Has The RCBC Gone Too Far?

I just got off the phone with my sister-in-law. She ordered chicken with broccoli from Chopstix and noticed that almost all of the broccoli in the food was stalks and not heads. The dish which the family had enjoyed for many years was now almost inedible. Who wants to eat broccoli stalks? They're edible but they're not what you want in your Chinese food.
My brother called Chopstix and was told that the RCBC now requires "Bodek" broccoli. For those who don't know, "Bodek" is a brand of vegetables that claims to be insect free and is under rabbinical supervision. Chopstix is now using Bodek broccoli in their food. It's more expensive than regular fresh broccoli, so it seems they're supplementing the Bodek broccoli heads with regular broccoli stalks, which are not thought to be insect ridden.
I've heard that the RCBC is a lot stricter than local Vaads in other towns and cities (not allowing the owner to act as mashgiach, requiring a certain wage for the mashgiach, holding the keys for restaurants), and that drives prices for kosher food in Bergen County through the roof.
I've also heard of the RCBC 'extorting' money by insisting on an additional RCBC mashgiach (paid at an exorbitant rate) at events in local shuls even when an outside caterer would provide a trusted and accepted mashgiach from a respected national or regional supervising agency.
In the last few years we have lost a huge number of kosher restaurants and food stores, like Mabat, Shalom Bombay, Jerusalem of Gold, Bake N' Bagel, Petak's of Teaneck, Jerusalem Pizza, Plaza Pizza, Fish of the C's, Chan's, Grill Street, Pita and Company, Pasta Factory, Ima's, Deco Dave's, Burgers Bar, Fliegel's, Big Apple Farms, Paul's Pickles, Cafe Adam, Walla, Ariel's, Hunan Teaneck, Le Chocolat, Sabrinna's, New Wave Cafe, Hatikva, Piccanti, Room For Dessert, Dale and Thomas, Gruenbaum's, Korn's, Little Tel Aviv, Premier Grill, Bergenfield Kosher Supermarket, Teaneck Wine Cellar, Breadstix and Glatt World. That's 37 kosher establishments we've lost in the last 5 to 10 years here in Bergen County. There are probably more that I have forgotten, and I did not include non-glatt places that closed, like Sol & Sol's. Of course these were not all the fault of the RCBC. But the RCBC drives the cost of operating a kosher business in Teaneck through the roof. This turnover has got to be way more than what would naturally occur in an open market.
Back to broccoli... Of course the broccoli we buy at the supermarket evidently contains bugs and we're all sinners unless we check everything we eat with a microscope.

So is it goodbye to chicken with broccoli, and pretty soon, goodbye to many other vegetables if the RCBC has their way? Has the RCBC gone too far? Have shul Rabbis told congregants not to eat store-bought broccoli? Shouldn't we be looking for a 'kula' of which there are many instead of 'chumras' like our brethren in the black hat world? Will we be told not to drink the water like the folks in Brooklyn?

Where does it end? 

Teaneck: Blacks vs Jews

Twenty years after the Crown Heights Riots pitted Blacks against Jews in Brooklyn, I feel that Teaneck is about ripe to explode. Let me explain.
When my kids were younger, they played basketball every Sunday at the Rodda Center. It was a league made up of mostly Blacks and Jews, with a sprinkling of Hispanics, Asians and regular white kids. The teams were a mix of all the ethnicities, the coaches were a mix of parents of all ethnicities and everybody played and had fun. Like Teaneck in general, most of the kids were Black or Jewish. There just aren’t that many non-Jewish whites left in town, and there aren’t many Hispanics or Asians.
Sure, the stereotypes played out here exactly as they do in the NCAA and NBA. The black kids were shoot first, springs in their legs, highly athletic. The Jewish kids were slow, calculated and smart with the ball. That’s not a racist comment, it’s just the way it is in basketball.
A few years ago, and I don’t know the reason why, some of the Jewish parents decided this league wasn’t good enough for their kids. They pulled their kids out of the Rodda Center league and formed their own league, named in memory of a deceased township resident.
Teaneck had something that worked. The games and practices were scheduled so they would not conflict with Shabbat, and unlike the town’s two Little League Baseball organizations, Black kids and Jewish kids played together, and there were, to my knowledge, no fights or racist remarks. At least among the kids. I can’t speak for the parents.
But here, as in so many instances in this town, the Jews wanted to be separate. They chose to leave and form their own All-Jewish league.
And it’s not only the parents who separate themselves, the township is also guilty.
Recently I got a brochure for Teaneck’s after-school programs run by the Recreation Department. Looking through the pages, I noticed that any kid who attends a private or day school can’t participate in pretty much any activity offered by the town-funded department. They all begin at early afternoon times when only public school kids are able to make it.
The Recreation Department is funded by the township, with tax dollars that come from the entire town. I understand that the town has to fund the public schools with tax dollars that come from both those who use the schools and those who do not, but why is the Recreation Department catering to only one segment of the population? Why are there no after school activities offered by the Recreation Department that are available to private and day school students, i.e. starting at a later hour?
Why are these issues at the forefront today? Blame “Safe Teaneck.”
The morons who started this “Safe Teaneck” organization when they weren’t satisfied with their day school bus routes are to blame for opening a Pandora’s Box that was best left closed. They used “safety” as an excuse to get their bus stops moved closer to home. Then they moronically decided they would support the continuation of courtesy busing, which has absolutely nothing to do with their gripe, because they realized how racist they were actually being and thought they could make amends somehow. I mean “racist” in the sense that they didn’t want their kids at bus stops together with public school students (read: Black kids), not in the sense that they wanted their school bus stops to be closer to home. Of course, private school busing, which is used by over 2,000 students, is required by law and the $85,000 savings to the town was being made up for by a private grant. The courtesy busing, which is NOT required by law and truly is a waste of money, costs $265,000 and benefits fewer than 500 children. So instead of being truthful and fighting for their own cause, these morons from “Safe Teaneck” made it into a non-existent safety issue and, in my mind, caused the Blacks vs Jews issue to burst onto the scene once again.
So now, when the tax man cometh, let the Orthodox blame themselves for funding unnecessary “courtesy” busing, but let them also blame the town for having a Recreation Department that fails to provide programs for their kids.

The Big Lie of "Safe Teaneck"

I got an email today from a friend, who forwarded a request that I attend the Board of Education meeting regarding the “bussing (sic) situation.” The adult who wrote the original request, and could not spell the word “busing” correctly, is actually a teacher in one of the local Jewish day schools. Maybe we have bigger problems than “bussing.”
Some local residents have formed an organization called “Safe Teaneck” ostensibly to fight against the new bus routes because, they claim, there is a safety issue. Too many kids in one place at one time. That sounds safer to me than one or two kids on an isolated street corner.
They’ve come up with a stupid slogan, “It’s about little kids crossing big streets.” To which I must ask, where are the parents? Shouldn’t they be walking their little kids to and from the bus stop? And if they are, why are we concerned about big streets?
Let me make it clear, this is not a safety issue, it is the issue of the spoiled rotten snobby Teaneck day school parents demanding to have it better than the goyim.
I’ve read some of the comments on various blogs and websites. One poor girl has to walk almost a quarter of a mile to her bus stop (and the girl is in high school). The organization claims that there will be dozens of kids and cars on residential street corners at 6:30 in the morning. Really? Maybe some Frisch kids and the older YNJ kids have an early bus, but to blatantly lie about the situation is just plain wrong.
I say this as an observant Jew, and a day school parent.
If you are unhappy that little Johnny, I mean Yoni, will have to walk a few extra blocks (or more likely his lazy mommy will have to drive him a few extra blocks), then just say so.
If you don’t want your day school kid at a bus stop with public school kids because you fear for his or her safety, then just let your racist mouth say that.
Don’t make this into a safety issue. It isn’t.

WRONG on the Shabbat issue

A local story, that of a 7-year old Teaneck girl who was unable to compete in a gymnastics competition has gone national. The Associated Press followed up on a story that appeared locally in the Record last month.
According to the news reports, Amalya Knapp is unable to compete in gymnastics competitions on Shabbat, thereby forfeiting the events.
What the AP story (and the Record story before it) seem to gloss over, is the fact that there is no universal prohibition from competing in athletic events on Shabbat.
Case in point is Naama Shafir. Naama is the starting point guard for the University of Toledo women's basketball team. She leads her team in points, assists and 3-point shooting. She is an Orthodox Jew. And she plays on Shabbat!
She wears t-shirts under her basketball uniform for "tzniut" (modesty) reasons, she travels to game venues before Shabbat, walks to the arena, plays in the game, and remains in the venue until after Shabbat.
Naama is from the town of Hoshaya, in Israel. She qualified to play for Israel's national team but had an issue with Shabbat. The Rabbi in her hometown, Rav Chaim Bogonski, "paskened" that she was able to play on Shabbat (because it's for fun) but not practice on Shabbat (because that's work). [This is a Rabbi who lives in Israel, not one of the Teaneck Fakers who preached how important it is to live in Israel, yet remains in his comfortable Teaneck pulpit.]
The local Chabad Rabbi in Toledo, Rabbi Yossi Shemtov, helps her with meals and she travels with another player or assistant coach on Friday, so she arrives in the opponent's home city before Shabbat.
So before we take it for granted that engaging in sports on Shabbat is forbidden, we should look at the actual halacha. I don't want to hear the excuse, it's not "Shabbisdek" or it's not in the spirit of Shabbos. That's not halacha.
None of the newspaper articles I read about the Amalya Knapp situation mentioned how or who prohibited competition on Shabbat, or quoted any halachic sources to that effect. They only accepted the unsupported position of the parents that it was prohibited to play sports on Shabbat.
I'm still waiting to read the words of an actual Rabbi saying where the prohibition on sports competition on Shabbat actually comes from.
Until then, I can sympathize with Amlaya Knapp, but the blame is on her parents for just assuming she can't compete. Not on any gymnastics organization.

Teaneck in The Jerusalem Post

Teaneck, for some odd reason, is the subject of an article in The Jerusalem Post.
Seems to me that this is just another of the slew of anti-orthodox articles that appear every so often, for no reason other than to rip the orthodox. Perfect timing on the eve of Tisha B'Av.
The author talks about Teaneck's "golden days" as a liberal progressive welcoming community and then takes a sharp turn to take pot shots at the very people who moved to her so-called "welcoming" community.
Here's the article, in its entirety.

A town that touts its diversity
By MARILYN HENRY
It is neither easy (nor wise) to write about the town in which you live, especially if it is a small town; especially if it is a small town that is deeply invested in its delusions. I live in Teaneck, a New Jersey township a few miles across the Hudson from Manhattan. Lovely place with a storied history as a progressive community.
There was some happy news earlier this month when the town’s seven-member council selected its Muslim member, Mohammed Hameeduddin, as mayor. An Orthodox Jew, Adam Gussen, was selected as deputy mayor. The local county newspaper, The Record, said: “It’s stated so often that it’s almost a local cliché: Teaneck’s greatest strength is its diversity.” It is easy to get mistyeyed about a town that likes to tout its diversity. The council comprises two black women, four Jews (three of whom are Orthodox) and a Muslim.
However, diversity also means multiple, distinctive interests that may collide with each other. With nearly 40,000 residents, Teaneck is diverse, but it is not integrated.
For the Jews, who are about 40 percent of the population, it is a golden ghetto, where the main street caters to the religiously traditional Orthodox and Conservative communities. The politics, Jewish and local, are nasty.
In the May council election, an Orthodox candidate, Joseph Steinberg, lost support after he was attacked by a right-wing Jewish monthly paper that is published in the neighboring town of Englewood. Steinberg, who has a record of civic service in Teaneck, was assailed, in part, for failing to condemn Barbara Ley Toffler, a Jewish council member who is not Orthodox. Toffler had antagonized part of the observant community in February 2007 with a comment in The New York Times.
In a column called “Proudly Diverse Teaneck Is Forced to Re-examine Its Assumptions,” she was quoted as saying: “People worry that there’s a group that wants this to become an Orthodox community like some of the ones in Rockland County [New York]. This has always been an incredibly diverse community, and from my perspective, I don’t want it to become any one thing.”
Apart from how people feel about Toffler, it seems cruel and childish to penalize Steinberg over someone else’s comments three years earlier. Days before his defeat, Steinberg said in an “open letter” that because of “the smear campaign, a terrible hillul hashem [desecration of God’s name] has now spread both within and beyond the Jewish community.”
IN 1949, the US government considered Teaneck a model town, at least for American propaganda purposes. The government made a traveling photo exhibition of civic life in Teaneck, then led by town manager Paul Volcker Sr., to be used in democracy “reeducation” programs in occupied Eastern Europe and Japan. A generation later, in 1965, Teaneck was thought to be the first township in the US to voluntarily racially integrate its schools.
The Orthodox presence here began to grow some three decades ago when Rabbi Macy Gordon helped bring a small group to the town because the upper Manhattan area around Yeshiva University was not suited for young families who wanted a suburban lifestyle. What was a convivial environment for the fledgling Orthodox community was also attractive to the Muslim community, which grew with two mosques and an Islamic school in Teaneck.
Now, within Teaneck’s six square miles, there are 14 Orthodox synagogues (with more on the horizon), a new mikve and every conceivable type of kosher establishment.
It’s a very cozy place for the frum. The question is whether other residents – blacks, Muslims, Asians and Reform Jews – are comfortably at liberty to express concerns or grievances about the Jewish presence without being branded as bigots.
“BRANDING” HERE in Teaneck, which also has been called “dati-neck,” is not limited to religious and racial questions, although those are the cruelest and most sensitive.
“Politics by its very nature is divisive. People need to disagree without being disagreeable,” Hameeduddin told the local Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Standard. “If you can’t compromise, then there is no democracy.”
The new mayor has the advantage of a long-term friendship with the new deputy mayor, Gussen. They know how to talk to each other. They have been doing it for decades. They were students together at Teaneck public schools; their relationship began with sports. “That would be the first thing everybody did, ” Hameeduddin told the Standard.
The selection of Hameeduddin was a marvelous bit of symbolism that put the town and its nonpartisan council in the news. The post of Teaneck mayor is largely ceremonial, but it gives Hameeduddin quite a pulpit. Perhaps he can use this opportunity to remind us that “diversity” is a vague term that conveys nothing about the quality of civic life. We are diverse, yes, but no longer the liberal town that resisted the rampant racial segregation of the 1960s and that made Teaneck such a welcoming community for an Orthodox flock.
Hameeduddin and Gussen would not have been likely to become friends if they were young students today, instead of fathers with professional careers. Most Jewish children in Teaneck attend Jewish day schools, yeshivot or private schools. They don’t meet other children in the classrooms or on the sports fields. The Jewish community needs to determine if it wants to live exclusively in the segregated golden ghetto or if it is willing to find a realistic way to recreate the progressive town that made friends of two boys named Mohammed and Adam.

Finally, Some Fiscal Responsibility

I don't think $6.1 million was enough. The cuts should have gone way, way deeper.

But at least the council is finally doing what the electorate demands of it.

The Untouchable $2 Million

On Wednesday, the town's auditors presented their budget analysis to the council.

One part of the analysis was the cost of "Extra-Curricular Activities, Athletics and Transportation Costs."

The transportation costs were for field trips, athletics and "courtesy" busing from home to school.

The total cost of these items was just under $2 million.

The auditor estimates that 1,200 students are involved in these activities, and the costs could be offset with a "pay to play" fee. He assumes $100 per student would recoup a measly $120,000.

What he does not mention is the cost of these activities per student.

If 1,200 students are participating in these activities and it costs the town $2 million dollars, we are talking about almost $1,700 PER STUDENT. For that price we can just buy all the kids season tickets to the Yankees.

Why are we spending so much for non-educational purposes? The school budget was defeated by the voters, the board complains they are flat broke and taxes have to go way up, yet here is $2 million dollars that should be cut immediately.

Is it the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that little Johnny gets to play varsity football, provide him with uniforms, equipment, a coaching staff and free transportation to games all over the state?

I think not.

End the school sports programs. Save two million dollars.

It's time to tell the Highwaymen to hit the road.

Another Email: DON'T SPLIT THE VOTE.....3 and OUT!

DON'T SPLIT THE VOTE.....3 and OUT!

With the 9 candidate running in this week’s Municipal Election, and the way votes can get spread amongst all the candidates, it’s important not to split our vote and LOSE EVERYTHING.

Lissette Parker's supporters are asking people to bullet vote for her and this will hurt Katz, Stern and Gussen, and they could lose.

Katz, Stern and Gussen have shown that they support the Public Schools and they understand the pain of the residents and taxpayers and refuse to rubber stamp this or any budget. They have chosen to work with the different interest groups, the concerned Board of Education parents, and both private and public school parents and students to carefully analyze this school budget for waste and better efficiencies and we support them because they are the only candidates that support the audit requested by the Board of Education PTO last year.

This is not a reflection on any other candidate, just noting the experience, leadership and positive work that Katz, Stern and Gussen have done.
We need Katz, Stern and Gussen back on the Council. Don't split your vote-- vote just for Katz, Stern, Gussen.
...please vote for 3 and out.

VOTE LINES

2 – STERN

3 – GUSSEN

8 – KATZ


Signed by:

Ronnie Apfel
Joey Bodner
Keith Breiman
Gary Hoffman
David Lerer
Zahava Reinhart
Douglas Soclof
Shimmy Tennenbaum
Deena Wrubel

The Sad Truth About Joe Steinberg

Just after I posted the email I received throwing Joe Steinberg under the bus, I opened my mailbox to find the newest issue of my personal favorite monthly magazine, The Jewish Voice And Opinion. The editors make it perfectly clear why our community is shying away from endorsing Steinberg. Since only PDF copies of the magazine are available online, I'm posting the entire text of the article here so everyone can see that Joe Steinberg is actually a disciple of the evil Barbara Toffler, who could very well be an enemy of our community.

THE JEWISH VOICE

AND OPINION

Promoting Classical Judaism

May 2010 Vol. 23 • No. 7 Iyar/Sivan 5770

Teaneck Council Elections: Four Seats Open, Nine Candidates, Four of Them Observant, One May Be Problematic

On May 11, residents of Teaneck will go to the polls to elect four members of its seven-seat Town Council. Of the nine candidates vying for the four open seats, four are members of the observant community. Three of the four have been active in Teaneck civic affairs and politics for years, building reputations of trust and respect in elect­ed positions. The fourth is a newcomer whose close ties to a controversial far-left lo­cal activist with a history of rhetoric castigating the obser­vant community and a series of ethical and other lapses, is raising eyebrows in many Teaneck circles.

The three candidates with solid reputations, not only in the Jewish community, but beyond it as well, are current Council­man and former Teaneck Mayor Elie Y Katz, current Council­man Adam Gussen, and for­mer Teaneck Deputy Mayor Yitz Stern.

Based on his behavior and the comments of some residents of Teaneck who are support­ing him, it has been suggested that the campaign and candi­dacy of Joseph Steinberg, the fourth member of the Orthodox community who is running for Council, have been supported and guided by Dr. Barbara Ley Toffler, a current Council member whose anti-observant animus, verging on outright antisemitism, was made public in the New York Times.

Dr. Toffler, whose term ex­pires in 2012, is not a candidate in this election, but a source close to the Town Council, who asked for anonymity, charged that Mr. Steinberg “is in effect Barbara Toffler’s surrogate.”

NY Times

In February 2007, Dr. Tof­fler, who refers to herself as an “ethicist’ and has boasted that she thinks of herself “as one of the most ethical people I know,” was cited by Times columnist Peter Applebome in a story about the growth of Teaneck’s observant-Jewish community.

In that article, Dr. Toffler, then a member of the Teaneck Planning Board, said, “People worry that there’s a group that wants [Teaneck] to become an Orthodox community like some of the ones in Rockland County. [Teaneck] has always been an in­credibly diverse community, and, from my perspective, I don’t want it to become any one thing.”

She has never apologized for her suggestion that obser­vant Jews were trying to take over Teaneck and turn it into “Monsey,” although she has ac­knowledged that her rhetoric has caused many residents, particu­larly in the Jewish community, to view her with suspicion.

Working Closely

Mr. Steinberg is evidently not one of them. At Town Coun­cil meetings,he and Dr. Toffler have had a close working re­lationship. Several of Dr. Tof­fler’s most ardent supporters in Teaneck—people who, for the most part, have been associated with anti-observant movements or sentiments—have endorsed Mr. Steinberg.

Dr. Toffler and the other candidates she is supporting were among those invited to Mr. Stein­berg’s campaign kick-off party. He invited other candidates, none from the observant community.

Stormy Relations

The relationship between Dr. Toffler and other members of the Council has been stormy.

In an email sent to Dr. Toffler, Mr. Katz accused Dr. Toffler of using her position on the Town Council “as a soap box to spew hate, act as an obstructionist to progress, and become the Council bully.”

Another Councilman, Mohammed Hameeduddin, a member of Teaneck’s Mus­lim community, agreed.

“I have worked with her for three years and still do not understand any legislative agenda she has except race baiting,” said Mr. Humeeduddin, accusing her of “repeatedly sending out and making disparaging remarks about me and many of our col­leagues on Council.”

Financial Advisory Board

The political relationship between Dr. Toffler and Mr. Steinberg reportedly developed while both served on Teaneck’s Financial Advisory Board. Dr. Toffler was the Council’s liaison to the advisory board; Mr. Stein­berg was appointed to the board and served as its chairman.

According to the source close to the Council, “not a single de­liverable or actionable item has been achieved on the Financial Advisory Board since Toffler became Council liaison and Steinberg became chair.”

“Under Toffler and Stein­berg, the Financial Advisory Board has been a total failure.

Not a single recommendation for the 2010 budget was submitted nor has it deliv­ered to the Council any of the compara­tive budget analysis it was tasked to do,” said the source, adding that this lack of accomplishment by Dr. Toffler and Mr. Steinberg “shows a failure in leadership, results, and competence, and has been a wasted opportunity to save money in these tough economic times.”

Ethical Lapses

But, said the source, Dr. Toffler’s problems on the Council have not been limited to issues of competency.

“There are ethical problems, too,” said the source, noting that Dr. Toffler has dubbed herself an “ethicist.”

The source recalled that Dr. Toffler had personally chosen the website vendor respon­sible for Teaneck’s site. After the town man­ager and attorney notified the Council that the vendor had violated the terms of his contract, Dr. Toffler publicly admitted meeting with the vendor in her home, said the source.

“A few weeks later, after the Coun­cil voted to terminate the agreement with the website vendor, Toffler insisted on using taxpayer money to pay the en­tire amount of the contract, even though many of the items were not completed,” said the source.

“Toffler’s Pawn?”

The source claimed there were other examples of her engaging in questionable ethical behavior as well.

“Like her back room meetings with vendors, she has involved herself in ques­tionable ethical practices that could open the town to litigation,” said the source.

Calling Mr. Steinberg “Toffler’s pawn,” the source said she had taken him “under her wings.”

“Is this the leadership we can expect with Toffler’s pawn on the Council? One Toffler is more than enough. Can Teaneck survive two?” the source said.

No Comment

Asked if he would, at the very least, denounce Dr. Toffler’s anti-observant statement, Mr. Steinberg had no comment. The other three observant candidates, as well as well as scores of others, Jews and non-Jews, residents and non-residents of Teaneck, have clearly—and publicly— denounced her rhetoric.

Mr. Steinberg also had no comment when asked if he would be similarly “ea­ger” to work with a person who had made anti-African-American or anti-gay state­ments that mirrored Dr. Toffler’s anti-observant quote.

“Would Steinberg work—or have any­thing to do—with a member of the Teaneck Council who said that she feared African- Americans could turn Teaneck into ‘Harlem’ or that gay Americans could turn Teaneck into ‘Greenwich Village?’ Would he accept the endorsements of her strongest support­ers? But when this Councilwoman tells the New York Times she fears Orthodox Jews could turn Teaneck into ‘Monsey,’ that’s okay with him?” said the source.

Repaying Kindness

After Mr. Applebome’s article appeared, even Dr. Toffler recognized that she might face political consequences. Fearing that her quote might prompt members of Council to consider her unfit to be reappointed to the Teaneck Planning Board, she reached out to Mr. Stern, one of the observant com­munity’s most respected leaders, and asked for his advice on how she might regain the trust of the people she had offended by the Times article.

Despite warnings from community members familiar with Dr. Toffler that dealing with her could prove disadvan­tageous, Mr. Stern responded to her re­quest, sending her an email with what he considered thoughtful and well-reasoned advice. He suggested she first apologize for her quote in the Applebome article and then educate herself on issues the observant-community considers im­portant, such as bringing ratables to the community-at-large.

His recommendations were not to Dr. Toffler’s liking, and she retaliated by read­ing his email out loud at a Teaneck Town Council meeting without explaining that it was she who initiated the conversation by asking for Mr. Stern’s advice,

“She tried to humiliate him, mak­ing it seem as though he had sent her his advice on his own initiative, out of the blue,” said the source.

Ethicist?

When asked about the incident, Dr. Tof­fler defended herself, explaining that emails are not “private” and that, in her opinion, she had committed no ethical breach.

The source close to the Town Council agreed that Mr. Stern probably could not have won a legal case against Dr. Toffler, but the source had no doubt that she had committed a moral violation.

“Especially for someone who calls herself ‘the ethicist,’” said the source, making clear that “fair people in Tean­eck can endorse Katz, Gussen, and Stern, but not Steinberg,” because of the latter’s connection to Dr. Toffler.

“A vote for Steinberg could be a very dangerous choice for the Teaneck-Jewish community. As they say, ‘you are judged by the company you keep,’” said the source.

Teaneck Elections: Throwing Steinberg Under The Bus

Below is the complete text of an email we received from "votechange07666@gmail.com"

I think the reason they decided to throw Steinberg under the bus is because he is a public school parent, so his best interests are not the same as our best interests. Just a guess. Or maybe somebody on the current council wants to keep Parker on board because he owes her something. I know they don't want a repeat of the Hamedudin fiasco. Remember, they endorsed him together with Rudolph and got burned when Rudolph lost and Hamedudin got in. Pure speculation on my part, but it looks like they're playing it safe this time.

Dear Voters :

We write to urge you to vote in the town council elections for the three candidates who supported the audit of the proposed BOE budget and it's (sic) outrageous 10.2% tax increase, Yitz Stern, Adam Gussen and Elie Katz. They are the only 3 candidates running who by supporting the audit show a real concern for trimming the waste in the current BOE system. It is extremely important that you go out and vote for these three candidates and only these three candidates.

Many of you have asked us about Joseph Steinberg. While Mr. Steinberg talks about fiscal responsibility his actions lead to a different conclusion. Specifically, he made clear his rejection of the audit of the BOE budget, while offering no viable alternative for the town council who had to gather a better understanding of the situation in the limited time offered by law. Furthermore, we question Mr. Steinberg’s judgment in suggesting that the BOE president, under whose leadership the (rejected) budget was promulgated, would now become a ready and willing partner to work collaboratively with the town council in developing acceptable areas to cut.

DON'T SPLIT THE VOTE..... VOTE for 3 and OUT!

Other candidates are asking people to “bullet vote”. This will hurt Stern, Gussen & Katz, and they could lose.

Don't split your vote --- vote just for Stern, Gussen and Katz (Lines 2, 3, and 8).

Henry Pruitt - Anti-Semite or Senile Old Man?

These words come straight from Henry Pruitt, as quoted in The Bergen Record:

Pruitt said voters should be wary of the challengers’ agenda.

"When you run for the board, the motivation you should have is that you’re concerned about improving instruction and making Teaneck a better school district for all of the kids," he said. "If the school district isn’t serving your kids, what’s your motivation?

"It seems ominous to me that someone would be willing to put in 50 hours a year in terms of meetings to look after someone else’s kids."

So let's get it straight: According to this jerk, the taxpayers who fund the schools who do not have children enrolled in the schools (that means the Jews), are entitled to neither representation on the board, nor a say in how their tax dollars are spent.

Pruitt, by the way, does not have any children in the Teaneck Public Schools; they have all graduated. If Pruitt would practice what he preaches, he would not be running for reelection. I guess the above statement by Pruitt only refers to Jews. He can run despite having no children in the Teaneck public schools... but the Jews can't. So, Pruitt is either an Anti-Semite who wants to keep the Jews out or a senile old man who has forgotten that he has no children in the public schools.

Pruitt has served two terms. Things have only gotten worse. Why on earth should this old man be reelected? Pruitt has made this into a Black vs Jew issue. Shame on him.

It's A Racial Problem

Finally, an incumbent on Teaneck's Board of Education has made it clear as to why our budget must increase. According to a post on the Teaneck Progress blog by David Duiguid: We as a district made a commitment 5 years ago to raise student achievement levels to those of surrounding districts in Bergen County, and in the process to attempt to eliminate the achievement gap between whites and minorities.

There it is. In a nutshell, Dr. Duiguid admits that our budget is increasing because he feels the need to close a so-called "achievement gap" between whites and "minorities."

So Dr. Duiguid admits he is a racist. His concern is not for all the students, but specifically for a single group of students, specifically Blacks and Hispanics.

While comments on other blogs indicate the upcoming elections are an orthodox versus everybody else issue, the true facts are that this is a "minority" versus everybody else issue.

It seems that the good doctor is convinced that throwing money at a perceived problem will solve it. This despite most studies on the "achievement gap" place the blame squarely on the parents (America's Next Achievement Test: Closing the Black-White Test Score Gap Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips) and on peer pressure to do poorly so as not to be viewed as being "too white." (Black Students' School Success: Coping with the "Burden of 'Acting White'" Signithia Fordham and John U. Ogbu).

How can an illegal alien, non-English speaking Central American parent help his anchor child with English homework? (Immigration, Family Life, and Achievement Motivation Among Latino Adolescents Carola Suarez-Orozco and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco)

How can a black father help his kid with schoolwork when 65% of black children live in a home without a father? (national figure from the Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70-114.pdf)

Imagine if one of the orthodox candidates said that the entire town would be responsible for spending money on schools because some orthodox children were not scoring as well on tests as were others in the school system. The outcry from the "rest" of the town would be deafening.

So now, we are all asked to share the burden because many black fathers abandon their families and illegal aliens and anchor babies, who are given a free ride in our schools, have no schoolwork help at home.

Sorry, but while providing an acceptable education to public school children may be my civic duty, whether or not I like it, I feel no need to make up for the shortcomings of others.

Parade Or Disruption?

In its wisdom, the township has decided to disenfranchise a large part of the community by insisting on holding the Independence Day Parade on the morning of July 4th, when a substantial number of residents will be attending synagogue services.
What's worse is that the parade route will pass three synagogues on its route. The synagogues, in an effort not to seem unpatriotic, have acquiesced to the parade passing their buildings during services. Had the synagogues complained, they would have been lambasted by those from "the other half" of the community. So they did the only thing they could possibly do and agreed under duress.
At a council meeting back on March 17th, Mayor Feit and Barbara Toffler suggested moving the parade to Friday whenever the 4th falls out on Saturday and to Monday whenever the 4th falls out on Sunday. This idea was shot down.
Seems that the last time July 4th was on Saturday, there was only one shul on the route (two have since been built) and the parade detoured to Palisade Avenue to bypass the shul. Another time, the route was reversed.
Now, the organizers want to enforce a "quiet zone" around the synagogues. Good luck with that. Even the mayor feels that is an impossible endeavor.
So what can be done?
Suggestion 1: Change the parade's date (It's not unpatriotic; Englewood moved their fireworks and music show to Thursday night).
OR Suggestion 2: Hold the parade in the afternoon when the synagogue services have concluded.
OR Suggestion 3: Change the route so it doesn't pass (and disturb) three synagogues that will be in middle of services at the time of the parade.
By the way, does anybody else see the irony in holding a United States Independence Day parade on a street named for a lady who was Queen of England in the 1700s, when the colonies were still ruled by the British?

Here Comes The Sun, There Goes Our Money

Here's Teaneck's latest dumb idea. The township will install solar panels atop the Rodda Center and Fire Station 3 this fall in an effort to save energy costs and promote conservation.

The town will spend $615,000 to save $9,200 a year. In just 69 years, they'll recoup the investment. What a great idea!

Teaneck can get back its investment faster by selling Solar Renewable Energy Certificates to state public utilities. The town estimates about $30,000 a year in income, but based on the state's data the price of these certificates varies greatly and fluctuates monthly. Last month, some went for as low as $170, which would reduce Teaneck's annual income to less than $13,000 a year.

Even if we use Teaneck's figure of $39,200 in annual income and savings, it would still take about 16 years to get back the initial investment. And that's not counting any annual maintenance or replacement costs.

I've tried to determine the life span of these solar panels, but the best I could find was a very general 15 to 25 years.

Some may argue that about half the money will come from a state grant or federal stimulus funds. So what? That's still taxpayer money and it's still a waste!

Mexican Flu Hits Home

Just received word that Yeshivat Noam, an orthodox day school in Paramus, is closed through next Monday due to a flu outbreak. According to my friend's kids, there were many absences today. The principal sent a recorded phone message to all of the parents this morning telling them to keep their kids home if the kids exhibited any flulike symptoms. Another message this evening told parents that school was closing through Monday. (School was already scheduled to be closed Friday for the holiday).

In keeping with Israeli Ministry of Health edicts, the illness is to be refered to as "Mexican Flu" and not "Swine Flu." No word on whether the confirmed flu case at Noam is the H1N1 variety.

With the Shavuot holiday coming up later this week, I ask, do men shake other men's hands in wishing them "Chag Sameach" or "Gut Yomtov" or saying "Yasher Koach" after an aliyah or kibud? Do we supervise the kiddush more closely to discourage those Brooklyn slobs who always stick their hands in the food serving plate instead of using a fork? Do we kiss the Torah? Do we eat the piece of challah that our host cuts and hands to us at the Yom Tov table?

Stay healthy everyone!

Money To Burn

A 62 million dollar budget. No layoffs. The maximum allowed increase in the tax levy. A 2.4 million dollar tax hike. Half a million more in spending. "Modest" raises for several years.

The rest of the world is in a recession. People are losing jobs or taking pay cuts and losing benefits. But not in Teaneck. We're going to keep the bloated bureaucracy just as bloated as it ever was.

The proposed layoffs are out the window. Our spendthrift mayor is willing to hand out raises to Teaneck's employees. What do the employees have to sacrifice? Maybe rolling back larger raises to take smaller ones. No givebacks, no productivity increases, nothing!

Looks like Feit fiddles while Teaneck burns. Who ever thought I'd agree with Monica on this one?

And now that William Broughton is officially the township manager, I'd think he'd be taking over the negotiations with the unions. Not so. We're going to keep Interim Manager Greg Fehrenbach on the payroll. Why? Because it would be "challenging" for Broughton to take over midstream. If Broughton can't even handle the job from Day One, imagine what kind of trouble Teaneck is going to be in on Day One Hundred.

Democracy Defeated

The voters went to the polls and defeated the school budget proposal. 

The town council decided to take the recommended 4% increase and decrease it to 3%, defeating the will of the majority of Teaneck's voters.

We'll keep on paying six figure salaries to gym teachers and to administrators who haven't seen the inside of a classroom since they removed the inkwells from the student's desks.

The town approves a "worst case scenario" layoff plan to deal with a $650,000 deficit, yet claims to be trying to avoid any layoffs.

Our interim town manager says he wants to avoid layoffs and limit salary increases.

In a world where people are losing jobs or taking pay cuts, we want to give out raises to township employees, but "limit" the amount.

This is fiscal irresponsibility. How about asking for pay CUTS instead of limiting the amount of RAISES!

Our firemen claim to only want 3% raises annualy beginning next year. How about we counteroffer a 3% annual pay cut (after we eliminate 28 men).

This town is not democracy in action, it is democracy inaction.

According to 2008 figures on the Asbury Park Press' website, Teaneck had 174 employees making six figure salaries, with 98 of those coming from the board of education. (The records include employees enrolled in various pension systems. These are base salaries and do not include overtime, bonuses or benefits).

If the town feels it can make do with fewer employees, the cuts should be made whether or not there is a budget deficit. Just because we can somehow get the money from the backs of the township's residents, doesn't mean we have to spend it all on grossly exorbitant salaries and unheard of benefits for extraneous township employees.

Giving Back In A Big Way

You may never have heard of Kasib Powell. He's a Teaneck High School graduate. He played basketball here, then went on to play college basketball at a community college in Kansas before landing at Texas Tech for his junior and senior seasons. 

He wasn't drafted after college, and has played mostly in basketball's minor leagues and overseas over the last few years. He spent this past season playing in China and Sioux Falls, SD. He was called up to the NBA's Miami Heat at the end of the 2007-08 season, where he appeared in eleven big league games.

He's never given up hope of getting another "break" and another shot at the NBA. He's played in NBA Summer Leagues and his decision to toil in the "D-League" instead of chasing more money in Europe speaks to his desire to achieve the NBA dream.

He's no millionaire. His NBA salary over the course of his short stint is estimated at only $36,000. And there's not a lot to be made in basketball's "D-League" where Powell is one of the league's top all-time scorers.

But Powell is giving back to Teaneck in a great way. He has started the K.P. Youth Foundation.

His foundation is offering a summer SAT prep course free of charge to Teaneck residents in grades 11 and 12.

For info, visit kasibpowell.com or email kasibpowell1@yahoo.com

Teaneck at its finest.

Teaneck's Firefighter Fiasco

Those overpaid Teaneck firemen are too much.
At last night's council meeting, moved to the library to allow more people to attend, the firemen stacked the crowd in their favor by forcing "certain" people to leave the room because there was a "fire hazard." Interesting to have seen which folks the firemen chose to force to leave. Most were very likely people who did not see things the way the firemen did.

The firemen keep harping on their proposal to change overtime to days off and "consider" forgoing raises this year.

That, of course, means Teaneck will face the same situation next year. Their plan just pushes off the problem for another year. 

Layoffs mean we don't have to deal with this again next year.

Mayor Feit is a long time volunteer on the Teaneck Ambulance Corps, a volunteer organization (where he may or may not have sexually abused a teenage volunteer).

My question remains: why do we have paid firemen at all? Seems that most other towns in our area make do with volunteers.

From an earlier post, here are some stats regarding local fire departments:
Teaneck: 98 paid firemen, 0 volunteer firemen
Bergenfield: 6 paid firemen, 72 volunteer firemen
New Milford: 0 paid firemen, 48 volunteer firemen
Bogota: 0 paid firemen, 84 volunteer firemen
WHY ARE WE PAYING FOR A FIRE DEPARTMENT? 
And I still haven't gotten over the FACT that Teaneck's "bravest" caused the death of the Seidenfeld children a few years back.
Save Teaneck lots of money, fire the firemen!

The Rising Cost of Day School Tuition

I voted in the BofE elections today. I had to wake up the poll workers, the place was so empty.

Anyways, this hit my inbox today, so I'll share it with the rest of you.

Subject: Seeking a Sustainable, Affordable Day School Model

Friends - We all know the rising cost of Day School tuition has been an issue for quite some time. And now, the current financial crisis is shining a spotlight on the topic. While many day school and community leaders across the country know this is an issue, let's use this petition to quantify and demonstrate just how big of an issue it is. Please click on the link below to sign your name and forward to your friends. http://www.petitiononline.com/alephbet/petition.html Then, let's work together to find a long-term, affordable model to provide our kids with an excellent Jewish and Secular education.