Alleged Child molester in Modi'in Illit will go free on Sunday- because Charedi families won't testify against him

kikar haShabbat

למרות שעל פי החשד ביצע מעשים חמורים בילדותיהן, משפחותיהן המתגוררות בעיר החרדית מודיעין עילית מסרבות לשתף פעולה עם המשטרה ובשל כך המשטרה מתקשה באיסוף הראיות נגדו וישנו חשש כי התוקף לא יואשם.

מדובר בתושב העיר החרדית בני ברק בן 30 בשם א"ב, שעל פי החשד נהג לתקוף ילדות במשך שש שנים, ורק בשבוע שעבר נעצר על ידי המשטרה לאחר שתקף ילדה כבת 5 בחדר המדרגות.

המשטרה התחייבה בדיון בהארכת מעצרו להגיש בקרוב כתב אישום נגדו אולם על פי הדיווח באתר וואלה, משפחות הילדות מסרבות לשתף פעולה לאחר שרבנים חתמו על הסכם עם החשוד, לפיו הוא יעבור טיפול פסיכולוגי ורפואי.

במשטרה טוענים כי החשוד הפסיק את הטיפול על דעת עצמו ובכך הפר את ההסכם שנחתם באופן לא חוקי לכאורה. עם הפסקת הטיפול הוא תקף כאמור את הילדה כאשר ניסתה לעלות לביתה.

Dorothy Rabinowitz :Why your friends,psychologists and rabbis want to believe clearly impossible false accusations of child abuse - and why so few see that the Emperor has no clothes

Commentary Magazine   review of  No Crueler Tyrannies by Dorothy Rabinowitz Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner

[O]ne might have thought that the country’s most prominent progressives would have leaped to the bars, benches, and barricades to defend the falsely accused when allegations of mass sexual abuse against children erupted in the 1980’s and 1990’s. These were cases, after all, in which outlandish, ever-escalating charges were leveled at totally innocent people, in which gross violations of due process and constitutional rights were committed, and in which terribly wrongful convictions were obtained.

But one would have been wrong. Instead, it was left to a single reporter, the heroic Dorothy Rabinowitz, to undertake in-depth investigations of the worst of these cases and to bring their horrifying transgressions of justice to the attention of a wider public. Eventually, her work helped to secure the legal and financial assistance necessary to free most of the victims—but not before lives were shattered, livelihoods lost, savings exhausted, families destroyed, and miserable years passed in prison.

Even now, while some unfortunates still languish in jail, and contrived sexual-abuse charges remain toxically potent weapons, no new Arthur Miller has emerged to write a play or produce so much as a movie of the week. But we do have Rabinowitz’s riveting new book, No Crueler Tyrannies, based on the brilliant investigative articles, mostly for the Wall Street Journal, that helped earn her a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. And that is quite enough for the present.

[...] The ordeal of sixty-year-old Violet Amirault and her adult children, Gerald and Cheryl, began in 1984. Worried about the behavior of her young son, a mother at the Fells Acres Day School, which the Amiraults had successfully operated together for many years, prodded the boy to tell of anything strange that might have been done to him. The child dimly recalled an instance in which Gerald had changed his underwear (as it would later emerge, the child had wet himself). Then, after months of questioning, the boy began to talk about sexual acts.

The mother called the child-abuse hotline. In short order, the police arrested Gerald, closed down the school, and began coaching parents on how to elicit charges of molestation from their children, instructing them not to accept denials and to see such ordinary problems as bed-wetting and loss of appetite as signs of abuse. Charges began pouring forth, and Violet and Cheryl were also arrested.

The district attorney and prosecutors enlisted the help of therapists, social workers, and abuse experts, who spent months interviewing the three-, four-, and five-year-old children and preparing them to testify. Tapes and transcripts of the sessions reveal that the tykes did their best to hold on to the truth, but that their implacable inquisitors eventually managed to break them down. A pediatric nurse, Susan Kelley, was especially gifted in these techniques, promising rewards and telling children that they were “helping” the adults by making charges. Armed with anatomically correct dolls and puppets, Kelley refused to rest until weary tots finally pointed to a penis, vagina, or rectum.

The Amiraults were accused of preposterous violations of the children in their care—shoving pencils, sticks, and knives into their orifices (while leaving no signs of injury), tying them naked to trees in broad daylight in front of the other teachers, forcing them to watch the killing and dismemberment of animals, and making them drink urine. They were accused of taking the children to a “magic room” in which clowns wielding wands undressed and assaulted them and took their pictures. At trial, the children (now between the ages of six and eight) were permitted to testify while looking away from the defendants, in violation of both the Massachusetts and U.S. constitutions. In the proceedings against Violet and Cheryl, the judge permitted the prosecution to intimate, without any evidence whatsoever, that they were somehow involved in child pornography.[...]

It is not that the cases lack heroes [...]But the hall of shame is much larger. In the Amirault case alone, the villains include the obsessed, unappeasable district attorneys and prosecutors of Middlesex County; the disgraceful dolts of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, who frustrated at least a half-dozen attempts to exonerate or free the Amiraults; and Jane Swift, who as acting governor of Massachusetts yielded to obscure political pressure and turned down the recommendation of the notoriously tough Massachusetts parole board to release Gerald Amirault and put an end to this dreadful case.

One hungers to know more about the larger forces that permitted these outrages to occur. Rabinowitz lays some of the blame, in passing, on “advanced political opinion,” which has created an aura of piety around claims of violation made by women and children. On this view, as Rabinowitz writes, to side with the falsely accused would have been “to undermine the battle against child abuse; it was to betray children and all other victims of sexual predators.” Even to raise questions about these cases would have been tantamount, in the opinion of one of the Amiraults’ tormentors, to victimizing the children all over again.

One might also point an accusing finger at our schools of law and social work, where whole cadres of professionals have been trained to survey every social setting for evidence of “oppression” and victimization. As if to prove the point, the experts involved in winning the original conviction against the Amiraults met afterward to congratulate themselves in a seminar titled “The Fells Acres Day School Case: A Model Multidisciplinary Response.”

Nachlaot: Panic in Jerusalem: Parents in a tight-knit neighborhood believe a pedophile ring is terrorizing children. What if it doesn’t exist?

Please reread the transcript of Rabbi Berkovitz talk about satanic abuse in Sanhedria Murchevet - then read this article regarding the allegations of satanic abuse in Nachlaot. Sounds familiar doesn't it. It is also interesting that Rav Berkowitz thought the allegations in Nachlaot were too unbelievable to be true - until he started hearing the same unbelievable allegations in his neighborhood.

 BTW does anyone know who is Rav Berkovitz's relying on for his views and understanding? Any relationship to those who were involved in Nachlaot?  Please note that of all the hundreds of charges of satantic child abuse and all the trials and even convinctions - all have been thrown after being reconsidered

Of interest I received a call today from someone who politely asked me to take down the recording of Rav Berkovitz as well as the transcript. I told him if he can convince Rav Sternbuch that they need to be taken down - I would be willing to comply - otherwise they stay.

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Tablet Magazine

The neighborhood of Nahlaot in Jerusalem is less a single neighborhood than a cluster of smaller semi-distinct neighborhoods that, beginning in the 1870s, grew incrementally as the city’s population expanded beyond the Old City. Batei Rand and Batei Broydes are two of these clusters, each with a few hundred residents. Both are overwhelmingly Haredi and built around semi-enclosed courtyards. The apartments are continuous and are stacked on two levels, the upper one accessible via a shared, wrap-around balcony. Most of the apartments are single-entrance and open into the courtyard, so there is little privacy, and the residents are, for the most part, very poor. Most families don’t own their home, but instead lease it on extremely favorable terms from a charitable organization. Many of the families have been in the neighborhood for generations, and the area, marked by labyrinthine cobblestone alleyways, Jerusalem stone, and gardens, has long been beloved by those that live there.

“It was the most quaint, amazing, incredible, peaceful, loving community,” a former resident recently told me. “A place where religious and secular got along with each other. It was like an example of what Israel could be.”

All of this changed in October 2010, when a 44-year-old man named Binyamin Satz was arrested. Satz is mentally handicapped, and court documents note that he is on state disability, has schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome, and “a non-specific eating disorder.” According to his lawyer, Roy Politi, he eats “only bread and cheese, but not when they are touching.” Politi told me that Satz weighs less than 90 lbs. A neighbor described Satz as “very strange, very slight,” with an “extremely pronounced twitch from his shoulder to head.” Politi described Satz as “functioning like a 12-year-old kid.” [...]

To date, more than 70 children, nearly all from Haredi families in the tight-knit community of Nahlaot, have been interviewed by Social Services and have claimed to suffer severe sexual, psychological, physical, and ritual abuse at the hands of nearly 60 individuals. At least another 50 children have claimed abuse, though they were not interviewed by Social Services. The children have identified the perpetrators either by name or by telling characteristics: the one with the ponytail, the one who exercises, the filmer, the one with a walker, the one who wears a knitted kippah, and so on. Those accused include American immigrants, middle-aged men, elderly women (nearly half of those accused are female), geriatric couples, teenagers, mother-son teams, mentally handicapped individuals, at least one Arab, suspected Christian missionaries, and, more recently, a few prominent members of the community, including a rabbi. Some of those who have been identified by one or more children are unaware, or appear to be unaware, that they have been accused.

There was no hint of pedophilia in the community before October 2010. But the Haredi community in Nahlaot now believes that the highly organized ring has been operating secretly for years—possibly generations—and is governed by an elaborate hierarchy. According to community members with whom I’ve spoken over the past year, they believe that a small number of masterminds, including the 70-year-old Vorst, a convert to Judaism who directs Ohel Sarah Imenu, an organization that facilitates Haredi conversions, used formerly abused teenagers and mentally handicapped locals as scouts for the victims. Community members believe that these scouts watched the children and parents from outdoor locations that offered prime vantage points—under the guise of tending gardens, doing calisthenics, or panhandling—and memorized their schedules, recording when the children would be unsupervised. The pedophiles noted the schedules of various homeowners, residents of Nahlaot claim, and they allegedly snuck into dozens of apartments and sheds in the neighborhood in order to abuse the children, who have pointed out these locations to their parents. Many are convinced that there are Christian missionary motivations at play here and that false converts have infiltrated their community. A number of locals told me they believe that the videos and media produced by the pedophile ring are being sold for tens of thousands of dollars or more.

The Nahlaot situation is already widely referred to as the worst pedophile case in Israel’s history. This is a phenomenal understatement. If true, this would be, in terms of the number of perpetrators and the scope of conspiracy, unprecedented in known criminal history. Indeed, not only that: It would be the first proven instance of an association generally acknowledged to be the great white whale of sex crimes. “To be perfectly blunt,” said Dorothy Rabinowitz, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board who won a Pulitzer Prize for her extensive coverage of such cases, “there is no such thing as a pedophile ring.” [....]

By late 2010, dozens of children had told their parents they were abused, and the circle of accused kept growing. The acts reported by the children, nearly all between the ages of 3 and 9, are incredibly horrific and often very bizarre. Virtually none of the allegations involve only one molester and one victim; the children have consistently claimed multiple offenders and multiple victims. There are reports of orgies involving as many as 20 adults and more than a dozen children. There were, allegedly, frequent raping and forced sodomy of children as young as 2 years old. The children claim that various objects—including large branches, semi-automatic rifles, screwdrivers, and other carpenter’s tools—were forcibly stuck up their anuses and other orifices; that knives were held to their throats; that they were told that if they didn’t voluntarily return to be raped, they would be “chopped up into little pieces,” or that their entire families would be murdered. They claim that they were shown, by way of threat, the guns that would be used for this purpose and told that cameras had been installed in their homes to ascertain their silence. The children claim that they were, on various occasions, bound up and beaten, held on top of open flames, lashed with sticks, burned with chemicals, given soft drinks spiked with hallucinogens, and injected with drugs.

The majority of the allegations include reports of video-recording and photography, and the children say they were forced to watch pornographic movies and violent sexual encounters between their abusers. Some children say they were abducted at night from their homes, viciously abused, and returned to their beds. Others say they were abducted from school and then returned. Babysitters were said to be threatened with severe physical punishment or death unless they brought the children in their care to the pedophiles. There are reports of witches, magic doors, secret basements, and large dogs used to intimidate the children. Many allegations include elements of ritual and Christian abuse, including forced prostration and benedictions, sexual acts involving massive iron crosses, and various other forms of foreign worship. Some children say they were taken to a nearby church, where they were abused by priests, as well as other undercover Christians.

But after a few confused and shell-shocked months, the community began to organize itself in late 2011. Parents began raising awareness via personal blogs and websites, spearheading fundraising campaigns for therapy and legal fees, and organizing various sympathetic newspaper and radio reports. Most significantly, the community found a central organizing force in Altea Steinherz, an American therapist who lives in Rechavia, a neighborhood adjacent to Nahlaot. Steinherz, who specializes in addictions and eating disorders, began devoting herself on a volunteer basis to the alleged victims and their cause. “This [case] is not going to go away by itself,” Steinherz told me.

Steinherz arranged interviews with police and lawyers for most of the families, many of whom, according to Steinherz, “simply have no idea what to do in a situation like this.” Steinherz does not have a degree in psychology or abuse counseling; she has a certificate called a CASAC, which certifies her to do alcohol- and substance-abuse counseling. Nevertheless, in late 2011 she emerged as the strategist and spokesman for the cause: directing the collection and dissemination of information, raising awareness and support, and coordinating the collection of testimonies and any available evidence. She’s also organized PR and media campaigns—critical work, since many of the Haredi residents of Nahlaot don’t have the Internet.[...]

Cases similar to Nahlaot’s, many whose particulars are even more extreme, have occurred frequently in the past, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, with as many as 500 or more children reporting horrific and fantastic abuse at the hands of dozens, or even hundreds, of adults. In order to classify and recognize these cases, the FBI’s Kenneth Lanning, who worked in the Behavioral Science Unit from 1981 until 2000, developed a model that describes what he termed “multi-dimensional sex rings.” (This term, Lanning admits, never really caught on; more frequently used is “ritual abuse,” “organized abuse,” or “satanic/sadistic ritual abuse.”) The model delineates four criteria: multiple offenders and multiple victims who are considerably younger than “standard” pedophile victims; the victims are controlled and coerced primarily through fear; the abuse occurs in communities that are insular and ultra-conservative; and at least some of the abuse in question is extreme, grotesque, or incorporates ritualistic aspects.

A study of past cases reveals startling similarities: The accusation always begins with a single complaint and is always parent-driven. The children’s accounts contain fabulous or impossible elements—magic tunnels, bullets that find their target, walls and people that disappear, and so on. The conspiracies being alleged are far-reaching and highly improbable. There are untrained professionals involved driving the investigations. There are nearly always claims of video recording and of being forced to watch porn and adults having sex.

This history is relevant because, to borrow Lanning’s term, a multi-dimensional sex ring has never once been substantiated. Never, despite the enormity of the crimes in question, and despite the numbers of times they’ve been alleged, has any independently corroborated evidence been found. Many of the children who testified in these cases have, as adults, recanted their testimonies, and courts have, over the years, turned over convictions that were based purely on children’s testimonies. In the most famous of these cases—the McMartin preschool trial in California, which ran from 1984 through 1990 and in which more than 350 children claimed they had been abused at their daycare center—every single allegation was thrown out. [...]

Rabbi Riskin and Female Halachic Adjudicators: It Does Not Compute

Cross-Currents   By Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s ambitious program to fill Israeli society with female halachic adjudicators just experienced a significant advance, as R. Riskin appointed a woman, Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld, to the position of Mahniga Ruhanit (Spiritual Leader) in his city of Efrat. R. Riskin explained that Dr. Rosenfeld will render halachic rulings on questions posed to her, and that there is no bar to women serving as rabbinic judges: [...]

As such, R. Riskin has founded the Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute for Halakhic Leadership, which aims to create a cohort of female halachic leaders, trained and certified as follows:

Morot Hora’ah: Five-year program training women in the classic rabbinic curriculum of Kashrut, Shabbat, Family Purity, Mourning, and Marriage. This training is complemented by an extensive curriculum of philosophical, social, and psychological training for communal leadership.

Completion of the course and success in written tests leads to Heter Hora’ah – the centuries-old traditional license to issue halakhic rulings.

Dayanut: Ten-year advanced training program launched in 2013 for women who have completed the heter hora’ah program, equipping them with the knowledge base to serve as judges for conversion and divorce. For the first time since Devorah served as a judge, Jewish history will once again see women trained for the task, and their very presence will restore – and ensure the preservation of – women’s rights in areas of personal status.

The first-ever book of halakhic responsa penned by women who were ordained by the WIHL to serve as halakhic decisors was presented to the public on Monday, 23 June, 2014, at a unique symposium promoting female halakhic leadership in Israeli society.

Now, aside from the fact that rabbinic ordination cannot be conferred upon women, as explained in detail here (please click here for the statement of the Rabbinical Council of America, the RCA, that reflects this axiom), R. Riskin introduces a new calculus and arrives at an equation that simply does not compute. R. Riskin affirms that, “The only reason why women cannot be judges is if they are not accepted by the people. When it is clear they are accepted and have halachic knowledge, they can render halachic decisions.” Well, yes, the Gemara in Sanhedrin of course states that litigants may voluntarily accept upon themselves the testimony and rulings of those who do not qualify as witnesses or dayanim (judges), such as women and relatives, for a form of binding arbitration (Sanhedrin 24a, Rambam Hil. Sanhedrin 7:2, and Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 22:1). However, this does not confer upon the women or relatives whose ruling has been voluntarily accepted the legal status of a beis din. An actual, legal beis din, rather than those unqualified as dayanim but accepted voluntarily as arbitrators to render a decision, is required for geirus (conversion – v. Yevamos 46b, Rambam Hil. Issurei Bi’ah 13:6 and Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 268:3-4) and may be necessary for certain aspects of geirushin (divorce). This is why geirus must occur by day, as a beis din, unlike arbitrators, may not convene at night. R. Riskin’s program that provides women with rabbinic training and ordination, granting “the centuries-old traditional license to issue halakhic rulings” and “equipping them with the knowledge base to serve as judges for conversion and divorce”, is illegitimately predicated on an assertion that has no bearing on the matter. Those who do not qualify to form an halachic beis din do not attain the status of an halachic beis din for conversion, divorce and other proceedings, regardless of voluntary acceptance by the parties. Arbitration and beis din status are apples and oranges; R. Riskin’s calculation does not compute. [...]

The Hanging Judge of Sedom and his Kangaroo Court

I posted an article (Dorothy Rabinowtiz) about false convictions for child abuse yesterday. The question is why convictions on absurd claims, unsupported by the evidence are obtained and why the charges are made in the first place?  Dorothy Rabinowitz - Wall Street Journal Reporter and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for writing about this topic notes the following

[She] lays some of the blame, in passing, on “advanced political opinion,” which has created an aura of piety around claims of violation made by women and children. On this view, as Rabinowitz writes, to side with the falsely accused would have been “to undermine the battle against child abuse; it was to betray children and all other victims of sexual predators.” Even to raise questions about these cases would have been tantamount, in the opinion of one of the Amiraults’ tormentors, to victimizing the children all over again.

This explanation readily applies to the defense of false rape charges - such as those reported in Rolling Stone Magazine - where the reporter chose not to even ask the accused about the charges. It was enough if a coed charged a fellow student of rape to make the charges true. Questioning whether a claim of rape is true is betraying all rape victims. This seems to be basis of Federal Title IX regulations.

It also explains the bizarre spectacle of certain blogs - that defend accusations and rumors and even suspicions of sexual abuse - refusing to let the absence of supporting evidence about the veracity of these claims to discredit them.Of course all those who merely questioned the validity of the allegation were simply discredited for doing so.

We have seen how they will take the side of the accuser - even when the authorities that they initially praised and relied upon to validate these accusations have reversed themselves and retracted their defense. To deal with the dissonance of continuing to support the charges when the basis for the support has been removed - they conclude that these distinguished authorities are corrupt or lack the moral strength to say what they believe and obviously must have been pressured to retract their support. The possibility that the accusations were mistaken or misunderstood doesn't seem an option. The possibility that the retraction is a sign of moral integrity is not a consideration.

Instead of acknowledging that careful evaluation of the evidence has shown that the accusations had no basis - these individuals invent negative explanations about their formerly highly regarded authorities such as institutional bias. In other words men of community authority will eventually do what they have to defend community institutions such as schools.  They claim without evidence that the facts must have been suppressed to save jobs. In fact any explanation will do - as long as the accusations of sexual violence are kept alive.

As Rabinowitz noted, it seems that these hanging judges feel that to question the accusations is tantamount to questioning the whole enterprise of protecting the abused and a betrayal of all victims of sexual violence. Thus they view that their denial of the conflicting evidence and their continued support of the false accusations is the correct moral stance required of all moral individuals. Slandering the falsely accused and anyone who supports them - in spite of the lack of evidence - is viewed as courageous and just. In fact anyone who fails to support their vision of things is accused of moral cowardice or hypocrisy or selling out. The hanging judge is convinced that he is the only one with moral backbone.

Clarity Won: Fallout from Israel's 2015 Elections

Guest post by RaP

Anyone remotely familiar with Shidduchim and dating in general knows that the suitor and the one being pursued have different roles. Each must act CLEARLY in order to connect and succeed with their chosen objective. One cannot be all things to all men and to all women. Therefore it is important that a Yeshiva Bochur, as an example, be very clear about who he is and what he wishes any potential spouse to know about him in order that he be chosen over anyone else (aside from the common basic human attractions). Thus, the prospective Choson ("groom") cannot portray himself SIMULTANEOUSLY as all of a potential full-time Kollel learner, plus college student, plus working professional all at once. You are either committed to full-time learning or not. Or you are seriously taking college course to get a profession no matter what, or your heart and mind are set on working full time for a living and nothing will deter you because that is who you are and what you sincerely want to do. Just make up you mind, and be clear about who you are and what you want people to know about you! To ignore this means that few will know who you are and what you stand for and so you will lose. This is so true for politics as well, as any politician must decide what his main message is, and who his target audience and potential supporters are and how that can be conveyed with absolute CLARITY to get the vote and be elected and win!

Based on that preamble, the results of the latest Israeli election make perfect sense. Here are the winners and losers, in no particular order:

Winners:

Netanyahu, who long ago figured out that he must run against the most unpopular man among most Israeli Jews...no not any rabbis silly, it's Obama! By concentrating his SPOKEN and UNSPOKEN message on the dangers posed by Obama's pro-leftist preferences, and BHO's tolerance of Islamic shenanigans, capped by a masterful speech to the US Congress a few days before the elections, Netanyahu was able to attract that right-wing Israeli JEWISH majority that fears Obama more than Netanyahu's failings.

Israeli Arabs, who with the help of foreign politically savvy operatives and money, were able to unite in a big way even though they are split among themselves ranging from secular Communists to Islamic Fundamentalist, they showed that one thing unites them more than anything else: Fear and loathing of their Jewish Israeli compatriots. Count on them being major obstructionists in the next Knesset.

Israeli Sefardim, supported the Charedi SHAS and the new secular Kulanu party to become important players in determining the new governing coalition, after being locked out for two years.

Charedim, both the Ashkenazi-dominated UTJ and the Sefardi dominated SHAS proved yet again that "Toirah Iz Di Beste Sechoirah"! That sticking to a clear pure message of commitment to Gedolim, Rebbes and Roshei Yeshiva, no matter who they are, is the safest and smartest policy for Charedi Jews. Notch up great victories for the three Moatzos, the Councils of Torah Sages, that guide Agudas Yisroel, Degel HaTorah, and SHAS whose position is now very strong and their voices will be heard in the new government. The Israeli Charedi world in general will now breath a collective sigh of relief as anti-Semitic and anti-Torah laws designed to hurt them will now be rolled back and struck off the books. They will also gain access to political and economic rewards, long overdue, since they make invaluable contributions to the Jewish people in Israel in many spheres, obviously in being the Bnai Torah valued most by HKB"H for their Torah Umitzvos!

Aryeh Deri, for one of the biggest political comebacks in modern Israeli history. But he will have to produce big-time for all the faith that was placed in his now proven political abilities. He needs to realize, like all politicians, that this is not about him, he represents and leads the Sefardi Charedi Tzibbur in the Knesset and must tread with great caution to avoid the pitfalls of the political mistakes of the past. Now he must produce and prove himself.

Israel's neighboring Arab countries, who won a stable partner and strong ally to oppose Iranian hegemony and out of control Islamic terrorists. They should make the most of this to do their own house-cleaning, if they can in between all the civil wars and vendettas they are engaged in right now.

US Republicans whose gamble to invite and support Netanyahu has paid off and who now have a good chance of capturing the big prize of the White House in 2016. Seems Israel's March 2015 elections is the "real first 'primary' election" in the race for the US Presidency to be decided in November 2106.

Losers:

This list is longer, partly because of the new Israeli law that raised the threshold for entry into the Knesset.

Labor and its all-around rogue's gallery of Socialists, Bolsheviks, Reformers, and Anarchists. They can now keep the new oversized Arab super-party company on the official opposition side and show their true colors as they find common cause with the goals of the Israeli Arabs whom they love more than their fellow right-wing and any Jews of a religious nature. They are a political basket case and no one will miss them.

Yair Lapid, like most "protest parties" of the past are headed for political oblivion. Lapid should go back to the world of Israeli television and carry on being a celebrity there because he has proven he knows nothing about governing, government and how to make himself useful to Israeli society beyond cursing Charedim as the source of all his problems. He needs to get a life soon.

Ditto for Dov Lipman who did not even make it on his ultra-secular anti-Charedi Yesh Atid party's candidates. He too will now have to get a life and stop contriving excuses as to what he wants out of life now that he is a man without a party or a country.

Naftali Bennett, the real disappointment to the Orthodox world by the way two years ago he teamed up with Lapid and engineered the last anti-Charedi regime that came crashing done none too soon. Even his own prior supporters left him in droves to the left and to the right because he has tried to be all things to all men. His gambit to enlist a secular Israel soccer hero to make his so-called "Bayit Yehudi" party just showed him up as someone lacking in a true understanding and commitment to serious Torah Judaism. He is a smart and wealthy man who speaks English with American parents. He should seriously think about spending quality time in one of the major BT yeshivas in Israel that cater to people like him. A stint in Ohr Somayach or Machon Shlomo would do him wonders. Oh yes, and he should take his wife and children to some serious Torah seminars run by Arachim or Hidabroot that would improve their Hashkofa and their appreciation for REAL Yiddishkeit.

Eli Yishai made a huge mistake by teaming up with Kahanists on one flank and drop-outs from Bayit Yehudi on the other. A truly mixed up mixed message lacking any clarity whatsoever so that his Torah-true persona backed by Rav Meir Mazuz could not shine through. They were also political amateurs compared to those Machiavellians opposing them and they paid the price. Perhaps what Yishai should have done is just stick with his rabbi and sent out one clear message as to who they are. Instead what happened was that his Yachad party was portrayed as an extremist right-wing party when in fact Yishai is a relatively moderate and centrist politician. Better luck next time and stick to one main clear message in the future.

Obama, Kerry, Hillary Clinton, US Democrats, Iran, Europe, foreign NGOs, the PLO & Hamas & Hezbolla whose nefarious plans and hostility to Jews' and Israelis' real interests have now been dealt a serious set-back and hopefully in some ways overturned. This is in the spirit of Purim and the month of Adar we are still in when Jews celebrate the turnaround of Haman's & Achashveiros's ploys and deceits.

Liberman and his "Yisrael Beiteinu" that is now on the way to becoming an anachronism and political fossil because this party of former Russian émigrés has served its purpose. Now that Russian Israelis have integrated into the secular Israeli mainstream they no longer need a special interests party that has no real direction. The problem of the over 300,000 NON-Halachic Russian "Jews" in Israel is the REAL problem with this group that has still not been solved and is at the heart of the ongoing conversion wars and standards in Israel that may now result in stronger rulings and laws against these gentiles masquerading as "Jews" with Charedim back in positions of influence. Stay tuned.

May the Jewish People go from strength to strength, from the salvations of Adar to the even greater salvations of Nissan! Amen!

Elections: An open letter to Israeli voters from a concerned American citizen,

Guest Post:

As you go to the polls please understand friendship with the Obama administration is not on the ballot.

Israel, and all freedom loving democracies for that matter, will never  have a decent relationship with this bunch. The only friends Obama has on the world stage live in Iran, Turkey, and Cuba.  Those guys form a club that even your ardent leftists can't join, no matter how much they try.

Even here in America the only relationship Obama knows is "my way or the highway". Like a schoolyard  bully, either you just go along with his extreme discredited policies, or you don't exist. There is no discussion, and certainly no negotiations.

No speech or the lack thereof will change this Administration's posture, nor will the renovation of a couple of  apartments.

So if your a leftist and think redistribution of wealth is more important than national security, by all means vote for the left....

....but Obama’s love can't be a reason,

It simply ain't gonna happen!!

Grynhaus faces retrial as jury fail to reach verdict on sex abuse charges

The Jewish Chronicle     A Jewish teacher accused of sexual assaults on two schoolgirls is facing a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

The panel was discharged by a judge on Monday after admitting it was unable to agree on the case of father-of-ten Todros Grynhaus, 50, following almost three days of deliberation.

Mr Grynhaus is alleged to have molested the girls when they were between the ages of 13 and 15 then relied on the Orthodox Jewish community’s ‘resentment’ of reporting matters to the police to keep the allegations secret.

Israel's Fateful Elections: Charedim Rising by RaP

Guest post by RaP

This Tuesday, March 17th, Israel's citizen's go to the polls to vote for the parties that will then form the new government. For the Charedi Jews of Israel nothing could be worse politically and economically than the fate that befell them after the last Israeli elections two years ago. They lost all access to political power and influence. Two years spent in the political wilderness as Lapid and Bennett and Netanyahu united to undercut the growing political and economic power of religious Jew. Yes, Bennett and his "Jewish Home" party were the continuation of the old Religious Zionist Mizrachi party, but really were washouts and regarded as sell-outs by the rest of religious Jewry not just in Israel but all over the world.

Fast forward two years and Netanyahu fires Yair Lapid ending a facade of "unity" that was really a front to oppose the growing power of religious Jewry in Israel. It is no secret that with the phenomenal birth rate of the Jewish religious population, from all spectrums, in Israel they are destined to become the dominant political power in the land as well as its electoral majority sooner rather than later. Everyone knows this. The leftist secular powers-that-be are in a panic, they know their days are numbered. They are basically on life-support with no new original ideas since they have dumped classical Zionism as outmoded and now receive huge funding and politically savvy advisors from all sorts of outside supporters to stay relevant. This too is no secret. The old-time Israeli right is in disarray and is struggling to find its voice as it does not want to be appear to be "religious" (that is why they got rid of Moshe Feiglin) while it cannot act as the leftists "right-wing" double either, so they are adrift and counting on old-time loyalty from supporters who just cannot bare the thought of voting for the Socialist-Bolshevik block that now calls itself "United Zionists" while it fools no one in particular.

The really fascinating developments are among the religious and Charedi Jews of Israel who having been forced out of government the last two years have had to reach deep within themselves to do house-cleaning and to come up with winning strategies to regain political influence and power in the next government coalition.

Among the Sefardim the most glaring change has come in the open split within the old-time SHAS party following so closely upon the passing of its mentor Rav Ovadia Yosef ZT"L. SHAS has split in two with Eli Yishai running under his own steam as the "Yachad Ha'am Itanu" party that is predicted to gain more than just the minimal four seats required for Knesset entry perhaps even outshining its old political home of SHAS. A new rabbinical name has suddenly appeared on the horizon as Eli Yishai party's mentor, Rav Meir Mazuz a very interesting Rov and Rosh Yeshiva from Bnai Brak of Djerba, North African, origins with more open-minded views coming to the fore and creating a broader coalition that SHAS was able to do in the past but is now not capable of doing. In SHAS the veteran politician Aryeh Deri has returned to take the reins with the support of the SHAS Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah. There was bad blood that spilled into the open as not-so-old videos of Rav Yosef discussing Aryeh Deri negatively were released, while Eli Yishai was publicly attacked by SHAS followers, with all parties claiming they are speaking for the true voice of MARAN Ovadia Yosef. Expect to see surprises from both these parties on Tuesday and they will probably bury the hatchet and cooperate closely to get into the next coalition. One thing is for sure, the face of Sefardic political unity is now gone forever.

Among Ashkenazi Charedim United Torah Judaism is the united parties of the Israeli Agudas Yisroel and the Degel HaTorah that are working solidly together with everyone giving great attention to the guidance they are getting from their united spiritual mentor Rav Shteinman in Bnai Brak.

One of the most fascinating and encouraging developments of the UTJ lists is that they have for the first time nominated a professional seasoned full time Israeli KIRUV leader, the head of the Lev LeAchim organization, Rav Eliezer Sorotzkin, as the potential "eighth man" representing UTJ in the next Knesset. This will be a most welcome change because until now none of the Charedi politicians elected to the Knesset were adept at the art of winning over the hearts and minds of fellow-secular Israelis. The picture one saw was often bifurcated and surreal that while in the Knesset religious MKs join in the melees of hurling insults at fellow Jews in the Knesset, at the same time on the outside the same Charedi PR organs that support UTJ wax lyrical about the need to MEKAREV the "Nefashos" of secular Israeli Jews.

So someone needed to make up their mind if they were going to use attack tactics or Kiruv tactics to get their way, and now, finally and long overdue, evidently Rav Shteinman has strongly supported the selection of Rav Eliezer Sorotzkin to lead the way. This is also a move to reach into secular circles for Charedi votes and altogether radical break with past tactics. If this move is successful as it will probably be, count on having more "user friendly" Charedi MKs join him in the not too distant future. As the old saying goes, you can "catch the bees" with "honey" a lot easier than with "vinegar"!

Rav Shteinman, as the RASHKEBEHAG, has been very clear and it has been reliably reported that he holds that Israeli Charedim have ONLY two choices, either to vote which he says is a Kiddush HaShem, or not to vote which he bluntly has stated is a Chillul HaShem! A very clear and stark choice that reflects the sense of urgency and the critical nature of the upcoming election.

It would seem that Yair Lapid has lost steam and popularity so that a big chunk of his past vote has now swung behind the Herzog-Livni block who are gloating and seem to be counting their chickens before they have hatched. Some Charedi politicians have said they will go with Herzog but it is VERY hard to see how Charedim will be welcomed by the same folks in the Herzog-Livni camp who have all the same issues with Charedim as Lapid and Yesh Atid people.

The Israeli left of today is not like the old-time Israeli Socialists of yester-decade. Those old timers were Bolsheviks but they spoke Yiddish and had a certain connection with Eastern Europe from where they came. Their parents and grandparents were usually frum. But today's Israeli left has LOST that connection entirely. They are more in tune with trends in Sweden, Germany and the USA with all the trimmings and bells and whistles of Modernity, such as gay rights, civil marriages, acceptance of Reform Judaism and all the sacred cows of ultra-liberals and ultra-leftists and left-wing agitators. So it is basically impossible to see how any Charedi politicians or rabbis will find a home with such types.

The natural allies of the Charedi and religious parties have always been the right-wing parties. This started in a big way when Rav Shach allowed the Charedi factions to bring Menachem Begin into power and continued with the Lubavitch and Chasidic support that helped Netanyahu come to power. A strong possible scenario is if as it seems the Charedi parties will win an increased number of seats in the next Knesset, then they will put Netanyahu back into power and demand that he adhere to their religious and social agendas. If for some reason the leftists win, CH"V, then expect the Charedi parties to spend even more time in the Israeli political wilderness. That in turn has resulted in a huge strengthening of bonds between Israeli and American Charedim who have marshaled their own limited financial forces to support Israeli Kollelim, Yeshivos and Kiruv schools and programs, not to mention directly supporting their sons and daughters who come to learn and live in Israel and the many family members who continue to move to and settle in Eretz Yisroel.

So in some ways, the frum world will have a "win-win" result: If the right wins, then the Charedi parties will presumably return to positions of influence, and if the Charedim are yet again locked out of the next government, they will not stop and they will continue to strengthen ALL the Torah bastions and Kehillos in Israel with increased FINANCIAL support from American Charedi sources more determined than ever to build for that inevitable time in the not so distant future when BY SHEER DINT OF NUMBERS Charedim and all types of Religious Jews will come to dominate Israel without any hindrance from secular harassment.

May HKB"H protect and bless the Jewish people everywhere! Amen!

Jury considering verdict in Grynhaus sex abuse case

JC.Com    The jury in the trial of a Jewish teacher accused of sexual assaults on two schoolgirls have retired to consider their verdict.

Father-of-10 Todros Grynhaus, 50, is alleged to have molested the girls when they were between the ages of 13 and 15 then relied on the Orthodox Jewish community’s "resentment" of reporting matters to the police to keep the allegations secret.

The son of a rabbi, Mr Grynhaus breached his bail conditions and flew to Israel when the allegations first surfaced – only returning when he was re-arrested and deported after almost two years, Manchester Crown Court has heard. [...]

The judge told the jury that Mr Grynhaus had said the allegations were made against him out of "revenge" and to obtain money from him.

Mr Grynhaus had tried to explain to the jury why he fled to Israel. Summing up his evidence, Mr Justice Turner added: “He wanted to avoid shame and disgrace being brought on his family.

Satanic child abuse is believed by anti-Semites to be a world wide Jewish plot

One of the disturbing issues - in the wild conjecture over Satanic abuse rings which requires believing incredible claims and the  paranoia required to digest all of this - is the fact that two can play the same game. If you take Rabbi Berkowitz words about the widespread Satanic (or Christian missionary plot) in Jerusalem - and do some brief searching with Google or Youtube for similar reports - you find a very disturbing thing. It is not hard to find such reports - but there is a twist.

The exact same "facts" and "logic" are used to prove that there is a Jewish pedophile plot involving horrible abuse of children,  mind control, government figures blocking investigation, destroying the present world order and wanting to take over the world. If that sounds ridiculous - then why not when Rav Berkowitz says it is a Satanic plot or a Christian plot - with possible police involvement to coverup the facts? And if you acknowledge that it is in truth just as reasonable that it is a Jewish or Satanic plot as a Christian plot or even a Muslem plot or Russian plot or  [fill in the blank] - then you need to ask - on what basis do you decide? If standing at the edge of an incredible deep chasm - makes you dizzy when you realize that you are falling into a world of paranoid psychosis  - you need to consider the obvious alternative.

The alternative is to climb down from the tree - and to step back from the precipice - before it is too late .

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Let me give a few examples of allegations that Jews are involved in major Satanic abuse rings. (The term "illumanti" found in many of these sites is referring to Jews or  people who pretend to be Jews Smololko - who are concerned with dominating the world This is Zionism)

Vicki Pollin- founder of the Awareness Center that focuses on Jewish sexual abuse

Proof that Jews are involved in rituatistic torture of babies comes from Vicki Polins confession on the Oprah show.. See Henry Makow Blog discussing what this says about Jews .  

Nachlaot

The Realistic Report uses Tablet Magazine's   debunking of the allegations of Satanic child abuse ring at Nachlaot to prove that Jew are in fact involved in Satanic abuse and the Jewish publications help cover it up.

Former FBI agent Gunderson reveals Illuminati (Jews), Satanism, pedophile rings. 

If you want to become paranoid - please listen to this recording by the former head of the L.A. FBI office describing a conspiracy of coverup of widespread child abuse, satanism, corruption of the government including the FBI in dealing with these cases - and he includes the White House. For good measure he was allegedly killed by arsenic poisoning because he exposed the "truth".

Jews killed investigators who expose their crimes

The Blog the Common Sense Show   says that it is a Zionist plot to killing pedophile investigators

Jews are prominent pedophiles

The blog Jewish Paedophili   argues that Jimmy Savile was a Jew and Jews are prominent pedophiles

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PLEASE MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE!

Epstein Torture Trial: Testimony of David Wax (Another perspective by an Epstein sympathizer)

 Guest Post by Epstein sympathizer  - who is attending the trial - and has agreed to make comments for this blog. It cogently presents information not contained in the newspaper account.

Newspaper report about testimony of David Wax

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Dear Rabbi Eidensohn,

How fortuitous, as my second day in court was that same Wednesday of which you write!

Let me preface what I will say here with this:

You know that I hope, and now believe, that R. Epstein is found innocent of the charges that were brought. I hope that we can agree to disagree that in some RARE and non-typical cases the use of force could be expected... but here, below, my comments are strictly about the case that is in court.

And we both know that the smart people involved 'know' that he will end up doing time. So if you can read what I write with that in mind, I hope that you will understand my take.

Here is the quote from your article that I would like to comment on:

Wax, the founder of a charitable organization that funneled millions of dollars to Israel, directly linked Epstein and two of the three other men on trial with him to the 2010 attack on Yisrael Bryskman, an Israeli national who was living in Brooklyn to avoid giving his wife a divorce according to Orthodox Jewish custom.

What actually happened Wednesday was the prosecutor's attempt at doing such, but he did no such thing.

And let me again segue, and I will agree that Wax was probably using Epstein as a guide as to how to DO this thing... (grabbing the guy, doing a 'get'),

And even he testified that R. Epstein refused to get personally involved once he understood that Wax was planning on doing this whole thing in his own bedroom.

(another important point is that at some point last week the FBI admitted to the knowledge of many different Batei Dinim who would resort to violence in cases of intractable husbands...) Like R. Epstein, at worst, was one of many.

But, back to the facts that were brought out on Wednesday:

First, records of phone calls. Wax testified that he called Ari close to Shabbos in order to have him come over to collect $15,000. (of the $50K that he claims that R. Epstein wanted for his guidance...) But the phone records that were put up showed that Ari never answered those calls. There was no communication between the two on that afternoon! (when that became clear, the prosecution took the phone records down very quickly, and then the judge called for a break, it was loony!)
 

And again, last week sometime, during the testimony of Bryskman he already testified that the only person who he remembers kicking and punching him was Wax, because Wax kept taking off the blindfold to tease and taunt him. (Wax agrees that he did this, after claiming in his plea agreement that he did not do this....because Bryskman testified to these facts!)

And Rabbi Eidensohn, there are so many examples that even the PROSECUTION highlighted of clear lies that Wax told in his plea agreement, and then again, in his agreement to 'substantially aid' the prosecution of other individuals (the crux of the Epstein sting...), and even in his testimony on DIRECT EXAMINATION! There was a point where I had to ask Epstein family members what was going on, because Wax was clearly contradicting the line of questioning of the PROSECUTOR, and I couldn't figure out what was going on.... like who is on what side, lol?

And the other really shocking piece of evidence that the FBI brought were the bank records of Wax during the time of his negotiation with the Agunah's family (as I remember 'Schachter', could be wrong.) And R. Eidensohn, these were the bank records that the FBI admitted as evidence. There were donations of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the 'Taryag Foundation' (which seems to have been R. Wax's family's personal piggy bank.... even the prosecution admitted as such when the jury was not present,) that were then taken out at the bank teller, deposited into the Wax family account, and then sent as a wire transfer to a money changer in B'nei Brak.

ON THE STAND Wax claimed that he had no idea of the provenance of $325,000.00, who took it out, that it was transferred to Israel, that his WIFE TRAVELED with him. It was like pulling teeth:

'No, he traveled alone.'

Oh, here are your flight records for you and your wife.

'Oh perhaps she was with me.'

On and on and on. He was so evasive, unbelievable evasive, there was no way to understand whose side he was on!

OK, bottom line, it seems clear to me (not a professional in these matters), that the jury and the judge are becoming aware of the fact that this Wax guy is not only a sadistic pervert (how he tortured Bryskman, and then, taking him in a taxi, tried to have him take out cash to pay for the bloodied carpet that HE had done by kicking him while sadistically torturing him with words, while wearing a white cowboy hat....and then threatening to bury him alive if HIS father didn't pay ransom... all admitted to on Wednesday...), but besides that, is constantly contradicting himself.... and just if all this insanity is not already making your head spin.... to make things really clear:

The FBI was sold a 'bill of goods' by this Wax fellow, thought that they were onto some insider secret info, and launched this million dollar 'sting' all orchestrated by a man who can NOT keep his story straight, can't follow a line of logic, and was laundering millions of dollars through his institute, and that the FBI, even with the bank records as THEIR evidence, seem to never have really examined.

Insane.

Epstein Torture Trial: David Wax(2nd day) admits threatening to kill to Bryskman for $100k

Asbury Park Press     Wax testified for a second day in the trial of Rabbi Mendel Epstein, his son and two other rabbis, who are accused of kidnapping men so they would grant their wives “gets” — divorces that would be recognized by Orthodox courts.

Wax – who is serving as the government’s primary witness – gave a gory detailing of what he said he and Epstein conspired to do in order to convince the husbands to comply, all while charging the wives tens of thousands of dollars for the service.

As Bryskman lay on the carpet, Wax said he dropped a large bag next to him and threatened to stuff him inside and bury him alive in the Poconos, unless he gave up his bank account information. [...]

“You decided to put on this hat,” Mazrek said to Wax, waving in his hand a white cowboy hat with a dark lace. Wax told investigators that he donned the hat as he beat Bryskman. [...]

When the taxi driver questioned what had happened to the bruised and bloody Bryskman, Wax made a drinking motion with his hand and said that Bryskman had tried to hit on his wife, so he’d had to “knock him the ---- out,” according to previous testimony that Mazrek read in court.

As they rode through the streets of Lakewood, Bryskman had already agreed to grant the get, Wax said. But rather than let him go, Wax tried to get $100,000 out of him, he testified.

Before dropping off Bryskman at a home in Brooklyn, the two men stopped at a bagel shop, Wax said.

“We wanted to buy him breakfast,” Wax said. “We offered him a muffin.”

When will the Rabbis learn that exiling a pedophile to another neighborhood doesn't help?

Kikar HaShabbat

פרשיה איומה חדשה שהולכת ומתפרשת לעינינו לאחרונה מעידה שוב, בפעם המי יודע כמה, את תוצאותיה האיומות של ההשתקה וההסתרה. בקריית ספר התרבו תלונות על אדם מסויים, תושב העיר, אשר תקף ילדות קטנות, שוב ושוב. במקום לערב את המשטרה, החליטו הרבנים "להגלות" את אותו אדם לבני ברק. הוא הוחתם על חוזה שבו התחייב לקחת כדורים שימנעו ממנו לתקוף ילדים, ולא לחזור לקריית ספר

אף אחד לא הודיע לתושבי השכונה בבני ברק על הסכנה האיומה שעומדת לפתחם. וכמובן, כמו בכרוניקה ידועה מראש, אותו תוקף ידוע המשיך בתקיפות גם בעיר בני ברק, עד שלאחרונה, אחרי מקרים רבים של תקיפות, סוף סוף התלונן אחד מהאבות של הילדות המותקפות למשטרה, והתוקף נעצר

.

כל הורה שקורא את הדברים הללו מתחלחל ומזדעזע. זהו אחד הפחדים האיומים ביותר. הילדים הקטנים והטהורים שלנו. איך נוכל לשמור עליהם שלא יפגעו בהם?

ובכל זאת, למרות הזעזוע, ולמרות התיעוב והפחד, אנחנו עדיין לא מסגירים את התוקפים הללו למשטרה. שוב ושוב אנחנו כקהילה נופלים בפח הזה של - "הוא ישתנה" ו"מה יהיה עם המשפחה שלו?", "איך אפשר לשתף פעולה עם המשטרה" ו"זה מוסר".

 [...]

אל תגידו "הוא ישתנה", אל תאמינו להבטחות, אל תאמינו לסיפורי "נפלתי, וזה לא יקרה שוב". מדובר באנשים בעלי הפרעה נפשית ובעיות קשות מאד של שליטה עצמית בנושא. האם הייתם מאמינים לאלכוהוליסט שמבטיח וחותם לכם שהוא "לא ישתה אלכוהול יותר"?

לכו למשטרה. לכו להתלונן. כל תוקף שנעצר הוא פחות ילדים שנתקפים. זוהי משוואה פשוטה.

הפיצו את הדברים הללו לכל מכריכם. שידע כל אדם שמכיר תוקף כזה ומתלבט אם ללכת למשטרה, התקיפה הבאה תהיה על המצפון שלך. אל תגיד "ידינו לא שפכו את הדם הזה".