JustASC

Jeff Diamant at the Star-Ledger appears to have a scoop (at least
I haven’t seen it reported anywhere else) about a letter sent from the Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America to their fellow Orthodox rabbis, urging them to sermonize on business ethics in light of the NJ rabbis case.

In the Sept. 3 letter sent to about 2,000 rabbis nationwide, the leaders of Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America cited “the recent scenes of religious Jews being led off in handcuffs, charged with corruption, money laundering, and even organ trafficking.”

During the High Holidays, which begin tomorrow night with Rosh Hashanah and end Sept. 27 on Yom Kippur, Jews are supposed to take stock of their lives, and rabbis’ sermons these days can touch on everything from personal religious observance to social issues, and from personal morality to international relations.

The letter, which several Orthodox rabbis in New Jersey say they will heed, urges Jewish clergy to publicly affirm, at least once during the High Holidays, that the Torah forbids all stealing; that secular laws bind religious Jews; that Jews should lead efforts to promote honesty in society; and that when making decisions, Jews must sacrifice financially rather than bring shame to God or Jewish law.

“This is not a time for splitting hairs over possible dissenting views,” the letter, signed by six leading Orthodox rabbis, reads. “… (W)e must make the ethical demands of the Torah and the day clear in the most public of ways. We strongly urge you to join with us and loudly declare, to our own communities and to the world, that we, representing Torah, will not tolerate any but the highest standards of ethics.”