Why are the Yeshivas throwing out Jewish Children without giving them a chance?

The following is a letter from a "frustrated mother" to Dr. Respler in this week's column in the Jewish Press! I will not print Dr. Respler's response because the letter speaks for itself and there really isn't a satisfactory answer until the Menahlim and the Roshei Yeshivas take immediate action to stop this. They are the direct cause of children going off the derech, not the parents. The "Mechanchim" would like to blame the parents, the children, TV, Cable, Wireless Phones, Computers,etc... everyone and everything but their own actions. The Yeshivas have to face the fact that there is a new world now, and learn to deal with it, otherwise they should close up and hand the yeshiva buildings over to people that have know how and the motivation to deal with all types of children... 
In an interview with the Editor of Ami Magazine (September 7, 2011 edition) Rebbetzin Malke Feinstein, the esteemed wife of the noted posek and Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Dovid Feinstein, said the following in reference to the attitude of today's Chinuch Institutions. "Years ago, doors were open for any child who wanted to learn. No one was afraid that a child would spoil those around them. If a child wanted to come to a yeshiva, then he belonged there. We are so busy protecting our children today, yet more and more children are going off the derech. Why? Because they are made to feel like second-class citizens."
When Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter the Editor of Ami asked her, "How, then, should a school develop its policies? Where should they draw the line in terms of whom they accept?" Her succinct response was: "There shouldn't be a line." She added ..."Reputation, that's what they're concerned about. There's too much of an emphasis on chitzonius (outward appearance) today. "


Dear Dr. Respler
What motivates menahalim to discard students who don't "walk the line?" Is there a place in chinuch for kiruv?  Must things always be "black and white?"


I am a mother of an 18-year-old son who had a roller coaster ride for his high-school journey.
 He attended a mainstream elementary yeshiva, coming in with an eagerness to learn and to grow. He was not all knowing and perfect - he wanted to gain knowledge. 
When my son came to school with a Harry Potter book, it was snatched from his little hand as if it were a weapon of mass destruction (although I am certain that in the heimshe velt, it was a well read book).
 The school lost the opportunity to have a warm discussion about appropriate reading material, in a loving manner, in which the student would be embraced and treated with respect


But even this pales in comparison to what ensued after he was accepted into a yeshiva high school.   It was before school even began when we received a phone call saying that the yeshiva had changed their mind about accepting him and we should look elsewhere.
 The reason: someone had seen him talking to girls on Shabbos.  We explained that it was his sister and some cousins visiting from out of town - but to no avail. 

We  began to look for other options. However, no yeshiva would accept him, because the Schools talk to each other.  I worried for my son and how he was really taking things.  He was cooperative through the process, but it was hard. In the end our original choice of school accepted him - on probation. Baruch Hashem he excelled - he was learning all day and when he came home he went to learn with his chavrusa. 
 Then in the beginning of 10th grade he was caught with his cell phone in school - which was against the rules - and he was immediately expelled. I reached out to a known Rosh Yeshiva  during this fiasco and when I got him on the phone, he actually said that he picked up the phone by mistake and hung up on me.There were those who offered to help, but they were not effective. 


Is it any wonder so many of our youth go off the derech?
I had little choice but to enroll him in a school in Manhattan that was quite modern. He didn't do well with his newfound freedom and all that was available to him in that arena.  I poured as much understanding and love as I could to keep him in the mainstream. As difficult as it may have been to accept, I knew that I had a son at risk. 
Baruch Hashem, my son came though it and is going to Israel to learn. He said he is seriously considering becoming a rebbe - I bet it has something to do with righting so many of the wrongs he encountered in the yeshiva world.
Please explain why so many of our cherished children are thrust to the side, when they should be treated like the treasures they are?


Frustrated mother

Man Dies From Toothache, Couldn't Afford Meds

A 24-year-old Cincinnati father died from a tooth infection this week because he couldn't afford his medication, offering a sobering reminder of the importance of oral health and the 
number of people without access to dental or health care.
According to NBC affiliate WLWT, Kyle Willis' wisdom tooth started hurting two weeks ago. When dentists told him it needed to be pulled, he decided to forgo the procedure, because he was unemployed and had no health insurance.


 When his face started swelling and his head began to ache, Willis went to the emergency room, where he received prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medications. Willis couldn't afford both, so he chose the pain medications.The tooth infection spread, causing his brain to swell.
 He died Tuesday.Calls to Willis' family were not immediately returned. University Hospital in Cincinnati, where Willis was admitted, did not comment, citing federal privacy laws."People don't realize that dental disease can cause serious illness," said Dr. Irvin Silverstein, a dentist at the University of California at San Diego. "The problems are not just cosmetic. Many people die from dental disease." 

Jerusalem Rabbi Says that Chazal Clearly Stated that Torah Study must also come with a Trade !

Rabbi Chaim Amsalem 

Finally a Rav with guts and fearless to say whats clearly on every normal persons mind! That Torah and learning a trade must come hand in hand! 
Hear read a Ravs reading of our holy Chazal!

Hundreds of thousands of students begin a new school year today. Some will learn basic Judaism and Torah along with general studies. Some will study Torah in the mornings and general studies in the afternoons, and some will learn Torah exclusively. While the minimal degree of Jewish content in the more secular schools saddens me, I am even more troubled by the third category described above. The haredi world in which I live does not educate children in accordance with Jewish tradition.

Haredi schools not following Jewish tradition!? Aren’t they the ones who do uphold tradition? Haven’t the more modern movements veered from the path?

The answer is simply that any movement which teaches its children only Torah is a modern aberration.

Wisdom of our Fathers Chapter 2 states emphatically that “any Torah not accompanied by work will end up being nullified, and will lead to sin.”A glance through the Mishna and Talmud reveals that along with being great Torah sages, the leaders of their generations earned a living as doctors, tailors, launderers, plowers, carpenters, land measurers, shoe makers and repairmen, wood choppers, beer makers, bakers, smiths, trap makers, engravers, skin tanners, mill workers, scribes, pit diggers, bundle and beam transporters, wool merchants and weavers.

Traditional Torah sources teach in the clearest of terms that learning a trade to support one’s family with dignity – alongside Torah study and living a Torah-observant lifestyle – is the highest of ideals. For example, in the Jerusalem Talmud, Peiah, Chapter 1 interprets the Torah’s instruction to “choose life” as a command to have a trade. The Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin, 29a teaches that “a father must teach his son a trade. Anyone who does not teach his son a trade is as if he taught his son robbery.” The Midrash on Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 instructs: “Acquire for yourself a trade together with Torah.” The Babylonian Talmud, Brachot 8a goes as far as saying that “a person who earns a living from his own handiwork is greater than one who fears heaven.” Finally, 

All the above sources no doubt served as the basis for the teaching from Maimonides, himself a world-class Torah scholar and physician (Laws of Torah Study 3:10-11): “Any person who makes the decision to study Torah without a livelihood and to sustain himself from charity – such a person desecrates God, disgraces Torah, extinguishes the light of religion, causes bad for himself, and removes himself from the World to Come… and our sages also commanded that a person should not earn a living from Torah… It is a high level for a person to earn a living from his own toil and a trait of the saintly. Through this, a person earns all the honor and good in this world and the next.”

This approach continued until the past few hundred years. For example, the 15th century Orchot Tzadikim (309), teaches that “A person must find middle ground with two responsibilities and set aside hours for Torah study and for work in this world, and must strengthen himself to do both… neither should take away from the other.” The famed Maharal of 16th century Prague relates in Netivot Olam that “when a person is busy with two pursuits – work to provide for what his body needs and Torah for completion of his soul – he will not find any sin.”

So it is clear that Jewish tradition advocates intensive Torah study together with learning a trade. In our times, this means teaching students whatever they need to earn a university degree – the primary path for earning a livelihood in today’s world. (I also advocate joint yeshiva and university programs – a topic for a future column).

Lest one think it is impossible to provide an intensive yeshiva education while studying language, mathematics, science or history, a glance at the yeshiva world in the US proves that highschool students attending the most haredi institutions – Lakewood, Torah Va’daas, Philadelpia, Chaim Berlin, Telshe, and more study all these subjects as mandated by US law. This provides students with the option of university study, which many pursue, and produces well-balanced and worldly Torah scholars who bring sanctity to God’s name in the workplace and earn great respect for their communities.

I must make two important clarifications. Maimonides, at the end of the Laws of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, elaborates on the benefits of doing nothing but studying Torah. The Ohr HaChayim, one of the greatest biblical commentators of the early 18th century, explains that this teaching refers to a person or group who wants to support a full-time Torah scholar in a partnership. Maimonides, in the Laws of Torah Study quoted above, is referring to a person who places a burden on the nation through his learning, and essentially forces others to support him. If someone has a private arrangement by which he does nothing but study Torah while receiving the support of a private individual, this is a blessing.

I personally love nothing more than quiet moments alone with the Talmud, or studying the Parsha with my children, and cannot imagine a more beautiful lifestyle. However, as Maimonides states, no person can choose to place the burden of supporting him on the community. This is exactly what the haredi school system does.

Clarification number two relates to our need as a community to produce elite Torah scholars. It has always been part of our tradition to identify a select group of young men who have the potential and drive needer to spend their entire lives studying Torah and we, as a community, should not only support them but should feel blessed to have that opportunity. The number in each generation who fit these criteria is quite small, but even today we should find those elite scholars and spare them any worry about having to earn a living.

I have extensive plans to establish a system of government-funded schools to provide haredi boys with the opportunity to reconnect to authentic Jewish study of Torah and general studies, enabling them to sustain their families with dignity. I bless all our students with a successful and fruitful school year, but will not cease to work toward rehabilitating the haredi system as an MK and through the Am Shalem movement. It is time for the haredim who claim to fight for authentic Judaism to truly live by that lofty ideal.

The writer is an MK, and the founder and chairman of the Am Shalem political movement.
Read full Op-Ed in The Jerusalem Post By Rabbi Chaim Amsalem 

Moshe Yosef Reichenberg "A Real Hero" Video

Akiva Reichenberg, son of the heroic Reb Moshe Yosef Reichenberg z”l, spoke to Channel 2 about his father, bravely describing his feelings at this tragic time.

Reb Moshe Yosef, 50, was on a flooded street in Spring Valley on Sunday when he saw a father and his 6-year-old child entangled with a live, downed electrical wire from the storm. Both of them were shocked and burned. Reb Moshe Yosef rushed to save them, pulling them away from the power line, but it cost him his life.

“He saved two people’s lives without thinking,” Akiva Reichenberg said. “It seems like a dream. A bad dream. Like it’s not possible that it’s happening.

“I am proud of him. He was born a hero,” Akiva said of his father, “and he died a hero.”

Michelle Bachman Jewish?

Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann may not be Jewish -- despite a misperception among some political donors -- but that didn't stop her from making a campaign stop in the Big Apple yesterday to talk up her pro-Israel positions.

The same day The Post reported that some Jewish donors are holding back their contributions to GOP front-runner Mitt Romney under the mistaken impression that Bachmann is one of their own, the Minnesota congresswoman was addressing a Jewish group here.

Bachmann spent about an hour at a private office discussing issues ranging from same-sex marriage to security for the Jewish state. She reminded the group she worked on a kibbutz in Israel 40 years ago.

"We're meeting with people all across New York who are interested in my candidacy," Bachmann said as she ducked into a Broadway office building for a small, private sit-down with Orthodox Jewish leaders.

"She introduced herself," said Rabbi David Zwiebel, executive vice president of the Orthodox Jewish organization Agudath Israel. "A similar group has gotten together with Governor Romney and will get together with other candidates as well."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/michele_kibitzes_with_key_ny_jews_Ks5Rm6JnZBxW9OY78pwwoK#ixzz1We5L5iF
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Agudah Rabbis Continue to Cover Up for Known Molesters

Op Ed

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

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


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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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

19 Year Old Beauty Executes 10 Libyan Rebels

She has a fashion model's looks and an executioner's trigger finger.

A 19-year-old member of Moammar Khadafy's "gun girl" militia has admitted to executing at least 10 rebel prisoners -- because she said she would have been killed if she didn't pull the trigger of her AK-47.

Nisreen Mansour al Forgani said she was terrorized by her superiors, even raped by her commanding officer, after being recruited last year into the elite all-female unit of the Popular Guards.

When the Khadafy regime began to collapse, she was ordered to become a serial executioner -- apparently because Khadafy's thuggish officers regarded being shot by a woman to be the ultimate humiliation.

Nisreen said last Tuesday that she was given an assault rifle, taken to a building in Tripoli's Bosleem district and placed under heavy guard.

Rebel prisoners, tied up and gathered under a tree outside, were brought to her room one by one.

"They told me that if I didn't kill the prisoners, then they would kill me," she tearfully told Britain's Daily Mail.

"I killed the first one, then they would bring another one up to the room. He would see the body on the floor and look shocked. Then I would shoot him, too."

She said she "turned away and shot without looking" from a distance of about three feet.

"If I hesitated, one of the soldiers would flick the safety catch of his own rifle and point it at me," she said.

Nisreen said most of her victims were about the same age as she.

"I killed 10, perhaps 11, over three days," she said.

Her killing spree stopped after she escaped by jumping from a second-story window of the execution room. She was found by rebels, who are holding her, shackled to a bed, at the Matiga hospital in Tripoli.

"They are angry. I do not know what will happen to me now," she said of her rebel captors.

Nisreen said that her family didn't support Khadafy but that she was recruited by a friend of her mother's, Fatma al Dreby, who headed the female branch of the Popular Guards.

"She told me that if my mother said anything against Khadafy that I should immediately kill her," Nisreen recalled.

She said she trained at a camp in Tripoli with 1,000 other girls from all over the country and was then sent to a headquarters, near Khadafy's compound, under the command of an officer named Mansour Dau.

She said Dreby sent her one day to Dau's office, where he raped her.

"After it was over, Fatma told me not to tell anyone, not even my parents," 

BLOOD ON HER HANDS: Innocent-looking Nisreen Mansour al Forgani, 19, who admits to executing at least 10 rebel prisoners, lies in a Tripoli hospital bed after her capture.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/beauty_khadafy_made_me_killer_bnkbjVry6I2UZTWo2U2Y9O#ixzz1WXu2tFIL

6 year old Monsey boy electrocuted! EXLUSIVE UPDATE AUG 29

A six year old boy is in critical condition after touching a live wire that was dangling near his house.The boy's father was also hurt trying to save his son. Initial reports are that the child was flown to Westchester. Will updated as soon as we get more info. The child's name is Reuvein Dovid Herbst.There was also one fatality from this incident but reports are still sketchy, reports are that the fatality was a neighbor, his name Reichenberg z"l.

EXCLUSIVE TO DIN!

This is the story as related to us by a close family member.
Rabbi Herbst went out AFTER the storm to Shmooze with his neighbor R' Reichenberg Z"L. Little Reuvein Dovid Herbst followed his father and touched the gate. The gate was electrified by a loose live wire that touched the gate that nobody noticed.  When Reuvein Dovid touched the gate he got electrocuted. Rabbi Herbst who was wearing rubber boots, because he was repairing something in the yard, grabbed his son's hand to remove him from the gate. By touching his son, Rabbi Herbst got electrocuted and burned his hand, he was immediately thrown to the ground; his life was saved by his rubber boots. R' Reichenberg z"l attempting to push the child further from the gate, was immediately electrocuted and killed. R' Reichenberg's funeral was last night and was buried in the Monsey Bais Hachyim. The child has 65% burns on his body and is now breathing on his own b"h.

Irene cancels Sunday weddings in Monsey, Tarrytown and Connecticut

This crazy and dangerous lady, Irene, caused the cancellation and postponement of  weddings scheduled for Sunday.
In fact, Irene also caused the cancellation of 9,000 flights, and all airports in New York, New Jersey are closed.

Wonder of G-D:Black Hole Eats Star: Researchers Detail Astounding Cosmic Occurrence (VIDEO)

Black Hole Eats Star, Beams Signal to Earth

On March 28, 2011, NASA's Swift detected intense X-ray flares thought to be caused by a black hole devouring a star. In one model, illustrated here, a sun-like star on an eccentric orbit plunges too close to its galaxy's central black hole. About half of the star's mass feeds an accretion disk around the black hole, which in turn powers a particle jet that beams radiation toward Earth.
Awesome, one of natures amazing phenomenons

Lakewood Residents: Keep Your Radio On For Shabbos

Rav Yaakov Forscheimer To Lakewood Officials: Residents May Keep Radio On During Shabbos
Posek Harav Yaakov Forscheimer Shlita was contacted in regards to keeping a radio on for this Shabbos. It was Paskened, that Lakewood residents may keep a radio on, on station 107.9 for the duration of Shabbos, out of the reach of family members.
The station 107.9 will remain silent from Licht Benchen (Candle Lighting) until 72 minutes after Shkiah on Shabbos, and will only be active should there be any emergency alerts to announce.
Officials say they do not expect the Hurricane to hit on Shabbos.

Five Towns Residents Urged to Leave....

Nochum Dusowitz boards up his windows at Rockaway Beach in New York, August 26, 2011. REUTERS

The Village of Lawrence is urging residents, especially those in low-lying areas, to leave the area and go to a friend’s up north or in the city, its mayor said.

Since it will soon be the Sabbath, village officials are prepared to go around with a loudspeaker to make the latest announcements about Hurricane Irene and what people should do, Mayor Martin Oliner said. Village hall will remain open throughout the weekend. There is a coordinated effort with members of the police and fire departments as well as Hatzolah to prepare residents.

“Those people who have been flooded in the past, take action now,” Oliner said. “Once it begins to rain, you pretty much will be stuck here. This isn’t a question. You can’t leave when there are 50 MPH winds. There may be a time where you’re stuck in your home with no phone — in one of the worst-case scenarios.”

Village officials will be waiting to hear the latest information, and will convene again at village hall at 9 a.m. or noon tomorrow, Oliner said.

“Based on predictions right now, people should make plans to leave,” he said. “If it wasn’t Shabbos, it’d be easy. All the rabbis agree that if it’s life threatening, they will tell people to leave.”

Read more :fivetowns.patch.com

Vaad of 5 Towns Permits Radio for Shabbos

The following email was sent from the Achiezer Organization to residents of Far Rockaway and the Five Towns on Thursday evening.
We understand that many in the community may be scared, concerned, or simply unsure of what should or should not be done in anticipation of the predicted Hurricane Irene which potentially might hit our neighborhood this weekend.
We have been working over the last several hours with community leaders exploring all possibilities which we may face during this storm.
Below are some the key points which were discussed on an emergency conference call with participants from Achiezer, Hatzolah, 101 Precinct, Nassau County Precinct, JCC, Office of Emergency Management, and local Rabbonim.

Over the next few hours, once the significance of the storm is further clarified, we will announce potential evacuation procedures and other urgent advisories.
1) Please identify any elderly or handicapped people in your vicinity who may be unable to move on their own, should an evacuation be ordered. Once we have a roster of these individuals we can work together with community agencies to ensure that this population is cared for.
2) Although the storm is not projected to hit until Sunday morning/afternoon, those who will feel more comfortable avoiding the storm should make plans to be away for Shabbos. This is the safest measure which can be taken in the event of a real Hurricane.
3) The Vaad Harabonim of the Five Towns has paskined that it is permissible, and strongly encouraged, that you leave a battery powered radio set to a news channel over Shabbos.
Again we stress that the foregoing is a conglomerated effort of the Office of Emergency Management, the Police Department, Hatzalah of the Rockaways and Nassau County, Achiezer, The Vaad of the Five Towns, the JCC, Local Rabbanim & many of the community organizations who will decide the best course of action to ensure that community members are safe and informed as developments occur.
We wish to reiterate that these plans are preliminary and precautionary.
As soon as we have a more clear directive of the forecasted path of this storm, we will immediately pass this information along.
Mark Gross
Hatzalah of the Rockaways & Nassau County
Rabbi Boruch B. Bender
ACHIEZER
Rabbi Tzvi Flaum
Vaad Harabonim of Far Rockaway & The Five Towns
Richard Altabe
JCC
Natan Mandelbaum & Alex Glucksman
NYC OEM

New Square: Video: "When Cultures Clash"

Obama's Syrian Friend, Bashar Assad had his thugs break an Artist's hands as a "warning"

A renowned political cartoonist whose drawings expressed Syrians' frustrated hopes for change was grabbed after he left his studio early Thursday and beaten by masked gunmen who broke his hands and dumped him on a road outside Damascus.
One of Syria's most famous artists, Ali Ferzat, 60, earned international recognition and the respect of many Arabs with stinging caricatures that infuriated dictators including Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and, particularly in recent months, Syria's autocratic Assad family.
He lay badly bruised in a hospital bed Thursday evening with his hands swathed in bandages, a stark reminder that no Syrian remains immune to a brutal crackdown on a five-month anti-government uprising.
Ferzat remembers the gunmen telling him that "this is just a warning," as they beat him, a relative told The Associated Press.
"We will break your hands so that you'll stop drawing," the masked men said, according to the relative, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation.
Before inheriting Syria's presidency from his father in 2000, Bashar Assad, a British-trained eye doctor, used to visit Ferzat's exhibitions and offer encouraging words, the artist has said.
When the new president opened Syria to reforms, Ferzat was allowed to publish the country's first private newspaper in decades, a satirical weekly called The Lamplighter.
The paper was an instant hit, with copies of each issue selling out a few hours after hitting the stands. It was soon shut down, however, as Assad began cracking down on dissent and jailing critics after the brief, heady period known as the Damascus Spring quickly lost steam.
Read More breitbart

Ali Ferzat August 14,

Ali Ferzat in hospital 

New York Declares State Of Emergency For Hurricane Irene

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency as Hurricane Irene nears.

"In this emergency I am activating all levels of state government to prepare for any situation that may be caused by Hurricane Irene," Cuomo said in a statement obtained by the New York Daily News."We are communicating with our federal and local partners to track the storm and to plan a coordinated response, and we will deploy resources as needed to the areas expected to be hit the hardest. I urge New Yorkers to personally prepare for hurricane conditions and to cooperate with emergency officials if needed." 

The storm, which has forced 200,000 to evacuate North Carolina, may hit New York City this weekend. If the storm passes over the city, the MTA, fearing floods, might have to shut down operations.

On Thursday, the "cone" of the storm moved West, so that it currently looks like the storm will pass over Queens and Brooklyn, not Long Island.

Mayor Bloomberg said Thursday that senior homes and hospitals in designated "Zone A" areas must evacuate, unless the particular facility can withstand such a storm. "We're trying to take precautions for the most vulnerable."

The mayor also said that by 8am Saturday, the city will decide whether or not to enforce a mandatory evacuation for Zone A residents.

While the category 3 hurricane of 1938 in Long Island killed 50, a new storm would wreak far worse havoc in those areas, according to the New York Times. "The dense development of towns on eastern Long Island in the decades since the 1938 storm could mean tremendous losses in a future storm."

New York, unlike Florida or other Hurricane-prone cities, appears to be unprepared for such an event, though the Office of Emergency Management released an enlightening PDF on preparing for a natural disaster. Or you could browse a list of evacuation routes here. The International Business Times also has a good story on the dangers of a hurricane hitting New York.

Reuters writes that the last serious storm to hit New York was in 1821, "causing a 13 feet storm surge that inundated the entirety of lower Manhattan."

Mayor Bloomberg is urging New York City residents living in low-lying areas to line up a place to stay on high ground ahead of possible evacuations this weekend due to Hurricane Irene. Follow thepath of the storm here.

Neighboring New Jersey has also declared a state of emergency.

Rabbi's Baby Kidnapped by Maid! UPDATED !

Rabbi Chayempour with the kidnapped 6 month old baby

Gloria Suarez, the Maid

Great Neck LI, (reported from crown Heights)
It is every parent’s worst nightmare, and for Rabbi Yitzchok and Tamar Chayempour, Shluchim in Great Neck, Long Island, it came true this morning when their live-in maid walked out and vanished with their six-month old daughter Esti. 

The horror began to unfold at 9:50 this morning, when Rabbi Yitzchok Chayempour spotted their live-in maid walking along Middle Neck Road with his child. After calling out to her and asking what she was doing, she responded that she was heading over to the CVS pharmacy up the road. After attempting a quick U-turn, the maid vanished and the frantic search began.

The maid, Gloria Suarez, a 53-year-old native of Uruguay, had been in the United States for 11 years on a work visa. Ms. Suarez had been a live-in maid with the Chayempours over the summer months. She was hired through an agency that vets and does background checks on all the maids that they refer before recommending them for hire. 
According to the family, Ms. Suarez had finished working for them this past Friday and had moved her belongings out, but she had requested to stay a few more days until she had arranged her new place to stay, which the Shluchim allowed.

After losing sight of Ms. Suarez, R. Chayempour sped up to the CVS in search of the maid. “She was only a maid and was absolutely not a baby sitter, we made sure to never leave her alone with Esti, or any of the kids” he said.

When he could not find her at the store, he returned home to check if she was there. He asked his wife if she let the maid take the baby out, and she responded that she had not left Esti alone with her, and that she didn’t even know that she had left.

Right away family members began a frantic search, going store to store, and mobilizing the community to search for the maid. Minute to minute it became increasingly clear that this was, in fact, an abduction.

Over the past few weeks Ms. Suarez had expressed much interest – almost too much – in the child to Tamar Chayempour, telling her that she was married once only to be divorced shortly after and never had any children of her own. The maid’s interest in the child was slightly off-putting to the mother, especially after she kept asking to take little Esti out on walks in her free time – requests which were consistently turned down.

Nassau County Police were notified, but the police were reluctant to rush and classify the incident as an abduction, saying that they needed to wait more time, and that maybe the maid would show up with the infant.

This wasn’t satisfactory to the family, and the father’s own frantic search led him back to the CVS, where he ran into a member of his community who recommended that he check the local bus station, since that would be a preferred method of travel for the maid.

Of the only two bus lines that run in the area, Yitzchok ran over to the bus stop and asked one of drivers if he remembered the maid, who has very distinct long silvery hair. To his luck, the driver remembered dropping off a pair with the exact description! He even remembered dropping her off near Stepping Stone Park.

The father rushed over to the park where he met the park security and asked them if they had seen the maid with a child. Once again thanks to her distinctive appearance they had remembered the maid, and that she thought that the park was a train station. Thinking she was confused, security called a taxi for her, but they did not know what her destination was.

It was around this time that the police started getting proactively involved in the search. After learning that the maid had gotten into a cab, the police reached out to all the local cab companies, and moments later got a response from one of them saying that they had just dropped off a pair of passengers matching the description at the Roslyn Train Station.

Roslyn Police were immediately notified and they rushed over to the station, where they found the maid with the baby standing on the platform waiting for a train. When police asked her whose baby it was, she replied that it was her own. When they inquired further, she changed her story, saying it was her brother's child and she was going to meet him. 

When police attempted to take the maid into custody, a struggle broke out as she refused to part with the baby; only after some negotiations did she give in and police placed her under arrest.

A short while later, little Esti was was reunited with her father and mother.

“When my husband came into the house looking for Esti and Gloria and we started looking for them, I wrote in to the Ohel, and that is when we started getting leads which ultimately lead to us finding our baby” said Tamar.

“The fact that I was even on Middle Neck Road at that time was a matter of pure Hashgocho Protis, since I am usually in the camp office by then” said Yitzchok, adding “I was on my way home from attending a bris this morning, mamash Hashgocho Protis.”

When police searched the maid's possessions, they found cans of baby formula – a two day supply – with the labels peeled off in an apparent attempt to hide that they were Cholov Yisroel and had Hebrew letters on them. The maid had also changed the baby’s cloths. 

NEW York Post Reports:

A deranged housekeeper kidnapped a five-month-old girl from the Great Neck rabbi who recently fired her – and planned to take the baby with her to Uruguay, Long Island authorities said today.

Silver-haired Gloria Suarez, angry over losing her summer job Monday as a maid for Rabbi Yitzchok Hayempour and his eleven children, told cops she took baby Esther because "the baby would get more love and attention from me than she would ever get from (the Hayempours)."

"I know that they say the baby is theirs, but I know that the baby should belong to me," Suarez told cops.

Hayempour allowed Suarez, 55, to stay in their home until Wednesday, which is the only time the maid said she could get back into her Manhattan apartment, said Tammy Hayempour, 42, Esther’s mother.

Instead, cops said the baby-crazed maid spent two days honing her plans to abduct Esther by buying baby supplies, clothes and apple juice.

On Wednesday morning, Suarez asked if she could spend time with the baby before she left, Tammy said.

Unbeknownst to Tammy, Suarez used her goodbye time to change Esther out of her pink clothes and into a blue boy’s outfit – with sleeves long enough to cover a distinct birthmark on the baby’s forearm, the mom said.

Suarez then took the baby in her arms and fled the house on foot without the baby’s stroller, cops said.

Rabbi Hayempour was driving back from a bris he was attending when he saw Suarez walking with his baby, and he stopped his car to ask the woman where she was going.

"I said ‘we’re going to CVS,’" Suarez told cops.

Suarez eventually hopped a cab to the Roslyn Railroad Station in Roslyn Heights, where as she waited for a NYC-bound LIRR train. Meanwhile, Esther’s frantic family contacted cops, stopped buses, and reached out to every local cab company – and located the company that took Suarez to the train station.

Suarez was arrested at the station, but not without a fight.

"I fought them off and would not give her to them, but they were eventually able to get her," Suarez told cops.

Esther’s relieved mom said she never thought Suarez would be the kidnapping type.

"She wanted a child and she told me many times. I should have been suspicious," said Tammy.

At her arraignment at Nassau County First District Court this morning, Nassau prosecutor Melissa Lewis said Suarez intended to "take the child out of the county. . . and out of the country to Uruguay."

Suarez was arraigned on charges of kidnapping and resisting arrest. She is being held without bail.