FailedMessiah.com

Schlepping Toward Ecstasy

The Israeli mobster was running a modest ecstasy smuggling ring when he had a multimillion-dollar idea. To smuggle his pills into New York’s JFK Airport, he’d turn to couriers who were completely unlikely to arouse customs officers’ suspicions: young Hasidic Jews.

Frum Comics Big Hit With Haredi Kids

The comics are censored by haredi rabbis before publication.

83% Of Haredim Claim Discrimination

While most respondents say they have not experienced phenomenon, majority of haredi sector say they, or someone they know, were subject to discrimination.

Mixing Torah And 'Flour'

JCT staff believe Talmud students should work. “Without flour, there is no Torah. Without Torah, there is no flour”–Pirkei Avot.

Suit Alleges Pro-Hasidic Bias In Brooklyn Housing

A judge blocked any development of the Broadway Triangle in order to hear a lawsuit claiming that the process to rezone the area favored whites and Hasidic Jews over other minorities.

Letter from Jerusalem: Haredim "Held Captive" By Radicals

As long as the haredim themselves don't shun the haredi minority willing to beat up police officers in order to protect bones, Israelis will not be able to see that the vast majority of ultra-Orthodox community members are fine people.

Rubashkin Trial Day 6 Summary

When state labor investigators came to Agriprocessors a month before the immigration raid, Rucal testified that supervisors told her not to talk to them or “we would be fired.”

Rubashkin's Wife: Sentence My Husband To Time Already Served

"What we are looking for in the court system is that they treat us the way they would treat any other person in this situation. I’d be happy with time served. He has served almost a year already in a county jail — terrible facilities.”

Pumping Iron: In Williamsburg, Hasids And Hipsters Work Out Side By Side

“I myself am very confused about what my parents would think of it. I for sure hide it from them because I should spend my evenings learning Torah in shul and not in gym. I would never be able to make good shidduchim [marriage matches] with my kids if this would be public.”

Rubashkin Trial Resumes This Afternoon

Trial postponed this morning because Rubashkin was still hospitalized.

Jews For Jesus Founder Dies

Martin Rosen was born April 12, 1932, in Kansas City, Mo., and was raised in an Orthodox synagogue in Denver. He adopted his Christian beliefs in 1953, the same year his Jewish-born wife converted.

Archeologists Find Pagan Altar, Confirm Barzilai Bones Not Jewish–Haredim Hold Mass Funeral, Say Kaddish

Israeli archaeologists say workers have uncovered an ancient pagan altar while clearing ground for construction of a hotly disputed hospital emergency room.

Oorah Subcontractor Linked To Sale Of Stolen Cars

Haredi kiruv organization and its bogus subsidiary for 'at risk' youth are again linked to shady dealings.

Hundreds Of Haredim Riot In Jerusalem, Start Forest Fire, Try To Block Firefighters

Hundreds of haredim threw stones at police officers. During the rioting a group of haredim shattered the windshield of a police vehicle. Rioters stole a briefcase containing confidential documents detailing plans to arrest the riots' organizers, as well as police deployment plans.

Letter from Des Moines: Rubashkin Deserves A Fair Punishment

As Federal District Court Judge Linda Reade prepares to pass sentence on former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Mordecai Rubashkin on May 27 for his conviction on federal financial fraud charges, I have been receiving a steady stream of phone calls and e-mails asking how, in the United States of America - which Jews call the "malchus shel chesed" (kingdom of mercy) - Rubashkin could have been subjected to the aggressive prosecution that he has received.

Hot Jerusalem Rumor

Latest haredi excess in time for Shavuot.

Mysteries Of The Baal Shem Tov

Exactly 250 years after the Baal Shem Tov’s death, we still know nothing about where he came from, or who he was before age 36. But a critical reading of his last moments, recounted by eyewitnesses, provides a look at the true nature of the father of hasidism and how his followers have kept his legacy alive until today.

Blog Schedule

The holiday of Shavuot begins tonight.

Letter from Bnei Brak: The Haredi Revolution Starts Here

If Bnei Brak is the signpost that marks the future of ultra-Orthodox society, then the future is much less dark than we secular are inclined to think. Bnei Brak, a different planet, is connecting to Israel, if we are only wise enough not to reject its extended hand.

The High Court of Justice’s Ultimatum To Haredim: End Segregation Or Pay

The haredi school system will pay a fine of NIS 10,000 for every day segregation continues. Parents who disobey the court's injunction will have to pay a fine of NIS 200 per day per parent (a couple will have to pay NIS 400) until they stop violating it. If the fine does not deter them by month’s end, the court will consider taking out arrest warrants against them.

Mofaz Says Kadima Head Livni Wrong To Attack Haredim

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni’s rival in Kadima, MK Shaul Mofaz, has attacked her in an interview with a chain of haredi newspapers, saying that it was wrong of her to adopt an anti-haredi line in recent weeks.

Haredim Riot Again, Block Main Road

The haredim were protesting the removal of graves from a site designated for Barzilai Hospital's new emergency wing, as well as the arrest of a man suspected of snatching the body of a woman in order to prevent an autopsy. Police respond with water cannons.

Supreme Court Allows Indefinate Imprisonment Of Sexual Predators

In a broad endorsement of federal power, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Congress has the authority under the Constitution to allow the continued civil commitment of sex offenders after they have completed their criminal sentences.

Rubashkin Trial Delayed Until Friday

Sholom Rubashkin’s child labor trial will resume on Friday, because of health reasons and a Jewish holiday.

100-Year-Old Haredi Leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Blocked Hospital Expansion, Report Claims

The people who make the most noise about the media blitz against haredim actually secretly wish that the Barzilai fiasco would just disappear. None of the MKs would admit as much in public, particularly because it would be interpreted as a violation of the wishes of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who has told Litzman to take a hard line on the issue.

40 Arrested As Haredim Protest In Jaffa – Again

Graves causing riots again as haredim demonstrate in Jaffa against construction work they say is desecrating ancient tombs.

No Rubashkin Trial Today

Sholom Rubashkin hospitalized over the weekend.

Rubashkin Hospitalized

Ex-Agriprocessors manager taken to hospital.

Jerusalem City Workers Beaten By Haredi Mob, 30 Arrested

"They are arresting righteous Yeshiva students for protesting the desecration of graves," said Rabbi Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss, the leader of the Haredi group that organized the protest. "It is they [the police] who should be arrested."

Haredi Riots Cost Jerusalem NIS 1 Million

The damage from the riots carried out by members of the Eda Haharedit Sunday is valued at NIS 1 million (about $270,000). A Ynet investigation revealed that the municipal coffers will bear the burden of the protesters' vandalism, which included damage to garbage bins, roads, vehicles, traffic lights, and street lights.

Letter from Tel Aviv: The Haredi S&M Club

There is no need to come to the aid of a person who subjects himself to the rules of Halacha as interpreted by the Haredi leaders, just as one should not listen to the cries of pain emitted by a client at an S&M club. If you have willingly joined the club, don’t ask for my help when the madam with the whip flogs you on the buttocks.

Only 42% Of Israeli Jews Are Secular

Among young Jews aged 20-29, the percentage of haredim is higher, and stands at 14%, as opposed to only 2% who define themselves as haredi among elderly [Jews] aged 65 or above. 

37% Of Haredi Children Disabled, 20% Have No Wage Earning Parent

About a fifth of the haredi children in Israel live in families without a providing parent, and some 37% of them have disabilities – especially learning disabilities.

At Least 87 Haredim Arrested, Bones Moved

Disinterment of the bones started Sunday, and provoked a wave of violent protest among extremist elements in the Eda Haharedit in Ashkelon, Jerusalem, and Jaffa.

Haredi Riots Reveal Split In Haredi Community

Senior ultra-Orthodox officials criticize leaders of struggle against removal of graves from Ashkelon hospital, following Jerusalem Municipality's decision to halt service to haredi neighborhoods. 'They've made us lose our power of deterrence,' one of them says.

Hundreds Of Haredim Riot In Jerusalem

After they failed in Ashkelon, and the work for evacuating the graves in the Barzilai Hospital compound was launched as planned, extremist haredi elements decided to move the focal point of the clashes to a more convenient venue for them— Jerusalem.

Haredim Draw Swastika At Barzilai As Litzman Threatens Government Coalition

Haredi protesters drew a swastika on the walls of the improvised police holding area at Barzilai Hospital.

Haredi Riots: Graves Christian, Not Jewish, Antiquities Authority Says

"The real shame is with the people who delayed construction of the bombproof emergency room, while during Operation Cast Lead people could have died…That is the biggest disgrace."

Jerusalem Cuts Off City Services To Haredim Over Violent Protests

Due to "a long list of violent incidents, including attacks on municipal workers and the vandalism of city facilities at the hands of the haredi protesters, the city has decided to remove employees from these neighborhoods and immediately halt all activities until the violence and lack of concern for human life and property ends," said the municipality.

Pulsa Denura? Haredim To Curse Prime Minister

Leading figures of the extreme “Eda Charedis” haredi community are planning to lay a curse on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the director-general of his office, Eyal Gabbai on Sunday night, Channel 10 news reported.

Yankel Rosenbaum's Murderer Now Lives A Quiet Anonymous Suburban Life

The man at the center of the 1991 Crown Heights riot now lives incognito in a New Jersey town, untroubled by memories of his terrible deed.

Plans Made To Reduce Haredi Unemployment

Modiin Illit Mayor Rabbi Yaakov Gutterman said, "Free daycare and nursery school must be provided or every haredi woman who wants to work."

Prime Minister: "Public Welfare" Conquers Haredi Protests

"Public welfare conquers, this is our guideline. If we can, we confer and attempt to reach conclusions, but in the end the government's decision [not to agree to haredi demands] is according to public welfare."

17 Haredim Detained In Jaffa Over New Grave Dispute

Haredim tried to block infrastructure work and then tried to assault police.

Letter from Jerusalem: Haredim, Curb Your Enthusiasm

There are many kashrut organizations in Israel…but none thrives the way the Eda Haredit’s organization does. The amounts charged by the Eda Haredit are among the highest. Most of the surplus income does not go to the inspectors, but rather to the community itself, and is often employed for violent protest activities.

Audio: New Book On Lubavitcher Rebbe Sparks Controversy

Professor Samuel Heilman, co-author of new book on the life of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is interviewed by Zev Brenner. Shmuley Boteach responds with harsh criticism.

15 Haredim Detained By Police During Ashkelon Protests

On Friday night, horsemen and special crowd-dispersal police units were deployed around the hospital. Police stressed that no measure would be spared and that the commanders were instructed to act as they see fit, including making arrests, in order to maintain public order.

Redundant? Senator Rethinks $1 Million Grant To Haredi Village After Opposition Surfaces

The county has a new, state-of-the-art emergency center in Goshen and Orange County Executive Edward Diana said the county didn’t need another identical facility in Kiryas Joel.

2 High Court Petitions Challenge Haredi Education Policies

There was 1 government supervisor for every 101,901 students in the state-funded recognized but unofficial haredi school system, none for the estimated 40,000 students in the “exempted” haredi schools, 1 for every 5,328 students in the state secular schools and 1 for every 3,941 in the state Religious Zionist schools.

Haredim Protest Ice Cream

 "Promiscuity!" haredim declared in wall posters at the entrance to Mea Shearim.