Tel-Chai Nation

Even before rabbi Mordecai Elon was convicted of child abuse a few weeks ago, the rabbi Chaim Druckman embarrassed religious Zionism by acting like nothing had ever happened and continuing to employ and invite Elon to give speeches at his yeshivas:

Less a week after he was found guilty of indecent assault by force on a minor, Rabbi Mordechai Elon is receiving significant support from one of the most prominent religious Zionist rabbis. Ynet has learned that Rabbi Chaim Druckman, one of the leaders of the national-religious public, invited the convicted rabbi to deliver his weekly Torah lesson at his yeshiva of Or Etzion. [...]

Druckman has been criticized in the past for innocently backing Ze'ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem's Netiv Meir Yeshiva, who was convicted of indecent acts against his students, thus hurting the victims once again.

But Ynet has learned that last week, shortly after the court delivered its ruling, Druckman invited Elon to go on teaching at his yeshiva, as he has been doing in recent years. On Sunday the convicted rabbi returned to his routine teaching duties, and after delivering a lesson at a Jerusalem synagogue he headed south to the Or Etzion Yeshiva in Merkaz Shapira.

The worst part is that in doing this, Druckman's given a leftard like rabbi Michael Melchior ammunition to use against him, and there's little or no chance he's making his critique altruistically: he was one of the supporters of the Oslo accords. Considering some of the damage Melchior did in his time, religious Zionism can ill afford to continue supporting Elon after what he did. He never cooperated with authorities in good faith or relieved himself of his duties until he'd completed his trial and investigation, thus hurting his image even more. Religious Zionism is now in serious need of repairs, thanks to the poor examples set by Elon and Druckman.

Labels: Israel, Judaism, Moonbattery