FailedMessiah.com

Haredi Women Wear Burqa in Beit Shemesh

The Forward picked a up a story from its own blog, which in turn picked it up from Jameel at the Muqata, who himself got it from Ha'aretz.

Who is that veiled woman shown above?

A haredi woman in Israel.

That's right. She's wearing a burqa. And so are about 30 other haredi women in Beit Shemesh, Tzfat, Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, and their clique is growing.

Why are they wearing burqas?

Their rebbetzin, a cult leader named Rabbanit Bruria Keren, tells them to. After all, she says, a woman's body is a vessel of filth. It is all nakedness, all ervah. Every inch of a woman's body, even her ear lobe, is like one succulent nipple waiting to be suckled…

EXCLUSIVE:USDA Allows Rubashkin Meat Hook Use to "Facilitate Bleeding"Meat hook to probe or slash open throat wounds of fully conscious cattle "protected" by "religious" exemption to Humane Slaughter Act

Documents (posted below) obtained by FailedMessiah.com under the Freedom of Information Act show that the USDA now permits probing or excision of an open ritual slaughter wound using a meat hook, even though the cattle this procedure is perfomed on are fully conscious at the time the procedure is carried out.

Passing As White – Shas and the Sefardi Caste System

Two months ago, Shas leaders attempted to solve a crisis of the utmost delicacy: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's granddaughter was not accepted to a prestigious [Lithuanian] religious seminary for girls.

Downed Cows Slaughtered, Meat Sold To US School Lunch Program

This Humane Society of the United States undercover video was released today. The slaughterhouse is not a kosher facility.

But there is a link, of sorts, to Rubashkin and Agriprocessors.

What link? Find out in the extended post below …

"Our Rebbe Is The Messiah," Chabad Messianist Writes

Responding to articles by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Rabbi David Berger, Chabad educator Eli Soble wants you to know his Rebbe, the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is absolutely the messiah.

Why is Soble so confident the Rebbe is the messiah? Because, my friends, the Rebbe said so …

Shas MK: Gays A "Plague" Like "Bird Flu"

A Shas MK wants to ban gay pride parades in Jerusalem. More than that, he wants to lock up gays and lesbians.…  

New OU Kosher Scandal?

The Winnipeg Free Press ran an op-ed Sunday that alleges extremely serious lapses on the part of the OU, lapses that may mean you ate non-kosher food…

Convert or Not Convert: You Be The Judge

You're sitting on a beit din. You're asked to pass judgement on a potential convert with an unusual belief. Will you convert him or not?

Here are a list of beliefs that may be problematic. Do any of them rise to a level that would disqualify the potential convert, who is otherwise committed to keeping all the mitzvot, from conversion?

#1. He believes the Chmelnitzki massacres did not happen on a large scale. Maybe a few hundred Jews died in them, he says, but not thousands, tens of thousands and certainly not 100,000.

#2. He believes the Holocaust did not happen. By this he means that Jews died in WW2 and the Germans certainly did commit atrocities against Jews. But 6 million Jews were not murdered. Maybe 100,000 Jews were killed, he says, and most of them died from disease or hunger.

#3. He believes Jesus is the messiah. He rejects Christian theology completely, however, and accepts 100% of Jewish law. He will certainly keep all the mitzvot and be a good Jew in every regard other than who he believes to be the messiah.

#4. He believes King Solomon will rise from the dead as the messiah. He will certainly keep all the mitzvot and be a good Jew in every regard other than this unusual belief about the messiah.

Which of these four potential converts would you accept? Which, if any, would you reject?

My answers after the jump in the extended post …

The Hasidic Root of the Spinka Tax Fraud & Money Laundering Case

Allan Nadler thinks he knows where and why the Spinka Rebbe went wrong. Nadler makes a compelling argument that cuts to the heart of hasidic theology and worldview.

It begins with a rebbe who was rich beyond his wildest dreams. He was chauffeured about town in gold plated vehicles. He wore luxurious clothes embroidered with gold. He had his own orchestra, dozens of servants. "All the money in the world belongs to… 

Terror Attack At Steinsaltz Yeshiva In West Bank

Yeshiva counselors killed the terrorists. Two students hurt. Details after the jump…

More On "Jewish" DNA: Jon Entine Responds To FailedMessiah.com Critics

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 jump in the extended post…

PBS Bias: The Jewish Americans

David Grubin's PBS film, The Jewish Americans, is perhaps the worst piece of documentary filmmaking I've lately seen.

Why? Grubin's clear bias.…

Rabbi David Berger: Shmuley Boteach "Wrong"

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote a column for the Jerusalem Post asserting that it is wrong to deny conversion to Judaism for non-Jews who are Chabad messianists. These messiansts do not believe the Rebbe is God, Botach says, and they keep mitzvot – therefore they should be considered Jews, not heretics and their conversions should be valid.

Today, Rabbi David Berger responded to Shmuley Boteach's argument.

Are either of these men is correct. If so, which one?

My answer may surprise you. Read it after the jump in the extended post…

Ethiopian Jews Form Urban "Kibbutz"

Young Ethiopian Jews have formed an urban "kibbutz" in Gedera. The idea is not to share an economy as much as it is to run social and educational programs for their own community:

…The members of the urban kibbutz serve as positive role models for the other residents of Gedera. Most of the Ethiopian members have university degrees, and are assertive and self-confident.
 
"When my parents came to Israel, they lost their independence, their dignity. They were made passive in their absorption process," said Tashome. "We are planning to be active and to serve members of our community, not from the outside, but as part of them."

Chabad Messianist Debate Online

Here are mp3s of the debate on Zev Brenner's Talkline program last week between Chabad messianist Rabbi Sholom Ber Kalmanson and Rabbi Yiz Greenberg, formerly of CLAL.

My comments on the debate can be read here.

You should be able to open these mp3s in your browser, or you can download them, whichever you prefer:

Download kalmanson_greenberg_debate_part_1.mp3

Download kalmanson_greenberg_debate_part_2.mp3

Download kalmanson_greenberg_debate_part_3.mp3

[Hat Tip: An anonymous reader.]

American Haredi Beaten By Haredi Gang In Beit Shemesh

The man, not mentioned by name in the report posted after the jump, has been organizing Beit Shemesh residents to fight haredi extremism.

I refused to publish a story last week about this effort because it mentioned the names and phone numbers of the haredi rabbis who allegedly support violence against non-haredim and non-extremist haredim.

I also worried that the Jews fighting haredim, who have been named in other articles, would be targets for attack.

I'll publish a link to that article after the jump, as well as the name of the rabbi who allegedly ordered the hit…

NY Daily News on Haredi House Flipping Scam

The NY Daily News has a story on house flipping, the real estate scam that has defrauded often poor New Yorkers out of hundreds of millions of dollars and destroyed their lives and dreams, and the scammers, including haredim, who commit the crime…

Hasidic Landlord Risks Lives Over Shmura Matzo

Hasidic landlord Nachman Brach put the lives of dozens of upscale tenants at serious risk. What did he do? First, he illegally converted a Williamsburg, Brooklyn commercial building to tony apartments meant to be rented to non-hasidim. Then, Brach stored grain to used for baking matzo in improvised basement silos:

[FDNY Deputy Chief Joe Woznica] said grain becomes "highly explosive" when processed.

"Residents were living with two large bombs in the basement," he said.

The apartment building's residents are now homeless on the coldest day of the year. No word yet on when – or if – they will be able to return to their homes.

Brach has been cited for many building code violations, including violations for a building that caught fire in June. A firefighter fell 60 feet to his death fighting that fire.

[Hat Tip: Michelle.]

Haredi Charity Fraud Targets New Yorkers

The New York Post has a report on car donation charities active in New York City. Of those most active, only two met minimum standards set by the Better Business Bureau.

Of those two, one deceives donors into believing their donation helps all children when in fact the money goes only to haredi evangelism.

Another charity fails both the BBB minimum standards test and the deception test. It claims to be helping blind people but really prints haredi religious material for the visually impaired.

The deceptive children's charity, Kars-4-Kids, which presents itself as nonsectarian, claims it helps "children who were on the streets." Yet the money it raises goes to Oorah, a linked organization that, according to the NY Post, claims an "80% success rate" at keeping the children it helps away from goyyim.

I'll show you why that NY Post quote is inaccurate after the jump in the extended post…

Mondrowitz Extradition Process

Despite what you may have read elsewhere over the past few days, this is what the Avrohom Mondrowitz extradition process looks like from here out:

1. Last Thursday, January 17 was the final extradition hearing in this round, so to speak.
2. The judge will issue a decision on extradition in approximately one month. (The time frame is a very educated guess from a well-placed person in Israel. Still, it is only a guess.)
3. When that decision is handed down, there will almost certainly be an appeal to the Supreme Court.
4. That appeal process will take about one year. (Eight months at the least, much more than one year at the most.)
5. Mondrowitz was ordered jailed until the end of these proceedings, but he can appeal that decision.

If this seems familiar to you, it should. I posted or linked to most of these details last week.

Please Support This Blog – Sticky Post for the Week of January 13 to 20

In the nearly four years I've published FailedMessiah, I don't think I've ever asked for money for myself – until now.

Over the years, we've raised money for a Jew who needed a kidney transplant, for poor children in Addis Ababa, and for a destitute Jew in Boston. But I've never raised money to pay for this blog.

Publishing FailedMessiah.com takes a tremendous amount of time and energy. (I know it may not appear that way to some of you, but it really does.) It also costs money, far more than most people realize.

If you've found this blog to be worthwhile, please donate today to help it continue and thrive.

You can use the Amazon Honor System to donate (the button is posted above and at the far right of this page), or you can donate using PayPal by clicking the Tip Jar button at the top of the right sidebar of this (and every) page.

Amazon allows you to donate anonymously, if you wish.

Thank you for reading, commenting and for your support.

Discussion on Film About Rabbi-on-Child Sexual Abuse

Here's a link to a video of a panel discussion about the film Narrow Bridge, hosted by The Awareness Center. The filmmaker, Izzy Moscowitz, Dr. Joyce Silver, Vicki Polin, and others participate.

New Mondrowitz Article

Ha'aretz has a new article on the extradition of Avrohom Mondrowitz. Unfortunately, it's in Hebrew. I've posted it after the jump in the the extended post. If you can translate, please do so and leave your translation as a comment to this post. Thanks!

Chinese Use Kosher Certification to Regain Consumer Confidence After Repeated Food Safety and Product Scandals

Bloomberg has an article examining the rapid growth of kosher certified food exported from China in the wake of the various Chinese product safety scandals of 2007.

Chinese companies are eager to get products certified because American consumers incorrectly equate kosher with safe, pure, wholesome food.

Consumers believe this largely due to the PR spin generated by the kosher food industry and its marketing association, Lubicom, founded and headed by Menachem Lubinsky, a Ger hasid deeply involved in the various Rubashkin meat scandals.

The entire Bloomberg piece fails to mention any of the ongoing Rubashkin scandals, even though the piece focuses on the OU – a certifying agency for Rubashkin.

Lubinsky simultaneously serves as a paid PR consultant for Rubashkin and the editor of Kosher Today, the kosher food industry's trade publication. Until outed on blogs, including this one, Lubinsky failed to declare that paid relationship in his reporting. That reporting often involves attacking groups and individuals who have exposed various Rubashkin violations.

Lubinsky's company is also the source for the survey showing American consumers equate kosher with pure, safe and wholesome food.

Does kosher really equal pure, safe and wholesome food?

Certainly not if Rubashkin is taken into account. The same for any of dozens of kosher snacks produced for the haredi market, which are loaded with additives, preservatives, and high amounts of both sugar and sodium.

Yet the only qualifying voice in the entire Bloomberg piece is this:

While the rabbis see to it that the products adhere to such laws as prohibitions on pork and the mixing of meat and dairy, they don't perform scientific food-safety tests.

"There is definitely marketing power to have a kosher symbol on products,'' said Mark Overland, who directs the kosher and organic department at Cargill Inc., the largest U.S. agricultural company. ``But it would be a misnomer to equate kosher with food safety.''

"Misnomer" may be dramatically understating the situation – a serious medical error may be more like it.

A PDF archive of the article follows:

Download china_kosher_food_exports_bloomberg_news.pdf

[Hat Tip: Ken.]

Busting the Fiddler on the Roof Myth, One Shtetl at a Time

ChaeRan Freeze, a non-Jewish South Korean woman who grew up in Ethiopia becomes interested in Judaism in Addis Ababa (even though she has no knowledge of Operation Moses or Ethiopia's Jews). She goes on to get a doctorate in Russian Jewish History and then to teach at Brandeis. Colleagues describe her as a scholar's scholar. Perhaps because she did not grow up believing certain myths, she tends to bust them. Like what? Like this:

Independent Testing Finds Rubashkin Turkeys With Extremely High Sodium Levels Many Times Greater Than Claimed On Rubashkin Food Label

Pre-Thanksgiving reviewers marveled at the good taste of Rubashkin turkeys and ranked them at or near the top of taste rankings, something Rubashkin made a big fuss over.

Within reason the more salt one has in the turkey, the better it will taste, Companies are reluctant to inject sodium into poultry because to do so means declaring the higher sodium content on government mandated food labels. However, if a company were willing to take the risk, increasing the sodium content of turkey without declaring it would give it an unfair advantage against competitors.

Rubashkin, intentionally or not, found himself with such an unfair and illegal advantage.

If you keep kosher and ate Rubaskhin turkey for Thanksgiving and your blood pressure rose to alarming heights, you now may know why. The UFCW Union reports:

    An independent food safety investigation of two brands of Agriprocessor, Inc., turkeys revealed significantly higher than stated sodium content in the company’s Trader Joe’s All Natural Glatt Kosher and Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best Glatt Kosher brand turkeys.

    The independent analysis of the turkeys was conducted by Strasburger & Siegel, Inc., Food Testing Laboratories at the request of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union. The investigation was requested after employees at Agriprocessors, one of the world’s largest Kosher producers of beef, lamb and poultry products, raised concerns about the accuracy of labeling on the company’s products.

    “Shoppers have the right to know the true nutritional content of the products they buy, and companies have a legal and moral responsibility to provide accurate information,” said Mark Lauritsen, UFCW international vice president and director of the Food Processing, Packing and Manufacturing Division.

    According to an official complaint submission to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) by the UFCW, Nutrition Facts labels on Trader Joe’s All Natural Glatt Kosher Turkeys state a sodium level of 80 mg per 4 oz serving size. However, an independent analysis of the product revealed that Trader Joe’s consumers may have been exposed to sodium levels up to 351 mg per serving size, four times higher than stated on the Nutrition Facts label.

    This equates to 339 percent above the stated sodium levels and is far above the 20 percent variation allowed by the USDA.

    Further testing conducted on Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best Glatt Kosher Turkey, a national brand produced by Agriprocessors, also revealed sodium levels far in excess of the stated amount on the package. The Nutrition Facts state a sodium level of 150 mg per serving size. However, independent testing revealed sodium levels of up to 357 mg per serving size, 138 percent above stated sodium levels. This, too, is far above the variation allowed by the USDA.

    The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that one out of every three American adults has high blood pressure or hypertension. Having high blood pressure increases one’s chance for developing heart disease, a stroke, and other serious conditions.

    In order to maintain a healthy blood pressure, the CDC recommends that an individual “watch the sodium” in prepared foods. One of the most important ways to do this is by closely examining Nutritional Facts labels on products.

    “Today, more and more people are paying close attention to nutritional labeling. As a leader in the meat packing and food processing industry, with more than 250,000 workers, we have an obligation to maintain the integrity of the industry and to ensure that consumers are protected, educated and informed,” added Lauritsen.

     Agriprocessors brand names include Aaron’s Best, Aaron’s Choice, European Glatt, Nevel, Shor Habor, Rubashkin’s, Supreme Kosher, and David’s.

Here are the complete reports from Strasburger & Siegel:

Download official_lab_results_and_labels.pdf

Download final_salt_report.pdf

The Anti-Shafran

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz writes:

…[A]s we talk about building walls around our children to protect them from the decadence of secular culture, we had better make certain that the ‘monster’ of child abuse is on the other side of the wall.

Abusers are nocturnal creatures, operating most effectively in the darkness of denial. What they fear most is the light of day and the righteous indignation of victims.…

‘[W]alled’ communities are the dream setting for a child molester. A community where negative news is not reported and the fear of causing a chilul Hashem makes people hush things up is a community where an abuser can comfortably set up shop.…

If you want to understand the problems of haredi society, know this well – not one gadol or other leader of haredim will admit to or agree with the above.

Rabbi Horowitz is the anti-Shafran, so to speak, of American haredim. In a just and honest world, Rabbi Horowitz would come out on top. But, as many haredi children have already learned, this world is neither just or honest.

And Our Fathers Worshiped Idols

In a dig sponsored by the Shalem Center, Dr. Eilat Mazar has found a seal from a prominent Jewish family mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah.

But there may be a huge problem, at least if you are a Torah-believing Jew…

Archaeologist hid 'Jesus tomb' for fear of anti-Semitism, widow says

So maybe my friend Simcha Jacobovici was right after all …

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar: "I Wish Millions [of Ethiopians] Would Come To Israel"

Speaking at a conference of kessim (Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders) organized by the Absorption Ministry, Israel's Sefardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar called for the aliya of all Falash Mura, no matter how many people that might be. Ynet reports:

GUEST POST: The History of Ashkenazi Jewry through the Prism of DNA

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 the Chosen People.

Jon touches on the Khazars, the genetic origins of Ashkenazi Jews, Jews and IQ, and other hot button issues.

As always, the normal disclaimer for Guest Posts applies. The views expressed by the author of this post do not necessarily reflect my own.

The History of Ashkenazi Jewry through the Prism of DNA
By Jon Entine

It wasn’t surprising that in its end of the year issue, Science magazine named “human genetic variation” as the scientific breakthrough of the year. Science has moved out of the kum-ba-ya phase of genetic variation—the factoid that humans are 99 percent the same—to the reality that we are not only significantly different from person to person but that humans have evolved in populations, almost like pack animals, over the course of history. And in the center of that story is…

MONDROWITZ: ביהמ"ש: רב חסידות גור לא יעמוד בפיתוי

ביהמ"ש: רב חסידות גור לא יעמוד בפיתוי

                            ביהמ"ש המחוזי סירב לשחרר למעצר בית את "החסיד הפדופיל" המועמד להסגרה לארה"ב  השופט: הערבים לא יעמדו בפיתוי למלט אותו מהצורך לעמוד לבין בפני "ערכאות גויים"

מאת:  רותי אברהם 

ביהמ"ש המחוזי בירושלים דחה (יום ב', 14.1.08) בקשת חסיד גור, אברהם מונדרוביץ', לשחררו למעצר בית עד להסגרתו לארה"ב. השופט הביע חשש כי הערבים לשחרורו בהם רב חסידות גור בירושלים ובבית שמש לא יעמוד בפיתוי ויסייע לו להמלט מלעמוד לדין בפני "ערכאות גויים".

מונדרוביץ' המכונה "החסיד הפדופיל" מואשם בארה"ב בשורה של מעשי סדום והתעללות מינית בקטינים בעיקר בשכונתו בברוקלין. הוא נמלט ממשפט בשנת 1984 ומאז שהה בישראל. בקשת הסגרתו לאחר החלת תיקון בסעיף באמנת ההסגרה בין ישראל לארה"ב. לפני כחודשיים נעצר בידי המשטרה והוחל בהליך הסגרתו. הוא הגיש בקשה באמצעות בא כוחו עו"ד איתן מעוז לשחררו למעצר בית עד להסגרתו.

כאמור, בית המשפט המחוזי דחה את בקשתו. בהחלטה ציין השופט משה רביד כי מתסקיר המבחן עולה כי מונדרוביץ לא היה מעורב בעבירות מיניות מאז הגיעו לישראל, לפני כ-23 שנים. יחד עם זאת, הביע השופט חשש כי שחרורו יעמיד את הערבים "בפני דילמה לא פשוטה". מדובר בערבים, רב חסידות גור בירושלים ובבית שמש הרב מאיר זילברשטיין ועו"ד יעקב קמינסקי.

השופט כתב, "לאחר שהתחבטתי לא מעט בשאלה האם יש לשחרר את מונדרוביץ לחלופת מעצר הגעתי לכלל מסקנה כי אין לעשות כן, הואיל וסברתי כי הערבים ייאלצו לעמוד בפני דילמה שאינה פשוטה". מדובר בשתי גישות ביהדות אחת מהן קובעת כי יש להסגיר יהודי שנמלט מאימת הדין לידי מדינות אחרות וזאת "מכוח העקרון של דינא דמלכותא דינא או כדי לקיים את העקרון 'וביערת הרע מקרבך'". מאידך, הגישה השניה "אשר ככל הנראה מקובלת על מונדרוביץ וחברי קהילתו, אוסרת להסגיר יהודי לערכאות של גויים, בכפוף לחריגים, ויש לשפוט אותו בישראל".

"חושש אני כי חרף הערבויות שמציעים הערבים ייתכן שיקשה עליהם לעמוד בפיתוי שלא לסייע למונדרוביץ להמלט מאימת הדין", כתב השופט. בכך תימנע הסגרתו ושפיטתו "שלא בידי בני ברית. בכך תסוכל האפשרות להעמיד את מונדרוביץ לדין ואת התחייבותה של ישראל כלפי ארה"ב באמנת ההסגרה, להסגיר אליה את מונדרוביץ, אם יוחלט שהוא בר הסגרה".

השופט כתב בהחלטה כי הוא מורה על מעצרו של מונדרוביץ "עד מתן החלטה בעתירה להורות עליו כבר הסגרה".

MONDROWITZ: הפדופיל החרדי אברהם מונדרוביץ' נעצר עד להסגרתו לארצות הברית

הפדופיל החרדי אברהם מונדרוביץ' נעצר עד להסגרתו לארצות הברית נאשם באונס ילדים חרדים בברוקלין לאחר שהתחזר לפסיכולוג והתיימר לטפל בהם מאת כתב ''עניין מרכזי'' שלישי, 15 בינואר 2008,  05:58   הרב מונדרוביץ' נאשם באונס קטינים בברוקלין     נעצר עד תום ההליכים ועד הסגרתו לארצות הברית החרדי אברהם מונדרוביץ', המבוקש בארה''ב על עבירות מין חמורות בילדים. החרדי מונדרוביץ' מואשם בארצות הברית שהתחזה לפסיכולוג וניצל מינית את הילדים שטיפל בהם. מונדרוביץ', בן 61 נשוי ואב ל-7 ילדים, עצור מאז חודש נובמבר לאחר שנלכד בארץ. הוא נמלט מניו יורק שם ביצע את הפשעים בילדים יהודיים חרדים בברוקלין בשנים 1980-1984. החרדי החשוד במעשים הזוועתיים הצליח להימנע מהסגרה למרות שידוע כבר 22 שנה כי הוא שוהה בארץ כיוון שמעשי סדום, שבהם הואשם מונדרוביץ בין היתר, לא נכללו ברשימת העבירות בנות ההסגרה. בינואר השנה נחתמה בין ארה''ב לישראל אמנה חדשה שעל פיה אפשר להסגיר אדם על כל עבירה שהעונש עליה הוא מעל שנת מאסר. ההערכה היא שמונדרוביץ' ינסה למנוע את הסגרתו בטענה שהתיקון לא צריך לחול עליו בשל עקרון אי החלת חוקים רטרואקטיבית. כולכם מוזמנים להתפלל שהערעור לא יתקבל. עניין מרכזי

as always, if you can translate, please do so and leave your translation as a comment to this post. Thanks!

Three Homeless Israelis Die in Severe Cold Snap – Why are there Homeless Israelis?

Three homeless Israelis died from exposure in Israel's worst cold snap in recent memory. Temperatures fell to as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Israel has a weak social welfare system that is overtaxed and overburdened by haredim who intentionally rely on it rather than work. This means truly needy Israelis are left with much less support than otherwise would be possible.

There is no reason for anyone too be homeless in Israel or in the US. But Israel, with its smaller, more homogeneous population, should be able to eliminate homelessness much faster and easier than the US.

It does not because it lacks the will to do so and because any solution that would solve homelessness also has to deal with the haredi problem – and there is certainly no political will for that.

A positive word about Satmar.

When I worked for Chabad in Jerusalem I met several homeless Jews. All were immigrants from America. Some had substance abuse issues, one was mentally ill, another simply down on his luck. They slept in ruins, in abandoned houses, in houses being remodeled, and at the Kotel sitting, in the far recesses of the covered area.

But when they could take it no more, they knew where they could go to get good food and a safe place to sleep – Satmar.

The same is true in Brooklyn where Satmar supports many Jews who would otherwise be homeless. I personally know of one case, a mentally ill man, who has an apartment and three meals a day given him by the Satmar community.

In the Eastern Europe of old, homeless Jews slept in the synagogues and study halls, and in hostels (often not very nice) provided by Jewish communities.

In modern day Israel and America, to my knowledge only Satmar carries on this tradition. The rest of the haredi and MO/National Religious world is content to do nothing or, in the case of Chabad and some Litvish groups, offer food but not shelter. (I am referring here to communal solutions, not to what individuals may or may not do.)

Most of these non-Satmar solutions benefit specific groups, not poor and homeless as a whole, although there are exceptions, including Meir Panim.

Why should we accept a world where people are hungry, where people are homeless, where they freeze to death on the streets and beaches of Israel or America?

Public housing stock in America is extremely inadequate. Waiting lists for housing programs have been closed in many locals for years. We are content, it seems, with voluntary shelters, often sponsored by churches, as if a cot on a gym floor is the best we can do. and Israel is worse – far worse.

Satmar has many flaws, to be sure. How they treat the poor, the weak and the sick among us is not one of them.

Sadly, none of us can say that about our shuls, our yeshivot, our communities, or our State.

High Court May Stop So-Called "Mehadrin" Buses

Israel's High Court of Justice moved today to ban or heavily restrict the so-called  "mehadrin" buses. These are the public buses that have, at haredi insistence, enforced gender separation, with women sitting at the back of the bus, men at the front.

Haredi men are known to harass and sometimes physically assault passengers who do not follow the extra strict rules of modesty certain haredi sects follow, and have attacked and beaten women who have refused to cede seats to men.

"Mehadrin" buses often lead to the absurd situation where a pregnant woman pushing a baby carriage and having three or four other young children in tow, is forced to stand at the back of the bus while many seats in the "men's section" are empty.

Early in 2007, a group of five women, including Modern Orthodox novelist Naomi Ragen, filed a petition with the High Court asking for the legality of these buses to determined and for restrictions on their operation if found legal.

Yesterday, the High Court began hearings on the case. The justices were not sympathetic to the haredi cause:

Justices of the High Court of Justice spoke out strongly against the ‘kosher’ bus lines serving the haredi community during deliberations on a petition against them Monday.

The High Court panel, composed of Justice Elyakim Rubenstein, Justice Salem Jubran, and Justice Yoram Dantziger, began its deliberation by noting that “even if haredi lines are allowed to operate, the clothing and gender-separation restrictions in play on them cannot be imposed on people who object to them.”

The justices also noted that a solution to continual harassment problems on these ‘kosher lines’ must also be found, be it by training drivers to defend passengers, or by clearly designating the buses in question as ‘kosher’.…

Justice Rubenstein noted that “it is inconceivable for a driver not to allow a woman on a bus because she is wearing pants and is not dressed modestly enough.” …

The High Court directed the Transportation Ministry to review the claims made by the women petitioners.

The petitioners also asked the court to determine whether "mehadrin" buses are truly a religious necessity. The women also asked the court to protect the rights of passengers who object to "mehadrin" seating, if the court should later rule "mehadrin" buses legal.

The State, for its part, claimed the "mehadrin" buses were "voluntary," and the segregation on them was "voluntary," as well. Therefore, the State claimed, nothing needs to be done to alter the current arrangements.

The petitioners responded to that assertion with shock and indignation, pointing out the many instances of haredi violence against passengers who refused to conform to this "voluntary" segregation.

The court was highly critical of the State's position:

"The Transportation Ministry's position is not sufficiently connected to reality," said [Justice Elyakim] Rubinstein. "Its policy of 'segregation-blindness' is inadequate."

According to the Jerusalem Post:

The court did not rule Monday on the petitioners' request for a show-cause order. It is possible that instead of doing so, it will order the Transportation Ministry to appoint a committee to study the issue. The decision is due to be handed down in the coming days.

All in all, a bad day for haredim.

[Hat Tip: The Beadle.]

Mondrowitz Court Document

The complete court document (as opposed to the single page shown above) from Sunday's Avrohom Mondrowitz court hearing is posted below in PDF format.

As always, if you can translate, please do. Please leave your translation as a comment to this post.

Thanks!

Download mondrowitz_11208.pdf

Satmar v. Israel, Religious Zionism, All Other Jews

This is, I'm told, a scan of an ad placed by the CRC in the January 8th New York Times, meant to coincide with President Bush's visit to Israel.

Satmar has been anti-Zionist since its inception. Many Jews died in Europe because they listened to the Satmar Rebbe and stayed in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania rather than going to Israel (or the US or Canada, for that matter). The Satmar Rebbe was later saved by Zionists.

The point that makes this ad important is not Satmar's anti-Zionism. It is the claim made by Satmar that all "Torah true Jews who have remained loyal to their ancestral faith" are anti-Zionists.

The CRC is, in theory, a group of rabbis. As such, they need to acknowledge all sides of the halakhic spectrum before paskining, so to speak.

Satmar, like many other haredi groups, no longer bothers to do this. Anyone who disagrees with their "da'as Torah" is outside the pale. It's my way or the highway in Williamsburg.

The people circulating this are calling for a boycott of Satmar produced and supervised products.

I don't think that will work, but I think it's worth doing, nonetheless.

[Hat Tip: GrossBlogger.]

Orthodox Judaism and Non-Jews – Seperate and Unequal

Rabbi Chaim Brovender has an "Ask the Rabbi" column in the Jerusalem Post. I'd always heard good things about Rabbi Bovender. Here is a brief synopsis of his career from the Jerusalem Post that explains some of them:

…He moved to Israel before the Six Day War and delivered mail on a motor scooter. He served in the IDF. After the Six Day War, the young Yeshiva University graduate and graduate student in Semitic languages at Hebrew University, began opening the world of Jewish literacy to college graduates arriving from abroad. The typical Brovender students had Ivy League degrees, but they couldn't tell you why the menora in the Temple had seven branches and a Hanukkah menora had eight. Rabbi Brovender directed them to Torah study and developed a successful method for imparting the tools they would need to decode the primary sources of the Jewish people. He guided them through life choices with his mix of straight talk and criticism-deflecting humor. Because his credo was that everyone should study Torah, that meant women, too. So he started groundbreaking women's study centers in Jerusalem, including classes in Talmud. A learned friend confided that she had known that "Brovender's" was synonym for advanced Torah education for women before she knew that there was indeed a Chaim Brovender behind it all.

THE YESHIVOT had different names - Hartman's, Shapell's, Yeshivat Hamivtar, Bruria, Midreshet Lindenbaum - but wherever they were, what made his study programs especially attractive was Rabbi Brovender's respect for the individualism of each student. He wouldn't have been proud if the Harvard medical student or the Bennington poet had abandoned their secular studies. Just the opposite. He hoped that the special skills, talents and knowledge of those educated in the secular world could now be brought into the religious world and would enrich it, just as the Torah world would enrich those who embraced it in the secular world.…

Rabbi Brovender also founded ATID.

Yet a recent Ask the Rabbi column has this question and answer:

Q: On a French website Q&A, it was said that it is forbidden to give a gift to a goy. Is it your opinion? Thank you.

A: The question of whether we can give presents to a non Jew is discussed in the gemara and properly formalized in the Rambam and the shuclchan aruch. The Rambam says (Matnot Aniyim 7,7):

Jews are obliged to support the poor non-Jew with the poor of Yisrael, and this because it is the way of Shalom."

In the laws of Avoda Zara 10 4, the Rambam lists certain limitations in our dealing with the non Jew and ends by saying "and you cannot give them a present if it is for no particular reason".

The Rambam summarizes in Melachim 10 12:

"The Rabbis directed us regarding the non-Jews to visit their sick and to bury their dead with the Jewish dead, and to support their poor with the poor of Yisrael, and all of this in order to maintain the peace".

In theory the notion that Jews need to be separate has much to commend itself. Clearly, in this world living in peace with your friends and neighbors is and important principle. The Rambam tells us that we have to navigate the two positions intelligently and that chazal have given us some operative directives. If you feel that it is important to give a present to a non Jew, then by all means do so. Shalom, peace, trumps all the other possibilities.

Understand this well. Following this line of reasoning, a Jew can only give a gift to a non-Jew if giving that gift serves a purpose for the Jew. Either it must benefit the Jew in some tangible way (a gift to one's employer on his birthday, for example) or it must be given to prevent antisemitism.

But you can't give a gift to your neighbor just because s/he's your friend.

Orthodoxy views non-Jews as inferiors. In an ideal world, according to Orthodoxy, Jews would have no contact with non-Jews at all. Non-Jews would be completely shunned.

As it stands, this is not feasible, largely because non-Jews, experiencing this shunning, might react with hatred and, as long as they are the majority and greatly outnumber us, this hatred could lead to violence and Jewish deaths.

Rabbi Brovender, a Centrist or Modern Orthodox rabbi, cites the Rambam approvingly, as if nothing had changed since the 12th century.

Worse yet, Rabbi Brovender's approach turns the concept of Ohr LaGoyyim (a light onto the nations) into a one way street. Jews take but only give for the most venal and self-serving of reasons.

Judaism needs a major overhaul, a true reformation.

Those of us upset at the corruption and backwardness of the haredi world often delude ourselves into believing Modern Orthodoxy holds promise, that it will somehow stand up to haredi threats and abuses and win out in the end.

Increasingly, it is clear to me that hope is misplaced.

MONDROWITZ: The Law and the Process

Here is how Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes the part of the extradition process Avrohom Mondrowitz is now in:

Under Section 7 of the Extradition Law, the magistrate may then order him/her to be held in custody for up to 15 days pending receipt of the petition for extradition, and may extend the custody for a further 15 days. Upon special application by the Attorney General, the magistrate may extend the requested person's arrest up to a maximum, aggregate period of 60 days. Once the petition has been filed in the District Court to have the person sought declared extraditable, then pursuant to Section 5 of the Extradition Law, the District Court may order that the person sought be held in custody until the end of the proceedings.

Pursuant to Section 22 of the Extradition Law, at any time during extradition proceedings the requested person may appeal the decision to continue his arrest by petitioning the court for his/her release.

In other words, what seems to have taken place yesterday was that Mondrowitz was ordered to be "held in custody until the end of the proceedings."

What now may happen is an appeal of that decision by Mondrowitz, "pursuant to Section 22 of the Extradition Law."

The entire process is summarized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

Any Israeli legal experts out there? If so, please fill us in on how the process actually works. Thanks!

MONDROWITZ TO REMAIN IN JAIL UNTIL THE END OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HIM, HA'ARETZ REPORTS

Ha'aretz reports:

The Jerusalem District Court ruled on Monday that Avrohom Mondrowitz, an ultra-Orthodox man who fled the United States for Israel two decades ago to avoid sexual abuse charges, must remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings against him.

The United States seeks the extradition of Mondrowitz, 60, a member of the Gur Hasidic sect, and the court ruling stemmed from the suspicion he may attempt to escape Israel before his extradition.

Mondrowitz was arrested in Jerusalem in November of last year for allegedly abusing dozens of children at his unlicensed psychology clinic at his Brooklyn, New York home during the 1980s. He fled to Israel in 1985 as police were investigating charges against him.

Two months ago, the United States resubmitted an extradition request first made in 1985, months after Mondrowitz fled Brooklyn for Israel, said Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen.

The renewed U.S. request came after Israel and the United States amended their extradition treaty to include all crimes whose punishment is more than one year imprisonment, according to Israel's State Prosecutor's Office. Before the change that took effect last January, the extradition treaty between Israel and the United States did not include sodomy.

MA'ARIV ON LATEST MONDROWITZ COURT DECISION

Ma'ariv reports:

ביהמ"ש המחוזי בי-ם הורה לעצור חשוד בתקיפה מינית בארה"ב עד תום הליכי ההסגרה נגדו

שופט בית המשפט המחוזי בירושלים, משה רביד, הורה לעצור עד תום הליכי ההסגרה את אברהם מונדרוביץ', ששלטונות ארצות הברית מבקשים להסגירו לידיהם בגין כתב אישום שהוגש נגדו בניו-יורק על ביצוע התעללות מינית ומעשי סדום בקטינים.

העבירות המיוחסות למונדרוביץ' בוצעו בתחילת שנות ה-80, והוא נמלט לישראל בשנת 1984 ומאז הוא שוהה בישראל. בקשת ההסגרה הוגשה בספטמבר האחרון ומאז הוא נעצר. עתה ידון בית המשפט בבקשה להסגירו.

If you can translate, please do so and leave the translation as a comment to this post. Thank you.

MONDROWITZ ORDERED JAILED UNTIL EXTRADITION DECISION

I'm told the judge in the extradition hearings for Avrohom Mondrowitz yesterday ordered Mondrowitz to remain in jail until the hearings regarding his extradition are completed.

This means no release into the custody of Ger hasidim, no house arrest, no freedom.

This phase of the extradition process could be over very soon. The next court hearing which, I'm told, if all goes well will be the last before the court's decision on whether or not to extradite Momdrowitz, is scheduled for Thursday, January 17. After that, barring any unforeseen developments the court will rule.

I believe Mondrowitz has the right to appeal any ruling, however, and this appeal process itself will take time. Similarly, if he is ruled extraditable and does appeal that decision, it is very likely the whole issue of house arrest or outright release on bail will again surface, this time before a different judge.

Stay tuned for more news regarding this case as it develops.

Israel Moves to Curtail Free Speech on the Internet

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Web site owners or editors will be legally responsible for any content on their site, including comments made in talkbacks and message boards, a bill passed on Sunday by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation states.

According to the bill, which was drafted by MK Israel Hasson (Israel Beiteinu) web sites could be absolved of liability if they agree to reveal the details of posters.

While the bill still needs to be approved in three readings in the Knesset plenum, receiving the support of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation gives it a much higher chance of passing into law.

This will, of course, completely shut down the free exchange of ideas and is one of the most anti-democratic schemes I've seen.

Note who wrote the law and which political party he is affiliated with. It is the the right wing, not the left who initiated this horrible bill.

Let's hope the bill does not pass and that its sponsor finds productive work outside the political area forthwith.

[Hat Tip: Jerome, who saw it here.]

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg Debates Chabad Messianist Rabbi On Talkline

Zev Brenner had Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and Chabad messianist Rabbi Sholom Ber Kalmanson on his show Saturday night. The show is being repeated Sunday at noon Eastern Time on the Internet here.

Rabbi Greenberg was on first. Rabbi Kalmanson joined in a bit later and the two debated on whether the Rebbe could be the messiah. I tuned in a few moments before Rabbi Kalmanson joined the broadcast.

Rabbi Kalmanson made several incorrect assertions, one being his claim that the Rambam (Maimonides) did not write regarding a person thought to be the messiah that if that man dies before building the Temple, ingathering the exiles, and doing the rest of the job the messiah is supposed to do, this man is not the messiah promised by God. Rabbi Kalmanson insisted the Rambam only used the Hebrew word meaning killed. Therefore, Rabbi Kalmanson's logic goes, the Rebbe, who died but who was not killed can still be the messiah according to the Rambam.

This is what the Rambam actually wrote:

Rambam, Yad Hazaka, Hilhot Melachim, Chapter 11, Halacha 4.

If a king will arise from the House of David who delves deeply into the study of the Torah and, like David his ancestor, observes its mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G-d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Mashiach.

If he succeeds in the above, builds the [Beis Ha]Mikdash on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach.

If he did not succeed to this degree or was killed, he surely is not [the redeemer] promised by the Torah. [Rather,] he should be considered to be like all the other proper and legitimate kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. G-d caused him to arise only in order to test the multitude. As it is written (Daniel 11:35), ‘Some of the wise men will stumble, to purge, to refine and to clarify, until the appointed final time, for it is yet to come.’…

[The Rambam goes on to lambaste Christianity and its founder.]

The sentence has a dependent clause. If the supposed messiah does not ingather all the exiles, fight and win the battles of God, rebuild the Temple and reinstitute Temple service, etc,, or if he is killed, this supposed messiah should be considered just like any good king from the House of David who died.

Either way, killed in battle or dies before rebuilding the Temple, etc., he is not the messiah according to Maimonides.

Rabbi Kalmanson insisted (screamed, actually) over and over again that, "the Rambam wrote no such thing."

Rabbi Kalmanson's error may be because Rabbi Kalmanson has only learned the Church-censored text of the Rambam as published in those large volumes that look like volumes of Talmud, Tur or Shulkhan Arukh. The Rambam's Mishne Torah was censored by the Church to eliminate anti-Christian positions expressed by the Rambam. But the full, uncensored version of the Rambam survived in manuscript form and was printed in a wildly popular version by Mosad HaRav Kook, Rambam L'Am. If you were in Chabad Houses and Chabad yeshivot before the Rebbe's passing, this would most likely have the edition of the Rambam you would have seen.The Rebbe praised this edition, and many volumes were once in 770.

The Church-censored version of the Rambam looks something like this:

Rambam, Yad Hazaka, Hilhot Melachim, Chapter 11, Halacha 4 (censored version).

If a king will arise from the House of David who delves deeply into the study of the Torah and, like David his ancestor, observes its mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G-d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Mashiach.

If he succeeds in the above, builds the [Beis Ha]Mikdash on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach.

If he did not succeed to this degree or was killed, he surely is not [the redeemer] promised by the Torah. [Rather,] he should be considered to be like all the other proper and legitimate kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. G-d caused him to arise only in order to test the multitude. As it is written (Daniel 11:35), ‘Some of the wise men will stumble, to purge, to refine and to clarify, until the appointed final time, for it is yet to come.’…

[The Rambam goes on to lambaste Christianity and its founder.]

How ironic it is that a leading Chabad messianist rabbi would be ignorant, intentionally or otherwise, of the Rambam's attack on the very type of messianism this Chabad rabbi espouses.

What surprised me more than Rabbi Kalmanson's error was Rabbi Greenberg's lack of knowledge regarding sources. By this I mean Rabbi Greenberg – who obviously had at some point learned these sources – could not quote chapter and verse from memory. Rabbi Kalmanson's supporters thought this meant Rabbi Greenberg had not learned those sources, much in the way Christian missionaries quote various pesukim from memory and jeer at Jews who do not know those sources by heart.

As I once pointed out to a Christian missionary (in front of about 100 college students, no less), Jews do not learn Torah by memorizing one or two verses out of context. We learn the whole thing, from beginning to end, in order and in context. I then was blessed enough to destroy this man's arguments to such an extent that he was literally pulled away by his missionary coworkers and taken off campus. (He was J for J's top New York City street missionary at the time.)

Rabbi Greenberg had the big picture right, in the sense that the plain reading of the sources does not support Chabad messianists. But, as Perkei Avot notes, know what to answer a heretic. In other words, being right isn't enough – you have to know those sources cold, and you have to know how to present them so your audience understands them.

Most disturbing to me were the calls from Chabad messianist women who repeated over and over again that the Rebbe did not pass away, that he is at this very moment the messiah, and those of us with little faith be damned.

Zev Brenner asked one of these women, "Did the Rebbe die?" She responded, "God forbid. The Rebbe is atzmus me'elokus [the very essence of God] in a guf [body]. He cannot die." "Where is the Rebbe right now?," Zev Brenner asked. She said, "All over." After being pressed by A startled Zev Brenner, she repeated "All over," and then said, "[He's in] 770, [he's] everywhere." Zev responded by asking, startled, "What do you mean?"

What Zev Brenner heard is normative Chabad messianist theology.

The Rebbe, no longer confined to his body, is everywhere. He is omnipresent and almost, but not quite, omnipotent, as well. He answers your prayers and intercedes for you on high. He watches you and he watches over you.

Whatever this theology is, calling it Judaism is incorrect.

We are watching the evolution of another Christianity right before our eyes. And I do not think any human being has the power to stop it. It is too far gone, and we who have tried to stop it are too few, too weak and too late.

Dirty Laundry Exposed

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles has a magazine-length exposé on the Spinka money laundering and tax fraud case.

I don't have time right now to pull quotes or comment beyond saying that my quick scan tells me this a very good piece.

Among the points mentioned is the Federal government's belief that money laundering is widespread in haredi society and that money laundering often has gone on for generations, sometimes back to pre-War Europe.

Also noteworthy is the Jewish Journal's assertion that lax Israeli law allows rampant money laundering.

Read the whole thing here.

PDF archive:

Download spinka_expos_jewish_journal_of_la.pdf

Spreading the "Good News" One Cadillac at a Time

Chaptzem, the Borough Park-based haredi news blog, has these pictures of a Chabad "moshiach mobile." Curbed and  New York Magazine picked up the story. Both incorrectly think Chaptzem is a Chabad blog.

Chabad Rabbi Promises Violent Defense of Settlements – "It is Good to Die for Our Country"

Ynet reports:

…"The struggles for the other settlements will be ten-fold what there was in Amona. It is good to die for our country," said SOS Israel chairman Rabbi Dov Wolpe, echoing the reputed last words of legendary Zionist activist Joseph Trumpeldor…

"There is talk of President Bush's vision of two states for two peoples - may the all-merciful protect us," Wolpe said. "On the day after his election President Peres said we must cede the territories. If the president of the United States would have said after his inauguration that Seattle and Manhattan should be handed over, what would (the American public) call him?"

"A traitor," the demonstrators shouted back.

Wolpe continued to say that "only the coming of the messiah can save us, not the High Court (of Justice), which is collaborating with the Arabs."…

First of all, this statement of Rabbi Wolpe's, "only the coming of the messiah* can save us, not the High Court (of Justice), which is collaborating with the Arabs," makes clear his anti-democratic stance.

Rabbi Wolpe's previous call for Olmert's murder was later justified by Rabbi Wolpe who claimed he only wanted Israeli law enforced. Nazi collaborators, Rabbi Wolpe argued, can be punished with the death sentence. Israel's government "collaborates" with the Palestinian Authority and seeks territorial compromise. Therefore, Rabbi Wolpe's twisted logic runs, Israel's leaders are traitors who should be killed.

Here Rabbi Wolpe argues the courts, which are charged with deciding that law, have decided in a way he dislikes. Therefore, the courts are "traitors," just as Olmert, Livni, Ramon, and Barak are "traitors." And you know what should be done with traitors according to Rabbi Sholom DovBer Wolpe.

Rabbi Wolpe has a very checkered recent past:

…In 2006 [Rabbi Wolpe] offered a free copy of one of his book "From Light to Darkness" to anyone that pledged to refrain from celebrating Independence Day.^[20]

In 2007, he told a conference in Jerusalem that "the remedy for the disengagement is to understand that the State of Israel is a terrible thing. We should not bless or praise the state that was founded by criminals and heretics like Herzl."^[21]

In December 2007, Wolpo stated that his followers will secede from Israel if the Israeli government withdraws from Judea and Samaria^[22]…

Who was Joseph Trumpeldor Rabbi Wolpe quoted yesterday?

…[I]n January 1920 [Trumpeldor] was called to the northern Galilee to help organize the defense of the settlements there which had come under increasingly fierce Arab attack. On March 1 he was mortally wounded while participating in the defense of the settlemenents at Tel Hai; his dying words were: Ein davar, tov lamut be'ad arzenu ("Never mind; it is good to die for our country").

…His life story served as an inspirational model to both the pioneering socialist youth movements and the right-wing youth groups. One of the largest and most successful of the latter was named in his honor: Betar, an abbreviation of Berit Trumpeldor.

By quoting Trumpeldor in this way, Rabbi Wolpe is equating the evacuation of settlements in the West Bank by the legally elected government of Israel with Arab attacks against Jews in pre-State Palestine. And he is promising violent rebellion.

He should be arrested, put on trial and, if found guilty, jailed for a very long time – unless Israel heeds Rabbi Wolpe's call to use the death penalty far more freely than it has to date.

In that case, sedition, one of the crimes Rabbi Wolpe has committed, is punishable by death.

As Rabbi Wolpe himself said about Olmert, Livni, Ramon, Barak and others – let the bastard hang.

* Wikipedia notes this about Rabbi Wolpe's messianic beliefs:

In 1984 Rabbi Wolpe wrote a book proclaiming the Rebbe as Moshiach.[3] However, after a public address by Rabbi Schneerson in which he said that “such a book can cause hundreds of Jews to stop learning Chassidus, and [cause them to] oppose the Baal Shem Tov and his teachings," [Rabbi Wolpe] did not publish the book. However, in 1991, Rabbi Wolpo asked the Rebbe if perhaps now is the right time to publish the book. Rabbi Schneerson answered, “after having it edited by three friends he may publish it.” The book was then edited and published in 1991, and the first unbound copy was sent to the Rebbe.

Note the Rebbe's response to Rabbi Wolpe, said in public before hundreds if not thousands of hasidim, does not say, "I am not the messiah." It says promoting me as the messiah will hurt outreach and fundraising. That is the essence of the divide in Chabad to this day.

Will Chabad Be Ruled Outside Judaism?

The Jewish Week has a good piece on the Chabad conversion crisis. Basically an Israeli beit din charged with conversions rejected a potential Chabad convert because he believes the late Rebbe is the messiah.

The Jewish Week tells the story. And then it asks various rabbis what should be done. The breakdown goes like this:

1. An unnamed spokesman for Sefardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who is the head of all government beit dins in Israel, indicated that it is up to each individual judge to decide on the conversion candidate standing before him. The Jewish Week thinks this means Rabbi Amar will decline to overrule the beit din that refused to convert the messianist.
2. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, formerly of CLAL, avers the late Rebbe was a "failed messiah,' not a false one, and should be treated with respect even though his followers err. Rabbi Greenberg then goes on to say that the messianist should be converted because, "If he said he believed in another religion or another God, that would be a legitimate criterion" for denying his conversion. But this case is different, he says. "That mistaken belief should be criticized but should not be the basis for refusing entrance to the Jewish people."
3. Rabbi Seth Farber of Itim said, "I think it could be agreed upon that someone who was observant but continued to deny the singularity of God or God’s omnipresence ought be denied entry through the gates," said Rabbi Seth Farber, director of Itim, an Israeli organization that helps converts deal with the rabbinic establishment there.
   
   "Given the consensus among the Orthodox community regarding the fact that messianic deliverance has not yet occurred," Rabbi Farber continued, "it seems reasonable that someone who assumed [and acted upon this belief] this could be denied."
4. Rabbi Basil Herring, the executive director of the Rabbinical Council of America, waffled, ""is a very delicate, sensitive issue and we respect the right and jurisdiction of the rabbinate of Israel to make its decision on this issue."

The Jewish Week also notes that the RCA resolution condemning Chabad messianism, passed two years after the Rebbe's death, wasn't all it was supposed to be:

[The RCA is] an organization with about 1,000 centrist Orthodox rabbis. In 1996 the RCA passed a much-debated, carefully constructed resolution condemning Jewish messianism, without mentioning Lubavitch in particular. Authored by Rabbi Berger, who is a member of the group, they removed the name of Lubavitch because they did not want to deprecate the entire chasidic sect, some of whose members do not share the messianist beliefs, said the RCA’s president at the time.

I'm told what really happened is there was heavy opposition to the resolution by rabbis with close ties to Chabad and by wealthy Modern Orthodox financial backers of Chabad. That, combined with Rabbi Berger's belief that the Rebbe should be separated from the errors of his followers, and his belief that the few non-messianist Chabad rabbis should be protected from attacks meant for the messianists, caused the resolution to be watered down.

Rabbi Berger's attempts to spare the Rebbe weren't met with gratitude. Chabad instead launched a smear campaign against Rabbi Berger that has continued to this day, a campaign Basil Herring has never seriously addressed.

I also want to address Rabbi Greenberg's point regarding accepting this messianist as a convert.

In effect what Rabbi Greenberg is saying is that in 44 CE the Sanhedrin should have accepted converts who believed Jesus was the messiah but kept mitzvot and identified as Jewish. It should have converted them and allowed them to study and affiliate with James and Peter – because the only major difference between Jews and Early Christians in Israel in those days was who believers thought was the messiah.

The rabbis spent years trying to make separations between Early Christians, known as "minim" in rabbinic literature, and normative Jews, going so far as to ban prostration in prayer because Early Christians prostrated themselves during prayer, and banning other Jewish practices because Early Christians did them, as well. Indeed, the rabbis added a special blessing cursing the minim to the Amidah prayer.

In those days before widespread literacy and the printing press, the Amidah was said out loud and the congregation answered Amen to each blessing. There was no "silent Amidah" as we now know it.

The idea was as follows. A Jew entering a synagogue could immediately tell whether the congregation was messianist or not because messianist synagogues would not say that added section of the Amidh prayer.

Further, minim, the messianists of their day, would not pray in synagogues that did say the new anti-minim prayer. If one did, and did not answer Amen to that blessing, he was discovered and, shall we say, dealt with.

These steps over time helped to create Christianity by separating the messianists from Judaism.

Perhaps the rabbis were wrong to do this. But they did it, not because Early Christians did not keep mitzvot but because Early Christians did keep mitzvot while at the same time holding to a heretical belief – that their dead teacher would rise as the messiah. This seems to be a very close parallel to the situation we have today with large chuncks of the Chabad movement.

We can diverge from the policy set almost 2000 years ago, although it seems strange rabbis who today will not change policies set in error 10 years ago or 100 years ago will so easily change this one set by the greatest rabbis of our people's history.

Perhaps that is beginning to sink into today's non-Chabad rabbinic mind.

[Hat Tip: Michelle.]

Chabad May Split Over Rabbi's Call to Murder Olmert, Livni, Ramon and Barak, The Forward Reports

The Forward has a piece on Chabad rabbi Sholom DovBer Wolpe's call for the murder of Prime Minster Olmert and other leading Israeli politicians including Tzipi Livini, Haim Ramon, and Ehud Barak.

First, Rabbi Wolpe stands by his call for murder:

…In an interview with the Forward last Tuesday, Wolpe stood by his comments, adding that they were an acceptable way to “show how far [Olmert] has gone.”

The determination of Wolpe and other messianists to make political statements is integrally connected to their belief that the rebbe is the messiah. Working from statements that Schneerson made, opposing land for peace and calling for expansionist policies for Israel, the messianists have tended to promote hard-line right-wing positions.

As to the heat he is feeling from other Chabad leaders, Wolpe said: “What is embarrassing Chabad is that we don’t do anything to stop the Holocaust Olmert is bringing to Israel. What are they doing?”…

The Forward makes clear who Rabbi Wolpe is:

…Wolpe is the most popular leader of the messianic strand of Chabad, which holds that the 1994 death of the Lubavitcher rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson did not challenge the belief held in parts of the sect that he was the messiah. Wolpe was the first rabbi to go public with this position in 1994. A conflict has festered since then between followers of this belief and others, who present themselves as the mainstream and who reject such overt messianic claims.

Leaders on both sides have struggled to honor a ruling of a Brooklyn-based rabbinical court, issued immediately after the rebbe’s death, that said the movement should not split in two and the factions should not publicly undermine each other.…

The bulk of the article deal with what the Forward thinks may become a formal split between the messianists and the "mainstream" faction.

However, the Forward errs when reporting Chabad's relationship with army service:

Chabad occupies a privileged position among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox groups, being the only major Hasidic group whose members serve in the army.

This is simply false. Most Chabad followers do not serve in the army.

Only a handful of Chabadniks do serve. Most of them are sons of ba'al teshuvas or ba'al teshuvas themselves. This gives Chabad the appearance eof serving when in truth most of that service is done by ba'al teshuvas and not by non-ba'al teshuva Chabad families.

A group of older Chabadniks from non-ba'al teshuva families did serve in the army. These men served in the 1948 war and some of them remained in the IDF reserves until they became to old to serve. Reb Yona Mendelson, o.h., the "Sar HaMashkim," and an Old City stalwart, was one of those.

The last several years have seen so-called "at risk" Chabad youth joining the army. This trend is mirrored in most haredi communities, as well.

You can read the entire article here.

Earlier posts here and here.

Colmer Bail Set at $10 Million

The NY Daily News reports:

An orthodox Jew extradited from Israel to face charges of sodomizing two teenage boys in his Brooklyn home was ordered held Tuesday on $10 million bail.

Stefan Colmer, 31, allegedly went on the lam last February after he learned he was under investigation for molesting the 13-year-old victims whom he had befriended and invited to his Midwood home to play board games, prosecutor Elizabeth Doerfler said.

Colmer pleaded not guilty to the indictment that could put him in prison for 56 years if he's convicted on all eight counts.…

Colmer, a computer technician and freelance photographer, asked to be placed in protective custody at Rikers Island.