Challenge Rescinded

Posting Update 8/5/12 10:00pm:

The imposter's comment magically disappeared from Teaneck Patch, but the memory lives on. As does my comment with links to this blog :-) I should thank the imported for increasing the traffic to this blog, but I don't thank charlatans.

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An Etz Chaim member, the same one with all the pro Etz Chaim comments on here has posted a comment on the Patch using MY NAME. This was his comment:

http://teaneck.patch.com//articles/congregation-s-lawsuit-against-teaneck-moves-toward-trial

shluffenheimer Macdougal

10:43 pm on Saturday, August 4, 2012

If you check my website Macdougal Musings, you will see that I have issued a challenge to Rabbi Feldman and his Congregation Ohr Saadya. Although I think the Lawsuit against the Teaneck Board of Adjustment is wrong, I have done some self reflection since posting that challenge. I have come to realize that by creating this blog I have continually defamed Rabbi Feldman along with Robert Erlich and the rest of his congregation. I have Actually acted like a complete Jerk. My actions have been dispicable, reprehensible and morally wrong. I own a deep apology to Rabbi Feldman for my absolutely childish and inexcusable conduct. I have also defamed people of Scottish decent for using the name Macdougal. Please consider dropping your lawsuit for it is wrong and bad for the town. However, two wrongs do not make a right and I have been an absolute jerk and am unworthy of being a part of this Community, please forgive my inexcusable actions and continuous infantile behavior. I hope that your congregation grows to be a great success.

I never posted this nor will I ever post a comment such as this one. I have nothing to apologize for rentlessly pursuing the truth about the fraudulent actions of the synagogue founded and spiritually lead by Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman, Robert Erlich - President and defended by Akiva Shapiro.

My response:

This is the REAL Shluffenheimer MacDougal, registered member of Teaneck Patch. Not the imposter posting in my name.

A Comment from the REAL Shluffenheimer MacDougal:

Due to the comment above this one from Saturday night August 4th at 10:43pm, pretending to be me, I am rescinding my Challenge to Etz Chaim as seen on http://macdmusings.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-macdougal-challenge.html and the blog isn't going anywhere.

The commentor above this comment is a charlatan and a sham. A coward posting in my name. Typical Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya Identity theft fraud. Anyone who has read my blog knows that my english, grammar, diction and style does not match the faker above.

I will never and have never ever apologized for anything in my blog, even within the confines of my challenge. What Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya and Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman is doing is wrong and harmful to the entire Jewish community of Teaneck.

It is time for the Jews of Teaneck to say something and speak out to the leadership of Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya. 

http://macdmusings.blogspot.com/2012/07/see-something-say-something.html

Shluffenheimer

See Something Say Something

Countries around the world have ways to report activities or packages that one might even just suspect of being harmful and if you know it is harmful, it must definitely be reported.

In England you can see signs like this one

In Israel you can see scenes like these

Even in America you can see signs like this one in Washington, DC

At a nuclear facilities there are signs like this

And in NYC, after 9/11 you can see signs like this

Everywhere in the world, parents tell their children to watch out for strangers and suspicious activities. Adults report all suspicious and criminal activities to the authorities.

Unless you are an ORTHODOX Jews and the impropriety involves other Jews or Synagogues. Look at the news today and read about all of the deeds that were hidden for years and communities falling apart because nothing was said. Even their Rabbis, their spiritual leaders, preached for silence.

This blog is asking for Teaneck residents, Jew and Non-Jew, to stand up to Etz Chaim. Say something to Rabbi Feldman and the RCBC about the Torat/Toras fraud, the filing for the family room, nasty treatment of the neighbors (Jew and Non-Jew alike) and frivilous lawsuit against Teaneck taxpayers.

Rabbi Feldman is being PAID for his silence

The friends of Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya will never admit wrongdoing. Be brave and be strong and tell your friends that they need to drop the lawsuit and approach the BOA through proper channels like every other synagogue in Teaneck.

It time to SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING in Teaneck. ITs time for Jews not to be silent at injustices, but vocal to their leaders. Make Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya follow the same rules as every other synagogue, church, mosque and non profit business in Teaneck.

Just because a Rabbi is cool and learned and is a man of the cloth, doesn't make him infallible.

New Beginnings

A special Tisha B'Av Drusha from my brother

Rabbi Zitzinheimer MacDougal on the laws of Tisha B' Av

Rabbeisai (Holy Rabbis) Tesha Bav is a special time where all the yiddishe kinder (Jewish people) take the time to actually sit during a weekday. No running, jumping, hopping, skipping, rolling or dancing for Hashem's holy children. In a technically advanced age this is a big deal for anyone not just all the yiddishe kinder. Tomorrow night is a very holy night for sitting and listening to Eicha the holy book that is read on Tesha Bav.

Not only must we sit but we must sit on the floor or on small stools or technologically advanced mini beach chairs. The beach is assur (not permissible) to go to and stare at the scantily clad women without schvim kleids, the chairs are ok to use in Shul, unless of course there is a scantily clad woman on the chair. That is Assur of the highest degree, but the nekeivas (women) are nice to look at and really helps the concentration. 

One may not wear leather shoes because its super comfortable and a sign of being rich when we are supposed to be like a poor person mourning and feeling sad. Rabbosai you may wear the Tretorn Skymra SL Lace-Up Canvas Sneaker because it is made of canvas not leather. You can perform a huge hiddur mitzveh (enhancement) for Tesha Bav and buy it on amazon for $750.

Drinking and eating is not permitted on the holy tzoim (fast) yum tuv (holiday) of Tesha Bav unless you are suffering from pavlovian urges and really get hungry for a delectable hot kiddush and mashke when you drive by or get to shul. I posskin that you follow the Hydra Rav and use vitamin suppositories to nourish to body like a hydra.

You may not wash your hantelach (hands) past your knuckles, but roiv (most) people don't seem to wash them  so this halucheh (law) is one you don't have to remember anyway.

For the best Tesha Bav experience, I recommend a Shul with a women's section, with lots of mashke (booze) and loose moral standards with fraud and gambling, a Ninve (Non Jewish city that Jonah got to repent after the whale vomited him up) if you will like the one at the residence of the brilliant Bekiyus (proficiency) of the Rav of YU at 554 Queen Anne Rd.

But I digress. I would like to share something I read on Tesha Bav that is fitting for our times and Shluffenheimer's message to the sefardim (spanish/porteguese/middle eastern Jews) at Ohr Saadya. It is from the ou.org and it has shaychis (appropriateness) to the matzav (situation) in Teaneck with Ohr Saadya today.

The prophet Jeremiah spent years warning his people that they repent and stop insisting that the Temple would protect them. To his chagrin, the Jews honored the Temple more in spectacle than in spirit.

But, the Jews ignored him, even imprisoned him, and to his unbearable agony, he was proven right. The Temple was destroyed, the people ravaged, the nation dispersed and he was the witness.

The book of Eichah is timeless. Although it was composed in the wake of the end of the first Temple era, the Sages of the Midrash find it full of allusions to the destruction of the second Temple, over 500 years later. This is not at all an anachronism, because Jewish history is a continuum. Just as we live by the torah that was given over 33 centuries ago, so we are molded by the experiences of our forbears and the historical epochs they created.

Jeremiah weeps and we weep with him, because – if we are thoughtful and perceptive – we can see all of Jewish history in the dirges of Eichah. This is the challenge of Tisha B’av. Can we realize that this is not merely a day of tears, but of challenge and hope?

The book of Eichah calls Tisha B’av "a day of Jewish rendezvous with G-d" and we don’t recite Tachanun because it has elements of a festival.

Rendezvous with G-d? Festival? On a day of destruction and suffering? Yes, because Tisha B’av proves that G-d is not indifferent to Jewish conduct. We matter to him. And since we do, we know that He awaits our repentance and that there will be a third Temple, an eternal one.

The Sages say that the Messiah will be born on Tisha B’av. Let us read Eichah with the prayerful hope that he has already been born and that this day next year will be a day of joy.

\

OY! Alla Da Yiddisher Kinder should know that Shluffenheimer is like the prophet Jeremiah in that he weeps and cries and lives through the scorn and deridation of the Jewish people of Etz Chaim and Ohr Saadya as they ignore his lessons and pleas for repentance for their actions that affect all the yiddishe kinder. 


Hashem watches and judges the actions of am Yisroel (the Jewish people) and the actions of these Ohr Saadya and Robert Erlich and Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman and Zalman Levine and Akiva Shapiro and Rachelle Mandelbaum are causing negativity towards Jews and a huge chillul (embarrassment towards) Hashem and towards the yiddishe kinder of Teaneck. 


Rabbi Feldman's disciples who comment on this holy blog with their foul language embody all the negative traits of the Ninve at 554 Queen Anne Rd. 

Rabbosai there is hope in these troubled times.


I use the heilige (holy) term Ninve because just like the inhabitants of Ninve repented for their evil ways there is hope for the future of all the yiddishe kinder and the sefardim at Ohr Saadya that they will repent and return to the fold of the tzibbur (the community) of Teaneck.

As we say in Eicha:
Hashivenu Hashem Eilecha VenaShuva - Chadesh Yameinu KeKedem

Bring us back to you Hashem, and we shall return, renew our days as of old

Drop the lawsuit heilige neshama (holy soul) Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman, Robert Erlich and Akiva Shapiro and approach the Board of Adjustment with love and respect and don't forget 
אנחנו חייבים לבצע את חוקי המדינה בה אנו נמצאים.


While we are in golus (exile) we must follow the laws of the country we are in and Ohr Saadya should file for everything they want for their family room in the BOA of Teaneck, the way that Hashem wants them to.




Have a good shabbos and a meaningful fast,


Rabbi Zitzinheimer MacDougal

The Trial

After the BOA decision,
the neighbors were happy,
Robert Erlich told the papers he was happy,
Rabbi Daniel Feldman told the papers he was relieved
and Etz Chaim's lawyer said
he was happy with the balance the BOA made
between religious freedom and respecting the neighbors.


All was quiet and dandy.


Enter Akiva ”I need to enhance my resume” Shapiro.


He pushed for a trial instead of applying to the township for a sign and going to BOA to appeal specific issues.


There are systems in place in all-inclusive Teaneck
to accommodate synagogues and mosques and churches.
All you need to do is follow them.
Instead, overtaxed Teaneck residents will be footing the bill,
so Akiva Shapiro can get trial experience.


If Akiva Shapiro,
member of Ohr Saadya and dinner honoree,
didn't need this trial on his 2 1/2 year old resume,
would Ohr Saadya still be going to trial?

Questions for Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya

Important Questions

Good Luck Getting Answers

Halakha > Secular Courts

Toras Chesed/Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya (TCECOS)
will claim that they postponed their case
because of the 3 weeks
and Rabbi Daniel Feldman said that
Jews shouldn't do anything dangerous
during the 3 weeks
and especially
 during the nine days.

Instead, the case will be tried around
Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur,
because they are hoping that
their loss against Teaneck
will be an atonement for everything they have done wrong
and Hashem will judge them favorably.

Either way, Robert "Teflon" Erlich

Sooner or later its gonna hit that fan!

Call The Waaaambulance

Jewish Standard - June 29, 2012

The conflict seemed to have concluded in September 2010, when the synagogue received the zoning variances necessary to operate as a synagogue in exchange for stipulations including a restriction on weekday services and the length of Shabbat kiddushes.

But the synagogue turned around and filed suit against the town, saying that the restrictions were null because it agreed to them under duress, and because they violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which restricts local laws that place a “substantial burden” on religious practice.

Unless the case is settled before trial, a jury will be asked to decide questions set out by Judge Alexander H. Carver III in his ruling earlier this month. 

They include: 

1- What restrictions did the congregation agree to? 

2 - Were the restrictions agreed to under duress and therefore invalid? 

3 - Are the conditions more severe than those placed on other non-profit institutions operating in residential neighborhoods? 

4 - And are those restrictions legal under the federal law?

_____________________________________________________________

Great questions! 

What did they agree to? Under Duress? Severe Conditions? Legal?

Instead of speculating, I will use Etz Chaim's own words.

From the aftermath of the BOA approving Etz Chaim, here is a compilation of Etz Chaim's lawyer Ed Trawinski's quotes, ”coerced” President Robert Erlich's quotes, and founder and spiritual leader Rabbi Daniel Feldman's quotes.

Suburbanite from August 19,2010
On at least one occasion during the hearings, Edward Trawinski, attorney for Etz Chaim, threatened to sue the township for discrimination.

Etz Chaim President Robert Erlich wrote in an e-mail that the community liaison position is not unique to this application, but that the BOA has required such a position for similar applications.
"We are pleased with the approval and we will comply with all conditions imposed," Erlich wrote.


Bergen County Jewish newspaper (not the secular papers)
The Jewish Standard from August 20, 2010 the week after the BOA approval:
“The board, based upon testimony, came to the correct legal decision,” said Ed Trawinski, the lawyer who represented Etz Chaim through the proceedings. “And the board balanced the exercise of freedom of religion with the effort to minimize the impact on a residential neighborhood.”


A property tax deduction may be in Etz Chaim’s future, but the organization will have to consult a tax attorney now that a portion of the property has been designated a house of worship, Trawinski said.


“That was an unintended consequence because we were always happy with our status as a prayer group,” said Robert Erlich, the group’s president. “Obviously if there’s a tax benefit, as a congregation we’d be foolish not to take it.”


“I am gratified by the decision,” Feldman wrote in an e-mail to The Jewish Standard. “I don’t know all the details of the stipulations, but we will abide by them as we have always complied with all instructions of the township.”


“From an organizational standpoint, nothing has changed,” Erlich said. “Once we get out certificate of occupancy, instead of operating as a prayer group, we will operate as a house of worship.”


“My hope is Etz Chaim and the residents will move forward and put this behind them,” Trawinski said.



From Bergen Record - October 17, 2010
"We are hoping to have a more peaceful future," Feldman said Friday.

"It's quite a relief," said Robert Ehrlich, the president of the group. "From our perspective, this was never a fight worth fighting. We want to move on. To the extent that the neighbors have comments on things we can do to make their lives less disruptive, we're willing to do that."


January 2011, 5 months later:


Teaneck Patch - June 20, 2012
“As we have said from the very beginning, the intrusive, oppressive and unequal restrictions imposed by the Teaneck Board of Adjustment on Etz Chaim as a house of worship strike at this nation’s most cherished freedoms and cannot be justified,” the group’s attorney Akiva Shapiro, of New York-based Gibson Dunn, said in an e-mail. “We are confident that a jury will agree when this case goes to trial, as the Court’s summary judgment opinion indicated it would.”


No Akiva, that's not what was said from the beginning. 
This is what was said:


“The board, based upon testimony, came to the correct legal decision,” said Ed Trawinski, the lawyer who represented Etz Chaim through the proceedings. “And the board balanced the exercise of freedom of religion with the effort to minimize the impact on a residential neighborhood.”