Brooklyn, NY – None of the nearly $1 million set aside to tackle sex abuse in New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities has been spent, even as another program set up to help scrambles for cash.

The state has earmarked $950,000 since April 2009 to fund Assemblyman Dov Hikind’s plans to teach Hasidic Jews to speak up against child molestation.

But the money sits untouched as Hikind figures out the details of Shomrei Yeldainu – Hebrew for “Guardians of our Children” – the Daily News has learned.

“You have to develop something that is done correctly working with the rabbis and leaders,” said Hikind (D-Brooklyn).

The $950,000 was included in the 2009 state budget for the Office of Family and Children’s Services, said Matt Anderson, a budget spokesman for Gov. Paterson.

It’s the first time the state has funded a sex abuse program geared toward helping a specific ethnic group.

“Apparently, the Hasidim will only go to the Hasidim for help,” said Edward Borges, an FCS spokesman.

While Hikind’s program waits to spend its vast funding, another is making do with much less. Project Kol Tzedek – Hebrew for “Voice of Justice” – is up and running on a relative shoestring budget.

Kol Tzedek was created in April 2009 within the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office Sex Crimes Bureau.

A $40,000 grant from Altria Group Inc., a cigarette company, pays the salary of the program’s sole orthodox Jewish social worker.

Nearly 100 people have called the hotline and more than 30 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have been arrested, including 16 who have been charged with felony crimes.

This adds to the workload of the already overburdened team of 18 prosecutors in the Brooklyn Sex Crimes unit, said Bureau Chief Rhonnie Jaus.

There’s no money for more staffers.

“We work from our own budget,” said Jaus. “That is all the resources we have.”

News Source:  NY Daily News By Simone Weichselbaum

New York – Brooklyn is a fascinating place. For those who were born and raised there and attended yeshiva there, it has its advantages. We were brought up to respect our gedolim and da’as Torah. People who operated outside of the perimeter of da’as Torah were beyond the pale of what was acceptable. In the 60’s, and 70’s, Rabbi Meir Kahane was perceived to be operating outside the pale. Many of us liked some of what he had to say, but since the gedolim were not with him, many stayed far away.

We liked da’as Torah. We always knew that whatever issues Klal Yisrael would face, Rav Moshe, zt’l, and Rav Yaakov, zt’l, would be there to answer our questions and to lead. We saw Rav Yaakov in the beis midrash, we glimpsed Rav Moshe at chasunos. They would talk with us. Our Torah leaders were giants in all ways and in all respects.

Fast forward 40 years. We marry. We move out of Brooklyn. We raise and marry off our children (well, most of them, anyway).

Rabbi Avi Weiss is a remarkably likable fellow who makes a lot of sense in many of his positions. His ahavas Yisrael is genuine and he is a deep and profound thinker. He is well-liked, indeed loved, by the members of his shul in Riverdale. He also has the backing of Mr. Howard Jonas, whose brilliance and love of K’lal Yisrael has brought the Torah community unprecedented parnasah.

However, in launching a female rabbinate, and in starting Yeshiva Chovevei Torah, which has done away with the entire notion of da’as Torah, Rabbi Weiss has—in our minds—crossed a line. He states quite openly that the views of the greatest of our rabbis should only be relegated to their area of expertise—Torah—and they are not expert in any other area.

The view is problematic because it flies in the face of all that we were brought up with and numerous statements of Chazal. Would he have dared say this about Moshe Rabbeinu or about Shmuel HaNavi? Do we have another Korach in our midst? What about Yiftach b’doro k’Shmuel b’doro?

The Moetzes Gedolei Torah of Agudath Israel of America has come out with a strong statement against Rabbi Weiss. It is a position that we must all support. Rabbi Avi Weiss has clearly taken a wrong turn. He has since backed off slightly, withdrawing the title of “Rabbah” assigned to the first female clergywoman assigned to his rabbinical staff.

But that is not the only problem. Another problem exists, and perhaps it is this problem that explains how we have come to such a situation.

An illustration may be in order. About 20 plus years ago on an erev Shabbos in the summertime, a message came from Rav Shach. The situation in Eretz Yisrael was critical. As a z’chus in this time of tza’ar, every ben Torah—every follower of da’as Torah—should have their single daughters invoke the koach of kavod Shabbos to assist in this time of Klal Yisrael’s great need by lighting Shabbos candles. The merit of that act would save us during this idna derischa. Faxes were spread throughout the Torah community.

Many listened to the words of Rav Shach. Some ignored it. And many of those who ignored it were “supposedly” bnei Torah themselves. What? How could they? They do not follow da’as Torah!

Before you go on reading the rest of this editorial, ask yourself or your older friends (or your parents) whether you or they remember the incident.

The cry came out against those phony “bnei Torah” who did not follow da’as Torah. Yiftach b’doro k’Shmuel b’doro!

On Sunday morning, inquiries were made with Rav Shach, zt’l, and the entire campaign turned out to be one massive fraud. The incident was quickly forgotten and obliterated because it was one massive embarrassment to the Torah community. Those who pulled off the incident and/or supported it asked, “What is wrong with giving K’lal Yisrael a boost in mitzvos? So what if it wasn’t him. They were still mitzvos!”

The real problem is that so many people are presenting their own agendas and positions as if they were da’as Torah. Da’as Torah has become the code word to promote personal agendas. We, however, follow it and respect it. And because da’as Torah is so precious, we must take effort to safeguard it and protect it from abuse.

The majority of K’lal Yisrael would like nothing better than to hear da’as Torah, pure da’as Torah—unadulterated and unencumbered by personal agendas. And most of us would like nothing better than to stop the abuse of the term and concept of “da’as Torah.”

To receive faxes allegedly from Rav Shach does not help us. The statement recently released by Agudah with signatures from our gedolim, Baruch Hashem, is exactly what we do need, however. That is genuine da’as Torah.

But to promote and protect genuine Da’as Torah we need to implement certain safeguards. The “erev Shabbos” faxes just prove the need to implement these measures.

Does anyone remember the new pre-Yom Kippur product with the haskamah and letter of a major gadol? That was just one example of how the da’as Torah commodity can be abused and cheapened. It wasn’t just a mere haskamah. A careful reading of the letter indicated to the reader that it was a chiyuv to buy the product. From a scientific and medical point of view (and some will not believe this assertion) the product was pure snake oil. No one dared to say anything because it was, after all, a major gadol. But selling a commercial product?

And there is another point that needs to be made too. Sometimes, too much reliance is placed upon the gabbai or other intermediaries between the gadol and the people. Does anyone out there remember the original misinformation about kidney transplants? They were unsafe and killed both the recipient and donor. The poskim forbade it, and the doctors were up in arms until finally someone was able to get back in and explain to the gedolim that the first guy had it wrong.

It was done, and thankfully, now kidney transplants are allowed. The gedolim who forbade it stepped up to the plate and retracted. Praised is the generation when their leaders can admit error and correct the situation.

The situation is such that, and this is no joke, a communications office should be set up so that the information coming in is vetted properly. We have to make sure that it is not one-sided. One guy with a vendetta against someone else could feasibly line up a number of signatures.

Do you know how many visitors attempt to intimidate gedolim to force a signature out of them?

Visitor: “So you are saying that you are not signing? So you are against this?”

Rosh yeshiva: “No, I am not saying that, I am just saying that I will think about it. Leave it here.”

Visitor: If you aren’t signing, it means you are against. I will tell others that you are against.”

This is not just conjecture. It was a real bona fide conversation. It is no wonder that Rabbi Avi Weiss has decided to totally discount things. We, however, cannot. We believe in da’as Torah. Things cannot go on this way. We need to raise the banner of da’as Torah and of our gedolim by putting in these safeguards so that things will not be abused.

News Source:  Five Towns Jewish Times By Larry Gordon

Rochester, NY – A US Airways jet bound for Charlotte, N.C., has made an emergency landing at an upstate New York airport after the pilot reported a bird strike shortly after takeoff.

Airline spokeswoman Tina Swail says the pilot of Flight 1101 declared an emergency two minutes after leaving Rochester’s airport Thursday morning.

The Airbus carrying 124 passengers and a crew of five turned back, landed safety at 8:30 a.m., and returned to the terminal.

The plane is being repaired and the flight was canceled. Passengers were shifted to other flights.

There was no immediate information on the type or size of bird the plane hit.

News Source:  CBS News

South Lanarkshire, UK – A group of stunned primary schoolchildren began crying when their teacher told them during a bizarre Holocaust game that they were to be taken away from their families.

The pupils, aged 11, became upset after a number of them were segregated and told they were being sent away or might end up in an orphanage.

The ordeal was meant to give the youngsters at the Lanarkshire school an insight into the horrors faced by Jewish children during World War II.

But the exercise, which was sprung without warning on the children at St Hilary’s Primary School in East Kilbride last Thursday morning, reduced several to tears.

Deputy head teacher Elizabeth McGlynn segregated nine pupils and told them they were to be sent away. After 15 minutes they were told it was all an act but that the role play would carry on up to lunchtime.

One angry parent, who has lodged an official complaint about the exercise, told how the ‘barbaric’ role play upset the children.

In a letter sent to council bosses, the unnamed mother said: ‘Mrs McGlynn told the children they would probably have to be sent away from their families and that their parents had been informed about this and knew all about it.

‘When one child asked if that meant they might have to go to an orphanage, they were told that might be a possibility.

‘At that point many of the children became very distressed.

‘One boy kicked his chair over, one was angry and demanded to speak to someone in charge but most were crying on a scale ranging from mildly to severely.

‘Their ordeal lasted between 12 and 15 minutes before the children were informed that it was all an act but that the role play would continue until lunchtime.’

One girl said her classmates began crying when Mrs McGlynn told them she had a letter from the Scottish Executive saying nine children had to be separated from their classmates.

She told the shocked youngsters those who were born in January, February and March had lower IQs than other children, ‘due to lack of sunlight in their mother’s womb’, and that they had to put yellow hats on and be sent to the library.

The mother added: ‘When I asked why on earth they thought it was appropriate to deliver a role play situation to the children in this way, Mrs Stewart informed me that they didn’t inform the children beforehand.

‘This was because they wanted the children to experience an “accurate emotional response” to this scenario in order for it to be reflected in their story writing.

‘Mrs Stewart then invited me to come up to the school and see the excellent work that had been produced as a result of the exercise.

‘I declined and my position and opinion on the method used to extract emotive story writing from the children was cruel, barbaric, traumatic and totally, totally unethical.

‘My daughter and indeed no child needs to feel the terror, fear, panic, segregation and horror that a child of the Holocaust experienced during one of the worst atrocities in history to be able to empathise with them in order to produce good story writing.’

A South Lanarkshire council spokeswoman, who confirmed that a role play activity took place, said: ‘The council can confirm that a parent handed in a letter to Education Resources on Monday, March 8, 2010, and this will be responded to shortly.’

An estimated six million Jews died in the Holocaust. Jewish children in Nazi Europe had to wear yellow Star of David badges during World War II.

Jews also had to live apart from the rest of the population in ghettos.

Finally they were taken to concentration camps, where most were separated from their parents then killed.

News Source:  Daily Mail UK

Manhattan, NY – There was scarce evidence of the global recession at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for the IDF in New York City on Tuesday night.

Even as protestors outside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel decried the guest of honor – Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi – donors pledged six-figure sums, topping $20 million by the end of the night. Inside a glittering ballroom, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces staged a theatrical show that tugged on the heartstrings – and purse strings – of the nearly 1,400 in attendance.

On the heels of a trip to Washington, where he met with top US officials, Ashkenazi emphasized the threat of Iran’s nuclear program and called on the international community to stop the Islamic regime.

“All options should remain on the table,” he said.

But outside, a coalition of left-leaning groups led hundreds of protestors in a single-file march around the perimeter of the hotel. Clad in black, they hoisted signs emblazoned with the words, “War crime,” “End the siege on Gaza” and “Israeli war criminals feast at the Waldorf.”

“Everyone feels that Operation Cast Lead was an outrage,” said Dorothy Zellner, of Jews Say No!, which mobilized early. “As a Jew, I can’t tolerate that the country that did this claims it is doing it for me.”

But inside, Ashkenazi played up the humanity and moral compass of Israeli soldiers. He highlighted IDF success stories of the past year: its interception of the Francop, a ship carrying 650 tons of weapons and explosives, as well as Israel’s response to the earthquake in Haiti.

“But our soldiers do much more,” he said. “They demonstrate respect for human dignity and value human life, regardless of the enemy’s cruelty.”

Despite the relative calm of the past year, stemming from “deterrence” attained during Cast Lead and the second Lebanon war, he said, Israel faces complex threats.

“As commander of our soldiers, I tell you upon this stage: We will [overcome] those who seek our destruction,” he said. “We will win thanks to our soldiers’ courage and because of their moral compass.”

The rich program, which also featured an Ethopian-born soldier and a doctor who served in the Israeli field hospital in Haiti, struck a carefully orchestrated tone and stayed on message. In a video message, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Iran threatens Israel openly and called for “sanctions with teeth.” Following Ashkenazi, 25-year-old Tal Shabbat, a soldier gravely injured three years ago, took the stage and said he fought to recover because “you live once.”

Via satellite from Israel, Navy officers explained their dangerous Francop mission. And many were moved to tears when Guy Banai, the deaf father of a fallen IDF soldier, addressed the audience through an interpreter, telling them that his son had been his connection to the outside world, his “right hand.” Exempt from combat duty, Liron Banai chose to serve in combat and died after his jeep was hit by a roadside bomb in Gaza. His father struggled to convey the “darkness” of the past two years without his son.

“I’m proud of Liron, I’m proud of our soldiers, I’m proud of our army and I’m proud of our country,” he said.

As dinner plates were cleared, speeches gave way to a main event: spirited, public pledges, earmarked for education, recreational facilities and other projects.

The first donor to step up offered $200,000. A cascade of dizzying sums followed: $500,000 from Iranian Jews in New York, $270,000 from a donor in honor of his 15 children and grandchildren, $1m. for education and $3.5m. from a fellowship of Evangelical Christians.

The crowd whooped when designer Elie Tahari donated $100,000, and people jumped to their feet to fete a US marine who made the relatively small donation of $1,000.

“I realize how important it is to defend a country and take care of your own,” the marine, Todd Bowers, said, donating his savings in memory of Liron Banai.

Still, critics outside the dinner were not happy about where the money was going.

“The idea that there’s a 501c3 non-profit that raises money for a foreign army seems a little odd,” said Nancy Kricorian, coordinator of CODEPINK in New York, who said “there was something about Cast Lead that was a turning point for us.”

Amid a strong police presence – including uniformed officers and canine patrol – a smaller counter-protest gathered across the street from the Waldorf. They carried their own signs, such as “Israel exists and we are here to stay” and “Free Gilad.”

“I do feel sorry for the innocent civilians,” said Rachel Shorr, a sophomore at Yeshiva University who wrapped herself in an Israeli flag. But she indicated the need for Israel to defend itself, and pointed out that civilians in Sderot are assaulted by rocket attacks.

“It’s important to show my presence and support Israel any way I can,” she said.

News Source:  Jpost

New York – Brooklyn Democrat State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has introduced a bill that would ban the use of salt in New York restaurants – and violators would be smacked with a $1,000 fine for every salty dish.

“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food,” the bill reads.

Some of Manhattan’s top cooks blasted the idea, saying the legislation lacks a certain je ne sais quoi.

“New York City is considered the restaurant capital of the world. If they banned salt, nobody would come here anymore,” said Tom Colicchio, star of “Top Chef” and owner of Craft.

“Anybody who wants to taste food with no salt, go to a hospital and taste that,” he said.

Ortiz says his bill is designed to save lives, just like laws that ban the use of trans fats and require chain restaurants to post nutrition information.

“It’s time for us to take a giant step,” Ortiz said yesterday. “We need to talk about two ingredients of salt: health care costs and deaths.”

He claims billions of dollars and thousands of lives would be saved if salt was taken off the menu altogether.

There’s little argument that too much salt causes high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks – but even hardcore salt haters say banning it outright is a pinch too much.

“You can live with salt in your diet. The problem in our society is excess salt,” said Sonia Angell, director of the cardiovascular disease and prevention program for the Health Department.

Angell is behind the city’s new push to get food producers and restaurants to cut sodium content by 25% over the next five years. That includes prepared foods like canned soups and frozen dinners, as well as fast-food meals that can have twice the recommended amount of salt for an entire day.

“Fast food is loaded with sodium, but in a kitchen that’s doing fine dining, the use of salt is moderate,” said John DeLucie, chef at The Waverly Inn and the soon-to-be opened Lion.

“There’s a ridiculous amount of salt in processed foods, but what I use is not a salt bomb like that. It’s to taste.”

“I have zero problems with blood pressure, zero problems with my health, and I have eaten salt all my life,” said Eric Ripert, chef at world-famous Manhattan restaurant Le Bernardin.

“Cooked food tastes good with salt and it’s bland without it,” said Ripert. “I believe very much that processed food is not good for you. But salt – salt is different. There are zero dishes I prepare that have no salt at all.

“[Ortiz] does not have my vote,” Ripert said.

News Source:  NY Daily News

Washington – During a rant that lit up the blogosphere yesterday, an enraged U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island had to be gaveled quiet yesterday after ripping into what he called “despicable” media coverage of the war in Afghanistan.

House floor on a failed measure calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan.

“If anybody wants to know where cynicism is, cynicism is, there’s one, two press people in this gallery,” Kennedy shouted as he pointed up to the nearly empty press section.

“We’re talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We’re talking about war and peace, $3 billion dollars, a thousand lives and no press? No press?

“The press, the press of the United States, is not covering the most significant issue of national importance . . . it’s despicable.”

News Source:  Boston Herald

New York, NY – They stand about six feet tall and look like naked human beings. Over the next few days, 27 of them will be scattered across rooftops and ledges of buildings in Midtown Manhattan — including the Empire State Building — as part of a public art exhibition.

About the same time that the first figure was placed atop a four-story building at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue on Tuesday, the Police Department issued a statement reassuring New Yorkers that the figures are not despondent people on the verge of leaping to their deaths.

Police officials said they were trying to prevent an overwhelming number of emergency calls from concerned pedestrians or office workers. Nevertheless, they said that all emergency calls about a potential suicide would be taken seriously — even those from places where one of the figures is located.

“We are going to respond no matter what because there could be a jumper at the spot,” said Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman.

Read the full story at The NY Times

News Source:  NY Times

New York, NY – Garbage in, garbage out — but less frequently if the city decides to replace street litter baskets with solar-powered compactors that go for a hefty $4,000 each.

Eighteen months after rejecting one version of a high-tech street garbage compactor as impractical, the Sanitation Department is quietly evaluating whether a new model with different features can qualify as the city’s street trash can for the 21st century.

Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said the first BigBelly solar compactor didn’t make the grade because it held just twice the volume of a regular litter basket, not the five times advertised by Seahorse Power Co. of Needham, Mass., the manufacturer.

“You really have to put them on a whole route, which can maybe be 200 baskets out there, and these things cost $4,000,” Doherty said.

“If a litter basket costs about $125 and if [BigBelly] only holds two litter baskets, I can put two litter baskets on the corner for $250 instead of $4,000. So we have to look at that.”

An optional wireless signal that transmits a message when the solar basket is full would add $225.

Doherty committed to going to Philadelphia to check out the 800 devices that were installed there last April. Each can hold up to 50 pounds of compacted garbage.

In November, Sanitation began testing one of the new 32-gallon baskets at Knickerbocker and DeKalb avenues in Bushwick, Brooklyn. It was obtained through City Councilman Erik Dilan.

“We’ve been here 34 years and honestly, since the new can has been here, it’s been cleaner,” said Liborio Mortillaro, 52, an employee at nearby Tony’s Pizza.

“You can put a whole umbrella in there and it eats it right up.”

Frank Cruz of Direct Environmental Corp. in The Bronx, the distributor for the New York area, said the garbage can is being successfully used in cities around the country and in some business-improvement districts here.

“They’re impervious to vermin. They’re very low-maintenance,” Cruz said. “They only need service every four years, to replace a battery that costs $200.”

News Source:  NY Post