Hasidic Woman Advertises Bizarre Wart Cure – Kill A Pigeon, Put Its Blood On The Wart…

The woman had a stern warning for New York Post readers. The cure will only work on Jews, not on Gentiles. “Gentiles,” she reportedly said, “are not capable of taking this.”

Hasidic Woman Advertises Bizarre Wart Cure – Kill A Pigeon, Put Its Blood On The Wart…
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

"Fester, old man, be a good sport and go bag me one of your pigesons!"

It is the offbeat – and off-putting – New York story the New York Post excels at finding.

Like a recipe from the old Addams Family television sitcom, a recent ad in Di Tzeitung (a Brooklyn-based, Yiddish-language paper loosely affiliated with Satmar) recommended that pigeon blood be poured on warts, left to stand for an hour, and then washed off, the Post reported.

Do that, the ad reportedly says, and in two or three weeks, “with God’s help, there is no memory thereof.”

“I did this to help people. You go to the market, you buy a pigeon, and the blood goes on the wart. That’s it,” the woman who placed the ad and who claimed the cure worked on her daughter told the Post. She also claimed not to be affiliated in any way with the meat market her ad recommends. Instead, she claims that the market is mentioned because no one else in Williamsburg would perform the the cure for her.

But the woman had a stern warning for New York Post readers. The cure will only work on Jews, not on Gentiles.

“Gentiles,” she reportedly said, “are not capable of taking this.”

Some local rabbis were aghast that the ad had been run and the Post had discovered it – perhaps like one might feel a pigeon or two dive bombed and did their business on the rabbis’ new $3,000 shtreml as revenge.

“This isn’t for every Tom, Dick or Harry. It’s like a talisman — something that helps you, but you don’t know why,” an area rabbi huffed.

The Post also notes that pigeon advocates were appalled, as well.

“It’s meshuggeneh,” Anna Dove, who runs the People for the Preservation of Pigeons Facebook page, told the paper.

[Hat Tip: Seymour.]

Comments

[WoolSilkCotton, I am a work of art as well as a sports and rock superstar]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/
peddling_pigeon_blood_wart_cure_270UgjKrfAw6lMykw6tRIM

[Harold F]

If she discovers a cure for cancer will it work on nonJews?

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"She blinded me with science, and hit me with technology" -- Thomas Dolby, "She Blinded Me With Science"

[Yosef ben Matitya]

hasidut is a giant barnacle on the ass of jews!

[jancsibacsi]

She cannot be for real,or she went mad.

[Torvald]

It's been confirmed in a double blind study at the Ozzie Ozbourne Institute of Avian Medical Research.

[seymour]

The New York Post - who else?

All the bad news about the Jews that is fit(?) to print.

Posted by: David. | May 12, 2013 at 01:47 PM

whats your problem with the post? they only reported it, the Tzeitung ran the ad add

[seymour]

The ad ruffled the feathers of some in the Orthodox community, who said that it would likely be an object of ridicule. “This isn’t for every Tom, Dick or Harry,” said one area rabbi. “It’s like a talisman — something that helps you, but you don’t know why.”

but it seems they think it works. But only for Jews ?

[jancsibacsi]

Looks like after all we jews are aliens from outer space since it only works for us and not for the goyim.

[Expatriate Owl]

William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act VI, scene 1:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

[Harold F]

but it seems they think it works. But only for Jews ?

Posted by: seymour | May 12, 2013 at 01:57 PM

If she were asked why only for Jews, she would probably cite HaTanya or some other bigoted Haredi book.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@jansibacsi "Looks like after all we jews are aliens from outer space since it only works for us and not for the goyim."

Jews and goyim are physically different -- don't you know? For example, Jews have 32 teeth, but goyim have 33 teeth. There is even an opinion that says that goyim who will eventually convert are born with 32 teeth since one major reason for the exile is to gather in converts. This bit of medical wisdom is learned from the Midrash Talpiyot.

FWIW, Aristotle believed that men had more teeth than women. So, maybe it's not such a מאָדנע זאַך.

Anyway, who needs medicine and science when God has graced us with rabbis? Right?

In response to a question, here's Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky referencing the differences in the amount of teeth between Jews and Gentiles (he incorrectly gives Gentiles 31 teeth):

"[...] in Midrash Talpiyot (anaf Aivarim) there is to a gentile 31 teeth, while to a Jew there are 32. And the gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein related to me that there was a dentist in the United States who hated Jews, and when they brought them to him he counted the teeth, and when he found 32 he did not wish to work on them."

[soso]

Isn't this Huck Finn's wart cure in Tom Sawyer? Oh no, Huck's wart cure involved burying a cat under a tree at midnight.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"Oh no, Huck's wart cure involved burying a cat under a tree at midnight."

At least Huck's cure was from a work of fiction; the pigeon cure sounds like something from Babylon ca. 2500 B.C.E.

[Sarek]

("Hot Blooded", Foreigner)

Well I’m pigeon-blooded, check it and see
I’m using talismen from 1233
But it won’t work on goyim, I’ve tried
I’m pigeon-blooded, pigeon-blooded

You just have to pour it on, pour it on the warts
Bubbe, you oughta know
This I will exhort, pour it on the schvartz
It’s guaranteed to work, it’s not faux
While it’s up to you, this is a secret breakthrough
Just for me and you, though the rabbis say it is taboo

That’s why I’m pigeon-blooded, check it and see
I’m using talismen from 1233
But it won’t work on goyim, I’ve tried
I’m pigeon-blooded, pigeon-blooded

It will feel all right, just leave it on all night
Superstition is the key
Do you need a sign, it’s recommended by Rabbi Klein
You can feel the burn, it will hurt, I can foresee
You are old enough, you must be quiet and be tough
It will eat the zit, so stand the pain and do not quit

Yeah I’m pigeon-blooded, check it and see
I’m using talismen from 1233
But it won’t work on goyim, I’ve tried
I’m pigeon-blooded, pigeon-blooded

While it’s up to you, this is a secret breakthrough
Just for me and you, though the rabbis say it is taboo
Just bid adieu to those who claim it’s all untrue

Well I’m pigeon-blooded, check it and see
I’m using talismen from 1233
But it won’t work on goyim, I’ve tried
I’m pigeon-blooded, pigeon-blooded

Pigeon blooded every night
Pigeon blooded ,don’t be uptight
Pigeon blooded, they’re just flying rats
Pigeon blooded, ignore bureaucrats
Pigeon blooded, it kills off your zit
Pigeon blooded, you must submit

[tonda]

Maybe there is a deeper meaning behind Tom Lehrer's "Poisioning Pigeons in the Park" that I never realized.

He is a Doctor, you know (mathematics).

[Abu Jihad Schneerson]

Wasn't sorcery forbidden by the Torah?Hassidim are really the mock of Judaism with their pagan,idolatric,idiot superstitions!

[ruthie]

is this woman in monsey? if not, she would fit right in.
i don't doubt her cure; i stand aghast that she says only jews!! omg

[David]

Poor pigeons.

[David M]

it is possible that something in pigeon blood can illicit an immune response against the HPV causing the wart.

Lady Montagu was also considered a nut. Her own husband didn't believe her, he died of smallpox btw. (By no means am I comparing this hasidic ignoramous to Lady Montague, just our response to a proposed cure)

Why it would only work on jews and not goyim though is beyond me

[flailed]

1) Maybe Jews are the only ones with pigeon warts.

2) Anna "Dove" Is that foreal?

[WoolSilkCotton, I am a work of art as well as a sports and rock superstar]

Q: "it is possible that something in pigeon blood can illicit an immune response against the HPV causing the wart."

A: No. This is absolute lunacy. Medieval. Mental illness. Frum.

Q: "Why it would only work on jews and not goyim though is beyond me"

A: I am concerned because my sarcasm meter isn't detecting anything from your question. Maybe you should consult a rabbi.

What meat market sells pigeon? And you do this how many times a day, for 2-3 weeks? Don't most warts go away in 2-3 weeks anyway?

"...no one else in Williamsburg would perform the the cure for her..."
Wow, even in the epicenter of Looneyville, nobody else was willing to do this.

[Rebitzman]

"What meat market sells pigeon?"

Squab.

Mind you, I ain't eating it........

[Rebitzman]

WSC - someone must sell squab.......

[Rebitzman]

So, work with me here guys......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9770944/Giant-Pandas-hold-new-weapon-in-fight-against-superbugs.html

......the pigeons fly to the zoo, eat the panda poop and........

Still working on why it only works for Jews. I'll have to get back with you on that part.

[David M]

WSC
I was being sarcastic about the goyin vs jew benefit.

It is no more lunacy than spreading pus from a cow boil on your skin and claiming it can protect you from smallpox but hey that worked 200 yrs ago.

to think that some antigen in a pigeon's blood is remotely similar to the HPV virus (which normally escapes immune response to cause warts)as to generate an immune response in the host is entirely feasible.

Could be HPV is endemic to pigeons and they have their own defenses against it.

Why are you so close-minded about this one? My intial reaction at first was this chik is crazy, sun-revolves around the earth bc that what it says in the gemara - nutso.
But i got past my prejudice and thought about it a little.

[Steven W]

So many unanswered questions:

1. Does the pigeon have to be kosher killed or can I just grab one from the park?
2. Does it have to be glatt?
3. We know it doesn't work on Gentile warts, but does it work on genital warts?
4. If I get a wart near the High Holidays, can I shlug kaporos with a pigeon and kill two stones with one bird?

[Moshe Aron kestenbaum Williamsburg]

What she meant is" That it doesn't work on genitilia warts, " she meant to say that if you have a warth on your pipik then don't use it. She is from Williamsburg and speaks like an am Harrets English, that's why we need to learn basic English curriculum in the yeshivas , this lady is the perfect example of the English am harratses that's graduating yeshivas.

[Abu Jihad Schneerson]

@ Moshe Aron kestenbaum,what part of Hungary were your ancestors from?

[WoolSilkCotton]

David M, thanks for clarifying that you were being sarcastic.

Edward Jenner was a physician, and his smallpox vaccine was part of a scientific study. Let's not get carried away with rationalizing on behalf of this crazy woman. She's no Edward Jenner.

[Rockland Bob]

What's the deal with Chasidim and blood? First sucking baby's blood at the bris, now this?

[David]

Shouldn't the head of the female pigeon in the picture be blotted out?

[David]

What's the deal with Chasidim and blood? First sucking baby's blood at the bris, now this?

Posted by: Rockland Bob | May 12, 2013 at 06:47 PM

The more primitive the cult the greater the importance of blood in its various rites.

[tonda]

But nobody's asked the really important question.

An african pigeon, or a european pigeon?

[Rocky]

Poor pigeons? What about the poor chickens who get swung around before Yom Kippur?

[seymour]

what do you expect from people who think MP is beneficial to babies

[Dov]

Shouldn't the head of the female pigeon in the picture be blotted out?
------------
ROFLMAO! Thanks for that laugh!

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@David "Shouldn't the head of the female pigeon in the picture be blotted out?"

That's a female pigeon? Thanks for planting that image in my head.

I'll be in my bunk.

[ergoproxy]

That is Charedi medicine, from the Journal of the Charedi Medical Association. That's what happens when you study at Charedi Yeshivas.

[dh]

You guys are funny.

WSC, I remember the pediatrician telling the story of the family with four kids. All the family had one or two warts and were able to get rid of them but something went awry with one of the kids... can't remember, allergic or couldn't use the remedy for some reason. Anyway, the doctor told that kid that he was getting the same remedy and the placebo effect somehow eliminated that kid's wart as well. The doctor said that this works with warts but not so well with other things. True?

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: tonda
"An african pigeon, or a european pigeon?"(*)

Is her name "Tim the Enchantress"?,

(*) (For those playing at home, this is an obscure Goyim media/culture reference.)

[Yochanan Lavie]

Maybe the prohibition against avodah zarah was just a suggestion. As long as one eats super-dooper double mehadrin glatt kosher, anything goes.

[Sarek]

Bob Guthrie - no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[rebeljew]

Silly woman. Everyone knows pigeons only cure hepatitis.

:P

On the other hand, I am very disturbed by the assertion that this only works on Jews. Shouldn't we be promoting equal opportunity witchcraft? (P.S. also interesting, Eruvin 64b (daf yomi) on why one should not pick up a whole loaf of bread found on the highway.)

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@soso "Isn't this Huck Finn's wart cure in Tom Sawyer? Oh no, Huck's wart cure involved burying a cat under a tree at midnight."

According to Huck, who has it on good authority from Mother Hopkins, the local witch, burying a dead cat in a graveyard near the grave of a recently buried bad dude at midnight is the best cure of all.

[Eli]

Is this so different than the Talmudic remedies from our Holy Sages, such as:

"For blood rushing to the head the remedy is to take shurbina1 and willow and moist myrtle and olive leaves and poplar and rosemary and yabla and boil them all together. The sufferer should then place three hundred cups on one side of his head and three hundred on the other. Otherwise he should take white roses with all the leaves on one side and boil them and pour sixty cups over each side of his head.
For migraine one should take a woodcock and cut its throat with a white zuz over the side of his head on which he has pain, taking care that the blood does not blind him, and he should hang the bird on his doorpost so that he should rub against it when he goes in and out." (Gittin 68b)