God Vs. Madoff
The Madoff scandal hit Toronto this week, and like our American friends south of the border, we are enraged at Madoff's greed, selfishness and narcissism.
Jews, in particular, are shaking their heads and murmuring "a shande, a shande!", as the bad news continues to pore in. The New York Times printed a piece last week about the betrayal felt by the Jewish community at Madoff's behavior. Shame by association is the quintessential Jewish characteristic. We are taught young that we are representatives of our family and that what we do reflects on them, so we better damn well behave or we'll never hear the end of it.
Rabbi Wolpe said, "Jews have these familial ties. It's not solely a shared belief; it's a sense of close communal bonds, and in the same way that your family can embarrass you as no one else can, when a Jew does this, Jews feel ashamed by proxy."
Right. But. What Wolpe leaves out in his analogy is that family can always come home, no matter what they have done. The wayward son has a place in the community if he does "tshuva" or repents. Not so, according to Rabbi Wolpe. "It is not possible for him [Madoff] to atone for all the damage he did and I don't even think that there is a punishment that is commensurate with the crime, for the wreckage of lives that he's left behind. The only thing he could do, for the rest of his life, is work for redemption that he would never achieve."
Madoff can never achieve redemption? He will never be able to make amends? Does Rabbi Wolpe get to decide this? Does The New York Times? The arrogance of this statement irks me and it goes against some of the basic principles of the Jewish tradition.
To be clear, I, like pretty much everyone else on the planet, thinks that Madoff's behavior is reprehensible, disgusting, and selfish to an unprecedented degree. In fact, the scandal is so clear-cut, it's almost boring. There is no grey area. What Madoff did is very, very bad. When it comes to sins between people, Madoff takes the cake. End of story.
But when Rabbi Wolpe speaks about redemption, he is talking about the ability to repent and make amends with God. And it is here that I say, "not so fast, Wolpe."
On Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, Jews are asked to make amends and atone for two kinds of sins. The first is for sins against humanity, or sins against other people, and the second is for sins against God.
The way you repent for sins against others is by asking for forgiveness and receiving an absolution from those who you have harmed. There is action involved. Often it comes in the form of an uncomfortable conversation and the risk that the other person may not forgive you. It's hard work, this atoning business, and it doesn't always go your way. Madoff falls into this category. He hasn't asked for forgiveness, and it is unlikely that anyone is going to accept his apology even if he offers one.
The second kind of atonement, however, is trickier. The word "repentance" in Hebrew means "to return" and it comes from the idea that we can return to God at anytime. The tradition teaches that one should repent a day before one's death. While the lesson here is that since we don't know when we will die, we should always live in line with God's will for us (i.e., ethically, morally, spiritually etc.), it also reminds us that it's never too late, and that it's always possible to atone and make amends for our sins.
The Talmud also teaches that God has thirteen attributes of mercy when it comes to sin. They are as follows:
1. God is merciful before someone sins, even though God knows that a person is capable of sin.
2. God is merciful to a sinner even after the person has sinned.
3. God represents the power to be merciful even in areas that a human would not expect or deserve.
4. God is compassionate, and eases the punishment of the guilty.
5. God is gracious even to those who are not deserving.
6. God is slow to anger.
7. God is abundant in kindness.
8. God is the god of truth, thus we can count on God's promises to forgive repentant sinners.
9. God guarantees kindness to future generations, as the deeds of the righteous patriarchs have benefits to all their descendants.
10. God forgives intentional sins if the sinner repents.
11. God forgives a deliberate angering of Him if the sinner repents.
12. God forgives sins that are committed in error.
13. God wipes away the sins from those who repent.
Clearly, there is some room for discussion here. God, according to the holy texts, not only forgives sins if there is repentance, but will wipe them away completely if one atones with a whole heart. This is a powerful lesson in compassion, forgiveness, and mercy. I am not a religious person and struggle with my belief in God. Nonetheless, this text inspires me and reminds me to be open, non-judgmental, and compassionate towards others. That is to say, if God can forgive, who I am to argue?!
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Judaism teaches that personal and spiritual growth is an individual matter when it comes to judgment. There are certain standards of communal ethical living and there is a code of conduct that we should all be striving towards, but how far you have come, and how much you have repented cannot be judged by others.
You are not compared to your brother, your best friend, or your boss in God's eyes. You are responsible for being the best version of yourself and at the end of your life, you will be judged on how you did based on your own potential and hardships. For example, an alcoholic who stays sober may be more lauded than a researcher who discovers the cure for cancer. The achievement itself is less relevant than how challenging it was for you to get there. Only you and God know how far you have moved along your own personal trajectory. Madoff is no exception to this rule.
Rabbi Wolpe may never forgive Madoff, but he has not right to imply that he can never return to God's graces. It's not for him, or for any one of us to decide if, or how much he has repented.
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great article Leeat -- very insightful
Really great article, Dr. Granek! I find the thirteen attributes of mercy very powerful. Forgiving Madoff certainly feels like an impossibility from a human perspective, and perhaps even wrong (especially if, as now, he doesn't seem to be repentant...forgiving him can seem like doing an injustice to those who suffered most). God's ability to forgive completely, to make scarlet sins "white as snow" and removed "as far as East is from West" while still being just, is pretty awe-inspiring and hard to comprehend. I think you are quite right that God's compassion for us should be our model for forgiveness.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." - Rabbi Jesus (Luke 6:37). Being a follower of Christ is a VERY Jewish thing to do, true Christians are not anti-semitic. Try reading the 11th chapter of the book of Romans and you will learn that the Jews are the natural branches of the Olive tree (symbolic of Israel) and Christians are the wild olive branches. - May God bless you in the next year!
Very well said, Dr. Granek. What seems impossible to man is possible with God! What Mr. Madoff has done has hurt alot of people however, if he truly is repentant he can always find mercy at the feet of God.
Dr. Granek, you say, "The way you repent for sins against others is by asking for forgiveness and receiving an absolution from those who you have harmed. " Madoff has hurt so many people he can never personally ask their forgiveness. He won't live long enough to do so. Therefore, redemption for him is impossible.
asking forgiveness, AND MAKING RESTITUTION: not by hiding and protecting your assets by mailing the valuables to family and friends. It boggles my mind that he is living in a luxury $7 mil apt under house arrest! This is nuts!
Forgiveness does not benefit the forgiven.
It benefits the forgiver.
I believe the Jewish people suffer so much more than necessary because they are unable to forgive and forget and even proud of that fact.
Listen to Rabbi Jesus.
Peace.
I believe that God is in the forgiveness business. There is also a balancing action that takes place.
"What you sow shall you reap".
God have mercy on all our souls
I see Israel is using the Talmud's guidance re: Gaza.
God is not against any of us, just sin. The title should be "Madoff Vs. God."
Thank you Dr. Granek for your article. When I read Rabbi Wolpe's comments in the NYT a few days ago I was really confused. At the time I even discussed it with my husband and said "I guess that's why I will never convert to Judiasm." I am the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and the only knowledge I had about the Jewish religion was through friends and relatives who are Jewish. Up until I read Rabbi Wolpe's remarks, I had always thought that forgiveness was one of the basics of Judiasm and I had greatly admired that religion for the example that my friends and relatives set forth. Thank you for setting the record straight and bringing me back. It is a shame that one man, a Rabbi no less, can do so much damage to his religion.
If you had not taken the time to write this, I would have remained ill-informed and ignorant of a beautiful religion.
The point here is to stress a need for individual self assessment. While we cannot help a little vindictiveness toward Madoff given the scope and gravity of what he did, that will not be useful to us. Rather than focus on what we think about Madoff, and what his fate should be, we must re-focus upon the lesson in this for ourselves and our community to make us less vulnerable to this in the future.
Why did we see Madeoff as a quintessential person of brilliance, whose sublime access to power and prestige we eagerly sought? Why was he on all those Boards and the subject of such fascination? Was it primarily because he made returns which were impossible? Yes. We need to digest the blossoming horror of our tacit approval of business practices which bring results which are too good to be true, and of the accumulation of wealth which is too great and too fast to be legally or morally possible.
It is the classic characteristic of a hustler's "mark" that they are foolish, and responsible for what they get. They believe they are so smart they can attain impossible rewards and escape unscathed. They believe money can be gained through entirely passive means. Madeoff had impossible results, and such impossible results suggested something "untoward" was going on. To any right thinking person it should be a wake up call.
Not everyone received "impossible" rewards. Accounts went up and down like any other investment account. Many, many people received line item statements that showed stocks owned and their value, something easily checked simply by reading the Wall Street Journal. The fact that these statements were possibly faked is not the fault of so-called "marks". A lot of very brilliant people were fooled by this man, people who had relationships with him that lasted decades. I am so tired of hearing judgmental people talk about something they know nothing about. These people lost everything they had, that kind of devastation should illicit nothing but compassion much as the world shows anyone who is a victim of devastation beyond their control.
Very interesting take on this impossible situation. BTW if you are indeed asked for forgive someone Jewish thought is that you can only refuse 3 times - if you refuse to forgive a person who has harmed you after the third sincere request - the sin becomes yours in God's eyes. What a challenge the tradition has set forth for us to live up too.
None of these jerks like Madoff or Fuld or McCreevy ever ask you to forgive them, because the request could be used against them in court.
I always liked the scene in Hamlet where the King has a shot at repenting and realizes it won't work:
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above;
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.
Unless you can do that, it's no use merely saying "I'm sorry."
As the king concludes, "Words without thoughts never to heaven go."
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