The Sifi (Devarim 17) says on Devarim (1:16) Don't be afraid of any man. Perhaps a judge will say I am afraid that the defendant will kill my son or burn down my barn...Therefore the Torah says not to be afraid of any man because judgment is for G-d.
This is cited by Chinuch #415, Rambam(Sanhedrin 22:1). Aruch HaShulchan (C.M 12) cites the Rema that today the practice is that if a ruling might cause danger to a judge he can withraw from the case even if has already poskened. But if there is no danger just verbal abuse he can not withdraw.
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I recently had a conversation with a rabbi who is a major talmid chachom and involved in the community i.e he fully knows reality. He also has strong connection to many of the gedolim. He is widely respected and is viewed as an establishment figure. He never rocks the boat in public but follows the standard chareidi viewpoint.
Someone had just given him a copy of my book on child abuse.He had called me to express gratitude for my book to let me know that he felt it was necessary and that it was well done.
We talked a while about the issue of child abuse. I mentioned to him the Aguda position and the nasty editorial in Ami magazine. I said that I felt that their requirement that rabbis had to moderate going to police - even at the expense of the welfare of the children - has no justification in halacha. He agreed without any hesitation. He added that he did not think abuse was being handled properly by the rabbis.
I was surprised at his candor on the issue, so I asked the obvious question - so why aren't the rabbinic leaders following halacha. Why are they taking positions which are against the halacha?
His answer was simply and blunt- they were afraid. they were worried about being labeled a shaygetz - a liberal who is lenient regarding mesira - by other rabbis
Then he added - it is necessary for the rabbinic leadership to be pressured by the masses to do the right thing. They are not going to do it on their own and but they would welcome being pressured to do the right thing.
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Thus despite the denunciation of bloggers, advocates and the press - it seems there is some recognition not only of the good that they do but also the indispensable role they play in necessary change.
I recently had a conversation with a rabbi who is a major talmid chachom and involved in the community i.e he fully knows reality. He also has strong connection to many of the gedolim. He is widely respected and is viewed as an establishment figure. He never rocks the boat in public but follows the standard chareidi viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteWe talked a while about the issue of child abuse. I mentioned to him the Aguda position and the editorial in Ami magazine. I said that I felt that their position that it is permissible to go to the police - even at the expense of mistakenly falsely reporting an innocent accused - has no justification in halacha. He agreed without any hesitation. He added that he did not think abuse was being handled properly by the rabbis.
I was surprised at his candor on the issue, so I asked the obvious question - so why aren't the rabbinic leaders following halacha. Why are they taking positions which are against the halacha?
His answer was simply and blunt- they were afraid. they were worried about being labeled as protecting child abusers - a ultra-conservative who is stringent regarding mesira - by other rabbis
Then he added - it is necessary for the rabbinic leadership to be pressured by the masses to do the right thing. They are not going to do it on their own and but they would welcome being pressured to do the right thing.
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Thus with the denunciation of bloggers, advocates and the press - it's recognized that there is damage caused by those parties and also the destructive role they play in attempting change in the wrong direction.
This is nothing to do with blogging. It has to do with the legitimate place of leniency within Halacha - but that the Rabbis are scared of being called "modernisers", so they try to be as extremist as possible (overcompensation) to prove they are not.
ReplyDeleteThe same psychology exists for rabbis, as it does for teenagers who want tobe idnetified with one social group or other, and hence pretend to fit in with them.
Many Rabbis who were once open minded and knowledgeable of science ,philosophy etc, have ditched their views, and as their career progressed (eg becoming senior Rav or rosh Yeshiva) suddenly take on opposite views they used to hold.
A simple example,without specifying any personalities, is what used otbe said, ie Orthodoxy is not like Chrsitianity, we have no "Galileos" [Galileo was a catholic apikorus, who denied daas Pope that the sun revolves around the earth] and was put inHerem by the church.
25 years ago even Gedolim were open science , whereas today evey piece of modern knowledge is slowly becoing heresy.
Rav Eidensohn,
ReplyDeleteBeing that your website is copyrighted, did you grant permission to the 5 Towns Jewish Times to reprint your excerpt from the Zweibel interview? I think it is a chutzpah, even if you granted permission that while they credit your website, they only posted Zweibel's exchange with the interviewer, not your rebuttal.
Rav Eidensohn,
ReplyDeleteBeing that your website is copyrighted, did you grant permission to the 5 Towns Jewish Times to reprint your excerpt from the Zweibel interview? I think it is a chutzpah, even if you granted permission that while they credit your website, they only posted Zweibel's exchange with the interviewer, not your rebuttal.
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The interview was from Mishpacha magazine. Therefore I could not have copyrighted it. Under the fair use doctrine an item which is being critically analyzed and is therefore itself the news is not protected by copyright.
They acknowledged that they got the text from me but did not request or publish my rebuttal.
Thank you for your concern
I disagree. The rabbonim are guilty of a lot more than simply caving in to the fear of looking like they're meikil. It's also about protecting the community's (and their own) reputations.
ReplyDeleteThey spent decades telling people "don't report abuse because of mesirah/loshon hara/shidduchim/it will make us look bad, etc." and by sweeping it under the carpet, they were able to protect the community's reputation, and protect the frum person's innocent belief that everything in their Torah True world is wonderful.
This is what's it's always been about. This is what it's still about: Putting the reputation of the community (and everything which rests upon that ideal) over the welfare of innocent children. Only now, they have so much more to lose because not only will acts of abuse be revealed, but the decades of cover-ups and rabbinic mishandling will also be exposed. This won't just be a black eye to the establishment, it can utterly destroy it.
Making their flaw be about "afraid of being labeled meikil" is a spin that actually covers up the real degree of how far things have really deteriorated in their ranks.
Why not tell the name of the rabbi? Is he afraid too?
ReplyDeleteThe Hedyot said...
ReplyDeleteI disagree. The rabbonim are guilty of a lot more than simply caving in to the fear of looking like they're meikil. It's also about protecting the community's (and their own) reputations.
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Your point is true. However I was focusing on the fact that their are rabbis who are very much aware of the need to do something - but they don't do anything because they are afraid of being attacked as meikel. Most of the discussion up until know has been to explain eilu v'eilu - they just have a different understanding. I am saying that many rabbis will agree what this issue is in private but are afraid to speak up in public. You might remember Dr. Bentzion Twersky
Rav Sternbuch told me that the way to be able to posken lenient is to first establish yourself as being machmir. Many rabbis don't think they can get away with being meikel and that they still need to establish their credentials as being frum.
S. said...
ReplyDeleteWhy not tell the name of the rabbi? Is he afraid too?
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unfortunately he is. That is what inspired this post.
see menachem friedman's Chevra vdat for a fascinating study of the interdependent relationship between kanoim and rabbinic authority
ReplyDeleteEddie said:
ReplyDeleteand as their career progressed (eg becoming senior Rav or rosh Yeshiva) suddenly take on opposite views they used to hold.
This is the reason the Torah forbids one to make a living off the Torah. See Rambam's MT, Hilchot Talmud Torah. It's why I won't trust any Rabbi who doesn't have a skill or profession and makes their living off of being a Rabbi.