FailedMessiah.com

Haredi PR Hack Yossi Gestetner At It Again

Yossi Gestetner is at it again. The dishonest haredi PR hack notorious in these parts for his defenses of pedophiles and of the behavior of Skvere hasidic leadership leading up to and following the arson and attempted murder of the Rottenberg family in New Square (committed by the rebbe's personal haus bucher, house servant, no less) attacked a reporter for alegedly labeling accused child rapist Rabbi Nechemya Weberman a…rabbi. Yes, you read that correctly.

Weberman Rape Trial: Alleged Victim's Testimony Completed

After days of testimony and more days of grueling cross examination and the brief redirect that followed, the 17-year-old alleged victim of accused child rapist Rabbi Nechemya Weberman has completed her testimony.

Hasid Arrested For Photographing Alleged Rape Victim As She Testified In Court Linked To Williamsburg Hasidic Modesty Squad

Joseph "Yosele" Fried wears many hats (all of the flat, round and black): Yiddish journalist, Satmar Twitter feed editor, anti-eruv committee member, and member of Williamsburg's Va'ad Hatznius, hasidic modesty squad.

Haredi Rabbis Worry, Quarrel Over Medical Exams

The yeshiva students claimed that they were not dealt with “in accordance with their haredi lifestyle” when they reported as required by law to the IDF recruitment office for their initial assessments. The rabbis are especially concerned about the medical exams that all recruits are given, especially that the IDF take steps to ensure that women nurses or women doctors do not examine yeshiva students.

Exploitation In Sefat

Ethiopian Jewish children as young as 10-years-old are skipping school to work illegally in the city's open air market. They're paid much less than minimum wage, and sometimes work the whole day for a half empty box of leftover fruits and vegetables to help feed their families.

Australia's Official Jewish Community Upset Over Truth

I mean, they issued a couple press releases, after all. Isn't issuing a press release the equivalent of actually tacking real action or helping someone?

UN Declares Palestine "Non-Member State"

138 countries voted in favor; 41 abstained; 9 voted against .

Updated With Video: 3 Weberman Supporters Arrested In Courtroom

Two Three men, at least two of whom are supporters of Rabbi Nechemya Weberman, the accused haredi child rapist on trial now in Brooklyn, were just arrested for taking pictures in the courtroom. The two men who are Weberman supporters took pictures of the alleged victim while she was on the witness stand and emailed them. The third man may have been a supporter of the alleged victim who took a picture of Weberman.

The Jerusalem Pedophile Ring That Almost Certainly Isn't

As I  first reported in May, the Nachlaot pedophile ring supposedly plaguing a haredi neighborhood of Jerusalem is almost certain a moral panic. There is no ring. Most – but not all – of the claims made of abuse are false. Israeli police, social workers, parents, rabbis, and neighbors all did things to corrupt evidence. And now the story continues.

Reports: Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, Wife, Will Soon Be Indicted

Israel's Channel 2 TV news and its major business daily newspaper Globes are reporting that the investigation into allegations rabbi-to-the-stars and "kabbalist" Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto and his wife bribed a police officer and  laundered money has reached a critical stage, and police reportedly have gathered enough evidence – including tapes of the attempted bribery as it took place – for the Pintos to be criminally indicted.

Updated: Poster Asks Hasidim To Pray For Rabbi Nechemya Weberman On His Day Of Judgement

A Williamsburg poster asks hasidim to pray for Rabbi Nechemya Weberman, who is now on trial for allegedly sexually abusing a neighborhood hasidic girl over and over and over again, beginning when the girl was 12-years-old and ending when she was 15. Today is the third day of the trial.

Bolivian Prosecutor Still Suspects Haredi Businessman Of Involvement In Laundering Drug Money, Despite Arrests

Carlos Robles, the Bolivian prosecutor who is overseeing the case of haredi businessman Jacob Ostreicher, claims that his office is still waiting for a Swiss government report to determine whether the money Ostriecher used to fund his rice-growing business is clean. But Ostreicher says the Bolivian government has already had the Swiss report for a week.

Indicted Molester In Chabad Pedophilia Scandal To Be Married Next Week

Who is it? Do you know? His name is…

Did English Rabbis Ask An Israeli Haredi Leader What They Should Do With An Alleged Sexual Abuser Who Is A Haredi Community Leader?

Is this letter to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky from British haredi rabbis authentic? Is the response from Rabbi Kanievsky genuine? Is this really  his handwriting? Why does the top fax date read "14 November 2012" but the fax date in the body of the letter read "9/06 2008"? Is this letter real?

Through A Glass Door

Court officers had to remove accused child rapist Rabbi Nechemya Weberman and move him back into a courtroom after he allegedly menaced his alleged victim through the glass door of a courthouse conference room she was sitting in during a scheduled break in the trial.

Belgian Government May Stop Funding Haredi School Over Refusal To Enroll Children Of Former Neturei Karta Leader

A Belz hasidic school in Belgium has refused to enroll students because their father is Moshe Aryeh Friedman – the notorious anti-Zionist and former Neturei Karta leader who met with Iran's genocidal president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Friedman has filed a formal complaint against the school and lawsuit, and the Belgian government is contemplating stopping all government funding of the school because it is trying to use minor children to hurt the children's father. "My children have nothing to do with my political views," Friedman reportedly said." If necessary, even drag me to the court of human rights [but enroll my children]."

In Israel, More Jews Choose Not To Circumcise

Circumcision is one of Judaism's most important laws and for generations of faithful it has symbolized a Biblical covenant with God. But in Israel, more and more Jewish parents are saying no to the blade.…"It's the same as if someone would tell me 'it's our culture to cut off a finger when he is born'. People should see it as abuse because it is done to a baby without asking him."…

Spinka Hasidic Tax Fraud And Money Laundering Conspirator Sentenced To Prison

Mira Zeffren was part of the Spinka Rebbe's money laundering and tax evasion scheme. She was arrested in 2011 and charged with five counts.  Zeffren originally pleaded not guilty, but then reached a plea bargain with the government, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States.

Haredi Rabbis Order Yeshiva Students To Refuse Draft

An umbrella organization of haredi yeshivas is calling on all yeshiva students who receive their first IDF induction notification “not to sign anything from the IDF.” Instead, yeshiva students are told to sign a form from the umbrella organization stating that they will continue learning and will not serve in the military.

Haredi Leaders Want Expansion Of Rabbinic Courts’ Powers

“We need to understand that we are in a cultural war [with those] who don’t want the rabbinical courts to have any standing. During the last Knesset term we succeeded in preventing any anti-religious legislation being passed, and not a day goes past on which they don’t try and pass such laws. In the coming Knesset, the haredi representatives will unite to fight for whether this is a Jewish state or not, in the struggle is over the world of Torah, yeshiva students, the rabbinical world and the status of rabbinical courts.”

Is A Missing Florida Millionaire Alive And Well In The Netherlands?

Is missing millionaire Guma Aguiar in the Netherlands? William Scherer, the attorney for Aguiar’s wife Jamie, says it could be true.

More Weberman Trial Videos

More news videos from the trial of accused child rapist Rabbi Nechemya Weberman.

Video: Alleged Haredi Rape Victims Speak

Outside the courtroom where Rabbi Nechemya Weberman is being tried for rape of a minor girl, two haredi alleged female victims of rape speak out.

6 More Arrests In Ostreicher Case

Six more Bolivian government officials have reportedly been arrested for allegedly extorting and robbing American haredi businessman Jacob Ostreicher.

Teen Testifies That Haredi Rabbi "Got Into Bed With Me And I Wanted To Die"

In a quiet, controlled voice, the now-married 17-year-old said she endured years of abuse at the hands of 54-year-old Rabbi Nechemya Weberman. “He got into bed with me and I wanted to die,” the teen testified.

Female Porn Stars More Spiritual Than Non-Porn Stars, Study Finds

A new study published in the Journal of Sex Research shows that female porn stars are more spiritual and have a higher self-esteem than other women with similar ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. There was no difference in rates of child sexual abuse between the two groups.

And The Winner Is…

The winner of the FailedMessiah.com My Name Is Asher Lev free tickets contest is…

Polish Court Bans Kosher Slaughter

The court’s ruling, publicized earlier today, says the government acted unconstitutionally when it exempted kosher and halal slaughter from the requirement to stun animals immediately before slaughter.

Jewish 'We'll Make You Straight' Conversion Therapy Group Sued For Deceptive Claims

Four gay men and two of their mothers filed a lawsuit today against Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing (JONAH), a New Jersey conversion therapy group that claims to rid men of same-sex attractions and turn them straight. JONAH's therapy is often recommended by haredi and Orthodox rabbis.

Video: Neighbors Complain Chabad-Run Synagogue Is Too Loud

The NYC shul hosts large parties and events that last through the night, disturbing neighbors and robbing them of their sleep, and the shul may not even have a permit to host them. But the shul's Chabad rabbi appears to be genuinely sorry.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Woman Who Smuggled Guns To Warsaw Ghetto Fighters Passes Away

Vladka Meed, who with her flawless Polish and Aryan good looks was able to smuggle pistols, gasoline for firebombs and even dynamite to the Jewish fighters inside the Warsaw Ghetto, and who after the war became an impassioned leader in the national effort to educate children about the Holocaust, passed away last week.

Lack Of Haredi Education And Employment Pose Existential Threat To Israel, Study Finds

The annual State of the Nation Report by the Taub Center, a Jerusalem-based policy research institute, found that Israel’s economy is dramatically falling behind the West, and this failure poses an existential threat to Israel’s survival.

“High-Ranking” Bolivian Government Official Reportedly Arrested In Ostreicher Case

Bolivian authorities have arrested a high-ranking government official, Jose Manuel Antezana, for allegedly illegally profiting from the sale of rice seized from Jacob Ostreicher almost two years ago. Antezana works in the ministry of the presidency.

Government Seizes Bank Assets In Alleged Halal Fraud

A large Iowa-based maker of halal meat products is facing a crippling federal investigation. The Midamar Corporation allegedly deceptively mislabeled meat and meat products as halal (the Islamic equivalent of kosher) when they were not actually halal slaughtered or certified, and allegedly falsified export documents.

More Haredim Report To IDF For Initial Draft Process Than Expected

30% of the haredim who received draft notices since Tal Law exempting them from military service expired on August 1st reported to IDF recruitment centers to receive their official draft dates, which will begin this coming summer. This seems to support a new Ynet-Gesher poll released yesterday which found that only 66% of haredim believe haredi yeshiva students should be exempt from the draft.

Weberman Rape Trial Begins

The trial of accused Williamsburg rapist Nechemya Weberman has begun. And there is some interesting news.

Reform Claims Orthodox Started Fake Reform Synagogue To Deceive Government

The Reform Movement in Europe claims that an Orthodox group in Poland started a fake "independent" Reform synagogue that is not in any way Reform or Progressive. The Orthodox allegedly did this to appear to be pluralistic in the hope that the Polish government will divert funds from the real pluralistic Jewish community and give them to the Orthodox.

Only 66% Of Haredim Think Yeshiva Students Should Be Exempt From Military Service

A new poll seems to show that if haredi rabbis and Israel's rather craven prime minister would get out of their way, a significant minority of haredim would willingly serve in the IDF.

Before You Pray, Bidet

"Endorsed by Gedolei Yisroel as THE MOST EFFECTIVE form of personal hygiene."

Win Free Tickets To My Name Is Asher Lev

You can buy specially discounted tickets to the play based on Chaim Potok's book about a hasidic youth who has to choose between hasidic tradition and art. But I also have one voucher worth two tickets to give away free to a FailedMessiah reader. Here's how you can win:

Government Doles Out Special Grants To Haredi And Right Wing Organizations While Shafting Secular And Pluralistic Organizations, Report Finds

Haredi and right wing settler organizations are allegedly flooded with government grants while non-haredi and right wing non-settler organizations get shafted.

Sholom Rubashkin, Jr. Violates Parole, Must Return To Prison

Sholom Rubashkin, the son of Moshe Rubashkin and the nephew of the more well known Sholom Rubashkin of Agriprocessors infamy, violated his supervised release and now must return to prison. Here's what he did:

Video: Living And Working With Satmar Hasidim

What's it like for people who live and work in Williamsburg but who are not hasidic or even Jewish? A short video tries to answer that question.

NYC Haredim Voted Overwhelmingly For Romney

In some precincts in the heavily hasidic New York City neighborhood of Borough Park, Brooklyn, Romney won more than 90% of the vote.

Soldiers Stop Racist Settler Rabbi From Addressing Troops

Rabbi Dov Lior is run out of town by Israeli soldiers stationed on the border with Gaza.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Wife Of Chabad Leader Passes Away

Devorah Krinsky, the wife of Chabad leader Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, passed away Friday night not long after Shabbat began after a brief fight against cancer. She was 74-years-old.

Haredim Protest Shabbat “Desecration,” 5 Arrested

This afternoon, approximately 200 haredim tried to block the intersection of Nevi’im Street and Yishayahu in Jerusalem to protest Shabbat “desecration.”

New Australian Child Sex Abuse Scandal Involves Multiple Counts Of “Intercourse With A Child”

The defendant, who recently appeared in a Melbourne Magistrate’s Court and who has not yet been named publicly, is charged with 25 counts of sexual abuse, including multiple counts of “intercourse with a child.”

Left Wing Haredi Activist Named To Yair Lapid’s Knesset List

Beit Shemesh activist Rabbi Dov Lipman announced tonight that he would be a top 20 candidate on Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid political party’s Knesset list.

Settlers Stone Palestinian School

They also reportedly destroyed more than 300 olive trees and threw stones at numerous other structures in several other Palestinian villages along with leaving "price tag" graffiti nearby. Palestinians also hurled stones, both at settler and at police and security forces.