Exclusive: Letter From Haredi 'Gadol' Rabbi Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg Says Notorious Pedophile Innocent

For the first time, here is the 2006 letter written by haredi ‘gadol’ Rabbi Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg affirming that he ruled in 1985 that Rabbi Yehudah Kolko was innocent of all allegations of pedophilia and should not be fired from his teaching job.

For the first time, here is the 2006 letter written by haredi ‘gadol’ Rabbi Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg affirming that he ruled in 1985 that Rabbi Yehudah Kolko was innocent of all allegations of pedophilia and should not be fired from his teaching job.

Kolko, a notorious pedophile, pleaded guilty more than 20 years later to endangering the welfare of two children who were not yet born when Scheinberg ruled.* Other victims out of the statute of limitations also have come forward including David Framowitz, who says Kolko molested him 42 years ago.

Note that despite all the additional evidence against Kolko amassed over the 21 years between the beit din and this letter, Scheinberg does not change his ruling.

Also note that the letter does not give the halakhic basis or reason(s) for finding Kolko innocent. It just states that he is innocent and that Kolko's employer, Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, acted properly. The letter does not contain any of the embarrassing details of that 1985 ruling – a ruling Scheinberg made himself and coerced Rabbi Brown (see below) to reluctantly go along with. Rabbi Friedman (see below) refused to give in to Scheinberg's demand and did not agree with the ruling.

Scheinberg also allegedly intimidated and threatened witnesses before the beit din officially convened. (Yeshiva University's Rabbi Modechai Willig would take a page out of Scheinberg's book and do the same thing when his beit din found notorious serial child sex abuser, physical abuser and emotional abuser Rabbi Baruch Lanner innocent more than a decade later. Willig was almost fired when his role in protecting Lanner became public.)

Rabbi Scheinberg died yesterday in Jerusalem and was buried today. He was 101-years-old.

People who heard Scheinberg explain the beit din ruling in 1985 say Scheinberg claimed that because Kolko did not penetrate his victims, there was no actual abuse according to halakha. They also say that Scheinberg forbade them from reporting Kolko to police or giving any information related to the case to the media. Scheinberg told them it would violate the Jewish laws against mesirah, informing, and lashon hara, talebearing and spreading gossip.

The 2006 letter is dated 9 days after New York Magazine's exposé on Kolko was published. Scheinberg did not respond to New York Magazine's request for an interview. Neither did Torah Temimah's rosh yeshiva, Lipa Margulies.

Here is a translation of Scheinberg's 2006 letter:

Rabbi Chaim P. Scheinberg
Rosh Hayeshiva “Torah Ore”
And Morah Hora’ah of Kiryat Mattersdorf

With the help of God:

25th Day of Iyar 5766 [May 23, 2006]

Honorable Teachers and Rabbis:

This is with regard to the allegations against the teacher, Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi Kolko, may God watch over him and save him, in Yeshiva Torah Temimah in the year 5745 [1985]. Now there have surfaced again people to rouse these allegations against him once again, and further accused the leadership of the yeshiva [Yeshiva Torah Temimah] of culpability in that they turned a deaf ear to the allegations [against Kolko].

Let it be known that, in the year 5745 [1985] when the three [judges or the beit din, religious court] sat as one, I sat together as one with the sage Rabbi S. Z. Friedman, the head of the Tenka Beth Din; and the sage Rabbi S. Z. Brown, the author of The Gates of Excellence in Halacha, to adjudicate this matter.

After a thorough delving into the minute details of the matter, we concluded in accordance with the wisdom of our holy Torah to reaffirm his [Kolko’s] standing of innocence and determined that he shall retain his job as a teacher.

And on this I came to sign:

Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg


I was present at the time that my teacher and master the head of the yeshiva, may he live long and good days; wrote the above confirmation and he signed it with full faculties without any undue influence.

Yisroel Yechezkiel Plutchock

* The D.A.'s office apparently told police involved in the case that the families had, on thier own, decided not to allow their sons to testify in court, and that was the basis for offering Kolko a plea bargain to lesser charges. That guilty plea was entered after the families of the two victims were, by their own accounts, lied to by the D.A. and tricked into agreeing to the plea bargain only to find out aterward that the D.A. had lied to them. Both families told The Jewish Week they wanted to go to trial and that they were angered that the D.A. had lied to them and manipulated them.

Not long after, the D.A. launched Kol Tzedek, a program to allow haredi sex offenders to be reported directly to a Jewish liasioin at the D.A.'s office and not to police or child protection services.

The D.A. has used Kol Tzedek to hide the names of almost 90 haredi men reported to it since 2009 and to hide the resolution of their cases. When pressured by activists and journalists, the D.A. claimed the information of the pedophiles could not be released because it would identify the victims – a position legal scholars and activists reject out of hand, noting among other things that the law provides for withholding victims' names, not pedophiles' names, and that who point out that non-haredi sex offenders name's are released by the D.A. all the time.

Tzvi Gluck, a well regarded haredi community activist who deals frequently with police and the D.A., said publicly on a Jewish community radio show that he knew what had been done with these cases of haredi pedophilia. The rabbis and the D.A. had fixed the cases, allowing many pedophiles to walk free while pleading others out to misdomeanor charges (like Kolko) to keep them off the sex offender registry.

Gluck also spoke about a haredi rabbi who told a victim's family that, becuase their son had not been penetrated by the haredi pedophile, there was no sex abuse according to the Torah.

Comments

[jewishwhistleblower]

Interesting recent article:
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=26291
"...a clean-shaved middle-aged man, in a non-chasidic coat and hat, sitting on the bench outside Sweet Expressions, a kosher candy store. He introduces himself as A. Engler Anderson, an editor at the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent visiting Crown Heights."

[Bas Melech]

Yechiel,

Victims of heinous crimes do not get over them. Ask therapists.

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=26291
"...sitting on the bench outside Sweet Expressions, a kosher candy store. He introduces himself as A. Engler Anderson..."

[Shmarya]

There was a criminal charge at the time of selling a term paper or dissertation to another person which is a second-degree misdemeanor. There were news articles in the Palm Beach Post and other papers. At one point he was to be held without bail because he failed to appear for a court hearing. I'm not sure what happened with the charges.

Posted by: jewishwhistleblower | March 21, 2012 at 05:31 PM

Can you get the articles?

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22A.+Engler+Anderson%22&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF-8&tbm=nws&source=lnt&tbs=ar:1&sa=X

[jancsibacsi]

Yechiel -One thing is for sure you arent human with the indifference that youre exhibiting youre worthless worst then any shaygatz.

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Andrew+Engler+Anderson%22&hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&tbs=ar%3A1&sa=X&oq=%22Andrew+Engler+Anderson%22

[jancsibacsi]

yechiel-You are an adult; get over it Jancsi!

You imbacile you bought it up i didnt mention it today here you a mindless idiot.

[Abracadabra]

Something tells me ArtScroll wont include this letter, this gem of halchic genius in the hagiography they will surely publish about Scheinberg as a "Gadol B'Torah".

Money down they will publish a "Gadol" book about Scheinberg within the year. They probably have it written already, just waiting for him to die so it will sell more copies. Aint the Torah business grand?

[WoolSilkCotton, rock star and sports superstar]

Yechiel, I know who you are. Your grandfather was a shaliach in NJ.

You're not bullshitting your way out of this.

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives
Search: "Engler Anderson" & criminology

[jewishwhistleblower]

The Palm Beach Post - October 27, 1991
LOCAL WRITER DENIES HE SOLD TERM PAPERS
Two criminology majors turned in term papers that a professor said weren't just awful, they were a crime.After flunking the students, William Blount, chairman of the University of South Florida Criminology Department, did some sleuthing.The paper trail led to a Palm Beach writer, Andrew Engler Anderson, 31, and to accusations that he sold the papers to the students, Blount said Friday.Anderson, a reporter for the Palm Beach Jewish World, denied...

[jewishwhistleblower]

Miami Herald, The (FL) - October 28, 1991
CRIMINOLOGY TEACHER: TERM PAPERS A CRIME
Two criminology majors turned in term papers that a professor said weren't just awful, they were a crime.After flunking the students, William Blount, chairman of the University of South Florida Criminology Department, did some sleuthing that led to the filing of a second-degree misdemeanor charge against the man accused of being the real author. A. Engler Anderson, 31, believed to be living near Palm Beach, failed to appear last week for a court...

[jewishwhistleblower]

St. Petersburg Times - October 29, 1991
Journalist says he filed complaint against professor
Andrew Engler Anderson, a former University of South Florida student, said Monday he has filed a complaint against a USF professor he says violated his privacy.Anderson, a 31-year-old Palm Beach journalist, has been charged by the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office with selling term papers to two students in 1989, a misdemeanor, according to court records.Anderson said William Blount, chairman of the Criminology Department, violated Anderson's privacy by...

[jewishwhistleblower]

St. Petersburg Times - October 26, 1991
Papers a lesson in criminology
A. Engler Anderson's term papers weren't just bad. They were a crime, said one professor.Anderson, 31, is wanted on charges that he sold term papers to two University of South Florida students.Their major?Criminology.The charge selling a term paper or dissertation to another person is only a second-degree misdemeanor, but if he is caught, Anderson will be held without bail because he failed to appear for a court hearing earlier this...

[jewishwhistleblower]

Miami Herald, The (FL) - October 28, 1991
CRIMINOLOGY TEACHER: TERM PAPERS A CRIME
Two criminology majors turned in term papers that a professor said weren't just awful, they were a crime.After flunking the students, William Blount, chairman of the University of South Florida Criminology Department, did some sleuthing that led to the filing of a second-degree misdemeanor charge against the man accused of being the real author. A. Engler Anderson, 31, believed to be living near Palm Beach, failed to appear last week for a court..

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.jewish/browse_thread/thread/726f76bc24653261/ba425930ea4ac96a?hl=en&q=%22a+e+anderson%22+chabad

Discussions with Anderson and
Zev Sero AKA Velvel Serebryanski.

[ah-pee-chorus]

regarding AE, i'm not sure what is gained by 'outing' him. if he isnt posing any danger to the community, and is just espousing positions we find abhorrent, then i dont see why this is necessary. his nonsense can be exposed through counterarguments without ad hominems.

[WoolSilkCotton, rock star and sports superstar]

JWB, you are awesome.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | March 21, 2012 at 06:58 PM

We've done that for years already.

But I'm not really advocating outing him. I just want to know who is paying him.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Shmarya has claimed that R' Scheinberg ruled that because Kolko's victim's were not penetrated anally, there was no molestation. This letter does nothing to prove that point.

The facts are simple.

Kolko is responsible for the rape and torture of children. R' Scheinberg, or anyone for that matter, can be blamed for what Kolko did, and R' Scheinberg was neither an enabler or someone possessing knowledge or proof of what was going on.

Kolko's depravity was misunderstanding by all the rabbonim involved. Only Margo knew the true depths of Yiddi's taste for hairless balls.

Kolko's wife, forced many times to take it from behind also knew her husband had a petulance for assplay, and did nothing to quench his insatiable thirst for children.

R' Scheinberg was played, plain and simple. He is a convenient dupe for Shmarya to point to as an enabler but he was used by those that knew the system and how to play it.

R' Scheinberg is a victim in all of this, nothing more.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Kolko is responsible for the rape and torture of children. R' Scheinberg, or anyone for that matter, can NOT be blamed for what Kolko did

Apologies for the typo.

[jancsibacsi]

Paulie Walnuts-Youre mentally deranged ,R' Scheinberg wanted to be played he deliberatly went along with margo and youre an ass of major proportions.

[hassid]

Looking at the letter, it says that RS ztvl conducted a thorough investigation which was found wanting for evidence. This doesn't mean he said kolko was "innocent." It means he checked the allegations and might have missed the facts. What we learn from this is maybe he needed to be more thorough in checking. Not that he somehow foisted molestation on the Jewish community. To say this after the Gaon's petirah is just sickening. Let the guy rest in peace. He might have made a tragic mistake with good intentions. But he definately didn't do anything malicious.

[SkepticalYid]

R' Scheinberg is a victim in all of this, nothing more.

Posted by: Paulie Walnuts | March 21, 2012 at 07:03 PM

So to your thinking all the rebbeim who protect their colleagues from legitimate prosecution are victims themselves? If he is that easily played then he wasn't much of a gadol, was he?

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Paulie Walnuts | March 21, 2012 at 07:03 PM

What you wrote is a complete and total lie.

Kolko did not penetrate his victims.

Scheinberg had plenty of evidence against Kolko, but he willed it all away by saying, no penetration, no abuse; the kids testimony can't be believed because of their age; and Kolko has a hezkat kashrut.

You're a liar, Paulie.

If you want to keep posting here you'll have to stop lying – and you'll have to start using your legal name.

[Devorah]

Yechiel, you are the reason I thank G-d every day I'm not one of you and have nothing to do with any of your cult. Karma is a bitch.

[hassid]

Shamarya

Its fine if all those things are true-- but youre just positing what you think RS thoughts were. The letter just says investigation and not enough evidence. Thats what it says. Thats your piece of evidence. If you want to trash a big rabbi on the day hes buried you need to do more than conjecture.

[SkepticalYid]

There are a number of people named A. E. Anderson along the east coast. I wonder if the Florida reference is the same person as the writer/editor for various Jewish publications in the Northeast.

[Shmarya]

Looking at the letter, it says that RS ztvl conducted a thorough investigation which was found wanting for evidence. This doesn't mean he said kolko was "innocent." It means he checked the allegations and might have missed the facts. What we learn from this is maybe he needed to be more thorough in checking. Not that he somehow foisted molestation on the Jewish community. To say this after the Gaon's petirah is just sickening. Let the guy rest in peace. He might have made a tragic mistake with good intentions. But he definately didn't do anything malicious.

Posted by: hassid | March 21, 2012 at 07:23 PM

Please.

If you learned gemara like that you'd get tossed out of yeshiva.

What we learn from this letter is that Scheinberg did indeed rule in support of Kolko in 1985 – something his supporters were denying earlier this week.

We also learn that Scheinberg said in 2006 Kolko has a hezkat kashrut.

We also know that Scheinberg did nothing over the 21 years after that ruling to the day he wrote that letter to evaluate any of the many other allegations against Kolko that came after his 1985 ruling.

We also know that victims say he threatened them.

There's more than raglayim l'davar against Scheinberg.

And to attribute what he did a being one long, 21 year mistake is absolutely idiotic.

Kids lives were ruined because of what Scheinberg did.

[hassid]

in 1985 he does an investigation and maybe makes a mistake. In 2006 he says something at the young age of 95 and you want him to burn for it. Good point!
You are showing us one piece of evidence. Get a testimony on video of a survivor talking about threats. Or get evidence of a threat. Or get evidence that RS is actively able to run an investigation ala SVU at the age of 75 much less 95. But yeah, when he was 95 he said something regrettable. How old are you? How many worse things have you said?
If you want to blame someone, blame the guys who go to RS at 95 for their criminal investigations and blame the actual molestors. Blaming RS is like going around a hospice and judging the folks there on their sometime senile or delirious sentiments.

[Shmarya]

Its fine if all those things are true-- but youre just positing what you think RS thoughts were. The letter just says investigation and not enough evidence. Thats what it says. Thats your piece of evidence. If you want to trash a big rabbi on the day hes buried you need to do more than conjecture.

Posted by: hassid | March 21, 2012 at 07:37 PM

No.

What I posted is what VICTIMS say happened, what is cited in a lawsuit against Torah Temimah and Kolko, and what has been reported in New York Magazine – and which Scheinberg did not deny.

[hassid]

which scheinberg didn't deny at the age of 100!!!

[hassid]

Look Shamarya
you put forward a compelling doc. but it isn't a "smoking gun" if you disaggregate the conjecture from the minimum interpretation of the words of the letter. this is definitely more impressive that a lot of previous stuff but you need evidence for the crucial missing details. If you produced this letter in a day, you should have no issue telling us how this beit din proceeded and whether these threats occurred. The desire to stick it to R Scheinberg is a bit tasteless though. The guy was 101 and not going to be doing thorough investigations. Maybe blame the people who automatically went to RS more than RS himself??

[jancsibacsi]

hassid- I say with youre gemure kop the words daber el huaitzim ve el avnuim, talking to you is like talking to the stone or walls youre a giant of a shoite.

[LikeItIs]

There's tangible documentation on this post that Pinny actively protected a pedophile, and this is all you have to say? You evidence no compassion for the victims or their families whatsoever.

Posted by: SkepticalYid | March 21, 2012 at 02:09 PM

I just question the timing.

Anyway it doesn't matter, in a few days this post will fall over the cliff to "Older" and we will be busy entertaining ourselves with some other mishugas.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: hassid | March 21, 2012 at 07:59 PM

Please.

I reported what the beit din did, what it held, who was on it and that the victims were allegedly threatened by Scheinberg.

It is your mental illness, your constant trolling, your taking whatever position you think will piss people off that blinds you to the facts and the truth.

You're a sick man.

[hassid]

I was giving you credit for finding this document and you call me sick?
I am commenting on what evidence there is and isn't and mitigating factors. Maybe thats meant to piss people off. Or to keep people's proper regard and respect for great sages.
I agree that RS made a terrible mistake. Here at Hassid HQ all our hearts go out to the victims. And Kolko is certainly below contempt. However we feel that this isn't the time to go crazy on RS.

[jancsibacsi]

Shmarya- your taking whatever position you think will piss people off that blinds you to the facts and the truth.
This is trade mark of the hassidim to minimize anything bad they do and saying anything that they fabricate in their indifferent minds they are an insult to everyones intelligence they never cease to be a pest

[hassid]

why am i mentally sick and not jancapista? hes the one saying all hassidim are worthless. I didn't say you are worthless. I am just trying to defend the sages using reason and logic and assuming generosity on your part.

[jancsibacsi]

hassid-Youre answering youre own question,i never ever said that all hassidim are worthless dont put words into my mouth there are many types of hassidim yes satmerers are many of them worhtless i leave out the others.

[hassid]

why do you assume im satmar?
satmar is an outlier in many ways. im a mainstream, unaffiliated hassid

[Shmarya]

I agree that RS made a terrible mistake. Here at Hassid HQ all our hearts go out to the victims. And Kolko is certainly below contempt. However we feel that this isn't the time to go crazy on RS.

Posted by: hassid | March 21, 2012 at 08:14 PM

Please.

You have a long established track record of trolling.

Past that, you feel it isn't "time to go crazy on RS" because you minimize the evidence against him and minimize the damage he did.

[jancsibacsi]

hassid-Because you attitude gives you away you cannot be reasoned with and that is a trade mark of the satmerers its their way or the highway fershteist.

[hassid]

shamarya

would you be open to a one time, truth and reconcilation committee on this kolko issue to air out the evidence and give the victims a hearing? obviously there would be no legal reprecussions but as something for healing within the kehilla?

[Dan]

big deal. courts of law make mistakes all the time. Which in retrospect may turn out to be wrong.
Alternatively, let me ask you this (not quite) related theoretical scenario:
The jury in a court of law finds an accused murderer innnocent.
After the trial, it was revealed to the jury that there were quite a few previous accusations of other murders against the accused, but those cases were inadmissable as evidence.
Does that make the accused more likely to have been innocent or guilty in the case just tried?

[hassid]

Dan

shamarya doesnt get that crim pro is just as important as crim law. he thinks there are "actually innocent" people. in this respect he disagrees with our law system in the US as well as with halacha. but its a principled if simplistic stand

[Shmarya]

would you be open to a one time, truth and reconcilation committee on this kolko issue to air out the evidence and give the victims a hearing? obviously there would be no legal reprecussions but as something for healing within the kehilla?

Posted by: hassid | March 21, 2012 at 08:50 PM

Absolutely not.

Margulies, Kolko, Torah Temimah and Scheinberg's estate will eventually be brought to secular court, where they will lose. And then they will pay damages to the victims – all of them.

[hassid]

You really think an American judge will go after RS estate. Its ARBITRATION in another jurisdiction and it happened half a lifetime ago. You cant really think that??

[Shmarya]

big deal. courts of law make mistakes all the time. Which in retrospect may turn out to be wrong.
Alternatively, let me ask you this (not quite) related theoretical scenario:
The jury in a court of law finds an accused murderer innnocent.
After the trial, it was revealed to the jury that there were quite a few previous accusations of other murders against the accused, but those cases were inadmissable as evidence.
Does that make the accused more likely to have been innocent or guilty in the case just tried?

Posted by: Dan | March 21, 2012 at 08:51 PM

Process: Scheinberg THREATENED the victims and bullied the his haverim on the beit din.

He did not "make a mistake" – he COMMITTED A CRIME.

[Shmarya]

You really think an American judge will go after RS estate. Its ARBITRATION in another jurisdiction and it happened half a lifetime ago. You cant really think that??

Posted by: hassid | March 21, 2012 at 08:54 PM

1. RS's involvement in the ongoing crime/tort started in 1985 and continued until his death.

2. He participated in a criminal conspiracy with Margulies, Applegrad and others.

3. When the CVA passes, TT and Marguiles will be hot with lawsuits. I believe grounds exist to include Scheinberg's estate as a defendant.

[ah-pee-chorus]

big deal. courts of law make mistakes all the time

in addition to what shmarya wrote, if RS heard evidence of sexual touching of kids which fell short of his (or the torahs) definition of penetration and based on that ruled that there was no reason or hetter to go to the police, then he is a complete fool. and for RS to say that kolko should remain a rebbe is not just a 'mistake'. it is a depraved judgement with callous disregard for childrens safety and innocence. if he's a 'gadol' or 'great sage', then i'd hate to see what an evil fool looks like.

[Mike]

Wow is hassid a troll.

I have to say that I personally was surprised to find these things out about Sceinberg, but I didn't put my fingers in my ears and deny it. This bona fide proof that this rabbi protected known pedophiles should be posted on every street corner in Monsey. Scheinberg was definetely one of the more well-known rabbis and hearing this is very indicative that the entire Haredi community is supportive of whatever these rabbis say.

I just hope the victims of Kolko will eventually bring him to justice.

[Say what?]

Yiddishkeit needs no salesman.
I am who I am. Sorry...

Posted by: Yechiel | March 21, 2012 at 06:05 PM

I am who I am? Do you think you are G-d? You are a disgrace to your people. And sorry is not going to cut it. You need professional help, and you need to do some serious soul searching. And if you still cannot bring yourself to be a mentch, then change your name to something goyish so you don't make all the rest of us look bad.

[Emanuel]

I guess this will keep Scott distracted from posting about Deborah Feldman

[disillusioned]

Yechiel,

You should be sorry. You are a disgrace to Judaism and to humanity. What kind of lame thing is that to say "I am who I am". I don't know what you were referring to when you referred to someone's experience in Europe, but you sure sounded cold and cruel. And yet you seem to think that you are some kind of religious?

[Good Riddance]

There are already two pending lawsuits against Yeshiva Torah Temimah. John Doe 4 v YTT and John Doe 5 v YTT.

YTT will pay several million dollars to these victims in addition to the $500k they've already spent defending themselves in these cases.

There are several dozen Kolko victims who are within the statute of limitations. Expect some of them to file lawsuits once they realize the extent of the crimes committed against them by Margulies.

It's about time Margulies and YTT paid for their crimes against children.

[Philathrapist]

You bunch of .... No one here has Da'as Torah. No one here knows the facts. No one here knows anything!!! att - In the name of all Kolko victims And for a shm.... like you to bash Rabi schineberg lord have mercy on your sole. After , Iwould say 120 but you wont make it, you are going to be greeted by Pamalya shel ma'la and give them all the excuses you want, YOU CANT LIE UP THERE.
We all you are a bunch of NEBECH CASES that just want to revenge. The news say what you say, the judge agrees, and he even admits. THAT JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH LIES AND DECEITFULNESS THERE IS IN THIS WORLD. WAKE UP YOUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY KNOWS THE TRUTH!!!

[Yechiel]

Disillusioned and the rest of the bunch.
"I am who I am" was a response to someone complaining about my attitude.
Look, I get carried away sometimes when people wallow in misery. I and many people I know on a personal level went thru great difficulties in their lives; some as far back as sonce their childhood. I knew holocaust survivors too. Real men put the past behind and move on. Stewing over the past, being miserable and is a sign of weakness and is very childish; above all, it accomplishes nothing.
'Nough said.

[Yechiel]

WSC
Both my grandfathers were not religious men. One was even anti religion and an atheist.

[Abracadabra]

Yechiel - that explains some of it. You're a new kid on the block drinking the koolaid and thinking you're in heaven or on the fast track to heaven. Spare us.

And how ironic that someone who comes here and taunts another man about having been sexually abused by a rabbi when he was a child has ANY clue about what "real men" do.

Go talk to your atheist grandfather, he can probably teach you a thing or too about "real men" and human morals.

[Beth Frank-Backman]

Yechiel - the idea that victims should just get over it is certainly popular in some circles, but it simply does not work that way.

To heal from trauma people usually have to do two things (a) they need to work through every destructive and hope destroying implication of the event and find a way to hope again (b) they need to take positive action to repair the world in some way so they won't feel that all the suffering they have been through was pointless.

Getting past the cursing, venom spitting, self-pitying and even self-injuring (some survivors physically hurt themselves by cutting and burning rather than place blame on respected others) stage is only possible when one realizes that under all the crap is genuine righteous anger motivated by mercy and love, not hate. "Get over it" effectively denies even the righteous anger.

Working through despair takes time. There is and never should be a measure on it.It is what it is. You want acceptance for who you are "I am what I am". In the spirit of mida c'neged midah - you get what you give. Be respectful and patient of other's journeys and there will be people who respect and are patient with yours.

I am not speaking theory here. Although I was never molested as a child, I've seen enough to understand the powerful feelings. I've either been present at or in the immediate aftermath of three terror attacks here in Israel. I witnessed (and helped stop) an attempted rape as a child. As an adult I was a victim of kidnapping, attempted murder, and rape (all one horrific incident). Over the years I've listened to and talked with more survivors than I can count.

What you may think is "over it" may just be a resting moment. Some horrors are too hard to work through all the time and people have no choice but to push it down until they are around people who are sympathetic. (usually other survivors).

The need to repair means that forgetting and moving on is impossible. Were we as human beings really to forget the evil we've lived through, we could do nothing to make the world a better place so others after us are less likely to be hurt.

If real men and women put the past behind them, why do we remember slavery from 3300 years ago, remember to not remember the name of Amalek, shake grogers on Purim and continue to despise Haman, have a holocaust memorial day (geez that was 70 years ago, get over it), and so on....

The answer is that real men and women do not put the past behind them: they remember the past to remake the future. Judaism remembers for the same reason I and many others do: we want the world to be a better place. We want God's will here on earth and not just written down in books that everyone reads and no one follows.

I think Larry put it very well. "I don't pretend to understand or defend the letter. I suppose it could be publicized as a cautionary example for rabbis to learn that they are not infallible and that they are capable of causing harm."

Yechiel, the truth that Larry recognizes rabbis need to learn is very very painful in a culture where emotional and spiritual security is built around the idea that rabbis are all but the word of God. But think how these children felt? As painful as it might be for you to hold your positive memories of Scheinberg together with the truth of this letter, these children and their parents lived through a much more graphic demonstration of contradictions.

They and their parents not only heard the letter but watched themselves intimidated by people who were meant to represent daat torah. Every child has the right to believe mommy and daddy can protect them. Every caring parent has a right to believe that society will support them in protecting their children. I don't even want to imagine how those parents felt, but if it is even close to the way I feel when I can't help one of my nieces and nephews, it must have been devastating.

[WoolSilkCotton, rock star and sports superstar]

++Yiddishkeit needs no salesman.++

Actually, Chabad has thousands of yiddishkeit salesman, who make a living trying to talk people into observing.
And yiddishkeit needs constant brainwashing, blocking out tv, magazines, radio, and internet. And ghetto walls and 18th century costumes and lots of props.

Yiddishkeit collapses completely when a hassid sees a copy of People magazine. Wow, yiddishkeit is so strong and convincing, you have to build a brick wall with barbed wire to keep people from leaving it.

[Jeff]

Wow, yiddishkeit is so strong and convincing, you have to build a brick wall with barbed wire to keep people from leaving it.

Very good.

[Jeff]

Both my grandfathers were not religious men. One was even anti religion and an atheist.

Posted by: Yechiel | March 22, 2012 at 12:38 AM

There you have it - a BT (or worse - the child of BT's), and a nasty little piece of work in the bargain.

There's no arguing with this level of fanaticism. I'm convinced (and as I keep saying, there's a growing body of evidence that's beginning to bear this out) it's a neurological deficit, but in any case, there's no reaching someone like this. Any attempt at communication is futile. All that can be done (and should be done, for the sake of human survival) is to quarantine them from the rest of society.

Of course, it will never happen. That is the principal reason we're screwed.

[Malka Gittel]

Yiddishkeit needs no salesman. Perhaps. But stupidity has a million of 'em if this thread is to be believed!

And hassid, since when are Hasidim unaffiliated? I have yet to see thousands or even hundreds of independent, rebbe-less or Rosh-yeshiva-less Hasids roaming the streets. Plus your argument doesn't show any thought that wouldn't come directly from a rav's mouth. I'd believe you had a mind of your own if it weren't agreeing thoroughly with the rest of the "RS was a genius, and Shmarya is a fool" deniers.

[jancsibacsi]

YECHIEL- You are a fake fony and a fraud i never wrote anything about being a victim of molestation yesterday you bought it on, to start an arguement to provoke me but i saw through you youre nothing but a scoundrel a gurnisht,youre the lowest of the low you wrote just to start a fight youre a degenerate lowlife.

[seymour]

Posted by: Yechiel | March 21, 2012 at 05:25 PM

interesting comment, you are basing your whole life on an ancient book written thousands of years ago

[jancsibacsi]

Paulie Walnuts -Youre mentally disturbed get the hell out of here you lowlife trash.

[jewishwhistleblower]

From the TESTIMONY OF NAHLA A. AL-ARIAN BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON THE USE OF SECRET EVIDENCE AND IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 2121 (SECRET EVIDENCE REPEAL ACT)
MAY 23, 2000
...
A. Engler Anderson, who is a Jewish journalist and a former student of my brother [Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar], has recently written an article in which he said: "I emphasize that during my association with him, Mazen showed nothing but the highest degree of respect for Judaism and Jewish culture. As somebody who spent more than four years of his life as a yeshiva bachur, studying Talmud, codes, Jewish philosophy and Chasidic literature, I am clearly in a position to make that assessment." He then continues to say "Mazen is the Dreyfus of our time."
...

[jewishwhistleblower]

Wrong again Anderson.
See: http://www.investigativeproject.org/758/telling-half-the-story
"The trial demonstrated that Al-Arian was deeply connected to the PIJ, which is believed responsible for more than 100 deaths in the Middle East. He was described by his own lawyers as a fundraiser for the "charitable arm of the PIJ." And Al-Arian was not blind to the group's monstrous tactics, as he was the regular recipient of faxes announcing the group's suicide bombings."

[jewishwhistleblower]

The Journal of the senate indicates that Andrew Engler Anderson AKA Abram Engler Anderson was a registered lobbyist for Ybor City Publishing Co.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.flsenate.gov/data/Historical/Senate%2520Journals/1980s/1986/38-LOBBYISTS.PDF

[jewishwhistleblower]

Ybor City Publishing Co.
http://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Tampa/ybor-city-publishing-company-incorporated-4382104.aspx

[oooooh]

Has anyone asked those working with R' Scheinberg at that time why/how he arrived at that conclusion?

Im not one to say all Rabbis are honest, but something is missing here. Of all Rabbis Im familiar with, R Scheinberg was one of most honest and the least money and power hungry. The puzzle pieces dont fit.

What was R Scheinberg's response when Kolko was clearly found to be guilty. R Scheinberg was very much alive at that time.

WHAT DID R' Scheinberg SAY???

[LikeItIs]

WHAT DID R' Scheinberg SAY???

At this point in time, it doesn't matter except for the entertainment value.

[jancsibacsi]

oooooh-Youre asking the wrong question what he didnt say is the question his indifference is the killer

[A YID WHO KNOWS HALOCHA]

I REALLY FEEL SORRY FOR ALL OF YOU AMARATSIM. HOW DARE YOU SPEAK SUCH BLATANT LOSHEN HORAH ABOUT A GADOL BE YISRAEL. I KNEW RABBI SHEINBERG PERSONALLY AND CAN TRULY SAY WITHOUT HESITATION THAT IN A THOUSAND LIFETIMES ALL YOU BA'ALEI LOSHEN WOULDNT COME CLOSE TO HIS ANKLES. YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES. BEST YOU THINK LONG AND HARD AS TO HOW YOU WILL ANSWER ON YOM HATOCHACHA

[Abracadabra]

R Scheinberg was one of most honest and the least money and power hungry.

There are lots of people who would disagree with you on that.

I know a young single woman who needed a shidduch 20 years ago. She asked Rabbi Scheinberg for a bracha and he told her that he will give her a bracha as long as she gives ALL her maaser and tzedaka money ONLY to him. She did get married 5-6 years later, but just the fact that he requested and demanded this from her as conditional for his bracha, was disgusting. She was a koolaid drinker and she was desperate to get married and believed in "Gedolim" so she went along with it. But anyone with a brain would smell a rat.

Tell me again - he wasn't money hungry?

[jewishwhistleblower]

> HOW DARE YOU SPEAK SUCH BLATANT
>LOSHEN HORAH

You realize that you are acknowledging that the statments about Scheinberg are true by using your language. Accordingly, the statements would be permitted as there is a to’elet.

[jewishwhistleblower]

"A YID WHO KNOWS HALOCHA" perhaps you should read Anderson's statement "Mazen is the Dreyfus of our time." and consider how similar your statement about Scheinber is. Anderson was wrong and so are you.

[jewishwhistleblower]

"A YID WHO KNOWS HALOCHA" do you actually understand the difference between Lashon Hora and Mozi Shem Ra?
Lashon Hora is true statements about a person. Mozi Shem Ra is false statements about a person. Your name is therefore wrong unless you actually agree with the statements about Scheinberg.

[Jeff]

BEST YOU THINK LONG AND HARD AS TO HOW YOU WILL ANSWER ON YOM HATOCHACHA

I'll say, "Sorry I wasn't more observant, Hashem. I was too busy learning how to use the shift key!"

[hassid]

Today I ran an experiment to see if Shamarya has a point. I went to the local nursing home and asked people to help me investigate a missing person. *Sorry I didn't use pedophile as an example-- the old people would be upset by that.
Some of them thought I meant someone missing within the nursing home. Others spoke to me about missing people in their lives. To a number, all were younger than R Scheinberg and none took me up on the offer. If anyone is sick or mentally ill, its people who go to these old rabbis for advice and perform what amounts to elderly abuse. A bracha, inspiration, fine. But to ask R Scheinberg to perform a major investigation of Kolko at 95 was insane. That having been said, crucifying R Scheinberg on the day of his funeral for messing the investigation up is even more insane. Based on one letter and an article in NYMag, better known for restaurant reviews, you pillory and trash a great sage. Now I don't believe in Daas Toyrah or that these sages have supernatural powers. Hell, I'm not even sure learning is the absolute greatest thing for everyone. I am sure that learning is part of the Jewish experience and that RS excelled at it. The people who are experts in traditional Talmud agree on this universally. And he seems to have been an exceptional guy with compassion and normalcy not found in other gedolim. Did he have ruach hakodesh? Who knows. What I do know is that if you believe the Torah is holy, Jewish or special, then we shouldn't malign and insult its greatest adherents. This is why I am defending RS. Not because I think he is God or the greatest thing ever. Because as a Jew, you and I should respect uniquely Jewish achievements. If you want to complicate the historical record or add a major failing, thats fine. There's plenty of that in scholarship, as Marc Shapiro can explain to you. But its injudicious to do this on the day of his funeral and to go as far as you did. The letter might be real. The ignominy and notoriety you try to stick to RS is a product of mendacious vituperative imagination and holier than thou grandstanding.

[Abracadabra]

A YID WHO KNOWS HALOCHA

It's good you wrote in ALL CAPS, otherwise we wouldn't know for certain if you are serious.

I REALLY FEEL SORRY FOR ALL OF YOU AMARATSIM.

There are some talmidei chachamim who commented here - do they not merit your pity? (Why are the frummies always discriminating?)

HOW DARE YOU SPEAK SUCH BLATANT LOSHEN HORAH ABOUT A GADOL BE YISRAEL.

The office of the "Gadol" might be a more respectable one if the "Gedolim" acted respectfully. What R' Scheinberg did in this case should have caused his "Gadol" status to be revoked. But no one was taking votes, the whole issue was supposed to be hidden and nobody was supposed to know about it, which is what happened, until a few years ago, when the truth came bubbling to the surface.

IN A THOUSAND LIFETIMES ALL YOU BA'ALEI LOSHEN WOULDNT COME CLOSE TO HIS ANKLES.

That's a good thing. I wouldn't want to be in a position of great power only to use it to hurt others in severe ways, and not use that power to protect those weaker and less powerful than myself who are in the process of being hurt, are looking to me for protection, and it would be within my power to help them. Nor would I want to stand on a pedestal, be revered, and for all to think that my word is God's word, while I go along with the farce knowing all along that God does not speak through me, nor did he even speak to me. I don't want to reach his ankles. He can keep all that prestige and Gadol power for himself, together with the house of cards he built. Besides, his ankles are now 6-feet under.

YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES.

No, I shouldn't. I never even came close to hurting other human beings as much as R' Scheinberg hurt the children (and parents) who were part of that Din Torah in 1985, together with all children that were abused by Kolko after 1985 which could have been avoided had R' Scheinberg done the right thing and protected them from a rebbe who was sexually abusing them. It is R' Scheinberg who should have been ashamed of himself every single day since that Din Torah in 1985 over which he presided until the day he died. But he wasn't ashamed, and he never admitted or rectified what he did.

And speaking of shame, while you think that you are defending Torah, you are in fact shaming the Torah. And perhaps it is YOU who should be ashamed of defiling the Torah by insisting that someone who did what R' Scheinberg did, should continue to remain a "Gadol B'Torah", a Torah leader, and continue to represent Torah or God's word in any way.

BEST YOU THINK LONG AND HARD AS TO HOW YOU WILL ANSWER ON YOM HATOCHACHA

I never heard of the yom tov called "Yom Hatochacha". But if you mean the day I die, I've thought about that a lot over the years. And if there is anyone there asking all the dead people questions, then I've got plenty of answers for the questioners, and even tougher questions for them. So, maybe THEY should be thinking long and hard about how they will answer me if "they" or "he" or "she" or "it" or whoever, is handing out questionaires to dead people.

[Abracadabra]

Hassid - Notwithstanding your impressive vocabulary, your reading comprehension may be a bit lacking.

It was in 1985 that R' Scheinberg conducted the Din Torah and investigation into Kolko, heard testimony and headed the Beis Din. He was 74 years old in 1985 when the whole incident happened. In 2006 he merely wrote a letter stating that he had indeed conducted a din Torah in 1985, etc. He was asked to write that letter because Torah Temimah thought it would help their case and quiet the storm which was quickly turning into a hurricane.

At age 74 when he conducted that Beis Din, he was hardly in a nursing home state of "elderly".

As a public person in a position of power, who did not shy away from that power or position during his younger years, and with all the kavod that comes with such position, it is not only appropriate to call out such a grave and horrible misdeed (not to mention criminal act!) on his part, but it serves a measure of justice to do so.

Also, please see the quote by Glenn Greenwald which Baruch Pelta put in one of the first comments on this thread. Here it is:

"To allow significant political figures to be heralded with purely one-sided requiems — enforced by misguided (even if well-intentioned) notions of private etiquette that bar discussions of their bad acts — is not a matter of politeness; it’s deceitful and propagandistic. To exploit the sentiments of sympathy produced by death to enshrine a political figure as Great and Noble is to sanction, or at best minimize, their sins. Misapplying private death etiquette to public figures creates false history and glorifies the ignoble."
--Glenn Greenwald

Posted by: Baruch Pelta | March 21, 2012 at 09:05 AM

[hassid]

Thanks for the comment. I think that I disagree substantively with the quote you seem to be rubbing for good luck. I think that grief and mourning are a process which people need to be cathartic and reaffirming. There's some idealization and papering over sins that goes on. Thats fine. The point is to have continuity and show that (an idealized version of) our values transcends this mortal coil. So I think the Greenwald quote is pretty ridiculous as far as it goes. Of course, the immediate moments after death don't overdetermine the historical reception of a figure. To say Scheinberg is perfect would be propagandistic and wrong. But I didn't say he was. I merely claimed that as an outstanding and acclaimed Rabbi, he deserves some respect and that its generally positive to value Torah scholars, even if you don't value them exclusively. Scholars can (and will) point to the multiplicity of failings of Scheinberg and other Torah luminaries. Hell, even R Aharon Kotler seems to have been picky with his precious Vaad Hatzalah visas, to mention only one famous example. This is different than trashing R Aharon Kotler on the day of his death.
What I am proposing is that even if Shamaryah disagrees with RS or thinks he made terrible mistakes, that he exercise restraint. Why not let the body cool off before posting this letter? Whats the downside? If its about truth, then unlike dead bodies, that doesn't decompose. If its about scoring points, which it clearly is, then hey, why not have a crotch grabbing touchdown fiesta over RS's funeral? But if its just about points then the self righteous bullcrap has to go.

[Yechiel]

Jancsi
I love your way with words...
I already learned which buttons to push to get what results...

[Yechiel]

Little people
Please decelerate... You shmoiges are all in high gear whilst I sit back and enjoy the show. I never knew I actually have the power and ability to get so many of you going at once... Wow!

[Yechiel]

To whom it may concern
Don't get the wrong ideas...
I was born to parents who were frum way before they married. The BTs of nowadays are more like lost souls...
I had a pretty decent upbringing. I am the way I am in my own merit...
I preach what I believe (with the addition of loads of sarcasm and prickly phraseology)
Please forgive me for choosing FM as my emtional punching bag...
Everyone needs an outlet.

[Beth Frank-Backman]

Hassid:

I do agree with your claim about grief needing to be cathartic, but i do wonder who you have in mind as mourners. Have you completely forgotten that those who suffered on account of this man are also mourners who have reached a milestone at the moment of his death?

I suspect part of your difficulty here is that you see being picky with visas on the same level as standing silently by children who are being abused and the parents who want to protect them.

I'm puzzled by that because there is in my eyes some very significant moral distinctions:

(1) The kolter rebbe had no ability to personally remove Hitler or his minyons from power. He can hardly be blamed for the deaths of those he could not save even if he was selective in who he saved.
(2) Even if it violates our democratic sensibilities to prefer one life over another, the fact remains that every life saved is a positive mitzvah.

By contrast:
(1) Schienberg did have the ability to personally remove Kolcho or at least pressure Margolis to do so. He chose not to. Even if he wasn't the abuser, he thereby becomes responsible for the failure to act.
(2) His refusal to act and turn matters over to the police for a proper investigation, is an act of destruction of souls rather than a positive mitzvah of saving a life.

-- he deserves some respect and that its generally positive to value Torah scholars --

Yes, he does deserve respect for his accomplishments. But you aren't actually asking for respect of his scholarship. You are asking for silence in other matters on account of it.

How do you distinguish that from (a) arguments against dismissing Joe Paterno because "He was such a great coach, he shouldn't be dismissed". (b) arguments againt arresting Polanski "he was such a great director, he shouldn't be in prison".

If you say, excellence in talmudic analysis is more important than excellence in coaching or directing, then I would ask: doesn't the greater Torah knowledge make one more responsible rather than less?

I read in the Talmud (Baba Metzia 59a) that the gates of tears are always open. We are supposed to emulate God. Where is your Rachamim? Where is your gate of tears? Instead of acknowledging suffering, you write about arrogance.

While you are grotesquely accusing people of crotch grabbing contests, I have not seen you make even the slightest mention of what impact his actions had on those he silenced. Have you spent time pondering it? Meditating on it? Do you even think you should? You appear to believe that since you can't hear tears, they don't exist.

[Jeff]

Please decelerate... You shmoiges are all in high gear whilst I sit back and enjoy the show. I never knew I actually have the power and ability to get so many of you going at once... Wow!

Posted by: Yechiel | March 23, 2012 at 12:11 AM

As I suspected; you're just a bored young person.

[Jeff]

And if there is anyone there asking all the dead people questions, then I've got plenty of answers for the questioners, and even tougher questions for them.

Posted by: Abracadabra | March 22, 2012 at 07:28 PM

I feel the same way. I can't conceptualize anything God could say to me to justify all of this. Naturally, there is absolutely no way in which one can explain this to a person of faith. S/he either reacts angrily, or stares at you like a deer caught in the headlights.

I've arrived at a point at which I can't even talk to people of faith. We're almost literally speaking two entirely different languages.

[Leyzer]

It's a damn shame that no-one on this site has the maturity or intelligence to articulate their reaction to this letter in a non-abusive manner (pun intended)

[Beth Frank-Backman]

abracadraba: +++ on your last two posts.

jeff: what makes you think "they" are the one's with faith? I don't know what to call the sort of people you are talking about, but in my book "people of faith" is not it.

What sort of "faith" believes they can't fight in the army, can't hold jobs, can't speak honestly about wrong-doing, can't go to college, can't see the TV or newspaper lest it lead them astray? That's religious wall paper, not faith.

You on the other hand....
You don't have the luxury of a simple constrained world and yet you still get up in the morning. You want to see the right thing happen even if it means facing unpleasant and unwanted realities and a world without simple straight-forward rewards. You aren't willing to tack the word "God" onto a diminished void idea just so you can say "ani maamin" with the rest.

Sure, whatever you believe probably doesn't fit into a dogmatic checklist, but to call wallpaper "faith" and to call your passionate morally motivated questioning a lack of faith, in my mind just turns the word "faith" into a meaningless category.

Real gut existential faith doesn't come from burying one's nose in a book or constraining one's thoughts to an approved checklist. It comes from wrestling hard with reality until you find your blessing.

There really isn't any other way. Reality is difficult and even if my own life is easy, there is guaranteed someone else whose life is not. Real faith has room for compassion and legitimization of other people's experiences. Believing all is well in the world because God takes care of _me_ is the height of narcissism. But people who want perfection and aren't willing to leave with a limp rarely ever get it.

[Jeff]

Posted by: Beth Frank-Backman | March 23, 2012 at 07:28 AM

Agreed, but I'm not even talking just about Haredim or their equivalents in other religions. I can't even communicate much with people of liberal theology any longer (including Buddhists, although there's a tremendous amount of fundamentalism among Western Buddhists - don't get me started) - at least not about religion. For other purposes, I can tolerate being around them for brief periods, but start talking about questions of ultimate meaning, and I just get angry.

[Yechiel]

Jeff
You don't seem to be an occupied individual either...

[Abracadabra]

Beth, thank you. Excellent post.

Have you found a community within the Jewish world? All Jewish communities that I have come across were of the "wall paper" type.

[ah-pee-chorus]

Abracadabra | March 22, 2012 at 04:06 PM

WOW. thats another appalling indictment of his character. thanks for the story.

[Abracadabra]

Yechiel is a troll. What's worse, he's a teenager, an insufferable adolescent. Going forward let's try not to feed the trolls.

[Abracadabra]

Yes. I wouldn't have mentioned the story, but for those here insisting that what he did with the Beis Din in 1985 and his continual support of it was "not possible" because of his being the "least money hungry" and most honest, etc.