The Gush Etzion Regional Council has acknowledged ritualistic child abuse allegations within its communities following investigations and survivor testimonies, shaking Israel's religious-Zionist sector.
is there some kind of doctrinal root for this behavior? to have so many people involved from across the spectrum of Israeli society would suggest there is some small kernel here that can justify the behavior. anything?
EDIT: should have noted I am looking for responses that are NOT antisemitic.
There’s a lot of government and religious NGO money funneled around Israel for religious schools and student stipends, so any unscrupulous rabbis looking to start an abusive cult have plenty of opportunities handed to them. It’s really not unlike the various Christian cults that sprouted up on compounds in the American West, taking advantage of cheap resources and isolation tactics to build organizations that beat the shit out of children or do whatever else they want.
Edit: I think the settlements in particular create a similar physical dynamic, where living on stolen land ringed with fences and security checkpoints allows leaders to create an insular community that keeps victims in and accountability out. Even twenty minutes’ drive from Jerusalem, no one gets into a settlement without arranged permission, and a housewife with no car may as well be stranded out on the prairie.
is there some kind of doctrinal root for this behavior? to have so many people involved from across the spectrum of Israeli society would suggest there is some small kernel here that can justify the behavior. anything?
EDIT: should have noted I am looking for responses that are NOT antisemitic.
You pose a valid question, but there’s no legitimate Jewish doctrine behind it, any more than there was legitimate Christian doctrine behind it eighty, ninety years ago when the Nazis were doing it to the Jews.
If it were something doctrinal to the Jewish faith, you would also be seeing it outside Israel. If anything, it is a perversion of actual Judaism, just as white nationalism in the US is a total perversion of Christianity.
Yes, you should be honest with us. I note that you did not actually supply either the “branches of Judaism” nor the specific doctrine you claim supports this. So if it’s doctrinal, name it. That’s a simple enough ask.
Jewish people and Jewish doctrine are two different things, just as Christian people and Christian doctrine are two different things.
You’ve showed me an example of Jewish inhumanity, that’s great. Before I posted this comment, I posted another one all about that with linked examples on a grand scale.
All this is utterly meaningless in terms of describing doctrine, not just for Judaism but for every faith.
For every Jewish cruelty or inhumanity you show me, I can show you endless Christian and even atheist cruelty and inhumanity. The bounds of cruelty exceed doctrine and apply to the humans underneath; the doctrine is only relevant insofar as it directly supports the act or is twisted to serve as justification for obviously immoral and even amoral acts.
If what you posted were common only to Jews everywhere, you might have something. But they don’t. Organized pedophilia has been found everywhere, as have people who claim to be adherents of benevolent religion and then turn around and act in ways even that religion labels as abhorrent.
People take doctrine and twist it to their own ends. It doesn’t mean the doctrine is bad (or good); it just means people who do evil also lie to justify their evil deeds, and that happens everywhere, inside religion and outside of it.
When I first wrote the comment to which you are responding now, I thought the question was about the Israeli war atrocities being committed against Palestinians and I wrote my comment from that point of view; in that I was in error.
Yes, you should be honest with us. I note that you did not actually supply either the “branches of Judaism” nor the specific doctrine you claim supports this. So if it’s doctrinal, name it. That’s a simple enough ask.
Ok, I think you know but I will play. The Jews of the New York incident above were hasidic jews, chabad-lubavich in particular.
Can we say that all sects that think that their people are the “best” “chosen” “above” “special” is wrong and we should NOT tolerate them?
Jewish people and Jewish doctrine are two different things, just as Christian people and Christian doctrine are two different things.
Yes they are different things and we can condemn both of them if immoral. Why are we talking about christians now?
For every Jewish cruelty or inhumanity you show me, I can show you endless Christian and even atheist cruelty and inhumanity. The bounds of cruelty exceed doctrine and apply to the humans underneath; the doctrine is only relevant insofar as it directly supports the act or is twisted to serve as justification for obviously immoral and even amoral acts.
Again, this is not a dick race. And yes, every religion and every person can be cruel and inhumane but in the year of our lord 2026 we are witnessing a total out of control ultra religious cult committing genocide with ZERO repercussions and managing an international blackmail paedophilic and human trafficking ring with the most powerful people in the world, including the current sitting US president.
So excuse me if I don’t go checking the Buddhism doctrine to find dirt on them, doesn’t seem urgent now.
Let me ask you a question then. Can you name another holy book used as a religious law that contains so much disgusting abhorrent behaviour as the Talmud?
They believe they’re better than everybody else, and that most of the rest isn’t even fully human. Just like most of other destructive ideologies in history.
The ancient Greeks and Romans certainly thought this sort of behavior was typical and foundational to Christian and Jewish religious practices and fought hard to liberate people from the clutches of those religious cults in antiquity.
Judaism as a whole is one big cult, people just ignore it because it doesn’t affect most of us but if you went into Talmud and other traditional jewish writings you’d find they’re just divorced from reality because of their traditions. I’ll give you one example, and go read yourself if you want more
is there some kind of doctrinal root for this behavior? to have so many people involved from across the spectrum of Israeli society would suggest there is some small kernel here that can justify the behavior. anything?
EDIT: should have noted I am looking for responses that are NOT antisemitic.
uh. well. it is canon if that helps. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/violence-against-women-in-the-hebrew-bible
There’s a lot of government and religious NGO money funneled around Israel for religious schools and student stipends, so any unscrupulous rabbis looking to start an abusive cult have plenty of opportunities handed to them. It’s really not unlike the various Christian cults that sprouted up on compounds in the American West, taking advantage of cheap resources and isolation tactics to build organizations that beat the shit out of children or do whatever else they want.
Edit: I think the settlements in particular create a similar physical dynamic, where living on stolen land ringed with fences and security checkpoints allows leaders to create an insular community that keeps victims in and accountability out. Even twenty minutes’ drive from Jerusalem, no one gets into a settlement without arranged permission, and a housewife with no car may as well be stranded out on the prairie.
You pose a valid question, but there’s no legitimate Jewish doctrine behind it, any more than there was legitimate Christian doctrine behind it eighty, ninety years ago when the Nazis were doing it to the Jews.
This is not so much a religious question as it is a problem of human nature. When your own national leader makes it clear that even the worst of human behavior is acceptable when you can plead patriotism in its defense, you will find that tacitly given permission magnified beyond your wildest imagination in short order as people with darkness inside them realize there really is nothing holding them back from having a go themselves.
If it were something doctrinal to the Jewish faith, you would also be seeing it outside Israel. If anything, it is a perversion of actual Judaism, just as white nationalism in the US is a total perversion of Christianity.
If you’ve never read it before, Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil is a great read.
Mmm, some practices are doctrinal in some branches of Judaism. Just read a comment below.
Did we forgot about this?
If we want to seriously talk about religions and what is and is not acceptable in our society we need to be honest with ourselves.
Yes, you should be honest with us. I note that you did not actually supply either the “branches of Judaism” nor the specific doctrine you claim supports this. So if it’s doctrinal, name it. That’s a simple enough ask.
Jewish people and Jewish doctrine are two different things, just as Christian people and Christian doctrine are two different things.
You’ve showed me an example of Jewish inhumanity, that’s great. Before I posted this comment, I posted another one all about that with linked examples on a grand scale.
All this is utterly meaningless in terms of describing doctrine, not just for Judaism but for every faith.
For every Jewish cruelty or inhumanity you show me, I can show you endless Christian and even atheist cruelty and inhumanity. The bounds of cruelty exceed doctrine and apply to the humans underneath; the doctrine is only relevant insofar as it directly supports the act or is twisted to serve as justification for obviously immoral and even amoral acts.
If what you posted were common only to Jews everywhere, you might have something. But they don’t. Organized pedophilia has been found everywhere, as have people who claim to be adherents of benevolent religion and then turn around and act in ways even that religion labels as abhorrent.
People take doctrine and twist it to their own ends. It doesn’t mean the doctrine is bad (or good); it just means people who do evil also lie to justify their evil deeds, and that happens everywhere, inside religion and outside of it.
When I first wrote the comment to which you are responding now, I thought the question was about the Israeli war atrocities being committed against Palestinians and I wrote my comment from that point of view; in that I was in error.
Ok, I think you know but I will play. The Jews of the New York incident above were hasidic jews, chabad-lubavich in particular.
Can we say that all sects that think that their people are the “best” “chosen” “above” “special” is wrong and we should NOT tolerate them?
Yes they are different things and we can condemn both of them if immoral. Why are we talking about christians now?
Again, this is not a dick race. And yes, every religion and every person can be cruel and inhumane but in the year of our lord 2026 we are witnessing a total out of control ultra religious cult committing genocide with ZERO repercussions and managing an international blackmail paedophilic and human trafficking ring with the most powerful people in the world, including the current sitting US president.
So excuse me if I don’t go checking the Buddhism doctrine to find dirt on them, doesn’t seem urgent now.
Let me ask you a question then. Can you name another holy book used as a religious law that contains so much disgusting abhorrent behaviour as the Talmud?
Reading the Talmud
what fucking religion has a book like this?!
thank you for a really thoughtful response!
They believe they’re better than everybody else, and that most of the rest isn’t even fully human. Just like most of other destructive ideologies in history.
So… Nazi’s?
The ancient Greeks and Romans certainly thought this sort of behavior was typical and foundational to Christian and Jewish religious practices and fought hard to liberate people from the clutches of those religious cults in antiquity.
Judaism as a whole is one big cult, people just ignore it because it doesn’t affect most of us but if you went into Talmud and other traditional jewish writings you’d find they’re just divorced from reality because of their traditions. I’ll give you one example, and go read yourself if you want more
https://youtu.be/TrsENvsJSDE?is=17cilcfOefv05fSd