The Yeshiva world’s educational institutions are in an unprecedented financial crisis. The amount of money it now takes to teach our children the ways of our Torah is greater than it ever has been. And the actual money in school coffers to fund them is woefully short.
Deficits are rising. In far too many religious schools Rebbeim aren’t being paid on time. Sometimes schools are even months behind. Increased family size and the dwindling incomes of Orthodox Jewry especially in the Charedi world are major contributing factors to this crisis.
So too is the fact that in an attempt to attract better teachers greater salaries are being offered now than at any time in history. Parents are being squeezed to the max in tuition payments. Most parents have to sacrifice a great deal just to meet the demands of even a greatly reduced tuition for their children’s education.
The burden then falls to the leadership in the school. And they devise various methods of fundraising. Banquets, concerts, auctions, raffles… and many other such events take place. Jewish Federations also contribute. But it is not enough. Generally speaking religious schools just don’t raise enough money to even come close to meeting their budgets.
How do we fund these institutions? How do we pay these teachers on time? …let alone increase their pay to a level they deserve?
The Spinka Rebbe must have been struggling with these issues too. He decided to do something about it. He and his advisers devised their charity/money laundering scheme that raised ¾ of a million dollars last year alone.
Here is a man who through desperation devised a scheme to fund his many operations. And then he was caught.
One might be tempted to take pity on this man. His intent was not for personal gain. It was to fund his schools… and pay his teachers on time. If one looks at his personal lifestyle, one can easily see that he didn’t take one penny for himself …to improve his personal circumstances.
But it doesn’t matter. He has failed miserably in his mission to educate. By doing what he did he undermined everything else his schools teach. He is the Rebbe… the supreme leader of his Chasidus. He is a man who is believed to be vested with Ruach HaKodesh by his Chasidim… as are most Chasidic Rebbes. A man who is viewed as spending most of his time in the spiritual realm! This is how their students are taught to look at this man. What do they now see?
If one reads even about the known details of this scheme (and supposedly this is only the tip of the iceberg) one marvels at the Chutzpah he had in creating and executing this fraud. What, in the end do his students take from this very public debacle?!
Will this increase their Yiras HaShem… or their Avodas HaShem? Their focus has been turned to this issue and they must now deal with it. I’m sure there will be spin. The Rebbeim there will certainly ‘launder’ the episode into the best possible light. Are the actions of the Rebbe going to be explained as Halachic… even laudable? …and that government is an evil anti Semitic entity out to get the Jews? Is the informant who used the scheme for himself and was caught and then co-operated going to be painted as a Moser… a ‘snitch’? If so, it would be terrible mistake that will compound and perpetuate a terrible Hashkafa.
The underlying issue in my view is how one looks at Non Jews. That is in essence what it boils down to. What are the ethics that are being taught to young people in the Torah world on this issue?
There are certain factions in Torah world that will cite chapter and verse that ethical standards are different for Jews than they are for non Jews. But as has been demonstrated many times, one can cite chapter and verse from Torah sources for any position one wishes in order to justify even the most unethical of behavior. Those who justify this double standard forget the mandate from God that the Jewish people has been given to be a light unto the nations. What kind of light has the Spinka Rebbe and all those who participated in this scheme generated?
There are some rabbis who still continue to preach these differences. It should therefore not be any surprise that there are ‘religious’ Jews who see nothing wrong with defrauding the government as a means to justify these kinds of activities.
Articles like the one which generated this post are maddening. They both depress and anger me. They perpetuate the stereotype of Jews as being arrogant and devious money grubbers out to cheat their God fearing gentile neighbors. No one is going to excuse this kind of massive fraud just because it was used for education… especially if this is the kind of behavior that is being taught in their schools.
The people who participated in this tax fraud are no less culpable than the Rebbe and his associates who devised it. But they did not make up the attitudes that led them to these actions. In most cases they were taught that it was OK to do what they do as long as they don’t get caught. I hear it all the time to justify tax evasion and other fraudulent activities of this type.
I’ve heard prominent rabbinic figures publicly speak in these terms. I will never forget the shock I had the first time …about 25 years ago… I heard one particular Rav say these kinds of things. It was recorded. It was filed in a tape library as a Shiur for anyone to take out and listen to. People from all walks of Judaism borrow and listen to these tapes. And it isn’t only Charedim.
I can’t imagine a better time than now for the rabbinic leadership to require in every single school a sea change in attitude. It should be taught at every level, elementary school to Kollel. It is Assur to cheat the government. It is a sin to steal for a Non Jew. It is Geneiva. Loopholes that might exist in particular circumstances ought not to be taught as permissible but as forbidden… at the very least because of the desecration of God’s name it creates …and as the violation of the mandate for us to be a shining example of virtue to the nations.
As a Jew one has to live the most ethical of lifestyles in order to be that light. The Spinka Rebbe, his partners in crime, and all who participated in this scheme have not lived up to the lofty ideals God expects of his people.
Instead they have brought shame to the Jewish people and dishonor to God. How much shame and dishonor? Just read this… and weep!
