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The 21 Wives of Goel Ratzon: True Crime Story

Submission, faith, and devious lust - Inside the polygamous cult that shocked the world.In January 2010, a large police force blocked several narrow streets of a South Tel Aviv neighborhood, converging on a sprawling multifamily home enclosed by 5-foot walls. As curious neighbors peered through their shut blinds, a SWAT team stormed the property and emerged with their target: an enigmatic 59-year-old guru, Goel Ratzon. But who was this man, claiming to possess every masculine trait a woman could desire, dozens of wives and over a hundred children?"The 21 Wives of Goel Ratzon" stands as one of the most shocking cult stories of recent years, yet it remains largely unknown outside Israel due to a press embargo. The story unravels the disturbing saga of Ratzon, a self-proclaimed spiritual teacher and Kabbalah practitioner, who claimed to open the gates of heaven for young women who agreed to erase their ego, become his wives, and bear his offspring.Esteemed as an elusive underground character, whose spiritual circle was strictly invite-only, Ratzon came under the scrutiny of Tel Aviv police following an outcry from several families whose daughters disappeared without a trace into Ratzon’s underworld, often luring their cousins and sisters to join his polygamous family as well.The question that loomed after Ratzon's conviction and a 30-year prison sentence was: How did one man so profoundly enchant dozens of intelligent, beautiful women and compel them to bear him up to 9 children each, fund his opulent lifestyle, and embrace polygamy?Hadas Cohen is a psychology and criminology student from New York who embarked on a two-year journey to study the mysterious cult leader after encountering his story during a visit to Israel. In her book, Hadas unravels the perplexing question of why numerous modern, intelligent, and empowered women much like herself, would surrender their autonomy to become subservient in a bizarre and powerless relationship.Read more

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