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Hasidic pop singer Lipa Schmeltzer |
(A7) Hasidic pop singer Lipa Schmeltzer, one of the prominent singers in the haredi sector, went public last week with a pair of YouTube videos revealing that he suffered sexual abuse as a child.
The videos, released in Hebrew and English, touched on Schmeltzer’s difficult childhood, and the therapy he has since undergone.
. “I have gone through many difficult things in my life,” he shared in the Hebrew video, posted on his YouTube channel just before the Shavuot holiday.
“At that time, they would take this child to live elsewhere, without going to court, without calling it rape. I don’t want to make a story out of it. I’m not looking to go back and judge people; I want to move forward.”
“I am sharing this after much thought, in order to be whole with myself, with all the families who hear my music, so that they truly know who Lipa Schmeltzer is from within.” He added that he prays his video “changes someone’s life.”
In the English video, Schmeltzer elaborated about the therapy he underwent for years, following various childhood traumas.
“I’ve been through a lot of trauma. I’ve been through every type of abuse – physically, mental, verbal, and I’m not here to point fingers.”
Regarding the handling of such abuse within the tightly-knit Skver Hasidic community he grew up in in New Square, New York, Schmeltzer linked the inability of his parents and teachers to support him as a child to the legacy of the Holocaust.”
“I will tell you not to judge. The teachers who were teaching me… were taught by Holocaust survivors.”
“The Hasidic community, the ‘black-and-white’ community, the haredi community, was founded by people who came out of the concentration camps. We carry this in our DNA, we carry the trauma, we carry the pain.”
“These people, including my father and mother, never went for therapy. My father never saw the funeral of his father, because his father is in a mass grave. And he carried that.”
“Why am I sharing all this? All my fans know me, they are connected to me. They know my music, but I get all these judgments sometimes – ‘why do you do this or that’.”
“I feel like talking about my real me will help me move forward.”
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3 comments:
Segments of the Haredi community is rife with sexual abuse of children and those who report it to the police are vilified and shunned by their community. I don’t know how these criminals and those who protect them can possibly atone for their sins during Yom Kippur.
לֹֽא־יָקוּם֩ עֵ֨ד אֶחָ֜ד בְּאִ֗ישׁ לְכׇל־עָוֺן֙ וּלְכׇל־חַטָּ֔את בְּכׇל־חֵ֖טְא אֲשֶׁ֣ר יֶֽחֱטָ֑א עַל־פִּ֣י ׀ שְׁנֵ֣י
עֵדִ֗ים א֛וֹ עַל־פִּ֥י שְׁלֹשָֽׁה־עֵדִ֖ים יָק֥וּם דָּבָֽר׃
עַל־פִּ֣י ׀ שְׁנַ֣יִם עֵדִ֗ים א֛וֹ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה עֵדִ֖ים יוּמַ֣ת הַמֵּ֑ת לֹ֣א יוּמַ֔ת עַל־פִּ֖י עֵ֥ד אֶחָֽד׃ יַ֣ד הָעֵדִ֞ים תִּֽהְיֶה־בּ֤וֹ בָרִאשֹׁנָה֙ לַהֲמִית֔וֹ וְיַ֥ד כׇּל־הָעָ֖ם בָּאַחֲרֹנָ֑ה וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֥ הָרָ֖ע מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ׃
מַתְנִי׳ אֵלּוּ הֵן הַפְּסוּלִין: הַמְשַׂחֵק בְּקוּבְיָא, וּמַלְוֵי בְּרִבִּית, וּמַפְרִיחֵי יוֹנִים, וְסוֹחֲרֵי שְׁבִיעִית, וַעֲבָדִים. זֶה הַכְּלָל: כׇּל עֵדוּת שֶׁאֵין הָאִשָּׁה כְּשֵׁירָה לָהּ, אַף הֵן אֵינָן כְּשֵׁירִין לָהּ.
עֲשָׂרָה מִינֵי פַּסְלוּת הֵם כָּל מִי שֶׁנִּמְצָא בּוֹ אֶחָד מֵהֶן הֲרֵי הוּא פָּסוּל לְעֵדוּת. וְאֵלּוּ הֵן. הַנָּשִׁים. וְהָעֲבָדִים. וְהַקְּטַנִּים. וְהַשּׁוֹטִים. וְהַחֵרְשִׁים. וְהַסּוּמִים. וְהָרְשָׁעִים. וְהַבְּזוּיִין. וְהַקְּרוֹבִין. וְהַנּוֹגְעִין בְּעֵדוּתָן. הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ עֲשָׂרָה:
There are ten categories of disqualifications. Any person belonging to one of them is not acceptable as a witness. They are:
a) women;
b) servants;
c) minors;
d) mentally or emotionally unstable individuals;
e) deaf-mutes;
f) the blind;
g) the wicked; h) debased individuals;
i) relatives;
j) people who have a vested interest in the matter; a total of ten.
A 2020 report by Child USA found the average age at the time of reporting child sex abuse to be about 52 years. “The average age of abuse is somewhere in the 11- to 14-year-old range, so it’s a 40-year lag,” McNevin said.
https://religionnews.com/2023/05/26/catholic-church-in-california-grapples-with-more-than-3000-lawsuits-alleging-child-sex-abuse/
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