Rabbi Halpern “dangerous and sick” and the center of sex assault claims leads Purim party

 

An Orthodox rabbi who is the subject of a local authority child safeguarding alert led Purim celebrations surrounded by members of his community including children, pictures and video obtained by the JC reveal.

Despite the highly unusual warning, Rabbi Chaim Halpern was the honored guest at a party attended by around 50 men and young boys on Tuesday lunchtime.

Photographs and footage of the event show Halpern addressing the congregation and dancing with guests at the Beis Shmuel synagogue in Golders Green, north London, which is run by his brother Moshe, another rabbi.

In the video, speaking in Yiddish, Moshe Halpern, sitting next to his brother at the top table with other community leaders, refers obliquely to “graciousness in not responding to people speaking about you”.

Chaim Halpern, 64, also known as Aaron Halpern, who leads the nearby Divrei Chaim synagogue, was the subject of a police investigation into sexual assault a decade ago and is currently facing a rabbinical inquiry into his conduct.

Halpern has regularly involved in providing counselling to women in London’s ultra-orthodox Charedi community. But last year a 21-year-old woman who went to him for help branded him “dangerous and sick”, claiming he used his position to groom and assault her.

The unnamed woman went on television in Israel to accuse Halpern of assaulting her — touching her “private parts” — when she went to him for spiritual guidance. She said he was “evil and must be stopped”.

She later told the JC: “The truth is overdue. Reb Chaim thinks that because he’s a rabbi, he can do whatever he wishes. “He tricked me into trusting him by acting charming, giving attention and compliments. He invests time into phone calls and emails, but it’s all just grooming.”

Reacting to the allegations, Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: “Allegations of serious sexual abuse by a rabbi in London highlight the extent to which abusers can manipulate a culture of respect to serve their own depraved criminality.

“For a rabbi to hold private meetings with women behind closed doors is a transgression of halachah and creates an environment in which abuse can take place. I urge victims and anyone aware of abuse to report it without hesitation.”

At the end of last month, Hackney Council’s education chief took the extraordinary step of sending a letter to headteachers and community children’s group leaders “strongly advising” them to keep children in their care away from the rabbi due to the “very serious” claims against him.

Referring to the ongoing inquiry into his conduct by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC), which oversees his synagogue, Paul Senior, the council’s interim education director, wrote: “Whilst this investigation continues we would strongly advise you not to refer any children in your care to Chaim Halpern, and to ensure that the parents, carers and families of your children are also made aware of this situation.”

He added: “As a local authority, having been made aware of these concerns, we felt it was important to ensure that you too had sight of them.”

In 2012, Halpern had been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence following a nine-month probe.

As the JC has revealed, despite the claims, Halpern is a member of the board which runs a number of schools in north London.

Halpern has been previously listed as a “rabbinical adviser” to the group of schools.

Halpern has given counselling to the victims of rape and sexual assault in his community, including a young woman, who told the JC that after she was assaulted from the age of 13, she was offered cash on behalf of her abuser by two rabbis, including Halpern, to whom she was sent for guidance. She added: “There will be dozens and dozens of girls and women like me who have been through this process with Rabbi Halpern.”

The woman said she was sent to Rabbi Halpern in 2011, about a year before he was accused of the sexual assault.

Halpern, she said, acted as a form of “mediator” between her abuser and herself.

Halpern denies all allegations. Asked about his client’s involvement in the Purim event, the rabbi’s solicitor, David Sonn, refused to comment.

Harav Hagoen Rav Aaron Halpern from Golders Green Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Frum Women " "dangerous and sick"

 

This tzaddik had allegations against him going back to 2012, when over 30 woman complained that this Rav was a sexual pervert! Some called him "dangerous and sick" DIN wrote about him for over a decade! 

We again wrote about this walking sex deviant back in 2023 ..when a shul in Golders Green shul made him an honored guest at a party! 

What is appalling is that Rabbanim backed this evil excuse of a human.

 Only one Charedie Rav came out with a statement against this animal three years ago when the story broke wide open. 

Harav Shraga Feivel Zimmerman previously the Rav of Gateshead - and now the Av Beis Din and Rov of the Kehillas Federation Beis Din, one of London's three kehillois,  was the lone Rav!

Those of you following me, will remember, that way back  when I exposed Rav Mordechai Tendler on my New Hempstead Blog. I was looking for a Rav to present the evidence, all of the the rabbanim I approached,  said after examining the irrefutable evidence that they would sign if I got a prominent Rav to sign first. The only one with courage and guts was Rav Zimmerman who then lived in Monsey. I have to give credit to Rav Wosner as well who lived in Monsey at that time and wrote the psak that Rav Tendler can no longer be a Rav In Monsey! 

What is interesting to note is that Halpern the pervert remained as Rav of his shul all this time. 

Halpern, 68, also known as Rabbi Chaim Halpern, had denied both charges, which involved a woman who visited him for religious guidance in June 2022.

Jurors convicted him on Thursday, 12 November. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on 12 January 2027.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had approached the rabbi for advice on Jewish law, known as Halacha.

Prosecutors alleged that Halpern touched her thigh before later touching her breasts and groin over her clothing during a private meeting in his study above a Golders Green synagogue.

Jurors also heard recordings of telephone conversations between the pair after the woman returned to Israel, during which sexual matters were discussed.

Halpern denied sexually assaulting her but acknowledged hugging her.

His barrister, Sarah Elliott KC, described him as a “silly old fool” who was “infatuated” with the woman.

The defence questioned the woman’s account and suggested that her dealings with Halpern may have been motivated by money.

Prosecutor Stephen Wells rejected that suggestion, arguing that the woman had no reason to make up the allegations against Halpern.

The court also heard that Halpern allegedly gave the woman £100 and told her to keep quiet about what had happened.

Detective Constable Joshua Dwyer, who led the Metropolitan Police investigation, said Halpern had exploited the trust placed in him as a religious leader.

“This was a profound abuse of trust,” he said.

Dwyer praised the woman’s “courage, resilience and determination” throughout the investigation.

Police said the woman had initially been reluctant to report the assaults, but later gave officers a video-recorded interview in February 2023

Detectives worked with charities and community organisations in Britain and Israel to support her during the investigation.

Halpern, who has long been associated with the Divrei Chaim synagogue in Golders Green, was arrested in March 2023 after the woman’s allegations were broadcast on Israeli television.

He was charged with two counts of sexual assault in March 2024 and pleaded not guilty to both.

The trial followed several delays, including one caused by the complainant’s illness and another involving the disclosure of evidence.

UOHC will “immediately open a full and impartial investigation on Harav Hagoen Chaim Halperin

 

We have been writing about this sexual pervert since Dec 2012.

See

 DUS IZ NIES !! Rare View...: London Charedi Rabbis endorse Alleged Sex Abuser

DUS IZ NIES !! Rare View...: Rav Halpern from England may get away with sexually abusing women

DUS IZ NIES !! Rare View...: Halpern's (the alleged rapist from London) goons arrested for harassing the victims

DUS IZ NIES !! Rare View...: Der "Groiser" Tzaddik Chaim Halperin that allegedly bedded many women goes to Goyishe Court to out Blogger!

DUS IZ NIES !! Rare View...: Chaim Halpern, Chasidic Rabbi in London Arrested for rape related charges

A rabbi accused of sexually abusing a woman when she went to him for counselling is to be investigated by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, the umbrella body for London’s Charedi communities.

The action follows a TV broadcast on Israel’s Channel 12 last week in which the 21-year-old woman claimed Rabbi Chaim Halpern, head of the Divrei Chaim Synagogue in London’s Golders Green, groped her when she met him for rabbinical guidance.

The woman told the program Rabbi Halpern had touched “private parts” of her body at the counselling session in London and had repeatedly tried to see her during a recent visit to Israel, where she lives.

In reported telephone conversations apparently between the pair, the rabbi said he loved her, told her she was beautiful and asked if she wanted him to “come with you in bed”.

The Union broke its silence on the claims on Thursday by releasing a statement saying it took the allegations “with utmost seriousness” and is opening “a full and impartial investigation”.

It advised the public “to take necessary precautions and to take these allegations seriously”.

Chaim Halpern, Chasidic Rabbi in London Arrested for rape related charges

A top Hasidic rabbi in London, England, was arrested and charged with rape related charges after raping numerous women, according to press reports in Israel.

The 54-year-old man, Rabbi Chaim Halpern, who is a prominent Hasidic rabbi, is accused of using his unlicensed couples therapy practice to seduce and sometimes rape married women. Halpern is also accused of raping single women and undergae girls.

Three other men, aged 62, 64 and 25, a brother of Halpern and another member of the London Shomrim patrol, were arrested for allegedly perverting the course of justice in relation to the case of Halpern, by intimidating witnesses, bribing victims, bribing witnesses, extortion and violence.

Supporters of Rabbi Chaim Halpern had threatened, harassed and assaulted members of the community who tried to publicize the alleged crimes of Halpern or involve the police. Halpern went to court recently in order to gain access to the names of those who exposed his crimes on internet blogs.

Police have also searched the files belonging to Halpern and seized his computers. 

Rav Halpern from England may get away with sexually abusing women

After weeks of silence, the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations has announced that it will convene a special rabbinic court to hear claims against one of its rabbis of inappropriate behaviour with women.

Rabbi Chaim Halpern resigned as a Union dayan and from other communal roles two weeks ago, after complaints about his counselling sessions for women, but continues to lead the synagogue he runs in his Golders Green home.

The Union — which has been under mounting criticism over its handling over the episode — issued a public notice on Tuesday.

It stated that the head of its rabbinate, Dayan Ephraim Padwa, was “in the process of setting up an independent Beis Din, consisting of prominent and renowned dayonim, to thoroughly investigate the allegations affecting one of our rabbonim”.

The Beth Din — which is likely to consist of three rabbis from Israel — will “hear testimony and examine evidence”, according to the notice. Its ruling would be binding on the Union’s rabbinate.

Until it delivered its verdict, Rabbi Padwa expressed the wish that “no further action nor declaration be made”.

But one north-west London rabbi, who is aware of the complaints, questioned the credibility of the Beth Din and whether any of the women involved would be willing to attend. “It is worth nothing,” he said. “It is going to be one-sided because no one will come to give evidence.”

Rabbis who have previously urged the Union to act “would not co-operate”, he predicted, because “they feel it is just a plan to whitewash”.

Rabbi Halpern relinquished his communal roles after attending a meeting at the home of former London Beth Din head Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, when a group of six rabbis questioned him over the complaints and heard testimony directly from one young woman.

An associate of Rabbi Halpern — who is the son of Union president Rabbi Elchonon Halpern — has said that the rabbi denied the allegations.

Amid increasing strain between the Stamford Hill-based Union and some of its Golders Green members, it is understood that a wider group of north-west Londonrabbis is considering making public their concerns about Rabbi Halpern. So far they have held back pending efforts to get the backing of some Union rabbis.

But one rabbi has spoken out. Dayan Yisroel Lichtenstein, head of the Federation of Synagogues Beth Din, said that Rabbi Halpern had “crossed the red lines of accepted rabbinic behaviour” and was “unfit to serve as a rabbi”.

In a bizarre twist, Union leaders this week received an email purporting to come from an American psychologist, “Ahron Hersh Fried”, which cast doubt on the allegations against Rabbi Halpern and suggested that he would probably be cleared .

A senior Union figure suggested that the email be circulated to “relevant parties… maybe even to whoever can get it into the JC”.

But it appears that the email may be a hoax. Rabbi Aharon Hersh Fried is the name of a psychologist at Yeshiva University in New York and he has made it clear that he is not the author of the email sent to the Union.

London Charedi Rabbis endorse Alleged Sex Abuser

the "tzaddik" R' Chaim Halpern

by Failed Messiah

Rabbi Chaim Halpern allegedly sexually abused several women he was counselling, some of who mustered up the courage to complain to the haredi rabbis who head Kedassia, the umbrella organization of primarily hasidic haredi rabbis.

Kedassia tried to cover up Halpern's crimes, but eventually brokered an agreement with him that saw him resigning from the beit din, religious court, he sat on and from other public leadership roles.

Those resignations were thought by many to be temporary, a fig leaf to stop the complaining women from cooperating with police.

Halpern was allowed to continue to run the synagogue and study hall located in the building where he lives, as well.

That caused a group of Golders Green haredi rabbis to isue their own letter against Halpern saying that Halpern was unfit to be a rabbi.

But hasidm are hasidim, and Kedassia chose to respond to that letter with this disgusting proclamation in support of a man they know to be an abuser.

Here is the letter:

Halpern's (the alleged rapist from London) goons arrested for harassing the victims

Two Orthodox men have been charged with harassment.

Samuel Erlanger and Shlomo Feldman will appear in court next month.

They were arrested in January as part of an ongoing investigation which saw Golders Green rabbi Chaim Halpern questioned in February in connection with alleged sexual assault and perverting the course of justice.

Rabbi Halpern, head of the Divrei Chaim Synagogue, has not been charged and denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Mr Erlanger, 38, of Powis Gardens, Golders Green, faces one charge of harassment in relation to incidents alleged to have taken place between December 25 last year and January 23 this year.

He has been bailed to appear at Hendon Magistrates' Court on May 2.

Mr Feldman, 29, of Lynmouth Road, Stamford Hill, faces three charges of harassment without violence. He will appear at the same court on May 15.

The men were charged today at Colindale police station.

Der "Groiser" Tzaddik Chaim Halperin that allegedly bedded many women goes to Goyishe Court to out Blogger!

An orthodox Jewish rabbi accused of having extra-marital affairs has won a High Court ruling that Google must divulge the identities of those who blackened his name. 
Hayley Dixon • The Telegraph

The judge ruled that those who posted “weasly comments” about Rabbi Aaron [sic - should be Chaim] Halpern on his blog could not hide behind the “shield of anonymity”

Google, who campaigners claim have a questionable attitude toward private data, were not represented in court and did not resist the rabbi's application.

The rabbi brought legal action after a blogger who goes under the pseudonym "Ifyoutickleus" and several others are said to have posted comments on his Google-hosted blog about him having affairs.

Mrs Justice Gloster ruled that Rabbi Halpern "has been identified as the subject matter" of the blog, which suggests "that he is somebody who conducts extra marital affairs, though not on a scale of Ryan Giggs."

She ordered that Google hand over the identities of those concerned to lawyers for the rabbi, a religious leader based in the Golders Green Jewish community.

The rabbi's barrister, Chloe Strong, said that Google had remained neutral in relation to the application for the identities to be revealed and, whilst they did not consent to it, neither did they oppose.

Google, “albeit innocently”, had become caught up in a “wrongful act” and therefore has a duty to assist the rabbi by giving him information so that he can identify the blogger, she told London’s High Court.

Allowing the application, the judge ordered Google Inc to "disclose the registered name, address or IP address in their possession in respect of the blogger Ifyoutickleus", as well as those of the other individuals complained of who made comments about the rabbi.

In what may be viewed as a marker for future cases in the English courts, Mrs Justice Gloster concluded: "I take the view that if people are making what appear to be prima facie defamatory comments, they should not be protected by the cloak of anonymity.

"Though of course the protection of freedom of speech is very important, people who make weasly comments online in circumstances such as this should not be allowed to hide behind the shield of anonymity."

In 2009 Google, who say they will only give out details uwhen ordered, revealed that student Rosemary Port was the author of the anonymous Skanks in NYC blog which attacked model Liskula Cohen. Ms Cohen then launched legal action.

Last month an Australian court ordered that Google provide email addresses, telephone numbers and the IP addresses of the individuals alleged to have defamed sports player-turned-businessman Shane Radbone.

In the UK the ruling is known as a Norwich Pharmacal order, which is granted against a third party when the identity of an alleged wrongdoer is unknown, and it was first used in 1974.

It is now commonly used to force website operators and service providers to reveal IP addresses and other details in potential libel cases.

In July last year it was used to force Facebook to disclose details of alleged ‘cyber-bullies’ to complainant Nicola Brookes.

New York Times Declares "Falafel Tanami" in Midwood the Best Falafel in NYC

 

What happens when the country’s premier newspaper names a hole-in-the-wall kosher falafel joint as one of the 100 best restaurants in New York?

Hundreds of people show up every day, creating lines that occasionally snake out the door. News stations from across the globe ask for interviews, catering requests come in from all over the city and, of course, the falafel often sells out before closing time.

That’s what happened at Falafel Tanami, a tiny Israeli-owned falafel place just a few blocks off the Avenue M stop on the Q train in Midwood, Brooklyn. In April, the humble eatery at 1305 East 17th Street  —  featuring just three counter stools, a quiet soundtrack of Israeli religious pop and photos of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson adorning the walls — was included in the New York Times’ list of the 100 best restaurants in New York City, curated by the paper’s senior food critic, Pete Wells.

“It has been crazy, Baruch Hashem,” said Galit Tanami, using the Hebrew for “thank God.” She owns the store with her husband, Ronen. “Everybody is so excited for us.”

“The falafel are extraordinary,” Wells wrote in his review. “The thick cushions of pita, baked to order, may be better yet. It’s hard not to go wild with the salads and vegetables and garlic, all as fresh as if you were standing in a market in Tel Aviv.”

“Now everybody wants to try it,” Tanami said of her restaurant’s signature dish.

Avigayil Halpern Finishes Shas

                                                       

Below is her take on Yosef Ha'Zaddik

Below she tries her best to be a shadchan

How "Chusheve" Chareidie Rabbanim in England Protect the Molester "the Avi Avas Ha'Tumah" Rabbi Chaim Halperin

 

Sorry guys, it's in Yiddish. 

Those who understand Yiddish will be impressed with his impeccable diction and knowledge in his denunciation of Chareidie Rabbanim who not only allowed this pervert to continue as Rav of a Chareidie Community but send him more "karbonos" to molest!

How many lives will Chareidim allow this fiend to destroy until they finally kick him to the curb.?

ifyoutickleus · On Chaim Halpern and UOHC

37% aged 14-18 Jewish Teens sympathize with an enemy actively working to murder as many Jews as possible and publicly vowing the destruction of Israel.

 

By MICAH HALPERN

Israel and the Jewish people have a serious perception problem – that fact is known to all who care. Yet, in this case, the bigger and less-known problem is one of self-perception.

In the United States, a significant percentage of young Jews are sympathizing with Hamas. Some 37% aged 14-18 sympathize with an enemy actively working to murder as many Jews as possible and publicly vowing the destruction of Israel.

The phenomenon is so befuddling it takes time to set in. I had to read the headline several times because I thought it was a typo or an editorial mistake. I ran to the study commissioned by the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry.

How can young Jews come to such an obtuse conclusion? The issue further complicating this puzzling fact is that out of the 662 young people studied between June 16 and July 23, 2024, 80% of them had visited Israel at least once. The study reveals an even more troubling reality, specifically regarding 14-year-olds.

In the 14-year-old group, 60% felt sympathy for Hamas. As they get older the sympathy numbers drop. For 18-year-olds, the Hamas sympathy rating is 10%. According to the study, 60% of the youth sympathize with the Palestinian cause.

These are very significant findings. Maybe the study is wrong. If the findings are correct, the entire premise of focusing on Israel education has been mistaken – totally mistaken.

The working assumption was that a solution to the floundering future of young Jews was sending them to Israel: that seeing Israel with their own eyes was a solution. According to this study, however, it is not. Those studied saw the “real Israel” and they left prepped to criticize Israel. And they did not stop there but actually joined the Hamas side.

Some will retort that 94% of the teens “feel a connection to Israel,” and 94% want to foster a deeper connection to Israel through education.

Those youth who were studied in the US who sympathized with Hamas are casting their lot with the murderers of Jews and Israelis. It is absurd.

However, when you look at those who went on Birthright trips, the numbers tell a different story.

The Principle behind Birthright was to get Jewish youth to Israel. Once there, they cannot help but be moved into a transformative relationship with the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Sounds perfect.

Mega-donors Bronfman, Steinhardt, and Adelson, as well as the Israeli taxpayers, contributed tens of millions of dollars, all in the hope that bringing young Jews to Israel will help reinvigorate the Jewish people. They were investing in the future.

The very first trip took place in 1999. At first, the target group of Jewish youth was ages 18-26. They then raised the upper limit to 32.

Most studies on Birthright show that participants are 16% more likely to marry Jews than non-participants. And they are more committed to the Jewish community, Jewish learning, and Israel.

How do we make sense of this new study?

Maybe because these young people are more familiar with Israel, they are closer to Israel and hence more likely to criticize Israel.

Some might say that it is criticism out of love of Israel. Remember, that is how former US president Barack Obama would couch his scathing attacks against Israel – masquerading as a friend.

Or maybe it is a Haaretz-like style of criticism: that their hatred for a certain dimension of Israel is so vitriolic that it colors every aspect of how they view the Jewish state. Israel’s leaders are so bereft of morality that everything they do is tainted with evil.

They disagree with the policies of Israel. The study showed that more than 60% believe that Israel is perpetrating a genocide on the Palestinians.

Who Are the Frum Community Fooling, Who are they Killing?

By MICHA HALPERN 

 When it all began sometime around Purim, we did not understand how deadly this novel virus would be. We couldn’t know. We couldn’t be blamed for not knowing. We didn’t realize that eating together, and singing and dancing together were the easiest ways to transmit this deadly disease. But that was Purim.

By Passover we knew for sure. We were mourning the deaths of our dear family and friends. We were recovering from the virus ourselves.

Seven weeks later, on Shavuot, COVID-19 was still raging. And on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simhat Torah it still raged.

It’s not what we wanted, it’s not what we expected, but it is – as the saying goes – what it is.

So why can’t the Jewish world, the haredi, ultra-Orthodox world in particular, accept this hard truth? Why do some people think that they are different from everyone else?

As Jews, we know how to abide by rules and regulations: Shabbat, kashrut, the 613 commandments we obey on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. How is it that people either don’t realize or don’t care that by flaunting the rules being imposed on us by medical professionals, they are risking their lives, the lives of people about whom they care, even the lives of people whose names they now know but whose lives they have – because of their own selfish and self-serving needs and desires – altered forever.

I’m angry. I’m more than angry. I’m enraged, and I’m embarrassed.

My fellow Jews are rioting. They are burning protective masks, mocking social distancing and fighting with police. And the whole world is watching.

And it’s been going on this entire pandemic. How can such people – the “People of the Book” – not realize that instead of saving lives as we are instructed, they are causing the loss of lives?

Weddings are celebrated and then, about five days later, the parents or grandparents of brides and grooms are testing positive for the virus. They might die. Thousands of people attend a funeral of someone who died from COVID-19, and then hundreds become infected. Again, they might die.

People mourn, sitting shiva – not Zoom shiva but real shiva, where well-wishers enter their homes to share condolences – and the mourners themselves end up sick, hospitalized or dead. A grandmother contracts it from a grandchild. An uncle catches it from a nephew and is admitted to the ICU. It is a deadly cycle.

INCONVENIENCING OURSELVES in order to respect and honor the elderly and those most at risk should not be treated as a burden, it should be treated as a gift. When we have the ability to help save lives, why would people – our people – choose instead to engage in acts that will, ultimately and inevitably, take lives? Why?

The haredi community believes they are being singled out and even persecuted, in the United States as in Israel, because they are different, because they stand out. They are right. They are being singled out. But not for those reasons. They have thrown the health recommendations out the proverbial window and their number of coronavirus cases has skyrocketed. That’s why.

When the number of cases declined in Orlando, Florida – the home of Disney World, “the happiest place on Earth” – until this past week, there has to be a reason. Maybe it’s because it’s Sukkot, and Orlando was the destination of choice for thousands of Jews from haredi communities across the USA.

Do they not see the correlation or can they just not accept the truth?

The riots I am seeing on television and social media, the open disregard for the law of the land, is the stuff of anarchists and hate groups, not the Orthodox Jewish community. The logic is warped. The violence is real.

Synagogues, stores and restaurants in some Orthodox communities are pretending to comply. They are posting large signs on their doors that say “CLOSED,” and in smaller letters, in Hebrew or Yiddish they write, “Use the back door instead,” as if the police don’t know what’s happening. The haredi community might not be fluent in the use of Google Translate, but the police certainly are. And in the end, who are they hurting? Who are they fooling? More importantly, who are they killing? Against whom are they committing the ultimate sin?

Doctors and scientists still do not fully understand this virus, but there are some things they know. They know that avoiding large groups save lives. They know that wearing masks save lives. They know that social distancing saves lives. And they know the importance of hand-washing. It’s not rocket science, but it is science.

Maybe, just maybe – if we all do our best to follow the advice of the health professionals and others who know what they’re talking about – by next Purim we will be able to sing and dance and dine and rejoice with no fear of spreading the virus.

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Are "Gedolim" becoming irrelevent?

The Gemarrah in Mesactas Sotah says that in the times of Moshiach the Leaders will follow the masses, in other words they will not have the courage to lead... so read the following and see that these are truly Mashiachs' times!

by Daattorah.blogspot.com

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

The issue of child abuse and reporting abusers has seen welcome dramatic changes in the last few years. 2006 was the watershed with the publication of New York Magazine's "Does the Orthodox Community have a Catholic Church Problem." A few years later the Novominsker Rebbe got up at an Aguda convention  and publicly acknowledged that child abuse is a problem also in  our community. Aguda leader Rabbi Zweibel advanced this momentum forward a few baby steps. He announced that it was permissible to go to the police - as long as there was "raglayim l'davar" as determined by a rabbi. Despite this progress there still lingered over our community the shame of public discussion, the fear of being labeled a moser, and the difficulty of finding a posek who would not only say to go to the police would acknowledge that he gave the psak. 

The dam of filth and nonsense finally broke this year with a series of cases. The Weberman case in Williamsburg. A young lady had the incredible courage to stand up to the entire Satmar community including the rebbe and testify despite strong cross examination - that she had been abused by one of the communities most respected activists. The abuser was convicted and sent to jail. The as yet undetermined guilt or innocence in the Chaim Halpern case in England and the  Nachum Rabinowitz case in Brooklyn have many shaking their heads in disbelief. There is the ongoing persecution of Manny Waks and his family for reporting abuse. The Baruch Leibowitz case in which he was convicted and then released for retrial on a technicality connected to the apparently false charges against Samuel Kellner for extortion. Finally the straw that broke the camel's back was the case of Yosef Kolko in which not only was a child molested but a distinguished rav and talmid chachom and his family was driven out of Lakewood - for going to the police despite being told by poskim that he was obligated to do so by halacha. Distressingly despite Kolko's confession and clear evidence of guilt and his conviction - the rabbis who participated in the lynch mob have not acknowledged their error and apologized.

It is clear that child abuse has reached a critical mass in our awareness. The Kellner case involves a very distinguished talmid chachom - Rav Chaim Flohr. He is a man of great principle and very careful with every chumra - and he supported Kellner's reporting abuse.  It is no longer the Modern Orthodox versus Chareidim. There are Charedi poskim such as Rav Moshe Sternbuch and Rav Dovid Cohen who tell people to go to the police. Even Rav Yisroel Belsky has publicly announced he agrees. That which we didn't dare whisper five years ago, is the subject of public discussion at the Shabbos table, is the basis of articles in frum media and programs in yeshivas and camps and even the subject of an Artscroll book.

So what is missing? What remains to be done?

Unfortunately what we are missing are the rabbis, the community leaders dealing with the issue properly - both according to the halacha and the psychological reality. The rabbis by and large are being dragged along as we see in Lakewood, Boro Park, Williamsburg, England and Australia. The consequence of this foot dragging and fear of taking leadership roles - is that they are  being left behind. They are increasing being viewed as irrelevant for the big issues our lives. The tide has come and yet they insist on staying behind. In the Kolko case there were gedolei Torah who told the father to go to the police - and now they publicly deny it. They are afraid! How can a gadol be afraid to acknowledge what he has poskened? 

As a consequence of their lack of constructive participation in this horrible issue, emunas chachom is being conflicted and diminished - chas v'shalom. You can't cause or even allow a father with a molested child being run out of Lakewood - and retain the respect of the parents who have watched this debacle. You can't have kids molested in the mikve and schools, who know that rabbis are the last ones to confide in about their pain. Rabbis who say not to report abusers to the police can not retain the respect of parents and children who know that many more kids will be molested. Everyone except the rabbis know that they have no power to stop a pedophile.

Grandfather Of Murdered Baby Says Child Born To Parents After Years Of Waiting

3 month old infant Chaya Zisel Braun who was killed in an apparent terrorist attack on Oct. 22, 2014

The grandfather of an infant who died after a car rammed into civilians near a light rail station in Jerusalem addressed reporters outside of the hospital on Wednesday night, saying that the baby girl was born three months ago after her parents had tried for years to have a baby to no avail.

“They had just returned from the kotel (Western Wall). It was the first time in her life that the girl was at the site. She looked at the kotel, they took pictures, they [her parents] held her up to face the Temple Mount, and they told her this is the holy place, this is the temple mount,” Shimshon Halpern said.

He linked the killing to “the Arabs’ merciless hatred of thousands of years”, saying that they killed “a pure girl with a holy soul that never did anything bad to anyone in her life and was murdered for no reason.”

He said that Chaya and her parents were on the sidewalk when the car sped up and hit the baby stroller, sending the infant flying 10-20 meters in the air and landing head first on the pavement, causing her massive cranial bleeding.