ISRAEL
YNet
Kobi Nachshoni
Published: 07.21.15
Rabbi Shalom Arush, one of the leaders of the Breslov Hasidic movement, has called on fellow rabbis not to meet with women seeking an advice or blessing from them, but to settle for a short correspondence with them.
According to Arush, it is also women’s responsibility not to meet with rabbis.
Kabbalist Rabbi Ezra Scheinberg, who founded a yeshiva and a devoted community in Safed and became famous across Israel for his alleged supernatural powers, tries to flee the country following suspicions that he raped and molested 10 women who sought his advice.
Last Thursday, it was cleared for publication that Ezra Sheinberg of Safed is the kabbalist rabbi suspected of raping some of his female followers.
In a lesson he delivered last week in his yeshiva, Chut Shel Chessed (“a touch of grace”), Rabbi Arush said: “You can’t twist the Torah. Our Sages of Blessed Memory said: ‘There is no guardian for promiscuity’ (i.e., person cannot trust himself not to engage in forbidden sex, and should therefore impose commands on himself to prevent it).”
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