This LA Times article actually encompasses the points I made yesterday in my post about a similar NY Times article.
Except there are still some Jewish elitists who “disown” Madoff (the first “Rabbis” mentioned in the article”). Rabbi Adlerstein and Harriet Rossetto echoed my sentiments of learning from the incident and Madoff’s opportunity for Tshuva.
Rossetto even goes so far to say that maybe Madoff is the messenger teaching us to redefine our values. That is a good approach. That is a healthy approach.
Divorcing ourselves from Madoff by saying “Madoff does not represent the Jewish people, not even remotely” is useless and inaccurate. Firstly, no one represents the Jewish people, we each represent ourselves. Secondly, that kind of disownment is not our place as humans and fellow Jews. He is still a Jew and yes he made mistakes but haven’t we all?
Related posts:
- In Madoff Scandal, Jews Feel an Acute Betrayal – NYTimes.com
- One Month Anniversary & Best of the Blog (So Far)
- Which Of These is the Nobel Peace Prize Winner?
- Mr. Miller (and me) In The Baltimore Jewish Times
- Matza in the NY Times and In Our TImes


I am Bernie Madoff. I want everyone to prosper. I believe every one of my investors blessed me every night before he/she went to bed and after they counted their 20% dividend checks. They counted on me, and I never let them down, Until now. So please forgive me, i did good, wanted to make everyone happy, and do mitzvahs through the charities i supported. can you blame me? regards, bernie
[...] Madoff 1 and Madoff 2 [...]
[...] week Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. In the early days of my blog I wrote a couple of Madoff posts (check them out if you have not seen [...]