5tJewish Times
Geirus is an issue that plays an important role in Yiddishkeit, especially in these times of massive Jewish assimilation. No one is in disagreement with this point. There is a perception, however, among Rabbonim and the lay public that the organization known as the Eternal Jewish Foundation (EJF) has somehow, and in some way, insinuated itself improperly onto the Geirus scene.
There are three main issues that are of grave concern.
The first issue is that the EJF has, somehow, changed the rules of the game and has not been very forthcoming about it. Throughout Jewish history, Yiddishkeit has never been a missionary religion. Christianity and Islam have - but not, lehavdil, Yiddishkeit. True, there have been Poskim that permitted a conversion of a spouse of a Jew who is already married to a gentile - but the EJF has actively advertised for and involved itself in situations even when the Jewish person and non-Jewish person have not yet married. And yet even an ad placed in last week's religious papers neglected to mention this. The quote of this ad is below and the offending line is in bold.[...]
Nice article. Of course, one has to be skeptical even of the denials. As an illustration, the corrupt ayatollas in Iran claim to be humble scholars, but they each have stashed away 100s of millions of $ in swiss bank accounts.
ReplyDeleteThe mechaber seems to have fallen for R' Elya Ber's maaseh knunyeh of pretending to back out while propping up his nephew to control like a puppet.
ReplyDeleteThe EJF affiliated dayanim have much more to answer for than some $300 "honorarium" and it is disingenuous to say that donating that amount to tzedaka clears things up.
ReplyDeleteTropper was rolling in Kaplan's dough and gave them free plane tickets and ground transportation, and free accomodations at 5 star resorts. At these luxury hotels, there were plenty of perks that have a shavyus besides the gourmet food. Free mini-bar, free dry cleaning, etc, etc, etc. Basically any amenity that can be added to the room tab.
And are these weasel words that only apply to monies going directly to a rabbi's pocket, but not indirectly through his organization?
And it would be nice if the rabbi writing in the 5 Towns Jewish Times had the courage to identify himself. Is he also an EJF affiliated dayan? This newspaper has a history of less than full disclosure and letting nogei badavar farentfer for themselves on the sly. If the rabbi is not calling for EJF to be disbanded, he could be a former Tropper associate hoping the money will still flow from Kaplan.
I'm not sure what's wrong with a rabbi accepting nice accommodations to an event he is invited to.
ReplyDeleteWould you have been okay if they put a Rav up in a roach motel?
You weaken your position when you attack something that is not really a problem.
The problem with these luxury EJF junkets is that it is a type of shochad that influences. Who are you kidding when the cost and quality of these trips is above and beyond what anyone except the wealthy jet set knows?
ReplyDeleteWhen the cover up of Rubashkin was in full force, Rubashkin paid for everyone to come on a whirlwind "3 hour tour" of a very complex operation. Many safeguards were in place besides the expenses being covered to make sure that no one would report on any negative kashrus or safety findings. No independent rabbonim offering to pay their own way were allowed in. The rabbonim on the Rubashkin junket should be ashamed of themselves.
As a matter of fact, a Yid, a talmid chochom, who was not invited showed up to Tropper's conference in Boston. When questioned as to who he was, he admitted to EJF's Jacobs that he was there to observe and write about his findings. Jacobs ran to Tropper as fast as an NFL wide receiver and Tropper very nervously insisted he must leave the premises. This is written up on a website by the person who was ejected.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, a Yid, a talmid chochom, who was not invited showed up to Tropper's conference in Boston. When questioned as to who he was, he admitted to EJF's Jacobs that he was there to observe and write about his findings. Jacobs ran to Tropper as fast as an NFL wide receiver and Tropper very nervously insisted he must leave the premises. This is written up on a website by the person who was ejected.
ReplyDeleteYes, The Giur Factory Rolls Into Boston, I remember the good days on the mentalblog website, if you read the comments there you see my comments are deleted, that was because I was talking about Tropper’s first wife, his divorce and his second wife.
Tropper under another name (Not Roni) told me to do teshuva for being motzi shem ra
And Mr. Atlas deleted all my posts and banned me completely
The Monsey Tzadik is an idiot, sorry for not deleting all of his comments. I since banned him from this blog. He is vile. But I never called Tropper names, the commentators did.
Thanks to r' Eidensohn for letting me helping him in the mitzva of biarta hara mikirbecha
EJF’s mission of support to batei din and candidates for conversion is only in the narrow case of an intermarried couple where the Jewish spouse is a fully observant baal teshuva and the non-Jewish spouse is committed to a universally acceptable halachic conversion.
ReplyDeleteHmm...surely a fully observant baal teshuva does not have relations with a gentile. Does that mean the husband and wife agreed to separate? Or were they staying together in double-occupancy rooms at these Shabbatons.
to eternal jewish cover up.. I have been a guest at some of these conferences.. Mr. Kaplan himself, initiated the funding of transp and hotel usually for only 2 days for the rabbanim and for seminars for couples who are interested in yiddishkeit.No they do not get the extras you stated. so what are you talking about??? dont talk! just daven that you dont loose your share of olam habah for slander, gossip and shear ignorance of the facts! all of you bloggers..stop bashing and look inside yourselves!
ReplyDeleteEJF’s mission of support to batei din and candidates for conversion is only in the narrow case of an intermarried couple where the Jewish spouse is a fully observant baal teshuva and the non-Jewish spouse is committed to a universally acceptable halachic conversion.
ReplyDeleteNow a fully observant baal teshuva would not have relations with a gentile. Are we to assume then that these intermarried couples have agreed to separate while the gentile partner is in the process of converting? So can EJF assure us that when a couple like this attend an EJF Shabbaton, they are not staying together in double occupancy rooms?
To the anonymous person who was the beneficiary of Tom Kaplan's plush accomodations. I don't care how many or few days you were there and I never said it was a month long summer siesta.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are a "kop mentch" who doesn't know how to milk the system (or a baal midos who would take take advantage in any way?). You obviously don't realize that the ultra-luxurious class of hotel that EJF camps out at have almost unlimited amenities that any guest can simply add to the tab. In the investment banking world for instance, many bankers became experts on milking this until the stock market crash last year forced the employers to scrutinize every portion of the bill.
As someone who has stayed at hotels paid for by investment banks I can tell you that with top tier resorts favored by EJF and bankers this shochad is even larger than what EJCU describes.
ReplyDeleteAmong items that you can easily add to your room tab:
Fax / office services at the front desk
Bell hop / porter / valet
Room service including rare bottles of Scotch that can run into the hundreds of dollars
Massage / spa services (I am being dan lekaf zchus that rabbonim at the conferences would request a male masseuse. Well, on second thought, who knows what Tropper and his friends could be up to)
Parking for your guests that can easily run $50 a spot.
Special order toiletries and over the counter medicine.
Complimentary items to take home like high end umbrella, bathrobe and slippers.
Excellent discussion . I Appreciate the facts . Does anyone know if my business could possibly obtain a sample a form copy to use ?
ReplyDelete