Just like the leader, so is the generation

משנה ראש השנה 1:1 "זה דור דורשיו מבקשי פניך יעקב סלה" פליגי בה רבי יהודה  נשיאה ורבנן חד אמר דור לפי פרנס וחד אמר פרנס לפי דורו. מאי הלכתא אילימא למעליותא דמר סבר אי מעלי דרא מעלי לפרנס ומר סבר  אי מעלי פרנס מעלי דרא.

It is written (Psalms 24:6) “Such is the generation of them that seek after Him, that seek Your face, even Jacob Selah.” R. Judah Nesi'ah and the Rabbis differ as to the meaning of the pasuk. R. Judah says, Just like the leader, so is the generation.” The rabbis say, “Just like the generation, so is the leader.” What does this teach? It refers to virtue, so that one holds that if the generation is virtuous, so is the leader; the other view being that if the leader is virtuous, so is the generation.

Why do we allow fanatic extremists, thugs and crooks to be our religious leaders and ruin our beautiful Judaism?

The Talmud warns that in the wrong hands, Judaism will become twisted and venomous. Talmud Bavli, Yoma 72b: "Raba said: Any scholar whose inside is not like his outside, is no scholar. Abaye, or, as some say, Rabbah b. ‘Ulla said: He is called abominable, as it is said: How much less one that is abominable and impure, man who drinketh iniquity like water. [Job 15:16, rendered, one who drinketh the water of the Torah and yet has iniquity in him]. R. Samuel b. Nahmani, in the name of R. Jonathan: What is the meaning of the scriptural statement: Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool, to buy wisdom, seeing he hath no understanding, [Prov. 27: 16, Wisdom is knowledge of the Torah, understanding is moral rightness, based on fear of heaven. Hence this interpretation]. i.e., woe unto the enemies of the scholars [Euphemism for ‘scholars’], who occupy themselves with the Torah, but have no fear of heaven! R. Jannai proclaimed: Woe unto him who has no court, but makes a gateway for his court! [Fear of the Lord is the court, the goal. Learning should lead to it]. R. Joshua b. Levi said: What is the meaning of the Scriptural verse: And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel (Deut. 4: 44)? — If he is meritorious it becomes for him a medicine of life, if not, a deadly poison. That is what Raba [meant when he] said: If he uses it the right way it is a medicine of life unto him; he who does not use it the right way, it is a deadly poison". 

Similarly in Taanit 7a:

אמר רב יהודה גדול יום הגשמים כיום שניתנה בו תורה שנא' (דברים לב) יערף כמטר לקחי ואין לקח אלא תורה שנא' (משלי ד) כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם תורתי אל תעזובו רבא אמר יותר מיום שניתנה בו תורה שנאמר יערף כמטר לקחי מי נתלה במי הוי אומר קטן נתלה בגדול רבא רמי כתיב יערף כמטר לקחי וכתיב תזל כטל אמרתי אם תלמיד חכם הגון הוא כטל ואם לאו עורפהו כמטר תניא היה ר' בנאה אומר כל העוסק בתורה לשמה תורתו נעשית לו סם חיים שנאמר (משלי ג) עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה ואומר (משלי ג) רפאות תהי לשרך ואומר (משלי ח) כי מוצאי מצא חיים וכל העוסק בתורה שלא לשמה נעשית לו סם המות שנאמר יערף כמטר לקחי ואין עריפה אלא הריגה שנאמר (דברים כא) וערפו שם את העגלה בנחל

It is my impression that we are experiencing that prediction. Whether it be assaults on women praying at the Western Wall or assaulting and verbally abusing women who refuse to obey gender-segregation and move to the rear section of public buses, attacks on moderate Rabbis or anybody having a different opinion; the continuous racist preaching of R. Samuel Eliahu, the chief Rabbi of Sefad, the latest charges against Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger for corruption and plagiarism, and the exposure of Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of France as a charlatan, fake Doctor and a plagiarist. And then, most recently, Shas’s Council of Torah Sages member Rabbi Shalom Cohen in a sermon (in the presence of "Gedol Hador" R. Ovadiah Yosef (who did not object/protest) made degrading remarks against the religious Zionist sector by questioning their Jewishness and referring to them as “Amalek” – a biblical tribe hostile to the ancient Israelites, toward which we have an eternal obligation to wipe out. Cohen, dean of the Porat Yosef Yeshiva, stated:

כתוב ‘כי יד על כס י-ה מלחמה לה’ בעמלק’, אמרו חכמים ש"אין הכיסא שלם כל עוד יש עמלק""

He then went on to explain that “Kes”, the letters ‘kaf’ and ‘samech’ are kippa sruga (knitted-kippa), adding “When will the Kiseh be complete, when there is no more kippa sruga and for as long as kippa sruga exists, אין כיסא שלם

“the Throne [of God] is not complete as long as there are Amalek, ..when will the Throne be complete? When there are no more [religious Zionists].” R. Cohen warned about the possibility of the election of a religious Zionist chief rabbi, adding that he told this to “Druckman and the other Amalekites…These are Jews?!” he questioned. "How miserable will we be if we will have a chief rabbi with Kipa Seruga".

And I say: How miserable we are with religious leaders such as Rabbi Shalom Cohen.

This is hardly the way of people who claim to be "light unto the nations" and whose scholars "bring peace to the world".

The difference between sane Judaism and venom posing as piety is unmistakably expressed in the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Britain's outgoing chief rabbi: "There is a difference between righteousness and self-righteousness. The righteous are humble, the self-righteous are proud. The righteous understand doubt, the self-righteous only certainty. The righteous see the good in people, the self-righteous only the bad. The righteous leave you feeling enlarged, the self-righteous make you feel small" (from The Great Partnership p.296). It is precisely this type of righteous Judaism that should inspire us to honesty, integrity and peace. 

This is exactly the type of exemplary religious leadership we do not have.

So, if a sane Judaism is still important for you dear reader, and you do not want Rabbi Sacks' words to be a "qol qoreh bamidbar" than it is time to wake up! Let us be better informed; Let us become the alarm clock, calling conscience to account; Let us stop reacting and start pro-acting; Let us do not waste another day.