Why Anthony Weiner Gives Me Guilt

Well, Weinergate is behind us. Hmmm? What was that? You just crawled out from under a rock? And the rock had no Internet access? Well, then, a quick recap: Inappropriate pictures were sent out from New York Congressman Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account. At first, Weiner denied involvement. (“I was hacked! I didn’t do it! They’re out to get me!”) But in the end, the truth came out, as it has a tendency to do. (“Okay, it was me! I did it! And not just once! But many, many pictures, sent to many women!”) His confession was followed by the obligatory I’m-so-sorry-I-failed-my-constituents-and-my-family press conference, and he finally agreed to resign from Congress. So, we can all move on with our lives, right?

Well, no, not those of us with a PhD in Jewish Guilt.

When I first heard this story, I thought, “Here we go again! Another politician gone bad. Howlucky for us that over the years our elected officials have given us the opportunity to debate such lofty ideas, such as whether or not oral sex ‘counts’ and what the legal repercussions are if the recipient of a ‘sext’ is underage. My life has been so much richer for this high-minded dialogue!”

But on the heels of that came my second thought: “Oy vey! And he’s Jewish!” Now, his last name is undoubtedly a Jewish one, though luckily (?), since it evokes something else much more appropriate (?) to the scandal, I was kind of hoping the outward Jewishness of it got a little bit lost.

But what is this guilt I feel?  Maybe it’s some sort of inborn, universal, “Kol yisrael areivim zeh lazeh” (basically, Jewish people are all responsible for each other.) I am embarrassed that it was “one of us” who committed such a salacious act. I mean, we’re supposed to be better than that, right? It’s one thing when it’s Bill Clinton or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jim McGreevey or John Edwards or Mark Sanford (OY this does go on…you can read through all the names here, in Newsweek’s list of “Sex Scandals Through the Years.” ) See, with them, at least I can tut-tut from a safe distance.

But when it’s one of our own? And not someone who just happens to have a Jewish last name. Someone who wears his Jewish identity proudly. Who represents—well, represented—a heavily Jewish district, who is staunchly and loudly pro-Israel. It truly feels like a failing on our part.

What a shanda! Where did we go wrong, Anthony?? Didn’t we raise you better??

I think, Maybe there was something I should have done, in order to prevent this. A ridiculous thought, of course. “Excuse me, Mr. Weiner? Let’s keep that picture of your genitalia private, shall we?”

Obviously there was nothing I, nor most people, could have done to prevent this scandal. Yet somehow I carry around this guilt. Here we have a good Jewish boy, who is supposed to know better and bring pride to the Jewish people, instead making all of us collectively hang our heads in shame. What would your poor mother say!

And then after the guilt, I feel anger. Didn’t he know that he not only risked getting caught, but risked giving Jews a bad name? Haven’t Jews had enough problems??? We don’t need one of our own making us the focus of worldwide ridicule and derision.

We are supposed to be an “am kadosh,” a nation that is separate and apart, a nation that brings light into the world, not one doing dirty deeds in the dark.

So I can’t explain it, but it’s there. The guilt. I guess the only thing we can do is to make sure there are enough Jews out there doing good stuff to counter the few embarrassing ones.

Oh, and call our mothers more.