Saturday, 12 January 2008

Shoot First or Question First?

Originally published 1/12/08, 11:53 PM, Eastern Daylight Time.
A colleague of mine posted on a list the following:

Quoting from:
http://www.rabbis.org/pdfs/GPSprotocol.pdf
the new RCA Bet Din Guidelines

What to Expect/Do when Moving to a New Jewish Community
i. A ger, or family of gerim, should inform the local rabbi of their status shortly after moving into the community. This is especially important where a woman converted after she had children (and the children converted together with her), or, as is not uncommon, where the female converted in a non-Orthodox manner before marriage and/or children, and later converted ke'halachah. As the female children in such a situation could not usually marry kohanim, this fact would be important for them – and for the rabbi – to know. If circumstances warrant, the regional Beit Din shall indicate in the conversion document that a female convert was pregnant at the time of conversion.

He then issued the following comment [judgment]:

I'm assuming I don't need to explain how evil this is to the present audience?

I find the tone of this judgment as a bit too judgmental! (Think of it now - ironically, I am now the one being judgmental!)

First of all, there is the sin of labeling. Why use an ad hominem like "evil" in this case? I would think that "evil" is an epithet reserved for the Hitlers or the Osama bin Laden's of the world...

But even if this is indeed evil:
  1. Why not post:
    I find this evil - how about you?
  2. Or perhaps even a bit less offensive:
    Isn't this evil? Or am I missing something here?
  3. Or maybe a bit LESS strident:
    This type of statement seems to lack good judgment. It comes across to ME as offensive and I am sure to many others!
Why do people need to jump to conclusions?

Is it really better to shoot first and ask questions later -
or
Perhaps is it better to ask questions first and then only shoot later on ONLY when REALLY necessary?

E.G.: Why not check WHY the RCA issued these guidelines, and do research to see if they have a valid agenda and Halachic considerations? If this indeed lacked the proper due diligence in substance or form, THEN tell them privately FIRST before going public?
-
Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe@Gmail.com

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