Now that Kolko has confessed to being a molester, the big question is why didn't his supporters realize this? The supporters who insisted that rabbis can properly investigated and deal with judging the guilt or innocence. The big resistance to going to the police has been the insistence that these matters should be handled within the community. There is no question that the Kolko case was not handled properly within the community. It was because of the establishment rabbis that Kolko was allowed to stay in the community and have access to others.
How is Lakewood going to justify not only facilitating a child molester to continue to go free but also persecuting his victims. How is Rabbi Belsky going to explain his "investigation" and public declaration not only of Kolko's innocence but that it was prohibited to go to the police. If the victim had not gone to the police, there is no doubt that Kolko would have destroyed many other innocent lives from our community. In fact it was only because other victims suddenly came forward that he confessed. How many more victims are there? Even now in England the community is intimidating victims from testifying in the Halpern case.
Hopefully G-d will give these rabbinic leaders the understanding to make major changes in the way they deal with such cases in the future. Hopefully they will no longer try to destroy those who feel that the police and secular justice system are the only way to properly deal with these cases. Hopefully they will wake up before their own children and grandchildren suffer from this illness.
Perhaps they will even publicly acknowledge the serious errors that they have made in the past and promise not to do repeat them in the future.
My suspicion is that bmg fabricated these other victims so he would have no choice but to plead guilty because bmg is very scared to be shlepped through the mud so its alot easier to get him to just plead guilty. This doesnt mean that he isnt guilty. It just means that other people prefered it to turn out this way.This is all speculation on my part.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 'my 2 cents.' I believe it was in Lakewood's best interest to keep this "scourge" out of the courts and once they saw that the Rabbi supporting the accuser and the social worker provided by the Lakewood Rabbis (who Kolko confessed to) would testify and tarnish the image of Lakewood/BMG they had "no choice" but to allow the two 'NEW' accusers (who miraculously were previously 'unheard of') to come forward and force Kolko to finally admit his wrongdoings and plead guilty before they had a chance to testify and expose Lakewood/BMG.
DeleteYou sound like an idiot. If he wasn't guilty he would know that there can't possibly be other victims. He is and always was guilty !
DeleteWow, what an airtight plan! Because liars, who were vetted by the prosecution (!) and coached by who,? - his lawyers would be unable to show that these liars were lying under cross. Sharp thinking, BMG.
DeleteOr.... maybe that's why your conspiracy theory is as nutty as any conspiracy theory.
If they had wanted it to go away via a guilty plea they could have convinced the bochur to take a plea.
You wish you were right. I am in Lakewood they are still cursing out the Rabonim who permitted mesirah, the father & the victim.
ReplyDeleteIf you think anything has changed or will change. Atmost it is wishful thinking.
Or Rav Belsky And lakewood advised him to take the plea bargin
ReplyDeleteRabbi Eidensohn,you are assuming that the Lakewood leadership really thought that Kolko was innocent,in my opinion they knew full well that he is guilty as hell,but in their twisted logic they still insist that going to the secular authorities is forbidden.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Menashe Klein,in his Mishne Halochos, rules,that even if a father walks into a room and sees with his very own eyes someone molesting his child,it is still forbidden to go to the authorities because it is mesirah.
unfortunately,unless and until some of these Ra-bonim are finally arrested and jailed for the crime of obstruction of justice,nothing will change in the chareidi community, and our precious children will continue to be victims of this terrible crime that destroys them physically and mentally.
CH.S
Rabbi Menashe Klein,in his Mishne Halochos,
Deletedo you have an exact source for this?
TIA
I translated the teshuva of Rav Klein here
Deletehttp://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2009/06/abuse-strict-din-according-to-torah_01.html
Seems a good thing that Rabbi Klein has "moved on" and is no longer able to disseminate such garbage.
DeleteQuite an interesting (yet very plausible) speculation, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Asbury Park Press, August 25, 2010:
ReplyDelete"However, a relative, Brooklyn Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, supported the position stated in the letter, saying 'such behavior (as that of the victim's father) wouldn't be tolerated' elsewhere. 'When your child tells you something, you don't go straight to a prosecutor, you go to a Bais Din and let them examine the (evidence).''
"Belsky, a rabbi at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and a member of the Orthodox Union, a national Jewish lobby, said he has not seen the flier but claims 'there's no evidence at all' against Kolko.' "
"Not all rabbinic leaders agree. Rabbi Dovid Cohen, an authority on Jewish law in Brooklyn, said he received a call not long ago. It was from a representative of the Orthodox community who asked if the Kolko allegation should be taken to prosecutors."
" 'Not only do I permit it, it is an obligation,' he said he replied."
Today is a win for Rav Dovid Cohen; a loss for Rav Yisroel Belsky.
This is wistful thinking. Rabbi Belsky and the others will admit to nothing. It is not their nature. It is not the nature of fanatics to admit fault. All we need do is to recognize that they are failed leaders, and to seek others. Asei l'chah rav.
ReplyDeleteI assume the answer would be:
DeleteYou must know, my revered friend, that Rabbi Elchanan is certainly very great, and it would be wrong to set aside his words, much less to reject them, because of what we puny people think that we see with our own eyes. Our Rabbis have told us to listen to the words of the Sages "even if they tell us that right is left," and not to say, God forbid, that they must be wrong because little I "can see their mistake with my own eyes." My seeing is null and void and utterly valueless compared with the clarity of their intellect and the divine aid they receive. No Beth Din can revoke the decrees of another Beth Din unless it is greater in number and in wisdom; failing this it is very likely that what they think they "can see with their own eyes" is merely imagination and illusion. This is the Torah view concerning faith in the Sages
KT
Joel Rich
This points to a far larger issue. Chareidism as a religious movement has moved to a position where everything is based on centuries-old impressions and reactions to the outside world. To wit: the goyim are all still slavering Jew-hating monsters looking for innocent Jews to murder on forged charges just like back in the good ol' days in the Ukraine. Therefore if those nasssssssty goyim think our heileger mentsch is a child molester we must protect him at all costs. Any accusations are a priori false. So even if he is pleads guilty it's because of goyishe pressure, not because it's true because no Jew who wears a black hat and eats mehadrin meat would do such a thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a philosophy of reaction, not initiative, at work.
If we proceeded according to the misconceptions Garnel outlined, we could actually create the type of enmity in the US that has been rare in recent years.
DeleteAs for the "heiliger mentsch", what about the really "heiliger mentsch" who is the victim? It's not the externals or job description that makes someone innocent or guilty.
Mighty Garnel Ironheart, Hammer->Nail->Head
Deletej'accuse em all! if you did not help the victim then you were part of the problem. but it's not too late to apologize.
ReplyDeleteHow can you write that in London they are intimidating the victim/witness, when you don't know the inside facts?
ReplyDeleteThe intimidation charges has nothing to do with the victims or witness, it's solely a rabbinical political issue.
Two avreichim phoned the Rabbi too often... and were reported.
why should I believe you - an anonymous commentator - rather than my sources that I know and trust?
DeleteWhy are you suprised about Belsky? When the Yudi Kolko affair erupted, A Torah Temimah parent called Rabbi MArgulies and asked what the Yeshiva was doing about it, adding that he had personally spoken to many victims. Well it was a just a few hours later that Rabbi Belski signed a hazmanah sent by Yudi Kolko himself to the parent demanding that he appear in front of Rabbi Belsky;s bais din for the claim of motze shem ra!
ReplyDeleteSo you see Rabbi Belsky has a long history of protecting molesters or at least the Kolko tribe of molesters.
who is this person who knew "many victims"? how did he know them? what was he doing speaking to them? why didn't he come public?
Deletesounds a bit incredulous, frankly.
Ben, read http://rabbimatisyahusalomon.blogspot.com/ for a well informed thoughtful chronology with details.
DeleteThe person we Eli Greenwald. Here is the relevant section of the chronology. For confirmation contact Ben Hirsch or Eli G.
· February 2006 – A letter is drafted informing the public that Rabbi Yehuda Kolko is a dangerous pedophile and that Rabbi Lipa Margulies continues to employ him despite his knowledge of this fact. Copies of this draft letter are delivered to Kolko and Margulies. Both Kolko and Margulies are offered the opportunity to deal quietly with the issue and are informed that if they continue to refuse, the letter would be mass mailed to the entire community. Kolko responds by stating that “the matter has been taken care of” and Margulies responds by asking if anyone “thinks Kolko is still a threat” and declares “if anyone does not like the way I run my yeshiva let them not send their children to my yeshiva.” They refuse to comply and the letter is sent out in a mass mailing.
· February 2006 – Eli Greenwald, a graduate of Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Temimah, son of one of the founders of the yeshiva and a parent in the yeshiva receives the letter and spends a few days investigating the matter. He calls Rabbi Yaakov Applegrad, the yeshiva’s Administrator, and requests a meeting of the Vaad Ha'horim in order to address this serious issue. Rabbi Applegrad informs him that there will be no meeting as the allegations are false and that he and Rabbi Margulies have the matter under control. Mr. Greenwald called Rabbi Lipa Margulies and makes the same request of him. Rabbi Margulies responds by shouting at him.
· February 17, 2006 – Eli Greenwald is served with a hazmana issued by Rabbi Yisroel Belsky calling him to a din torah to answer the charge of hotzoas shem rah allegedly committed against Rabbi Yehuda Kolko. Mr. Greenwald responds on February 21, 2006, that he will appear for a din torah before the Bais Din of America. To this day there has been no reply to Mr. Greenwald’s response by either Kolko or Rabbi Yisroel Belsky.
(BTW, the letter referred to was a mass mailing by UOJ)
wow. i read the post. 40 years of this stuff. is margulies being investigated with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, anything?
DeleteFrom Insider:
ReplyDeleteEvery last fact is true. The parent called various people whom he had heard over the years were victims of Kolko. He confirmed it not based on heresay but based on actual conversations with actual victims. After Belsky issued the "intimidation" hazmanah, the parent send a letter to UOJ (the blog was watched very closely by MaRgulies and team) and the letter which described exactyl waht Kolko, MArgulies and Belsky were doing to him appeared as a headliner on UOJ!
So Ben, to answer your question - the parent did go public!!!! If only there would have been perhaps another 10 or 15 parents who would have helped him. Instead, they all minded their own business.
Isn't possible that R Belsky truly believes K is innocent because he is defining guilt and innocence in purely Halachic terms – i.e. was there or was there no penetration. Yes in Halacha homosexual touching and oral sex is forbidden, as it would be with any forbidden relation, but its not punishable – I think.
ReplyDelete