Op-Ed: On Foreclosure, Loan Modifications and Credit Repair

PSA – Thirteen Cardinal Rules on Home Foreclosure/Loan Modifications and Credit Card Repair/Settlement or Consolidated debt.

Since my last article generously published by CrownHeights.info, I have met with dozens of local families and have worked with many to modify their loans and fix their credit.

Every case is unique and different and there is no one set of rules or advice that can be given.

With more than 200 local families currently several months behind in their mortgage payments, spiraling credit card debt, and tuition bills that need to be addressed at the beginning of the year, not to mention, the upcoming month of Tishrei, I felt the need to share just a few thoughts to help all those families that are either too embarrassed to ask for help, or who think they can do it themselves.

There is no specific order to these rules, each is important in its own right.

Op-Ed: Why can’t the summer be over already?

Huh? A teenager actually waiting for vacation to end? Is that a misprint?

Two years ago I would have thought so too. But A lot has changed for me since then. Here is my story (the short version).

Toby Eagle OBM, She Would Have Been 22 Now

The following was written by a friend and classmate of Toby’s in connection with her upcoming Yohrtzeit which falls out on Sunday, the 19th of Av.

To the Eagle family,

I spent my seminary year in Yerushalayim with Toby. Although I didn’t know her at all before seminary, she was one of the first people to befriend me.

Op-Ed: Why Judaism is not Confined to Spirituality

…And What Matters Most In Judaism

Peace, Love, and Friends

What comes to mind, when you hear the word “peace”? How about the words “love”, “friendship” or “spirituality”?

Sunday Humor: Op-Ed: A Letter From Somebody

I am a somebody.

You will recognize me in the street as a somebody, and we may cross each other’s path every day, or daven Shacharis, Mincha, and Maariv together in 770 every single day.

My wife and I are well-off financially. Not because we are well-educated or because we have great jobs, but because our parents are rich with “old money”. We are accustomed to getting discounts at most Crown Heights stores because our parents know the owner and because our families donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the yeshivas and girl schools.

I am gezhe.

Lubavitch Magazines and newsletters love writing articles about my great-great-great grandfather because we call him “elter zeide” and because his childhood story includes White Russia, hiding from Russian police and learning in an underground cheder.

Op-Ed: The REAL Crisis

There is not a day that goes by when I do not hear about our “Shidduch Crisis.”

Maybe there is no Shidduch Crisis. Maybe there is a bigger crisis, a crisis we cannot fully control.

Is Shidduchim the only default we are up against? How about our community, anyone see a crisis there? Look at the heads of our community, is everything smooth on top? Look around you. Look deeply at your neighbors, friends, teachers, family, is everything else REALLY at peace?

Face it; we are in Golus and therefore have a dark cloud hovering around us. That is the source of all our crises.

Op-Ed: Taking Responsibility for your Family Finances

For the past 18 years, the Global Jewish Assistance & Relief Network (GJARN), an international humanitarian assistance organization I founded in 1992, has helped hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and since 2000 in Israel.

Due to the economic crisis, and with donations declining on a regular basis, I began looking into credit repair and loan modifications, first as means of helping many of our donors who were facing difficult times, and more lately, as a means to supplement my personal income, while I continue to manage directing Global Jewish on a greatly reduced salary.

Day by day, I am shocked to discover local families who outwardly seem to be faring well, to actually be on the verge of home foreclosures, tanking credit, over burdened with debt, etc.

Op-Ed: What we can all Learn from the Shuk Story

Who would have believed the selling of the SHUK would make such headlines?

Businesses come and go, and some predicted the demise of the SHUK the minute Kol Tuv opened Empire Kosher? After all, can our community actually support two large kosher supermarkets? (I believe it can, but that depends on you, read on…)

As a close personal friend of Shloimie for over 20 years, I have been following this issue long before it became a “sensation” and certainly before the beautiful stories posted by various individuals,

We find ourselves in the three weeks, and as such, comments posted with regards to why people ask for credit, who gives them the right, who is a bigger ball tzedokah, etc, all have no place, nor virtue in this discussion.

Op-Ed: The Solution – Uforotzto!

Lately, much has been written about the problems, real, imagined, exaggerated, or, as I suspect, a combination of all three, which are facing Chabad.

Everybody, myself very much included, has at least one opinion regarding the nature of the problems and who is to blame. However, continuing to discuss this, both online and in face to face conversation and debate, has done very little to solve any of the problems and may well serve only to create more machloikes.

On the other hand, there is a solution, admittedly one which is not practical for everyone and one which will not solve all of the problems, that has been overlooked, and that is – uforotzto – spread out!

Op-Ed: The Sudden Death of a Friend

Personal Reflections on the passing of a friend ob”m and the Purpose of Life

A Journey, Without a Destination

“As for me… life has been a living hell… but along the way, it’s been a journey.” I was told that the ink of these words was still fresh when they were found. Mark Shuster, my dear friend and congregant of blessed memory, had written them, in all probability, just moments before his shocking death.

Mark had a gentle soul. Perhaps it was too gentle for his afflicted body. Mark also had a very big heart. And beyond his self-described “living hell”, lay a flickering flame of warmth and kindness that shone luminously. At times, I was even blinded by its gleaming light that constantly yearned to help and give. He wanted to be a “philanthropist”, he once told me quietly, with his characteristic humility. Indeed, he wanted to change the world. And although I have heard many a visionary uttering this dream, I believed Mark. For Mark was authentic and real. A true, straightforward New-Yorker, that resented fabrications and lies. But above all, it was Mark’s voracious thirst that touched me. He was always thirsty for meaning, for growth, for understanding. We would sometimes talk for hours about the meaning of life, his past, our present, and the world’s future, which he sadly did not live to see. I doubt Mark was ever satisfied with life in general. His thirst was unquenchable, his quest – insatiable. Mark was right: “it’s been a journey.” Indeed, a journey, alas with no destination.

Op-Ed: A Expose from a “Destroyer”

Being a member of Hanhala in a Yeshiva, and involved in Chinuch for a few years in various Yeshivas (ranging from the vocational schools to the so-called “best” yeshivos) I take issue with the topics brought to light in this article (Op-Ed: The Destroyers) and especially the tone in which this was presented.

Since I am a member of Hanhala I must clarify that although I will try as much as possible to be objective, some points may sound biased due to my extensive involvement in the running of a Yeshiva. I am sure that there are exceptions to the rule, and not everything I write applies to 100% of the cases, and once in a while (5% maximum) there is a rotten apple in the bunch which does not fulfill his job to the fullest extent.

As opposed to the previous Op-Ed which is a unsigned Pashkvil, I am not hiding behind a the anonymity of the Internet, my email is: HanhalaMember@gmail.com Anyone who wishes to seriously discuss this issue can contact me and I will identify myself to them.

Op-Ed – The Rebbe’s Will

People I speak to, feel lost and perplexed.

How can we be left high and dry, years after Gimml Tammuz?

Many of us can remember when, we had a question in our life, we turned to the Rebbe for anything and we got clear guidance that we knew to follow to the letter.

After the stroke, a nod of the head was a yes or a no.

But since the Rebbes passing, many of our communities, are lacking, clear unequivocal guidance and leadership, in our day-to-day life.

Contrary to popular knowledge, The Rebbe DID leave a will, a very public verbal will. I’m not referring to the financial or administrative succession, I’m referring to the will that the Rebbe left us, his Chassidim.

Op-Ed: The Destroyers

I sit by my computer in tears, thinking to myself is this really true? Is this really happening to me? To us? Take “me” out of the picture. Let’s talk about the ‘us’.

First I thought I was alone, it was my pain my suffering, maybe I did not raise my children right, maybe I did not get involved enough in the yeshivas, their education. Maybe I was too stressed trying to pay the bills earn a living that I neglected my children. Maybe it is entirely my fault.

Then I spoke to this parent quietly and then I spoke to that one, and I realized it is not just me there are many who suffer as I do. But we all suffer quietly blaming our selves. There are many children being destroyed and ruined. And by whom? By the ones we entrust their education to. By the ones we pay with our hard earned money, by the ones that are called “educators and roish hayeshivas” and so on.

Op-Ed – A Culture of Democracy – Something has to Change

Something has to change

We have two Botei Din claiming authority over this community.

We have two factions now fist fighting over the community council.

We have two groups (shomrim, shmira) who are “ensuring” that we are safe, meanwhile ensuring that the other group sits in jail.

Something has to change!

We have two boards both claiming to be the legitimate (Netzigim) representatives of the community.

We now even have two different Hechsherim both claiming to be under the supervision of the badatz dekak decrown heights.

Something HAS to change!!!

Op-Ed: It’s 3AM… Can you outdo negative with positive?

I can’t sleep, I’m tossing and turning, my mind is racing with all sorts of crazy thoughts. I’m frustrated, upset, and my head is beginning to spin.

I moved to Crown Heights five years ago after me and my wife (from out of town) got married. We loved it here. I work, Daven and shop in Crown Heights. I am your typical “survivor” or simple guy, one that works hard to cover my basic expenses. I’m young, full of energy and already have a small family. I feel that were ever I live I should help, care, give back and create a better community. (I currently volunteer in two local organizations.)

But recently I began to ask myself WHY?