Chesler Chronicles

December 26th, 2008 7:25 am

Madoff the Jew: The Media’s Hypocritical Obsession with the Fraudster’s Faith

I published this piece at Jewcy.com on December 23, 2008. I received such a strong response from friends, that I’ve decided to share it here.

THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Most Jews do not recognize themselves in what Madoff did; they still expect to be judged on their own merits. I doubt this will happen. I think Jews will be judged as if we are all guilty, whether or not we are innocent or poor, and whether or not we fight for justice for Palestinians or for justice for murdered Chabadniks in Mumbai. Here’s one reason why.

For days now, I have been following the media coverage of the Madoff scandal. I could not help but note that the New York Times kept emphasizing that he is Jewish and moved in monied, Jewish circles; not once, but time and again, in the same article, and in article after article. ‘Tis true, alas, ’tis true, the rogue is a Jew: But how exactly is Madoff’s religion more relevant than Rod Blagojevich’s religion? The Times has not described Blagojevich (or Kenneth Lay of Enron) as “Christians,” nor do they describe the Arab or south Asian Muslim terrorists as “Muslims.”

As I’ve previously noted, the Times goes out of its way to describe terrorists who are ethnic Arab Muslims and south Asian Muslims as “gunmen,” “attackers,” “fighters,” (never as terrorists), and they rarely use the word “Arab” or “Muslim” to characterize the perpetrators of a deadly rogue action. However, the paper of record will use the word “Muslim” to describe an aggrieved victim who has alleged “Islamophobia” or “racism.”

After tracking Saturday’s New York Times’ coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal, I finally felt I had to “say something.” So, I wrote this Letter to The Editor:

Re: “Madoff Scheme Kept Rippling Outward, Crossing Borders” (December 20th):

“On the surface, Diana B. Henriques describes what appears to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Here’s my problem: While we learn that con artist Bernard L. Madoff and his ‘feeder,’ Ezra Merkin are Jewish and that many of their victims (Katzenberg, Spielberg, Weisel, Zuckerman), are also Jewish, we are never told the religious affiliations of any of Madoff’s other “feeders” (Walter M. Noel, Andre Piedrahita, Yanko Della Schiava, Phillip J. Toub, Jeffrey Tucker, Matthew Brown,) or the religious affiliation of additional Madoff victims. For example, Heriques does not tell us the religious affiliations of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Banco Santander, A.G. Edwards and Sons, Korea Life Insurance, Cathay Life, Samsung Investment and Securities, Bank Medici, (headed by Peter Scheithauer), etc.

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17 Comments

1. Genecis:

I stopped reading the NYT years ago.

Dec 26, 2008 - 10:55 am 2. DavidN:

So we’re going to stick, stubbornly, with the line that *any* mention of Mr. Madoff being Jewish *must* stem from anti-Semitism? As I stated in an earlier post, how is a newspaper to explain how this guy wound up getting massive investments from various Jewish groups and individuals, except by pointing out that he’s Jewish himself? It’s been reported in the last day or two that Elie Wiesel’s foundation had essentially all of its assets invested with Madoff. Myself, I wouldn’t trust all of that money to one person, co-religionist or not, but regardless, does anyone really think that Madoff being Jewish had nothing to do with the Weisel foundation’s decision to put all of its eggs in his basket?

Another consideration. Usually when this sort of story is written with the intent of stirring up anti-Semitism, there’s a subtext of “Look what he did to the poor gentiles! He treated the Jews much better.” Here, Madoff seems to have victimized a lot of Jews and Jewish organizations; it would seem he counted many people and institutions among his “investors” too, but so what? He was an equal opportunity scam artist, and as I said, mentioning his religious affiliation is probably an attempt to explain why he had so many investors. If no one had mentioned he was Jewish, and they also provided a list of investors, with many high-profile Jews listed on it, you’d probably have taken that as an implication that there are lots of wealthy Jews, and *that* would have been anti-Semitic. Try something that makes a bit more sense, and has some actual anti-Semitism in it. What with the President of Iran and that goofball lady in San Francisco (Obama only got where he is because he’s controlled by the Jews, for Pete’s sake!), you should be able to find enough easy targets.

Dec 26, 2008 - 2:06 pm 3. lydia:

Does the author seriously believe if Madoff were an Evangelical that fact wouldn’t have been repeated through out the story?

Dec 26, 2008 - 2:16 pm 4. DavidN:

After posting my comment above, I read Laura Goldman’s article on today’s Pajamas. She includes mention that he is Jewish, to the point of noting that among his investors he was known as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and also mentions that she had, several times, warned investors that Madoff’s schemes were dangerous, because he let no one see what he was doing, and no one was able to duplicate his accomplishments. Then she recounts the fact that back some years ago, there were articles in various publications skeptical of Madoff’s investment strategies, and concludes with this:

These articles gave me an excuse to contact Madoff’s clients again. Instead of being thanked for sending them the articles, I was attacked. “How dare you say anything bad about Bernie.” Some dismissed the attacks on Bernie as anti-Semitism.

So criticism of him while he was flying high is anti-Semitic, and mentioning his Jewishness at all (How then to mention the nickname “Jewish T-Bill”? Best to just not mention it, I guess) is also anti-Semitism. I’m shaking my head in disbelief.

Dec 26, 2008 - 2:22 pm 5. tom:

yeah so did i

Dec 26, 2008 - 2:44 pm 6. shimon:

The fact that the articles mention his religion, particularly seeing as so many Jewish organizations were involved, is not, in and of itself anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for the real anti-Semites (the world’s full of ‘em) to latch on to just one more opportunity (not that they need an excuse).
Having said that, I hate the NY Times with a passion for their thinly disguised but virulently anti-Israel position, to the point of……yes, anti-Semitism

Dec 26, 2008 - 11:05 pm 7. Moondawggie:

Welcome to the club! Whenever a violent, loose cannon with a mininimal miltary background goes off in civilian life, the perpetrator is usually described in the press as a “former Marine,” “Ex-Navy sailor,” or previous “US Army Soldier.”

Guess what? The mainstream, liberal media loves to smear the US military whenever it gets a chance, and it also likes to slander Jews whenever the opportunity presents itself. (Kinda makes you wonder why Jewish Americans support the Democratic party/liberal media establishement so strongly, doesn’t it?)

So consider yourself in good company! Semper Fi, baby!

Dec 26, 2008 - 11:17 pm 8. joseph:

jews are God’s chosen people, but they also have a weakness for the golden calf, that’s why God punished them and made them wander in the desert for 40 years. jews are loving family people with high moral integrity, but also keen business people who love and hoard money. i know this because i am a jew and my family built banks. many of my ancestors are stuck in purgatory due to their greed and lust for power. so, call it what you will, but God knows your heart. always put God first, not the world. Good luck…

Dec 27, 2008 - 4:07 am 9. Skeptic:

Er, so far as I can tell Madoff’s religion or support of Israel is mostly mentioned, in the respectable media anyway, as an explanation for why so many Jewish and Israeli organizations were scammed by him.

I don’t see why that is antisemitic. If Madoff were Irish and a supported of Ireland, I would fully expect that to be mentioned when explaining why so many Irish-Americans or Irish institutions were scammed by him.

Scams work on trust, and the scammer being of the same social group as the scammed builds on a resevoir of initial trust. So pointing out that Madoff’s Jewishness was (part of) the reason he scammed so many other Jews is hardly “antisemitism”.

Dec 28, 2008 - 12:54 am 10. Skeptic:

>>>I know this because *I am a jew* and my family built banks. many of my ancestors are *stuck in purgatory*…

Jews believe in purgatory? That’s news to me, Mr. “My family built banks like all those Jews do”…

Dec 28, 2008 - 1:00 am 11. ahad ha'amoratsim:

joseph, you are a Jew? Well, it’s a long and bitter exile, which may explain your lack of familiarity with Chumash and your echoing of anti-Semitic tropes that have their roots in Christian anti-Semitism. Flash — the golden calf had nothing to do with greed or materialism. It had to do with doubting Moses’ leadership and the connection between G-d and the Jewish people. Go back and read the text. Flash #2 — the 40 years in the desert was the punishment for believing the report of the 10 spies and doubting G-d’s power to bring us into the land of Israel, and doubting that His love of the Jewish people led Him to give us the land. Go back and read the text, preferably with the aid of a competent teacher and the aid of a few of the classic commentators.

Dec 29, 2008 - 12:11 pm 12. J.Penson:

Primarily the world is anti-semitic.I grew up
with Gentiles who are not, but the greater majority are soft core.The Madoff swindle is
only another opportunity for the anti-semites.
Consider Israel’s response to Hamas by the
European Union….it is ok for Hamas to lob
rockets into Israel without condemnation, but
Israel’s response must be at the very best muted.JP

Jan 4, 2009 - 4:01 pm 13. ERIC:

Bottom line, what does religion have to do with it???????????
Bush allowed the rapping of our economy, profiting billions from oil companies.
I am a Jew and proud of it, but again, what the F— does being a Jew have to do with Bernie Madoff’s horrific scheme?
By the way, let the oil companies bail out the Big 3.Are they Jewish too?

Jan 4, 2009 - 5:21 pm 14. Steve Surabian:

Jews are not Gods chosen people? Isreal is.God changed Jacobs name to Isreal and all his decendants.Outsiders could alway join. They just had to do as God wanted. If you broke the law your were no longer part of Isreal, even if you traced you liniage back drictly to Jacob.So when an Isrealite didn’t keep the law like not keeping the Pass-Over they gave-up being Isrealites just like they gave-up keeping the Pass-Over.If this were not true then a Palistian whose ansester was at one time was an Isrialite, would himself still be an Isrealite even though they do not practice what God wants.So that would mean that the Land of Isreal belonged to Palistians even though they didn’t keep Gods laws.
So now we come to present day. God sent his Son Jesus Christ and Jesus said the only way to the Father is through Him. There-for if you don’t accept Jesus you stop being an Isrialite.
So wether you are a direct decendant of Jacob or not the only way to be part of Isrial is to accept Jesus to be the rightfull heirs to Isrial…Everyone is welcomed as an Isrealite,which means Gods People.You have to accept Jesus to keep all of Gods laws.
Steven Surabian a True Isrealite

Feb 13, 2009 - 7:43 pm 15. Crazy:

Saying crap like jews are gods chosen people is the reason people hate you so much throughout history.

Feb 23, 2009 - 4:35 am 16. Muhammed Atta:

Ahad…. “Moses”…. “leadership”. A competent teacher would have gotten the point across by now, save your own personal exile from rational thought, that these are myths, lore, stories, and excuses for power.

Hopefully Obama will end the nonsense support of Israel and force them to blend in, or move on.

Mar 7, 2009 - 8:54 pm 17. Clark Kent:

I live in the UK. I am not religious. Religions are man made.
A strange thing happened. I read about Madoff, and the scale of the scam, and thought:
“I bet he’s a Jew”
Why did this thought pop into my mind?

Mar 7, 2009 - 9:22 pm