A photo of a man, obviously exhausted, resting his head on the shoulder of his neighbor on a Brooklyn subway car went viral on the internet. Photographed by an onlooker on the subway, the tender scene was recorded as a sign of humanity’s bright side. Isaac Theil, a kippa-wearing Orthodox Jew, was the hero of the photograph. When another passenger suggested waking the man, Theil responded, “He must have had a long day, let him sleep. We’ve all been there, right?” Many New Yorkers agree with Mr. Theil’s daughter Hela, who said, “Which rider of the New York subways allows strangers to nap on their shoulders?” Apparently her father is the exception and his act was truly exceptional. 

Then there’s the story of Craig’s List and the desk. Rabbi Noah Muroff, an Orthodox high school rebbe living in New Haven bought a desk for his office on Craig’s List for about $200. The desk would not fit through the door of his office and he and a helper began to remove the drawers when they found a plastic bag with $98,000 cash in it. They called the owner of the desk and returned what turned out to be an inheritance of her’s that she forgot about (not sure I understand that, but I digress). The owner sent a thank-you note to the young couple which stated, “I cannot thank you enough for your honesty and integrity. I do not think there are too many people in this world that would have done what you did by calling me. I do like to believe that there are still good people left in this crazy world we live in. You certainly are one of them.”

When the owner asked Rabbi Muroff how she could pay him back, he responded that he wanted the story publicized – that a rabbi unflinchingly returned this enormous amount of money. Indeed that has happened and Rabbi Muroff and his wife have made us all look good!  He even received a standing ovation at the recent Agudah Convention.

Wow! Two Jews merely acting properly and millions of people see kippah wearing tzadikim. What kiddusheiHashem, how God and his Torah values are elevated by such positive acts. Makes us all look good, right?

Absolutely!

But you know the saying, “A starting pitcher is as good as his last start!” If you don’t get the job done this time around, no one is going to credit you for the no-hitter you threw last time. 

Same with the media. These past few weeks also exposed an underbelly of Orthodox Judaism as well. Halevaithat we only encounter Isaac Theils and Rabbi Noah Muroffs. But there are others who bring us down. 

Oy, if the following story were just not out there. Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, a life-long Satmar chassid, and a professional mikvah repairman and builder, spoke to a reporter recently about the abuses of young innocent boys at mikva’ot. You can read the stories – shul is not the place to describe the details –but he reported all that he has seen which is simply sickening and at least according to him, has hit epidemic numbers. 

http://m.vice.com/read/the-child-rape-assembly-line-0000141-v20n11

He has been a whistle-blower for some time, and he and his family have been victimized by those who would prefer his story not be told. For seven years he has been preaching his gospel and has received death threats on a regular basis, has been reviled as a villain in newspaper ads and has had v’shem r’shaim yirkav, may the name of the wicked rot,appended to his name. The accounts he relates are nothing less than sickening, and certainly pose a significant risk to the young boys being victimized by these acts, which he describes as common occurrences affecting about 50% of the boys in the community, a community trained not to go to the authorities.

And, if that weren't enough,there’s the most famous agunah case of the past two weeks.

A tragic agunah case became the talk of the readership of the New York Post and beyond. Both husband and wife come from Torah royalty – she the Kotler family of Lakewood and he, the Feinstein family of the Lower East Side and Staten Island. Avraham Meir and Gital Weiss were married about 5 years ago. Nine months into the marriage, Gital gave birth to a baby boy, Aryeh Malkiel. A month later, they were separated and the marriage was, for all intents and purposes, over. The civil courts have ended the marriage and decided on custody and visitation arrangements. But Avraham Meir has refused to give Gital a get she desperately wants, and a renowned Jewish Court has held Avraham Meir in contempt for refusing to appear. After exhausting all other avenues, Gital Dodelson went to one of Gotham’ most famous tabloids, the New York Post, to tell her story. Since that time due to mounting public pressure, her husband’s father and uncle have been placed on unpaid leave at their jobs at ArtScroll in Brooklyn and a fundraiser for the yeshiva where he learns in kollel run by his grandfather has been postponed or moved from its original location. ORA, in consultation with its halachic authorities, supports Gital’s need for a get to be delivered immediately, which will allow Gital and her recalcitrant husband to move on with their respective and estranged lives. I support Gital’s decision to go pubic and I hope it convinces her husband to finally relent and officially end a marriage that has been over for an Olympiad. While it places us in a bad light, it seems to have been the right thing to do. 

Do you remember Isaac Theil and Rabbi Noah Muroff anymore? Who were they and what did they do?

The monumental, sickening and embarrassing chilulei Hashem – desecrations of God’s Holy name – seem to trump the good that so many are doing!

What struck me when reading about the latter four cases are the terms Kiddush Hashem and Chilul Hashem. Everyone will agree that the first two cases sanctify God’s name publicly. Rabbi Muroff asked that his remuneration simply be spreading the story of his valorous act. But when we confront the latter two stories, we find disagreement as to what is Chilul Hashem. The Weiss family consistently referred to Gital’s going to the Post as a chilul Hashem. The folks in the Satmar community that take Rabbi Rosenberg’s bearded face and superimpose it on a snake consider his going public with this issue that is nothing less than pikuach nefesh  - imminently life threatening – as a chilul Hashem.Obviously, most would argue that withholding a get for four years for no reason other than cruelty and control is a monumental chilul Hashem, as is all that Rabbi Rosenberg described. 

How can there be debate? 

Well, we have the episode this Shabbos of Dina’s abduction and rape, the subsequent subterfuge and action by Shimon and Levi and the debate about it. Shimon and Levi defend their wiping out the entire city of Shchem as justified. Yaakov strongly disagrees. 

"ויאמר יעקב אל שמעון ואל לוי עכרתם אתי להבאישני בישב הארץ בכנעני ובפרזי ואני מתי מספר ונאספו עלי והכוני ונשמדתי אני וביתי. ויאמרו, הכזונה יעשה את אחותינו?"

 (בראשית ל"ד:ל-ל"א).

And Yaakov said to Shimon and to Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me to make me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I being few in number, they shall gather together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, ‘Should he deal with our sister as a harlot? (Bereshit 34:30-31).

Shimon and Levi can be seen as heroes. After all, they not only saved their sister, but they avenged the act and ensured it would not be repeated. The Rambam (Hilchos M’lachim 9:14) rules that Shimon and Levi were justified in wiping out the entire city of Shchem since maintaining a system of justice is one of the international Noachide laws. Since the city allowed Shchem to engage in the capital crime against Dina and stood by, they were all guilty. When blessing his sons at the end of his life, Yaakov curses their wrath (Bereshis 49:7) not their act.

Ramban (Bereshis 34:13) disagrees with Rambam’s assessment. “But these words do not appear to me to be correct for if so, our father Yaakov should have been the first to obtain the merit of causing their death, and if he was afraid of them, why was he angry at his sons and why did he curse their wrath a long time after that and pubhish them by dividing them and scattering them in Israel? Why were they not meritorious, fulfilling a commandment and trusting in God Who saved them?” Furthermore, the Ramban opines that since establishing a just society is a positive commandment, not a negative one like the other 6, one is free from capital punishment when violating it. He cites Talmudic precedent (Sanhedrin 58b) as his source and concludes that it was not the job of Yaakov and his family to bring them all to justice. The Ramban believes that indeed, the inhabitants of Shchem were wicked, but Yaakov had promised them that he yearned to dwell with them and become one people (verse 16). Yaakov reasoned that perhaps he could have found redemption in them, he could have shown them the light of his grandfather Avraham and helped return them to proper ethical conduct. 

Yaakov chastises his sons, according to the Ramban, not because they were unjustified to wage war against the entire city, but because they should have given the people of Shchem a chance to redeem themselves. He takes issue with them due to their impetuous decision to avenge the violation of Dina their sister. Yaakov felt that diplomacy could have worked, not just weapons. The Rambam argued that the entire city was guilty and the brothers were justified in meting out justice.

We love to throw around the term Kiddush Hashem. Feel good stories warm our hearts –at least temporarily – until the opposite term is employed. Anything with which I disagree can be labeled a chilul Hashem. One side says it’s a chillul Hashem to go to the New York Post. An argument can be made that it’s a chillul Hashem to withhold a get for four years, after the marriage has been ended civilly and then asking for an exorbitant of money as blackmail. But each side will try to use the phrase to bolster its argument. 

It’s so hard to see things objectively. The Talmud warns adam karov etzel atzmo, a person is a relative to himself. As such he cannot be a kosher witness since he is related. I’ll conclude with a story about the famous Shach, Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport. He literally wrote the most august commentary on the laws of business ethics in the Shulchan Aruch. Rabbi Rappaport got into an argument with his neighbor about some issue. They agreed to go to a beis din. I imagine that it was intimidating seeing the world-famous Shach as the litigant at the other side of the table. They went to a different city, so the other party would have a chance. They went to a famous judge and he listened to both sides. He excused himself and asked to go to chambers to consult some tomes. He returned and found against the Shach. The Shach challenged the judge and asked him on what basis is he ruling? The rabbi, not knowing that he was the famous author, told him that I based it on a ruling of a new book called the Shach.

Adam Karov etzel Atzmo. It seems according to both the Rambam and the Ramban that Yaakov and his sons debated legitimately. A hawkish and dovish outlook represents two valid options. It is a legitimate to intellectually debate if the only positive mitzvah of the Seven Noachide laws is a capital offense or not. But so often, we, like the Shach, are blinded by our own agendas and desires. We can’t tell when we’re wrong. 

May the virtues of Isaac Theil and Rabbi Noah Muroff help us focus on good things and not their opposites.