Kanievsky says go to police over sexual abuse incidents - בוקר טוב
(I Urged All 15 Years ago)
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Comments made in video with head of victims support organization are the first such public ruling by the senior haredi leader
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| Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky seen at his home in the city of Bnei Brak, on March 17, 2021. |
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the leading rabbi of the
Ashkenazi non-hassidic ultra-Orthodox community, has stated that
complaints over sexual abuse should be made to the police, in comments
which have been released to the public by the rabbi’s advisors.
The
comments were made three years ago but have only now been publicly
disclosed in a video seen by The Jerusalem Post of the meeting in which
the rabbi stated his position. Kanievsky previously stated in 2015
regarding a specific case that a victim could report his abuse to the
police, but the new comments refer in general to all incidents of sexual
abuse and the video of his ruling was officially approved for release
by the rabbi’s advisers.
Kanievsky
made his remarks in a meeting with Rabbi Asher Melamed, director of the
Israeli Protection Center, which works to prevent sexual abuse in the
haredi community and assist the victims of such abuse.
In
the video, Kanievsky’s grandson Aryeh Kanievsky asks the rabbi, in the
presence of Melamed, whether someone should file a police complaint
against a suspected sex abuser.
“Go to the police quietly,” Kanievsky said.
Asked if it was possible to ignore legal obligations to report criminal sexual abuse, the rabbi said, “No.”
Israeli
law requires that criminal sexual abuse by people in various positions
of authority, such as teachers, doctors and nurses, must be reported.
When
Kanievsky said “quietly,” Melamed told the Post, he meant the
identities of those involved should be protected and all due caution
taken to the extreme sensitivities of such issues in the haredi
community.
“This
is a dramatic development,” Melamed said. “Rabbi Kanievsky, the great
Torah scholar of his generation,” is saying clearly and sharply that one
must report sex abusers to the police and that sexual abuse is akin to
murder of the soul.”
Due to societal sensitivities in the haredi community, there are many obstacles to people reporting sexual abuse, he said.
Prohibitions
against using non-religious judicial systems, against speaking badly of
others and against desecrating God’s name are all severe impediments
within the community to reporting that someone has been sexually abused,
Melamed said.
“Here,
the great Torah scholar of the generation is saying, ‘There is no
moiser [being an informer] when it comes to sexual abuse; go and report
it to the police,’” he said. “And, furthermore, he says one cannot
ignore the obligation to report sexual abuse. So this is a dramatic
step.”
Problems of
sexual abuse in the haredi community have become so severe, including
extremely high-profile cases with multiple victims such as that of Zaka
founder and head Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, that the time was ripe for such
comments by the rabbi to be made public, Melamed said.
There
is very little dialogue about the issue of sexual abuse in the haredi
community due to its highly conservative character. But it appears that
Kanievsky and his associates now feel comfortable addressing the problem
publicly.
A haredi family walks down the street in the Makor Baruch neighborhood of Jerusalem
Shana
Aaronson, director of the Magen organization which combats sexual abuse
in Israel, said that increasing numbers of ultra-Orthodox rabbis do now
recommend that complaints be filed to the police about sex abuse.
But
she added that there is still too much trust placed in alleged sex
abusers, who often themselves approach authoritative rabbis and claim
that false accusations have been made against them.
The
rabbis, who do not have the capability to properly investigate the
claims, often believe the first person who approaches them, often
creating problems for victims, Aaronson said.