Alan Nadler is a brilliant but very complex individual. He has Smicha – an Orthodox Rabbinic ordination – from one of the rabbinic giants of the 20th century, the late Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung of Montreal. He also has a PhD from Harvard.
But brilliant as he is, he ‘sold’ out by taking a position as a rabbi at a wealthy Conservative Shul - the first of a number of excusively Conservative Shuls he has taken a position at. I therefore find it difficult to recommend an article written by him. But in the spirit of MiKol Milamdei Haschalti the rabbinic dictum to seek knowledge wherever one finds it - that is exactly what I am doing.
Dr. Nadler is a scholar and a historian. His area of expertise is in the area of Chasidim. And though one can perhaps take his comments with a huge grain of salt, one cannot deny the extent of his knowledge on the subject. It is in this spirit that I recommend this article written by him in the Forward. It is in the context of trying to understand the alleged scandal surrounding the Spinka Rebbe.
In this article Dr. Nadler demonstrates his full if somewhat biased knowledge about various European Chasidic sects and their Rebbes. He has in the past been severely criticized for many of his writings on this subject… understandably so. He had some pretty harsh things to say about those Rebbes and their customs. Indeed one should be wary of a bias in his words. But one cannot deny their basic historic truth.
My own ancestry is Chasidic. Much of his characterizations are similar to what my father described to me about his father’s Chasidus. Of course my father put a more positive spin on it whereas Dr. Nadler’s spin is almost entirely negative. Somewhere between the two descriptions, probably lies the truth.
This article says much of what I have been saying about the events surrounding the Spinka Rebbe. It gives a similar explanation as to why Chasidim tend to be more likely to have the tendency to look unfavorably to a host government. And thereby both excuse and perhaps even promote cheating it. It also explains why they consider exposure of a crime like this by an informant to be Mesirah, a grave sin punishable by death. And it explains raising huge sums of money to bail their Rebbe out of jail (Pidyon Shvuyim). There is ample historic precedent for these attitudes which may have been legitimate at the time but are not legitimate now in 21st century America. Chasidim do not make any distinctions.
Dr. Nadler goes into some detail in explaining all this. One cannot dismiss what he says simply because he ‘left the fold’. That’s too easy. One must consider his words not his religiosity.
I urge everyone to read this article… with a healthy grain of salt, and not to dismiss it out of hand.
Who is really to blame for the Spinka Rebbe’s misdeeds? Well, of course the Rebbe himself. But he did not act in a vaccum. He acted in the context of a historic bias that he learned growing up in that community. He also acted in an environment of greed where some ‘religious’ Jews thought they could take some easy but fraudulent tax deductions.
Add to that the type of veneration Chasidim have for the Rebbe referring to him as “His Honored Holiness our Master, Teacher and Rabbi of Spinka, Shlita” …and there you have it… the formula for one of the biggest tax cheating frauds ever perpetrated by an Orthodox Jew - let alone a Chasidic Rebbe – in American history.
The Spinka Rebbe has pleaded not guilty to all counts. We shall see how this plays out. As I’ve said before, I hope he is innocent. But I doubt it. If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet on it.
If he has perpetrated this fraud - as is likely the case, then I hope he doesn’t get off on some technicality created by his lawyer. I do not wish any ill on this man. He deserves a punishment befitting his crime. But if the evidence is as overwhelming as it seems to be… with eye witnesses who worked undercover and recorded the many illegal transactions, then ‘getting him off’ on a technicality will make a great Chilul HaShem even greater.
