FailedMessiah.com

Blog Schedule

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, starts tonight at sundown and continues through Friday night, which is, of course, Shabbat, which continues through Saturday until about an hour after sundown. So there won't be any new posts until then. May all of you have a healthy, happy and sweet New Year.

Craven Images

These Haredi paparazzi publications appear each Thursday, and have a total circulation of tens of thousands. Some brand them as "tabloids," "yellow journals" or even "Haredi Playboys" - and someone who is caught with one can never claim he is looking for in-depth journalistic reportage. These publications have only photographs - though never, heaven forbid, of women. Each has a similar format, featuring pictures of weekly events: For example, here's a page devoted to a wedding; there's part of a page with a photo of a funeral; here's a religious sage prostrate on the grave of his ancestors in Romania; there's some Torah scholar, accompanied by figures well known in the Haredi world, like singer Lipa Schmeltzer.

No Women Can Vote

The Skvere hasidic movement does not allow women to drive cars and the Chabad-controlled Crown Heights Jewish Community Council does not allow women to vote. Is this our version of Saudi Arabia?

Dead Sea Scrolls Go Online

Two thousand years after they were written and decades after they were found in desert caves, some of the world-famous Dead Sea Scrolls went online for the first time on Monday in a project launched by Israel's national museum and the web giant Google.

Yeshiva Education Equal To A College Degree, Haredi Pol Says

“The State is doing a great injustice to haredi job seekers by not recognizing religious education while [certain] academic degrees are irrelevant to employment,” he said. “A person who wants to be a doctor, should go to medical school and an electrician needs to study electrical engineering. But degrees in the humanities are not more relevant than religious education.”

Poll: Israelis Want Haredi Army Draft, Compliance From Haredi Schools, Public Buses On Shabbat, And Freedom Of And From Religion – Haredim Oppose

Authoritative poll reveals 62% of public support civil marriage, 52% back same-sex marriage, 87% want everyone to serve in IDF, 79% call for yeshiva budget cuts.

Chabad's Reaches Sukkah Compromise

Community Board 1 members find Chabad a private lot to use for its TriBeCa sukkah, avoiding what could have become a court fight over Chabad's request to place it in a tiny park on a traffic triangle.

Censorship: Hasidic Newspaper Cuts Off President's Head

Der Yid, a Yiddish newspaper owned by hasidim associated with the Zalman faction of Satmar, crops a photograph removing President Obama's head.

Haredi Anti-Evolution, Anti-Gay Protesters

Haredi anti-evolution and anti-gay protesters staged another offensive demonstration on Manhattan's Upper West Side today.

Orthodox Women Now Spending Hundreds Of Dollars To Style Wigs

Linda is whisked to a private, VIP room that has been graced by the likes of Al Pacino, the former queen of Jordan and assorted NYC elites. She’s a young, fashionable, Louboutin-loving mom from Forest Hills who gladly spends as much on her shoes as she does haircuts. A fact that normally wouldn’t turn heads -- except that these costly sessions, which run about $325, aren’t for her own hair. They’re for her wig.

Breslov Hasidim “Wreaked Havoc” At Ben Gurion Airport

Israel Radio is reporting that Breslov hasidim on their way to Uman for Rosh Hashana wreaked havoc Ben Gurion airport.

Kabbalist's Security Team "Roughs Up" ABC Correspondent And Camera Crew

Scandal-plagued rabbi-to-the-Stars Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto managed to slip past a camera crew and correspondent from the ABC News program — but his security guards weren't nearly as silky. Pinto's hired muscle allegedly roughed up "Nightline" correspondent Dan Harris and a female producer from the program as they waited outside his synagogue. Pinto, who's in his late 30s, reportedly puts death curses on his critics.

The Grinch Who Is Trying To Steal Yom Kippur

A powerful rabbi is acting like the Grinch who stole Yom Kippur -- slapping the congregation of Lubavitch World Headquarters with an eviction notice right before the high holy days. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, leader of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, served the Brooklyn congregation’s board of governors with a notice giving them 10 days to clear out of 770 Eastern Parkway on Friday, hours before the Sabbath and less than a week before Rosh Hashanah, which begins tomorrow night.

Scandal-Ridden Haredi Dominated School Board Hit With New Allegations

An East Ramapo school district resident is petitioning the state Department of Education to halt the 2011-12 lease of Hillcrest Elementary School to Congregation Yeshiva Avir Yakov of New Square. The petition charges that East Ramapo's haredi-dominated school board rented the school to the Skvere yeshiva for more than $6 less per square foot than its appraised rental value.

Leaving Stove On Over Shabbat Or Yom Tov Dangerous, Experts Say

Safety concerns over the practice of leaving a stove on have gained national attention. In 2005, a fire in Brooklyn that authorities blamed on a stove-top burner left on for Passover killed three boys and injured 10 other people, according to news reports. 13 people in Teaneck were taken to the hospital over Shavuot this year to be treated for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning caused a stove left on for the holiday. In Englewood, Fire Chief Gerald Marion reviewed nearly 11 years of records after learning about the Teaneck incident and realized that there was a higher rate of carbon monoxide calls to the city's Orthodox neighborhood.

Israel's FBI: Stop Funding West Bank Yeshiva Due To Terror Links

Israel's Shin Bet security service is urging the Education Ministry to immediately halt funding to the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva in the settlement of Yitzhar, near Nablus, saying it has received intelligence information that senior rabbis in the yeshiva are encouraging their students to attack Arabs. The head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, was filmed in the past accompanying some of his students to a nearby Arab village; the students then threw stones while the rabbi looked on. Shapira is the author of the controversial work "The King's Torah," which, among other things, discusses circumstances under which Jewish law might permit the killing of non-Jews [including babies who "might grow up" to hate Jews].

Emissary Of The Chabad Messiah

Relying on the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his teachings in a speech that was ostensibly in favor of a Palestinian state is like relying on a racist who fervently supports slavery in a speech that is ostensibly in favor of abolition, while also making abolition contingent upon conditions that will never be met.

Judaism Without God

Shaul Magid, a professor of modern Judaism at Indiana University, said atheists may join synagogues because American Judaism lacks "a vibrant secular Jewish movement." "They go because they want some kind of ethnic identity," Magid said. "They don't care about the prayers. It allows them to feel a sense of Jewishness, but has little to do with religion."

A Haredi Leader Explains Why He Will Not Publicly Condemn Haredi Violence

Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz is a rabbi in Beit Shemesh, a hotbed of haredi violence. He's also the general editor of Artscroll's Talmud series. Beit Shemesh has seen haredi thugs attack and beat Modern Orthodox teens, stone little Modern Orthodox boys, throw eggs and tomatoes at little Modern Orthodox girls, and make terroristic threats against those children. But Chaim Malinowitz won't publicly condemn this violence or the haredi gedolim who support it because he doesn't want to "polarize" the jewish community and because he doesn't want haredim scapegoated.

Should Chabad Be Allowed To Erect A Sukkah In A NYC Park?

Nathan Lewin, a lawyer who has successfully represented Chabad in menorah cases, said government can accommodate religious displays but cannot appear to endorse them, an impression that might be created by a nativity scene stationed inside a government building with no other religious symbols nearby.

Extortion In Lakewood

A haredi community activist is told by rabbis that he must drop out of politics and do nothing to benefit the Jewish community without their prior approval. If he won't agree, his daughters will not be accepted into Lakewood schools.

As Riots Break Out Between Jews And Palestinians, A Rabbi Calls For Collective Punishment

Clashes between settlers and Palestinians broke out Sunday following a rally commemorating the deaths of Asher Palmer and his infant son Yehonatan in Kiryat Arba last Friday. Some 150 people held a protest rally in the scene of the terror attack prior to the victims' funeral. They marched towards Kiryat Arba and clashes broke out near the Beit Anoun village. The two sides began hurling stones at each other. IDF and police forces arrived at the scene to end the violence using crowd dispersal means.

West Bank Rabbi Calls For Collective Punishment

Dov Lior, Kiryat Arba's chief rabbi and a leader of the West Bank’s most radical Jewish settlers, called for collective punishment against “rioters” he blames for the deaths of Hillel Palmer and his one-year-old son Yonatan, who were killed Friday in car accident settlers believe and the army suspect was caused by Palestinians throwing stones.

Report: More Than 2000 Pro-Modern Orthodox Demonstrate In Beit Shemesh

Thousands of Modern Orthodox demonstrate in Beit Shemesh, Israel support of the Orot Banot girls grade school and against haredi extremism.

Chabad Rabbi And Rabbinical Students Walk 15 Miles Every Shabbat

A Chabad rabbi and two rabbinical students walk 15 miles from Crown Heights to the Bronx each Shabbat morning to lead services in a tiny synagogue housed in a mosque. "We come to help the old Jewish people here," said Rabbi Meir Kabakow, 25. "We take care of them and help them pray."

Hasidic Alzheimer's Patient Paid More Than $1.2 Million In Txpayer Money By His Family's Nonprofit

A wealthy hasidic real-estate family with a checkered past and a nonprofit medical center in Williamsburg has paid its patriarch more than $1.2 million in recent years with taxpayer cash -- though he’s an 89-year-old Alzheimer’s patient who needs round-the-clock care.

Modern Orthodox To Rally In Beit Shemesh

"The time has come to join together and to say enough to the domination and violence of the [ultra-Orthodox] extremists Who Are Destroying Our City"

Hypocrisy?

Last week, haredi rabbis met in New York to discuss banning many forms of new technology – like smartphones – and the Internet. The following picture was allegedly taken at that meeting.

Haredi Businessman Freed From Bolivian Prison

A judge ordered the release on bond Friday of a New York businessmen held in a Bolivian prison without charge for three months in a money laundering investigation. Jacob Ostreicher maintains he is the victim of judicial abuse and his unusually lengthy detention prompted U.S. officials to intercede on his behalf with senior Bolivian officials. A local human rights groups backed him, accusing prosecutors of suspicious behavior.

"Official" Chabad Tries To Evict Messianists

Chabad's "official" leadership again tries to evict the messianists who control the main Chabad synagogue at Chabad's World Headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. But there's one important fact to know about this looming court case you probably won't read in the newspapers.

The Truth Haredi Modesty Police Do Not Know

The pretext for the haredi attacks on Modern Orthodox little girls and their grade school in Beit Shemesh, Israel is that the girls – aged 5 through 11 – is that they are "immodestly" dressed. How so? According to haredim, the girls do not wear stockings, and the public exposure of their bare legs below the knee is a violation of halakha. But is it?

Beit Shemesh Resembles A "War Zone"

Herzog Boulevard, the road that runs between the ultra- Orthodox neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet and the older Kiryat Aryeh Sheinfeld community, resembles a war zone. On one side of the tree-lined street black-hatted men and turban-clad woman stand on the sidewalk and the balconies staring across the street. Opposite are men donning knitted kippot and women in long skirts, clearly patrolling their territory. In the middle sits a flashing police patrol car. Several officers in deep conversation stand in a cluster. They are there to make sure things stay calm.

Baltimore Man Assaults Store Employees, Customer, Off Duty Cop In Fight Over Chair

Stanley Jacob Drebin faces charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, and has been released on $50,000 bail.

Weinstein Bail Revocation Hearing Rescheduled

Prosecutors allege that in one recent fraud committed while on bail, Weinstein tricked a past victim of his -- a Staten Island-based accountant referred to in government papers as “M.R.” -- into wiring him $101,700 in February. Weinstein allegedy fooled M.R. into believing his money would be used to make him a substitute beneficiary of a life insurance policy held by a woman who was terminally ill, so that, after the woman died, he could receive up to $5 million.

Haredi Women Demand To Join Hatzalah

Concerned about the modesty of women in labor, a group of Orthodox Jewish women is pushing to join Hatzalah, a citywide volunteer ambulance service. The women, who live in the heavily Orthodox Jewish community in the Borough Park and Williamsburg sections of Brooklyn, have hired a lawyer to represent them and make their case to local religious leaders.

Haredim Vandalize Bookstore, Owners To Sue Police

"We believe the police are not doing enough about this," says one of the store workers. "After the incident a patrol car arrived, but didn't even wait for me to come. They left the security guard a form to fill out a complaint and left." The bookstore chain plans to turn to a lawyer in a bid to launch legal proceedings against the police's "helplessness and idleness." "We are being abandoned," says one of the store managers.

Flaum Appetizing Tries To Cheat Workers – Again

Flaum Appetizing, the hasidic-owned Brooklyn-based kosher food manufacturer and distributor that distributes Tnuva products in the US, has long history of cheating its immigrant workforce. Now workers allege that a Flaum attorney tricked them into signing a document voiding claims to hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen overtime pay, and that he did so without first speaking to the workers' attorney, which is a serious ethical violation that could (and probably should) lead to censure and perhaps disbarment.

Exclusive: Chabad's Coverup Of Child Sex Abuse

Chabad has been engaged in a coverup of child sexual abuse at its Melbourne, Australia flagship institution since the 1980s, if not earlier. For the first time, here is proof of a small amount of that coverup.

Dead Sea Gets Gender Segregated Beach

"These are Orthodox Jews, some of whom come from abroad, for medical purposes as well. To this day they have no place to enter the water. The tourists, like yeshiva students, had to go and look for unofficial beaches, and their feet would get scratched up. It was terrible." The Regional Council is well aware of the revenue from ultra-Orthodox visitors, particularly from the taxes paid by hotels who cater to this group. The beach joins some 12 separate bathing beaches in Israel on the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee. Men and women will bathe at the same time, but on opposite sides of a wooden divider.

The Next Greatest Threat To Israel's Security

It's not sustainable. Israelis know about it, and sometimes talk about it, but Israel's government does nothing. It's just too hard – especially as the political power of the ultra-religious is growing. It's almost impossible to form a government in Israel today without them.

Rabbi Gets Probation In Dwek Money Laundering Scandal

"Traditionally, you have the motivation of greed or financial gain. But Rabbi Nahum never sought or received any personal benefit. He never was involved in any cash transactions or international transaction. They tried to give him a $1,000 check and he returned it."

"The Rubashkin Travesty: What You Can Do"

On Friday, September 16, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a draconian sentence on Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, a sentence which is essentially a life sentence for him and his wife and 10 children. We now have a unique opportunity — for the sake of justice — to express our outrage for this sentence and actually make a difference.

Israeli Jews Vaccinate Their Children Less Than Israeli Arabs Vaccinate Theirs

Health officials explained the disparity between Jews and Arabs as resulting from low vaccination rates among specific segments of the Jewish population, particularly the ultra-Orthodox and communities that embrace a natural, vegetarian lifestyle.

Video: Hasid Sues Over Cost Of Bridge Tolls

Yoel Weisshaus claims the new increase in tolls on bridges connecting New York and New Jersey is an abuse of power and discriminates against him because he is poor. The price of cash tolls on the George Washington Bridge, Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing rose from $8 to $12 on Sunday.

Satmar Yeshivas Subpoenaed

Investigators scrutinizing former Correction Department chaplain Leib Glanz have subpoenaed records from the giant United Talmudical Academy, Glanz’s landlord during a 15-year period where he’s accused of stealing more than $200,000 in federal rent subsidies.

A Grievous Injustice

The State of Georgia is about to execute a man convicted on the basis of eyewitness testimony that has, almost in its entirety, been retracted. There was no physical evidence against him. A former US president, a former FBI Director, a beavy of unpaid legal experts, and a group of former wardens who have all carried out death penalties, have all called for Georgia to stop the execution. But it has refused – even though another man has confessed to the murder, and even though that man was one of the eyewitnesses who put Troy Davis on Death Row. Constrained by law to decide based on narrow legal grounds that have nothing to do with the now recanted eyewitness testimony, the US Supreme Court refused to stay the execution. And as I write this, we are moments away from what appears to be the most unjust US execution of modern times.

Israel's United Hatzalah To Open On Shabbat

The organization's managers turned to the rabbis guiding them and asked for the help in dealing with the halachic challenge hidden in this move. The rabbis responded that the emergency center could be operated by a non-Jewish worker on Shabbat for life-saving purposes.

"God Is Turning Over In His Grave"

"If God did not die in Auschwitz, as Yoram Kaniuk wrote in "1948," he favors the rich.…Ever since my father took off his yeshiva student's black hat, we have honored his tradition that 'since Auschwitz, on principle we don't eat kosher.'"

Anti-Evolution Haredim On 76th And Broadway

"As I was walking by west 76 st and Broadway on the upper west side of manhattan, I noticed this wacky site. Black hatted guys standing around discussing evolution with non jews telling them how its a fraud. On top of this car were three stuffed animals and their babys. People pulled out their phones to take pictures of the crazy scene. I thought I saw it all. I guess not."

Eliyahu Weinstein Violated Bail Conditions, Government Says

The US Attorney’s office asks judge to revoke alleged $200 million Ponzi schemer’s bail.