By Josh Nathan-Kazis February 3, 2016

The muckraking Jewish blog FailedMessiah is losing its publisher and sole writer, according to a statement posted February 2.

Shmarya Rosenberg, a disillusioned former member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect, has run the site from his home in Minnesota since 2004. The site combined news aggregation with some original reporting, and a was a central clearinghouse for news on ultra-Orthodox wrongdoing, and especially on Orthodox sexual abuse.

Image by YouTube

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

In his lengthy farewell post, Rosenberg said that he was leaving the site to “work on anti-poverty issues.” He wrote that the site would continue to be run by an entity called “Diversified Holdings.” It’s not clear who or what that is. Rosenberg did not immediately respond to an email from the Forward requesting comment.

Despite its rudimentary design, strident tone, and the prickly persona of its publisher, FailedMessiah attracted a large following both inside and outside of the ultra-Orthodox community.

Rosenberg often lashed out at other media outlets and writers in his posts. Yet stories the site championed, like the scandals at the Agriprocessors meat plant in Postville, Iowa, often found their way into the mainstream press. Rosenberg was profiled in the New York Times in 2010.

In the comments section beneath Rosenbeg’s farewell post, regular commenters lamented his departure.

“Nooooooooo!” one commenter wrote.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount