It is interesting to note the rapidity with which R' Tropper comments about the "inaccuracy" of material on my blog. He has longed claimed that my purpose in posting material concerning him and EJF is only because of my obsession to attack him - and it has nothing to do with the validity of the questions. Given R' Troppers view of me and his accusations that I lack integrity and perhaps the competence to understand the halachic literature, I am anxiously waiting for him to accuse me of fabricating this transcript and to charge that Rav Reuven never said those things and I am only posting it to try to embarrass him and Rav Reuven Feinstein,chas v'shalom.
In short I challenge R' Tropper to claim that this material is a lie. I would love to hear him say - that since he has been meeting with Rav Reuven at least once a week for a long time that he knows exactly the views of Rav Reuven and of course diligently follows the views of Rav Reuven - that it is inconceivable that Rav Reuven has said the words that I reported in the transcript.
Alternatively I would like to hear how R' Tropper justifies his actions - which he claims are done under the guidance of Rav Reuven Feinstein - which are appear blatantly at variance with the views reported here in the name of Rav Reuven.
In sum, either the transcript is false and is full of lies or R' Tropper needs to explain why he doesn't listen to the views of his halachic authority or he alternatively needs to explain how Rav Reuven fully agrees with his progam of conferences in California, Arizona and the Lavie Hotel despite saying he doesn't.
In short I challenge R' Tropper to claim that this material is a lie. I would love to hear him say - that since he has been meeting with Rav Reuven at least once a week for a long time that he knows exactly the views of Rav Reuven and of course diligently follows the views of Rav Reuven - that it is inconceivable that Rav Reuven has said the words that I reported in the transcript.
Alternatively I would like to hear how R' Tropper justifies his actions - which he claims are done under the guidance of Rav Reuven Feinstein - which are appear blatantly at variance with the views reported here in the name of Rav Reuven.
In sum, either the transcript is false and is full of lies or R' Tropper needs to explain why he doesn't listen to the views of his halachic authority or he alternatively needs to explain how Rav Reuven fully agrees with his progam of conferences in California, Arizona and the Lavie Hotel despite saying he doesn't.
This was to be expected. Tropper's camp is putting out the story that Rabbi R. Feinstein stands fully behind him.
ReplyDeleteStill, nothing is forthcoming in writing.
Tropper's people are spreading a rumor that Guma bought 50% of Arutz Sheva which therefore has no credibility in reporting on him.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone confirm this?
I just don't think this tone and approach will help the cause you wish to further.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that, apart from knocking it as "modern orthodox" and "pro-improper gerus", Tropper & company have not started digging up dirt on Arutz Sheva.
ReplyDeleteThey were convicted of pirate broadcasting, although the Supreme Court threw most of that out. And one of their officials was convicted of perjury for lying about the location of the antennas, although he later became a member of Knesset.
Guma's mekarev Rabbi Tovia Singer is also an Arutz Sheva radio anchor.
tomidbsimcha said...
ReplyDeleteI just don't think this tone and approach will help the cause you wish to further.
============
I am open to suggestions - I have tried various approaches in the last 2 years. What would you suggest that I haven't tried?
Reporting from the Presidential suite said...
ReplyDeleteThis was to be expected. Tropper's camp is putting out the story that Rabbi R. Feinstein stands fully behind him.
Still, nothing is forthcoming in writing.
=================
So how did you find out about it?
Someone I know who is bemachane Tropper was very disturbed by the recent revealations and looked into things to get "clarification", which means asking around internally. I don't think this was directly mipee Tropper but from a henchman / associate rov who I incidentally once met and found to be a major yenta & nudnik.
ReplyDeleteHagaon Harav Reuven Feinstein Shlit”A Is Still The EJF President Of The Halachic Committee
ReplyDeletePosted by Rabbi Tropper
Posted on 19-10-2009
Question:
Does Rav Reuven Feinstein truly know the work which EJF is involved with regarding mixed couples?
Binyomin Shalom J.
Queens, NY
Rabbi Tropper Responds:
Thank you for inquiring. Hagaon Harav Reuven Feinstein Shlit”a is very aware, involved and is still the President of the Halachic Committee despite unreliable reports to the contrary.
1. He Wrote a Teshuva which is Printed in the Second journal published by EJF where he clearly supports the EJF position.
2. He prepared a video for the mixed couples seminar at least twice.
3. A member of the Badatz called Rav Feinstein, Shlit”a to verify his support. This member of the Badatz was very satisfied and identified to us who manufactured false allegations against EJF.
Someone had mentioned sockpuppeting which I think is a very valid point. Tropper's so called "international ambassador" a.k.a. PR flack is Menachem Lubinsky of Rubashkin infamy. PR flacks like Lubinsky, on the payroll of any slimy client, will go to extraordinary lengths to get the job done. As reported in the NY Times and elsewhere, Lubinsky's co-PR flacks at Rubashkin, Ronn Torossian and Judah Engelmayer were caught not only sockpuppeting but impersonating Rubashkin critics to discredit them which is a Federal offense. They issued a weak apology when someone who was impersonated threatened to press charges with the Manhattan District Attorney.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Tropper is repeating a pattern of scorched earth tactics against anyone he doesn't like.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember Rabbi Slifkin? Rav Sternbuch shlita said Slifkin's views do not make he himself an apikorus. Tropper nonetheless savaged the fellow as if he was an apikorus. One rosh yeshiva who would not sign the Tropper-inspired letter mentioned that he was highly suspicious of anything being promoted by a good friend of Tropper, Leib Pinter, a career criminal who is in jail again for stealing over $100 million from banks and mortgage holders. As reported in the 1970s New York Times, Pinter is also a chotay umachtee es harabim who supplied treif meat & cheese sandwiches labeled as kosher.
Chazal say you know the kashrus status of animals by who they associate with. The Torah Temimah brings down Ben Sira that the intention of Chazal is that the rule also applies to people.
Leib Pinter is Tropper's long time friend who did all the dirty footwork to destroy Rabbi Slifkin, above and beyond what was necessary to deal with any problematic seforim.
Why has this amazing site of 'Daat Torah' become a Rabbi Tropper (whom ever he is), Guma, Roni, Rav Feinstein dialogue about gerus?
ReplyDeleteCan we not get back to the Torah Chidushim that you are known for and the insightful news/views coming from Eretz Yisroel?
Why has this amazing site of 'Daat Torah' become a Rabbi Tropper (whom ever he is), Guma, Roni, Rav Feinstein dialogue about gerus?
ReplyDeleteCan we not get back to the Torah Chidushim that you are known for and the insightful news/views coming from Eretz Yisroel?
============
I agree with you - however there is sometimes a necessity to clean out the garbage "Who is rich? One who has a bathroom next to his table" see the Maharal.
Why do I get the feeling that Tropper may be posing some of the questions on his blog to himself?
ReplyDeleteThe Q&A about R' Reuven doesn't make sense.
1. If there is a teshuva bichsav, why wouldn't Tropper make it available on his websites where no other expense is spared?
2. According to Tropper, R' Reuven is being soser himself in continuing to approve EJF against the shita of his own father.
3. According to Tropper, the Badatz is "satisfied" with EJF despite pleading with rabbonim to stop associating with them AND having issued a public letter of condemnation.
4. I somehow suspect that if a question was posed to Tropper from a non-imaginary person about his relationship with the lowlife Pinter, it would not make it on to his blog with the phony "thank you for asking".
"clean out the garbage"
ReplyDeletePlease stop using such derogatory language.
On an outsider or a casual reader this whole fighting makes a dismal impression.
Furthermore, it could be that Gerim or Giur candidates get hurt by stray bullets from one side or the other, and I suppose that this is not what you want.
Try to be very precise in your accusations and try to avoid sweeping statements and derogatory speech.
EJF takkeh belongs in the toilet for distorting the psak of R' Moshe.
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that the reason R' Moshe gave for leaving Communist Russia is that you cannot expect a Yid to spend the rest of his life in a place that has the din of a bathroom.
There is a concept in some of Shakespeare's works of EQUIVOCATION. According to the dictionary, to EQUIVOCATE means to "use ambiguous words to conceal the truth" and EQUIVOCAL means "of double meaning, ambiguous, of uncertain nature, undecided, questionable, suspicious."
ReplyDeleteAnd a lot of what's happening now is that Rabbi Tropper is equivocating himself by doing two things, he is (a) trying to portray Rav Reuven Feinstein's word's of being equivocal in his (Rabbi Tropper's) favor when they are evidently not according to posters mekubal, Aaron, and Rabbi Eidensohn, and (b) playing on a certain degree of equivocation that may indeed be in Rav Reuvein's words, to extract meanings that support him, when in fact it's now clearly a toss up and marks the first time Rav Reuven distances himself from the known, proven, stated and performed PROSELTYIZING PRINCIPLES and ACTVITIVITIES of EJF as Rav Reuven tries to move his public position from one of seeming a clear-cut supporter of EJF and Rabbi Tropper, to that of a more neutral and less involved supporter who never agreed to Tropper's radical plans and EJF's oft-repeated proselytization to unlimited numbers of gentiles hitched to Jews mission statements posted on their sites and all over the place multiple times.
So Tropper is going into overdrive to parry the thrust from the latest revelations from Rav Reuven as published on this blog, but it's not easy as Nixon found out when tapes with words were played, transcripts of them were written up and printed and intelligent and informed readers could make up their minds for themselves without Tropper or anyone telling anyone what to think.
By the way, hopefully it's been noticed that TROPPER DOES NOT DENY THE EXISTENCE OF THIS TAPE, how can he, but he has been known to deny all sorts of true and verifiable matters that he did not like.
He seems to know very well that he cannot deny the existence of the Rav Reuven tape nor is he saying that the transcripts are false, what he IS saying is that he's trying to play and twist the words in his favor, as he did when the two rabbis who denounced in their letter his forged letter and attacks of Rabbi Bomzer, that they disagreed with what was said in their name, even though they were still for higher standards, but which poster Roni/Tropper tried to twist and mangle around to mean something that it does not.
"Rabbi Tropper Responds: Thank you for inquiring. Hagaon Harav Reuven Feinstein Shlit”a is very aware, involved and is still the President of the Halachic Committee despite unreliable reports to the contrary."
ReplyDeleteRaP: Nobody said he quit. Just that he is found to be saying on a tape in an open forum that he now DISAGREES with PROSELYTIZING and therefore this is dissonant with and contradicts EJF's goals of proselytizing since if it's rabbinic head and advisor disagrees and opposes proseltyizations how come this organization that he touts, that has devoted itself itself to proselytization, does not (a) abandon it's proselytization goals for which it has been criticized especially by Rav Shternbuch and the full BADATS, and/or alternatively, (b) if Rav Reuven Feinstein officillay opposes proselytization he should have the courage of his convictions and RESIGN as the the nominal Halachic head of EJF because no rov or rosh yeshiva should be at the head of an organization that is doing things that he is against. This should be poshut.
"1. He Wrote a Teshuva which is Printed in the Second journal published by EJF where he clearly supports the EJF position."
RaP: While Rav Reuven Feinstein may have "supported" EJF's position in the past as poster Roni/Tropper has told us by attending EJF events, with the release of this tape and the words as posted in the transcript carefully done by Rabbi Eidensohn and reviewed by posters Aaron and mekubal, it is clearly evident that Rav Reuven clearly does NOT now support, or perhaps never did, and no longer supports EJF's self-declared mission to proselytize to gentiles. In addition, there is no such "Teshuva" from Rav Reuven Feinstein where he only spoke in generalities and there is NOT ONE WORD in it about allowing EJF-style proselytization in any shape, size or form. So that is an outright lie.
"2. He prepared a video for the mixed couples seminar at least twice."
RaP: He did not "prepare" any video! Rav Reuven Feinstein is a full time rosh yeshiva and he does not "prepare" videos. He was filmed by EJF's highly paid advertizing people to appear in a video and he mumbles a few things into the camera, and again there is nothing there that he says that it is outright permissible to proselytize, so that it is a lie to say he permits proselytization by EJF or any Torah Jew (how could he, it's against the norms of Yiddishkeit and flies in the face of known rulings going back to times of the Rishonim and earlier to the Talmud) and now with the latest recording and release of this transcript it's proof positive that Rav Reuven Feinstein is in a tough position and he is therefore trying his best to be on the side of normative Torah normalcy and not on EJF's and Rabbi Tropper's innovative cesspool of twisted arguments and falsehoods to justify EJF's well-known proselytization activities, publicity drives and deceptions.
"3. A member of the Badatz called Rav Feinstein, Shlit”a to verify his support."
RaP: Who is it? Is rabbi Tropper now following the BADATS that is on record of OFFICIALLY condemning him in writing, at least twice? This must be an early Purim joke, or is it a "trick or treat" for Halloween?
"This member of the Badatz was very satisfied"
RaP: Again, please name him. Thank you in advance.
"and identified to us who manufactured false allegations against EJF."
RaP: Not such a veiled threat as Rabbi Tropper cannot resist his innate nature to threaten people who disagree with him in his now notorious my-way-or-the-highway bullying style.
gioret said...
ReplyDelete"clean out the garbage"
Please stop using such derogatory language.
On an outsider or a casual reader this whole fighting makes a dismal impression.
Furthermore, it could be that Gerim or Giur candidates get hurt by stray bullets from one side or the other, and I suppose that this is not what you want.
Try to be very precise in your accusations and try to avoid sweeping statements and derogatory speech.
===========
You obviously are new to this discussion which has been going on for a very long time. If you were familiar with the issues you would be aware that the terms I used are very precise.
Someone who hasn't taken the time to investigate the issues and comes and just walks in - should hestitate to make pronouncements and criticism about that which he/she knows not.
I agree an outsider or causal reader will be puzzled and disturbed by this thread - but then it is really not for the causal or outsider in the first place. So please either read the relevant postings or find something else to read.
I think what is happening is that millions of people who followed the New York Times link into UOJ, That day the post on the top was about Tropper (good for him) and some of the comments mentioned this blog. So you are going to get readers who did not follow those issues.
ReplyDeleteTaking about issue, I am sure this saga about a young man and his uncle, their fortune, the charlatan rabbi who uses them both, a Brazilian beauty who makes the above rabbi and his cronies all worked up, Jewish proselytizing campaign, revoked conversion, forged letters, a blogger on the hills of Jerusalem who tries to investigate and make sense of it.
It is material for a novel, investigative report for Vanity Fair or expose for National Inquirer or the Sun.
I am going to convert (for the sake of heaven)through EJF and I really don't know why everyone is a against R. Tropper. I am not in a relationship and never been in a relationship with a Jew. I am doing it because I love G-d and want to serve him for the rest of my life. My question is if Rabbi Tropper's conversions are Kosher why is everyone attacking him? Another question, maybe you know better than me since this is all new to me, If I convert through EFJ what will I be considered, Modern Orthodox, Orthodox or Ultra-Orthodox? What I mean is Does EJF make you sign a contract so that you will be UO forever? No matter what happens, I know that I will be Jewish and will try my best to make the whole experience worthwhile. I hope that we all can reconcile our differences and bring more unity to the Jewish Community. Thanks.
ReplyDelete@daas torah
ReplyDeleteOf course, on your blog you may speak as you like, censor as you like, allow comments as you like.
I just tell you the formulations like "clean out the garbage" are by no means worthy of a blog that calls itself "daas torah".
But then you might have chose the title at random. As far as I can see, there is no obvious link between this blog and "daas torah" invoked in its title.
I have never met Leib Tropper but because he has blazed a trail of so much much trouble I would recommend that "curious" find a non-EJF, non-RCA and non-Chabad rabbi to do the conversion. Some RCA rabbis are reliable but it's not easy to know which ones. The problem with Chabad is that many of them are Messianic which is either foolish or heretical.
ReplyDeleteTropper is under attack mainly because his outreach to the intermarried is done improperly despite his claims to the contrary and those particular conversions are highly suspect. Tropper had been under attack even before this was on the radar screen because of his efforts to destroy the life of Rabbi Slifkin who wrote a controversial book.
Even if you have never been in a relationship with a Jew, there are just so many accusations floating around from so many different corners about Tropper causing heartache to his subjects, I don't think it's worth the risk of finding out for yourself.
am going to convert (for the sake of heaven)through EJF
ReplyDeleteNot a smart choice, EJF is one man shop and many of the rabbis he shows off will stay with him as long as Tom Kaplan and Daphne Recanati continue to pump money into him, when that ends you will be alone.
Converting with EJF means that they and not your local rabbi will be part of your life until the day you die. They will have to approve your job, your community, your friends. your school, your children school, one disobedience act and your and your children conversion could be revoked.
If one day you will decide to follow Modern Orthodoxy lifestyle Tropper will revoke you conversion like he did here.
Revoked Conversion
http://www.jewcy.com/tags/leib_tropper
Even now you are not in a good position because if decide to leave them and to go via Modern Orthodox conversion, Tropper will say that you still believe in Christ like he did here.
Tropper and the RCA Convert
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5769/BMD69aconvert.htm
Judaism is more than being part of Tropper’d cult. Tropper does not tell you but there is more than one way (his way) to worship God.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2009/10/ejf.html
ReplyDeleteLakewood's R' Yudel Shain whose website has a large following among the American yeshiva oylam, has joined the battle to raise the alarm against EJF.
Gioret,
ReplyDeleteThe expression "cleaning out the garbage" may seem strong at first glance, but please understand where Rabbi Eidensohn is coming from.
He tried to get to the bottom of the EJF enigma which led to Tropper publicly badmouthing him and the great sage Rabbi Moishe Sternbuch who is an elder of the nation of Israel. Then an internet troll "Roni" appeared here, which may have also been Tropper himself, who unleashed endless tirades of vulgar and inappropriate outbursts.
I'm sure that Rabbi Eidensohn uses the word garbage very sparingly and there is no more apt opportunity to apply it then to Tropper and his EJF scheme.
Not everyone against Tropper is necessarily a good source of information.
ReplyDeleteJewcy is staffed by two former nominally chassidish apikorsim who went off the derech. They have an anti-religion agenda period and are trying to cast all rabbonim together with Tropper as an evil cabal led by Rav Elyashev who they especially demonize. One of the Jewcy collaborators maintains another blog which is full of inaccuracies and outright lies all with the intention of convincing people to leave orthodox Judaism.
Jewcy is staffed by two former nominally chassidish apikorsim who went off the derech
ReplyDeleteקבל את האמת ממי שאמרה
we don't care who said it as long as it's true
My family actually knew the couple, both of them were pretty much observant, Tropper even put the girl on his first promo movie and wanted them to move to South Fallsberg to start a BT community over there (I kid you not!).
The community they were living was Modern Orthodox so that was the source of contention. Nobody knew that when she goes out of town she sometimes wears pants but her husband who was newly minted BT and trusted Tropper told it to him. Tropper is such a smouth talker (when he does not adopt the Roni personality) who can turn husbands against their wives (not the first time) and make rich people divorce from the their millions.
The couple was supposed to convert with r' Bomzer but they were convince by Tropper and a chabbad rabbi who works him to go with the EJF.
That Chabbad rabbi continues to send couples to Tropper like the one here http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w3ipkL1Dd10/R1LgAm6TqBI/AAAAAAAAADk/jUJJG2Q2yZg/s1600-R/EJF+Convention+brochure+Phoenix+2007+%231.jpg
and works as Tropper spy in the bay area.
See, money makes strange bed fellows
I am also familiar with the case reported in http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5769/BMD69aconvert.htm and the campaign against rav Lookstein's beard but you obviously consider that web site more reliable than Jewcy so I will stop here
The case from Ashdod is reported by the European Yated. I am not familiar with that paper. I do know that the American Yated is full of propaganda so I also consider it unreliable although it is still not as bad as Jewcy since the kavanna of Yated does not entail being maysis unmaydiach away from frumkeit.
ReplyDeleteWhen Tropper rattles off the list of poskim that HE claims endorse him, I find it kind of odd that he leaves his own rebbe Rav Scheinberg off the list.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be several major cities where Tropper has not approved any batei din.
ReplyDeletePittsburgh
Ottawa
Boston
Washington
Seattle
St. Louis
Memphis
Cincinnati
Minneapolis
Las Vegas
Atlanta
Queens
5 Towns
Staten Island
Elizabeth
Passaic
Some of these cities may be sending the Tropper machine their candidates, as I believe San Diego does, but at least some of these locations are not cooperating with Tropper even though they are Charedi.
Ken yirbu.
It's also interesting that some of the rabbonim making Tropper's grade across the United States are known for their shvache kashrus standards. Why should I trust Tropper's picks to do gerus when they are unreliable to supervise food?
EJF Dayanim Conference in the Sheraton Meadowlands, NJ
ReplyDelete11/08/2009 - 11/10/2009
Is it possible to load an attachment in a comment?
ReplyDeleteHere's a letter dated for today from R' Feinstein:
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/images/uploads/haskama.pdf
Rachel said...
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to load an attachment in a comment?
Here's a letter dated for today from R' Feinstein:
==================
Thanks for the link. I just made a separate post of the haskama
I know of a couple who's converting through EFJ. The lady who will be the convert and the guy who's a born Jew live together, very nice couple, and she loves Judaism, she is not doing it because of him. They are modern orthodox and dont know what is going to happen to them, I mean she will convert eventually but I know for a fact that they dont know that their lives might change drastically after her conversion. Will the beis Din ask them to leave the community because it's not Charedi but MO? Will the beis Din ask them to be Charedi? Most likely. I mean they dont know what they're getting themselves into since MO is not for some reason what these beis Din want from converts. It's very scary quite frankly. I dont know whether I should tell them or not, but I wish them the best. As I mentioned before, they are a lovely couple and both are in love with Judaism and are very observant but they're modern orthodox and I am afraid they may not want to change or move since they love their community, friends and the MO lifestyle. There's nothing wrong with MO, most of my friends including I are MO and we follow halacha and are very machmir. Is being Chareidi the only path to follow Hashem. Do you need to be Hareidi to be a Torah Jew? I dont think so.
ReplyDelete"observer said... I dont know whether I should tell them or not,"
ReplyDeleteRaP: Why not? If you saw a ten ton truck veering towards their house wouldn't you tell them to get out? Unless you don't care if these people's lives are totally crushed and destroyed by the Tropper my-way-or-the-highway methods. There are MO rabbis and batei din, use them, don't become a fake Haredi, it is hard to be Haredi on top of being Jewish and Orthodox, when they will just fall flat and make total idiots of themselves. Remember the Torah and Tanach teach that the foundation of Judaism and of joining Judaism is chesed, even minute amounts of chesed effect the outcome.
"Is being Chareidi the only path to follow Hashem. Do you need to be Hareidi to be a Torah Jew? I dont think so."
RaP: You answer your own question.
"curious says...My question is if Rabbi Tropper's conversions are Kosher why is everyone attacking him?"
ReplyDeleteIt's not a persoanl matter. The problem is that Rabbi Tropper has promoted through his EJF program proselytization of gentiles something that classical Torah Judaism has always opposed.
Judaism is not a missionary religion. Whoever wishes to convert can go through the process with any reliable bais din, but at no point has Judaism ever allowed or wanted to go out and recruit gentiles like Rabbi Tropper and EJF do with sponsoring paid luxury retreats at hotels to lure and win-over the gentile spouses and partners=proselytization.
Rabbi Tropper and EJF have abandoned that stricture and have undertaken to proseltyze to all gentiles hitched to Jews, ande even beyond that they seek to go out and search for "lost Jews' among one third of humanity, according to their own paid-for PR. This is controversial not done according to all rabbis in Jewish Law. Rabbi Tropper is making it up as he goes along.
I mean they don't know what they're getting themselves into since MO is not for some reason what these beis Din want from converts. It's very scary quite frankly. I don't know whether I should tell them or not,
ReplyDeleteYou are mercury from deoraisa ( obligated from the torah) to inform them. It is the commandment of lo taamod al dan re'eicha (Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger)
If Tropper will revoke her conversion, will push them away from Judaism and they will be lost to Judaism forever and you will share part of the blame.