Its obvious, I think, that this is not suggestive of an entire community. Comparatively, it is probably a lot lower that in other sectors. Criminals exist everywhere.
Indeed, this may be the reason for the extended coverage these cases have gotten.
Chareidim, however, usually rally to the defense of another when accused. A great middah, as discussed before.
Yet, there are two issues, one minor and one bigger that need to be examined.
First, the minor one.
We are starting to see some cases where the criminal switches to a Chareidi (or religious) lifestyle in order to garner such support.
One possibility might be Jonathan Pollard. However, this is pure speculation.
A more concrete case, however, is this:
Once again (sic), Israel's liberal High Court of Justice has ruled in favor of tearing children away from yiddishkeit, ordering the return of two children, members of the Chabad community, to their non-Jewish father...
Some of the kibbutz members went so far as to say she “despises chareidim” but felt by joining the community, if the courts are against her, the chareidim would side with her since the father if a goy.I'm not sure if something can be done about it. But it should give you a good feeling.
The larger issue facing us, however, is the message we seem to be sending to our children.
More and more, the message seems to be that whatever crime you'll commit, we'll bail you out. Some rationalization is given for these crimes, further sending the absolutely wrong message.
So, while we should (usually) be supporting these accused, maybe its time to do so quietly, without fanfare.
Another good idea would be to do so, even publicly, but never to claim the accused innocence.
Your idea?
3 comments:
There are two reasons why Chareidi crime gets more negative and more prominent coverage:
1) The Chareidi leadership wastes no effort in trying to convince others of the superior moral nature of the Chareidi lifestyle. The "God loves us better because we're Charedi" message is transmitted loud and clear by many in important positions. Therefore, when a Chareidi stumbles, it makes the news.
2) The "circle the wagons" attitude is also intolerable to outsiders who have heard the message in (1) too many times. The idea that no matter how terrible a crime, attempts will be made to obstruct justice because "he's one of us" is more important than doing what is right aggravates many on the outside and leads to the negative coverage.
where is the picture from? What is it depicting?
Garnel,
On 1, true. I'm not denying it, although I do somewhat understand their outrage when attacked.
2 is something I tackle in the post.
Bray,
The picture depicts this.
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