Category — Ohr Somayach/Dark Light

A couple of weeks ago, the NY Jewish Week republished Steve Lipman’s piece on how he became a baal teshuvah at the Monsey branch of Ohr Somyach.

Needless to say, it was a real metzizah b’ peh.
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Rabbi Natan Slifkin has weighed in on our conversation about the existence of a half dirt, half flesh mouse, an animal Rabbi Chaim Salenger of Ohr Somayach has asserted that I cannot PROVE did not exist.

In response to Rabbi Chaim Salenger’s suggestion that Rabbi Slifkin had made a “mistake” (one of many), Rabbi Slifkin has weighed in on the discussion.

The funny thing is that Rabbi Salenger thinks he is presenting the view of Rav Aharon Feldman, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth. R. Salenger states that spontaneous generation is “patently and obviously absurd” but that Chazal did not believe in it; when they wrote about the mouse that is half flesh and half-dirt, it was a Midrashic statement that must be interpreted allegorically.

But this is not Rav Feldman’s position, and with good reason. The discussion about the mouse is not a Midrash or an aggadata – it is a Mishnah, and a halachah. [Read more →]

Three biology credits for swinging a chicken?

I was in OS 1999-2000 I was granted 32 University credits. My halacha class translated to a law credit, my Nach class translated to a history credit, my kashrus class got me a health & nutrition credit. I also got political science credits and linguistics credits. Got As and A+ all over my transcript without having to take one test.

Whatever issues we may have with Senator Lieberman, I am hopeful this is a misunderstanding. But it does appear that Senator Lieberman is endorsing Ohr Somayach, the Dark Light recruiter to Jewish fundamentalism and supremacism.

Ohr Somayach’s contempt for the West and for gentiles is not something any leader of the Jewish community should support, but that a U.S. senator would attach his name to Ohr Somayach is just shameful.

Please see 2:31 of this video.

Beyond BT’s Judy Resnick writes,
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Meet Ohr Somyach. A quiescent fundamentalist outreach center. They hate. They hate you, Jeffrey. They consider you more dangerous than a murderer for marrying a Jewish woman.

Let’s take a look at an essay from this week on Ohr.edu by the founder and head of Ohr Somauach , shall we?
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Dark Light reports,

A spaz version of emperor Palpatine

The JLE group was recruited by representatives of Ohr Somayach on a wide range of campuses, including Chicago, Toronto, St. Louis and Long Island. The interaction with the mentors was a tremendously moving experience for them and their mentors.

As a result a number of the JLE participants decided to spend more time in Ohr Somayach, and others made plans to come here upon completion of their studies.

This is whom Hillel is working with these days.
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NCSY recruits them for Ohr Somayach before college, of course. Straight from the public schools.

JSU-Latte & Learning-Shabbaton-Trips-Ohr Somayach/Aish/Neve Yerushalayim

Controlled by the Dark Light's Palpatine. And by economic realities of the OU's Kashrut division and haredi market share

“This is how we make them frum” — Rabbi Stephen Burg, on the “conversion process.”

That’s the frum way. If it wasn’t mandated by the Gedoylim, they wouldn’t be able to look themselves in the mirror.

Dr. Gottlieb is the haredi world’s premier Kiruv philosopher, and his base is the Dark Light, A.K.A. Ohr Somayach.

NCSY recruits for Ohr Somayach and her psycho sister school, Neve Yerushalayaim.

Even the defenders of an Old Earth policy like Rabbi Gil Student only condemn the idea that one has to accept a literalist interpretation of Genesis. Rabbi Student does not condemn those who themselves advocate such nonsense provided they allow for other views.
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Ohr Somayach, which encourages its students to avoid full-time studies and stay in yeshiva for years on end, boasts on a rotating flash box on their home page that they are,

“first among Torah institutions in Israel in the number of students with regular and postgraduate degrees from top universities throughout the world”

Of course, what secular and Liberal Jews do not know is that in the non-chassidic haredi world, which for Dark Light, is what is required to be defined as a “Torah institution,” college is forbidden.

Many of Ohr Somayach’s students already attended college before they got there. Of course they beat the regular haredi yeshivas where Israeli FFBs are forbidden to attend college, and virtually no one in the FFB world attends yeshiva before going to college.

Dark Light is promoting this to falsely suggest they encourage their alumni to attend college. This is absolutely false. They will discourage full-time college attendance at all costs.

To Steve Leavitt, who gave me the opportunity to go to Israel in the first place. And to Steve for so much more.

To Yael Wiener, who housed me and cooked for me in Tel Aviv, and let me do all the free third-world laundering that I desired. (And with only three pairs of jeans in a hot and muggy city, that was a lot of third-world laundering.)

To the Israelis who told me that I reminded them of Woody Allen one or two dozen times, and did not bother asking me if I was American, but rather, “You from New York?”

To the “Arsim,” who made me laugh out loud with their street-wise, metro-sexual ways, especially in Jerusalem, when I really needed it after that #1 bus trip through Meah Shearim, where even ck was afraid to let us off the bus lest the haredim stone me and Danielle for the sin of being secularists.

To David Abitbol, who sheltered me and gave me a phone, and went with me wherever I wanted, provided it was in Jerusalem and wasn’t Uganda. To Daniel Sieradski, who had my back when it all fell down right before Yom Kippur. Anyone as lucky as I am to have friends like Daniel Sieradski and David Abitbol is a wealthy person.

To Danielle Sheldon, who always took my side, and who came to pick up ck’s phone in the final hours.

To my cousin Paul, who arranged my Western Wall tours, and showed us some of the secret rooms.

To my chassidic cousins, who reminded me that there are ultra-Orthodox Jews who are holy and gentle.
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