Posted at 02:44 PM in Bigotry & Racism, Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (28)
"…I believe the time has come where serious consideration needs to be given by the broader Jewish community and government as to whether it is appropriate for [Chabad] Yeshivah to continue under its current administration and in its current form. It is easy to forget amid all this chaos that victims are still hurting and seeking justice by way of holding to account those trustees who remain in power, and that the safety of children within the school is paramount. I concur with another [Chabad] Yeshivah victim who recently said publicly that he does not believe that safety can be guaranteed in the environment that currently exists. I would urge the community to give serious consideration to forcing the trustees to hand the [Chabad] Yeshivah Centre over to capable and independent trustees who can administer the Centre professionally until such time as the community has developed the appropriate structures to have it back. Ultimately it’s the safety and wellbeing of our children – past and present – that we are dealing with. And this must always come first."
Posted at 09:58 AM in Chabad, Child Safety, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (31)
Did you believe Chabad's frequent claims to the press that each official Chabad center is a truly independent franchise? A new letter written to Chabad trustees in Melbourne, Australia by Chabad's organizational head Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky and the 1973 memo from his predecessor included with it should dispel that notion. But perhaps more importantly, the new Krinsky letter refers to the ongoing Chabad child sex abuse scandal in Melbourne this way: "We also acknowledge the severe difficulties you [Chabad trustees] have been going through for over a year and the aggravation and turmoil that have engulfed the entire Chabad community of Melbourne." There is not one word of consolation for the victims of the child sex abuse and not one word or regret for how the original complaints of child sex abuse were handled.
Posted at 08:24 PM in Chabad, Child Safety, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Jewish Leadership, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (31)
“It’s a pity it took so long for the legal authorities to recognize that blessings, holy water or charms are a product like any other product or service, and the money that’s gotten for them – even if it’s given officially as a ‘contribution’ – should be liable for tax, like any other income.”
Continue reading "Rabbis, Rebbes, Kabbalists And Wonder-Workers Will Now Have To Pay Taxes" »
Posted at 06:54 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (10)
When the Williamsburg Satmar Rebbe Zalman Leib Teitelbaum left Brooklyn to visit Israel whose statehood he does not acknowledge, he was escorted by a large motorcade with flashing emergency lights and sirens. These cars drove erratically and unsafely and broke the speed limit as they tried to keep up with the rebbe's car. All of this is illegal. But in New York City, legality is a very porous thing.
Posted at 01:04 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (61)
"So long as we are in the position of power and influence, we can never give recognition to the Reform [a catch-all phrase that in haredi parlance means all of the non-Orthodox Jewish movements]. Although they are Jews, they will not get any recognition. In Judaism there is only one stream – the religious path of Moses and Israel."
Continue reading "We Will Never Recognize Non-Orthodox Judaism, Israel’s Interior Minister Says" »
Posted at 12:08 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Sefardim, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (7)
The two unrepentant brothers proudly pleaded guilty to the hate crime. But the plea deal did not have a specified prison sentence and the Jerusalem District Court originally sentenced the brothers to two relatively lenient sentences, one to 24 months in prison and the other to 30.
Continue reading "Supreme Court Extends Prison Sentences For 2 Haredi Hate Crime Arsonists" »
Posted at 01:55 PM in Bigotry & Racism, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Sefardim | Permalink | Comments (12)
“The police were sent in an attempt to arrest Rabbi Berland on Shabbat [sabbath] night. This is a very serious crime. [Jewish law] speaks extensively on the rodef, a person who goes and tries to imprison his fellow in the hands of non-Jews. There is a commandment to stop him at all costs. And the law refers to a simple Jew…whereas we are dealing with a great Rabbi, a great Torah Sage [Berland].”
Continue reading "Breslov Hasidim Issue Death Threat Against South Africa’s Chief Rabbi" »
Posted at 08:41 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (13)
Posted at 11:13 AM in Bizarre, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (11)
The New York State Police in Haverstraw arrested Yehoshua Nachison, age 32, of Pomona for subjecting a female child to sexual contact.
Continue reading "NY Man Arrested On Child Sex Abuse Charges" »
Posted at 09:22 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes | Permalink | Comments (26)
Posted at 02:21 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (31)
Posted at 04:05 PM in Haredim, Religion, Religion & State, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (42)
This deal, if it goes through, affects the status of the central national holy place of the Jewish people and will make it officially, for the first time – and, God forbid, perhaps irrevocably – the sole preserve of haredim who will be able to banish anyone or any Jewish group which does not follow haredi understanding of halakha (Orthodox Jewish law) and custom. What has until now been a de facto usurpation by haredim, done without any national deliberation at all and without consent, would become official government policy. This is what is at stake here for all of us.
Posted at 02:20 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (29)
Posted at 01:01 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (3)
Rabbi Nochum Eisenstein, who was the late supreme haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's point man on conversion to Judaism, says Elyashiv did not want most cases of child sex abuse to be reported to police – even though Elyashiv ruled in writing that credible suspicions of child sex abuse ("raglayim l'davar") must in fact be reported to police.
Continue reading "Don't Report Child Sex Abuse To Police, Leading Haredi Rabbi Says" »
Posted at 11:57 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Halakha, Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (12)
What the Geonim permitted the far lesser rabbis of Chabad and Australia's version of Edah Haredit have banned. But don't worry. Even though ben pakuah meat would have dropped the price of kosher meat dramatically, these rabbis have your best interests at heart. And you can be assured of that because they they say so.
Continue reading "Chabad And Haredi Rabbis Ban Rabbi Meir Rabi's Ben Pakuah Meats" »
Posted at 11:45 PM in Bans & Censorship, Chabad, Haredim, Kosher Scandal | Permalink | Comments (41)
UOHC warns that it is against halakha for photographers to photograph women dancing or women acting in a women's play or show.
Continue reading "London Haredim Warn Wedding Photographers Not To Photograph Women Dancing" »
Posted at 04:36 PM in Bans & Censorship, Haredim, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (38)
Succumbing to pressure from the Ashkenazi haredi United Torah Judaism Party, Israel’s Zionist Orthodox Education Minister Naftali Bennett has apparently agreed to write – and, allegedly, champion – a bill that would abolish the legal requirement for haredi boys schools to teach secular subjects.
Continue reading "Israel Set To Allow Haredi Boys Schools To Teach No Secular Subjects At All" »
Posted at 03:24 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (22)
Using as his pretext the British government’s closure of a noncompliant illegal haredi school in London, Talmud Torah Tashbar, Rabbi Eli Riss, the chief rabbi of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Russia – better known to many Jews as "Birobidzhan” – which is located due north of North Korea, issued a public statement Tuesday calling on Diaspora haredim to leave their home countries and move to his community.
Posted at 11:44 AM in Haredim, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (23)
A small group of haredim staged a protest in Jerusalem's Shabbat Square yesterday afternoon to protest the arrest of two haredi yeshiva students who dodged the draft. The protesting haredim blocked the street and caused buses to have to disembark their passengers as police tried to clear the intersection. Seven arrests were made.
Continue reading "Video: 7 Arrests In Haredi Anti-Draft Protest" »
Posted at 03:01 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (17)
Posted at 02:15 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (9)
Posted at 01:03 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (23)
Posted at 12:34 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (3)
The Belz hasidic movement has a relatively new community near Lakewood, New Jersey and it has banned all women in it from driving. It also mandates that men cannot walk in public outside their homes without wearing a frock coat and a hat, and has all sorts of rules people who live in the community must follow. Is this legal? If it is in any way linked to housing sales or rental, it likely isn't. When Belz tried a similar women's driving ban last year in London, England linked to its schools there, the British government almost closed the schools, and the Belz driving ban made international headlines.
Continue reading "Belz Issues Women's Driving Ban – Again" »
Posted at 11:02 AM in Bans & Censorship, Haredim, Religion, Religion & State, Women & Judaism | Permalink | Comments (30)
According to a new report in Israel's Channel 10 News website, the haredi version of the Arab Spring is already in bloom as children of BTs leave the haredi community in large numbers while born and bred haredim, finally able to get uncensored news on the Internet from places like News 10 (and Behadrei Haredim, FailedMessiah.com, etc.), move closer and closer to open rebellion against rabbinic leaders.
Continue reading "The Haredi "Arab Spring" Is Reportedly Upon Us" »
Posted at 03:45 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (31)
In a 2010 letter to PETA, Agri Star's owner, Hershey Friedman, says it can't install 24/6 video monitoring of the animal handling areas of the plant and its grounds or of the slaughter floor area because the Postville plant's rabbis thought having cameras looking over their shoulders would hinder their jobs.
Posted at 01:36 PM in Haredim, Kosher Business?, Kosher Scandal | Permalink | Comments (84)
Posted at 12:29 PM in Child Safety, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (18)
OJPAC, a haredi lobby group closely associated with haredi PR flack Yossi Gestetner, is fighting against demands made by Rockland County, New York firefighters to shut down many haredi yeshivas in the county which are operating illegally and are often so code and permit noncompliant they are demonstrably unsafe. But OJPAC has a bit of a secret. It's official office is located in a property that appears to be owned and by Hamodia publisher Ruth Lichtenstein's and husband and son, Nahman (Nachman) and Yechiel Lichtenstein, who are notorious landlords and property owners. Their large Philadelphia warehouse property burned four years ago due to their neglect and their failure to comply with the city's code and its enforcement orders. That fire killed two firemen.
Posted at 11:01 AM in Child Safety, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim | Permalink | Comments (35)
A JTA interview with Hershey Friedman, the wealthy haredi businessman who bought Agriprocessors and turned it into Agri Star, makes it seem as if Agri Star's slaughter is now humane. But is it?
Continue reading "Is Agri Star Kosher Slaughter Really Humane?" »
Posted at 01:49 PM in Haredim, Kosher Scandal | Permalink | Comments (44)
Watch as a parliament committee discusses the closure of Talmud Torah Tashbar and the problem of illegal haredi schools.
Continue reading "Watch: British Parliament Talks About Illegal Haredi Schools" »
Posted at 11:45 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (7)
The third time was not a charm for South African police, who reportedly tried – and failed – to arrest Breslov hasidic Rabbi Eliezer Berland on Shabbat. But what really upset Berland and his followers is that the police had the help of Hebrew-speaking Jews who violated Shabbat in a bid to arrest him.
Continue reading "South African Cops Try But Fail To Arrest “Sex-Pest” Hasidic Rabbi" »
Posted at 11:28 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes | Permalink | Comments (33)
Israel’s Zionist Orthodox-controlled Education Ministry has withheld millions of dollars in funding for organizations promoting Jewish pluralism, despite the fact that funding was allocated and earmarked in the state budget. Instead, the ministry appears to have given the money to Zionist Orthodox and haredi groups.
Posted at 08:07 PM in Haredim, Israel, MO & Chardal, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (19)
Tamar Rotem, Israel's top reporter on the haredi community, used to write regularly for Ha'aretz. But then she stopped. Now, after a long hiatus, Rotem returns with a long, detailed report on people who, often in the dead of night, flee the haredi community.
Continue reading "For Israeli Ex-Haredim, A Brave New World " »
Posted at 12:17 PM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Skepticism & Former Haredim | Permalink | Comments (45)
Posted at 02:17 AM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (15)
Posted at 04:08 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (15)
“We are deeply uncomfortable about the [professed] link between poor English language skills and extremism, which does not appear to have any evidence base. Conflating these two issues stigmatizes parts of society in a way that can only increase the feelings of unease and marginalization of the targeted groups.…Schools should not be used as a tool for social engineering,” Friedman of the haredi Interlink organization continued. “We do not accept that independent faith schools should be branded inadequate because children have a simple and conservative understanding of family life.…"
Posted at 03:32 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (26)
Posted at 03:07 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim | Permalink | Comments (25)
A Bronx nursing home and assisted living facility serves an almost exclusively non-Jewish population. Even so, the nonprofit has sent more than $20 million dollars to hasidic and Orthodox charities, mostly yeshivas and other institutions owned by the Belz, Skvere and Sanz hasidic dynasties, many located in Israel. Some money even went to Aish HaTorah to convert non-Orthodox Jews to Orthodoxy. Sitting on the board of this Bronx nonprofit are some of the most powerful men in the haredi community, men who sit on the board of Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union. One of them, Abraham Biderman, is the new head of the scandal-plagued Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, the Jewish community's NYC anti-poverty arm that was looted of millions of dollars by its former CEO William E. Rapfogel, who like Biderman is an Orthodox Jew.
Posted at 12:23 PM in Haredim, Med-Ethics, Public Health, MO & Chardal, Poverty & Homelessness, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (24)
Outside the home of #2 Ashkenazi haredi non-hasidic rabbinic leader Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky is a new ATM-like device that allows users to deposit money for a charity Kanievsky supports and, through the use of computerized technology, give Kanievsky's aides the donor's name, Hebrew name, and other religiously pertinent information the charity promises Kanievsky will use when he gives the donor a remote blessing.
Posted at 11:51 AM in Haredim, Hessed, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (14)
"…It has been 18 months since Malka Leifer was arrested!! Where is Justice? Where is the court system that is on the victim’s side? Where is Malka Leifer? Why is she allowed to hide behind her supposed panic attacks? Is rape not considered crime enough to be trialled?? Where is justice?…"
Continue reading "Alleged Victim Of Malka Leifer Speaks Out For The First Time" »
Posted at 04:05 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Pedophilia & Related Crimes | Permalink | Comments (33)
Posted at 04:05 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes | Permalink | Comments (33)
“Granting the subsidy to couples in which the father learns in yeshiva full time does an injury to all other couples who need to prove that they are working or studying in order to gain employment in the future. This discrimination is expressed in acceptance committees for child day care in which preference is given to the children of yeshiva students since the families of yeshiva students will always be poorer than families where both parents work."
Posted at 12:30 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (8)
Chabad in Melbourne, Australia has released what it says will be its new organizational structure and the methods of electing or appointing the people who will be the lay leaders of Chabad institutions there. A close look seems to show that the disgraced old guard will still easily be able to control everything behind a razor thin veneer of very limited democracy.
Continue reading "Chabad In Melbourne Announces New Organization Scheme" »
Posted at 11:16 AM in Chabad, Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Pedophilia & Related Crimes, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (15)
The anti-IDF haredim took Sefardi prayer books and ripped out the pages where the prayer for IDF soldiers is printed or blotted out the words of the payer with markers.
Continue reading "Anti-IDF Haredim Deface Sefardi Prayerbooks In Beit Shemesh Synagogues" »
Posted at 03:26 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Sefardim | Permalink | Comments (35)
Posted at 02:49 AM in Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State, Sefardim | Permalink | Comments (14)
Parents of public school children in East Ramapo Central School District have filed a petition in State Supreme Court in Albany, asking the court to direct the New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department (SED) to take concrete remedial action to safeguard their children’s right to a sound basic education as guaranteed by the New York State Constitution.
Posted at 06:53 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Religion, Religion & State, Turf Disputes | Permalink | Comments (28)
"…[H]igh prices are not a given. There are many things that can improve the affordability of Jewish living. First, there needs to be greater cost transparency.…[I]ncredibly, the London Board of Shechita cannot provide any data or explanation as to why the price of kosher meat has [so dramatically] risen over time.…"
Continue reading "Where Does All The Money Go? Why Does It Cost So Much Money To Be Jewish?" »
Posted at 02:57 PM in Chabad, Haredim, MO & Chardal, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (18)
“Every dog has its day…you will pay for it [filing the criminal complaint] in the heavenly court – and perhaps even before that."
Continue reading "Haredi IDF Recruiter’s Life Threatened, Family Harassed, By Other Haredim" »
Posted at 01:11 PM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Religion, Religion & State | Permalink | Comments (4)
Malka Leifer, wanted in Australia for 74 counts of indecent acts and abuse at the haredi Adass school in Melbourne, is still safe in Israel avoiding extradition because of her alleged frequent “psychotic episodes” that are better described by the professionals who examined her as severe panic attacks.
Posted at 11:27 AM in Crime, Litigation, etc., Haredim, Israel, Pedophilia & Related Crimes | Permalink | Comments (21)
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