FailedMessiah.com

Small Group Of Third Tier Orthodox-Haredi Rabbis Endorse Ted Cruz

"With the the Middle East and Europe unraveling and the United States stepping back from its role as a check against the expansion of evil, rabbis from Coast to Coast [sic] are sensing the need to weigh in on the issues of the day, including choosing a man they feel is most articulate and consistent in expressing the core values they hold dear."

300 Yazidis Reportedly Slaughtered By ISIS

More than 300 Yazidis being held captive near Mosul by ISIS have now been executed, Iraqi and Yazidi officials said.

Lift Sanctions On Russia, Chabad Says

Representatives of two Jewish groups in Russia – one openly Chabad-controlled – urged Jews in Western countries like the US to lobby for ending sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasions of Crimea and Ukraine.

Jews Obligated To Support Putin And Keep Him In Power, Top Chabad Rabbi Claims

Rabbi Alexander Boroda, the head of Chabad’s Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, warned Friday that Jews would be endangered if Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has favored Chabad over other Jewish groups in Russia – allegedly in exchange for the support of Chabad-linked oligarchs and in exchange for Chabad’s pro-Putin anti-democracy advocacy in the West.

Video: Charlie Rose Interviews Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Charlie Rose interviews Syria's strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Mayor Of Kiryas Joel Asks Congresspeople To Boycott Netanyahu Speech, Cites Neturei Karta Website

The mayor of the Satmar hasidic Village of Kiryas Joel, New York wrote US Rep. Carolyn Maloney asking her and her fellow Democrats to boycott the controversial upcoming speech to the US Congress by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In that letter, the mayor cites a Neturei Karta website. Neturei Karta and its offshoots are allies of Iran.

Archaeologists Help Protect Cultural Heritage Of Kurdish-Controlled Northern Iraq

The UN estimates the region now hosts more than 500,000 refugees fleeing from ISIS. “We must send a signal that normal life continues. That includes protecting our historical sites. And we will not approve new building applications without a green light from the Department of Antiquities.”

Video: Extreme Realities – How Climate Change Makes All Of Us Less Safe

Extreme weather caused by climate change threatens the security of nations, including the US and Israel. Here's how.

Don't Forget To Vote!

It's election day in the US. Don't forget to vote. Find your polling place, see who is on your local ballot, and get other helpful information here.

Video: Is Israel About To Experience A Third Intifada?

Why is the Temple Mount is becoming such a dangerous flashpoint? What are the prospects for a third Intifada, Palestinian uprising?  Here are two brief and well-reasoned answers to those questions, one from a Palestinian, and the other from a former member of the US State Department's Israeli Palestinian negotiating team.

America’s Ditherer-In-Chief, Part 2

To want the Iraqi army to push back ISIS is an admirable goal and, in the abstract, in a world where years of delay have no serious consequences, it would likely be the right thing to try to achieve. But we don't live in that world, life is not abstract, and waiting several years for the Iraqi army to return to what is was before the US left is suicidal.

Israel To Sell Russia Produce No Matter How Many Sanctions The West Levies Against It, Israel’s Ag Minister Says

“"…I believe our products will continue to flow into Russia. It will be easier to deal with us, it will be cheaper and more stable, and with no political price tag for what you do and what you don’t."

Aide To Senior Haredi MK Found To Be Fake Yeshiva Student Illegally Receiving Government Stipend

An aide to senior haredi Member of Knesset and former Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Yaakov Litzman of the Ashkenazi haredi Untied Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) is fraudulently listed as a yeshiva student and illegally receives government funding meant for haredi yeshiva students.

Romney Blames The Poor For Being Poor

"All right, there are 47 percent who are with [President Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.…[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Conservatives Twist Facts To Support Preconceived Moral Notions, New Study Finds

A new study finds that political conservatives are significantly more likely to twist facts to support their preconceived moral and political views. Many haredim are politically conservative, and that raises the question of whether this demonstrated psychological need to twist facts also applies to their religious beliefs. I think the answer to that question is a resounding, absolutely clear "yes."

With A Beard And A Shtreimel, Santorum Would Be The Perfect Israeli Haredi Politician

What saves America from the imposition of religious edicts in the public sphere is its two-party, winner take all political system. Imagine, though, that America also had a proportional system, with a staunchly social-democratic and dovish Democratic Party on the left and a fanatically free market and hawkish Republican Party on the right, both waging a never-ending political world war on the economy and America’s place in the world. Now imagine that between these two poles there is a third party, a single-issue party, made up of Catholic fundamentalists like Santorum and Protestant Evangelicals and perhaps even a rabbi or two thrown in for good measure, whose main raison d’etre was to eradicate godlessness and instill religiosity in American life…

Ron Paul Supporters Crash, Disrupt Caucus For Orthodox Jewish Voters

Angry Ron Paul supporters overtook a special caucus Saturday night for religious voters who honor the Sabbath, prompting long lines, frantic GOP officials and voter fraud complaints.

Hundreds At Kol Nidrei At Occupy Wall Street

Several hundred people showed up in front of downtown New York's Brown Brothers Harriman building for a candlelit, social justice-oriented Kol Nidre service. No microphones were used and readings and songs were echoed throughout the crowd as dozens of police officers watched.

Is The Tea Party Kosher?

Do the all or nothing tactics of the Tea Party mesh with Judaism? Does Judaism have anything to say about this? Or is supporting the Tea Part just another of the many choices of which Judaism is silent or neutral?

Michelle Bachmann Speaks Yiddish

VIDEO: The Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota and presidential candidate, who also leads the Tea Party conference in the US House of Representatives, speaks Yiddish as she criticizes President Barack Obama.

Pro-Assad Mob Attacks US Embassy In Damascus

A mob of pro-regime demonstrators has apparently just attacked the US Embassy compound in Damascus.

Missing The Mark On The Middle East And The War On Terror

Condaleeza Rice can't admit she was wrong about Iraq and doesn't like to answer questions about her failures. A leading leftist cable news host doesn't understand Middle Eastern dictatorships. And they come close to slapping each other silly on national television.

As Revolution Begins In Bahrain, The Kingdom's Ambassador To The US Is A Jewish Woman

As the Kingdom of Bahrain faces a revolution and has Saudi troops on its soil to protect the monachy, the kingdom's ambassador to the US is one of Bahrain’s 36 Jews, Houda Ezra Nonoo. She recently told Moment Magazine that she never experienced religious prejudice in her home country. “I had a normal Jewish upbringing. I was born into Judaism. It’s no different from growing up like a Jew in America. It’s my religion.”

Are Unions Kosher?

Are unions kosher? Does a community have a responsibility to ensure public servants are decently paid? Does Orthodox Judaism have anything to say about these questions? About the crisis in Wisconsin? It does – but it is being said by a non-Orthodox rabbi.

Why Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Was Right About Abortion Law – And Why Pro-Life Activists Are Wrong

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the leading rabbinic adjudicator of Jewish law during the latter half of the 20th century, strongly opposed abortion on demand. But he also opposed laws limiting abortion. Here's why.

G.O.P. Gutting Food Assistance For The Most Vulnerable Americans–A Program With A Close Chabad Connection

According to Chabad, the seed for creating the W.I.C. program and expanding the food stamps program came from the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Now the Republicans are trying to gut both programs, and Chabad is silent. Why?

Disturbing Pictures From Tahrir Square

Amid the euphoria surrounding the success of the new Egyptian revolution, some disturbing images surface.

Exclusive: Jews For Sarah Website Has Foreign Private Domain Name Registration That Shields True Ownership

Sarah Palin's Jewish group's website, JewsForSarah.com, uses a foreign domain name registration to shield its ownership from the American public.

Eliyahu Weinstein Still In Jail, Bail Hearing Postponed

A judge has postponed a bail hearing scheduled for today in federal court in Newark for Eliyahu Weinstein, a Lakewood man accused of targeting members of his own tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community to perpetrate a $200 million global investment fraud.

A Supreme Court Nominee's Orthodox Bat Mitzvah

“Elena Kagan felt very strongly that there should be ritual bat mitzvah in the synagogue, no less important than the ritual bar mitzvah,” Rabbi Shlomo Riskin said. “This was really the first formal bat mitzvah we had.”

President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee

She was a creature of Manhattan’s liberal, intellectual Upper West Side — a smart, witty girl who was bold enough at 13 to challenge her family’s rabbi over her bat mitzvah, cocky enough at 17 to pose for her high school yearbook in a judge’s robe with a gavel and a quotation from Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court justice, underneath.

Jorge Puello's Family Allegedly Claims US Extradition Attempt Illegal

The saga of the alleged conman and human trafficker takes another bizarre turn.

Man Connected With Americans In Haiti Makes His Case While On The Run From The Law

“All I’m waiting for is for my lawyer to tell me, ‘Surrender,’ ” Puello said.

Kulanu Repudiates Puello

We disavow in the strongest terms any endorsement of Mr. Torres [Puello] based on our past association with him.

Is Jorge Puello Jewish?

The answer is…

Jorge Puello Charged In US For Immigrant Smuggling

Jorge Puello confirms he was indicted in Vermont in 2003 in an immigrant smuggling ring. He fled to Canada to escape the charges, but says he is innocent.

Jorge Puello's Judaism

Puello lived openly as an Orthodox Jew, did outreach to benei anusim, descendants of colonial Jews and Jews who fled the Inquisition, and indeed launched a large congregation.

Lucky In Auschwitz

Child survivor Thomas Buergenthal is now the only American among the 15 judges serving on the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

BREAKING! FEDS FOIL MUSLIM TERRORIST BOMB PLOT – NYC SYNAGOGUES TARGETED

Riverdale Jewish Center, Riverdale Temple targeted.

Wall Street Journal: Hillel The Elder And The Wall Street Banking Bailout

Put simply, what would Hillel the Elder have done if he faced our current financial crisis? Would it be…

The President-Elect, Modern Orthodoxy, And Skin Color

The following email is from the principal of the Moriah School, a Modern Orthodox day school in Englewood, NJ. The source who sent it to me writes:

GUEST POST: Rabbi Asher Lopatin On Rahm Emmanuel, The Conference Call, And Pekuakh Nefesh

In response to comments left on this previous post, Rabbi Asher Lopatin writes:

Dear Fellow Readers of the Failed Messiah Blog:

Obama's Modern Orthodox Chief Of Staff

President-elect Barack Obama's first appointment after winning the presidency last week was Rahm Emmanuel, who was named White House Chief of Staff.

By now surely have heard about Emmanuel's Jewish…

Don't Forget To Vote

It's election day in the US. Don't forget to vote,

Haredim Compare Obama To Haman

That's right, your favorite haredim at Cross-Currents have a guest post from none other than…

Exposed: The Jewish Week Uncovers Aish HaTorah's Illegal Election Meddling – New Film Produced By Aish's Clarion Fund Claims Muslims Seek Sharia Law In US

It's the best article yet on Aish HaTorah's illegal attempt to influence the US presidential election.

What makes it so good?

Joe The Plumber: A Vote For Obama Is A Vote For The Death Of Israel

See it here. (Please scroll down for the video.)

Did Aish HaTorah Try To Illegally Influence US Elections?

By now many of you know about the controversy surrounding the film "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." In brief, the Clarion Fund, which is closely related to Aish HaTorah, send DVDs of Obsession to…

Retired Israeli Generals, Mossad Officials, Support Obama

I do not mean this to an endorsement of Barack Obama. But I think it is important…

Barack Obama Meets The Heretic

My look at…