Despite our best efforts,
this past Shmini Atzeret/Simchas Torah was not quite Zman Simchaseinu (Our time
of Joy); not for me nor for many others.
To be sure, there was a great
spirit of joy in the shul. The Young Israel of Forest Hills has been blessed to
host a new Sephardic minyan over the last two months, which has brought a great
deal of new energy and excitement, along with many people, into our community.
The resultant boost that we had from the joint hakafos and the post Shabbos
“Hakafot Shniyot” party was wonderful and enjoyed by all. But inside, I could
not get my mind off of the scandal that had blown up in Washington DC just the
day before, and the worry for what it meant for the future of the Orthodox
community ate at me deeply inside.
I leave it to the reader to
discover the unpleasant details of the scandal surrounding Rabbi Barry Freundel
elsewhere. For me, it was extremely
disheartening, upsetting, infuriating and saddening to see the huge Chillul
Hashem (Desecration of G-D’s Name) that would result from the incomprehensibly
bizarre, ugly – and frankly stupid and creepy
– actions of a formerly highly respected colleague, who had done a great
deal of good for the American Jewish community. The pain that we
all feel for the victims, for the Freundel family, for his congregants, and for
all of the women, both regular mikvah users and converts, who feel betrayed by him is beyond description. I write here only to offer the following
thoughts.
1) The
Importance of the RCA GPS (Geirus Policies and Procedures) Institution
Several years
ago, the Rabbinical Council of America and the Beth Din of America established
the GPS system for centralizing and standardizing Orthodox conversions in a
process that would dependably be
“fully in accordance with Halachah (Jewish law), ensure sensitivity to the
dignity of all potential converts at all times, and provide reasonable
assurance that its converts and their offspring be accorded acceptance and
recognition in other Jewish communities in the future.” (from their website). This was a tremendously
important accomplishment; one which brought honor, veracity and dignity to a
process that previously could be described in Yiddish as a “hefker velt”; a
situation whereby there were many problems of differing standards among Rabbis,
pressures brought on individual Rabbis to convert those who might not truly be
sincere, inadequate concern and care given to conversion candidates, and other
idiosyncrasies resulting in a situation in which the validity of many Orthodox
conversions were called into question.
The RCA
committee of distinguished Rabbis, chaired initially by Rabbi Freundel,
produced a beautiful system of regional
Batei Din who operate according to carefully thought out and supervised
standards, and have brought hundreds of people through the conversion process
in a most dignified way, while sorting out those that were not willing to fully
embrace traditional Jewish Halacha. I
have proudly sponsored several candidates to the Bet Din in Queens, and the
candidates and I have been uniformly impressed by the professional, caring, and
ethical manner in which it has performed its duties.
However, not
all in the Orthodox community have been pleased with the GPS system. In particular, the so-called “Open Orthodox”
movement has been trying for years to tear down this institution. In keeping with their attacks on many areas
of traditional Halacha, such as the ordination of female rabbis, the
celebration of openly Gay & lesbian members, the assailing of the normative
Halachic process and the historic validity of Biblical accounts, they have
argued that the GPS violates their rights as Rabbis to decide what standards
ought to be demanded of potential converts, and it is not for a centralized
body to impose those standards on them.
Thus if they choose not to demand a full commitment to observing Halacha
that ought not be questioned. To quote
Rabbi Marc Angel, one of their proponents, ancient sources “do not equate
conversion with a total acceptance to observe Torah and mitzvot, but rather see
conversion as a way for a non-Jew to become a member of the Jewish
people.” Additionally, the memory of
Rabbi Avi Weiss' attack on the GPS and the Chief Rabbinate less than a year
ago, in which he advocated not only that both these institutions be dismantled
but that “the state [of
Israel] should move to accept non-Orthodox conversions and weddings done in
Israel as a matter of Israeli law” remains painfully fresh.
Predictably,
opponents of the RCA GPS system have used this scandal to go on the attack in
many quarters, claiming that the failings of Rabbi Freundel prove that the
“Holier than Thou” stance which underlies the GPS is but hollow hypocrisy. They are furthermore trying to instigate fear
and havoc, insinuating that this incident will call into question all of
the GPS conversions, and cause untold
misery for untold numbers of people, in a thinly veiled effort to undo all the
good that the GPS has accomplished in its years of work. Many non-Orthodox writers have also jumped
on the bandwagon, attacking Orthodox Rabbis as misogynist sexists who exploit
converts and particularly women while exerting unholy and uncalled for pressure
on them to their bidding.
Additionally
they are attacking the very process by which conversions are determined. A “Bill of Rights for Jewish Converts” is
rapidly circulating on the internet, which, while making some very valid
points, calls into question some matters that cannot be resolved by
demagoguery, such as the length of time that a conversion will take. (It is
totally subjective, depending on the candidate and the situation they present,
and the amount of time that a sponsoring Rabbi will feel comfortable attesting
to a Bet Din that he is totally confident as to the candidate’s sincerity and
commitment level, as well as the other demands on the Rabbi’s time, which
cannot be predicted in advance.) The
pressures that are being brought to bear on those attempting to uphold Halachic
standards while responding sensitively to what has happened will be intense.
Clearly, this
is all uncalled for. Rav Gedalya Dov
Schwartz, the venerable head of the Beth Din of America, has already ruled that
this incident will not invalidate any conversion overseen by Rabbi Freundel,
and certainly not those overseen by any other GPS Bet Din. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate has reached the
same conclusion. Furthermore, the RCA
and all Rabbonim are taking this matter very seriously, and considering what
tikkunnim and safeguards can be put in place to protect the sanctity of
mikvaot, the dignity of women, and the conversion process so that nothing like
this might ever happen again, chas vehsalom.
I have been privy to several internal RCA discussions, and they have
already announced several safeguards and are considering others; you can follow
the announcements at www.rabbis.org .
It is critical
that cool heads prevail here, and that we make sure that this terrible
aberration remain just that. We must
derive the lessons that must be learned from this shanda while at the
same time not allowing those who are attacking the overwhelming majority of
Rabbis, who are G-d fearing and men of
integrity, to profit from this fiasco.
2) No One is Above Temptation
Our tradition has always had
a very healthy respect for the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination). The Talmud in many places invokes the
principle אין אפוטרופוס לעריות, which (loosely translated) means that no one
is above temptation, when it comes to sexual matters. This terrible incident brings this home in a
more powerful way than any mussar shmuz.
One has to have a great deal of humility in knowing that temptations are
powerful, and that it is all too easy to be drawn into a sinkhole in which
one's morals are irreparably compromised.
But this story illustrates
another problem – that goes beyond mere sensual temptation – which can also be
very dangerous. The first question that
anyone hearing this story surely asked themselves, after hearing that a
respected Rabbi had stooped so low, is: Why?
If the motive were mere sexual gratification, or the desire to view
inappropriate matter, surely there is sufficient material all too easily accessible in the
depraved society in which we live, whether in the media or on the internet, or
any number of other places? Why engage
in such a risky and crude activity?
The obvious answer, is that
it comes from something deeper than sexual proclivity. It will not engage in
any attempt to psychoanalyze this, certainly not publicly. I write about it only to emphasize this: Anyone, and I mean anyone, can slip into
crazed behaviors that can ruin their own lives and hurt many others, if they
allow themselves to think that they are above temptation and can engage in
behavior that Halacha forbids, while being able to set limits that will only
allow it to go so far. There are
thousands of people who have learned that this is not so, many the hard way.
As a Rabbi you get to hear
all sorts of things, many which you would rather not. Unfortunately, I know of many cases where
respectable people, including leading professionals, Rabbis, Roshei Kollel,
Rebbeim in Yeshivos, Doctors, Lawyers, you name it, women and men, have been
ensnared at a variety of levels by an addiction to pornography and worse. None of them meant to arrive at the depths
they found themselves, of course. Most
allowed themselves this or that indiscretion, this or that ego trip or pleasure
trip, and found themselves drawn into the quicksand from which there was little
hope of escape without great damage being done.
If anything good can come out
of this situation, perhaps it is this.
If you know of anyone (including perhaps yourself) who has found
themselves subjected to temptation and inappropriate use of the internet or
other lustful activity, please refer them to the literally life saving website,
www.guardyoureyes.com . It is a tremendously important resource, and it
deserves all the support that can be given to it in its holy work of combating
the insanity that surrounds us.
May Hashem have mercy on His
people, and help us to restore honor to His Holy Name and Torah.
