"Homosexuals Deserve Death"

[RR88]

I know I'm risking making my identity known by mentioning this blogger (since my other posts have already caused a few of you to correctly guess, in private, who I am), but I'm mentioning him because no one has ever mentioned him here and his views are so outrageous that he makes some Christian fundies seem like beacons of sanity.

His name is Jacob Stein and he writes a blog called Torah Philosophy (formerly titled Jewish Philosopher). He believes that those who engage in gay sex acts should be punished by the death penalty, that evolution is not supported by any evidence, that anyone who disagrees with him religiously is an atheist, and that strong sex drives are at the root of all deviation from Orthodox Judaism.

In some ways, Stein makes the fundies usually snarked on at FJ seem like harmless kitty cats. That's because he has harassed several other bloggers with death threats, sexual remarks, slanderous articles, phone calls, and the publication of their personal information. He defends all his arguments with his own copious material, and censors or blocks entirely the comments others leave on his site.

I will not link to him directly, but thought FJ members might find him of interest because his writing is an absolute gold mine of snark-worthy material. Enjoy!

[debrand]

Has he gotten into any legal trouble for harrassing people?

[RR88]

Legal trouble? No. Personal and professional trouble? Yes. One example: He was expelled from nursing school after sexually harassing his classmates. He has also been fired from his job and abandoned by his rabbi because of some of the things he has done/said. Some of the posts he's written on the subject have been deleted after readers called him out for repeatedly offering an "alternate reality" version of events.

If you Google "Jewish Philosopher Atheist Rabbi", you can learn about one of Stein's victims.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

Oh, weird, I didn't know that he got kicked out of nursing school. That made me snarkle. (What True Man actually goes *nursing school* of all things? That's a woman's job!) Didn't he write that the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust?

[RR88]

He has said that Holocaust victims deserved their fate.

[RR88]

More information here: http://www.theatheistrabbiDOTcom/2012/0 ... ewish.html

[RR88]

Oh, weird, I didn't know that he got kicked out of nursing school. That made me snarkle. (What True Man actually goes *nursing school* of all things? That's a woman's job!) Didn't he write that the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust?

Here ya go: http://www.torahphilosophy.com/2009/06/ ... -hand.html

And here's what he thinks about gays: http://www.torahphilosophy.com/2010/04/ ... hment.html

[2xx1xy1JD]

Since I did an armchair psychological analysis of Kidist, I may as well do the same for Stein.

Like Kidist, he's both adopting an extreme philosophy AND batshit crazy.

He makes a big deal about revealing all sorts of personal details about himself (really, does anyone care about the social security number of his birth mother?) - but got remarkably coy when I asked him to identify one other living Orthodox rabbi who agreed with certain things that he posted. I got evasions, attempts to change the subject, some lame attempts to throw the question back at me - but ultimately, a refusal to identify any other rabbi that supported him. This is a huge red flag. He purports to be a part of the Litvish ultra-Orthodox community in Monsey, New York. He's not living in the boonies - Monsey is filled with rabbis. Morever, in the Litvish community, EVERYBODY has a rabbi to whom they direct all questions big and small. If you are a rabbi, you bring your questions to a bigger rabbi. His explanation that he has rabbinical training and therefore doesn't see a need to consult anyone, therefore, rings false. So does his lame explanation that he wouldn't identify his rabbi out of fear of harassment. In religious Jewish circles, quoting your senior rabbi is as normal as breathing. Rabbis in this community are also not known for being overly PC.

So, the logical conclusion is that RR88 is right and Stein has been denounced by his rabbi and unable to find other willing to put up with him.

Now, Stein's has gotten in trouble with both religious authorities and secular employers, for engaging in clear sexual harassment online. He can either realize that his behavior crossed a zillion lines and seek help - or he can go even deeper into his crazy world, paint himself as a holy warrior and try to claim that he is the only one in the Jewish world with enough brains and guts to carry on the online battle against heretics. In his alternate universe, for example, he was fired because his boss must have been an anti-semite who intended to impede his religious freedom - despite the fact that it would have been obvious to the company long before this that he was an observant Jew, that he clearly violated company internet use policy by engaging in online sexual harassment from work, and that no rabbi would agree that his activities are even permitted by Judaism.

He's constantly projecting his issues onto others. He clearly has attachment problems from his childhood (he's adopted and has nothing good to say about his adoptive parents), so he assumes that it's natural for parents to reject their children. He's obsessed with sex, so he assumes that it's motivating others to leave the faith (even when it's quite obvious from blogs that the opposite is the case). He has a fixation on finding secret heretics - but isn't honest about the fact that he's been rejected by his own religious community. In the comments section of a recent post, he justified bizarre and extreme surveillance of family members by quoting a Talmudic sage, Hillel, who is discussing how one shouldn't trust themselves. "If I can't trust myself, why should I trust anyone else" , Stein asks. That may be his most honest statement. He clearly doesn't trust himself, and therefore lashes out at others instead of engaging in self-examination.

[RR88]

I was wondering when you'd pop up, friend! Nice analysis.

[ladypuglover]

Well I'm straight and I guess you would have to stone me too. I've had sex outside of marriage, in many different ways with my husband in many different places of this world. I've put my mouth on things that I shouldn't of according to some and had a baby out of wedlock. Oh and don't forget I've been married before too.

In bible times I would be stoned out of my mind. :whistle:

[2xx1xy1JD]

Oh, weird, I didn't know that he got kicked out of nursing school. That made me snarkle. (What True Man actually goes *nursing school* of all things? That's a woman's job!) Didn't he write that the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust?

I don't think that Judaism frowns upon men being nurses if they need to work and if those are the jobs that are available. Stein may have already had certain skills, as the father of a disabled child.

I was relieved, however, when he was expelled. The post that RR88 mentioned went beyond being merely snarkworthy or offensive - as far as I'm concerned, it was actively promoting hate, and it sounded like he was going off the deep end and was possibly dangerous. My big fear was that if he did qualify as a nurse, he could do something to a patient if he knew that the patient was gay. I was worried enough to have some discussion with someone else who read the blog (not RR88) and if he hadn't been expelled, we were planning that I would contact his school (since I was out of the country and therefore less exposed to his threats).

I know my comments on the blog look far too tame. It's not because I agree with anything that he writes - it was because I'm convinced that he actually craves outraged reactions and gets off on it. The more outrage, the more he can see himself as a holy warrior. I'm more concerned with pointing out that he's a delusional fraud.