No Pedophile Ring in Nachlaot, Jerusalem, Say Police

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/254126#.UJ2TeGfF-Sp

The above article was written as a result of a well written blog in the Times of Israel.   http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/nachlaot-pedophiles-and-the-dangers-of-moral-panic/

Apparently, it was an established fact already in Jan. that the police said the Ring did not exist.   Yet, many bloggers continue their rants until the present day.

Article from the Tablet Magazine.  The most comprehensive article written so far in English on the Nachlaot False Accusations
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/117839/panic-in-jerusalem

Exposé Casts Doubt of Existence of Nachlaot Pedophiles

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/256626#.USUUAKV19IE

Rabbi Zilberman's letter in Hebrew

anonymous Rabbi's letter in Hebrew

Letter from Rav Moshe Shapira in Hebrew - typed

Letter from Rav Moshe Shapira - handwritten version

Letter from Rav Porush in Hebrew

Letter from Yad LeAchim in Hebrew

Just an observation

 I noticed something interesting about Nachlaot and the accusations.  
The neighborhood in Nachlaot where the main accusations took place can be divided into 3 different clusters.   In the middle lives the family that is central to the accusations.  If you walk about 1 minute to the right, you get to a second courtyard where the other 2 families (who are next door neighbors) that are central to the accusations live(d).  If you walk about 2 minutes in the other direction you get to a connected courtyard where the 3 families that are central in the prosecution live.  Two are next door neighbors and one family lives a couple doors down.  There is a fourth cluster of houses which is maybe a 3 minute walk that was untouched.  This is inspite of the fact that several of these families were also told that their children were molested and that one of the women was best friends with one of the families that was central in the accusations.  (They are no longer friends as far as I know after the woman checked out the accusations without believing them blindly and found that they were not true).
The one neighborhood outside the "Shtetel" where the accusations spilled over to in a big way live the 2 main instigators on the internet and other forms of media.
Many of the people  that have taken on or are actively  spreading the paranoid viewpoint over the internet and media that adult males (and females) snatch children on their way home from school and that there is a huge, cruel pedophile ring operating in Nachlaot (without any hard evidence to this existing) are not mainstream ultra orthodox where as the original accusations began in the mainstream ultra orthodox community.  

Satan's Silence Ritual abuse and the making of a modern American witch hunt

A book by Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker

As the title of the book suggests, this book is about the "witch hunts" that took place in the 1980s in California in Day Care Centers which soon spread to other states and then other countries.  By the 1990s, it was well established  that  there was no concrete evidence to show that ritual abuse occurred or any other kind of abuse by the people accused of pedophilia.  Yet in Nachlaot 20 years later, parents are using articles published in the 1980s and 1990s that have since been discredited, to support their claims that their children have been molested for the purpose of brainwashing them to convert them to the Christian religion.  Their idea is similar to the idea which was circulating in the 1980s that the day care workers were trying to get the children to worship Satan.   


A must read for anyone interested in understanding Nachlaot. 


----------------------------------------------------------


A link to NY Times video;

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/us/the-trial-that-unleashed-hysteria-over-child-abuse.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1

A link to a well written article worth reading for anyone that is interested in pedophile witch hunts. 

http://www.christianpeet.com/cost-false-cases-child-sexual-abuse/

About the Court Document on Zalman Cohen

I have looked over the court document on Zalman Cohen,  http://www.scribd.com/doc/101795852/Zalman-Cohen-Court-Document-Nachlaot-Pedophilia-Case-11-2011 and in summary:

1.  This court document is from an intermediate stage of the court proceedings.  It is after the indictments occurred, but before the end of the trials.  That is, none of the suspects mentioned in the document have been convicted yet, as the document makes clear.

2.  There were only three children whose evidence was found to be believable enough to be considered by the prosecution:

•  A girl whose name starts with "Dalet" (D.), born 4/2003, who was interrogated in the summer of 2011 at the age of  8, about events occurring in 2009, two years before that when she was approximately 5 years old;
• A boy whose name starts with "Yud" (Y.), born 9/2001, who was interrogated in the summer of 2011 at the age of almost 10 about events occurring in 2010, when he was about 9 years old.  He was the oldest of the children testifying;
• A girl whose name starts with "Shin" (S.), born 5/2002, who was interrogated in the summer of 2011 at the age of 9, about events occurring in 2010, when she was about 8 years old.

3. None of the children are old enough to give testimony in a court of law.  The evidence that was presented consisted of written transcripts of taped sessions which were held with expert child interrogators.  Therefore neither the lawyers for the defense nor the prosecution have any opportunity to call the children as witnesses and further clarify the evidence by means of cross-examination.

4. No physical evidence was presented.   As far as I know,  physical examinations of  the children were not conducted.

5. There were many inherent inconsistencies and puzzles about the evidence given by each of the children. However, the judge still felt the evidence was worthy of in-depth consideration and should not just be simply thrown out because of the inconsistencies.

6. Regarding  the evidence from  "Dalet" (D.):

• Her first interrogation was on Wednesday, August 10, 2011.  It was the day after Tisha B'Av.  It dealt primary with acts done by other suspects.
• Only in a very advanced stage of the investigation did D. mention that Zalman Cohen was also present in the place "but he only looked" and did not do anything.
• During that interrogation, she described Zalman Cohen as someone who appeared Chareidi, but it was as if he was wearing a costume.
• During her second interrogation, D. contradicted her previous statement in which she said that Zalman Cohen was present in the place "but he only looked".  This time she said that he told her and the other children to undress.
• On September 19, 2011, a picture of Zalman was shown to her.  She said that it appeared to be Zalman, and that "he looks really Chareidi".  That contradicted her previous description of her identification of Zalman as someone who appeared to be Chareidi, but that was because he was wearing a costume.
• When asked how she identifies that it's Zalman Cohen, D. says she does so by his Chareidi clothing and his face.  
• The judge states at the end of the section about D's evidence, that we are dealing with a child of 8 at the time of the investigation, who is reporting events that happened to her at the age of 5.

7. Regarding the evidence from "Yud" (Y.):

• His first interrogation was on Thursday, August 11, 2011.  It was two days after Tisha B'Av.  He spoke about "someone who lives on the bridge above", but did not identify the person by name as being Zalman Cohen.
• He stated that the man who lives on the bridge  had told him and a girl to undress, to touch each other's genitals, and for the boy to lie on the girl.  All of this was stated to be about a year and a half before the time of the investigation.  He also said that a month before that, he had been at the same man's house (who lives on bridge above) with his two brothers, and the man told him to undress.  The man touched his genitals giving him a hard pinch. The man gave Y. a slap and caught him by the leg to stop him from leaving .  Afterwards he told him to dress and go. These things were said immediately at the beginning of the investigation, and Y. said: "That's the whole story".
• Afterwards, Y. described despicable acts, including sodomy, that were done to him, in another person's house by other people.
• At the second interrogation on August 18, 2011, Y. stated immediately at the start of the investigation that he knows the name of the man on who lives on the bridge, and it's Zalman Cohen.  He said his friend, who has also been by you (in other words, a friend who has also been questioned by the same interrogator), told him that was what he was called. (Clearly the children are talking to the other children about the various names and events, as the child himself openly stated.)
• During that second interrogation, Y. stated that many children were in the house of a different suspect, and each boy was paired with a girl.  He said the man who lives on the bridge, Zalman Cohen, told him and the girl to touch each other's genitals. He said the girl was lying on top of him.  When asked to describe his feelings  when she was lying on top of him, Y. said he had trouble breathing because he was lying on his belly. But when asked to describe the girl's genitals, which Y. said he had seen and touched, he described them like the genitals of any boy, and said they were "like those of any man".  (Note: I don't know if anyone caught this point.  It seems clear the boy did not really see a girl's genitals if he said that. But it also seems clear that he did not ever see a man's genitals if he said that a boy's genitals look the same as a man's genitals.)
• During that second interrogation, Y. again described the incident in which he said he went to Zalman Cohen's house with his two brothers, in which Zalman Cohen told Y. to undress.  There had been another two children already there, who were undressed.  Zalman Cohen told Y. to undress, and when he refused, Zalman slapped him twice and afterwards threw him down.  Meanwhile Zalman Cohen told the other two children to get dressed and go.  Zalman Cohen went out for a half hour and came back, and told Y. to get dressed and go.  Y. did not mention at all about touching each other's genitals that he had described in the first investigation.  He did so only after the investigator reminded him about it. Y. then said that he had touched the man's genitals quickly, but the man wanted more. The man pinched his genitals a long time.  
• When Y. was requested to describe the house of Zalman Cohen, he didn't mention the possibility of going up to a second floor.  And he mentioned that there was a bed in the house.  But, according to the description which was photographed in the search done by the police, it was possible to see that on the first floor there was no bed at all, and a bed is found only on the second floor, which has the bedrooms.  The first floor includes a kitchen, the salon, and bathrooms (including a bathtub).  The judge notes that the investigators never considered the possibility of whether at any stage there had been a bed on the first floor of Zalman Cohen's house.
• On September 18, 2011, Y. was investigated regarding  sexual molestation done to him by others, and after the investigation identified photographs of Zalman Cohen, and an additional man.

8.  Regarding the evidence from "Shin" (S.):

• Her first interrogation was on Sunday, July 31, 2011.  It was the 29th of the month of Tammuz.  SHE DENIED ANY SEXUAL MOLESTATION.
• The second interrogation was on Monday, September 19, 2011.  It was the 19th of the month of Elul.  Now she described being touched by another man in that other man's house.
• Only in the third interrogation, on September 20, 2011, does S. mention Zalman Cohen for the first time.  She said that Zalman told her to lie down in a bathtub naked, and that he had a stick which he hit her with, and told her to hit him with the stick also.  She said he sat or laid down on top of her on top of the stick. The judge makes note in the court document, that the way in which S. describes the events in the bathtub with Zalman Cohen is identical to the way in which she  described the events in the bathtub with the other man at the other man's house, previously.  (It should also be noted that the judge indicated that the description of the bathtub event sounded physically impossible.)
• S. is able to describe the inside of Zalman Cohen's house accurately, as having a second floor.  The judge puts much weight on this and thinks that it does prove the girl must have been in Zalman Cohen's house.  (I would like to note that one of the main mothers who was in the vanguard of pursuing the Nachlaot Pedophile Ring had been in Zalman Cohen's house when it was occupied by its previous owners and would know accurately how to describe it as having a staircase, and an upstairs area (i.e. a Galeria), etc.  And that  family  also has a Galeria built in their house.  The man that built the Galeria in Zalman Cohen's house for the previous owner also built a Galeria for several other apartments in the Chareidi area of Nachlaot.   Also, another woman who is currently very actively chasing down the suspected "pedophiles" was in Zalman Cohen's   house very frequently when the previous owners lived there.)
• S. was able to identify Zalman Cohen's picture as well as that of another man.

9.  In the judge's discussion of the children's evidence, she notes that the prosecution emphasized that they had behaved cautiously and out of tens of children who were investigated, they only took the three most reliable. It was known to the prosecution that the residents of the neighborhood had performed private investigations and that evidence had become contaminated by conversations of children between themselves, as well as conversations of children with their parents and other adults.  Much of the evidence seemed contradictory, but the judge felt that it was still substantial.  The main reasons that the judge felt the evidence had any validity was that: 1) the girl S. was able to describe the inside of Zalman Cohen's apartment.  (Note: Many people in the neighborhood had been in Zalman Cohen's apartment when the previous owner lived there and could easily have told their children that it had a Galeria.)  2) the boy Y. said he met Zalman Cohen because Zalman Cohen took care of the willow trees in the neighborhood, and Zalman Cohen acknowledged that he took care of the willow trees in the neighborhood.  (Note: Anyone who lived in the neighborhood would have known that Zalman Cohen took care of the willow trees!  It doesn't prove that any of the children actually went to his house.)  The judge felt that since those details of the children's testimony were reliable, therefore she could feel that there was enough validity to their testimony to consider it seriously.

10.  The judge had decided that, in spite of the all the evidence presented by the children, that Zalman was not a danger to society and therefore could be placed under house arrest.

In conclusion, I would like to also add some of my own observations on this matter: 

A.  Although I lived in the neighborhood many years, I never saw that Zalman and the other two ever had anything to do with each other.

B.  I never noticed (and nobody I know ever noticed) any large gatherings at the apt. of any of the accused as decribed in the children's testimonies.

C.  The boy Y. had stated that there  were several adults (the 3 men who were indicted, plus others who were not indicted), and many boys and girls who had been paired up and sent to different rooms in the apartment of another one of the indicted men.  No mention is made of the size and number of rooms in the apartment of the other suspect, and whether this was likely to be possible.  That man had a small apartment with only two rooms.

D.  The judge mentioned that Zalman's son said that someone had stolen his (the son's) portable computer from the house.  The judge raised the question about whether this was really true, or whether Zalman had purposely caused the computer to disappear from the house so the police couldn't take it as evidence.  I personally know that the son made a big effort to get his computer back.  It was an extremely expensive computer  (I think 14,000sh) that he needed for what he was doing.  He was extremely upset that someone had stolen it. His efforts went on for 2 weeks and at the time, it was assumed that the local vigilantes took it.  

E.  It is interesting to note that one of the ladies that was instrumental in having Zalman Cohen arrested last year (in 2011) was very good friends with Zalman's ex-wife.  Over 7 years ago, that lady had warned us about Zalman and said that we needed to be careful with our kid(s), based on things that Zalman's ex-wife was telling her.  At that time (over 7 years ago), Zalman's ex-wife was trying to have Zalman prosecuted for sodomizing his 2 younger sons, and did not succeed to have him convicted.. 

F.  It is also interesting to note that another one of the ladies that has been instrumental in spreading the accusations of child molestation in Nachlaot claims to have been raped by Zalman 9 years ago and  even states herself in her many comments on various blogs that she has been after him ever since to get him put away in prison.  

Definition of Mass Hysteria

Definition:

Mass hysteria is a form of groupthink, in which several people with something in common begin to think in the same way. In mass hysteria, the group members all develop a common fear that often spirals into a panic. The group members feed off each other's emotional reactions, causing the panic to escalate.

Chronological order of events

Although Nachlaot is only a small neighborhood in Jerusalem, over 60 people have been accused of pedophilia there.   The only constant of "facts" there is the moral panic and mass hysteria reminiscent of  the Salem witch hunts which took place in the late 1600s in Salem, Massachusetts. Also reminiscent of the witchhunts that took place in Bakersfield, California in the 1980s.  This is  brief outline of the chronology of events. 

Mother finds bite marks on her child's penis (though from what I heard, it was stated buttocks at the ongoing trial), when her child refuses to take a bath in the Chareidi section of Nachlaot  Around Nov.  of 2010.   (The neighborhood parents called this discovery a miracle.) 

Child implicates person in the neighborhood,  Benyamin S.  
UPDATE(Although this was the incident that started the mass hysteria which led to over a hundred children making claims of abuse, the testimony of this child was thrown out of court in the case in Benyamin S.)

B.S.  is arrested.

Under interrogation, B.S. "admits" to child molestation and names other victims (or children who came to his house or to whatever he admitted to).


Parents went around asking other neighbors if their children were also molested.
(This was mostly two mothers who were both American.  As I state elsewhere, both these families moved out of the neighborhood when the accusations started to get out of control.)


Talk is that B.S.  had an accomplice who moved away from the neighborhood.  Parents make an effort to have the accomplice arrested also, but to no avail.

Many children enter therapy for molestation.  Therapists are not college trained (or at least the one therapist we met) but rather Cheradim that are trained by a psychologist.   This therapy was being lauded as a miracle therapy that was not psychology.  Though in truth it was psychology only without a trained psychologist. 

January 2011   A lecture is given in Nachlaot about child molestation.  The speaker stated that there is an epidemic of child molestation in the Orthodox and ultra Orthodox Jewish world and that the audience of women attending the lecture should be on the lookout to guard their children from potential pedophiles.  (Interestingly enough, this lecturer was in the past an ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER FOR VICKI POLIN)

Things quite down in the neighborhood and return to "normal".

Six months later around July 2011, a mother notices that her child is not improving from the "miracle" therapy she in taking him to.  She apparently decides that her child is still being molested by someone else.
The mother and another lady go door to door in the neighborhood to talk to other parents to see if their kids are also still being molested.

On Aug. 9, 2011 ( Tisha Be'Av), it is somehow decided who the additional pedophiles are.  They are named as Zalman Cohen ,Binyamin P. and one other person, Y.W.


A list is drawn up of other potential molesters.

A few days later after Aug. 9, three people are arrested including B.S. who was arrested in Nov. 2010 and had been released to house arrest in another neighborhood in the interim. (Z.C. was out of the country and was arrested later when he returned.) B.S., B.P., and Z.C. were indicted while Y.W. was released.

Accusations start flying freely in the neighborhood.  Rumors start to be spread of a Pedophile Ring
run by S.M. the mastermind. 


S.M., the person accused of being the "ringleader" is arrested, and 8 or 10 days later is released for lack of evidence.

Various Jewish Blogs get into the picture from September 2011 or so

In Oct. or November 2011, two families  move away from the neighborhood .   Both families were involved in the accusations from the beginning.  What is interesting is that they did not move away because of the assumed pedophiles but because they both saw that things were getting out of hand with the accusations in the neighborhood which was leading to strife and argument.

Around November, December 2011, a Rabbi prominent in the adjacent Carlebach community becomes very vocal about the problems of a Pedophile ring in Nachlaot.

Money is raised for the prosecution of what is being called the "Most cruel pedophile ring that has ever existed in Israel"

Through public pressure a Knesset subcommittee (governmental) is created in Dec. to "deal with" the Nachlaot Pedophiles.

On the 7th day of Chanuka, a resident of the neighborhood is found hanging in his apt. with his feet and hands bound.  Police claim suicide.  Many people believe it was murder.  (As far as I know he only started to be accused about a week before his death.)

The resident who was found dead was buried in a normal Jewish burial.  (A suicide would not have had a normal Jewish burial)

At the same time of the burial, people were busy demonstrating against the lack of police action regarding the supposed pedophiles.  Also, two women were busy tearing down his funeral announcements.  One of these women Mrs. B. was at the center of the accusations.  The second woman was R. C. who  claimed she was raped by Z.C. nine  years ago.   R. C. has also been very active on the internet espousing the rumors of a pedophile ring.

In the beginning of January, 2012,  there were 3 more arrests.  It is my opinion that these arrests were carried out to appease the public and because of pressure from the Knesset. 

By February, over 40 people have been accused, according to a journalist that was investigating the events in Nachlaot.

A number of  people were interrogated by the police and are awaiting the possibility of further interrogation or indictment.

Elderly woman is beaten to within inches of death and left for dead.  (end of February, 2012)

Various Rabbis, social workers, etc. get involved in investigating matters.  (See English translation of Letters from the Rabbis) http://nachlaotchildabuse.blogspot.com/search/label/English%20Translation%20of%20Rabbis%27%20Letters

Police are now viewing the supposed suicide as murder.  ( Heard from a 3rd source)(This is incorrect.  I heard what the lead investigator said was reasons they thought it was a suicide and why the police have always believed it was a suicide.) 

Sept. 12 , 2012     Additional accusations are being made. 



(added Feb. 2015)  In between Sept. 12 till Feb. 2015, the trail of the 3 people that were indicted has finished.  B. S. was found guilty and given a 15 year prison sentence.  B.P. was acquitted .  Z. C. was found guilty and given a 9 year prison sentence.  







A little bit of analysis.

All in all, I can think of 6 families that were the main force behind the accusations.   3 of these families left around  Oct. November.  This left 3 families.  It is my opinion that one of these families Mrs. B. and Mrs C. were the main inciters.  Mrs. B befriended a non religious lady R.C. who through her efforts, spread whatever the religious woman told her.

Both women Mrs. C and Mrs. G.that went house to house asking (suggesting?) that children were molested both left the neighborhood.  From what I understand, they both left because of the insanity that gripped the neighborhood.   After the "fire was started" while the two women were still in the neighborhood, there were basically 3 families that were spreading the rumours.  . It seems to me that most of the rumours were started by Mrs. .  (Interesting to note that a former friend of Mrs. B. said that Mrs. B.  was prone to panic attacks 15 years ago. Mrs. B became friends with  a woman outside the neighborhood, R.C., who helped spread the rumours.  This seems to coincide with the time that rumors spread to R.C.'s neighborhood.  At that point, around Sept. 2011, Mrs. J. W., another woman in that neighborhood started blogging and later appearing on television about the cruelest pedophile ring in Israel history.  Also, several bloggers translated articles that were published in Israeli newspapers and tabloids.  Interesting to note that much of the content of these articles was based on the 'facts' that the families that were making the accusations fed to them.   Around Dec, 2011, things got pushed up to the Knesset.  Shortly thereafter in Jan. 2012, the police arrested 3 additional "suspects".   2 were released and one was put in an insane asylum.   Additional "suspects" were brought in for interrogation.

A letter of introduction

Nachlaot is a small neighborhood in Jerusalem where over 60 people have been accused of child molestation.   It is in my hopes that by posting about the mass hysteria that is going on there in regards to child molestation, an awareness of this will put a stop to the hysteria and incitement  and bring some sanity back to the neighborhood of Nachlaot.

Eleven months ago, I was accused of molesting children in my neighborhood.  I did not take it seriously and in fact did not even know people were talking about me since nobody bothered to come and ask me if the accusations were true or not.  Only one person whose brother was arrested told me that I was also being accused, but I brushed it off as nonsense.  When I came back from a trip for Rosh HaShana, things were much different.  Apparently it was claimed that I ran away because I was afraid of being arrested.  No matter that I was back.  No one was talking to me and I was being treated with great disrespect in all regards.  This continued for a couple of months.  Things continued to deteriorate until people started calling me a Poshea to my face and saying to me that I molested all the kids in the neighborhood and took pictures etc.
I was not the only one falsely accused.  Many people were.  I was told by a journalist that was working  on a story of what occurred in Nachlaot that over 40 (60 last I heard) people were accused of child molestation in the little neighborhood.
As my life has been destroyed as I knew it before being accused, and since there is so much misinformation and outright lies being printed, I have taken it upon myself to publish the other side of the story. 
I am doing this for several reasons.
1. I hope to clear my name and the name of the other falsely accused.
2. Many children are getting therapy for something that did not happen. 
3. If kids were molested, it was by family members or friends or someone with access to the kids.  If this is the case, then they are in all likelihood still being molested.
4. Things will continue to spin out of control  as long as the mass hysteria continues. 
For this purpose of revealing the truth, I have started this blog.  
You are welcome to comment or ask questions.

Similarities between the Salem Witch Hunt and Events in Nachlaot

http://slusterbubble.hubpages.com/hub/The-Salem-Witches-and-Mass-Hysteria

 I found this article in a search for mass hysteria and was amazed at the similarities of the Salem Witch Hunts and what is going on in Nachlaot.

Just as in Salem, where people labeled as "witches" were feared and this fear helped fuel a witchhunt, also in the case of Nachlaot, the fear of child molestation has helped fuel a "witchhunt".

Of course, the fact that two women went door-to-door in Nachlaot telling their neighbors stories about molestation, and asking them if their kids had also been molested,  helped to create this hysteria.

It didn't take long before parents were being told their kids WERE molested from the stories the children started to make up.
 
Although there has been no precedent of such things ever happening before , such as the story that there were 6 pedophiles together with a group of 20 children, the stories were believed. No matter that many children that were claimed to be  in these groups by other children who made up the stories denied that they were and show no symptons of child abuse.  Not to mention the many conflicting versions of the story ie as one child said, we didn't have girls in our group because we didn't want them in our group. 

There is one more more aspect that I think is important.  Whenever you have a person or community that holds itself to be "holier than thou", the person or community is going to project whatever they are not able to deal with in themselves onto others.   So if molestion is going on, as I suspect, of course they will not be able to admit to themselves that  someone from their own family or social circle is doing it.  The first people that were blamed were people that "didn't fit in" just like in  Salem.  Afterwards, when the "symptoms" of child abuse  didn't diminish, anyone that was slightly different was also accused.  Just like in the Salem Witch Hunts when more and more children there showed "symptoms" of witch abuse,  more and more people were accused of being witches.   Similarly, in Nachlaot, when more and more children showed "symptoms" of child molestation, more and more people were accused of being pedophiles. 

The Salem Witches and Mass Hysteria

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the Puritan Salem Village

In Salem (Massachusetts) the main attraction is the Salem Witch Museum, where a detailed, if rather static representation of the trial, surrounding this story can be visited.

The background of this tragedy is that the Salem Village congregation had always been rather quarrelsome,and that for years there were many disputes between neighbors. Mostly they had to do with property and grazing rights, but there was also a lot of discontent and personal animosity. Over the course of twenty years, three ministers had left the parish !

In 1689, Puritan Reverend Samuel Parris accepted the position of ordained minister in Salem Village, after taking almost a year to decide. Only half of his parish was actually in support of him. 

Unfortunately, the Reverend didn't seem to have the gift of mediation, and to ensure his standing (and probably to bolster his self-confidence ), he sought out "sinners" and publicly blamed them for the slightest misbehavior. This did nothing to relieve the tension in the village, but rather enhanced it.

How the tragedy started

There had been rumors ofwitchcraft in neighboring villages, and in January 1692, the daughter and the niece of Reverend Parris became ill. The girls screamed, threw things about, uttered strange sounds, and crawled all over the place. According to eyewitnesses, they complained of being pinched and stabbed with pins !

Doctor William Griggs was called in, but he was unable to discover the cause of the illness. Other young women started to show similar symptoms, even during the sermons in the church. The fanatically religious Puritans strongly believed in the existence of the devil and witchcraft, so under the circumstances, reverend Parris quickly reached a diagnosis of possession, witchcraft, spells and black magic...This conclusion, coupled with the "standing" of the Reverend and the doctor, was enough to develop the situation into a sad string of events, whereby nineteen people were hanged, one man was crushed, and seven others died in prison !Hundreds of others saw their lives completely upset or destroyed.

Since the leaders of the congregation had both clerical and administrative power, they brought the matter directly to court. In practice, this meant that they retained complete control of the story, while being able to wash their hands of any personal responsibility. This convenient "technique" is still used today in political circles...

The first victims of the wild accusations were people that were "slightly different",and could not defend themselves. Sarah Good was a homeless person, who begged for food or shelter. Sarah Osborne committed the "serious crime" of rarely attending church meetings. Finally, Tituba was a black slave. They were severely interrogated by the magistrates, and sent to prison. 

Since the proceedings seemed to be so very easy, and "convenient" convictions were reached without a single shred of proof, soon more than 150 people from surrounding villages were accused by the girls ! These were immediatelyimprisoned for witchcraft, in anticipation of a "fair" trial. Needless to say, that the girls and the village prominents basked in the general attention and the glory of their righteousness...

The Witch Tribunal

In June 1692, the special Court of Oyer and Terminer (ancient French for "to hear" and "to end") convened in Salem. The chairman was Chief Justice William Stoughton, who was assisted by church magistrates and judges. 

The first of the accused to appear was Bridget Bishop, who was promptly found guilty. According to the magistrates, she had used her "invisible astral spectrum" to torture the victims... She was hanged on June 10. 

Thirteen women and five men underwent a similar fate, before governor William Phipps dissolved the Witch Tribunal in October, and appointed a new court. This "Superior Court of Judicature" no longer accepted alleged "astral proof", freed the prisoners and pardoned those who already were convicted. 

Though the litigation over the Witches of Salem was over, the persons that were responsible for these terrible events were never held accountable...

Mass Hysteria and "Mass Sociogenic Illness"

These remarkable events have since been thoroughly studied in various universities, to learn from this bizarre combination of events and the accompanying mass hysteria. TheJudiciary were eager to declare that such a chain of events simply cannot happen anymore. Nevertheless, it is remarkable to discover similarities in modern times. 

In 1938, Orson Welles presented the radio drama War of the Worlds.A tremendous panic ensued, and many believed that an actual alien invasion was taking place. The crowds of New York and New Jersey could hardly be kept under control by the police. 

In the early 1950's, Senator McCarthy's interrogation techniques and hearings about the "communist astral spectra" in the US bore an astounding resemblance to the Salem Witch trials...

In 1992, a group of 150 disabled children received a packed lunch in Florida. One of the girls felt sick, and almost instantly other children also began to complain. Some had headaches, others felt a tingling in their hands and feet, and still others had stomachs cramps. The supervisor was concerned about food poisoning, and promptly removed the lunch packages. 

Within forty minutes sixty-three children were sick ! They were transported to hospitals, but within the hour the problems ceased. Not a single test revealed anything wrong with the food, nor did the same packed lunches produce any problem elsewhere. 

In June 1999, several Belgian schoolchildren got sick after drinking a can of Coca Cola. In no time at all, some 250 children had similar complaints, in five different schools. In a country plagued by widely publicized reports of transformer oil and dioxin, and PCB's in eggs, chicken, meat, and even in milk, an unusual scent in a bottle or can is apparently enough to provoke a strong headache or severe abdominal cramps. However, tests revealed no trace of any poisoning in blood or urine samples.

Coca Cola Belgium stated that maybe the wrong carbon dioxide had been used in the bottling plant in Antwerp-Wilrijk, but later examination showed no connection between the contaminant and the symptoms. The Belgian Health Council came to the conclusion that the crisis had been due to Mass Sociogenic Illness, a form of mass hysteria. 

Coca Cola Enterprises did sue its insurers for more than 132 million dollars, to compensate it for the recall and destruction of millions of bottles and cans in Belgium and Luxemburg... 

Moral Panic or a Modern Day Witch Hunt

The following article was published in the Nachlaot Community user group way back in January. 



To: nachlaotcommunity@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 02:43
Subject: [nachlaotcommunity] On Child Abuse and Moral Panic in the Nachlaot Community




I think most people in any society will agree that it is important to protect children from sexual and physical abuse. However, because the topic is regarded as taboo, many societies in the past did not take adequate measures to deal with the problem. Many experts have begun to address the issue of how best to prevent abuse, and how to best treat children to help them recover when instances of abuse have occurred.
However, I believe there is another important aspect to the issue which has not yet been addressed. Namely, when sexual and physical abuse of children occurs, it is very easy for the societal members to enter into a state of "Moral Panic" (as described below in a brief excerpt from Wikipedia):
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972) and credited as creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests." Those who start the panic when they fear a threat to prevailing social or cultural values are known by researchers as "moral entrepreneurs," while people who supposedly threaten the social order have been described as "folk devils."
Moral panics are in essence controversies that involve arguments and social tension and in which disagreement is difficult because the matter at its center is taboo. The media have long operated as agents of moral indignation, even when they are not self-consciously engaged in crusading or muckraking. Simply reporting the facts can be enough to generate concern, anxiety or panic. (end of quote from Wikipedia)
In my opinion, the major problem in the Nachlaot community today is not the child abuse which occurred. It is the moral panic which has developed as a result of the child abuse. I believe there may have been an initial small number of adults who carried out acts of abuse against children. Afterwards, when the children undergoing therapeutic treatment did not seem to recover quickly from the acts of abuse, the community started to panic and believe that there was a huge ring of tens of pedophiles continually harming hundreds of children. The belief in the existence of a huge pedophile ring was a symptom of the moral panic, and not a sign that the pedophile ring actually existed in reality. This panic has caused more damage to the children than the initial abuse, because it places the children in a continual state of anxiety and fear. Also, many of the parents entered into a state of anxiety and fear as well, decreasing their capability to provide positive, nurturing love ! to their children. They, too, may need to have some kind of therapeutic intervention in order to help them cope with the situation. Finally, many innocent people are being suspected and accused of being perpetrators of child abuse. This is itself also an injustice, but the parents of children who have been abused don't even realize that they themselves are doing anything wrong when they accuse innocent people of perpetrating abuse. In short, the situation of all parties involved is very difficult, to say the least.
In addition, it seems the media always assumes that everyone accused of being a child abuser is guilty, and most of the public assume that as well. The media publishes many stories fanning the flames of fear. Rumors and gossip also fan the flames of fear. I personally think that this is not helpful for resolving the overall situation. Someone needs to explain the significance of moral panic, and why we need to approach the whole problem in a more rational manner that repairs lives rather than destroying them.
Another delicate subject which I think needs to be addressed is that children who have been victims of child sexual and physical abuse can sometimes perpetuate a situation of moral panic either by 1) fabricating additional stories about new incidents of abuse that are similar in some way to the abuse they experienced previously, and/or 2) carrying out acts of abuse on other children within their peer group or even within their own family unit. I don't know whether this might be occurring in the Nachlaot community or not, but to my knowledge no one is addressing this possibility. It is understandable that children who have been traumatized might react in these ways, and that possibility needs to be considered and dealt with in a calm, compassionate, and rational manner.



http://nachlaotchildabuse.blogspot.com/2012/06/after-months-of-posting-articles-on.html

A Letter from Sarah Vorst

A letter from Sarah Vorst 

This is the 70 year old woman who was beaten to within inches of her life.   She was accused of assisting the supposed pedophile ring in Nachlaot, Jerusalem.

Please see Letters from the Rabbis for further information on this.
http://nachlaotchildabuse.blogspot.com/2012/06/english-translation-of-letters-written.html


At least in my case, dinei nefashos were never followed. I had no idea that there was any "investigation" of me until a week before the attack when I learned that I might be in danger. On the night of the attack, my apartment was ransacked in a futile search for pornographic videos and trap doors to the alleged tunnels. Not only is there (and has never been) any evidence to support any of the outrageous accusations, but there was more than ample evidence to refute those accusations. Much of that evidence was on an external storage drive which was stolen. Now I'm left not only with my name besmirched all over the media, but also with tremendous expenses to recover or repair the extensive damage to my body and my property.
>>
>> As for our "controversial" conversion program, there will always be a few disgruntled students who will not be committed to following basic halachah. We state clearly on our web site that we only prepare students to live as responsible Jews. Actual conversion, which we do not guarantee, is up to the beis din. We will not present a student to the beis din until she demonstrates both stability and a commitment to Torah and mitzvos by steady progression toward the goal of compliance with halachah.
>>
>> As for the accusations of extortion, we have never turned away someone for financial reasons. When there were enough students, we rented an apartment which served as a dorm. Since we were not subsidized and only occasionally received donations for the program, we expected the students to pay their fair share according to their ability. I have never taken a salary and often paid teachers or other expenses from my own funds. This could hardly be called extortion.
>>
>> As for any associates suspected of misconduct, we severed any connection with anyone under such suspicion as soon as there seemed to be any evidence of validity to the suspicions. According to the laws of shmiras halashon, we did not go around publicizing this severance of the association.
>>
>> Thank you for "listening," and should you choose to pass on any of this information, please do not include my email address. 
>>
>> Sarah Vorst

'But the ring does not appear to exist.' - Shmarya Rosenberg

After months of posting articles on the 'Nachlaot Pedophile Crisis'  Shmarya Rosenberg of Failed Messiah concluded from his own sources that it is unlikely there is a pedophile ring  and that there was maybe one or 2 incidences of isolated pedophilia.
Following is his own words.

But the ring does not appear to exist.

Instead, rumors started by a neighbor of Vorst combined with what may have been one or two isolated incidents of pedophilia committed by other neighbors, combined to create a panic that has consumed the neighborhood. After police were slow to react to the initial rumors of sexual assaults against children there, parents and untrained social workers corrupted and destroyed evidence as they coached children to admit abuse that may not have taken place.

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/05/two-indicted-in-beating-of-elderly-woman-suspected-of-pedophilia-678.html

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/05/arrests-made-in-attacks-on-alleged-jerusalem-pedophile-456.html


Article from July 20

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/07/when-a-child-sexual-abuse-investigation-goes-wrong-678.html
Yet, most of the blogging sites continue to assume that the original claims of over 100 child being molested by a pedophile ring is true.  My own opinion is that there is molestation going on but not by the people that are being accused.  My guess is that they are being molested by a relative or brother or someone that has access to the children. 
 Many of the children that are claiming to be abused weren't.  I know two families that were told by other parents that their children were abused and upon investigating, found that it simply wasn't true.

English Translation of Rabbis' Letters

English translation of  letters written  by Rabbis, in response to the beating of  a 70 year old woman.  Also with references to the Child Molestation Accusations in Nachlaot.  A lot of the signatures are those of people living in the Nachlaot neighborhood.  These letters were written as a result of extensive investigation into the matter at the request of the neighborhood by various Rabbis, social workers, the police, and the organization Yad LeAchim.   If anyone would like the original letters in Hebrew, let me know and I will send them to you. Includes a letter from Yad LeAchim and several important Rabbis.

A Shocking and Pained Letter from the Rav the Gaon Yehuda Porush Shlit"a who is trusted in these matters by the Gedolai Yisrael (Great Torah Sages of Israel) and a member of the Vaad HaRabanim in the Offices of Social Welfare Services [in Hebrew: Lishkot Harevacha] in Jerusalem and Bnei Barak

BS"D Erev Pesach 5772 (April 6, 2012)

A Holy Call

To My Brothers and Friends the Residents of the Neighborhood of Knesset and the Surroundings (known as Shteibelach) May Hashem be Upon You and Be Well.

Around the end of Marcheshvan 5772 (end of November 2011) a committee was established for the neighborhood to deal with the serious matters that were under consideration and other things that needed correction.

Around the end of Kislev 5772 (end of December 2011) I was appointed by the personal request of Maran HaGaon HaGadol Rav Zundel Kroizer Shlit"a to serve as the representative of the committee, and so the one signed below (i.e., the writer of this letter) entered into the thickness of the spider's web, with the agreement of the committee.

It became clear to me that the matter was very complicated and that there were professional factors involved in the matter, etc., therefore I recommended to establish a smaller committee that would consist of the writer of these lines, one of the members of the larger committee who would be selected as Rav and Halachic authority, and a social worker. And I expressed my readiness to dedicate a number hours weekly to make progress with the matters that needed clarification and to pass them before the larger committee and the relevant factors.

As a sample of the method of my work I took three names whom the victims and their parents pointed to as participants in the acts of crime that were done in the neighborhood. The victims and their parents knew to point out days and hours of the acts as well as the location of the what was done. And the writer of these lines worked from all directions to "verify" the claims of the victims. To my happiness, I found proofs and clear testimony that on those days and hours the "attackers" were in another place. I passed on the results to the relevant factors, and to my great sorrow instead of the matter making the parents happy that Baruch Hashem their suspicions were false and it was possible to breathe freely, these parents stopped co-operating with the writer of these lines, and turned their arrows in a direction which is not a direction and without permission from the larger committee, and without permission from the writer of these lines who serves as the representative of the committee.

The results were not slow to come, the desecration of Hashem by transferring the matter to the media and the Internet beyond all proportion, people without any yoke of Heaven did not hold back from insulting people without investigations and inquiries to Halachic authorities or Batei HaDin (Rabbinic Courthouses). This and even moreso they allowed themselves to cause sons to be sent far away from their parents and husbands from their wives, and who knows if they don't have a hand and a foot in the death of the neighbor...

Recently it is beyond belief what has occurred: A woman who was a long-time resident of the neighborhood who was known as a righteous convert, received deathly blows from anonymous public activists and required treatment in Hadassah Hospital, do the public activists allow themselves, based on the Halacha that "one needs to feel apprehensive", to transgress 36 warnings and Halachic rulings and so on and so forth!!!??? [Translator's note about the Halacha which is referred to here: the phrase "one needs to feel apprehensive" is a translation of the Aramaic phrase "lemeichash mebai". The explanation of "lemeichash mebai" is that when one hears derogatory information that someone may possibly be dangerous, it if forbidden to believe that the information is 100% true, but one needs to feel apprehensive and take precautions to protect oneself from possible damage.]

My call from the depths of my heart is, please my brothers don't do evil, also to the concept that "one needs to feel apprehensive" there is a limit, you should know that there is justice and there is a Judge. Do not let the history of the years 5770-5772 (2010-2012) cause a blood libel to be done in the midst of our brothers in the Chareidi world and our brothers who are neighbors living in that neighborhood. Please stop taking judgment and power into your own hands without permission from the committee, and return immediately to the tables of joint decision-making, and love truth and peace.

With blessing and prayer that we will merit to guard the holiness of the neighborhood in educating the children in the ways of Torah and fear of Hashem.

A Happy and Kosher Holiday
Yehuda Leib Porush

An Emotional Letter by HaRav HaGaon R' Yosef Zilberman Shlit"a Head of the Talmud Torah Founded by HaRav Zilberman ztz"l in the Old City

BS"D? Nisan 5772 [This letter was handwritten and the date was not clear, may have been approximately on April 6, 2012]

Announcement

I hereby notify in the public gates regarding the matter of rumors that are going around like ghosts passing by; in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem they are clouding the purity of our settlement, and there are all kinds of fearful suspicions, Heaven forbid, in matters of missionaries and chastity, Hashem have Mercy.

I, as the head of Talmud Torah "Aderet Eliyahu" in the Jewish Quarter, felt a public responsibility to clarify the matter thoroughly!

Immediately when I heard the rumors, I strengthened my loins and entered into the thickness of the spider's web, to investigate and check what was the source of all the rumors, and on what were they based. I didn't quiet down and I didn't rest until I clarified the matter to the end. In clarifying the matter I was assisted by all the factors that it was possible to use in order to investigate the truth of the matter, including clarification with Rabbanim who were knowledgeable about what has been stated above, and afterwards I was assisted by counselors, the organization "Lev L'Achim" (Heart to Brothers), workers in social welfare, juvenile investigators, the police, and others.

I checked, together with the parents, the aforementioned fearful suspicions, investigated the children, and everyone involved from top to bottom.

And I hereby notify in this letter in the most clear manner! That all the rumors and fearful suspicions are vain imaginings, flying in the air, with no basis, and lacking any basis or truth!

In the investigation of the matter by each one of the factors mentioned above, each one of them arrived separately to the same conclusion, that all of the rumors and imaginings had their source in a few isolated parents, who were in pain and agitated, whose children were possibly exposed to unchaste acts, Hashem should protect and save us. And because of their worry and fear for their children, they believed and accepted rumors from children, and they saw a shadow of a mountain to be a mountain. And the children described imaginary mountains, and they built on the basis of their words, a roof on top of a roof, until they arrived at imaginary conclusions that were mistaken and delusional.

And I hereby repeat and declare in the most decisive way that all of the rumors that came on the heels of the aforementioned, don't have any basis in reality, and the matter is lacking basis and truth!

And as in the days of the Exodus from Egypt may there soon be heard the voice announcing peace speedily in our days Amen

And on this I come to sign

Yosef Zilberman

A Letter from Yad LeAchim

BS"D Erev Pesach 5772 (April 6, 2012)         

ANNOUNCEMENT

We were requested by Rabbinic leaders and Rabbis, educators, public figures and worried parents, to investigate and check the horrible rumors that arrived from several neighborhoods in Jerusalem: Nachlaot, Batei Broida, Knesset, Batei Munkatch, Batei Rand, and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, about a frightening campaign to convert Jewish children to Christianity along with molestation and exploitation of many dozens of children who are G-d-fearing and pure.

We are obligated to emphasize that also we, who are occupied with the battle against missionaries and with rescue projects for about 50 years, never heard anything like it and could never have imagined that there could be a situation so difficult, complicated, and widespread. And in truth, in our preliminary discussion with the families and children we felt the distress, confusion, and turbulence in which they are living, to the extent that their peace of mind was shaken and replaced by panic.

Because of the wide circumference of the events and the seriousness of the matter, and the public responsibility which is placed upon us by the Gedolai Yisrael (Great Sages of Israel) to battle and save in situations like these, we requested from the best activists in the department of the "battle against missionaries" and in the "Listening Heart" (Lev Shomaya organization), and activists in the Jerusalem branch, to clarify the matter till the end, and in the event that there was a need, to prepare a program of action.

To conclude the matter, we request to notify that after the course of weeks of occupying ourselves with an extensive and thorough investigation, and after receiving assistance from educational advisors, psychologists, employees of the branch of social welfare services in the city of Jerusalem and the top police investigators -- it is clear to us in the most unmistakeable way, without any shred of doubt or hesitation that:

There is no basis in reality to the delusional rumors that there is a so-called system of tunnels underground underneath the neighborhoods in Jerusalem and a system of secret transportation in them which brings many children to churches for baptism to Christianity. There was never a basis to them ever and also now there cannot be found any support for them, not the even the slightest! All the dozens of rumors that were brought regarding G-d-fearing and pure children - don't have any basis at all.

We want to emphasize in the most clear way that being busy with this topic has brought irreparable damage to hundreds of children who have been exposed to concepts that are not appropriate for them. And in a number of Talmud Torah schools (religious Jewish schools) we heard that the matter has turned into the topic of the day for many children, including going down into the most intimate details, and the damage is huge, and that's enough to say for someone with any understanding.

Peripherally to this whole episode, we heard with shock about the libel and serious physical damage done to a righteous convert without any wrong-doing on her part, and about the black cloud which has been stretched over her head that she was a so-called missionary who was tempting Jewish children to enter churches and do there the most deplorable of all acts. This is not the path of being zealous for Hashem, but hooliganism for its own sake, and Hashem is Merciful and atones for sins, and should plant in the hearts of the terrorists and damagers to have thoughts of repentance and regret.

Before we publicized this Announcement, we were happy to hear that we had understood the matter in the same way as Gedolim (Great Sages), and also that the Great Sages of Jerusalem had rejected the matter and the rumors entirely, and even published a shocking letter on the topic.

May Hashem grant that we will continue to stand on guard for Judaism so that no solitary individuals should be lost from Judaism, and in the cases where there in truth does exist a campaign to convert Jews to other religions, may Hashem cause our hands to succeed to overcome the phenomena and to return the heart of sons to our Father in Heaven.

The Management of Lev L'Achim ('Heart to Brothers" organization)The Department of the Battle against MissionariesE. Sorotzkin

A Letter from Rav Yehuda Silman Shlit"a

BS"D14th of Tevet 5772 (January 9, 2012)To My Dear Brothers the Residents of the Knesset NeighborhoodGreetings and Blessings

In continuation of our conversation when I visited in the neighborhood and heard with great pain the disaster that occurred there regarding molestation of children I see a need to repeat in writing what was stated verbally.

It certainly is your right and responsibility to defend your children and our children so that nothing should occur, but this does not allow people to hurt other people without first clarifying the matter as much as necessary. Therefore it was stated that it is necessary to establish a committee that will have the sole authority to decide what to do and how to act and all the decisions will be together with Rabbanim.

Needless to say, it is not possible to say anything in my name regarding any specific case since during our conversation no names were mentioned and I don't know at all what any specific anonymous individual did or did not do.

And Hashem should repair the breaks in our fences, save our children and also put into our hearts the correct counsel on how to return to Him also those who sinned.

And with this I will close in blessing

Yehuda Silman

[at the bottom of the letter is some handwriting as follows]

I hereby join to all that was said, and certainly there is no permission to act without guidance from the committee that is handling the matter.

Hashem the Good One will pay good to all who do good ... [handwriting hard to read here]

Yisrael Ganz












A Letter Signed by Many Residents of the Neighborhood

BS"D 14th of Shvat 5772 (February 7,2012)

Regarding the matter of the neighborhoods Batei Broida, Batei Rand, Batei Munkatch, Batei Minsk, Knesset Aleph Beit Gimel and the surroundings, a meeting was held for neighbors and those who were involved in the matter, headed by the Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Silman Shlit"a. The matters that were of significance were discussed seriously and it was decided and agreed upon to establish a committee of representatives from the neighborhood. By means of the committee and with their agreement after clarifying the facts, it will be decided on all the actions that will be taken, in order to correct the situation.

To our distress, particular individuals have risen up and done acts without the approval of the committee, such as publicizing in the media and on the Internet and the like, and embarrassing people without any investigations or inquiries of a Halachic authority, and without any Halachic permission, even to the extent of bloodshed, May Hashem Have Mercy.

Therefore we have come to reveal our opinion that there is no permission on any side or in any way for any individual to do any acts based on their own opinions, without the agreement and approval of the committee, and all the moreso besmirching people's names in the media and on the Internet and the like.

And on this we have come to sign

Also we are adding to the above to not do any acts in opposition to the committee, and not to cause desecration of Hashem's name, and may truth and peace be loved.

Harav HaGaon Zundel Kroizer Shlit"a                                       Yosef Kirshenboim

Shmuel Ekshtein                                                                             Yitzchak Genzel

Moshe Dov Salant                                                                          Shmuel Lutzkin

Yisachar Dov Rozental                                                                   Mordechai Porush

Menachem Shtein                                                                           Ya'akov Rabinovitz

Elazar Rabinovitz                                                                            Rafael Livi

Yehoshua Heshel Bloi                                                                    Dovid Tzvi Rabinovitz

Avraham Vinbach                                                                           Mordechai Rotenberg

Simcha Rozenfeld                                                                          Yisroel Yitzchak Shapira

Binyamin Cheshen                                                                         Rafael Porush

Moshe HaGozer Lifshitz (requested to erase his name)           Meshulam Cohen

Yitzchak Ze'ev Rabinovitz                                                             Yisroel Eizenshtein

Yosef Chaim Tzvi Gross                                                                Ben Tzion Valles

Yitzchak Brichta                                                                              Efraim Lutzker

Moshe Dushinksi

A Letter from Rabbi Moshe Shapira Shlit"a, endorsed by other Rabbis, including Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach Shlit"a, Rabbi Natan HaCohen Kopshitz Shlita, Rabbi Nisim Karelitz Shlit"a and Rabbi Yehuda Silman Shlit"a

 

BS"DJerusalem, 6th of Nissan 5772 (March 29, 2012)

The sword of war comes to the world because of the perversion of justice and and for interpreting the Torah decision in opposition to the Halachah. And behold, several people who are not certified to make Halachic decisions took upon themselves to judge a death sentence without witnesses and clear proofs on the basis of imagination and guesses and stories of words from the mouths of young children who were not speaking in innocence. They made a judgment against a woman who was known to be a righteous person for many years, a convert who raised sons who are Torah Scholars and was trusted by the Batei Dinim (Rabbinic Courthouses) that are occupied with conversion of righteous converts. They hit her and wounded her and bruised her from the sole of her foot to until her head, serious injuries that even a young man would have difficulty surviving, and she is a woman of about 70, and it's about a month that she is suffering and being treated at hospitals. And it is a requirement upon the elders of the city to pray "atone for your people Israel which you Hashem have redeemed and do not put innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel". And on how many serious sins do we need a great atonement, on the prohibition to punish without clear proofs as it is written "and a clean person and a righteous person do not kill", and on the prohibitions "do not add more" (i.e., don't give more than 39 whippings when giving a punishment) which are very serious, and on all the 36 places that the Torah warned about the convert, and on the matter of between a man and his fellow which is awesome. Also it is upon the elders to clarify and make known throughout the public gates "our hands did not shed this blood", and we command with full force and beg with every language of request, "stop doing evil deeds which are not according to Halacha". And from this Kosher woman who has not stopped being righteous, we request that she pardon those who injured her against the law and by mistake because in their mind they were doing it for the sake of saving their children.

Moshe Shapira

I hereby join in with a full heart and I came especially to fortify the righteous Kosher woman who is very strong in her pure faith and she should be blessed by the Master of blessings in every way and merit to celebrate Passover with happiness and enjoyment.

Shmuel Ben Adoni Avi Mori V'Rabi Gaon Yisrael Shlomo Zalman zllh"h Auerbach

I hereby join to what was stated above

Natan HaCohen Kopshitz

Nisim Karelitz

[in the handwritten version of the letter there is some handwriting which is hard to read here, which is signed by Rabbi Yehuda Silman]

An Anonymous Letter 

To My Dear Brothers!

This letter which you are holding in your hands is a very rare letter, to the extent that I am doubtful about how many of you have ever held a rare letter like it.It is not only because of its contents that it is so rare, but because of the place from which it is written and the place to which it is sent - from heart to heart: hearts that are being led to the gallows, hearts that are living in the midst of palpable danger.

 

Yes, exactly so. All of us - all of us, are living in the midst of palpable danger, and from that very place of palpable danger, which is certainly apparent, I am sitting to write to you, to each and every one of you, my dear brothers who are residents of 'Nachlaot' and the surrounding areas, who have become accustomed to troubles and suffering, are eaten up by pain and frustration, and have gone through scandals.

Hear please what is in my mouth, read what is placed in my heart --

The times are not simple in our neighborhood, and I'm not talking about the big scandals that are accompanying us like a shadow for about two years. Those very stormy and depressing scandals -- of which we are the victims, ourselves and seven (in any event, according to the legal authorities, despite that here or there may be found a few more) of our dear and cherished children -- in spite of all the awful pain, this is not something that ought to cause all of us to feel that there is an immediate danger hovering over our heads. But the last scandal - in which there was innocent blood shed in our names, as it were, and we justify all those sick evils that are included in the outrage and injustice -- that is what causes me to wonder, how are we capable of falling asleep at night ---

Jews! Brothers! The sword which was drawn from its scabbard to spill innocent blood, is still running wildly in our streets. The clubs which beat the pure body, are still being waved above us; curses which were placed in lowliness on a pure and righteous soul, G-d forbid are hovering on our corpses...

And we are silent?! Or is there anyone amongst us who is capable of backing this act, even if not by specifically verbalizing it but by a silence which is thunderous?! Don't we feel apprehensive that also upon us there will be declared a decree when the Creator of the world will come to punish those who desecrate His name in public and those who blaspheme His Holy Torah, when in their name hands were sent to do an abominable crime and they shed innocent blood and no one said a word?! And don't we know that everyone that has it in his power to protest and does not protest is caught in the sin?! -- And all of us are in the category of 'able to protest', for without the backing which was given to those who did this outrage, it would not have been done.

By virtue of the pain and frustration, as a result of the criminal acts that were performed on many childen in our neighborhood, there rose up several lost souls, lacking in understanding and fear of Heaven, who followed blindly after the imaginings of their hearts and taught themselves to lie, by fabricating proofs and by making false accusations, inventing a story that had no connection to reality. And they weren't satisfied to just tell it to Rabbis and bring out a bad name on a righteous woman in Israel, but they contaminated the wholesomeness of many children in the neighborhood, and put into their minds fabricated stories and caused them to believe, that supposedly there was really done to them acts of violence and heresy. The children believed. The parents believed. And for a number of days, also Tzadikim (righteous people) almost believed. And even the tiniest part of all those stories never was and never existed. Not even the slightest shadow of a shadow of anything, even of the slightest weight. Not even a vague hint of something that is slightly analagous to the lively, colorful descriptions given by mouths of the false accusers.

It's unbelievable that deceitful and false stories would be told, which would be implanted by people without any yoke of Heaven into the imaginations of wholehearted children, as if from the house of a righteous woman that lives in our neighborhood there was constructed a secret tunnel, that led to a church of one of the priests who was trying to force the Jewish children to abandon their religion. False accusations of this rotten type, don't just have within them a mixture of malice and mistakenness, but rather their start and their end is in crime, in the will to do evil, to cause damage, and to destroy. The false accusers did not take pity on the body and on the life of a righteous female convert who lives in our neighborhood -- and she is known for many years for her righteousness, her devoutedness, and her abstinence, and also in her faithfulness precisely to the Jewish laws of conversion and for taking care of converts. But just like the false accusations of Korach and his group against Moshe Rabbeinu, the most humble man on the face of the earth, that he and Aharon were lording themselves over the congregation of Hashem, thus there came those people of malice and strife and falsely charged this righteous woman, who had abandoned the false gods of her father's house and brought close under the wings of the Shechina (the Divine presence) tens and hundreds of girls, that she is confusing the hearts and poisoning the pure souls of refined Jewish children in an attempt to make them abandon their faith and to baptize them to Christianity. And with all the foolishness of this false accusation, how much the lies float and rise up with lack of any attachment to reality, those same people grasp onto weak proofs and add to them fabrications and lies, and anyone who doesn't support their opinion and doesn't agree with their imaginary conclusions, he too is suspected to be obviously connected to the Christian missionaries.

The ears will ring and the hearts will be shocked, how low is the point to which these good-for-nothing people are able to sink, while they drag after themselves troups of slanderers, bad-mouthers, and speakers of evil talk, amongst them dozens and dozens of children and youths from the best of our precious families. And they are chained to such a great extent by the handcuffs of the Satanic lies, that they are capable of bringing false accusations and to charge the clear representatives of our Teachers and Rabbis Shlit'a, with belonging to the missionaries, only because they did their work faithfully and easily exposed the lowliness of this despicable libel. It's shocking! Are also the Gedolei Yisrael (Great Ones of Israel) not believed any more by those people?! Are these people capable of being brazenfaced toward the Righteous Ones of the Beautiful City, Maran HaGadol Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach Shlit"a and Maran HaGaon HaTzaddik Moshe Shapira Shlit"a, and other Rabbanim of the Gedolei Yisrael whose guidance we live by, and to claim that they (by believing their representatives) are mistaken and that they themselves are are being misled by the Christian missionaries?!

And when there is so much brazenness, it can be derived that when the Satan places a sack over the head of a man, he is capable of blinding his eyes completely, to cloud his sight and to confuse his mind, until he is able to slander everything which is holy and precious, provided that his own interests, which have their origins in foolish egotism so that it is difficult for them to admit that they are the ones that are mistaken, are served.

But we - I and you, my dear brothers - if the Satan has not yet forced his sack onto our heads, how are we able to quote those very people who are no-goodniks, to discuss it and to conclude that "there's no smoke without fire", without being apprehensive that perhaps they are the very ones who are flaming the fires and just maybe the smoke is also surrounding us...

Despite the fact that I don't believe there is anyone in the neighborhood who has not heard the deeds of that group, and in spite of the embarrassment and wrath that floods over me when coming to write even briefly about what they did in their great foolishness and wickedness, I will do so, with your permission.

I will begin by saying, that it's possible to judge favorably a certain part of that group, several naive people who were carried away on the tide by the instigators, without considering what kinds of dark interests they were serving. They didn't realize that a lot of money had been promised to anyone who would succeed to prove that missionary activity existed in the neighborhood, with the main point being to point to guilty parties and to punish them. But that was the reality.

A lot of money was promised, and those people didn't have the boldness and strength of character to stand up and say: 'Thank G-d we haven't been struck by missionary activity, and in any event we don't have the need for this large amount of money'. Instead of that, they have the courage to speak bold-faced lies, to try to make righteous people stumble by giving false testimony, to contaminate the souls of children - also their own children, what cruelty - to hit with cruelty their victim, to shed innocent blood, with blows that are sufficient to kill.

When they falsely accused that righteous convert that she was turning aside Jewish children to impurity and Christianity, and even after they heard that the Rabbis ordered the opening of a professional and exacting investigation, they meanwhile hurried up, and performed a violent crime within our neighborhood, participated in by young men who were considered to be Kosher and thought of as G-d-fearing (but they proved now, that they don't fear Hashem and by their deeds they fulfilled the verse "but there is no fear of Hashem and they will kill me").

My hands are trembling as I am about to place in writing the slightest bit, only the tip of the rotten atrocious act. But I don't find any alternative. For I request that also you will tremble, that the hearts will palpitate from the fear of the Judgment, that your hair will stand up from the great atrocity that was done in our names, supposedly with our knowledge and agreement. Yes. I am here in order to shake you up! In order to shock! In order to jolt the entire world! In order to drag you by the corners of your heads and to declare in a loud voice: Gentlemen! We are in a situation of danger which is terrifying and palpable, apparent and certain! For if a lowly act like that will not be denounced with a powerful protest, and if all of us do not take counsel together in unision on how to request pardon from that righteous woman and how to appease her - who knows what will be produced in our midst by the wrath of Hashem...

And this is the description of the deed...

On Monday in the evening, on the night before the fifth of Adar, a gang of thugs waited outside of the house of the righteous woman, may she live for length of good days, and one of them was even sent to verify that there wasn't anyone with her at home, and then several strong-armed types came and knocked on her door. Some of them were dressed in Chareidi (ultra-Orthodox)attire and there were also evil-looking types in the group. Immediately after she opened the door - they fell upon her, threw her to the ground with cruelty and brutality, covered her mouth by tying something on it, and began to curse and insult her while requesting that she give them the disgusting material that according to their thinking she had in her house, that she should reveal to them the secret trap door that leads to the cave where there are baptisms to Christianity, etc. Those very people, them and those that sent them, had never come to investigate her, had not called her to come before Rabbis and to stand up and answer their questions. They had marked out a target and as far as they were concerned that was sufficient reason to kill, G-d forbid...

The violent attackers tied her hands and feet with cuffs and for the duration of many long minutes they hit her with cruelty on all the parts of her body, while simultaneously some of the thugs caused a 'pogrom' in her house, breaking and shattering closets and items and taking with them booty (how many times was it stated and on the booty they did not send their hands, and in this case they appropriated and despoiled and took silver items including expensive jewelry, that were not returned and apparently were sold on the pretext that they needed to cover the expense of the hoodlums).

They were not satisfied with that: they brought an iron rod from the courtyard, tied her to a chair and hit her with the rod on her head and shoulders, arms and legs, until they made certain that her leg was broken in several places. Also at that they did not stop and they continued to hit her until they broke her arm and elbow with an open fracture until the flowing of blood, and that's not to speak of the the many wounds on every part of her body, including her head and eyes. Before they left, they threw her to the foor and piled on her furniture so that she would not be able to get up, and then they abandoned the apartment while she was wallowing in her blood...

By the great help of Heaven, on that day she was supposed to travel abroad and therefore she left a key by one of the neighbors. He was suspicious when he saw the gang fleeing from her house, and hurried up to go check if these people hadn't been thieves. He discovered the atrocity, called the emergency medical services and her life was saved. She underwent several surgical procedures, her arm and leg were put in casts, large screws were inserted in her bones in order to stablize them and join them. She has been hospitalized in a hospital for over a month.

And I ask, how many of us that heard about this act concluded and said "This is the only way to teach a lesson"?! How many people that we are acquainted with, even expressed explicit support for those men of strife who were leading the course of the false accusations from its beginning?! How many are there that participated in gossip in which the woman was smeared and no one got up to denounce the act and to defend her good name?! Or at least to cry out that there is Justice and there is a Judge! Was she ever called to a Rabbinic court?!

And on the other hand: how many are there among us who where shocked and condemned the crooked act? How many people that we are acquainted with approached the great Rabbis (and I'm not speaking about Rabbis who are really 'biased in the matter' from the viewpoint of Torah Law) and requested their guidance in this complex story?! How many are there that searched and clarified where she is hospitalized in order to go to visit her? Is there anyone that thought about the necessity to organize all the residents of the neighborhood, in order to request from her pardon and to appease her?!

Are we so impenetrable to the extent that it's possible to bring about an atrocity like this in our neighborhood and we don't get agitated about it?! Do we not understand that we are bringing down upon all of us disgrace and disaster, and who knows what else is coming if we don't come to our senses?!

In truth I will request to ask: is there anyone who thinks that there is no reason to be apprehensive and fear the Judgment of Heaven?! Is anyone sure that the Creator of the world will be quiet and will not take revenge for the blood of his servants which is shed?! For nothing did the Holy Torah warn us 36 times to be careful with the honor and well-being of the convert?! And it's worthwhile to learn well the Midrash Tanchuma on Parshat Vayikra in which it is brought: "Said Rabbi Yehuda Bar Shalom: you find 48 times the Holy One Blessed Be He warned in the Torah about converts, and in parallel to those He warned about idol worship. Said the Holy One Blessed Be He it's sufficient that he put aside idol worship and came to be near you, I warn you to love him, because I love him as it is said, and love the convert to give him bread and clothing etc."

Will those who are able to protest and they remain silent, also sit and be silent when they will be given the honor of making eulogizies at funerals or shaking up people's hearts at mass meetings for the sake of repentance?! Gentlemen, is someone waiting for tragedies?! ---

From Heaven I have not been placed on a chair from which I can guide you on the straight path, but I still hold onto the right and the ability to shout and to protest in public. I don't have the boldness to gather assemblies together in public and to shout in the streets of the city, but I was given sufficient understanding to use the pen in order to express the murmurings of my heart which is stormy from anger and shame and terrified with anxiety and fear. And especially since many rely upon me, both in matters of Halachic instruction as well as matters of outlook, and also because I merited to serve the Gedolei Yisrael (Great Ones of Israel) in the previous generation and in certain matters they said about me that I am actually on the level of being 'a copy of their teachings'. Because of this the responsibility that I feel in relation to all this holy congregation, to shout and shake up the hearts, is doubled.

So long as we cannot include ourselves - all of us as one man, both men and women - in the category of being able to say with a full heart "our hands didn't shed this blood and our eyes didn't see", we will not have the right to express the request in the continuation of this verse: "atone for Your people Israel which you Hashem have redeemed and do not put innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel and atone for them on the blood". So long as we don't arouse ourselves to repentance, so long as we don't unite to request pardon from that righteous woman, to beg for our souls and to request her to arise up in prayer for us that an avenging sword should not hit us - until then, all of us are in the category of dwelling in mortal danger, just as those who are led to the gallows who can only be saved by a miracle...

And she, the righteous woman that in those frightening drawn-out moments didn't open her mouth to express a disparaging word, but rather whispered verses of prayer and declared after them "I believe in the Creator of the world throughout all the blows that you hit me" (according to the testimony of one of the thugs, who broke down and came to request a way of repentance from the Rabbis); that Rebbetzin who was a convert, when the Gaon HaGadol Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach Shlit"a came to visit her and to comfort her at her sickbed in the hospital, what did she say to him in tears: "Pray upon them Honorable Rabbi that they will return in repentance, so that there will not be an Accusing Angel. And on this she is weeping."...

That's what preoccupies her. And what preoccupies us? Or: what ought to preoccupy us in the days to come, in the weeks and months to come?...

On this I don't have an answer in my mouth for the masses. I know what I need to do, because I have consulted with my Teachers and Rabbis and received from them guidance, how to go to appease her and in what way to express myself in protest and to shake up all the community because of the danger and the Accusing Angel. And you, my dear friends, please shake yourselves up! Your souls should be stormy with terror! Turn over in your beds for entire nights! Be apprehensive about the fear of the Judgment that is stretched out over everyone who is involved in the matter! All this is what a Jew who is G-d-fearing does when he finds himself in an awful and terrifying situation like this.

But first of all: a call of condemnation should go out to all those people of strife and malice, who knitted this false accusation and put it upon the head of a Kosher woman (and by the way, the same evil people are involved these days in an additional, similar plot in another neighborhood in the city, and also there their disgrace was revealed and the Rabbis there publicized the matter in the public gates), who caught up in their net dozens and dozens of children whose wholesomeness was damaged forever and who knows how many of them will go off the path of being religious because of them, who brought hoodlums to spill innocent blood in our neighborhood, and who put upon all of us disgrace and shame.

For behold it is impossible for the mind to tolerate, that a small group, delusional and lacking responsibility, supported by several women whose minds are easily influenced, who were in pain and grumbling, and who dragged along with them a number of men, would determine the outcome of the balance-pan, when on the other side of the balance-pan were placed hard proofs and precise investigations (including investigation by the police and the professionals from the social welfare and services). These investigations were accepted as valid by Tzaddikim and Gaonim such as Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach Shlit"a and Rabbi Moshe Shapira Shlit"a, and along with them the HaRav HaGaon Rabbi Nisim Karelitz Shlit"a, HaRav HaGaon Rav Yehuda Silman Shlit"a and HaRav HaGaon Rabbi Natan Kopshitz Shlit"a. There were investigations by Lev L'achim which has almost 50 years of experience and is trusted by all the Gedolei Yisrael (Great Ones of Israel), and investigations by HaRav HaGaon Yehuda Porush Shlit"a from the Rabbis of the Va'ad HaRabbanim in the Offices of Social Welfare. And what the mind cannot tolerate - also we should not tolerate!

Together let us declare: we don't have a part in your acts! We don't agree with your ways! And we beg the Creator of the world that He will distance you from us and keep your feet out of our boundaries, because you have brought upon us a great evil! And perhaps, when Hashem will see that in truth and sincerity we regret that this came upon us, He will remove from us His anger and save us from the Harsh Judgment and the Accusing Angel.

Please, my brothers - don't do evil!!!

Your friend, who loves you truly and sincerely, who desires that you have goodness and peace all the days, but is forced to hide his name because of the apprehension that "Only there is not fear of G-d in this place and they will kill me"...

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