NY Daily News A Brooklyn math tutor charged with repeatedly violating a six-year-old student is expected to go to trial in the fall.
Moshe Friedman was hired by the young boy’s parents to conduct in-home tutorials in 2013. Instead, for over 10 months, Friedman allegedly repeatedly assaulted and sexually abused the child.
Friedman, 30, was arrested in January 2015 for first-degree sexual conduct against a child and other shocking charges.[...]
On another occasion, while the boy’s hand was in a cast, Friedman allegedly followed him into the bathroom and violated him, according to the criminal complaint.
Friedman allegedly sexually assaulted the boy, shoved a rag in his mouth and threatened him with a gun.
"You'd better not tell your parents or I'll kill you and your family," Friedman allegedly said to the boy.
Must allegations be reported here on this blog as of they were true? Must they even be reported as allegations? Why don't we first find out? Does this fit with Hilchos Loshon Hora as far as believing or repeating loshon Hora written in the newspapers, especially from a secular source?
ReplyDeleteonce a person is arrested - there is reason to suspect that the allegations might be true and therefore a person needs to be cautious. This is not a certification that the allegations are true. According to you - if he were convicted by a secular court - is it then permissible to mention that?
ReplyDeleteThere is a clear difference between arrest and conviction and in some countries (I think that France is one of them) you could not show pictures of suspects for that reason.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of relying on conviction by a court which may not be accurate, there we do not have choice and all criminals will get away with crimes by saying that the court did a bad job.
Is it permission to mention that? ....Grappling if there are any tangent halachic sources granting a secular court reliability on these issues. ...willing to entertain thought that for at least almost every time, we may not be able to determine. ...
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, in a case I have been involved in and other cases I have come in some acquaintance of to various levels, the courts need to take some action to show they did something and no evidence alone does not suffice for inaction. ..
Please tell me what type of information would you feel needs to be disseminated as a chashash?
ReplyDelete1) Only that which a respected beis din rules after hearing the testimony of two frum adult male witnesses
2) Information testified by a frum adult female?
3) Information testitied by children
4) Information from a non-Jew?
we are not talking about a ruling of a beis din or a secular court we are talking about self-protection and protecting others from possible danger? This is based on common sense - not psak.
Similarly what evidence would you rely on to would or kill someone who might be a rodef? The standard of the halacha is that which a reasonable person would conclude that they are in danger. Rav Silman notes if someone is running down the street holding what you think is a weapon and he is screaming something which sounds Arabic - he said that is a rodef. But perhaps he is a Jew who has an urgent mission or maybe he is crazy and not a danger to anyone? Maybe it isn't Arabic but some neutral foreign language etc etc.
Bottom line the laws of self-protection allow (require) great leniencies - and there is no requirement to get a psak from a beis Din or even a Rav
Just because the Daily News uses the word "busted", it doesn't mean you should.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't busted. He was arrested.
Answers to these questions might shed light on the murky issue of sexual abuse in the frum communities:
ReplyDelete1. Do we have any reliable statistics as to the conviction rate in civil courts of frum Jews who were charged with sexual abuse?
2. Do we have any reliable information about cases where frum Jews were actually convicted of sexual abuse in civil courts, but there was substantial evidence that the persons charged were not guilty?
3. Is there evidence of overzealous or anti-Semitic prosecutors falsely charging frum Jews with sexual abuse crimes?
1. The threat of a gun sounds a bit farfetched; where would Mr Friedman get a gun from?
ReplyDelete2.Anyone else notice who his attorney is (in the DN link)! Does he do anything other than defend Charedim accused of molestation?
In response to question 2:
ReplyDeleteSee People vs. Boukris, Sullivan County Court, Indictment #635-2015 - a non-guilty verdict
batei din today generally admit testimony of adult females, testimony of children, and non jews. of course, in the event an accused even consents to a bet din, (s)he would probably insist on a bet din that does not (or that the bet not) admit such testimony.
ReplyDeleteso the problem is not whether such testimony is admissible, but whether batei din should even agree or not agree to accept or not accept such testimony.
His a very respectable lawyer, president of the Brooklyn Bar
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_L._Aidala
The first gun is far-fetched. As is the rest of the police report.
ReplyDeletedoesn't say he had a gun - it says he threatened
ReplyDeleteI have first-hand knowledge.
ReplyDeleteWhile these thoughts deserve a lot of consideration, I have often wondered how they reconcile with the Chofetz Chaim zt"l who says that the public must be warned, but specifically with a notification that it is only a suspicion,
ReplyDeleteand that the suspect cannot be hurt in any way, which in this instance, he is arrested and has attorney fees....while I contend what you are saying is common sense, I believe that this din in the Chofetz Chaim says that this will trump (for lack of a more appropriate word :-)) what we call common sense. ..
Also, it's going to trail because the defense isn't interested in being bullied into pleading guilty for something he didn't do.
ReplyDeletehow do you know that?
ReplyDeleteI am involved in the case.
ReplyDeletethe issue for us is not getting him arrested or forcing him to pay attorney fees. We are talking about reporting a person to the police for him when there are at least reasonable suspicions. From that point on the process is not in our hands.
ReplyDeleteThe question is whether the fact that he has been arrested and charged with child abuse should be repeated to others. As I said this is not a question of a judicial process from our point of view - it is a question of self-defense. It is reasonable to notify others that he is suspected of a serious crime against children. The fact that the Chofetz Chaim has made a relatively simple process into a very complex one doesn't negate the principles of halacha that allows self-defense and requires us to protect others - even if there is only a rumors alleging his crimes.
Not sure I want to repeat something which has been repeated here over and over again. The Rosh Yeshiva of Slobodka Yeshiva in Bnei Brak told my son that the Chazon Ish had said that he didn't see the need for seforim about lashon harah. He said the halacha was very simple. Don't say something which will hurt another person. This simple approach was also stated by Rav Elcohon Wasserman who said that even though hitting others and speaking lashon harah is prohibited - but it is also permitted if there is a good purpose served. Even though he was the talmid muvhak of the Chofetz Chaim - he gave a commonsense answer to this question.
In sum, there is considerable halachic justification for the approach I follow [you can read the details in my books on child abuse] - there is no requirement that it be determined whether the Chofetz Chaim would agree with it or not. There are also other approaches - contrary to the claim of the Chofetz Chaim - such as the Maharal regarding publicly known information.
are you testifying in his behalf at the trial?
ReplyDeleteSo please write a guest post in his defense
ReplyDeleteI'm not interested in giving the case more exposure than it already has.
ReplyDeleteIf you want, you can contact me privately. I've emailed you in the past.
England, too.
ReplyDeleteYitzchokM is correct. Often, when one is familiar with the details of a case, it becomes clear that bloggers such as yourself are causing more harm than good - all while hiding behind the veil of saving society. Although you seemingly have good intentions, you seem to get caught up in your know-it-all attitide a bit too often. A little anivus is not going to kill you.
ReplyDeleteIs it also far fetched, that this is how threatened the 6 year old boy. Maybe if they wait till Purim and sing for two hours while clapping, " Venahapoch ", might just make it go away. They can also hire the one that just tells the kid, "Di zugst ligent!" and wish it away.
ReplyDelete