[Note to readers: In a few days, I'll be posting my wife's and my personal recommendation for the most effective and worthy Maos Hittim (Passover needs for the poor) project in the Land of Israel. The real thing - totally legitimate - executed in the most ingenious way. You'll see and judge for yourself. Check back.]
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I thought that I would never in my life wish upon any fellow Jew that he stay away from Israel. That's how I feel today regarding Daniel Pomerantz who made aliyah (immigrated) from Chicago with a low-tech business initiative: Playboy magazine in Hebrew. You can't get much lower.
Jewish genius from overseas alongside savvy investors bring so many bright ideas and funding to the great Jewish brain hub known as the State of Israel. Israeli and overseas Jewish entrepreneurs join together to upgrade planet earth and make money in the process.
Your idea, Daniel, is nurtured from the gutter.
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| Daniel, you should have left this idea where it belongs. |
At your Tuesday, March 5, 2013 launch, you said: "Our target is men who want a taste of the good life."
Huh? This reminds me of my high school fraternity pledge master's mother who tried to convince my Mom of the virtues of renting a tuxedo for the end-of-the-year prom: "When I see my son walking down the red carpet wearing a tuxedo, it is the proudest moment in my life," she said. My mother felt pity for this woman whose nachas (pride in her children) wasn't to be found in her son's character, but rather in his clothing.
And so with you Daniel: gazing at naked women is "a taste of the good life?"
The good life is only to be found when a man focuses all of his sexual drive towards one single goal: his wife. He brings to her all of his robustness and fortitude, and she feels the force and totality of her husband's passion for her. The lust for the opposite sex serves to cement the marriage relationship; it becomes a platform for increased love and mutual respect. It creates a haven of warmth in the home.
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| "Babe, I missed you today!" |
When a loyal, pornography-free husband greets his wife at the end of the day, she is gorgeous in his eyes. He is crazy about her and can't wait to smother her with hugs, kisses and whispers of how much he loves her. The wife's inner antennas detect the husband's overflowing passion and respect for her. It empowers her. The home becomes a heaven on earth for the whole family.
But when a husband wastes his sexual energies in other directions like pornography, he presents his wife in the evening with the leftovers. After a sizzling-hot encounter with the gorgeous women in your magazine, the husband comes through the front door with only a lukewarm reception for his own wife. The lesser dosage of passion breeds disappointment, unhappiness and tension in the home which eats away at the marriage relationship and ultimately wrecks the children's upbringing.
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| "He loves me? He loves me not." |
Is that the "good life" that you were referring to? Your magazine is a momentary rush of lust, which leaves depression and havoc in its wake.
The only good life is a pornography-free husband-wife relationship. It is so, so sweet.
Daniel, you had the wherewithal and talent to put the Hebrew Playboy initiative together. In a million lost dollars from now, stick around Israel and find a constructive outlet to contribute your energies and money.
I close Daniel by referring you to the best site for porn addiction: JewishSexuality.com . Start with the Questions and Answers section and then progress to the longer essays and books posted there.
Good luck in closing your business quickly.
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Deport that bit*h back to where it came from, not welcome in the Holy Land! Knesset needs to enact some new laws! And Baruch you made one mistake in your story, you said "after a sizzling-hot encounter with the gorgeous women in your magazine"....Gorgeous? Plastic and cheap is gorgeous? No way! I know you made a typo, so I thought I would clarify. :) Also, sizzling hot? Im sorry but a cold dead tree of a magazine can't do what a living breathing aroused woman can do, a REAL LIVE woman is SIZZLING HOTT! Another typo :) Also pornography is CHEATING, because the man is having sexual relations with something other than his wife! So lets finally call this filth for what it is! Anyways, I think women would be much happier in this world if there were more pornography-free Baruchs! :)
ReplyDeleteEXODUS 34:13 "You MUST destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles". Altars=websites. Images=pornography. Asherah=beautiful woman. Asherah poles=strip clubs/prostitutes. The LORD doesn't like being CHEATED on, and this must be quite an IMPORTANT and touchy subject to have it repeated in scripture so many times:EXODUS34:13, EXODUS:23:24, DEUTERONOMY7:5, DEUT12:3, DEUT16:21, JUDGES2:2, JUDGES6:25, JUDGES6:26, 1 KINGS14:15, 2 KINGS18:4, 2 CHRONICLES15:16, 2 CHRONICLES17:6, 2 CHRONICLES24:18, 2 CHRONICLES31:1, 2 CHRONICLES33:19, 2 CHRONICLES34:3, ISAIAH17:8, ISAIAH27:9, JEREMIAH17:2, and MICAH5:14! And if people think that scripture has nothing to do with RIGHT NOW, than they clearly cannot read!
DeleteI may as well say it in here, because on the Arutz Sheva comments section for this article, everytime I try to challenge the PIGS' comments, especially Moshe, Israel (The hereidi's most outspoken supporter on Arutz Sheva) my comments never get published, thanks to the BIAS, and unprofessionalism. I find it very hypocritical for these people who call themselves "Torah observant", and claim people like Bennett and Lapid are going to "destroy" the Torah, yet they and some of their Rabbi's OPENLY support and indulge in pornography! That is one of the biggest forms of idolatry out there! Furthermore Moshe, Israel refuses to accept that women do NOT want their husbands to see other naked women, and that IS cheating! When you marry a woman, you marry HER and ONLY HER/HER BODY, not anyone else's. You have no rights or privaleges to any other woman's body! And the Hereidi have the gull to make commercials with Brides and fax machines, yet a marriage with CHEATING in it is the TRUE SCAM.
DeleteThank you, thank you, thank you for this post. I can't get past the fact that the very day that a modern locust plague, one of the reminders of the depravity and cruelty of Mitzrayim, crossed the border into Eretz HaKodesh was the same day that Playboy crossed the border as well. May Eretz HaKodesh spit it back out again bimhera b'yameinu.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point!
DeleteYour blog is called Baruchs Breeze. Does it blow anyone away?It hasn't blown away any muslim rock throwers or illegal aliens from africa or any Amalek,so I doubt it will blow away wayward Jewish immigrants who bring a slice of the golus with them on Aliya. Alot of folks seem to think they discharge their duty to their fellow Jews by mearly restating prohibitions to strangers while ignoring the positive Mitzvos like Chesed.My question to you is Do you care 1 iota if your fellow Jews status remains bachalor without a wife? Would you do anything more to remedy the situation than say what your not doing anything for Johnathan Pollard? Out of sight Is out of mind. If indeed you've never made a shidduch or even tried to help, maybe you shouldn't criticise others folks coping skills/failures in this area.Being an integral part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your words calling for action. Good point re the need for all of us to dedicate time to trying to make shidduchim (matches for marriage).
DeleteBut note that even once a guy is married, the urge to gaze at illicit sites doesn't go away suddenly. Someone who succeeds in divorcing himself from porn in all forms, will find himself madly craving his female counterpart, which is the dream of any wife. Go for it guys. Your wives are waiting for the real and full you.
First off DIRTY Anonymous, Amalek takes residence in your own mind, called the "evil inclination", that's whom Amalek is. Second, if you want Amalek destroyed, start with that dirty unappreciative full-of-excuses mind of yours. Furthermore, "out of sight, out of mind"; you clearly don't believe in God, because nothing is out of God's sight! And then you have the gull to call it "coping skills"? You want sex, go get a wife! Don't want to do the WORK and commitment for a wife, than you don't get the REWARD of sex! ****ing off to plastic skanks in magazines, not only taints your future with any woman you plan on being with, but it teaches you to be a shallow unsensitive pig. All you end up desiring is plastic cheap whores, and think you are entitled to the rewards of a woman, with out the work. Appreciating the natural beauty GOD created, and enjoying that beauty through the REWARD of your WIFE, is what GOD intended! Thus don't sit here and spew your falseness and talk about mitzvos, chesed, and Amalek!
ReplyDeleteFunny, the Haredim seem to think that their ridiculoous clothing will get them to heaven - with or without the Torah -- or rather the Talmud.
ReplyDeleteAxe = ground. Next.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePerhaps I should be killed to death...
DeleteSeriously, greencamping's comment seemed diversive/vindictive, which is what I was responding to.
I really was being facetious, and I was sure that Chashmal was, too. I was, in no way, put on the defensive.
DeleteI removed my own comment, since you said you weren't threatening ME, or commenting to me. All is well, I bid you a good day, peace :)
Deletewe know many people are motivated by the big buck-
ReplyDeletethis oleh has reach a low in his life thinking he is contributing something to israel with is presence and with Playboy's presence. get a life and a real job.
the eruv rah escorted Jews to Israel and the we have our modern day jewish eruv rah who have no real sense of direction
and jewish destiny when they come to Israel- bring all the trash with you instead of discarding it. I hope G-d has a lot of patience.
Wasn't it Ben Gurion who said that we can get the Jew out of the galut (exile), but it takes longer to get the galut out of the Jew. Give him time, G-d willing.
DeleteGive him time for what? To destroy Israel further! Most people do NOT change, and I personally am not one that wastes my time anymore on "waiting" for people to work out. I'd rather be pro-active, and kick this guy right back to the gutter where he came from. Maybe that is the biggest change >passive< Israel needs. Israel lets the world bully it, and has a lot of self-hatred. Just look at the state of the Temple Mount.
DeleteY'shar Koach to you, Baruch, for posting a much-needed piece on Jewish sexuality and how a man treats a woman. So many men of all ages have no idea how to treat a real, live non-plastic woman, and your piece made me think that maybe that's because of the cheap, easy and available pornography about that doesn't require any effort from a man for him to get off - unlike a relationship or a marriage with a real woman. I can only hope and pray that the eyes that need to read it, do so.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Ladies, if your intimacy with your husband isn't passionate and robust, there can be a lot of reasons. But porn is one huge one. Women have no idea of what a temptation porn is for men. Even accomplished Torah scholars can fall into this rut and have great difficultly extracting themselves from the habit.
DeleteCheck your husband's surfing history and if you see porn, don't panic. This only means that your husband is normal and has a healthy sexual drive.
Talk about it calmly with your husband. Tell him you understand that it's a huge and almost insurmountable (!) challenge. Install a strict porn filter at home and let only the women of the house have the password (far less women also are porn addicts).
Or better yet, have the husband simply not use the computer at home, or use it ONLY in a public family room.
The wife's understanding, sympathy and cooperation can go a long way in helping a husband overcome.
There's more to say on this, but enough for now.
I would divorce his undeserving A**! I'm no fool, and I know what world I live in, and when I start a relationship, at the start, I lay down boundries, and what I expect beforehand, so that it is 100% clear; and thus, if I am betrayed, there is no excuse for it! Thank God for divorce, that a person doesn't have to be enslaved inside a loveless hurtful sham of a marriage! It's also not "normal" to want to betray someone you proclaim to "love". Maybe if we lived in a world where if lines were crossed, its all over, than perhaps people would not tread into temptation in the first place. I don't believe in forgiving every sin. If someone wants ME as their reward as a wife, they better fear and tremble at the thought of me!
DeleteBTW sympathy for the betrayer??? What about the true victim, the wife??? Baruch, I forbade my husband from the beginning to not cheat on me, including with pornography, and yet he constantly cheated on me with it and more! What's his excuse? I have a very strong hot libido for a woman, and I've been told I'm quite an attractive woman, so what's his excuse? I was very devoted to him, I'm VERY outwardly affectionate, and yet he would IGNORE me, until it was time for the bedroom, as if that's all I exist for! And yet he still cheated! One day, I dressed up like a Hollywood star, did the full 9 of being dolled up, and walked in front of the TV (as he was playing video games) and he kept leaning to try to see the TV, and finally told me to move! He didn't even notice! I went away and cried. I spoke to him on many occasions about how I felt! He didn't change. I wasted years of crying and being ignored and cheated on, and finally woke up and broke free with a DIVORCE! What's crazy? He didn't want a divorce, HE was happy with our marriage!
DeletePORNOGRAPHY is a form of mental enslavement to immorality and, like ABORTION, is anathema and an abomination in the Holy Land promised by the God Of Israel to His people. Together they play the role of a fifth column enemy against God's chosen people waging war against and weakening the nation from within.
ReplyDeleteThis is all true but it doesn't help the victims overcome. 98% of men using the internet have fallen victim to porn.
DeleteWhen I was an 11 yr old girl, My older brother showed me this filth that he found in the gutter, weeks later he decided to try out what he saw in the magazine with me. Destroyed our relationship to this day; I saw all men as unsafe; destroyed my first marriage, almost my second.
ReplyDeleteNow my daughter's boyfriend... I see no freedom here; only bondage and a trail of pain...
I'm flying to Israel tonight, my first time...I am very excited to visit the Holy Land...where is the 'Holy' in this?
we have enough of this abomination in the USA...G-D have mercy on us, which I believe He has, but judgement is coming.
He is the G-D of justice and mercy. Micah 6:8
I agree with you, and I'm sorry that all happened to you. It ruins marriages (I know what it feels like to be cheated on with this crap and more), and the affect of pornography, strip clubs, prostitution has been so far reaching, that today many teenage girls don't even want to get into relationships because they know what is guaranteed to come-being cheated on! Its so bad, I was going for a walk (semi-rural), with my children, and in the ditch were several pages from a dirty magazine, and I had to run over, and stomp them and try to burry them so that my children wouldn't see that garbage! We can't even go on a walk on a country road, without that crap shoved in our face! Now the devil wants to infiltrate the Holy Land! Hope you enjoy your trip, I wish I could escape there! :)
Deletefor the record, in poland before world war 2 they had porn in yiddish....
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, being Jewish does not make you instantly sin-free or cleaner than anyone else, nor does it make you allowed to do something sinful and dirty. You point is meaningless...just sayin.
DeleteShir HaShirim is no less pornographic than Playboy. I haven't felt the need to read either of these fine works since my teenage years.
ReplyDeleteShir HaShirim (Song of Songs - one of the books of the Bible) is according to Rabi Akiva and Jewish tradition the Holy of Holies of scripture.
DeleteIf your head is immersed in porn and that's what you think about all the time, then the imagery of Shir HaShirim will probably be damaging for you. But try to elevate yourself a bit and grab a commentary to this beautiful book and try and unlock it's secrets.
TYPO IN LAST PHRASE: "...its secrets."
DeleteTo:Exdos Only an ATHEIST would think Playboy is a "fine" work.
DeleteWell written! (kōl hakavōd)
ReplyDeleteI especially liked the following:
"But when a husband wastes his sexual energies in other directions like pornography, he presents his wife in the evening with the leftovers."
I was in Israel last summer on a study tour. I appreciated the modesty everywhere we went. Then we got to Tel Aviv - they were re-painting the crosswalks rainbow colored - our guide was a very religous man that loves his country and loved teaching us about it - He turns to us and says:
"Welcome to Sodom!"
The sadness he said it with was heartbreaking
I could almost hear that same sadness in your post here.
Be Blessed!
Let us not forget that Tel Aviv is as holy as the rest of Israel, and its residents are as holy as the rest of our nation. With much love for all of Israel!
ReplyDelete