The Wall Street Journal has finally done it. Run a piece that somewhat explores the Jewishness of the Madoff scandal, by Ronald Cass, former dean of the Boston University School of Law.
Steven Spielberg. Elie Wiesel. Mort Zuckerman. Frank Lautenberg.
Yeshiva University. As I read the list of people and enterprises
reportedly bilked to the tune of $50 billion by Bernard Madoff, I
recalled a childhood in which my father received bad news by asking
first, "Was it a Jew?" My father coupled sensitivity to anti-Semitism
with special sympathy for other Jews. In contrast, Mr. Madoff, it
seems, targeted other Jews, drawing them in at least in some measure
because of a shared faith.
family. Yet frauds that prey on people who share bonds of religion or
ethnicity, who travel in the same circles, are quite common.
Cass describes Madoff's circle as a "network of trust." This is very helpful, and answers Scott McConnell's statement on this blog a few days ago: "the Madoff event may be the greatest example of intelligent people being blinded by ethnocentrism I've ever seen."
But Cass/the WSJ leave out an important element in all this. The network of trust that was violated here is one that is essential to Israel's support in the U.S. politically, and a network that plays a large role in what we quaintly used to call the ruling class. Mort Zuckerman owns the Daily News and U.S. News Etc., Steven Spielberg is as I recall a big deal in Hollywood. Our informant here, Cass, is a former law school dean. This isn't Philip Roth's Newark. It's Gentleman's Agreement crossed with Isaac Bashevis Singer's Father's Court. Can someone please explain this to me? Or do I have to just keep notioning?
