FailedMessiah.com

'Kosher' Video Sharing Website Allows Viewers To Rock, Kosher Style

“It’s just like YouTube, except with one difference: there isn’t any lasciviousness,” explained Sharon Bokubaza, a student from the Breslov Shuvu Banim Yeshiva who is also the site director. “Glatube is geared for newly-observant Jews who want to hear music but are not interested in the lasciviousness that exists on the internet.”

The Hazan Who Became Disturbed

David Draiman has taken a winding path from promising but rebellious student of Judaism to front man for one of the music world’s most popular heavy metal bands.

The Appeal Of Haredi Orthodoxy To Young Secular-Born Jews

A growing number of young Canadian Jews are finding meaning, community and a sense of peace in the rigorous practice of their faith.

BTs In Israel Must Adopt Sefardic Customs Even If They Are Of Ashkenazi Descent, Rabbi Rules

Rabbi Avraham Yosef, chief rabbi of the city of Holon, and son of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, stated that any newly religious person in Israel must accept Sephardic religious edicts, even if the person is of Ashkenazi descent.

Letter from Uman: Behind Breslov's Success

A pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nahman on Rosh Hashana clarifies why Breslov hassidism has come to attract so many young Jews.

21% Of Israeli Jews More Religious, Survey Says

Survey conducted by Central Bureau of Statistics suggests 200,000 of adult Israeli Jews define themselves as newly religious 

A Lesson From Chabad: How Not To Do Outreach

A Chabad rabbi is upset because a recruit asked to have his name removed from Chabad's mailing list and won't return the rabbi's emails and text messages asking for an explanation. What does the Chabad rabbi do?

Outgoing IDF Chief Rabbi Admits He Used His Post To Do Orthodox Missionary Activity

Following a particularly stormy term, during which he was criticized for his activity to instill "Jewish awareness" among the soldiers, the rabbi admits that it was the first stage in encouraging them to become newly religious, advocates deceptive missionary activity so as not to threaten secular Israelis.

Rosh Yeshiva Indicted For Shooting Student

Menachem Edri charged with conspiring to commit crime, aggravated battery, possession of weapons. 

BT Doctor Hailed In New Book, Film

Fulbright scholar's quest for fulfillment took him from med school to volunteering at a clinic in India to Aish HaTorah yeshiva in Jerusalem and, finally, to Ethiopia in 1990 on a six-week mission for the JDC. Two decades on, he’s still there.

Annals of Sexual Abuse: 'Saint' WIth 'Pure' Semen Jailed

Aharon was convicted of rape, sodomy, indecent acts, aggravated fraudulent acquisition, making threats, forgery, using a forged document, and attempted disruption of legal proceedings. He posed as a rabbi, targeting religious women and ba'alot teshuvah.

Breslov Influenced Haredi Music School Opens

School aimed at religious musicians includes 'creative beit midrash' as part of studies. Rabbi Nachman's rock opera is underway.

The Great Deceit: How The Baal Teshuva Movement Was Spurred On By Lies

How a fabricated history woven by one of the world's greatest photographers tricked hundreds of secular Jews into becoming haredi.

From Nazi Skinhead To Haredi, x2

“The lesson of Pawel’s story is that one should never lose hope,” he said. “The impossible just takes a little longer.”

Israel Haredi BT Yeshiva Holds Computer Smashing Ceremony

Rosh yeshiva smashes an 'evil' computer as students gleefully watch and then participate.

Prodigal Son: Guma Aguiar Profiled

“I had these amazing visions of Samson, this big strong guy, and David with the slingshot—these visions of heroes in my mind.”

Tropper: Accused Predator Still Rosh Yeshiva

Leib Tropper has “passion for character development.”

NCSY's Bar Ilan One Year Program Staffed By Haredi Kiruv Workers

[UPDATED] Teachers' affiliations appear hidden by NCSY.

Letter from Jerusalem: Between Baalat Teshuva and Britney Spears

What is the great attraction of Orthodoxy? I brought my daughters up with all the right ideas. We always had gender equality in our community and in our synagogue. We raised them to be activists, committed to equal rights. I don’t understand why girls would turn their backs on this in favor of Orthodoxy.” 

Sara Netanyahu's 94 Year Old Father Becomes A Baal Teshuva

A Livtish yeshiva student in in his youth, 74 years later Shmuel Ben-Artzi is once again Orthodox.

Rabbi Leib Tropper Says Billionaire Former Acolyte Assaulted Him In A Jerusalem Hotel

Tropper, who has tried to control conversions worldwide, says his former follower, Guma Aguiar, attacked him in the David Citadel Hotel.

Blood Libel: Haredim Blame Baal Teshuvas For Violence

"Those guys look haredi because they dress like haredim but they aren't. They are responsible for all the violence. We are not a violent people."

More Than 1/3 Of US Jews Secular

New study shows number of Jews leaving Jewish religion in any form is rapidly growing.

Fake Rabbi Rapes, Defrauds, Steals

Staff member of defense Ministry allegedly raped, sodomized and stole from women and their children. Told women to "drink from" his holiness.

Man Kills 3 Year Old Daughter, Tries to Commit Suicide After Wife Becomes BT, Files For Divorce

Israeli man's wife became "alienated" from him as she became Orthodox.

The Mystic of the Lower East Side

One of the "big secret heroes" of our time.

Hasid Indicted For Statutory Rape, Child Porn Refuses To Look At Evidence For "Religious" Reasons

Details:

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Rabbi Noach Weinberg, Aish HaTorah

Rabbi Noach Weinberg, founder of Yeshivat Aish HaTorah and co-founder of…

MATISYAHU: Chabad Has Too Many Alcoholics, Views Itself As The Only Pure Form Of Judaism

Details:

Matisyahu Does Kenneth Cole Commercial

Look at those Breslover-Karliner…

Iconic Kiruv Ploy Examined In Light Of Agriprocessors Scandals

It's the iconic line uttered by almost every kiruv worker – a.k.a., missionary or outreach worker – Will your children and grandchildren be Jewish?

That question focuses on simple genetic identity and group affiliation. But it doesn't focus…

Blogger Focuses on Orthodox Foibles

Just remember, no…

Have You Been "Aish'd"?

…How did a 15-year-old girl of the 21st century, who gave no thought to slipping tank-top straps, underage clubbing and kissing boys in camp cabins, end up considering covered elbows and knees a necessary virtue?

High school and university campuses have noticed this phenomenon for years: Their friends come back after school breaks from Orthodox outreach programs clutching Artscroll siddurs, imbued with a penchant for Zionism and an aversion to intermarriage.

"They've been Aish'd," is the commonly whispered comment, equivalent to "They've been brainwashed."…

God On Acid – Did LSD Fuel The Ba'al Teshuva Movement?

Simon Jacobson, a Chabad rabbi who has made a career out of spinning…

Eternal Haredi Family

At least one American haredi rabbi has revoked a conversion more than one year after supervising it.

Who is that rabbi? Why did he revoke the conversion? Could something be…

New Site From Former Chabad BT

MenschYisrael.org. If you're a Chabad BT, and you're questioning what you got yourself into, Mensch Yisrael would like to help.

BREAKING! Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi: Child Abuse A "Ba'al Teshuva" Problem, Real Haredim Don't Abuse Their Children

This, my friends, is what kiruv is really all about:

Is Ohr Somayach a Cult?

David Kelsey has a series of interviews with "Seth," a recent student at Jerusalem-based Ohr Somayach, the premier haredi yeshiva for English-speaking ba'al teshuvas. Here's an excerpt:

…“Is scientific method accepted? What is O.S.’s position on evolution? What is the position on Rabbi Slifkin?”

Scientific method is certainly not accepted and neither is evolution. A rabbi tried to disprove evolution by saying that the heat of the flood when Noach was saved has altered the earth’s make-up to the point that carbon dating was impossible. One rabbi presented an idea from Talmud that a baby’s sex is determined after a certain number of days. This has been proven absolutely false by doctors. I tired to show him an article from a medical journal showing otherwise. He refused to read it. Another rabbi suggested that spending money on medical research is a waste because a cure for cancer will not come from scientific breakthrough but through prayer. He insisted that if we took that money and gave it to kollel families, we would get a cure for cancer much sooner.

“What is the position of Ohr Somayach on college studies for high school graduates? Does Ohr Somayach discourage or advocate postponement of college education to its students who have not yet attended or finished college?”

Absolutely. As I said, convincing people to drop out of law school was seen as a victory. Many students came for a year before they intended to go to college and have simply never left. I would guess that of the high school students who attend OS, less than half will go on to college and of the college students who take a year off to attend, less than half will ever go back.

“Is the western world taught as incomplete in terms of what it offers a traditional Jew, or is it presented as depraved in its entirety and engagement presented as something to be avoided? Does Rabbi Weinbach (the Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr Somayach) consider the secular world in its entirety an “environment of sin?”

Absolutely. I had one rabbi tell me that “nothing good” has ever come or ever will come out of secular society. I suggested that things like the automobile, airplane, the space program, the cure for polio, the progress made in treating illness were all pretty good things. He replied that it wasn’t worth it. That these things cost too much and that it may be fine for the goyim, but it’s not our place.…

Is Ohr Somayach a cult? Read this and decide:

…“Are students encouraged to disengage from the world to the point of not even reading newspapers?”

Completely. I would estimate that less than 5 percent of students read a newspaper on even a weekly basis. I read three papers a day before arriving and this was amongst the hardest part of the transition. I was told that there was nothing in the newspaper I needed to read and that I wasn’t missing anything. Having an interest in anything other than yeshiva is discouraged. Because there is no internet on campus and it is not allowed in the apartments and because the charedi neighborhood does not sell secular newspapers, keeping in touch with the world is incredible difficult. They say this is their goal. They think yeshiva should be about “leaving the world behind and concentrating only on studying.…

Much more over on DK's blog …

If at First You Don't Succeed, Lie and Lie Again – Aish HaTorah in the New Yorker

The New Yorker, of all places, has a brief profile of Aish HaTorah-New York City and its outreach program geared to wealthy executives who donate large sums of money to Aish – "(average: ten thousand dollars)". In this very brief piece, the Aish rabbi manages to mislead (okay, lie to) his student once and mislead the reporter once. First, the lie to the student:

“Maybe we can talk a little bit about Hanukkah,” [Rabbi Stuart] Shiff said.

“O.K.,” the executive said. “Seven candles?”

“Eight! We light eight candles to commemorate a miracle. What’s the miracle we’re commemorating?”

“I don’t know.”

“They found oil in a temple that was desecrated by the Syrian-Greek army,” Shiff began. He got as far as the eight days, and the executive interrupted. “Where did they get the idea in the first place? That’s my question—who wrote the book?”

“The Maccabees,” Shiff said. “It’s history.”

“Yeah,” the executive said. “History I can buy.”

Of course, the only books written by the Maccabbees or their supporters are 1 and 2 Maccabees and neither mention any "miracle of oil." No Jewish source even hints at such a "miracle" until hundreds of years later, and those sources are all rabbinic, not Hasmonean. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 .)

Now the lie to the reporter:

“We go everywhere,” Shiff said on the train. “We go to J. P. Morgan, Bear, Bloomberg, Goldman—and everybody is so different. It’s not about conforming to anything. That last guy, I think sometimes he thinks he’s not living up to my expectations of him. But I don’t have any expectations. My whole job is helping him to stay connected. We like questions.”

If Mr. Wealthy Executive were Mr. Poor Working Stiff Aish would have far more "expectations" of him. Why? Because, Mr. Wealthy Executive's money buys him a lot of leeway. Anyone who has spent significant time at Aish in Jerusalem knows that the amount of time spent of students varies with evidence of money and evidence of buying into the program. If you do not have evidence of money and if you have very real, challenging questions about the Aish presentation of Judaism, you won't last long at Aish. Conversely, that same student, full of probing questions and not buying the Aish spin, will last far longer if he or his family are wealthy. Aish actively weeds out nonconformists at all levels of their program. Anyone deemd to be "not Aish material" is quickly pushed out. This process is relentless and heartless.

Aish is built on deception. Rabbi Noach Weinberg has spent more than 40 years developing ways to "get" kids, to deceive them, to manipulate them, to trick them into observance. There is an oft repeated rumor about Rabbi Weinberg. He and his wife have lived separate lives for many years, in adjoining apartments. They are divorced in all but name. Both hush up the separation to protect Aish and its womens' school, EYHAT. I've  heard this from EYHAT students, from Aish students, from former BTs and from current "outreach professionals."

Rabbi Wienberg is a fraud, a charlatan, a snake oil salesman out to snatch the souls of your friends and your children. But don't worry. Even if he can't get your soul, he'll take your money – guaranteed.

New J-Blog

The Kiruv Awareness Network:

Though there is much in Orthodox Judaism that I find deeply meaningful and appealing, I have come to realize, that, short of simply obliterating my own thoughts and feelings, I can no longer ignore the uncomfortable fact that Orthodoxy fails to corroborate many of its central claims - - historicity of the Flood, Bavel, the Exodus, numerous other historical anachronism, etc. Nor can I assuage my conscience, that is deeply pained by many of the tradition’s laws (cannot save a non jews life on Shabbos, etc) and attitudes (non jews referred to as animals, donkeys, etc) toward non (yehudim) jews.

More significant, I have become increasingly aware of how ubiquitous intellectual dishonesty is in the Kiruv world, how skilled many Kiruv (Jewish Outreach) pros are in deflecting difficult questions regarding the pitfalls of the Orthodox lifestyle, as well as the tradition's many disconfirming realities.

It is my hope that potential BT's, who are considering traveling along this path, can benefit from my experience and research so that they can make a more informed decision about whether or not to become Orthodox.…

I, by the way, have no malicious intent here. I'm not an anti-Orthodox crusading ideologue. I have no animus toward Kiruv Professionals, my alma mater Machon Shlomo (Machon Yaakov), it's dedicated Rebbein, or any other kiruv organization. I've nothing to gain personally from this exercise except the pleasure of sharing my personal experience and insights that I think need to be (told) disclosed to old friends and friends yet unknown.

Matisyahu On Leaving Chabad And Judaism – What I Do Is "Much Bigger Than One Religion Or Another"

First what he said:

"I am no longer identified with Chabad. Today, it's more important to me to connect to a universal message. While they were playing on stage and I closed my eyes, I was thinking that what we do is not at all about Judaism and not about Chabad. It's much bigger than one religion or another. It relies on something real that can speak to anybody. It's about truth and memory."

What his friends say:

…Two of Matisyahu's friends live in an apartment in Nahlaot with two framed pictures of Bob Marley and the Baba Sali, a Moroccan Jewish sage, hanging side by side. Matisyahu's friends introduce these sources of inspiration as "The Bob and the Baba." Many members of their community of American immigrants sheared off several kilos of dreadlocks in their path to spiritual redemption. One of them saved two dreadlocks as a tribute to his former membership in Seattle's reggae community. They hang from his temples beside a traditional pair of payot.
 
"Matisyahu encountered a form of Judaism here that spoke to him. It was new to him and I think he liked the fact that you don't have to surrender your original sources of inspiration," they said. "There were Chabad rabbis who supported him at first but, recently, they've criticized him for continuing to appear in front of an audience of men and women and also in front of non-Jews. It's important to Matisyahu to appear before non-Jews. The advantage of Bratslav is that it's less centralized, there isn't one rabbi, and it speaks more to the soul."
 
Chabad and its deceased leader, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, have greatly defined Matisyahu's identity and he has mentioned them in an endless number of shows and interviews. Although he was not an official representative of the movement, he was invited to appear at their conferences. His friends say that he has remained a pious Jew and that he bears no animosity toward Chabad. They say he has no intention of switching the Chabad Lubavitch flag for the flag of the Bratslav Hasidic movement and "is actually searching for freedom from a pronounced identification with one specific group." …

And how does [Matisyahu's close friend, Saxophonist Daniel] Zamir, who was attracted to Chabad because of Matisyahu, respond? "I respect it, but I have remained absolutely attached to Chabad. I hold a truth in my soul. It is a powerful blessing. When I am on stage, it is important to me that a Jew connect to his own soul. I see that as a beautiful thing. Long live the King Messiah [a reference to the Lubavitcher Rebbe]."

What Chabad says:

…"It is as convenient for Chabad as it is for Matisyahu," comments a senior Chabad member in response to Matisyahu's new religious orientation. "Matisyahu was never a part of the movement's conventional line. It's possible that he felt that his membership in Chabad caused him to be scrutinized. He may have received a negative comment here or there within the Hasidic movement, and, perhaps, he felt limited. I do not believe that this was caused by his appearance before a mixed audience, because [international, Chabad singing star] Avraham Fried appears before women as well. This is a case of an inflamed audience in nightclubs and discotheques where Matisyahu gets boys and girls dancing."…

Here's what I think this all means.:

1. Matisyahu is an opportunist. He traded on Chabad's name and it's PR to propel his rise to the top.
2. Now that he's up there, he doesn't really need Chabad anymore.
3. Being Orthodox requires observing certain strictures. Encouraging mixed mosh pit dancing would be one of those.
4. So Matisyahu dumps Chabad just like he dumped JDub Records, the small Jewish-owned nonprofit lable that made him a star.
5. For its part, Chabad used Matisyahu. It pimped him to get media attention and increase donations.
6. But pimping a man who, for all his good points still does things in every performance that no real posek, haredi, Chabad or Modern Orthodox, would ever allow caused problems, both  internal and external, for Chabad.
7. Eventually, Chabad hasidim repulsed by Chabad's apparent endorsement of Matisyahu's questionable behavior brought pressure on Matisyahu's Chabad rabbis. At the same time, haredim friendly to Chabad challenged Chabad's apparent endorsement.
8. Internal Chabad pressure to "frum up" helped to propel Matisyahu out of Chabad and into the arms, in part, of the hippie splinter offshoot of Breslov.
9. But Matisyahu won't rest long. He'll keep moving, "searching," trying new things and new approaches, perhaps even leaving Judaism all together.
10. Why? Because Matisyahu was a poseur all along. It's not that he doesn't feel some connection to Judaism or hasidut – it's that he set out to use that connection for his own personal gain, to help him stand out from the crowd and get noticed. His kapote and fedora-wearing stage costume was just that – a costume. And when one costume gets old, he'll find another.

A couple of months ago a ran into the wife of a senior Chabad emissary. She mentioned Matisyahu. I told her the Rebbe never would have allowed Chabad to be used that way and that Matisyahu did things every performance that the Rebbe absolutely opposed. I also mention Chabad pro-boxer Dmitry Salita in this regard, especially the crowds of bochrim (yeshiva students) attending his fights and hanging out while bikini-clad ring card girls parade in a few feet in front of them.

What was her response? She said she agreed, but times had changed. And so they have.

She Did It On The Bima & She Did It in the Yeshiva Dorm

A granddaughter of a chief rabbi of Israel. A daughter of one of London's most prominent rabbis. She lost her virginity at 16 on the bima in front of the ark in her father's Orthodox synagogue. She dropped acid, snorted coke and slept around. She lived with a non-Jewish man. Then, after moving to Israel at the age of 22, she did teshuva:

…[I]n her mid-twenties, she enrolled in a yeshiva, a religious school, where she effectively trained to become a wife. It was there that, one night, religious studies between girls turned into something else: she found herself making love to a fellow student. “I took the dominant role, relishing the opportunity to experience and enjoy a woman the way a man does, and slipped my finger inside her until her pleasure could be heard on the other side of the dormitory wall.” …

And now Reva Mann has written a tell-all memoir, The Rabbi's Daughter, published in England and in Israel now and due out in the US in October.

More from the TimesOnline and from Ha'aretz.

Judaism's Own Untouchables – The Sexual Gift That Never Stops Giving

Writing on Jewschool, David Kelsey points out what would be the biggest stumbling block to recruiting new ba'alei teshuva – if the BTs knew about it. For the most part, potential BTs do not know. I think it's time to change that.

Simply put, if your mother did not go to the mikva and immerse following her menstrual period immediately before you were conceived, you are what is known in halakha as a ben  (or bat) nida. And you are, according to halakha, blemished, tainted, and far more likely to do evil than a Jew born to a mother who did immerse. Therefore, halakha advises that untainted Jews not marry you – or your descendants.

That's right – Judaism has a caste system and BTs are down near the bottom of it.

Several great rabbis have ruled that ben nida does not apply to a BTs who comport themselves in a good (subservient) way. (Perhaps the most normal of these rulings comes from the Steipler Gaon, who points out that even the most haredi of haredi families must statistically have a blemish like this in its background and that, since the taint is never removed, the taint must still remain and exist in every one of us. Therefore, we don't need to worry about who is and who is not a ben nida.) But that has not stopped wide swaths of the haredi world from forbidding their children to marry BTs, and even children of BTs.

I first heard of this issue early in my contact with Chabad. I heard about it from other BTs, more experienced than I, usually as a warning – Don't even think about marrying Rivkie or Chanie. Her mother went to the mikva and yours probably did not, so you can't marry her.

Chabad rabbis would spin this problem by saying that a BT's children could marry into a 'non-tainted' family. And there was always the occasional exception to the rule, handy for pointing out the 'openness' of Chabad. Of course, that exception nearly always involved a BT with a lot of money or a 'untainted' girl with serious mental or physical problems.

No matter how you slice it, Orthodoxy has a caste system based on a metaphysical taint that can never be removed. How many Jews would become Orthodox if this were widely known? How many non-Orthodox philanthropists would fund Orthodox institutions?

A lot fewer than do so today would be my guess.

Wouldn't it be nice to see how many that would be?

Rabbi Elyashiv: BT Doesn't Like Cholent, Doesn't Shuckle When Praying, Needs Conversion

A BT yeshiva student who had been studying in a BT yeshiva for the past two years goes to a haredi home for Shabbos. He declines to eat the cholent. Something else about him seems strange to his haredi host – the BT does not shuckle when praying.

The host recalls a Rishon (medieval commentator) that says one who refuses to eat hot food on Shabbat is to be suspected of being a min (a heretic, a Christian, a Karaite, etc.). The haredi host looks into the yeshiva student's background but finds nothing conclusively pointing to the student being non-Jewish. With the student's permission, he goes to Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv with two questions: Is the wine the yeshiva student touched now yayin nesach, wine forbidden because of contact with non-Jews? Does the student need to convert?

Rabbi Elyashiv looks into the matter. He rules that the wine is not yayin nesach because the BT has behaved like a Jew for the past two years [so there is no fear that he worships idols, the basis for the rabbinic prohibition of yayin nesach]. He also rules the BT needs to have a geiur l'humra, a conversion for the sake of stringency, just to remove doubt, based on his refusal to eat cholent and his non-swaying during prayer.

The Rishon in question is speaking about a breakaway sect of Jews who refused to eat warm food on Shabbat. It means that one who refuses to eat warm food on Shabbat should be suspected of belonging to this sect. It does not mean that a person who dislikes cholent is a min.

What do haredim really think about BTs? If their leader is any guide, not much.

[Hat Tip: Nigratude Ultramarine, who posted the link to the above Mispacha Magazine article in the comments section to the post below this one.]

UPDATE: Original story posted by Marty Bluke. Full translation by the Life In Israel blog:

In a baal teshuva yeshiva there was a student who has been learning there for the past 2 years, who came from a country with a mass aliya. This student has "strengthened himself" [i.e. become religious] and has been keeping all of the mitzvos. Over a recent shabbos he was a guest at the home of one of the married kollel students.

The avreich realized the student despised the chulent and could not even taste a little bit of it. He remembered the words of the Rishonim, that someone who does not eat hot food on shabbos [day] needs to be investigated to see whether he might be a heretic (source: the Baal HaMaor).
In addition, he realized that the student did not shuckle/sway when he prayed, and this too is brought down (in the Zohar) as being a custom of Jews.

Since he realized that this student came from a neglected country {i.e. ostensibly Eastern European, but it does not specify] , he connected the dots and decided that according to halacha this student was likely not a Jew.
Attempts to investigate the background of the student revealed nothing conclusive, so the avreich, at the behest of the student, approached Rav Elyashiv with the situation and asked what to do.

Rav Elyashiv answered that the student must go through a conversion as a stringency [because of the chance he might not be jewish]. However any wine he might have handled is not to be considered "yayin nesech" [wine handled by a non Jew which may not be imbibed by a Jew], as the student behaved like a Jew and considered himself a Jew the whole time, and it is only a "safek" that he might not be a Jew [so the issue of yayin nesech does not apply]. Please keep reading for his commentary.

 

Haredim Defraud State To Make Ba'alei Teshuva, State Willing Participant

In a strong piece of investigative journalism, Ha'aretz has uncovered fraud involving the haredi Agudath Israel school system and the Education Ministry. In effect, what has happened is that, in order to buy votes from haredim, the government has turned a blind eye to massive fraud. Haredim take money meant ot pay teachers and instead use much of that money to provide incentives to get poor and lower middle class non-haredim to turn their children over to the haredi school system.

Through this fraud, Haredim provide students free lunches and free transportation while state schools cannot.

Haredi schools are budgeted by the state as if they had a full staff of teachers teaching science, math, English, etc., but they do not, and the teachers they have do not get pensions and are paid less than than minimum wage. These teachers then rely on the state for further welfare benefits in order to survive while the rest of their budgeted compensation is used to lure non-haredi students into the system.

This all takes money away from state schools and hurts academic achievement there. It also puts added strain on the welfare system. And, as Ha'aretz notes, it does one more thing as well:

This is how the state, with its eyes wide open and knowing exactly what is happening, is paying for the movement of students from schools that teach them to be good citizens, serve in the army and go to work to schools that teach only religion [and oppose work and army service]…

The Newest Chabad Scandal

[This Post Will Stay At The Top Of The Blog For A few Days. Newer Posts Are Immediately Below This Post.]

A 14 1/2 year old girl from a Conservative Jewish home has a school project, of sorts – the requirement to do community service. She volunteers at her local Chabad House and quickly becomes the babysitter for the the rabbi's infant and toddler. Over the years, she spends much time alone in the Chabad House with the rabbi and two tiny children while the rabbi's wife works or is out of town. The girl's parents grow suspicious. They wonder how this type of yihud can be allowed. The rabbi blows them off.

The girl claims to have been raped on a local (non-Chabad) outing not long after she started helping out at Chabad. The parents got her therapy. The girl claimed not to know the boy(s) that raped her. She has been in therapy since then. And there is more to this story that can be told, if necessary.

This girl is an honor student at an exclusive school. She has a large college scholarship waiting for her. Despite her trauma, she seemed to be holding her life together and doing well. But her parents rightly worried about her involvement with Chabad – specifically the yihud issues with the rabbi, rampant underage alcohol use at the weekly kiddushes and special occasions, and less-than-Orthodox behavior of the Lubavitch yeshiva students introduced to her by the rabbi. They warned the rabbi (including written warnings) and asked for change. Yet they reluctantly allowed her to continue contact with Chabad, unable to believe the worst.

The girl's mother is a convert, converted by a Conservative rabbi and later by an Orthodox (but non-Chabad rabbi). The girl was also converted as a young child in this manner.

The Chabad rabbi tells the girl she is not Jewish because she did not reaffirm her conversion when she turned 12. He tells her he will arrange a new conversion. However, she will need to go to Crown Heights and study for two years first. He drills this into her, constantly urging the girl – a minor – to leave for Crown Heights.

At the same time, the rabbi introduces the girl to Lubavitch yeshiva students visiting the area. Over the years the parents find evidence of trysts with these yeshiva students, in once case literally pulling a Lubavitch yeshiva student off their daughter as they lay in her bed, partially clothed and about to cohabit.

A few months ago, the girl, then 17, begins acting erratically. Parents find more evidence of trysts, including four negative pregnancy tests. When confronted the girl tells her parents that "We," i.e., Chabad-Lubavitch, Orthodoxy, "do not use contraception." When pressed the girl claims she has been with an "older" man.

Two weeks before graduation with honors from her exclusive high school, the girl – who had turned 18 two weeks before – fled for Crown Heights without telling her parents. A Chabad boy she met through the rabbi paid for her ticket. The rabbi's sister picked the girl up at the airport and took her to Crown Heights. The rabbi arranged housing for her and found her a job.

The parents have evidence of illegal alcohol and drug use involving their daughter and several Chabad boys, both before and after her flight to Crown Heights.

The parents contacted Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the titular head of Chabad, first on the 18th of May and then several times thereafter, including more attempts at contact yesterday and today. Rabbi Krinsky has consistently refused to speak with them or answer their emails.

The rabbi exerted undue influence over this girl when she was a minor. He plied her with alcohol, spent many hours alone with her in his home, disregarded her parents' wishes and, it may well be, committed clergy abuse.

This rabbi is a known problem in Chabad. But Chabad – more interested in protecting its image before Tuesday's ceremonies honoring the 13th yartzeit of the Rebbe than it is in this girl's welfare – refuses to deal with the problem.

It is Shabbos now in NYC. I had hoped to post this before Shabbos started, but was unable to. Still, I'm sure word will filter into Crown Heights. So let me get personal.

Rabbi Krinsky, people know about this, more people than you realize, bigger people than you realize. You cannot cover this one up. But you can deal with it. Do the right thing. Withdraw the rabbi in question and keep him away from children and college students. That means keep him out of outreach entirely. Do this any way you see fit but please do it.

Saturday night, Sunday morning at the latest, call up this girl's parents and broker a deal. Get the girl back home. Let her doctor and therapist examine her.

If she wants to reaffirm her conversion after a reasonable amount of time away from Chabad (and I mean away from Chabad) – let her. I think three to six months with no Chabad contact would be about right.

Rabbi Krinsky, do you remember another time when you would not take a phone call? That did not work out very well for you. Thing is, you could have talked your way out of it. Look at the lag time between the publication in Israel and the eventual publication here. Does that look like someone who was, then, "gleefully" running to publish "dirt" about Chabad? 

The point is, not everyone with a complaint is out to hurt the organization, but that quickly changes when the organization hurts them. Some people just want their daughter back, safe, and a certain rabbi removed so he cannot hurt others. This does not seem an unreasonable request. I'm sure you can find a way to honor it in full before Monday morning.

Inside Le Affair Le Marais

By now, many of you are aware of the controversy surrounding the kashrut of Le Marais, a popular French-style steakhouse in Manhattan under the kosher supervision of the OU. In brief, a mashgiach has made serious allegations against a chef and against the OU. He alleges the OU is covering up the chef's misdeeds (which are supposed to range from ordering non-kosher shellfish to bringing (and using) in dairy margarine.

The OU strongly denies the allegation and seems convincing in its refutation of the mashgiach's charges.

But there is more to this story. The mashgiach is Isaac "Yitzchak" Bitton. Yesterday, the (non-Jewish) owners of Le Marais filed a $10 million lawsuit against Mr. Bitton for defamation of character. (Here is the court filing, in PDF, courtesy of L: Download lemarais_lawsuit.pdf )

I was asked earlier this week about Mr. Bitton. Before I saw the court filing, I could not comment – now I can. Mr. Bitton lives in Crown Heights. His address in the filing is on Eastern Parkway. A quick search of the Shmais Anash list shows only one Yitzchak Bitton in Crown Heights. The address is different – a less prestigious building – but people do move. So, it seems the Yitzchak Bitton of Le Marias is the same Yitzchak Bitton I thought he was.

Yitzchak Bitton's story is sad. He is one of the very best rock drummers in the world. In France, before becoming Chabad, he led a band, Jackie and the Variations (mentioned in this Wikipedia article simply as the Variations; see 1970s before punk), which kept the Beatles out of the top spot on the French pop charts. He gave up his 'sinful' life and moved to Crown Heights. He learned, and he eventually formed a band Raya Mehemena, which was one of the best live bands I ever heard, religious or not. He played gigs and released an album that included a version of Lecha Dodi that is perhaps the single most beautiful contemporary religious song I have  ever heard.

But the haredi and Chabad worlds (apart from BTs) were not ready for real musical talent. Bookings were not frequent enough to pay the rent, and the Rebbe would not  give his blessing for the type of shows Matisyahu now does, surfing mosh pits and dancing in front of and sometimes with women. (This is a problem many BT musicians faced in the 1980s and early 90s.) So Yitzchak Bitton sold cameras for a living. He apparently went from that to serving as a mashgiach. Last I heard he still played gigs, as well.

Some of you may know Yitzchak Bitton from another venue, so to speak. There is an iconic picture of the Crown Heights riots (posted above, please click to enlarge). The man lying on the ground is Yitzchak Bitton. that's his son, now a shaliach, I believe, crying next to him. Bitton was felled by a projectile during the riots. I was told at the time that his injuries were not serious, but I do not know this first hand.

I don't know whether Yitzchak Bitton is correct or if the OU is correct, although, on the surface at least, the OU's presentation and refutation seem convincing.

But this I do know – Yitzchak Bitton is a victim. He is part of system that cast aside his special talents and left him without a viable career. At the same time, he's had to watch poseurs like Matisyahu benefit from a Chabad PR machine and leniencies in Jewish law no one would have allowed Yitzchak Bitton, or Avi Piamenta, Peter Himmelman, or many others. In other words, Bitton's stridency may be a result of this treatment, and the years of financial and emotional deprivation it surely caused.

A very wise rabbi, Yizchok Berkowitz, who was at one time the posek of Aish HaTorah, spoke at a Jerusalem conference for budding and current kiruv workers sponsored by Heritage House. Among the things he said was that if you Rabbi Kiruv Worker are going to make a person frum, you have to worry about his/her income and talents. Is she an actress? Be prepared to promote women only plays. A singer? Women only concerts. Is he an artist, a musician, a poet, a writer? If his job cannot be continued because it is incompatible with Orthodoxy, you Rabbi Kiruv Worker must find a way for him to use his talents and keep his profession, but within Yiddishkeit.

The vast majority of kiruv workers present objected. Why? To them, even a frum life of poverty is better than a non-Orthodox lifestyle. The money, the creativity – that doesn't really matter. Rav Berkowitz would have none of it, and told these kiruv workers in no uncertain terms that this was their responsibility, whether they accepted it or not.

By and large, the kiruv-outreach world, including Chabad, even including Aish HaTorah itself, does not follow Rav Berkowitz. But Rav Berkowitz is a wise man; beyond that, a very caring man. And he knew the truth, even if they did not. If you bring someone to Orthodoxy like Yitzchak Bitton, and you rob him of what makes him special, makes him what he is, you have done deep and lasting damage.

Yitzchok Bitton should be leading his band on world tours and perhaps spending his off time teaching music in Chabad schools. Instead, he sweats away in kitchens, checking lettuce for bugs. That is a tragedy. And that tragedy may be the real story behind this whole sad affair Le Marais.

More on the internal Chabad controversy surrounding Matisyahu's live performances can be seen here or downloaded as a PDF here:

Download chabad_frum_music.pdf

JEWISH TRIVA ALERT: The name Le Marais comes from a district of Paris carved out of marshland in the 12th century –  le marais means the marsh. It is now a center of Jewish life. For example, Goldenberg's famous kosher restaurant is located there. But the ever helpful Wikipedia has this interesting bit of triva to link the original Le Marais with rock music: In 1971 Jim Morrison of the Doors died in 17 Rue Beautrellis in Le Marais.

Who lived at 17 Rue Beautrellis in 1971? I believe it was the apartment of Meir Abehsera's brother. Meir – a friend of Bob Dylan and many other rock musicians, artists and writers – functioned for many years as a near-rebbe for Chabad BTs, including fellow Moroccan Yitzchak Bitton.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come? A Shadchan For the Rest Of Us

BTA reports:

I've gotten word of an idea whose time is long overdue- a Formerly Frum/Ex-BT/Or Simply Skeptical Shadchan blog- for setting up men and women with similar worldviews, don't buy frumkeit hook, line and sinker, but see the benefits in a tradition-based marriage.

No Need to Go "All the Way" Frum
I have often said that the biggest benefit that most BT's are seeking is finding a strong, meaningful marriage. We live in a hectic, frenetic world, and Judaism and some of its more profound traditions can certainly enable a marriage to get over the rough spots in life. We don't hear about "shalom bayis" in the secular world too often, even the skeptics must admit that.

But there are SO MANY men and women who, despite the apparent benefits, just can't bring themselves to live a lie. And yes, we skeptics feel that living as if the orthodox version of things is all true is not being true to ourselves in varying degrees.…

BTA then asks for emails from interested parties, answering the following questions:

1. Gender
2. age
3. single/divorced
4. kids?
5. want kids?
6. keep kosher to any degree?
7. keep shabbos to any degree?
8. how long involved in some sort of observance?
9. how long have you been doubting "the mesora?"
10.Think the written Torah is most likely written by God?
11. Think/believe that Sinai really happened?
12. How badly do you want to get married (to the right person of course) in the next year?
13. Did you ever attend seminary/yeshiva? if so, for how long and which one?

He'll forward your emails to the shadchan.

Will it work? There's only one way to find out!

BTs and Childraising

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz has an interesting column on BTs raising children within haredi and MO communities. The money quote is actually a quote attributed to his friend Rabbi Bentzion Kokis:

Refrain from jettisoning your personality, hobbies, interests, education, career – and sense of humor – as you embrace Torah and mitzvos.

Of course, in many haredi communities, this is far easier said than done.

How Kiruv Works

From MentalBlog:

When you are taught by a person you respect that the world is nothing and the path to reach the devine is right in front of your nose it is so seductive that makes the rat race around you look soo meaningless that you just go for it. When the person who is teaching you pretends (and 99% are pretending) that they really live like that and look, they have a nice family with cute curls it is all the more seductive. Add a little maise, a little lechaim and magic happens, a new BT is born. I have a professor who told us that it always amazes her that in criminal investigations the interrogator who is taught which buttons to press and he does it and BAM magic happens, people confess, even if they did not do it. It's the same sort of process with Tanya or Olga or Bagavat Gita.

That’s how it works. The person who has seen this process and knows that this is what will happen and does not warn the new victim ex. "please don't take this to mean that you have to drop everything and really nobody lives like this, its a high ideal but there is reality, please don't drop everything, take this as another bit in the grand Jewish mosaic that makes life interesting and meaningful!" is either stupid or a criminal. The few who do warn you are often tepid and cautious but are remembered fondly.

But I've spent a few years in chabad yeshivas and a few years on shlihus…

People spend so much personal energy and time (me personally only 8 plus years but its enough, I assure you) you have to be blind not to see it. People understand that life is not a picnic. But we also understand that we should not have to spend the rest of our lives with sanctimonious assholes in order to feel "really Jewish". This is by the way why there are not a lot of BTs. A lot of people see the truth beyond the smoke screen.