Protocols A group of Jews endeavors towards total domination of the blogosphere.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
This is Protocols' concluding post. Protocols was the first stand-out Jewish-issues blog, combining the most traffic and content, and most-active comments section, for a period. It inspired -- at the least -- dozens of Jews to begin blogging on their own.
It was launched two years ago today, with four Elders: Sam Singer, Pinchas Shapiro, Yehuda Kraut and myself; Avraham Bronstein soon joined the pack. In mid-2004, a series of guest-bloggers, listed on the right, came on-board; Luke Ford eventually took the reins and provided the lion's share of posts in the blog's last five months.
It was good while it lasted.
Where you can find us from here on in:
Steven I. Weiss:
Home blog Iatribe will always have current status, as well as religion blog Canonist, food and cooking blog Kosher Bachelor, and other projects soon to come.
No more trachea-pulling/throat-ripping.
A second cut to slash the arteries only. (I.e., no more #1.)
Stunning or killing animals still walking after slaughter.
1) "PETA employee Tal Ronen misrepresented himself to Rabbi Shar Yoshuv
Cohen, Haifa's Chief Rabbi, as a baal teshuva (returnee to authentic
Judaism) interested in proper slaughter practices."
2) Ralph Benning, 40, a ''Torah-observant Jew'' who is an inmate in a
Georgia prison can wear a yarmulke at all times and be served kosher food,
the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled.
Courtesy of the Awareness Center YahooGroup:
Case of Ralph Harrison Benning, Fulton County, Georgia
1)
Abuse victims often get less therapy than molester `No follow-up
unless parents have money,' says DA
by Gayle White Staff Writer
Atlanta Journal and Constitution
January 10, 1987
...
- In September 1985, Ralph Harrison Benning, 23, pleaded guilty to molesting
and murdering Peter Downing Howell Jr., 8. Benning told police he killed
Howell on the site where he was molested as a child. "Assaulting Downing was
like a re-enactment of something that had happened to him," a police officer
said.
...
2)
BENNING, RALPH H
GDC ID: 0000427174
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
DOB: 12/26/1963 RACE: WHITE GENDER: MALE
HEIGHT: 6'03''
WEIGHT: 211
EYE COLOR: UNKNOWN
HAIR COLOR: UNKNOWN
SCARS, MARKS, TATTOOS
INCARCERATION DETAILS
MAJOR OFFENSE: MURDER
MOST RECENT INSTITUTION: HANCOCK STATE PRISON
MAX POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE: LIFE, W/POSSIBLE PAROLE
TENTATIVE PAROLE MONTH: N/A
ACTUAL RELEASE DATE: CURRENTLY SERVING
CURRENT STATUS: ACTIVE
KNOWN ALIASES
A.K.A. BENNING,RALPH
A.K.A. BENNING,RALPH HARRISON
STATE OF GEORGIA - CURRENT SENTENCES
CASE NO: 198322
OFFENSE: AGGRAV ASSAULT
CONVICTION COUNTY: FULTON COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 09/16/1992
SENTENCE LENGTH: 5 YEARS, 0 MONTHS, 0 DAYS
CASE NO: 198322
OFFENSE: MURDER
CONVICTION COUNTY: FULTON COUNTY
CRIME COMMIT DATE: 07/05/1986
SENTENCE LENGTH: LIFE
STATE OF GEORGIA - PRIOR SENTENCES
STATE OF GEORGIA - INCARCERATION HISTORY
INCARCERATION BEGIN INCARCERATION END
10/09/1986 ACTIVE
Shmarya called rabbi Basil Herring about the kosher slaughtering case with PETA vs Agriprocessors in Iowa. Rabbi Herring hung up on him. Shmarya called him back and asked him about the leaked file in the rabbi Mordecai Tendler case. Rabbi Herring said he could not talk about it and hung up again.
I got this note from a group of men and women in Australia who prefer to remain anonymous regarding rabbi Jeremy Hershy Worch:
Hershy Worch came to Melbourne, Australia with his wife and young family in 1995. He was initially employed by the Hillel Foundation. As rabbi of the Hamakom Synagogue, he was then financially supported by members of his community from the years 1995-1997. During this time both his behaviour and demeanour with his female students were consistently predatory, manipulative and abusive. He proactively sought 'romantic' and sexual relationships wtih many many women, specifically targeting those who were emotionally vulnerable and fostering acute dependency. He consistently used his role as counselor to make sexual advances towards those who came to him in need. He had 'romantic' sexual relationships with married and unmarried women who ranged in age from 20 to 50.
His inappropriate behaviour towards female students included:
Physical sexual interactions
Predatory behavior in the pursuit of women: e.g. late night phone calls and invitations to teach women privately.
Using the teaching of Torah as a tool of seduction.
Using group situations with himself at the centre - that utilized his musical, vocal and narrative 'talents' - to manipulate individuals and create a cultic environment around 'Kabbalah' classes.
Using his relationships with students to influence them to 'rescue' him by financially and publically supporting and defending him.
His abuse of his position as rabbi, chazzan and counselor traumatized this community leaving wounds that took and are still taking many years to heal. Reputations were publicly compromised and personal lives were taken over.
Those who have followed his career since he left Australia and returned to the United States have observed a repetition of these patterns.
We trust that with our testimony and others you will do everything within your power to expose Hershy Worch and warn individuals and communities who may be vulnerable to his 'teachings' and promises of insight and enlightenment.
Jack writes: Yerachmiel Begun, the owner of the "Miami Boys Choir" company, doesn't pay the boys at all. If anything, they pay for the privilege of making him money.
A month or so ago there were a series of postings on Bloghead -- and in response, some discussion on Protocols -- regarding Rabbi Mayer Schiller, and specifically, allegations that he has white supremacist connections and put in an appearance at an Orange-order linked assembly in Belfast, Ireland.
He responds on Bloghead.
I recently heard that Protocols will soon be no longer. So I figured I'd say a couple of things before we finish.
1) If anyone picked up and held 100 shares of each of the stocks I recommended on August 22 - OVTI, GTW, CIPH - they would have earned an overall return of 44%. (They went up 60%, 51%, and -17%, respectively).
Of course, I would have counseled everyone to get out of Ciphergen much earlier - as I did - but I never posted this information, so I'll stick with the 44% figure.
I would still pick up DHB (for Long-term hold) right now despite its recent run, and I'm keeping OVTI and GTW as well. Good luck.
2) Victory is both sweet and good.
Sweet, personally, primarily because of the abuse pro-Bush people (like me) were subjected to by our liberal friends (and non-friends), which we were gloriously able to heave back in the face of already-chastened and pathetically depressed Kerry-backers.
And good, because it was (and is) vital that our country have a leader who - both on a personal and party level - is dedicated to killing the Islamofascists who are out to kill us. Period. Whether Kerry would have been personally dedicated to this mission is debatable; however, there is no question that a good (i.e. bad) portion of his party does not share this view, and it is to the benefit of our country that this element of the Democratic party has been discredited and discarded by the American electorate.
And this leads to my next point:
3) The pain for the Democrats has only just begun. Many of the post-mortems in the liberal press, while acknowledging defeat, have hung their hat upon the fact that Kerry won nearly 50% of the vote and that the Congressional victories of the Republicans were decided by local concerns, and therefore were not indicative of a general trend swinging to the Republican side.
In my mind, this analysis is missing one important point: while Kerry and Dems put in a somewhat decent showing (barely), 2004 was their best chance for victory, and they still got soundly thumped. The unity and focus of the left will not soon match that which existed during the past four years. Although they alienated many people with their antics, the Democrats and their 527s actually did turn out legions of supporters. And they still got thumped. In the 2006 elections, what will Dems come out for? What will unite them like their hatred for W? Nothing. And they'll be thumped again.
On top of all this, there's another factor, which has been noted sporadically in the press but not sufficiently: it is no fun to be in the impotent opposition. The exodus of Democratic Senators and Congressmen will continue and accelerate. In the end, by 2006, the Dems will lose at least 2 more Senate seats and at least five more seats in the House. A Hillary Presidential candidacy would be a Democratic disaster and would almost single-handedly ensure Republican control of the White House until 2016. (A VP run by Hillary would be more interesting).
The great danger, of course, is Republican overreaching. Not to the country, as the NYT would have it, but rather because it is the only factor that could slow down the emerging Republican dominance at all levels of the federal government. But it won't.
I don't like the fact that we can't let our children use the bathrooms unsupervised at malls because of nonsense like this.
Note: Michael Katz, 48, of Wyckoff, development director for United Jewish
Communities (Charles Kusher used to be a board member).
1+2 deal with arrest
3 background on Katz
4 mandatory Charles Kushner connection
1)
Mall restroom sting nets 5 on lewdness
Thursday, December 2, 2004
By BRIAN SPADORA
HERALD NEWS
PARAMUS - Five men were arrested and charged with lewdness and criminal sexual contact for masturbating in a restroom at the Bergen Mall.
The five men arrested were Robert Callahan, 73, of Dumont, Larry
Eisenberg, 70, of Englewood, Michael Katz, 48, of Wyckoff, Bernard Kearny,
38, of Wallington and Nestor Santos, 53, of Englewood.
The lewdness charge, a disorderly person's offense, relates to exposing
oneself.
The criminal sexual contact charge, a misdemeanor, stems from touching
oneself sexually in front of someone who does not consent to watch, Cary
said.
2)
Five men arrested in mall restroom
Thursday, December 2, 2004
PARAMUS - Five men were caught masturbating in a public restroom Tuesday
afternoon during an undercover sweep at the Bergen Mall, authorities said.
Police arrested Bernard Kearny, 38, a salesman from Wallington; Dr. Larry
Eisenberg, 70, of Englewood, a freelance anesthesiologist; Robert Callahan,
73, a retired banker from Dumont; Michael Katz, 48, of Wyckoff, development
director for United Jewish Communities; and Nestor Santos, 53, a data-entry
clerk from Englewood.
3)
Mission seeks to expand local ties with beleaguered Argentineans
Wiener, Robert. Jewish News. Whippany, N.J.: Jul 1, 2004.Vol.LVIII, Iss. 27;
pg. 8
Saddened by much of what they witnessed, yet heartened by the ways a
troubled people is fighting back, 13 members of the UJA Campaign's Young
Leadership Division returned June 18 from six days in Argentina.
"Argentina had a very active Jewish community," said Michael Katz, associate
UJA Campaign director at United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.
"Then, in 2001, the economy went into a freefall."
Katz said experts at the Ariel Job Placement Center in Buenos Aires told his
delegation that before the collapse Argentina had 4,000 Jews they considered
poor. After the collapse, the number rose to 38,000.
"The middle and upper-middle classes were literally driven into poverty,"
said Katz. "People who were poor to begin with were devastated completely.
It did not just affect Jews. It was across the board. But our job as a
Jewish federation is to reach out to Jews in need, wherever they may be, and
try to help them."
With that aim in mind, the 13 men from MetroWest flew to Buenos Aires on
June 13, then to the federation's embattled sister city of Tucuman.
"We've developed a relationship there with the rabbi and the day schools and
the Jewish community center and various organizations, so we have a hands-on
feel," Katz explained.
"Not only do we offer them money through the [American Jewish] Joint
Distribution Committee, but we can come in and assess a special need. For
instance, in a building that provides community assistance, we installed an
elevator so that people -- especially the elderly -- could get to the third
floor where food packages were being distributed."
Robert Wiener can be reached at rwiener@njjewishnews.com
Article copyright New Jersey Jewish News.
4)
Kushner Fallout Unclear; Scandal's effect on philanthropist's giving 'open
question.'
Dickter, Adam. The New York Jewish Week. (Manhattan edition). New York,
N.Y.: Jul 23, 2004.Vol.217, Iss. 08; pg. 1
When mega-philanthropist Charles Kushner was charged last week with conspiring against his brother-in-law in a sex video scandal, New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine wasted no time returning more than $80,000 of the billionaire developer's campaign contributions. His New York colleague, Charles Schumer, gave some $4,000 of Kushner cash to charity, according to press reports.
The accusations against Kushner, one of the marquis names in American Jewish philanthropy, have also placed New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey in a bind, having received $1.5 million in donations from the embattled businessman over the years. McGreevey and a Democratic campaign committee this week gave a total of some $13,000 in donations from Kushner to a medical research foundation.
Kushner is most closely associated with the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in
Livingston, named for his father, a Holocaust survivor, and the Kushner
Hebrew High School. He is also a board member of Touro College in New York,
the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, N.J., Yeshiva University's
Stern College for Women and the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New
Jersey.
"The most oft-updated site shop for Jewish kitsch and personal commentary in the blogosphere." -- Jewsweek Magazine "If you only have time for one Jewish blog, make it this one." -- Jewish Journal North of Boston
Support protocols via PayPal:
Earn Protocols money by applying for this no-annual-fee credit card (you can cut it up when you get it -- we still earn a referral fee):
Any time you purchase something at Amazon, click on the link below first, and Protocols earns a referral fee.
