Shmarya Rosenberg: Difference between revisions
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'''Shmarya Rosenberg''' (born '''Scott Rosenberg''') is a blogger and journalist who publishes the blog FailedMessiah. He is a former [[Chabad|Chabad-Lubavitch]] [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jew]] who became a critic of [[Jewish Orthodox]]y after leaving the Chabad-Lubavitch movement because of its stance regarding |
'''Shmarya Rosenberg''' (born '''Scott Rosenberg''' in 1958) is a blogger and journalist who publishes the blog ''FailedMessiah''. He is a former [[Chabad|Chabad-Lubavitch]] [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jew]] who became a critic of [[Jewish Orthodox]]y after leaving the Chabad-Lubavitch movement because of its stance regarding [[Beta Israel|Ethiopian Jews]].<ref name="Failed Messiah">{{cite web| url= http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/about.html|title=Shmarya Rosenberg|date=2008-08-02|work=FailedMessiah|author=Shmarya Rosenberg}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Rosenberg, who was described as “without doubt one of the Jewish blogosphere's most respected and erudite commentators” by the Israeli daily ''[[Haaretz]]'',<ref name="Haaretz1.239689"/> was the only American Jew listed both among the ''[[Jewish Daily Forward]]s'' 50 and ''[[Heeb]]'s'' 100 in 2008.<ref name="Forward50"> {{cite web| url= http://blogs.forward.com/bintel-blog/tags/shmarya-rosenberg/| title= Heeb Hundred and Forward 50 Agree — But Only Once | date= November 20, 2008|author= Daniel Treiman| work=The Jewish Daily Forward| accessdate=July 23, 2012}}</ref> |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Rosenberg grew up in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]] in a non observant Jewish family. His grandfather's grandfather was the chief aide to the third Lubavicher rebbe [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]]. He had to flee the rebbe's Hasidic court and the town of [[Lyubavichi, Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast|Lyubavichi]], after he corrected a citation error in one of Schneersohn's [[responsa]].<ref name="Haaretz1.239689"> {{cite web| author=Saul Sadka| url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/jewish-world-weekly-blogger-profile-1.239689 | title=Jewish World weekly blogger profile: Shmarya Rosenberg, FailedMessiah| work=[[Haaretz]] |
Rosenberg grew up in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]] in a non observant [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative Jewish]] family. His parents ran a beauty supply company.<ref name="NYTFreedman"> {{cite web|author=Samuel G. Freedman| url= http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/us/09religion.html?scp=1&sq=shmarya&st=cse | title=Muckraking Blogger Focuses on Jews| work= [[The New York Times]]|date= January 8, 2010| accessdate=July 25, 2012}}</ref> His grandfather's grandfather was the chief aide to the third Lubavicher rebbe [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn]]. He had to flee the rebbe's Hasidic court and the town of [[Lyubavichi, Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast|Lyubavichi]], after he corrected a citation error in one of Schneersohn's [[responsa]].<ref name="Haaretz1.239689"> {{cite web| author=Saul Sadka| url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/jewish-world-weekly-blogger-profile-1.239689 | title=Jewish World weekly blogger profile: Shmarya Rosenberg, FailedMessiah| work=[[Haaretz]]| date=February 20, 2008 | accessdate=July 20, 2012}}</ref> Rosenberg's mother, Helen Mae Rosenberg née Gleckman,<ref name="Obituary">{{cite web| url= http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/twincities/obituary.aspx?n=helen-mae-rosenberg&pid=147724807&fhid=4556|title=Helen Mae Rosenberg Obituary|publisher=Legacy.com |date=January 9, 2011 |accessdate=July 20, 2012}}</ref> was the daughter of Leon Gleckman, a [[bootlegger]] known as the "Al Capone of St. Paul".<ref name="PMaccabee">{{cite book|url= http://books.google.ch/books?id=2dJoEr_lAS0C&hl=de&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour of Crime and Corruption in St Paul|author=Paul Maccabee| publisher= Minnesota Historical Society| year=1995 |page=42| isbn= 0873513169 }}</ref> Rosenberg was active in Jewish student politics at the [[University of Minnesota]], and served several years on the North American executive of the [[World Union of Jewish Students]]. He first met a Chabad-Lubavich emissary in the summer of 1983, when he was trying to get support among local rabbis for Ethiopian Jewry. He became a [[baal teshuvah]] and joined the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as an ultra-Orthodox Hassidic Jew dedicated to study and rigorous observance, abandoning his ambitions of becoming a songwriter.<ref name="Forward13848"> {{cite web| url= http://www.forward.com/articles/13848/|title=Blogger Focuses on Orthodox Foibles|date=July 24, 2008|author= Anthony Weiss| work=The Jewish Daily Forward| accessdate=July 20, 2012}}</ref> He worked in the kosher-meat industry in the [[Twin Cities]] and planned to become a rabbi.<ref name="NYTFreedman"/> |
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After joining the movement, |
After joining the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Rosenberg sent a letter to [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], then the Lubavitcher rebbe, asking the Chabad movement to aid in the effort to rescue the [[Beta Israel|Jews]] of Ethiopia. He never received an answer from Schneerson, but in 2004, he came across an unsigned draft of a letter written by Schneerson in 1984, published in K’far Chabad magazine, which had originally been addressed to him, but was never sent. Schneerson, in his response, suggested that Rosenberg focus his efforts on helping Jews in his own community. Rosenberg was outraged and posted his own letter and Schneerson’s respons and other supporting documents on a blog he called ''Failed Messiah''.<ref name="Forward13848"/> The blog was widely read and resulted in his summary “excommunication” from his Orthodox Jewish community. He now describes himself as secular, but avoids [[Kashrut|non-kosher food]] and observes the [[Sabbath]] to some extent.<ref name="Haaretz1.239689"/> |
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His income comes from some consulting and copywriting and from what he makes from donations and merchandise he sells, for example, a T-shirt with a picture of a bleeding cow with the caption, “I was slaughtered [[Glatt kosher]] and all I got was this horribly painful hook in my throat”,<ref name="Forward13848"/> referring to the slaughtering practices of [[Agriprocessors]], once the biggest kosher-meat plant in the United States. |
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| ⚫ | Rosenberg also writes for the ''[[Jewish Daily Forward]]'', ''[[Tablet Magazine]]'', ''[[Moment (magazine)|Moment]]'', ''[[Sh'ma Magazine]]'', ''Guilt and Pleasure'', ''[[Jewish World Review]]'', ''[[Jewcy]]'', the ''[[Minneapolis StarTribune]]'', the ''[[Daily Beast Newsweek|Daily Beast]]'', and a weekly column for ''[[Heeb]]'' called "Crimes and Misdemeanors".<ref name="Open Zion"> {{cite web| url= http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/04/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition.html| title= Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition| date=April 4, 2012|author= Shmarya Rosenberg | work=The Daily Beast| accessdate=July 23, 2012}}</ref> |
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==Career as a blogger and journalist== |
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| ⚫ | |||
When Rosenberg first started his blog in 2004, he only wanted to put his and Schneerson's letters on the internet, but went on blogging out of fear that the blog service would take down the account if he didn't, posting stories mostly on [[Chabad messianism]]. It was what he calls his “excommunication” about one month after he first started the blog, and the treatment he received from former friends, which made him decide to turn ''FailedMessiah'' into a large, frequently-updated blog.<ref name="Haaretz1.239689"/> |
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| ⚫ | Rosenberg also writes for the ''[[Jewish Daily Forward]]'', ''[[Tablet Magazine]]'', ''[[Moment (magazine)|Moment]]'', ''[[Sh'ma Magazine]]'', ''Guilt and Pleasure'', ''[[Jewish World Review]]'', ''[[Jewcy]]'', the ''[[Minneapolis StarTribune]]'', the ''[[Daily Beast Newsweek|Daily Beast]]'', and a weekly column for ''[[Heeb]]'' called "Crimes and Misdemeanors".<ref name="Open Zion"> {{cite web| url= http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/04/nobody-expects-the-spanish-inquisition.html| title= Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition| date=April 4, 2012|author= Shmarya Rosenberg | work=The Daily Beast| accessdate=July 23, 2012}}</ref> |
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==Failed Messiah== |
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The ''Failed Messiah'' [[blog]] serves as a news outlet with the motto ''Covering Orthodox Judaism since 2004''. |
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Using the blog as a means of reaching a wide audience and covering the largely under-reported [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]]/[[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] sector, Rosenberg reports as a watchdog, muckraker and whistle blower, uncovering and publicizing scandals including but not limited to abuse, violence, [[Child sexual abuse|sex abuse]],<ref name="Sex scandal within the Haredi cummunity">{{cite web|url=http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/04/haredi-child-se.html|title=Haredi Child Sex abuse described from the inside|date=April 7, 2008| work=FailedMessiah|accessdate=July 20, 2012}}</ref> and corruption within the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] community, particularly within its leadership. |
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===FailedMessiah=== |
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The name of the blog ''FailedMessia'' refers to the belief among some Lubavitcher Hassidim that their late rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the [[messiah]],<ref name="Forward13848"/> but is seen by Rosenberg as reference to Jewish Orthodoxy as a whole.<ref name="Haaretz1.239689"/> ''FailedMessia'' serves as a news outlet with the motto ''Covering Orthodox Judaism since 2004''. Using the blog as a means of reaching a wide audience and covering the largely under-reported [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]]/[[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] sector, Rosenberg reports as a [[Watchdog journalism|watchdog]] and [[whistle blower]], in “a combination of [[muckraking |muckraking]] reporting and personal grudge into a must-read digest of the actual and alleged misdeeds of the ultra-Orthodox world. He has broken news about sexual misconduct, smear campaigns and dubious business practices conducted by or on behalf of stringently religious Jews.”<ref name="NYTFreedman"/> |
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When [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]] released a video in 2004 of the slaughtering practices at [[Agriprocessors]], a kosher-meat plant in [[Iowa]] owned and operated by members of the [[Rubashkin family]], Lubavitcher Hasidim from Brooklyn, Rosenberg started to post his own investigative pieces on his blog in addition to those of other journalists. |
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He had his first [[Scoop (term)|scoop]] in 2008, when he discovered the [[Sock puppet (internet)|sock puppet]] scam of the public-relations company [[5W Public Relations]], hired by the Rubashkins,<ref name="NYTFreedman"/> who fabricated online postings to several websites including ''FailedMessia'' in the name of [[Magen Tzedek|Rabbi Morris Allen]],<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.jewishberkshires.org/page.aspx?id=179351 | title=Agriprocessors' PR Firm Accused of Impersonating Rabbi| author=Ben Harris| work= JTA| date=July 2008| accessdate=July 26, 2012}}</ref> a Conservative rabbi who was pushing for ethical reform in kosher foods.<ref name="NYTFreedman"/> |
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In May 2011, ''FailedMessiah'' broke the news that the Hasidic newspapers ''Di Tzeitung'' and ''Di Voch'' had photoshopped Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] and Director for Counterterrorism [[Audrey Tomason]] out of the picture showing President [[Barack Obama]] and his national security team watching the raid that killed [[Osama bin Laden]] from the White House Situation Room.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/second-hasidic-newspaper-drops-hillary-clinton-and-audrey-tomason/2011/05/10/AFEpSMhG_blog.html| author=Melissa Bell| work= The Washington Post| date= May 10, 2011 | title=Second Hasidic newspaper drops Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason| accessdate=July 26, 2012}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www.FailedMessiah.com Failed Messiah] |
*[http://www.FailedMessiah.com Failed Messiah] |
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*Samuel G. Freedman: [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/us/09religion.html?scp=1&sq=shmarya&st=cse ''Muckraking Blogger Focuses on Jews''.] [[The New York Times]], January 8, 2010 |
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[[Category:Baalei teshuva]] |
[[Category:Baalei teshuva]] |
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[[Category:Living people]] |
[[Category:Living people]] |
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{{Judaism-bio-stub}} |
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Revision as of 15:00, 26 July 2012
Shmarya Rosenberg (born Scott Rosenberg in 1958) is a blogger and journalist who publishes the blog FailedMessiah. He is a former Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jew who became a critic of Jewish Orthodoxy after leaving the Chabad-Lubavitch movement because of its stance regarding Ethiopian Jews.[1]
Rosenberg, who was described as “without doubt one of the Jewish blogosphere's most respected and erudite commentators” by the Israeli daily Haaretz,[2] was the only American Jew listed both among the Jewish Daily Forwards 50 and Heeb's 100 in 2008.[3]
Biography
Rosenberg grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota in a non observant Conservative Jewish family. His parents ran a beauty supply company.[4] His grandfather's grandfather was the chief aide to the third Lubavicher rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. He had to flee the rebbe's Hasidic court and the town of Lyubavichi, after he corrected a citation error in one of Schneersohn's responsa.[2] Rosenberg's mother, Helen Mae Rosenberg née Gleckman,[5] was the daughter of Leon Gleckman, a bootlegger known as the "Al Capone of St. Paul".[6] Rosenberg was active in Jewish student politics at the University of Minnesota, and served several years on the North American executive of the World Union of Jewish Students. He first met a Chabad-Lubavich emissary in the summer of 1983, when he was trying to get support among local rabbis for Ethiopian Jewry. He became a baal teshuvah and joined the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as an ultra-Orthodox Hassidic Jew dedicated to study and rigorous observance, abandoning his ambitions of becoming a songwriter.[7] He worked in the kosher-meat industry in the Twin Cities and planned to become a rabbi.[4]
After joining the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Rosenberg sent a letter to Menachem Mendel Schneerson, then the Lubavitcher rebbe, asking the Chabad movement to aid in the effort to rescue the Jews of Ethiopia. He never received an answer from Schneerson, but in 2004, he came across an unsigned draft of a letter written by Schneerson in 1984, published in K’far Chabad magazine, which had originally been addressed to him, but was never sent. Schneerson, in his response, suggested that Rosenberg focus his efforts on helping Jews in his own community. Rosenberg was outraged and posted his own letter and Schneerson’s respons and other supporting documents on a blog he called Failed Messiah.[7] The blog was widely read and resulted in his summary “excommunication” from his Orthodox Jewish community. He now describes himself as secular, but avoids non-kosher food and observes the Sabbath to some extent.[2]
His income comes from some consulting and copywriting and from what he makes from donations and merchandise he sells, for example, a T-shirt with a picture of a bleeding cow with the caption, “I was slaughtered Glatt kosher and all I got was this horribly painful hook in my throat”,[7] referring to the slaughtering practices of Agriprocessors, once the biggest kosher-meat plant in the United States.
Career as a blogger and journalist
When Rosenberg first started his blog in 2004, he only wanted to put his and Schneerson's letters on the internet, but went on blogging out of fear that the blog service would take down the account if he didn't, posting stories mostly on Chabad messianism. It was what he calls his “excommunication” about one month after he first started the blog, and the treatment he received from former friends, which made him decide to turn FailedMessiah into a large, frequently-updated blog.[2]
Rosenberg also writes for the Jewish Daily Forward, Tablet Magazine, Moment, Sh'ma Magazine, Guilt and Pleasure, Jewish World Review, Jewcy, the Minneapolis StarTribune, the Daily Beast, and a weekly column for Heeb called "Crimes and Misdemeanors".[8]
FailedMessiah
The name of the blog FailedMessia refers to the belief among some Lubavitcher Hassidim that their late rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the messiah,[7] but is seen by Rosenberg as reference to Jewish Orthodoxy as a whole.[2] FailedMessia serves as a news outlet with the motto Covering Orthodox Judaism since 2004. Using the blog as a means of reaching a wide audience and covering the largely under-reported Haredi/Hasidic sector, Rosenberg reports as a watchdog and whistle blower, in “a combination of muckraking reporting and personal grudge into a must-read digest of the actual and alleged misdeeds of the ultra-Orthodox world. He has broken news about sexual misconduct, smear campaigns and dubious business practices conducted by or on behalf of stringently religious Jews.”[4]
When PETA released a video in 2004 of the slaughtering practices at Agriprocessors, a kosher-meat plant in Iowa owned and operated by members of the Rubashkin family, Lubavitcher Hasidim from Brooklyn, Rosenberg started to post his own investigative pieces on his blog in addition to those of other journalists.
He had his first scoop in 2008, when he discovered the sock puppet scam of the public-relations company 5W Public Relations, hired by the Rubashkins,[4] who fabricated online postings to several websites including FailedMessia in the name of Rabbi Morris Allen,[9] a Conservative rabbi who was pushing for ethical reform in kosher foods.[4]
In May 2011, FailedMessiah broke the news that the Hasidic newspapers Di Tzeitung and Di Voch had photoshopped Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director for Counterterrorism Audrey Tomason out of the picture showing President Barack Obama and his national security team watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden from the White House Situation Room.[10]
References
- ^ Shmarya Rosenberg (2008-08-02). "Shmarya Rosenberg". FailedMessiah.
- ^ a b c d e Saul Sadka (February 20, 2008). "Jewish World weekly blogger profile: Shmarya Rosenberg, FailedMessiah". Haaretz. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ^ Daniel Treiman (November 20, 2008). "Heeb Hundred and Forward 50 Agree — But Only Once". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Samuel G. Freedman (January 8, 2010). "Muckraking Blogger Focuses on Jews". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2012.
- ^ "Helen Mae Rosenberg Obituary". Legacy.com. January 9, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ^ Paul Maccabee (1995). John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour of Crime and Corruption in St Paul. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 42. ISBN 0873513169.
- ^ a b c d Anthony Weiss (July 24, 2008). "Blogger Focuses on Orthodox Foibles". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ^ Shmarya Rosenberg (April 4, 2012). "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
- ^ Ben Harris (July 2008). "Agriprocessors' PR Firm Accused of Impersonating Rabbi". JTA. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
- ^ Melissa Bell (May 10, 2011). "Second Hasidic newspaper drops Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 26, 2012.