Return and repentance

Editorial

Recent headlines suggest that clergy moral compasses are spinning wildly.

The president of the Reform movement seminary resigns for sexual misconduct. A former youth director for the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, also a rabbi, allegedly abused young people for two decades. Members of the clergy are implicated in cases of murder and prostitution.

In some instances, clergy abuse the power of their positions for selfish reasons. Others become inappropriately involved with congregants seeking psychological or bereavement counseling.

Rabbis and cantors are human, possessing the same weaknesses as the rest of us. But clergy - fairly or unfairly - often are viewed as more than human. And of course they choose to assume the mantle of spiritual leader, put on a moral pedestal.

According to local clergy, Jewish educational institutions across the board are beefing up their efforts to give students skills that can help them behave as moral models. In addition, there are growing resources and support groups for clergy members who recognize they need help in managing their personal or professional lives.

Unfortunately, help for victims of clergy misconduct and their families continues to lag behind. What ethics and disciplinary committees are in place - some formal, some informal - are mostly on a national level. There are few places for individuals to turn for help.

What may be needed is for community rabbis to create mechanisms that would address alleged wrongs, minimize harm and enable healing to begin as soon as possible. Doing so would necessitate closer relations within synagogues, which are often the first line of compassion and support beyond immediate family. It also would require closer relations among colleagues, who often are the first to recognize a peer needs help.

Tragically, damage to a certain degree is permanent; resolution is rarely, if ever, neat. But teshuvah - return and repentance - remains the goal, enabling victim and victimizer alike to heal.

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