Rabbis Gone Wild - Tasteless Titillation

There are some topics relating to Judaism that we don't analyze here because they fall into a category that we don't want to cover: Rabbis Gone Wild.

As in the similar sounding DVD series (i.e., Girls Gone Wild, which we have seen advertised on late night TV), the Rabbis Gone Wild series subsumes misbehaving rabbis who flash their commentaries to the media, reveal their law codes to the camera, and expose their responsa for all to see.

No, we won't be covering here the Teaneck Rabbis Gone Wild adventures of the past month wherein the Orthodox religious leaders in New Jersey talk incessantly about the kashrut of a single restaurant and do all kinds of wild and maybe not so kosher stuff out in public. We saw a graphic display of this rabbinic misbehavior in person in our synagogue in Teaneck following services one recent Shabbat. Not our cup of tea for passing the time of day.

And we won't be discussing here the Israeli, and now the American rabbis, who are parading around and showing off their giant responsa, or whipping out their big counter-proclamations about the permissibility of selling your home in Israel to a Gentile. We are amazed to see a wild new blog site that promises even wilder rabbinic antics on this very subject.

Some folks find it entertaining to view the titillating antics of these misbehaving rabbis. Not us.

And some people order Girls Gone Wild DVDs for entertainment to watch young college girls engage in pointless rowdy behavior. Not us.

Who can account for the lack of taste and the thirst for titillation in both our popular and rabbinic cultures?