Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Who will be the next victim if NCYI is not stopped?

Young Israel of Fifth Avenue,
Rabbi Kolakowski in Richmond,
Susan Shalov in Las Vegas,
any visitor to Las Vegas who expects a shul with the name Young Israel to abide by the Torah standards Young Israel is supposed to follow,
the unnamed shul mentioned in the YU Commentator article in 2007,
Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse,
etc. etc.

The National Council of Young Israel has proven repeatedly that it abides neither by the Torah nor its own supposed standards. It has proven itself to be worse than a mere bully. It has committed fraud and forgery in pursuit of goals that are against the mission the National Council was created to perform. It is time for the Torah-True Young Israel membership and branches to end the reign of kefirah of the current administration of NCYI.

Why was National Council ready to shut down the shul in Syracuse for having a woman-President (who was NOT running a Women's Prayer Group) but allows Young Israel of Sharon to run a Women's Prayer Group?
 It is interesting that Young Israel claims to follow the psak of 5 RIETS Roshei Yeshiva regarding Women's Prayer Groups yet turns a blind eye towards this activity at the Young Israel of Sharon, MA:
Tefillat Nashim
Tefillat Nashim is a tefilah group service that started over 10 years ago. There are 2 services a month, starting at 9:30 AM in the Beit Midrash. See Davening Times for the next Tefillat Nashim service.

About the Service:
P’sukeh D’Zimrah, is often lead off by a young girl. Another Kehilah member takes over as a Chazanit leads through the Shacharit service. Our Torah portion consists of taking the Torah out of the Aron Kodesh and then Laining the first three portions aloud, with different woman or girls reading each Aliyah (no B’rachot are recited). A D’var Torah follows, and then the Haftarah is chanted by another Kehilah member. The service continues with the Musaf Amidah and then one or more of our younger girls leads us in the concluding prayers. During the Tefilah group, songs are song together, especially some selections during the Shacharit and Musaf Amidah.


Special Services:
Every Simhat Torah we lain vezot hatorah as many times as we have lainers. This happens while the men are receiving their aliyot. It is also an opportunity if there are any women who are interested in benching gomel. If you would like to participate in this very special experience, please contact Cheryl Harris. We can also teach new lainers for this parsha. After the laining is finished Rabbi Sendor will give a dvar Torah.
Two other special davenings we have are on Purim and Tisha B'Av. We lain Megilat Esther on Purim morning and Eicha on Tisha B'Av evening. New lainers are always welcome.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

NCYI again using and hurting Jonathan Pollard


National Council of Young Israel keeps claiming their approach of demanding clemency for Jonathan Pollard is working. Just give it a little more time.  Really?  Haven't they said that for the last 20 years?

Contacting the White House to request clemency for Jonathan Pollard does little good if he won’t apply for parole. All requests for Presidential clemency go through the DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney, Ronald L. Rodgers. Mr Rodger’s office has pointed out a number of times that unless Jonathan Pollard applies for parole he will not be considered for Executive Clemency.

In the United States Attorneys' Manual, Section 1-2.113, Standards for Considering Commutation Petitions paragraph 4 begins: The amount of time already served and the availability of other remedies (such as parole) are taken into account in deciding whether to recommend clemency.

The Rules Governing Petitions for Executive Clemency clearly state in Section 1.3 Eligibility for filing petition for commutation of sentence: No petition for commutation of sentence, including remission of fine, should be filed if other forms of judicial or administrative relief are available [like parole], except upon a showing of exceptional circumstances.

Pollards' own website has a letter ""I followed [the National Council of Young Israel] request to send a letter to President Bush. The response from the White House was that Mr. Pollard was eligible for parole, but had not requested parole."
How can we expect anything different from Obama when the Pardon Attorney is the same who served President Bush?

Calling for clemency over and over hasn't worked. Maybe applying for parole would? It cannot do any harm at this point and perhaps it will be granted. Even if it is not granted, it fulfills the prerequisite required for consideration of clemency. Supporters of Jonathan Pollard need to be made aware of this and help persuade Jonathan that it is in his best interest to apply for parole without any further delay.
(Below is the original blog post from 06/2010)

NCYI is once again presenting itself as Pollard's champion to try and distract attention away from what they have done to Syracuse, 5th Avenue and Susan Shalov. But it is Lerner's continuing discouragement to apply for parole that is hurting Jonathan Pollard the most and preventing him from being released.
NCYI should be dealing with its internal problems instead of repeating the same failed campaign supposedly on behalf of Jonathan Pollard.

We have seen that hishtadlus on Pollard's behalf by organizations led by NCYI seeking Presidential clemency have repeatedly failed. Jonathan Pollard’s best hope is to apply for parole and not involve the President at all. Our hishtadlus should be to support him in any way parole requires such as guaranteeing employment for him. Lerner keeps saying that in 1995 Jonathan Pollard's attorney said applying for parole would have been futile. The situation in 1995 was different than it is now. Since then appeals for clemency were not accepted by Bill Clinton nor George Bush and are most likely going to be completely ignored by Barak Obama or even worse, he will take notice and actively oppose parole.

We need to contact the United States Parole Commission (http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/index.html) and request parole be granted to Jonathan Pollard. But in order to do that Jonathan Pollard first needs to file an application requesting parole. So when you write the USPC, also write to Jonathan Pollard tohave emunah and bitachon that Hashem will grant him parole so he should file the application and request it. For additional information please see http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/questions.htm . Note that conditions may be required to be met in order for parole to be granted (http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/furquest.htm). But those conditions would still be better than Jonathan Pollard remaining in prison.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

NCYI planning to expel Syracuse shul and seize assets but won't do so to Las Vegas????

It is amazing how the current National Council of Young Israel can be sanctimonious about what their legacy is and what their Constitution says. It is a very far cry from what NCYI was when Rabbi Ephraim Sturm was directing it.

Young Israel of Las Vegas had a President who smoked on Shabbos for years but they never did anything about that.
How was that allowed over having a woman shul Pres
ident when the YI Constitution expressly requires Sabbath Observers but says nothing about gender?

Regarding the parent Organization it says:

Sec. 4.3. The offices of President, Chairman, 1st Vice President and Second Vice President shall be filled by male delegates only.

But by the branch synagogues section there is no mention of any requirement of gender. But there are requirements regarding:
d. have as its President, Vice Presidents, Secretaries, Treasurer and Delegates to the Delegates Assembly- regular, alternate and at-large- only Sabbath observers;
e. follow halacha in all dealings by and between the group, its members, its rabbi, its officers and directors, other branches of the Organization and the Organization; and

The Halacha as I understand it regarding a moser declared by a Bais Din excommunicating him is that such a person is NOT QUALIFIED TO BE A RABBI! Why then has Young Israel of Las Vegas had such a
rabbi
for over the last five years?!?
http://cleanupyoungisrael.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

It was during the tenure of the Shabbos-smoker president that NCYI committed forgery to try to hide the excommunication of YILV's rabbi. (http://cleanupyoungisrael.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-details-and-can-be-found-on.html)
Why didn't the NCYI convene a Delegates Assembly then instead of committing fraud?

And since the Syracuse synagogue is already out of the organization what right does NCYI have to "expel" them and seize their assets?



Dear Friends,

I have recently been informed that National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) is having a meeting of the Delegates Assembly on this coming Thursday, June 24th, during which they plan to vote to expel our synagogue, Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse. This is in spite of the fact that we legally resigned from them on August 24, 2008. According to their constitution, the assets of any synagogue that is expelled revert to NCYI.

We have prepared a position paper that details the history of what occurred, and explains why we resigned. We would like as many delegates as possible to be made aware of our story. If you know members of Young Israel synagogues in other cities, please send them the link[s] to this website. http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Welcome.html
http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Position.html
http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Documents_1.html
http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Documents_2.html
http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Documents_3.html
http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Documents_4.html


With thanks,

Beverly S. Marmor

President
Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse

RESPONSES TO THIS WEB SITE ARE WELCOMED http://www.stocs-chai.org/STOCS-CHAI/Welcome.html

PLEASE EMAIL TO:

SavetheShul@yahoo.com

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Are coincidences the Yad Hashem connecting events?

Are coincidences the Yad Hashem (Hand of G-d) connecting them or simply unrelated events that may just happen to occur at the same time? Does it matter? http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2010/01/22/the-earth-trembles/

I bring this up now because in a flyer about Shalom Rubashkin's plight distributed in Monsey shuls it notes that he was arrested on November 14, 2008. Coincidentally that was the same day I was let go from my job in Las Vegas and had to leave that city. Before that on May 12 was the raid in Postville. That same day I had to submit answers to harassing interrogatories by Young Israel's lawyer. And to go all the way back to when the Justice Department and Judge Reade started planning the raid, that began in October 2007 just shortly after Young Israel created a forgery in order to pervert justice for the widow and to, their own words, 'put me in jail' for publishing the seruv. Were there any connections between my situation and that of Shalom Rubashkin? We were both relentlessly hounded by large organizations determined to incarcerate us through the secular Justice system. In his case it is the US Justice Department. In my case and the widow's it is Young Israel. There is one main difference, the Justice Department uses the secular courts because they have no Torah. What is Young Israel's excuse?

So many people are desperately trying to help Shalom Rubashkin. Rightly so. In 2007-2008 I was only one of very few voices trying to obtain truth and justice for Susan Shalov after she was brutally afflicted and tormented by Young Israel for which I became their target. Is Rubashkin's plight a magnified reflection of Young Israel's distortions of justice?

A periscope is a device using reflection and magnification to see that which is hidden. The image vanishes when the source of the reflection is gone. Perhaps the best way to help Shalom Rubashkin is to state the whole truth, eliminate the secular court cases and rectify the damages Young Israel has caused, ASAP. Perhaps by achieving Emes, Mishpot and Shalom in Young Israel, Shalom Rubashkin will have the same.