FailedMessiah.com

Lakewood Haredi Rabbis Ask Haredim To Gender Segregate Public Buses And Install Curtains To Separate The Genders

"We find ourselves in turbulent times in which darkness covers the land. It is our duty to strengthen and to enlighten ourselves by guarding the holiness and purity of our city.…Therefore we ask anyone traveling on township buses to guard the holiness of our city by separating the men from the women [on those buses] by having a curtain [act as a mechitza] separating the men and women.…"

Whooping Cough Outbreak In Haredi Brooklyn, Mostly Among Non-Vaccnated Haredim, Health Department Says

"The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has detected an increase in pertussis cases in the Orthodox Jewish communities in Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn. From October 2014 through April 2015, 21 cases of pertussis have been confirmed, including 18 children and 3 adults. Among the children, 12 were unvaccinated, 2 were vaccinated but not up to date with pertussis-containing vaccine; the remaining 4 were appropriately vaccinated. Among the children, 10 were infants aged <12 months. None of the mothers of the infants with pertussis had documentation of having received the recommended tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination during their most recent pregnancy. Two infants were hospitalized, of which one had pneumonia.…"

Joseph Hayon, Founder Of Brooklyn's Tea Party, Arrested On Child Porn Charges

Joseph Hayon, the founder of Brooklyn's Tea Party and a Sefardi haredi community activist, has been arrested for child porn yesterday and was arraigned today.

Why Do We Eat Dairy Foods On Shavuot Morning?

There are many rabbinically posited explanations for the custom of eating dairy foods on the morning of Shavuot, some more fanciful than others. But the real reason may have much more to do with practicality and non-Judaism-related local custom than to any holy reason rabbis might imagine.

Did Moses Really Write The Torah?

Did Moses really write the Torah? And if he didn't, why is it that we attribute its authorship to him nonetheless? Could the whole thing be nothing more than a rabbinical error, a misreading of the biblical text by rabbis who erred because they did not know the history?

Haredi-Controlled Petach Tikva Rabbinate Caught Discriminating Against Ethiopian Jews, But Israel’s Haredi-Controlled Religious Services Ministry Says The Discrimination Does Not Exist

Israel’s Army Radio reported yesterday that Ethiopian Jewish couples in Petach Tikva have been forced to wait to marry for more than nine months while the Petach Tikva official state rabbinate, which is haredi-controlled, delayed approving their marriage documents – documents that had already been approved and certified by their official state Ethiopian Jewish rabbi.

Child Sex Abuse And The Community: For Lessons In What Not To Do, Look At Chabad In Australia

"…Last week, a Chabad official told me that they were taking action, but that change takes time. The Australian experience shows that this issue cannot wait for concerted action. If organizations are serious about this problem, they need to have rigorous independent inquiries and publish their findings as soon as they become aware of even one case. [Chabad] in Australia has avoided that until this day, to their detriment and detriment of the wider Jewish community."

Why Mikvah Voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel's Victims Are Justified In Suing The RCA

Like many of Freundel’s conversion candidates, she was asked to do hours of unpaid administrative work in his home office until late in the evening. She spent hours taking dictation from him, including of his personal emails, even writing his recommendations for college students. All of this took place in his home office, where sometimes “he would lie on his bed with his laptop, and I would have to go talk to him. It was really creepy. He would also eat and drink in front of me and not even offer me a glass of water.”

Young Moldovan Jewish Businessman Under Arrest In Alleged $1 Billion Looting Of Poor Country’s Banks

“There is a lot of antisemitism here, especially on the Internet…[and] the community is concerned. The masses have identified him as a Jew, and people here are outraged over the fraud, connecting him to the [Jewish] community. We remember our history and the Kishinev pogrom,” Lecarteva said, referring to the notorious massacre of 47 (some say 49) Jews on April 19-20, 1903 – Easter Sunday and the following day on the Eastern Orthodox calendar. In all, 92 other Jews were severely wounded, 500 were less severely injured, 700 houses were destroyed, and 600 stores were looted and pillaged.

Man Found Dead In Bnei Brak Mikvah, Cops Fear It May Have Been Murder

Was it murder? A man in his 20s was found lifeless in a mikvah on Breuer Street in the haredi city of Bnei Brak, and police are reportedly investigating to see if the man was murdered.

Make Your Homes Safer, Haredi Rabbis Order Followers

Following several recent serious accidents and fires in haredi homes, many involving children, members of haredi rabbinical courts are calling on haredim to invest in safer housing.

Where's Miri? Shas Party Newspaper Removes All Female Cabinet Ministers From Official Government Photo

Actually, a newspaper affiliated with the Sefardi haredi Shas Party, photoshopped an offical photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's entire new cabinet to entirely remove its three female members – including the new  minister in charge of gender equality.

Scientists Discover World's Oldest Stone Tools – But Were They Made By Human Ancestors?

Scientists working in the desert badlands of northwestern Kenya have found stone tools dating back 3.3 million years, long before the advent of modern humans, and by far the oldest such artifacts yet discovered. The tools, whose makers may or may not have been some sort of human ancestor, push the known date of such tools back by 700,000 years; they also may challenge the notion that our own most direct ancestors were the first to bang two rocks together to create a new technology.

The “Chained Women” Whose Husbands Refuse Them A Divorce

"You have the absolute responsibility to answer her question now!" one woman screams at the rabbi. An excited "oooh" rolls through the crowd. The question the woman wants answered: Why won't rabbis change the laws around divorce?

Haredi Teen Wanted For Series Of Alleged Child Sex Assaults Flees Cops

Intelligence  officers from an elite police unit went to arrest the boy, but when he saw them he fled and a car chase ensued.

Haredi News Website Blurs Out Faces Of New Female Israeli Cabinet Ministers – Including The New Minister Of Gender Equality

Behadrei Haredim’s censorship appeared to have fallen short: while it blurred out all the female faces and female’s visible necklines in the photo, it forgot to blur out Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev’s bare legs, which are in full view.

Is This The Real Reason Many Jews And Muslims Don't Eat Pork?

The chicken…provided Middle Eastern populations with a more efficient protein resource [than pork]. Pigs became a redundant animal in the subsistence system, but they were not entirely replaced. “Indeed, contrary to expectations based on the religious prohibition of the pig, it never disappeared from the Middle East.”

Study: Jesus Was Buried In Jerusalem’s Armon Ha’Natziv/Talpiot Neighborhood And May Have Had A Wife And Child

While we're speaking of grave finders, Dr. Aryeh Shimron used chemical analyses to find a clear link between ossuaries discovered in an ancient tomb in Talpiot and the ossuary of the “Brother of Jesus” – reigniting debate on Jesus’ burial place. “The problem is that we’re looking at this through Christian theology, rather than through Jewish history. If you take a Messianic Lubavitcher [an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic sect] today and ask him if the Rabbi of Lubavitch rose to heaven, he will say “yes”. If you ask the same Hasid if the Lubavitvher Rabbi has an earthly grave, he will also say “yes”. They do not believe that their Rabbi gathered up his kidneys and physically rose to heaven, body and all. A physical ascent – that’s Christian theology. It isn’t fact. The first believers weren’t Christians; they were Lubavitcher types.”

Chabad Hasidic “Grave Finder” Allegedly Defrauds Chabad Hasidim Out Of Thousands Of Dollars

David Krinsky – who appears be Dovid Krinsky, the son of top Chabad leader Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky – made a deal with Mendel Notik to buy two plots in the Joseph Family Society Section in Old Montefiore Cemetery for $80,000, but Notik – who promotes himself as the Grave Finder and who is also a Chabad hasid – stole the $20,000 deposit given him by Krinsky, a lawsuit filed by Krinsky in Brooklyn’s Supreme Court reportedly alleges.

British Government's Children's Commissioner Launches Survey For Adult Survivors Of Child Sex Abuse

England's Children's Commissioner's Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in the Family Environment is running a survey for adult survivors of child sexual abuse: "Help us to collect the most comprehensive evidence to date from adult survivors of child sexual abuse linked to the family environment. Complete our survey confidentially to help us protect children from sexual abuse. Your responses will enable us to make a difference to children now. Hearing from survivors to help children now."

Does She Really Want Tea?

A great new video short explains what consent is in a way pretty much everyone can understand.

Tzohar Reluctantly Gives Into Heavy Pressure, Allows Non-Orthodox Rabbis To Teach At Shavuot Event

The Tzavta theater in Tel Aviv and the moderate Zionist Orthodox Tzohar rabbinical association announced yesterday that Conservative and Reform rabbis will, after all, be part of their planned all-night Shavuot study at the theater.

Arrest Made In Haredi Mob Attack On IDF Soldier

Police reportedly arrested an 18-year-old haredi male in connection with the mob assault. He was arraigned Tuesday morning, and police are said to hoping to make additional arrests in the case.

Many Sickened At Elegant ‘Halakhic’ Dinner Led By Rabbi Meir Soloveichik That Served Locusts, Duck Foie Gras, Veal Hearts And Other ‘Delicacies’

The menu reportedly consisted of a salad of mixed greens topped with etrog dressing; crispy shallot-topped veal intestines stuffed with veal heart, chicken gizzards, duck liver and kidneys; truffle oil-drizzled poached brains with garbanzo beans, white pickled garlic and lemon; Moroccan ‘cigars’ stuffed with duck foie gras; goat tangine with dates, dried plums, cracked Syrian olives and fava beans; braised squab with poached fennel mousseline, roasted shallots, braised artichoke hearts and fresh truffles; bison sliders with glazed onions and Israeli cracked olive paste; slow cooked ox tail with green peas and sherry wine mousseline; dulce de leche cake in a chocolate caramel box; and Mexican chipotle chocolate covered locusts.

Picture Of The Day: Haredi Grocery Store Admits To Manipulating Government Program

"The halav stam [regular milk; i.e., milk that is not kosher supervised from the time of milking] is not for sale, but we must keep it… [on the store shelves so we can appear to fulfill the requirements for participation in the Federal government's WIC program, i.e., the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which provides milk, cheese, beans and the like to low income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk,]."

Politicians Join Demonstration Against Prominent Chabad Hasid Who Allegedly Is Mistreating Frail Elderly In Order To Force Them To Leave Assisted Living Facility He Wants To Have Converted To Luxury Housing

“The court appointed a third party receiver so that the few remaining frail seniors would not be left to live out their final days in fear, hunger and squalor. That [Haysha Deitsch] refuses to pay the receiver[, however,] is not a surprise.…," especially because Deitsch wants the residents to be evicted – which is exactly what will happen if the court-appointed receiver is not put in place. And that can't happen until the receiver is funded. Deitsch has not done so and the state refuses to advance the money to cover Deitsch's failure to pay – likely because the governor, Andrew Cuomo, doesn't want it to. And that has angered several prominent politicans.

Haredim, Police Violate Law, Block Women Of The Wall From Reading From Torah Scroll At Western Wall

A day after Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Jerusalem’s reunification and renewed Jewish access to the Kotel (Western Wall), Women of the Wall (WoW) was blocked from reading from or from having access to a Torah Scroll there. The haredi official state rabbi of the Kotel, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, ordered Israel Police set up barricades and chain closed the mechitza (partition fence) between the men's and women's section to prevent men from passing a Torah scroll to the women as happened last month. Today, one man was detained by police while he attempted to hand a Torah scroll over the mechitza to WoW.

Todros Grynhaus Guilty On All Counts

A court in Manchester, England has just found Todros Grynhaus, a former haredi educator from a prominent English haredi family, guilty on seven counts of child sex abuse.

Hasidic Bus Company Sued Over Alleged Gender Discrimination

The hasidic-owned Monsey Trails bus company is being sued in a class-action lawsuit because it allegedly refuses to hire female drivers.

Belz Hasidic Leadership In London Reiterates Ban On Women Driving, Threatens To Expel Children From Belz Schools If Their Mothers Drive

In a letter sent to parents yesterday, Belz rabbinic leadership in London, England reiterated its previous ban on Belz women driving cars and added an ominous warning to hasidim – we'll expel your children from our schools if you don't follow our ban.

More Than 10,000 Haredim Protest Shabbat Violation In Ashdod, Demand Shopping Center Be Forced To Close

Over 10,000 people, almost all of them haredim, held a mass prayer rally in a haredi neighborhood in the southern Israeli port city of Ashdod yesterday to protest a new shopping center that is open on Shabbat.

Mikvah Voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel To Appeal

Rabbi Barry Freundel's attorney, Jeffrey Harris, claimed the 6-1/2-year sentence is “illegal" and said Freundel would appeal if the sentencing judge does not correct it.

Haredi Yeshiva Covers Statues In Event Center With Sheets

The Yeshiva of Waterbury (CT) has an event tonight at Terrace on the Park in Queens, New York – and covered all of the statues in the ballroom hallway, apparently for modesty reasons.

2-Year-Old Girl, Struck By Falling Brick From Dilapidated “Luxury” Senior Citizens Residence, Dies

A 2-year-old girl hit by a falling brick while sitting with her grandmother at a senior citizens residence owned by a prominent New York Jewish family has died.

London Haredi School Issues New Regulations Regarding Internet Use, Technology

The haredi Yesodey HaTorah school in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London has issued new rules for its students regarding technology and the Internet.

Haredi Chief Rabbis Want Government To Vet All Proposed Legislation Through The Haredi-Controlled Chief Rabbinate

Is it another step toward an Iran-like theocracy? Speaking at a conference of the Israel Bar Association in Eilat today, the haredi Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau called for a law to be passed by the Knesset that would mandate the government consult with the Chief Rabbinate on all proposed legislation before it is brought to a vote in Knesset.

Jerusalem Zoo To Remain Open On Shabbat, Despite Haredi Rabbis’ Pressure (Or Lack Thereof)

The Tisch Family's Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem, more commonly known as the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, will remain open on Shabbat – despite ostensible haredi demands to close it.

Ethiopian Jews Protest Israeli Racism And Discrimination In Tel Aviv

“We wish to show that things haven’t dissipated – we’re continuing to protest. Nothing has been done for 30 years and we want to show the prime minister that this time we are not giving in. Even if he commits to doing something, we won’t be quiet until we see results.”

Haredi Boys Find 1,400-Year-Old Wine Press In Unauthorized Archaeological Dig

A group of young haredi boys in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood of Jerusalem, all reportedly about 13-years-old, staged an unauthorized archeological dig and found a 1,400-year-old wine press.

65-Year-Old Hasidic Woman Gives Birth To First Child

A 65-year-old Nadvorna hasidic woman from Bnai Brak gave birth to her first child today – the oldest woman in Israel to ever give birth.

Rabbis Rush Wedding So Dying Father Can See Daughter Married

The state religious council of the southern Israeli town of Netivot expedited a wedding because the father of the bride was very ill and in deteriorating health. The wedding was conducted within hours after the council’s rabbis were told of the father’s rapidly deteriorating health – even though the bride was from the Former Soviet Union and had still not completely proved to the rabbis that she was, in fact, Jewish.

Israel Was Wrong To Close Its Doors To Ethiopian Jews For Decades, Israeli Racism And Discrimination Against Them Must End, Israeli President Says

Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin made statements today in support of Ethiopian Jews and against racism at the national memorial ceremony for the thousands of Ethiopian Jews who perished on their way to Israel in the early 1980s.

Israel Will Have Massive Earthquake If Pinto Put In Prison, Sefardi Haredi Kabbalists Claim, Say Nepal Quake Was Supposed To Strike Israel But Was Diverted Due To Kabbalist’s Prayers

Pinto bribed top police officers to try to get inside information on the police investigation into Hazon Yeshaya, a charity Pinto controlled through close followers. Those close followers allegedly looted the charity, taking tens of millions of dollars in food donations earmarked for elderly Holocaust survivors, selling them on the black market and pocketing the cash – much of which allegedly ended up in Pinto’s pockets.

Jews And Palestinians Violently Riot In Old City

Jews and Palestinians fought at Damascus Gate in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City today as Zionist Orthodox right-wing Jews waving Israeli flags marched in honor of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). Meanwhile, haredi children stoned firefighters in another Jerusalem neighborhood.

Satmar Aaron Faction Equates NY State Lawmaker With Hitler, Satmar PR Flack Yossi Gestetner Agrees

"Pharaoh, Haman, Hitler, etc. Didn't succeed in curbing growth of Jews so will Assemblyman @KarlBrabenec not succeed…"

Moderate Zionist Orthodox Rabbinic Group Invites Head Of Israel’s Non-Orthodox Masorati Movement To Speak At Shavuot Event

The moderate Zionist Orthodox Tzohar rabbinic organization vetoed participation of Reform and Conservative rabbis in the all-night Shavuot study session to be held next Saturday at the Tzavta Tel Aviv Theater, but at the same time, it invited the head of the movement, who is not a rabbi, to speak.

Where Does The Name Jerusalem Really Come From?

Is Jerusalem really the "City of Peace" or is it actually named after a pagan god of our Canaanite ancestors? And why do we write and pronounce the word with a "J" when the Hebrew word for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, is pronounced with a "Y" sound? Here's what your rabbi or your Birthright Israel tour leader probably didn't tell you.

Primitive Human Societies Likely Had Gender Equality, Study Finds

Many unique human traits such as high cognition, cumulative culture and hyper-cooperation have evolved due to the social organization patterns unique to humans. "Sex equality suggests a scenario where [these] unique human traits [including] cooperation with unrelated individuals could have emerged in our evolutionary past." In other words, gender equality caused the evolutionary development of the traits that make us human and which led to modern society.

The Terrible Impact Of Rabbi Barry Freundel’s Mikvah Voyeurism In The Words Of One Of His Victims

“To me, the practice dunk was a true immersion to cleanse myself of 25 years of not doing mitzvos, of touching a dead body, of my sexual exploits in my early 20s. Now I am 30 and have to reevaluate everything in my life.…I have suffered for speaking out to the media and have lost my community. I need therapy for that. Barry destroyed my life.…What I thought was a cleansing experience was a sick betrayal of trust. I am wrecked emotionally, psychologically, sexually. All of the beliefs I had are out the window because of the hypocrisy I witnessed."

Mikvah Voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel Sentenced To 6 1/2 Years In Prison

45 days for each count. 6 1/2 years in prison.