Friday, June 24, 2016

The Novominsker Rebbe issues a serious call for action to deal with child abuse

Yated   The Novominsker Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Perlow, issued a call for action in response to the festering scourge of child abuse and molestation. As a result of his seminal address at the recent Torah Umesorah convention, several groundbreaking initiatives have been launched to ensure that our children are safe at all times.

Torah Umesorah is preparing to train hundreds of principals, rabbeim and mechanchos across the country. This training will provide them with tools not only to prevent instances of child abuse and molestation from occurring within their schools, but also to recognize symptoms among students indicating that they may have been molested outside the school setting. (Statistics show that perpetrators are rarely strangers; generally, they are people the child knows and trusts.) The training program is slated to begin this fall.
In addition, a training program for thousands of summer-camp counselors is now being rolled out. The program, endorsed by Rav Elya Brudny, rosh yeshiva, Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, will consist of short, animated video lessons, followed by quizzes. The quizzes will enable camp directors to ascertain that all counselors understand the dos and don’ts of relating to and protecting their charges, and that they are able to identify warning signs and respond appropriately. The counselor training program, endorsed also by Dr. David Pelcowitz and Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, will make summer camp the special, cherished experience that it should be. As Rabbi Perlow stated at the convention, “We must ensure that predators are not able to disturb our children; we have no sympathy for the perpetrators.”
These and other initiatives will generate increased awareness of the problem and greater sensitivity to warning symptoms, and will likely result in more people contacting trusted community organizations that specialize in addressing child abuse and molestation. “We are deeply sympathetic to the victims,” Rabbi Perlow said at the convention. Gedolei Yisroel are making this issue the highest priority.
“Our staff are already reporting a sharp increase in calls from community members looking for guidance and assistance,” said Rabbi Zvi Gluck, director of Amudim Community Resources. “We are now in the process of setting up a crisis line. The days of looking away, pretending that these problems don’t exist, or pushing them to the side, are behind us; we have to take a strong, positive stance to protect and empower our children.”
To assist victims of abuse and molestation, a group of concerned donors established a fund to subsidize trauma therapy. The fund, named ASAP, is currently assisting 250 victims, with new applications arriving daily.
With one out of every five children in our community likely to be victimized, this serious threat to our families has the potential to destroy generations. More initiatives are on the way, as the Torah community unites to combat this intolerable situation.

Meir Pogrow: Gedolim directed the English Yated to publish the warning from Beis Din - baruch Hashem for progress!


A Bais Din of leading rabbonim, gathered information, heard from credible witnesses, and determined that Meir Pogrow (of Beit Shemesh – and the US) has inflicted serious damage on numerous women who fell under his influence.
We are obligated to publicly warn women not to have any interaction at all with him and to distance themselves from his presentations, talks, classes in person or over the internet.
We advise men as well to cut off any connection with him, for our Rabbis have warned: “Do not associate with an evil person.”
Rabbi Yitzchok Berkowitz
Rabbi Gershon Bess
Rabbi Elimelech Kornfeld
Rabbi Chaim Zev Malinowitz
Rabbi Mordechai Wilig

For a copy of the p’sak write: al@maaneh.org
This notice is published at the request of gedolei yisroel.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Meir Pogrow: Charismatic teachers: This is a wakeup call about who should teach and how

Times of Israel by Shayna Goldberg  [see also post by Paul Shaviv - his full article on "Charismatic personality and sexual abuse" is a chapter in my book  Child and Domestic Abuse Volume I ]

Another scandal. Another rabbi/educator accused of all kinds of outrageous, inappropriate behavior with female students. This time it is severe enough that rabbis who live across the world, in Israel, New York and Los Angeles, and who span the Modern Orthodox-Chareidi-Chasiddishe spectrum, have come together to sign a letter warning the public to stay away. This time the person involved is thought to have performed hundreds (!) of indecent acts and to have ruined countless lives.

And yet with all the talking, I feel that the real issue is not being spoken about at all. And therefore, despite my deep reluctance to write publicly about any person or place, I want to tell another part of this story.

I knew this rabbi. Eighteen years ago, I came to Israel for the year to study Torah in a seminary where he taught. He lived on campus with his young family in the apartment right beneath mine. From the first time I met him, my overwhelming gut instinct was to stay away. There was something creepy about the way he knew all of our SAT scores by heart, even before we arrived. The way he knew exactly who was registered for an Ivy League college. The way he pursued and initiated chavrutot (study sessions) with very specific girls. Never the weak ones. Only the “best and the brightest.” It felt like a kind of game for him. A challenge. Could he crack the toughest ones? Break them down and then rebuild them? By some, it was considered flattering if he chose you. And there were girls who were hurt and devastated because they didn’t make the cut.

Once he forged that connection, he was manipulative, he played mind games, and he fostered dependence and hero worship. He was sarcastic, biting, and cynical, and he used his sharp mind and his Torah knowledge in cunning ways. He was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He knew Torah by heart, and, of course, his way of looking at things was always “right.” You could never really challenge his read or his understanding because he was held up by everyone as the ultimate talmid chacham (scholar). He had mastered Torah. And he was only 27.

I stayed far away, and yet the experience of coming into even limited contact with him was incredibly painful. There were a couple of times that he threw out such nasty lines to me that I was left crying so hard that I couldn’t breathe. And then there were the difficult feelings of confusion and abandonment that arise when you try to raise concerns with friends and teachers and, instead of taking you seriously, they make you doubt yourself.

This is the real issue that has plagued my mind for so long. The fact that this man was never, ever fit to be an educator. The fact that knowing all the Torah in the world does not on its own make you trustworthy enough to be given a classroom’s worth of young, impressionable souls. The fact that long before anyone suspected inappropriate sexual behavior, it was glaringly clear that this person employed all kinds of unhealthy teaching methods in order to cultivate relationships with students. And the fact that no one but a few innocent teenage girls seemed to notice.

And so I want to talk about it. I want to talk about teachers who use fear and guilt frequently and indiscriminately in order to motivate and inspire. Teachers who deliberately try to alienate their students from everything they come from — their parents, families, homes, previous schools, communities, shuls, and even shul rabbis. Teachers who break students down so that they can recreate them in their own images. Teachers who cultivate groupies and are dependent on their students for self-esteem. Teachers who lack real relationships with their own peers because they are “so devoted” to their students. Teachers who teach students not to trust themselves, not to rely on their instincts, and not to listen to their inner voices.

Unfortunately, teachers like this are not uncommon, and we don’t talk enough about the damage that they do. About the fact that the rapid growth and change that they foster usually doesn’t last or, if it does, comes at a heavy price. About the fact that their students, years later, often find themselves empty and lost. About the guilty feelings that can stay with a person forever. About the relationships that are ruined in the process. And about the dependence that has been formed.

We don’t talk about it because, in the moment, the picture is so rosy. The teacher is charismatic, “his” classes are well attended, “she” is so devoted to her students, and the growth seems so exciting and real.[...]

People like this are facilitated by an educational culture that celebrates and rewards brilliant and charismatic figures, despite the fact that they are often highly problematic and leave silent trails of ruin in the shadows of their successes.

As a community, we can be aware of this and do a lot to change it. Our schools, administrators, and lay leaders can think, and think again, about our educational goals and about the healthy ways in which to help our students reach them. And, in the event that there are staff members whose behavior is wholly inconsistent with our conclusions, then it’s time that we put our children’s well-being first.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

What happens when you contact Jewish Community Watch to report abuse? Part I

Shana Aaronson -Victims Services- Israel Office  of the Jewish Community Watch in Israel kindly volunteered to write the following description of what happens when someone comes to them to report abuse. One of the major blocks for victims to report abuse is the fear of not knowing what it entails. The fear of being humiliated by questions or by the revelations of shameful details to the public. Her job is to be a personal guide through the system to minimize the effort and pain involved. This is the first part.

==========================================
Initially when someone contacts JCW it is usually through the website or central email address. These messages go directly to the director of victims services (a clinical social worker), who then assigns them to the proper staff member. Obviously depending on the nature of the inquiry, the process that follows varies.

If the individual is looking for therapeutic support or referral, peer support, a support group, therapeutic funding assistance, etc, they are assigned a case manager (a certified mental health professional) who will accompany them throughout their process, and connect them to whatever is needed. They will be connected to local resources and/or whatever virtual help can be helpful. (While most of JCW's clients are in the US, Canada, and Israel, we also have provided services to individuals in South America, Australia, UK, Asia, and Africa.)

Someone with a specific question regarding legal proceedings (within the US) of any kind is sent to our in-house attorney.

If someone is looking to report their abuse, they are sent to the director of the investigative department (a social worker with a degree in criminology). If the case is to be reported to the authorities, the survivor (or whoever is doing the reporting) will be assisted through the process by one of the investigative associates and/or the attorney, depending on what is needed. They will work together with law enforcement (police, FBI, US marshals, etc) as the case proceeds.

If the report cannot be sent to law enforcement (most commonly because the statute of limitations have expired) and there is concern that the alleged abuser still poses a serious risk to the community, JCW may proceed with a private investigation. This would involve the investigative team, the attorney, the PI, and then the investigative committee.

The process and policies around JCW's exposure of information about convicted and alleged offenders is outlined in detail on the website, link below.


Obviously certain questions might be forwarded to the CEO or a board member, whether halachic, legal, or otherwise. A list of most (a few may have come on since last updated) board members and staff can also be found on the website.

As far as the process of filing a report to the police in Israel-

In Israel, children under the age of 14 are not allowed to be questioned by police officers, only specific social workers trained in forensic interviewing techniques. So when a report is filed regarding a child being abused, the child is then brought in to a center (Mercaz lhaganat hayeled) to meet with a social worker. There is a center in each district in Israel, I believe 6 in all.

(As a parent, I believe that it is important to note that I have been to two such centers, and have found them to be warm, comfortable, and inviting. Real effort was made to design these centers in a way that would seriously minimize the level of possible secondary trauma. They are beautifully decorated, have gardens, many toys and art supplies, and every staff member I met was lovely. With that being said, I do believe that the single most important factor in how a child handles being questioned in the mercaz hagana is their parents reaction to it. While the law seriously discourages discussing the details of the abuse with the child before being questioned, because this can taint the testimony, I have found that in situations where parents are calm, reassuring, and encouraging that although this might be awkward and a little confusing, the child is brave and doing a big mitzva by telling the truth, the children come away feeling empowered and validated.)

The child's interview is videotaped. There is a one sided mirror, so if necessary a police officer and/or prosecutor can stand on the other side and call a phone inside with any questions that they have as the interview is going on. If the case proceeds to trial, the videotape is presented as evidence, and the social worker testifies on the child's behalf; children in Israel do NOT testify in court.

The center also has a doctor on staff who can perform a forensic medical exam if it needed. There is a plainclothes police officer usually present, who can take the parents statement while the child is meeting with the social worker. If the police officer is not present that day for any reason or if the testimony is lengthy, sometimes they will have the parents go to the police station on a different day to give their statement.

In certain situations the social worker will be sent to the child's school instead of having the child brought in to the center. This is standard in a situation, where for example, one parent has reported that the child is being abused by the other parent. In order to protect the non-offending parent, they give them plausible deniability and don't require them to actively bring the child into the center. Here, the reactions of the school staff who are made aware of the situation are critical. I have heard from children that meeting with the social worker was fine, but the looks on the faces of their teacher/principal/yoetzet when they pulled them out of class terrified them.

Adolescents age 14 until 18 are interviewed by a choker noar, a police officer with special training. It's wise to set up an appointment when bringing in a child in this age group, since not every station always has a choker noar on site.

Children in this age group may testify in court if the case proceeds to trial, but the case is under total gag order; all details of the case cannot be publicized, and the court room is sealed (dlatot sgurot).

An adult survivor can give their statement to any police officer, though in practice I have watched concerted effort and sensitivity in making sure victims are interviewed by officers of their preferred gender. Before bringing an adult survivor in to give a statement I always remind them that a police officer is not a social worker or friend; their job is simply to get the truthful story in its entirety. I remind them not to go in expecting tremendous warmth or support, that's not what this is about. When the officers are warm and supportive (which I can thankfully say they often are) it is a "bonus".

Once any report is filed, the individual reporting should be given a slip of paper (ishur hagashat tluna). It's very important to keep this!! Many throw it out, not realizing it will be useful or necessary for them as time goes on. That paper has the file number, and should also have information to be able to access their case status on the government website.

Unfortunately, the police and social services in Israel are very, very overworked. One of the unfortunate byproducts of this is frequent difficulty in getting updates about the progress of the case. Many people feel like they are sent home and then left for weeks with no word about what's going on. You may need to call (and they are notoriously difficult to reach) and keep checking the website. This is where assistance from an advocate can be very helpful, but ultimately there is not much anyone can do to change the fact that there is usually a lot of waiting involved.

As far as how the case progresses- they will bring the accused in for an interrogation, they will collect whatever other evidence and speak to other victims or witnesses. If they feel it is necessary (ie they're not coming up with enough evidence) they may ask the victim (not a young child) to have a face-to-face confrontation with the alleged abuser. Obviously the police watch this whole meeting and it is taped. The hope is that in being forced to face his (often now-adult victim) the alleged abuser will be flustered into confessing the truth of what happened.

At that point, the case is handed over to the prosecutors office (praklitut). They will decide whether or not there is enough evidence to proceed to trial. If there is not, the victim will be sent a letter stating that the file has been closed (usually the reason being insufficient evidence). If there is enough to proceed, the prosecutor will start building their case.

Unfortunately, having cases closed in Israel due to insufficient evidence is very, very common. The laws here and the rights of the accused (zchuyot haneesham) are very strong, and the prosecution will only go to trial if they are very confident that it is an extremely solid case. I don't have the exact current statistics on hand, but for one interested the studies done by the Haifa university are worth looking up. They do indicate that the majority of cases are closed before going to trial.

However, it's important to remember that even if a case is closed due to insufficient evidence, if another victim comes forward in the future or more evidence is found, the case could still proceed then.

Shelach 76 - 9th Av - Giving up on children by Allan Katz


The evil report of the spies convinced the whole nation including the elders and the Sanhedrin- the High court to abandon their journey to the land of Israel, because the Holy Land was a dangerous place that 'devours its inhabitants'. This led to dissention, national hysteria, despair, anguish, and a helplessness etc. Numbers 14:1 says and they cried and wept that night – the eve of the 9th of Av. ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא–God declared that since they cried for no reason on this night, therefore in the future, I shall provide you with plenty reason to cry on this night, for I will destroy the Temple on the 9th of Av. The physical destruction of the Temple and the exile of the nation among the peoples of the world was just a physical manifestation of the underlying spiritual condition of the people.  R' Isaac Sher explains it was the loss of Da'at , a deep understanding and perception that touches the depths of one's heart , that leads to a belief , trust and faith in God. It is a commitment to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of giving up one's life and using all one's senses and feelings in the service of God. We declare this faith- emunah in God and our commitment in the She'ma Yisrael prayer.
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְדֹוָד אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְדֹוָד אֶחָד:  (ה) וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְדֹוָד אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל מְאֹדֶךָ:
And according to the Midrash on the verse Eichah – Lamentations I: 15  ' It is on these things that I weep ' R' Yehudah says because of the removal and loss of Da'at and the Divine Presence, which are essentially the same thing as R' Ela'zar says, that any man who has de'ah – knowledge is as if the temple has been built in his days.                                      
על אלה אני בוכיה רבי יהודה אומר על סילוק דעת ועל סילוק שכינה   ואמר רבי אלעזר כל אדם שיש בו  דעה כאילו נבנה בית המקדש  
            
A person who has Da'at – deep understanding and perception will have faith and trust in God. He will declare in the Song – A'don O'lam, והוא נסי,   that God is my banner and source of miracles. No situation can cause despair and helplessness because in God's reality, things can change at any moment.  In the bleakest and darkest moments during the Holocaust people who had great faith experienced miracles when death was a certainty and survived . Others who did not survive managed to achieve eternity by giving up their lives and sanctifying God's name with the great dignity and purpose with which they approached death. Over the centuries families and even communities have suffered great hardships and tragedy that evoke tears and weeping. But these tears are offered to God along with prayers, which signify hope and personal empowerment.  The symbol of positive tears is the matriarch Rachel. Rachel is buried on the roadside, and on route to the Babylonian exile. The  nation will pass by there and she will come out upon her grave and weep and plead for mercy for them, and God says that there is hope for your future . . .' that your children will return to their own borders’ .

As parents and educators we have many children who are faced with many challenges both academically and behaviorally. The starting place is our prayers and tears in the hope that God will provide guidance and help needed. We also need to display a lot of patience like that of R' Freida who would teach a challenging student with a learning difficulty 400 times until he understood the lesson. But what about kids with challenging behavior. What about kids who don't abide by school rules, have a hard time getting along with other kids, don't seem to respect authority , don't seem to be interested in learning , and are disrupting the learning of their classmates ? The traditional view of these kids is that they are attention seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, coercive, or unmotivated and what they need is discipline which is firm, consistent and contingent with lots of rewards and consequences to make kids 'wanna ' behave.  So we have many kids who are paying frequent visits to the principal's office, getting detentions, suspensions and even being expelled and finally end up in juvenile prison evidence to the existence of the school-to- prison pipeline. The tragedy of the situation is that teachers and principals aren't even aware that these methods (besides promoting the most primitive form of morality), are identical to ' giving up on these kids ' and making their situation and future worse. There are some teachers and principals who admit that they are not helping the challenging kid, but the punitive consequences are needed as a deterrent and disincentive to the other kids in the classroom and school - למען יראו וישמעו  , The truth is that according to the American Psychological Association – APA, these zero-tolerance policies which were intended to reduce violence and behavior problems in schools have instead achieved the opposite effect with increased behavior problems, drop- out rates while schools dole out millions of detentions, suspensions and expulsions. Giving consequences is not needed because kids already know how we want them to behave and actually would like nothing better than to act in a more flexible and adaptable way and be able to handle the social, emotional and behavioral challenges being placed upon them. Many have been getting into trouble for so long that they have lost faith that any adult will ever know how to help them.

Dr Ross Greene in his book Lost at School  suggests a different approach based on what we know from the neuro-sciences that these kids have a developmental delay in areas of flexibility and frustration tolerance and often act out when the demands placed upon them outstrip the skills they have to act flexibly and adaptively.  They often are lagging in skills such as executive functions, language processing skills, emotional regulation skills, cognitive flexibility and social skills etc. The mantra of his CPS – collaborative problem solving approach or now called collaborative and pro-active solutions is ' children do well if they can' and not' children do well if they want to'. The CPS process in a compassionate way promotes the various cognitive and life skills, nurtures the relationship between student and teacher and supports the child's autonomy. It helps kids come up with a better plan, and engage in an autonomous way in the moral act of restitution and doing Teshuva. Teachers who aim to control student's behavior – rather than helping them to control it themselves – undermine the very elements essential for motivation – autonomy, a sense of competence and a capacity to relate to others.  And when teachers need to enforce control by using punishments and consequences, they are certainly not addressing the underlying problems but worse – they are actually giving up on these kids.

Get refusal and those who support the refuser is now considered a criminal offense in Israel

kikra HaShabbat

בעלים שרגילים לא לציית להחלטות בתי הדין הרבניים לתת גט לנשותיהם ולשחררן מכבלי עגינותן, ויעזו לסרב לכך - עלולים מעתה להגיע אל מאחורי הסורגים בשל עבירה פלילית 

אביחי מנדלבליט, היועץ המשפטי לממשלה, הנחה לאחרונה לפתוח בחקירה פלילית בנוגע למקרה שהובא בפניו, בו פסק בית הדין הרבני כי אדם חייב לתת לאשתו גט. הדיינים קבעו, כי בנסיבות העיגון החמורות אף ניתן לכפות על הבעל את נתינת הגט.
באותו הנידון, סבר בית הדין הרבני כי אביו של הבעל הוא הגורם הדומיננטי מאחורי הסירוב למתן הגט, והחליט לעכב את יציאת האב מן הארץ ולהורות על מאסרו מכוח פקודת ביזיון בית המשפט. כנגד החלטות בית הדין הרבני עתר האב לבג"צ, עתירה שעוד לא התקבלה אודותיה ההחלטה בעליון.
בעקבות הממצאים שעלו מההליך בבית הדין הרבני, פנה מנהל בתי הדין הרבניים אל היועץ המשפטי לממשלה מנדלבליט, בבקשה כי תיפתח חקירה פלילית כנגד האב, בחשד לשידול בנו להפר הוראה חוקית לתת גט, וכן כנגד הבעל עצמו ועוד כמה מעורבים
כעת, במענה לפניית מנהל בתי הדין הרבניים, מבהיר היועץ המשפטי לממשלה את עמדתו העקרונית, ולפיה קיים אינטרס ציבורי משמעותי במתן כלים להתמודדות עם מצוקתן הגדולה של עגונות, ועם הפגיעה הקשה בחירותן ובכבודן. העמדה, שאומצה גם על ידי פרקליט המדינה שי ניצן, קובעת, כי בנסיבות מסוימות יש מקום לבחון גם הפעלת כלים פליליים לשם החירות הרצויה..

Meir Pogrow: The defense given by a talmid of Pogrow and my rebuttal

I am publishing this letter I received recently because it contains a number of mistaken beliefs which seem to be widely shared. I am also adding responses to the letter writer's claims in the hope that it will educate people what actually happened. My information comes from sources close to the case. My response is in the indented paragraphs.
=========================================
Hi Rabbi Eidensohn

I consider myself a talmud of Rabbi Meir since i listen to his shiurim. i know him for over twenty years. I have worked with him on one project of harbatzas hatorah and know many people that are frum today due to him.

Regarding the accusations against him i understand you have posted a psak bais din. and i read it with great pain. i understand your job is to protect the public, the abused from the abuser.

My problem is with you. Since ive read some of the cases you have posted, one of them a relative of mine, you have provided both sides to be able to prove or disprove any evidence.

What has transpired here based on what i read is Tamara Schoor wrote a post facebook accusing someone with a chazkas kashrus. according to her post she went to rabbis five years ago. it took the rabbis over five years to come out with a statement a psak din (after she went public they went public) also in jpost. Jerusalem Post he responds about bais din.
That's simply a mistaken assumption. It isn't true that the rabbis were twiddling their thumbs for 5 years before they decided to act on her complain. It isn't true that Tamara Schoor had been pressuring rabbis for 5 years and they cruelly and irresponsibly refused to act until she went public. This is simply base slander. There is actually very little connection between Tamara Schoor and what Beis Din did. No matter what happens , someone can always ask why didn't it happen before. The fact is there were factors that came together now that didn't exist before. It took the time it needed to take - and not a second more.
Rav Shafran is a top-of the line Dayan in Israel who is well acquainted with what goes on and in addition knows perfect English. The other 2 Dayanim have about 30 years Dayanus experience--each. They have a solid reputation for competence and responsibility - despite what some bloggers and kvetches want to claim. The remaining rabbonim that signed on to the psak are all world-famous.What happened is very painful to some people, but let's not grasp at straws to create a conspiracy theory of rabbinic evil.

If it took the bais din and rabbis five years, or they have very little evidence, or too much but the rabbis covered this up for five years. regardless we have a problem.
How can an intelligent person,who claims he is ehrlich, make such a nonsensical claim while knowing NOTHING about what transpired. Please reread what I wrote above. There was no rabbinic cover up. It was not possible to deal effectively with the problem until now - despite what some bloggers without any proof claim. Instead of trusting some bloggers - and others with an agenda against rabbis with little or no information - to say that there was an conspiracy to do nothing - try and trust the rabbis who actually took care of the matter when they say that there was no way of doing this earlier. Saying more would violate promises of confidentiality. Just as there were bloggers and others in the community who suspected what was going on - but made no public outcry, there were rabbis who also suspected but were unable to bring about the necessary change until now.
Like Goldilocks and the three bears, there was neither too much evidence, nor too little-- but juuuuuuuuust riiiiight when the beis din issued its psak - but not before.

Ether way i believe your doing this lshem shumayim as i see your writing about rabanim and cases that others stay away from. the minimum i expected from you is to give R' Meir a chance to respond before posting. it might be too late since his life is destroyed anyways he has no other job skills other then torah having posted over six thousand shiurim and close to half a million sheilos on mishna and rambam calling him a rasha etc.in a public forum is very irresponsible.

Meir's life is destroyed because of  his horrible deeds, not because of what anyone else did in response
May it be a kappara for the lives he destroyed (after he does teshuvah)

I hope and pray this chilul hasham is false.

It is too late for your hope and prayers - the damage and the chilul haShem already exist.

How to get help if you are an abuse victim or want to help someone who is

Emes wrote:


RDE, I have no first hand knowledge of this matter and do not know Pogrow or any of the victims. However, while I am glad that batei din are acting to protect the victims I am troubled by two questions. (1) if he is truly such an evil person why wasn't he reported to the police? (2) How does the general public know which beis din or organization we should respect and who we should recognize as being corrupt or misguided? Is Rabbi Malinowitz more reputable than Rabbi Kaminetzky? Are organizations dealing with abuse more trustworthy than those dealing with agunot - or more accurately how do we know which one is on the up and up and which is promoting some radical non-halachic agenda?

1) reporting to the police requires that the victims or someone who has first hand knowledge do the reporting. Apparently the victims were not going to the police or they had no way of proving their claims. The police don't want to waste their time with a case which can not get a conviction. A young woman claiming she was seduced and a rabbi denying it doesn't make a good case.
2) Yes Rabbi Malinowitz is more reputable than Rabbi Kaminetsky. As to where to go there are a number of organization which can guide the victims. as to which rabbis to speak to and which policemen are helpful as well as which social agency and how to get therapy if required.
The Beis Din had recommended that victims contact Maaneh 
Maaneh - a Beit Shemesh organization run by my nephew Rabbi Shmuel Zalman Eidensohn. 
email is al@maaneh.org
phone 077 228 b5817
Hotline 077 228 5814
Website www.maaneh.orgsee my post on  Maaneh 

There are other reliable organization that deal with this issue -
Jewish Community Watch an American organization has a branch in Israel
contact Shana Aaronson for assistance Victims Services- Israel Office
Office: 02-544-4766 From the U.S.: 718-841-7056 #118
www.jewishcommunitywatch.org
Magen also in Beit Shemesh is another reliable and competent organization run by Miriam Friedman
contact: 
Email: Hotline@MagenProtects.org
02.9999.678  (from Outside of Israel: +972 2 9999.678)http://magenprotects.org/contact/
Amudim in New York run by Tzvi Gluck 
Contact:
TEL | 646-517-0222
FAX | 646-517-0221
https://amudim.org 

Jeremy Reichberg is at the center of the NYPD's corruption trial

CBS News   Charges brought against four men arrested Monday in a widening New York City corruption probe include lurid claims that a top police official roomed with a prostitute during a Las Vegas trip as businessmen spent over $100,000 to ensure uniformed officers were available as their private security force.


Two high-ranking New York Police Department officials and a police sergeant who oversaw gun license applications were among the latest arrests in a case that has cast a cloud over the nation's largest municipal police force. The men are charged in "two separate and serious criminal schemes," Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, said Monday.
Those arrested Friday include NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Harrington, Deputy Inspector James Grant, and Sgt. David Villanueva. Grant and Harrington are accused of accepting lavish bribes from Brooklyn businessman Jeremy Reichberg and another businessman. Reichberg, Harrington and Grant were each charged with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.
Another officer arrested Monday was David Villanueva, an NYPD sergeant assigned to the department's gun license bureau. He was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and accused of accepting cash, liquor and limo rides to push through the approval of gun license applications. A fourth NYPD officer, Richard Ochetal, has pleaded guilty to the same allegation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New York. They say Ochetal is cooperating with federal investigators.
A criminal complaint accompanying the latest charges alleged Reichberg exploited his connections within the police department to arrange arrests, speed up gun application processing, make tickets disappear, obtain police escorts for him and his friends, get assistance from uniformed personnel to resolve personal disputes and boost security at religious sites and events.
Susan Necheles, Reichberg's lawyer, said in an email: "Mr. Reichberg did not commit a crime."
Reichberg's "only mistake," Necheles said, was befriending a government cooperator "who is desperately trying to get others in trouble in order to curry favor with prosecutors and save his own skin." Reichberg's friend, an unidentified businessman, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit honest services fraud, and is providing information to federal investigators "in hopes of leniency when he is sentenced," the criminal complaint says.
The complaint said Reichberg managed to use connections to local law enforcement agencies to shut down a lane of the Lincoln Tunnel connecting New Jersey and Manhattan and obtain a police escort for a businessman visiting the U.S.
In return, the businessman showered his favored police officials with well over $100,000 in benefits from 2012 to 2015, including free flights and hotel rooms, prostitutes, expensive meals, home improvements and prime seats at sporting events, the complaint said.
In announcing the arrests, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Reichberg and the unidentified friend exchanged bribes for "'cops on call,' a private police for themselves and their friends." 
The complaint said Harrington and an unidentified police chief let a businessman buy dinner once or twice a week for 18 months at expensive Manhattan restaurants, where bills ran $400 to $500.
Andrew Weinstein, Harrington's lawyer, said the charges against his client were politically motivated.
"Chief Harrington is a loyal and devoted family man who has an unblemished record and has spent the last three decades working tirelessly to keep New York City safe," Weinstein said. "One would be hard-pressed to find a straighter arrow in their quiver."
Among the alleged favors was $59,000 spent on a private jet in February 2013 that took Reichberg, an unidentified detective and James Grant, commander of an Upper East Side precinct, to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend, the court papers said. The complaint said Reichberg and the friend arranged for a prostitute to join the flight and spend the weekend with the group, staying in Grant's luxury hotel room.
According to the FBI complaint, the prostitute told law enforcement agents that Grant and others "took advantage of her services" during the trip. [...]

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Meir Pogrow: Both Pogrow and the alleged victims are unhappy with the way the case was handled

Just a brief comment regarding the role of Tamara Schoor presented in the article below. According to what I have been able to find out - while she was in fact very helpful in the testimony she gave - but she was not the reason that the beis din investigated the matter and it would have issued the same psak if she had not given testimony. There were in fact a number of brave young women who came forward - including Tamara Schoor - who provided the necessary testimony.

While it seems easy to slam the beis din for taking so long - no one has in fact stated the background information as to why this beis din was convened when it was  - and why nothing was done earlier. There is just a bunch of conjecture from various bloggers and advocates - which tries to paint the rabbis in as negative light as possible. Perhaps the young women who testified would be willing to write a guest post describing what actually happened. I am willing to publish it anonymously.

In addition if Meir Pogrow - or a supporter - would like to present his point of view with clear facts and evidence - I am open to the idea. I am not interested in a post saying "But he is so wonderful the accusations can't be true!"
==================================================
Jerusalem Post   Pogrow is the founder of a website and study program called Master Torah, designed to aide the study of religious texts and retain the knowledge acquired. According to the Master Torah website, Pogrow has rabbinical ordination from several authorities, including from the Chief Rabbinate and is qualified as a rabbinical judge.

He has taught at Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles, the Michlahlah seminary in Jerusalem, and was head of the Kollel (program for married yeshiva students) of Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem and Austin, Texas. [...]

When Schoor came to Israel to study at Michlalah at the age of 18, she made contact with Pogrow again and would often meet with him at his home in Beit Shemesh, where she was also a frequent guest for Shabbat.

Schoor said she became dependent on the rabbi for spiritual guidance and that he was her only support system in Israel. She alleged that Pogrow used his mentoring relationship to initiate physical contact with her, telling her that it was part of the process for her spiritual growth and development.

Following the publication of the rabbinical court ruling, Schoor welcomed the decision but said that the ruling had been “a long-time coming” and that the rabbinical court “should have addressed this a long time ago but better late than never.” Schoor says she first brought the case to the attention of the rabbis on the rabbinical court five years ago.

Said Schoor in a statement to the press “I met Pogrow at the age of 15 when the process of grooming and manipulation began. [...]

“It was only when I became aware of the existence of other victims that I was determined to take action and prevent additional abuse. I began a campaign of phone calls and emails, reaching out to anyone I could identify in the hopes of finding additional victims to speak out with and a safe and reliable method of publicizing it anonymously. But at every turn a door closed, victims afraid to be exposed, rabbis finding excuses not to address it, organizations lying to protect themselves and much more.”

When contacted by The Jerusalem Post, Pogrow said he would not comment on the allegations themselves.

He said however that “I was never presented with any specific allegations when I visited the rabbinical court,” and added that he was never contacted by the rabbinical court after his one and only meeting with the rabbis concerned.

Schoor has provided a statement to the Israel Police and is looking into other options “to obtain some semblance of justice, and to protect girls and women.”

In the ruling issued by the ad hoc rabbinical court on June 14, rabbis Menachem Mendel Hacohen Shafran, Gershon Bass and Haim Malinowitz said that several rabbis and community figures had reported to them about Pogrow’s “deviant” behavior.

Having spoken with Pogrow, the rabbis issued a ruling prohibiting him from associating with women in any way and for any reason, including married and unmarried women of any age.

The rabbis also warned all women against meeting with Pogrow for any reason publicly or privately, and from contacting him in any way including my phone or by email and any other form of electronic correspondence.

The rabbis added that a woman in the US has helped Pogrow establish meetings with other women and said therefore that all women should avoid all contact with this individual as well.

Rabbis Bass and Malinowitz, along with rabbis Yitzhak Berkowitz, Mordechai Willig, and Elimelech Kornfeld, issued a separate document entitled “Warning to the Public.”

Wrote the rabbis “After the ruling was issued by the rabbinical court which determined with absolute certainty and established by reliable and credible witnesses and other proofs [all conducted in a manner which leaves no room for doubt], regarding the most terrible acts and the most severe transgressions regarding issues of forbidden sexual relationships, Heaven protect us, by Meir Pogrow (of Beit Shemesh - and America) and hearing about the damages he inflicted on women (including single, married Jewish and otherwise) who were under his influence (many of whose lives he destroyed)… it is our obligation to notify and warn women and girls in the strongest and most urgent terms, to distance themselves from any interaction from this individual, from his lectures, and from any area of his influence in any way.”

The Kol V’Oz organization for tackling sexual abuse in the Jewish community said that “Rabbi Meir Pogrow, a prominent rabbi, formerly of the US and currently Israel-based, has effectively been found guilty by the Beth Din of misusing his authority for his sexual gratification.”

Schoor herself issued concerns she had with the process of the rabbinical court in dealing with such issues, including that the system is reliant on the victim to bring additional victims forward as a part of the investigative process; that the process leaves the victim entirely at the mercy of the rabbinical court; and that the victim has to deal with rabbis and other officials who have no training in this field.

Manny Waks, director of Kol V’Oz, welcomed the ruling of the rabbinical court, but said that the process must be reformed.

“While it’s pleasing that the Beth Din in Israel has issued this strong and public ruling, the process must be examined so that other victims don’t endure what Ms Schoor has endured. It’s important to emphasize that if not for the courage and determination of Ms Schoor, this ruling would never have occurred. Ms Schoor has achieved a remarkable victory despite her difficult journey.”

This was 30 minutes of hell for this young lady': Unaccompanied minor groped on flight


The first warning sign came before the plane had even taken off.

Chad Cameron Camp had his choice of seats on the half-empty American Airlines flight from Dallas to Portland, Ore. But Camp, 26, curiously chose a middle seat — right next to an unaccompanied 13-year-old girl, the FBI said in a statement.

Flight attendants offered to move Camp to another seat where he would have more room, but he declined.

“No, I’m fine,” he said, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Washington Post..

When a flight attendant returned for drink service a half hour later, she saw Camp’s hand on the teenager’s crotch, according to the complaint.

She also saw “a single tear coming down the victim’s cheek.”

Flight attendants separated Camp and the teenager for the rest of the voyage. And as soon as the plane landed, the unaccompanied minor was rushed off the plane.[...]

Camp then allegedly began brushing up against her upper arm and shoulder while ostensibly turning the pages of a magazine.

“Each time he turned the page he used his elbow to brush up against the victim’s shoulder and upper arm area. The victim attempted to move away from Camp’s physical contact, and each time she withdrew, he would laugh,” the complaint states. “After finishing with the magazine, Camp leaned toward the victim to place the magazine in the seat pocket in front of the victim. Camp instead dropped the magazine on the victim’s shoes.”

Later, while pretending to look out the window, Camp leaned across the girl again, putting his face just inches from hers, the complaint continues.

When the girl declined Camp’s offer to share his headphones, he allegedly threw them in her lap.

Camp then repeatedly placed his hand on the girl’s knee and upper thigh, according to the complaint.

“She had to push his hand off of her and cross her legs,” Goodfellow told The Post.

“What are you doing?” she asked him. But Camp just laughed and did it again, according to the complaint.

“She was frightened and trapped,” the complaint says.

“She was touched over 15 times,” Goodfellow said.

The incident only stopped when a female flight attendant came by to serve drinks and spotted Camp’s hand on the girl’s crotch, according to the complaint.

That’s also when the flight attendant noticed that the girl was crying. [...]

Meir Pogrow: An former yeshiva acquaintance describes the pain of his betrayal

I am quite sad as I pen my words here for the first time.I have always followed from afar, this blog as far back as the shocking story of Rabbi Tropper's sad downfall.I was so sure that after that unfortunate incident,that all the Rabbis that want to push Yiddishkeit would make sure they were 100% accountable to the public.

But sadly enough,there has been yet more and more sad stories of people we want to trust and yet are found out to be not who they are supposed to be.

This particular story crushed me as I knew him from the yeshiva we learnt together.I did not really have too much to do with him,but I was quite aware that he was considered to be one of the smartest guys around.I heard of his success,and was quite glad of it until I came across this sad article on Sunday declaring Meir to be a Rasha.Oh,oh,oh,I said to myself as my day was ruined.I feel so hurt for the yeshiva we learnt with,for the honor of the Torah,and for most of all,the hurt he did on all these people.I was so hoping that this story was not true.But oh to my dismay,to see the Rabbis sign against him.

Oh!!!And I can only scream out to Meir,why if you have these problems with women,did you have to carry on with the attitude of that I can still be a leader for Klal Yisrael??!!!Why do people like Tropper,Freundel,and Pogrow and all others brazenly think that if they are not around,Torah will not be taught??Torah will not be forgotten.But if you guys have issues,go find some other job and seek help through the therapist. Did these people really think that Hashem would let these people make a mockery out of his Torah???Meir was brilliant in making this program that helped people learn,but if he had this undeniable problem with women,why could he have not delegated his great idea to some kosher Yid???It would have been better for him to be some business man or even a garbageman,but not to do things to hurt people in the name of his misguided Torah.

Did Meir not know all the places in the Gemara that discusses Chillul Hashem??How about all the Levi from Bnei Kehat that would lose their lives if they came too close to the Aron Hakodesh in an improper fashion???This shows us how the Torah will not let it be maintained by someone that is not fit to be there.

If somebody wants to be a leader for Klal Yisrael,he cannot have this type of double life,and I can only pray and hope that once and for all that any Yid seeking to help us will examine himself carefully, have a competent Rav,and will know how to conduct himself properly in all situations.

How in this day and age,women will go to Rabbis without their husbands or at least it should be done openly is beyond me.Where do ladies think that Rabbis are angels??And if a Rabbi is meeting a lady in a not Jewish way or is talking in a not modest way,speak up immediately!!!Why was there such silence for so long!!!

Sorry for the longevity of the post,but this issue has broken my heart,since I knew Meir from way back,and I just wish I will never have to hear of this breach of faith again.We,Jews,have too many problems,and this problem should never be here to begin with.