Eternal Jewish Family Blog
The Eternal Jewish Family International (EJF) has launched a major initiative on three continents to stem the tide of soaring intermarriage in Jewish communities in the US, Israel and Europe. Eternal Jewish Family is partnering with the largest and most successful kiruv (outreach) organizations, such as Ohr Somayach — Jerusalem, Hidabroot, Lev L'achim and Nefesh Yehudi in reaching out to large numbers of Jewish youth "with a direct message on the threat of intermarriage to themselves, their families, and the Jewish future". In the US, Eternal Jewish Family will team up with Gateways in reaching vulnerable youth. "This epidemic of intermarriage can only be confronted with 'straight talk' about the dangers of intermarriage", said Rabbi Leib Tropper, Rosh Yeshiva of Kol Yaakov/Horizons and the chairman of the Rabbinical Board of Eternal Jewish Family. "We can no longer afford to beat around the bush in the hope that the anti-intermarriage message will somehow penetrate". In many instances, Eternal Jewish Family will be cosponsoring seminars and Shabbatonim for the Jewish youth where special sessions will be devoted to the dangers of intermarriage. The first such Shabbaton in March was held in Baden, Austria in a joint program with Nefesh Yehudi for more than 100 Israeli medical students in Central and Eastern Europe. Eternal Jewish Family will be joining the outreach (kiruv) organizations in many similar seminars in the coming months.
I am sure when the conversion candidates will realize that leib Tropper is going to control every detail of their life, will demand that they adopt his frumkeit, after they find out he will revoke conversion of women who sometimes wear pants
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewcy.com/tags/leib_tropper
or will harass woman who dared to visit her parents on her college break.
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5769/TZV69aconvert.htm
After they heard about how he messed up Gideon Busch,
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/opinions/1999/09/02/1999-09-02_nypd_again_in_line_of_fire.html
Hopefully then they will look for conversion with darchei noam and sensitivity.
What a phony! The press release is so miseading! It does not even mention the word conversion which is all what the EJF business is all about. Really sneaky I have to say and reflects badly on the rabbis associated with them.
ReplyDeleteThis is basically the same stuff that was reported at EJF - recent Jerusalem conference (June 30, 2009) from Yeshiva World News: 350 Rabbonim Resolve to Battle Intermarriage & Assimilation in Worldwide Effort (June 30, 2009) and similar infomercials that were sent to the English language Orthodox papers that in fact were more authentic in a way since they appeared through other forums while this one is just another case of "self-praise is no recommendation"!
ReplyDeleteIt's all hype with no real substance if you take a closer look at the posting on the EJF blog. Why Tropper needs a blog as well as EJF needing one to post duplicate bobba-meises is just a sign if vanity, like an Obama wanting a blog as well as as having a White House blog, who would need two such ones?
Here is what it says, let's see now:
"World’s Largest Jewish Outreach Organizations"
RaP: Curious to read who EJF/Tropper or the writer of this post consider to be the world's "largest" outreach organizations. You can bet your bottom dollar that the OU's NCSY, Chabad-Lubavitch and Aish HaTorah, that together are easily the Orthodox world's largest outreach organizations (even though they don't share a common ideology) will not get mentioned by Tropper's standards.
"Join Eternal Jewish Family in New Major International Effort Against Intermarriage"
RaP: Oh, so they have "joined" EJF now, how nice, instead of it saying that EJF is proud to be working with these other better known and longer established organizations. How come they don't object to be portrayed as second fiddles to EJF while they have been fighting intermarriage through their famous kiruv activities in some cases for decades? So this is quite a piece of chutzpa from the EJF copy-writer here.
"Written by admin on August 24, 2009 – 10:56 am"
RaP: Who is the anonymous admin here writing such tough stuff that makes lap dogs out of other notable well-established kiruv organizations while EJF is portrayed as the "leader"?
"The Eternal Jewish Family International (EJF) has launched a major initiative on three continents to stem the tide of soaring intermarriage in Jewish communities in the US, Israel and Europe."
ReplyDeleteRaP: Very funny! So someone is trying to show off their knowledge of geography in an effort to make Tropper's restless by nature globe-trotting come off as some sort of "international" effort. It's like Rabbis Berel Wein, or Chanoch Teller, or Rebbetzin Heller who travel all over the world and represent both themselves and notable organizations at times would have the audacity to claim that they are setting up "international" efforts to stem assimilation and fight intermarriage through their lectures, scholar in residence and seminars, (all of which they have done very well for decades in word and in print) yet none of them would dream of proclaiming to the universe in messianic-like fashion that wherever they speak has "joined" with them in their worthy efforts on behalf of Torah Judaism. That is why Tropper's and EJF's self-laudatory tooting of their own horn at everyone's expense is so off-puting.
"Eternal Jewish Family is partnering with the largest and most successful kiruv (outreach) organizations, such as Ohr Somayach — Jerusalem,"
RaP: Note, that Ohr Somayach, MONSEY (NY), Tropper's neighbors who have long outshined him and have nothing to do with him, are not on this list. Maybe they know something that everyone else is ignoring.
"Hidabroot, Lev L’achim and Nefesh Yehudi in reaching out to large numbers of Jewish youth “with a direct message on the threat of intermarriage to themselves, their families, and the Jewish future”."
RaP: Hidabroot is a VERY new well-funded glitzy effort under the Belzer Rebbe's influence. Are they there to mekarev Jews or do they serve as a front to funnel money to Belz? They have yet to prove that they have made a real dent in mekareving and changing significant numbers of secular Israelis. Lev Le'achim successfuly deals with enrolling young Israeli children in schools. They don't need Tropper and EJF breathing down their throats or telling them what to do. If there are conversion issues there are plenty of local Israeli rabbis attached to the rabbanut to deal with that. Nefesh Yehudi is also a new operation and it's real results are not clear. For example, are they more successful than Rabbi Amnon Yitschak's Shofar organazition? and it's highly likely and provable that the Breslovers attract many more adult disciples from Israel Sefardim than any of the above mentioned, yet neither Shofar nor Breslov has joined with Tropper nor does Tropper seem to think they are worth including in his self-praises.
"In the US, Eternal Jewish Family will team up with Gateways in reaching vulnerable youth."
ReplyDeleteRaP: Ok, the Gateways people will use any name to broaden their reach, but it's highly unlikely that Gateways that mostly relies on a team of well-spoken and calm and gentle non-Americans from South Africa, Australia, and England, known for their moderation and ability to portray a moderate and appealing image of Torah Yiddishkiet, will find it easy to get along with Tropper's strident style, let alone explain why they wish to be associated with EJF's highly controversial proselytization agenda.
“This epidemic of intermarriage can only be confronted with ‘straight talk’ about the dangers of intermarriage”,"
RaP: Tropper loves hyperbole. That is only one style. There is a calmer gentler way and Tropper is intrinsically not familiar with that style. Therefore there is bound to be a clash of styles not to mention personality clashes between the more moderate kiruv-savvy winning styles that good kiruv workers and successful kiruv organizations use and Tropper's hot-headed mannerisms and shoving things down people's throats. Kiruv is not a bais din where supplicants are confronted and interrogated about their lives and past. Kiruv is about winning over the minds and hearts of secular JEWS (NOT of gentiles) and that can only be done with kind talk and not with yelling and screaming at them which is what "straight talk" results in, a style that only Tropper favors but that nobody else uses as a healthy kiruv technique.
"said Rabbi Leib Tropper, Rosh Yeshiva of Kol Yaakov/Horizons and the chairman of the Rabbinical Board of Eternal Jewish Family."
RaP: Yes, he loves titles and accolades. Yet he sends over a vicious poster Roni/Tropper to this blog because he is too thin-skinned to take some serious logical questioning himself.
“We can no longer afford to beat around the bush in the hope that the anti-intermarriage message will somehow penetrate”.
RaP: Wrong! Kiruv workers know what works and what doesn't and Tropper's my-way-or-the-highway does not work, in any situations and will actually cause successful kiruv workers to stop if they are nuts enough to implement his confrontational "advice". "Divrei chachomim benachas nishma'aim" is evidently something that Tropper has never been taught and does not get.
"In many instances, Eternal Jewish Family will be cosponsoring seminars and Shabbatonim for the Jewish youth where special sessions will be devoted to the dangers of intermarriage."
RaP: This is so simplistic and almost dumb. What are they going to do that is different to effective known kiruv and that will be provably better? Lobotomies anyone?
"The first such Shabbaton in March was held in Baden, Austria in a joint program with Nefesh Yehudi for more than 100 Israeli medical students in Central and Eastern Europe."
RaP: NCSY holds hundreds of Shabbatons each year and they mekarev more kids than anyone else, yet they don't toot their horns about it like this. And what happened in Austria? Will they never marry a gentile ten years later just because they went to one EJF seminar? It's just so stupid it's not worthy of serious thought.
"Eternal Jewish Family will be joining the outreach (kiruv) organizations in many similar seminars in the coming months."
RaP: Good luck to them (the other kiruv organizations) they are going to need it.