I’m sure that I’m not any different from anyone else, or perhaps I am, yet when I turn on the local news as I’m driving and hear the first news item is about the leader of the Brooklyn Shomrim, a man who headed the volunteer anti crime patrol, who has been arrested on federal sex charges for performing unthinkable acts with a young woman, I cringe from embarrassment and disbelief. Let us keep in mind that his crimes are only alleged to have happened.
Lehavdil, but a crime as well, are when the papers are filled with allegations of yeshivas accepting billions of dollars from the state with certain conditions attached, and literally taking the money and directing it in totally different directions. By the way, this was not reported only in the New York Times.
People in communities accepting thousands of dollars in financial aid and then having it later revealed that they were actually lying on their application forms and were living in lavish homes with only the best in furnishings? Oh yes, they were probably known as big baalei chassedim.
Let us not fool ourselves into believing that some of these crimes that we read about in communities other than our own do not happen, perhaps differently, in more modern communities. Tax evasion, unfaithful marriages, even glancing over at a smart phone on Shabbat and who knows what else happens regularly even within the environs of some in our communities.
All of us have seen pictures of the protests now going on in Israel. In this case it is Jew against Jew. Taking a baby and placing it on a blanket in the middle of a highway so that traffic will be stopped?? Are those parents nuts and what exactly are they proving? The glee that many in the outside world are feeling when they see that Jews are accusing each other of illegal acts…
Each week I have been sharing a column in The Link on the various local chesed organizations with which our community is blessed. There is so much good and so many things to be proud of that we Jews do “bein adom l’chavero.” I have heard many comments from non Jews about how they are overwhelmed by the random acts of kindness that we offer each other. It is well known.
I often remind myself of the conversation that once took place in a video (remember them?) that was made by NCSY, where the reporter went over to random people and asked them what it meant to be a Jew. The majority of the interviewing was done on the street in Toronto in front of the city hall. Some said that Jews are the doctors. One person said that they live separately in their own communities. Finally the same reporter went to Moscow and stopped a random woman on the street and asked her what it meant to be a Jew and her reply was quite stunning.
She said: “If I were to decide to leave here I would have no place to go and no one to reach out to, but a Jewish person knows that wherever he goes in the world he will be taken in and taken care of by fellow Jews!”
Yes, we are a great people and we do so much for so many. Yet when I hear something disturbing on the radio, or read a news item that is very disconcerting about even one Jewish person I cringe, because in my naivete I expect so much more from b’nai Torah.
Interestingly in my mind the minute a man walks out the door with a yarmulke on his head he needs to be accountable first to himself but secondly to all of us. The same applies to women who need to hold themselves accountable in their interactions with their business associates, storekeepers, teachers and even the help that many have in their homes. We carry a very large load on our shoulders but I do not think Hashem would have rewarded us with the Torah unless he thought that we could handle it. The challenges are there and I myself try to remember that I am not responsible for anyone else. I need to concentrate on just me and leave the others to live with their consequences either in this world or the next.
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
