Hynes Backtracks in Kellner Sex-Abuse Fraud Case

Sam Kellner

Brooklyn prosecutors had been scheduled on Monday to open the trial of an Orthodox Jew charged with paying a child to falsely testify that he was a victim of sexual abuse.
But in a dramatic reversal, they told the trial judge that their key witness was no longer trustworthy, indicating the potential collapse of a controversial case that highlighted the complicated relationship between District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and the politically influential Orthodox community.
The case against the defendant, Sam Kellner, has been unusual from the start. Mr. Kellner had accused a prominent Hasidic cantor, Baruch Lebovits, of molesting his son, and Mr. Kellner helped the district attorney’s office identify other victims, leading to Mr. Lebovits’s conviction in March 2010.
But four months later, one victim who testified against Mr. Lebovits before a grand jury told prosecutors that he had testified only because Mr. Kellner paid him $10,000. Prosecutors turned around and won the indictment of Mr. Kellner, using the original accuser, now an adult, as their key witness in the new case. Mr. Kellner was also charged with trying to extort $400,000 from the Lebovits family to keep other children from making accusations.

The filing of charges against Mr. Kellner prompted criticism from advocates for victims of sexual abuse who viewed him as a whistle-blower. It also undermined the conviction of Mr. Lebovits, which had been a high-profile achievement of the district attorney’s campaign to persuade members of the insular Hasidic community to cooperate with authorities in such cases.

Mr. Lebovits’s lawyers used the Kellner prosecution and other issues to have the conviction overturned. Mr. Lebovits had already served one year of a minimum 10-year sentence.
In State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Monday, prosecutors told the judge, Ann M. Donnelly, that they learned a couple of weeks ago that their witness had made the accusations against Mr. Kellner after accepting financial assistance from Mr. Lebovits’s supporters. That money went to paying for his lawyer; his travel to and from Israel, where he is a student; his apartment; and his school fees.

The judge delayed the trial until July 29 to give prosecutors time to investigate the witness, who previously had said Mr. Lebovits had raped him. A lawyer for Mr. Kellner, Niall MacGiollabhui, said after the hearing that he approached Mr. Hynes’s office months ago with evidence that supporters of Mr. Lebovits were manipulating the accuser.

“The district attorney waited until two weeks before trial to look into it,” he said.
Mr. MacGiollabhui added that he still wanted to bring the case to trial to clear his client, but worried that prosecutors were going to “spin the case out and hope that it dies a quiet death.”
Mr. Hynes’s office declined to comment.

Strong criticism of his handling of sexual abuse cases in the Orthodox Jewish community is not new. Initially he was accused of being reluctant to pursue such cases because of pressure from Orthodox leaders. But after he began an effort to crack down on abuse, he was criticized for refusing to release the names of those charged with abusing children.

The problems with the cases against Mr. Lebovits and Mr. Kellner have raised new concerns. Among them is why separate units of the office pursued cases that were directly at odds with each other: the sex crimes bureau prosecuting Mr. Lebovits and the rackets division prosecuting Mr. Kellner. Both relied on a witness who court records show was addicted to drugs.

The concerns come even from inside the district attorney’s office, where some have worried that Mr. Lebovits’s lawyer, Arthur L. Aidala, had undue influence.

Mr. Aidala, who used to work in the office, had brought the allegations against Mr. Kellner directly to the chief of the district attorney’s rackets division, Michael F. Vecchione. Mr. Aidala turned over an audio recording of a conversation that he said showed Mr. Kellner trying to extort money from Mr. Lebovits’s son, according to discovery material in the case. A translation of the conversation issued by the prosecutor’s office is ambiguous.

Mr. Aidala, who is a campaign contributor to Mr. Hynes and the vice president of Mr. Hynes’s nonprofit foundation, has boasted to prosecutors about his access to and influence with Mr. Hynes and Mr. Vecchione, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Mr. Aidala declined to comment. 

In Airplane crash, people grabbed their bags before their children

When seconds can mean the difference between life and death in escaping an aircraft accident, it was startling to see so many photographs from the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport of people carrying out bags, including roll aboards that must have come out of the overhead luggage bins.

 At least one man interviewed in the New York Times indicated that he grabbed his bags and then his child. In that order. 

All I can say is that it was very fortunate that the fire was slow to spread.
While aircraft manufacturers like Boeing BA +0.08% have done much in the last couple of decades to improve survivability in aircraft accidents by including materials that are fire-retardant, the fact remains that accidents such as this one often result in ruptured fuel lines or fuel tanks.  Once aviation fuel spills, the chances are great that it will come in contact with a hot surface like an engine and ignite.  Or the fuel could ignite for other reasons, including sparks caused by the fuselage skidding along the tarmac.

Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

Debris Field Will Yield First Clues For Investigators Of S.F. Crash

Once the fuel ignites it spreads very quickly.  Even the skin of an aircraft will burn through under the right conditions spreading the fire inside the aircraft very quickly.  And no matter how much work has been done in the area of fire-retarding materials, the interior of an aircraft is not fire-proof.  In addition to the fire itself, of course, is the danger from the toxic fumes created by the burning of plastic materials, carpets, as well as passenger belongings.
Of all the aircraft accidents I have investigated or am familiar with, this is the first where it appears significant numbers of people took their belongings with them in escaping.  What impact this had on other passengers and the extent of their injuries will need to be determined by the NTSB.  At a minimum, it seems clear to me that a public awareness campaign needs to be launched to ensure that passengers do not impede the evacuation of an aircraft in an emergency.  Certainly now that airlines and the FAA are clearly on notice that survivable accidents could be imperiled by passengers wasting time collecting their bags, they need to take action to address this issue before anyone needlessly dies in a survivable accident.

Child soloist Yitzi Rosinger sings "Shma Yisroel" (acappela, no music)

Thousands Of Haredi High-School Girls To Protest Against WoW Activists

Thousands of haredi high-school girls are expected to arrive at the Western Wall Monday morning in protest at the Women of the Wall prayer-rights activist group who will be holding their monthly prayer service at the site at the same time.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yossi Deitsch of the haredi Degel Hatorah party, along with several other party members, has been coordinating with the senior haredi rabbinic leadership in order to get approval for the protest. Deitsch’s office said on Sunday that buses have been arranged for the 7,000 haredi high-school girls in Jerusalem haredi girls high-schools to transport them to the Western Wall on Monday morning. The buses will be leaving haredi neighborhoods at 5:30am in order to arrive at the site ahead of the Women of the Wall who have scheduled their prayer service for 7:00am.

 

 

Several hundred haredi men are expected to attend the protest as well, but only married men have been asked to go in order to prevent the more excitable haredi youth from causing violent disturbances. Deitch’s office noted that as well as getting the approval for the protest of Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the most senior Ashkenazi haredi rabbi, approval has also been received from the leading hassidic rabbis as well as from Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef.
Deitch described the Women of the Wall as “a small handful of women who are just interested in causing a provocation.
“The real women of the wall are those righteous women who go every day to pray sincerely at the Western Wall. What the so called Women of the Wall are doing is a debasement of the Western Wall.”
In response to the protest being arranged, Women of the Wall said that they welcomed the arrival of the haredi girls.
“Though this may be intended to intimidate and overpower Women of the Wall, we truly welcome the young women and their prayers,” the organization said in a statement on its website.
“This act just proves what we have always said: there is enough room at the Kotel for all women from all backgrounds and traditions to pray side-by-side. Women

Chariedim now use Nazi tactics against fellow Chariedim that joined the IDF

By ISABEL KERSHNERJERUSALEM — They have been labeled “Hardakim,” a derogatory term that combines Haredim, the name commonly used here to denote ultra-Orthodox Jews, with the Hebrew words for insects and germs.
As the Israeli government presses ahead with plans to enlist young Haredi men and phase out their wholesale exemption from the country’s mandatory military service, hard-line elements in the ultra-Orthodox community are fighting back by ostracizing the few thousand community members already in the armed forces.
Crude, comics-style posters have appeared in recent weeks on billboards across ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods nationwide portraying those soldiers, who volunteered under programs meant to attract Haredim, as fat, bearded, gun-toting caricatures in uniform snatching terrified Haredi children off the streets.
The strictest Haredim, who insist on the right of all ultra-Orthodox men to engage in full-time Torah study and worry about exposure to a more secular life, denounce the soldiers as “traitors” and liken them to a pestilence.
Brig. Gen. Gadi Agmon, from the Israeli military’s human resources branch, told a parliamentary committee here last week that the well-orchestrated campaign was no less vicious in style than that of Der Stürmer, the Nazi-era propaganda organ notorious for its anti-Semitic caricatures. The remark was widely reported in the secular news media and on Haredi Web sites.
Haredi soldiers have been verbally abused, spit on and humiliated while walking through their neighborhoods all over Israel. Some have been attacked with stones, or their car tires have been slashed. The children of others have been rejected by local educational institutions, and there are growing fears that enlisting could harm the marriage prospects of their siblings.
The integration of Haredim, or “those who fear God,” into the military — and providing them a path into the work force — is viewed as essential by many Israelis, not only to uphold the principle of social equality but also to ensure the economic survival of the country. More than a quarter of Jewish first graders in Israeli schools belong to the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox minority.
In recent years, hundreds have served in Nahal Haredi, a combat battalion established in the late 1990s for ultra-Orthodox 18-year-olds. About 3,000 more have served in Shahar, an army program set up in late 2007 to train young married ultra-Orthodox men as technical staff members for the air force, navy, intelligence and other branches of the military.
To attract recruits, Shahar allows soldiers to go home every night during their two-year army stint and provides a government salary.
But with Parliament working on legislation that would eventually lead to the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men, and the subsequent backlash among the Haredim, things now appear to be moving in the opposite direction.
In past years, the ultra-Orthodox community was more tolerant toward members who chose military service; some rabbis even gave their quiet blessing to recruits who were deemed unsuitable for full-time Torah study. But Haredi attitudes have hardened in response to the broad public pressure and government efforts to work toward equal service for all, barring a small quota of Orthodox youths considered Torah prodigies.
In May, up to 30,000 Haredi men flooded the streets around the recruitment office in Jerusalem to protest conscription, exposing for the first time the depth of anger. The Haredi reaction already appears to have dampened volunteer enlistment.
Elchanan Fromer, 29, who is from a small ultra-Orthodox settlement in the West Bank and works as a coordinator for the Shahar program, said the year had begun very well, with more than twice as many volunteers as in the first half of 2012. In recent weeks, however, there have been signs of a drop-off, he said.
Mr. Fromer joined Shahar in 2010 and served for 18 months. But service has become much harder for Haredi soldiers, he said, because of the potential consequences for their families now that passions on the subject have been inflamed.
“Hundreds of soldiers are facing daily problems,” he said. “Personally, if I was supposed to enlist today, I wouldn’t do it.”
On billboards in the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter of Jerusalem last week, black-and-white posters warned the public against the “licentious military” coming to tempt innocent Haredi youths into “the whorehouses of Nahal and Shahar.”
On central thoroughfares, the posters of children being snatched had mostly been ripped off the walls. But in the back alleys, where one hostile resident threw water from a balcony onto reporters, the posters remained untouched. Since most Haredim do not watch television, billboards and fliers are a traditional means of communication.
The comics-style campaign against Haredi soldiers has been primarily aimed at children to counter what opponents of the draft said was the military’s attempt to legitimize the young men by sending them into ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in uniform.
As part of the outreach to children, the anonymous organizers of the “Hardakim” campaign announced a children’s poster competition this summer via a Gmail account, soliciting entries showing how best to shun the soldiers.
Pini Rozenberg, a spokesman for the Haredi community in Jerusalem, said the campaign was “an internal Haredi matter meant to explain to the Haredi youth why the army institutions are not, and will never be, legitimate.”
He added: “It is not personally directed against any particular soldier. It is purely educational.”
Mr. Rozenberg also insisted that the rabbis who supported the campaign behind the scenes opposed any form of violence.
Haredi critics of the campaign point out that the rabbis, like most ultra-Orthodox Jews, have remained silent, allowing more extreme community members to set the tone.
As the backlash has worsened, the military set up a 24-hour help line for Haredi soldiers to report verbal or physical violence against them and says it has received more than 80 complaints.
One 24-year-old Haredi soldier, who asked not to be identified because he feared the consequences of further exposure, explained the path he had taken to the army. Although he grew up in a strictly ultra-Orthodox area of Jerusalem and boarded at an elite yeshiva, he secretly studied for the secular high school matriculation exams. He went on to begin law studies in a special Haredi program at a private college, then joined the military through the Shahar program.
“I wanted to contribute and to be an equal citizen, to advance and to integrate,” he said.
His wife’s family still does not know he is in the military because the couple was unsure how the family would react. His parents know, but keep it quiet.
He lives in Bayit Vegan, once a mixed religious-secular neighborhood of Jerusalem that was considered relatively moderate, and said he had suffered daily abuse in recent months, being spit at and chased by children and teenagers calling out “Germ!” and “Traitor!”
He now carries tear gas for self-defense and a special permit allowing him to leave his base in civilian clothes and still benefit from free bus travel for soldiers.
Some fellow Haredi soldiers have moved from their neighborhoods, but he refuses to do so.
“For me, to move is to hand them a victory,” he said. “They want to banish us from Haredi society

Will the Charaidie World now require "Shaitlach" for Baby Girls?

Baby Wig (Shaitel)

And the latest crazy baby accessory to hit the market? A wig for fashion-forward baby girls who have no hair but want to make sure no one thinks they're a little boy.

Baby Bangs! is the brainchild of a mother and daughter who wanted to create a miniature hair piece suitable for newborns to wear.
Writing on their website, they say: 'At Baby Bangs! we believe in the beauty of childhood.

 

'Our unique designs are sprinkled with magic- inspiring a world of whimsical wonder and mystical magical memorable moments for you and your baby girl to cherish forever!

'For she is, and always will be, your little princess!.'

The design trio called in hair replacement artist, Lisa Griggs-Campbell, as well as a real live baby model for styling, sizing and comfort testing.
After two years of designing, they unveiled the 'Fleurs Collection', a collection of miniature hair pieces in a range of colours made size-appropriate for infants, toddlers and little girls priced at around £20.

Baby model: The design trio called in hair replacement artist, Lisa Griggs-Campbell, as well as a real live baby model for styling, sizing and comfort testing to showcase the £20 wig

And it seems that Baby Bangs! aren't being well received.
Callie Beusman writes on Jezebel: 'So the princess dogma is starting at such a young age that a newborn's natural (downy-headed) state is somehow undesirable?
'Is the window of time during which a woman's physical appearance isn't subjected to constant scrutiny and held up to strict standards going to narrow so much that all fetuses will need beautiful virtual makeovers.
'Babies all look the same; that's kind of their thing. It's not only unnecessary, but also pretty much insane, to start forcing cosmetic enhancements on a child too young to even have hair on her head.'
And the Twittersphere are also up in arms about the latest baby accessory.
One user wrote: 'I despair... RT"@pandy92: There's a website selling wigs for baby girls so they don't get mistaken for baby boys.'

3rd near drowning in catskills in 24 hours

For the third time in under 24 hours, a child was pulled from a swimming pool.
Sources tell YWN Catskills, that two children, a 22-month old and a 3-year-old, managed to “wiggle their way” through a pool gate, and entered the swimming pool in Cold-Spring Bungalows in Monticello. People heard the 3-year-old screaming, and jumped over the fence to help. The 22-month-old child was pulled from the bottom of the pool in cardiac arrest.
Catskills Hatzolah worked on the child for close to an hour, and managed to regain a pulse.

The child was flown via Lifenet 75 to Westchester Trauma Center in Valhalla, NY, where he is listed in critical condition. His name for Tehillim is Zev Aryeh ben Nechama.
On Friday, YWN Catskills reported about a 14-year-old Bochur who was pulled from a pool in Stolin Camp in Highland NY (Ulster County), and just minutes later a 8-year-old child was pulled from a swimming pool in Ichud Bungalow Colony in Monticello (Sullivan County).
UPDATE: The condition of the victim from Stolin camp is B”H stable. Read more at YWN Catskills.

Ayala Shulman killed by a car outside Camp Aguda Midwest

Ayala Shulman was walking down 68th Street about half a mile south of County Road 388 in Geneva Township around 12:11 am, when she was struck by a 2002 Toyota Camry driven by Charles Carrigan, 18, of Kalamazoo, according to the police.
Ayala Shulman was attending Camp Agudah Midwest in Michigan.

"During the investigation it was determined that the driver was traveling south on 68th Street, and was trying to find the M-43 Highway using his GPS device when he swerved to miss another pedestrian walking near the edge of the road with the victim," police said.

"As the driver swerved his vehicle, he struck the victim, who was walking on the road near the center line," police said.
Shulman was treated at the scene by South Haven Area Emergency Services, transported to South Haven Community Hospital and then airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, according to the police report.

The sheriff's office said a witness told them he saw two women walking down 68 Street in the southbound lane and saw Shulman jumping into the next lane and then jumping back into the southbound lane, where she was hit.

"The victim was wearing black clothes," police said.
Police said speed and alcohol were not factors in the incident. Carrigan told deputies he was driving about 35 to 40 miles per hour in the 55 mile per hour zone and accident reconstruction confirmed that Carrigan was driving about 39 miles per hour.

 She was taken to the hospital, where she remained in critical condition until her Petira on Friday afternoon.
She is the daughter of Rabbi and Mrs. Ari and Reva Shulman of Chicago.

The Levaya will be held on Motzei Shabbos in South Haven, at 10:30PM. On Sunday morning at 8:45AM at Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov 3200 W. Peterson Ave, Chicago, Newark airport at 7:00PM on Sunday afternoon.
Phone number for hookup to Chicago Levaya is 712-432-0175 -pin code123465.
The Kevura will take place in Bait Shemesh.

Boruch Dayan Emmes…

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.

Rabbi Lamm's family furious at Jewish Daily Forward Reporter for interviewing him, while he has dementia!

Rabbi Norman Lamm

Paul Berger, a reporter of the Jewish Daily forward, who knew in advance that Rabbi Lamm, chancellor of Yeshiva Universary, was frail and and in the initial stages of dementia, interviewed him against family wishes, to get a headline! 

Read his apology and then read Allan Nadler's "Norman Lamm deserves better"

Here is Paul Berger's (THE LIAR) half-assed apology on his blog Forward.com

Norman Lamm has retired as chancellor of Yeshiva University. The exit of one of the most revered figures in Modern Orthodoxy has been tarnished, perhaps indelibly, by Lamm’s admission to me last year that he covered up sexual abuse of students during his tenure as president of Y.U. between 1976 and 2003.

Since I first reported Lamm’s admission there has been a great deal of speculation surrounding the circumstances of our interview. I have been accused of knowingly taking advantage of a man with a deteriorating mental state while his daughter was terminally ill. There is even a version of our interview circulating in which Lamm’s wife turns me away from his apartment door, so that I have to lurk outside until she leaves before I can sneak back in and take advantage of Lamm.

None of the above is true.

(DIN: This is a bald faced lie)

Prior to my interview with Lamm, I was unaware of rumors that Lamm or his daughter, Sara Lamm Dratch, were ill.

(DIN: Another lie)

All I knew was that a handful of former students had told me painful stories of their sexual abuse at Y.U.’s Manhattan high school for boys and that, according to them, the person who knew the most about it was Lamm.

So I did what any reporter would do. I looked up Lamm’s address and, one morning, I showed up at his apartment door. I told Lamm who I was.

I told him why I was there. At first, he appeared unwilling to talk. He went back inside his apartment and had a brief conversation — with his wife, I believe — and then he invited me inside.

I sat in Lamm’s apartment for about an hour. His wife was just down the hallway talking on the phone, while Lamm and I discussed his presidency of Y.U., the allegations of abuse and how they were handled. Lamm told me that there had been allegations of inappropriate behavior by his staff, not just at the high school, but at the college and graduate level too, and that Lamm had believed it best at that time to quietly let suspected abusers leave Y.U. rather than to report them to the authorities.

I was startled by Lamm’s candor. But nothing in our conversation led me to believe that he was suffering from dementia (his recall was clear, his arguments cogent) or that his daughter was seriously ill (nor do I believe that such a fact should have impeded my reporting).

No trickery was involved. 

(DIN:Liar Liar)

I simply sat in front of Lamm and took down notes as he explained the reason for his actions and his regret. “We are all human,” Lamm told me. “Show me anyone who is a human being who has not made a mistake.”

Under such circumstances, is there any reason for a reporter not to 

report that?

Now read Allan Nadler

Among the people who enter our lives, enrich our minds and inspire our hearts are at times those we barely, if at all, know personally. Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, who has just announced his retirement as chancellor of Yeshiva University after a remarkably distinguished career, has for decades played such a role in my life.

Lamm’s work had a lasting impact, ultimately leading me to choose the Mitnagdim as the focus of my doctoral dissertation and subsequent book on the subject. And yet, I never studied at Yeshiva University, nor had I yet met, or even laid eyes on, Rabbi Lamm.

His scholarship inspired me during my very first year of graduate school, when I read his path-breaking book on the thought of the Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin, Torah Lishmah. Hayyim of Volozhin was the most important disciple of the Gaon of Vilna and his writings and, even more so, the great yeshiva he established in the Belorussian town of Volozhin shaped the faction within Orthodox Judaism known as the Mitnagdim, who opposed the Hasidic movement.

Over the subsequent years, Lamm’s essays and books on the ideology of Modern Orthodoxy — embodied in the motto Torah u-Mada (Torah and science, or secular knowledge) were largely responsible for allowing me to remain within the Orthodox camp, despite my increasing struggles with the increasingly right-leaning, insular and intolerant tendencies of Orthodox Judaism that ultimately led to my own break with it. I still had never met this magnificent man, and uncommonly eloquent spokesman for a truly modern iteration of traditional, halakhic Judaism.

Decades after my first encounter with his work, I came to review for this newspaper, Lamm’s rich and erudite English anthology of Hasidic texts, “The Religious Thought of Hasidism.” The review was generally positive, but was not without some firm criticisms. Several weeks after the review appeared, I received a hand-written note that Rabbi Lamm mailed to me, in which he thanked me for the review, and especially for my critical observations about the book’s shortcomings.

By that time I had published reviews of well over fifty books, but this was the first time I received a letter from any of their authors. At the end of his letter, Rabbi Lamm provided me with his personal number, asking me to call so that I could come visit with him for a conversation about Hasidim, Mitnagdim and, more generally, as he put it “the current state of Yiddishkeyt.”

Lamm was at the time one of the busiest and most productive rabbis in the world and president of Yeshiva University, which he was in the midst of saving from financial ruin. To my enduring regret, thinking that he had much more urgent matters to deal with, I never took him up on this incredibly generous offer. But the generosity of spirit and uncommon civility and warmth (especially rare in the academic world) of his letter earned him a special place in my heart.

And so it was with a broken heart that I read the two paragraphs in his beautiful and inspiring letter of resignation that addressed what he ever so humbly confessed were his shortcomings and errors in confronting the problem of sexual abuse at Yeshiva University during his presidency. It is truly tragic that after a lifetime of devotion to Yeshiva — an institution he not only saved but guided so sagaciously and set on more solid ground than anyone could have imagined was possible when he began his presidency — Rabbi Lamm’s retirement from his position as chancellor took place under the black cloud of errors of judgment that took place more than three decades ago.

It also strikes me as terribly unfair that many have judged Rabbi Lamm harshly for his response to a very serious problem during a period long before the world gained understanding of just how dangerous, damaging and endemic sexual abuse is in both religious and educational institutions, from the Catholic Church to Penn State. To condemn Rabbi Lamm retrospectively based on how much we today have come, slowly and painfully, to understand about the gravity, and widespread nature, of this abuse, has always struck me as both unreasonable and undeserved.

Rabbi Lamm has for more than a half century been the finest model of scholarship, dignity, moderation and humanity, and should be honored for his immesurable contributions not only to centrist Orthodox Judaism, but to the Jewish world as a whole. Now 85 years old and in failing health, he deserves so much better than the negative press which has befallen him in his waning years. As the Hebrew blessing goes, “Yirbu Kamohu be-Yisrael”: May there be many more like him in Israel. Sadly, it is very unlikely that there will.

Allan Nadler is Professor of Religious Studies at Drew University. On leave from Drew this year, he is currently Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at McGill University and Rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Montreal

Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/179688/norman-lamm-deserves-better/#ixzz2YAy5jHbO

MORSI, the Anti-Israel President of Egypt, deposed!

President Mohammed Morsi, who held the Satmar Shita, that Israel should G-D forbid disappear, was ousted in a military coup! Morsi was also against learning the daf just like the Satmar Rabbanim.

Meanwhile the Teitelbaum War lords are still in power in Williamsburg and Monroe.

Gen. Abdel Fatah Said Al-Sisi announced a military coup in Egypt. He said that the Constitution had been suspended, that early elections would take place, and that there would be a “code of ethics” for the media. He stated that the chief of the Constitutional court would be taking charge during a transitional period before another election. He said the new government would be “diverse and include all the people,” and that the constitution would be revised to reverse changes made by ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi.

Al-Sisi said there would be a code of ethics for the media that would “establish values and ethics for the media to follow.” He also stated that there would be a committee for reconciliation from leaders who are credible. The armed forces, he said, call on the great Egyptian people with its various groups to continue to have peaceful protests and end the crisis. He also said that the military warned it would take action against anyone moving beyond peaceful protest.


“May Allah preserve Egypt and its people,” al-Sisi concluded.
UPDATES: A Morsi aide has said that Morsi has been removed to an undisclosed location.
Dr. Mohammed El-Baradei, a leader of the anti-Morsi opposition, stated that he hopes "all of us come back as reconciled people together. I hope that this 'road map' will be a beginning to continue with the revolution for which the Egyptian people have spent dearly to achieve social justice for every Egyptian man and woman."
CNN reports the sound of gunfire near pro-Morsi demonstrators, adding that Muslim Brotherhood followers had been training with sticks in preparation for violence. The crowd is chanting "victory or martyrdom." The Egyptian military, CNN reports, is 400 to 500 yards down from the pro-Morsi demonstrations.
Just before the military announced the ouster of Morsi, the army sent troops and armored vehicles to militarily sensitive points around the country, including throughout Cairo. Troops are also surrounding rallies by pro-Morsi forces.
Travel bans were imposed on Morsi and top figures from his Muslim Brotherhood including its chief Mohammed Badie and his powerful deputy Khairat el-Shater.
Associated Press reports that Egyptian defense leaders have told US officials that there will be no long-term military rule, telling Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsy that a civilian government would be installed shortly. The Egyptian military has reportedly stated that it will protect US citizens in Egypt. AP also reports that American Councils for International Education in Washington, D.C., announced that it would be evacuating 18 Arabic language program students from Egypt to Morocco thanks to security concerns. The students hail from the Universities of Oklahoma, Michigan, Texas, Maryland, and Michigan State.
President Mohammed Morsi's Twitter account has called the military's announcement a "full coup." Morsi has been quoted as stating that today's events "represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation." CNN reports that Morsi appealed to his supporters to react peacefully to the military action. In a video statement released on Al Jazeera, Morsi has claimed he is still the legitimate president of Egypt.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the time frame of the early election will be determined by the interim administration. Christiane Amanpour of CNN says that Egyptian sources inform her it could be nine months to a year before new elections.
The US embassy in Cairo is closed Wednesday and was scheduled to be closed Thursday thanks to July 4, as well as for the weekend, according to CNN. The Washington Post reports that US embassy personnel in Cairo has ordered mandatory evacuation of all non-essential personnel, stating, "We will begin departures immediately, with the expectation that all evacuees will have left for the States by this weekend." Departures are mandatory, not voluntary. It is not yet clear, according to the Associated Press, whether an evacuation operation would be necessary.
All Muslim Brotherhood television channels in Egypt have now gone off the air, according to UPI. Al-Ahram reports that Al-Hafez and Al-Nas both went off the air immediately after al-Sisi's speech.
Reuters reports that the head of the constitutional court will be sworn in tomorrow as interim head of state in Egypt.
The United States has remained silent on the military action thus far, but the State Department charted an enigmatic course earlier on Wednesday, with spokeswoman Jen Psaki stating, "We think that all sides need to engage with each other and need to listen to the voices of the Egyptian people, and what they are calling for, and peacefully protesting about, and that's a message we've conveyed at all levels to all sides."
CNN reports that Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, among others including Pentagon and CIA heads, have been visiting the White House this afternoon, and that President Obama is in the loop.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is celebrating the Egyptian military action, stating, "What is happening in Egypt is the fall of so-called political Islam. This is the fate of anyone in the world who tries to use religion for political or factional interests."
Meanwhile, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has called the Egyptian action a coup necessitating an automatic cutoff in American aid under the law. He also called Morsi a "great disappointment."
The Egyptian military has halted a broadcast from Al-Jazeera, as reported by Breitbart News's Kerry Picket.
The Associated Press reports: A security official says the head of the Muslim Brotherhood political party and the Brotherhood's deputy chief have been arrested.
President Obama has released a statement on Morsi's ouster, indicating that he will "review" U.S. financial aid to Egypt now that the Muslim Brotherhood has been deposed from leadership:

As I have said since the Egyptian Revolution, the United States supports a set of core principles, including opposition to violence, protection of universal human rights, and reform that meets the legitimate aspirations of the people.  The United States does not support particular individuals or political parties, but we are committed to the democratic process and respect for the rule of law.  Since the current unrest in Egypt began, we have called on all parties to work together to address the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people, in accordance with the democratic process, and without recourse to violence or the use of force. 
The United States is monitoring the very fluid situation in Egypt, and we believe that ultimately the future of Egypt can only be determined by the Egyptian people. Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian Armed Forces to remove President Morsy and suspend the Egyptian constitution. I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsy and his supporters. Given today’s developments, I have also directed the relevant departments and agencies to review the implications under U.S. law for our assistance to the Government of Egypt. 
The United States continues to believe firmly that the best foundation for lasting stability in Egypt is a democratic political order with participation from all sides and all political parties —secular and religious, civilian and military. During this uncertain period, we expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts.  Moreover, the goal of any political process should be a government that respects the rights of all people, majority and minority; that institutionalizes the checks and balances upon which democracy depends; and that places the interests of the people above party or faction. The voices of all those who have protested peacefully must be heard – including those who welcomed today’s developments, and those who have supported President Morsy. In the interim, I urge all sides to avoid violence and come together to ensure the lasting restoration of Egypt’s democracy. 
No transition to democracy comes without difficulty, but in the end it must stay true to the will of the people. An honest, capable and representative government is what ordinary Egyptians seek and what they deserve. The longstanding partnership between the United States and Egypt is based on shared interests and values, and we will continue to work with the Egyptian people to ensure that Egypt’s transition to democracy succeeds.

A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman says Morsi and members of his presidential team are under house arrest.

"Aroni" Teitelbaum brings his "gang" war against his "Zaloni" brother to MONSEY!

R' Zalman Leib, in a bear outfit

The laughing R' Aaron 

Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, (Satmar Rebbi of Monroe,) is not content to fight his brother, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, (Satmar Rebbi of Williamsburg,) in Monroe & Williamsburg, but will now bring his fight to Monsey. The "Aronim" have decided to open a Yeshiva in Monsey, to dilute the "Zaloni" presence in Monsey. Up till now Zaloni Satmar dominated Monsey.
The protests against the State of Israel are over it's now time to take the gloves off again and fight to the bitter end!
See the Yiddish Blog kaveshtiebel.com

Rare Color Footage: Jewish Life in Shtetl Wielopole Before the Holocaust

Published on Jul 2, 2013

In 1921, 550 Jews lived in the town of Wielopole Skrzyńskie, constituting about half of the local population. At that time, some 20 small Jewish factories were in operation there.
David Teitelbaum (1891-1972), an amateur filmmaker who was born in Wielopole, emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and became a successful businessman. He would return to his hometown almost every year to visit his family, and in 1938, he filmed his trip. In June or July 1939 he traveled to Wielopole again, but only stayed for a short time, fearing that war was imminent. It is possible that some sections of the film were filmed on that last visit. The film features members of the Teitelbaum, Rappaport and Sartoria families, their neighbors and acquaintances.

Frum Community Collecting $$ to get Convicted Frum Murderer Off "Death Row"

Yiddish posters about the case, plastered in Brooklyn’s Jewish community

From Sandy Eller of VIN

The Chareidi community is once again raising funds to prevent the possible execution of a Jewish inmate who they claim is innocent of murder, as described in a series of posters that have cropped up in and around Brooklyn in recent days.
The effort to prove the innocence of 46 year old Howard Bloomgarden is reminiscent of the movement to prevent the execution of convicted killer Martin Grossman which took place in Florida in 2010, as previously reported on VIN News.  Grossman was found guilty of the 1984 murder of Florida wildlife officer Peggy Park and was put to death by lethal injection, despite the protests of thousands of petitioners,  Jewish leaders in both the United States and Israel and the Vatican.
Prosecutors at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office are preparing their case against Howard Bloomgarden for the 1994 kidnapping and murder of two California men, 29 year old Ted Gould and 26 year old Peter Kovach.  Bloomgarden has been serving a 33 year jail term on federal racketeering charges since 1996, having accepted a plea bargain agreement upon the advice of his lawyer, prominent criminal attorney Gerald Shargel.  While the plea bargain ensured that Bloomgarden would avoid the possibility of a life sentence,  it required Bloomgarden to say that he had been involved in the California double murder.
“Howard took the plea so he would not have to go to trial but would instead do his time and come home,” Howard’s mother, Joan Bloomgarden told VIN News.  “In order to do that he was advised to admit his involvement in a murder he didn’t commit.  Little did he know that doing so would set the stage for him to be charged with murder.”
According to reports  in the Daily News Los Angeles, prosecutors obtained a confession from Kenneth Friedman who said that he and three other men abducted Kovach and Gould in an alleged drug dispute between Kovach and Bloomgarden.  Friedman confessed to choking Kovach and then strangling Gould, and was condemned to Death Row in December 2005 by a Los Angeles judge.  Friedman committed suicide in San Quentin State Prison in August 2012.
A case summary prepared by Bloomgarden’s lawyer Jack Earley in July 2012 asserts that Bloomgarden was in Florida at the time of the double homicide and that Friedman refused to implicate Bloomgarden in exchange for a lighter sentence, saying that Bloomgarden had no involvement in the murder.
Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute who visited with Friedman in jail corroborated Earley’s statements.
“I specifically spoke to Kenny face to face,” said Rabbi Katz.  “He told me straight out.  Howard had nothing to do with it.”
In an interview last week with Yiddish news telephone line Kol Mevaser, Earley maintained Bloomgarden’s innocence in the murders and charged that the District Attorney’s office is basing their case on flimsy testimony obtained from two other defendants in the case.

A Kol Korah issued by Rabbis to support the efforts of ‘Dror’ in regards to the Bloomgarden case

“They don’t have any direct evidence of Howard’s involvement in this,” said Earley.  “They only have the words of people who are getting a deal in return for what they said they heard from Kenneth Friedman, who later denied that Howard was involved.”
Rabbi Katz, who is in close contact with Bloomgarden, says that Bloomgarden, who did not grow up as an Orthodox Jew, has turned to his Jewish roots while in prison and has been staunchly committed to his Yiddishkeit for the past ten years.
“He has been putting on tefillin every day for years.  He has been keeping kosher for years and years.  Maybe he never kept Shabbos before in his life, but now he won’t even pick up a pen on Shabbos.”
In a telephone interview last night, from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, Bloomgarden told VIN News that his murder trial is currently expected to begin on July 29th and he expressed optimism that the case will have a positive outcome.
Sharing his plans for his life once he has finished serving his time, Bloomgarden said, ““I want to start a new life, take care of my parents and do whatever Hashem wants me to.”
Jane Robinson, a media spokesperson at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office declined to comment on the case but confirmed that the case is tentatively scheduled for July 29th and will be prosecuted by attorney Geoffrey Lewin.
In an effort to pay their son’s mounting legal costs, Bloomgarden’s parents turned to the Jewish Organization ‘Dror’, which offers assistance to imprisoned Jews and their families.  Dror has taken their appeal to the public with a flurry of posters that have been hung in Williamsburg and the newly created site www.saveajewishlife.org hopes to solicit donations.
Brooklyn businessman Eli Ostreicher, CEO of Regal Wings, is one of those who have taken up Bloomgarden’s cause.
“I don’t get personally involved in a cause unless I do my due diligence,” said Ostreicher.  “There is no question that Howard had a phase where he was young and stupid and fell in with the wrong crowd.  He should be serving his time in jail and then moving on.  To be facing these kind of charges, and the possibility that he could literally face the death penalty is heartbreaking.”

"Frum" guy with Beard & Payos convicted of killing his parents

Bringing an end to a sensational murder trial which transfixed the country, Daniel Maoz was convicted on Monday of the brutal and notorious double murder of both of his parents, Noah and Nurit Maoz, to try to get inheritance money following their deaths in order to pay off large gambling debts.
Maoz was sentenced to 2 life prison terms.
Daniel Maoz had admitted to having a severe gambling addiction, but had rejected the accusation that he murdered his parents, including stabbing each of them dozens of times followed by trying to cover up the murders, in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem in August 2011.

Daniel was arrested less than a month after the murders after police noticed a number of suspicious behaviors, including the night of the murders when Daniel showed up at a friend's apartment disheveled, nervous, and covered with splatters of blood.
DNA placed Daniel at the scene of the murders, but, in a surreal twist, Daniel accused his twin brother, Nir Maoz, of carrying out the murder, as they share similar DNA.
He was indicted in September 2011.
Taking the witness stand, Daniel testified that he cleaned the site of his parents' murder, but didn't call the police or an ambulance because he was afraid his brother would kill him.
"Four years ago I stole $3,000 from my parents. I told them the next day that I was held up by criminals. I lied to them, and I am ashamed of my actions. The next day I confessed the truth, and I told them all about my gambling addiction," said Daniel.
Other sensational aspects of the trial included Daniel embarking on a hunger strike in protest of the refusal of the Prison Services to allow him to visit his parents' graves, on Har Menuchot in Jerusalem.
Next, after Maoz's cellmate, Roni Ben-Arbon, gave evidence against him, Maoz's lawyer tried attacking the cellmate's credibility by showing the court graphic videos from the cellmate's cellphone.
Ben-Arbon was also accused of conspiring with Daniel to throw the police off Daniel's trail by sending them an anonymous letter from an "eye witness" that saw Nir leave the parents' house at 11 p.m. on the night of the murder following hearing loud screaming.