Adi Beatty's clip made him swear ("disgust") • And Stefan Lager called "a stinking gentile" and is not ready to apologize • Who are you, the rabbi who converts Ronen Shaulov?
When you type the words "Adi Beatty - Hamsa Hamsa" in the YouTube search engine, the first result is sent to the 19-year-old singer's provocative and provocative clip.
So far, no surprise.
But it is doubtful that you would have guessed that the second result of the search will lead you to a lecture by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi - which deals with great detail in the daring clip.
This is a 12-minute filmed sermon by the penitent Ronen Shaulov, which he presented last week in a private family home in Karnei Shomron ("secular and religious people lived there").
The title of the video obeys all the rules of click-bite: "Adi Beatty - Hamsa Hamsa, Rabbi Ronen Shaulov in a harsh response to the horrific clip that has crossed every moral boundary and finished an entire generation."
"I was shown pictures from this clip, with blur, and after 12 years as a penitent, I don't remember ever being as shocked as I was this week," Shaulov says in a lecture that soon went viral.
"If my girl hears or sees it - good death from my life. Women in minimal attire, in cheap words, in stimulating movements. Disgust! No shame, no drop of value. And all the words and all the pictures there - a rape culture of the State of Israel 2020, which made the children Our patients, perverts, are in line to rape a drunk girl. "
Shaulov uploaded the sermon only a day after the release of Beatty's clip, and managed to garner an impressive number of views in relation to the Torah lesson on YouTube: 173,000 (as of Wednesday), with the number skyrocketing thousands of additional views every day.
In addition to his remarks about Beatty, the lecture caused a stir also because Shaulov referred to the bouncy hit of Stefan Lager and Itai Levy, "Only girls," and said of Stefan (without explicitly mentioning his name): "A stinking gentile! His flesh is donkey meat! To the unclean Gentiles, because of them, because of a clip of two men inviting to a pool with nudity and drinking in one clip. What happens to us? We lost a G-d photographer! "
"Stinking gentile"?
"Donkey meat"?
Are these statements worthy of the rabbi?
Stefan's publicists claimed to have expressed racism.
"First of all, because of people like him, the State of Israel 2020 looks the way it does: a country that has lost values, respect and shame. Second, I checked before I said what I said, and I checked after, and I have very high self-criticism. I know how to apologize quickly if I was wrong. I do not think I was wrong, and I was still gentle about what I said. "
Where do the extreme words come from?
"The evil Balaam, who was a gentile, advised Balak how to trample the people of Israel: strip their bodies, breed naked, make their wives bouncy, stellar, alcohol and drug lovers, breed prostitutes in them, and especially make them worthless to their soul and body. You want them to become extinct as soon as possible, bring on them gentiles and gentiles.
"Balaam said all this, and the Gemara says of him: 'He was a stinking scoundrel, who stinked the people of Israel. What does it come out of? A stinking gentile. Next to 7-year-old girls. The same one whose clips are all naked, like donkeys, who have no clothes.
"I meant that when I said 'his flesh is donkey meat.'
Why were they harmed by this?
What have I already said?
This is not a curse, but a fact.
The Gentiles have no value to their flesh, to the body.
All his clips are naked, like donkeys and animals. "
This is not the first time Shaulov has launched arrows into the soft underbelly of mass culture. In the past, he also attacked his uncle Farouk (" Crazy. Kids who hear him will have a scar "), Noa Kirl (" Million dollars? " barely 4 NIS "), statics and Bn-al Tabori (" maybe money blind you "), the program" the Jews come "(" humiliating and debasing the Torah of Israel "), and the mayor of Tiberias former Ron Kobe (" neither Jew ").
it He is considered a sought-after convert, with an official YouTube channel that currently has 48,000 followers, and a Facebook page that also has about 60,000 followers. His sermons, which sometimes seem a bit theatrical, are characterized by a fluid and determined tone, Which unconditionally link the world of entertainment to a variety of negative phenomena in society - including rape, prostitution, delinquency, depression and unburdening among young people. First of
all, how did you even get to YouTube?
"I opened my official channel in late 2014, a year after I started demanding in Israel and around the world.
I was told that more people should hear my words, so I consulted with rabbis, and they told me that as long as one can find in the place an unclean hope for holiness - a mitzvah to do so.
I also set up my Facebook page at that time. "
I do not know many rabbis who will dedicate lessons in the synagogue to music videos, Rahmana Letzlen.
" When people come to Ronen Shaulov's lesson, they expect to hear what is bad in a generation, what should be thrown at us and kicked.
I bring Torah and Gemara, first and last, and then move on to talk about our generation.
Says it's time for us to be like our grandmothers instead of their granddaughters. "
Still, a rabbi with a beard and a hat talks about" nudity and sushi "in a pop star's song.
" People spread a few seconds out of the 12 minutes of the lecture.
Do not watch the full stuff. "
Are you not afraid that you caused the exact opposite result of your original intention? Many will want to watch the clips themselves, out of curiosity.
" Everyone who enters YouTube knows that there are things called 'hot and new',
In fact, the fact that I came and warned created an advantage, because I have already explained what you are supposed to see, so that you will not be shocked - and then you will not go and see.
And most importantly, it's addressed to parents, to whom I tell them: Look at what your children are watching or might be watching.
I came to warn them. "Your
critics have stung you for saying that while you asked others not to be exposed to the clip, you watched it yourself.
" To those who worry that I saw the clip, well - I did not see it.
What I saw were some pictures from it, which were shown to me modestly and blurryly.
People play and describe things to me that come out, because they know there is someone here with the appearance of a Torah, a hat and a beard, who can save the children who run out of it.
The youth and the whole nation are fundamentally lovers of Torah, but need a person to signal that we have long since crossed the border.
"It is a pity that people see in the passages that come out of my lessons something yellow, destructive and misleading, instead of seeing that I focus on morals, values, virtues, way of life, respect among human beings, kindness."
* * *
We meet in Or Yehuda, immediately after a lesson he gave to an ultra-Orthodox school girl in the city.
He leaves the hat and long suit, which have become his trademark, in the car.
"These are my work clothes," he smiles.
"I don't go like that all the time."
He is 38 years old, was born in Givat Olga and currently lives in Hadera, married and a father of five: Sofia (17), Lior (16), Liad (12), Hoodia (7) and Arina (29).
The latter is his wife's niece, who after being orphaned by her mother is raised by Shaulov as his daughter.
Contrary to the menacing impression his colorful character makes in the viral videos, in a face-to-face conversation he turns out to be a kind and cordial person, a sort of hug, perhaps fittingly for someone up to the age of 26 who was even a secular building contractor.
You are called a "rabbi".
Have you been ordained a rabbi?
"Even if I ever go through a rabbinical track, I will never be honored with the title of 'rabbi.' I do not want to be part of the rabbinate. I have no desire to boast of a great title. I prefer to be called Ronen Shaulov. The fact that people call me 'rabbi' is said in my honor. "For bringing them closer to God."
You are only 12 years repentant.
Is that enough time to study the whole Torah and start giving lectures to a large audience?
"I was breastfed by my rabbis, Rabbi Raphael Bublil, Rabbi Lior Kahlon and many other rabbis. Each one and his way in the Torah. I left my job in the building in one day, and after five years I began to demand. , What today students who teach their art do not learn.
"I went through a lot in life.
Already at the age of 9 I worked with my father, Vitaly, to help him support the family.
At age 12, when all my friends were having fun at an amusement park, I sold borax and drinking cans at the beach.
Until the age of 15 and a half I would clean windows at the Olga gas station.
My father, now 58, is a great benefactor.
He is still secular, a teacher and director of the Mevoot Yam-Mikhmoret school, but maintains much more staff than before.
"My mother, Sofia, used to volunteer at WIZO and the Soldier's House in Olga. Today she adores me, I am her whole world, but when I repented, my parents, Caucasians, vehemently opposed and despised me. They smashed my bed on the floor and threw my braces."
I googled "Rabbi Ronen Shaulov", and found your lectures mainly on topics that may interest Guy Pines.
Less Gemara lessons.
"So you did not search enough. If you searched, you would find my lessons with commentaries on my own book and Ecclesiastes, on matters of Gemara and Midrashim. Out of almost 1,400 of my lectures on YouTube, more than 1,000 are engaged in proper Torah lessons.
" "That people will hear it and receive it and even change their ways in its wake, should be topical, especially when I see that it is also required in our generation, that if we are not like that - we will just fall asleep guarding and lose consciousness."
* * *
How are you so up to date on everything that comes out in the entertainment world?
"I do not go into my lesson without being updated on the hottest things that can touch on the subject of my lesson. The day I talked about Adi Beatty's clip, I planned to talk about 'eye protection' and tongue protection. Then I was told: you do not know what the children hear. Today, and they told me about the clip. Someone wrote to me what was in it and asked me to speak to the youth who might watch it.
"I am not moved by the enlightened beauties who said about me this week that I am dark.
On the contrary, I enjoy every moment I am attacked.
By the way, many of those who attack me come to me later and apologize because their daughter fell for borrowing coasters.
I, who came from the most secular place, did not think there was so much coverage, because in my generation there was not yet a smartphone that made us all retarded. "By the
way, would you be willing to meet face-to-face with Beatty and Stefan?
" I was willing to meet them, provided the conversation With much respect.
I would like to explain what I said, in the hope that they will understand. "
Will
they understand
what?
" That although Stephen lived as a Gentile, he lived among us, and that he would know the boundary that even a Gentile, who commands the seven sons of Noah, must not cross.
"Adi, as a girl from Israel, even if she is far away, needs to understand the results and meaning of such a clip, which eventually girls see and admire. There were singers who sang, but what she did already crossed the line of good taste, and she needs to understand that children are influenced by her. ".
* * *
Despite Shaulov's controversial style, quite a few celebrities invite him to teach Torah lessons at home, or are considered close to him.
According to his people, the names of celebrities close to him include broadcaster Yaron Ilan, musician Adi Leon, model Moran Eisenstein, Betar Jerusalem captain Idan Vered, footballers Eran Levy, Shachar Phiben and Shimon Abuhatzira, former striker Ronen Harazi, singer Eli Luzon. Mr. Israel "Lior Ganish and others.
Shaulov:" A lot of singers, celebrities, male and female models come to my classes with me, even though they are actually 'there'.
I came from a very distant and secular world, I am not anti-distant, not anti-secular, I am actually connected to this public, I came from them.
To this day I have very good secular friends.
For example, Eli Ohana and Shlomo Sharaf. "
Shlomo Sharaf? Did you talk to him this week, after being suspended from the sports channel following his remarks?
" This morning I spoke to him.
We both remind each other that in our country everything is upside down.
"In this country, if you trample on religion, the religious public or destroy the youth with rude clips, they will praise you, and if you try to get them out of the dark abyss, out of the black place they are in, they will try to bury you."
Who is your audience? After all, the ultra-Orthodox public should not watch such clips anyway.
"Most of my audience, 90 percent, is made up of secular people of all ages. But I also have an ultra-Orthodox audience, with those who think there are good things 'outside', and do not understand that there is only burning sun and so dangerous. Unfortunately, some of these clips have reached the margins. "So I also talk to yeshiva students or ultra-Orthodox girls in schools, who hear me say that there is nothing good out there, because I was there."
This week, various sites called you "the cursing rabbi."
Last year your lecture in Sderot was canceled, after your controversial remarks.
"If I curse or say something, it is nothing compared to what should really be said. In the past they tried to destroy us from the outside, and today they try to destroy us from within, our own Jews. I do not 'curse', I just try to publish what the children of Israel do." .
Do you not think that your style is full of controversy and quarrels among the people, especially in an age where reconciliation and reconciliation are needed?
"God forbid. I just wrote a lesson about it: Moses was humble above all men and smashed the tablets for the sin of the calf; Abraham our father was the father of the nation and broke his father's foreign work. They both did an act of courage, which is supposedly the opposite of their style, of kindness and humility. In this they shocked the people to repent.
"So I think even I, the little one in the little one, and I do not compare myself to any of the great ones, should go this way.
People also see my videos, are shocked and change their lives and the lives of their children.
Look at how many hundreds of such comments there are on my YouTube and Facebook. "
Some will say that you are just chasing advertising. Talking about Static and Ben-El and Anna Zack to get views and audiences.
" In recent days, I have been approached by dozens of radio and television programs and newspapers.
If I was chasing advertising, I would sit day and night in interviews, and the fact that I did not do it, because advertising is not personal.
His personality is to correct the injustice done to our people and this generation.
I do not need external advertising.
I have YouTube and Facebook, and I respond there to everything I think.
Whoever wants - is updated there. "
* * *
A Google search brings up a surprising detail in Shaulov's resume: in his youth he was a footballer.
"From a young age I played football. I started at Hapoel Hadera and Maccabi Netanya. After that I was for a short time at Maccabi Haifa, and then at Maccabi Herzliya, in the position of right-back and striker. I was also in tests for Betar Jerusalem at Beit Vagan, My career on the field. "In the
army, he served as a warehouseman at the Tel Nof Air Force Base." I was released after two years and two months on Profile 24, due to the injury I carried in my groin.
I love soldiers, and I talk about it all the time.
To me, a soldier is a sacred thing.
"I curse extremist ultra-Orthodox who plant puppets of soldiers or spit on soldiers in Mea She'arim. They deserve every disgrace. In my eyes they are not connected to the Torah and ultra-Orthodox world. These are extremists, unconscious, who forget they would not sleep at night without our soldiers at the borders. "And accompanied by the graves of the righteous. They are obligatory, because they would not have existed here without the soldiers."
In your lectures you said, among other things: "Israel is a country that oppresses its inhabitants, an unclean state";
"The first thing Christ will do - fight the Zionists."
"Look, I am the most Zionist there is. And Zionist in my eyes is to love my people, to do Torah, charity and kindness in Zion. This is what my organization does ('Your faith in the nights'; Hb).
My best friends are religious Zionists, and also secular Zionists, but I do not agree with the result that Zionism has led to.
"Obviously I have complaints about the state. Shame and disgrace that a child in the army shoots a bullet at a terrorist, and the terrorist becomes a saint, while the soldier is already considered a terrorist. A soldier is sitting in jail because he shot a terrorist! His parents are over, an entire family is over." "Who is sane here and who is not? Who is a Zionist and who is not? In my opinion, the views of a true Zionist are that a soldier is a saint and a terrorist is a terrorist. Only in Israel have they become the creators."
* * *
In recent years, since he became famous, Shaulov has also been invited to lectures abroad. He has lectured in the United States, but has become a surprising hit in Russia as well.
"I speak Russian and teach Russian, some of which have been uploaded to YouTube. Do not forget that I come from a Caucasian family," he explains.
"But I'm not a friend of oligarchs. There are no oligarchs and not just rich people around me. The guys around me are commoners, guys who come at eye level, the ones who immigrated to Israel were considered 'blacks.'
" Bishops and churches in Moscow have been in my classes, and since then, I have been told that some of them teach my lessons in Russian in churches there.
Do you understand?
"Gentiles hear what a Jew says, and here, so to speak, Israelis cannot hear what a Jew says."
* * *
Shaulov began the process of repentance after spending Rosh Hashanah 2008 in Uman, Ukraine.
"I went there as a secular, with an open phone on the holiday. When I saw what was going on there I said: I will never be religious, I do not belong to it. In those days I was successful at work, I had money, everything, but I still did not find myself, and so I came to Uman.
"At one point I was told to do three things there: hope, a penny for charity and saying 'the general correction' (ten certain chapters of Psalms; II). I did all three, and went to sleep. After 17 hours I got up with a layer of dust on me. The guys who were I was told: 'Know, Rabbi Nachman did open heart surgery for you.'
"When I returned to Israel, I felt that I wanted to keep the commandments.
Within three weeks, I had replaced all the wardrobes in the house, brands for NIS 750,000 that I had accumulated all those years.
My wife and children also repented with me, turned away from me. "
What do you make a living from today?
" First, God is a Zen and a breadwinner, and His messengers are those close to me who support me and help me every month, making sure I and my children lack nothing, by name. It comes with love, without donations, without sales, without amulets, without entrance fees and without sales and standing orders and all kinds of promises. "
Speaking of selling trades, you are known for your criticism against "acceptable" parts of the blessings and amulets.
"True, I curse the Kabbalists and the patriarchs and despise them. In general, all these 'blessing machines' are the greatest disgrace of Judaism, especially to believers. They are the destroyers of the generation no less than those singers I spoke of. He who believes in them is either poor or dumb.
" Easiest to be a nice, sweet, close-knit rabbi, Mami.
I am not looking to be accepted in the ultra-Orthodox sector.
Whoever wants to hear me - hears.
The fact is that I am called to speak in Haredi yeshivas and midrashim, as well as in the schools of beloved and well-known rabbis, and I come. "
How do you conduct your sermons during the corona period?
" In front of a limited audience or in an open space, all according to regulations.
This is difficult, because before the corona I would teach classes to 900 people.
But thank God, even during this time I demand two or three sermons every day. "
Do your children watch your lessons?
" My children adore my lessons, but there are lessons I do not let them see. "In the
lesson on Beatty did they watch?
(Laughs)" No, do not exaggerate. "
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