Mort Litwack In Memoriam

In Memory of Morton Litwack, PhD.

On the morning of December 11, 2009, Morton "Mort" Litwack. PhD. passed away peacefully.

We all remember Mort as a unique individual with a vast amount of knowledge and wisdom that befitted his maturity and advanced education. As a lifelong student and teacher, we remember Mort for his ability to reach out and share his wealth of information through his teaching and for his enthusiasm for life. Mort was also an active real estate and securities investor, managing a sizable portfolio.

Maintaining his sense of independence and self-image upon receiving ordination as a minister, Mort insisted on the title "Rabbi" in honor of his heritage and faith.

Mort is survived by his extensive family and those who were equally blessed as his friends, colleagues and students.

VICTORY!

Your rights, our rights and the rights of those in fear of speaking out have been upheld.

We signed a final settlement agreement ending the lawsuit conducted by the Spiritual Rights Foundation, et. al (Angela Silva, Robin Dumolin, ISHI Hypnosis).

This settlement ends the controversy. The Spiritual Rights Foundation, ISHI Hypnosis et. al. (Angela Silva, Robin Dumolin, ISHI Hypnosis) have agreed to stop harassing us in the legal system. In return, we will allow them to post a rebuttal comment - ONE rebuttal comment. This condition of the settlement is laughable. As all of you know, comments here are not moderated and no one has ever been banned.

SRF could have just entered their comment at any time, without having to file an expensive lawsuit.

However, that SRF decided to sue first and comment later proves they continue to display outrageous and unrestrained behavior to achieve even the most insignificant results.

The Spiritual Rights Foundation did not require us to pay money, post retractions, remove certain materials or anything else. They just plain had no legal reason to force anything from us. In fact, they had no legal reason to have conducted legal action in the first place.  However, they were compelled by the court to pay US for all the expenses we incurred for our defense.

Thanks to our brilliant and talented attorney (a First Amendment specialist who is a member of the California First Amendment Coalition who was senior editor of the Yale Law Review and reviewed legislation for Barney Frank), we responded to their complaint by filing a demurrer and anti-SLAPP motion with the court. Those motions argued the SRF complaint was as bogus as it gets and has no legal standing.

They were angry I called them a cult. We had a quote from the Spiritual Rights Foundation's own lawyer saying, in effect: Who gives a damn if you call SRF a cult? So's the Catholic Church.

They said my writings here were false, defamatory and libelous. We showed several articles from the Spiritual Rights Foundation's own newspaper that supported what I wrote here.

We presented SRF-related court cases related to what I write here. We presented a lot of stuff. Most of it was from SRF's own mouth. The stack of documents was a good four inches thick.

SRF did not file with the court a legal response to our motions.

Instead, they offered a settlement showing their true nature: cowardice.

Never again will the Spiritual Rights Foundation obstruct the right of free expression and free association.

This settlement is a victory for those who speak out now and those who would but for fear. We have proved the strength of the First Amendment will vanquish petty tyranny.

And those who will speak out in the future may now feel confident revealing their own experiences and expressing their own thoughts and opinions.

We hope to hear from all of you soon.

Until then, enjoy Joy's Victory Video: