New York – Orthodox Rabbis Begin To Take Responsibility for Arrests and Scandals

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    New York – A “wake up call” is how a number of ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders are describing the arrest last week of several New York-area rabbis on federal money laundering charges.

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    The clearest indication of the newly awakened state came in a symposium on business ethics held in the middle of ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn just a few days after the arrests. Rabbi David Zweibel, the head of the main ultra-Orthodox umbrella organization, Agudath Israel, said that the event had not been on the schedule a week earlier. But the money-laundering arrests reminded him and other leaders that the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, community was facing problems caused by the community’s famous insularity.

    “There are a lot of benefits of insulating oneself from the broader culture around us, as we do,” Zweibel told the Forward. “But one of the costs of insularity is perhaps a lack of appreciation of the importance of compliance with secular law. That is a message that is important for people to hear.”

    The arrests primarily hit members of the Syrian Jewish community, some of whom are ultra-Orthodox and some who are not. But Haredi Jews outside the Syrian community were also arrested, and the broad nature of the arrests have clearly hit home. The event was being hosted in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, at the crossroads of many Haredi communities. The flier that went out advertising the event, said it was “of utmost urgency that every individual in the community attend,” though it specified that it was “for men only.”

    Zweibel was not the only Haredi leader willing to assign some of the blame for the recent scandal on the Haredi culture. An editorial on the leading Haredi Web site, Voz Iz Neias, put the matter in strong terms. “The fault may partially lie with us and our system of education,” the editorial writer, Rabbi Yair Hoffman, wrote in his July 27 post.

    This willingness to look inward has come as a surprise to some long-time watchers. Rabbi Asher Lopatin, a modern Orthodox rabbi in Chicago, has been critical of that culture after past controversies involving Haredi community members, and each time he came to expect the same response.

    “These guys would basically say, ‘The world is anti-Semitic and we have to look out for our own interest,’” Lopatin told the Forward.

    During the past week, however, Lopatin says he has seen a new self-reflection among a group of Haredi leaders who have begun to recognize that the ultra-Orthodox world may shoulder some of the blame for the problems.

    “There’s a little bit of self awareness that we have not seen before, and that’s exciting. I was expecting business as usual,” Lopatin said.

    One reason given for the bout of introspection was the timing of the money-laundering arrests during the nine days that precede Tisha B’Av – a holiday commemorating the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and other historical calamities. The days before Tisha B’Av are traditionally dedicated to contemplation and self-reflection.

    But the arrests also come in the wake of a string of embarrassing controversies for the ultra-Orthodox. Last year, the Haredi owners of the kosher meat company Agriprocessors were arrested for bank fraud and immigration violations after the company was the subject of a massive immigration raid. A few months earlier, the Grand Rabbi of the Spinka Haredi sect was arrested in a separate money laundering case.

    More recently, the ultra-Orthodox world was rived by a series of riots in Jerusalem that pitted Haredi youth against the Israeli police. An entry on the Web site Cross-Currents, which features a number of Haredi writers, summed up the burgeoning sense of shame. “It has been an awful week, and an awful few months, and that places growing obligation on us to change the direction,” Daniel Feldman, a rabbi at Yeshiva University wrote in his July 28 post.

    Certainly, not all Haredi authorities have joined this chorus of self-criticism, particularly in Israel. The editor of a Haredi newspaper connected with the Shas political party, Yom Le’Yom, struck a familiar note when he told the Jerusalem Post that the money laundering case was primarily a result of antisemitism – not of any wrong-doing by the rabbis.

    “Regardless of the details of the case, I am not familiar with the precise charges and the evidence, you would never see the FBI and police behaving that way with Muslim sheikhs or Christian priests,” the editor, Yitzhak Kakun told the Post. “It is so obvious that the whole thing is motivated by anti-Semitism.”

    Many observers of the Haredi world also say that during the Sabbath after the arrests, many Haredi rabbis placed much of the blame for the situation not on the behavior of the arrested men, bur rather on the Jewish businessman who served as an informant for the government, Solomon Dwek. Harry Maryles, a modern Orthodox blogger in Chicago who has been a frequent critic of the Haredi world, wrote that “those who continue to complain about [Dwek] and say nothing about these criminal rabbis once again show just how pervasive is the idea that what these rabbis did wasn’t all that bad. What WAS too bad is that they were caught.”

    Rabbi Yair Hoffman, the writer of the editorial on Voz Iz Neias, said that one of the main things that the Haredi world needs change is an antagonistic relationship with the secular world that has been conditioned by years as the scapegoat.

    “We’ve got to reconceive our relationship to the country we’re in,” Hoffman, a rabbi on Long Island, told the Forward. “This is a beautiful country – its laws are proper laws that are designed to help its citizenry, and we’re not dealing with a situation where Jews are necessarily the underdog — a situation that at times can contribute to a mindset of, ‘Let’s not necessarily observe the law.’

    “People are starting to feel that this stuff is not right,” Lopatin added. “In the past, it was all about getting cheap meat and looking out for ourselves. I think it’s permeating the Haredi world that it’s not right to cheat the government


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    70 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The issue is not lack of appreciation for secular law; issue is lack of appreciation for anything non-jewish, full stop.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Why was this program only open to men? Why discriminate against women? For disclosure purposes, I am orthodox, but not ultra-orthodox so maybe I am missing something. Is there a prohibition against women attending these sorts of events?

    MDshweks
    MDshweks
    14 years ago

    It’s very very important to act quickly and make CLEAR RULES as to what is a community to do with criminals, and what’s to be doen with someone (Rav, President etc.) who allows criminals to enjoy full communal cover. [they can’t sit on the podium of Siyum HaShas ‘vi sheine yidden’.]

    It’s a tremendeous Chilul Hashem that the Halacha of not being ‘Moiser’ turned into a full cover and endorsment of entire communities.

    However, we all know that it’s very dificult to draw the lines of these rules. But something has to be doen FAST – and reported in the local papers.

    Reb Yid
    Reb Yid
    14 years ago

    It is an insult to the wider community to blaim laundering on an “insular community set up”, Madof was not insular and still managed not to appreciate secular society. We are not stupid nor nieve. When our people do stuff they do it with full brain capacity.
    Denial of the event that transpired is rediculous. We must face the fact that we are a society in which people will unfortunately be fallible. There are trully only few Tzadikim and stupidity is not an excuse to be careless with the Law. We are only Malachim on Yom kippur, other than then, we should educate our children using this blundering example, not shy away from real life.

    sam
    sam
    14 years ago

    I am wondering y this is in boro park? Probably it is easier to blame the chasidim then the regular orthodox jew y not make in flatbush or the five towns?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Bravo # 3 and #4 , it is an unfortunate reality that when Enron collapsed and the myriad of scandals since, no-one ever brought up race or ethnicity but as soon a Jew is caught it becomes an issue. Instead of being apologetic for our lifestyle we should reinforce the positive which includes generosity, chesed, productivity, almost a non existence of violent or blue-collar crime. When someone in the fold is caught doing a crime he should be so excoriated and denounced that people would be afraid of the community backlash and keep away from such shenanigans.

    By the way, had Dreck been cast out of our society, he would not have been able to entrap anyone else.

    PMO
    PMO
    14 years ago

    I hope this is all true. I hope our leaders really are going to take a good, hard look at where we are today and how we got here.

    Moiser is a terrible thing. Nobody should be arbitrarily turning their neighbors in. However, that does not mean we are required to provide cover, lie for them, commit fraud for them, or anything else. Our children learn from our examples. Look at the path we have set them on. We can still make it right with help from H”.

    Loshon Hora
    Loshon Hora
    14 years ago

    Here we go again. The apikorsim of the Fowards why do we recognize them even?
    I guess as internet blogger I myself need some wake-up call.Nothing internet could be too kosher I see.

    formally
    formally
    14 years ago

    I hope this meeting does not emphasize and say we have to stop this because it causes a chillel Hasem. Thy should say clearly, it should not be done since it is wrong and maybe stealing. Is that so hard for them to say

    By using chillel Hasem, the rabonim are saying, the only reason that is bad is that you might be caught but otherwise it is ok and not an Avara.

    chillel Hasem should be used in actions that are legal but still should not be done. Or other actions maybe littering it is not an Avera but causes a chillel Hasem.

    anon
    anon
    14 years ago

    Vi’asisa hayashar vi’hatov. what does this mean? please translate

    Plain Jew
    Plain Jew
    14 years ago

    I find the broad stroke of this article particularly irking. You get a feeling of smugness and of self-righteousness emanating from many in the MO communities. This reflexive and automatic trend to condescendingly judge an entire community is nauseating. That which the MO community accuses the the ‘Haredi’ commuity, they do themselves: Exhibit a holier than thou attitude.

    I am sick and tired of it, and I don’t even consider myself Haredi.

    The laissez-fair attitude towards financial ethics is a Jewish problem, not a Haredi one.But by their public pronouncement of their faith, the Haredis may be held to a higher standard than most Jews, hence the cries of anti-semitism. But while I do not believe that these investigations are motivated by anti-semitism, the sometimes less-than-scupulous behaviors by some CAN be explained by anti-semitism.

    Let me explain and this not a defense or an excuse – just a study of the isssue:
    For nearly two thousand years, the Jewish people have been severely persecuted and hunted down. The Poritz, the galach, the government and the laws of the land, with its impossible taxation etc, meant that the only way for survival was to beat the system; to have a “yiddishe kop”. Not to, meant death. After two thousand years, this survival instinct is ingrained in our psyche and it takes effort to realize that: “Hey, we dont need to do this anymore – we can follow the law and not only survive – we can thrive!!”

    Ingrained in us is mistrust for the goyim, for the police and government. It will take time – for us to heal from 2,000 years of persecution. Some of us rid ourselves of these bad survival habits, and some did not.

    We do need to re-educate, to explain and to inculcate the new generations to shed this inherent mistrust and ‘dreying’ , and to that end, we bear full responsibility to ensure that we stop the perpetuation of these behaviors. Nevertheless, and this is not to justify it- the ROOT cause of this behaviour IS the persecution that we suffered as a people. . In this same way that there are bad behavior patterns amongst segments of the African American community due to slavery – the same is true for the Jewish one.

    So let’s stop the name calling, the tarring of an entire community, and lets understand and face our fears and re-educate the new generations that we can and are obligated to do better.

    But, please, no more sermons from the MO about ‘cheap meat’ and al the rest, which, even to my non-Haredi ears, sounds alot like anti-Haredism, if not anti-semitism. Enough!

    ploiderer
    ploiderer
    14 years ago

    We’ve had many wakeup calls. The problem is that we press the snooze button. Remember, there is no forgiveness for a chillul hashem

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Gotta love it when Agudath Israel, that has no presence in boro park is organizing this event, gotta teach those chasiddim how not to make a chilul hashem.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Kol Hakavod to Spinka Rebbe for his drosho by this event.

    I would ask VIN to translate and post the entire drosho, as it was a sincere and heart-breaking admission and apology, as well as a call to the public to learn from his mosdos’ hard lesson, and to establish compliance boards in all mosdos hatzibur.

    m.b.
    m.b.
    14 years ago

    i would hope that central message of this ‘rally’ would be to send the folowing message: we yidden are an am kodosh bnai kl choi and no anti semite fbi thug ,us judge ,media ,etc is qualified to pass judgement on the simple one of us! there is much more honesty ,ethics,charity, kindness,emunah,etc in our criminals[mosrim excluded] than any member of the fbi team who are using & abusing their position of authority to destroy whoever they please! who gives these thugs the right to embarass a elected offical before he convicted of any crime ? what is the legal,financial , & social recourse granted to defandant who will be acquited? will this fbi [kgb] thug call a national press conference to publicly appoligise to an innocent person ,pay his legal bills,etc? who made these laws anway lets examine these legislators one by one , life styles, etc they are non entities for an am kodosh ! all this notwithstanding , we are in golus & most avoid negative spotlighting at all cost even when our illegalities towers well above their of law
    but to have them & yes their jewish cohorts judge & moralise to us no way!

    A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have...
    A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have...
    14 years ago

    Nathan Pooper will go out of his way at any time any day to find fault with the “frum” people. I dont know what his problem is and I really dont care. All I want to know is why he didnt label all the non-frum as cheats etc., when Madoff was arrested???

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    or bec bp is the only place they’d get away with making this event for men only. I was wondering about that ommision too

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Plain Jew makes some very interesting observations. The more insular a community is, the harder it is to shed these shtetl ways of thinking about the government and fellow citizens. If non-jews and non-frum jews are not your friends, neighbors and colleagues, it is harder to overcome ingrained views about secular governments and gentiles all being bad, antisemitic, etc. (like many were in Europe). If you do have some contact with others but you yourself aren’t warm and friendly (because you are taught not to trust others or to mingle with them), then that’s also what you will see back.
    The schools and rabbis have a responsibility to act affirmatively to overcome these ways of thinking if they still exist.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    These kinds of symposiums are being given for the past few years in BP, cuz the Boro Park community leaders are organizing it, ad they care for their people, it helps a lot, it educates and gets the heimishe people (cahssidish and litvish) familiar with law and with what’s happenning in the big world.

    Emes
    Emes
    14 years ago

    Maybe we should “all” get off our high horses and realize that HKB”H wants us to do Teshuva – each and everyone of us on our own level. This is a lesson that is affecting the entire Torah society – MO or Chareidi – this for one thing should be a call for more Ahavas Yisrael – even for those that commit chillul hashem – they are not reshaim – if they were then it maybe mutar to hate them – but they are not. They are yidden who have made a terrible mistake – or not – we’ll find out in Olam Habaa. And if my ramblings are not enough for you, just read the properly tomorrow night – realize that we are still playing the blame game and not accepting responsibility for our actions as a nation. Hashem wants us to take achrayus for our actions and that’s why it’s amazing that our leadership are finally speaking up in a tone of understanding our mistakes. Don’t criticize our leaders. Hearken – wake up. Hashem wants to be pro-active – not reactive.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Blame and blame again.. there is nobody to blame. no group or community is based on tax evasion or money laundering.
    It didn’t happen that some people were allegedly caught doing such activity (no matter the circumstances), so the arrests itself is a big massive lesson and wake up call if anybody will still be put to such a nisoyon in the future, and a lecture explaining a bit more of law is definitely a positive move of prevention of misdeeds.

    GROW UP!
    GROW UP!
    14 years ago

    I am 15 years old which may seem very young to all of you, but that’s old enough to realize that you never know what is going on behind closed doors. Just be thankful that you are not in this situation. Instead of telling others about their chilull hashem you should start working on your kiddush hashem. Ahavas Yisroel is the most important thing and it’s extremely sad that I see what you ellders don’t. So when you wake up in the morning why don’t you thank god for all that he has given you because afterall it could be you.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Speaking of “self awareness” can Rabbi Lopatin please explain the term “Modern Orthodox” and how does it differ from conservative and reform?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    When two great rabbonim such as Rav Hoffman and Rav Lopatin, Shlita agree on the need for fundamental change within Chareidi community, they really will have to take these issues seriously.

    Its time for the Chareidim to follow the lead of the MO community.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The UJO of Williamsburg gives free business seminars every other month, where big lawyers and accountants come down give lectures how to conduct business in legal and perfect manner, and not to run into problems.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    To all of you who don’t live in Boro Park & might not be aware: These symposiums have been held at the same hall in Boro Park in the past several years already. Though last year if I remember correctly there wasn’t such an event in Boro Park. In more recent years there were such events held in Williamsburg too. The turnout each year at these symposiums were huge. Most of the speakers today have spoken already more then once in prior years’ symposiums including Rabbi Zwiebel, Benjamin Brafman Esq., and Jacob Laufer Esq. Understandably the recent events and it’s ramafications & lessons were the main topic tonight, but it’s simply not true what this writer claims that this was a wake up only after last week’s arrests. He should have checked his facts first.

    Jersey Yid
    Jersey Yid
    14 years ago

    Why all the talk about being insular and lack of appreciatino of secular law. How about lack of appreciation for Torah law. Last I checked stealing was still an avierah, as was swearing falsely, as in signing false affidavits and tax returns, welfare applications, not paying sales tax, etc (midvar sheker tirchak). I think it is shameful that this is apolgeticaly described as a by product of being insular. Let’s call it for what it is, stealing. Plain and simple petty ganovim.

    moshe
    moshe
    14 years ago

    Look, I’m definitely gonna have a lot of fun making fun of the wildly divergent speakers at the asifa but all in all, not only was it totally cool but it was damn inspiring, touching and even educational (I mean ‘scary’). I thought I’d be there mostly in a sociological mindframe but I gotta say (though many aspects of it were certainly weird – including the guy in khakis and blue polo shirt a.k.a. me) I found myself enriched by this communal get together and even went back to wondering whether I could rejoin the community and partake in all of the communal, emotional, possibly-spiritual and intellectual pleasures without giving up my mind-to-mouth freedom of critical thought/speech. (I unfortunately know the answer to that, but events like this get-together make me sad about that answer.)

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    While there is plenty of the message of this article that is worthy and accurate, I agree with several of the commenters that there is strong reason to dismiss the messenger. The publication that printed this addresses the issue in a manner which is clearly focused on degrading frum Yidden. My response is, “Shame on you!” Yes, there have been more incidents that are chilul Hashem, but “Af al pi shechotoh Yisrael hu”. Here’s another quote the Forward, JW, or others of the same ilk would never print in their discussions on frum Yidden – even the lowest Yid is full of mitzvos. There is no community on the planet that has as much chesed as we do. You want to challenge the honesty of the dollars? Let’s address just chesed that involves personal sacrifice for others. Shall we name names? We are all aware of some of it, and when we give it a moment’s thought, we are impressed. There is much, much more. There is plenty of room for improvement. While we have egg on our faces now, we still have tons of mitzvos in our favor. We need the mussar and guidance from our chachomim. But the broad brush that this publication and a few others seek to use to paint the community of shomrei mitzvos as scoundrels that ignore laws and ethics is simply untrue. Again, to these anti-orthodox media, I say one thing: “Shame on you!”

    Dr. E
    Dr. E
    14 years ago

    I think that the exclusion of women at this event is a significant zohch. If women in the Chareidi community had a reasonable acumen about financial realities, they would be able to counterbalance some of the overambition and financial greed of their husbands. They could say something like “Yossele, maybe it’s not nice to cheat the government by leasing a Lexus SUV when we receive Food Stamps and WIC” or “Berel, I learned is seminary that pulling a gun on an Ani to extort a kidney might not be proper Derech Eretz.” Right now, all many Heimishe women know is how to do is spend that they think has been thrown their way on sheitels, Shabbos robes, take-out from Pomegranate, and summers in the bungalow. They are not privy to how all this this money is obtained. Don’t ask, don’t tell. They are certainly not privy to all the hondling and hock that takes place at the tables in the shteibel during laining where many guys discuss their latest “accomplishments” in the financial world, either legal or not. As a result, the women live in separate worlds from their husbands and cannot be the “checks and balances” against illegal behavior (do they really know or care what goes on during the two months of the summer when they are sitting around the kiddie pool at the bungalow colonies?). I would guess that the wives of most of the indicted individuals unfortunately fall into this category of living separate lives. They are probably less complicit than they are clueless. Just as long as their husbands are respected in the community, all is good. If they were a bit more educated in the concept of dina ‘d’malchusa dina” and where all of their money is coming from, that might help in this regard.

    So, I say, that the Agideh should set up a vibershe-shul at this asifeh to accomodate the women who are out at the Monticello Walmart! (I hope Rabbi Zweibel now reads VIN now that the new editorial takanas have been implemented.)

    Torah Truth
    Torah Truth
    14 years ago

    It’s about time! We as a Chareidi community, one that I consider myself part of, need to do a real Cheshbon HaNefesh, an introspective look at who we are. We have become a community that has lost its way when it comes to honesty. Plain simple honesty. Yashrus. It is as if nobody knows what the word means anymore. Illegal basements, cash business, money laundering, and so much more that I dare not express openly. What has happened??? All with a drei and a Lumdus of how it is not Assur, after all it is Gezel Akkum, or there is no Dina Dimalchusa, my Rav said its Muttar. Maybe it is Muttar Al Pi Halacha, but is it Yashor? Ali pi Halacha it is probably Muttar for a girl to wear a colorful and tight fitting outfit but is it Yashor? We are so Machmir on Hilchos Tznius and B”H we are, but when it comes to Gezel it is a free for all… what has happened to us? Yes, we are measured on a higher standard and so we should be. We call ourselves a Mamleches Kohanim but do we (myself included) act like one? If we don’t want to live up to the standard then don’t portray ourselves to the outside world like we do. If we dress like B’nai Torah then we have a responsibility to act like B’nei Torah! If someone dresses like a Chassid (pious person) then act like a Chassid! The fact that Milken or Madoff are also crooks has no relevance, they don’t wear their religion on their sleeve, head, legs and everywhere else… we do. When someone came to Rav Yaakov ZT”L and asked him if something that was permitted that was not so straight, Rav Yaakov said that the Luchos were written so they could be read from both sides, “Any way you look at it, it says Lo Signov”. As Rav Breuer ZT”L would say, not just Glatt Kosher, but Glatt Yosher… LET”S WAKE UP FIX WHAT IS BROKEN and stop blaming others for pointing it out!

    daas tora
    daas tora
    14 years ago

    sorry guys, I really don’t see the big chilul Hashem here. In my eyes the “kiddish Hashem” is huge. Out of 50,000 yidden living in Rockland County , only 1 couple and 2 israeli’s are ganovim. That means that the vast majority of frum yidden are law abiding citizens who respect the law of the land.
    Way to go frummies!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The UJO of Williamsburg gives free business seminars every other month, where big lawyers and accountants come down give lectures how to conduct business in legal and perfect manner, and not to run into problems.

    Elections Have Consequences
    Elections Have Consequences
    14 years ago

    I don’t understand why the Agudah bothers talking to Poopper & The Forward. Has the rag in question EVER given a fair shake to frum people?? I never saw it.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Hope this whole ordeal should atleast bring more achdus between us, MO, Litvish Chassidish, or ultra frum.

    Damage Control
    Damage Control
    14 years ago

    I want to bring to everyone’s attention a comment made by Curtis Sliwa Tues night on WABC at the end of the 9:00 hour. He said (not verbatim) You all (Syrian Jews) should go back to Syria, and let’s see how Bashir Assad treats you.” This is totally unacceptable and we must protest. It’s like saying Go back to Germany and the gas chambers and see how Hitler will treat you. I’m asking everyone to apply pressure to him and the station to be held accountable for this anti-Semitic remark. The Program Director’s email is [email protected]. But please be respectful and don’t cause more Chillul Hashem.
    Please forward this to other sites and blogs so we can make a united and loud statement.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Hope this whole ordeal should atleast bring more achdus between us, MO, Litvish Chassidish, or ultra frum.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Hope this whole ordeal should atleast bring more achdus between us, MO, Litvish Chassidish, or ultra frum.

    tzoorba
    tzoorba
    14 years ago

    The last place in the world that I want to take mussar from is the anti Religious Forward which takes its legacy from the Yiddish Communist anti religious forvartz.

    They certainly have no ethical standard of any value and certainly not one that should be of any interest to shomrei Torah.

    If we have shortcomings, they should be addressed within our own Torah based system. The recent events are being addressed by various asifas and shmuzen among all our groups.

    Torah is emes and we believe in emes. Therefore, even though violating the law is wrong, this does not take away from the anti Semitism displayed by certain government groups and their blowing certain crimes out of proportion.

    We always try to fix even the most minor things, but truth requires making an honest evaluation of what transpired, neither diminishing it nor exagerating it.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    >Enron collapsed and the myriad of scandals since, no-one ever brought up race or ethnicity but as soon a Jew is caught it becomes an issue< One of their Big Three [Andrew Fastow] who went to jail was from 'unzerer'. An ex-Navy guy I worked with told me that when people see a group all dressed the same (i.e. Chassidim), it’s only natural that they all be judged as one person, much like the residents of Newport News in VA used to have signs on their lawns asking (all) sailors to stay away (because of a few bad eggs). So don’t be so quick to scream, “Anteeeee-Seemite!!”.