Desecration

The Epstein scandal is possibly the most serious example of the abuse of power and wealth in recent years in an open society.

Although corruption seems endemic in every society. It reflects profound malaise. It is described as a power Ponzi scheme. The most notorious Ponzi scheme in the USA also involved somebody with a Jewish name. Unfortunately, rarely does a day go by without one of our co-religionists being charged for fraud of one sort or another. The fact that similar abuses of power or authority and wealth amongst those of other religions far outweigh those that have been committed by people with Jewish names (but usually of little or no Jewishness) is small comfort. As a result, we as a people are now experiencing an even greater torrent of antisemitic abuse.

The most popular social network bloggers in the United States are spewing the most horrible hatred out of ignorance and malignance.  From the right, lying, misquoting out of ignorance, blaming Jews for murderous sexual, financial exploitation, rape and torture all required of our religion. And as for the left, no need to say more than that New York’s political class, reneging on previous protection, has encouraged or tolerated the largest rise in antisemitic assaults ever seen. Only now they all use Epstein as an excuse for hating Jews regardless. Once we were accused of being Christ Killers; now we are being accused of wanting to kill everyone else. We are returning to the days of Ford and Coughlan and the Inquisition.

Desecrating God’s name, Chilul Hashem, is such a serious crime in Judaism that the Talmud says nothing removes the stain, and it is the one crime that atonement and indeed the Day of Atonement cannot eradicate.

Is it fair to blame the Jews for the behaviour of a very, very small minority? Of course not. But we are not dealing with logic or truth. Besides, “I love my faith. Not so much many faithful.” We, as a religion and as a people have an absolute obligation to avoid bringing condemnation and disgrace to our people. The fact that many more non- Jews were involved in Epstein’s crimes is little comfort, and of course no excuse.

What hurts me even more is the fact that so much Chilul HaShem is being carried out by Jews and religious Jews at that, bringing us into disrepute, that it seems to me we have a profound disease staring us in the face. And there are too many religious leaders who ought to be doing more about it but are either remaining silent or are frightened of their own shadows and wallets.

The amount of corruption that’s going on in Israel today worries me even more because there are too many examples of inhuman behaviour, both financial and moral, that contradict Torah and are being ignored or justified.  Of course, we all know there is better, more charity, more support and good than bad. The news only announces the negative, rarely the positive. But too much of our world itself has so lost its moral compass. And there is a tendency to say who gives a damn, everyone is against us, so who cares.

And on the subject of moral failure, the very refusal of the Charedi world to contribute to the wars against our enemies and standing by, while hundreds of beautiful young men and women are killed defending them as well as everyone else. As for those demonstrating against reasonable requests to participate in the defence of the country they live in and support most of them financially, what can be a greater Chilul HaShem than that?

Torah itself demands that when there is a war to be fought in self-defence, which is called Milchemet Mitzvah, a war which is a religious obligation, they feel it doesn’t apply to them. It is just as bad as a financial criminal thinking the law doesn’t apply to him or her.

Another area that I find morally unacceptable is when extreme right-wing fanatics attack both Muslims and Christians living on the West Bank, even when they were not involved in any way in violence against the Jews. One cannot accept Palestinians shooting and killing children and innocent bystanders, and the same goes for Israelis. But what we are seeing is that extreme right-wing nationalists in both the police and the army are refusing to act humanely in restraining extreme fanatics who masquerade as religious idealists.

I don’t know what to say! I have no power, no political influence. And politics knows no morals.  I just have a profound feeling of disgust and anger, and feel an obligation to say so, even if I will be accused of letting the side down. I know all the excuses, the psychological and emotional pressure, the constant fear of attack, the tension of being surrounded by people who want to destroy us. But if we ourselves can’t see what we’re doing wrong, then there’s something fundamentally sick with our society.

In the Diaspora and in Israel, too many people who are outwardly religious are being convicted of crimes of one sort or another almost daily. And although these may not all be murderers but merely subverting the law for financial gain, the desecration is a betrayal of Jewish values of the Torah and of humanity. I fear the hatred directed against us has slowly degraded our moral sense to the point of undermining the very Torah itself.

As the prophet Isaiah said (62.1) “For the sake of Zion I shall not remain still and for the sake of Jerusalem I shall not be silent.”