Police: Jewish Care Home Named in Jimmy Savile Child Abuse

From: www.totpi.com

Paedophile Jimmy Savile is believed to have abused children at a Jewish care home, it has been revealed.

The Sarah Laski Home, in Crumpsall, Manchester, opened under the auspices of the city’s Jewish Board of Guardians in the early 1950s.

It was today named by the government alongside 20 other homes now being investigated for links to Savile.

The home closed in the late 1970s due to lack of funding and a feeling that it was unable to provide “a family atmosphere”.

Education Secretary Michael Gove told Parliament that information about Savile dating back to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s had been uncovered by police.

Mr Gove said: “I have decided that the Department for Education should pass the information to the appropriate organisations for further investigation.

“In most cases the work will be conducted by the relevant local authority; in others the relevant institution or a legacy organisation will take the lead.”

The evidence of abuse by Savile at the Jewish home will be investigated by Manchester’s local education authorities.

Savile had a close relationship with Jewish communities across the country and was a long-standing supporter of Jewish charities.

The JC revealed 18 months ago that Savile had admitted – in a previously unpublished interview about his work with the charities – that he knew his reputation would collapse.

He admitted he was “not a straight punter. When I’m gone they’ll say, ‘I always thought he was straight but he wasn’t — he was crooked.’”

Leeds Jewish Welfare Board removed a gold plaque in Savile’s honour from its Tree of Life at the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre after his death.

Savile, who once described himself as “the most Jewish Catholic you will ever meet,” raised money for charities including Ravenswood and the Laniado Hospital in Netanya.

In 1968 he attended a batmitzvah party in Cheadle, Cheshire. Guests included Pearl and Harold Gruber’s daughter Sharon.

The family later recalled that Savile had been “wonderful. One of the boys at the party really wanted to be a disc jockey and nearly drove him mad,” said Mrs Gruber.

When Orthodox Jews Do bad things

From: http://popchassid.com

“Just wait,” they said. One day, they said, it would not be as simple.  It would not be as clear. They told me about all the things that go wrong in the orthodox community.  

They told me about every corrupt, every depressing, every sick thing.  They told me I would one day leave too, sick of it as they were. I wasn’t having any of it.  So what?  Of course there are people who do bad things in the orthodox community.  They’re human.  We’re all human.  What do you expect? “Just wait,” they said again, with their knowing looks. These were the bitter ones, the ones who had left, or the ones who had at least joined some sort of fringe movement.  They were sick of it, sick of what they had experienced.  I didn’t understand them.  How could you make such big decisions with your life based on people? 

More....

Joel Glock, of Kiryas Joel, Under Arrest For Allegedly Molesting A Child

KIRYAS JOEL - A Kiryas Joel man is under arrest after police say he inappropriately touched a child at a Purim celebration at a synagogue.

Police say Joel Glock was at a community gathering last weekend when he lured a 9-year-old child away from his parents and forcibly touched the child.

The victim told his mother and father what happened, and they reported the incident to the police.

Glock is expected to face a judge next week.

Missing Peretz Sontag has been found dead at Harriman State Park - בָּרוּך דַּיַּן הָאֶמָת

Peretz Sontag, the Pomona father of seven who had been missing for more than a week, has been found dead at Harriman State Park.

Sources tell News 12 that a hiker found Sontag's body inside his black Kia Optima.

A group of more than 800 volunteers had turned out to search Harriman State Park today for 50-year-old Sontag, as the park is where pings from his cellphone were last detected. He had last been seen leaving his house last Friday.

Volunteers of United Search and Rescue have told JP that last week Monday and again on Thursday they attempted to search the exact area where Mr. Sontag was found, but they were turned away by the Park Police.

The sources noted, that when the organizers of the volunteers search efforts reached out to the Park Police to assist with the search, they refused to take part in the search, claiming that they do not have enough resources. However, for some reason, they found resources to issue tickets.

Family Of Missing Jewish Man Peretz Sontag Pleads For His Safe Return

Hundreds of volunteers continue to search for a missing Pomona man. 

Peretz Sontag, well-known in the Orthodox Jewish community in Rockland, was last heard from Friday afternoon.

Sontag's family gathered in Suffern today to plead with the public to help find the missing 50-year-old.

About 200 volunteers from the Hudson Valley and Brooklyn have been searching for Sontag since his disappearance.

The focus of the search is on the 2012 black Kia Optima that Sontag was driving when he vanished.

The reward from the family for information leading to Sontag's safe return has increased to $30,000.

קול מבשר מבשר ואומר - משתה היין, בביהמ"ד דברי חיים

א פרייליכן פורים

From: www.telegraph.co.uk

US tourist succeeds in making Queen's guardsman laugh

Usually impervious to the antics of tourists, a soldier standing guard outside Horse Guards Parade cannot help cracking a smile at the efforts of this joker

The Queen's Guard are are known for their ability to stand motionless and expressionless at attention outside royal residences in London.

Their discipline is challenged daily by tourists visiting the sites, and it appears one may have finally succeeded in breaching their strict protocol.

The culprit, identified only as Yankel, begins his offensive by taking up a position next to the soldier.

“We were together in school, me and him. He went his own way,” Yankel says as his friends record the encounter.

The soldier remains impassive as Yankel continues to elaborate on their friendship: “I remember in school, he used to sit by himself and read books. I was the guy fooling around,” Yankel says.

A minute into the routine, the soldier begins to crack as Yankel tells how the soldier’s mother would continue to pick him up from school until he was 20.

When the guard finally breaks into a smile, Yankel punches the sky screaming at this victory.

The footage was posted online on Wednesday, although it is unclear when the incident happened. Neither the guard, who is wearing the uniform of the Household Cavalry Regiment, nor the four men dressed in Orthodox Jewish garb, have been identified.

The video has been met by disgust by some viewers.

Commenting on the original YouTube posting, Aryeh Kalman wrote: "As an Englishman, my first reaction was utter embarrassment for such a chilul hashem [sacrilege] as these soldiers put their lives on the line for our country." Although the writer later concedes to have been amused by the prank.

"Absolutely disgraceful. Such disrespect. I am ashamed he is Jewish," wrote one.

חיים אהרן צבי היילפרין רב "דקאק" דברי חיים

Baddiel with his Purim Jokes - חמץ דבדיל מיניה כל השנה

Online Tznius Asifa

From: kolbishaerva.wordpress.com

2

Boro Park – Thousands are attending the “Tznius Asifa” in Ateres Chaya. @vosiznies

Some of you might have heard about the recent war on tznius happening in Boro Park.  Apparently, there has been a rash of tragedies befalling the residents of Boro Park (illness, death, crime, poverty, failed business prospects, and the continued delay of Moshiach).  It has been determined that women’s clothing and behavior is to blame.

In the meantime, cases of rabbinic improprieties continue to make headlines, and women continue to be implicated as the cause for the male lack of self-control.  Even if people can get behind the concept of children not being responsible for abuse, if that abuse extends to grown women, the ladies must somehow be at fault with their wily ways.

Someone made a comment regarding the recent case linked above on Facebook (HT S.B. – will post full name if she gives permission) – and I thought she brought up some very good points.  I will summarize some of the commenter’s points below and add a few of my own, in order to start the ball rolling for an Online Tznius Asifa.  I am in complete agreement that breaches in tznius have been running rampant, and we need to organize a protest to end the madness and restore order and harmony to our communities.

We, as concerned members of klal yisroel, cannot ignore the alarming decline of tznius standards in our communities.  Our most potent weapon in battle is always achdus, and so the women in our various communities have joined together with the objective of strengthening kedushas yisroel (the holiness of the Jewish people).  With that objective in mind, we propose the following protections against tznius violations –

1. It has come to our attention in the form of more than one unfortunate case, that women have been violated under the guise of treatment from unlicensed rabbinic therapists.  Women will no longer engage in therapeutic services from unlicensed therapists, even under the advice of their rabbis, and even if the said therapist is their rabbi.  It is simply unethical for any unlicensed and untrained individual to perform such services.
2. Ladies and gentleman – we are all taught the prohibitions of yichud from the time of adolescence.  Just because a man happens to be your rabbi, that doesn’t lessen the prohibition of yichud.  No rabbi is allowed to be in a closed room with a female congregant unless there are other people in the building who can walk in at any time, the walls are made of glass so that you are both visible to the public, or the door is left slightly ajar.  Rabbinical consultations do not override the laws of yichud.  If you find yourself in a compromising situation with your rabbi, it is your right and responsibility to leave the room.
3. Husbands – there is no excuse for you to ever put your wife in the compromising position to have to personally bring her undergarments to a rabbi for a shaila.  Nor is there any excuse for her to have to have a phone conversation about her bodily functions or sex life.  This is YOUR responsibility.  As a man, you should be the go between regarding these personal matters to protect your wife’s dignity and to prevent familiarity between your wife and the rabbi.  If you feel embarrassed to address these subjects, think about how your wife must feel!
4. Ladies – if your husband is out of town, ill, or otherwise unable to take a shaila to the rabbi for you, insist upon having a female companion present.  This can be the rav’s own wife, older daughter, or a friend that you bring along for that purpose.  Shailas of an intimate nature should not be discussed alone with a rabbi, especially in his home if no one else is in the house (even with the front door ajar).
5. It is imperative that we encourage women scholars to become knowledgeable in hilchos niddah and poskening niddah shailas.  Yoatzot halachot, maharats, whatever name a community chooses to confer upon such learned women – there should be female leadership that bridges laywomen and rabbinic poskim concerning intimate matters of halacha.  In some cases, this feminine leadership will be knowledgeable enough to be the final authority, in other cases, rabbinic opinion must be consulted – but the woman with the question will have this female advocate to either ask a rabbi for her or act as a shomeret. (Hat Tip – Melech Tanan)
6. Rabbis and women of the community – because of the personal nature of the relationship between rabbonim and their congregants, sometimes an air of familiarity can creep in.  We have seen the tragedies that can happen when rabbis and women overstep the professional boundaries and end up on opposite sides in a courtroom.  For the protection of both women and rabbinic leadership, it is essential to assume a professional demeanor on the part of the rabbi and an equally professional demeanor on the part of the congregant.  Friendly conversation is fine, but flirtatious banter is out of line.  Men sometimes don’t know the difference, so don’t make it hard for them see the distinction.  Be friendly not flirty.
7. In the name of sisterhood solidarity, we propose that all wedding ceremonies be treated as if they were a chuppat niddah.  It is unconscionable that some of our Jewish brides, on the happiest day of their lives, must be publicly humiliated in front of their wedding guests and rabbinic witnesses by having their state of tumeh or tahor announced.  To prevent such future transgressions in modesty, we are more than willing to put down our own veils, drink from a separate cup of wine, and accept a ring dropped into the palms of our hands, in order that no other bride should suffer embarrassment.
8. In those communities that still don’t adhere to mandatory reporting laws, and insist on first consulting with rabbonim when charges of abuse are brought to light, women should always have a presence on any beis din (as consultants) or community counsel that deals with with such charges. We need the perspective of wives, mothers, daughters, female professional counselors, and victims to determine the validity and threat level of accusations of abuse.  This important task should not be left solely in the hands of men. (Hat Tip Yerachmiel Lopin).

This is just the beginning of our campaign to take control over our own dignity and tznius.  We have seen that this isn’t merely a matter of hemlines, sleeve lengths, or the kinds of head coverings we wear.  Finally, we are taking seriously the warnings of men, that they cannot control their animal natures.  We must take precautions to protect ourselves. Assuming that men can control themselves has led to tznius violations that have caused untold harm to our communities.  Women can fight these transgressions by believing the words of our gedolim, and guarding ourselves against improper conduct with the holy men in our communities.  We must address the problem of modesty where it originates – with the men.  This will ultimately benefit our entire kehilla.

Feel free to add to the agenda items.