Challenge Rescinded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

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.”

The Shul Who May Not Be Named

Which is Rabbi Daniel Feldman's real PPG (private prayer group)?

How many names can one place have?

• The Teaneck Shul
• The Teaneck Shtibul
• Torat Chessed
• Toras Chessed
• Etz Chaim
• Ohr Saadya
• 544 Queen Anne, Inc.
• The Shteibshul
• Another name?

They have currently decided to follow the money and go with Ohr Saadya, which means light of the help of g-d. Sounds like a Mosque, which coincidentally is what I suggested they do in my posting Surefire Way To Get Approved On Wednesday.

It was named after Yaakov Abdelhak's grandfather, for a sizable donation of money of course. Who is Yaakov Abdelhak and why does he need a shul named after his grandfather? Better yet, why did the South of Cedar need ANOTHER private prayer group? What really happened to the Mechitza Minyan/Merkaz L'Torah at the Jewish Center of Teaneck? Why did Yaakov Abdelhak need a PPG of his own and why is the PPG suing Teaneck Township? 

Next time you visit Torat Chesed/Toras Chesed/Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya ask these questions to Rabbi Daniel Feldman, Zalman Levine, Rochelle Mandelbaum, Allan (Chanan) Cohen, Levi Goldberg, Famous Urine Cake King, Robert Ehrlich or even Yaakov Abdelhak himself. I'm sure not only will you be fascinated by their "non" answers, but you will find them encouraging you to pray elsewhere.

The Avenger