FailedMessiah.com

Hospitalized Hasid Arraigned In Hospital

18-year-old Shaul Spitzer, the butler of the Skvere Rebbe (pictured at right), was arraigned on charges of arson and attempted murder.

Israeli Delusions Of Grandeur

Today is the 20th anniversary of Operation Solomon, the rescue brought 14,310 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours as the communist government of Ethiopia collapsed. While the rescue was a tremendous achievement for Israel, it was negotiated by and made possible by the United States Government – a fact Israeli media, government and intelligentsia often ignores.

Salaries Of Newly Appointed State-Funded Municipal Rabbis To Increase 250%

The salaries of newly appointed municipal rabbis will be increased by 250 percent, while the salaries of more veteran rabbis will be held at their current level.

New Square Burn Victim Feared For His Safety, But Cops Did Nothing

A New Square man who was severely burned early Sunday during an attack on his home had been the victim of growing harassment for more than a year and feared for his safety. But cops and reporters did nothing.

November Letter From New Square Leadership Calls For Hasidm To Eject Dissident From Village

"But to all our sorrow, there is one individual…who even after the members of the congregation warned him time after time to uproot his dwelling from the village… he is still pushing us off and upholding his decision [to pray elsewhere], therefore it is upon us to publicize that not only was the right to live here in the village taken from him, along with [the right] to send his sons to our institutions, we are also prohibiting him from entering public buildings, for example the synagogue, the ritual bath, hall of song and prayer, etc, and you have to stop him from the entering."

Joint Orthodox And Ultra-Orthodox Statement Against Same Sex Marriage

"We are deeply concerned that, should any such redefinition occur, members of traditional communities like ours will incur moral opprobrium and may risk legal sanction if they refuse to transgress their beliefs. That prospect is chilling, and should be unacceptable to all people of good will on both sides of this debate."

Embattled Rehab Center Owner Dies In Custody

Helen (Chayale)  Sieger allegedly bribed hospital officials in exchange for referrals to her nursing home. She was also charged with looting $9 million from Kingsbridge Rehab. She skipped bail on those charges and was rearrested in Miami Beach after racking up thousands of dollars at a hotel under an assumed name.

New Square Religious Court Condemns Violence

New Square beit din tells hasidim violence is forbbidden. Skvere Rebbe does not sign.

Suspect In New Square Arson Now Facing Attempted Murder Charge

Shaul Spitzer, the 18-year-old house bucher, butler, of the Skverer Rebbe (pictured at right), has been charged with attempted murder for his arson attack against News Square dissident Chaim Aron Rottenberg and his family.

A Call For The Skverer Rebbe's Resignation

Guest Post: The Skverer rebbe has not publicly condemed the violence done in his name. His silence is not acceptible, and he must resign from his role as rebbe immediately.

Gruesome Pictures Of The New Square Arson Victim

Chaim Aron Rottenberg was burned over half of his body by Shaul Spitzer, the butler of the Skverer rebbe, in an attempt to punish the Rottenberg for choosing to pray in a synagogue not controlled by the Skverer rebbe.

Video History: Chabad Money Laundering For A Drug Cartel

In 1988 Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin was arrested – and later was convicted – along with another Orthodox Jew and 12 others for participation in an international money laundering ring. The ring sent the money it laundered to Colombia and Panama and was linked to cocaine trafficking.

Video: Orthodox Cop Talks About Haredi Child Sexual Abuse

Rabbis, rabbinic coverups and the endangerment of thousands of ultra-Orthodox children.

The Butler Did It!

Shaul Spitzer, the live-in butler of the Skverer Rebbe (pictured at right), is charged with arson and assault in an attack on a New Square dissident and his family. More charges may yet be filed against Spitzer.

Sexting Ortho Teacher Suspended

Rivky Love, 36, a math teacher at Edward R. Murrow HS in Brooklyn, hounded a girl -- whom she called her "best friend and sister" -- with intimate messages into the wee hours.

ARSON AND FELONIOUS ASSAULT IN HASIDIC VILLAGE

A New Square hasidic man suffered severe body bruns early this morning when he fought off another hasidic man armed with an incendiary device during a fight over a simmering religious controversy.

Haredi School Board VP Charged With Election Tampering

A VP of East Ramapo's school board, Aron Wieder is accused of blocking the entrance to a polling station at Hillcrest Elementary School during Tuesday's school district elections and photographing and otherwise intimidating voters. Two unknown men are believed to have assisted Wieder.

Alleged Arson In New Square

Inter-group fighting in the hasidic village has allegedly escalated to arson and attempted murder.

Japan Thanks ZAKA

Japanese Ambassador to Israel Haruhisa Takeuchi recently hosted ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav and other members of the ZAKA delegation to thank them for their assistance during their two-week mission to earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged Japan.

Atheists Have Better Sex Lives

A study finds that in individuals, the stronger their religious beliefs were, the more powerful were their feelings of sexual guilt.

Women's Cellphone Ban, Williamsburg

“Can you imagine your grandmother with a cell phone on the streets or on a bus? Where did our ingrained shame and modesty of the Jewish daughter disappear to? On the behest of the Jewish leaders is forbidden for a Jewish daughter to talk on a cell phone on the streets or on a bus!”

New RCA President A Moderate

New Rabbinical Council of America president Rabbi Shmuel Goldin doesn't want to mix into Israel's politics, especially the peace process. He supports diversity in conversions, and he'd like to find a way to admit liberal Modern Orthodox rabbis into the RCA.

Setting The Record Straight On Agudath Israel Of America And Child Sexual Abuse

The Jewish Star has an erroneous report on Agudath Israel of America's recent conference that misrepresents Agudah's position on reporting child sexual abuse to police.

Haredi Con Artist Pleads Guilty

Dina Wein Reis, 47, softly answered, “Guilty,” when U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson asked her how she pleaded to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

A Hasidic Cult

"When I go to Joseph's Tomb, I know that something is liable to happen to me, but I believe in the rabbi [Berland, pictured at right] and I have a sense of security. I call this the adrenaline of holiness. You enter a city where there are terrorists - and we have already encountered gunfire - but you enter with faith, pray at the tomb and understand that by means of faith and prayer it is possible to change even nature.…One [Beslov hasid] was injured [doing this] and he has been in a vegetative state since 2003, and one, Ben-Yosef [Livnat], was [just] killed. With all the grief - both were my friends - you have to view it in relation to the level of risk and you understand that it's nothing, it's beyond nature."

Zionist Orthodox Rabbis Urge Netanyahu To "Show Courage"

Right-wing rabbis leaders sent letter of support to Netanyahuin anticipation of his upcoming meeting with US President Barack Obama. "You must stress everywhere, the rabbis wrote, "that our national and historical right applies to all parts of our country."

Former Street Thug Turned Orthodox Jew Hopes To Be The First African-American In Knesset

Marcus Hardie grew up in an African-American community in Los Angeles, where his nickname was "American Thug." "I was a tough gangster," he says. But after a religious awakening that brought him to Judaism and eventually led him to immigrate to Israel, his street name changed to "American Faith." In his recently published autobiography, Hardie recounts his journey from the streets of an inner-city ghetto in California to Israeli yeshivas, Ehud Olmert's office and the battlefields of the second intifada.

Orthodox NY State Assemblyman With Extremist Past Equates Obama With Hamas

In a statement released this afternoon after the president's speech, Dov Hikind said Obama "is not a friend of Israel," calling the president's remarks "outlandish" and saying President Obama "is of the same mindset as Hamas."

Elvis And The Lubavitcher Rebbe Play Cards Together In The Afterlife?

When asked about factions in Chabad that believe the late Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who passed away in 1994, is a demigod or still alive, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz references Elvis Presley.

Video: Neturei Karta Rabbis In Teheran

Two Neturei Karta rabbis attended the recent Soviet propaganda style conference  International  Alliance For Global Cooperation against terrorism in Teheran. Not surprisingly, this Iranian propaganda event labeled the US and Israel as the world's leading terrorists, not Hamas and Hezbollah, which are funded by Iran and which actually carry out acts of terrorism. Here's video.

Orthodox Gays In Israel Demand Acceptance

A once unimaginable movement is emerging from within Israel’s insular Orthodox Jewish community: homosexuals demanding to be accepted and embraced, no matter what the Torah says.

Caught In The Act?

Did Google alter the public record of its blogging service's massive 2-day crash?

Israeli Government Gives Up On Anti-Racism Measure After Ultra-Orthodox Threaten To Bolt The Coalition

The text of the quashed government resolution called on the Education Ministry "to within four months make a substantive change in its supervision of the registration and placement of girls in Haredi schools." This change should include "establishing clear rules for the girls' registration process, and publicizing them," as well increasing supervision of the process. Ashkenazic ultra-Orthodox girls schools have been implicated in widespread illegal exclusion of Sefardic girls on ethnic grounds.

Orthodox Social Worker May Be Called As Witness Against Alleged Haredi Child Abuser, Judge Rules

Brooklyn social worker Gavriel Fagen may be called as a witness against Yosef Kolko, (pictured at right and below).

Agudath Israel Of America Says You Have To Ask A Rabbi Before You Can Call The Police On A Child Molester

Except in cases where the abuser is caught red handed, Agudah says you should ask a senior rabbi with experience in these issues and, even better, you should ask a full beit din (religious court) made up of senior rabbis with experience in these issues. This means Agudah is advocating for you to violate mandatory reporting laws in many states, and it is advocating turning over the lives of abused children to rabbis who have often covered up for abusers.

Inside Europe's Biggest Hasidic Community

North London's Hasidic Jewish community is an intensely private world, where marriage is an integral rite of passage, strict rules must be adhered to and faith is taken seriously. Film-maker Paddy Wivell spent three months finding out what goes on behind closed doors and how an outsider is received.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Said To "Favor" Appointment Of Women

Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef supports integrating women into religious councils, according to Religious Services Minister Yaakov Margi (Shas ). Margi declared he "will act to improve representation of women in the makeup of religious councils appointed in the future." Margi made the written statement in response to a report about his ministry that criticized the negligible proportion of women serving on appointed religious services bodies in locales around the country.

Women To The Rear! It's Okay To Harass, Insult And Embarrass Women On Gender Segregated Buses, Head Haredi Rabbi Says

If women won't move to the back of the bus, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv says, scream at them, insult them, embarrass them and harass them.

Following Complaints Of Sexism, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Rules Women Can Speak On Haredi Radio Station

A female Knesset member was harshly criticized by one of the radio station's broadcasters but was banned from responding on the air because she is a woman. She believes this is a case of ongoing discrimination against women, as well as a violation of journalistic ethics.

Wendy Weiner Runge Sentenced To 10 Years

Judge Douglas Staskal criticized the head of Polynation Pictures before sentencing her for attacking prosecutors and judges in public statements she has made, while blaming her plight on antisemitism and “some sort of political conspiracy.” He said the sentence was a difficult decision to make for a woman with no prior criminal history, but he could not ignore the “complete arrogant and defiant” way in which she had denied responsility for her crime.

State Comptroller's Report Slams Education Ministry, Racial Discrimination In Haredi Schools

Noting that ultra-Orthodox state-funded girls schools are "fertile ground" for racial discrimination, the State Comptroller's report aimed scathing criticism at the Education Ministry for failing to set procedures for admitting girls to them. The absence of clear and transparent admissions guidelines leads to racial discrimination in that educational system, the report determined, and called on the ministry to make real changes in its supervision.

Conservative Rabbi Wins $29,200 On Jeopardy

Jews have a reputation for answering a question with a question. That might help explain Rabbi Joyce Newmark’s big news -- she is now a  “Jeopardy!” champion.

Shechita Crisis: British Veterinary Association Wants All UK Meat Stunned Before Slaughter

"Our position is clear - all animals should be stunned before slaughter and if that's not possible the meat should be labelled as not stunned…By ensuring that all meat from animals that are not stunned only enters the specific communities that it is targeted at, we can make a significant difference." 2.1 million UK animals are killed annually using Shechita slaughter methods, of which none are pre-stunned, and an estimated 70% of those cattle slaughtered enter the non-Jewish market.

Plot To Blow Up Israel Scientology Center, Murder Muslim Cleric Derailed

Israeli police thwarted what they say was a criminal plot camouflaged as right wing and ultra-Orthodox terror attacks. 11 suspects have been arrested.

Racial Discrimination Continues: Almost 200 Students, Mostly Sefardi, Denied School Placement

The students make up 7% of the city's ultra-Orthodox female students. "The [admissions] list is closed way before the official registration opens. The registration and entrance exams are only done [for show]." "There are some elements in the [city government] who deny the existence of quotas [on one hand] but do all they can to help the seminaries maintain a quota of [no more than] 30% Sephardic students [on the other]."

Protect Children From Physical Danger Before "Moral Danger"

For the past few years, on a regular, horrific basis, hasidic children in Brooklyn, Kiryas Joel and surrounding areas have been tragic victims of motor vehicle accidents. And most of those accidents were preventable.

East Ramapo School Fight Heats Up

Ultra-Orthodox Jews vote in a bloc and they view the school board they have controlled since 2005 – meant by law to manage public schools – as a source for funding private religious schools, even through backdoor means. "I think the purpose of the school board is to make sure that all kids get an education," said Shaya Green, an Orthodox Jew from Monsey who has four children in private school. "All kids include private school kids."

Rubashkin Appeal Hearing

The AP is reporting there is a newly scheduled hearing in the Rubashkin appeal. What is it?

Satmar Paper Attacks Yeshiva World News

"It is unbelievable that a well known Charedi forum [Yeshiva World News] should spread such a question enabling further instigation and igniting the fire of hatred among Jews - Sinas Yisroel.  Does he think that the non-Jew who reads these articles can distinguish between a kneitsch-hit [hat with a bent down brim, a fedora] and a geshtufina-hit [a hat like Satmar wears with an upturned brim]?"

Don't Use Dead Man's Sperm, Rabbi Says

Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Petah Tikva hesder yeshiva, says frozen sperm must not be used for insemination purposes if its owner is no longer alive.