U.C.L.A. Debate Over Jewish Student: The shocking rise of anti-Jewish sentiment on college campuses

NY Times LOS ANGELES — It seemed like routine business for the student council at the University of California, Los Angeles: confirming the nomination of Rachel Beyda, a second-year economics major who wants to be a lawyer someday, to the council’s Judicial Board.

Until it came time for questions.

“Given that you are a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community,” Fabienne Roth, a member of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, began, looking at Ms. Beyda at the other end of the room, “how do you see yourself being able to maintain an unbiased view?”

For the next 40 minutes, after Ms. Beyda was dispatched from the room, the council tangled in a debate about whether her faith and affiliation with Jewish organizations, including her sorority and Hillel, a popular student group, meant she would be biased in dealing with sensitive governance questions that come before the board, which is the campus equivalent of the Supreme Court.

The discussion, recorded in written minutes and captured on video, seemed to echo the kind of questions, prejudices and tropes — particularly about divided loyalties — that have plagued Jews across the globe for centuries, students and Jewish leaders said.

The council, in a meeting that took place on Feb. 10, voted first to reject Ms. Beyda’s nomination, with four members against her. Then, at the prodding of a faculty adviser there who pointed out that belonging to Jewish organizations was not a conflict of interest, the students revisited the question and unanimously put her on the board. [...]

Reports of anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish sentiment have been on the rise across the country in recent years, especially directed at younger Jews, researchers said. Barry A. Kosmin, a Trinity College researcher and a co-author of a study issued last month that found extensive examples of anti-Semitism directed at college students, said he had not come across anything as striking as what happened at U.C.L.A.

“It’s egregious and startling,” Mr. Kosmin said. “If they had used this with any other group — sexual, racial, any kind of identity group — they would have realized it was illegal.” [...]

Rare Footage Of The Chofetz Chaim At First Knessia Gedolah

 Update - background information - Tablet Magazine


 update Names added to the film the new version is not as sharp as the original so I have kept both versions.

Published on Feb 22, 2015

The First World Congress (Knessia Gedolah) of the World Agudath Israel the first major gathering of all the different sects of Klal Yisroel which took place in Vienna starting from Elul 3, 5683 / August 15, 1923 and which lasted for ten days.

With Names

Without Names

Family Secrets can make you sick - effects of sexual abuse on health

WNYC

In the 1980s, Dr. Vincent Felitti, now director of the California Institute of Preventive Medicine in San Diego, discovered something potentially revolutionary about the ripple effects of child sexual abuse. He discovered it while trying to solve a very different health problem: helping severely obese people lose weight.

Felitti, a specialist in preventive medicine, was trying out a new liquid diet treatment among patients at a Kaiser Permanente clinic. And it worked really well. The severely obese patients who stuck to it lost as much as 300 pounds in a year.

"Oh yeah, this was really quite extraordinary," recalls Felitti.

But then, some of the patients who'd lost the most weight quit the treatment and gained back all the weight — faster than they'd lost it. Felitti couldn't figure out why. So he started asking questions.

First, one person told him she'd been sexually abused as a kid. Then another.

"You know, I remember thinking, 'Well, my God, this is the second incest case I've seen in [then] 23 years of practice,' " Felitti says. "And so I started routinely inquiring about childhood sexual abuse, and I was really floored."

More than half of the 300 or so patients said yes, they too had been abused.

Felitti wondered if he'd discovered one of the keys to some cases of obesity and all the health problems that go along with it.

That possibility made him very curious: What if having a bad childhood could affect health in other ways?[...]

The undergraduate and the mentor: The confusing world of Title IX sex abuse and Universities deciding guilt or innocence

NY Times   On a weekend in March almost three years ago, Ellie Clougherty flew from London to Rome with Joe Lonsdale. She was a 21-year-old junior at Stanford University, and it was her first trip to Italy. Lonsdale, then 29, was a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and he booked a room for them for two nights in a luxury hotel — a converted Renaissance mansion in the shadow of the Pantheon — and arranged a special excursion, with a friend of his who is an architect, to an archaeological site amid the ruins of the Golden House on Palatine Hill, overlooking the Colosseum. Under a light gray sky, they stood on plexiglass bridges and looked down at the uncovered remains of what is thought to be a fabled rotating dining room that the Emperor Nero built for extravagant banquets. Lonsdale is a Roman-history buff, and he told Clougherty about the emperors, praising their civilization and engineering feats.[...]

Clougherty and Lonsdale had been dating over the previous couple of weeks, while he was her assigned mentor for an undergraduate course at Stanford called Technology Entrepreneurship, Engineering 145. The limited-enrollment class offered a combination of academics, business skills and access to Silicon Valley that has made Stanford the most-sought-after university in the country, with the most competitive undergraduate admissions and among the highest donations. More than any other school, Stanford is the gateway to the tech world, and computer science is the most popular major. Each year, new young multimillionaires are minted, some just months after graduation.[...]

After sightseeing in Rome, Lonsdale and Clougherty were together in the hotel room they were sharing when she started dressing for evening Mass. Lonsdale came up behind her and kissed her, touching her neck and hair and telling her she was beautiful. She had told him she was a virgin. Both agree they had sex. But what actually went on between them that night, and throughout their yearlong relationship, would become highly contested. After the relationship ended, Clougherty accused Lonsdale of sexual assault. Stanford investigated whether he broke the university’s rule against “consensual sexual and romantic relationships” between students and their mentors and, later, whether he raped her. The findings from the investigations have sparked a war of allegations and interpretations, culminating last month with dueling lawsuits, filled with damaging accusations. This case, which has been picked up by the media, does not fit neatly into the narratives that have fueled an ongoing national conversation about sexual assault of students on campus. But it exposes the risks of Stanford’s open door to Silicon Valley and the pressure that universities are under to do more for students who say they’ve been raped. It also reveals the complexity of trying to determine the truth in a high-stakes case like this one.[...]

On March 1, Clougherty went to Stanford’s counseling center. She said that Lonsdale had forced her to have sex when she didn’t want to and also talked about the man who accosted her in the restaurant bathroom when she was 10. The university psychologist noted in a report that she “seems to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from current and past trauma.” Clougherty went home to Virginia and spent days crying and rocking in a corner of her family’s living room. Clougherty embarked on therapy twice a week with Keith Saylor, a clinical psychologist who treated her eating disorder. He used prolonged-exposure therapy, a treatment developed for combat-related disorders, in which a therapist prompts a patient to describe deeply traumatic events. Later, patients listen to tapes of their sessions at home every day in an attempt to drain the memories of their power. [...]

Meanwhile on campuses throughout the country, a movement was taking shape. A growing number of students were coming forward to criticize their universities for the handling of sexual-assault cases. They had support from the government. In 2011, the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education sent a letter to every college and university in the country that receives federal funding, as almost all do, clarifying that under Title IX, the federal law passed in 1972 to prevent sex discrimination in education, colleges and universities had an obligation to prevent and respond to sexual violence and harassment. “Once a school knows or reasonably should know of possible sexual violence, it must take immediate and appropriate action to investigate or otherwise determine what occurred,” the letter from the Office of Civil Rights warned.

The government also instructed schools to adopt a new standard for determining the outcome of a sexual-harassment or violence case. At the time, many schools used the standard of “clear and convincing” evidence, meaning that the adjudicators (usually a panel of administrators or faculty) believed that it was substantially more likely than not, or roughly 75 percent likely, that the accused had committed the offense. The letter from the civil rights office demanded that schools switch to a lower standard of proof, a “preponderance” of evidence, meaning that it was more likely than not — above 50.01 percent — that the offense was committed. The office noted that preponderance is the standard that courts use to decide civil suits for sexual harassment. A few schools, including Princeton and Harvard, initially refused the new standard and then found themselves under investigation for suspected Title IX violations.[...]

In the last few months, Stanford and other schools have felt the ground shift beneath them once again. Some critics are now charging that universities are overcompensating for past mistreatment of victims. Even as they’re attacked for giving victims short shrift, schools are also being denounced for inadequately protecting the rights of the accused. In October, 28 members of the Harvard law-school faculty wrote a letter, published in The Boston Globe, deploring the procedures the university adopted to follow the mandate from the Office of Civil Rights for lacking “the most basic elements of fairness and due process” and being “overwhelmingly stacked against the accused.” Around the country, about three dozen men are suing universities over findings or punishments for sexual infractions. In a short span of time, a well-intentioned effort to right a seemingly obvious wrong has fed additional claims of injustice.[...]

In November, after I contacted Lonsdale, his lawyers submitted to Stanford hundreds of pages of his email correspondence with Clougherty and her mother that they hadn’t previously provided. Stanford has not decided whether to consider this evidence, along with an eight-page sworn statement Lonsdale gave the university from an unexpected source: Clougherty’s friend Jane.

In the months after Jane helped Clougherty break up with Lonsdale, she says that she watched with increasing unease as Clougherty’s accusations mounted, from emotional abuse to rape. “In March 2014, she texted me that she considered herself a ‘sex slave’ during her relationship with Joe,” Jane wrote in her statement. “This is far, far beyond anything that she ever said about the relationship when it was happening or for a long time afterward. It also made no sense in light of her clear enthusiasm about the relationship.”[...]

In response to Clougherty’s lawsuit, Lonsdale mounted a swift counterattack, calling it “a vengeful, personal attack by a disturbed former girlfriend” in an email to friends and associates. He also said that Stanford’s investigation was “a Kafka-esque nightmare.” He linked to Clougherty’s emails, posting them on a website his team created overnight, highlighting the most affectionate and admiring passages and arguing that she was unstable. Lonsdale also sued Clougherty for defamation. (In the wake of the lawsuits, Formation 8 has been criticized in the press for not disclosing that Lonsdale was banned from Stanford.) He blamed himself only for being naïve. [...]

At the same time, the role the government has cast universities in is not a natural one. They are not the police. Yet they are asked to grapple with criminal accusations even when the events in question are receding into the past and are deeply difficult to deconstruct. And they are self-interested in a way that courts are not, with a different need: to protect their reputation.

Beis Yaakov Schools accused of taking money from teachers - threatening to fire them if they complain

Kikar HaShabbat

שכר משפיל, פגיעה בוותק: כך נעשקות גננות חרדיות

זכויות עובד? תשלום עבור שעות נוספות? שכר בזמן? הצחקתם את המנהלים הכוחניים של רשתות הגנים שמנצלים בחסות שתיקת משרדי הממשלה את העובדות בצורה שיטתית • אחת הגננות העשוקות: "אם אתלונן יפטרו אותי. עדיף לבלוע ולשתוק" • תחקיר מקיף של "כיכר השבת" חושף נתונים קשים במיוחד (חרדים)

 

לחדווה (שם בדוי, כמו שאר השמות בתחקיר. השמות המלאים שמורים במערכת), גננת מירושלים, היה די ברור שאין לה מה לעשות. המערכת חזקה ממנה, היא מודעת עד כאב לעובדה הזאת, כבר שנים. היא לא יכולה לדבר, לפצות פה. חרב הפיטורין מתנופפת בבירור מעבר לפינה, ורק המחשבה על מסכת הייסורים שתאלץ לעבור כדי להוכיח שמדובר בפיטורין לא חוקיים הוציאו ממנה כל שארית של חשק להיכנס לסחרור הזה. אז מה עושים? שותקים. היא כבר רגילה לזה.

כך פחות או יותר הן התחושות של עשרות, אם לא מאות, גננות וסייעות אחרות. חוסר האונים המשווע אל מול המערכת הדורסנית והשיטתית של רמיסת זכויות העובד הבסיסיות ביותר, כמו גם החוק במדינת ישראל, זועק לשמים. כך נשללים מהגננות החרדיות זכויותיהן הבסיסיות ביותר להן הן זכאיות על פי חוק, ועל פי כל דין. כך מושתקות הן שנה אחרי שנה, תוך שימוש ציני בידיעה כי במגזר החרדי – הכוח מצוי בידיים של אלה שנטלו אותו לעצמם.

כך בסיפורה של רחל שהגיע לידי 'כיכר השבת', גננת ברשת פתחיה לחינוך מיוחד, השקיעה במסגרת עבודתה שעות רבות בלימודי תואר B.A.  ובהגשת העבודות הנצרכות לשם קבלת התואר, מתוך ידיעה כי הדבר יקדם אותה בעבודתה עם הילדים ואף יעלה את רמת השכר שלה.

אלא שלטענתה התברר לה, כי ברשת פתחיה בה היא עובדת, אין כל כוונה לעדכן את תלוש השכר שלה כלפי מעלה, כמתבקש לאור הנתונים. רוצה להתלונן? נאמר לה, אז תתלונני. בינתיים אין העלאה. גם שאר הגמולים , מעבר לגמול על תעודת "בכיר" המגיעים לעובדי ההוראה מכוח החוק, אינם משולמים לה לטענתה.

Kikar HaShabbat

תחקיר 'עושק הגננות החרדיות' של 'כיכר השבת', עורר תגובות ופניות רבות למערכת עם סיפורים נוספים על תנאי עבודה מחפירים ועושק גננות ומורים • כעת אנו חושפים - כך נראה חוזה עבודה ברשת הגנים של בית יעקב - חרדים

הפרה שיטתית? יממה לאחר שפרסם "כיכר השבת" את התחקיר אודות מה שנראה כעושק של העובדות ברשתות הגנים החרדיות, נחשף לראשונה כיצד נראה חוזה העבודה של הגננות ברשת הגנים של בית יעקב, המנוהלת על ידי הרב יצחק גולדנקנופף. החוזה שנראה תמוה ובלתי מובן כולל בתוכו סעיפים אשר מעלים חשד כי נועדו על מנת לעקוף את חוקי המגן בישראל, שנועדו להגן על העובדים.

על פי החוזה שהגיע לידינו, העובדות ברשת הגנים חותמות על כך שהחוזה הוא זה שמחייב את הרשת בכל הנוגע לתנאי השכר, כשבחוזה נכתב כי הוא "מסגיר באופן בלעדי את תנאי העסקתה של העובדת על ידי העמותה, בהתחשב בנסיבות, בהתחייבות ובתנאי השכר המיוחדים שנקבעו בו".

כשבחוזה מודגש כי ההסכמים הקיבוציים שנעשים מפעם לפעם על ידי הרשויות והגורמים הרלוונטיים, אינם תקפים, וכי החוזה הוא זה שמחייב את הרשת.

משיחה שקיימנו עם משפטנים עולה כי לכאורה סעיף זה אינו חוקי, מכיוון שהסכם קיבוצי המאושר על ידי הגורמים הרלוונטיים מחייב את גם את העמותה, ועל פי חוקי המגן העמותה מחויבת לספק את התנאים המחייבים של כל הסכם קיבוצי רלוונטי. 

ניסוח החוזה מעלה תמיהה לגבי כוונות הרשת לגבי תנאי השכר והעבודה של הגננות, למרות שכאמור גם חתימה על חוזה שכזה אינו מתיר לעמותה שלא לעמוד בהסכמים הקיבוציים ובחוקי העבודה השונים (למשל, חוק שכר מינימום), ועובדת שתתבע את המגיע לה תזכה ככל הנראה לסעד בבתי המשפט לענייני עבודה.

Purim in Jerusalem - which day is celebrated - Rabbi Schnall

   Rabb Schnall - Purim - which day in Jerusalem? 

Click to download from YU Torah

Get refuser finally gives Get after 18 years and being imprisoned

http://www.kikar.co.il/165482.html

סרבן גט שהתיר את אישתו לאחר 18 שנה של סירוב שוחרר היום (רביעי) מבית סוהר באזור המרכז. הדיון לשחרורו התקיים בתוך כותלי בית הסוהר בשיתוף עם נציגי בית הדין הרבני שהגיעו במיוחד למרות יום תענית אסתר.

האסיר נדון ל-5 שנות מאסר בגין סירובו, מתוכם הספיק לרצות כחודשיים. במהלך תקופה זו התברר כי האסיר סובל ממחלה קשה בגינה אף אושפז לתקופה קצרה בבית החולים.

New publication publicizes dialogue between Rabbonim and Oz Vehadar Corporation

Guest Post:

Oz Vehadar on the defensive as Rabbonim question its credibility with passionate attacks

Lately בעז"ה, many are studying Torah. Groups of people who never studied before, are opening their eyes to the wealth of our Torah Shebichsav Ubaal Peh. Consequently, many publishing houses have opened and are publishing many seforim including Chumashim, Tanachim, Gemoros, and other seforim.

One publishing house, Oz Vehadar, claims it has a mission to print and REPAIR the text of the Chumashim, Tanachim, Gemoros, and other seforim. Oz Vehadar also publishes its seforim in a very appealing appearance, Those who have limited eyesight enjoy its very clear print. Oz Vehadar library has become both attractive and free of errors.

But, that is only according to their perspective. Several Rabbonim and Talmidei Chachomim have stated emphatically with their written word, that there is a serious problem with the authenticity of the many hidden CHANGES in the seforim bearing the Oz Vehadar name. They consider the OZ VEHADAR corporation dishonest and its products not usable!

Oz Vehadar has responded to some of the charges.

In a newly released kuntres bearing the name ופרשו השמלה, the letters of communication between those Talmidei Chachomim and Oz Vehadar have been painstakingly gathered. Included in the kuntres are both the questions of Talmidei Chachomim posed and the answers of Oz Vehadar.

Perusing and studying this work may enable you to get a better understanding of this issue. You may then decide about the legitimacy of the work of Oz Vehadar. Is it our Mesorah that we carried through for thousands of years? Or is it another one of those irresponsible printing presses that have caused havoc on Jewish life, as we know it?

This issue affects directly each and every religious Jewish person. the stakes are high and the room for error is almost non existent.

Time does tell us many times the truth. The question is, "do we have the time to wait??

   קונטרס ופרשו השמלה

A wife is told to serve her husband to increase intimacy and endearment - why only the wife?

We find in the Talmud (and this is also the halacha in Shulchan Aruch) that the wife is told to provide certain personal service for her husband to promote intimacy and endearment.. I have not found a comparable statement that the husband should do things for his wife to increase intimacy - why not?

Kesubos(61a): If she has four slaves -she may lounge in an easy chair. Rav Huna said that even though they said she can lounge in an easy chair but she fills his cup and makes his bed and washes his hands and feet. Furthermore Rav Huna said that all the work that a wife does for her husband she also does it when she is a niddah – except for filling his cup, making his bed and washing his hands and his feet and making his bed. Rava said this restriction for a wife who is a nida is only if she does the work in his presence but he is not there then there is no problem.

Rashi(Kesubos 61a): But she fills his cup and makes his bed – to spread the sheet something which is not strenuous – since it an act of endearment in order that she be more beloved to him. Therefore it is not comparable to the making of the bed mentioned in the Mishna which involves considerable physical effort and she can be forced to do it. She is not forced to do these works of endearment but the Sages merely suggested them as good advice as to how Jewish wives should behave. Except for pouring his cup -  when she is a Nida then all activities which draw them closer and increase endearment are to be avoided because they can lead to prohibited sexual activity.

Rambam(Hilchos Issurei Bi’ah 21:5): It is prohibited to use the personal services of a woman at all – whether she is an adult or a child whether she is a maid servant or a freed women. That is because perhaps it will cause him to have hirhur (sexual fantasies) about her. What type of personal services are we talking about? It is the washing of his face, hands, feets, making his bed in his presence, pouring his cup. That is because these personal services are to only be done by his wife. In addition one should not greet a woman at all – even through an intermediary.

Shulchan Aruch(E.H. 80:4-5): 4) And similarly every woman is to wash her husband’s face, hands and feet and pour his cup and to make his bed. (Some say that she is obligated to make all the beds in the house). And she is to stand before him and serve him doing tasks such as giving him water or a utensil or taking things from him etc. However she does not stand and serve his his father or son (However some say that is only when she is not dependent for support from her husband). 5) These works need to be done by the wife herself – even if she has many servants – she alone is required to do them. (There is a dispute regarding making beds see E.H. 80:8).

Epstein Trial ( 7th Day): Testimony of man who was beaten to give wife a Get

NJ.COM A Brooklyn man, testifying in the trial of a Lakewood rabbi accused of ordering beatings to extract Jewish divorces, described how he and his roomate were awakened and beaten for hours. 

The testimony offered in the seventh day of the federal conspiracy trial of rabbi Mendel Epstein, did not directly link the religious leader to participating in the Aug. 22, 2011, attack, but it connected his son, who is also charged in the indictment, to the attacks that federal prosecutors say were orchestrated to force the men into giving their wives divorces.[...]

Testifying to a jury of eight men and eight women before U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton, Teitelbaum said he had been asleep in his Brooklyn basement apartment for nearly an hour after returning from his job at a local grocery store when he was awakened by a man who punched him in the face. [...]

When he wasn't screaming, he could hear other men beating his roommate, Usher Chaimowitz, who had been asleep in the other bed in the room, and ordering him to grant his wife a Jewish religious divorce, known as a get, he told Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Wolfe.

He said the attackers knocked loose four of his teeth. When he asked why they were beating him, he said, one of his attackers told him, "Woe is the villain; woe is his neighbor."

After beating him in the bedroom, Teitelbaum's attackers dragged him, with his arms and legs bound, into the kitchen, where they cut off his pajamas and covered his head and his lower body with towels, he said. [...]

Teitelbaum said the beating lasted about two hours, after which he and his roommate were able to free themselves. [...]

How CAN American Jews be conservative or vote Republican? Dumping Israel is easier than embracing God

Guest Post By Shlomo Pollak

One of the most frustrating phenomena to all those that love Israel, Jew and Gentile alike, is the American Jewish Voters' insistence on Voting Democrat.

From dropping support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from the Democratic policy platform, to Obama’s open hostility to anything Israel, there can no longer be any question who's side the Democrat/"liberal"/ "progressive" party is on. From meeting and supporting terrorist front groups to giving voice to the virulent anti-Semitic BDS "movement", the left has resurrected the evil snake of anti-Semitism that many thought was finally dead for good.

The million dollar question is, facing such hostility, how is it that a whopping 69% of Jews voted for Obama in 2012?!?

Recently the brilliant conservative pundit and Orthodox Jew, Ben Shapiro has released a video on this subject. (Link here: Youtube ,and transcript here: Truth Revolt ). In a nutshell, Shapiro argues that the average American Jew "does not care about Judaism or Israel. They care about secular leftism, which is their religion". This explains the great disparity between Jews, concludes Shapiro, "while in general Jews vote three to one for Democrats, Orthodox Jews vote nearly two to one for Republicans" (of the third that votes Democrat, I suspect at least half, are pork voters and do not share any Democratic party values).

Jamie Glazov, another conservative pundit, had on three Jewish writers, (here: Youtube) also attempting to wrap their minds around this puzzling allegiance. Together they work on identifying some subconscious need that seems to be active disproportionately by Jews. The suggestions range from a desire to do the cool thing, be the same as their Gentile neighbor, to cognitive dissonance, or an emptiness that must be filled with meaning and liberal causes.

Could it be that secular Jews find themselves between a rock and a hard place? Can it be that for many, the only two options are reluctantly removing the Israeli flag from their lapel or donning "kippot" on their head??

The Rights philosophy is based on the belief in God, rule of law, and individual responsibility. To Republicans, these concepts speak to the foundation of government and rights, namely that all were CREATED equal and endowed by our CREATOR.... A Gentile that feels squeezed out of the Democratic Party, is disillusioned by the left, or has finally seen the light, can relatively easily embrace God. He must overcome cognitive dissonance, but it does not necessarily mean a complete make over.

For a Jew, a full embrace of God will mean tremendous changes immediately, so long as it's not Christianity or Islam that he joins. The Jewish conservative and reform movements don't believe in God and the literacy of the Torah, and Jews don't tend to flock to Christianity.

That leaves them with what they consider two bad options, and overwhelmingly the Godless way of life is considered the lesser of two evils.

They have concluded, that continuing to support a party and way of life that has removed Jerusalem AND God from their platform, is less life-altering than joining a group that "clings to religion and Israel protecting itself with guns".

It can very well be that a number of motivations are at play, and these suggestions are not mutually exclusive.

Practically speaking, no Jewish need or concern will not be addressed by continuing on this suicidal pact with one political party. The left knows they have our vote no matter how cruel and insensitive they are to "The Random People". Politicians on the right are also beginning to realize that, regardless of their staunch support, Jews give them a cold shoulder. For the time being, has been doing the "right" thing, out of principle. But, with a burgeoning libertarian right, we can't take it for granted.

The conversation regarding this abusive marriage of Democrats and Jews must continue, and be conducted in as public forum as possible. Hopefully, together we will identify definitively the root cause of this self-destructive behavior, and be half way to the cure.

Even if no one changes their voting habits or associations, this conversation is important. The public must know that MANY Jews don't have Israel or Jewish people's best interest in mind. Most people instinctively believe that Jews and Jewish Politicians care about Jewish causes. The left and the media have disingenuously exploited this misunderstanding for years. That's how a Jewish Congressman (Steve Cohen, D-Ten.) has the nerve "to affirm his strong Jewish identity and support for Israel", but accuse Netanyahu and Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner of playing politics against the Obama administration.

Here is a man that obviously views his friendship and political favors from the Khomeini hugging, Israel hating, bully President, as more important then his brethren literally facing Satan with THE BOMB. Since a healthy attitude towards his coreligionists is assumed, the Democratic Party can in turn use this to lie to the American people. They say, "even Jews that surely have Isreals' back agree, this is not a security threat but a political stunt etc.".

These conversations help set the record straight, that the survival of American and Israeli lives are not the main focus, and primary concern to leftist Jews...

...Just like our "cool headed" President .

Rivky's RICO case against Weiss family continues to collapse: Judge dismisses charges against his brother

See Baruch Weiss' motion to have Rivky's charges against him dismissed

Rivky's RICO case is clearly a slow motion train wreck. Another serious defeat for her so far unsubstantiated case against the Weiss family just occurred when the judge dismissed her claims against Baruch Weiss. How much longer are her lawyers going to stick with a case which obviously has no merit. She can't win without evidence - and so far she has produced none. Despite the high level of sympathy and support her initial shocking charges brought her - her supporters have been deserting her as the realization is sinking in that she has no case and that Yoel Weiss is the one telling the truth..

   Judge dismisses RICO charges against Baruch Weiss

Todros Grynhaus Trial regarding allegations of sexual attacks against school girls

update: Monday March 2 (an explanation and paraphrase of Rav Ehrentreu's letter posted below).

I have been told by insiders that it is widely known that the accused is guilty of being a serial molester of both boys and girls over a period of years. The point of contention within the community is whether he should go to jail. His supporters claim that he has received treatment and done teshuva and thus is not a danger to the community while the rabbis - in consultation with mental health workers - say that a person with this history can not trusted - even with therapy. The rabbis and the mental health workers assert that it is important that such a person be removed from the community since abuse is so psychologically destructive to the victims and their families - and therapy is not very reliable.

Rav Zimmerman clearly feels that Grynhaus should go to jail and is therefore is testifying in support of the 2 victims who had great courage in filing a complaint. It is alleged that there are in fact many other victims. Rav Ehrentreu's letter notes that there is strong opposition to the Rav's psak by arrogant and ignorant activists who have produced a flood of letters supporting Grynhaus and attacking the Rav. Rav Ehrentreu states simply they know neither the facts of the case nor the halacha and that Rav Zimmerman has correctly paskened in this case. He notes that the Gateshead Community is blessed having such a Rav who fights for what is required for the well being of the community and he should continue doing so.

=============================================

Manchester Evening News A ‘respected’ religious teacher has gone on trial accused of sex attacks on schoolgirls.

Todros Grynhaus, 50, who has taught in Jewish schools, is accused of exposing himself to one alleged victim he was ‘obsessed’ with, treating her as a ‘plaything’ and taking her to a hotel where he abused her in a jacuzzi.

He is said to have told another ‘vulnerable’ girl ‘you may as well make yourself useful’ as he subjected her to a sex attack. She alleges that Mr Grynhaus on another occasion showed her a passage of scripture ‘about sex’, and that on another his wife caught him in her bedroom. Dad-of-ten Mr Grynhaus, of Castleton Road, Salford, denies five indecent assaults and one sexual assault against two victims.

============I received the following document and letter====

The Gateshead Rav, R' Zimmerman Shlita will be coming to Manchester Crown Court tomorrow to testify on one of the victim's behalf. Many 'local askanim' have taken issue with him, and have stooped to disparaging the Rav with anonymous letters filled with vitriol among other things, lo aleinu. There are, unfortunately, otherwise 'chashuve people' who are backing this menuval.

The letter below was written by Dayan Ehrentreu and was distributed to Gateshead residents in support for the Rav.

Mendel Epstein et al indictment for conspiracy to kidnap, torture and extort husbands - for wives wanting to end marriage

Justice Department

  Epstein, Mendel Et Al. Indictment 

Father sentenced to 20 years for abusing daughters - Mother for 3 years for not reporting abuse

עשרים שנות מאסר נגזרו על גבר חרדי שהורשע בחמישה אישומים, לפיהם מאז 1988 תקף בנותיו הקטינות. אשתו,

אם בנותיו, הורשעה אף היא בסיוע ואי דיווח.

בבית משפט המחוזי בתל אביב, נערך היום (רביעי) דיון בעניין האב התוקף ואשתו.השופטים בראשות שרה דותן, צילה צפת ואבי זמיר, גזרו 20 שנות מאסר על האב, שביצע עבירות חמורות בשלוש מבנותיו, במשך למעלה משני עשורים משנת תשמ"ח ובמאות הזדמנויות, מאז הגיען לגיל 6.5-11, ועד לנישואן בגיל 18-19.

אשת הנאשם, אם הבנות, נגזרו עליה שלוש שנות מאסר, בגין כך שידעה על הדברים. הבנות סיפרו לה, והיא בתגובה אמרה להן שזה קורה בכל בית שני ואף שכנעה אותן שלא לפנות לסיוע המשטרה או רשויות הרווחה בטענה, כי הן "הורסות משפחות", ובכך סיכלה את האפשרות להתלונן על המעשים. בנוסף, נהגה באלימות פיסית ומילולית קשה כלפי ילדיה.

בנוסף חייב בית המשפט את האב לשלם פיצויים בסך 488,000 ש"ח לשלושת הבנות. האם תשלם פיצויים בסך 121,500 ש"ח, לבנות שהן כיום בשנות ה-20 וה-30 לחייהן.

"הרשעת האם בסיוע למעשי האב הינה תקדימית ושולחת מסר חשוב מטעם ביהמ"ש", נמסר מפרקליטות ת"א, "גם כאשר הורה שותק ועומד מנגד כאשר מעשים כאלו מתבצעים, וחמור מכך - משתיק את ילדו מלהתלונן, מערכת אכיפת החוק תילחם עבור הקטין שנפגע ותגרום לאחראים לעמוד לדין ולתת את הדין על מעשיהם. ההורה האחר הוא הכתובת הטבעית עבור הקטין הנפגע וזוהי חובתו המוסרית והחוקית לסייע בכל דרך לילדו". את התיק ניהלה עו"ד דפנה יבין.

[....]

Yeshiva Centre Issues Official statement regarding abuse and Manny Waks reply

This is from Manny Wak's Facebook Page     [It also reported by JWire]

There has been a new development in the Sydney Yeshiva Centre child sexual abuse police investigation. In the past hour the Yeshiva Centre has issued a public statement. Tzedek’s response is below the Yeshiva Centre statement.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY SYDNEY YESHIVA CENTRE:
“Sydney Yeshiva Centre, founded in 1956, has educated thousands of students over the years to be proud of their Jewish identity whilst becoming contributing and patriotic members of Australian society.
As part of a commitment to the highest standards of child well-being for the pupils in our care, our school Yeshiva College has comprehensive child protection policies in place.
There have been media reports about a police investigation into allegations of abuse decades ago by individuals who were associated with Yeshiva. Whilst the police have not contacted us about any investigation, if they do so we will fully cooperate.
Yeshiva unequivocally condemns any form of abuse, including child sexual abuse. We welcome any police investigation to uncover any improprieties, especially regarding alleged crimes against children. As a large organisation with hundreds of staff and many thousands of people associating with us for more than half a century, we acknowledge the unfortunate possibility that things may have occurred in the past and we encourage victims to go to the Police.
Australian rabbinical bodies, including the Sydney and Melbourne Beth Din (rabbinical courts), have ruled that incidents of child abuse should be reported to law enforcement authorities and Yeshiva stands firmly by those rulings. We are confident in the outstanding competence and professionalism of the Australian authorities to ensure the protection and welfare of citizens in our society.
Yeshiva stands ready to work together with the relevant law enforcement authorities and professional support services. We are available to offer assistance and support to any victim of abuse allegedly committed by any persons associated with the Yeshiva Centre. Requests for support can be emailed confidentially to support@yeshiva.org.au.”

TZEDEK RESPONSE TO THE OFFICIAL YESHIVA CENTRE STATEMENT:
“This is yet a further positive development – the Sydney Yeshiva Centre has made its position crystal clear; that it does not tolerate any forms of abuse, it encourages victims to go to the police, it commits to fully cooperating with the police, it offers victims and survivors an acknowledgement of what they may have experienced, and importantly, it offers them support and assistance in a practical and sensitive manner.
This is a highly encouraging development and I commend the Yeshiva Centre leadership for their proactive, effective and welcome statement. They have demonstrated a leadership role in this area.
Tzedek looks forward to working with the Sydney Yeshiva Centre and other stakeholders in order to obtain justice for past wrongs and to ensure the safety of our children.”

Rav Chaim Konievsky: Reporting child abuse to police - psak

update: This video was sent to me by an unknown person. My impression of it is that Rav Chaim is simply saying that if there is a situation where calling the police will save people then you can call the police without going to a beis din first.

He did not address that  case where there is suspicion or allegations of abuse . He was not asked  about the question of raglayim l'davar.

In short, the only thing certain from this video is that when it is clear that going to the police is the only way to save someone from being abused - then it is permitted. The other issues were not raised.

FreddieAB •

I have 'nebech' a cousin
In America upon whom someone 'fiddled' with - a scenario of sexual abuse.
What should one do to him?
He wants me to check out the matter. He wants to go to the police

Reb Chaim: "what is the question?"

A child, a child of 11 years old. A disgusting person sexually abused him. The person wants to know if he can go to the police or not?

Reb Chaim: "presumably yes - he will be saving others! - saving others, yes!"

The question is does he need to get permission from a jewish court or anything?

Reb Chaim: "it's logical"

It's logical that one doesn't ask first?
Can one act like this?

Reb Chaim "it's logical because one is saving others"

Celebrity status protected evil pedophile Jimmy Savile for 50 years in England

Daily Mail     "Never again must the power of money or celebrity blind us to repeated clear signals that some extremely vulnerable people were being abused," Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said today as a series of damning reports were published into how Jimmy Savile raped and assaulted hundreds of people at NHS hospitals.

"People were either too dazzled or too intimidated by the nation's favourite celebrity to confront the evil predator we now know he was," Mr Hunt told the Commons.

He spoke as the authors of one of the reports warned that NHS hospitals remain at risk due to inadequate checks on staff and volunteers and services should be "alert to predatory sexual offenders" such as Savile.

Investigations into 41 hospitals, a children's home and a hospice found the free access he was given offered him the "opportunity to commit sexual abuses on a grand scale for nearly 50 years", Kate Lampard said.

His status was "enhanced by the endorsement and encouragement he received from politicians, senior civil servants and NHS managers", she added at a London press conference. [....]

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Kaufman issued a Second Siruv and Hasroah Cherem - by Beis Din Givas Hamorah

Guest post: 

The Rabbinical Court of Givas Hamorah issued a second Siruv to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Kaufman since he did not respond satisfactorily to the First.

Givas Hamorah - a Bais din Located in Bensenhurst Brooklyn NY  - issued a Siruv against Rabbi Kaufman for causing broken homes and damaging young families  through his Bais Horoah Inc.  10 Maple Terrace Monsey NY

For more information See the attached Siruv

Men suffering from Israel's harsh divorce laws vent rage at the Head of Knesset's Women's Advancement Committee.

Arutz 7 Men suffering from Israel's harsh divorce laws – and women who support those laws – crashed a town hall meeting Monday with three female MKs, and demanded their rights.

The meeting, held at Elkana, in Samaria, was attended by MKs Gila Gamliel (Likud), Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) and Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid). Most of the protesters' rage was directed at Lavie, who heads the Knesset's Committee for Advancement of Status of Women and Gender Equality.

When Lavie began speaking, papers were thrown at her from the audience. She left the meeting after delivering a short statement.

The fathers – some of whom do not see their children at all, suffer from false criminal complaints filed against them by their ex-wives, and from jail sentences over child support debts they failed to pay – see Lavie as a hostile figure, and their strong feelings were apparent.

MK Gamliel explained that she supports the abolition of the so called Tender Years Clause, which originally related to small children but now gives mothers automatic custody of children of all ages in divorce. She called the law “archaic.” [...]

Beis Din of America: Get obtained by torture - what is Rav Schwartz' view?

 Update Feb 25, 2015 -

"D. the Rabbinical Council of America calls upon our  members to use all means at their disposal to persuade recalcitrant spouses to agree to a get."
http://www.rabbis.org/news/art...

Guest Post    One of the many remarkable aspects of Rabbi Schwartz's comments is it appears to imply that a Get obtained through violence would generally be valid. As Rabbi Eidensohn has repeatedly written, it is in only extremely rare circumstances that a get obtained through any sort of coercion, and especially through actual violence, would be valid. Does anyone know what he actually holds about violently obtained Gittin - in particular the Epstein-Wolmark approach?
 --------------------------
 update Feb 23 just added the RCA resolution against violence against a recalcitrant husband. There is no mention that using violence is most cases is against the Shulchan Aruch and will result in an invalid get - Get Me'usa! The only concern of the RCA is that is against the law of the land to torture husbands. Apparently the only problem the RCA has about using violence is getting caught. If this understanding is incorrect - please provide an authoritative statement from the RCA to the contrary. DT

NY Times  .....

During the panel discussion at Spertus, a Jewish educational center near Grant Park in Chicago, Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, who is featured in “Women Unchained,” mentioned one possible hope for chained wives: an annulment.

If a marriage began under false pretenses, Rabbi Schwartz said in a telephone interview, it can be considered never to have taken place. Such a case might involve a spouse’s failure to disclose homosexual tendencies, an abusive streak or a gambling addiction.

“If he had this addiction,” Rabbi Schwartz said this week, “and he had covered it up, and once they get married, he goes through his money, his wife’s money, he cleans out her accounts, he’s gambling it away, he goes to the casinos, and back and forth — that’s a deception.”

Rabbi Schwartz cautioned that for an annulment to occur, a spouse’s flaw must have been present but hidden before the marriage. In the end, the prenuptial agreement matters because a rabbi can do only so much.

“I can’t break the law,” Rabbi Schwartz said — although others sometimes do. He said he had recently met a Russian Jewish immigrant from a “semi-Hasidic” community. “I was talking in his presence about the problem of the chained women,” the rabbi said, “and he said in Yiddish, ‘What’s the problem? We don’t have a problem! We beat them up.’ ”

 update

2014 Resolution: Using Violence to Compel a Recalcitrant Husband to Give a Get (Writ of Divorce)

Policies Headlines Jul 16, 2014 -- For the past quarter century, the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and the Beth Din of America (BDA) have worked to resolve problems relating to agunot who are trapped in dead marriages by husbands who refuse to issue a get (Jewish divorce document). In this regard, the RCA’s and BDA’s Halachic Prenuptial Agreement has been extraordinarily successful: there are no known cases of prolonged get refusal where a couple has a properly executed an Halachic Prenuptial Agreement. Additionally, the RCA this year followed up on its 2013 commitment to study Prenuptial usage among its own membership, and determining that 80% of RCA rabbis officiating at a wedding require or strongly advocate the signing of the Halachic Prenuptial Agreement. Given the diversity of its membership, the RCA is most pleased with this finding, and plans work to increase that percentage to the extent possible. Concurrently, the RCA membership calls upon all members of the Jewish public to work along them, the RCA, and the BDA to ensure that every Jewish couple sign “as a routine matter” the Halachic Prenuptial Agreement prior to their wedding. Finally, in light of recent illegal incidents of violent coercion of Jewish divorces in the United States, the RCA membership of the “condemns unreservedly” the use of violence to compel the giving of a get. Formally adopted by a direct vote of the RCA membership, the full text of “2014 Resolution: Using Violence to Compel a Recalcitrant Husband to Give a Get (Writ of Divorce)” states: WHEREAS the Rabbinical Council of America and Beth Din of America have for decades (see RCA resolutions from 1991, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2006, July, 2013, and November, 2013) consistently spearheaded efforts to reduce the number of agunot and mesuravot get (women awaiting a get from absentee or recalcitrant husbands), most notably with their Halachic Prenuptial Agreement; and, WHEREAS in compliance with a 2013 RCA resolution, an RCA 2014 survey determined that approximately 80% of RCA members require or strongly advocate the signing of the Halachic Prenuptial Agreement when officiating at a wedding; and, WHEREAS there have been zero known cases of prolonged get refusal where a couple has properly executed an Halachic Prenuptial Agreement; and, WHEREAS the Talmudic principle of dina de­malchuta dina mandates that all Jews comply, as a matter of Torah law, with all non­discriminatory laws of their lands of residence, including laws against assault and battery; and WHEREAS rabbinical authorities in America have at their disposal a variety of lawful, non­violent, and non­physical tools for pressuring recalcitrant husbands to grant a get, for example, those specified in the 2001 RCA Resolution: Sanctions to be Imposed on One Who Withholds Issuance or Receipt of a Get Therefore, the Rabbinical Council of America Condemns unreservedly the use of physical coercion as a means of compelling the giving of a get; and, Urges all members of the Jewish community to complement the efforts of the RCA and the vast majority of its rabbis to eliminate future instances of igun by encouraging every marrying Jewish couple to properly execute, as a routine matter of their responsibility to the Jewish community, the Halachic Prenuptial Agreement prior to their wedding.

Why won’t the president think clearly about the nature of the Islamic State?

Wall Street Journal   by Peggy Noonan

Great essays tell big truths. A deeply reported piece in next month’s Atlantic magazine does precisely that, and in a way devastating to the Obama administration’s thinking on ISIS.

“What ISIS Really Wants,” by contributing editor Graeme Wood, is going to change the debate. (It ought to become a book.) 

Mr. Wood describes a dynamic, savage and so far successful organization whose members mean business. Their mettle should not be doubted. ISIS controls an area larger than the United Kingdom and intends to restore, and expand, the caliphate. Mr. Wood interviewed Anjem Choudary of the banned London-based Islamist group Al Muhajiroun, who characterized ISIS’ laws of war as policies of mercy, not brutality. “He told me the state has an obligation to terrorize its enemies,” Mr. Wood writes, “because doing so hastens victory and avoids prolonged conflict.” 

ISIS has allure: Tens of thousands of foreign Muslims are believed to have joined. The organization is clear in its objectives: “We can gather that their state rejects peace as a matter of principle; that it hungers for genocide; that its religious views make it constitutionally incapable of certain types of change . . . that it considers itself a harbinger of—and headline player in—the imminent end of the world. . . . The Islamic State is committed to purifying the world by killing vast numbers of people.”

The scale of the savagery is difficult to comprehend and not precisely known. Regional social media posts “suggest that individual executions happen more or less continually, and mass executions every few weeks.” Most, not all, of the victims are Muslims.[...]

He quotes Princeton’s Bernard Haykel, the leading expert on ISIS’ theology. The group’s fighters, Mr. Haykel says, “are smack in the middle of the medieval tradition,” and denials of its religious nature spring from embarrassment, political correctness and an “interfaith-Christian-nonsense tradition.”  [...]

Mr. Wood’s piece is bracing because it is fearless—he is apparently not afraid of being called a bigot or an Islamophobe. It is important because it gives people, especially political leaders, information they need to understand a phenomenon that may urgently shape U.S. foreign policy for the next 10 years. 

In sorry contrast, of course, are the Obama administration’s willful delusions and dodges. They reached their height this week when State Department spokesman Marie Harf talked on MSNBC of the “root causes” that drive jihadists, such as “lack of opportunity for jobs.” She later went on CNN to explain: “Where there’s a lack of governance, you’ve had young men attracted to this terrorist cause where there aren’t other opportunities. . . . So how do you get at that root causes?” She admitted her view “might be too nuanced of an argument for some.” [...]

Epstein Torture trial: Declararation of R Breitowitz - is an egregious case of intellectual dishonesty

The charges against Epstein and company are a horrible chilul hashem - because what they did was a perversion of halacha.  But there is an even greater chilul hashem and that is their misrepresenting Torah and halacha in a desperate attempt to justify their criminal acts as a positive religious activity. 

They have falsely claimed that getting married shows an agreement to being tortured if a get is not granted on simply on the demand of the wife. There is no such source in halacha. But the following document from someone who is very intelligent, learned and obviously knows that what he is writing is nonsense - is the final straw.

Rabbi Breitowtiz fails to mention that the "beis din" did not bother to listen to both sides. Something which Rav Moshe Feinstein declares is so elementary that there should be no reason to even have to mention it. In this case the husband didn't even exist.

He fails to mention that the agreement of the majority of poskim is that we don't poseken like the Rambam. He fails to mention that according to halacha there are only certain cases which  beis din has the right to authorize force. He fails to mention that there is no get on demand when a wife simply decides she can do better. He fails to mention that use of force in most cases of divorce - not only is not authorized by halacha but it actually invalidates the Get as a Get Me'usa. Thus instead of being a mitzva - the use of force in most cases invalidates the Get and is obviously not a mitzvah.

Furthermore, halacha clearly prohibits hitting others - except in very exceptional cases to protect others or punishment. But it is clear that the use of force - even for a legitimate beis din - requires the approval of secular authorities. An additional chilul hashem is  the arrogance of Epstein that he is above the law and will never be caught at violating the law.

In sum, the "beis din" did not act according to halacha by failing to hear the husband's side and thus it was clearly a sin - not a mitzva. In most cases - the use of even mild force - is not permitted and invalidates the Get. The force the beis din  used is not valid in a situation where it is not approved by the secular government.

Rabbi Breitowitz claims use of Force is a Mitzva  

Give your child Bamba!: New study shows previous medical advice to keep young children from peanuts - is harmful

NY Times    Turning what was once conventional wisdom on its head, a new study suggests that many, if not most peanut allergies can be prevented by feeding young children food containing peanuts beginning in infancy, rather than avoiding such foods.

About 2 percent of American children are allergic to peanuts, a figure that has more than quadrupled since 1997 for reasons that are not entirely clear. There have also been big increases in other Western countries. For some people, even traces of peanuts can be life-threatening.

An editorial published Monday in The New England Journal of Medicine, along with the study, called the results “so compelling” and the rise of peanut allergies “so alarming” that guidelines for how to feed infants at risk of peanut allergies should be revised soon.

The study “clearly indicates that the early introduction of peanut dramatically decreases the risk of development of peanut allergy,” said the editorial, by Dr. Rebecca S. Gruchalla of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Dr. Hugh A. Sampson of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. It also “makes it clear that we can do something now to reverse the increasing prevalence of peanut allergy.” [...]

Dr. Gideon Lack, a professor of pediatric allergy at King’s College London and the leader of the study, said the common practice of withholding peanuts from babies “could have been in part responsible for the rise in peanut allergies we have seen.” [...]

So Dr. Lack and colleagues conducted a survey, published in 2008, that found the rate of peanut allergy in Israeli children was only about one-tenth that of Jewish children in Britain. The best explanation, they concluded, was that Israeli infants consumed high amount of peanut protein in the first year of life while parents in Britain avoided giving such foods. [...]

Epstein Torture Trial: Prosecutor plays videos of an arrogant Epstein declaring he is above the law

ABC     On grainy video, filmed from across a desk at his Lakewood home, a New Jersey rabbi told undercover FBI agents that his team of "tough guys" would jump Jewish husbands who wouldn't divorce their wives by throwing hoods over their heads and handcuffing them.

"He's going to be jumped, handcuffed and hooded," Rabbi Mendel Epstein is heard telling the agents posing as a brother and sister seeking a divorce from her unwilling husband. "That takes 30 to 60 seconds. For 80 percent of the guys, it's over right there."[...]

Meeting with the agents at his home Aug. 14, 2013, Epstein is heard telling them that his "tough guys" would be kidnapping the husband and "beating him up and torturing him and then getting him to give the (divorce)."

The Orthodox rabbi said it would cost about $60,000 to carry out the kidnapping, and said the crew would use an electric cattle prod and a "karate expert" to force the husband's hand.

"If (the cattle prod) can get a bull that weighs five tons to move, you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute the guy will know," Epstein is heard saying.

Throughout the recordings, Epstein recalled previous kidnappings — one he claimed ended with the unwilling husband having a heart attack — and said the "tough guys" prefer not to leave a mark so the target doesn't go to the police. He told the agents they would need to purchase new phones to communicate with him and figure out alibis when the kidnapping occurs. He laughed about how he would keep police off his trail in Brooklyn, where he also lived.

"They couldn't try me in Brooklyn," he's heard telling the agents. "The whole jury would be women. They'd say 'Hang him (the husband). Kill him!'" [...]