Calling another Jew a rasha (evil): Punishment and Repentance

Kiddushin (28a): It was taught: If someone called a person a slave then he is banned (nidoi). If he called him a mamzer then he is given 40 lashes. If he called the other person a rasha (wicked) the victim can damage the perpetrator’s livelihood.(יורד עמו לחייו

Rashi (Kiddushin 28a): Beis din does not get involved but the victim is allowed to hate the perpetrator and damage his livelihood and to ruin his business.

Ritva (Kiddushin 28a): This is mida keneged mida (measure for measure). Since the perpetrator caused him a loss in his well being because society does not have mercy on one called a rasha. Therefore beis din does not get involved but it is permitted for him to damage the perpetrator's livelihood and to cause him a loss in his well being.
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If someome discovers that they are wrong about another person that they have publicly condemned - what should be the response?

Berachos(31a-b): [Soncino Translation]   R. Hamnuna said: How many most important laws can be learnt from these verses relating to Hannah!33 Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart: from this we learn that one who prays must direct his heart. Only her lips moved: from this we learn that he who prays must frame the words distinctly with his lips. But her voice could not be heard: from this, it is forbidden to raise one's voice in the Tefillah. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken: from this, that a drunken person is forbidden to say the Tefillah. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken, etc.34 R. Eleazar said: From this we learn that one who sees in his neighbour something unseemly must reprove him. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord. ‘Ulla, or as some say R. Jose b. Hanina, said: She said to him: Thou art no lord in this matter, nor does the holy spirit rest on thee, that thou suspectest me of this thing. Some say, She said to him: Thou art no lord, [meaning] the Shechinah and the holy spirit is not with you in that you take the harsher and not the more lenient view of my conduct. Dost thou not know that I am a woman of sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink. R. Eleazar said: From this we learn that one who is suspected wrongfully must clear himself. Count not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial; a man who says the Tefillah when drunk is like one who serves idols. It is written here, Count not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial, and it is written elsewhere, Certain sons of Belial have gone forth from the midst of thee. Just as there the term is used in connection with idolatry, so here. Then Eli answered and said, Go in Peace. R. Eleazar said: From this we learn that one who suspects his neighbour of a fault which he has not committed must beg his pardon;6 nay more, he must bless him, as it says, And the God of Israel grant thy petition.

Why did the Lakewood establishment and Rav Belsky get it wrong?

Now that Kolko has confessed  to being a molester, the big question  is why didn't his supporters realize this? The supporters who insisted that rabbis can properly investigated and deal with judging the guilt or innocence. The big resistance to going to the police has been the insistence that these matters should be handled within the community. There is no question that the Kolko case was not handled properly within the community. It was because of the establishment rabbis that Kolko was allowed to stay in the community and have access to others.

How is Lakewood going to justify not only facilitating a child molester to continue to go free but also persecuting his victims. How is Rabbi Belsky going to explain his "investigation" and public declaration  not only of Kolko's innocence but that it was prohibited to go to the police. If the victim had not gone to the police, there is no doubt that Kolko would have destroyed many other innocent lives from our community. In fact it was only because other victims suddenly came forward that  he confessed. How many more victims are there? Even  now in England the community is intimidating victims from testifying in the Halpern case.

Hopefully G-d will give these rabbinic leaders the understanding to make major changes in the way they deal with such cases in the future. Hopefully they will no longer try to destroy those who feel that the police and secular  justice system are the only way to properly deal with these cases.  Hopefully they will wake up before their own children and grandchildren suffer from this illness.

Perhaps they will even publicly acknowledge the serious errors that they have made in the past and promise not to do repeat them in the future.

Yosef Kolko pleads guilty to charges today after learning 2 more victims came forward

Asbury Park Press   A former Lakewood Yeshiva teacher today admitted sexually abusing a boy, after authorities said two more victims of his came forward to them as his trial was underway.Sheriff's officers placed Yosef Kolko in handcuffs and led him to the Ocean County Jail after he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, attempted aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment, and state Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson revoked his $125,000 bail. [...]

 Kolko’s trial on the charges involving that one boy got underway last week, but Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Laura Pierro told the judge that the defendant decided to plead guilty after learning that two more victims had come forward to authorities.

Pierro said she was contacted late Friday afternoon by a young woman who claimed she was victimized by Kolko, and the attorney for a young man who also claimed to be a victim.


Pierro said she met with the additional victims this morning and would have sought to admit their testimony, had the trial proceeded.


In exchange for Kolko’s guilty plea, the state would not proceed with additional charges related to the additional victims, but no other promises were made to him, Pierro said.

Binyamin Satz of Nahlaot sentenced to 15 years

YNET   The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Binyamin Satz, a 46-year-old resident of Jerusalem, to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of sodomy and indecent acts against a number of haredi children, some as young as seven 

Haaretz  (January 2013) The Jerusalem District Court last week convicted the first man to be tried among several defendants accused of sexually abusing children in Jerusalem’s Nahlaot neighborhood, an affair police initially called the biggest pedophile case in the state's history.

The court convicted Binyamin Satz, who was the first of 18 men to be arrested in the case that came to light in August, 2011. Two more men are now on trial, and 15 others were released and have not yet been charged in the affair that sent shock waves through the neighborhood that is home to many ultra-Orthodox Jews.

The judges found Satz guilty, but struck down his confession, which they determined police had obtained through “unfair psychological pressure.” Satz was acquitted of one of the counts in the indictment.

From the moment the case hit the headlines, neighborhood residents and defense attorneys claimed that it was the result of a witch hunt and mass hysteria, and that few if any children had been harmed.

According to these sources, the case grew to such dimensions (at one point more than 200 youngsters were said to have been abused) because of the dynamics in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, in which stories were magnified or even invented.

Those who maintain the stories were exaggerated say false accusations were leveled at the weakest people in the neighborhood ­– men living alone, some of whom are psychologically impaired. In one case, a resident is believed to have committed suicide because of the rumors that he was involved in abusing the children. Others were forced to leave the neighborhood and even the country.

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Shavuot Is Tough Sell in Digital Age

Forward by Rabbi Mendel Horowitz   When I began teaching in 1998, dormitory floors were littered with magazines and books. Back when notebooks came with pens, students could be encouraged to read and write, could be challenged to communicate. Those students, like students always, were hardly mindful of their studies. But unlike the case of today’s 4Gers, it was possible to engage with the minds of those digital neophytes.

That was then. Today’s dormitory is cluttered with wires and suffused with wireless, its occupants sharing files more than ideas. My current students communicate, relate — think — in bizarre combinations of lethargy and haste, clicking from friend to virtual friend and from page to virtual page without pausing to consider the people or books in sight of them. A text-based curriculum that relies heavily on commitment hardly stands a chance. [...]

Preferences for shortcuts and concision are not traits of a successful divinity student. The law of the Talmud is tricky, and students are expected to join in a boisterous dialectic to unravel its intent. Achieving transcendence through debate — conversing with God through the medium of His word — is as central to Orthodox Judaism as its precepts. Participation demands qualities not readily found online. [...]

Talmudic tradition maintains that the great voice of God on Sinai has never ceased — that it resonates, forever to be noticed. I would like to believe that in every generation, all can hear that sound, can identify its source, can appreciate its relevance. In truth, only some are moved by its echo; others strain for a chord, others may be not listening. For some there is only quiet.

Shavuot is about participation, not commemoration. About joining a community of listeners. About experiencing the resonance of His expression.

There can be no shortcuts to informed religious conduct. To pretend as much would be misleading. There can also be no substitute for earnest dialogue — with teachers, confidants and texts. Still, the challenge of amplifying that awesome sound to those who do not yet hear it depends on the sensitivity, creativity and patience of those who do. The same digitally distracted child can focus when the subject is of interest. The same digitally isolated soul can join a community when it matters to him most. [...]

Lapid's financial program is sabotaging his promises for universal draft

Times of Israel   One of the central campaign promises of the governing coalition parties was to institute a universal draft to the IDF or civil service for Israel’s ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations, but that promise is in jeopardy due to austerity measures sought by those same parties. At a Sunday meeting of the Peri Committee, tasked by the government with formulating a solution to the problem of the universal draft, a Finance Ministry representative told the committee members that under the current 2013-2014 budget draft there won’t be enough funding to implement wide-scale recruitment of the ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations into the IDF or civil service, Israeli media reported on Monday. [...]

The implementation of a true universal draft would require a wide budget outlay in several areas, including training and preparation for each recruit, regular payments for new IDF soldiers or civil service workers, and employment, educational programs and economic incentives aimed to entice the ultra-Orthodox community to enlist.

“The Finance Ministry doesn’t have the funding for this,” the representative said, according to Maariv. “We expect very heavy cuts… I doubt if there will be an additional budget so that we can give incentives and rewards.” [...]

Kolko Trial: Victim's father testifies

Asbury Park Press    The father of a former Lakewood boy who accused his camp counselor of sexual abuse wanted to handle the matter discreetly, within the Orthodox Jewish religious community, he testified in court on Thursday.

The man, formerly a prominent rabbi in Lakewood’s Orthodox community, said he just wanted to be sure the counselor, Yosef Kolko, quit working with children, sought therapy and stayed away from his son, the man told a jury.

But when months had already passed after he had brought the matter to the attention of a respected rabbi who promised to handle it discreetly, and learning that Kolko was still working at the summer camp where his son was molested, the father said he broke with Jewish tradition and sought justice with secular authorities. [...]

Father Gordon MacRae: Hope in a case of apparent grave injustice

Wall Street Journal    [...] That a great many of the accusations against the priests were amply documented, that they involved the crimes of true predators all too often hidden or ignored, no one can doubt.

Neither should anyone doubt the ripe opportunities there were for fraudulent abuse claims filed in the hope of a large payoff. Busy civil attorneys—working on behalf of clients suddenly alive to the possibilities of a molestation claim, or open to suggestions that they remembered having been molested—could and did reap handsome rewards for themselves and their clients. The Diocese of Manchester, where Father MacRae had served, had by 2004 paid out $22,210,400 in settlements to those who had accused its priests of abuse. 

The paydays did not come without effort. Thomas Grover—a man with a long record of violence, theft and drug offenses on whose claims the state built its case against Father MacRae—would receive direction for his testimony at the criminal trial. A conviction at the priest's criminal trial would be a crucial determinant of success—that is, of the potential for reward—in Mr. Grover's planned civil suit. [....]

A New Hampshire superior court will shortly deliver its decision on a habeas corpus petition seeking Father MacRae's immediate release on grounds of newly discovered evidence. The petition was submitted by Robert Rosenthal, an appellate attorney with long experience in cases of this kind. In the event that the petition is rejected, Father MacRae's attorneys say they will appeal.

Those aware of the facts of this case find it hard to imagine that any court today would ignore the perversion of justice it represents. Some who had been witnesses or otherwise involved still maintain vivid memories of the process. 

Debra Collett, the former clinical director at Derby Lodge, a rehabilitation center that Mr. Grover had attended in 1987, said in a signed statement for Father MacRae's current legal team that she had been subject to "coercion and intimidation, veiled and more forward threats" during the police investigation because "they could not get me to say what they wanted to hear." Namely, that Mr. Grover had complained to her of molestation by Father MacRae. He had not—though he had accused many others, as she would point out. Thomas Grover, she said, had claimed to have been molested by so many people that the staff wondered whether "he was going for some sexual abuse victim world record." [...]

Cleveland kidnappings: Emotional Recovery Seen Possible for Victims of Prolonged Abuse

NYTimes   Day after day, it was his voice they heard, his face they saw.

He was their tormentor and their deliverer, the one who — at his whim — could violate their minds and bodies, the keeper of the keys and the source of food and water. His dominion was a ramshackle house with boarded up windows. His control was absolute. 

For the women he is accused of kidnapping and holding prisoner for a decade in a home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, their captor was for all intents and purposes their world. 

David A. Wolfe, a senior scientist and psychologist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto, said that in situations of long-term sexual abuse and threat to life, victims inevitably develop complicated and ambivalent emotions toward their abuser in order to survive. 

“You turn the devil into something you can handle,” he said, adding that the first thing he would want to know from someone who survived such an ordeal would be “What was your feeling about this person during the captivity?” 

Dr. Wolfe and other therapists noted that all traumatic experiences are different and that many details of the women’s ordeal have not been made public; some experts argued that for the women’s sake, they should not be. 

But they said many people can and do rebound from even the most extreme abuse, aided by the support of family and friends, the use of specifically tailored therapies and the privacy, safety and time to digest and come to terms with their experience. It is important, some therapists said, that the women not be turned into a spectacle, their identities as individuals diminished to “kidnap victims.”

“We know that resilience exists and that recovery is possible,” said Dr. Judith A. Cohen, medical director of the Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. “For people who believe that it’s inevitable that a horrific experience like this would leave lasting scars, the evidence does not necessarily support that.”

Kolko case: Trial update

YNET   Kolko has denied the charges, which include sexual assault and child endangerment.

The boy's former therapist testified Thursday that the boy told her in late 2008 he no longer needed help with his social skills because had had made a new friend, Rabbi Kolko.

"He's my best friend. He's the only one who understands me," Dr.Tsipora Koslowitz recounted the boy telling her.

Koslowitz said she told him that best friends were typically around the same age but he didn't understand.

At the end of a therapy session in February 2009, she said, the boy told her he had a secret. She said she had another patient coming in, so told him to tell her father. She said she thought it had something to do with bullying.

But that night, she said the boy's father called her to say it was about sexual abuse. [...]

The boy took the witness stand Wednesday on the first day of the trial, testifying how he wanted to remain close to Kolko, even though his actions made him uncomfortable, because Kolko was his friend and he had no friends in school or camp. [...]

Women of the Wall provoke a riot

Open Letter to Rabbi Dov Lipman : The inside view of why Chareidim don't want & don't need secular training for parnossa

Rabbi Dov Lipman,

With all due respect to your American "yeshiva" training (i.e., Ner Israel), it seems to have left you ignorant and unacquainted with the Israeli Chareidi world. As an act of chesed I have written this to help you out before you make another disastrous proclamation regarding internal Israeli charedi affairs.

It is obvious to any chareidi Jews that aside from the kedusha and avoidance of pritzus  - yeshiva education is in fact superior to anything that Princeton or Yale has to offer. Harvard business school graduates are no competition against an avreich who learned 20 years in the Mir. Everyone know that a yeshiva bachur or avreich does not need secular education or training. That is because the analytic skills honed by years of Talmudic dialectics - makes him super‑smart and super‑adaptable. Furthermore his daily utilization of multiple languages makes him readily adaptable to all language problems - including computer programming language. His intense interaction with people - with his many siblings and chavrusos and community in general - has made him a genius in reading non-verbal clues and body language. Thus he quickly picks up whatever language he needs and is capable of communicating in cogent, closely reasoned prose. In fact his skills are vastly superior to those who wasted years in college. The fact that he can't spell properly is no problem today with spell-checkers.

The fact he has no math skills and that he needs to count on his fingers and toes when he doesn't have access to a calculator is no problem. Everyone has a calculator today- including kosher phones. The more advanced stuff like geometry or algebra or even calculus – is no big deal. He just needs a week or two with a text book to pick it up. Everyone knows that the Vilna Gaon was a math genius and created Kramers Rule - without any formal math education. No reason that anyone else can’t pick up math when needed – why waste precious time from gemora to learn it?

It is known that the typical chareidi Jew can succeed in any field he applies himself to. This is obviously true because in addition to the mental sharpness  and knowledge of reality from gemora study - it is known that all wisdom is found in the Torah. After all what Chassidic rebbe needs to go to medical school before he paskens on medical treatment and operations? Even in the Litvishe world - everyone know that the Chazon Ish told brain surgeons how to operate. This surely applies to less technical fields such as psychology or business.

Furthermore even without being a genius - a yeshiva product has native cunning with incredible fast grasp of reality. A frum Jew has a major advantage over those rigidly trained in college by goyim. Everyone knows that those ridiculous theories of business, teaching or psychology have to be unlearned before a person can succeed. A frum Jew does not have all that nonsense to unlearn - he just needs to run the business. Everyone know about the Korean and Japanese who are dying to learn Talmud because of their immense respect and recognition of the superiority of the Jewish mind.

Everyone of us knows frum people who aren't very bright - and yet they are multimillionaires. That  is because we know the secret that money is not obtained by one's own efforts and talents - it is a gift from G-d. It is simply the result of bitachon – which we obviously have more of then non-charedim. All G-d asks from us is that we do our hishtadlus. Because of this the Chofetz Chaim told people not to leave Europe where they were starving and go to America. He said that G-d can give paransso just as easily in Europe - so why move?

We know that science and medicine is nonsense. Don't we read in Mishpacha amd HaModiah every week how a new scientific study concluded just the opposite of what doctors were doing for years? Besides Holistic medicine works better without side effects. We all have friends who who were cured after suffering for 10 years with regular medical treatment. A friend of a friend recommended a natural treatment that combined with avoiding sugar made all the symptoms disappear. Everyone knows that doctors are in it for the money. A person who is a tzadik has wisdom that transcends ordinary biology. Any frum holistic practitioner - who got his degree after a 6 month correspondence course - is the match of any medical doctor. We know that not everyone is G-d messenger for a cure - and it is obvious that G-d will pick a frum person rather than a mechallel Shabbos or a goy to bring about a cure.

In addition because of the close knit family and community connections – a frum Jew doesn’t really need to worry about financing. His father-in-law is always available to invest in a new business. He also knows he always has a financial safety net from the many gemachs. Besides after years of living off a wide range of government programs – he can survive with minimal income. In fact he knows his willingness to work for slave wages makes him more attractive to employers. His wife has been working for minimum wage for 20 years already – and they have managed. Besides being satisfied with little is a key Torah value.

I hope this has been an eye-opener for you. You really live in a fantasy world. Why did you ever think that a Torah observant Jew could work together with that kofer ben kofer? You also need to realize that Israel is not America. Instead of coming to teach us natives how to live - it would really be best if you joined a kollel for a few years until you come to understand how things work around here.

       kol tuv,
Daniel Eidensohn

Women of the Wall hope to avoid showdown at historic Kotel prayer service

Haaretz   Anticipating provocations by ultra-Orthodox individuals and groups at their monthly prayer service at the Western Wall on Friday, Women of the Wall have instructed supporters and activists planning to participate in the event not to “engage in conflict – verbal or physical” with any of the protesters. 

Ultra-Orthodox protesters have made a practice in recent months of taunting the women as they approach the Western Wall plaza on their way to the women’s section and jeering loudly at them during their prayer service from across the barrier separating the men and women’s sections. The protests are expected to grow even louder tomorrow, following the recent landmark ruling by the Jerusalem District Court that it is not a violation of “local custom” for women to wear prayer shawls at the Western Wall. 

As opposed to instructions delivered in previous months, participants in Friday morning’s service have been told to arrive at the Western Wall already wearing their prayers shawls. Until now, police had acted on the assumption that it was a violation of “local custom” for women to wear prayer shawls at the wall, routinely detaining those who engaged in this practice. In a posting on their Facebook page, Women of the Wall said they did not foresee “problems with police” this month.  [...]

An unusually large group of women is expected to participate in tomorrow morning’s event, many joining the service as an act of solidarity with the women’s organization, whose cause has become a rallying point for advocates of Jewish pluralism worldwide. Typically, several hundred women have participated in the service, which is held on the first day of the Jewish month, known as Rosh Chodesh. 

This could end up being not only the first but also the last time in the foreseeable future that the women’s prayer group will be able to hold its service without participants being ushered away by police. Earlier this week, it was reported that Minister of Religious Affairs Naftali Bennett plans to present new regulations for Jewish holy places that could restrict the right of Women of the Wall to pray as they see fit in the future.[...]