Rabbinic Corruption

A.B. emails: Anyone who is unfortunate enough to read the chareidi New York newspapers the last two months has been bombarded by previews and then reviews of all the conventions in the charedi world which were held during the worst recession in the US in eighty years in expensive hotels. These include Agudah’s national convention, Agudah’s Midwest and Agudah’s Florida convention and Torah u’Mesorah’s convention. What is unique about these conventions other than their despicable ostentatious focus on gashmius and food in a time when many in the frum and secular worlds are battling with job losses and economic deprivation, is who is in attendance at these conventions, the Rabbis and so called gedolim and the very rich. The unholy alliance is what has destroyed yiddishkeit and will continue to do so in the future. The obvious question is, how do the rabbis afford weekends in these luxurious hotels and who is footing the bills? Besides for the obvious waste of money, when so many organizations and individuals are in need, a more fundamental question arises, the chareidi world, which claims to be focused on Torah is glamorizing wealth and showing too much reverence to the rich. You may ask, so what. Aren’t they the ones who are supporting all the mosdos hatorah? Yes, but at what price? We have seen how the so called Torah world ignores the foibles of the rich even when they get caught money laundering, being involved in human exploitation, paying non livable wages, ponzi schemes, illegal immigration etc. The excuse is “well he’s a big baal tzedokoh”.

Does anyone think that the rabbis of yesteryear like Rav Shach or the Brisker Rov would have approved of these conventions where real issues like rabbinic abuse and corruption are swept under the table year after year.

The truth is that as long as any institution or individual is beholden to a donor or group of donors, there will be corruption. The Rabbis provide these wealthy individuals with the kovod they so deeply crave and in return they line the pockets of the mosdos in the best case and in other cases the Rabbis themselves. If there is ever a din torah which were to involve such a donor, how can the rabbi concerned be expected to be objective? Will he recues himself from being a dayan? One can only hope so. In fact the Rabbis often seek to marry their children off to the wealthy thereby enabling their sons to remain in learning and perpetuating a class and elitist system and looking down on and scorning those who need to work for a living.

Furthermore, given the tribal nature of both chassidish and litvish elites, all family members must be provided with some kind of schteller in the family business. How many institutions are filled with sons and daughters and their spouses who are provided with administrative or teaching positions when they are far from the best candidates for the position and which are also just sheltered employment created to provide a parnossah for someone who should have gone out and learned a trade or profession creating a bloated payroll and unnecessary burden on frum society.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be a solution to this problem. It even occurs in the secular world. I severely doubt it. I believe that we are getting the quality of leadership we deserve. Our failure to protest at rabbinic corruption is our own fault. We need to be doing a lot more in exposing rabbinic frauds… As long as we don’t, we will continue to suffer and it will only be our own fault.