Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Let Us Now Praise Basil Herring

Rabbi Basil Herring, the CEO of the Rabbinical Council of America, came to Los Angeles this past weekend with his divrei Torah and black hat for the Orthodox Union convention held each year on the weekend closest to Christmas.
As the executive vice-president of the RCA, rabbi Herring was, in the final analysis if not in the specifics, responsible for the leak of the RCA's file on rabbi Mordecai Tendler's to rabbi Mordecai Tendler, whose attorneys proceeded to send off threatening letters to the women complaining about the rabbi's alleged misuse of rabbinical power to get laid.
The women who allege the sexual misconduct of rabbi Tendler say they were promised anonymity by the RCA investigators and were furious when they were found out they had been lied to.
Rabbi Herring, as you would expect in these matters, is not commenting about this repeat of the RCA's sorry handling of the long-running rabbi Baruch Lanner affair.
So does anyone care about rabbi Herrings's misuse of power? Not in LA it seems. The LA Orthodox community could not pile enough honors on him. The introductory speeches he received could not have been more extravagant.