My heart pounded when I read your letter, as
the Chazal already said a long time ago in connection to a similar
situation, “Why are you placing my head between two huge mountains etc., I fear
that you want my head.”
Particularly after I heard this awful news about
rumors circulating amongst Jewish areas and neighborhoods, rumors spread no less
by my beloved friends and by my friends who love me very much.
I saw they had already decided and concluded his
guilt without giving him the opportunity to defend himself. What are we to do
with the laws of the Torah that state that it is forbidden to listen to an
accuser without the defendant being present? They threw him to the wild beasts
like a rotting carcass without hearing his side. They placed his case in front
of men and women disguised as expert doctors, without listening to his
defenders, some of whom are experts in this field.
They made him into a sinner and isolated him from the tribes of Israel; they made him into a pariah, all without harking to his shouts as if all gates of mercy were shut.
Even when one is a blasphemer, the Torah states
that one must investigate. How much more so, Reb Dovid, someone
who has served his community selflessly for over 30 years and many benefited
from him.
17th of Adar II, 5774 [March 18-19, 2014],
Brooklyn, NY