Comments on: More Bad News for Orthodox Jews

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:00:04 +0000

shorty-
I understand not wanting to read about this stuff, but I felt compelled to write about it since the information is already so widely disseminated and I wouldn’t be telling anyone anything they hadn’t heard. Since it was already so public I wanted to put a positive spin on it.
Also, in regards to the laws of lashon hara it is generally not a sin to repeat things that have been told “in the presence of three persons.” The idea is that if it is told in the presence of three persons, it is already public knowledge, and no harm can come of retelling it. However, even in this case, you should not repeat it if you know you will be spreading the gossip further.

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:55:41 +0000

rutimizrachi- Of course we don’t know if the allegations are true. I tried to touch upon that at the beginning of the post, but it’s good that you mention it explicitly here.
The reason that I wrote about this is case though, was to give some understanding of how pious people could fall. The Torah, itself, anticipates that corruption due to power will occur unless the leader makes serious efforts to avoid it.
Also, until all the details unfold, I wanted to inspire my readers to come away from such news with strengthened resolve to create positivity instead of the more common result of losing hope.

By: Allison

Allison — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:31:29 +0000

Karen- we certainly are all in this together, and I tried to make that point at the end of the blog.
The reason that I specifically said “Orthodox” in the title, though, is that when Orthodox Jews behave in a negative way, it doesn’t just fuel the virtriol of the anti-Semites, it fuels the vitriol of fellows Jews (who are not Orthodox)!
Also, the goal of this site is to improve the public perception of Orthodox Jews. Far too often, the whole Orthodox community gets lumped into the same category as the few bad seeds out there.

By: shorty

shorty — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:02:26 +0000

It makes me sad to read all the “bad Jewish news”. I realized that those making headlines are really a small minority of the Jewish people! Its just repeating the same headlines over and over makes it sound like its LOT of Jewish people.
So i resolved NOT to read this bad news, unless it affects me directly in some way because i am finding it a bit too much Lashon Harah

By: Galina

Galina — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:54:12 +0000

Thank you for addressing this delicate issue. It is a very sensitive subject especially sine the governments informant is also an Orthodox Jew who has been investigated for bank fraud. Its always better to address this in our community than to sweep it under the rug and have people loose hope & faith. Judaism is perfect that doesn’t mean that all Jews are. We are here to learn & grow and Complete our Tukun Olam(correction in the world).

By: rutimizrachi

rutimizrachi — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:01:29 +0000

I agree with you completely, if the allegations are true. I would add one other thought. Let us take a breath or two before we believe what the media say about our people. It is possible, even probable, that such corruption has occurred, and that the stories are 100% factual. But we are slow to believe the stories in the MSM about our particular camp. Let us be just as wary about believing stories in toto until we have more evidence. When the Columbine thing happened, world Jewry went bonkers trying to be the first to beat ourselves up. “Where have we gone wrong as a people? Dylan Klebold is Jewish!” It turned out that they were a bit too quick to accept the blame. Klebold’s father was Jewish. Klebold wasn’t. And we had a friend in the secret service who had to spend $10K to prove that he was not guilty of a ton of wrongdoing. (He and his partner had caught Hillary in the act in the Filegate scandal; and she and Bill went to no end of trouble to get their careers wrecked.) In the end, his career was wrecked, even though he was exonerated. I like to wait a while before I believe bad press against us.

By: Karen (Dunking Rachael)

Karen (Dunking Rachael) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:49:22 +0000

“More Bad News for Orthodox Jews”
I would propose that this is bad news for all Jews….the antisemitic persons of the world will jump at any chance to quantify their world view….the ignorant of the world will see this and say…”look at the Jews doing bad things”….not look at the Orthodox Jews…..
we are all in it together regardless of how we Jews accecpt/understand/and or cooperate with each other…

By: Zachary

Zachary — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:08:41 +0000

I’m with you =)

By: Elimelech

Elimelech — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:36:44 +0000

Thanks for the encouragement and wise insight; truly we have a lot to do, the “am haaretz” to show the compassion, goodness, beauty, and respectfulness for others that is Torah.