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Friday, December 21, 2012

Yeshiva Victim Overcomes Shame To Speak Out



One of Macy Gordon's Accusers Tells Story of Alleged Abuse

By Anonymous

The author claims to have been sodomized by Rabbi Macy Gordon, a former teacher at Yeshiva University High School for Boys, while a student at the school in the late 1970s and early ’80s. His was one of the accusations reported in the Forward’s December 21 issue, in “Student Claims of Abuse Not Reported by Y.U. Leader.”

I am Macy Gordon’s accuser. My allegations are true, yet I understand why some people may doubt my claims. I wish now to respond to some of the comments I have read in the wake of the Forward’s revelations and to make a few statements of my own.

To those who say that pedophiles exploit more than one child and that there must be other victims — you are correct. There was at least one more victim but he has not come forward. I cannot speak for him, but for me the exposing of this abuse has evoked nightmares and forced me to relive traumatic events that I had put behind me. Although I have asked to be anonymous, there is no guarantee that my identity will remain protected, and that is a risk I take. If other victims decide to remain silent out of fear or otherwise, that is their right, but it does not make me a liar.

To those who knew or know Rabbi Gordon and respect him, shock and denial is a reasonable response; however, surely they know that this was the reaction in the cases of Jerry Sandusky and many Catholic clergy. It is that very veneer of respect that might enable some of these infamous pedophiles to commit serial crimes. If it were the janitor, he would be reported immediately. But when a revered member of society commits these crimes, victims are confused and are frightened of the perpetrator’s authority. Their stature also grants these pedophiles a lesser degree of suspicion. That, too, intimidates victims.

To those who are outraged that these individuals are being tried in the press, this was the last — and only — resort. Rabbi Norman Lamm, Y.U,’s former president, admitted that staff who had improper sexual activity were let go, especially if it was what he called a “cut-and-dry case.” In my case we reported the activity to Y.U. and as far as I know they did not investigate further, although I gave them the name of another victim. That also means they did not try to evaluate or assist that other student. After so many years, the statute of limitations has expired. Others have previously pleaded with Y.U. to investigate past sex abuses but were ignored. The only way this has gotten any attention was through the media. Whatever you think of the Forward, the paper’s staffers are not stupid. Trust me that they did their due diligence, interviewed me a number of times and still took great risks to publish my account.

To those who doubt my account because of the details, that hurts me the most. You are essentially accusing me of being not just a liar, but also a bad liar. Would you be more satisfied if I said I had been raped? It should be self-evident that victims do not choose their method of assault.

To you victims of sexual abuse who are still struggling to find your way, I understand you. Perhaps you blame yourself. Your response is normal. In fact, you are entitled to whatever feelings you have about this. You are also entitled to get professional help, which is what I did. You may want to reconsider your connection to religion, but I encourage you to not let the predator rob you of your ties to Judaism. Find the best values that religion has to offer and live by them, as I do. Gemilut chesed, acts of loving-kindness will help you heal. Dedicate yourself to some form of community service and your faith in people and yourself will be restored.

To the Orthodox who are grappling with this, some of you are stuck between the concepts of lashon hara, gossiping, and motzi shem ra, discussing false accusations. This is a reflex response for some of you, but also a convenient way to stifle discourse on an important topic for the community.

To Rabbi Macy Gordon, you are now an old man, but you were in your prime when you assaulted me. Although you had no compassion for me, I have some rachmanus, compassion for you. I feel bad for you that you must deal with this now at this stage of life. And I feel very sad for your children. This cannot be easy on them, but it is your own fault. Also your fault is that I cannot daven the shmone esrei in peace and often skip it entirely. That is because you required us to memorize the modim and I find myself thinking of what you did to me. It is your fault that it took me many years to trust people again.

To Rabbi Norman Lamm, how is it that you do not now remember the “shock” that we were told you experienced upon hearing of my molestation at the hands of Macy Gordon? I suppose a $250,000 donation to name a scholarship after Gordon is incentive enough to forget. To current Y.U. President Richard Joel, what will you do now? Will you allow the Macy Gordon scholarship to stand? In the end, I have to say that I did learn some things during my time at Yeshiva:

To distrust authority, especially the clergy.

That the Orthodox are for sure better at observing various rituals but are just as corrupt and unethical as everyone else (they just don’t see it that way).

I want to share a story that even I find incredible in retrospect. I once was caught cheating on a chumash test in Macy Gordon’s class, but I tried to lie about it. I was sent down to the office of the assistant principal, George Finkelstein, where he looked at me sternly and said, “Averah goreret averah” — “One sin begets another.”

Indeed.

http://forward.com/articles/168094/yeshiva-victim-overcomes-shame-to-speak-out/



12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are very brave and well spoken. I too took a giant step during the summer. I came forward after 40 years, walked into a police station in Toronto Canada (where there is no Statute of Limitations) and had Heshi Nussbaum arrested. Since then several more victims have come forward, as a ripple effect a second well known pedophile was arrested a few months later. I hope more victims come forward for you. If you would like to contact me, please email me at survivorofhn@gmail.com

Survivor of HN

Ronald Tauber said...

This pervert is very dangerous. He was originally shuttling back & forth between Detroit & Florida. He was convicted of manslaughter in Florida for puncturing a woman's uterus during surgery & letting her bleed to death.

After being released from prison he has lived in such places as Atlanta & New York. He had the chutzpah to sue his shrink for not having him committed to prevent him from molesting children in Detroit.

http://realchoice.blogspot.com/2006/04/disgusting-anniversary-ronald-tauber.html

Dr. Ronald Tauber was arrested and charged with 'indecent exposure, assault with intent to commit kidnapping, and assault with intent to commit sexual penetration of a female minor in Birmingham, Michigan.'

Tauber admitted that on December 7, 1981, he 'engaged in masturbation in his car while children were exiting Cody High School.'

On July 14, 1980, Tauber kidnapped a girl under the age of 13, and while he had her in his car, 'did engage in sexual penetration with said victim.'

Anonymous said...

Harvey Taubes, MD
Address: 1 Aspen Pl, Great Neck, NY, 11021
Effective Date: 09/01/1997
Action: License revocation
Misconduct Description: The Hearing Committee sustained the charges finding the physician had been convicted in New York State Supreme Court, Kings County, of grand larceny; offering a false instrument for filing and tampering with physical evidence and had been convicted in Police Court, Albany County, of failing to file a New York State tax return.

http://w3.health.state.ny.us/opmc/factions.nsf/58220a7f9eeaafab85256b180058c032/3637f02bf6beb98785256a4a0047f2cc/$FILE/ATTBLFRB/lc084922.pdf

According to Shmarya, it's an outrage every time an orthodox rabbi shows up in court to support a crook, even pre-conviction. The Reform rabbi in Great Neck Robert Widom came to support Taubes, even after Taubes was convicted of felonies multiple times.

Michael Teplitsky said...

http://michaelteplitsky.wordpress.com/

Michael Jacob Teplitsky, MD
Address: 415 Oceanview Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11235 (just off Ocean Parkway)
Effective Date: 04/03/1995
Action: License suspension for 3 years, stayed with probation. The physician's license was later suspended for one year effective October 16, 2003.
Misconduct Description: The Review Board sustained the Hearing Committee's December 20, 1994 determination finding the physician guilty of having been convicted in Criminal Court of the City of New York, Kings County of Sexual Abuse.

Anonymous said...

Very bizarre case. Tomback was dicovered to be a fugitive who ran away from Israel. The State Health Dept doesn't get into why but there was a criminal complaint filed against Tomback by his own father. Long Island Jewish Health System fired Tomback when they learned he was arrested to be evaluated for extradition.

http://w3.health.state.ny.us/opmc/factions.nsf/58220a7f9eeaafab85256b180058c032/03a997f3f140622485256b560055b58c/$FILE/lc212034.pdf

David Tomback, MD
Address: 118-18 Union Turnpike, Kew Gardens, NY, 11415
Year of Birth: 1968
Effective Date: 10/08/2002
Action: License revocation
Misconduct Description: The Review Board sustained the Hearing Committee's May 22, 2002 determination finding the physician guilty of obtaining a license fraudulently; practicing the profession fraudulently and failing to provide information regarding affiliations and/or reasons for discontinuation. The Review Board also sustained the charge finding the physician guilty of engaging in conduct which evidences moral unfitness.

Gary Tsirelman said...

Gary Tsirelman, MD
Address: Brooklyn, NY and Guttenberg, NJ
Year of Birth: 1966
Effective Date: 02/22/2008
Action: License revocation & $100,000 fine.
Misconduct Description: The Hearing Committee sustained the charges finding the physician guilty of fraudulent practice, false reporting and engaging in conduct which evidences moral unfitness.

http://nycoveragecounsel.blogspot.com/2009/04/third-department-confirms-revocation-of.html

Tsirelman was a doctor and a lawyer.

http://www.russianjewry.org/about/faculty.php

He's on the executive council of a Lubavitcher organization and continues to identify himself to everyone as having professional licenses.

Anonymous said...

Leon G Turovsky, MD
Address: Brooklyn, NY / Allenwood Federal Prison Camp / Woodmere, NY
Year of Birth: 1947
Effective Date: 03/15/2008
Action: License revocation.
Misconduct Description: The Hearing Committee sustained the charge finding the physician guilty of having been convicted in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, of accepting kickbacks for referrals of Medicare patients and income tax evasion.

Anonymous said...

Harry Leopold Wachen, MD is a Reform Jew from Forest Hills / Great Neck

It seems he was molesting female patients for years at Long Island Jewish which the hospital covered up during internal investigations. Other doctors reported Wachen to NY State.

Year of Birth: 1930
Effective Date: 12/05/2007
Action: License limitation precluding the practice of medicine & $10,000 fine
Misconduct Description: The physician did not contest willfully harassing, abusing or intimidating a patient.

Anonymous said...

why didnt the parents go to the police. The excuse that they were afraid the children's reputations would be destroyed is ludicrous. I WOULD HAVE GONE TO THEIR OFFICE AND HIT THEM. RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG

Anonymous said...

Having been both a student and teacher at Yeshiva University during these years, I pose one question: Why didn't the parents of these students call the police. If it was my child I would have confronted these instructors and gone to the police and administration immediately and hired a lawyer. Had any of these students approached me when I was a young teacher of speech at Yeshiva College and told me of this I would have acted with vigor. Yeshiva University is a great institution. Let's not forget that many of today's Jewish leaders are products of YU. It is good that this horrendous part of the history of Yeshiva University has gone public so the individuals can find some degree of justice and peace. We are all awaiting Yeshiva University's response. It is still a great institution with fantastic teachers and Rebbaim.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg








Anonymous said...

Where are the comments from the past half week?

Anonymous said...


tHIS ISSUE IS NOT ABOUT ME. I have helped convict four sex offenders and do not protect them. If you have proof, sue prosecute , do whatever you wish. rabbi dr. bernhard rosenberg