ZAKA reportedly in financial disarray

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

CHULA VISTA, California — Oscar Wilde   once said: “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it… I can   resist everything but temptation.”

There’s a lot of truth to Wilde’s   temptation. As human beings we often give in to many temptations without   thinking about the consequences of our actions.

Lest we start feeling self-righteous   and smug, there is hardly a person who cannot be compromised or broken down,   provided one is confronted by the right kind of temptation.

An expose appeared in the Ma’ariv   newspaper about a man named Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, Eidah Charedis’ former chief  operations officer. Meshi-Zahav left his anti-Zionist roots after witnessing the aftermath of a terror attack, and founded ZAKA, the disaster response organization that has rescued countless lives in Israel and elsewhere in the world, whenever a tragedy occurred.

ZAKA’s painstaking attention to  gathering all the limbs and organs of terrorist attacks is nothing less than   inspiring.

ZAKA provided assistance in Thailand,   Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean   earthquake. Their teams of forensic experts were sometimes nicknamed, “the   team that sleeps with the dead” because they toiled around the clock,   ministering to those who died in the tsunami. The experience of ZAKA members,   who reportedly see 38 bodies a week on average in Israel, helped the Israeli   forensic team to identify corpses faster than many of the other forensic teams   that operated in Thailand in the aftermath of the disaster, which placed them   in high demand with grieving families.

The Israeli government bestowed   Meshiv-Zahav with the honor of lighting an honorary beacon on Israel’s 55th   Independence Day official ceremonies on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, the revered   burial spot of modern Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl.

So what happened? Although few know or understand the politics of ZAKA, evidently Meshi-Zahav left the   organization and started his own ZAKA organization.

Sounds pretty confusing, no?

And confusing it was. Most people did not realize there were two ZAKA organizations. According to the newspapr, Meshi-Zahav and his family raised money for the “new” ZAKA but neglected to tell his donors that his organization was different. In good faith, people all over the world sent considerable sums of  money to purchase ambulances and EMT vehicles.

The Ma’ariv report alleges that Meshi-Zahav never bought any of these vehicles. It suggested that he used the money for other personal   purposes. These are only allegations, and so far we have not seen a response from Meshi-Zahav. One assumes the case will be litigated in Israeli courts and we’ll learn whether Ma’ariv got its facts right.

In its account, Ma’ariv reported that the original ZAKA did not receive the donors’ money. Yet,  the newspaper reported, Meshi-Zahav used the  original ZAKA’s tax I.D. number. Meshi-Zahav’s ZAKA allegedly has an agreement with the original ZAKA that allows this, but Meshi-Zahav is supposed to give 40% of what his ZAKA raises after expenses to the original ZAKA. However, no   money has been given to it by Meshi-Zahav’s ZAKA, according to Ma’ariv.

ZAKA is in dire financial straits. The   Israeli government is trying to understand why the original ZAKA collapsed, and why millions of dollars are missing from its accounts, Ma’ariv reported.   The newspaper said that Meshi-Zahav used ZAKA as a personal account for purchasing groceries and vacation trips.

A  religious person in particular ought to know that the Torah teaches that   freedom is not the license to do whatever one wants. In a God-centered world,   it is God Who determines the boundaries between right and wrong; in a   human-centered world, humans define values, and in a sense act like  God.

We all face temptation. Oscar Wilde is correct to some degree. However, the solution is not to give in to caprice, but to sublimate these urges by simply saying, “No thank you . . .”

R. Eleazar ha-Kappar said, “Don’t let   your temptation lead you to think that the grave is a place of refuge. Against  your will were you formed; against your will you must live; and against your  will you must die and against your will you must give an accounting and reckoning before the King of the Kings of kings, the Holy Blessed One!”   (Avoth 4:29)

We also should remember a quote from American jurisprudence, which has been adopted in Israel: “A man is innocent until proven guilty.”

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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista.   He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com