Rabbi Marc Gellman lets us know
Newsweek: Letter To Madoff. Measuring the toll of the disgraced financier.
Dear Bernie Madoff:
I don't think you know what you have done.
Life inevitably inflicts upon us different kinds of wounds. Very few people can live connected lives and not occasionally fail those who depend upon them and trust them. However, these are failures not betrayals. They come from trying to do the right thing and not being able to do it. A betrayal is different than a failure. A betrayal is an intentional wounding. It is born of cruelty, not ignorance. Most of us know of failures and betrayals. What you have done, however, is to radically expand the scope and viciousness of betrayal. You betrayed not just your friends, but your closest friends. You betrayed the trust of those who entrusted you with everything they had saved. You betrayed charities whose good works you have extinguished in an afternoon. These betrayals are epic in their scope and dazzling in their utter lack of remorse or responsibility. There must be some new word invented to describe the way you have redefined betrayal. The Bible calls such things a toevah, "an abomination". It means an act so alien to our values and our natures that it cannot be understood or explained. You have committed an abomination. This is what you have done.
I will writing a little later about how the Madoff scandal went undetected in a technical sense, but here is an excellent statement of outrage for a start.
The Madoff scandal taints everyone (including me) who works on Wall Street where there needs to be a certain degree of trust among participants in the securities industry.
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