Inside a Hasidic Schism
The powerful Gur sect in Israel has been rocked by internal violence, scandal and more. On two evenings in late May, the streets of Jerusalem were once again the scene of violent riots. Incensed mobs threw stones, glass […]
Category Archives: Cults
Blinded by a Black Hat
Israel would do well to examine why in the Shitrit murder, and many other cases involving rabbinical misconduct, authorities often turn a blind eye. I remember the Shitrit family. Very devout new immigrants from Morocco, they lived in […]
The Social Distancing Has to Stop
Haredim have been social distancing since Israel was founded, refusing to take part in the social, cultural and educational life of the rest of the country, isolating into separate communities with their own institutions and own way of […]
Sieg Heil, the Alt Right and medium.com
People are sending me information about Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute conference in Washington D.C. They are neo-Nazis. They raise their hands in a Nazi salute and say Sieg Heil. They say they love Trump. You know what? […]
The Lev Tahor Cult Exposed (Again)
Some of you might have heard about the cult pretending to be devout Jews called “Lev Tahor,” wanted all over the world for child abuse and forcing underage girls into marriages with much older men. The prestigious magazine Foreign Policy has published an […]
Protest The Outrageous Leniency of the Barry Freundel Verdict
All he wanted was to see women naked. Lots of men are like that. Hence the tsunami of internet porn. The difference is, he was a Rabbi, and instead of watching anonymous women who enjoy showing off their […]
Religious Experience or Cult?
Perhaps because we live in the Holy Land, the idea of closeness to our Maker, and adherence to His will, is commonplace even among the most secular Israeli, particularly around Rosh Hashana, when Israelis from all backgrounds and […]
“I Want to Serve, but …”
Fear of ostracism—not lack of conviction—prevents some haredi men from enlisting. A day before the haredi “million man march” called to protest the new drafting of yeshiva students, I sat in my synagogue in Jerusalem’s German Colony as […]
The Ultra-Orthodox’s PR Problem
The cultural divide in Israel between haredi and secular Jews has reached new extremes. In December, haredi men spat upon a terrified eight-year-old girl, Naama Margolese, as she made her way to a haredi-opposed national religious girls school […]
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