Rabbis Are Not God: A Lesson From The Freundel Scandal ‎

(originally appeared in The CJN, Tuesday, October 28, 2014)

I’ve been in the rabbinate for 25 years, and I think it’s high time we had a conversation about what a Rabbi should be.

A scandal too farfetched for a screenplay has come to light. A rabbi used a hidden camera to take videos of female conversion candidates undressing in the mikvah. Nothing could be more abhorrent:  a spiritual leader in a spiritual place, violating the most spiritual moment in a convert’s life.

This scandal is shocking, yet commonplace. There are now so many rabbinic scandals exposed, from rabbis of all stripes, that there are special websites devoted to rabbinic scandals. This has shaken me to the core.

 There was a time when I thought Rabbis were special. Rabbis were supposed to be spiritual heroes, overcoming temptations others could not. Even in the worst moments, one could depend on rabbinic leadership.  Elie Wiesel said that “in the (concentration) camps, there were kapos…(who were).. former professors, industrialists, artists, merchants, workers, militants from the right and the left….. but not one kapo had been a rabbi.”  Shouldn’t years of careful spiritual training change us into giants?

Yes, rabbis have to be special; we are role models, a living example of what a Torah life should be. The Talmud says one can learn profound lessons from a rabbi’s idle chatter, and from sitting at the dust of his feet. Rabbis are meant to be like “an angel of the Lord above”, a man who is part prophet, part priest.

This image of the superhuman rabbi is one that remains dominant, even today. Chasidim have a theology of the Tzaddik, a man born with an extraordinary soul. And even among non-Chasidim, most biographies of great Rabbis portray them as true angels. These are true hagiographies, meant to carefully preserve the Rabbi’s image while airbrushing out all faults. Great rabbis are meant to carry otherworldly wisdom, able to tell us God’s will regarding electoral politics and real estate deals. When a book is written that speaks honestly about the imperfections of great rabbis, (like the “The Making of a Godol”) a controversy erupts. We want our Rabbis to be perfect, to preach wisely, practice piety and produce miracles.

But sadly, that’s not what happens in real life. There are rabbis who are cruel to vulnerable converts, and rabbis who are weak, materialistic, hypocritical and dishonest. Perhaps Wiesel is right that Rabbis rarely became Kapos, but read the newspapers and you’ll see there are many other vices Rabbis have fallen into. And even those rabbis who are good people are imperfect. But we refuse to accept this, and demand perfect role models. (This desire is a universal phenomenon, one that extends well beyond the Jewish world; even Abraham Lincoln subscribed to the view that “let us believe…that (George) Washington was spotless…it makes human nature better to believe that one human being was perfect”).  When you expect perfection from imperfect people, something will go wrong.

To keep up with the demands of perfection, some rabbis become “religious politicians”, who use their charm and wit to maintain popularity, while losing sight of their ideals. Others, intoxicated with the power of the rabbinate, drink the Kool-Aid and imagine themselves to be God’s gift to humanity. Both forget who they are, their identity distorted by the funhouse mirror of religious authority. Sadly, congregants drink the Kool-Aid as often as the rabbis. Pick up some of the popular rabbinic biographies, and you’ll even see faults being spun as virtues. One rabbi’s lack of involvement with his family is seen as the virtue of devotion to Torah study. Another rabbi’s short temper is considered to be a desire for high standards. A Rebbetzin’s rejection of vaccinations and interest in homeopathic remedies is seen as wise rather than dangerous. And of course, if a rabbi is otherwise respected, his request for “practice dunks” is seen as meticulousness, rather than something bizarre and disturbing.

Rabbis are not God. Too often, rabbis and congregants confuse being a role model with being an angel. This attitude is incredibly unhealthy, and gives license to corruption and superstition.

Actually, one thing I’ve learnt in 25 years in the rabbinate is that I make mistakes, lots of them. There was the time early in my career, when I was all set to give a rip-roaring speech one Shabbat about the beauty of marriage, and had a painful fight with my wife the Friday night before. I learned that preaching is precarious, and that it’s uncomfortable to talk about greatness while you are still mediocre yourself; and I imagine virtually every rabbi, on their own level, struggles with similar issues.

But imperfection doesn’t stop someone from being a role model; on the contrary, it makes them more relatable. Jacob’s wrestling and Judah’s repentance make them two of the Bible’s most significant heroes; Akiva and Reish Lakish become the Talmud’s greatest rabbis, despite their shady backgrounds. The struggling man of repentance who overcomes his frailties is the one who achieves the highest level of human greatness.

The rabbis who have inspired me most are the ones who were willing to admit mistakes, and humbly embraced everyone, no matter who they were. These rabbis greeted everyone warmly, including the neighborhood nuns, and made sure the children from the poorest families were treated with the same respect as everyone else. They were “angels” not because they were perfect, but because they were sincerely devoted to God’s work.  

In the wake of this awful scandal, we should reconsider what we want in a rabbi. Yes, brilliance, charisma and piety are wonderful, but only if grounded first in humility and compassion. Before looking for a spiritual leader who’s an angel, let’s just find one who is a mensch.

     

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz: Holocaust Survivors’ Secret to Happiness

Israel Diary

My diary of this week's visit can be found here.

An Ignorant and Dangerous View of Jewish History

How "Judaism denial" in the pro-Palestinian camp will only undermine any possibility of peace in the future. A new post on my blog at the Times of Israel- click here.

Too Much Holocaust?

My thoughts on the way we remember the Holocaust, the ethics of memory, as well as my own personal transformation regarding Holocaust memory. The article is linked here.

Transformations Happen Before They Occur

Some thoughts on Pesach, and on life. How the real change we see on the outside is preceded by inner changes. The article is linked here.

Something is not quite kosher with the PQ election strategy

My piece in Saturday's Gazette is linked here. (now only linked here)

full text below:

I live in a place where ugly bigotry passes for politics as usual.

Louise Mailloux, the Parti Quebecois’ star candidate for the riding of Gouin, has some harsh things to say about religion. She has compared the practice of baptism and circumcision to rape, a remark not only insulting to Catholics and Jews but also deeply insensitive to rape victims. And while Mailloux’ remarks are offensive to any religious believer, her remarks on kosher food cross over into pure bigotry.

Jews are religiously required to eat kosher food; the rules are laid out in the Bible, where certain animals, birds, fish and bugs, as well as the combination of milk and meat, are forbidden as unkosher. While not all Jews keep the kosher laws, those who do can be pretty particular about their food. Industrial food production techniques make the observance of the kosher laws far more difficult; the consumer has to puzzle over mass produced foods that are made of synthetic mixtures, and wonder what the original raw ingredients were. (Even ordinary consumers are occasionally in for a shock when they learn what really is in their food; for example, in 2012 Starbucks had to drop a bug-based dye used in Frappuccinos due to consumer outcry).  In North America, multiple organizations developed to supervise mass produced food products and insure all ingredients are kosher. They charge companies a fee for the supervision, a fee many companies are happy to pay in order to expand their consumer market. This model of supervision is not exclusive to kosher food; similar organizations certify Gluten Free, Organic and Fair Trade products.

But to Louise Mailloux, something far more sinister has occurred. She has actively promoted a myth called the “Kosher Tax”. She has said that kosher supervision is “a religious tax, and it’s a tax we pay directly to mosques, to synagogues and to religious groups. It’s a theft.” To her, the observance of Kosher laws is a joke, a money making scheme, and has remarked that “Just as the prayers of a priest turn bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, those of the rabbi turn slaughtered chickens, Nestlé Quik and ketchup into thousands of dollars.”. To Mailloux, kosher food supervision is a way of conning non-Jews to pay for Jewish causes, a tax on unsuspecting Quebecois that Jews can use for their own purposes.

Mailloux is not the first in promoting the kosher tax canard; it is a libel that has been spread for the last 40 years by the Klu Klux Klan and anti-Semitic propagandists. It was first offered by the Richard Butler’s Christian Defense League in 1977, in a pamphlet entitled “Kosher Food Racket Costs Consumers $Millions”. The “kosher tax” accusation is attractive to anti-Semites because it implies that Jews are manipulative, money grubbing con men, taking advantage of innocent non-Jews with their phony kosher rules. No doubt Ms. Mailloux, with an advanced degree in philosophy, can understand the implications of her accusations. Yet remarkably enough, Mailloux continues to campaign without having retracted her remarks. Yes, she has offered what could only be termed as non-apology apology; that “she never wanted to offend or hurt anyone,….If that has happened, I very sincerely apologize.” But this so-called apology sounds more like condescension than contrition, a swipe at the “oversensitivity” of her critics; and she has made it clear that she stands 100% by her original remarks. And Pauline Marois has stood by Mailloux, her star candidate, despite these overtly bigoted remarks.

The PQ is now the only major political party in North America to tolerate such bigotry. It has made a deal with the devil, where it hopes identity politics will bring it reelection and even more. So it has proposed a secular charter, claiming that it needs to regulate the use of religious symbols in public institutions because they would undermine the neutrality of the state. Of course, this is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, a piece of obvious demagoguery that the PQ hopes will lead them into the promised land of sovereignty. Pauline Marois cannot pretend that she doesn’t know that this secular charter will appeal most to xenophobes and racists. And in affirming their support for Louise Mailloux and her kosher tax canard, the PQ has taken a stance that David Duke would be proud of.

When medieval Rabbis sought to understand what distinguished kosher and non-kosher livestock, they noted that animals and birds that were kosher were not carnivores, and were gentler. These interpreters theorized that the purpose of the kosher laws was to symbolically separate man from beings that are exploitative and cruel. The kosher distinctions are there to teach a lesson about humanity and dignity.

The PQ is making distinctions as well, but for very different purposes. They are exploiting divisions in Quebec society, marginalizing Jews, Muslims and even Anglophone university students for political gain. Shockingly, the PQ is willing to look away while a star candidate affirms an ugly anti-Semitic canard. It is hard to believe this is happening in 2014.

Perhaps the best way to put it is: there’s something not quite kosher about the PQ’s tactics. And that is unfortunate for all Quebecois, Jew and non-Jew alike.