Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1986 Page 16
Looking back, it seems like he was very dictatorial ...Everybody respected him.
If he said something, you jumped. That‘s how it was.
Over the years, the rabbi‘s followers matured, married, and started families. For the most
part, they lived lives that were not extraordinary for their predominantly Jewish and
orthodox surrounding community. Although the rabbi was somewhat controversial because
he was sometimes at odds with other local clerics over matters of religious scholarship,
there was no suggestion that he was disreputable or deviant.
The Cult
The cult that Satyr developed was unknown to the general membership of his congregation.
Its members included Rabbi Satyr, his wife, an unmarried woman, Rachel,3 who lived with
the Satyr family, three married women, and two men. It is possible that there were other
members prior to the recruitment of those who eventually became informants, but the cult
probably never had more than a dozen members. The men did not figure in the rabbi‘s
sexual fantasies and, therefore, will not figure here.
Defectors have reported that the rabbi‘s secret activities started in about 1975 and that
Rachel was probably his first recruit. By the time that Eve was initiated into the cult it had
developed its own rudimentary rituals and theology, and a social Structure.4 The rituals
were largely centered around Satyr‘s sexual fantasies and preferences. One particularly
unusual component of the sexual rituals which Satyr developed was the use of hypnosis as
a method to enhance experience. He deliberately used trance induction, and suggestion
following hypnosis, to alter perceptions and facilitate the acting out of particular fantasies.
Satyr‘s exploitation of his female followers was continuous from the time of their
recruitment, and the group‘s sexual activities were organized solely for his pleasure and
around his preferences. It is probable that the cult developed from Satyr‘s initial sexual
exploitation of one of his congregants, and that he developed his justifying theology after
this first transgression. Satyr‘s wife was considered a member of the cult and was
sometimes, but rarely, present at the rituals. Although Satyr had sexual intercourse in
public with only one woman, Rachel, he obliged the others to orally copulate and
masturbate him. He would sometimes require several of his followers to dance before him in
diaphanous negligees while he had intercourse with Rachel. Sometimes, he would gather
the women together, expose his penis, and have them kneel and bow before it. On
occasion, Satyr would use one of his followers to arouse him and then have intercourse with
Rachel. When Satyr was molesting a woman other than Rachel, Rachel would often be
assigned the task of ensuring that he did not penetrate his victim. Satyr‘s hesitancy to
penetrate women other than Rachel (and presumably his wife) may have been related to
the fact that the other women, who were married, did not use birth control because of
religious belief.
To the extent that the cult could be said to have had a distinctive theology, it was based on
Satyr‘s supposedly advanced study and special understanding of the Jewish mystical
tradition as expressed in the Cabala. Among Satyr‘s innovations on traditional practice were
to have his devotees pray to him ―as God‖ and to instruct them to suspend obedience to
traditional sexual mores when they were in his private chambers. Satyr also claimed
superhuman personal powers which he had supposedly gained through his studies and
advanced understanding of the mystical tradition.
The cult‘s existence was treated as a closely guarded secret, hidden from anyone who was
not a member. In theory, members‘ identities were unknown even to one another. But in
practice, the cult‘s ritual and sexual activities enabled participants to learn the identities of
at least some of the other members. Private conversations among members did the rest.
Within the cult, Satyr was the sole authority on intellectual matters and defined the group‘s
Looking back, it seems like he was very dictatorial ...Everybody respected him.
If he said something, you jumped. That‘s how it was.
Over the years, the rabbi‘s followers matured, married, and started families. For the most
part, they lived lives that were not extraordinary for their predominantly Jewish and
orthodox surrounding community. Although the rabbi was somewhat controversial because
he was sometimes at odds with other local clerics over matters of religious scholarship,
there was no suggestion that he was disreputable or deviant.
The Cult
The cult that Satyr developed was unknown to the general membership of his congregation.
Its members included Rabbi Satyr, his wife, an unmarried woman, Rachel,3 who lived with
the Satyr family, three married women, and two men. It is possible that there were other
members prior to the recruitment of those who eventually became informants, but the cult
probably never had more than a dozen members. The men did not figure in the rabbi‘s
sexual fantasies and, therefore, will not figure here.
Defectors have reported that the rabbi‘s secret activities started in about 1975 and that
Rachel was probably his first recruit. By the time that Eve was initiated into the cult it had
developed its own rudimentary rituals and theology, and a social Structure.4 The rituals
were largely centered around Satyr‘s sexual fantasies and preferences. One particularly
unusual component of the sexual rituals which Satyr developed was the use of hypnosis as
a method to enhance experience. He deliberately used trance induction, and suggestion
following hypnosis, to alter perceptions and facilitate the acting out of particular fantasies.
Satyr‘s exploitation of his female followers was continuous from the time of their
recruitment, and the group‘s sexual activities were organized solely for his pleasure and
around his preferences. It is probable that the cult developed from Satyr‘s initial sexual
exploitation of one of his congregants, and that he developed his justifying theology after
this first transgression. Satyr‘s wife was considered a member of the cult and was
sometimes, but rarely, present at the rituals. Although Satyr had sexual intercourse in
public with only one woman, Rachel, he obliged the others to orally copulate and
masturbate him. He would sometimes require several of his followers to dance before him in
diaphanous negligees while he had intercourse with Rachel. Sometimes, he would gather
the women together, expose his penis, and have them kneel and bow before it. On
occasion, Satyr would use one of his followers to arouse him and then have intercourse with
Rachel. When Satyr was molesting a woman other than Rachel, Rachel would often be
assigned the task of ensuring that he did not penetrate his victim. Satyr‘s hesitancy to
penetrate women other than Rachel (and presumably his wife) may have been related to
the fact that the other women, who were married, did not use birth control because of
religious belief.
To the extent that the cult could be said to have had a distinctive theology, it was based on
Satyr‘s supposedly advanced study and special understanding of the Jewish mystical
tradition as expressed in the Cabala. Among Satyr‘s innovations on traditional practice were
to have his devotees pray to him ―as God‖ and to instruct them to suspend obedience to
traditional sexual mores when they were in his private chambers. Satyr also claimed
superhuman personal powers which he had supposedly gained through his studies and
advanced understanding of the mystical tradition.
The cult‘s existence was treated as a closely guarded secret, hidden from anyone who was
not a member. In theory, members‘ identities were unknown even to one another. But in
practice, the cult‘s ritual and sexual activities enabled participants to learn the identities of
at least some of the other members. Private conversations among members did the rest.
Within the cult, Satyr was the sole authority on intellectual matters and defined the group‘s
