The Absolute Evil of Misplaced Compassion

Convicted child sex offender, Nechemya Weberman (Jerusalem Post)

It never gets old. Child sex offenders who appear to be devout in their religious devotion, and who therefore occupy positions of great honor among their colleagues and community, always seem to benefit from a compassion they do not deserve.

A monster named Nechemya Weberman began sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in 2007 and continued the abuse until 2010. He was convicted on 59 counts, including sexual misconduct against a child, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Weberman’s image was that of a knowledgeable rabbinic figure who had somehow developed a reputation for treating troubled young people in his Chasidic community. The idea of a Chasidic family going to a trained mental-health professional outside their community - someone who ‘does not understand their needs’ is in many cases anathema to them. They will always choose the heimishe therapist. Someone from within their religious community they can identify with. Weberman fit that bill. The fact that he had no professional training didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that he Frum - he was ‘one of them’.

Weberman had somehow gained the confidence of his community as someone who could successfully treat troubled youth. The idea that a man like that would ever abuse one of his ‘clients’ seemed impossible. So when he was accused, no one believed it. Because of the piety he otherwise displayed, they automatically believed in his innocence. That belief was reinforced during the trial, where he sat at the defense table reciting Tehillim while his attorney presented his case.

But the evidence supported the survivor. The jury believed her and found him guilty. The Chasidic leaders of his community nonetheless maintain his innocence to this day. I’m sure they ‘reasoned’ as follows: How is it possible that a man like that could do the things he was accused of?! A man whose reputation was pristine until a young girl—who is no longer observant—lied and accused him of the unthinkable! They surely still believe that this girl, whom he tried to help, turned on him out of some vendetta against her former community.

Things had gotten better in recent years. There are good people and organizations in the Orthodox world who have made a difference. Zvi Gluck and his organization, Amudim, have done a great deal to turn the tide. Although there is still plenty of abuse in the Orthodox world, there is now a recognition that accusers of sexual abuse rarely lie. They should be believed and deserve our compassion and goodwill. There is greater communal awareness that some people who act like tzadikim - the most righteous among us - are nonetheless evil to the core.

Yet it seems there are still rabbis who can be convinced that a convicted sex abuser like Weberman somehow deserves clemency. One of them, however, withdrew his request after learning the details of the case. As reported by Arutz Sheva:

A prominent rabbinic figure at Yeshiva University has publicly withdrawn his support for a clemency request submitted to the Governor of New York on behalf of a convicted child abuser from a hasidic community, stating he was not fully informed when he signed the original letter… “I retract my signature,” he stated firmly, adding that after learning the specifics of the crimes involved, he believes the individual should remain incarcerated.

The retraction followed a statement by Zvi Gluck, CEO of Amudim, who wrote last week:

“When I saw that a group of respected rabbonim had sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul asking for clemency for a convicted child abuser who has never shown one ounce of remorse, something inside me broke. It was not only disappointment or frustration. It was heartbreak, anger, disbelief, and a deep sadness that words barely touch.

“For years, survivors have fought simply to be heard. Families have carried wounds that do not fade. I have sat with children who grew into adults still trembling as they describe what was done to them. So reading a letter filled with compassion for the man who caused such devastation, and absolutely none for the girl he abused, felt like a betrayal of every survivor who has ever found the courage to come forward.

“The letter speaks only of the abuser’s age, his health, his comfort, and his dignity—without once speaking about hers. Not one mention of her pain. Not one word about her suffering. Yet there is a plea for mercy for the man who stole her childhood. What about her life? What about her future?

“The irony is painful. Many who signed this letter come from communities torn apart by infighting for years. Yet for this—for a convicted abuser with no remorse—they unite fully. If only they showed this unity when it came to protecting children.”

Indeed. I don’t know who the other rabbis are. But what will it take for them to show compassion for survivors instead of a convicted abuser? As if Weberman’s age, health, comfort, and dignity matter here? Really?!

Did they simply see a pious Chasidic man languishing in prison saying Tehillim all day and conclude, No way should a man like this be suffering like that!?

Whoever these rabbis are - if they don’t retract their request for clemency as did Rav Schachter - I have to seriously question their sense of yashrus, their basic sense of right and wrong.

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The Judeo-Christian Values of America

Marjorie Taylor Greene announcing her resignation from Congress

The United States was founded on the principles of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Many of its national mottos draw from the Torah. The Founding Fathers, though Christian, were not doctrinaire; their Puritan ancestors had fled religious persecution and deeply valued freedom of religion. That value became the country’s ethos and was enshrined in the First Amendment. From the start, America welcomed Jews, as reflected in George Washington’s warm letter to the Jewish community of his day.

While America’s early history included some soft Christian antisemitism, attitudes changed dramatically after the Holocaust and Vatican II. Which came about because of Pope John XXIII’s recognition of the Church’s complicity in a centuries long antisemitism - that culminated in the Holocaust. He wrote:

“We are conscious today that many centuries of blindness have cloaked our eyes so that we can no longer either see the beauty of Thy Chosen People nor recognize in their faces the features of our privileged brethren. We realize that the mark of Cain stands upon our foreheads. Across the centuries, our brother Abel has lain in the blood which we drew or shed the tears we caused by forgetting Thy Love. Forgive us for the curse we falsely attached to their name as Jews. Forgive us for crucifying Thee a second time in their flesh. For we knew not what we did.”

Today the term ‘Judeo-Christian’ is commonly used by conservatives to describe the values upon which this country is based. Some cynics, however, claim that merely a politically correct term used by conservative Christians who really mean Christian values.

This is nonsense. Mainstream conservatives mean it when they say it. But some Christian conservatives inhabit the world of Christian Nationalism. They do not use the term. They totally reject any Jewish component to their values. At the core they are antisemites of the first order! (A prominent example of this attitude is congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene.) These individuals promote Jewish conspiracy theories. They are the spiritual heirs of Henry Ford whose publication of Protocols of the Elders of Zion accused a Cabal of  Jews of plotting to control the country and manipulating Christians to do their bidding.

This kind of thinking once belonged only to the fringes of American society. But figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, the aforementioned Taylor Greene, and open antisemites like Nick Fuentes have been spewing this garbage a lot lately and they all have large followings. This has amplified their wacky conspiratorial ideas.

Even so, this remains far from mainstream conservatism. Most conservative leaders still use the term Judeo-Christian and fully embrace the idea that the United States moral foundations are based on a shared bible.

Progressive antisemitism is of a very different sort. It is largely anti-Israel rather than conspiratorial. Many progressives do not hate Jews; they oppose the existence of Israel and, by extension, those who support it. New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, for example, has long been vehemently hostile to Israel but insists he will protect Jewish New Yorkers from hate crimes. While his virulent anti Israel attitude is extremely troubling for those of us that support the Jewish state, his problem is political, not theological. 

There has been much hand-wringing about whether the United States is ‘reliving 1930s. Germany’. Which seems to be getting more evident now than ever. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Pre-Holocaust Germany was saturated with antisemitism rooted in centuries of religious hostility - far different from today’s America, where antisemitism is widely condemned across the political spectrum. While Israel’s reputation has suffered over the last two years and fringe ideas have grown louder, there has been no erosion of the broad American consensus that antisemitism is immoral and unacceptable.

My advice to those who fear a return to the 1930s is simple: listen to the soft sensible voices of the mainstream, not the extremists and their wacky ideas. The fringe voices are loud, but they are not close to becoming dominant. I truly believe that America’s moral compass with respect to the Jewish people is still intact.

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Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, ZTL - Reflections on His Fifth Yahrzeit

Rabbi Sacks and (then) Prince Charles (Forward)

I am pleased to host the following tribute to Lord, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks by renowned educator, Paul Shaviv. 

I had the privilege of attending one of Rabbi Sacks lectures when he was a scholar-in-residence at a shul here in Chicago a few years ago. I can attest to the fact that Rabbi Sacks epitomized what a Torah leader in Klal Yisreol should be. He can easily be placed in the same rarified atmosphere inhabited by Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (the Rav) and Rav Aharon Lichtenstein. All 3 shining bright lights of Modern Orthodox Jewish thought in our day.  Each in a class by themselves. They are true expositors of Modern Orthodoxy’s positive engagement with the secular world and its intersection with the Torah.

Paul Shaviv’s long term and close personal relationship with Rabbi Sacks gives him insights into Rabbi Sacks that few people have - who he was and what he was really all about   His words follow unedited - in their entirety

We recently marked the fifth yahrzeit of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who is emerging as the most popular, and perhaps the most significant Jewish thinker of the modern age.    I knew him well, over a period of six decades, from the time we were teenagers in London, through time together as students at Cambridge, and years of subsequent friendship with him and Lady Elaine.  My late wife Judy z”l was his private secretary when he became Chief Rabbi.

 In these depressing times, how his voice is missed!

Rabbi Sacks had a world-class intellectual brain, and was regarded as the Philosophy student of the decade in Cambridge.  Rav Nossan Ordman z”l, of London’s Yeshivah Etz Haim, who gave Rabbi Sacks semichah, is reported to have said that Rabbi Sacks was one of the two best minds he had ever taught, including the years he taught in pre-war Europe.  For nine years, Sacks learned daily with Rav Nachum Rabinovich z”l – himself a stellar Talmid Chacham, and, it can be noticed, like Rabbi Sacks, something of a Rabbinic outsider. 

And yet Rabbi Sacks’ remarkable appeal to the Jewish world is that of a popular communicator.  He is easily the most-quoted Rabbi in North America.  This didn’t come naturally to him.  He had to work on it, in writing and in speech.  In his early years in the rabbinate he was impossibly academic and highbrow – I remember him delivering a sermon to a very suburban congregation on “Wittgenstein and Maimonides”.    He worked on his communication skills because he determined that his mission, and his unique potential, was to communicate Judaism to the widest audiences.

Virtually ignored in the almost 400-page Tradition volume, published to mark the Yahrzeit, is his impact on the non-Jewish world.   In the late 1980’s/early 1990’s,  discussion around his candidature for the UK Chief Rabbinate focused entirely about how he could impact the ‘younger generation’ of the Jewish community.   No-one foresaw his wider impact on British society. Yet when he retired, the farewell dinner in Whitehall’s Royal Palace Banquetiing Hall was chaired by then-Prince, now-King Charles, and featured several former Prime Ministers, numerous Bishops, Archbishops, religious and intellectual leaders.  (The Haredi community was conspicuous by its absence.).  Even before he was Chief Rabbi, he was invited to give the BBC-sponsored ‘Reith Lectures’ – roughly the UK equivalent of winning the Nobel Prize for Culture, and during his tenure he was a hugely popular regular broadcaster on UK media.  No rabbi, especially Orthodox rabbi, has ever come close.

He was a prominent, respected and admired participant, thinker, philosopher and advisor in media, political, religious and academic forums.   He was the recipient of some twenty honorary doctorates (!) and of numerous prizes, including the Templeton Prize.  When Pope Benedict visited the UK in 2013, he was the choice of the UK’s religious leaders – of all faiths - to extend greetings to the Pope on behalf of them all.  [The recording of this, and mountains of further material, can be found on the excellent website, www.rabbisacks.org]   Many of his books address world issues.  Sadly, the Tradition issue seems to miss this; instead, it seems to be seeking to ‘capture’ Rabbi Sacks into the orbit of Y. U.  

Please, break out of that Soloveitchik mold, and see him for the broad, universal intellect that he was!  That is perhaps his greatest gift to the contemporary Jewish world, which is day by day turning against science, culture and every product of the world around us!

The second major event around his Yahrzeit is the publication of the Koren Sacks Chumash. 

The work of editor and compiler Jessica Sacks (Jonathan’s niece) and her team is monumental – thanks, and congratulations!  Koren publishers in this, as in so many other projects, is superb.  Jessica Sacks and her colleagues have surveyed all of Rabbi Sacks ouvre – both the written and the spoken word.  They have extracted every comment which is rooted in a pasuk in chumash.    I found it to be a (superb!) anthology of notes on chumash, peppered with highly original thoughts and broad-brush interpretations.  It isn’t, strictly speaking, a commentary, which is occasionally frustrating.

It is quite a heavy volume, running to almost 1,700 pages, with very generous Hebrew and English print size, and generous layout of the accompanying Rashi and Onkelos

 The first note on Gen 1:1 refers to Plato.  There are many other references to non-jewish authors – philosophers, critics and even novelists.  But I can’t give you a comprehensive, or representative list – because – inexplicably! - the book lacks an index! 

Every shul, and every Jewish house, should have copies of this inspirational chumash.  But to ensure a copy in every worshipper’s hand, we need a lighter, more portable edition – including a good index!!!  Please??!!

Paul Shaviv is a retired Jewish educator, nowadays commuting between Florida and Jerusalem. 

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Glorified Drinking in the Orthodox World

Rabbi Yaakov Bender

1 am a teetotaler. I cannot stand any form of alcoholic beverage. Not even beer. Wine is the only exception, and even then, only for Kiddush on Shabbos.

Over the years I’ve been gently mocked by friends who enjoy an occasional ‘L’Chaim’. I’ve gotten the usual ribbing, and at times have even been cajoled into joining them. Always reluctantly, and never with more than a single shot. No matter how fine or expensive a drink may be, I just don’t enjoy it. Nor do I need the ‘buzz’ that many others seem to relish.

That makes me something of an outsider in social circles where drinking has become a habit - and, for some, a passion. But I wear that as a badge of honor. I do keep a selection of alcoholic beverages at home, but those bottles come out only on rare occasions, such as an engagement party (L’Chaim). Or when a guest specifically requests it. Most of those bottles are decades old.

It seems, however, that people like me are becoming rare. Social drinking among observant Jews appears to have become the norm. 

But is that a good thing? Does drinking truly enhance our friendships or strengthen our communities? What are the downsides? Can serious harm result? And are certain parts of the Orthodox community more vulnerable than others?

These were the questions that crossed my mind after reading a recent article on YWN. Excessive alcohol consumption, it seems, is not limited to any one segment of Orthodoxy. I might have expected the Charedi world - so focused on holiness and spiritual discipline - to be more insulated. Yet when a Charedi publication features a respected Rosh Yeshiva like Rav Yaakov Bender publicly raising the alarm, it’s clear that the problem has reached his own community big time. He called it…

…a “terrible, terrible problem” spreading through frum communities: a rapidly escalating culture of drinking that he says is fueling danger, hypocrisy, and tragic consequences for families and children.

Rav Bender laid responsibility squarely at the feet of parents — particularly fathers — who have normalized high-end alcohol, glorified drinking, and built a social ecosystem where whiskey isn’t just a beverage but a badge of status.

Rav Bender (described) a recent case in which a teenage boy from a prominent frum community caused a fatal car accident and is now facing years of jail time. “You know where he got it from? He went to a toameha in a very choshuv city (Lakewood). Toameha should be stopped.”

When I was in high school (in the 60s), I recall demographic statistics about alcoholism being cited in  my sociology class. Orthodox Jews were described as the exception: aside from a small amount of sacramental wine, they rarely drank.

That dog no longer hunts. I have seen this first hand in the case of a wealthy philanthropist who came to a L’Chaim already well ‘lubricated’. And have been told by an aware mental health professional that more than a few young fathers attend multiple Kiddushim on their way home from shul on Shabbos. Eventually stumbling through the door of their home - drunk.

I have personally witnessed (many times) Yeshiva students attending a wedding of a friend think nothing of getting drunk at the simcha. This is a phenomenon that has easily been going on for the last 15 or 20 years. It didn’t matter whether these young people were Modern Orthodox or Charedi. Far too many of them all sought alcohol and consumed copious quantities of it before the Choson and Kallah entered the room! Resulting in behavior that can only be described as a Chilul HaShem!

The desire to get drunk is often rooted in depression; alcohol becomes a form of self-medication. In that sense, alcohol abuse is simply another form of drug abuse. Becoming an addiction driven by their emotional struggles.

I’m not sure the current trend is primarily about self-medication. But I am certain that we need a conscious communal effort to rethink social drinking of the type described by Rabbi Bender. And certainly alcohol should be off limits to young people at a wedding.

Parents are the primary role models for their children. If they take pride in alcohol consumption so too will their children, It is a slippery slope from there to disaster. Families have been torn apart. Children have suffered. Not only emotionally, but spiritually. Sometimes themselves turning to alcohol to escape the dysfunction created by a parent’s drinking. Alcoholism can easily become the ‘gift’ that keeps on giving.

Once a person becomes addicted, removing the social environment where the addiction began does not eliminate the addiction itself. They will find new ways to feed it.

Rabbi Bender is right to raise the alarm. Awareness is essential. But awareness alone is not enough. Those already struggling need professional help—and strong family support. They must be encouraged to seek treatment. That is the only path that can save both them and their families from disaster. 

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Green Lighting a Charedi Draft Bill

Rav Dov Lando (Jerusalem Post)

The burden is not equally shared. Safeguarding the Jewish homeland is currently being undertaken by an IDF that consists primarily of non-Charedi soldiers. Many of whom are nonetheless devoutly religious. That Israel needs an army is not in question. Without it, the Jewish inhabitants of the land would be slaughtered, a fact recently noted by YU Rosh Yeshiva Rav Hershel Schachter.

The problem with this absolute reality is that it is never mentioned by the Charedi leadership. They focus purely on the Torah’s protective power.

I am not here to argue the point. I agree that Torah study is vital to the Jewish people. But it is equally true that without an army, the Jews of Israel would indeed be slaughtered.

This fact is recognized by the Religious Zionist community, whose devout religious leaders require their young to serve.

Charedi religious leaders never talk about that fact. It’s hard to imagine that they actually believe Israel doesn’t need a army. But I have never once heard them say so. Their constant refrain has been that Charedim  may not serve under any circumstances. For two reasons.

One, because those who study Torah should be able to do so for as long as they can without any interruption. Especially army service. 

And two because of a belief recently expressed by Ner Israel Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Aharon Feldman. Which is that about half the inductees who enter the IDF observant, leave non-observant. This, he says, is unacceptable and why he opposes any Charedi being inducted.

None of this is new. Nor is it new that the rest of Israel - whether secular or observant is subjected to the draft. They serve. And place themselves in harm’s way. Some of whom have paid the ultimate price sacrificing themselves for the Jewish people. As have their families who have been affected accordingly.

Rabbi Feldman’s “hard no” is what motivates the kind of extremism that was reported recently by the Times of Israel:

The two lawmakers, Moshe Gafni and Ya’akov Asher, are receiving the second-highest level of security monitoring, including protection at home… the two have received many threats.

On Saturday night, Haredi rioters demonstrated outside Asher’s home in Bnei Brak, after another group rioted around Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur’s car, smashing its window and drawing outcry from across party lines.

“The threats against elected representatives of the Haredi public have escalated in recent weeks. Evidence of this is the violent demonstration that took place near the home of MK Ben-Tzur from the Shas party, alongside more and more attempted attacks by Haredi extremists who are unwilling to accept the conscription bill that is being formulated,” a senior police official told Channel 12.

It is therefore no small wonder why so many Israelis from all segments - religious or otherwise - are upset - even angered by the Charedi refusal to serve. Even those that concede that Torah study is important and that conditions for army service are not ideal for Charedi needs, the need to protect our people overrides those concerns. That protection is in the hands of an army that is severely understaffed. That shortfall is compensated for by extended tours of duty, which increase the danger to soldiers’ lives and the worry to their families back home.

These are undeniable hard facts. Meanwhile, the military has repeatedly warned that it urgently lacks manpower. They need more soldiers. And the largest available pool of recruits refuses to serve. How can we achieve some sort of compromise that will satisfy both the IDF and the Charedi world?

If it were up to me, I would require all able-bodied men to register for the draft. Once army needs are met, exemptions could then be considered based on how vital one’s service is to the country. Whether in medical research or (if you are observant and feel as I do) - in Torah study. But I am not in charge.

There is, however, currently a bill in the Knesset that would allow for a compromise, where Charedim who do not study Torah could be inducted. That bill has received preliminary approval from the two leading rabbinic leaders of the Lithuanian Yeshiva world: Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and Rav Dov Lando - provided the army has a framework that fully accommodates Charedi needs. As far as I know, such frameworks already exist and could surely be expanded if needed. As long as those who choose to study full-time are exempted, these leaders are willing to accept this version of a draft law.

I am not overly happy with a law that automatically grants exemptions to those who simply choose to learn. That is what most of them do anyway. It is unfair and would merely formalize the exemptions they have always had. Summing up the opposition to this bill is the following comment in the Jerusalem Post:

“Any attempt to circumvent the court’s ruling and to approve through legislation the mass evasion of tens of thousands of young ultra-Orthodox men — at a time when the IDF needs more than 12,000 additional soldiers, and reservists are collapsing under the burden — is a serious violation of the rule of law and equality,” the organization said.

OK. I get it. However, if there are enough Charedim who do not choose to learn and can fill IDF needs, I think it’s better to take the deal rather than continue the enmity between the Jewish people. To make the bill more acceptable, perhaps it could be amended to include drafting those who choose to stay in a yeshiva but do not actually spend much time learning if at all. Having registered precisely because they wanted to dodge the draft.

I understand the objections and even agree with them. But if we are all going to get along, a compromise that satisfies the needs of both the IDF and the Charedi world is the right way to go.

I am not overly optimistic, though, about this bill passing in the Knesset because of the opposition from the more extreme factions of the Charedi world who feel the way Rabbi Feldman does - and those on the other side who believe the only equitable solution is to draft all Charedim the way everyone else is. No exceptions.

But still, the willingness to compromise at any level by the two most respected leaders in the Charedi world is progress. Of sorts.

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Groypers - Making Antisemitism Great Again

Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes

I was going to address recent violence by extremist Charedim today. Extremists within that world are as abhorrent to me as extremist religious-Zionist settlers. But I have decided instead to focus once again on another pressing concern. This one for American Jewry: the recent spike in antisemitism.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, antisemitism was once almost the exclusive domain of the far right. Over time, their numbers diminished and they were pushed to the fringes of society. To the point of relative insignificance.

The new antisemitism was found most prominently on the left. The further left one goes the more they will find anti-Zionist (Read antisemitic) views.

That the media has long been more sympathetic to the left and tend to “see” what the left sees and tends to validate their views.

By contrast, mainstream conservatives had been almost uniformly supportive of Israel. Largely because of the influence of Evangelical Christians, who comprise a large portion of the conservative base. Their religious beliefs move them to support the Jewish claim to the Holy Land as stated repeatedly in the Bible. They also support the Jewish people for the same biblical reasons.

But it wasn’t only Evangelicals. Most conservatives had become very supportive of the Jewish state and the Jewish people. A complete 180 from soft antisemitic bigotry that characterized the conservative base before and during the Holocaust.

I felt comfortable with that support. And I still do. But a recent article in Jewish Insider had a comment about young conservatives that genuinely shocked me. Never in a million years would I have believed the following:

Conservative writer Rod Dreher recently estimated that 30 to 40 percent of young Republican staffers in Washington “are fans of Nick Fuentes.”

Those are staggering numbers. These are not fringe characters. These are young people deeply involved in the party. Even though those high percentage figures are disputed, there seems to be broad agreement that the numbers are still disturbingly high.

Nick Fuentes is a white nationalist, an open and rabid antisemite, a Holocaust denier, and an admirer of Hitler. He says Hitler was right about the Jews. If there is an antisemitic trope in existence, he has probably used it.

Not long ago, someone like Fuentes would have been ridiculed as a crackpot living on the fringes of society with little following. Condemned by all decent people, right or left. And while he is still condemned by most conservatives, he has nevertheless managed to worm his way into the national conversation, gaining a degree of respectability thanks to Tucker Carlson - one of the most popular conservative commentators in America, with millions of followers and influential friends in high places.

Carlson, who has recently and repeatedly shown his own antisemitic leanings, interviewed Fuentes on his podcast and agreed with much of his rhetoric about Zionist (read: Jewish) or Neocon (read: Jewish) influence in Congress, the Pentagon, and major American police departments. Influence he claimed to be deliberately designed to benefit Israel rather than America, undermining the ‘America First’ ideology central to MAGA Republicans.

That alone would be bad enough. But what happened next was worse. Prominent Republican conservatives did not condemn the Fuentes interview. Instead, they defended Carlson’s right to host him.

How prominent? Kevin Roberts, head of the highly respected Heritage Foundation, not only defended Carlson but blamed the ‘globalist class’ (read: neocon Jews) for undermining the movement.

Instead of condemning the interview, Vice President J.D. Vance defended his friend Tucker Carlson’s ‘right to interview whomever he chooses’ as a matter of free speech. And now even the President has chimed in with similar sentiments.

What they should have done is demonstrate moral clarity by condemning the platforming of an antisemite of near-Hitlerian proportions. Instead, they gave him a pass—thereby preserving Carlson’s massive popularity and granting Fuentes’s antisemitism a veneer of legitimacy within mainstream conservatism.

Let me be clear: the President is not antisemitic. Nor do I believe the Vice President is. But they have placed popular support above moral clarity. And that feeds the perception that antisemitism is becoming an acceptable component of conservative dialogue.

This is not OK. Carlson’s  softball interview with Fuentes cannot be dismissed as an exercise of free speech. The lack of moral clarity shown by prominent conservatives as a matter of political expedience is appalling in the extreme.

That being said, I do not believe that most mainstream conservatives are antisemitic. I still believe the vast majority condemns antisemitism in all its forms. But it is nevertheless shocking that any sane individual - regardless of how conservative they are - believes the conspiratorial garbage coming out of the mouths of people like Nick Fuentes. He has millions of followers!  And as many as 30 to 40 percent of young Republican staffers in Washington are fans too. That is terrifying.

This is not OK. This cannot be dismissed as mere free speech. The lack of moral clarity shown by prominent conservatives as a matter of political expedience is appalling in the extreme.

How can so many people be so gullible, so foolish? How is it possible that in 2025 - eighty years after six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust? There is montains of evidence about what happened, including archival footage taken of atrocities taken by the Nazis themselves. Footage of the camps being liberated with dead bodies left in piles and emaciated survivors barely alive. There have been so many survivors that have testified about the horrors they experienced. Recorded on video for posterity. Some of them still alive!  How can anyone with a conscience think Hitler was right?

That just isn’t normal.  And I don’t get it. 

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Zero Tolerance for Religious Extremists

The greatest danger facing Israel right now is not Hamas, nor any other terrorist organization that would annihilate us if they could. Even though some have actually tried and failed to do just that, they were instead decimated in their attempts. While they certainly still pose an existential threat, they are not the most serious danger. The most serious danger facing Israel right now is extremism. And I’m sorry to say that it is the religious extremists among us who are doing the most serious damage. That they believe they are being righteous s what makes them so dangerous.

Extremists are, by their nature, the most ideologically pure among us. These are individuals who will not compromise on their ideals. They are willing to do whatever it takes to advance their cause, acting with complete abandon. They are oblivious to the harm they cause in their zeal to achieve their goals. Nowhere is this more evident than what has become known as the settler movement. Although devout in both practice and ideology, they nevertheless endanger the lives of their own people and the very existence of the land which they are so devoted to

But as ideological purists, they deny that reality. They forge ahead with full speed and determination to reach what they see as the fulfillment of God’s word - their destiny as Jews.

There is little more abhorrent to me than extremism. It is ugly. And when extremist views are rooted in religious ideology, people die. This is, in fact, why Hamas does what it does. Their religious ideology tells them that Jews are their version of Amalek. We therefore deserve to die. Every Jew they kill is a  ‘mitzvah’ to them. (Which is why they were screaming ‘Allah Hu  Akbar’ (God is great) when on October 7, they carried out the most violent and massive massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Unfortunately, we have some extremists who act in a similar vein. They, too, believe that violence in pursuit of settling all the land of Israel is justified. While they do not rise anywhere near the level of Hamas, they resort to their own version of violence in the name of God. They are a tiny minority of the Religious Zionist movement. But there are enough of them to cause great damage to our national soul and great harm to our people.

To be clear: I am not talking about the vast majority of Jews living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).  They live in long-established cities there and are peaceful. They do not wish harm upon the Palestinians living in nearby villages. They go about their daily lives just like any Jew living within the pre-’67 borders. Most have lived there for decades without incident.

I am talking about what has come to be known simply as ‘the settlers’. They are distinct and apart from the peaceful residents of Judea and Samaria. These people are inciters of violence. Their goal is to drive Palestinians out of the areas of Eretz Yisroel they have inhabited for generations. They believe the land must be reclaimed - by force if necessary. The consequences be damned. What they may end up accomplishing, however, may very well be the destruction of the Jewish state.

Almost as troubling are the people who try to defend these settlers. Often one hears comments like: ‘Don’t believe everything you read’. Or these are all lies perpetrated by the left which the biased  mainstream media. reports as fact without verification.

I’m sure that’s true some of the time. But it is certainly not true all of the time. There is abundant evidence that these ‘settlers’ are true believers’ And could not care less what the world thinks - as they proceeded with purity of purpose. 

Their apologists are defending the indefensible. thereby aiding and abetting people that could bring disaster upon the Jewish state and its people in very short order.

These defenders forget where Israel gets the military equipment it uses so effectively to defend themselves. Israel doesn’t manufacture a single F-16. Without an air force, where would Israel be? That military strength comes from a steadfast ally whose current leadership is the most pro-Israel in its history.

When the most pro-Israel Secretary of State in American history, Marco Rubio sees this kind of thing happening and complains – that does not instill confidence in our future relationship with the US. It is suicidal to think US support doesn’t matter. Or that ‘the world hates us anyway - so who cares what they think! Without the US, Israel would have no air force at all. 

Even though there is a valuable strategic relationship between our two countries where the US benefits as well, nothing is guaranteed. It certainly doesn’t help to get on the wrong side of the best and perhaps only real ally Israel has. The U.S. is not blind to atrocities committed by these settlers. As noted by JTA:

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said violence in the West Bank, which is surging, could undercut the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which the United States is working to preserve.

“Certainly there’s some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza,” Rubio told reporters on Wednesday.

U.S. officials are paying close attention, with alarm, to conditions in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers have increased their pace of attacks on Palestinians in recent months. Masked settlers attacked Palestinians in two villages on Wednesday, drawing an unusual rebuke from Israel’s president.

Thankfully, Israel’s leadership realizes that these zealots are doing enormous damage to Israel.  And they not having any of it:

“The harsh events that took place this evening in the Shomron by a handful of violent and dangerous individuals are shocking and serious,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. “Such violence against civilians and against IDF soldiers crosses a red line and I condemn it severely. All state authorities must act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon and to strengthen the IDF fighters and security forces who protect us day and night.”

The question remains: what do we do about these people? 

Severely condemning them is not enough. I used to think that convicting them of their crimes and putting them in prison for a long time was the answer. But that will only motivate other ‘settlers’ like them who have not yet participated in these kinds of incidents – to go even further.

The time has come to consider expulsion. Anyone found guilty of trying to forcefully expel Palestinians from their homes in Judea and Samaria should themselves be permanently expelled from the land of Israel.  With a warning that the same fate awaits anyone else who is convicted of it.

The people of Israel must be protected from the consequences of these religious zealots. I have come to believe that the only way to assure they will never again endanger the very existence of the State of Israel is to make sure they no longer have a connection to it.

Where will they go?  They can go live in New Jersey. 

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Admiring Charedim with Faint Praise

Charedi children in Jerusalem (TOI)

I get where he’s coming from. I understand what he’s trying to do and I applaud him for  trying. In fact, I have said some of those same things myself. But I’m afraid that Rabbi Yisroel Motzen’s attempt has failed to accomplish his goal.

In a noble attempt to overcome the increasing enmity between Charedim and most of the rest of Israel over the former’s refusal to serve in the army, Rabbi Motzen suggests we look at the positive - what we can all learn from them. He lists four areas where they seem to excel over the rest of us. But if one reads his praise carefully, one can see that he isn’t quite as admiring as he tries to sound.

First is his admiration for their family size:

While Jewish law allows for birth control, Haredi society places a premium on large families. They choose to bring children—many Jewish children—into this world. While those blessed with the ability to bear children in the rest of the Orthodox world weigh considerations like finances and other priorities before having more children, this society is willing to live in two-bedroom apartments, with limited means, so they can bring more life into this world. That’s a choice they make, and it’s a noble one.

There is certainly much to praise about bringing many Jewish children into the world. But as Rabbi Motzen also notes, Jewish law allows for birth control too. The problem arises when birth control is not used where it should be. 

While most parents with large families do quite well raising their children, too often there are parents who not emotionally equipped to handle the enormous demands of raising many young children, along with the cost of educating them. Which places their children at great risk. Not only for remaining observant, but even becoming victims of drug addiction, clinical depression, and even suicide. There is unfortunately a large population of former Charedim that have become victims of this culture. Which has given rise to Orthodox rehab organizations like Amudim.

Using birth control in the Charedi community typically requires asking a Posek for permission. My understanding is that Chasidic Poskim are the most stringent and rarely issue such permits. The Yeshiva world, more commonly, does issue permits - but usually based on  health considerations. Depending on the Posek, the definition of what kind of health issues would qualify for that vary widely. 

Some do not give sufficient weight to mental health, which is a gray area with little consensus about when birth control should be permitted. As much as I admire large families whose children thrive - and in some cases eventually become great leaders in Israel, I cannot admire the simple fact that a family is large. And I should add that large families are not the exclusive domain of Charedim.

The second thing Rabbi Motzen admires is their modesty standards.

Here too, I question why he does not admire the modesty standards of Jews across all Orthodox sectors who observe the laws of modesty. What he seems to be saying is that the excessive modesty characteristic of the Charedi world (including an example he personally experienced) is worthy of admiration even while he acknowledges: There is a dark underbelly to some of these practices.

There certainly is. And I would argue that this ‘underbelly’ does more harm than good. A subject I have discussed extensively. The decision, for example, by mainstream Charedi publications to no longer publish pictures of women, and other measures that effectively erase women from the public square, are prime examples. I’m sorry. There is little about excess that I can admire. That certainly includes excess modesty.

The third thing he admires is their ‘aversion to the outside world’.

He wonders who is really better off spiritually: someone like himself who is immersed in the culture, or the Charedi Jew whose ‘yearning for purity… refuses to get a smartphone’.

But spiritual purity is not denied to people who participate in worldly matters. One can chew gum and walk. If someone is able to relax and recharge through permissible cultural activities - and thereby serve God with a more positive frame of mind - that should enhance their Avodas Hashem. If someone can serve God without any such outlets, God bless them. But if someone needs a way to relax in order to move forward, that does not - and should not - detract from reaching spiritual heights.

The fourth thing he mentions is indeed something to admire:

94% of those raised Haredi identify as Orthodox, whereas only 54% of those raised Dati Leumi remain Orthodox. For all the flaws—and there are many—they are doing something right.

If those numbers are anywhere near accurate, that is indeed an admirable aspect of the Charedi world. How to improve those numbers across all communities is beyond my pay scale. But it should be a top priority for religious leaders.

At the end of the day, I sense that Rabbi Motzen is just as upset as I am about how Charedi leadership is handling the draft issue. His purpose in writing this essay was to try to highlight their positive side. And yes - they do have a positive side. But the way he framed it almost comes off like backhanded praise. Except for that last item, there isn’t that much in what he lists to admire.

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If Everyone Just Sits and Learns...

Rav Aharon Feldman

It was the best of times and the worst of times. Charles Dickens’ opening line from his classic work A Tale of Two Cities could not have been more prophetic for the Jewish people in our time. While I applaud the positive developments that resulted from the war, my spirits are not lifted. I am profoundly disappointed by the negative ones.

I am not talking about the military victories Israel’s armed forces have achieved over the last two years. The fruits of those victories have changed the face of the Middle East for the better in ways that no one could have ever imagined. But as exhilarating as that is, it came at a very high cost — both in Israeli blood and in the increased world enmity toward Israel and the Jewish people. It is no coincidence that there has been a spike in antisemitism because of that.

But that is not what I was referring to. I was referring to the impact on Israelis by the event that precipitated the war. Israelis that were not particularly observant if at all. Tragedies like the massacre of 1,200 Jews on October 7^th tend to unite all of us as a people and open up a clear path toward outreach. Without getting into details, there was a huge spike in mitzvah observance among Israelis from a variety of backgrounds. This enabled increased and successful outreach on a scale not seen since the 6-day war in 1967. On that level, it is the best of times.

But here comes the worst of times. Honestly, as good as I should feel about the increased interest in observance, the ‘worst of times’ is so depressing that it overwhelms any positive feeling I might otherwise have.

I have no illusions about how divided the Jewish people are. This has been the case for as far back as I can remember. I am not talking about the division sowed by breakaway movements like Reform and Conservative. Sad as that is, at least it is understandable why observant Judaism rejects philosophies that either deny the mandatory nature of Halacha or bend it to fit the times. I am talking about the increased divide within observant Judaism. That is what aggravates me now more than ever.

This is not a new phenomenon. There have always been differences among observant Jews who had different ways of understanding the Torah’s demands. While those differences were often quite strong, we somehow always managed to get along. We lived together as one family;  in the same neighborhoods; davening in the same shuls; sending our children to the same or similar schools; intermarrying with each other; and generally trusting each other on matters of kashrus.

On that last point, nowhere was this kind of integration more evident than in the OU, where halachic questions about supervised products were decided jointly by a Torah Vodaath Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yisroel Belsky, and a YU Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Hershel Schachter. Both respected each other’s decisions as those of knowledgeable Talmidei Chachamim and devout Jews.

It has become apparent to me that this kind of cross-fertilization may soon come to an end. Aall because of what’s going on in Israel right now. The issue is the Charedi leadership's refusal to allow any of their young men to be drafted into army service. While there may be some willing to compromise, it has become increasingly more common for Charedi rabbinic leaders to reject any army service at all, even for Charedim who do not learn in any yeshiva.

Ironically, the reason for this strident opposition was succinctly stated by Rav Aharon Feldman, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel, probably the most moderate Charedi yeshiva in America. As noted in the following:

One prominent representative of this group is R. Yitzchak Yosef, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi. He has insisted that no Charedi person should enlist, whether or not they are in yeshiva; he also declared they will leave the country instead.

R. Aharon Feldman, along with R. Malkiel Kotler and R. Elya Ber Wachtfogel, wrote a letter to R. Yitzchak Yosef wholeheartedly endorsing his approach, describing it as “the only true approach.”

Why does he feel that way? Because he believes that “at least half” of religious Jews who join the IDF abandon mitzvah observance.

I don’t question Rabbi Feldman’s sincerity. But I do question where he gets his information. First, there is the Hesder Yeshiva program. I do not believe that half of those soldiers ‘abandon mitzvah observance’. If any at all do.

But even without factoring in Hesder, the IDF has established Charedi military units where Charedim can serve without compromising their values.

The complaints I sometimes hear about the IDF not living up to its promises to Charedim are beyond ridiculous. In most cases, these are mistakes that the IDF is happy to correct. Surely it is not their intent  to undermine Charedi recruits - thereby discouraging any further Charedi enlistment. The intent was to increase recruitment among a community that is extremely under-recruited. 

Why would they undermine a program designed to solve such a serious IDF manpower problem? And in cases where these ‘mistakes’ were deliberate, I doubt they were the actions of anyone other than a tiny minority of IDF commanding officers with extreme animus towards Charedim.

Rav Hershel Schachter

And then there is this. Rav Hershel Schachter was recorded saying that the recent anti-draft prayer rally was utterly ridiculous. The country is at war! And no one wants to go to the army? No one from YU would participate in such an atzeret. The(Charedi leaders in Israel) are big Talmidei Chachamim. But they exaggerate so much that nothing else counts for them. Torah is important. The war is important. Everything is important. They shouldn’t exaggerate that everything depends only on Torah. The Jewish people have to have an army. If everyone just sits and learns, the enemy is going to kill all of us.”

I agree with Rav Schachter. These Charedi leaders do exaggerate. And completely ignore the reality that: ‘If everyone just sits and learns, the enemy is going to kill all of us.’

Do Rav Feldman and company not believe this? Do they think Rav Schachter is now an Azuz Panim - an apikores even? Will the exponentially growing Charedi world now throw Modern Orthodoxy and Religious Zionism into the trash heap of history along with Conservative and Reform Judaism?

I would never have thought this possible. But at this point, who knows. 

That being said, I don’t think we are there yet. Hopefully we never will be. But we are heading in that direction. And unless someone with enough stature in the Charedi world steps up and says, ‘The emperor is wearing no clothes’ we may eventually get there. A lot sooner than anyone thinks.

What Does It Mean to Be Modern Orthodox?

Bernard Revel, founding president of YU

Orthodox Judaism encompasses a wide range of people who identify with that term. Yet in recent years, it has become increasingly divisive within the Modern Orthodox community itself. This division stems largely from a relatively new phenomenon known as Open Orthodoxy (OO) — a movement that claims the mantle of Modern Orthodoxy. Its ideas have proven so controversial that many mainstream Orthodox rabbis and institutions do not consider it part of Orthodoxy at all.

The debate continues, even though most Modern Orthodox Jews do not identify as Open Orthodox. Still, OO has become an established movement, with its own schools, synagogues, and rabbis. Because of the confusion this has created, I thought it would be useful to clarify what I believe Modern Orthodoxy truly is — and what it is not.

Let us start by defining Orthodox Judaism itself. At its core, Orthodox Judaism describes Jews who follow Halacha — the laws of the Torah as interpreted by rabbis throughout the generations. Although Orthodoxy includes many subgroups, it can broadly be divided into two main streams: Charedi (right-wing) and Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Charedi Judaism is characterized by an intense commitment to observing all mitzvos of the Torah at the most exacting level. Over the centuries, many halachic debates have remained unresolved. When faced with two legitimate halachic opinions — one lenient and one stringent — Charedim generally follow the stricter ruling to minimize any risk of transgression.

This desire to maintain a more spiritual exitence often leads to avoiding secular environments and influences that might detract from religious devotion. Some Charedim live in communities largely separated from wider society, interacting with it only when necessary for livelihood or health. The ideal Charedi life is centered on Torah study, which they regard as the highest mitzvah. Consequently, secular studies are often minimized or even discouraged. Charedim also tend to look to the leading rabbis of each generation as the ultimate authorities. Not only in religious matters. Not only  in public and communal policy. But often in personal matters as well.

While this is a simplified summary, it captures, I think, the general orientation of the Charedi worldview.

Modern Orthodoxy is equally devoted to Halacha, yet differs in several key ways. It does not automatically embrace the strictest halachic position and often (though not always) relies on more lenient rulings within halachic boundaries. Modern Orthodox Jews engage freely with the broader world and its culture — provided it does not conflict with Halacha.

While Torah study remains a core value, Modern Orthodoxy also places a high value on secular education, believing that knowledge of the world can enhance one’s service to God and society. Modern Orthodox Jews are more likely to make personal decisions in areas unrelated to Halacha  without always consulting rabbinic authority.

That has long been my understanding of Modern Orthodoxy. Although there are nuanced variations - such as Torah Im Derech Eretz versus Torah U’Mada - the common denominator is a commitment to Halacha alongside meaningful engagement with modernity. Both approaches honor the mesorah - the sacred traditions passed down through generations and deeply rooted in Jewish culture.

In recent years, however, some have sought to redefine Modern Orthodoxy in ways that depart dramatically from tradition. Open Orthodoxy, in particular, has moved so far to the left that it scarcely resembles a traditional Orthodox lifestyle. Among its departures are the ordination of women, full acceptance of the LGBTQ agenda, and — in some cases — an openness to modern biblical scholarship that allows for human authorship of the Torah.

For those of us who adhere to traditional definitions, this rebranding is unacceptable. Consequently, many of us identify instead as Centrists. We reject Open Orthodoxy’s claim to represent modern Orthodoxy. Yet because its adherents assert that they observe Halacha, they continue to describe themselves that way.

I am not in a position to excommunicate OO from Orthodoxy -  though both the Charedi world and many Centrists have already done so. Still, I refuse to cede the title ‘Modern Orthodox’ to Open Orthodoxy. I don’t think they qualify for that description at all.

Which leaves Centrism as the true Modern Orthodoxy in my view. Centrism is the authentic heir to the Modern Orthodox tradition. Centrism embodies full commitment to Halacha and mesorah, while also valuing Torah-guided engagement with the modern world.

That, I believe, is the true essence of Modern Orthodoxy. And I am confident that Yeshiva University, the flagship institution of the Modern Orthodox movement, would define it that way too.

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