This was some Sabbath service!
A randy couple who Zoomed into services at a Minneapolis synagogue hosting a bat mitzvah forgot to turn off their camera as they began to make a mitzvah of their own, canoodling in full view of verklempt congregants, who were subjected to the softcore sideshow for nearly an hour.
The impromptu version of “Debbie does Deuteronomy” unfolded May 14 in the Twin Cities’ Temple Beth El.
“It went on for about 45 minutes,” said one person who saw the video and requested anonymity. “She was walking around naked, she got dressed, she’s in and out of the Zoom, he was in the bed, he whipped it out, she started going to work. … Someone on the Zoom saw and called her and was like, ‘WTF are you doing? You’re on camera.’ She freaked out.
“It was a Zoom for a bat mitzvah. Most people were not on camera except like, the old bubbes … who don’t know how to turn off their camera, and these two people. So the boxes were pretty big and everyone could see who was on camera.”
The unnamed couple appears to have fallen victim to the uniquely pandemic-era problem of accidentally leaving your Zoom camera on before engaging in private behavior, known informally online as “pulling a Toobin.” The incident is named for CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who began pleasuring himself on a live Zoom call with staff for the New Yorker in October 2020. The magazine fired him, but CNN allowed him to return to the air after a brief suspension.
Sex on shabbat is specifically encouraged in the Talmud and some consider it to be a mitzvah or good deed.
While synagogue grandees have moved to lock up the story and keep it from spreading, lurid still images of the couple swiftly began circulating online.
“I’m aware of the incident and won’t be commenting on the details” said Matt Walzer, managing director Temple Beth El.
