Seminary Scandal: An explanation of why both the CBD and IBD are claiming exclusive jurisdiction

The following is what I have been able to piece together from various sources who have close connections with the IBD and the CBD.

The following information timeline indicates what is the crux of the dispute between the IBD and CBD. It is not that the CBD views that the IBD is not concerned for the victims but only for the seminaries. Or that the victims will be harassed by the IBD. It is not because the victims approached the CBD and not the IBD.  While the CBD views all these as being true - it is not the basis of the dispute.

The real reason is because the CBD is bluntly claiming that the IBD never had any right to be involved in more than a very limited roll that the CBD decided.

In contrast the IBD is claiming that the CBD never had jurisdiction over the seminaries which are located in Jerusalem and that contrary to what the CBD is now claiming - the CBD did in fact ask them to have full jurisdiction in the case. The IBD brings as proof the shtar borerus which was signed by the staff, Meisels and Rav Feldman

The CBD responds that their authority comes from the fact that  Meisels now agrees to abide by their psak as well as the request of the victims for them to deal with the case. The CBD claims that the shtar borerus of the IBD was in fact initiated by them - but only to make changes in the amutah - and nothing else. Therefore the CBD claims the IBD never had more than a peripheral role and that now it has none.

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A girl from Chicago complained to someone there about the problem. She was told that if she’s the only victim, they won’t listen, she should find others.She reached out to other girls and identified another victim. Chicago Rabbanim are informed that there’s another victim.

May 9-11 At the Torah Umesorah Convention Rav Zev Cohen, representing the CBD, asks Rav Aharon Feldman to act as the victims’ formal representative. He agrees.

R. Gottesman calls Rav Gartner in the name of the CBD to discuss convening a BD in EY to take this over. Rav Gartner proposes the dayanim.

CBD meet with Meisels who admits some inappropriate physical contact.

May 19 -- CBD issues it’s ruling of 7 guidelines that include removing Meisels from involvement in the seminaries and avoiding contact with the students. Therapy is required but there is no requirement to sell. No mention is made of any other staff involved. No warning is issued to the girls and permission is granted for the victims to go the the police if they want to so.

June 12 -- R Gottesman and RZ Cohen fly to Israel on behalf of the  CBD, with Rav Aharon Feldman on behalf of the girls; with R' Gottesman and Rav Zev Cohen present and involved in drafting the shtarei beirurin, Rav Aharaon Feldman, Meisels, and the school representatives sign shtarei beirurin with kabalas kinyan, etc, for IBD to handle the case. Clearly handing the responsibility of the case to the IBD. Rav Feldman agrees to be the representatives of the victims for the IBD as he was for the CBD Shtar Borerus

June 30 – Apparently in light of the lack of cooperation of CBD, IBD sends an email to R Gottesman - as the representative of the CBD - that they are meeting that evening, and if the CBD has something to say, this would be the opportunity to do so.

R' Gottesman sends an email in response to IBD - in the name of the CBD [including Rav Levine] - which makes claims which are severely at variance with the original understanding between the IBD and CBD regarding the respective roles and jurisdiction of the IBD and CBD. It claims that the CBD still has full jurisdiction over the case in all areas including all matters  relating to changes in the seminaries and arranging for compensation of the victims. It also clearly acknowledges that the CBD asked the IBD to be involved in the case but claiming it was only for the purpose of reorganization of the Amutah. It also claims that the shtar borerus was signed at the suggestion of the CBD but only to reorganize the Amutah. He requests that these changes be done quickly so that the CBD will proceed as the sole body to have jurisdiction of the IBD and that they drop out of the picture entirely because they no longer will be needed. Consequently the CBD sees no purpose in further discussion about the role of the IBD is this matter because it has none and that the CBD had notified the IBD of this 4 days before on June 26. Finally that the CBD intends to issue a second psak on the matter which will supersede the one of May 19th. This would explain why there has been no sharing of data by the CBD because they claim - contrary to what Rav Zev Cohen told Rav Feldman - the CBD never intended to share the information.

R' Gottesman also sends a second email that day announcing that the CBD has issued a 2nd psak. While it again acknowledges that it had asked for assitance from the IBD in the Meisels case  but since Meisels now  agrees to abide by the psak of the CBD  - there is no longer any need for the IBD to be involved in the case. [Apparently Meisels had not agreed to abide to their psak previously.]While expressing gratitude for the help they again insist that they have retained full jurisdiction in this case and there is no further role for the IBD. It is not clear whether the CBD authorized R Gottesman to send these letters since they did not send any letters stating such allegations on their letterhead nor did the CBD sign the letters. On the other hand they have never denied that these letters were authorized.

July 3 – IBD sends their response to the CBD and Gottesman’s emails strongly criticizing the emails from Gottesman (CBD).Response of IBD to R Gottesman's letters

July 10 – CBD first public letter stating that the IBD had assumed the case but that they viewed the seminaries as unsafe at the present time and did not recommend girls attending the seminaries

July 13 – IBD first public letter - a month after they had taken on the case. They declare that the CBD had requested through the agency of Rav Feldman ,  Rav Cohen and   R Gottesman to establish a beis din to hear the claims and to make decisions regarding compensation as well as to make changes in the seminary program. That the staff of the seminaries has accepted the IBD's to do such and they have promised to obey all requests. They also declare that the seminareis are now completely safe because of the removal of Meisels  They said they now will start evaluating the actual claims for the purpose of establishing compensation and to recommend changes in the seminaries.

July 14 – CBD letter to HTC not to recognize the seminaries

About July 24 – transfer of schools to Yaakov Yarmish is finalized. An earlier demand by R Gottesman that the seminaries by sold to him had been rejected. Another proposed deal of purchase by Yaakov Yarmish in conjunction with a friend who is associated with Torah U' Mesorah falls through when the friend backs out. The CBD had promised that the warning against the seminaries would be removed if it were sold - but the CBD reneges on its promise without explanation.

July 25 – IBD’s psak post-sale. Some of the points they mare are: That since they have thoroughly questioned the staff  - they have found no basis of concern for students to attend these seminaries. They request that Touro provide college credits for the courses. They ban predatory recruiting. They prohibit slandering the seminaries. They strongly criticize R Gottesman for meddling in this matter

 July 31 – Rav Aharon Feldman's “Chillul Hashem” letter questioning why the IBD had not requested information from the CBD. This assertion is based on what Rav Zev Cohen told Rav Feldman. He questions why Rav Malinowitz had publicly stated that the CBD had refused to share information and notes that he can't believe that Rav Cohen would lie. He also suggests that the IBD and CBD form a joint beis din. 

August 1-2 – IBD strong formal response to Rav Aharon Feldman 

At that point all hell had broken loose...

THE MOMENT HAS ARRIVED - abuser usually contesses to beis din

 https://mishpacha.com/the-moment-has-arrived/

I think it is important to know that over the past 30 years, there was only one case in which the accused denied the charges. In every other instance, there were multiple victims who testified, and the predators admitted what they had done as soon as we confronted them with the accusations.

The Torah explicitly equates violations of a woman to murder: “for like a man who rises up against his fellow and murders him, so is this thing” [Devarim 22:26]. And in some ways it is even worse than murder, because of the enduring pain.

The above statement while true is very misleading and out of context

The Torah is not talking about rape of any woman but an engaged woman and this is not saying that rape is the same as murder but rather in the case of rodef of an engaged woman  he can be killed to save her just as if he were pursuing to murder.

Thus it is not  dealing with child abuse or rape or even sexual abuse

Let’s just hope that the moment has finally arrived, as a consequence of the recent tragedies, for every medium-sized community to establish its own Special Beis Din, and for the smaller communities to be organized to refer to batei din in larger nearby cities. And that this conversation will serve as a catalyst for that.

The article basically is propaganda rather than a serious attempt to evaluate the need for a special beis din for abuse or the cases which a beis din makes things worse For example the case a few years ago when this special beis din announced that a seminary head had raped his students. An investigation by a second beis din found no evidence of rape or other allegations transmitted by this beis din and repeated by a number of blogs as well as newspapers.

Hundreds of Bedouins clash with police over controversial Negev tree planting

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-bedouins-clash-with-police-over-controversial-negev-tree-planting/

KKL-JNF chairman Avraham Duvdevani told Kan on Wednesday that his organization was just a government contractor and wasn’t setting policy.

“We have been planting trees in the Negev for 15 years in the same format as right now,” Duvdevani said. “There was nothing different from what we have been doing all these years. We have no idea what’s different now. The instructions to halt plantings have been sporadic, and we resumed full work after a few days.

“We will continue planting in the entire Negev. This is part of the Zionist vision.”

Ghislaine Maxwell verdict is a field day for cranks

 https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/ghislaine-maxwell-verdict-is-a-field-day-for-cranks-3CvcxFUpIytXanX2i1kPZD

Meanwhile, the Brixton branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has asserted on Instagram and Facebook that the affair shows, “Israel’s involvement in a key pedophile [sic] Network”. The posts bear the logo of a group called Key48, that campaigns for Palestine. It has posted the same conspiracy on its Instagram page to over 77,000 followers, where it has been liked more than 3,000 times. The posts are based on statements made by a figure called Ari ben Menashe, who claims to have worked for Israeli intelligence several decades ago. The fact that Ben Menashe, who has previously worked as a lobbyist for the Myanmar Junta, has his claims treated seriously, says a lot about how easily conspiracy theories about Israel are accepted, even by people who view themselves as defenders of human rights. When interviewed by RT in 2020, Ben Menashe was asked for evidence supporting his claims, but didn’t have anything to offer other than his assertions.

Sorry, Rabbi Riskin and Rabbi Greenberg – Homosexual relations are not permitted by the Torah

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/sorry-rabbi-riskin-and-rabbi-greenberg-homosexual-relations-are-not-permitted-by-the-torah/

In an interview (in Hebrew) that was sharply criticized even by some rabbis who generally identify with him, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin opined that the Biblical prohibition on homosexual relations only applies to one who voluntarily chooses homosexuality, but that one who considers himself wired as homosexual and feels that he can only experience intimacy with another man is exempt from the prohibition. Rabbi Riskin applied the Talmudic axiom of “ones Rachmana patreh” — that the Torah does not hold one accountable for an involuntary act — as his source for this whopper of a “heter” (halachic leniency).

Hence, Rabbi Riskin and others who invoked “ones Rachmana patreh” to permit homosexual relations are wholly in error and are contradicted by the Talmud and all halachic codes. This important point needs to be made.

Furthermore, how could Rabbi Riskin and others sincerely believe that this gaping-hole exception exists, in light of the fact that it is totally absent from the Talmud, all subsequent halachic codes and all writings of rabbinic commentators? Such a massive exception would surely have appeared in large print, so to say, in the canonical sources of Jewish Law.

The Contested Significance of January 6

 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/the-contested-significance-of-january-6/621235/

In all this, I still find myself most aligned with one concern explored by Barton Gellman: the Trumpist impulse to use parliamentary machinations to overturn election results and the groundwork the GOP is laying to do so more effectively. “Elected officials in Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and other states have studied Donald Trump’s crusade to overturn the 2020 election,” he reported.

They have noted the points of failure and have taken concrete steps to avoid failure next time. Some of them have rewritten statutes to seize partisan control of decisions about which ballots to count and which to discard, which results to certify and which to reject. They are driving out or stripping power from election officials who refused to go along with the plot last November, aiming to replace them with exponents of the Big Lie. They are fine-tuning a legal argument that purports to allow state legislators to override the choice of the voters.

GOP Gerrymandering in Ohio Thwarted by State Supreme Court

 https://www.newsweek.com/gop-gerrymandering-ohio-thwarted-state-supreme-court-1668956

Stewart rejected an argument from Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp, both Republicans and members of the commission, that Section 6 was "aspirational" and only applied if other requirements were not met.

"We reject the notion that Ohio voters rallied so strongly behind an anti-gerrymandering amendment to the Ohio Constitution yet believed at the time that the amendment was toothless," Stewart wrote.

According to Huffman, the maps could have given the GOP an advantage of 62 seats to 37 in the House and 23 seats to 10 in the House.

Republicans had defended the proposed maps by arguing that voters in Ohio preferred GOP candidates between 54 percent—the average percentage of Republican votes in statewide elections—and 81 percent of the time, according to The Columbus Dispatch. That latter figure represents the percentage of statewide races the GOP has won in the last decade.

Justice Stewart also suggested that the redistricting commission had been partisan. Two Republicans staffers had drawn up the maps and reported to Huffman and Cupp rather than the commission generally.

"The evidence here demonstrates that Senate President Huffman and House Speaker Cupp controlled the process of drawing the maps that the commission ultimately adopted," Stewart wrote.

'ICUs aren't filled with coronavirus patients'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320408

Prof. Galia Rahav, top doctor at Sheba Medical Center, says hospitals are 'completely packed, we feel the rise in new COVID-19 cases - but the ICUs are not packed with COVID-19 patients.'

Regarding whether Israel would soon see a drop in numbers, Prof. Rahav said, "There are a lot of 'maybes' here - that's the problem with this virus. Maybe it won't cause more serious illness, because we don't know exactly. We are the first country in the world to have received a booster dose half a year ago, and the elderly already don't have that booster anymore, they received the fourth dose and we don't know exactly how and how much it protects. Logically it should."

When asked if she recommends the fourth dose, Prof. Rahav said, "It depends for who. For the elderly and immunocompromised, I definitely recommend it. At the moment, I don't recommend it for the entire public, because we don't know exactly what the data on the fourth dose is, in terms of efficacy."

"I got the vaccine - that says everything," she added.

G-d's empathy

 Shemos Rabbah (02:05). 5. AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM (III, 2). It is written: I sleep, but my heart waketh (S.S. V, 2). I am asleep as regards the commandments, but my heart is awake to do them. My undefiled-tamathi (ib.)-because they attached themselves (nith-tamemu) to Me at Sinai and said: ‘All that the Lord had spoken will we do, and obey’  (Ex. XXIV, 7). R. Jannai said: Just as in the case of twins (te'omim), if one has a pain in his head the other feels it also, so God said, as it were6: ’I will be with him in trouble’  (Ps. XCI, 15)....It says: In all their affliction He was afflicted (Isa. LXIII, 9). God said to Moses: ‘Do you not realize that I live in trouble just as Israel live in trouble? Know from the place whence I speak unto you-from a thorn-bush- that I am, as it were, a partner in their trouble.’

Doctors Urge Pregnant Women to Get Vaccinated Amid Omicron Surge

 https://www.newsweek.com/doctors-urge-pregnant-women-vaccinated-omicron-surge-1668572

As the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to drive a surge in infections across the country, doctors are again sounding the alarm about the importance of pregnant women getting vaccinated.

Worryingly low vaccination rates in pregnancy prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue an urgent health advisory in September, calling on all pregnant women to get vaccinated.

The CDC also recommends that those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or who might become pregnant in the future, get a booster shot.

Canada says vaccine mandates work as Quebec's 'unvaxxed tax' leads to spike in first-dose appointments

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/12/americas/quebec-vaccine-mandate-intl/index.html

One day after the Canadian province of Quebec announced it would financially penalize residents who are unvaccinated, the province's health minister said Wednesday first-time appointments spiked in the hours following the announcement.

"It's encouraging!" Quebec's health minister, Christian Dube, tweeted, indicating that Tuesday's first-dose appointments were the highest in several days.

The fine for the unvaccinated would not apply to those with a medical exemption, and no details have been announced, although officials said the amount to be levied would be "significant."

The Quebec government says that while nearly 90% of eligible Quebecers have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the unvaccinated remain a burden on the province's public health system.

Rabbi Chaim Druckman joins rabbinate opposition to conversion reforms

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320370

Senior Religious Zionist rabbis affiliated with the 'Rabbanei Torat Haaretz Hatovah' organization signed a letter Wednesday opposing Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana's conversion reforms.

The letter was signed by Rabbi Chaim Druckman, Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Rabbi Chaim Steiner, Rabbi Eitan Izman, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Zephaniah Drori, Rabbi David Chai HaCohen, Rabbi Uri Cohen, Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Rabbi Isser Klonsky, Rabbi Mordechai Sternberg, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira and Rabbi Yosef Artziel.

"The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is the body that gives the State of Israel its unique weight and Jewish character. It is the only body authorized to manage religious affairs in the country. In light of this - any change in religious matters can be made only by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel," the rabbis wrote.

Rabbi Riskin: Hareidim Are the Biggest 'Reformers'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/187014

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi of Efrat in Gush Etzion and founder of Ohr Torah Stone, strongly criticized hareidi Knesset members on Tuesday for their stance on the government's conversion reforms.

In an interview with Galei Yisrael radio, Rabbi Riskin defended the proposed government decision regarding conversion which would remove Chief Rabbinate supervision of the conversion process, and criticized its opponents.

"I do not understand the whole issue. Yes, I think there is a (Torah) commandment of 'you shall love the convert.' Yes, I think that the Chief Rabbinate until now did not know what it is to get someone who wants to convert treated properly, with love and care," he fired. "How dare they say that my conversions were not done according to Jewish Law?"

Blood pressure drugs may cause kidney damage over time- study

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-692239

Treatment for high blood pressure, a condition that affects one billion people globally, may actually be damaging the kidney, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests. Scientists are urging studies to better understand the drugs’ long-term effects.

Researchers noted that patients should continue taking life-saving medications to prevent heart failure, which includes the commonly used ACE inhibitors. Their work was recently published in the scientific journal JCI Insight.