Tuesday, December 9, 2014

More Frum Follies lies and distortions - this time regarding my view of Meisels

We have recently witnessed a series of blatant lies from Frum Follies regarding the Meisels scandal. See Dynamic of lynch mob mentality regarding abuse

It is important to note that despite Lopin's transgressions of normal standards of honest reporting and discussion - not one of his fellow advocates - has criticized his blatant lies or even acknowledged them. It seems that as long as an  advocate attacks people whose views differ from that of the advocates - it is considered legitimate.
Lie 1)  He has claimed that Rabbi Kahane and Rebbezin Ullman have been demoted by the joint beis din.
 Truth: The members of the joint beis din told me that "his statement is a lie". That they made no ruling on demoting either of them nor did they find evidence that either had done anything deserving demotion.
See Psak of Joint Beis Din
Lie 2) He claimed that Adina Cohen who wrote a strong letter defending Meisels was currently a madricha for Rabbi Kahane at Chedvas seminary. That her employment by Rabbi Kahane's showed his disregard for the well being of his students andthe incompetence of the IBD for allowing it. That this employment showed that support was still strong at the seminaries for Meisel and thus contrary to the ruling of the joint beis din - Meisels still continued to have strong support there. Therefore the seminaries were obviously unsafe - contrary to the ruling of the joint beis din.
Truth: In fact Adina Cohen is not currently a madricha of for Rabbi Kahane's seminary and never was. She is in fact not presently employed by any of the 4 seminaries. She WAS a madricha at Binas seminary - but again she is no longer working there but lives in Baltimore. Thus her letter writing activity shows nothing about the unsafeness of the seminaries or that the joint beis din is incompetent.
 Blog Post about Frum Follies and Adina Cohen
Lie 3)  He just wrote a post falsely titled "Only-a-Hug" Eidensohn Christens Meisels a "Respected Rabbi".
Truth :I did not "christen" Meisels a respected rabbi - he was in fact a widely respected rabbi when he committed his crime. That is all I said. However he is no longer a respected rabbi and I challenge Lopin to show evidence for his statement indicating that I consider that he is currently a respected rabbi.  Furthermore I didn't say his crime was insignificant being "only a hug".
I was contrasting what the CBD had claimed as a massive sex scandal with the rape of 40 girls with what the evidence at present shows that his crime was an inexcusable hug. The word "only" was to show in contrast to a massive sex scandal where the seminaries sole purpose was to provide for Meisels sexual satisfaction - his actual crime was much less significant. Not that it was insignificant. This is the actual quote.
Now that the Seminary scandal is winding down or rather unraveling from a story of a massive sex scandal where a respected rabbi was accused in federal court of  running four seminaries for the sole purpose of  having girls available for his sexual satisfaction to a growing realization that it was only an inexcusable hug given by a respected rabbi to a student  after which he was promptly kicked out by the staff and he readily acknowledged his misdeed in front of beis din. Headlines of seminaries being run as houses of prostitution has become nothing more than  an inappropriate hug. 
Thus Lopin deliberately cherry picked my words - taking them out of clear context to make a false statement about my beliefs. This is the excerpt from the post.
 “Only-a-Hug” Eidensohn Christens Meisels a “Respected Rabbi”
“It was only an inexcusable hug given by a respected rabbi to a student,” writes Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn on his blog in discussing the misconduct of Elimelech Meisels. Was it “only” or inexcusable? He is trying to have it both ways. Yes he was kicked out but if people believe it was only a hug he may be able to eventually stage a comeback claiming therapy and teshuvah (repentance). In fact it was much more than a hug. [...]

Daniel Eidensohn, please admit that Mr. Meisels is a disgraced sexual assailant guilty of much, much more than a hug. He is a serial sexual predator, not a “respected rabbi.”

Lopin is fully aware that a hug in the Orthodox world is very serious and that any educator who hugged females students would be automatically fired and never be allowed into chinuch again.  He in fact stated on his blog that in the frum world there is no such thing as "just a hug" for an Orthodox Jew. Yet he deceitfully pretends that he is genuinely puzzled what I might mean.

He compounds his deceit by pretending that even after Meisels has been shown to have committed serious sexual transgressions that I fully respect Meisels as a Rabbi. He knows that is a lie - and yet he states it anyway.

It is obvious that Lopin is stooping to disgusting smear tactics  in order to discredit me as well as my views - as well as others involved in the Meisels scandal.


  1. Lopin didn't distort your words... he interpreted your words as they sounded.

    You chose the term inexcusable hug. The cbd chose sexual violence. The choice of words sends a clear message.

    You also distorted the initial accusations. No one said that he raped 40 girls. You deliberately distorted that to make your side soar to be the same ones.

  2. Jblog -Review - you are wrong. Lopin himself stated in a previous post on his blog that there is no such thing as just a hug in the frum world. and now he is making a whole pilpul to trying to "understand" what I meant. He is clearly distorting my words when he knows the answer to his "questions".

    As I have noted - it is not clear whether the hug was forced i.e., sexual violence - or mutual - disgusting and sinful but not sexual violence..

    Regarding the rapes - you are clearly wrong. There was an accusation that 40 girls had been raped. If you don't know what you are talking about - then there is no reason to pretend.

  3. "No one said that he raped 40 girls."

    You are either ignorant or dishonest. Or both.

  4. Let's not kick around the bush and try to decipher what an inexcusable hug is or isn't. I have several very pointed questions: 1) Did Meisels flirt with students? 2) If yes, does that warrant his dismissal? 3) Is it true that he only gave a girl an inexcusable hug? 4) If yes, does that warrant his dismissal. 5) Did he take girls out at night on drives? 6) Is that an issur of yichud? 7) If yes, does that warrant his dismissal? 8) Did he do anything more than the previous questions? 9) If other members of the faculty knew about this, was it their responsibility to report it? 10) If they did not report it, why should I still trust them with my daughter?

    I'm sorry, but even if it was just a hug, I am quite sure that the Daas of the Torah is that it is a horrible sin. How much more so if he did anything more than just a hug. And if any of the faculty knew about and did nothing, then why on earth would I want my daughter to learn from such people?

  5. All agree that what Meisels did warranted his dismissal. That was never in dispute. So all your rhetoric regarding Meisels himself is besides the point.

    The question before the BD was whether the staff knew and did nothing. The BD exonerated the staff and declared the schools safe. They also spoke highly of them in terms of their integrity and yiras shomayim. That speaks directly to your final question.

    Just to make it clear, since you are apparently having difficulty understanding: The combined BD examined the evidence Chicago provided re. the teachers and principals and found it to be insubstantial. In other words, they did not ignore or cover up. As soon as they found out, they acted to remove him from the schools.

  6. No one, including DT, ever defended Meisel's actions. Nor did anyone say he should have remained in his position.

    Oh... I'm sorry, the Chicago rabbis allowed him to remain owning the seminaries...ahem!

    And yes, there is a difference between raping someone and hugging them, even in Halachah. Not in terms of remaining a mechanech, but in terms of determining the extent of the issue and how to deal with it.

  7. The only place that I saw anything written about 40 girls being raped was on this blog. Please show me anywhere else that has that accusation.

    Also, I am pleased to have read that the seminaries settled the RICO action and gave back the deposits. Their refusal to do so initially was, in my opinion, their way of making sure that they didn't have a rush of girls dropping out and they held those parents that didn't want to risk thousands of dollars hostage. At least after that threat passed they relented and gave back to those parents who wouldn't stand by meekly.

    Has the Touro accreditation actually been restored or is it still outstanding?

  8. And your point is what exactly? This has been hashed and rehashed on this board alone hundreds of times. If you don't want to send your daughter to any of the schools, feel free not to. What else would you like to add to the conversation?

  9. False!
    Shmuel Feurst - the eminent dayan in Chicago made this claim MANY times to many people - myself included.
    You're free to maintain your opinions but you're not free to reinvent the facts.

  10. " At least after that threat passed they relented and gave back to those parents who wouldn't stand by meekly."

    You mean to the parents who concocted a false RICO suit (with the help of Fuerst and Gottesman), and went to arkaos shelo k'din, rather than to beis din as the halacha requires.

  11. If all the info you have is what you read on the blogs, that's the reason you only saw it written here (even though I'm sure FF wrote it many times.)
    Had you called feurst in the summer, he would've told you that openly.

  12. ANY defence of this predator is unacceptable,
    You go too far, Your behaviour is unbecoming a Rav, from the Rivki ticker to the defence of sexual predators.
    I have no desire one way or another to see this published, it's enough for you to know the contempt that erliche yidden are starting to hold you in

  13. Hey Moshe Aron and the various other personalities - how are you?

    Do you own a mirror?

  14. Speak for yourself. I have admiration for RDE, and I'm as erlich as the next guy.


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