Team Shaviv found a good one in their morning mail. If you're too lazy to click to bloghead, here's the sweet summary:
1 - Joe Jew is facing charges for "tax evasion.”
2 - Joe Jew gives lots of money to a Benai Brak Charity.
3 - The Rabbi, the Charity employs for this purpose, prays. And hums. And prays some more.
Hallelujah!
4 - Charges against Joe Jew are dropped.
If this actually happened (which I doubt) why didn't the Charity return the money with a polite, handwritten note, reading, "Thanks, but we do not accept blood money."
If this actually happened (which I doubt) why isn't this Rabbi praying and humming full time on behalf of the starving and the homeless and the bloggers who don't get sufficient notice from their peers? Does it take money for the magic to work? If he is a tazdick, why does he deny miricles to people too poor to pay? Does it seem likely that the God you and I both know would give a fantastic gift to some petty businessman who gleefully puts it at the service of the highest bidder?
Unfortunately, the world is overflowing with stupid, gullible Jews who run, with money in hand, to anyone with a beard who can promise a miracle. It's disgusting, but it happens everyday.
I, myself, have heard about so-called Rabbis, with so-called powers, who take large sums of money for tricks any half-trained Gypsy fortune-teller could perform. Unfortunately, criticizing these crooks is hard to do. Their supporters, immature-men who have been raised on Rebbee stories, believe such wonders are possible, and call you “skeptic” or “disbeliever” or “apikorus” when you point out that thieves with crystal balls have been pulling similar scams for hundreds of years.
So as a public service, let’s put a fine point on it: A rabbi who offers you a miracle in exchange for cash is a crook and a liar, no matter how big his beard is.
