The rabbi at the mikveh spying on the women.
Really, who could even make this up? And frankly, it makes one sick to write about it. But write about it we must because otherwise the voyeurs and molesters and their ilk get away with it. There is nothing better than silence to encourage rabbinic criminals or perverts. The light must be shined upon them, distasteful as this surely is.
No doubt, the rabbinic criminals are a tiny minority amidst the vast majority of dedicated, usually overworked, often underappreciated rabbis among us. In virtually every other profession or job one has some choice, often a lot of choice, in who one deals with. Not so in the rabbinic field. Rabbis must be there for everyone, and often in their most difficult moments. Rabbis are not saluted enough as the heroes they are.
That said, one cannot ignore the fact that, to our knowledge, not a single rabbi in recent times has been accused of spying in the mikveh, as Rabbi Barry Freundel of Washington, DC, now stands accused; not a single rabbi in recent times has admitted to spending decades using a pseudonym to praise his own works in fraudulent communications to editors and others, as Rabbi Michael Broyde of Atlanta has admitted; not to mention the convicted rabbinical sex offenders and financial criminals who seem to pop up with distressing frequency, their exploits damning the good name of the Jewish people.
The above referenced violators of their spiritual mission are Orthodox rabbis; and, no doubt, something in Orthodox Jewish life, or, at the very least, in Orthodox rabbinic training and practice, needs scrutiny and reevaluation. And yet, alas, we can point to the Reform rabbinic murderers and other non-Orthodox rabbis to learn that something about the rabbinic profession can attract, condone or nurture behavior the exact opposite of what rabbis are supposed to embody.
It seems too easy to chalk up the bad behavior to the pressures of an increasingly technocratic society that, for all its benefits, also robs many of their privacy, their confidence and their capacity to sustain personal relationships. It is also too easy to chalk all this up to the imbalance in the rabbinic-congregant relationship in many contexts. That is in the nature of the field. The only safeguard against its abuse is in the training — and continuing education — of the rabbi in his personal spirituality and moral discipline (middot).
It is worthy of note that the Orthodox Union’s youth organization, which was blindsided by a sex abuse scandal more than a decade ago, took extensive steps to tighten up its procedures with a genuine eye toward protecting the children and young adults they deal with.
The increased sensitivity and concrete response has characterized many other national Jewish youth organizations. Yet, the continuing revelations of the likes of mikveh spying and infrequent — meaning, too frequent — rabbinic abuse of power and confidentiality in counseling and conversion contexts show that the problem of rabbinic violations, for all the genuine progress that has been made, needs greater attention, correction and, above all, awareness by even the best of rabbis of the potential pitfalls of their noble profession.
This is an absolute necessity for the victims and potential victims, and for the good name and indispensable work of the great majority of rabbis. Their work is too important to be tainted or threatened by the degrading behavior of the few. Rabbinate, perfect thyself!
Copyright © 2014 by the Intermountain Jewish News
