While I am glad to see that Bernard Madoff will spend the rest of his life behind bars, I believe that even 150 years is not enough. This crime has destroyed incalculable lives, people of all backgrounds. Madoff has also besmirched the Jewish community through his unprecedented betrayal of trust, defaming the value system of the religion he publicly embraced.
As many of you know, I am on record as recommending a modified form of excommunication for Madoff. While some chose to pooh-pooh my initial proposal, I see last week's Rockower Award as validating the message that the Jewish community needs to act. But dawdling community leaders still fail to recognize the unprecedented nature of the crime, the enormity of the hurt and the growing cynicism felt by so many.
Madoff should know that even after he breathes his last, he will be denied burial in a Jewish cemetery and no rabbi will memorialize him.
The courts have done their work; community leaders now have to grasp the moment, come together, send a clear moral message and cut him off. Period.
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