The plant, run by Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, Iowa,
is being denounced as inhumane by the group, People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals, and by several experts on animal
science and kosher practice.
Luke says: I'm a vegetarian. Never eaten meat in my life thanks
to my Seventh Day Adventist upbringing. I think it is what
God wants (see Garden of Eden, prophetic prophecy in Isaiah).
From The Stern College Dorm (Orthodox
School For Girls In NY)
i have a big paper to write and no motivation. my body is
tired.
Luzdedos1: XOXO
you're really helpful.
its funny because if i were telling this to my boyfriend,
and he gave me practical ideas, id be like "i dont need a
solution! just listen to me!"
Luzdedos1: bask in god's love
i had an hour long conversation with a girl today over dinner
about getting married with no money and having emunah
im exhausted and cant even go to sleep because there are no
sheets on my bed and im too tired to put some on
is this sleepaway camp, why are people singing in the halls
Luzdedos1: sounds snuggly
it angers me.
i want quiet where i live.
Luzdedos1: cherish what you have, you will look back on it
fondly
no i will not
i will look back on living with my roommate
i will not look back on anything else about it
other than being in the city
not only are they singing, but its someone who thinks she
has a good voice
shes gettinig all trill-ish
do you read chez miscarriage?! her
surrogate is pregnant!
Can we as Jews do more of that God love you stuff that Christians
pull off so well? Should we try to guide people into having
a personal relationship with God and to feeling that the Almighty
cares deeply about their life?
I think some rabbis can pull this off (Avraham Twersky, Mordecai
Finley, Mordecai Gafni, Hershy Worch) but most can't and it
is important for Jews to construct good solid communities
where people know who they are and what is expected and they
can socialize with fellow Jews who observe similarly and can
make deep bonds with their fellow Jews.
Harvey Seipp
loved my book Yesterday's News Tomorrow: Inside American Jewish
Journalism and he asked me to get him four copies.
So I ordered 30 copies of my book and sent out a handful as
gifts and review copies. The rest I will sell.
I told Cathy I have her dad's books. She tells me to call
him. "He'd be delighted to hear from you and says your memoir,
which he was reading, is almost as good as Thomas Hardy."
Harvey calls me back Monday morning. "I'm impressed by the
intellectual depth of your books," he says. "You're so monosyllabic
when you're around the house. I just read XXX-Communicated.
I was almost in tears at the end. You delineated so honestly
the conflict between flesh and spirit. Hemingway would've
been impressed by the honesty of your style.
"I just got finished with two of Thomas Hardy's books, Jude
the Obscure and The Return of the Native. What a great talent
but hard to read. Then I read yours, and I told Cathy, gee,
I really enjoy this. He's so clear and strong and honest.
"Then I read Yesterday's News Tomorrow. That's a scholarly
piece of work. I was never religious. I could never relate
to religion. I learned more about my Jewish background from
reading you than I had ever read before."
Psycho
Toddler writes: "Reading through Luke Ford's many posts
over at Protocols, it has become apparent to me that there
is at most one degree of separation between him and me. He
has blogged about multiple people that I have had some relationship
with."
On July 27, 1992, Alan J. Horowitz of Schenectady, New York
was sentenced to ten to twenty years in prison for sodomizing
a nine-year-old psychiatric patient the previous year. Allegedly,
he has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel
to New York in the past twenty years. Alan J. Horowitz is
an Orthodox rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D. A graduate
of Duke University, and was a writer for NAMBLA (North American
Man/Boy Love Association).
WARNING: This article was published in NAMBLA (North American
Man/Boy Love Association). It is quite disturbing, yet offers
the public an opportunity to look inside the mind of a convicted
sex offender.
The Prison Experience: Some Psychosocial Comments
by A. Shneur Horowitz
After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College, A.
Shneur Horowitz received the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke
University, and is an orthodox rabbi. After twenty years of
following these professional interests, Horowitz is now a
political prisoner in the United States.
Did you ever have a dream where everything seemed quite logical,
and yet even at the time a part of your mind knew that when
you awoke, the sense would be completely lost? Not only would
you be unable to make a reasonable recounting to anyone else,
but even to yourself the dream-events would appear disconnected
and the logic bizarre. Talking about prison to those who have
not been there, and for whom incarceration is not part of
their culture, is very much like that. Both dreaming and imprisonment
are alternate realities in which the usual checks and controls
have been removed and replaced with other rules for which
our normal experiences have left us unprepared.
This severe culture shock applies to all prisoners who have
lived their lives in the middle class or mainstream society.
We child-lovers, however, suffer a more profound and pervasive
psychosocial disintegration because of circumstances relatively
specific to us. Personal accounts serve an important purpose,
helping those who are not here to appreciate our experiences.
However, I would like to use this space to comment on just
what it is that makes incarceration different, and worse,
for child-lovers than for virtually anyone else. The first
section discusses the psychosocial impact of imprisonment
with reference to child-lovers. The second deals with special
factors which impede our adjustment to incarceration. The
third section introduces ideas relating to the possibilities
for growth and positive outcome.
It should be noted that much of the material in this article
is not relevant to all persons jailed for participating in
intergenerational sex. Four exclusionary criteria are evident:
1. short sentence - "Short" is subjective, but many individuals
with sentences of five years or less engage in what I call
a "count-down" technique. They handle their imprisonment by
maintaining and emphasizing a psychological continuity between
a remembered Before and an anticipated After. The incarceration
can then be endured as an unpleasant interim/interruption/interregnum
within an ongoing life.
2. strong outside support - Those who have frequent visits,
telephone calls, and exchange of letters with family and continuing
friends who encourage and support them may be spared the crises
described here. Their psychic reality remains Outside, even
over a long period of time, and their personal identity is
stabilized and reinforced.
3. prior economic/social poverty - For some, prison represents
only slight decrement, or even actual improvement in living
conditions and/or social opportunities. For such persons,
the culture shock mentioned above is minimal or absent.
4. low intelligence - Some of the processes discussed below
entail ability to introspect and conceptualize that may be
poorly elaborated in persons of very low intelligence.
Being Imprisoned
How we perceive and react to imprisonment derives from our
previous self-image and lifestyle. For almost all of us, being
"outted" is a concomitant of our arrest and prosecution. This
in itself precipitates a personal crisis of the greatest magnitude.
We must face, perhaps for the first time, our identity as
pedophiles. It may seem strange to say that a person who has
lived many years as an active lover of children can suddenly
realize that he is a pedophile, and I don't mean that he has
been exactly lying to himself up to now. Nevertheless, there
is a strong tendency to wall off or encapsulate the child-lover
part of our identity, except when we actually are engaged
with children. After all, it sadly cannot quite be integrated
into a typical home or professional life in this society.
This type of ignoring, or "selective inattention" is a common
means of handling perceptions, about ourselves or others,
that don't fit into overall conceptions of who and what we
are. It is so much easier to think of oneself as "teacher,"
"carpenter," or "executive," than to label oneself with the
most hated characterization in the culture. Parenthetically,
I think this may contribute to why we are now being "caught"
in such prodigious numbers. Because we have assigned "child-lover"
a subsidiary place in our own self-image, compared with "husband,"
"coach," "doctor," and so on, we assume unconsciously that
others view us the same way. Actually, our loving manner and
ability to bond with children is as obvious to our enemies,
when they choose to attune themselves, as it is to the kids
themselves.(1) Being a lover of children is the defining characteristic
of our identities, whatever we previously may have thought.
It is a beacon which shines from us, for better or for worse,
and by which the responses of others to us are illuminated.(2)
What has changed in recent years is the motivation of our
enemies to tune in to us, and the threshold for their turning
suspicion into persecutory behavior.
If the positive part of our internal crisis is confronting
and integrating our child-lover identity, then the negative
side is facing the realization that we have "lived a lie"
for all or most of our adult lives. We built a house of cards
right there on Main Street, and then moved in lock, stock,
and barrel, papering the inside walls with hypocrisy and the
outside with deceptions. We did this so we could live in comfort
and ease, so we could "pass," so we could eat our cake and
have it too. We did not hold sit-ins or vigils or freedom
rides. We did not engage in letter-writing campaigns or in
civil disobedience. We attended PTA meetings where our brothers
and sisters were vilified, and perhaps even made "appropriate"
comments to our neighbors about the danger of "child molesters."
We lied to our parents and spouses. We were cowards.
So what goes on internally is a major re-alignment, in today's
terms re-formatting, of our whole personality structure. This
includes not only re-arrangement of our hierarchy of self-definitions,
but also acceptance of some stark and not very favorable truths
about our character. This tidal wave of realizations is even
more devastating than that during puberty, because the identity
crisis of adolescence brings with it the unveiling of seemingly
unlimited potentials and possibilities for the future, whereas
the identity crisis of outing implies the closing off of possibilities
and a confrontation with what we already are.
A third aspect of imprisonment is its interpersonal/social
impact. The concurrence of incarceration and outing often
triggers abrupt and total disappearance of our support system.
Well socialized, middle class individuals build strong social
linkages, and depend on them not only for self-validation,
but for the communication and clarification of emotions. Nowadays,
even males are adapted to "sharing feelings" rather than suppressing
or denying them. While there are exceptions, it is not at
all unusual for a child-lover to lose all of his significant
relationships simultaneously when he is outted and arrested.
Of course, for us, our most significant and invigorating relationships
are those we have with children, be they overtly intimate
or not. These are annihilated, with traumatic and tragic consequences
both for us and for our young friends. We confront the knowledge
that not only have our tenderest bonds been torn cruelly asunder,
but that, using modern psycho-technology, even our partners'
memories of us will likely be revised, perverted, and turned
into their opposites. This loss not only of the present and
future, but of the past as well, defies description. Furthermore,
we find that families of orientation and of procreation, colleagues,
confidants and lifelong friends either turn on us, or turn
from us. We have become non-persons, anathema. Distinct from
other middle class prisoners, who often are sustained by their
successful social networks, we, in our time of greatest need,
find ourselves utterly alone.
A flowing river can appear quite serene, but if all its effluent
channels were blocked at once, the weight and force of water
turned back from its natural outlets would convert it quickly
to a churning maelstrom. Thus it is with our psychological
energy when all our relationships are suddenly cut off-- a
cataclysmic emotional implosion, flooding back against the
damaged bulwarks of our much-weakened selves. The effect is
overwhelming, and depression is very severe at this time;
the risk of suicide is proportionately great.(3) Depression
and identity dissolution combine to make us vulnerable also
to the manipulations of prosecutors, unscrupulous "defense"
lawyers,(4) and soon-to-be ex-spouses, among others. It is
well known that mid-adolescents, whose identities are in flux,
are susceptible to the lure of demagoguery and fanaticism.
Likewise, after outing and prosecution, many of us leap into
the clutches of therapists and re-programmers, who offer a
shred of substitute identity, even be it that of "interminably
recovering pervert."
Being In Prison
Having passed through the transition to incarceration, there
continue to operate factors which make our physical and emotional
survival particularly difficult in our new status and environment.
The most widely known of these is that we are social pariahs
within the prison population. A child-lover is known politely
as a "molester," but more frequently and pointedly as a "baby
raper," or "tree jumper."(5) In an environment where violence
is never far from the surface, this appellation hangs like
Damocles' sword over the child-lover's head. Chronic anxiety
interferes with concentration and judgment, and probably contributes
to physical stress-related disorders over the long run. Because
of the danger, most "brothers" whose identity as child-lovers
is not generally known, go to great lengths to avoid being
"re-outted" within the prison population. While one hardly
can blame them for wanting to protect themselves, this results
in there never being a mutually supportive network Inside
to substitute even partially for the lost relationships Outside.
While some states have special facilities, units, or "treatment"
programs, most of these are generally for "sex offenders."
Ironically, there child-lovers, more often than not the gentlest
of souls, find themselves sequestered with brutal rapists
and sex-murderers, who may be even more dangerous to them
than run-of-the-mill prison inmates.
A second factor, less immediately apparent, is that we are
the only prisoners not to utilize two of the three primary
mediators of group formation within the prison social system,
viz. sexual orientation and type of conviction. (The third
is ethnicity, and we frequently will be in a small minority
there too, or be excluded on the basis of middle class traits
of speech, manners, etc.) Talking about sex, real or imagined,
is an immediate common ground for both heterosexuals and homosexuals
everywhere. In prison, where many individuals' social development
is that of delinquent early adolescents, it forms the stock-in-trade
of most conversation. Both ambivalence and fear contribute
to child-lovers being unable or unwilling to seek each other
out on the basis of our common orientation. Aside from sexuality,
there often is affiliation among those with similar reasons
for their incarceration, e.g. drug dealers, murderers, or
those involved in organized crime. For us, of course, our
"crime" and our sexual orientation are one and the same.
Faced with the absence of our own group, many of us choose
to lie, i.e. to create an ersatz sexual or criminal history.
Not only does this run the risk of violent or even fatal consequences
if discovered, but it also feeds into and exacerbates the
"living a lie" problem discussed earlier. The other choice
readily available is to remain a permanent loner. Loners are
not all that uncommon in prison, and generally fall into two
categories. There are those with fairly short sentences who
are putting up with incarceration while remaining basically
aloof and as untarnished by it as possible. We seldom fall
into that category, and do so less and less as sentences for
child-lovers become increasingly outrageous. Then there are
those individuals whose self-imposed isolation causes them
to drift ever further into idiosyncratic and impoverished
mental states. Appearing far older than their years, they
resemble patients with chronic schizophrenia or organic brain
syndromes. This is not an attractive prospect.
Aggravating our sense of isolation is the fact that we are
the only prisoners denied access to what might be called "non-interpersonal"
reinforcers of our identity. Inmates have the opportunity
to view television, individually or communally, and most facilities
show movies weekly or more often. Heterosexual bonded relationships
are displayed frequently, and homosexual ones occasionally.
Murder, assault, fraud, drug use and sale, theft, espionage,
exploitative sex and rape all are common entertainment fare.
Moreover, the perpetrators of these crimes often are portrayed
in a sympathetic if not approving manner. There is ample opportunity
to watch men or women scantily dressed and in erotic situations.
Also, on prison staffs, both male and female adults are present
"in the flesh" and have at least superficial real relationships
with prisoners, as well as supplying a framework for their
fantasies. Over and above this, one may obtain books and magazines
dealing with crime and/or with sexual behavior. In many places,
one may post even erotically stimulating nude pictures on
the walls of one's cell or cubicle. All of that applies to
everyone except us. All forms of visual or literary art dealing
with adult-child intimacy either are unavailable or are specifically
and systematically censored. Even depictions of children which
are neither erotic nor intimate could be risky to display
or even to possess. Thus, the child-lover, now in a state
where he should, and must, develop a newly honest, mature,
and profound self-concept, finds himself totally lacking in
"props," cues, test-objects, and feedback to use as tools
in this monumental task.
A fourth, and perhaps ultimately the most important factor
that militates against both our adjustment in prison and our
making positive use of our prison time, is that we are unacknowledged
political prisoners. Our enemies assert that because physical
expressions of love between an adult and a child are defined
as illegal, we are criminals. Further, they would rebut that
political prisoners are only those incarcerated for speech
and writing, not for behavior. Historically, both of these
arguments are incorrect. One hundred fifty years ago, an African-American
who fled the site of his involuntary servitude was defined
by law as a criminal. We, however, view his behavior, correctly
I believe, as a political act. Eighteen hundred years earlier,
a Judean who circumcised his son was defined by Roman law
as having committed an act of bloody child abuse. We, however,
term his act religious and political (whether or not we agree
with the practice). I aver that a political prisoner is one
who is incarcerated for an act which he, in good conscience,
believes to be right and good. Moreover, his belief is not
idiosyncratic, but is shared by a number of other persons
who consider themselves united in part by this belief. This
still is short of civil disobedience, as that would require
conscious political intent. Most political prisoners, here
and elsewhere, are those whose "crime" is no more than living
their lives as persons of conscience, according to their best
judgment of what is right and good, and without necessarily
intending their behavior as a political statement or even
considering themselves as politically "involved."(6)
Political prisoners differ fundamentally from other prisoners
in being, not only well-socialized, but in fact extraordinarily
ethical. At the very least, this is because as members of
a persecuted political minority, they have been forced to
consider matters of right and wrong more consciously than
the average citizen. Such persons tend intrinsically to be
rule-followers because, although they think certain rules
should be different, they believe in the concept of rules,
i.e. that there are aspects of right and wrong, good and bad,
which override one's personal desires. Contrariwise, the great
majority of prisoners at the penitentiary level, are "antisocial,"
or "sociopathic." Studies indicate that as many as 80-90%
of inmates are intrinsic rule-breakers and lack either an
ethic that transcends their own needs and impulses, or the
ability to modify their behavior in conformity with such an
ethic. The child-lover placed in such a milieu faces a dilemma:
to be honest and forthright and persistently exploited, or
to compromise his own values in order to make his way in prison.(7)
In some societies, political prisoners have been segregated
from criminals, and this ofttimes meant that they received
harsher treatment. However, two advantages that almost always
accrued are solidarity and support. Even where they were termed
criminals, and even where they were confined along with criminals,
they were acknowledged as political, both inside and outside
of the prison system. Although their handling might be severe,
they were accorded a certain respect as being prisoners of
conscience. Further, they had automatic alliance with their
fellows in the penal system, and received support from unimprisoned
members of their group or movement, even when such communication
was officially interdicted. Thus, while not minimizing their
suffering, their basic identities, both personal and political,
were not weakened. In fact there could be a buttressing and
encouraging sense of furthering The Cause by one's very presence
in prison. Recent examples could be drawn from among incarcerated
dissidents in South Africa, the former Soviet Union, and at
this very moment in China.
As imprisoned child-lovers, we experience the worst of both
worlds. North American and some other governments go to great
lengths to define the love of children as a serious felony.
In doing so, they have created and financed the development
of an entire pseudo-science, "victimology," which has co-opted
and corrupted the mental health professions to a degree unimaginable
twenty-five years ago.(8) Once arrested, we, like political
prisoners everywhere, are subjected to a travesty of the criminal
justice system. Usual guarantees are explicitly or implicitly
suspended, e.g. the right to confront one's accuser, the inadmissibility
of hearsay evidence, and the presumption of innocence. As
mentioned elsewhere, the "defense" counsel often supports
and surreptitiously cooperates with the State to produce a
"show-trial," the outcome of which is indisputably pre-determined.
Once incarcerated, the child-lover is told that he is "just
like any other inmate," and that "no one cares why you're
here." As far as not receiving special privileges, or any
attention to the special needs engendered by total lack of
experience with a criminal sub-culture, that is true indeed.
However, one may soon find that in order to gain parole, one
must complete a "treatment" program, and be certified as being
"in recovery," as I have discussed elsewhere.(9) This sounds
quite a bit like the "political re-education" programs of
other oppressive societies. Then, one finds that access to
writings, even scholarly literature, on the subject of intergenerational
love, is forbidden; this in an environment saturated with
stories of murder and mayhem, and where racist publications
advocating hatred and violence are freely available. One may
find that requests for inmate-to-inmate correspondence are
routinely denied-- only when both parties are child-lovers.
So it seems that while labeled as felons, child-lovers are
in fact treated in very significant ways as political prisoners.
That in itself is not unique. It is characteristic of regimes
dependent upon fanatical elements to criminalize the essential
behaviors or rituals of groups whose philosophy and lifestyle
are perceived as potentially subversive to the existing order.(10)
What is different here is that child-lovers themselves appear
to accept and internalize the cultural opprobrium, at least
to the extent of deep ambivalence, and frequently to the extent
of denial and self-hatred. No unbiased test can demonstrate
intergenerational love to be anything worse than politically
incorrect, and yet the widespread emotional reaction to it
is as though it really were the violent crime it arbitrarily
is labeled. In an horrific extension of this phenomenon, child-lovers,
who are in the best position to know the reality of adult-child
bonded relationships, begin to view themselves through the
eyes of the professional "victimologists."(11) This ambivalence
also explains the failure of unimprisoned child-lovers to
form an effective support network for their incarcerated brethren
and "sistren." The analogy comes to mind of a boy, perhaps
a generation or two past, whose brother gets caught masturbating.
He wants to say, "Leave him alone, there's nothing wrong with
it-- even scientists say so!" However, he says nothing, not
only because he fears that he will be found out himself, but
also because there lurks still at the back of his mind the
nagging thought that maybe it really is dirty and nasty and
makes you go blind.(12) Surely, "un-outted" members of other
movements for social reform also have feared for their own
security and safety. However, they always found means to help
imprisoned colleagues locate each other; if necessary to smuggle
food, literature and encouragement to them; and to re-integrate
them upon release, or arrange for them to continue their work
in exile.
Being
The abrupt collapse of one's personal psychological identity,
all or most of one's interpersonal relationships, and all
of one's social and cultural roles, precipitates a state of
inner chaos that some will not survive. It is akin to traumatic
amputation of all four limbs; the bleeding and shock will
be fatal to many. Beyond the acute phase, however, living
or dying becomes a process in which we may participate. We
are confronted, for the first time in most cases, with having
only ourselves for company. What kind of companions do we
make for ourselves? To what extent can we take over the complementary
functions which others, particularly children, have performed
for us? How well do we know ourselves? The substitution will
always be poor and incomplete. You can't tickle yourself.
You can't be your own sex partner. However, that is not really
the point. The question is whether or not we can provide ourselves
with the bare minimum requisites for making the decision to
live and remain sane.
Possibly the most important task in working through our relationship
with our self is resolving the negative aspects of our self-image.
First, we must understand and eliminate traces of self-hatred
caused by identification with the culture's rejection of us.
This already has been discussed. Second is coming to terms
with negative events in our own psychosexual history. Many
if not most people have sexual fantasies and experiences,
especially during adolescence and young adulthood, which they
later regret. That is normal. All adolescents are dealing
with greatly heightened sexual and aggressive drives, and
doing so with the handicaps of neuropsychological immaturity
and social inexperience. It is no wonder that they often blunder,
injuring their own feelings, and sometimes bodies, and those
of their partners. Most people eventually forgive themselves
their youthful mistakes, or just forget about them. For child-lovers,
however, the part of us that is prone to accept society's
labels can seize on these shameful memories to "prove" that
we really are despicable. Instead of self-acceptance, we wind
up with self-loathing. Now that all outward channels are closed,
can we focus the tremendous love and compassion we have poured
into others on ourselves? Can we regard our past and present
selves with the lavish forbearance and instant forgiveness
we once bestowed upon the children we cared for? Can we come
to see the essential goodness of our nature, and the essential
falsehood of our enemies' calumnies? If so, then we will accept
ourselves as less than perfect. We will be able finally to
integrate and move beyond the memories of those times when,
for whatever reasons, we hurt the ones we loved.
If one gets to this point, one has survived the catastrophic
centripetal reversal of energy flow, i.e. one has avoided
psychic meltdown. The quadruple amputee who has not died from
shock can now begin to figure out how it might be possible
to control a computer, or a paintbrush. For us, part of our
energy should continue to go into self-exploration and development.
Many of us are so "other-oriented," such great givers, that
we have not sufficiently come to know ourselves. Working toward
knowledge of ourselves and our place in the universe, through
religion, meditation, or other means, is a lifelong task.
Planning for the future after release also can play a role
in the process of renewal. However, we must guard against
excessive preoccupation with fantasy, and there is a tragically
large number of us who cannot count on release in this lifetime.
Substantial progress in personal development may be necessary
before one can achieve sufficient equanimity to emerge from
the contracted or imploded state mentioned earlier.
Concomitant with increased self-acceptance, there develops
a desire to re-establish communication with others. One basic
fulfillment of this is through correspondence and visitation.
Some individuals may be able to re-contact family members
or friends. With the passage of time, and finding the prisoner
"sadder but wiser," one or more of these may choose to renew
their support. Other prisoners may find new associations through
their religious or philosophical alignments. However, there
is no doubt that the most important contacts for the incarcerated
child-lover are with others of his orientation. Only these
can provide opportunities not only for relating with our evolving
self, but for corroboration and validation of our most essential
identity. This of course requires that there be numbers of
child-lovers outside of prison who also are working on development
of their own positive identities and resolution of their own
ambivalences.
Another mode of communication is through creative expression.
For some, it may take considerable effort and re-training
to direct the love energy we previously have expressed in
our thoughts, words and actions directly with children, into
"media." Words that we write, images that we paint or carve,
cannot become real children, but they can provide us with
an outlet for our caring and passion, as well as our yearning
and grief. Creative media include fiction and non-fiction
such as this article (I hope).
This leads to a third means of establishing relationship between
the revised self and the outside world, viz. working for The
Cause. Engagement in such work requires further solidification
of a positive personal identity and also firm commitment to
the role of political prisoner. Can we resist all systematic
attempts to brainwash us and break our spirits? Can we, in
the absence of internal network or external support, come
to view ourselves as members of a persecuted minority? Well,
we can, but as the old song says, "Don'cha know it ain' easy."
Our success, and indeed our survival, depends not only upon
our own work, but also upon parallel maturational work, both
individually and organizationally, of child-lovers on the
Outside.
Impediments to survival of outting and incarceration alive
and sane are daunting. Subsequently, obstacles to continued
personal growth and re-emergence as productive human beings
are formidable. As in any popularly sanctioned and governmentally
executed genocide, there will be countless direct and indirect
casualties. History will not ask us why we died, but it will
ask us why we died cowering. It will not question why our
enemies did not help us, but it will demand to know why we
did not help each other.
Notes:
1. Recently, I showed a friend a photograph of myself and
a twelve-year-old boy with whom I was bonded years ago. We
are standing side by side with my arm around his shoulder,
in what I would consider a typical adult-child pose. My friend
took one look at the picture and said, "You were lovers."
To my surprise, he pointed out that there was absolutely no
space between us. The boy had molded his body so that he was
in continuous contact with me from his ankle to where his
shoulder fit into my armpit.
2. This is true in the same manner that being Jewish was the
defining characteristic of European Jews during the Nazi reign,
whether or not they themselves previously had thought about
it that way.
3. One can see here clearly the confluence of various models
of suicide, including Durkheim's original anomie, the psychodynamic
rage turned against the self, and the cognitive psychologists'
helplessness/hopelessness paradigm.
4. I have heard so many accounts, besides my own, of defense
attorneys cooperating, either actively or passively, with
the prosecution, that I must conclude there is some truth
to them beyond "sour grapes." The hatred of child-lovers in
this culture is so deeply ingrained, and so irrational, that
it operates substantially at a subconscious level, and biases
the actions even of professionals who have trained themselves
ordinarily to separate their personal feelings from their
work.
5. I'm not really sure of the origin of this term, but assume
it is some obscure reference to hiding in trees or bushes
and then jumping out to attack hapless children.
6. I know that I have defined at least some Nazis and other
war criminals as "political prisoners." Fortunately, I am
not the first to have done so. Although their politics may
be abhorrent to me, I believe that if they acted subjectively
in good conscience and their values were shared by their group,
then the definition must stand.
7. The "sociopathic society" of prison includes both staff
and inmates and is beyond the scope of this article. I ask
the reader to "take my word for it" that any adjustment to
prison life demands at least some degree of lying, stealing,
and other behaviors which on the Outside we would reject as
unethical.
8. The author is classified as a violent felon, and so housed
and treated, because the law defines sexual contact with a
child less than eleven as a violent crime. The irony is profound.
The child in question once had to go find his brother to help
him remove a bothersome loose tooth because the author couldn't
bear to cause him even momentary pain.
9. [Horowitz, A.] Shneur. "And If The Twig Be Broken...,"
in Gayme, Vol. 1 No. 2 (January 1994), pp. 20-28.
10. The question of why pedophilia is perceived as subversive
in contemporary "Western" societies is beyond the scope of
this article. Let it be said that this culture is both child-hating
and erotophobic. Consequently those who love children receive
the proverbial double whammy.
11. Psychologically, this is the mechanism of identification
with the aggressor described in classic works by Anna Freud
and Bruno Bettelheim.
12. The reasons for Americans being especially susceptible
to this kind of pernicious double-think are beyond the scope
of this article. Briefly, however, I believe they stem significantly
from early and persistent conditioning by the mass media to
place conventional, externally imposed labels on experiences,
overruling individual instincts, perceptions, and judgments.
This article appears in NAMBLA's Criminal Justice?, whose
editor estimates there are 25,000 to 30,000 boy-lovers caught
up in the American criminal justice system. Criminal Justice?
contains other writings by prisoners about their prison experiences,
another article by A. Shneur Horowitz about the growing numbers
of adolescent boys imprisoned for loving other boys (many
housed in a special unit of the New York State prison system),
an article from the NAMBLA Bulletin about the Crime Bill of
1994, and a short story by Russell Kinkade.
I've been up, down, trying to get that
feeling again
"Etz Hayim
Hi, as the ex used to say," I mumbled as I fought my way
through a cold piercing wind to shul Sunday morning.
No matter how brutal the weather becomes in Los Angeles, with
temperatures (adjusted for wind chill) sometimes dipping into
the 30s, I always like to live up to the obligations of the
Torah (unless I have a better offer or am just feeling lazy).
While I piously made my way through the Shacharit service,
I came to meditate on a particular portion of my Artscroll
Siddur which says that there is reward in the world for particular
mitzvos, including arriving early to the House of Study morning
and evening.
This immediately brightened my mood. As the closing of Protocols
December 8 exemplifies, my life in this world has largely
been a vale of tears. But in the next world, due to my punctilious
observance of the Torah, things will be much much better.
Then my mood darkened when I thought about all the people
I like to schmooze with during davening Saturday morning,
and how rarely, if at all, they come to the House of Study.
I thought about my many Protocols readers who, because of
their sins, will not be with me in the world to come.
I practically rent my garments and feeling the cut of the
tefillin into my flesh, I cried out with renewed vigor, "Etz
Chaim Hi as the ex used to say."
Jenni Frazer's article on blogs in the Jewish Chronicle
(London):
This week it was announced that "Protocols," the controversially
named, American-based Jewish "blog" - short for "weblog" -
was being closed down by its founder, Steven I. Weiss, the
latest dramatic event within a mushrooming phenomenon of the
Internet age.
Part on-line diaries, part stream-of-consc-iousness musings,
blogs have achieved an extra-ordinary popularity world-wide
- and have found particular resonance among Jews. Blogs have
allowed anyone with access to a computer to express his or
her own specific take on Jewish life. And in Protocols - tagged
"A group of Jews endeavours towards total domination of the
blogosphere" - hot Jewish issues of the day have been freely
and fiercely debated.
Where Jewish blogs are not single-issue pro-Israel sites,
they are, as in the cases of New York-based JewSchool, JewLicious,
or Jews-Week, simply on-line magazines which draw attention
to ventures of Jewish interest.
Protocols, however, was different - an opinion site which
drew comments from around the world. Steven I. Weiss began
it while a freelance journalist with good Jewish community
connections. He parlayed these into a staff job at the New
York Jewish weekly, the Forward, where he also ran a blog
in the on-line edition of the paper. Now freelance again,
he says he's "figuring out my next move in the blogging world.
I'm trying out a religion blog at Canonist, a food blog at
Kosher Bachelor, and a New York blog at The Metro Section."
He also has a "home blog" called Iatribe. (As a measure of
the impact blogging has had, some American groups have begun
to award blog "Oscars," or Bloggies, for best foreign news
blog, best sports blog etc.)
When Weiss went to the Forward, he passed the reins of his
blog to one of Protocols' most frequent guest bloggers, Luke
Ford. Ford, author of an analysis of American Jewish journalism,
"Yesterday's News Tomorrow," is one of the most controversial
figures in the blogging world. Once a writer about pornography,
he is a 38-year-old, California-based convert to Judaism.
Protocols' posted items, under Weiss, were short and snappy:
Ford began writing much longer pieces, often documenting the
progress of his latest book. More recently, the site appears
to have become a campaigning blog for attacking rabbis, specifically
those in America, who are suspected of sexual impropriety.
Indeed, the Protocols seems increasingly to have brought any
and all rabbis within its gunsights - including at least one
British-born minister whom the blogsite has accused of falsifying
academic credentials. The tone and content, particularly in
the comments section, became more and more salacious.
Weiss has said he will announce the reasons for closing the
blog on December 8 - in, literally, the last post. Ford, for
his part, says: "We remain friends. This is not the result
of a falling out between Steven and I. He's never told me
what stories to write or not to write."
Shmarya was correct in the Protocols comments section: my
late father in law, Chaim Bermant, was a columnist for the
JC for almost 40 years. Indeed, he was their star columnist
and a virtual British Jewish institution, whose name was perhaps
better known than almost any other British Jew (as my husband
once said, the most miserable looking people at his funeral
were the JC publishers, who realized that their sales were
about to drop). It would have been interesting for you to
write about him in your journalism book as he was, imho, the
rare embodiment of all the qualities you find so lacking in
Jewish journalism today. He was witty, engaging, and always
amusing, attacked hypocrisy wherever he saw it in the Jewish
community and always pursued justice, qualities which made
him very controversial in some circles. The bain of his life,
I believe he once said, were the JC's lawyers who censored
him because of British libel laws. As a result, he was alternately
loved and loathed by British Jewry (who all enjoyed reading
his articles nonetheless). You may find it
interesting to read some of the obituaries written about him
(links below): how many writers in Jewish newspapers today
would get obits in the national press?
Cecile
du Bois, Cathy
Seipp's 15yo daughter, calls: "Hey Luke. My mom and I
were discussing weddings. And um..."
Cathy speaks up.
Cecile: "OK, maybe I was discussing weddings because I miss
going to many weddings. I was thinking that of all the people
we know, you seem to be the one most likely to get married
next. Could you do us a favor and propose to your girlfriend.
I know it sounds crazy but she likes you a lot. She's pretty.
She's young. She's fertile. She could easily be Jewish. I
think you should propose to her. That way we could go to your
wedding because I miss going to weddings. Ok. Happy Thanksgiving.
Bye."
I was hanging out at Starbucks with a friend. I ordered
a Peppermint tea (only $1:20). He made fun of me. Said my
order was gay.
So I'm looking at my own Peppermint Tea package at home and
its description reminds me of myself: "Delicately fruity and
refreshingly aromatic, Peppermint is superb after meals."
In shul Friday night, I rubbed my siddur (prayer book) and
made three wishes:
* A franchise quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.
* That Steven Weiss would just give me Protocols
so I could do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with my God.
* That I could marry a woman who had the:
- Looks
of Susannah Heschel
- The long black hair of Jerusalem Post Washington correspondent
Janine
Zacharia
- The midot of Chayyei
Sarah
- The literary sensitivity of Alana
Newhouse
- The razor wit and no-nonsense approach of Cathy
Seipp
- The cuteness of J.J.
Goldberg (Forward editor)
- The fertility of rebbetzin
Tziporah Heller (15 kids)
- The gourmet skills of Rob
Eshman (Jewish Journal editor)
- The voice of Leslie Katz (former SF Jewish paper reporter)
- The bouyant personality of Lisa
On The Face
- The submissiveness of Forward reporter Eve
Kessler
- The running ability of Julius Jones (150 yards Thursday
against Chicago, yeah!)
- The sexual drive of Malcolm
Hoenlein (who told reporter Walter
Ruby, "If you publish this story, I will f--- you for
the rest of your life")
I also wished for some other characteristics of my future
wife but modesty prevents me from listing them here.
Anyway, if you are such a woman as this, or pretty close to
it (I'm willing to compromise in some things, hit me up now
because I'm going fast, I'm getting worn down to a frazzle
by these Hittite priestesses).
David
Klinghoffer fluffs the most overrated Jewish scholar -- Jacob
Neusner. Neusner is a nasty man who harvests the work
of his grad students to list himself as an author on 909 books.
Elite students in his areas who decide to go to other academic
graduate programs than Neusner's have often found Neusner
trying to destroy their careers.
I've tackled a dozen of Neusner's books. The reward divided
by effort ratio was low.
Shmarya writes: "Neusner taught at Minnesota as a visiting
scholar for a quarter or two. He was so hated by many of his
students that they started a petition drive to have him removed
early. He's done some important work, but he's a very difficult
person."
Reb Yudel writes:
Note that Klinghoffer essentially omits the last 30 years
-- and 950 books -- of Neusner's career.
The nastiness is such that at a recent academic conference
on Talmud at NYU, Daniel Boyarin had to apologize for acknowledging
Neusner's work.
If you want a good, solid translation of Neusner into English,
check out the latter third of "Surpassing Wonder: The Invention
of the Bibles and the Talmuds."
The Cambridge Companion to Jewish American Literature: B
Autum of the Moguls by Michael Wolff: B
ESPN Sports Century: B
The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine: A
Lonesome Dove: A
From the law offices of Bradley J. Rephen, P.C.
17 Squadron Blvd., Suite 320
New City NY 10956
845-678-1278
Dear Ms. [name deleted in my copy]
At the outset, please be advised that this office has been
recently retained by Rav Mordecai Tendler and Kehillat New
Hempstead.
It has come to our attention, by reliable third-party source(s),
that you were among a small group of individuals that composed
and/or promoted a certain letter detailing maliciously fictionalized
allegations against Rav Mordecai Tendler and/or Kehillat New
Hempstead.
Aware now of the vicious nature of your plenary defamatory
campaign and your cowardly attempt to assume the veil of anonymity,
please be advised that we are firmly insisting that you:
(i) Cease and desist from any further libelous and slanderous
conduct referencing Rabbi Tendler;
(ii) Prepare a list of recipients of the aforementioned letter;
(iii) Coordinate with the undersigned a letter rescinding
and retracting the defamatory allegations; and,
(iv) Cease and desist from the fraudulent and unauthorized
use of the Kehillat New Hempstead name.
Note that if we do not get confirmation of the above within
seven (7) days from the date of this correspondence, both
Rabbi Tendler and Kehillat New Hempstead will pursue all the
proper avenues to achieve the requisite recovery/restitution.
As a side note, in response to the willful and harmful nature
of your labors, Rabbi Tendler and/or Kehillat New Hempstead
are in the process of coordinating with the county's District
Attorney's office the filing of a criminal harassment complaint
to prevent further felonious assaults.
..........
October 20, 2003
To: Ezra Glaser, Esq.
From: Bradley J. Rephen
Please be advised that this Law Firm no longer represents
Rabbi Mordecai Tendler and Kehillat New Hempstead. All communications
should be directed to Rabbi Tendler and/or the Board of Directors
of Kehillat New Hempstead.
I emailed Phil Jacobs, editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times,
a couple of weeks ago, about 15-hours before posting about
him and his
coverage of rabbi Eliezer Eisgrau, the head of the Torah Institute
of Baltimore.
Phil couldn't be bothered to reply to my email but he has
inordinate energy to complain about me to numerous people.
You'd think that if he was a man about these things, he'd
call me up and talk to me. But I guess it is easier for him
to curse the darkness rather than to light a candle and pick
up the phone.
The story seems to be teaching that the shame associated with
abuse makes it difficult for the abused to do things – like
leave Shechem – that acknowledge the abuse. Many if not the
vast majority of abuse victims feel responsible for the abuse
and blame themselves, not the abuser. Dina seems to have been
paralyzed by shame. A proof of this is a midrash that notes
that, after Shechem had been killed and the town routed, Dina
refused to leave with Levi and Shimon. She only left after
Shimon promised to marry her. What amazes me is the way rabbis
seem to miss the major point of the incident, and concentrate
instead on the midrashim that focus on what Dina did to 'cause'
the rape. Worse yet, this clear lesson on the psychology of
abuse is lost on these rabbis, rabbis who, at least in theory,
may be called upon to poskin for and counsel the abused. Think
of the rabbinic response to Lanner's victims, for example.
Shmarya | Homepage | 11.24.04 - 12:25 pm | #
And then, this:
Shmarya: "What amazes me is the way rabbis seem to miss the
major point of the incident..."
Simcha: "1. You mean like the rabbis who wrote the midrash
you just quoted?"
No. I "mean like" many of the rabbis who teach at YU, with
one particular rabbi first in my thoughts, along with most
of the rabbis of the haredi world.
Shmarya | Homepage | 11.24.04 - 1:53 pm | #
Simcha then responds:
No. I "mean like" many of the rabbis who teach at YU, with
one particular rabbi first in my thoughts, along with most
of the rabbis of the haredi world.
It's easy to condemn people you've never met and know almost
nothing about. Do it elsewhere because from where I'm standing,
he's miles above you in every possible way.
Simcha | Email | Homepage | 11.24.04 - 2:03 pm | #
I then wrote, "Tell that to Lanner's victims" and also noted
that my criticism extended to "the former leaders of NCSY
and the OU, except for Dr. Granchrow." I did not name any
rabbis.
Simcha deleted the comment.
Keep in mind that Simcha is very close to Rabbi Mordechai
Willig, who, if you recall, covered up for Lanner and verbally
attacked at least one of Lanner's victims. Much later and
under tremendous pressure, Rabbi Willig apologized. Lately,
as you have heard, R. Willig has been critical of R. Blau's
involvement with the Awareness Center. While I too have serious
questions about how the Awareness Center is functioning, for
R. Willig – with his record of covering for Lanner and his
apparent inaction on the issues related to abuse in the Orthodox
community – to criticize R. Blau without offering any solution
to the problem is a tremendous chutzpah.
What's wrong with YU? Just that.
Polin goes too far. But with leaders like R. Willig, Orthodoxy
provides no alternative to her. And, as always, it's the victims
and those falsely accused who suffer for it.
Jeanette Friedman writes:
I am trying to collect as many emails of survivors and their
descendants as humanly possible, and they need to be sent
to the Amgathtogether@aol.com.
An important survivor, who was impoverished by nasty circumstances,
died last week because he didn't have proper health care.
We want to start a campaign to channel survivor funds to the
survivors, and we need to do it via email, because we can't
afford any other way of doing it.
Could you please post a notice that all computer literate
survivors and their descendants are to please send their email
addresses to the above email address? Here's what I sent out
to my friends and colleagues:
After we learned how terribly Fred Diament, z"l, died last
week, there were discussions with Holocaust survivor leaders
in the U.S. and Israel, the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust
Survivors in NY and the Association of Holocaust Survivors'
Organizations in Israel (Roman Kent, Noah Flug and others).
These leaders are starting a campaign to mobilize the grassroots
on health care issues for survivors.
All computer literate survivors, 2Gs, 3Gs and even 4Gs are
asked to send their email addresses and those of any descendants
and survivors that they know to amgathtogether@aol.com so
these organizations can save thousands upon thousands of dollars
in snail mail costs, money the American Gathering and the
Israeli survivor organizations do not have.
Fred's call for better health care for dying survivors will
not be ignored, so that we will try to prevent any other survivors
from dying as ignominiously as he did. May his untimely and
unecessary death not be in vain.
I understand the RCA wants to re-interview many of the survivors
and interview new survivors. I hear that the RCA believes
that the Praesidium private investigators (Joan Hickerson)
report on Tendler won't be sufficient to boot him from the
RCA. Tendler has assembled a formidable legal team that is
adept at describing the women who accuse Tendler as crazies,
drug addicts, etc.
I notice the similarities between the way the cases in Baltimore
and Monsey are being handled. Does Mordecai Tendler have ties
to Ner Israel? A
legal letter relating to this casePart
TwoAnother
letter
Larry Yudelson aka Reb Yudel writes:
There you go, Luke, burying the lede.... and coming close
to slandering a law firm, to boot.
You mean to say that Tendler has assembled a second legal
team, after his first counsel lasted only two months.
Followup questions: Did the women in question do as demanded
when they received the nastygram?
Were charges filed by the DA's office, as promised?
Is the answer to that question connected to the change in
legal representation?
And who is the new legal team?
What are the limits to the use of discretionary funds? I would
imagine there are ample court precedents to answer that question.
We are a group of rabbis, mental health professionals, and
physicians coming from a wide range of religious observance
within the Orthodox world, who are very concerned about a
serious situation in your community.
This is a letter to warn you to protect your daughters, wives,
and other vulnerable women in the community from a very dangerous
rabbi. This rabbi wears the clothes and publicly acts out
the role of a very devout Orthodox Jew, presiding at levayas
and simchos, answering halachic shailos, counseling individuals
and families, abut in private has had numerous sexual affairs
with many women - vulnerable, distraught, battered or emotionally
disturbed women who had unknowingly come to him for counseling
and guidance, for kiruv, or to learn more about Yiddishkeit.
These women do not know each other, but doctors, psychiatrists,
psychotherapists, as well a many rabbis in our community and
even gedolim in Eretz Yisrael know who they are - for these
women each sought their counsel as they were severely traumatized
by having a sexual involvement with a rabbi of this stature
- often in his study while his wife and children sleep or
were not at home, and often while other women waited outside
his office. Both married and single women, and even teenage
girls have been stalked or propositioned, then were threatened
and intimidated if they came forward.
There is a growing concerted effort by community rabbis, gedolim,
professionals and lay people in the community who know or
who have become involved with helping these women to prevent
future occurrences. Many shul members have left or are moving
away. There are many who know but are afraid to act, because
others who did were threatened. This rabbi even paid a large
sum of money to one of the women to be quiet, because she
had a lot taped and written pieces of evidence and was "talking
to much," but there is mounting evidence that cannot be discounted,
and many more reliable and credible witnesses to these incidences
are surfacing.
Because of this rabbi's heinous actions, there are people
who have gone off the derech, marriages have been destroyed,
weddings canceled. Some victims were so traumatized that they
needed to be hospitalized. Many of the rabbonim in the area
meet periodically to discuss this terrible problem within
our midst. And are doing extensive research and compiling
the evidence into a large written report, and are in consultation
with gedolim in Eretz Yisroel. They have stated that it is
a matter of pikuach nefesh to inform you of this problem,
and is therefore not in the category of Lashon Hora.
We must protect the women in the community from the sick and
evil behavior of this man who is himself a rabbi. His name
is Mordecai Tendler. He continues to deny the allegations
despite the mounting evidence that confronts him. But not
only is he denying it, but he has gone to great lengths to
cover up his tracks with lies, threats and pay-offs. Your
shul must find a way to force this man to step down from his
position as a community rabbi, and he must be pressured into
seeking treatment. This should be done expeditiously ass we
are trying to prevent certain outraged individuals from taking
these stories to the Jewish Week, or even worst, more secular
media, which would be a terrible Chilul Hashem, and would
be even more hurtful to his poor family-although would be
a worse Chilul Hashem to allow him to continue to harm more
women and their families.
Do your own research! Speak to some of the other rabbis in
the area, as well as some of the people who have left the
shul - and therapists and doctors in the Monsey area, as well
as in Brooklyn, Manhattan and even Israel. Not everyone in
the Monsey area knows about this yet, but many do so don't
stop your investigation with just one person who might have
limited or no knowledge of this horrific situation.
The following was sent out to threaten those who were agitating
against rabbi Mordecai Tendler:
To whom it may concern:
There is a great danger in our community that has no bounds
to the potential harm that has been caused and may be caused
in the future.
There are two women who present themselves as "mid-wives".
They encourage those that are economically struggling that
there is an alternative to the traditional safe and sterile
environment of a hospital to deliver a baby they have solicited
business among those that are desperate and believe they have
no choices. They have lied, mislead, deceived and endangered
those that were unfortunate enough to believe them. The results
have been devastating.
On many occasions the environment where they delivered a child
was not correctly sanitized or sterilized. Such carelessness
has lead to infections and complications for both the mother
and newborn child. On other occasions the instruments used
by these "mid-wives" were not properly sterilized from the
previous births. These unclean instruments caused additional
infections and complications.
Further harm has been caused by their questionable skill level
and failure to continue their training beyond the minimum
level required for certification. Their "delivery room" has
failed inspection by the State of New York on two occasions
in the last six months. Despite all of this, these women continue
to practice their witchcraft totally unsupervised and accountable
to no one.
These women are _________ and __________. They must be stopped.
Please spread the word to all that there is a great danger
to those that rely on _______ and _______. the lives of both
the mothers and newborn children are at risk. Help us save
lives. Stop _____________ and _____________.
There is no such thing as "just a little" abuse. Hopfer seems
to be insinuating that therapists or friends of a survivor
of child abuse would somehow convince them that they are broken
beyond repair. He is telling us that people convincing someone
that they are damaged is what causes the damage, and not the
abuse itself. This is a warped idea that Hopfer and others
in the frum community latch onto to
try to deny allegations that they don't want to believe. The
feeling of being damaged is common to survivors. Therapists
and other helping proffesionals generally try to help survivors
get beyond this awful feeling. Minimizing abuse by calling
it "inappropriate behavior" also does not help.
In his little damage control shul talk on Sunday R' Hopfer
did not address the important issue of how to help survivors
who are abused withing the community to heal. He did not tell
people to cooperate with an investigation even if the investigator
is not from within the community. He did not say exactly who
receives and investigates allegations of abuse and how they
are dealt with. He was simpley doing damage control for Eisgrau.
He was trying to give the message to his community that they
should not worry. That he has everything under control. Hopfer
also said that there have been false accusations. How does
he know this? What credentials and training does he have to
be dealing with these issues and recognizing which allegations
are true or false? False allegations of abuse are actually
very rare, much more so then true allegations of abuse. As
far as the "professionals" that "help" with these investigations.
They are all members of the Baltimore community and have conflict
of interests. For example Aviva Weisbord, clinical psychologist,
sister of Matis Weinberg. Friend of Eliezer
Eisgrau. How much should her tainted opinion that Eisgrau
is count? Wake up Baltimore! You have a problem.
Spirituality and Sexuality are very often confusing issues
for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and for several
valid reasons. In families where the concept of God is present,
a child's first representation of God is either of their parents
or through their parents. If you have loving, kind parents
you may develop a view of God that is loving and kind. If,
however, you grew up in a family of violence your perception
of a higher power would be of a being that is controlling,
explosive and violent. For children who have been sexually
violated by their parents, their role model for God is that
of a sex offender. Survivors' internalize a view of a punishing,
abusive God, who only allows bad things to happen to them
because "God loves them." They live in a place where nothing
is safe, not even their thoughts, because God can read those
and therefore punished for even feeling angry, upset or disrespectful.
Given the way children develop a perception of the world,
a survivor of the heinous crime of incest would naturally
question the veracity of a kind, loving God.
The Talmud (Moad Katan, 17a) relates that a respected Rabbinical
educator was rumored to have been involved in behavior that
was "hateful." The commentators suggest that he was either
an adulterer or seduced young women. The Rabbis ostracized
this individual. Unfortunately, despite this tradition to
ostracize such offenders, Jewish communities have not taken
such a strong, responsible position toward molesters. Too
often when allegations of child molestation are brought to
the attention of community leaders, parents or relatives of
victim's are reminded that discussing issues of molestation
within the community or bringing these types of allegations
to the public would result in any number of negative outcomes
for the survivor. These consequences include difficulty finding
a marital partner of substance for not only the survivor,
but also other family members, or could result in the survivor
or family members of survivors not getting into good yeshivas
(schools). There are tales of families of abuse victims of
having to relocate to another town as a result of the political
pressures following disclosures. Not only does the survivor
have to struggle with their trust and belief in God so does
the survivor's family.
We have begun to discuss the possibility of a correlation
between assimilation and childhood sexual abuse. According
to the most recently available data one in every three to
five women, and one out of every five to seven men, have been
sexually abused by their 18th birthday. As part of the healing
journey, the majority of survivors of abuse reach the point
where they try to integrate what happened to them on a spiritual
level. Many are in twelve-step programs, surrounded by individuals
of other faiths, yet the Jewish survivors often feel different.
Jews have very different customs then that of their Christian
friends. When a survivor is from an unaffiliated background,
they may feel at a loss -- unsure of what to do, or how to
do it while survivors from backgrounds that were more traditional
and included a Jewish education may feel betrayed by that
background. The confusion of the healing process adds to the
inability to find a healthy spiritual place within their own
religion. So what is a Jewish survivor of childhood abuse
to do?
Up until now there have been very few individuals who are
"survivor friendly" in the Jewish community. We need to start
opening our minds and our hearts to begin listening to survivors
of childhood sexual abuse bearing witness. Just like holocaust
survivors, who were initially shunned, survivors of childhood
abuse need to be allowed to speak in order to heal, to be
able to learn to connect with God, to see God as something
other then neglectful, abusive and cruel. Those listening
to these disclosures have a responsibility to themselves,
their families and to the survivors. It is vitally important
to make sure they have access to a support group conducted
by a trained facilitator who is experienced with compassion
fatigue (secondary post-traumatic stress disorder), so they
are allowed to debrief and maintain balance, after hearing
the voices of survivors.
Karen is a thirty-year-old survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
She indicated that she spent her life trying to connect to
something that was spiritual, yet felt she was failing. Over
the years she approached many rabbis asking them questions.
Unfortunately, the Rabbis, due to a lack of training, were
unable to help her understand either her questions or the
concepts with which she need the most help. Most had difficulty
listening to her disclose her abuse history. When Karen was
a child, while her father was molesting her, he would say
"this is how you know God loves you . . . you know anything
that feels this good has to have come from God . . . this
is how you know God is inside you." Knowing this information
would be critical in understanding Karen's difficulties with
the concept of God. Yet most Rabbis doing outreach were unable
to help her reframe her experience and make it possible for
Karen to learn to connect.
Rivka was in her teens when she first disclosed to a friend
that her father, a rabbi was molesting her. Her father was
also a principal of a school for young boys. Her friend told
her mother, who in turn, went to a local community leader
to ask for advice. Because of the stature of her father, the
community leader suggested they keep quiet about the abuse.
As time went on, Rivka was unable to cope. As a teen she ran
into some difficulties and ended up moving into the home of
one of her classmates. Due to political pressure within the
community, the family that Rivka resided with was asked not
to daven (pray) in the synagogue they had been members of
for years. The family was dedicated to helping Rivka heal,
and were not about to put her out on the streets. Rivka eventually
went to college, was able to support herself financially,
got married and is the mother of three. Rivka came from a
Torah observant upbringing, but from her experiences with
the denial of the community, she no longer practices. She
feels betrayed by her family, the Jewish community, and most
importantly by God. When speaking to community leaders of
the town she was from, and when her name is mentioned, they
make comments such as she's happy, she is married and has
children. But they are not completely correct. Rivka's is
in mourning. She misses her biological family, she misses
her connection to her community and she feels that has no
one to talk to about her feelings about God.
Mitch grew up in family filled with physical and sexual violence.
The family belonged to a synagogue and his parents made sure
to enroll all their children in programs so that they could
learn about Judaism. There was a problem -- Mitch was deaf.
None of the Jewish educational programs had interpreters.
Mitch was not proficient at lip reading and disclosed that
he was bored and felt left out. Growing up Mitch never felt
that he was a part of his family since the majority of his
family members were not proficient in sign language. He was
alone isolated in his deaf world.
School was Mitch's only respite. He was enrolled in a school
for the deaf, and could communicate freely with people who
could understand and relate to him. Growing up in the South
and being deaf meant that he didn't have any Jewish friends.
As he reached high school, he wanted to be like his friends.
Most of them went to church. Mitch had no concept of God,
and was like a sponge to learn, to connect to something spiritual.
Mitch's concept of God was that of a father who was filled
with anger and rage. No one in the Jewish community ever took
the time to meet Mitch's needs. He never was given the opportunity
to express his thoughts and feelings about his concepts of
God to anyone Jewish. But then the missionaries reached him.
Like so many survivors, the desire to feel loved was strong.
His new friends knew this and showed him unconditional love.
He would do anything to feel loved and cared for, and if it
meant learning about another religion, then he did it. When
his family realized what was happening they tried to rectify
the situation, but again it was done in a way that appeared
to be an attempt to control and abuse him. Their attempt was
unsuccessful. To this day Mitch's views Judaism as something
that is abusive and wrong.
The more our communities, and our leaders are educated on
the issues relating to childhood sexual abuse the easier it
will be to help heal the oozing wounds of childhood sexual
abuse. Band-Aids can only cover up an infection. Our communities
need to do major wound care, some individuals may require
"spiritual surgery," while others my just need a topical ointment.
But together as a community, as a people we can come together
and heal the world.
Belzer Hassidm have one of the biggest shuls on earth. This
behemouth is located in Kiryat Belz--the Belz colony, in Jerusalem.
The Shul is pimped out. The paroches on the aron is made of
woven gold, intricate carvings adorn the ark, and the mikve
has as many flavors of heat as one could possibly imagine.
To pay for all this pimpage, the Belzers raised a lot of money
from their adherents all around the globe. They also sold
seats to important donors, even donors living in faraway Boro
Park.
When you buy a seat in Belz, the give you a gold leaf certificate.
It has a painting of the shul on it. You get a seat (needless
to say) in a stunningly gorgoeous shul.
In spirituality, its all about the benjamins (and the Rokeachs)
and you get what you pay for.
Rabbi Hopfer Addresses Sex Abuse In Baltimore's
Orthodox Community
Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, one of Baltimore's two most important
Orthodox rabbis, spoke about the whole issue (no names of
course) of rabbinic sex abuse on Sunday morning in shul (it
was taped and widely distributed).
It was a Q&A session with the rov. Rabbi Hopfer knows his
name has popped up repeatedly on the Internet [Protocols]
in connection with Orthodoxy's handling of the string of sex
abuse cases in town.
Rabbi Hopfer brought up the issue of sex abuse. How it's a
real problem, taking place too prevalently. (Someone asked
him how prevalent it was. He answered "too prevalent".) How
every claim has to be investigated and that nobody should
be turned away and not believed. How he has dealt with a number
of cases. How victims have come to him. etc. He also added
that an accusation is not a conviction. he knows of false
accusations made by people.
Rabbi Hopfer said the community rabbis are aware of the problem
and that investigations are being done behind the scenes.
Someone in the audience spoke up: said he's a teacher in one
of the local prestigious public school boards, and that in
the public school system there is a system that investigates
things quietly too.
Rabbi Hopfer recognizes that they don't want to ruin innocent
lives by exposing someone who is only accused.
Someone in the audience asked if three people make accusations
about one teacher to three different rabbis or principals,
does it ever centralize? He said that it does. He said that
he didn't want to name names in public (and on tape), but
the accusations do usually reach the same people in the community
who take them seriously and investigate.
Rabbi Hopfer is not a smooth political operator. He is a soft-spoken,
mildly stuttering giant of a talmid chochom. The other big
rabbi in town -- rabbi Heineman -- seems to be more of an
operator.
Rabbi Hopfer did add that not all "abuse" is worth all the
destruction. He seemd to recognize a category of inappropriate
behavior that did not warrant destroying a child's life by
convincing the child that s/he's damaged and broken/irreparable.
He said that every yeshiva and day school in Baltimore has
precautions in place and a system of dealing with accusations.
He said that some communities have taken extreme measures.
e.g. In LA he said that the yeshiva/day school educators have
come to a consensus never to touch any students, in any way.
He (and an audience member) aknowledged that that may be too
harsh, since often children need physical affection (eg a
hug). R. Hopfer says that he knows that he takes a chance
every time he hugs a kid, but that he feels the risk is worth
it because the child needs it.
He mentioned how much more dangerous accusations are nowadays,
because as soon as someone is accused, it can be on the Internet
within minutes.
I think it's clear that the Eliezer Eisgrau case was brought
to his attention, investigated under his auspices, and he
concluded that it was false.
Lewis ran into Luke Ford Friday night at some University of
Judaism event, where Luke was busy offending everyone with
his usual opening conversational gambit -- going round the
table and asking fellow guests how they feel about miscegenation.
Lewis: "I see no reason why a white woman shouldn't go out
with you."
Mark writes: "I still recall talking with a black liberal woman,
and she was so indignant about the thought of her daughter marrying
a white guy. I think leftwing bigots are the worst of both worlds:
they're into sloppy liberal ideas and politicans on one hand,
and into the rigidity of over-the-top rightism (or KKK-type
instincts) on the other."
Link writes: "So what is so terrible about starting a conversation
on the topic of race-mixing? If the NFL can do it in primetime,
then Luke can do it on his own time. Personally, I appreciate
life as a full palate of colors. Mix them all together, and
what's left? They must be kept separate if they are to be enjoyed,
a fact not lost on the more artistically inclined amongst us."
I am skeptical, but when Amalek speaks, I have no choice
but to listen (really I don't). Read his intriguing ideas
right here.
Perhaps this really is the way aspiring Torah Jews like me
can jump on that gay marriage bandwagon without sounding as
gay as a democrat threatening to move to Canada.
I couldn't slog through this black-American classic by Zora
Neale Hurston -- Their Eyes Were Watching God. I must be a
racist because I also hated the novel The Color Purple.
Chabad had $5000 in the bank specifically earmarked for the
Frierdiker Rebbe's rescue. They still did NOT pay the lawyer
who arranged the rescue. Further, the Frierdiker Rebbe's files
show clearly that he did NOT work on rescue for ALL Jews.
He only worked on the rescue of a few of his students and
yeshiva teachers, the Gerrer Rebbe, (some also say the Belzer
Rebbe, but this is unclear), and the Frierdiker Rebbe's library
(80 % secular books according to record), household effects,
silver and JEWELRY – in fact, he spent much time and effort
trying to
save his possessions while Jews were being slaughtered all
around him.
After he got to America the Frierdiker Rebbe campaigned to
start a Lubavitch yeshiva, even though there were other already-functioning
yeshivot with Chabad students and the money required to open
a Chabad yeshiva was desperately needed for rescue. He also
started a Pidyon Shvuim/rescue fund and regularly advertized
for donations. According to Rigg, most of the money went to
the new Chabad Yeshiva, not to rescue.
He also refused to cooperate with Mike Tress and others who
saved thousands of lives, and condemned the Rabbis March on
Washington as a fruitless endevor that would never work. That
march is credited with starting the War Refugee Board that
saved more than 200,000 Jews from Hitler.
The Frierdiker Rebbe also started a Moshiach Campaign, arguing
that the Allies would not be able to defeat Hitler, only G-d
and his messiah would be able to do it. In that vein, he condemned
emergency Shabbat appeals for rescue funds as being counterproductive
– but again, Mike Tress and his coworkers saved thousands
of Jews with those appeals, and did so with Rabbinic sanction.
I should also add that, in all the Frierdiker Rebbe's correspondence
with high US Government officials, including President Roosevelt,
the Frierdiker Rebbe never asked for Jews to be saved, for
immigration quotas to be raised, or any other practical form
of rescue. This is even more troubling because the Frierdiker
Rebbe had been portrayed by Chabad as the Chief Rabbi of all
the Orthodox Jews in the world (more than "3 million," in
one document!), yet this 'chief rabbi' NEVER
pushed for rescue.
Chabad's record during this time is very troubling.
My hovel has been overrun by crickets. They're loud, embarrassing
and creepy. They creep over my face when I'm resting. Aside
from squashing them one by one, is there a way to get rid
of them?
Rabbi
J. Hershy Worch writes: "I know where all the dismembered
bodies went. I pulled out the veggie and crisper drawers from
the bottom of my refrigerator. Eeeeewww!"
Funny guy. He makes the best jokes about dismembering people
I've ever read. Comic geniuses have always been misunderstood
and persecuted. Lenny Bruce. George Carlin. Hershy
Worch.
How Mordecai Tendler Screwed Up The Teaching
Of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
Me writes:
This shabbos, I had a rare free 30 minutes of quiet. I sat
down with my 2 copies of volume 7 of Igurot Moshe, which is
a volume of tshuvot by Rav Moshe Feinstein, undoubtably one
of the greatest Poskim of the last century.
These volumes are widely read and used by Poskim of our generation.
I've posted before how the original version of volume 7 (large
over-sized)
differs from the newer Rabbi
Mordechai Tendler re-edited version (smaller-sized book).
I took 30 minutes to see how bad it was (I already knew from
several Rabbonim).
As, the typesetting is similar, I was able to quickly find
over a dozen alterations. None of which added anything to
the tshuvot. If I was to extrapolate from the few pages I
quickly inspected, I would have to estimate there are a lot
of changes and alterations.
In some cases it is a mere unnecessary letter (in one case,
gramatically wrong), a title change or an added quote of the
source referred to. But most disturbingly I found a substantial
alteration to an actual tshuva (page 180 bottom right column).
I also found a paragraph added into the body of a tshuva praising
Rabbi Mordechai Tendler (page 181 top right column).
I fully understand why the Feinsteins have nothing to do with
Rabbi Tendler.
What he has done to their grandfathers legacy is despicable.
He has taken one of the great works of the last century and
distorted it. It is a monument to the ego of Rabbi Mordechai
Tendler and the impotence of this generations scholars.
It is not a subtle distortion. Take the 2 versions, sit down
and compare. It's so obvious and plain to see. Does Rabbi
Mordechai Tendler really expect us to believe his grandfather
wanted to insert his praise of (Tendler) in an already published
tshuva (that had no such praise)? It's clear what has been
done.
It's also increadibly painful. How could this have been done
and in such a
public way?
I understand that the Feinstein don't want to take family
to a beis din. But
where are the Rabbonim of this generation? How could they
allow this to be done to a gadol ha'dor's work? How could
they associate with someone like Rabbi Mordechai Tendler who
did this?
Steps must be taken to ensure a chilul like this never happens
again to any of our scholars and that charlatons like Rabbi
Mordechai Tendler are no longer tolerated or associated with.
This is what is allowed to happen to the work of one of our
Gadols?
Vicki Polin
of The Awareness Centerwrites: Rabbi Shlomo Porter has
stepped down from the advisory board due to the fact he cannot
take personal responsibility for the veracity and halachic
conformity of all data listed on the website. He supports
and wishes the Awareness Center great success.
Luke says: I think there might be more Orthodox rabbis resigning
from TAC. They are concerned that it is not always run according
to halacah (Jewish Law). Vicki Polin is an atheist and has
more of a therapeutic and activist approach. She's an advocate
for those she says are "survivors" of sexual abuse. Rabbis
have to be concerned with not only advocating on behalf of
"victims," but being fair to those accused, so their good
name is not besmirched unfairly, and, above all, to operating
according to halacah at all times. From Orthodox rabbis who've
spoken to me of late, there's growing concern that TAC has
gone too far, that it is operating a witch hunt against rabbis
who are being accused on the flimsiest of evidence. They are
concerned about "victims activists" (and they, to varying
degrees place Polin in this category) who push women to come
forward with accusations of sexual abuse that are based on
hazy memories and tricky regressions (stuff that would not
hold up in either a Beit Din or a secular court).
The Awareness Center is having a board meeting in early December.
I expect that the Orthodox Jews on the board will demand that
TAW be run according to halacah in every way or they will
leave.
do you know about the halachos of marriage
like kiddushin and nisuin
kiddushin aka eirusin is the first part, which functions halachically
as engagement, except its more binding than the kinds of engagements
we have nowadays because although the couple doesnt live under
one roof, she is considered an "eishes ish," i.e. someone's
wife and all the laws that apply to how one must interact
with a woman on the basis of her being married, i.e. that
she's forbidden to anyone else, apply in the old days they
used to to kiddushin/eirusin at a given time, and then wait
a year or so for the girls family to gather a dowry and the
husband to get a house and stuff then a while later they'd
do the second half, nisuin, and then theyre fully married
and move in together we stopped doing that around the time
of all the eastern european pogroms because sometimes if people
lived in different cities, the man would get killed or something
but no one would ever know for sure that he was dead so the
girl could never remarry. This is called an agunah.
Anyway so theres an old out of practice custom called "kiddushei
kitana" which literally means betrothal of a minor
In generations past, a father was allowed to betrothe his
daughter with kiddushin before the age of 12.5, to ensure
that if anything happened to her she'd be taken care of and
have a husband.
My friend was involved in a case of kiddushei kitana where
a guy didn't want to give his wife a get (i.e. the wife was
an agunah) and one of the things he used to blackmail her
was he told her that he did this to their daughter but wouldnt
tell them who he betrothed her to, i.e. the 11 year old daughter
was an agunah as well
My friend died in the middle and i never followed what happened
in the end.
Anyway the point of my story: I just saw on onlysimchas that
the girl got engaged. So i guess everything worked out.
With its crisp laser printed pages, extensive commentaries,
and long essays on different liturgical oddities, it is not
surprising that the Vilna Siddur is incredibly popular in
the Yeshiva world. In the Lakewood and Chaim Berlin study
halls, for instance, the Vilna is the most prominently featured
and used siddur.
The Vilna siddur has a filthy, dirty little secret. The person
who put it together was none Moshe
Hirsch. Hirsch is a prominent Neturei Karta activist,
the and a certifiable asshole. Though he put it out in his
son's name, Hirsch did most or all of the legwork in writing
the commentaries and scouring the prayers for the aforementioned
liturgical oddities.
Hirsch is an asshole, don't use the Vilna siddur.
Whats the deal with Rabbi Israel Steinberg? He certifies
some of the coolest NYC resturants. Under his supervision
are places like Dosa Hut and Udipi Palace in the "Curry Hill"
section of (Murray Hill) Manhattan. He also supervises Buddha
Bodi, a vegan place on the LES.
His fleishig offerings sound even better. Steinberg certifies
Ben's Deli. Besides this mainstay of nonobservant LI Jews,
he also certifies Dushnabe,
the only Kajik place in the city, and Issyk-Kul, the only
Krygyz resturant in the universe (I think).
People don't trust Steinberg's certification. Objections are
raised because of Bishul Akum (the prohibition to
have non-Jews cook for you) among other things. He is seen
as some kind of charlatan, despite the fact that he was ordained
in Torah VeDaas, and taught in Chaim Berlin.
I think Steinberg is a hero for certifying the coolest, most
diverse and best resturants in NYC.
The Israeli police have made a
bust on a cache of stolen tefillin. Maybe there were some
BDSM rabbis involved, and they needed the straps for their
own purposes.
The granddaughters of rabbi Moshe Feinstein (the girls were
first cousins with rabbis Mordecai and Aron Tendler) appeared
in Penthouse circa 1983. It was a big scandal that was hushed
up in the Orthodox world.
Their mother is sister to Mrs Tendler – mother of Mordechai
and Aron.
They posed after their father died.
The common factor, I've found, in girls who decide to do this
sort of thing is the lack of good father in their life. Girls
who have that are rarely promiscuous, in my opinion.
After its two million dollar renovation, Bnai
David Judea offers the worst acoustics of any synagogue
in Los Angeles, along with the cutest security guards (Christians
who vote Republican, while the shul leans 80-20 Democrat).
For those who could hear him, Yossi Klein Halevi was mesmerizing
Saturday night. He delivered a 54-minute talk on the situation
in Israel and then answered questions for 30-minutes (towards
the end, near 10pm, the crowd was streaming out and at only
half-strength).
I'm ready to heap even more plaudits on his head tonight than
I was several months ago on this site when I nominated him
for a Pulitzer prize in literature for his two memoirs.
I wouldn't even have gotten in the door tonight (due to the
$18 price) except my buddy spotted me a free ticket (and bought
a copy of my book to accompany him on his business travels).
Yossi spoke Friday night about Israel's turn to the East among
those under 35. Those over 50 tend to look to Europe for vacations
and culture. Those under 35 tend to fly to India after their
service in the IDF (Israel Defense Force) to rejuvenate and
explore their latent spirituality.
This has had many effects on young Israelis, including:
* They are more spiritually attuned and hungry than their
secular elders.
* They are more open to ritual.
* They are less willing to buy into traditional schimatic
mindsets (which have wracked Ashkenazim for almost 200 years).
* Though they are open to religion and to study of Jewish
text, they are unlikely to automatically follow the dictates
of Israeli's Orthodox rabbinate.
Yossi was equally eloquent Saturday morning, but that is a
time in my life when I nap, and I couldn't fully break that
habit today.
This was the first time I had seen Halevi in person. I wanted
to spot some flaw in his character so I could bust his chops
on my blog for not giving me an interview for my Jewish journalism
book, but he was understated and charming (effective qualities
for a journalist). There's no more sensitive observer of the
Jewish soul.
His public speaking is not flashy or false. Just one thoughtful
sentence follows another.
He got a crowd of over 300 people. One old man wandered in
late. His earing aid wasn't turned on. The security guard
inquired if he had a ticket. The old man started yelling that
he was the president of this and that.
There's this amazing sense of entitlement among many Jews.
They expect you to know who they are and their level of their
accomplishment.
Yossi said:
Yassir Arafat has been indispensable for not only the Palestinians
but for us...in telling us our place in the world. He's been
a shadow prime minister of Israel for 40 years.
Arafat made clear to us that our great victory in 1967 would
not lead to lasting peace.
Following the Yom Kippur war, Arafat started the deligitimization
of Israel that is culminating now, two decades later.
In some sense, Arafat's greatest offense against Israel happened
in the 1990s when he toyed with our deepest longings and seemed
to offer us legitimacy, which we so desperately craved.
If Arafat is hated universally [in Israel] from left to right,
Yossi Beilin said he would not go to his funeral...
Arafat represented the post-Holocaust legitimization of the
murder of Jews and the delegitimization of the Jewish state.
Yossi supports Ariel Sharon. He says Sharon's approach to Israel's
security is supported by at least 70% of the Israel public (support
levels that no other Israeli politician could match). Yossi
supports Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and the construction
of a fence to keep terrorists. The fence would mean that Israel
is going to retain sovereignty over greater Jerusalem. It means
that every time Israel has offered the Palestinians an opportunity
for a negotiated settlement (since 1947) and the Palestinians
have spurned these overtures, the Palestinians are steadily
being offered less and less.
Yossi says that only Israel's hawks can fulfill the vision of
its doves. The left was right that Israel can't continue to
occupy. The left was wrong in thinking that Israel could negotiate
peace with the Palestinian leadership.
During question time, Yossi was asked about his last book (a
journey seeking peace among Christians and Muslims near Jerusalem)
and about his views on the threats posed by Iraq and Iran. He
replied:
I don't believe that journey among Muslims has any relevance
[to the current situation in Israel]. The book came out 9/11.
I was in Manhattan waiting for my book party that night that
never happened.
.......
I think back to two years ago and all the apocalyptic scenarios
by critics of the coming war [against Iraq]. None of those
came true. It is positive that Jihadists are concentrating
in Iraq. It is proven in Fallujah that that war can be won.
All that it requires is a deep breath and commitment.
I have no doubt that [Islamic terrorists] were disappointed
that Bush was re-elected.
The re-election of Bush sends the signal to the Jihadist world
[about America's determination to fight terrorism].
What I Think About Homosexuality and Sodomite
Marriage
I normally don't like letting others express my opinions
for me, but while reading the feedback section of Cathy Seipp's
blog, I encountered writings of two correspondents who neatly
summed up why I, and most similarly sane heterosexual men,
will never be sympathetic to the cause of homosexuality.
First, one Christopher West wrote in:
"The bottom line in all discussions of gays and gay rights
is this: most psychologically healthy heterosexual men will
always view homosexuals with disgust. Oh, I know, gays like
to view this revulsion as a fear, not disgust, and to that
end they have settled on the word "homophobic" to describe
this, but believe me, it's disgust, not fear (unless you have
been raped by one of these in predator mode).
"But why should heterosexuals be disgusted with homosexuals?
Because men naturally prefer life to sh--. The thrust of heterosexual
sex is an activity that is responsible for virtually all complex
life on earth. It's locus is the vagina, the portal through
which passes all such life, and which therefore is sacred
to mankind. Homosexual sex, on the other hand, has no reproductive
component, and its locus is the anus/rectum, the portal through
which passes all of life's sh--. Healthy men naturally prefer
life to sh--, and healthy men naturally abhor men who lust
after shit or activities that are apt to get sh-- all over
their penises. What gay men do to other men is disgusting
to most people and always will be, no matter that they be
Christian or Jew or Muslim or Hindu or atheist; white or black
or hispanic or chinese; liberal or conservative. Homosexual
sex and the people who need it will always disgust the vast
majority of the human race.
"Politically, I hope you keep gunning for acceptance as the
full equals of heterosexuals. As a conservative white man,
I know you won't get it, and it only serves to strengthen
my political causes. But know this - you drama queen democrats
will never win an election so long as you make gay fantasies
part of your platform. They stink of sh--."
His views were buttressed by the comments of one "Mark:"
"Liberace, no less, was quoted once as saying he could understand
why the physical behavior associated with male homosexuality
made many people uncomfortable. I bet even quite a few liberals
(including gays ones) in the back of their minds do go "bleech"
when they think of male homosexuality OR, at the very least,
the goofy androgynous aspects evident in some males and females----hell,
some of the jokes in "Will and Grace" could be perceived as
gay bashing. And, OK, Ellen Degenersis is gay, but does that
mean she'd wilt and die if she had to wear less masculine
clothing?
"How many parents---liberal ones included---will say, "Oh,
look at our son Johnny going out on a date with the captain
of the high school football team. We're so happy and proud!!"
Or, "Look at our teenage daughter Susan smooching with the
girl from next door. Isn't that adorable?!"
I think Christopher and Mark are spot-on. (And what word should
take the place of "homophobia," to better describe the disgust
- not fear - that most normal men feel towards homosexuality?
I must ask my wordsmith friends.) It suffices to note that
support for gay marriage is not to be found amongst ATJs (aspiring
Torah Jews, which is what my Jewish swami in New York says
I really am), Muslims, or honest Christians. And no heterosexual
father looks at his infant son and dreams of seeing him someday
standing in a church or mosque or temple, getting married
to another man with sodomy on his mind. That's just how life
is, and the sooner all you gay people acknowledge this, the
faster the democratic party can get back on its feet and Hollywood
can feel better about itself.
In 1946, a soldier fathers a child then dies before its birth.
Jump to 1952: on a train, the child and his mother meet a
handsome soldier who makes a play for her. She accepts. Posing
as a married family, the soldier finds them a rooming house
where he becomes everyone's favorite through his good looks
and generosity. Meanwhile he gives the boy, Sanya, lessons
in life: to fight back, to win at all costs. The child's mother,
Katya, is head-over-heels in love with Tolyan, the soldier,
but the relationship becomes rocky when Tolyan's true plans
for the rooming house become clear. It starts them on a treadmill
of flight that risks Katya's life, Tolyan's liberty, and Sanya's
trust.
Thursday evenings I like to kick back with a copy of the
Hertz Chumash (commentary on the Torah), a copy of Rashi's
Torah commentary and the latest Jewish
Journal to read the views of one of LA's learned rabbis
on this week's portion.
This change of season has made me feel out of sorts and I
was blowing my nose and sorting fruitlessly through the pages
of the Journal for the Torah column Thursday night, November
11. It wasn't there.
I was feeling quite upset when my phone rang. "Hi," said a
breathy female voice. "I'm Jenny. Rob
Eshman sent me as a constitutionally-protected act of
literary satire that could not possibly be understood by an
ordinary person as damaging to his reputation or that of the
Jewish Journal."
"I understand," I said. "I'll be right out."
She was tall and blonde and naturally curvy. No surgeon's
knife had touched her pure porcelain skin.
I brought her inside my hovel. She was wearing a long fur
coat until she draped it over my pile of dirty clothes. Now
she was dressed in the latest Victoria Secret fashions, including
those black fishnet stockings and six-inch high heels I like
so much.
"Rob said to give you this," she said, and handed me a note.
I unfolded it and read: "Luke, you have to question why your
standard for true Jewish journalism is revelatory personal
details. Yossi took you to task for this, correctly so. I'm
all for including them when they are relevant, but to only
be concerned for those kind of stories means you miss or demean
very important communal stories that feature no sex or violence.
For every kabbalah center or ecstasy investigative piece,
we've done pieces like the recent one on the Federation's
$20 million pension shortfall or the JCC's, pieces that affect
many lives here but certainly are the opposite of sexy, and
that make us no friends among the establishment. I like sex
as much as the next guy, but I don't look to my community
Jewish paper for a dependable source of titillation."
"Rob wants us to play a game called shmiros halashon (proper
speech)," she said.
"But I really don't know Hebrew," I protested. "I just can't
believe that Rob, who works for a reputable non-profit, could
afford to send you. Are you sure it wasn't Malcolm Hoenlein?"
"Quite sure," she said. "Not Yossi Abramowitz either, though
Yossi did give me these latest two issues of Shma for your
perusal. Complimentary."
"Ahh, thank you." I took the journals and placed them on my
book shelf near my Unlimited Power book by Tony Robbins.
"But Jenny, I'm sorry. I just don't feel myself this evening.
I can't find rabbi Yatzoo's commentary on this week's Torah
portion in the Journal."
"Rob's gotten rid of that and substituted a column on books
that have changed one's life," she said.
I sneezed and blew my nose in one of the partially-used paper
towels that dot my hovel.
"I've got a decongestant," said Jenny. She poured some white
power on my desk next to my keyboard. "Snort that."
I bent over and inhaled through my nostrils. Immediately I
felt better.
"I don't know Hebrew either," said Jenny. "In fact, I'm not
even Jewish. My boss Nici doesn't usually get calls like this.
I guess Rob's a weird one. But he tells me that you are a
very naughty boy and I am supposed to reason with you. Do
you take seriously Kant's categorical imperative? Do you always
act in a way that if everybody did what you did, the world
would be a good place?"
"My Torah commitments prohibit that," I said. "We don't hold
with secular philosophy. Particularly not Germans. Nor wops
nor shvartzes."
"Rob says that if we didn't feel comfortable with the Hebrew,
we could study this English-language book Guard Your Tongue.
We were to turn it into a game. One of us would read a commandment
about proper speech and the other person has to name the source.
If you get it wrong, you have to either drink a glass of Manischevitz
or remove an article of clothing."
She produced a couple of bottles and sat down. We opened up
the Chafetz Chaim and got down to it. Jenny's knowledge of
Jewish text was practically non-existent and within an hour,
she was thoroughly sloshed and highly vulnerable.
As I took her in my arms and carried her three feet to the
one open spot on my floor, she breathed in my ear, "Rob wants
you to be nicer to the Journal on your blogs."
I proceeded to fulfill her wish as she fulfilled mine. Hollywood
screenwriter Michael Tolkinreviews
Philip Roth's new novel in the 11/12/04 Jewish Journal:
...George W. Bush is surrounded by a crowd who know that scientific
creationism is superstition, but support him anyway. After
all, their children get a private education based on science,
not the public schools’ program of de-enlightenment. But they
have sold their piety and conscience because he cut their
taxes, or because they think he’s good for Israel — as though
lowered taxes or chimerical support for Israel are worth the
catastrophe in Iraq, the catastrophe in our drinking water,
the catastrophe in public education or the catastrophe in
the national debt. For this last catastrophe, his supporters
are happily sacrificing their children and grandchildren by
giving them the bill, and leaving them a future for this country
that could look like Argentina without much more effort.
Robert
J. Avrech writes about a book that changed his life when he
was 12-years old: “The King’s Persons” by Joanne Greenberg.
(Henry Holt, 1963).
Years ago, I complained that the Journal was not publishing
a weekly commentary on the Torah portion. Now I agree with Rob
Eshman's decision to replace that (the commentary was rarely
illuminating and compelling) with a column on one book that
has changed a person's life.
My hands-down favorite book for middle school readers is "The
Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden," by Robert J. Avrech. This
is an adventure story, set in the 1870s. Ariel Isaacson and
his family are taking the dangerous trip through the Arizona
desert after they were chased out of a small town because
they were Jewish.
All 13-year-old Ariel wants is to become a bar mitzvah boy,
but first the family had to find a place to settle. They were
warned by the cavalry that they were heading right into Apache
territory, where the feared Victorio and his sister, Lozen,
killed white settlers. But Ariel's father is both a rabbi
and a mystic who believes in prayer and his dreams. When they
do meet up with Victorio and Lozen, a magical friendship develops
between Lozen and Ariel. But before Ariel can have his bar
mitzvah, he encounters gun slinger Doc Holliday, a band of
thugs who kidnap his sister and other characters unsavory
and otherwise.
The dialog flows smoothly, the scenes are memorable; it's
a terrific story filled with the best of Judaism ... and the
surprising Apache culture.
A friend came over tonight and we played this Pirkei
Arvos parlor game. One of us would recite a saying from
the Mishna, and the other person would have to say the name
of the rabbi. If we got it wrong, there was a penalty. My
friend is not Jewish, so I cleaned up.
Hal Steinberg (halsteinberg@mac.com) writes: I was referred
to you by Roger Jacobs. I'm doing an ethnographic project
called Los Angeles Judaism's Political Life. Roger told me
that you have written a book on Jewish Journalism and that
you might be able
to help me out with my project by giving me some contacts.
I'm a college student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia,
WA, but I'm from LA and here for the quarter doing my study.
The project is a study into the voting patterns of Los Angeles
Jews. In recent years there has been an increasing number
of people who claim that the Jewish vote is changing, in particular
becoming more conservative. The project
is studying whether this is true and if it is, why it is true.
If you'd be able to help me with contacts I'd be very grateful.
I don't know if it's my laissez faire attitude about disagreeable
commenters, or my relationship with Luke Ford, or whatever,
but people sometimes assume that I'll put up with anything.
But actually, there is one thing I really cannot stand, and
that's presumptiousness -- especially when accompanied by
the added kick of unwarranted familiarity.
There's a disturbing amount of relish that Cathy takes in telling
people to f--- off.
Zogby, Gallup, NYT/CBS and other pollsters note growing
support for my "no chick left behind" dating campaign which
should climax with Your Moral Leader firmly ensconced in the
White House. Susan Sorrell writes:
I live in South Carolina and in the South, men call you "honey"
and don't mean it as a pick up line. CreativeChick.com is
my website....yes I am a woman (40 yrs. old) and don't mind
being called a chick. (Unless you are a construction worker
and are making rude comments.) I even have a blog, http://creativechick.blog-city.com
, where I ramble on about my artwork, other artists, and stuff.
Loved the "no Chick Left behind" web log!!!
Three exclamation points! That means her comment is three-times
as good.
I don't find "Jewish time" so amusing.
I arrived at 6:45pm to the West side branch of the Reform
Wilshire Blvd Temple to take in a 7pm lecture by historian
Jonathan Sarna. I owed him a copy of my new book, Yesterday's
News Tomorrow.
I slip it to him while he's engaged in a conversation with
two distinguished Jews. He holds my handshake and gives me
his full attention for a minute. He talks about an article
he'd read about my life. I was flattered.
The program began at 7:20pm. That is 20 minutes of theft from
everybody who arrived on time. I have little patience for
people who are five minutes late to appointments with me.
Luckily I carry books with me everywhere so I don't waste
this time. Still, I resent the theft.
There were three introductory speeches before Dr. Sarna took
the stage. A bare-headed Harvey Fields (once the most highly
paid rabbi in Los Angeles, about $300,000 annually counting
allowances, until he stepped down a couple of years ago) gave
a windy talk (read the whole thing) full of cliches and empty
rhetoric about American Judaism's "magnificent history."
Rabbi Fields said that like most of the audience he was filled
with worry for the future of America given Tuesday's elections.
The median age of the audience is about 60. Typical for a
Reform crowd. A lot of old biddies with implausibly dyed hair.
As soon as rabbi Fields said about Dr. Sarna -- "he worked,"
I knew he would follow with the cliche "tirelessly," which
he did.
I heard loud sighs around me as the rabbi wandered on.
Dr. Sarna takes the stage and immediately captivates with
his energy and good humor. I'm disappointed that I've already
heard many of his jokes. I've already read his book American
Judaism. I fear the evening will be a waste, but Dr. Sarna
pops in stuff I don't remember.
Peter Stuyvesent, the governor of New Amsterdam when Jews
settled in the city in 1654, studied for the clergy in Holland
until an incident with his landlady's daughter sent him fleeing
back to the New World.
Dr. Sarna reads his speech but he knows it so well, and delivers
it with so much energy and fun, that he holds my attention.
He talks about Cohens coming to America and turning into Kerrys.
"Remember him?"
I believe Dr. Sarna is a conservative, but I doubt that more
than 1% of the audience knows that. Most of the crowd, I'm
sure, assumes that any Jew who appears kind and decent is
a liberal Democrat.
Dr. Sarna says that in 19th Century America, opponents of
mixed seating called it promiscuous seating. Looking around
at the crowd, I bet there's more action going on at an NCSY
Shabbaton or a Stern College kiddish than here.
I'm hoping that Dr. Sarna winds up his speech with a hearty
exhortation for Jews to have unprotected sex in hopes of replenishing
our numbers (not that unprotected sex amongst 90% of tonight's
crowd would result in anything more dramatic than a pulled
muscle). Perhaps a bon mot from Chaim Amalek that hyper-educated
Jewish women use their vaginas as toys while Palestinian women
use their's as cannons. But no such luck.
During question time, an old woman rises and says all the
Christian talk of the past election makes her nervous about
American Judaism. If such Jews were truly nervous about such
matters, they might try studying the Torah and observing the
mitzvot as their Moral Leader does.
Dr. Sarna says culture is not an effective way of transmitting
Jewishness over the generations. Religion is more effective.
Yiddishism was one of the great failures of 20th Century American
Jewish life.
He's asked about the vibrancy of American Orthodox Judaism.
He says beware triumphalism from any of the denominations.
We've seen Reform and Conservative triumphalism. Now we hear
it from the Orthodox. But the Orthodox:
* Lose more of their young people than do Reform or Conservative
(in percentage terms) because Orthodoxy is so hard and America
so tempting
* Lose their best and brightest to Israel
* Fight amongst themselves
My new dating campaign is "no chick left behind. Let's study
Torah together tonight." The
Teacher responds:
Luke, We all know how powerful a single word can be (i.e.
freedom fighter/terrorist).
Keeping that in mind, I want you to answer a few questions.
Is it appropriate to call a woman a chick? Are they baby chickens?
Calling a woman a chick is derogatory.
Here's a homework assignment for you. I want you to make a
list of every word you have to describe the word woman. After
each word write down the definition as seen in a dictionary.
Then share it with everyone on this blog.
Luke, I'll make it easier for you. Go
to this website and learn. Memorize the terms, and use
them.
Honey, the day I do that is the day I quit writing. The word
"chick" in the context I used it was perfect for its purpose.
The Teacher replies:
Luke, I'm curious why it seems so disastrous to you to use
terms that empower women, verses ones that are so derogatory?
Does it make you feel a sense of power when you use these
sorts of terms?
Sweetie, you creep me out. I did not use the word "chick" to
apply to all women. I used it specifically for single attractive
cuddly cute playful women who'd like to hang out with me. Such
chicks I don't want to leave behind (until I land in that one
solid monogamous relationship that is going to the chuppah).
A "spunky sheila" is antiquated Australian slang for an attractive
(usually applied to a single) woman. A "babe" is a "cutie" is
a "hottie." These are words for single attractive women. My
friends and I do not apply them to married women, nor to old
women, nor to ugly chicks. We apply them to women we'd like
to play with. They are complimentary terms, even "empowering,"
if we must use that loathsome term.
There are many instances when the use of these terms is inappropriate
but there are also many instances when they convey our exact
meaning.
I like to spend my dating time with hotties, babes, cuties,
chicks, sheilas. They are more attractive to me than women who
serve in the PC police or are eager to show you why they are
smarter. Most men don't like to compete with women. We're looking
for somebody cuddly and playful to settle down with and make
a home. We want to come home to somebody who is cute and turns
us on. We want a playmate in addition to someone with our values.
My friends and I like to date women who love sex. (Not that
I ever have any of this mystical sex because the Torah forbids
it.) We prefer women who enjoy being a sexual object at times.
Sometimes we want to forget about their graduate degrees and
concentrate on their tits.
Our words convey exactly what we seek. Breasts. Tits. Knockers.
Curves. A full-and-natural C-cup. We like these things.
That our preferences, partly driven by our sexual urges, offend
you, then it is not us that offends you so much as reality,
a reality that you wish to legislate away through your word
policing.
Do I believe that men should control themselves, sexually and
otherwise? Yes. Do I think it is wrong to only want to relate
to women for sex? Absolutely. Are women, attractive and ugly,
equally made in God's image? Yes. When I am seated next to some
homely chick, do I ignore her? No way. Do I subscribe to the
Torah's prescriptions for how we should relate to others, sexually
and otherwise? Yes. Will I always recite the shma before making
love to my wife? Probably not.
Is our society better because we have stigmatized certain expressions
that demean entire groups such as nigger, spic, kike, wop, dago?
Sure. I don't think these words are appropriate for the public
stage. In private, among people who won't be hurt, in the right
context, I don't have a problem with these words.
Yeah baby, I wish I could discuss these weighty issues in greater
depth, but I've got a hot chick waiting. We're going to Jonathan
Sarna's (who is cute and cuddly and Donald Duckish in his own
way) lecture tonight on American Judaism. I have an autographed
copy of my book for him (my meager payment for the right to
include his essay).
Luzdedos1: Darling, precious, how are you feeling?
Miss Seipp: Better but still coughing!
Luzdedos1: ooooooh, poor boopie
Miss Seipp: You're in a funny mood. Hey guess what? I got
a $50 tip via my Amazon tip jar!
Luzdedos1: whoah
Luzdedos1: in exchange for what?
Miss Seipp: For my charming blog, obviously.
Luzdedos1: Darling, you deserve all of that and more
Luzdedos1: how was your shabbat?
Miss Seipp: I agree!
Luzdedos1: did you get the package from emmanuelle and give
matt his book?
Miss Seipp: Took Cecile to her Persian history class at UCLA.
Lewis said: "You could have dropped her off in front of a
West LA rug store and she'd have learned just as much for
half the money."
Miss Seipp: No see Matt and E yesterday. I think they're still
depressed or something.
Luzdedos1: Are you sure you are not a C cup?
Miss Seipp: Not since I lost a few pounds...
Luzdedos1: ahh
Luzdedos1: how's your memory doing?
Miss Seipp: Not as good as Cecile's these days, alas...
Miss Seipp: Went to the Pacific Dining Car for breakfast this
morning and saw Frank Luntz the Rep pollster
Luzdedos1: I embrace you in my cyber arms and assure you that
everything is going to be ok
Luzdedos1: R. Avrech gave me a copy of his novel that i gave
to emmanuelle to give to you
Miss Seipp: Well you bug her to give it to me then...
I feel that I can tell when I'm reading Alana
Newhouse, Ari
Goes Down, Chandler Bong, Teresa Strasser, Candice Bushnell,
my ex-girlfriend Tiffany
Stone (I became attracted to her through her writing,
I found it alluring) and Lisa
On The Face that I am reading the words of a beautiful
woman. There's a certain confidence in them. Meanwhile, I
read another blogger who seems bitterly homely. Can you sense
beauty on the basis of a person's words?
I sometimes fear that my perceptions are so keen that I can
tell a woman's womanly shape by her prose. Cathy
Seipp, for instance, writes like a woman who has everything
a woman should have (a natural C-cup plus rather than some
boyish A-cup). I could be more specific about the depth of
my insights in this matter but the Torah does not permit me
to do so.
A beautiful woman such as Alana
Newhouse is more likely to support a free market in dating,
sex roles, romance, and marriage. Give women freedom.
Beauty conveys a confidence that you will have a high demand
in the marketplace of dating.
More homely women tend to be more supportive of traditional
mores, that a community should uphold traditional sex roles
and distinctions between men and women, that it should look
after women paternalistically so they do not fall prey to
the naturally predatory male, and that the community should
do everything it can to minimize the value of looks and to
avoid a free market in dating but instead push people to pair
up early (soon after 18) and have kids so that the concerns
of young people will be for practical matters such as child-rearing
rather than the glamorous but dangerous world of free dating.
Homely women frequently fear that beautiful women will steal
the best men. They frequently resent the unfairness of life
and they often want more communal regulation.
A single attractive woman is a threat to the peace of a traditional
community. For rational reasons, women with BFs and husbands
fear that their men lust for her. It is disturbing to the
equilibrium.
If a man can possibly view a woman as a sexual object, he
will (unless he is a particularly elevated sort like me).
That will be his primary way of viewing her. A beautiful woman
writing on sex will usually be viewed as a dumb slut unless
her work is of soaring beauty or importance, such as a Mary
McCarthy (wife of Edmund Wilson) etc...
But it is better to be a beautiful female writer, where beauty
adds to the allure, than a handsome male writer where his
beauty causes people to take his work less seriously?
Beauty like ugliness like robust health like sickliness like
wealth like poverty shapes who we are.
Homely poor females in particular know that they are not going
to be able to coast through life on their looks and money.
People like me who dropped out of university know that they
are going to have to work extra hard and perhaps take some
unconventional routes to success. People like myself who have
struggled with chronic illness for many years (Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome in my case) tend to be much more conservative in
our outlook on the world than those who feel robust.
Beauty, particularly combined with smarts and yichus and good
education, conveys a certain confidence. Homeliness, particularly
in one who has never married, can leave one with a chip on
the shoulder, a need to prove to the world that one is still
a worthy person even though strangers who encounter one are
not initially dazzled by one.
Everything that makes us who we are, including our looks,
shapes our writing. In the end, we can not help but write
what we are. It is not coincidental that I am obsessed with
writing about sin, particularly certain sexual sins, as well
as with God, morality and a stern moral code that I frequently
flout.
I'm not talking about us fantasizing about a perfect world,
in which "beauty (pretty words) stems from beauty (pretty
face)?"
I am primarily interested in what is true, rather than what
should be. What is true is that we are powerfully attracted
to the attractive, much more so than most people want to admit.
Handsome charming people can get away with writing and saying
outrageous things that an ugly prosaic person could not.
I agree with Tom Wolfe that much of human motivation is about
striving for status. It is hard to underestimate the power
of jealousy (particularly among writers), and much of jealousy
is over looks.
I find many reporters blunt. I just got off the phone with
one who wanted my help. If I had been on his side of the phone,
I would've tried to be much more charming so I could've elicited
a better interview. I don't understand all the people who
interview me who are boorish and insensitive during the interview.
Afterwards, fine, write what you like. But while you want
something from me, why would a journalist, or anybody, not
be real nice?
I gave it my best shot, but it isn't easy to get 270 electoral
votes as a write-in candidate, so I am conceding this election
to whichever of the other two millionaires has won it.
Damn, but I miss Al Gore. I think it is a damn shame that
he did not eek out a victory in 2000. This nation does not
need Kerry; it does not need Bush. We need a man like Al Gore
as president.
Should Kerry win tonight, here is what will happen next:
1. bin Laden will be hailed a genius in the Arab world, which,
politically speaking, he is.
2. Iran will go nuclear.
3. North Korea will go nuclear, if it has not already. And
by "going nuclear", I mean that both Iran and N Korea will
have the ability to mass produce A-bombs and thus deter the
rest of the world or blackmail it as they see fit.
4. The neocons of the Republican party are toast. These people
(mostly Jews) will be kicked to the street.
5. Israel will cease to be America's "special partner" in
the mideast, as Americans come to question if it is worth
the cost to the United States to support such a special friend.
6. The US Supreme Court will return to Warren Court days of
liberal social engineering.
7. We will have more of an energy policy than we used to.
8. Workers rights will improve.
9. The black man will get a fairer shake.
10.We will be humiliated abroad and attacked at home, but
we will learn to mind our own business in the world and stay
out of other people's troubles.
From: "just Sir will do..."
Date: July 27, 2001 4:14 pm
Subject: Sex and the Churban Beit HaMikdash
...[W]ith the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem
approxmiately 1930 years ago our Jewish joy in sex was withdrawn,
reduced or otherwise interfered with. That somehow, having
access to the temple also gave us access to our profoundest
most joyous sexuality as well. The implication is that there
is a Jewish way of f------ [dashes inserted by LF for original
profanity] just as there is a Jewish way of dressing, praying,
worshipping and eating etc. Now it's gone and we are reduced
to imitating the Goyim.
If the temple will be rebuilt in the merit of our fervid f------,
I have definitely done my bit. If it is going to require modesty
and restraint, I hope they are not waiting on me. Remember
children, sperm is holy so don't waste it, swallow.
Do it Jewish. May your moon shine, red and smart. Whip him
with his Tzitzith and tie him to the chair with his T'fillin
straps. Beat her with her leather shoes and gag her with Bedikah
cloths.
Have Milchig and Fleishig sex without waiting six hours and
eat it without making a proper Bracha.
.......
From: "just Sir will do.."
Date: 03 May 2004
Subject: I'm still not used to the idea that...
...one may go straight from Shabbes Havdala to a BDSM party;
to tell my bitch to take her clothes off in a gathering of
nearly a hundred people; and then thrash her soundly, and
do the same to another one who just happened to need it too,
you know, just for the sake of the mitzvah...
It's too much, isn't it?
Oh, but what a thrill. To feel her body juddering and shuddering
in the aftershocks of her screams and seizure-like spasm of
pain/pleasure. It's such a power rush to the heart and genitals,
can you blame me for loving it?
We Jews who take pleasure in pain, in our own and that of
others, know the taste of paganism, for its power is akin
to worship, the seductive allure to that of the most unholy
dread. At that moment my slave bows to worship me, to prostrate
herself abject in pleasure and terror, I am acting god. It's
heady wine we drink who get high on the fizz of sexandpain,
of pleasureandshame. When I humiliate a grown woman in public
and see her writhe in unfettered slavery, when the blood crackles
like a bushfire with the heat and accelereant of lustpower,
when I thrill huge with the force of all her surrenders not
so long a jump to proclaiming myself a deity, to her, to me.
And the Shabbes queen abandoned with the havdala candle and
the incense box and the half drunk grape juice.
And on Sunday morning, the deep satisfaction hearing her wince
as she sits on the toilet seat. Those weals from where I hit
her with the wooden spoon, she'll be feeling those a few days
yet...
.........
From: "just Sir will do..."
Date: Aug 1, 2003
Subject: Notice of Sale of Slave
To: OBDSM Connection
In my capacity as immoderator, dungeon-meister, Rosh Yeshiva
and Av Beth-Din at OBDSM, I have been engaged to oversee the
sale and settlement of the slave woman known as SHIFCHA-ISHA.
The slave, an orthodox, Jewish woman in her mid twenties,
of Sefaradi family, without children or encumberance will
be available for viewing from August 15th 2003.
Properly trained and with a natural proclivity for abject
slavery, SHIFCHA-ISHA has been preparing herself to a life
of submission and slavery for some considerable time. Her
training and mentoring has been in formal Leather surroundings
with emphasis on discipline, compliance, correction, humility,
forebearance, patience and obedience. Her demeanor is bright,
friendly, quickwitted, humorous and engaging. She is well
educated, and thoughtful, and has graduated with a Bachelors
of Science.
With extreme masochistic tendencies and high tolerance for
both pain and humiliation, she is comfortable in most controntive
and demanding situations.
...........
From: Chapt-Schleck
Date: May 1, 2002
Subject: Kinky Shiduchim
I'm Chapt Schleck the founder, instigator and immoderator
of OBDSM. I'm a grandfather. I have children who are Rabbonim,
Talmidei Chachamim, Erenster Youngerleit and all that good
stuff. But that doesn't stop me getting a thrill from hurting
my bitch and undressing her in front of other perverts and
hitting her with sticks and pinching her nipples 'till they
bruise.
The following is an anecdote about Sherry Lansing in Don
Siegel's autobiography (A Siegel Film - posthumous, 1993,
p. 420) in the chapter recollecting the making of Telefon
(1977, starring Charles Bronson and Lee Remick).
"The members of the MGM commitee where Dick Shepherd; Ray
Wagner, a top executive; Leo Greenfield, head of publicity;
Lew Rachmil, head of production; and Sherry Lansing, who I
think was head of the story department. At one of the numerous
committee meetings, I sat on Dick's left, as I was the target
of their story suggestions. Ray Wagner had usually nothing
to say, which sounded good to my hears. However I remember
well two words which Leo Greenfield frequently used: ambience
and panache.
Sherry Lansing was a most attractive girl in her late twenties.
She was very enthusiastic about a sequence in one of the earlier
scripts, which took place in the lady's restroom at a train
station. The scene showed our leading lady combing her hair.
While looking in the miror she notices one of the toilet doors
slowly opening, revealing a filthy derelict holding a knife.
As he tries to rape our leading lady, she badly beats him
up.
ME: It's difficult to shoot leading ladies in any type of
physical encounter. Bronson could and should take care of
all the physical encounters. I know he'll want to. Also, we
don't need the scene.
LANSING: (voice filled with emotion) When she is attacked
by this bum and fights him off, the audience will stand up
and cheer!
ME: Sherry, the script is very long now and this scene should
be the first one to be cut out.
SHERRY: I feel very strongly that it should be left in.
ME: When it comes to rape, you unquestionably know more than
I do. I'm also quite sure that in Karate you are much better
than I. (Very businesslike, standing up.) Perhaps the committee
might like to witness what would happen if I tried to rape
you - without a knife, of course. (Walking towards her.) I
think you should get to your feet with your back towards me.
Don't worry about hurting me.
Her face turned beet-red. She was glued to her chair. Having
made my point, Dick asked me to take my seat. Sherry's face
no longer looked flushed. Hatred filled it instead."
