Are Some Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Kiruv Organizations Feeder Groups For Cults?

© (2012) By Vicki Polin
Originally published by The Examiner on October 22, 2012

The majority of Shabbatons offered by non-cult like groups are amazing experiences. Over the years I’ve been to a few that were both cult and non-cult like. Going to a legitimate shabbaton is like going to a “spa for your soul”. A shabbaton is a weekend retreat over the Jewish sabbath, created for those who are wishing to learn more about Torah based Judaism.

I’ll admit that during cult like shabbatons I was aware of some of the manipulative techniques that were being utilized, yet I found myself dismissing my thoughts and feelings about what was being said and done. I was aware that these cult-like groups were using shabbos as a way to lure in secular Jews for their own personal gain. The truth is there’s a lot of money to be made off of someone becoming orthodox. Between the cost of providing the needed education, the purchases to create a kosher home and maintaining it, the purchase of religious artifacts, and –– a lot of costs are involved. As well, if someone is a devotee, they will show their thanks by making donations to the cult-like institution for years to come.

The typical Shabbaton in the ultra-orthodox world is often stacked with volunteers who’s job is to befriend newcomers. During this process the “volunteers” start the love bombing techniques, in hopes of making the individual feel how extremely important their neshema (soul) is to the Jewish people –– along with teaching a very skewed version of Judaism. During conversations, the volunteer will also learn as much as they can about their new “unaffiliated Jewish friend” –– and then report back this information to the retreat’s organizers. 

Like any other type of conference, participants exchange phone numbers for the purpose of networking. Sharing this type of information at a cult like Shabbaton allows those involved in the cult based kiruv world to secure contact information of unaffiliated Jews. This is vitally important so they can continue with the love bombing process in the guise of assisting them in their personal spiritual journey. Like most other large cult like groups, ultra-orthodox kiruv workers have an international network so that they can connect unaffiliated Jews with other kiruv workers who may live closer. They also maintain an online database so that they can share information about individual baal teshuva’s (returnee to the Jewish orthodox lifestyle) so that the love bombing process can continue.

It is quite normal for the organizers of the weekend retreats (in both cult and non-cult like shabbatons), to arrange for the potential baal teshuva to have shabbos meals back in their home communities as a way to introduce them to new orthodox friends. According to Halacha (Jewish law), Jews are not allowed to drive during shabbos –– because of this, it is not uncommon for the new orthodox friends to encourage the newbies to stay overnight, in hopes of preventing the unaffiliated Jew from violating shabbos. 

As time progresses and the newbie in the orthodox world gets more involved, they tend to spend more time within an eruv (orthodox Jewish community). This is especially true as they make the switch from the secular lifestyle into a Torah observant Jew. 

Friends and family members of the baal teshuva will complain that they no longer seem to have time for them. This is because the new devotee is involved with learning Torah and other activities that occur within the orthodox world. Depending on the group a baal teshuva gets involved with, it may be encouraged that they spend less time in attending family functions. This is a red flag that the group may be considered cultish, especially if the newbies rabbi doesn’t help them to find kosher ways to be involved with their families and secular friends.

Keeping kosher and shabbos are the key components of becoming an orthodox Jew, both of which are beautiful customs and traditions. They are also practices that by nature separates a person from the life they knew prior to becoming religious. In the mainstream orthodox world, kiruv workers will work with the baal teshuva in finding ways to include their family members and old friends in their lives. This is not necessarily true in the cult like groups. Another interesting aspect of a cult-like community, is that when working with a baal teshuva, they will keep the new member so busy with activities that they have no time to be with old friends, family members or to think deeply about their involvement or activities that might lead them away from the cult experience. They do their best to control the contact and relationships of their members.

The longer a baal teshuva is enmeshed with or lives within a cult like existence, the more likely it is that the individual stops utilizing their ability to think for themselves –– let alone have their reasoning processes interrupted. The baal teshuva will start to find ways of rationalizing the need for their rabbonim to have influence on just about everything they do, say and think. 

Another technique utilized by cult like communities is that they find ways to cut the baal teshuva off from the rest of the world. Early on they being to talk about the evil influence of television, going to the movies, listening to secular radio stations or reading newspapers that have not been approved by their rabbis. To insure that community members obey the rules set up by the rabbonim, there’s very common practice within the cult like Jewish world to report any indiscretions, no matter how minor made by a group member to the groups leader(s).

When this occurs, the individual member is either called in for a special meeting or the situation will be discussed in a shiur (Torah class), or during a shabbos sermon -- without naming the individual, yet with enough information that most people can figure out who the rabbi is discussing.

When a member of an ultra-orthodox cult like group world questions the authority of a rabbi, does not change behavior or disobeys a rabbinic decrees -- they end up getting shunned by the community. Not only will other members be banned from talking or associating with the accused, family members including their children will also effected. Children of the banned cult-member will no longer be allowed to play other children -- and often are no longer allowed to attend the Jewish parochial school set up within the given community. 

Walking away from an ultra-orthodox Jewish fundamentalist group is not unlike leaving any other cult-like community. Doing so means leaving just about everyone and everything you know and love behind. “Religious friends” may no longer be there for you, cult involved family members may shun you. Several ex-baal teshuva’s have reported they were no longer allowed to shop at stores within the communities they once called home. 

Going back to your old life may also be difficult, especially if you’ve been away for any length of time. Even though your experiences in the secular world were put on hold, most people and things have moved on. One ex-Baal Teshuva reported that it was like living in the movie “Back to the Future” or the book “Rip Van Winkel”. In their minds they wanted everything to be exactly like it was prior to entering the cult-like world, yet everyone and everything moved on. Most people in the secular world do not understand the ultra-orthodox world. What rabbis and community members of the chasidic world found important -- the secular world does not. 

It takes time and patience to fit back in. It is an adjustment to think for one's self and to sort through the experiences that led to joining and the leaving this ultra orthodox world. Many experience difficulties with readjusting to their previous life. Many may benefit finding a therapist who understands and has experience working with individuals who have lived within cults, fundamentalist and or extremist groups.

Rubashkin Kin Guilty in Sex Case

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen

Forward - January 13, 2010

A son-in-law of Sholom Rubashkin, the kosher meat mogul convicted of financial fraud in November, has pleaded guilty to child endangerment in a case related to the sexual molestation of a 13-year-old boy at a mikveh. Under a plea bargain agreement, he faces up to 60 days in jail.

Under oath, Rabbi Yaakov Weiss admitted to: “While naked, knowingly having inappropriate physical contact with a child, who was also naked at the time,” according to the prosecutor in the case. On January 11, Weiss pleaded guilty in an Albany, N.Y, court to endangering the welfare of a child.

Under the plea bargain, Weiss will not be required to be listed in a registry of sex offenders.
Prosecutors said they agreed to the deal to spare the boy and another child victim from the rigors of testifying at trial.

“This case has subjected these boys to an enormous amount of community pressure,” said Shannon Sarfoh, bureau chief of the Special Victims Unit of the Albany County district attorney’s office.

The mother of one of the two 13-year-old boys told The Forward, “We’re pleased that it’s over and glad that the children didn’t have to be subjected to testifying.” The Forward’s policy is not to name children or their families in such cases.

Weiss, 29, established a Chabad center in Colonie, an Albany suburb, and an affiliated Chabad Hebrew School. Indicted August 25, he served as an emissary of the Chabad movement until a few months ago. Weiss was suspended by Chabad, as soon as the charges were filed.

Weiss was charged with four counts related to sexual molestation of the two boys. Weiss pleaded guilty to child endangerment, but under the terms of his plea bargain, he admitted his guilt to other counts in the indictment under oath in court, Sarfoh said.

He pleaded guilty to advising one of the boys, in a phone call, to lie to his mother and to police about what had occurred.

The maximum jail sentence for the child endangerment charge is 60 days. A March 1 sentencing hearing was scheduled. As part of the plea bargain, Weiss will also be on probation for three years and will be evaluated by a psychologist.

If he had been convicted of all four counts with which he was originally charged, Weiss faced up to two years in jail.

“He got a slap on the hand. Across the country people are copping pleas so they don’t end up on sex offender registries,” said Vicki Polin, founder and chief executive officer of The Awareness Center, which advocates on behalf of victims of rabbinic sexual abuse.

“Our courts seem to care more about white-collar crime than they do about our own children,” she said. “If he’s not on a sex offender registry, it means he still can teach. There are so many cases just like this and then they just re-offend.”

In June 2007, Weiss gave a ride to one of the 13-year-old boys, who is the son of another Lubavitch rabbi in the area. They drove to the local mikveh, which is on the grounds of the Albany Jewish Community Center.

It wasn’t unusual for her son to get a ride to the mikveh with the rabbi, the boy’s mother told the Forward. Some Lubavitch men have a custom of immersing daily in the ritual bath that they regard as spiritually purifying. According to court documents, her son looked to Weiss as “a rabbi, teacher and spiritual advisor.”

At the mikveh, Weiss “touched his penis to the boy’s buttocks,” states the indictment. It charges that Weiss did the same with the other boy.

Weiss and his wife, Roza, settled in Colonie six years ago. They have three young daughters.
Roza is the eldest daughter of Sholom Rubashkin, who now sits in an Iowa prison awaiting sentencing stemming from his conviction on 86 counts of bank and wire fraud. He was a senior executive at his family’s company, Agriprocessors, formerly the country’s largest kosher meat producer. Immigration officials who raided the plant in May 2008 found illegal immigrants employed there and arrested 389 people. The firm subsequently filed for bankruptcy and was sold.

The Rubashkins are a prominent family in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The night before her husband’s plea, Roza Weiss appeared at a Crown Heights fundraiser to raise money for her father’s defense fund so he can appeal his case.

Reached on his wife’s cell phone on January 11, after his court appearance, Weiss softly told a reporter that he had no comment.

His lawyer, however, had plenty to say.

Even after his client admitted guilt in court, said Arnold Proskin, “He molested nobody.”

The entire case, he said, is rooted in a Chabad turf war between another area Chabad emissary and Weiss.

“It’s a political Orthodox Jewish game,” said Proskin. “The father of one of these boys is head of Chabad in a neighboring town and wants Colonie very, very bad. He’s jealous of him. In my mind, there’s not a doubt that this is what this about.”

If Weiss returns to teaching local Hebrew school classes, the mother interviewed by the Forward said it wouldn’t bother her.

“We’re just going to rise above it. I have no personal vendetta,” she said. “I wanted to protect my child and other children. I think it’s going to be good enough to do that, and hope it will also turn the tide a little bit so people don’t feel they can operate with impunity.”