New York – My recent Am Echad Resources essay “Bernie, Sully and Me” has generated substantial criticism from many readers, including people [and also here] whose opinions I deeply respect. I have come to the conclusion that that there were errors in both the content and tone of the essay, for which I apologize.
My main goal in publishing these essays is to help people understand eternal Jewish truths. Unfortunately, here I chose unsuitable examples for the concepts I sought to impart, failing to accomplish that goal and offending many people in the process.
I am grateful, as always, for the constructive comments and feedback I received from my readership, whose confidence I hope to retain going forward.
Chag kasher visame’ach,
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
Kudos, to Rabbi Shafran for being open to hearing how the essay was understood and for his clarifying that this was not intent.
This is a real class act and should be recognized as a heartfelt reversal of thought. He heard the pain his words caused and he has apologized. Lets not villify him further. At the same time, I’m worried about the implicit calls for censorship that many of the postings over the past few days has triggered.
Rabbi shafran, I think your article was great, I don’t think you admire maddoff, or you don’t recognize that you understand why sully is a hero, you were trying to make a point, unfortunatly people took the article at face value, someone was right the other day when he said , you need to choose a better audiance, the people on this furom are obviosly no deep thinkers and not too smart. But apolegizing is definitly strenght not weakness.
Too late!!!!!!!!! you are still a moron!!!! You have no business being involved in any Askunois for Klal Yisruel!!!!
Kol Hakavod
He’s still an idiot.
i’m impressed.
You are being too kind when you give R’ Shafran credit for the retraction. The reaction was unanimous and powerful………..his logic was completely off, and the piece was offensive. A shame he didn’t retract his words when children’s safety was at stake.
I am currently working on an essay that will draw a parellel between Rabbi Shafran and Bernie Maddof. Both of them appologized for their errors… Stay tuned!!
As to his words on madoff; apology is a strong “tshuva” so we all accept his apology now
modeh v’ozev yerucham
This “appology” makes it worse.
My main goal in publishing these essays is to help people understand eternal Jewish truths. Unfortunately, here I chose unsuitable examples for the concepts I sought to impart, failing to accomplish that goal and offending many people in the process.
The problem wasn’t the examples! The problem was the ideas. Its WRONG to say that a villian who stole billions and ruined lives deserves a hug and a handshake because he confessed after being caught. Its WRONG to criticize a life-saving pilot because you didn’t hear him give any praise to God after he landed the plain. And so on.
Boy this is real teshuva
One thing is for sure he really means what he says.
let us all wish Harav Shafran a Chag Kosher vsemach
#8 -An asken that can 217;t be  220;modeh 221; when he err 217;s has no business in doing k 217;lal work!! He is the model all askanim should follow!!
Ah- rite, I forgive you, now its time to ask the great hero pilot, and all the victims of this sub-human ganev boiny madoff for forgivness
As we always ask Hashem for forgiveness , we too must accept Rabbi Shafran’s
sincere apology without namecalling or other derogatory adjectives. However,
the distorted thinking by Shafran elicits a complete breakdown of trust in anything he says or writes in the future. Rabbi Shafran should take a long leave of absence after
hurting so many people with his distorted views on the Madoof issue. His credibility is shot regardless of us forgiving him.
Shafran is the poster child of what is wrong with the Agudah. Like Madoff, he will apologize under pressure without a hint of sincerety. His vigorous defense of what he wrote, in responding to emails of criticism, clearly shows that, like with Madoff, he backs down when faced with enormous pressure. Question is, why is he and Aguda still defending the wrong positions on child molestation, regardless of the pressure being brought on them.
In any case, these shysters have got to go.
Thank you Rabbi Shafran for an apology that is what determines a mensch.
#15 people take written articles at FACE VALUE and its consequences have to be thought of.
I applaud Rabbi Shafran for apolgizing However i cant figure out what he was thinking when he wrote this. If he or a member of his family would have been on the plane then sully would have been a hero. what a stupid article he wrote!!
Rabbi Shafran, I felt a lot of love and respect for you when you apologized. Your “truths” were points well taken in the article — they were indeed thought-provoking, but they had only a tenuous connection to the reality of the examples you provided.
Simple fact: sully not only had technical skills, he showed real care and responsibility for others. People want to “lynch” Madoff not because he stole, but because he seemed to not care about anyone else in the slightest and he lived the high life. Even now after his hodaa, neither he nor b’nei baiso, do not seem all that anxious to make even symbolic restitution.
However, you showed that you are a man of class and you have done the right thing.
Your words last week and now show that you do care who you work for, who you represent and who you care about.
Do not be so vicious against Rabbi Safran. Though he was not right in his statements but he was trying to introduce a different point of view in order to create a discussion. Sometimes it is very healthy to look at the problem from a different prospective and analyze your own thoughts. We are very quick to judge other people. What really saddents me is very uncivilized, angered, hysterical responses to something that was just a point of view. Psychologically it means that the person who screams like that is usually very unsatisfied with the state of affairs in his own soul.
I completely disagreed with Rabbi’s statements in the previous article but I must recognize that it was cureous and made all of us think
The Intenet giveth, the Internet taketh away.
The damage was done. He needs to resign.
He apologized to his readers. Did he apologize to Sully
sanctimonious.
a real pology would have been a total retraction of his stupidity, not an attempt to explain a justification for what he thought he was trying to do.
talk, talk, talk
The fact that the vitriol continues after Rabbi Shafran apologized and retracted just underscores the lack of credibility of many who criticized him in the first place. He did not kill anybody, he expressed an opinion. While what he wrote and the way he wrote it was a mistake, the underlying idea that sociey’s value are distorted remains as true as ever. Madoff has become a lightening rod for righteous outrage in a way that few mass murderers have ever become. Society seeks the redeeming features of cop-killers and even respects abortionists while reserving a “special place in hell” for Bernie. He will no doubt receive his punishment here and in the next world, but let’s not ignore the heinous crimes committed all over the world and in our own back yard just because Madoff is worse than Hitler, Arafat and Ahamadinajad put together.
This should have come early yesterday before all the damage was done –
however, better late than never.He has done teshuvah (I hope).
“I have come to the conclusion that that there were errors in both the content and tone of the essay, for which I apologize.”
The tone and content?
Avi’s article went beyond “content and tone.” The whole mindset behind it was wrong – edging close to immoral, if not actually treading in that territory.
He apologized for the “content and tone” but not for lauding a criminal and dismissing the valorous actions of a decent individual – all while disparaging the victims of the criminal he lauded?
He thought Madoff was admirable for confessing and stating his regrets, yet his own “apology” seems to lack every “admirable” thing that Madoff’s supposedly had.
“Unfortunately, here I chose unsuitable examples for the concepts I sought to impart.”
He admits to making a mistake with his examples . . . but what about the conclusions he drew? THAT is what the objections were over. His apology said nothing about that. Nor did he apologize for demeaning Sully’s actions or demeaning Bernie’s victims.
He apologized that people were offended. He never says that what he wrote was wrong.
lets even say that there is some sort of Torah basis for Rabbi Shafrans original article . Maybe it should be kept to a yeshiva schmuez. Do you think that the wider reading audience can relate to or ion any way understand these concepts??
So it should never have been written and published, and certainly not by a spokesperson for the Agudah .
as human beings we are all prone to mistakes after all we are only human
i think we can appreciate rabbi safran for realizing he made a mistake and appologizing to the public and he should be respected for his appology and forgiven
everyone calm down
“My main goal in publishing these essays is to help people understand eternal Jewish truths”.
in other words, self promotion?
Please. He apologized because he was forced to by his employer -The Agudah. His apology is no different than A-Rod, Chris Brown or any of the other celebrity clowns who once they got caught had no choice.
I am sure that R’ Safrin is truly sorry for his poor choice of examples.
The question still remains if he should be the spokes person for the organization that represents the interests of frum Yidden in America or if he damaged his credibility and thereby that of the organization that employs him.
I hope he has the courage to do the right thing and step aside.
well, I don’t want to be vindictive towards Avi Shafran, but by the same token, I will not take him seriously in the future. And while I used to be a member of Agudah and look forward to my Jewish Observer, this is no longer the case.
There is a terrible lack of leadership in the frum world at the moment. There are very few people offering genuine insight into our times. Instead, we have loose cannons and sanctimonious preachers, often with their own agendas. The “yeshiva mentality” is often devoid of common sense, maybe because we are too insulated from the “real world” and we spend too much time rationalizing bad conduct by fellow Jews, and not giving credit to others, no matter how deserving. This leads to a distorted view of ethics and values.
BS”D
Look, his article was just that – using the wrong examples to promote the right values (and poorly explained besides). In general, Shafran writes far better than this and everyone is allowed a mistake here and there.
Now, how about giving Sullenberger a chance to make Madoff style money – and giving Madoff a plane to sink into the Hudson with only himself aboard..
Umm, #15 , if you want to sound holier than the rest, first learn how to spell.
well, I don’t want to be vindictive towards Avi Shafran, but by the same token, I will not take him seriously in the future. And while I used to be a member of Agudah and look forward to my Jewish Observer, this is no longer the case.
There is a terrible lack of leadership in the frum world at the moment. There are very few people offering genuine insight into our times. Instead, we have loose cannons and sanctimonious preachers, often with their own agendas. The “yeshiva mentality” is often devoid of common sense, maybe because we are too insulated from the “real world” and we spend too much time rationalizing bad conduct by fellow Jews, and not giving credit to others, no matter how deserving. This leads to a distorted view of ethics and values.
Sorry to say this , however Shafran has lost his marbles.
It takes a thoughtful person to apologize for his error. In the future Rabbi Shafran should bear in mind the wise Jewish maxim:
Not everything that you think should be said.
Not everything that you say should be written.
Not everything that you write should be printed.
Rabbi Sharan
Dont apologize to us, apologize to Capt Sullenberger.
Thanks
SHafran,
Time for you to hang up your hooves and move into a more meaningful occupation. As Director of PA for the Agudah, you have overstepped your bounds in pontificating who people should value the Torah. That is better left to Rabbonim and Gedolei Yisroel. Hate to burst your egotistical bubble, Shafran, however, you do not fall into either of thsoe two categories.
Your unobstructured entry into the OPED pages of the NY Times newspaper has seemed to have overtaken your rational thinking on matters. You are not a godol hador and therefore, should keep your Torah Value concepts to a very close knit private audience.
Thank you, Rabbi Shafran,
It is truly a mentch who can admit that they were mistaken publicly. The am haaratzim that are still putting you down and not accepting your apology are a true embarrassment to Bnei Yisroel and should truly rethink their behavior as we approach Pesach. They must have something personally against you besides this article because you did the right thing in retracting your original opinion in such grace and mentchelachkeit. Shame on those who still attack you, they do not have ahavas yisroel in their heart and they should do some true reflecting – I’d like to see one of them in a public position where they have to make a public retraction and apology – they wouldn’t be so quick to judge then.
sounds like a stupid kid “what i really meant was to tell you how right i am anyways despite how stupid you all are not to understand the deep understanding i have of things that you minions cant comprehend”
When confronted by a choice of ethnicity or ethics, tribalism or truth, count on Agudah to choose the former. Its broken moral compass is stuck on the politically correct. The last vestiges of intelligence and integrity went out the door with Rabbi Shmuel Bloom. This lame “apology” is driven solely by the same PC agenda. Sadly, no clear thinking and no genuine regrets here.
As an Orthodox Jew I am embarrased to be represented by an organization called the Agudah that can have this loose nut serve as its spokesperson.
All too often we are all taken in by conventional wisdom – which in the US – can often mean a Christian- based point of view. One of the benefits of Rabbi Shafran’s work is that he calls these seeming “no brainers” into question. Personally, I think he was off base with his original article, but the point remains that he brings a Torah- based perspective that far more often than not calls into question things that “everyone knows” to be true but are in fact the product of a non-Jewish point of view.
Though I disagreed with some of your concluclusions in your original article, I did enjoy it, and found much redeeming, and thought-provoking content, which to me, made it worthwhile.
Those who read my remarks, saw that I do not blame Bernie 100% for the financial disaster HE caused many people and organization. I did, and still do, place an equal share of the blame on the investors who did not bother to investigate.
I also agree with the original articles premise that Scully was no “Hero” in the true hero sense of the word, but just a pilot who executed his job well.
I certainly have no “admiration” for Bernie, though I am impressed by the magnitude of his success. He is a rasha.
I do admire Scully’s piloting skills.
But, most of all, your latest comments earn my admiration more than anything.
You have the courage to revisit something which you wrote with conviction, and have the ability to reexamine and see others’ points of view.
It makes no difference to me the details. I know it is hard to eat one’s one words. I have had to do so, and do not like the taste,,, unless we bury it deep into the chulent. (smile)
Thank you for being the kind of Mensch who is willing to have an open mind and examine your own stand on matters.
Especially after you put so much effort into the original article which was written with your high skill level and high intellectual capability, only to cause you to be attacked from all sides. How you were treated on this blog, and I am sure elsewhere, was “over the top” and crossed the line of good taste.
But, you did not “react” to it. Instead you listened and “responded.
I may not agree with you on some things, but I admire your courage.
Have a kusherin Peisach.
Okay… even those of you who do not appreciate his apology, etc.,
Did YOU never say anything stupid that you wish you could have unsaid?
I know I have.
Have some respect for the man. He is a mensch, even if you don’t like what he wrote.