Sinas Chinam IV – A Trail[er] of Blood [Libels]

 

Clearly, I maintain that there is no toelles to perpetuate the Malka Leifer episode even if it were done in a truthful manner. All it can do is harm. How much more so when the picture is deliberately distorted to this end? Then, not only does it become motzi shem rah, but an actual blood libel.

In my previous post, I discussed a documentary about the Malka Leifer episode that was produced for an entertainment provider exclusively in Australia. Nicole Meyer came all the way to Monsey to peddle the documentary even though all she could show is the trailer. But the trailer says a lot. 

She actually first came to Atlanta in late February for an Atlanta Jewish Film Festival showing on Feb. 26. Her trip was sponsored by some organization so she did not come to Monsey special or on her own dime. She was here anyway.

In any case the trailer is about 1 minute 50 seconds long. Any trailer is meant to make a strong impression. It is meant to draw our interest with a few highly dramatic clips. Hence, any statement that was chosen for display in the trailer has to be there to make a quick impact and to serve as a draw. We call this "shock value".

Here is the trailer:

At 0:30 the narrator poses a question:

Why did it take 15 years to bring her to justice?

I believe the respondent is Nicole Meyer. She starts with these words:

In our community, sexual abuse is stigmatized. 

This, I can accept as a true statement. Nothing wrong with it. But then, she follows it with this:

They don't see an abuser. They see a person who needs to be saved.

What is she saying? What is she telling her clueless impressionable viewers?

Before we “micro”-analyze her precise words, let’s “macro”-analyze her intent. Bear in mind that she is talking about her very own “community” and is informing people who know little to nothing about it. 

Is she saying something nice about this unfamiliar “community” or is she criticizing it? Is this a compliment or an indictment?

I did not see the documentary, just the trailer, but it is hard to say that the documentary is trying to say anything positive about anybody except the victims survivors. The impression I got, is that she is saying something very negative about the community. 'The community is not supposed to be this way, but it is'.

So, she is vilifying her entire community. And she is doing it as an impact point (shock value) on the trailer, which anybody can access. Even those who do not or cannot see the documentary can view the trailer in under two minutes.

If what she is saying is the unequivocal truth, then we can downplay it as a simple case of truthful lashon hara and maybe even come up with some toelles to make it permissible. Call it “constructive criticism”. I could live with that. But if there is anything about it which is false and misleading, then it is slander and libel. And, when the target audience isn’t even Jewish, it becomes a blood libel.

So now, let us micro-analyze her second sentence.

They don’t see an abuser. They see a person who needs to be saved.

Who is “They”? 

In the previous sentence she names an entity called “the community”. Then she says “They…”. Evidently, “They” are the community. Are “They” some of the community? The entire community? Specific members of the community? 

She equates the community as “They” so she must mean everybody. This includes the commoners and it includes the leaders. She makes no distinction, so the viewer will make no distinction, either. 

First, let’s talk specifically about the Malka Leifer case. In my previous post, I noted that Dassi Ehrlich’s book was peppered with some blatant lies. To qualify this claim, I put into parentheses two of the most noteworthy ones. I wrote: that (1) the Adass community supported Malka Leifer and (2) that the women who heard the rumors took no action.

I debunked both these lies in at least two of my book review posts. In this post I wrote:

There is no evidence at all that the community in any way supported Mrs. Leifer’s alleged activities. Dassi herself attested (31:30) that they were not even aware of it. And, as soon as they got wind of it, they promptly shipped her out of Australia back to where she came from despite her denials and objections. I will note, as I have done numerous times, that Mrs. Leifer was not a wanted criminal at the time and there were not even any police complaints on file about her.

When I wrote “they promptly shipped her out”, by “they” I meant the exact same “they” as Nicole means here. But it does not confirm Nicole's claim that they don't see an abuser. (I debunked the second lie as well in that post.)

So, it’s now two years after Dassi’s poisonous book was released, and after I critiqued it (don’t think for a moment that Nicole does not know what I wrote – and she has never disputed it), and now, Nicole, not Dassi, is back up there proliferating the same lies. To this day. For the entertainment industry.

Let’s move on: They don’t see an abuser.

They don’t see who as an abuser?

Does she mean a person who confessed to being an abuser? A person who was caught in the act? A person who was convicted of abuse by virtue of hard irrefutable evidence? 

This a bold claim. What is her proof of this? How many such abusers are there?

Or, does she mean, someone who is accused of being an abuser yet denies it? Somebody on whom there are no objective witnesses and no forensic proof?

Ah-h-h. An alleged abuser. Sadly, there are plenty of those. I would contend this really covers most of them. If they are merely alleged abusers, why should the community see them as confirmed abusers?

Again, she makes no distinction. And, here is the crux of the issue. According to Nicole Sapper, and Dassi Ehrlich, and, as we shall see, Zvi Gluck, there is no such thing as an alleged abuser. Anybody accused to be an “abuser” is a full-fledged abuser. He/she has no rights and has no voice. Conversely, in their tunnel vision world, there is no such thing as an alleged victim, as well. Anyone who claims to be a victim is full-fledged victim with automatic immutable integrity. They have full immunity and cannot be challenged or questioned. 

This entire subject is driven by a universal, intrinsic presumption of guilt. Rabbi Fuerst, Dovid Lichtentstein, David J. Nyer and about 180 Rabbanim live by it. Zvi Gluck and Rabbi Daniel Coren live by it, and the Jewish and non-Jewish masses live by it. It could be that the Sapper sisters are genuine victims and, in their case, there is no presumption, but they are feeding it to the uninvolved masses and riding on its coattails for their personal aggrandizement. 

The Torah doesn’t live by it, the Rambam doesn’t live by it, the Chafetz Chaim doesn’t live by it, Rav Elyashiv, ZTL, doesn’t live by it, and…I don’t live by it.

With this in mind, let’s go on: They see a person who needs to be saved.

What does “saved” mean?

Does she mean they need to be placed in a freezer or storage unit and saved for later use? I don’t think so. Does she mean saved from a sinking ship? It’s a bit closer, but somehow, I don’t think this is what she is saying.

I checked the Thesaurus in MS Word and the first synonym for “saved” is protected. I think there is another appropriate synonym that I was shocked that it did not appear in the list in MS Thesaurus – rescued. I looked up rescued in the MS Thesaurus and the first suggested synonym was “saved”. How about that?

So, let’s go with the meanings of “protected” or “rescued” or maybe “shielded”. 

Protected from what? Rescued from what? No, not from a sinking ship.

The lead question gives away the answer. “Why did it take 15 years to bring her to justice?”

I guess she needs to be saved from justice. By the way, this does not apply only to Mrs. Leifer. This applies to all “abusers”. Evidently, it’s a “community thing”. You know, son cosa nostra. She is telling the world that the “community” maintains that all abusers should be “saved”, i.e., protected from justice.

What is justice? 

It is certain that any normal viewer (I am certainly not normal) will define justice as the wrath of the law and valid prosecution, retribution, and punishment. This is an inalienable virtue and social necessity.

Again, before we micro-analyze the truthfulness of her statement, let us macro-analyze what she is broadcasting to the average viewer.

The average viewer is hearing an indictment against the entire ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which is very unfamiliar to him or her as it is. He/she is hearing a standing member of the community saying that when there is a molester in their midst, presumably even a confirmed molester, the community believes this evil molester is somebody who needs to be saved from “justice” which is the virtuous application of the law. The "community" is against this idea.

Doesn’t this sound illogical, irrational, absurd, and downright diabolical?

It does to me, and I bet to the vast majority of typical viewers. So, firstly, this is the impression that will be made. And since most people cannot really think, it will be swallowed whole. 

But, to a critical thinker, it opens up a whole slew of questions:

• Why do they not see an abuser?

• Why do they think this is somebody who needs to be saved?

• Why are they not rational like I am or everyone else?  Don’t we all know that justice is a virtuous ideal?

• How can an entire community of people, who are supposed to be religious, moral and highly intelligent, be so immoral, corrupt, diabolical and irrational? Don’t they have any common sense?

Hence, such a thinker should come to the conclusion that something is not adding up here. What the respondent is saying doesn’t make sense. Thus, either this entire community is wacky and off the deep end, or there is something about them that is not being accurately portrayed.

This is the place where a responsible journalist gives pushback and asks the respondent: Why? You say “They don’t see an abuser, they see a person who needs to be saved” – why do they see that??

Nobody asked Nicole this fundamental question. If they did, it surely didn’t make it into the trailer. So, the question was either totally omitted (most probable), or it was asked but cut out of the trailer (highly unlikely). So, whether by omission or by deletion, the viewer is shown an unchallenged claim of an entire community being irrational and corrupt.

This confirms that it is a “Propagandist” documentary, not a factual "Journalistic" one.

Now, let us see if there is any truth to her claim.

Before we discuss the nitty-gritty about how the "community" sees things, let’s take a big step back and look at the giant lie.

Nicole was asked: “Why did it take 15 years to bring her to justice?” and her answer was: “Stigma in the community…need to be saved…”. Nicole is publicly blaming her own community for 15 years of lack of “justice”. Nobody else, it’s her community’s fault. For 15 years!

Really? Let’s do some math.

The 15 years must be the span from when the allegations first broke out in 2008 until the court verdict in April 2023. That’s 15 years. What happened over those 15 years?

Even though the allegations broke out in 2008 and Mrs. Leifer was immediately sent packing, there were no charges filed in any law enforcement agency until 2011. Until 2011, there was no quest for “justice”. Period. This has nothing to do with the “community” because Mrs. Leifer was not wanted by any law enforcement when they sent her home. These three years don’t count, so we are down to twelve.

The Australian authorities did not process the charges and request extradition until 2014. That’s another three years that have nothing to do with anybody’s community.

The extradition was approved at the end of 2020 and carried out in January 2021. From then it was all the Australian justice system until the verdict in April 2023. So this is close to another 2.5 years that are just standard procedural issues.

This basically leaves about a six-year window wherein Mrs. Leifer was fighting a halachically illegitimate extradition. It goes without saying that any human being who is faced with extradition to a faraway country will do whatever they can to scuttle it by hook or by crook. Again, this does not have much to do with anybody’s “community”.

Indeed, there are confirmed allegations that Health Minister Yaakov Litzman meddled with the process by obtaining adverse reports on Mrs. Leifer’s mental condition, and he is certainly a member of the ultra-Orthodox community. However, he only assumed the office of Health Minister in 2015. Even then, it appears that his involvement to get these adverse reports were carried out only after Mrs. Leifer was re-arrested in 2018. This puts a limit on his involvement to maybe as much as four years. That’s a lot less than 15.

So here is Nicole Leifer agreeing with the interviewer that it took 15 years to bring Mrs. Leifer to justice when the maximum was twelve. She  blames all 15 years on her community and nobody else.

Now, after the giant lie, let’s check out all the other lies and half-truths. Bear in mind that what she said about the “community” and “abusers” is in the context of Mrs. Leifer.

Nicole says “They don’t see an abuser” as if to imply that they have a genuine, bona fide, Grade A abuser in front of them but they don't see him (her). Either they are blind, or they choose to look 'the other direction'. Again, the abuser in question is Mrs. Leifer. So, let me ask: over the 15 years did Mrs. Leifer ever confess to doing anything wrong? Did the accusers present any objective evidence or witnesses to prove their accusations?

The answer to these questions is an emphatic No. Hence, they did not see an abuser. They weren’t supposed to see an abuser. They saw an alleged abuser. They saw an alleged abuser who denied abusing. Even if a confirmed abuser has no “rights” (a topic in itself), an alleged abuser has all the rights any accused person must have. This is the presumption of innocence in the eyes of the “community” and the right to avoid being unjustly persecuted (and extradited). 

Nicole does not have the integrity or courage to acknowledge this. 

This has nothing to do with “stigma”.

She continues, “They see a person who needs to be saved.” This is as if to say that they are wrongly saving people who should not be saved.

Saved from what? Why, saved from justice, of course. We all know that an abuser must not be saved from “justice”. These community people are diabolical fiends, just like the “abuser” herself, busy saving people (i.e., abusers) from justice. This is sure to create more victims, and the community loves making lots of victims.

Now, I wrote above that most viewers define “justice” as: the wrath of the law and valid prosecution, retribution, and punishment and that this is an inalienable virtue and social necessity. There is no question that Nicole Meyer is sold out to this definition.

But the community is Jewish. Not just Jewish but Torah observant. And in Torah Judaism “justice” has a different definition. The Torah’s definition of justice is compensation to one who was wronged. It is not retribution and punishment. In Torah Judaism we have a different term for those who pursue punishment and retribution. It is called “nekama” – vengeance. In fact, the primary synonym to “retribution” in the MS Word Thesaurus is “vengeance”.

In Torah Judaism, vengeance among Jews is forbidden. Nicole forgot to mention that.

And, do you know what else is forbidden (as I have cried out endless times)? 

That’s right. Extradition out from Eretz Israel. And it doesn’t matter if we are dealing with a confirmed abuser or an alleged abuser. It is always forbidden.

Nicole knows this. But somehow, it doesn’t make it into the trailer.

I will add one other thing about the “community”. The community is a community. This means that it is a network of people who are friends, neighbors, providers and clients, and relatives of each other. They don’t see an “abuser”. They see one of their own who may or may not be acting out. And community members do not just act out. Something triggers it. It may be mental illness and it may be trauma.

That’s right, I am told that most abusers were abused themselves. This means that, most of the time, they are not just abusers, they are also [ex-]victims. 

If this is the case, as it so often is, then punishment and retribution, i.e. “justice”, is not being just. It is destruction. And in my “community”, our relatives and neighbors do need to be saved, i.e., rescued or shielded, from unjustified destruction.

I have said this many times in many ways in many posts. Nicole cannot accept this. I will explain why in an upcoming post.

The last thing I need to point out is Nicole’s choice of words. “A person who needs to be saved.”

As I wrote earlier, there are more accurate terms to use – protected, rescued, shielded, maybe even spared. But the term “saved” has another connotation. 

Yoshke saves! As in to save one’s soul from h-ll and damnation. 

This conjures to us the idea of the Catholic Church and the “celibate” priests who were caught performing organized ritual pedophilia. We are talking about real pedophilia with real children and real sexual activity, not the pattycake stuff that Mrs. Leifer is accused of. And all those holy clergymen who covered up for each other to actively perpetuate this debauchery. These are holy men who need to be saved.

This is corruption in the name of religion. And Nicole is telling the non-Jewish world that it’s not just them. It’s us as well. Even though there is no actual pedophilia, there is no corrupt network, there is no ritualism, there is no cronyism, there is no coverup; even though the Malka Leifer case is driven by mental illness or trauma and not by lust and Satanic worship, the viewer will not see any of these distinctions. He will say “The chosen people are just as depraved.”

Blood libel. For all the world to see.

It’s not just me that sees this way. Check out this documentary from last October 18 at 1:02:27. 

Three Sisters Expose the Darkest Secret - YouTube

Here is the transcript:

1:02:27  The actions of the school board have been compared to the way the Catholic Church has been found to transfer pedophile priests to new parishes when allegations were made against them.

All told, with her untruthful and antagonistic response, Nicole is watering two poisonous weeds: (1) The poison of presumption of guilt and (2) the suggestion that the Chareidi community, her community, is as debased and corrupt as the Catholic Church.

The sad thing is that she had the opportunity to extol our community simply by telling the truth. She could have painted a truer and more upbeat and realistic (i.e., rational) picture of our community: 

• She could first set the record straight that her quest for “justice” only extended 12 years and that there were numerous contributing factors to the delays. 

• She could have told the truth that the community “doesn’t see an abuser”, but at worst, they see an alleged abuser who may actually be innocent. And even if not, they see them as broken human beings who are friends, neighbors and relatives who may be suffering from abuse or trauma.

• She could have told the truth that we actually believe in presumption of innocence and that we need to protect the basic rights of an accused person from misplaced, vigilante “justice”. This is for the benefit of any society.

• She could have told the truth that we are a Torah observant community and the Torah does not allow any Jewish person, miscreant or not, to be extradited away from Israel.

• She could have explained that in Torah Judaism, “justice” is defined as compensation to an injured party. Punishment and retribution are not our style of “justice”. If it is done for the sake of vengeance, it is forbidden.

• She could show that our community is different and special and a cut above. We have our share of miscreants, but we are more moral and compassionate about how to deal with them. And none of this needs to come at the expense of the alleged victims.

[For good measure, she could acknowledge that she spent 12 years defying her own Torah values to obtain her false secular "justice", but this would require serious soul searching and honesty. These seem to be in low supply. Besides, it certainly doesn't fit the narrative of the inflammatory documentary.]

She could have made a quasi-Kiddush Hashem and salvage something positive from the perpetual sheker and chillul Hashem that she is generating. But she can’t do that. Instead of elevating her own community, she uses the tropes of the goyim to falsely bring them down to their level. She continues to fan the flames of sinas chinam and chillul Hashem.

Why can’t she do that?

Because it doesn’t serve her purpose. The more she humanizes the alleged abuser and the more she commends her upstanding community, the less of a victim she is. And she needs to be a life-long victim.

All this is apparent from one remark in a short trailer that, like all movie trailers, is here for shock value. It is designed to artificially sensationalize the feature and to lure the viewer. 

Just imagine what the rest of the documentary has to say.

Sinas Chinam III - Surviving Malka Leifer

 

In this series, we are discussing some past events of sinas chinam and most likely Chillul Hashem, as well, and bemoaning the fact that we can’t get them to go away. The most painful thing is that, in all three cases, the primary tool was a blanket distortion of Halacha displayed by people who claim to be the very guardians of Halacha.

The first example was the witch hunt against sincere and concerned people who question the safety and advisability of the new experimental vaccines. At the forefront of this witch hunt stands HRHG Asher Weiss, Shlita, who brought very flawed Halachic arguments to vouch for this dangerous vaccine. Details in my initial post (HERE).

The second example is the anticipated resurgence of a very irresponsible Kol Koreh which is meant to open the door to indiscriminate mesira. Sometimes these measures are called for but other times, or dare I say, most times, they are not called for, and they cause irreversible needless damage. It is driven by a distortion of the mitzvah of לא תעמוד על דם רעיך and misquoting the teshuvos of past Gedolim. This monstrosity is spearheaded by Harav Shmuel Fuerst and has the blessings of quite a few other distinguished people such as Rav Yitzchok Breitowitz, Rav Yitzchok Berkowitz, and Rav Doniel Neustadt. All the links to the halachic rebuttals can be found in my previous post (HERE).

We now arrive at the third and most serious fountain of perpetual sinas chinam that just keeps on flowing. This is the Malka Leifer episode.

For those who are not familiar with the episode, I refer you to the relevant post in my discussion of the Four Horsemen (HERE). This was Horseman number 3. This post is very comprehensive and contains a timeline of events as well as a list of all the halachic conundrums that are involved in this case. In addition, it also spells out some of the prime targets of the Sapper sisters’ sinas chinam campaign. I listed some of these targets as follows:

On the other side of the aisle, people who stood up for due process of law, for basic compassion, and for the kavod of Torah and Halacha and kedushas Eretz Yisrael, and who were basically doing their moral and civic duties, were publicly defamed and maligned. This includes Mrs. Leifer’s legal team, Rav Yitzchak Grossman, Rav Mendel Shafran, Rav Yaakov Litzman and even yours truly.

Okay, this goes back to Sept. 2022. 

The saga finally came to a conclusion in April 2023 when the Australian court convicted Mrs. Leifer on 18 out of 74 90 29 27 counts. Finally, in August of 2023, the sentence was announced. 15 years minus 5.6 years for time served with a possibility for parole after about another 6 years.

Hooray! Now we can all go home (except for Mrs. Leifer) and forget about this whole mess. The poor “victims” need to heal. If nothing else, these “victims” (i.e., accusers) can at least become civilized and stand back from all the motzi shem rah and sinas chinam they have been generating for years. It is no longer relevant.

Once again, wishful thinking. As they say, one cannot have a dialogue with these people.

As we know, Dassi Ehrlich had to come out with her devious and dishonest book in early 2024. As I described in a full series of posts, the book was built on theatrics, half-truths, hypocrisy, misrepresentation of facts, some blatant lies (e.g. that the Adass community supported Malka Leifer and that the women who heard the rumors took no action), plenty of sinas chinam and just as much chillul Hashem. 

The question persists: Was the book really done for altruistic reasons, i.e., to help fight against child sexual abuse, or was it done primarily for the fame and fortune that the girls crave for? 

I analyzed this question in my post about Winners and Losers. My conclusions were that the book is really more about mental illness and personality disorders than it is about sexual abuse. As such, it is not very likely to have much impact on the subject. Its main accomplishment is to lionize Dassi Ehrlich and to demonize the Adass community and her critics. 

For us observant Jews, this is nothing to celebrate.

Sadly, I cannot expect better from Dassi Ehrlich or Ellie Sapper. They both abandoned Judaism. As such, where there is no yiras shamayim, there are no boundaries. As for Nicole Meyer who pretends to be observant, I can try to be dan l’kaf zechus that she was merely an [un]willing accomplice to the book. The general impression I get is that Dassi was the main ringleader to this entire debacle and the other two sisters were beguiled by her vengeful energy.

But, okay, Dassi was working on this book for quite a long time, so she had to see it through to the end. It’s hard to shelve a project even if it’s damaging. But now, once she got it out of her system, do we need even more of this sinas chinam and chillul Hashem?

I guess we do.

As in many works of fiction, it seems like someone bought the movie rights and turned the book into a motion picture. That “someone” is Stan Streaming. This is an Australian online streaming service for movies, online TV, sport events and documentaries. This is the same assortment of garbage from all ratings levels that you get on modern airplane monitors. 

Stan is apparently the fourth biggest such trash provider in Australia. It is a subscription-based service like Netflix. Unlike many of these, it does not even offer a 7-day free trial period. 

To somebody like me, this would not make a difference. Stan streaming is geo-blocked. This means that you can only see their content if you actually live in Australia. It won’t work anywhere else, unless one uses the common VPN trick to access an Australian server. My Rimon filter does not allow VPNs. 

Stan uses a common title opener for their string of documentaries which is “Revealed”. Hence, in October 2025, they released a “documentary” about the Malka Leifer affair named, “Revealed: Surviving Malka Leifer.” It is only available on Stan. Hence, it is only available in Australia. I cannot get to it even if I was foolish enough to pay for a subscription. The most I can access is a 1.5-minute-long trailer clip on YouTube. You can see it HERE.

So, what does this say to us (or, what does it say to me)? 

This says that this “documentary” is not intended for the Jewish community. Certainly not the world-wide Jewish community. It is not available on any public forum, nor anywhere outside of Australia, so all the rhetoric about raising awareness of sexual abuse and how victims should speak out and fight for justice is all hot air. It is not meant to reach any genuine active or potential victims, especially Jewish ones.

It is intended for the entertainment of the largely anti-semitic Australian public who are willing to pay for it. More immigrant Islamic r^pists will watch it than will law-abiding Jews. The Sapper sisters are pursuing fame and fortune, not “justice” and deterrence.

As for the trailer itself, there are three things that it tells me. One is that the documentary is going to have at least as much motzi shem rah and sinas chinam as the book. Secondly, that Nicole Meyer, the “observant” one, is a key player in this venture. I can’t be dan l’kaf zechus anymore. The third, I will mention in a few more paragraphs.

I assume that this documentary is a lot like the book and there is not a whole lot new that I would learn from it. I still want to see it. Why?  

I want to check out if this is a “journalistic” documentary or a “propagandist” documentary.

What is the difference?

A journalistic documentary is meant to convey facts without being slanted. If the subject is controversial, the documentary at least makes an attempt to get the perspective of both sides. If there are opponents and critics to an issue, the opponents are given the opportunity to make their case. Even if they don’t get “equal time” they get some time. If nothing else, there needs to be some measure of pushback against the claims of the protagonists. This is called balanced reporting. 

A propogandist documentary is blatantly one-sided. No attempt is made to contact those being maligned for any kind of balance. All the protagonists’ claims go unchallenged. It is intended to sway peoples’ opinions.

The book In Bad Faith was Dassi’s personal project. It reflects her own sentiments, so there is no reason to expect any kind of balance. But this documentary is produced by an independent producer, one Adam Kamien. It’s his second major work. The first one dealt with an isolated event that occurred 45 years earlier, so it does not have any propaganda value. Can we say the same now?

Firstly, I can say this. It is certain that the documentary has choice things to say about Mrs. Leifer, her legal counsel, Adass community members and Rabbi Litzman. It’s also a safe bet that if Mrs. Leifer, her lawyers, or Rabbi Litzman were contacted for a statement, that they would decline to respond. Still, you can never know for sure, so it deserves a try. Regardless, I know one thing for certain. In terms of uninvolved analysts of the episode, there is nobody more critical and outspoken than I am. And nobody attempted to contact me for any perspective.

The sad truth is, I don’t need to guess the answer to my question. This is the third thing that I was able to see from the 1.5-minute trailer. And it comes out of the mouth of none other than Nicole Meyer. But, since it deserves a hard look, it is too much to elaborate in this post. It will have to wait for a future post.

You may ask, how do I even know about this documentary? 

The answer is that, for this documentary which is only accessible to the non-Jews and secular folks in Australia, Nicole Meyer, the “observant” one, had to fly all the way to New York to promote it. She arranged a presentation in a popular shul in Monsey sponsored by Zvi Gluck and the Amudim organization. The name of the shul is Beis Medrash Ohr Chaim and it is presided by Rabbi Daniel Coren, Shlita.

Interestingly, Rabbi Coren is a signatory on the ill-conceived Kol Koreh that I wrote about in my previous post. In his brief contribution to the presentation about the 1:23:00 mark, he totally contradicts its message. Go figure.

Anyhow, the event took place on March 8, 2026, which is close to three months ago. The entire event was videoed and posted onto YouTube. It lasts 1 hour and 52 minutes. You can see it HERE. 

I don’t remember if I stumbled on it or if it was sent to me. Regardless, since I follow All Things Leifer, I viewed the whole thing and even took notes. The fact that it was misrepresented as some kind of a Torah-diga endeavor was appalling. It was just another one-sided firing squad of more lies, motzi shem rah, and sinas chinam. 

I plan to elaborate on this in the upcoming posts.

I explained in countless previous posts exactly why the Sapper sisters as well as any of their supporters are guilty of mesira l’mehadrin and gonev ish u’mecharo. The supporters may all be passive participants, but the Sapper sisters and some others carried out these capital offenses with their very hands, hearts, and souls. And it doesn’t matter how much the ladies were truly molested by Mrs. Leifer until 2006 (if at all). Any Jew who sincerely considers himself a shomer Torah u’mitzvos will agree with me. 

This applies to Nicole (Nechama) Sapper Meyer, no matter how holy a sheitel she wears and how tzniusdig are her clothes. She saw everything I wrote since 2016 and she always knew that it is all forbidden. She has never claimed to have asked any recognized posek whether, in her case, it is permitted to report a Jew living in Israel to Australian authorities and to actively facilitate an extradition of a Jew away from Eretz Yisrael. No recognized posek has ever sanctioned it and she has not named one. She cannot claim, “I didn’t know it’s forbidden” or “a Beis Din heard the case and ruled she should be extradited”.

As such, there is no justification to give a moser and gonev nefesh any kind of platform whatsoever in any Jewish setting. And certainly not to help proliferate all the lies, motzi shem rah, sinas chinam, chillul Hashem, and the actual blood libels that she is telling the sonei Yisrael. Anybody who does so is obviously a supporter of these horrendous capital crimes.

Regrettably, this includes Kol Koreh supporter Rabbi Daniel Coren and, even more regrettably, Amudim Director Rabbi Zvi Gluck. I sent both of them emails detailing what the problem is and what the sinas chinam is and implored them to cut it out. Nobody responded.

One cannot have a dialogue with these people.

Until this event, I thought a lot higher of Rabbi Gluck. I thought he was different than all those other, self-righteous, fanatical CSA advocates. I thought he used his head instead of his emotions. It pains me to see him prove he has fallen to the same sitra achara as the rest of them.

Those emails were not sent in confidence. I want to review them in the coming posts.

I still haven’t seen the “documentary” and don’t think I ever will. About a month ago, I sent an email to all three Sapper sisters asking them if there is any way I can actually see the documentary, preferably without having to pay for it. I was surprised that one of the ladies (not telling which one) actually responded to my inquiry. She wrote:

Are you actually joking?

My response:

Yes, I really want to see it. Preferably without having to pay for the privilege.

Why do you doubt me? I read Dassi's book cover to cover, didn't I? (I paid for that.)

What have I ever joked about (besides some well-placed wisecracks)??

I haven’t heard from any of them since.

To close this post, I want to reprint the Storyline blurb from one of the hosting sites.

[Surviving] Malka Leifer explores a harrowing abuse scandal in Melbourne. Sisters Nicole, Dassi and Elly grew up adhering to the structures of their ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Isolated from the evils of the world around them, their fate is predetermined: arranged marriage, children, homemaking. In 2008, allegations surface that the three sisters were abused by their headmistress Malka Leifer. With a public relations disaster on their hands, members of the local community allegedly help Leifer flee, with her boarding a plane to Israel with three of her eight children in the dead of night. For the sisters, the escape sets in motion a decade of anger, frustration, and determination to bring Leifer back to face her crimes. When they are finally successful, having stared down pressure from their community, political corruption and endless legal manoeuvring, the question is: at what price?

I have been asking this very question since 2016. 

In Bad Faith 5 (Epilog) – Beware of G-d

 

Note – If you are not up to date on this topic, you can see previous posts HERE. It is also helpful to see this post about the 13 principles of faith: The Amalek Within Us.

It may appear that I am overdoing it with Dassi Erlich’s distasteful dis-faithful book, In Bad Faith. So far, I invested a long post just to analyze the cover of her book and then another four posts to analyze the inside. Basically, I am done with the book (I have lost faith in it). But, as a grand finale, there is one more component that I want to analyze.

The author.

No, I am not interested in psychoanalyzing Dassi or her mental state. She does plenty of that herself in the book and I have nothing to add. Besides, this is way above my “pay grade” in terms of expertise.

I want to analyze her relationship to G-d. I have much more expertise in this field.

I have always been fascinated by irreligious Jews. How do they deal with the inherent contradiction of identifying as the nation of G-d while at the same time ignoring His commandments?

This may not be such a perplexing question regarding Jews who are openly atheistic or who are not educated and have never been religious. But those who were brought up in a religious environment were taught that there is a Creator of this world who manages the whole shooting match and makes an accounting at the end of the game. How do they see all this?

Are they truly non-believers or are they just living in denial?

I have written about this in previous posts. I think the most comprehensive one is this one (HERE). This post analyzed our 13 principles of faith and explained how people can claim to believe in G-d (or in god) and still be secular. Here is what I wrote about my dilemma:

When a Jewish person who was brought up Orthodox and educated Orthodox and was taught Torah and mitzvos stops observing Torah and mitzvos for whatever reason, he or she is saying that they don’t believe in principles 10 and 11. They won’t be rewarded and they certainly won’t be punished. Most likely, they do not believe in principles 6-9, either. They can claim that they believe in G-d and even in “justice”, but it is their definition of justice, not G-d’s. They may be “good” people with social morals, but they are not Yarei Elokim and they have no boundaries.

And there are even Jews who can be called “Orthodox”… They may even believe in principles 5-8. But somehow things change in principle 9 (there will be no other Torah). Suddenly, the Torah becomes flexible.

As such, they may rationalize:

When G-d says …Jews should not be imprisoned, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says, Jews cannot be sent out of the Land of Israel, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says that Jews are not to be handed over to non-Jews for punishment, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says not to shame people in public for things they have done in the past but are no longer doing, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says to love Him and do His mitzvos even when He takes your life or your money or gives you a rough time in life, He doesn’t really mean it.

And they will think:

This is because we have to be “just” and “moral” people and, regardless of what G-d says, this isn’t my idea of justice and morality. So I can …denounce Jews to non-Jewish police for past sins (not just for current ones) and I can see to it that they are extradited and imprisoned and shamed and destroy their families and prevent them from repairing their lives because this is “justice”.

All of this may be applicable to Nicole Meyer who, at least outwardly, has remained Orthodox. But the other two sisters have totally left Orthodoxy and, for all appearances, have left Judaism. 

What is certain is that Dassi Erlich turned her back on G-d. She left the Sukka and kicked it on the way out.

The first question is, why?

The simple answer is that Dassi thinks that G-d turned His back on Dassi first. 

Did He really?

We’ll get to this later, but it doesn’t really matter. As long as this is what Dassi thinks, then this is what her excuse is.

I will postulate that Dassi Erlich was born a good person. All Jewish people are born as good people. And, based on her narrative up to page 260, she obviously was handed a raw deal. It is not very common that people from observant Jewish families go through such a harrowing upbringing. Why did it happen to her?

With this, we arrive at the great existential question that has been asked through the ages, from Iyov, to Moshe Rabeinu to Yirmiyahu HaNavi:

Why do bad things happen to good people?

I recall that a renowned conservative “rabbi” named Harold Kushner who wrote a very well-received book titled “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”. He wrote it because one of his children was stricken with a very rare disease resulting in a very early demise (R”L) and papa “Rabbi” Kushner tried to make sense out of it all. How could a merciful G-d do such a thing?

Kushner’s very un-Orthodox conclusion was that his god is as such: “God” is benevolent but not all-powerful to prevent evil.

In other words, his god is finite. He’s good to us but no match for Satan.

What this says is that “Rabbi” Kushner is a total heretic – kofer b’ikar.

 

As I wrote in the aforementioned post, Rambam tells us the 13 principles of faith. Many non-observant Jews at least hold of the first four or six. But let’s check out principle numero uno:

אֲנִי מַאֲמִין בֶּאֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵמָה. שֶׁהַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ הוּא בּוֹרֵא וּמַנְהִיג לְכָל הַבְּרוּאִים. וְהוּא לְבַדּוֹ עָשָׂה וְעוֹשֶׂה וְיַעֲשֶׂה לְכָל הַמַּעֲשִׂים:

In plain English:

I believe with complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the Creator and Guide of all the created beings, and that He alone has made, does make, and will make/do all things (i.e., enact or cause all events).

This means that our G-d not only created all that exists, but that he is behind every single event that takes place whether it looks “G-d-like” or not. This is the Torah principle of  אין עוד מלבדו  - HKBH is in charge of everything.

There is nothing finite about our G-d. But this is not “Rabbi” Kushner’s god. He worships a different god. Kushner cannot even get past principle of faith number one on the list!

This is beyond belief!

Now, if the Conservative movement wants to be taken seriously at any level, they would have had to throw this Kushner heretic out on his head. But they didn’t. As such, I can only conclude that the entire Conservative movement does not believe in the true G-d as described by Rambam and has no chelek b’Elohei Yisrael.

So, what is the Orthodox answer to the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people”?

The answer is that there is no such thing as a “bad thing”. “Things” may look bad and be distressing, painful and even fatal (cha”v), but they are never really bad. They happen in order to help us or to test us. In all cases, it is to make us better people.

 

And what about the totally faultless young people, babies and fetuses et al, who are mercilessly stricken?

Let me tell over an allegorical story that I heard from a Rav in his drasha in shul. 

There was a very narcissistic observant man who thought he was G-d’s gift to the world. He would constantly degrade and shame other people and even hit them. Eventually, he completed his allotted Earthly time and was ushered upstairs for judgement. Since he had been devoutly observant, he had many merits for performing countless mitzvos, even with hidurim. Nevertheless, his poor midos and disdain for others made it impossible for him to be admitted to Gan Eden. 

 

Therefore, he was given the option to come back to Earth for another go and to improve his midos. It was the best deal for him but he was afraid that he may wind up being the same narcissist and will make things worse rather than better. So, he begged the Heavenly court to make him a destitute poor man begging for sustenance with nothing to be proud of. 

 

This request was granted.

 

Then he said that he is still afraid he may get into fights and hurt other people so he wants to make sure he only has one arm so he won’t be able to hurt anybody. The Heavenly court said this is too much. Sorry, Charlie, but you get two normal arms just like everybody else. Why should you be a privileged character?

 

But he insisted and pleaded to only have one arm and this turned into a big debate in the Heavenly court. Finally, HKBH stepped in and said to grant him this request as well. 

 

And so it was. This fellow was born anew to a poor family and, in his childhood, lost one of his arms. Then he had no luck in school or livelihood and he wound up sitting on street corners humbly begging for money.

And the moral of the story?

If you ever see a one-armed beggar sitting on a street corner, you should give him a shekel, but you don’t need to feel sorry for him. He may be in a better place than you are and, by taking your shekel, he may be doing you a bigger favor than you are doing for him.

Basically, this brings us to the concepts of gilgulim (reincarnation) and tikkun hanefesh. We will never know in our lifetime how our hardships are helping us and what is accomplished when people come to this world and last only a short time and depart after a bout of indescribable suffering. But there is purpose to it.

Sure, we are obligated to help people who are suffering and to daven for them. This is our tikkun. But it is not for us to question why they are suffering or even to look at their suffering as a true tragedy. There is always something gained. Usually, something very valuable.

This even applies to all those murdered in the Holocaust, no matter what age, and to those murdered, raped and kidnapped on October 7. Every “victim” was Hand chosen for this treatment and it is to their ultimate benefit – if those who are still alive take it the right direction.

So, we return to Dassi Erlich. She was born into a dysfunctional and abusive family through no choice of her own. She had no say in the matter, or did she?

I mentioned in some previous posts that I have listened to many of the lectures from Rav Alon Anava. In one of his near-death experience (NDE) lectures (I don’t recall which one), he mentioned that when a new Jewish neshama comes into the world, he or she can choose which family to be born into from a given assortment of options. In other words, a child who is brought into any family, rich or poor, healthy or ill, stable or unstable, has actually chosen that family as the best option to accomplish his or her tafkid (Earthly purpose).

I was astonished when I heard that, but I was totally blown away when I heard the exact same thing from a different non-Orthodox Jewish woman named Elizabeth Krohn who was literally struck by lightning and experienced her own NDE. She says it right here at 08:40:

[Note - the video may not display in the email version. You can access it HERE.]

She also mentions at the very end (about 20:00) that our journey to Earth in general is something we agreed to do. I have heard this concept from other sources, as well. This is that before we are born, we are shown what our mission is, what are challenges will be and we all agree to take it on. 

We really shouldn’t be influenced by NDEs (לא בשמים היא) but, if this is the case, then it means that Dassi and all her siblings actually chose this couple to be their parents. And she agreed to her ordeals including what transpired with Mrs. Leifer. She agreed to it all! Why would anybody in their right mind do this?

The obvious answer is that it is good for them. It will give them the tools to accomplish what they need to accomplish. And all the pain and suffering will serve both as a tikkun and as a test. 

Perhaps, in a previous life, Dassi was very disrespectful to her parents, so, in this life, she is intentionally placed in a family setting where she is forced to respect her parents whether she likes it or not. This would be a proper tikkun for her past transgressions. She will gain from this immensely. 

But this is the world of free choice. A test can be passed, and it can be failed. And a tikkun can be blown. Like coming there in the first place, it’s their choice.

By the way. Dassi Erlich is not the only such public figure I have come across who abandoned a religious upbringing and “kicked the sukka”. Before I ever knew of Dassi Erlich I came across Shalom Auslander.

Shalom Auslander was born to a very Orthodox family in Monsey and attended Yeshiva Spring Valley. He had an upbringing very similar to Dassi’s except that his father was the narcissistic abusive one and his mother was the codependent enabler. He found x-rated material in his parents’ room and this led him to a very natural addiction. Clearly, he was having a tough time in the sukka.

In any case, he went way off the derech. He left the sukka. And he also kicked it on the way out but in a different way. Unlike Dassi, he didn’t falsely demonize the community he came from (motzi-shem-rah). He just made fun of them (leitzanus). 

As a writer and humorist, he didn’t go quietly. He wrote all about it for everybody to see. He first wrote a book of short stories which he titled Beware of G-d (no dash in his version). I haven’t read it. He then wrote a personal memoir which he titled Foreskin’s Lament. I did read that book. (The book is definitely rated R at best, with lots of foul language, so I cannot recommend it for a Torah Jew.)

The fascinating thing is that, although he openly abandoned G-d, he cannot relinquish his belief in G-d. The fact that this world has a supreme Creator is too obvious to ignore. He is way too intelligent to think otherwise. He cannot reject at least the first four of the 13 principles. And, because of this, he is having a miserable time rejecting the other nine.

He expressed this in a very humorous but irreverent promotional video on his book from 2008. You can see it here:

[Note - the video may not display in the email version. You can access it HERE.]

At the very end of the video, he displays the following in text: “I believe in G-d…It’s been a real problem for me.”

If you cannot see the video, here is a blurb about his book from the Amazon page:

Shalom Auslander was raised with a terrified respect for G-d. Even as he grew up and was estranged from his community, his religion and its traditions, he could not find the path to a life where he didn’t struggle daily with the fear of God’s formidable wrath. Foreskin’s Lament reveals Auslander’s “painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious” youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox Jewish community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. His combination of unrelenting humor and anger renders a rich and fascinating portrait of a man grappling with his faith and family.

What is a “terrified respect for G-d”? Let me explain.

We all have a god-like reverence for our parents. When we try to characterize G-d in our minds, the natural thing is to model our Father in Heaven after our actual real-life fathers. When our fathers are loving and benevolent and are tempered in their discipline and show unconditional love and give us a stable home, good food and nice things (and maybe a generous allowance), we can appreciate them, grow close to them, and grieve when they depart us. Accordingly, it is not hard for us to imagine our Heavenly Father as an enhanced version of this. And we can have a relationship to HKBH. Ahava and Yirah.

But when the god-like model of a real-life father is a narcissistic and abusive father and a codependent mother, as was the fortune of Shalom Ausdlander, such a relationship with G-d cannot come about. When one has a draconian and terrifying perception of their parents, one will naturally develop a draconian and terrifying perception of G-d. There will be no Ahavas Hashem and ultimately there will be no Yiras Hashem.

Like Dassi, Mr. Auslander also chose his family and chose his path. 

So, where is Dassi now in terms of Emunah?

Definitely not where she could be and where she should be.

How far has she strayed?

For the moment, she isn’t sure. Here is what she told in a Haaretz interview from Feb. 4, 2024:

Having emerged from the restrictions of Adass and the abuses of her home and school, she is uncertain now of her attitude towards Judaism and the Jewish community. "I'm still working it out. It's something I fought against for a long time. I rebelled against it, then ignored it, then didn't have the space to think about.

"I see myself as secular. I have an appreciation for some parts of Judaism. I see myself as a Jewish woman. I do participate in certain religious holidays because sometimes that's when my family will come together. We'll get together for Seder, at Pesach. Occasionally my siblings and I will make a Friday night meal together. It's not something we do regularly.

"What do I believe in and what makes or doesn't make sense to me? That's something I'm still discovering."

I find this hard to believe. 

The article inquires how Dassi feels about “Judaism and the Jewish community” as if they are nothing more than ideological concepts. It’s more than this. “Judaism” is the Word of G-d and “the Jewish community” are G-d’s faithful. So the real question is “What is her attitude towards G-d?” She can’t be in the course of “discovering” her “attitude to Judaism” or the community if she is not trying to discover the essence of G-d.

ישראל ואורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא, חד הוא. 

From Dassi’s faithless (G-d forsaken) book, it is clear that she is not searching for G-d. And one who doesn’t search for G-d will never find Him. Only an explorer discovers. Dassi is not really exploring. 

Let’s take one final look at the toxic passage that Dassi wrote on page 300 of her unbelief-able book:

But no matter where I turned, I couldn’t escape the looming presence of the court or the relentless attacks from Malka Leifer’s supporters…I sought support from Shana Aaronson of Jewish Community Watch to deal with it. Shana was unwavering and helped… A court in Israel instructed that the defamatory posts be removed and at the time they were, but since then more posts have been made.

Malka Leifer’s supporters? Who are they?

I mentioned in previous posts that nobody supported Malka Leifer’s alleged actions, but we stood up for G-d’s definition of “justice”. What this means is that the “supporters” were (are?) all G-d’s messengers trying to steer these girls in the right direction. It’s not us. It’s HKBH talking. And He has lots of messengers.

So, what Dassi is really saying is that “But no matter where I turned, I couldn’t escape the looming presence of”…G-d. As Shalom Auslander quoted in his promotional video (1:40), “G-d is here, G-d is there, G-d is truly everywhere.” 

Yep, she can seek support from Shana Aaronson who can petition the court to unlawfully censor G-d’s messages to her, but if He wants to communicate to her, then “more posts will be made”. And if He doesn’t want to communicate, it’s even worse.

Technically, it’s still not too late. But I fear that the price of doing teshuva is more than she can afford. It would mean renouncing all that she worked for since 2011. It would mean deleting her Facebook page and recalling her slanderous book. And it would mean making amends to quite a few people and trying to fix a mountain of damage. Mesira and malshinus are very hard sins to atone for. Dassi was warned, but she burned her bridges behind her.

ואל יבטיחך יצרך שהשאול בית מנוס לך, שעל כרחך אתה נוצר, [ועל כרחך אתה נולד], ועל כרחך אתה חי, ועל כרחך אתה מת, ועל כרחך אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא.

I don’t envy “Rabbi” Kushner or Shalom Auslander or Dassi Erlich. They made their choices before and during their lives. 

It may be hard to believe in G-d. But it’s even harder not to.

Beware!