I grew up in a Muslim family from Iran. Half of my life I lived in Kuwait, and the other half I was in the US. Even though my father comes from a very religious Muslim family, He did not raise me that religious. As I got older, I desperately needed G-d in my life and a guide, a way to live life in a righteous way. So I decided to become a religious Muslim, but some things didn’t make sense to me, so I started my search for something true to me and that quenched the thirst my soul had.
I always had an unexplainable interest in Jewish history and Israel, even while I lived in Kuwait. It took several years though for me to realize that I wanted to convert to Judaism. One day in college, I asked if I could accompany a Jewish friend to Shabbat services and dinner at the college Chabad house out of curiosity. As soon as the Kabbalat service began, I felt like my soul had finally found its home and I decided that night that I had to become Jewish. Although I thought that my journey for truth had ended, a new journey had just begun. I did a lot of reading on my own and I spoke to different Rabbis about conversion. I heard several horror stories about conversion from others who had gone through it – from the length of the process to the very impersonal behavior of the Rabbi and the superficial learning. I was very apprehensive but I was determined, nothing and no one would be on my way to reach the true identity of my soul.
Then I found Rabbi Gavriel Cohen of the Beit Din of Beverly Hills. The connection was immediate. He questioned me and he seemed to be pleased and was very accepting. It took a little over a year of intense learning in which he did not only make sure I knew the basic things, but he would take my knowledge of Halakha to the next level, needless to say I was always looking forward to our learning time it was both refreshing and exciting.
Rabbi Cohen was so humble in the way he treated me. He always listened carefully and not once he put me down for not knowing or for any reason whatsoever. I remember him as one of the most righteous people in the way he treats people with respect and tries his best not to humiliate them.
I’m forever grateful to Rabbi Cohen. Converting to Judaism has been so far the most important decision I’ve made in my life, it has transformed me in ways I never thought could be possible. It’s made me a much better person, and the husband and father that I always wanted to be. I’ve been able to turn every hardship that has come on my way or problems into life changing opportunities, because among the many things with I learned with Rabbi Cohen is that life is what we make of it.
After marrying, my family and I moved to Mexico for several years, we made a small Jewish community there, I was the chazan and the baal koreh. My wife created a preschool for Jewish studies for the children of the community. We are now living in San Diego, I go to Kollel twice a week, and am studying at an online Yeshiva. Also, we are currently preparing to make Aliyah in 2016 B’ezrat Hashem.
I wish everyone would have a great experience like I did with Rav Cohen, and the strong moral and knowledgeable background He provided for me. Because when someone like him holds you to a high standard, you can’t help but strive to be better every step of the way.
Orthodox Judaism is as estranged from the secular university as any white power advocate. The more Orthodox the Jew, the less likely he is to study at college.
Traditional Orthodox Jews often fear sending their kids to college in case they get corrupted. This is a big dividing line between the Modern Orthodox and the Traditional Orthodox.
Among the Traditional Orthodox, the only reason to go to college is to learn skills to get a good job.
That many Jews may do something, such as go to college or espouse feminism, does not make it a traditional Jew value.
The more Orthodox the Jew, the more likely he is to vote for the right (and to support the death penalty for murder).
Posted inAcademia, Jews|Comments Off on The Left Wing Bias In Academia
For each nation has different customs and divergent laws and institutions, and should consolidate those things that are proper to it, and should form and develop out of the same nation the associations for the fusion of its life. For just as each animal mates with its own tribe, so it is right that each nation should marry and cohabit not with those of other race and tongue but of the same tribe and speech. For hence arise naturally harmony of thought and intercourse among one another and friendly converse and living together; but alien customs and divergent laws are likely on the contrary to engender enmities and quarrels and hatreds and broils, which tend to beget not friendship and association but spite and division.
Posted inDiversity|Comments Off on The Case For Homogeneity
On Monday evening March 17th, 2014, Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn, Dean of Yeshivat Yavneh, began a repeat of his first-rate 14 part “Series on the History of Orthodox Judaism in Los Angeles”. Originally presented over a 4 month period on Shabbos afternoons before Mincha, the response was so phenomenal that Rabbi Einhorn decided to repeat the series on Monday evenings so that others can relive or discover the history of their Los Angeles Jewish community.
A native of L.A., Rabbi Einhorn began the task of researching the history of the orthodox communities in Los Angeles from its early days to the present as a result of a personal interest. The research developed and grew and before long it took on a life of its own. In an effort to add substance and interest into the series, Rabbi Einhorn interviewed Los Angeles old timers, who fleshed out many of the attention-grabbing events in the last 80 years of LA’s orthodox development.
The first in the series, “Oy Vey Kabom: The Wild West”, Rabbi Einhorn laid the groundwork by presenting the first Jews who came out west and wanted to maintain a connection to their Jewish upbringing, by establishing a synagogue, hiring a rabbi and providing many of the trappings required to create a true Jewish presence in Los Angeles. This was over 150 years ago.
The second in the series covered the depression era and Hollywood, aptly titled, “From the Depth I Call Out”. These two events were held at the Young Israel of Century City.\
In speaking of the series, Rabbi Einhorn stated, “I really started this as a small series, but as I began my research and was given the opportunity to use the UCLA archives, I uncovered far more information than I originally anticipated. I discovered that we have a most remarkable history and many of us do not realize it. LA didn’t start the way most communities do. It wasn’t the result of an influx of a large group of Jews that came out west as an existing community, reestablishing themselves in Los Angeles. Nor was it the accomplishment of one individual Rabbi who came out west and built up a community.”
Posted inLos Angeles, R. Shlomo Einhorn|Comments Off on RELIVING THE HISTORY OF JEWISH LOS ANGELES WITH RABBI EINHORN’S LECTURE SERIES
I believe that conversions through Sephardic rabbis Gavriel Cohen and Samuel Ohana often run to $5,000, and through other Batei Din (Jewish law courts) about $2,000 all told.
Rav Gavriel Cohen, who heads a beis din near Hancock Park, says that in addition to the increase in conversion applicants, their quality and seriousness has increased. “The ones who come in these days, they’re very strong. They really want to go through it at all costs, even if they are going to lose connection with their family members, or they have to work hard. It’s a different feel,” he says….
Another convert interviewed for this article, Chloe Traicos, had always felt drawn to Judaism and at home in Jewish life, as she puts it. Born and raised first in Zimbabwe and then in Australia, Traicos initially converted Reform, but found that keeping Shabbos and kosher meant she was more religious than all the Reform Jews she knew. Upon discovering that not everyone would consider her children Jewish, she began studying for Orthodox conversion, which she successfully completed this past summer under the supervision of Rabbi Zvi Block, who runs a beis din in North Hollywood. Traicos had long suspected that her maternal great-grandmother, who lived in Odessa, Ukraine, was Jewish, and was exhilarated to learn that a recent DNA test found her to be 43% genetically Jewish….
Having a balanced, realistic approach is also critical. If someone comes into the initial interview and says, “My mind is made up. I’m doing this 100%,” the warning bells start to go off, Rabbi Union says.
“This isn’t being born again, where you stand up and wave the flag. We want them to understand the issues and the challenges. It’s not like this is going to solve all of their problems. Is it a beautiful way to live? Sure it is, but they have to appreciate the challenges and be willing to confront those challenges.”
That was one thing that Elsa Monterroso, a woman currently in the process of conversion, had to discover for herself. “It’s not like you wear the head covering and boom – no problems will happen to you,” she says. “Religious people are just like everybody else – it’s real. And it’s so beautiful.”
How many people complete the program and actually convert each year? At the RCC, generally accepted to be the “gold standard” of geirus in Los Angeles, it’s about 1 in 3 candidates, or about 20-30 each year. Most of those who drop out do so within the first 6-8 months, once they realize the demands of living a fully Orthodox lifestyle. Some were experiencing what turned out to be a passing interest, others were lacking in commitment, having been pushed into conversion for family reasons or other pressures. Sometimes applicants will be rejected – about one to two each year – usually due to hiding information, such as a girlfriend or boyfriend in the background, says Rabbi Union.
Rabbi Union believes that in today’s fragmented Jewish community, a central body that handles conversions and creates and enforces recognized standards can only be a good thing. To counteract the humanistic concerns, he encourages the close involvement of a sponsoring rabbi who lives in the convert’s community and offers support and guidance, even while the actual conversion goes through the regional beis din.
“At the end of the day, what is it we want to accomplish?” Rabbi Union asks. “We want people who will become observant members of the Orthodox community, and who are fully participating in Orthodox life. They can be Chassidish or Modern Orthodox, Yeshivish or Mizrachi, but they have to be members of an Orthodox Jewish community, and we’re helping people to do that.”
Conversion stats:
Primary motivations of converts:
· Jewish spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend
· Inexplicable pull to Judaism
· Jewish parent or grandparent, or raised as Jewish
· Spiritual seeker, looking for G-d
Average cost of conversion: $1,500-$2,000, includes tutoring, administrative fees and mikvah fees
Average timeframe: 1-2 years
Number of Orthodox conversions done in LA annually: approximately 50-80 (based on anecdotal data)
FailedMessiah reports: Chief Rabbi of Kfar Chabad Meir Ashkenazi has released a public letter calling on residents, who are almost all Chabad hasidim, to stop employing Arab construction workers until the current security crisis ends. If that is impossible to do, hasidim must hire an armed security guard to watch the Arabs to make sure none of them attack Jews, Ashkenazi ruled.
According a report in Yeshiva World, Ashkenazi also ruled that every able-bodied man should join the community’s security patrol and asked the entire community to recite Psalms 20, 22, 69, and 130 daily after morning prayers.
Kindergarten and heder (grammar school) children should, as usual, recite the 12 pesukim (bible verses chosen by Chabad’s late rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson three decades ago for children to recite) but should add an additional verse, ‘מפי עוללים וגו” (“mi-pi ollalim…,” “out of the mouths of little children…”).
Kfar Chabad is located not far from Ben-Gurion International Airport, which is itself located not far from Tel Aviv. It was the site of a major terror attack which took place on April 11, 1956. Fedayeen terrorists barged into the main synagogue during evening prayers and began shooting indiscriminately. Five children and one teacher were killed. Ten others were wounded.
* Instead, hire the hard working, experienced, and capable people from kfar habad, or any nearby yeshiva.
* Well do you blame him?
Okay, fine, I know YOU do but would any reasonable person blame him?
Besides, if “the Gedolim” knew what was actually going on outside their front doors they’d see this as a tremendous opportunity.
* Many settlements have stopped hiring or permitting Arab workers to come in to the settlement to work due to the current situation.
A perfectly reasonable request.
* I agree with him – on this occasion.
I would probably let the arab workers continue as they would br far better workers than some yeshiva loser but I would also have an armed guard watching over them. Plus I would tell the arab its not personal but my families safety is paramount.
It would be a win-win situation. He gets to feed him family, my work gets done and our family were safe.
Posted inArabs, Israel|Comments Off on Don’t Employ Arab Construction Workers, Chabad Rabbi Says
From YNETNews.com: Israel is receiving support and encouragement from an unexpected source these days following the ongoing wave of terror across the country: Former adult film star Jenna Jameson has become an ardent supporter of the Jewish state and is constantly tweeting enthusiastic messages defending the people of Israel.
The tweets include messages such as “Stay strong people of Israel in this dangerous time,” “Imagine if you had to fear your children being stabbed” and “I stand with Israel – Obama does not speak for me.”
Jameson has also retweeted messages from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reports of Palestinian incitement.
The former porn star’s tweets have been raising a lot of interest on social media, and her Twitter account has become a platform for arguments for and against Israel. Most comments have been in favor of Israel, and Jameson has made sure to fire back at those attacking the Jewish state. She even posted a flag of Israel and stated that she was “a very outspoken supporter” of the country.
Jameson has 652,000 followers on Twitter, much more than Prime Minister Netanyahu. When one of her followers asked why she supported a an “apartheid regime which massacres women and children,” she replied: “Sorry, I don’t speak the complete brainwashed terrorist language.”
The 41-year-old actress has been called the world’s most famous adult-entertainment performer and “The Queen of Porn” and has participated in 125 X-rated films. She retired from the industry in January 2008 after 17 years.
In June, she announced that she was going through a conversion process ahead of her marriage to Israeli fiancé Lior Bitton, who works in the diamond business in Los Angeles. She then began embracing her Jewish side by tweeting in Hebrew and posting pictures of kosher Shabbat meals.
In August 2015 she joined the UK vs. US season of “Big Brother VIP,” where she got into an argument with former model Janice Dickinson over kosher food.
Rabbi Gavriel Cohen of Los Angeles is also charged with taking bribes.
Rabbi Cohen told me today via email that these charges are “unfounded.”
Reactions in the Los Angeles Orthodox community seem evenly divided between those who are surprised by these charges against Rabbi Gavriel Cohen and those who are not.
Rabbi Cohen tells me:
Dear Luke: This is a statement from my lawyer May 7 2015: “In my opinion, after a lengthy discussion with law enforcement (US and Israeli) officials in this case and my experience practicing criminal law as a prosecutor and a defense attorney for over 40 years, that Rabbi Cohen did not violate any law, statute or regulation of the United States.”
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday filed an indictment against former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger for allegedly accepting NIS 10 million in bribes.
The charges also include fraud, breach of public trust, fraudulent receipt of a benefit under aggravated circumstances, theft, money-laundering, tax violations and conspiracy to commit a felony, all while using his position as chief rabbi. The indictment ushers in a new stage in the latest legal drama of a major public figure to grab the country’s attention.
The indictment, filed with the Jerusalem District Court, was filed after Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein rejected arguments by Metzger’s lawyer against the charges at a pre-indictment hearing.
Weinstein emphasized that his decision was in keeping with the recommendation of State Attorney Shai Nitzan and other prosecution officials on the case. Such pre-indictment hearings do not usually cause the attorney-general to change his decision.
Previously, Metzger’s defense team said in response to the attorney-general’s prior announcements that he would likely indict Metzger that “we received from the attorney-general the allegations against Rabbi Yona Metzger and the summons to a hearing. Rabbi Metzger denies the allegations made against him. According to the rabbi, he did not receive bribes, not through the state’s witness and not through anyone else, and did not launder money. We will address the allegations against the rabbi at the hearing he has been summoned to after we receive and review the investigative material.”
The indictment said that of the NIS 10m., NIS 7m. had gone directly to Metzger (the numbers are according to exchange rates at the time of the crimes – at current rates the amounts would drop to around NIS 8m. and NIS 5m., respectively.) According to the indictment, in most of the suspected criminal actions, Chaim Eisenstadt, Metzger’s driver, acted as his representative for his receiving bribes…
In the “Conversion Affair,” Metzger allegedly received large bribes from foreigners who wished to convert or to clarify whether they were Jewish under standards acceptable to the Chief Rabbinate.
The indictment said that Metzger and Rabbi Gavriel Cohen, the former head of the Beit Din rabbinical court of Los Angeles, split funds paid to Cohen regarding the issues in question.
It added that sometimes Metzger received the money, but made sure that at least in initial stages that checks were not made payable to him, such that he could better hide his involvement.
In 2011, the indictment said that Metzger and Cohen helped convert the children of a Russian businessman who had made aliya, at a price of $360,000, of which Metzger received $180,000.
Next, the indictment said that Metzger received 30-40 percent of donations slated for charitable organizations in exchange for his support and activities on behalf of those organizations.
One donation for $28,000 which was slated for a yeshiva in Metzger’s synagogue with connections to the Aish Hatorah yeshiva, found its way to Metzger and Eisenstadt instead, said the indictment.
Another donation of NIS 105,000 earmarked for the organization Beit Hatavshil, which helps provide food for the poor, was split between the charity and Metzger, who received around NIS 31,500 of the donation, without the donor’s knowledge, according to the indictment.
“The West Coast Rabbinical Court, headed by HaRav Gavriel Cohen is authorized to handle all matters of Jewish religious law and is designated by the State of Israel to serve the western United States, Canada, Mexico and the Far East in matters of Halacha (Jewish law). Whether you need Brit Milah, Marriage, Counseling, Ravakut, Conversion, Kashrut Certification, Arbitration, or Divorce, we can help you. As the population is diverse, we can render our services fluently in 8 languages thus creating an efficient network with most communities worldwide – Israel, Europe and the Far East. We are also able to perform tasks in the appropriate nusach (i.e. Sefardi, Ashkenaz) as required by halachah by Rav Elyashiv zt”l and all Gedolei Hador.”
When I last paid attention, R. Gavriel Cohen charged $5,000 per conversion, which sounds a lot more than the other Batei Din (Orthodox Jewish law courts) in Los Angeles, but it apparently included tutoring, while for most other conversion programs, tutoring was extra. I remember one Orthodox rabbi telling me that the Beit Din of Beverly Hills “had a license to print money.”
Rabbi Cohen did fewer than five conversions a year on average.
Rabbi Gavriel Cohen with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar (above).
Rabbi Gavriel Cohen with the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar (above).
Rabbi Cohen and other rabbis visit with President Ronald Reagan (above).
Metzger allegedly split the proceeds of that scam with as yet unnamed Orthodox rabbi from the Diaspora.
Metzger also took large cuts of donations – and sometimes even the entire donation – made to charitable organizations in exchange for endorsing those organizations. The organizations included a yeshiva located in Metzer’s synagogue and Beit Hatavshil, an organization that is supposed to provide food for the poor.
Metzger also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct bribes he tried to conceal by calling them “gifts.” For example, Metzger got a $70,000 “gift” from a close relative of a rabbi who Metzger appointed to an official state position.
And Metzger also allegedly cheated on his taxes.
Metzger was put into office in a backroom deal orchestrated by then-haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, despite the fact that Metzger had already had a string of ethical and sexual peccadilloes (including alleged sexual harassment of females and males) while he was the government rabbi of a posh Tel Aviv district.
Elyashiv knew of the allegations against Metzger, and of rabbinic investigations into them that had found Metzger to be extremely problematic, when he made the deal that put Metzger into the chief rabbi job but he backed Metzger anyway. When asked by this writer a decade ago why he had done this, Elyashiv – who had been fighting a decades’ long war against the Chief Rabbinate when he got Metzger the job – responded through a spokesman that he had done so “to return the glory to the Chief Rabbinate.”
* Reminds me of a rabbi in Dallas weakly aligned with AISH. His sole consideration as to whether he would grant a conversion (one that at the time WAS accepted in Israel) was whether or not the applicant could pay the $10,000 fee. If you arrived with cash in hand – the conversion took as long as it took him to walk you to the lake with 2 of his friends.
* I recall Metzger from his days as rabbi at the Adam Hacohen St synagogue in TA. He was not a personable fellow and had weak Torah knowledge, but at least he did his service in Zahal. Like all Jews, Metzger’s weakness is GELT: “The Moshiach will not come until the Jews’s excessive love of money has been knocked out of him!” (Chofetz Chaim 1929 during the Wall St Crash)
Miriam writes: His [Gavriel Cohen] beis din used to be on this list [of recognized conversion courts] for a few years until one day (about two or three years ago) it mysteriously disappeared.”
Harav Gavriel Cohen, Dayan and head of the Badatz West Coast Beis Din which services both the West and East Coasts, has opened this Summer a Beis Din in Lakewood. Rabbi Cohen, primarily located on the West Coast, has expanded the services provided by his Beis Din to the east coast, the Dayan explains to Peretz Baruch Eichler in his broadcast interview.
Rabbi Cohen will also be heading the Kollel and activities of the newly-expanded Tiferes Eliezer Shul, located at 10th Street and Monmouth Avenue.
The Kollel and Shul were built up by father and son Rabbis Gavriel and Rabbi Eliezar Cohen, the Rav’s Son, who was hand picked by BMG and unanimously-approved by the Atlanta community to be the Rosh Kollell of the newly-formed Ner Ha’Mizrach Kollel, in Atlanta.
Read more about Rabbi Cohen’s West Coast Beth Din here.
A friend told me today I should go to Jerusalem and get stabbed by an Arab. It would help my reputation in the community and be good for my career.
Later in the day, he gave me a modified Heil Hitler salute in tribute to my shaved head.
* Rabbi Elazar Muskin at Young Israel of Century City never goes to his left. When he stands at the bima, all the solid citizens of his community sit to his left, and all the scallywags congregate to his right. So when he needs to shush the shul, it’s always directed at the rascals to his right.
Some shuls at rabbi-run and some shuls are board-run. Rabbi Muskin runs YICC, Rabbi Kanefsky runs Bnai-David, and the board runs Beth Jacob and Beth Am.
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on How Do I Improve My Social Status?
* The New England Patriots team roster is still majority black. The whitest teams in the NFL are mostly black, even though whites heavily outnumber blacks in America.
I think it would be far more fascinating if instead of the Pro Bowl there was a Race Bowl, pitting the best white players and coaches against their black counterparts. That might get a bigger audience than even the Super Bowl.
* Besides maturing later, whites tend to lose their speed faster than blacks. The great baseball player Mike Trout has gone from stealing 49 of 54 bases at age 20 to 11 of 18 at 23.
