FailedMessiah.com

This Isn't "Dirty Laundry"

The argument that talking about sexual abuse will give the Chabad  community a "bad name" does not supersede the obligation to protect the innocent from being hurt.

Hershy Friedman Buys Azorim Real Estate

The man who bought Agriprocessors now buys an Israeli real estate company from Chabad developer Shaya Boymelgreen.

Convicted Rapist Moshe Katsav Innocent Because Judge Is A Gentile, Orthodox Rabbi Says

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, who signed letter in support of Israel's former president, explains to his students why he is so forgiving towards the convicted rapist. "One judge was a Christian Arab, so it's a gentiles' court," Aviner said, adding the court "gave in to the media."

Shas School Students To Take Standardized Tests – But Only After Tests Adapted To Haredi Cultural Values

Israel's Education Ministry and Shas have reached an agreement that will allow junior and senior high students in Shas schools to take Israel's standardized tests. Ashkenazi haredi schools still refuse to have their students tested.   

Satmar Rebbe Honors A Convicted Thief

The Stamar Rebbe, Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, visited Lakewood this week. And who does the esteemed Rebbe have sitting in a place of honor near him? A convicted thief.

Haredim Defend Israel's Most Horrific Child Abuser Sentenced Today To 24 Years In Prison

Rabbi Avraham Froelich, who represents the Eda Haredit, also defended the convict. "Chen is a naïve and delicate soul. The evidence proves he did nothing. This is a Dreyfus plot," he said.

Vizhnitz Rebbe Bans Metal Glasses And Contact Lenses

In a special sermon to the young yeshiva students of the Hasidic dynasty, considered one of the biggest in the haredi sector, Rabbi Israel Hager, the successor of the Vizhnitz Hasidism's founder, discussed the dangers inherent in modernizations on the secular street and urged the students not to wear metal glasses and contact lenses. "We must wear the exact opposite of what is worn in Paris."

Victims Group Calls For Ohel Leadership Change

For many years OHEL has been awash with rumors and allegations regarding their staff not reporting incidences of sexual abuse to proper authorities as required by law. In addition, many supervisors at OHEL have reportedly instructed staff not to report the allegations of sex abuse.  These allegations of OHEL’s non-compliance with Federal and state reporting guidelines put the entire organization in jeopardy of losing its government funding and non-profit status.  It also puts senior staff and Board of Directors in jeopardy of possible criminal prosecution.

It Pays To Be…Haredi?

Discounts on bank accounts, mobile phone rates, public transportation, a  psychometric exam course, and infant products are just a few of the benefits that companies offer haredim in Israel. These discounts come on top of the government subsidies for day care, kindergarten, arnona (local property tax), yeshiva students, and more.

Kabbalah Cult Leader And Horrific Child Abuser Elior Chen Planned To Blow Up Temple Mount

Chen – who is due to be sentenced tomorrow at noon for the most horrific examples of child abuse in Israel's history – tried to get his followers to blow up the Temple Mount and bring the final conflagration and the Redemption.

Understanding Child Sexual Abuse

A case history that ends in suicide should show you why pedophiles are rarely arrested or convicted.

Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler Interviewed About Organ Donation

Rabbi Tendler was on Zev Brenner's Talkline radio show last night. He spoke about organ donation, brain stem death, the 25th yartzeit of his father-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and the forthcoming 9th volume of Rabbi Feinstein's responsa to be pubished by ArtScroll.

Jaffa Road Gets High Tech Makeover

A light-rail train is making trial runs down the venerable main street. It will "revolutionize transportation and the city too," one official says.

3 Zionist Rabbis Sign "Manifesto" Against Dozens Of Zionist Rabbis Who Wrote Fan Letter To Convicted Rapist

A letter of support sent to former President Moshe Katsav by dozens of rabbis has sparked angry responses among the Israeli public in general, and the religious public in particular. Three Religious Zionism leaders – Ramat's Gan's Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Har Etzion Yeshiva head Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein and Rabbi Dr. Nahum Eliezer Rabinovich, head of the Birkat Moshe Yeshiva in Ma'aleh Adumim – issued a "manifesto" against the letter supporting Katsav, who was convicted of two counts of rape and sexual harassment.

Kick Them When They're Down

The OU proves again that it is an amoral (if not immoral) organization.

NGOs Slam Israel Government Decision To Build Holding Facility For Refugees

Non-governmental organizations expressed their outrage following reports this week that the Population, Immigration and Borders Authority was building a detention facility to house illegal residents of Israel and their children – mostly refugees from Africa – as they await deportation.

1500 Rally In Jerusalem Against Racism

Some 1,500 left-wing activists gathered in Jerusalem's Zion Square Saturday to protest "the wave of racism consuming the country and Israeli society" due to government policies – especially those backed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Brooklyn Rabbi Therapist Accused Of Molesting Girl

"'Since word began circulating, people are talking. Others are coming forward. I believe there may be as many as five other people who are preparing to report their own encounters with this man. We have to see what happens in the justice system.' Some who are involved in the case have told me that is exactly what’s happening. More evidence is being presented, right now, to a grand jury.”

Small Haredi Shabbat Demonstrations Continue

"The protest consists of loud yelling at passing cars as protesters push back and forth with the police. It is actually a deal worked out between the police,politicians and chareidi leadership where the rally lasts each week for an hour and absloutely no arrests are made."

Are Unions Kosher?

Are unions kosher? Does a community have a responsibility to ensure public servants are decently paid? Does Orthodox Judaism have anything to say about these questions? About the crisis in Wisconsin? It does – but it is being said by a non-Orthodox rabbi.

Inside The Private World Of London's Haredim

London's insular, close-knit haredi Jews live by age-old traditions, yet are flourishing in the face of the 21st-century pressures.

Discreditied "Conversion Therapy" For Gays And Lesbians Reemerges In Israel

For years, organizations for homosexuals have refused to acknowledge the possibility of changing a person's sexual inclination. A newly established Israeli association of Orthodox gays and lesbians is now giving those psychological "conversion therapies" a chance.

Former Haredi Named Worst Cook In America Winner

Joshie Berger, a former hasid from Borough Park, wins the Food Network's Worst Cooks In America competition.

Glenn Beck Does It Again

Provocative Fox news commentator Glenn Beck angered American Jewish leaders again on Wednesday with new sweeping comments about the Reform movement of Judaism, the largest stream of Judaism in the United States.

Israel's Rabbinic Leadership Is Turning It's Back On The State

The rabbis of this generation want to carry on the dynasty of leadership, but their actions raise doubts about whether they are up to the task.

Chosen: Crimes and Misdemeanors

Zionist Orthodox Rabbis Send Fan Letter To Convicted Rapist Moshe Katsav

Dozens of Religious Zionist rabbis urge Israel's former president, who was convicted of rape in December and who is due to be sentenced early next month, to be "strong." The "people of Zion" are waiting for the injustice to be removed and for the truth to come out, the rabbis wrote, blaming the press for Katsav's conviction.

Prominent Haredi Rabbi Charged With Rape, Sexual Abuse, And Other Charges

A prominent Brooklyn rabbi was charged yesterday with molesting a 12-year-old girl over three years, authorities said. Nechemya Weberman, 52, of Williamsburg, pleaded innocent at his arraignment last night. Authorities said the shocking sex abuse, took place from 2007 until 2010.

Haredim Arrested In Insurance Fraud Named

The men sold what are known as stranger initiated life insurance policies and allegedly committed mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy felonies.

Who Should Care For The Children Of A Chabad Drug Addict?

A battle over two Jewish children is brewing in the Rensselaer County Department of Social Services and the county’s family court, pitting the Orthodox and Reform Jewish communities against each other over how the Jewish children should be raised.

Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Iran Unrest Due To Israel's Unjust Treatment Of Haredim, Rabbis Say

According to leading haredi rabbis, God is causing unrest in Arab and Muslim countries in order to show Israeli leaders they are not in control, are not powerful, and that their treatment of haredim is wrong.

Haredim Arrested In Insurance Scam

Three haredim in Brooklyn are busted for involvement in a life insurance scam.

Haredim "Taking Over" Israel's Smaller Cities, Critics Say

"The activity against haredi domination in big secular cities is replaced with a decent welcome in periphery towns, where the population is traditional," haredi housing activist says. Dozens of communities in the periphery are being taken over in an almost military-style campaign launched by haredi press, asking the "holy public" "not to make too much noise" doing it.

Judge Rejects Chabad's Bid To Take $18 Million From Widow

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Murphy said she found insufficient evidence that Roland Arnall made a verbal pledge to Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin of $18 million for the construction of a Chabad educational center before before he died in March 2008. Chabad's case hurt by ""discrepancies and lack of corroboration," judge says.

Yeshiva Fined For Operating Illegal Dorm

The court also ruled the yeshiva needs to get a variance to continue operating at its current location.

Does Ohel Violate Mandatory Reporting Laws?

Ohel, the haredi family services agency based in Brooklyn, appears to violate state laws that regulate when a health or mental health professional must report sexual and physical abuse to law enforcement or children's services. Ohel “is the problem, in a nutshell. They [have shown that they are] not able to deal with the situation that they are legally required and morally required [to deal with].…Solutions would involve changing [Ohel’s] leadership. You will know there’s change when they start reporting.”

The Tailor Who Fixes Shoes And The Onion That's A Fruit

The state has developed a system for testing and grading children in the ultra-Orthodox community; it also understands that one’s mother tongue, cultural background and other factors require changes to the tests. Yet what is applicable to young children suddenly loses its significance when considering candidates for higher education.

Ashkenazi Haredi Leaders Tell Followers Not To Recognize Army Conversions

Ashkenazi haredim are continuing to oppose the validity of converts who undergo conversion during their Israel Defense Forces service. The newspaper that serves as a mouthpiece for haredi head Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv contained a front page decree yesterday ordering marriage registrars here and abroad to not register military converts.

Haredim: Kosher Cooking In A Material World

Anyone fearful that the ultra-Orthodox will force their lifestyle on secular people should have paid a visit to the Balaboosta competition - the Haredi version of the Master Chef game show - which was held in Bnai Brak recently under the sponsorship of a mixer company.

Hikind Crony Accused Of Misleading City To Get Millions Of Dollars In Tax Breaks For Kosher Supermarket

Wolf Sender allegedly told the NYC's Industrial Development Agency that Community Board 12 backed $2 million in tax breaks for Moisha's Kosher Supermarket even though Sender never brought the issue before the board. The tax breaks were meant to establish supermarkets selling fresh produce in economically depressed areas of NYC where access to fresh produce and other groceries is limited. Moisha's does not meet the program's requirements, critics say.

A Jewish Walker Percy?

Has the next great Southern author been found?

Crime Family Accused In Billion Shekel Fraud

Cops arrest nearly two dozen crime family members, including Ronnie Baranes, pictured at right, who is described as a key figure in the scam.

Holland Moves To Ban All Ritual Slaughter, Unless Animal Is First Stunned

The Dutch parliament has begun legislation proceedings that will ultimately ban Jewish slaughter on the grounds that it causes undue suffering to animals and constitutes abuse of them. If the law is passed, Holland will become the first country to ban Jewish slaughter since the EU was formed.

The New Conversion Crisis

Israel has begun rejecting conversions to Judaism done by American Orthodox rabbis. The Interior Ministry recently rejected the requests of four American families to immigrate to Israel on the grounds that their conversion to Judaism was not valid.

Despite Haredi Opposition, State Conversions To Judaism Rise

Rabbi Haim Drukman, who spoke at the conference, said conversion was "one of the most important national missions of this generation" because many of the immigrants were children of Jews who were forced to assimilate. "It is a mitzvah to bring them closer (to Judaism) because we are helping them come home," said Drukman. "This is what the great rabbis have instructed us to do throughout the ages."

A Satmar Community Has New Ban

Anyone who uses  the Internet without a modesty filter can't lead synagogue prayers.

Accused Serial Child Rapist Meir Dascalowitz Plea Deal Hearing Wednesday

To show your support of Dascalowitz’s victims, to demand justice, and to send a message that criminals who abuse children in the Jewish community deserve to and will be punished, please attend the Dascalowitz plea hearing at the following time and address:

Almost 100 North American Orthodox Rabbis Attack Israel's Interior Ministry And Chief Rabbinate On Conversions

Nearly 100 orthodox North American rabbis signed a letter demanding  Interior Minister Eli Yishai “rectify the injustice being done to our converts, ourselves and the Jewish people” and “insure that those individuals whom we convert will automatically be eligible for aliyah as they have been in the past.”

The Missing Commandment

Jewish law prohibits doing something. But haredi rabbis, community leaders and their followers do it anyway when Sholom Rubashkin, Milton Balkany, Yehuda Kolko and other haredi criminals are involved. What is this prohibition?

Haredi Man Arrested For Home Invasions And Attempted Rape

A haredi man in his 20s was arrested at his Mea Shearim home Sunday for attempted rape and two counts of theft from two Haredi women in their apartments in Jerusalem's Beit Yisrael neighborhood