As we leave Rosh Hashanah and head into Yom Kippur, the sound of crying is echoing in my ears. The theme of crying appears throughout the liturgy we recite, it’s mirrored in the sounds of the shofar, and it pours forth from the souls of members of our community.
In recent years, we’ve heard more and more stories, more and more cries of sexual abuse in the Jewish community coming to light, across the globe and across denominations. What once perhaps felt shocking and unreal has become tragically commonplace as scandal after scandal unfolds. It is painful and tragic for our community.
The true tragedy, though, is not the embarrassment and shame we feel when abuse is exposed. The true tragedy is that innocent and vulnerable children have been harmed in ways that are permanently scarring – physically, emotionally and spiritually, and we as a Jewish community have many times failed in our responses.
On Rosh Hashanah, we read two Torah portions that share a common, powerful theme. They are both the stories of vulnerable youths saved from terrible harm at the last minute by a compassionate God. Sarah and Abraham cast Ishmael out to the desert. His mother Hagar was unable to bear his cries for water so she abandoned him by a bush to die. God stepped in and provided immediate healing and a path to a bright future for Ishmael. So too with Isaac. Abraham, acting on God’s command, nearly killed his own child until God’s angel stopped him at the last minute, calling out “do not lay a hand upon the child!”
Our world today is not a world where God or angels visibly, miraculously intervene in the lives of vulnerable children, saving them from harm.
God has handed the responsibility to protect the most vulnerable to us in the commandment: v’halachta bidrachav, and you shall walk in God’s path. Maimonides, in his Guide to the Perplexed (1:54), identifies, chessed, tzedakah and mishpat, lovingkindess, righteousness and justice, as the Godly path we are to walk in.
Tragically, when it comes to protecting children from abuse, over and over again our community has stumbled. We have failed to both prevent abuse of children and then to respond to it appropriately, leaving many with the double trauma of abuse and then abandonment by the authority figures and communities that are supposed to help and heal.
To be sure, this is not just a Jewish issue. Child abuse and the subsequent denials, cover-ups, the shielding of abusers, silencing victims, etc. appear in all religions across the globe. And it’s not just a faith problem either; abuse scandals have erupted in entertainment, sports, politics, and more.
It is a universal problem, but it calls for particular answers. For us, that means answers that reflects the unique realities of Jewish communities. The time for pretending that this problem doesn’t exist in our community is over. The time for limiting ourselves to only being reactive to occurrences of abuse is over. Now is the time for taking proactive, concrete steps towards prevention is now. This year, 5776.
Sensitive, carefully thought out policies, procedures and education can prevent abuse, lessen its damage when it occurs, and help communities move forward in healthy, productive ways.
This new year calls on any Jewish institution that engages with children to carefully review its policies in place and to ask the tough questions to help make things better.
Some of these questions include:
● Are we teaching our children the words and empowering them to talk to us about abuse?
● Do the institutions our children participate in (schools, synagogues, camps) have sound policies and procedures for concerning abuse prevention and response?
● What support do we provide to victims of abuse?
These are not questions with boilerplate answers. They require real thought and investment from communal leaders. Thankfully, there are resources to help guide us in these areas. Experts in the field of abuse and prevention are generating guides to help us in this critical work. The Center for Disease Control has a helpful guide called Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures that is available online.
At the synagogue I have the honor of serving, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, a committee of lay and professional leaders began taking steps in this journey last winter. When we began meeting last spring, our goal was to be proactive instead of reacting to crisis. It has been a deliberate, challenging and meaningful journey for our community. We have not answered all the questions yet, and our committee still has a long way to go, but we are invested in putting in the time and energy to ensure we are doing everything we can to make our community a safe space for children.
This is the season where we reflect on and are judged by what truly matters. In the Beit Din Shel Maala, the Heavenly Courts, our community will not be held accountable for the quality of our kiddushes or numbers of member units. We will be judged by how we protect those most vulnerable in our midst. Across the Jewish world we have heard the cries and seen the silent tears of those who have been abused – let’s make this the year we respond.
Rabbi Ari Hart serves at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale-The Bayit.
Full article here: http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/we-are-judged-how-we-protect-vulnerable-among-us#cigtSq4I5fRYcsXG.99
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Dovid Weinberger recently moved back into West Lawrence some two years after his abrupt departure from his position as rabbi of Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Lawrence, NY.
He quit in the wake of revelations that he was sexually exploiting women who sought his help for various kinds of counseling including marital counseling.
According to local sources some of the same rabbis who forced him to agree to quit the rabbinate, and publicly denounced him, are now divided about whether to advise their communities publicly.
To whom it may concern, I Rabbi Dovid Weinberger, formerly the Rabbi of Cong. Shaarei Tefilla of Lawrence, NY, do hereby acknowledge that I will retire from the Rabbinate effective immediately, and will never again serve in the capacity of Rovor Rabbi of any congregation or community, nor will I ever again be involved as a mechanech [teacher] in any venue ofChinuch [education].
He then reneged on the agreement and started talk of forming a new congregation in the area. This prompted many of the important local rabbis to issue the following statement in early 2014:
It is with great sadness that the following announcement is being made to alert our community to a serious concern of which many of members might not be aware.
Recently, RDW [Rabbi Dovid Weinberger], a rabbi, resigned from his position as a rabbi of a congregation [Shaaray Tefila, Lawrence, NY], educator of young women in our community, and counselor to many who sought his advice. Following that, we learned from professionals of a number of documented cases of his unfortunate and unacceptable behavior. It is the collective judgment of these professionals that this behavior may continue.
We therefore feel obligated to inform our community of this concern and advise that there be no interaction with this rabbi in any rabbinic, educational, counseling or private setting.
Weinberg then attempted an end run by getting Rabbi Yisroel Belsky to write a letter questioning the local rabbinical condemnation of Weinberg. In a rare show of rabbinical feistyness, local rabbis blocked scheduled fundraising events for Belsky’s Yeshivah Torah Vodaath. The Five Towns is one of the wealthiest orthodox areas in the country and it is estimated that this decision cost Torah Vodaath about $200,000. Belsky exited the controversy.
At this point I do not know more about Weinberger’s plans in moving back to the area. But in the past it was tied to an attempt to form a new congregation. I assume that is the current fear. I will report as I get more information.
Full article here: https://frumfollies.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/sex-abusing-rabbi-dovid-weinberger-is-back-in-the-five-towns/
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Congressional Republicans hope Pope Francis leaves his liberal-leaning views at the Vatican.
When he addresses a joint session of Congress Thursday during an event that will be broadcast around the world, a large number of House and Senate Republicans want the leader of the Catholic Church to keep a lid on his progressive attitudes on climate change, immigration, guns and capitalism.
In interviews with CNN, a wide array of GOP lawmakers argued that the Pope’s message should stay away from the political fights consuming Washington, and many expressed strong disapproval of the fiery views he’s espoused since taking over the papacy in 2013.
“I think it’s totally inappropriate that the Pope is weighing in on all the real sensitive, far-left issues,” said Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, one of the most conservative senators. “I’m not a Catholic, but my Catholic friends in Oklahoma are not real pleased with it.”
Rep. Paul Gosar, a Catholic Republican from Arizona, plans to boycott the event.
“I don’t need to be lectured by the Pope about climate change,” Gosar said in an interview off the House floor. “When he wants to take a political position, I will tell you: He is free and clear to be criticized like the rest of us.”
The comments demonstrate how the Pope’s visit is creating an awkward moment for Republicans in Washington. While Christian conservatives have long made up an influential segment of their base, and there are areas of agreement between the GOP and the Vatican, the Pope has showcased more progressive stances during his time leading one of the world’s largest religions.
When he comes to the Capitol this week, his highly anticipated address will be viewed by millions of Americans, and thousands of tourists are pouring into Washington for a chance to catch a glimpse of the pontiff. House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, both Catholics, extended the speaking invitation to Francis, who will become the first pontiff ever to address a joint session of Congress.
The huge platform gives Pope Francis a major opportunity to help drive the national conversation. What’s more, nearly six in 10 Americans have a favorable view of Francis, according to a recent Gallup poll, making him far more popular than President Barack Obama and leaders of Congress.
How aggressive Francis will be in advocating his views to a conservative Congress is an open question. But he has not been afraid to touch on thorny subjects over the last several years, drawing global attention for his stances.
In a highly controversial paper released by the Vatican this summer, Francis backed the “very consistent scientific consensus” that climate change is caused by humans, saying it was “urgent” to develop policies to bolster the environment and curtail fossil fuels.
In comments in July, Francis focused on the plight of migrant children, saying governments must move to “protect and assist them,” in line with his repeated statements for a compassionate approach to immigration.
He has also spoken more tolerantly about gays than previous pontiffs, saying famously, “Who am I to judge?” — a sharp contrast with his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI’s hardline on homosexuality.
Francis has blasted gun manufacturers, likening them to hypocrites. And in a series of tough speeches, Francis has railed against global capitalism, even calling it a “subtle dictatorship.”
Such comments make many Republicans cringe.
“I’m always concerned about those who are bringing spiritual messages that step too far over the line in terms of political issues,” said Sen. Dan Coats, an Indiana Republican and Presbyterian. “I think it can be dangerous territory because then it gives people reason to make a judgment on say, Billy Graham or the Pope or whoever, on the basis of their political leanings — not on the basis of their spirituality.”
And Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, a Catholic, didn’t hold back Sunday from criticizing Pope Francis on his stance on a political issue — his advocacy of closer ties between the United States and Cuba.
“I just think the Pope is wrong,” the New Jersey governor told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “The fact is that his infallibility is on religious matters, not on political ones.”
Still, the Pope also espouses social views that are in line with the GOP, chief among them opposition to abortion.
With his huge perch this week, some Republicans hope that Francis will reiterate the church’s objections to the procedure — an issue that is now paralyzing progress on a funding bill on Capitol Hill — though that could spark protests from congressional Democrats.
“I think he will solidly be on the side of those of us who want to restrict tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood,” said John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican.
“I have no thought that the Pope is going to be weak on the issue of protecting the unborn,” said Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican.
Some Catholic Republicans said they plan to soak in the historic visit, praising the Pope for injecting new energy into the church and pushing for a new era of inclusiveness — even if they sharply disagree with some of his views.
“I would trust him to do his best to say what’s on his mind,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, a former GOP South Dakota governor and a Roman Catholic. “We’ll thank him for what he brings to the table and at the same time, we’ll glean from him what we think will be helpful.”
But Rounds pointedly disagreed with the Pope’s views on capitalism.
“Personally, I think if you think of the quality of life that has been delivered to millions of people around the world and freedoms that we find for people around the world, most of it has happened because of innovation due to capitalism, and because the United States of America exists,” Rounds said.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Catholic Republican from North Carolina, said the Pope is well within his rights to lay out his goals and views.
“The Pope is the leader of my church,” Tillis said. “He is doing what popes have done for hundreds of years — that does not bother me.”
But, Tillis said, the final call on how to achieve those objectives is up to lawmakers — not the church.
Other Catholic Republicans, however, were more reticent when asked about the Pope’s views.
“I’m going to do the right thing and not comment on this,” said Idaho Sen. Jim Risch. “I’m a conservative Catholic, and I have been all my life.”
In recent years, the House chamber has hosted its share of high-profile, tense speeches. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress to protest the nuclear talks with Iran, prompting sharp condemnation from the White House and liberal Democrats. In 2009, South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” during Obama’s speech to Congress about health care. And every year, the President delivers a mostly partisan State of the Union address to the rowdy body.
Yet Francis’s speech is expected to be far more prominent than all of those, with Boehner calling it “one of the biggest events in the history of the Capitol.”
In anticipation of the much-publicized address, Boehner and other congressional leaders sent an unusual letter last week to lawmakers asking them to assist with the flow of the event by “refraining” from “lengthy” handshakes with the Pope and to avoid holding side conversations with him in order to let him progress with his schedule.
Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the GOP leadership, said he hopes the Pope “casts a fairly wide net, talking about things like religious freedom and the issues that affect families.”
But Blunt added, “I don’t think we have much control over what he says.”
Inhofe, however, thinks the Pope should restrain himself. On the issue of enacting policies to curb global warming, Inhofe, a climate skeptic who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said: “That’s not something that I think the Pope ought to be talking about.”
He added, “I have never experienced a time when a Pope would jump on (so many) very extreme issues.”
Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/pope-francis-congress-republicans-politics/index.html
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KABUL, Afghanistan — In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southernAfghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base.
“At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.
The policy has endured as American forces have recruited and organized Afghan militias to help hold territory against the Taliban. But soldiers and Marines have been increasingly troubled that instead of weeding out pedophiles, the American military was arming them in some cases and placing them as the commanders of villages — and doing little when they began abusing children.
“The reason we were here is because we heard the terrible things the Taliban were doing to people, how they were taking away human rights,” said Dan Quinn, a former Special Forces captain who beat up an American-backed militia commander for keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave. “But we were putting people into power who would do things that were worse than the Taliban did — that was something village elders voiced to me.”
The policy of instructing soldiers to ignore child sexual abuse by their Afghan allies is coming under new scrutiny, particularly as it emerges that service members like Captain Quinn have faced discipline, even career ruin, for disobeying it.
After the beating, the Army relieved Captain Quinn of his command and pulled him from Afghanistan. He has since left the military.
“The Army contends that Martland and others should have looked the other way (a contention that I believe is nonsense),” Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who hopes to save Sergeant Martland’s career, wrote last week to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
In Sergeant Martland’s case, the Army said it could not comment because of the Privacy Act.
When asked about American military policy, the spokesman for the American command in Afghanistan, Col. Brian Tribus, wrote in an email: “Generally, allegations of child sexual abuse by Afghan military or police personnel would be a matter of domestic Afghan criminal law.” He added that “there would be no express requirement that U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan report it.” An exception, he said, is when rape is being used as a weapon of war.
The American policy of nonintervention is intended to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militia units the United States has trained to fight the Taliban. It also reflects a reluctance to impose cultural values in a country where pederasty is rife, particularly among powerful men, for whom being surrounded by young teenagers can be a mark of social status.
Some soldiers believed that the policy made sense, even if they were personally distressed at the sexual predation they witnessed or heard about.
“The bigger picture was fighting the Taliban,” a former Marine lance corporal reflected. “It wasn’t to stop molestation.”
Still, the former lance corporal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid offending fellow Marines, recalled feeling sickened the day he entered a room on a base and saw three or four men lying on the floor with children between them. “I’m not a hundred percent sure what was happening under the sheet, but I have a pretty good idea of what was going on,” he said.
But the American policy of treating child sexual abuse as a cultural issue has often alienated the villages whose children are being preyed upon. The pitfalls of the policy emerged clearly as American Special Forces soldiers began to form Afghan Local Police militias to hold villages that American forces had retaken from the Taliban in 2010 and 2011.
By the summer of 2011, Captain Quinn and Sergeant Martland, both Green Berets on their second tour in northern Kunduz Province, began to receive dire complaints about the Afghan Local Police units they were training and supporting.
First, they were told, one of the militia commanders raped a 14- or 15-year-old girl whom he had spotted working in the fields. Captain Quinn informed the provincial police chief, who soon levied punishment. “He got one day in jail, and then she was forced to marry him,” Mr. Quinn said.
When he asked a superior officer what more he could do, he was told that he had done well to bring it up with local officials but that there was nothing else to be done. “We’re being praised for doing the right thing, and a guy just got away with raping a 14-year-old girl,” Mr. Quinn said.
Village elders grew more upset at the predatory behavior of American-backed commanders. After each case, Captain Quinn would gather the Afghan commanders and lecture them on human rights.
Soon another commander absconded with his men’s wages. Mr. Quinn said he later heard that the commander had spent the money on dancing boys. Another commander murdered his 12-year-old daughter in a so-called honor killing for having kissed a boy. “There were no repercussions,” Mr. Quinn recalled.
In September 2011, an Afghan woman, visibly bruised, showed up at an American base with her son, who was limping. One of the Afghan police commanders in the area, Abdul Rahman, had abducted the boy and forced him to become a sex slave, chained to his bed, the woman explained. When she sought her son’s return, she herself was beaten. Her son had eventually been released, but she was afraid it would happen again, she told the Americans on the base.
She explained that because “her son was such a good-looking kid, he was a status symbol” coveted by local commanders, recalled Mr. Quinn, who did not speak to the woman directly but was told about her visit when he returned to the base from a mission later that day.
So Captain Quinn summoned Abdul Rahman and confronted him about what he had done. The police commander acknowledged that it was true, but brushed it off. When the American officer began to lecture about “how you are held to a higher standard if you are working with U.S. forces, and people expect more of you,” the commander began to laugh.
“I picked him up and threw him onto the ground,” Mr. Quinn said. Sergeant Martland joined in, he said. “I did this to make sure the message was understood that if he went back to the boy, that it was not going to be tolerated,” Mr. Quinn recalled.
There is disagreement over the extent of the commander’s injuries. Mr. Quinn said they were not serious, which was corroborated by an Afghan official who saw the commander afterward.
(The commander, Abdul Rahman, was killed two years ago in a Taliban ambush. His brother said in an interview that his brother had never raped the boy, but was the victim of a false accusation engineered by his enemies.)
Sergeant Martland, who received a Bronze Star for valor for his actions during a Taliban ambush, wrote in a letter to the Army this year that he and Mr. Quinn “felt that morally we could no longer stand by and allow our A.L.P. to commit atrocities,” referring to the Afghan Local Police.
The father of Lance Corporal Buckley believes the policy of looking away from sexual abuse was a factor in his son’s death, and he has filed a lawsuit to press the Marine Corps for more information about it.
Lance Corporal Buckley and two other Marines were killed in 2012 by one of a large entourage of boys living at their base with an Afghan police commander named Sarwar Jan.
Mr. Jan had long had a bad reputation; in 2010, two Marine officers managed to persuade the Afghan authorities to arrest him following a litany of abuses, including corruption, support for the Taliban and child abduction. But just two years later, the police commander was back with a different unit, working at Lance Corporal Buckley’s post, Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Helmand Province.
Lance Corporal Buckley had noticed that a large entourage of “tea boys” — domestic servants who are sometimes pressed into sexual slavery — had arrived with Mr. Jan and moved into the same barracks, one floor below the Marines. He told his father about it during his final call home.
Word of Mr. Jan’s new position also reached the Marine officers who had gotten him arrested in 2010. One of them, Maj. Jason Brezler, dashed out an email to Marine officers at F.O.B. Delhi, warning them about Mr. Jan and attaching a dossier about him.
The warning was never heeded. About two weeks later, one of the older boys with Mr. Jan — around 17 years old — grabbed a rifle and killed Lance Corporal Buckley and the other Marines.
Lance Corporal Buckley’s father still agonizes about whether the killing occurred because of the sexual abuse by an American ally. “As far as the young boys are concerned, the Marines are allowing it to happen and so they’re guilty by association,” Mr. Buckley said. “They don’t know our Marines are sick to their stomachs.”
The one American service member who was punished in the investigation that followed was Major Brezler, who had sent the email warning about Mr. Jan, his lawyers said. In one of Major Brezler’s hearings, Marine Corps lawyers warned that information about the police commander’s penchant for abusing boys might be classified. The Marine Corps has initiated proceedings to discharge Major Brezler.
Mr. Jan appears to have moved on, to a higher-ranking police command in the same province. In an interview, he denied keeping boys as sex slaves or having any relationship with the boy who killed the three Marines. “No, it’s all untrue,” Mr. Jan said. But people who know him say he still suffers from “a toothache problem,” a euphemism here for child sexual abuse.
A version of this article appears in print on September 21, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Troops Are Told to Ignore Afghan Allies’ Abuse of Boys.
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An Olympic gymnastics coach facing child molestation and sexual misconduct charges in Indianapolis was found dead in his jail cell on Saturday night in an apparent suicide, authorities said.
The coach, Marvin Sharp, 49, was discovered just after 8 p.m. at the county jail where he was being held, Marion County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Katie Carlson said. Authorities believe he committed suicide, she said.
Sharp was arrested last month after authorities raided his home and found thousands of video and image files containing child pornography, NBC affiliate WTHR reported.
Sharp, who opened Sharp’s Gymnastics Academy 14 years ago, sent over 100 athletes to national championships, according to theacademy’s website.
In 2008, two of his gymnasts — Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan — won silver medals at the Olympic games in Bejing.
According to criminal court documents, one young student described a recent two-year period when Sharp took “hundreds if not thousands of photos of her in various poses.”
Sharp would allegedly touch her inappropriately, the documents say, and at one point he asked her to wear a straightjacket.
In an interview with police, Sharp confirmed the photo-shoots but described the photographs as “muscle pictures” and said the student’s mother authorized them, according to the documents. Sharp told police he did not mean to make the student “feel uncomfortable,” the documents say.
Sharp was being held on four counts each of child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor, according to jail records. He was booked on Aug. 24.
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I am writing to you on the Eve of Yom Kippur with the intention that this letter be read and contemplated in the break between Musaph and Mincha on Yom Kippur. Our Sages teach that notwithstanding the extraordinary holiness of the day, the reading of the Torah at Mincha on Yom Kippur recounts the laws of sexual misconduct, because of their unfortunate prevalence and the need to seek atonement.
Furthermore we are instructed, that until we make amends with our fellow man, we cannot find atonement with Hashem.
In that spirit I wish to address the issue of child sexual abuse. Over the last few years it has become clear that our community has been affected by this scourge no differently than any other community. It has also become clear that we have not handled this issue in an appropriate manner.
I wish to be frank. For whatever reason a culture of cover up, often couched in religious terms, pervaded our thinking and actions. It may even have been well intentioned, but it was simply wrong. An issue of child sexual abuse must be reported to the police immediately and perpetrators must be brought to justice. It makes no difference whether the crime took place ten years ago or ten days ago. There can be no exceptions and no excuses.
I turn to the victims. No one can know your pain and what you have been through. And the pain has only been magnified by our inaction. On this holiest of days I sincerely beg your forgiveness on behalf of all of us who did not hear your voice. I can only assure you on my behalf, and on behalf of the vast majority of the Rabbinate, that we hear you now loud and clear. We will do our utmost not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We hope that you can find it within yourselves to forgive us.
Another word to victims. I know it is difficult for you to come forward to the police, but one of the ways through which abuse will be stopped is by perpetrators being prosecuted, and a clear message of deterrence being sent to potential abusers. Please try and find it within yourselves to come forward. There are victims advocate groups such as Tzedek who can give moral support. I myself recently accompanied a victim to the police. Please help us , if you can, to combat this abuse. Very often after coming forward victims find it easier to find healing and closure.
To perpetrators I say you will be found. It may not be today, it may not even be tomorrow but it will happen. There will be justice if not in this world, most definitely in the next. You have done a most heinous crime and you will never find atonement with Hashem or peace within yourselves until you do the right thing. Turn yourselves in. Admit to the wrong you have done so that you may begin the path to atonement and allow your victims to find healing and peace.
I wish to all, that you be sealed in the books of life and happiness. I hope that we all find peace and conquer the demons that in one way or another plague each of us. I pray that Hashem rights all the wrongs in this world and we find ourselves speedily in Jerusalem dancing in the courtyard of the rebuilt Temple.
Full article: http://www.mannywaks.com/rabbi-moshe-gutnick-pre-yom-kippur-apology-to-victims-of-institutional-sexual-abuse-on-behalf-of-rabbinate.html
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Rabbi Ari Hart, We Are Judged On How We Protect The Vulnerable Among Us, The Jewish Week
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformAs we leave Rosh Hashanah and head into Yom Kippur, the sound of crying is echoing in my ears. The theme of crying appears throughout the liturgy we recite, it’s mirrored in the sounds of the shofar, and it pours forth from the souls of members of our community.
In recent years, we’ve heard more and more stories, more and more cries of sexual abuse in the Jewish community coming to light, across the globe and across denominations. What once perhaps felt shocking and unreal has become tragically commonplace as scandal after scandal unfolds. It is painful and tragic for our community.
The true tragedy, though, is not the embarrassment and shame we feel when abuse is exposed. The true tragedy is that innocent and vulnerable children have been harmed in ways that are permanently scarring – physically, emotionally and spiritually, and we as a Jewish community have many times failed in our responses.
On Rosh Hashanah, we read two Torah portions that share a common, powerful theme. They are both the stories of vulnerable youths saved from terrible harm at the last minute by a compassionate God. Sarah and Abraham cast Ishmael out to the desert. His mother Hagar was unable to bear his cries for water so she abandoned him by a bush to die. God stepped in and provided immediate healing and a path to a bright future for Ishmael. So too with Isaac. Abraham, acting on God’s command, nearly killed his own child until God’s angel stopped him at the last minute, calling out “do not lay a hand upon the child!”
Our world today is not a world where God or angels visibly, miraculously intervene in the lives of vulnerable children, saving them from harm.
God has handed the responsibility to protect the most vulnerable to us in the commandment: v’halachta bidrachav, and you shall walk in God’s path. Maimonides, in his Guide to the Perplexed (1:54), identifies, chessed, tzedakah and mishpat, lovingkindess, righteousness and justice, as the Godly path we are to walk in.
Tragically, when it comes to protecting children from abuse, over and over again our community has stumbled. We have failed to both prevent abuse of children and then to respond to it appropriately, leaving many with the double trauma of abuse and then abandonment by the authority figures and communities that are supposed to help and heal.
To be sure, this is not just a Jewish issue. Child abuse and the subsequent denials, cover-ups, the shielding of abusers, silencing victims, etc. appear in all religions across the globe. And it’s not just a faith problem either; abuse scandals have erupted in entertainment, sports, politics, and more.
It is a universal problem, but it calls for particular answers. For us, that means answers that reflects the unique realities of Jewish communities. The time for pretending that this problem doesn’t exist in our community is over. The time for limiting ourselves to only being reactive to occurrences of abuse is over. Now is the time for taking proactive, concrete steps towards prevention is now. This year, 5776.
Sensitive, carefully thought out policies, procedures and education can prevent abuse, lessen its damage when it occurs, and help communities move forward in healthy, productive ways.
This new year calls on any Jewish institution that engages with children to carefully review its policies in place and to ask the tough questions to help make things better.
Some of these questions include:
● Are we teaching our children the words and empowering them to talk to us about abuse?
● Do the institutions our children participate in (schools, synagogues, camps) have sound policies and procedures for concerning abuse prevention and response?
● What support do we provide to victims of abuse?
These are not questions with boilerplate answers. They require real thought and investment from communal leaders. Thankfully, there are resources to help guide us in these areas. Experts in the field of abuse and prevention are generating guides to help us in this critical work. The Center for Disease Control has a helpful guide called Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures that is available online.
At the synagogue I have the honor of serving, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, a committee of lay and professional leaders began taking steps in this journey last winter. When we began meeting last spring, our goal was to be proactive instead of reacting to crisis. It has been a deliberate, challenging and meaningful journey for our community. We have not answered all the questions yet, and our committee still has a long way to go, but we are invested in putting in the time and energy to ensure we are doing everything we can to make our community a safe space for children.
This is the season where we reflect on and are judged by what truly matters. In the Beit Din Shel Maala, the Heavenly Courts, our community will not be held accountable for the quality of our kiddushes or numbers of member units. We will be judged by how we protect those most vulnerable in our midst. Across the Jewish world we have heard the cries and seen the silent tears of those who have been abused – let’s make this the year we respond.
Rabbi Ari Hart serves at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale-The Bayit.
Full article here: http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/we-are-judged-how-we-protect-vulnerable-among-us#cigtSq4I5fRYcsXG.99
Yerachmiel Lopin, Sex Abusing Rabbi Dovid Weinberger is back in the Five Towns, Frum Follies
/in New York /by SOL ReformDovid Weinberger recently moved back into West Lawrence some two years after his abrupt departure from his position as rabbi of Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Lawrence, NY.
He quit in the wake of revelations that he was sexually exploiting women who sought his help for various kinds of counseling including marital counseling.
According to local sources some of the same rabbis who forced him to agree to quit the rabbinate, and publicly denounced him, are now divided about whether to advise their communities publicly.
In December 2013 he promised to stay totally out of the rabbinate when he signed the following statement:
To whom it may concern, I Rabbi Dovid Weinberger, formerly the Rabbi of Cong. Shaarei Tefilla of Lawrence, NY, do hereby acknowledge that I will retire from the Rabbinate effective immediately, and will never again serve in the capacity of Rovor Rabbi of any congregation or community, nor will I ever again be involved as a mechanech [teacher] in any venue ofChinuch [education].
He then reneged on the agreement and started talk of forming a new congregation in the area. This prompted many of the important local rabbis to issue the following statement in early 2014:
It is with great sadness that the following announcement is being made to alert our community to a serious concern of which many of members might not be aware.
Recently, RDW [Rabbi Dovid Weinberger], a rabbi, resigned from his position as a rabbi of a congregation [Shaaray Tefila, Lawrence, NY], educator of young women in our community, and counselor to many who sought his advice. Following that, we learned from professionals of a number of documented cases of his unfortunate and unacceptable behavior. It is the collective judgment of these professionals that this behavior may continue.
We therefore feel obligated to inform our community of this concern and advise that there be no interaction with this rabbi in any rabbinic, educational, counseling or private setting.
Weinberg then attempted an end run by getting Rabbi Yisroel Belsky to write a letter questioning the local rabbinical condemnation of Weinberg. In a rare show of rabbinical feistyness, local rabbis blocked scheduled fundraising events for Belsky’s Yeshivah Torah Vodaath. The Five Towns is one of the wealthiest orthodox areas in the country and it is estimated that this decision cost Torah Vodaath about $200,000. Belsky exited the controversy.
At this point I do not know more about Weinberger’s plans in moving back to the area. But in the past it was tied to an attempt to form a new congregation. I assume that is the current fear. I will report as I get more information.
Full article here: https://frumfollies.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/sex-abusing-rabbi-dovid-weinberger-is-back-in-the-five-towns/
Manu Raju, The Pope vs. the GOP, CNN
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformCongressional Republicans hope Pope Francis leaves his liberal-leaning views at the Vatican.
When he addresses a joint session of Congress Thursday during an event that will be broadcast around the world, a large number of House and Senate Republicans want the leader of the Catholic Church to keep a lid on his progressive attitudes on climate change, immigration, guns and capitalism.
In interviews with CNN, a wide array of GOP lawmakers argued that the Pope’s message should stay away from the political fights consuming Washington, and many expressed strong disapproval of the fiery views he’s espoused since taking over the papacy in 2013.
“I think it’s totally inappropriate that the Pope is weighing in on all the real sensitive, far-left issues,” said Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, one of the most conservative senators. “I’m not a Catholic, but my Catholic friends in Oklahoma are not real pleased with it.”
Rep. Paul Gosar, a Catholic Republican from Arizona, plans to boycott the event.
“I don’t need to be lectured by the Pope about climate change,” Gosar said in an interview off the House floor. “When he wants to take a political position, I will tell you: He is free and clear to be criticized like the rest of us.”
The comments demonstrate how the Pope’s visit is creating an awkward moment for Republicans in Washington. While Christian conservatives have long made up an influential segment of their base, and there are areas of agreement between the GOP and the Vatican, the Pope has showcased more progressive stances during his time leading one of the world’s largest religions.
When he comes to the Capitol this week, his highly anticipated address will be viewed by millions of Americans, and thousands of tourists are pouring into Washington for a chance to catch a glimpse of the pontiff. House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, both Catholics, extended the speaking invitation to Francis, who will become the first pontiff ever to address a joint session of Congress.
The huge platform gives Pope Francis a major opportunity to help drive the national conversation. What’s more, nearly six in 10 Americans have a favorable view of Francis, according to a recent Gallup poll, making him far more popular than President Barack Obama and leaders of Congress.
How aggressive Francis will be in advocating his views to a conservative Congress is an open question. But he has not been afraid to touch on thorny subjects over the last several years, drawing global attention for his stances.
In a highly controversial paper released by the Vatican this summer, Francis backed the “very consistent scientific consensus” that climate change is caused by humans, saying it was “urgent” to develop policies to bolster the environment and curtail fossil fuels.
In comments in July, Francis focused on the plight of migrant children, saying governments must move to “protect and assist them,” in line with his repeated statements for a compassionate approach to immigration.
He has also spoken more tolerantly about gays than previous pontiffs, saying famously, “Who am I to judge?” — a sharp contrast with his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI’s hardline on homosexuality.
Francis has blasted gun manufacturers, likening them to hypocrites. And in a series of tough speeches, Francis has railed against global capitalism, even calling it a “subtle dictatorship.”
Such comments make many Republicans cringe.
“I’m always concerned about those who are bringing spiritual messages that step too far over the line in terms of political issues,” said Sen. Dan Coats, an Indiana Republican and Presbyterian. “I think it can be dangerous territory because then it gives people reason to make a judgment on say, Billy Graham or the Pope or whoever, on the basis of their political leanings — not on the basis of their spirituality.”
And Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, a Catholic, didn’t hold back Sunday from criticizing Pope Francis on his stance on a political issue — his advocacy of closer ties between the United States and Cuba.
“I just think the Pope is wrong,” the New Jersey governor told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “The fact is that his infallibility is on religious matters, not on political ones.”
Still, the Pope also espouses social views that are in line with the GOP, chief among them opposition to abortion.
With his huge perch this week, some Republicans hope that Francis will reiterate the church’s objections to the procedure — an issue that is now paralyzing progress on a funding bill on Capitol Hill — though that could spark protests from congressional Democrats.
“I think he will solidly be on the side of those of us who want to restrict tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood,” said John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican.
“I have no thought that the Pope is going to be weak on the issue of protecting the unborn,” said Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican.
Some Catholic Republicans said they plan to soak in the historic visit, praising the Pope for injecting new energy into the church and pushing for a new era of inclusiveness — even if they sharply disagree with some of his views.
“I would trust him to do his best to say what’s on his mind,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, a former GOP South Dakota governor and a Roman Catholic. “We’ll thank him for what he brings to the table and at the same time, we’ll glean from him what we think will be helpful.”
But Rounds pointedly disagreed with the Pope’s views on capitalism.
“Personally, I think if you think of the quality of life that has been delivered to millions of people around the world and freedoms that we find for people around the world, most of it has happened because of innovation due to capitalism, and because the United States of America exists,” Rounds said.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Catholic Republican from North Carolina, said the Pope is well within his rights to lay out his goals and views.
“The Pope is the leader of my church,” Tillis said. “He is doing what popes have done for hundreds of years — that does not bother me.”
But, Tillis said, the final call on how to achieve those objectives is up to lawmakers — not the church.
Other Catholic Republicans, however, were more reticent when asked about the Pope’s views.
“I’m going to do the right thing and not comment on this,” said Idaho Sen. Jim Risch. “I’m a conservative Catholic, and I have been all my life.”
In recent years, the House chamber has hosted its share of high-profile, tense speeches. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress to protest the nuclear talks with Iran, prompting sharp condemnation from the White House and liberal Democrats. In 2009, South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” during Obama’s speech to Congress about health care. And every year, the President delivers a mostly partisan State of the Union address to the rowdy body.
Yet Francis’s speech is expected to be far more prominent than all of those, with Boehner calling it “one of the biggest events in the history of the Capitol.”
In anticipation of the much-publicized address, Boehner and other congressional leaders sent an unusual letter last week to lawmakers asking them to assist with the flow of the event by “refraining” from “lengthy” handshakes with the Pope and to avoid holding side conversations with him in order to let him progress with his schedule.
Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the GOP leadership, said he hopes the Pope “casts a fairly wide net, talking about things like religious freedom and the issues that affect families.”
But Blunt added, “I don’t think we have much control over what he says.”
Inhofe, however, thinks the Pope should restrain himself. On the issue of enacting policies to curb global warming, Inhofe, a climate skeptic who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said: “That’s not something that I think the Pope ought to be talking about.”
He added, “I have never experienced a time when a Pope would jump on (so many) very extreme issues.”
Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/pope-francis-congress-republicans-politics/index.html
Joseph Goldstein, U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies, NY Times
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformKABUL, Afghanistan — In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southernAfghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base.
“At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.
The policy has endured as American forces have recruited and organized Afghan militias to help hold territory against the Taliban. But soldiers and Marines have been increasingly troubled that instead of weeding out pedophiles, the American military was arming them in some cases and placing them as the commanders of villages — and doing little when they began abusing children.
“The reason we were here is because we heard the terrible things the Taliban were doing to people, how they were taking away human rights,” said Dan Quinn, a former Special Forces captain who beat up an American-backed militia commander for keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave. “But we were putting people into power who would do things that were worse than the Taliban did — that was something village elders voiced to me.”
The policy of instructing soldiers to ignore child sexual abuse by their Afghan allies is coming under new scrutiny, particularly as it emerges that service members like Captain Quinn have faced discipline, even career ruin, for disobeying it.
After the beating, the Army relieved Captain Quinn of his command and pulled him from Afghanistan. He has since left the military.
Four years later, the Army is also trying to forcibly retire Sgt. First Class Charles Martland, a Special Forces member who joined Captain Quinn in beating up the commander.
“The Army contends that Martland and others should have looked the other way (a contention that I believe is nonsense),” Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who hopes to save Sergeant Martland’s career, wrote last week to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
In Sergeant Martland’s case, the Army said it could not comment because of the Privacy Act.
When asked about American military policy, the spokesman for the American command in Afghanistan, Col. Brian Tribus, wrote in an email: “Generally, allegations of child sexual abuse by Afghan military or police personnel would be a matter of domestic Afghan criminal law.” He added that “there would be no express requirement that U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan report it.” An exception, he said, is when rape is being used as a weapon of war.
The American policy of nonintervention is intended to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militia units the United States has trained to fight the Taliban. It also reflects a reluctance to impose cultural values in a country where pederasty is rife, particularly among powerful men, for whom being surrounded by young teenagers can be a mark of social status.
Some soldiers believed that the policy made sense, even if they were personally distressed at the sexual predation they witnessed or heard about.
“The bigger picture was fighting the Taliban,” a former Marine lance corporal reflected. “It wasn’t to stop molestation.”
Still, the former lance corporal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid offending fellow Marines, recalled feeling sickened the day he entered a room on a base and saw three or four men lying on the floor with children between them. “I’m not a hundred percent sure what was happening under the sheet, but I have a pretty good idea of what was going on,” he said.
But the American policy of treating child sexual abuse as a cultural issue has often alienated the villages whose children are being preyed upon. The pitfalls of the policy emerged clearly as American Special Forces soldiers began to form Afghan Local Police militias to hold villages that American forces had retaken from the Taliban in 2010 and 2011.
By the summer of 2011, Captain Quinn and Sergeant Martland, both Green Berets on their second tour in northern Kunduz Province, began to receive dire complaints about the Afghan Local Police units they were training and supporting.
First, they were told, one of the militia commanders raped a 14- or 15-year-old girl whom he had spotted working in the fields. Captain Quinn informed the provincial police chief, who soon levied punishment. “He got one day in jail, and then she was forced to marry him,” Mr. Quinn said.
When he asked a superior officer what more he could do, he was told that he had done well to bring it up with local officials but that there was nothing else to be done. “We’re being praised for doing the right thing, and a guy just got away with raping a 14-year-old girl,” Mr. Quinn said.
Village elders grew more upset at the predatory behavior of American-backed commanders. After each case, Captain Quinn would gather the Afghan commanders and lecture them on human rights.
Soon another commander absconded with his men’s wages. Mr. Quinn said he later heard that the commander had spent the money on dancing boys. Another commander murdered his 12-year-old daughter in a so-called honor killing for having kissed a boy. “There were no repercussions,” Mr. Quinn recalled.
In September 2011, an Afghan woman, visibly bruised, showed up at an American base with her son, who was limping. One of the Afghan police commanders in the area, Abdul Rahman, had abducted the boy and forced him to become a sex slave, chained to his bed, the woman explained. When she sought her son’s return, she herself was beaten. Her son had eventually been released, but she was afraid it would happen again, she told the Americans on the base.
She explained that because “her son was such a good-looking kid, he was a status symbol” coveted by local commanders, recalled Mr. Quinn, who did not speak to the woman directly but was told about her visit when he returned to the base from a mission later that day.
So Captain Quinn summoned Abdul Rahman and confronted him about what he had done. The police commander acknowledged that it was true, but brushed it off. When the American officer began to lecture about “how you are held to a higher standard if you are working with U.S. forces, and people expect more of you,” the commander began to laugh.
“I picked him up and threw him onto the ground,” Mr. Quinn said. Sergeant Martland joined in, he said. “I did this to make sure the message was understood that if he went back to the boy, that it was not going to be tolerated,” Mr. Quinn recalled.
There is disagreement over the extent of the commander’s injuries. Mr. Quinn said they were not serious, which was corroborated by an Afghan official who saw the commander afterward.
(The commander, Abdul Rahman, was killed two years ago in a Taliban ambush. His brother said in an interview that his brother had never raped the boy, but was the victim of a false accusation engineered by his enemies.)
Sergeant Martland, who received a Bronze Star for valor for his actions during a Taliban ambush, wrote in a letter to the Army this year that he and Mr. Quinn “felt that morally we could no longer stand by and allow our A.L.P. to commit atrocities,” referring to the Afghan Local Police.
The father of Lance Corporal Buckley believes the policy of looking away from sexual abuse was a factor in his son’s death, and he has filed a lawsuit to press the Marine Corps for more information about it.
Lance Corporal Buckley and two other Marines were killed in 2012 by one of a large entourage of boys living at their base with an Afghan police commander named Sarwar Jan.
Mr. Jan had long had a bad reputation; in 2010, two Marine officers managed to persuade the Afghan authorities to arrest him following a litany of abuses, including corruption, support for the Taliban and child abduction. But just two years later, the police commander was back with a different unit, working at Lance Corporal Buckley’s post, Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Helmand Province.
Lance Corporal Buckley had noticed that a large entourage of “tea boys” — domestic servants who are sometimes pressed into sexual slavery — had arrived with Mr. Jan and moved into the same barracks, one floor below the Marines. He told his father about it during his final call home.
Word of Mr. Jan’s new position also reached the Marine officers who had gotten him arrested in 2010. One of them, Maj. Jason Brezler, dashed out an email to Marine officers at F.O.B. Delhi, warning them about Mr. Jan and attaching a dossier about him.
The warning was never heeded. About two weeks later, one of the older boys with Mr. Jan — around 17 years old — grabbed a rifle and killed Lance Corporal Buckley and the other Marines.
Lance Corporal Buckley’s father still agonizes about whether the killing occurred because of the sexual abuse by an American ally. “As far as the young boys are concerned, the Marines are allowing it to happen and so they’re guilty by association,” Mr. Buckley said. “They don’t know our Marines are sick to their stomachs.”
The one American service member who was punished in the investigation that followed was Major Brezler, who had sent the email warning about Mr. Jan, his lawyers said. In one of Major Brezler’s hearings, Marine Corps lawyers warned that information about the police commander’s penchant for abusing boys might be classified. The Marine Corps has initiated proceedings to discharge Major Brezler.
Mr. Jan appears to have moved on, to a higher-ranking police command in the same province. In an interview, he denied keeping boys as sex slaves or having any relationship with the boy who killed the three Marines. “No, it’s all untrue,” Mr. Jan said. But people who know him say he still suffers from “a toothache problem,” a euphemism here for child sexual abuse.
A version of this article appears in print on September 21, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Troops Are Told to Ignore Afghan Allies’ Abuse of Boys.
Tim Stelloh, Olympic Gymnastics Coach Accused of Molestation Found Dead in Jail, NBC
/in Georgia /by SOL ReformAn Olympic gymnastics coach facing child molestation and sexual misconduct charges in Indianapolis was found dead in his jail cell on Saturday night in an apparent suicide, authorities said.
The coach, Marvin Sharp, 49, was discovered just after 8 p.m. at the county jail where he was being held, Marion County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Katie Carlson said. Authorities believe he committed suicide, she said.
Sharp was arrested last month after authorities raided his home and found thousands of video and image files containing child pornography, NBC affiliate WTHR reported.
Sharp, who opened Sharp’s Gymnastics Academy 14 years ago, sent over 100 athletes to national championships, according to theacademy’s website.
In 2008, two of his gymnasts — Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan — won silver medals at the Olympic games in Bejing.
According to criminal court documents, one young student described a recent two-year period when Sharp took “hundreds if not thousands of photos of her in various poses.”
Sharp would allegedly touch her inappropriately, the documents say, and at one point he asked her to wear a straightjacket.
In an interview with police, Sharp confirmed the photo-shoots but described the photographs as “muscle pictures” and said the student’s mother authorized them, according to the documents. Sharp told police he did not mean to make the student “feel uncomfortable,” the documents say.
Sharp was being held on four counts each of child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor, according to jail records. He was booked on Aug. 24.
Olympic Gymnastics Coach Accused of Molestation Found Dead in Jail – NBC News
Rabbi Moshe Gutnick pre-Yom Kippur apology to victims of institutional sexual abuse on behalf of Rabbinate, Manny Walks
/in International /by SOL ReformGreetings and Blessings,
I am writing to you on the Eve of Yom Kippur with the intention that this letter be read and contemplated in the break between Musaph and Mincha on Yom Kippur. Our Sages teach that notwithstanding the extraordinary holiness of the day, the reading of the Torah at Mincha on Yom Kippur recounts the laws of sexual misconduct, because of their unfortunate prevalence and the need to seek atonement.
Furthermore we are instructed, that until we make amends with our fellow man, we cannot find atonement with Hashem.
In that spirit I wish to address the issue of child sexual abuse. Over the last few years it has become clear that our community has been affected by this scourge no differently than any other community. It has also become clear that we have not handled this issue in an appropriate manner.
I wish to be frank. For whatever reason a culture of cover up, often couched in religious terms, pervaded our thinking and actions. It may even have been well intentioned, but it was simply wrong. An issue of child sexual abuse must be reported to the police immediately and perpetrators must be brought to justice. It makes no difference whether the crime took place ten years ago or ten days ago. There can be no exceptions and no excuses.
I turn to the victims. No one can know your pain and what you have been through. And the pain has only been magnified by our inaction. On this holiest of days I sincerely beg your forgiveness on behalf of all of us who did not hear your voice. I can only assure you on my behalf, and on behalf of the vast majority of the Rabbinate, that we hear you now loud and clear. We will do our utmost not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We hope that you can find it within yourselves to forgive us.
Another word to victims. I know it is difficult for you to come forward to the police, but one of the ways through which abuse will be stopped is by perpetrators being prosecuted, and a clear message of deterrence being sent to potential abusers. Please try and find it within yourselves to come forward. There are victims advocate groups such as Tzedek who can give moral support. I myself recently accompanied a victim to the police. Please help us , if you can, to combat this abuse. Very often after coming forward victims find it easier to find healing and closure.
To perpetrators I say you will be found. It may not be today, it may not even be tomorrow but it will happen. There will be justice if not in this world, most definitely in the next. You have done a most heinous crime and you will never find atonement with Hashem or peace within yourselves until you do the right thing. Turn yourselves in. Admit to the wrong you have done so that you may begin the path to atonement and allow your victims to find healing and peace.
I wish to all, that you be sealed in the books of life and happiness. I hope that we all find peace and conquer the demons that in one way or another plague each of us. I pray that Hashem rights all the wrongs in this world and we find ourselves speedily in Jerusalem dancing in the courtyard of the rebuilt Temple.
Full article: http://www.mannywaks.com/rabbi-moshe-gutnick-pre-yom-kippur-apology-to-victims-of-institutional-sexual-abuse-on-behalf-of-rabbinate.html