Rabbi Barukh Halevi Epstein (1860-1941) teaches that the Torah places the portion of Mishpatim, dealing with issues of justice, before the reading of Terumah, the giving of contributions to the Tabernacle, to teach that contributions that come from money acquired through just and righteous means are desired by God whereas contributions acquired through theft and other criminal behavior are unfit to be donated for sacred purposes.
What do you think? Should churches and synagogues reject contributions that are tainted?
Rabbi Jack Riemer tells the story about a time when a well‑known gangster walked into the synagogue office where he was a young assistant rabbi. Despite his violent and corrupt life, this man had a deep, private loyalty to his mother’s memory. He handed the senior rabbi a generous check and asked that Kaddish be said for her. The senior rabbi accepted the check and assured him that the appropriate prayers would be said in her memory and her name would be read from the bima at services. Then the gangster turned and left.
Rabbi Riemer was horrified. He turned to his mentor and said,
“How can we accept money from him? It’s dirty money. It comes from crime, from hurting people. We can’t let the synagogue be associated with this.”
The senior rabbi replied calmly:
“Money doesn’t become clean or unclean by itself. The question is what we do with it. If this man wants to honor his mother, and if we can turn this money toward something good — toward Torah, toward helping people — then why should we refuse it? Let the synagogue take the money and put it to holy use.”
Rabbi Riemer wasn’t convinced. “But the association……”
His older colleague raised a gentle hand.
“Jack,” he said quietly, “if we slam this door in his face, we may be closing the only door he still walks through to reach anything holy.”
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Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 
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