From surprise and shock, to stunned and saddened. That was the reaction as news spread like a virus from Poway to Washington D.C. about Rabbi Goldstein.
The leader of a synagogue whose members are still recovering from the attack that left one of their longtime members dead and others wounded including the rabbi himself had pleaded guilty to a serious crime involving a multi-million dollar charity fraud scheme.
He had been hailed as a hero, honored at the White House, bringing his congregation together in healing and standing up to evil.
How could this happen? How could he do it? How are we supposed to even understand this?
How could someone who had done so much good do something so bad and so hurtful to his flock and those in his community who praised him? As unbelievable as it may be, what the Rabbi did, many others have done.
Good people can and do bad things. And when they do, we can have a hard time understanding it.
Of course none of is perfect and we all do some things that are things we know we shouldn’t have done or said.
But when someone who is a leader in a church, a synagogue, a business, a government or even a family does something like this, we are reminded of the Biblical warning about how the exalted will be humbled and the humbled will be exalted.
You might say it’s "The lesson of the Rabbi."
WATCH VIDEO BELOW: U.S Attorney explains the charges.
READ STATEMENT FROM CHABAD OF POWAY.
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