“Incoming Shas MK has said immodest women get breast cancer, reincarnate as cows”
“Rabbi Baruch Gazahay has posted many videos disparaging women; has said only monkeys accept the theory of evolution; now claims comments ‘taken out of context’”
FYI
Less than 24 hours ago, I posted the below blog. The gentleman, and I use the word in its widest format, has now opted not to take his seat in the Knesset.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/shas-candidate-under-fire-for-misogyny-racism-wont-enter-knesset/
Did he do so of his own free will or did he receive the order of the boot from Shas boss, Aryeh Deri? The latter does seem more likely.
Either way, a point has been made, to borrow from Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” And, this man, this so-called rabbi, is the personification of evil, with his small, narrow minded views, clouded by who knows what.
And another point is proven, while actions are often needed, this case has shown the pure, magical power of the internet, of social media and shown, yet again, the sheer power of words. Words can bring us together, give us strength, direction, meaning, and in the case of this man, bring upon him hell and damnation.
It’s worth remembering that the pen (maybe we should say the word processor) wields incredible power.
Yes, the pen, words, are mighty than the sword.
This is simply beyond belief, in what century, in what country is this man living?
And he is set to govern us?
He is right about one thing, if we except his statements, if we don’t wholeheartedly challenge his stance, then we are monkeys.
If it was not so serious, it would be laughable.
How dare this man, even if he is a rabbi, where does he get off spewing all this ridiculous garbage?
Yes, it's right to believe whatever bullshit he wants, and ram it down the throats of brainless halfwits who no doubt hang on his every word and worse, believe all the bullshit he tells them because they don't have a brain to think for themselves. This is the problem with religion, it stops people thinking for themselves, rather their every move is planned for them, they are told what to do, when to do it, what to think. Bin Brother/1984 all rolled into one package.
Here is the full text of the TOI article, link above, make up your own mind as the legitimacy of this man rantings.
An incoming Knesset member for the ultra-Orthodox Shas party has for years been making disparaging statements about women, blaming immodest clothing for breast cancer and miscarriages and claiming women who expose their bodies are reincarnated as cows.
Rabbi Baruch Gazahay has posted hundreds of Hebrew-language YouTube videos over the last four years voicing his opinions on various subjects. He has more than 8,000 subscribers and has garnered more than 2 million views.
Gazahay was set to enter the Knesset along with others following the final approval Monday night of the so-called Norwegian Law, which lets ministers resign from parliament and be replaced by the next person on their party’s electoral slate.
Gazahay, 38, who was born in Ethiopia and came to Israel as an infant, heads the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Beersheba. He is married and has five children.
He became religious as an adult and shortly afterwards began delivering public lessons on morality and Jewish law.
In one such lesson in 2016, he said: “Damn the Bedouins, may God take them, they buy the girls’ hearts by saying how pretty they are. She doesn’t care who says it, even if a parrot tells her that, she will get excited.”
“A woman must be modest in her clothing,” he continued. “Unfortunately, in this generation there has been a small confusion. Women think they are men. How did women end up wearing pants? I’m dying to know. You’re a woman! How do you wear pants? You’re with pants and your husband is with pants, the poor child gets confused, who’s the father and who’s the mother?”
He quoted an alleged saying by rabbis that “a woman who is used to exposing her upper body is usually reincarnated as a cow, because its udder is exposed.
“A woman must be covered. That, by the way, is one of the reasons women get breast cancer. Because everyone’s eyes are upon them, and it gives them the evil eye,” he added.
“It is the reason pregnant women have miscarriages. She gets pregnant and straightaway posts a photo of her belly on Facebook. Tell me, are you insane?”
In a separate clip, Gazahay said a man shouldn’t respond when a woman he doesn’t know strikes up a conversation with him. Giving the example of a supermarket cashier, he said: “You bought something? Shut up and say, ‘Miss, this is what I bought.'”
If the woman tries to speak with the man, he should tell her he will call the police, he said.
In a third video, Gazahay said a man “has to have authority in the house.” He said that when a woman is distressed over something that happened at work, her husband shouldn’t sympathize with her and “cry together with her.”
“She wants a man!” Gazahay said, saying the husband should show willingness to go and assault the person who wronged her with a kitchen knife. “Do you know how happy she would be?” he said.
In another lesson, Gazahay said women who come to work in a tight shirts should be paid half their salary.
Not all the controversial content has to do with men and women. In February 2020, he uploaded a video mocking those who believe the universe began with the Big Bang and those who put stock in the theory of evolution. “You need to be a monkey to think we evolved from monkeys,” he said, laughing.
Following reports about the videos, Shas leader Aryeh Deri said he had spoken to Gazahay and “made it clear that these remarks are unacceptable and do not represent the Shas movement, and Rabbi Gazahay understood this.”
According to Deri’s statement, Gazahay claimed the reported remarks were “a few sentences taken out of context from a two-hour lesson in front of his students about four years ago.”
However, Gazahay’s YouTube channel features many videos with similar content up until late 2019. Last October, he uploaded a lesson in which he called a woman “insolent” for wearing a wig instead of covering her hair with a scarf. He said the woman died shortly after rebuffing a rabbi’s demand that she stop wearing a wig, and her hair underneath it had turned into snakes.
In August 2019, he posted a video saying a man should shut up and nod when his wife tells him about her problems, and should find ways to ignore her while pretending to be listening.