Rabbi Denise L. Eger warned the Jewish Community about convicted felon Arthur Goldberg (aka Arthur Abba Goldberg, Arthur A. Goldberg), who was a mini-Madoff on Wall Street before being jailed.
After his probation ended, Goldberg found a new group of people to con – gay Jews and their families. Goldberg co-founded Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). Rabbi Eger took this slippery charlatan to task on her blog:
He was a financier who bilked people of millions of dollars. Even though he was disbarred he holds out his Law degree–Juris Doctor as some kind of credential. And yet he set up JONAH and pretends to be an expert. Far from it. The Ex-gay industry regularly uses outdated and disproven research to base its “therapy” upon. Goldberg and his ilk are the real frauds forcing their particular brand of lies upon desperate and sometimes very fragile people who desparately want love and acceptance while unable to embrace their full selves.
The truth is that God made us who we are. B’tzelem Elohim–we are made in the image of God. That is the truth that should win out for everyone. We in the Jewish community must expose such chicanery and lies that are done in the name of our tradition. And we must demand that con men like Goldberg that continue to practice their criminal behaviors of con jobs must be held accountable.
Once a con man always a con man. BEWARE!
Rabbi Denise L. Eger is the founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami: West Hollywood’ Reform Synagogue. She is a currently the Board President of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.
