The Criminal Element Takes Another Public Seat at the Dais

Crime and punishment is as old as the Torah itself. But it seems that in the past year that prominent communal organizations and segments of the Orthodox community have become very loud and bold in their public defense of convicted criminals within/affiliated somehow with the Orthodox community. So called pidyon shuvuyim campaigns to collect for the legal defense and make life more manageable for the wife and children of the convicted is nothing new. But large scale, broad based, and loud public support seems to be a new trend that has developed, I would say, in just the past year. It appears to me that there is a hashkafah of sorts that is developing and it reads like this: Hands off US.

I don't remember rallies or mass letter writing campaigns in support of the drug/money laundering rings of the mid-90's that spanned from NY to LA, but the issue wasn't exactly on my radar. There was a time where I owned a pair of pink tinted glasses and I'd like them back, thank you very much! And while there must have been some behind the scenes lobbying for President Clinton's pardons of the New Square group, when the news hit of the pardons (Jan. 2001), I believe it was the first that most people in the Orthodox community became aware of the crime (granted, the internet was only in its infancy). But my recollection of the aftermath was that most hung their heads in shame. But, I could be mistaken.

In 2009, the Agudah organized a number of business Asifas. These spawned from the arrest and subsequent conviction of the Spinka Rebbe and the New Jersey and New York stings in which arrests for money laundering were made in Deal and Brooklyn. Despite comments on blogs to "hang the mosser[s]" the public reaction of the Agudah leadership was not to organize letter writing campaigns, protests, or fundraisers. One could question is inviting the Rebbe to speak as an honored guest at a business asifa dedicated to promoting integrity was in good taste (I'd vote no since too much blame was placed on a "lack of education" when it is obvious to someone educated in such matters that you have to know exactly what you are doing to pull off massive fraud schemes***), at the very least there was some show of contrition, even if it was perfunctory. At the time of the Spinka arrests, Rabbi Adlerstein, wrote that there was a Silver Lining to the LA Scandal. He hoped that this case would be used to "reexamine issues of personal honesty and integrity" and pointed to some mussar shmoozes. I disagreed with the conclusion that these crimes were borne of insularity^^^, but shared the hope that in the internet era where stories

Well, here we are mid-2010 and it seems that promoting integrity and adherence to American Law and Choshen Mishpat might be a thing of the past. Early 2010, the Grossman Circus rolled into town. A number of Orthodox Communal Organizations, not just the usual suspects (!), banned together in a campaign that loudly called for staying the execution of a man who brutally murdered a young park police officer. The organizations involved even called in the Pope! From coast to coast, Orthodox Jews were asked to write sign petitions, write letters, and call the Governor of Flordia's office to try and stop the execution. And the community followed orders. Certainly leadership was aware that there are more than a few loose cannons that would come out of the woodwork, and the loose cannons didn't disappoint, harassing the Park family and continuing the circus with a funeral fit for a Rebbe and emotional hespedim. Treated a ba'al teshuva of high caliber (the words "ahavas yisrael" follwed his finaly Shema) despite the fact that he never was able to connect the words "I" with the "events" (i.e. murder) before his execution. On Tisha B'Av, his headstone was laid and the labels of HY"D, kedush, and hopes he will be a matzliach yosher continue. Not an ounce of tzniut was evident in this campaign!

Summer 2010, Lakewood hosts massive asifot for Rubashkin, raising upwards of $300,000 for his defense. Ten thousand are reported to have attended the men's gathering and another 3,000 the women's rally. We can argue whether or not the sentencing was excessive, and it may well be (I'm not a legal scholar, but I do know that it was within legal guidelines). But what is the ultimate message of such public and loud campaigns? What kind of society are we going to create when instead of dipping our heads in shame we loudly proclaim the great righteousness of the convicted? What kind of society are we going to create when week after week publications reinforce the notion that we live in tzarist Russia and are simply being persecuted for being Jewish? As far as I am concerned, the message being given is that corners can be cut (so long as you give plenty of tzedakah, bring the community together in achdus, or engage in great displays of Yiddishkeit).

Even worst, during the 3 weeks, a Yated columnist went so far as calling those who don't rally behind Rubashkin as having a "Goyishe Kop": "If I would not know better, I would say that they have stopped thinking in the traditional thought pattern of Yiddin throughout our galus." I'd counter that perhaps those of us with a "Goyishe Kop" are simple people who have no interest in mental gymnastics. While we have compassion for a fellow Jew, we don't act out of sheer emotion. We want to live our lives in a straightforward way where we represent ourselves in dealing with simple straightforwardness. We don't care to engage in mental gymnastics where we convert the distasteful and wrong into a mitzvah. We believe that callousness to financial crime indicates a breakdown in society and do not choose to gloss of things that are "if anything is a white collar crime." We understand the ramifications of our actions as they have consequences far beyond that of a single person and we understand that failure to recognize the rule of law will eventually bite us in the butts!

And so it has. July 28, 2010, Chabad annouces a public rally for a man who was brought to justice by those in his own community. (Background stories at VIN). And note that the ramifications of such a rally extend far beyond providing the $300,000 needed to continue paying the lawyer for legal defense. The ramifications are societal. There is callousness towards other people's money and property. There is an attack on the rule of law, a rule of law that protects me and you, our lives, our children, and our property. Try this on for size and if you watch this video, tell me what background piano music you are hearing)

"Him sitting in prison will not help anybody pay their bills. We have a moral duty to help him reunite with his family speedily."
"No children deserve to grow up without a father, especially such young children, and an oldest child who sacrificed himself for Jews in Eretz Yisroel, losing his arm in Gaza." [Really, no children!?! When will the gatherings be for the thugs that are sitting in prision for beating a Jew? Stealing from a Jew?]

Let's realize the consequences of our actions before we dig a hole so deep it is impossible to emerge from it. The message I'm getting from this year of public displays is me, me, me. Public displays of achdus might feel good, but quiet behind the scenes campaigns where appropriate will keep emotions at bay and preserve a sense of wrong and right. I'm not a sociologist, but I sense a change in the direction of certain elements within the Orthodox community and I think some reflection as to what this changes means for the community at large is well in order because actions always have consequences.


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****What I wrote at the time: Setting up a tax fraud scheme where hundreds of individuals "donated" millions of dollars and then itemized those donations when they knowingly received an 80-95% rebate is planned, deliberate, intentional, malicious, and illegal criminal activity. This isn't giving in to a small temptation such as deducting the price of your tickets to a Chinese Auction. This took massive manpower. Such a scheme perpetuated from the top and joined in by a hundreds of people speaks volumes about the lack of integrity, the worship of the dollar, and the precarious financial situation of the Orthodox Community as a whole, as the Chassidish community in particular.

^^^What I wrote at the time: "insularity combined with ignorance can bring out the yetzer hara for small crimes, but arrogance combined with desperation is the brainchild behind such complicated schemes as we have been continually witnessing for at least 20 years."