Sunday, March 25, 2007

Is This Pinchas Shapiro The Same?

Relating to the WJC contretemps, I have a question about the identity of one Pinchas Shapiro.

Here's one Pinchas Shapiro:-

The source quoted by ynetnews personally attacked the President, doubting his mental faculties, and accusing him of nepotism. "Edgar Bronfman is basically senile. He has one good day and two bad days. He is no longer capable of running organization. He announced: I'm president and I'll step down whenever I feel like it," the source said. "That means, he'll step down only when his son, Mathew, is ready to take power. Mathew does not have experience," the source said, adding: "What are we, Mubarak? Assad? The guy's president for 27 years, then he puts his son in. It doesn't look good."

To Bronfman's defense came Pinchas Shapiro, of the WJC's US branching, saying that the Israeli's comments were " based upon the worst kind of personal politics I have ever witnessed. Mr. Bronfman is far from senile. I personally have met with him several times this week, he is lucid and physically fit. Rumors about his so-called failing health are false and are simply disgusting. They are part of a political campaign to divert attention from the fact that the Israeli Branch and its former director were in severe violation of their fiduciary responsibilities," Shapiro added. He described the source's statements as "scurrilous and false allegations," adding that they were "offensive and are the last attempts of those people have done things wrong to divert attention from themselves and throw it on someone else. Ultimately, they are responsible for what has happened."

Shapiro went on the attack against the Israeli leadership. "The WJC uncovered significant financial irregularities at the WJC Israel Branch and Institute. There was an extensive 20-month cover-up of the wrongdoing by those involved and now it has been ended," Shapiro said, adding: "WJC grants to the Branch have been suspended and the misappropriated money has been ordered to be returned. Mr. Bronfman insisted that the WJC stand for integrity and the Steering Committee supported his call."

"Had the Branch come in, cleaned up the financial irregularities and complied with all the laws, regulations, policies and procedures, none of this would have happened," Shapiro added. "The fact is that they didn't because they were covering up improper financial behavior. Standing for integrity, the WJC acted morally, legally and properly to stop their improper financial behavior," he said. Shapiro also dismissed objections to Singer's firing: "Mr. Singer was an employee of the WJC, he can be fired or resign, just as I can be fired or resign."


Here's another:-

In the fall of last year, Bronfman began pushing for his son to succeed him as president of the WJC. There was talk of Matthew Bronfman being elected at a June meeting, but opposition to his candidacy mounted swiftly. E-mails from WJC headquarters suggest that two Bronfman family loyalists — the organization’s secretary general, Stephen Herbits, and its deputy secretary general, Pinchas Shapiro — suspected Singer of working with those who opposed the younger Bronfman.

In a curt e-mail just a few days before Singer’s firing, Shapiro asked Singer: “I thought you were supporting Matthew for June?”

The tension was heightened by a feud between the WJC’s New York headquarters and the Israeli branch. Singer was chastised for not joining in against the Israelis. In a February e-mail to Singer, Shapiro said: “Though I know we were once on the same side and working together, your opposition to [Matthew Bronfman’s] candidacy (saying one thing to him and his father and another thing to other people) and your position in the Israel fiasco has simply raised doubts in my mind about just what side you are on.”

In his responses to Shapiro’s messages, Singer stated that he was supporting Bronfman, but also insisted that he wanted to stay out of the internal politics. In one e-mail, Singer says he told New York headquarters “that I was not looking forward to more fighting and that I really wanted out of this as soon as possible.”

...The recent e-mails suggest that the Bronfman-Singer pairing is not the only casualty of the recent fights. The author of most of the e-mails, Shapiro, is a man in his 20s who was hired into the WJC by Singer and has often been described as Singer’s protégé and assistant. In their e-mail exchange, though, any good will appears to slip into the past tense.

“You might remember that before you and those around decided that I was your enemy, we worked pretty well together,” Shapiro wrote in one e-mail to Singer.

Singer wrote to Shapiro in desperation: “Why are you doing this to me too? Please, please tell me why?”


And here's yet anothe Pinchas Shapiro:-

Early Wednesday morning, the governing board of The Commentator elected Commie News Editor Shmuli Singer and Yeshiva College Student Council President and former Commie Executive Editor Pinky Shapiro co-Editors-in-Chief for Volume 66. Yehuda Kraut, current Copy Editor, will rise to the post of Managing Editor. Rounding out the Governing Board will be Yehuda Shmidman, the current layout Editor, who will be shouldering the responsibilities of Executive Editor in addition to his layout duties. In a return to tradition abandoned this past year, two people will share the helm of this newspaper.

...Pinchas Shapiro is a 5'4, 130 lbs, blond hair, blue-eyed Yeshiva College student, double majoring in Speech and Political Science and minoring in Writing. He immensely enjoys politics and "cumbersome intellectual hairsplitting with an emphasis on expounded elucidation."

A native of Jackson Heights, Queens, and current resident of North Woodmere, Long Island, Shapiro began his Yeshiva 'early admissions' academic career in 1997, after leaving Yeshiva Tiferet Torah prematurely. "It was an equally amenable situation for both me and YTT because they wanted me to leave and I left," recounts the nascent Editor.

Shapiro, in addition to being Freshman Class President and President of the Debate Society, joined his predecessors Noah Streit and "Pappa" Kahn as a Commentator staff member in 1997, during his debuting semester on campus. He also quickly befriended Editor Emeritus Alex "Gus" Traiman. The following year Shapiro "took a year off from [his] extra curricular activities" and traveled to the Holy Land to learn at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh.

"Shmuli and I hope to see The Commentator continue to exist in the mainstream while fully representing the diverse student body and their opinions. We further plan to build a complete administrative structure, that will allow the newspaper to function successfully long past our tenures," pontificated Shapiro.


Since Shapiro graduated in 2002, he could be the same.

Anyone know for sure?

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UPDATE Mar. 26

Yisrael - Yes, same guy.
keep it good,
Steven I. Weiss

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

same guy. looks like he worked with more than one singer. i wonder how that one worked out.

Anonymous said...

Same guy. He was singer's best friend at YU and his father brought him into the WJC right out of college. I guess Bronfman's billions swayed his loyalties.