New Jersey rabbi Steven Pruzansky sparked outrage with his comments
The rabbi is the leader of the large Orthodox synagogue Bnai Yeshurun
In his blog he claimed marriage would solve the problems of rape culture
Orthodox feminist group called for his removal from synagogue conference
The controversial rabbi has also written a blog post that calls for Israel to collectively punish Arab Israelis and Palestinians until they realize “they have no future in the land of Israel.”
‘…under what rock did Rabbi Pruzansky crawl out from? This is a call to all right thinking people to rise up and condemn this pre-historic view that has no place in our society, today’Follow @JosDaily1
An Orthodox rabbi has sparked outrage among women’s rights group with his ‘sexist and wrong’ comments on rape.
Steven Pruzansky is the leader of Bnai Yeshurun in New Jersey, one of the largest modern Orthodox synagogues in America, with more than 800 members.
However comments he made in his blog, appearing to suggest problems of rape ‘would be solved if the woman was married’ have left many angry. The Orthodox rabbi Steven Pruzansky caused outrage among some groups following comments he made in his blog post
Photo: JTA
The
controversial rabbi of a major modern Orthodox synagogue in New Jersey
has also written a blog post that calls for Israel to collectively
punish Arab Israelis and Palestinians until they realize “they have no
future in the land of Israel.”
Now the Jewish Orthodox
Feminist Alliance has called for the removal of the rabbi as a speaker
in an upcoming synagogue conference in June.He also wrote few claims on campuses ‘involve the old-fashioned and execrable assault by a stranger in some dark alley’ but were instead ‘he said/she said’ accounts with a lack of evidence to back them up.
Mr Pruzansky suggested many campus encounters characterized as rapes were probably consensual sexual encounters in which the woman labeled it rape later down the line because the man was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship.
In his blog, the rabbi wrote: ‘Relations between the sexes has, allegedly, become so strained that the liberal media speaks incessantly about a ‘rape culture’ on campuses, wherein brutish men have their way with women in numbers approaching an epidemic.”
‘Or so it is claimed.’
Steven Pruzansky is the leader of Bnai Yeshurun, one of the largest modern Orthodox synagogues in America, with more than 800 members (pictured)
He added: ‘Soon after the ‘friendship’ ended, the woman, feeling used, as she was by the lecherous man, files a complaint for sexual assault.
‘There have even been occasions when the woman who later claimed she was ‘raped’ spent the night, or several nights thereafter, with her beau, only to realize weeks later after their breakup that she had been assaulted.
‘If indeed there was a ‘rape culture’ on American campuses, no intelligent woman would want to attend college.
‘The fact that more women attend college today than men itself belies the accusation.’
Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, told the Jewish Telegraph Agency: ‘Pruzansky has been saying many wrong, sexist, hateful, racist, inciting things for years, but this is the straw that has broken the camel’s back.
‘I don’t think he should be the rabbi of a shul with hundreds of families, half women.
‘I don’t think he speaks to the values of the Jewish people or of Orthodox Judaism. He’s been a chilul Hashem [desecration of God’s name] for a long time.’
Mr Pruzansky is a former President of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, and also served as a Vice-President of the Rabbinical Council of America.
A trained lawyer, he practiced law for some 13 years as a general practitioner and litigator in New York City.
He is a member of the New York and Federal Bars, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
In his blog, he suggested: ‘Here’s a novel idea, one that has been tried before with great success but has fallen into desuetude, apparently, on college campuses. It will solve all these problems, the “rape culture,” the “he said/she said,” the feelings of rejection by the party who had an emotional connection with another person who just sought a physical connection. It’s called… abstinence, self-discipline, or chastity.
‘It involves waiting until marriage to engage in intimate acts, and then in a relationship in which the couple genuinely loves each other. It is preceded by a joyous ceremony known as a wedding, which too involves contractual obligations that are grounded in mutual respect. Problem solved…’
The Bnai Yeshurun synagogue, where the rabbi maintains his current post, claims to have been the ‘catalyst’ for the development of Teaneck as one of the ‘premier Orthodox communities in the United States’.
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