Friday, March 20, 2015

Schlesinger Twins: Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence's letter of support for Beth

Here is another major contribution to the growing flood of support letters for Beth and her children. These letters clearly reflect the pain of community leaders and rabbis to the obvious injustice being done to Beth and her children. The only real question is when the Jews of Austria will act to end this cruel injustice. 

You should note that there are no letters supporting Dr. Michael Schlesinger - for the obvious reason that his actions are not defensible.

Knesset Intifada: Shrinking Israel's Jews and How Yachad Died by RaP

Guest post by RaP

A funny thing happened on the way to the recent Israeli elections: A lot of Israeli Jews got lost along the way! How so you may rightly ask?

For most people the Israeli method of elections is puzzling. Basically it is based on the "proportional representation" model. Votes are cast for parties and the votes are then added up and divided "proportionally" so that if party X receives 10% of the vote it will get about 10% of the members in the 120 member Knesset. There is also a requirement to meet a minimum threshold percentage to "qualify" for the final dividing-up of the percentages. This was done to eliminate gadfly small parties and keep them from splintering the Knesset that would hinder forming governing coalitions and setting up governments. For the last election the minimum threshold required was raised to above 3% of the required total in order to be in the running for the final division of votes for numbers of seats. Thus many smaller or smallish parties decided to "unite" in order to surpass the minimum threshold requirements as well as to strengthen their chances against larger parties.

The one group that figured out all the angles and put into motion a "solution" was Israeli Arabs and a small group of Israeli Jewish Communists who work within those parties. The Israeli Communist party under various names has long merged into and morphed into an Arab Israeli party. In the recent elections four diverse and conflicting Israeli Arab parties united know as the generic "United Arab List" and as a result they did exceedingly well becoming the third largest single block in the incoming Knesset almost doubling their representation to 14 Knesset members! That means that this group has basically succeeded in crowding out most of the small Israeli Jews' parties some to near or virtual extinction and others to bare bones numbers that has sent them reeling.

It was probably the main reason that the new Israeli Yachad party headed by Israeli Sefardi ex-SHAS veteran political leader Eli Yishai just missed making it into the Knesset where the smallest parties under the current allocations are not less than four members. Thus four popular well-known Israeli Charedi and Orthodox Jews, consisting of Sefardim and Ashkenazim, under the guidance of Rav Meir Mazuz, representing a huge group of Charedi and Orthodox Jews, as well as serious Religious Zionist voters disgusted with Bennett's "Bayit Yehudi" party's flippant attitude to serious Torah Judaism were shut out of the new Knesset because the Israeli Arabs united and organized in such a way to pump up their own numbers that ensured that parties like Yachad and Eli Yishai and his ally Zev Marzel were "defeated"!

They know this quite well and some of the new Israeli Arab future Knesset members have openly bragged to the press that they are proud of the fact that managed to keep Eli Yishai and Zev Marzel and all of Yachad out of the next Knesset. And who do the Arab Israeli new Knesset members represent? Communists on one side and real dyed in the wool Arab Islamic fundamentalists with full regalia and all as the new anarchists to sit in the Israeli Knesset historically mainly meant to be a place for all Jews to have a political voice. This is a cruel twist of political irony. True, that this is the way a democracy like this works and the Arab Israelis deserve their well thought out and well funded and executed Pyrrhic victory, thinking they have now "stormed the Bastille" but they are living in a fool's paradise because only in Israel would Jews allow something like this to get off the ground. In Arab lands they long ago kicked out all the Jews, confiscated their property, and now that they don't have Jews to persecute, they have taken to killing Arab Christians and burning down their churches, as they all fight and kill each other with Sunni versus Shia, Arabs versus Iranians, and secular versus Islamic radicals. While in Israel they adopt the language of moderation and talk like lawyers and hot TV celebrities as they smile for the cameras, win debating points and make sure to provoke fellow Israeli Knesset members into furious rages with open support for Hamas and all sorts of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist invective.

This affected not just Eli Yishai and his Yachad party forcing them to shrink into political oblivion, but even a hardened political operative like Avigdor Liberman the leader of Russian Israelis in the Knesset rightly called it a "political assassination"! Just what does that mean?

All the Israeli political parties received outside financial and political help and boosts. Likud has its super-capitalist backers overseas while Labor has its ultra-liberal backers who pumped money and advisers in. Charedim got plenty of backing from rich American backers and advisors. Seems Liberman and his part did not get such backing from Russian Jews abroad, maybe because they are not as open-handed as other groups, but one thing is for sure, the new "Arab List" party received lots of good help and advice for itself that worked.

There was a group that came in to Israel from the USA according to multiple news sources headed by people who had helped to get Obama elected that allied with Israeli leftists and radicals. This new group dubbed itself "V15" and it was assumed they were working mostly to hand the Labor block a victory in the "2015" elections -- but this is just one dimension of what they were up it now transpires.

It is very possible and even probable and totally conceivable that "V15" actually means the goal to elect into the Knesset of the Jewish state, 15 Israeli Arabs that in turn would squeeze out problematic smaller parties like Eli Yishai's Yachad party that voiced strong views about Arabs by its member Zev Marzel, as well as shrink down and neuter as much as possible any and all other Israeli Jewish parties by cutting down on the number of Knesset seats they could hope to have and hence voices in the Knesset for Israeli Jews would be shut down and put out of action, and it worked. Not quite 15 maybe, but 14 is excellent for them and those 14 now take over slots and crowd out Israeli Jewish voices in the Knesset that should rightfully and historically belong to Jewish Israelis who founded the Jewish state of Israel not as a venue for Arab nationalism and anti-Israel and anti-Jewish diatribes but as a voice for all Jews first and foremost something virtually all Charedi and Orthodox Jews understand all too well.

Maybe it is a measure for measure from Heaven above, that once upon a time Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D stood as a new voice in the Knesset but he was ostracized and at one point when there were going to be new elections in his time it was predicted he would gain huge increased support and votes from Israeli Jews to the tune of also perhaps from 10 to 15 potential new Knesset members. But PM Shamir and his cohorts panicked and they banned Kahane and his party from the Knesset for being "racist" and soon thereafter Kahane was assassinated becoming the first victim of Arab terrorism aka Jihad in America that came into full view on 9/11 when over 3,000 Americans lost their lives to the same Islamic radicals out to destroy not just Kahane, Israel and the Jews but to crush America and bring the entire Western World to its knees and bow down to Islam by the force of their swords!

So now instead Israel has allowed some proven Arab racist Knesset members who have even faced serious sanctions for their anti-Israel bashing and ranting and actions visiting terrorist groups abroad. While the Israeli Supreme Court supported them, now with the help of "V15" who mobilized the Arab Israeli vote like never before there are now at least 14 of these people. So that when in the past Israeli Jews blocked the potential growth of other Israeli Jews they did not like Kahane's party's growth, now they have to live with the Arab nationalist's growth which is far worse and more dangerous for the Jews and the Jewish state.

So watch out what you wish for, it may come true, and the "V15" group have made the Israeli ultra-leftists' and Arab Israeli wishes come true allowing the Israeli Jews to roll out the red carpet for a true Trojan Horse and Fifth Columnists in their own Israeli Knesset, folks that wish to see the demolition, shrinkage and disappearance of the small Jewish state from the Middle East once and for all.

May HKB"H have mercy on the Jewish People everywhere and save them from the whiles of its enemies both near and far as he did on Purim and Pesach, Amen!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Frum Follies: Why is Lopin obsessed with publishing slander about the seminaries?


Yerachmiel Lopin's latest posting (on his blog Frum Follies) regarding the seminaries contains his normal twisting of the truth. He presents no evidence except for "creative" deductions and his amazing ability to see things between the lines - that simply aren't there. It seems he is obsessed with slandering the seminaries and especially Mrs. Ullman. Along the way he attempts to sling a bit of mud at me - for daring to report the facts and contradict his slander. I hope to publish clear unequivocal evidence in the near future - though I am sure Lopin will refuse to accept it. After all he claims that we still have to be afraid  of the second coming of Meisels who will eventually run the seminaries again unless he keeps guard at the gates of the seminaries.

He seems to feel that he and his peanut gallery that comments on his blog are the last  "guardians of the truth" - now that he claims his former comrades in arms - the Chicago Beis Din have sold out.
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I just received this letter from a parent of a current student - that illustrates how Lopin's obsession works.
Rabbi Eidensohn,

Don't know if you recall, but I e-mailed you several months ago and mentioned that my daughter attends Binas. The purpose of this e-mail, and I am asking you to please not mention my name if you do choose to use the information, is to tell you unequivocally that Mrs. Ullman has been the principal this entire year with no noticeable reduction in duties.  This obviously contradicts what "others" are saying out there.  If you ask the girls who are there, they know nothing of any problems.  Clearly they were aware of the situation when they went as they are 18 and 19 year old girls who are able to understand some of the issues (more than I wish they had to at this point in their lives, but that is another matter).  I periodically ask my daughter if anything has come up this year and she says no.  I ask if Mrs. Ullman is in charge and she says yes.  What that tells me is that if there was a "punishment" it is sure not one that anyone sees and thus would not be effective as such.  And with that being the case, I can take it one step farther to mean that it was not felt that one was needed.

The recent psak you posted did not mention a need for a punishment.  It is only those who want to see the schools destroyed that are insisting that there is one.  Clearly they are wrong.  So much for their inside information.

As an aside, I emailed this information to Lopin without telling him my relationship to the situation.  I simply told him that I was 100% sure of my facts and that I was not faculty nor related to faculty.   He asked to speak with me to discuss and I refused.  I told him that he posts all kinds of information from "sources" and asks his readers to believe it without any sort of proof just based upon who he is.  If he can ask that, then I feel no different giving him information that I am sure is accurate and he can choose to trust me or not.  Not surprisingly, I did not receive a response.

You may do what you want with my information as long as my name is not used with it, but what I am saying is obviously easy to verify by asking any one of 50 girls who are there right now!  I can also tell you that they have been told that 40 girls are signed up for next year already and there is also the possibility of a second year program if there is enough interest.

Helping Kids develop Da'at - intuitive thinking by Allan Katz


The Medrash says that any Torah sage that does not have דעת Da'at = intuitive and discerning intelligence, an animal carcass = neveilah is better than him. The Medrash bases this on the fact that Moses waited to be called and summoned by God before he entered the tent of meeting-Ohel Moed and thus displayed manners and courtesy = derech eretz. Rav Wolbe in his book Alei Shur 1:192 says that Da'at can be from something simple as what the Vilna Ga'on calls ' Muscalot Ha'rishonim – basic intuitive perception. Da'at includes basic common sense, common courtesy - derech eretz ,a sense of right, a natural feel for what is moral and straight, understanding of the heart, a sensitivity that allows people to act and speak in an appropriate way depending on the situation, to what Rashi describes Da'at in Ki Tissah, as Ruach Hakodesh - prophecy or the divine spirit. Rav Wolbe says that what is common to all these definitions is Rabbeinu Yona's definition of Da'at. דעת- משהוא משיג מדעתו - perceptions that a person acquires by himself by using his thinking and connecting to his inner being. A person's frame of reference is within himself. And by connecting to his inner intelligence he can acquire prophecy and learn by himself the whole Torah like Abraham. Accessing one's natural intelligence and understanding through his own perception – מבין מדעתו is the criterion for a person to be taught about the Merkavah. He needs this ability as he is only taught a broad outline and he has to comprehend and figure out the rest on his own.

This reminds me about a Rov who shared a chidush – a novel thought with a colleague who said it was not true to Torah. The Colleague then came back and after scanning with his photographic memory all Talmudic and Torah sources with about 5 proofs supporting the Rov's chidush. The colleague was amazed that the Rov came up with that novel thought. Apparently his photographic memory and having so many Torah sources at his finger- tips got in the way of his appreciation of the power of Da'at.

The first thing we request from God in our prayers is to be given Da'at, a discerning intelligence that will help us to differentiate – lehavdil, and act appropriately. The questions are - why aren't educators concerned with children developing Da'at , and how can we as parents and educators promote the acquisition of Da'at.

In a nutshell parents and teachers can help kids develop Da'at using Rabeinu Yona's principle - that Da'at is something that one acquires from his own personal intellect - דעת- משהוא משיג מדעתו . It means when we are learning together with kids , whether it is academic learning or socio-moral learning we need to first challenge their thinking and let them share their own personal perceptions and perspectives . We have to imbue in them that their voice , opinions, ideas , perceptions, explanations etc are very important and the path for each of them to acquire their share in God's Torah.

Educators see their role as molding kids into Torah people and scholars, rather than developing the whole child and his Da'at and building on this Torah thinking and knowledge. The result is that kid's emotional, moral and intuitive thinking – da'at gets stunted as shown with Hamish kids. In an experiment they were asked why don't you steal or why should Sunday be a day of rest. They answered because God said so. Then they were asked if God did not say so, what do you think?. The kids had difficulty in presenting a moral argument and lacked Da'at.

The problem is that educators see children as basically passive receptacles into which knowledge is poured. When it comes to socio- moral learning, children need to learn what to do, follow instructions and be obedient. Emotions and feelings are ignored. At most emotions and feelings only follow the intellectual understanding and acceptance of what has been taught. And the way these goals are attained is to use extrinsic motivation in the form of grades, prizes, honor rolls etc so the kids focus on how well they are doing and not on what they are doing. Discipline using rewards, punishments and consequences are used to deal with behavior and get compliance. These approaches just get kids to ask what's in it for me, rather than focusing on the process of learning and how their behavior impacts on others and these stunt the development of Da'at.

To help kids develop Da'at , we have to deal with the whole child, including his feeling and understand the motives and values underlying his behavior. If we want to help them be ethical people as opposed to people who do what they are told, we have to support their autonomy and also help them construct moral meaning and figure out for themselves and with each other –how to act. Kids are active meaning making, testing theories and trying to make sense of themselves and the world around them. Problems are solved in a collaborative way taking into account the child's perspective and concerns as well and giving him the opportunity to come up with a better plan and engage in an autonomous way in the moral act of restitution. Most schools talk about middos and character but it is top-down and kids don't participate in constructing a pro-social agenda or building a caring community so kids have an opportunity of doing things together. Instead of top-down rules, we should bring children in on the process of devising and justifying ethical principles. Only when kids have the opportunity to voice their opinions, share their perspectives, feelings, thinking , construct and make real choices in the context of community, will kids develop Da'at.

The same goes for academics - cooperative learning and kids making sense of what they are learning.We need a learning environment where kids are challenged to do the learning and thinking and not just repeat what others have said. How times are kids asked to share their own thinking and explanations? Deborah Meier says – that teaching is essentially listening and learning is essentially about speaking.

While God's commandments add an element of Divine intelligence we need to help kids engage their own da'at, intellects, moral reasoning and connect to their inner souls.

Alleged Child molester in Modi'in Illit will go free on Sunday- because Charedi families won't testify against him

kikar haShabbat

למרות שעל פי החשד ביצע מעשים חמורים בילדותיהן, משפחותיהן המתגוררות בעיר החרדית מודיעין עילית מסרבות לשתף פעולה עם המשטרה ובשל כך המשטרה מתקשה באיסוף הראיות נגדו וישנו חשש כי התוקף לא יואשם.

מדובר בתושב העיר החרדית בני ברק בן 30 בשם א"ב, שעל פי החשד נהג לתקוף ילדות במשך שש שנים, ורק בשבוע שעבר נעצר על ידי המשטרה לאחר שתקף ילדה כבת 5 בחדר המדרגות.

המשטרה התחייבה בדיון בהארכת מעצרו להגיש בקרוב כתב אישום נגדו אולם על פי הדיווח באתר וואלה, משפחות הילדות מסרבות לשתף פעולה לאחר שרבנים חתמו על הסכם עם החשוד, לפיו הוא יעבור טיפול פסיכולוגי ורפואי.
במשטרה טוענים כי החשוד הפסיק את הטיפול על דעת עצמו ובכך הפר את ההסכם שנחתם באופן לא חוקי לכאורה. עם הפסקת הטיפול הוא תקף כאמור את הילדה כאשר ניסתה לעלות לביתה.

Dorothy Rabinowitz :Why your friends,psychologists and rabbis want to believe clearly impossible false accusations of child abuse - and why so few see that the Emperor has no clothes


Commentary Magazine   review of  No Crueler Tyrannies by Dorothy Rabinowitz Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner

[O]ne might have thought that the country’s most prominent progressives would have leaped to the bars, benches, and barricades to defend the falsely accused when allegations of mass sexual abuse against children erupted in the 1980’s and 1990’s. These were cases, after all, in which outlandish, ever-escalating charges were leveled at totally innocent people, in which gross violations of due process and constitutional rights were committed, and in which terribly wrongful convictions were obtained.

But one would have been wrong. Instead, it was left to a single reporter, the heroic Dorothy Rabinowitz, to undertake in-depth investigations of the worst of these cases and to bring their horrifying transgressions of justice to the attention of a wider public. Eventually, her work helped to secure the legal and financial assistance necessary to free most of the victims—but not before lives were shattered, livelihoods lost, savings exhausted, families destroyed, and miserable years passed in prison.

Even now, while some unfortunates still languish in jail, and contrived sexual-abuse charges remain toxically potent weapons, no new Arthur Miller has emerged to write a play or produce so much as a movie of the week. But we do have Rabinowitz’s riveting new book, No Crueler Tyrannies, based on the brilliant investigative articles, mostly for the Wall Street Journal, that helped earn her a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. And that is quite enough for the present.

[...] The ordeal of sixty-year-old Violet Amirault and her adult children, Gerald and Cheryl, began in 1984. Worried about the behavior of her young son, a mother at the Fells Acres Day School, which the Amiraults had successfully operated together for many years, prodded the boy to tell of anything strange that might have been done to him. The child dimly recalled an instance in which Gerald had changed his underwear (as it would later emerge, the child had wet himself). Then, after months of questioning, the boy began to talk about sexual acts.

The mother called the child-abuse hotline. In short order, the police arrested Gerald, closed down the school, and began coaching parents on how to elicit charges of molestation from their children, instructing them not to accept denials and to see such ordinary problems as bed-wetting and loss of appetite as signs of abuse. Charges began pouring forth, and Violet and Cheryl were also arrested.

The district attorney and prosecutors enlisted the help of therapists, social workers, and abuse experts, who spent months interviewing the three-, four-, and five-year-old children and preparing them to testify. Tapes and transcripts of the sessions reveal that the tykes did their best to hold on to the truth, but that their implacable inquisitors eventually managed to break them down. A pediatric nurse, Susan Kelley, was especially gifted in these techniques, promising rewards and telling children that they were “helping” the adults by making charges. Armed with anatomically correct dolls and puppets, Kelley refused to rest until weary tots finally pointed to a penis, vagina, or rectum.

The Amiraults were accused of preposterous violations of the children in their care—shoving pencils, sticks, and knives into their orifices (while leaving no signs of injury), tying them naked to trees in broad daylight in front of the other teachers, forcing them to watch the killing and dismemberment of animals, and making them drink urine. They were accused of taking the children to a “magic room” in which clowns wielding wands undressed and assaulted them and took their pictures. At trial, the children (now between the ages of six and eight) were permitted to testify while looking away from the defendants, in violation of both the Massachusetts and U.S. constitutions. In the proceedings against Violet and Cheryl, the judge permitted the prosecution to intimate, without any evidence whatsoever, that they were somehow involved in child pornography.[...]

It is not that the cases lack heroes [...]But the hall of shame is much larger. In the Amirault case alone, the villains include the obsessed, unappeasable district attorneys and prosecutors of Middlesex County; the disgraceful dolts of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, who frustrated at least a half-dozen attempts to exonerate or free the Amiraults; and Jane Swift, who as acting governor of Massachusetts yielded to obscure political pressure and turned down the recommendation of the notoriously tough Massachusetts parole board to release Gerald Amirault and put an end to this dreadful case.

One hungers to know more about the larger forces that permitted these outrages to occur. Rabinowitz lays some of the blame, in passing, on “advanced political opinion,” which has created an aura of piety around claims of violation made by women and children. On this view, as Rabinowitz writes, to side with the falsely accused would have been “to undermine the battle against child abuse; it was to betray children and all other victims of sexual predators.” Even to raise questions about these cases would have been tantamount, in the opinion of one of the Amiraults’ tormentors, to victimizing the children all over again.

One might also point an accusing finger at our schools of law and social work, where whole cadres of professionals have been trained to survey every social setting for evidence of “oppression” and victimization. As if to prove the point, the experts involved in winning the original conviction against the Amiraults met afterward to congratulate themselves in a seminar titled “The Fells Acres Day School Case: A Model Multidisciplinary Response.”

Nachlaot: Panic in Jerusalem: Parents in a tight-knit neighborhood believe a pedophile ring is terrorizing children. What if it doesn’t exist?

Please reread the transcript of Rabbi Berkovitz talk about satanic abuse in Sanhedria Murchevet - then read this article regarding the allegations of satanic abuse in Nachlaot. Sounds familiar doesn't it. It is also interesting that Rav Berkowitz thought the allegations in Nachlaot were too unbelievable to be true - until he started hearing the same unbelievable allegations in his neighborhood.

 BTW does anyone know who is Rav Berkovitz's relying on for his views and understanding? Any relationship to those who were involved in Nachlaot?  Please note that of all the hundreds of charges of satantic child abuse and all the trials and even convinctions - all have been thrown after being reconsidered

Of interest I received a call today from someone who politely asked me to take down the recording of Rav Berkovitz as well as the transcript. I told him if he can convince Rav Sternbuch that they need to be taken down - I would be willing to comply - otherwise they stay.
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The neighborhood of Nahlaot in Jerusalem is less a single neighborhood than a cluster of smaller semi-distinct neighborhoods that, beginning in the 1870s, grew incrementally as the city’s population expanded beyond the Old City. Batei Rand and Batei Broydes are two of these clusters, each with a few hundred residents. Both are overwhelmingly Haredi and built around semi-enclosed courtyards. The apartments are continuous and are stacked on two levels, the upper one accessible via a shared, wrap-around balcony. Most of the apartments are single-entrance and open into the courtyard, so there is little privacy, and the residents are, for the most part, very poor. Most families don’t own their home, but instead lease it on extremely favorable terms from a charitable organization. Many of the families have been in the neighborhood for generations, and the area, marked by labyrinthine cobblestone alleyways, Jerusalem stone, and gardens, has long been beloved by those that live there.
“It was the most quaint, amazing, incredible, peaceful, loving community,” a former resident recently told me. “A place where religious and secular got along with each other. It was like an example of what Israel could be.”

All of this changed in October 2010, when a 44-year-old man named Binyamin Satz was arrested. Satz is mentally handicapped, and court documents note that he is on state disability, has schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome, and “a non-specific eating disorder.” According to his lawyer, Roy Politi, he eats “only bread and cheese, but not when they are touching.” Politi told me that Satz weighs less than 90 lbs. A neighbor described Satz as “very strange, very slight,” with an “extremely pronounced twitch from his shoulder to head.” Politi described Satz as “functioning like a 12-year-old kid.” [...]

To date, more than 70 children, nearly all from Haredi families in the tight-knit community of Nahlaot, have been interviewed by Social Services and have claimed to suffer severe sexual, psychological, physical, and ritual abuse at the hands of nearly 60 individuals. At least another 50 children have claimed abuse, though they were not interviewed by Social Services. The children have identified the perpetrators either by name or by telling characteristics: the one with the ponytail, the one who exercises, the filmer, the one with a walker, the one who wears a knitted kippah, and so on. Those accused include American immigrants, middle-aged men, elderly women (nearly half of those accused are female), geriatric couples, teenagers, mother-son teams, mentally handicapped individuals, at least one Arab, suspected Christian missionaries, and, more recently, a few prominent members of the community, including a rabbi. Some of those who have been identified by one or more children are unaware, or appear to be unaware, that they have been accused.

There was no hint of pedophilia in the community before October 2010. But the Haredi community in Nahlaot now believes that the highly organized ring has been operating secretly for years—possibly generations—and is governed by an elaborate hierarchy. According to community members with whom I’ve spoken over the past year, they believe that a small number of masterminds, including the 70-year-old Vorst, a convert to Judaism who directs Ohel Sarah Imenu, an organization that facilitates Haredi conversions, used formerly abused teenagers and mentally handicapped locals as scouts for the victims. Community members believe that these scouts watched the children and parents from outdoor locations that offered prime vantage points—under the guise of tending gardens, doing calisthenics, or panhandling—and memorized their schedules, recording when the children would be unsupervised. The pedophiles noted the schedules of various homeowners, residents of Nahlaot claim, and they allegedly snuck into dozens of apartments and sheds in the neighborhood in order to abuse the children, who have pointed out these locations to their parents. Many are convinced that there are Christian missionary motivations at play here and that false converts have infiltrated their community. A number of locals told me they believe that the videos and media produced by the pedophile ring are being sold for tens of thousands of dollars or more.

The Nahlaot situation is already widely referred to as the worst pedophile case in Israel’s history. This is a phenomenal understatement. If true, this would be, in terms of the number of perpetrators and the scope of conspiracy, unprecedented in known criminal history. Indeed, not only that: It would be the first proven instance of an association generally acknowledged to be the great white whale of sex crimes. “To be perfectly blunt,” said Dorothy Rabinowitz, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board who won a Pulitzer Prize for her extensive coverage of such cases, “there is no such thing as a pedophile ring.” [....]

By late 2010, dozens of children had told their parents they were abused, and the circle of accused kept growing. The acts reported by the children, nearly all between the ages of 3 and 9, are incredibly horrific and often very bizarre. Virtually none of the allegations involve only one molester and one victim; the children have consistently claimed multiple offenders and multiple victims. There are reports of orgies involving as many as 20 adults and more than a dozen children. There were, allegedly, frequent raping and forced sodomy of children as young as 2 years old. The children claim that various objects—including large branches, semi-automatic rifles, screwdrivers, and other carpenter’s tools—were forcibly stuck up their anuses and other orifices; that knives were held to their throats; that they were told that if they didn’t voluntarily return to be raped, they would be “chopped up into little pieces,” or that their entire families would be murdered. They claim that they were shown, by way of threat, the guns that would be used for this purpose and told that cameras had been installed in their homes to ascertain their silence. The children claim that they were, on various occasions, bound up and beaten, held on top of open flames, lashed with sticks, burned with chemicals, given soft drinks spiked with hallucinogens, and injected with drugs.

The majority of the allegations include reports of video-recording and photography, and the children say they were forced to watch pornographic movies and violent sexual encounters between their abusers. Some children say they were abducted at night from their homes, viciously abused, and returned to their beds. Others say they were abducted from school and then returned. Babysitters were said to be threatened with severe physical punishment or death unless they brought the children in their care to the pedophiles. There are reports of witches, magic doors, secret basements, and large dogs used to intimidate the children. Many allegations include elements of ritual and Christian abuse, including forced prostration and benedictions, sexual acts involving massive iron crosses, and various other forms of foreign worship. Some children say they were taken to a nearby church, where they were abused by priests, as well as other undercover Christians.

But after a few confused and shell-shocked months, the community began to organize itself in late 2011. Parents began raising awareness via personal blogs and websites, spearheading fundraising campaigns for therapy and legal fees, and organizing various sympathetic newspaper and radio reports. Most significantly, the community found a central organizing force in Altea Steinherz, an American therapist who lives in Rechavia, a neighborhood adjacent to Nahlaot. Steinherz, who specializes in addictions and eating disorders, began devoting herself on a volunteer basis to the alleged victims and their cause. “This [case] is not going to go away by itself,” Steinherz told me.

Steinherz arranged interviews with police and lawyers for most of the families, many of whom, according to Steinherz, “simply have no idea what to do in a situation like this.” Steinherz does not have a degree in psychology or abuse counseling; she has a certificate called a CASAC, which certifies her to do alcohol- and substance-abuse counseling. Nevertheless, in late 2011 she emerged as the strategist and spokesman for the cause: directing the collection and dissemination of information, raising awareness and support, and coordinating the collection of testimonies and any available evidence. She’s also organized PR and media campaigns—critical work, since many of the Haredi residents of Nahlaot don’t have the Internet.[...]

Cases similar to Nahlaot’s, many whose particulars are even more extreme, have occurred frequently in the past, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, with as many as 500 or more children reporting horrific and fantastic abuse at the hands of dozens, or even hundreds, of adults. In order to classify and recognize these cases, the FBI’s Kenneth Lanning, who worked in the Behavioral Science Unit from 1981 until 2000, developed a model that describes what he termed “multi-dimensional sex rings.” (This term, Lanning admits, never really caught on; more frequently used is “ritual abuse,” “organized abuse,” or “satanic/sadistic ritual abuse.”) The model delineates four criteria: multiple offenders and multiple victims who are considerably younger than “standard” pedophile victims; the victims are controlled and coerced primarily through fear; the abuse occurs in communities that are insular and ultra-conservative; and at least some of the abuse in question is extreme, grotesque, or incorporates ritualistic aspects.

A study of past cases reveals startling similarities: The accusation always begins with a single complaint and is always parent-driven. The children’s accounts contain fabulous or impossible elements—magic tunnels, bullets that find their target, walls and people that disappear, and so on. The conspiracies being alleged are far-reaching and highly improbable. There are untrained professionals involved driving the investigations. There are nearly always claims of video recording and of being forced to watch porn and adults having sex.

This history is relevant because, to borrow Lanning’s term, a multi-dimensional sex ring has never once been substantiated. Never, despite the enormity of the crimes in question, and despite the numbers of times they’ve been alleged, has any independently corroborated evidence been found. Many of the children who testified in these cases have, as adults, recanted their testimonies, and courts have, over the years, turned over convictions that were based purely on children’s testimonies. In the most famous of these cases—the McMartin preschool trial in California, which ran from 1984 through 1990 and in which more than 350 children claimed they had been abused at their daycare center—every single allegation was thrown out. [...]

Rabbi Riskin and Female Halachic Adjudicators: It Does Not Compute

Cross-Currents   By Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s ambitious program to fill Israeli society with female halachic adjudicators just experienced a significant advance, as R. Riskin appointed a woman, Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld, to the position of Mahniga Ruhanit (Spiritual Leader) in his city of Efrat. R. Riskin explained that Dr. Rosenfeld will render halachic rulings on questions posed to her, and that there is no bar to women serving as rabbinic judges: [...]

As such, R. Riskin has founded the Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute for Halakhic Leadership, which aims to create a cohort of female halachic leaders, trained and certified as follows:
Morot Hora’ah: Five-year program training women in the classic rabbinic curriculum of Kashrut, Shabbat, Family Purity, Mourning, and Marriage. This training is complemented by an extensive curriculum of philosophical, social, and psychological training for communal leadership.
Completion of the course and success in written tests leads to Heter Hora’ah – the centuries-old traditional license to issue halakhic rulings.
Dayanut: Ten-year advanced training program launched in 2013 for women who have completed the heter hora’ah program, equipping them with the knowledge base to serve as judges for conversion and divorce. For the first time since Devorah served as a judge, Jewish history will once again see women trained for the task, and their very presence will restore – and ensure the preservation of – women’s rights in areas of personal status.
The first-ever book of halakhic responsa penned by women who were ordained by the WIHL to serve as halakhic decisors was presented to the public on Monday, 23 June, 2014, at a unique symposium promoting female halakhic leadership in Israeli society.
Now, aside from the fact that rabbinic ordination cannot be conferred upon women, as explained in detail here (please click here for the statement of the Rabbinical Council of America, the RCA, that reflects this axiom), R. Riskin introduces a new calculus and arrives at an equation that simply does not compute. R. Riskin affirms that, “The only reason why women cannot be judges is if they are not accepted by the people. When it is clear they are accepted and have halachic knowledge, they can render halachic decisions.” Well, yes, the Gemara in Sanhedrin of course states that litigants may voluntarily accept upon themselves the testimony and rulings of those who do not qualify as witnesses or dayanim (judges), such as women and relatives, for a form of binding arbitration (Sanhedrin 24a, Rambam Hil. Sanhedrin 7:2, and Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 22:1). However, this does not confer upon the women or relatives whose ruling has been voluntarily accepted the legal status of a beis din. An actual, legal beis din, rather than those unqualified as dayanim but accepted voluntarily as arbitrators to render a decision, is required for geirus (conversion – v. Yevamos 46b, Rambam Hil. Issurei Bi’ah 13:6 and Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 268:3-4) and may be necessary for certain aspects of geirushin (divorce). This is why geirus must occur by day, as a beis din, unlike arbitrators, may not convene at night. R. Riskin’s program that provides women with rabbinic training and ordination, granting “the centuries-old traditional license to issue halakhic rulings” and “equipping them with the knowledge base to serve as judges for conversion and divorce”, is illegitimately predicated on an assertion that has no bearing on the matter. Those who do not qualify to form an halachic beis din do not attain the status of an halachic beis din for conversion, divorce and other proceedings, regardless of voluntary acceptance by the parties. Arbitration and beis din status are apples and oranges; R. Riskin’s calculation does not compute. [...]

The Hanging Judge of Sedom and his Kangaroo Court

I posted an article (Dorothy Rabinowtiz) about false convictions for child abuse yesterday. The question is why convictions on absurd claims, unsupported by the evidence are obtained and why the charges are made in the first place?  Dorothy Rabinowitz - Wall Street Journal Reporter and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for writing about this topic notes the following
[She] lays some of the blame, in passing, on “advanced political opinion,” which has created an aura of piety around claims of violation made by women and children. On this view, as Rabinowitz writes, to side with the falsely accused would have been “to undermine the battle against child abuse; it was to betray children and all other victims of sexual predators.” Even to raise questions about these cases would have been tantamount, in the opinion of one of the Amiraults’ tormentors, to victimizing the children all over again.

This explanation readily applies to the defense of false rape charges - such as those reported in Rolling Stone Magazine - where the reporter chose not to even ask the accused about the charges. It was enough if a coed charged a fellow student of rape to make the charges true. Questioning whether a claim of rape is true is betraying all rape victims. This seems to be basis of Federal Title IX regulations.

It also explains the bizarre spectacle of certain blogs - that defend accusations and rumors and even suspicions of sexual abuse - refusing to let the absence of supporting evidence about the veracity of these claims to discredit them.Of course all those who merely questioned the validity of the allegation were simply discredited for doing so.

We have seen how they will take the side of the accuser - even when the authorities that they initially praised and relied upon to validate these accusations have reversed themselves and retracted their defense. To deal with the dissonance of continuing to support the charges when the basis for the support has been removed - they conclude that these distinguished authorities are corrupt or lack the moral strength to say what they believe and obviously must have been pressured to retract their support. The possibility that the accusations were mistaken or misunderstood doesn't seem an option. The possibility that the retraction is a sign of moral integrity is not a consideration.

Instead of acknowledging that careful evaluation of the evidence has shown that the accusations had no basis - these individuals invent negative explanations about their formerly highly regarded authorities such as institutional bias. In other words men of community authority will eventually do what they have to defend community institutions such as schools.  They claim without evidence that the facts must have been suppressed to save jobs. In fact any explanation will do - as long as the accusations of sexual violence are kept alive.

As Rabinowitz noted, it seems that these hanging judges feel that to question the accusations is tantamount to questioning the whole enterprise of protecting the abused and a betrayal of all victims of sexual violence. Thus they view that their denial of the conflicting evidence and their continued support of the false accusations is the correct moral stance required of all moral individuals. Slandering the falsely accused and anyone who supports them - in spite of the lack of evidence - is viewed as courageous and just. In fact anyone who fails to support their vision of things is accused of moral cowardice or hypocrisy or selling out. The hanging judge is convinced that he is the only one with moral backbone.

Clarity Won: Fallout from Israel's 2015 Elections

Guest post by RaP

Anyone remotely familiar with Shidduchim and dating in general knows that the suitor and the one being pursued have different roles. Each must act CLEARLY in order to connect and succeed with their chosen objective. One cannot be all things to all men and to all women. Therefore it is important that a Yeshiva Bochur, as an example, be very clear about who he is and what he wishes any potential spouse to know about him in order that he be chosen over anyone else (aside from the common basic human attractions). Thus, the prospective Choson ("groom") cannot portray himself SIMULTANEOUSLY as all of a potential full-time Kollel learner, plus college student, plus working professional all at once. You are either committed to full-time learning or not. Or you are seriously taking college course to get a profession no matter what, or your heart and mind are set on working full time for a living and nothing will deter you because that is who you are and what you sincerely want to do. Just make up you mind, and be clear about who you are and what you want people to know about you! To ignore this means that few will know who you are and what you stand for and so you will lose. This is so true for politics as well, as any politician must decide what his main message is, and who his target audience and potential supporters are and how that can be conveyed with absolute CLARITY to get the vote and be elected and win!

Based on that preamble, the results of the latest Israeli election make perfect sense. Here are the winners and losers, in no particular order:

Winners:

Netanyahu, who long ago figured out that he must run against the most unpopular man among most Israeli Jews...no not any rabbis silly, it's Obama! By concentrating his SPOKEN and UNSPOKEN message on the dangers posed by Obama's pro-leftist preferences, and BHO's tolerance of Islamic shenanigans, capped by a masterful speech to the US Congress a few days before the elections, Netanyahu was able to attract that right-wing Israeli JEWISH majority that fears Obama more than Netanyahu's failings.

Israeli Arabs, who with the help of foreign politically savvy operatives and money, were able to unite in a big way even though they are split among themselves ranging from secular Communists to Islamic Fundamentalist, they showed that one thing unites them more than anything else: Fear and loathing of their Jewish Israeli compatriots. Count on them being major obstructionists in the next Knesset.

Israeli Sefardim, supported the Charedi SHAS and the new secular Kulanu party to become important players in determining the new governing coalition, after being locked out for two years.

Charedim, both the Ashkenazi-dominated UTJ and the Sefardi dominated SHAS proved yet again that "Toirah Iz Di Beste Sechoirah"! That sticking to a clear pure message of commitment to Gedolim, Rebbes and Roshei Yeshiva, no matter who they are, is the safest and smartest policy for Charedi Jews. Notch up great victories for the three Moatzos, the Councils of Torah Sages, that guide Agudas Yisroel, Degel HaTorah, and SHAS whose position is now very strong and their voices will be heard in the new government. The Israeli Charedi world in general will now breath a collective sigh of relief as anti-Semitic and anti-Torah laws designed to hurt them will now be rolled back and struck off the books. They will also gain access to political and economic rewards, long overdue, since they make invaluable contributions to the Jewish people in Israel in many spheres, obviously in being the Bnai Torah valued most by HKB"H for their Torah Umitzvos!

Aryeh Deri, for one of the biggest political comebacks in modern Israeli history. But he will have to produce big-time for all the faith that was placed in his now proven political abilities. He needs to realize, like all politicians, that this is not about him, he represents and leads the Sefardi Charedi Tzibbur in the Knesset and must tread with great caution to avoid the pitfalls of the political mistakes of the past. Now he must produce and prove himself.

Israel's neighboring Arab countries, who won a stable partner and strong ally to oppose Iranian hegemony and out of control Islamic terrorists. They should make the most of this to do their own house-cleaning, if they can in between all the civil wars and vendettas they are engaged in right now.

US Republicans whose gamble to invite and support Netanyahu has paid off and who now have a good chance of capturing the big prize of the White House in 2016. Seems Israel's March 2015 elections is the "real first 'primary' election" in the race for the US Presidency to be decided in November 2106.

Losers:

This list is longer, partly because of the new Israeli law that raised the threshold for entry into the Knesset.

Labor and its all-around rogue's gallery of Socialists, Bolsheviks, Reformers, and Anarchists. They can now keep the new oversized Arab super-party company on the official opposition side and show their true colors as they find common cause with the goals of the Israeli Arabs whom they love more than their fellow right-wing and any Jews of a religious nature. They are a political basket case and no one will miss them.

Yair Lapid, like most "protest parties" of the past are headed for political oblivion. Lapid should go back to the world of Israeli television and carry on being a celebrity there because he has proven he knows nothing about governing, government and how to make himself useful to Israeli society beyond cursing Charedim as the source of all his problems. He needs to get a life soon.

Ditto for Dov Lipman who did not even make it on his ultra-secular anti-Charedi Yesh Atid party's candidates. He too will now have to get a life and stop contriving excuses as to what he wants out of life now that he is a man without a party or a country.

Naftali Bennett, the real disappointment to the Orthodox world by the way two years ago he teamed up with Lapid and engineered the last anti-Charedi regime that came crashing done none too soon. Even his own prior supporters left him in droves to the left and to the right because he has tried to be all things to all men. His gambit to enlist a secular Israel soccer hero to make his so-called "Bayit Yehudi" party just showed him up as someone lacking in a true understanding and commitment to serious Torah Judaism. He is a smart and wealthy man who speaks English with American parents. He should seriously think about spending quality time in one of the major BT yeshivas in Israel that cater to people like him. A stint in Ohr Somayach or Machon Shlomo would do him wonders. Oh yes, and he should take his wife and children to some serious Torah seminars run by Arachim or Hidabroot that would improve their Hashkofa and their appreciation for REAL Yiddishkeit.

Eli Yishai made a huge mistake by teaming up with Kahanists on one flank and drop-outs from Bayit Yehudi on the other. A truly mixed up mixed message lacking any clarity whatsoever so that his Torah-true persona backed by Rav Meir Mazuz could not shine through. They were also political amateurs compared to those Machiavellians opposing them and they paid the price. Perhaps what Yishai should have done is just stick with his rabbi and sent out one clear message as to who they are. Instead what happened was that his Yachad party was portrayed as an extremist right-wing party when in fact Yishai is a relatively moderate and centrist politician. Better luck next time and stick to one main clear message in the future.

Obama, Kerry, Hillary Clinton, US Democrats, Iran, Europe, foreign NGOs, the PLO & Hamas & Hezbolla whose nefarious plans and hostility to Jews' and Israelis' real interests have now been dealt a serious set-back and hopefully in some ways overturned. This is in the spirit of Purim and the month of Adar we are still in when Jews celebrate the turnaround of Haman's & Achashveiros's ploys and deceits.

Liberman and his "Yisrael Beiteinu" that is now on the way to becoming an anachronism and political fossil because this party of former Russian émigrés has served its purpose. Now that Russian Israelis have integrated into the secular Israeli mainstream they no longer need a special interests party that has no real direction. The problem of the over 300,000 NON-Halachic Russian "Jews" in Israel is the REAL problem with this group that has still not been solved and is at the heart of the ongoing conversion wars and standards in Israel that may now result in stronger rulings and laws against these gentiles masquerading as "Jews" with Charedim back in positions of influence. Stay tuned.

May the Jewish People go from strength to strength, from the salvations of Adar to the even greater salvations of Nissan! Amen!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Elections: An open letter to Israeli voters from a concerned American citizen,

Guest Post:

As you go to the polls please understand friendship with the Obama administration is not on the ballot.

Israel, and all freedom loving democracies for that matter, will never  have a decent relationship with this bunch. The only friends Obama has on the world stage live in Iran, Turkey, and Cuba.  Those guys form a club that even your ardent leftists can't join, no matter how much they try.

Even here in America the only relationship Obama knows is "my way or the highway". Like a schoolyard  bully, either you just go along with his extreme discredited policies, or you don't exist. There is no discussion, and certainly no negotiations.

No speech or the lack thereof will change this Administration's posture, nor will the renovation of a couple of  apartments.

So if your a leftist and think redistribution of wealth is more important than national security, by all means vote for the left....

....but Obama’s love can't be a reason,

It simply ain't gonna happen!!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Grynhaus faces retrial as jury fail to reach verdict on sex abuse charges

The Jewish Chronicle     A Jewish teacher accused of sexual assaults on two schoolgirls is facing a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

The panel was discharged by a judge on Monday after admitting it was unable to agree on the case of father-of-ten Todros Grynhaus, 50, following almost three days of deliberation.

Mr Grynhaus is alleged to have molested the girls when they were between the ages of 13 and 15 then relied on the Orthodox Jewish community’s ‘resentment’ of reporting matters to the police to keep the allegations secret.