Kletsky Killing Renews Calls For Oversight of Yeshivas

Forward

A number of child-safety proposals have been floated in the wake of the murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn’s Boro Park neighborhood.

One proposal might stand out to New York State residents as a commonsense initiative: mandatory background checks and fingerprinting for private school employees.

The checks would not have prevented the murder of Kletzky. Accused killer Levi Aron, also a Jew from Boro Park, abducted the boy off the street in July as the child walked home from a neighborhood summer camp. But advocates contend that such regulation would codify one lesson of the murder: that Orthodox communities can no longer place blind trust in their own.

“The point that we bring to the table is that we Jews can’t do it ourselves,” said Elliot Pasik, president of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children. “We can’t self-govern. We can’t police ourselves. We need laws for child safety.”[....]

Young woman recounts her escape from Breslaver cult

Haaretz

In mid-May, a young woman called the Israel Center for Cult Victims, asking that her identity be kept secret. "I live in a Jerusalem collective," she told center director Rachel Lichtenstein. "I'm not certain, but I think it's a cult."

That call led to the exposure of the Jerusalem cult whose ringleader, D., was indicted yesterday along with two other members. 

In several meetings with center staffers, the caller, in her early twenties, revealed the story of her life in D.'s house. She later agreed to complain to the police. Her detailed testimony about the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted on the household's women and children led to an investigation that ended with the police and welfare authorities raiding the house. The women and children were sent to shelters; D. and two others were arrested. 

Now, according to her lawyer, Ami Savir, the complainant will be the key prosecution witness in the trial.

Bnei Brak teacher arrested on charges of sexual abuse

JPOST

An indictment was filed on Thursday in the Tel Aviv District Court against Rabbi Yaakov Vimer, a Bnei Brak teacher suspected of carrying out serious sexual offenses against one of his students.

According to the charge sheet, filed by Attorney Claudia Bilenka of the Tel Aviv District Attorney's office, 52-year-old Vimer committed sodomy and sexual assault on the young boy over a period of two years, from 2002 - 2003. The victim was 12 years old when the alleged abuse started. [...]

Abusive Breslover cult [Video]

International child porn ring encouraged abuse

The keys of Baba Elazar - a false embellishment

BCHOL

שעה קלה לאחר הרצח המזעזע של המקובל רבי אלעזר אבוחצירא זצ"ל, נלקח הרב לבית החולים 'סורוקה', שם ביצעו הרופאים בדיקת סי טי בגופו הטהור.

הבדיקה השגרתית שנערכת לאחר כל רצח, השאירה - לדברי משפחת אבוחצירא - את הרופאים בהלם מוחלט.

מקורבו של ה'באבא אלעזר', יוסי רפאלי, מספר ל'בחדרי חרדים' את הסיפור המופתי שסיפרו, לדבריו, רופאי בית החולים לבני המשפחה.

"בליל הרצח תיאמתי את מסע הלוויה והקבורה בירושלים והייתי בקשר רציף עם בנו של הרב - רבי פנחס.

"במהלך אחת השיחות אמר לי הרב פנחס שהוא חייב לכבות את מכשיר הטלפון בשל בדיקת סי.טי. שנערכת לגופת אביו. לאחר חצי שעה שוחחנו שוב, והבן אומר לי שהוא עדיין בבדיקה ויצור איתי קשר מיד לאחריה.

"לא הבנתי. מניסיוני בדיקת הסי.טי. אורכת דקות בודדות. לא הבנתי למה הבדיקה מתארכת.

Palestinian who lead double life as a Jewish baal teshuva

BCHOL

מחזיר בתשובה חי חיים כפולים: חרדי ופלסטיני מחזיר בתשובה התגלה כפלסטיני בעל חיים כפולים • בימים בילה בכפר 

הולדתו הפלסטיני, בלילות נאם בכנסים • זהותו נחשפה לאחר שאשתו החרדית ניסתה להתאב                                                            

א' בן 45 נולד כמוסלמי בכפר עבדאללה, סמוך לירושלים. לפני 15 שנה החליט לברוח מכפרו, הגיע לירושלים, והחליט להתגייר. לאחר שבע שנות לימודי יהדות באחת הישיבות הידועות בירושלים, הוא השלים את הליך הגיור.

לאט לאט צבר לעצמו קהל מעריצים והתפרסם כמחזיר בתשובה שמילא בתי כנסת ואולמות.

הוא נישא בשידוך לצעירה חרדית, ויחד גידלו בת בעיר מגוריהם ירושלים. היום מתברר כי א' ניהל חיים כפולים ובימים התגורר בכפר פלסטיני.

"כולם העריצו אותו", סיפרה האשה ההמומה לעיתון 'מעריב' שמפרסם את הסיפור. "הוא היה מודל לחיקוי עבור החוזרים בתשובה. הם האמינו לכל דבר שיצא מפיו". גם האשה לא העלתה על דעתה שבעלה אינו מרבה לבקר בבית, משום שהוא נוסע לכפר הולדתו.

את ההעדרויות הרבות שלו הסביר בכך שבימים הוא לומד מאוד קשה.  

In summer, Jewish studies flowers in Eastern Europe

JPost

Programs reflect remarkable resurgence of Jewish informal learning, academic studies that has occurred in Europe since fall of communism.

Breslover cult abuse case

YNet

הנשים עברו התעללות מצד אנשי הכת שעינו גם ילדים, והאם מספרת כי ניסתה להרחיק את בתה מהם - אך לשווא. גם באיגוד לנפגעי תקיפה מינית לא מבינים: "איך שירותי הרווחה לא שמו לב". משרד הרווחה: "כל פנייה שהגיעה נבדקה וטופלה"

החשש שהילד יאבד שליטה הוא פחד שמלווה כל הורה. עבור הוריהן של הנשים שנפגעו מהכת הסדיסטית שנחשפה אתמול (יום ג') בירושלים ובאזור טבריה, הפחד הזה התממש. אמה של אחת הנשים שהיו חברות בכת סיפרה אמש ל-ynet כי ניסתה לשכנע את בתה להתנתק מהחבורה: "קראתי עליהם בתקשורת, וניסיתי למנוע ממנה להתמסר להם, אבל היא הייתה מסונוורת", העידה.

האם סיפרה כי חברי הכת לא הצטיירו לה עצמה בתחילה כאנשים רעים שאחראים לפשעים מזעזעים, כפי שהתברר בדיעבד. אלא שכעת, היא אומרת, היא איבדה את האמון בבני אדם: "הלב שלי סתום ואטום אחרי מה ששמעתי שאומרים במשטרה. אני שמחה שהבת שלי פתחה סוף-סוף את העיניים, ומקווה שמנהיג הכת ייענש". 

 

Police arrest Breslover group suspected of abusing women and children

Haaretz     YNET

updated

Israel Police, in cooperation with Jerusalem district officers and social services, arrested nine members of a cult living in Jerusalem and in theTiberias area over the past few weeks, on suspicion of carrying out emotional and physical abuse of women and children over a two year period,

An undercover investigation into the cult was initiated following a complaint submitted by a young women to Jerusalem Police two and half months ago. The details of the arrests were revealed on Tuesday. [...]

Is It ‘Anti-Orthodox’ To Seek A Safer Community?

Jewish Week By Gary Rosenblatt editor & publisher

It is sad, if not maddening, when this newspaper is labeled “anti-Orthodox” for its reporting on scandals and other disturbing incidents in a segment of the community whose culture places a high value on policing itself.

Such accusations are not new, but they have ratcheted up significantly in recent days following the tragic death of young Leiby Kletzky of Borough Park, and The Jewish Week’s report and Editorial (July 22 issue) calling into question the role of the much-respected community watchdog group, Shomrim, in terms of its procedures and relations with law enforcement authorities.

The headline last week of an Orthodox magazine, Ami, used the word “slander” in referring to our reporting on Shomrim. Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, wrote in Ami, where he is editor at large, that The Jewish Week “seems bent on viewing and portraying the charedi community with” a “jaundiced eye.”

Marvin Schick, an expert in the field of Jewish education who writes a paid-for column in The Jewish Week, goes further in his criticism, proclaiming in a blog that “Orthodoxy-bashing is alive and well” at The Jewish Week, which he said has reached a new low in offering up “a vile exercise in group libel.”

Eishes Chayil Author, 'Hush': Shattering a Traumatic Silence

 Huffington Post

When I was a little girl, I never spoke with strangers. Strangers would hurt us. Strangers were capable of great evil.

In the ultra-Orthodox world of Borough Park, friend and stranger were simple words to define. A friend was anyone who looked like us, religious Jews who wore traditional Orthodox garb, had beards and covered their heads with large black kippas. A stranger was anyone who did not. You could never confuse the two. Most importantly, strangers did not fear God.

The garb made the world a clear and safe place and taught us everything we needed to know about right and wrong. If you wore the garb you were right, if you did not you were wrong. As children, we always knew how lucky we were to be living in the insular world of Borough Park. In Borough Park, we could trust everyone. In Borough Park children could not be hurt.

Orthodox Jews were good; they were trustworthy and moral above all. If such a man offered you a ride home, you could always hop in and go. If such a man gave you a drink, you knew it was safe.

It was a good world, if only an illusion. It was a warm and secure place for a child to grow, except when it wasn't. Because in a world where trust was so total, so blind, it was that much easier to get hurt.

Three weeks ago, in Borough Park, 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky walked home from day camp. He got lost. He asked a man for directions. The man seemed safe. He wore a kippa. He did not wear jeans. One day later, the police found Leiby's feet in the man's freezer; his body was somewhere else.[,,,]

Feedback, causality & G-d

I am working on the issue of feedback. I can not find any Jewish sources regarding feedback - to pick a reference and modify behavior or processes or efforts to maximize the referent. This is a fundamental Western idea - but not Jewish. It seems that the official Jewish view is that human effort does not cause success but only provides merit which justifies G-d making you successful. This issue  cuts across a wide range of issues from child abuse, education, parnossa etc etc.

I also can't find where and when this idea developed in the Western World.

Any and all help in this area would be appreciated. I also don't see that there is any difference between chareidi, Modern Orthodox and Hirschian theology regarding this issue.

Chovas HaLevavos (4:4) Even when you are fully aware that effort is worthless without G‑d’s decree, nevertheless you must act like the farmer who plows, removes the thorns, seeds and waters his field if there is no rain. At the same time he trusts that G‑d will make it fertile, guard it from calamity, make a bountiful crop and bless it. In other words he knows that it is wrong to leave the field unworked and unsown even though he has full faith that G‑d could decree that the land produce a crop even without planting beforehand. Similarly workers, merchants and laborers are commanded to earn a living in their occupation even though they have full trust in G‑d to provide them with sustenance. They make this effort despite the fact they accept that everything is totally in His hands and according to His wishes and that in fact He has promised them a livelihood. They understand that He will provide this sustenance anyway He wants. Since everything is in G‑d’s hands you shouldn’t think that one profession is more likely to provide a livelihood than another. Similarly you shouldn’t take pride in what seems to be professional success or even to make special efforts to achieve success. Total involvement in a job serves merely to weaken trust in G‑d because the effort is in fact not the cause of success. Instead of depending totally on your efforts you should be grateful to G‑d for providing sustenance for you after your efforts and that your efforts were not in vain

Among Conservative Rabbis, a Wide Disagreement Over Same-Sex Marriage

NY Times

But at another Conservative congregation, Temple Israel Center in White Plains, Rabbi Gordon Tucker, 60, the synagogue’s leader, performed a Jewish ceremony a year ago for two young gay men who had been civilly married in Connecticut. On Saturday, the first anniversary of the wedding, the men were called up for an aliyah, a blessing they said over the Torah, and their parents sponsored the celebratory kiddush, the postworship meal for congregants. 

“It’s not controversial in the congregation,” said Rabbi Tucker, a former dean of the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the movement’s fountainhead. “Over a period of years we have reached a consensus and people supported my position.” 

The two rabbis’ contrasting viewpoints are reflective of the wide disagreement within Conservative Judaism on an issue that continues to roil many of its synagogues even after passage of laws in New York and five other states that legalize same-sex marriage.