Thursday, August 7, 2014

Seminary Scandal: A letter from a supporter of the Israeli Beis Din to his son


The following is a letter written by a knowledgeable supporter of the Israeli Beis Din which he sent to his son to explain the view of the IBD towards recent activities of the Chicago Beis Din. The son who shared it with me said I had permission to post it here to help clarify what is going on from the perspective of the Israeli Beis Din.
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My dear son,

In response to your questions about the dispute with the Chicago Beis din, the world might be different, but the fact remains that the perpetrator is out and has been out for weeks and weeks already. The seminaries have a completely new owner.

If it true, as the IBD has heard, that some principals and senior staff were derelict in their duties:

a) It is horribly unfair and a rish'us to just say - as the Chicago beis din has said - that they will hold onto any evidence and refuse to show it to the IBD

b) The IBD is favorably impressed with the heads of the seminaries - especially the lady heads. To say the seminaries are still unsafe is preposterous. Going into the future, they are safe. No one can know what will be in the future but safe is safe. There is no reason at all to think it is not safe. Is anywhere "safe 100%"? Is Hadar 100% safe from their men teachers? BJJ? Greenwalds? 100%???????? Aiyn davar kazeh.

I remind you that Rav Shafran is one of the WORLD's TOP dayanim, and has dealt with similar matters over the years, extensively. Besides being experienced he is incorruptible, and no one's fool. All the dayanim feel the same way as he does about the seminaries’ safety. However there is someone here trying to close the seminaries - and, as they wrote in their letter to Rav Feldman (the BD letter)—such an action is unheard of!!!!!!

Even though it is clear that the seminaries are now safe, the IBD is making sure it stays that way by giving hora'os and hadrachos in the coming 2 weeks to all seminary heads. They MAY be making MAJOR changes in some of the seminaries. OF COURSE the IBD is doing a broad range of research and talking to professionals--that is what they have been doing for 10 days now, when not responding to silly, false, terribly horrid accusations. Contrary to vicious allegations, the IBD is relying on these professionals and instituting their recommendations.

What needs to done to help the situation? Someone needs to convince Chicago to stop acting like troublemakers. They need to remove themselves from the matter as they had planned to when the shtar was signed. They need to stop still hoping that the seminaries will close and that X will be there to pick up the pieces. Let professionals deal with this, not Rabbis with an agenda.

Despite the blogs innuendo, Yarmish is a gem of a person. He is a businessman. He is ehrlich. He is clearly NOT a mechanech which he readily acknowledges. He will do whatever the IBD tells him.

Pious mutterings (bebakashas selichah) are not worth much. Regarding your question why Chicago didn't sign the shtar – it was simply because they weren't baalei devarim. It’s that simple. They told the IBD to take care of the case. Only the actual baalei devarim signed. The IBD put a hold on the money, forbade Meisles from ever entering or having any more shaychoos. He subsequently sold the seminaries, and now the IBD is fully convinced that the seminaries are safe. There is NO REASON to think that they are not. The IBD had the koneh sign on, putting himself fully under the jurisdiction of the IBD for everything they do.

What more can a BD do?

They said from the day of the 2 e-mails—they will continue doing what their responsibility is, and HaShem will take care of all the silliness (or He will decide not to). They have an acharayus--the shtar is mechayev the IBD as well. Rav Shafran was very emphatic about this point--and believe me, he doesn't "need" this case. They are now doing what they always said they would now do --להוסיף שמירה על שמירה


 Tattie

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Rivky Stein & Yoel Weiss: Yoel is "heartbroken" when Rivky's "Beis Din" fails to show and he can not give his beloved wife a Get

Update: Added audio recordings of Yoel asking for verification that the 3 original judges that he requested are there - and being given a runaround.

 Today the drama that we have been looking forward to for weeks played out. It is 20 days since Yoel offered to give Rivky her get that she has been screaming to the world that she desperately wants and ran around to all the secular scandal sheets and created an incredible chilul haShem. The get that she has collected thousands of dollars from fellow Jews claiming she was raped, kidnapped, enslaved by her hsuband. A get she demanded in conjunction with a $480, 000,000 RICO claim against her husband.

Yoel all along has remained calm, denying all her claims and suffering the abuse from the newspaper article, the Facebook campaign, the television reports and of course the YouTube video that Rivky put out detailing in disgusting detail assertions related to intimate aspects of their marriage, claims that he and his family were criminals and that she has suffered inhuman abuse from him.

On her website, she provided "proof" in the form of her RICO claim. But perhaps most damaging to Yoel's reputation and what convinced most people that her story of horrific abuse was true - were the documents from her Mill Basin Beis Din declaring that they had issued 3 invitations for Yoel to show. The beis din documents claim that upon his failure to appear before them - they poskened that he was obligated to give his wife a get [this by the way is not in accord with accepted halacha] and that he was placed in cherem.

However as painstakingly detailed on this blog - there is no such beis din. Yoel in fact tried multiple times to contact the Mill Basin Beis Din at the telephone numbers listed on the documents. The psak of the beis din - after hearing only one side is as Rav Moshe Feinstein has stated - violates an explicit gemora and the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch.

Finally about 3 weeks ago, Yoel Weiss decided that it was time to tell his wife to put up or shut up. He made a simple but brilliant offer. He had originally wanted to wait for the RICO case to be resolved before giving the Get - which in fact is the accepted procedure according to Rav Moshe Feinstein and others. However convinced that the beis din was fake, he made an offer that Rivky had to accept. He would give Rivky the Get she demanded on the day after Tisha B'av (today) - but only if the Mill Basin Beis Din appeared and was competent to arrange the writing and giving of a Get. If the Beis Din was real he would give her the Get as promised but if it was fake - then she would be exposed to the whole world as a liar.

In fact Rivky showed up with a sofer to write the Get - but without the Beis Din. Yoel called the number of the supposed beis din and someone answered and  said not to worry that the dayanim are stuck in traffic. But he said that one dayan is sitting shiva and can't make it. When Yoel asked for the address of the dayan so he could be menachem avel - the person he was talking with suddenly ended the call.

All of this is recorded for those who want solid evidence. But as Abraham Lincoln said, You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time - but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.


SHAME ON YOU RIVKY FOR CREATING SUCH A DISGUSTING CHILUL HASHEM!

Hopefully the newspapers and other reporters who reported Rivky's charges against Yoel with such relish as proof of the "disgusting" behavior of Orthodox Jews - will hopefully now have the decency and professional ethics to report this development - which clearly raises questions regarding the rest of Rivky's story..

Update: Audio Recordings

Daily News Reporter 

Yoily requesting the beis din to tell him when 3 dayanim come

Yoel had clearly stated that the absolute condition for giving the get was to have all three rabbis who signed on the cherem and seruv showed up  and were competent to arrange a get. The above recordings demonstrates that he called to determine that the 3 dayanim specified had come and was informed that they hadn't but that there were 3 rabbis. The condition therefore was not met.

Indian TV Crew Shows Rare Video of Rocket Launch From Gaza

NY Times   Shortly before a cease-fire went into effect in Gaza on Tuesday morning, a crew from India’s NDTV captured rare footage of Islamist militants quietly preparing to fire a rocket at Israel from a densely populated area of the Palestinian territory. [...]

The video was notable because journalists have captured few images of the stealthy guerrilla fighters in recent weeks and because it appeared to show Islamist militants using a residential area to provide cover while they fire at Israel, putting civilians at risk as homemade rockets fly out and potential retaliatory strikes come back in.[...]


Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Rivky Stein & Yoel Weiss: Wednesday 10th of Av: Is Rifky coming with the original Mill Basin Beis Din as Yoel required?

NO SUBSTITUTE BEIS DIN IS ALLOWED

 Tomorrow the 6th of August/10th of Av - Yoel Weiss has offered to give his wife Rivky a get if she shows up at the address of the Mill Basin Beis Din listed on the siruv that they issued him. But that offers is only if the same dayanim who signed on the siruv, write the get and obviously only if these dayanim are recognized as competent to write Gittin.  For some unknown reason, Rivky has  not responded to Yoel's offer - for 19 days so far -  that she agrees to his terms and will show up. 
However she has posted on her facebook page that she will show up with a gathering of Rabbis - no mention of the Original Mill Basin Three. She will be very disappointed if she insists on a Get without showing that her original Mill Basin Basin is a valid and an authoritative beis din.  Trying to shame Yoel into using a substitute beis din is not going to work. Hopefully things will go as Yoel planned and she will be able to receive her Get.

Google Maps Street View of 1278 E 72nd Street
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Guest post by David  

Rivky Stein has posted the following statement, about an hour ago, on her facebook page:

"Today is a day of great mourning for the Jewish people. May tomorrow be a day of great celebration!

Friends and supporters of Rivky: It is appropriate that immediately following Tisha B'Av, we are asking you to join us at a small, but important gathering at 1278 E 72nd Street in Brooklyn, which is the Beit Din of Mill Basin and Marine Park where Yoel Weiss agreed to show up for the intention of giving Rivky Stein, his estranged wife, a Get.

Please plan to be there by 11:45 AM. We have convened a gathering of rabbis. Yoel has boasted that he will provide the Get. We say: Bring it On.

Yoel Weiss: Be a Mensch. Give your wife a Get, with no strings attached. May we be privileged to witness this event."

The language seems clear that she is admitting the "beit din" "dayanim" were fake and that she is now "convening a gathering of rabbis" who are not the signors of the so-called beit din documents supposedly sent to Yoeli. This is a complete disregard of Yoelis offer made right from the get-go. It has to be the same beit din dayanim showing they are real and this wasn't a farce by Rivky Stein and her cohorts. Suddenly in her new statement she is demanding that Yoeli drop the condition this was always based on.

Stein's above statement is also soliciting as many people to show up to that address to support her. I think it is vital for Yoeli to also bring a large contingent supporting him there tomorrow (with recording equipment.)

[The original post on her facebook also said "Please note that if Yoel is playing games, it might be necessary to relocate to A SECOND location just 5 blocks away at 1278 E 77nd Street." This sentence was edited off [but is still visible if you click the "EDITED" link on top of the post.]

If the original beit din was a fake, then even she will have to admit he is under no requirement to give a Get as no beit din has been requested to give a Get or ordered him to. He is still entitled to have a beis din case between him and her to determine if a Get is warranted. A husband is not under any halachic requirement to give a Get unless and until a beis din orders as such after hearing testimony from both sides and considering the facts and determining the halacha based on that. And that certainly takes quite some time for a beis din to make a determination. Of course Stein is entitled to have a beis din case with Weiss once a beis din is agreed upon per halacha

Seminary Scandal: Do warning bells ring when you read this student's praise of Peninim Seminary/

The following is an excerpt from an article from the blog Where What and When - Time  To Think About Seminary    which deals with issues in chosing a seminary. The excerpt below is about the Peninim Seminary when it was run by Meisels. Do you find anything upsetting about what she says? Or perhaps it is just because Meisels perverted the good but there is nothing inherently wrong about the interaction of the staff with the students.

January 22, 2014


  Tzipora who attended Peninim Seminary and is leaving in a couple of days to go to shana bet (a second year), was very happy to share her experience with me. I was astounded by her enthusiasm. “It was really amazing. It was the best year of my life so far,” Tzipora says. “The principal and all the teachers really care about the girls. They put the needs of the girls first above everything else. For example, there was a big emphasis on the hashkafa behind the halachos of tznius. Many girls came to seminary with skirts that were not very tzniusdik. After being there for a while, and absorbing the hashkafos of the teachers, many girls wanted to wear skirts that met halachic guidelines. In order to make it easier for girls to follow through on their new commitment to higher standards of tznius, Rabbi Meisels set up a program; if a girl turns in a skirt that is not so tzniusdik, he will give her money to buy a new skirt.”

  Peninim makes it a priority that each girl creates a strong connection with members of the staff. “Becoming close to a mentor was important to me,” says Tzipopra , “and the seminary went out of its way to see that no one falls through the cracks. In the middle of the year the staff goes through all the girls, and makes sure that everybody has a connection to some teacher or the principal. Girls often go to the homes of the teachers for Shabbos meals or to sleep over.

  Tzipora explains Peninim’s focus on hashkafa. “There is no homework, and most of the classes are discussions about what we can learn from the sources and apply to our own lives.” Tzipora  marvels, “We spent a whole month learning about the meraglim and how to apply the lessons of the meraglim to our own lives. The teachers welcome questions and will stay after class as long as necessary to answer all the girls to their satisfaction.”

Tisha B'Av: Highly Recommended Videos







Monday, August 4, 2014

Open Orthodoxy and the Rebirth of the Conservative Movement

Cross Currents by Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer 

Cross-Currents readership is all too familiar with discussion about Open Orthodoxy; every nook and cranny of Open Orthodoxy could be explored with a critical eye through Cross-Currents’ numerous articles on the subject, spanning a lengthy period of time.

Once the major issues of Open Orthodoxy had been fully brought to the table, it was decided that our focus and energy should be directed elsewhere, as the Orthodox public assumedly had been presented with enough information about Open Orthodoxy to be well-informed, if not saturated. More discussion about Open Orthodoxy seemed moot, and it was hoped and supposed that Open Orthodox leadership would constructively utilize the criticisms to recalibrate the movement’s trajectory onto a more normative path.

However, we were dead wrong, for as we turned our attention away, the nature and magnitude of the challenges presented by Open Orthodoxy increased beyond imagination. Over the past several months, the intellectual leadership of Open Orthodoxy openly embraced highly problematic positions regarding the origins of Torah She-b’al Peh; Open Orthodox rabbis around the United States engaged in new, more radical types of interfaith and interdenominational endeavors that could make one’s hair stand on end; and much more.

It was decided, as per the advice of senior rabbinic authorities, to issue a comprehensive article on the above recent and current issues, feeling that the larger Orthodox public must be aware of these startling developments, as Orthodoxy is now truly at a crossroads. This article would be intended for hard-copy journal publication, and would include a composite of all of the issues to consider, new and old. In light of the fact that Open Orthodoxy is successfully and rapidly placing its graduating rabbis in Orthodox shuls and schools across the country, bringing a different type of Orthodoxy to communities heretofore unfamiliar with it, and in light of the currently unfolding nature of several of the critical issues at hand, it was decided to release the article early as an online publication. [...]

Please read this article and consider the very potential far-reaching ramifications of the recent actions and current path of Open Orthodoxy

The Wolmark and Epstein Mamzerus Problem


Guest Post:
Unfortunately the ostrich syndrome has taken hold of the Klall and everyone has their head in the sand and nothing is being said or done about the phenomenal spread of ממזרות  thru the use of מעושים   גיטין 

I would like to state one principle which would enlighten many people to the severity of the situation. A lady who marries receives the status of anאשת איש  This status can only be removed thru a נט given by people who have a חזקת כשרות. We find the exact same paradigm by שחיטה. The only way a person can eat a cow that was נשחט was if the שוחט that performed the שחיטה  had a חזקת כשרות. If the שוחט lost his חזקת כשרות and went ahead and was שוחט    a cow there is no way that this cow can be eaten. If the meat was cooked in a pot the pot becomes Trief and is not allowed to be used. Now we can go back to אשת איש . As of Oct 13 Wolmark,Epstein, the 3 דיינים at the warehouse, and the םופר have all lost their חזקת כשרות. Any גיטין post that date in which they are involved are פסול

The retroactive issue is much more complex. A blog would not be the proper place to discuss this since it involves a great deal of literature, a more appropriate place would be a Torah Journal. However since Hellman has stated that on Aug, 2011 he participated in a similar event in Flatbush it is incumbent on the Rabonim of Flatbush to fully investigate this issue. If it is found that this was also a גט מעושה שלא כדין  then they must follow thru with the ramifications that those supervising that incident have lost their חזקת כשרות and all subsequent ניטין given by those in charge are void. This an issue of לאפרושי מאיםורא דאשת איש and the women who are the recipients of these invalid ניטין must be told they cannot remarry and those who have remarried must be told to leave their new marriage. All those who shirk their responsibility are עתיד ליתן את הדין

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Moral clarity in Gaza by Charles Krauthammer

Washington Post  Israel accepts an Egyptian-proposed Gaza cease-fire; Hamas keeps firing. Hamas deliberately aims rockets at civilians; Israel painstakingly tries to avoid them, actually telephoning civilians in the area and dropping warning charges, so-called roof knocking.

“Here’s the difference between us,” explains the Israeli prime minister. “We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”

Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity. Yet we routinely hear this Israel-Gaza fighting described as a morally equivalent “cycle of violence.” This is absurd. What possible interest can Israel have in cross-border fighting? Everyone knows Hamas set off this mini-war. And everyone knows the proudly self-declared raison d’etre of Hamas: the eradication of Israel and its Jews.

Apologists for Hamas attribute the blood lust to the Israeli occupation and blockade. Occupation? Does no one remember anything? It was less than 10 years ago that worldwide television showed the Israeli army pulling die-hard settlers off synagogue roofs in Gaza as Israel uprooted its settlements, expelled its citizens, withdrew its military and turned every inch of Gaza over to the Palestinians. There was not a soldier, not a settler, not a single Israeli left in Gaza. 

And there was no blockade. On the contrary. Israel wanted this new Palestinian state to succeed. To help the Gaza economy, Israel gave the Palestinians its 3,000 greenhouses that had produced fruit and flowers for export. It opened border crossings and encouraged commerce.

The whole idea was to establish the model for two states living peacefully and productively side by side. No one seems to remember that, simultaneous with the Gaza withdrawal, Israel dismantled four smaller settlements in the northern West Bank as a clear signal of Israel’s desire to leave the West Bank as well and thus achieve an amicable two-state solution.
This is not ancient history. This was nine years ago. [...]

In Defense of Zionism by Michael Oren

Wall Street Journal   Mr. Oren was Israel's ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2013. He holds the chair in international diplomacy at IDC Herzliya in Israel and is a fellow at the Atlantic Council. His books include "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East" and "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present."

 They come from every corner of the country—investment bankers, farmers, computer geeks, jazz drummers, botany professors, car mechanics—leaving their jobs and their families. They put on uniforms that are invariably too tight or too baggy, sign out their gear and guns. Then, scrambling onto military vehicles, 70,000 reservists—women and men—join the young conscripts of what is proportionally the world's largest citizen army. They all know that some of them will return maimed or not at all. And yet, without hesitation or (for the most part) complaint, proudly responding to the call-up, Israelis stand ready to defend their nation. They risk their lives for an idea.

The idea is Zionism. It is the belief that the Jewish people should have their own sovereign state in the Land of Israel. Though founded less than 150 years ago, the Zionist movement sprung from a 4,000-year-long bond between the Jewish people and its historic homeland, an attachment sustained throughout 20 centuries of exile. This is why Zionism achieved its goals and remains relevant and rigorous today. It is why citizens of Israel—the state that Zionism created—willingly take up arms. They believe their idea is worth fighting for.

Yet Zionism, arguably more than any other contemporary ideology, is demonized. "All Zionists are legitimate targets everywhere in the world!" declared a banner recently paraded by anti-Israel protesters in Denmark. "Dogs are allowed in this establishment but Zionists are not under any circumstances," warned a sign in the window of a Belgian cafe. A Jewish demonstrator in Iceland was accosted and told, "You Zionist pig, I'm going to behead you."

In certain academic and media circles, Zionism is synonymous with colonialism and imperialism. Critics on the radical right and left have likened it to racism or, worse, Nazism. And that is in the West. In the Middle East, Zionism is the ultimate abomination—the product of a Holocaust that many in the region deny ever happened while maintaining nevertheless that the Zionists deserved it.

What is it about Zionism that elicits such loathing? After all, the longing of a dispersed people for a state of their own cannot possibly be so repugnant, especially after that people endured centuries of massacres and expulsions, culminating in history's largest mass murder. Perhaps revulsion toward Zionism stems from its unusual blend of national identity, religion and loyalty to a land. Japan offers the closest parallel, but despite its rapacious past, Japanese nationalism doesn't evoke the abhorrence aroused by Zionism.[...]

But not all of Zionism's critics are bigoted, and not a few of them are Jewish. For a growing number of progressive Jews, Zionism is too militantly nationalist, while for many ultra-Orthodox Jews, the movement is insufficiently pious—even heretical. How can an idea so universally reviled retain its legitimacy, much less lay claim to success?

The answer is simple: Zionism worked. The chances were infinitesimal that a scattered national group could be assembled from some 70 countries into a sliver-sized territory shorn of resources and rich in adversaries and somehow survive, much less prosper. The odds that those immigrants would forge a national identity capable of producing a vibrant literature, pace-setting arts and six of the world's leading universities approximated zero.[...]

Seminary Scandal: Israeli Beis Din Correspondence - Rav Aharaon Feldman letter of July 31

Update:  See response of Israeli Beis Din
This is the first of a series of private correspondence of the Israeli Beis Din that I plan to publish  - in the actual words of the participants - in the matter of the Seminary Scandal. The first letter consists of accusations against the Israeli Beis sent by Rav Aharon Feldman on July 31 2014 to the Israeli Beis Din. 

The next posts will provide the Israeli Beis Din's very strong response against the accusations of Rav Feldman  and in addition their grievances against the Chicago Beis Din. The differences between the Chicago Beis Din and the Israeli Beis Din is not as clear cut as has been presented up until now. In short I will show the issue from the point of view of the Israeli Beis Din

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Rabosai,

The Chilul Hashem r.l. is spreading; people have lost their emunas chachomim; I just heard of two girls who went off the derech because of this affair. We have to get the Chicago BD to rescind their letter. The only way to do this is to have a joint BD listen to the accusations. Is Rav Shafran willing to do this? They are not at present but I think I can convince them. bedieved I have the following:suggestion. if I get the accusers to come together, will Rav Shafran agree to listen to them bemoshav tlasa? This will not stop the effect of the CBD’s letter, but at least it will stop the charges against you that you refused to listen to the accusers. Would Sunday night be OK for this?

I was surprised that Rabbi Malinowitz said (as I understood him) at our conference call that I never apprised the BD that there are serious accusations. Rav Malinowitz asked me at that time (and so I immediately wrote myself a note, which I have) to supply the BD with the names of the accusers. Yet a psak was given out without this. I am sure there is a good reason for this, but it certainly needs an explanation, not a denial that it ever happened..

Furthermore, you never apologized for having said publicly that you asked the CBD many times to supply you with information about the accusations and they did not. You could have explained this was a misunderstanding but to insist that you did contact them when R. Zev Cohen claimed so forcefully that you did not (I don’t think a person like R.. Zev Cohen would be able to lie in this manner), made them lose trust in you. It would help if you would apologize to them for this.

Aharon Feldman