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185 posts from February 2010

February 19, 2010: Haredi Rabbis Endorse "Personal Mehitza"
Comments: 66 | Categories: Haredim , Women & Judaism
Haredi airline passengers are being advised to hang a new type of mehitza – a halachic barrier to separate the sexes – around the top of their airplane seats, to shield their eyes from immodest neighbors and in-flight movies. New...

February 19, 2010: Balkany Free On $250,000 Bail
Comments: 21 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
"Seven or eight years ago, I was accused of wrongdoing. The government had to back off then," Balkany said after a hearing late Thursday. "This thing is much more ridiculous." Brooklyn School Dean Charged With Trying To Extort $4 Million...

February 19, 2010: Escape From The Haredim
Comments: 44 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Skepticism & Former Haredim
The community of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel is half a million strong and growing. They live in a parallel universe cut off from the modern world in tight-knit communities where everything revolves around religion. Only a few dare to abandon...

February 18, 2010: BREAKING! RUBASHKIN BROTHER-IN-LAW RABBI MILTON YEHOSHUA BALKANY ARRESTED FOR EXTORTION. WIRE FRAUD, BLACKMAIL AND MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS
Comments: 16 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
Aaron Rubashkin's son-in-law, the "Brooklyn Bundler," busted. Download Balkany, Milton Complaint Download Balkany, Milton Arrest PR Balkany Index.

February 18, 2010: Is Jorge Puello Jewish?
Comments: 60 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Current Affairs
The answer is… …definitely yes, if this letter is authentic. But it apparently is not: UPDATE 8 PM CST – I finally reached Rabbi Orenstein. He told me he did write a letter saying Puello had been a member in...

February 18, 2010: Police To Investigate Elon Sex Abuse
Comments: 8 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
The police decided on Thursday to probe sexual harassment charges against Rabbi Mordechai Elon originally submitted to the Takana forum, the Religious Zionist body charged with handling cases of sexual abuse among the movement's leaders. Police to probe Rabbi Elon...

February 18, 2010: Settler Youth Riot, Attack Army
Comments: 7 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
A senior army commander on Thursday accused settler leaders of losing control of West Bank areas under their control after 30 youths attacked soldiers and border guards, injuring three. IDF commander: Settler leaders 'losing control' to rioting youths Army furious...

February 18, 2010: Haredi Kapparot Operators Leave Unpaid Health Code Fines, Call Health Board "Antisemitic"
Comments: 18 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
The Rockland County Board of Health once again has fined the organizer of a Jewish ritual that involves live chickens for violating the local sanitary code, but if history is a guide, it won't see that money any time soon....

February 18, 2010: Rubashkin Sentencing Set For March
Comments: 10 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
Rubashkin legal team issues call for letters to be presented to judge calling on her to be "merciful" in sentencing. Sentencing Set for March Lawyers for Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin have been advised that the sentencing phase of his trial has...

February 18, 2010: Koren Publishes Ethiopian Haggadah
Comments: 4 | Categories: Books , Ethiopian Jews , Israel
The Haggada introduces Ethiopian customs into the traditional Haggada as it tells the story of the Ethiopian community’s aliya to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s. Koren Publishers – the publisher of the Sacks Sidduer and other iconic religious works...

February 18, 2010: Orthodox Compulsive Disorder
Comments: 30 | Categories: Haredim , Med-Ethics, Public Health , MO & Chardal
‘Mr. A” is a 43-year-old chasidic man who is so afraid to make mistakes in his daily prayers that he cannot bring himself to get out of bed until noon or 1 p.m. Orthodox Compulsive Disorder? by Sharon Udasin •...

February 17, 2010: Kabbalist Rabbi Under Investigation In NYC For Alleged Fraud Has Record In Israel
Comments: 37 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Israel , Sefardim
"Elazar Abuhatzeira is a charlatan, con man and impostor who takes advantage of people's innocence, exploits them and brings to the verge of poverty." U.S. prosecutors probing allegations of fraud against Israeli rabbi By Yanir Yagna and Natasha Mozgovaya •...

February 17, 2010: Elon Had Sex With Male Student During Time Elon Allegedly Told Rabbis His Sexual Problems Were "In The Past"
Comments: 13 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
Rabbi Mordechai Elon had sexual relations with male students, a rabbinical forum that works to prevent sexual abuse in the national-religious sector said. 'Elon had sex with male students' Rabbinical forum: Rabbi Moti Elon admitted to allegation made by more...

February 17, 2010: Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein On The Elon Gay Sex Scandal
Comments: 12 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
"I begged him. I told him, 'You are ruining yourself and ruining your life. With such a glorious future on the way. For what? On the one hand, we thought it was insane. In a few minutes of dubious pleasure...

February 17, 2010: Rubashkin Gets 30 Days In Solitary Confinement
Comments: 30 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
Jail fight lands Rubashkin in solitary. Breaking News: Travesty Continues: Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin Remanded to 30 Days in Solitary Confinement Matzav.com Breaking News: Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin suffered two blows today. As reported, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to...

February 17, 2010: Court Won't Hear Rubashkin Bail Appeal
Comments: 5 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined to hear a petition from Sholom Rubashkin. The court also declined to have a rehearing from a smaller panel of three judges on the same matter. Ex-slaughterhouse boss in Iowa loses...

February 17, 2010: Monsey Kapparot Operator Fined $6,250 By Health Board
Comments: 15 | Categories: Haredim , Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
T his is the third consecutive year Moshe Lefkowitz, of Monsey, has been fined for not properly cleaning up chicken entrails, feces, carcasses, feet and blood in kapparot ceremonies in Monsey. Rockland Health Board fines Monsey chicken ritual organizer $6,250...

February 17, 2010: Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein Says Threatened By Elon's Family
Comments: 8 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
Threat came from Elon relative upset over work of the rabbis who exposed Elon's alleged homosexual sexual harassment. Religious-Zionist rabbi's life threatened for revealing sexual harassment case Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, who is among the religious-Zionist Takana...

February 17, 2010: Gay With Perfect Faith
Comments: 21 | Categories: Halakha , Homophobia and its Discontents , Israel , MO & Chardal
Though Jewish law prohibits sexual relations between men as fundamentally wrong, dozens of prominent rabbis have now decided that the halachic prohibition does not involve negative treatment towards gay members of the religious community. Gay with perfect faith Dozens of...

February 17, 2010: Letter from Tel Aviv: Haredim, Arabs, Pose "Existential Threats" To Israel
Comments: 12 | Categories: Haredim , Israel
Israel is in the midst of an unprecedented social change that, unlike in the past, stems from internal developments rather than from a wave of immigration. A different, multicultural society is developing here - a trinational state of secular Jews,...

February 17, 2010: Chabad Developer Faces Possible 12 Years In Federal Prison
Comments: 6 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim
Brooklyn developer Eliyahu Ezagui found guilty of stealing $18M from Hasidic families and banks. Brooklyn developer Eliyahu Ezagui found guilty of stealing $18M from Hasidic families BY JOHN MARZULLI AND WILLIAM SHERMAN • New York DAILY NEWS A ambitious Brooklyn...

February 17, 2010: "Sit Shiva" For Your Lesbian Child, Rabbi Says
Comments: 38 | Categories: Homophobia and its Discontents , Israel , MO & Chardal
"You want legitimacy for your world? There's (also) my world. The world of the primitive, of Menachem Froman, who is a proud primitive." Rabbi says parents of lesbian should 'sit shiva' Rabbi Menachem Froman of Tekoa addresses religious lesbian young...

February 17, 2010: Rabbis: Elon In An "Ongoing Sexual Relationship" With Young Man He Was Counseling
Comments: 10 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
More allegations of clergy abuse and gay sexual relations against Rabbi Mordechai Elon surface. Takana forum: Rabbi Elon held ongoing sexual relations Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet Rabbi Mordechai (Motty) Elon was in a relationship of a clearly sexual nature for...

February 16, 2010: Attorney General Told Cops In 2006 Not To Charge Rabbi Elon
Comments: 3 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
Victim refused to testify against Elon in a criminal trial. so AG told cops not to charge Elon. Mazuz told police in 2006: No charges against Rabbi Elon By Tomer Zarchin • Ha'aretz Police were informed about alleged misconduct by...

February 16, 2010: Bnei Brak Israel's "Capital Of Pedophilia," Advocate Claims
Comments: 22 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Israel , Pedophilia & Related Crimes
Advocate: Haredi communities provide safe haven for pedophiles because rabbis won't let victims call police. Yitzhak Kadman, head of Israel's National Council for the Child, created a stir in Israel yesterday when he labeled haredi city Bnei Brak as the...

February 16, 2010: Rabbis Mull ‘Bill of Rights’ For Kashrut Inspectors
Comments: 4 | Categories: Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal
At a conference next week in Dallas, representatives of Orthodox regional rabbinical councils, known as vaadim, will discuss adoption of what some have termed a bill of rights for kosher certifiers, or mashgichim, that was proposed at last year’s conference....

February 16, 2010: Jorge Puello Charged In US For Immigrant Smuggling
Comments: 24 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Current Affairs
Jorge Puello confirms he was indicted in Vermont in 2003 in an immigrant smuggling ring. He fled to Canada to escape the charges, but says he is innocent. Ex-adviser to detained Americans charged in US SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic —...

February 16, 2010: Chabad Developer Convicted On Multiple Fraud Counts
Comments: 20 | Categories: Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc.
Eliyahu Ezagui's victims were also Chabadniks. From CrownHeights.info: Developer Eliyahu Ezagui was convicted less then an hour ago of multiple counts of mortgage fraud, stemming from two of his Crown Heights Developments, including 770 Lefferts Avenue and the building on...

February 16, 2010: Rabbi Rules Against Women's Minyans
Comments: 18 | Categories: Halakha , Israel , MO & Chardal , Women & Judaism
Chief Ramat Gan Rabbi Yaakov Ariel stated that "to begin with, forming a women's prayer quorum is "against the Halacha," and accused the participating women of withdrawing from society on the basis of "social and feminist considerations." Rabbi rules against...

February 16, 2010: New Haredi Music Video Blurs Out Faces And Bodies Of Women
Comments: 35 | Categories: Haredim , Women & Judaism
Haredi anti-woman censorship continues. Blurring starts at about 2:15. [Hat Tip: Critical Minyan.]

February 16, 2010: Anti-Tropper Kol Koreh, Tropper's New Public Letters Announcing His Resignation From His Yeshiva
Comments: 15 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim
Rabbis v. Tropper, the documents, round 1. [Hat Tip: HaNavon.]

February 16, 2010: Jorge Puello's Judaism
Comments: 59 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Current Affairs
Puello lived openly as an Orthodox Jew, did outreach to benei anusim, descendants of colonial Jews and Jews who fled the Inquisition, and indeed launched a large congregation. Excerpted from the Daily Bastardette: …In Fall 2007, The Society for Crypto...

February 16, 2010: Denial: Rabbis Flock To Defend Rabbi Accused Of Sexually Harassing Young Men
Comments: 11 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
While victims spoke of semi-nude hugs and touching, the rabbi's rabbinic supporters spoke of "fatherly" hugs. New victims also surface. Show of support in Migdal: We believe in Rabbi Elon Dozens of supporters, students, and rabbis from around country flood...

February 16, 2010: Jewish Anti-Gay Activist Convicted Felon And Swindler Hiding His Past, Report Says
Comments: 15 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Homophobia and its Discontents
Arthur Abba Goldberg, the founder of JONAH, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, has several felony convictions for fraud and was the mastermind of a scheme that defrauded poor communities out of hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the...

February 16, 2010: Letter from Tel Aviv: Haredi Political Parties Are Israel's Greatest Enemies
Comments: 17 | Categories: Haredim , Israel
Judaism belongs just as much to the secular as it does to the Haredim. Ultra-Orthodox parties are Judaism's greatest enemies By Shahar Ilan • Ha'aretz The most significant statement made by opposition leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) in a long time...

February 16, 2010: Rabbi Runs NYC Kabbalah "Con"
Comments: 25 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Sefardim
The Brooklyn DA is investigating whether a shadowy, Israel-based kabbalist rabbi, a grandson of the Baba Sali, bilked vulnerable New York Jews out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by offering divine promises for cash. Rabbi runs a Kabbalah 'con'...

February 16, 2010: World's Longest Chained Agunah Now Free
Comments: 17 |
Woman unable to marry for 48 years by husband who refused to give his wife a religious divorce. Longest ‘chained wife’ freed after husband’s death Susan Zinkin and Israel Errol Elias divorced in 1962, but he refused to give her...

February 16, 2010: Sex And Abuse Of Power Scandal: Tropper Resigns From Yeshiva, Agrees To Move Out Of Monsey
Comments: 10 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim
In order to "forestall the consequences of severe Rabbinic censure" Rabbi Leib Trooper finally gives in. The Five Towns Jewish Times reports: …In order to forestall the consequences of severe Rabbinic censure [from the newly convened beit din], one of...

February 16, 2010: Rabbi Accused Of Sexual Harassment Couldn't Be Prosecuted Because Rabbis Would Not Give His Name To Prosecutors
Comments: 7 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
A victim says during private counseling sessions for sexual confusion, they removed their clothing and touched, activities which Rabbi Elon said qualified as "treatment" that would "save him" from sexual urges. Rabbi accused of sexual harassment Religious-Zionist movement says it...

February 15, 2010: Jorge Puello Was Known To The Dominican Jewish Community For Approximately 4 Years
Comments: 9 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim
Jorge Puello began identifying himself as the "newly elected president of the Jewish Communities of Dominican Republic" in a Jewish newsletter and elsewhere even though he was never elected to any such role. Adviser to Americans admits link to Salvador...

February 15, 2010: Rabbi Accused Of Inappropriate Sexual Behavior
Comments: 4 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
A senior forum of rabbis shook up religious Zionist circles yesterday by accusing Rabbi Mordechai Elon of inappropriate sexual behavior. One of the rabbis in the forum said it published the statement "to protect people over whom Rabbi Elon has...

February 15, 2010: India Bomb Not Meant For Chabad, Israel Says
Comments: 4 | Categories: Antisemitism , Chabad , Crime, Litigation, etc.
The bomb attack on a restaurant in Pune, India, not far from a Chabad Jewish center, was not directed at the Chabad house, an Israeli security official said on Monday. Israel official: India bomb attack not intended for Chabad house...

February 15, 2010: On The Lam: Sex Trafficking Charges Causes Adviser To Jailed Americans In Haiti To Run
Comments: 26 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim
Jorge Puello remained at large Monday, and Dominican, Salvadoran and American law enforcement officials are working with Interpol to interview his relatives and search border and immigration records in hopes of finding him. Sex Trafficking Charges Has Adviser to Jailed...

February 15, 2010: Rabbi Motty Elon Removed From Public Life
Comments: 21 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Israel , MO & Chardal
Committee of leading Religious Zionist rabbis apparently removes Elon for sexual misconduct. Motty Elon is the brother of MK Rabbi Benny Elon and the son of former Supreme Court judge Menachem Elon. Ma'ariv's report. Google Translate's 'translation'.

February 15, 2010: Clash At The Kotel
Comments: 23 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Women & Judaism
They called us Nazis: Women's group suffers harassment by haredim irritated by their prayer, song at Western Wall. Women of the Wall: Worshippers called us Nazis Women's group suffers harassment by haredim irritated by their prayer, song at Western Wall...

February 15, 2010: Rabbi Elyashiv Bans Braces For Women
Comments: 118 | Categories: Bans & Censorship , Halakha , Haredim , Israel , Women & Judaism
Orthodontic braces "disqualify" dip in mikveh because they create a "barrier" between person and the water. Braces not allowed in ritual bath Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv's new ruling: Orthodontic braces disqualify dip in mikveh because they create barrier between person, water....

February 15, 2010: Jorge Puello Admits He Is The Man Wanted In El Salvador On Human Trafficking Charges
Comments: 25 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim
Puello's wife has been jailed on those charges since last year. Legal adviser for Americans in Haiti facing his own charges From Karl Penhaul • CNN Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (CNN) -- A Dominican man who is acting as a...

February 14, 2010: Violent Haredi Protests In Jerusalem
Comments: 22 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , Haredim , Israel
Edah Charedit takes to the streets again. Motzei Shabbos Violent Protest in Yerushalayim Yechiel Spira • Yeshiva World News This motzei shabbos violent Hafganos were held in Yerushalayim to protest the arrest of Rabbi Lazar Rothstein at Kever Rashbi last...

February 14, 2010: Lawsuit: Hazzan Stole Charity Dollars From Mother-In-Law
Comments: 57 | Categories: Crime, Litigation, etc. , MO & Chardal , Sefardim
A prominent Manhattan cantor promised to buy an ambulance in Israel on behalf of his Holocaust-survivor mother-in-law -- but instead stole the money through a charity run by Syrian Rabbi Saul Kassin. Cantor's sour note He stole charity $$: suit...

February 14, 2010: Letter from Tel Aviv: Dear Haredim, While You Were Sleeping, Secular Jewish Culture Was Thriving
Comments: 44 | Categories: Haredim , Israel
The Haredi movement is itself a quintessentially modern movement that is only 200 years old and in no way represents "authentic" Judaism. Its raison d'etre, to this day, is to be a reaction against the power of the Enlightenment. Dear...

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