The engaged couple, Michal Franck & Yoni Rubin I hope and expect that this will be my final post about the recent outrage caused throughout Australia as a result of the actions of a segment within the Jewish community. I would like to clarify a few points:
Click here to read the excellent relevant opinion piece written by my brother, Rabbi Shneur Reti-Waks.
- I thought long and hard about whether to publish my Facebook post regarding the illegal engagement party (with the video) and the Minyanim (prayer groups) and, in hindsight, I fully stand behind my decision to do so, albeit well after the media had got hold of it.
- There are small segments in the Jewish community who have a view of the world that the law does not apply to them. These people seem to be over-represented within ultra-Orthodox circles where this attitude is a cultural issue. This often results in poor actions of members of their community bringing shame on the entire community. Whenever this happens, the Jewish communal leadership prefers unity and having to beg the media not to paint us all with the same brush over holding them to account. This hasn’t been the first scandal from that part of the community and, unfortunately, won’t be the last.
- It's hypocritical and unrealistic to now call on the community to unite as we deal with the fallout caused by those who refused to abide by the same restrictions as the rest of us. We have been badly let down by our own. This is not a case where we should unite in solidarity, as it would be if there was an external threat facing us. We should be united in condemning the conduct which created this situation and distancing ourselves from those actions. Where were the calls from communal leaders on the front page of The Australian Jewish News in recent weeks to unite in compliance with Covid restrictions when it was well known that there were large pockets within the ultra-Orthodox community not complying with restrictions? Where was the communal and Rabbinic leadership going to the ultra-Orthodox community and warning of the Chillul Hashem (desecration of God’s name) that would come if they were caught breaking the laws designed to protect them en-masse? It has been well known for many months that misinformation about fake cures were being promulgated by some in the ultra-Orthodox leadership, mask wearing and QR code check-ins were mocked and illegal gatherings were happening. The communal leadership turned a blind eye for the sake of some misguided vision of unity and now the entire community pays the price.
- It’s distressing and unacceptable that the hosts of the engagement party and our community have been targeted by anti-semites. Jews don’t cause anti-semitism, anti-semites do. Yet Judaism acknowledges that the bad actions of Jews leads to animosity to all of us and it was a clearly foreseeable consequence of their actions. This is why the avoidance of Chillul Hashem comes before all else, as does the concept of “eivah” (the requirement to break a Torah commandment rather than create animosity towards the community). First and foremost, it is the community who are the innocent victims here. It is difficult to sympathise with the mother of the groom who complained of people being “mean” in media reports.
- It’s important to note that there has still been no apology to the Jewish community for the harm they have caused or to the broader community for the livelihoods and possibly lives they have affected. Clearly, they will pay a heavy financial price - that comes from the authorities. A community only improves by holding to account those whose behaviour falls so short of standards; that is our responsibility. It is questionable whether they will feel the sense of shame that most people in their circumstances would, given they live in a community where so many others who have disgraced themselves continue to be held in high esteem (i.e. rabbis and others who covered up child sexual abuse and intimidated victims). Many are rightly questioning why they are also above an apology, particularly in the month of Elul which supposedly has significance for them. Forgiveness is usually preceded by remorse and contrition - let’s see that before we talk of forgiveness.
- It’s unfortunate that those who attended the Minyanim have not yet been held to account. It is widely known (and has been reported) that there were some prominent ultra-Orthodox members and rabbis present.
- Some have sought to minimise their conduct, qualifying legitimate criticism of their conduct with a reminder that nobody’s perfect and we have all broken rules. This is absolutely inappropriate. The Premier (who has been incredibly kind to the Jewish community in recent days) described this as ‘uniquely bad’. That’s what it is. There are degrees of bad. People who break rules by speeding are not grouped with people who break rules by murdering, simply because they all break rules.
- We can multi-task. Some have called for us to focus on our own failings at this time. We can also do that while expressing utter disgust at the behaviour.
- Some have decided that the community must leave them alone and move on and have cast aspersions on those whose anger and frustration don’t allow them to do that yet. People are entitled to express their emotions. Not hate, but anger, disgust, disappointment and the like are certainly reasonable.
- Some have the audacity to attribute blame for this situation on whoever it was (apparently many people) who shared the offending video to the media. It is they who are alleged to have caused this wave of anti-semitism directed at the community. This is something I have heard and experienced far too many times. It is abhorrent. It comes from the same people who have doubts about reporting on other Jews in any situation where they have acted illegally or grossly immorally. The source of the Chillul Hashem is the people who offend in the first place.
- When people repeatedly bring shame on their community and are not held to account, and when a part of our community has no leadership, we find ourselves in this cycle where every few years we are on the front page of the newspapers because of them. Indeed, the current situation is similar in so many respects to the collective shame our community felt at the time of the Royal Commission. Enough is enough. Let’s address as a community why this keeps happening from the same sources.
- It has become a natural extension of my experience and work that I have become familiar with illegal and immoral behaviour of individuals within the context of an institution or community. While acknowledging that there are many ultra-Orthodox people who shouldn’t be tarred with the same brush and comply with Covid restrictions and the laws of the land in general, the behaviour of the individuals attending the engagement party and Minyanim has not occurred in a vacuum. It occurs against an entrenched backdrop of unaccountability for bad behaviour and an attitude of superiority and disregard for the law. This is what causes individuals to laugh and mock while flouting the same laws which have caused so much hardship for the majority who mostly, if not totally, abide by them. I will not stand idly by while my community is betrayed and let down again. I will continue to work for change in my community. While some will criticise this as negative, it is necessary if we don’t want to keep finding ourselves in this position.
Click here to read the excellent relevant opinion piece written by my brother, Rabbi Shneur Reti-Waks.
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