OHEL etc.

On the subject of all the commentators who say that I need to do an "expose on Ohel". Some sign as "ex employee". Admittedly I don’t know any details but let me say this. How is Ohel different from any other Hareidi Mosad? Take any Jewish organization today and you will find the lack of financial transparency and accountability, nepotism, incompetence and manipulation.

Perhaps Ohel is more severe because they deal with children but so is every Jewish School that operates in the fashion described in the preceding paragraph. This situation will not change because of the lack of leadership or because of leadership that is sitting at the top of the corrupt pyramid. Could it be that perhaps Ohel is a particular case of a general issue?

Finally I don’t see any of you who demand I spent my time on this making any significant contribution to the mentalblog.com fundraiser.

Concerned Jew comments to mentalblog.com: Moshe Kanovsky reporting:

Ohel was started in Boro Park Brooklyn in the late 1960's. It started out with foster care, the idea at first was that religious Jewish kids should be able to be placed in an environment in accordance with their religious backgrounds. This was reflected in their original name, Ohel Children's Home. For years it was a relatively small operation, however, in recent years, it has grown by leaps and bounds and become a conglomerate. They also moved far beyond their original mandate, getting into hot areas like counseling after Sept. 11 with government grants as well as sexual abuse. David Mandel has been exec. Director for the last number of years during this explosive growth. Ohel has moved into a big new fancy building in BP and altered its name to reflect its move to become a supermarket of various types of social services, beyond just foster care.
They have become a big employer as well; it's not just local people that work for them these days. While originally focused in the BP area, they (along with their Beis Ezra affiliate) subsequently moved out and made homes in various parts of NYC. Now they are trying to go even further, spreading their wings in a limited way to places like FL and CA.

There have been disagreements over the years in Ohel, strong ones I have heard (not necessarily uncommon in life) and some people who were previously heavily involved left and started their own or joined similar outfits. For example, there are also the Mishkon and Women's League organizations in that area of NY that serve the same constituency. However, Ohel has grown a lot bigger than them and has tried to transform itself into a prestigious charitable cause making concerts, fancy dinners and golf outings and more.

From my observation and from things I have heard, I think it's high time they came under some scrutiny. People should know if the reality of what they are doing matches all the hype and PR they are churning out.