Hasidic Rabbi On Trial for Child Molestation

Williamsburg rabbi Nechemya Weberman is charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl over three years after her parents sent her to him for counseling.

“It doesn’t sound like modern Brooklyn, it sounds like the Salem witch trials,” said Assistant DA Kevin O’Donnell.  He said the alleged victim’s parents sent her to Weberman after she was shunned by the Satmar Hasidic community because she questioned authority and acted immodestly. O’Donnell alleged that Weberman fondled the girl in his office and forced her to perform oral sex, “over and over again.”

Defense attorney George Farkas noted the seeming strangeness to outsiders of Hasidic Judaism, warning jurors not to judge Weberman on his adherence to religious doctrine. “He looks different. He dresses different. He acts different than the rest of the citizenry,” Farkas said.  The same, of course, can be said about Catholic priests, some of whom have been famously accused of child molestation.  At least Rabbi Weberman did not apparently violate the commandment prohibiting lying down with a man.

The defense team has argued that the girl’s accusation stems from a bizarre incident where Weberman and her father secretly filmed her having sex with her boyfriend — then turned the tape over to authorities in an attempt to file statutory-rape charges against the boyfriend.  They say she made the accusation to retaliate against Weberman.

Four Hasidic (the New York Post insists on calling them "ultra-Orthodox", even though Hasidism is a sect that, at the time of its creation, was kind of reform) men have been busted for allegedly intimidating witnesses in the case. One was charged with offering the alleged victim $500,000 to leave the country and drop her accusation.

You can read more here.

The River Cafe Discriminates Against Jews

Actually, only against religious Jews.  Another reason to get enlightened.

Read the NY Post article here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/pay_per_view_jews_cETUcmBGFROVXDBDtxwzeI.

Jewish History They Didn't Teach in Sunday School

A Provocative People: A Secular History of the Jews by Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine (1928-2007), the founder of Humanistic Judaism, is the culmination of a lifetime of study and insight by one of the most provocative rabbis in Jewish history. Its unflinching approach to academic truth, be it biblical, medieval or modern, is unusual. And its celebration of the contemporary secularized reality of most Jews as the culmination of, not a rupture with, the Jewish historical experience is intriguing. Rabbi Adam Chalom, editor of Wine's magnum opus and his successor as Dean for North America of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, will explore the importance of this new history for the present and future of the Jewish people.

Thursday, November 29

15 West 86^th Street, New York City

7:30pm (Doors open at 7pm

No charge. Open to the public.

 

Co-sponsored by The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism (www.citycongregation..org) and the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism (www.iishl.org).

Books will be available for purchase at the event for $25 (price includes sales tax)

For more information, call 212·213·1002 or email info@citycongregation.org.

Atheists Petition Obama to Nix God

I first read about it on a right-wing blog: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/atheists-petition-obama-to-nix-god-the-bible-from-presidential-oath-religious-rhetoric-is-empty/.  What do you know, it turns out the petition was started by FFRF, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, of which I am a proud member!  It is actually not an atheist organization--it just aims to keep church and state separate, just as the founding fathers of our country intended.  If you want to join in, here is a link to the petition: http://ffrf.org/news/action/item/16075-easiest-contact-president-obama.

Bei Mir Bist Du Scheen

Bei Mir Bist Du Scheen for the 21st century, by Ilhama featuring DJ OGB:
http://youtu.be/r4B90Knx57w

Center for Inquiry Presents: Open Mind Open Mic

Wednesday, November 14^th 2012 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Location: Ivy Bakery, 138 West Houston St, Manhattan

The Open Mind Open Mic is an open mic for people to share performance art inspired by science, the natural world, and the power of secular humanism. Bring a song, poem, comedy act, or story, whether original work or a cover of an existing piece that inspires you. Experienced and beginner artists encouraged to perform. All encouraged to listen.

The Open Mind Open Mic takes place on the first Wednesday of every month. Please contact nyc@centerforinquiry.net with any questions.

Fool's Gold in the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization

They gave us algebra and chemistry, but, according to an article in the November/December issue of the Skeptical Inquirer, they did not invent flight.  In fact, according to the magazine, the touring exhibit 1001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization has many serious misrepresentations of the contribution of Moslims to the advancement of knowledge.  To me, the funniest example was that of the invention of flight: eagle feathers? seriously? based on a chronicle written 700 years after the alleged event?  Among other busted myths of Muslim contribution: optics, clocks, colleges.  According to the authors of the article,

These gross errors are just a sample—similar problems repeatedly show up throughout the exhibition catalog.

 You can read a part of this article here.  Hopefully, it will eventually become available in full on their website (if they have the cojones).