Charendoff in Jewish Week: Is there something in the haredi world that allows for scandal to happen?
The president of the Jewish Funders Network, Mark Charendoff, uses the recent arrests as a launching pad to take a hard look at the Orthodox community and its response to such scandals.
Charendoff writes in the New York Jewish Week:
... Is it possible that there is something in the Orthodox community in general and the haredi community in particular that creates fertile ground for this type of fraud? I’ve too often witnessed, here and in Israel, a perverse notion that we few who feel bound by the laws of God are free to flaunt the laws of man. That the seriousness with which we hold halacha (or, Jewish law) forces us to view state law as trite, flawed -- unimportant at best, a nuisance at worst.
I remember as a yeshiva student in Israel being urged to spend the day learning at a settlement. “Why today?” I inquired. It was the day the government was auditing the number of full-time students to determine the level of state subsidy. It was a mitzvah, I was told -- we’d be keeping the state from subsidizing non-kosher kibbutzim. We’d be keeping pork out of peoples’ mouths, I was told. (The yeshiva greatly overestimated the State’s budget line for bacon subsidies). I declined.
We see the same sort of flouting of laws in Israel today by some members of the haredi community -- whether it is rioting to protest the opening of parking lots on the Sabbath or stone throwing and garbage burning to support a woman suspected of starving her toddler son. Municipal services had to be suspended in these neighborhoods out of fear for the safety of city workers. ...
JTA is thinking of looking into the topic? Let me know what you think.
Share
Facebook
7 Comments
Charendoff,
Jewish Funders Network,
JFN,
new jersey,
New Jersey,
orthodox,
Orthodox,
scandal
Comments RSS Feed Reader Comments
The reason religous Jews have to look everywhere to fund charities is because the super rich such as michael bloomberg give BILLIONS of dollars a year to gentile charities. If the rich in our community would spport their own then our leaders wouldnt have to deal with govt informants like soloman drek or abraham foxman.
Yeshivas and kosher food prices are exhorbitant and money is needed from somewhere to fund them.
America gives hundreds of millions of dollars to plo moslem terroists and the usa govt funds moslem religous schools in iraq and afghanistan but the usa wont fund religion in america.
Any how the Rabbis involved in this incident are obviously innocent!
lets try and get as many non predjudiced Jews on the juries so the Rabbis can receive a fair trian and be found NOT guilty
I am not an Orthodox Jew.
I keep these parts of the Jewish Religion that originated from the Divine Torah and I am very selective in what I follow of Rabinical rulings.
I stronly fault the Jewish Orthodoxy with the way the Jewish religion (WHICH PRECEEDED CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM) has established itself in this world,
Well,you can call me any name you like…
I want an answer....
Since I am aware what the reaction is going to be-let us leave the past and closer to the present…
Israel is the only Jewish Stae on the face of the Globe.
We refer to it as the homeland of the Jewish people,and still ONLY ORTHODOX RULES ARE ENFORCED THERE.The Conservative is not recognised (WRONGFULLY AND MALICIOUSLY) and Reform Judaism is unheard of.
Why?
I accept the fact Reform Jews can be just nominal Jews,but like it ,or not this is a part of the Jewish nation...Do we want to call them Personna-non-Grata,or what?
Over the years,any movement that looked for freedom for Jews ,was boycotted by the Orthodox establihment.However,Zionism was founded by a SECULAR JEW,the Balfour Declaration was obtained by a Conservative Jew,and the State of Israel was founded ,primarily by secular Jews.
The resentment towards Israel as a State is led by the Orthodoxy Neturei Karta…
Another Orthodox Branch will not assume the full responsibilities of a Minister in the Israeli Government.However,he wants everything that a full Minister has,but “tricks God” by hiding behind Bibi…
Various Orthodox splinters do not tolerate each other...We do not hear these things from Conservatives and/or Reforms…
We have in Israel a TWO RABBIS SYSTEM:Ashkenazi and Sephardi...and I assumed as we have one President,one Chief of Staff,One Chief Justice...If we are talking about a leadership THERE HAS TO BE ONLY ONE STREAM OF ORTHODOX Judaism...and if Orthodox are allowed to be splintered,why not others?
Why are Orthodox Jews the only ones not to fulfill all the civic obligations that Conservatives,reforms and seculars are obligated to follow?Where is the respect for Dina de malchouta Dina…
Why are orthodox allowed to riot in Israel? They never did it when Palestine was under British rule…
Why do those who are supposed to follow rabbi Akiva stone other Jews instead of doing Ve’ahavta le’re’acha…
These are just a few of the questions that i pose to Orthodox who visit this site.
I want to read an answer,and not as I expect-curses,faulty language,etc.
Let us see.
I am waiting.
“Is there something in the haredi world that allows for scandal to happen?”
Yes, among Charedim or Jews in general as among all other people in the world ( given that there is a state under the rule of constitutional law) each adult human being is fully accountable for one very own deeds.
That’s all.
Any perversion of justice is no component of Charedism as the writer assumes, but lashon ha’ra, libel and slander is of course widespread among human beings in general.
In the Talmud lashon ha’ra is regarded as a kind of murder. Guess why ..?
I have a lot to say about this…
I have posted it in my blog…
http://outoftheechochamber.blogspot.com/
Check it out.
Whatever happened to the commandment “Thou shalt not steal”? I can’t quote Talmud or the medieval writings of the rabbis. I suppose I am just a heathen Reformed Jew whose religious education stopped at age 13. I used to contribute to Orthodox charities years ago, Maybe when the Orthodox start practicing Hillel’s golden rule, I will have more respect for them.
Leave a Comment
To leave a comment, you must first be logged in to JTA. If you are not registered, please click here.
Already a JTA member?
Need to know? Get JTA's free e-newsletters!
Egbert
07/24/09 07:40 PM
I feel Marc’s pain, but, I think he makes a Chulent. There are a variety of situations going on here. The motivation for rioting over Shabbos, is much different than New Jersey white collar crime. On the face of it, his comments are mildly offensive. Look at the Jewish crime that has been perpetrated by reform Jews. Would any one suggest that those crimes represented issues with the movement as a whole? If the suggestion were made it would be offensive.