This morning I was unpleasantly surprised to find this flyer in my daughter’s school newsletter:
For those who missed the recent brouhaha, Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein made the news when he went on a diatribe against Zumba, the dance fitness craze that has been sweeping both the secular and frum worlds.
About 39:00 minutes into his shiur, Rabbi Wallerstein warns against the moral dangers of Zumba, and bemoans the fact that he didn’t put his foot down 2 years ago, when the trend first started to gain popularity. He said he would have saved many women, marriages, and children from being provocative and untznius had he not been weak.
Wallerstein goes on to describe Zumba as “pole dancing.” He predicts that this “pole dancing” will lead to prostitution, and that the Jewish community will lose all of their kids. He feels that Jewish mothers will legitimize “pole dancing” as exercise, causing their daughters to go work for strip clubs under the mistaken assumption that they are exercise studios. Wallerstein says that any woman who says she has rabbinic hashgacha to open a Zumba studio is mistaken – the only one to give hashgacha for such an enterprise is satan.
At 44:00, Wallerstein goes into a racist little dance routine, “Yo, what’s up wit dat?!” as he mimics what it would be like if men danced to non-Jewish music like the women do. He talks about how Zumba sells “Latino and Black” music to frum women in the form of exercise. He says dancing to non-Jewish music is akin to “jumping like a bunch of monkeys in the jungle.”
At the time this all came out in the news, I decided not to address it. There were more than enough people on Facebook, blogs, and online news sources who skewered the guy. Why add my own repetitive opinion to the mix? Additionally, Wallerstein’s community is in Brooklyn. If he has a following there, kol hakovod. I live in Chicago, and his views don’t affect me or my family.
Seeing this flyer has proven me wrong. Apparently The Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago has sponsored Rabbi Wallerstein to speak in Chicago this weekend. If I don’t say something, rabbis like Wallerstein will continue to be supported and sought after as spokespeople and role models for my own community. The issue for many is simply unawareness. I certainly don’t do a background check on every speaker who makes their way through Chicago. The only reason this rabbi’s name stood out is because I happened to read about his recent controversial speech. Rabbi Wallerstein is here for an entire Shabbaton, and is speaking around the community:
“ATT will be hosting Rabbi Zecharya Wallerstein of Ohr Naava as scholar-in-residence in the Skokie Community on December 20-21. Rabbi Wallerstein will be speaking at the following places: Friday night – Oneg Shabbat at 7:30, co-hosted by YU Kollel and Cong. Or Torah, at the Cheplowtiz home, 8727 Harding, Skokie; Shabbat morning at Kehilat Chovevei Tzion; Shabbat afternoon – Women’s Shiur at Or Torah West at 2:45; Seudah Shlishit at Skokie Chabad. More info: ATT: 773-973-2828.”
It is interesting to note that the rebbetzin of Kehilat Chovevei Tzion leads a popular Chicago area Zumba organization called, Frumba Chicago. She is one of the most inspirational women in our community, promoting health and positive body image to the women and girls of the Chicago area frum community. I highly doubt that either she or her husband know about Rabbi Wallerstein’s views on women who do Zumba.
When we invite someone to come and speak to our community and pay their expenses to do so, we are endorsing them both as an expert and a role model. As such, we need to do our due diligence. It’s fine for Rabbi Wallerstein to personally feel that Zumba is not a tznius form of exercise. It’s fine for him to personally eschew non-Jewish music. However, it’s not fine for him to pass judgement on the women of our community who feel differently. I myself got a heter to do Zumba for exercise, even though I am in aveilus (I don’t do Zumba), so there are obviously rabbis who hold a different opinion from Wallerstein. It’s also not fine for him to use racist hate speech by saying that Zumba music is created by Latin and Black people who dance around like monkeys in the jungle.
We need to take a hard look on who we want our community role models to be. It’s true, that one impassioned and misguided speech doesn’t define Rabbi Wallerstein’s entire career. We are all guilty of saying things that have offended others. However, asking someone who has proven himself to be a loose cannon to speak to a crowd including impressionable teens is irresponsible. I hope that in the future, more thought and research will go into the kinds of speakers we choose to give a platform to in Chicago.
