It is incredible, shocking, the treatment of Roman Polanski, the Oscar Award winning director who skipped bail on a rape sentence dating back 30 years. He drugged and raped a 13 year old back then. According to some French literati, the barbarian in this case is the US. The US is seen as prudish and puritanical, while not properly respecting Polanski's genius.
The Hollywood community has also rallied to his defense, with Whoopi Goldberg opining that he actually didn't commit "rape rape." They all think he should be freed, and it's small-minded to arrect him and put him in jail.
Well, what does Judaism think?
Would anybody be clamoring for his release if he was a city bus driver? Or a teacher? Or a doctor?
Why does his status as a Hollywood legend render him above the law? If "contributions to the public good" are a mitigating factor, then the above professionals should cut ahead of him in line. So why don't they?
Because according to Judaism, a crime is a crime and ALL people are equal before the law. Not only all people, but all cases, no matter how small the sum of money involved or the infraction being prosecuted.
That is because justice is the highest calling, and it is absolute. "Thou shalt surely PURSUE justice." The Psalms state that "the Lord is present at the trials of justice," which means that justice is a Divinely required duty. God is a God of Truth, and thus all justice must be based on truth. "Keep yourself far away from falsehood'" says the Torah.
Therefore, the only mitigating circumstance should be in the case itself. People who sin through error are accorded a lenient judgment. People who sin inadvertently are not even culpable. People who sin knowingly are liable to prosecution to the full extent of the law.
A prominent artist who carefully and artistically planned to abuse a thirteen year-old girl for his own sick pleasures is liable to the fullest extent of the law. Add to that jumping bail and living large in France, and you have a very evil and sinful man. I don't care how brilliant he is.
The biggest badge of shame belongs to all those who excuse him because of his art. They show an elitist disregard for the victim and for society. They show a disdain for the rule of law. If they really believe that violence against women is a crime, they MUST retract their support from Polanski and applaud his arrest. To do otherwise is to go down a dangerous path to injustice and elitism that can eventually lead to dictatorship and disintegration of society.
To paraphrase Orwell, they believe that "some pigs are more equal than others." The Jewish way is the way of true equality and justice, and is the litmus test for the morals of a society.
