Reb Reuven - please!

Rav Sternbuch: Hard Times

An open letter to Reb Elya Ber, shlita

The below was just confirmed by a letter from Reb Elya Ber just published on Matzav

I have it on excellent authority that Reb Elya Ber Wachtfogel never accepted any responsibility, oversight, or position of any kind for EJF!

If anything at all - he was duped by a phone call from an individual in Eretz Yisroel (a beneficiary of Tropper/EJF money) that Rav Shteinman and Rav Y.S. Eliashiv had "requested" he assume the position at EJF, But he never accepted!

In the interim it has now been determined that Rav Y.S. Eliashiv had no idea at all about ANY of these goings on - let alone he never asked for R' E.B.W. to accept any position or achrayus for EJF!

The time has come for Reb Elya Ber to speak up and put this to bed!

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Below is the hierarchy of rabbis from the EJF webpage - you will note that HaRav Elya Ber, shita - one of the major gedolim of America and perhaps its leading rosh yeshiva - is not accorded to same title as Rav Reuven Feinstein, Rav Shmuel Stern, and Rav Ehrentreu. Hopefully it is just a mistake but if not it does not bode well for Reb Elya.
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EJF Leadership
Harav Reuven Feinstein, Shlit"a

President of Halachic Committee
Harav Shmuel Eliezer Stern, Shlit"a

Chairman of Halachic Committee, Israel
Harav Chanoch Ehrentreu, Shlit"a

Chairman of Halachic Committee, Europe
International Rabbinical Board
Rav Ela Ber Wachtfogel

Chairman of Rabbinic Committee
Harav Doniel Neustadt

...

R' Farber's eulogy for R' Tropper

JC.com

The founder of a powerful American group that seeks to enforce a tough stance on conversions has abruptly resigned.

Leib Tropper, a strictly Orthodox rabbi who founded the New York-based Eternal Jewish Family, said he was stepping down last weekend to "pursue a variety of other interests".

In the past week, images appeared on several Jewish blogs showing posters on display in Orthodox neighbourhoods of Jerusalem accusing him of indiscretions.[...]

Sex offender extradited to U.S.

YNET

Samuel Arthur Silverman, also known as Abraham Cohen, was extradited Thursday from Israel to the United States. Silverman was convicted in Oregon for sexual abuse of minors in the late 1990s, but before a hearing on his sentence commenced he escaped to Israel.

His extradition was made possible following an amendment to the extradition treaty between Israel and the US.

Silverman, a former social worker and psychologist mainly treating children and teenagers, was charged and convicted of sexually  abusing two minors who were friends of his son during the years
1995-1996. [...]

Eternal Jewish Family video - looks different now

Eternal Jewish Family Web Brochure

Shannon | MySpace Video

Chofetz Chaim:Why people speak lashon harah

Chofetz Chaim(Introduction): …Why has the prohibition against lashon harah become so widely ignored? I think it is the result of a number of different reasons. The masses ignore it for a different reason than the scholars. The masses simply don’t know that there is a prohibition against speaking lashon harah – even if the facts are correct. The talmidei chachomim – even those who have in fact verified that there is a clear prohibition against lashon harah even if it is true – the yetzer harah is able to mislead them in other ways. 1) The yetzer harah convinces the talmid chachom that the other person is wicked and tells him that it is a mitzva to publicize derogatory information about wicked people. 2) There are times that it says that the other person is a troublemaker and it is permitted to say lashon harah about troublemakers. 3) There are times when it seduces the talmid chachom with the leniency of something said before three people. 4) Or the leniency of saying it in the person’s presence and he convinces himself that he would in fact say it even if the person was in front of him. The yetzer harah succeeds in making the talmid chachom aware of the appropriate text – even though they are inappropriately applied. 5) Sometimes the yetzer harah seduces by simply saying that what he is telling others is not really lashon harah since everyone is saying it - such as saying that someone is not really a scholarly. All of this is explained in Clall 5.

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חפץ חיים (הלכות אסורי לשון הרע – הקדמה): ואחשבה לדעת זאת, מאין נעשה הלאו הזה הפקר כל כך לעיני הרבה בני אדם. והתבוננתי שזה הוא מכמה סבות, להמון מצד אחד ולהלומדים מצד אחר. ההמון אינם יודעים כלל שאסור לשון הרע הוא אפלו על אמת, ולהבעלי תורה אף אותם שנתברר להם ונתאמת להם שאסור לשון הרע אפלו על אמת, יש מהם כמה שיצר הרע מטעה אותם בפנים אחרים. אחד, שתכף מחשיב היצר הרע ברעיוניו את האיש שהוא מספר עליו לחונף, ואומר לו מצוה לפרסם את החנפים והרשעים. ופעמים אומר לו, הלא פלוני הוא בעל מחלקת ומתר לספר לשון הרע עליו. ולפעמים הוא מפתהו בהתרא דאפי תלתא (בפני שלשה), ופעמים בהתרא דאפי מרא (בפני המדבר), שמסכים בעצמו בעת הספור שהיה אומר לו אף בפניו, ומגלה לו היצר הרע את המאמרים השיכים לזה, ועין לקמן בכלל ב' ג' ח'. ופעמים הוא מפתהו באיכות הדבר, לומר שאין זה נכנס בכלל לשון הרע כגון מה שרגילין הרבה אנשים, בעונותינו הרבים, לפרסם על אחד שאינו חכם, ובארנו זה לקמן בכלל ה':