Anti-Semitism in America: Being hated because you look Jewish

Tablet Magazine   Nine years ago, when I got married, I started to cover my hair. At home I chose comfortable fabric head-coverings. But in public I wore a sheitel, or wig, since wigs were considered de rigueur by most of the women I was becoming friends with in Brooklyn. After only a few years of being Torah observant, I had a sense that a woman’s choice of head-covering was a statement in a language I did not yet speak. So, I stayed bewigged in public with my friends, slipping out of my sheitel and into a headscarf only in the privacy of my own home, much the same way I kicked off my street shoes and slid into slippers.

Because it’s impossible to tell the difference between a good sheitel and real hair, my friends and I didn’t immediately stand out in public as Orthodox women—or even as Jews. But all that changed when I went out with my husband: Standing by his side, I quickly learned that there were risks to looking like a Hasidic Jew.

Taking the subway in New York City with my husband for the first time was like being pushed into a wall of ice. He is a big man—it’s not difficult to see that he once played ice hockey, football, and basketball. He’s also a former trophy-winning martial artist and, though he is really a very gentle, kind-hearted person, his appearance can seem intimidating. And yet, to some subway riders, with his beard, peyos, and yarmulke, he looks like nothing as much as a target.

Because he’d been dressing this way for quite a few years before we got married, he was used to the stares and occasional audible curses. I wasn’t.

“How can you stand this?” I asked.

“Stand what?”

“Some people are staring—no, glaring—at you. With hatred.”

He shrugged. “People are glaring at that other Orthodox Jewish guy over there, too.”

He was right. They were.

But I was never able to get used to the enormous difference between riding solo and incognito on the subway, looking like any other woman (except that every day is a good hair day when you wear a sheitel) when I was alone, versus traveling with my husband as part of a couple whose garb screamed “Hasidic.” [...]

Kolko Case: Please print out Reb Dovid Epstein's letter and put it up in your shul

We are rapidly approach the dark side of our Jewish calendar – the Three Weeks. This is the period that begins the time of mourning and depression over the loss of the Beis Hamikdosh. It is well known that in a generation in which the Beis Hamikdosh in not rebuilt – it is on such a low spiritual level that it doesn’t deserve having the Beis Hamikdosh. If the Beis Hamikdosh had existed then it would have been destroyed in our generation. Thus whether or not we have a Beis Hamikdosh is not simply a historical question – but rather the measure of our spiritual state

Our Sages tell us that the critical issue in the spiritual failure that led to the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh was the failure of proper relationships between Jews. The classic story that Chazal mention regarding the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh is that of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. They teach us that ultimately the Beis Hamikdosh was destroyed because one Jew strongly embarrassed another – and the Rabbis witnessed it and did nothing. That failure to intervene and correct one Jew shaming another was enough to cause the Beis Hamikdosh to be destroyed!

Unfortunately we are now witnesses an ongoing situation which seems worse. In this case the Rabbis were not just passively witnesses – but they were the major players in causing the embarrassment. I am referring of course to the Kolko case in Lakewood in which the Rabbis orchestrated the public shaming of Rabbi “S” and his family for reporting his son’s abuse to the police. Rabbi “S” only went to the police after he had gone to a beis din and found it was totally ineffective in keeping the abuser from other children. Furthermore he went to the police only after he received a psak from Rav Sternbuch and other gedolim which stated that he was obligated to go – to protect the children of Lakewood. Despite doing this heroic act solely to protect the children of other families from what had been done it is son - none the less he was driven out of his home and his shul and his community. This was done by self-righteous individuals who didn’t bother finding out that he was acting properly – even according to the most stringent standards of halacha. Despite the fact that Kolko has confessed to abusing the boy and other victims have come forward – none of the major rabbinical figures that were involved in hurting Rabbi “S”  have come forward and apologized. None!

Two weeks ago a crack was created in this disgusting wall of rabbinic silence. One of the people – Reb Dovid Epstein - who had publicly embarrassed Rabbi “S” in his own shul – displayed incredible courage and strength of character by writing a heart rending apology note to the family of Rabbi “S”. In addition he authorized his letter to be publicized. Rabbi “S” and his family view this as welcome progress – out of the abyss of spiritual filth.

The next step in mending the broken hearts and rebuilding the Beis Hamikdosh – is to have this letter more widely circulated. It is clear that pressure for the Rabbis to do the right thing will only come from Klal Yisroel. They have to understand how important it is for them to apologize and make amends for the harm they have caused.

Therefore I ask everyone to make copies of Reb Dovid Epstein’s letter and to hang it up in their shul before Shabbos and to give it to friends and neighbors. While this is especially important for the Lakewood community, the example of the courage of Reb Dovid should inspire everyone to mend and improve their relations with others.

The letter can be downloaded here

Archeology conceals evidence about King David for political considerations

Fox News    A carved pillar discovered near Bethlehem may be linked to the Biblical King of Kings, David himself, or perhaps validate the scope of wise Solomon's majestic kingdom.

If they ever get around to digging it up, that is.

Israeli tour guide Binyamin Tropper, who thought he was the first to discover the major historical artifact, was astonished to find out that authorities had known about the pillar for decades -- and had been keeping it a secret all that time.

"When I realized the significance of the pillar, I told my boss who spoke with the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA)," Tropper, who works at the educational field school at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, told FoxNews.com. "The IAA then told him, 'that's great, now shut up.'"

Tropper may have stumbled across further proof of the real-life world behind the Biblical stories related in the Old Testament. The 2,800-year-old stone pillar could help locate those legends on a map, archaeologists say, and connect the modern country of Israel with the historical roots of Judaism.

But due to the complexities of Arab-Israeli relations, the find is being ignored, experts say, hushed up to avoid a major political battle over centuries of debate concerning who has the more legitimate claim to the Holy Land.

"As the site is located in the West Bank, not within the official borders of Israel, it is more problematic to excavate there than inside Israel," Yosef Garfinkel, a professor of archeology at Hebrew University who inspected the site, explained to FoxNews.com.

In a carefully worded statement to FoxNews.com, the IAA acknowledged the discovery of the pillar but would not discuss the matter further, expressing concern over the unavoidable relationship between archeology and the Middle East conflict.

"The complex reality in Israel sometimes brings the scholarly discipline of archaeology in contact with political issues regarding the subject of historical roots and rights," the IAA told FoxNews.com in an email. "When a significant archaeological discovery requires additional research, the IAA sees that this is carried out. Such is the case in this issue: the IAA is operating in effort to carry out a full excavation of the site, which will enable thorough study of the findings and their disclosure in both popular and scholarly publications." 

Tropper defied the IAA's request to stay mum on his discovery, however; he believes it's worth the political headache a proper excavation would provoke.

Tropper explained that in the last 20-30 years, an internal debate in Israel has ensued over the size and importance of King David's kingdom as described in the Bible. This pillar's design, he says, is consistent with the time period of the First Temple and would help provide concrete evidence of the Judean king's existence in Israel. [...]

Italian policeman viewed as a saint for rescuing Jews - was in fact a collaborator with Nazis

NY Times   He has been called the Italian Schindler, credited with helping to save 5,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Giovanni Palatucci, a wartime police official, has been honored in Israel, in New York and in Italy, where squares and promenades have been named in his honor, and in the Vatican, where Pope John Paul II declared him a martyr, a step toward potential sainthood. 

But at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the tale of his heroic exploits is being removed from an exhibition after officials there learned of new evidence suggesting that, far from being a hero, he was an enthusiastic Nazi collaborator involved in the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz. 

A letter sent this month to the museum’s director by the Centro Primo Levi at the Center for Jewish Studies in New York stated that a research panel of more than a dozen scholars who reviewed nearly 700 documents concluded that for six years, Palatucci was “a willing executor of the racial legislation and — after taking the oath to Mussolini’s Social Republic, collaborated with the Nazis.” 

The letter said that Italian and German records provided no evidence that he had helped Jews during the war and that the first mention only surfaced years later, in 1952. Researchers also found documents that showed Palatucci had helped the Germans identify Jews to round up.[...]

Alexander Stille, a professor at the Columbia University journalism school who has reviewed some of the documents, said the Palatucci case is a result of three powerful institutions, all with a vested interest in publicizing what appeared to be a heroic tale: “The Italian government was anxious to rehabilitate itself and show that they were better and more humane than their Nazi allies. The Catholic Church was eager to tell a positive story about the church’s role during the war, and the State of Israel was eager to promote the idea of righteous gentiles and tell stories of right-minded ordinary people who helped to save ordinary Jews.”  [...]

The End of an Era: The Sulitzer Rebbe – An Appreciation by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Five Towns Jewish Times   The entire community is mourning the passing this past Tuesday night of one of the founders and pioneers of the Torah community in Far Rockaway.  Rav Shmuel Shmelka Rubin, the Sulitzer Rebbe, represented to all who knew him, the authentic bearer of the Chassidishe Yiddishkeit of Europe.

Rav Rubin zt”l was born in 1925, and was a scion of the Ropshitzer dynasty of Chassidus, descendants of Rav Naftoli Tzvi Horowitz of Ropshitz.  Rav Naftoli Tzvi was a contemporary of the author of the famed Nesivos HaMishpat on Choshen Mishpat, and studied with him.  Rav Naftoli Tzvi was the author of the Zera Kodesh, a work that inspired those who learned it to reach remarkable heights in Dveikus Bashem.

“What defined him?”  He came to Far Rockaway when only the White Shul was here,” remarked Rabbi Amnon Nissan, a congregant.  “He remained true to his Chassidish mesorah – unwavering.”[...]

The neighborhood of Far Rockaway soon deteriorated to the point where people started to move to Lawrence and beyond.  This greatly grieved the Rebbe personally and affected the attendance of the shul as well. The Rebbe thought hard and invented the term “West Lawrence.”  This was his brainchild.

Eventually, people did stop moving, but he went a step further.  He assured them that things will change and the market would rise again.  The Rebbe’s words were prescient.  Far Rockaway became one of  most expensive neighborhoods in New York.  Much of this was on account of his wisdom.    In spite of the neighborhood’s initial decline, those that did move away walked to shul on Shabbos.  Sometimes it would even be a half hour or an hour walk.  They did this to attend the Kehilas Yaakov shul of Rav Shmuel Rubin zt”l [...]

MK Dov Lipman demands apology from Jonathan Rosenblum for 15 falsehoods

Update (June 20, 2013)  Jonathan Rosenblum just issued - An apology and rebuttal
 Times of Israel   Prior to my election to the 19^th Knesset, I devoted time to writing books and columns. Since taking office, my time is consumed fulfilling my responsibilities as a member of the Knesset, and I no longer have the additional time to write.

Many people ask why I have not responded to the many negative articles and columns written about me in American Jewish media outlets. I must admit that I pay little attention to them. Now, however, a red line of falsehood, inaccuracy and distortion has been crossed, and therefore I am compelled to respond.

Someone forwarded a link to a column written about me by prolific charedi columnist Jonathan Rosenblum – a column replete with falsehoods. I will begin my response by addressing the most glaring inaccuracy.Mr. Rosenblum wrote: “In a widely circulated video last year, Lipman is seen leading a woman whose attire guaranteed to provoke an angry response past a shul in the ‘Yerushalmi’ neighborhood of Ramat Bet Shemesh.”

False. Here are the facts: There was no shul, there was no woman dressed provocatively, and there was no Yerushalmi neighborhood. Mr. Rosenblum is revisiting an incident which occurred nearly two years ago, and he has chosen to believe hearsay and to rewrite history. Here is what actually happened:

As the video shows, dozens of extremists were blocking the sidewalk near a religious girls’ school on a main thoroughfare in Beit Shemesh, in an attempt to intimidate young religious girls on their way home from school with chants of “prutzah,” “shiktzah” and more.

I was at the school in order to help guarantee the safety of the girls, and requested that the police clear the extremists off the sidewalk. The police chose not to get involved. I then asked a religious woman standing nearby to walk with me towards the extremists, in order to ensure that the girls could walk through safely. It was important that a woman be there to hold the girls’ hands, or give them a hug as they walked through the threatening crowd of hostile men.

As we approached the mob, they began screaming at me, including blatant threats on my life. [...]

Jonathan Rosenblum represents the Torah world, and wrote this particular piece in Yated Neeman, a newspaper which is governed by the Torah giants of our time. Thus, I hope Rosenblum has the courage to correct these falsehoods and apologize. Whether he does or not will say a lot about him, but I am satisfied that all readers now have been presented with the facts. I also hope that readers understand that while I would never initiate such harsh discourse, I had to address this misleading column in order to correct the inaccuracies regarding the work I have done in the past, and the work I will continue to do, with G-d’s help, as part of the Yesh Atid party in the Knesset.

Missing the boat: The Consequences of Rabbinic Leadership failing to deal properly with Abuse

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

The issue of child abuse and reporting abusers has seen welcome dramatic changes in the last few years. 2006 was the watershed with the publication of New York Magazine's "Does the Orthodox Community have a Catholic Church Problem." A few years later the Novominsker Rebbe got up at an Aguda convention  and publicly acknowledged that child abuse is a problem also in  our community. Aguda leader Rabbi Zweibel advanced this momentum forward a few baby steps. He announced that it was permissible to go to the police - as long as there was "raglayim l'davar" as determined by a rabbi. Despite this progress there still lingered over our community the shame of public discussion, the fear of being labeled a moser, and the difficulty of finding a posek who would not only say to go to the police would acknowledge that he gave the psak. 

The dam of filth and nonsense finally broke this year with a series of cases. The Weberman case in Williamsburg. A young lady had the incredible courage to stand up to the entire Satmar community including the rebbe and testify despite strong cross examination - that she had been abused by one of the communities most respected activists. The abuser was convicted and sent to jail. The as yet undetermined guilt or innocence in the Chaim Halpern case in England and the  Nachum Rabinowitz case in Brooklyn have many shaking their heads in disbelief. There is the ongoing persecution of Manny Waks and his family for reporting abuse. The Baruch Leibowitz case in which he was convicted and then released for retrial on a technicality connected to the apparently false charges against Samuel Kellner for extortion. Finally the straw that broke the camel's back was the case of Yosef Kolko in which not only was a child molested but a distinguished rav and talmid chachom and his family was driven out of Lakewood - for going to the police despite being told by poskim that he was obligated to do so by halacha. Distressingly despite Kolko's confession and clear evidence of guilt and his conviction - the rabbis who participated in the lynch mob have not acknowledged their error and apologized.

It is clear that child abuse has reached a critical mass in our awareness. The Kellner case involves a very distinguished talmid chachom - Rav Chaim Flohr. He is a man of great principle and very careful with every chumra - and he supported Kellner's reporting abuse.  It is no longer the Modern Orthodox versus Chareidim. There are Charedi poskim such as Rav Moshe Sternbuch and Rav Dovid Cohen who tell people to go to the police. Even Rav Yisroel Belsky has publicly announced he agrees. That which we didn't dare whisper five years ago, is the subject of public discussion at the Shabbos table, is the basis of articles in frum media and programs in yeshivas and camps and even the subject of an Artscroll book.

So what is missing? What remains to be done?

Unfortunately what we are missing are the rabbis, the community leaders dealing with the issue properly - both according to the halacha and the psychological reality. The rabbis by and large are being dragged along as we see in Lakewood, Boro Park, Williamsburg, England and Australia. The consequence of this foot dragging and fear of taking leadership roles - is that they are  being left behind. They are increasing being viewed as irrelevant for the big issues our lives. The tide has come and yet they insist on staying behind. In the Kolko case there were gedolei Torah who told the father to go to the police - and now they publicly deny it. They are afraid! How can a gadol be afraid to acknowledge what he has poskened? 

As a consequence of their lack of constructive participation in this horrible issue, emunas chachom is being conflicted and diminished - chas v'shalom. You can't cause or even allow a father with a molested child being run out of Lakewood - and retain the respect of the parents who have watched this debacle. You can't have kids molested in the mikve and schools, who know that rabbis are the last ones to confide in about their pain. Rabbis who say not to report abusers to the police can not retain the respect of parents and children who know that many more kids will be molested. Everyone except the rabbis know that they have no power to stop a pedophile.

Diagnosis of mental problems by electronic tracking of eye movements

Scientific American    Eye-tracking has become the tech trend du jour. Advertisers use data on where you look and when to better capture your attention. Designers employ it to improve products. Game and phone developers utilize it to offer the latest in hands-free interaction.

Eye-tracking has become the tech trend du jour. Advertisers use data on where you look and when to better capture your attention. Designers employ it to improve products. Game and phone developers utilize it to offer the latest in hands-free interaction.

“Visual scanning reflects a model of the world that exists inside the brain of each individual,” explains Moshe Eizenman, a leading eye-tracking researcher at the University of Toronto. “People with mental disorders have a model of the world that is slightly different than that of normal people—and by moving their eyes, they provide information about this different model.” Autistic children, for example, tend to avoid social images in favor of abstract ones, and they also more rarely and fleetingly make eye contact when looking at faces in an image or video in comparison with nonautistic kids. Similarly distinct, abnormal eye-movement patterns occur in a number of mental disorders, scientists have found. [...]

In a small, proof-of-concept study (pdf) Itti’s team found that their algorithm could classify mental disorders through eye-movement patterns: They identified elderly Parkinson’s patients with nearly 90 percent accuracy as well as children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder with 77 percent accuracy. “This is very different from what people have done before. We’re trying to have completely automated interpretation of the eye movement data,” Itti says. “So you don’t need to have a scientist look at the data to figure out what’s going on; we’re using algorithms and machines to [identify] the linkage between eye-movement and cognition.”

Rav Chaim Flohr's beis din supports abuse reporter Kellner against D.A. Hynes regarding alleged abuser Leibovitz

NYTimes   Five years ago, this gray-bearded and excitable man with a black velvet yarmulke spoke out about the sexual abuse of his 16-year-old son by a prominent Hasidic cantor. As Mr. Kellner helped investigators with the Brooklyn district attorney’s office search for other young Orthodox victims of this man, the Orthodox establishment grew ever angrier at him. The rabbi at his Hasidic synagogue in Borough Park, Brooklyn, denounced Mr. Kellner as a traitor and forbade parishioners to talk with him on the street. Yeshivas barred his sons. His businesses dried up — he pawned his silverware to meet his bills. And he still fears that he will never find a marriage match for his son.  

“I felt murdered and abandoned,” Mr. Kellner said. “I’m ruined.” 

This, however, was a prologue to a worse situation. In April 2011, after the district attorney’s office gained a conviction against that cantor, Baruch Lebovits, the prosecutors turned around and obtained an indictment of Mr. Kellner. They said, based on a secret tape and the grand jury testimony of a prominent Satmar supporter of Mr. Lebovits, that he had tried to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mr. Lebovits. 

District Attorney Charles J. Hynes has shown great deference to the politically powerful Hasidic community over the years, and it has rewarded him with large margins on election days. Even his heralded crackdown on Hasidic sexual abuse was a fist wrapped in the softest velvet, as he took the unusual step of refusing to publicize the names of defendants — even the convicted.[...]

Two weeks ago, I talked with the three-member rabbinical court — known as a Beit Din — in Monsey. These rabbis rarely grant interviews, but spoke now of their moral obligation. Their community for too long has resisted coming to grips with sexual abuse. 

They view Mr. Kellner as a brave pioneer. He did not seek out witnesses at random; rather their court, with the help of local leaders in Williamsburg, gave him the name of a victim. 

“Lebovits is known to have a long history” of sexual abuse, Rabbi Chaim Flohr said. But Mr. Lebovits has powerful supporters, and people are fearful, he added. 

Mr. Lebovits’s lawyers maintain that he is innocent of all charges. 

The rabbis frowned at talk of extortion. Mr. Kellner spoke to them of being offered bribes, and of his determination not to let abusers buy him off. “We are not aware of Mr. Kellner ever asking for money,” Rabbi Flohr said.

Rav Soloveitchik: Mesira doesn't apply in democratic countries

Mesirah In Contemporary Times June 14, 2012  

Jewish Press page 57

FROM A LECTURE SERIES

BY RABBI AHARON ZIEGLER 

[...] Rav Soloveitchik had a different point of view on this matter. He said in the name of his father Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik that the laws of mesirah simply do not apply in democratic countries. Therefore, the determination of how reliable an accusation is should be left in the hands of trained and professional law enforcement personnel and not rabbanim. 

In the haredi world, this position is viewed as marginal, but in the Modern Orthodox world this position can clearly be accepted as mainstream, or even normative.

================
Can anybody provide a specific source that backs up this assertion? The Aruch HaShulchan apparently held this view. From my Child and Domestic Abuse volume II -

Aruch HaShulchan (C.M. 388:7): Comment: It is known to all students of history that in early times in far away lands that a person had no personal security because of bandits and other forces even if these forces called themselves a government. This is still true today for some countries such in Africa where the government itself is involved in theft and robbery. In contrast the governments of Europe and in particular to our master the Czar of Russia and his ancestors and well as the government of England who have spread the protective wings of their governments in foreign lands in order to ensure the protection of the individual in such a manner that the rich do not need to hide themselves to prevent being plundered or killed. This reality of looting and killing was the reason for the halachos against informing and slandering that are found in the Talmud and poskim as we explained them. Thus these halachos only apply to someone who is an informant on others to bandits such as these and is considered a rodef (pursuer) against the person and his property and thus can be stopped even by killing.

Tzitz Eliezar (19:52): 5).....b) Even concerning the non‑Jewish courts it would appear that there is a difference between uncivilized countries and enlightened ones as is stated in the Aruch HaShulchan (C.M. 388:7): All that is written in the Talmud and poskim regarding the prohibition of moser – is referring to distance lands where a person’s life and money are not secure because of the bandits and lawless people – even though they have a government as we find in various countries such as those in Africa… as opposed to the European countries. It is obvious from the words of the Aruch HaShulchan that he truly meant this and not out of fear of the government… As I mentioned, the above was written for the general clarification of the prohibition of moser. Side point: In addition to what we have said that the essential prohibition of moser is to hand the case to a non-Jewish court, but if the times require it and it is done with the permission of the beis din – there is a basis to say it is permitted in a situation where it is not possible for the Jewish court to handle the case. We find an example of this in the Mabit (1:22) concerning the imprisonment of a heretic by the non‑Jewish government and the condition of freedom was to leave the country and to divorce his wife….

Satmar Rebbe:Mesira is prohibited either as lashon harah or as a rabbinic prohibition

Update: I published this several years ago but it is obviously still relevant. In a discussion of which crimes a person becomes invalid to serve as a witness, the Satmer Rebbe notes that in the case of mesira there is a dispute in the poskim what the sin the moser transgresses. He notes that the Panim Meiros holds that there is no Torah prohibition violated but that it is only a rabbinic prohibition even though we find that Chazal were more stringent with a moser then with all the Torah prohibitions and a moser is included with those we can lower into a pit to die. The Beis Meir disagrees with him and says moser in fact violates a Torah prohibition and it is included in the prohibition of lashon harah...

Did Lapid take the core curriculum? Unbelievable takedown - not by a charedi - but by leftist author B. Michael