Classic Musings #1: Paradise Lost

The Classic Musings series was created to repost older musings that are relevant today. Its especially helpful for those who have not been following the blog from the beginning.

A history lesson that was originally posted March 18, 2010. Everything you ever wanted to know about the origin of Ohr Saadya/Etz Chaim/ToraS Chesed/Torat Chesed is in this posting.


Once upon a time, Rabbi Daniel Feldman and his minyan were victims of slavery in the bondage of the Jewish Center of Teaneck. Rabbi Feldman couldn't handle the edicts of the spiritual ruler of the JCT, Pharoh Zierler. His 3Cs were mightier than 10 plagues and so Rabbi Feldman wrote a letter severing the relationship of the Jewish Center and the Orthodox members of his minyan. The letter was read at a Board Meeting and in doing so, he sacrificed the goodwill that was left between the Board of the Jewish Center and the Mechitza Minyan members of Merkaz L'Torah that would have stayed behind. He led his congregants out of the bondage of slavery in the Jewish Center of Teaneck and to the promised land of self determination. Pharoh Zierler did not chase after the Center members that left. Que Sera Sera. Pharoh Zierler had his own plans for the future of Orthodoxy at the Jewish Center of Teaneck.

Rabbi Feldman, and his group of Orthodox that left the Center with him, wandered from house to house in the wilderness until they set up temporary camp in CareOne. There were a few weeks of calm and stability. Rabbi Feldman set up a Board that he was to lean on for guidance and advice, but they were not taken seriously. His advisors, who guided Rabbi Daniel Feldman to remove his minyan from the Jewish Center, were still in charge and a rift began to form. The Original Mechitza Minyan members who trailblazed the way for the Orthodox community to feel comfortable at the Jewish Center of Teaneck were quickly relegated to the background and the amazing group of people that came together in such a short period of time moved to the forefront.

The group was named Torat Chesed, Torah of Kindness, and were incorporated, in May 2007, using the names of Original Mechitza Minyan members who did not approve the usage of their names on the documents of incorporation. There was talk of the group merging with The Teaneck Shul, a prayer group located near Arzei Darom, a prayer group that was allegedly begun to help their friend with his courtcase. There was talk of getting Rabbi Feldman paid, buying a house on Chadwick, being a satellite for the Teaneck Mikvah and other issues to distract the Original Mechitza Minyan members. Very soon there were activities attempting to get the two groups, the Teaneck Shul and Torat Chesed, to get to know each other, to possibly merge.

Finally, everything came to a head when Rabbi Daniel Feldman took a job with the Teaneck Shul, complete with salary and 554 Queen Anne Rd, and left the Original Mechitzah Minyan members in the wilderness of CareOne. All of his new friends left with him. To add insult to injury, he designated CareOne as a sattelite minyan for his Congregants to pray there on Sundays and Legal Holidays. His new Congregation incorporated in September 2007 as 554 Queen Anne, Inc. DBA: Etz Chaim of Teaneck.

While all of this was going on, from May to September 2007, Torat Chesed collected donations and dues for membership. Checks were being made to Torat Chesed and being cashed in the Torat Chesed bank account. In or about July, there was a change of address where donations and dues were to be sent and there was a request for checks to be made out to ToraS Chesed instead of ToraT Chesed. Monies that were earmarked checks written out for ToraT Chesed, were being deposited in a ToraS Chesed bank account. What was the need for a second bank account? Inquiries were made as to why there was a change and they were greated with a flippant attitude. Some people were told that some people say Tora"t" and some say Tora"s". Its just a matter of what pronunciation you were brought up with. Some inquiries were met with extreme venom.

There was to be no land of Milk and Honey, no giant grapes or land for the hapless Orthodox people that didn't follow Rabbi Feldman to the Promised Land, to the land of strong Cedar trees in the South, on the Path of Peace near the House of Aaron. Rabbi Feldman did what was best for himself and his family, in the short term, while harming his reputation and shirking his duties as the leader of all of his people. He tried to keep the peace by silencing the voices opposed to the merger and abandoning them in CareOne.

Those that were left behind were also defrauded by Rabbi Feldman's Minyan, 554 Queen Anne Rd, Inc DBA: Etz Chaim of Teaneck. It is unclear if Rabbi Feldman was personally involved with any of the shady dealings of his minyan's and now synagogue's leadership and Management Team.

ToraS Chesed is a corporation created in early July 2007 by the same person who incorporated ToraT Chesed. The names listed on the Documents of Incorporation of ToraS Chesed are same as 554 Queen Anne, Inc. From early July 2007-September ToraT Chesed, Inc. and ToraS Chesed, Inc. existed to service the same exact minyan.

The existence of ToraS Chesed, Inc. was kept secret from the Original Mechitza Minyan members. The ToraT Chesed checks were being deposited in the ToraS Chesed corporate bank account. ToraT Chesed's bank account's passbook began to collect dust from non-use.

Donors and members who wrote checks to ToraT were asked to sign a release absolving ToraS Chesed of any liability. Liability? What was/is 554 Queen Anne,Inc. DBA: Etz Chaim of Teaneck afraid of? ToraT Chesed and ToraS Chesed monies were one and the same! Right? ToraT Chesed already existed to represent Rabbi Daniel Feldman and all of his Congregants praying in CareOne. What was/is ToraS Chesed, Inc. and who did/does it represent? What is it's purpose?

ToraS Chesed, Inc. was created to collect money for Etz Chaim's future at 554 Queen Anne Rd. They knew that the ToraT Chesed members not following Rabbi Feldman to Etz Chaim would stop paying dues and donating money once they closed on 554 Queen Anne Rd. Its been alleged that they closed on 554 as ToraS Chesed, Inc. They tried to cover themselves by trying to get the ToraT Chesed donors and dues payers to sign a waiver absolving ToraS Chesed, Inc.of any liability and that they will not take any legal action against ToraS Chesed, Inc. After a ton of pressure, ToraS Chesed, Inc. became the Etz Chaim of Teaneck that we know and love.

Etz Chaim wants the Board of Adjustments to forget their history and their shady past. But as the BOA and the neighbors found out very quickly The Song Remains The Same.

It is upon us, this time of year, to remember and retell all that has befallen our old dear friends of the, now defunct, Mechitza Minyan. Please come home to the Jewish Center of Teaneck, your home until Moshiach comes.

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!

Six Degrees of the Kotel Minyan

How does one man get so much power?

Robert Erlich is the President of

Ohr Saadya

Which was known as

Etz Chaim

Which was known as

Torat/s Chesed

Which was known as

Merkaz L'Torah

Which was known as

Mechitza Minyan

Which was originally advertised as

The Kotel Minyan


SIX DEGREES BABY!

Besides the obvious connection between all of them, Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman (Spiritual Leader and Founder of a Minyan that already existed), Robert "Teflon Duressed" Erlich is the other tie that binds and Allan Chanan Cohen and Elliot Frome Las Vegas.

MacD, you ask, how do you know?

http://www.jstandard.com/index.php/content/item/2677/ 

Two shuls too many? 
 Jane Calem Rosen • Local Published: 28 June 2007

 In April, the board of directors of one Orthodox congregation in Teaneck appealed to the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, the association of local Orthodox rabbis, asking it to prevent the establishment of another Orthodox congregation nearby. According to the complaint, the new congregation "would inevitably (intentionally or unintentionally) compete" for members. The RCBC rejected the appeal several days later, The Jewish Standard learned this week.

Representatives of both congregations — the president and a founding member of Cong. Arzei Darom, Shabsi Polinsky, and the spiritual leader of the relatively new minyan, Rabbi Daniel Feldman — told the Standard that they are working to resolve any differences and accommodate the best interests of the community. Attempts to reach Rabbi Aharon Ciment of Arzei Darom were unsuccessful.

Ciment was retained as the first spiritual leader of Arzei Darom in '004, and according to the letter to the RCBC, last year signed a new three-year contract through '009. The modern Orthodox unaffiliated congregation was established in '001, an outgrowth of a long-standing minyan in the South Cedar section of Teaneck that grew with an influx of Orthodox families.

Feldman, who said he reached out to Arzei Darom, as noted in the Arzei Darom letter to the RCBC, is leading the minyan, now called Torat Chesed, at CareOne Rehabilitation Center on Teaneck Road, five blocks south of Cedar Lane and approximately a 10-minute walk from Arzei Darom, which is preparing a new facility at 7'5 Queen Anne Road for its 80 member-families.

"I wanted to make sure that all aspects of the community are properly accommodated, to make sure that everyone's needs are addressed," he said, adding, "We are continuing to investigate all possibilities to make sure all parts of the community are served happily."

Although CareOne does not present a long-term solution to Torat Chesed's needs — it is too small and inconveniently located for many of the shul's members — for "the time being, we are having a wonderful experience and we are extremely grateful for the opportunity to be there," Feldman said.

Polinsky said he believes that the leadership of Arzei Darom and Feldman are "close to a resolution," but declined to reveal the content of their conversations or speculate on where Torat Chesed might eventually relocate to avoid a geographic conflict. "If everybody works together, I'm sure people can all find a comfortable place to worship that meets their family's needs and for both of our congregations to grow and to flourish among the many wonderful synagogues in Teaneck," he said, insisting, "This is not an ongoing issue."

A copy of the appeal, bearing the Arzei Darom letterhead and dated April '3, '007, arrived at the Standard office on Monday in an envelope without a return address. The envelope was postmarked 11 p.m., June '3, '007.

Included with the four-page document, which indicated it had originally been hand-delivered to the RCBC office in Englewood, was a copy of the RCBC's reply, dated April '6, '007, from the organization's president, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky. Pruzansky, who did not return telephone calls from the Standard, is due to step down from the post at the end of the month. Copies of the appeal had also been sent to Rabbis Yaakov Neuburger, spiritual leader of Cong. Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, and Laurence Rothwachs, of Cong. Beth Aaron in Teaneck. Neither returned calls seeking comment.

In its letter, Arzei Darom's board requested and urged "the RCBC to protect Arzei Darom and to prevent the establishment — even for a purported "trial period" — of a new, competing congregation in the vicinity of Arzei," citing a teshuva by the late Orthodox scholar Rabbi Moshe Feinstein detailing the prohibitions of hasagat gvul. The halachic issue, which prohibits unfair competition in business, rests on a talmudic argument against encroachment on a neighbor's property that may threaten the neighbor's livelihood. It is based on a Torah commandment against moving the boundary marker of your neighbor (Deuteronomy 19).

In the Arzei Darom letter, the board alleged that Feldman's minyan had attempted to combine forces with another, informal minyan meeting in the neighborhood south of Cedar Lane, composed predominantly of former members of Arzei Darom. Feldman's minyan, which consists of between 50 and 100 Shabbat regulars, had, several weeks earlier, left its home at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, where it had been davening for several years, after JCT's spiritual leader, Rabbi Lawrence Zierler, objected to the continuation of a mechitza minyan in the building led by another rabbi, according to various sources.

This week, Polinsky described Arzei Darom's appeal to the RCBC as a search for advice and guidance, not an effort to have the RCBC shut down Feldman's minyan in the neighborhood. "We're working amicably and privately with Rabbi Feldman, as the RCBC directed us to do," he said.

Polinsky said he had no information about the informal minyan. Feldman stressed that Torat Chesed had no relationship with the informal minyan.

The RCBC noted in its letter to Arzei Darom, that Feinstein's teshuva applied to a "privately-owned shul (owned and operated by the rabbi in question)" and was not relevant in a communal context.

"We wish to reiterate our long-standing policy that encourages the development of shuls throughout our community. Such a policy has historically fostered the growth of the Bergen County Jewish community and contributed greatly to its success and prosperity," the letter from Pruzansky stated.

"Although every situation is different," observed Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, a past president of the RCBC and spiritual leader of Cong. Ahavath Torah in Englewood, "the general principle when it comes to opening congregations is that there is no such thing as hasagat gvul. It is not our position to discourage shuls from opening, although," Goldin conceded, "in general it is best to maximize geographic boundaries" in the interest of avoiding disputes and expanding the community.

Still, he said, "there could be good reasons for opening synagogues within a short distance of each other."

A number of years ago, congregants from Ahavath Torah broke off to establish East Hill Synagogue, a move Goldin said he supported to accommodate the needs of those who lived "a distance away from us."

Regarding Arzei Darom's petition to the RCBC, Goldin, who noted he was not familiar with the specifics of this case, said, "Everyone in a synagogue has the right to question whether the opening [of another shul nearby] is wise and to have a discussion about whether there will be more dispute [as a result] or amity and the expansion of the community."

How Does It Stick To The Pan?

Robert ”Teflon” Erlich is preparing to gird his loins and get ready for his lawsuit against the big bad scary BOA of Teaneck.

Lucky for him and Ohr Saadya .
Ooops. My mistake.

I mean, Lucky for him and Etz Chaim .
Ooops. My mistake again.

Luck for him and Toras Chesed
(Full Disclosure - Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya/Toras Chesed are all the same organization funded by the same person)
they changed their lawyer to good ole Akiva Shapiro. 

Kivi seems the perfect choice to make sure Bobert isn't put under duress by the defendants. He's strong and tough and his extensive experience in the courtroom will insulate Robert from saying harmful things that can destroy his credibility and his case, NOT!

Anyone who followed the BOA hearings got a taste of Bobert up close and very very very personal. Just ask Toras Chesed's neighbors who got blasted by Robert ”Teflon” Erlich in front of the BOA. Akiva has his work cut out for him defending TCECOS.

TCECOS =
They Create Every Conspiracy  Over Selfishness =
Toras/t Chesed/Etz Chaim/Ohr Saadya

Even the non-stick coating on a ”non-stick” pan has to stick to something Mr. Erlich. Ranting and raving like an crotchedy old man angry at kids who accidentally threw a ball in your yard is not ”duress”. Attemping to force your will on Teaneck through the courts without regard for any one else, Jew and Non-Jew alike, will cause something to stick Teflon Erlich. For you and your family's sake, ”President Puppet who went too far”,  its not the stuff that hit the fan.

And to those in the comments blasting this blog while remaining inactive, thank you. You are the reason this blog is vital for the Jews of Teaneck, Bergen County and NJ.

As Albert Einstein once said -