Monday, September 22, 2003

Case of Yeedle Werdyger (Chassidic Singer)

Case of Yeedle Werdyger - Chassidic Singer
(AKA: The Case of The Son of Famous Orthodox Singer and a Haredi Friend)

Yeedle Werdyger - Alleged Sex Offender
Jerusalem, Israel

Yeedle Werdyger and an unnamed haredi friend, were arrested in Jerusalem for enticing teenage girls, some of whom were below the age of 16, to take dangerous drugs and then to have sexual relations with them.

In addition, police said the two men photographed the girls in intimate positions in the bathroom and having sexual relations with other men. The suspects would later show the pictures to their friends. A search of the downtown apartment of one of the suspects turned up the miniature camera that was used.

When the singer was arrested, he tried to swallow the memory disc of his computer, breaking the chip as he chewed it. Yeedle's relatives say: This is a frame up.

According to the article "Rabbis calling for a boycott of the Ben David"; the rabbis were also distributing a Jerusalem Post article relating to the arrest in Israel of a Charedi performer, even though the case was later dropped through lack of evidence."). 

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Table of Contents:  

2003
  1. Yeedle: The Legacy Continues
  2. Suspicion: Haredim forced young girls into drug use  (09/22/2003)
  3. City Notes - Haredi Drug and Rape Scandal  (09/26/2003)

2004
  1. Rabbis call for boycott of Ben David (06/11/2004)
  2. Could this Chassidic singer sexually assault your teenage daughter? 
  3. Fiddish (06/14/2004)
    • Comments
  4. He's the Jewish Michael Jackson - so why does a group of rabbis want to ban his
    concert?  (06/20/2004)

2005

  1. Jewish Whistleblower Vs The Jewish Press (07/04/2005)




2010
  1. YouTube video of Yeedle Werdyger Performing in  Brazil  (12/10/2010)

2013
  1. Yeedle on Facebook
  2. Yeedle Werdyger Fan page on Facebook


Also see:
  1. Case of the Friend of a Chassidic Singer

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Yeedle: The Legacy Continues
by Charni Sochet
Country Yossi - 2004
http://www.countryyossi.com/sochet.html

Father and son performing together
The coronation of the prince of Jewish music reiterates the intensity of a musical dynasty that has for three generations defined and revolutionized the medium. With a legendary grandfather, Chazzan David Werdyger, and the King of Jewish Music, Mordechai Ben David, for a father, Yeedle Werdyger's meteoric rather than episodic ascent to the court of musical excellence was paved in gold; two debut albums - "Together" and "Yeedle II" which both went gold.

Three years ago, as Yeedle embarked on a daunting journey to deliver his unique musical manifesto there was the ever present specter of his father's formidable shadow of excellence. MBD's twenty-five year seminal influence in the trends and direction of Jewish music would invoke analogous predictions that could prove disastrous to a debut artist. That dialogue of expectations has undermined the potential of sons who attempt to entertain the success of their fathers. Yeedle is very much his father's son, yet remarkably, he has emerged and cast a resplendent shadow of his own.

The parallels to his father's career are unavoidable and provide commentary on the Werdyger legacy of assiduous commitment to the format. Yeedle's status as heir apparent is distinguished in the familiar, yet uniquely eloquent vocal characterizations of his own stylistic imperative. MBD's visionary albums celebrate the medium of American Jewish music. He captured the volatility of contemporary music and made it palatable for a generation who would otherwise have been enticed by more alien refrains, bridging the gap between classical and contemporary music, and creating the premise for American Jewish music. Twenty-five years later, Yeedle generates identical revolutionary overtones by captivating the musical conscience of the next generation.

As Yeedle enthusiastically comments, "It's in my blood. As a child my father sang before he spoke. The heart he puts into music, is the heart he puts into everything else and he relayed that to me in every note and chorus. I live the music, and inhale its potency in the perfectionist tendencies my father passed on to me." Both Yeedle's and MBD's intensity embodies that ideal, in every arena in their lives. That orientation resonates in the success of "Together" and "Yeedle II". Yeedle's unassuming candor belies the impact he has had on the Jewish music industry. The response to "Together" was so overwhelming that it compelled Yeedle to devote himself to the full-time realization of his potential.

The public response to "Yeedle II" has by far surpassed all expectations. Yeedle reflects on its thunderous popularity, "The vocals, arrangements, choir, etc., every element of this album was formulated and reformulated to perfection. As an MBD production my father was directly involved in the arranging, mixing, and he guided me vocally." The selections on "Yeedle II" run the spectrum from the classical ballad to rhythmic dispensations with a variety that appeals to sensitivities across the spectrum.

The phenomenon that is Yeedle has swept the international music scene, with concert appearances in Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Paris, London, Canada, and Israel. He recently returned from a concert in Israel at Parkei Hayarkon Gan Yehoshua at which he made a guest appearance and enthralled an audience that was 200,000 strong. "It's staggering to look out at a sea of faces 200,000 deep and perform to an audience ten times the size of a New York presentation." He shared the stage with MBD, Avrohom Fried, and Dedi and confides his anxieties in performing before a live audience of this magnitude. "I'm always nervous before a performance, but the expectations and exceptional show of unity generated by the concert inspired, motivated, and kept me focused. The incredible surge of exultation that swept the crowd demonstrates the vast inroads that Jewish music has accomplished in the last twenty-five years." That coincides with the significant contribution the Werdygers have made. His return from Israel is marked by his impending departure for another concert in mid-June back in Israel. The intense popularity of "Yeedle II" keeps him shuttling back and forth between concert destinations in an effort not to disappoint any of his fans.

The remarkable reception that "Yeedle II" encountered internationally bespeaks the universality of the message that Yeedle conveys, "I like to experiment with different styles of music, without negotiating the standards of Jewish music. Music that makes you feel guilty is not Jewish music. You have to feel the song, it's essence and it's message. I try to reach out to every Jewish neighborhood and affect each person, because each song is enhanced by our particular perspective. My intent is to take traditional Jewish music and update it; popularize it for consumption by the next generation." And it has been voraciously consumed by numbers that stagger industry standards.

Yeedle Werdyger singing 
Artistically, Yeedle corroborates his father's musical achievements by elaborating on their momentum. For the generation that has been weaned on MBD, the timeless classics are those selections that punctuated their youth and the very special moments in their lives. For the generation that is currently weaned on Yeedle these 10 gems incorporated on "Yeedle II" are destined to be irrevocably fused with the memories and reminiscences that support a generation. Yeedle is characteristically compulsive about the quality of his album, "There were no arbitrary selections. There is no justification to subject the listener to insipid tones and rhythms that serve as nothing more than filler. Therefore it was imperative to assemble the finest composers, musicians, technicians, choir, arranger, etc. for a project of this magnitude." Parenthetically, Yeedle is frequently queried as to the placement of his father's compositions on Side Two. He remarks, "The fact of the matter is that Side One can be Side Two and vice versa. Each song is singularly amazing for its message and spectacular arrangements." Mona Rosenblum distinguishes "Yeedle II" with his unique signature arrangements, interludes, and overtures complemented by MBD's own interpretations. Yeedle examines the intent of compositions by MBD, Yitzy Bald, and Reb Chaim Banet with the flair of a vocal master.

Yeedle Werdyger - accused of raping teenage girls
Specifically, "Kivisi", composed by Reb Boruch Chait, has been especially well received and appreciated by Yeedle's constituency. "Laasos Retzon Avicha Shebashamyaim", the title song initially suffuses the album with a fervor that reflects Yeedle's design; to do the A-mighty's bidding, and it further alludes to fulfilling his own father's visions.

Recently Yeedle was featured on Gideon Levine's "Best of the Best" album, and the response to his performance illustrates his dominance in the medium. His vision has, however, not been betrayed by his success, "I love having the power to create with music and using it to sustain the audience, without being destructive. The exuberant reaction of a child confined to a wheelchair after we've shared a song thrills the spirit and awakens the soul. I am privileged to use my music the way Hashem intended."

Yeedle's goal of releasing an album a year is well underway. He is currently summoning and assembling his network of professionals who will infuse his personality and their perspectives into a cadence of indomitable energy and spirit that will enthrall his audience from generation II generation.


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Suspicion: Haredim forced young girls into drug use
By Elan Marcineau
Bambili website - September 22, 2003
(See Below to read original article in Hebrew)
(Translated from Hebrew to English by Avraham Sonenthal)

Yeedle Werdyger's Facebook profile
The two are also suspected of committing indecent acts on the bodies of the young girls, and videotaped their acts. One of the suspects is the son of a famous haredi singer. His father's relatives say: This is a frameup.

Two haredim from Jerusalem are suspected to have addicted young girls, aparently haredi, to drugs, and performed indecent acts on them while filming their actions with a home video camera. The jailing of the two, who are about 30 years old, was extended today until Monday at the Munincipal family court.

One of the detainees is the son of a famous singer in the haredi community. In a search of one of the detainees homes carried out by police were found video tapes that will be used in the investigation. Other details of the affair were blocked by a gag order.

Relatives of the singer, father of one of the detainees, said to ynet that the whole affair is a frame up directed at him (the singer) for purposes of extortion.

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Original Hebrew Article





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City Notes - Haredi Drug and Rape Scandal
by Abigail Radoszkowicz, Judy Siegel, Gail Lichtman
The Jerusalem Post, September 26, 2003

Yeedle Werdyger - Alleged sex offender
Two haredi men, one the singer son of a prominent American haredi performer, were arrested Friday afternoon in Jerusalem for enticing girls, some of whom were below the age of 16, to take dangerous drugs and then to have sexual relations with them.

In addition, police said the two men photographed the girls in intimate positions in the bathroom and having sexual relations with other men. The suspects would later show the pictures to their friends. A search of the downtown apartment of one of the suspects turned up the miniature camera that was used.
When the singer was arrested, he tried to swallow the memory disc of his computer, breaking the chip as he chewed it. "We think he had good reason to do so," the police told the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge.

The victims were all harediot, and police said the suspects took advantage of the girls' innocence and lack of sex education.

Investigation of the case began based on complaints filed by some of the girls as well as on additional sources, said police.

The police description of one of the suspects as the son of a prominent haredi personality led to wild speculation in the haredi community. Radio reports noted that Israeli Internet sites carried the full names of the suspects.

The judge ordered the police to allow friends of the two suspects to supply them with strictly kosher food with Eda Haredit certification.


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Rabbis call for boycott of Ben David
The Jewish Telegraph (UK) - June 11, 2004 - Sivan 22, 5764

(Note: according to the following article the Rabbis calling for a boycott of this concert "... are also distributing a Jerusalem Post article relating to the arrest in Israel of a Charedi performer, even though the case was later dropped through lack of evidence.").


Yeedle Werdyger - Alleged Sex Offender
A GROUP of Manchester rabbis has called for a boycott of the Mordechai Ben David Jerusalem Experience concert in Salford on Sunday week.

But the Lowry Theatre event, in aid of Israeli rescue organisation Zaka, will still go ahead.

The rabbis, including Manchester Beth Din dayanim Osher Westheim and Gabriel Krausz, put their signatures to a letter posted in synagogues advising people not to attend.

The stars are Mordechai Ben David - the world's number one Chassidic singer - together with his son Yeedle Werdyger and son-in-law Mendy Wald.

To satisfy Manchester's ultra-Orthodox community, the organisers - hoping to attract a 1,700 audience - arranged separate seating and entrances and even separate interval refreshment facilities.

Yet last weekend, posters signed by Dayanim Westheim and Krausz, Rabbis M M Schneebalg of Machzikei Hadass, Simcha Bamberger of Daf Hayomi, Y Wreschner of Adass Yeshurun Synagogue, Y Horwitz of Satmar, Leibish Rabinowitz of Shaarei Tefilah Synagogue and Sammy Goldberg of Damesek Eliezer Synagogue went up in the respective shools - banning attendance at the concert.

In defence of their position, the banning rabbis circulated an article, It's All a Matter of Taste, written by former Mancunian Ephraim Luft.

Mr Luft, now living in Bnei Brak, makes a swingeing attack on any Jewish music influenced by non-Jewish sources, even that played at religious weddings.

He particularly blames pop culture for leading to sexual immorality and claims chassidic pop is similarly tarnished.

He alleges that the intention of "frum singers" is "only to make money and they ignore the terrible negative influence that they are bringing with their music. Even if it is not intentional, it still takes control of the minds of young fans."

Yeedle Werdyger - Alleged sex offender
He quotes Rabbi Mattisyahu Solomon, formerly of Gateshead, who warns against the idolising of Chassidic singers. Mr Luft also warns against the security risks of large public gatherings.

The rabbis are also distributing a Jerusalem Post article relating to the arrest in Israel of a Charedi performer, even though the case was later dropped through lack of evidence.

But Rabbi Yehuda Brodie of Manchester Beth Din said the ban did not represent the views of the Beth Din.

The dayanim, he said, had signed in their private capacity. Manchester Beth Din dayanim Isaac Berger and Yehuda Steiner were not consulted on the matter. Concert organiser Dovid Holder, a daily Machzike Hadass synagogue worshipper, said: "The concert is going ahead. We hope it will be a sell-out.

''Mordechai Ben David, whom I know personally, is a very spiritual, Chassidic man.

"He is always learning Talmud and hardly speaks lest he talk lashon hora (slander). He is such a holy man that he makes a point of eating meat only on Shabbat."

He continued: "I am trying to do something nice for the Manchester Jewish community so that people can see how a frum gathering can be fun, uplifting and entertaining, that there are nice things in our religion. What's wrong with that?"

Tickets are available at the Lowry Box Office on 0870 787 5790.



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Could this Chassidic Singer sexually assault your teenage daughter?





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Fiddish
By Steven I. Weiss
Foward - June 14, 2004

The Awareness Center has launched its page on Yeedle Werdyger, the popular Jewish singer and son of the yet-more-popular Jewish singer, Mordechai Ben David, who was reportedly accused of various criminal acts relating to drugs and sexual activity with fans who were minors in Jerusalem. Note that the original two articles there do not name Werdyger.

The launch of the page follows some controversy when certain UK rabbis issued a letter directing congregants not to attend a pair of recent concerts (covered heavily in the J-blogosphere, at Blog in Dm and most recently at Bloghead), one of which featured Werdyger. If I recall correctly, this was Werdyger's first concert since the arrest mentioned in the reports; if it was not, then some other concert in the UK was. The anti-concert contingent seems to have had plenty of desire to issue the concert ban without the accusations against Werdyger. Indeed, the accusations against him, if the news and blogosphere reports are accurate, was merely a footnote. The Awareness Center caught one sentence in an article on the situation. Notes the Awareness Center:

Note: according to the following article the Rabbis calling for a boycott of this concert "... are also distributing a Jerusalem Post article relating to the arrest in Israel of a Charedi performer, even though the case was later dropped through lack of evidence."So the accusations were more the icing on the cake.

I've been following this as closely as anyone since the accusations first surfaced, and I'm struggling to see what news has been added to all-of-a-sudden bring these reported alleged indiscretions (note how long that string is) to the fore. I've sent The Awareness Center's Vicki Polin an e-mail asking as much. I'm as much for exposing abuse by those in power as anyone else, but this case, thus far, seems to be about as tenuous as any we've seen. I do hope we'll get more information about it, whichever way it turns out.

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Comments:
I suspect there are several factors at play here:
1) For months there has been pressure/communication with Rabbonim and concert promoters to quietly remove Yeedle from this concert. Some of this can be read in Blog in DM and MOChassid.2) Apparently the promoters and MBD are standing firm.
3) I suspect the Rabbonim can't deal with Yeedle directly so they're going after the JM industry as a whole. On some level, I believe they actually believe it's not Yeedle's character but the nature of the JM industry that is screwed up.
4) The Awareness Center has had the Yeedle case up for months as an unamed case. I suspect for several reasons: the articles didn't name Yeedle, Rabonim were probably consulted to determine a course of action and at the time Yeedle had left public performance (private individual, not a public performer anymore) and was a reduced threat to potential victims.
5) But now Yeedle has re-emerged in England for the first time since the arrest, re-establishing himself as a public performer.
6) The Yeedle camp in trying to protect Yeedle has put out the most bizzare story. This story has further damaged the JM industry. If you were to believe it, you would have to believe that a competing JM had Yeedle framed with underage children and child pornography. If that were so, I might have to believe what the Rabbonim in England are saying about the JM industry.
7) If:a. Rabbonim in England feel it is appropriate to publicize the Jerusalem Post article about Yeedle b. Yeedle chooses to be a public performer/figure the Awareness Center has no reason to maintain the case as an unkmown case.

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After reading ME's comment (it was posted as I was writing my comment above) I must agree with what he wrote. I would only add that I still believe that this is a means to an end -- and that is the end of 'Jewish music' as we now know it. -- Posted by Shmarya 
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My questions and comments:
1) Why has the reporting on this story been so poor? There doesn't seem to be follow-up. No US news outlet picked up on this story at all. Why were the charges dropped? Why has Yeedle been out of the spotlight? What happened?
2) If Yeedle's claims of being set up are true, why no arrests?
3) Has Yeedle damaged the JM industry? I think it is more than the "icing on the cake" for the Rabbonim in England. I really think they see something wrong in the JM industry and it is Yeedle. But what can they do? The charges were dropped in Israel. The only thing they can do is make the JM industry pay a price till they clean their industry up. Otherwise why the timing? Why pass around the Jerusalem Post article?
4) If the stories about Yeedle are true, does this mean the post-Lanner Orthodox community is still incapable and unwilling to take the necessary action to protect our children?
Posted by me at June 14, 2004 


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He's the Jewish Michael Jackson - so why does a group of rabbis want to ban his
concert? 

By Elizabeth Day
The Telegraph (UK) - June 20, 2004




Forget Madonna and her conical bras, or Eminem and his chainsaw: the latest American singer to arrive in Britain and create outrage is a 53-year-old Hassidic Jew who puts Biblical passages to music and is known as "the Michael Jackson of Jewish rock".

Britain's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has attacked the concert tonight in Manchester featuring Mordechai Ben David, from Brooklyn, New York. Orthodox rabbis have claimed that the event, dubbed "The Jerusalem Experience" and featuring popular songs with lyrics from the Torah such as Someday We Will All Be Together, is "immoral" and "a negative influence on young people".

Although the concert organisers have tried to appease the ultra-Orthodox by introducing separate entrances, seating arrangements and interval refreshments for men and women, eight rabbis from the Manchester area have signed a letter urging their congregations not to attend.

The rabbis claim that the concert would bring "a terrible negative influence" to bear on the minds of "young fans".

Photo caption: Ben David will sing with his son, Mendy, and son-in-law Yeedle

Mordechai Ben David is one of the world's most recognised Hassidic singers, with a career spanning 30 years and album sales in excess of one million, including the best-selling Jerusalem Is Not For Sale.

The Manchester concert, starting at 7pm - Ben David's first appearance in the city for more than 20 years - will also feature contributions from his son, Yeedle Werdyger, and son-in-law, Mendy Wald. An eye-catching publicity poster for the concert features a montage of the three singers in front of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, the holiest shrine of the Jewish world.

A share of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to Zaka, an organisation based in Israel that helps the victims of terrorist attacks.

Although Ben David's compositions are religiously inspired, the ultra-Orthodox community has condemned the singer for "polluting" the Torah with popular music.

One of the rabbis who signed the letter but refused to be named said: "We are becoming polluted with this popular sub-culture that is causing immorality. It is not true that this is 'religious' music as some people claim; this is a very different genre."

The rabbi added: "For us, this concert is not a good thing and is not in the spirit of our tradition. This notice is intended to warn the Orthodox people, [it is not intended] to oppress those who don't subscribe to our traditions.

"We simply have our own way, our own practices and we wanted to warn our people - people who do not even own a television or use the internet - that this concert would be unhelpful to the morals of our young people. We try to protect our children and this concert is not helpful to their education. We have a very strict code for the education of our children that goes back thousands of years and is all about a respect for the family."

David Holder, the concert organiser, called the protesters "basically unhinged" and insisted that tonight's event at the 1,800-seat Lowry Theatre would be a sellout.

"There are sections of the Jewish community who have taken it upon themselves to say that Jewish popular music brings influences into the community," he said. "It's rubbish. There's always going to be extremists in every community but 99.99 per cent find this type of thing enjoyable, entertaining and uplifting.

"These rabbis are obviously holy men who would never ever be found at a concert.  Within any religion there's going to be extremists and this is the way they represent their extremism. This [concert] should be shed in a very positive light; it's a great thing for the Jewish community.

"These trouble-makers really believe they are doing God's will, as do suicide-bombers, to be quite frank."

This is not the first time that the Jewish community has spoken out against a popular singer. In 1998, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel were outraged by Dana International, a transsexual singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Israel. Rabbi Shlomo Ben-Izri, the deputy health minister at the time, claimed that Dana's performance would "bring darkness unto the nations".

A spokesman for the Manchester Beth Din - the Orthodox Jewish religious court said that the ban did not represent their views and that the individual rabbis were acting in a private capacity.

Mordechai Ben David was unavailable for comment.


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Jewish Whistleblower Vs The Jewish Press
Jewish Whistleblower - July 4, 2005


Jewish Whistleblower writes:
A. Smearing whistleblowers is standard operating procedure (see 1), particularly in the Orthodox Jewish community.

B. The Jewish press is for sale and easily manipulated by the publicists (see 2) particularly the ones now operating as part of the Tendler war machine. I would note that both the Jewish Press and the Jewish Voice and Opinion are receiving advertising money from parties promoting Jewish music star and alleged child molester Yeedle.

Neither Jason Maoz or Susan Rosenbluth will address the issue with me. Why are they promoting singles/family cruises with an individual who due to his arrest record cannot work in law enforcement or get government security clearances? Why does the community tolerate such people as musical performers with young people? I guess we use a very low standard for people who entertain and work in settings with children and our young people and a much higher standard for the people giving you speeding tickets.


So basically we have an unnamed Jewish Press editorial board refusing to print a response from the RCA in the paper to their smears claiming it would violate halacha. Huh? Who exactly are the great unnamed poskim on this editorial board. What are their names (they claim others should have no anonymity rights, yet maintain theirs?)? We have The Jewish Press and Jewish Voice and Opinion receiving large advertising revenue from parties with a desire to remove the Awareness Center (Yeedle backers) from the face of the earth and running weekly/monthly smears that appear to come from the same talking points. Of course no one will discuss these advertising revenues, or their propriety.

(1) MORE THAN 1 MILLION USD PAID TO AMERICAN PR-COMPANIES
Kyiv. 11 November. UNIAN. Since March of 2003, American public relations firms have received some 1 million 41 thousand dollars in payments on contracts, which were concluded for the purpose of promoting a positive image of Victor Yanukovych, Prime-Minister and Ukrainian presidential candidate, according to the "Ukrayinska Pravda" web-site in Kyiv, Ukraine.

.....

The second objective of the program, according to UP, is being handled by A. Kiselev personally, this is the dissemination of information about the "anti-Semitism views of Victor Yushchenko, a member of parliament and the front-running presidential candidate, and Ukrainian-Americans in the USA". As an example of this view, UP cites the Washington Jewish Week web-site, which stated in an article that "Kiselev is also concerned that Yanukovych is not getting a fair hearing in the States, complaining that Ukrainian Diaspora groups that lobby in this country and support Yushchenko came following World War II and lived in Ukrainian areas where many residents were Nazi collaborators."

(2) Friends see a totally different Michael Rosin; The feds say he defrauded Medicare of $3 million; his defenders call him deeply religious and a dedicated doctor.  "Truly deep in my heart, I know he's a very honest man," said Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Chabad of Sarasota and Manatee Counties. "People who know him well know a great injustice has been done."

I emailed Jason Maoz and Susan Rosenbluth for their responses to these accusations.


Jason replied:

I challenge the jerk to document his charges. I don't know about the cruise business because, contrary to some ignorant, gossip-mongering know-it-alls (the frum community seems to specialize in such), there is a real wall between editorial and advertising at the Jewish Press. That doesn't mean that advertisers don't occasionally get to run a press release as part of an advertising agreement, but that's pretty much standard procedure. What it does mean is that I, and anyone else who deals with the non-sales side of operations, have absolutely nothing to do with advertisers and advertising. Finally, the cruise ads have no resemblance to (or bearing on) the Tendler affair, nor do their presence in the paper contradict anything we've said in our editorials. We've never maintained Tendler's innocence (or guilt), and we've run plenty of letters from readers taking issue with our stance vis-a-vis the RCA and Tendler. That hardly sounds like a paper in thrall to Tendler.

Susan replied:

As I told "jewish whistleblower," I do not correspond with anonymous blogs.
I also know nothing about anyone named "Yeedle Werdyger." "jewish whistleblower" made all sorts of allegations and backed them up with a news report that did not offer any names. When I pointed that out to the anonymous blog, the blogger said something about the fact that, in Israel, authorities had forbidden the names to be released. In other words, I should just take the word of an anonymous blog. Forget about it.

"Alleged" means nothing to me. "Convicted" does.

As for the other pieces you have included, I do not keep up with Ukrainian politics and I know nothing about Dr. Michael A. Rosin.

Jewish Whistleblower writes:

I would note that in addition to the consistent false information concerning the role of Rabbi Blau in the RCA investigation that appears in Jewish Press and Jewish Voice and Opinion articles/editorials, there has been a consistent lack of factual balance. Both claim the same "facts": that the RCA process was not halachically or legally valid.

And on what basis is this claim?

Nothing, they've pulled this fact out of the air.

I've actually done the research that they haven't and determined that the RCA followed the clear halachic and legal precedent set by the chief rabbanut in England.

But then when has this stopped Rosenbluth or the shadowy Jewish Press from making halachic determinations and factual claims in areas where it is painfully clear they have no expertise.

My "communications" with Susan Rosenbluth, reveal her to be totally ignorant as to the issue of sexual abuse. She has done zero research into other survivors organizations and has no idea how other religions deal with their sexual predators. Instead of taking an open view to the issue, she relies on her "halachic advisors" such as Rabbi Moshe Tendler. She makes bold statements that this is halachic/this isn't halachic as if she and her advisors have a monopoly on Jewish Law. She believes that unless you have a criminal conviction you should not be prevented from holding positions of trust or working with the vulnerable. Her crazy ideas found wide acceptence in the past in such organizations as the Catholic Church. Which is the reason for the current scandal. Her attitude towards the propblem of sexual abuse and exploitation is the same dangerous attitude that has protected errant clergy in the past.

I pointed her to http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ as an example of how religious survivor abuse groups deal with their sexual predators. I noted that of the thousands of priests listed, only a few dozen have been convicted. I also noted that a good portion of the priests listed are dead. It went right over her head.

She simply does not hear what she doesn't want to.

Survivors groups and the abuser databases don't serve a single role of protecting others from these abusers. They also serve a role educating and creating awareness of a serious problem in our community. They are a tool to give victims/survivors a voice, where before they had none.

Read Robert Averach's blog to see the profound and long lasting effect of "mere" physical abuse.   How more so the victims/survivors of sexual abuse. In the end, it's all about power. The abusers have it, the victims don't. That's what survivor advicacy is about ... changing the power balance. Giving power to the victims and survivors, not protecting the legacies of evil predators.


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YouTube video of Yeedle Werdyger performing in Brazil




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