Rabbis Urge Jews to Support Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin

On Friday, April 9th, the government issued a sentencing memorandum urging the court to impose a life sentence on Sholom Rubashkin, facing his conviction on bank fraud charges.

This recommendation comes despite the fact that Mr. Rubashkin is a non-violent first time offender, who made timely interest payments to the lender bank until his plant was raided. He never intended to cause loss to the bank. Despite massive pre-trial publicity, all immigration charges were dropped. The life-sentence recommendation entirely disregards Mr. Rubashkin’s exceptional record of charity and good deeds and that he is the father of ten children, including a severely autistic 16-year-old son, all of whom depend on him greatly.

Police Charge Charedi for Torching Israeli Flag

ISRAEL — Jerusalem police on Monday charged a 20-year-old ultra-Orthodox man with disorderly conduct and desecrating the state flag, after he allegedly set Israel’s flag on fire in the Shabbat Square in Jerusalem a day earlier.

Hasids vs. Hipsters: A Williamsburg Story

In Brooklyn, a gentle clash over unkosher food and bike lanes.

WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is home to two of New York’s most devout, and sometimes conflicting, religious sects. Inhabiting the South section of the neighborhood are the Hasidim. Often referred to as simply the Satmars, the name of their particular religious sect (which began in Hungary), they represent one of the largest communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York. Their modest dress—black pants, white shirts, fur streimel hats even in the summer—is straight out of 18th-century Eastern Europe. The men keep sidecurls, the women cover their hair, and everybody prays. Yiddish is spoken; knishes are eaten.