JustASC

David Harris of the American Jewish Committee sniffed insensitivity to the Jews in this Times story on Madoff.  I’m not so sure. Here’s Harris’ letter to the Times today:

To the Editor:

In “Standing Accused: A Pillar of Finance and Charity,” your Dec. 13 Business Day article about Bernard L. Madoff, arrested in a major fraud scheme, there was a striking emphasis on his being Jewish. It was not just once, or twice, but at least three times before the article continued inside. Why?

Yes, he is Jewish. We get it. But was this relevant to his being arrested for cheating investors, or so key to his evolution as a businessman that it needed to be hammered home again and again?

I have read several accounts in The Times of the shenanigans of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, yet have no clue what his religion is, nor, frankly, do I care. Why should I? Unless he was acting in the name of his faith, which I assume he was not, what difference does it make? And if a profile is warranted and the governor’s faith matters to him, mention it and move on.

But to refer to the “Jewish T-bill,” “the clubby Jewish world” and the “world of Jewish New York” within four paragraphs near the top of the article on Mr. Madoff was over the top.

David A. Harris
Executive Director
American Jewish Committee

Wait a sec: Madoff’s Jewishness is extremely ”relevant to his being arrested for cheating investors,” and ”key to his evolution as a businessman.” It’s clear from the indictment, and not just the Times’ reporting, that Madoff built his reputation and the base of his pyramid scheme on his relationships with and contacts he built in the Jewish philanthropic world. It’s called an affinity crime, and is based on one member of a religious or ethnic group exploiting his ethnicity and social contacts to defraud others.  If Madoff were Catholic and some of his most prominent victims included the Archdiocese, Catholic University, and the Knights of Columbus, I would expect the Times to explore the religious milieu in which he operated.

Or to put it another way — let’s say Madoff wasn’t a crook but made news for being an honored humanitarian, a combination Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the very model of a tzadik. Wouldn’t we expect, and even appreciate, coverage of his Jewishness and the connections it had to his effectiveness as a philanthropist?

You can’t blame the Times for what anti-Semites will do with the fact of Madoff’s Jewishness, although you can point out how Madoff himself was an equal opportunity predator.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under JustASC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.