Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Sean Hannity Fails to Mention Letter Sent to Him by Jan. 6 Committee During Show

https://www.newsweek.com/sean-hannity-january-6-committee-text-letter-cooperation-fox-news-1665729 

Committee Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney said Hannity also expressed concern for the storming of the Capitol and attempted to advise the then-President Donald Trump in the now-public letter.

The letter added: "You also had relevant communications while the riot was underway, and in the days thereafter. These communications make you a fact witness in our investigation."

It also highlighted text messages showing Hannity was concerned with Trump's January 6 plan.

The letter went on to say: "The Select Committee is in possession of dozens of text messages you sent to and received from former White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows and others related to the 2020 election and President Trump's efforts to contest the outcome of the vote."

Halachic Synopsis for Child & Domestic Abuse - reviewed by Rav Moshe Sternbuch

We have seen that there are rabbonim who have failed to acknowledge their error in running a talmid chachom out of town for reporting abuse to the police. It seems that part of the problem is a lack of knowledge about the issues of child abuse - both the halacha and the psychology. Therefore I am posting my synopsis which was reviewed and approved by Rav Moshe Sternbuch. (This is included in my books on abuse.) They mistakenly claim that calling the police is mesira and that a beis din is required to give permission and not just a single rav. They are not aware that an abuser is a rodef and that he thinks differently than normal people - and can not be trusted. Some rabbonim seem willing to talk with me - this is the initial step.

Update July 6 2013 Regarding G's question of whether my view  and that of Rav Eliashiv is inconsistent with that of Rav Sternbuch:

I don't think there is any difference between Rav Eliashiv and Rav Sternbuch. What I have been saying all along is based on the halachic guidelines I heard from Rav Sternbuch.

1) If you think there is a possibility that a delay in contacting the police places a child risk - then go right to the police.

2) If you think that a there is no harm in waiting then consult a rabbi. However Rav Sternbuch clearly has said one does not abdicate his judgement when consulting a rabbi. It is to basically just to provide an objective view that there is reasonable basis to suspect abuse. However if you feel that the rabbi is wrong - then you are required by Rav Sternbuch to ask another rabbi. All of this again is only if the delay doesn't create a possibility of danger for a child. Rav Sternbuch said in addition that a rabbi needs to be consulted in order that the world shouldn't be hefker. Again this principle does not override the welfare of a child and thus is only relevant when it doesn't endanger a child's welfare.

In addition if there is mandated reporting - in New Jersey that applies to everyone - then you also must report possible abuse. Rav Sternbuch said that even with mandated reporting one should go to the rabbi because the police don't mind if you ask a rabbi or professional or friend first.

This latter point is problematic. There is no question that some places don't mind or rather there were some places where up till recently didn't feel it was critical to report immediately. However if they do insist that you report immediately you could get into trouble for delaying. For example if a child is abused because you delayed then you could be in serious trouble. The halacha does not require you to endanger your welfare, finances or professional license to first consult a rabbi. So practically speaking - especially where there is mandatory reporting - it is typically best to go right to the police if you think that any delay would possibly danger a child.

In sum - I recorded what Rav Sternbuch told me his views are. And he approved the accuracy of my report. However I am saying that utilizing his principles - most of the time it is best to call the police first because the lack of rabbis who know what they are talking about in these issues and therefore there is the distinct possibility that a delay caused by trying to consult with a rabbi would endanger a child.Thus on a practical level you are creating a possible harm to a child by delaying. Rav Sternbuch seems to feel that typically you will have time to consult a rabbi without endangering the child. It is thus a question of reality - not of halachic principle. In my experience with Rav Sternbuch - he doesn't actually conduct an investigation and call in witnesses. He listens and if it sounds that there are grounds to suspect abuse then he says to call the police.

The rabbi is not serving as a beis din and the rabbis is not poskening halacha here. There is no din of mesira in reporting abuse. Reporting abuse is a non-judicial procedure based on rodef. Even if it is only a sofek rodef - we treat it the same as certain rodef.

A molester is considered a rodef because typically they will attack again.  We did have a disagreement regarding someone who hasn't molested for many years. Rav Sternbuch said he is presumed to be no longer dangerous while the professionals I spoke to disagreed and said that some pedophiles will be inactive for 20 or more years and then start again. This is especially true after they have been sentenced to jail for abuse - they tend to behave themselves for various periods after getting out. On the other hand as far as I know there is no requirement to report according to  mandated reporting - if you don't think it likely that he will attack again.

My understanding of Satmar and Lakewood - is they are in agreement with Rav Menashe Klein. There is a requirement of beis din, there needs to an actual investigation and witnesses and they don't seem to understand that nice people with proper yichus can be pedophiles. They don't understand that promises mean nothing to a pedophile.They are not trained or experienced in conducting an investigation in these issues. In sum they are willing to give the molester the benefit of the doubt - even at the expense of children being attacked. Rav Sternbuch is clearly not requiring anything which might endanger the child and he leaves the investigation up to the police.

Child abuse - Rabbi Simon Jacobson's views

VIN reports:
New York - Rabbi Simon Jacobson of Brooklyn NY is a sought-after scholar and lecturer on Jewish thought and its contemporary application, speaking to diverse audiences worldwide, he has also undertaken a strong approach on the issue of child abuse in the frum community. VIN News recently exchanged email and phone conversations with the good rabbi to get his opinion on the issue of exposing child molesters in the frum world.

 

 Dear Rabbi, As chief-editor of a news website I commend you for courageously addressing one of the worst curses plaguing our community: child abuse. I receive many submissions exposing child molesters and various forms of abuse in our communities. I would like you to discuss the issue of publicizing this information. On one hand, many argue that we are prohibited from “loshon hora,” speaking ill of others, even if it may be true. On the other hand how can any responsible person ignore the issue that has such devastating effects and just “push it under the rug”? I believe that you have the power to spearhead a major campaign, headed by real Rabbis and activists, to address this issue for the benefit of the larger community. The gravity of abuse and its terrible consequences requires that we do nothing less than wake up, shake up and turn the community upside down. Thank you,

 

Dear Editors: Thank you for your supporting words and confidence. I am not really sure whether I can live up to your expectations to spearhead any major effort, but I can try adding my small contribution to this vital topic. The only reason I have for the last few weeks been writing about abuse is precisely due to its far-reaching and devastating effects on so many lives. And not just for now, but for generations to come. Everything we build and teach our children, all our investments and dedication to good, all our moral standards, our entire education system, can be wiped out in one fell swoop when we or our children are violated. I have been trained in the Torah way of thinking that any question we have must be framed in objective context, and weighed by various moral criteria that help us achieve some clarity. This is especially true for controversial and emotionally charged issues, due to their subjective effect on all of us – fear, anger, vengeance, shock, disbelief, and all the other complex feelings evoked by abuse. The first of all ethical and Torah axioms must be stated at the outset: No one has a right to in any way violate in any way the body or soul of another human being. Indeed, we don’t even have the right to mutilate our own bodies, because your body does not belong to you; it is “Divine property.” Let alone someone else’s property. No crime is worse that assaulting another’s dignity – which is compared to the dignity of G-d Himself, being that every person was created in the Divine Image. Even a hanged murderer must not be defiled and his body not left to hang overnight because it reflects the Divine Image. How much more so – infinitely more so – regarding a live person and innocent child… Abuse, in any form or shape, physical, psychological, verbal, emotional or sexual, is above all a violent crime – a terrible crime. Abusing another (even if it’s intangible) is no different than taking a weapon and beating someone to a pulp. And because of its terrible long-term effects, the crime is that much worse. What do we do with violent criminals? We punish them. Once it has been determined that abuse was perpetrated, there should be consequences, both for the perpetrator and as a deterrent to other potential violators. The actual consequences need to be determined by local legal and Torah standards by the authorities on location. If for any reason the Torah authorities cannot deal with the situation, the only recourse is the same one employ for murderers, thieves and other criminals: legal action. The next question is this: What are our obligations as parents, teachers, writers, website editors, or just plain adult citizens, when it comes to abuse? On one hand we are talking about protecting innocent people from criminal predators, which clearly is a major obligation and priority concern. On the other hand, we do have laws prohibiting embarrassing people (even criminals) in public, always hopeful, allowing people to correct their ways. We have laws about avoiding gossip and speaking ill about others (loshon hora), and not feeding into the base instinct of “talking about others” or “mob mentality” witch-hunting expeditions.[...]

R' Avi Shafran's offensive article regarding child abuse

 Rabbi Shafran's recent article [below] - The Evil Eleventh - is a highly offensive and insensitive (or perhaps mean spirited) attempt at defending the Orthodox Jewish community against charges of child abuse. Rabbi Shafran is a highly intelligent and dedicated polemicist who on occasion misspeaks. An example of this is his infamous article in which he said that the loathsome Madoff who ruined many people in a $50 billion swindle was superior to the hero of the Hudson who saved many lives with his skillful landing of an airplane on the Hudson river. Why is Madoff better according to Rabbi Shafran? Because he mentioned G-d. He retracted the article, but didn't acknowledge that he had made a serious mistake, when he discovered no one could fathom his "brilliant" insight.

In his article, Rabbi Shafran seems to feel that there is a conspiracy to assert that child abuse is a more serious problem in the Orthodox community than in the rest of the world. In particular he focuses on  two writers who have dealt with the topic of abuse in the Orthodox community - Robert Kolker of NY Magazine and Hella Winston of the Jewish Week. While he can claim that these two are outsiders - he conveniently ignores others within the community who have been saying the same thing. One of them is Rabbi Yakov Horowitz - who runs the Aguda approved Project Y.E.S. - and is a highly respected defender of abuse victims. He addresses Rabbi Shafran's points and rejects them http://haemtza.blogspot.co.il/2012/06/rabbi-yakov-horowitz-responds.htmlClick here for Robert Kolker's response to R Shafran

Furthermore he claims that it can't be because of the positive Torah values and fear of G-d. That is a defense which can be rejected by anyone who has followed cases such as Mondrowitz or Weingarten. These cases weren't exceptions but unfortunately follow a fairly common patter of denial and cover ups. Rabbi Shafran wrote:

That is, put bluntly, an unmitigated insult to Judaism. Jewish life holds high the ideals of family, community, compassion for others, control of anger and passions, and ethical behavior. There will always be seemingly observant individuals who are hypocritical, or who may sadly fail the test of self-control, even with horrendous impacts on the lives of others.

It is clear to all those who have dealt with this topic within the Orthodox community - that the above values have been and are displaced when it comes to concerns for mesira, lashon harah, chillul haShem, financial loss, shidduchim etc etc etc.  These are things which are obvious and well documented for years. I myself spoke with Doron Aggassi the director of Rav Yehuda Silman's abuse program in Bnei Brak. Rav Silman is a highly respect posek and member of Rav Nissan Karelitz's beis din. Mr. Aggassi noted that the Orthodox community is paradise for abusers. 1) chareidi children don't know anything about sex and don't understand what is being done to them and don't know how to report it 2) there is a code of silence not to report abuse 3) victim's and their families are especially unlikely to report abuse.

As I have noted in my books on abuse - Rav Sternbuch told me he is upset about the refusal within our community of rabbis and school officials not even wanting to listen to allegations of abuse. In fact he published a teshuva on the subject. He is upset by the lack of concern for the victims - even telling me that those there is no justification in halacha for not protecting kids by calling the police - because of fear of financial harm to the yeshivos! He told me such an attitude is an American rationale.

In fact at a time when significant progress is being made in the Orthodox community regarding abuse  - it bizarre (or perhaps sinister) that Rabbi Shafran should spout this nonsense which has been rejected by the leaders of our community for at least 5 years. The best justification I could come up for this rubbish is that Rabbi Shafran simply wanted to use the BBC scandal to make Orthodox Jews look better than the goyim. Unfortunately he didn't succeed because he didn't bother getting acquainted with the reality of abuse in our community.

Rabbi Shafran's article The Evil Eleventh - appears in full below.

============================
Is child abuse “more common in the Orthodox Jewish community than it is elsewhere? There are no reliable statistics … but there’s reason to believe the answer to that question might be yes.”

Those words, sandwiching an important admission  between a sinister question and an unfounded speculation, were written back in 2006 by Robert Kolker in New York magazine.

Mr. Kolker’s “reason to believe” was based on speculation by the New York Jewish Week’s Hella Winston, who has since established herself as someone who views the Orthodox community through heavily jaundiced eyes.

Our hearts must ache with the anguish of victims of abuse, especially children. And it’s natural for people who have met survivors of terrible things to feel deeply for them, and angry at their abusers. But extrapolating from the harrowing accounts of carefully sought-out victims that abuse, which sadly exists in the Orthodox community as it does in all communities, is somehow emblematic of Orthodox life is like visiting Sloan Kettering and concluding that there is a national cancer epidemic raging.

The New York writer went on to offer an even more offensive, even less grounded, conjecture, protectively qualified by the preface “There are some who believe…” What the safely unnamed “some” believe is that “repression in the ultra-Orthodox community”—namely, dedication to Jewish law and custom—“can foster abuse” [emphasis mine].

That is, put bluntly, an unmitigated insult to Judaism. Jewish life holds high the ideals of family, community, compassion for others, control of anger and passions, and ethical behavior. There will always be seemingly observant individuals who are hypocritical, or who may sadly fail the test of self-control, even with horrendous impacts on the lives of others. But does the existence of corrupt police and unethical doctors indict the professions of law enforcement or medicine?

If any belief system enables immoral and unethical behavior, it is not Judaism but its polar opposite, the conviction that no higher authority exists. While atheists may live upstanding lives, it should be self-evident that denial of a Higher Power and divine laws for mankind leaves a human being with no authority but himself, and no compelling reason—other than getting caught—to shun bad behavior.

These thoughts come to mind in the wake of a recent highly-publicized abuse scandal in England. One Jimmy Savile, a famous entertainment figure who died last year, was posthumously exposed as a serial abuser of children, including patients in hospitals he visited in the course of charitable fundraising work.

The British National Health Service, police, and the BBC all stand accused of turning a blind eye to the man’s crimes—which were the subject of a BBC broadcast that the network canceled.

Astoundingly, in Mr. Savile’s 1976 autobiography, he did not shy from describing some of his abusive behavior, which clearly crossed the moral and legal line, bragging that had “not been found out.”

“Which, after all,” he added, in an attempt at humor, “is the 11th commandment, is it not?” 

It was a poignant choice of words. Because those who recognize the import of the Ten Commandments respect them as G-d-given, immutable, and binding. The entertainer’s imaginary Eleventh is the antithesis of those adjectives. It is the credo of someone who feels he is not ultimately answerable to any being, or Being. And it provides him license to do whatever he finds pleasurable or amusing, no matter the toll on others, or on his own soul.

No, Mr. Kolker and your “some who believe,” a religious Jew is imbued with consciousness that, as Rabi Yehudah Hanasi expressed in Massechta Avos (2:1): “An eye sees and an ear hears, and all of your actions are in the record written.”

That truth, though, can be occasionally forgotten even by us non-atheists. That is the message of the initially puzzling blessing Rabi Yochanan ben Zakkai offered his students as he lay dying, that “the fear of Heaven be to you like the fear of flesh and blood” (Brachos 28b).

“Is that all?” they exclaimed. The sage’s response: “If only!”

“Think.” he continued. “When a person commits a sin in private, he says ‘May no person see me!’.”

And yet, of course, he is seen all the same. Jimmy Savile was seen, and so are we all.

© 2012 Rabbi Avi Shafran

Royal Commission: Sydney rabbi 'did not know' it was a crime for an adult to touch a child's genitals

ABC Australia      A former director of an Orthodox Jewish school says he did not know it was a crime for an adult to touch a child's genitals, the royal commission into child abuse has heard.

Rabbi Yosef Feldman was questioned about the way he dealt with abuse claims against a rabbinical student known as AVL at the Yeshivah Gedolah in Sydney in 2002.

Counsel assisting the Commission Maria Gerace asked: "did you understand that it was against the law for an adult to touch the genitals of another child?"

"I didn't know that as a fact," Rabbi Feldman answered.

The Commission heard AVL admitted lying down and massaging the child.

The rabbi said he "didn't have a clue" that could be a criminal matter.

"My role in general is to look at things from a Jewish perspective, from a religious perspective," Rabbi Feldman said. [...]

Rabbi Feldman told the Commission he did not think child sexual abuse was a widespread problem.

"There are many issues of life, and child sex abuse I didn't believe was something that's very common at all, and even now I don't believe it's common. It happens," he said.

"I haven't seen the statistics, but I think it would be ... about five to 10 per cent ... based on things that I've read about it."

Rabbi Feldman said he was not aware of the issue of child sexual abuse or mandatory reporting obligations in 2002.

Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald asked: "are you saying to the Commission that notwithstanding you were a director of a school, an ordinary school, you had no knowledge at all of the issue of child sexual abuse, nor of the requirements that existed in New South Wales at that time, is that your evidence?''

"Correct," Rabbi Feldman replied. [...]
================================
   Rabbi Yosef Feldman declares himself a 'sacrificial lamb' and will sue
 The Guardian   A senior orthodox Jewish rabbi who was forced to resign as director of a religious centre over remarks about child sex abuse victims says he has been made a “sacrificial lamb”.

On Wednesday Rabbi Yosef Feldman resigned from his position at the Sydney Yeshivah Centre, which runs schools, youth camps and prayer services, because of the backlash after comments he made to the royal commission into institutional responses into child sex abuse.

Giving evidence, he said perpetrators of child sex abuse should be granted leniency if they had stopped offending and had repented to God; massaging a child inappropriately was not a criminal act; it was not necessary to report to the police an alleged sex offender who was about to leave the country.

He also told the commission that despite holding a senior position within a school, he did not know about mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse.

But Feldman told ABC radio on Thursday he had resigned not because he regretted his comments but because “perception by the public is unfortunately more important than the truth”. [...]

Abuse an example of concept creep

The main contention of this article is that in recent decades the meanings of several of psychology’s key concepts have changed in a systematic way. I argue that those changes have targeted particular kinds of concept and moved in a particular direction. Specifically, it is psychology’s negative concepts—those that refer to undesirable, harmful, or pathological aspects of human experience and behavior—that had meaning changes, and these changes have consistently expanded those meanings. The concepts denoted at an earlier time, but they now also refer to a horizontally and vertically enlarged range of additional phenomena. This semantic inflation is not widely appreciated by psychologists. When it has been noted it has been discussed in relation to a single concept, and the general pattern has been missed. In the body of the article I illustrate the “concept creep” hypothesis by reviewing changes in six concepts drawn from the provinces of developmental, clinical, and social psychology: abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, addiction, and prejudice After presenting these six case studies, I examine the causes and implications of the changes they illustrate. I argue that a good explanation of concept creep must account for why the changes are specific to negative concepts and why they involve expansion rather than contraction. It should also encompass both vertical and horizontal expansion and account for the consistency of the effect across diverse concepts rather than explaining each change on its own terms. Explanations that invoke technological, social, and cultural developments are entertained, as are some that implicate psychology as a discipline. I then discuss the wider consequences of concept creep. As Hacking argued, changes in human kind concepts alter social reality, looping back into how people understand themselves and one another and bringing new kinds of people into existence through what he called “dynamic nominalism” (Hacking, 1986). I am at pains not to present concept creep as unambiguously desirable or undesirable, or to write it off as arbitrary or unwarranted. Conceptual revision is to be expected in view of changing scientific and social realities, and it may be appropriately responsive to those changes. Although many critics have held psychological concepts responsible for damaging cultural trends—such as supposed cultures of fear, therapy, and victimhood—the conceptual shifts I present have some positive implications. Nevertheless, they also have potentially damaging ramifications for society and for psychology that cannot be ignored. Case Study 1: Abuse The concept of abuse has grown in prominence within psychology and related fields, largely through the growing awareness that maltreatment of children and adults, and its implications for mental health, has been underestimated in the past. This underestimation goes back at least as far as Freud’s abandonment of the seduction theory of hysteria. Decades of research have established the disturbing high prevalence of their causal role in a variety of mental disorders. Hacking (1991) has written at length about the shifting understandings of abuse and the relevance of looping effects to those shifts. He documented the malleability of ideas of child abuse and how these were shaped by cultural trends, legal institutions, and social movements such as feminism and children’s rights activism. However, his historical study primarily addresses changes in professional and popular representations of abuse from the 19th century through to the 1970s and does not focus specifically on psychology. My emphasis here is on more recent changes in the definition of abuse within that field. Classic psychological investigations of abuse recognized two forms, physical and sexual. Physical abuse involved the intentional infliction of bodily harm, whereas sexual abuse involved inappropriate sexual contact, including penetrative sex or nonpenerative molestation. Childhood exposure to these forms of abuse was found to increase vulnerability to adult psychopathology, relationship difficulties, and physical ill health. Three changes to the conceptualization of abuse that have occurred within the psychological literature over recent decades represent clear cases of horizontal expansion. First, “emotional abuse” (Thompson &amp; Kaplan, 1996)—sometimes labeled “psychological abuse”—was introduced as a new abuse subtype. It refers to forms of maltreatment that need not involve bodily contact, unlike physical and sexual abuse, but includes verbal aggression and other behavior that is domineering, intimidating, threatening, rejecting, degrading, possessive, inconsistent, or emotionally unresponsive. This form of abuse was commonly studied within intimate domestic relationships. This new focus on behavior exchanged between adults represents a second horizontal extension of the abuse concept from its traditional focus on the behavior of adults toward children. A third horizontal extension of the abuse concept is its incorporation of neglect. Neglect implies a lack of appropriate care and concern, as when negligent parents fail to tend to their children’s basic needs for food, shelter, clothing, physical contact, and affection. In the early literature on child maltreatment, neglect and abuse were traditionally considered separately—the field’s flagship journal, which commenced publication in 1976, was entitled Child Abuse and Neglect—but increasingly neglect has been understood as a form of abuse. Cicchetti and Barnett’s (1991) taxonomy of child abuse, for example, considers physical neglect as one of its subtypes. Similarly, Goldsmith and Freyd (2005) considered emotional neglect, or “emotional unavailability,” to be a form of emotional abuse. Emotional abuse and neglect as abuse are ideas that represent horizontal extensions of the abuse concept. The former extends abuse into the realm of non  physical harm, where damage is done indirectly through language or social interaction. The latter extends the abuse concept by including acts of omission. Whereas physical and sexual forms of abuse represent the commission of undesirable acts toward a victim, neglect involves the failure to commit desirable acts. Neglect, like physical or sexual abuse, can be an act in the sense of being deliberate, but it differs from these prototypes of abuse by referring to inaction. The inclusion of emotional abuse and neglect within a broadened concept of abuse may also represent a vertical expansion of that concept. Emotional abuse encompasses some forms of interpersonal treatment that are more diffuse and ambiguous than those that fall within the realms of physical and sexual abuse, which, because they require bodily con  tact, are intrinsically more tangible. Determining what counts as emotional abuse may have a larger element of subjectivity. Whether a particular interaction represents humiliation or teasing, possessiveness or protectiveness, and aggressiveness or assertiveness may be uncertain and the parties involved may have very different perceptions. If deciding whether emotional abuse has occurred depends on the self identified victim’s perception, abuse can be invoked as a description that might seem innocuous from an independent observer’s standpoint. This reliance on highly subjective impressions is a feature of some methods of assessing abuse, as in the following item from a popular self report measure: “As a child, did you feel unwanted or emotionally neglected?” A similar vertical expansion of the abuse concept can result when it incorporates neglect. Because criteria for judging omissions (i.e., what was not done that should have been) tend to be less concrete than those for judging commissions (i.e., what was done that should not have been), the boundary of neglect is indistinct. As a consequence, the concept of neglect can become overinclusive, identifying behavior as negligent that is substantially milder or more subtle than other forms of abuse. This is not to deny that some forms of neglect are profoundly damaging, merely to argue that the concept’s boundaries are sufficiently vague and elastic to encompass forms that are not severe. This brief discussion of abuse reveals that the concept’s meaning has undergone significant inflation, horizontal and vertical. Its message is well captured by Furedi (2006), who noted a “continuous expansion of the range of human experiences which can be labelled as abusive,” such that “neglect and unintended insult become equated with physical violence and incorporated into an all purpose generic category ” (p. 86).</div>

RCA resolution on child abuse

 RCA

Apr 27, 2010 -- Whereas we have become increasingly aware of incidents of the sexual and physical abuse of children in our community; and

Whereas, there have been a number of high profile cases in which Orthodox rabbis have been indicted or convicted for child abuse or child endangerment; and

Whereas the lives and futures of many of these victims and their families are harmed in significant ways: suicide, post traumatic stress syndrome, inability to form healthy relationships, inability to develop healthy intimate relationships, etc.; and

Whereas many victims of abuse in our community still remain silent and do not come forward to accuse perpetrators or seek help for fear of stigma, personal and familial consequences, or perceived halakhic concerns; and

Whereas the Rabbinical Council of America has resolved through past resolutions its condemnation of abuse and its censure of abusers, and has affirmed, under the guidance and direction of its poskim (Rabbinic decisors,) that the prohibitions of mesirah (reporting crimes to the civil authorities) and arka’ot (adjudication in civil courts) do not apply in cases of abuse and in fact, it is halakhically obligatory to make such reports; and

Whereas reiterating this long held position can serve to provide pastoral and halakhic leadership, support, direction and affirmation to abuse survivors and their families and advocates.

Therefore, the Rabbinical Council of America resolves that

• It reaffirms its unqualified condemnation of all forms of child abuse.

• It reaffirms its halakhic position that the prohibitions of mesirah and arka’ot do not apply in cases of abuse.

• It will regularly issue on its website and to the media appropriate statements of condemnation when public attention is drawn to a case in which Jews are either victims or perpetrators of abuse.

• It will regularly evaluate the competence of its members in understanding and responding to issues of child abuse and initiate training and continuing educational opportunities for all of its members in this area every year.

• The members of the RCA address the issues of child abuse in their communities in at least one sermon, lecture or article within the next twelve months, and that contact information for local abuse services be displayed in a public place in all synagogues, schools, and Jewish community institutions serviced by its members.


Prominent US-based haredi rabbis declare obligation to report child abuse to police

Arutz                                        Full text of the letter
We, the undersigned, affirm that any individual with firsthand knowledge or reasonable basis to suspect child abuse has a religious obligation to promptly notify the secular law enforcement of that information. These individuals have the experience, expertise and training to thoroughly and responsibly investigate the matter. Furthermore, those deemed “mandated reporters” under secular law must obey their State’s reporting requirements.
Lives can be ruined or ended by unreported child abuse, as we are too often tragically reminded. The Torah’s statement in Leviticus 19:16, “Do not stand by while your neighbor’s blood is shed,” obligates every member of the community to do all in one’s power to prevent harm to others. In conclusion, every individual with firsthand knowledge or reasonable cause for suspicion of child abuse has a Torah obligation to promptly notify the proper civil authorities.




JPost    More than 100 prominent haredi rabbis and educators from across the US have signed a public declaration stating that it is an obligation of Jewish law on all Jews to immediately notify law enforcement officials when a reasonable suspicion of child abuse exists.

The declaration was described as “an historic watershed” for its broad-based support from a large number of haredi rabbis from major Jewish communities in the US.

The letter addresses the need to prevent and eradicate the epidemic of child abuse adversely affecting the Jewish community.

“We, the undersigned, affirm that any individual with firsthand knowledge or reasonable basis to suspect child abuse has a religious obligation to promptly notify the secular law enforcement of that information,” the declaration reads.

“These individuals have the experience, expertise and training to thoroughly and responsibly investigate the matter. Furthermore, those deemed ‘mandated reporters’ under secular law must obey their state’s reporting requirements.”

The rabbis said in their declaration that “lives can be ruined or ended by unreported child abuse, as we are too often tragically reminded” and cited the biblical injunction “Do not stand by while your neighbor’s blood is shed,” as the basis for reporting suspected cases of abuse.

Among the signatories are Rabbi Nota Greenblatt, the head of the rabbinical court in Mephis, Tennessee, Rabbi Dov Aharon Brisman, head of the rabbinical court in Philadelphia, Rabbi Peretz Steinberg, co-chairman of the rabbinical court of the Agudath Yisrael organization, and Rabbi Yechiel Perr, dean of the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway/Derech Ayson Rabbinical Seminary. [...]



Child Abuse - How do we speed up progress?

Baruch HaShem we have seen significant progress in dealing with sexual abuse. Only a few short years we all knew that child abuse either didn't exist or wasn't a serious problem. The learned amongst us knew that it could only be dealt with by rabbis after two witnesses testified that sodomy or rape of a doreissa level had occurred. The crime of sexual abuse was viewed as a moral one – in which the psychological consequences were assumed to be insignificant. No one heard of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Everyone knew that the molester was some weird psychopathic stranger and therefore there was nothing to fear from the kind neighbor, charismatic teacher or wonderful father. Who knew about the complex and conflicting feelings evoked by a beloved teacher who groomed a child for abuse. No one could believe that a child would keep coming back to the abuser who was molesting them. No one understood that abuse caused suppression of memories that only appear years later. We all "knew" that if abuse was happening it would be reported immediate by an outraged child. Failure to even tell one's parents or teacher immediately was viewed as proof that the accusations were false. 

The police were never called because of the horrific sin of Mesira - which is such a heinous crime that it causes the loss of Olam HaBah (Rosh HaShanna 17a). Who would dare risk violating the complex laws of lashon harah as explained by the Chofetz Chaim? In fact the issue of sexual abuse was viewed by the average parent or teacher as being so complex that only gedolim could know how to deal with the issue. We of course knew that the prime consequence of abuse was damaged to prospective shidduchim for the whole family. Other harmful consequences of abuse involved ruining the reputation of a yeshiva or causing a chilul HaShem. However we really weren't worried about abuse – because it was such a rare occurrence like being struck by lightning after winning the lottery. We of course were comforted by the assumption that the watchful eyes of the gedolim were protecting our kids from this scourge – and would never ever allow anyone to harm the hair of a single kid – and surely would not knowingly keep a child molester as a teacher or camp counselor for decades. After all didn't they have the ruach hakodesh of Daas Torah that they indoctrinated us to believe gave them insight and understanding way beyond that of a mere parent?  Aside from that we all knew that the rabbis followed G-d's Torah fearlessly and they would never be afraid to stand up to pressure from the community and peers. I mean everyone knows that fearlessness in proclaiming the halacha is itself a Torah command (Devarim 1:16).  

Major changes started in 2006-2007. Rabbi Zweibel of the Aguda readily acknowledged that the gedolim had been ignoring the problem ("it was on the back burner") until it came to the public awareness through the secular media (N.Y. Magazine "Do Orthodox Jews have a Catholic Church problem?) as well as blogs and a number of organizations. Child abuse has moved from an issue which was never mentioned in public to one that even Rabbi Perlow - the head of the Aguda - has publicly acknowledged at an Aguda Convention.
The major accomplishment of this phase was the mere fact that abuse was acknowledged publicly as a significant problem. Additionally it was beginning to be acknowledged that covering up abuse (contrary to the public statement by Rabbi Mattisyahu Solomon) – was not only not a good idea – but that due to the secular media and internet – it really was impossible to "sweep things under the rug".  The Baltimore rabbis collectively issued a proclamation in 2007 in which they acknowledged that a serious problem existed and that they were not competent to deal with it.

While all of this is important, it is not my primary focus in this article. I did not mention recent events to provide a history lesson in the dynamics of our community. All of this is a necessary introduction of a very important question.

The question is - What do we need to work on to speed up the processes of change within our communities and within ourselves? How do we give victims of abuse the courage to come forth? How do we prevent abuse? What is the best way to comfort and heal the survivors of abuse and their families? (I met someone over Rosh HaShanna who confided to me that he had been abused as a child and now – 30 years later – despite intensive therapy he and his family still suffered terribly every day.) How do we get our rabbis, educational and community leaders to have the courage to deal with the issue? How do we get them to understand what action halacha demands of them – rather than what is the fastest way to cover up the facts? 

In short – what is the best way to finish the revolution of dealing with sexual abuse? Suggestions are welcome!

Update: 9/16/13 One important issue is that it is necessary to change how we think about abuse. It is not that enough to say that it is wrong and needs to be stopped. It is necessary to understand on the most elementary level that abuse is harming another person and that can not be tolerated. See Simon Sinek regarding the greater importance of why we do things than what we do.

Child Abuse - A sefer on the Jewish Perspective II

Vosizneias posted this article I wrote regarding the issue of child abuse. [Previous posting] ========================================== Child abuse is one of the things parents fear most for their children - physical abuse or sexual molestation. It means not only a major violation of trust – in the assumption that adults will protect children – but it can also be a source of severe lifetime psychological damage to the tender child – that can lead him/her to hurt others in turn.

But it is not just parents who abuse and molest their children - it is also siblings, extended family, teachers, clergy – and sometimes strangers.

While everyone will agree that it is horrible – the response to child abuse has been strangely muted. Even in the Orthodox Jewish community – there is often silence from the family of the victim – refusing to press charges even when begged. Sometimes there are active attempts within the community to silence the accusation. [This is true of other communities as well]. On the other hand, in the world of the communication media – especially the liberal newspapers and magazines as well as some blogs - there is almost a gleeful lynch mob mentality – “Let’s get the mamzer and show the world that the well thought of parent, educator, author, principal, teacher or psychologist is nothing but a warped pervert preying on innocent children.”

How in fact should someone respond when they hear rumors or suspect that some one is molesting children in his/her neighborhood or school? What should a parent do when it seems Uncle Mark has been spending a lot of time with his 9-year-old niece – doing inappropriate things? Is the ideal response to pick up the phone and call the police?

Is it to call your rabbi? Or perhaps one should simply pickup a baseball bat and teach the person a lesson?

I am presently working on a book – Child Abuse and Halacha. Contrary to other halachic issues such as theft, or whether opening a soda bottle is permitted on Shabbos – there are many diverse and conflicting considerations when dealing with child abuse. I am exploring questions such as, “Is the primary concern the suffering of the victim or stopping the perpetrator?” “Does the potential chilul HaShem deserve the most attention or is the destruction of trust and respect of teachers and schools?” “Are we to be concerned only with the loss of Olam HaBah promised to informers or is the requirement of stopping a rodef more important?” “Are all the above considerations primary some of the time – or is there a response which is best all of the time?”

I am not only collecting the halachic sources on the issues above but also researching the psychological literature in terms of the nature of the damage. What types of abuse constitute pikuach nefesh? Is it better to focus on accepting what happened or to encourage repression of the experience? Is systematic desensitization training more useful than the concern with catharsis?

In addition, I am trying to elucidate the various perspectives that are brought to bear on the subject.

For example I recently posted one of the earliest references to child molesting – the Tzemach Tzedek – on my blog Daas Torah. The question was whether this teshuva represented a gadol’s ignorance of child abuse or whether there simply was very little if any child abuse in the 1800’s? Alternatively it could be argued that the Tzemach Tzedek’s prime focus was not whether a serious crime was committed but whether the event could be understood as innocent enough so the rabbi would not lose his position. While the question remains unresolved, it needs to be explored further.

Finally I will be presenting actual cases which can serve as guidelines for the concerned parent, teacher or community rabbi. For example, I was once consulted by a young lady who had been molested by some frum boys when she was ten. She concealed the event from her parents and became increasingly withdrawn and depressed. As a teenager she tried committing suicide. Had a mental breakdown. Was hospitalized in a mental hospital for several years. Now at the age of 20, she seemed fully recovered, cheerful and productive.

My question to her was, now that it is over why are you coming to me? She replied that she has learned to deal with the horrible memories, the pain and degradation. She has learned to let go of feelings of revenge. She has a single problem left. She had asked a single question to all the rabbis she has consulted, “Why did G-d do this to me?” They all replied with some version of, “G-d always does what is best and for reasons beyond our comprehension felt that you had to be raped.” She said simply, “I can’t accept that G-d is so cruel!” My response was that these rabbis were wrong. That they were providing her with one legitimate view of theology i.e., that all that happens is caused by G-d. But there is an alternative view – that of all the Rishonim.

This view says that one man can harm another man – even though G-d doesn’t want it to happen. This is the view not only of Rishonim but is that expressed in Michtav M’Eliyahu, the Netziv citing the Zohar, it is also the view of the Maharal. Thus I told her, G-d did not want it to happen but He gives free-will to man, He does not stop man from acting. You have suffered greatly but will be compensated in the World to Come. She replied that she could live with such an understanding of G-d, while the other view was totally unacceptable. However other victims receive greater consolation from the original answer. One needs to be sensitive to individual differences.

Power struggle: Bill to hook up illegal Arab homes to grid passes in stormy session

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/power-struggle-bill-to-hook-up-illegal-arab-homes-to-grid-passes-in-stormy-session/

The Knesset was the scene of ill-tempered verbal jousting on Wednesday morning as lawmakers deliberated a bill that would allow thousands of illegally built homes, mostly in Arab communities, to connect to the power grid, then passed it in its second and third readings.

The debate began with a long speech in Arabic by Ra’am MK Walid Taha, chair of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, in an apparent attempt to buy time for more coalition lawmakers to arrive.


The opposition then tried to embarrass the coalition by proposing an amendment that would also hook illegal West Bank outposts up to the electricity grid.

The Electricity Bill, proposed by the coalition’s Islamist Ra’am party, addresses the issue of more than 130,000 Arab Israelis who live in illegally built homes across the country that cannot be connected to the national grid under existing legislation.

Israel caves, detained terrorist to end hunger strike

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/319871

An agreement was reached on Tuesday between the administrative detainee Hisham Abu Hawash and the military prosecutor's office, according to which he would stop his hunger strike, which has been going on for 141 days, in exchange for his detention not being renewed.

A Hamas spokesman said he "congratulates Hisham Abu Hawash on his victory over the Zionist prisons, he has once again demonstrated the ability of the Palestinian people to show resilience and forcibly achieve their victories over Israel."

"Surrender to terrorism," commented MK Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party. "There is no other way to call it. A government that relies on terrorists and has made us all their hostages."

Law Without Justice

 https://www.theviennareview.at/archives/2013/law-without-justice

As in most countries in the West, Austrian family law is meant to serve the best interests of the children. But what if Justitia errs?

However, for Judge emeritus Lilian Hofmeister, Alexander’s case comes as no surprise in the Austrian legal system: "This is particularly true in custody wars over sons," Judge Hofmeister said. "There seems to be a new ‘rule of thumb’, which states: ‘Sons belong to their fathers’," she said. "In the course of my pro bono work, I have come across cases that I wouldn’t have thought possible from my understanding of the law," she added.

While she was not familiar with all the details of this case, she said that especially with parents raising their children religiously, courts often prefer the fathers to the mothers. "I often get the impression that fathers use women as baby machines," Dr. Hofmeister said, "As soon as the baby is born, they want to get rid of the mother(...), with foreigners, it is even easier." As a social critic and feminist, she sees the situation in Austria as "a ‘war against women as mothers’, something not yet being examined by the courts."

Insistence on only Torah law would destroy society

There are many sources which explicity reject Rav Menashe Klein's view Beis Yosef(Choshen Mishpat 2:2): The Rashba (3:393) states: It appears to me that if the witnesses are believed by the judges then the judges are permitted to administer physical or monetary punishment according that which they deem appropriate. This is necessary to preserve society. Because if you would insist that everything has to follow the law of the Torah and only punish according to the Torah in cases of beatings and similar cases – the result is that the world would be destroyed. In other words, society would be destroyed if you were always required to have 2 male Jewish witnesses and forewarn the criminal in order to convict a person of a crime. This is what is meant in Bava Metzia (30b): Yerushalyaim was only destroyed because they insisted on following the Torah law. This is certainly true outside of Israel where monetary fines are not administered according to Torah law. As a consequence of the inability of Torah law to punish those who don’t take committing crimes seriously - they would break down the walls that protect society and as a result the world would become lawless and destroyed….