Sean Combs and Chaim Rotter

Sean “Diddy” Combs (ABC)

It’s hard to fathom the depths of depravity in which Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs had engaged. I watched with horror as the media reported the chilling testimonies of his victims during his trial. Yesterday, he was found guilty of two lesser counts among the five charges of criminal sexual activity. He now faces up to 20 years in prison.

Whether or not he was technically guilty of all five federal crimes is almost beside the point. What he is guilty of is some of the most disgusting behavior imaginable. Behavior that no religious Jew would be capable of, let alone commit.

Except that the last sentence is not true.

It appears that even the most devout-looking Jews among us can be just as guilty of such crimes as Combs - if not worse.

To say that someone who commits such atrocities cannot truly be considered Charedi is to fall into the ‘No True Scotsman’ fallacy. The latest Jew accused of such crimes is Charedi.

There have been so many instances of outwardly devout Jews committing sexual crimes that it could fill a book. Some may argue that these individuals are anomalies. Exceptions that prove the rule. Perhaps. But the same can be said about Combs. Most non-Jews don't behave like him either.

Just because the general rule is that Charedim don’t usually commit such crimes doesn’t explain why so many of them have been caught doing exactly that.

Chaim Rotter - Right  (Jerusalem Post)

The latest such criminal is Chaim Rotter, head of Shomrim in Bnei Brak - arguably the most Charedi city in Israel, if not the world.

Shomrim is a civilian watch group meant to protect citizens from attack. In practice, however, they often go much further. Acting as vigilantes who beat up those they suspect of harming a fellow Jew. They’ve essentially appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner. And shockingly, Shomrim is supported by the city government and, more importantly, enjoys the apparent blessing of its rabbinic leadership.

But that blessing now seems horrifically premature. By orders of magnitude.

Because what Rotter is accused of makes Combs’ crimes seem almost mild by comparison. According to the Jerusalem Post:

At the hearing on Wednesday, Rotter was silent when asked if he wished to respond to the allegations. One of his alleged victims, “Meir” (an alias), called out, “He raped me. You are evil, you are cursed. I am sick. He almost cut off my penis. He raped the mother of my child.”

Worse still, Rotter allegedly turned the tables on his victims—using his authority to accuse them of being the perpetrators, subjecting them to the full force of Shomrim’s vigilante brutality.

Meir, 39, from Tel Aviv, further told Walla:

“There is no comfort for what he did… I am hopeful that justice will be carried out. In early 2013, he fell in love with my wife, now my ex-wife, and made my life hell. He desecrated her and did horrors to her in front of our eight-month-old daughter, stole my belongings, and barred me from entry.”

“It happened several times. Once, he told me to come over to either pick up my tefillin or see my daughter. He said, ‘Now we’re going to beat him up.’ I told him I missed my daughter… I found myself on the floor, pinned to the stairs, as he hit me in the face.”

“He told me, ‘I’ll tear off your [genitals], I’ll castrate you.’ They beat me until I was dehydrated and fainted, and no one helped me… They tortured me.”

That’s the ‘beauty’ of being the Charedi head of a community policing group. You can rape and torture whoever you want and then accuse the victim or their loved ones of being the criminals.

Who are you going to believe? The trusted head of Shomrim, protector of Bnei Brak? Or some guy accused of abusing his wife - who ‘deserved what he got’?

In my view, there is no question that this group must be disbanded. They are a disgrace to the very idea of protecting the public. Even if they’ve done some good, the cost of unfettered vigilantism and the harm to innocent people is far too great. If anything, it is the police who should be strengthened and their presence expanded. Not replaced by unaccountable thugs in religious clothing.

But the real tragedy is that evil on this scale can be perpetrated even by someone who grew up immersed in the most stringent standards of sexual modesty. Remember Chaim Walder?

In communities like Bnei Brak, men and women are strictly separated. Women often wear long, loose-fitting dresses and fully cover their hair. Ads featuring women are banned. These communities enforce the strictest codes of Tznius (modesty).

And yet, how often have we seen those raised in such environments accused of the very crimes those standards are meant to prevent?

Far too many times to count.

Maybe it’s time for the Charedi world to consider whether their standards might be too much of a good thing. Is there such a thing as too much focus on Tznius?

That may sound almost blasphemous. But perhaps when you separate the sexes to such extremes, it takes far less to trigger dangerous desires. While sexual crimes are more about violence than desire, unfulfilled or repressed desire often plays a role in precipitating such violence.

This is not to say we should abandon modesty altogether. That would likely make things worse. But perhaps there is a middle ground – a happy medium. One that religious leaders in cities like Bnei Brak should seriously consider. But probably never will.