Four supporters of Elior Chen sentenced to prison

YNET

Four Hasidim, supporters of Elior Chen, sentenced to prison terms for serious child abuse, including severe burning, beating, binding, food deprivation.

One of the Hasidim, David Kugman, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars, while Avraham Maskalchi and Shimon Gabai were given 17 years. Roi Tzoref, whose role in the affair was relatively small, was sentenced to two and a half years.

The judge wrote that the accused "undermined the basic understanding that children need to be protected from evil," adding she hoped the children's faith "had not been extinguished forever." [...]

From Koogle to Yideotube, efforts to provide a kosher Internet

LA Times

Reporting from Bnei Berek, Israel — From a drab office in this ultra-Orthodox Jewish stronghold, three devout young women hunch over computers and surf the Internet — looking for pornography, celebrity gossip and a laundry list of other items banned by their rabbis.

It's odd work for this trio, dressed modestly and wearing wigs in keeping with their beliefs. But it's their job at Israel's first ultra-Orthodox Internet provider, Nativ, as it tries to launch a product that could transform the traditionally sheltered community: kosher Internet.

Because racy images of women are the most common offensive content found, the company decided it would be less objectionable to hire women to scour the Internet so ultra-Orthodox customers can surf without worry. [...]

In a Sliver of Indonesia, Public Embrace of Judaism

NYTimes  hat tip to Joseph

MANADO, Indonesia — A new, 62-foot-tall menorah, possibly the world’s largest, rises from a mountain overlooking this Indonesian city, courtesy of the local government. Flags of Israel can be spotted on motorcycle taxi stands, one near a six-year-old synagogue that has received a face-lift, including a ceiling with a large Star of David, paid for by local officials.

Long known as a Christian stronghold and more recently as home to evangelical and charismatic Christian groups, this area on the fringes of northern Indonesia has become the unlikely setting for increasingly public displays of pro-Jewish sentiments as some people have embraced the faith of their Dutch Jewish ancestors. With the local governments’ blessing, they are carving out a small space for themselves in the sometimes strangely shifting religious landscape of Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

The trend comes as extremist Islamic groups have grown bolder in assailing Christian and other religious minorities elsewhere in Indonesia, with the central government, fearful of offending Muslim groups, doing little to prevent the attacks. Last November, extremists protesting the 2008-9 war in Gaza shut down what had been the most prominent remnant of Indonesia’s historic but little-known Jewish community, a century-old synagogue in Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city.[...]

Information from Neturi Karta broke Chareidi fraud ring

YNET

[...] "The investigation shows that dozens of organizations were founded and transferred fake names to the Education Ministry in order to illegally receive funds," a police official said.

The police began to covertly monitor the illegal activity a few months ago, when members of the Neturei Karta sect found out their names were being used to receive stipends from the State, and informed law enforcement officials. [...]

Students in Chareidi schools pray for supreme court to allow segregated buses

YNET

    

הבוקר: ילדי החרדים מתפללים למען קווי המהדרין

במוסדות החינוך החרדיים הקדישו זמן מיוחד לתפילה למען הצלחה בדיון בבג"ץ בעניין ההפרדה באוטובוסים. דובר ועדת הרבנים שפרסמה מודעה המבקשת את התפילה: "פסיקה נגד הקווים תגרום לקיפוח הציבור החרדי"

Rav Eliashiv strongly condemns those who defraud the Israeli government

YNET

    

הרב אלישיב: דין רודף למעורבים בפרשת ההונאה

בהתבטאות נדירה בחריפותה יצא מנהיג הזרם הליטאי נגד המעורבים בפרשת הונאת המיליונים בכוללים. למרות השימוש במושג ההלכתי החמור, אין הכוונה להתיר את דמם של העצורים

מנהיג הציבור החרדי-ליטאי, הרב יוסף שלום אלישיב, התבטא הערב (יום א') בחריפות נגד העצורים בפרשת ההונאה בכוללים באזור ירושלים, ואמר כי אם החשדות נגדם נכונים – חל עליהם דין רודף.

 הוא הסביר כי העצורים החרדים גרמו במעשיהם לחילול השם, שעלול להתנקם ביהדות החרדית בארץ ובעולם - ויש להתייחס אליהם בחומרה.

Dr. Asher Lipner in Child & Domestic Abuse Volume I

p 135

Impact of sexual abuse on victims’ feelings about religion

It has been reported by rabbis and organization directors that specialize in working with the teens-at-risk population as well as researchers, that sexual abuse has been identified as a leading cause of the “off the derech” syndrome.  I have heard estimates from several rabbis of between 50 to 80 percent of at risk teens in the Orthodox community have been sexually traumatized.
 
A child’s development of a relationship with G-d is influenced directly and indirectly through both conscious and unconscious feelings about his or her relationship with adult caregivers, aespecially parents.   When a child has been abused or neglected by an adult or authority figure who is trusted, his or her ability to have faith in all authority figures can be shaken, including with the ultimate Authority of G-d.  When a rabbi or religious teacher is the one who abuses, it may feel like G-d himself sanctioned the sexual trauma.

Often there are feelings of anger, resentment and suspicion regarding anything religious.  Furthermore, as we will describe further on, religious teachings have often been used by the community to neglect and abandon victims of abuse.  Whether it is the resistance and refusal to confront the abuser (which would protect the victims) due to concerns of “lashon harah” “mesirah,” or “mevayesh b’rabim,” or unrealistic standards of proof, like requiring two kosher witnesses, etc., or failure to provide children with information about sexuality with which to protect themselves due to “modesty,” or the denial of the prevalence of the problem in the Jewish community due to concerns of “Chillul Hashem,” the survivors of abuse often feel that Orthodox society is set up to hurt them and to perpetuate the abuse of children. [...]