I’m always especially distressed when Jews show the same kind of religiously-motivated insanity as do adherents to other faiths. As the BBC reports in this video, one group of Orthodox Jewish girls in Jerusalem, who go to school attired very modestly, have nevertheless been assaulted, both verbally and physically, by ultra-Orthodox Jews who think that the girls’ attire is “sluttish.” (Have a look at their “revealing” clothes.)
The ultra-Orthodox Jews even hurl feces at the girls.
This at last puts paid to my misguided notion that religious Jews aren’t as looney as religious Muslims or Christians.
Amish Gone Wild and Orthodox Jews throwing pooh at people. The hell is this world coming to?
Religion Poisons Everything.
+1
If those men had any real conviction for what they protest they wouldn’t all have come in disguise 🙂
No – I would say that they value their message more than their individuality.
go spew propaganda elsewhere
I can imagine the video trailer now
“(Orthodox Jewish) girls gone wild!”
A girl rolls up her sleeve to reveal a heavily pixelated elbow.
“Dirty slut girls who just don’t know when to stop!”
It’s almost as if the constant weren’t the particular variety of religion, but the persistent belief in illogical propositions contradicted by evidence….
Cheers,
b&
Clearly, they are strumpets.
Don’t worry, JC, it took me a long time to admit to myself that Presbyterians are loonies too.
The eminent George Klein, Holocaust survivor and emeritus (since 1992 but still active!) tumor biologist at Karolinska, mentions these types in his excellent The Atheist and the Holy City, pp 172-4.
“Look at the four of us; we are so like the Sex in the City girls!”
To be relished slowly, in small doses:
http://www.evilbible.com/Murder.htm
Presumptions of sanity or morality are not given. They never have been. For any religion.
Once again, I agree with George Steiner:
The diaspora made the small moral difference. At least for some individuals. That’s over now.
A propos sanity, folks who insist on wearing a Spodik or a Shtreimel and a Bekishe in a subtropical desert climate for the sake of made-up “tradition” hardly pass muster to begin with.
Yes, I’ve always found that somewhat odd. They’re wearing clothing that was made popular in Eastern Europe in the 18th century — and this signifies what, exactly?
Sandals, robes with no buttons or zippers, no underwear — that would be going back to the historical roots of the religion.
The spodik (fur hat) is, I think, particularly amusing, especially in summer.
But then, I’ve always said that when all religions come to an agreement about hats, then we’ll have made some progress. What is it? Hats, turbans, no hats, women covered or uncovered in church or on the street? So many rules about hats! It’s almost as if they think something is looking down on them from above.
That and bacon cheeseburgers. When all religions agree about bacon cheeseburgers, we will finally become a civilized world.
Planet of the hats
Or looking from above and behind, ‘Planet of the Napes’.
🙂
The madness continues, exponentially it appears.
I get fewer death threats than you probably expect, but the most spectacular and graphic episode, which lasted for about three weeks of incoherent terror, was from an orthodox Rabbi. He said (seventy or eighty times) that he wanted to kill me because I enjoy Christmas even though I’m an atheist.
He reasoned that since I took time off work at Christmas (when my employer was closed anyway) I must believe in Jesus (which was a sort of satanic thing to do) and since I believed in Jesus and didn’t worship him at that time, I was even more satanic. He felt it was fair game to use the religion I didn’t claim by not refusing holidays to damn me by the very punishment I don’t believe in.
To be fair to him, however, he didn’t actually kill me.
I like all the religious holidays.
All the xian ones are just Pagan holidays that they borrowed and rebranded. Easter is named after a Germanic fertility goddess.
The xians stole them. The Pagans are stealing them back. LOL
Yes, everyone knows that.
A Xian in Taoism is a “spiritually immortal; transcendent; super-human; celestial being”. You mean Taoist celestial beings stole Easter? Or do you mean Shaanxi provincials?
Yes – sigh – that is what I mean.
Ab uno, disce omnes?
That does seem to set a new record for wacky…
Israel really needs to stop financially subsidizing religious study. They started it after WWII to increase the number of rabbi’s, but now the level of subsidization is just incomprehensible. Not to mention it is encouraging this radicalization.
Every time America subsidizes Israel, it indirectly is subsidizing this ultra orthodox Jewish propagation. Just sad.
Of course, if you were to suggest to these fellows that a burqa would be the best form of dress for women-folk, they’d probably be horrified.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7919501/Israeli-rabbis-clamp-down-on-burka.html (2010)
“The ultra-Orthodox Jews even hurl feces at the girls.”
Their own? 🙂 Seems that some people haven’t evolved like others.
Hmm, were they also making those ook ook eeek sounds? 😀
Religion is the great leveler, of idiocy.
“I’m always especially distressed when Jews show the same kind of religiously-motivated insanity as do adherents to other faiths.”
No offense Jerry, but you need to get over this attitude of “I’m a Jew and therefore have an affinity with Jewish people.”
Sure, as an ethnicity you may feel that way, and I guess it’s something I don’t fully understand, although I’m ethnically Italian but I don’t feel a camaraderie with all Italians.
But when this attitude extends to actually thinking Judaism itself isn’t as crazy as Christianity or Islam, then you’re just overextending your desire to cling to your Jewish heritage.
“…when Jews show the same kind of religiously-motivated insanity as do adherents to other faiths” On the eighth day, isn’t it?
It may be an unanswerable question, does religion cause people to behave like this or are these people this obnoxious already and use religion as an excuse for their behaviour?
On the subject of Christmas, I call it Christmas because that’s what it is called. Our days and months are named after various pagan gods that none of us believe in, so what? If you Really want to take Christmas back to its Pagan roots, these guys might help.
http://www.hedinghamfair.co.uk/yule_solstice.htm
Religion gives people the delusion that they have the “right” to do many things and that anyone who doesn’t do what they want are evil and sub-human. I’d have to say that these people proably aren’t innately nasty, they were taught they could be that way.
The teaching that you are the special favourites of the Creator of the (13.7BY-old >92light-year-wide) Universe is a particularly toxic one, though.
So throwing feces is OK, but if someone had thrown raw bacon back at them, oh boy, there would be a real shitstorm of protest.
So to speak…
(Feces are kosher?)
I’m not surprised. Chaim Potok wrote about the tensions between various Jewish communities in NY over 60 years ago (though I don’t remember any poop hurling). The “They’re Not Real Jews” attitude is not new. The question is, how do you break that inculcated violence? It is no different from some muslims and catlicks raising their children to hate all Jews. It makes no sense and can do no good at all.
Yes – heard the report on the radio earlier in the week, & it is frankly pathetic. I cannot really understand why the US continues to subsidise the state of Israel. OK – Israel lobby etc, but stil…
“…throwing feces…”
For people who don’t believe in evolution, they sure know how to exhibit primate behavior 🙂 .
“They are Orthodox Jews, their tormentors: Ultra-Orthdox Jews”…who are in turn tormented by Super-Orthdox Jews, and they by Incredibly-Orthodox Jews, who are tormented by Super-Duper-You-Can’t-Out-Orthodox-Me-Orthodox Jews (who are in turn tormented by everybody because ENOUGH ALREADY!).
For another example of monotheistic fanatical craziness one might go on
youtube and watch Westboro Baptist Church family disowns daughter — 20/20
What is the Hebrew word for Taliban, anyway?
Cherry-picking examples of “bad behavior,” whether in individuals or groups is fallacious. It says nothing about all Jews, for example, to cite the behavior of some. Why should “well-behaved” Jews have to suffer from the gossip about group members?
It is, however important, nay, CRUCIAL to look at phenomena without the distortion of “examples.”
Let’s face it–a lot of Jews are jerks. But this can be said of any group.
Let’s face it–a lot of Jews are jerks.
red herring.
it’s not so much THAT they were assholes…
but WHY.
what’s more, that WHY is exactly the same kind of reason we see abortion doctors murdered by xians in the US.
sorry, but you simply can’t hide it by saying “it’s just a few bad apples”
Ultra Orthodox Judaism is EXACTLY like Evangelical Fundamentalism in the states, wrt how they make their decisions on treating people not like themselves.
so, just… no.
you don’t get to pretend this isn’t part and parcel of what religion itself can cause.
Cherry-picking examples of “bad behavior,” whether in individuals or groups is fallacious. It says nothing about all Jews, for example, to cite the behavior of some.
every enabler of bad behavior EVER, from the Pope trying to cover up child abuse in the CC, to Islam disclaiming terrorism, does the same thing.
unless you are ACTIVELY acknowledging that this is a problem that is PART OF YOUR COMMUNITY, all you are doing is enabling it to grow larger.
You make me sick.
seriously.
Do they throw the feces with their left hands? Are there recommended diets and hurling techniques for trajectory optimization?
I am a modern orthodox Jew who lives in the neighborhood where this took place. I have been very active in going out every day at dismissal to assure the girls’ safety and take pictures for the media and police.
The people perpetrating these acts are a very small minority of the ultra-orthodox community in Bet Shemesh (not Jerusalem as was reported above). The vast majority of the thousands of families who live in this community are benevolent people who mainly are interested in keeping to themselves. Personally, as a more “liberal” Jew, I don’t agree with their general restrictive religious philosophy, but how the live their lives is their business as long as they don’t try to impose it on me.
The truth is that the ultra-orthodox community suffers far more frequently and severely at the hands of these violent fanatics.
Now I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes thinking, oh that’s a hoot, here’s an orthodox Jew talking about the “restrictiveness” of other orthodox Jews. Of course that’s your privilege. But just remember, the cornerstone of being liberal is being tolerant of those with whom you don’t agree. Not something I see a lot of in this forum.