Category — Israel

A Chassidic man and six other men are facing indictments for beating the shit out of a woman and threatening to kill her for refusing to move out of the community after leaving ultra-Orthodoxy, and for talking to men.

While the right-wing ultra-Orthodox ban careers and secular education, apparently, Baruch HaGedoylim, there is money to be made in brutalizing women. The ringleader of this modesty vigilante was apparently paid $2,000 for his role in this vicious beating.

What neighborhood does this modesty vigilante group feel comfortable attacking woman and threatening her to leave?

Maalot Dafna. Home of the Dark Light.

All the haredi leaders in the vicinity connected in any way to these Harediban criminals should be asked to publicly condemn the violence that took place. If they do not, all institutions they are connected to should be asked to disassociate from these rabbis. If the institutions refuse, then the yeshivas, synagogues and day schools they are connected to should be bulldozed.

Hat tip: NCG

For those of you confused by all the commotion, it’s pretty simple. I got upset about the disproportionate frum presence at the upcoming Heimesh B’ Heimesh Blogger Convention, and it was picked up by others, and Haaretz wrote about it. Then all hell broke loose.

Aussie Dave felt that Failed Messiah should not have been invited because he is an “anti-Judaism blogger.”

After defending the choice to exclude those outside of this narrow band of frum, Aussie Dave insists no such exclusion took place in any way, and insisted that the fact that “Anyone can register” is proof that the convention is ecumenical. But…there were no claims that people couldn’t register if they weren’t Kookniks…anyone can register for the Agudah convention on Thanksgiving weekend also…but that doesn’t make it a general Jewish convention, now, does it?

ck of Jewlicious is trying to heal the warring camps, but peace is so not happening. Frankly, the Left-wing Modern Orthodox should just move out of the way and let these white hats reveal how exclusive and arrogant they truly are.

The Muqata, who judging by his anger, perhaps misinterpreted my constructive comments about his dork graphic takes some obvious shots, writing,

There are blogs that harp almost exclusively on many issues that plague the Jewish and Israeli world. Be it bashing Rubashkins, exposing dangers to the Jewish community from within, or kvetching in general.

In case you missed it, let’s try one more oh-so-subtle-dig (you know how subtle the frum are),

To build a readership one needs a lot more than negativity. To interact with the JBlogosphere, no one wants to see a mega-kvetcher.

Of course this dude is friends with Ezzie and is going to the Beyond BT shabbaton.

Looking forward to seeing you at the JBlogger Convention next week (you can view it via the web as well), or at the SerandEz/BeyondBT melaveh malka on Motzei Shabbat in Queens.

You know, why don’t they just call the Beyond BT shabbaton The First International Jewish Weekend Ever since it’s pretty much the same as the Nefesh to Nefesh convention?

To clarify what should be obvious but what Ezzie’s pack of heimeshes fail to comprehend, I am not upset I wasn’t invited to be a panelist. Shmarya isn’t upset he wasn’t invited to be a panelist. We are upset that you chose a very ecumenical name when you are catering (pandering?) to a predominantly religious-Zionist based community. That is the issue. Address it, or shut your traps. No one actually cares about the content of this lame-o excuse for a blogger convention. The only thing that is of interest is how you misrepresented it. This is much more interesting than anything else that will come out of it.

Nancy’s Story: Part VII

[An Aish Rabbi] frantically called me after mentioning it to another rabbi at Aish who apparently impressed upon him a “state of emergency” should I go to the press. [An Aish Rabbi] stated that he was not aware, even himself, of the great impact this action would have. It was obvious that [Aish Rabbi] believed every word he was told. Prior to speaking to another rabbi at Aish, he was quite calm.

This is why I am sure it was not his idea. He was scared!

He scared me saying that I wa in “grave spiritual danger” and that I will be responsible for destroying the faith of many secular people who would otherwise come to believe in the Torah. He said
the Jerusalem Post has done much damage to Judaism.

Update: Nancy adds,

DK….this was not about the injury…..it was about the Rabbi Eisenstein’s sham Beit Din which he conducts from home after being kicked off the “real” Beit Din of Jerusalem….. and about Rabbi Eisenstein having me kicked out of seminary…..which is much worse to me than the injury. I loved my school and Rabbi Eisenstein had me kicked out for being a Marrano Jew. I am more upset about injustices than physical injury.

The rabbi who urged my silence had my confidence and promised me in front of the entire class that he would personally see to it that this matter was resolved and I would be re-instated in my seminary. He never kept his word….he only scared me into keeping silent about Rabbi Eisenstein and that program he is affiliated with, Ohel Sarah Imenu. “Rabbi Eisenstein operates like a mafia”, I told the Aish rabbi. This Aish teacher told me not to use words such as, “corruption” and “mafia”. He told me I looked “emotional”. I felt that was a very manipulative statement geared to make me feel “silly” or “childish”. I lost respect. I became “wayward”.

This does not reflect on all of the teachers at Aish. Most have been very fair and kind to me

I personally have no problems with Aish for they took care of business when I needed them and taught me a lot. They took me from step one and gave me some direction. I am grateful for that. Rabbi Coopersmith and others were ones who did the right thing for me when I reported sexual harassment.

This situation which is on the board now was mostly about corruption. The teacher involved was not “ordained” but is called “rabbi”. But, I am also disappointed that they instruct students to keep silent.

In regards to the violence, when it first began to happen, the broken windows, etc., I called a different Aish rabbi from my neighborhood to help me. He did not believe that it could be Haraedim doing such things. He claimed there were burglars about.

However, this is not to say that he didn’t offer some tangible and helpful advice….

The rabbi in question in our current story knew all about the many violent attacks before
the 2 X 4 attack. The best advise he offered me was to go to a Kabballist. I had much admiration for him in the past but I saw clearly that they just wanted to keep me silent and blamed these incidents on some kind of “spiritual attack” stemming from my past.

In an essay foul and offensively self-aggrandizing even by Big Aish standards, Nechemia Coopersmith, the editor of Aish.com, explains the basis for Aish’s success in employing sleazy, deceptive, and glitzy tactics; from Bible Codes to a Zionist facade.

Actually, it’s simple. Aish HaTorah and other outreach organizations have the most powerful “product” in the universe - the Torah. Torah is the Almighty’s instructions for living. The Torah teaches us how to maximize our pleasure and potential in life. It’s the owner’s manual, the blueprint of creation and the most revolutionary book in history. As the Talmud says: “Turn it over, turn it over - everything is in it.”

Torah sells itself[...] Everything Aish does stems from this.

See? Big Aish’s success is from the Torah! Apparently, the Torah wants you to lie, deceive, and give glitzy canned answers, without even basic fact checking. That’s Torah, folks — that’s Big Aish. To attack Big Aish–on anything– is to attack the Torah itself. Big Aish IS the Torah, and Big Aish’s rabbis all Moshe Rabbeinus.

So please remember to address the Rosh Yeshiva in third person as a sign of worship respect!

These people are such incorrigible egoists they are actually heretics. They need to have their “museum” removed from its proximity to the Kotel. The Kotel — sponsored by Big Aish!

These maniacs cannot be allowed to represent traditional Judaism.

Aicha…

Susan Jacobs Jablow, a supporter of NCSY, writes in her op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, “Right of Reply: Happy to be Aish’d,” about her experience on an NCSY trip to Israel.

I also participated in a very intense summer program - a six-week NCSY Israel travel/study program for girls that was by turns exhilarating, inspiring, exhausting and emotionally overwhelming.

This from a woman who wrote this op-ed to defend NCSY.

Earlier: NCSY boasts that their trips produce public school “yeshivah products”

This is the wound it made.
These are some of the police reports (and affidavit) for various haredi harassments Nancy received.

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Frightened voices are starting to spread on the internet against Mrs. Vorst and Ohel Sarah Imenu. Some of them are quite sad…all are afraid that their conversion will be revoked if they speak out against this program.

One person wrote,

i just came across this websight and all this information tonight. i had no idea that people were talking about this stuff openly.

This one is heartbreaking.

i must have this be anonymous… i too was in mrs vorst school …i have been silent for a long time about the things that went on there while i was a student… and i am afraid that if i address them or speak of them publically that my conversion will be taken away…. i know this is a big possibility… especially now with the big conversion ballygan.

i too was lied to by the big rabbi(s)…. there is so much i could say… but i am cautious because i am afraid of mrs vorsts (and her sidekick) power over my conversion. but the things nancy is saying are all true… and many many more stories could be told.

people should be made aware of the sickness of this system and the particular situation there so that more girls and women who come to Israel with sincerity and pure hearts are not caused so much suffering.

i am sorry i have been silent for so long…

And then, there is something apparently going on with some guy named Zalman whom the commenter describes as a “pervert.”

does anyone know if this person (zalman) has been prosecuted? also does anyone know if Mrs Vorsts has made an official statement concerning her schools association with this person? has she checked to see if any of her students were affected?? has she issued any apologies to her former students for dragging them into his arena against their wills?

while i was in her program we were forced to attend his foolish seminars and girls and women were “forced” to have counseling with him (forced because if you didn;t do what they wanted you to do, they would not let you get converted).

i personally know a young woman who he was extremely inappropriate with (she believes she was possibly even drugged…btw…she has taken several years to heal emotionally from the abuse she suffered at Ohel Sarah and other conversion “schools” in israel… and after they took thousands of her dollars, she never has been able to get a conversion…).

i had one “counseling” session with him and thought he was an idiot… i never could fathom why mrs vorst and mrs lawson were so enamoured with him. it didn’t take a rocket scientist or a Torah scholar to see that the man was a joke… a sick joke…

Anyone have any info?

Earlier: Ohel Sarah Imenu’s Own Words

Part V

Nancy Cuevas Guzman alleges,

I was very hurt by the 2×4. I still have the board. I was whacked quite hard at the hip. Police took photos and so did my doctor, (which I have), when he wrote a report for police records. The puncture wounds were visible from the nails.

This was the last incident and although the person who did this was Haraedi, he was not part of the first original attackers. This last guy was a kook who was attacking me over “cats”. I was delivering cat food to his friend who lived in filthy conditions with about 20 starving, disease-infected, toothless cats (from a virus epidemic), and “a chicken.”

I am amazed that the police released this guy. Yes, he has “challenges,” however, he is also dangerous. These guys drink vodka all day.

The week before, this same “kook” slashed my friend’s tire over the cats. My friend works for the City at an animal shelter. They have a grant to help these animals absolutely free of charge. Part of what they do is to spay them, as well as treat them for their medical diseases. They have a letter from a rabbi which verifies that it is OK to spay the animals for they are suffering greatly and multiplying as fast as bunnies.

In this instance, the Haraedi guy was shouting that it is forbidden in the Torah to spay the cats. I believe he is right if the animal is male. It is OK to neuter the female….typical. However, in this neighborhood, in particular, this house which was across from me with broken windows which the cats jump through…it is pretty horrible.

I found cats that were dragging a dislocated leg behind them and nursing kittens at the same time. I found a kitten with a crushed hip dragging itself…terrible conditions. I took these cases to a vet for I could not handle seeing it day after day. I paid out of my pocket and finally had to call the City.

Again, as always, the Haredim always do what they do for religion. I feel like I live in Iran.

Next week: Big Aish rabbi discourages Nancy from speaking out

Part IV

Nancy Cuevas Guzman alleges,

Speaking of sex harassment, a rabbi at Aish HaTorah took my hand and placed it on his crotch…he had an erection. That was my first wake up call. When any of these guys, even a rabbi, sees an American woman, Baal Teshuva, he thinks he has a victim.
They know they can easily “de-rail her”….like placing a stone before a blind person. Many young girls…and older, fall in love with their rabbis. This one wanted me as his concubine in addition to his wife.

I reported it and it seems they have handled it.

Earlier: Baruch Lanner’s most significant enabler working at Aish HaTorah

In the backdrop of Nancy’s story is rabbi Nochum Eisenstein. Eisenstein made Shmarya’s list of the top five worst Israeli haredi leaders. Failed Messiah noted,

The rabbi of the Ma’alot Dafna neighborhood of Jerusalem, he also heads the Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur, an international haredi organization whose goal is to make stricter conversion standards worldwide.

Eisenstein is a long-time enemy of Modern Orthodoxy and Religious Zionism, and is also an early backer of the Monsey, New York-based Eternal Jewish Family (EJF) and its founder, Rabbi Leib Tropper.

Speaking at an EJF convention late last year, Rabbi Eisenstein said anyone believing the universe to be older than 5768 years is a heretic who is unfit to serve on a beit din (religious court).