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| Protesting a gang rape in Israel (Daily Mail) |
He makes the observation that the outsize protests these 2 events generated demonstrates the secular society in Israel does has good values. This is Rabbi Kornreich’s description of those 2 events:
One is the heart-rending day care scandal reported last month, where a number of female staff members of a child day care center were caught (on video) routinely and casually abusing the toddlers under their care. 200 incidents of abuse were recorded.
The second is the horrific report last week of a drunk 16 year old girl allegedly being consecutively raped by a large group of boys and men in an Eilat hotel room.
Pretty horrific stuff. I can’t imagine any human being doing either of these things. I can only conclude that in each case the perpetrators had absolutely no conscience.
In the case of the day care center - the abusive staff could not care less about the children left in their charge - hiding their malicious treatment of them from the parents.
In the second case the gang rape by a group of 30 men of an inebriated 16 year old girl is beyond shocking. I say this knowing full well that this is not the first time someone was gang raped in the word. But whenever it happens I ask myself how in the world can anyone do something like this? How can someone even entertain a thought like this - let alone commit the actual crime? And how can they live with themselves afterwards?
The only answer that comes to mind is that in both cases we are dealing with sociopaths. People that literally do not have the ability to empathize or sympathize with the suffering of others. So that when those child care workers mistreated those toddlers, they thought nothing of it. And in the case of the gang rape not only didn’t they sympathize with the pain of their victim, they probably had some sort of perverse pleasure in causing it. They probably saw it as some kind of personal achievement. The only way to mentally process this is to realize what kind of mental disorder we are dealing with
The public outrage and protests that followed in each case should be no surprise. People of good will - will always demand that measures be taken by the government to prevent things like this from ever happening again.
The point Rabbi Kornreich tries to make, however, is similar to the one being made by some in the ‘black lives matter’ movement. Which is that there is an underlying cause that needs to be addressed. And that seeking better law enforcement is not the real answer. That - he might say - treats the symptom and not the underlying cause.
Although there is truth to the contention about the underlying causes of rioting and looting in the name of protesting racism in America - there is a debate about what those cases actually are. But in the case of the two incidents in this case, I don’t think there really is an underlying cause other than sociopathic behavior.
To the best of my knowledge a sociopath has a mental disorder that is not treatable. Without a conscience there an be no morality. Sociopaths do whatever they want as they think they can get away with it without caring about anyone but themselves.
How does one become a sociopath? I’m not sure but I believe there are just some people born without a conscience. I therefore suggest that Rabbi Kornreich supposition that there was some sort of bad parenting on the part of secular parents is not the cause. The Torah itself makes reference to this kind of thing when it speaks of a Ben Sorer U’Moreh – the rebellious child.
We are commanded to execute by stoning a Ben Sorer U’Moreh while still a child before he has committed a capital crime as an adult. Even though this has never been carried out historically, the fact that the Torah acknowledges the idea that a person can be 'born bad' tends to corroborate my contention that sociopaths are born that way. Some people cannot be taught moral behavior. No matter how they were raised.
I understand Rabbi Korneireich’s point. Which is the following:
In a secular society, moral instruction is completely optional—not an absolute given as it is in religious societies.
As he notes, this is not just about Jewish religious instruction. It is about religious instruction in general. Be it Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. Obviously in a Jewish state it is the moral values of Judaism that should be instilled in our children. I agree with that, obviously. He then goes to suggest ways of starting to do that.
Rabbi Kornireich does not ignore our own failings. And makes reference to the ‘demons’ among ourselves that result in a variety of crimes by religious Jews. But he separates the kind of crimes unusually asscociated with Jews which are most often financial – from the kind being done in the two cases at hand. That is a point well taken. He correctly condemns both types of crimes. But I agree there there is a huge difference between them.
I would however suggest that Rabbi Kornreich ignores the fact that there are many ‘religious’ Jews that are just as guilty of sociopathic behavior as the gang rapists were. Has he not heard of all the child sex abuse going on in our world? Has he not heard of Rabbis Mondrowitz, Berland, Weberman, and Greer… just to name a few people that come to mind?
I fully agree that a religious education will teach the kind of values Rabbi Korneich suggests. But I do not believe for a moment that a sociopath can be educated that way. No matter how much you try and drill it into them.
My two cents.