Luke Ford | Jews, Judaism, Journalism

The 1968 Olympics Salute

Posted on Apr 12, 2013 in Australia, Blacks

Yahoo: Film Australia gives the now standard (in Australia this is a common practice): “Warning – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers should exercise caution when watching this program as it may contain images of deceased persons.”

This is political correctness run amok. I would not want such warnings for Jews to accommodate Jewish sensitivities.

I saw this in the 2008 Australian documentary Salute:

The film provides an insight into and incident at the 1968 Summer Olympics which saw two United States athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, give the black power salute from the victory dais after the 200 metres final. The film focuses on the third man on the dias, silver medal winner Peter Norman, who showed his support for Smith and Carlos by donning an “Olympic Project for Human Rights” (OPHR) badge on his way to the podium. It was also Norman who suggested to Smith and Carlos that they share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos had left his gloves in the Olympic Village. This is the reason for Smith raising his right fist, while Carlos raised his left. Asked later about his support of Smith and Carlos’ cause by the world’s press, Norman said he opposed his country’s government’s White Australia policy.
The film documents the subsequent reprimand of Norman by the Australian Olympic authorities, and his ostracism by the Australian media. Despite Norman running qualifying times for both the 100m and 200m during 1971/72, the Australian Olympic track team did not send him to the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. It also documents Norman’s reunion with Smith and Carlos, shortly before his death in 2006.

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Chani Lisbon, Live at Comix

Posted on Apr 12, 2013 in Comedy, Orthodoxy

Lubavitcher rabbi’s daughter turned comic says:

I was raised Jewish. Imagine that rabbi on the box of Hanukkah candles? That’s my little brother.

I grew up in a cult. The little boys have to wear wool underwear. The little girls have to cover their elbows and their knees. Are there any kids here? No. OK, I can show you this. This is my elbow cleavage.

The cult is called Orthodox Judaism. We’re slightly less creepy than the Mormons. We don’t have to sleep with the rabbi. It’s optional. I’m one of 11 children… Those are their real names. It’s not easy getting attention when you’re one of eleven. Just to get noticed I had to resort to tantruming, slamming doors, and pulling down my underwear. It worked but my boss hates when I do that.

I still suffer from some of the side effects of being raised Orthodox. I have a hard time saying the word ***** and ****** because I really want a man to put his ***** inside my ******. I can’t bring myself to say the words.

There are a lot of people struggling right now. There are people in Iraq getting blown up by bombs and there are 27 year old females in Williamsburg who are still wondering what an orgasm is.

A few months ago, I went through a sexual identity crisis. I thought I might be a lesbian. I thought it might be the ticket out of my family.

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Rabbi Michael Broyde Admits Using A Fake Internet Identity To Tout His Own Work

Posted on Apr 12, 2013 in R. Michael J. Broyde, Steven I. Weiss

Sociology professor and prolific author Samuel Heilman, the writer of a recent book on the Lubavitcher rebbe, has been accused of a similar practice of using a fake internet identity to tout his own work and to attack his critic Steven I. Weiss.

Now Michael J. Broyde apologizes for his “error of judgment.”

These revelations are no surprise to those who know Rabbi Broyde.

Steven I. Weiss reports:

A leading Orthodox rabbi and esteemed law professor appears to have created a fake professional identity which he used to gain access to members-only correspondence of a rival rabbinic group and tout his own work. The fake identity may also have been used to submit letters to scholarly journals.

Rabbi Michael Broyde is well-known in both the fields of Jewish scholarship and law, and according to veteran British Jewish news reporter Miriam Shaviv, he was also on the shortlist of candidates being considered for chief rabbi of England in recent months, in an article saying that the chancellor of Yeshiva University had called him “the finest mind of his generation.” He is a rabbinical court judge, or dayan, on the largest rabbinical court in the United States, the Beth Din of America. Broyde is also a law professor at the U.S. News & World Report 23rd-ranked law school in the country at Emory University, where he is also Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. His Emory biography declares that he “has published more than 75 articles and book chapters on various aspects of law and religion and Jewish law,” including in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and the Emory Law Journal. The author or editor of several books, he is a prominent figure in rabbinic circles, where his detailed arguments and strong opinions regarding matters of practice and communal standards have produced alliances and opposition. He was also the founding rabbi of the Young Israel of Toco Hills, in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Will LA’s Modern Orthodox Rabbis Turn Against The RCC?

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 in RCC

The RCC is probably happy about this KSA scandal. It takes the attention off their Doheny Kosher Meats debacle.

I’m curious if the Modern Orthodox rabbis will unite in their dissatisfaction with the RCC, in particular with regard to divorces and agunot (chained women) and converts, and do something.

There’s a new activist with regard to agunot (chained women): Esther Macner, Founder/President of GET JEWISH DIVORCE, INC. 1880 Century Park East, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90067 getjewishdivorce@gmail.com. Her slogan is: “Dedicated to the Prevention of Abuse in the Jewish Divorce Process” 917-597-3505

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Free Self-Esteem Festival Sunday For Women Aged 18-24

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 in Personal

After ten years of inspiring and empowering women and girls of all ages, I’m throwing a free self-esteem festival Sunday for women aged 18-24. I’ll be singing some of my original compositions and leading a shame recovery workshop.

Ashley O’Dell Translation: Luke will leave his door unlocked this weekend in case any females want to come over to his apartment and share a bottle of almost-turned Manischewitz with an unshaven man wearing a greasy Slanket.

Pico Robertson ‘Slanket Fest 2013′ is on!…

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Kosher Rabbi Accused of Visiting Strip Clubs, Patronizing Prostitutes

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 in Abuse, Rabbis

Orthodox rabbis who publicly eat non-kosher food are removed from the rabbinate, but you can play around sexually and keep your job much of the time.

Historian Marc B. Shapiro writes: “If sexual abuse is treated just like another sexual transgression, then the lenient approach some rabbis have adopted towards it makes sense. After all, shouldn’t a rabbi want to give a sinner the opportunity to repent? Sexual sins have always been regarded differently than kashrut or Shabbat violations. If a rebbe was seen eating a hamburger in McDonalds or driving on Shabbat he would immediately be fired, without any opportunity to repent. But more leeway is given when it comes to sexual sins, the reason being, no doubt, that everyone understands the power of the evil inclination in this area.”

The following allegations (one of the rabbi’s convictions was at the Van Nuys courthouse in 1999) have been well known in Pico-Robertson for years and there was little turbulence as a result. Even if every allegation is correct, these aren’t the type of things that always end an Orthodox rabbi’s career.

People understand that this lawsuit was filed in a nasty personal dispute and neither party has clean hands.

I think there’s a big Jewish-Christian difference here. Jews tend to be more understanding about sexual sins than Christians do. Prostitution is essentially legal in the Jewish state of Israel, for instance.

It was widely known for over a decade in LA’s Orthodox community that Rabbi Aron Tendler was a sexual predator but not until I published an interview with his two of his victims was his career in the rabbinate over. He has been publishing his thoughts on the Torah portion continuously since the scandal in a triumph of the human spirit.

An Orthodox rabbi I know who was fired for having child porn on his computer can’t stop giving Torah talks.

Contrast Orthodox Jewry’s blase attitude about sexual misbehavior by its pulpit rabbis with the passion it showed over the Doheny Kosher Meats scandal.

Chabad Bais Bezalel was supposed to get a new rabbi for Passover but he left his wife and family for a young female employee.

Report (Failed Messiah): The head rabbi of a large kosher supervision organization was accused of visiting strip clubs, having sex with prostitutes, and sexually harassing Jewish female employees at his organization, according to shocking new court documents submitted in California.

…Rabbi Abraham Tzemach Rosenfeld is accusing his father-in-law, Rabbi Binyomin Lisbon, the head rabbi of KSA, or Kosher Supervision of America, of numerous sex charges.

The rabbi is accused of having sex with females who were not his wife, soliciting prostitutes multiple times, visiting strip clubs and dancing with women who were not his wife, and sexually harassing two female KSA employees, according to the court documents.

To view the entire court filing click here

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Dennis Prager vs Sidney Morgenbesser

Posted on Apr 11, 2013 in Dennis Prager

On his show April 10, 2013, Dennis said: “I wrote a paper for a
Marxist. One of my professors was href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Morgenbesser">Sidney
Morgenbesser [an ordained rabbi]. He wasn’t a communist. I liked him personally.
I’ll never forget I wrote a paper for him comparing Judaism with
Marxism as philosophies of life. I knew that had he lived another 100
years, he would not have gotten another paper like that at Columbia. I
knew he wondered how I got in — that I actually believed in religion
and thought it was superior to Marxism. To his credit, he gave me a B.
I’m sure he wanted to give me a D but it was too well-researched. I was
like a sort of extra-terrestrial. I felt that way at graduate school.”

According to href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Morgenbesser">
Wikipedia: “Sidney Morgenbesser (September 22, 1921 – August
1, 2004) was a Columbia University philosopher. Born in New York City,
he undertook philosophical study at the City College of New York and
rabbinical study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, then
pursued graduate study in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania,
where he wrote his Ph.D. thesis under the direction of Nelson Goodman.
Morgenbesser returned to Columbia to teach in 1953 and, in 1975, was
named the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy there. Morgenbesser was
known particularly for his sharp witticisms and humor, which often
penetrated to the heart of the philosophical issue at hand. He
published little, and established no school, but was revered for his
extraordinary intelligence and moral seriousness. He was a famously
influential teacher; his former students include Jerry Fodor, Raymond
Geuss, Robert Nozick, and Derek Parfit.”

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How Do I Live With Passion?

Posted on Apr 9, 2013 in Personal

I’m taking these Chinese herbs to help me sleep but they leave me a tad groggy during the day unless I’m excited. So I’m driving home in a daze last night and I had a sense memory of about a decade in my life working ordinary jobs and that sense of ennui that came with it, just going through the motions of life, and the sharp contrast that was with the decade I had 1997-2007 earning my living from writing and the passion and excitement and self-aggrandizement that flowed from it. When I’m writing all day and people are responding, I’m excited. When I’m typing and filing and answering the phone, I feel barely alive. I wonder if I could get as excited about helping people and living the 12 steps and Orthodox Judaism as I get from writing a widely-read blog and getting all that mirroring. When my life is firing on more cylinders, I’m not as vulnerable to abandonment. When my life isn’t firing, I tend to cling and to seek more from my relationship, put more pressure on it, squeeze the life out of my partner, drain her for mirroring until she sets limits on me, which I don’t take well. Can I get as excited about doing good as I did about writing transgressive material for a huge audience? Can I get more of the cylinders of my life firing by practicing what I wear?

From 1997 to 2007, most of my friends were writers (LA Press Club etc), and then I faced the grim reality I’d need to go in a new direction to earn a living, and I haven’t recaptured that community. Also, Cathy Seipp died in 2007, and I lost a world. She connected me. I was a stray dog she adopted.

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Jewish Community Watch Keeps An Eye On Predators

Posted on Apr 8, 2013 in Abuse

Almost all of the significant efforts against child abuse in the Jewish community have come from the laity, not the rabbis.

Assistant Los Angeles District Attorney Benny Forer writes:

Dear Jewish Community Watch,

I am writing this letter to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks for your tireless work in protecting our community. As an individual, parent, community member and a District Attorney, I appreciate all your efforts and praise your work.

Having handled, examined, reviewed and prosecuted thousands of cases in my career, I am thoroughly familiar with the requirements and standards necessary to implicate someone. I recognize the distinction between mere allegation and proof necessary to prove someone’s guilt.

After becoming aware of the internal standards utilized by JCW, I am abundantly content that you have thoroughly investigated your cases and have an impeccable review process before exposing any predators.1 I am also aware that the Board of JCW has received allegations of abuse regarding nearly 200 as yet unnamed predators. That those assertions remain undisclosed because JCW is not yet satisfied that it has been able to substantiate those claims beyond question, is confirmation that the principles to which JCW is committed are honorable, upright and moral. I am satisfied that the investigative process at JCW is sweeping and rigorous before the Board is convinced to publicize the name of an abuser. It is such careful standards that both ensure an innocent person is not posted and that only a predator is.

Your organization fills a much needed service within our community. For far too many years, our so-called leaders covered-up sex abuse. I am personally familiar with many cases of Rabbis and Roshei Yeshivos not notifying theirs or other communities regarding a potential predator. Consequently, their actions have put many communities and their children at great risk because the predator was free to strike again.2 It is due to these profound failures that an organization like yours is important and necessary.

In every State of the United States, our Federal Government and many other countries3, there are sex offender registry laws. For example, the California Legislature, in enacting its registration laws, specifically provided reasons for its incorporation. They found that sex-offenders pose a potentially high risk of committing further sex offenses and that it is a compelling and necessary public interest to inform the public regarding these people and the risks they pose. Furthermore, in balancing the predators right to privacy (and potential rehabilitation) vs protecting a vulnerable population, the latter is much more important.4

JCW fulfills this role in our society. Its admirable goals are to notify the public of predators and to protect the innocent. It also has a further, and much needed secondary purpose: due to various reasons, including rabbinical cover-ups and community stigmatization, victims are frightened/wary/anxious of coming forward. Victims often do not come forward because of perceived stigmatization of potential harm towards themselves and their family. They are worried that going forward to the police or to law-enforcement would publicly reveal who they are and remove their layer of anonymity.5

It is also common for victims of sexual assault to wait some time before telling someone. When the person was assaulted as a child, he or she may wait years or decades. The reasons for this are numerous: victims may want to deny the fact that someone they trusted could do this to them; they may want to just put it behind them; they may believe the myth that they caused the assault by their own behavior; or they may fear how other people will react to the truth. As a result, the applicable Statute of Limitations has passed and going to the police will have no result at all.

JCW thus provides an outlet for a victim to reveal the truth about what happened, either to expose their harm, or to prevent their predator from effectuating this harm on others. They get to remain anonymous from the judgmental influences of our community, while achieving a much needed result. Moreover, in those situations where the victim courageously comes forward, but because of the statute of limitations he is prevented from prosecuting, the truth can still prevail regardless of the arcane laws preventing such prosecution.6

Our justice system imposes a legal duty on many (particularly those in leadership positions) to report sexual harm, regardless of how strong or how weak the evidence is. Teacher, Rabbis or doctors all have legal obligations to notify all appropriate agencies if they suspects sexual harm. In Halacha and as frum Jews, we have an even stronger obligation. The duty is on every individual to ensure that וְלִפְנֵי עִוֵּר לֹא תִתֵּן מִכְשֹׁל .

I applaud you for your efforts and I bless you that you may go from strength to strength and never waver in your commitment to this great cause. I also call on all Rabbonim and leaders from the various communities to A) join your organization, B) familiarize themselves with the issues, C) publically issue piski dinim relating to sex abuse and D) condemn any and all predator.

There are many in our community who are stationary and unaware or unwilling to act. This mentality is often based on misunderstood halachos such as mesirah, loshon horah, etc. and for too long we have allowed predators to roam freely amongst our children.7 I therefore thank you for your bold and important step in protecting our communities.

Sincerely,

Benny Forer

1 I am aware that in some cases JCW does not do their own investigation, instead, relying on the police and District Attorney charging the case. In such a situation, review is unnecessary and reliance on governmental agencies is sufficient to expose an arrest and/or conviction.

2 One example I am familiar with: An older bocher in a Yeshiva raped several younger bochurim. During farbrengens, he would ply the younger bochur with alcohol and then take him back to his dorm room. The older bochur would then rape the heavily-intoxicated younger bocher. Despite knowing this, the Rosh Yeshiva of that particular school did not object/notify any new school of this monster. The predator went on to teach in another high school.

3 The following relevant other countries have registration laws: Australia = ANCOR; Canada = NSOR; UK = ViSOR.

4 See the Legislative Counsel’s Digest for an amendment to Penal Code § 290.03, introduced as SB 396.

5 Children often do not tell of the harm for a variety of reasons including the offender’s threats to hurt or kill someone the victim loves, as well as shame, embarrassment, wanting to protect the offender, feelings for the offender, fear of being held responsible or being punished, fear of being disbelieved, and fear of losing the offender who may be very important to the child or the child’s family.

6 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/us/sex-abuse-statutes-of-limitation-stir-battle.html?ref=romancatholicchurch&_r=0

7 Many leading Rabbonim have ruled that there is no mesirah when informing on molesters and that molesters have the status of a rodef.

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My Fear Of Abandonment

Posted on Apr 7, 2013 in Personal

* I tend to cling through hell and high water. Because of my fear of abandonment, I put up with more abuse than most BFs, so GFs to get rid of me, have to go bang someone else, at which point, I lose my mind and don’t crawl back for at least a few weeks.

* Do you do things to deliberately wound the people you love most in the very places where they are most vulnerable? Then you are part of the 100%. It’s normal relationship/marital sadism. Abnormal sadism means calling the police, drowning their laptop, getting them fired, etc.

* We marry the person who will hurt us most deeply. That’s the point of marriage, to experience your deepest fears, to marry the parent who most wounded you, and perhaps to heal.

* That you don’t feel abandoned has nothing to do with whether you were. We develop psychological defenses as children so we don’t have to feel the bad stuff. As we grow up, these defenses however interfere with normal human growth.

* When your abandonment issues kick in, you’re going to act drunk. You’ll be irrational and accusatory. You’ll likely be paired up with someone who distances and abandons. How should you react when somebody is out of control? Back away and get space.

* Dad is working, mom is in bed depressed. Child develops abandonment issues, falls in love with psychological terrorists.

* When someone important to you starts backing away, how do you react? Do you cut them out of your life to avoid pain to yourself? Do you try to be perfect so they will come back to you? Or do you snoop to try to understand what is going on? Do you threaten? Do you issue non-negotiable demands? These have been my responses (the most common has been for me to cut the person out of my life).

* I bought a bunch of fruity calorie-free mineral water last night because I hear the bubbles fill you up and I can get back to my Stayin’ Alive weight.

* And so it begins — I just deleted the photo of the blonde biting my tzitzit.

* For years I conducted purges of my Facebook friends akin to the show trials of Joseph Stalin, but eventually I learned to stop hating and to start embracing the on rushing tide of friends that my charisma commands.

* I never fully became comfortable with cursive, in large part because my block script was hard enough to read. I started telling people in the 1980s that cursive skills were not important as computers were taking over our writing.

* I’m watching In Treatment while I pump iron and chat on FB, and I’m realizing I must be abnormal because I have never yelled at my therapist or said anything hostile, ever!

* A few years ago, my GF told me, “A girl came over Friday night and we played around. How do you feel about that?” I hung up. She wanted to get rid of me. After a few weeks of discussing this in therapy, my therp (with whom I was in love along with loving my GF and some women at yoga) suggested I write out my feelings and email them to my GF, which I did at great length. I found out later that she deleted the email after reading the first line. I tend to get quite long-winded in love and loss.

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