During my fifteen years in the practicing rabbinate and ten years as a practicing attorney, I have encountered – both first-hand and, as a result of my open discussion of those experiences, through the parallel and often horrifying experiences that many colleagues and even clients have shared with me – a whispered subject that shames American Jewish life: Clergy Abuse. In its Jewish dimension, I use the term “Clergy Abuse” to describe the shameful, disgraceful, and painful efforts by ...
Please note: This article was republished (and commented on by Rabbi Dov) from the original article published by Rabbi Shmuley Botech on the huffingtonpost.com website: here.
Every time I meet a rabbi or pastor who now is a full-time stock broker, a realtor, an entrepreneur with a storefront business or an export-import firm (not to mention a lawyer, an accountant, or even a therapist) — and I ask why they left the rabbinate — the answer typically is the ...
One of the most difficult aspects of Jewish life is dealing with the grave sin of loshon horo. The Chofetz Chaim, author of the Mishneh B’rurah compendium on the Shulchan Arukh that serves as the defining halakhic work for Ashkenazic Jewry in the modern era, nevertheless attached his name to his other great life’s work – on the laws of loshon horo. He felt that tackling the complexity of loshon horo law was the greater contribution he made in ...
Please Note: This article is a reprint from the original article published by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in the huffingtonpost.com website. Rabbi Dov Fischer’s comments are displayed at the end of this post.
Presenting directly after me at a recent conference in Malaga, Spain, was legendary Apple Macintosh promoter Guy Kawasaki who said something memorable and counterintuitive about marketing: Seek to polarize your audience. Stated differently, never fear factionalizing your public into those who love you and those who don’t.
It’s something ...
Continue Reading → ShareThe Ohaiv Sholom Congregation:
An Amalgam of Rabbinical Experiences
As Narrated in the First Person
by Rabbi Aaron Weiss
Former Rabbi of Cong. Ohaiv Sholom of Paducah, Kentucky*
“Free at Last.
Free at Last.
Thank G-d Almig-ty
I’m Free at Last!”
* There is no such congregation and probably is no major Jewish community altogether in the city of Paducah. The name of “Rabbi Aaron Weiss” and all other names in ...
Continue Reading → ShareClergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition:
An Amalgam – Part 2 of 7
Stephanie Levine and
the Matter of the Framed Torah Montage
Continued from Part 1 Continued at Part 3
Meyer Berlinsky had told me that, from his perspective, perhaps the finest moment in Ohaiv Sholom of Paducah ...
Continue Reading → ShareClergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition:
An Amalgam – Part 3 of 7
Continued from Part 2 Continued at Part 4
When Mr. Shapiro scheduled me for the year, he insisted on remunerating me. I outright rejected any remuneration. He said that he needed to pay me something, if ...
Continue Reading → ShareClergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition:
An Amalgam – Part 4 of 7
Meyer Berlinsky Grows Icier and Icier,
As Upbeat Synagogue Programming and Activity increase,
and New Members Join Outside His Zone of Control
Continued from Part 3 Continued at Part 5
The strangest opposition came from Meyer ...
Continue Reading → ShareClergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition:
An Amalgam – Part 5 of 7
A New Purim: A Year After a Debacle, This Time “Doing It My Way” –
Extraordinary Support and Accolades from the Membership . . .
but the Last Straw for Meyer Berlinsky and Jerry Miller
Continued from Part 4 Continued at Continue Reading → Share
Clergy Abuse at The Gates of Perdition:
An Amalgam – Part 6 of 7
Apprising all Appropriate Ohaiv Sholom and Orthodox Union Personnel
of the Schwartz Situation and the McCracken County District Attorney Website
Continued from Part 5 Continued at Part 7
Meanwhile, when the new Ohaiv Sholom Board ...
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