Kosher Theft

Here comes another biggie, straight from the heart of Boro Park.

It is common practice in many frum circles to work for cash. Pretty much any Jewish business, when hiring, will ask if you want to work on or off the books. While this is wrong, its certainly not something I am not guilty of. Its pretty safe to assume everyone cheats on their taxes a little.

Of course theres always someone who can top this sort of thing, and eventhough Jews are (unfortunately) known as being no strangers to "funny" money business, this phenomenon of extreme financial fraud in the frum family sector is absurd and completely out of control.

Couples get married by the Rebbe but don't file a legal marriage. They quickly have their first kid and pop one out every year after. Since they're not legally married, Mom is listed as a single mother with a child (or 2, 3, 4...). She has an income that legally puts her in the lower class range and immediately files for Medicaid, Food Stamps, WIC and of course Section 8. Since she is living with her "boyfriend" they have a shared income. Because Totty is working off the books, he only declares 25,000 (or less) and files separately for Section-8. Uncle Sam sees a poor single Mom with a bunch of kids and a loser boyfriend, so he gives them Section-8 apartments right next to each other, so Dad can see his kids. (This scenario is a ballpark example)

Meanwhile, Totty actually could be making six figures. They demolish the wall separating their never regulated Section-8 apartments to make one giant government funded direh. They get free food, diapers, health insurance, cribs, air conditioners (no foolin') and pretty much anything else they can get from Uncle Sam, free of charge. The Rebbe doesn't consider this a problem because the mayor probably told him he'd look the other way the kehila swung the vote his way. (Who knows? It could be true. Its happened before.)

Now, besides the fact that these people are stealing from the government...and besides the fact that they are stealing from hard working citizens...and besides the fact that many of these are Jews...which already throws any halachic rationalization for this out the window, I wonder. What kind of example are these people setting for their children? What message are they sending?

Yankele... eetz okay t'bee a ganif. Nisht Geferlach.

That's pretty much what it is. Now matter how you slice the gefilte fish, if you're not supposed to have it, and you take it, its stealing. How do these people live with themselves? I've seen shops in Boro Park that sell streimels, with big signs in Yiddish saying they accept Medicaid. How is this a Torah lifestyle? How do these Rebbes with all their hullabaloo about sin and vice, live knowing that their communities are outright stealing?

Well, kinderlach, the answer is, they probably don't care. None of them do. This thing wouldn't be going on for years if they did. Unfortunately there is so much corruption and falsehood snaking its way through the minds of the frumme velt that its become second nature to accept this kind of thing. I don't know whats on the other side, but I'm pretty sure these people'll be lining up in front of a small guillotine marked "Ganifs".


I'm not talking about families that do really need government assistance, and Lord knows there are plenty of frum families who fall into that sector, but there are many (a great deal really) of these families that just take it because they can. What adds insult to injury is that there are plenty of hard working honest tax-paying families who could really use free health insurance, who can't get it because they "make too much money".  I know this problem exists everywhere, but the appalling irony of a community that practices this and identifys itself as "Ultra Orthodox Jews" is just staggering.

I'm probably talking to people who understand that this is wrong. The kind of shmuck that would do this probably wouldn't ever read a blog, especially this one. However, I'll say this anyway, just in case. Stealing from the government is not okay, and its most certainly not kosher. If you wanna steal. Fine. Do it. Its your crummy life, but don't ever mask theft with the guise of a hechsher. No matter who says its okay. Whether they be Rebbe or not. Its completely assur. Forbidden... and more importantly, when you raise children with that kind of conduct, you're bound to set a terrible example that will almost surely turn into a continuing cycle of behaviors for your children's offspring.

(I apologize for the cheap throws of Yiddish colloquialisms, but it tickles my funny bone and helps colorfully illustrate my point.)

Kosher Racism

Yesterday, my tichel clad wife took our son to the park. Even though it was about 5 or 6 pm-ish, there was a fair amount of kids still running around. My son began to play with a little boy, who was not Jewish, black and about a year older than he is. My wife usually begins to chat up the mom of a kid my son suddenly becomes friendly with, so they began to schmooze. She was very friendly and the kids were having a lot of fun playing together. The park was full of mostly Jewish kids and after my wife and the other mom parted ways, something happened.

She (my wife) began to get the dirtiest looks from every single Jewish mom in the park. After a few minuted of this, the general unspoken consensus within the playground was "How could you possibly let your child play with one of them." She didn't really pay any mind to it, but did tell me about it when she got back.

What on earth is wrong with two toddlers playing together? If you want to play the whole "bad influence" card, don't even go there. These kids are way to young to be influencing each other in any way shape or form. And even if bad influence was a factor, these naysayers had no idea what the kids were doing. Why does being black constitute the automatic assumption of being a bad influence? This display of disapproval was pure racism and nothing more. I could talk for hours about how I think racism is evil, but I'm only going to talk about it within the context of Jewish parenting. Raising children to be racist is pure sin. There is no merit in the world to come for people who raise their children to have sinat chinam (baseless hatred), and just to clarify, racism is sinat chinam in its purest form.

Unfortunately, it is acceptable in the frum community to be racist. My brother went to a very prominent yeshiva in the Flatbush community. Some might even call it, the yeshiva. He related to me about how racist his rebbe was and how he ranted and raved about how dirty and degenerate the shvartzes are. This man is supposed to be an educator and he is acting no better than the instructors of the Hitler Youth. Is his Torah really worth anything? Sickening.

The beauty of childhood is that there are no biases, preconceived notions or prejudices. These two children were sharing a moment of fun together and that is a beautiful thing. To frum people who think its kosher to be racist, I say this: If you want to raise your children to be good Jews, they first need to be good people. Start by teaching them about the beauty of humanity. Kavod Habriot. Separating people (especially children) based on their differences teaches hatred. I'm not saying send your kids out to play with anyone. G-d knows there are plenty of bad kids out there, Jewish or not. Use your best judgment, but don't make that decision based on skin color. Raising children exposed to diversity will make them better people, and it certainly wouldn't hurt their parents either.

Update: Thanks to Heshy for the guest post on Frumsatire.