JustASC

The normally measured Avi Shafran, columnist and spokesman for the fervently Orthodox group Agudath Israel, writes a bizarro oped for JTA praising Bernie Madoff and dissing hero pilot “Sully” Sullenberger. Madoff is admirable, writes Shafran, because he fessed up to his crime and apologized to his victims. Writes Shafran:  

No one can know if those words reflect the feelings in his heart, but I don’t claim any right to doubt that they do. And facing one’s sins and regretting them is the essence of the Jewish concept of teshuvah, repentance — something we are all enjoined to do for our personal transgressions, however small or large.

As for Sully:

No such sublimity of spirit, though, was in evidence in any of the public acts or words of Mr. Sullenberger. He saved 155 lives, no doubt about it, and is certainly owed the gratitude of those he saved, and of their families and friends. And he executed tremendous skill.

But no moral choice was involved in his act. He was on the plane, too, after all; his own life depended on undertaking his feat no less than the lives of others. He did what anyone in terrible circumstances would do: try to stay alive.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, head of the Reform movement, slams this slow pitch out of the park in a dueling oped:

Shafran’s views demonstrate stunning ignorance of Jewish tradition. His ideas do not represent religious Judaism of any variety, Orthodoxy included. Indeed, they are a fundamental distortion of Judaism’s most sacred teachings.

Shafran seems to have gotten the message, emailing an apology to the editors who carry his column:

 My recent Am Echad Resources essay “Bernie, Sully and Me” has generated substantial criticism from many readers, including people whose opinions I deeply respect. I have come to the conclusion that that there were errors in both the content and tone of the essay, for which I apologize.

My main goal in publishing these essays is to help people understand eternal Jewish truths. Unfortunately, here I chose unsuitable examples for the concepts I sought to impart, failing to accomplish that goal and offending many people in the process.

I am grateful, as always, for the constructive comments and feedback I received from my readership, whose confidence I hope to retain going forward.

The mystery here is why Shafran chose to distribute as a column the kind of thing best left said (or rather unsaid) at the Shabbos table. He’s angered readers before, with biting attacks on Conservative Judaism and an angry defense of the charmers who ran the scandal-ridden Agriprocessors kosher plant. But at least those pieces seemed to serve the agenda of his organization — discrediting the competition and defending the faithful.

Here he plays the contrarian — the Jewish, nay, global, consensus, is that Madoff was a scoundrel and Sully was a hero — but to what end? What did he think he or the haredi world would gain by heading off in a different direction when it comes to Madoff and Sullenberger?

UPDATE: JTA has announced that Shafran has retracted his oped.