Rav Sternbuch - body scanners

Rav Sternbuch stated that he saw no halachic questions with using these scanners for airport safety

London Beis Din attacks EJF

JC.com

Members of the London Beth Din have attacked a controversial conversion organisation with which their former head, Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, is involved.

The LBD judges signed a statement from the Conference of European Rabbis, protesting at the American-based Eternal Jewish Family setting up in Europe and calling for the cancellation on its seminar in Munich this week.

Dayan Ehrentreu, who retired as LBD head three years ago, is listed as chairman of the EJF's halachic committee for Europe. He is also a trustee of the CER and head of its travelling Beth Din, supervising conversions for the Conference on the continent....

EJF ad in Mishpacha Magazine

Mazel tov! Shannon Orand converted this week in Israel

Jewish Israel would like to wish a heartfelt Mazal Tov to JI member Shannon Orand upon her conversion to Judaism which she received in Israel earlier this week. Welcome to the Jewish people, Rachel (Shannon's Hebrew name)!...

Jerusalem Post for implications

Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, shlita

I was approached this morning by a friend who has very solid connections and knowledge of the yeshiva world. He said in an anxious and urgent tone, "You are in trouble. The word in the higher circles is that you are out to get Reb Elya Ber. They claim that your blog is conducting a smear campaign against him. They claim you are claiming that Reb Elya Ber honored tropper at the malave malke and he is conducting a coverup of the scandal for personal interests. An attack on him is viewed as an attack on the entire yeshiva world and the Torah itself...."

This took me by surprise. The yeshiva world is faced with the greatest chillul hashem in memory and they have remained totally silent. But they are avid readers of my blog and they are doing a great job of distorting and misreading what I have said. They have concluded that it is not tropper that is a shonde but rather the bloggers who have publicized this tragedy.

 I did report that Reb Elya Ber was at a Melave Malka which Rabbi Tropper was the guest speaker - no one denies that happened. I also reported that Reb Elya Ber walked out before tropper spoke - no one has denied that happened. The melave malkae was not for the South Fallsburg yeshiva but was for the South Fallsburg Kollel - again an uncontested assertion. If anyone can find a statement on this blog that I said that Reb Elya Ber honored tropper - than I apologize and will erase such a statement because it is not true. If I said that tropper was honored at a Melave Malke that Reb Elya Ber attended -and left when tropper appeared -  that is in fact true and uncontested.

Finally let me remind you that the kavod of Reb Elya Ber is also precious to me and that I have done more than most of the yeshiva world in defending it. If you recall that when tropper left EJF there was a press release that Reb Elya Ber was taking his place. This statement was uncontested for several days and there was great consternation that such a distinguished Rosh Yeshiva should be seen as supporting such shmutz. I was the first to post a denial of this assertion based on  informed sources that this press release was not true. I publicly requested that Reb Elya Ber should be asked to confirm or deny it. Several hours later Matzav published a letter from Reb Elya Ber denying that he was the director of EJF.


Again let's get facts straight - I have the highest regard for Reb Elya Ber Wachtfogel , shlita in the highest regard and am not trying to smear or degrade him.

Mandated Reporting - Why needed?

Guest Post in response to comments on  Jewish Calculus of suffering see also Sex offenders II and  Rav Silman's Teshuva

Dear Rabbi Eidensohn,


Thank you for your response, I value your engagement on this. Regarding your contention that "there is no legal issue here", I need to respectfully disagree. The fact that the family did not want to press charges at the time is immaterial to the question of mandatory reporting. The 'duty to report' is an independent obligation of certain professions (and in some places, on every citizen), usually at minimum teachers, health professionals, and clergy, to report to Children's' Aid (or Child Welfare, again: the names will vary) any instance where through their professional work they become aware of a child having been abused, and/or where there is a potential continuing risk to any child's welfare (whether sexual or physical abuse---in some places also emotional abuse--or neglect). A generic summary can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandated_reporter Usually there is no time limit for this obligation from the time of the incident. Failure to report often carries a penalty of jail time, in Israel I seem to recall it's 6 months. I encourage you, with or without reference to the case under discussion, to phone your local Children's Aid and find out what your legal obligations are in your jurisdiction.

It is precisely because of our natural tendency to "assume" that "someone" else must surely have determined that the assailants are no longer a threat that mandatory reporting laws have become so common. Experience has shown that we can never assume that someone else has taken care of it---usually they are assuming the same thing. Believe me, I know the kind of hassles that can be involved in taking the step of reporting something like this because I've done it a number of times. We are all meshuchadim when it comes to deciding whether someone else 'must have' taken care of it, so the secular law---wisely, in my opinion---takes this decision out of our hands (assuming we choose to follow it).

Having worked as a psychologist in educational and clinical settings since 1996, I've had more cases like this than I'd care to remember; more than I would have expected to have. I see from your website that you are someone who is not afraid to speak out on matters of importance to the Jewish community. So please let me share this with you and your readers: The fact is that if the "rape" as you've called it was never brought to legal attention, it is highly unlikely that a satisfactory assessment was ever made as to whether these men pose a continuing risk. In fact, a teenager who "rapes"---your word---a 10 year-old child is a disturbed individual who we can safely assume does pose a continuing risk. If the case never went to a legal process the reasonable working assumption must be that these men are out there and abusing to this very day. That is pikuach nefesh, as your case example neatly illustrates. Some pedophiles---in the frum world as well---have gone on abusing with impunity for decades because people preferred to assume that someone else must have reported it.

That is why I suggest we need to resist the understandable tendency to prematurely "take away" the legal issues and the concern for future danger to others, to turn to "...the profound"---yet in important ways much easier---"...question of how to give meaning to this event."

Please consider the following: Whenever we hear such a story---even "by the way"---we should ask questions to determine whether the assailant was reported to authorities equipped to assess and monitor future risk. The day that Beis Din is able and willing to take on that role will be a great day---that has not yet come in my experience. The victim should be encouraged to name their abusers---they themselves can generally choose to remain anonymous---and this information should be passed on to those with the training and resources to protect future victims, as a matter of pikuach nefesh.

Respectfully and with blessing,

Yaacov Lefcoe, MA (Psych)

More on EJF by Eli Neuberger

5TJewishTimes

The recent Tropper scandal truly boggles the mind! I do not recall a scandal of this magnitude, where someone like that led an organization in which so many prominent Roshei Yeshiva and Torah leaders were either directly or indirectly associated. How could that be? How could this happen?

Perhaps it might be wise to examine the history of Rabbi Leib Tropper.

He has been involved with Kiruv for close to 40 years. After unsuccessful stints in Ohr Somayach of Jerusalem and Monsey, he established a Kiruv Yeshiva on his own called Kol Yaakov. But his Yeshiva never hit the big time of the Kiruv world. ....