Out of nowhere, the RCA sent me a letter yesterday regarding a man I had never heard of before, Rabbi Leib Tropper.
Today I was directed by another party to listen to the tapes.
And it's just so sad. Sad for him, for her, for his family, for the Jewish community as a whole...it's sad in the kind of way that tears you apart and makes you wonder how God must feel watching this happen. Unhappy God who watches His fragile creations hurt themselves and other people, unhappy God who cries to see who His people could have been and what they became instead.
What amazes me is that he can rationalize twisting Torah to support what he desires. I can understand the desire; I can't understand speaking of davening to God regarding an extramarital affair. How can you daven to God to support a sin? Perhaps you can pray to Him out of pain, to say that you know this is wrong but you hope He will forgive you but how can you pray to him to support you in your sin? I don't understand.
The entire affair just makes me want to cry.
11 comments:
"How can you daven to God to support a sin?"- תדע, דגנבא אפום מחתרתא, רחמנא קרי (=גנב לפני הפריצה שלו מתפלל לה' שיצליח). וכידוע
"The entire affair just makes me want to cry."- Wouldn't be the first or last. Not sure what everyones so riled up about...
or "All Men are geniuses at rationalization"
KT
Joel Rich
Why is this so surprising? A rabbi in an ultra-Orthodox area of NY acting inappropriately is an earth-shattering revelation to you?
Just pray that this stays internal, and doesn't hit the front page of the NY Times.
What a massive חילול ה. This is almost as bad as the Deal, NJ scandal.
Is it just me, or have a lot of authority figures among Orthodox Jewry committed חילולי ה recently?
Something needs to be done about it, and I think the message of Mr. Seidler-Feller's article needs to re-publicized. http://www.yucommentator.com/kol-hamevaser/the-year-in-review-1.710964
We need to work on making lasting קידושי ה that will overshadow this חילול.
it's not an extra-marital affair if his wife was involved
ain apitrapos li'arayos.
Unfortunately, Rich's contribution is all too true.
Tropper was a pimp, but instead of keeping his human property enslaved through economic means, he withheld her entry in to the Covenant.
He is the absolute worst kind of manipulator and misogynist.
The fact is that he masqueraded as a man of God, while actually embracing the values that only the lowest dregs of humanity hold dear.
That would make him one of the most evil Jews of all time- and the only way that he would get my sympathy is if he suffers from one of a short list of mental-illnesses.
We have hanged more tolerable men for lesser crimes. Less greedy men and less self-deluded men. Prostitution is a form of slavery, and forcing people in to slavery is an act both abominable in the Torah (on multiple counts), and one that carries the death penalty.
We should not tolerate it. I don't know if 21st century Orthodox Judaism can afford to let him off the hook- it just gives too much fuel for the cynics.
It could be an awful chillul hashem, but it could also be a valuable opportunity to be a kiddush hashem.
I hope our leaders will make the right choice over the long term. Unfortunately, I do not expect them to.
Wow, is anybody surprised? Wearing a large black hat, long sleeves, long coat, and of course a long beard is the best covreup for what is underneath. After all, Rabbi Tropper exposed himself privately. I am sorry, Gaon Hador, someone was watching you. Please consult with your fellows Geonei Hador.
1. Why the stereotyping on both sides; yesh omrim that is they admit the orientation they are acting on it and are just trying to rationalize sin and yesh omrim that if they admit the orientation they are pure and innocent completely. Reality is that both things happen, and they happen as well in wherever there are humans, even if they don't admit the orientation. Same as molesting, the fact that there was a ban on talking about it in Williamsburg, Boro Park, Lakewood and RBS does not mean it didnt happen.
There are unavoidable serious issues. Should people of purely gay orientation be encouraged to marry. and if so under what circumstances and with what sharing of information.
There are many other substantive issues for which Lakewood's sweep it under the carpet approach is pathetically unhalachic. YU can be criticized for many things. But it is light years ahead of the chareidi camp on paying attention to reality. The fact is that most bad piskei din are the result of neglect of metsius, attention to the facts on the ground which are relevant. Best illustration is rabbonim signing bans on books they have not read by authors they never talked to.
The great chareid fallacy is the childish notion that you can make something disappear by closing your eyes. I forget my Piaget and I have not followed the advances, but clearly this is something that normal children outgrow well before the age of bar mitzvah. Yet so called gedolim believe this is a responsible approach to major halachic issues. Soon we will have people paskening medical issues who take pride on being illiterate in biology and relying on the askanim who bring in the most government grants to decide which drs to consult.
My husband and I don't believe a word of any of this. Has anyone here ever heard of the word "framed". Has it ever happened to anyone before?. Is it possible to do, especially if you are a billionaire?. People love to take one made up story and sensationlize it, making up all kinds of nasty loshon hara, especially if they wear a black hat. We know Rabbi Tropper for over 2 decades, and we know he is faithful to the one above , and to his word. Unfortunately, people who have a mixture of hatred towards someone, and a ton of money can do a lot of damage to someone in this world. It's just a shame that so many are gullable and don't have the courage to think for themselves. The media just encourages the gullability of people too. I hope Rabbi Tropper gets a ton of mitzvos for the terrible motsei shem ra that was said about him, and the ones that are saying it all should watch out that they don't lose theirs.
Agreeing with Tamar and Aryeh! What Motzei-Sheim-ra! You people should be ashamed of believing any of this, much less tossing around the topic like a news story! Who is doing the aveira here? It's those who carry on the tale-bearing! Quiet yourselves and do teshuva!
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