FailedMessiah.com

For Israeli Ex-Haredim, A Brave New World

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. 

Ex-O Journey: From Being Trapped In Neturei Karta To Becoming A Brooklyn Hipster Artist

Brooklyn artist Sara Erenthal grew up in Neturei Karta, the extreme über-haredi anti-Zionist sect, but left it and Orthodoxy as a teenager. She was 17 when she tried on jeans for the first time. "I remember looking in the mirror thinking, 'Oh my God, my butt!' " she recalls. "I'd never really seen myself in pants."

Haredi Schools Still Use Corporal Punishment, Ex-Haredim Tell Government

A charity and support group for ex-haredim has warned the British government that corporal punishment is widely used in unregistered haredi schools.

A Cult Of Death And Shame

“What you’re saying…reminds me of what I heard recently about [supreme Ashkenazi non-hasidic haredi rabbinical leader Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman]. Some of the big [rabbis] were protesting the fact that he didn’t object to the founding of the Nahal Haredi army unit for young men who were already off the derech and on the streets. Rav Steinman asked one of these [rabbis] if anyone had come to him yet to ask him to daven that their son should die. ‘This week, 15 fathers came to me with this request regarding their sons who had gone completely off the derech,’ [Steinman said.]….

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?…"

Ex-Haredi Transgender Woman Prostitute Sues Over Prison Solitary Confinement

The woman, who was born into a haredi family but who is no longer Orthodox, has now filed a petition with the Lod District Court that claims she is in isolation only because she is transgender. She has a history of robbery and prostitution and is serving her third jail term, this time for robbery and assault of her clients.

Matisyahu Slated To Perform On Shabbat

Ex-hasid Matisyahu is slated to perform Friday December 25 at 8:00 pm – on Shabbat. This may be the first time Matisyahu has publicly broken Shabbat in his professional role in NYC since he left Orthodoxy.

High Court Rules Transgender Ex-Haredi Woman Can Be Cremated

Israel’s High Court of Justice Supreme has affirmed a lower court ruling rejecting a petition filed by the estranged haredi family of a transgender woman, May Peleg, seeking to block her cremation.

You're Not Frum Anymore Because You Hate Your Parents, Chabad's Rabbi Manis Friedman Says

According to Rabbi Manis Friedman, the prominent Chabad emissary who compared being raped as a child to having a bout of diarrhea and who called for genocide against Palestinian civilians (even women and children), tells a class at Chabad's Bais Rivka girls school in Crown Heights that Chabad kids stop being Chabad or Orthodox for three reasons, two of which are the kids' own fault.

Religious Kids Far More Selfish Than Atheist Kids, New Study Finds

If you want your child to be kind and giving, don't teach him or her about God, a new study suggests. Even though religious parents are more likely to describe their children as empathetic and concerned about justice than are non-religious parents. But new evidence shows the opposite is true – religious kids are less caring and more selfish than their atheist peers. The findings support the notion that the secularization of moral discourse may serve to increase rather than decrease human kindness, the researchers say. So why are religious kids so often more selfish? The answer may be religion itself.

Only OTD Haredim Who Already Break Shabbat Are Allowed To Enlist In The IDF, Top Haredi Leader Says

Steinman said IDF service is permitted – but only for ex-haredim, kids who were out on the streets because they were kicked out of haredi yeshivas, were committing crimes and hooliganism, and most importantly to him, were already breaking Shabbat. Every actual haredi yeshiva student should refuse to serve in the IDF.

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. 

Video: Life After Leaving Orthodoxy: Basya Schechter & Shulem Deen

Two ex-haredim, musician Basya Schechter (“Pharaoh’s Daughter,” “Darshan”) & author Shulem Deen (All Who Go Do Not Return), discuss their journeys with The Jewish Week’s Sandee Brawarsky at NYC’s Rodef Sholom Synagogue.

Video: Matisyahu Talks About Leaving Haredi Judaism

He left Chabad in 2007 and the haredi and Orthodox world several years later. Now Matisyahu calls the decision to leave “one of the hardest things I had to go through.”

Drug Raid In Crown Heights Sees Four Jews Arrested

An alleged drug den located at 704 Lefferts Avenue between Albany and Troy Avenues in the heavily Chabad Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights was raided by the NYPD Thursday night. Six people were arrested, including four Jews.

If You Leave The Haredi World, You Cannot Return

"…I personally was very close to a young [ex-haredi] man who killed himself a year and a half ago. He was 24 and had gone through all the possible options in the haredi world before leaving – Bratslav [Breslov; a hasidic movement], kabbala, the Lithuanians [non-Hasidic] and a yeshiva – but couldn’t find his niche. We started to meet for coffee to talk. He worked as a butcher in a supermarket, and one day he told me that he would look at all the knives and was afraid he would do something to himself. I took him for emergency psychiatric help. He started therapy and his condition improved. But then he went to his brother’s engagement party, and his older brother told everyone to ignore him. The next day he killed himself.…"

Music Festival Removes Apparently Anti-Semitic Matisyahu Ban, Re-Invites Jewish Reggae Singer

A publicly funded Spanish music festival that banned Matisyahu after he refused to comply with a demand from the festival to issue a public statement in support of a Palestinian state has recanted and re-invited the Jewish reggae singer to perform.

Matisyahu Makes Public Statement On Music Festival BDS-Forced Ban

"The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people..…it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements. Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform?…"

Matisyahu Appearance Cancelled After Jewish Singer Refuses To Endorse Palestinian State

The ex-hasidic reggae singer was supposed to perform at the Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival on August 22. But his show was cancelled after he refused to release a public statement backing a Palestinian state. Under extreme pressure from the BDS movement, artists scheduled to perform at the event threatened to cancel if Matisyahu did not issue the statement and was still allowed to perform because he is “seen to represent Israel.”

Despite Large Need, Israeli Nonprofit That Helps Ex-Haredim Gets Zero State Funding Because Right-Wing And Centrist Lawmakers Do Not Want To Anger Haredi Rabbis And Politicians

According to a 2014 study, Israelis who were once religiously observant are at a high risk of committing suicide. The study was carried out by Bishvil Hahayim (Path to Life), a nonprofit organization that helps the families of people who have committed suicide. It found that 40 percent of people who are no longer religiously observant have had suicidal thoughts, compared to 12 percent, 10 percent and 6 percent, respectively, among respondents who described themselves as secular, traditional and religious. The incidence of suicidal ideation increased to 45 percent for young people in the process of leaving the religious community. Also, 90 percent of ex-religious respondents reported a low level of social support.

Haredi Top Jerusalem Rabbinical Court Judge Gives Custody To Absentee Deadbeat Haredi Father Because Children’s Mother Is No Longer Haredi

Previously in a different case, the same haredi rabbinical court judge ruled that a man who beat his wife and who was considered to be a current danger to her by welfare authorities should have custody of the couple's children, primarily because the haredi rabbinical court judge didn’t like that the woman had taken refuge in a women’s shelter with her kids.

From Neturei Karta Child To Nude Model And Artist

"As an artist I needed to find a creative way to make ends meet." Removing her bra, [Sara] Erenthal…described how she started working as a nude model in an art school. "It felt very strange to sit up there like that, exposed to a group of strangers, afraid my imperfections were being judged," she said, removing the rest of her clothing. "But I needed to do that for my wellbeing. I needed to let go of that stigma, that shame, associated with nudity. It felt pretty good," Erenthal said, now fully naked. "I felt so powerful. Yet my mind was somewhere else."

A Brief Word On Suicide

I didn't want to have to write this. A very tragic part of life is that some people commit suicide. They often do so even when they have loving families and a good support system. But that does not mean the shunning many ex-haredim suffer at the hands of their families and former communities doesn't play a role.

Ex-Hasid Dies In Fall From Rooftop

A desperate woman jumped 20 stories to her death from a swanky rooftop bar in the Flatiron District Monday night. As onlookers sipped pricy drinks at the 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar during a corporate party at 7:30 p.m., a 30-year-old woman, named below, suddenly sprinted toward a row of bushes that lined the edge of the establishment, cops and onlookers said. She went through the shrubbery, over a wall and plummeted to the sidewalk on West 27th Street, shocking pedestrians

How Luzer Twersky Escaped Hasidic Judaism

"…I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no education beyond Jewish Talmudic studies. I had no friends outside of the Hasidic world beyond a few I met at Footsteps, an organization that supports Orthodox Jews attempting to escape. I had no marketable skill beyond being able to charm your pants off. I had never been on a date. I had never heard of The Beatles. And I thought, "May the Force be with you" meant "May God be with you."…

In Israel As Elsewhere, Leaving The Haredi Community Exposes Large Gaps In Education And Training – And Prompts Lawsuit Against The Government

"I once heard them talk about the theory of evolution, very furtively, in the yeshiva when someone said certain people think they are descended from the apes. It triggered a gale of laughter and the rabbi said that anyone who believed that must be a monkey."

Felix And Meira

Ex-hasid Luzer Twersky's new film, Felix and Meira, opens tonight in New York City. Here's the trailer.

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio's Policy Makes Some Abused Youths' Lives Worse, Advocates Charge

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an atheist who has been pandering to religious groups – especially to Satmar hasidim – in likely preparation for a gubernatorial run or an appointment to national office by Hillary Clinton if she is elected president next year. De Blasio promised during the 2013 campaign that all homeless youth in the city would have shelter beds if he were elected mayor. But he reneged on that promise, even though many of these homeless youths are survivors of child sex abuse and even though sexual predators openly wait outside youth shelters like Covenant House to try to sexually exploit youths turned away due to lack of space.

Video: Atheists – Inside The World Of Non-Believers

A CNN special report on atheism – in this case, mostly of the formerly Christian kind.

Matisyahu Talks About His Religious Practice – And Lack Thereof

Matisyahu was once a Chabad-Lubavitch ba'al teshuva known worldwide as a hasidic reggae singer. Today, Matisyahu is no longer completely frum, as he explains in this new interview.

London Trial Of Accused Child Molester Halted, Remaining Charges May Be Dropped

The trial of a South Tottenham, London, UK "rebel" haredi man accused of molesting an “innocent and vulnerable” 14-year-old haredi girl in her own home has been halted on the first day of the hearing and one charge against him thrown out. “Despite the fact she was 14-and-three-quarters she knew very little about sexual matters, she was very much an innocent child; she didn’t know, for example, what the word ‘vagina’ meant. She was isolated and vulnerable in this closed community, and this defendant took sexual advantage of her in these circumstances.”

Chovevei Torah Rabbi Says Haredi View Of Sex, Not Criminal Rabbis, Behind Abuse Coverups

"…In order to make some sense of this community’s abhorrent and cavalier attitude toward sexual violence it is important to emphasize a basic distinction: the difference between sex, something physical which we do instinctively, and eros, an emotion which has to be learned. Having sex is innate. Cats, bees and even flowers do it. Sexuality and sensuality, on the other hand, is not. Animals, bugs and flowers do not feel sexual nor do they experience sensuousness. Developing a sexual persona is a learned skill; sensuality is an acquired emotion. Nobody is born feeling sensuous or having a sexual identity.…"

Video: The Life And Early Death Of An Ex-Hasidic Anti-Abuse Activist

WPIX 11's  Mary Murphy profiled the life and death of ex-hasidic anti-child sex abuse activist (and child sex abuse victim) Joey DiAngelo, who passed away earlier this week. Joe was raped at age 7 in a Satmar mikvah in Williamsburg.

WPIX 11 To Profile Ex-Haredi Child Sex Abuse Prevention Activist Tonight

WPIX 11's  Mary Murphy is doing a story tonight about the life and death of ex-hasidic anti-child sex abuse activist (and child sex abuse victim) Joey DiAngelo, who passed away earlier this week.

Stepping Off The Path And Redefining Faith

Sam Freedman's New York Times column this week, Stepping Off the Path and Redefining Faith, is about artist Sara Erenthal, who is ex-haredi and ex-Neturei Karta, and Footsteps. And it even mentions FailedMessiah.com.

19-Year-Old New Square Man Arrested On Felony Drug Possession Charges

Pinches Surkis allegedly had psychedelic mushrooms, cocaine, prescription drugs, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and packaging material with him in a rental car that reeked of marijuana when he was arrested at about 6:20 am Wednesday.

Orthodox Rabbi Refuses To Reverse Excommunication Of World Famous Philosopher Because Judaism Does Not Recognize Freedom Of Speech

“The moment we rescind the herem, even if we could, it would imply that we share his heretic views…How on earth can we even consider to remove the herem from a person with such preposterous ideas, where he was tearing apart the very fundaments of our religion?"

US-Israel Relations Continue To Worsen After US Accuses Israel Of Targeting For Arrest Members Of Murdered Palestinian Boy’s Family

The deputy spokeswoman for the US Department of State charged yesterday that Israel was targeting members of the family of the 16-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped and gruesomely murdered by a band of haredi and ex-haredi terrorists on July 2.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: IDF Corporal David Menachem Gordon

Corporal David Menachem Gordon, a 21-year-old Israeli soldier from the US who went missing over the weekend and was then found dead near his base, wrote a piece last year about being sexually abused as a child.

Video: Leaving The UK Haredi Community

What life was like for one young man who left the haredi community in London.

One Man's Story: Leaving The UK Haredi Community

“Rabbis came to see me and warned me about a ‘world full of sin’. They said only dropouts and lowlifes wanted to leave. They offered me money, new friends and a new home. They transformed my circumstances. They said that the only way to get a girl was to stay in the community.”

New Film Co-Starring Ex-Hasid Set To Premiere

Ex-hasid Luzer Twersky's new film, "Felix and Meira," will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It also stars Hadas Yaron from "Fill The Void."

Video: Project Freedom – Two Ex-Hasidic Brothers Talk About Life After Ultra-Orthodoxy

Two ex-hasidic brothers talk about living life after leaving the haredi community.

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.

3 Alleged Murderers Of Arab Boy Indicted

Three Jews, all believed to be haredim or ex-haredim, were indicted this morning in Israel for the revenge kidnapping and gruesome murder of Mohammed Abu Khbeir, a 16-year-old Arab boy kidnapped from East Jerusalem early this month.

UPDATED – Police: Murderers Of Arab Boy Planned Crime In Advance, Sought To Murder Vulnerable Arab As Revenge Killing

The right wing Jews who kidnapped and burned alive 16-year-old Jerusalem Arab boy, Mohammed Abu Khbeir, two weeks ago planned the kidnapping and murder in advance, police say, purchasing the gasoline used to burn him alive and other items needed for the crime before Abu Khbeir was kidnapped.

Report: Killers Of 16-Year-Old Arab Boy To Plead Temporary Insanity

The three right wing Jews who admitted to kidnapping and murdering a 16-year-old Arab boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, two weeks ago in Jerusalem are all reportedly planning on pleading temporary insanity this morning.

Murdered Boy Was Waiting For His Father On The Steps Of His Father's Store When Kidnapped

Hussein Abu Khdeir, the father of the murdered boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped and burned alive by Jewish terrorists last week in Jerusalem, wants to emphasize that his son Mohammed looked younger than his age and was far smaller even than he looks in photographs – “You would see him and think he was 11, you wouldn’t believe he was 15.”

Court Releases 3 Of 6 Kidnap-Murder Suspects To House Arrest

Three of the six haredim and ex-haredim accused of murdering 16-year-old Palestinian boy Mohammad Abu Khdeir by burning him alive will be released to seven days of house arrest Thursday because they reportedly did not play an "active" role in the murder.

Haredi Rabbis Condemn Killing Of Arab Boy, Some Label Killers, Who Reportedly Are Haredi, Rodefs

As it becomes clearer that all or many of the six Jews who allegedly kidnapped 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir from East Jerusalem last week and burned him alive in the Jerusalem Forest west of the city almost immediately afterward are haredim or haredi street kids, haredi rabbis from across the spectrum of the haredi community have issued denunciations and condemnations of what was done.