Sunday, May 03, 2015

Update: Aleph Institute- Where do your donations go to?

Correction: Aleph Institute will be providing cheese cake for shavous at the prison commissary. The charge is $2.50 a slice "all the money goes to the Aleph institute". 
Looking for a donor for the cheese cake. 
8 inmates at @2.50 a slice= $20.00 


In Aleph Institute Mission Statement they only claim to provide spiritual but no physical needs such as food, etc. For those item one must go the Catholic or Muslim Chaplains.

So what in the world does Aleph Institute need donations?
They only need some minimum contributions at most.


Clarification: The Prison system tries very hard to accommodate their needs. The issue is the Aleph Institute, they don't realize that prisoners are to be treated as human beings. (hat-tip to Aleph chaplains, if there are any?)


 What does the 501 (c) 3 Aleph Institute do for the prisoners?
Ah! Aleph Institute's mantra is "kim'aht"!

Hot water for shabbos? NO!
A warm meal for Shabbos? NO!
Lechem Mishnah for Shabbos? NO!
Any other accommodations? NO!

OH! they put them on tefillin, and daled-minim. (during the week) 


Your donations are going to whose pocket?
Rabbi in charge may have the answers.
RABBI MENACHEM M. KATZ
Director of Prison & Military Outreach
Address:
9540 Collins Avenue
Surfside
Florida
33154-7127
United States

E-mail:mmk@aleph-institute.org
Telephone:(305) 864-5553 ext. 14
Fax:(305) 864-5675
http://www.aleph-institute.org



67 comments:

Ma Rabbi said...

This is simply not true.
Aleph rabbis have brought Kosher meals to Jewish prisoners many times whenever they are allowed to do so.
I should know having worked as a jewish Chaplain in a prison for 12 years.

Anonymous said...

I should know better. Your knowledge is history, mine is current events.

Aleph does nothing, don't donate a penny to them.

Anonymous said...

i think i heard they are a lubavitch
group

Anonymous said...

Aleph is more worried about advancing there political clout then actually supporting Jewish prisoners. they seem to want to save there brownie points for a inmates that they care about for what ever reason be it financial or optical positive. i would not mind supporting them if they used there resources for good now they just seemed to be a bunch of burnt out politicians Aleph needs new blood new rabbis and chaplains to take over Rabbonim and schluchim who care and our willing to fight for Jewish inmates across the country at all costs. i am calling for a change in the guard.

Ma Rabbi said...

Reply to "your knowledge is history mine is current."
1 Do you work in a prison?
2 Have you ever even been inside a prison?
3 Since aleph has chaplains all over the country, how can you possibly know what they are doing?
Please answer or apologize to Aleph for Motzei Shem Rah.

Anonymous said...

As an Orthodox military Chaplain, not associated with chabad, I see the work that they do in prisons and in the military.

Prisons have access to Kosher Food. Aleph makes sure that the food gets to the prisioner, in a few hours, not weeks or months. You pay the $ to Aleph for that access, access to Jewish books, etc. Who pays the prison chaplain to do there things? Obama?

There are many resources available to military chaplains, all free. Who pays for the Pesach Food kits? Who will pay for the cheesecake that they will send out, free, to any Jewish soldier that requests it (for Shavuot)? Or the siddurim?

You want to blast Chabad - do it in the areas where they stink - like coming to Jewish neighborhoods and setting up Chabad houses (then take over the weakest shul, like in Plainview and Roslyn and many more communities.
Like their shoddy Kashrus standards.
Like their promising Olam Haba to get property from irreligious Jews.
Like their mortgaging off property, then going into foreclosure, then suing the bank for antisemitism (like the mountain retreat in California). There were 2 kevers on that property that were dis-interred.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi L said,

They do a lot but only when powerful and/or wealthy people are involved, they should start to feel in the pain of ALL their brothers in prison, isnt that why they are here, raising money and receiving donations from all of their brothers?

Anonymous said...

The pesach food is sold by Alef to the prison commissary. That means Alef is NOT donating it as they'd make us believe. The prisioners use their limited commissary money to buy the pesach food. Come to your own conclusions.

Anonymous said...

The Muslim chaplains are more attentive to the needs of religious prisoners.

When in doubt? "follow the money trail"!

I'm getting an education.

Anonymous said...

Aleph shows how good they do by putting the easyer newyork prisons in the spotlight where getting the prisoners there basics is not that difficult. But once you leave the northeast they are not holding up to there end and not doing all they can. We support them blindly but when it comes down to it and your in a situation where you god forbid require there services you have to fight for the basics unfortunately, in a lot if situations they are they key into the prison system and to go around them is near impossible. I'm am not going to say they are fraudulent or are misusing funds they do alot of good work but they are lacking seriously in certain areas and they should step it up.

Anonymous said...

My brother was incarcerated in Miami. We tried Aleph Inst.over and over. After 3 days with no kosher food we begged the judge to allow him to eat a sandwich I brought to court from home. He ate it like a famished man. No. No kosher food came within hours. And not days either.

Anonymous said...

Aleph Institute, Remember Fisher Island, when you protected a rich shmaltz herring even though we all knew that what he did was a fraud- but money is furt money. Aleph is driven by money, gelt, kessef, dinero, shekalim, and politics. Make sure you got one of those and they'll listen.

Anonymous said...

Otissville has all accomodations without having to go to the Imam.

Otissville only fights over shilishi and shishi.

Otisville couldn't figure out who stole the afikoimon.

Anonymous said...

"Otisville only fights over shilishi and shishi"

That should be interesting to see how the gabboyim of the prison shul, Sholom Rubashkin & Leib Pinter, handle disputes between their fellow kuved zuchers.

Do they let Rubashkin say in Nusach HaAri "Shabbos hee milizok" even on Yomtov?

Anonymous said...

What about Zukes and da Rrrrussians?

Aleph of ponzi schemes said...

Aleph has been working to keep Chabad & heimish criminals out of jail period and even when they should be in jail altz tikkun oylam since jail is the one place they can't be mazik.

They did it for a Rubashkin associate who went on an armed robbery spree, paralyzing a store cashier for life with a bullet to the spine.

Take a look at what Aleph did for Weinstein and what kind of shmutzik arrangements they had with Weinstein before he was arrested.

http://wolfblitzzer0.blogspot.com/2014/09/new-jerseyte-kuiti-new-zealand.html

Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar's testimoney on behalf of haredi mega-thief Eliyahu Weinstein is shocking. Weinstein stole hundreds of millions of dollars and destroyed many of his victims. Yet the head of Chabad's Aleph institute argued that Weinstein should get a very shortened sentence of 5 years of house arrest only – no prison – followed by probation to (in part) spare his children from harm. Of course, following that logic, no parent would ever be imprisoned. The judge essentially noted that when he sentenced Weinstein later that day to 22-years in prison.

Anonymous said...

How many official chaplains does Aleph have over all the country? Can we have their names listed?

Protekzia said...

"Rubashkin associate who went on an armed robbery spree"

He was slipped by 770 into shlichus in the Carolinas but they were forced to expel him after he was arrested for maysim menuvolim against his Mexican cleaning lady.

He was then put in charge of one of the Chabad websites.

His accomplice in the armed robbery did go to jail and for a very long time. Aleph & 770 did nothing for him because he is only a dark skinned ger kotton who was adopted by a Lubavitcher couple.

Anonymous said...

are all lubavitch organizations running wild? Miami has issue as well with JCW formally Crown Heights Jewish Watch. They have abused kids accusing all kinds of people of molestation without any real backer taking the lead? Seems the majority of their community does what they please. Shame their leader died and left no leadership for a lost people

Anonymous said...

The person at 12:15 pm trying to smear JCW must be one of the molesters they exposed.

JCW is a choshuva moysad that has a board of rabbonim including non-Lubavitcher. They have prevented several menuvolim from further victimizing children.

Obama said...

"he is only a dark skinned ger kotton"

Black lives matter!

Now please zog mich where this poor individual is incarcerated so I can direct the Baltimore rioters there.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a molester, my brother was abused. I looked into Crown Heights Community Watch and was told by my Rav to stay away a few years ago. Seems he knew what he was talking about because he spoke to the Ravs and Doctors on their site and all said the same thing, the one who runs it is out of their control and they just support the JCW in theory.they have no idea of the day to day dealings and they did not have answers to his questions. He said another group is opening in the Torah Community under Torah leadership to deal with these legitimate issues properly with daas Torah. Yudel maybe you should open a separate blog on them and not tance at two chassunos at one time. And maybe we can get information on the new organization?

Anonymous said...

אומרים ש אלף הם מוסרים וצריכין להשמר מהם.. לא רק שם אלא בכל העולם ואמרים לכולנו"כמעט"..

Anonymous said...

"he spoke to the Ravs and Doctors on their site and all said the same thing, the one who runs it is out of their control and they just support the JCW in theory."

You rank at zero credibility. No one knows of any rabbi who is stupid enough to say that they give their signature for a reckless person who they sort of support "in theory". Scratch your head really hard and come up with a more believable lie.

For the record, Dayan Tauber in Los Angeles was asked in a taped interview why he is supporting the modern looking kid running JCW. He said that JCW is behaving itself and that for all the big talkers who complain, no one else has stepped up to the plate to protect victims altz lo saamod al dam rayecha like JCW has.

Anonymous said...

Look at Taubers reputation it stinks, this is about Alef anyhoo, all belong in the same bucket money and kavod seekers

Anonymous said...

How can we reach the catholic or Muslim chaplains, there are a minyan of kosher inmates who have not been given a fresh vegetable in years. Who can help with this issue as well as several problems with shabbos food. Please let us know where to turn for help. Thank you

Anonymous said...

This is a very sad site. We always had respect for all Chabad Organizations. It's a shame for us to now think otherwise.

Anonymous said...

I heard from reliable sources that Aleph raised a million dollars in 2014. I would like to know what was that money spent on? besides putting tefillin on some inmates and sending some boys with a motor home to read the Torah on Yom Tov? Cant they find any of those funds to provide the inmates with hot water for shabbos? some real food and vegetables? which the other inmates get? some Challah for lechem mishnah on shabbos which they broadcast on their website? Is it possible that they are so short on funds that they are forced to sell the comissary the cheesecake for shavous and the pesach food, forcing the inmates to purchase it? What happens when an Jewish inmate doesn't have the money for these items? Does their million dollars kick in then?

Anonymous said...

this is a classic case of chabad bullying

Anonymous said...

i think the power has gotten to katz's head he choses favorites in the system who he cares for who he will go the extra mile for g-d forbid your not on his good side and are actually on his hit list you dont have a chance as a frum yid in the slammer.

Anonymous said...

the one thing we can do for yidden behind bars is get them food i hear aleph is spending more time fundraising then actually doing what they say for inmates in prison.

Anonymous said...

i hear of a story on going now i dont know if this is why yudel is posting but it seems some of aleph;s institutes competitors in another field is at there mercy and they are using and enjoying every second to make this formerly untouchable inmates life a living hell.

Anonymous said...

i hope the truth about aleph comes out now finally after so many years the community should see who they really are.

Anonymous said...

IT SEEMS ALEPH CAN ONLY RAISE MONEY FROM THE YESHIVA YUNGELIET NOT ACTUALLY HELP THEM ONCE THEY ARE IN!!!!!!!!!!! LUBAVITCH THERES MORE TO SERVING THE KLAL THEN KIRUV.

Anonymous said...

I Hope for there sake that failedmessiah doesnt pick up on this or he will have a field day jewish inamtes and chabad thats somthing he cant pass up.

Anonymous said...

its funny every major tzeddakah goes threw this where in the beginning they mean well in the end when money takes over people change and there attitudes about why they do what they do change. to quote one prison chaplain " there criminals the hell with them and there needs" these types of folks have to be ousted and there positions filled with people who truly care to help.

Anonymous said...

as this story unfolds who knows what else might come out.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is that they are very friendly but only for their own interests....if your not one of them, or will not show support then they will not look at you no matter what.

JJH

Anonymous said...

LUBAVITCH and there garbage about teffillan stop the KIRUV and take care of the basics first kiruv comes second !

Anonymous said...

They are concentrating on the wrong types of help for our incarcerated brothers, simply sad they cant see that. R M NV

Anonymous said...

so sickening that they are making imates use there commissary funds which are limited to how much they can spend every month to pay for yom tov food and goodies. disgusting money hungry behavior.

Anonymous said...

Katz and Lipskar should be devoting there time to getting the laws about kosher food actully followed they should be lobbying the politicians that they are close with to get these poor yidden who are suffering everyday the proper food which they are legally to my understanding have the rights to be getting the same quality hot and cold etc food that the goyish "non-jeiwsh" inmates get.

Anonymous said...

Brothers from Baku

I'm glad someone stepped up and said something, i love chabad but they have to start doing what they say they do and what they officially stand for.

Anonymous said...

i think if the rebbe was around he would not be happy at all then again now that he's not here we have a bunch of fatherless children running wild..........

Pinny Ponzi said...

"Take a look at what Aleph did for Weinstein"

Because Weinstein paid a lot of "commissions" to an Aleph rebbitzen, Aleph pulled strings to have Weinstein moved out of "Supermax" prison against the wishes of the Justice Dept and the trial judge. They pulled a fast one when they found out the judge was niftar.

Anonymous said...

i think??? at this point "I THINK" we all know.

i DON'T think all lubavitchers are bad but the guys at the top are money hungry-look at their homes, cars watches. ROLEXXXXXXXX.

The Rebbe was a good powerful man. He must have known he had noone to leave the leadership to so I agree with your comment that they are all running wild. The Messich ones, the regular ones, sad they really do need a LEADER.

Anonymous said...

I WOULD EVEN GIVE CHAI DOLLARS FOR THE CHEESECAKE. THEY CAN SPLIT THE EXTRA SLICE

Fine Whine said...

Weinstein is supposed to be in Supermax located in Florence, Colorado, because with all the stolen money he has squirreled away out there there is a serious cheshash that he could pay mercenaries to break him out and if he is near a coast he could escape the country - but not from Supermax the most secure jail there is and in the middle of America. That's why they put al Qaeda terrorists there.

And this is sick, but Weinstein's mishpocho whined that Rubashkin sucked Klal Yisroel dry of all their money & rachmonus so that there is nothing left for him.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering how Weinstein maneuvered that one, so that's what Aleph does. 2 points for Aleph. yeah Aleph. how much did Weinstein promise you? wow what an allegiance. Sik if true.

Anonymous said...

Say what you want, for 5 or 6 years,
I had 20 bochurim working from BEFORE PURIM, packing MATZOS, JUICE, hagaddahs, food, etc..
TO SEND TO PRISONS & SOLDIERS.
IN MY WAREHOUSE not THEIRS. SO I CAN BEAR WITNESS THEY DO GOOD THINGS.

Anonymous said...

no ones is saying they dont do good things. The question is HOW MUCH DID YOU CHARGE THEM TO USE YOUR WAREHOUSE?

HOW MUCH DID THE 20 BACHURIM GET PAID?

HOW MUCH OF THE FOOD IS DONATED?

HOW MUCH OF IT DO THEY SELL TO THE PRISONS?

THE QUESTION IS WHAT DO THEY DO WITH THE MONEY THEY RAISE?

Anonymous said...

Are You Saying Alepfh Also Has A Warehouse? Oh man

Anonymous said...

The question is still the same. If they raise millions where does it go? If there was an honest real answer we would know it by now. I suspect foul play. I always thought they take care of prisoners and I am shocked to hear they only take care of the wealthy ones. For those they hop and they skip and they JUMP! I can't believe this.

Anonymous said...

Has anything changed? Did Cats figure out how
To humbly talk to the chaplain to arrange some food for his men? Or is he worrying about his own gaiva.

I would love to help if I knew how. I know from previous situations aleph does not help, they raise money that no one know where does it go. My friends brother was in jail in Miami and did not get kosher food. They called and called aleph and they didn't do anything. He was sent to the doctor and was put on IV. Well now the lows change so maybe now they will get food

Anonymous said...

As long as they put on tefillinand they don't need to eat.

Anonymous said...

YUDEL HAS YOU CURRENT EVENTS CHANGED? ANY IMPROVEMENT?

Anonymous said...

DOES aleph have any chaplains who care or have any power? Or do they really only work with wealthy rich individuals ? Why can't the rabbis shut them down. Are they dangerous

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't Rabbi Lipskar replace Katz with someone more capable and people friendly? Put Katz in the back office to work with papers

Anonymous said...

There are never any answer or cooperation from aleph they don't return phone calls snot nose fonies.

Anonymous said...

Cheesecakes? Really??? The federal bureau of prisons will not allow any items to be donated of any kind. The ONLY way an inmate in a federal prison can have the cheesecake is if the inmate pays for it out of their own commissary. It's either that or no cheesecake at all. But go ahead and keep making up stories. Please see my response in the 501(c)(3) blog post on how Aleph spends its money

Anonymous said...

Lakewood JUST woke up about Jews in prison. How sad is that??? You never cared when anyone else was in prison. Now that one of your own is in, you wake up and start crying foul. You've done nothing til now. You don't understand how an individual in prison is not "free" to do whatever he wants and eat kugel and cholent for Shabbos lunch. He is in PRISON. Prison, as in "not vacation." Prison as in "the thing that everyone avoids going to because it's meant to be a place where your basic freedoms are taken away." Aleph has for over 30 years been working on a very broken prison system, both state and federal. There are over 500 prisons that Aleph deals with on a regular basis, aside from dozens of miltary bases around the world. Idiots, you are. Harping about government money paid to Aleph for food??? You should be ashamed of yourselves. The federal government pays the actual COST of the food Aleph provides them. Aleph doesn't "make" a dime. And why does the federal government pay for the food? Because THEY WON'T ALLOW DONATIONS. Meanwhile, you don't even consider that Aleph sends over 300 STATE institutions FREE food because they do NOT have any budget for kosher food whatsoever, no matter the holiday. All you have done is talked out of your behind and made a fool of yourself. Actually, maybe Lakewood just likes to gossip and this website is fun. You've certainly attracted enough attention to coat your ego. All of the staff at Aleph lives on the very basics to live. Aleph receives no government funding whatsoever. Nothing for "spiritual support," nothing for "chaplaincy," like you falsely allege. ZERO. No one is pocketing anything. Where does the money go, you ask? To over 50,000 books, seforim, Tefillin, talleisim, tzitzis, yarmulkas, candles and candlesticks, grape juice, matzah, videos and countless other items mailed out for FREE to Jewish inmates each year. It goes to thousands of lbs. of free food sent to prisons and military bases. It goes to hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in sending rabbis and volunteers to visit every prison across the country. Aleph pays their food, their hotels, their cars, their gas, everything. Where else does it go to, you ask? To a staff that answers dozens of letters every day, publishes a 48-page magazine with Torah and prison news 6 times a year, answers Chaplain and staff questions all day, to a legal team that works specifically to fight for Jewish inmates' rights. Yes, the over 4,000 -- yes four thousand -- of these individuals while you are so worried about one individual and think the whole organization is going to stop everything they are doing to take care of this one person's needs. Get real. Really. Let's see, where else does the money go? How about to the families of these inmates? The innocent spouses and children. Aleph helps pay rent, gas, heating, electric, tuition, summer camp, etc. etc. etc. Where else does the money go? How about a military training course to over 50 military personnel and their families that basically come at Aleph's expense. Hotels, food, Shabbos meals, etc. etc. Where else does it go? How about to 6 Yeshiva in Prison programs done each year where they pay for all food, hotels for 8 volunteers, meals for the inmates, books, materials, correspondence courses, etc. etc. Where else does it go? I guess Aleph has no need for an office, no overhead, no need for a bookkeeper, no need for phones, no need for a copier, no need for computers or printers...these things just happen by themselves. Where else does it go? How about what it costs to PRINT the six 48-page magazines sent to over 5,000 people? How about what it costs Aleph to print their own Chumashim, Siddurim, Tehillims, Shabbos companions, a Jewish calendar that goes to 20,000 indivuals including 8,000 to prisons (prisoners and staff), 3,500 to military personnel, and the rest to families, ex-inmates and donors.

Anonymous said...

So you ask what does Aleph do and where does all the money go to because one of your friends went to prison and isn't being treated like a Shabbos guest. You just started to give a damn. Aleph has been caring for them for nearly 35 years. Very nice you want to help your friend. But instead of wasting your time blogging about an innocent organization just trying to do good in the world, why don't you pick up the phone and ask them what you can do to help your friend.

Oh, and you can make yourself feel better about lashon hara and motzei shem ra all you want. It's STILL motzei shem ra. Motzei shem ra is telling lies (slandering). That's what you are doing. There is no fraud. You are sadly making up stories for your own entertainment, nothing more. You have so much hate for Lubavitch that that is fueling your baseless monologue. Continue with your meaningless and destructive tirade while you do nothing to help YOUR brothers and sisters just the same.

Anonymous said...

I charged them NOTHING for the use of my warehouse. In fact MY WORKERS helped them AT NO CHARGE.
HELPING A YID IS A MITZVAH.
We shipped hundreds of carton of food and grape juice to soldiers overseas as well as prisons.
Goods to the prisons were shipped via UPS. UPS DOESN'T WORK FOR FREE.
NEITHER DOES FEDEX.
IF you want to start picking on people, there are THOUSANDS of MOSDOS that ere not on the UP AND UP, if you want to follow the letter of the law.
AS its says "ain tzaddik baolam asher lo yechta,

SO BE CAREFUL - YOU MAY BE NEXT
and you may need ALEPH

Anonymous said...

Of course YOU charged them nothing and of course you had your workers help out and of course they got donations for the ups and fed ex and of course everything is raised free and government bids they figure out how to get someone up top is very smart and schrewd. But it ain't you baby they use you. I think rabbi yudel is right and I don'teven know him. Once I looked at the link to their contracts I know they are phoney then their head honcho writes some long winded letter patting himself and attacking lAkewood. on the back and contradicting himself. He services 500+ prisons on a regular basis I seriously doublt that with his 5 man staff?? I would be happy to hear the true

Anonymous said...

Aleph may be next and need Aleph from the way things are looking

Anonymous said...

What exactly is the connection with Aron kanevsky?

Anonymous said...

What exactly is the connection with Aron kanevsky? Maybe he could help his _________
A shtickel Yiddish cholev