and photographic equipment.
One of the videos was filmed outside, Clark said, and showed a vehicle with a license plate that led authorities to the victim's parents.
Take a look at all the enablers and abusers we so dearly hold to our hearts. This week is a bombshell. Turn to our picture section (center 18,19) and on top of the page you will notice enabler Yosef Rosenblum ( of Stefan Colmer) at the Melava Malka for Talmidim of Yeshiva Shaarei Yosher.
Then look on the following page and it will make Yeshivah of Brooklyn victims shudder and tremble in shock. You will see the Bris of Shimon Kreiger in Flatbush. The avi haben is the vicious Yaakov "jack" Mandel (younger brother of Shlomo) and right next to him a beaming Eliezer Ginsburg (enabler of stefan colmer). The sandik is Dovid Flagler (A YOB Rebbe). To top things off; the Mohel is Yisroel Belsky.
Then pay close attention to the bottom of the page; The Bris of Menachem Manis Steinfeld. Shlomo Mandel is the sandik, and in the very next photo you see him giving one of his "divrei chizuk" speeches.
It's sick and it's getting sicker!
06/03/2008
Ultra-Orthodox get their own free daily
By Yair Ettinger
The first edition of Yom Hadash, a free daily newspaper for the ultra-Orthodox community, appeared yesterday. The 16-page publication reflects a leadership crisis in the ultra-Orthodox community.
It will be distributed from Sunday to Thursday to compete with the existing daily ultra-Orthodox papers Yated Ne'eman and Hamodia. Media analysts and advertisers yesterday expressed doubts that the new paper will survive given a Haredi audience that is already saturated with dailies, weeklies and radio stations.
The front page announces "the newspaper for all the Haredi public" on a bright red background. The editorial on page 2 declares its intentions, such as "providing reports and news in due humility and recognition that a newspaper is not a vessel or value in itself." Or: "A means of expression directed by all Israel's sages for all shades of the Haredi public."
The real declaration of intentions, however, lies in the paper's main headline: "Traveler's prayer from Israel's great sages." Underneath, color photos of two senior Haredi leaders, Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky appear, reading pilot editions of Yom Hadash. These are the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Lithuanian community and its Degel Hatorah party, which publishes its own daily newspaper.
Yated Ne'eman was founded in 1985 in defiance of Agudat Yisrael's newspaper Hamodia, which the Lithuanian rabbis accused of ignoring their activity. Some time later the rabbis quit Agudat Yisrael to form Degel Hatorah.
Now Yom Hadash is defying Yated Neeman for similar reasons. Its editors say that Yated Neeman discriminates against some Lithuanian rabbis, while preferring others.
It all began when a yoghurt cup was hurled at Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, a supporter of Rabbi Eliezer Kahneman, one of the two rival rabbis in Bnei Brak's prestigious Ponevezh yeshiva.
For years this Lithuanian yeshiva has been torn by power struggles between its two leading rabbis, Kahneman and Shmuel Markovitz, who are also brothers-in-law.
The rupture in the college goes all the way up to the Lithuanian community's leadership. Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv supports Markovitz while others, including Kanievsky, Lefkowitz and to a certain extent Rabbi Aharon Steinman, support Kahneman.
After the yoghurt incident the rabbis held an emergency meeting in Ponevezh yeshiva in protest at the "assault." The event, which was attended by thousands of students, was not even mentioned in Yated Neeman. People from that newspaper say they were under direct orders from Elyashiv not to write a word about the dispute at the yeshiva.
Two months ago a small group of the Bnei Brak rabbis tried to publish a newspaper to compete with Yated Neeman, named Hamakor, but failed. Now they found a group of investors to support Yom Hadash, which is associated with the independent weekly Sha'a Tova.
Nahum Bernstein, Yom Hadash's marketing manager, says the investors wish to remain anonymous. He also refuses to name any of the journalists, some of whom hide behind pseudonyms. He says the paper wants peace among the Haredi public. For example, he says, the first edition covers not merely Lithuanian community affairs but the bar mitzva party in the Belz Rabbi's Hasidic court received a centerfold splash.
But he does not conceal the paper's intention to challenge Yated Neeman and Hamodia's policy. Both these partisan newspapers "don't give certain rabbis their stage, while others receive exposure or elevated titles and photos, due to internal disputes," he says.
"Our paper will give everyone the honor and titles he deserves."
Hamodia also takes part in the Haredi wars. A few months ago it ignored the local elections in Betar Illit, where MK Meir Porush, of Agudat Yisrael, was fielding his own candidate. Party chairman MK Yaakov Litzman said he had instructed the paper to ignore the elections, because the two Hasidic courts represented by the party were on opposite sides.
Yom Hadash yesterday gave prominent coverage to Porush's statement that the government discriminated against the Haredi community in allocating the state budget and published a photo of him.
Yom Hadash's publication was seen as an earthquake by many, despite doubts over its ability to survive.
Yated Neeman people however remained unfazed. Its journalists were instructed to ignore the new paper. One Haredi journalist who wished to remain anonymous, objected to the photos of the two senior rabbis on the newspaper's front page.
"Rabbis Kanievsky and Lefkowitz did not issue a letter of support in Yom Hadash. They're only quoted as congratulating it in a general way. It's making cynical use of the sages, to publish their photo reading the paper, as though it were their newspaper," he said.
http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/030608/commConversionPactUndermines.html
Opinion: ‘Who Is a Jew?’ Redux
Conversion pact undermines America’s Orthodox
by Rabbi Marc Angel and Rabbi Avraham Weiss
March 06, 2008
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Rabbinical Council of America have concluded an agreement related to conversion that will allow the two groups to work together. This solves a problem that reached its peak when Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, announced in April 2006 that he would no longer automatically recognize conversions performed by rabbis belonging to the RCA, the main union of Orthodox rabbis in America.
According to the terms of the agreement, the Chief Rabbinate approved a list of about 15 RCA rabbinic courts and approximately 40 rabbinic judges whose conversions will be accepted. From this point on, only conversions done by these rabbis or tribunals will be recognized. Any rabbi who wishes to be added to that list needs the approval of two leading Yeshiva University rabbis representing the RCA and one from the Chief Rabbinate.
The RCA and the Chief Rabbinate also agreed that all conversions previously performed by rabbis, other than the 40, are subject to reevaluation by the head of the RCA’s Beth Din of America.
This agreement is deeply disturbing on many levels. What is most troubling is that conversions, done years ago with the informal backing of the RCA, are now being scrutinized. This, we believe, strikes at the very ethical fabric of Halacha, or Jewish law. Over the years, thousands of people have been halachically converted and now they and their children, and for that matter, their marriages, will all be questioned. The pain that this will cause the convert, a person whom the Torah commands to love, will be unbearable.
Indeed, the RCA’s capitulation to the demand of the Chief Rabbinate to scrutinize past conversions done by its members raises the strong possibility that down the line the bar may be raised even higher. Already, the Israeli institution no longer represents the centrist, religious Zionist ideology, but is, in effect, made up of religious appointees of the haredi, or fervently Orthodox, world. Years from now a new, more extreme Chief Rabbinate may very well pressure the RCA to question “sanctioned” conversions being done now.
Not only is the convert’s status questioned here, but the respected position of the local rabbi is also at stake. The policy sends a clear message that rabbis who have Orthodox ordination and are not among the chosen 40 do not have sufficient knowledge, judgment, and wisdom to perform conversions, and they never have.
There is an irony here. From a certain perspective, congregational rabbis have a greater understanding of the issues surrounding conversion than those who are primarily situated in the beit midrash, or study hall. Synagogue rabbis who are “in the trenches” with the potential converts have a unique understanding of the situations and conditions that affect their respective constituents. As is displayed on their ordination documents (smiha klaf), these rabbis are sent to spread Torah to their communities and have been invested with the trust, power, and weight of our Torah to help shape the Jewish world. This decision undermines their mission.
If this agreement was meant to develop a mechanism of oversight, there are other ways in which this could have been accomplished. One proposal could have been that junior rabbis in their first three years do conversions under the guidance of senior rabbis. Additionally, the RCA could have questioned individual rabbis whom they suspected were doing conversions improperly.
We are not the first to raise concerns about the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Over the last few years, there have been legitimate and important Orthodox voices in Israel that have expressed opposition to its rightward trend and its hard-line position concerning conversions in Israel. Now, through its deal with the RCA, the Chief Rabbinate is dictating its specific conversion standards to those living thousands of miles away in the United States.
Rather than extend the Chief Rabbinate’s reach to the Diaspora, the RCA should display confidence in its loyal members by declaring that their conversions are valid and acceptable in the eyes of God and Halacha. This should be our posture as we move forward together with like-minded voices in Israel.
What makes this chapter especially sad is that the new arrangement not only undermines the power of the local rabbi as teacher and spiritual guide, but even worse, puts fear into the hearts and minds of many wonderful converts who are upstanding Torah-observant and God-fearing Jewish souls.
Rabbi Marc Angel is the rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York and past president of the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Avraham (Avi) Weiss is the senior rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale and a longtime member of the RCA.
comments@njjewishnews.com
http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfm?contentid=30480&mode=a§ionid=1&contentname=Concert_Ban_Sounds_Sour_Note_For_Some&recnum=0
Concert Ban Sounds Sour Note For Some
By:Elliot Resnick, Jewish Press Staff Reporter Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Two weeks after 33 rabbis banned a concert that was to feature chassidic singers Lipa Schmeltzer and Shloime Gertner, confusion and rumor continue to percolate. Many question the ban’s legitimacy and wonder what it may mean for the future of Jewish music.
In large bold letters, the ban declares in the name of "daas Torah" that attending or participating in the concert is "severely prohibited." The ban places Schmeltzer, Gertner, and the event’s organizers in the category of those who cause the public to stray and pronounces their sin "greater than they can bear."
Some of the most prominent American rabbis – including Rabbis Shmuel Kamenetzky, Malkiel Kotler, Yisroel Belsky and leaders from such chassidic communities as Bobov, Belz and Satmar – signed the ban.
But the question of "why?" remains. According to the text of the ban, the concert – originally scheduled for March 9 at Madison Square Garden but now canceled – would have inspired "ribaldry and light-headedness." Similar events in the past caused "great stumbling, may the Merciful one save us," it says.
However, while the ban specifically targets the Gertner/Schmeltzer concert (which was to have separate seating and entrances for men and women), many wonder if its logic does not apply to other Jewish concerts as well.
"There were two types of rabbanim," said Boro Park rav Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum who has spoken to several of the ban’s signatories. "Some were against concerts altogether and some were specifically against turning a concert into a moshav leitzim [session of scorners]…. One performer [Lipa Schmeltzer, who doubles as a jokester], they felt, was making fun of rabbanim in a way that couldn’t be tolerated."
On the Talkline With Zev Brenner radio program, Schmeltzer took a different view. Noting that the text of the ban closely mirrored that of an earlier Israeli ban of an Avraham Fried and Yaakov Shwekey Jerusalem concert in August 2007, Schmeltzer said it was only a matter of time before the ban came to America. His concert was targeted simply because of its prominence, he said.
"You try tomorrow to do a concert…with any singer – you can take the most heimishe, chassidishe singer – you advertise a concert in Madison Square Garden like that, I’m putting on the table $100,000 that all the rabbanim will come out against him.…"
Even those who understand the ban’s reasoning question its necessity. "While my sympathies lie with the prohibition, I would have preferred to have been taught that it is assur [prohibited] rather than to have been handed an edict without explanation," said Rabbi Gil Student, who maintains a popular blog on Jewish thought, hirhurim.blogspot.com. His post on the ban generated over 200 comments.
Rabbi Yosef Blau, mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva University, said that bans "cause resentment and are difficult to enforce. Unless they’re clearly explained… the people who are supposed to follow the bans…just feel being pressured into doing something, which I think is not a very healthy educational method."
Rabbi Teitelbaum, on the other hand, does not oppose bans on principle. "If there’s no other way to solve the problem, then you can ban something," he said. "But there are a lot of things we must do before banning things, such as solving the problem at beis din."
Both Schmeltzer and Sheya Mendlowitz, the event’s producer, said that no one contacted them before the issuance of the ban. Indeed, Schmeltzer said that several of the signatories apologized to him.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost as a result of the ban, Mendlowitz said. Some of the money was to benefit Simchat Tziyon, a charity organization that sponsors the weddings of poor Israeli orphans.
In comments to the Long-Island based Jewish Star, Rabbi Kamenetzky acknowledged that the ban was a rush job of sorts. "Usually we [the signatories] meet together," he said. "This time, with time pressing, we did not get together. And maybe it was not the right thing."
Rabbi Kamenetsky apparently signed on the instigation of Brooklyn’s Asher Friedman, who, together with Rabbi Avraham Schorr, were the driving force behind the ban. Some Internet commentators suggest that Rabbi Schorr and Frieidman misled some of the rabbis.
When contacted, Rabbi Schorr, who signed the ban as well, said his thinking is reflected in the ban’s text. Numerous attempts to reach or elicit comment from several of the other signatories were unsuccessful.
While the future for other Jewish singers is still uncertain, Rabbi Kamenetzky said he doesn’t "think [the ban] will refer to all concerts."
Rabbi Teitelbaum said, "I personally discussed [concerts] in years past with the gaon hador Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt"l, Rav Pam, zt"l, and others…. They all clearly stated that as long as they were done in a proper Jewish manner and will bring about a true kiddush shem shomayim they see nothing wrong with them."
In the meantime, Mendlowitz told The Jewish Press that he asks the public to "please be patient and stop the rabbanim bashing…. There are rabbanim that are extremely concerned about the way this was handled and we will be addressing the issue very soon. We’re working around the clock"
He said that ticket holders would receive refunds.
I for one will never forgive Jack Mandel for torturing me while I attended elementary school. His trademark "come here tzadikal" still haunts me to this day. He's a sicko. So is his brother Shlomo Mandel; but thank goodness I left before getting into the yob mesifta.
Hella Winston is one of the very few people who get it. She is a wonderful person!
Hella Winston, a sociologist, is the author of “Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels.”
This is a must read!
===================================
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a4813/News/New_York.html
Playing With The Banned
Rabbinic prohibition of chasidic music concert here — ‘sin, ribaldry, looseness’ — causes furor.
Lipa is sealed: Orthodox singing star Lipa Schmeltzer can’t have a Garden party, rabbis decree.
by Hella Winston
Special To The Jewish Week
Did the haredi rabbis go too far this time?
That’s the question being asked in some circles after a ban issued by 33 fervently Orthodox rabbinic authorities forced the cancellation of a major charity concert slated to feature chasidic singing sensation Lipa Schmeltzer this week at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The offense?
That the planned March 9 program — featuring separate seating for men and women and widely billed in Orthodox neighborhoods as “The Big Event” (intended to support an all-volunteer organization that funds weddings for Israeli orphans), would cause “ribaldry and lightheadedness” and “strip the youth of every shred of Fear of Heaven and [lower] them into a pit of destruction,” according to the ban.
Published in Hebrew on Feb.20 in the fervently Orthodox newspaper Hamodia, with language lifted from a decree against such events in Israel, the ban also took aim at the “organizers and singers” for “causing the multitudes to sin,” and warned that they should not be invited to perform at “any joyous gathering or public appeals for charity,” imperiling their livelihood.
The ban came as a shock to the event’s organizers and performers, who claim they secured rabbinic approval prior to the show’s planning, and it led to Schmeltzer feeling pressured to breach his contract and back out, forfeiting his reported $100,000 fee.
Schmeltzer’s withdrawal, in turn, forced the event’s producer, Sheya Mendlowitz, to cancel the show, which had sold more than 3,000 tickets, incurring losses “in the realm of $500,000,” he said, a “good portion” of which was fronted to the producers by the charity.
The whole affair has left many in the haredi world perplexed and others angry, prompting a raft of questions about the genesis and execution of the ban itself, and what it might portend for the future of musical entertainment in the community.
It has also caused criticism of the rabbinic leadership, who, it appears, may have been duped into signing the ban, and who, some people believe, are woefully out of touch with their communities.
“How can they do this?” asked Miriam Hertz, a Brooklyn Bais Yaakov student, on hearing the news. “What about the poor orphans who need this tzedakah money to get married?”
When approached by The Jewish Week, a Flatbush resident who would identify himself only as Mendy, commented: “With all the problems our community is grappling with — teens leaving in unprecedented numbers, prominent yeshivas accused of knowingly employing pedophile teachers, chasidim rioting in the streets of Borough Park while their rebbes engage in public court battles over succession, I am astonished that this is the issue these 33 illustrious rabbis have chosen to tackle.
“Our children need an outlet,” Mendy continued, “and what could be better than a frum concert? Riots are OK, concerts are ossur [forbidden]?”
The Schmeltzer incident is not the first attempt by rabbinic authorities to raise the barrier between their community and the wider culture, and it seems to highlight the tension in the haredi world over how to deal with elements of modernity seeping into their culture. Bans have been issued against the use of television, the Internet, secular newspapers and certain Jewish books, including one that seemed too close to a Darwinian reading of evolution.
Regarding Schmeltzer, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is Orthodox, noted, “there are questions that people have raised. Does this mean the end of concerts? It’s not clear. What are the rules?”
He added that it is important for people to have entertainment outlets, “to enjoy things that are kosher.” And for a community that worries about losing children to a secular culture viewed as hedonistic, many see the popular chasidic music concerts as a healthy outlet.
But not, apparently, leading rabbinic authorities from the Agudath Israel Council of Torah Sages, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, the Lakewood Yeshiva, various chasidic sects and others among the rabbinic authorities who signed on to the ban.
Schmeltzer, who lives in Monsey, earns his living primarily by performing at weddings, but his albums have gained widespread popularity among chasidim in large part because he sometimes sets his own Hebrew or Yiddish lyrics, as well as liturgy, to pop music melodies.
His live performances and videos, available on YouTube, often involve dancing — male only — and humor, both of which have drawn the wrath of critics who feel he is “too goyish.”
His own rebbe’s name — The Skverer Rebbe, David Twersky — did not appear on the recent ban.
How did the others come to sign on to it, and without warning Schmeltzer or the concert organizers?
A spokesman for Mendlowitz, the event’s producer, said that he believes the rabbis who signed were “bamboozled” by extremist activists who disapprove of Schmeltzer’s use of non-Jewish melodies and onstage “antics” that “drive the crowds a little wild,” and who ultimately want to “stop all concerts.”
Such concerts are big business for performers like Mordechai Ben David, Avraham Fried and others.
The spokesman specifically cited Asher Friedman, a Brooklyn resident who heads Nechomas Yisroel, an organization that pays yeshiva tuition for children who would otherwise be forced to go to public school, and Avrohom Schorr, a Flatbush rabbi, as the instigators of the ban. Mendlowitz’s representative believes that Friedman, with Schorr’s backing, obtained the signatures by using some manner of deception to get the first few rabbis to sign on, and then used those signatures to persuade others to add their names as well.
Numerous calls to Friedman went unreturned, and Schorr, when reached at home, told The Jewish Week that he was “not available to answer questions over the phone.” When asked if he would answer questions in person, Schorr said that he was going out of town for “a couple of weeks.”
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky, rosh yeshiva of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia and one of the signatories to the ban, admitted that the rabbis who signed it did not consult with one another. When asked about the ban’s origins, Rabbi Kamenetsky was vague, saying only that “it seems there was some input from Israel.” He added that he did not think this ban would affect other concerts, because it was issued specifically “for a certain looseness.”
His assessment seems to be contradicted by an advertisement published on Feb. 27 in Hamodia, signed by eight of the 33 rabbis, praising Schmeltzer for backing out of the New York event and another one planned in London, and supporting a ban on all future concerts. Indeed, radio show host Zev Brenner told The Jewish Week that he is “hearing through the grapevine that this ban is chilling any future concerts [and might] seriously affect the Passover entertainment and concert scene.”
Numerous other signatories were contacted but would not comment or did not return calls.
There are those in the fervently Orthodox community who believe that, while the rabbis might have been misled about some of the specifics, they were well aware of what they were doing when they signed the ban.
Binyamin Jolkovsky, publisher of JewishWorldReview.com and a close observer of the haredi community, said he believes the rabbis intend to “put a stop” to “the cultural trend” within the Orthodox community that emulates secular society, complete with music “superstars and concerts and Madison Square Garden and billboards.
“It’s one thing when you have the music on when you’re eating dinner, or while you’re driving,” he said. “It’s another when you’re on Avenue M [in Brooklyn] and see this chasidic face with curly payes staring down at you. It’s enough. If there is anyone whose picture belongs on a billboard to literally look up to, it should be a rebbe [not] a chasidic singer, and they’re putting an end to it.”
While legal issues regarding the concert cancellation are sure to go on — and the rabbis are now urging ticket holders for The Big Event not to request refunds so that the charity will receive the money — one observer of Jewish life noted that, ironically, the whole affair might boost Schmeltzer’s career.
Marc Shapiro, a professor of Judaic studies at the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, pointed out that previous rabbinic bans, like those against certain books, have spurred increased interest, and sales, for the books.
“I think 50 percent of the people went out to get them just because they were banned” and the other half adhered to the prohibition, he said.
But Schmeltzer doesn’t seem to feel that way. Interviewed on Zev Brenner’s radio show, he said he felt he had no choice but to obey the ban. “I have a career,” he said. “I have a wife and kids to support, I have a mortgage to pay. I have to get out of the fire.”
Hella Winston, a sociologist, is the author of “Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels.”
UK children rescued from worldwide sex abuse ring
· Two-year inquiry smashes highly sophisticated group
· 22 new arrests follow jailing of six Britons
* Vikram Dodd, crime correspondent
* The Guardian,
* Thursday March 6 2008
Detectives in three continents believe they have broken one of the most sophisticated paedophile rings ever. Eight British children between six and 14 years old have been rescued and arrests made in the UK, Australia and the US.
The ring used advanced techniques to avoid detection and one member boasted of belonging to the "greatest group of paedos ever to gather in one place".
Police traced the victims to addresses in the UK, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre said. Some had been abused by their parents. The arrests followed a two-year inquiry which began in Australia, spread to Europe and was coordinated by the FBI in the US. The US was chosen as the base for police operations as most of the sex ring's members were American residents, police said.
A total of 22 people were arrested last week, including two men in the UK, in the final strike against the ring. Six further British men have already been jailed for their roles in trading and receiving pictures and videos on the network.
The newsgroup members gained access to the ring by providing pictures of child sexual abuse. According to US court documents, one member in Florida labelled one folder of images "mild" and another "wild". James Freeman, who used the nickname "Mystikal", bragged: "All I can say is they are worth the download." According to the US indictment against Freeman, seen by the Guardian, he wrote: "My thanks to you and all the others that together make this the greatest group of paedos ever to gather in one place."
Paul Griffiths, who heads the victim identification team at Ceop, based in the UK, said the children were subjected to horrendous abuse. "In every image there is a child. These images are crime scene photos where children are being subjected to sexual abuse. This is not 'child pornography'.
"It's important to remember too, though, that these children were not missing. They were located in the place where they were supposed to be safe - their own home - where their abuse was recorded and made available over the internet to satisfy sickening sexual desires of a deviant group of individuals."
Australian police said the international covert operation had uncovered 2,500 "customers" in 19 countries. As a result of the two-year operation, 400,000 images of child abuse were seized. Police also closed four commercial child sex web sites and arrested more than 100 people for allegedly purchasing child sex material. Officers in the UK used facial recognition software and a database called Childbase as they raced to identify victims from clues in each image.
The FBI's executive assistant director, Stephen Tidwell, said the online gang was run like a business, with indecent images used as a substitute for cash. He said: "This is beyond a quantum exponential leap for us to see folks that have gone to this much trouble to produce this kind of volume of horrific exploitation of children. But with 400,000 [images] we're going to be at this for years, trying to find the victims."
Peter Crawford from Queensland police's state sexual crimes squad, said: "It has been the most significant infiltration of an international child exploitation network by a law enforcement agency anywhere in the world. The major challenge for this investigation was to unravel the intricate web that networked offenders had weaved to protect themselves, incorporating strict guidelines, rules and encryption."
Members of the ring all used aliases, such as Box of Rocks, Crazy Horse, Lizzard, Methusaleh and Pickleman. In one example cited in the indictment, Raymond Roy, known as Nimo, posted videos of Thai children "to give everyone something to do for an afternoon".
"This one may offend here, so a word of caution, these girls are heavily drugged," Roy wrote on July 10 2007, according to the court documents. "Not much action to speak of, the girls are [sic] to [expletive deleted] up to move or resist. Three girls, the first one being the youngest, around eight or nine yo [years old]."
Noting the sophisticated process the porn ring used to outwit police, Tidwell compared the growing number of child pornography crimes to those of cocaine dealers, terrorists and the mafia. "If they had good operational security, that's a bad thing for us," he said. "When you've got that, you've got a real challenge for law enforcement."
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNmzgvTAn2GRPu7agWe7hZ-gfDUQ
Refusing to testify at sex-abuse inquiry gets ex-cop 6 months; possibility of more
TORONTO — A former police officer "central" to a judicial inquiry examining how the justice system and other institutions responded to allegations of widespread child sex-abuse in eastern Ontario was handed a six-month jail sentence Wednesday for refusing to testify at the probe.
To the added dismay of his supporters assembled in a Toronto courtroom, Perry Dunlop also faces the prospect of further jail time on a related conviction - flagrantly defying a direct court demand that he give evidence at the inquiry in Cornwall, Ont.
Dressed in a black casual shirt and pants, unshaven and looking slightly bewildered, Dunlop turned down one last chance to change his mind before his sentencing.
"Are you now willing to give evidence before the Cornwall Inquiry?" Divisional Court Justice Lee Ferrier asked him.
"No, I'm not," Dunlop, 46, responded.
Ferrier described the father of three, who has been in custody since his arrest more than two weeks ago, as a "whistle blower" with knowledge and information that was "central" to the establishment of the inquiry, which has cost $23 million to date, under Justice Normand Glaude.
Compounding the rare act of defiance to heed the order to testify was Dunlop's willingness to speak to the media, and his decision to "orchestrate" his arrest at home in Duncan, B.C., to ensure maximum publicity, the judge said.
It was, Ferrier said, done "flagrantly and publicly" and flew in the face of the contractor's express desire to prevent the sexual abuse of children.
The finding of civil contempt could be "purged" by giving evidence at the inquiry, the court said. He could then apply for immediate release.
Separate sentencing - on a criminal contempt conviction registered Wednesday - will be imposed after he has served his term for civil contempt. Crown lawyers suggested they would likely ask for several months.
However, Dunlop can mitigate the punishment for his criminal conviction by purging the civil contempt, Ferrier said.
Dunlop's wife Helen, who has denounced the inquiry as a "sham," stood during the proceedings and then stormed off without commenting after her husband was led away in handcuffs to begin his sentence in a segregation cell.
Other supporters, one of whom was ejected from the courtroom for being disruptive, harangued Crown lawyers following the hearing.
"It's a travesty," said Anne Winter, a psychotherapist in Toronto who deals with adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
"The worst part is that they've gone after Perry; they haven't gone after the pedophiles out there."
Dunlop was a cop in Cornwall in 1993 when he began probing, on his own time, an alleged pedophile ring that supposedly involved senior civic officials, clergymen, police officers and others.
A provincial police investigation laid 114 charges against 15 men - among them a doctor, a lawyer and three priests - but only one man, a bus driver, was convicted. Charges against one of the priests were dropped after a judge found he was denied the right to a timely trial and verdict.
Despite Dunlop's vehement assertions, police said they found no evidence of a organized ring.
In an interview in January, Dunlop told The Canadian Press that he didn't trust the justice system.
"I'm saying our judicial system is broken and they haven't listened to me for 15 years," Dunlop said. "I have no faith. Absolutely no faith, none."
On Wednesday, Crown lawyer Brian Gover said everyone was mindful that Dunlop and his supporters view him as a victim of a conspiracy of silence.
"No one wants to make a martyr out of Mr. Dunlop in his misguided efforts to avoid his civic duty of testifying and his disobedience of his court order," Gover said.
"It's very difficult to understand the position taken by Mr. Dunlop and his supporters."
I hope parents don't blame me for harboring molesters and enabling abuse.
----------------------------------
Published March 05, 2008 11:33 pm - A civil suit against the Montgomery-Lonsdale school district in the sexual assault crimes of a former coach and teacher has been moved to federal court.
Sex-crime suit moves to federal court
Parents blame school district for teacher's crimes
By Dan Nienaber
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
A lawsuit filed against Montgomery-Lonsdale Public Schools, claiming the school district was partially responsible for a student being sexually assaulted by a former coach and teacher, has moved to federal court.
The lawsuit was filed by the parents of the 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by 36-year-old Troy Michael Bernard, a former Montgomery elementary teacher and middle school girls volleyball and track coach. Bernard pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in October and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in January.
The girl was not identified in criminal court records. Her parents, who filed the civil lawsuit in February on her behalf, are identified as “Father Doe 112 and Mother Doe 112.” Bernard admitted to having intercourse and participating in other sexual acts with the girl. Most of the several incidents cited by investigators took place at Bernard’s home, but at least one incident took place at the school, court records said.
For complete story, see the Thursday, March 6, print edition of The Free Press or sign onto our e-edition.
newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--missingrabbi0306mar06,0,4279559.story
Body, car of missing rabbi found in Hackensack River
March 6, 2008
JERSEY CITY, N.J.
A vehicle containing the body of a 91-year-old rabbi who's been missing for more than a day has been pulled from the Hackensack River, authorities said Thursday.
The dark-green, four-door Mercury Marquis that had been driven by Rabbi Zev Segal was spotted in the water at low tide Thursday and pulled from the river, said Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey.
"The person in the vehicle has been positively identified as Mr. Segal," Comey said.
Segal hasn't been seen since he appeared on radio station WFMU in Jersey City, where his son Nachum Segal is an on-air host, on Wednesday morning.
In a statement, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg mourned the rabbi's death.
"Like many New Yorkers, I knew of Rabbi Zev Segal's reputation as a scholar, as the builder of a strong Jewish community, and as a man who brought people together," Bloomberg said.
The mayor, who traveled to Israel with the rabbi's son to attend a dedication of the country's new Holocaust memorial and museum, added: "From his children, I know that Rabbi Segal was a man of sharp intellect and strong character, great spirit and good humor."
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said it wasn't yet known exactly how the car ended up in the water. The investigation is ongoing, but DeFazio said at this point, authorities don't suspect foul play.
Segal was on his way to an appointment in Livingston when he went missing Wednesday morning, Comey said. It appeared his body had been in the water for at least 24 hours, he said.
BREAKING: Leading Rabbi Apologizes For Shocking Statement
by Staff Report
03/05/2008
Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University's rabbinical school, issued an apology today for a statement he made that appeared to advocate shooting the Prime Minister of Israel should the government "give away Jerusalem."
The statement, part of a 39-second clip posted on YouTube this week, is from a discussion the rabbi had in Israel with American students learning at Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem. It is not known when the statement was made.
In what appears to be a response to a question about serving in the Israeli army, the rabbi, a leading decisor in the Orthodox community, says: "First you have to know what the army is going to do. If the army is going to destroy Gush Katif, there's no mitzvah to
destroy Eretz Yisrael.
"If the army is going to give away Yerushalyim [Jerusalem], then I would tell everyone to resign from the army - I'd tell them to shoot the Rosh Hamemshalah [Prime Minister]," which prompted laughter from his audience.
"No one should go to the army if they [the army] are doing aveirus [sins," the rabbi continued. "We're talking if the army is seeing to it that the country is secure, if they're doing the right thing.
"I'm not sure if the army is doing the right thing," he added, "we have to look into that."
Rabbi Schachter, much revered by his many students and highly respected throughout the community as a Talmudic scholar, has been known to make blunt, politically incorrect statements in the past. In 2004, his remarks seemed to compare women to animals in expounding on the issue of reading from a ketubah at a marriage ceremony. He said the marriage would be valid "even if a parrot or a monkey would read the ketubah."
Prior to that incident, the rabbi described Jews as superior to other people, noting that "Jews and non-Jews "have different genes, DNA and instincts."
His defenders say he is naïve, not mean-spirited, in part because he has little dealing with the community at large, cloistered within the study halls of Yeshiva. They say he speaks casually in class, unaware of the larger ramifications of his remarks.
Critics agree, but note that such a person, despite his brilliance, should not be in such a position of prominence.
For example, Rabbi Schachter was just named as one of two American rabbis to oversee the conversion process for the Rabbinical Council of America in its agreement with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
In a statement issued today, Rabbi Schachter said:
"Statements I made informally have been publicly excerpted this week. I deeply regret such statements and apologize for them. They were uttered spontaneously, off the cuff, and were not meant seriously. And, they do not, God forbid, represent my views. Jewish law demands respect for representatives of the Jewish government and the state of Israel."
Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University, said:
"Rav Schacter has apologized for his off the cuff statements that certainly do not represent his views. Let me make it clear that Yeshiva University repudiates any such statements or any such sentiments."
At least 8 Israelis killed, dozens injured, in Palestinian shooting attack at Yeshivat Harav Center in Kiryat Moshe, W. Jerusalem
March 6, 2008
Special anti-terror squad inspects scene of Jerusalem Yeshiva bloodbath
Of the many injured students, several are in critical or serious condition.
A Palestinian gunman armed with a Kalashnikov gun and a bomb vest stormed the Yeshiva library Thursday night, March 6, and opened automatic fire in all directions at the scores of seminarists studying there. After several minutes, he was shot dead bby a neighboring police officer. He has been identified as resident of the south Jerusalem suburb of Jebal Maqaber, bearer of an Israeli identity card.
Dozens of ambulances collected the casualties as heavy police forces and special military units arrived on the scene and scoured the four-story building in case more terrorists were lurking there.
All the roads leading in and out of Jerusalem were blocked amid a manhunt for the killer’s confederates.
The Lebanese Hizballah’s TV station interrupted broadcasts to name the perpetrators of the attack as the “Imad Mughniyeh Liberators of Galilee.”
The Israelis are bad people. The occupation is a crime. You can't assassinate me!
---------------
Exclusive: Israeli cabinet okays Hamas, Jihad Islami targets for attack
March 5, 2008
Hamas hard-liner Mahmoud a-Zahar
DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Israel’s security cabinet approved Wednesday, March 5, a series of terrorist targets for early attacks as part of a sustained military offensive against escalated Palestinian attacks from Gaza on Israeli civilians.
Prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak earlier obtained a quiet nod from US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice before she wound up her visit. These targets are revealed here by DEBKAfile:
1. Chiefs and senior officers of Hamas’ and Jihad Islami’s armed wings.
2. Their senior political officials in the Gaza strip, excluding prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, but including hard-line Mahmoud a-Zahar.
3. Hamas and Jihad institutions, including police stations.
These decisions were taken at the security cabinet’s first exhaustive review of Israel’s Gaza options.
DEBKAfile’s sources reveal the ministers considered demolishing urban districts in Gaza which serve as launching pads for missiles after evacuating their inhabitants. No final decision was reached on this.
Our military sources report that these strikes are expected to let loose a stepped up Hamas Grad rocket barrage against Ashkelon or even points further north, such as Ashdod, both important Mediterranean port cities. Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim may also come under heavy missile attack and Hamas will make a supreme effort to bring off suicide attacks inside Israel.
Notwithstanding this expectation, the defense minister is determined to deny Hamas the ability to create a balance of deterrent with Israel. Therefore, the Israeli operation will persist even under heavy Hamas assaults.
In any case, the Palestinians launched a fresh onslaught on the heels of Rice’s departure after her talks with Palestinian and Israel leaders.
Five Katyusha rockets fired from Gaza at Ashkelon exploded on empty ground south of the city; four Qassam missiles were aimed at as Sderot and the Eshkol farming region, raising the total from Wednesday morning to eight.
Our military sources believe that the five rockets were deliberately aimed to explode harmlessly as a warning from Hamas of the violence in store if Israeli goes ahead with more military offensives. Military experts informed the cabinet that this was further proof that Hamas is now capable of precise targeting against specific locations.
You can't run from the law. I know this all too well!
---
03/06/2008
Police think sex abuse suspect faked suicide
GREENWICH - Police are searching for a man they believe tried to fake a suicide to avoid sex abuse charges.
Greenwich Police Chief George Bell told NewsChannel 13's media partners at the Post-Star that 42-year-old Russell Wagner had been partying with several teenage girls at his Hill Street home.
Police say Wagner fled the area when he found out one of the girls went to police.
Wagner's truck was found in Maryland with a suicide note inside.
But cell phone records show he made calls in Virginia after the fake suicide.
KINGS Supreme Court
Docket 00197-2007
Defendant KOLKO, JOEL
Appearance Information:
Appearance
Part & Date Judge Calendar
Section Court
Reporter Release
Status Arraignment
Type Hearing
Type Docket
Detail
11, March 31, 2008 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM No Type
11, February 4, 2008 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM ENG,G Bail Continued No Type ADJOURNED
11, December 5, 2007 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM MARIN,M Bail Continued No Type ADJOURNED
30, November 1, 2007 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM DENEZZA,M Bail Continued No Type ADJOURNED
30, October 2, 2007 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM NAPOLI,F Bail Continued No Type ADJOURNED
30, September 12, 2007 MULLEN,C ARRAIGNMENTS NAPOLI,F Bond $50,000 Cash $25,000 (Cash) Regular PLED NOT GUILTY, RETURNED ON WARRANT
September 12, 2007 Cash $25,000 (Cash) No Type BAIL PAID
GRAND JURY, August 29, 2007 MISCELLANEOUS No Type TRUE BILL, WARRANT ORDERED
Docket Information:
Standards and Goals Age Defendant Status
201 days Violent Felony Offender
Docket Sentence Information:
Docket Sentence
No Data Available
Defense Attorney Information:
Name Type Court Date Court Part Firm Name Phone Number Address
SCHWARTZ, Private (Retained) October 2, 2007 30
Assistant District Attorney Information:
Name Assignment Date
JAUS,R December 5, 2007
NA, September 12, 2007
Motion Information:
Motion Date Court Part Motion Type Motion Disposition Motion Activity Motion Filing Date
No Data Available
Webcrims
KINGS Supreme Court
Docket: 04314-2007
Defendant: COLMER, STEFAN
Born 1976
Arrest/Incident Date/Time
Arrest Date: January 7, 2008
Arrest Time: 19:20
Incident Date: January 28, 2006
Incident Time:
Case Related Numbers
Criminal Justice Tracking Number: 59766853Q
NYSID Number: 2696869K
Arrest Number: K08602074
Summons/Ticket Number:
Arresting Officer Info
Agency:
Officer Command:
WebCrims
Appearance Detail
KINGS Supreme Court
Docket 04314-2007
Defendant COLMER, STEFAN
Appearance Information:
Appearance
Part & Date Judge Calendar
Section Court
Reporter Release
Status Arraignment
Type Hearing
Type Docket
Detail
11, March 17, 2008 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM No Type
11, February 27, 2008 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM DELVALLE,V Same Bail Conditions No Type ADJOURNED
11, February 25, 2008 MULLEN,C TRIALS AM DELVALLE,V Same Bail Conditions No Type ADJOURNED
11, January 8, 2008 MULLEN,C ARRAIGNMENTS LEE,N Bond $10,000,000 Cash $5,000,000 (Not Posted) Regular PLED NOT GUILTY, RETURNED ON WARRANT
GRAND JURY, May 18, 2007 MISCELLANEOUS No Type TRUE BILL, WARRANT ORDERED
Docket Information:
Standards and Goals Age Defendant Status
69 days
Docket Sentence Information:
Docket Sentence
No Data Available
Defense Attorney Information:
Name Type Court Date Court Part Firm Name Phone Number Address
EPSTEIN,D Private (Retained) January 8, 2008 11
Assistant District Attorney Information:
Name Assignment Date
DOEFLER,E January 8, 2008
Motion Information:
Motion Date Court Part Motion Type Motion Disposition Motion Activity Motion Filing Date
No Data Available
This is sad and funny.
This interview is hilarious! Although I think the interviewer is anti-semitic - he does make many some valid points about conniving Jews and some troubling Hashkafas that they have.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PmNSI6zthg8
Israel is its own worst enemy. Their leaders are corrupt and arrogant. Massacres upon more massacres and they never learn their lesson. How much Jewish blood has to bee spilled for Israel to respond? These "peace talks" are an ever repeating broken record. We all know the end results already. The Israeli Government as constantly constituted are the biggest crock of dong. Disgrace!
Psalms Chapter 4
1. To the chief Musician for stringed instruments, A Psalm of David.
2. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
3. O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
4. But know that the Lord has set apart the pious man for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him.
5. Tremble, and do not sin; talk with your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.
6. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.
7. There are many who say, Who will show us good? Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.
8. You have put more gladness in my heart than they have whose grain and wine are increased.
9. I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone make me, Lord, dwell in safety.
תהלים פרק ד - 4
פרק ד
א לַֽמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינוֹת מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִֽד
: ב בְּקָרְאִי עֲנֵנִי | אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי בַּצָּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִּי חָנֵּנִי וּשְׁמַע תְּפִלָּתִֽי
: ג בְּנֵי־אִישׁ עַד־מֶה כְבוֹדִי לִכְלִמָּה תֶּאֱהָבוּן רִיק תְּבַקְשׁוּ כָזָב סֶֽלָה
: ד וּדְעוּ כִּֽי־הִפְלָה יְהֹוָה חָסִיד לוֹ יְהֹוָה יִשְׁמַע בְּקָרְאִי אֵלָֽיו
: ה רִגְזוּ וְֽאַל־תֶּחֱטָאוּ אִמְרוּ בִלְבַבְכֶם עַל־מִשְׁכַּבְכֶם וְדֹמּוּ סֶֽלָה
: ו זִבְחוּ זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק וּבִטְחוּ אֶל־יְהֹוָֽה
: ז רַבִּים אֹמְרִים מִֽי־יַרְאֵנוּ טוֹב נְֽסָה־עָלֵינוּ אוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהֹוָֽה
: ח נָתַתָּה שִׂמְחָה בְלִבִּי מֵעֵת דְּגָנָם וְתִֽירוֹשָׁם רָֽבּוּ
: ט בְּשָׁלוֹם יַחְדָּו אֶשְׁכְּבָה וְאִישָׁן כִּֽי־אַתָּה יְהֹוָה לְבָדָד לָבֶטַח תּוֹשִׁיבֵֽנִי
Psalms Chapter 142
1. A Maskil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.
2. I cry to the Lord with my voice; with my voice I make my supplication to the Lord.
3. I pour out my complaint before him; I declare my trouble before him.
4. When my spirit is faint inside me, you know my path. In the path where I walk they have secretly laid a snare for me.
5. I look on my right hand, and behold, but there is no man who knows me; no refuge remains to me; no man cares for my soul.
6. I cry to you, O Lord; I say, You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
7. Attend to my cry; for I am brought very low; save me from my persecutors; for they are too strong for me.
8. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name; the righteous shall surround me; for you shall deal bountifully with me.
142 - תהלים קמב
פרק קמב
א מַשְׂכִּיל לְדָוִד בִּהְיוֹתוֹ בַמְּעָרָה תְפִלָּֽה
: ב קוֹלִי אֶל־יְהֹוָה אֶזְעָק קוֹלִי אֶל־יְהֹוָה אֶתְחַנָּֽן
: ג אֶשְׁפֹּךְ לְפָנָיו שִׂיחִי צָרָתִי לְפָנָיו אַגִּֽיד
: ד בְּהִתְעַטֵּף עָלַי | רוּחִי וְאַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ נְֽתִיבָתִי בְּאֹֽרַח־זוּ אֲהַלֵּךְ טָמְנוּ פַח לִֽי
: ה הַבֵּיט יָמִין | וּרְאֵה וְאֵין־לִי מַכִּיר אָבַד מָנוֹס מִמֶּנִּי אֵין דּוֹרֵשׁ לְנַפְשִֽׁי
: ו זָעַקְתִּי אֵלֶיךָ יְהוָה אָמַרְתִּי אַתָּה מַחְסִי חֶלְקִי בְּאֶרֶץ הַֽחַיִּים
: ז הַקְשִׁיבָה | אֶל־רִנָּתִי כִּֽי־דַלּוֹתִי מְאֹד הַצִּילֵנִי מֵרֹדְפַי כִּי אָמְצוּ מִמֶּֽנִּי
: ח הוֹצִיאָה מִמַּסְגֵּר | נַפְשִׁי לְהוֹדוֹת אֶת־שְׁמֶךָ בִּי יַכְתִּרוּ צַדִּיקִים כִּי תִגְמֹל עָלָֽי
:
The slaughter at a Jerusalem Yeshiva is the latest - but sadly not the last. Until another Prime Minister with the brains, wit, and desire to safeguard the Jewish nation comes to power, there will be more tragedies. Rav Meir Kahane hy'd is screaming from his grave "I told you so!"
DEBKAfile - We start where the media stop
Leads to Hamas-Damascus, Hizballah – or both - in Jerusalem students’ murders
March 7, 2008,
DEBKAfile reports that the line of investigation developing the day after a Palestinian terrorist murdered 8 Israeli yeshiva students in Jerusalem is that the Hamas command in Damascus, or Hizballah in Beirut activated the killer, Ala Abu Dhaim 25, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship from Jebal Mukaber in S. Jerusalem.
Hamas-Gaza first took responsibility for the massacre, then backtracked.
The gunman sprayed automatic Kalashnikov fire on group after group of students studying Thursday night, March 6, in the library of the Yeshivat Harav center in Jerusalem. Their deaths were mourned by many thousands Friday morning.
After the killer’s family raised Hamas and Hizballah flags on their mourning tent, Jerusalem police arrested more than 10 of his relatives and friends. Hamas celebrated the attack in Gaza as “heroic.”
DEBKAfile’s political sources report that an explicit Hamas admission would present the Israeli government with a dilemma. It has already drawn up a detailed plan of action to fight Hamas in Gaza over its rocket blitz against Israeli civilians. Trying to play down the issue of responsibility, the police commissioner Dudi Cohen said the attack may have been an isolated incident. At the same time, the security preparedness across the country was extended to the whole of next week and the West Bank sealed.
Our counter-terror sources point to the Hizballah television broadcast from Beirut after the attack naming a group called “Phalange of free Men of Galilee – Groups of the Martyr Imad Mughniyeh and Martyrs of Gaza.”
The Phalange of Free Men of Galilee, established by the Lebanese Hizballah, has been responsible for a number of murders and shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers and policemen in the northern Israel region of Galilee during the last five years. The Beirut statement suggests collaboration between Hamas and Hizballah, both backed by Iran, in planning the Jerusalem outrage. Investigators, working under blackout, are also considering the Hizb al Tahrir, a fanatical Islamic organization with a substantial presence in Jerusalem, as a possible collaborator in setting up the attack or as a connecting link between Hizballah and Hamas.
Hizb al Tahrir has lately spread its wings among Jerusalem Arabs and is attracting some of Hamas’ cells in the city to its ranks. This group was behind the violent riots staged in the streets of Jerusalem this week in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
DEBKAfile - We start where the media stop
Eight funerals Friday for students murdered by Palestinian terrorist at Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Harav Thursday night
March 7, 2008
Yohai Livshitz, 18, and Neria Cohen, 15 from Jerusalem
Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo
Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar
Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel
Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat
Ro’i Roth, 18, from Elkana
Maharta Taruno, 26, from Ashdod
Many thousands gathered at the yeshiva from all parts of Israel heard the eulogies and the readings of Psalms for the eight victims.
Seven of the wounded students in the shooting rampage are still in hospital, three in serious condition. Two were hurt when they jumped from the second floor window of the yeshiva library to escape the massacre. The Jerusalem police have recovered the vehicle used by the killer, Ala Abu Dhaim, 20, a Jerusalem Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who lived in the southern village of Jebal Makaber and worked as a delivery-man. He used it to drive to the Jerusalem yeshiva Thursday night, March 6, with his Kalashnikov assault rifle and other weapons. It contained a large stock of ammo. His family set up a mourning tent and raised Hamas and Hizballah flags. Hamas praised the killings as “heroic.”
Security forces and emergency services are on national terror alert across the country for more terror. The West Bank is under closure. The security services and police are hunting the planners of the attack on one of Jerusalem’s largest yeshiva centers after imposing a blackout on the investigation. Hundreds of students attended the secondary school section and the seminary.
Police are on guard for the tension in Jerusalem sparking angry clashes between Jews and Arabs.
The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert condemned the outrage but pledged not to derail “the peace process.”
The UN Security Council emergency session broke up Thursday after Libya blocked a resolution condemning the terrorist attack by demanding that Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip be added. The US delegate refused, backed by Russia.
The Lebanese Hizballah’s TV station interrupted its broadcasts on the night of the attack to name the perpetrators as the “Imad Mughniyeh Liberators of Galilee.”
May G-D avenge the blood of his children Amen!
Yohai Livshitz, 18, and Neria Cohen, 15 from Jerusalem
Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo
Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar
Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel
Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat
Ro’i Roth, 18, from Elkana
Maharta Taruno, 26, from Ashdod
Please also daven for Seven of the wounded students in the shooting rampage that are still in the hospital, three in serious condition.
350 Years and Counting: OU To Honor Seven Rabbis Who Helped Shape Growth of Orthodox Judaism
March 07, 2008
350 YEARS AND COUNTING: OU TO HONOR SEVEN RABBIS WHO HELPED SHAPE GROWTH OF ORTHODOX JUDAISM IN AMERICA, AT ANNUAL DINNER, APRIL 6 IN NEW YORK
When they started their rabbinical careers a half century or more ago, Orthodox Judaism in the United States was widely perceived to be a small and diminishing throwback, destined to become even more marginalized as Jews embraced newer, more liberal varieties of Jewish observance more in tune with the American post-war experience.
Now, with 350 years of combined service under their belts, they are witnesses to – or better said, primary forces behind -- the explosive growth of what has been termed the Orthodox Synagogue movement, which is flourishing while American Jewish demography overall is shrinking, and is rich in the resources that only a healthy community can provide. These resources include synagogues, yeshivot/day schools, mikva’ot, easy availability of kosher food, and the publication of every conceivable kind of religious book for the edification of adults and children alike.
Because of what they have seen and what they have done, the seven rabbis – Rafael Grossman, Joseph Grunblatt, David Hollander, Gilbert Klaperman, Ralph Pelcovitz, Fabian Schonfeld and Max Schreier – will receive the Orthodox Union’s Lifetime Rabbinic Achievement Award at the OU’s 110th Anniversary National Dinner, to be held Sunday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt New York.
Their wisdom and their reflections on the growth of Orthodox Judaism in America will be on display for all to read in an upcoming edition of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action magazine, when it publishes excerpts of a roundtable discussion in which the rabbis participated.
"In a generation devoid of heroes, we have chosen to honor seven authentic heroes -- men who chose a path of spiritual leadership when it was not popular to do so, and who succeeded eminently in inspiring hundreds of others to follow them along that path," declared OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb. “As a veteran of the rabbinate myself, I consider each of these seven to be my own personal mentor."
OU President Stephen J. Savitsky was moderator of the discussion. “The seven rabbis represent American Orthodox life for the past 60 years; their insights and wisdom had to be captured in print,” Mr. Savitsky said. “It was my honor to moderate the session and to hear firsthand their thoughts regarding the past, present and future of Orthodox Judaism in America.”
At the dinner, the OU will also honor Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten of Indianapolis, IN with the Lifetime Achievement Award; Al Miller, who over 31 years built FEGS into one of the nation’s largest and most respected social service organizations, with the Lifetime Community Service Award; Jonathan Mell of Teaneck, NJ, with the Young Leadership Distinguished Service Award; and Osem USA, the American branch of Israel’s largest grocery, frozen and chilled food products manufacturing company, with the National Kashrut Leadership Award.
Emanuel J. Adler of Teaneck is Dinner Chairman. Mr. Adler urged “all those who were influenced by the seven rabbis to come to the event to share in honoring them.”
The bios of the rabbis follow:
Rabbi Rafael Grossman was senior rabbi of the famed Baron Hirsch Synagogue in Memphis, TN for thirty years, and is a past president of both the Rabbinical Council of America and the Beth Din of America, as well as a former chairman of the board of the Religious Zionists of America. Additionally, Rabbi Grossman is a practicing psychotherapist, and a noted professor, author and columnist.
Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt, a 1996 recipient of the esteemed Ben Zakkai Honor Society Harold H. Boxer Memorial Award, as well as the National Rabbinic Centennial Medallion Award, served for nearly four decades as rabbi of the Queens Jewish Center in Forest Hills, NY. He is also a former vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America and the Va'ad Harabonim of Queens, as well as an author and contributing editor to Jewish Action.
Rabbi David Hollander has been rabbi of the Hebrew Alliance of Brighton in Brooklyn for 28 years, but his notable career started well before, when he served as rabbi at K'hal Adath Yeshurun and Mt. Eden Jewish Center in the Bronx for 37 years. A former president of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbinical Alliance of America and Poalei Agudath Israel of America, Rabbi Hollander is also a columnist for various English and Yiddish publications.
Rabbi Dr. Gilbert Klaperman was the founding rabbi, in 1950, of Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence, NY. A distinguished professor and lawyer, he was a faculty member of institutions including Yeshiva College and Hofstra Law School. After his retirement from Congregation Beth Sholom in 1988, Rabbi Dr. Klaperman has continued to serve in various roles, including assistant district attorney in Kings County, New York.
Rabbi Ralph Pelcovitz, past recipient of the Enid and Harold H. Boxer Memorial Award of the Ben Zakkai Honor Society, is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Far Rockaway, NY. A noted author and speaker, he has lectured extensively across the United States and Israel. Rabbi Pelcovitz is also a former president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America and a member of the OU's Board of Directors.
Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, recipient of the National Rabbinic Centennial Medallion Award, serves as rabbi of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, a position he has held with distinction for 54 years. Current president of Poalei Agudath Israel, as well as past president of the Rabbinical Council of America and past chairman of the Council of Young Israel Rabbis, Rabbi Schonfeld is also the founder of the Va'ad Harabonim of Queens.
Rabbi Max N. Schreier has been the Rabbi of the Avenue N. Jewish Center in Brooklyn for the past 45 years. He is a past President of the Rabbinical Council of America, as well as a past President of the Rabbinic Alumni of RIETS. Yeshiva University conferred upon him a Doctor of Divinity Degree for distinguished service to the Yeshiva and the American Jewish Community. He is also a past President of the Va’d Harabanim of Flatbush. Rabbi Schreier is a member of the Board of Governors of the OU.
For further information on attending the dinner or placing a journal ad, contact Malka Laks at 212-613-8144, or malkal@ou.org.
Rabbis Form New Orthodox Organization
By Anthony Weiss
Thu. Mar 06, 2008
After years of tension between more liberal and conservative elements of the American Orthodox Jewish establishment, several liberal Orthodox rabbis have banded together to create a new rabbinic organization that offers an alternative to traditional Orthodox authorities.
Rabbis Marc Angel and Avi Weiss have convened an organization they are calling the Rabbinic Fellowship, a national affiliation of rabbis that they say will create a safe space for Orthodox rabbis to exchange ideas without fear of repercussions. The fellowship also could offer a home to rabbis frozen out of the established Modern Orthodox rabbinical union. In one sign of how the organization could influence the Orthodox world, Angel and Weiss said that it could set up an international network of rabbinic courts.
“We want to create an environment where rabbis can feel empowered to think, to speak, to make judgments, to make decisions and, when we come to a consensus among ourselves, to come to some practical plans of doing things,” said Angel, who is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, New York’s historic Sephardic synagogue.
The establishment of the fellowship was inspired in part by a series of negotiations between the Rabbinical Council of America, which is the leading union of Modern Orthodox rabbis, and the Israeli chief rabbinate over conversion standards in America. A number of critics, including Weiss and Angel, have accused the RCA of capitulating to the chief rabbinate.
It is also the latest attempt to set up more liberal Orthodox institutions alongside the more established organizations. A number of critics, including Weiss and Angel, have accused these institutions of becoming more restrictive and more authoritarian and of being less open to new ideas. Weiss, the champion of what he calls “Open Orthodoxy,” has played a particularly prominent role in those struggles as the leader of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, a seminary he founded in 2000. YCT has butted heads repeatedly with several of the leading Orthodox organizations. The lack of acceptance for YCT’s graduates helped lead to the foundation of the Rabbinic Fellowship.
The relationship that YCT has had with established Orthodox bodies was often tense. In the seminary’s early years, officials at Yeshiva University — the flagship institution of Modern Orthodoxy — attempted to block YCT graduates from landing rabbinical positions. In turn, Howard Jonas, chairman of YCT, accused Y.U. of moving to the right, under the leadership of “a combination of the gutless and the spineless in a coalition with the mindless and the senseless.” Jonas later apologized for his comments.
These tensions came to a head when YCT attempted to win accreditation from the RCA. According to the rules of the RCA, rabbis can be admitted only if they receive ordination from an RCA-accredited institution or by an accredited rabbi. YCT attempted to join, but its application ran into roadblocks and was ultimately withdrawn.
The result was that YCT graduates are now unable to join the RCA. Though YCT officials said they have had no trouble placing the school’s graduates in teaching and rabbinical posts across the country, graduates have no professional organization to join.
Weiss and Angel both have emphasized that the purpose of founding the Rabbinic Fellowship was neither to create a separate rabbinical union for YCT graduates — the two rabbis want the majority of members to be non-YCT grads — nor to compete with the RCA (of which both remain members). Rather, their goal is to create a safe space for rabbis to exchange ideas and develop their own opinions, in an environment they describe as fearful and often resistant to open dialogue.
Angel, who is a past president of the RCA, said he was particularly troubled by the growing notion that thinking and decisions about making rabbinic law were privileges reserved for a few eminent authorities, and by the idea that communal rabbis were supposed to make peace but not think — an attitude that he says has pervaded the RCA.
“The way they’re organizing themselves is around some rabbinical authorities — which are very few — and the rest of us are supposed to be sheep,” he said.
The fellowship has already met once, last October, at a conference attended by some 33 rabbis, and the organizers are scheduling another for next month, which they hope will be attended by 100 rabbis. The plan for the rabbinical courts is currently the idea of Angel and Weiss and not organizational policy, but Angel said he hoped it could be up and running within a year or two.
Rabbi Basil Herring, executive vice president of the RCA, said nobody involved in the rabbinic fellowship had discussed it with him directly.
“Frankly, we do not know what they’re trying to accomplish, how it might relate to the RCA, what their own personal ongoing relationship to the RCA will be, all of which is remarkable,” Herring said. “And frankly, we just find it very peculiar.”
Herring also warned that any competing court system would run the risk of issuing decisions that might not be accepted broadly in the Orthodox world.
“You don’t want to advance your particular ideology, noble as it may be, on the backs of good men and women,” he said.
Thu. Mar 06, 2008
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, spiritual leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and recently retired head of the Ramaz Jewish day schools on the Upper East Side, is one of Modern Orthodoxy’s elder statesmen. He will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination, but rather than reflecting on his accomplishments with unfettered joy — which include helping between 300 and 400 people convert to Judaism — he is feeling deeply pained about the direction the Orthodox rabbinate is taking when it comes to conversions, and conflicted about his own role in the system.
Rabbi Lookstein was part of the Rabbinical Council of America committee that drafted new guidelines for conversion, which are being called the GPS system, for Geirus [conversion] Policies and Standards. Though unhappy with the...
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a4809/News/New_York.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546426492&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
'The entire country is in need of mercy'
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 7, 2008
Thousands were at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem Friday morning to eulogize the eight victims of the terror attack the night before. Family members gathered in the square at the entrance to the yeshiva and the bodies were laid on benches in front of them.
The head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira was the first to speak. Chocking back tears, he said: "This massacre is the continuation of the 1929 massacre [in Hebron] and the blood of the prophet is still boiling. The heads of the nation also understand that the heart of the nation is torah. It is time for all of us to understand that this is the truth. We all believe that the time has come for a dramatic spiritual change; for us to have strong, good and reliable leadership."
"We are all in need of mercy, the entire country," Shapira cried. "Pray for all of us and give good counsel to the families, to the anguished friends."
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar was weeping as well. "We have paid with our best boys, who were sitting by their talmuds … torah was their entire world, they are the roses that have been picked … and God will have mercy on us for their merit.
Turning to the families, he said: "You should know, dear families, that this is a mourning of the entire house of Israel, as one person and one heart crying as one for the dreadful calamity that has befallen us. We will not be cruel at this hour when we are faced with such a wide crisis, and we will rise up to cast away strife; to further increase torah study."
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski also addressed the crowd: "Lord, nations have invaded your land, desecrated your holy hall, eight of our sweet loved ones, may God avenge their blood, who only yesterday were living amongst us, are no longer with us. Their lives were severed by lowly murderers … but the murderer did not wish to target them alone, but rather each and every one of us, each and every resident of the holy city of Jerusalem.
For many years our enemies have been trying to ruin our lives, to harm us as much as they can. Jerusalem has paid heavily in blood, and the long long list was joined last night by our eight sons."
Many key figures in Religious Zionism were on attendance, including Rabbi Mordechai Elon, and MKs Nissan Slomianski and Zevulun Orlev (NU/NRP).
The crowd then split up to attend the funerals of the victims, which were scheduled to begin immediately after the eulogies.
Yohai Lifshitz, 18, from Jerusalem, was to be buried at Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem. Neria Cohen, 15, from Jerusalem, and Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, were scheduled to be laid to rest at the Mount of Olives. Avraham David Moses, 16, was to be buried in Kfar Etzion.
The funerals of Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo, Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar, Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana and Doron Meherete, 26, from Ashdod, were being held in their respective hometowns.
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