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| Barry Freundel |
When a prominent figure so recognizably Modern Orthodox and
so highly respected by even the secular world - is found out to be a devious
person whose prurient interests supersede any sense of morality and integrity,
the Chilul HaShem is massive. I can just hear the laughter by his peers at
Georgetown University and the NIH...
Freundel had to know the repercussions of being caught... and
what kind of Chilul HaShem that would create. But in his infinite arrogance he
thought he could get away with it.
This isn't some teenager who peeps into his next door
neighbor's window and sees the lady of the house getting undressed. This was
premeditated, planned, and executed. He used every opportunity to peep at
the women that used his Shul's Mikvah - even inviting non Jews to try it out...
so that he could get his jollies.
The repercussions of what he did are still reverberating. He
violated the privacy and the trust of all the women who used that Mikvah, many of whom were
probably traumatized by this revelation. He violated the trust all that knew him - put in him. He embarrassed his family; embarrassed his Shul; and embarrassed
his people.
His deceit casts here casts a pall on every communal activity he
participated in. His Eruvin are now suspect. His conversions are too.
(...although Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz issued a ruling that they are to be
considered valid). And his actions casts a shadow on Mikvah use. No one in his Shul will ever see Mikvah use the same as they did before. Every time you will mention the Mikvah, you will think of him and what he did. I
can just imagine a woman who might be on the fence about using the Mikvah being
totally turned off by it now.
I am truly disgusted by this man... whom I once considered one of the bright lights of Modern Orthodoxy.
I am truly disgusted by this man... whom I once considered one of the bright lights of Modern Orthodoxy.
I wonder how two of his more prominent congregants - former
Senator Joseph Lieberman and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew - feel about this.
Update
Update
I have been told that all of Freundel's religious involvements prior to these revelations that were deemed Kosher - remain so.
