THE RECENT RABBINIC SCANDAL

The UTJ has issued the following statement re the recent spate of arrests of rabbis in the Metro NYC area:

“The Union for Traditional Judaism and its rabbinic arm, Morashah, the Rabbininc Fellowship of the UTJ, stand in shock and sadness at the crimes allegedly committed by a number of rabbis arrested on July 23, 2009. We do not know if they are guilty or innocent but the charges remind us that every Jew is expected to be of the highest moral fiber as demanded by our Torah and tradition. It is indeed demoralizing to us and our children, when rabbinic leadership appears to have failed in such a flagrant way.
The law of the land is the law and those who breach that law are held accountable. If rabbis have been involved in such breaking of the law, we have the confidence in the legal system to deal with it properly. If they are innocent, likewise we trust the law to exonerate them. In our Halakhic (Jewish legal) system, for those who truly live by it, the ends could not justify the means.
These days are what have been traditionally called the bein hametzarim, the sad days that lead up to the commemoration of the destruction of our sacred Temple in Jerusalem so many years ago on the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. Among the reasons given for that tragedy, was the selfishness of people. We pray that those who may have sinned so grievously will repent and that this disgrace to our community will be erased by the good works of those who will again make us proud. May it be our will, as well as God’s, that this be so.”