Reconciliation in Australia: Gutnick and Feldman make Peace!
Sydney, Australia — A long standing family dispute has been resolved, stated a joint statement by the families. Rabbi Joseph Gutnick and his brother-in-law and sister Rabbi Pinchus and Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman had been embroiled in a long standing dispute over 10 million dollars dating back over ten years ago. Last night it had been resolved at a family Simcha along with the recitation of the blessing of ‘Shehecheyanu’.
More pictures and the joint statement in the Extended Article!
The event was the Bar Mitzva of HaBochur HaTomim Menachem Mendel Feldman, son of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok HaCohen Feldman and Grandson of Rabbi Pinchus Feldman which Rabbi Joseph Gutnick flew in to attend where he was honored with the reading of the Rebbes traditional letter to Bar Mitzva Bochurim.
Following the Rebbes letter Rabbi Gutnick launched a worldwide appeal to all Jews and especially to Anash, to learn from their personal example, to do all in their ability to make peace with one another and work out ALL differences, thereby enabling all of us, Besoch Klal Yisroel, to be a vessel for the blessings of Hashem Yisborech and first and foremost, to greet Moshiach Tzidkainu now!
The joy of the entire community was expressed by Rabbi Daniel Kaye who, on behalf of the assembled made the blessing of “Shehechyanu” to which everyone responded with a loud Amain!
The Following is the statement released by the Families:
Brother and sister reconciled as Rabbi Joseph Gutnick agrees to grant whatever rights he has over Yeshiva’s Dover Heights campus to Rabbi Pinchus and Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman.
Rabbi Joseph Gutnick from Melbourne is the brother of Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman, wife of Rabbi Pinchus Feldman OAM, Dean and Spiritual Leader of the Yeshiva Centre in Sydney and Head of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in NSW.
After a much publicized and unfortunate dispute in 2003, Rabbi Feldman and others lost control of the Yeshiva school campus at the corner of Blake and Napier Streets in Dover Heights. The property and its debts were placed into a new trust called the Blake Napier Trust.
Earlier this year the Trust entered into an agreement giving Rabbi Gutnick and others certain powers. These powers were veto rights on any further loans to be taken out against the property and further veto as to which charities proceeds of any sale of the property can be disbursed. This agreement was cosigned by the Presidents of the Jewish Communal Appeal and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
Rabbi Gutnick has today agreed to grant all of his rights in the Blake Napier Trust to the Feldmans. Rabbi Gutnick said that if this is a part of the mutual undertakings needed to attain peace, then it is done with a full heart and willingly.
Rabbi Gutnick has noted that he recognises the Feldmans’ dedication to the community over the last forty years as the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s representatives to NSW, considering that it was they who originally purchased the Dover Heights campus in 1997 for the Chabad movement.
Both parties deeply regret the unfortunate events of the past and look forward to a positive relationship in the future, particularly in supporting and further developing the extensive work of Chabad in NSW.
Both parties recognize the invaluable contribution of Mrs Zipporah Oliver OAM, who initiated and facilitated this historic reconciliation with the help of Rabbi Eli Feldman.
The Gutnick and Feldman families hope that their reconciliation can be an encouragement to others experiencing conflict; to never give up in the pursuit of peace.
Boruch benTzvi (A H) haKohaine Hoffinger
B"H
WOW! G R E A T! KAIN YIRBOO
S H A L – M!
MOSHIACH IS ON HIS W A Y !
Mil
Yasher koach to Tzippy Oliver, the peacemaker. If anyone could do it, she could. Oheves sholom verodefes sholom, oheves es haberiyos umekorvon latorah. (And to her nephew Eli Feldman, who was presumably her excuse for "mixing in" to what would otherwise have been kelomar "none of her business".)
Chaim
Why should an enternal family dispute be of public knowledge and interest?!
TULLY K
WOW THATS REALLY NICE TO HEAR.
BEREL LIGHT LOOK LIKE YOU HAVING A GOOD TIME THERE YOU DONT HAVE TO COME BACK IF YOU DONT WANT TO JK WE MISS YOU HERE IN CH :)
Rachi
Achdus and ahavas yisroel with the people closest to us – our family! – that is what we need to reveal Moshiach!
Boruch Hashem, another family reconciliation!
BBY
AMAZING THIS SHOULD HAVE A EFFECT ON THE REST OF LUBAVITCH
...
Who cares?! A family dispute resolved woop-di-doo.
What about the countless other family disputes amongst chabad chasidim that have not yet been resolved…. maybe we should make this the 11th mivtza!
soneh kushim
Kul HaKovod Rabbi Gutnick! A shining example to all of us here in CH: to get Sholom we sometimes must willingly give big of what we hold al pi din.
MENDIE
HALVIEA WITH OUR REBONIEM..THIS BRINGS THE REBBA A BIG NACHESS..AND MAY WE SEE THE HIKALUS OF THE REBBA OUR KING
Mike Chicago
who cares…just because there is money involved…it show what is important to everyone in the world of the anash
my name
I HAD TEARS IN MY EYES.
I’M SO EXCITED TO SEE THE BEIS HAMIKDOSH!
I WONDER WHAT THE SHOR HABOR WILL TASTE LIKE, I’M SURE NOT BETTER THAN TRUE AHAVAS YISROEL!
Moshiach NOW!!
mmmmmm
Baruch Hashem. Great Job!!!
viewer
B"H
wow! what an inspiration to us all. may there be many more reconciliations and most importantly Moshiach Now!
Sydney fan
Moshiach is defiantly on his way!!!!!!!!
A SydneyBochur
Amazing!
I was there as bochur when it all happened. I saw them empty out the shule of all the seforim and s"ts and furniture, I saw when it was all handed over to the court marshals with much media coverage.
it was a very sad and hard day for many locals, both anash and not.
And to see Pinchus and Yossle together smiling; – not sitting on the opposite sides of the court room, is amazing. What a turn around.
Believe me, if they can do – anyone can!!!!!!!
Enough machlokes!
aussie
big simch for the australian community, lucky bar mitzvah boy- what a zchus!!! only simchas and good news like this!!
moishe nachman
not the first time they made peace
they are like real brothers and sisters who fight and make peace over and over
Family Feud
What does OAM stand for?
Choni Teitelbaum
Mazal Tov Yossi,
Sydney 2000
Way to go! Yossi Feldman. What a zechus.
may hashem bless you and the entire community much happpiness from this and may the community grow m’Chayil El Choyil!!!
Chacham ba-Chachamim
I hope this type of reconciliation can take place here in Crown Heights as well.
"WHAT UNITES US IS GREATER THAN WHAT DIVIDES US."
Then we will truly merit "Borcheinu ovinu" because "kulonu k’echod."
A positive appreciater
It’s nice to see the overwhelming positing comments on this importantevent, especially during the month of Elul. Once upon a time, those "Amolekite"s were the majority, always point out the negative in each and every situation. I agree, it’s great to see moshiach is coming! Keep up the good work Rabbi Kaye!
A FORMER BOCHER IN SYDNEY
yossi feldman
when are you tsking us all out to TIBBYS..???
mojo
hey rabbi ovtzan!
Zev on shuliches in Sydney, Australia
this makes me very happy that things or changing in Sydney, Australia & they resolved a dispute & it took place right after my sister Toby was killed in a car crash 2 weeks ago, & this took place on menachem’s Bar Mitzva, Mazel Tov to the whole family there should only be piece in the world things should be (b’sholom) etc. & moshiach should come right now?
me
you guys forgot to mention something, all this wouldnt have happened without zahava, gutnicks daughter soon to be married to rueven pinson.
well done zahava – we’re proud of you!
levi yitzchok
dont take this the wrong way feldman is still the same …..
yoseel kol hakovod
Mi
OAM stands for "Medal of the Order of Australia". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
The USA doesn’t really have an equivalent – the closest I could find was the Presidential Citizens Medal, but it’s only gone to about 100 people in the past 40 years, while over 100 people get OAMs every year.
Anyway, both R Feldman and Tzippy Oliver have received it. Except for Tzippy, every frum person who has got one, got it for services to the Jewish community; Tzippy is the first frum person to get an OAM for services to the general Australian community (she got it for her work with the disabled), which was a big kiddush hashem.
A fan of G-d
I was another Bocher in the Sydney Yeshiva when they kicked us out of the buildings… This is just too funny! This is always good news!
Yechaush
Since you’ve sorted that out, now sort out the mess in Adelaide you have created.
friend of a friend
Maybe this is the first step for Rabbi Gutnick to resolve his other disputes AMEN
Resi-dent- of sydney
When one sees this report he doesnt seem to understand that the news may not be the best thing that has happened to Sydney Jewry. BH the Feldmans have opened a new school already. Why is there a need to stick their hands into another place and ruin another place.
i would think that to show true ‘hakoras hatov’ would be to let KTC stand alone without the help of our dear Rabbi Feldman. That would be the ACHDUS that sydney is looking for. we are happy and we can still be happy even together as one with seperate mosdos
OAM
OAM = ORDER OF AUSTRALIA MEDAL
Sydney girl
Its really great that a family dispute is over but it is not necessary that the ownership of the school be handed over to the Feldmans, infact its just wrong, ktc is finally getting back on the right track, a joint ownership or worse yet- a feldman ownership is not what it needs.
Sydney resident
I guess you all dont live in Sydney or have kids in Kesser Torah school thats why youre all so excited.
Just wait and see what happens to the school and those poor school kids.
Peace Shall Reign
I believe that it takes a very big man to be honest with himself and to reconcile differences, (even if it took so long!!).
Unfortunately, there are way too many egotistical people who would rather loose EVERYTHING, including their families (WIFE AND KIDS), than to own up, or to reconcile, or to behave like a mentch.
Rabbi Gutnik, you are a true inspiration to all of mankind, not just Lubavitchers worldwide!!!
You have taken a giant step for mankind.
Moshiach Now!!!!
To Chaim, ..., Mike Chicago, Family Feud
Chaim: it wasn’t just an "[i]nternal family dispute" – it played out in public, and had a strong impact on the community in Sydney. So the reconciliation is most certainly a matter of public interest.
…: so "who cares" when we hear that a person’s life was saved… that a bochur put tefillin on someone for the first time…? After all, there are so many others who are dying or who are still Karkaftas. You’re right that we shouldn’t sit on our laurels – you’re right, there’s always more to accomplish – but that’s no reason to denigrate what has been done; umimenu yir’u vechein ya’asu!
Mike Chicago: on the contrary! Since "there is money involved," that could have been a reason for the machlokes to persist indefinitely. That R’ Gutnick – who surely knows the value of a dollar – was willing to overlook this in favor of making peace is something to celebrate, not to put down.
Family Feud: OAM is the Medal of the Order of Australia, "for service worthy of particular recognition." Which, I guess, makes it roughly the equivalent of the (American) Congressional Gold Medal, such as the one given to the Rebbe.
MENDy
why is a family fight, a public fight???????? believe me there are enough public fights, we dont need family ones to become them too. but bh this one is no longer a fight
:+)))
Order of Australia medal….like the Congressional Medal of Honor or the OBE?
Impressive!
School parent
Sydney Resident "I guess you all dont live in Sydney or have kids in Kesser Torah school thats why youre all so excited. Just wait and see what happens to the school and those poor school kids."
I live in Sydney, I have kids in the school. The poor school kids are the ones who were in the Boys High school last year, the ones who left to public schools.
The Feldmans as I read above, only have a say on the ‘land’ not the school. Now the option to sell up is not as simple, as the ‘land’ is locked into Chabad control. This is only good. As parents we have worried that the school may close up.
This arrangement can only detract from the bad vibe of the school being anti-Yeshiva.
This is good for the school, and the wider community.
Sydney girl
I have just heard that everything about the Feldmans owning kesser torah is a load of rubbish, meir moss sent an email around saying it is not true.
zalmanovich
I am shocked that NOBODY mentioned that the Brocho made at the party – Shehechyanu – (presumably beshem umalchus) was BROCHO LEVATOLO !! r’l.
What have we become? Reform????
And besides all this – ulesimcha ma zu oseh??
The entire Chabad community was ripped apart beyond repair. The Yeshiva shul is almost empty, the school threw out the older boys etc etc.
And what about the MASSIVE Chilul Hashem of one of the best known Chabadniks in the world closing donw the rebbe’s shul and mosdos?
Wake up ! Wake up!!
BHC
As a parent of a KTC pupil and as a family member of a teacher at KTC, I say to the Feldmans "Leave the school alone". The pupils, teachers and parents are so happy without you. The parents feel secure, the teachers are getting paid and the pupils are happy and learning well.The school has never been better. Keep your family affairs to yourselves, we are not interested. BHC
ahalan
to zalmanovitch: are you a rov to paskin when it is mutar or osur to say the brocho shehechiyanu beshem hamalchus. read the shulchan aruch and you may see not as you so bluntly stated that it is osur.
dont ruin the simcha and KIDDUSH HASHEM of this reconciliation.
sydsider
im an ex highschool boy in kesser torah and it best that the feldmans dont get involved and stuff up ktc again