Understanding Tropper's crimes & that of EJF

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


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

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

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

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

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

Banning a rabbi for rumors of sexual misconduct

Mo’ed Koton(17a): There was a certain distinguished rabbi about whom there were bad rumors (about sexual misconduct - Tosfos). Rav Yehuda asked how is one to respond? If it is to ban him, this cannot be done since the Rabbis need him as a good teacher. However not to put ban him is also not possible since it would profane the name of Heaven…. So Rav Yehuda banned him. Eventually Rav Yehuda became seriously ill. The Rabbis came to visit him and that man came along with them. When Rav Yehuda saw him he laughed. The man said, Is it not sufficient that banned me  but he also laughs at me? Rav Yehuda replied that he was not laughing at him but that he was in fact dying and it made him happy that even though the other person was a great and important man he didn’t refrain from treating correctly…. His colleagues did not remove the ban and he went away crying. A wasp came and stung him on his private member and died. He was not admitted in the burial ground of the pious but he was admitted in the burial ground of the judges. That is because he followed the ruling of R’ Il’ai that if a person sees that his lust is overcoming him he should go to a place where he is not recognized and wear dark clothing and cover himself with a dark covering and then do what his heart desired rather than profane the name of heaven openly.

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 מועד קטן (יז.): ההוא צורבא מרבנן דהוו סנו שומעניה. אמר רב יהודה: היכי ליעביד? לשמתיה - צריכי ליה רבנן, לא לשמתיה - קא מיתחיל שמא דשמיא. .... שמתיה רב יהודה. לסוף איחלש רב יהודה, אתו רבנן לשיולי ביה, ואתא איהו נמי בהדייהו. כד חזייה רב יהודה חייך אמר ליה: לא מסתייך דשמתיה לההוא גברא אלא אחוכי נמי חייך בי? אמר ליה: לאו בדידך מחייכנא אלא דכי אזלינא לההוא עלמא בדיחא דעתאי דאפילו לגברא כוותך לא חניפי ליה. נח נפשיה דרב יהודה, ... לא שרא ליה. נפק כי קא בכי ואזיל, אתא זיבורא וטרקיה אאמתיה, ושכיב. עיילוהו למערתא דחסידי - ולא קיבלוהו, עיילוהו למערתא דדייני - וקיבלוהו. מאי טעמא? - דעבד כרבי אילעאי. דתניא, רבי אילעאי אומר: אם רואה אדם שיצרו מתגבר עליו - ילך למקום שאין מכירין אותו, וילבש שחורים ויתעטף שחורים, ויעשה מה שלבו חפץ, ואל יחלל שם שמים בפרהסיא.

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שולחן ערוך יורה דעה שלד:מב

חכם, זקן בחכמה, או אב בית דין שסרח, אין מנדין אותו בפרהסיא לעולם, אלא אם כן עשה כירבעם בן נבט וחביריו. אבל כשחטא שאר חטאות, מלקין אותו בצינעא. וכן כל ת"ח שנתחייב נידוי, אסור לב"ד לקפוץ ולנדותו במהרה, אלא בורחים ונשמטים ממנו. וחסידי החכמים היו משתבחים שלא נמנו מעולם לנדות תלמיד חכם, ואף ע"פ שנמנים להלקותו אם נתחייב מלקות או מכת מרדות. ואי סני שומעניה  כגון שמתעסק בספרי אפיקורוסין ושותה במיני זמר, או שחביריו מתביישין ממנו ושם שמים מתחלל על ידו, משמתינן ליה.

Rav Sternbuch IVF birth 5:317

Abuse: Beware of even the friendly pediatrician

Foxnews

A Delaware pediatrician is accused of molesting at least 16 patients, including some who appear to be no more than 6 months old, and police said the doctor used video cameras to record some of the brutal attacks in exam rooms. Dr. Earl B. Bradley, 56, was being held on $2.9 million bond Tuesday, said Sgt. Walter Newton, a Delaware State Police spokesman. Police believe there could be more victims. Bradley, of Lewes, faces 29 charges, including rape. He was charged last week with sexually abusing nine girls.[...]

R' Reuven Feinstein's haskoma & the Tropper tapes

It is interesting to note that approximately the same time the Tropper tapes were being recorded that Tropper had Rav Reuven Feinstein write a haskoma for his activities in EJF

Cheshvan 1, 5770
October 19, 2009

My Honorable Friends, Rabbis of the Eternal Jewish Family Organization,

I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate and clarify my previous stated opinion that all of the activity of this organization strictly adheres to the Torah's laws as transmitted by both the leading halacha deciders of our time (may they live and be well) as well as those of blessed memory.

The Eternal Jewish Family has my full support, as at the helm of the organization is a halacha committee made up of Torah scholars endowed with a strong fear of heaven who are admirable in both thought and action.

The directors of EJF are of the elite few of our generation who follow the directives of today's Torah leaders. They are willing to listen to their constructive criticism, and even adjust the organization's activities or strategies when instructed.

The mixed seminars for couples that EJF runs follow the strict guidelines and Torah decisions of the previous generation's Torah luminaries, as well as today's leading Rabbinic authorities, our master HaGaon Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv shlit"a and HaGaon Rabbi Shmuel Vosner shlit"a and our master HaGaon Rabbi Yosef.

May you be blessed to continue sanctifying the great Name of Hashem and strengthening the Glory of Heaven until the final redemption.

Signed in blessing and true friendship,
Reuven Feinstein

Defamatory speech on the internet

ABA Journal  [hat tip Jersey Girl]

Masked by the Web's anonymity, internet users feel free to flame celebrities, blast politicians, or blow the whistle on employers for corporate misdeeds.

Burned by the postings, many plaintiffs resort to defamation suits. But in addition to the usual litigation issues, plaintiffs often find another one: plenty of defendants with the same name, John Doe.

"If we don't know who they are, we don't know where they are and we don't necessarily know what court to file in," says Gary Nissenbaum of Union, N.J., managing principal of Nissenbaum Law Group, which practices Internet law in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. "Part of the reason this defamatory speech is so ubiquitous is because people assume they can never be found."[...]