Agudah's Narrow Achdus

One of the speakers at the convention featured on an Agudah website

Agudah Israel’s annual convention was held last week in New York. Professor Yitzchok Levine, a respected and frequent contributor to a closed e-mail list of which I am a member made reference to a letter that appears on page 6 of this week's Flatbush Jewish Journal: 

In last week's FJJ Publisher's Message Mordy Mehlman writes that he will be attending the Agudah Convention.  He wrote, " the achdus of the Convention,  the unity of Jews of all stripes - Litvish, Chasidish, Sephardic - serves  as a living example of how all of Klal Yisroel could and should unite as one." 

As I have mentioned many times, I am a fan of the great work Agudath Israel does for the American Jewish community. Their effort as an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group in Washington is worthy of the support of all Orthodox Jews, regardless of whether you agree with their Hashkafos or not.

This doesn’t mean that one has to agree with everything they have said or done. But it does mean that as religious Jews we need to recognize and appreciate that the vast majority of what they do in Washington benefits us all.

But as I have also mentioned, I do have difficulty with a Hashkafa that promotes the idea that their rabbinic leaders have defacto infallibility. Of course they constantly deny that. They will always say that as human beings they can - and even do make mistakes. But in practice this is a distinction without a difference.

They call it Daas Torah. Which means that since their rabbinic leaders are so knowledgeable in Torah they posses its wisdom better than any other human being. Thus they are the best – even the only people to guide Jews in all matters including matters of public policy.

I understand the logic. And I even agree that there is a concept of Daas Torah in the sense of the actual translation of those words: ‘the wisdom of the Torah’. Of course there is wisdom in the Torah. I will even concede that in many matters the rabbinic leaders of Agudah do in fact represent the wisdom of the Torah.

What is troubling to me (and I have said this before) is that they are a self selecting group of leaders that tend to choose membership in that group from a limited pool of rabbis. This leaves out many great rabbinic thinkers that are as knowledgeable in Torah as they are – but have a different world view. They certainly have the right to chose members from whichever pool of rabbis they wish.  But they do not have the right to claim sole possession of Daas Torah.  And yet time after time, year after year, by speaker after speaker at their conventions… all one hears is that claim.

The rules they set up for public policy statements are troubling as well. They require speaking with one voice even when there is dissent among them. Majority rules. So that even if there is dissent, public policy statements are made as though there wasn’t any.  For me that is not Daas Torah. It is the Daas of some Torah scholars and not of others. Which in theory should allow an adherent of Daas Torah to choose the views of the dissenters whose knowledge of Torah led them to a different decision.

In my view the lack of admitting any dissent by peers short changes the truth. I understand why they do that. It is because dissent brings doubt. The leadership wants avoid doubt When they speak in the name of Torah they want to do it without any ambiguity. They want clarity.

And this doesn’t even take into account rabbinic leaders that are not part of Agudah who might dissent. And yet Agudah promotes the concept of Daas Torah as though they are the sole possessors of it. To the exclusion of all others.

Expanding their influence is the claim that they represent Orthodox Jews. Which implies that those that are deliberately excluded are not really Orthodox. And yet they make that claim citing a variety of groups among their members and supporters including certain groups (e.g.  the above-mentioned Litvish, Chasidic, and Sephardic Jews).

But I reject that claim completely. As does Professor Levine. He ended his message with the following observation which I paraphrased - and with which I completely agree. 

Litvish, Chasidic, Sephardic do not at all encompass Jews of all stripes. Because not included were any speakers affiliated with Yeshiva University, Young Israel or the OU.  How many of the attendees were Modern Orthodox?  Were there any Religious Zionists represented there?  And what about secular Jews?

I was not there so I can’t answer the question. But my guess is that the answers to these question are obvious.

I therefore submit that the Agudah Convention did not represent the unity of Jews of all stripes. Because a lot of stripes were probably missing. If I am wrong and this year was any different I will be thrilled to stand corrected.

On a separate note, for a major organization that claims to not have an official website - they have a pretty amazing website!

A Different Kind of Achdus

Settlers in Elazar resisting law enforcement (VIN)

What a ‘splendid’ example of Achdus. The similarities of these two observant communities are stark. They are both strictly observant of Halacha; are both dedicated to their cause; and are willing to put themselves out for it.

They even have similar attitudes towards the Israeli government – sometimes using Nazi epithets or imagery to describe how government authorities treat them.  And they both have a patron ‘saint’ to look up to for inspiration. For Satmar it is R’ Yoel Teitelbaum  (the original Satmar Rebbe). For extremist Religious Zionist (RZ) settlers  it’s R’ Meir Kahane.

And yet I can’t think of two more polar opposite communities in the observant Jewish world than these two.

I recently stated my contempt towards Satmar because of their recent use of Nazi imagery in reference to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).  Such behavior is worthy of expulsion from Orthodoxy by mainstream Charedi leadership. But I have similar feelings about the extremists of the religious Zionist Right in Israel because of the contempt they have for the law. And their violent resistance to enforcement of it.

 VIN reports thefollowing: 

The Israeli military has begun demolishing an illegally-built carpentry workshop in a West Bank settlement as dozens of Jewish settlers are rallying against the move.

The military says it’s acting according to government directives, after the Supreme Court ruled that the building was among 17 that were built illegally on private Palestinian property and had to be torn down. Such court rulings are relatively common.

The settlers in Elazar in Gush Etzion, in the southern West Bank, linked arms and chanted slogans as the military prepared to tear down a wood carpentry workshop in the settlement on Wednesday. 

It is obvious from the images on VIN that the demonstration was more than just chanting slogans. There was violent resistance! And that will no doubt be followed by the common tactic of screaming police brutality.

I understand their commitment to their ideals. I am even sympathetic to them. I too believe the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. All of it including the West Bank (Judea and Sumeria). I just do not believe that we are in any position to act on those beliefs. And that acting on them is counterproductive in the extreme at the cost of spilling the blood of innocent Jewish people!

The RZ settlers on the other hand believe it is imperative to do whatever it takes to settle those areas and to defy any opposition to it. Including defying the law and then reacting violently to it when it is enforced.

Like Satmar they have a right to their beliefs.  Whether anyone agrees with them or not. What they do not have a right to is what is depicted in the pictures at VIN. The army had every right to demolish illegally built structures. Defiance of the law begets government sanctions. They don’t like the law? Fine. Let them get their people elected and change the law. But breaking the law comes with consequences. So does violent resistance.

I know that there are other differences between Satmar and these settlers. The primary one being that the settlers all served the army and have put their lives on the line for their people. But that does not give them license to break the law and then reacting violently to enforcement of it.

So as widely disparate as Hashkafos of Satmar and these RZ settlers are, when they are arrested for breaking the law and convicted of it, they ought to be locked up together in the same cells. They can discuss politics there all day long. They can call themselves Nazis all day long too. They can even have violent demonstrations against each other.

But at the end of the day, there is not much difference between them when it comes to commitment to Halacha and their hatred of the government. They both deserve our disdain; our condemnation; and each other! 

The Uncomfortable Truth about American Jewry

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Tzipi Hotovely

“People that never send their children to fight for their country, most of the Jews don’t have children serving as soldiers, going to the Marines, going to Afghanistan, or to Iraq. Most of them are having quite convenient lives. They don’t feel how it feels to be attacked by rockets, and I think part of it is to actually experience what Israel is dealing with on a daily basis.”

How many people would disagree with that statement which is excerpted from a TV interview in the Jerusalem Post? (See the entire 5 minute interview below.) I don’t think it is arguable. It is basically the truth, plain and simple.  One does not have to agree with someone’s politics to hear the truth.  And yet after Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Tzipi Hotovely, (who is Orthodox and a member of Likud – the party of Prime Minister Netanyahu) spoke those exact words, she was hammered by mainstream non Orthodox Jewish leaders and much of the mainstream secular Jewish media. Even her ‘boss’ Prime Minister Netanyahu castigated her for saying that: 

"Diaspora Jews are dear to us and are an inseparable part of our people," he said in a statement Thursday. "There is no room for such an attack, and its words do not reflect the position of the State of Israel." 

I do not understand why the matter of fact telling of the truth should be seen as an attack, uncomfortable though that truth may be. But… I get it. Prime Minister Netanyahu does not want to alienate the people that have in the past supported Israel the most. At least in terms of money. And still do albeit a lower level  It is understandable that he objects to any negative comments about 90% of the American Jewry.

But that still does not take away the truth of MK Hotovely comments.

Why the uproar? It was in the context of the current struggle by heterodox rabbis to get recognition as legitimate religious alternatives to Orthodoxy. A struggle generated by their failures in the United States. 

The struggle for recognition has been disguised as a struggle to give non Orthodox Jews a space to pray in egalitarian ways at the Kotel. All the shouting and  screaming about that… as well as recent demonstrations at the Kotel by heterodox leaders and some of their activists has been shown to be a pretense for their real issue: Recognition and legitimacy. That was recently admitted by a Conservation leader. 

As MK Hotolvely and many other objective observers have pointed out, they already have such a space at the Kotel which is rarely used by any of the people they say are clamoring for it. A space that Israel had agreed to expand an upgrade before their real intentions were revealed. The claim that they are being denied their egalitarian space was a clever ploy (some would call it a lie) to get recognition. It didn’t work and now they are upset. At least they have admitted their real goals.

Their claim is that heterodoxy represents the 90% of American Jewry that are not Orthodox. That too is a lie. The largest proportion of American Jewry are not heterodox. They identify as unaffiliated.

I don’t blame heterodox leaders for their struggle to survive. Their movements are facing extinction. If I were them, I’d be doing the same thing. But I’m not them and as an Orthodox Jew I too believe that their version of Judaism is illegitimate. That they are facing extinction says a lot about their legitimacy. The truth may hurt. But it is still the truth. Need I cite examples of that failure again? Let me cite one. Does a 70% intermarriage rate among non Orthodox Jews in America not say it all about what they have accomplished? That 90% will dwindle very quickly in the next couple of generations.

The loss of so many Jews is a tragedy of near unfathomable proportion. But ironically it is America’s very greatness that may actually by the primary source of that kind of loss. A greatness embodied in the constitution where religious tolerance has – for Jews - made living in America an unprecedented experience.  Which has led in our day to being the best liked religious group in America! And that has led to assimilation and intermarriage (as well as increased acceptance of it by Jewish parents at unprecedented levels..

There are those that assert that - because of this - heterodox movements are not responsible. But they are wrong. They may not be the direct cause, but they do share a large portion of responsibility for ti.

In the case of Reform Judaism that is obvious. While they did not invent assimilation, they clearly groomed their members for it by abolishing any differences between Jews and non Jews. Jews were free to completely assimilate without a trace of Judaism - all with the blessing of the Reform Movement. That has greatly accelerated the assimilation process.

Conservative Judaism may not have abolished all the differences. They were after all created in response to Reform’s complete abandonment of Halacha. Hence the name ‘Conservative’. They wanted to conserve Judaism and retain a Jewish identity. But in practice they may as well have been Reform since they have done little to encourage those differences – looking the other way when their members all but ignored most religious rituals. The result is that the level of observance of many Conservative Jews is about the same as Reform Jews. They are equally assimilated. Intermarriage is rampant in both.

Is there any reason in the world why an Orthodox Jew should support movements with such abysmal records? 

As an Orthodox Jew, Ms. Hotovely understands this. In fact she was rather mild in her criticism of American Jewry. And her motives were misunderstood. She lamented the fact that most American Jews had become so far removed from their Judaism and from Israel.

It is too bad that the Prime Minister had to distance himself from the truth. But he is a politician and I suppose he felt the need to appease the heterodox leaders that claim to control the purse-strings of 90% of American Jewry. He does not want to  rock that boat. I can’t blame him for being upset and castigating his deputy foreign minister. But I think deep down he knows the truth. 

It would have been refreshing for a politician to speak the truth – even when it hurts. What about the consequences he feared? I don’t know about that. But perpetuating a lie will not work forever. Besides didn’t a historical figure considered wise by billions of people once say: The truth shall set you free?

Message to the Shaitel Police: Mind Your Own Business!

Is a long Shaitel immodest?

I am dismayed at some of the comments by rabbis that feel the need to disparage women for trying to look their best. ‘God forbid’ that a Jewish woman should look too attractive.

‘What?!’ …you may ask. ‘No one says that Jewish women should not look their best!’

Well… sorry! They do. There have been several articles of late that have taken to task those women who choose to cover their hair with beautiful long haired Shaitels (wigs). In fact I am more than dismayed.  I am disgusted by such criticism.

In response to a wonderful article by Alexandra (Alex) Fleksher (which was dealt with here recently) Dovid Kornreich takes issue with what he calls the  great lengths to defend and justify an immodest trend.

He then lashes into a near tirade and asks people to: 

...call out this particular sheitel trend for what it is: an immodest fashion that should never be adopted by those for whom the highest standards of modesty are their highest priority. 

Why insist that THERE CAN BE NO standards of modesty imposed on frum sheitel styles without Hollywood’s consent? Why make the flimsy argument that if really frum women are wearing them, they must be kosher? Why make the desperate, “we’ve now hit rock-bottom” argument that any hair-covering is better than no hair-covering? (That’s like saying the frum community should be tolerant of skin-tight leggings because if we insist on skirts, the very Modern Orthodox might wear shorts instead.) 

The truth is that, as is the case with every other article of women’s clothing, an Orthodox woman’s own community is quite capable of setting standards for what sheitel styles are acceptable. 

But by taking the hyper-non-judgmental, defeatist route of Alexandra Fleksher, we condemn our own community — and those whose look up to us from the outside– to follow the ever-eroding standards of Hollywood.

First, to compare a beautiful wig to skin tight leggings is absurd. A wig is no more immodest when it is beautiful than when natural hair is beautiful. Single women are not required to cover their hair. They can grow their hair to any length they wish and style it any way they wish. I have not read a single article asking single women to have short haircuts. Also, a Shaitel alone is not enough to make a woman beautiful. If it helps any people who might otherwise have self image problems to wear a beautiful Shiatel, it ought to be encouraged. Not discouraged by claiming there is some sort of lack of Tznius in it.

Secondly, yes. It is true that a community can set their own standards for covering hair. But it is wrong to imply that they are more modest than those with other standards.

And then there is Rabbi Shmuel Lemon’s response to Rabbi Kornreich. I wish he would have defended Alex. Instead he doubles down on the claim that beautiful Shaitels are immodest. He just suggests the ‘real’ reason women choose to wear them. Which I find even more appalling than Rabbi Korneich’s article: 

There must be something deep down really bothering these women with the highest standard of modesty that causes them to act in such a manner.

These women are exhibiting something is lacking in their marriage. They are expressing that some need of theirs is not being met. Lacking an open and honest relationship with their spouse to discuss and tackle the issue(s), they are indirectly screaming at their husbands. “Take a real interest in me” “Stop just loving yourself”

Of course this is not an excuse for their actions but at least we can now empathise with their desperate feelings of despair that causes them to make the desperate, “we’ve now hit rock-bottom” argument that any hair-covering is better than no hair-covering? These desperate feelings don’t come from nowhere. 

This is breath taking in its Chutzpah.  Who is he to presume that women that wear beautiful Shaitels do so because of problems in their marriage? Maybe they do that because they simply want to look their best in public while following base Halacha? 

Long beautiful Shaitels are immodest?! Really? Why? There is no internal logic to the Halacha requiring  married women to cover their hair. 

Yes. It is Halacha and must be followed. Just like any other Halacha. But clearly immodesty in the sense they mean it is not the reason for covering hair. Because if it were, single women would have to do it too.

My advice to all the modesty police that insist on focusing on women’s appearances is to mind your own business!

The Charedi Political Dilemma

 Recently resigned Israeli Health Minister, Ya'acov Litzman

By almost all accounts, UTJ MK, Rabbi Ya’acov Litzman has been one of the most effective Ministers of Health in recent memory. UTJ (United Torah Judaism)  is the political arm of Charedi rabbinic leadership in Israel. If I am not mistaken Rabbi Litzman is the first member of any Charedi political party – past or present – to actually serve as a cabinet member of the ruling coalition. Rabbi Litzman has resigned form as Minster of Health. But his party will apparently remain in the ruling coalition. Why did he resign? From the Jerusalem Post: 

Ya’acov Litzman told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office that he had no choice but to resign after Israel Railways continued to employ Jews on the Sabbath. He said he would remain in the coalition and he hopes his reforms in the Health Ministry continue… (This) has been done despite the coalition agreement and the status quo on matters of religion and state.”  …(T)hat he did not succeed in preventing the repairs from taking place on Shabbat (was) a red line for him... he cannot accept collective responsibility for the breaking of Shabbat.  

As an Orthodox Jew I am obviously a proponent of Shmiras Shabbos (Sabbath observance). It is one of the Mitzvos that has always been definitive of Orthodox Jewry. It is my sincere hope that all Jews will one day observe this Mitzvah - and all Mitzvos. That said, I am opposed to what I and many others call ‘shoving religion down the throats’ of Israelis. Forcing someone to observe Shabbos against their will won’t make them any more observant. It will only make them more resentful of religious Jews and the fact that they have become such a powerful force in government.

That said, there was a status quo agreement (between secular leadership and religious leadership created in the early years of the State) that requires the State to observe Shabbos and to keep private businesses  to be closed on that day. If I understand correctly in places like Tel Aviv that is observed more in the breach than in its adherence.

In my view they should back off a bit and try convincing the secular public with  good will 'honey' of the kind of Rabbi Litzman exuded as Health Minister rather than with the vinegar of legislative force. But when it comes to the government, I think the ‘Shmiras Shabbos’ part of the ‘Staus Quo’ agreement  should be honored. So I understand why Rabbi Litzman resigned.

The Charedi leadership feels that they cannot justify being part of a ruling coalition that allows desecration of Shabbos.  The question then becomes, how can they then remain a part of the coalition as well? Granted a cabinet member is more directly involved, but that doesn’t mean that members of the ruling coalition are not.  By remaining in a coalition they are in essence giving their imprimatur for Chilul Shabbos.

It is not clear whether the Charedi parties will stay in the coalition. But what does seem clear is - if they quit, the government will fall and new elections will take place. The hated (by Charedim) Centrist party, Yesh Atid, stands to gain the most from that. Polls have recently shown that they will end up with a lot more Knesset seats than they had in the last government.

There is a reason that Yesh Atid is so hated. They were part of the last ruling coalition (which did not include any of the Charedi parties). As such they were able to pass legislation that would have forced all but a select few Charedi youth(determined by quota) to serve in the IDF or in some other way do national service. They also required that a core curriculum of secular studies be implemented in Charedi Yeshivos if they were to receive any kind of government subsidies. To the Charedi leadership, that was seen as a near declaration of war against the Torah!

(I agreed in large part with Yesh Atid on those issues. But my reasons for that are beyond the scope of this post. Been there and done that here numerous times.)

By the grace of God, the last governing coalition fell apart shortly after that and was replaced by the current one that includes the Charedi parties and longer includes a weakened Yesh Atid. They have managed to more or less return to the previous status quo by changing that lesgilation enough to make it acceptable to all but Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s  Jerusalem faction party (Peleg).

So they have quite the dilemma. Do they stay and keep things as they are despite the Chilul Shabbos that - as part of the governing coalition - they are in part responsible for? Or do they quit and almost surely return Yesh Atid to power and once again endanger the near automatic exemptions from army service? This is clearly a lose/lose situation for them.

I can’t say that I could blame them for remaining in the current government based on the likely alternative if they don’t. But then one has to ask what was gained by Rabbi Liztman’s resignation? As  part of that coalition he (and his party) are still responsible for the Chilul Shabbos over which he resigned as Health Minister.

He might answer that as a member of the cabinet, his responsibility for that  is greater than it is as only member of the ruling coalition. But that like being a little bit pregnant. Either you are or you aren’t.

If you are good at your job and have succeeded in convincing the very people that in the past has accused you of caring only about your own (Charedim) that you care about them - resiging your post could overturn all the good will you have built up during your tenure.  And one has to question what is ultimately gained by that?  

He will have taken one step forward in public relations and two steps back – without gaining a thing! If on the other hand the Charedi parties resign from the coalition on principle – they could be in for situation that is much worse than the was the case with the previous government. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Objectifying Women - Where Polar Opposites Meet

Sexually provocative images of women in Meah Shearim (YWN)

Yet another example of how extreme the people of Meah Shearim are - is being shared with their readers on YWN: 

Kol Berama Radio host Avi Maimon reports of objections to new 20 and 100 shekels notes by people in Meah Shearim, as both new bills have pictures of women.

Rumors of a boycott are circulating and Yishai Dricks headed out to speak with Yoli Krauss, the operations officer of the Eida Chareidis, to see if there truly is a boycott.

Krauss told Kol Berama Radio one should not use the bills and if one gives him a 100 shekel note with a woman on it he will not accept it. He adds most prefer to use US dollars but will use shekels, however the new ones with the women on it are not acceptable. 

I think I have more in common with Morgan Freeman than I do with these people - who have more in common with Yassir Arafat than they do with me - or any other normal Jew! I don't know why anyone considers them even remotely normal, let alone role models of religiosity! But there are elements on the right that have extolled their religious virtues as exemplars of what it means to be religious.

While I’m sure that there are many of us that might be smirking at this, I don’t think it is remotely funny when an entire group of religious Jews that have one of the  highest birth rates among all of Orthodox Jewry has gone so far off the rails… all in the name of modesty.

Although they think it is modesty, it is not. It is a concession to the mindset among them that women are first and foremost thought of as objects of sexual desire. So much so that they consider a picture of a female face on money to be too much for them to handle… too much of a sex object.

They clearly do not realize it, but they are just as guilty of objectifying women as Hollywood is. (I use 'Hollywood' as a euphemism for the entertainment industry and Madison Avenue.) Only their way of doing it is Hollywood’s polar opposite. All of which contributes to the phenomena of sexual harassment, molestation, and abuse.

I suspect that there is a lot more of that going on than anyone realizes. A lot more! The only ones being reported now involve men in powerful positions taking advantge of that perception. They see women as sex  objects to be used at their own pleasure and convenience. Believing that they are immune from exposure because they are so powerful. After all they have the ability to end careers. They believe that no one would believe their accusers. Nor would their victims expose them for fear they would either not be believed or blamed.

There is no question in my mind that this is the image of women in our day today in both a secular world where life imitates art - and in the extreme religious right where the sight of a face on a some paper currency is seen in sexual  terms.

We live in a world that is highly sexualized. A world where men more often see women in sexual terms rather than in human terms. A world where both the opposite ends of the religious/secular spectrum see women the same way – as objects of sex. The extreme right exaggerates the avoidance of woman so as not to encounter those objects while too many men in the secular world take sexual advantage of women - seeing them entirely as sex objects

This is one area where feminism has been helpful. Women now feel empowered to speak up. More women than ever are no longer intimidated by  a culture that sees them as objects. Perhaps we can thank Harvey Weinstein for that. His exposure as a serial sex abuser has opened the floodgates.

And yet, I wonder... Right now, there is a sense of outrage about all this. But I wonder if things will really change or will we go back to business as usual after the current discussion dies down.

I don’t think there is much we can do about people that are afraid to handle money because the picture of a woman on it might cause them to sin. But the rest of society can change how men see women. It starts with Hollywood.  There has to be an end to the overwhelming portrayal of women in sexual terms.  Women should be portrayed with more respect - as human beings and not always as objects of sexual conquest

The era of James Bond has to end. Not every movie has to have at least one woman that  immodestly dressed. Or not dressed at all. Or in sexual scenes. 

I know that sex sells. But ads should no longer sell their products by sexualizing them by featuring scantily clad women. Because that is exactly what objectifying women is.

I doubt that any of this will happen. But as long as things remain the same, I fear that society will continue to objectify women and that will continue to contribute to narcissistic sociopaths like Weinstein and Rose acting on it. And all of the current talk about the dawning of a new day will be for naught.

Thanksgiving, America, and the Jewish People

President Trump Pardoning a Turkey (NBC)

We’re still here. It’s been a year. Predictions about our demise as a nation since President Trump was elected were a bit pre-mature. We have survived and God willing we will continue to survive. And continue to do great things.

The fact is that America is much greater than any one individual. We survive as a people not  because of who is President. We survive as a people because of who we are as a nation. A nation of immigrants founded on principles of religious tolerance.

This is why the Pilgrims first came here. They were escaping religious persecution in their homeland, England. While this is a bit of an over-simplification, I believe that the principle of religious tolerance is what best defines who we are as Americans. Equality of mankind is our credo. It is written in stone into our declaration of independence – signed by America’s founding fathers. ‘All men are created equal.’

This does not mean that there haven’t been episodes of antisemitism or racism in our country, There has been plenty of both. And some of it still exists albeit mostly on the fringes of society. The vast majority of the American people live by that credo and will give a fellow American the shirt off of their backs if they thought it was needed. Regardless of race, creed, or religion. America is a nation of Chesed. This has been demonstrated time and again when tragedy strikes.

As it pertains to the Jewish people this has never been more true than now. The following is a demonstration of that from a website called Religious Tolerance: 

The Schnitzers are a Jewish family in Billings (population 83,000 at the time)… (T)hey had stenciled a Jewish menorah on the window of their son Isaac, aged 5. (One source said it was an electric menorah.) On 1993-DEC-02, someone threw a piece of a cinder block through the window. It and broken glass fell on Isaac's bed, but fortunately caused no injury. The Schnitzers called the police. The investigating officer suggested that they remove the symbol. This caused a crisis in the home: how could they remove a symbol of Jewish religious freedom in response to fear of further religious harassment. 

Margaret McDonald, executive director of the Montana Association of Churches, read of the incident in the local newspaper. She imagined what it would be like to have to tell her own children that they could not have a Christmas tree or a Christmas wreath because it might cause an attack on their home. She recalled an event in Denmark during World War II when the Nazis ordered all of the Jews in the country to wear a yellow Star of David so that they could be easily identified. The King of Denmark and many of its non-Jewish citizens took the initiative of wearing a yellow star themselves. The Nazis were unable to easily identify the Jews. 

McDonald took action. She phoned her minister, the Rev. Kieth Torney at the First Congregational United Church of Christ -- a liberal Christian denomination. She suggested that their Sunday school students fabricate paper menorahs for their windows at home as a sign of solidarity with the Schnitzers. He contacted other clergy across Billings. During the following week, hundreds of menorahs appeared in the windows of local homes as Christian families publicized their solidarity against religious bigotry. The police chief, Wayne Inman, was asked whether this might cause further criminal acts. He responded "There's greater risk in not doing it." 

An editorial in the Billings Gazette on 1993-DEC-08 stated: 

"On December 2, 1993, someone twisted by hate threw a brick through the window of the home of one of our neighbors: a Jewish family who chose to celebrate the holiday season by displaying a symbol of faith—a menorah—for all to see. Today, members of religious faiths throughout Billings are joining together to ask residents to display the menorah as a symbol of something else: our determination to live together in harmony, and our dedication to the principle of religious liberty embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

We urge all citizens to share in this message by displaying this menorah on a door or a window from now until Christmas. Let all the world know that the national hatred of a few cannot destroy what all of us in Billings, and in America, have worked together so long to build."  

The Billings Gazette published a full-page image of a menorah in their newspaper. By the end of the week six to ten thousand homes became decorated with menorahs. 

Now that’s America.  It is in our DNA. As an Orthodox Jew I think of stories like this on Thanksgiving. I could not be more grateful to God and country for allowing me the privilege of living here in peace and freedom. With an unprecedented ability to practice my religion in unfettered ways.

How wonderful it is to know that despite so much bad publicity involving Jews in recent years. Publicity that was often about religious Jews involved in one scandal after the next.  From Sexual abuse to defrauding the government. Nonetheless JTA reported back in February of this year that according to Pew Jews are best-liked religious group in America!

How can this be? How can we be so well liked when there is so much terrible news like that? John McCain was asked that question in 2006 after an Orthodox Jew named Jack Abramoff  pled guilty in the native American lobbying scandal.

McCain’s answer was what one might expect it to be from a man serving a nation founded on principles of tolerance. The American people are smart enough to know the difference between one individual and the people he comes from. They realize the actions of one Jewish criminal are not representative of the entirety of the Jewish people. His actions are his and his alone. Just as would be the case of any criminal regardless of their ethnicity or religion; race, creed or color.

For all this I am grateful. God Bless America. And happy Thanksgiving unto all.

A New Low for Satmar

A new low - comparing the IDF to Auschwitz!

Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s disgusting tactics in opposition to Charedim serving in Israel’s defense forces is pretty well established. As indicated a few days ago here, his tactics consist of a reprehensible series of protests that are nothing less than one big Chilul HaShem after another. 

But Peleg, (Rabbi Auerbach’s party) is not the only one using disgusting tactics. The Meah Shearim/Neturei Karta crowd that believes in dismantling the State of Israel and handing it over to the Palestinians pretty much feels the same way about the Israeli army. Recall their own disgusting tactics in that regard. They have called Charedi army units whorehouses! They have distributed posters with ugly caricatures of religious Jews in uniform to look like a members of the Nazi SS. They have hung Charedi soldiers in effigy. They have even attacked them physically when they wandered into their midst. 

I have always considered Satmar to be of the same mind. They have expressed their own contempt of - and disgust for Israel’s army. And yet Satmar’s defenders have always claimed that even tough they are opposed to the State and opposed to army service by Charedim they would never stoop to that kind of low.

Well, now they have. In one of the most deplorable posters I have ever seen, they compare the IDF to Auschwitz! I kid you not. (See above) This was not in Israel. It was in Monsey. And lest anyone think these posters are being printed and distributed by some extremist faction of Satmar, think again. They urge people to attend Satmar’s large Shul in Monsey to raise money to fund their opposition. They are comparing Rabbi Michel Dov Weissmandel’s crusade to save Jews from in Auschwtiz during the Holocaust to their own crusade to save Jews serving in the IDF. 

If there is anyone in a leadership position in Satmar that has spoken out against this outrageous tactic, I have yet to see it. My guess is that they all support it. They all agree with Rabbi Auerbach’s tactics despite the disruption and pain it causes to others. 

What about the Chilul HaShem of it all? I am 100% convinced that they think it is a Kiddush HaShem. Which should really be no surprise since Satmar's founder, referred to  Rav Avraham Yitzchok HaKohen Kook, one of the Gedolei HaDor of his time, as an Ish Tzar V’Oyev. A phrase used in Megilas Esther about Haman – the Hitler of his time!

It should also not be lost on anyone that there are mainstream Charedi rabbis that have attended Satmar rallies supporting R’ Auerbach in his mission to reject even registering for the draft even though getting a Torah Umnaso exemption is just a formality. That is the government policy for the IDF and is accepted by the mainstream Charedi leadership in Israel.

I have to question why the mainstream Charedi leadership in Amercia, has not come out with a condemnation of – not just these tactics - but of Satmar itself! How can they condemn a relatively small group of leftists formerly known as Open Orthodoxy and ignore the huge numbers of people in Satmar that do or support these kinds of things? It might be easier to just condemn the tactics. But that does not go far enough. Saying that it is extremist faction among Satmar that is responsible for it lets them off the hook. They are not to blame. 

Really? I think they are very much to blame. When a poster like this come out urging attendance at their largest Shul in Monsey for fundraising purpsoes, I don’t think you can talk anymore about the extremists among them. I think you have to be talking about their mainstream.

I realize that American Charedi leadership does not want to alienate such a large group of religious Jews – perhaps the largest and fastest growing demographic in all of Orthodoxy. Especially since one or more of their own leadership has supported their past tactics. 

But I don’t think you sacrifice an ideal on the alter of false unity. Just because they look Frum and act Frum in so may ways, does not make their behavior here any less reprehensible. Satmar has crossed yet another line. They need to summon the courage to speak out against mainstream Satmar as group. Ignoring them as the source and blaming renegade extremists -while one or more of their own attends their anti IDF- anti Israel rallies is in effect allowing this kind of Chilul HaShem to continue under their banner!

It is more than high time that the mainstream Charedi leadership completely breaks with Satmar just as it has with Liberal (Open) Orthodoxy. The sins may be different. But the Chilul HaShem Satmar continues to make with tactics like these makes it imperative that they take a hard stand. The time to do that is now. 

Charlie Rose?! Not Possible!

Charlie Rose interiews Putin

If one wants to understand why it is so difficult to believe that a highly respected figure in any given community is guilty of sexual misconduct of any kind, I think yesterday’s revelation about Charlie Rose is instructive.

I don’t know Mr. Rose. Never met him. But I was a fan. He seemed to me like a man of great honor and integrity in a business where that is sorely lacking. He had an ability to disarm world leaders during sit-down interviews on his PBS television show. At 75 years of age, I don’t know if there was anyone more respected in the television news business than Charlie.

I am kind of a news junkie. Which is why I have my morning coffee watching the CBS’s Morning News every morning. I record it since it begins at 7:00 AM while I am in the middle of studying Gemarah (Daf Yomi). I looked forward every day to watching a 20 minute uninterrupted newscast by this respected reporter who along with his 2 female partners co-hosted the show. Charlie seemed like a mentor to them.

I wondered how those two female co-hosts would react to the tawdry revelations by his victims about their mentor. This morning I found out. Clearly they had the right approach. They condemned his behavior and applauded his victims for coming forward. But you could see the disbelief and disappointment written all over their faces. It transcended their words. They simply could not believe that their partner and mentor for whom they had in the past expressed so much respect and admiration; a man that had not displayed anything but warmth and professionalism - could have done anything like that. But he did. He admitted it in an apology he made publicly. (How ‘nice’ that he apologized now after being exposed!)

This might be one reason why there has been so much resistance by some rabbinic leaders to reporting suspicions of sexual abuse directly to the police. They look at the people that have been suspected of it in their own community that garner similar respect and wonder how it is possible? In many of those cases, those respected individuals have denied it – claiming that allegations of abuse are false and the result of some sort of personal agenda. They just cannot get themselves to believe that an individual that is one of their community icons could ever do what he was accused of doing.

One may recall exactly that kind of reaction by the Satmar community to accusations of abuse and rape by Nechemya Weberman of one of his ‘patients’. It might now be a little easier to understand it. They could not – and did not believe this highly respected man who had ‘helped’ so many teens at risk; a man who exuded an exemplary religious lifestyle, a man who was so religious; so Godly that he recited Tehillim throughout his trial in his seat next to his lawyer – hardly paying any attention to the proceedings; a man whose family stood by him and his denials throughout his trial and after… They could not believe such a man was capable of doing what he was accused of. He was the ‘Charlie Rose’ of Satmar. Only instead of admitting it, he denied it.

It was pretty easy for the rest of us to see him as guilty. The cold hard facts of sexual abuse came out during his trial. He was found guilty. But to his peers in the world of Satmar? Impossible. They rejected the verdict and blamed it on lies by his accuser and on the antisemitism of the court and the jury. To them Weberman was hero being punished because of what he looked like - A Chasidic Jew.

I get it now. After seeing how Charlie Rose’s colleagues reacted to the devastating accusations against him even after he admitted it – I can understand why Weberman’s colleagues in the religious community whose reputation among them was similarly high - reacted to allegations about him when he denied it.

Much like the denial about Shlomo Carlebach’s sexual abuse by so many of his fans. A man like that?! Impossible. He too was the ‘Charlie Rose’ of his fan base.

Please do no misunderstand. I have not changed my views at all about reporting suspicions of sex abuse directly to the police, no matter how respected the suspected abuser is. That is is a no brainer for me. But at the same time, I understand the resistance to it.

What is happening now is something I never in a million years would have believed could happen. I had always believed that sex abuse was the province of sociopaths that could never gain any respect. Their narcissistic personalities would have prevented them from it. 

How wrong I was! These are all sick people. They are not always purely evil. In some cases there is a lot of good in them too. Otherwise they could never garner any real respect from their community, let alone become icons. Obviously the bad far exceeds the good. Because they carelessly and recklessly disregarded the value of the human life they destroy. By their disgusting behavior they ruin lives. Apologies like those of Charlie Rose that come after they have been exposed are disingenuous and pretty meaningless in my book.

I am still in a state of shock about all this. When is it all going to end? It seems like every day, new revalations about sexual misconduct of one type or another comes out about yet another prominent individual - about which one would have never expected it. How many prominent people are there that have yet to be exposed? They must all be shaking in their boots!

If you would have asked me just a few weeks ago whether so many icons would be outed so quickly as remotely abusive, I would have answered ‘No possible way!’ And yet here we are. The list is of prominent people so accused (going back to the 70s) is breathtaking. In both their number and station: 

Bill Clinton, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Anthony Weiner, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, James Toback,  Kevin Spacey, George Bush (41), Shlomo Carelebach, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Afflek, Louis CK, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Moore, Jeremy Piven, Mark Halperin, Al Franken, Charlie  Rose… 

This is just a partial list. There is probably more to come. Will it ever end? Who’s next?

Talking the Talk is Not Enough

Police doing their job in Bnei Brak (Jerusalem Post)

I hate to keep talking about this. But it keeps happening. Once again protests by followers of Rabbi Shmuel Auebach took place – disrupting the peace in Charedi enclaves. This time it was Bnei Brak. Streets were shut down by a bunch of brain dead young people (and some that are not so young – but just as brain dead) who are protesting the consequences of their leader’s decisions. 

Regardless of your feelings about drafting Charedim into the military, what these people are doing with these protests is one big Chilul HaShem after another.

It would be one thing if their young were actually being drafted. As long as Israel has compulsory military service - drafting Charedi youth is something that I would personally support for all but the elite. The rest should at most delay it for a year or two to pursue full time Torah study and then ‘share the burden’ with fellow Israeli citizens by serving in some manner.

But they see it as a violation of their principles because of the negative religious environment they perceive the military being. I’ve argued against this contention and I am not going to repeat it here. It is beyond the scope of this post.  But let us for argument’s sake say they are right about that and refuse to serve for that reason.

The fact they don’t have to. Not a single Charedi youth is being drafted. All the government has asked them to do is register for the draft and apply for the ‘Torah U’mnaso’ (Torah study is their profession) exemption. Which they are immediately granted. They can then go right back to the Beis HaMedrash for as long as they want. That is not good enough for Rabbi Auerbach and his followers. For them, it is better to go to jail than to even register with the IDF.

He and his followers have the right to feel that way. But his claims of preferring to sit in jail rather than register is a bold-faced lie. Because they have done everything in their power to violently protest it when it happens. And they don’t care a whit about the consequences. They don’t really want to spend a minute in jail for their beliefs. They would rather cause disruption and damage. They would rather inconvenience innocent people that even agree with them about the ‘evils’ of the military. They do not care. Nor do they seem to understand the Chilul HaShem that makes.

Lately more draft dodgers that have refused to register have been sent to jail. That is the reason for the recent protest in Bnei Brak.  The police were called in and they ‘took care of business’ treating these brain dead protesters like the criminals they are.

Watching videos of that in the Jerusalem Post without context might make some believe they were watching police brutality at work. That’s what it looks like in those videos and in the pictures. But looks can be deceiving The police were just doing their job by trying to restore the peace. 

These protests aren’t even helping them succeed in their goals. Israel is not gong to change the law because of these protesters. They are just going to arrest more people.

Registering for the draft is not the same thing as serving in the army. This is the view of the mainstream Charedi leaders who have urged all of their young to register and then get on with their Torah study. Rabbi Auerbach has decided that it is much more important to make a statement and that it is worth being Mevatel (abandoning) their Torah study for that. 

For what?! What does he gain?  The reasons for his opposition to the army ate identical to those of mainstream Charedi leaders. Why does he feel it is worth telling his followers to stop learning and go into the streets and cause riots, and then possibly thrown in jail? Why does he feel it is worth disrupting the lives of everybody else – including like minded Charedim on the subject of the army? Why does he think it is a Kiddush HaShem instead of the Chilul HaShem it clearly is?

What kind of leader does this? I’ll tell you what kind. No kind. Rabbi Auerbach is not a leader. He is a man leading his followers like lemmings over the cliff. I don’t know what that is but it is not leadership.  

The police are cracking down more than ever on these people. I would like to see public support for them by the mainstream Charedi leaders that have already condemned Rabbi Auerbach. They apparently see the same thing I do – Bitul Torah and a massive Chilul HaShem. But words are just that – words! They should be the ones calling the police when they see a protest and thanking them publicly in print for breaking up those protesters. They ought not to be trying to get those draft dodging youth out of jail either (as I recall one Charedi Keneset member doing a while back). Let Rabbi Auerbach and his followers live up to their word of preferring jail to registering for the draft. The more they do it, the more they should be  in jail. As should those that participate in these violent protests.

And let mainstream Charedi rabbis cheer on the police and support those jails sentences.

It does not do the Charedi world any good for the mainstream to look the other way – with a sort of sympathetic eye that signals support of their goals while condemning their methods. They do not have to give up their beliefs that army service is the key to assimilating out of religious observance (wrong though I believe them to be). Let them believe as they wish and comply with the law. That is what they tell their young to do by registering. 

Condemning these people hasn't stopped them. They need to do more than that. It may not be pleasant to see Charedi youth sitting in Israeli jails. But that is a problem of their own making and their stated preference over registering for the draft.

Besides, these young protesters do not have to follow Rabbi Auerbach. There is a simple way for them to stay out of jail and continue learning Torah without interruption. It’s called following the law. Register for the draft! Refusing to do that is causing a major upheaval in the Torah world.  Publicly supporting the police and the jail sentences for those young Charedim that violate the law is one way to counter that Chilul HaShem.

If they do nothing or continue to only pay lip service condemnation of it – this kind of thing will continue and probably increase! And that is not good for anyone.

Violence Will Not Help Their Cause

Reform leaders and activists using force to get their way at the Kotel (Jpost)

The Kotel is open to every single individual that wishes to pray there. Including Popes and Presidents. When they enter the Kotel Plaza to pray, they respect the traditions preserved there since the Kotel came back into our possession back in 1967. Claims by Heterodox leaders that the Kotel is open only to Ultra Orthodox Jews is pure unadulterated nonsense. It is a lie put forward by those whose motives have little to do with a desire to have their prayers heard by God.

The complainers are not at all about praying to God - the way the vast majority of people that come there to pray are.They are about doing it their own way. A way that violates the sensibilities of the of people that regularly pray there - and have prayed there for decades. Israel has no obligation to satisfy the desires of those that prefer a mode of prayer that upsets the sensibilities of others. This is what they are really demanding. Doing it their way. In other words it’s not about God. It’s about them. They care little that their mode of prayer upsets the majority of Jews that pray at the Kotel.

To what at first seemed to be to their credit they had agreed to a compromise that would have given them an expanded and updated section of the Kotel which they currently have so they could pray as they wish. And to the credit of the Charedi Keneset members they acquiesced - even though they believe that the preferred Heterodox mode of prayer is illegitimate. They did not protest.  

But when it became abundantly clear that this was more than just about getting their own space – but about getting equal recognition with Orthodox Jews, Charedi parties cried foul. This was not the what the agreement was originally understood to be. Charedi members of the Kenesset  then changed course and vehemently protested. The Israeli government backed down from the agreement. This has outraged heterodox leaders. They are livid – claiming that Israeli government is reneging on its deal with heterodox leaders.

It is now more than clear that this is what Heterodox rabbis want. The Kotel deal was nothing more than a ploy to get recognition and legitimacy. They have admitted as much publicly. So much for reneging on the deal. It is not reneging on a deal when the deal was just a façade for a purpose that Orthodox leaders would never agree to.

We can debate all day long about the value to Israel of Heterodoxy in America. There are those that say that without the support of Heterodox Jewry, Israel would lose 90% of the financial support they get from the US (90% being the percentage of non Orthodox Jews in America). 

That is a debatable claim. I tend to doubt that a full 90% of non Orthodox Jews even care about Israel. With an intermarriage rate of 70% - most of those 90% don’t even care if their offspring will be Jewish.  Donations to Israel have seen a steady decline in recent years that have little to do with what’s going on there. 

My advice to Heterodox leaders is to stop crying ‘wolf’ about that. Most of those 90% don’t think about the state much at all. They just don’t care one way or the other. Israel has no religious value to most of that 90% Sadly  a lot of those Jews seem to have more sympathy for the plight of Palestinians than they do about the welfare of the Jewish State. Praying at the Kotel is not on their radar at all.

What is the real motive behind this push for recognition? Why now more than in the past? They’ve had 70 years to push forward their agenda for recognition. Why this sense of urgency now? The answer lies in the above-mentioned statistics. As discussed here many times, Heterodoxy is dying. Their membership is plummeting. Gone are the days where the newest synagogue edifices that were being built were Conservative of Reform. Almost all the building is being done today is by the only segment that is growing: Orthodoxy. Conservative and Reform synagogues and temples are either closing or consolidating.

Their leaders see the handwriting on the wall and they are looking East for salvation. But the majority of the people of Israel don’t really care about heterodox movements. It isn’t that they oppose them theologically the way Orthodoxy does. They just don’t care. Heterodox leaders are trying to make them care.

To certain extent some secular Jews in Israel are buying into their argument of not being  treated fairly by the government. But they have no interest in joining Heterodox  movements. As has often been said about secular Israelis, the synagogue that they do not attend - is Orthodox. They aren’t interested in any kind of ‘doxy. Whether Orthodoxy or Heterodoxy. They like being who they are: Traditional Jews that observe many but not all of the Mitzvos.  Becoming a Conservative or Reform Jew is a meaningless goal for them.

This leaves heterodox leaders with a very small ideological base of support among Israelis. Their claims to the contrary notwithstanding. It does not bode well for their future. This is their last gasp at preventing extinction.

Although one might surmise from all this that I am gloating, that is far from the truth. I am not celebrating their demise at all. I in fact lament their failure to instill any sense of Jewishness among so many of their members. As noted - the children of the 70% that are intermarrying will for the most part (…yes, I know there are exceptions) either not care about their Judaism or that of their children – or worse their children will not even be Jewish at all. That is nothing to celebrate. It is something to cry about. 

That is why violence on the part of Orthodox zealots when they collide with Heterodox activists - is so upsetting for an Orthodox Jew like myself. On the other hand there is absolutely no excusing what  - in a similar vein - leaders of the Reform movement did last week. From the Jerusalem Post: 

Violence broke out at the holy site on Thursday as a group of Reform rabbis and worshipers sought to enter the plaza with Torah scrolls. The group was forcibly prevented from doing so by police and Western Wall security officials.

The group had been praying at the Robinson’s Arch site designated for egalitarian prayer at the southern end of the Western Wall, at a special service marking the recent ordination of the 100th reform rabbi in Israel.

(Reform leader Rick) Jacobs acknowledged that when the group was told it could not enter with the Torah scrolls they continued to press forward and physically “asserted” their way into the Western Wall plaza.

“We had to with strength, assert that we are allowed to be in that place. And we asserted our way into that space and there was a lot of resistance by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation guards,” (said) Jacobs.

Jacobs said the incident expresses “very loudly and clearly that we’re not going away.” said Jacobs. “We’re not going to wait for our rightful place to be protected. 

I am really sickened by what they did here. How desperate they must be for recognition if they had to resort to this. This make them no different than the Orthodox zealots that have used violence in opposition to them.  Their excuse is the lie about being denied a place at the Kotel. They are not being denied that. They are just being denied the legitimization of upending 2000 years of Jewish tradition for the sole purpose of self preservation.

What is This Guy Thinking?

Ivanka Trump made the following comment to the Associated Press when asked about about Judge Roy Moore, Alabama’s Republican nominee for the US Senate: 

“There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I’ve yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”  

I think she’s right. And so does just about anyone else that has been following the Roy Moore saga. But for those that haven’t. Roy Moore has been accused of sexually molesting teenage girls as young as 14. Many years ago when he was a prosecutor in his thirties. He has vehemently denied all accusations. Most of the reaction to this has been to believe his accusers. Apparently the crimes he has been accused of are no longer prosecutable since the statute of limitations  ran out a long time ago.

Few people doubt the credibility of those women. Even conservative House and Senate members of his own Republican Party. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has asked him to step down and has threatened to expel him for the Senate should he win the election. That has not, however, stopped his core supporters in Alabama from not only continuing their support, but doubling down on it. They believe that all these accusations are politically motivated because of their timing.

I admit that for a moment, those thoughts occurred to me too. The timing was definitely suspicious. Why have these accusers come out at this particular moment when it was too late to change the ballot and substitute someone else in Moore’s place? Were they politically motivated with an agenda of getting one of their own elected? If that is the case, it probably worked. Moore’s double digit lead against his Democratic opponent has vanished. Polls now show that Democrat, Doug Jones now leads Moore by as much as 12 percentage points.

I suppose anything is possible. But there is little doubt in my mind. The accusers are not lying. It has been well established by professionals who deal with sex abuse that the vast majority of those kinds of allegations are credible. In Moore’s case, there are just too many accusations from around the same time by girls of about the same age for them to all be lying. 

Why did they wait decades before revealing what Moore did to them? Experts say that it is not uncommon for victims of abuse to not report sex abuse when it happens. I think that might be because they are embarrassed by it and just want to get on with their lives in most cases. They do not want all the negative attention it would have brought upon themselves - fearing public disbelief or accusations like it was their own fault (blaming the victim). Why then did they do it at this particular time? 

That’s an easy one. It probably had nothing to do with the election. What it did have to do with  can be answered with two words: Harvey Weinstein. His exposure as a serial sex abuser has generated the #metoo campaign. Which has been encouraging victims of sexual misconduct (both male and female) to come forward and tell the world what happened to them, no matter how long ago.

This is a wonderful development. A lot of respected people have been exposed as sexual predators of one sort or another. Prominent names keep coming up. Almost every day there is a new revelation of a prominent member of society who has been accused of such behavior - far to many to list. The latest being Senator Al Franken. This phenomenon will allow our culture to ‘clean house’! All of these people will at long last suffer the embarrassment and dishonor they deserve. And hopefully be removed from the ‘public square’ (as some already have).

I don’t think this will eliminate sex abuse. There will always be sociopaths that will seek to gratify their own sexual appetites – and find innocent victims to do so, They will be Dr. Jekyll by day and Mr. Hyde by night. That is the nature of the universe. And its been that way since the beginning of time. 

What it will do is  make people a lot more aware of the problem and better able to protect themselves. It will hopefully also change the culture of victims hiding abuse for fear of embarrassment into a culture of immediate exposure of the abuser – and the prosecution of predators (and their enablers where that applies).

We of the Orthodox Jewish community should be pleased at this development. Our values are Torah values where crimes of sex are deemed the most unholy of acts. Jews are a Goy Kadosh – a holy people. Holiness demands that we remove ourselves as much as possible from forbidden sexual acts. And there is little more disgusting than forcing sex abuse upon innocent children. 

Which brings me back to Roy Moore. Or more specifically to what appears to be an Orthodox Jew publicly defending him. In front of a camera. I don’t know who that Charedi looking fellow in the above screenshot is . But I do know that, while he might mean well, what he has done is a Chilul HaShem. And whoever he is, he deserves to be called out for it!

Why did he do that? I guess he feels the ends justify the means. Whatever it takes to get someone into office whose public views match their own. In this case, Judge Moore is on the same page with this fellow’s religious agenda with respect to the moral climate of this country. Moore is campaign is based on that. The fellow in the picture said as much. He claims that all these accusations are being made because of Judge Moore’s position on morality.

I’m sorry. Even if this fellow is right and Judge Moore’s views are the Torah’s views - siding with the devil is not the right way to go about promoting that agenda. It is instead the way to show the world we don’t care how we get our own religious agenda done as long as it gets done. If it takes the devil, so be it. The absurdity of that should be obvious. Siding with a sexual predator for purposes of supporting a higher societal standard of morality is absurd!

I used to think Judge Moore’s views did in many ways reflect our own. Before running for the Senate he was most famous for putting up a sculpture of the Ten Commandments on the front lawn of his courthouse. He was sued for that by the ACLU - accusing him of mixing church and state. He was ordered to take it down. He defied the ruling. 

At the time I supported Judge Moore. How could a monument to the Ten Commandments displayed on public property be any worse than a display of the Nativity scene we find on public property during this time of year? At the time I felt he was being persecuted for seeing the values of the bible as a moral guide.

But now that he has been shown to be a hypocrite, I place no value on him. And neither should anyone that calls themselves a religious Jew. Ivanka Trump is right about him. How sad that this fellow doesn’t understand that his means do not justify his ends. They counteract them.