Opinion: Defending criminals

Another reason for the destruction

By Chananya Weissman

Issue of July 31, 2009 / 10 Av 5769

After five rabbis and more than a dozen other members of Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey were arrested last week, I found one Associated Press photo particularly striking. In that photo several people were being led away in handcuffs including a “rabbi” with his yarmulke sliding off the back of his hat, perhaps, I wonder, so no one would suspect he wasn’t wearing one.

I am not going to wax dramatic about what a shanda this is, since that is so obvious it contributes nothing to the discussion. What concerns me far more is the reaction of many Jews to the breaking scandal.

VosIzNeias.com, a well-read Jewish news website that seems to attract more than its fair share of anonymous frummer-than-thous had dozens of readers comment on the story. Nearly all were outraged - but at the wrong people. They devised all manner of blame shifting and rationalization for low-life alleged criminals who have completely disgraced the Jewish people.

1) It’s entrapment — as if we can’t expect our rabbis to say no to a bribe. Does the biblical prohibition against accepting bribes, which is directed particularly toward community leaders, mention anything about entrapment or the intentions of the person offering the bribe? What difference should that make to us?

2) Why are they going after elderly rabbis? I wonder, do the foolish hordes say the same thing about going after elderly Nazis? Did they say the same thing about Madoff being prosecuted late in life? Does the Torah have a statute of limitation? Are people past a certain age exempt for all wrongdoing? If their age didn’t prevent them from doing the crime, why should it prevent them from doing the time?

3) These rabbis are such fine, wonderful people. I hear the same thing said about mob bosses by their neighbors. They made such nice barbecues for the block! They were so nice to our kids! Yeah, they are also ruthless criminals who hurt countless people. For the mitzvos they get reward, for the sins they get brought to justice. One doesn’t cancel out the other.

4) The money they laundered went to support yeshivos. Yes, someone

actually submitted this defense. Do I even need to comment?

5) The FBI is anti-Semitic. Well, if things like this keep happening, I’m going to become anti-Semitic too. And, I’m afraid, so will G-d.

6) It’s all the fault of the Jew who was involved in the sting operation. He should rot in hell for all eternity, etc. Sure...he’s the bad guy here. The worst one. The only one, even. I guess he didn’t make good barbecues for the block or wear the right kind of hat. (May I point out that if the people he ‘stung’ hadn’t been breaking the law this wouldn’t — couldn’t — have happened?)

These kinds of reactions are not limited to a few nuts. They seem to be the norm in many parts of the community that only see the good in “their own” and only see the bad in the rest of the world. This is the corruption that disturbs me most and ultimately does the greatest damage to our community.

In every community where arrests were made Jews should hold an

emergency communal meeting. The purpose of this meeting should not be

damage control but, rather, to determine how they could allow such corruption to flourish in their midst, and how to prevent this from ever happening again. They should go through all their records and determine how much their institutions have benefited from ill-gotten money, then raise this sum for citywide charitable works. The best way to disassociate from the criminals and their crimes is to refuse any benefit from their deeds.

It is high time we did more about corruption in our midst. We should demand transparency from all our institutions. We should insist on knowing how our schools spend their money, how our kashrus organizations conduct their affairs, and on what basis rabbis, teachers, and community leaders are hired and fired. We know there is plenty of garbage out there. We need to clean it up.

Everyone knows that the second Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because

of baseless hatred. Not everyone knows that this was only one reason of several for the churban (destruction). The Tosefta at the end of Masechet Menachos cites two reasons, with baseless hatred being second. The first reason was that the Jews loved money. This does not come from an anti-Semitic work, but from our own tradition. Considering how little has changed, we should not be dismayed that we have yet to be redeemed.

Every community has criminals, even those who play the “looking frum”

game. If nothing else, let us have enough integrity to admit the faults of our community, take responsibility for them, and do whatever we can to clean them up — really clean them up. Otherwise we deserve the scorn of the goyim.