So what’s the big deal, you ask.
Well, I’m having these nightmares while I’m wide awake.
I’m typing away in the hovel and I feel like this little man in black who runs the Rabbinical Council of California (most powerful Orthodox group on the West Coast) is going to come through my computer screen and stand before me.
Does he scream, "You troubler of Israel! Begone!"
No. He says nothing. He just stands there and looks at me and it freaks me out.
What’s the medication you take so that you no longer fear rabbis? It sure ain’t wellbutrin.
Turn me loose, Zeus. "I was born to run, I was born to dream, The craziest boy you ever seen, I gotta do it my way, Or no way at all. And I was here to please, I’m even on knees Makin love to whoever I please, I gotta do it my way, Or no way at all. And then you came around, Tried to tie me down, I was such a clown, You had to have it your way, Or no way at all. Well I’ve had all I can take, I can’t take it no more, I’m gonna pack my bags and fly……baby, Or no way at all."
Jane emails: "I personally, I am done. As a women I had to liberate my self from their put downs and double standards. I don’t need an intermediator to talk to God. The Torah is not their domain. It was given to us. Since the time I freed myself (I called it Yovel), I enjoy prayer. I have a great interpersonal relation with God. We talk frequently: While I walk, work or write. I attend services and listen attentively. I take weekly Torah classes. If luck graces me and I learn a good interpretation that helps me grow, I am thankful. Funny, the rabbis at times look almost human and I can even show some empathy toward some of them. BUT GOD -THEY ARE NOT! So who gives a.."
Oh well, one must fear something. If it is not God, it might as well be rabbis. We should all be so lucky as to have a little Rabbi Union inside of us — the still small voice.
Brad A. Greenberg wrote in the Jewish Journal:
But his notoriety as an adult-industry blogger complicated Ford’s search for a spiritual home in Los Angeles’ Orthodox community. The first shul to give him the boot was Aish HaTorah in 1995 for being too antagonistic and again in 1998 when Rabbi Moshe Cohen discovered Ford’s double life as a porn journalist.
"He was one of the Torah weirdos," said Rabbi Aryeh Markman, the shul’s executive director. "You get all sorts of people showing up in shul and we bust them. ‘I’m happy you’re looking for a place to daven. But this isn’t one of them.’ And you throw them out. … The antithesis of Torah is porn."
Ford journeyed down Pico Boulevard and created a new life for himself at Young Israel of Century City, going by his Hebrew name Levi Ben Avraham. He remained there for three years before being ousted.
About the same time, he was tossed from the Rabbinical Council of California’s conversion program for "deceit and deception," administrator Rabbi Avrohom Union said. "Don’t take anything he says at face value."
I must stop listening to Rabbi Union’s shiurim. He’s a mesmerizing speaker. He’s the most popular teacher at Bais Yaakov (popular in a good way) — the right-wing Orthodox school for girls. He’s a compact, passionate man with fists of steel wrapped in gloves of velvet.
Rav Avraham Union is head rabbi of the RCC in Los Angeles and a noted speaker.
