January 9, 19-6
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Communal Effort Proposal to Stop Scandal Debated by Leading Rabbis
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
The first Jewish public
figure to speak out on the
disclosures of thefts of pub-
lic funds and abuses in Jew-
ish-owned nursing homes
has reiterated his conviction
that the Jewish community,
however defined, cannot
evade responsibility for de-
veloping a mechanism for
"internal governance" to
deal with such scandals.
Dr. Lowell E. Bellin, the
"FIRST FOR
A REASON"
AL KLINE
•
DALGLEISH
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6160 CASS AVE.
• TR 5-0300
New York City Health Com-
missioner, first issued his
challenge in a little-publi-
cized address last June at
the annual meeting of the
National Conference of Jew-
ish Communal Workers at
Grossinger's.
His proposals for Jewish
communal action were
based on the contention
that, "like it or not, the
nursing home problem is
now a Jewish problem" and
that the "scandal is a re-
proach to the Jewish com-
munity." To deal with it, he
proposed several actions
under Jewish auspices.
One was the formation,
under such auspices, of "a
political structure that has
the potentiality of impos-
ing community sanctions
when the member (of the
community) does scandal- ,
ous violence to community
morality."
A second was a proposal
that Jewish federations
serve as auditing agencies
for Jewish owned or Jewish-
managed health-related fa-
cilities to provide informa-
tion to government agencies
to enable them to withhold
funding from questionable
facilities.
A third was that rabbini-
cal courts call to account
Jewish owners or managers
involved in abuses of the
kind uncovered in New York
by a Temporary State Com-
mission on Living Costs
which led to the appoint-
ment of a Moreland corn-
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other private undertaking,
or to improse sanctions on
offending Jewish people."
Rabbi Hollander de- •
scribed the functions of the
Rabbinical Alliance Beth
Din as based on the fact
that it is a violation of
Jewish religious law for
one Jew to take another to
civil court, unless author-
ized to do so by a Beth Din,
In reference to Dr. Bellin's
proposal for Beth Din in-
tervention to end alleged
abuses in Jewish-owned or
operated health facilities,
Rabbi Hollander said any
Jewish patient with a
grievance against treat-
ment or services could a -
XV'
ply to the Rabbinical Alli-
ance Beth Din for a Din
Torah (rabbinical court
hearing) • "precisely as
with any other dispute be-
tween Jew and Jew."
Rabbi Hollander said that
at such a Din Torah both
parties would present their
claims and after that, the
Beth Din would arrive at a
verdict which would be
binding on both parties.
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simple prudence for govern-
ment to check with the Jew-
ish federation which main-
tains or could maintain a
continuous audit on quality
of agency performance."
Dr. Bellin said that a Jew-
ish malefactor could be
brought before a group of
Jewish communal leaders
and told "we have learned
these facts about your activ-
ities. What are you going to
do to end this scandal?" He
said he was convinced that
such a pronouncement by
such a group of Jewish lead-
ers would be heeded by the -
offending Jew and that such
action could be taken before
the issue came before civil
authorities.
Solender said it was the
responsibility of govern-
ment to establish stand-
ards of nursing home oper-
ation and "monitor and
enforce their compliance."
He said government "has
the mandate to promul-
gate performance stand-
ards, the authority to au-
dit performance in relation
to those standards and the
power to improse sanc-
tions on those who fail to
meet these standards."
He said the New York
federation was ready "to
assist government in every
way possible in implement-
ing these important func-
tions." •He decried "the
abuses by owners of pro-
prietary nursing homes,"
and "believes that those who
are guilty of violating their
trust should be appro-
priately penalized."
But, he declared, it is
"neither feasible, possible,
nor desirable" for the Jew-
ish community "to attempt
to police operations of enter-
prises owned by Jews, be
they nursing homes or any..
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mission and a special prose-
cutor.
Dr. Bellin's proposals
were challenged by Sanford
Solender, executive vice
president of the Federation
of Jewish Philanthropies of
Greater New York; and by
Rabbi Israel Klaven, execu-
tive vice president of the
Rabbinical Council of
America, but given a limited
endorsement on the pro-
posal for involvement of
rabbinical courts by Rabbi
David B. Hollander, presi-
dent of the Rabbinical Alli-
ance of America. The Rab-
binical Council and the
Rabbinical Alliance both
sponsor rabbinical courts.
Rabbi Hollander and
Rabbi Abraham Gross,
chairman of the Rabbini-
cal Alliance Beth Din com-
mittee, reported that their
Beth Din not only was pre-
pared to hear grievances
from victims of such abuse
but currently had its first
such case under considera-
tion.
In addition to implement-
ing a communal structure in
New York City similar to
the pre-World War I Jewish
Community, which he called
hard "but not impossible,"
Dr. Bellin proposed the
more immediate actions of
calling Jewish malefactors
before rabbinical courts as
well as -federation interven-
tion.
He said federations "can
make reasonable distinc-
tions between excellence
and charlatanism" in con-
trol and operation of health
facilities. He proposed that
before governmental agen-
cies awarded contracts or
grants to hospitals, nursing
homes, schools or other such
institutions, "it would be