Congregants don’t feel like they are getting enough love from their new rabbi.
They are used to the hail fellow, well met hands-on style of Rabbi Aron Tendler. So what if he was having phone sex in the shul office. So long as the calls weren’t long distance, what’s the problem?
These Modern Orthodox types want to feel validated by their rabbi. They don’t want to revere their rabbi. They want someone to cater to them. Not many rabbis want to do that and kiss babies, etc. They want to be revered.
Reverence is in short supply in Modern Orthodoxy. Not a lot of respect for Torah learning either.
Was Moses friendly? Not so much.
The only people who didn’t like Aron Tendler at Shaarey Zedek were those who said he was short on intellectual stature. He was.
The majority of congregants wanted a rabbi who was friendly and talks nice on Shabbat and says hi, how are your kids, and gives you a high five. They don’t want a rabbi who’s a towering figure of intelligence.
