Rabbinic Sexual Misconduct

Luke Ford writes:

Exactly how many secretaries can he plook before he can no longer stand up at Aish HaTorah on Shuvuot and lecture people about Torah?

Please understand that I do not have a position here. I don’t want this guy exiled from the pulpit. I don’t want him exiled from anywhere. I believe in compassion and forgiveness as much as Barack Obama does.

Perhaps you should know a little about my history so you know where I’m coming from. I marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama, so African-Americans could have the right to vote. As a kipa-wearing Orthodox Jew, I participated in the Stonewall riots in New York for the glory of God and the dignity of all of His children. I marched with Harvey Milk so that gays could no longer be denied housing simply because of their different way of expressing love. Nobody did more than I did to try to prevent the passing of Proposition 8 in California. I was standing on stage with Barack Obama when he accepted the Democratic nomination and he thanked me in his acceptance speech.

I don’t have any agenda here except to understand how much plooking out of bounds a rabbi can do and still deliver Torah lectures.

I am not a man lacking in bonhomie. I can appreciate how a powerful rabbi can see his secretary as a perquisite of his position. I have found numerous secretaries quite attractive over the years and there but for the grace of God go I, but I don’t get up in shul and lecture people about God and His moral demands. Instead I lead a quiet life. I bother nobody and nobody bothers me.