Early Friday morning, January 20, 2012 the Crown Heights Community Council, Inc. (CHJCC) office located at 387 Kingston Avenue. was  broken into. A police report was filed the next day, on Friday.

Only the computers were stolen. The “thieves” entered from the back. No alarm was triggered.

Both CHJCC offices were recently rigged with surveillance cameras.

Facts Regarding the CHJCC:

1) The CHJCC receives millions of dollars by way of government grant/contracts for various programs to help the community grow.

2) The CHJCC has not used this money for the purpose it was given. Instead, these millions went towards filling the private pockets of greedy individuals. The CHJCC has been lying to the agencies about how they spent their money. Numbers were made up.

3) These past two years, the CHJCC (and it’s members, past and present) have been under the microscope by yours truly. With the exposes posted on Whoisshmira and with the help of friends, we managed to put the thieves hands to the fire.

[Did you notice how peaceful it has been in the community ever since WIS first expose?]

4) The CHJCC hasn’t filed to the IRS and Attorney General for Fiscal year 2010-2011 and soon they will have to file for 2011-2012. They are scrambling, like chickens without heads.

How convenient that all of a sudden now the CHJCC gets “robbed” and  only the computers are taken. Computers with contain information as to what the CHJCC has been up to.

How convenient that now they can write to the IRS that they would have loved to have filed but unfortunately we were robbed.

How convenient it is that the CHJCC offices have recently been rigged with multiple  surveillance cameras but none were installed inside.

How convenient that the alarm system didn’t go off.

It goes without saying that this was an inside-job. An attempt to get rid of important information, which would incriminate those robbing the Crown Heights community blind (until WIS came along and ruined everything).

If you have any more details of what happened, please write to whoisshmira@gmail.com or use the comment system bellow.

Exit Question: This is a big deal, so why hasn’t any of the Crown Heights news media (websites) who are bias in favor of the CHJCC (collive.com and chabad.info) reported this incident yet?

Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it.

(Rambam: Moreh Nevuchim 2:15)

It’s the seedy underbelly of Washington, D.C. The hallways of Congress are often dark alleys of wasteful spending and pork-laden deal-making. Down these lanes, shadowy special interests and empire-building bureaucracies lie in wait to relieve innocent taxpayers of their hard-earned money. They spend billions on wasteful programs, pet projects, and the accumulation of personal power. They threaten to bankrupt our country as our national debt soars out of control.

The victims often don’t even know it’s happening. Many don’t realize how bad it is. Do you?

Take the following test to see if you can detect five of the dirty spending secrets Washington doesn’t want you to know . . .

dirtyspendingsecrets.com

Shomrim Six Mesira And Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin Lynch.

Mesira Vs. Antisemitism, whats worse?

Chumash with Rashi for Shemot:
Chapter 2:
11. Now it came to pass in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers.

12. He turned this way and that way, and he saw that there was no man; so he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

The very next day…
13. He went out on the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarreling, and he said to the wicked one, “Why are you going to strike your friend?”

14. And he retorted, “Who made you a man, a prince, and a judge over us? Do you plan to slay me as you have slain the Egyptian?” Moses became frightened and said, “Indeed, the matter has become known!”

Rashi:
Who made you a man: You are still a youth. [From Tanchuma, Shemoth 10].

Do you plan to slay me: lit., Do you say to slay me. From here we learn that he slew him with the ineffable Name. [From Tanchuma, Shemoth 10]

Moses became frightened: [To be explained] according to its simple meaning [that Moses was afraid Pharaoh would kill him]. Midrashically, it is interpreted to mean that he was worried because he saw in Israel wicked men [i.e.,] informers. He said, Since this is so, perhaps they [the Israelites] do not deserve to be redeemed [from slavery]. [From Tanchuma, Shemoth 10]

Indeed, the matter has become known: [To be interpreted] according to its apparent meaning [that it was known that he had slain the Egyptian]. Its midrashic interpretation, however, is: the matter I was wondering about, [i.e.,] why the Israelites are considered more sinful than all the seventy nations [of the world], to be subjugated with back-breaking labor, has become known to me. Indeed, I see that they deserve it. [From Exod. Rabbah 1:30]

15. Pharaoh heard of this incident, and he sought to slay Moses; so Moses fled from before Pharaoh. He stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Rashi:
Pharaoh heard: They informed on him. וישמע פרעה: הם הלשינו עליו

and he sought to slay Moses: He delivered him to the executioner to execute him, but the sword had no power over him. That is [the meaning of] what Moses said, “and He saved me from Pharaoh’s חֶרֶב ” (Exod. 18:4). [From Mechilta, Yithro 1, Exod. Rabbah 1:321]

—————————————————————-

The Enemy Within

By Yosef Y. Jacobson

The War Is Over?

A man in Germany felt that he needed to confess, so he went to his priest, “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

During WWII I hid a Jew in my attic.”
“Well,” answered the priest, “that’s not a sin.”‘
“But I made him agree to pay me $50 for every week he stayed.”
“I admit that wasn’t good, but you did it for a good cause.”
“Oh, thank you, Father; that eases my mind. I have one more question…”
“What is that, my son?”
“Do I have to tell him the war is over?”

Two Incidents of Violence

In this week’s portion (Shemos) the Hebrew Bible introduces to Moses, through two incidents (Exodus Chapter 2):
“It happened in those days that Moses grew up and he went out to his brethren and observed their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brethren. He turned this way and that way and he saw that there was no man, so he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

The Bible continues:
“He went out the next day, and behold! Two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the wicked one, ‘Why would you strike your fellow’? He replied: ‘Who appointed you as a prince and leader over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian As a result, he escapes from Egypt. Only later would he return to the country and liberate his people from slavery.

It is no coincidence that these are the only two vignettes the Bible shares with us concerning Moses’ youth in Egypt, and that the Bible emphasizes that these two episodes occurred during two consecutive days. It seems that these two vignettes somehow encapsulate Moses’ life-mission and destiny; they seem to capture his particular story. How so?

Two Conditions of Exile

Exile for the Jewish people consists of two dynamics – oppression from without and erosion from within. The former might be more painful, but the latter is more lethal. Hence, the first and emblematic Jewish leader, Moses, as he is growing into his position, is immediately confronted with these two problems that would define the Jewish condition in exile.

On the first and most basic level, Jewish exile – from Egypt till today – has been defined by the “Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man.” Persecution, abuse, oppression, expulsion, random torture and murders, even genocide, have been the fate of the Jewish people from Pharaoh to Hitler. In almost every generation the Jew needed to reckon with the tragedy of baseless Jewish hatred that never ceased to claim innocent lives. The Jew turns this way and that way and sees “that there is no man” who cares enough. The world—The UN—will remain silent.

Yet with all of its crude and incomprehensible brutality, Moses finds a solution to this crisis. “He struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” Moses taught us, that there are times when we have no choice but to take up arms and strike the enemy, in order to protect innocent lives. The use of moral violence must always be the last resort; but when all other attempts fail, righteous might is the only response to immoral violence.

The Second Day

On the second day, after Moses rescued his fellow Jew from the external enemy, he is confronted with a new challenge: A Jew fighting a Jew. One would think that the solution to this problem would be easier than the former one. After all, this is only a quarrel between Jews themselves. Yet, astoundingly, in this incident Moses fails. His attempt to create reconciliation gets thrown back at him. In a typical Jewish response, Moses is told: “Who appointed you as a prince and leader over us?” Who do you think you are to tell me how to behave?

Anti-Semitism is dangerous, very dangerous, and we need much determination and courage to combat it wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head. Yet since the enemy is clearly defined, we have no problem identifying the target and eliminating it, either through peaceful methods or through justified conflict. However, discord within the Jewish people – the strife and mistrust between communities as well as the animosity within communities and families – is a silent disease that eats up at our core, and does not allow us to experience liberation. At first it does not seem so destructive; its negative potency shows up only in time, especially in moment of crisis when we need each other most but the trust has been eroded.

The Jewish people has often been threatened by hostile civilizations, from ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century and fundamentalist Islam in our own times. But the most fateful injuries have been those the Jewish people has inflicted on itself: the division of the kingdom in the days of the First Temple, which brought about the eventual defeat of both halves and the loss of ten of the twelve tribes; the internecine rivalry in the last days of the Second Temple, which brought about the destruction of Jerusalem and the longest exile in Jewish—indeed, in human—history.

There have been only three periods of Jewish political sovereignty in four thousand years. Two ended in and because of internal dissension. The third age of sovereignty began in 1948, and already Israeli society is dangerously fragmented. The democratic process alone does not guarantee the existence of the body politic; it needs also some shared culture and identity—a shared sense of purpose and destiny. Israel at war is defined by its enemies. Israel in pursuit of peace is less easily defined and may erode from within.
When Moses, more than three millennia ago, observed the Jew fighting the Jew, he grew frightened. Moses knew that as long as unity prevailed among his people, no force from without could crush them. But the moment they became fragmented within, their future is dim.

Today, in 2010, we are still in exile, and we suffer from both problems. There are the people who wish to strike us down, and there is conflict within our own ranks. And, just as it was with Moses, it seems at times that the former challenge is easier to address than the latter. It is easier to gain a consensus concerning Ahmadinejad and Hamas than it is to create peace in a family and community. Will we at least this time around have the courage to dull our egos, open our hearts and embrace each of our brothers and sisters with unconditional love?

Related: A Matter Of Keeping Jews Out Of Prison

On January 4, 2012 the website machnemenachem.com posted the following: Another Win For Machne Menachem…Spritzer Loses Another Appeal

Assemblyman Karim Camara visits Crown Heights

In continuation of: Why Are The Politicians Coming To Crown Heights…

New York State Assemblyman, Karim Camara represents over 135,000 constituents in the 43 Assembly District, which includes parts of Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens, and East Flatbush communities in Brooklyn, New York.

Between the years 2008 and 2010 Karim Camara distributed $340,500.00 between 72 organizations in his district. And another (additional) $321,500.00 was distributed between 2 organizations alone, the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Inc. (CHJCC)  and the Shalom Center (old age home), which is an affiliate of the CHJCC.

The CHJCC (one organization) got from Karim Camara almost the exact amount distributed to 72 other organizations together.

WHY?

Why hasn’t the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Inc. filed for fiscal year 2010-2011, yet?

The answer is very simple, their in a jam. Ever since whoishmira.com a.k.a. chleaks.com started to expose [some of] the corruption and fraud taking place at the CHJCC, it has been extremely hard for them to hide their corruption.

The CHJCC filed late for fiscal year 2009-2010 and ended up spending over $55,000 on  accounting alone (at least thats what they filed), for that tax year.

7     State in detail why you need the extension…………………………………………………………………………………………
ADDITIONAL TIME IS REQUESTED TO GATHER INFORMATION TO PREPARE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE RETURN.  

I don’t understand why a non-for-profit which more then 80% of their funds coming from government contracts – which would mean that there would be a paper trail for every dollar spent- would…

a) need over a year to gather additional information.

b) have to spend $55,000 to get their accountings in order.

Whats going on at the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Inc.?

UPDATE: Two additional  non-for-profits which have been under whoisshmira.com microscope have failed to file their yearly 990′s:

1) Organzation/Non-for-Profit: Chabad Lubavitch Hospitality Center Eshel Hachnosas Orchim Inc.
Address:  744 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213
Operated by: Menachem Mendel Hendel

2) Organization/Non-for-Profit: United Jewish Childrens Fund
Address: 534 Montgomery St, Brooklyn NY 11225
Operated by: Shlomie Rutman – Camp director of camp Chayolei Hamelech [a.k.a. Summer Recreation for Children Inc. and/or The Kings Solders Inc. [Corporation 3685688]

Stop the Corruption Stop the Fraud!

Also See:

Did You Know…Of The Day #5

Did You Know….Of The Day #4

Did You Know…Of The Day #3

Did You Know…Of The Day #2

Did You Know…Of The Day #1

The whoisshmira@gmail.com Inbox is full of worried readers/fans, all asking the same thing. What happened to WIS, why no new post or updates, has WIS retired?

The answer is no. WIS is still here. The mission has been very successful but is far from being a mission accomplished, the goal has not been met, yet. Theres still much work ahead. Things are moving forward. You will be updated in the near future.

Hints:

The exposes WIS has been doing [thus far] on the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Inc.  have been nothing but grenades, the real stuff, the [bunker] bombs are yet to come.

The thieves and Mossrim at the CHJCC know whats coming. They are currently in hiding, thinking that if they just keep to themselves, we will all just forget about them, we will forget about all the corruption, fraud and Mesira. Thats a little to late, they should have thought about keeping to themselves 40 years ago.

On the 19th of Kislev of the year 5559 from creation (1798), Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi — a leading disciple of Rabbi DovBer of Mezeritch and the founder of Chabad Chassidism — was released from his imprisonment in the Peter-Paul fortress in Petersburg, where he was held for 53 days on charges that his teachings threatened the imperial authority of the Czar. More than a personal liberation, this was a watershed event in the history of Chassidism heralding a new era in the revelation of the “inner soul” of Torah, and is celebrated to this day as “The Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism.”

Links: About Kislev 19

I meet Mattew Shaer at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg; Of course, this being Williamsburg, the bar serves no candy. Shaer walks in from the cold looking a little different than his picture. He offers to buy me a beer, which at first I deny, and we begin talking about his excellent new book Among Righteous Men.

Some necessary background to the book: currently, Lubavitcher Hasidim sport two different vigilante groups to patrol its tight borders in Crown Heights: the Shmira and the Shomrim (both variations on the word “guards.”) This small quibble of a detail turns important once you realize that each of the group represents a different strand of contemporary Lubavitcher theology. The Shmira represents the group of Lubavitchers designated messianists because of their belief that the Rebbe, Menahem Mendel Schneerson, despite his physical death, still holds the mantle and crown of the messiah, while the Shomrim represent the moderates who belief in the greatness, but not the messianic nature of the Rebbe. This division continues to tear the community apart.

The books weaves the story of six members of the Shomrim who were charged with a litany of crimes, leading up to a gang assault felony charge. The Shomrim Six, as they became known, also faced a 150 million dollar lawsuit in civil court. The night in question, a calm night, entailed an argument over a mattress for a guest in the a messianist Yeshiva, which turned into an all out brawl. From there, the details get hazier, despite the prescience of one of the students to tape the whole matter. The trial would drag on, and appear to anyone from the outside as a normal trial of unleashed violence, but Shaer opens the reader to the deep complexity of the case.

Shaer began as the editor of his college newspaper and worked his way up through the Boston Globe, then the Christian Science Monitor, up to writing for New York Magazine and Harper’s where an article on the same topic of the book was published back in January of this year. His articles, nowadays, tend towards more immersive narratives about aspects of society we otherwise might not know about, all attended to with an exquisite eye for detail. So that, “like Calvin Trillin and William Vollman,” some of Shaer’s more admired and beloved authors, “who are masters of the accumulated detail, the meticulously-observed world. They drown you. In a good way.” The same should be said of Shaer and his work.

At the time of the trial, Shaer wrote an assignment for New York Magazine about the case. What drew an established reporter to an ostensibly small and petty case? Well, boundless curiosity it seems:

Well, it seemed to me to be a very old story: a house, divided. Perhaps the oldest story on earth. Certainly a universal story. A group of friends, split apart, a bitter feud that consumes an entire community. But in this case, it wasn’t the Hatfields and the McCoys, on either side of the Tug Fork River––it was a pair of Hasidic anti-crime patrols, which were once united under a single banner. And right here, in the middle of Brooklyn! I wanted to know what it meant for the people caught up in the fight; I also wanted to explore the clash between the secular and religious communities.

Early in the case, Shaer found himself thrust into a well protected, complex world that presented some obvious hurdles to a journalist:

My first step was to spend a few weeks at this criminal trial, in the fall of 2009, at the Brooklyn Supreme Court. I was one of the only non-Hasidic people in the courtroom, and eventually, I managed to get the Shomrim guys to talk to me. It was mostly a matter of being stubborn, I think. Of wearing them down. Lord knows there wasn’t any journalistic trick to it.

As he wound himself into the inner lives of all parties, into the intricate details of the case, he began to realize the enormity of the case:

During those first few interviews, I started to understand that it was FAR more than a simple criminal trial. Later, some of the messianist tension came out during testimony, which was interesting. It infuriated the judge, who wanted to keep community politics out of it. But in the end, that was a very hard thing for him to do. The whole situation WAS community politics, of course. There was no separating it.

Though Shaer consistently displays a healthy humility towards his abilities, he takes pride in having gained the trust of all sides of the story. Not an easy feat for a notoriously insular community. Despite feeling “alienated,” at times, despite the plethora of “dirty looks” , and despite the embarrassing feeling of door after door shutting in his face, Shaer persisted and won the trust of not only the defendants, but the plaintiffs in the story. Shaer learned to rely on some “good old fashion reporting,” and, “was helped immensely by the fact that this trial was going on, which gave a reason for folks on both sides to talk to a journalist––they wanted their story told.”

Indeed, Shaer exudes a aura of an old school reporter. He longs for those stories that illuminate realms of life otherwise closed to the normal person, which is aided by the curiosity, comfort and trust that he evinces. For much of the supposed interview, Shaer took an interest in my life, all done without me noticing that in the end, our talk was more of a two way dialogue and less of an interview.

What emerged from all of Shaer’s effort is a genre-busting book (novelistic journalism, creative non-fiction, new journalism?) that moves with the celerity of a Law & Order episode, but with the patience, empathy, and complexity of an arc on a season of the Wire (Shaer, of course, rejects even the slightest comparison to any great artist, whether that be Mailer, Capote, or even David Simon, but I believe the comparison fits.) In the vein of The Wire, each character receives their own space to breathe, to live. Each receives their own voice, their own perspective. The bochurim sprinkle their language with Yiddish and curse words, the lawyers speak lawyerese, but Shaer does not limit them to their stereotypes. Shaer manages to pull off an amazing feat. Using the tools of both a novelist and a journalist, Shaer crafts a compelling narrative that illuminates without the need to denigrate, discriminate, or villianize.

From a fight in a dorm room, to the court room, to the history of Hasidut, and to the vacuum left by a charismatic leader, Shaer approaches each subject with respect, tact, and intelligence. Each sight under his gaze expands considerably with the stroke of his pen. Not only does this provide background for an outsider to understand the true implications of the trial, but it captures the beauty and dangers of an insular community without a judgmental eye.

I stay for the reading in a well-lit back room that fits at most 20 people. Shaer first introduces the piece, then begins reading in a demure manner. He speaks slowly, softly, his right hand clutching his left arm that holds up his Harper’s article. With time, he starts to smile, to laugh, and even attempts an Israeli accent, all in good humor. During the intermission, I walk towards Shaer to say goodbye, to thank him, and in a moment of surprising kindness, Shaer walks me out, and thanks me. I leave feeling privileged to meet such a modest, young talent, one from whom I expect many great books and articles.

Click Here to purchase a copy of this book