I was in two minds about posting this. On one hand, it is embarrassing and a chilul Hashem (desecration of G-d’s name), so I did not want to give it more publicity.
On the other hand, it is already out there, and I feel it important to let people know how 60 Minutes Australia are pretty much libeling the Jewish community when they call this guy a Rabbi.
He might be a rabbit, but he sure as hell ain’t no Rabbi.
No Rabbi I know would act like this, since approximately one thousand years ago, Rabbi Gershom banned polygamy, a ban accepted as law by all Ashkenazic Jews. And even though it was not recognized by Sephardic and Yemenite communities, practically speaking, polygamy is almost nonexistent today even amongst Sephardic Jews.
Then there’s the fact the reporter shows a typical “Saturday morning scene.” The cameras are rolling, and it is clear these people are not keeping Shabbat. The “Rabbi” is not wearing a skullcap, and wouldn’t look out of place in The Deliverance.
Five minutes in, it becomes clear. The “Rabbi” is described as a “Messianic Jew.” As I have explained before, this is NOT Judaism (although some who claim to be Messianics were born Jewish), and one cannot be a Rabbi and believe in Jesus as G-d or Messiah. The two things are mutually exclusive.
I know it would have deprived 60 Minutes Australia of saying things like “the rampant Rabbi”, but they are doing the Jewish community a great disservice in marketing this guy as a legitimate Rabbi.
At a time where antisemitism is on the rise everywhere, this is the kind of publicity we can do without.
Update: More on this sicko.
Sitting at his dark wooden kitchen table in shorts, sporting a flashy gold bracelet, Philip Sharp, 48, does not look or sound like Britain’s most infamous rabbi. And technically, he isn’t. His 1993 rabbinic ordination, from the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, was revoked after he became too controversial even for Jews for Jesus.
“They ordered me to send back the certificate, but I didn’t, and they denied I was ever ordained,” says Sharp. “For me, their god is puny. I don’t want to serve a god like that. I told God himself — if you’re like that, [expletive] off.”
Update: Apparently, he died in November 2019, so I am not sure why 60 Minutes Australia felt the need to re-post this video story yesterday. It seems it originally aired in 2013.
