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The Madoff Family Tragedies: A 'Shonda' for the Jews

1 year ago
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Bonnie Goldstein
Bonnie Goldstein
Woman Up Editor
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In the secular Jewish country club bourgeoisie satirized in Philip Roth's 1959 novella, "Goodbye, Columbus" (and the 1969 film of it), Brenda Patimkin's family wealth derived from a company that produced sinks and toilets. Seen through the eyes of her lower-middle-class boyfriend, their unbridled abundance and selfish disregard for the less well off is a classic comic drama of class.

In a real life, real time, version of avaricious acquisitiveness, the Bernie Madoff family drama, set against the securities industry of secrets and insider handshakes 50 years later, is by contrast, a tragedy out of the Book of Exodus or Numbers.

As many of us remember, in December 2008 financial baron Madoff confessed to his sons Mark and Andrew (and, after the sons reported him, to the U.S attorney) of perpetrating and perpetuating a fraud of epic proportions. The wealth from trusting investors that the Madoffs had accumulated and lived lavishly off of was gleaned from a Ponzi scheme. The elder Madoff pled guilty and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. The sons allegedly knew nothing about the scam and claimed what their father had done to them was "a father-son betrayal of biblical proportions." The "Bible" in this case was most certainly the Torah, the Jewish testament.

A disproportionate number of those caught in the scheme were Jewish. Victims of his fraud were drawn from a wide circle of Jewish philanthropy institutions, and many individual investors came to know him through connections at Jewish country clubs.

Last week, two years to the hour after his father's arrest, on the Sabbath following Hanukkah, Mark Madoff was unable to stanch his despair and caused his own death by hanging. He was the oldest son of Bernie and Ruth Madoff, a handsome and popular "golden boy" and the 46-year-old father of two small children and two teenagers.

In Jewish law (Talmud) suicide is forbidden. "For him who takes his own life with full knowledge of his action . . . no rites are to be observed," the Jewish Virtual Library explains. "There is to be no rending of clothes and no eulogy." But, as with many things in Jewish law, there are exceptions. In those cases of self-inflicted death, mourning rites can still be observed for one who acts on impulse or under severe mental or physical pain. (The Hebrew word anuss means "person under compulsion" -- forced and therefore not responsible for his actions.)

It's hard to say how much the Madoff sons were ever responsible for their actions. Brought into the family business, Bernard L. Madoff Securities, in their 20s, the sons were set up as managers in the so-called "legitimate" side of the operation. They lived a life of privilege and pride.

After the misdeeds were revealed, the despondent son reportedly never spoke to Bernie again, but the parent who "often asked people how a father could do this to his sons" committed an act destined to affect his own son for a lifetime. Reportedly, Mark Madoff's 2-year-old boy was asleep in the home when his father was found "hanging from a black dog leash attached to a pipe on the living room ceiling." The child's grandfather on his mother's side discovered the shamed corpse and called the police.

Whether Mark is afforded a full Jewish funeral, the agent of his pain, his failed father, will not be in attendance. The senior Mr. Madoff said, through his lawyer Ira Sorkin, that he will not ask for a prison furlough to go. He wishes to consider the privacy of his son's widow and children. (His former daughter-in-law had already petitioned for a name change to avoid the "burden of legacy.") Bernard Madoff will be saying his personal mourning prayers at the chapel of a North Carolina correctional center.

The sins of the father will be felt at this and apparently every family ritual that follows for at least another generation.
Filed Under: Woman Up
Tagged: bernard madoff, bernie madoff, goodbye columbus, mark madoff, philip roth, Ruth Madoff, shonda for the jews, shonda fur die goyim
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Sandra Harmon

As a child of suicide, I know the pain that will follow Mark's children throughout their lives. At least they will be spared the guilt of believing they had something to do with his death. The burden is all on the terrible Bernie Madoff, the father and grandfather from hell who destroyed so many lives because of his unrelenting greed. .

December 30 2010 at 11:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
carmen leftwich

It is so sad that someone so young couldn't seek some help for his depression.
He could still have lived a productive life and ignored any repercussions from his father's scandal.

December 16 2010 at 7:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
roman3537

Who can find words to explain this tragedy. I, for one, can only extend my sincere condolences to his brother, his wife and his children:- I truly am so sorry, and hope you can find strength and solace during this difficult time in the knowledge that there are those who care. Rest in Peace, Mark.

December 14 2010 at 4:45 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply

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