Rabbi Swinger

So last night I watched the heavily publicized expose on CBS about the Hasidic Swingers. I found it quite sophomoric and aplologetic. First, it takes for granted most of them are pious. Who knows? Only God knows what we actually do when no one's looking. But then it also talked about some of the problems that may be causes for this. While I agree that these problems exist, I am not sure if that is the cause of the problem. Also, if indeed there is less swinging by Hasidim than in the general world, well maybe they know something we don't. For example, the report suggests part of the problem is there is no dating and people just marry whomever their parents tell them to marry. But perhaps if there is more commingling of the sexes, overall that would lead to more infidelity than exists already. Clearly there is always going to exist some sexual sinning because that is our nature: yezer lev ha'adam raq ra minn'urav.

But the irony of ironies is that the rabbi they chose to address the problem was Rabbi Moshe Tendler. No, I'm not accusing him of impropriety, but I do not think he knows of a healthy way to deal with these problems considering how much he tried to cover up for his son. Those reporters did not do their homework. Of course there is the additional problem that Rabbi Tendler is reviled in the Hasidic world for his stance on meziza b'feh.

I think all these suggestions are worthless anyway. The hasidic community bases itself on sticking with tradition. Regardless of how much we learn about the problems of genetic inbreeding, they marry relatives. Regardless of the risk of herpes, they do mezizah. That is what has been done. It's all Torah. It can't change. I hardly doubt they would decide to change their whole world (and yes, if they allowed for regular dating, it would be a huge change) because CBS news says there are some swingers, and because a rabbi they hate tells them to.