The principal of a Jewish school in Paris was indicted for failing to report the sexual abuse of minors.

The television network RILL reported that a Paris magistrate indicted the principal, identified by RILL as Rabbi Benjamin M., 55, on Feb. 21 for “non-reporting of sexual abuse of minors under 15 years.”

Victims’ parents told the principal about the alleged fondling committed by a supervisor at the Chabad-Lubavitch Beth Hanna elementary school for boys last summer, according to RILL.

The supervisor was indicted in November after parents of the alleged victims filed complaints, the French news agency AFP reported, but the principal failed to also file a complaint as he was required by law.

The online edition of Le Nouvel Observateur, a French weekly, reported that the principal also is suspected of trying to dissuade parents from complaining to police — a claim denied by Chaim Nisenbaum, a spokesman for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in France.

“Legally speaking, he [the principal] committed an error,” Nisenbaum is quoted as saying, but “there was no attempt to conceal anything.” Nisenbaum said the school, which is Orthodox, views the actions of the supervisor as “extremely serious.”

JForum, a French-Jewish news site, reported that the principal confronted the supervisor but deemed it unnecessary to file a complaint because he knew the parents had already done so.

I don’t know how they do it. But I am jealous of them. Chabad is perhaps the most successful group in Orthodoxy at raising money for their causes. Their sources are often not even the wealthy Jews of Orthodoxy. And their organizational skills are legendary. They are probably better than anyone at maximizing the “bang for the buck.”

This is the one thing that struck me about a recent article in the Forward:

Chabad operates 1,000 preschools worldwide, including 300 in Israel and 400 in the United States. In 2010, Chabad launched a special early childhood initiative called The Machne Israel David and Lara Slager Early Childhood Initiative. In the past two and half years, this fund helped in the creation of 45 new preschools (most in North America, and two each in Argentina, South Africa and Australia). There are plans to create another 100 over the next four years.

While it is true that their emphasis on reaching out to secular Jews of necessity requires them to disengage from areas of high Orthodox concentration and thereby have less contact with wealthy Orthodox philanthropists – that doesn’t mean they are going to be successful at raising funds from the secular and unaffiliated Jewish philanthropist.

But – necessity is the mother of invention I guess, and somehow they manage to appeal to those donors to fund their projects.

As I have said many times, no one can touch Chabad outreach in terms of sheer numbers. They have probably gotten more people to be observant, than all the other Kiruv groups put together. And it is projects like the above that enable them to do it.

This is why I am jealous of them. Not in any harmful ‘evil eye’ sense. I am jealous that the rest of Orthodoxy cannot match them. We have done rather well in recent years raising money among our own for various projects. But it is no secret that we are still very far from having the money we need just to support one institution – Jewish education.

I don’t have to convince any Orthodox parent – even the more affluent ones – about the pressures of tuition. That is a subject that has been well covered here before. Long story short, tuitions are so high that even families with incomes well into 6 figures are sometimes given scholarships. Especially if they have a big family. It is also no secret that tuition does not cover the typical school budgets. Nor do most of those budgets even pay their teachers what they deserve.

Not that Lubavitch doesn’t have similar problems. But that’s because the huge sums of money they raise for outreach purposes do not go towards their communities own educational needs. That money goes almost exclusively for outreach programs and schools.

Nonetheless, the fact that they are so successful at spreading out and spreading the word of God through His Torah is something to be admired.

I have not dealt with Chabad in quite some time. But those who been reading this blog for awhile know of my criticisms – not the least of which is their obsession to one degree or another with their Rebbe as Moshiach. Even though he died well over a decade ago. Although things have quieted down quite a bit on that front, I don’t think they have given up on that very troubling idea.

Among other criticisms I have of them is one that bears on the subject of this post. They are not really integrated with the rest of Orthodoxy. While there is definitely some cross fertilization between us, it is not because they actively seek it. To the extent that they do, they tend to do it only on their own terms. Or on an individual basis and not an organizational one.

The evidence for this is the fact that unlike the rest of Orthodoxy, their children – with rare exception – attend only their own Chabad schools. They have built an empire of separation. Which is an irony of sorts when you consider that their primary concern is outreach to fellow Jews. But the truth is that outreach is so important to them that consider integration with the rest of Orthodoxy to be of secondary or tertiary importance. At least that is what it seem like to me.

One reason they are so separated from the rest of Orthodoxy – is the way they do outreach. Every Jewish soul they reach is convinced to believe that Chabad equals Judaism. They never distinguish (at least not at first) between an exclusively Lubavitch Minhag and Halacha. They teach their own customs as though they were Halacha. So that in most cases, if someone becomes religious through them, they become a Lubavitcher. Their community grows through outreach while their members become just as separated from the rest of the Orthodox community as are Lubavitchers from birth.

And so it goes. Chabad continues to be wildly successful at outreach while having little to do with the rest of the Orthodox community unless they are in control. Like the annual Simchas Torah concert they host for Chicago on Chol HaMoed Sukkos. It is their event.

It wasn’t always like that. When I was in elementary school in Detroit at Yeshivath Beth Yehuda – a pioneer Torah U’Mesorah school – two of my very beloved teachers there were Lubavitcher Chasidim. And Lubavitchers sent their children to that school. We were integrated. I believe that the same thing was true all around the country through most of the sixties (with the possible exception of New York where separate schools may have already existed). Lubavitch was just one type of observant Jew among many types that attended the same schools.

As they grew in number here in Chicago – and feeling that mainstream day schools and high schools did not pay sufficient attention to Chabad in general and the Rebbe in particular they started setting up their own schools which focus heavily on Chabad and the Rebbe.

Fast forward to today and we have 2 girls high schools right across the street from each other. One Lubavitch and one Beis Ya’akov. And the girls have absolutely nothing to do with each other. I don’t see that as progress. I see it as contributing to the divide between us. Year after year; class after class.

And that bothers me. Chabad’s strengths would serve all of us well If we could become more integrated. It would take a lot of tolerance on both sides. And it would take a willful and purposeful approach to doing so. And a bit of compromise. Lubavitch would have to stop being so proprietary and the rest of Orthodoxy would have to become a little more tolerant. Their efficient fundraising and organizational skills would serve Judaism as a whole much better if we could integrate and use those skills for common purpose. And integration with the rest of Orthodoxy would expand Chabad’s outreach to even greater heights combining and sharing with other non Chabad outreach groups. Making them both more effective.

I’m not saying that this is all that doable. There are certainly many obstacles. Some of which may be insurmountable. But I wish it were. Wouldn’t it be great for example if those two girls’ schools would combine? I’d love to see it. But it will probably never happen.

Visit Emes Ve-Emunah.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement is urging the US court to impose civil fines on Russia for failing to heed a court order mandating that it return to the organization books, manuscripts, and other documents belonging to the founders of the movement and other Russian Jews.

Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court has said that the religious works – some as old as 500 years old – belong to Chabad-Lubavitch and are unlawfully in the possession of the Russian State Library and the Russian military archive, and ordered the institutions to give up the items in 2010.

Among the items are a whopping 12,000 religious books and manuscripts seized by authorities during the Bolshevik revolution and the Russian Civil War as well as 25,000 pages of handwritten chassidic and Jewish teachings and writings of religious leaders confiscated by the Nazis during World War II, then commandeered by the Soviet Red Army as spoils of war to the Russian State Military Archive.

Russia has not recognized the authority of the US court and is refusing to give up the artifacts, saying they are important to Russian national heritage.

The Justice Department on Wednesday rejected pleas to impose civil fines, saying the move would probably hurt the effort to obtain the desired outcome.

Russia has stopped all loans of art for exhibit in the United States, fearing the items may be seized as part of the dispute.

(((CLICK BELOW TO HEAR AUDIO)))

Rabbi Danny Cohen (Director of Chabad of Hebron) joins Yishai in honor of the 200th year anniversary of the yarhzeit of the founder of the Chabad movement, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (known in Chabad as the Alter Rebbe and around the world as the Baal HaTanya).  Together, Cohen and Yishai start off by discussing Cohen’s background and how his unique experience helps bring IDF soldiers to Judaism. They move on to talk about the history of the Avraham Avinu synagogue in Hebron.  The synagogue at one point was used as a pen to hold goats until it was lovingly restored by Professor Ben-Tzion Tavger and other great Jews. The segment ends with a focus on the history of Chabad’s presence in the city and the importance of Hebron to Chabad.

Yishai Fleisher on Twitter: @YishaiFleisher
Yishai on Facebook

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Marking the 200th anniversary of the yartzeit of the Alter Rebbe – Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi who founded the Chabad movement – the Jewish Press’ Yishai Fleisher interviewed one of the special emmissaries who have become the hallmark of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to talk about the man who started it all, what his passions were, and where Chabad is headed.

Rabbi Danny Cohen is not just one of the hundreds of inspiring, dedicated, courteous and enthusiastic rabbis of Chabad who give themseles in service to the Jewish people across the globe. His is a mission under fire, serving not only his community, but the hundreds of visitors – and soldiers – who descend on his historic city each year, standing as a beacon of stability and spirituality in a place which puts up a daily fight for survival. Rabbi Cohen is the Chabad Rabbi of Hebron.

Listen here for the full interview from the Mittler Rebbe’s/Menucha Rachel’s shul, including how a boy from Brooklyn who became an IDF soldier came to be a Chabad rabbi and Hebron “settler”, as well as the history of Chabad in Hebron.

Fleisher and Rabbi Cohen spoke about the imprisonment of the Alter Rebbe, who was imprisoned for 53 days in Russian prison, to be freed on Yud Tet Kislev.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman was accused by the Russian government of treason for sending money to the Land of Israel, to support Jewish settlement there. At the time, Russia was at war with Turkey, which maintained control of the Holy Land, and Russia accused the Alter Rebbe of sending money to support the Turkish government, which he later proved to the authorities was untrue.

“What’s fascinating is that [supporting the Land of Israel] was the main accusation that brought him to jail in the first place, … and not only doesn’t he say ‘maybe modify that action, maybe tone it down’, being that he was the founder of Chabad and the one that planted and started the whole Chabad philosophy, maybe he would be thinking spiritually this is not what he should be doing, he should be doing something else,” Rabbi Cohen said. “But not only does he not stop and tells his chassidim to continue, but he writes in the Tanya that what saved him from jail and what took him out was the fact that he gave tzedaka to Eretz Yisrael.”

According to Rabbi Cohen, the Alter Rebbe had a great love for the Land of Israel, and considered moving there, but decided to forego the opportunity due to his obligations to his chassidim. “When the Maggid passes away, the Alter Rebbe is appointed as the leader of Chassidim in that area, and even though he had a strong urge and wanted very much to make aliyah, to move to the Land of Israel, being that he was responsible for [Lita], that’s why he stayed there,” Rabbi Cohen said.

Rabbi Cohen credits Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the Baal HaTanya with developing a philosophy by which Jews develop their own personal and unique connections to God. While the great rabbis are charged with teaching and guiding their followers and adherents, “I’m not going to do it for you, this is up to you,” Rabbi Cohen said.

Finishing with a “dvar Torah” – a word of Torah – Rabbi Cohen said: “Two hundred years is definitely a day to be marked, it’s a day of completion… It says that Yaakov Avinu didn’t pass away – the Gemara asks, what do you mean he didn’t pass away, there was a funeral, eulogies. Was that for nothing – no! It means that if his children are alive, he is alive. When 200 years later, you see that Chabad, despite all the obstacles and challenges of recent years and throughout the years… going through communist Russia and going through the fat of America, and the fact that today in a physical way Chabad does not have a Rebbe to go and visit and see, but yet, that it’s just increasing… thousands of people are … going out to the four corners of the earth, 200 years from the Alter Rebbe, and it’s all based on his teachings and his ideas, we know we’re on the right way for [redemption], with G-d’s help.”

If there is one area of orthodox Jewish life that is truly messed up and needs fixing it’s matchmaking. In our communities we eschew the recreational dating scene of the secular world. As a counselor in that world and someone who once served as matchmaker-in-chief for JDate, I agree that it is too flawed. External qualities like beauty and money play an outsized role. People don’t date to commit but to have fun, except that there is nothing ultimately pleasurable about relationships that are expected, from the outset, not to last. Who needs a broken heart? Life has enough uncontrollable pain not to have add the self-inflicted variety.

So what is our solution? Is the alternative that we offer in orthodoxy of young men and women never meeting at all and connecting only through matchmakers a viable alternative?

Well, it once was when the orthodox community was, say, a tenth of the size it is today. But let’s be proud of our growth. From the time I got marriage nearly 25 years ago, thank God, to today the orthodox community has absolutely exploded in growth. We’re having a lot of kids, which is wonderful but it has strained the shidduch-matchmaking system to the limit. Some would say it has broken it almost completely. How the heck are a few, mostly volunteer matchmakers supposed to cope with this vast demand? Are young orthodox men and women really supposed to sit around, preparing their resumes, as if their on a job interview, and badgering shadchanim to prioritize them amid so many others clamoring for the same attention? Is it a workable system? Is there any dignity in it?

I am the proud father of nine children thank God and I just became a grandfather. My first three children are daughters, all raised with my standards of dating to marry and dating within the shidduch system. This is particularly important to me given my considerable exposure to the romantic and sexual challenges, not to mention the sky-high divorce rate,  that is prevalent in mainstream culture and which I address.  However, I’m not the kind of guy who believes in delegating life’s most important responsibilities to others. But here I am, as an orthodox father, forced to relegate my daughters’ dating life to matchmakers who are very well-intentioned and who care but who cannot possibly know my daughters well or prioritize them, given the vast demands on their time and energies from so many other parents.

In the Chabad system it’s especially challenging because of the absolutely vast increase in the size of the community, thank God, how spread out it is internationally, and because most of the shadchanim, trying to be pure of heart, offer their services in a volunteer capacity rather than professionally. But that also means there is no real accountability.

So, I am being fair to my daughters when I tell them, based on my personal values, that they should only date within the shidduch system? Should they be reduced, like so many other young Chabad men and women, to friends and matchmaker’s introductions? Should their involvement in their own dating life really be so passive?

I have to admit that my own experiences within the shidduch system has caused me to question it considerably, though my own children would probably disagree and say the system functions well enough. They would say that being ‘frum’ means certain things and they embrace the shidduch system, whatever its shortcomings. But Yeshiva University, where my daughter is an undergraduate, does events that brings young men and women together. It is not seen as scandalous or secular. Indeed, I applaud it. Chabad and the more ‘black hat’ communities would not countenance such interactions. And there is a part of me that not only understands that and agrees with it but even, for years, advocated it.

When a leading Chabad Rabbi with unquestionable credentials suggested a few years back in a column that Chabad begin limited interactions between the young men and women, in a controlled environment, to have them meet for the purposes of marriage, I attacked the suggestion as being a slippery slope. I who counsel so many secular singles and know how screwed up the singles scene is in secular singles-events and party communities.

But having said that, I now have a much more open mind. I do not believe it’s fair to my daughters, and my sons when they come of age, that the limited interaction they will have with a potential spouse will come from people who really don’t have a lot of time to commit to the endeavor. Less so do I believe that such an important stage in life become so fundamentally disempowering that one cannot take any kind of personal initiative but is forced to rely on the kindness of strangers.

Indeed, a few years back I was prevailed upon, by young Chabad men and women writing to me, to host a small Shabbos gathering in Englewood where I would offer talks on Judaism and dating and where young Chabad men and women, thoroughly committed to the shidduch system, could have the opportunity to meet. I did it as an experiment. It worked well. It was very educational and, though I don’t know what couples resulted, I know it gave people hope.

And this is but one idea about how to fix a broken system. I welcome all other positive suggestions.

In the final analysis, the Jewish people are still here, after thousands of years of persecution, because our young people have married and produced strong families. This crisis, therefore, is an existential crisis that must be courageously addressed.

Note from Harry Maryles: Every once in a while I will receive a request from one of my readers to publish an essay they have written. My response usually is to send it and if I like it, I will publish it. These essays do not necessarily have to agree with me lock stock and barrel. They can be opposition pieces to what my stated views are. But they cannot advocate positions that I am diametrically opposed to. More often than not, these submissions are rejected for a variety of reasons – among them: they may not measure up to my publishing standards; or they may not be appropriate subjects for my blog; or are so off the wall that they are embarrassing. But every once in a while a submission not only meets my minimum standards,they supersede them. Usually those submissions are from a professional writers who have either published books or articles before. But not always. Sometimes I receive a submission out of the blue that is quite exceptional in both style and content. Today’s guest post is by one such individual. He is all of 15 years old. Here in part is the bio he submitted:

My name is Michael Weiner, I am 15 years old, and currently live in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. I go to school at Kohelet Yeshiva High School. I moved here from Northern California just a few months ago, in order to go to a religious high school. I went to a Jewish community school from K-8, where I and my brother were 2 out of 3 religiously observant kids. It was, to say the least, quite an experience! I have gone to a Moshava summer camp for the past 4 years, and am currently involved in Bnei Akiva. I consider myself to be Modern Orthodox, and a Zionist, although I don’t hesitate to criticize Israel if I feel it’s necessary.

I am a huge admirer of the Rav, and his writings. Reading ‘The Lonely Man of Faith’ greatly changed the way I view God, Judaism, and life in general. Today, I am most likely going to go to YU, but secular college is not out of the window, because I believe that a secular collegiate experience has many important positive aspects.

However, regardless of one’s lifestyle choices, they must always remain a Jew above all else. This entails being Kovei’ah Zman Ittim, and infusing all that you do in your daily life with a perspective filtered by halacha and Jewish values (however you define that, be it Tikkun Olam or Talmud Torah).

One word. Wow! He also has his own blog. His post follows unedited in its entirety:

Whose Judaism is Anyways?

The title of this post is a question that has no one answer. The tragedy that we face today is that everyone thinks they are the sole possessors of the answer, and that their way of practicing Judaism is undoubtedly more meaningful, more traditional, and ultimately more authentic. This, in my opinion, is the greatest barrier to achdus in the frum community, and general Jewish community at large.

Simply stated, it’s an inability to recognize that Judaism is multi-faceted, halachah is not monolithic, and that for thousands of years, Jews have looked, ate, talked, and sometimes even behaved differently then each other. This is historical fact. During most of the current galus from Israel, we have been different. These differences however, are not the obstacle to unity. The obstacle to unity is the failure to recognize that these differences are normal, and trivial.

In the early years of the 20th century, Agudas Yisroel was formed. This was one of the very first organizations where Chassidim and Misnagdim worked together to find creative solutions to community problems. The Gedolei Yisrael, and laymen of that generation understood that the powerful Haskalah movement was a force that needed to be reckoned with. It presented dangers that made it necessary for a wide variety of Jews to come together and decide how best to respond to such a threat.

The Chafetz Chaim, the Gerrer Rebbe, the Radzhiner Rebbe, and Rav Chaim Ozer Gradzinski decided that enough was enough. Achdus within the religious community was the only way to stand a chance against the roaring fire of modernity that was quickly consuming all of Europe, eventually reaching even the closeted Pale of Settlement, and other Jewish ghettoes.

A hundred cars with menorahs on top of their roofs are expected to participate in Chabad of Boca Raton’s annual car menorah parade on Monday December 10th. The fleet will depart from the Central Boca Chabad on Military Trail at 5:30 p.m. and then head across town for a Chanukah concert and menorah lighting hosted by Chabad of East Boca.

The concert will feature local Boca band Chazak. Band members include former and current students of Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton. Chazak plays a blend of contemporary and traditional Jewish music and has been thrilling enthusiastic audiences throughout the Southeastern United States.

According to event organizer Rabbi Ruvi New, “After the amazing success of last year’s concert that drew close to three thousand people, we look forward to bringing the community together again this year, to celebrate the great miracle of Chanukah – the miracle of light over might.”

The concert and menorah lighting ceremony will feature local dignitaries, children’s activities and a BBQ dinner, including steaks, hot dogs, burgers and fries, all at a nominal price. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs for the concert.

For more information call 561-417-7797 or go to www.ChabadBocaBeaches.com.