FailedMessiah.com

Stay Away From South, Haredi Rabbis Say

Leading haredi rabbis Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman and Chaim Kanievsky have instructed their pupils living in the south of Israel but who have been away over the weekend, to not return home until rocket attacks cease.

30 Years After His Death, The Cloudy Legacy Of The Settler's Rabbi Remains

Thirty years after the death of Rabbi Tvi Yehuda Kook, none of his followers can claim to speak for one united camp. All questions pertaining to his legacy are controversial. There are debates about Rabbi Kook's attitudes toward Jewish law, academic education, women, Gentiles, secular and leftist Israelis. And debates continue to rage about his approach to educational and political matters, and even to arranged marriages.

Rabbi Who Covered Up Child Sex Abuse Should Not Get Israel Prize, Former Students Say

A group of former Netiv Meir yeshiva students are publicly objecting to Rabbi Haim Druckman being awarded the Israel Prize because he failed to report child sex abuse to police or to do anything to stop it.

In Deal With Indian Government, Chabad Rabbi & Wife Leave Country

A few yards away from the synagogue built in 1568, its sole rabbi, Shenor Zalman Bernstein, and his wife Yaffa Shendi Keing are busy packing bags. The couple, who were issued quit notices by the foreigner’s office in Ernakulam district in central Kerala, will leave India tomorrow in a deal arranged by India's high court.

Kiryas Joel Dissidents Appeal Ruling

Kiryas Joel residents who sued to dissolve the village last year, claiming widespread discrimination against dissident community members, filed an appeal last week challenging a court ruling in November that struck down all but one of their claims.

Video: Neturei Karta And Satmar Hasidim Burn Israeli Flag

Neurei Karta and Satmar hasidim burn the Israeli flag on Purim on Lee Avenue in the heart of hasidic Williamsburg.

Video: Neighbors Upset Over 11 Effigies Hung By Haredim In Borough Park

Eleven effigies were hung across 12th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn by haredim in celebration of Purim, angering some non-Jewish neighbors.

Pedophilia: Rabbi Paysach Krohn Says Ask A Rabbi Before You Call Police

Artscroll's favorite maggid urges Jews to ask their rabbi before calling police to report probable child sexual abuse.

Christopher Hitchens On Metzitzah B'Peh

I can never read the name "Michael Bloomberg" without an automatic free-association that flashes up in my mind. "Little putz," is what my internal prompter always cues to me.

The Second New Square Arson

Thursday night, a "drunk" Purim reveler set dissident Aron Rottenberg's car on fire after Rottenberg allegedly refused to give him more booze. Rottenberg had almost been killed when the Sqvare Rebbe's butler tried to set the Rottenberg house on fire last May, and he had just settled his lawsuit against the butler and the Skvere Rebbe for millions of dollars. So? Who is the "drunk" Purim reveler?

Leading A Double Life In The Haredi World

He looks like any other Hassidic man – shtreimel, long side locks and black-and-white attire included. But the appearance is just a façade…

New Square Beit Din Condemns Rottenberg Attack

The religious court of New Square has condemned Thursday night's arson attack on dissident Aron Rottenberg's car – but tells hasidim to report any info on the crime to them, not to police.

Girl Thrown Out Of Orthodox High School For Working With Boys

Efrat Daniel, an 18-year-old from Dimona, has been sitting at home for the past three months instead of going to the Shalhevet HaDarom High School in the city. The reason: The institution has declared that Efrat's decision to work at a fast food chain alongside members of the opposite sex is against the school code.

Inside A Haredi Cult

A rare look inside the closed world of the Lev Tahor ba'al teshuva hasidic cult that spawned the "burka" or "Taliban" women.

Karlin-Stolin Molestation Arrest

A teacher in an Israeli Karlin-Stolin school has reportedly been arrested for sexually abusing several children, and the Karliner Rebbe apparently ordered his arrest.

New Square Arson Victim's Car Torched

A car belonging to Aron Rottenberg -- the New Quare dissident targeted and seriously burned in a May arson attack — was intentionally set ablaze Thursday night despite promises made by Skvere officials in an out of court settlement with Rottenberg last month.

Moshe Butler Arrested For Bank Fraud

Butler is a son (I believe) of Rabbi Raphael Butler, the Orthodox Union's (OU) disgraced former executive VP who resigned from the OU under extreme pressure in January 2001 after it became clear he had enabled and covered up for Rabbi Baruch Lanner's sexual, physical and emotional abuse of NCSY – the OU's youth group – students for many years.

State's Haredi Circumcision Protocol Rescinded More Than 4 Years Ago

The NY State Health Department's protocol for metzitzah b'peh, widely understood in the medical community as worthless, was rescinded in 2007 after Governor Pataki left office. Yet even though the sate no longer agreed that MBP could be safely done, many haredim continued to do the oral penis sucking that has killed at least one child in the past year and may have killed and/or sickened many more. The medically unsound protocol was Pataki's concession to intense haredi pressure lead by Satmar and Agudath Israel of America.

Haredi Men Busted For Repeated Rape Underage Of Sister-In-Law

Two ultra-Orthodox men were arrested this weekon the suspicion that they raped their sister-in-law hundreds of times during the course of two years when she was a minor.

Matisyahu Goes Blonde

Matisyahu, the hasidic rapper with bushy beard and sidelocks who shocked fans by shaving it all off last year, has surfaced in Jerusalem with a new bottle-blonde hairdo.

Satmar Blocks Atheist Billboard

Satmar hasidim appear to have been behind blocking American Atheists from posting a billboard in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “The Jews have stopped the billboard,” said American Atheists' David Silverman. “It’s really ugly bigotry. As a former Jew, it’s repugnant to see Jews act like this.”

Rabbi Haim Druckman Gets Israel Prize

The rabbi who pioneered the hesder yeshiva program and the government's Conversion Authority receives Israel's highest honor.

A Purim Message For Children From Sholom Rubashkin

I wish this was a Purim joke, but it isn't. Sholom Rubashkin sends a message to Jewish children for Purim – and it doesn't involve saying, "I'm sorry."

Israel Conversions Frozen

Following the retirement of Rabbi Haim Druckman from his position as head of Israel's Conversion Authority, all conversions awaiting final approval are backlogged due to the government's inability to find a consensus figure to replace Rabbi Druckman.

Family Of Dead Baby Killed By Bris Stonewalls Cops, Health Department

An infant died at Maimonides Medical Center on Sept. 28 from herpes contracted from metzitzah b'peh performed during a bris milah, circumcision. But the family of the dead boy is refusing to cooperate with the investigation into their son's death.

Bloomberg V. Agudath Israel

Agudath Israel's Executive VP Rabbi David Zwiebel explains why Agudath Israel of America's previous support for metzitzah b'peh is not responsible for a baby's recent death from the oral-to-genital suction health professionals wanted to ban. Meanwhile, NYC's Mayor Michael Bloomberg explains why MBP has to go.

Florida Agrees To Kosher Food Demand

Florida has agreed to give Lawrence Seth Wayne kosher food, which apparently has opened the door for Israel to allow him to be extradited.

Picture: Mehadrin Bus Purim Costume

A gender segregated bus Purim costume from Israel.

Feldman Says Ex-Husband Slept With Her Cousin

Deborah Feldman's web of lies and intrigue continues to grow larger.

Haredi Workforce Participation Grows

Participation in the labor force by haredi (ultra-orthodox) men rose to 45% in 2011 from 39% in 2009, according to Bank of Israel analysis of Central Bureau of Statistics Labor Force Surveys.

NY Times Discovers Shabbat Elevators

The Times discovers Shabbat elevators exist, but incorrectly thinks the reason regular elevators are prohibited on Shabbat is because they make sparks or fire.

Israel's First SlutWalk Scheduled For Next Week

Canadian women did it, American women did it and even Singaporean women did it, and soon Israeli women will too: Israel's first SlutWalks - marches against male-dominated society's habit of blaming sexual harassment or even rape on a woman's appearance - take place next week.

Sex Trafficker Gets 8 Year Sentence

Told that the man who tortured her wore a yarmulke to court for the first time Monday, Jodi chuckled. “That makes me laugh,” she said.

Breaking: Brooklyn DA Looking Into Infant's Death From Controversial Bris Practice

A 2-week-old infant died at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Hospital in September after contracting the herpes simplex virus Type 1 during the practice of metzitzah b’peh, otherwise known as “oral suction,” or the suctioning of blood from the circumcision wound directly by mouth. “The state has a compelling interest in protecting the health of children and needs to step in on an emergency basis to make sure this practice is halted immediately,” Marci Hamilton, a professor at Cardozo law school and an expert in church-state matters. “The DA should step in and this mohel should go to jail [for a felony].”

Jews Should Give Up Kosher Slaughter, French PM Says

France's prime minister urged Muslims and Jews to consider scrapping their halal and kosher slaughter laws on Monday as President Nicolas Sarkozy and his allies stepped up their efforts to woo far-right voters.

Pinto Says FBI Investigation Will Prove He Was Extorted

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto says that an ongoing FBI investigation over alleged illegal campaign contributions to a U.S. politician will reveal the extortion scheme against him, according to the Rabbi's foundation, Shuva Israel.

In Israel, Black Has Never Been In Fashion

Albeit full of good intentions, Israel made every possible mistake when it came to integrating the Ethiopians. True, they weren't placed in transit camps or sprayed with DDT (like Yemen's Jews were when they came to Israel); but dumping villagers in urban neighborhoods with no regard for how they'd earn a living, and all the while trampling the honor of their community leaders, quickly turned them into society's weakest group - weaker even than Israeli Arabs. The very bottom.

God Is A Myth

God is a Myth billboards to go up today in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Patterson, New Jersey.

Force Haredim To Work

In a letter to his successor, Levi Eshkol, dated September 12 1963, Ben-Gurion acknowledged the unhealthy situation and assumed some responsibility for it. He criticized Haredi conduct bitterly and wondered whether the general exemption from military service should continue.

Rabbi Writes House Ethics Committee, Asks For Aide Who Won't Give Get To Be Disciplined

"For the reasons set forth below, I request that the House Committee on Ethics promptly open an investigation into whether Mr. Aharon Friedman, a staff member of Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), is acting in violation of Rule XXIII(1) of the House of Representatives (Code of Official Conduct)."

MKs Want To Raise Marriage Age To Prevent Haredi Child Marriages

"Child marriage, even with the minors' consent, often hurts their potential to obtain an education, to develop a career and to break out of the cycle of poverty," he said, adding that research has shown that early marriages have higher rates of divorce, domestic violence and economic problems than other marriages.

What Next? A Baby Dies From Haredi Circumcision Ritual

A baby has died from herpes simplex 1 transferred through metzitzah b'peh, the oral to genital suction done by haredim during the circumcision ritual. Doctors, led by biologist Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler of Yeshiva University, tried to ban MBP in 2005, but haredim fought back – using lies and bloc votes as weapons.

Hared MK Calls Reform Jews "Anti-Semites," "Worse Than Our Enemies"

Reform Movement representatives present at a meeting of the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women were met with an attack by haredi MK Rabbi Yisroel Eichler who lashed out at them for being "anti-Semites who hate Israel." Eichler also said that "Reform Jews are worse than our enemies."

Wiener Told Feds About Alleged Extortion Of Kabbalist

Shortly before his sexting scandal forced him out of office, then-Rep. Anthony Weiner passed on reports to the FBI that Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm extorted an influential rabbi for campaign cash.

Haredi Circumcision Ritual Metzitzah B' Peh Kills Boy

Dangerous oral-to-genital contact, known as metzitzah b'peh, by the mohel, ritual circumciser, during the brit milah, circumcision ceremony, apparently transmitted herpes simplex virus Type 1 to baby, who died two weeks later. Metzitzah b'peh would have been banned almost six years ago, but haredim – led by Satmar and Agudath Israel of America – lobbied to stop that ban, Satmar going so far as to demonstrate against the mayor while wearing concentration camp uniforms and claiming the mayor – himself Jewish – was an anti-Semite. It appears the city government tried to hide this new death from the media, leading to the question: how many more babies have been killed by Satmar and Agudath Israel lobbying that we don't know about?

Haredi Divorce Support Group Opens

A unique support group intended to assist recently divorced haredi women has opened Jerusalem.

More Evidence Deborah Feldman Lied

Deborah Feldman, the author of the memoir "Unorthodox," makes it seem as if she attended strict Satmar schools her entire life before going to Sarah Lawrence College. Here is proof she attended a much less strict haredi school first. Along with that, I've included evidence that she may have been happier at home and in school than she wrote in her book.

Zionist Orthodox Join Forces With Seculars To Battle Haredim For Control Of Jerusalem

Rachel Azaria, a member of the city council from the Yerushalmim ‏(Jerusalemites‏) party and a moving force in the battle against the exclusion of women − i.e., buses with separate seating and general gender separation in the Mea She’arim neighborhood − is herself religious. In the Hitorerut ‏(Wake Up Jerusalem‏) faction, established to stop the migration of the secular community and young people from the city, religious and secular people work together.

Feds Uncover Alleged Ramapo Haredi Housing Scam

The federal government's agent asked for an investigation into what he called “abuses and illegalities” by Ramapo and its quasi-economic development agency, the Ramapo Local Development Corp. The Elm Street development, built with large families in mind, appears to have sold many of its units to investors – not needy families – living in heavily hasidic areas of New York.

Put Women Back On Bus Ads, Government Demands

The exclusion of women from advertisements on buses and in public places is “a violation of the fundamental rights of women,” the state told the High Court of Justice on Wednesday.