Shandeh fur de Goyim

It's a little late to comment, but now that the dust has died down, here are a few comments about Jack Abramoff's hat (with thanks to Stephen Hirsch for pointing it out).


I've said before that Jack Abramoff's claims of Jewish orthodox belief strike me as - well - incongruous, to say the least. Before he pled guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, I thought with many others that his declared spiritual beliefs and his apparent corrupt activities didn't quite match up. How could he spend his week taking money from both opposing sides of an issues - from two Indian tribes interested in building a casino on the same spot, say - insult them in his e-mails and private conversations, join with Tom "Broken Hammer" DeLay in violating both legal and ethical rules, and then go to synagogue on the Sabbath and proclaim aloud his devotion to the law of Moses?

Then he comes marching out of court wearing the hat of an Orthodox Jew and everyone says he looks like a gangster.


In truly orthodox circles, this is called a Chillul HaShem, a desecration of God's name. What it does is give people a reason to say "If that's what belief in God leads to, I want nothing to do with it." Those people, under the influence of Abram Jackoff's hypocrisy, thus separate themselves from God, the source of all happiness, and from their access to the best life available.

The title of this post is Yiddish and means "it's a shame for the non-Jewish world." It may be an even more apt phrase than Chilllul HaShem in this context - Abramoff brings us all into disrepute. God keep me far away from any Torah that man adheres to.

Benshlomo says, Lose the hat, Jack, and don't you come back no more.