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| Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein |
I realize Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein is a dynamic speaker. He has what you might call a certain kind of charisma. And he makes his points very well. But that does not make what he says OK. It is NOT OK.
Just a couple of weeks ago he did the same thing he has done numerous times before. He has taken the words of the Torah and twisted them - thereby hurting innocent people who have never done a thing to him. He might just as well handed them a loaded gun and said ‘Here. Go kill yourself!’
This time it it was in the context of ‘Chesed’. Or more precisely what it is not according to ‘Wallerstein’s Torah’.
First he talks about non Jews using the word ‘Goyim’ - lumping all non Jews into one category in a very disparaging tone. As if to say the opposite of ‘good’ is ‘Goyim’. Then he castigates societal attitudes about abortion and homosexuality – labeling them as the opposite of the Chesed ‘society’ purports it to be.
In the span of about 2 minutes, he manages to tear apart non Jews, gay people, and abortion. As if all 3 are purely evil. No exceptions. No Nuance. No understanding about struggle or distinctions between the sin and the sinner. No difference between the many millions of non Jews that share the same values with us. No distinctions about when abortion might actually be permitted and sometimes even required by Halacha. No… it’s all evil determined to be as such by the ‘evil Goyim’. His point? All 3 should be shunned!
This is not Toras Moshe. It is Toras Wallerstein. And once again I protest it, just like I did when he did much the same thing to sex abuse victims. And just like when he condemned Orthodox Jewish women for exercising to Zumba – predicting they would become to pole dancers by doing this exercise - even though they do it only among other women in complete privacy.
Why does anyone give this guy th time of day? Is his charisma more important than his black and white distorted message of the Torah?!
Not in my book.
Just to be clear. I have said much the same thing about the values of western culture that is embraced by about half the country. And I agree that male to male anal sex is a serious violation of the Torah. And that abortion on demand (e.g. using it as a form of after the fact birth control) is a sin as well.
Had he put it this way, I wouldn’t be criticizing him. But his cavalier attitude lumping everything into one category makes what he said disgusting. Doing it the right way would take a little forethought and a minimal amount of Chesed. Something he apparently has no clue about.
What a shame that such a talented motivational speaker can’t use that talent for some real Chesed and thereby save some lives instead of contributing to their suicide rate. One does not have to support sinful behavior in order to condemn the sin. Chesed? I don’t think he understands the meaning of the word. Watch him - and weep: