The Charge of Avoda Zara and Lipa

I'm sure by now you've heard about the incident this past week in Brooklyn where Rabbi Schorr attempted to disrupt a wedding at which Lipa was singing. You can read the full version of what happened at Life of Rubin. The summary version (based on LOR) is as follows:

Both Lipa and Rabbi Schorr were invited guests at a wedding. At some point during the wedding, one of the Ba'alei Simcha asked Lipa to sing. He went to the stage where the hired singer graciously gave over the microphone. Lipa began singing the "Hentalach" song. At some point, Rabbi Schorr stormed the stage and grabbed the microphone away from Lipa and demanded that he descend from the stage. At one point he even began yelling "Avoda Zara! Avoda Zara!"

I know that there is some history between Rabbi Schorr and Lipa. From many accounts, it seems that Rabbi Schorr was involved in the edicts which led to the banning of last year's "Big Event." I don't know Rabbi Schorr or his agenda -- I don't know if it's simply anti-Lipa or anti-music in general. But I can state that it seems, from all accounts, that Lipa was doing nothing wrong -- on the contrary, he was being m'sameiach (making happy) the bride and groom.

I'm going to overlook for the moment the fact that Rabbi Schorr chose to make this stand in the middle of someone's wedding, which is bad enough. I'm also going to overlook the fact that he chose to publicly embarrass Lipa, which is all bad enough. What I don't want to overlook is the fact that he publically accused another Jew of avoda zara -- idol worship. If you think about it for a minute, the accusation of avoda zara is probably the ultimate accusation that you could throw at someone -- worse than saying that he's a thief, worse than saying that he's a lowlife, worse even than saying that he's an apikores -- a heretic. Saying that someone is an idolater is the ultimate accusation that you can level against a person -- in some respects, the idolater is treated in halacha as a non-Jew. I don't think there is a single accusation that you can throw at someone than the accusation that they are an idol worshiper.

And yet, that's what Rabbi Schorr decided to yell. He didn't yell that the music is treif. He didn't say that Lipa's dancing was not b'kavod for a yid. He didn't say any of that -- he out and out accused Lipa of (or what he was doing) idolatry.

Now, I'll admit that I'm not a rav and not a posek. Perhaps I'm missing something about the hantelach song that invovles idolatry - but I don't think so. I'm fairly confident that whatever you think of Lipa and his music, there was no idolatry involved. Of course, if someone can point out to me where I'm wrong, I'll be more than happy to retract, but, as it stands, I just don't see it.

So, why did Rabbi Schorr do this? I don't know. But what I do know is that unless there is some serious justification for his charge of avoda zara, he needs to be held accountable for his actions and accusations. He needs to publicly explain why he felt the need to level this charge at Lipa in the middle of a wedding, or else to publicly apologize and ask mechila (forgiveness) of Lipa and the ba'alei simcha.

The Wolf