IJII

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook wrote: "The wise do not complain of darkness; rather they increase the light." The Orthodox and greater Jewish community seems racked by scandal after scandal where laymen, political leaders and rabbis are demonstrating what can be termed "ethicopathy"-- extreme disregard for ethical living and consciousness. While it may be instinctive to invoke the aphorism that there is always a bad apple in every bunch, I believe this would not do justice to what I sense is a systemic and communal responsibility in how we are educating our children, adults and our rabbis. As a member of the Orthodox community, my focus will be on my own religious community with which I am most familiar and which sadly seems as of late quite efficient in producing ethicopaths of the first order.

Allow me to begin with a seemingly ridiculous question: "Does the Orthodox community care about ethical living?" As an Orthodox rabbi I would immediately reply, "Of course we do- what an absurd question! Look at all the commandments that touch on ethical living, look at all the statements of our Talmudic sages that emphasize the importance of ethics in business and in one's personal dealings, look at all the stories of the righteous past and present and the behavior they have modeled for generation after generation and look at the contemporary books on Jewish ethics available at Judaica stores." Clearly, everything in the above statement is true. However, let me refine the question: I mean to ask: "Do we ‘emphasize' and ‘prioritize' ethical living in the education of our children, adults and rabbis?" Now to this question the rebuttal does not come so simply. When I consider what the Orthodox community "emphasizes" and "prioritizes", ethical living does not immediately appear to register as very high on the totem pole of concerns. The emphasis of our community seems to be: Daf Yomi, Daily Minyan, Shabbat, Kashrut, Berakhot, Mikvah, Eruv, Theology, Holidays, Tseniyut and Women's Issues, Conversion, Carlebach davening and Israel. Our children spend the vast majority of their sacred studies school time focused on classical text study of Bible, Talmud and Halakha, with a dose of Hebrew Language and Zionsim within the Modern Orthodox schools.
A little voice inside me says: "I know this may not sound as though we emphasize and prioritize ethics, but ethical concepts inform all the Torah we are studying." This answer, albeit sincere, is what I will call the theory of ethical development through "osmosis". This approach was once marshaled against Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the founder of the 19th century Mussar movement, who attempted with limited success to instill a particular focus on psychological awareness and ethical cultivation within the traditional Yeshiva system. His rabbinic opponents then and now argued that Torah alone sufficed, and there was no special need to "waste time" from Torah study for Mussar. His response was that while a spiritual diet of Torah alone may have sufficed for prior generations, this was no longer true today! If we fast forward to the early 21st century and we survey our receding moral landscape, let us ask some very simple questions: Is there any Orthodox High School from Left to Right that offers its students a 6 month class 1 hour a week in "Ethical Living in the Modern World"? Are any of our rabbinical seminaries from the Left to Right preparing our rabbis to deal with the ethical and psychological challenges they will face in their professional capacities as teachers, counselors, mentors and fundraisers? Are our synagogues educating and supporting our adults in a systemic and committed manner to lead ethical lives in the workplace and at home?
I believe the answer to these questions are: There are few, if any, High School programs within Orthodoxy focusing on ethical living in a modern context according to Torah. To the extent that rabbis are being prepared for the ethical and psychological challenges of the rabbinate, this is at best limited to Modern Orthodox seminaries like Yeshiva University and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Adults are offered sporadic and limited programming with rabbis poorly prepared to even address these issues by their respective rabbinic seminaries.

So if we are operating on an ethics by osmosis educational theory, we should not be surprised that some individuals--even rabbis--have less ability to develop into ethical human beings via this method. This results in the outrageous moral scandals and immoral wonders of the rabbinic world that we read about in the newspaper-- to our shock, indignation and horror. Alternatively, and what is more often the case, these ethical failings are kept under wraps or are simply unknown until a catastrophe occurs. Then we all lament the gross desecration of God's name for a week and then go back to "Torah life as usual" until the cycle repeats and the next ethicopath surfaces in the headlines. We can only break this cycle if we focus on both psychological awareness and ethical cultivation as a fundamental part of our schooling. We are not doing this. We are placing our emphasis on teaching limited and narrow portions of Tanakh, Mishna, Talmud and Halakha- the halakhic portion of which mostly revolves around the holidays, Shabbat, prayer and daily ritual life. In the Modern Orthodox community we also emphasize that our children learn Modern Hebrew and get a "College" preparatory education.

One could argue that ethics should be taught at home. This is, of course, true. But it isn't sufficient. We need our schools to imbue students with a proper ethical education. Ethical living involves the application of Middot in highly charged real life contexts that transcend being nice to one's classmates and not speaking Lashon Hara. Additionally, I do not believe that most schools really make Middot a true focus. Have you ever seen a report card that gave marks for: kindness, humility, gratitude, modesty, forgiveness, thoughtfulness, self- reflection and ability to acknowledge mistakes......? Is there a period in our Torah Study curriculum focused on Character Development? Is there a real curriculum? What training have the teachers received in character development that would make them qualified to teach this subject? Are there Middot Clubs? Rather, Middot are a side dish for the "meat, bread and potatoes" and is typically given tangential emphasis with a little story sent home in the bulletin or a tidbit of a story shared in class. Usually "Middot" only becomes a real focus when a child has real behavioral problems.

It would be quite wrong to presume that holiness, devotional piety, Torah knowledge and observance of ritual law are identical with or somehow perforce lead to ethical behavior. In reality, holiness, devotional piety, Torah knowledge and observance of ritual law can mislead a person into believing that he/she is beyond the need for ethical behavior! Additionally, the analytic and highly complex interpretive methodologies one is trained in, the rabbinic legal fictions one is exposed to and the endless divergence of opinions and divergences of opinions built on divergences of opinions can be enlisted to rationalize unethical behavior. The tradition itself points out these concerns: "Once (Torah) wisdom enters a person cunning enters within him" (Sotah 21b). The sages warned against becoming a "pervert with permission of the Torah"(Ramban on Parashat Kedoshim 19:2). They also shared with us a story of two Kohanim (the embodiments of holiness) racing up the altar (the embodiment of divine service) so that they could be first to perform the initial temple service of the day. What is the result of these holy aspirants' eagerness to express their religious devotion? One Kohen stabs and kills the other! (The embodiment of a lack of ethics). Then the top concern of the Kohanim becomes preserving the ritual purity of the knife! (embodiment of observance of ritual Law).This Aggadah is teaching us explicitly what distorted religious priorities and values look like. It is teaching us that Holiness is not identical with Ethics and that Observance of Ritual Law can be a distraction from ethical sensitivity. Presumably, the Kohanim were too busy studying the Laws of the Temple and its Sacrifices and the Laws of Purity and Impurity to learn how to deal with their basic humanity! This Aggadah brings to mind the words of the German writer Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, "Everything that emancipates the spirit without giving us control over ourselves is harmful." (Proverbs in Prose) The rabbis in the Talmud reflecting on this story say that "The purity of ritual vessels was more important to them than murder!" (Yoma 23a) There is a reason our rabbis tell us these stories and teachings- yet do we really collectively take them in? Do we allow them to change how we are educating? Or like the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel stated, "What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it." (Philosophy of History [1832] introduction)

What would an ethical preparatory Torah curriculum look like for a Torah High School? I will share a few ideas with the disclaimer that we have many great and creative Torah educators and if they put their minds to it, I am sure it will be the finest program in the world. For High School students, the course should include a combination of case study and text study using a multi-media approach incorporating news articles, T.V. clips and documentaries. We take a case of a person who violated a Torah ethic and we examine how this played out. What was his life like before and after? What were the likely motivations for doing this? How did this unethical behavior impact on others and their families? After having gotten this real life exposure to a practical expression of unethical living and the ensuing disaster, we examine classical Torah texts on these ethical and psychological issues. This could then generate class discussion and creative writing assignments with an emphasis on how students would deal with ethical challenges. The class might make a visit to a minimum security prison and meet with some of the Jewish inmates and have a frank discussion with them. Various communal professionals could be invited to class to share how they have been challenged ethically in their professional lives and how they have navigated these challenges. The core Torah curriculum itself can be taught in a way that emphasizes the ethical insights, fundamentals and applications of what is being learned. This course if done correctly would be the most interesting and memorable course in Torah our students ever had!

In regards to training rabbis, two things are necessary and easily doable. First, rabbis should undergo at least two years of individual or group psychotherapy to become "more aware of themselves." It is very unwise to create rabbis who know the rabbinic tradition far more than they know themselves. The depth of one's Talmudic or halakhic learning will not directly help a rabbi in certain trials, whereas knowing one's underlying motivations, typical defense mechanisms and character weaknesses will. In addition, rabbinical students should be presented with lessons on how some rabbis have failed morally. These moral lapses should be dissected psychologically and halakhically.

Rabbis who molest children, who are sexually promiscuous with their congregants or students, who embezzle charity funds .... these are highly complex, distorted and struggling souls. They may be brilliant, charismatic, articulate and highly motivated to learn, teach, lead and change the world; yet, they have moral shortcomings. If lawyers, medical doctors, psychologists and accountants must study the ethical issues that they will face, should not we also expect this of rabbis? Yet, few Yeshivot outside Modern Orthodoxy do anything sophisticated and thorough to prepare rabbis for these ethical conflicts and challenges.
What about adult education for laypersons? Can we really imagine that the Orthodox community makes this a top priority? A synagogue rabbi may give a class or series of classes on Business Ethics that is sparsely attended or may share an ethical insight on the weekly Torah portion in his weekly sermon; but this surely is not adequate.

There is a synagogue in New York that is so committed to having a holy atmosphere that it fosters concentration during the prayers; membership in that congregation is dependent on not talking inappropriately during prayers. They even have this as part of a written membership agreement. This is what I consider the prioritization of a value. Would it really be so brazen and alarmist to suggest that Orthodox synagogues make their membership conditional not just on the understandable payment of dues and the contribution to the building fund but that it should also include mandatory attendance for all adults at a seminar on Torah ethics. When I considered this seemingly "radical" proposal, I asked myself how I would feel if I got a letter from my synagogue that said, "Dear Member, in view of the tragic and outrageous moral scandals that have racked the Jewish community recently, we seek to prevent the further desecration of God's name that these moral offenses engender. We seek to sanctify God's name by making it clear to the Jewish community and the world community the esteemed and non-negotiable stance that we place not just on the observance of the ritual laws of the holy Torah but equally on the observance of the ethical laws in our Holy Torah. To this end our rabbinic committee has established a requirement for membership in our synagogue that all adult members annually attend a 1 day learning seminar devoted to "Torah Ethics in a Modern World" which will be offered quarterly by our esteemed rabbi. Thank you in advance for your understanding and participation." How would I feel? I would feel absolutely proud!!

This one day course could be designed by a working group of Torah scholars, business professionals and psychologists. Progressive institutions within Orthodoxy could facilitate the development of such a curriculum and this could be sent to synagogue and rabbinic organizations for circulation among their members.

If we are serious about not producing ethicopaths who defraud, steal, molest, abuse their power, show disregard for human dignity--then we must evolve beyond the educational theory of ethics by "osmosis" to the educational theory of ethics by "active prioritization". In the words of the English philosopher John Locke, "The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it"(Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 88). We need to initiate an ethical renewal within Orthodoxy. If the first question we are asked when we encounter the heavenly tribunal is: "Did you conduct yourselves honestly and faithfully in your business dealings?" (Shabbat 31a), then there must be a curriculum to help us learn how to answer this question properly.

Being a light unto the nations and a holy people is quite a challenge. It is imperative that we be ethically focused. This essay is a modest call to that sacred end.

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