FailedMessiah.com

Mob Boss "Moshe The Religious" Sentenced To 32 Years In Prison

A Los Angeles man nicknamed "Moshe the Religious" who prosecutors say was a leader of an Israeli organized crime ring that moved drugs and money across the world was sentenced by a federal judge Friday to 32 years in prison.

Mikvah Peeping Rabbi's 6-1/2 Year Sentence Upheld

Rabbi Barry Freundel's 6-1/2-year prison sentence was been upheld today, meaning Freundel's motion to have the sentence reconsidered was denied. The judge said that all of Freundel's 52 victims (who were inside the Statute of Limitations; in total, there were at least 102 total victims) deserve to be recognized as individuals and Freundel's crimes committed against each one of them treated as individual crimes.

Haredi Gay Pride Stabber Rejects Authority Of The Court As Police Say It Wasn’t Their Job To Monitor Him

"I do not accept this court's authority. This court does not follow the rules of the holy Torah. This court is part of the mechanism of evil. I have no interest in cooperating at all. I do not recognize any of the regime's institutions."

Murder: Jewish Settlers Allegedly Firebomb Occupied Arab House, Kill Baby, Injure 3 Other Family Members

A one-and-a-half-year-old Palestinian baby was burned to death and three others were seriously injured after Jewish settlers allegedly set fire to a Palestinian home in the Palestinian Arab village of Douma, near Nablus in the West Bank.

Haredi Couple Arrested For Alleged Ongoing Physical Abuse Of Their 18-Month-Old Daughter

A young haredi husband and wife from the southern Israeli city of Ofakim were arrested yesterday for allegedly beating their 18-month-old daughter over a prolonged period of time.

3 Indicted In Israeli Church Arson

One of the assailants, who lives in the haredi city of Bnei Brak, allegedly wrote and and distributed a letter setting out the alleged “necessity” of attacking both non-Jewish institutions like the church and the “necessity” to attack non-Jewish people, as well. The letter contains practical advice on how to carry out these attacks.

Rabbi Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld Not Guilty Of Child Sex Abuse, Judge Rules

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg – a longtime haredi anti-child-sex-abuse activist who has faced threats, harassment and ostracism along with two assaults (one with a gun and the other with bleach thrown in his face) over his activism – called the verdict political. The judge owes his election to New Square’s bloc vote, Rosenberg told the Journal News, and as long as judges are beholden to that type of political influence, "there will be no peace for children."

In Recent Radio Interview, Today’s Gay Pride Parade Stabber Said He Would Do Something “Extreme” To Stop Parade

“If a single person comes and wants to hold the [gay pride] parade, then therefore in order to do something, something extreme is necessary.…these impure people want to defile Jerusalem [and]…the objective — I need to stop this parade."

Top Sefardi Haredi Rabbi Rules Yeshiva Students Are Forbidden To Serve In The IDF, Calls IDF Recruiters “Enticers” Who Have No Place In The World To Come

“God forbid, that an unmarried yeshiva student at any level of learning, or a married student, even if he has problems with his income, should leave the holy guard post [yeshiva], and should not be enticed by any ‘haredi’ or non-haredi elements promising a future with money and honor if he joins some [IDF] course,” Cohen reportedly wrote, adding that everyone who lures or “entices [haredi yeshiva students to join the IDF] and incites [yeshiva students to leave their Torah studies to join the IDF] causes the masses to sin.”

Dozens Of Former Yeshiva Students Sign Open Letter To Rabbi Admitting Their Homosexuality

“We demand to be treated like everyone else. The whole point is is that they should be treating us like human beings and equals in the community."

Cops Knew Haredi Gay Pride Attacker Was Getting Out Of Prison, Failed To Watch Him During Parade

How inept is the Israel Police? About as inept as any modern police department can be, it seems.

Haredi Man Who Stabbed 6 At Jerusalem Gay Pride March Committed Similar Attack In 2005

Police say the haredi who allegedly stabbed 6 people at today's Jerusalem gay pride parade is Yishai Shlissel, the same person who committed the stabbing attack on the Jerusalem gay pride parade 10 years ago.

Haredi Man Stabs At least 6 People At Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade

At least six people were stabbed at Jerusalem's annual Gay Pride Parade today. The assailant is allegedly a haredi man.

Mamakating To Sue Bloomingburg Over Modern Orthodox Developer’s Hasidic Development

The Town of Mamakating, New York decided Monday night to go to court if necessary to stop the adjoining Village of Bloomingburg from issuing certificates of occupancy for completed units in Modern Orthodox developer Shalom Lamm’s 396-unit high-density hasidic townhouse development.

UPDATED: Victim Wants Peeping Tom Rabbi Barry Freundel Released From Jail

"I feel like the best response once anyone is incarcerated is to ask for their good treatment," Emma Shulevitz told FailedMessiah.com. "The challenge is to make [Rabbi Barry Freundel] into a good person who can do better. I believe he can change.  I want to work on that side. If that means I am with the defense so be it."

Knesset Hears About Haredi Corruption In Jerusalem City Kosher Supervision As Police Decide Whether Or Not To Open Criminal Corruption Investigation

The Knesset Internal Affairs Committee began an investigation of Jerusalem’s official state religious council and its associated kosher supervision company today after Jerusalem’s Zionist Orthodox Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern went public with evidence of widespread corruption. Police are now deciding whether or not to open a criminal fraud and public corruption investigation.

Report: Excluded, For God's Sake: Gender Segregation And The Exclusion Of Women In The Public Sphere In Israel

The Israel Religious Action Center (an arm of the Reform Movement) has been a leading force in trying to obtain religious pluralism and gender equality in Israel. It has just released a new report, "Excluded, for God's Sake: Gender Segregation and the Exclusion of Women in the Public Sphere in Israel," that details the various types of haredi discrimination against women on planes, in buses, on public sidewalks and in other public venues and explains what is and what should be done about it. Here's the report:

Video: Israeli Man Shaves Off Longtime Beard, Shocks Family

An Israeli man had a beard for 14 years and then without telling his family, shaved it off as part of a commercial for an Israeli razor company. The commercial is a 3-minute unscripted documentary, and it perfectly illustrates in the reverse what BTs who grow beards and ex-haredim who suddenly shave them off often go through with their families. Watch it and see what I mean.

Haredi Man Refuses To Sit Next To Woman On Plane, Causing Outrage

"I should not have to move because someone has a problem with my uterus."

Haredi University Backs Haredi Company's Bid For Medical Marijuana License

"Our college is supportive of medicinal development and research," said Alan H. Kadish, president of the Touro College System. "There is still a great deal of research to be conducted on the medical application of cannabis and we are excited by the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way. We will also offer CanniCare advice on the clinical use of the medicine along the way."   

As Haredim Harass And Assault Non-Jewish Tourists At King David’s Tomb, Israel Police Fail To Act

In one incident, a tour guide escorting two tourists was shoved by a haredi man wielding a shtender (lectern). He also blocked the entrance to the prayer room as he screamed at the tourists. The visitors reportedly fled in terror.

52 Anonymous Haredim Sign Complaint About Lack Of Secular Education In NYC Haredi Schools, City Reportedly To Investigate

After years of ignoring individual complaints, New York City reportedly says it will investigate a complaint from 52 parents, graduates and former teachers of haredi yeshivas that alleges dozens of Brooklyn haredi yeshivas (and one in Queens, as well) violate New York State education law by inadequately teaching secular subjects or by failing to teach them at all.

Rabbi Gavriel Bodenheimer Takes No Prison Plea Deal On Abuse Charges

Rabbi Gavriel Bodenheimer, originally charged with three counts of a first-degree criminal sexual act and one count of first-degree sex abuse for alleged oral and anal sex with a 5-year-old child, pleaded guilty today to endangering the welfare of a child, which is a misdemeanor.

Scandal-Plagued Haredi-Controlled School District Spent 10X More In Legal Fees Than It Should Have, Judge Finds

The scandal-plagued haredi-controlled East Ramapo school district overpaid two law firms by more than $2 million over a two-year period for their work in defending the district in a single case, a New York State judge has found.

Jonathan Pollard To Be Released In November

A federal parole panel has granted parole to Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, with a planned release in November, his attorneys said Tuesday.

Report: Haredi Women Help Fuel Israel’s High Tech Boom But Only Get Paid Paid Minimum Wage For Doing So

Rather than outsource to India for cheap labor, Israel's high tech companies are increasingly setting up centers in haredi areas and hiring haredim, almost all of whom are women, to fill those roles. But the dirty little secret of the Israeli high tech boom is two-fold and truly ugly: men get paid significantly more than women for doing the exact same jobs, and haredi women get paid significantly less than secular women do.

Haredi Girls Schools Ban All Girls Whose Parents Are Employed

In the haredi town of Elad, Israel, work does not pay. More than 100 girls, Sefardim and Ashkenazim, were denied places in the only two girls high school yeshivas (known as seminaries) in Elad for one reason and one reason only – their parents work for a living.

Legally, "You Can't Rape Your Spouse," Top Jewish Aide To Donald Trump Says

A top Jewish adviser and confidant to leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump insists there is no such thing as spousal rape.

Victims Win Court Battle Against Mikvah Peeping Rabbi

Hundreds of women victimized by Rabbi Barry Freundel convinced a federal judge today to move their class action lawsuits back to DC Superior Court against Freundel’s wishes.

Attempted Child Abduction In The Five Towns

The Nassau County, New York Police Department that serves the 5 Towns area of Long Island is looking for a man driving in a Black Infiniti who allegedly tried to lure a 5-year-old girl into his car last week on Marlborough Road in Cedarhurst.

Case Of Illegal Haredi Construction Could “Spark A Religious War,” Insiders Say

On advice of her rabbi, “C” called police – twice. And police came twice and tried to speak with her upstairs neighbor, who refused to answer his door. But because this is Israel where the rule of law is very porous, police are often inept and, in haredi cities, are oftentimes functioning under the control of local haredi fixers and rabbis, police did nothing about it. So "C" took her case to civil court – and was promptly excommunicated by her city's chief rabbi and his beit din. And what Israel's High Court of Justice and AG may have to do to right the wrongs done to "C" by these haredi rabbis and neighbors may very well spark a religious war.

Haredi Boy Tries To Refuse Life-Saving Anti-Cancer Treatment Because Haredi Rabbi Promised Refusing It Would Heal Him

A 16-year-old haredi teen has released an online video asking Israelis to demonstrate in front of a Haifa hospital to force it to allow him to stop anti-cancer treatment.

Alleged Serial Rapist Rabbi-Kabbalist Indicted

Zionist Orthodox kabbalist Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg was indicted on charges that he sexually abused, raped or sodomized at least 13 women.

Is Orthodox Judaism On The Verge Of A Historic Schism?

In Israel, as opposed to the United States, worshipers don’t wait for the rabbis to allow them to pray under equal conditions. In light of the attempts to stop them, Prof. Tamar Ross, a professor of Jewish philosophy at Bar-Ilan University and one of the pioneers of the religious feminist wave, recently said: “The train has left the station; the rabbis can throw stones at the windows and shout ‘Shabbes, Shabbes.’”

London Haredi Modesty Notice Orders Gender Segregagted Sidewalks

A modesty notice from the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations' official modesty squad orders gender segregated sidewalks, bans women from driving.

Bnei Brak Chabad House Hit With Arson And Vandalism On Tisha B’Av

The Chabad House in the haredi city of Bnei Brak’s Shikun Hey neighborhood was hit by an arson attack overnight, coinciding with Tisha B’Av. One arrest was made.

Jews Locked Inside Israeli Conservative Shul With Traps Set To Harm Them

“I went out to help her and realized something was blocking it. When I finally managed to open it, I noticed that someone had assembled four [heavy concrete] flowerpots in front of it to block it. Somebody had also tied a piece of rope at neck height across the frame of the door. Another piece of rope was tied across the stairwell in a separate part of the building, clearly in an attempt to cause people to trip.”

Video: Poor Kids

What's it like to be a poor kid in America? What's it like to go hungry every day? To live in substandard housing? To be 8-years-old and homeless?

Exposé: Sex Abuse In The Haredi Community

Israel's Channel 1 News aired a new documentary report on the sexual abuse of women and girls in the haredi community centered around one organization: Ezer Mizion.

Potential NY Medical Marijuana Companies Allegedly Move To Partner With Hasidim

A source familiar with the circus surrounding New York State's pending award of medical marijuana production/distribution licenses tells FailedMessiah.com that in response to a bid for one of those five licenses by a hasidic-controlled company that (falsely) claimed kosher medical marijuana was necessary to meet the religious requirements of the state's kosher consumers, companies bidding for these five licenses have now approached hasidic powerbrokers to partner with them so New York State will consider their applications more favorably.

Another Member Of Chabad-Hasid-Led Mortgage Fraud Ring Sentenced

Charles Lesser, a member of a mortgage fraud ring headed by prominent Chabad hasid Joseph “Yossi” Levitin, was sentenced to prison last week in New Haven, Connecticut.

Small Group Of Modern Orthodox Rabbis Raises Small Amount Of Money For Catholic Church Burned In Jewish Hate Crime

A small group of generally liberal-leaning Zionist Orthodox and Modern Orthodox rabbis have made a donation to rebuild a damaged Catholic church in northern Israel.

The Lives Of Our Ancestors

"…In most places and at most times, foraging provided ideal nutrition. That is hardly surprising -- this had been the human diet for hundreds of thousands of years, and the human body was well adapted to it. Evidence from fossilised skeletons indicates that ancient foragers were less likely to suffer from starvation or malnutrition, and were generally taller and healthier than their peasant descendants. Average life expectancy was apparently just thirty to forty years, but this was due largely to the high incidence of child mortality. Children who made it through the perilous first years had a good chance of reaching the age of sixty, and some even made it to their eighties. Among modern foragers, forty-five-year-old women can expect to live another twenty years, and about 5-8 per cent of the population is over sixty.…"

What Really Makes Humans Unique?

"…The truly unique feature of [Homo Sapiens or Sapiens] language is not its ability to transmit information about the [tangible]. Rather, it's the ability to transmit information about things that do not exist at all.…only Homo sapiens can speak about things that don't really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven. [But you could do so with humans.]…"

Historical Video: Chabad Hasidim In Jerusalem React To News Of The Death Of The Last Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe

Contemporaneous reactions of the Chabad community in Jerusalem to the death of the last Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson on June 12, 1994.

Increasing Prevalence Of Autism Due In Large Part To Marked Increase In Frequency Of Autism Diagnosis, Not Actual Increase In Autism Occurrence, Study Finds

More evidence continues to roll in showing that anti-vaccine activists like haredi 'gadol' Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and his wife are wrong.

Researchers Find Proof In Israel Of Earliest Ever Human Agricultural Cultivation

The new study offers evidence that early humans clearly functioned with a basic knowledge of agriculture and, perhaps more importantly, exhibited foresight and extensive agricultural planning more than 10,000 years earlier than previously believed.

Haredi Rabbi Of The Kotel Writes 530-Page Book On The Holy Site, Devotes Only 7 Lines To 'Bleeding' Women

"…In order to understand you better, I have read your book, Hilkhot Hakotel, cover to cover. In your letter you say that you are a moderator, bridging the gap between extremes, but your book was written by someone whose world view is very extreme. How else do you explain the fact that in 530 pages you devote only seven lines to the subject of women? Unfortunately, you spent this precious space deliberating on how women should not gaze at the Torah during their menstrual cycle.…"

Two Kahane Supporters Who Burned Jewish-Arab School Get “Harsh” Prison Sentences

After the court hearing was over, the brothers said burning the school was "worth the price" and then burst into triumphant songs praising God as they were led away by guards.

Ministerial Committee For Legislation Passes Bill That Would Give Haredi Draft Dodgers Priority In Hiring, Angering Many Israelis

Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, who heads of the religious freedom NGO Hiddush, called the bill an “unequaled moral distortion” and suggested renaming the bill “operation ‘a job for every draft evader.’”