"Thou Shall Not Blog On Passover" - Chag Kasher V'Sameach

 

Where are all the politically-connected Haredi 'machers', while the cries of the children go unanswered?

 

The silent threat to haredi children's safety in Israel

 

Evidence is mounting that pedophile rings have infiltrated Israel's haredi communities.

Back in January 2020, 'The hidden crime of pedophilia' was featured at Israel National News. Its overriding basis exposed a growing, although heretofore silent, threat inside the overall Jewish community - both within Israel and outside its borders. At the same time, embedded analyses zeroed in on an especially vulnerable target: children in Haredi communities.

For well over a decade, youngsters within the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Nachlaot and Sanhedria have been victimized by a ring of pedophiles who infiltrated those neighborhoods. How can this be? In no uncertain terms, this is the most urgent question of all. Yes, law enforcement and the political hierarchy have much to account for.

Still yet, even with said unfathomable 'failure to protect' laid bare, there is a modicum of hope to be found in this agonizing and delicate arena - albeit it exists outside of Israel. As stated within last year's article, strides have been made to tackle this insidious scourge, that is, with the assistance of a particularly courageous individual (alongside others) and a leading communal organization: namely, Rabbi Yossi Jacobson, as well as the Jewish Community Watch

The crime of pedophilia is horrific wherever it surfaces, the wreckage (psychological and physical) left in its wake is incalculable. As such, this abject neglect lands smack at the doorsteps of the powers that be. Discomfiting, but no less true.

Fast forward to the here and now, fourteen months from this writer's previous report at Israel National News, and it has come to the attention of these ears - by way of a seasoned investigator in Jerusalem - that the initial crime of pedophilia plaguing Jerusalem via a network of well-coordinated pedophile rings has spread to communities in the center of the country.

More specifically, certain wealthy enclaves in Tel Aviv are currently caught in the cross-fire. Not only that, Haifa - Israel's unofficial northern 'capital' - joins a growing list of targeted cities. For the record, at this juncture, the homey and welcoming neighborhood of Neve Sha'anan finds itself in the grip of a pedophile ring. Though a mix of families from various levels of observance live harmoniously in this lovely part of Haifa, it is Haredi children who, for the most part, find themselves in danger.

Inexorably, while it appears easier to penetrate the Haredi sector (for various complex and not so complex factors), there are indicators that non-Haredi children will become their next victims - if the situation remains as is. And how can any child be left unprotected from pedophile rings??

At its base, the overarching implication is clear: predictably, akin to a cancer diagnosis that is left untreated and allowed to metastasize within the body, it is understood - at the very least, by rational people - that the prognosis is inevitable: prolonged suffering and eventual death. Similarly, when societal cancers are ignored and left to fester, the outcome will be nothing short of dire. Indeed, sooner than later.

But for the above to be truly internalized for the danger that it is - as opposed to being viewed as hysteria-mongering, - it is not for nothing that the Knesset held a special session on this very matter, December 23, 2020. It's about time. But it remains to be seen if anything is done. So far, there is only a cross between lip service and deafening silence. This disheartening assessment is not coming from this end, rather, per the testimony of those who handed the Knesset committee and law enforcement more than enough evidence to squash the rings in their tracks. The full force of the state's tool-box has enough legal ammunition to deploy. Whatever it takes.

Moreover, key Knesset testimonies were given by the following heavy-weights:

Haim Rivlin, a highly regarded investigative journalist for Channel 13, who has been in the forefront of the reporting; two childhood trauma experts (one from Jerusalem, another from Baltimore, Maryland, both of whom interviewed many of the victims and their parents), plus other expert witnesses who, in one capacity or another, dealt with the victimized children.

In addition, one trauma expert attested to evaluating over 85 children in Israel (and there are many others, yet to be clinically evaluated), now suffering from what is clinically-termed "disassociation", coupled with assorted knock-on mental and physical afflictions.

They all testified to a consistent, highly fear-invoking part of the trauma - once the full details poured forth from the children during therapy sessions: pictures! In the most rawest of terms, the serial abuse of said innocents is nothing less than monstrous. Mind-numbing. Over and over again, they were forced to pose for explicit photos. It was determined - through accumulated evidence - that this was done for several reasons; some of which involved blackmailing the families. Many of the photos have been allegedly uploaded via the 'Dark Net' for various motives, including profit. Child trafficking.

The testimony also revealed that a higher-up in the Cyber Crimes Unit was handed a treasure trove of information. Nevertheless, his response was dumbfounding: he had no mandate to pursue it! No mandate?

A few years back, particular law enforcement agents from the Serious Crimes Unit were more than willing to take possession of a mountain of evidence - documents handed to them by the very SAME trauma experts, while behind closed-door interviews for several hours. So far, so good. Still yet, nothing concrete has been done, even after all this time. There are no words....

Aside from the noteworthy, jaw-dropping investigative series by Haim Rivlin (video links are provided below), and with its basis translated from Hebrew, the Investigations and Intelligence Division blew the explosive evidence off, even after promising otherwise!

Haim Rivlin:

Part One: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=785891978487972&ref=watch_permalink

Part Two: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=785916805152156&ref=watch_permalink

https://www.facebook.com/Hamakor.tv/posts/2586612364727602/

Haim Rivlin's investigation, as excerpted, January 2, 2020:

Yesterday (Wednesday) we broadcast in the headlines of the 13 News Edition the response of the police to the ′′Dark Secret in Jerusalem′′ investigation in which the police announced that they will re-check the complaints filed in the Sanhedria affair.

The full response formula was:

′′All the complaints presented in the program were investigated by the police in the past, however, following the broadcast of the program, it was decided in the Investigations and Intelligence Division to re-examine the complaints presented. In addition, if new complaints were received or evidence that could shed new light on the events, upon the end of the material exam, it will be decided whether to continue. ′′

We broadcast the comment headline and highlighted the above expression of support throughout the day in a line of media interviews. Except tonight, about two hours before the broadcast, the police chose to send a much more soft response that is their formula::

"As a rule and as has already been said in the past, the complaints presented in the program were carefully investigated by the police from which it has arisen that alongside evidence of the existence of sexual offenses in which they were filed, there is no basis for suspicion of the existence of cults or organized activities for the exploitation of children in the spoken communities.

"Not only this and more. the investigation has raised a suspicion based on the attempt to create a false presentation by stakeholders to encourage rumors of the injury to children.

"It will be emphasized, however, that in light of the sensitivity of the issue, a courtesy has been made to the program, to find out whether new complaints have been received or evidence that can shed new light on the events. And to examine the continuation of their treatment and also now I am appealing to everyone who has such information to pass on to treatment.′′

The program studio was pre-recorded today at noon, which was clarified to the police spokespersons in advance. Compare the comments for yourself and especially watch tonight's ′′The Source′′ show and decide whether ′′the complaints have been carefully investigated."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Beyond shocking. Stupefying. What's going on?

Adding more heft to what has become an omerta-like, reflexive response from those in charge, along comes Yael Dan - a well-known journalist and radio show host for Israel Army Radio - into the mix. Her two-part interview on this very same explosive topic, dated 2/28/21 and 3/1/21, can be accessed here and here.

Now, what bears particular note is this: even though the aforementioned journalists are left-wing in their outlooks, their rage is palpable; a boiling anger that no one within authority is doing anything to stop this from affecting countless victims in Haredi communities!

Let's be honest: the very fact that more rings are operating with impunity throughout Israel, only supports the mounting charges made against a growing list of authority figures, those who are in position to turn the tide but resist doing anything of substance. Again, what's going on?

Conclusively, the following queries are in need of immediate answers AND action plans:

- Where are the voices of right-wing journalists within Israel, regarding this topic of all topics? The children and families deserve no less!

- Where are relevant law enforcement, officers sworn to pursue and uphold justice? What have they been doing all these years, if anything? It is past time for full transparency.

- Most trenchantly, where are Israel's top political leaders vis-à-vis the 'crime of all crimes' against children? Finally, where are all the politically-connected Haredi 'machers', while the cries of the children go unanswered?

* Haim Rivlin's investigation, as excerpted, January 2, 2020

Part One: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=785891978487972&ref=watch_permalink

Part Two: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=785916805152156&ref=watch_permalink

https://www.facebook.com/Hamakor.tv/posts/2586612364727602/

 

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/299084

Sell Your Chometz Here.....

Ilya Hoffman - Be Nice to Christiana Barkley - The Shver Will Slam Dunk Your Rear End If Not - Anyone See Hershel Schachter?

 

It Was an All-Star Weekend for the Bride and Groom

Sir Charles Needs "All Jews On Deck" To Lift Him Up On The Chair...

Basketball brought Christiana Barkley and Ilya Hoffman together in the first place, but he was far more impressed with her than he was with “the guy from ‘Space Jam.’”

The couple signed the ketubah as the groom’s friend Jacob Althaus watched. Also present were the groom’s mother, Katia Hoffman, and his grandmother Tamara Koliskor and the bride’s parents, Charles and Maureen Barkley.

 

Though Ilya Hoffman met Christiana Barkley during a basketball game, he wasn’t knocked sideways when he learned the identity of her father.

“I’m not a sports fan,” said Mr. Hoffman, 34, the founder of DemandByte, a marketing technology company in New York. “’I don’t watch sports. I don’t play sports.”

In May 2016, though, his friend Eric Magleby invited him to watch a replay of Villanova’s national championship game that season. A group of Villanova alumni had gathered at Mason Jar, a sports bar in Manhattan, and Mr. Hoffman was on the fence about joining them.

“Villanova grads are crazy, crazy basketball fans,” he said. “I didn’t go to Villanova.” He went to SUNY Albany for two years, then Baruch College, where he received a bachelor’s in finance and economics in 2009. “I thought, ‘I’m not sure this is the place for me.’”

But he went, and when someone pointed to one of the fans in the room and identified her as the daughter of Charles Barkley, the 11-time N.B.A. All Star, Hall of Famer and now television analyst for TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” his reaction was atypical. “I said, ‘Oh, you mean the guy from ‘Space Jam’? That’s where I knew him from. Some people might have been like, ‘Oh my god, Charles Barkley.’ To me it was like, ‘Look at this amazing girl.'”

Later that night, he invited nine Wildcats fans back to his apartment, six blocks away, for an after party. Ms. Barkley, a 2011 Villanova graduate who earned a master’s in journalism from Columbia in 2017, was among them. She thwarted his plan to be a generous host.

The couple were married before 120 friends and family members, who were all tested for Covid-19 just before the ceremony, which was led by Rabbi John Linder.

 

 

 

“I was like, ‘Guys, I have six slices of leftover pizza in the fridge,’” Mr. Hoffman said. “We’re going to throw them in the oven and split them up so everybody gets some. Christy pulled me aside and said, ‘I’m going to need two of those slices.’ We had just met two hours ago. It really showed her personality.”

For Ms. Barkley, 31, the director of writing and senior account manager at the Koppelman Group, a college consulting company, a healthy appetite is something of a calling card. “People love having me to dinner because I never stop eating,” she said. After she and Mr. Hoffman started dating that spring, she endeared herself to his family while at the dinner table. On a first visit to his family’s home in Port Washington, N.Y., she asked Mr. Hoffman’s grandmother, Tamara Koliskor, for more matzo ball soup. That sparked an intergenerational love affair. “She’s a very grateful girl, and she does love matzo ball soup,” Ms. Koliskor said. “It’s impossible not to love her.”

Her affection for Ms. Barkley has since been well established among the family: “My grandmother is an old-school Russian Jew who’s hard to win over, but now I think she loves Christy more than my brother and me,” Mr. Hoffman said.

Mr. Hoffman was born in Moscow and immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s with his parents, Alex and Katia Hoffman, and brother, Ash. He grew up in Queens and later the family moved to Long Island.

Ms. Barkley is an only child. Mr. Hoffman’s first time meeting her parents, Charles and Maureen, in 2017 at their home in Scottsdale, Ariz., reinforced the expected when meeting a star of Mr. Barkley’s stature.

“I walked into their house and I was like, ‘That is a huge guy,’” Mr. Hoffman said of Mr. Barkley. But he left Arizona with a more complete picture. “When you go out to dinner with Charles, people can be pretty rude, like, ‘Hey, Charles, can I take a picture with you?’ But every single time he puts a smile on his face. He’s the most generous person. He never gets annoyed.”

He wasn’t even annoyed when he suspected Mr. Hoffman of dragging his feet about proposing to his daughter. In 2019, the couple moved to Killington, Vt. Both worked from home even prepandemic and loved the access to mountains, Ms. Barkley for hiking and Mr. Hoffman for skiing. “The biggest mountain on the East Coast is 10 minutes away,” Mr. Hoffman said. “I can ski on my lunch hour.”

When Mr. Hoffman first met Ms. Barkley he was more impressed by her than who her father is. “Some people might have been like, ‘Oh my god, Charles Barkley.’ To me it was like, ‘Look at this amazing girl,’” he said.Credit...Katina Patriquin Photography

 

 

During a Christmas trip to Scottsdale that year, he had asked the Barkleys for permission to marry their daughter.

“I had this vision in my mind of how it was going to go,” he said. “I had saved it for the last night we were there, when we were going to go out to dinner.” When Mr. Barkley announced he had to leave early for a trip and wouldn’t be able to make the dinner, Mr. Hoffman acted fast. “I approached Maureen and said, ‘Hey I want to talk to you. Can you ask Christiana to go to the store so we can have some privacy?’” Instead, Mrs. Barkley yanked him into her bedroom, where Mr. Barkley was preparing for his trip, for a 30-second chat.

Both approved. “I remember being really emotional about it,” Mr. Barkley said. “That’s not something that happens all the time.”

Back in Vermont, Mr. Hoffman gave himself a couple months to figure out the perfect proposal. “And then lo and behold there’s Covid and everything shuts down,” he said. When he still hadn’t proposed at the start of spring, Mr. Barkley started worrying.

“I was like, ‘Uh-oh, maybe he changed his mind,’” Mr. Barkley said.

Instead, Mr. Hoffman was trying to figure out how getting engaged during lockdown might look.

Ms. Barkley provided a hint. “She had mentioned to me that she saw someone on TV propose with a Ring Pop,” Mr. Hoffman said. “She was subtly saying that if I want to propose and I don’t have a ring, she would accept a Ring Pop.” By spring, though, Mr. Hoffman had a better plan in place. Through a family friend, he had found a jeweler in Manhattan to design a diamond engagement ring. On May 14, 2020, the day before Ms. Barkley’s birthday, he drove to New York to pick it up; along the way, he bought a Butterfinger and a Ring Pop.

Butterfinger is Ms. Barkley’s favorite candy bar. So she wasn’t surprised when, after a morning walk on May 15, he presented one to her as part of an at-home birthday celebration. “I was excited,” she said. While she tore into it with the usual gusto, Mr. Hoffman got down on one knee and presented the Ring Pop. That she found annoying.

“I thought he was making fun of me for even suggesting the Ring Pop, and that he was going to say something along the lines of, ‘It’s not going to happen today, but it will be soon,’” she said. Instead, he pulled the diamond ring box from its hiding place under the couch. “I said, ‘I love you, I want to marry you, I don’t feel right about proposing with a Ring Pop,’” he said. “She had chocolate all over her face.” She said yes, with enthusiasm.

On March 6, 120 friends and family members gathered for their wedding at the Andaz Scottsdale Resort and Bungalows. All had been coronavirus-tested just before, either on their own or through the help of Mr. Hoffman’s friend Marcus Howard, who had procured tests and set up a testing site at the resort, where out-of-town guests were staying.

Ms. Barkley, in a floor-length, sleeveless Reem Acra wedding gown, held a bouquet of white and pale peach ranunculus as she was escorted down an outdoor aisle by her father, who skipped his commentating stint during the N.B.A.’s All Star Weekend to be with his daughter instead.

Mr. Hoffman wore a dark suit and white shirt with an open neck and no tie. Beyond the huppah, woven with more ranunculus and greens, was a sweeping desert vista.

After a ceremony, led by Rabbi John Linder, that included the Jewish traditions of signing the ketubah and the bestowing of seven blessings, Mr. Linder pronounced them married. Cheers of “mazel tov!” erupted as Mr. Hoffman stomped a glass to mark the beginning of their new union.

Despite the Covid precautions, weeks before the wedding, Mr. Barkley offered to have medical professionals on site. But, as he explained to Ms. Barkley, and on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” days before the wedding, it wasn’t Covid he was so worried about. It was the hora, the traditional Jewish celebratory dance in which some guests are lifted in a chair.

He felt he needed to slim down before participating; Mr. Barkley is about 6 foot, 5 inches and weighs more than 250 pounds. Ms. Barkley said her father lost “a good amount” of weight before the wedding.

“But he was still very concerned,” she said. “He said, ‘I think it’s possible someone’s going to try and lift me up and they’ll get hurt, or I’ll get hurt.’” Though, while on “Jimmy Kimmel,” Mr. Barkley had called for “all Jewish people on deck” during the hora, it turned out they weren’t needed.

“He really was scared, but he got in the chair, and next thing you know he and my mom were up there,” Ms. Barkley said. “They had a blast.”

“It was the best weekend of my life,” her father said.

Charles talks about his name, his daughter getting married this weekend, trying to lose weight for the wedding, picking a father/daughter dance, his daughter’s fiancé asking him for her hand in marriage, paying for the wedding...Worried about doing the Hora....

 WATCH: https://youtu.be/9Jn_4bNyIG4

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/fashion/weddings/christiana-barkley-ilya-hoffman.html?searchResultPosition=10

 

TO SEND A GIFT TO THE CHOSSON & KALLAH:

THE WEDDING REGISTRY OF

CHRISTIANA BARKLEY and ILYA HOFFMAN

https://www.bloomingdales.com/registry/wedding/guest?registryId=7239146&sortBy=PRICE_HIGHEST_FIRST

And while he may have been a very great prophet, and a very great leader; those were his day jobs, and the true purpose of his life could only be achieved by saving others, a purpose embedded into the name given to him by his rescuer, and preferred to all his others by God

Giving to Others Gives Our Life Meaning

Moses Breaking the Tables of the Law (1659), by Rembrandt.

 

Earlier this week, I read that Barbara Rickles had died at the age of 84. Her late husband, Don — who passed away in 2017, and often used his wife as the butt of his jokes — was one of America’s best-loved ‘insult comedians.’ A regular on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show,” he was a fixture of the Hollywood showbiz circuit for decades. As he once said: “Show business is my life — when I was a kid I sold insurance, but nobody laughed.”

That quip always makes me chuckle, but it contains a powerful truth: there is a destiny which determines what we end up doing in our lives, and what it is that gives meaning to our lives.

We might branch out and try other things, but in the end, we must face up to the fact that the most comfortable fit for us is doing what we are best at, which often translates as what it is we have to offer that benefits others. Most importantly, what we do that satisfies this aspect of who we are may not always be the job which earns us the money we need to live, although it will certainly be the part of our lives that makes our life worth living.

Some people are blessed to find jobs and careers that check all their boxes, but truthfully, even the most fulfilling job leaves gaps, and those who allow their careers to become the totality of their lives will almost certainly experience a nagging vacuum at the heart of who they are — a feeling which only grows worse with time.

A Jewish organization worked tirelessly with non-Jewish allies to help win clemency for indigent prisoners, including many non-Jews, who had...

Emily Esfahani Smith’s 2017 book “The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters” made this elusive aspect of the human condition its central theme. Her thesis is simple: “Leading a meaningful life [corresponds] with being a ‘giver,’ and its defining feature [is] connecting and contributing to something beyond the self.”

Smith expands on this powerful idea and offers a beautiful blueprint for creating meaning in our lives: “When people explain what makes their lives meaningful, they describe connecting to and bonding with other people in positive ways. They discuss finding something worthwhile to do with their time … No matter what occupies our days, when we reframe our tasks as opportunities to help others, our lives and our work feel more significant. Each of us has a circle of people — in our families, in our communities, and at work — whose lives we can improve. That’s a legacy everyone can leave behind.”

Judaism offers us a perfect role-model for this paradigm: none other than our very first leader, Moses.

The Book of Vayikra begins with the following verse (Lev. 1:1): וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר ה אֵלָיו מֵאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד  — “[God] called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting.” The Midrash on this verse points out that Moses had 10 different names, only one of which was Moses, or “Moshe” in Hebrew. According to the Midrash, by calling out to him using his “Moshe” name, God was conveying the message that He would only address him by this particular name and by none of the others.

Curiously, the name Moshe is not actually Hebrew; rather, it was the name given to Moses by Batya, the daughter of Pharaoh, when she rescued him from the river (Ex. 2:10): וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ מֹשֶׁה וַתֹּאמֶר כִּי מִן הַמַּיִם מְשִׁיתִֽהוּ — “She called his name ‘Moshe’ — for as she said: ‘since I drew him out of the water.’”

The great Hasidic master, Rabbi Shmuel Shmelke Horowitz of Nikolsburg, observes that for this Midrash to appear at this particular point in the Torah is rather strange. After all, this was hardly the first time God had addressed Moses using the name Moshe. At the very beginning of the Exodus story, during their very first encounter at the Burning Bush (Ex. 3:4), God called out to Moses and said “Moshe! Moshe!” — to which Moses replied “here I am.” So why mention that the name Moshe is significant at the beginning of Vayikra?

Rebbe Shmelke cites a well-known and rather quirky Seforno commentary to explain this anomaly. According to Seforno, if one was being strictly grammatical, Moses’ name should not have been Moshe at all. If the reason for his name was that he had been rescued from the waterway — as Batya said: min hamayim meshisihu — his name should have been “Mashui,” which in Hebrew means “the one who was drawn out.” The meaning of “Moshe” is something totally different: it means “the one who draws others out.”

As a result of this grammatical mix-up, Seforno concludes that the Torah is sending us a message: because Moses was saved from certain death, he had a moral lifelong obligation to save others. In fact, for his life to have any meaning, he needed to constantly be “Moshe.” And while he may have been a very great prophet, and a very great leader; those were his day jobs, and the true purpose of his life could only be achieved by saving others, a purpose embedded into the name given to him by his rescuer, and preferred to all his others by God.

To which, Rebbe Shmelke adds, that it was only at this moment in the Torah narrative — after the Exodus, after the Red Sea crossing, after the Mount Sinai revelation, after Moses saved the nation from God’s anger following the sin of the golden calf, and after the sanctuary was built — that this point could be made. Up to this point, Moses was just doing his job, and now he could quite rightfully say: my job is done.

And it is for precisely this reason that the Midrash chooses this juncture to point out that life’s meaning, and all activities in your life that give it meaning, don’t end when your workday is over, nor do they end when your career has come to an end. Those aspects of your life that give it meaning, namely being there for others and helping them in their time of need, are constant — just as Moshe’s name indicated that his life’s purpose never ceased, even when his job was done.

The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hill, California. 

https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/03/19/giving-to-others-gives-our-life-meaning/

Eradicating serial sexual predation from the religious community means coming to grips with the complicit silence of those in the know

 

Hannah in the tabernacle of Yehuda Meshi Zahav 

 

Eradicating serial sexual predation from the religious community means coming to grips with the complicit silence of those in the know

Hannah Giving Her Son Samuel to the Priest

 

It takes a village to raise a serial sex offender.

Following reports over the weekend, the founder of one of Israel’s most well-known public charities, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, stands accused of sexual predation against boys, girls and grown women spanning forty years, allegations which he denies. Public indignation has called for an investigation of his actions. But the investigation must not stop there. The reports claim that throughout this long period, many knew of his alleged abuses and that in his community of Meah Shearim it was an open secret. To rid ourselves of the scourge of sexual predation, we must identify the social elements that foster the silence and complicity that are its breeding ground.

As a child in the 1970s, I was groomed by convicted sex offender Stanley Rosenfeld, a teacher and principal in the elementary school I attended. I see the wreckage that he has wrought in the lives of some of my classmates and know that there but for the grace of God go I. Investigations into the communal dynamics that enabled him and others like him to commit atrocities across many years are revealing, and especially so for religiously conservative communities.

The silence in such communities is fostered by multiple factors. First, sexuality generally is a taboo subject, and so even when there are rumors of offense, these are swept under the rug. Second, there is fear that public exposure of the issue will stain the community, or particularly the institutions with which the offender is associated. Third, fear rises within insular communities suspicious of the state, that to bring an alleged offender to the authorities would constitute the treasonous act of moiser, of turning over a fellow Jew to the supposedly ruthless hands of the secular state. And finally, when the offender is a person of power, as is allegedly the case here, many remain silent for fear of retribution.

---

---

What is needed, instead, is a culture that acknowledges that these abuses take place. A culture that places the stigma on the offender rather than on the victim. A culture that speaks truth to power. A culture that lauds those that speak up as the defenders of the community, not as its traitors. What is needed in the haredi community is an adaptation of the culture of #metoo, if you will, a culture of #mir-oich.

Community reform is possible. Forum Takanah, established in 2003, provides the Religious Zionist community with a body to handle complaints of sexual harassment without the involvement of law enforcement and legal authorities. Sexual predators are found in every sector of society. But the bold and broad awareness today of sexual predation within the Religious Zionist community means that unchecked serial predation spanning decades, of the type perpetrated by convicted offender Mordecai Elon, seems now to be a thing of the past.

Hannah refused to pretend all was fine

Few of us are communal leaders who can set a new communal agenda. But all of us can learn an important lesson from the first figure in world literature who sought to challenge a culture of sexual predation: the biblical Hannah. Hannah, as she is portrayed in the opening chapter of First Samuel, is usually construed as a barren woman, tormented by her husband’s second, fertile wife while the entire family celebrates its annual pilgrimage to the Tabernacle at Shiloh. Desperate, she flees to the Tabernacle and makes a quid pro quo with the Almighty: give me a son, and I’ll give him to you as a servant in your Tabernacle.

But this conventional reading overlooks a subtle nuance in the story. Scripture tells us that her husband Elkanah would bring the entire family on a pilgrimage to the Tabernacle, where “Hofni and Phineas, the sons of Eli, were ministering to the Lord.” The note is anomalous because, throughout that narrative of that story, these two never figure again. Why then are they mentioned?

Reading much further on in the story, we learn that these two enacted a reign of terror and corruption encompassing all aspects of the Tabernacle service. Women who sought entry into the Tabernacle needed to first provide them with sexual favors. Yet in spite of this, all of Israel dutifully complied; no one spoke out. All were fearful of the power of the two priests and the ticket to access to the Lord that they possessed.

When we read this shocking account, we realize the silence in which we as readers were complicit in chapter 1. Elkanah brings the family to Shiloh, and there is great merriment at the holy pilgrimage. All seems right; even holy. But the text tells us in a subtle way, that “Hofni and Phineas the sons of Eli were ministering to the Lord.” Later we discover just what that means. But we read chapter 1 through the silence of the lambs that allowed their malfeasance to reign free. All accept this as the norm –except for Hannah.

Hannah is put off by the taunting of her husband’s other wife, and by the fact that human dignity and sensitivity are trampled in the name of holy pilgrimage. But Hannah also deplores the wider web of corruption that all fail to see: “Hofni and Phineas ministering to the Lord.” She flees from the emotionally abusive pilgrimage feast to the Tabernacle. There she appeals to the Lord for a son – a son that she will raise with a different set of values, and who will infuse a new and reformed spirit in the Tabernacle service.

Hannah was apparently powerless to even call out the predation she saw. But she took the first step – she saw the truth for what it was and refused to be part of the charade that pretended that all was holy and fine.

The organization Meshi Zahav headed gained renown for performing the holy task of gathering the shattered limbs of the victims of suicide bombings. It is known by its acronym Zaka, which stands for zihui korbanot ason, Identifying the Victims of Tragedy. It is now the community’s responsibility to identify those who were allegedly victimized, to provide their shattered souls a place of dignity, to ensure that the silence of complicity reigns no longer in our village.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/hannah-in-the-tabernacle-of-yehuda-meshi-zahav/?utm_source=The+Blogs+Weekly+Highlights&utm_campaign=blogs-weekly-highlights-2021-03-18&utm_medium=email

 

Two years ago, Leshem, then a 24-year old yeshiva student, allegedly attacked the girl outside a synagogue. On Tuesday, he was sentenced for performing “an indecent act” in public on the young girl ----- “She [was] four and a half years old, and his punishment doesn’t even amount to her age. This is shameful,” the girl’s father exclaimed....

 

Jerusalem court jails man for 3.5 years over sex assault of 4-year-old girl

 

Suspect acquitted of rape, indicted for ‘indecent act’ instead; girl’s parents and other protesters rally against ‘shameful’ softened charge

Protesters gather outside the Jerusalem District Court after the judge sentenced a man who assaulted a four year old girl for an "indecent act," acquitting him of rape charges, March 16, 2021

 

The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday sentenced Abraham Leshem to 3.5 years in prison over a sexual assault against a four-year-old girl, after dropping rape charges against him.

Two years ago, Leshem, then a 24-year old yeshiva student, allegedly attacked the girl outside a synagogue. On Tuesday, he was sentenced for performing “an indecent act” in public on the young girl.

The girl’s parents, supported by a crowd of demonstrators, protested the judge’s decision to acquit Leshem of rape charges.

“She [was] four and a half years old, and his punishment doesn’t even amount to her age. This is shameful,” the girl’s father exclaimed.

The indictment was filed against Leshem in 2019, after he approached the girl while she was alone and attacked her, leaving DNA evidence on her clothes.

In September, a year and a half into the trial, the judge acquitted Leshem of rape, charging him only with indecency. The defendant refused to cooperate with the investigation and remained silent throughout.

Security guards stand outside the District Court in Jerusalem. May 24, 2020

 

The girl’s mother, in anguish, addressed her child’s attacker: “She went to the synagogue with her father and brother. What did you do to her?… Why did you ruin our lives? You sit in court silent with a smile on your face and think you are a hero? You are a coward, a hero for the weak.”

“We will fight for her and for all the children who are in danger when he roams free. We have learned of more cases where he has hurt children, and they were silenced, hidden, or swept under the rug. We will go to war and justice will be on our side.”

Defense attorney Liron Malka, representing Leshem, said: “The evidence was examined accurately and professionally. The prosecution erred in filing an indictment for rape… There was no evidentiary basis in the case; therefore he wins, and we are happy with the result.”

Before the sentencing, the girl’s father turned to judge Rebecca Friedman-Feldman and declared: “A criminal will be released, and you did not do your job. We will protest here until you realize you fell asleep on duty.”

Protesters gathered after the news emerged that the defendant would only be charged with indecency. The girl’s parents, who had stayed silent for the duration of the two-year trial, began to speak out, calling for support.

“The court protected him instead of the young and helpless,” the child’s mother told Mynet Jerusalem. “Now we have to make noise to help her.”

Protesters arrived adorning signs with the slogans “Listen to children,” and “If you don’t hear us, we will scream,” among others.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-court-jails-man-for-3-5-years-over-sex-assault-of-4-year-old-girl/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2021-03-17&utm_medium=email

After decades of allegedly raping and sexually abusing men, women, boys and girls in the ultra-Orthodox community, Meshi-Zahav’s past is finally catching up with him.

 

Tackling sexual abuse among ultra-Orthodox is especially difficult - analysis

 

How his activities did not come to light sooner?

ZAKA leader Rabbi Yehuda Meshi-Zahav and members of ZAKA

 

The harrowing details of the allegations of rape and sexual abuse against Zaka founder Yehuda Meshi-Zahav have made for horrifying reading in recent days.

 

In a lengthy investigative piece in the Haaretz daily, the testimony of six alleged victims detailed abuse conducted by Meshi-Zahav going back decades, starting in the 1980s.

 

About 10 others have come forward and spoken to other media outlets since the article was published last week, and it is believed that the number of total victims could be many times greater.

 

With such a large number of apparent victims and with Meshi-Zahav allegedly committing his sexual crimes over such a long period of time, the question is being asked how his activities did not come to light sooner.

 

Several reports have noted that so-called “Modesty Police” organizations in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods where Meshi-Zahav lived and operated were aware of the abuses he was committing but did not do enough to stop him and failed to report him to the police.

 

And the police reportedly conducted a secret investigation back in 2013 but were unable to make progress, in part because none of his victims had been willing to testify.

 

After decades of allegedly raping and sexually abusing men, women, boys and girls in the ultra-Orthodox community, Meshi-Zahav’s past is finally catching up with him.

 

Shana Aaronson, director of Magen for Jewish Communities, which assists sexual abuse victims in Israel and the Diaspora and assisted Haaretz with its investigation, says that victims of sexual abuse across all sectors of society are often very reluctant to come forward and inform the authorities of what happened for several reasons.

 

Victims can feel that they will not be believed, that their family will be angry with them, that they might be the only person their attacker is abusing, or because they are simply shamed by what had happened, Aaronson said.

 

In cases where the abuser is an influential individual or in a position of power or authority, concerns that the claims will not be believed or even of reprisals and revenge by the attacker can be further reasons not to come forward.

 

Aaronson cites cases such as that of convicted serial rapist Larry Nassar, who worked as a USA Gymnastics national team doctor and who is believed to have sexually assaulted at least 265 girls and women.

 

Allegations against Nassar surfaced in the 1990s but it was not until 2016 that public accusations were made against him.

 

On average, victims of sexual abuse will wait ten years before reporting their abuse Aaronson said.

She notes that even though this phenomenon is widespread across many sectors of society, there are other factors in the ultra-Orthodox community which can exacerbate it.

 

The highly conservative nature of the community in general and the great reluctance to talk about any aspect of sex, sexuality, or even the human body, engenders a greater sense of shame about all such matters, all the more so when it comes to sexual abuse.

 

Ultra-Orthodox society also places a heavy focus on the importance of “marrying well,” and even the smallest infractions of religious norms can harm someone’s marriage opportunities.

 

Being the victim of sexual abuse could certainly have a negative impact on someone’s marriage options, and Aaronson says this could be an additional reason for someone not to step forward.

In addition, there is a strong focus on the importance of virginity, which victims would obviously compromise if they publicly acknowledge having been raped or abused.

 

“Sexual activity is a completely private matter. Discussion of sex, including sexual abuse and the privacy of the body, is ignored in every way possible,”  

 

This effectively turns ultra-Orthodox society into a target-rich environment because many young people are unaware that the sexual abuse they are experiencing is even wrong or forbidden.

 

In some ultra-Orthodox communities, children and teenagers are often not able to even describe their different body parts and therefore lack the language to describe their abuse.

 

Indeed, some of the testimony that has surfaced about Meshi-Zahav corroborates this problem.

One alleged victim cited in the Haaretz article as Aleph said he was 14 when Meshi-Zahav started abusing him, and said he had no idea “how children are brought into the world.”

 

Said Aleph: “As a young child with sexual curiosity, I did not understand that I was being sexually abused.”

 

“Many victims do not have the language to express what’s happening to them,” says Aaronson.

 

“Their gut feeling is that what’s happening is something bad but they have so little awareness that they can’t even tell someone if they wanted to.”

 

Aaronson said that children, in particular, are “unbelievably vulnerable to the manipulation of an abuser.” If an abuser says, for example, that something is normal for friends to do together, a child will easily believe them.

 

“Ayin,” another of the alleged victims cited in the Haaretz investigation, said that he was just five years old when he says Meshi-Zahav began to abuse him – abuse which carried on for two years.

 

“I didn’t realize that this was something forbidden and I didn’t try and stop it or move him off of me. For years, I didn’t even ascribe this any importance,” he said.

 

Efforts by Magen and other organizations have been afoot for several years now to change the culture in ultra-Orthodox society regarding how to deal with and educate about sexual abuse.

 

These efforts will be critical for addressing and exposing the appalling abuse that can take place when predators operate in such environments.

 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/tackling-sexual-abuse-among-ultra-orthodox-is-especially-difficult-analysis-662096

Why American Ḥaredim have responded so differently from other Jews to the pandemic.

 

What Happened in Lakewood

Why American Ḥaredim have responded so differently from other Jews to the pandemic.

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“It is not difficult to build a sanctuary,” wrote the great 19th-century German rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. “It requires a moment of inspiration and a mood of generosity. But it is much more difficult to generate an enduring enthusiasm to be retained for years—or even a lifetime. Without such support, the structure itself would remain cold and lifeless. Enthusiasm for the Sanctuary must never subside. The Sanctuary and its goals must never be considered out of date.”

Hirsch, the pioneer of synthesizing modern secular culture with Orthodox Judaism, was writing about the annual half-shekel donation for the upkeep of the Jerusalem Temple, deriving from this commandment—observed only symbolically in the Temple’s absence—a vital lesson about the role of the synagogue.

In writing the story of how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed Jewish communal life in in the U.S., Jack Wertheimer acknowledges that in his research he did not attend to the dramatically different effects it had on American Ḥaredim. But an examination of the latter can be instructive in making sense of the broader situation of American Jewry. In providing such an examination, based on my own experiences, I also hope to correct misconceptions about ḥaredi life during the pandemic, and to explain why Ḥaredim insisted on keeping their houses of worship open while others were closed. But first it’s necessary to say something about the ḥaredi conception of the synagogue, which is different from that of other American Jews.

The word synagogue derives from the Greek, which is, as Wertheimer notes, a direct translation of the Hebrew beyt knesset, meaning “house of assembly.” These terms describe how most Jews see its purpose: as a place of gathering. Over the years, ancillary functions have been added to its core use as a place of prayer, which has become a major part of what synagogues do. In this way, the synagogue has become a place of gathering at least as much for its own sake as it is a place to gather for worship. The closures of synagogues, or their replacement with virtual simulacra, thus becomes a social issue as much as a religious one.

Interestingly enough, Ḥaredim do not refer to a house of worship as a synagogue or beyt knesset. Instead they call it either a beyt midrash—a house of study—or a shul—the Yiddish term that derives from the German word for school. As it is outside of ḥaredi communities, prayer is the building’s primary function, but unlike other American synagogues, its secondary use is not for social life, but for study.

That this is so is due to the distinctive ḥaredi understanding of religious obligation as well as the structure of American ḥaredi society. Ḥaredim believe that the continual lifelong pursuit of the study of Torah—considered, like prayer, a form of service to God—defines these buildings and congregations. In ḥaredi shuls, only worship and study are acceptable activities. The Shulḥan Arukh, the standard code of Jewish law, contains an entire section dedicated to regulations about what is and is not permitted in the synagogue. While it is typical for other denominations’ synagogues to use their main sanctuary for affairs of a secular nature, such as hosting political or educational figures or community events, this is much less common among Ḥaredim. And while ḥaredi shuls often provide social services, such as meals for the needy, these activities are just as often left to other communal organizations.

Indeed, the ubiquitous presence of such organizations speaks to the close-knit nature of ḥaredi society, which allows shuls to have a more focused purpose. Because ḥaredi life is so deeply communal, there are charities, neighborhood-watch groups, schools, and a great many other institutions that serve purposes that in other communities are assigned to the synagogue. Similarly, Ḥaredim don’t need the synagogue to create opportunities to socialize with other Jewish families. They tend to live in their own neighborhoods, frequently attend weddings and engagement parties, and have constant opportunities for social interaction with coreligionists. Thus the purpose of the ḥaredi shul is not to create a community; it instead emerges as a place of study and prayer within a preexisting, fully alive Jewish community. Yet even as the function of the ḥaredi shul is narrower, its presence in the life of a typical ḥaredi male, who attends shul at least three times each day, and sometimes more, is greater.

Film screenings, cooking and yoga classes, and programs “to discuss questions of racial justice, equity, and the preservation of democratic norms” might find a place in a synagogue, but they are anathema to a ḥaredi shul. If a ḥaredi Jew attends a cooking class, or a yoga class, it would likely be with other Ḥaredim, just not in a synagogue. And although members often pay dues, the ability to collect dues factors into considerations in a very minimal way. Precisely because shul attendance is seen as a fundamental need, those with means often see the support of their shuls as a necessary investment, and their voluntary contributions go far to cover expenses.

For many synagogues, the migration out of physical buildings and into a virtual world driven by the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how unnecessary the physical facilities are. If synagogues are merely social centers or locations for the Jewish aspects of life, why not replace them with online spaces? If anything, experiencing Jewish religious behavior in the home might lead to a firmer Jewish identity for those who would otherwise only engage in a synagogue, as some of Wertheimer’s interlocutors indeed suggested.

 

Suppose there is another pandemic, with a virus even more contagious that COVID-19, that requires a truly drastic response. Would we be able to get the needed buy-in from the ḥaredi community, which has rediscovered its deep need for its shuls when they were shuttered, while becoming far more skeptical of expert advice? That’s what keeps me up at night.

 

https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/religion-holidays/2021/03/what-happened-in-lakewood/?newlyregistered=true

And Cuban told CNBC that people should use the money to pay off their debts, especially credit card debt. If there is any money left over after that then he says to put it in the bank.

 Advice On How To Spend Your Stimulus Check

.....As for those stimulus checks which American will soon be getting, Mark Cuban has some advice on how to spend the money. Under the plan, every American with an adjusted gross income below $75,000 is eligible for $1,400, and married couples filing jointly below $150,000 will get $2,800. And Cuban told CNBC that people should use the money to pay off their debts, especially credit card debt. If there is any money left over after that then he says to put it in the bank.

This would seem like a no brainer, especially if you have been out of work due to the Coronavirus crisis. Then you probably saw an increase in your credit card debt. Why use the money on anything frivolous. Credit card interest rates are high. If you keep on owing then you just keep on throwing money out the window covering the interest payments alone. So pay off as much of what you owe as possible.

https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/03/14/mark-cuban-offers-up-advice-on-how-to-spend-your-stimulus-check/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JewishBusinessNews+%28Jewish+Business+News%29

 

 

POSTED ONE YEAR AGO - MARCH 12, 2020

Thursday, March 12, 2020

This suggests that anyone in a position of power or authority, instead of downplaying the dangers of the coronavirus, should ask people to stay away from public places, cancel big gatherings, and restrict most forms of nonessential travel.

Cancel Everything!

Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus. We must start immediately!

In an email to my children dated Monday February 24 - 5:24 PM

 My suggestion is that everyone should have at home a 2-4 week supply of non-perishable food. Matzo, water, all canned foods...keep it in the garage or basement. There are over 200 cases in EY, and known 36 cases in the US. There's a run on food in the Asian countries and starting in Europe. Costco/Amazon...Stuff that you would eat anyway. It will come here.

Love 

***********

DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS GROUP OF RABBIS ON THIS ISSUE - THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY IS THE ONLY SOURCE OF INFORMATION FOR HEALTH  RELATED MATTERS - THEY ARE TELLING EVERYONE TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AT HOME!

 Daily Jewish Community Novel CoronaVirus Updates as They Happen: 

 

CLICK: https://www.jta.org/2020/03/05/global/the-latest-jewish-coronavirus-updates-el-al-downsizes-services-move-online-and-more?utm_source=JTA_Maropost&utm_campaign=JTA_DB&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-17628-21723

 

 

We don’t yet know the full ramifications of the novel coronavirus. But three crucial facts have become clear in the first months of this extraordinary global event. And what they add up to is not an invocation to stay calm, as so many politicians around the globe are incessantly suggesting; it is, on the contrary, the case for changing our behavior in radical ways—right now.

Read: You’re likely to get the coronavirus

The first fact is that, at least in the initial stages, documented cases of COVID-19 seem to increase in exponential fashion. On the 23rd of January, China’s Hubei province, which contains the city of Wuhan, had 444 confirmed COVID-19 cases. A week later, by the 30th of January, it had 4,903 cases. Another week later, by the 6th of February, it had 22,112.

The same story is now playing out in other countries around the world. Italy had 62 identified cases of COVID-19 on the 22nd of February. It had 888 cases by the 29th of February, and 4,636 by the 6th of March.

Because the United States has been extremely sluggish in testing patients for the coronavirus, the official tally of 604 likely represents a fraction of the real caseload. But even if we take this number at face value, it suggests that we should prepare to have up to 10 times as many cases a week from today, and up to 100 times as many cases two weeks from today.

The second fact is that this disease is deadlier than the flu, to which the honestly ill-informed and the wantonly irresponsible insist on comparing it. Early guesstimates, made before data were widely available, suggested that the fatality rate for the coronavirus might wind up being about 1 percent. If that guess proves true, the coronavirus is 10 times as deadly as the flu.

But there is reason to fear that the fatality rate could be much higher. According to the World Health Organization, the current case fatality rate—a common measure of what portion of confirmed patients die from a particular disease—stands at 3.4 percent. This figure could be an overstatement, because mild cases of the disease are less likely to be diagnosed. Or it could be an understatement, because many patients have already been diagnosed with the virus but have not yet recovered (and may still die).

Juliette Kayyem: The U.S. isn’t prepared for what’s about to happen

When the coronavirus first spread to South Korea, many observers pointed to the comparatively low death rates in the country to justify undue optimism. In countries with highly developed medical systems, they claimed, a smaller portion of patients would die. But while more than half of all diagnosed patients in China have now been cured, most South Korean patients are still in the throes of the disease. Of the 7,478 confirmed cases, only 118 have recovered; the low death rate may yet rise.

Meanwhile, the news from Italy, another country with a highly developed medical system, has so far been shockingly bad. In the affluent region of Lombardy, for example, there have been 7,375 confirmed cases of the virus as of Sunday. Of these patients, 622 had recovered, 366 had died, and the majority were still sick. Even under the highly implausible assumption that all of the still-sick make a full recovery, this would suggest a case fatality rate of 5 percent—significantly higher, not lower, than in China.

The third fact is that so far only one measure has been effective against the coronavirus: extreme social distancing.

Before China canceled all public gatherings, asked most citizens to self-quarantine, and sealed off the most heavily affected region, the virus was spreading in exponential fashion. Once the government imposed social distancing, the number of new cases leveled off; now, at least according to official statistics, every day brings more news of existing patients who are healed than of patients who are newly infected.

Read: Here’s who should be avoiding crowds right now

A few other countries have taken energetic steps to increase social distancing before the epidemic reached devastating proportions. In Singapore, for example, the government quickly canceled public events and installed medical stations to measure the body temperature of passersby while private companies handed out free hand sanitizer. As a result, the number of cases has grown much more slowly than in nearby countries.

These three facts imply a simple conclusion. The coronavirus could spread with frightening rapidity, overburdening our health-care system and claiming lives, until we adopt serious forms of social distancing.

This suggests that anyone in a position of power or authority, instead of downplaying the dangers of the coronavirus, should ask people to stay away from public places, cancel big gatherings, and restrict most forms of nonessential travel.

Given that most forms of social distancing will be useless if sick people cannot get treated—or afford to stay away from work when they are sick—the federal government should also take some additional steps to improve public health. It should take on the costs of medical treatment for the coronavirus, grant paid sick leave to stricken workers, promise not to deport undocumented immigrants who seek medical help, and invest in a rapid expansion of ICU facilities.

The past days suggest that this administration is unlikely to do these things well or quickly (although the administration signaled on Monday that it will seek relief for hourly workers, among other measures). Hence, the responsibility for social distancing now falls on decision makers at every level of society.

Do you head a sports team? Play your games in front of an empty stadium.
Are you organizing a conference? Postpone it until the fall.
Do you run a business? Tell your employees to work from home.

Are you the principal of a school or the president of a university? Move classes online before your students get sick and infect their frail relatives.

 
All of these decisions have real costs. Shutting down public schools in New York City, for example, would deprive tens of thousands of kids of urgently needed school meals. But the job of institutions and authorities is to mitigate those costs as much as humanly possible, not to use them as an excuse to put the public at risk of a deadly communicable disease.

Finally, the most important responsibility falls on each of us. It’s hard to change our own behavior while the administration and the leaders of other important institutions send the social cue that we should go on as normal. But we must change our behavior anyway. If you feel even a little sick, for the love of your neighbor and everyone’s grandpa, do not go to work.

When the influenza epidemic of 1918 infected a quarter of the U.S. population, killing hundreds of thousands nationally and millions across the globe, seemingly small choices made the difference between life and death.

As the disease was spreading, Wilmer Krusen, Philadelphia’s health commissioner, allowed a huge parade to take place on September 28; some 200,000 people marched. In the following days and weeks, the bodies piled up in the city’s morgues. By the end of the season, 12,000 residents had died.

In St. Louis, a public-health commissioner named Max Starkloff decided to shut the city down.

Ignoring the objections of influential businessmen, he closed the city’s schools, bars, cinemas, and sporting events. Thanks to his bold and unpopular actions, the per capita fatality rate in St. Louis was half that of Philadelphia. (In total, roughly 1,700 people died from influenza in St Louis.)

In the coming days, thousands of people across the country will face the choice between becoming a Wilmer Krusen or a Max Starkloff.

In the moment, it will seem easier to follow Krusen’s example. For a few days, while none of your peers are taking the same steps, moving classes online or canceling campaign events will seem profoundly odd. People are going to get angry. You will be ridiculed as an extremist or an alarmist. But it is still the right thing to do.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-cancel-everything/607675/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200311&silverid-ref=NTk0NjUwMDEzMDAyS0

 READ COMMENTS ON ORIGINAL POST:

https://theunorthodoxjew.blogspot.com/2020/03/this-suggests-that-anyone-in-position.html

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill closes a legal loophole under so-called position of trust laws, to cover religious leaders. The law, which already applied to teachers and doctors, makes sexual relationships between people in these roles, and those they supervise, illegal.

 

Sexual abuse safeguarding laws extended to places of worship

 

Jewish campaigners welcome move with Chief Rabbi Mirvis says 'nothing could be more vital than keeping young people in our communities safe and the closing of this loophole'

Campaigners for Jewish victims of sexual abuse have welcomed changes to child abuse laws announced in Parliament this week.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill closes a legal loophole under so-called position of trust laws, to cover religious leaders.

The law, which already applied to teachers and doctors, makes sexual relationships between people in these roles, and those they supervise, illegal.

“The move follows an extensive review which raised concerns that predators could exploit the particular influence these roles can often have in a young person’s life – making them vulnerable to abuse”, the government’s website says.

The move to extend the law to religious leaders was welcomed by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who said: “Sadly, wherever relationships of trust exist, there follows the danger for those relationships to be exploited in the most destructive way. Nothing could be more vital than keeping young people in our communities safe and the closing of this loophole, as recommended by the Independent Inquiry in Child Sexual Abuse, sends an important message in that regard.”

Reform Judaism welcomed the move, with Rabbi Celia Surget, Chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis and Cantors UK, saying: “We are absolutely in support of the widening of the laws outlined in this new legislation”.

“We welcome it wholeheartedly and look forward to seeing its implementation at the earliest possible time”.

This comes after the government stepped in last week to protect victims of religious divorce, trapped by abusive husbands who refuse to grant a ‘get.’

Yehudis Goldsobel, who in 2013 established Migdal Emunah, a charity that supports victims of sexual abuse, backed the “exciting and welcome change to legislation. Over the years I have had the privilege to work with colleagues from other faiths in advocating for more robust safeguarding in faith and religious organisations.”

This is a first step towards better safeguarding standards and I look forward to further recommendations being implemented in the near future. I am optimistic to see the recommendations from IICSA (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) in their final report.”

https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/sexual-abuse-safeguarding-laws-extended-to-places-of-worship/

Accused child molester extradited to NYC after fleeing to Israel in 2010

 

A Brooklyn man who fled to Israel in 2010 amid accusations of child molestation was extradited back to the Big Apple on Thursday, officials said.

 

Gershon Kranczer, 65, was arraigned at Brooklyn Supreme Court for the alleged sexual assault of two minor female relatives, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

The suspected predator is accused of molesting one relative several times from August 1996 — when she was 6-years-old — to February 2003, prosecutors said.

Kranczer, of Midwood, is also alleged to have sexually abused an 11-year-old child between March 2001 and September 2002.

In 2010, as Kranczer was under investigation, he fled to Israel in an alleged bid to escape the law, prosecutors and sources said.

The NYPD alerted Interpol of Kranczer’s departure. The department’s Intel Bureau International Liaison Unit then got involved, coordinating with Israel police in an attempt to track down the suspect, sources said.

After spending over a decade overseas under the disguise of an alias, Kranczer was caught by authorities in February 2020, sources said.

Gershon Kranczer (center) was caught by authorities in February 2020 after hiding in Israel, sources said.

The US Marshals, the Brooklyn DA’s office, and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs were also involved in catching Kranczer.

Kranczer fought extradition back to the states for over a year, sources said. After he lost his final appeal, he was extradited.

He is charged with sexual conduct against a child, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse, authorities said.

At his Thursday arraignment, he was ordered held without bail.

 

WATCH VIDEO:

https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/accused-child-molester-extradited-to-nyc-after-fleeing-to-israel/