Wednesday, January 28, 2026
NY judge cuts sentence of Hasidic therapist imprisoned for child sex abuse
Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed therapist in the New York City Hasidic community who was imprisoned for abuse in 2013, has his sentence cut.
Weberman was initially sentenced to 103 years in prison in a high-profile case for the city's Jewish community. The sentence was reduced months later to 50 years.
Weberman was convicted of 59 counts, including sustained sexual abuse of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse.
Judge Matthew J. D'Emic of the Kings County Supreme Court in Brooklyn cuts that sentence further, resentencing Weberman to 18 years in prison, meaning he can be released five years from now.
Weberman also admitted to his crimes and apologized to the victim for the first time.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez backed a move to issue a new sentence for Weberman last year. An array of Jewish leaders also backed his release in a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul that was first reported by The Times of Israel in November.
The letter argued against Weberman's "excessive sentence" and said he was a "scapegoat," while condemning his crimes.
The Brooklyn district attorney's office said last year that his sentence was "wildly outside the range for other defendants convicted of the same crimes."
"This was a horrific case and we stand by the conviction, which warranted a significant prison term. But the extreme 103-year sentence in a politicized environment was excessive and unjust, and with today's proceeding the defendant admitted his guilt, apologized to the victim for his crimes, and the court resentenced him within the normal range for this type of criminal conduct," a spokesperson for the district attorney's office says.
"Accountability does not end upon the defendant's eventual release: he will be a registered sex offender for the remainder of his life and subject to monitoring for a decade to ensure community safety. We will continue to vigorously prosecute sex offenders and stand with survivors, mindful to do equal justice based on the facts of each case," the spokesperson says.
Za'akah, a nonprofit that supports Jewish community survivors of abuse, expresses "outrage" over the resentencing and adds that Weberman's victim opposed the move.
"This decision is a devastating betrayal of survivors. It tells them that the system meant to protect them is willing to prioritize their abusers over their safety and justice. Nechemya Weberman's early release endangers the community," says the director of Za'akah, Asher Lovy. "Justice must never be compromised by community pressure or political considerations. We are outraged by this decision."
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Tuesday, January 27, 2026
NYC DA appears poised to try to help free infamous pedophile, critics claim
Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez appears poised to try to help free a convicted pedophile from the Hasidic community, critics say — and things got so heated about it at the State of the State address that he and a foe had to be separated.
Activists opposing the upcoming resentencing of disgraced former prominent Hasidic school mental-health counselor Nechemya Weberman said they fear that the DA will ask for a new sentence of time served, effectively freeing the convicted sicko.
Hasidic victim-advocates claimed that Gonzalez is clearly showing his hand about what he intends to do by posing for pictures with Weberman supporters and icing out the victim so harshly that she was forced to hire her own advocate lawyer.
Weberman, a former counselor at a Williamsburg Yeshiva, was convicted on 59 counts and originally sentenced to 103 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing then-12-year-old Rivky Deutsch for three years.
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Leading Hasidic rabbi tells followers to stop taking part in anti-draft protests
A leading Satmar rabbi has instructed his followers to stop taking part in protests against military conscription, after two ultra-Orthodox teenagers were killed this month when they were struck by buses during demonstrations.
Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, one of the two spiritual leaders of the Satmar Hasidic movement, told followers that participation in protests and road blockages posed a serious danger. Speaking over the weekend to community members, he said students from Satmar institutions in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh must not join such demonstrations.
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Thursday, January 22, 2026
Hasidic Dean Twerski of Hofstra Law Wins At JITC’s 2nd Jewish Media Awards
At JITC's 2nd Jewish Media Awards, we were proud to honor Hasidic Jew Professor Aaron D. Twerski with a Jewish Media All-Star Award.
A leading legal scholar and educator, Professor Aaron Twerski is the Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, a former dean at Hofstra University School of Law, and one of the most influential voices in tort law today.
In his acceptance speech, he spoke candidly about breaking stereotypes — challenging assumptions about what Orthodox Jews look like, how they think, and where they belong.
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Brooklyn judge allows Hasidic school principal’s discrimination case to proceed against NYC Department of Education
A longtime New York City school principal's lawsuit alleging religious discrimination will partially move forward after a federal judge ruled that parts of her case against the Department of Education (DOE) can proceed to trial.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan issued the decision in Gahfi v. New York City Department of Education et al., granting in part and denying in part the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The plaintiff, Hadar Gahfi, who practices Hasidic Judaism, alleges that DOE officials discriminated against her because of her faith and retaliated against her following a workplace injury.
Gahfi has worked for DOE for more than 25 years, including 15 years as assistant principal of P.S. 191 in Brooklyn's District 17. In 2018, she was promoted to principal and began a mandatory probationary period under New York education law. During her tenure, Gahfi claims that DOE failed to replace her former assistant principal position, leaving her without necessary administrative support.
The dispute escalated after Gahfi sustained an injury at work and later applied for paid leave under the city's Line of Duty Injury (LODI) policy. Community Superintendent Shenean Lindsay, a named defendant, denied the request, citing Gahfi's failure to report the injury within 24 hours as required by policy. Instead, Gahfi was placed on unpaid leave and forced to use hundreds of accrued vacation days to maintain her salary.
While on leave, Gahfi received two letters from Lindsay extending her probationary period by one year, citing concerns about her leadership effectiveness. Gahfi contends that these actions were discriminatory and retaliatory, linked to her religious identity and medical condition.
Judge Cogan previously dismissed some of Gahfi's claims, including her federal hostile work environment and state retaliation allegations. However, in the latest ruling, he found that sufficient factual disputes remain for a jury to consider on certain discrimination and retaliation counts under federal and state civil rights laws.
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Tuesday, January 20, 2026
The Hasidic chicken man of Crown Heights
The chicken coop is located about 300 feet from Lubavitcher World Headquarters in Brooklyn. It's part of The Crown Heights Homestead, which, according to Google Maps, is "permanently closed,"
Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. The Hasidic homestead was very much in operation when I visited on a recent frigid weekday afternoon. Emerging from the Kingston Avenue subway station, I walked over to the four-story building that is home to Daniel Yeroshalmi and his family. Yeroshalmi, 21, is a member of Chabad.
He showed me the 20 hens he keeps in his cement backyard and I watched as he retrieved a single egg from the chicken coop he built.
"I got a lot more eggs when they were younger," Yeroshalmi told me. "But as they get older they lay a lot less."
Built from bookshelves Yeroshalmi salvaged from a yeshiva renovation, the chicken coop is a demonstration of his tech chops, which extend into video production, social media and security surveillance. The insulated coop has an automatic door that goes up in the morning and down at night.
As I stood next to him and marveled at the chickens scurrying about, I felt my foot sink into something mushy. It turned out to be a huge piece of squash that had been left on the ground for the chickens to eat.
A local yeshiva donates squash and other produce that he feeds to the flock.
"Whatever they have that's going bad, they give to me," Yeroshalmi explained.
The urban homesteader also composts the yeshiva donations, as evidenced by a huge pile of eggplants and cucumbers decomposing in his yard. At the base of the compost pile on the day I visited were several esrogim, the yellow citron used during the holiday of Sukot.
"A lot of Crown Heights people don't know what compost is. They just wonder why I'm piling up vegetables in my front yard," he said.
His homestead may be Hasidic but the soil is too acidic to grow corn and wheat. Yeroshalmi tried.
He did grow 10-foot tall sunflowers. And his garden has yielded tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, a veritable Israeli salad. There are cherry and fig trees, some of which were propagated from the branches of fig trees his family brought to America from Iran over the years. One of the fig trees is a variety known as the Chicago Cold Hardy Fig, but Yeroshalmi, who davens three times a day, is following the commandment known as orlah that forbids consuming a tree's fruit during the first three years.
Yeroshalmi's quest to make green things flourish in this Kings County soil started early. A 2012 Google Maps photo shows him planting radishes in the front lawn when he was seven.
"I think there's more of a connection between Judaism and plants than people think about," he told me.
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Monday, January 19, 2026
Antisemitic abuse hurled at Jewish teens as ute chases boys through St Kilda East
A group of Jewish teenagers were forced to flee through the streets of St Kilda East after a white ute allegedly pursued them while its occupants shouted Nazi slogans and threats.
The confrontation unfolded about 9.50pm on Monday near the intersection of Glen Eira Road and Hotham Street, a short distance from the Adass Israel Synagogue, which was firebombed just over a year ago.
CCTV footage shows the boys waiting to cross the road as a white ute pulls up nearby.
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Thursday, January 15, 2026
Senior Hasidic Rabbis Join Search for Missing Boy
Intense searches continue for a missing teenager from the Boyan Hasidic community, two days after he disappeared while immersing in a stream. This morning, senior figures from the Boyan Hasidus, ranging from prominent leaders to community members, joined the efforts alongside the boy's parents and extended family, all hoping for positive news.
"Where is Moisehle??" this question echoes through the community as the search enters its third day. Moishele went to immerse in a stream near Modi'in Illin and was swept away by flash floods.
After two days filled with fervent prayers and personal commitments to good deeds, the atmosphere remains tense but hopeful. Rescue forces have been combing the area nonstop, and today saw a significant reinforcement: Boyan Hasidic activists, from the most senior to the youngest, united with the distraught parents and all family members in the field operations.
Community leaders have called on the public to intensify prayers for Moshe ben Reizel, emphasizing unity and faith in the face of this ordeal.
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Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to threatening to kill Jewish official
A Pittsburgh-area man pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court to making an antisemitic threat against a local public official.
Edward Arthur Owens Jr., 30, of Elizabeth, Pa., admitted to making a threat to injure a local public official and making false statements to government agents, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Owens used a social media app to tell the unnamed official that he should "go back to Israel or better yet, exterminate yourself and save us the trouble."
The message also said, "We will not stop until your kind is nonexistent" and used the phrase "109 countries." The Justice Department said the latter was used by antisemites to claim that Jews have been expelled from 109 countries and to call for their continued expulsion.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle following Owens' arrest, the unnamed official cited the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C., following an American Jewish Committee event.
"Public discourse needs to change, because threats of violence are not acceptable in our society," the official said. "Who wants to live in a country where people want to execute each other? And it's happening, like at that AJC event—the perpetrator wanted to kill Jews. And, you know, he was successful. Who wants to live in a society where that happens?"
The false statement charge stemmed from Owens telling FBI agents that his mother had his guns and that he didn't know where they were, nor could he get them. In fact, he had a pistol with him in his car, the Justice Department said.
Sentencing was scheduled for April 13. Owens faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both.
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Jewish MP banned from visiting Bristol school to avoid angering teachers, fellow lawmaker says
An anti-Israel campaign to prevent a pro-Israel Labour Parliament Member from visiting a school was revisited with outrage at the Sunday Jewish Labour Movement Conference, when MP Steve Reed related that a Jewish MP had been banned from visiting the institution to avoid angering teachers.
Reed said during a panel that he had a "colleague who is Jewish" who had been "refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency in case his presence inflames the teachers."
"That is an absolute outrage that that could have possibly ever happened, and they will be called in, and they will be held to account for doing that because you cannot have people with those kinds of attitudes teaching our children," said Reed.
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Woman arrested for attacking Jewish father in Brooklyn, threatening to kill his children
A 35-year-old woman was charged with four hate crimes and a series of additional offenses after allegedly attacking an Orthodox Jewish father in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood while shouting antisemitic threats at him and his family. The incident occurred on Friday night at approximately 11:20 p.m., when the father was walking with his wife and their four young children, ranging in age from six months to six years.
According to the indictment and police reports, the suspect, Ishaara Summers, began following the family while shouting statements such as "I'm going to kill all the Jews," "I will strangle your children," and "Tonight your children die." After a foot chase that lasted several minutes, the suspect attacked the father and struck him in the head and chest, causing pain and swelling.
The 26-year-old father told local media outlets that he initially tried to ignore the shouting, but the threats intensified as the woman approached him and his children. He said that at one point, he felt genuine danger to his family's safety and decided to confront her verbally to distance her. Shortly afterward, he was struck. "When she said she was going to strangle my children, I was genuinely afraid," he said.
The family, which belongs to the Orthodox community, made their way back home during Shabbat. Police forces were called to the scene, and the suspect was arrested shortly after the attack. The New York Police Department stated that she was charged with assault, attempted assault, aggravated harassment, making threats, endangering the welfare of a minor, and four counts of hate crimes.
At a hearing in Brooklyn Criminal Court, Summers denied all charges against her. The prosecution requested that she be held on $50,000 bail, but the judge ordered her release under restrictive conditions without financial bail.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez's office stated, "This is a shocking attack against a Jewish family walking home. Every person in this city should be able to practice their faith safely, and this kind of antisemitic violence will not be tolerated in Brooklyn. The defendant is charged with hate crimes, and we will pursue full accountability."
The incident joins a series of cases of antisemitic violence and threats in New York. According to recent data released by the city's police department, Jews were the target of more than half of the reported hate crimes in the city in 2025, more than all other groups combined.
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Monday, January 12, 2026
NYC Jews line up for Israeli bakery after employees’ charges of ‘genocide support’
Sabrina Naimark, a Jewish Panamanian living in Manhattan, had been a longtime fan of the city's Israeli-owned Breads Bakery chain when she saw news that employees were rebelling against its ownership.
Some of the company's workers voted to unionize this week, and among their demands was that Breads halt its "support of genocide," citing offenses such as partaking in a Jewish food festival.
Naimark's brother used to work for Breads and she adores its babkah and labneh, she said. When she saw a call in the Jewish community to support the bakery after the employees' accusations, she headed to the chain's Upper West Side branch with an Israeli flag on her shoulders.
"Because of October 7th, there's a family that has been created and every single time we come with our flags to help companies that are being boycotted, to counter protests and celebrate Jewish pride," Naimark said. "It's a reminder that we're always going to be here, stronger together."
Naimark was one of hundreds in line on Friday afternoon to support Breads as the city's Jewish community rallied behind the beloved bakery. The line stretched the length of the block on Broadway, with customers wearing stickers that said "Zionist," chatting, and holding Israeli flags.
The crowd gathered in response to a call from Shai Davidai, a Jewish community activist who came to prominence with his harsh criticism of antisemitism at Columbia University, where he was a professor until he resigned in July.
Davidai circulated his call to gather at the Upper West Side location on Friday afternoon online, saying, "We need to show Jewish businesses that we have their backs." The initiative was part of a project Davidai is launching called Here I Am, he said.
"It's just nonviolent, peaceful activism. Everyone here basically came and said, 'Here I am. There's a problem, I got the call, and here I am to help solve it,'" Davidai told The Times of Israel, calling the union demands a "dangerous precedent" and an attack on Jews and Israelis.
"We came as a community, not just to support them financially, but to show them that the Jewish and the Zionist community is here," he said. "Zionism is normal. We're not these evil warmongers like we've been portrayed and only if we all come out of hiding together, that's how we're able to do that."
"No hate, no anger, no arguments, just a show of solidarity and support," he said.
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Thursday, January 08, 2026
Before Israel’s recognition, two Chabad emissaries carried out a quiet mission in Somaliland
Several weeks before Somaliland made headlines following Israel's historic recognition, two Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim from Miami were already there on an unusual mission: printing an ancient Jewish text. Attorney Mendy Lieberman and businessman Yanki Rubin, members of the Chabad community in Florida, traveled to the African territory not to tour, seek business opportunities or join an official delegation, but to print the Tanya, a foundational Hasidic work.
In an interview with the Chabad newspaper Kfar Chabad, they said this was part of an unconventional personal mission: entering countries considered sensitive or hostile to Israel and attempting to print the Tanya there. They have done so in Iraq, Kuwait, Somaliland and South Sudan.
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Wednesday, January 07, 2026
BBC apologizes for purging Holocaust story of references to Jews
Britain's national broadcaster issued a clarification this week after the outlet faced criticism for airing a Christmas special on the Holocaust-era evacuation of Jewish children from Europe that removed all references to Jews.
On December 26th, the BBC show The Repair Shop aired a special segment devoted to the Kindertransport, the evacuation of some 10,000 children, nearly all of them Jewish, from Nazi-controlled territory in 1938 and 1939.
The segment centered on a 19th-century cello which had been damaged by the Nazis, and was brought to Britain aboard a Kindertransport convoy.
Shortly before the convoy's departure, Nazi guards smashed the cello, which remained damaged until it was repaired for the segment.
Critics pointed out, however, that nowhere in the segment was it mentioned that the children evacuated to Britain during the Kindertransport were Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, or that the owner of the cello, Martin Landau, who fled to Britain at age 14, was Jewish.
Despite 16 minutes of the hour-long program being dedicated to the cello's history and the context of the Kindertransport, the BBC segment made no mention of Jews, and reportedly purged a reference to the word "Jew" made by actress Helen Mirren, who presented the cello to the show's repair team.
According to a report by the London-based Jewish Chronicle, Mirren's reference to Jews was edited out of the aired version of the segment.
Amid a backlash over the purging of any reference to Jews, the BBC issued a clarification to the episode's iPlayer page, noting that "the Kindertransport was the organized evacuation of approximately 10,000 children, the majority of whom were Jewish."
Despite this, however, the BBC's official website still does not note the Jewish nature of the story or Landau's Jewish heritage.
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Tuesday, January 06, 2026
Torah, work and the IDF: the Hasidic sect embracing modern Israeli life
One by one, striking booths were set up, each showcasing the work of business owners from the Karlin Hasidic community. A carpenter who builds ornate Torah arks, a printer who manufactures shtreimels and many others not necessarily tied to Jewish tradition, real estate developers, mortgage advisors, massage therapists, dessert table stylists and more.
This was the scene at the Karlin Hasidic sect's massive employment fair at Jerusalem's International Convention Center, intended to introduce community members to the range of services offered by fellow Hasidim and to encourage business connections within the sect. Attendees, all dressed in identical Hasidic garb, strolled between booths, mingling and engaging in conversation, almost all, notably, with smartphones in hand and no effort to hide them.
"The Rebbe told me to have one," said Yitzhak, a 22-year-old man operating one of the more impressive booths. "In a lot of Hasidic or Haredi communities, people carry a 'kosher' phone just to get their kids into school, but they also secretly have a smartphone for work. That's not how we do things. The Rebbe said, 'If you need it for work, have it, and don't put on a show.'"
He added that many community members use filtered smartphones without access to typical apps, reflecting a grounded, realistic approach. "He understood people already have them, so better to use them mindfully and with supervision, rather than hiding it while everyone knows anyway."
It's a refreshingly pragmatic, even innovative stance, especially coming from the leader of one of the most rooted and widely recognized Hasidic sects. Karlin's Shabbat melodies are the soundtrack of many religious homes, and the movement is considered a longstanding Hasidic brand. But under its current leader, Rabbi Baruch Meir Shochet, the sect is undergoing notable change.
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"You won't see politics here," Yitzhak added. "Our Rebbe isn't officially part of Agudat Yisrael anymore and doesn't attend the Council of Torah Sages. If anything, he's closely connected with Bezalel Smotrich, but also with Haredi Knesset members and politicians from non-religious parties. There's no directive on who to vote for, some vote Haredi, some vote religious Zionist."
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Friday, January 02, 2026
Mamdani deletes social media posts about Israel, Jew-hatred from mayoral account
Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, wrote to Zohran Mamdani on the latter's inauguration day as mayor of New York City, informing him that he was violating city records law by deleting posts from his predecessor about Israel and about Jew-hatred.
"At a moment of unprecedented antisemitic intimidation, violence and exclusion in the city, the decision to erase official statements affirming the safety and protection of Jews is not merely tone-deaf; it is shameful," Goldfeder wrote on Jan. 1.
After the official mayoral account transitioned from Mamdani's predecessor, Eric Adams, screenshots circulated showing Mamdani's name appearing over Adams-era posts supporting Israel and condemning antisemitism. These posts were later deleted from the account.
Goldfeder noted that posts from the mayor's official social media account "are not personal commentary, they are official city records," adding that, under New York law, "public records may not be destroyed or otherwise disposed of except pursuant to an approved records-retention schedule."
He called on the mayor to affirm the city's commitment "to protecting Jewish New Yorkers, not as a favor, but as a fundamental obligation of office."
"Your first days in office will define your administration," Goldfeder wrote. "This is not how that definition should begin."
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in response to Goldfeder's letter that the attorney general's office "will be extremely vigilant as to any and all violations of religious liberties in NYC."
"We will investigate, sue and indict as needed," she stated.
Along with the deletions, one of Mamdani's first actions in office was to revoke all executive orders issued since Sept. 26, 2024, which included the city's formal adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and an order barring the city from participating in boycotts of Israel.
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Thursday, January 01, 2026
Gaza-Wounded IDF Reservist Rabbi Assaulted in Jaffa Street Attack
A rabbi from the Hesder Yeshiva in Jaffa, Nataniel Avitan, was assaulted on Yefet Street when an Arab assailant allegedly punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground, cursed him, and fled while shouting "Allahu Akbar," according to the yeshiva and local reports.
The rabbi filed a police complaint and was treated in light condition before being taken to Ichilov Hospital. Police say they launched searches to locate the suspect and are examining the circumstances, as the yeshiva demands immediate action to restore security for Jewish residents in Jaffa. The rabbi is an active reservist who was recently wounded in Gaza.
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