Yair Hoffman’s Absurd Defense of Lipa Margulies

I call the recently deceased Rabbi Lipa Margulies a Rasha because he knowingly kept on child molesting Rabbi Yehuda Kolko as a teacher at his Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Flatbush (see here and here)

Rabbi Yair Hoffman wrote an obituary for Margulies in Vos Iz Neias, the NY based Haredi news website: “HaGaon HaRav Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Margulies ob”m Passes Away.”

It includes this gem: “Not everything, however, was perfect or ideal.  The Avos themselves had, at times, made what appear to be miscalculations that could have chas v’shalom jeopardized the future continuity of Klal Yisroel.  Avrohom Avinu had to be told to listen to the wise advice of Sara Imeinu in ensuring that Yishmael not be kept around Yitzchok Avinu… Sometimes, other Gedolim perceive the true depth of such dangers – whereas others do not.  Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l had argued with Rabbi Margulis on such a matter.” 

A Rasha Was Buried Today in the Satmar Cemetery

Rabbi Lipa (Leopold) Margulies died and Yeshiva World News ran the headline: “Petira of HaRav Chanaya Yom Tov Lipa Margulies ZT”L” 

Normally, like any decent Jew I don’t believe in saying bad things about a niftar on the day of his levaya and kevurah. After all, even a man hanged by beis din is not left out unburied. But nowhere does it say that we call that man a tzadik. If we start calling criminals tzadikim, the kovod of real tzadikim is cheapened. 

Some will say, but wasn’t he a marbitz torah? Didn’t his Yeshiva Torah Temimah provide a fine chinuch for many children from Flatbush and beyond. And yes, for some it did. But for others it was a torture chamber. The torturer was Rabbi Yehuda Kolko and the chamber master who allowed it was Lipa Margulies.

Rabbi Yoel Falk, Hebrew Studies Menahel of Cheder Toras Zev in Lakewood, Is Alleged Child Molester According to Torah Temimah Lawsuit

According to the New York Post:

Lakewood Beit Din Covered Up for Alleged Molester, Yosef Kolko

Thirty seven-year Yosef Kolko, who was a teacher at Yeshiva Orchos Chaim in Lakewood, faces trial on the charge that he molested an eleven-year-old boy for approximately a year. The father of the boy, a respected rav of a shul in Lakewood, first filed the complaint in July 2009.

According to the Asbury Park Press, before he did that he went to a beit din set up by Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon, Mashgiach of Bais Medrash Govoha. The beit din sent Kolko to Gavriel Fagin, an orthodox social worker in private practice who specializes in sex abuse.

I have learned that Fagin is a very popular go-to-guy in the hasidic and yeshivish worlds. He is used both to interrogate suspects to determine if they are abusers and to treat them. He seems to do this on behalf of ultra orthodox communities who are trying to deal with credible allegations but do not want to go to the police.

The beit din required Kolko to sign a release so they could get reports from Fagin. In the end, the beit din disbanded and the father went to the police. As reported elsewhere, the father, a respected rav, was subjected to horrendous pressure and public attacks. Rabbi Yisrael Belsky