Rabbinical Court 311.
(photo credit:Courtesy)
A singer who performed in front of a “mixed audience” of men and women was
lashed 39 times to make him “repent,” after a ruling 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.”