The media has decided that Chaim Walder was guilty of the most heinous crimes. Of course, they cover their derrieres with terms like “alleged”, “accused”, “suspected”, and references to a kangaroo court, but they make it quite clear where they expect everyone to stand on this matter, as they typically do. We must whitewash the crimes of certain people – they have narratives and we must be sensitive – but Chaim Walder was the epitome of evil. With him, anything goes.

I will state for the thousandth time that I have no idea what Walder did or didn't do, neither do you, and neither do the people issuing screeds against him. None of us support abusers, or covering up for them, or ignoring the plight of victims. Those who engage in such rhetoric to censure and censor voices of sobriety are themselves being abusive.

There is nothing virtuous about people who do this. They are opportunistic phonies chasing the perceived moral high ground or they are pushing a deeper agenda. They couldn't care less about victims – really, what have they ever done for actual victims? – and will eagerly victimize whoever stands in the way of their agenda. We should not be intimidated by their emotionally manipulative behavior or allow them to hijack the conversation.

Several so-called “leading rabbis” have been playing this game, contorting Torah sources to suit their agenda, ignoring the copious Torah sources that are inconvenient to them, and engaging in emotionally manipulative rhetoric. I've asked them to answer a simple question: What would be the Jewish law if someone were to spread anonymous rumors about you? Rabbis who are unwilling to answer straightforward questions are in the wrong line of work, but none of these victim-protecting talking heads has responded to this one. They just disappear.

Yes, we are allowed to ask hard questions about what is being reported, challenge the procedure that was followed, draw different conclusions than the ones they demand from us, and still be firmly against abuse. Not only do we support actual victims of abuse, we also support a sane, sober procedure that follows the Torah in all its details, and protects everyone from being railroaded.

In fact, even those who are guilty of heinous crimes – not merely accused or strongly suspected, but undeniably guilty – must still be treated according to the parameters of Torah law. We cannot simply declare that someone is evil, therefore anything goes. In fact, although the Torah commands us to eradicate evil from our midst – and to be ruthless about it – the Torah also commands us to show compassion even for those who must be eradicated. Mankind has never and will never determine a more “moral” combination of ruthlessness and compassion than what the Torah outlines for us.

Consider the following, about a heinous criminal who must be stoned to death. Before being cast down and stoned, the sinner is stripped of his clothing. This is so that even a thin fabric will not prolong the agony of his death by a single moment. According to Rabbi Yehuda, a man's genitalia are covered, but not his backside, whereas a woman is covered from the front and the back. According to the Rabbis, a man is stoned completely naked, not a woman. (The biblical sources and reasoning are discussed in Sanhedrin 45A-45B.)

A scoffer might ask what difference this makes, and why we should concern ourselves with such things. After all, we are dealing with a wicked person who is condemned to death. So what if he suffers a little longer? So what if he is shamed by his nakedness? Bring it on! He deserves it!

No, he doesn't deserve it. He deserves precisely what the Torah commands, and not a tiny drop more. Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis debate what God in His compassion wants us to protect a heinous sinner from more: gratuitous physical suffering or gratuitous emotional suffering.

The Gemara then asks why an adulterous woman, whose punishment is intended in part to deter such behavior in others (Yechezkel 23:48), is covered on both sides to protect her dignity. Why not stone her and humiliate her as much as possible? That will deter others even more!

Rabbi Nachman answers in the name of Rabba bar Avuha:  אמר קרא ואהבת לרעך כמוך ברור לו מיתה יפה

The verse says, “Love your fellow like yourself”. Choose for him a nice death.

If we must execute someone, we must, but we have no right to increase their physical or emotional pain any more than necessary. This teaching appears repeatedly in the laws of capital punishments. We must treat even the worst of sinners as we would want to be treated. We cannot pardon them, of course – punishment must be administered according to Torah law – but we are forbidden to pile it on just because we are “right” and they are “bad”.

Compare the Torah's exquisitely measured balance with the unrestrained reactions of the MeToo, cancel culture maniacs when they place someone in their crosshairs. Anything goes. The more the better. Each one tries to outdo the other in their orgy of mob justice. Anyone who displays the slightest hesitation or restraint is reflexively classified as “bad” and will receive the same unrestrained fury. The people he thought were his friends will turn against him and tear him apart without any compunction. Once they flip the switch, it's over.

This behavior is not only abominable according to the Torah, it is actually the way of idolatry. One who serves God carefully measures his every action, and learns from the Torah how to properly balance conflicting needs. Idolaters have no limits. Once they decide something is “good”, then more of it must be “more good”, with no end.

This is why those who are at war with God are constantly pushing the envelope. Whether they are attacking the traditional family, promoting sexual perversity, corrupting children, race-baiting, or forcing masks and dangerous injections, there will always be one common thread: an absence of limits or boundaries. The definition of what is “good”, along with the definitions of so many other things, will constantly change as they advance their anti-God agenda. Whatever is virtuous today will be scorned tomorrow as “progress” marches on.

The fraudulent, hypocritical “rights activists” will never clearly define an end goal after which they will stop fighting, because they live for the fight itself. Like the false gods they serve, they will never be satisfied with the suffering they inflict on decent people. There must always be more blood.

We see the same pattern with those jumping on the bash Walder train. This train, like all the others, has no brakes. It careens forward and steamrolls everything in its path. It has no precise destination, after which it will come to a quiet and permanent rest, but an endless vendetta of destruction in the name of moral virtue. The more the better.

Those driving this train – idolatrous priests who set the agenda, and the media that broadcasts it on their behalf – do not want us to pause, to breathe, to think. They want us to react, overreact, and become hysterical. They want to desensitize us to limits, boundaries, and responsible, balanced behavior. They want to normalize atrocities, to turn decent people into savages who destroy each other – all for the benefit of the people on top.

Those who serve God behave with intelligence. Those who serve idolatry behave with impulse.

The Walder situation is just another example of idolatrous priests manipulating people to act and react impulsively. We are not supposed to ask hard questions about what really happened, how a secret trial by a kangaroo court can be condoned, let alone trusted, or how justice and compassion should be balanced even if someone is guilty. We are supposed to become savages and normalize unrestrained malice against anyone who is classified as “bad”. And we are supposed to enjoy it.

Their latest “novelty” is burning Walder's books by his grave. Normal people do not burn books in cemeteries, and virtuous people do not cheer them on. These are sick people, as sick as the abusers they claim to be opposing. Tomorrow they will classify other people as “bad”, and they will burn their books too. Maybe it will be you. Maybe it will be holy books. Those who fail to proceed with caution when it's someone else in the crosshairs deserve it.

The Torah opposes everything about how the Walder situation has been handled. We are not cruel even to those who must be punished. We must be sensitive to the slightest unwarranted physical or emotional pain to someone about to be executed. We do not behave like idolatrous sadists even if someone is “bad” and we are “right”.

Those who do not protect the God-given rights even of the guilty trample on the God-given rights of the innocent.