by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield

July 30, 2009

When New Jersey mayors, politicians, and rabbis get arrested for money laundering, it’s news that should be reported. It’s especially important for Jews to hear this news and address the discomfort created by religious leaders behaving badly. Isn’t that what we ask of other groups when their leaders do the same?

But the initial coverage of this story, which began in The Star-Ledger, suggests that the motivation for their coverage may be less than healthy. In fact, it may be nothing less than an excuse to vent deep resentment at a particular portion of the Jewish community.

When a headline reads, “NJ Officials, NY Rabbis Caught in Federal Money Laundering, Corruption Sweep,” one expects a story describing that event. In this case, however, no mention was made of any rabbis actually getting arrested; despite plenty of details about various politicos taken into custody, there is nothing about rabbis.

As the story develops, it is emerging as a very big deal, but the headline and the report didn’t match, and it’s fair to wonder why. Such coverage actually borders on Jew-baiting and potentially says something at least as ugly about the author/editors as it does about those who committed any crime. Consider the following quote found on the paper’s website and carried on CNN: The arrests “began with an investigation of money transfers by members of the Syrian enclaves in New York and New Jersey.” Those arrested “include key religious leaders in the tight-knit, wealthy communities.”

“Enclaves”? “Tight-knit, wealthy communities”? Even if such statements are accurate, are they the most pertinent pieces of information to share, or simply a way to make the story sexier?

Could it be that the paper harbors deep resentment against Jews whom they see as over-privileged, stand-offish people who operate as a law unto themselves? Is this the moment to celebrate how “those people” will now get their comeuppance? If not, why describe the community in classically anti-Semitic ways instead of calling out the specific leaders who broke the law and should be punished to its full extent for any wrongdoing they committed?

This story needs to be told, but it needs to be about justice, not just deserts. Some will say this is not the time to worry about possible anti-Semitism, and that is not my intention. I am simply questioning the underlying resentments against Syrian Jews in particular, which may have inappropriately shaped the coverage of the story.

In fact, the Syrian-Jewish community needs to take a good look at itself to see what they do that contributes to the negative perceptions held by many of their neighbors. While victims of bias should never be blamed for the bias against them, in most cases for a stereotype to hold it must be rooted in some partial truth. Ironically, this kind of coverage makes that less likely to happen, confirming the kind of hostility that is used by any community looking for a reason to turn inward. But that is no excuse for the self-serving apologetics being offered up by members of the community.

While this is a painful and embarrassing moment, when leaders like David G. Greenfield tell us that he is “shocked” because the actions of those arrested “go against every value and teaching the community holds dear,” you have to wonder.

The sense that this community is a law unto itself has been an issue for decades. In fact, that problem is reflected in one of the most famous rulings of its previous chief rabbi, Jacob S. Kassin, father of the now arrested chief rabbi, Saul J. Kassin.

In 1935, Rabbi Kassin the elder declared that marriage to converts was not allowed within his community. With that pronouncement, he placed himself above 2,000 years of Jewish law, which recognizes the full equality of converts and born Jews. By putting himself in that position, he sent the message that his community functioned as a law unto itself, and when any group believes this, abuse is sure to follow.

This issue must be addressed by community members. If they don’t, and ethnicity is allowed to trump ethics, then they will have nobody to blame but themselves for the anger directed against them.

This is a moment, both because of these events and where we stand in the Jewish calendar — in the same week as Tisha B’Av — when the tradition invites introspection. I hope that the community has the moral courage to undertake such introspection and those outside it have the sensitivity and discipline to allow them to do so without being humiliated.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is president of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and author of You Don’t Have To Be Wrong for Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism (Harmony).

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