In this paper, I defend the halakhic position that it is entirely appropriate for professional psychotherapists to provide psychotherapy treatment to clients of the opposite gender. In Israel, an ultra-Orthodox psychiatrist attempted to promulgate a fringe ruling which opined that such a practice is forbidden the the halakha.
Saturday, January 8, 2022
The Jewish Legal Obligation to Report Sexual Abuse
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ibxr=0#inbox/FMfcgzGmtNbQPjvsDFPKRJvPPgwbTrQZ
Two rabbinic organizations in North America promulgated contrasting opinions about reporting suspected sexual abuse. This paper analyzes those opinions.
Holocaust and death of more than 2 million Jews in Egypt during plague of darkness
אמת ליעקב שמות פרק י פסוק כב
פירש"י וז"ל: ולמה הביא עליהם חשך שהיו בישראל באותו הדור רשעים ולא היו רוצים לצאת ומתו בשלשת ימי אפלה וכו'. הנה אף שבאמת כל בני הדור ההוא לא היו נחשבים כצדיקים, שהרי מצינו שטענו מלאכי השרת הללו עובדי עבודה זרה והללו עבודה זרה, הרי שהמלאכים לא היו יכולים לראות שום הבדל בין ישראל למצרים, וא"כ מדוע מתו דוקא רשעים אלו ולא כל הרשעים. ונראה משום שאלו היו רוצים לעכב בידיהם של האחרים מלצאת, דהם סברו שמכיון שקבלה בידם שישתעבדו ד' מאות שנה א"כ עדיין לא הגיע זמן הקץ, ופחדו שאם יצאו קודם הזמן אז יארע להם כמו שיארע לבני אפרים שיצאו קודם הזמן, ולא האמינו לדברי משה והזקנים שחישב ה' את הקץ בזכות האבות, ולכן המיתן הקדוש ברוך הוא. אבל הכלל כולו, אף שבעיני המלאכים היו בגדר עובדי עבודה זרה, אבל רק הקדוש ברוך הוא יש לו את הראייה למרחוק להבין שאומה זו שעכשיו הם עובדי עבודה זרה יהיו בעוד שבעה שבועות מוכנים לעמוד בהר סיני ולומר "נעשה ונשמע", ופנימיות כזו גם המלאכים אין מרגישים בה, עד שהוצרך הקדוש ברוך הוא להוכיח את זה למדת הדין על ידי מה שהראה להם ארונו של יוסף [בראשית רבה פרשה פ"ז אות ח'], והיינו שהוכיח להם שאומה זו תוך תוכם ממקור אחר נחצב, וביארתי זה היטב להלן בדברינו ריש פרשת בשלח [י"ג פי"ט], עיין שם.
ונצייר נא לעצמנו מה היתה הרגשתם של בני ישראל במשך ימי מכת חושך, שהרי רואים הם שישראל לוקין יותר מן המצרים, שבמשך ג' ימים מתו יותר מב' מליונים גברים לבד מטף וזקנים ונשים, והלא לא ידעו טעם מכה זו, ובודאי שהיו ישראל תמהין ואומרין מה זה עשה ד' לנו. וזוהי נחמתנו במצב זה2 שאנו מתרעמין כביכול על הנהגת השי"ת בנוגע לכלל ישראל, אבל לפ"ז משמע שאנו קרובין לגאולה..
Rabbinic coverup of sexual abuse
After Tropper resigned I met the famous Jewish columnist who had served as Tropper's PR man and asked what had happened? He replied "Everyone knew he was a menuval."
Years ago when I was writing my books on abuse I asked the head of one of the largest organizations dealing with Jewish education permission to publish his protocols for preventing abuse he hesitated
saying " Then people might say there is a problem. That attitude still exists.There have been a number of abuser (e.g. Mondrowitz) who escaped prosecution in America with Rabbinic assistance
A well known godol advised against going to the police regarding a pedophile because it would be harmful for the welfare of the yeshiva Rav Sternbuch rejected this conclusion and said "you don't sacrifice people for institutions that is an American idea"
Rabbi Reisman objected to my publicizing a convicted pedophile
Rabbi Cohen was the opposing view who felt strongly in favor of publicizing.A prominent Rosh yeshiva just claimed that it has been known for many years that a certain prominent figure was doing terrible things for years without anyone going to police or making meaningful efforts to stop him.
Sometimes it goes the other way
A beis din in Chicago decided after their investigation that a certain person had raped many of his students. A second beis din questioned all involved and concluded that no rape had occurred but there were rumors that some had believed and repeated them as facts which were accepted at face value . But the conclusion of the first beis din was widely believed and accepted even after the 2nd beis din disagreed. One of the "victims" even claimed being raped by this man when she was attending a funeral!
Nachalot was believed by various rabbis to be the source of a pedophile ring. One even told his students that it would be appropriate to beat someone he mistakenly suspected
A woman in Lakewood went to the rabbis there and claimed her husband sexually abused their child and she wanted a divorce, They believed her and pressured the husband to divorce her. 10-years later she admitted that she only made the claim because her lawyer said to do it
An orphan was persuaded by a group of prominent rabbis to marry a pedophile because they were sure marriage would cure his pedophillia. She found out about his problem when he was arrested for sexual abuse, The rabbis graciously offered to pay for half of the divorce expenses
Bottom line: Rabbis are not experts on child abuse or investigating it and determining whether it happened by alleged victims
REBBETZIN TZIPORAH HELLER
https://www.facebook.com/hellersite/posts/344125784380328
When the story broke, I chose to say little. I wasn’t there and neither was the supercilious writer for Haaretz, one of Israel’s left-leaning dailies. I had heard his name before. His career is built on exposés and he spares no effort time or (probably other people’s) money on digging up anything he could about the observant community that he abandoned. Often times people who leave the path of Torah remain scrupulous about some mitzvos. I don’t know him personally, but I know that one mitzvah that he treats lightly is telling the truth. As time went on, it turned out that some of Israel’s most respected authorities, world class dayanim associated with the most respected courts were conducting interview after interview . Their conclusions were hair-raising and undisputed. One thing must not be forgotten. I am not sure what the sentence would have been if he were tried in a court of law, and sentenced, but I am sure that we don’t have a punishment called Death By Shaming.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
Unique Charedi issues with child abuse - Jerusalem Conference on Abuse 2011
When I started seriously researching the issue of abuse several years ago, I was informed that contrary to common belief - child abuse is a problem for the chareidi world just as it for the rest of the world. Unfortunately it is still a common misconception. I still get comments that abuse is rare in the chareidi world and so it is claimed that all this talk about this disgusting topic is just giving the wrong impression that there is a serious problem and it is polluting the purity of the environment
Even among the enlightened ones there is a strong feeling that the seriousness of the problem should be publicly minimized. In fact one of my friends cautioned me - "even though it is true that abuse is the same as the rest of the world but it is a chillul haShem to say such a thing. You can bring about needed change by mentioning there is a problem - why publicize that we are as bad as the goyim in this area."
Last week there was a conference on child abuse in Jerusalem. Dr. Bunzel - a prominent frum psychiatrist from Bnei Brak and one who has a close working relationship with Rav Silman made a number of important observations.
1) the rate of abuse in the Chareidi society is actually higher than in the outside population There are some chareidi abusers who have abused hundreds of kids.
2) Many of the chareidi abusers don't understand the problem with what they are doing. They say, "But I didn't know that this behavior is assur. It is something I don't want others to know that I am doing but the Torah doesn't prohibit it" The problem is that many don't have words for sexual activity and don't really understand what the Torah prohibits. Even when they do, they think that if there is no genital intercourse with the child above 3 for a girl and above 9 for a boy - the physical contact which gets them aroused is not prohibited. They ask ," Where does it say in the Torah that you can't touch or look or take pictures or show pictures or movies to kids. where does it say that oral sex is prohibited? The goyim prohibit these things but that is not what the Torah says and we are only concerned with the Torah!" Perhaps worst of all they have no awareness that what they are doing to the child is destroying the victim.
3) Bnei Brak is a paradise for perverts because it has a naive population of children who don't understand that the unpleasant acts that someone is doing to them is sexual abuse and even if they realize it no one is going to call the police - especially not their parents. That is because that would be a violation of the horrible sin of mesira which they views as more serious than the abuse itself. Typically their rabbi will tell them he will take care of the problem - but don't go to the police.
4) Chemical castration is often the only thing that changes the molester and even that is not 100% successful.
Study: Coronavirus spreads quickly throughout body, can linger in organs for months
New research has found that not only can the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spread throughout the body to a range of organs outside the respiratory system, but it can also remain there for months after the initial infection.
The US National Institutes of Health study found that the virus can “disseminate early during infection and infect cells throughout the entire body.”
Organs in danger of infection include the brain, ocular tissue, muscles, skin, peripheral nerves as well as tissue in the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, reproductive, endocrine and lymphoid systems.
First Flurona Case Reported in LA As Omicron Variant Drives COVID Case Surge
A Los Angeles County COVID-19 testing site has detected its first case of flurona, a coinfection of influenza and COVID-19, as Omicron drives a surge in COVID-19 infections across the United States.
Doctors have been concerned about the possibility of a "twindemic" of these two respiratory viruses since two young pregnant women in Israel tested positive for both.
Though the first official case of the coinfection was reported in Israel in late December, reports of people suffering from flu and coronavirus in the United States date back as far as 2020, according to the Times of Israel.
False allegation of child sexual abuse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_allegation_of_child_sexual_abuse
Denial of child sexual abuse by the accused, or by others, is common and its reality is not easily accepted (though such a denial should never be interpreted as evidence of guilt).[19][20] Reporting rates may also be substantially below actual rates of abuse as many victims do not disclose their abuse,[21][22] which may result in an overrepresentation of false allegations due to the inaccurate estimation of actual cases of abuse.[23] Of the millions of reports of child sexual abuse each year to state protective agencies in the US (including both substantiated and unsubstantiated reports), there is no formal determination as to what portion of those represent false allegations.
Findings of multiple studies performed between 1987 and 1995 suggested that the rate of false allegations ranged from a low of 6% to a high of 35% of reported child sexual abuse cases.[8] Experts have argued that the reason for the wide range of differences in the rates resulted from different criteria used in various studies. In particular, a lower rate was found in studies that considered false allegations to be based on intentional lying, whereas the higher rates were reported in studies that also added unintentional false allegations resulting from suggestive questioning.[8] A 1992 meta-analysis suggests that false allegations represent between two and ten percent of all allegations.[6]
False reports are more common in custody disputes.[24][25][26] Children appear to rarely make up false allegations of their own accord[25][26][27] but will make false allegations if coercively questioned by individuals who believe abuse has occurred but refuse to accept children's statements that they were not abused (as was common practice during the satanic ritual abuse moral panic).[7] False allegations can also arise as a consequence of false memories, sometimes implanted by questionable therapeutic practices.[28]
Revealed: Jerusalem Foundation renting office to missionaries
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/319977
The organization "Jews for J," one of the main preaching arms of the "Messianic Jews" cult, recently opened an office in the heart of Jerusalem, aimed at convincing Jews in the capital to convert out of their religion.
Information on the office reached Yad L'Achim by way of classified documents from the cult, together with intensive field work on the part of Yad L'Achim's counter-missionary department. This information led to the precise location of the office, whose address was not publicized even in internal missionary publications.
In material obtained by Yad L'Achim, Yoel Ben David, one of the leading missionaries in the country who was chosen to head the office, is seen declaring that throughout all his years in Tel Aviv, one thing bothered him: "When will we get to Jerusalem? When will we bring the Christian gospel here… We all wanted to reach Jerusalem. And throughout my seventeen-and-a-half years of service in the organization, this is something we talked about a lot."
Cycle of child sexual abuse: links between being a victim and becoming a perpetrator
Results: Among 747 males the risk of being a perpetrator was positively correlated with reported sexual abuse victim experiences. The overall rate of having been a victim was 35% for perpetrators and 11% for non-perpetrators. Of the 96 females, 43% had been victims but only one was a perpetrator. A high percentage of male subjects abused in childhood by a female relative became perpetrators. Having been a victim was a strong predictor of becoming a perpetrator, as was an index of parental loss in childhood.
Conclusions: The data support the notion of a victim-to-victimiser cycle in a minority of male perpetrators but not among the female victims studied. Sexual abuse by a female in childhood may be a risk factor for a cycle of abuse in males.
Do victims of sexual abuse turn into abusers?
It is a widespread belief that people who were sexually abused in childhood often participate in abusive relationships as adults— either as victimizers of children and adults, or as victims. Some people call this a dangerous myth, which can be used to explain or excuse the behaviour of those who sexually abuse children. It is offensive and unhelpful to demonize adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, the vast majority of who will never perpetrate sexual violence against others. There is, however, some empirical evidence for belief in this ‘cycle’, and the results of the few studies that explore this issue support this hypothesis. In an incisive study called ‘Cycle of Child Sexual Abuse: Links Between Being a Victim and Becoming a Perpetrator’, the authors found that, among 747 men studied, “the risk of being a perpetrator was positively correlated with reported sexual abuse victim experiences. The overall rate of having been a victim was 35 per cent for perpetrators and 11 per cent for non-perpetrators. A high percentage of male subjects abused in childhood by a female relative became perpetrators. Having been a victim was a strong predictor of becoming a perpetrator…” Other studies on sexually abused boys have shown that around one in five continue in later life to molest children themselves.
The Myth of the Abused Becoming Abusers
This is relatively harmless compared to some myths—like the one that most perpetrators of child sexual abuse were once abused themselves. Or, in other words, that if someone is sexually abused as a child they are more likely to become an abuser when they grow up.
Of course, there are sexual abusers who were abused as children, but it isn’t as frequent or common as most people, even therapists, believe. In her book Predators, Anna C. Salter talks about how most men convicted of child sexual abuse will simply say that they were abused as children because it affords them more sympathy. In reality, fewer than 10% of them actually were.
Adults physically abused as children not more likely to physically abuse their children
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/newsroom/releases/042115-podcast-child-abuse
Barrett Whitener: Contrary to conventional wisdom, adults who were physically abused as children were no more likely to abuse their own children than were other adults their age. That’s the conclusion of researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Their study, which was published in the journal Science, relied on public records to identify children who had been physically abused back in the 1960s and ‘70s. In one of the longest-running studies of its kind, the researchers followed up several times, not only with the original abused children, now in their late 40s and early 50s, but also with their children. The adult children of the originally physically-abused parents were no more likely to have been physically abused than others their age. However, the children of the abused parents were more likely to have been neglected and to have been sexually abused.
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