On Sunday, the Rabbi Got Himself Another Wife

Meet the “Rabbi” who’s about as kosher as bacon.

Or should that be “rabbit”?

You would think seven wives would be more than enough to keep a man busy.

But Philip Sharp has a little more on his plate than usual – two are pregnant at the same time.

Margo, 39, is due this month, while Vreni, 38, is scheduled to deliver in January.

Mr Sharp, a self-proclaimed rabbi, came to public attention two years ago thanks to his bizarre living arrangements.

God, he claimed, had told him he was a reincarnated Old Testament king. And so he lives like one, with a harem of devoted ‘wives’, none of whom he is legally married to.

Now the ‘rampant rabbi’, as he has been called, has eight children by four wives – on top of five by a previous and now estranged wife.

He is looking forward to the next two arrivals. ‘I never use contraception and I don’t let my wives take the Pill unless they really don’t want kids,’ he declared at his Sussex farmhouse.

‘My three partners who haven’t had children find it hard when the other women fall pregnant.

‘I’m spending more time with Margo and Vreni as we prepare for the births.’

Margo was 25 and had never had a serious boyfriend when she met Mr Sharp at his ‘synagogue’ based in Hove.

Now about to give birth to her fourth child by him she said: ‘I used to want a normal relationship with one husband, and was scared when I was first invited to marry Philip.

‘But I thought about it, and heard God telling me I should.

‘The first year was the hardest, and I was very jealous of the other wives. I told Philip – and he said I should learn how to share, and now I have.

‘Now I feel blessed that my children call the other wives “Mummy”, and I trust them completely with my kids.

Vreni, six months pregnant with her second child with Mr Sharp, is originally from Switzerland.

She was studying languages in England when she heard about his synagogue.

God, she claims, told her to join. ‘At first I worried what my friends and family would think but I realised what God wanted was more important,’ she said.

She added: ‘I cannot wear makeup to appear attractive to anyone else other than Philip. I like to abide by the rules.’

And Mr Sharp, 48, certainly has a household full of rules.

His wives have to wear hats to shield their hair from other men, follow a rota for housework, and attend to his every whim.

They also have to help out in Mr Sharp’s haulage business. And they have to be content not to have had a proper wedding – as he insists their marriages simply began when they first had sex.

In fact, the only woman he is legally married to is Hadass, 53 – an Israeli who left him nine years ago when he made clear he was planning to take on a whole host of new wives.

She has since claimed he began flirting with other women on their honeymoon in 1984, and that he would demand sex at all hours of day and night.

After she left, the congregation at Mr Sharp’s ‘biblical Judaism’ synagogue dwindled and he was later excommunicated by the group.

He first ‘married’ his secretary Judith, 49, and within three years added Tracey, 41, Hannah, 50, Vreni, Margo, Chava, 64, and Karyn, 29, to his harem.

Karyn’s mother Maureen also lives in the household and teaches the children in a converted barn next door. Currently the youngsters are aged between six months and nine years old.

Mr Sharp now only ministers to the faithful in his own family.

As no one claims benefits, the haulage business needs profits of £400 a week to pay grocery bills.

All the wives submit to his bedroom demands.

Mr Sharp said: ‘There is no rota for sex. It depends on where I’m at with each wife emotionally and spiritually.

‘I spend time with whoever I like, and it is often the wives I have more fun with that I want to be with. When they quarrel, I call a family meeting and the other wives act as a jury so we can resolve it.’

Hat tip: My wife (just the one, in case you were wondering)

Update: This older article on the good “Rabbi” reveals he is a “Messianic Jew.”

About the Author

An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.

Filed Under: General

Tags: Philip Sharp, UK