I attended a dinner a number of weeks back for an organization that is based in Israel, I know that a number of people who read this blog were in attendance as well. When it came time to say the tephilah for the MIAs the Rabbi who read the tephilah added the name of Jonathan Pollard into the mix. I was incensed. How dare you besmirch the name, sacrifice and blessed memory of these heroes who sacrificed their lives for the holy land by linking them with this treacherous criminal who spied on his own country and put the lives of many people in danger for his personal gain? HOW DARE YOU???

Like I wrote a few months ago, for some reason Pollard, who, all things being equal is an embarrassment to our people is someone we should be distancing ourselves from, instead he has become our poster boy and is being billed (at least by NCYI) as the number one Jewish issue facing the Jewish people in America. The fact that they convinced R' Metzker to allow his name to be associated with this tephilah to begin with mocks the entire tephilah, but the plot thickens.

Matzav has posted an article about the drug smugglers being held in Japan and how their trial is coming up and we need to daven for them. Of course, as in the Pollard case, Pidyon Shevuyim is being thrown around and in the comment section where someone added the names of these criminals; someone also added the name of Jonathan Pollard.

It makes sense to link both of these together. In both cases people broke the law and were caught. In both cases they are serving prison time FOR BREAKING THE LAW, and in both cases people are screaming that it is anti Semitism and they are only being held because they are Jewish, and nothing else. These people's priorities are messed up. Don't glorify these criminals and blame anti Semitism for their breaking laws. Anti Semitism had nothing to do with these guys in Japan SMUGLING DRUGS and it had nothing to do with Jonathan Pollard choosing to spy on his own country, and I personally do not care what the reason was. Stop with the insanity already.

Stop saying these criminals in Japan are our modern day asara harugei malchus, as Kupat Ha'Ir claimed in their glossy mailing, and stop associating our holy soldiers with Jonathan Pollard. What kind of a lesson are we sending our children about right and wrong if we keep justifying the behavior of criminals and traitors?

I HATE FLATBUSH. With the exception of some family members and many very good kosher restaurants, in my personal humble opinion Flatbush has no redeeming values and if G-d were to visit a man like Avraham today to destroy a city like Sedom, I believe the Malach would be headed to Flatbush.

This morning I had the unfortunate good fortune of having to be in Flatbush on business, as such I thought I would take advantage of some of the good it has to offer and go to a pizza store. I parked my car on East 15th and Avenue M (next to Amazing Savings and the Chase Bank on the corner) I got out and nearly died, the street stunk like garbage. I could barely breathe; it smelled so bad that by the time I got to the store I had lost my appetite. After visiting the bank to get some much needed cash I retuned to my car (I was gone for a total of about 3 minutes) and wouldn't you know it, I was blocked in by someone who was double parked.

Onward in my travels I made my way over to Nostrand Avenue to get a bagel because I will never again go to the Bagel Hole after my last experience and the street once again smelled like garbage. I made my way into the bagel store and thankfully was the only person in there, thinking to myself that I would now get some good customer service and wouldn't you know it, the guy behind the counter was rude. Buddy, I am the customer and I ordered a bagel don't act like you are doing me a favor by shmearing my bagel with cream cheese. Not only did he act like he was doing me a huge favor but when he finished shmearing the bagel he slammed it down on the counter to let me know that he was done and I should rush over and pay. What the hell is wrong with these people?

What happened to the Flatbush my Father grew up in where he was the first frum family on the block with a succah before there were 15 shteibles? Why can't you people have some common courtesy and treat others with respect. Who the hell do these people think they are? Have you noticed that in Flatbush the very frum will only daven in the more Modern shuls if they can stand behind the mechitzah? I guess this creates their separation between their loftiness and the mere MO peasants who should not be counted for a minyan. Funny thing is you may not be counted for tephilah b’ tzibur if you are behind the mechitzah!

I took the above picture on the door of the bagel store I went into. Why not worry about a filter on your midos the same way you worry about it on your water?

I have many issues with the 5 Towns and am pretty happy, for the most part, with my decision to move to the Teaneck area. One of the major advantages of the 5 Towns, however, is the speed of the morning minyan. With the exception of the VERY early minyanim in a few of the shuls most of the weekday minyanim in the Teaneck area take a long time. In the 5 Towns, most of the (non chol hamoed) minyanim I have been to have been very well paced. MOChassid has often posted on the weekday minyan that he attends and I agree with his premise that most of the people who go to especially early minyanim, have a train or bus to catch and want to get out. There are longer minyanim for people who want to take their time. I know that this is not ideal, after all we are using this time in the morning to daven and we should take time out of our day to do it, but why the need to schlep? There is no reason that on the average Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday minyan can't take 25 minutes. Why does pesukei dezimra take 15 minutes? Who are you waiting for?

Someone commented to me a number of years ago that they went to daven mincha in the YU beis and it seemed like a contest as to which rosh yeshiva could finish last. Sometimes I feel like this at some of the minyanim I go to during the week. No one wants to hear chazanus during the week and if you are going to choose to use nusach there is a spacific nusach for the weekday davening and it sounds nothing like the shabbos one!

And Mincha is the same thing. I currently daven in a minyan that does Heicha Kedusha and we are done in 7 minutes. I remember davening at a mincha minyan a few years ago where someone came over to me and told me to slow down. Buddy, there is a reason people usually ask me to get up and daven during the week and it's not because of my good voice.

So there you have it, the very few things we can emulate from the 5 Towns, the restaurants and their closing times (for the love of G-d why does the town close up at 9:00?) and the speed of weekday minyanim, and as far as I can tell not much else.

Baruch Hashem we still have some true gedolim, men of true character that are willing to stand up to the axis of evil and charedi tyranny. Rav Shlomo Amar Shlita the Rishon L' Tzion wrote an order barring R' Abraham Sherman from any case dealing with geirus. R' Sherman, as you may recall is the guy who nullified all of Rav Druckman's geirus. A move Rav Druckman himself called "evil" in a speech he gave in Teaneck that I had the honor of attending. Although some in charedi world are angered by this move (and I am sure there will be rioting and garbage can burning) it is the right thing to do and Rav Amar should be commended for it.
For the last year or so there has been this move in Both Israel by R' Sherman and his charedi ilk and in America Leib Tropper to uproot and overturn geirus, a mass move that as far as I can tell (and I am sure if I am wrong it will be pointed out in the comment section) is unprecedented in Jewish history and at least modern Jewish history of the last 300 years. Does the torah not command us to "love the ger because we were one geirim", are we not supposed to do everything we can to work with and include these people in "the tent" of the torah? Where do these people get the gaul to overturn geirus? How dare they throw the lives of thousands of people into jeopardy and ruin generations of people?
Leib Tropper went so far as to uproot the geirus of a woman WHO HE WAS PERSONALY MEGAYER because she was seen wearing pants in public.

Rav Amar issued the following statement "Groups have taken advantage of the controversy surrounding these cases to attempt to limit the jurisdiction of the Rabbinical Courts. As a result, I am exercising my power... to personally choose panels of judges that will rule on conversion cases."

As predicted the charedim have responded and are threatening to "punish" Rav Amar (maybe they will send him to his room for not listening to Rav Elyashiv) and in a statement the Mafia said "If reports regarding Amar's letter are true, our rabbis will come out with a very serious reaction. Rabbi Amar has crossed a red line and he is directly undermining the halachic validity of conversions in Israel."

HE is undermining the halachinc validity of conversions in Israel? What about R' Sherman who took it upon himself to besmirch the name of a gadol and nullify his conversions. You people are undermining halachah in general! YOU people are so far over the red line you crossed so long ago that it is not even a memory. Thank G-d for a man like Rav Amar and others that are not affraid to stand up to your mafia like threats, if this took place in America I would recommend Rav Amar call the police and report on a threat to his life.

It's funny how the charedi tyranny so closely resembles Islamo Fascism in many ways except for this one where the Muslims want to convert everybody and the charedim want to nullify everyone’s conversions. I was always taught that once you are in there is no getting out. Does this mean that soon the charedim are going to nullify my status as a Jew as well? I have no doubt that this is coming in a few years. They are going to begin deciding who poses kedushas Yisrael and who does not. Where does this stop. They want to be like the Mullahs in Iran and control every aspect of religious life in Israel without allowing for descent.

We should all Daven this shabbos for Rav Amars well being and for those who wish him harm to "Meherah Yikareisu".

One of the most fascinating laws that we are instructed on in the Torah is that of Eglah Arufa. I believe that this halachah is there to teach us that at the end of the day the rabbonim and leaders are responsible for the communities well being. It teaches that they need to take personal responsibility for the actions and missteps of their respective communities and above all it teaches that Rabbonim, like you and I are fallible and make mistakes, and they therefore every so often need to go in front of the community and say “Kaper Nah”.

Although we do not, unfortunately, today have the method of korbanos that the leaders can use we still have T’shuva. It is still possible for our rabbonim and leaders to get up in front of their communities and declare “Kaper Nah”, we have erred, we have made mistakes, we allowed certain actions to take place in our communities which we should not have and we now humbly stand before you, our community, and we not only ask mechilah but we admit guilt. The torah gives our leaders the tools to make a mends with their community. In recent years, the most public act that I witnessed and that I can remember of “Kaper Nah” was when Rabbi Willig got up in front of a packed YU Beis Medrash and admitted that mistakes were made by the rabbonim in the handling of the Lanner affair. He did not try to push the blame off on anyone else but admitted guilt and as a result at the end of the day truthfulness won the day and everyone was able to move beyond this terrible embarrassing episode for our community, but move on knowing that in the end our rabbonim did the right thing and admitted their mistakes and did not try to hide from them.

Over the last few years it seems that many rabbonim, both in and out of our circles, have steered off course and have come to believe that protecting the institution and fellow rabbonim, even when they are clearly wrong and have erred, is more important than protecting and safeguarding what we know to be right and true. I have spent my entire life surrounded by rabbonim. I have many uncles and cousins that are rabbonim, and in fact, my own brother chose to become a Rav and a communal leader (he is one of the good guys). I have also, as have many of us, had interactions in my schooling, communal and personal life with many rabbonim. Generally speaking the actions of the rabbonim I have been associated with have been honest, straight forward and good, however I also had far too many interactions that left such a bad taste in my mouth that it left me wondering if some of these people understood their responsibility to the community or were they just interested in protecting their own egos and those of their friends and cronies.

YOU are the leaders of the community, and as such you have an obligation to put all personal interests and egos aside and deal with the community in a straight forward and honest way with no ulterior motives. YOU are supposed to be our leaders, YOU are supposed to be the people we look up to to teach us, how then, can so many of you be so off the mark? How can so many of you choose to protect each other at the expense of what is right in general and what is right for the broader Jewish community? At what point do we, the people become so disenfranchised by the actions of our community leaders that we say dayenu AND DEMAND they take responsibility for their short comings and the mistakes that they as a group made?

Don’t get me wrong, there are many, many good honest and decent rabbonim that are true communal leaders that put their responsibility as a leader before all else and that hold themselves to higher standards. But there are also too many that too often put too many things before protecting what is right. They hide behind “daas torah” and as a result have corrupted the meaning of it. They protect the reputation of other rabbonim and defend the indefensible.
But all as not lost. I believe it is time we respectfully request these rabbonim to follow the formula the torah has laid out for you. Yes, errors have been made, but it’s not too late for you to get up and say “Kaper Nah”.

First we had Avi Shafran saying that we should look up to a man like Bernie Madoff, then we had this same organization not supporting the Markey bill, because as we have come to realize bricks and mortar are far more important than our children's well being and protection, and now we have the Agudah coming to the support of the Satmar Chaplain who helped arange a lavish Bar Mitzvah in the NY correctional facility for a convict's son, Shwekey included.

If this story were not such a huge chillul hashem it would be laughable, and infact had Mayor Bloomberg laughing at a press conference. It is obvious that these Orthodox criminals are only in jail because of blatant anti-Semitism, and as such when the opportunity arose for one of these model citizens that are being mechaper for our sins by sitting in jail (one who jumped bail a number of years ago) to make a bar mitzvah for his son, this chaplain arranged for a bar mitzvah party with 60 guests, and Shwekey.

Agudah shamelessly drafted a letter to the Mayor where they state that :“The reports in the media pillory Rabbi Glanz, in the most cynical and derogatory fashion imaginable, for his role in accommodating Jewish prisoners’ religious requirements and helping them participate, personally or vicariously, in milestone family celebrations,”

Are you kidding me? "Helping them participate, personally or vicariously, in milestone family celebrations,” The man is in jail on felony charges, if he wants to have some kind of a small celebration for a few people it's one thing but a band and a lavish dinner? That is abuse of the system of the worst order, a chillul hashem, will most likely harm other Orthodox inmates in the future. I would love to see a copy of the invitation that went out with the address. This is chutzpah of the worst order and this Rabbi deserves to lose his job. Agudah should be out there apologizing to the city for this Rabbi's blatant abuse of power and instead they are supporting this guy and calling it "nothing more than a lapse of judgment". What about all of the other accusations that people are claiming he did? Gambling in his office, inappropriate phone calls, mixers in his office. Were those also "lapses of judgement"?

This is a chillul hashem of the highest order and instead of stating that they unequivocally renounce the actions of the rabbi and distance themselves from him and his actions, they come to his defense. How can you defend such a chillul hashem? I will ask the question again HAVE YOU NO SHAME?

While I was typing this I figured out how this whole thing makes sense and the post can come full circle. Rabbi Shafran was hoping that this chaplain would stay in his position so that he could be a better help their friend Bernie!

Update:

YWN has a shameless editorial on this. These people are all sick.

(Hat Tip Harry)

Since the article on Rabbi Dovid Cohen appeared in the Jewish Week last week there has been an uproar of people coming to his support, which is fine and understandable given his position in the community. What is not acceptable are lies. People are denying that he ever made the statements that are attributed to him, people are twisting his words to make it sound better than what was actually said, people are claiming that some of those who came forward to the RCA had some kind of crazy vendetta. Let us be clear and honest, Rabbi Dovid Cohen got up in a shul in Bergenfield and said that you do not have to report all of your income on your tax return and it is OK to then sign this false statement. That is sheker and gezel and should not be tolerated by people either inside or out of our community.

One of the strongest critics has been a local Rabbi, one who got up in his shul 2 weeks ago and in his sermon, while addressing the tuition crisis said that it is assur to lie on your tax returns and when you do and ask for a scholarship from the school you are stealing from the school. How then can this same Rabbi defend or try to deny these troubling and rouge statements about gezel akum and signing a false tax return that was said by someone who the RCA turned to for matters of psak halachah? I understand the concern in his article is lashon harah, however had the community been honest and open about the incident to begin with it never would have gotten to this point.

Let us be clear, major Gedolie Yisrael were consulted prior to anyone going to the RCA with the information. No one from our community gave the information to the Jewish Week but it came from a source outside of our community, many members of the RCA were outraged by the incident and as a result it lead to the disbanding of the vaad haposkim. I understand that there will be letters and articles in the Jewish media, including The Jewish Week over the next few weeks that will come to R' Cohen's defense but let's make sure we all have the facts straight before we try to defend Rabbi Cohen's statements and back him up with halve truths.

Had these same comments been made by a Rabbi within the Modern Orthodox camp I am sure that the reaction would have been different and we would have been tripping over each other to distance ourselves from the Rabbi and the statements, and rightfully so. Let us act the same way when these statements are made in our own Shuls by someone from outside our community.

Let me be clear, I understand the importance of having our rabbonim and rabbonim from the charedi community work together on psak halachah that effect the broader community however the people we choose to associate with should have and maintain stellar reputations on all matters of halachah, both in psak and in their daily lives, as the resolution by the RCA stated this past year.

Let us please admit that some erred in this case and let us as a community finally move on from this embarrassing incident.