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More Federal Criminal Charges Filed Against Embattled Modern Orthodox Politician

Prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney's office brought new additional criminal charges against former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday. The new charges are related to earlier corruption charges filed by the government against Silver, a pillar of the Lower East Side’s Orthodox community.

New Square Honors Man Who Tried To Murder Dissident

The Skvere hasidic sect's weekly magazine, BaChatzar HaKodesh (In The Holy Courtyard), has coverage of an event held in Skvere's main hall in New Square honoring Shaul Spitzer, the hoos bukher (butler) of the Skvere Rebbe who tried to murder New Square dissident Aron Rottenberg and his sleeping family several years ago by trying to firebomb their house at 4 am.

Criminal Allegedly Preying On Detroit Orthodox Community Prompts Rabbinic Warning – But Allegedly No Call To Police

Rabbi Doniel Neustadt of the Vaad HaRabbonim of Greater Detroit released a warning (posted below the page break) that is, I'm told, posted in Orthodox/haredi synagogues in the Detroit area, about a criminal who is defrauding members of the community. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have already allegedly been stolen, but the notice does not mention the man's name, and rabbis have not called police, a Detroit source says.

A Deafening Silence: After African Asylum Seekers Pushed Out Of Israel Beheaded By ISIS, American Jewish Leadership Silent

"…No one is demanding that 55,000 African migrants be given full citizenship anytime soon, only that they receive legal status and be allowed to work, to pay taxes, to live in decent homes outside their cramped hovels near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station and that they be protected from exploitation by rapacious employers.…" But even this is far beyond what Israel is willing to do, and far beyond what the American Jewish community expects Israel to do – and that speaks volumes about the Jewish community's moral failure.

In Tel Aviv, Hummus Delivered To Your Door On The Cheap, From Uber

The on-demand car service Uber is doing something special for Israel Independence Day in Tel Aviv.

Haredim Fly ISIS Flag – In Israel

Vehemently anti-Zionist haredim in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh flew an ISIS flag yesterday, Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen IDF soldiers and the eve of the country's Independence Day, to protest the State of Israel and the IDF.

The Secret Slang of the Diamond District

From strop, khazeray (chazerai), links-shtivl, linker and shlok to shvimers, mame-zitser, tam, matzo, fir-kantike eyer, words – most often special slang corruptions of Yiddish and Hebrew terms – have special meaning in Manhattan’s Diamond District.

Why Is This Man On The Board Of An Organization That Claims To Fight Child Sex Abuse And Help Survivors?

A psychologist is suspended for breaching a patient's confidentiality and related issues, and then suspended again (twice) for failing to pay the fines and get the extra continuing education mandated by the state licensing authority in order for him to continue practicing. He also supports reparative therapy/conversion therapy, the discredited and dangerous therapy banned in New Jersey and other locations that falsely claims to help gay men become straight. Who is this psychologist? Dr. Norman Goldwasser, who sits on the advisory board of…Jewish Community Watch.

Statement From Rabbi Mendel Epstein's Attorney On The Conviction Of His Client

"…Obviously, we are disappointed that the jury convicted him on the conspiracy count. We plan to appeal that verdict on a number of legal grounds, believing that the Court of Appeals will eventually agree that the Government overreached in its prosecution and charged the crime of federal kidnapping when there was no intent to conduct criminal behavior.…"

How Israel Got Its Name

The relations between ancient Israel and Judah are not clear; they were probably of the same ethnicity and spoke a similar proto-northwestern-Semitic dialect. It is known that after the fall of Israel, Judah experienced a great leap forward, in which the population more than doubled in two or three decades.

YU Medical School Child Psychologist Busted For Trying To Have Sex With 14-Year-Old Girl

Justin Miller, a 34-year-old child psychologist at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, was arrested yesterday for allegedly attempting to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex.

After Losing 2 Sons To Suicide, Orthodox Couple Tries To Raise Suicide Awareness And Prevention In The Orthodox Community, IDF

Gil and Esther Alexander lost two sons, both IDF soldiers, to suicide and have dedicated their lives to raising the issues of suicide awareness and prevention in the Orthodox community – and in the IDF itself.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier To Be Knighted By Pope

Pope Francis has announced that he will knight Rabbi Arthur Schneier, the founder of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation and the senior rabbi of Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue.

Near-Riot In Beit Shemesh Between Haredim And Opponents Over Memorial Day Ceremony

A public Yom Hazikoron (Memorial Day) ceremony today in Beit Shemesh was disrupted by haredim, leading to violence.

The Yahrtzeit Of A Rabbinic 'Heretic'

“The Law [i.e., the Torah] cannot prevent us from considering to be true that which our reason urges us to believe.”

African Asylum Seekers Forced Out Of Israel By Netanyahu Government Slaughtered By ISIS

Population and Immigration Authority has already confirmed that asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan will now be deported without their consent. Those who refuse to agree to this “voluntary” deportation will be imprisoned at the Saharonim Prison indefinitely. It was this threat that caused the murdered African asylum seekers to leave Israel, and that got them murdered.

A Former NYPD Cop Tells His Story In New Book

In his 20 years as a New York City police officer, Steve Osborne made thousands of arrests. He nearly got run over by a train while chasing a suspect through a subway tunnel. He dealt with decaying corpses discovered in apartments. While making one arrest, when he was a rookie, a crowd gathered around him and starting throwing bottles and rocks at him. But he loved the job. One thing that surprises people, he says, is that he never fired his gun on the job. "Nobody wants to fire a shot; nobody wants to take a life. All I want to do is go out, do my job, do it well, and go home in one piece. When I lock a guy up and I tell him, 'Turn around, put your hands behind your back,' and he does it, I'm happy. I would much rather buy a guy a hot dog on the way to jail ... which I've done, rather than roll around in the street and fight with him."

"Prodfather" Rabbi Mendel Epstein Guilty Of Kidnapping Conspiracy

Haredi Rabbi Mendel Epstein was found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and not guilty of attempted kidnapping. Two other rabbis, Jay Goldstein and Benyamin Stimler, were both found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping as well as attempted kidnapping. All face as much as life in prison. Epstein's son, David Epstein, was found not guilty of all charges.

Orthodox Judaism's Current Burial Practices Are Modern Innovations With Little Connection To Historical Practice

Orthodox and especially haredi rabbis often know little, if any, history and make halakhic rulings based on backwards projection and mistaken perceptions. One of the clearest ways to see that is to look at how Jews used to bury their dead, and how we do it now.

New Study Shows MMR Vaccine Does NOT Cause Autism

This is even further evidence that anti-vaccine campaigners like haredi 'gadol' Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and his wife are endangering children, not helping them.

Alleged “Prodfather” Rabbi Mendel Epstein’s Attorneys Ask For Mistrial, Judge Says No

Defense attorneys for the alleged “Prodfather,” Rabbi Mendel Epstein, and three of his associates asked a federal judge to grant a mistrial today. The judge, US District Court Judge Freda L. Wolfson, denied the motion. Instead, she told the jury to disregard an incorrect sentence in the indictment the jury was given last week when it began its deliberations in Epstein’s get (Jewish divorce) extortion and kidnapping trial. The jury was given a corrected indictment, as well.

Babies More Sensitive To Pain Than Adults, Study Finds – How Should This Impact Circumcision?

The brains of babies light up in a very similar way to adults when exposed to the same painful stimulus, a pioneering Oxford University brain scanning study has discovered. It suggests that babies experience pain much like adults and that infants are more sensitive to pain than adults, not less sensitive – calling into question claims made by some haredi rabbis and mohels that babies do not feel circumcision pain.

Belz Bans WhatsApp

The Belz hasidic sect in Israel has banned the popular WhatsApp mobile messaging app.

Sex Crimes More Common In Certain Families, Research Shows

Close relatives of men convicted of sexual offenses commit similar offenses themselves more frequently than comparison subjects. This is due to genetic factors rather than shared family environment, a new comprehensive study has found.

In Israel As Elsewhere, Leaving The Haredi Community Exposes Large Gaps In Education And Training – And Prompts Lawsuit Against The Government

"I once heard them talk about the theory of evolution, very furtively, in the yeshiva when someone said certain people think they are descended from the apes. It triggered a gale of laughter and the rabbi said that anyone who believed that must be a monkey."

Gruesomely Murdered Arab Boy Added To Official Israeli State Memorial Plaque For Victims Of Terror

Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old East Jerusalem Arab boy gruesomely murdered last summer by right-wing terrorists from an extended Sefardi haredi family, has had his name added to the list of names on the official Israeli government memorial plaque memorializing Israeli civilians who died in terrorist attacks over the past year.

Parents Of Alleged Yeshiva University High School Child Sex Abuse Victim To Sue YU For Deceptive Advertising

In what their lawyer calls a first-of-its-kind move in the state, Israel and Chaya Gutman are set to file a lawsuit Monday claiming that [Yeshiva University’s] embattled Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy in Manhattan is guilty of deceptive advertising by touting the high school as a safe place to send youths

NY State Assemblywoman Margret Markey Asks Pope For Help In Passing Child Sex Abuse Prevention Law

The Assemblywoman said this is a unique opportunity for the Catholic Church to take leadership in addressing the crisis in how poorly New York treats victims of childhood sexual abuse. The state currently ranks among the very worst of all states in America in how it deals with victims of child sexual abuse crimes, right at the bottom of all 50 states along with Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Indiana, according to a survey by the Cardozo Law School.

High Court Orders State To Fess Up Regarding Haredi Draft Numbers

The nine justice High Court panel that heard its petition reportedly agreed that the law as it is currently structured is unequal and discriminates against non-haredim – which may mean the High Court will strike it down.

Allegedly Spoofed Story On Evils Of The Internet Widely Circulated In Hasidic Community, Published By Hasidic Papers

An anonymous commentator on the haredi Yiddish-language forum kaveshtiebel.com claims to have tricked Der Yid and Der Blatt, the two major Brooklyn hasidic newspapers, each of which is published by a different Satmar faction. He says he emailed them a fabricated horror story about of the ill-effects of the Internet on Jewish families. The story described a family suffering many problems as a direct result of having the Internet – complete with a kosher filter, and put in their home only after consulting a rabbi and getting his approval – in their home.  The family's problems ended, however, when they removed the Internet-connected computer from their home. But the story is allegedly fake and has a secret message encoded in it for the haredi media.

Man Who Gave Torah To Women Of The Wall Assaulted By Kotel Security Then Detained By Police

The American immigrant who handed one of the Kotel's Torah scrolls from the men’s section to Women of the Wall was assaulted by a Kotel usher working for haredi Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and, when he reported the assault to police, was detained and threatened with criminal charges for sharing the Torah scroll with women.

Ex-Spring Valley Mayor Convicted On Bribery Charges

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that former Spring Valley Mayor NORAMIE JASMIN (right) was found guilty in federal court today of engaging in a bribery scheme in which she negotiated a 50 percent stake for herself in a development company and $5,000 cash in exchange for her use of her office to obtain land and various government approvals to construct a community center in Spring Valley. She was convicted after a one week bench trial before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon.

Letter Of Apology From The Children Of The Late Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner To Chabad Abuse Victims

"We, the family of Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner OBM, are very sorry for what has occurred to those who were the victims of sexual abuse while they attended the Yeshivah Centre Melbourne when our father was the senior Rabbi.…"

Jewish Leaders Want NY State To Ban MMA Over Gulf State's Partial Ownership

A group of Jewish leaders wrote a letter addressed to “friends of the Jewish community.” The letter will be sent to New York State lawmakers and will be published as an ad in Jewish publications. The letter notes that the government of Abu Dhabi owns a 10% of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the premier promotion in mixed martial arts today. Abu Dhabi is anti-Semitic and anti-Israel, the letter claims, and argues that because of that, mixed martial arts should not be legalized in New York State.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein

Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein, a son-in-law of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik and the preeminent rabbi in Modern Orthodoxy today, has passed away at age 81.

Women Of The Wall Reads From Torah Scroll At Kotel Sparking Haredi Mini Riot

It was a game-changing moment. Early this morning Jerusalem time, Women of the Wall (WoW) read from a full sized Torah scroll at the Kotel (Western Wall) – the  first time since WoW was founded 25 years ago it has done so. The reading took place in violation of haredi-set Kotel rules that have been repeatedly rubberstamped by successive Israeli governments, sparking  a mini riot by haredim.

Netanyahu’s Israel Takes Another Step Away From Democracy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party will mandate that all its coalition partners agree to vote in favor of legislation meant to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court and give the sitting government much more control over court appointments and its function than it now has. The move would effectively remove much of the only real check and balance against the government, and would dramatically endanger the rights of the government’s left wing opposition and of minorities.

Satmar Yeshiva Bans Short Sleeve Shirts For All Boys Grade 3 And Older

A Satmar yeshiva has banned boys beginning in Grade 3 from wearing short sleeve shirts.

Jerusalem Agrees To Remove Illegal Haredi Modesty Signs

The High Court of Justice has already found similar haredi modesty signs posted in Beit Shemesh to be illegal. But just as that city has either failed to remove those haredi modesty signs or, in some cases, has failed to remove them if haredim re-post them after their first removal, Jerusalem has until now ignored prominent haredi modesty signs posted at the entrances to haredi neighborhoods like Mea Shearim and Geula.

Kids with ADHD Must Squirm to Learn, UCF Study Says

New research shows that if you want ADHD kids to learn, you have to let them squirm. The foot-tapping, leg-swinging and chair-scooting movements of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are actually vital to how they remember information and work out complex cognitive tasks, the study found.

Video: Newly-Elected Hasidic Village Trustee Refuses To Answer Questions On His Alleged Voter Fraud

Newly-elected village of Bloomingburg, New York trustee Aaron Tzvi Rabiner refuses to spell his name or admit whether he used a Monroe, New York address as his personal residence for a state corporation filing in October – months after he told the Sullivan County Board of Elections he had already established his full time residence in Bloomingburg. If the documentation found by activists is correct, that could mean Rabiner committed voter fraud and also made a false declaration or filed a false instrument, which are also crimes.

High Court Decides To Continue To Allow Haredi Rabbis To Use State Powers To Blacklist Alleged Adulterers

“Blacklisting women due to allegations against them is a serious blow to their dignity and civil rights. The instructions [from Yosef to the state rabbinical courts] do not prevent the grave infringement of human rights.”

Does Israel Really Have Religious Freedom? Increasingly, Observers Doubt It Does

The largely secular and affluent Israeli city of Ra’anana abruptly canceled a Jehovah’s Witnesses event scheduled for Saturday, claiming it was concerned that the Christian group’s event would “hurt the feelings of the public.”

Pinto Equates Himself To Rabbi Akiva, Says He Suffers For His Followers Sins

Before Shabbat, Pinto did what he had done at least twice before, once earlier this year and once late last year – he told followers in the port city of Ashdod that he wasn’t really guilty. Instead, Pinto claimed he only pleaded guilty to protect his wife, who Pinto had used a mule to carry the bribe money – a wife Pinto appeared to be willing to sacrifice for his own freedom only a year ago.

Felix And Meira

Ex-hasid Luzer Twersky's new film, Felix and Meira, opens tonight in New York City. Here's the trailer.

Report: Feds Investigating Possibly Corrupt Sale Of Iconic Lower East Side Orthodox Nursing Home By Gerrer Hasidim Allegedly Out To Loot It

The US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York is now reportedly looking into the attempted sale of the Home of of Sages nursing home/synagogue by Rabbi Samuel Aschkenazi, a Gerrer hasid who allegedly put together a fake board, used to to take over the home on paper, and then sell it to a politically connected developer.

A Child Sex Abuse Panic In Jerusalem

What appears to be another child sex abuse panic is now ongoing in the haredi neighborhood of Sanhedria Murchevet.

Israeli Christian Cemetery Vandalized In Apparent Price Tag Hate Crime Attack

Vandals reportedly smashed at least 20 gravestones along with a number of crosses at a Maronite Christian cemetery in the derelict village of Kufr Birim located in northern Israel near the Lebanese border.

“Effeminate” Liberals Sexually Attracted To “Masculine Strength And Brutality” Of Radical Islamic Fundamentalism, Orthodox Rabbi Claims

Politically right-wing Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the mentor of people like right-wing talk radio host Michael Medved, says liberals’ supposed attraction to radical Islam has a “sexual dimension” caused by the left's supposed femininity.

No Verdict Yet In Rabbi Mendel Epstein Get Extortion Trial

"…A couple hours into their deliberations, jurors sent a note asking whether knowledge of someone's confinement against his will constitutes kidnapping.…"