Case of Yori Yanover

Case of Yori Yanover

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New York University - New York, NY

(1970s) IDF's Ba'Machaneh Nachal - Israel

(1980s) Producer, WBAI - New York
(1994) Founding Editor, Jewish Communications Network (JCN18.com) - New York, NY
(1999 - 2011) Not the New York Times - New York, NY
Arutz 7 Radio - Israel
Israel Shelanu Weekly - Israel
Yedioth Aharonoth, Israel
(1996) Lubavitch News Service - Crown Heights, NY
No'ar 71 Magazine - Israel
(1999) Former Editor, USAJewish.com - New York
(2001) Editor of Prayer Book, Central Conference of American Rabbis - New York, NY
(2004 - 2011) The Grand Street News - New York, NY
LoHo10002.com - New York, NY
Yanover Consulting - New York, New York

Ben Yehuda Press - Netanya, Israel

For years allegations have been made against Yori Yanover of enabling alleged sex offenders, cyber bullying and stalking, witness tampering and harassment.

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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.

Table of Contents:

2005

1. Exclusive: Yoram / Yori Yanover of USAJEWISH blog is alleged to have helped friend hide income and avoid child support, has 48 hours to come clean   (05/31/2005)
2. Newspaper publisher becomes the story before debate  (06/13/2005)

2006

1. JCN18: Yori Yanover, Rabbi Hershy Worch, Susan L. Rosenbluth, Rabbi Larry Yudelson and Rabbi David Lipman  (03/21/2006)
2. Yori Yanover Takes On Vicki Polin  (05/25/2006)

2010

1. Not The New York Times  (11/16/2010)

2011

1. Grand Street News Ceases Publication  (10/06/2011)
2. Yori Yanover’s Connection to Rabbi J. Hershy Worch’ Wife –– Salome Worch 
3.  (12/30/2011)

2013

1. The Appalling Jewish Press Smears 6-Year-Old Alleged Child Sex Abuse Victims  (05/13/2013)
2. Ben Yehuda Press (05/13/2013)

Also see:

1. Case of Rabbi Marc Gafni
2. Case of Harlan Kilstein
3. Case of Rabbi David E. Lipman
4. Case of Rabbi J. Hershy Worch

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Exclusive: Yoram / Yori Yanover of USAJEWISH blog is alleged to have helped friend hide income and avoid child support, has 48 hours to come clean

Jewish Whistleblower Blog - May 13, 2005

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Newspaper publisher becomes the story before debate Yori Yanover, publisher of the Grand Street News

By Ronda Kaysen

Volume 75, Number 8 | June 13- 20, 2005

NOTE: Besides Yori Yanover being friends with alleged sex offender, Rabbi Hershy Worch, he was also close friends with convicted sex offender Rabbi David Lipman, both worked for him when he ran JCN18 (Jewish Communication Network) along with his friend, Rabbi Larry Yudelson (Reb Yudel).  

Yori Yanover - enabler of sex offenders

Much thought isn't usually given to moderators. By definition, they are thought to be moderate, but Yori Yanover, who was tapped to facilitate Tuesday night's City Council District 2 debate, has some strong opinions about the feminist, gay rights and psychoanalytic movements and isn't afraid to blog them.

On Tuesday morning, hours before 12 of the candidates vying to fill Margarita Lopez's City Council seat gathered at the Henry Street Settlement for their first public debate, an anonymous e-mail circulated among the candidates, urging them to boycott the event, which was to include three panelists asking questions in addition to Yanover, who was to moderate. The writer, identifying himself only as Constitution Man of the Committee to Boycott LoHo Realty and their Grand Street News, pointed to a private Web blog penned by the debate's moderator as cause for a candidate-wide boycott.

The blog, www.usajewish.com, was written by Yanover, the publisher of Grand Street News, a booklet-size community newspaper sponsored by LoHo Realty. The entries in question address an ongoing dispute within the Jewish community about a handful of rabbis accused of sexual impropriety.

In one entry, Yanover responds to sexual allegations against the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach lodged by several women after Carlebach's death. The allegations were never brought to court. In response to the unsubstantiated allegations, Yanover, in his blog, blamed the "homosexual movement, the feminist movement and the psychoanalytical movement. All three movements have politicized the sexual, and with that, robbed us of the carefree availability of our sexual expression," he wrote.

"The gay rights, feminist and psychological movements have changed how society approached sex in worrisome ways," Yanover told The Villager. "Making a sexual mistake in this society is the most dangerous thing that can happen to you. The boss who 10 years ago may have said something cheeky to a secretary or a female underling, now he's going in the other direction. This is part of the anxiety of our culture."

One candidate, Brian Kavanagh, withdrew his name from the debate after learning about Yanover's statements. "The moderator of a debate is not merely a bystander, but controls the forum and has a public presence and I think that choosing this particular person under the present circumstances shows some insensitivity both to the gay and lesbian community and also to victims of rape," said Kavanagh, describing the blog entries as "reprehensible."

"Is she concerned? I'm sure she would be concerned with anything that's homophobic or anti-women," said Roberto Caballero, who is gay and is the campaign manager for Reverend Joan Brightharp, the only member of the clergy in the race. Brightharp, however, planned to attend the debate, which occurred as The Villager went to press.

Yori Yanover making online death threats to various Rape Victim Advocates

Yanover is a strong presence in the Lower East Side community. In fact, Grand Street News approached Henry Street Settlement several months ago to co-sponsor the debate along with LoHo Realty. Some local figures have jumped to his defense in the wake of the Tuesday morning e-mail. "I believe in supporting good people," said Susan Stetzer, district manager of Community Board 3. "He is not homophobic, he is not anti-feminist. He and his wife are feminists and they're raising their daughter to be a feminist." Stetzer and David McWater, C.B. 3 chairperson, were profiled by Grand Street News within the past year and their photo appeared on its cover.

Henry Street Settlement, which hosted the event, had no intentions of canceling or changing moderators on Tuesday afternoon. "At this point, we're not making any changes," said Kathleen Gupta, a chief administrator for the Henry Street Settlement, two hours before the event. "We're just moving forward and hoping it'll be a productive evening."

Rosie Mendez, the only openly gay candidate in the race, had not read the e-mail when she spoke to The Villager on Tuesday afternoon and was reluctant to take a position. "I have to ask myself, `Why today, a couple of hours before the debate, is this coming to light?' " she said. "This has been planned a long time ago. It's interesting that this has come out now." Mendez planned to attend the event.

The author of the e-mail that pointed candidates and The Villager to the blog did not return requests for comment, nor did he respond to requests to identify himself.

Bias is often subjective and, according to Yanover, the comments on his blog — all of which were removed on Tuesday afternoon — were part of a larger dialogue within the Jewish community. The blog entries in question were written last winter, he said, in response to comments made last October by an organization, the Awareness Center, about his close friend Rabbi Jeremy Hershy Worch.

The Awareness Center, a Maryland-based organization, is "dedicated to addressing sexual violence in Jewish communities around the world," according to its Web site. Among the alleged perpetrators of sexual violence accused on the Web site is Yanover's friend Worch.

"Every time you Google the guy's name, every time he applies for a job," the link to the Awareness Center Web site appears at the top of the search engine, said Yanover. "His name is destroyed. What can you do about this? All you can do is cower away or you can fight this."

And so Yanover printed the full name, address and telephone number of the woman who made the accusations against Worch, removing the "the shelter of anonymity" that protected her.

"This woman destroyed the life of a man, she accused him of despicable things and hid behind a veil of anonymity and she did not deserve it [anonymity]," said Yanover in a telephone interview, pointing out that no charges were ever brought against Worch.

Ironically, the Internet and the infinite memory of Google may now have turned on Yanover, thrusting his online ramblings into the political arena. "A friend of mine last October was destroyed by sinister people and it's been my business to defend his good name," he said.

 "And if I get skewered by that then that's the way it has to be."

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Grand Street News 

Grand Street News - March, 2011

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JCN18: Yori Yanover, Rabbi Hershy Worch, Susan L. Rosenbluth, Rabbi Larry Yudelson and Rabbi David Lipman 

Jewish Survivors of Sexual Abuse Speak Out - March 21, 2006

A friend sent the following note:I had not realized until I saw this listing at the Jewish Press Association website that the Jewish Voice used to be associated with JCN18 which is Yori Yanover andLarry Yudelson's former on-line publication that had convicted child molester Rabbi David Lipman working there. Rabbis Hershy Worch was also contributors.

The Jewish Voice & Opinion (A )
73 Dana Pl
Englewood, NJ 07631
Susan L. Rosenbluth - Pub/Ed
201-569-2845
FAX: 201-569-1739
WEB: www.jcnl8.com/jewish_voice/

Rabbi Larry Yudelson

The Jewish Voice & Opinion is an 11-year-old monthly news magazine reaching by mail approximately 15,000 observant-Jewish households throughout the Metropolitan area. Mailed on the Friday before the first Shabbos of each month. In New Jersey, we reach the Orthodox communities in Fort Lee, Englewood, Teaneck, Bergenfield, Paramus, Tenafly, Fair Lawn, Passaic, Clifton, the Oranges, Livingston, Springfield, Elizabeth, Hillside, North Bergen, Secaucus, Morristown, Aberdeen/Matawan, Highland Park, Edison, The Brunswicks and others. We reach families in neighboring Rockland County, NY, plus New York City. We accept advertisements from establishments wishing to reach our very special readers, providing they are kosher and meet Orthodox rabbinic kashruth standards.

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Here's another photograph of Yori Yanover. It was published on his blog some time ago as an "alleged" threat to an individual who advocates for the rights of survivors of sexual violence. He has since taken the threat down but the photo can also be found here.

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Yori Yanover Takes On Vicki Polin
By The Town Cryer
Jew School - May 25, 2006

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Not The New York Times
By Yori Yanover
November 16, 2010

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Grand Street News Ceases Publication
The Low Down - New York - October 6, 2011

After seven years in business, the Grand Street News is calling it quits.  The Lower East Side monthly magazine, distributed to 12,000 Lower East Side apartments, has already published its last issue.  The Grand Street News was run by husband and wife team Yori Yanover and Nancy Kramer.

They were in the “hyperlocal” game long before anyone had heard of the now fashionable phrase.  As relative newbies in independent community news, we have a huge amount of respect for what Yori and Nancy accomplished, and for their love of the Lower East Side.  Grand Street won’t be the same without them. 

Here’s what Yori told us earlier today:

The Grand Street News came to life in January, 2004, when the Lower East Side was in the midst of an economic boom. Our marketing strategy took advantage of the need of vendors and service providers to reach newcomers as well as the more established population, and the appetite of our readers for local public affairs and the arts.

A hyper-local publication, we offered our readers a printed depiction of things they could sometimes see from their own living room windows, and there was magic in that. We thought we would be among the last remaining print publications, because the value we offered our clients was tangible: You give us your message, we put it in the mailboxes of your very customers. In a sense, while advertisers in most publications attempt to hit 3 to 10 percent of their target audience, we could offer the full 100 percent to local vendors.

Over the years we learned to identify which products would do well with us and which would not, and we actually discouraged potential clients from using our services if we didn’t think they could get a return on their investment. It’s what you do when you live on the same block as your client. Our editorial policy was similar. We often emailed a fact check copy of our stories to interviewees, giving them an option to alter their recorded statements in light of how they appeared next to competing statements. Again, it’s what you do when you live on the same block as the subject of your story. It’s also a more decent approach to journalism. 

We started to feel the decline of the LES economy about two years ago, and we saw many of our clients closing down or curtailing their operations. We tried to be creative and inventive, and although we stayed in the black, we could project the continued drop in our income. Around November of last year we decided to put our apartment up for sale and move to Israel, which, God willing, will happen in late fall. 

The Lower East Side has been our home for 36 years and we are convinced it is the finest neighborhood in New York and, obviously, in America. Israel is, come to think of it, the only logical move for someone who has embraced the values, the colors, the fragrances and the intensity of the Lower East Side. We’re planning to rent an apartment with an extra bedroom, so that all our visiting friends can have a place to crash in the land of milk and honey. 

What a ride this has been.

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Yori Yanover’s Connection to Rabbi J. Hershy Worch’ Wife –– Salome Worch

Grand Street News - December 13, 2011

Several years ago Yori Yanover staged an attack against The Awareness Center while the organization was providing information regarding both Rabbi David Lipman and Rabbi Hershy Worch, who were close friends.  Rabbi Lipman is now a convicted sex offender, and Rabbi Hershy Worch has been accused multiple times of clergy sexual abuse.

A few years later Rabbi Worch's fifth wife, Salome Worch created a "comic strip" in her attempts to cyber-bully the founder and director of The Awareness Center. 

The web page that housed the comic strip was owned by Yori Yanover.  A few years later Salome Worch illustrated a few cover pages for Yori Yanover's newspaper - "Grand Street News".  

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The Appalling Jewish Press Smears 6-Year-Old Alleged Child Sex Abuse Victims

By Shmarya Rosenberg

Failed Messiah Blog - May 13, 2013

The Appalling Jewish Press Smears 6-Year-Old Alleged Child Sex Abuse Victims

The appalling Jewish Press has published a horrific news article by its online editor, Yori Yanover. Yanover has a long history of allegedly harassing and stalking online advocates for victims. He also infamously wrote a very biased, unethical article many years ago for the Forward about Chabad – without disclosing that he worked for Chabad. The Jewish Press knew about Yanover's "issues," but it hired him anyway. And this is the result…

Yori Yanover

The horrific 'news' piece posted below – which is unethical, openly biased, stupid and obscene – was published as a news report by the Jewish Press. (It would simply be horrific, stupid and obscene if it were an op-ed.)

Its author, Yori Yanover, has a long history of allegedly harassing and stalking online advocates for victims. He also infamously wrote a very biased, unethical article many years ago for the Forward about Chabad – without disclosing that he worked for Chabad.

Even with this history, the Jewish Press hired Yanover to be its senior Internet editor – something I told people close to the Jewish Press would be a tremendous error.

And an error it clearly is.

Here is a prime example of why Yori Yanover should never work in news ever again:

Jewish Teacher Charged with Molestation and Fired on Dubious GroundsThe arrest was made based on the testimony of a 12-year-old babysitter's hearsay from a 6- and a 7-year-old. 

By Yori Yanover

The Jewish Press - May 13th, 2013 

Jordan Eareckson Murray, 32, father of three, known by his students as Rabbi Yaakov, taught first and second grade at the Torah Day School, on South Ferdinand Street in Columbia City, Seattle, and, reportedly, groped two female students, ages 6 and 7, after putting them on his lap behind his desk, in front of other students.

He was arrested May 3 and spent close to 48 hours in the King County Jail before posting a $100,000 bond, according to jail and court records. 

Formal charges were filed last week, accusing Murray of touching the two girls under their clothes numerous times since the middle of the school year. Other students were unaware of the behavior because Murray’s desk blocked their view, according to the charges. 

Here’s how the evidence against Muray was collected: 

The two alleged victims were playing together at the younger girl’s house and told the girl’s 12-year-old sister, also a student at the Torah Day School, that “Rabbi Murray puts his hands in their pants,” according to the charges, which note that the two younger girls “were scared” and confused and didn’t know why it was happening. 

If it was happening. 

The 12-year-old sister brought the girls to her mother, and they disclosed the alleged abuse, according to the charges. 

The 12-year-old had baby-sat Murray’s children in the past, according to reports. 

In other words, the arrest was made based on the testimony of a 12-year-old babysitter’s hearsay from a 6- and a 7-year-old. 

The Seattle Police Department received two referrals from Child Protective Services on April 23 and launched an investigation, the papers say. 

Murray declined to speak with investigators, which means he’s getting good legal advice. 

Here’s what Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Spoor had to say on the case: 

“The defendant is a clear danger to children given the circumstances of this crime where he abused his position of trust as a first- and second-grade teacher, secretly molesting these girls in class in front of others.” 

Based on the hearsay testimony of a 12-year old who heard it from her 6-year-old sister and her 7-year-old friend. 

I’m not saying the man is innocent—how could I possibly tell? But I’ve been in this business a few years, and when it smells, I can sense it. These cases always depend on the quality of police investigation, most importantly: how much of the information came voluntarily from the child witness, and how much did the interrogating detective feed her. 

Children do not have a developed sense of right and wrong, children have magical thinking, children are incapable of reasoning the way adults do. It’s extremely tough for experts in the field to get untainted information from children, because children are constantly on the lookout for cues as to what the adult wants them to say.

Here’s something about the quality of the detective work in this case:

Seattle Detective Michael Moore told the court that a 6-year-old girl had told him that after she approached Murray to show him her school work, Murray put her on his lap and shoved his hands down her pants while he was seated behind his desk. As he did so, Murray stared at the girl’s school work as though he was reading it, Moore continued. The detective added that the rest of the first-grade class was unaware Murray was groping the child. 

Having spent two years of my life in the first and the second grades (one year each), I’m trying to imagine a situation whereby a teacher manages to pull off that feat of depravity with no one noticing. 

Of course, as is common in these cases, which often turn out to be nothing more than mass hysteria, once the news spreads about the alleged molestation by a rabbi, local children suddenly remember having been abused by the same man. 

The chilling documentary, Capturing the Friedmans, shows one such case, where an entire family was destroyed by mass hysteria, spun by confused children, frightened parents, and shoddy work, even, possibly, lies, of the detectives of the Great Neck PD. In 1988, one of the family members, Jesse Friedman, was coerced into pleading guilty to some incredible and imaginary crimes of child sexual abuse, and sentenced to 18 years in prison. In July, 2010, the Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals said there was “a reasonable likelihood” that Jesse Friedman was wrongfully convicted. 

In the Seattle case, another 6-year-old has already come up with a description of sitting on Murray’s lap or standing between his legs, and said other girls in her class also sat on his lap, according to the charges. The girl said Murray often hugged her from behind and touched her over her clothing, the papers say. 

So, after having been unaware of anything out of the ordinary happening in the original report, all of a sudden we hear of busy molestation schedules in Rabbi Yaakov’s classroom. 

By now there are at least four other students in Murray’s classes, in addition to the original two, all ages 6 and 7, who have “routinely complained of anxiety, headaches and stomach aches,” but the girls’ parents said the children were fine and acted normally after being sent home early, the papers say. 

In today’s U.S.A. you’ll catch a better break planting bombs than being a rabbi accused of henky penky. 

Murray was fired following the allegations. According to Dan Donohoe, spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, he does not have a criminal history. Originally, the police told the press that Murray had a criminal record in another state, but then they issued a retraction. 

Gives you an idea of the quality of their police work?

Here is the redacted charge sheet and other court documents. You can see what Murray allegedly did and how he was arrested.

Download Information Charge Sheet Yaakov Jordan E. Murray 5-2013 extra redactions

Here are two previous FailedMessiah.com posts accurately reporting what happened:

Seattle Day School Teacher Charged With Child Sexual Abuse.

Why Didn't The Haredi Torah Day School Of Seattle Do A Background Check?

The Jewish Press has as I see it no choice. It either fires Yanover or it loses any semblance of credibility it might have.

Yori Yanover is a sick, disgusting and dishonest man, and the time has long since past that he should be permanently removed from public Jewish life.

In Yanover's twisted mind, the children are all liars or all manipulated, and poor rabbi is wronged – this despite the fact that the girls' reactions to the alleged abuse and the manner in which they told their stories is entirely consistent with how abuse victims of that age behave.

The behavior of the other alleged victims (who may also press charges) is also utterly consistent with the behavior of abuse victims of that age.

I could go on, but what's the point?

There are complaining witnesses who say Murray sexually abused them and there are two complaining witnesses who can testify to the girls' behavior.

In the world of sick, evil little men like Yanover, the testimony of children does not count and a child telling an adult or older sibling that a rabbi "put his hands down my pants" is hearsay.

In the world of Yori Yanover, the only pedophiles who would ever be convicted are the ones caught as at the moment they abuse a child or, perhaps, if the abuse is caught on tape. But this would also be true of adult rape victims and of women who say they were sexually abused by their rabbi – a rabbi who happens to be a close friend of Yanover's.

Normal people understand that not all allegations are true, but they also know that the vast majority are – as the evidence clearly shows.

Yanover's calculus flips this upside down.

Despite the facts, despite the evidence, despite the fact that law enforcement (at least in major and mid-sized cities throughout the US and Canada) have not used the poor interview techniques that were used in some cities 25 years ago in more than two decades, despite the fact that law enforcement officers are now primarily college educated and those who investigate sex crimes against children get extensive detailed training in interview techniques meant to prevent leading the alleged victims to say what they think the detective wants to hear – despite all that,  Yanover sees a world where the alleged abusers are almost always innocent, and the alleged victims are almost always lying, manipulated or enticers.

He is sick, evil man.

The Jewish Press should be very ashamed.

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Ben Yehuda Press

May 13, 2013

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