It was Einstein who said that there are two things which are infinite: Human stupidity and the Universe. And, he added, I am not sure of the second one....
This can often be evidenced by reading comments on the Internet.
The famous Rasha E.B. was found guilty not only by a court of law [after he pleaded guilty] but also by three major Batei Din who spent months investigating the charges. Rabbonim from his own group strongly denounced him long ago. He caused a massive חילול השם with his escapades over the last few years ה' ירחם.
One commenter insisted: It is b/c he doesn't wear a black hat. If he would wear a black hat then the Batei Din would not have branded him a Rasha.
OF COURSE!!! THAT'S IT!!!! Batei Dinim seek out people who don't wear black hats and then publish letters accusing them of being sexual deviants and [possibly] worse. All because they fail to wear a black hat.
Such WISDOM!!!
A "chossid" of this Wacko lives a block away from me and had him come to his house a few months ago. A whole group of his chasidim came along. I struck up a conversation with them and they invited me to go to a shiur that he was giving. I wanted very much to share my opinion of him but alas I feared they would beat me to a pulp, so I uncharacteristically kept my mouth shut.
Well not totally. I asked the Rav of the community to get rid of him but was told that his guilt has not been proven and the Rabbonim are looking into him and his alleged sins. I hope this puts everything to rest.
But it won't.
There is a certain attraction people have to sickos. That explains the success of Scientology, a cult started by L. Ron Hubbard who said that if you want to make big money - start a religion. Tom Cruise and other big-wigs are passionate followers. I read a frightening book about them.
People need leaders and people need religion. The problem is that most people substitute idolatry for the real thing. Many people today believe in what has become the religion of atheism. In the 20th century, millions gave everything for the religion of Communism. Stalin starved and tortured millions yet some people still believe in it. Michael Jordan and other sports icons are types of gods. [One famous sportscaster said about him that there has never been anyone as great in body, mind and soul. Body? OK - not a bad athlete. But MIND? Like he is even above average intelligent? Debatable. SOUL? He is some type of Tzadik? Being able to take off at the foul line and dunking a ball does not a Tzadik make. Avoda Zara]. Some people swear on Trump. Others believe in Biden. It is really pathetic. There are approximately 4,300 official religions world wide. The reason we Jews believe we are right is beyond the scope of this post but we have written and spoken about it extensively. [Here is a great resource for the doubting and searching that deals with biblical criticism, modern science and other heavy topics.] My point is that man has a deep existential need to find meaning in his or her life and usually finds it in the wrong places. A billion seemingly rational people believe that G-d impregnated a virgin. This story was based on earlier Roman, Egyptian and Chinese myths. People will believe anything and anybody if they have enough motivation. [The motivation of the masses to accept Christianity was usually not the "strong" theological argument but rather men on horses Crusading from city to city threatening to chop people's heads off if they don't convert. The people found that to be a very convincing argument]. There is quite a bit of superstition in our contemporary Jewish world where people believe strongly in things that our tradition doesn't teach [or teaches against], as there was already in the time of the Gemara [those learning Daf Yomi have seen this recently]. The Rabbis didn't like it but you can't change the masses.
My plea to anyone reading is to stay away from following bad people even if they happen to be charismatic. If they don't believe in עיקרי האמונה or have been shown to sexually or emotionally abuse or are guilty of other serious sins [a common one - dishonesty in financial matters], then they must be distanced - socially and otherwise.
ואכמ"ל.
