The Russian Dark Ages

The Jewish Week writes in an unsigned editorial:
… Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to consolidate his power and snuff out feeble flickers of democracy. Dissent is dangerous, a fact that may underlie the bizarre case of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, fatally poisoned in London with a rare radioactive substance, only weeks after the murder [...]

It’s Up To The Government

Elliot Pasik, who worked with the RCA on its Clergy Abuse resolution and is also close to haredi leadership writes:
The Torah demands a justice system. Tsedek tsedek tirdof… Its incumbent upon the Jews and the umos ha’olam. Might there be occasional error? Of course, but G-d tells us to establish courts in any event.
The child [...]

Allen Mastbaum, ztz’l

My friend Allen Mastbaum recently passed away. Mastbaum’s mother was a cousin of the pre-WW2 Belzer Rebbe, and that rebbe gave him a blessing for long life. Allen Mastbaum lived for 98 1/2 years, surviving the Holocaust and post-war pogroms, including the Kielce pogrom.
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Why Our Haredi Chief Rabbis Must Go

An Orthodox convert from Canada makes so much sense, it’s painful. Barbara Crook puts Sefardic Chief Rabbi and haredi stooge Shlomo Amar in a corner and beats the stuffing out of him:
I’m a Jew by choice. It’s the most important choice I ever made in my life, and perhaps the most important choice I will [...]

Was The Rebbe A “Good Guy”?

Sholomanarchy writes:
There is a pervasive mentality in the Frum world of "I don’t like the direction that Lubavitch has taken since his death, but the Rebbe was a great man." I hear this expressed repeatedly in many different forms, and I wholeheartedly disagree.
One does not become a god overnight, there is a deification process [...]

GUEST POST: Crown Heights Through the Eyes of a Child

Sholomanarchy writes:
I recall Yud Shevat 5753, during the height of the "balcony period". I was then a young boy in Cheder, and the messianic fervor had seized the Lubavitcher cult in its death grip. Walking to Oholei Torah that morning, I knew – WE knew – that today was going to be the day when [...]

Another Strike Against Marvin Schick

At last week’s Agudah convention, Rabbi Mattisyahu Salomon, speaking for the rabbinical and political leadership of Agudah, admitted there were many cases of rabbinic and other abuse haredi rabbinic leadership had handled quietly, dealing with the problem and then "sweeping it under the carpet" to avoid bad publicity, etc. The problems with this admission are [...]

The Allegations Against Agudah

A commenter writes:
According to UOJ, [Rabbi] Shmuel Kaminetzky knowingly sent [Rabbi] Moshe Eisman to Ner
Yisroel when boys in Philadelphia accused Eisman of molesting them.

And then, this:
…Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzsky [Agudath Israel's "#2" rabbi] and [Agudath Israel's rabbinic head] Rabbi Yaakov Perlow were approached before
the Kolko/Margulies/Torah Temimah abuse was made public. They both
chose to pass the buck. [...]

Blogging the Agudah Convention, #2

An attendee of the Agudah convention writes:
…The very choice of the two speakers was notable. It would be hard to find two more identifiable hardliners than Rabbis Wachsman and [Mattisyahu] Salomon. Notably, also, although this was not the traditional motsei Shabbos keynote session, the Rosh Aguda, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, was seated to the right of [...]

Haredim and Racism

Ha’aretz reports:
At the age of 7, Laloum relates, he underwent an
experience that shocked him and ultimately had a major influence on
him. "We moved from the north to Jerusalem," he explains. "The first
week we went to school, to register. The principal told my father to
his face: ‘I won’t let your son in because you’re frankim [a [...]

Marvin Schick, Abuser

Marvin Schick writes several years ago:
…The Catholic Church has been shaken to the core by literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of accusations, as adults have emerged to voice their claims of abusive activities that occurred years ago. Media attention has certainly been a catalyst for many of the accusers being willing to go public, mainly against [...]

Vladimir Putin a “Pedophile”?

The Russian dissident assassinated by,it seems, Vladimir Putin’s security services, once accused Putin of being a pedophile. Is Putin? Who knows … So far, there isn’t enough evidence to say. Of course, one dead dissident may have seen to that.

Marvin Schick: Do Not Cooperate with the Government

Marvin Schick writes:
…The sad thing about the emerging scenario is that the Orthodox are more alert to abuse issues than other Jews. In some perverse fashion, their alertness is being translated into evidence of a greater incidence of domestic abuse in Orthodox homes, primarily because the media are invited to get into the act by [...]

Putin, Democracy and The Jews

Nathaniel Popper of the Forward writes in the Wall Street Journal:
…"Russia is not ready for a Democratic or Republican or liberal Jewish coalition," said Rabbi Berel Lazar, the chief rabbi of Russia and Mr. Putin’s closest friend in the Jewish leadership. "Russia is a different mindset–a different history, different tradition. In Russia, Jews should not [...]