Isaac Hersh trapped in Tranquility Bay, Jamaica

LAWSUIT - VIOLATION OF DUTY TO PROTECT A MINOR,
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION, MEDICAL NEGLECT, CHILD ABUSE

                  This lawsuit alleges a minor child, Isaac Hersh, was forcefully and against his will taken to a facility for
                  troubled youth, Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. Because of documented cases of abuse at Tranquility Bay,
                  and because of the forceful nature in which the boy disappeared, his community actively sought to assist
                  in his rescue.

                  The Law Offices of Joshua M. Ambush located in Baltimore, Maryland, filed the Complaint on behalf of
                  the Washington Center for Peace and Justice on March 19, 2008, and against the parents and the
                  State Department.

                  This was a novel approach that worked. Mr. Ambush indicated he did not sue WWASPS, as has been
                  done in the past. The focus of this suit was to force the State Department to do everything they are
                  mandated by law to do in order to protect abused minor children abroad.

Read the Complaint and the Motion to Dismiss below. After the suit was filed, the State Department took
action and Isaac was released. The case was subsequently dismissed.

A Brooklyn teen banished to a behavior boot camp in Jamaica by his family - sparking an internal battle among ultra-Orthodox Jews - is back in the United States after a showdown on the island nation.

Isaac Hersh, 16, landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey Friday after his father was persuaded to let him leave Tranquility Bay, a private reform school.

"Relieved is not the word," said Zvi Gluck, a Queens financial worker. "The entire way home he was describing the atrocities that were happening there."

Gluck was one of a handful of Orthodox men who jetted to Jamaica on Wednesday to try to fetch the teen and was briefly detained until Isaac's father agreed to his release.

The ending capped a dramatic week when some members of Isaac's tight-knit community took the unusual step of publicizing his case.

The teen, who had been living with an Orthodox Texas family in an informal foster situation, had been brought back to Brooklyn by his parents last June and then shipped off to Tranquility Bay.

The family that had been caring for Isaac had no idea where he was until about three weeks ago - and became worried that he was living in a facility that has been accused of abuse.

Isaac told Gluck and others that he was beaten and forced to lie on a mat with his hands and feet tied as punishment for minor infractions.

The story so divided the religious community that Isaac's father, Michael Hersh, was forced to take a leave of absence from his job as CEO of Hatzalah, the large, Brooklyn-based volunteer ambulance corps. Hersh's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Friends of the Hersh family described Isaac as a troubled son who had clashed with his parents for years. Others described him as a normal teen. He is living in an undisclosed location while custody arrangements are worked out.

I do not usually report the news here but rather comment on it. But I am making an exception in this case because the news is very good.

Vos Iz Neias has reported that 16 year old Issac Hersh has been rescued from his ‘imprisonment’ and torture at Tranquility Bay. He arrived in New York this morning at 7:00 AM EDT. Thank God his ordeal is over. Rabbis Shmuel Kaminetsky and Dovid Feinstein deserve tremendous thanks for their efforts in securing his release. For more details - see VIN news (below).

New York - VIN News reported a few days ago about Issac Hersh son of the CEO of Hatzalah in Brooklyn, New York, who was held since Jun 2007 in a Jamaican boot camp notorious for abuse and harsh conditions. the story enraged many yiddin around the world who offered their help, including 1000's of our readers.

We can now report that Isaac just landed this morning at 7:00 AM in N.Y. after a group of 'choshvia askonim' got involved to rescue him, and flew down to Jamaica to work out all details to get him out, and bring him back to be in the care of a foster family.

VIN news has also confirmed, that Isaac was physically abused, and assaulted while staying in this gulag camp, his condition came to light only after another non Jewish boy that was released a few weeks ago from the same camp, contacted the twin brother of Isaac to beg him to rescue his brother, because he is being beaten in the camp, and his mantal health is deteriorating.

The askonim involved in this big mitzvah are, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (executive director of the Torah Outreach Research Center of Houston), Rabbi Avraham Wolbe (Monsey, NY), Dr. David Pelcovitz (Yeshiva University) and Mr. Zvi Gluck (Hatzalah of NY).

Isaac Klein [Far Rockaway NY] a political activist who was involved with Sen. Clinton and her staff to help in this major effort to go smooth.

And a special recognition to R' Yosef Shereshevsky from Norfolk Virgina, COO of Wextrust Capital, for financing this operation and providing the private Jet.

And the Rabonim that need to be recognized are, Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky.

U/D 9:00 AM VIN News has confirmed with an executive member of Hatzaloh,that due to the currant situation Mr. Hersh is on leave of absence from the their Organization.

Custody Case Over Son Of Hatzalah Executive Suit alleges 16-year-old ‘being abused’ at Jamaica facility

By Stewart Ain
NY Jewish Week
March 26, 2008

A bitter custody case centered on a controversial rehabilitation center in Jamaica for troubled youth has embroiled the U.S. State Department, Israel and the CEO of the Hatzalah Volunteer Ambulance Corps here.

At the center of the controversy is Isaac Hersh, 16, who, according to a federal lawsuit, was handcuffed and forcibly dragged from his parents’ Brooklyn home at 5 a.m. on June 13 by two burly men. He was then taken to a school in Jamaica called Tranquility Bay.

The suit, filed by the Washington Center for Peace and Justice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting victims of injustice, alleges that an eyewitness at the facility saw Hersh “being abused by the staff.” The suit claims that there have been “numerous” other documented cases of abuse of youths there.

A former associate of the school, Ken Kay, called the allegations “ludicro us.”

The suit alleges that the “health and safety” of Hersh are in jeopardy and it seeks to compel the State Department to visit him and render him medical care. Named as defendants are the State Department and the teen’s parents, Michael and Miriam Hersh. The former has been the CEO of Chevra Hatzalah Volunteer Ambulance Corps for the past five months.

Meanwhile, the boy’s aunt and uncle, Rosa and Elliott Greher of Silver Spring, Md., are in Brooklyn Family Court seeking to wrest custody of the teen from his parents. In the same court, the youngster’s grandparents, Rafael and Rifka Cohen of Queens, are seeking visitation rights. A May 28 trial is scheduled.

“My only interest is the well-being of Isaac Hersh,” said Rafael Cohen. “I have no involvement in the federal suit.”

He said the custody case was begun “after the parents were willing to voluntarily relinquish custody.” He declined to say what changed their minds.

Asked what would happen if the judge revokes the parents’ custody since U.S. court rulings are unenforceable in Jamaica, Cohen said: “We will have to cross that bridge as we come to it.”

His lawyer, Leah Shedlo, said the Cohens have not spoken with Isaac for about two years. Asked about reports that Isaac has sent a letter home saying he was fine and being treated well, she said she understood that the “children are required to send these letters home. I have spoken with some [former] students and they confirmed it.”

Shedlo said also that Isaac’s court-appointed guardian had not spoken with him as of the last court date in January.

David Shipper, the attorney for Chevra Hatzalah, said his organization is “carefully monitoring” the two court cases, “taking into account the seriousness of the allegations.”

The federal suit contends that Michael Hersh was charged with child abuse by Israeli authorities while the family was living there several years ago. It was alleged that Hersh forced Isaac and his twin brother Shlomo to take medicine without a prescription. The drug was designed “to control them,” the suit said, adding that the family then “abruptly returned to New York.”

Ken Kay, president of the now defunct Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, said that until two years ago his organization had provided services to Tranquility Bay and that his son used to be its director. He denied that youngsters there are abused.

“They are there because they do not function well and have been in life-threatening situations,” he said. “It is a facility that is highly structured because the kids have lax structure.”

Asked about the complaints of abuse posted on the Web by former students, Kay said: “Those who don’t complete the program continue to be angry and mean. ... This is a character-building program accredited by the Northwestern Association of Accredited Schools.”

He said Jamaican officials and representatives from the American consulate “regularly visit and if there was abuse there, they would have reported it. ... I’m very comfortable with Tranquility Bay. I think it’s a good school.”

Brooklyn, NY - CEO of Hatzolah's Teen In Gulag Camp, Embroil's Siblings, And Community

Brooklyn, NY - A battle has erupted in the Orthodox Jewish community over a Brooklyn teenager sent by his prominent family to a behavior boot camp accused of terrifying abuse.

Isaac Hersh, 16, has been trapped since last summer at Tranquility Bay, a reform school on the island of Jamaica with a soothing name - and harsh discipline, according to the lawyer hired to try to get him out.

"It's a modern-day concentration camp," said Maryland lawyer Joshua Ambush.

Isaac's estranged parents sent him to the boot camp last year after luring him back to Brooklyn from his new home in Texas, court papers claim.

Isaac's twin brother, Sol, is panicked he's next to go. "He's very worried about his brother. He's very worried about himself, too," said a friend of the family who asked to remain anonymous.

Tranquility Bay offers the promise of turning bad boys into focused achievers, but the walled-off camp with barred windows has been called a nightmare.

Children have been beaten, forced to eat their vomit and made to stand in painful contortions for hours, according to a separate suit filed in Utah by former students against private boot camps, including Tranquility Bay.

The case has so riled up members of the normally insular Orthodox community that several are taking the rare step of publicizing Isaac's situation.

On onee side is Isaac's informal Texas foster family, who are also Orthodox, and their supporters, who prompted a nonprofit to file suit in Washington last week on Isaac's behalf.

They claim he was lured to Brooklyn with the promise of a job, handcuffed and thrown into a van that took him to the boot camp as he cried and begged to be released, the suit says.

On the other side are the teen's father, Michael Hersh - CEO of Brooklyn's huge Orthodox volunteer ambulance service, Hatzalah - and his wife, Miriam.

"Hatzalah will carefully monitor these proceedings, taking into account the seriousness of the allegations," the organization said in a statement.

The couple has a prominent supporter in Rabbi Aaron Schecter, head of Brooklyn's tight-knit Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, according to the suit.It is unclear what prompted the parents to send Isaac to another country.

They had a troubled relationship for years, according to the suit.
Isaac, one of eight children, was sent to schools in Virginia and Long Island before the family moved to Israel in 2002, where the parents were accused of abusing Isaac, the suit says.

From there, the boys went to live with families in Texas, although the parents never lost custody.

"They're healthy, good, normal teenage boys," said the family friend. [nydailynews]

A web site to save Isaac has been set up

Jewish family sues Jamaican reform school for troubled teens