Also important

Rabbi Weinreb, in addition to effectively rebutting Rabbi Shafran’s absurd praise of Madoff’s “repentance,” also defended Sullenberger, the American hero and pilot, whom Shafran surely targeted for smear because he is secular.

Sully, on the other hand, acted efficiently and skillfully, saving the lives of well over a hundred human beings. Whether or not he displayed “sublimity of spirit” or adequately credited the Lord above is immaterial and irrelevant. As our sages stress: “Your actions shall draw you near.”

And as for his “moral choice”? Choosing to land his plane the way he did may not have been guided by motives of morality, but they were surely guided by motives of survival, praiseworthy in their own right. Sully’s “moral choices” came much earlier in his life than that fateful day on the Hudson River. They came when he chose to become a pilot, when he fervently advocated improved safety procedures, when he decided to pursue specialized training opportunities, when he determined to become the “best damn pilot” that he could, and surely when he refused to leave his plane until he personally made sure that all passengers had disembarked.

Every choice that he made, dozens of times each day, to keep his body fit, his senses keen, and his mind alert, was a “moral choice”.

In an age when mediocrity is the norm, the choice to pursue excellence is a “moral choice.”

And in an age when tens of thousands choose to use their technical intelligence to devise schemes of death and destruction, Sully’s choice to utilize his intelligence to develop life-preserving skills is a “moral choice” indeed.

Better to contrast Sully not with Bernie Madoff, but with those other pilots who not so long ago, and just a few hundred yards from Sully’s landing, exercised their piloting skills to murder thousands of innocents. Sully chose to master those same piloting skills to protect life. For that he deserves our gratitude and moral admiration.