ISRAEL TURNS THE CLOCK BACK TWO THOUSAND YEARS
Just when you think that things can't get worse.....
The significance of only having 39 is that it was believed that 40 lashes would kill a man.
'Sinner' singer given 39 lashes by rabbis
Punishment for performance in front of "mixed audience"
A singer who performed in front of a "mixed audience"
of men and women was lashed 39 times to make him
"repent," after aruling by a self-described rabbinic court
on Wednesday.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, founder of the Shofar organization
aimed at bringing Jews "back to religion" (hazara betshuva),
has made it his recent mission to fight against musical
performances for both men and women.
His "judicial panel," with Rabbi Ben Zion Mutsafi and
another member, sentenced Erez Yechiel to 39 lashes
in order to "rid him of his sins."
In a video clip of the court posted on the Shofar Web site,
Ben Zion said that those who make others sin (mahtiei rabim),
such as artists who make men and women attend performances
or dance together, have no place in the world to come.
He displayed a leather strip he said was made by his father from
ass and bull skin, with which Yechiel was to have been
whipped. Yechiel, who said, "I accept upon myself the
lashing for my sins,"was ordered to stand by a wooden
poll with his head facing north ("from whence the evil
inclination comes"), his hands tied with a azure-colored
rope ("a symbol of mercy"), and served his "sentence."
