Protocols

2004-12-08T08:29:00.000-05:00

This is Protocols' concluding post. Protocols was the first stand-out Jewish-issues blog, combining the most traffic and content, and most-active comments section, for a period. It inspired -- at the least -- dozens of Jews to begin blogging on their own.
It was launched two years ago today, with four Elders: Sam Singer, Pinchas Shapiro, Yehuda Kraut and myself; Avraham Bronstein soon joined the pack. In mid-2004, a series of guest-bloggers, listed on the right, came on-board; Luke Ford eventually took the reins and provided the lion's share of posts in the blog's last five months.
It was good while it lasted.

Where you can find us from here on in:
Steven I. Weiss:
Home blog Iatribe will always have current status, as well as religion blog Canonist, food and cooking blog Kosher Bachelor, and other projects soon to come.

Avraham Bronstein:
TheBronsteins.com.

Yehuda Kraut:
SourKraut.

Luke Ford:
Home site LukeFord.net, blog Your Moral Leader, and LukeIsBack.com.

Miriam Shaviv:
BlogHead.

Daniel Radosh:
Radosh.net.

Best of luck to all of us, and thank you for reading.

2004-12-08T01:25:00.000-05:00

ME has a blog -- www.jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com

2004-12-07T20:30:00.000-05:00

Shmarya writes: The OU has mandated at least three changes at the Rubashkin-owned AgriProcessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa.

No more trachea-pulling/throat-ripping.
A second cut to slash the arteries only. (I.e., no more #1.)
Stunning or killing animals still walking after slaughter.

2004-12-06T23:13:00.000-05:00

Me writes:

Apparently KosherToday questions Peta employee Tal Ronen's baal teshuva
status, but on the same page it appears to accept thay a convicted and
self-confessed child rapist and murderer is a ''Torah-observant Jew''. Go
figure.

1) "PETA employee Tal Ronen misrepresented himself to Rabbi Shar Yoshuv
Cohen, Haifa's Chief Rabbi, as a baal teshuva (returnee to authentic
Judaism) interested in proper slaughter practices."

2) Ralph Benning, 40, a ''Torah-observant Jew'' who is an inmate in a
Georgia prison can wear a yarmulke at all times and be served kosher food,
the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled.

Courtesy of the Awareness Center YahooGroup:
Case of Ralph Harrison Benning, Fulton County, Georgia
1)
Abuse victims often get less therapy than molester `No follow-up
unless parents have money,' says DA
by Gayle White Staff Writer
Atlanta Journal and Constitution
January 10, 1987
...
- In September 1985, Ralph Harrison Benning, 23, pleaded guilty to molesting
and murdering Peter Downing Howell Jr., 8. Benning told police he killed
Howell on the site where he was molested as a child. "Assaulting Downing was
like a re-enactment of something that had happened to him," a police officer
said.
...
2)
BENNING, RALPH H
GDC ID: 0000427174
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
DOB: 12/26/1963 RACE: WHITE GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 6'03''
WEIGHT: 211
EYE COLOR: UNKNOWN
HAIR COLOR: UNKNOWN
SCARS, MARKS, TATTOOS

INCARCERATION DETAILS
MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: HANCOCK STATE PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: LIFE, W/POSSIBLE PAROLE
TENTATIVE PAROLE MONTH: N/A
ACTUAL RELEASE DATE: CURRENTLY SERVING
CURRENT STATUS: ACTIVE

KNOWN ALIASES
A.K.A. BENNING,RALPH
A.K.A. BENNING,RALPH HARRISON
STATE OF GEORGIA - CURRENT SENTENCES
CASE NO: 198322
OFFENSE: AGGRAV ASSAULT
CONVICTION COUNTY: FULTON COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 09/16/1992
SENTENCE LENGTH: 5 YEARS, 0 MONTHS, 0 DAYS
CASE NO: 198322
OFFENSE: MURDER
CONVICTION COUNTY: FULTON COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 07/05/1986
SENTENCE LENGTH: LIFE
STATE OF GEORGIA - PRIOR SENTENCES
STATE OF GEORGIA - INCARCERATION HISTORY
INCARCERATION BEGIN INCARCERATION END
10/09/1986 ACTIVE

2004-12-06T22:54:00.000-05:00

Every Critic A Nazi?

Progress?

Rabbi Shapira to Pres Katsav: Sharon Causes Insubordination

Postmortem on the slaughter at Aaaron's Best

Analyzing Shechita at Rubashkins

Supporting Shochtim

The end of European Jewry is near

2004-12-06T15:06:00.000-05:00

Shmarya called rabbi Basil Herring about the kosher slaughtering case with PETA vs Agriprocessors in Iowa. Rabbi Herring hung up on him. Shmarya called him back and asked him about the leaked file in the rabbi Mordecai Tendler case. Rabbi Herring said he could not talk about it and hung up again.

2004-12-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

I got this note from a group of men and women in Australia who prefer to remain anonymous regarding rabbi Jeremy Hershy Worch:

Hershy Worch came to Melbourne, Australia with his wife and young family in 1995. He was initially employed by the Hillel Foundation. As rabbi of the Hamakom Synagogue, he was then financially supported by members of his community from the years 1995-1997. During this time both his behaviour and demeanour with his female students were consistently predatory, manipulative and abusive. He proactively sought 'romantic' and sexual relationships wtih many many women, specifically targeting those who were emotionally vulnerable and fostering acute dependency. He consistently used his role as counselor to make sexual advances towards those who came to him in need. He had 'romantic' sexual relationships with married and unmarried women who ranged in age from 20 to 50.

His inappropriate behaviour towards female students included:
Physical sexual interactions
Predatory behavior in the pursuit of women: e.g. late night phone calls and invitations to teach women privately.
Using the teaching of Torah as a tool of seduction.
Using group situations with himself at the centre - that utilized his musical, vocal and narrative 'talents' - to manipulate individuals and create a cultic environment around 'Kabbalah' classes.
Using his relationships with students to influence them to 'rescue' him by financially and publically supporting and defending him.

His abuse of his position as rabbi, chazzan and counselor traumatized this community leaving wounds that took and are still taking many years to heal. Reputations were publicly compromised and personal lives were taken over.

Those who have followed his career since he left Australia and returned to the United States have observed a repetition of these patterns.

We trust that with our testimony and others you will do everything within your power to expose Hershy Worch and warn individuals and communities who may be vulnerable to his 'teachings' and promises of insight and enlightenment.

2004-12-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

Jack writes: Yerachmiel Begun, the owner of the "Miami Boys Choir" company, doesn't pay the boys at all. If anything, they pay for the privilege of making him money.

2004-12-05T16:35:00.000-05:00

A month or so ago there were a series of postings on Bloghead -- and in response, some discussion on Protocols -- regarding Rabbi Mayer Schiller, and specifically, allegations that he has white supremacist connections and put in an appearance at an Orange-order linked assembly in Belfast, Ireland.
He responds on Bloghead.

2004-12-05T13:27:00.000-05:00

Hey people,

I recently heard that Protocols will soon be no longer. So I figured I'd say a couple of things before we finish.

1) If anyone picked up and held 100 shares of each of the stocks I recommended on August 22 - OVTI, GTW, CIPH - they would have earned an overall return of 44%. (They went up 60%, 51%, and -17%, respectively).

Of course, I would have counseled everyone to get out of Ciphergen much earlier - as I did - but I never posted this information, so I'll stick with the 44% figure.

I would still pick up DHB (for Long-term hold) right now despite its recent run, and I'm keeping OVTI and GTW as well. Good luck.

2) Victory is both sweet and good.

Sweet, personally, primarily because of the abuse pro-Bush people (like me) were subjected to by our liberal friends (and non-friends), which we were gloriously able to heave back in the face of already-chastened and pathetically depressed Kerry-backers.

And good, because it was (and is) vital that our country have a leader who - both on a personal and party level - is dedicated to killing the Islamofascists who are out to kill us. Period. Whether Kerry would have been personally dedicated to this mission is debatable; however, there is no question that a good (i.e. bad) portion of his party does not share this view, and it is to the benefit of our country that this element of the Democratic party has been discredited and discarded by the American electorate.

And this leads to my next point:

3) The pain for the Democrats has only just begun. Many of the post-mortems in the liberal press, while acknowledging defeat, have hung their hat upon the fact that Kerry won nearly 50% of the vote and that the Congressional victories of the Republicans were decided by local concerns, and therefore were not indicative of a general trend swinging to the Republican side.

In my mind, this analysis is missing one important point: while Kerry and Dems put in a somewhat decent showing (barely), 2004 was their best chance for victory, and they still got soundly thumped. The unity and focus of the left will not soon match that which existed during the past four years. Although they alienated many people with their antics, the Democrats and their 527s actually did turn out legions of supporters. And they still got thumped. In the 2006 elections, what will Dems come out for? What will unite them like their hatred for W? Nothing. And they'll be thumped again.

On top of all this, there's another factor, which has been noted sporadically in the press but not sufficiently: it is no fun to be in the impotent opposition. The exodus of Democratic Senators and Congressmen will continue and accelerate. In the end, by 2006, the Dems will lose at least 2 more Senate seats and at least five more seats in the House. A Hillary Presidential candidacy would be a Democratic disaster and would almost single-handedly ensure Republican control of the White House until 2016. (A VP run by Hillary would be more interesting).

The great danger, of course, is Republican overreaching. Not to the country, as the NYT would have it, but rather because it is the only factor that could slow down the emerging Republican dominance at all levels of the federal government. But it won't.

Take care, everyone. We'll always have Gibson.

2004-12-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

Me writes:

I don't like the fact that we can't let our children use the bathrooms unsupervised at malls because of nonsense like this.

Note: Michael Katz, 48, of Wyckoff, development director for United Jewish
Communities (Charles Kusher used to be a board member).

1+2 deal with arrest
3 background on Katz
4 mandatory Charles Kushner connection

1)
Mall restroom sting nets 5 on lewdness
Thursday, December 2, 2004
By BRIAN SPADORA
HERALD NEWS

PARAMUS - Five men were arrested and charged with lewdness and criminal sexual contact for masturbating in a restroom at the Bergen Mall.

The five men arrested were Robert Callahan, 73, of Dumont, Larry
Eisenberg, 70, of Englewood, Michael Katz, 48, of Wyckoff, Bernard Kearny,
38, of Wallington and Nestor Santos, 53, of Englewood.

The lewdness charge, a disorderly person's offense, relates to exposing
oneself.

The criminal sexual contact charge, a misdemeanor, stems from touching
oneself sexually in front of someone who does not consent to watch, Cary
said.

2)
Five men arrested in mall restroom
Thursday, December 2, 2004
PARAMUS - Five men were caught masturbating in a public restroom Tuesday
afternoon during an undercover sweep at the Bergen Mall, authorities said.

Police arrested Bernard Kearny, 38, a salesman from Wallington; Dr. Larry
Eisenberg, 70, of Englewood, a freelance anesthesiologist; Robert Callahan,
73, a retired banker from Dumont; Michael Katz, 48, of Wyckoff, development
director for United Jewish Communities; and Nestor Santos, 53, a data-entry
clerk from Englewood.

3)
Mission seeks to expand local ties with beleaguered Argentineans
Wiener, Robert. Jewish News. Whippany, N.J.: Jul 1, 2004.Vol.LVIII, Iss. 27;
pg. 8

Saddened by much of what they witnessed, yet heartened by the ways a
troubled people is fighting back, 13 members of the UJA Campaign's Young
Leadership Division returned June 18 from six days in Argentina.

"Argentina had a very active Jewish community," said Michael Katz, associate
UJA Campaign director at United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.
"Then, in 2001, the economy went into a freefall."

Katz said experts at the Ariel Job Placement Center in Buenos Aires told his
delegation that before the collapse Argentina had 4,000 Jews they considered
poor. After the collapse, the number rose to 38,000.

"The middle and upper-middle classes were literally driven into poverty,"
said Katz. "People who were poor to begin with were devastated completely.
It did not just affect Jews. It was across the board. But our job as a
Jewish federation is to reach out to Jews in need, wherever they may be, and
try to help them."

With that aim in mind, the 13 men from MetroWest flew to Buenos Aires on
June 13, then to the federation's embattled sister city of Tucuman.

"We've developed a relationship there with the rabbi and the day schools and
the Jewish community center and various organizations, so we have a hands-on
feel," Katz explained.

"Not only do we offer them money through the [American Jewish] Joint
Distribution Committee, but we can come in and assess a special need. For
instance, in a building that provides community assistance, we installed an
elevator so that people -- especially the elderly -- could get to the third
floor where food packages were being distributed."

Robert Wiener can be reached at rwiener@njjewishnews.com

Article copyright New Jersey Jewish News.

4)
Kushner Fallout Unclear; Scandal's effect on philanthropist's giving 'open
question.'
Dickter, Adam. The New York Jewish Week. (Manhattan edition). New York,
N.Y.: Jul 23, 2004.Vol.217, Iss. 08; pg. 1

When mega-philanthropist Charles Kushner was charged last week with conspiring against his brother-in-law in a sex video scandal, New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine wasted no time returning more than $80,000 of the billionaire developer's campaign contributions. His New York colleague, Charles Schumer, gave some $4,000 of Kushner cash to charity, according to press reports.

The accusations against Kushner, one of the marquis names in American Jewish philanthropy, have also placed New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey in a bind, having received $1.5 million in donations from the embattled businessman over the years. McGreevey and a Democratic campaign committee this week gave a total of some $13,000 in donations from Kushner to a medical research foundation.

Kushner is most closely associated with the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in
Livingston, named for his father, a Holocaust survivor, and the Kushner
Hebrew High School. He is also a board member of Touro College in New York,
the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, N.J., Yeshiva University's
Stern College for Women and the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New
Jersey.

2004-12-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

From the Orthodox Union:

I am writing this letter to keep you informed about allegations made by
an animal rights group known as People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) and what the Orthodox Union is doing in response to those
allegations.

Earlier this week, PETA released an undercover video showing scenes of
cows staggering and bellowing in agony for several minutes after their
throats were cut by the shochet. PETA focused its attention on one
particular plant, AgriProcessors, Inc., but these accusations have
implications for all kosher shechita, particularly because the video has
received attention in the media world, beginning with an article in The
New York Times, on Tuesday, November 30th.

The Orthodox Union is very concerned about these accusations. We are
sensitive to the inhumane treatment of animals, and empathize with those
who are upset by the images of cruelty recorded on this video. As you
well know, the Jewish faith abjures cruelty to animals and enjoins us to
be as humane as possible in our legitimate utilization of animals. That
shechita is a very humane method of slaughtering animals has been
substantiated over the past century by numerous scholarly articles and
scientific opinion.

We are therefore carefully studying the video and reviewing the
procedures at the AgriProcessors plant. Meanwhile, an additional
supervisor has been put on duty at the facility in question, to monitor
that all proper kashrut and humane practices are being followed.

We wish to draw your attention to the following facts which help provide
a perspective on this matter for you and your congregants:

1. While unnecessary cruelty to even one animal is intolerable, one has
to look at the total picture before judging the matter. During the time
span that the video was taken, thousands of animals were slaughtered by
the plant in question. We have no way of knowing what percentage of
that number resulted in the kinds of scenes that were seen on the video.
Viewers of the video will note that it does show regular instances of
shechita where the animal expired rapidly, without the suffering
observed in other animals.

2. The United States Department of Agriculture supervises this
slaughterhouse and has found nothing amiss in its practices. We have a
very cooperative working relationship with the USDA, and know that USDA
officials visited the plant subsequent to the release of this video, and
were satisfied with the slaughtering that they scrutinized.

3. Slaughtering animals for human consumption is never a pretty sight.
An abattoir is obviously a place where one will see living, vibrant
animals transformed into meat. This is generally a bloody and
unpleasant experience, but this is universal. Indeed, PETA acknowledges
that the shechita process is better than most general slaughtering.

4. The Orthodox Union will not engage in maligning PETA in any way, nor
in questioning their motives. PETA and its adherents have a view of
animal rights to which they are entitled and which they can legitimately
espouse in a free and open society such as ours. We do, however, assert
that religious entities such as ours, or our Moslem cousins, also have
rights within a free society. Those rights, grounded in the U.S.
Constitution, include the ability to prepare animals for consumption in
the religiously prescribed manner.

5. We continue to vouch for the kashrut of all of the meat prepared by
AgriProcessors, which was never compromised. Like all the more than
6,000 plants-producing all kinds of foodstuffs-that are certified by the
OU, it has always been under our regular supervision.

At this point the Orthodox Union:

a) is committed to maintaining the highest ritual standards of shechita
without compromising the halacha one whit. That being said, we will
strive to the best of our ability to see to it that any cruel or
inhumane practices, which are by definition separate from the shechita
process itself, do not occur;

b) is coordinating with other kashrut agencies, and rabbinic and
communal organizations, to assure the most effective response to this
matter;

c) is preparing "talking points" which will be made available to members
of the Orthodox Union and the interested public;

d) will be placing educational materials regarding shechita on our
website, www.ou.org;

e) is proceeding with the good counsel of professional consultants and a
range of community leaders to effectively respond to the world-wide
concern about this matter.

Finally, we request that no one present himself to the press as an
expert on this matter, since several rabbinic figures have commented to
the press in ways that have confused the press and the public. Please
refer all such queries to Rabbi Menachem Genack, who heads OU Kashrut,
at 212-613-8125, or to my office, 212-613-8264.

Of course, we remain open to input and suggestions from each of you.

I close with best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and a Happy Chanukah.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb

Executive Vice President

2004-12-03T18:06:00.000-05:00

Bruce Friedrich from PETA writes:

Watch the video here:
http://www.goveg.com/feat/agriprocessors/

Best Web Log on the issue:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/

For Immediate Release:
December 3, 2004

USDA LAUNCHES CRUELTY INVESTIGATION AS ORTHODOX UNION & CHIEF RABBINATE OF ISRAEL ADMIT “INHUMANE” & “NOT KOSHER” PRACTICES AT OU & ISRAELI-APPROVED PLANT

PETA Vows to Push for OU Policy Commitment, Prosecution of Iowa Slaughterhouse

Things turned south for AgriProcessors yesterday as the United States Department of Agriculture sent inspectors to the plant to investigate charges of illegal cruelty to animals and top kosher authorities condemned the practices. The world’s largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse and the only one in the U.S. certified to ship to Israel has been, for days, hiding behind the USDA and its kosher certifiers, both of which moved to distance themselves from the plant yesterday.

The USDA, which inspects and approves the plant, announced that it had launched what it said would be a comprehensive investigation, which will include investigation into the actions of its own plant supervisors.

PETA’s investigation found that standard practice at Agriprocessors includes shocking animals in the face with electric prods, ripping their tracheas and esophagi out of the throats within 5 seconds, and dumping them from the restraint, at which point some struggle to stand, bellow in agony, and attempt to flee, with the tracheas and esophagi hanging from their throats, some for as long as three minutes. PETA has arrayed veterinary, academic, rabbinic, and slaughterhouse inspector experts who say that these animals are fully conscious the entire time.

The chief rabbinate of Israel told the Jerusalem Post that meat from the animals in PETA’s video is “not kosher” and said, about animals stumbling and still conscious for minutes after their throats are slit open, that “it normally takes 30 seconds to a minute for the cow to lose consciousness if shechita [the cut] is done properly. . . he did not cut one of the jugular veins, so blood is still flowing… It looks as though the animal wasn't slaughtered properly.”

The Orthodox Union, the world’s largest kosher certifier, which had been defending the practices, reversed course yesterday, telling the New York Times (Friday edition), that “the video ‘raises all sorts of questions.’” Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the OU’s executive vice president, “said he found the procedure ‘especially inhumane’ and ‘generally unacceptable’ but wanted to investigate how regularly it happened.”

Also yesterday, Iowa Department of Agriculture veterinary supervisor Mike Miller told the Waterloo Courier that kosher slaughter, done properly, is, in direct contrast to what PETA found to be standard at AgriProcessors, “‘fairly quick’… He estimated animals feel pain for 10 to 15 seconds and no more than half a minute.”

“Recognizing that there is a problem is better than denying it, of course,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “But these animals were treated in ways that would warrant felony cruelty to animals charges if these were dogs or cats, and this was in gross violation of both Federal and kosher laws, as well as basic human decency, and all this happened on the OU's watch. The horrific cruelty that the OU permitted for so long requires serious corrective action and a policy from the OU to make sure these horrors never happen again.”

Part I: What the Experts Say About Animal Consciousness at AgriProcessors, Inc.

PETA’s investigation into an AgriProcessors kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, revealed egregiously cruel slaughter methods being used—where cattle suffered after having their throats cut and being dismembered while still fully conscious. Many instances of prolonged consciousness were documented after animals had their tracheas and other internal organs gouged out with a hook and knife. Experts from academic, veterinary, meat industry, and religious disciplines had the following comments about the degree of consciousness demonstrated by animals in the footage:

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University
Dr. Grandin is internationally regarded as one of the leading experts on farmed-animal slaughter, handling, and welfare. She has served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Meat Institute and has visited 30 kosher slaughterhouses and countless nonkosher plants.

? “This tape shows atrocious procedures that are NOT performed in any other kosher operation. Removal of the trachea and other internal parts before the animal has become insensible would cause great suffering and pain. Many of the cattle on this tape had this dressing procedure performed when they were still fully sensible. Several cattle were walking around with the trachea and other parts hanging out of them.”

? “In conclusion, many of the cattle that had their trachea removed were fully conscious and fully sensible. The duration of complete sensibility was probably prolonged by the pain of having their inner tissues cut and pulled during this dressing procedure.”

Holly Cheever, D.V.M.
Voorheesville, New York
Dr. Cheever received her A.B. from Harvard and D.V.M. from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University with a class rank of #1. She has worked as a dairy practitioner and has vast experience with cattle, including in a slaughterhouse setting.

? “I have watched cattle die from a barbiturate overdose, from the use of firearms, from cardiopulmonary failure, from meningitis, and also from stunning and slaughter in a slaughterhouse. Therefore, I am well qualified to discuss the behaviors of the cattle depicted in this distressing film footage, which unequivocally and unarguably indicate that the cattle were conscious and suffering an agonal and inhumane death.”

? “There is overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence that the majority of the cattle shown in these many incidents are fully conscious as they are dumped from the apparatus [with their throats cut and tracheas removed]. Some actually make conscious, directional attempts to escape … [one] actually manages to walk and crawl through a doorway, away from the killing area …. Some try to escape through the front of the restraint apparatus after their throats are cut and before they are dumped out …. While on the floor, many make very conscious attempts to stand and crawl forward, even with repeated attempts, but can’t due to the slippery bloody floor and their failing strength. Their thrashing is desperate and clearly directed at attempts to rise …, rather than the uncoordinated random neuromuscular firing of a dead animal. Others are too weak and in shock to attempt to stand, but struggle to right themselves and to adopt a sternal (i.e. lying on the chest) position with head thrusts and attempts to roll upright …. Some clearly react to stimuli: [one] startles in response to a blow from a worker, [another] resists the repeated attempts of a worker to push him/her over and re-rights himself/herself each time. Even more disturbing than the actual evidence of their consciousness is the length of time it can persist: [one animal] is still clearly alive after 3 minutes as the shackle is attached to its leg, and [another] lies immobile for one and a half minutes, then tries to struggle into the sternal position after almost 2 minutes.”

? “In conclusion, it is my professional opinion that these animals as cited above showed clear evidence of consciousness and therefore would experience terror, pain, and extreme suffering, some for as long as 3 minutes, after their throats are cut.”

Gary Dahl, Representative
U.S. Department of Agriculture Federal Meat and Poultry Inspectors Union
(American Federation of Government Employees)
Mr. Dahl has worked as an inspector for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service for 21 years, including 11 years in slaughter production. Mr. Dahl does not speak for the USDA, but for himself and those he represents.

? “Put it this way, most of the animals shown on the tape were so conscious and aware of what was happening that if the floor wasn’t slippery with blood and the door was open, they would have made a beeline for daylight in order to escape.”

? “I have reviewed the kosher slaughterhouse footage you sent me and the suffering of these animals was obvious, as was their consciousness after they had their tracheas removed. For animals to be allowed to remain mobile and be able to thrash around after this procedure is uncalled for and inhumane.”

? “The amount of time that [one particular] animal is fully conscious on the floor, partly dismembered, causes the animal pain and suffering.”

? “[One particular] animal was dumped from the restraining device totally conscious and aware, with his trachea hanging out. The animal was totally mobile. If an animal comes out of the device totally conscious and walking around in the manner of this one, then that animal should be desensitized through a knocking procedure. To be subjected to this kind of dismemberment while still fully aware and conscious is not fair to this animal.”

? “After being dumped from the [restraining device with his throat cut, one particular] animal then gets up and moves around. The animal is aware and alert to everything that is being done to her.”

Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen
Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel
? “I was surprised to see that immediately after the [religious slaughterer] makes the cut, a worker who is probably not Jewish jumps to the animal and tears away its entire throat. Also, I was surprised to see that even after that brutal act, the animal seems to still be alive and walked a few steps, and then it took about four minutes until it fell down and died … This procedure is not only cruel and therefore unacceptable by Jewish religious law. It also cannot be certified as Kosher, as the animal must die as a direct result of the ritual cut.”

Shimon Cohen, Shechita UK
?The New York Times, December 1, 2004
? “[A] spokesman for Shechita U.K., a British lobbying group that defends ritual slaughter against the protests of animal rights advocates, said after watching the tape with a rabbi and a British shochet that he ‘felt queasy,’ and added, ‘I don’t know what that is, but it’s not shechita.’ The spokesman, Shimon Cohen, said that in Britain an animal must be restrained for 30 seconds to bleed, and no second cut is allowed. Done correctly, Mr. Cohen said, a shochet’s cut must produce instantaneous unconsciousness, so AgriProcessors’ meat could not be considered kosher.”

Rabbi Ezra Raful, Israel’s Chief Rabbinate
?Jerusalem Post, December 2, 2004
? “Israel’s Chief Rabbinate … told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that it would not consider as kosher cows that appear in an undercover video of ritual slaughtering at the AgriProcessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa. . . .‘You see there, it looks like he ripped out the trachea and esophagus. We do not allow the animal to be touched after the shehita until the main part of the bleeding stops …’”
? “Raful, who has supervised kosher slaughterhouses all over the world, including at AgriProcessors, said he has never seen the ripped throat practice before … ‘Look,’ noted Raful, ‘he did not cut one of the jugular veins, so blood is still flowing. That’s another reason for not accepting that shehita. It looks as though the animal wasn’t slaughtered properly.’ Raful said it normally takes 30 seconds to a minute for the cow to lose consciousness if shehita is done properly.”

Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland
?The Forward, December 3, 2004
? “‘I certainly saw enough evidence of mobility on the part of the animal to conclude that it is not dead,’ said Rabbi David Rosen, former chief rabbi of Ireland and one of the rabbis whose comments are used in PETA’s literature. Also troubling for Rosen was what he saw as the ‘pulling out of the trachea and esophagus by hand’ after the incision had been made. ‘I’ve been in many slaughterhouses in my time,’ he said, ‘and I’ve never seen anything like that.’ On the whole, Rosen concluded, what is shown in the video is a ‘flagrant violation’ of Jewish law, or halacha.”

Part II: What Science Says About Signs of Consciousness Demonstrated by Animals at AgriProcessors, Inc.

Science has conclusively established universally recognized signs of consciousness—including righting reflexes, head lifting, rhythmic breathing, blinking, and coordinated movement such as walking and standing. All of these were clearly demonstrated by animals in PETA’s footage from AgriProcessors. Below is just a small sample of the readily available literature from scientists about these indicators:

The European Food Safety Authority’s Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare, made up of eight experts in the field, was asked by the European Commission to prepare a report on the welfare aspects of slaughter. In the document, “Welfare Aspects of Animal Stunning and Killing Methods,” the authors conclude that signs of consciousness include rhythmic breathing, corneal reflex, righting reflex, and attempts to raise the head.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has issued a document, “Guidelines for Humane Handling, Transport and Slaughter of Livestock,” which states that signs of consciousness in stunned animals include regular breathing, a blink reflex, and righting reflexes.

The National Assembly for Wales’ Agriculture Policy Division issued slaughter guidelines stating that if a stun to render an animal unconscious is effective, the animal “will not attempt to stand up” and “[n]ormal rhythmic breathing will stop.” It goes on to state that animals who deviate from this have not been rendered unconscious properly and must be re-stunned.

The Australian Department of Education, Training, and Youth Affairs discusses both ritual slaughter and slaughter with stunning and provides guidelines for operators in its document titled Oversee Humane Handling of Animals. It found that signs of consciousness include “blinking,” “rhythmic breathing,” and “any attempt by the animal to raise its head.”

The New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry states in one of its “Code of Recommendations” that ineffective attempts at rendering an animal unconscious through stunning can be recognized if the animal demonstrates “persistent and rhythmic breathing” or attempts “to raise the head.”

The Danish Meat Research Institute found in 2001 that in a slaughterhouse setting, “behavioural and different physiological reflexes” to evaluate degrees of consciousness included “corneal reflex …, regular respiration, excitation …, spontaneous blinking of the eye …, and attempts to stand up” where “regular respiration” was defined as being “deep and having regular intervals, i.e., different from superficial and occasional gasps.”

The Institute of Meat Science and Technology and the Institute of Zoology at Universidad Austral de Chile’s Veterinary Science Faculty published an article in Archivos de Medicina Veterinaria in 2003 examining sensibility in cattle at the slaughterhouse and used the following “sensibility signs” to quantify their findings: “rhythmical breathing, vocalization, corneal reflex and eye movement, [and] attempt to stand up or head elevation.”

An article published in Research in Veterinary Science by D.K. Blackmore (1984) looked at the onset of insensibility during the slaughter of unstunned cattle and used “coordinated body movements” as a criterion in the study.

Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University, advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wrote that signs of sensibility in all types of stunning and for ritual slaughter include rhythmic breathing, spontaneous natural blinking, righting reflexes, raising of the head, and a tongue that “goes in and out.”

All of the behaviors discussed above (including animals who stand up or walk away) are demonstrated by cattle at AgriProcessors after having their throats cut and tracheas removed. This provides scientific confirmation that these animals were conscious for significant lengths of time, several minutes in some cases, resulting in prolonged agony.

2004-12-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Avi Shafran on Chanukkah and the soul.

2004-12-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

I asked RCA executive vice president (aka CEO, the RCA's equivalent of Malcolm Hoenlein), rabbi Basil Herring, via email, about the RCA leak to rabbi Mordecai Tendler of its file on rabbi Mordecai Tendler (and the sexual misdeeds alleged against Tendler). He did not reply.

I sent him this question: "I'm curious why you leaked the Mordecai Tendler file to Mordecai Tendler?"

Rabbi Basil Herring is married to the niece of philanthropist Stella K. Abraham, writes ID in the comments below.

Who financed this RCA investigation of Mordecai Tendler because the RCA apparently did not have the funds to do this without special help?

Before the Tendler case happened, the Orthodox Union hired Praesidium for another case. Praesidium was extensively used by the Catholic church. There was a lot of controversy about the competence of the Praesidium. The OU was warned about the Praesidium. The RCA was warned about Praesidium but hired them anyway.

Vicki Polin emails TheAwarenessCenter@yahoogroups.com:

It has come to the attention of The Awareness Center that confidential information regarding individuals who have made allegations against Rabbi Mordechai Tendler has been handed over to him by a high ranking member of the RCA.

The alleged survivors of this case were not consulted prior to this incident. The alleged survivors did NOT have legal representation during the investigative period. There was no one representing each of their own personal interests. For more information regarding this please go to:
Protocols

Case of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler (AKA: Mordechai Tendler) (Monsey, NY)

The following recommendations have been made:

1) The Rabbi who gave the victims' confidential information to Tendler should be removed from the RCA publicly at once.

2) Rabbi Tendler should be immediately expelled as well for taking that information.

3) The RCA should publicly appologize for the damage they've done and take full responsibility. That means every Rabbi involved in this process, personally and publicly.

4) The RCA should immediately bring in an independent investigator to investigate the conduct of RCA officials in the Tendler affair. The outdside investigators should have the authority to produce a public report with recommendations.

5) Any alleged survivor of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, and of any other case being investigated by the RCA should be immediately notified. They should also consult with a personal injury attorney (of their choice) regarding this matter. Attorney fees should be payed by the RCA.

2004-12-03T03:47:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Basil Herring, Executive Chairman of the Orthodox Caucus, delivered the keynote remarks at the Stella K. Abraham HS (SKA) Health Fair which took place in April 2001. His talk discusses health and substance abuse issues.

RABBI BASIL HERRING SELECTED TO BE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA

2004-12-03T02:02:00.000-05:00

I just saw a great film based on a true story, Taking Sides (2001):

"This is really an excellent film containing an Oscar-worthy performance from Stellan Skarsgard as the discredited German conductor Wilhem Furtwengler. Consistently thought-provoking and challenging, and beautifully shot, it's one of the most satisfying movie experiences I've had in a while."

2004-12-02T22:58:00.000-05:00

The OU's Rabbi Belsky On The Postville Scandal

KAJ's position

Tzemach Atlas reports

2004-12-02T22:52:00.000-05:00

Yaakov writes:

Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen has become a focus of the Schita controversy over the past days. To make the halachic declaration he made and then to retract it
seems reckless to me.

1) Mudslinging Mars Israel's Campaign For Chief Rabbis
by David Hoffman
Washington Post Foreign Service
880 words
20 February 1993
The Washington Post

Hardball elections have long been a feature of Israel's secular politics,
but the campaign that ends this weekend for the country's two chief rabbis
has been marked by an unprecedented bout of mudslinging.

The front-running candidate for Ashkenazic chief rabbi has been accused of
making romantic advances to a woman who was not his wife. Another candidate
is fending off charges that he was a coward during Israel's war of
independence. There have been allegations of wiretapping and of slander -
and a tone that many Israelis have found more than a little unsettling for
an institution that is supposed to carry high moral authority.

The contest became unseemly enough that this week an appeal was made to
Israel's high court to delay the election, but the court refused. On Sunday,
80 rabbis and 70 public figures, many of them secular, will choose the two
chief rabbis, who serve 10-year terms. One is for the Ashkenazic Jews, of
European origin; the other, for the Sephardic Jews, of Oriental extraction.

Lau's supporters have also blamed his chief rival, Shear-Yashuv
Cohen, for spreading the reports, a charge Cohen denied.

Cohen too has been in the spotlight. Cohen was wounded and captured by the
Jordanians in the 1948 war of independence. But a monthly magazine recently
quoted a letter from one of his commanders, written at the time, alleging
that Cohen had tried to avoid dangerous combat situations and once had to be
threatened with a gun to take part. Cohen is viewed as far more liberal than
Lau and recently stirred the ire of the ultra-Orthodox by suggesting the
possibility of scrapping the requirement that all Israelis be married
according to strict religious tradition.

2)
WIRE STORIES
DIRT FLIES IN ISRAEL'S RABBI CAMPAIGN
by CLYDE HABERMAN - New York Times News Service
21 February 1993
Portland Oregonian

3) One focus of this story that hasn't been addressed is the financial impact on
Agriprocessors. The articles below indicate that there may be liquidity problems.

1) Bank employee pleads guilty to fraud
23 March 2004
Associated Press Newswires

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - A former employee of Citizens State Bank in
Postville has been sentenced on her guilty pleas to two counts of bank
fraud, U.S. Attorney Charles W. Larson Sr. said Tuesday.

Teresa Downing, 43, of Postville, pleaded guilty last May, admitting in
federal court that, in 1998, she made false entries in the bank's records on
behalf of a customer.

Downing said she hid the fact that $1,140,000 in checks written on
Agriprocessors Inc.'s accounts in New York and deposited in the company's
account in Postville were not sufficient to cover the deposits.

She hid the insufficient fund checks by not debiting Agriprocessors'
account, resulting in unauthorized loans to the company.

The kosher meat plant is one of the largest employers in Postville, a town
of 2,273 people about 80 miles north of Cedar Rapids.

Downing also admitted to embezzling over $78,000 from the bank's accounts
for her own personal use, from 1992 to 1999.

4) Jewish Telegraphic Agency. New York: Apr 01, 2004.
A woman who worked at one of the country's largest kosher meat-packing
plants was sentenced to prison for bank fraud. Teresa Downing, 43, of
Postville, Iowa, who worked for Agriprocessors, one of the largest kosher
meat-packing plants in the country, was jailed this week for five months
after pleading guilty last May to hiding $1.14 million in bad checks from
the company's New York bank to its Postville accounts, which resulted in
unauthorized loans to the company, The Associated Press reported. She also
admitted to embezzling more than $78,000 from Agriprocessors, which is owned
by a Chasidic family.

2004-12-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

A rabbi in the RCA gave their complete file on rabbi Mordecai Tendler to rabbi Mordecai Tendler. The women who accused Tendler were not allowed such access to the file. The women spoke to the Praesidium investigator on the belief that they would be kept anonymous. It feels like a bad rerun of the 1989 Baruch Lanner case.

2004-12-02T22:38:00.000-05:00

Chakira writes about YU: The Spires, Rooftops and Balustrades of the House of God on the Hilltop.

2004-12-02T22:36:00.000-05:00

Umm el-Fahm for the Jordan Valley?

2004-12-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

Simha writes:

There is currently a controversy raging about the practice of one particular
slaughterhouse. I have intentionally ignored the e-mails I've received about
this for the following reasons:

1. I don't know enough about the facts in this case. Even a legitimate video
put out by a respected non-partisan organization (and no one can honestly
call PETA respected or non-partisan) needs to be analyzed and considered.
Knee-jerk reactions by either side are rarely a good thing.

2. I know the people at the OU and they are good people. They are not going
to pass non-kosher meat off as kosher, regardless of the amount of money or
the number of jobs at stake. On the other hand, if they think there is a
problem they will do more than just say that there is a problem. They will
look to fix it if possible or find other alternatives.

3. I have broached the subject with my contacts and they are being wisely
cautious. When I hear something and I get permission to post it, I will.
Right now, all I've got is what the journalists have written and they are
not to be believed on complex matters of halakhah, particularly in defaming
people who have earned (not they need to earn it) the benefit of the doubt.

2004-12-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

OU Caught Red-Handed on PETA vs AGRIPROCESSORS?

2004-12-02T13:19:00.000-05:00

NYT: Jewish children have no Santa Claus, but thanks to a Jewish guy in
Taiwan, they have Bubbie and Zadie (bubbieandzadie.blogspot.com).

Who? Daniel Halevi Bloom, a freelance editor and reporter, invented these Jewish grandparents (the names are Yiddish for Grandma and Grandpa) in 1983 to bring Hanukkah alive for children, particularly those without living grandparents. Back then the medium was snail mail, but Mr. Bloom reckons that today's Bubbie and Zadie are e-mail users.

Monday, November 15, 2004
Bubbie and Zadie Enliven Hannukah!

WHAT: Jewish kids are invited to write special Hannukah letters to a
special, magical (and maybe imaginary, who knows?) pair of Jewish
grandparents named Bubbie and Zadie. Yes, the Bubbie and Zadie of us
all! Kids can write, adults can write, anyone may write!

FREE PROGRAM. ALL LETTERS WILL RECEIVE A REPLY... FREE OF CHARGE.

WHEN: Hannukah is Dec. 7-15, 2004 this year. Letters can be written
anytime from now on, .....before, during and after Hannukah.

EMPHASIS:: Children can write about their wishes and dreams
forHannukah, not so much about presents, please, but about family
get-togethers, feelings about relatives near and far, anything they
want. To life, to life, l'chayim!

IN RETURN: Bubbie and Zadie (the sort of imaginary, fictional
creations of a middle-aged Jewish dreamer) will reply with an Internet
email letter of their own. FREE OF CHARGE. This is NOT and NEVER WILL
BE a commercial site. Never will be. [This is not about making a
profit. This is about honoring our prophets.] Money does not fuel this
engine. Naches does. Not nachos, NACHES!

WHY? Why not! -- Jewish kids have been writing print letters to Bubbie
and Zadie since 1983, when the New York Times first "discovered" the
program in a feature article by Times reporter Nadine Brozan. Over
10,000 letters have been mailed to Bubbie and Zadie by Jewish children
in all 50 USA states, as well as from Israel, Japan, Taiwan, Europe
and around the world. The letters are priceless, heartwarming, amazing
artifacts of modern Jewish culture.

ALWAYS FREE. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE FOR THIS PROGRAM AND NEVER
WILL BE. [The founder of this project is a silly young man who has no
sense of making money or business acumen. His head is always in the
clouds. He is a pure luftmensch. Go figure.]

WHO: The founder/creator of this program created Bubbie and Zadie as
fictional characters for Jewish children in 1983. Subject of 1983,
1984, 1985 major newspaper stories by New York Times, NewYork Daily
News, Washington Post, LA Times, Miami Herald, AP, Reuters,UPI, Jewish
Week, and Chicago Sun Times, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Sun, Jerusalem
Post -- over 400 media outlets worldwide reported on Bubbie and Zadie
in 1985. Kids still write letters to them each year, in print. But
now, in the Age of the Internet (who knew?) here we are on-line!!!
Yes, Bubbie and Zadie online. Read about us in the New York Times for
December 2, 2004. Google us there. [We made the Times that day, thanks
to some savvy PR juggling by our longtime benefactor, Danny Howie
Bloom. That guy sure knows how to plant stories, doesn't he!]

WHY NOW: 2004, 2005, 2006....forever and a day! -- The founder/creator
of this program said he wants to give Bubbie and Zadie a second life
online, using the Internet as a communication tool between Jewish kids
and their beloved"Bubbies and Zadies" nationwide, worldwide. The
Internet makes this possible. And now ... Bubbie and Zadie have an
Internet/email presence.

WHERE: everyWHERE! CyberSPACE is Global. Cosmic. E-ternal.

EMAIL: bubbie.zadie@gmail.com (This is GMAIL, also known as Gefilte Fish Mail)

FREE OF CHARGE. repeat: FREE OF CHARGE. The founder of this project is
doing this out the goodness of his heart. He doesnot need money.
SMILE!

-----------------------------------
Childen will sometimes receive a letter similar to the one below.
BUT...changes can also be made to tailor the letter replies to each
child. (Zadie is a retired tailor. Bubbie is a former typesetter for
the Brooklyn Eagle.) Some letters will be very personal and folksy.
Let us know what you want, what you need! We can work miracles! (and
we get lots of help from You Know Who! -- the name that cannot be
uttered!!!)

FOR EXAMPLE, the letter might look like this:

An online letter (what else?) from Bubbie and Zadie,

As Hannukah approacheth, December 2004

Dear ___________ ,

It is almost time for Hannukah again this year, and Bubbie and Zadie
are getting ready to visit you and your family -- through the power of
loving imagination, of course!

Are you ready?

As you know, Bubbie and Zadie love you and think of you often. Even
though we are getting up there in age, we still remember what it is
like to be young and excited about the coming of Hannukah -- the
family playing games together, spinning the dreidel, eating the
special Hannukah foods and, yes, those lovely little presents each
night of this wonderful holiday!

But the main thing about Hannukah, at least as far as Bubbie and Zadie
are concerned, is the love and compassion for others that emanates
from the glow of the candles on the menorah.

Yes, Hannukah is about Jewish culture, Jewish history, but it is also
about love -- the love that continues to go around the world year
after year, from parents to children, from brothers to sisters, and
from grandparents to everyone! So, dear children, have a very Happy
Hannukah this year, and please remember us to your folks, too. They
were once children, too -- as were we!

L'chayim!

Happy Hannukah, everyone!

Love from,

Bubbie and Zadie

KIDS! WRITE TO BUBBIE AND ZADIE AT GMAIL EMAIL:

bubbie.zadie@gmail.com

2004-12-01T23:45:00.000-05:00

The Prophet Joel and his Vision for RIETS

2004-12-01T23:19:00.000-05:00

In an alliance of thoroughly improbable bedfellows, Israel's Chief Rabbinate is effectively backing an outspoken US animals' rights group and opposing a leading Orthodox kashrut supervisor in a much-publicized fray over practices at a US slaughterhouse.
Me writes:

1) This is a processing issue, not a kashrut or halachic issue.

There is no indication the initial schita was not done properly. Quite the
contrary, it appears by all indication to be acceptable.

The OU:
>Rabbis Menachem Genack and Yisroel Belsky, the chief experts for
>the Orthodox Union, which certifies over 600,000 products as kosher
>- including Aaron's Best meats - said the killings on the tape, while
>"gruesome," appeared kosher because the shochet checked to make sure he had
>severed both the trachea and esophagus.

The chief Rabbanute:
>"Technically, the shehita is kosher, but some of the things they do
>deviate from the rabbinate's guidelines," said Rabbi Ezra Raful, head
>of the rabbinate's international shehita supervision department, who
>watched the PETA video together with the Post.

Without inspection of the knife in person, it's impossible for any person
viewing this tape to make a determination of any problem.

At this point the animal is dead, at least halachically. No Tzar b'alei
chaim issues remain. Once the schita is done the animal is considered
dead/unconscious. While Peta/the US government or even other experts may
still consider the animal alive or conscious for a period of time,
halachically we don't.

Thus, the problem comes at this point. You can see there are differences in
processing attitudes (Australia they stun the animal at this point, in
Israel they don't speed up the bleeding process). These are not
halachic/kashrut issues. All the meat is fine at this point as long as it is
now koshered properly.

2) But clearly the way meat is processed is different at this plant than
many other plants (I'm not going to go into all the differences):
A. rotating drum so it can be killed while upside down
B. "You see there, it looks like he ripped out the trachea and esophagus. We
do not allow the animal to be touched after the shehita until the main part
of the bleeding stops."

It seems that A is as required by Orthodox rabbis in Israel (which is likely
why this was the only American plant allowed to export to Israel).

It's not clear to me why B is being done. I can only speculate:
a. this speeds up the process (time and money consideration).
b. gets more blood out
c. to remove the tongue immediately so that workers do not accidentally
spray it with warm water as they clean up the blood/animal/area (which would
make it impossible to kasher)

I suspect a combination of a and c is the real reason. Basically, to kill
the animals quickly. Kill one, clean up, kill the next.

Clearly I understand why some are upset about the way schita is done here.
If you consider the animal is still alive after schita for a few seconds or
minutes or accept the movement described as proof of life you should be
angry. But halachically, again, we consider the animal dead.

For some this is a scientific question, for some this is a religious
question and for others it's a mix of the two: When does life cease? When
does consciousness cease?

As people and groups differ on the answer, the debate and differences
between groups are both understandable and proper.

I don't think any party is doing anything wrong here.

Peta and others believe that life has not yet ended. Thus what they see is
cruel. They would prefer other methods to reduce the pain to the animal.

The problem is that others believe that the animal is dead. Thus there is no
cruelty. Further, halachically we believe that the stunning before schita
causes pain to the animal. As such we are against such cruelty.

Let me make it clear, Halachically, no unnecessary suffering can be caused
to the animal in the schita process. Anything, such suffering would render
the meat to be unusable.

The problem is Halachic Judaism differs from Peta in when death occurs and
what constitutes suffering. These are legitimate differences.

I would note that Halachically the unnecessary cruelty to animals without
purpose is forbidden (obviously the use of animals for a purpose of food /
clothing is not unnecessary cruelty). Whether it is a biblical or Rabbinic
prohibition is an open question. Regardless, it is prohibited.

Further, as noted above, in the use of animals for food we have very strict
laws that do not allow for causing pain to the animals prior to schita.
After that point, it is just a slab of food. We don't have the same attitude
towards animals as Peta and others do.

We believe that God has given us the right to use animals as a source of
food (now that we no longer live in Gan eden). Peta obviously takes a much
different view.

3) It is troubling that Rabbinical leaders are making reckless statements
outside of their competence without proper consideration. For example:

>More than a week ago, Ronnen showed the video to Rabbi
>She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, chief rabbi of Haifa, who issued a
>statement that "the procedure of this shehita is definitely
>unacceptable by halachic standards. This procedure is not
>only cruel and therefore unacceptable by Jewish religious
>law. It also cannot be certified as kosher, as the animal
>must die as the direct result of the ritual cut."
>
>But in a telephone interview with the Post, Cohen
>(who is a vegetarian) was much more equivocal. "I'm
>not an expert on the laws of cruelty to animals in Halacha,"
>he said. "AgriProcessors' kosher supervisor, Rabbi Haim
>Cohen, claims that tearing out the windpipe reduces the
>suffering of the animal," he added. "If that is true, the
>shehita is kosher."

This is very troubling. First it wasn't kosher, now it may be? Such
recklessness is unacceptable.

4) Claims of anti-semitism here are reckless and not helpful. It really
shows how poor our approach to dealing with the media and public concerns
are.

5) It is clear to me that Rubashkin is acting properly here. He is simply
relying on what the Rabbinical supervisors/experts are determining should be
done.

6) Despite my belief that halachically the schita is OK (or at least, I
don't see evidence of a halachic/kashrut problem), there is room to
institute processing changes that make animal slaughter more acceptable to
groups that differ as to when an animal is no longer alive/conscious. This
can be done without compromise to halacha or kashrut. The advantage as well
is that in the long run schita will be more acceptable publically.

We all have the same ends, reduce the suffering of the animal. We simply
differ on methods and definitions.

7) The above analysis is based on my assumption that the schita has been
done properly. Without inspecting the knife or watching it up close, I have
no choice but to rely on the schochtim/rabbonim involved. Actual schita
takes a split second and it is impossible to make any determination from a
mere video. There is nothing that I have seen or read that indicates to me
otherwise.

I don't believe the movement of the animal after schita proves
life/consciousness (at least from a halachic standpoint).

Once the shochet has used the single slice of his razor-sharp knife, the
animal is food not a baal chyim that feels pain or suffers. No matter how
grotesque or sickening the scene appears.

As I noted, I understand how others legitimately feel and believe otherwise.

8) I am open to other's opinions and criticism of my evaluation. But if you
disagree with me please base it on something and please be aware that not
everyone has the same beliefs as you. These are theological questions and I
believe there is room for differing opinions here.

9) I have not addressed more (what I consider) minor points in this
controversy. But I think my approach gives a basic overview of the
situation.

10) Everyone needs to take a step back here and more closely evaluate the
issues and seperate them out. This is a processing issue not a
kashrut/halachic issue. This is not a matter of treifut, this is an
arguement concerning when animals are no longer alive/conscious and how meat
is processed.

All are valid issues. But stop confusing them with kashrut.

Kashrut deals soley with the schita and kashering processes (and seperation
of meat and milk). Processing of the meat beyond that is a seperate
non-halachic, non-kashrut issue.

2004-12-01T23:00:00.001-05:00

What do you know about the Jewish Defense Organization, an off shoot of the JDL (Jewish Defense League)?

Jane writes: This is from an awful source (a Holocaust revisionist history site) but this chronicle of Mordechai Levy is pretty factually accurate.

Also, this article by the late Robert I. Friedman.

2004-12-01T18:54:00.000-05:00

Impromptu party to observe Protocols' conclusion.

WHAT:
Novel Jews monthly literary series featuring Myla Goldberg and Sana Krasikov.

WHEN:
Wednesday, December 8, 7- 9pm
Admission is always free.

WHERE:
KGB Bar 85 East 4th Street (between 2nd & 3rd Avenues) and can be reached by taking the F Train to Second Avenue or the 6 Train to Astor Place.
www.kgbbar.com

We'll start there and see what happens.

2004-12-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

Steven I. Weiss on PETA vs AGRIPROCESSORS

2004-12-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

Miriam Shaviv writes:

Tamara, in turn, is just one of a growing number of Jewish women writing about their inner lives, their families, their passions and their Judaism in such diaries, commonly known as ‘web logs’ – or, more simply, as ‘blogs’. Together they offer an unprecedented insight into a sector of the Jewish population which has traditionally been under-represented in conventional media.

By means of blogging many women, particularly more Orthodox ones, have found a way to circumvent restrictions placed on them by their social circles, and gain a strong public voice. They are communicating directly with their peer group and with others, forming online communities and gaining personal followings. As blogging moves further into the mainstream, this can only increase; yet another indication of changing social structures within the Jewish community, the more assertive tendencies of women within today’s society – and a significant phenomenon with the power to change the way Jewish women of all walks of life perceive and are perceived.

Where does the notion come from that women's voices are not being heard in Jewish life? They have as much secular education as the men. They comprise half the students at Reform and Conservative seminaries. They work as rabbis at hundreds of synagogues.

2004-12-01T11:39:00.000-05:00

An interview with bisexual Village Voice sex columnist Rachel Bussel Kramer.

An interview with the author (32yo single New Yorker from yeshiva background who now dishes sex advice) of the blog, Ari Goes Down.

2004-11-30T22:56:00.000-05:00

Videotapes Show Grisly Scenes at Kosher Slaughterhouse:

The plant, run by Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, Iowa, is being denounced as inhumane by the group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and by several experts on animal science and kosher practice.

PETA Undercover: Terrified cows stagger to their feet after workers rip out their throats.

Luke says: I'm a vegetarian. Never eaten meat in my life thanks to my Seventh Day Adventist upbringing. I think it is what God wants (see Garden of Eden, prophetic prophecy in Isaiah).

Shmarya writes: "This may turn into the biggest rabbinic scandal of our times. I've
worked in slaughterhouses. I've seen shechita. But I NEVER saw anything like that PETA video. And dismembering the animal while it's still alive – disgusting!"

2004-11-30T22:38:00.000-05:00

From the Stern College dorm:

i have a big paper to write and no motivation. my body is tired.
Luzdedos1: XOXO
you're really helpful.
its funny because if i were telling this to my boyfriend, and he gave me practical ideas, id be like "i dont need a solution! just listen to me!"
Luzdedos1: bask in god's love
i had an hour long conversation with a girl today over dinner about getting married with no money and having emunah
im exhausted and cant even go to sleep because there are no sheets on my bed and im too tired to put some on
is this sleepaway camp, why are people singing in the halls
Luzdedos1: sounds snuggly
it angers me.
i want quiet where i live.
Luzdedos1: cherish what you have, you will look back on it fondly
no i will not
i will look back on living with my roommate
i will not look back on anything else about it
other than being in the city
not only are they singing, but its someone who thinks she has a good voice
shes gettinig all trill-ish
do you read chez miscarriage?!
her surrogate is pregnant!

2004-11-30T22:36:00.000-05:00

I donated to this and so should you -- Free Our People.

2004-11-30T21:37:00.000-05:00

Can we as Jews do more of that God love you stuff that Christians pull off so well? Should we try to guide people into having a personal relationship with God and to feeling that the Almighty cares deeply about their life? I think some rabbis can pull this off (Avraham Twersky, Mordecai Finley, Mordecai Gafni, Hershy Worch) but most can't and it is important for Jews to construct good solid communities where people know who they are and what is expected and they can socialize with fellow Jews who observe similarly and can make deep bonds with their fellow Jews.

2004-11-30T15:55:00.000-05:00

Remember when Luke Ford was the Internet's leading humourist?

2004-11-28T18:56:00.000-05:00

The World Jewish Congress is in turmoil, two decades after the billionaire Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. rescued it from crushing debts and propelled it to remarkable successes.

DailyJews.com (www.dailyjews.com) - the UK-based Jewish blog discovers that the Board of Deputies doesn't want the world to know about Chanukah or Purim.

Terror expert: Qaida WMD attack on US likely soon

PETA goes after Kosher slaughter.

Written in German-occupied France in 1942 shortly before its Ukrainian-born Jewish author was sent to her death in Auschwitz, it has taken 62 years to be published.

Greeting cards that mix Christmas with Chanukkah.

Arab Actress Stars in Yiddish Theater, Raises Money for CHABAD

2004-11-28T16:13:00.000-05:00

Just to add to the J-blogosphere reactions to Juan Cole, here's my correspondence with him regarding his assertion that MEMRI operates with a budget of $60 million:

From: Steven I. Weiss
To: Mickey Kaus, Juan Cole
Subject: Memri Budget

Juan & Mickey -
As a 501 (c) 3, their 990 filings are public information.

In fiscal '02:
Revenue: $1,718,712
Expenses: $1,426,606
Assets: $418,465
Liabilities: $44,933
Source:
http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_gsReport=1&npoId=306569
--
keep it good,
Steven I. Weiss

From: Juan Cole
To: Steven I. Weiss
Dear Steven:
I think they are getting very substantial in-kind donations of labor and services in Israel, possibly from Israeli military intelligence.
Think about it. How do you buy hundreds of Arabic newspapers every day? How do you ship them quickly to a central place to be scanned for content and translated? How do you warehouse them? How do you translate them quickly.
This couldn't be done from Washington, DC, frankly, and couldn't be done by 6 employees there. We are seeing a tip of an iceberg.
cheers Juan

From: Steven I. Weiss
To: Juan Cole
Juan -
I don't have a lot of familiarity with MEMRI, but in taking a cursory look at their site, it seems they only actually produce an item a day or less (sometimes, rarely, two). It strikes me as highly plausible that an organization with six employees could pull that off; indeed, I imagine it could fairly easily be done with fewer.
As to buying, reading and translating many papers every day, given the scale of their operation, it doesn't look like they do that; if they did, they'd probably have more content. It doesn't take a lot to wake up every morning in D.C. with tips in your e-mail/fax from whomever in the Middle East is already reading these papers and is supportive of your organization, and then act on them.
Frankly, if I were a donor, I'd wonder just how it costs $1.5 million to keep six employees on-board (I'm working on your number; I haven't seen anything else to tell me how many employees they have). I'm assuming the costs are primarily associated with distributing their content via Web & fax, as it wouldn't seem to take all that much to produce it. It appears their financial statements back up this assumption.
keep it good,
Steven I. Weiss

From: Juan Cole
To: Steven I. Weiss
Dear Steven:
Thanks for your further reflections.
My point was only that if you counted the "tips" in the fax machine as part of the labor of the organization (and I suspect it is something much more organized), they would be worth lots of money in time etc.
cheers Juan

2004-11-28T13:38:00.000-05:00

Miriam, are you talking to me?

It seems to me that rather than people who 'know sin close up' wanting to prevent it in others, they probably need to proclaim those higher standards loud and clear in an effort to restrain their own urges.

2004-11-28T13:33:00.000-05:00

Miriam Shaviv writes:

Shmarya was correct in the Protocols comments section: my late father in law, Chaim Bermant, was a columnist for the JC for almost 40 years. Indeed, he was their star columnist and a virtual British Jewish institution, whose name was perhaps better known than almost any other British Jew (as my husband once said, the most miserable looking people at his funeral were the JC publishers, who realized that their sales were about to drop). It would have been interesting for you to write about him in your journalism book as he was, imho, the rare embodiment of all the qualities you find so lacking in Jewish journalism today. He was witty, engaging, and always amusing, attacked hypocrisy wherever he saw it in the Jewish community and always pursued justice, qualities which made him very controversial in some circles. The bain of his life, I believe he once said, were the JC's lawyers who censored him because of British libel laws. As a result, he was alternately loved and loathed by British Jewry (who all enjoyed reading his articles nonetheless). You may find it
interesting to read some of the obituaries written about him (links below): how many writers in Jewish newspapers today would get obits in the national press?

The Guardian
Daily Telegraph
The London Times
The Economist

2004-11-28T13:03:00.000-05:00

"Etz Hayim Hi, as the ex used to say," I mumbled as I fought my way through a cold piercing wind to shul Sunday morning.
No matter how brutal the weather becomes in Los Angeles, with temperatures (adjusted for wind chill) sometimes dipping into the 30s, I always like to live up to the obligations of the Torah (unless I have a better offer or am just feeling lazy).
While I piously made my way through the Shacharit service, I came to meditate on a particular portion of my Artscroll Siddur which says that there is reward in the world for particular mitzvos, including arriving early to the House of Study morning and evening.
This immediately brightened my mood. As the closing of Protocols December 8 exemplifies, my life in this world has largely been a vale of tears. But in the next world, due to my punctilious observance of the Torah, things will be much much better.
Then my mood darkened when I thought about all the people I like to schmooze with during davening Saturday morning, and how rarely, if at all, they come to the House of Study. I thought about my many Protocols readers who, because of their sins, will not be with me in the world to come.
I practically rent my garments and feeling the cut of the tefillin into my flesh, I cried out with renewed vigor, "Etz Chaim Hi as the ex used to say."

2004-11-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

Jenni Frazer's article on blogs in the Jewish Chronicle (London):

This week it was announced that "Protocols," the controversially named, American-based Jewish "blog" - short for "weblog" - was being closed down by its founder, Steven I. Weiss, the latest dramatic event within a mushrooming phenomenon of the Internet age.

Part on-line diaries, part stream-of-consc-iousness musings, blogs have achieved an extra-ordinary popularity world-wide - and have found particular resonance among Jews. Blogs have allowed anyone with access to a computer to express his or her own specific take on Jewish life. And in Protocols - tagged "A group of Jews endeavours towards total domination of the blogosphere" - hot Jewish issues of the day have been freely and fiercely debated.

Where Jewish blogs are not single-issue pro-Israel sites, they are, as in the cases of New York-based JewSchool, JewLicious, or Jews-Week, simply on-line magazines which draw attention to ventures of Jewish interest.

Protocols, however, was different - an opinion site which drew comments from around the world. Steven I. Weiss began it while a freelance journalist with good Jewish community connections. He parlayed these into a staff job at the New York Jewish weekly, the Forward, where he also ran a blog in the on-line edition of the paper. Now freelance again, he says he's "figuring out my next move in the blogging world. I'm trying out a religion blog at Canonist, a food blog at Kosher Bachelor, and a New York blog at The Metro Section." He also has a "home blog" called Iatribe. (As a measure of the impact blogging has had, some American groups have begun to award blog "Oscars," or Bloggies, for best foreign news blog, best sports blog etc.)

When Weiss went to the Forward, he passed the reins of his blog to one of Protocols' most frequent guest bloggers, Luke Ford. Ford, author of an analysis of American Jewish journalism, "Yesterday's News Tomorrow," is one of the most controversial figures in the blogging world. Once a writer about pornography, he is a 38-year-old, California-based convert to Judaism. Protocols' posted items, under Weiss, were short and snappy: Ford began writing much longer pieces, often documenting the progress of his latest book. More recently, the site appears to have become a campaigning blog for attacking rabbis, specifically those in America, who are suspected of sexual impropriety. Indeed, the Protocols seems increasingly to have brought any and all rabbis within its gunsights - including at least one British-born minister whom the blogsite has accused of falsifying academic credentials. The tone and content, particularly in the comments section, became more and more salacious.

Weiss has said he will announce the reasons for closing the blog on December 8 - in, literally, the last post. Ford, for his part, says: "We remain friends. This is not the result of a falling out between Steven and I. He's never told me what stories to write or not to write."

2004-11-28T01:54:00.000-05:00

Cecile du Bois, Cathy Seipp's 15yo daughter, calls Friday morning and leaves this message: "Hey Luke. My mom and I were discussing weddings. And um..."
Cathy speaks up.
Cecile: "OK, maybe I was discussing weddings because I miss going to many weddings. I was thinking that of all the people we know, you seem to be the one most likely to get married next. Could you do us a favor and propose to your girlfriend. I know it sounds crazy but she likes you a lot. She's pretty. She's young. She's fertile. She could easily be Jewish. I think you should propose to her. That way we could go to your wedding because I miss going to weddings. Ok. Happy Thanksgiving. Bye."

2004-11-28T01:12:00.000-05:00

Rabbi/Child Psychiatrist (Alan J.) Shneur Horowitz (Hagerstown, MD; Israel; Schenectady, NY; California; Woodward, IA)

The NAMBLA rabbi

On July 27, 1992, Alan J. Horowitz of Schenectady, New York was sentenced to ten to twenty years in prison for sodomizing a nine-year-old psychiatric patient the previous year. Allegedly, he has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel to New York in the past twenty years. Alan J. Horowitz is an Orthodox rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D. A graduate of Duke University, and was a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association).

He was released beginning of the month on parole and is living in Albany, NY.

2004-11-28T01:04:00.000-05:00

Lubavitch putsch in Vilna exposed

Synagogue jam session

2004-11-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

David Klinghoffer fluffs the most overrated Jewish scholar -- Jacob Neusner. Neusner is a nasty man who harvests the work of his grad students (almost all professor-authors do this, but few as much as Neusner) to list himself as an author on 909 books. Elite students in his areas who decide to go to other academic graduate programs than Neusner's have often found Neusner trying to destroy their careers.
I've tackled a dozen of Neusner's books. The reward divided by effort ratio was low.

Shmarya writes: "Neusner taught at Minnesota as a visiting scholar for a quarter or two. He was so hated by many of his students that they started a petition drive to have him removed early. He's done some important work, but he's a very difficult person."

Reb Yudel writes:

Note that Klinghoffer essentially omits the last 30 years -- and 950 books -- of Neusner's career.

The nastiness is such that at a recent academic conference on Talmud at NYU, Daniel Boyarin had to apologize for acknowledging Neusner's work.

If you want a good, solid translation of Neusner into English, check out the latter third of "Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bibles and the Talmuds."

2004-11-27T22:28:00.000-05:00

My latest book reviews:

The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature: B
Autum of the Moguls by Michael Wolff: B
ESPN Sports Century: B
The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine: A
Lonesome Dove: A

2004-11-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

In shul Friday night, I rubbed my siddur and made three wishes:
* A franchise quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.
* That Steven Weiss would just give me Protocols so I could do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with my God.
* That I could marry a woman who had the:
- Looks of Susannah Heschel
- The long black hair of Jerusalem Post Washington correspondent Janine Zacharia
- The midot of Chayyei Sarah
- The literary sensitivity of Alana Newhouse
- The razor wit and no-nonsense approach of Cathy Seipp
- The cuteness of J.J. Goldberg (Forward editor)
- The fertility of rebbetzin Tziporah Heller (15 kids)
- The age and spunk of Chanandler Bong
- The sporting attitude of Ari Goes Down
- The gourmet skills of Rob Eshman (Jewish Journal editor)
- The voice of Leslie Katz (former SF Jewish paper reporter)
- The bouyant personality of Lisa On The Face
- The submissiveness of Forward reporter Eve Kessler
- The running ability of Julius Jones (150 yards Thursday against Chicago, yeah!)
- The sexual drive of Malcolm Hoenlein (who told reporter Walter Ruby, "If you publish this story, I will f--- you for the rest of your life")
I also wished for some other characteristics of my future wife but modesty prevents me from listing them here.
Anyway, if you are such a woman as this, or pretty close to it (I'm willing to compromise in some things, hit me up now because I'm going fast, I'm getting worn down to a frazzle by these Hittite priestesses).

2004-11-27T21:56:00.000-05:00

Pinkas: US Jewry must focus on local Jewish education

2004-11-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

Jenni Frazer's article on blogs and Protocols and the Shavivs in the latest issue of the Jewish Chronicle (London).

2004-11-26T18:17:00.000-05:00

Battle royal to succeed R. Schach at Ponoviezh almost divides the place in two.

2004-11-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

Different people celebrate Thanksgiving in different ways. As a Torah Jew, I have nothing to be thankful for. Therefore, I refused to walk in the ways of the goyim. I stayed home and cheered on the Cowboys to a smashing 21-7 victory over the Bears. Then I worked hard to make the world a better place through blogging about rabbinic sex scandals.

2004-11-26T01:33:00.000-05:00

Melchior launches new social action movement

The Coalition for Justice in the Hawaiin Gardens and Jerusalem

Rav Mordecai Elon, head of Yeshivat HaKotel

The name of the Lubavitcher rebbetzin

Knesset panel okays penal code change giving minors who were sexually abused until age of 28 to press charges.

2004-11-25T22:08:00.000-05:00

A portrait of a tzaddik worthy of Artscroll publication: Ner Israel's president, Rabbi Herman Naftali Neuberger. Not a single negative word about the man in the whole long article. Is the rabbi human or is he divine? Must be divine according to the Baltimore Jewish Times.

2004-11-25T17:32:00.000-05:00

A couple of letters from rabbi Mordecai Tendler's lawyer during 2003:

August 4, 2003

From the law offices of Bradley J. Rephen, P.C.
17 Squadron Blvd., Suite 320
New City NY 10956
845-678-1278

Dear Ms. [name deleted in my copy]

At the outset, please be advised that this office has been recently retained by Rav Mordecai Tendler and Kehillat New Hempstead.

It has come to our attention, by reliable third-party source(s), that you were among a small group of individuals that composed and/or promoted a certain letter detailing maliciously fictionalized allegations against Rav Mordecai Tendler and/or Kehillat New Hempstead.

Aware now of the vicious nature of your plenary defamatory campaign and your cowardly attempt to assume the veil of anonymity, please be advised that we are firmly insisting that you:

(i) Cease and desist from any further libelous and slanderous conduct referencing Rabbi Tendler;
(ii) Prepare a list of recipients of the aforementioned letter;
(iii) Coordinate with the undersigned a letter rescinding and retracting the defamatory allegations; and,
(iv) Cease and desist from the fraudulent and unauthorized use of the Kehillat New Hempstead name.

Note that if we do not get confirmation of the above within seven (7) days from the date of this correspondence, both Rabbi Tendler and Kehillat New Hempstead will pursue all the proper avenues to achieve the requisite recovery/restitution.

As a side note, in response to the willful and harmful nature of your labors, Rabbi Tendler and/or Kehillat New Hempstead are in the process of coordinating with the county's District Attorney's office the filing of a criminal harassment complaint to prevent further felonious assaults.

..........

October 20, 2003

To: Ezra Glaser, Esq.
From: Bradley J. Rephen

Please be advised that this Law Firm no longer represents Rabbi Mordecai Tendler and Kehillat New Hempstead. All communications should be directed to Rabbi Tendler and/or the Board of Directors of Kehillat New Hempstead.

2004-11-25T15:09:00.000-05:00

"The greater the awareness, the greater the healing," says Rabbi Tendler (the spiritual leader of Shaarey Zadek Congregation in North Hollywood, Calif, and teacher at Yeshiva of Los Angeles high school) about domestic abuse. But will his good work win him any get-out-of-jail free cards now that the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) and RCC (Rabbinical Council of California) are investigating him for sexually molesting underage teenage girls?

2004-11-24T20:38:00.000-05:00

Shmarya writes:

Simcha has this post on the rape of Dinah. Note that he focuses on SOCIETAL CONFORMITY, and the need to follow rules.

I posted this in response:

The story seems to be teaching that the shame associated with abuse makes it difficult for the abused to do things – like leave Shechem – that acknowledge the abuse. Many if not the vast majority of abuse victims feel responsible for the abuse and blame themselves, not the abuser. Dina seems to have been paralyzed by shame. A proof of this is a midrash that notes that, after Shechem had been killed and the town routed, Dina refused to leave with Levi and Shimon. She only left after Shimon promised to marry her. What amazes me is the way rabbis seem to miss the major point of the incident, and concentrate instead on the midrashim that focus on what Dina did to 'cause' the rape. Worse yet, this clear lesson on the psychology of abuse is lost on these rabbis, rabbis who, at least in theory, may be called upon to poskin for and counsel the abused. Think of the rabbinic response to Lanner's victims, for example.
Shmarya | Homepage | 11.24.04 - 12:25 pm | #

And then, this:

Shmarya: "What amazes me is the way rabbis seem to miss the major point of the incident..."

Simcha: "1. You mean like the rabbis who wrote the midrash you just quoted?"

No. I "mean like" many of the rabbis who teach at YU, with one particular rabbi first in my thoughts, along with most of the rabbis of the haredi world.
Shmarya | Homepage | 11.24.04 - 1:53 pm | #

Simcha then responds:

No. I "mean like" many of the rabbis who teach at YU, with one particular rabbi first in my thoughts, along with most of the rabbis of the haredi world.

It's easy to condemn people you've never met and know almost nothing about. Do it elsewhere because from where I'm standing, he's miles above you in every possible way.
Simcha | Email | Homepage | 11.24.04 - 2:03 pm | #

I then wrote, "Tell that to Lanner's victims" and also noted that my criticism extended to "the former leaders of NCSY and the OU, except for Dr. Granchrow." I did not name any rabbis.

Simcha deleted the comment.

Keep in mind that Simcha is very close to Rabbi Mordechai Willig, who, if you recall, covered up for Lanner and verbally attacked at least one of Lanner's victims. Much later and under tremendous pressure, Rabbi Willig apologized. Lately, as you have heard, R. Willig has been critical of R. Blau's involvement with the Awareness Center. While I too have serious questions about how the Awareness Center is functioning, for R. Willig – with his record of covering for Lanner and his apparent inaction on the issues related to abuse in the Orthodox community – to criticize R. Blau without offering any solution to the problem is a tremendous chutzpah.

What's wrong with YU? Just that.

Polin goes too far. But with leaders like R. Willig, Orthodoxy provides no alternative to her. And, as always, it's the victims and those falsely accused who suffer for it.

2004-11-24T11:06:00.000-05:00

The return of Yori Yanover's USA Jewish. He used to write the best daily compendium of Jewish news.

Jeanette Friedman writes:

I am trying to collect as many emails of survivors and their descendants as humanly possible, and they need to be sent to the Amgathtogether@aol.com.

An important survivor, who was impoverished by nasty circumstances, died last week because he didn't have proper health care. We want to start a campaign to channel survivor funds to the survivors, and we need to do it via email, because we can't afford any other way of doing it.

Could you please post a notice that all computer literate survivors and their descendants are to please send their email addresses to the above email address? Here's what I sent out to my friends and colleagues:

After we learned how terribly Fred Diament, z"l, died last week, there were discussions with Holocaust survivor leaders in the U.S. and Israel, the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in NY and the Association of Holocaust Survivors' Organizations in Israel (Roman Kent, Noah Flug and others). These leaders are starting a campaign to mobilize the grassroots on health care issues for survivors.

All computer literate survivors, 2Gs, 3Gs and even 4Gs are asked to send their email addresses and those of any descendants and survivors that they know to amgathtogether@aol.com so these organizations can save thousands upon thousands of dollars in snail mail costs, money the American Gathering and the Israeli survivor organizations do not have.

Fred's call for better health care for dying survivors will not be ignored, so that we will try to prevent any other survivors from dying as ignominiously as he did. May his untimely and unecessary death not be in vain.

2004-11-23T22:38:00.000-05:00

I understand the RCA wants to re-interview many of the survivors and interview new survivors. I hear that the RCA believes that the Praesidium private investigators (Joan Hickerson) report on Tendler won't be sufficient to boot him from the RCA. Tendler has assembled a formidable legal team that is adept at describing the women who accuse Tendler as crazies, drug addicts, etc.
I notice the similarities between the way the cases in Baltimore and Monsey are being handled. Does Mordecai Tendler have ties to Ner Israel?
A legal letter relating to this case Part Two Another letter

Larry Yudelson aka Reb Yudel writes:

There you go, Luke, burying the lede.... and coming close to slandering a law firm, to boot.

You mean to say that Tendler has assembled a second legal team, after his first counsel lasted only two months.

Followup questions: Did the women in question do as demanded when they received the nastygram?

Were charges filed by the DA's office, as promised?

Is the answer to that question connected to the change in legal representation?

And who is the new legal team?

What are the limits to the use of discretionary funds? I would imagine there are ample court precedents to answer that question.

2004-11-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a letter that was sent out in the summer of 2003 about rabbi Mordecai Tendler:

To Whom It May Concern:

We are a group of rabbis, mental health professionals, and physicians coming from a wide range of religious observance within the Orthodox world, who are very concerned about a serious situation in your community.

This is a letter to warn you to protect your daughters, wives, and other vulnerable women in the community from a very dangerous rabbi. This rabbi wears the clothes and publicly acts out the role of a very devout Orthodox Jew, presiding at levayas and simchos, answering halachic shailos, counseling individuals and families, abut in private has had numerous sexual affairs with many women - vulnerable, distraught, battered or emotionally disturbed women who had unknowingly come to him for counseling and guidance, for kiruv, or to learn more about Yiddishkeit. These women do not know each other, but doctors, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, as well a many rabbis in our community and even gedolim in Eretz Yisrael know who they are - for these women each sought their counsel as they were severely traumatized by having a sexual involvement with a rabbi of this stature - often in his study while his wife and children sleep or were not at home, and often while other women waited outside his office. Both married and single women, and even teenage girls have been stalked or propositioned, then were threatened and intimidated if they came forward.

There is a growing concerted effort by community rabbis, gedolim, professionals and lay people in the community who know or who have become involved with helping these women to prevent future occurrences. Many shul members have left or are moving away. There are many who know but are afraid to act, because others who did were threatened. This rabbi even paid a large sum of money to one of the women to be quiet, because she had a lot taped and written pieces of evidence and was "talking to much," but there is mounting evidence that cannot be discounted, and many more reliable and credible witnesses to these incidences are surfacing.

Because of this rabbi's heinous actions, there are people who have gone off the derech, marriages have been destroyed, weddings canceled. Some victims were so traumatized that they needed to be hospitalized. Many of the rabbonim in the area meet periodically to discuss this terrible problem within our midst. And are doing extensive research and compiling the evidence into a large written report, and are in consultation with gedolim in Eretz Yisroel. They have stated that it is a matter of pikuach nefesh to inform you of this problem, and is therefore not in the category of Lashon Hora.

We must protect the women in the community from the sick and evil behavior of this man who is himself a rabbi. His name is Mordecai Tendler. He continues to deny the allegations despite the mounting evidence that confronts him. But not only is he denying it, but he has gone to great lengths to cover up his tracks with lies, threats and pay-offs. Your shul must find a way to force this man to step down from his position as a community rabbi, and he must be pressured into seeking treatment. This should be done expeditiously ass we are trying to prevent certain outraged individuals from taking these stories to the Jewish Week, or even worst, more secular media, which would be a terrible Chilul Hashem, and would be even more hurtful to his poor family-although would be a worse Chilul Hashem to allow him to continue to harm more women and their families.

Do your own research! Speak to some of the other rabbis in the area, as well as some of the people who have left the shul - and therapists and doctors in the Monsey area, as well as in Brooklyn, Manhattan and even Israel. Not everyone in the Monsey area knows about this yet, but many do so don't stop your investigation with just one person who might have limited or no knowledge of this horrific situation.

The following was sent out to threaten those who were agitating against rabbi Mordecai Tendler:

To whom it may concern:

There is a great danger in our community that has no bounds to the potential harm that has been caused and may be caused in the future.

There are two women who present themselves as "mid-wives". They encourage those that are economically struggling that there is an alternative to the traditional safe and sterile environment of a hospital to deliver a baby they have solicited business among those that are desperate and believe they have no choices. They have lied, mislead, deceived and endangered those that were unfortunate enough to believe them. The results have been devastating.

On many occasions the environment where they delivered a child was not correctly sanitized or sterilized. Such carelessness has lead to infections and complications for both the mother and newborn child. On other occasions the instruments used by these "mid-wives" were not properly sterilized from the previous births. These unclean instruments caused additional infections and complications.

Further harm has been caused by their questionable skill level and failure to continue their training beyond the minimum level required for certification. Their "delivery room" has failed inspection by the State of New York on two occasions in the last six months. Despite all of this, these women continue to practice their witchcraft totally unsupervised and accountable to no one.

These women are _________ and __________. They must be stopped.

Please spread the word to all that there is a great danger to those that rely on _______ and _______. the lives of both the mothers and newborn children are at risk. Help us save lives. Stop _____________ and _____________.

2004-11-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

Judah writes:

There is no such thing as "just a little" abuse. Hopfer seems to be insinuating that therapists or friends of a survivor of child abuse would somehow convince them that they are broken beyond repair. He is telling us that people convincing someone that they are damaged is what causes the damage, and not the abuse itself. This is a warped idea that Hopfer and others in the frum community latch onto to
try to deny allegations that they don't want to believe. The feeling of being damaged is common to survivors. Therapists and other helping proffesionals generally try to help survivors get beyond this awful feeling. Minimizing abuse by calling it "inappropriate behavior" also does not help.
In his little damage control shul talk on Sunday R' Hopfer did not address the important issue of how to help survivors who are abused withing the community to heal. He did not tell people to cooperate with an investigation even if the investigator is not from within the community. He did not say exactly who receives and investigates allegations of abuse and how they are dealt with. He was simpley doing damage control for Eisgrau. He was trying to give the message to his community that they should not worry. That he has everything under control. Hopfer also said that there have been false accusations. How does he know this? What credentials and training does he have to be dealing with these issues and recognizing which allegations are true or false? False allegations of abuse are actually very rare, much more so then true allegations of abuse. As far as the "professionals" that "help" with these investigations. They are all members of the Baltimore community and have conflict of interests. For example Aviva Weisbord, clinical psychologist, sister of Matis Weinberg. Friend of Eliezer Eisgrau. How much should her tainted opinion that Eisgrau is count? Wake up Baltimore! You have a problem.

A rabbinical friend of Ner Israel responds:

RH's point is that there is a difference between literal incest [father having sex with daughter] and inappropriate touching of a thigh, for example. (He is careful not to speak in vulgar terms. These are my words, not R Hopfer's. But he did say that general idea.)
He did tell a story of a young married woman who has difficulties in intimacy and is in some therapy because her father rubbed against her chest (everyone clothed) when she was younger. [He was very uncomfortable even saying this out loud. He has experience counseling people who were abused in different ways]. He knows the harm that it does. But he said it's not the same.
Please remind your readers on occasion that your report is a paraphrase, and not to be 'medayeik' (intense Talmudic parsing) in the paraphrase, let alone imply something not said. He said that ABUSE is damaging enought without practitioners convincing patients that it's even worse than it is.
"R' Hopfer did not address the important issue of how to help survivors who are abused within the community to heal." He wasn't addressing that issue at all. He also didn't speak about how to deal with car insurance claims. (to choose an absurd example)
"He did not tell people to cooperate with an investigation even if the investigator is not from within the community." True. He didn't say not to, but again, he didn't say anything on that point.
"He did not say exactly who receives and investigates allegations of abuse and how they are dealt with." Yes! he made a point of being discreet on that point. He clearly did NOT want to divulge that info. An audience member asked and he refused to answer, implying that any rabbi who was informed of such allegations would know where to go.
"He was simply doing damage control for Eisgrau." Clearly not. He didn't even hint at that case at all, not even peripherally. I don't like the phrase "damage control" at all, but if it was done, it was for him and the other rabbis, not EE. As a matter of fact, he was successful in that regard. Sane people are now talking about how he isn't qualified to investigate with the pros etc., not the previous malicious spin that says he didn't care and wanted to protect a criminal.
Judah is falling into the trap I told you about earlier Luke. i.e. that the crime is so heinous that allegations are presumed true by so many. This is dangerous too. Perhaps false allegations of murder are also rare. But that does not justify condemning someone because of the allegation. (This is my POV, not RH's.)
All members of the Baltimore Jewish community in these fields have a HIGHER desire to eliminate perversity.
For example Aviva Weisbord, clinical psychologist, sister of Matis Weinberg. Friend of Eliezer Eisgrau. I can't comment on the friendship with EE, but the sibling relationship is such that it puts Aviva on a HIGHER state of alert when it comes to such accusations. She and her mother would do anything to send a real abuser away.

2004-11-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

Spirituality, Sexuality, and How Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse Experience God
© (2004) By Vicki Polin, MA, LCPC, Michael J. Salamon, Ph.D., and Na'ama Yehuda, MSC, SLP, TSHH

Spirituality and Sexuality are very often confusing issues for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and for several valid reasons. In families where the concept of God is present, a child's first representation of God is either of their parents or through their parents. If you have loving, kind parents you may develop a view of God that is loving and kind. If, however, you grew up in a family of violence your perception of a higher power would be of a being that is controlling, explosive and violent. For children who have been sexually violated by their parents, their role model for God is that of a sex offender. Survivors' internalize a view of a punishing, abusive God, who only allows bad things to happen to them because "God loves them." They live in a place where nothing is safe, not even their thoughts, because God can read those and therefore punished for even feeling angry, upset or disrespectful. Given the way children develop a perception of the world, a survivor of the heinous crime of incest would naturally question the veracity of a kind, loving God.

The Talmud (Moad Katan, 17a) relates that a respected Rabbinical educator was rumored to have been involved in behavior that was "hateful." The commentators suggest that he was either an adulterer or seduced young women. The Rabbis ostracized this individual. Unfortunately, despite this tradition to ostracize such offenders, Jewish communities have not taken such a strong, responsible position toward molesters. Too often when allegations of child molestation are brought to the attention of community leaders, parents or relatives of victim's are reminded that discussing issues of molestation within the community or bringing these types of allegations to the public would result in any number of negative outcomes for the survivor. These consequences include difficulty finding a marital partner of substance for not only the survivor, but also other family members, or could result in the survivor or family members of survivors not getting into good yeshivas (schools). There are tales of families of abuse victims of having to relocate to another town as a result of the political pressures following disclosures. Not only does the survivor have to struggle with their trust and belief in God so does the survivor's family.

We have begun to discuss the possibility of a correlation between assimilation and childhood sexual abuse. According to the most recently available data one in every three to five women, and one out of every five to seven men, have been sexually abused by their 18th birthday. As part of the healing journey, the majority of survivors of abuse reach the point where they try to integrate what happened to them on a spiritual level. Many are in twelve-step programs, surrounded by individuals of other faiths, yet the Jewish survivors often feel different. Jews have very different customs then that of their Christian friends. When a survivor is from an unaffiliated background, they may feel at a loss -- unsure of what to do, or how to do it while survivors from backgrounds that were more traditional and included a Jewish education may feel betrayed by that background. The confusion of the healing process adds to the inability to find a healthy spiritual place within their own religion. So what is a Jewish survivor of childhood abuse to do?

Up until now there have been very few individuals who are "survivor friendly" in the Jewish community. We need to start opening our minds and our hearts to begin listening to survivors of childhood sexual abuse bearing witness. Just like holocaust survivors, who were initially shunned, survivors of childhood abuse need to be allowed to speak in order to heal, to be able to learn to connect with God, to see God as something other then neglectful, abusive and cruel. Those listening to these disclosures have a responsibility to themselves, their families and to the survivors. It is vitally important to make sure they have access to a support group conducted by a trained facilitator who is experienced with compassion fatigue (secondary post-traumatic stress disorder), so they are allowed to debrief and maintain balance, after hearing the voices of survivors.

Karen is a thirty-year-old survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She indicated that she spent her life trying to connect to something that was spiritual, yet felt she was failing. Over the years she approached many rabbis asking them questions. Unfortunately, the Rabbis, due to a lack of training, were unable to help her understand either her questions or the concepts with which she need the most help. Most had difficulty listening to her disclose her abuse history. When Karen was a child, while her father was molesting her, he would say "this is how you know God loves you . . . you know anything that feels this good has to have come from God . . . this is how you know God is inside you." Knowing this information would be critical in understanding Karen's difficulties with the concept of God. Yet most Rabbis doing outreach were unable to help her reframe her experience and make it possible for Karen to learn to connect.

Rivka was in her teens when she first disclosed to a friend that her father, a rabbi was molesting her. Her father was also a principal of a school for young boys. Her friend told her mother, who in turn, went to a local community leader to ask for advice. Because of the stature of her father, the community leader suggested they keep quiet about the abuse. As time went on, Rivka was unable to cope. As a teen she ran into some difficulties and ended up moving into the home of one of her classmates. Due to political pressure within the community, the family that Rivka resided with was asked not to daven (pray) in the synagogue they had been members of for years. The family was dedicated to helping Rivka heal, and were not about to put her out on the streets. Rivka eventually went to college, was able to support herself financially, got married and is the mother of three. Rivka came from a Torah observant upbringing, but from her experiences with the denial of the community, she no longer practices. She feels betrayed by her family, the Jewish community, and most importantly by God. When speaking to community leaders of the town she was from, and when her name is mentioned, they make comments such as she's happy, she is married and has children. But they are not completely correct. Rivka's is in mourning. She misses her biological family, she misses her connection to her community and she feels that has no one to talk to about her feelings about God.

Mitch grew up in family filled with physical and sexual violence. The family belonged to a synagogue and his parents made sure to enroll all their children in programs so that they could learn about Judaism. There was a problem -- Mitch was deaf. None of the Jewish educational programs had interpreters. Mitch was not proficient at lip reading and disclosed that he was bored and felt left out. Growing up Mitch never felt that he was a part of his family since the majority of his family members were not proficient in sign language. He was alone isolated in his deaf world.

School was Mitch's only respite. He was enrolled in a school for the deaf, and could communicate freely with people who could understand and relate to him. Growing up in the South and being deaf meant that he didn't have any Jewish friends. As he reached high school, he wanted to be like his friends. Most of them went to church. Mitch had no concept of God, and was like a sponge to learn, to connect to something spiritual. Mitch's concept of God was that of a father who was filled with anger and rage. No one in the Jewish community ever took the time to meet Mitch's needs. He never was given the opportunity to express his thoughts and feelings about his concepts of God to anyone Jewish. But then the missionaries reached him. Like so many survivors, the desire to feel loved was strong. His new friends knew this and showed him unconditional love. He would do anything to feel loved and cared for, and if it meant learning about another religion, then he did it. When his family realized what was happening they tried to rectify the situation, but again it was done in a way that appeared to be an attempt to control and abuse him. Their attempt was unsuccessful. To this day Mitch's views Judaism as something that is abusive and wrong.

The more our communities, and our leaders are educated on the issues relating to childhood sexual abuse the easier it will be to help heal the oozing wounds of childhood sexual abuse. Band-Aids can only cover up an infection. Our communities need to do major wound care, some individuals may require "spiritual surgery," while others my just need a topical ointment. But together as a community, as a people we can come together and heal the world.

2004-11-22T21:45:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, one of Baltimore's two most important Orthodox rabbis, spoke about the whole issue (no names of course) of rabbinic sex abuse on Sunday morning in shul (it was taped and widely distributed).
It was a Q&A session with the rov. Rabbi Hopfer knows his name has popped up repeatedly on the Internet [Protocols] in connection with Orthodoxy's handling of the string of sex abuse cases in town.
Rabbi Hopfer brought up the issue of sex abuse. How it's a real problem, taking place too prevalently. (Someone asked him how prevalent it was. He answered "too prevalent".) How every claim has to be investigated and that nobody should be turned away and not believed. How he has dealt with a number of cases. How victims have come to him. etc. He also added that an accusation is not a conviction. he knows of false accusations made by people.
Rabbi Hopfer said the community rabbis are aware of the problem and that investigations are being done behind the scenes.
Someone in the audience spoke up: said he's a teacher in one of the local prestigious public school boards, and that in the public school system there is a system that investigates things quietly too.
Rabbi Hopfer recognizes that they don't want to ruin innocent lives by exposing someone who is only accused.
Someone in the audience asked if three people make accusations about one teacher to three different rabbis or principals, does it ever centralize? He said that it does. He said that he didn't want to name names in public (and on tape), but the accusations do usually reach the same people in the community who take them seriously and investigate.
Rabbi Hopfer is not a smooth political operator. He is a soft-spoken, mildly stuttering giant of a talmid chochom. The other big rabbi in town -- rabbi Heineman -- seems to be more of an operator.
Rabbi Hopfer did add that not all "abuse" is worth all the destruction. He seemd to recognize a category of inappropriate behavior that did not warrant destroying a child's life by convincing the child that s/he's damaged and broken/irreparable.
He said that every yeshiva and day school in Baltimore has precautions in place and a system of dealing with accusations.
He said that some communities have taken extreme measures. e.g. In LA he said that the yeshiva/day school educators have come to a consensus never to touch any students, in any way. He (and an audience member) aknowledged that that may be too harsh, since often children need physical affection (eg a hug). R. Hopfer says that he knows that he takes a chance every time he hugs a kid, but that he feels the risk is worth it because the child needs it.
He mentioned how much more dangerous accusations are nowadays, because as soon as someone is accused, it can be on the Internet within minutes.
I think it's clear that the Eliezer Eisgrau case was brought to his attention, investigated under his auspices, and he concluded that it was false.
A rabbi writes me:

Bringing R. Hopfer into this damages your crediblity immensely. There are rabbis and there are rabbis. Some rabbis are known for their "POWER", so when an investigator starts sniffing and hinting at accusations, people think "OK. Power corrupts. So I'm willing to entertain the notion". But R Hopfer is not about power at all. It's the Jewish equivalent of accusing Jimmy Stewart (as in Mr Smith goes to Washington) of vile acts. You can accuse Michael Jackson or Jack Nicholson. But Jimmy Stewart? Your name becomes mud.
The rabbis are not investigating each accusation on their own, like Columbo! Every rabbi I know has contacts he USES among social workers, psychiatrists etc. It's not like Rabbi Hopfer walks into an accused's home and says "Um, do you mind if I look around?"
Re: "Rabbi's Hopfer and Heinemann are in no position to be objective about the case of R' Eisgrau since they both have entrusted their own children to him, as well as referred other troubled children to him in the past." Only someone paranoid could write that. If it was me, and I sent my kid to the school, I would make sure to investigate even MORE thouroughly.

2004-11-22T18:04:00.000-05:00

Jeff Jacoby on God and hatred

2004-11-22T13:21:00.000-05:00

Chakira writes: Best known for his unapologetic biographies of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shaul Shimon Deutsch is larger than life in his own right. Deutsch is the Lionza Rebbe, having broken off from Habad Hassidus, because of its messianist tendencies. He is also a museum curator...

Torahmuseum.com

2004-11-22T10:50:00.000-05:00

Homosexual marriage can, therefore, be used as a stalking horse for getting us what we really need, which is polygamy.
True, this will weaken the goyishe civilization around us, but what do we care? If the goyim want to make war on God and nature, it is not our place to stop them, and in any event, by the time they wake up to what is going on, our numbers will be so great that we will finally be able to formally take over the United States and make of it the New Israel we really need.

2004-11-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

Things must be going poorly for Rabbi Worch in his custody dispute with his
ex-wife. I believe he has lost custody rights to his three young children.
A source writes:

Worch has problems making his child support but somehow managed to fly off to Istanbul, Turkey August 11-23 (2004) to have sex with one of his online "slaves". He
wrote to his OBDSM (Orthodox-Jewish Bondage-Discipline-Sado-Masochism) Yahoo group from an internet cafe in Istanbul, asking if anyone knew where he could purchase a particular kind of bondage device, and bragging about being "all shagged out."

2004-11-22T02:54:00.000-05:00

He was also a Bukharan Jew. He came to the U.S. almost 30 years ago from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. The Bukharans trace their history in Central Asia back almost 2,000 years. Most came here following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and almost all of them have settled in Rego Park and Forest Hills, where the Bukharan community, which consisted of fewer than twenty families during the seventies, now numbers nearly 60,000 people.

Book Review: Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Rabbi Baruch Lanner seeks new trial.

After 60 years 'Hitler's Children' still suffer

2004-11-21T13:18:00.000-05:00

As Protocols heads into its final days, there is one thing of which I will forever be proud -- the way I've elevated the discussion in the comments (even though I have no control over them, can't delete them, can't ban posters, nothing, that is all the purview of the Protocols' owner, Steven I. Weiss, and I have yet to ask him to delete anything or report to me an IP number of a poster).
I feel warm and fuzzy about the commitment to civility and love of klal yisrael demonstrated by many Protocols posters. As I believe that like attracts like, and that we generally bring in to our lives the people we deserve, I can only conclude that I am a paragon of virtue.

2004-11-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

More wit and wisdom from rabbi J. Hershy Worch: "I know where all the dismembered bodies went. I pulled out the veggie and crisper drawers from the bottom of my refrigerator. Eeeeewww!"
Funny guy. He makes the best jokes about dismembering people I've ever read. Comic geniuses have always been misunderstood and persecuted. Lenny Bruce. George Carlin. Hershy Worch.

2004-11-20T21:52:00.000-05:00

Me writes:

This shabbos, I had a rare free 30 minutes of quiet. I sat down with my 2 copies of volume 7 of Igurot Moshe, which is a volume of tshuvot by Rav Moshe Feinstein, undoubtably one of the greatest Poskim of the last century.

These volumes are widely read and used by Poskim of our generation.

I've posted before how the original version of volume 7 (large over-sized)
differs from the newer Rabbi Mordechai Tendler re-edited version (smaller-sized book). I took 30 minutes to see how bad it was (I already knew from several Rabbonim).

As, the typesetting is similar, I was able to quickly find over a dozen alterations. None of which added anything to the tshuvot. If I was to extrapolate from the few pages I quickly inspected, I would have to estimate there are a lot of changes and alterations.

In some cases it is a mere unnecessary letter (in one case, gramatically wrong), a title change or an added quote of the source referred to. But most disturbingly I found a substantial alteration to an actual tshuva (page 180 bottom right column). I also found a paragraph added into the body of a tshuva praising Rabbi Mordechai Tendler (page 181 top right column).

Photo One
Photo Two
Photo Three
Photo Four

This is bad.

I fully understand why the Feinsteins have nothing to do with Rabbi Tendler.
What he has done to their grandfathers legacy is despicable. He has taken one of the great works of the last century and distorted it. It is a monument to the ego of Rabbi Mordechai Tendler and the impotence of this generations scholars.

It is not a subtle distortion. Take the 2 versions, sit down and compare. It's so obvious and plain to see. Does Rabbi Mordechai Tendler really expect us to believe his grandfather wanted to insert his praise of (Tendler) in an already published tshuva (that had no such praise)? It's clear what has been done.

It's also increadibly painful. How could this have been done and in such a
public way?

I understand that the Feinstein don't want to take family to a beis din. But
where are the Rabbonim of this generation? How could they allow this to be done to a gadol ha'dor's work? How could they associate with someone like Rabbi Mordechai Tendler who did this?

I implore people to contact the RCA and demand this issue be addressed by the Beis Din Ha'Kavod. The Rabbi Mordechai Tendler version needs to be removed from public circulation and Rav Feinstein's scholarship restored.

Steps must be taken to ensure a chilul like this never happens again to any of our scholars and that charlatons like Rabbi Mordechai Tendler are no longer tolerated or associated with.

This is what is allowed to happen to the work of one of our Gadols?

Where is the outrage?

2004-11-19T16:04:00.000-05:00

Israeli parents of a 5-year-old girl search for an organ donor.

2004-11-19T14:31:00.000-05:00

Luke Ford Announces Marriage Initiative

2004-11-19T01:54:00.000-05:00

Vicki Polin of The Awareness Center (TAC)writes: Rabbi Shlomo Porter has stepped down from the advisory board due to the fact he cannot take personal responsibility for the veracity and halachic conformity of all data listed on the website. He supports and wishes the Awareness Center great success.
Luke says: I think there might be more Orthodox rabbis resigning from TAC. They are concerned that it is not always run according to halacah (Jewish Law). Vicki Polin is an atheist and has more of a therapeutic and activist approach. She's an advocate for those she says are "survivors" of sexual abuse. Rabbis have to be concerned with not only advocating on behalf of "victims," but being fair to those accused, so their good name is not besmirched unfairly, and, above all, to operating according to halacah at all times. From Orthodox rabbis who've spoken to me of late, there's growing concern that TAC has gone too far, that it is operating a witch hunt against rabbis who are being accused on the flimsiest of evidence. They are concerned about "victims activists" (and they, to varying degrees place Polin in this category) who push women to come forward with accusations of sexual abuse that are based on hazy memories and tricky regressions (stuff that would not hold up in either a Beit Din or a secular court).
The Awareness Center is having a board meeting in early December. I expect that the Orthodox Jews on the board will demand that TAW be run according to halacah in every way or they will leave.

2004-11-18T20:22:00.000-05:00

The Vilna siddur has a filthy, dirty little secret.

2004-11-18T20:07:00.000-05:00

Yeshiva College is Still Broken

2004-11-18T17:58:00.000-05:00

YourMoralLeader is the place to go for your undercover Orthodox needs. I've brought on some superb Orthodox bloggers (sometimes they will post anonymously under the name Your Moral Leader) who know a ton more than me about these matters.

2004-11-18T17:31:00.000-05:00

Chakira would like to see some kind of merit-based test of Talmudic aptitude in the Orthodox world.

2004-11-18T13:34:00.000-05:00

The granddaughters of rabbi Moshe Feinstein (the girls were first cousins with rabbis Mordecai and Aron Tendler) appeared in Penthouse circa 1983. It was a big scandal that was hushed up in the Orthodox world.

Their mother is sister to Mrs Tendler – mother of Mordechai and Aron.

They posed after their father died.

The common factor, I've found, in girls who decide to do this sort of thing is the lack of good father in their life. Girls who have that are rarely promiscuous, in my opinion.

The girls are now around 50 years of age.

2004-11-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

I'm going to do most of my blogging here from now on. It's been a fun six months on Protocols. Hasta la vista baby. Keep sending me links to good Jewish stories and I will post them on YML.
Steven is closing the blog for his reasons. We remain friends. This is not the result of a falling out between Steven and I. Our strongest disagreement over my postings on Protocols were about block quotes. I hate that formatting.
He's never told me what stories to write or to not write.
I've been waiting for him to make the announcement. Anyway, he can explain. Many people are asking me why Steven is closing the blog. Steven can explain. I don't want to speak for him. I heard this was happening for a couple of weeks before I got the final word this week from Steven. The last day of Protocols, Steven says, will be December 8 and he will make the last post.

2004-11-18T13:15:00.000-05:00

Senior army officers and other public figures have recently gone to great lengths to express the fear that refusal will be a concrete threat to state and society in Israel. Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon devoted a great deal of attention to the subject in the weeks preceding the passing of the disengagement law in the Knesset. The former president of the Supreme Court, Meir Shamgar, a former senior army official, recently issued a stern warning against refusal.

2004-11-18T01:44:00.000-05:00

Menahem Wecker: Painting 9/11 With Whiskers And A Tail (and a Cigarette): Art Spiegelman`s`In The Shadow Of No Towers`

2004-11-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Israel's Civil War Begins?

2004-11-17T22:03:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Shlomo Porter has removed himself from the advisory board for The Awareness Center. The cached version of the page.

I understand that rabbi Porter has said that The Awareness Center has gone too far (does he mean they are purportedly accusing innocent people?).

2004-11-17T16:47:00.000-05:00

Wish Cathy Seipp a happy birthday. She helped me achieve a milestone in my life.

2004-11-17T11:49:00.000-05:00

Oil funds paid for suicide bombers

Psycho Toddler on Toikey Day

2004-11-17T11:45:00.000-05:00

Steven I. Weiss writes: "I'm preparing a story in which I make a meal (or a day's worth of meals, we'll see) using the most chumros possible. I'm doing an open
call to gather info on all the latest."

2004-11-17T01:41:00.000-05:00

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger came into office with low expectations, and his detractors say he has lived down to them.
Shmarya writes: Rabbi Elyashiv backed Metzger for Chief Rabbi, even though R. Elyashiv knew about the ketubot scandal, sexual harassment allegations, and R. Metzger's lack of rabbinic standing.

2004-11-16T15:46:00.000-05:00

The RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) and the RCC (Rabbinical Council of California) are investigating allegations that Aron Tendler (rabbi of Sharay Tsedek in North Holywood, California, and a teacher at the Yeshiva of Los Angeles High School) sexually molested teenage girls. Some of the women coming forward to press these allegations are now in their 30s. This Aron Tendler is the brother of rabbi Mordecai Tendler. He is not the rabbi Aaron Tendler of Baltimore.

2004-11-16T13:27:00.000-05:00

New edition of the YU Commentator

2004-11-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

Shmarya writes:

The parents of a Los Angeles child born with a sole, malfunctioning kidney are in a desperate race against time to find a compatible donor who can save their FIVE YEAR-OLD child's life. The girl has reached a critical stage in her treatment, as dialysis could [G-d forbid!] fail at any moment.

Suitable donors must be between eighteen and forty-five years old, have type O blood, and be in good health. There is no cost to be screened and the donor's medical expenses will be fully covered.

For more information on how to help Chana or be tested for compatibility as a kidney donor for the child, call 800 SAVE A LIFE (800-728-3254) or visit www.savechana.org.

2004-11-16T10:42:00.000-05:00

UJC Arafat situation.

Shmarya: Nothing but the spin.

Rabbi Eliyahu Tzabari, a former chief rabbi of Ganei Tikva, was ordered by the Tel Aviv District Court yesterday to pay NIS 120,000 in compensation to a woman he sexually abused.

2004-11-16T02:11:00.000-05:00

Vicki Polin writes:

Dear Friends,

The Awareness Center is facing a horrible situation. This is an extremely difficult letter to write. It saddens me deeply to let you know that The Awareness Center has been inundated with phone calls and emails from survivors, parents and others concerned individuals with cases where someone has been sexually victimized. We have had so many people contacting us we are having an extremely difficult time keeping up with the demand.

As you know at this time we are purely a volunteer based organization. We do NOT have the funding to hire staff. Due to this human power crunch we have been forced to create a waiting list to help individuals who call us for help. At this time we will NOT be able to take on any new cases, answer most emails and phone calls until some time in January or February, 2005. We are attempting to reorganize and restructure, but this will take time.

Thanks to our volunteers, all of our networking groups for survivors and professionals, and newsletters will continue to function as they have been. Our web page will remain up and available to you. If the resource you need is NOT available to you on our web page, and you need assistance in finding a resource near you, please contact your local rape crisis center or call:

National Coalition Against Sexual Assault 717-728-9764
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network 1-800-656-HOPE

If you would like to make a donation to help us function please send checks to:
The Awareness Center
P.O. Box 65273
Baltimore, MD 21209

Sincerely,
Vicki Polin, Executive Director
The Awareness Center
www.theawarenesscenter.org

2004-11-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

MORE RABBINIC CORRUPTION: …Eliyahu, incidentally, refused to confirm to Haaretz that he actually made the statements attributed to him on the Internet site. "The Internet is lawless, and I don't vouch for everything written on the Internet in my name," he said.

2004-11-15T21:28:00.000-05:00

A woman who had a relationship with rabbi J. Hershy Worch before choosing to break it off writes:

This letter is for all those other women who've been sexually manipulated/abused by J. Hershy Worch---to help you cast off any lingering fear and shame you may
have. I too was once crippled by fear and shame.

These are some of his dirty little insurance policies he's relied on to keep us in silence and shame:

1. Fear of others asking 'what kind of woman gets romantically/sexually involved with a rabbi?'
-------Don't worry about this one. Our stories/experiences may vary, but his manipulations and techniques have a theme and are similar. More on this later.

2. Fear of being laughed at: 'Torah of Desire'? Hypnoeroticism? BDSM Kabballah?? As 'a woman' left in a comment, 'what kind of group psychosis are you all in?' This one is comical---we know we escaped *his* psychosis when we broke off from him. If his own writings aren't making anyone scratch their heads in bewilderment yet---his sexual-dismemberment fantasy in a Kentucky meat plant should have done it by now---then we should be wondering about the defective mental states of his supporters!

3. Fear of scorn over our 'mental states': Every woman who's had romantic/sexual involvement with him in REAL TIME has had to undergo therapy of one form or another after breaking with him, including his exes, including myself. No shame in that. Ignore those online women who have never had real-time/real-life involvements with him like we have. They're just phone/internet sex fantasies who haven't been
'blessed' with the real-time 'experience' of the rabbi. Not to mention they are probably in a panic at the possibility of his being too stressed to attend to
their 'timed orgasms'.
I'm actually honored to be included among so many smart women who were strong enough to seek therapy in order to help break free from his cruelty and abuse.
No more shame here.

4. Fear of the world saying 'what kind of woman gets involved in kinky sex with a rabbi?': Know this: I came across three letters from previous women/'slaves'
of his who all stated the same thing in various forms:
"Gee I never realized I was into BDSM until I met Hershy," (including myself.) When I thought I was losing my mind and had nowhere to turn, it was people from online communities and locally involved in BDSM who startled me awake that what he was doing was abusive and manipulative, was NOT SSC (Safe, Sane, Consensual). If it was clear as day to so many people in the BDSM world that his behaviors were abusive and manipulative, then what does that say about everyone else supporting him? Talk about 'Group psychosis!' Shame on them----no shame on us.

5. Shame over things he had us write to him, about our desires and fantasies: Well, did you know that he uses intimate/erotic things we have written to him -- to use to send to other women to seduce them with? Our own writings as tools to seduce others
with! (Talk about lazy...) There's no shame in having once believed we were in love with him, once believing he could 'teach' us things about our own 'sexual
powers' via his Kabbalah and 'meditations', 'opening' us up to his 'Torah of Desire'. Did he make you feel 'special' too, stating he'd been waiting for ages for
"a gifted student who really understands" his Torah? He probably tells all women this. Well, we were naive then, we know better now. No shame.

6. Fear of accusations of lashon hara----
Oh please. We're talking about a spiritual and ethical necessity to warn others about a sick and dangerous man abusing women and using G-d, Judaism, and his Rabbi title to do so. I may not know Torah yet, but I'm fairly certain Hashem is ticked off over someone using His name and Judaism to abuse and manipulate women.
My conscience will not allow me to remain silent.
And I never would have been able to speak up in the first place if I hadn't been made aware of the sheer numbers of you who have survived his abuse prior to
mine. For the record I did attempt in writing -- on and off for nearly three months after I broke up with him, to get him to own up to, recognize and apologize
for how he'd hurt me. Never happened. All my fault, all 'fears' in my own 'head', all my 'inability to handle' his great 'powers'. (*rolls eyes*)

Lashon hara? No, a 'major mitzvah'. And I was told that due to the limited abilities of any overseeing rabbinical authorities---that media exposure is indeed
a good thing. The Rabbis who told me this apparently don't consider it lashon hara....Don't take my word for it, either. Call them up and ask them for yourselves.

In case any of you have been following the other rabbi abuse cases and are fearful about instances of being shunned and disbelieved, let me state this: None of
the three Rabbis I have spoken with over the phone scoffed at me or made me feel ashamed at all. And I was NOT the first to have filed complaints on him. Rabbi Mark Dratch of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Josef Blau, Director of Religious
Guidance, at Yeshiva University, New York and on the Board of Directors for the Awareness Center, Rabbi Josef Ozarowski of the Chicago Rabbinical Council -- all have been nothing but empathetic, kind, supportive. I encourage you to speak with them--they are *real* Rabbis, after all--- as well as with Vicki Polin, and Lynn Johnson of the Chicago YWCA Women's Crisis Center, in contact with the Cook County
Prosecutor's Office.

Also, there is an attorney long experienced in these type of cases who has been aware of Worch cases for quite some time. He is very interested in hearing
from you---and it does not matter that you are outside the Chicago Illinois jurisdiction, either. Write Luke and get his number and have a chat with him
yourself. Quite illuminating.

J. Hershy Worch stated long ago that he longed to be "revealed". He thinks if all the truth about him comes out into the open, it makes it honest, makes it okay.
Unfortunately, because he's hurt so many women, it does not make it "okay".

Here's his opportunity, his wish has come true. He may be crying out of one side of his mouth to his friends, I'm sure it helps him feed off their sympathies and
wallets.

Here's his opportunity to finally face himself and get whatever psychiatric help it is he needs, make amends, and stop living this destructive chaotic mess of a
life he lives and hurting so many women.

You and I know we are doing J. Hershy Worch the biggest favor of his life. And somewhere deep down, he knows it as well.

You own your story/experience of him. Cast off lingering fears and shame about his manipulations -- take back your power you once heaped on him. My knowing of your existence/similar experiences has done wonders to reduce my lingering shame, and helped give me courage. I couldn't be at this point, writing this, if I didn't know of your existence/similar experiences.

As another woman wrote more eloquently than I could regarding his kind of predatory and abusive behavior:
"Don't think for one moment that I can't see you for what you are. Even in your most clever and convincing moments, it's impossible for me to ignore the carnage
that you've left behind -- its stench is all over you. I have fallen for some of your tricks, but I will not feel shame. Furthermore, I've gathered up some of the
victims that came before and after me, and I will not let them feel it either."

Now this, my friends---not allowing each other to feel any further fear and shame --is a *genuine* 'power exchange'.

2004-11-15T20:44:00.000-05:00

I'm fielding way too many questions from people about my motives for investing/writing about Orthodox rabbis who are sexual predators.

I label these questions a waste of time because you can not know your own motives let alone someone else's. Also, you can not trust what people tell you about themselves or anything.

If I gave noble moral motives for my book, or crass ones, it should not matter to any intelligent person. Either way, it would be meaningless.

I don't have patience for people who want me to give divrei Torah justifying what I am doing. Beautiful words in this context mean nothing.

I'm particularly disgusted by people who claim I'm trading on rabbinic sex abuse to make a quick buck. Nobody makes money writing books unless they are blockbusters or they have sweetheart deals. I'd make far more money working at McDonalds than investigating sexual predators in the Orthodox rabbinate.

So stop being a moron and questioning motives (unless you are a cute young (but above 18) chick, then I'll talk about almost anything with you).

: can you be sincere for just a moment
Luzdedos1: k
: do u have any moral convictions behind the sex-scandal stuff or do you just like it for sensationalist reasons
Luzdedos1: I do it for journalistic reasons
: are there any moral convictions behind those reasons
Luzdedos1: sure, but I dont like to get into that. I prefer to stay within the bounds of my profession.
: but there must always be a moral boundary past which even ones more progressive and upwardly mobile professional drives cannot force one to cross.
Luzdedos1: of course
Luzdedos1: it is a big story and i want to tell it
Luzdedos1: I'll leave the divrei torot to others
: do you have any doubt, even the smallest doubt, of the veracity of your story?
Luzdedos1: No. Everything is carefully worded and substantiated. I'm sure about everything I've published

2004-11-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

At the GA, the fault line divides as expected.
On his radio show, Prager said the young people were applauding him, and the older people were applauding the feminist.

2004-11-15T18:48:00.000-05:00

Please don't feed the Hasidim.

Gil Student writes: "I think this might be the first J-blog that is incorporated within a company's website."

Dov Bear writes that Madonna does not belong on the Forward's list of top Jews.

Out of Step Jew on change.

2004-11-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

The Jerusalem city comptroller has issued a blistering report on the capital's municipality, citing serious irregularities in the administration of the city.