FailedMessiah.com

Nadvorna Rebbe Bans Metal Eyeglass Frames

The Nadvorna Rebbe of Jerusalem has ordered his yeshiva students to only wear eyeglasses with frames made ​​of plastic. Many other hasidic groups have similar bans in place, but they require yeshiva students to wear metal frames only.

Haredi Kosher Food Company Allegedly Misrepresents Calories, Fat, Fiber And Carbs By Large Amount, Fooling Consumers

Mauzone Mania allegedly misrepresented the calories, fat, fiber and carbs in its products posing "unacceptable risks to consumers, especially those with medical conditions that would put them at risk if they consume the mislabeled or falsely advertised products"

High Court Rules Netanyahu Political Trick To Allow Haredi Rabbi To Head Israel’s Health Ministry Is Illegal

"The health system is one of the State of Israel's most complicated and problematic systems and it deserves a minister who can fulfill the position with all the necessary authorities and responsibilities required from a minister in the State of Israel.…Of course this isn't a war against the haredim, but against the culture of political tricks and deals."

More Than 100 Haredi Rabbis Say Report Suspected Child Sex Abuse To Police, But Top Haredi Rabbis Won't Sign On

A group of haredi rabbis in the US, none of them (except one) top tier, none of them representatives of any haredi umbrella organizations, have issued a kol koreh (Torah proclamation) telling everyone with a reasonable suspicion of child sex abuse to report that alleged abuse to police.

If You Leave The Haredi World, You Cannot Return

"…I personally was very close to a young [ex-haredi] man who killed himself a year and a half ago. He was 24 and had gone through all the possible options in the haredi world before leaving – Bratslav [Breslov; a hasidic movement], kabbala, the Lithuanians [non-Hasidic] and a yeshiva – but couldn’t find his niche. We started to meet for coffee to talk. He worked as a butcher in a supermarket, and one day he told me that he would look at all the knives and was afraid he would do something to himself. I took him for emergency psychiatric help. He started therapy and his condition improved. But then he went to his brother’s engagement party, and his older brother told everyone to ignore him. The next day he killed himself.…"

Why Are We Smarter Than Chickens And Frogs?

Humans and frogs have been evolving separately for 350 million years and have very different brain abilities. Yet scientists have shown that they use a remarkably similar repertoire of genes to build organs in the body. So how is it that a similar number of genes, that are also switched on or off in similar ways, generate a vast range of organ size and complexity, especially the brain's? Now we may know the answer to that question.

It May Be In Your Genes: Study Finds Causal Connection Between Genotypes Related To Educational Attainment And Years Of Education Achieved

A first-of-its-kind, nationally representative study of siblings found that within families, an adolescent with a higher “polygenic score” than her or his sibling tended to go on to complete more years of schooling. Polygenes are genes whose individual effect is too small to be observed but which can act together with other polygenes to produce observable variations – like attained levels of education.

Video: Former Mossad Chief Supports Iran Nuke Deal

Ephraim Halevy, a former head of Israel's spy agency the Mossad and of Israel's National Security Council, supports the nuclear deal with Iran. Halevy also brought about the peace deal with Jordan. What he has to say is important, and it's something American Jews – especially American Orthodox and haredi Jews – don't often hear.

Matisyahu Will Perform At Festival That Banned Him

Matisyahu's appearance at the Rototom SunSplash festival was cancelled early this week after the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) threatened to disrupt the festival if Matisyahu – who is not Israeli – was allowed to perform without first issuing a declaration in support of a Palestinian state.

Husband Of Victim Of Rabbi Barry Freundel Asks For Freundel's Release From "Solitary Confinement"

"…Freundel has been in solitary confinement for the past 3 months and  has our sympathy. We also have sympathy towards the others who are held in solitary confinement. My wife and I are not jumping for joy, nor do we believe that the he is receiving a “a taste of his own medicine.”  We must show compassion and widen that circle of compassion. Currently we have united with other Animal Rights activist organizations in our struggle to end solitary confinement in prison systems - for Freundel- and others. We are advocating that Freundel be moved to a facility that will enable him to repent for his crimes without losing his mind. We are hoping that iafter the remaining 6 years and 3 months Freundel leaves jail as a new man- a man who has repented for his crimes- without having lost his mind.…"

Haredim Disrupt IDF Recruitment Meeting, Riot; Police Use Water Cannon, 3 Haredim Arrested

“It looks like until a haredi soldier is murdered, nothing will be done to stop terror against the [IDF] recruitment of haredi men. The feeble response of authorities [to this violence and incitement] strengthens the daring and insolent behavior of the haredi zealot hooligans. The situation in which we ask [haredi] yeshiva boys to enlist but do not give them sufficient protection against the violence and incitement is intolerable."

Australian Legislators Investigate Sale Of Unlabeled Kosher-Slaughtered Meat, Causing Orthodox Pushback

Administrator Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, of the Kashrut Authority which supervises kosher food services, said labeling [non-kosher] meat sold to the general public as kosher-slughtered would lead to "hysteria" from people who don't understand and unnecessary economic backlash.

In A World Without Humans, Elephants Would Likely Be Roaming Northern Europe

In a world without humans, most of northern Europe would probably now be full of elephants and rhinoceroses.

Government Haredi Rabbi Issues Excommunication Threat To Local Haredi Pols Who Reported Government Corruption To Authorities

Rabbi Dovid Tzvi Ordentlich believes reporting corruption and theft from the government perpetrated by haredim is mesira (informing), a crime under halakha (Orthodox Jewish law), and issued his excommunication threat in response.

Orthodox Cleaning Business Owner Arrested For Allegedly Defrauding Day Laborers

Five day laborers each worked more than 24 hours straight cleaning homes for the Just Clean cleaning business owned by 21-year-old Samuel Just. Four of the workers, all women, cleaned the homes of Orthodox Jews before Passover, working around the clock to get their jobs done. The fifth worker, a man, drove a vehicle for Just Clean and shuttled the workers from the corner of Division Street and Marcy Avenue in the heavily hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg to their jobs cleaning in local Orthodox homes. But Just Clean failed to pay them all.

Don’t Let Men Who Own TVs Or Smartphones Lead Prayers, Chief Rabbi Says

“One must find a prayer leader who fears Heaven. If you know that the prayer leader has a TV at home and watches videos of abomination or [has] a TV in his pocket [i.e., a smartphone] and watches these types of abomination videos, how is it possible that they will lead the prayers in front of God? It would be like someone sending their children to a non-religious school and teaching them abomination. It’s forbidden for someone like this to lead prayers, and if he did [so], then you need to organize a new [prayer] service.”

Hasidic Group To Charge Adherents $40 Each To Immerse In Mikva Water Used To Immerse Dead Rebbe’s Body

Tosh intends to leave the water unchanged and charge hasidim $40 a pop to immerse in it before or during the High Holidays.

Netanyahu Governments Appear To Have Lied About Coerced Departures Of African Asylum Seekers To Hide Its Violations Of International Law

8,335 asylum seekers who fled from Sudan and Eritrea to Israel seeking safety were pushed out of Israel over the past two-and-a-half years. But despite Netanyahu government claims that these refugees were going to safe third countries in Africa where they would be welcomed and cared for, more than two-thirds of them actually went back to war-torn Sudan and Eritrea – two countries that are so dangerous international law prohibits deporting undocumented migrants or asylum seekers to them. Some of these asylum seekers were imprisoned and tortured after returning to their home countries while others are missing and their fate is unknown.

Haredi Gay Pride Parade Terrorist Fit To Stand Trial

Yishai Shlissel was released from prison only three weeks before this year’s terror attack, but police failed to put him under surveillance despite his open threats to attack the parade again. Shlissel walked right into the parade past police, calmly pulled large knife from his black coat, and began stabbing marchers as horrified onlookers screamed in terror.

Did Jerusalem’s Secular Mayor Agree To Close 8 Mini-Markets On Shabbat To Appease Haredim?

The change in Shabbat blue law enforcement will mean that eight mini-markets located in the center city area will almost certainly be forced to close – even though some of them have been open on Shabbat for decades.

A Certain Hypocrisy: Rabbi Mordechai Willig And Talmud Study For Women

Last week, Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University and man who enabled child abuser Rabbi Baruch Lanner, came out against women's Talmud study. But what was Willig doing the day Talmud was first taught at Stern, YU's women's college?

As Spanish-Speaking Parents And Students Speak, Haredi-Controlled School Board Doesn’t Listen To Simultaneous Translation

State monitor Dennis Walcott sat on the dais with the board and listened attentively as a large number of public school students, parents and activists complained about the district schools and the board. When Spanish speakers got up to speak, Walcott put on headphones to hear a simultaneous translation. But board members, almost all haredim, did not.

Synagogue President Who Refused To Force Out Sauna Rabbi Has Alleged History Of Inappropriate Behavior With Teen Boys

Dr. Donald Liss, the Chairman of the Board of the Riverdale Jewish Center, overruled the synagogue's board which had demanded that Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt resign over his decades-long habit of inviting boys as young as 12 and college-age men to a gym where Rosenblatt would ogle their naked bodies in the shower and then in long nude sauna sessions. Now it is alleged that Liss exhibited behavior that is equally inappropriate, if not even more so.

Haredim Want To Gender-Segregate Public Library

Haredim in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of Jerusalem want the city to gender-segregate a new neighborhood swimming pool – and the public library.

Men Who Have Children At A Young Age Have Increased Early Deaths, Study Finds

In other words, what haredi rabbis encourage (and sometimes force) haredi men to do leads to increased early death in the general population.

Music Festival Removes Apparently Anti-Semitic Matisyahu Ban, Re-Invites Jewish Reggae Singer

A publicly funded Spanish music festival that banned Matisyahu after he refused to comply with a demand from the festival to issue a public statement in support of a Palestinian state has recanted and re-invited the Jewish reggae singer to perform.

The Snake Oil Salesman And Scam Artist Trusted By Orthodox And Haredi Rabbis To Make Gay Men Straight

…[A]bout 25 years before a jury found that JONAH had engaged in “unconscionable” business practices, Arthur Goldberg pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy in connection with what the U.S. attorney alleged was a fraudulent scheme of “spectacular” scope, involving bribery and deception related to his work as an underwriter of municipal bonds. And while that case and the lawsuit against JONAH share virtually nothing of substance in common, they both involved Jewish communities with which Goldberg had nurtured ties, ties that those communities likely came to regret.…

Bobov Succession Fight Back In Federal Court

Bobov 48 (i.e., the real Bobov) petitions a federal court asking the court to force Bobov 45 (i.e., the splinter faction) to follow the beit din ruling / arbitration agreement that mandates Bobov 45 not claim to be "Bobov."

IDF’s Conversion Program To Be Closed Due To Alleged Lack Of Funds

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, primarily immigrants from the Former Soviet Union, are not Jews according to Orthodox Jewish law. The IDF's conversion program was the fastest and simplest way for those among them who wanted to convert to Judaism to do so.

Shun Haredi IDF Soldiers, New Haredi Pamphlet Says

A new pamphlet distributed in haredi neighborhoods of Jerusalem names haredim who are serving in the IDF and urges other haredim to shun them.

Haredi Seminaries Union Calls For State Closure Of Haredi School That Won’t Accept Most Sefardi Students – Or Maybe It Didn't

The Union of Seminaries (haredi girls high schools) in Israel has called for the preeminent seminary in the haredi town of Elad to be closed over its discrimination against Sefardi girls. Or maybe it hasn't.

Haredi West Bank Extremist Indicted For Threatening Shin Bet Agents, Deputy State Prosecutor

The indictment alleges Khantsis threatened the Shin Bet agents and a state prosecutor at an August 11 court hearing in which two other alleged Jewish West Bank settler terrorists were remanded into administrative detention for six months. Khantsis shouted, “We will deal with you!” at the agents and then swiped his finger across his throat in a cutting motion while staring at Deputy State Prosecutor Orly Ben-Ari.

Haredi-Controlled Chief Rabbinate Fails To Recognize US Orthodox Conversions, Disrupts Lives, Ruins Weddings – And Won’t Apologize

"The categorical denial on the part of the [Chief R] abbinate is, unfortunately, part of the problem. Rather than taking responsibility for the tragedy they inflict upon hundreds of immigrants each month, they simply bury their heads in the sand."

In A Sign Of Steep Decline, Conservative Movement Drastically Alters Seminal Judaica Library's Open Access

How little do leaders of the Conservative Movement care about Jewish scholarship? That question is answered by how they are treating the Jewish Theological Seminary's library, which for a century has been the preeminent Jewish research library outside Israel, a library used by everyone from academic scholars to haredi researchers. But now researching one minor topic and checking sources will cost these scholars, many who have limited or even no funds to pay, as much (if not more) as a meal in a five star Manhattan restaurant.

Haredim Protest Alleged Grave Desecration, Three Arrested

For decades, groups affiliated with Edah Haredit have claimed that various construction projects desecrate ancient Jewish graves and have staged often violent protests and riots against contractors, developers, and the government archaeologists who cleared the sites for construction. In almost every case, the haredi claims have proved false – transparently so.

Abandoning The Elderly For Profit

"…After Justice Saitta appointed a receiver to operate the [assisted living] facility in April, Dietsch’s attorney Joel Drucker told the judge that one corporate entity owns the facility’s valuable real estate, while another entity operated the home. Drucker maintains that the two entities have nothing to do with each other, and that the operator has no funds. But in documents related to the facility’s pending sale, Deitsch signed as both the owner and tenant/manager.…"

Matisyahu Makes Public Statement On Music Festival BDS-Forced Ban

"The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people..…it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements. Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform?…"

Haredi Man Arrested For Allegedly Spitting On 15-Year-Old Pants-Wearing Girl

The girl was walking with her family when she was allegedly accosted by Yosef Chaim Jabali adjacent to a health clinic on Strauss Street and spit on.

"Sauna Rabbi" Jonathan Rosenblatt Keeps His Job, Despite His Decades Of "Lapses" In "Judgment"

“The last two months have presented the opportunity for our shul to debate and discuss many different points of view, while considering various paths forward,” the letter continued. “After carefully considering various scenarios over the last several weeks, we firmly believe that the approach laid out by Rabbi Rosenblatt is an effective and appropriate way forward for the RJC.”

Cooking The Books On Metzitzah B'Peh?

Rockland County's former commissioner of health, Dr. Oscar Alleyne, claims that by using DNA testing he was able to discount mohels as the source of two neonatal herpes infections (in male haredi babies who were circumcised  with metzitzah b'peh [MBP], the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis suction done by haredi mohels after cutting off the foreskin) in Rockland County in 2014. He said that epidemiological evidence points to a different source for these herpes infections. But even though he has made this claim in various forms for more than a year, Alleyne won't release the data he says backs it up.

New Conversion Courts Won't Force Converts To be Fully Orthodox

The demand of converts to perform all the commandments “cannot be real, and I do not believe in things that are not real. I could also not take upon myself to perform all of the commandments according to that interpretation. I am also still learning.”

"I Wish You Had Never Been Born"

"…I chanted my bar mitzvah portion in 1946 to a relatively full synagogue, including several dozen of my relatives, but this, for me, was the end of formal Jewish practice. I did not embrace the ritual duties of a Jewish adult — praying every day, putting on tefillin before prayer each weekday morning — and I gradually became more indifferent to the beliefs and habits of my parents, though there was no particular point of rupture until I was 18. It was then that my father, inquiring into my sexual feelings, compelled me to admit that I liked boys.…"

Matisyahu Appearance Cancelled After Jewish Singer Refuses To Endorse Palestinian State

The ex-hasidic reggae singer was supposed to perform at the Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival on August 22. But his show was cancelled after he refused to release a public statement backing a Palestinian state. Under extreme pressure from the BDS movement, artists scheduled to perform at the event threatened to cancel if Matisyahu did not issue the statement and was still allowed to perform because he is “seen to represent Israel.”

WoW Reads From Torah Scroll At Kotel, Blows Shofar, As Police And Kotel Guards Repeatedly Violate Agreement Made With The Women’s Prayer Group

At about to 4:00 am, police entered the women’s section and searched WoW’s bags, finding the Torah scroll. Despite the agreement with the Old City's police chief, police tried to confiscate the Torah scroll and hold the WoW members for questioning. But WoW refused to comply.

How A Bais Yaakov Cookbook Mis-Teaches History

How can you tell Orthodox Jews in 1937 America had a substandard commitment to Orthodoxy? Let the Bais Yaakov Cookbook tell you why.

Today In History: Chabad-Lubavitch Purchases 770 Eastern Parkway – With Stolen Money

The iconic building known worldwide as "770" was purchased with money taken from the man who saved the 6th Lubavitch Rebbe from the Nazis.

The Holy Blow Job And Other Tales Of Kabbalistic Healing

Amid the well-known asceticism and rituals of Rabbi Isaac Luria, better known as the Ari, and his followers – like the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers all Jewish denominations say every Friday afternoon – are some lesser-known segulot and tikkunim (signs/amulets and spiritual repairs). And some of those appear to violate the accepted halakha – like, for example, the Holy Blow Job.

Despite Large Need, Israeli Nonprofit That Helps Ex-Haredim Gets Zero State Funding Because Right-Wing And Centrist Lawmakers Do Not Want To Anger Haredi Rabbis And Politicians

According to a 2014 study, Israelis who were once religiously observant are at a high risk of committing suicide. The study was carried out by Bishvil Hahayim (Path to Life), a nonprofit organization that helps the families of people who have committed suicide. It found that 40 percent of people who are no longer religiously observant have had suicidal thoughts, compared to 12 percent, 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively, among respondents who described themselves as secular, traditional and religious. The incidence of suicidal ideation increased to 45 percent for young people in the process of leaving the religious community. Also, 90 percent of ex-religious respondents reported a low level of social support.

Hundreds Of Rioting Haredim Try To Break Into, Vandalize Israel Broadcasting Authority

Hundreds of rioting haredim tried to break into the Israel Broadcasting Authority's office on Torah Mitzion Street. Some also threw stones at police and smashed the glass at a security station.

Report: Prosecution Withheld Exculpatory Evidence In Case Of Sefardi Haredi Kabbalist

Exculpatory evidence that confirmed some of the claims made by Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto was allegedly withheld by the prosecution, Israel Channel 1 News reported today.