Spring Valley Mayor Arrested

Mayor Noramie Jasmin said Wednesday of the bribery case against her: “We will vigorously defend against those charges to restore my good name.”

Reading a statement at a brief news conference at Village Hall, she also asked the community “not to prejudge me, rather to keep me in your prayers for my good name to restore.”

Jasmin said she could not discuss the charges in the FBI probe on advice of counsel.

She did not say if she would resign as mayor.

She left the podium after making her statement and did not take any questions.

The case that upended New York City politics and could spell doom for state Sen. Malcolm Smith began in a Rockland County village with one-tenth the population of Smith’s legislative district in Queens.

There, in Spring Valley, on a humid August day in 2011, Mayor Noramie Jasmin allegedly met with a federal informant to chew over plans for the village to seize some land along Route 59 and sell it to a preferred bidder.

First the mayor was allegedly planning to rig the competition for a new development.

“The one that I like I’m going to pick,” Jasmin said in a conversation recorded by the FBI. “So if I like yours, I pick you . . . If I don’t like it, you can stick [it] where the sun doesn’t shine.”

Then Jasmin was allegedly looking for a secret payday from the construction of a community center the village board would have to approve.

Together, the projects are now the backbone of the Smith scandal.

Over 18 months, the shady Rockland land deals would rope in Smith — then travel the Thruway back down to New York City, eventually blowing the lid off what the feds say was an unprecedented plot to rig the 2013 race for mayor.

On Feb. 13, 2012, Jasmin — in office since 2009 — met the informant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Suffern to lay out her terms, the feds charge. As the FBI recorded the conversation, Jasmin allegedly said she wanted to be a “partner, to build it together.”

She allegedly explained that, with her help, local zoning approvals for the community center would “go smoothly for you. That’s it.”

t the same time, Smith was allegedly running his own shady deals that he thought would land him the job as Mayor Bloomberg’s successor. To Smith, the informant — identified as Morris Stern of Rockland County — and an undercover FBI agent posing as developers looked like sugar daddies who could make his dream come true.

In return for helping them up in Spring Valley, the “developers” were allegedly going to pay off Republican leaders in New York City so they would clear the way for Smith to get on the GOP mayoral ballot.

Jasmin declined to discuss the allegations against her today.

"We will vigorously defend against these charges to restore my good name. I'm asking the community not to prejudge me, rather to keep me in your prayers for my good name to restore. Thank you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Yesterday, the feds refused to explain what first drew Smith to Spring Valley and how the senator connected his alleged ballot-rigging plot to Jasmin’s alleged land-deal scheme.

On Feb. 14, 2012, the feds claim, Jasmin and Stern got back together at the Crowne Plaza, where she insisted she needed the secret partnership stake in the real- estate deal.

A month later, they were still allegedly haggling over their unholy alliance as the feds recorded every word.

Back at the Crowne Plaza on March 20, 2012, the feds claim, the developer suggested Jasmin’s stake would be only 20 percent, and Jasmin was insulted.

“Partnership is 50-50, right?” the Spring Valley mayor allegedly said, adding how the partnership papers would be filed and offering to pay the $600 fee.

At that meeting, the feds claim, Jasmin started going through the script, telling the developer how he and his “partner” would play their roles when they appeared in front of the village board.

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Back in New York City, Smith was allegedly working out his own arrangements with Stern and the undercover FBI agent.

The senator said he would allegedly reel in $500,000 in state funding to aid the real-estate project in Spring Valley and the “developers” would pay bribes to city GOP leaders in return.

Smith, a powerful Democrat, wanted to run for mayor as a Republican and he needed at least three city Republican borough chairmen to support him in order to get on their ballot, according to the feds.

Smith allegedly decided to buy the necessary support in a plot that would culminate in the early-morning arrests yesterday of both Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran — along with Jasmin, her deputy mayor, Joseph Desmaret, and two GOP leaders from the city.

Prosecutors said that on Feb. 10, Smith materialized at a Manhattan hotel room, bodyguard in tow, to meet with a federal informant and an undercover FBI agent — as the feds listened in.

The senator allegedly informed his would-be sugar daddies that it would take just $200,000 to get him on the GOP ballot. The trio talked about structuring the payments so the party leaders “who have financial needs” would “be taken care of.” They said those “needs” included home-mortgage payments and even college tuition for one of the officials’ kids.

Smith directed them on how to divvy up the cash.

”I wouldn’t give them more than like 10, just to, just to start out,” federal documents show. He also explained how there would be “no trace back” from the money.

That business over, the trio’s attention turned back north, to Spring Valley. The informant and the agent, posing as developers, “asked Smith to direct $500,000 in New York state funding to the real estate project.”

It’s “doable,” Smith reported. He said he would enlist the local senator “to help get the funding allocated in the state budget.”

On March 21, the undercover agent, the cooperator and the senator had gathered in Smith’s Albany office, where the senator explained where he’d be finding the state funding to aid their Spring Valley land deal.

“Multi-modal money is outside the budget and it’s always around,” Smith allegedly said.

By last week, FBI agents and prosecutors were finishing their plans for the sweep they pulled off at 6 a.m. yesterday. They put together an operational plan and a criminal complaint with incredible detail designed to prove to the public how strong their case is.

“Everyone’s entitled to the presumption of innocence,” said one lawyer who knows some of the politicians charged yesterday. “But this looks really, really bad.”

Six suspects appeared in White Plains federal court yesterday afternoon, looking tired and expressionless. They were ordered to turn over their passports and told there were now restrictions on where they can travel in the state.

They were ordered to give urine samples and are due back in court on April 23.

Aliza Sherman, the nurse that was murdered called 911 herself

Aliza Sherman, a Beachwood woman who was killed in Cleveland Sunday, called 9-1-1 to report the attack herself before someone heard her yelling and came to help.

In the call, Sherman asked for help. "Help me... Erieview 55. Help me, I've been attacked," she said.

Police said that Sherman was found with possible stab wounds.

The dispatcher asked for an apartment number and she repeated the address and asked again for help. Then, the line disconnected.

The call lasted less than 40 seconds. 

More: Coroner Releases Cause of Death

Another cell phone call, which can be heard in the video to the right, was placed to emergency dispatch within a minute: a man reporting that he heard Sherman screaming from his office and came out to help.

"Hurry, this is bad," the man said. "There's a lady who was just attacked and there's blood everywhere."

The man stayed at the scene and on the phone with the dispatcher until help arrived about six minutes later.

"She is getting worse by the second here," he said at one point during the call.

We will have more information on this ongoing investigation as it becomes available.

The Cleveland Division of Police is asking that anyone with information about this incident to contact the Homicide Unit at 216-623-5464. Anonymous information can be given to Crime Stoppers by calling 216-252-7463 or text messaging TIP657 plus your message to Crimes (274637).

Frum Jewish girl sings Nicki Minaj song for her friend’s wedding in Yiidish and English

rikki rose

An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman, Riki Rose, made a song for her friend in honor of her wedding, which was held on October 25th. Rose’s friend Chavy, married Yitzchok Lebowitz.

The song is a parody from the famous song “Starships” by Nicki Minaj. Rose’s song has some Yiddish and some English lyrics.

It is very surprising that an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman risked her reputation by uploading her song to the internet, since in the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, Jewish men are not supposed to listen to a singing woman. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people are also not allowed to listen to non-Jewish music.

If a rabbi in the community will find out of this video that Rose uploaded to the internet, she might be ostracized from the community.

Nonetheless it is fascinating to watch as a young Ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman authored her own lyrics and perfectly carry the tune to a non-Jewish song. It makes great entertainment for all of us. 

Jewish Nurse brutally murdered in Cleveland,Video

Cleveland’s police chief said Sunday’s murder of a Cleveland Clinic nurse downtown was targeted.

Chief Michael McGrath told NewsChannel5’s Kristin Volk that he does not believe anyone else in the public is in danger, despite no arrest in the case.

"If I thought their safety was in jeopardy, I'd be the first one to knock at their door," said McGrath, who added that police are working hard on the case to identify the person or people responsible for the crime.

McGrath said they're investigating a number of people, including the victim's husband and other family members.

Friends said the mother of four was visiting her lawyer downtown, and was currently in the middle of divorce proceedings from her estranged husband.

Police said a passerby found 53-year-old Aliza Sherman of Beachwood lying in a pool of blood Sunday evening on East 12th Street near the Galleria at Erieview Mall. Sherman and someone who tried to help her called 911.

Sherman was taken to the hospital, where she died a short time later. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office said she was stabbed 11 times.

"We're keeping a lot of information we have under wraps because the way in which the investigation is going," said Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

Police have yet to release any description of a suspect. The manager of the Galleria told NewsChannel5 he turned over surveillance video showing the attack to police, but no images of that video were also released to the public.

"If there's one homicide or one crime that's committed, we don't take that lightly, and we do what we need to do to ensure safety not only downtown but in our other neighborhoods," said Jackson.

Court records showed there was to be a divorce proceeding Tuesday and another in April. Sherman’s estranged husband declined NewsChannel5’s request for an interview.

Sherman’s funeral was held Thursday in Cleveland Heights. A friend of Sherman's who attended the service told NewsChannel5 off-camera that it was very crowded, and friends and family described the woman's kindness, generosity and love for animals.

The obituary mentioned Sherman's daughter, three sons, but there is no mention of her husband.

David Cheifetz a sexual abuse victim speaks out

My name is David Cheifetz and I am a victim of childhood sex abuse in a Jewish institution.

There. I have said it. After more than 30 years I have shared the dark secret that has haunted my soul.

I was 13 years old, attending sleep-away camp at Camp Dora Golding, an all-boys Orthodox camp that some of you still send your sons to. I was befriended by a 28-year-old member of the rabbinic staff. Over the course of a week he sexually abused me repeatedly. When the activity was exposed, I was summoned to the camp director’s office and forced to confront the assailant. Then I was summarily sent home, as if it were I who had committed the crime. The camp never even told my parents why I was being sent home. They were just advised to pick me up at the Greyhound terminal at New York’s Port Authority.

I do not know if the perpetrator was ever fired; to the best of my knowledge he was never reported to legal authorities. I understand that he went on to a long career in Jewish education, and based on whispers on the Internet, probably continued targeting young Jewish boys within the walls of Jewish educational institutions. [Camp Dora Golding officials did not respond to repeated attempts for comment on the author’s allegations.]

When I arrived home, I was not given a hero’s welcome. I was also not given a victim’s welcome. I was never sent to a psychiatrist or a psychologist or even a pediatrician. The bitter secret was locked away, barely thought of or spoken of over the next 30-plus years. I did once share the incident with my yeshiva high school principal who insisted, “No, Duvid, he could not have been a rabbi. Rabbis never do such things.”…
The establishment of an independent ombudsman sensitive to the needs of the Jewish community, with programs in every major educational institution. Too many rabbis have been hesitant to advise victims and their families to report abuses to the police, to social service agencies, or to the local district attorney. Or they have been outright complicit in cover-ups. So a central, independently funded ombudsman program (preferably funded by a foundation, and not reliant on the financial pressures of communal mood swings) must exist for victims and their families. The ombudsman will work with legal authorities and social service agencies and the schools to investigate all credible allegations and use its voice and power to pursue and bring pedophiles and their supporters to justice.

Jerusalem rabbi arrested after sexually assaulting his underage daughters

An Israeli rabbi was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting minor girls after he was accused of sexually abusing his own underage daughters, according to police reports in Jerusalem, Israel.

The prominent rabbi was arrested last week for allegedly sexually abusing three of his daughters for more than 10 years.

The rabbi, who has not been publicly identified, is reportedly charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and violation of privacy.

The rabbi is currently in jail pending the completion of the police investigation.

The indictment that was filed in Jerusalem District Court claims that the rabbi began sexually abusing three of his daughters, who are between 12 and 14-years-old, 10 years ago.

According to the indictment, the rabbi ordered his oldest daughter to sleep naked with the younger daughter. The rabbi also put a video camera in her room and watched as she dressed and showered.

The rabbi's daughters have agreed to testify against their father at trial, police said.

New color video released showing liberation of Nazi concentration camp, Video

As Jews around the world are celebrating the liberation of Egypt, new color video emerged of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp, according to video uploaded to the internet.

Almost 70 years after the end of World War Two, new images showing the Nazi horror still appear. A specialized photo website posted images and a video documenting the Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated by Allied Forces on April 29, 1945.

The website did not specify the source of the photos "or the exact date they were taken. They were later published by the website of o leading British newspaper, which quoted an expert who confirmed that the images were actually taken after the camp was liberated.

"French and Yugoslav flags can also be seen on the video and it is very unlikely that the Nazis have adorned their camp with the flags of other nations," the expert said.

Founded in March 1933, just two months after Hitler became chancellor, Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp.

"Finkel" Story in California, Glatt Kosher meat distributer was selling Treif to restaurants, caterers etc..

California Jews are shell shocked after learning this morning that the largest kosher meat distributor was selling non kosher meat for quite some time, an undercover investigation revealed.

As Jews throughout California are preparing to celebrate the Passover holiday, a huge supplier of kosher meat within the Jewish community of California has been stripped of its certification.

Doheny Glatt Kosher Meats is a wholesale supplier of kosher products to retailers, restaurants and caterers.
The company also has a retail location in Pico, California, which are sold directly to customers.
Doheny Glatt is accused of packing boxes of Kosher meat products that were not kosher.

The Rabbinical Council of California sent an email informing people that meat purchased before 3:00 pm Sunday is still considered Kosher.

Full line of Kosher for Passover pizza and sandwiches in Jerusalem, Video

As Jews are celebrating the holiday of Passover, supermarkets, restaurants and takeout stands are adjusting accordingly.

According to Israeli law, stores cannot sell leavened bread items on Passover. Although some bagel shops and cafes choose to be closed on the holiday many restaurants, takeout stands and cake shops are open on Passover and they fill their shelves with delicious kosher for Passover foods.

Restaurants offer a full kosher for Passover menu with matzah instead pitta or laffa. They are all kosher certified by Orthodox Jewish rabbis.

In the video below, you can see one fully stocked kosher for Passover takeout stand located on the third floor in the Jerusalem Central Bus Station.

Yidel Perlstein, Community Board Member, exposes his family to the Gay Candidate for Mayor,Quinn

Quinn and Yidel Perlstein and Ezra Friedlander  (Lisker Rebbe's Son)

Yidel Perlstein, first Chassidic Community Board 12 member, takes photo with the Gay Candidate Quinn.
Is this what Chassidism now endorse? And what about Ezra Friedlander, the son of the Lisker Rebbe, is this what we are going to do now? Expose our precious children to perversion?
They keep talking about Tznious ....but have no problem being friends with gay candidates...
What a bunch of hypocrites. Its all about the Almighty Dollar!
See United to save America

Incredible video footage of arrival of Airforce 1 & Marine 1 in Tel Aviv

Menachem Lieberman was 13 years old when he was coerced to be a false witness in a Rabbis' murder

He helped send a wrongly accused man to prison because of what cops told him to say — and he helped get him out because of what the Torah commanded him to do.

Menachem Lieberman was just a scared 13-year-old when police steered him to finger David Ranta for the 1990 murder of Hasidic Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger after a botched jewel heist in Williamsburg.

Ranta was released last week after nearly 23 years in prison, following a yearlong probe that determined the original cops on the case performed a shoddy investigation, failed to keep adequate notes and coached witnesses.

Lieberman was one of those witnesses 23 years ago — and his decision to finally recant his testimony was the big break in proving Ranta had been railroaded.

“A lot of things made me think back and realize that it was wrong — that a human being is in jail who should not be,” Lieberman told The Post.

It was Feb. 8, 1990, when blood was shed on Clymer Street in a robbery gone bad.

Jewel courier Chaim Weinberger — holding a suitcase filled with 50 pounds of uncut jewels worth $250,000 — was leaving his home on his way to catch a flight when he noticed he was being followed by a man with a pistol. He raced to his car and sped away, knocking the gunman down as he tore off.

The killer turned on Werzberger, who happened to be warming up his 1985 Olds that cold morning. He shot him in the head, then drove off in his car. The rabbi died four days later.

Lieberman, now 36, was on his way to a Satmar yeshiva on Heyward Street when he noticed two men sitting in a station wagon. It was strange, he thought, because the car’s ignition was off, and “they were watching the street.”

The boy went to school and later heard that someone had been shot. He called his mother from a pay phone, and when he came home — he lived in the same building as the slain rabbi — the police were waiting for him.

“They showed me binders of faces of people to try to identify, but I didn’t find anyone there,” he recalled. “I gave them a description — I don’t remember what it was now, but it didn’t match up to David Ranta.”

He met with sketch artists, looked through more mug shots, but still nothing. Weeks turned into months.

That summer, he was summoned from summer camp in upstate Napanoch by cops. Ranta, a petty crook who admitted to being near the scene, had been arrested. Detectives wanted Lieberman to view a lineup at the 90th Precinct station house.

“As I walked in, there were a couple of police officers. I don’t remember their rank, their faces. I just know that somebody said to me, ‘Pick the guy with the big nose,’ ” he said. “And if you saw [Ranta’s] face, he has a very distinct nose. You can’t mistake it, even to this day.

Salad is more dangerous than beefburgers, leading food expert warns

Salad labelled as "ready-to-eat" is more dangerous than beefburgers, one of Britain`s top food experts has said, following a spate of Cryptosporidium infections linked to the product.

Certain types of bacteria found in the pre-cut salad bags can be almost impossible to kill, Professor Hugh Pennington said, unless the leaves are irradiated – a process the public would oppose.

His claim follows a Health Protection Agency investigation into an outbreak of salad-linked Cryptosporidium infections that affected around 300 people in England and Scotland in May.

In the analysis of the exposure to different salad vegetables a significant statistical association was found between infection and the consumption of pre-cut spinach.

When specific retailers were included in the analysis, the strongest association with infection was found to be with consumption of ready to eat pre-cut mixed salad leaves from a major supermarket chain.

"Together these findings suggest that one or more types of salad vegetables could have been contaminated," said the HPA.

Professor Pennington said the case also followed on from several in the USA where they are "very worried" about "washed and ready-to-eat" bagged salad.

Last year produce giant Dole issued a recall on its American Blend bagged salad in 10 states in those two regions, after the Tennessee Department of Health found listeria bacteria in one sample.

Demand for salad has boomed because of healthily eating campaigns. But salad is considered one of the products most likely to cause food-related illness – largely because greens are grown directly in the soil, and some pathogens can only be killed by heat or strong detergents, not just water.

Professor Pennington said: "It is generally safer to eat a burger than the salad that goes with it.

"Despite the recent horsemeat and other scandals, the meat can be traced and through a rigorous process that checks for its quality etc.

"That does not exist to the same rigour for salad. You can only make vegetables safe by cooking and you can`t obviously do that with salad.

"You could irradiate it – but that would be a `no, no` with the public. You just can`t be absolutely sure that the bagged salad you are buying – which has been put through a chemical wash to kill the bugs, is actually free of them.

"These bugs are very good at clinging on to salad and the risk from cryptosporidium, salmonella and listeria is very real.

"I would advise people to thoroughly wash salad even when it says it has been washed and is ready to eat."

Bagged salad on sale in supermarkets is often sourced from the same suppliers for most leaf types, often with common production lines packing product for several retailers at the same time.

Professor Pennington also pointed out that a bean sprout farm in northern Germany was identified as the most likely source of many of the infections in the E. coli outbreak that left 22 people dead in 2011.

The farm, located in Uelzen, south of Hamburg, was the epicentre of the outbreak that has also made more than 2,000 people ill.

Professor Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, said the biggest E.coli outbreak happened in Japan in 1996 and involved radish sprouts.

"My understanding is that this farm in Germany was an organic one and there are more risks with organic food. For example organic chicken has more bugs than non-organic because they spend longer in the field and have wild bird droppings on them etc.

"Vegetables are fine and safe if they are cooked in the traditional British way of boiling them to death. The only danger comes when you eat them raw.

"Sometimes the spouts are contaminated to start with and they can get contaminated when spouting in the steaming process.

"At the end of the day the responsibility falls on the people who produce food. But much of our vegetables are now grown in countries who do not necessarily have the same hygiene standards.

"At the end of the day there has to be trust who is in supplying you with your food. The consumer has no way of knowing how the food has been produced. The consumer is not in a position to know all that has gone on."

Professor Pennington headed the investigation into the E.coli outbreak in Wishaw which claimed the lives of 20 elderly people in 1996.

Shalom Eichler finally arrested in Jerusalem

Chaim Levin the victim

by 

Chaim Levin

Sholom Eichler the "molester"

Sholom Eichler was arrested on March 21st near Kfar Chabad for sexually abusing me as a child. I had already filed a civil lawsuit against him in New York and he ignored the lawsuit and fled to Israel with his family. The result of that lawsuit is still pending, I was awarded a default judgment against him and will hopefully know the amount of that judgment by this coming Monday, March 25th.

As I’ve written previously on my Facebook page and have told many people as well, the last place that Sholom Eichler molested me was when our families were visiting Israel together on a family trip while we were staying at the [then Hilton] David Citadel hotel. The details of that incident, along with many of the other incidents remain clear as day in my mind; I even remember the room number that he abused me in while we were in Jerusalem.

After ignoring the civil lawsuit against him in New York Sholom Eichler and his family fled to Israel because of the default judgment that I was granted against him. Unfortunately for Eichler, the criminal statute of limitations are much broader and severe in Israel, and so I spent the past few months researching my options before deciding to press criminal charges against him. It pains me greatly to know that there are so many sex offenders out there whose victims have the ability to bring them to justice but are too afraid to do so because of community or family pressure, or because they don’t feel strong enough. For 7 seven years I was frightened by the prospect of forcing Sholom Eichler into a courtroom or even confronting him, and it is thanks to the support of many great survivors, advocates, friends and family who showed me that it’s possible to pursue justice despite the staggering intimidation that many victims face once reporting their crime and/or going public especially when coming from more religious communities.

The Israeli justice system operates quite differently than what I was familiar with in regards to how sexual abuse cases are handled in the US. After I received confirmation on Thursday morning that Eichler was arrested, the police requested that I be on “standby” for when they would call me. I thought they would ask me to ID Eichler or something, but what came next was very unexpected. I was brought into a fairly small room with three police interrogators, one of them a translator, and was directed to sit in a seat right across from Sholom Eichler where he was sitting with shackles on his feet.

The main interrogator read Eichler his right to remain silent and warned him that anything he said would be used against him. I was still absorbing the fact that I was sitting right in front of the monster who took so much away from me, the monster that caused so much damage that no amount of therapy will ever undo, but within two minutes I was able to gain my bearings. According to legal experts in Israel, this process is called “eimut” (confrontation) and is used by interrogators to observe the body language between the victim and the accused. I was instructed to look at Eichler and tell him what he did to me, they were adamant that I describe every incident in detail and not hold back on anything. It was at that moment that I looked at the monster in the eyes and told him exactly what he did to me, where he did it and the painful and sensitive details of the times he abused me.

This “confrontation” was sort of like a court proceeding, after I gave my opening statement Eichler was given a chance to respond to what I said, and without an ounce of shame or remorse he attempted to deny everything that I claimed he had done to me. With every word he spoke, with every lie he told I felt my blood boiling to the point where I thought I was going to explode, but although he was lying, his body language was telling a very different story. He was completely unhinged and was shaking non stop, he sounded like he was on the brink of tears and his attempts to discredit what I was saying were clearly not working. One of the things I confronted him about was about a meeting that he and I had five years ago before he got married in which he apologized to me for what he had done to me. I looked at him and said “how dare you sit right in front of me and call me a liar? How do you live with yourself knowing what you did despite the fact that not only did you apologize to me but also admitted your crimes against me to my older brother and my mother as well?”. Eichler admitted to meeting me five years ago, (something he denied until now) and said “I didn’t apologize for what I did to you, I apologized for how you were feeling”.

I pressed further and recounted in vivid detail how Eichler used to wait on his parents’ porch that was just across the street of my school for when I would be walking home from school so that he can lure me inside to commit those unspeakable acts. I also recounted the times that he abused me in the synagogue that our families attended, in my parents’ house, upstate at the bungalow colony that our families both attended during the summer, and of course, one of the most brutal incidents, the last time, in that hotel in Jerusalem on the fifth floor. Eichler had the audacity to attempt and accuse my older brothers of actually abusing me; and when asked by the interrogators why I would make such claims against him he said that he was the “perfect target”. I responded to that by saying that if i was looking for a “perfect target” I would have gone after one of his older brothers which would have ensured that one of them would be sitting in American prison today because they would’ve been well within the criminal statute of limitations within the American justice system.

Those twenty minutes felt like hours and most of the exact details are quite blurred in my head at this point, but luckily it was all on the record and will surely be used to prove his guilt in criminal court. What I remember was the feeling of empowerment I felt when I looked at this evil excuse for a man in the eye and told him exactly what he had done to me and the look on his face, the expression of guilt and shame, feelings that I felt for far too long because of what he had done to me; the tables had finally turned and for the first time in thirteen years Sholom Eichler finally had to answer for his heinous crimes. After leaving that room, I felt nothing but strength and a certain of closure. As painful and emotional as that confrontation was for me, it reminded me that pursuing justice is one of the most important things that a person could do in his or her life.

Eichler was released on bail the next day, the exact amount is still unknown to me but I hope to find out soon, and it is my sincere hope that he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I hope that others will learn by example that while at certain points the prospect of facing their abuser might seem impossible but the truth is that with the right amount of support, therapy, and healing facing one’s abuser IS possible and the power that abusers enjoy over their victims (the way Eichler had power over me) diminish over time.

Aside from knowing that it was my obligation to make sure that Eichler answer for his crimes and that I exercise every single legal option that was available to me in order to do so, I hope that by pressing criminal and civil charges against my abuser a better precedent will be set in the future for those struggling with the decision of if and how they should take action against those who stole part of their innocence, part of their soul. I know that by being so public about my past and about what was done to me is giving a voice to so many who feel like theirs was taken from them, something I once felt all the time. I’ve been publicly shamed on more than one occasion; anonymous emails and tweets from people who don’t even have the courage to use their real names remind me the importance of this journey and only empower me even more to pursue justice. Those voices of hate and negativity fade and the voices of my family, friends and every single person who supported me and encouraged me echo loudly for me and for the world to hear, to you all, I am thankful, I wouldn’t be here without you.

A Victim of the "Breslover Tzaddik" tells her story

The Tzaddik Harav Elizer Berland

It took A. some time to realize she had been sexually harassed by Rabbi Eliezer Berland - a holy and righteous man in her eyes - and for her to file a police complaint. She is 18, married, her pretty face wrapped tightly in a black kerchief in the so-called Jerusalem fashion. She is going through a crisis, not only as a woman who was sexually harassed, but also as someone who was raised with a unique system of beliefs, at the center of which is the rabbi, the righteous foundation of the world.

Since A. became disillusioned, her world has collapsed. She stopped working, and her life now revolves around both the court case and the rift in her community, which has shunned her since she submitted her complaint to the police.

"I am the daughter of a veteran disciple of the rabbi," she says. "My father still believes in him. I think that if he were to cease believing, he would die from it. Today, now that I am outside, I understand that Shuvu Banim is a false Hasidic sect that is only after money. Everything the rabbi would do was very peculiar, not ordinary. He would yell, would travel around at night to tikkunim [sessions of 'spiritual repair'], and we'd follow after him.

"My husband is a righteous one. Our vart [a Yiddish term for an occasion that proceeds a betrothal] was at the rabbi's. We waited there all night. My husband cried to the guards to let us in to see the rabbi, and only at 5 A.M. did we break a plate. I was pleased. It was a matter of pride between me and my girlfriends that I had a groom who would chase after the rabbi. After the sheva berakhot [the week of nightly meals and blessings after a wedding], my husband continued his pursuit of the rabbi. He would go to Hebron, Amuka [in the Galilee] - wherever the rabbi was, my husband would chase after him. Later I joined in too.

"We thought we were demonstrating our devotion. For a year after our marriage, I did not have a single evening with my husband, because I was busy, in pursuit: We were the rabbi's minions. There was a group of women who pursued the rabbi. The rabbi would excite us, suddenly emerge from the car, do tikkun, and then get in and drive off. I worked from noon until 4 P.M., so that I would have time to sleep in a little in the morning, but many times I would telephone and say that I wasn't feeling well. So I also wasn't receiving a proper salary.

"My father instilled in us at that the rabbi is the essence of spirituality at home. I began going to the rabbi too, because we'd heard you could get a blessing. Once we used to see him from afar, but now we realized that you could get in to see him without paying millions of shekels. We got excited, we started going to him at night.

"The first time I went in to the rabbi, it was with another woman: He gave us a kiss on the forehead. Something gentle, a kiss from the righteous one. At the time I didn't think it was unusual, but from a kiss it developed into holding you, touching, licking. A lot of women don't believe the rabbi touched and kissed [others], because he didn't touch them. These are older Ashkenazi women.

"If he had touched them, they would have done him in. So he did it to us, the innocent disciples. Like that, so we wouldn't feel it, his hands were constantly fluttering about. He would come close and do it quickly without your realizing, with three or four women in the room - caress this one, embrace that one. One day he told my husband, 'Your wife will have the privilege of being in the world of nobility' [a higher realm the soul belongs to, according to kabbala]. It was only afterward that we understood he was preparing him.

"That time I had come with my husband to the rabbi as usual, and he said, 'You stay here and you come with me.' He locked me in his room and went out. When he entered he pointed to the bed. I don't remember what he said to me. He kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth. He held me real tight, my whole body, close to his, and he became dreadfully excited and panted. He told me, 'Now you are in the world of nobility,' and licked my face until it was really sticky. I was fighting with myself not to do anything. To this day I am traumatized by it.

"After that he put his hands under my blouse and felt me up brusquely. And then he opened the door and I ran to my husband and told him excitedly that the rabbi said I was in the world of nobility. We began to fight, because my husband understood."

'I miss kissing you'

A. says Berland frequently preached sexual abstinence. "For nine months he told me and my husband not to touch. From the time we married, we were prushim [abstaining from sexual relations]. It killed us. Sometimes we would touch and then we'd say, 'The rabbi will be mad at us.' My husband and I would go in and I would ask the rabbi, 'When will we be blessed with children?' He would say, 'You are not touching each other? You will be visited.' We were naive. I thought I would have children just because the rabbi promised me we would be visited. But he kept on saying, 'Now go immerse yourself' [in a ritual bath], as though he was ensuring that I would be pure for him. In front of other people he would ask: 'When did you go to immerse yourself?' I whispered in his ear, and he would say in front of the others that I had gone. I would feel embarrassed. The rabbi would call all the time: I love you, miss you, miss kissing you. But he would mix this sort of talk with holy talk. And then all of a sudden he stopped calling me."

A. came to her senses with the help of a veteran disciple of the Bratslav Hasidic sect. "The Hasid's daughter was a friend of mine," she explains. "She would go in to the rabbi every night, like me. After the incident occurred [the sexual harassment], her father told her he a secret scroll, which told of 18 women who were each tied to the righteous one [the rabbi] on a different side of the body and how each has a part in redemption. We came to her father and began talking to him about it. Suddenly he said, 'Enough, there is no secret scroll. The rabbi is despicable.' We were shocked. He called our husbands and told them. Only then did we understand what had happened, and everything blew up."

The public suspicions regarding sexual harassment by Berland arose during the course of an a police investigation into a dispute and shooting within the Hasidic sect. The investigation concluded that the dispute broke out following an attempt to silence Itai Nachman Shalom, a disciple of Berland who witnessed him having sex with a woman from the community, and refused to keep quiet about it. Since the scandal's eruption a few months ago, the Shuvu Banim sect has been split between the rabbi's supporters and detractors.

Berland, who is apparently in the United States now, knows he is under investigation for sexual harassment, and is represented by the Tel Aviv attorney Jacob Weinroth.

Women from the community are now offering support to the ones who say they were harassed and are encouraging them to seek help. The women wish to remain anonymous because they fear the wrath of thugs within the sect. They explain that Berland took advantage of weak women by force of his charisma. They say both he and his disciples explained to the women that by means of their submission, they were "helping" the rabbi to battle the Iranian threat facing Israel, and to prevent a holocaust from being visited on its people. A lot of women were hurt but are for now keeping mum, they say.

A Facebook page for victims of the rabbi's alleged abuse from the Hasidic sect, which was launched by a Haredi woman outside it, has seen a steadily growing number of subscribers. According to the woman who manages the page, several women have been in touch with her privately, and told her that they too had been sexually harassed. The descriptions are similar: "They came into the room to receive a blessing from the rabbi and it ended in lickings, roaming hands and statements such as, 'I am taking all offenses from you.'" She adds that several of the women say they subsequently received money from Berland, sums of $500-1,000, but are afraid to complain and are not willing to speak with the authorities about this.