Rabbi Tropper is on the rabbinic advisory board of KosherTube KosherTube is the official website of the Electronic Torah Educational Foundation,a nonprofit organization established in 2007 by Michael Kigel and David Ostriker.
Interesting. It seems from the overall list that they have tried to choose a fairly wide range of voices within the greater Orthodox world. Looking at their videos this also seems to be the case there. So I do not really see that this is a big deal. Time will ultimately tell.
Highlights of the discipline order 1983 (Maryland): On August 31, 1983 Rabbi Alan Horowitz was convicted of one count of perverted sex practice by the Circuit Court of Washington County, State of Maryland. He was then placed on probation with the following special conditions:
1. Horowitz will participate in and complete a course of psychothearpy to be conducted jointly by Joseph F. Chambers, M.D., Chairman on Physical Rehabilitation of the Medical and Chirugical Faculty of Maryland, and Dr. Issac (Yitzack) Twersky of Monsey, New York; said psychotherapy is to continue on a regular basis until released by Order of the Circuit Court for Washington County, MD.
2. Horowitz is to reside on the campus of Ohr Somayach Instititution, Monsey, New York, and shall not change his residence without prior approval of the Cirucit Court for Washington County.
Do the People who put him on the advisory board know about his involvement with the death of Gideon Busch , with the banning of Rabbi Slifkin, with his keiruv techniques where he harasses and try to destroy former talmidim who choose to be Modern Orthodox instead of his path ?
JewishWhistleblower... I fail to see the connection between R' Tropper and R' Horowitz other than an institution. Yes R' Horowitz committed a sex crime of some sort for which the court did not deem him a danger to socieity and allowed him to seek supervised therapy. That a Jewish institution would help an individual in such a situation only seems to be... well Jewish.
Monsey Tzadik... from what I know of the other people on the advisory board, they each seem to be fairly... I will say committed to their individual derech. Perhaps they are looking for that kind of tension... Diamonds are made under pressure after all.
"He was one of the founding rabbis at Ohr Somayach, Monsey. New York."
This is one of many Tropper guzmas (if not outright lies), he was one of their first employees not a founder (my uncle was one of the first employees of well known high tech firm but he would never say he was one of the founders).
Tropper also likes to say that he was ben bayis in rav Moshe’s home (he does have a photograph in his office).
His most outrageous lie is that rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt’l told him to open his yeshiva "kol yaakov" which I promise you LO HAYA V'LO NINRA ! just did not happen!.
It breaks my father’s heart to have rav Yaakov name associated with someone like Tropper.
Tropper also likes to say that he gets answers in his dreams, which I would not comment.
JWB, You probably find it interesting that Tropper got his semicha from Pinchus Scheinberg of Torah Ohr. Scheinberg is the author of the infamous psak regarding children and penetration. Sorry, I do not know of better words to describe it.
There are a few obvious questions that come to mind if one takes a look at this Kosher tube "All About Us" page as it presents its:
*Board of Directors: David Ostriker; Dr. Micahel Kigel; Rabbi Bernie (Baruch) Moskoff. *Rabbinic Advisory Board: HaRav Dovid Schochet; Rav Eliezer Breitowitz; Rav Benjamin Hecht; Rav Leib Tropper. *Founding Committee: Rabbi Glenn Black; Rev David Mainse.
Now take a carefull look at that page again, and look over the thumbnail NINE brief biographies on it. Do you notice something? Anything? (Clue: It's web related.)
Ok, so here is what is fairly obvious if you are used to looking at web pages a lot:
Out of all the nine biographies, which of them has any internal links to other articles on the web?
The answer is only TWO of them (as of 24 December '08). And then out of the two, ONLY one of them has one link to another article on the web (Rav Benjamin Hecht to NISHMA.org) BUT whose little bio has the most links to other outside web articles?
Yup, you guessed it, Rabbi Tropper's short bio has no less than FOUR links to outside articles, all to Wikipedia articles, with one even to "Jerusalem" as if noone knows about Jerusalem. (Perhaps he needs 4 links vs none for most of the rest, in keeping with his personality that needs to suck up all the proverbial oxygen in room when he is in it in order to exist and feel noticed!)
Ask yourself why, in this instance, Rabbi Tropper gets this privilege to be linked to Wikipedia articles four times times, when what's only relevant to him personally is ONE link, to his own Kol Yaakov Yeshiva, but TWO of the links are controversial, those to the Ohr Somayach yeshiva of Jerusalem and Ohr Somyach yeshiva of Monsey which are in fact deceptive and contradictory and it's highly questionable if he is even authorized to use their name as he does because he has clasically been their bitter opponent and critic (he disagrees with their relatively more "tolerant" approach to kiruv since he insists that BTs be pressured into becoming "talmidei chachomim" and subservient, strict one-dimensional "Charedim" overnight or ASAP) yet he has the temerity) and with no shame to use Ohr Somayach's names as "retroactive references" is very Machiavellian and hypocritical when he has long ago parted ways on all levels with both Ohr Somayach institutions under a very dark cloud with recriminations that still go on from both sides.
If you think about it, why are the links that are used here to Wikipedia articles rather than to the actual institutions of Ohr Somayach yeshiva of Jerusalem and Ohr Somayach yeshiva of Monsey who BOTH have their own original websites? (Like the more modest single link in the "Rav Benjamin Hecht" bio that links to the actual site of the actual organization "NISHMA.org"). Is that maybe because it would in actual fact be unethical for Rabbi Tropper to link to the actual Ohr Somayachs' websites because he was let go by them and so it would be unethical to cite them as refernecs when he was fired by them, but to link to articles about them on Wikipedia, over which they have no control, is an easy route to put something on his resume, and to an average reader a not noticable way to create the IMPRESSION that Rabbi Tropper comes in good standing with a good history and relationship with either the Jerusalem and Monsey Ohr Somayachs (two independent institutions with a common bond and name) when in the history and reality of it, Rabbi Tropper's relationship with Ohr Somayach has been one of ongoing shturm un drang.
One fascianting final question, why is there no link or explanation to "Eternal Jewish Family" when the line here says: "Rabbi Tropper is the Co-founder Eternal Jewish Family."?
It's very suspicious that whoever went to the trouble to give Rabbi Tropper FOUR links when out of 9 rabbis here only one other got one link and the other 7 got NONE, and Rabbi Tropper even got a superflous link to "Jerusalem" yet no link whatsoever to Eternal Jewish Family (it's easy to find on the web, just Google "Eternal Jewish Family" it really does have its own website at www.eternaljewishfamily.org !!! so why no link to EJF directly?
Is it maybe because searching around for EJF will lead to dicoveries about the controversies that surround it? Or the fact that EJF is not just a plain conventional "kiruv" organization, but that it's a new-fangled proseltyzing set-up that is geared to help gentiles become Jews and if that was stated explicitly on "KosherTube" page then it would mean that they are touting someone as a "Rabbinical advisor" who is doing things that many view as Not-So-Kosher!
Dear Daas torah, in my community, an "Einheitsgemeinde" (community for everybody from modern-orthodox to non-observant), they are ready to perform conversions only if the convert-to-be has a jewish spouse in view: i.e. they reject sincere and pure conversions and accept only those who have an interest.
The rabbis realized that in a society where people can choose any religion such as Raelian and Cthulhu and everything between, those who choose Orthodox Judaism are probably just weirdoes.
The other point is that people who convwert for sake of marriage have much more in stake to be observant because of the fear that their spouse will leave them or would not marry them. People who convert because they feel that this is the right religion are more likely to feel in future that something else is the right religion. They do not have much in stake like the marriage converts.
Something like Gadol metzuve v’ose memi sheino metzuve v’ose
Interesting. It seems from the overall list that they have tried to choose a fairly wide range of voices within the greater Orthodox world. Looking at their videos this also seems to be the case there. So I do not really see that this is a big deal. Time will ultimately tell.
ReplyDeleteI note that Tropper was one of the founding rabbis at Ohr Somayach, Monsey.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Alan Horowitz was relocated to the Ohr Somayach, Monsey campus as part of the terms of his 1983 probation for his sex conviction.
see:
1)
http://TheAwarenessCenter.org/Horowitz_Alan.html
2)http://TheAwarenessCenter.org/Horowitz_Alan.html#Professional
Highlights of the discipline order 1983 (Maryland):
On August 31, 1983 Rabbi Alan Horowitz was convicted of one count of perverted sex practice by the Circuit Court of Washington County, State of Maryland. He was then placed on probation with the following special conditions:
1. Horowitz will participate in and complete a course of psychothearpy to be conducted jointly by Joseph F. Chambers, M.D., Chairman on Physical Rehabilitation of the Medical and Chirugical Faculty of Maryland, and Dr. Issac (Yitzack) Twersky of Monsey, New York; said psychotherapy is to continue on a regular basis until released by Order of the Circuit Court for Washington County, MD.
2. Horowitz is to reside on the campus of Ohr Somayach Instititution, Monsey, New York, and shall not change his residence without prior approval of the Cirucit Court for Washington County.
Do the People who put him on the advisory board know about his involvement with the death of Gideon Busch , with the banning of Rabbi Slifkin, with his keiruv techniques where he harasses and try to destroy former talmidim who choose to be Modern Orthodox instead of his path ?
ReplyDeleteJewishWhistleblower...
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the connection between R' Tropper and R' Horowitz other than an institution. Yes R' Horowitz committed a sex crime of some sort for which the court did not deem him a danger to socieity and allowed him to seek supervised therapy. That a Jewish institution would help an individual in such a situation only seems to be... well Jewish.
Monsey Tzadik... from what I know of the other people on the advisory board, they each seem to be fairly... I will say committed to their individual derech. Perhaps they are looking for that kind of tension... Diamonds are made under pressure after all.
"He was one of the founding rabbis at Ohr Somayach, Monsey. New York."
ReplyDeleteThis is one of many Tropper guzmas (if not outright lies), he was one of their first employees not a founder (my uncle was one of the first employees of well known high tech firm but he would never say he was one of the founders).
Tropper also likes to say that he was ben bayis in rav Moshe’s home (he does have a photograph in his office).
His most outrageous lie is that rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt’l told him to open his yeshiva "kol yaakov" which I promise you LO HAYA V'LO NINRA ! just did not happen!.
It breaks my father’s heart to have rav Yaakov name associated with someone like Tropper.
Tropper also likes to say that he gets answers in his dreams, which I would not comment.
JWB,
You probably find it interesting that Tropper got his semicha from Pinchus Scheinberg of Torah Ohr. Scheinberg is the author of the infamous psak regarding children and penetration. Sorry, I do not know of better words to describe it.
Monsey Tzadik,
ReplyDeleteIt said he was one of the founding rabbis not a founder. Misleading? maybe, but not a lie.
Why the constant obsession with Rabbi Tropper, he is getting more attention than needed?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few obvious questions that come to mind if one takes a look at this Kosher tube "All About Us" page as it presents its:
ReplyDelete*Board of Directors: David Ostriker; Dr. Micahel Kigel; Rabbi Bernie (Baruch) Moskoff.
*Rabbinic Advisory Board: HaRav Dovid Schochet; Rav Eliezer Breitowitz; Rav Benjamin Hecht; Rav Leib Tropper.
*Founding Committee: Rabbi Glenn Black; Rev David Mainse.
Now take a carefull look at that page again, and look over the thumbnail NINE brief biographies on it. Do you notice something? Anything? (Clue: It's web related.)
Ok, so here is what is fairly obvious if you are used to looking at web pages a lot:
Out of all the nine biographies, which of them has any internal links to other articles on the web?
The answer is only TWO of them (as of 24 December '08). And then out of the two, ONLY one of them has one link to another article on the web (Rav Benjamin Hecht to NISHMA.org) BUT whose little bio has the most links to other outside web articles?
Yup, you guessed it, Rabbi Tropper's short bio has no less than FOUR links to outside articles, all to Wikipedia articles, with one even to "Jerusalem" as if noone knows about Jerusalem. (Perhaps he needs 4 links vs none for most of the rest, in keeping with his personality that needs to suck up all the proverbial oxygen in room when he is in it in order to exist and feel noticed!)
Ask yourself why, in this instance, Rabbi Tropper gets this privilege to be linked to Wikipedia articles four times times, when what's only relevant to him personally is ONE link, to his own Kol Yaakov Yeshiva, but TWO of the links are controversial, those to the Ohr Somayach yeshiva of Jerusalem and Ohr Somyach yeshiva of Monsey which are in fact deceptive and contradictory and it's highly questionable if he is even authorized to use their name as he does because he has clasically been their bitter opponent and critic (he disagrees with their relatively more "tolerant" approach to kiruv since he insists that BTs be pressured into becoming "talmidei chachomim" and subservient, strict one-dimensional "Charedim" overnight or ASAP) yet he has the temerity) and with no shame to use Ohr Somayach's names as "retroactive references" is very Machiavellian and hypocritical when he has long ago parted ways on all levels with both Ohr Somayach institutions under a very dark cloud with recriminations that still go on from both sides.
If you think about it, why are the links that are used here to Wikipedia articles rather than to the actual institutions of Ohr Somayach yeshiva of Jerusalem and Ohr Somayach yeshiva of Monsey who BOTH have their own original websites? (Like the more modest single link in the "Rav Benjamin Hecht" bio that links to the actual site of the actual organization "NISHMA.org"). Is that maybe because it would in actual fact be unethical for Rabbi Tropper to link to the actual Ohr Somayachs' websites because he was let go by them and so it would be unethical to cite them as refernecs when he was fired by them, but to link to articles about them on Wikipedia, over which they have no control, is an easy route to put something on his resume, and to an average reader a not noticable way to create the IMPRESSION that Rabbi Tropper comes in good standing with a good history and relationship with either the Jerusalem and Monsey Ohr Somayachs (two independent institutions with a common bond and name) when in the history and reality of it, Rabbi Tropper's relationship with Ohr Somayach has been one of ongoing shturm un drang.
One fascianting final question, why is there no link or explanation to "Eternal Jewish Family" when the line here says: "Rabbi Tropper is the Co-founder Eternal Jewish Family."?
It's very suspicious that whoever went to the trouble to give Rabbi Tropper FOUR links when out of 9 rabbis here only one other got one link and the other 7 got NONE, and Rabbi Tropper even got a superflous link to "Jerusalem" yet no link whatsoever to Eternal Jewish Family (it's easy to find on the web, just Google "Eternal Jewish Family" it really does have its own website at www.eternaljewishfamily.org !!! so why no link to EJF directly?
Is it maybe because searching around for EJF will lead to dicoveries about the controversies that surround it? Or the fact that EJF is not just a plain conventional "kiruv" organization, but that it's a new-fangled proseltyzing set-up that is geared to help gentiles become Jews and if that was stated explicitly on "KosherTube" page then it would mean that they are touting someone as a "Rabbinical advisor" who is doing things that many view as Not-So-Kosher!
Dear Daas torah,
ReplyDeletein my community, an "Einheitsgemeinde" (community for everybody from modern-orthodox to non-observant), they are ready to perform conversions only if the convert-to-be has a jewish spouse in view: i.e. they reject sincere and pure conversions and accept only those who have an interest.
Soshi,
ReplyDeleteYou are on something,
The rabbis realized that in a society where people can choose any religion such as Raelian and Cthulhu and everything between, those who choose Orthodox Judaism are probably just weirdoes.
The other point is that people who convwert for sake of marriage have much more in stake to be observant because of the fear that their spouse will leave them or would not marry them. People who convert because they feel that this is the right religion are more likely to feel in future that something else is the right religion. They do not have much in stake like the marriage converts.
Something like Gadol metzuve v’ose memi sheino metzuve v’ose