Ami's Headline "Israel vs Kiruv" Is An Unmitigated Lie

 

Many years ago when I was in High School, we would call headlines like these "Yellow Journalism," today it's known as "Fake News."

Yitzy "The Frank" Frankfurter, who is the editor and publisher of  Ami Magazine will jump on any story that denigrates the State of Israel. Why?

He wants Satmar to like him. 

The Frank's father was a Sigether, a staunch follower of The Sigether Rebbe, Reb Moshe Teitelbaum aka The Beirach Moshe, who subsequently became the Satmar Rebbe after the passing of his uncle R' Yoel Teitelbaum. 

The Sigether was a closet Zionist and married off his eldest son, R' Aaron the present Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel, to the Viznitzer Rebbe's daughter, an act of betrayal to the Satmar "SHIT'ah, that despised Viznitz for supporting the "Medina." R' Yoel never forgave him .

 But G-d had other plans, when R' Yoel Teitelbaum went to meet his Maker, without leaving any living children, the natural person to inherit was his closest relative who was none other than the Sigether, his nephew.

Of course, the old Romanians, long time Satmar Chassidim, have long memories and remembered not only how R' Yoel felt about his nephew but also the history of discord between R' Yoel Teitelbaum and his brother the late Sigether Rebbe, the Atzai Chayim, the  father of R' Moshe.

All hell broke loose after R' Yoel was niftar because the genuine Satmar Chassidim didn't want a closet Zionist to be their Rebbe. The factions finally decided that R' Moshe would indeed inherit but would have to call himself for the first two years "Sigether-Satmar" Rebbe, hoping that the two years would to calm the opposition. R' Moshe tried to pacify the Satmar chassidim and he started towing the line making anti-Zionist speeches to hold on to the Satmar throne. He also named his younger son, R' Zalman Leib  who wasn't married to a Zionist as his successor. Many didn't go along with the charade and never accepted him or his son.

In May of 2015, Satmar banned Ami Magazine, and since then, The Frank has been trying to get back into their good graces  by printing anti-Zionist articles.

It won't work because to genuine Satmerers, the Frank is after all a Sigether" and never learned in any Satmar Moisdois!

In Ami's introduction to this outrageous lying article, Frankfurter gushes over his visit with the Belzer Rebbe. The Belzer Rebbe's town "Kiryat Belz," hosts the offices of Rav Zamer Cohen's organization Hidabroot. 

What the Frank won't tell you is that during the reign of his father's rebbe, the Beirach Moshe , the Belzer Rebbe came to visit Boro-Park, and the Belzer Rebbe had to hire security to his friday night tish, because of serious death threats from the Beirach Moishe's chassidim. I am sure that Frankfurter saw the same graffiti I saw on the BQE, which proudly stated: "Berel Yemach Shmo" referring to the Belzer Rebbe. What was the Belzer Rebbe's crime? He took money from the Zionist government!

Let's get back into the lying article titled "Israel vs Kiruv!

Reading the headline, one gets the impression, that the State of Israel is against "Kiruv." 

Of course this is a bald faced lie as there are many flourishing Kiruv Institutions in the Zionist State, such as Ohr Samaich, Aish Hatorah, Chinuch Atzmaie and Chabad, these schools get Zionist funding!

In fact Rav Zamir Cohen's Kiruv own organization, "Hitabroot" has been around for many years without any problems from the government. So what happened? Why did he run to the Frank to get "interviewed?"

Rav Cohen opened a school in Ashdod, and was expecting the Zionists to fund him. But for the government to fund him, he needs to follow certain government instructions and regulations which he apparently didn't and so they yanked his license!

Now listen carefully ... 

Instead of telling the fool, Yitzy The Frank, the truth, Rav Zamir evaded the Frank's direct questions and came up with a cockamamie answer that defies logic.

Rav Cohen told the foolish Frank that the reason the government yanked his license was because the government"claimed that the religious Jews were taking secular families and trying to make them religious through their children's schooling"

Now with all due respect to R' Cohen this is a bald faced lie!

Let's read Rav' Zamer Cohen's own words of what kind of school he was opening:

The Frank: Is this school for boy's or for girls?

Rav Cohen: The current grades are coed!

The Frank: Would you characterize the Jewish education provided by this school as dati (religious) or masorti (traditional)?

Rav Cohen: (evading the answer) "All of the staff members are chareidi and in the morning there is tefillah for the entire school."

DIN: Notice he never answered what kind of school it is. He does drop hints, however,  in other questions, so let's see ... I will highlight in yellow where the dead dog is buried!

The Frank: When did Hidabroot open the first of these schools?

Rav Cohen: The first trial school was opened in Ashdod this past Elul. This school is patterned after the Finnish school system, incorporating elements like teaching English starting from the first grade and small classrooms with high teacher to student ratios, but it would also teach Yahadut and have tefillah. The boys would have to cover their heads with kippot and the girls would have to wear skirts. 

The Frank: What about the Chinuch Atzmai schools? Is it a completely different system?

Rav Cohen: Chinuch Atzmai schools are  closer to being Talmud Torahs

DIN: So this is what we learned so far.... that this is not a frum school at all, it's not patterned after any frum school with our mesoireh,  its "patterned after the Finnish School system," It's coed, and will "ALSO" teach Yahadut and in Rav Cohen's words it's not a talmud Torah like Chinuch Atzmai, it's basically a Reform Yeshiva with Chareidie teachers, with the girls required to wear skirts, and the boys kippot.

Rav Cohen is trying to convince the naive and foolish Frank, that the Zionist government is afraid of this school and therefore yanked it's license based on the school children davening for three minutes in the morning? Rav Cohen takes Ami readers for a bunch of fools, and wants us to believe that even though the Zionists allow schools such as Chinuch Atzmai to operate, it won't allow a coed school with no Torah being thought except for "Yahadut" a code word for Jewish philosophy, and some tefillah, to operate.

Helllllllllowwwwwww? Anyone home?

Rav Cohen ran to the fool Frank, to plead with the foolish Americans to put pressure on the Israeli government to give him back his license. He knows that the "naarishe" Ami readers will fall for this lie that Israel is against kiruv, but what he didn't count on is DIN, who reads between the lines and exposes the anti-Zionist propaganda ! 

BTW, my wife teaches English in a masorti school, and the school has a morning period for those who want to daven, and every Rosh Chodesh they have a kumzitz singing Hallel. In the masorti curriculum they teach the halachos of shmittah. I am not saying that this is in any way sufficient, it isn't, but the school's primary population consists of Chilonie High Schoolers, and it's a public school. 

When asked if he will go to court to get his license back, Rav Cohen answers:

"Not yet. Right now, the lawyers are trying to deal directly with the Ministry of Education, but if it's not resolved, we will have no choice but take it to court."

Good Luck!

But it's "Israel vs Kiruv!