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Haredi Man Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting Minors In Mea Shearim

Hezkiyahu Kahalani, a previously convicted sex offender, was imprisoned in 1992-1993 after he was found guilty of indecent assault, and was sent to prison again for three years in 2001 after he sexually abused two minors. Today, Kahalani was sentenced to 10 more years in prison.

Rabbi Wages "Intellectual War" On Atheism

Rabbi Averick advocated seeking the truth and condemned atheists who use only science as the basis for their beliefs. "Is science in the service of truth? Or is truth in the service of science?"

Developer Charged, Tied To Fraudster Scott Rothstein's Chabad Rabbi

Glenn Wright is accused of stealing money from a homeowners' association for a develpment he built. Wright allegedly used the money to help Rabbi Schneur Kaplan close on property for his new Chabad center that would carry Rothstein's name.

Haredim Launch New Kosher Supervision…For Clothing Stores

Haredi women kosher inspectors have begun supervising clothing businesses in Mea Shearim and Geulah, checking whether the clothes sold in the stores meet their extreme understanding of Jewish Law. Some stores have rejected the new supervision but others have complied, fearing that otherwise demonstrations would be held in front of their businesses.

Child Prositution In Israel

In the years 2000-2009, just 35 police records exist for trafficking of minors for sex and 19 of them were closed due to lack of evidence. Yitzhak Kadmon, the chairman of the National Council for the Child, told the Knesset committees that a police unit investigating computer crimes – which include both sex crimes and financial crimes – numbers just 12 detectives despite a 2007 state order that stipulates it must have 200. "The unit was established, among other things, to enforce laws against online sexual harassment of minors. What is going to be done in order to focus detectives on sexual criminals online?"

Haredi Rabbis Said Moving Toward Acceptance Of Civil Unions

The rationale behind the notion, first reported Thursday in the haredi weekly Mishpacha, stems from the concern expressed time and again by the Ashkenazi haredi leadership and media, that most converts in Israel do not undergo the process because of their desire to live observant Jewish lives, but rather to achieve the status that would enable them to marry here.

Multimillion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme Roils the Orthodox Jewish Community of St. Louis

Motivation for the scheme allegedly was to impress his father-in-law and his new bride.

Chabad Offers "Spiritual Healing" From Convicted Fraudster

Mr Montlake, who was convicted of fraud and given a six-year prison sentence in 2007, said he had trained in reflexology, aromatherapy and massage, and said the spiritual healing had been "self-developed" from there. Meanwhile, in another British case, an Israeli rabbi – backed by leading haredi rabbis in Britain – is offering to remove the "evil eye" from people for $80.

Who Has Jurisdiction?

A woman divorces her abusive husband – who an Israeli civil court found abused her and who sexually abused her children – and tries to start new life in US with her kids. Despite the civil court ruling that found bringing the kids to the US would benefit them because it would keep them far away from their abusive father, a rabbinic court decides to hear the ex-husband’s petition for visitation rights and block the children's travel to the US.   

The Weingarten Case, Haredi Rabbis And Child Rape

Audio: Rabbi Yosef Blau, Mark Meyer Appel, Max Gold and Abraham Kiss speak about convicted child rapist Rabbi Yisroel Weingarten on Zev Brenner's Talkline radio show.

Chabad Yeshiva, Accused Of Fraud, Returns $410,000

The Israel program fund provider Masa tightens control in wake of audit in which only a quarter of registered students were present.

Weingarten Child Rape Case To Be Focus Of Radio Broadcast Tonight

Zev Brenner's Talkline radio show will feature Rabbi Yosef Blau from Yeshiva University and others talking about the Rabbi Yisroel Weingarten case – and the haredi rabbis who say the notorious child rapist is innocent, despite reams of inter-haredi evidence to the contrary and Weingarten's federal convictions.

As Most Chabad Rabbis Move To Oppose IDF Conversions, A Leading Chabad Rabbi Demurs

The outspoken opposition of IDF-sanctioned conversions by two dozen Chabad rabbis has now put them at odds with Kfar Chabad's rabbi, Mordechai Ashkenazi, who categorically rejects their claims.

Weekly Crime And Misbehavior Blotter

Gay IDF Soldier Blocked From Converting To Judaism By Rabbis

The soldier’s experience highlights the plight that gay would-be converts to Judaism face in Israel: Because there is no separation of state and religion, and the state religion is regulated by the Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate, it is practically impossible for an openly gay person to convert to Judaism.

Former Haredi Politician Accused Of Serial Rape

Originally arrested on suspicion of real estate corruption, during Sami Levy's interrogation, police have come to suspect him of raping women who came to him for help.

The Rabbis Letter Against Glenn Beck

Even though Holocaust scholars, Abe Foxman of the ADL, heads of other Jewish organizations, Commentary Magazine, and many others have attacked Glenn Beck's frequent misuse of the Holocaust, his repeated misuse of Nazi analogies, and his frequent misrepresentation of history, only a tiny number of Orthodox rabbis signed the letter against Beck and Fox News head Roger Ailes.

Haredi Rabbi Yehuda Levin Defends Glenn Beck On MSNBC

Rabbi David Seth Kirschner tries to answer Levin, but is largely drowned out by Levin's bizarre behavior.

Religion Focus Of Custody Fight Involving Former Exotic Dancer Turned Hasidic Jew

She was an exotic dancer at the Admiral Theatre, and he was the club’s manager, when Nelson Derbigny said he met Elina Margolina in 1995. The two got married, changed careers and had a child — but divorced in 2007. On Wednesday — after both since remarried and Margolina became a devout Hasidic Jew — the two sat on opposite sides of a Cook County courtroom for the start of a bitter trial to determine custody of their now 8-year-old son.

Chabad Rabbinic Group Wants To Teach European Public School And University Students About The Holocaust

But will the Rabbinical Center of Europe teach students about Chabad's unique role in opposing rescue attempts during the Holocaust, its claim that Reform and secular Jews caused the Holocaust, and its claim that only the messiah would stop Hitler?

Foster Care: Should Jewish Kids Stay In Jewish Homes?

Agudath Israel is planning on filing a friend of the court brief on behalf of a Jewish mother whose two children were placed in non-Jewish foster care. The organization claims that Renssellaer County Social Services in upstate New York violated state law when it placed the two children — a 2-year-old boy and 6-month-old girl — in non-Jewish homes.

Orthodox Gay Teens Find Safe Haven

"Most of the teens who come to us, especially the young ones, are still in the closet," says Gidi Grunberg, who coaches a group of older boys. "They hide their membership in the group even from their parents, so we are committed above all to their security and discretion."

Hundreds Of Rabbis Call On Rupert Murdoch To Sanction Glenn Beck

Hundreds of rabbis are taking News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch to task in an open letter to be published today in the Wall Street Journal and the Forward, demanding that he sanction Glenn Beck for his repeated perversion of the memory of the Holocaust. The letter is signed by rabbis from across the United States including  prominent Orthodox rabbis, and accuses Beck of diminishing the memory and meaning of the Holocaust.

Is Rabbinic Ordination Equivalent To A Bachelors Degree?

After a rabbi was denied a position as a state-employed supervisor of the haredi school system because he lacks an academic degree, the Jerusalem Labor Court will be deciding over the next few months whether rabbinic ordination should be recognized as equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.

For The Jobless, A Place To Reconnect

For those Jews still looking for work, the fact of being without work is taking its emotional toll. “We’re not a crisis center, we’re not a mental health clinic,” though the Connect to Care social workers comfort the distressed and refer the seriously disturbed to mental health professionals, says social worker Jill Schreibman. “I get [clients] crying all the time, people thinking about suicide. People are anxious and depressed and worried.”

Role Model

Anna King, 20, puts off a promising international modeling career to serve in the army. The Jerusalem-born model is one of only 100 Christians serving in IDF.

Beit Shammai In Our Days

The thug-like tactics of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv helped lead to today's organ donation crisis. Here's how.

Right Wing Initiative: Kashrut Certificates For Business That Do Not Employ Arabs

The Lehava organization — for the prevention of assimilation in the Holy Land— launched a new initiative this week in Jerusalem in the course of its members’ conference: the organization will grant kashrut certificates to restaurants that refuse to employ Arabs. The certificate will read as follows in large letters: “This Certificate is Hereby Granted in Assurance that the Proprietor of This Business Employs: Jewish Workers and No Enemies!”

Senior Congressman Writes To AG Asking For Review Of Rubashkin Case

Jerrold Nadler writes a very respectful letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for a review of the Sholom Rubashkin case. But in the letter, Rep. Nadler makes several serious errors of fact that render most of his request moot and show once again that Rubashkin's legal and PR team are in effect lying to people like Rep. Nadler to get their support.

Cholov Yisrael Milk Plant Closed By State Has "Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Unpaid Rent, Tax and Utility Bills"

Sanitary-inspection reports from nine days in December and earlier this month indicated the plant was in violation because products were unfit for food and "produced, packed or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth or rendered diseased, unwholesome or injurious to health," according to a four-page order of summary suspension of the plant permit.

"Chastity Squad" Member Sent To Prison For Store Attack

Shmuel Weisfish gets two year sentence for threatening to murder employees of Jerusalem computer store. "Shame that leaders of this bunch of thugs couldn't make it clear there was line that shouldn't be crossed," says judge.

Renegade Shas MK Starts Moderate New Social Movement

Maverick Shas MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem on Tuesday launched a new social movement that will strive to return the crown of moderate religious and Sephardi social activism to its former glory, as per the founding principles of Shas that he says are now no longer the spirit of the party.

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv And Other Haredi Rabbis Slam Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Over Army Conversions

"Everyone knows that there gentiles do not intend to take upon themselves a thing from the essence of the religion, neither the Sabbath, kashrut nor family purity laws. And everyone knows….That the gentiles do not intend to embrace Judaism. We turn to everyone who can stop this terrible desecration, and to close the divider that has been breached…May the blessed lord place wisdom in the hearts of the misguided."

FBI Arrests Haredi Woman At Family Wedding

Haredi woman arrested at son's Borough Park wedding. The woman, who's last name is Zaprin or Safrin, is allegedly another arrest linked to the Spinka Rebbe's money laundering scandal. The Spinka Rebbe is currently serving time in a federal prison facility for his crimes.

The Company They Keep

Bob Barr, who was (and may still be) a member of Sholom Rubashkin's legal defense team, now represents the notorious former Hatian dictator Baby Doc Duvalier, and Barr says Haiti was better off under under Duvalier's rule.

'Kosher' Video Sharing Website Allows Viewers To Rock, Kosher Style

“It’s just like YouTube, except with one difference: there isn’t any lasciviousness,” explained Sharon Bokubaza, a student from the Breslov Shuvu Banim Yeshiva who is also the site director. “Glatube is geared for newly-observant Jews who want to hear music but are not interested in the lasciviousness that exists on the internet.”

Britain's Orthodox Jews In Organ Donor Card Row

Britain’s Orthodox Jews have been plunged into the center of an angry debate over medical ethics after the Chief Rabbi ruled that Jews should not carry organ donor cards in their current form. London’s Beth Din, which is headed by Lord Jonathan Sacks and is one of Britain’s most influential Orthodox Jewish courts, caused consternation among medical professionals earlier this month when it ruled that national organ donor cards were not permissible under halakha (Jewish law).

Riot: As Rabbi Who Sought To Ban Music Speaks, Opponents Play Music; Rabbi's Followers Riot

Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak confronted by Jews fed up with his bans. As his followers riot, Yitzhak leaves.

Exclusive: Cholov Yisroel Dairy Loses License, Forced To Close Due To Contaminated Milk And Cheese

Emes Milk, Lev Milk, Morning Select cheeses and Kahal cheeses are said to be impacted. Heavy bacteria contamination reported.

Rabbi Leib Tropper Given Warm Welcome In Jerusalem

Disgraced former head of Eternal Jewish Family and former rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Kol Yaakov in Monsey gets hero's welcome in haredi Jerusalem where he was apparently welcomed by senior haredi rabbis and where his commentary on a book called Taharat Yisrael, Purity of Israel, was published. Tropper was recently involved in a well-publicized sex scandal that involved extorting a potential female convert into phone sex and other lurid acts, but this does not seem to have hurt his reputation in the haredi world.

Haredi Chronicles: Obama The Illegitimate President

Yesterday, Republican leader Eric Cantor said that he believes President Obama is a US citizen. How did haredim react to that declaration? 

61% Of Haredim Want Separate Communities

Sixty-one percent of the ultra-Orthodox living in Israel prefer to live in towns segregated from the secular population, a new comprehensive study says. "That said, one third of haredim aren't inclined to live that way – and they are most likely the sector in society that combines Torah with regular jobs and more involved with Israeli economy, unlike haredim who live a more traditional lifestyle where 'Torah is their profession'."

Lawyer Claims Bias In State's Decision To Drop Felony Charge Against Shomrim Member

The attorney said after the decision that State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein was being soft on Jewish hate crime because he is Jewish. Bernstein said his decision was based only on the evidence in the case.

Rabbi Moshe Tendler Rips RCA For "One Of The Most Dramatic Chillul Hashem Incidents In The American Jewish Community"

Yeshiva University's Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler attacks the Rabbinical Council of America's "blatant lies," and says rabbis Hershal Schachter, Mordechail Willig and J. David Bleich don't know what they are talking about.

The Lies Of Rabbi Hershal Schachter?

Does the rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva University lie in order to defend a untenable and immoral policy on brain stem death and organ donation?

Haredi Yeshiva Stipends Discriminatory, University Students Tell Supreme Court

After the government extends arrangement awarding monthly living allowances to religious seminary students, social movements and the national university student union continue legal battle against what they call a "shady deal [done] at [the] public's expense."

Orthodox And Haredi Israelis Think Knesset Is "Too Democratic"

Survey shows that most Orthodox and haredi Israelis believe the Knesset is too democratic, but not Jewish enough, while secular Israelis think opposite. But both groups consider human rights a Jewish value.

Friends: Orthodox Jewish Terrorist Has Gone Mad

Sources close to Jewish terrorist say Prison Service trying to conceal his deteriorating mental state before court decides if he is fit to stand trial. In one incident, they say, he injured himself while 'fighting demons' in his cell.

Rabbi, Plan Me A Family

Not every religious newlywed couple wants to start a family as soon as honeymoon is over. In light of problematic alternatives, Bar-Ilan University convention focuses on halachic perspective towards family planning, as more rabbis see way to approving birth control.     

Leading Religious Zionist Organization Advocates "Death Camps" For "Amalekites"

Organization founded by former Sefardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and now run by his son Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and two other prominent Religious Zionist rabbis, attacks moderate rabbis and asks if they will leave the extermination of the descendants of the biblical nation of Amalek – widely understood in Orthodoxy to be all enemies of the Jewish people, especially Palestinians – to others.