A Day to Bare Our Souls - and Find Ourselves

MORE MISOGYNY & STUPIDITY AGAINST ABUSE VICTIMS

I read these and think, what were these rabbis thinking? Were they thinking at all? Obviously not. Just look at the results.

This must stop.

NOW.

Rabbinic Rally Against Alleged Get Abuse
By Shlomo Greenwald
Jewish Press

In what was billed as a rabbinic rally, about 40 people staged a protest outside the Brooklyn home of Rabbi Shlomo Blumenkrantz, whom the protesters claim has been enabling men to withhold gets from their wives and use extortion against them, as well as helping to obtain heter meah rabbanim for the men, all of these in ways that run counter to halacha.

(Heter meah rabbanim is permission, based on the agreement of 100 rabbis, for a man to marry a second wife, circumventing the longstanding decree against a man marrying more than one wife.)

At the rally were Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University´s rabbinical affiliate RIETS, Rabbi Kenneth Auman, rabbi of the Young Israel of Flatbush and a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, and Rabbi Hershel Billet, rabbi of the Young Israel of Woodmere and also past president of the RCA. Also present were Rabbi Jonathan Muskat, rabbi of the Young Israel of Oceanside, and Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz.

Allegations against Rabbi Blumenkrantz were made by a number of rabbis and community leaders contacted by The Jewish Press - some with firsthand knowledge of the cases involved and others with secondhand knowledge.

Both Rabbi Auman and Rabbi Aaron Levine, rabbi of the Young Israel of Ave. J., said that they had a meeting with Rabbi Blumenkrantz and Dov Charnowitz after Charnowitz had allegedly married a second wife while he was still married to his first. At the meeting, Rabbi Blumenkrantz defended Charnowitz´s actions although Charnowitz had a seruv against him from the Rabbinical Court of Kollel Horabonim in Monsey.

Charnowitz was one of several defenders of Rabbi Blumenkrantz at Sunday´s rally, and certainly the most vocal of them. In addition, at least two other men who have seruvs issued against them were there: Ariel Hacohen (from Vaad Horabonim of Flatbush) and Menachem Lowy (from the Rabbinical Court of Kollel Horabonim).

Rabbi Blumenkrantz said in response that the seruvs issued against Lowy, Hacohen and Charnowitz were "bogus." He said that he only tries to do things that are according to Torah and halacha.

In a telephone interview Rabbi Blumenkrantz went over several cases in detail, and explained how a get can only be given at the end of the process of settling all outstanding issues - as the Shulchan Aruch states.

"I back what I say with documents; these other rabbis don´t," he said.

He said he spends many hours on each case, and that this is also something that can´t be said by the rabbis who are making allegations against him.

Asked which tri-state rabbinical courts he would consider to be trustworthy, he said he preferred not to specify. But it seems he would not include the Beth Din of America, Rabbinical Court of Kollel Horabonim, or Rabbi Elazar Teitz´s Beth Din of Elizabeth, N.J. He said that many of these batei din do things incorrectly - because they are trying to be politically correct, and because they get pressured from feminist groups.

Rabbi Blumenkrantz said he prefers a zabla process whereby each side chooses one dayan, and they both choose a third. He also added that "there are a multitude of super-qualified, honest and good rabbanim and dayanim."

"All the years, I´ve kept low-key," he said. "I´m not trying to make fights."

Some rabbis said that Rabbi Blumenkrantz is already marginalized. Rabbi Mendel Epstein, a toen, or court advocate who lives in Brooklyn, said, "It´s like a heter meah rabbanim from Tom Johnson-who cares."

Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, said that he supported the general sentiments of the rally, but did not attend, in part to not lend any credence to Rabbi Blumenkrantz´s actions, which, Rabbi Belsky said, have been "harmful and hurtful."

At the rally, some of the protesters held signs that said "End the abuse," and "Stop withholding gitten." One attendee, Stuart Einbinder, yelled out, "We´re supposed to be a holy nation."

"This demonstration was very important," said Rabbi Auman. "It showed that one cannot do the kinds of things that Blumenkrantz does without raising the ire of decent people. We will try our best to see to it that rabbanim from across the spectrum of Orthodoxy strongly condemn this kind of activity and attempt to eradicate it from our midst."

On the other hand, Rabbi Blumenkrantz said, "I promote the Torah, honesty, doing things the right way."

'the right WHAT!?!?'

Ex-wife of slain man says he molested daughter
BY MARIA ALVAREZ

The mother of a 4-year-old who witnessed the slaying of her father in a Queens playground last month testified Thursday that she had stayed married to the the father, despite allegedly seeing him molest the girl, because her rabbi counseled the couple to stay together.

"We went to the rabbi and discussed this," said Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova, 33, who is fighting for full custody of her daughter. Her ex-husband, Daniel Malakov, 34, an orthodontist, was gunned down last month.

"He said this was his way of showing his love and affection," Borukhova testified. "I asked him please find other different ways to show your affection."

David Shnall, the child's court-appointed law guardian, asked Borukhova, a Orthodox Jew, whether she always followed her rabbi's advice "instead of deciding for yourself?" She responded: "Correct."

The couple was married December 2001, and divorced in 2005. They were in the midst of a bitter custody battle when the slaying occurred. At the time of the killing the child was living with the father.

Testimony concluded today and Judge Linda Tally is expected to decide whether 4-year-old Michelle Malakov will live with her mother.

Lawyers at Queens Family Court on both sides claimed victory and are expected to give their 10-minute closing arguments today before Tally.

"I'm almost positive the court will rule in our favor," said Shnall. Shnall does not want the child to return to her mother, claiming she poses "an imminent risk" amid allegations she and her family were involved in the father's shooting death.

New York's Administration for Children Services placed the 4-year-old girl with her paternal grandparents after Malakov was killed. Police questioned Borukhova for several hours after the killing. They have made no arrests.

ACS last week placed the little girl in foster care after Borukhova claimed the child's paternal grandparents sexually abused her daughter.

Borukhova was cross-examined for almost three hours by an ACS lawyer and Shnall. She broke down in tears several times when asked about the physical abuse she said she endured with her ex-husband and her attempts to block visits with his daughter.

Both lawyers asked Borukhova why she would allow unsupervised visits after she witnessed her ex-husband allegedly molest their daughter. In response she said she relied on the advice of her rabbi.

Borukhova's lawyer, Florence Fass, said her client "finally got to tell her story from her point of view. She was compelling, candid and responsible."

Outside the courtroom, Borukhova began to cry when she said, "My daughter is everything. She is all I have."

There have been no arrests in the case, but police yesterday released a sketch of the killer, a white man believed to be 48 to 52 years old and about 5 feet, 8 inches tall. He is stocky, with salt and pepper hair and was wearing a black jacket and dark pants.

Sgt. Claudia Bartolomei, head of the 112th Precinct detective squad, said the sketch is based on the interviews with several witnesses. The killer, she said, fled on foot, running on 64th Road toward 102nd Street.

The reward money, she said, now totals $41,000, with $29,000 of it from Malakov's family. Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 800-577-TIPS.

SOURCE

HOW LONG WILL THIS CONTINUE? HOW LONG WILL WE ALLOW IT TO CONTINUE?