FailedMessiah.com

Ex-Haredi Education Advocates Place Billboard In Haredi Neighborhood Of Brooklyn, Sparking Some Haredi Outrage, NYC Lie

YAFFED's controversial billboard on a Flushing Avenue building – it's first ad posted in a haredi neighborhood – in this case, Williamsburg, Brooklyn – rather than on a large public road on the outskirts –  shows a young boy learning in a yeshiva in 1988, disgustedly saying in Yiddish that “English is profane.” Today, the boy, now a man, says in the next panel, "Oy, what was I thinking?" as he sits over a pile of unpaid bills. Its previous billboard posted on the Prospect Expressway angered haredim, in part because it was airing the haredi community's dirty laundry in public.

Haredi Sicarii Gang Member Beaten, Peyos Cut Off, After Outburst At Rabbi’s Funeral

During the funeral of Rabbi Levi Hacohen Rabinowitz, the author of the Ma’adanei Hashulkan, which was attended by top haredi rabbis from across Jerusalem, Dovid Noach Krauss (also spelled Krause) – a leading member of the haredi Sikrikim / Sicarri gang – used his eulogy to scream slogans against Edah Haredit’s #2 rabbinic leader Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, who heads Edah’s beit din.

Surprising Researchers, Neanderthals Had Sexual Division Of Labor

Neanderthal communities divided some of their tasks according to their sex, a new study by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) published in the Journal of Human Evolution has found.

After Massive Chabad Child Sex Abuse Scandal, Can Chabad Really Change For The Better? Many Members Of The Australian Orthodox Community Don't Think It Can

Can Chabad leadership really change its ways? That is the question that troubles many people  now.  "They need to be more consultative with other rabbis, lay leaders and women," Rabbi Kennard, principal at Burwood's Mt Scopus Memorial College, told Fairfax Media this week. He said the controversial rabbinical council gave Chabad-affiliated rabbis disproportionate influence. But an unnamed Chabad community member whined that it "wasn't fair" the entire Chabad community was being blamed for the mistakes of a few – even though much of that Chabad community participated in the harassment and shunning of abuse victims and advocates and did nothing whatsoever to support the victims or punish their rabbis who enabled the child sex abuse.

Chabad Rabbis Fail To Report More Child Sex Abuse Allegations To Police, Drawing Criticism From Expert

A leading child protection expert has criticized a Chabad-led Melbourne synagogue for not reporting child sexual abuse allegations to police. Among those covering up the alleged sex abuse are two Chabad rabbis who testified before Australia's Royal Commission earlier this month and insisted all allegations of child sex abuse must be reported to police.

Alleged "Sex Pest" Hasidic Rabbi Appeals Extradition To Supreme Court

Alleged “sex pest” Rabbi Eliezer Berland is appealing to the Netherlands Supreme Court in an effort to avoid his imminent extradition to Israel. Berland, who heads the Breslov hasidic Shuvu Banim sect, alleged sexually abused several female followers, including at least one teenage minor. He fled Israel two years to avoid arrest, and has moved from country to country trying to escape arrest ever since. He falsely told a Dutch a court early this month that he is a Holocaust survivor as part of a ruse meant to avoid extradition.

Haredi Sefardi Chief Rabbi Of Israel Vows Do Disobey Law, Will Refuse To Recognize Moderate Zionist Orthodox Conversions

“They went ahead and made a law that municipal rabbis can perform conversions and then went over my head. The chief rabbi of Jerusalem can perform conversions, the chief rabbi of Shoham can perform conversions – they [i.e., the local chief rabbi and his religious court] already converted a few people in Arad. The chief rabbi has the authority to stop this. I gave an order to the head of the [Chief Rabbinate’s] Conversions Department that all the conversions they are now performing, I won’t sign them, I won’t approve, I won’t sign something that is contrary to halakhah [Orthodox Jewish law].”

Indo-European Languages Emerged Roughly 6,500 Years Ago From Common Ancestor Language, New Research Suggests

Linguists have long agreed that languages from English to Greek to Hindi, known as 'Indo-European languages', are part of a language family which first emerged from a common ancestor spoken thousands of years ago. Now, a new study gives us more information on when and where it was most likely used. Using data from over 150 languages, linguists at the University of California, Berkeley provide evidence that this ancestor language originated 5,500 - 6,500 years ago, on the Pontic-Caspian steppe stretching from Moldova and Ukraine to Russia and western Kazakhstan.

Divorce In Israel Is Especially Awful – Largely Because Of Haredim

Last night, Israel's Channel 2 aired a strong exposé on divorce and the haredi-controlled state beit din (religious court) system. Watch it now.

Taking Aim At Illegal Housing In Heavily-Haredi Rockland County

"…Some believe that violating health and building codes is no big deal. Some believe that chopping up apartments and herding students like cattle is the cost of doing business. Some believe that it's okay to exploit those who have little voice or fear authority. It's not.…"

Almost 2,000 Years Ago, The Top Wine In The World Came From Southern Israel, And Soon We May Know Why

The archeologists know of “the Wine of the Negev” or “Gaza Wine” — named for the port it was sent from to all corners of the empire — from historical sources from the Byzantine period. This wine was considered to be of very high quality and was very expensive, but unfortunately, it did not survive to our day, so we do not know what it was that made it so fine. But now archeologists have made a find that may soon anwer that question – and may even allow us to recreate that wine.

Why Has Chabad Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Telsner Not Resigned?

Chabad Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner remains Melbourne Chabad Yeshivah Centre’s top rabbi –  despite mounting pressure for him to resign immediately after his testimony at the Royal Commission inquiry into Chabad child sex abuse made it clear that he did nothing to protect child sex abuse victims and that he gave drashot (sermons) that encouraged the harassment, bullying and ostracization of victims who reported child sex abuse to police. Why hasn't he been removed? That's just one of the open questions still remaining after the last two weeks of shocking Royal Commission testimony.

Audio: FBI Undercover Agents And Rabbi Martin "Mordechai" Wolmark Talk About The Alleged "Prodfather" Rabbi Mendel Epstein

Audio of a conversation between Rabbi Martin "Mordechai" Wolmark and an undercover agent posing as a Jewish woman in desperate need of help to convince her husband to give her a Jewish religious divorce known as a get. Wolmark refers to Rabbi Mendel Epstein as a "special" rabbi who can be hired to force her husband to give the get. Epstein and several others are now on trial on federal kidnapping and extortion charges. Wolmark has already pleaded guilty.

Speeding Driver Convicted Of Reckless Manslaughter In Death Of Young Hasidic Couple

Julio Acevedo was convicted today of reckless manslaughter and other charges for the March 2013 death of Nathan Glauber and Glauber’s five-month pregnant wife  Raizy in a car accident in Williamsburg. Ken Thompson, Brooklyn's increasingly questionable DA, showed up in court fore the reading of the jury verdict – the first time he has appeared in court since being elected DA in late 2013.

Mikvah Peeping Tom Rabbi Barry Freundel Pleads Guilty To 52 Counts Of Voyeurism

Rabbi Barry Freundel admitted in court Thursday that he used three hidden cameras to secretly videotape 52 naked women as they prepared to immerse in the mikvah (ritual bath) adjoining Freundel's former Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington, DC.

Get-Refuser Husband Yoel Weiss Allegedly Hid Money From City, State And IRS

Yoel Weiss bragged about hiding his money from the government, Rivky Stein told a Brooklyn judge yesterday. Stein, 25, has been trying to divorce Weiss, 34, for years, but Weiss has refused to give her a Jewish bill of divorce known as a get. Without a get, Stein cannot remarry or have a relationship with a man. Women sometimes wait decades to receive a get, and husbands often use the power withholding a get gives them to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from their wife’s family.

Sheldon Silver Indicted

A federal grand jury in Manhattan voted on this morning to indict Orthodox New York State Assemblyman Sheldon Silver on fraud and extortion charges.

British Chief Rabbi Downplays Current Child Sex Abuse Scandals In England While Calling For Jews To Report Cases To Police

"Let there be no doubt: it is a legal, moral and religious imperative to report cases of sexual abuse to the police. Nobody is above the law and no institution is greater than its members or followers. The impact of bringing sexual predators to light, however embarrassing for our communities, pales into insignificance when the alternative would result in the shame of protecting criminals, abandoning victims and risking the safety of so many others."

Non-Chabad Orthodox Rabbis In Australia Form New Rabbinic Roof Body To Replace Roof Body Implicated In Child Sex Abuse Coverups Controlled By Chabad

A new national organization of rabbis, the New Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (NORA), was founded Tuesday night, reportedly after top rabbis from across the world insisted in the wake of the Royal Commission investigation into child sex abuse at Chabad institutions in Australia that the current structure of rabbinic leadership in Australia must be changed.

Mikvah Peeping Rabbi To Plead Guilty Today

Alleged mikvah Peeping Tuvia Rabbi Barry Freundel will reportedly plead guilty today to 52 counts of voyeurism stemming from the secret videotaping of naked women preparing to immerse in the mikvah (ritual bath) next to Freundel’s Washington, DC Modern Orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israel in the tony Georgetown neighborhood.

Under Pressure, Top Chabad Rabbi Alleged To Have Covered Up Child Sex Abuse Resigns

Under extreme pressure from many quarters of the Australian Jewish community in the wake of his damning testimony before Australia's Royal Commission investigating child sex abuse at Chabad institutions across the country, Rabbi Avrohom Glick has resigned from all positions of authority at Chabad's flagship institution in Melbourne, Australia – including the powerful Va'ad HaRuchni ('spiritual' committee). Glick allegedly covered up cases of child sex abuse, enabled at least one child rapist and allowed the bullying, harassment and shunning of victims and advocates.

An "Enormous" Day For East Ramapo, Pro-Public Schools Group Says

"Today was simply an ENORMOUS day for East Ramapo children and families. Our local lawmakers, Ellen Jaffee, Ken Zebrowski and David Carlucci, delivered big time with an oversight bill (Assembly Bill 5355, Senate Bill 3821) that would create the strong state oversight [of the scandal-plagued haredi-controlled East Ramapo school district] that we have been writing, calling, tweeting, and recording videos about: proactive authority to set a vision and strategic plan for the district's improvement, veto power when the board makes poor decisions…"

Rabbis' Absolute Power: How Sex Abuse Tore Apart Australia's Orthodox Jewish Community

Orthodox Judaism has never been exposed to such scrutiny. From a Melbourne courtroom, the torment of the Chabad rabbis was streamed live to the world as the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse probed the city’s secretive and powerful Yeshivah community. Sharp divisions in the Jewish world have been exposed. Two rabbis, including one of the nation’s most prominent, have been forced from their posts. Whistleblowers, humiliated and ostracised for years by Yeshivah, have been dramatically vindicated. More victims have come forward. More criminal charges may follow. Yeshivah schools face a nightmare of civil litigation.…

“Prodfather” Rabbi Mendel Epstein Not A Kidnapper, Attorney Tells Court

"This is not a band of men going around extorting men for money or beating them. Some laws may have been broken along the way, but it's not federal kidnapping,”  Robert Stahl, a Westfield lawyer who represents Epstein, reportedly claimed in his opening statement – even though the FBI has video of Epstein and the others in the process of executing a kidnapping. Unfortunately for Epstein, the kidnapped man was a federal agent.

A Letter From The "Prodfather's" Daughter

Rabbi Mendel Epstein allegedly extorted Jewish divorces known as gets from recalcitrant husbands by kidnapping them and shocking them with electric cattle prod. For that service, Epstein allegedly charged these women about $100,000 each. Epstein's federal kidnapping and extortion trial started today – his son and several other men are on trial with him, but many of his co-defendants have already pleaded guilty – and his daughter distributed a letter begging Jews to support her father and alleging the federal government does not intend to give him a fair trial. Here is that letter:

Bill Appointing State Monitor For Scandal-Plagued Haredi-Controlled School District Introduced In NYS Assembly

A bill to appoint a State Monitor to the troubled East Ramapo Central School District has now been brought before the New York State Assembly. This legislation follows the recommendations made by Fiscal Monitor, Hank Greenberg, to impose strong oversight in the haredi-controlled, scandal-plagued school district.

Lipa Schmeltzer Explains Why He Decided To Get Married – And Why He Later Decided To Go To College Without Permission From His Rabbis

“When it was time to get married, it was an arranged marriage, took twenty minutes to meet my wife,” he explained. “I had no idea what marriage was all about. All I wanted was a car, and you couldn’t drive if you weren’t married. And I wanted to have a shtreimel,” the round fur hat Hasidic men wear on Sabbath and holidays, also the purview of married men.

Using Established Science, Foreskins May Soon Be Able To Be Regrown, Intactivist Nonprofit Says

A US nonprofit founded to research and implement regenerative medical therapies for circumcised males, Foregen, claims to be close to developing a method that will allow men’s foreskins to regenerate – much like a salamander is able to re-grow a limb.

Jerusalem Secular Residents Launch Shabbat Bus Service

The government refuses to run public buses on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) in deference to the haredi and Zionist Orthodox communities. But secular Jews and non-Jews need Shabbat transportation. And now a group of secular Jews has banded together to make that happen.

AJN Staff Member Who Allegedly Leaked Damning Text Messages Sent By Chabad Rabbi Has Been Suspended

The Australian Royal Commission investigation Chabad child sex abuse continues to have repercussions. This time, a Jewish newspaper staffer allegedly tried to help an abuse victim show a Chabad rabbi (pictured at right) was lying – and that staffer is now being punished by his newspaper for doing so, despite the fact that the newspaper should have exposed the lies itself but did not do so.

No-Sex Sex Tape, Bizarre Child Sex Abuse Testimony Gets Rabbi Yosef Feldman De-Listed As Chabad Emissary

Rabbi Yosef “Yossi” Feldman, the controversial Chabad emissary whose statements on pedophilia before Australia’s Royal Commission investigation child sex abuse at Chabad institutions shocked the country and shamed the Jewish community, has been de-listed as a Chabad emissary.

3 Jerusalem Haredim Arrested In Stolen Burial Plot Scheme

Three haredi men from Jerusalem, including former city council member Shmuel Yitzchaki from the Sefardi haredi Shas Party and Blisha Shaul, have been arrested in a fraud scheme involving stolen cemetery plots. Hundreds of thousands of dollars may have been stolen, and some victims buried family members in graves they do not really own.

A Musical Interlude

Today is Mardis Gras and it's also Black History Month. Jews played a large role in Jazz – the quintessential Black American music form invented in New Orleans just before 1900, from the Jewish family who gave the young teenaged Louis Armstrong a job and looked after him, to some very well-known Jazz musicians like Benny Goodman. And if you listen carefully, you can hear Klezmer licks in some second generation Jazz hits. But many Americans are no longer familiar with the music that swept the world and morphed into Blues and Rock and Roll. So here a few Jazz and New Orleans Funk hits – including Cab Calloway's "Where's Yehoodi?" – Klezmer fans, Jazz fans and Blues fans – even fans of cantorial music – will like.

Chabad Hasid-Owned Eldercare Facility To Pay Almost $1 Million To Family Of Judge It Allegedly Isolated, Imprisoned – And Froze To Death

A Chabad-hasid-owned nursing home located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn has reportedly agreed to pay close to $1 million to the family of a Brooklyn judge it allegedly illegally isolated and confined against his will.

How Far Has The Haredi Community Fallen?

The late supreme rabbinic leader of Sefardi haredim Rabbi Ovadia Yosef passed away about 16 months ago. Some of the halakhic (Orthodox Jewish law) rulings he issued after his last book was published have now been released in a new book called Shulchan Yosef. One of them provides a sad, if unintended, commentary on the state of haredi Judaism today.

Drag Queens Stage Race And Celebration In Jerusalem

Drag Queens raced through the streets of Jerusalem in high heels and put on musical performances in an event sponsored by the LGBT student community and the City of Jerusalem.

Former Spokesman For Vehemently Anti-Zionist Haredim Appears In Yair Lapid Campaign Ad Calling For Haredim To Join Workforce

Shmuel Pappenheim, who once served as the spokesman for the anti-Zionist haredi umbrella organization Edah Haredit, has appeared in a campaign video for Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid Party.

Jewish Agency Deceives Donors, Funds Anti-Zionist Haredi Programs Despite Bans

The Jewish Agency for Israel, in violation of their own governance policies, is funding haredi anti-Zionist and non-Zionist programs – in part likely because the chairman of the Agency's executive is Natan Sharansky, an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu: "Haredim Are [My] Natural Partners"

"The Haredim are natural partners [with my right-of-center Likud Party], I have great sympathy for [Orthodox Jewish] tradition. Every Shabbat I study the weekly Torah portion," Netanyahu – who has reportedly openly eaten non-kosher food on foreign trips, a non-no for Israeli leaders – claimed.

In Light Of Child Sex Abuse Coverups, Is Chabad A Cult?

Manny Waks says to label Chabad and Yeshivah as a cult would force him to reject his entire childhood.… “I got the dollar [I still carry] from [the Rebbe] around the same time I was being abused, and I like to think if he was alive today and knew, he would have stopped it and made Yeshivah leaders start behaving in a loving way. When I think of the Rebbe, I still view him with the utmost respect and reverence.”

Australian Rabbinical Body Calls For All Implicated Chabad Rabbis To Resign Immideately

The Rabbinical Council of Victoria has demanded the resignations of all rabbis implicated in testimony before the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

It's All Relative: Chabad Molesters Were Allegedly Protected And Their Victims Terrorized By Members Of A Web Of Chabad Relatives

A nepotistic web of Chabad hasidim, members of powerful Chabad families in Australia (and beyond) allegedly covered up for Chabad child molesters and harassed their victims. But how nepotistic is Chabad down under? The answer may shock you.

Thousands Of Haredim Stage Joyous Parade Through Northern Jerusalem Celebrating Release From Prison Of Haredi Draft-Dodger Yeshiva Students

Thousands haredi men – and, for apparently the first time, women – from Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredi rebel faction flooded the streets of Jerusalem to celebrate the release of four draft-dodging haredi yeshiva students from military prison.

Haredim Launch Pidyon Shvuyim Appeal For Accused Pedophile Who Fled From Justice

This pidyon shvuyim (ransoming of the captives) sign for accused pedophile Rabbi Todros Grynhaus was posted tonight in the Machzikei Hadas hasidic synagogue in Manchester, England.

Head Of Chabad Front Group Again Calls To Arm Europe's Jews

Rabbi Menachem Margolin wants European countries to make an exception to gun control laws and allow Jews to arm themselves – a call many actual European Jewish leaders strongly oppose.

British Government Forces Racist Chabad Rabbi Off Interfaith Charity's Board

Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, a controversial rabbi from a prominent Chabad family, was forced off the Faith Matters interfaith anti-extremism charity last week after his racist remarks posted on social media were exposed by a Palestinian news agency. Schochet has remained unrepentant – even though it appears the British government was behind his removal. Just this past weekend, Schochet called a female convert to Judaism an "idiot" and encouraged her to marry a non-Jew. Last month, he blamed the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and journalists for their own murders.

Will Tunisian Jews Survive Threat Posed By…Educating Girls?

In the Tunisian island of Djerba's ancient Jewish community, women rarely work outside the home and only do so if their husbands allow it. And until very recently, girls were only allowed to have two hours of schooling per day. Before the early 1950s, girls were not allowed to go to school at all, and most Jewish women and girls were illiterate as a result.

Archaeologists Help Protect Cultural Heritage Of Kurdish-Controlled Northern Iraq

The UN estimates the region now hosts more than 500,000 refugees fleeing from ISIS. “We must send a signal that normal life continues. That includes protecting our historical sites. And we will not approve new building applications without a green light from the Department of Antiquities.”

Chabad Issues Non-Apology Apology In Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Chabad calls sworn testimony in which its own Australian leaders admitted to a series of violations of trust (and, likely, of law) that endangered children and allowed many to be raped and abused "allegations" and issues no clear apology to victims or their advocates for years it ignored them.

Top Australian Rabbi Resigns From All Public Positions In Fallout From His Role In Chabad Child Sex Abuse Coverups

Australia's most senior rabbi has resigned days after revelations at a royal commission that he called the father of three child abuse victims a "lunatic" and took other actions, including telling an abuse victim it was wrong to encourage people to report child sex abuse to police or cooperate with the ongoing police investigation.