Orthodox Rabbis Put Focus on Ethics in Their High Holiday Sermons

Sue Fishkoff
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

SAN FRANCISCO

Yeshiva University President Richard Joel was one of six Modern Orthodox leaders who signed on to a letter asking pulpit rabbis to address the topic of Jewish ethics as part of their High Holidays sermons. (Photo by Ben Harris)

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Moshe Shulman of the Young Israel of St. Louis devoted his sermon to yashrut -- the Hebrew notion of fairness and honesty -- calling it a "foundational concept" in Jewish life.

"That goes without saying, but sometimes, it needs to be said," he explained in his September talk.

After a year of highly publicized scandals involving Jewish institutions and businessmen, the Orthodox world has been paying markedly greater attention this holiday season to promoting Jewish ethical behavior.

Agudath Israel of America, an umbrella organization of haredi Orthodox communities, is holding seminars on the topic.

And in the biggest initiative of all, the three major institutions of Modern Orthodoxy -- the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America and Yeshiva University -- sent a joint letter in early September to movement rabbis, asking them to address Jewish ethics in at least one of their High Holidays sermons.

Such concerted focus on one issue is indeed unusual, according to Orthodox leaders -- then again, so were circumstances of the past 15 months.

Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, first vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America, said that he cannot remember any other instance of all three major arms of Modern Orthodoxy issuing such a joint appeal.

Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University and a co-signer to the Sept. 3 letter that was sent to more than 2,000 Orthodox rabbis nationwide, said that the community needed to make a serious statement.

Said Joel: "There has been a great shock to our system, and there cannot be any prevarication."

The letter cited "scenes of religious Jews being led off in handcuffs, charged with corruption, money-laundering and even organ-trafficking," referring to the summer arrests of New Jersey rabbis -- an incident that Joel and five leading rabbis who signed the appeal said left them "sickened and embarrassed."

The letter suggested rabbis discuss the prohibition against stealing, which includes stealing from the government by not paying taxes; the need to obey secular laws; and the goal of serving as "a light to the nations" through honest social interactions.

Quoting the late Rabbi Joseph Breuer, the letter said that "a Jew must not only be glatt kosher, he must be glatt yosher" -- one who leads an upright life.

Second Appeal in a Row
It's the second year in a row that a Jewish movement has made a High Holidays sermon appeal to its rabbis.

Last fall, in the wake of the federal immigration raid and arrests at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, leaders of the Conservative movement asked its rabbis to discuss Magen Tzedek, the seal of ethical justice proposed for kosher food manufacturers.

Several hundred complied, said Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive director of the movement's Rabbinical Assembly.

More than 50 Orthodox rabbis heeded this year's call to address ethics from the pulpit.

It was the first stage in what organizers hope will be "a unified international initiative" to promote Jewish ethics in the Orthodox community, said Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg of Congregation Etz Chaim in Queens, N.Y., who spearheaded the appeal with Rabbi Asher Bush of Congregation Ahavath Yisrael of Wesley Hills, N.Y.

"We wanted to do something to restore a fraction of the 'kiddush Hashem,' " or the sanctification of God's name that had been "destroyed" not just by the miscreants themselves, but by the media coverage of their wrongdoings, said Rosenberg.

The communal shame goes deeper than "a shanda fur de goyim," the Jewish reticence to air its dirty laundry in public, according to Michael Wex, author of the just-released How to Be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck).

Wex said that when non-Jews look at someone like Bernard Madoff or the Rubashkins -- the former owners of the Agriprocessors plant -- they might conclude that their alleged misdeeds "are the logical outcome of the Jewish way of life and belief."

And that, he insisted, casts shame on Judaism itself.

Orthodox day schools are also signing on to the campaign.

Rabbi Shmuel Jablon, principal of the Torah Academy of Greater Philadelphia, said his K-8 school developed a new curriculum this fall to teach one midah -- or positive character trait -- every month related to the Jewish text being studied.

Teaching ethics to pupils is not new, said Jablon, but he and his staff were moved to increase their focus on the subject because of last year's scandals.

"We want them to know there are real ethical lessons to be learned from the text," he said. "Torah is not just about prayer, kashrut and Shabbat, although those are important, but also about how we treat each other and each other's belongings."