I took a class in accounting and one of the students GK was a member of the ICOC. He tried to recruit people in the class but no one went to his bible studies. I went to a party run by them. There was mixed dancing, unlike some churches. They got me to go to a Bible Study because I wanted to scope out the church. The study was lead by SL. He told me to read one of the Gospels an
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I've noticed that a number of these cult/churches like to build themselves up to be Christianity as it was originally practiced by Jesus and his disciples or by the churches immediately after. My old church, the Hickman group, was keeping orthodox Torah laws in an attempt to replicate the first church. ICOC takes a somewhat different tack. A few years ago, I saw two people playing th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Shabbtei Zvi, Shlomo Molcho, bar Kochba, all these false messiahs have been a real problem for Judaism. Zvi converted to Islam, bar Kochba lost the war to the Romans. Looks like they bit off more than they can chew.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As I mentioned in "The Ancient Israelites", dealing with some non-Jews, especially religious ones, can be tricky. They always seem to try to invalidate the experiences of non-orthodox Jews. I think they have Jews stereotyped and want to keep it that way to make it easy to deal with Jews. I had talks with some, who thought they knew more about Judaism than I did. It seems the on
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

GW was another outreach worker. He also authored a few books on Judaism. But last I heard he "cut the plants" a la "Acher" and became estranged from orthodoxy himself. Seems he skipped out on his wife etc. I knew him from a Jewish cafe house that my parents helped set up on LI. The cafe house purpose was to allow young Jewish singles to meet and also to combat Hickm
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

At the time that Chabad was trying to get me out of the Hickman outfit, they were a ger I'll refer to as "AD". AD pulled me aside one day and read me the riot act as usual. He was a ger, a convert, he told me. Originally, a Christian who converted. He told me the poignant tale of how he had to come to grips with his own background and do a lot of soul searching before he conver
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I have a friend who's into Christianity. She told me one time that you need "simple faith". I told her, "look, I turned my life over to Jesus Christ when I was 14 and I got burned." I also wound up in a fight that was going on between that church and other competing churches on LI including Pastor Profeta's. I think it was Jessica Hahn that brought him on.
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

Quite a few years ago, I was at Penn Station in NY waiting for a train back to LI, NY. I had my guitar and the Shlomo song book (the first one now out of print). Someone noticed it and came up to me telling me that he was involved with the BT movement but left it because of Shlomo. Shlomo had boundless energy and he burnt that guy out as he related to me. I felt that too.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Bob Dylan's experiences have ranged from ultra-orthodox Judaism to born-again Christianity. It seems to me that these stars have a longing for something deeper than what they themselves propagate. They need to attach themselves to someone or some movement that has "all the answers" or has a way of making them feel fulfilled. Perhaps, because the stars have to put some dista
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

I think when a person gets involved in a cult the family should react, but be careful not to overreact. Most people who join Messianic Jewish movements, ultraorthodox outreach groups, and other various cults are only there for awhile. And if you do enlist aid to get family members out, make sure you work with someone who has a proven track record. That is a person who'll make things bett
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Islam comes from the word "salaam" which means "peace". And jihad means to "struggle"; initially it meant with one's own inner nature. But over the years as the religion of Islam became socio-economic and political many wars were fought including the 1,000 year long war with the Church. After 9/11 a NY paper ran an expose of some 30 different Moslem ext
Forum: Terrorist and Extremist Groups

A NJ Rabbi, Lanner, and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach were both accused of sexual misconduct. It didn't catch up to Shlomo but Lanner is being brought to court. He was found guilty, his lawyers are appealing it. When found guilty Lanner said, "Baruch Dayan Haemet" which in Hebrew means, "blessed be the true Judge".
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

This verse in the Talmud, Sukkah 20a, says that Ezra the scribe restored the Torah to Israel when it had almost been forgotten. I corresponded with some orthodox Jews locally and one of them claimed this was only for the "oral Torah not the written". Sounds very contrived to me. He went on to say it was forgotten and restored several times before it was written down.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

BT as a phenomenon is relatively recent. In times past, the orthodoxy seemed to want to have little to do with non-orthodox and didn't woo them to orthodoxy. Years ago. Shlomo Carlebach told a prominent rabbi that "we need new yeshivas .... because there are thousands of people on their way back..." The rabbi told Shlomo, "I've never seen a comedian like you before.&qu
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't know who came up with this one but there's a belief that if you're shopping for a wife (and of course proper orthodox boys don't know what a hot looking woman looks like), you take a man of the street along with you to hunt. Some wiseacre tried to use me to do this at D'var Yerushalayim. Then they wonder why people don't like them. Can't they figure i
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

My father told me that years ago, in England, where my grandfather is from, the church tried to convert just one Jew at a time spending millions in the process. And no one converted. Now, about 100K or so Messianic Jews are in existance. All through the ages very few Jews converted, but those who did very often became a sore spot on the Jews. New converts are often the worst.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

If you peruse the web, you'll find loads of these so-called Messianic Jewish sites. Just how many Jews run them and just how many Jews actually belong is a mystery but I'd guess not many.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I was watching the news some 10 years ago or so and I could have sworn I saw him leading some black congregation using the name "Rabbi Aholewadey". If that's the case, it seems he still has a thing for the Rabbinical bit.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I got involved with a few groups, sects, and cults. Some of them became cults after I got there. I was looking for big changes in my life and in the world. None of which happened. My relationship with my family got strained and years later, I have nothing to show for all of it. See the first section in the "Cult Education Forum" for my comments.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I don't understand something. The orthodoxy claims that they have a continuous onbroken chain from Mt. Sinai. Then why aren't there any copies of very ancient Torah scrolls? All the pagan myths can be found in ancient cultures much before "matan Torah". But as far as I know Torah scrolls are much younger.<br>Also, it seems that at the time of Ezrah the scribe ever
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I had this book called "Phillip Birnbaum's Book of Jewish Concepts". It was given to me by my Hebrew school and thirty odd years later it's still in print. When discussing a convert or "meshummad", (a spiritually destroyed person), the book says "... what vile being forsakes the religion of his youth...?" Well, let's examine this. In the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Awhile back I was near a pert, young woman who was obviously from some Christian congregation. I've seen her look before. All of a sudden, she mentioned something about the "ancient Israelites" and looking at me, started to laugh. This was a Note worthy happening to me. My experience with some Christian groups is that they think that my ancient ancestors were on the rig
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Every Friday night, Jeff Seidel goes to the Western Wall to set people up for a Sabbath meal with an orthodox host so the people can get a taste of an "authentic" Sabbath experience. It's actually somewhat of a "mystical" experience as he tries to figure out which guest should go with with host. He actually rotates around, gyrates etc. And these hosts, of cour
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In "An Overview of the Baal Teshuva Movement" it was written that it really isn't a good idea to let your children experience what these rabbis have to offer. Let me add to that and elaborate my views now. Firstly, don't expect these rabbis and haredim to have any respect for your religious beliefs unless you're orthodox yourself. And "honor your father and m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

When I was at the 8th St Shul, one of the congregants used to complain that non-orthodox Jews hate orthodox Jews more than non-jews hate Jews. I think they're slightly paranoid. As long as someone doesn't try to put a trip over on my head I can live with it. But some of these people are pushy, obnoxious etc. Not all, but some.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There was a teacher at Diaspora Yeshiva who got divorced and owed money to his ex-wife. She constantly had in thrown in jail for non-payment. There's debtors prison in Israel. If you have budget problems, don't go to Israel. This rabbi also used to help out people with various kinds of problems including drug problems and the cops were always after him because of that too.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Having just graduated the Boston U/Ben Gurion U of the Negev joint program (Master of Science in Management) and having gone to school with captains of industry in Israel I went searching for a job. I couldn't find one readily and hooked up with the local Chabadniks in K'far Saba, where my family was living. First they told me they'd help me get a job, then they told me I ha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Years ago, at Yeshivat D'var Yerushalayim, I took a class with a certain rabbi. He said that, "the Lubavitcher Rabbi stepped on so many toes that he had to be the 'real thing' or he was just a 'total fraud'". I tend to lean towards the latter. What major impact on world history did the Lubavitcher Rebbe have. He never spoke at the UN, he wasn't loo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This is a village near Lod city and airport where some of the followers of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach live. When I lived there they had about 35 families. Currently, they'v added a lot of infrastucture including a school, and a gym. When I was in Israel in '78-'79 I was warned against going there as people at D'var Yerushalayim claimed that the kids there used drugs.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This is a youth hostel which is a first stop for some in the BT circuit. It's run by Meir Shuster who's been a long time activist in M'karving (to draw near, ie to missionize) people. One day I was at Aish Hatorah's breakfast facility when Shuster was there yelling at some kid because the kid didn't want to stay with Shuster's act. Now, wait a minute. Why sh
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"