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. 

Lady gets molested in Monsey Days Inn Hotel,

Police arrested a maintenance worker at an upstate New York hotel for allegedly using his master key to gain access to a guest's room and sexually assaulting her as she slept.

Authorities say 38-year-old Hector Ixcopal, who worked at the Days Inn on Route 59 in Nanuet and lives in a room there, allegedly entered the room of a guest shortly before 1:30 a.m. Friday and began sexually assaulting the woman sleeping inside. 

At some point, the woman woke up and other hotel guests came to her aid; they restrained the hotel worker until police arrived, authorities said.

"They wind up finding Mr. Ixcopal, and they restrained him until police arrived," said Clarkstown Police Sgt. JoAnne Fratianni.

Asked about the bruises on Ixcopal's face, seen in his mugshot, Fratianni said, "Well, the report is that while they were restraining him, he fell to the ground and sustained an orbital injury."

Police say the victim recognized her attacker because she had encountered him in the hotel hours before the attack. She was treated at the hospital and released.

"I'm shocked," said hotel manager Tom Patel. "I'm shocked and I'm upset and I'm mad, too. If he has done this, then he's done." 

Ixcopal was charged with first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree sexual abuse and second-degree burglary, all felony charges. 

Information on an attorney for him wasn't immediately available. 

The "Aroni" Satmar will have better Matzos this Pesach than the "Zaloni" Satmar! and that's that!

Dusiznies is advising the Zalonies to find a better "Marror" we suggest "Wasabi"! That will teach them not to mess with the Zalonies!

The ongoing battle for religious one-upmanship between warring factions of New York’s Satmar has plunked a contingency of ultra-Orthodox rabbis in the arid town of Yuma, Arizona, where, for seven weeks, they have painstakingly overseen the harvesting of wheat which they hope will allow them to lay claim to New York’s best matzoh.

A NEW YORK TIMES (http://bit.ly/19ITpl1 ) article profiling the harvest reveals an operation that intricately weaves together strict ultra-Orthodox religious guidelines, modern technology and the science of farming, and if all goes well, the cooperation of Mother Nature.
On a farm owned by a Christian farmer Mr. Tim Dunn, , just five miles from the Mexican border, the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Aaron Teitelbaum, traveled to Yuma, last Monday to give his blessings to the newly harvested wheat, specifically planted in the extremely arid western climate which rarely sees rain in the springtime.

Two rabbis spent seven weeks camped out in trailers abutting the wheat fields, overseeing the forty acres of wheat growing in the southwest corner of Arizona, known for its low humidity and listed by Guinness World Records as the sunniest place on the planet, in order to be able to give assurance that the wheat had not come into contact with moisture of any form, including rain, once it had matured. Despite scorching temperatures, workers were not allowed to carry water in the wheat fields and the unpaved roads could not be washed down in order to ensure that the wheat stayed completely dry.

The decision by Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum on Yuma began five years ago after an exhaustive scientific search of national weather patterns revealed Yuma to be one of the most arid spots in the U.S. during the wheat harvesting season, and with his brother Rabbi Zalman still using wheat harvested on the East Coast, it seemed a natural fit that the dry southern Arizona climate would allow him a “leg up” in claiming that his matzoh adheres to a more rigorous religious standard.
Despite the temperatures estimated to be at 108 degrees, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum the Satmar Rebbe was on site at the wheat fields on Monday, June 24th, giving his blessing to the wheat as the harvest began.  The grain will be transported by train to Elizabeth, New Jersey after being cleaned and packed into sealed containers and once it arrives in New Jersey the grain will be sent to matza bakeries in both Brooklyn and Kiryas Joel, with baking set to begin five months before Pesach. 
Rabbi Eli Hershkowitz, manager of the Rutledge Street Satmar Central Matzoh Bakery, estimates that Brooklyn bakeries will produce 80,000 to 100,000 pounds of matza using the Yuma wheat.
Professor Samuel Heilman, a sociology professor at Queens college whose research focuses on Orthodox Judasim described the decision to use wheat grown in the dry heat of the west, instead of the rainy East Coast climate as a form of one-upmanship between the two rival Satmar factions.
“One is always looking to be more authoritative than the other and one of the ways they’re making this happen is over matza,” explained Professor Heilman.  “Our matza is more kosher than yours, we’re more scrupulous and careful over matza baking than you are.”

"Goyim" protest in "Rockland Kosher Supermarket" they wont let Chassidim take over Monsey & Spring Valley, Video

A group of non-Jewish Rockland County residents staged a peaceful “stop and shop” demonstration Friday afternoon aimed at protesting “de facto segregation” by entering single file into Rockland Kosher Supermarket off Route 306 and purchasing one item apiece.

LOHUD.com (http://lohud.us/1arqvFa) reports that the protest was the first event staged by a new group called “Wake Up Rockland,” organized by Rev. Weldon McWilliams IV of the First Baptist Church in Spring Valley, and whose intent is to let the Hasidic community know that “we are here, and we are not going anywhere.”
In recognizing the growing divide within the community over major issues—-most notably the ongoing case of the Hasidic-run East Ramapo school board—-Rev. Williams said the act of patronizing the local kosher market was symbolic of promoting the ideal that both communities can co-exist peacefully.
Sources say the reaction of store employees and Hasidic shoppers inside the market—-many of whom were busy preparing for Shabbat—-ran anywhere from confusion to curiosity to contempt.
The Hasidic owner of the store ordered reporters off the property and said, “I don’t need them here,” when asked about the local patrons.

Monsey Preserve Ramapo attacks Mike Koplen, tries to split Jewish vote in Ramapo

Preserve Ramapo,  is getting an early jump on the election for Ramapo Town Supervisor by attacking Republican nominee Michael A. Koplen on the subject of the proposed New Square slaughterhouse.  

 For years, Preserve Ramapo, a grass roots organization in Ramapo which many consider to be anti semitic, has harshly criticized the current Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, a controversial politician who is now under the cloud of an FBI investigation. 

 PR has now turned their guns against Mike Koplen by deliberately misquoting him and trying to tie him to the proposed New Square slaughterhouse.   PR is hoping to split the Jewish vote in November, paving way for a Preserve Ramapo victory at the polls.   

On June 17, 2013,  The Rockland Journal News ran an article about the slaughterhouse in which Koplen was quoted as saying that if  he "wants to take a rational , not an emotional approach" to the slaughterhouse proposal.  He stated that many studies are needed.  If the slaughterhouse could be constructed in such a way that it did not have any negative impact on neighbors, then  no one would have a problem with it, but that if it did impact residents by causing odors or other problems, then it would not be welcome, even by the residents of New Square.   

Preserve Ramapo's Chairman Robert I. Rhodes, immediatley attacked Koplen on the comments page ( http://www.lohud.com/comments/article/20130617/NEWS03/306170054/Plan-returns-smaller-New-Square-poultry-plant on Lohud.com), seeking to tie Koplen to the slaughterhouse. 

 Preserve Ramapo then attacked Koplen in an article  on their website on June 18 featuring a picture of chicken hanging upside down over walls soaked in blood,  which clearly misquotes Koplen.  In the story headline, PR claims  that Koplen said the slaughtherhouse is "workable", something Koplen never said, and then sarcastically attacks him   in the articlehttp://www.preserveramapo.org//      

PR made sure this false story was repeated several times in different forums on the internet including social media such as  Facebook.

PR strategy is clearly to try to split the Jewish vote in the upcoming election, paving a way for a Preserve Ramapo victory at the polls. 

 A PR Town Supervisor, which would be a disaster for all Orthodox Jews in Ramapo.   Preserve Ramapo candidates have lost to St. Lawrence in each and every election.  They represent the old guard of Ramapo which has always sought to prevent Orthodox Jews from having shuls and schools.  

  With St.Lawrence badly damaged by corruption allegations, Koplen,   is seen as a very attractive alternative to both the current Supervisor, who won't be able to help anyone if he is behind bars, and the anti semtiic Preserve Ramapo.  So PR is  turning its guns on Koplen.

Slifkin talks about "fake" apology letter of Jonathan Rosenblum of the Yated, to R" Dov Lipman

Rabbi Slifkin

 by Rabbi Slifkin,
During the controversial controversy over my books, a certain former friend, whom we shall call Mr. X, in conjunction with a certain rabbi, was urging me to issue a public retraction/ apology for my books. It's not that Mr. X thought that my books were actually heretical; indeed, Mr. X himself believed that the world is billions of years old, and he did not believe in Chazal's descriptions of spontaneous generation. But Mr. X urged me to issue a partial apology, for errors in "tone" or "expression," as a tactical move, in order to defuse the controversy, and prevent damage to myself and others.
A rav that I was consulting didn't agree. He told me that there's no point issuing a partial apology - my opponents would be satisfied with nothing less than a complete capitulation, that my books are utter heresy. And a complete capitulation, while serving the interests of many rabbis/ charedi apologists associated with me or my books, would not be beneficial to me or to the people who so strongly identify with the rationalist approach. He told me that the people pushing me to apologize were looking out for their own best interests, not mine. I'd be compromising my integrity for no benefit to the people that count. And if I have to suffer the results, so be it.
I didn't apologize. In retrospect, I believe that the rav was completely correct, and I'm glad that I listened to him. But Mr. X was furious with me for not following his advice. In a public lecture that he later gave about the ban on my books, he criticized me as "a person who is not willing to listen to anyone."
(Of course, there are times when one should apologize even if one does not feel sorry - such as for shalom bayis. I am not referring to such cases.)
I was reminded of this when thinking about certain recent "apologies" that are not genuine apologies at all; instead they are just tactical moves to deflect opposition. This alone is disturbing enough; what makes it sadder is that some naive people seize upon these as examples of the moral greatness of the person issuing the apology. Whereas in fact, it doesn't demonstrate any moral greatness - just political wiliness.
How can one tell if an apology is sincere or merely a ploy? It's not always possible, of course. But sometimes there are clues that give it away.
First was Rabbi Avi Shafran's apology for his infamous article in which he said that Bernie Madoff is more worthy of respect than Captain Sully (because Sully was just doing his job, whereas Madoff went beyond expectations in apologizing). When there was uproar at this dangerously insane article, and many people calling for Rabbi Shafran to be fired from Agudas Yisrael, he issued an apology, but it seemed rather tepid. He spoke about having used an "unsuitable example" instead of admitting that the core idea was wrong. My suspicions about the insincere nature of the apology were confirmed when, in a personal email to me, he told me with pride about all the positive comments he had gotten on the article and about how he would love to discuss it one day.
Second was Leib Tropper's apology for having used his position at the top of a geirus organization to take advantage of female converts for the benefit of himself and others. His apology was carefully worded to not even be an explicit admission of guilt, despite the fact that audio and video recordings of his activities were freely available on YouTube. And I recently discovered that his devoted disciples still believe, presumably with his encouragement, that he never did anything, and that the recordings were elaborate fakes engineered by powerful adversaries.
But now we have perhaps the ultimate example of an insincere apology that is just a tactical maneuver. I'm referring, of course, to Jonathan Rosenblum's apology for slandering Rabbi Dov Lipman, as discussed in a previous post. Rosenblum, I'm told, received a tremendous amount of heat, with several people publicly responding and pointing out that his accusations were based on gross factual inaccuracies.
Rosenblum's apology starts out great. He goes into full details about his factual errors. He admits that "he had no business to make any assumptions, and certainly not to publish them, without clarifying the situation." He apologies to Rabbi Lipman and Mrs. Wolfson "for wrongly characterizing their actions as provocative, and for not having done adequate research."
Of course, one can ask, as did Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky, "I think it is important to examine how Jonathan Rosenblum, who 'had no business to make any assumptions, and certainly not to publish them, without clarifying the situation' did exactly that." A neighbor of mine, Menachem Lipkin, pointed out that, to make matters worse, he had already given Rosenblum the correct information a long time ago:
Rosenblum talks about the “assumptions” he made and how they were wrong. However, he and I had an ongoing email/phone exchange during the the Fall of 2011 when all this was going on. I gave him great detail of what was going on. I sent him a highlighted a map of the area showing him all the relevant buildings, “zones”, etc. I urged him to come down and I’d give him a tour of the area. I also urged him speak directly with Rabbi Lipman (who was not yet the “evil” man the Chareidi media has made him out to be). He did neither. Even articles he wrote at the time had factual errors which I pointed out to him.
Rosenblum makes an interesting statement: "For a Torah Jew, 'We regret the error' is insufficient." I'd expect that to mean that for a Torah Jew, it's not enough simply to issue an apology. There must be genuine contrition, a sincere effort to make amends with the victim, introspection as to how one did such a thing, and a change in one's ways.
Unfortunately, it seems that I misunderstood him. After a brief diversion to criticizing Yesh Atid, Rosenblum returns to yet another all-out attack on Dov Lipman. And to quote Menachem Lipkin:
Even if one accepts his "apology", he can barely get through the article before repeating the very transgression he so narrowly apologized for in the first place!
From JR’s “rebuttal” section:
“SADLY, RABBI LIPMAN has done little himself to provide secular Israelis in his party or beyond with a greater appreciation of the joy, the intellectual stimulation, or the cosmic power of Torah learning.”
From an assistant in Dov Lipman’s office:
1) E-mail Dov received from someone chiloni “True Story: I met on Friday afternoon with two successful young Israeli entrepreneurs — both secular IDC graduates and IDF special forces veterans. The issue of them having a meeting on Saturday (as they were leaving NYC Sunday morning) came up — and one said that he would not meet on Shabbat. He explained that he usually would have done so, as religion to him was personified by the haredi who did not share his values and with whom he did not identify at all. Then, he explained, Yesh Atid came along, with the Rabbi Dov Lipman — and showed him that he could embrace Judaism…that it was now owned and controlled by those with whom he disagreed so profoundly.”
2) Yesh Atid started the weekly Bet Midrash for MK’s – the first in the history of the Knesset. Every Tuesday at 3:00p.m. religious and secular MK’s study a section of Torah together and Dov is a regular contributor.
3) After a speech in a Jerusalem bar a girl raised her hand and said to Dov – “I just want you to know that you make me want to be more Jewish.”
4) Dov speaks a few times a week to secular students visiting the Knesset and each time he emphasizes the value of Torah study and he emphasizes the message of secular people respecting religious and vice versa.
5) After speaking in a bar in Tel Aviv, the young college students said that they never met someone chareidi who respected them and Dov explained that most chareidim would not force their ways on them. The outgrowth of that event was a Knesset taskforce for dialogue between chareidim and chilonim which Dov chairs.
Furthermore, if Rosenblum genuinely regrets having been motzi shem ra on Dov Lipman, then why on earth does his apology only appear on Cross-Currents, and not in Yated, where the original motzi shem ra appeared? In a heated email exchange that I had with Rosenblum last week, I asked him that question twice, and he did not respond. I also posted this question on Cross-Currents, but my comment was rejected. Since at least last Sunday, Rosenblum was aware that his accusations against Dov Lipman were false - plenty of time to put a retraction in the Yated, if he was genuinely sorry.
All of the above confirms a rule that I posted about a long time ago, which is neatly revealed in a statement that Rosenblum makes immediately following his expression of moral regret:
THAT HALACHIC AND JOURNALISTIC failure was a double patch in panim [smack in the face], resulting not only in a loss of credibility but serving to distract attention from the very real issues that divide me and Rabbi Lipman, who is now an MK in Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party.
Whenever someone gives two reasons for something, it's always the second reason that is the real reason. The first reason is given because it sounds better.
Rosenblum's expression of regret for a moral failure, a sin of bein adam l'chavero, was only urgently issued to Cross-Currents readers, not Yated readers. It was followed by exactly the same sin of motzi shem ra all over again. Because it wasn't a sincere apology at all - just a tactical maneuver, in order to enable Rosenblum to repair and reinforce his attack on Yesh Atid, and Dov Lipman.
Oh, and to return the story that I opened this post with. The real name of Mr. X who was urging me to apologize for my books, as a tactical move? I'm sure you can guess.

Monsey Teen Missing! UPDATE, FOUND!

UPDATE

Binyomin was found in great condition, no further info!

MISSING

IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT BINYOMIN HOUTEN CALL Ramapo Police Department at 845-357-2400 BINYOMIN HOUTEN Missing From: (POMONA, NY) Date Missing: (JUNE 26, 2013)
Age: (19)
Sex: (MALE)
Height: (5 Feet and 9 Inches)
Weight: (140 LBS)
Build: (Thin)
Eyes: (BROWN)
Hair: (BROWN, STRAIGHT)
Race: (Caucasian)
Other: AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER
Clothing: (KANGOL STYLE CAP
WITH BROWN WORK BOOTS) BINYOMIN HOUTEN FOR CURRENT INFORMATION & HOW TO HELP CALL Ramapo Police Department at 845-357-2400