FailedMessiah.com

Beit Shemesh Bus Driver Arrested For Alleged Sexual Assault

A school bus driver from Beit Shemesh was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old haredi female student. The assault(s) were allegedly committed in bus after the other students had been dropped off.

Can A Synagogue Give A Known Pimp An Aliya?

Can a synagogue give a Torah honor to a known pimp? This question was asked of a gadol, leading haredi rabbi, and was answered. The answer may surprise you.

Bobov 48 Yeshiva Bans Woody Allen's Eyeglasses Because They're "Too Goyish"

A hasidic yeshiva in Borough Park has, in effect, banned Woody Allen's eyeglasses because they are, in the yeshiva's words, "too goyish."

Flatbush Yeshivas Ban Students From Avenues J & M

Yeshivas and seminaries in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn have banned all of their students from going to Avenues J & M on Saturday nights.

More Haredi E-Rate Fraud?

"Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Lakewood have railed against the dangers of the Internet, especially for young people, raising questions about why the town’s Orthodox schools have benefitted so heavily from E-Rate. One Lakewood Orthodox girls school, Bais Rivka Rochel, reported having five Internet-capable devices in a school of 1,025 students, despite receiving $700,000 in E-Rate subsidies."

Chabad Rabbinic Organization Lies To Protect Chabad Emissary From Circumcision Lawsuit

The Rabbinical Centre of Europe – which was founded by and is controlled by Chabad – issued a statement today claiming the circumcision was done properly and that it conformed with German law that requires medical protocols be followed. But as the photo to your right shows, Chabad was lying.

Haredim Heckle Finance Minister Yair Lapid In Knesset, Lapid Responds In Kind

"Our duty is to make sure no child goes hungry. But I want to remind you of one thing: The entity that is responsible for providing for children is called 'their parents.' When you bring a child to this world, MK Porush, you're the primary person responsible for him.”

Chabad's Do Nothing, Feel Good Judaism

"…On the other hand, the personal approach of Chabad to Jewish outreach—often combined with glitzy, high-profile, one-time events—has a major negative: It is built on absolutely minimal expectations. Its message seems to be: We will love you, but we won’t require anything of you. On this point, somewhat bizarrely, the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox critics seem to agree. The Orthodox critics ask Chabad rabbis: Why don’t you expect Jews to become Orthodox? The non-Orthodox ask: Why don’t you expect anything at all?…"

How Haredi And Orthodox Jews Gutted East Ramapo's Public Schools

…By last spring, the atmosphere at school board meetings had become angry and bombastic. One activist parent had compared board members to Pontius Pilate; behind closed doors, one board member called another a “moral degenerate.” The chairman, an Orthodox family attorney named Daniel Schwartz, decided to escalate the fight by giving a speech denouncing anti-Semitism in the district. Elementary-school children, he said, were telling their teachers that they hated the Jews; high-school students were appearing before the board and questioning its moral authority. He cited St. Augustine’s instruction that Jews could be tolerated but not accepted, a sentiment that he said was alive in Auschwitz and “the crematoria of Treblinka” and that was alive in Ramapo today. The district’s demographics, he said, weren’t changing; the Hasidim could not be wished away. “You don’t like it?” Schwartz told the audience. “Find another place to live.”…

Haredi Schools Violate Government Directive, Open On Independence Day

Many (if not all) haredi schools that take money from the state remained open on Israel's Independence Day despite a government directive ordering them to close in compliance with the law. This has led to calls to sanction and/or defund these schools.

State Comptroller Reportedly Finds That Former Haredi Housing Minister Skewed Housing Programs To Favor Haredim, Hurt Secular Jews

A new report by Israel’s State Comptroller Yosef Shapira has reportedly found that former Housing Minister Ariel Atias of the Sefardi haredi Shas political party used undue influence to skew decisions made by Israel’s Land Authority. Atias allegedly forced the Land Authority to favor haredim over non-haredim in new housing projects. The comptroller's report allegedly reviews 50 incidents in 2011 alone where Atias allegedly skewed programs and housing projects to benefit haredim and hurt secular Jews.

Police: Indict Haifa Chief Rabbi

Israel Police have reportedly told state prosecutors that Haifa's Chief Rabbi Shlomo Shlush, who also heads the state rabbinical courts in Northern Israel, should be prosecuted for bribery, fraud, breach of public trust, misuse of a public position and committing kosher food fraud.

Haredi Slumlords And The Rise Of Antisemitism In NYC

"I hear a lot of anti-Semitic comments from tenants based on their experiences with landlords, the only visibly Jewish people with whom they have contact. (I was raised in the Reconstructionist movement, and I’m not visibly Jewish.) Sometimes I get a call from a tenant who tells me 'a Jew is in the building,' presumably meaning that a speculator has come around in hopes of purchasing it."

Haredi Woman Allegedly Forced Into Prostitution

Israel Police have reportedly arrested an Israeli man for allegedly pimping a haredi woman from Bnei Brak for a two-year period. The man, who has a long criminal record that includes prior prostitution-related convictions, is scheduled to have his remand hearing later today in Tel Aviv's Magistrate's Court.

Israel Police Lie About Women Of The Wall In Court, Judge Doesn't Buy It

In court, Israel Police blamed Women of the Wall (WoW) for a disturbance clearly initiated by others, claimed an eccentric male Kotel regular's burning of a Mormon missionary tract was caused by WoW, and deceptively claimed they don't get their instructions on what is and what is not "local custom" at the Kotel (Western Wall) from the Kotel's haredi rabbi when, in fact, they get that information from that rabbi, who uses the legal fiction of giving his instructions to the Justice Ministry which then transmits his instructions to the police.

Modern Orthodox Support For Women Of The Wall Grows

“I have a colleague at work who has known for years that I’m Orthodox, but last week, when I got back from the Women of the Wall service, she says to me, ‘But you’re Reform – right?’”

Don't Worry, Jews May Be Bad But Goyyim Are Worse, Ohr Somayach Rabbi Says

Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz also says you should ask a rabbi before reporting suspected child sexual abuse to police or your city's child protection services and invokes the No True Scotsman Fallacy – any Orthodox Jew who commits heinous crimes like child sexual abuse is not really an Orthodox Jew, Breitowitz claims, insisting that God and Judaism are not at fault for what its most visible adherent s may do wrong.

Who Wrote This And Why Do So Many Orthodox And Haredi Jews Disagree With It?

"…The alleviation of poverty has been a preoccupation of Judaism since its earliest days. The Hebrew Bible contains extensive welfare provisions based on an agrarian society. Parts of the harvest -- the corners of fields, forgotten sheaves and so on -- were reserved for the poor, as was a tithe every three years. Every seventh year, debts were released, and every Jubilee, land was returned to its ancestral owners. The aim, as American economist and politician Henry George put it, was 'to lay the foundation of a social state in which deep poverty and degrading want should be unknown.'…"

Shelter In Place Order Reinstated

Shelter-in-place order reinstated  after a lapse of less than one hour, but at this time it only applies to the Franklin Street area of Watertown, MA. Shots heard. Large police presence. If you are in this area, stay indoors, away from windows with your doors and wiondows locked.

Two Haredim From Telz Stone Busted For Drug Smuggling

“Haredi drug dealers operating near the border of Egypt surprised us very much. We believe that…[Bedouin] drug dealers do not want to endanger themselves and use drug couriers to transfer [drugs] directly from the border to Jerusalem, and it saves them a lot of money.”

Orthodox President Of Scandal-Ridden School Board Abruptly Resigns

An attorney, Schwartz was serving his first term as president on the scandal-ridden school board, appointed president in July of last year. An Orthodox Jew, Schwartz affiliated with the board’s Orthodox-haredi faction, which now controls all but one board seat.

Boston Terror Plot Widens

Two arrests made in home of brothers alleged to have bombed the Boston Marathon. No-fly zone imposed over Watertown. Police reportedly have "suspect number 2," the man in the white baseball cap, 19-year-old Dzhokar Tsarnaev, located, but do not have him under arrest.

Boston Area Emergency Alert

If you live in Watertown, Newton, Cambridge, Belmont, Waltham, neighboring towns or neighborhoods of Boston, including Brighton THE ENTIRE CITY OF BOSTON stay inside your home. Do NOT go to shul (synagogue). All businesses are ordered closed. Universities and schools are closed. There is no public transportation in these areas or in the rest of Boston. Do not open your doors for anyone other than a clearly identified police officer.

Shomrim Member Injured When Police Allegedly Mishandle NW London Crime Scene

A volunteer from the community security group, Shomrim NW London, suffered a skull fracture and hemorrhage after an incident in Golders Green Shomrim says was caused by police negligence.

High Court Supports Sefardim In Words, But Not With Deeds

Israel's High Court of Justice heard Sefardi petitioners yesterday who are upset that Ashkenazi haredi schools are still discriminating against Sefardi applicants, with some of these Ashkenazi haredi schools still having quotas in force that limit the number of Sefardi students to no more than 30% of the student population despite an explicit High Court ruling issued last year forbidding this and related discrimination.

Pictures: Boston Marathon Bombing Suspects

If you recognize either of these two men, please call the FBI or 911 immediately.

Haredi Pol: More Than 1 Million Haredi Kids Could Go Hungry If Gov't Cut Haredi Welfare

“To my sorrow, as per the coalition agreement signed on 4 Nissan 5773, March 15, 2013, the fate of these 1.3 million children was sealed, including the possibility of the children going hungry as a result of paragraphs included in the agreement that will compromise the income of their parents.”

Former Satmar Principal Pleads Not Guilty To Child Abuse

A former principal of a Satmar yeshiva pleaded not guilty today slapping a child hard enough to cause swelling and bruises to the area around the child’s eye, his ear and parts of his face.

Meir Dascalowitz Reportedly Pleads Guilty

Brooklyn resident Meir Dascalowitz, accused of child sexual abuse, has reportedly pleaded guilty.

Chabad Rabbi Joseph Gutnick Sued For More Than $1 Million In Pump-And-Dump Stock Scheme

Chabad mining magnate Rabbi Joseph Gutnick allegedly tricked a man who came to him for financial help and swindled $1 million from him in a pump-and-dump stock swindle, a Melbourne court was told this week.

Netanyahu Will Soon Dump Secularists And Zionist Orthodoxs And Will Return Sefardi Haredi Shas Party To Power, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Says

The Sefardi haredi leader also called Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid "Asmodai," a "demon" who is one of the Seven Princes of Hell.

Orthodox Social Worker Denies Covering Up Child Sex Abuse

Debbie Fox, an Orthodox social worker who founded the anti-child-sexual-abuse protocol many Orthodox and haredi schools and institutions use (if they use anything at all), is denying she helped protect a pedophile. But her defense rings hollow, and what it indicates is criminal.

Two Haredim Arrested For Harassment In Rabbi Chaim Halpern Sex Scandal

Two haredi men have been charged with harassing witnesses in the sex abuse case against British haredi Rabbi Chaim Halpern.

Rabbinical Council Called To "Absurd" Beit Din Case

The case has grown out of a ruling made by Chabad's leading Melbourne Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner ordering a Sydney Jewish school to expel a student because the student's father had failed to honor a ruling by Telsner.

In Ramapo, Haredi Housing Violations Are Common

"People or groups often open schools or houses of worship without permits from the town or required safety and fire equipment. When they are caught, administrators then spend the money installing the proper equipment and then file site plans to legalized what was illegally. The town and its judges allow the process. In other cases, houses are subdivided illegally into small apartments to accommodate more people and added rents for landlords."

Rabbi Michael Broyde's University C.V. Still Claims Beit Din Of America Judgeship

Disgraced Modern Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde's Emory University web listing and C.V. still show Broyde as a judge on the Beit Din of America (BDoA) even though reports claim he was forced off the BDoA and out of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).

Rabbi Todros Grynhaus Court Appearance

Rabbi Todros Grynhaus, the British haredi man accused of sex crimes against children who fled Britain for Israel  but was spotted there and turned in by a former Brit, made a court appearance in Manchester today.

Rabbi Michael Broyde's Fake Ordination

Rabbi Michael Broyde, the prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi, rabbinic judge and law professor, created a fake identity to sockpuppet online and in academic journals. Broyde used his Rabbi Hershel Goldwasser character to promote Broyde's own work and to attack opponents. He also used it to infiltrate an opposing rabbinic organization's private listserve. Now ii has been discovered that Broyde invented a fake smicha, ordination, for his Goldwasser character and used the name of the late rabbinic sage who 'granted' it to validate the Goldwasser character's legitimacy.

Picture Of The Day

A special street sign from the Shmuel HaNavi area of Jerusalem.

Video: Neturei Karta Protests Yom Ha'atzmaut

Neturei Karta has no real following, because Satmar and other anti-Zionist haredim have been forced to distance themselves publicly from Neturei Karta because of Neturei Karta's open embrace of genocidal people like Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But what Neturei Karta says is what Satmar and many other anti-Zionist haredim believe.

Satmar Anti-Zionist Children's Handout For Israel Independence Day

"What did the bad Zionists do? They waged war with goyim and stole their land. Which land? The Land of Israel."

Massive Haredi NYC Protest Against Israel Reportedly Canceled

Ads for Sunday's demonstration have reportedly been canceled, as has the demonstration itself – not because of the Boston Marathon terror attack but because Israeli haredi leader Rabbi Aharon leib Shteinman is opposed to holding it.

IDF Chief Of Staff: We Need Haredim To Guard The Borders

"We need more manpower, and we will be pleased if the ultra-Orthodox serve in the IDF. They have brought good results wherever they have served to date, and they will learn that army service benefits them as well. I think that in the framework of a gradual and stable process, we will be able to incorporate more and more elements of Israeli society. We need these people – on the borders, at the bases and at the headquarters."

Orthodox High School Student Busted For Making Bomb Threat Against Jewish School Day After Boston

A 16-year-old Orthodox student from Long Island was arrested earlier today for making a bomb threat against his high school – the Ruth and Hyman Simon High School, Mesivta Ateres Yaakov of Greater Long Island.

LA Kosher Scandal– The Israeli Version: Kosher Meat Swapped For Glatt, Sold To Unsuspecting Butchers And Consumers

Pe’er Meats and Poultry in the Beer Tuvia Industrial Zone in Kiryat Malachi is alleged to have distributed for Passover regular kosher meat products deceptively labeled mehadrin kosher, the Israeli designation for glatt kosher. The meat had apparently fraudulent or misapplied stickers from Israel’s haredi chief rabbis designating it mehadrin.

Boston Marathon Bombing

As the country waits to find out who carried out yesterday's attack on the Boston Marathon and why it was done, it is important to know that yesterday was Patriot's Day, which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord.

Chief Rabbis Tell Mohels To Use Sterile Tube, Not Mouth, For Metzitzah

Two months after an Israeli study found that 1/3 of all neonatal herpes cases in Israel come from circumcisions done with metzitzah b'peh (MBP), the direct mouth-to-bloody-penis-sucking done by many mohels after removing the baby's foreskin, Israel's haredi chief rabbis urged mohels to use a sterile tube, not their mouths, to do the procedure.

Protests Against Kiryas Joel Water Grab Continue

Kiryas Joel has the necessary construction permits for the pipeline itself, but lacks the necessary permits and approvals to remove water from the aquifer. Nevertheless, Kiryas Joel is building the pipeline, apparently convinced it will eventually get those permissions, either through the normal approval process or by horse-trading for them with politicians who rely on Satmar’s bloc vote. Observers also expect Kiryas Joel and Satmar officials will continue to brand opponents of their pipeline antisemites.

University Of Pennsylvania Issues Statement On Agudath Israel Of America Misrepresentation Of Circumcision Study

Penn Med could not be clearer – Agudath Israel of America used an internal Penn Med study without permission, took it out of context and misrepresented what the study found – in other words, the rabbis and gedolim of Agudah lied. Here is Penn Med's statement in full.

French Haredi BT Banned From Seeing Son Because Of "Extremist" Religious Views

A haredi ba’al teshuva has been barred by French social services in Toulouse from seeing his son. Social Services recorded  45-year-old Richard Dray telling his 12-year-old son over the telephone that he should not worry because “everything that happens to us is a trial by God for us to pass.” Social Services allegedly told Dray that he was radicalizing the boy with “dangerous” messages and complained about his religious lifestyle and appearance.