FailedMessiah.com

Exclusive: Police Say $1 Million Beggar’s Death Suicide, Despite Conflicting Evidence And Lack Of An Autopsy

Police tell Howard Frank's brother that the investigation into his brother's suspicious death is now being closed, and that Howard Frank's death is being ruled a suicide – even though Frank told people in the hours before he died that he was "a dead man" and that people were going to kill him.

Video: The Apparent Murder Of Howard Frank

As first reported on FailedMessiah.com, a mentally ill beggar was found dead in the Gowanus Canal in Red Hook, Brooklyn, 9 days ago. Evidence collected by FailedMessiah.com points to murder as the cause of death. But the haredi organization Misaskim blocked an autopsy and probably hindered the police investigation. Did it unintentionally (or intentionally) help cover up Frank's murder?

Exclusive: The Life And Suspicious Death Of Howard Frank

Author, photo collector and Jewish beggar Howard Frank dies a suspicious death in murky water off Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Haredi Man Helps Save Boy From Burning House

He ran to the house and called 911, and a dispatcher told him to make sure no one was trapped inside. A Spring Valley Department of Public Works employee, was driving by about the same time and stopped to help. The two men entered through the back of house because the flames had already engulfed the front. “We found the [4-year-old non-Jewish] child by the door sitting by the bed. He was shaking. He couldn’t talk.”

Shame

10,000 destitute survivors have discovered that the $400 quarterly stipend they receive from the Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets has been cut down to $320. The destitute survivors were not informed of the cut. Instead, they found out when their bank balances were lower than expected. About 25% of Israeli Holocaust survivors live in poverty, and Israel and the world Jewish community have been criticized for allowing this suffering to go on.

Emergency Bidikat Hametz Appeal!

I was crawling on the floor in my room in mother's basement, beeswax candle, feather and brown paper bag in hand, chaffed by and constrained in the clothing necessary to properly do the important mitzvah of searching for hametz, when I suddenly discovered something so shocking and horrible that I am forced to turn to you, my loyal readers, for help…

Video: Voice Of Justice Model Seder Draws Dozens Of Survivors Of Child Sex And Domestic Abuse

Dozens of survivors, activists and supporters gathered in Brooklyn to eat, dance and show haredi leadership that they aren't going away. Food donated by the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and other groups was distributed, both to survivors of child sex abuse and spousal abuse who attended and others who could not.

NYC Bans Food Donations

The Bloomberg administration is now taking the term “food police” to new depths, blocking food donations to all government-run facilities that serve the city’s homeless.

Haredi Leader Out Of Coma

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the 101-year-old leader of Ashkenazi haredim, was brought out of a medically-induced coma.

Pay To Beg: Chabad's Main Synagogue Charges Beggars Admission Fee

Down-on-their luck panhandlers at the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights have to follow the 11th Commandment: Fork over $5 for the right to beg inside.

Exclusive: In Chabad's Central Synagogue, Charity Collectors Have To Pay To Play

Administrators known as gabbais are charging charity collectors and beggars $5 to beg inside Chabad's main synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. Those who do not pay are ejected, sometimes by police who are called in by the gabbais.

Hannukah Party For Survivors Of Child Sex Abuse

The party will be held in Brooklyn for survivors of child sex abuse and domestic abuse and their families.

Big Haredi News: 2 Men Give Up Bus Seat For Elderly Woman

A haredi news site posts a video of an elderly woman who was given a man's seat on a illegally gender segregated Israeli bus and writes, "Let’s see Haaretz, Ynet, or some other anti-charedi news outlet report this story,” as if the law being followed by one haredi somehow cancels out the dozens of reported times when the law was broken.

Haredi Org To Donate Winter Coats In Newark, NJ

Kars4Kids, the haredi car donation program that is controlled by the leadership of and funds Oorah, announced yesterday that they will be hosting their 2nd annual coat giveaway in Newark, New Jersey next week. The event was planned in conjunction with Mayor Cory Booker’s office, and the mayor is expected to attend the event.

Gemach's Aren't Just For Orthodox Jews Anymore

Jewish free loan funds often run by haredim now serve an expanded clientele that includes people not usually considered part of their communities. But the economic downturn has hit many Jews hard, and as I've reported many times, the Jewish Federations have for the most part failed to respond to the crisis – or even to acknowledge the crisis exists.

Missing Boy

A 12-year-old boy has been missing from the Catskills since yesterday. Monticello Police and Catskills Hatzalah are reportedly setting up for a large-scale search.

The Jewish Community Should Be Ashamed – But It Isn't

The holiday of Sukkot is both a harvest festival and a commemoration of the time the ancient Hebrews spent in the desert after fleeing Egypt. The sukkah symbolizes the protection God gave them during their 40 years of wandering. It is a holiday of rejoicing but also a holiday when we remember and help the needy – or do we?

Haredi 2-Year-Old Found Walking Alone At 3 AM

Borough Park Shomrim patrolling the streets of Borough Park were shocked when they came across a 2-year-old boy walking alone early Sunday morning just before 3:00 a.m.

101-Year-Old Haredi Leader Said To Be In Failing Health

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the 101-year-old haredi leader, has reportedly been suffering from unexplained weakness and is slated to return to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem for tests.

Chabad Rabbi And Rabbinical Students Walk 15 Miles Every Shabbat

A Chabad rabbi and two rabbinical students walk 15 miles from Crown Heights to the Bronx each Shabbat morning to lead services in a tiny synagogue housed in a mosque. "We come to help the old Jewish people here," said Rabbi Meir Kabakow, 25. "We take care of them and help them pray."

Israel's United Hatzalah To Open On Shabbat

The organization's managers turned to the rabbis guiding them and asked for the help in dealing with the halachic challenge hidden in this move. The rabbis responded that the emergency center could be operated by a non-Jewish worker on Shabbat for life-saving purposes.

35 Orthodox Rabbis Sign Petition For Prison Reform

None of the rabbis who signed are Chabad or are linked to Sholom Rubashkin's defense fund, and few, if any, appear to be haredi.

Arabs Join Jerusalem Hatzolah

Arab volunteers have joined the Hatzolah volunteer ambulance corps that serves Mea Shearim, the Old City of Jerusalem and, now, the Arab neighborhoods that border them.

Gospel Concert To Benefit Leiby Kletzky Memorial Fund

This year’s West Indian-American Day Parade in Brooklyn has a religious component for the first time in its 43-year-existence – a gospel concert featuring calypso, hip hop and reggae music with Christian and spiritual themes, staged in part to benefit a Jewish cause.

Video: Rabbi David Reichenberg Dies Trying To Save Father, Son From Flood Waters In Spring Valley

Rabbi David Reichenberg lost his life this weekend trying to save a father and his son amid the winds and rain of Hurricane Irene on Sunday.

ZAKA Sends Its Jeeps On A Special Mission

The ZAKA Jeep Unit, which normally carries out search and rescue operations in difficult terrain, could be seen recently snaking through the Jerusalem hills, festooned with dozens of balloons, taking sick and disabled campers on a jeep adventure.

Vizhnitzer Rebbe Critically Ill

The Vizhnitzer Rebbe is critically ill, and doctors apparently have little hope for recovery.

Video: Borough Park Shomrim In Action

Here's an interesting  fundraising video from the Brooklyn South Safety Patrol, better known as the Borough Park Shomrim.

Neighbors Try To Raise $1 Million For New Kletzky House

Neighbors who opened their hearts to slain Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzky's family are now opening their wallets, trying to raise money to move the family from its ramshackle apartment to a new home free from the painful memories.

Video: Leiby Kletzky Memorial Candlelight Vigil

Video and exclusive pictures from the vigil held last night in Kensington, Brooklyn for the murdered 8-year-old hasidic boy, Leiby Kletzky.

Tonight: Candlelight Vigil To Honor Leiby Kletzky

A candlelight vigil will be held tonight in Kensington, Brooklyn memory of a eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who disappeared and was found murdered in the neighborhood earlier this month.

Leiby Kletzky's Father Speaks

Nachman Kletzky, the father of little Leiby Kletzky, murdered and dismembered by confessed child killer Levi Aron, speaks about remembering his murdered 8-year-old son.

Kletzky Family Starts Fund In memory Of Murdered Son

Relatives of little Leiby Kletzky have set up a memorial website in his honor with the hope of raising $1 million for needy kids.

Near-Drowning In Catskills

Catskill Hatzolah is on the scene of a near-drowning of a child in Ulster County. Paramedics on Sportsman Road, near Route 55A. The child was reportedly pulled from the water, and is unconscious – but is breathing.

Audio: Shomrim And Misaskim Speak About The Search For Leiby Kletzky

The leader of Borough Park's Shomrim and the leader of Misaskim speak about the search for Leiby Kletzky, the confessed murderer Levi Aron, and the murder.

Statement From Kletzky Family

The family of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky issue a statement on the horrific murder of their son and the search that tried to prevent it.

Missing Boy May Have Gotten Into Man's Gold Colored Car; FBI Joins Investigation

A second video, which was released late Tuesday night, showed the boy walking behind another man, according to police.  Investigators believe Kletzky may have gotten into the man’s gold-colored sedan. “We look at the possibility of foul play right from the beginning,” NYPD Chief Joe Esposito said.

Borough Park Child Missing

“We ask everyone in Brooklyn to take a few minutes to walk out of their houses and search, their backyards, their driveways and their blocks.”

Hatzolah Did Not Save A Somali Baby From Burning Building

Claims that Hatzolah saved a Somali Muslim baby from a burning building are false.

Haredim Save Somali Boy From Fire

Two strictly Orthodox men and a medic from Hatzola, the haredi ambulance service, have saved a young London Somali boy from a fire.

Rabbi Elyashiv To Have Heart Surgery

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. the 101-year-old leaders of ultra-Orthodox Jews, is reportedly having heart surgery at 1:30 pm Eastern Time today.

Donate To Help New Square Burn Attack Victim

Help Aron Rottenberg and his family in their time of need.

Japan Thanks ZAKA

Japanese Ambassador to Israel Haruhisa Takeuchi recently hosted ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav and other members of the ZAKA delegation to thank them for their assistance during their two-week mission to earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged Japan.

Are Eric Cantor's Values Jewish Values?

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach launches a new institute to promote Jewish values and has House Majority Leader Eric Cantor as an honored guest at the launch. But Cantor wants to cut taxes for the rich and cut services like Welfare for the poor to pay for them. Could Eric Cantor's punish the poor outlook really be Jewish?

Seders For Survivors Of Sexual Abuse Reported To Be A Success

Hundreds of survivors are said to have attended.

Don't Burn Your Hametz, Send It To Japan

Ahead of Passover, the My Israel movement wants to collect Israeli's hametz and give to tsunami-ravaged Japan.

The Rabbi Of The Israeli Army's Medical Mission To Japan

"Of course you break the Shabbat laws to save non-Jews", he goes on to quote the Halacha which states that in order to keep the peace – the laws can be broken to save lives. "This is for the benefit of strengthening relations with Japan, participating with them in their time of need and showing solidarity with the Japanese people."

Updated: Chief Rabbi Of New York's Syrian Community Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering

The frail Rabbi Saul Kassin of congregation Sharee Zion in Brooklyn was arrested on federal charges in July 2009 in connection with a massive money-laundering and corruption case that exploded into the headlines when 43 people were arrested on one humid morning.

Request To Pray For Israeli Bombing Victims

Many victim's of last week's terrorist bombing in Jerusalem are still in the hospital. Here is a list of of names and their conditions.

Bone Marrow Donor Needed For 1-Year-Old Girl

"Sadly, we just learned that Ayelet Yakira Galena, our lovable one year old daughter, was recently diagnosed with a rare bone marrow failure disorder and will need a bone marrow transplant. We're searching for a perfect match and need your help.…"