Here’s a moving video about the process of converting to Judaism, check out the inspiring words of Rabbi Leib Tropper:
The Eternal Jewish Family is an independent organization dedicated to the preservation of the authentic Jewish family, as is dictated by our Torah delivered to the Jewish nation on Mt. Sinai more than 3300 years ago. A primary focus of EJF is the halachic conversion of a non-Jewish spouse in an intermarriage. To assure that all conversions are based on the authentic dictates of Torah and halacha, the Eternal Jewish Family follows the halachic guidelines of such noted Torah authorities as Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, Harav Yosef Sholom Eliyashuv shlit”a, Harav Shmuel Wosner shlit”a, Harav Reuven Feinstein shlit”a, as well as leading Sephardic authorities shlit”a. The Eternal Jewish Family is affiliated with Horizons and the Kol Yaakov Torah Center of Monsey, New York. Founded 25 years ago under the inspiration of the late venerable sage Harav Yaakov Kaminetsky zt”l, Kol Yaakov has been a leading institution in the kiruv movement. Hundreds of its alumni have over the years assumed leadership positions in Jewish life throughout the world.
Dov Bear reports:
Absolute facts:
— In 2006 Leib Tropper revoked a woman’s conversion because of a breach of strict halachic tznius rules.
— In October 2009 Leib Tropper was sued by a billionaire Israeli for allegedly misappropriating 1 million dollars.
— In mid-December 2009 Leib Tropper resigned from his leadership role at EJF
— Pashkvelin in Israel, this month, denounced Leib Tropper as a Zimri playing like a Pinchas.
Facts Supported by strong circumstantial evidence:
— A woman who identifies herself as Shannon Orand, recorded a number of conversations between herself and a man who sounds like Leib Tropper and has intimate information about Leib Tropper’s associates and family.
— In the audio recording, Tropper speaks of a sexual relationship with the woman as well as setting her up for phone sex and actual sex acts with men identified only as “Amir” and the “Satmar guy.”
— Money is passing hands, although it is not clear if the funds were used as a quid pro quo for sex.
Information provided by Shmarya at FailedMessiah after a conversation with the woman (whom he does not identify):
— The audio was leaked and was not supposed to end up in the hands of bloggers and mainstream media.
— One of Shmarya’s sources for the audio was the billionaire Israeli.
— There were other women that were part of the sexual activities.
— The woman claims that Tropper was using her for sex and in return he was going to provide her with a conversion.
Investigative Reporting:
— The woman on the audio is from Texas. There is a Shannon Orand listed in Houston Texas. Her address is near the frum neighborhood.
— Ms. Orand claims on her Myspace page that she was raised Catholic and is now Jewish. This implies she has already converted.
— Ms. Orand has not logged into her Myspace account since August 2009.
— Ms. Orand had a Facebook account (which is still visible in google results if you click “cached”) it has been since deleted.
Here’s a comment to DovBear: Shannon Orand’s Linked In profile claims that her current position is “Outreach Administration at Eternal Jewish Family”. Thus, if it was her, I would assume Tropper would be familar with her background. And it indicates that her background includes many kiruv positions, which is not likely if she had not yet converted.
DINA COMMENTS: The conversion process requires living for at least a year as a Jew, so that would explain why she is saying she’s Jewish when she’s still technically not Jewish.
CA POSTS: – If Ms. Orand had already converted why was she converting again? Was it a set-up? Or was she really converting (again)?
Perhaps the reason she was able to get converted was because she did the Rabbi’s bidding. But she continued becuase the rabbi has a track record of “revoking” conversions of people who don’t cooperate.
— A man with the means of the slighted billionaire Israeli could very well have orchestrated the demise of his nemesis by playing to Tropper’s weaknesses with an elaborate set-up.
You mean he’s so rich he has access to some sort of secret mind-control technology that makes a man do things he wouldn’t do otherwise?
— By recording conversations in which the woman admits to sexual activity with a married man and potential sexual activity with others, we can infer that there was a huge interest on her part to expose Tropper and indict herself.
Yeah, well lots of people succumb to extortion, that doesn’t mean they like it or like the person who’s doing it. Doesn’t surprise me in the least that she was collecting evidence that could be used against the guy.
— The things Tropper did would still be inexcusable but they shed new light on his predicament.
His predicament is self-made. If he wanted a life of kinky sex, he should have gone into show business, where that sort of activity isn’t such a career-killer, and he would have found lots of willing partners.
READER COMMENTS: Of course she was trying to get a response from him. She was TAPING the calls. She was obviously on her way out of the relationship and wanted to take proof with her.
Even if it was total entrapment, he still admitted to all sorts of sexual things and sure seems to admit to pimping her also.
Lots of people first convert Reform or Conservative and then decide they can make the commitment to converting Orthodox. It usually requires a bigger financial commitment like moving to a frum neighborhood where real estate is very expensive and you might even have to quit your job. It’s very common in the world of converts.
MJ COMMENTS: Listening to the recordings without any knowledge of the situation other than the assumption hat they are authentic, it is hard to come to any conclusion other than you have a married man who is in an alarmingly manipulative and seemingly coercive relationship with another woman.
The man cites the Torah as providing reason why he can be in love with multiple partners and seems to fault her for not being able to do the same. The man further admits to being sexually coercive with his spouse.
The question is not whether this is illegal, The question is how, once again, did this kind of person with a predatory nature rise to a position of power. The answer is, once again, with the complicity of a rabbinic establishment that depends on handlers like Tropper to funnel millions of dollars to their institutions.
I know plenty of lovely people in the kiruv business. But I’ve traced the origins of the kiruv movement and the major organizations it nearly always comes back to people with cult-like manipulative personalities and very shady financial arrangements. I spent time working at a kiruv organization that is very highly regarded (=not Aish). This organization did not turn into the vast financial scheme that others have, but it too was led by a person, now dead, who was emotionally abusive and its clients were across the board people of unstable emotional grounding.
VEGANOVICH COMMENTS: Below is Shannon Orand
