Want to Have Sex With the Maid? Don’t call Ashley Madison!  Call 1-800-DONTCHEAT!

This blog was posted yesterday by Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief of Tribe Media Corp., and I think it’s great. Check it out and I will meet you at the bottom.

1-800-DONTCHEAT

By Rob Eshman

Two months before Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a child with his housekeeper, I spent a week e-mailing rabbis about adultery.

My question to them was this: Would they agree to a public dialogue with the creator of an online matchmaking service for people seeking extramarital affairs?

One after another, they said no.

I understood. The Web site, AshleyMadison.com, has a whiff of sleaze about it, and the discussion was to be filmed for an upcoming HBO documentary on adultery, over which the rabbis would have no control.

But now, in the wake of the Schwarzenegger scandal and the sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, there seems more than ever to be a need for an ancient religion to confront all the ways we can destroy marriages, trust, families and reputations. Temptation is not new, but technology has made it even more convenient. Is there a way for Judaism to address this directly, publicly, effectively?

All weekend, at the Shabbat table Friday night, at Temple Beth Am on Saturday, at a Milken Community High School event Sunday, on the beach at Lag b’Omer on Sunday night, three topics ruled conversation: Obama and AIPAC, Strauss-Kahn and his maid, Arnold and his maid.

Read the rest of Rob’s column here.

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I think 1-800-DONTCHEAT is a brilliant idea.  Is anyone going to call and change their mind about banging the housekeeper?  I think the chances of that happening are about as good as a married person opening up an internet account, on the computer they share with their spouse, with a company that will help them discreetly cheat.

Could talking to a Rabbi change your mind about not only cheating, but joining Ashley Madison?  Maybe not, but if it were my spouse about to cheat, I would be happy if it did.  The marriage might still end, but it would be easier to walk away without a cloud of infidelity hanging over.  Divorce is hard enough without infidelity in the mix.

I think Ashley Madison is disgusting.  I think 1-800-DONTCHEAT could be the one thing that balances out Noel Biderman’s karmic debt.  Come on Noel, use some of the millions you are making on the crushed souls of others to do good.  Even if one person out of a million did not cheat it would be worth it.  At least to that one spouse.

I get that Ashley Madison is not going anywhere, but how great would it be if someone took it on and offered a different option?  It’s a funny idea to be sure, and one that might only end up on Saturday Night Live, but still, I think it has possibilities.  I think anything that can knock Biderman down few notches is worth exploring.

Noel Biderman of Ashley Madison is a pig.  My friend Noel Biderman from Toronto is a decent guy who needs to find a way to right his wrongs so this might be it.  I’m not sure there is hope for Noel’s karmic debt to be paid, or that 1-800-DONTCHEAT is anything more than a brilliant idea, but I’m keeping the faith.