{"id":58047,"date":"2017-06-30T07:35:11","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T12:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=58047"},"modified":"2017-07-10T04:11:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T09:11:53","slug":"jewish-criminals-literally-defrocked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jewish-criminals-literally-defrocked\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Jewish Criminals Be Literally \u201cDefrocked?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You\u2019ve probably seen the recent news in which a Lakewood rabbi, his wife, and another Orthodox Jewish couple were arrested\u00a0in simultaneous federal and state raids on charges of public assistance fraud on an unprecedented scale. Authorities reported that this was just the first wave of raids and that more arrests would be forthcoming. (This has since happened.)<\/p>\n

\"Wooden<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t normally take requests but a regular reader wrote me and asked if I would address this story. Two things were bothering her, both relating not only to the story itself but to the way people are addressing it on social media.<\/p>\n

First, she was disturbed that people are accepting the story as fact and condemning the accused without a trial. I relate to this because, days earlier, I shared a story about Bernie Sanders being investigated for bank fraud. I had commented, \u201cSo much for the last honest politician\u201d and was upbraided for prejudging him. (I explained that I did not assume that Sanders was guilty per se<\/em>, I was merely lamenting that a politician generally accepted by both sides to be honest was embroiled in such a thing.) The things that people are saying about these couples, however, are beyond the pale including, but not limited to, condemning them to literally burn in Hell.<\/p>\n

As much as some people rush to judgment, others are in denial: \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s some reasonable explanation,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s all a mistake,\u201d \u201cHeimishe Yidden<\/em>\u00a0wouldn\u2019t do such a thing,\u201d etc. We have an obligation to be\u00a0dan l\u2019kaf z\u2019chus<\/em>\u00a0(to judge others favorably) but that just means that we\u00a0should give others benefit of the doubt, similar to the American concept of a presumption of innocence. It doesn\u2019t mean that we put on blinders and naively assume that crimes are incapable of being committed. Even in\u00a0halacha<\/em>, there\u2019s a reason people are summoned to\u00a0beis din<\/em>. The courts don\u2019t just say, \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s fine\u201d and dismiss all charges unheard.<\/p>\n

Whether the accused are guilty or innocent, this whole incident is a huge\u00a0chillul Hashem<\/em>\u00a0(desecration of God\u2019s Name) and the community as a whole will spend a long time living it down.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019d like to focus on is the reader\u2019s second complaint, that people are criticizing the accused for how they dress. Specifically, \u201cthey dress so religious and yet\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0is how they act!\u201d (That\u2019s the gist of it. She forwarded me some quotes and they are wayyyyyy harsher than that!) Haven\u2019t people heard the old maxim about judging books from their covers?<\/p>\n

I fail to see how the accused\u2019s dress is relevant. The way one dresses can be a convenient shorthand for their philosophical alignment, though such is not always necessarily the case. For example, whether one wears a black velvet\u00a0yarmulke<\/em>\u00a0or a white knit\u00a0kippah<\/em>\u00a0might be a symbol of one\u2019s particular religious affiliation, but it could also be strictly a fashion choice. The same is true when it comes black suits and white shirts vs. jeans and sweaters, tights, socks or bare legs, hats for davening (for men), hats, wigs or bareheaded (for women), skirts vs. pants (for women – although such a choice would also be a statement for men, I imagine!), and many other things that may (or may not) reflect one\u2019s Jewish communal association. We can generally infer that one who dresses a certain way identifies with a community that dresses in that manner, but that\u2019s about all. (Who here would let their teenage daughter accept a ride from a strange man simply because he\u2019s wearing a long black coat and a big fur hat? If you raised your hand, please put it down and rethink that decision.)<\/p>\n

Logically, it would be nice if frum people never committed crimes (it would be nice if\u00a0nobody<\/em>\u00a0committed crimes!) but if they do, what do you expect them to do? First of all, some modes of dress are based upon religious obligations. Falling short in one area does not exempt you in other areas. If one speaks\u00a0lashon<\/em>\u00a0hara<\/em>\u00a0(gossip), he still has to keep kosher. If a person violates Shabbos, that\u2019s not license to kill. Similarly, if someone gives into temptation to steal, what does that have to do with whether he wears\u00a0tzitzis<\/em>\u00a0or whether she wears a\u00a0sheitel<\/em>? You can\u2019t even expect them to change the things that are strictly a sign of communal affiliation. Think about it. Rabbi Accused is committing fraud and thinks, \u201cI am no longer fit to wear the uniform of my community\u201d so he shows up in shul wearing iridescent socks with the same color shirt and a tight pair of chinos. Of course not! That\u2019s ridiculous! Whether he\u2019s wracked with guilt or justifies his actions, he\u2019s going to want to be inconspicuous and such a radical change would be, if nothing else,\u00a0conspicuous.<\/p>\n

Obviously, what\u2019s really bothering people is the perception of hypocrisy but accusing someone of hypocrisy is a tricky thing. Sure, if someone makes public anti-drug statements and is later found to be using drugs, that makes them a hypocrite\u00a0but is any act of wrongdoing automatically hypocrisy? If Rabbi Accused publicly lectured against government fraud then committed government fraud, he would certainly be a hypocrite. But if he lived a moral life except for giving into this one temptation, does that make him a hypocrite or just human? We\u2019re all fallible. It would be unrealistic to expect otherwise and if we commit one indiscretion \u2013 even an embarrassingly huge one as in this case \u2013 that doesn\u2019t mean that all of our other actions are insincere.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0aron<\/em>\u00a0(ark) was coated with gold both on the inside and on the outside. From this, the Talmud (Yoma 72b) derives that any Torah scholar whose insides do not match his outsides is no scholar at all. The Maharsha points out that only the\u00a0aron<\/em>, which represents the scholars, was coated inside and out. The other vessels of the Temple, which represent the rest of the people, were only gold-plated on the outside. If Rabbi and Mrs. Accused are indeed guilty, then their insides don\u2019t match their outsides. All this means is that they\u2019re not good role models. They\u2019re still people, entitled to identify with whatever community they choose and, hopefully, to strive to do better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve probably seen the recent news in which a Lakewood rabbi, his wife, and another Orthodox Jewish couple were arrested\u00a0in simultaneous federal and state raids on charges of public assistance fraud on an unprecedented scale. Authorities reported that this was just the first wave of raids and that more arrests would be forthcoming. (This has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":58084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nShould Jewish Criminals Be Literally \u201cDefrocked?\u201d - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We have an obligation to be dan l\u2019kaf zechus (to judge others favorably) but that just means that we should give others benefit of the doubt.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jewish-criminals-literally-defrocked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should Jewish Criminals Be Literally \u201cDefrocked?\u201d - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have an obligation to be dan l\u2019kaf zechus (to judge others favorably) but that just means that we should give others benefit of the doubt.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jewish-criminals-literally-defrocked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-30T12:35:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-10T09:11:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Criminal-Law.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2121\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jewish-criminals-literally-defrocked\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jewish-criminals-literally-defrocked\/\",\"name\":\"Should Jewish Criminals Be Literally \u201cDefrocked?\u201d - 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