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From: rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu (Russell Hendel)
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 13:09:19 -0500
Subject: RE: Synagogue Travesty

I just read Chaiim Shapiro's shocking description of throwing an
alzheimer person out of a synagogue because of noises he made. I would
like to offer my support for his shock with 4 midrashic/halachic/legal
references

1) A famous verse in Proverbs states: "He who closes his ears from the
screams of a poor person, even his prayers are an abomination." The
application of this verse in this situation is straightforward.

2) The Biblical Prohibition (Lev 19) of "..showing cordiality to the
face of an elder" seems to me to apply even if the elderly person is
sick (Analogous references to "elder and sick" occur in halachic
commentaries on Lev 1). If anyone has sources on this it would be
appreciated

3) When I was a little boy we had an alzheimer person in our
synagogue...he would always literally scream the first verse of Shema.
Everyone in our synagogue including of course the Rabbi treated this
person with sympathy and respect. No one ever suggested throwing him out
or even talking to him

4) My brother, a Judge in the Israeli court system had a case a few
years ago in which elderly (wo)men were being pushed down to take their
pocketbooks.  A case came before my brother. He passed down the harshest
sentence possible. Maariv, an Israeli newspaper cited him as saying "The
Bible says to STAND up before the elderly and these criminals are doing
the exact opposite of PUSHING THEM DOWN."  My brother told me that you
could hear a pin drop when he said this in court and passed
sentence. Furthermore, this type of crime stopped after this sentence.

So in summary, I agree wholehearetdly with Chaim; his shock is fully
consistent with our tradition. As my brother's case shows if harsh
measures are taken against the perpetrators of these deeds perhaps it
will stop.

Russell Jay Hendel; Ph.d. ASA; rhendel @ mcs drexel edu