136 posts categorized "Religion"

June 23, 2008: George Carlin: 1937–2008
Comments: 38 | Categories: Religion , Skepticism
George Carlin, perhaps the the seminal standup comedian of the post-Lenny Bruce era, died yesterday of heart failure in a California hospital. He was 71. A very funny man, Carlin was also one of the world's most famous atheists. Below,...

June 4, 2008: Former Chief Rabbi Lau: Tommy Lapid Not Anti-Religion
Comments: 9 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Religion
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, came to the defense of the late Yosef "Tommy" Lapid in Ynet. Lapid, who died early this week, has been vilified by…

May 11, 2008: The Dishonest Right
Comments: 26 | Categories: Chabad , Religion , Skepticism
The Discovery Institute blog has a horrible post attacking Richard Dawkins for calling Shmuley Boteach "Hitler." Is this true?

April 30, 2008: God The Intelligent Crappy Designer
Comments: 90 | Categories: Religion , Science , Torah & Science
…Dr. Ayala, a former Dominican priest, said he told his audiences not just that evolution is a well-corroborated scientific theory, but also that belief in evolution does not rule out belief in God. In fact, he said, evolution “is more...

March 19, 2008: He Didn't Write It – Shakespeare's Plays Written By Jewish Woman, Scholar Claims
Comments: 20 | Categories: Books , Religion
Even I'm upset about this. A scholar has done extensive literary analysis and some major historical digging. What he's found may rock the very foundations of…

February 19, 2008: Hitchens v. Boteach, the complete debate
Comments: 58 | Categories: Religion
[Hat Tip: Ben Chosen.]

February 18, 2008: The Holocaust is a Revalation of the Absence of the Divine
Comments: 48 | Categories: Religion
Israel Prize winner Rabbi David Weiss-Halivni, the former Illui of Sighet, discusses the Holocaust after the jump in the extended post:

February 10, 2008: Rabbi David Weiss-Halivni Wins Israel Prize
Comments: 6 | Categories: Religion
Rabbi David Weiss-Halivni has won the Israel Prize for Talmud. Rabbi Weiss-Halivni is the founder of the Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ) and a former professor at JTS and Columbia. He made aliya in 2005 and now teaches at Hebrew...

February 5, 2008: Shmuley Boteach Attacks Hitchens
Comments: 133 | Categories: Religion
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is a slobbering, slurping. self-promoting fool. He proved that many times over during his 'debate' last week against Christopher Hitchens. Shmuley did so poorly that literally more than a dozen bloggers in attendance, some of whom are...

February 3, 2008: Hitchens v. Boteach
Comments: 25 | Categories: Religion
Christopher Hitchens debated Rabbi Shmuley Boteach at the 92nd Street Y last week. Every report I've seen says Shmuley was, too say the very least…

January 24, 2008: More On "Jewish" DNA: Jon Entine Responds To FailedMessiah.com Critics
Comments: 22 | Categories: Guest Posts , History , Religion , Science
Jon Entine wrote a guest post for us last week on the historical origins of Ashkenazi Jewry. He was sharply criticized by some of you and has written a blistering response to your criticisms, which I have posted after the...

January 17, 2008: Archaeologist hid 'Jesus tomb' for fear of anti-Semitism, widow says
Comments: 62 | Categories: History , Israel , Religion
So maybe my friend Simcha Jacobovici was right after all …

January 16, 2008: GUEST POST: The History of Ashkenazi Jewry through the Prism of DNA
Comments: 28 | Categories: Guest Posts , History , Religion , Science
I promised you a few weeks ago that I would have a post on genetics and Jewish history. A bit delayed, but here it is, from Jon Entine, the author of Abraham's Children – Race, Identity and the DNA of...

December 13, 2007: What is More Important? Saving a Life or Burying a Jew Intact?
Comments: 46 | Categories: Bio-Ethics , Ethics , Haredim , Religion
The Ottawa Citizen reports: …Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who has worked for years as an advocate for organ donation and was recently named chairman of the board of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, says people oppose organ donation, even within...

December 4, 2007: Satmar From The Inside Out
Comments: 22 | Categories: Crime, etc. , Haredim , Pedophilia , Religion
New Voices profiles a Satmar hasid, "Sam," who left Williamsburg at age 19 and, after much hard work and a lot of help from Footsteps, is now a college student in the New York City area. Here's a bit about...

November 28, 2007: Matisyahu Comes Out
Comments: 18 | Categories: Chabad , Matisyahu , Music , Religion
Matisyahu on why he left Chabad: "I need to do Judaism in a way that makes me feel more alive, not less alive." "[Chabad] was about becoming part of this machine and feeling like it was taking away from my...

November 28, 2007: Free Tickets to JVN Event
Comments: 39 | Categories: Religion
The Jewish Values Network has a December 8th event, "Is religion a Blessing or a Curse in America?" Featured speakers are Shmuley Boteach and his protegé Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Missing from the panel is anyone...

November 14, 2007: Child Marriage In Ancient Judaism
Comments: 24 | Categories: Humor , Rabbis & Sex , Religion , Skepticism , Women & Judaism
The Monsey Tzaddik writes in response to a comment from Renee: "The reason that our Rabbis stress the importance of the Oral Law...and Rivka exemplified exceptional modesty as she veiled herself upon seeing Yitzcack (Observance of family laws)." You stupid...

November 14, 2007: Are Jewish Charter Schools A Good Idea?
Comments: 13 | Categories: Religion
Should there be Jewish (i.e., secular Jewish) charter schools in America? Michael Steinhardt says yes: …When there was resistance to the [charter] school in Broward County, where Ben Gamla is located, the school board took the unusual step of hiring...

November 13, 2007: Western Wall Rabbi Blocks Entry Of 13 Catholic Cardinals – Crosses Worn by Catholic Clergy Deemed "Offensive" [Updated Post]
Comments: 29 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Religion
T he AP reports: Thirteen Austrian bishops were barred from praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall last week by Jewish religious authorities when they refused to take off their crosses, according to Austrian officials. On a planned visit on Thursday to...

November 5, 2007: Muslims Who Saved Jews During The Holocaust – New Stories Come To Light
Comments: 9 | Categories: History , Religion
Ynet reports: Tears welling in his eyes, an elderly Holocaust survivor on Thursday embraced the son of the Albanian man who saved him from the Nazi death camps, highlighting an event recognizing the little-known role played by European Muslims in...

November 2, 2007: Racism From Chabad.org and AskMoses.com
Comments: 84 | Categories: Chabad , Religion , Science
It’s in the genes …Marriage in general, even between two people of similar background, entails a certain risk as to eventual adjustment and compatibility. Even if the two have been acquainted for some time there is no sure guarantee as...

October 12, 2007: Is Ann Coulter Antisemitic?
Comments: 31 | Categories: Religion
Ann Coulter was on Donny Deutsch's cable news show last night pimping her new book. Deutch lures Colter into a hypothetical muse about what her ideal world would look like. What she says offends Deutsch. Why? Because Deutsch thinks Colter...

October 3, 2007: Why?
Comments: 19 | Categories: Religion , Skepticism
I've seen hospital and nursing home chaplains from dozens of different religious groups but I've never seen a secular humanist chaplain – why? Are they out there but I just have not seen them? Do humanists not believe in visiting...

September 25, 2007: Should Orthodoxy Be Open To Skeptical Challenge
Comments: 40 | Categories: Religion , Skepticism
Writing in the London Jewish Chronicle, Miriam Shaviv points out the Catholic Church is continuing the process for Mother Theresa's sainthood, even though it is now clear that Mother Theresa had profound doubts about the existence of God. Shaviv notes:...

September 6, 2007: A Quiz To Rock Your Faith
Comments: 39 | Categories: History , Religion
Kings of ancient Egypt wore them. So did the Chofetz Chaim and the late Lubavitcher Rebbe. Rabbi Gil Student wears them. So, perhaps, do you. What are they? Only one man could enter there, in a space so holy that...

September 5, 2007: Chabad Missionizing of Israel's Broadcast Journalists Gets State Aide
Comments: 9 | Categories: Chabad , Chabad & the Media , Israel , Religion
A newly religious Israeli journalist, now a Chabad follower, is evangelizing his government controlled workplace. As might be expected, some of his colleagues object: "It's a scandal. It's forbidden to bring worshipers into a broadcasting facility, especially near the news...

August 18, 2007: The Rebbe – "If you love your father, mother, sister, brother, more than me, you are not worthy of being mine."
Comments: 37 | Categories: Chabad , Chabad & Christianity , Ethics , Religion
1. "If you love your father, mother, sister, brother, more than me, you are not worthy of being mine."* –Jesus, as quoted in Matthew 10:37, speaking in a discourse to 12 disciples as Jesus is sending them out to teach...

August 16, 2007: New Reform Prayer Book Includes Prayer For Resurrection Of The Dead – Prayer Removed 122 Years Ago Returns
Comments: 13 | Categories: Ethics , Religion
The JTA reports: The Reform movement's rabbinic association is set to publish a new siddur, or prayer book. Mishkan T'filah (Sanctuary of Prayer) is 712 pages long and more than a decade in the making. The new prayer book was...

August 16, 2007: An Interfaith Pesak Din From Yours Truly, Part 2
Comments: 5 | Categories: Religion
Tonight, I saw the Ethiopian Christian woman mentioned in this post. If I understood her correctly, she told me that her priest told her to finish the rest of the fast and then make up the complete fast another day....

August 13, 2007: An Interfaith Pesak Din From Yours Truly
Comments: 67 | Categories: Religion
So tonight I'm visiting residents in a nursing home, one I get to several times per week. I know the staff well, and I know dozens of residents. Anyway, the kitchen brings up a snack cart with sandwiches, cookies, chips...

August 10, 2007: Sunday School Increases Intermarriage, Study Claims
Comments: 48 | Categories: Religion
The Jerusalem Post (ineptly) reports: Rather than bolstering the likelihood of students marrying within their race, attending once-a-week Sunday school programs actually slightly increases the chance of intermarriage, according to a newly published study. The research, conducted by Steven M....

August 10, 2007: Kaddish To Be Recited At Catholic Cardinal's Funeral – You Can Take The Jew Out Of Judaism But You Can't Take Judaism Out Of The Jew
Comments: 10 | Categories: Religion
The AP reports: Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, who sought to bring Jews and Catholics together in life, is continuing the mission in death. In a funeral infused with symbolism, Jews will stand in front of the sculpted saints of Notre Dame...

August 7, 2007: Would You Have Answered, "Amen"?
Comments: 14 | Categories: Religion
Ha'aretz reports: One day Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat was invited to attend a lecture on the Holocaust, held in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne University in Paris. The speaker, a member of the Academie Francaise, moved the audience when he spoke...

August 5, 2007: The OU Presses For Feldman's Removal, Times Apology
Comments: 33 | Categories: Media , MO & Chardal , Religion
Here is the Jewish Week report: …Feldman now says of the photo, “In life you can never be sure, and the truth is I never knew any of this until I saw the contact sheets, about two weeks ago. All...

July 30, 2007: Specious Logic From Yeshiva University
Comments: 194 | Categories: MO & Chardal , Religion
Responding to Noah Feldman's piece in the July 22 Sunday New York Times Magazine, Rabbi Shlom Carmy of Yeshiva University writes: …An honest understanding of the Halakha about saving a Gentile on Shabbat is grounded in the fact that not...

July 30, 2007: In Defense Of Noah Feldman And Intermarriage?
Comments: 14 | Categories: Chabad , MO & Chardal , Religion
The most specious comparison I've seen in quite some time comes from Rabbi Shmuely Boteach, written in defense of his friend Noah Feldman: …MANY HAVE written to me that Prof. Feldman's circumstances are different, seeing that he was raised in...

July 23, 2007: Jewcy Interviews Noah Feldman
Comments: 8 | Categories: Blogs , MO & Chardal , Religion
Joey Kurtzman of Jewcy interviews Noah Feldman, whose NY Times Magazine article, The Orthodox Paradox, has generated incredible attention in the Modern Orthodox community – and on this blog, as well.

July 21, 2007: The NY Times: Can Jews Save Non-Jewish Lives On The Sabbath?
Comments: 92 | Categories: Ethics , Haredim , MO & Chardal , Religion
Noah Feldman, a former student of Maimonides yeshiva day school in Brookline, Massachusetts and currently a law professor at Harvard and a adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (and a contributing writer to the New York Times...

June 27, 2007: Messianic Rabbis In The US Military
Comments: 13 | Categories: Chabad , Religion
The US Military's only Messianic Jewish chaplain is profiled here. Long time FailedMessiah reader and military man Brian Kresge notes the potential problems with having a Messianic Jew serve as a chaplain. Does the military consider this chaplain to be...

May 25, 2007: The Pope's Favorite Rabbi
Comments: 4 | Categories: Religion
Guess who?

March 25, 2007: 50 "Most Influential" Rabbis In The US – Chabad's Rabbi Krinsky #2
Comments: 50 | Categories: Chabad , Religion
Newsweek has an insipid listing of the 50 "most influential" rabbis in the US. Number one is the Wiesenthal Center's Marvin Hier. Number 2? Chabad's Yehuda Krinsky, who is described this way: Krinsky has truly built a “shul” on every...

March 22, 2007: Dead Policeman Jewish
Comments: 42 | Categories: Current Affairs , Religion
The body of Auxiliary Police Officer Eugene Marshalik exited the I.J. Morris Funeral Home as police officers stood saluted paying their respects. Police helicopters flew low over the procession. (NY Sun.) Apparently one of the auxilary policemen killed in the...

March 16, 2007: Clinton Whitewater Figure Stands Up For Jews In Prison
Comments: 3 | Categories: Crime, etc. , Religion
The New Jersey Jewish News reports: She made headlines in the 1990s as a business associate of Bill and Hillary Clinton who defied prosecutors investigating the controversial land deal known as Whitewater. She spent two years behind bars in connection...

March 16, 2007: Former RCA Head – "People have a lack of appreciation and think of non-Jews in simplistic ways”
Comments: 19 | Categories: Ethics , MO & Chardal , Religion
A former president of the RCA is taking an important stand on what has become a tough issue in Orthodoxy – how Orthodox Jews view and relate to non-Jews. The New Jersey Jewish News reports: Are yeshiva and day school...

March 11, 2007: “If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.”
Comments: 10 | Categories: Religion
Hershel Shanks has a fascinating interview with four scholars who deal with biblical history and archeology. Shanks wants to know how their scholarship has effected their faith. Two have lost their faith, another compartmentalizes his life to avoid losing his...

February 19, 2007: Strong Questions Of Faith
Comments: 3 | Categories: History , Religion
DovBear asks: Why is the law collection that makes up parshas Mishpatim addressed to people who live in houses, and not tents? Why is the Torah talking to a type of society that hadn't yet come into being? And if...

February 15, 2007: Dead Messiah Receives Awareness Center Page
Comments: 9 | Categories: Religion
He proclaimed himself to be the messiah. He was followed rabidly by throngs of supporters, including major rabbis, worldwide. He died leaving the world unredeemed. His followers still idolize him; some even worship him. And, now, he has an Awareness...

February 4, 2007: Israel's First "Secular Yeshiva" Opens
Comments: 3 | Categories: Israel , Religion
Jewish texts like the the Torah, Talmud and Mishna are studied. What's missing? God, and any idea of commandments. Ynet (briefly) reports.

January 21, 2007: Pelegish Makes A Comeback – In Iraq, With Shites
Comments: 8 | Categories: Religion
The Washington Post reports: Fatima Ali was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school diploma and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him. Ali wanted...

January 16, 2007: Rewriting Judaism Haredi Style
Comments: 28 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Jewish Leadership , Religion
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyahiv, the titular head of Lithuanian haredim, brokered a political deal that made Yona Metzger, an unqualified rabbi without experience as a religious judge and a man who had been censured by the chief rabbinate for behavior...

January 11, 2007: Federal Court Rules Vatican Can Be Sued In Abuse Scandal – Will This Apply To Agudath Israel, Too?
Comments: 4 | Categories: Crime, etc. , Haredim , Pedophilia , Religion
The AP reports: Sex abuse victims can pursue damages from the Vatican in a lawsuit alleging top church officials failed to report known or suspected cases of child abuse, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge...

January 10, 2007: Evangelical Good
Comments: 6 | Categories: Israel , Religion
A Bedouin clan numbering 250 people – 110 of them children – is left homeless by a savage storm in Israel's Negev region. A nearby Arab town gives the Bedouin temporary shelter in a school closed for winter break. But...

January 6, 2007: The Third Temple
Comments: 8 | Categories: Religion
My old friend Chaim Clorfene has constructed scale models of the Third Temple (following the Ramchal's understanding), and has published a book with detailed plans and models. Here's a sample page from the book: He lectures around the world using...

January 4, 2007: It's Official: Harry Potter Is Jewish
Comments: 5 | Categories: Religion
That's right, folks. Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry Potter, is Jewish: …British actor Daniel Radcliffe, best known for playing Harry Potter in the blockbuster movie series, told Australian TV last month that his mother is Jewish. On December...

December 31, 2006: Simon Wiesenthal Baptized By Mormons
Comments: 6 | Categories: Religion
Gary Motokoff of Avotaynu.com reports that the Mormon Church has posthumously baptized Simon Wiesenthal.

December 26, 2006: Dennis Prager Debates Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein About Problems In And Future Of Orthodoxy
Comments: 10 | Categories: Haredim , MO & Chardal , Religion
And this at a conference sponsored by the OU's West Coast division, no less. Luke Ford was there and – unlike Rabbi Adlerstein – has posted audio of Prager's talk, Adlerstein's response, Prager's response, the Q & A, and Prager's...

December 26, 2006: Jewish Week on Jewish Concubines
Comments: 26 | Categories: Blogs , Religion
Plegish.blogspot.com is covered in this brief article from the NY Jewish Week. (It seems the JW misspelled the blog's url. Wonder if this was intentional?) Rabbi Avi Shafran, Agudath Israel's spokesman, says this about pilegish:While conceding that the practice is...

December 24, 2006: Nittlenacht 2006: If Blogs Existed 2000 Years Ago
Comments: 27 | Categories: Blogs , History , Religion
It's often stated that blogs are the modern day equivalent of pamphlets, like those (largely anonymous) pamphlets we know today as the Federalist Papers. I wonder what the world would look like today if blogs and the Internet had existed...

December 17, 2006: Why Judaism Is Illogical
Comments: 21 | Categories: Religion
How illogical is halakha? At first blush, one would say, not very. Halakha is, almost by its very definition, logical. And certainly that was the original intent. Even laws that had no understandable reason, like shatnez, were handled by halakha...

December 12, 2006: Will Chabad Tefillin Stands and Aish Seminars Now Be Illegal?
Comments: 9 | Categories: BTs , Haredim , Israel , Outreach , Religion
The JPost reports: The familiar sight of Chabadniks inviting youths to put on tefillin may suffer a serious setback if a bill proposed by Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines in the Knesset on Monday becomes law. The bill would prevent adults...

December 11, 2006: The Rabbinic Law Of Unintended Consequences
Comments: 7 | Categories: MO & Chardal , Religion
Rabbis are – and always were – human beings. They have no special powers and had none. Some are honest, some self-serving, some are criminals and some are saints – as it always has been. Haaretz documents this in a...

December 6, 2006: Conservative Rabbis Vote To Ordain Homosexuals
Comments: 30 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
The Conservative Movement has voted to ordain gays. The Union of Traditional Judaism, the more traditional offshoot of the Conservative Movement, responds (via email, so no link): "The Conservative Movement's decision to issue contradictory opinions on homosexual behavior should confuse...

November 20, 2006: Farbrengen, Crown Heights, 770
Comments: 8 | Categories: BTs , Poetry , Religion

November 13, 2006: VeggieJews: Why Hyphenated Judaism Fails Every Time
Comments: 32 | Categories: Religion
I got banned from the Yahoo VeggiJews list today. Why? The list is populated and controled by extreme vegans. One of them wanted non-leather tefillin. In an exchange, I pointed out that, by definition tefillin must be made of leather....

November 5, 2006: Obsession
Comments: 1 | Categories: Current Affairs , Israel , Religion
Aish.com has posted a 12 minute abridged version of Obsession, the award-winning documentary on Islamic terror. If you missed the full version on Fox News last night, check out this short version. You can also buy the full documentary and...

November 2, 2006: Brooklyn Hate Crime: Gang of Jews Attack Lone Pakistani
Comments: 3 | Categories: Crime, etc. , Religion
ABC NY reports: Police are calling it a vicious hate crime. The victim is Pakistani and his alleged attackers are a group of Jewish teenagers. The victim is at Bellevue Hospital where he is recovering. He tells us the doctors...

November 1, 2006: Unintelligent Editing
Comments: 7 | Categories: BTs , Religion
Ba'al Teshuvas Anonymous is back after a long hiatus with a new post , Unintelligent Editing: …Have you ever noticed that Yahweh (or sometimes Elohim, depending on the tribe of the author of a particular posuk) spends loads of precious...

October 31, 2006: "Religion is the opiate of the masses… In low doses it is tonic. In overdoses, it is toxic."
Comments: 28 | Categories: Religion
Most quotable comment ever left on this blog: "Religion is the opiate of the masses (including me). In low doses it is tonic. In overdoses, it is toxic." Yochanan Lavie I would make it read like this: "Religion truly is...

October 31, 2006: Morality May Be Genetic, Not "God-Based"
Comments: 7 | Categories: Haredim , Religion
The NYTimes reports: … Marc D. Hauser, a Harvard biologist, has built on this idea to propose that people are born with a moral grammar wired into their neural circuits by evolution. In a new book, “Moral Minds” (HarperCollins 2006),...

October 29, 2006: How Frum Is The Reform Movement? More Than Most of You Think
Comments: 30 | Categories: Kosher Business? , Kosher Scandal , Religion
Sue Fishkoff writes for JTA: … According to two recent studies, more Reform Jews are putting their mouths where their values are. In a 2000 survey that was never published, 344 congregations — about half the movement’s affiliates — showed...

October 27, 2006: Brazil's Crypto-Jews Seek To Return
Comments: 14 | Categories: Ethiopian Jews , History , Religion
Ynet has an interesting article on Brazil's Crypto-Jews, descendants of Marranos who in some cases have always married within their extended family. Some of these hidden Jews are now seeking to return to full Jewish practice. And interesting point to...

October 26, 2006: A Lesson In Kindness
Comments: 18 | Categories: BTs , Haredim , Jewish Leadership , MO & Chardal , Religion
Many years ago, Rabbi Noach Weinberg, the founder and rosh yeshiva of Aish HaTorah, sought advice on kiruv. He wanted to know how to attract and retain potential ba'alei teshuva (BTs). So, on a visit to the States he made...

October 25, 2006: Shas MK to Reform: Keep Walking On Water
Comments: 11 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Religion
…The minister in charge of the Religious Affairs, MK Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) said in response to the petition: "Conversions of reform and conservative organizations are virtual conversions, and they deserve to immerse in a virtual immersion. This is a vexing...

October 20, 2006: Haredim: We Failed in Lebanon Because of Gays and Lesbians
Comments: 29 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Religion
Ynet reports: …Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, the head of the Eda Haredit rabbinic court, said during the rally, “We did not succeed in Lebanon due to the obscenity and promiscuity in the Holy Land.” The rabbi quoted Rabbi [Elchanan] Wasserman [whose...

October 20, 2006: Ethiopian Jews Complain of Missionary Activity by Falash Mura
Comments: 16 | Categories: Chabad & EJs , Ethiopian Jews , Israel , Religion
Ethiopian Jewish leaders have told me for years that many missionaries were coming to Israel with the Falash Mura and were now actively trying to convert Ethiopian Jews in Israel. The story has finally made the papers in Israel: Spiritual...

October 17, 2006: Iraqi Christians Face Increasing Persecution Because Of Pope's Remarks
Comments: 4 | Categories: Current Affairs , Religion
The New York Times reports: The blackened shells of five cars still sit in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary here, stark reminders of a bomb blast that killed two people after a recent Sunday Mass. In the...

October 4, 2006: The Soul Of An Artist
Comments: 1 | Categories: History , Religion
The story behind this Maurycy Gottlieb painting of a shul on Yom Kippur is fascinating. (Here's a link to a much larger pic of the painting.) The painting is held at the Tel Aviv Museum. Its website notes: The painting...

October 3, 2006: The Fight Over The Kotel HaKatan
Comments: 0 | Categories: Israel , Religion
Ha'aretz provides a recap and background.

September 29, 2006: Rabbi Gil Student and the Atheist
Comments: 10 | Categories: Blogs , Books , Haredim , Oorah Kars4Kids , Outreach , Religion
Rabbi Gil Student notes that he refused to run an ad for Sam Harris's new atheist book, and that refusal made yesterday's Wall Street Journal as part of an article on the book's promotion. Harris is a strong spokesman for...

September 28, 2006: Kapparot Chickens Treife?
Comments: 9 | Categories: Kosher Scandal , MO & Chardal , Religion
There is mention of an interesting halakhic ruling in an otherwise pedestrian Ynet article about abuses surrounding the practice of kapparot – the pagan ritual of waving a chicken over ones head to symbolically cast ones sins into the chicken,...

September 28, 2006: Talit, Kippa Sales Skyrocket
Comments: 0 | Categories: Israel , Religion
Out with the old, in with the new? Ynet reports: According to Textile and Fashion Industries Association data, sales of locally manufactured kippas ahead of Yom Kippur have risen by as much as 25 percent compared to the yearly average...

September 28, 2006: Rav Shach: Democracy = Cancer
Comments: 9 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Religion
…In effect, democracy does not interest the ultra-Orthodox as an issue that is important as a matter of principle, because in their world only Torah values exist. Therefore, Rabbi [Eliezer] Shach* also only refers to democracy in passing in several...

September 26, 2006: They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore
Comments: 3 | Categories: Current Affairs , Religion
Kinky Friedman at left with cigar. Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura at right with what appears to be an Iron Cross and a samurai goatee. The AP reports: With political soul mate [former professional wrestler and Minnesota governor] Jesse Ventura...

September 22, 2006: L'Shana Tova U'Metuka, Kitiva V'Hatima Tova
Comments: 0 | Categories: History , Religion
In keeping with the Breslov-themed post immediately below, here is a drawing of a Breslover hasid I made many years ago. I just ran across this in what passes for my files. It's not exactly a personalized Rosh HaShana card,...

September 19, 2006: Evangelicals Run Islamic Style Jihad Camps In Midwest
Comments: 8 | Categories: Religion
ABC News reports: An in-your-face documentary out this weekend is raising eyebrows, raising hackles and raising questions about evangelizing to young people. Speaking in tongues, weeping for salvation, praying for an end to abortion and worshipping a picture of President...

September 19, 2006: Worse Than Shidduchim
Comments: 1 | Categories: Religion
And I thought we had it bad. The NY Times reports: Many American Muslims — or at least those bent on maintaining certain conservative traditions — equate anything labeled “dating” with hellfire, no matter how short a time is involved....

September 17, 2006: Modern Orthodox Acting Badly?
Comments: 34 | Categories: MO & Chardal , Religion , Turf Disputes
A town, founded as a resort, has a small Orthodox community. Years pass. Orthodox, mostly modern, from Brooklyn and Far Rockaway move to this former resort town. Soon they become the majority. They use their majority status to take over...

September 11, 2006: 9-11
Comments: 5 | Categories: Crime, etc. , History , Poetry , Religion
Read about the victims here.

September 8, 2006: One Frum Double Entendre Deserves Others
Comments: 3 | Categories: PARODY & SATIRE , Religion
From DailyHalacha.com: The Gemara in Masechet Keritut establishes that "Simana Milta," meaning, the things we do as a promising "Siman" ("sign" or "omen") on Rosh Hashanah are significant and have an impact upon the coming year. Therefore, one should not...

September 8, 2006: A Good Man Gone
Comments: 2 | Categories: Current Affairs , Religion
The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reports the death of the city's mayor, Bob O'Connor: …While thousands of city residents regarded O'Connor as a personal friend, to the Jewish community, he was more like family. "He was truly one of us," said...

September 7, 2006: New Movie Sure To Be Controversial … And Funny
Comments: 0 | Categories: Religion
The New York Times reports: …“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” stars the chameleonlike comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as he impersonates a Kazakh reporter touring the United States, bringing his version of Kazakh culture...

September 7, 2006: Haredim Rule Organic Products Not Kosher
Comments: 26 | Categories: Bans , Bans , Haredim , Haredim , Israel , Israel , Kosher Business? , Kosher Business? , Religion , Religion
A kibbutz adopts the philosophy of Anthroposophy, a cult (or cult-like group) that follows the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, and early 20th century social philosopher and occultist. The kibbutz goes into the organic produce business and is successful. Tnuva then...

September 7, 2006: Haredim Rule Organic Products Not Kosher
Comments: 26 | Categories: Bans , Bans , Haredim , Haredim , Israel , Israel , Kosher Business? , Kosher Business? , Religion , Religion
A kibbutz adopts the philosophy of Anthroposophy, a cult (or cult-like group) that follows the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, and early 20th century social philosopher and occultist. The kibbutz goes into the organic produce business and is successful. Tnuva then...

September 6, 2006: A Dying Religion A Lot Like Ours
Comments: 12 | Categories: History , Religion
Viraf Darukhanawalla wore a sacred cord, [i.e., a gartel] or kushti, at the ceremony. The New York Times has a feature article and an interesting slideshow on a dying religion. Note the similarities to Judaism: …“We were once at least...

August 27, 2006: Jackie Mason Sues Jews For Jesus
Comments: 1 | Categories: Religion
The New York Times reports: …The pamphlet that incensed Mr. Mason had a drawing of Mr. Mason on the cover, with the headline, “Jackie Mason ... A Jew for Jesus!?” Before the pamphlet mentions the evangelical group, it says, “Jackie’s...

August 16, 2006: The Rabbi Slifkin Controversy Returns
Comments: 6 | Categories: Haredim , MO & Chardal , Religion , Torah & Science
Rabbi Gil Student has piece in this week's Jewish Press summarizing the events of the Rabbi Slifkin Ban. Two points Student makes are especially important. Here's one: The ban, as it stands, raises many difficult questions for a large segment...

August 8, 2006: Apocalypse Now? Bernard Lewis: It May Be The Time
Comments: 6 | Categories: Current Affairs , Israel , Religion
Matt Drudge reports: In a WALL STREET JOURNAL op-ed Tuesday, Princeton's Bernard Lewis writes: "There is a radical difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be...

August 3, 2006: Federal Funds Meant To Protect Jewish Orgs Not Distributed – Dept of Homeland Security Ties Up Funds
Comments: 2 | Categories: Current Affairs , Jewish Leadership , Religion
That's right – The Jewish Week is reporting $25 million meant to help nonprofits, a large number of them Jewish nonprofits, step up their security has been sitting unused in Washington. Why? It seems bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland...

August 2, 2006: Bene Menashe Soldier Wounded In Lebanon
Comments: 1 | Categories: Israel , Religion
The JPost reports an IDF soldier originally from the Bene Menashe tribe has been wounded in Lebabnon: During a clash with Hizbullah gunmen in Lebanon, St.-Sgt. Avi Hangshing heard a large explosion and hit the dirt for cover. As the...

August 2, 2006: Emes and the Law
Comments: 0 | Categories: Haredim , Religion
Does anyone have a tape of the Emes and the Law seminar held Monday in Brooklyn? If so, can you please share it with me? Thank you!

August 2, 2006: Mel Gibson's Holocaust Denial
Comments: 4 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
Roger Friedman of FoxNews reports: … Two years ago, Gibson gave an interview to former Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan for Reader's Digest. Now the outtakes of that interview have been made available to this column. His unpublished remarks, according to...

August 2, 2006: I Missed An Important Anniversary
Comments: 14 | Categories: History , Religion
Menachem Butler notes the 350th anniversary of Spinoza's excommunication was last week. He links to this NY Times op-ed by Spinoza biographer Rebecca Goldstein discussing this. Spinoza has 348 years on me …

August 1, 2006: LA Rabbi Invites Mel Gibson To Speak On Yom Kippur
Comments: 1 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
According to TMZ.com, a prominent LA rabbi has invited Mel Gibson to speak at his synagogue – on Yom Kippur. The rabbi could not be reached for comment because he is on vacation – in Spain. You can't make this...

August 1, 2006: Michael Medved's Bizarre Support For Mel Gibson
Comments: 13 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
Michael Medved is urging cooperation with Gibson, arguing it is in Jewish interest to get Gibson to "hide his antisemitism as he has successfully done for most of his career," and that it is not in our interest "to turn"...

August 1, 2006: ABC Drops Gibson Holocaust Miniseries; Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, et al, Object, Urge Cooperation With Gibson
Comments: 0 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
Mel Gibson's miniseries on the Holocaust has been dropped by ABC. Dennis Prager and others in the right wing Jewish community object to this, arguing Gibson's actions, "not what may be in his heart," are what is important, and that...

August 1, 2006: Mel Gibson Arresting Officer Jewish
Comments: 1 | Categories: Religion
From USA Today: "I don't take pride in hurting Mr. Gibson," Deputy James Mee told The Associated Press during an interview outside his home. "What I had hoped out of this is that he would think twice before he gets...

August 1, 2006: Mel Gibson's New "Apology"
Comments: 4 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
About an hour ago, Mel Gibson has issued a new apology for his antisemitic outburst last week. What follows is the full text of the apology: "There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks...

July 31, 2006: David Klinghoffer On Mel Gibson
Comments: 2 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
Steven I. Weiss asks Discovery Institute fellow and Forward columnist David Klinghoffer about Mel Gibson's antisemitic outburst: Booze goes in, truth comes out. Yes, it does seem that Gibson has an anti-Semitism problem as of this past weekend. What we...

July 31, 2006: Christopher Hitchens On Mel Gibson
Comments: 1 | Categories: Religion
From today's Slate: And it has been obvious for some time to the most meager intelligence that he is sick to his empty core with Jew-hatred. This is not just proved by his twistedly homoerotic spank-movie The Passion of the...

July 31, 2006: Mel Gibson, Rabbi Daniel Lapin and Michael Medved
Comments: 7 | Categories: Jewish Leadership , Religion
Now that we know Mel Gibson is an antisemite, one must wonder what Michael Medved, the Rabbi Daniel Lapin acolyte and Salem Radio talk show host (and, therefore, TownHall.com columnist), will do with Gibson's Jew problem. Lapin has been a...

July 30, 2006: Baruch Dayan HaEmet (Hitler's Pope? cont.)
Comments: 0 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
The New York Times reports: Alexander Safran, the former chief rabbi of Romania who tried to prevent the deportation of Jews by his country’s pro-Nazi regime during World War II, died on Thursday at his home here. He was 95.…...

July 28, 2006: Sir Martin Gilbert Responds
Comments: 2 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
Sir Martin Gilbert was kind enough to respond to challenges posed by FailedMessiah.com readers, including DovBear. With his permission, his response: One of your readers writes to you (entirely erroneously in my view): "Churchill knew about the dangers the Jewish...

July 26, 2006: The Pope and the Holocaust: A (Partial) Response To Dovbear [UPDATED 7-28-06]
Comments: 62 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
DovBear asks why I carry a brief for Pope Pius XII and the Church. I do not. I simply seek the truth, and the truth in this case supports the Church. I made scans of (part of) Sir Martin Gilbert's...

July 26, 2006: The Bible Told Them So – Waaaaay After The Fact
Comments: 8 | Categories: Religion , Torah & Science
Mike. S. Adams writes on the newly Evangelical-controlled TownHall.com: Astrophysicist Hugh Ross helped me—through his brilliant writings—to compile a list that illustrates how authors of the Bible have remained far ahead of the scientists throughout the ages: Leviticus 17:11 says,...

July 25, 2006: Hitler's Pope – No Way, Says Sir Martin Gilbert
Comments: 11 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
Sir Martin Gilbert has a review [not online as of yet] of Rabbi David Dalin's The Myth of Hitler's Pope in the June/July American Spectator. Gilbert strongly endorses the book and, in several pages of terse prose brings case after...

July 13, 2006: Has The Exodus Been Proved True? Has Mount Sinai Been Found? Has The Exodus Been "Decoded"
Comments: 2 | Categories: Outreach , Religion , Science , Torah & Science
My old friend Simcha Jacobovici, the investigative journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker has teamed up with James Cameron, the award-winning director of Titanic, to a make a $3.5 million documentary that purports to prove the Exodus from Egypt actually happened....

June 5, 2006: Hitler's Pope? No Way, Says Jewish Reporting Of That Time
Comments: 32 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
Dimitri Cavalli. a scholar working on a book about Pope Pius Xll, quotes a number of contemporaneous reports from Jewish media praising Pius Xll: In March 1939, many Jewish newspapers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Jerusalem welcomed...

May 14, 2006: Rabbi Avi Shafran Poppycock
Comments: 2 | Categories: Haredim , Religion
Rabbi Avi Shafran's new column – hosted where else but that bastion of 'truth,' Aish,com – makes what Shafran believes is a strong case against atheism. While I am not an atheist, I find Rabbi Shafran's arguments noxious. Why? First...

May 11, 2006: Why Is There No (Secular) Jewish Education?
Comments: 0 | Categories: Haredim , Israel , Jewish Leadership , Religion
Why is there no (secular or non-traditional) Jewish education in Israel? Avraham Gal writes: Logic would dictate that the main bulk of funding for Jewish education should be directed towards that part of the public in which such education is...

May 9, 2006: Nun Who Fought Church-Inspired Antisemitism Passed Away
Comments: 1 | Categories: Religion
Sister Rose Thering, the nun who worked her entire adult life to stamp out antisemitism, has passed away at age 85. Israel Insider reports: Thering put her concerns over anti-Semitism into action when she arrived at St. Louis University in...

May 3, 2006: The Church And The Holocaust
Comments: 20 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
Ha'aretz reports: Government sources have called statements made by a senior Vatican official condemning the silence of the Holy See during the Holocaust "unprecedented." 

Sources in Jerusalem said it is still too early to tell whether the statements made Tuesday...

May 1, 2006: Intermarriage
Comments: 22 | Categories: Religion
Laurel Snyder writes in the Chicago SunTimes: … Real Jews didn't have to wait until Passover was over to eat their robin's eggs, because real Jews didn't get robin's eggs. I couldn't undo the reality of my antecedents, and so...

April 28, 2006: 7 Wives For One Messianic "Rabbi"
Comments: 17 | Categories: Religion
A British Messianic "rabbi" has taken 7 wives – all at the same time – because he believes God has ordered him to live like a biblical king. His messianic congregation is outraged, and has removed him as their "rabbi."

April 26, 2006: Saved By A Priest
Comments: 16 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
Joe Schick writes: Later, in 1943, the surviving members of my mother's family were forced to flee France for Italy. By then, my mother's mother was pregnant with her first child, and a Catholic priest arranged for refuge for the...

April 25, 2006: A Question For Yom HaShoah
Comments: 5 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
Does anyone know what attempts, if any, were made to save mentally ill, disabled and retarded Jews during the Holocaust? We know of rescues of a few important people, rabbis and community leaders. Were any disabled or retarded people rescued?...

March 1, 2006: Rabbi Eliyahu, Jr: It's OK To Teach Non-Jews Kabbala, If There's Money In It
Comments: 19 | Categories: MO & Chardal , Religion , Sefardim
Arutz Sheva reports: Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of the city that what was once the Kabbalah center of the world, Tzfat, says that Kabbalah studies for Gentiles is "positive," if done in the proper manner. Speaking with Arutz-7...

March 1, 2006: Is Non-Jewish Life Worth Saving?
Comments: 4 | Categories: Bio-Ethics , Chabad , Haredim , MO & Chardal , Religion
We now know that three non-Jewish African-Americans risked their lives to pull Ephraim Klein from his burning car to try to save his life. Many readers of FailedMessiah.com openly contend Jews should not risk their lives to save non-Jews. Some...

February 26, 2006: Is The Bogeyman Pastor Out To get You?
Comments: 5 | Categories: Current Affairs , Religion
Again proving that Israelis do not really understand America, Shlomo Shamir of Ha'aretz has this one-sided foolish article about the 'threat' Evangelicals pose to America and Jews. Shamir's piece is based on the new book by Rabbi James Rudin, formerly...

February 24, 2006: Consultation Of Virtual Rabbis On The Rise; Internet Ban Not Working
Comments: 0 | Categories: Religion
The UPI reports: More and more ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews are consulting "virtual rabbis" via the Internet, a study sponsored by an Internet and Judaism conference found. The survey found that 25 percent of respondents regularly consulted a "virtual rabbi," 7...

January 6, 2006: Fundamentalist Folly, #2
Comments: 2 | Categories: Chabad , Haredim , Jewish Leadership , MO & Chardal , Religion , Sefardim
A who's who list of Israeli right wing extremist rabbis have taken "credit" for Ariel Sharon, sheyikhye's, illness. These rabbinic low-lifes enacted a "pulsa d'nura" ceremony, a pseudo-kabbalistic death incantation "ritual" with ancient pretensions but thoroughly modern roots, before the...

January 5, 2006: Fundamentalist Folly
Comments: 4 | Categories: Religion
I had hoped not to post anything today, except for the post immediately below this on what we can and should do now for Ariel Sharon, sheyikhye. But three related stories have driven me to post. In the first, Christian...

November 30, 2005: Pope Jewish, Historian Claims
Comments: 1 | Categories: Religion
A Jewish historian is claiming that Pope John Paul 2 was Jewish. The "proof" is weak and the argument weaker, but, hey, you never know. (First spotted on the Canonist.)

November 4, 2005: Hate The Catholic Church? Think Again
Comments: 1 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
UPDATES 1 & 2: (See bottom of post.) Hate the Catholic Church? David Klinghoffer writes regarding Rabbi David Dalin's new book, The Myth Of Hitler's Pope: [I]t seems fairly certain that [Pope Pius 12th] was, overall, a strenuous defender of...

October 22, 2005: The Vatican, The Temple Menorah, & Anti-Catholic Bias
Comments: 1 | Categories: Blogs , Church & Holocaust , History , Religion
A letter in the new Biblical Archaeology Review from Professor Shaye J.D. Cohen, Ph.D. of Harvard throws light on an old Jewish urban myth – the "location" in the vaults of the Vatican of relics sacked from the Second Temple,...

April 9, 2005: Torah Memorial For The Pope
Comments: 2 | Categories: Religion

March 25, 2005: What Is Purim?
Comments: 5 | Categories: Hessed , Religion

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