The Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, said on Monday that those who conduct services not in line with Orthodox customs should not pray anywhere along the length of the Jewish holy site.So he says, "Pray our way or do not come." Then he says, "Have a bar mitzvah our way or go elsewhere."Rabinowitz was referring particularly to Conservative and Reform customs where men and women have equal roles and pray together.
The movement has free access to the southern tip of the southern wall, which is known as Robinson’s Arch, for morning, Sabbath and holiday prayers. Non-Orthodox prayer sessions have been held for the past seven years at Robinson's Arch, inside an archeological park at the southern tip of the wall.
“Whoever wants to celebrate a Bar Mitzvah, but does not want to do it according to Jewish custom, should go elsewhere,” said Rabinowitz. “It makes me sad that there are people who do not want to respect the Kotel (Western Wall) as a place of unity and togetherness for the entire Jewish people.”
The Conservative movement has slight liturgical changes in their prayers, but the main area of concern is its lack of gender separation.
“The Fund for the Traditions of the Kotel provides guides who can help families celebrate a Bar Mitzvah in accordance with tradition or put on tefillin (phylacteries) or read a Torah scroll,” said Rabinowitz. “Many Reform and Conservative families use our services.”
Teaneck North Teaneck SouthTeaneck's seismic tax shift
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
By BRIAN ABERBACK
STAFF WRITERS
Homeowners in Teaneck's most modest neighborhoods stand to absorb the biggest tax increases this year while those in wealthier areas will get a break as a result of updates to the property tax rolls that will shift the burden from higher-end parts of town.
The shift is the result of a state-mandated revaluation, aimed at updating outdated assessments on all properties in the town so that owners pay their fair share of taxes to support municipal, school and Bergen County government services.
For some in modest neighborhoods, the shift will be seismic, with some tax bills increasing upward of $2,000. Others will not notice much of a change from last year. For still others on more stately blocks, and commercial property owners, taxes will go up by smaller amounts and could even drop.
Residents will not receive their tax bills until this summer, when 2007-08 tax rates are set. But a computerized analysis of the new assessments by The Record found that if the property tax levy in Teaneck rises the same amount in 2007 as it did in 2006 -- 6.5 percent -- typical homeowners in more modest neighborhoods, such as the northeast section of town, will see much more than a 6.5 percent tax increase. Instead, they will likely feel the pinch of at least a 15 percent hike and, possibly, increases of 20, 30 and even 40 percent.
On the flip side, the typical homeowners in some of the town's wealthiest areas would see less than 5 percent tax increases. One such area is in northwest Teaneck near the Bergenfield and New Milford borders, known for spacious Tudors and colonials selling for $750,000 and up. Another is the Glenpointe condominium complex in the town's southeast corner.
Assessments must be updated under state law with revaluations so they reflect market value. As real estate prices change, property values in different neighborhoods rise at different rates. The longer that goes on, the more out of balance assessments get from one area to another, leaving some owners paying too much and others paying too little. By updating assessments, communities make sure each property owner pays taxes that reflect the market value of his home.
Property owners who incur the biggest percentage increases in assessments receive the biggest tax increases the year after a revaluation, while the opposite is true for those with the smallest percentage increases in assessments.
The township's northeast neighborhood, where modest Capes and colonials abound, will take one of the biggest hits from the revaluation because property owners have reaped the biggest percentage increase in home values since Teaneck's last reassessment in 1992. A separate analysis of home sales by The Record confirmed that trend.
The situation has northeast resident Kimberly France on edge. France's two-bedroom, one-bathroom colonial on Fairview Avenue was newly assessed at $330,800, up from $119,200 – a 178 percent increase, which was far more than the townwide median of 132 percent.
France will face a $1,571, or 28 percent, tax increase if this year's tax levy jumps another 6.5 percent. (Taxes went up 5.4 percent in 2005, and 5.5 percent in 2004.)
"I'm not making the kind of money where an extra $1,600 is not going to make a difference," said France, an office worker. "I know a lot of families on my block that are struggling. It's got me scared."
France said she will probably look for a second job to help make ends meet.
Sherri Scott said she understood why the assessment on her Garden Street home increased 163 percent, from $131,300 to $345,600. "The house is definitely worth more than $130,000," Scott said.
Still, Scott said she worries about how she and her friends and neighbors will cope with the large increases. Scott is facing a 22 percent, or $1,328, tax increase if the levy jumps the same amount as last year.
"The taxes are going to run people out of town," Scott said. "In a few years when I retire I'm going to have to leave Teaneck."
The fact that owners of modest homes will see the largest tax increases does not surprise Rick Del Guercio, a partner with Appraisal Systems, the Ridgewood-based company that conducted the Teaneck revaluation.
"Entry-level homes are appreciating at a much higher pace than high-end homes," Del Guercio said. And not just in Teaneck.
It's a trend Del Guercio had seen in revaluations across North Jersey, due in part to the low-interest mortgages requiring little or no down payment that have spurred the market for first-time home buyers over the past decade.
"The market for $300,000 to $400,000 homes in Teaneck is much greater than the market for $1.5 million to $2 million homes," Del Guercio said.
To be sure, there are residents of more expensive homes who will also feel the pain of the revaluation. Some owners of homes on Winthrop Road, one of the township's priciest streets, could face 20, 30 and 40 percent tax hikes.
But more than a third of the road's 133 homes could see tax decreases, compared with only three of the 73 homes on Stuyvesant Road in the northeast section of town and none of the homes on Garden Street, also in the northeast.
Township officials said the revaluation should not be looked at as the town raising or lowering taxes but as a rebalancing of the tax structure.
Those who will pay more than average this year have been paying less than their fair share of taxes in the past, officials said. And those who will see less-than-average tax increases or pay less than last year have been overpaying in the past, they said.
"I think most people understand what has happened in the market and that things have changed significantly since 1992," said township Tax Assessor James Tighe.
Judging from a review of home sales in the past few months, Tighe said the revaluation appears to be accurate.
"I've been checking the latest sales that have been coming in and the numbers are almost right-on," Tighe said. "But over time is how you tell whether it's going to hold together or not."
Owners of retail, office, industrial and apartment buildings generally fared better than homeowners because residential growth in Teaneck has outpaced commercial growth the past 15 years.
Before the revaluation, homeowners had been paying 84.9 percent of all tax revenue collected by the town, with commercial property owners paying the rest. The revaluation furthered the disparity slightly: homeowners now shoulder 86.2 percent of the tax pie.
Among commercial property owners, John Davino stands to pay nearly $1,550 less in taxes this year on his three properties on Queen Anne Road if the tax levy increases the same amount as last year. His assessment rose only 94 percent.
Davino, who owns Cortley Cleaners, said he would reinvest any money he saves back into his properties.
"If I had a tax decrease, I certainly could enhance the building," Davino said. "Which in turn is going to enhance the business and the community."
But Davino added a caveat: He won't believe his taxes are going down until he sees his tax bill.
Township officials are well aware of the apprehension and uncertainty that homeowners feel as they wait for their tax bills to arrive. Mayor Elie Y. Katz has mentioned the revaluation several times as the Township Council has worked to craft the municipal budget over the past month.
"The reval is the foremost issue in my mind," Katz said. "We must bring in additional revenue to Teaneck to help relieve the tax burden to all the taxpayers."
E-mail: aberback@northjersey.com and sheingold@northjersey.com
Modest homes bear the brunt
The northeast section of Teaneck and other lower-priced neighborhoods are due to bear the brunt of the property revaluation taking effect this year in Teaneck, while property owners in wealthier areas and commercial streets generally can look forward to below-average tax increases, and possibly tax cuts. The map and chart are based on increases in property assessments set in the revaluation. Actual tax bills will go out later this year after municipal, school and county tax rates are set. Owners whose assessment rose more than about 130 percent will see above-average tax increases; others will see below-average increases.
Source: Bergen County Board of Taxation/New Jersey Treasury Department, Staff analysis by Dave Sheingold
Caroline Glick simply never read the writings of the classical Zionist thinkers. If she had, she'd know that diversity of thought was the essence of the strength of formative Zionism.
But Dr. Ross is hardly a conventional paleontologist. He is a “young earth creationist” — he believes that the Bible is a literally true account of the creation of the universe, and that the earth is at most 10,000 years old.
For him, Dr. Ross said, the methods and theories of paleontology are one “paradigm” for studying the past, and Scripture is another. In the paleontological paradigm, he said, the dates in his dissertation are entirely appropriate. The fact that as a young earth creationist he has a different view just means, he said, “that I am separating the different paradigms.”
Reported today, Israel lives up to its old adage - am echad, disk echad - one nation, one disk.Antipiracy group makes list of worst-offender nations
By John Letzing, MarketWatch
Last Update: 3:50 PM ET Feb 12, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A coalition of companies including technology giants Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. on Monday filed recommendations with the U.S. trade representative of countries deemed worst at protecting intellectual property.
The coalition, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, said in the filing that countries including China and Russia are among the worst offenders when it comes to allowing the reproduction of protected intellectual property, with a majority of the resulting losses affecting the software industry.
In all, the coalition recommends that 60 countries "lagging in their obligations to provide adequate and effective intellectual-property protection" be placed under varying degrees of monitoring. See the filing.
In addition to China and Russia, other countries considered the worst and recommended to be placed on a "Priority Watch List" include Mexico, Venezuela, Israel and Canada...
From this rabbi you can run, but you can't hide
By Ari Rabinovitch
Reuters Sunday, February 11, 2007; 7:55 PM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - When Jewish husbands skip out on their wives and refuse to grant them a divorce, a 58-year-old rabbi assembles a team of investigators to track them down anywhere in the world and untie the bonds of matrimony.
According to Orthodox Jewish ritual law, a woman abandoned by her husband is considered single and free to marry again only if he gives her a bill of divorce, known in Hebrew as a "Get."
Israel's Rabbinical Court, which oversees Jewish marriages in the country, said that each year, dozens of husbands maliciously refuse to sign the decree, leaving their wives "agunot," or "anchored" to their previous marriage.
Some of the men also leave the country: that is when Rabbi Yehuda Gordon, 58, and his small team of investigators step in.
He makes about five trips a year overseas, all of them sponsored by the Israeli government, to find "fugitive" husbands and persuade them to divorce their wives.
"It can take years to track each husband down," Gordon said from behind his desk at the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem.
"A lot of (the husbands) turn out to be criminals with ties to the underworld. Each one demands a unique approach," said the rabbi, who wears traditional, ultra-Orthodox Jewish clothing and has a gray beard that reaches down to his chest.
While a husband is still in Israel, the Rabbinical Court can pressure him to grant a divorce by having his bank account frozen and driver's license and passport revoked. In some cases, the man can be arrested and jailed.
But once a husband goes overseas, it is up to Gordon and his team to persuade him to sign a "Get."
"Once we find them, we need to be smart and good psychologists. Our target is not to rat them out or take their money. We never actually become violent," Gordon said.
"We use delicate threats," he said, declining to elaborate.
DELICATE THREATS
Gordon, who said he speaks six languages fluently, works mostly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where he has connections with local politicians and law enforcement.
Although hesitant to reveal his network of contacts, he hinted that it often begins with bribing the right official.
Gordon also arranges for a safety "umbrella," usually a local rabbi and armed guards, to meet him at the airport. When he shows up at a husband's front door, many times he finds the man remarried and with a new family.
"I talk to the man, for hours at a time. I'm always smiling and I try to reason with him," Gordan said.
It may take days, he said, but usually they reach an agreement. Sometimes money changes hands or local authorities get involved.
In 1998, Gordon flew to Siberia on a "Get" mission. After being threatened by police and spending three days in jail, he returned to Israel with a signed document allowing the man's wife to remarry.
Gordon said he once convinced a drug-smuggler living in Grozny, Chechnya to sign his Israeli wife's divorce papers in return for teaching the man how to pray.
BARGAINING CARD
But for some women, the Rabbinical Court is not doing enough to help them break free.
Linda Rasooly, 42, from Jerusalem, said her husband left Israel for the United States almost nine years ago without granting her a "Get."
"For seven years he forced me to be married simply because he wanted to punish me," she said.
Rasooly said it took several years before the Rabbinical Court formally accepted her case as an "Aguna" and began exerting pressure on her ex-husband, who agreed to sign a "Get" just last year.
"I was 33 when we separated but 41 when we divorced. I lost eight years waiting for a 'Get'," Rasooly said.
One advocacy group called Mavoi Satum, or Dead End, said it opens about 100 files each year for women whose husbands refuse to divorce them.
"The 'Get' becomes a bargaining card that the husband can use to extort his wife in order to get what he wants out of the divorce," said Reut Una-Tsameret, the group's public activities coordinator.
Jewish law gives the husband a lot of the power, and wives remain at their mercy, she said.
The Israeli government spends a few million shekels each year on the hundreds of cases of agunot, said the Rabbinical Court's spokeswoman Efrat Orbach.
"In 2006 alone we helped 71 agunot women, most of them with their husbands abroad," Orbach said.
Would you buy a used car from UoP President William J. Pepicello (right)?A furious row has been raging in the international Jewish community over the rights and wrongs of criticising Israel. At its centre is a British historian who accuses his fellow Jews in the US of stifling any debate about Israel. His opponents say his views give succour to anti-Semites. One thing's for sure: any appearance of consensus over the Middle East has been shattered. ...Judt was born in London in 1948. Growing up Jewish in 1950s Britain, as he has said, he came to know a thing or two about anti-Semitism. His mother was from London and his father, who was born in Belgium, had come there as a stateless person. Judt was brought up in what he describes as 'a fairly standard left-wing Jewish secular political environment', but with close links to his Yiddish-speaking grandparents, all of whom were eastern European Jews, from Romania and Russia and Lithuania and Poland. As a teenager, he joined a left-wing Zionist organisation and became very active in the kibbutz movement, living in Israel on and off for a large part of the early 1960s.
'What changed for me,' he says now, 'was that in 1967 I went out as a volunteer at the time of the Six Day War; after the war was finished I volunteered for auxiliary military service and I ended up as a sort of informal translator for other volunteers up on the Golan Heights. And there for the first time I began to see another face of Israel that had been camouflaged from me by my enthusiasm for the idealism of the kibbutz movement.' He became, he recalls, quickly very detached from Israel. 'And in fact when I was a student in Paris I became involved in 1970 with Palestinians and young Israelis, trying to organise groups to talk about peace settlements and ending the conflict.'
