A Tale of Two Funerals

 Thousands by the funeral of the Monster Man Walder

Barely a minyan by Shifra Hoffman 

Shira Horowitz A"H Victim of the Monster Walder TAKES HER LIFE

 

I'll bet that this is not enough proof for those bastards that commented that Walder was innocent and that all reports were fabricated.

It's time to cut out all those "Loshon Hara" sermons now! 

Rabbi Edelstein and other rabbanim now have blood on their hands!

״מפני שנתפרסם עליו כמה פעמים שעבר בשאט נפש על איסורין הידועין לכל ישראל שהוא אסור, כנאוף וכיוצא בזה,על איש כזה מותר לקבל לשון הרע״. (חפץ חיים הלכות לשון הרע כלל ז׳ הל׳ ה׳).

The Rabbis Are Trying to Rehabilitate Chaim Walder. Here's Why They Will Fail

 

Walder was accused of sexual assault, but upon his death he was upgraded by some Charedi leaders to the status of a martyr. The attempt to rehabilitate him will be another self-inflicted blow to the rabbis’ authority

by Anshel Pfeffer

 There’s a long list of issues that the ultra-Orthodox media is forbidden to report on. At the top of the list is anything to do with sex. For example, when U.S. President Bill Clinton faced impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky affair, Yated Ne’eman, the daily newspaper of the Haredi “Lithuanian” stream, reported that Clinton was in danger of losing his job for lying.

Consensual or coerced, sex is a completely taboo subject. Cases of rape will never be reported. At most, in very rare cases, there will be an oblique reference to “immoral behavior.”

 Another subject on the list of unmentionable topics is suicide 

WHEN THE RAPIST PLAYS THE ROLE OF VICTIM: CHAIM WALDER’S LAST PERFORMANCE

 

I have taken a few days to mull over the recent atrocious events leading up to the final attack of a rapist against his victims. Yes, I am talking about the dead. About a dead man. A man whose נשמה was dead way before his גוף.

Rapists have no soul. In its’ place is an abysmal emptiness that prowls to fill the void with cruel pleasure. And just like the addict who is never satisfied and keeps needing a new fix, so too, the rapist. Like CHAIM WALDER.

There are two types of rape. The one where a rapist grabs a random person and rapes her/him. Then there is the calculated rapist who knows the victim well, including all her/his vulnerabilities, grooms the victim, initiates the sexual relationship, and rapes her/him over and over. The latter is much worse, because as opposed to the random rape attack, the rapist who is well acquainted with the victim oftentimes turns her/him into a sex slave, to the extent that the victim believes in the attacker and may even develop romantic feelings for the attacker, manifested as the Stockholm Syndrome.

The clever experienced rapist will create all types of alibis and evidences (just in case…) even while the attacks are going on. This type of rapist is not just content to rape, but when bored with the victim will secure innocence by threatening the victim with the shame of exposure or legal repercussions.

Though this type of rape happens in the secular world, tragically it is very common in the Frum world. If there are any witnesses, they usually turn away and will even be defensive of the rapist. The victim has nowhere to turn. Until the day that she/he decides to stand up to her/his attacker. In most cases it will work against the victim, because the rapist will create an image of victimhood in an attempt to make the accuser appear as the predator! Sounds twisted, but those who are familiar with such cases, will agree.

Chaim Walder cleverly used his power to feed his pleasure for sexual force. And he did that for a very long time. Kol Hakovod to the holy Rabbonim who stood up for the victims and condemned the acts of Chaim Walder.

The takeaway lesson from this ugly tale is that even though we finally see that justice could have taken place, the rapist still made sure to have the last say. Chaim Walder wrote an arrogant suicide letter, calling the Rabbonim to a Bais Din in shamayim. Even in his last moments of life, the rapist left the world with the self-created image of a victim.

by Baila Sebrow

High School Girl in Bnei Brak Walks out on her Principal's "Loshon Hara" Speech

 

Loose translation:

In one of the Bnei Brak high school for girls the principal came into one of the classes to give them a speech about the sin of taking someone elses' life, on Loshon Hara and on embarrassing someone in public.

During this mussar speech a distraught girl got up and yelled while sobbing:

"embarrassing someone?" "Loshon Hara?" "how do you have the chutzpa to lecture us on this? I am a victim of sexual abuse ... me... how do you speak like this here?"

She then got up and left!

The class sat there dumbfounded but learned a lesson they will never ever forget!

This was but one school, one class and one girl who got up and spoke...

This black morning, in many classes, the girls got a musser speech like this, and you can be sure that at least one girl of each class was sexually abused yet kept quiet feeling guilty and blaming themselves even more!

The Time Chaim Walder Gave My Daughter a Present

 

13 years ago, my then first-grader Maayan came home from school one day bubbling with excitement. Her school had hosted a celebrity guest that day, one of her favorite writers: Chaim Walder! And that hadn't been all.

My oldest daughter, then a 5th grader, told me that during his presentation, Chaim Walder had asked all the girls what they wanted to be when they grow up: "A nurse!" "A teacher!"  "A lawyer!" girls called out. And then one little girl called out, "I want to be a mother with a lot of children!"

Chaim Walder, my oldest daughter told me, got a big smile on his face: "Who said that?" he asked, "That is so wonderful! Incredible!"

And her classmates pointed out my little Maayan, whom Chaim Walder proceeded to call to the front of the auditorium, took out a copy of his book Kids Speak 3, wrote her a personal dedication, and handed it to her as a gift.

How tragic that today this story that once seemed so sweet and innocent makes me absolutely shudder from a string of impossible what-ifs. What if Walder had taken my daughter to a separate room and touched her inappropriately,  even sexually assaulted her, G-d forbid, as he did so many others over the years?

 

Today, my youngest child, Yoni, came home from 1st grade and told me matter of factly, "Chaim Walder committed suicide yesterday. He took a gun and shot himself by his son's grave. Because he did bad things." 

Thanks to Chaim Walder so many children, like my own, who've grow up on his books have gotten introduced to all sorts of new words over recent weeks: adultery, sexual assault, rape, and now suicide.

Which reminds me that Chaim Walder's victims weren't only the girls, women, boys and men  he took advantage of and sexually assaulted over the years. He had many other victims as well. First and foremost, his own wife whom he betrayed so many times over the years. The ex-husbands and devastated children of the married women he conducted affairs with, leaving in his wake broken homes and lives.

And I think also, on a certain level, among his victims were you and me and our children, his loyal and trusting readers. We entrusted Chaim Walder with our children's hearts and minds and souls,  And he proved himself unworthy of that trust, thus betraying us and our children. Over and over again.

And now Chaim Walder is dead. Baruch Dayan HaEmet. Blessed be the true Judge.

Yonasan Schwartz the "Chizuk from the Parsha" Guy who sent a message that Walder was innocent ..Is the Distributer of Kids Speak

 

What a sick world we are living in...Everyone is corrupt!

From a reader:

Did you know that Yonasan Schwartz is the American distributor for W*lder’s books, and he paid *a ton* of 💰💰 for the rights to sell books that are now almost totally worthless and that the only reason (that we know of so far) he’s doing this is just plain old filthy greed? 

Should Walder's Books be Burned?

 

Charedi Leadership Declares Moral Bankruptcy in the wake of the Walder Tragedy

 

First a note from DIN:
Walder did not commit murder because he was shamed by journalists or Rabbis Silman & Rabbi Eliyahu.

 It was on Sunday that the news broke that the police were investigating the allegations.
Why all of a sudden did he decide to murder himself- only after there was a threat of real consequences? 

Because he could live under the shadow of mere suspicion. There would still be support from fans who would have been hopeful that the accusations were false. His books wouldn't have been banned but at the worst remain in sequestered limbo. And while there would be no career, there would be no jail time. (Consider how a deal was made for another predator to avoid police involvement.)

All that changed on Sunday. It was the police investigation, not the rabbis or the press.

Now from The Rationalist Judaism Blog

As is well known, recently the immensely popular Israeli charedi author, Chaim Walder, was exposed by two extremely responsible journalists as having taken advantage of at least two women. Subsequently, it emerged that Walder - head of the Center for Child and Family in Bnei Brak - had taken advantage of his status to assault many women, girls and boys. A Beit Din in Safed led by Rav Shmuel Eliyahu heard testimony from twenty-two people - victims, rabbis and therapists - about a pattern of assault which had been going on for twenty-five years. And, if you know anything about such things, it's obvious that for every victim who testifies, there are countless more who prefer to remain silent. Walder himself heatedly denied all the allegations, but the overwhelming weight of testimony from such a wide range of people (along with recordings of Walder himself admitting to adultery) made it perfectly clear that he was guilty. He emerged as a horrific serial predator, ruining countless lives.

Now, every community has its monsters. Religious Zionism had its Motti Elon, Centrist/ Modern Orthodoxy had its Baruch Lanner, the US had its Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, the UK had its Jimmy Saville. There's nothing indicting of the charedi community for it, too, to have its share of such predators. And initially, the response was encouraging. Eichlers announced that they would no longer be selling his books. Yated Neeman, for which Walder had written a column for many years, immediately dropped him. Radio Kol Chai, on which Walder had a regular show, also dropped him.

And then Walder shot himself. And suddenly, everything changed. 

The charedi websites Kikar Shabbos and Bechadrei Charedim posted obituaries for Walder which praised him glowingly. Yated Ne'eman ran a prominent obituary which instead of stating Shem Resha'im Yirkav, stated Zecher Tzaddik Livracha!

But it gets even worse.

At Walder's funeral, a hesped was delivered by the head of the immensely respected organization Ezer MiTziyon.

Another hesped was delivered by no less a person than the mayor of Bnei Brak.

At the shiva house, the mourners were honored with a visit by none other than the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav David Lau. (Yes, the family are also victims - but he didn't honor the other victims with a visit!)

But it gets even worse.

Rav Gershon Edelstein - one of the most respected rabbinic leaders in the Litvishe charedi world - issued a statement that all the people involved in making statements and issuing condemnations of Walder are guilty of publicly shaming him, and said that this is a worse crime than forbidden relations.

But it gets even worse.  

Rav Edelstein further declared that all these people forced him to commit suicide, and are therefore also guilty of murder.

The message to all victims of sexual abuse in the charedi community, and to all those trying to help them, is clear. Shut Up. The predator may be hurting people, but it's much worse to shame him, and you could even end up being guilty of murdering an important, respected member of the community.

The message to predators is also clear. We've Got Your Back. It's already very difficult for any victim of abuse to speak up, and we will try to make it as difficult as possible.

The charedi leadership has declared itself to be utterly, terribly, morally bankrupt. If you are in any way associated with that community, then you either publicly protest it, or you are effectively complicit.

 

Tutu the vicious antisemite drops dead

 

At a time when the statues of good people who had done bad things are being torn down, the world must reckon with the mixed legacy of Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, even in the immediate aftermath of his death.

 He did much good in fighting apartheid but he also has long history of ugly hatred toward the Jewish people, the Jewish religion and the Jewish state. He not only believed in anti-Semitism, he actively promoted and legitimated Jew hatred among his many followers and admirers around the world. 

Tutu minimized the suffering of those killed in the Holocaust. He has attacked the “Jewish” — not Israeli — “lobby” as too “powerful” and “scary.” He has invoked classic anti-Semitic stereotypes and tropes about Jewish “arrogance,” “power” and “money.” He has characterized Jews a “peculiar people,” and has accused “the Jews” of causing many of the world’s problems.

 Tutu’s good deeds should not shield him from accountability for his long history of anti-Jewish bigotry. Let the record speak for itself, so that history may judge Tutu on the basis of his own words — words that he has often repeated and that others repeat, because Tutu is a role model for so many people around the world. 

Here are some of Tutu’s hateful words, carefully documented in a petition by prominent South Africans to terminate him as a “patron” of the two South African Holocaust Centers, because he used his status with these fine institutions as legitimization for his anti-Jewish rhetoric. 

I have publicized Tutu’s evil words in the past, but they warrant republication now that he is being lionized all over the world. 

He minimized the suffering of those murdered in the Holocaust by asserting that “the gas chambers” made for “a neater death” than did Apartheid. 

He complained of “the Jewish Monopoly of the Holocaust,” and demanded that its victims must “forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust,” while refusing to forgive the “Jewish people” for “persecute[ing] others.” 

Tutu asserted that Zionism has “very many parallels with racism,” thus echoing the notorious and discredited “Zionism equals racism” resolution passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations and subsequently rescinded.