To the Editor:

Your coverage of the Rosenblatt story was disgraceful. Please discontinue delivery of the Jewish Link to our home.

Yael and David Zinberg

To the Editor:

The fact that Rabbi Rosenblatt is one of the sweetest and kindest individuals I have met does not negate the fact that he sat naked with underage children. It’s completely inappropriate and if he was a priest, he would have been booted out already. The Rabbi was warned to stop and even though he said he would stop, he did not. It seems very clear that his judgement is impaired.

I just bumped into an old friend. He said he had a client who used to go to RJC a few times a year. His 16 year old son approached him and said, “Why would I want to go to shul? I’m supposed to see people I can respect. I can’t trust any rabbi anymore.”

This story highlights one fact that everyone should agree on. Even if with 100% certainty the Rabbi did not do anything other than sit with naked children, he sat with naked children. In our world, that’s not acceptable. Are we going to stand up or just excuse the behavior because he’s a wonderful person doing pastoral work?

Rikki Block
(via Facebook)

To the Editor:

The New York Times would take every opportunity to portray religious Jews in the worst possible light. Rabbi Rosenblatt was never accused of molestation or predatory activity. Yet the Times alludes to immoral actions that never happened. Moral of the story, if it is reported in the New York Times don’t believe it.

Mitchell Adler
(via Facebook)

To the Editor:

Dror [Futter, in a June 4 Letter to the Editor] has a great point in saying that, ”It is unclear who is looking out for the community.” We need to be mindful that in this country, that burden frequently falls on the shoulders of state and federal government.

Rabbis are paid professionals and so have an obligation to the consumers they serve. Ethical behavior is expected. When too much market misconduct takes place, some agency somewhere steps in to protect the consumer. Then we have licensing requirements, continuing ed, compliance reporting, audits, etc. etc. Professional associations get tasked with making sure members stay out of trouble with Big Brother.

We should not be naive to think that these persistent stories of our rabbis preying on our children have not yet hit the regulatory radar. The lack of response from the RCA of which Dror speaks is exactly the type of pretense some agency needs to take over the “rabbinic industry.” They could easily say,” See! You knew you had a problem, and did nothing. Now we get to run things.”

It would be a bitter, bitter irony if the US government had to force Jewish religious leaders to behave ethically. I mean, didn’t these ethics come from us?

Steve Kobrin
(via Facebook)