Yamim Noraim theme: Chareidim are not all bad...

Forwarded by MMH:

I am sure that readers of the AJNWatch blog will be just as proud to see the following items as I was.

MJCF - a very well run Tzedaka organisation.

And a report in J-Wire about a fire on Erev Rosh Hashana "Adass territory":

A catastrophe was narrowly averted in Melbourne’s ultra-Orthodox community on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

Twenty-two firefighters battled a blaze in a house in Oak Grove, Ripponlea – opposite the Adass Israel synagogue – on Sunday morning around 09:20, according to the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.At least four fire engines arrived within five minutes, according to the MFB, and brought the fire under control less than half an hour later.

“Fire damage was confined to the rear of the property with the remainder heavily smoke-logged and requiring extensive cleaning,” a MFB statement said. “A twin adjoining property that shared a common wall was not affected.”

A MFB spokesperson said it was thanks to the smoke alarm that the mother was alerted and was able to get her children out safely after a blaze started in the laundry and spread to the roof and the hallway.

Members of the ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel community rallied to help the family just hours before the New Year.Shlomo Boruch Abelesz, a longstanding leader of the Adass community, said he believed it was actually the home of Lubavitchers.“The good news is that the Adass community seems to have come to their aid with everything from lodging to food and clothes,” he said.

It is estimated that the repair bill will reach about $30,000, according to the fire brigade.

 

And a "Thank you" published via Galus Australis:

 

 

On behalf of The Jacobson and Cyrulnik families I would like to say an incredibly huge and endless thank you to the Adass community for all your incredible, and overwhelmingly kind help on erev yom tov when a fire was ablaze over our two adjoining homes.

I was personally brought to tears by the incredible, ceaseless display of unbelievable ahavas yisrael on erev yom tov: the offers of housing that sprung forth immediately, the offer and actual delivery of clothing for the children, the offer and delivery of a huge abundance of food, and the non-stop drop-offs from families of cakes and the like. The family that immediately took my children to their house and fed them and took care of them for hours while we quickly set up for yom tov after being outside for hours. You even went so far as to bathe one of my children and prepare them fully for yom tov, when you have your own large family to get ready. Truly I do not have the words to express the gratitude of the heart that prevails so deeply. Your abounding display of chesed is absolutely inspirational and overwhelming in its detailed consideration.

When I heard the blasts of the shofar on yom tov my heart was overwhelmed with emotions, especially evoked by your selfless complete mesiras nefesh in helping your fellow Jew at such a pressured hour. I wish I could thank each and every one of you who offered and gave kindness. You provided menuchas nefesh amidst the initial anguish, fright and worry, before we knew what had happened. We received non-stop words of encouragement and consolation, and you even asked what we needed from our houses, and convinced firemen and police etc to let us in for urgent things.
How could one repay you all for your abounding kindness? I can only ask Hash-m with all my heart that in the merit of all the kindness you offered, showed and did, that He may bless your community with kindness a trillion-fold, from now and forever. May He pour out an abundance of blessings with endless chayay, banay, mezonay revichay b’gashmius and ruchnius, always in peace and joy. May you all be blessed with long lives and a year of revealed overflowing blessings – beyond nature and beyond this world… into this world revealed!

Since Hash-m blesses us mida kneged mida, I am left feeling immediately on Sunday, with such unbelievable ahavas chinam, we will surely see Moshiach this year. How could Hash-m not answer and send him this very year. Your acts of kindness no doubt have broken open the gates of shomoyim, and it certainly has to be a year of revealed miracles for all Am Yisrael immediately now! I can only say that certainly you have, so to speak, rebuilt Beis Hamikdash with your unbelievable and abounding kindness, which we are in awe of. All of Am Yisrael can learn what kindness with mesiras nefesh is from you.

I am in awe of the unbelievable Adass community’s tremendous boundless kindness and thankful to Hash-m from the depths of my heart for sending an immediate nechama. I am privileged to live by you, and have contact with you, and humbled beyond belief at your actual mesiras nefesh in kindness for your fellow Jews bli gavul, boundlessly, beyond all boundaries.

 

On behalf of our two families, thank you, thank you, thank you. I wish the heart could aptly transcribe what it feels to paper, and the soul what it senses. Meanwhile, please accept these words as a form of thank you from us, who are absolutely humbled and endlessly grateful for your unbelievable kindness.

Thank you, thank you,

With heartfelt eternal gratitude,

Gmar chasima tova in blessings beyond nature, and abundant revealed endless bountiful good in this world!

 Mrs Leah Jacobson on behalf of the Jacobson and Cyrulnik families

The story also made it to a USA Jewish newsblog:

Danby upsets the Jewish News

(Apologies for the delay in posting)

We can't remember another occasion where, following criticism, the AJN expended an entire page to justify itself.

Seems that Michael Danby's private mailing to thousands of constituents describing how the newspaper was censoring or totally disregarding matters of importance, really got under the editor's skin. We suspect that AJN Watch's publicising those details didn't endear us to them either and probably the reason they unleashed Zeddy's donkey upon us this week.

But seriously, it is about time that they realised that they no longer have total domination and control on information to (and about) the Jewish community .

We now live in a world of blogs, websites and other alternatives. J-Wire seems to be picking up and becoming a more relevant. Galus Australis seems to be gaining importance. The weekly circulation of the Hamodia is growing constantly (despite the hefty $6 cover price) with much of the increase coming from the 'non-Charedi' and, surprisingly, even 'non-frum' sector. (Well maybe not really surprising, seeing that their coverage of news from Israel and the Jewish world is 3 or 4 times more comprehensive than the couple of pages that the AJN cuts and pastes from internet sites. And may we proudly add that this humble blog too, is getting thousands of hits every month (1500 this past week alone).

That a newspaper can upset so many sectors of the community is some 'achievement'. But it shows that there are deep seated problems and issues which require massive surgery and serious changes in the way the owners and management operate.

Not that we expect them to do anything. The Jewish News will continue to be the (tax loss) plaything of one rich Jew after another. And when current owner realises what little genuine respect and honour this little hobby brings him (and even less influence), you can bet on him handing over this loss-making operation to the next 'gevir' - another prosperous developer or merchant - with more dollars than sense - to take his turn riding the AJN merry-go-round.

Though it isn't a total disaster for the current owner Robert Magid. Zeddy Lawrence in his wisdom (and no doubt valuing his job or maybe even hoping for a raise) made sure to include his boss in his list of the "50 most influential Jews in Australia".

Now that's gotta be worth some of the lost big bucks and headaches that come with owning such a enterprise.

Another, rarely mentioned loudly, advantage of owning the paper is of course the clout his has when a mate or relative gets into financial or personal doo-doo. That's when the fearless voice of the community, becomes totally shtum. Shah shtill. We won't go any further about that matter at this stage, but it is special benefit that most do no have

Apologists of J-wire's Chilul Shabbat - please note

To all those comment-writers who denied/defended the Chilul Shabbat e-mails sent regularly by J-Wire with justifications and excuses like:

Milhouse said...
If, as you say, this is a daily mailing that goes out every day on the dot of 3 o'clock, then it's obvious even to blind Freddie's dog that it's an automatic job. No human sends out a message at exactly 3:00:00 every single day. Nor is it in the nature of a news site for someone to type up a single "daily update"; such messages are always an aggregation of whatever stories have been entered in the last 24 hours. If you don't realise this then you have no business commenting on anything that goes on on the net. For you to use this as the basis of an accusation of chilul shabbos is outrageous. You need to substantiate that charge, or withdraw it and apologise. Hotzo'as shem ra is also an aveira.

Milhouse said...
Moshe, on the contrary AJN watch did not dot or cross anything, and indeed offered weaker evidence than was available. The 3 pm daily e-mail is far from "obvious chilul shabbos"; on the contrary, it is very obviously not chilul shabbos, and anyone who would accuse someone on that basis is a motzi shem ra. Now the evidence from the datelines of the individual stories is disturbing, and does at least indicate a probability that there is chilul shabbos going on, though J-wire should be given a chance to explain it. But that was not the evidence that AJN watch originally presented.  Is it such a great mitzvah to accuse people of averos? Do you know what it means to beg the question?

Emes said...
It's probably an automated email that goes out at a certain time each week/day. Send Henry Benjamin (not Harry, as the previous poster claimed) that he correct this. The solution is simple and it's really no reason to pour scorn on this fellow who is doing a great chesed to the kehillah through his hosting of the site.

mikeybear said...
Have you verified with J-Wire that this is the time they actually posted the message? It is possible that the message had been posted earlier and was delayed by a mail server

AustIsr said...
Cummon AJNWatch, "dan lkaf zchus" - Jwire probably has an automated email program in action and I am sure that the site's manager Henry Benjamin (a thoroughly good bloke) would not intentionally wish to offend members of the kehillah.....I seem to recall posting a comment along the same lines last time you raised the issue of alleged chillul Shabbos at Jwire, but you seem to have ignored this advice...

Really? Huh said...
It is not even against halacha, there are thousands of frum websites and emails running during Shabbes and this issue has been dealt with by many competent Rabbinical authorities. There is no problem there. But apparantly AJN Watch missed that shiur or as usual he is trying to stir up trouble. Move on...nothing to see here folks.

Uncommon Sense said...
Some of you may not know that emails can be sent automatically

We invite the above writers to explain this email which arrived at our "inbox"  today, Wednesday, the 2nd second day of Pesach at 4.32 pm.
 
Just in case any of the defenders/deniers again tries to claim that the email was/could've posted before Yom Tov, please read it! It reports on the Marrickville Council meeting which took place Tuesday night - a time when all good Jews - observant and traditional - were enjoying the Seder!

And this...
J-Wire reader Jack Pinczewski attended the Marrickville Council meeting. Here is his report….

J-Wire - Mechalel Shabbat with Rabbi's Message!

We have previously commented that the J-Wire daily email is often Mechalel Shabbat. (See here and here.)

But a new low has been reached by today's publishing/forwarding the weekly message of Rabbi Michoel Gourarie 'be'etzem Yom HaShabbat". We strongly doubt that Rabbi Gourarie knows about this (and if he is a follower of this blog). He will no doubt appreciate if one of our readers in Sydney informs him about this public Shabbat desecration. 

According to all reports, Rabbi Gourarie is one of Australia's most popular, active and respected Rabbanim and being used as a 'partner' in Chillul Shabbat and Chillul Hashem (and Chillul Lubavitch) should horrify him.

AJN: Still the same old nasty

We were actually hoping the AJN would've learned its lesson following its infamous and malicious front cover seeking to destroy the reputation of a hard-working and devoted rabbi - who was later absolved from all claims and accusations.

This was especially so after the previous editor was given the heave-ho and we dared to hope that his replacement would raise the AJN’s journalistic standards and move away from yellow journalism. (See also here.)

Sadly, the front page of last week's Sydney edition put paid to such dreams. The same mean approach and the same disregard shown by the newspaper in the Rabbi Engel episode is repeated.

Not the slightest concern about how their front page - which is displayed in dozens of newsagencies - will affect the thinking of the ‘friends’ of our community. And as we see from the J-Wire report, the AJN incorrectly claimed that “…Yeshiva College has refused a request by the Education Department to return $400,000 in Government funds.”

This case again shows that we cannot rely on the so-called voice of our community to show seriousness and responsibility towards its constituency. It’s about time that the JCCV and the NSW BoD took them to task and demand that they act in the interests of Australian Jewry and not to its detriment.

Government investigating Yeshiva funds

AJN February 11, 2011

YESHIVA College has refused a request by the Education Department to return $400,000 in Government funds.
The Bondi Orthodox school was awarded $925,000 by the Federal Government under the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program. That money came with a caveat that it must be used within a specified time frame.

The Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AIS) and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) are now investigating whether the $400,000 already given to the school has been spent, and if so, on what.

While DEEWR has not confirmed it has asked for a refund, college principal Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman said she was not able to give the money back, even though Yeshiva has not built what it had planned to. An electricity company’s plans to build a facility close to the campus left the school¹s building intentions up in the air.

“EnergyAustralia is building a substation within 200 metres of the school, which is considered dangerous, so we can’t build what we were going to because it would be dangerous for the kids,” Rebbetzin Feldman said.

“I went to AIS and asked if we could use the money for something else, but they said no because they said the money was a stimulus for builders, not schools, so there is no point spending the money elsewhere in 2011. They said we had to give the money back or use it on that building, but I don’t want to give the money back because I have already spent a lot of it and if we have to move because of the substation, we need money to relocate.”

AIS executive director Geoff Newcombe said the investigation into Yeshiva is ongoing. “The matter is in the process of being handed over to DEEWR for further investigation, and we will continue working with the department to assist them in their inquiries,” he told The AJN.

AIS administers the grants on behalf of the Education Department to private schools in the state. Newcomb could not comment further on the specific investigation, but he did explain the circumstances under which a case could be handed over to DEEWR.

“If we conclude that the school is not satisfactorily carrying out all requirements of the agreement, we have the option of terminating the agreement we have with the school and notifying DEEWR, so that they can investigate further as they are the owner of the funds.”

A DEEWR spokesperson confirmed the investigation is currently underway. “The department is currently investigating the use of BER funding by the school, and is working closely with the Association of Independent Schools NSW to ensure it has been appropriately spent,” the spokesperson said.

And here's the J-Wire report on the same matter:

Sydney’s Yeshiva College and the Government’s $400,000

February 11, 2011 by J-Wire Staff

Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman has told J-Wire that if all negotiation attempts to use funds allocated to Sydney’s Yeshiva College under the Building the Education Revolution [BER] fail, the College will return the money to the Government.

The College had received $400,000 being the first instalment of a $925,000 grant made by the Federal Government and administered by the Association of Independent Schools of NSW. The money had been earmarked by the Government not primarily for schools…but to stimulate business for the building industry. It came with a caveat stipulating that it had be used within a specific time frame. That time has passed and the Government wants its money back.
In a prepared statement, the College’s Shalom Feldman said: “The building project was delayed due to the threat of a sub-station being built by Ernergy Australia next door which may preclude small children from being safely schooled at the site.”

College principal Rebbitzin Pnina Feldman told J-Wire that within the last few weeks Energy Australia had confirmed that the sub-station was going ahead.

The College is now attempting to negotiate with the authorities to use the funds for the seniors boys’ school. Rebbetzin Feldman said that she was pursuing every available avenue to be permitted use the funds for other building purposes. She added that she believed there were around 80 other schools being audited as to the use of the funds, saying that if all else fails the money will be returned.

A spokesman for the Department of Education, EMployment and Workplace Relations said: “As an investigation in to the use of the funds is underway, the Department can make no comment.”