Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
Georgetown rabbi accused of voyeurism is fired by synagogue
A rabbi who #39;s been charged with secretly videotaping women in a ritual bath has been fired by his Georgetown synagogue. http://bit.ly/1v7bFJ7.
By: ABC7 WJLA
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Georgetown rabbi accused of voyeurism is fired by synagogue - Video
Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
December 1 at 6:38 PM
THE DISTRICT
Synagogue fires rabbi accused of voyeurism
A Georgetown synagogue has fired Barry Freundel, the Orthodox rabbi charged this fall with secretly videotaping women as they prepared for a ritual bath.
According to a statement dated Sunday, the Kesher Israel board of directors made the decision to fire Freundel under extraordinarily difficult and unfortunate circumstances. Freundel and his family have been asked to vacate a synagogue-owned home in Georgetown by Jan. 1, the statement said.
Freundel was arrested and charged in October with voyeurism and has pleaded not guilty.
Until now, the rabbi, a national leader in the modern Orthodox community on conversion, had been suspended without pay.
Kesher Israel President Elanit Jakabovics said the synagogue made the decision to fire Freundel after reviewing charging documents.
An attempt to reach Freundels attorney, Jeffrey Harris, was not immediately successful Monday.
Michelle Boorstein
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Local Digest: Georgetown synagogue fires rabbi accused of voyeurism
Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- An orthodox synagogue in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., fired its rabbi after he was accused of installing cameras in a room where women bathed.
Rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested in October and pleaded not guilty to a charge of voyeurism.
He allegedly secretly installed video cameras in the shower room of the mikvah, a room where women prepared for ritual bath at Kesher Israel synagogue.
The synagogue's board of directors made the decision last week to fire Freundel, a statement from the board said Sunday. Freundel and his family are also required to vacate a synagogue-owned home by Jan. 1.
"The alleged acts leading to this step were a gross violation of law, privacy, halakha, and trust.They breached the high moral and ethical standards we set for ourselves and for our leadership.Our collective heart breaks for the consequences, both seen and unseen, of these alleged acts to all the potential victims and our entire community," the statement said.
Freundel had also been suspended without pay from his job as an associate professor at Towson University near Baltimore. He teaches philosophy and religious studies at the school.
Freundel is next scheduled to appear in court Jan. 16. If convicted, he could face six years in prison.
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Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
By Adam Entous
Maj. Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesman, was taken aback when he received a message from a mysterious man writing from the heart of Syria's bloody civil war.
The man, a Sunni Muslim who created a Facebook page called "Jobar Synagogue," said he was on a mission to preserve his town's crown jewel, a centuries-old religious site venerated by the three major religions. Merely contacting the Israelis was an act that could have put his life in danger.
"If we do not move fast to protect this historical heritage, it will be lost forever," he wrote to the Israeli major, via Facebook.
The exchange last year was part of a frantic mission to rescue the synagogue, located in the battle-worn Damascus suburb of Jobar. The man behind the Facebook page, who uses the nom de guerre Abbas Abu Suleiman, got the attention of rabbis in Israel and New York, Syrian exiles in Washington and a Manhattan diamond-district salesman who visited the synagogue as a boy.
Mr. Suleiman hoped the Jewish community would intervene with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not only to save the site, but to halt the bombardment of his hometown. Safeguarding a part of Syria's multicultural religious heritage, he hoped, might help the country rebuild whenever the war was over.
Maj. Adraee gets as many as 18,000 Facebook messages each day, many berating him for Israel's policies toward its neighbors. After receiving Mr. Suleiman's plea, he didn't know what to think. Was this man an ally? An opportunist? He replied to the Facebook message with a question mark.
Others contacted by Mr. Suleiman had a similar reaction. Jewish leaders on two continents worried about, among other things, whether intervening would endanger the tiny community of aging Jews remaining in Syria.
This account of Mr. Suleiman's quest is based on interviews with him on Skype, transcripts of his Facebook chats and discussions with Muslim and Jewish leaders in the U.S., Syria and Israel. Mr. Suleiman asked The Wall Street Journal not to disclose his real name.
The Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Jobar has been part of Jewish life in Syria for centuries. An inscription that for years was part of the synagogue's wall described it as the shrine of the Prophet Eliyahu Hanavi since 720 B.C. The synagogue has been rebuilt many times over the years, according to the chief rabbi of the Syrian Jews, Avraham Hamra.
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Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
Published December 01, 2014
WASHINGTON A rabbi who's been charged with secretly videotaping women in a ritual bath has been fired by his synagogue.
The board of directors at Kesher Israel announced Monday that it has terminated Barry Freundel's contract. Freundel had been suspended without pay since his arrest in October. He faces six counts of voyeurism after police found a clock radio with a hidden camera in the shower area of a ritual bath, known as a mikvah, in the District of Columbia synagogue.
The board says Freundel's alleged actions constituted "a gross violation" of law, privacy and trust with far-reaching consequences.
Freundel is due in court for a hearing next month. He will be required to leave the rabbinic residence at the Orthodox synagogue by Jan. 1.
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Orthodox DC synagogue fires rabbi charged with secretly videotaping women in ritual bath
Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
Nani Nani (Sephardic lullaby)
TWO Maria Dorner-Hofmann - Blockflten Drake Mabry - Ney, Bambusklarinette, Perkussion Live-Aufnahme in der Hofer Kapelle Nittenau, 2.10.2014, Konzertreihe "...
By: Maria Dorner-Hofmann
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Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
Hasidic Bedroom
A glimpse from the editing suite of documentary film "Sacred Sperm"
By: Oded Farber
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Posted By richards on December 2, 2014
By Adriana M. Chvez / El Paso Times
Three Hasidic men who allegedly were trying to set up a marijuana smuggling ring from El Paso to Brooklyn are scheduled to appear in court next week.
Boruch "Barry" Rapoport, 47, Moshe "Mony" Horenshtein, 27, and Menachem Jacobson, 30, all Hasidic Jews, were arraigned in a New York federal courtroom in September after agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations arrested them on various drug charges. Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism. According to the New York Post, which first reported the arrests, the three men wore traditional yarmulkes and tzitzits, or tassels, at their arraignments.
On Sept. 10, a federal grand jury in El Paso indicted Rapoport, Horenshtein and Jacobson on one count each of conspiracy to traffic contraband cigarettes and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute, and three counts of trafficking in contraband cigarettes.
Their trial dates are pending before U.S. District Judge Philip Martinez. The men are scheduled to attend a status hearing on Dec. 11.
According to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by Homeland Security Investigations agents, Rapoport met with an undercover agent in April and told him "his guys" were looking to buy at least 50 pounds of marijuana a week. During the meeting, which was recorded, Rapoport allegedly told the agent to use code words when discussing marijuana during future deals. The complaint states the agent and Rapoport agreed to use the terms "vegetables" or "alfalfa" when referring to the marijuana, and "foot" or "yard" when discussing the weight of the drug.
The complaint also states that Rapoport and the agent spent several months negotiating a price for transporting the marijuana. In May, Rapoport allegedly told the agent he didn't want to be in the same room as the marijuana and the money, because if he got caught "they wouldn't be going to Hawaii for many years," agents wrote in the complaint.
In September, the undercover agent and Rapoport finalized a deal, and on Sept. 9 the undercover agent met with Rapoport at a Brooklyn Hotel, while two other undercover agents met with Horenshtein and Jacobson at a Brooklyn warehouse, the complaint states.
According to the complaint, Jacobson asked one of the agents for a sample of the marijuana to take to his client. The agent told Jacobson the marijuana was "not the Mexican stuff, it's 'hydro' from California," and Jacobson allegedly told the agent "that's good because you can't sell that Mexican stuff around here."
When one of the agents asked about payment, the complaint states, Horenshtein took out $3,000 in cash from his pocket and handed it to the agent.
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Brooklyn Hasidic Jews accused of trying to smuggle marijuana from El Paso
Posted By simmons on December 2, 2014
Israel continues its crackdown on Palestinians Rights groups say Israel #39;s crackdown on Palestinians is on the rise. According to figures released by the Palestinian Prisoners #39; Society, Israeli forces arrested nearly 550 Palestinians in... By: PressTV News Videos
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Israel continues its crackdown on Palestinians - Video
Posted By simmons on December 2, 2014
UN Security Council to consider Palestine resolution #39;soon #39;: envoy UN Security Council to consider Palestine resolution #39;soon #39;: envoy http://www.sanalio.com .A draft resolution to revive talks on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement is expected be presented... By: Mokki NEWS
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UN Security Council to consider Palestine resolution 'soon': envoy - Video
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