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Haredi Mob Attacks 80 IDF Soldiers In Jerusalem

It was, for a few brief moments, the wild, wild east. A haredi mob leaving a hasidic rebbe’s Shabbat tisch on the edge of the über-haredi Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim Friday night reportedly attacked a large group of IDF soldiers who were themselves on their way to a Shabbat meal in a prominent haredi kiruv rabbi's home.

Lying In The Name Of God

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi (sometimes spelled: "Mizrahi") explains that it is permitted to lie to non-Orthodox Jews in order to trick them into becoming Orthodox and cites the Chazon Ish as proof. But to his credit, Mizrachi says we don't do this because it isn't our way. But it is indisputedly the way of Aish HaTorah, many Chabad shluchim, Ohr Somayach and many other haredi kiruv (outreach/missionary) groups.

Video: Non-Orthodox Jewish Children Are Born 'Impure," Causing Incest And Sexual Misbehavior To Be Widespread, Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi Says

Not only does kiruv (outreach) Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi (also spelled: "Mizrahi") blame sexual immorality and incest on mothers' lack of mikvah (ritual bath) use and other failures by parents to observe the halakhic laws of niddah (laws related to a woman's menstruation, during which time she is impure), he says half of all children today would acquiesce to their parents' deaths in order to inherit their parents' money.

Video: Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi On Rape

You 'wanton' women who walk around in short skirts and painted faces bring rape on yourselves, and every time you entice men by your dress or your actions you will be tortured in hell for it, Sefardi haredi kiruv (outreach) Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi (also spelled: "Mizrahi") says.

Video: Outreach Rabbi Who Said Fewer Than 1 Million Real Jews Died In The Holocaust Is Also A Racist

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi (also spelled "Mizrahi") claimed fewer than 1 million actual Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. He retracted that claim after being confronted with evidence. But that isn't Mizrachi's only controversial statement by far. Take, for example, what he says about African-Americans.

Zionist Orthodox And Chabad Missionary Proselytizing In Israeli State Secular Public Schools Prompts Call To Ban The Proselytizing, Launch New Truly Secular Public Schools

Chabad-Lubavitch hasidim regularly visit secular elementary schools and hand out fliers on the importance of observing Shabbat. A parent fought against this and the Education Ministry told her in response that no promotional literature should be distributed without its approval. But that is reportedly the Education Ministry's standard response to parental complaints about Chabad-Lubavitch activity in schools, and there is no evidence the Education Ministry has done anything to stop these visits from recurring.

Chabad's Rabbi Manis Friedman Allegedly Compares Being OTD To Being A Drug Addict Who Must Be Kept Away From Children

"…During one of our conversations you told me that if I choose not to believe in what my parents believe and live another lifestyle, then in your own words I should "stay away" and that it’s their (my family’s) right to believe what they want and that I don’t belong in their home with my beliefs. When I asked if it’s right that just because I’m not frum that I shouldn’t see my siblings you asked me “would you let your son who is on drugs into your own home?” I ask you now, have you ever thought about how such a comparison can make someone feel? Did you ever imagine what it feels to be told by one of the most influential rabbis in Chabad today that I am the equivalent of a drug addict and that I should stay away from my family because of my beliefs?…"

Aish HaTorah Rabbi Killed In Terror Attack

The rabbi – a married father of seven children – taught his morning classes at Aish HaTorah and was walking out of the Old City through the Jaffa Gate when he was killed.

Video: Crown Heights Shmira Patrol Illegally Uses Police Lights And Sirens To Block Manhattan Traffic For Chabad Hanukkah Car Parade

There were dozens and dozens of cars, most of which had their license plates covered so they couldn't be read and reported. Crown Heights Shmira street patrol members in SUVs illegally used police lights and sirens to block traffic. And the NYPD did absolutely nothing to stop it while it was happening and refuses to answer questions about this illegal behavior afterward.

Followers Of Kiruv Rabbi Assault Rival Kiruv Rabbi In Shul Brawl

A Sefardi haredi kiruv (missionary outreach) rabbi, Zamir Cohen, was assaulted by followers of rival outreach rabbi Amnon Yitzhak Tuesday night in a synagogue in Tel Aviv.

Chabad's Rabbi "Diamond Joe" Gutnick Claims To Be In Serious Financial Difficulty, Allegedly Won’t Be Able To Pay $55 Million Arbitration Award

Chabad's Rabbi Joseph "Diamond Joe" Gutnick, the Australian mining magnate with a history of questionable business behavior, is now claiming to be nearly destitute. But is that claim simply a ruse meant to help him avoid paying $55 million he owes to an Indian company?

Agudah Convention's Keynote Session Asks Why People Leave The Haredi Community But Has No OTD People On Panel

Agudath Israel of America's annual convention is fast approaching, and its keynote session is called "OTD: Why Are They Leaving?" But no people who have left the haredi community are on the panel. Instead, the panel has a haredi psychologist, a haredi kiruv rabbi, and a haredi pulpit rabbi known for kiruv-style work in Minneapolis before his move to Brooklyn several years ago. 

Chabad Uses Sex, Fake History, 'Kabbalah,' And Hucksterism To Lure Unsuspecting Jews

It's unethical and dishonest, and Rabbi Manis Friedman, the Chabad rabbi doing it, is infamous for (among many other things) comparing child sex abuse to diarrhea and for telling victims of child sex abuse not to tell their significant others about the abuse. Chabad even lied to Australian media and said Friedman wasn't an official Chabad emissary. Chabad got caught in that lie (thanks in large part to FailedMessiah.com). But Friedman still carries the official Chabad mantle. And now he's using it to lure Jews into the Chabad orbit through a near complete and total misrepresentation of history, kabbalah and Jewish law and exploitation of these naîve Jews' desire for a better sex life. When it comes to snatching souls – or, for that matter, synagogue buildings or your money – Chabad has no shame at all.

Child Rape As Kiruv: Haredi Rabbi Justifies Child Sex Abuse Allegedly Perpetrated By Malka Leifer As Necessary To Show Victims The Love They Needed To Stay Haredi

Malka Leifer allegedly molested and raped a string of girls while principal at the haredi Adass Israel School in Melbourne, Australia. She fled to Israel after one of the girls complained about the alleged abuse and is now fighting extradition. But despite the number of alleged victims, top haredi rabbis are sheltering Leifer and helping her, and one of the haredi rabbis justified the abuse as a means to keep the girls from leaving the haredi community entirely, as if having sex with Leifer would keep them frum. “Perhaps that wasn’t the right method to choose; there is a very thin line between ‘kosher’ and ‘non-kosher’ educational methods," the rabbi said.

Child Sex Abuse And Related Coverups Were Justified In Order To Allow The Modern Orthodox And Haredi Communities To Grow, Rabbi Says

"…When we are in cultural survival mode, the focus must be on the attractive nature of our lifestyle. Our communal body was sick, wracked with disease, and our only chance for survival was to allow our wounds to heal in the background while we showcased our healthy limbs to the admiring public. It would have been too dangerous to be self-critical. We would have risked losing it all.…"

Religion Risks Going Out of Business

I have heard similar sentiments from rabbis across the spectrum, from Haredi to Reform, as well as from many lay leaders. It is as if they are patting themselves on the back for doing the hard work of being involved in the Jewish community and going to synagogue whilst simultaneously judging others as self-centered for not doing likewise. As one lay leader said to me: “It’s meant to be hard to be Jewish, and young people today are lazy.”

Get Stoned At Chabad: Chabad Center Offers Marijuana-Based Art Classes

Chabad – which arguably has more alcoholics and drug addicts per capita than any other hasidic sect, due in large part to its more than liberal use of alcohol at Shabbat and holiday meals, shul kiddushes, hasidic gatherings known in Yiddish as “farbrengens,” and in its high school-level yeshivas – wants to get you stoned. But law enforcement in Aspen, Colorado is far from pleased.

Haredim Enraged After Secular ‘Satan’ Invited To Teach Torah On Shavuot

Haredim in the central Israeli city of Petach Tikvah are enraged because an official city-organized Shavuot event included a talk by the centrist Yesh Atid Party’s very secular chairman, Member of Knesset Yair Lapid, who is hated by haredim because he and his party were the force behind reforms meant to draft haredim into Israel’s military and force them to leave their yeshivas and join the workforce after that.

Chabad, Right-Wing Zionist Orthodox Organizations Using Jewish Identity Education Seminars For IDF Offices To Proselytize And Push Political Views

Most of the IDF’s weekend Jewish identity education programs for commanders are run by Orthodox Jewish organizations like Chabad and the right-wing Ir David (City of David) nonprofit, both of which push political and religious views on participants and even proselytize them against IDF regulations.

Succession War Flares At Leading Haredi Kiruv Yeshiva And Outreach Org

"… From the beginning, when I entered into the arbitration regarding the dispute between Aish HaTorah and Rabbi Hillel Weinberg, my intention was just one thing – to strengthen, restore and stabilize the organization and to make a compromise between the parties so that Yeshivas Aish HaTorah could continue with its work like it had over the years. It had never crossed my mind at all to fire and remove the Rosh Yeshiva [Head of the Yeshiva]from his institution so that the leadership would remain vacant, and that the institution's management would be left as a free for all, G-d forbid. But my intention was clear and since I had been consulted on the matter, I saw fitting to give comprehensive advice including the appointment of a new Rosh Yeshiva so that the Yeshiva would be able run as it ought to and also to ensure that Rabbi Hillel should have an appropriate alternative position – other than that of Rosh Yeshiva – as befits the son of Rav Noach zt"l [may the memory of the righteous be a blessing], founder of Aish HaTorah.…"

Video: Bill O'Reilly Exposes Kars-4-Kids, Oorah, On Fox News

The report is a bit unclear, but what Oorah/Joy For Our Youth/Kars-4-Kids did (and still does to some extent) is portray their organizations – all controlled by the people who control Oorah – as helping all needy kids, when in reality almost all of the money goes to Oorah – a haredi missionary outreach organization whose aim is to put non-Orthodox Jewish kids in haredi yeshiva schools. Kars-4-Kids hides this from the public, uses deceptively designed commericals,  and practices what many – including at least two state attorneys general – say is illegal bait-and-switch advertising practices to get donations.

Jacob Fetman Indicted For Allegedly Stealing More Than $237,000 From Aish HaTorah

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that the former chief financial officer of Aish HaTorah New York has been indicted for embezzling more than $237,000 from the Jewish outreach organization.

Georgia Branch Of Kiruv Organization Targets High School Students Without Telling Students Or Parents Of Its Tie To The Orthodoxy

The Jewish Student Union is a kiruv (intra-Jewish-community missionary outreach) organization that targets high school students. In Georgia, its chapters fail to tell parents and students that it is part of NCSY – the Orthodox Union's missionary outreach (kiruv) youth group.

Study Shows Haredi Community Would Likely Be Almost Extinct – If Not For The Holocaust

Dr. Michal Shaul found that the haredi community was rapidly shrinking in the decades before the Holocaust and likely would be virtually nonexistent today if the Holocaust had not spurred a rebuilding effort by a few haredi Holocaust survivors who used a combination of the lie of haredi authenticity and survivor guilt to rebuild.

CFO Allegedly Embezzled $20 Million From Aish HaTorah New York

Jacob "Yaakov" Fetman allegedly stole $20 million from Aish HaTorah New York over a 17-year period ending last year, and the beit din ruling against him ended up in secular court.

UPDATED: Haredi Kiruv Rabbi Accused Of Having “Unwanted Physical Contact Of A Sexual Nature” With Female Students

Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz and two other senior Chicago rabbis – Shmuel Feurst, the dayan (senior decisor of Jewish law) of Agudath Israel of Illinois, and Zev Cohen of Congregation Adas Yeshurun – convened as a special beit din to deal with issues of sexual impropriety. That beit din issued a ruling yesterday warning women not to attend seminaries owned or controlled by Rabbi Elimelech Meisels, noting that it believes students enrolled in Meisels seminaries are at risk of harm.

Haredi Kiruv Organization Loses NYC Tax Exempt Status

The haredi kiruv (missionary-style outreach to non-Orthodox Jews) organization Gateways has lost its NYC tax exempt status.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Rabbi Meir Michel Abehsera

Rabbi Meir Michel Abehsera, internationally known both as a hasid of the late Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson and as an herbalist, naturopath and author, has passed away.

Video: Moderate Zionist Orthodox Rabbi Wears Long Blonde Women’s Wig For Purim Video, Causing Haredim To Attack Him As “Ungodly”

"It's unthinkable that the rabbi would dishonor the Holy Scriptures within a house of study," a haredi source said.

Government Gives Kiruv Groups $2.2 Million To Convert Secular Israelis To Orthodoxy

The Government of Israel is spending almost $2.2 million to run Orthodox kiruv (outreach) programs meant to make secular Israelis Orthodox. The money is being allocated by the Jewish Identity Administration – a newly created entity that is part of the Ministry of Religious Services which is controlled by the Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi Party – and will be matched by privately-funded kiruv groups for a total of $4.4 million.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Rabbi Meir Schuster

Rabbi Meir Schuster, who spent decades searching out young non-Orthodox (or, sometimes, Modern Orthodox) Jews at places like the Kotel (Western Wall) and trying to get them to sit in on classes at Ohr Somayach, Aish HaTorah, Neve Yerushalayim or other smaller ba'al teshuva (missionary outreach) yeshivas and seminaries passed away today.

Despite Strong Opposition, Ohr Somayach Given Permission To Build New 103,495 Square Foot 12-Story Haredi Ba’al Teshuva Yeshiva In East Jerusalem

The City of Jerusalem rammed through a plan to build a 103,495 square foot 12-story building for Ohr Somayach, an iconic ba’al teshuva yeshiva, on a vacant plot of land in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem – even the city’s own professional planning staff strongly opposed the project.

Exclusive: Haredi Group To Open Missionary Center And Kollel At Auschwitz

Like the Carmelite nuns before them, a haredi group is opening a kollel (advanced yeshiva) and kiruv (often deceptive outreach, intra-Jewish-community missionary) center across from the Auschwitz death camp. But unlike the nuns, these haredi rabbis will be directly preying on the children of secular and non-Orthodox Jews who come to Auschwitz – a site sanctified through the blood and smoke and ashes of the millions who were murdered there.

Ohr Somayach To Build New 103,495 Square Foot 12 Story Ba’al Teshuva Yeshiva In East Jerusalem

Ohr Somayach, an Ashkenazi haredi ba’al teshuva yeshiva founded in the 1960s and with has close ties to the iconic nearby Ashkenazi haredi Mirrer Yeshiva, reportedly wants to build the behemoth structure on an empty lot, most of which is currently owned by the Israel Lands Authority. The lot, reportedly located adjacent to a gas station, will have nine above ground stories and three more stories underground if the project is approved and built.

Disgraced Rabbi Michael Broyde Still Listed As A Member Of The Beit Din Of America On Leading Modern Orthodox Kiruv Website

Rabbi Michael Broyde, the disgraced former member of the Beit Din of America (BDA) who was forced to step down from the BDA about 8 months ago after being caught using false identities to trash rabbinic opponents and others online and in print, is still listed as a member of the BDA on the Torah In Motion website.

6,000 Israeli Families Reportedly Participate In Unity Shabbat

More than six thousand families from across Israel reportedly participated in Shabbat meals this weekend hosted by Orthodox families. The attendees were not Orthodox or were ba’al teshuvas (BTs; newly Orthodox). Beit Hillel, a Zionist Orthodox rabbinical association, sponsored the event in an attempt to create a bridge between Orthodox and secular Israelis.

Brooklyn Haredi Kiruv Rabbi Says There Is An “Onslaught” Of Haredim Who Are Really “Closet Atheists,” Launches Anti-Footsteps Program

"…[T]here is an onslaught of frum [Orthodox and haredi] people that are r”l [may the Merciful One {i.e., God} protect us] closet atheists who no longer believe in Hashem [God] and are no longer Shomer Torah u’Mitzvos [Torah and Jewish law observant]. Many of these people are married and even have children and in many instances their wives and children have no idea of their spouse or father’s secret identity.…"

Chabad's Do Nothing, Feel Good Judaism

"…On the other hand, the personal approach of Chabad to Jewish outreach—often combined with glitzy, high-profile, one-time events—has a major negative: It is built on absolutely minimal expectations. Its message seems to be: We will love you, but we won’t require anything of you. On this point, somewhat bizarrely, the Orthodox and the non-Orthodox critics seem to agree. The Orthodox critics ask Chabad rabbis: Why don’t you expect Jews to become Orthodox? The non-Orthodox ask: Why don’t you expect anything at all?…"

Don't Worry, Jews May Be Bad But Goyyim Are Worse, Ohr Somayach Rabbi Says

Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz also says you should ask a rabbi before reporting suspected child sexual abuse to police or your city's child protection services and invokes the No True Scotsman Fallacy – any Orthodox Jew who commits heinous crimes like child sexual abuse is not really an Orthodox Jew, Breitowitz claims, insisting that God and Judaism are not at fault for what its most visible adherent s may do wrong.

Head Of NCSY's Public High School Missionary Outreach Calls Harlem Shake "Retarded"

The National Council of Synagogue Youth's (NCSY) public high school missionary outreach head Rabbi Avrohom Walkin calls the Harlem Shake "retarded." NCSY is a subsidiary of the Orthodox Union (OU). Walkin heads what the OU calls the Jewish Student Union, even though that name belongs to an independent student group with no current ties to NCSY or the OU.

Deceptive Kiruv From Jerusalem

Jeff Seidel, the find-you-at-the-Western-Wall-invite-you-for-Shabbat-get-you-into-haredi-BT-yeshiva-forever kiruv guy, who also runs missionary outposts he calls student centers at large Israeli universities, has always used non-Orthodox famous people as lures, and has almost always done so without their permission. But his new Passover ad might have reached a new, deceptive, low.

As Shas Steps Up Its Attacks On Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak’s Breakaway Party, Ashkenazi Haredi Leader Denies – On Tape – Giving Yitzhak His Support

Speaking before Rabbi Ovadia Yosef at the Shas founder and spiritual leader’s weekly Saturday evening Torah lecture, Cohen – who is also the dean of Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City – reportedly said that Amnon Yitzhak is “losing his [place] in the world [to come]. The one who brings people to repent is now himself in need of someone to bring him to repent.”

Chabad Claims Shabbat Dinners Are Jewish "Rituals" That Allow It To Serve Alcohol To Minors

Rabbi Klein insists that he did not violate sate law. He says an Illinois state law allows people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol during religious ceremonies. Klein admitted that alcohol was served during Chabad's Shabbat dinners. “The service of alcohol at Chabad was associated with Jewish ritual and celebration,” Klein said. “It is part of the Jewish culture.” Klein repeatedly served hard liqor and wine to underage students at these dinners and on trips to Israel. Chabad is suing Northwesten University in Federal court, claiming religious discrimination after it lost official status because of the alcohol.

More Than 100 Boys Allegedly Blocked From Attending Haredi Schools In Lakewood

"The phone call tonight from Rav Shmuel [Kamenetsky] was heart rending.  Nechamas Yisroel wants you to help rescue a Jewish child from being lost to public school. The message tells us what an important mitzva it is to give a child a Jewish education, especially before YOM HADIN [Yom Kippur]. The irony that  this message was being played on the phones of homes in Lakewood [where more than 100 boys are being excluded from haredi schools] did not escape many."

NCSY's Honesty Problem

The Orthodox Union's student outreach/missionary/"kiruv" arm just can't seem to tell the truth – especially when its trying to convert non-Orthodox kids to Orthodoxy.

 

An Anatomy Of A Haredi 'Blood Libel'

You may have already heard the story. A hasid tries to enter an upscale shopping mall in North Tel Aviv but is denied entry by security. When asked by passersby why the hasid was not allowed in, security says that his dress upsets customers and that it upsets people at the food court who are eating to have to look at hasidim. A famous non-Orthodox Israeli singer tells the story on his radio show, and a haredi website releases a video of the event. Haredi blogs and Orthodox and haredi news websites pick up the story. It's worse than Berlin in 1939, the singer said – but is it? And is the story true? No, and no it isn't.

Oorah Video Features Man In Blackface

Oorah, the Lakewood, New Jersey-based haredi kiruv ('outreach,' missionary) organization that specializes in convincing non-Orthodox Jewish families to kids to enroll their kids in haredi yeshivas and day schools, made what was supposed to be a humorous fundraising video that features a haredi comedian, Shlomo HaDarshan, in blackface playing controversial civil rights activist and MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton. But the video has now been marked private on YouTube, even as a picture of the Sharpton blackface character still appears on Oorah's website.

More Trouble For Oorah And Kars-4-Kids?

At first blush, Jefferson Township's attempt to block tax free status for Oorah's kids camp seems unjust and doomed to failure. But that may only be at first blush. A deeper look may favor Jefferson Township's claim that Oorah is not a true charity.

Haredi Charity Looses Millions On Bad Real Estate Deals

Kars4Kids and Oorah Inc., an affiliated not-for-profit organization, lost $5.25 million – nearly as much speculating on real estate in 2010 as they spent on programming. Oorah, the operation’s program arm, spent only $6.3 million of the $29 million collected by Kars4Kids on program expenses in 2010, despite the fact that the organizations hold a combined $39 million in assets.

Oorah Loses

A federal court has found that Oorah failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of tuition scholarship money it owed to the Jewish Foundation School/Rabbi Jacob Joseph Orthodox day school.