According to data disclosed at this week's Beersheba Conference on Child Welfare, some 2,500 complaints are filed annually in Israel regarding sexual assaults against minors under 14. Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, executive director of the National Council for the Child, paints a darker picture yet, estimating that over the past several years no fewer than 100,000 of this country's children have suffered some degree of sexual molestation. Most cases never reach the courts and most offenders aren't brought to justice. Yet in those that are, sentences meted out to pedophiles tend to be exceptionally lenient. Even hardcore repeat offenders are hardly supervised after they are released back to society. Legislation adopted to keep track of them remains largely unimplemented. Studies conducted recently for the council, Kadman reported, indicated that not only do judges sometimes impose ludicrously mild punishments for pedophilia but they often fail to impose even the minimum stipulated by law. Incomprehensibly, punishment for offenses against children tends to be significantly lighter than for offenses against adults. The lightest penalties are reserved for crimes within the family. The greatest leniency appears in plea bargains. While judges sometimes criticize such bargains, they nevertheless (in 99% of the cases, according to Kadman) acquiesce to them. This despite the fact that legislation enacted a decade ago fixed minimum sentences for certain sex crimes. Moreover, the law demands a clear explanation in cases where the minimum is disregarded. [...]
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Haredim increasingly open to addressing sexual abuse
Specialists and professionals this week highlighted a changing attitude within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community toward reporting suspected sexual abuse of minors.[...]
“More and more people within the haredi sector are willing to say that there is a problem,” Kadman told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. “Within the community, the first thing someone does in many aspects of life is consult a rabbi. Today, many rabbis are advising people to file complaints with the police or social workers, which wasn’t the case in the past.”
According to Kadman, the number of reports of minors suffering possible sexual abuse in that community is lower than the national average, but he said this was likely due to cultural practices and taboos surrounding the issue within the haredi sector. [...
Mormon Church apologizes for baptism of dead Jews
The Mormon Church on Tuesday apologized that its members had performed posthumous baptisms into Mormonism of the long-dead Jewish parents of famed Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal.
The baptisms "by proxy" were performed last month in Mormon temples in Utah, Arizona and Idaho, according to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization named after the man who hunted down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals in the years following the Holocaust.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told Reuters the baptisms were "unacceptable," adding that people who lost everyone and everything and were murdered for being Jewish during the Holocaust should not have their souls hijacked by another religion.[...]
The baptisms "by proxy" were performed last month in Mormon temples in Utah, Arizona and Idaho, according to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization named after the man who hunted down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals in the years following the Holocaust.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told Reuters the baptisms were "unacceptable," adding that people who lost everyone and everything and were murdered for being Jewish during the Holocaust should not have their souls hijacked by another religion.[...]
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Ben Gurion U Conference on Children: Charedim endangered because of concern for lashon harah
Maariv
בכנס השנתי של המועצה לשלום הילד שנפתח היום (ב') באוניברסיטת בן גוריון בבאר שבע ויינעל מחר בערב, התבטאו פסיכולוגים, עובדים סוציאליים ועובדים במרכזי סיוע לנפגעי תקיפה מינית, באשר לעבירות המין המצויות במגזר החרדי
מנהל השירות הפסיכולוגי-חינוכי במודיעין עלית, ישי שליף, אמר כי "יש צורך להתמודד עם בעיית הפגיעה המינית במגזר החרדי". לדברי שליף, בעבר התקבלה פסיקה בגיבוי הרב יוסף שלום אלישיב בנוגע לצורך בדיווח על מקרים מסוג זה.
העובדת הסוציאלית לחוק הנוער במשרד הרווחה, חנה סלוצקי, ציינה כי עד לפני עשור דיון כזה לא יכול היה להתקיים כלל. "המגזר החרדי עשה כברת דרך ארוכה בהתפתחות שלו להתעמת עם הבעיה, והרשויות עצמן צריכות להיפתח עתה במקביל על מנת לטפל בבעיה 'טיפול רגיש תרבות'", הוסיפה סלוצקי.
העובדת הסוציאלית לחוק הנוער במשרד הרווחה, חנה סלוצקי, ציינה כי עד לפני עשור דיון כזה לא יכול היה להתקיים כלל. "המגזר החרדי עשה כברת דרך ארוכה בהתפתחות שלו להתעמת עם הבעיה, והרשויות עצמן צריכות להיפתח עתה במקביל על מנת לטפל בבעיה 'טיפול רגיש תרבות'", הוסיפה סלוצקי.
מנהלת מרכז "בליבנו" לטיפול בילדים ונוער שנפגעו מינית, בת שבע שיינין, הדגישה כי החברה החרדית נבדלת מרצון מהחברה החילונית, דבר שמייצר סיכון גדול יותר עבור הילדים החרדים.
"הילד החרדי לומד מגיל אפס לציית, וזאת בלי לשאול למה", הוסיפה, "ילדים לא יספרו לעולם על דברים מסוג זה מחשש ללשון הרע". עוד ציינה שיינין כי יש הבדל בין ילדים להורים חוזרים בתשובה לבין ילדים להורים חרדים באשר לכמות הדיווחים. לדבריה, לבעלי תשובה קל יותר לדווח
"הילד החרדי לומד מגיל אפס לציית, וזאת בלי לשאול למה", הוסיפה, "ילדים לא יספרו לעולם על דברים מסוג זה מחשש ללשון הרע". עוד ציינה שיינין כי יש הבדל בין ילדים להורים חוזרים בתשובה לבין ילדים להורים חרדים באשר לכמות הדיווחים. לדבריה, לבעלי תשובה קל יותר לדווח
.
Monday, February 13, 2012
DNA Results Are In: Canned Sardines Are Kosher
Just so you know: Canned sardines are kosher.
This judgment would appear to be definitive, based on DNA evidence. Genetic testing by a parasitologist at the American Museum of Natural History has confirmed that the recent discovery of small worms in canned sardines does not render them treyf, or unkosher. It may render them unappetizing, but that judgment is up to the consumer (more on that later).
The museum got involved last March when rabbis from the Orthodox Union, which certifies as kosher hundreds of thousands of products across the world, sought scientific help in resolving a question that arose when they began finding the worms, or nematodes, in cans of sardines. [...]
Rav Ovadia Yosef & changes to greater stringency in tznius
This picture of Rav Ovadia Yosef and his family was recently published on YNET. The article is not written in a respectful manner. This post is to defend Rav Yosef against the claims of the article. The claim is made that Rav Yosef's wife is not dressed according to the laws of modesty. I just want to point out that there is no question that the standards of tznius have changed to be much more machmir. But her hair covering is halachically correct according to the Chasam Sofer and Rav Moshe Feinstein - and obviously according to Rav Yosef. It is interesting to note that in Rabbi Falk's book on Modesty he claims that this tshuva of Rav Moshe was only meant for the particular individual who asked the question. A reading of the Igros indicates that that is not so even though he has a letter from Rav Dovid Feinstein supporting him. The dress is also according to the acceptable standards of modesty of those times. Thus this is clearly an example of shifting standards of halacha but the bottom line is that she fullfilled the halacha and standards of those days - even though such is not be acceptable today. It also is not possible to rely on this to ignore todays standards.
See my discussion of this issue on Avodah 11:29
[note that the book on Modesty was written by Rabbi Falk & not Rabbi Wagschall]
There is also an important comment by Rav Yehuda Henkin on this issue in Avodah 11:31
See my discussion of this issue on Avodah 11:29
[note that the book on Modesty was written by Rabbi Falk & not Rabbi Wagschall]
There is also an important comment by Rav Yehuda Henkin on this issue in Avodah 11:31
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