Stu Bykofsky: Madoff casts shame on Jews everywhere

I DON'T BELIEVE in group punishment, but I do believe in group identity.

For instance, there's no question African-Americans got a bigger lift from Barack Obama's election than white Americans. That's the plus side.

On the minus side, Obama himself said that when a horrible crime is committed, African-Americans hold their collective breath until they see a picture of the suspect. If he's white, they heave a collective sigh of relief: "Thank God he's not one of ours."

Over the last few weeks, as accusations of being a Ponzi-scheme artist piled up against Jewish multimillionaire Bernie Madoff, there has been no such relief for me and most Jews.

He's charged with stealing $50 billion, which is unimaginable.

Madoff (if guilty, and there seems little doubt) is what's called in Yiddish a shonda, a shame on the Jewish people, here and everywhere.

Why should that be?

When Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building, did Christians (or white people, for that matter) feel like it reflected on them?

Jews somehow do, maybe because we're sometimes held accountable for the deeds of the worst of us. A history of persecution has bred into some of us a suspicion that we, as a group, are held "accountable" even when we, as individuals, have done nothing wrong.

I think many African-Americans feel that way, too.

Group identity is a two-way street.

When a black astronaut takes to the heavens, he carries African-Americans' pride with him (or her). When a Jew makes a medical breakthrough - Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin's polio vaccine, for instance - Jewish people feel an unspoken pride.

The same is true of other minorities.

America is composed of many tribes, with race and religion forming just two. Others include nationality, gender and sexual orientation.

Group affinity, pride or shame, can attach to almost any group.

Daniel P. Smith wrote a non-fiction book on the Chicago police department and reported how officers talked of "the shame they felt in coming to work" the day after a police scandal broke.

We acknowledge, in a way, 50 American tribes. We call them states. Here in Pennsylvania, the tribe called Philadelphia fiercely protects its turf and can feel group pride (the Phillies win the Series) or group shame (the murder rate).

I am not to blame for the murder rate, but as a Philadelphian, it does somehow reflect on me.

Madoff's alleged plundering should not reflect on the vast majority of ethical Jews, but it does. He fed the vicious stereotype of Jews as cheats that goes back to the Middle Ages. Madoff's arrest was a Christmas gift to anti-Semites.

No one knows how many people Madoff might have made paupers. I do know that his group identity helped him reportedly swindle billions - primarily from Jews, Jewish charities and institutions. Criminals often victimize those closest to them.

Is Madoff worse for having victimized his own people?

I don't want to say that.

I do want to say that there's no way he should be enjoying house arrest in his penthouse, having made bail using his victims' money. He ought to be in a cell and pushing a mop while awaiting

trial.

Who better to call the 70-year-old Madoff a sickening, loathsome maggot than another Jew?

But, Bernie, I don't want you to drop dead. I wish you 100 years - cent'anni, as my Italian friends say.

Right after you're sentenced to life.

E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/byko.