Bringing faith into contempt
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist January 8, 2006
BY HIS own admission, Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff is a crook. But that isn't the worst that can be said about him.
He defrauded his clients of millions of dollars, bribed public officials, cheated on his tax returns, and deceived lenders to qualify for a loan. But that isn't the worst that can be said about him, either.
He made himself at home in and contributed to the swamp of corruption that fills Washington with its stench. His e-mails to cronies, with messages like ''Can you smell money?!?!?!" and ''I'd love us to get our mitts on that moolah!!" oozed greed and boorishness. Behind their backs, he crudely mocked those who hired him, calling them ''morons," ''monkeys," ''troglodytes," and ''the stupidest idiots in the land." He played fast and loose with what were supposed to be charitable funds. But not even that is the worst that can be said about him.
The worst is that Abramoff is a Jew. Not only a Jew, but an Orthodox Jew -- someone who claims to be committed to strictly observing Jewish law and faithfully adhering to the Torah's ethical standards. But instead of upholding those ethical standards Abramoff trampled on them, and a ''religious" Jew who behaves so corruptly disgraces not only himself but all religious Jews. He brings his faith into contempt. He is guilty of what Jewish tradition calls, with disgust, ''chillul ha-Shem" -- a desecration of God's name.
For me -- also an observant Jew -- that is the worst thing of all.
Honesty in financial dealings is not optional in Judaism; it is mandatory. The Talmud teaches that when a person is brought to judgment in the world-to-come, the first question the heavenly tribunal puts to him is: ''Did you conduct your business affairs in good faith?" A Jew who takes the values of his religion seriously must be scrupulous in his transactions with others. To be sure, even the saintliest people -- not to mention the rest of us -- sometimes fall short of the values they profess. But Abramoff's criminal deeds and sleazy manner are a lot worse than mere lapses in judgment. One who behaves so unethically and illegally drags more than his own reputation through the mud. He is an embarrassment to his religion and his community, and that comes close to being unforgivable.
Far from disguising his Orthodox Jewish identification, Abramoff paraded it publicly, as if that would cleanse his unkosher activities. He produced a violent, expletive-filled movie (1989's ''Red Scorpion"), then turned around and created the Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment. He fired off gross and insulting e-mails, but fastidiously rendered ''God" as ''G-d." (''This is a Jewish tradition," he explained to a reporter for The New York Times, ''to not write out God's name in something that might be destroyed.") As the legal stormclouds gathered over his head, he cloaked himself in piety. His ''political activities, like everything in his life, were informed by his religious beliefs," his spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. ''While he did not always meet the standard of his faith, he certainly aspired to do so."
For his appearance in the US District Court in Washington last Tuesday, Abramoff made a point of wearing a black fedora -- an element of attire that is de rigeur for men in certain Orthodox Jewish circles. But his show of devoutness was lost on those who looked at that black hat, and the black trench coat he also wore, and saw something considerably more sinister.
''He looks like if he would open that raincoat, he's got half a dozen machine guns inside," Newsweek's Howard Fineman commented on MSNBC.
''He looks," replied Chris Matthews, ''like the guy in 'Godfather II' going after Hyman Roth."
Within the Jewish community whose values he so dishonored, there is little sympathy for Abramoff, who is likely to receive a prison sentence of 10 or 11 years. But Jewish tradition also teaches that it is never too late to repent, and that God's hand is always extended to the wrongdoer who is genuinely contrite.
''For all of my remaining days, I will feel tremendous sadness and regret for my conduct and for what I have done," Abramoff told US District Judge Ellen Huvelle last week. ''I only hope that I can merit forgiveness from the Almighty and from those I have wronged or caused to suffer."
By themselves, those words will not undo the damage Jack Abramoff has done. But they make a good start. Right now, that is the best that can be said about him.
Rex Babin, The Sacramento Bee, 1/5/06
*For those who do not know, the black fedora in Orthodox Jewish circles is an ostentatious sign of more frumkeit, a higher level of piety. I see it as akin to wearing broad phylacteries on the street corner -- quintessentially hypocritical when the person showing such ostentatiousness is thoroughly corrupt -- and which the early Christian polemic in Matthew 23:5 hurls against the Pharisees, "For they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge their fringes."
"NORFOLK, Va. Jan 5, 2006 -- Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for 'dividing God's land.'Oy vey.
'God considers this land to be his,' Robertson said on his TV program 'The 700 Club.' 'You read the Bible and he says `This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, `No, this is mine.'' "
Bush Campaign to Give Away Abramoff Donations
WASHINGTON Jan 4, 2006 � President Bush's re-election campaign will give the American Heart Association thousands of dollars in campaign contributions connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the White House said Wednesday, as the government pressed forward with a broad-ranging corruption investigation.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday that Abramoff, his wife and the tribal associates that he helped win influence on Capitol Hill donated thousands to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign. Donations to charities has been the policy in similar situations in the past, McClellan said.
Abramoff raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's 2004 re-election effort, earning the honorary title "pioneer" from the campaign. It was unclear how much exactly the campaign would be giving to charity since McClellan referred questions about the matter to the Republican National Committee, which did not immediately return phone calls about it.
McClellan said Bush does not know Abramoff personally, although it's possible that the two met at holiday receptions. Abramoff attended three Hanukkah receptions at the White House, the spokesman said.
I'm starting a campaign right here to have the White House painted black.
And Jack, Jack, tell me it ain't so. But no, it's not bad enough that you did all those lousy things. You gotta daven in the court room too:
Mr Abramoff reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors - and added his own courtroom repentance, in which he asked for "forgiveness and redemption from the Almighty".
On December 16, along with the rest of America, I learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without getting a warrant from a judge. President Bush underscored his support for this action in his press conference today.I'm glad to see a person of principle stand up for what is right and good. But reality check! Republicans control both houses of congress and the Supreme Court.
On Sunday, December 18, former White House Counsel John Dean and I participated in a public discussion that covered many issues, including this surveillance. Mr. Dean, who was President Nixon's counsel at the time of Watergate, said that President Bush is "the first President to admit to an impeachable offense." Today, Mr. Dean confirmed his statement.
The season has officially started early here, since the White House had its celebration last night, Tuesday, December 6. It really was quite an event, with the kitchen being kashered for the first time for an ALL kosher affair. (Last year there was kosher and non kosher food available). Laura Bush wanted it all kosher, she even supervised the Chabad supervisors! She had a tasting with three kosher caterers and selected one from Philladephia, (hard to believe one caterer told her to come to NJ to taste). There was lots of food... fishes, meat, stuffed cabbage, latkes, salad and suffganiot in the large dessert displays, with large dreydels, etc.The official picture:
[Aren] Maeir, head of the archaeology department at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, told Reuters his excavators found the shard, possibly part of a bowl, about two metres underground at Tell es-Shafi.The dig is described here.
The mound where the dig took place is widely believed to be the site of the ancient city of Gath, which the Bible calls Goliath's hometown.
Now Pat says that the Lord may punish the town. OOH how terrible. What a simplistic fundamentalist theology.
But wait. Isn't this just about the Deuteronomic view of history? Isn't it a prime theme of rabbinic theology. Sin leads to punishment, destruction, suffering, death. Doesn't that make the randomness of world events vanish? Specific sin to specific punishment.
Yes. Yes. And yes. So what is the fuss? I'm just surprised Pat did not specify the exact punishment.
