Pinned topic Mar. 31 2008
Exclusive By VIN News
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Lakewood, NJ – The following is an update to last week’s blockbuster news, in which VIN reported on a purportedly non-Jewish individual who had been living with his wife and children as a Torah-observant, Orthodox Jew in Lakewood’s Jewish community for several years.
VIN News has now learned that the man in question, currently being held by the authorities for attempted passport fraud and identity theft, did in fact undergo a conversion by an Orthodox rabbi together with his wife in 2002.
VIN has located and contacted Rabbi Pinchas Aloof, who was serving the synagogue Congregation Ahavat Achim in Wichita, Kansas at the time Mr. and Mrs. Floyd underwent conversion—and who has vouched in a telephone conversation with VIN from his Texas home for the Floyds’ authentic Jewish status and kosher conversion. “It was 100% kosher with a Beis Din, I was there; they both went trough the whole process ‘al pi halacha'” says Rabbi Aloof.
Rabbi Aloof, an Orthodox rabbi, also expressed complete shock upon learning of the controversy, of which he was completely unaware. “As far as that’s concerned, there’s nothing to be concerned about. He is a Yid,” he said. The only matter the rabbi questioned was the story about Mr. Floyd’s alleged Marrano background, which he dismissed as untrue. “He was 100% a goy,” he said.
U/D 7:00 PM
VIN News has confirmed that Rabbi Aloof received his semicha from the Rabbinate of Israel, and is a Talmud of Yeshivas Chofitz Chaim of Baltimore.
U/D: 08:21PM
Rabbi Pinchas Aloof will appear tonight live on the Zev Brenner Radio show at 9:15 PM. you can listen live on the net http://talklinecommunications.com/MediaFrame.html or on the radio at 620AM
VIN News would like to take this opportunity to caution our readers not to take any Halchoa conclusion off the net, we here at VIN News are just trying to inform our readers with the facts as we learn them, but in no shape to determine halchoa out of this, that is soly for rabunim to do.
Re: His living a life of falsehood destroyed that chazakah!
Apparently, you completely missed my point (
11:11)
Unintentional falsehood does not constitute “living a life of falsehood”. It is simply called “symptoms of a mentally disturbed individual”. Bluntly stated, Mr. Floyd appears to be phsycologically ill – NOT an “impostor” who loses his chazaka.
Anonymous said…
I personally have known at least two geirim who reneged on their geirus and stopped keeping the mitzvos. They seemed very sincere at the time of their geirus.
April 1, 2008 7:51 AM
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Why dont you tell us your name so that we can watch you when you reneged in your yidishkiet. Maybe we should excommunicate when u slip.
I personally have known at least two geirim who reneged on their geirus and stopped keeping the mitzvos. They seemed very sincere at the time of their geirus.
If a ger lives in lakewood, he has nothing to hide. Lakewood has several geirim, that are known to be geirim and they are well accepted into the community. No one has to hide anything. This Natan Levy story still has a fishy smell about it.
YES! There exists a chiyuv to be ‘dan l’kaf z’chus’- BUT only if the person has a ‘chezkas kashrus’. His living a life of falsehood destroyed that chazakah! We can now judge him at face value.
Regarding Anon. 11:11 and others who were dan him l’caf zechus:
First of all, there is a Ger who learns in BMG full time and has been here many years and everybody
knows him by his goyishe name and he is a respected Ben-torah. Also, I know of a very chasiddishe Ger who also everybody calls him by his goyishe name. I’m not saying that Floyd didn’t have a right to change his name, but if he had a perception that he had to, that was something he dreamt up. People are claiming he is a legitimate Ger, but what he did with stealing someone else’s identity and acting like a levi was due to his paranoia. Even if they are right, that he is a ger tzedek and not a missionary, there still might be a problem and he might not be jewish. If he had these paranoid thoughts about how to fit in and other crazy thoughts before the geirus- he could have a din “Shoytah”. A “shoytah” can’t become a ger because you need kabollas Mitzvos and a “shoytah” is putter from mitzvos. So even if he was sincere and he had a kosher geiros- al pi din- if he is a “shoytah” then he would not be Jewish. BTW, this is not something the rabbi could possibly know, only a shrink. Also, don’t say everyone has crazy thoughts and so did he because the difference between psychotics and others is that psychotics act upon their thoughts. (In this case- taking aliyos as a Levi.)
All questions are easily explained by simply viewing Mr. Ted Floyd as a sincere but somewhat disturbed individual.
In all likelihood, he did not intend to fool a whole community
or to purposely decieve people. Perhaps he was simply more comfortable with a jewish-sounding name.
His claiming to be a levi – does not make him into an “intentional impostor” – why not simply view him as a person with “issues”?
And yes, we certainly need to ask mechila for publicly defaming a legitimate convert by calling him a “goy” – regardless of his other “issues”.
why was he oleh in shul levi?
The man Mr. Floyd was committed to Judaism far more then many jews in Lakewood themselves, the issue as to why he had to lie about his name is a good question, but about his committed to Judaism that is non questionable at all.
There is obviously more to this very peculiar story. Unless someone has inside first hand knowledge all comments are mere speculation. However, we apparently have an “aid echad” who attests that Mr.& Mrs. Floyd had undergone a complete and kosher geyrus and should be considered Jews. Based on that we are compelled to be ascribe the rule of “dan lkav zchus” (benefit of the doubt) to all known and purported actions of Mr. Floyd, even things that may seem on the surface as cut and dried misdeeds.
For Gerus to be valid the Goy must really mean it that he really wants to become a Jew for real.
If an alkeida terrorist “converts” so that he can infiltrate…. his conversion is invalid.
This Goy from Kansas/Lakewood has lied about everything, so why assume he gerus was valid?
there is a lot of pepole commenting here about the relevence of the Geries of rabbi Aloof, if somone really knows the halacha, not your personal opinions, please post it here.
what kind of Bies Din according to halacha you need? 3 pepole need to see you go to mikvah is that enough?
To all those saying that people have to ask Mechila –
You are ABSOLUTELY wrong!!!!!
This man should have been honest and said he was a Ger. Even if he was afraid of the stigma, he had absolutely no reason in the world to claim he was a Levi and accept the second Aliyah – which is against Halacha!!!
I used to work for an organization that tracked missionaries infiltrating the Frum communities. I’m not jumping to ANY conclusions, but believe me, many of these missionaries undergo completely valid conversions in quiet out-of-town communities and then move to NJ, NY, or Israel, just to be able to infiltrate our communities.
Just because the Rav who did the Geyrus was authentic, does not guarantee that he was not fooled. I say this from first-hand knowledge of (unfortunately) numerous cases.
There is definitely more to this story.
how would you feel living in lakewood which is a mokom torah and everyone knows your a ger and you see how different people treat you as if your a total idiot and know nothing about being a jew. Also people jumped to a conclusions with out knowing the facts behind the story which is typical of lakewood and people should learn a lesson from this if people in lakewood are capale of learning a lesson from this.
A Goy who’s intent is to defraud is not a Kosher Ger
Some thoughts;
1, I do not know Rabbi Aloof but I can tell you it is a known, honoreable jewish family name, often spelled Alouf.
2, Many, many people should be asking mechila.
3, The Levi bit I can not explain nor condone.
Maybe he had a murky past and wanted a clean break from it and did teshuva. Maybe he picked the name Natan Levy because he liked the way it sounded. It certainly sounds more Jewish than Floyd.Maybe he wanted to hide his past because it wasn’t so “kosher”. If he is truly a ger tzeddek, then let’s be dan l’kaf zechus.
As I noted in my posts the other day, it didnt make sense and there is more to the story. We now see there IS more to the story.
What exact date did both geirusim take place??
Who is Rabbi Alooft a talmid of??
Who else was on the Kansas bais din??
Why did Mr. Floyd/Levi still decide to be deceptive atleast insofar as misrepresenting his true identity, his status of being a Levi, etc..??
Yasher Koach to VOS IZ NEIAS for their exclusive on this story, uncovering the real truth.
The truth is I think every person that starts davening in your shul should be checked out. I know I would not be insulted if someone would check me out, if I were to move to a different area. Would you feel uncomfortable??????
i said this is probably gona happen the second i heard the story. the problem is all the crazys out there who love jumping to conclusions. in their face man!
Anon 4:53, it’s very nice you want to be dan lechaf zechus, but you still must use some brains.
-He lied about his name by taking an identity of someone who died over 20 years ago. He didn’t merely “make up a name”. He could have told us he was a ger, no crime in that.
-He obviously took this name of Natan Levi to cover up something of his past, possibly criminal. I hope not, but who knows?
-He acted like a levi in shul (yes, I davened with him and I knew him (or thought I did) ).
-He made up a story about being descended from Marranos when he did not.
Once someone lies about his name and past for so long, it’s very hard to trust him on anything. I, along with my friends who went out of our way for years for him and his wife, would love to hear an explanation. Because right now, we all feel betrayed.
the faker in lakewood isnt a faker
great now everyone is a tzaddik there
Who underwent a conversion? Ted Floyd? Or Netan Levy?
There’s still something VERY WRONG with this man’s story. It just doesn’t add up. Even if he did undergo an Orthodox conversion, the way in which he went about gaining acceptance in the Jewish community leaves more questions than answers. For one, was this conversion done in order to run away from some murky past?…
kudos to VIN for providing us with the real facts behind the headline news. you guys are always one step ahead of the rest.
I thought he was a sfardi, not a gerrer.
This man is a Jew! Maybe he lied because he wanted to fit in so badly that he changed his identity to hide his past as a goy.
How about some dan lkaf zchus!!!???
Get your facts straight, he claimed to be a levi and got aliyos as levi
he took a dead person’s identity so he obviously has something to hide.
Guys! the other examples of people changing their names were done legit. this guy is in custody because of this. this is fraud at the highest level.
that shows us not to judge so quick on a story we hear. We have to give some time, the whole story to come out.
i guess you forgot that a GER usually changes his name i know a spanish ger that use to be called Edward Torez he now goes by an askenazik name, thats normal.
If he is a GER he is not a Levi
no one is condoning bashing, but to go ask mechila? please!
this guy is one shady charachter.
ok, he wasnt a “goy” but he has alot of explaining to do anyway.
now what?
That solves the question on how he knew everything in a short time. People who bashed his head out should ask mechilla.
ML
I guess all those ‘vitzen’ have to be thrown out. Boy were some really funny. 🙂
Now I will be able to sleep at night.
I hope all the HOCKERS who screamed goy will do t5eshuva gemura, go to Kansas and ask mechila!!!
So why did he lie about his name being Natan Levi? Why couldn’t he be open and up front about his ger status? He obviously is hiding something by not being honest and straightforward. No one should be blamed for not believing him on anything once he showed himself as a liar on his name and heritage.