Silence is not golden

On Friday, Debbie Schlussel castigated the US Justice Department and an Iowa judge for denying bail to Shalom Rubashkin, an American Jew who is accused of violating immigration and labor laws in the operation of his Iowa meat plant.

With a ton of Muslims fleeing to Arab countries every time they commit a crime, who is the Justice Department seeking to deny bail for? The Jews, that's who.

Hmmm . . . is it time to get my grandmother's old Yellow Star patch out?

...

Um, again, I am NOT--nor is this Rubashkin dude--a citizen of Israel. I don't hold dual citizenship, nor do most Jews in America--5.2 million of us.

And, aside from that, America has an extradition treaty with Israel and for the most part has returned defendants to justice here. On the other hand, we have no such treaty with Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia, and all of the other Muslim countries with a few million living here. Many Muslim criminals have fled to those countries to escape justice here.

Why isn't the Justice Department pursuing a "no bail for Muslims and Arabs" policy?

Gee, maybe Jews should have thrown planes into buildings and murdered 3,000 Americans. Perhaps we'd get better treatment. Being an integral part of this country since before its founding simply wasn't the way to go, apparently . . . at least in the "due process" being pursued by the U.S. Justice Department.

Just so you know, the Germans started by pursuing exactly this kind of policy. It was an omen of things to come there.

In Tuesday's JPost, Shmuley Boteach criticizes the American justice system for the contrast between the treatment of accused mass embezzler Bernard Madoff and Rubashkin, and slams the American Jewish community for its silence on the issue.

WHAT COULD this rabbi have done that would cause the justice system to be so harsh? To be sure the charges against him are serious, including child labor violations and knowingly employing hundreds of illegal immigrants. But Bernie Madoff allegedly ripped off $50 billion and took scores of Jewish charities to the cleaners, including the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Yet he's sitting under house arrest at his $10 million East Side apartment! Rubashkin and his wife Leah long ago surrendered their passports to federal authorities, not to mention the fact that he was previously fitted with a GPS ankle bracelet. So why did the judge deny a multimillion dollar bail package offered for his release, with 32 people offering mortgages on their homes to back the bond?

In his November 20 decision, federal magistrate Jon Stuart Scoles offered the astonishing and disquieting rationale that Rubashkin is a flight risk because "under Israel's Law of Return, any Jew and members of his family who have expressed their desire to settle in Israel will be granted citizenship." Huh? A federal judge designates 5.5 million American Jews as potential flight risks due to Israel's Law of Return, and the Jewish community responds with silence?

Boteach goes on to criticize the difference in the way American Jews require a stamp of approval for meat and do not require one to gather wealth. I urge you to read the whole thing.

But perhaps there's another point that needs to be brought out here. Shalom Rubashkin (pictured at the top of this post) looks a lot more (outwardly) Jewish than Bernard Madoff (pictured near the bottom) does. Could it be that it's okay to be Jewish in America so long as you don't look 'too Jewish'?

When I was working in New York, I had a colleague who looked very obviously (Orthodox) Jewish, who went with a big black kippa (skullcap) in the office. Most of us did not dare wear our kipot in the office in the 1980's (I understand things are different today). This particular colleague was a top graduate from one of the country's top law schools.

A friend who knew my colleague told me that my colleague went out on interviews exactly as he dressed in the office. My friend told me that my colleague could not find a job when he was in law school. At one point, in fact, my colleague considered suing some of the largest law firms in New York City because they would not consider hiring him despite his impeccable credentials. One law firm partner was quite blunt about it. He said, "we would love to hire you if only you didn't look so Jewish." My colleague took off his kipa, and his peot (side curls) cascaded down the sides of his fact to his shoulders. "Do I look any less Jewish now," he asked.

For too many American Jews the pursuit of wealth is about fitting in and looking like the goyim (non-Jews). The goyim have apparently picked up on it. American Jews are afraid to defend someone who looks 'too Jewish.'

I wish I could tell you that there is no discrimination against people who look like Rubashkin in Israel. Sadly, I cannot. The hope that there would be less discrimination against the Rubashkins of the world is one reason I came to Israel. The good news is that there are enough of us here and enough Jews who are willing to do business with us, that on the whole we do face less discrimination than was the case in America 20-25 years ago.

If we continue to be silent about Rubashkin's discriminatory treatment, discrimination against religious Jews will continue. Religious Jews in America are not a constitutionally protected suspect class.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.