Rabbi Michael Broyde Takes "Indefinite Leave Of Absence" From RCA's Beit Din Of America

"The Rabbinical Council of America, the chief professional organization of Modern Orthodox rabbis, has granted Rabbi Dr. Michael Broyde, one of its most prominent scholars and a professor of law at Emory University, “an indefinite leave of absence” from its top rabbinical court, the Beth Din of America. Sources within the RCA confirmed the move, and Broyde’s biography has been deleted from the court’s web site, where he was previously listed as a member and judge."

Rabbi Michael Broyde

Tablet Magazine reports:

The Rabbinical Council of America, the chief professional organization of Modern Orthodox rabbis, has granted Rabbi Dr. Michael Broyde, one of its most prominent scholars and a professor of law at Emory University, “an indefinite leave of absence” from its top rabbinical court, the Beth Din of America. Sources within the RCA confirmed the move, and Broyde’s biography has been deleted from the court’s web site, where he was previously listed as a member and judge.

“Rabbi Broyde has admitted to behavior that the Rabbinical Council finds extremely disturbing,” Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the RCA, told Tablet. “We have determined and announced by the Beth Din of America, our affiliated rabbinical court, that he has ceased to serve as a dayan immediately and indefinitely.”…

Said Rabbi Goldin, “We are going to continue investigating the matter and proceedings will be underway to determine any further appropriate action.”

Related articles

Rabbi Michael Broyde Caught Using Fake Identity To Bolster His Own Work

Broyde Says He Did No Wrong

The International Rabbinic Fellowship Responds To Rabbi Michael Broyde's Deceptions

Comments

[WoolSilkCotton]

Shmarya, is Broyde the infamous 'Bunker' who used to be here, as someone thought last night?

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

WSC –

No.

[Garnel Ironheart]

Are there no good guys left?

[!]

Unfortunately, this is good news. I thought otherwise just yesterday but too much has since come to light. To Gamel: Maybe you?

[Lo K'darkah]

This is just the beginning…
There are at least two other fictional Rabbis, that I am aware of, currently with an active on-line presence. One even has a photo (ironically of a non-Jewish actor), participates in responding to halachic questions on a well-known reponsa website, and even sits on an official Beit Din (itself fictional) which occasionally receives correspondence! (Few have ever suspected that this Rabbi might not be real. His creator is a disgruntled individual who left the frum world some years ago, went to art school and now works in web design. He has also created a fictional conservative shul, but it currently has no Rabbi, because its creator has not enough time. Yes, there are photos of the shul on its website and a timetable for services and if you write to them, they will respond). The other is a composite Rabbi utilised by a known kiruv organisation with an on-line presence. All the Rabbis who work for the organisation casually take turns at being the character Rabbi – since no-one wanted to get lumbered with the job - and last year they even put out a sefer in the Rabbi’s name. People who develop a type of spiritual dependency bond with this composite fictional Rabbi are often disappointed to be told at events which they are attend that ‘Rabbi So-and-So is sorry but he couldn’t make it.’ On one occasion, when a certain young baalat tshuvah was told the truth – she immediately fried out. She had just come out of an intense relationship with a non-Jewish man to discover that for six months she had been sharing intimate information with a group of nameless men, none of whom would accept open responsibility for the advice and counselling she was given. If you have read this far, then I should also tell you that everything I have written is, itself, fictional and was only intended to draw out the problematic implications of ‘Broyde syndrome’. How will people in the future, who look to today’s internet archives for an understanding of our age, know who was real and who wasn’t? They won’t. But those who believe it’s ‘not technically’ unethical for spiritual authorities to utter their wisdom through pseudonyms, may want to ponder on what that means.

[Zalman Alpert]

Finally a Jewish organization does the right thing

[NewFakeName]

The real pressing question is who is misspelling "indefinate," Shmarya or Broyde?

[Andrew Bloom]

But, Lo K'darkah -- you too write under a fictitious name. Isn't it just a sliding gradation of the same thing.

Most of those who post comments -- and many post thoughts of real substance and do so often enough that people know their positions -- do so without using their real (or full) names.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"The real pressing question is who is misspelling "indefinate," Shmarya or Broyde?"

The actual quote from Tablet Magazine, for those who are unclear on the concept that Shmarya is working with a fast-paced, real-time medium:

“an indefinite leave of absence”

[steven k]

Political correctness is having its day in the sun.
Careful, though:Political "correctness" like biting people on the but

[ah-pee-chorus]

WSC-

archie bunker was quite negative towards broyde and in the link below is a dialogue between bunker and "Hershel Goldwasser" , which is an alias alleged to have been used by broyde.

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2009/01/rabbi-lookstein-responds-to-the-rca.html

[Jacob Mendlovic]

As I noted before, this is absolutely no scandal. Shame on RCA for bowing to hysteria.I have heard Rabbi Broyde speak several times in Toronto. He is a gentleman and a scholar.

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

Jacob Mendlovic --

I don't care if you heard him speak 100 times – he is a proven liar and cheat.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Lying and cheating are not crimes in the frumma Torah. As long as he shokels while davening, and does chesed with frumma charities, he gets a free pass.

[Chana]

Jacob Mendlovic - What Shmarya said.

I've lost a lot of respect for those who are supporting him, like Gil Student.

[dh]

So the Thous Shalt not lie stuff, what does that mean to them? Does it mean only under oath, or only under certain circumstances or only to other frummers? What do they teach their frumlettes?

[Reuven]

...so does this render any conversions which he oversaw treif, as he doesn't appear to have been particular about observing the mitzvot?

[ah-pee-chorus]

+++But, Lo K'darkah -- you too write under a fictitious name. Isn't it just a sliding gradation of the same thing.Posted by: Andrew Bloom+++

no, it isnt. i hope i dont have to explain the difference. its rather obvious.

[Curious]

I've lost a lot of respect for those who are supporting him, like Gil Student.

Posted by: Chana | April 15, 2013 at 01:18 PM

Is "Gil Student" also a penname?

[Yerachmiel Lopin]

No it is real. In the past he has been a fanatic against pseudonyms. But now it is one of his buddies so he has done a 180. His blog Torah Musings used to be called Hirhurim.

[ah-pee-chorus]

fortunately a suitable replacement has been found.... Rabbi Hershel Goldwasser .

[MO]

This is way too harsh. Unfortunately, many people are enjoying someone they envy kicked off his pedestal. I say this as someone who does not agree with many of his views. But let's be clear-- what he did doesn't come close to common rabbinic misdeeds, abusing kids, protecting molesters and stealing money,

[Andrew Bloom]

Mr. ah-pee-chorus, why don't you tell me how you see this as so very different.

The vast majority of the comments are posted by people not using their real names -- including ... you.

Why not? What are you all hiding behind? And who are any of you to be throwing stones at this.

Maybe there is more to this story than is posted here. But it seems pretty minor from what i see here.

[WoolSilkCotton, I am a work of art as well as a sports and rock superstar]

World's shortest book? 'Orthodox Jewish Ethics'.

[dh]

All the ppl that want me dead know who I am on this blog. That's true. They're gonna do me in. I don't even wear sunscreen anymore.

[dh]

" what he did doesn't come close to common rabbinic misdeeds, abusing kids, protecting molesters and stealing money,"
MO @ 06:34 PM

Omg, do you realize what you just said? This is horrifying for about a quadrillion reasons.

[Andrew Bloom]

dh, you're pretty brave to make such posts knowing your enemies are gonna do you in.

So, why does such a brave (?wo-)man hide his identity to those of us who wish you no harm whatsoever?

[dh]

Andrew, I'm not brave. I figure the more ppl know, the less chance there is I will be smothered by a top hat and tzitzit.

I decline to further reveal my identity so as not to endanger my family and friends, notwithstanding they would tell you there are entirely different reasons they don't want to be associated with me.

[MO]

"Omg, do you realize what you just said? This is horrifying for about a quadrillion reasons."

Horrifying? Yes. But I believe that there is a tendency to lump every rabbinic misdeed together. Let's try and keep some perspective and recognize that there is a lot of outrage and gloating that goes well beyond the extent of Bryode's misdeed which is, after all, relatively minor.

Let's save the outrage for the truly outrageous. Not this minor stuff.

[ah-pee-chorus]

Andrew Bloom-

nobody thinks my real name is ahpeechorus and my chosen name doesnt add any weight to my comments. its quite obviously an alias. contrast that with creating a fictitious real name, and then adding the title "rabbi" and thats just the beginning. the entire purpose of that alias seems to have been subterfuge. it was used with a specific purpose of sockpuppeting in order to bolster the position of a REAL person which was himself.
and as if that wasnt enough, he allegedly used the created alias as though it were a real rabbi, and gained entrance into groups,blogs or forums by means of that deception. that is outright lying.
even if any of us were to use a second alias to agree with our earlier comments, at best it would be bolstering the reputation of a different anonymous alias. and that wouldnt even approach what he is charged with.
do you get it now?
and if broyde wouldnt have been permitted entrance into an online group but "goldwasser" would, thats highly unethical to trick the group in order to see what was being written about him and then defend himself.

[dh]

MO, it is, to me, a terrible crime. A total pre-meditated failure to have any value for honesty. This is truly terrible. Despicable. This tells everyone it is okay to lie. Repeatedly, continuously and frequently over the course of time and all while you hold yourself out as a master.

Screwin' kids in the mikva? Lie about it.

Our word, MO, our word is all we have of ourselves besides our deeds to leave humanity better than what it was when we entered. It is everything.

[ah-pee-chorus]

andrew bloom-

why did he take a leave of absence? why did the RCA say this? "Rabbi Broyde has admitted to behavior that the Rabbinical Council finds extremely disturbing,” Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, president of the RCA, told Tablet. “

they get it. you dont.

[Not Surprised]

Jacob Mendlovic -
I agree fully with Shmarya on this one. I have also read many of Broyde's articles and was also impressed with his intellect.

BUT... you'd feel duped if you knew people were posting false reviews for some $10 item on Ebay or Amazon under false names, so why do you accept deceit from a rabbi, whose main qualification is integrity and honesty.

This type of behavior is why so many people don't trust rabbis anymore. If you can't trust a rabbi, who can you trust? Seems the rabbis have obtained their disrespect the old fashioned way - they earned it. (Credit and apologies to Smith Barney)

[steven k]

Yerachmiel Lopin criticising Gil Student, who goes by his real name, for backing Broyde ??

Yerachmiel lopin is a pseudonym of a fellow who has a blog, btw

[Lo K'darkah]

Andrew Bloom,

Sorry... I couldn't bear the thought of returning to this thread after my previous indulgent and badly composed ejaculation, but you have raised an interesting point.

The difference, I think, is that when I write here under an alias, I am not expecting to be received as a spiritual authority by those who believe in that authority. Most of the intelligent comments here, for example, probably come from very high level apikorsim. They are iconoclasts who suffer for the sake of Israel when they read of ethical scandal. Each of them, I'm sure, believes the world would be a better place if their posts were turned into law, but although most write pseudonomously - and primarily to protect oneself from the nasties while exercising free expression - they do not pretend to be the authority they despise.

Besides which, what is the difference anyway? I don't know that Andrew Bloom is your name, anymore than you would know who I am if I called myself Christopher Schneerson. The problem is not representing in whichever way you wish, but misrepresenting. It's the difference between walking down the street with a mickey mouse mask on (so people are aware you are wearing a mask) versus the Mission Impossible type mask which is so close the skin that it looks like the face of a real person. Imagine speaking about the wearer without being aware that you were, in fact, speaking TO the wearer. (that, I think, is where the ethical ice starts to get thin).

....

Then again, perhaps there is a difference, between: the dialogue of individuals amongst one's contemporaries on the one hand, and dialogue l'dorot on the other - the difference between alias and pseudepigrapha...

[Not Surprised]

Can someone explain to me why a Rabbi, A Professor, or any professional needs to lie about their identity when publicly communicating their views?

Does a Rabbi need someone to explain to him why deception is wrong? Have Broide call me, I'll do my best.

[Yerachmiel Lopin]

Broyde was a harsh critic of anti-abuse activists and victims who used internet pseudonyms.

http://frumfollies.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/broyde-criticized-internet-pseudonyms-before-his-were-exposed/

[Andrew Bloom]

ah-pee-chorus & Lo K'darkah, yes there is a difference. And Rabbi Broyde is paying a very high price for what he did.

My point was only that those commenting with a pseudonym are doing a watered down version of that.

I would guess that most people (present company excluded) would not be so abrasive or rude in their comments if their true names were attached.

So, yes -- i find it quite amusing to read everyone's outrage when they are doing something quite similar.

[Seraphya Berrin]

It seems obvious to me that any rabbi or respected individual in the community can not talk about certain issues or talk about any issues in certain places without a great backlash.

I am not referring to any specific actions that Rabbi Broyde took, but it seems to me that if people like him want to comment on a blog such as this or be involved in certain discussion groups that they must do it under an assumed name.

I would much rather the Jewish community consider it appropriate to comment on blog posts and to be involved in a more open discussion. However, the reality is otherwise. I would much rather Rabbis come here under pseudonyms and publish under pseudonyms than not come here or not publish those thoughts.

Actually come to think of it, maybe the real reason the RCA and others are shunning him is for the views expressed by his pen name, rather than the fact that he used a pen name.

It is clearly wrong to join an organization under false pretences, but it seems to me that in this cases they wanted to be part of a dialogue but because of communal pressures did not feel that they could do so under their own name, and got themselves a bit stuck once the forum morphed into an organization.

What other viable model do we have to hear a broader spectrum of voices from Rabbis and other leadership if they do not write under assumed names and join discussions and groups without needing to lend the power of their real name to the group?

If anything, they seem to have done the right thing by sticking with one pseudonym rather than sockpuppeting with multiple names and aliases. Certainly according to Shamrya's rules for comments, it is better to have two people agree to use the same name rather than have one person use two.

Sure, it would be better to have everyone say what they really thought publicly under their own name, but that requires more than being brave; it requires a community and institutions that tolerate deviation from the crowd so that you can speak up more than once.

If we stigmatize Orthodox Rabbis interacting under pseudonyms with non-orthodox, heterodox and non-mainstream people and organizations, its not like they are going to start doing it with their real name. Does anyone here have a better idea of how to foster this interaction without using a pseudonym?

[jewishwhistleblower]

Lots of updates summarized by Steven I. Weiss:
http://newsdesk.tjctv.com/

[Reuven]

Seraphays, or may I call you Mike?

Why don't you turn to your own people and insist that THEY rectify their ways instead of snooping around in other peoples' worlds?

If you can't say what you think in front of your "own", then how or why could anybody else? If you MO really believe MO'oxy, then man up and stop being patsies to the penis suckers.

[MO]

dh wrote:

"MO, it is, to me, a terrible crime. A total pre-meditated failure to have any value for honesty. This is truly terrible. Despicable. This tells everyone it is okay to lie. Repeatedly, continuously and frequently over the course of time and all while you hold yourself out as a master. Screwin' kids in the mikva? Lie about it."

I'm sorry dh, but if you consider this a terrible crime, you have no concept of the depths to which human beings can descend and you cheapen truly terrible crimes.

Do you really believe that Broyde's action sends people the message
that it is ok to lie about "screwin kids in the mikvah?"

If someone takes that message from Broyde using a pseudonym to join a rabbinic listserve and self-promote then they are truly stupid and sick and they will commit their misdeed regardless of what Broyde says or does.

[adams]

It's not as terrible as other crimes, however, it is unseemly for a person to act or project that pious, studious, and yet honest countenance, and then do this. It doesn't correlate. This guy has been quoted very often in the MO and even Charishish press, is considered a role model, someone to look up to, based on his title and positions, and he in fact is a petty thief, even worse than a petty thief imo. it's a crime of character. We don't need guys like this as leaders of the community. For those who know him can stand by him all they want, but as I have said many times, the frumma have made me totally embarrassed to be seen with a Yarmulka, to be part of Orthodoxy, and this is just another example.

[Seraphya Berrin]

Rueven, I used my real full name when I commented, unlike you. I don't think you have to, which is the point of what I said, but don't accuse me of any sort of sockpuppeting.

If you fully read what I wrote, you would see that I think that a dayan on the RCA should be able to interact with non-Orthodox organisations and certainly with the Orthodox organizations connected to YCT. I still think that when commenting on a blog like this, I can fully understand why people would not want to use their real name. Either way, considering that the a bulk of the community and communal organizations do not like Rabbis interacting publicly, the lesser of the two evils is a pseudonym.

An associated example would be that many Rabbis who when in Israel would go to shira chadasha or at least privately see nothing wrong with it. Would I like them to say so publicly? YES! But I understand why they can't if they want to keep their job and not be kicked out of organizations. Its not as bad in MO as in Haredi Judaism were askanim and conformity rule the day. The problem isn't limited to Judaism, all religions throughout the ages have had these issues. In fact its not just religion, academics and others have built personas when they felt they couldn't speak under their own name.

In the same way that anonymous sources are a very grey moral area, because people are only leaking self-servingly but not under their own name, there is a very strong case that sometimes it is necessary.

I really am not trying to justify the individual facts of this case, which I do not know in a detailed enough way. I am simply saying that the general idea of a Rabbi building a persona and a pseudonym to get articles published in journals outside their narrow community and commenting under an assumed name is something that should be encouraged not discouraged.

[Reuven]

Courage and valor would have neither meaning nor significance if it weren't for adversarial potential consequences. MO rabbis cowarding behind pseudonyms, snooping around on listservs where rhey do not belong and sneaking out to shira chadashah (which seems like more of a C rabbi hangout anyway) do not effectuate change. Looking your community in the eye and reprimanding them if necessary - that is true courage which could bring about true change.

One side of me hopes that MO rabbis remain gutless cowards, giving victories to the Haredim,driving any and all thinking Jews into non-Orthodoxy. Just let them be Thelma nd Louise and drive right off that cliff.

[Seraphya Berrin]

I understand the argument that if they spoke the truth loudly nothing much would change and they would be pushed aside for more conformist people. Nothing to with courage, but just not being stupid.

The Jewish community (I assume most communities) is full of organizations and individuals who meet with eachother and work together but don't publicize it because of the backlash. Would I prefer everyone to be a bit more tolerant? Yes! But given the upsides of open channels of communication vs the downsides of that being lost, I see no other viable way in the current situation.

Reuven,

Would you have a problem with a Conservative Rabbi using a pseudonym to be involved in MO or other Orthodox circles?