Haredi BT Has One Of The Largest Porn Collections In The World

He has one of the largest collections of pornography and erotica in the world, but don't call Clifford Scheiner a dirty old man. The former Brooklyn emergency room doctor with a Ph.D. in sexuality has amassed an enormous hoard of 350,000 books, films and photos - from 13th century manuscripts to every issue of Playboy and Screw magazine ever printed.

 

Ex-ER doctor Clifford Scheiner's porn, erotica collection includes 350,000 books, films and photos
BY Lukas I. Alpert • NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

He has one of the largest collections of pornography and erotica in the world, but don't call Clifford Scheiner a dirty old man.

The former Brooklyn emergency room doctor with a Ph.D. in sexuality has amassed an enormous hoard of 350,000 books, films and photos - from 13th century manuscripts to every issue of Playboy and Screw magazine ever printed.

"It is certainly one of the largest collections of erotology and sexology in the world," he says.

Scheiner, 61, of Flatbush, has been collecting since the late 1960s, but he insists his fascination is purely academic.

"I became interested because of the mystery involved," he said. "To hear people talk about it - nobody bought it, nobody sold it, nobody owned it, nobody printed it, nobody illustrated it and nobody bound it, but the books were there and that intrigued me."

He dove headfirst into books that took great effort to decipher.

"I taught myself to recognize most of the dirty words in most of the languages that use the Roman alphabet," he said. "I don't have huge language skills, but I get a pretty good idea of what is going on."

Ultimately, he went into the book business, starting a mail-order company, C.J. Scheiner Books. "I never paid retail for anything," he said.

Scheiner, born in Clifton, N.J., studied molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale, got a medical degree from SUNY Downstate and later earned a Ph.D. from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.

By the 1980s, the collection swelled, with people selling him rare texts, stacks of magazines, photographs, prints and film reels. All the while, he worked as an emergency room doctor at Kings County Hospital - a job he kept until 2003.

"I supported myself entirely from the book business. I wasn't spending any of my salary from being a doctor on the cost of daily living," he said. "I was dealing in things ranging from $5 to $85,000.

"Of course, I took a lot of money I made selling books and used it to buy more books," he added. "That's why I now have more than 350,000 items."

Scheiner's collection gives that of even the famed Kinsey Institute - with holdings of 430,000 items - a run for its money.

"He is one of the major collectors. I have lots of respect for his efforts and devotion and his experience," said Liana Zhou, Kinsey's director of collections.

For years, Scheiner kept his vast collection in a West Village space.

"The films and videos were in one place, the Tijuana bibles in another, original art in another, and newspapers and magazines in another," he said.

But in 2003, the building was sold and he was forced to move "160,000 pounds of books" with little notice. It all ended up jammed into a $5,000-a-month, 1,400-square-foot Flatbush storage facility, where it remains today.

"It looks like the warehouse from the last scene of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" he said, adding that it puts a serious damper on his business.

"So many things are inaccessible," he said. "If somebody said, 'I absolutely have to have an item,' it might take me three months to find it."

In recent years, Scheiner has turned his interest to Orthodox Judaism and spends his days poring over the Torah and the Talmud.

In all, Scheiner estimates he has spent $1 million over the years on the collection. "But that is over a 30-year period, so actually it's like $30,000 a year," he said. "That isn't a whole lot."

[Hat Tip: Visiting the Sick.]

Comments

[charlie runkel]

so whats your point shmarya this man is probably ruining the world isnt he

[Izzy]

Shmarya, why "Haredi?" He does not look it to me.

[Shmarya]

He's probably Chabad.

[David]

I was dealing in things ranging from $5 to $85,000.

The $5 stuff is the porn, the $85,000 stuff is the art.

[David]

He is wearing a blue shirt. He can't be Charedi.

[visiting the sick]

How about just plain Orthodox, rather than haredi or Chabad?

[Racheli]

He sounds like a brilliant interesting man.

[Catcher50]

We all own the world's largest collection of such material. It resides in the Library of Congress. Let's remember, if he was in this for business reasons, he probably didn't pay much attention to content.

Also, he has the one of the best sets of sideburns since a certain Civil War general.

[Guest]

The only thing Hareidi about this guy is his beard. I guess that makes Shmarya a hareidi too.

[HeshMan]

The NY daily News has an article on this but only briefly mentions his religion.

There is a voting poll on the site and only 27% (when i voted) had voted that it is pervasive. I wonder if the figures would be different had they put "Orthodox Jew" in the headline.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/27/2011-06-27_too_much_porn_to_hide_under_the_bed_350000_items_but_to_bklyn_doc_its_not_about_.html

Only Quote that mentions his religion:

"In recent years, Scheiner has turned his interest to Orthodox Judaism and spends his days poring over the Torah and the Talmud."

[charlie runkel]

of course he is probably chabad shmarya bc he has a beard well i have news for u not only do chabad people have beards

[yidandahalf]

He looks like someone from "Hoarders"

[anuran]

Sounds like an academic. Scholars can seem a little strange to outsiders

[Morris the Katz]

Abe Lincoln had a beard. I guess he was Haredi, too. Not only that, his first name was "Abraham."

Come to think of it, didn't Ben Roethlisberger have a beard throughout most of his NFL career? And with a first name of "Benjamin," he had to be a BT haredi too.

Me, I just have whiskers...

[western jew]

This guy is what you might call a populist chassid. He dresses as he wishes for the popular culture yet keeps a full beard, etc. That said, I can not say I would share his enthusiasm for the burlesque and printed X rated material, but I am sure that it probably might indeed be his mission in life. He is one of a kind I bet.

[Guest]

Ok, so lets get real over here.

This guy looks like a hareidi because of his beard. Shmarya looks like a hareidi because of his beard. But are they really hareidim? Of course not!

So many people are not really hareidim, yet look like hareidim. What in fact, is a hareidi? A hareidi is one who is very careful to follow the laws of the Torah. Anyone who doesn't follow the laws of the Torah is not a real hareidi. Even if his beard and gartel fool us all and make us think he is a hareidi.

Anyone who molests a child, or steals from the government, or uses pornography, or who is gay, is NOT hareidi. These people are going against the Torah, and no matter how long their beard is or how long their gartel is, or how long their davening is, or how many times a day they pick their nose, they ARE NOT hareidi.

These people give real hareidim a very bad name.

[Shmarya]

So many people are not really hareidim, yet look like hareidim. What in fact, is a hareidi? A hareidi is one who is very careful to follow the laws of the Torah. Anyone who doesn't follow the laws of the Torah is not a real hareidi. Even if his beard and gartel fool us all and make us think he is a hareidi.

Please.

Look up the No True Scotsman Fallacy.

[Shabeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss]

One thing for sure, never does he have blue balls.

[Guest]

Shmarya,

The term "Hareidi" was coined in the early 1900's to mean "those who fear G-d". It was meant to differentiate between those in Israel who feared G-d and continued to keep the Torah as their forefathers did for thousands of years, and the secular Zionists who did not keep the Torah. (The term Dati Leumi was coined later when Rav Kook created a new stream of Judaism, mixing religion with nationalist Zionism.)

So the original term was used to denote fear of G-d and observance of Torah and Mitzvos.

The fact that many of the offspring of these original hareidim are not hareidim, and instead have gone off the derech, while at the same time keeping the outward dress, does not change the original meaning of the word.

Therefore, I fail to see your comparison to No True Scotsman Fallacy.

Thanks.

[Shmarya]

…Therefore, I fail to see your comparison to No True Scotsman Fallacy.

Thanks.

Posted by: Guest | June 27, 2011 at 01:22 PM

Please.

1. Many of the original haredim were also crooks, thugs and cheats.

2. The issue is group identification. As long as haredi leaders allow haredi criminals to identify as haredi, then the group is what it is made up of, which includes criminals. That's the halakhic concept of silence equals acquiescence.

[ah-pee-chorus]

Guest -

do you know that not a single reform jew has ever committed a crime?

do you also know that by your definition -" Anyone who doesn't follow the laws of the Torah is not a real hareidi. "- there has never been a single haredi ?

think before you post for once.

[Guest]

do you also know that by your definition -" Anyone who doesn't follow the laws of the Torah is not a real hareidi. "- there has never been a single haredi ?

think before you post for once.

Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | June 27, 2011 at 02:22 PM

The term "hareidim" means "those that fear G-d".

All people make mistakes. G-d created us human, not as angels. However, hareidim ATTEMPT to do the right thing. They are constantly trying, and even when they make mistakes here and there, overall their lives are lived as Torah-true as possible, constantly striving to better themselves. "Fear of G-d".

Many of those who call themselves hareidi today obviously are not striving to be better Jews. They are, therefore, not true hareidim.

You write:
"do you know that not a single reform jew has ever committed a crime?"

Really? Hard to fathom. All reform Jews are perfect????? Never stole a dime in taxes? Report every five dollars their kid makes mowing the neighbor's grass? Maybe. Again, hard to fathom. If someone said that about even one hareidi, Shmarya would laugh. So would you. To say that about every reform Jew? Unbelievable.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to Paul Simon:

When I think back
On all the crap I learned in yeshiva
It's a wonder
I can wank at all
And though my lack of masturbation
Hasn't hurt me none
I can see the pinup on the wall

Tons o' porn
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the Id's desire
Makes you think all the world's
for fun and games
I got a B and H camera
I love to collect pornographs
So Rebbe don't take my tons o' porn away

If you took all the girls I knew
When on a shidduch
And brought them all together,
every maidel,
I know they'd never match
my sweet imagination
Everyone looks worse
in a sheitl

[ah-pee-chorus]

Guest -

have you ever heard of the terms "sarcasm" and "satire" ?

i was pointing out how foolish your remarks are. i could define a reform jew to mean adhering to every law of the land and therefore anyone who we thought to be a reform jew but then committed any crime , would NOT be a REAL reform jew. ERGO, NO REFORM JEW HAS EVER COMMITTED A SINGLE CRIME.
i cant believe you were incapable of understanding my analogy and that i have to explain it to you. these are BOTH classic variations of 'no true scotsman' .

[ah-pee-chorus]

YL- bravo!!!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Thanks, APC.

[Guest]

APC,

Exactly. That was my point. That just because hareidim will sometimes make mistakes, they are still hareidim, if they are trying to do the right thing.

However, those that are not trying to do the right thing, and hide beind the cloak and the outer dress, are not real hareidim.

I include people who don't keep their hands off little boys, people who don't keep shabbos, and people who are gay. These people are not even trying to fear G-d; hence they are not really hareidi.

[ah-pee-chorus]

wow. its like talking to a wall. you dont get it at all. not even a little bit. and yet you said, Exactly. That was my point. amazing.

just try to use your tamudic logic and substitute "christian" , "reform", "lawyer" or "businessman", and as long as you permit them the same leeway in defining and excluding people from their groups, none of these people have ever committed any crimes.

[Hugh Hefner]

"If somebody said, 'I absolutely have to have an item,' it might take me three months to find it."

LOL
Can you imagine, someone writing a term paper or a shtickel toira and he needed a specific copy of Screw Magazine from 1976 to back up his thesis...

[C.J. Scheiner]

Dear Friends: I am not Orthodox, have never said I was, and the Daily News article never stated what my religion is. Many people study the Torah and the Talmud and other Jewish books for many different reasons.
C.J. Scheiner, M.D., Ph.D.