Last week, the Brooklyn district attorney confirmed that prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a two-week old infant who died last fall in Brooklyn after he contracted herpes from a religious circumcision at Maimonides Medical Center. As we noted, the case sounded eerily similar to that of Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer, a Rockland County mohel who was found to have given three babies herpes through the ritual several years ago. Prosecutors have noticed that as well, and just announced they were investigating Fischer in connection to the baby's death—and it turns out that Fischer has continued performing the controversial religious circumcisions despite a court order to stop. more ›

Last week, Orthodox Jews in a predominantly Haredim part of Borough Park hung eleven mannequins in effigy across 12th Avenue. (Haredi Jews are widely considered the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism.) The display was part of the Purim celebrations, but some non-Jewish locals who passed through the neighborhood were confused and even offended by the effigies, according to News 12. The local news channel says a viewer tipped them off about the display, and one passerby told them, "I don't know, I think it's kind of like ridiculing." more ›

This week, the Brooklyn district attorney confirmed that prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a two-week old infant who died last fall in Brooklyn after he contracted herpes from a religious circumcision at Maimonides Medical Center. Now, rabbis are worried that the investigation may send mohels who perform the metzitzah b’peh ritual into back alley circumcisions: “The worst thing that could happen is if the authorities regulate this practice, then it could go underground,” Rabbi David Zwiebel, the executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, told the Times. more ›

A two-week old infant died last fall in a Brooklyn hospital from herpes contracted from a religious circumcision. According to the Daily News, the unidentified infant died last September at Maimonides Hospital—the cause of death was listed as “disseminated herpes simplex virus Type 1, complicating ritual circumcision with oral suction.” The case sounds eerily similar to that of Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer, a Rockland County mohel who was found to have given three babies herpes through the ritual. more ›

The yuppie goyim are TAKING OVER Crown Heights, turning the once idyllic neighborhood into a wicked G-dless hellhole known among interlopers as "ProCro," a veritable Sodom where they party half-naked on rooftops and corrupt the area youth! So says one local landlord, who has fired off an open letter begging fellow property owners not to rent to these licentious libertines. In a desperate missive titled "Take Back Our Neighborhood," the anonymous landlord writes: more ›

The Chelsea man who was arrested last night and accused of making a string of threatening anti-Semitic phone calls has been identified by police as David Haddad, a non-practicing Jew who may have been lashing out at relatives over a failed business venture. The first call Haddad, 56, allegedly made was on December 11th, when investigators say he called an 80-year-old Sheepshead Bay woman and told her, "All Jews should die and go to hell." That woman, by the way, happens to be Haddad's mother. more ›

Police are investigating a rash of weekend hate crimes in Midwood, Brooklyn, where swastikas were spray painted on three buildings, along with the words "Die Jews" on a garage door. The garage door vandalism occurred at a private residence located 100 feet away Assemblyman Dov Hikind's home, and the politician says the latest outburst of anti-Semitism has local residents increasingly alarmed. Midwood has one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors in America, and Hikind says, "You wouldn't believe the comments that I hear. 'Does this mean something? Is this the beginning of something?' I tell them no because this is America." more ›

Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Jewish college in Manhattan with the transgendered professor, is in another uproar because the school's online newspaper, The Beacon, published a personal essay about an unmarried woman's hotel tryst. more ›

Mitt "I'm The Only Sane One If You Discount Jon Huntsman" Romney is scheduled to visit Borough Park Brooklyn next month for a sit-down fundraiser with representatives from the Orthodox Jewish community. According to Gestetner Updates, Romney is due to pick up $100K from the visit, well shy of the $400K he earned from a September visit to Queens. Naturally, Bob Turner thinks that Romney is trying to pull a Bob Turner on a national level. "It’s an important recognition of what happened in my race. This is an awakening of a new political force," Turner tells the Post. "The Jewish community is a force to be reckoned with…They went to my side in a very large way.” more ›

With Friday's burnt cars and anti-Semitic scrawls still fresh in their memory, Midwood community members and politicians took to the streets yesterday to make clear that they won't be standing for such attacks. "I feel wrong if I don't come and do something, it's Jews, you come out, we may not know them but we're all one, we're all together," explained one resident of the heavily Jewish stretch of Ocean Parkway. And while police have still made no arrests in the presumed hate crime, they have high hopes of getting DNA or fingerprints off the myriad bottles and gas containers left at the scene. more ›

Yesterday morning in Midwood, on the anniversary of the end of Kristallnacht, vandals torched three cars, tried to burn a fourth, and scrawled anti-semitic graffiti on a nearby van and benches. The attack took place around 5:30 a.m. in the heavily Orthodox Jewish section of Ocean Parkway. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, along with 66th NYPD Police Precinct, are currently investigating the vandalism as a hate crime. “I think it’s a jealousy of wealth, and then the use of anti-Semitism as a way to express that jealousy,” Bobby Tebeli, whose mother’s BMW X5 was burned, told the Post. more ›

If you managed to survive the great Lulav Shortage of 2011 and are ready to shake those etrogs for the Jewish holiday Sukkot, which began this week, here's where to do it: more ›

Earlier this week, the Parks Department removed 16 controversial signs in the predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of South Williamsburg because they were screwed into public trees. The Yiddish signs, first reported on Failed Messiah, roughly translated to: "Precious Jewish Daughter: Please move to the side when a man approaches!" Today the Daily News checks in on the neighborhood and finds that some of the locals feel the city is suppressing their civil liberties. more ›

Possible cyborg and Sarah Palin enemy #1 Michele Bachmann was in New York City yesterday speaking to a small group of Orthodox Jewish leaders. There wasn't a lot of fanfare, because Bachmann "nor her campaign would disclose details about her day in New York." But the bigger story is how Bachmann is milking Mitt "Stormin' Mormon" Romney's campaign donations from Jewish voters, all because some believe Bachmann is "the Jewish candidate." Man, Vern Wuensche must be PISSED right now, and not just because no one knows who Vern Wuensche is! more ›

Jewish groups are slamming Delta Airlines for entering into a partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines, which, like all airlines, must comply with that country's rules about who flies into the Kingdom, and how. Saudi Arabia bans anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering the country, and it's widely believed that travelers with Jewish-sounding names are also kept out. Women flying into Saudi Arabia must adhere to the dress code and have a male escort waiting for them at the airport, and non-Islamic religious artifacts are not permitted. Of course, some of these nuances were lost in yesterday's sensational headlines about Delta Vs. Jews, with USA Today retracting an inaccurate article claiming that Delta flights traveling to Saudi Arabia would ban Jews. more ›

Gay porn star and producer Michael Lucas—who you might remember from such films as Piss!, Men in Stockings, Feet! and Farts!—is once again calling for a boycott of the NYC LGBT Center. Earlier this year the Center was persuaded, in part because of the fuss made by Lucas, to cancel an event for an anti-Israel group called Siege Busters Working Group but now the group has merged with another group, "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid," and gotten space at the Center. And Lucas is livid. more ›

Intactivism is the belief in the right of baby boys to keep their foreskins intact, and there's a movement to legally ban circumcision. After introducing legislation last year, a San Francisco-based group of intactivists opposing male circumcision has collected enough signatures for a ballot initiative next November on whether to bar the practice in the city. "It's excruciatingly painful and permanently damaging surgery that's forced on men when they're at their weakest and most vulnerable," said Lloyd Schofield, one of the chief opponents. more ›

The fuming over the NYPD's Wednesday ticketing blitz in Williamsburg, despite it being the second day of Passover, continues. The ticketing was especially galling to the community, as just the week before Jewish leaders, the police and local pols had sat down to break bread and pat each other on the back. One community leader, Isaac Abraham, complained to the Post, "We have a lot of respect for the Police Department, but we're looking for just a little sensitivity." more ›

Next Saturday night there was supposed to be a raging "Party to End Apartheid!" for Israeli Apartheid Week at the NYC LGBT Center, where the group Siege Busters Working Group meets regularly. (Emily Henochowicz, the Cooper Union student who lost an eye while protesting in Israel last summer, is a member.) There was going to be "DJ sets, guest performances, and great company" from 8 p.m. to midnight. But then along came gay porn producer Michael Lucas, an Israeli-American whom you may recall from such hits as Shameless Hole and Piss Gods, to pour hot oil all over the plan. more ›

From Daily Intel, a quote from fashion designer and icon (and CFDA president) Diane von Furstenberg during a 92nd St. Y talk: "The Chinese people are very individual. I mean, they are not like the Japanese that are obedient. They're very — they're like Jews, really, except that there is a lot more of them. And you know, I mean, try to think of governing a billion and a half Jews." Related: Last January, DVF decided, "My New Year’s resolution was to get known in China." more ›

A 26-year-old father of four was savagely beaten by three thugs on Thanksgiving in Williamsburg, and police are investigating the assault as a hate crime. Joel Weinberger, an Orthodox Jewish man, suffered a broken leg and his jaw has been wired shut after the beating, which took place around 7:30 p.m. after he left a Yeshiva on Harrison Avenue. Community activist Isaac Abraham says he thinks it's obvious the assault was a hate crime, because Weinberger voluntarily offered his assailants his wallet, and they stomped him anyway. more ›