M. Freund calls for outreach to bnei anusim

JPost

For Miquel Segura of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, the journey home took more than 500 years. Last week, at a moving ceremony in Manhattan, the 65-year-old journalist and political commentator completed his return to the Jewish people, closing a circle dating back to the 14th century.

Segura is from the Chueta community, as descendants of Mallorcan Jews forcibly converted to Christianity more than five centuries ago are known.

Though the term is derogatory, with some historians suggesting it comes from the Catalan word for "pig," Segura has long worn it with unadorned pride [...]

Tropper - what's behind the silence?

[I had taken this down because it sounded like a plant but others claim it is from a perplexed person who wants this issue thoroughly discussed - therefore I am reposting it]

Dear Rabbi Eidensohn,

I heard from someone who is very close to Rabbi Tropper and who spoke to Rabbi Tropper recently that the person who authenticated the Gilad Shalit tapes told Rabbi Tropper that the tapes were "arts and crafts." Additionally, the woman involved was previously in some kind of relationship with Guma and was prepared to testify for Rabbi Tropper in the lawsuit, and that this may explain the mention of payment to lawyers on the tapes.

I personally don't think that explains the complete lack of public denial, which is damning and which, as far I can tell, serves no legal purpose. This person close to Rabbi Tropper obviously has strong reasons to want to believe in Rabbi Tropper's innocence. However, regardless of one's views of Rabbi Tropper's hashakofos, personality and ego, I do think it is important to allow for the possibility that things may not be entirely as they seem from the tapes

anonymous

P.S. Since you seem to sometimes post emails as they come in, as a courtesy to the person close to Rabbi Tropper, please don't post my name or email address. This is not an anonymous attempt to start spreading pro-Tropper rumors. I have no connection to Rabbi Tropper or his supposed attorney. In fact, I had one telephone conversation with Rabbi Tropper a few months ago and was far from impressed. I'm emailing you specifically because I think you have integrity, unlike the hordes of disenchanted Jewish bloggers who are looking for spikes in the traffic to their blogs.

Rav Sternbuch: Yosef & the art of forgetting

Rav Sternbuch: Chanukah - the Eternal Flame

Beseiged in Miami by Israeli schnorrers

Reuven writes:

I read your website, blog daily; I agree and disagree on a few issues. However a point I would like to bring across and get your response. I live in a frum community in Miami Florida, with many shuls and Jewish days’ schools. I get knocks on my doors daily even at 10 pm, people from Eretz Yisroel

They all have a sob story, how life is, and how its the American Jew who's going to bail them out, and must give needed funds now! Why is it this way? The Chutzpa, arrogant is more the word, and the disrespect they give when you give them a few dollars, they want a check!

You have a Medina called Israel which doesn't support big Frum Haimisher families and who's responsible?? They don't work, don't learn torah in kollel! They can't go into the Army, Hester programs are too Zionist for them, and so do what?? Ten percent of frum yidden belong in kollel, though who are serious about being the teacher, rabbonim, dayanim in the next generation, the rest need to get a job. To survive in today’s world you can go to a frum college, which I went to Touro College, without the distractions of the world, with 6 kids at home between 5-10 pm for 3 years after a days work. The Shulchan Urach clearly states, hilchous Talmud Torah to teach ones child a trade. Get a decent job support your family and do something meaningful in life! Being a professional shnorra isn't a profession, you are bogging down the true people in this world who need help from our fellow yidden!  When will the Haimsher, Frum, Charidim world wake up and earn a parnosha from Hashem like a mentch?

I would like to see some feed back from your blogger, thank you

European rabbis object to EJF move into Europe

JCcom

Two weeks ago, the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) passed a unanimous resolution at a meeting of its Standing Committee, in Moscow, objecting to EJF's attempts to establish itself in Europe.

It had "strong reservations" about the EJF's attempts to organise local conferences and activities by a new EJF office in Amsterdam were "not welcome".[...]

Haaretz:Tropper scandal embarrasses charedi system

Haaretz

It is hard to imagine a more embarrassing situation in which to find an exclusive ultra-Orthodox organization - a group that was a standard-bearer in the fight against "breaches in the wall of conversion" and "the penetration of complete gentiles into the vineyard of Israel."

These breaches pale into insignificance in comparison with the accusations against the man who heads the organization itself: according to the claims, Rabbi Leib Tropper of Rockland County abandoned the apparently stringent Halakhic standards of his Haredi organization and established a conversion process based on his most private impulses. [...]

Jewish Star: Tropper scandal affects conversions

Jewish Star

With the public revelation of Orthodox conversion guru Rabbi Leib Tropper as a caught-on-tape predator, the Orthodox Jewish community is grappling with a sexual scandal of Madoffian proportion.[...]

Forward reports Tropper scandal & apology

Forward.

A key proponent of the successful campaign for stricter conversions in Israel and around the world has resigned from a senior post, and has not denied rumors of a conversion scandal of his own.

Rabbi Leib Tropper, a founder of the hard-line conversion group Eternal Jewish Family (EJF), announced that he had stepped down as its leader when allegations surfaced in news outlets that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman while guiding her conversion. Tropper was among those responsible for major policy changes by the Israeli rabbinate that sparked a worldwide tightening of conversion regulations.

In a statement issued December 23 to the Forward, Tropper's representatives said he "wishes to express his regret for the turmoil caused by his departure… and for what has appeared to be conduct not within our significant laws of modesty." [...]

Rabbinical courts can annul conversion

JPost

Rabbinical courts have the legal authority to retroactively annul conversions to Judaism years and even decades after they were performed, even if the conversion was performed under the aegis of the Chief Rabbinate, according to a legal opinion by attorney Rabbi Shimon Ya'acobi, the legal adviser to the Rabbinical Court Administration, that was released to the press Wednesday.

Ya'acobi also argues that city rabbis have the right to question the Jewishness of converts to Judaism who come before them to be registered for marriage.

Ya'acobi's legal opinion is nothing short of a bombshell in the ongoing battle over the Jewishness of thousands of converts who converted under the aegis of the state-funded National Conversion Authority and conversion courts in the IDF.

Tropper is back - organizing his Maimonides Retreat program December 23-30.

[[A number of commentaters have stated that this program was canceled a few days ago. However I was told today that the program is still functioning. I just sent an email to Horizons and asked them to inform me whether the programs is on or off. I'll post there response here

Either way everyone agrees that Tropper was planning on running the program despite the scandal,

================================================
Contrary to those who claim that Tropper is finished, he has been busy organizing his Maimonides Retreat progam this week in Monsey.

Horizons

Recognizing the potential of exciting campus programs like Maimonides and Heritage Scholars to attract students with a genuine interest in Jewish learning, we've created a second tier of programming. The goal: to provide young men [we hope to develop a program for women as interest grows] with the opportunity to deepen their exploration of the vibrancy and intellectual stimulation of classical Judaism in a fun and enriching atmosphere.

Sample Schedule

7:30 – 8:30 Shacharis (optional)

8:45 – 9:30 Continental breakfast

9:30 – 10:30 Session I

"Shmuess" — Between Man and His Fellow

R' Leib Tropper's passion for the importance of character development is contagious, and the centrality of "being a mensch" to the Torah worldview is his leitmotif. His delivery, which blends a lucid and jargon-free elucidation of traditional sources with his expansive reading in modern psychology and philosophy, has captivated the minds and hearts of three generations of American youth.

Jerusalem's secular Jewish Identity

Understanding Tropper's crimes & that of EJF

Rabbi Yair Hoffman has published a series of articles which cogently reveal the real issues connected with the Tropper scandal and also how EJF is endangering Jewish society. (There is another link I added today which talks about EJF's  unpleasant consequences on geirim.)


http://www.vosizneias.com/45283/2009/12/21/new-york-editorial-about-the-current-ejf-scandal

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=5350

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=5390

http://www.vosizneias.com/45420/2009/12/23/new-york-geirus-re-examined-the-other-elephant-in-the-room-that-no-one-is-talking-about

Rav Sternbuch: Obligation to Investigate rumors of sexual impropriety 5:398