Eternal Jewish Family
12/20/2009
EJF announced that Rabbi Chaim Blum, EJF's liaison to the network of Botei Din in the Torah community, has agreed to serve as interim director of EJF.
Statement by the Eternal Jewish Family
December 20, 2009
EJF announced that Rabbi Chaim Blum, EJF's liaison to the network of Botei Din in the Torah community, has agreed to serve as interim director of EJF.
The organization operates offices in the US, Europe and Israel with international headquarters in Monsey NY. In accepting the position, Rabbi Blum said: "The recent announcement by Rav Tropper that he is resigning his post at EJF is accepted with sadness and regret. The announcement by some of the world's leading Torah authorities that they will take an increased role in the Eternal Jewish Family is testimony of the organization's strength and commitment to its core mission. The many people who benefit from EJF's activities should know that the organization remains fully committed to its important mission, one which has helped thousands of people in their pursuit of a Jewish life."
EJF International is headed by distinguished halachic authorities around the world, including Rav Reuven Feinstein, Chairman of the Halachic Committee (US), Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu (Europe) and Rav Shmuel Eliezer Stern (Av Bais Din of Rabbi Wosner's Bais Din - Israel).
12/20/2009
EJF announced that Rabbi Chaim Blum, EJF's liaison to the network of Botei Din in the Torah community, has agreed to serve as interim director of EJF.
Statement by the Eternal Jewish Family
December 20, 2009
EJF announced that Rabbi Chaim Blum, EJF's liaison to the network of Botei Din in the Torah community, has agreed to serve as interim director of EJF.
The organization operates offices in the US, Europe and Israel with international headquarters in Monsey NY. In accepting the position, Rabbi Blum said: "The recent announcement by Rav Tropper that he is resigning his post at EJF is accepted with sadness and regret. The announcement by some of the world's leading Torah authorities that they will take an increased role in the Eternal Jewish Family is testimony of the organization's strength and commitment to its core mission. The many people who benefit from EJF's activities should know that the organization remains fully committed to its important mission, one which has helped thousands of people in their pursuit of a Jewish life."
EJF International is headed by distinguished halachic authorities around the world, including Rav Reuven Feinstein, Chairman of the Halachic Committee (US), Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu (Europe) and Rav Shmuel Eliezer Stern (Av Bais Din of Rabbi Wosner's Bais Din - Israel).
Sorry, but far from enough!
ReplyDelete1) You MUST make a statement regarding the chillul Hashem that was done under the auspices of YOUR ORGANIZATION THE EJF! It was not a janitor at the organization that did shmootz (even if it was a janitor who would have done in your premises you should have have some responsibility to fix a chilul Hashem)WITH THE POWER OF THE ORGANIZATION AS CHAIRMAN OF THE ORGANIZATION, especially as it was done in connection to allowing her a conversion in exchange for this shmootz!
2) you must at the same explain how could the person have had the power to convey gerut to a person since he was not part of the batey dinim (As he should NOT have been).
3) The next most important step is:
DISBAND THIS ORGANIZATION!
4) Then take some time to rethink how to start a new organization, to fix all problems that brought to this debacle and chillul Hashem of the century.
5)There can be NO MONEY TAKING FOR ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED WITH THIS ORGANIZATION WHATSOEVER. MR. KAPLAN SHOULD NOT GIVE A PENNY TO THIS OR THAT YESHIVA IN ISRAEL OR STATEN ISLAND OR WHEREVER. THERE SHOULD BE A WAY TO HAVE OVERSIGHT OVER THIS POINT.
6) NO FANCY CONVENTIONS AT HOTELS. GO A BROKEN SHITBBLE A CONVENE THERE.
7) ANSWER TO QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC. DON'T POH POOH THEM. DON'T HIDE BEHIND RABBI BLUM. A HALACHIK QUESTION OR A MORAL QUESTION, SHOULD BE ADDRESSED AND ANSWERED TO THE PUBLIC BY YOU. NOT IN CLOSED DOORS. BUT AT A POSSIBLE PUBLIC FORUM.
HAVE THE POLICIES EXPLAINED CLEARLY AND WITH HALACHIK SOURCES AND REASONINGS.
AND THERE ARE PROBABLY MUCH MORE...
interestingly on this PR , they recognise R Ely Bers resigning, there is not mention of him, similarly they have removed the previous PR which mentions REBW.
ReplyDeleteI find it though absolutley disgusting and a shame and disgrace on the whole EJF, after the allegations against LT have been so publically discussed in the national newspapers and have been independantly confirmed,(in such a way that LT can no longer try and fool Rav Reuven) that they should still not condem him and they can still say " it is with regret..that tropper is leaving "
Wake up EJF to the world.You are causing more and more of a disgrace to Klal Yisroel
Maybe the initial comparison to Tiger Woods has some legs after all.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20rich.html?_r=1&em
and I want to add to you something simple and urgent:
ReplyDeleteyour failure to condemn Tropper for the shmootz he did, shows to the world, how tainted you were with the MONEY HE ARRANGED FOR YOUR ORGANIZATIONS!
tHIS ITSELF SETS A NEW CHILUL HASHEM THAT CANNOT BE ERASED BY MAKING A NEW CHAIRMAN AND AND ANOTHER COLOUR TO YOUR WEBSITE. YOU MUST SHOW THE PUBLIC THAT YOU ARE REMORSEFUL IN SPEECH AND ACTIONS ABOUT THE SHMOOTZ DONE BY THE HEAD OF YOUR ORGANIZATION AND USING THE ORGANIZATION, OTHERWISE IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU TOOK MONEY FROM HIM AND YOU ARE TAINTED BY COVERING FOR HIS SHMOOTZ! ANDBY BEING PARTNER (BY ALLOWING YOU TO BE HIS COVER) FOR HIS SHMOOTZ!
I never thought I would agree with Roni.
ReplyDeleteMoshiach must be coming.
It all boils down to one man now, R Reuven Feinstein! Tropper's friend and the one who allegedly received the controversial three million dollars from Tropper's arch-enemy Guma Aguiar, and much more from Tropper over the years. In light of Tropper's sexual indiscretions it automatically and logically casts a terrible light and raises questions about R Reuven Feinstein too. He is and remains Tropper's number one enabler, no two ways about it. R Pinchas Scheinberg is a name from Tropper's past but R Reuven Feinstein is the go-to man in Tropper's and EJF's present and future.
ReplyDeleteTropper's influence and shadow through R Reuven Feinstein therefore still loom very large over EJF and anyone and anything connected with it because R Reuven Feinstein is privy to everything concerning EJF and Tropper yet he still clings on for dear life to Tropper and EJF. WHY? That is the $64,000 question!
Baruch Hashem that R EB Wachtfogel was knocked out of the EJF picture last week abd it was through pressure from revelations and genuine questions by bloggers, let's hope he has cut his ties to EJF 100% and the he is not still hob-knobbing with Tropper and R Reuven Feinstein behind the scenes and that his name will now NEVER come up connected to EJF in any way whatsoever. R EB Wachtfogel has done a very wise thing for himself and for Klal Yisroel!
Right now, in a well-established culture of denial and cover-up the advantage goes to Tropper as long as he lies low. Sure his name is now mud and in some papers and flooding the Jewish blogosphere, but he can count on the usual responses in the Charedi world when scandals break open, that the trend is to automatically cover them up, not talk about them ("sha-shtill" and "shveig"), to deny them as if they never happened, and that old favorite of balme the victims (in law it's known as "the devil made me do it" defense and it does not work).
It is therefore crucial that whoever released the first tapes now release the rest of them and whatever else is available on audio or video tape no matter how ugly or explicit about Tropper and any other miscreants at EJF that will keep R Reuven Feinstein's feet to the fire and not let the public forget that now it is: "EJF=Tropper=Feinstein" and "Tropper=EJF=Feinstein" and "Feinstein=Tropper=EJF" and "EJF=Feinstein=Tropper" and "Feinstein=EJF=Tropper" , a TRUE "equation" that cannot be "split" and that just as Tropper has resigned in absolute shame and disgrace from EJF it must be made understood to R Reuven Feinstein that EJF is a 100% shamed and disgraced outfit that no one will associate with because it has zero crediblity and no one will trust it as a safe sexual-harrasment free outfit let alone a halachically reliable place to go for help with "universal" conversions.
It is time to say bedtime for the EJF bonzo once and for all and R Reuven Feinstein must cut his losses and walk away from it very soon unless he wishes to see the destruction of what is left of his own name once and for all!
http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/site/news/article/change_in_ejf_leadership1/
ReplyDeleteSo R' Elya Ber is wiped clean from EJF and replaced with Chaim Blum as if nothing happened and R' Reuvein's wording is changed to cover up even more than last week.
There is more than one Chaim Blum, as in the rov in Monsey and the one from the Tzanzer kollel in Bensonhurst. I certainly hope it is NOT the one from South Fallsburg who is very close to R' Elya Ber. The one in South Fallsburg may even be R' Elya Ber's nephew. If it is, it would mean that R' Elya Ber only backed out because of pressure but has installed his meshamesh / driver / nephew as part of the cover up for Tropper and monies received thereof.
http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/trouble-in-the-catskills/
When it came to the Kolko scandal in Fallsburg this past summer, Blum was at least more wary of Kolko than R' Elya Ber was.
http://613sfha.org/id3.html
Here is a picture of Blum in the Fallsburg beis medrash.
http://www.godaven.com/browseminyan.asp?City=South+Fallsburg
And Blum is even listed as the assistant rov in the Fallsburg shul under Tropper talmid Yaakov Barros who has a shady history even before EJF got off the ground.
R' Elya Ber, we beg you! You of all people should have nothing to do with the shmutz and chilul Hashem that is menuvol Tropper and EJF.
I think EJF could become a positive organization if it does two things. First, have major rabbis do a transparent, open, publicly published halachic study of what EJF has actually done so far (in terms of reaching out to gentiles), and whether this comports with halacha. This might result in a finding that some of what was done was arguably against halacha, while some of it was fine.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the organization should cease being an anti-Modern Orthodox organization, which attempts to delegitimize rabbis and potential converts who believe (for example) the world is more than 6000 years old. This probably would involve abandoning the attempt to "standardize conversions," and the attempt at enrolling the help of the Rabbanut in its efforts to disqualify most of the world's batei din from performing conversions.
If all EJF does is provide assistance to individual potential gerim married to born Jews or descended from intermarriages, who come to them interested in Orthodox conversion, then I don't see what's wrong with that. But if they can't clarify the halachic issues and cease their war against the legitimacy of everyone who doesn't hold their hashkafic views, then they should cease to exist.
Busha Vcharpa
ReplyDeleteOnce again instead of taking responsibily they say "The recent announcement by Rav Tropper that he is resigning his post at EJF is accepted with sadness and regret"
What sadness and regret he was acting like a Rosha and menuval - once again trying to whitewash the sheker, at least be honest and adress your errors. Looking forward to receiving guidance from Rav Sternbach" Emesdicka Gedolim.
By the way who is Rav Blum?
As long as there is money in the EJF bank accounts there would be people who would like to work for them.
ReplyDeleteWe need to look into the role of (clean-shaven Gerrer chossid) Menachem Lubinsky in this affair. He is the "International Ambassador" and PR frontman for EJF and Tropper, and he has always stepped in when Tropper has alienated people, which as an aggressive and intemperate person he has tended to do fairly regularly. Lubinsky is the composer of last Monday's EJF press release and he wrote all the so called statements by the various protagonists. Lubinsky has been working the phones all week trying to rats to board the sinking ship that EJF has become. And of course the reason EJF can't fall is because it is the key to obtaining Tom Kaplan's money.
ReplyDeleteWho is curently signing EJF checks? If it is still Tropper then the whole resignation is phony - a cosmetic damage limitation exercise, cooked up by Lubinsky while a strategy is prepared - however ridiculous this may seem to you - for Tropper to rejoin the kiruv world, a humbled and repentant figure.
Lubinsky, who is also on the board of Agudas Yisroel of America, has plenty of practice working cover ups for Rubashkin and the OU, among other places. When KAJ-Breuer's threw out Rubashkin for kashrus violations (not officially but proven from leaked letters), Lubinsky crafted one of his weasel word announcements that they are "consolidating" behind the OU & Weissmandel.
Lubinsky's numbers and email
917 816 0380
212 643 1623
718 258 5911
mlubinsky@lubicom.com
And Blum is even listed as the assistant rov in the Fallsburg shul under Tropper talmid Yaakov Barros who has a shady history even before EJF got off the ground.
ReplyDeleteYaakov Barros used to be a rabbi in San Francisco before moving to South Fallsburg (after they fire their MO rabbi)
There is something with Tropper and Barros trying to corner the bay area. Few years ago Tropper tried to form an alliance with Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman and Yosef Levin of Palo Alto and rabbi Shlomo Zarchi of San Francisco in order to go after intermarried Jewish Billionaires such as Larry Ellison of Oracle, Sergey Brin of Google and Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com.
Larry Ellison thinks he is God so he out of the picture, Marc Benioff is under Shlomo Zarchi and Cunin (the younger) is going full blown after Sergey Brin. Feldman and Levin and are left with the second tier multi- millionaires who are married to gentiles.
That effort did not go well because Zarchi, Feldman, Levin and Chunin did not want to share their gvirs with Tropper
Forget about the other tapes. Follow the money. Until we know where EJF sent money and who got money from Tom Kaplan we will not have a full picture of the corruption of dayanus. We do not need more proof that LT is unsavory and corrupt. We need to make sure that his recipients no longer make such mistakes (to be dan l'kaf zchus).
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco resident,
ReplyDeleteRabbi Barros left our shul because he was offered a job in South Fallsburg because there was no appropriate chinuch for his kids here in San Francisco. He was loved by our shul and the community at large. The MO Rabbi of our shul that you speak of was NOT fired, he retired. It is dispicable to say that a Rav was fired after 39 years in the pulpit. I keep in touch with Rabbi Barros and his family and I hear that they are doing very well in bringing Yidishkite to South Fallsburg.
Monticello
ReplyDeleteRabbi Barros was a talmid of Rabbi Tropper but I understand that he was one of those who put pressure on Rabbi Wachtfogel to leave EJF.
I saw him the other day at his shul and the guy looks humiliated by all this.Rabbi Barros seems like a respectable person in the community and tolerant of all Jews.
You expect us to believe that Barros pressured R' Elya Ber when his assistant rabbi in the shul, Chaim Blum, takes over the next day?
ReplyDeleteThe MO Rabbi of our shul that you speak of was NOT fired, he retired.
ReplyDeleteI think he meant rabbi Gottlieb the previous rabbi of South Fallsburg Hebrew Association, the synagogue rabbi Barros is running now.
Allegedly, Tropper and Wachtfogel orchestrated his firing and installed rabbi Barros instead of him.
Rabbi Barros applied for the job in San Francisco but they decided to have a YU musmach instead.
As it was mentioned earlier rabbi Barros was honored in one of Tropper’s fancy dinners