Jew

As if I needed another reminder of the futility of organized religion, we now have Rabbi David Wolpe from an LA congregation chiming in on the shame we Jews are feeling because Bernie Madoff (Jewish) ripped off Jewish charities in addition to all the damage he caused in the secular world. Today's NYT quotes this fellow and other so called learned members of my tribe lamenting the moral uniqueness of Jewish obligations as well as the special horror of Jew on Jew thievery.



If I feel any shame, which I don't (at least as a Jew), it is because of comments like Rabbi Wolpe's that posit a unique place for we Jews in the behaviors leading up to The Catastrophe. His argument appears to be, since we're better than everyone else we should behave in a manner suited to our unique role in the world. Ugh. Seems to me there is enough responsibility for the mess without making it a story of the Jews the Christians the Muslims the Taoists you name it and who did what to whom.



Poor Bernie. Why is he being singled out as the sacrificial lamb who must carry the moral weight of Jewish responsibility for The Catastrophe and then sent packing to Purgatory. Is it because we wish to not be reminded of the Rubins and the Greenspans and others, some Jewish but most not, who violated the public trust through moral and ethical lapses if not civil or criminal negligence.



When these men ruled the roost, I never cared which houses of worship they attended. I had no higher expectations of them as Jews because I know as you do that greed and stupidity are not confined to we Jews.  We share those possibilities with one and all.....