A short while back it was revealed that a top sociologist of the Jewish community has been sexually harassing women for decades, using his power and status to exploit them. He has since admitted his guilt, apologized and took upon himself a sincere teshuva process to expiate his sins. The skeptic in me asks why this "teshuva" happened only after the stories came out and his career was effectively terminated [at least until a few months pass and people forget about it, as has happened to so many other creepy guys]. Maybe it is because he fears losing his money and power? Maybe. Maybe not.
The comedian in me is encouraged, that since he is married to a rabbi [thankfully, a female one. Not that I think that women should be rabbis, but you catch my drift. Whatta world we live in... I am HAPPY that his spouse, who is a rabbi, is female], she can help him along in the teshuva process. Unless, of course, she divorces him. Which could ALSO be a boon to teshuva. [In a talk he once mentioned that his rebbetzin, oops I mean rabbi she grew up Orthodox and even went to a yeshiva, called "Yeshivat Ramaz". Which would invite the sociological question of how you define the term "Orthodox" and how you define the concept of a "Yeshiva"].
I would like not to talk about what happened but about the lessons.
1] אין אפוטרופוס לעריות. Everybody can slip. Many are liable to make "slipping" a habit. Be vigilant always.
2] We encourage our children to get higher education [B"H we don't encourage them to get high]. If it helps one earn more money or expands one knowledge then, of course, there is value to that. But we must not think for a second that an education makes one a better person. Most of the heads of the Nazi party [not a fun "party" by any stretch of the imagination....] had PhD's. And since the most important thing we should teach our children is to be GOOD and not to be SMART, higher education can't be top priority. This guy's PhD didn't stop him from being super-creepy.
3] This guy lectures and writes quite a bit about the importance of marrying Jewish in order to ensure Jewish continuity. So just because someone is a rasha doesn't mean that everything they say is false. Some are questioning his research about the dangers of assimilation because of the accusations leveled against him. Maybe, they say, he said that people should marry Jewish and have children so that men can continue subjugating women [hey guys - isn't that why we get married??:-). It costs a ton of money, seriously limits our freedom, takes up loooaddss of time we could have spent watching sports but it's WORTH IT so that we can maintain our patriarchal hold on the female gender:-)]. Such a claim reveals ignorance and stupidity. Just because he is a rotten predator doesn't mean that we should marry goyim or encourage women to stay single so that the Jewish people have no continuity, G-d forbid.
4] How come nobody spoke out until now?? The #metoo movement started probably a year or so ago. The lesson is that when you see evil - speak out!! When you see people abusing power - protest. I once protested [as did others] when somebody used his power to abuse people, but alas, others pointed to all of the good he does and that was the end of that. And he continued.... Just because someone does good things doesn't erase acts of mental or physical abuse. Franklin Roosevelt did a lot of good in his terms as President. He also had numerous affairs, and much worse, refused to help the Jews being slaughtered and gassed by the Nazis in Europe or let those who could emigrate to the US. Do we excuse his evil because he improved the economy?
5] Don't be confused by externals. To be a morally depraved individual one need not have long hair, a leather jacket, a motorcycle and a lot of tattoos. There are PLENTY of very well dressed, articulate, well respected people who are in fact foul mouthed, crass, crude, morally degenerate people.
6] This man DIDN'T do what he did because he feared G-d. Fearing G-d is a GREAT deterrent. [People with beards and black hats who act similarly ALSO don't act that way because they fear G-d].
7] Rav Yisrael Salanter said that one can be a good person without mussar. But one can't CHANGE without mussar. Learn mussar:-).
8] As we speak, things like this are going on all over the place. The best place for a Jew is either at home or in shul or the Beis Medrash. As the gemara says "אם פגע בך מנוול זה - משכהו לבית המדרש" - If you chance upon this disgusting guy [i.e. the yetzer hara], drag him to the Beis Medrash". When he sees the Beis Medrash he will have nothing to do there. The problem today is that people carry around machines that feature this מנוול in all of his forms even into the Beis Medrash.
