Horrific events have fallen on top of the head of Rabbi
Starr the previously well-respected rabbi of Temple Israel in Sharon like
Dorothy’s house fell into Oz on top of the Wicked Witch of the East killing her. It is an apt metaphor. The series of Boston Globe articles about this tragic episode of sex, extortion, and
possible embezzlement by a conservative rabbi has captured my attention and
provoked me to thought like few other issues have. The issues surrounding the rabbi bringing him
to a snake-infested swamp into which he fell are as sordid and troubling as
they are voluminous and profound.
How can this incident be viewed? Through which lens do we view it? What profundities does it teach and can it
have value for all of us? I reached into
my arsenal of great literature and/or film to use a few of the great masters of
the written and spoken word hoping they could offer me worthy thoughts to think
when the unthinkable occurs and morphs into the inexplicable.
The rabbi, by his own actions has become in our time
the Puritan Hester Prynne of Hawthorne’s great masterpiece the Scarlett Letter. She is a woman weighed down by the heavy
weight of the scarlet letter “A” for the adultery she has committed and is forced to wear it on her
chest for all time labeling her a sinner and marking her for life. She must work for her redemption but never be
quite free from the original sin. Can
the rabbi work for his redemption? Can
he ever be free from his great Coleridgean albatross of shame hung around his
neck like the ancient mariner in that great work too about sin and redemption?
I sought out Shakespeare, the master of tragedy,
because this once well respected man’s life has taken a tragic turn and
succumbed to Shakespearean-like fatal flaws.
I remembered Hamlet.
Act 2 Scene 2
“What a piece of work
is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how
express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! In apprehension how like a
god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is
this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor Woman neither …”
Yes, man is a wonderful creation but at the same
time he is flawed and his actions can be as low as the dust.
One of my favorite films is Woody Allen’s “Crimes
and Misdemeanors” about Judah Rosenthal, a well-respected married man and successful
ophthalmologist who makes a mistake of having an affair with a single woman who
becomes hysterical and obsessed when he would not leave his wife and marry her. She threatens to expose it all. He is faced with a career and marriage-ending
situation spun out of control. His modus operandi is getting his amoral brother to construct the murder of that
woman. One can ask does the ophthalmologist
“see” his sins or is the morally good rabbi in the film the one who really sees
even though he is, indeed, blind. And,
in the final analysis, does the universe care as the ophthalmologist’s life
returns to eventual normality after the dastardly deed is done and we assume he is never punished?
In sum the quote from Professor Louis Levy in that
film says it best:
“We're all faced
throughout our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a
grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points. But we define
ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our
choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly, human happiness does not
seem to be included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love that
give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to
have the ability to keep trying and even try to find joy from simple things,
like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might
understand more.”
Can this sad story about a once beloved rabbi and
his allegedly egregious actions teach us anything about the definition of sin,
the penitence for it, the redemption of it and wisdom behind men’s – all men’s –
fatal flaws?
As the great man is alleged to have said 2000 years
ago “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Yes, I can quote Jesus even for this rabbi
because his words speak profundity as this rabbi, I assume, will try mightily
to be the well-respected man he once was.
