A Misguided Attack

Agudah's Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel (VIN)

I am disappointed. Rabbi Yaakov Homnick is one of the most intelligent, articulate, and Jewishly knowledgeable people I have even known. (We are actually distantly related through marriage.) He is also firmly in the Charedi camp.  And yet he took pen to hand to attack Agudah, an organization he once worked for which can easily be described as the Charedi world’s flagship institution. As a staunch conservative Republican, he called their defense of Democrats ‘misguided’. A description he said he used ‘charitably’ considering what he really thought. 

He then went about smearing the work Agudah had done over the  years - insinuating that their modus operandi was to sell the Orthodox vote for money: 

(T)he late Rabbi Moshe Sherer of Agudath Israel had promised President Jimmy Carter the Orthodox vote. We can only speculate what he got in return for choosing the spendthrift candidate over the moral candidate. 

What was their ‘sin’ this time? It was an intelligent article by their spokesman, Rabbi Avi Shafran who in his weekly column, defended Senator Kamala Harris from the unfair attacks by the right. One can disagree with his take. But it was surely not an unreasonable one. Which he supported by the many facts about her actual views he brought as evidence. 

I have certainly had my disagreements with Agudah on some of its positions and public pronouncements. But in this case, I completely agree with them. Agudah’s Executive Vice President, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel, took the unusual step of responding to Rabbi Homnick - accusing him of a blatant smear based on a lie. One that should have been obvious to anyone let alone someone as intelligent as Rabbi Homnick. 

I have to agree with Rabbi Zweibel. It is shocking to see a Charedi Rabbi smear the very institution that represents his Hashkafa by lying to make his point. To lie about what Rabbi Shafran said and then to attribute that view to Agudah is the height of Chutzpah. 

Anyone that read Rabbi Shafran’s column understands that it was in no way an endorsement of Harris. He said so in the title of his piece and repeated it throughout the article. All he was saying was that when criticizing a political candidate one opposes, they should never lie or mislead people about their actual views in that cause. 

He’s right about that. First because it is extremely unethical to say the least. And secondly it is counterproductive to bash somebody with lies, half-truths and innuendos since they are often easy to disprove. Which then makes any legitimate criticism suspect. 

And another thing Rabbi Zweibel correctly noted was the fact that Rabbi Shafran is not the human appendage of Agudah. He works for them and is their spokesmen. But he also has a mind of his own and is entitled to express his own views on a variety of subjects – unrelated to his job at Agudah. He is also a registered Republican to boot. To accuse him and by association Agudah as a shill for Democrats is clearly a smear tactic that is unbecoming of someone like Rabbi Hominick. I am shocked and dismayed. 

I know Rabbi Homnick is passionate about his support for the President. I get why he supports him and why he thinks Orthodox Jews should vote for him. He didn’t have to spell it out. But what he did was unethical and unbecoming. Plain and simple. Rabbi Shafran on the other hand did the right thing. 

Rabbi Zweibel excerpted ta couple of key paragraphs in Rabbi Shafran’s article that clearly and unequivocally demonstrates his intent. I repeat them here:  

“None of the above is intended as a call to support Mr. Biden. There is ample and understandable enthusiasm in our community for President Trump, who has taken a number of steps to show support for Israel. And there are other issues where our stances resonate with the Republican ones. Personally, I am a registered Republican, and have, over decades, most often voted for Republican candidates.

 “I’m suggesting only one thing: that we refrain from demonizing either of our country’s major political parties.” 

Rabbi Zweibel described what Rabbi Homnick did as worse than Lashon Hara  which uses the truth to smear someone. He called it Motzie Shem Ra which uses lies to do that. He’s right.