DANIEL SCHIFF
dards can be ignored with impunity, the rabbi also personally acts to undermine the educational impact of the law itself. Beyond the issues of abuse of power that are frequently involved,” rabbinic adultery is damaging because it sends the message that the person who ought to be in the best position to know that adultery is a fundamental transgression is plainly insufficiently awed by the law to avoid such behavior. For thus torpedoing the educational force of the law, it is appropriate for rabbis who are guilty of classic adultery to face more demanding penalties than others. This is true only, however, if penalties of some nature are proposed for all; for if penalties that have strong educational impact are seen to be undesirable for the crime of adultery generally, it would be an unfair inconsistency—and a truly unequal application of progressive halakhah—to punish rabbis severely for a transgression that, when committed by others, lacks even theoretical consequences.
It is a fundamental tenet of civilization, of course, that if society is to be elevated to its fullest potential, clear signals concerning“the right and the good” path, leading to agreed upon boundaries of behavior, are essential for all. It is, furthermore, a truism that Jewish civilization has always viewed strong families founded in secure marriages as the sine qua non for the transmission of society’s visions, as well as for the healthy raising of the next generation. Moreover, today’s realities suggest that in a considerable number of liberal Jewish households, although adultery may not always be a direct cause of marital breakdown, it is too often the act that precedes irrevocable marital fracture. If these truths are all indeed evident, it follows that any responsible halakhic approach has a duty to rule with the utmost clarity on which types of behavior it regards as conducive—and which non-conducive—to the well-being of marriage and of society. Following this, it must
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