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| Yeshiva Torah V'Yira D'Rabbenu Yoel of Satmar (Gothamist) |
A Hasidic school in Brooklyn will pay $5 million in fines after it was caught stealing millions of dollars from government programs – much of it meant to provide free meals to students in need, according to federal prosecutors. an additional $3 million the school has already paid in restitution…
Federal authorities said the school engaged in “several overlapping frauds,” including diverting more than $3 million in federal funds meant to pay for meals for school children. An investigation found an “overwhelming majority of meals” were fabircated – and that funds were instead used for private parties thrown by adults.
The school also admitted to creating no-show jobs for some staffers and compensating employees through vouchers and cash to allow them to qualify for government benefits, according to court documents.
Anyone that says that Satmar type Chasidus teaches their students to be good citizens (as did a lawsuit brought recently by Agudah and a variety of other Orthodox institutions) ought to look long and hard at what transpired here.
There have been many accusations like this against Chasidic schools in the past. All of which have been waved off by their defenders as false or inaccurate. They characterized those accusations as part of an agenda by the secular and non Orthodox Jewish media to vilify the Charedi community with no basis in fact. Fueled by the occasional miscreant that got caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
Those - they will say - were individual cases that had nothing to do with the honesty and ethical standards of Satmar type Chasidim. Who in no way would defraud the government. That any money stolen was by individuals and did not reflect the values of Chasidim themselves. That any money taken institutionally from the government was used well with the confines of its intent.
I think that would be a hard sell at this point. Satmar leadership was at best willfully ignorant of how those funds were used, or maybe even knew how the money was used but ‘looked the other way’ - thinking they would get away with it.
That anyone might defend the guilty school officials as simply ignorant of what the parameters of use consisted of - is a ridiculous assertion. But even if that were true it would not excuse them. They had every obligation to know what those parameters were and to use those funds accordingly.
The conundrum here is that Satmar type Chasidim believe they are the most meticulous in Mitzvah observance of any other segment of observant Judaism. In fact the very term ‘Chasid’ means pious. A name they took from the Gemara for precisely that reason. They try to live the most pious lives they can. And in many ways they do. Or at least think they do
Here is one example to illustrate that point. In matters of the laws of Tznius (sexual modesty), they go well beyond the letter of the law in what they require of their women. For example married Satmar women are encouraged to shave their heads since a married woman’s hair is considered Erva (nakedness). They believe the best way to avoid showing their hair is to simply cut it all off. The more pious among them actually do that. That is on the Bein Adam L’Makom side.
On the Bein Adam L’Chavero side there is no segment of Jewry more devoted to Mitzvah of Bikur Cholim than Satmar. They will aid any Jew laid up in a hospital (and their family) regardless of how observant they are. Or even if they are not observant at all. Without preaching to them. Truly a wonderful characteristic.
But all of this piety goes down the drain when they are caught in massive government fraud like this.
How can a pious Jew do something like this? It’s an old story. I believe it stems from centuries of antisemitic European persecution where the only way a Jew could support himself would be via the black market – skirting the law just to survive. That attitude was carried over to America post Holocaust by their parents and grandparents who instilled those negative values into their children. Who otherwise had know way of knowing what the outside non Jewish world was really like. They apparently still believe that if you can get away with it, defrauding the government is a legitimate way to support oneself.
That there have been many instances of that is no secret. But to the best of my knowledge this is the first time when three years ago they were exposed doing it on such a massive scale. And now- with this massive fine - the chickens have come home to roost.
This once again brings me back to the fact that they insist on rejecting any secular curriculum at all. The idea that a secular curriculum will dilute the purity of their religious lives is laughable in the face of this 8 million dollar fine. If there was ever a reason to insist on a core secular curriculum this is it. The claim made in that lawsuit that Satmar type Chasidis teaches their students be good citizens without one is ridiculous.
I am so sick of the apologetics. Why doesn’t any of the religious leadership (outside of Satmar) stand up and cry out at what happened? Where is the outrage? Do they believe that this is all one big lie? Do they believe this event is being blown up way out of proportion? Do they believe this was the deed of a few greedy men and that the Satmar leadership was not aware of it? Are they going to say that what was reported in the Media is misleading and based on an anti Charedi agenda?
I find ‘explanations’ like this to be farfetched. You can cry ‘wolf’ just so many times.
I don’t know. Perhaps the rabbinic leadership outside of Satmar believes they are too ‘Frum’ to condemn. That condemning them would be a Chilul HaSehm. But I would have to disagree. If there is no public condemnation of what Satmar did – it may be the biggest Chilul HaShem of all.