There is a tendency to lionize figures after their deaths. People who were ordinary at best are transformed into complete Tzadikim after their deaths. [אחרי מות קדושים אמור].
Take JFK as an example [the person - not the airport]. Anybody who knows the details of his personal life, knows that he was far from a Tzadik but since his assassination, he is considered one of the greatest Presidents and people ever. He had the Secret Service stand guard while he conducted his "personal affairs" in the White House.
Or a more recent example - the late great Kobe Bryant zecher tzadik vi-kadosh livracha. When he was alive, he was just a jock, a ballplayer. After he died he became a Tzadik, devoted family man, philosopher, saint. He really wasn't - w/o going into detail.
Or take this article for example.
Larry "Lebiel Zeiger" King was not all bad. Almost nobody is. But it should be made clear that such people are, in the eyes of the Torah, evil.
He was an atheist. The Rambam writes that such a person OUT of the Jewish people, forfeits his portion in the world to come and something else I won't write for concern of who might read this. But not positive. Any mitzva such a person doesn't count b/c one has to believe in G-d order for his mitzvos to count [we have written about this on these pages in the past and provided sources. We also have spoken abt. it in our shiurim]. Judaism accepts sinners. Not complete heretics.
If one says that he was a תינוק שנשבה - his parents were Orthodox Jews.
What about his middos? What type of person was he?
"King was married eight times, to seven different women. He married high-school sweetheart Freda Miller in 1952 at age 19. That union ended the following year at the behest of their parents, who reportedly had the marriage annulled. He was later briefly married to Annette Kaye, who gave birth to his son, Larry Jr., in November 1961. King did not meet Larry Jr. until the latter was in his thirties. [A TRUE family man!!]
In 1961, King married his third wife, Alene Akins, a Playboy Bunny, at one of the magazine's eponymous nightclubs. He adopted Akins' son Andy in 1962; the couple divorced the following year.
On September 25, 1976, King married his fifth wife, mathematics teacher and production assistant Sharon Lepore. The couple divorced in 1983.
King met businesswoman Julie Alexander in 1989, and proposed to her on the couple's first date on August 1, 1989. Alexander became King's sixth wife on October 7, 1989, when the two were married in Washington, D.C. The couple lived in different cities, however, with Alexander in Philadelphia, and King in Washington, D.C., where he worked. They separated in 1990 and divorced in 1992. He became engaged to actress Deanna Lund in 1995, after five weeks of dating, but they remained unmarried
In 1997, he married his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, born in 1959 (as Shawn Ora Engemann), a singer, actress, and TV host. They wed in King's Los Angeles hospital room three days before he underwent heart surgery to clear a clogged blood vessel. The couple had two children: Chance, born March 1999, and Cannon, born May 2000. He was stepfather to Arena Football League quarterback On King and Southwick's 10th anniversary in September 2007, Southwick joked she was "the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits". Larry and Shawn King filed for divorce in 2010 but reconciled, and filed for divorce again on August 20, 2019.
Although King’s wife is a religious Mormon with whom he often attends services, he has also remained close to his Jewish roots. He says that he goes to Temple every Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur out of respect to his parents. He says that culturally he really enjoys being Jewish and loves Jewish food and Jewish humor. Oddly enough, the one thing that he still maintains is not mixing milk and meat together. “I’ll eat bacon,” King says, “but bacon with a glass of milk—I’ll faint.”
Even though King goes to synagogue he is not sure that God is hearing him. King, in a book he co-authored with Rabbi Irwin Katsof entitled, Powerful Prayers, says the only thing he’s ever prayed for was for the Dodger’s to win a game.
החלק הב' - החונף אשר יהלל רשע לפני בני אדם אם בפניו אם שלא בפניו. אף על פי שלא יצדיקנו על חמסו ולא יכזב על משפטו. אבל יאמר עליו כי איש טוב הוא. על זה נאמר (משלי כ״ח:ד׳) עוזבי תורה יהללו רשע. כי לולא אשר עזב את התורה. לא הלל העובר על דבריה. ומפר מצותיה. וגם כי לא ישבח את הרשע זולתי במה שנמצא בו מן הטוב. ויליץ עליו בפני בני אדם להגיד לאדם ישרו. גם זו רעה חולה. כי בזכרו את הטוב. ואת הרע לא יזכור. ועל כל פשעיו יכסה. צדיק יחשב אצל השומעים ויתנו לו יקר וירים ידו וגבר.
וכבר הקדמנו להודיעך המכשולות והשחיתות הנמצאות בכבוד הרשעים. על כן לא נכון להזכיר צדקתם בלתי אם יזכיר רשעם וכסלם. כמו שנאמר (משלי י׳:ז׳) ושם רשעים ירקב. ונאמר (ישעיהו נ״ז:י״ב) אני אגיד צדקתך ואת מעשיך ולא יועילוך. פירוש לא יועילוך מעשים הטובים להצילך מרעתך בקומי למשפט. ובערכי לעולמם רב פשעיך ומעשה תעתועיך. כי דברי עונותיך גמרו מהם. וכמו שאמרו רבותינו כי מי שעונתיו מרובין מזכיותיו נכתב ונחתם למיתה. והרשעים נכרים בשיחתם והנהגתם כאשר הקדמנו לך בשערי יראת חטא:
The second section: The flatterer who praises the evildoer in front of people - whether in front of him or not in front of him - even though he does not justify him for his extortion or lie about his trial, but says about him that he is a good man. About this is it stated (Proverbs 28:4), “Those who forsake Torah praise the wicked.” For had he not forsaken the Torah, he would not have praised one who transgressed its words and breached its commandments. Even if he only praises the evildoer for that which he finds that is good about him and he defends him to people to tell them of his righteousness, but he does not mention the bad - this too is a sore evil. For in his mentioning the good and not mentioning the bad and covering up all of his transgression, he will be thought of as a righteous man by those listening and they will give him honor and elevate him. And we have already mentioned [and] let you know the stumbling blocks and the destruction that is found in honoring evildoers. Hence it is incorrect to mention their righteousness without mentioning their evil and foolishness as well, as it is stated (Proverbs 10:7), “But the fame of the wicked rots.” And it is [also] stated (Isaiah 57:12), “I hereby pronounce judgment upon your deeds; your deeds shall not help you.” The explanation is [that] your good deeds will not help to save you from your evil when you will come to judgment and in My evaluation for eternity - since the matters of your iniquities finished off [their merit]. And it is like our Rabbis said (Rosh Hashanah 16b), “One whose iniquities are greater than his merits is written and sealed for death.” And evildoers are recognizable by their speech and behavior, as we discussed earlier with you, in the Gates of the Fear of Sin.
We want to educate people that life has a spiritual purpose. That we must answer to Hashem after 120. That a Jew MUST keep kosher and Shabbos. Hosting a Chabad telethon doesn't cover for a person who is otherwise living a hedonistic lifestyle. It is educationally harmful to praise people who are the diametrical opposite of what we are supposed to be.
I recently watched the funeral of the Rov of a community where I used to live. He went through the horrors of the Holocaust as a child. He came to Israel, orphaned from his father, and learned in yeshiva. He got married, was the spiritual guide of a community for decades, and left over TWO HUNDRED descendants when he died - with just one wife. He has an extremely difficult life - but he persevered. He kept, learning, teaching and serving Hashem with incredible dignity, nobility and regality. Even in illness, he never lost his exalted character and purity.
I am DEEPLY saddened by his loss. The world is poorer when such people pass on. HE was a shining example.
Was Leibel Zeiger a good example? Would anyone want his child to try to emulate him? Was he involved in Avodas HaMiddos? Did he overcome his base animal desires? So let's call a spade a spade and focus on the good people and make sure to condemn people who turn their backs on the G-d who gave them life and on the people who sacrificed their lives for Torah. If one wants to only speak positively then we have endless examples of people who were shining examples for all of us.
May Hashem have rachmanus on the neshama of Leibel ben Aharon [?].
