Aguda calls for a Mass Prayer Event in Manhattan but doesn't endorse it!

I want to ask my readers some simple questions. You can email if you have the answer to this .

1. Who goes to these things? 
2. Why is it important to have a mass gathering? Can't people go to their own shul and say some tehillim? Or does the Ribbono shel Olam only listen to us on "Water Street?"
3. Why is it important for goyim to see that Jews here in America don't want Jews in Israel to protect their own country?
4. Why are we instilling hate in our children towards Israel? Are you telling your innocent children that Israel is the bad guy and doesn't want us to learn Torah? Are you also telling them the honest truth.... that you believe that only Chilonim should sacrifice their chidren to protect the citizens of Israel, and that only the Chilonim should work and pay taxes to support the Chareidim?
5. Why arn't there protests against our own country who won't allow Jews to build in their own country?
6. Did any Rav or Rebbeleh send an email to Obama to tell him to stop threatening our brothers and sisters in Israel? Or do we care only about our own little neighborhoods and we don't give a hoot what happens in Israel? Do we only care because the Chilonim are fed up and want  the parasites in Israel to finally give something back to a country that had been feeding them until now!
7. Did the Aguda or any Rebbelleh send a letter to Obama to tell him that a Nuclear Iran is unacceptable because it can G-D Forbid annihilate all our brothers and sisters in Israel? Or are we putting our heads into the sand like we did during the Holocaust?
8. And why is the Aguda not endorsing this gathering?

Any Rabbi in any shul that calls for their congregants to go to this "Massive Chillul Hashem" should be asked publicly, when he last called for a protest against our own country to protest its hostility to Eretz Yisroel! 
When was the last time he called for a massive writing campaign to Senators and Representatives to ask them to support Israel? When?

At the request of Rabbis in Israel, American Rabbis have asked that Jews in New York should join in a large Prayer gathering that will take place on Water Street in lower Manhattan this Sunday (March 9) beginning at 2:00 p.m.
According to a press release By Agudath Israel, The gathering will echo this past Sunday’s mass prayer event in Jerusalem, which brought out hundreds of thousands of Jews in response to the Israeli government’s ongoing attempt to Draft Israeli Yeshiva students into the Army.
The New York gathering, which will include a special area for women who wish to participate, will begin with ‘Mincha’ and consist of the recital of Tehillim and special prayers in unison.
Buses are expected to bring participants to the gathering location from communities and institutions outside the immediate New York area, but New York residents are being urged to take public transportation to the site, which is well serviced by the subway system, and to not attempt to drive into Manhattan for the gathering.

Agudath Israel stressed in their press release, that although they are providing information regarding the planned mass prayer event, the gathering is not being organized under the auspices of Agudath Israel of America.

Aguda tries to remain relevant by attacking Rabbi Sacks for speaking the truth!

Rabbi Sacks

Agudath Israel is busy backing candidates for public office that are pro-gay,  anti-marriage. The Aguda will back anyone that will give them $$$$$$$$$$$$! 
So to keep themselves relevant they attack Rabbi Sacks, who was only telling the truth!

Here is the Aguda Statement:

Statement from Agudath Israel of America:

Public remarks attributed in the media to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the outgoing Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth of Britain, as well as his comments in a recent pamphlet he published, are dismaying, deeply misguided, and harmful to both Jewish unity and Jewish integrity.

The rabbi bemoans “the world of inward-turning, segregationist Orthodoxy.” He portrays the multitude of Jews who came together to celebrate the Siyum HaShas nearly a year ago – an event that captured the hearts, minds and souls of countless Jews, and the reverent wonder of much of the non-Jewish world – as representative of such an “extreme.”
Rabbi Sacks sees Jews who choose to “embrace Judaism and reject the world” as parts of a phenomenon he calls “worse than dangerous” and “an abdication of the role of Jews and Judaism in the world.”

Rabbi Sacks’ sentiments are not only inaccurate but un-Jewish and uncouth.

Portraying the “ultra-Orthodox” world as detached from awareness of, and interaction with, the larger world betrays an astounding ignorance of reality.  Not only are charedim in the workplace and the “outside world,” but the charedi universe has played a leading role, if not the leading role, in outreach to the rest of the Jewish community with a wealth of chesed, limud haTorah and kiruv projects.  Many charedi-sponsored initiatives touch the non-Jewish world as well.  Charedi communities have developed healthy, sophisticated relationships with their governmental representatives and public institutions.  Rabbi Sacks appears not to know the world he arrogates to judge.

Yes, the charedi world places great emphasis on shutting out pernicious elements of the surrounding culture.  But surely Rabbi Sacks recognizes that such elements have proliferated and intensified in our day.  Does he not agree that exposure to the excesses of modern society can be harmful to the Jewish spirit?  And does he not recognize that shielding oneself and one’s family from such negative influences is precisely what Judaism asks of Jews? 

Most important, Rabbi Sacks seems not to comprehend that the very insularity and intensive focus on Torah that characterize the charedi world are no mere sociological trends.  They are, rather, the means to accomplish the ultimate mandate for all Jews: the preservation of our mesorah, and its transmission, in as pure and clear a way as possible, to the next generation and beyond.

The urgency of that mandate intensified in the aftermath of Churban Europe, when the restoration of a Torah-centered Jewish world seemed a distant dream.  And it was the charedi community, beyond all, that rose to the challenge, establishing Torah-loyal families, building yeshivos and Bais Yaakov schools, establishing the primacy of limud haTorah throughout the Jewish world – recreating from the ashes with faith and dedication and, b’chasdei Hashem, incredible success.

And so, by deriding the charedi way of life, by characterizing it as some sort of petty and pointless – even dangerous – rejection of the larger world, Rabbi Sacks does a considerable disservice to not only the charedi community but to the Jewish mission of our day.  He seems now to have turned his back on the ideals he has ably championed for many years, the promotion of authentic Jewish knowledge and the fostering of true Jewish unity.

We call on him to apologize for the derision and condescension that, intentionally or not, were embodied in his recent remarks and writing.

Agudath Israel now tells people who know of anyone getting sexually abused to report it immediately to authorites

Agudah Rabbis Continue to Cover Up for Known Molesters

Op Ed

Agudah Rabbis: “Do as we say not as we do.”
Asher Lipner, Ph.D

After forbidding Jewish parents from reporting sex crimes against their children to the authorities, Agudath Israel has been backtracking and “clarifying” their position, saying that they never meant to protect all child molesters, only to protect against false accusations.  Agudah’s policy now requires that a rabbi be consulted on what is called “Raglyaim Ladavar”- reasonable suspicion - before reporting allegations.  Many parents and professionals strongly disagree with this approach and feel that since rabbis have no training in forensics or in evaluating sex offenders, parents should either call state child abuse hotlines or use their common sense to decide what is suspicious and report it immediately to the police for children to best be protected. 


However, the real confusion that Agudah has created for parents and for victims of abuse has nothing to do with an unclear and unwise policy; it is a problem of actions, not of words. While paying lip service to the Mitzvah to protect children’s safety, what perplexes survivors of abuse and frightens parents is why are the Agudah rabbis continuing to personally cover up for known molesters? 


1. Rabbi Moshe Eisemann, the former Mashgiach Ruchani of the Ner Yisroel Yeshiva in Baltimore was exposed to the Baltimore Rabbis as a child molester in 2006. After confessing his crimes Eisemann was quietly “retired”. Rabbi Ahron Feldman, not only failed to report Eisemann’s crimes to the police, but he refused to warn the public - including the hundreds of boys who live on the campus of the Yeshiva. Rabbi Feldman also writes approbations for Eisemann’s “seforim” as does Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky. 


Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, Rabbi Yitzchok Feigelstock, Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, Rabbi Kamenetsky, Rabbi Ahron Shechter and Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon sit together with Eisemann on Agudah’s “Vaad L’hatzalas Nidchei Yisroel” (Committee to Rescue Jewish Refugees from the former Soviet Union), through which Eisemann runs his own boys’ school in Kishinev. Artscroll continues to promote Eisemann’s books, and the Yated Ne’eman, mouthpiece of the Agudah Gedolim, continues to write about his righteousness.


When the Baltimore Jewish Times exposed Eisemann and other rabbinic molesters, Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, of the local branch of Agudah attacked it for being anti-Jewish.

2. Rabbi Aaron Tendler has now been forced out of his rabbinic and teaching jobs in Los Angeles after serious allegations of sexual contact with underage girls. The local rabbis have not contacted the police or warned the community. His uncles, Rabbis Dovid and Reuven Feinstein, are fully aware of his [alleged] crimes but have protected his reputation, and he is living under the radar, a threat to Jewish girls everywhere. 


3. Rabbi Yehudah Kolko of New York, where Gedolim Rabbis Perlow, Dovid Feinstein and Schechter preside, molested boys at both Yeshiva Torah Temima and camp Agudah for decades. He plead guilty to a lesser charge of child endangerment and is a free man. Kolko would certainly be in jail if the Gedolim would report what they know to the police and call on all victims to co-operate with the investigation.


4. In Monsey, the Yeshiva of Spring Valley, under the careful guidance of Rabbi Kamenetsky, fired Rabbi Chaim Abrahamson after hearing credible allegations of molestation going back decades. But Rabbi Kamenetsky told the Yeshiva they could cover up the danger and not contact the police. 


5. In Lakewood, Rabbis Kotler and Salomon have a Beis Din that covers up cases of sexual abuse. The rabbis have worked closely over the years with Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, sending the predators for “treatment,” but not a single case has been reported to the police by either the rabbis or by Ohel. One Lakewood family courageously did report their child’s abuse to the police and are currently pressing charges, but they have been forced to move out of town for their safety. When a mother of a boy who died from a drug overdose publicized that he had been molested, her house was burned down and police investigators cannot get cooperation from the rabbis. This intimidation is carried out with rabbinic complicity or at least passive acquiescence; not a single rabbi condemns it or shows support for the victims.  


6. In Chicago, Rabbi Avraham Chaim Levine and his “Special Bais Din” is in charge of covering up cases of child sexual abuse. He has not reported a single child molester to the authorities. Rabbi Levine can be heard on tape decrying those who would publicize the names of known child sexual predators.


The current actions of the Agudah Gedolim, shockingly more in line with the behavior the world has come to expect from the Catholic Church, are not only in contradiction of their stated policy, they are also in violation of the law. In Maryland and New Jersey, for example, all adults are mandated to report sex crimes against children to the authorities. The Ocean County prosecutor publicly warned the Lakewood rabbis that their Bais Din is illegal, and that they risk prosecution for failure to report sex crimes to the police. One Lakewood Kollel rabbi was arrested for witness tampering, and a prominent Brooklyn Rabbi, Yisroel Belsky, was warned that he too would be arrested if he published his letter threatening the family of the raped boy.    


So why in the world do the rabbis cover up for molesters? Some Gedolim, like Rabbi Pinchas Sheinberg, have said that without sexual penetration it isn’t really abuse. Other rabbis feel that prominent (choshuv) molesters should be allowed to get away with it, like Rabbi Hopfer who told me not to expose Eisemann because “he made many people frum.” Agudah has also said that Orthodox molesters should not have to go to jail because they are needed as breadwinners. Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel wrote to me that it is not Agudah’s job to protect children from molesters known to the Gedolim. Rabbi Perlow, the Nasi of Agudah, still refuses to speak out against Kolko’s crimes, because they happened in Flatbush, and Perlow is a Rebbe in Borough Park. When the Gedolim opposed the Child Victims Act that would extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, they publicly admitted that they are afraid that if their cover-ups are uncovered, lawsuits could jeopardize the “financial integrity” of their organizations. 


To clarify that they are on the right side of the issue of child abuse, the Gedolim need to stand with those victims who have come forward, and to call upon all others to go to the police. They also must reveal to the police the identities of the dozens of molesters that they are still covering up for.  


The Talmud says that while non-Jews do not have Torah, they do have wisdom. The rabbis would do well to recall the wisdom of a great non-Jew who said “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”


And, in this time of the year closing in on Rosh Hashana, the Day of Judgment, they should also remember what the Torah says: You can’t fool G-d. Ever.

Asher Lipner, Ph.D is a psychologist and a well known activist working to stop child sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox and Orthodox communities.

Agudath Israel Clarifies it's Position on Reporting Child Abuse!

From VIN News

Agudath Israel of America has received several inquiries in the wake of misleading claims that have recently been made about our stance on reporting suspected child abusers to law enforcement authorities.  We take the opportunity to clarify our position.

As Torah Jews we live our live our lives in accordance with halacha.  The question of whether and under what circumstances one is halachically permitted or required to report to the authorities suspicions of child abuse (including sexual molestation) has attracted the attention of a number of our generation’s most prominent rabbinic authorities.  Many of their responsa have been collected in the respected Torah journal Yeshurun, Volumes 15 and 22.

As elaborated at a recent Halacha Conference sponsored by Agudath Israel of America, these responsa make clear that when certain standards have been met it is not only permitted but in fact obligatory to report suspicions of abuse or molestation.  The general principles that emerge from these responsa are as follows:

1. Where there is “raglayim la’davar” (roughly, reason to believe) that a child has been abused or molested, the matter should be reported to the authorities.  In such situations, considerations of “tikun ha’olam” (the halachic authority to take steps necessary to “repair the world”), as well as other halachic concepts, override all other considerations.

2. This halachic obligation to report where there is raglayim la’davar is not dependent upon any secular legal mandate to report. Thus, it is not limited to a designated class of “mandated reporters,” as is the law in many states (including New York); it is binding upon anyone and everyone. In this respect, the halachic mandate to report is more stringent than secular law.

3. However, where the circumstances of the case do not rise to the threshold level of raglayim la’davar, the matter should not be reported to the authorities. In the words of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, perhaps the most widely respected senior halachic authority in the world today, “I see no basis to permit” reporting “where there is no raglayim la’davar, but rather only ‘eizeh dimyon’ (roughly, some mere conjecture); if we were to permit it, not only would that not result in ‘tikun ha’olam’, it could lead to ‘heres haolam’ (destruction of the world).”  [Yeshurun, Volume 7, page 641.]

4. Thus, the question of whether the threshold standard of raglayim la’davar has been met so as to justify (indeed, to require) reporting is critical for halachic purposes. (The secular law also typically establishes a threshold for mandated reporters; in New York, it is “reasonable cause to suspect.”) The issue is obviously fact sensitive and must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

5. There may be times when an individual may feel that a report or evidence he has seen rises to the level of raglayim la’davar; and times when he may feel otherwise.  Because the question of reporting has serious implications for all parties, and raises sensitive halachic issues, the individual should not rely exclusively on his own judgment to determine the presence or absence of raglayim la’davar.  Rather, he should present the facts of the case to a rabbi who is expert in halacha and who also has experience in the area of abuse and molestation – someone who is fully sensitive both to the gravity of the halachic considerations and the urgent need to protect children. (In addition, as Rabbi Yehuda Silman states in one of his responsa [Yeshurun, Volume 15, page 589], “of course it is assumed that the rabbi will seek the advice of professionals in the field as may be necessary.”) It is not necessary to convene a formal bais din (rabbinic tribunal) for this purpose, and the matter should be resolved as expeditiously as possible to minimize any chance of the suspect continuing his abusive conduct while the matter is being considered.