He claimed the term meant that the person was doing something wrong before becoming orthodox and only was on the right path after becoming a reborn Jew, so to speak. He also claimed that he hated the term outreach. I will maintain that his fundamentalist beliefs were alien to me and I never could figure out why I kept gravitating back to him and Chabad. Yeshua Witt, Shlomo's #
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote"stevew"Quote"richardmgreen" I think the important thing is to not hop from one cult to another. True. You should stick with the cult that brung ya. What I meant was you should break out of a need to follow any cult at all. My father always said that my problem was that I was too much focused on being a follower instead of a leader.
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

When Israel Ba'al Shem Tov (Israel the Master of the Good Name) made the first Chasidim, Rabbi Elijah, the Vilna Gaon (the sage of Vilna who was the Gadoll Hador - the elite Torah scholar of his day) banned the movement as a kath or sect. As Judaism is supposed to be non-sectarian that put Chasidism under the same hubris that Christianity is viewed in and as such it falls under the Birchat H
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The ancient historical records of the Torah indicate that Jews are descended from Abraham and his grandchild, Judah. Furthermore, Levi and Judah are the only 2 shevot (tribes) left among the 12 tribes as 10 were lost. To my way of thinking, and of course Rick agrees with this analysis, this is the correct way of viewing the issue. Apostate Jews Jews are not welcome in Israel, that's
Forum: Destructive Churches

You should have a field day with all the information on this site. I have found it invaluable for getting the word out.
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

It was either in the NY Daily News of the Post where it mentioned how there were terrorist organizations that want to overthrow every non-Moslem regime. Pretty scary stuff. When you compound this with the amount of people leaving Christianity it seems that the balance of power will shift in favor of the Moslems over time. That is, the forces of Christianity simply won't be able to wag
Forum: Terrorist and Extremist Groups

It was obvious to me that the previous pastor of the local church was given some turoring on my religious history and definitely on how to deal with Jewish people from a missionary perspective. He used buzz words like "completing Judaism" etc. Obviously it wasn't anything new to me because I heard it all before many years ago from Jack Hickman's cult. Also, at
Forum: Destructive Churches

Does anyone know about this Hindu sect? They have a new temple off of Rt. 514 in NJ near Middlesex County College.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote"rrmoderator"Nope. Never seen anything like that at all or heard about it. Nothing reported that I aware of. You might want to check out the book, Subliminal Seduction by Bryan Wilson Key. (Or is it Wilson Bryan Key). I had that book when I was going for my Master of Science in Management degree. I came across something about subliminals when I was putting togeth
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

Reb Shlomo's Paradoxical Legacy goes into clergy abuse. The question is how to mobilize against it all. The clergy doesn't have the power that it used to have and that's good.
Forum: Clergy and Therapy Abuse

QuotepeppereensI encountered a lot of prejudice in the Orthodox community , It was the reason I left . As I wanted to be part of it and become more observant , this was the one sticking issue I was never able to resolve.-Esther There was an old time orthodox Jew at the 8th St. Shul who always used to ask me, "Why are you such an apikorsus?" I really wanted to give him a knu
Forum: Hate Groups

Two thousand years ago, after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews were dispersed to all 4 corners of the earth and we settled in many foreign lands. Before the exile, Jews all originated in the Middle East and we are semites descended from the same man, Abraham our father, as the Arabs are. In fact, when my current landlord who is a devout Moslem first met me, he asked
Forum: Destructive Churches

In my church there are some divisions and some of the fringe groups seem to think that if you aren't getting people angry, you're doing something wrong. Martyrdom just isn't what I'm all about these days but I was being put up to doing it as soon as I joined 1st Presby of Avevel, NJ. I would imagine the true Lord will help me out again if I need it. Any comments anyone.
Forum: Destructive Churches

As the subject line says, the cult used to adopt Korean children years ago. They also had an outreach program in Bushwick, NY. It's too bad the church went out of their minds. It was doing some good things originally.
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

QuoterrmoderatorWhenever someone makes demands, for example money, based on supernatural claims that cannot be proven objectively, it's time to pause and think things through very carefully. A psychic has moved into my building and he was trying very hard to give me a complex that I needed "his help" to find a job and keep it. He claimed he needed to burn candles and t
Forum: Abusive and Controlling Relationships

QuoterrmoderatorMoishe3rd: "Returning"? Returning to what? Your word "returning" implies that they were somehow absent as Jews. That is, that they needed to "return," when in fact they never left Judaism and were most often already affiliated with a synagogue and from a practicing Jewish family. Again, you reveal that you don
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Moishe, As you may not know, my family was involved with Ultra Orthodox attempts to mecareve us over a very long period of time, beginning with an after school program run by Chabad that I went to. The result was the destriction of my family. And it didn't even start there as my paternal grandparents got divorced over religious differences. Religious intrasigencee has severely impacted my im
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Aish has, "in effect, torn apart families?" Maybe you could be more specific. We can always all do better in terms of our relationship with G-d. And, having delved into a great deal of religion, philosophy and history during my short life, I have not been able to "do better" than observing Torah and mitzvos. It's certainly not for everyone - as is se
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't believe that Aish is trying to do anything wrong but they have in effect, torn apart familes and they have very little in the way of success with Chozrim Bitshuvah's. America has freedom of religion. I am not a secularist. I believe in G-d but I don't believe in what is maintained to be absolute truth in any of the modern religions of the world. I believe we can all do bett
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote"Moishe3rdThe entire Torah has promoted the idea that Jews ought to be more Observant - for the last 3,000 years. This is not a "new phenomena." It is simply, that today, in the United States of America, one has complete freedom of religion. No one is going to reject you because you are a Jew and you are therefore free to leave Judaism and join the fabulous worl
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I had a friend who went to Diaspora for awhile and he was paid $400 a week to work there. For some reason he looked like money to Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein. The friend told me that he runs the yeshiva like a cult. YOu have to remember some of my older posting about how the Baal Teshuva movement is not just about chicken soup on Friday night, it's political in nature. The orthodoxy
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoterrmoderatorJaim: You have offered a series of false arguments and attempted to ignore the main point. Until recently, Jews did not proselytize. Actually, Rick at one point in time, Judaism was a tremendous missionary religion and it was after the enslavement by the Greeks and our subsequent freedom from them that we gave up trying to make Jews out of non-Jews let alone promote Ju
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As of now, most people on this forum probably don’t know it but I was born into a Zionist family. My father fought in Israel’s War of Independence and he adopted Israelis who were wounded in Israel’s subsequent wars. I grew up surrounded by Israeli culture, surrounded by the love that my father found being a mentsch among his brethren and my whole family was bound up by the objective of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Friday, July 20, 2007 Who Sold Out Whom? I have had the privilege of living in some of the most religious Jewish neighborhoods including Flatbush ,Crown Heights, Geulah in Jerusalem, etc. I have heard many people complain in those neighborhoods about how G-d sold them out. It isn’t true, it’s the other way around. Years ago, I went to Chaifa to visit the Viznitzer Chasidim with
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Honor your mother and father. All of the world's major religions have that commandment at the core of their beliefs. No commmandment is given to honor a religious teacher however and none should. The only time a teacher should be held in high regard is when that teacher teaches the family how to function as a unit and how to survive as a unit in our tempestous times. When a group li
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sunday, July 08, 2007 Over the years, I have read a lot of Jewish religious literature geared towards non-Orthodox Jews written by Orthodox Jews. They usually white wash everything in the Orthodoxy. For example, they cite how all circumcised Jews will be let into Shamayim, Heaven by our father Abraham. What they don’t know is the doctrine that an evil person, a rasha, will have h
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sunday, July 08, 2007 More on the Shadow Side of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Judaism acknowledges that everyone has a shadow side and it’s called the yetzer hara or “the evil inclination.” The evil inclination in a person can be sublimated, subdued and transformed by spiritual studies and the performance of good deeds or mitzvoth. It is the life work of a person to master his negati
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotedvGood to hear. I knew there was a fat chance krinsky would help. He is viewed as a villain in chabad in many circles even though he now has complete financial control. Catholic church reborn is what it is. Krinsky is the head of the educational arm of Chabad Lubavitch so all the people who get misled are his victims.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

You must be so happy. My involvement with that cult almost killed me and they wrote a book with my story in it about how they did all kinds of wonders for me.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sunday, July 01, 2007 Neila Carlebach is the ex-wife of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. She was not married to Shlomo at the time of his passing. Neila is a New Age type person who consulted with mediums and spiritualists in a variety of disciplines. Shlomo was horrified at her seeing some of these people claiming that her associating with them would dry up his “well of neginah”
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"