‘They come in swearing. They spit’
By Joe Kovacs
(Photo by Joe Kovacs)
It may not get more ironic than this.
A store owner in the land where the Scriptures of the Holy Bible originated says he’s being persecuted by his local government for posting biblical verses from the Old Testament.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” from Deuteronomy 6:4 is the first verse that initially raised the eyebrows of city officials three years ago in Ramat Gan, Israel, located just east of Tel Aviv.
That’s where Amnon Goldis, a Jewish microbiologist and owner of a small wine shop called “Kosher Wine Or Ganuz,” posted the Scripture in response to LGBT pride flags appearing along Jerusalem Boulevard where his store sits.
In 2020, Goldis got both a phone call and a formal letter from the city saying he’d be fined if he didn’t yank down the sign forthwith.
JNS, the Jewish News Syndicate, reports Goldis refused, telling radio station Kol BaRama at the time: “I made it clear to the municipality that I do not intend to take down the sign. They can issue fines, make committees – I am not taking down this sign.”
He actually made that verse from Deuteronomy a permanent fixture, essentially changing the name of his store to the biblical passage, famously known as the “Shema Yisrael.”
Goldis has since added new signs each year. In 2022, he posted “And the spirit of impurity I will cause to pass out of the land.” (Zechariah 13:2)
This year he actually combined Ezekiel 9:4 and Ezekiel 8:6, “that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof … even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary.”
Amnon Goldis (Courtesy photo)
To date, the shop owner has been fined more than $1,000, and television coverage of his dilemma has even prompted some lawmakers from the Israeli Knesset to visit him personally to offer moral support.
Goldis’ attorney Menashe Yardo says this is a free-speech issue, and his client has every right to protest the offensive gay-pride flags.
“The Ramat Gan municipality covers the city in hundreds of LGBTQ flags, naturally provoking the conservative religious public. At the same time, it doesn’t allow them to express an opposing position,” Yardo told JNS.
