[Avodah] The Sad Downfall of a Chabad Rabbi

[Prof. Levine]

I am moving this discussion to Avodah,  because I went to give Rav 
Shimon Schwab's views on Chillul Hashem.

At 04:16 PM 1/10/2022, Harry Maryles wrote on Areivim:
>That other organizations to did this doesn?t make it any better. It 
>was wrong from the start. It is Gneiva plain and simple. And a 
>Chilul HaShem no matter who does it.
>
>This is the result of a mentality that holds that one can cheat 
>Goyim if they can get away with it. A mentality that stems from 
>European antisemitism that was so strong that Jews had to pull these 
>shenanigans just to survive. Add to that the concept of Elisabeth 
>Sonei  L?Yakov- and that?s all you need to do something like this if 
>you can get away with it.

Please see Rav Schwab's essay on Chillul Hashem
<http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/chillul_hashem_r_schwab.pdf>

On page 214 he writes "If one steals from a non-Jew, swears falsely 
and dies, his death is no atonement for his sin because of Chillul Hashem"

Please see the rest of this essay for more.

Clearly what Goldstein did and others who did the similar things is a 
most serious aveirah.


[Email #2. -micha]

The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash pages 191 to 193. Note his
message to the embezzler!

Living in Galus America, the malchus shel chessed, only strengthens
the Jew's obligation to create a kiddush Hashem. The Rav taught that
every form of chillul Hashem decreases awareness of the Divine presence
in this world. If the perpetrator is supposedly an observant Jew or,
worse, a so-called Torah scholar, then the offense is that much greater.
He would ask: "How can a person who has cheated his neighbor or defrauded
the government have the audacity to stand in front of the congregation
and recite Kaddish, a prayer for sanctifying G-d's Name in the world?"

The Rav's greatest fear was of a chillul Hashem. On his checks, he
never used the title "Rabbi." He told me that he was always concerned
that if, G-d forbid, a check were to bounce, "Rabbi" would add to the
chillul Hashem.

Many years ago, a shameful scandal erupted around a Jewish businessman
who was tried for embezzlement. Influential members of the embezzler's
community approached Rav Schwab with a plea that he do what he could to
save the man from prison. Rav Schwab became extremely agitated. He pointed
out that the man's behavior, widely publicized in the media through the
printed word and the television screen, had caused a tremendous chillul
Hashem; the man had become .a virtual rodef of Kial Yisrael, because
Jews everywhere would suffer aniti-Semitism due to his actions. He
forthrightly told the visitors that the embezzler deserved to sit in
prison for a long time.

But he pleaded with them to give the embezzler a message: The m;111
should shave off his beard and take off his yarmulke when appearing i11
court or on television, because by wearing these religious accoutremenh,
he would be creating a new chillul Hashem every day and would be a living
disgrace for the Jewish People.

In Selected Writings, Rav Schwab wrote extensively on the topic of
chilul Hashem:
    "If one steals from a non-Jew, swears falsely and dies, his death
    does not atone for his sin because of chillul Hashem (Tosefta Bava
    Kamma 10). Let us repeat. The profaners and desecrators give
    us all a rotten name, aiding and abetting our many adversaries
    and antagonizing our few friends. Therefore, no white-washing, no
    condoning, no apologizing on behalf of the desecrators. Let us make
    it clear that anyone who besmirches the sacred Name ceases to be our
    friend. He has unwittingly defected from our ranks and has joined our
    antagonists, to make us suffer in his wake. And -noblesse oblige- the
    more prominent a man in Orthodox Jewish circles, the more obligated
    he must feel to observe the most painstaking scrupulousness in his
    dealings with the outside world."

I have posted an essay by Rav Shimon Schwab that appears in his book
Selected Writings that is titled Chillul Hashem. In it he writes:

    "All this comes to mind at this time since some perpetrators
    of Chillul Hashem are making the headlines of our daily
    newspapers. Certainly we are not sitting in judgment of the
    persons who are publicly accused and we have to wait whether the
    indictments will be borne out by irrefutable evidence. However, be
    it as it may, the Chillul Hashem is there in the worst possible way.
    "Rabbi" so and so, who sits in court with his velvet Yarmulka in
    full view of a television audience composed of millions of viewers,
    is accused of having ruthlessly enriched himself at the expense of
    others, flaunting the laws of G-d and man, exploiting, conniving
    and manipulating ­ in short, desecrating all the fundamentals of
    Torah Judaism. And this sorry onslaught on our Jewish sensitiveness
    is repeated by similar allegations, proven or unproven, involving
    more prominent men who are stigmatized as orthodox Jews, sometimes
    even with so-called rabbinic diplomas."

    "Therefore, no white-washing, no condoning, no apologizing on behalf
    of the desecrators. Let us make it clear that anyone who besmirches
    the sacred Name ceases to be our friend. He has unwittingly defected
    from our ranks and has joined our antagonists, to make us all suffer
    in his wake. And ­ noblesse oblige ­ the more prominent a man has
    become in orthodox Jewish circles the more obligated he must feel
    to observe the most painstaking scrupulousness in his dealings with
    the outside world."

The entire essay may be read at
<http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/chillul_hashem_r_schwab.pdf>

Yitzchok Levine