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Monday 30 December 2013

Rabbi Mordechai Rosenberg Sued After Baby Injured During Circumcision



Pittsburgh, PA - A local rabbi is being sued after allegedly botching a bris, the traditional Jewish circumcision ritual, and severing a newborn boy's pxxxxx.

The incident detailed in the lawsuit happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill within the last year.
The Jewish circumcision ceremony was performed by Pittsburgh Rabbi Mordechai Rosenberg -- who is also a mohel.

Sometime during the bris, according to the lawsuit, Rosenberg severed the baby boy's pxxxxx.
The baby was rushed to Children's Hospital, where doctors performed emergency microsurgery.

"If your finger, your thumb was cut off and was put back on, that is pretty exciting," said renowned UPMC plastic surgeon Dr. Joe Losee.

Dr. Losee was not involved in the boy's treatment and he can't talk specifics.
But our sources say it took eight hours. The baby needed six blood transfusions and was hospitalized for nearly two months. Sources describe the reattachment procedure as successful.

Dr. Losee says microsurgery advances every day, but it's risky.

"Sometimes, it doesn't always work," he says. "When you're reattaching a portion where you include nerves, sometimes the nerves don't heal well beyond where you reattached it. So there are limitations for sure."
On his website, Rabbi Rosenberg says he is recognized as a "certified mohel by the American Board of Ritual Circumcision." His site also says "a doctor's medical circumcision, usually performed in the hospital, is not considered valid according to Jewish law."

"That is extraordinarily serious and is extraordinarily rare," said attorney David Llewellyn.
Llewellyn handles cases involving injury during circumcision -- injury brought on by both doctors in the hospital and mohels in religious ceremonies.

"Your average pediatric urologist probably spends about 20 percent of his or her time repairing children who have been circumcised," Llewellyn says.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, one in every 500 newborn boys experience significant acute complications as a result of circumcision.

"This is pretty much unregulated," Llewellyn said.

He says there is no regulated standard for training or certification of mohels, or any place for reporting injuries from circumcision.

"There's virtually no regulation of this any place in the United States that I know of," Llewellyn said. "I think the government probably should require some sort of training if this is going to be done."

Rabbi Rosenberg told KDKA "I am trained in this." He also called the case a "tragic accident" and a "horrible situation." But also said he continues to perform circumcisions.

Sources close to the case say, while the baby is recovering, there's no way to know if he'll make a complete recovery. The incident happened about eight months ago.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Gangnam Style - לא עלינו

Nuchem Rosenberg on The National Safe Child Show



The National Safe Child Show
Wednesday
12pm PT, Channel 2
    
The National Safe Child Show will cover topics that address the failures in our Nation to Protect Children. This show will provide insight, education and suggestions so a Safe Childhood doesn't continue to become Endangered. We fight for the rights of animals now it's time to show that same passionate participation for the thousands of children who suffer and die right here in our country. A child deserves to be heard, believed and Protected and we are going to make sure children get what they deserve. Please join us to become informed of the systemic failures that are killing children everyday. Be a Voice for a Child!


 
National Safe Child Coalition
www.nationalsafechildcoalition.com


Saturday 21 December 2013

Lord Greville Janner's home searched as part of child sex investigations, say police

From: www.telegraph.co.uk/


Officers from Leicestershire Police spent two days searching Lord Greville Janner's £600,000 apartment in North London

Labour Lord Greville Janner's home 'raided as part of child sex allegations'
Labour Lord Greville Janner  Photo: HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY
Police have searched the London home of Labour Lord Greville Janner as part of an investigation into historic child sex allegations, it was revealed.
Officers from Leicestershire Police spent two days searching his £600,000 apartment in North London, on Monday and Tuesday.
The 85-year-old former barrister was named Baron Janner of Braunstone, Leicester, in 1997.R 
The force refused to give details of whether anything was seized but confirmed it was part of an ongoing probe.
A police spokesman said: "Leicestershire Police can confirm its officers executed a search warrant of a property in Barnet, London as part of an ongoing criminal inquiry.
"No arrests have been made at this stage."
It is understood police attended the flat as part of a historic child sex investigation dating back many years.
Builders working on a renovation next door to the Janner's home saw a number of police cars and officers at the address on Monday and Tuesday.
One said: "There were loads of police cars here on Monday and Tuesday. They were coming and going all day.
"I don't know what happened, but they've been back quite often ever since.They were here on Tuesday and came back on Wednesday."
The huge white-fronted property in West Hampstead contains six luxury flats. Janner was at home on Thursday afternoon but refused to come to the door.
A young man, who identified himself as 'Jameson', claimed he was the peer's personal spiritual healer. He said: "The Lord won't come to the door.
"He is exhausted with all the stress of dealing with the police. He's old and needs his rest. I don't want to say any more."
It is not the first time Janner - a life peer in the House of Lords - has sparked controversy.
In 2006 Lord Janner was struck by fellow Lord Bramall, a former head of the Armed Forces, during a furious row over the Lebanon conflict.
Janner, a prominent speaker on Jewish rights who was President of the Board of British Jews, has been hailed for his efforts to see Holocaust victims receive compensation.
In 1955, he married Myra Sheink, born and bred in Australia, who passed away in 1996. He has three children and many grandchildren.
On his official website, Janner says his hobbies include "autograph collections, glass and other antiquities, swimming, speaking his nine languages and his family."
It also says he is a member of the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Friday 20 December 2013

Orthodox Jewish Businessman Jacob Ostreicher Escapes Bolivia



Oscar-winning actor and activist Sean Penn has added yet another string to his bow: prison breaker

Penn released a statement on Tuesday to say he was with a New York businessman who had been spirited out of Bolivia after spending over two years in captivity for crimes he claims he did not commit.

In an email to the Associated Press, Penn said the pair were at an undisclosed location in the US, and that Jacob Ostreicher was receiving medical attention following a "humanitarian operation" to rescue him from a "corrupt prosecution and imprisonment."

Ostreicher, 54, the owner of a flooring firm in Brooklyn, flew to Bolivia several years ago after investing in a rice-farming venture there. He was detained by the Bolivian authorities as part of a money laundering investigation, though he alleged that the Colombian woman running the business had been skimming the investors' cash.

Following his arrest, Ostreicher claimed, officials attempted to extort tens of thousands of dollars from him in return for his freedom. Though never formally charged, Ostreicher was incarcerated at the infamous Palmasola prison in June 2011, where he faced assault and further extortion at the hands of his fellow inmates.

At the request of a Jewish prisoners' organisation, Penn travelled to Bolivia in December 2012 to meet the country's president, Evo Morales, and to ask for Ostreicher's release. Ostreicher was let out of prison and placed under house arrest at his home in Santa Cruz. At the time he told the AP, "If it weren't for Sean Penn I would be another statistic in Bolivia and I would die in prison."

The details of Ostreicher's escape this week remain sketchy. Justice Minister Cecilia Ayllón told reporters that Ostreicher had taken advantage of the relaxed nature of his house arrest to travel from Santa Cruz to La Paz, and then to slip over the border into Peru. It is not known whether he had assistance. On Sunday, he flew from Lima to the US. Ms Ayllón said she would seek his extradition, adding, "His escape demonstrates that he was involved in the crimes he's accused of."

Ostreicher's family told a different story, however. Speaking to the New York Times, his daughter said she believed her father had been kidnapped from Santa Cruz. Ostreicher's brother had negotiated a ransom, she claimed, and secured his release and eventual return to US soil. An unnamed US government official reportedly told the Times that the kidnapping was likely a cover story to ease the anger of the Bolivian authorities after their prisoner's escape.

The US State Department said on Tuesday that it had yet to receive any extradition request from Bolivia. The two governments have been at loggerheads ever since Morales expelled the US ambassador in 2008. With diplomatic relations nearly non-existent, Penn had proved to be the one American who could negotiate with Morales. The Bolivian president had previously invited Penn to serve as a goodwill ambassador on behalf of Bolivia, though the actor had declined the offer.

Penn, who is 53, has demonstrated considerable interest in Central and South America. He was friendly with Morales's ally, the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Praised for his contribution to Haiti's reconstruction following the devastating 2010 earthquake, in January 2012 he was appointed Haitian ambassador-at-large. After meeting Argentinian leader Cristina Kirchner in February 2012, the actor angered many in Britain by suggesting the UK's continued ownership of the Falkland Islands represented a "ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology."

Penn is also no stranger to a daring escape. While shooting the little-seen 1986 film Shanghai Surprise in Macau, he stumbled on a photographer snooping in his hotel room. He dangled the man from a ninth floor balcony by his ankles, and was arrested for attempted murder -- only to break out of jail and flee the country on a jetfoil.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Schlesinger Twins case raised in Parliament



On 17th December 2013, MPs in London’s House of Commons held a debate on justice. Mr Matthew Offord MP, raised the case of the Schlesinger Twins in Vienna and urged “representations” to the Austrian government due to this “serious miscarriage of justice”. The question was answered by Mr Chris Grayling MP, Secretary of State for Justice.




Transcript:
Speaker of the House of Commons: Question from Matthew Offord
Mr Matthew Offord MP: Does the minister share my concern about the case of Beth Schlesinger and the unusual decision by an Austrian court to deprive her of custody of her two young children? Will the minister undertake to make representations to the Austrian government for what many people consider to be a serious miscarriage of justice?
Mr Chris Grayling MP: Well I’m very happy to discuss the case with my honourable friend. I suspect he, as constituency MP, may be better placed to make representation but I’m very happy to discuss it with him.

For full report see http://helpbeth.org/about-our-campaign/

Wednesday 18 December 2013

El Hanaar Hazeh by Shira Choir



אֶל הַנַעַר הַזֶה הִתְפַּלָלְתִּי וַיִתֵּן הַשֵׁם לִי אֶת שְׁאֵלָתִי אֲשֶׁר שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵעִמוֹ. וְאֶמְשׁוֹךְ לְהִתְפַּלֵל לְעוֹלְמֵי עַד אֲנִי הַאִמַא אִתְּכֶם לְעוֹלְמֵי עַד. (שמואל א א׳ כ״ז)

For this boy I prayed! For you my dear son I prayed to Hashem, Hashem kindly fulfilled my wishes, You my beloved son will always remain in my prayers and I will always look after you,


Composed by Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz in honor of the Bar Mitzvah of his nephew, Mayer Rechnitz Neiro Yoyir ben Avigail Meima Rachel Rechnitz Olev Hasholem who tragically passed away a few weeks before the Bar Mitzvah of her oldest son Meyer

Produced by: Shraga Gold - Shira Choir
Composed by: Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz
Lyrics: Shmuel 1(1,27) and Yossi Green
Performed by: The Shira choir
Music arranged by: Chesky Beruer
Choir arranged: Yoely Horowitz
Filmed & edited: Blue Studios

Soloist
Moishe Mendelowitz
Levy Falkowitz
Motty Steinmetz

Music
Drums: Avi Avidani
Bass: Aryeh Berkowitz
Guitar: Nachman Dryer
Brass: Danny Flam & New York Brass
Piano Keys & Programing: Chesky Breuer

Choir members
Shraga Gold 
Yoely Horowitz
Zevi Fried
Hershy Weinberger
Shulem Lemmer
Volvy Adler
Yoely Gandel
Sruly Klugman

Recorded At: Neumann Media Studios
Mixed By Yoeli Dikman
Special Thanks To Yossi Rubin Production

info@shirachoir.com

Tuesday 17 December 2013

בכמה כסף מכר ר' ישראל את כבוד ויזניץ למען ביקור אצל ר' חיים הלפרין בלונדון? לפני שנה זעק כי יש להתרחק ממנו

From: bshch.blogspot.co.uk

Embedded image permalink

מבלי להביע כאן עמדה לכאן או לכאן, מטרת שורות אלו היא להלחם בצבועים וצביעות, ואינה נוגעת לר' חיים הלפרין אלא לר' ישראל מויזניץ בלבד

המומים היו חסידי ויזניץ היום כאשר נודע להם כי אדמור"ם בלונדון ביקר היום אצל ר' חיים הלפרין האיש השנוי במחלוקת בשל חשדות על מעשים קשים ונוראים, השאלה היתה לשם מה הוא הלך לשם, והרבי אמר כי הוא מבקש לחזקו, אבל קשה היה לקבל את הדברים מפני שעמדת ויזניץ היתה עד זה לא מכבר הפוך, ועד כדי כך שר' חיים מאיר הבן של ר' ישראל נשא דרשה שלימה שבה קרא להתרחק ממנו. הוא לא הזכיר את שמו אבל דיבר עליו כל דבר אסור וקרא להתרחק מבית מדרשו, ר' חיים מאיר דבר שכזה לא היה עושה מבלי שקודם לכן היה מברר את עמדת האבא

אומרים שזה היה בשבת שובה כשר' ישראל בעצמו דיבר נגדו בחריפות רבה, ואיך זה שפתאום הוא עושה סיבוב של מאה ושמנים מעלות

מתברר כי מדובר באדם ששמו יצחק הלוי איש הורביץ, אדם שהפרוטה מצויה בכיסו הוא מהאנשים הקרובים לר' חיים הלפרין והוא זה שתבע מר' ישראל מויזניץ לבא לבקר את ר' חיים הלפרין, בלי זה הוא לא יתן לו כסף

כאשר נודע להורביץ כי ר' ישראל מגיע ללונדון הוא ביקש ממנו שיעשה עמו את החסד הזה ויבא לבקר אצל ר' חיים הלפרין ותמורת ביקור כזה הוא מבטיח לפצותו בגדול, ר' ישראל שמע בכמה מדובר והבטיח לבא

כששמעו חסידיו שהוא הולך לשם הם פנו אליו וביקשו שלא יעשה זאת מפני שהוא מכניס אותם למצב לא נעים, אבל ר' ישראל אמר כי הוא כבר התחייב ולכן אין לו ברירה ויילך, ואכן הוא היה שם ואף קיבל צ'ק עם כמה מספרים כפי שהתחייב

בלונדון אמרו כי הויזניצאים יצאו כאן צבועים, מצד אחד שיקחו שהם נגד הלפרין ומצד שני כשקיבלו כסף מכרו את נשמתם. נכון זה לא החסידים זה הרבי בכבודו ובעצמו, אבל הוא נושא את השם ויזניץ שהתלכלכה כאן


Saturday 14 December 2013

Is this the solution to the "Shidduch Crisis" ???



American audiences love Jane Austen movies, and Israelis enjoy television and films about the ultra-Orthodox for the same reason: Marriage in these worlds is very dramatic.

Just as in the Jane Austen era, the ultra-Orthodox marry after what secular people would consider a very brief acquaintance – a handful of platonic dates. And just as in England several centuries ago, divorce is an option, but a very negative one. A divorced woman, or even a divorced man, is seen as damaged goods when it comes to finding a new spouse. So marriage is a huge decision, one that carries weight and pressure beyond what it does in the secular world.

The search for a spouse in the haredi world has recently been the subject of a much-acclaimed feature film, Fill the Void, and a series on YES called Shtisel. And now on YES Docu, it is the focus of a new documentary series, A Match Made in Heaven, that starts on September 8 at 9 p.m.

Notice that I use the term “documentary series” rather than “reality show.” That’s because it is a serious, well-made and compulsively watchable exploration of the subject, and not an exploitative one.

A Match Made in Heaven follows several ultra-Orthodox young people looking to get married. Some of them go through well-intentioned matchmakers, others are set up by friends and family. What’s compelling here is not the difference between their path and that of secular singles but its similarity. The same types are present in this world, the same desires and the same pressures. Everything is happening a decade earlier than in the secular world perhaps, but we can all identify with these young people.

They are searching for a “click” or “chemistry,” but they must decide whether it is there after meeting someone once or twice, and without any physical contact.

The characters that emerge are fascinating. There is Hezki, a 23-yearold Gur Hassid who studies and is a scribe, whom everyone will recognize as the guy who just can’t commit.

He’s a veteran of four years of dating already, and his friends and family are getting frustrated with him. He wants some kind of elusive, perfect woman who has qualities he can’t quite articulate, the same way some secular guys seem to be holding out for a supermodel.

The most touching figure is Merav, a 25-year-old lawyer getting a master’s degree, who is gorgeous, lively and stylish. But because she is divorced – she and her husband split up because he had agreed before the wedding that he would work, and then he changed his mind and decided to study Torah full time – she is seen as “Sug Bet,” a kind of secondclass citizen.

While Merav’s situation makes crystal clear how intense the pressure is on the women, everyone in this world, where the community standards are so clear and often so harsh, faces pressure.

Ariel is a 19-year-old who is going to learn to be a kosher butcher. He and Esti, a very confident 18-year-old, find that click. But the prospect of marriage is clearly terrifying for him.

You can see the panic in his face as her mother pressures his mother to set a wedding date.

It’s curious why people from a culture where no one owns a TV – one couple on a date decide not to marry because she wants a computer and he doesn’t, but television isn’t an option for either of them – would want to appear in this series.

However, we should be grateful that they agreed because A Match Made in Heaven is simply great television.

POLITICAL TV series are definitely the new trend. There’sVeep, Borgen, Spin, Yes, Minister and The Thick of It, and now there’s The Politician’s Husband, which starts on HOT VOD on September 15. It stars Oscar-nominated actress Emily Watson and David Tennant (who played Doctor Who several times over the years) as a married couple who are politicians.

When the wife’s career begins to eclipse her husband’s, they both have to adjust. It’s a bit soapy, but it’s intelligent and well acted. 

www.jpost.com

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Todros Grynhaus may walk free

From: www.thejc.com


A suspected British paedophile who fled to Israel to avoid a trial may walk free if he succeeds in being deported to a third country, the JC has learned,

Todros Grynhaus is accused in the UK of seven counts of sexual assault against children. 
He escaped to Israel on a false passport in February but his attempt to secure Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return failed when the Israeli supreme court ruled he was too dangerous to remain.

The 48-year-old, from Salford, is currently being held in an Israeli prison. He is effectively exiled from Israel but is free to return to the UK to defend himself at a trial.

He was due to be tried in absentia in Manchester last month, but Judge Martin Rudland postponed proceedings when it became clear that the Home Office had not begun the process to secure his return to the UK.

According to court documents in Israel, no formal extradition request has so far been received from the British authorities.

It is understood that Mr Grynhaus, a former teacher may now be seeking refuge in a third country which has no extradition agreement with the UK. If he succeeds, it is likely he would escape prosecution.

The JC has learned that Israel’s attorney general has discussed the possibility of deportation to another country, because of doubts that Israeli law would allow Mr Grynhaus to be deported to the UK without a formal extradition request.

Professor Kenneth Mann, Israel’s former chief public defender and one of the country’s leading lawyers, told the JC that the fault lay with Britain’s failure to request Mr Grynhaus’s return, rather than with Israel’s legal system.

“The outrage should be with the UK for not making an extradition request,” Prof Mann said.

“He could be deported to another country if no Israeli court receives a request for extradition.”

The professor, who is not directly involved in Mr Grynhaus’s case, added: “The easy resolution is for the British to request extradition. In my view that request supersedes any other form of removal or deportation.”

Mr Gynhaus’s Israeli lawyers have confirmed he would fight any attempt at extradition, a process that could take up to two years and would delay a trial further.

The Home Office has so far refused to comment on any efforts to bring Mr Grynhaus back to stand trial in Britain.




Monday 9 December 2013

Australia: Former Yeshiva principal Rabbi Abraham Glick stood down amid rape allegations

From:www.heraldsun.com.au

Rabbi Abraham Glick has been stood down over rape claims.
Rabbi Abraham Glick has been stood down over rape claims. Source: Supplied

THE former principal of a top Jewish school has been stood down after allegations he repeatedly raped a student in the school's synagogue.
Rabbi Abraham Glick was interviewed by police last week. Police are making further inquiries.
Yeshiva College principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler said Rabbi Glick had been stood down immediately and "we will continue his suspension from duties and all contact with the students until the outcome of the inquiry is known".
"The college's action ... should not be seen as prejudging the outcome of the investigation and the college affirms(the rabbi) is fully entitled to the presumption of innocence," Rabbi Smukler said.
This is the first time Rabbi Glick has been accused of sexual misconduct.
Through his lawyers, he denied any wrongdoing.
A former student claims he was a victim of a string of assaults at the school in the 1980s. In a statement to police in July, which has been seen by the Herald Sun, the man said he was threatened by school staff who knew of the abuse not to tell anyone about it.
He said he was raped and made to perform sex acts on the rabbi, then the college's deputy principal.
"I remember looking into his eyes… There was no caring; there was something missing," he said.
The man claimed the abuse occurred in the school's shul, or synagogue, and left him emotionally, physically and psychologically traumatised him.
The Herald Sun revealed last year that police investigated Rabbi Glick's handling of sexual abuse complaints while he was in charge between 1986 and 2007.

Saturday 7 December 2013

Sicko who sexually abused a little Hasidic girl sentenced to 32 years in jail

From: www.nydailynews.com

Tommaso Dilillo, 35, was sentenced to 32 years in jail on Friday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

A Brooklyn sicko who was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl was sent back upstate for 32 years Friday, just weeks after finishing another prison sentence for pimping out a teenager.

Tommaso Dilillo, 35, was convicted last month of snatching the little Hasidic girl outside her Borough Park home in 2007, getting her into his car and molesting her.
The girl was found wondering the streets over two hours later and 15 blocks away from her house on 52nd St.

Dilillo tossed the child's underwear from his car windows - which eventually led to his conviction.

DNA was found on the underwear, but police had no match. But in 2009, the perv and his sister were busted for sex trafficking after a 15-year-old girl made a complaint. When he pleaded guilty two years later - his DNA was collected and later linked to the open kidnapping case, prosecutors said.

He was indicted last year, just before the statute of limitation was about to expire.
Dilillo's term for the trafficking rap ended a month ago, records show.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Harrington slapped him with the max: 25 years for kidnapping plus seven years for sex abuse.

His victim did not testify during the trial last month, a source said.


oyaniv@nydailynews.com

Thursday 5 December 2013

Prosecutors battle the wall of silence around sex assault in religious communities

From: www.abajournal.com

image

The victim was 12 when child sex offender Nechemya Weberman first assaulted her. Last January, at age 18, she dabbed at tears in her eyes as she spoke in a Brooklyn courtroom.
For years during and after the abuse, the woman said she would look in the mirror and see “a girl who didn’t want to live in her own skin,” the New York Timesreported. “I would cry until the tears ran dry,” she told the court. But now, she said, she can see someone “who finally stood up and spoke out,” on behalf of both herself and “the other silent victims.”
Weberman, an unlicensed therapist, was found guilty in December 2012 of 59 counts of sexual abuse, which carry a maximum combined sentence of 117 years. He was convicted of engaging in sexual misdeeds that included oral sex, groping and acting out pornographic videos, all during the therapy sessions that were meant to help the girl become more religious. The abuse lasted three years.
But as painful as the appearance was at Weberman’s sentencing hearing, so too was the harsh cultural ostracism that the victim and her family suffered for her testimony. As members of the Orthodox Jewish Satmar Hasidic community, the victim told the court, she and her family were harassed and shunned for reporting Weberman, also a member of the Hasidic community. And, according to trial testimony, her parents’ business was threatened, leading to fears that the family would no longer be able to support itself.
The Weberman case is symptomatic of the difficulties that government prosecutors face in bringing sexual assault charges against a member of an insular religious community. As with many communities, the majority of sexual abuse crimes against children go unreported. But in religious communities, the fear of ostracism carries additional weight.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Knesset members said zealots never spat but you can see the truth



Knesset members claimed that zealots never spat on women, but you can see the truth here in front of your eyes. 
חברי כנסת טענו כי קנאים לא ירקו על נשים, אבל אתה יכול לראות את האמת כאן מול העיניים שלך.

Sunday 1 December 2013

Response to Osher Badiel from a Former talmid












Dear R. Baddiel,

As a former talmid of yours, I was extremely disappointed to read your recent letter to Rav Winegarten. It appears that you have failed to appreciate the seriousness with which the local rabbonim take their moral responsibility to the kehilloh. It is most unfortunate that you do not realise that from the perspective of one who has been convinced that Chaim Halpern is indeed guilty of exploiting vulnerable individuals for his own gratification, the very tame means that have been adopted to warn people away from him are certainly justified.

Indeed, one would have to possess a warped moral compass to suggest that, if the allegations against him are true, then his continued presence in Golders Green is anything but a dagger in the back of the entire kehilloh,and that anyone working to allow him to continue functioning in his current role is not himself a “chover le’ish mashchis”.

The only valid question you raise is whether there is good reason to believe that Halpern did in fact engage in the behaviour he is accused of. After all, if he did, then the blame for the “machlokes” that has ensued is entirely his –the moral obligation of one who learns that another is exploiting vulnerable individuals is not alleviated because the exploiter decides he will not “go down without a fight”.

As one who has unfortunately been exposed to some of the evidence (including multiple reliable testimonies) against him, I can affirm that this is indeed the case beyond doubt. It is clear from your vigorous defence of Halpern that you are not even aware of the things he has admitted to (and has been recorded doing so) –such as his fictitious “therapy” involving arm-wrestling married women (and never men, of course), or of the photos of women in various states of undress that were discovered in the ‘sent items’ section of his email account.

The fact that you have styled yourself as such an avid defender of Halpern without engaging in even the most perfunctory research into his behaviour makes it clear that your motives are the polar opposite of tzedek, emes and sholom.

It is astounding that you adopt the position that his guilt or otherwise in the eyes of halocho should be decided by the police. You seem to misunderstand the very basis of this unfortunate episode. Under English law, there is no prohibition whatsoever for a powerful man in a position of influence to convince vulnerable women that it will be “beneficial” for him to have his way with them. The lack of legal censure makes this no less abhorrent in the eyes of either morality or halocho.

Furthermore, most of his victims are from Stamford Hill, where cooperation with the authorities on issues of abuse (and all the more so where the perpetrator is a prominent rov) would earn them the wrath of many of their neighbours.

Others who have spoken out against Halpern in the past have been the victims of tire-slashing and a barrage of threatening phone calls. To ensure that my family is not on the receiving end of similar behaviour, I have chosen not to disclose my identity to you in this letter.
Sincerely

Former talmid

Ridiculous letter sent by a CH supporter to R Shimon Winegarten




79 PRINCES PARK AVENUE
GOLDERS GREEN
LONDON NW11 0JS
Telephone and fax number: 0208455 5657
e-mail: oyb@seniors.org.uk

Rabbi S Winegarten
23 Sneath Avenue
Golders Green
London NW11 9AJ
21 November, ’13

Dear Rabbi Winegarten שליט"א
It is most upsetting that I have to bother you concerning the same business that I wrote to you about back in July.

On Sunday morning, some of the Mispallelim asked me why the Sidra and Haftorah sheets had not been sent out on Friday as usual. I asked Eric Brunner and he told me that he hadn’t received them from me (which I know to be not true). On further questioning, he then told me that “the Committee” (Martin Younger and Shmaya Stimler) had taken the decision to stop the Torah sheets from being sent out. I approached Martin Younger on Sunday evening and he told me that he and Shmaya Stimler had decided that “the Rov had to be supported” and that therefore these Torah sheets could no longer be sent out because I davvened “across the road.”I said that it was sad that because of this horrible Machlokkes, now even Torah sheets were being denied to people who really enjoyed them and learned from them and found them interesting. 

I reminded Martin Younger that even the Police, who had been trying their hardest
for the past year to pin something — anything — on Reb Chaim, had given up and dropped all charges. He seemed surprised to hear this, as if it was news to him. It’s hardly to be expected that the anti-Semitic BBC would report that Rabbi Halpern had been released from police bail as prominently as they had reported on the six o’clock news that he had been arrested (which was subsequently on the World News — what a Chillul HaShem!) but I did notice that Martin Younger did not seem to be at all relieved to hear that a fellow-Jew, a prominent Rabbi at that, had beenreleased from Police harassment. 

I said that if he, Martin Younger, really meant to “support the Rov” then he should see to it that the Rov himself is kept aloof from all this Machlokkes and Chillul HaShem rather than to invoke your name in perpetuating and spreading more strife and conflict in our community. I said that the Kehilloh is rent apart enough without people fuelling the Machlokkes further, that I found it difficult to believe that this action was taken with your consent, let alone your encouragement, that surely you yourself were above this ugly vendetta. When I tackled Shmaya Stimler on Tuesday morning about this and said I wondered whether this action was with your knowledge, he said yes, it was. I told him of your agreement in July that the sheets should go out but he said that nevertheless this is the decision of “the Committee.” I prefer to be charitable and say that he is mistaken and misguided in his eagerness to “support the Rov” and that this is not your wish. I beg you to please rein in your “Committee” that at last this sorry fight, like that of Korach and his crowd, can be allowed at last to sink into the ground. In my altercation with Martin Younger I also pointed out that by no means was I the only one who davvened at Reb Chaim’s and that there were quite a number of other people who davvened in our Beth Hamedrash and also “across the road.” I told him, as I wrote to you in July, that as far as I know it was a Kosher Minyan, that this kind of pressure by “the BLBH heavies” was quite unacceptable and that I wonder whether it is this coercion and pressure on ordinary people who don’t have the guts to stand up to them (but claiming instead that they  “don’t want to get involved”) rather than any true conviction that there has been any wrongdoing, that is the reason for people deserting Reb Chaim’s. I said that this kind of action is what is destroying our Kehilloh and that it’s time to let the hate die down.

You will probably have heard that ordinary Baalei Battim are now quoting you as their “Daas Torah,” that they say that they have a “Psak Din” from you that they should not patronize those people who davven at Reb Chaim’s because by davvening at Reb Chaim’s, “they are supporting a Rohshoh.” So now, in your name, it’s alright to harm a fellow-Jew’s Parnossoh because he davvens in a particular Beis Medrash. That is what this Machlokkes has done: unlearned and
ignorant little people now dare to openly call a venerable Talmid Chochom and district Rov “a Rohshoh”! If Rabbonim have their differences, that’s one thing.

When Ammei Ha’aretz and Johnny-come-lately “Baalay Teshoovoh” dare to denigrate an Oved HaShem, a man who has done so much to bring warm Yiddishkeit and Chassidus into this area, when this happens, then I do think (as do many others, too) that it’s time for the Rabbonim themselves to call a halt to this destruction of our Kehilloh. Nothing — but nothing! — can be worth destroying the Yiddishkeit and the respect for Torah and Rabbonim of all the people — but especially the youngsters — in this whole district. But as I said in my previous letter to you, no-one has ever heard Reb Chaim say even a single word against all his detractors and haters: all the hatred and denigration is from the one direction. And on top of it all, there has not been even a shred of real evidence or credible testimony, not a single true witness (despite weekly posters and advertisements openly pleading for anybody to come forward with any kind of evidence at all!) of any wrongdoing, only innuendo and the “it’s better you don’t ask” kind of slandermongering.

Rabbi Winegarten, as the senior Rov in this district, you could call a halt to the open hatred that is spreading and destroying our Kehilloh. You are also aware that the knowledge of this Machlokkes has spread over the whole world and is a terrible ongoing Chillul HaShem. Without a doubt, the instigators of this campaign against Reb Chaim never dreamed that it would explode into this monster. But now they blame Reb Chaim for the Chillul HaShem simply because he stubbornly refuses to lie down and die.

Rabbi Winegarten, the world will be thankful to you if you can rise above all this dirt and hatred. Let there be peace. I’m afraid that if this Machlokkes is not ended, it will smoulder and burn until instead of Yidden being united by our love for each other we will be united as victims of a terrible hatred by others for us all.

When all is said and done (and even when all is implied and expanded and exaggerated) in the final analysis, anything that anyone has done is nowhere near as great an Avayroh as full-blown Messiroh or of inciting hatred in Yidden so that they should try to spoil other Yidden’s Parnossoh. But that is what is happening and now “the Committee” of Baalei Battim of the Bridge Lane Beth Hamedrash have decided, in their wisdom, to stop Torah sheets from being sent out because they think that in this way they are “supporting the Rov.” Please, Rabbi Winegarten, tell them that this is not what you want. Please tell Eric that he should resume sending out these Sidra and Haftorah sheets (incidentally, I don’t care for any acknowledgement and the sheets can go out anonymously for all I care) and that peace should be given a chance to heal our Kehilloh. In this connexion, I attach to this letter the Dinnim sheets and sundry articles and a story for Channukah for your approval to be sent out with the Sidra and Haftorah sheets as till now. As I said in my letter to you in July, surely the Dinnim sheets and Sidra and Haftorah sheets should be judged on their merits, not on where I davven and that the dissemination of Torah should be allowed to rise above all this tragic business.

In conclusion, I ask, with the greatest possible respect, that you please take the lead in starting the healing process instead of allowing others to use your name to promote hatred, strife and division. Please tell “the Committee” that you give your approval to the continued distribution of these Torah sheets to the members of our Beth Hamedrash and kindly inform Eric Brunner of your approval.

Yours respectfully,
O Y Baddiel

// Enclosures