FailedMessiah.com

Israel’s New A-G Will Be A Ba’al Teshuva

Former cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close friend. He is also a ba’al teshuva, a person who became Orthodox in adulthood. And now he's about to be Israel's new attorney general.

Thousands Of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries Cheer Against The Peace Process

"It has nothing to do with the Temple Mount!,” Gerlitzky told his supportive fellow Chabad emissaries. “It has nothing to do with their economic situation and has nothing to with what you hear in the media in Israel or outside Israel. It is has to do with one thing only and that is – the Israeli leadership vacillates, they do not believe and are not confident themselves that Jews are the rightful owners of all of Eretz Yisroel [the biblical Land of Israel] and therefore the Arabs exploit this weakness as an opportunity to pressure more and squeeze out incessant concessions."

Suspect In Beating Of Liberal Rabbi Arrested With A Loaded Assault Rifle Clip, Stun Grenades

In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Rabbi Arik Ascherman, police said in a statement that a group of “anarchists” had “provoked” a clash with West Bank Jewish settlers, and police appear to have done nothing to investigate further – until video shot by Rabbis for Human Rights that showed cops had lied went viral on social media.

How Many Modesty And Technology Bans Does New Square Enforce? More Than You Can Count On All Your Fingers And Many Of Your Toes

How many bans does the Skvere hasidic village of New Square, New York enforce? More than you can easily count, and far more than you would ever likely willingly agree to live under.

Haredi Scare Ads Claim Ramapo Election Opponents Are Anti-Semites

Haredi scare ads for the Ramapo, New York elections claim that opponents of the haredi-endorsed slate are anti-Semites who hate Jews – even though many of the opponents supporters are themselves Jews, although not haredi.

Who Murdered Chaim Weiss?

29 years ago Halloween, a 16-year-old yeshiva student, Chaim Weiss, was hacked to death with a hatchet-like instrument in his third floor dorm room in the Long Beach, New York haredi yeshiva. It was Shabbat night, and when Weiss's body was discovered Shabbat morning, the behavior of yeshiva officials hampered the police investigation. Chaim Weiss's murderer has still not been arrested. Here's part of reason that is so.

Cops – Belatedly – Agree To Investigate Killing Of Eritrean Man After Terror Attack

Israel Police now say they will "cautiously" investigate the killing of an Eritrean man, Haftom Zarhum, who was gunned down after a terror attack, apparently because he was Black, looked foreign, and was nearby. As he lay bleeding, a mob of Jews kicked, stomped and beat him. Zarhum died several hours later.

On CNN, Israel's PM Falsely Claims All Of Israeli Society Rejects Jewish Terror Attacks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fareed Zakaria that all parts of Israeli society vehemently oppose Jewish terror attacks against Arabs and claimed the government pursues Jewish terrorists with every weapon it has – even though the actual facts show that claim is false.

Kotel Security Staff Allegedly Stops Journalists From Bringing Cameras To Document Abuse Of Women Of The Wall

"…One woman carrying in a table, which we bring because no tables are provided for women, was stopped and she was told, “Tables are not allowed.” Another woman was told that siddurim [prayer books] were not allowed to be brought in to the Kotel [Western Wall plaza and prayer areas].…Journalists were told that they could not bring cameras in without prior permission from the Western Wall Heritage foundation.…"

Do Haredim Have A Child Safety Problem?

When rabbis start teaching safety and public health in all haredi schools (or better yet, bring in actual experts to teach these subjects and stand there with them as they do it, showing real interest and respect so the kids can see the rabbis care about all this), and when parents are told that they can no longer allow their children to run wild or to have 7-year-olds babysitting toddlers, the number of these tragic incidents will be greatly reduced.

Haredi Journalism: When Darkness Is Light And Light Is Darkness

“On 27 Nissan, a police detective disguised as an Arab shepherd and three Arab shepherds approached [the West Bank Jewish settlement of] Kochav HaShachar in an incident staged to provoke a disturbance. In total, five residents of Kochav HaShachar were detained on suspicion of assaulting the group, despite a lack of evidence implicating them.”

Most Religion Is A Legal Fiction; Fundamentalist Religion – Like Haredism – Is Societal Death

"…It’s perfectly rational to reject faith as a matter of principle. Many people (myself included) find no practical advantage in believing things without evidence. But what about those who do? If a belief is held because of its effects, not its truth content, why should its falsity matter to the believer? Of course, most religious people consider their beliefs true in some sense, but that’s to be expected: the consolation derived from a belief is greater if its illusory origins are concealed. The point is that such beliefs aren’t held because they’re true as such; they’re accepted on faith because they’re meaningful.…"

Should Agunahs Walk Away From Orthodoxy? Here's Why They Should – And Why You Probably Should, Too

“Asking [an agunah] to give up her religion is asking her to accept her abuse and have it extend through all aspects of her life and her sense of self. It’s pointing the finger in the direction of the victim rather than the aggressor.” But is it?

Agudath Israel Of America Spokesman: Blame Hotplate Manufacturer For Deadly Fire, Not Haredim!

"…The insinuation that observant Jews engage in dangerous Sabbath practices and are indifferent to the hazards of fire and electricity is a pernicious one. To be sure, smoke detectors – which fire officials suspect were absent on the main floor of the Brooklyn house – are life-savers. But they are not a Sabbath issue. All homes should have detectors on each floor, and, indeed had they been installed on the main floor of this house, where the fire broke out in the kitchen, that might well have prevented the fire from spreading before the occupants became aware of it.…"

Will Israel Survive The Premiership Of Benjamin Netanyahu?

“There is a rightist public that is deeply connected to Likud that Netanyahu reached in the final days. He used the most fraudulent and racist utterances that exist. And it worked.…something should be learned from the principal motif that caused this process. He more or less defined half the nation as traitors. That’s the rhetoric."

Sources: Some Chabad Rabbis Still Telling People To Break Law, Not Report Child Sex Abuse To Police

I've heard that some Australian Chabad rabbis who are mandatory reporters are still saying (at least in closed groups) that it is wrong to report suspected child sex abuse to police, and that a rabbi (or beit din) must first look into the abuse allegations and determine if they have merit. This is being done despite the fact that it is against the law in Australia for a mandatory reporter not to report suspected or known child sex abuse and it is being done despite the fact that none of these rabbis are trained forensic child sex abuse investigators. And it is being done despite the fact that Chabad's truly horrific conduct in covering up child sex abuse and harassing its victims has become front page news across Australia and beyond.

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.

America's Dithering President

Unfortunately President Obama’s words can no longer serve as a credible deterrent. There must be action. And unfortunately for all of us, that action, at least its beginning, must take place now even before the strategy President Obama wants is finalized, before every “i” has been dotted and “t” has been crossed – and before the US president plays another round of golf or gives another fundraising speech.

A Note On The End Of The Cease Fire, The Collapse Of Truce Talks, And What It Likely Means For Israeli Society

As you know, several Grad rockets were fired into Israel this morning from Gaza, ending the cease fire many hours prematurely and Israel responded by hitting several terrorist target in Gaza. This could mean Israel will face a prolonged war of attrition. And what would that mean for an Israel saddled with a large and rapidly growing haredi population that refuses to share the burden of defense and war?

A Word On Iraqi Genocide

Iraq is our mess. We made, and we need to clean it up. That includes rescuing Iraqi minorities facing imminent genocide – whether Obama wants to or not.

OTD Woman Who Posted Near-Nude Selfies Wrapped In Tefillin Has Car Accident, Haredim Claim God Punished Her For Her Sins

Brenda Turtle's car accident would not be news if it the haredi reaction to it had not been so typically haredi, and if the New York Post's reaction had not been so typical of New York City's sleaziest tabloid.

God, Not The IDF, Not The Iron Dome, Is Saving Israel From Hamas Rockets Haredi Columnist Says

The haredi columnist ‘quotes’ a nonexistent CNN interview with a Hamas representative in which that Hamas representative allegedly claimed that Hamas rockets are extremely accurate and that “80%” of the rockets Hamas fires are diverted to uninhabited areas by the god of Jews and cites this as proof that God – not the Iron Dome, not the IDF – is really saving Israel from harm.

As Penn State Hit With Devastating, Unprecidented Penalties, Why Not Haredim?

A $60 million fine. All wins from 1998 through last season voided. No post-season bowl games for four years. All football players can transfer to any other school that will accept them with no penalty and no red shirt year. Scholarships slashed. College athletics has responded decisively to the enabling and coverup of child rape and child sexual abuse. Why can't haredim?

State's Haredi Circumcision Protocol Rescinded More Than 4 Years Ago

The NY State Health Department's protocol for metzitzah b'peh, widely understood in the medical community as worthless, was rescinded in 2007 after Governor Pataki left office. Yet even though the sate no longer agreed that MBP could be safely done, many haredim continued to do the oral penis sucking that has killed at least one child in the past year and may have killed and/or sickened many more. The medically unsound protocol was Pataki's concession to intense haredi pressure lead by Satmar and Agudath Israel of America.

Biased Reporting From The Left

Guilt by association, guilt by smear.

Haredim and Non-Jews

Less than human, less than divine.

America's Worst Rabbi

Newsweek just released it list of the 50 most influential American rabbis. But who is America's worst rabbi? This man is.

Birthright Israel Fails

 Only 4% of participants seriously involved in Jewish community after trip, college.

Our Very Own Jewish Gong Show

Ever wondered how those Jewish book fairs held during Jewish Book Month are organized? How writers are chosen? Which books are hyped and which are not?

The NY Times explains the ins and outs of one of the most important promotions in all of publishing:

Over three evenings last month, several dozen writers gathered … for a bizarre rite of passage: the Jewish book tour casting call. In a combination of “The Gong Show” and speed-dating, they each had two minutes to pitch their books to the Jewish Book Network, 100 cultural programmers from Jewish community centers, or J.C.C.’s, synagogues and libraries nationwide. An M.C. ruthlessly held up a sign when one minute was up and cheerily announced “on deck” to prepare the next speaker.…

Sad as this spectacle seems, it is so important publishers and authors pay their own way to get those two minutes to pitch. Needless to say, it is not the writing that wins out. It's all about the pitch and the allure each author creates.

Does the Jewish Book Council help Jewish authors get published? Yes, it certainly does. But somehow I can't get away from the feeling that if Bernard Malamud or Chaim Grade were pitching their early works as unknowns, the JBC's constituent book fairs would pass them by.

If you want to see how unimportant good literature is to today's Jewish community, check out its major publications. How many regularly publish short fiction? None do. (There is a big announcement coming soon, though, that will change this equation a bit. But this is a case of a lone editor who truly cares.)

Most major authors in all genres start out writing short fiction. From Stephen King to I.B. Singer, it was short fiction published in newspapers or popular magazines that got them noticed and got them work.

Our magazines and newspapers stopped regularly publishing fiction long ago, as did most of their mainstream counterparts. This forces writers to write for literary journals, many of which cater to academic rather than artistic or popular tastes.

This situation has been made even worse by publishers, whose ownership has changed in the last decade from people who saw themselves as the supporters of good literature to conglomerates who see themselves strictly as profit and loss statements. These new publishing executives have hardened the genre markets, regularly passing on exceptional literature they cannot easily market as Chick Lit or Suspense.

These publishers regularly complain about flat sales, while they continue to follow the same policies that led to them.

These publishing giants have eliminated the mid-list, the titles that break even or make a few bucks that were published largely because of artistic merit. The idea used to be that publishers groomed writers and helped them develop. The idea now is you come in perfect and whole, fitting into a specific genre, following the most current "right" formula. Anything less or different than that and you're out.

Agents now regularly reject manuscripts from even published authors, scribbling "needs work," on the cover and, if the author is especially lucky, a few extra words on what it is exactly that needs to be "fixed."

What this means is that we and our larger society lack, to use a baseball analogy, farm teams. This means our newer major league players largely come out of academia, where the salary and downtime allow for writing, and much of the resulting fiction lacks a true creative edge and popular appeal as a result.

And this is not simply an elitist bleat. John Sanford (whose real name is John Camp), author of the large-selling Prey series, told a friend of mine that, if he were starting out today, he would not be published. The gates are simply too well guarded and the expectations too high.

What does this mean for you? I think it means your children will care less about reading because there is less really good reading to care about, Jewish or otherwise.

(Before you point to Englander, Safran Foer, and Chabon to prove me wrong, remember each of these authors got their start before the big consolidations in the publishing industry.)

I once sat at a vort, an engagement party, for a friend, the son of a well-known intellectual. My friend had grown up frum, attended only Chabad schools, and was about to receive smicha. Following the Chabad custom, my friend was to recite a ma'amar, a Chasidic discourse, by heart. He sat there in his black hat and dark suit and tried, his hevruta by his side, prompting him often – very often. And even that help was not enough to get him through.

His father spoke after the ma'amar. He thanked the head of Chabad in the area, the head of the cheder his son had graduated from, and the heads of the yeshivot he had attended for making his son illiterate in three languages.

The secular Jewish community fails just like this. We have the trappings of culture, our versions of black hats and dark suits, a Yiddish word or two used in conversation, but little actual culture. We moan about continuity and fret about decreasing numbers but do nothing that promotes anything but the most banal.

Who stays? Happy Jews, Jews without questions, Jews by route. Who goes? Pretty much everyone else, and they are the majority.

Would you work for years to turn out a special work – fiction or nonfiction – if you knew your two minute presentation would be upstaged by an author whose only claim to being Jewish is birth and perhaps the name of one character in his work? Or that you would be ignored by Jewish book fair promoters who are more drawn to the look of the author than the work the author produces? Of course not. You'd turn out trash and spend your time getting your clothes, hair and presentation down, or you'd find something else to do with your life.

We cannot sustain a secular or a cross-denominational Jewish culture based on two minute gong show appearances. There must be a better way.