Child Abuse in the Jewish Community & the D.A.'s Office

 by Ed Koch - Former Mayor of New York

The crime of sexually abusing a child, including adolescents and teens, is so heinous that the public is immediately shocked and angered. For a number of years, we have read of sex acts involving Catholic clergy with adolescents and seminarians taking place in a number of countries, including the U.S. The New York Times, to its credit, has been relentless in keeping this situation under examination by its reporters over the years with front page stories devoted to exposing the abuses.

The Times is now examining the sexual abuses taking place in the Jewish ultra-orthodox Hasidic community, primarily in Brooklyn, and the response of the Brooklyn District Attorney, Joe Hynes. The Hasidim started in eastern Europe several hundred years ago. Each Hasidic sect often takes the name of the village where their rabbi once lived. The Hasidic community is close knit, somewhat like the Amish. It maintains a lot of control over its members, with its rabbis and religious courts often being the arbiters of disputes. The Hassids, as they are known, prefer not to use secular governmental institutions, such as the police and courts. Those not abiding by community rules are often shunned and sometimes even assaulted.

In Brooklyn, the major communities where Hasidic groups live — the largest being Satmar and Lubavitch — are Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Borough Park. Different Hasidic groups contend with one another and other ethnic communities for space – their housing needs are enormous because they typically have very large families of eight or more children – and occasionally philosophical differences have led to physical attacks. In Brooklyn, many Hasidic groups have been very supportive of the Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes, who is Irish and Catholic. The Times articles provide us with one major reason why the support. He apparently has treated them preferentially, particularly in child abuse cases.

The ultra-orthodox Jewish community, like all other communities, is ashamed of the fact that child sexual molestation exists in their community. However, the Hasidic community was apparently outraged when one of their members reported to civil authorities that his son had been sexually molested in a ritual bathhouse. As reported in a May 11 New York Times article authored by Sharon Otterman and Ray Rivera: “The first shock came when Mordechai Jungreis learned that his mentally disabled teenage son was being molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn. The second came after Mr. Jungreis complained, and the man accused of the abuse was arrested. Old friends started walking stonily past him and his family on the streets of Williamsburg. Their landlord kicked them out of their apartment. Anonymous messages filled their answering machine, cursing Mr. Jungreis for turning in a fellow Jew. And, he said, the mother of a child in a wheelchair confronted Mr. Jungreis’s mother-in-law, saying the same man had molested her son, and she ‘did not report this crime, so why did your son-in-law have to?’”

The Times article of May 11 also reported the statement of one of the most influential of all of the ultra-orthodox Agudath Israel, stating, “‘You can destroy a person’s life with a false report,’ said Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, the executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a powerful ultra-Orthodox organization, which last year said that observant Jews should not report allegations to the police unless permitted to do so by a rabbi. Rabbinic authorities ‘recommend you speak it over with a rabbi before coming to any definitive conclusion in your own mind,’ Rabbi Zwiebel said.”

The Times article cites a number of cases of sexual abuse of children and the threats parents received from rabbis and others in the community if they alerted the police. The article reported on the shunning by the community of a rabbi who urged victims of sexual molestation to call the police, reporting, “Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg of Williamsburg, for example, has been shunned by communal authorities because he maintains a telephone number that features his impassioned lectures in Yiddish, Hebrew and English imploring victims to call 911 and accusing rabbis of silencing cases. He also shows up at court hearings and provides victims’ families with advice. His call-in line gets nearly 3,000 listeners a day. In 2008, fliers were posted around Williamsburg denouncing him. One depicted a coiled snake, with Mr. Rosenberg’s face superimposed on its head. ‘Nuchem Snake Rosenberg: Leave Tainted One!’ it said in Hebrew. The local Satmar Hasidic authorities banned him from their synagogues, and a wider group of 32 prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis and religious judges signed an order, published in a community newspaper, formally ostracizing him.”

Times writers Ray Rivera and Sharon Otterman reported in their article of May 10, “An influential rabbi came last summer to the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, with a message: his ultra-Orthodox advocacy group was instructing adherent Jews that they could report allegations of child sexual abuse to district attorneys or the police only if a rabbi first determined  that the suspicions were credible. The pronouncement was a blunt challenge to Mr. Hynes’s authority. But the district attorney ‘expressed no opposition or objection,’ the rabbi, Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, recalled.”

If in fact, Hynes assented to this procedure, in my opinion, he was blessing the obstruction of justice. The law requires certain categories of employees, e.g., teachers, social workers, etc., to immediately report to the government any information they gain concerning a case of child abuse.

 For a rabbi to counsel otherwise, I believe, is a criminal act to be pursued by the District Attorney rather than countenanced.

To the credit of the Lubavitch community, the article reports, “In Crown Heights, where the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement has its headquarters, there has been more significant change. In July 2011, a religious court declared that the traditional prohibition against mesirah [being an informer against a fellow Jew] did not apply in cases with evidence of abuse. ‘One is forbidden to remain silent in such situations,’ said the ruling, signed by two of the court’s three judges.”

District Attorney Hynes is also accused of, and admits to, the charge that he has “taken the highly unusual step of declining to publicize the names of defendants prosecuted under the program [protecting ultra-orthodox Jews for engaging in sexual abuse of children]— even those convicted. At the same time, he continues to publicize allegations of child sexual abuse against defendants who are not ultra-Orthodox Jews.”

Last week I was asked by Azi Paybarah of Capital New York for my views on this aspect of Hynes’ official acts. My response, quoted on the Capital New York blog published on May 11, was as follows: “This community does not deserve to have any preferential treatment” and “he should treat them exactly as he would anyone else.” Koch, who is Jewish, said Hynes should prosecute the rabbis who interfered with victims reporting accusations of abuse. ‘We’re all equal under the law and they have to subscribe to the law without getting preferential treatment,‘ Koch said. ‘It’s just dead wrong. And there’s no explanation to make it right in any way.’”

At this point, unless District Attorney Hynes announces that he will release the names of all defendants, including those of ultra orthodox Jews charged with child abuse, sexual or otherwise, and will pursue criminally anyone who engages in obstruction of justice, advising someone not to assist the police in their investigation of a child abuse incident, the Governor should supersede him in these cases and appoint a special prosecutor to handle them.

READ MORE:
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/05/14/child-abuse-in-the-ultra-orthodox-hasidic-community-and-the-brooklyn-district-attorneys-office/

....But even Heaven is not above the law!

by Ben Kamin

SAN DIEGO — The New York Times has now published an article that carefully chronicles a disquieting, alarming social reality brimming inside the fundamentalist Jewish community of Brooklyn: adult members of the enclave who have reported the sexual abuse of youngsters on the part of rabbis, teachers, and other professionals are being shunned and excoriated by others in the area.

This kind of medieval syndrome, a sad blend of paranoia and sanctimony, is condemning innocent children and protecting evil people who need to be condemned. It rehabilitates no one in need of serious clinical intervention and perpetuates the stranglehold of power-hungry old men that have no concept of ecclesiastic privilege and responsibility. It is locking kids into a spiritual ghetto that has nothing to do with either American or Jewish enlightenment.

There isn’t much of a distance between the perpetrators of such heinous acts and those who are effectively complicit by actually ostracizing their informants. No amount of Torah-waving, self-righteousness, or pious rationalization can possibly whitewash the fact that this trend, this hypocrisy, is scandalous, immoral, and quite possibly criminal.

There is certainly nothing in the Jewish textual tradition that supports this shameless practice; it is simply an outgrowth of the growing fiefdom of hardline rabbis whose power is viewed by their devotees as unyielding, boundless, and which even flouts the laws of the state. A number of journalists are looking into the comfortable relationship that seems to exist among the rabbis in Brooklyn and other heavily Hasidic towns and boroughs and the local or regional district attorneys. The sages are steeped in prayer and in electoral privilege—this writer will leave it to others to figure out whether it’s about money or reverence.

In any category, it is horrifying and needs to be addressed. I learned a long time ago, while preparing for the rabbinate, that Israel is often compared to a lamb. When any part of the creature is hurting, even its paw, the whole being is affected. This aphorism is Talmudic, as is the signal declaration by Rabbi Hillel: “In a place where are no human beings, you strive to be human.” In other words, the insular, detrimental, reactionary mindset of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who regard state laws as somehow incidental to rabbinic edicts, who incredulously condemn their neighbors who have the integrity and courage to report sexual criminals to the authorities (so as to protect the community reputation) have turned their backs on Jewish values, on biblical ideals—and on their own molested children.

Brooklyn is an eclectic, vibrant, and increasingly diverse city. Two hundred fifty thousand fundamentalist Jews live there—they are as thick as blackberries in the streets and parks and storefronts. They study texts and sing psalms as old as God. They publish great books and maintain sacred traditions and they look to the heavens for their inspiration. But even Heaven is not above the law.

Ben Kamin is a freelance writer based in San Diego.

Who Speaks for the Children?

Editorial - THE NEW YORK TIMES GLOBAL EDITION

For decades, Brooklyn prosecutors pursuing child molesters netted few complaints or convictions in the borough’s cloistered, politically powerful community of ultra-Orthodox Jews. Rabbinical authorities banned relatives of the abused from reporting the crimes to non-Jewish authorities; those few who spoke out were shunned — expelled from synagogues, their children expelled from schools — or pressured into dropping their cases.

As Sharon Otterman and Ray Rivera reported in The Times this week, this intolerable situation has slowly begun to change, as some community members have dared to speak up for the victims, no matter the personal cost. While some religious leaders now say that molesters should be turned over to the police, too many still insist on covering up these crimes.

Instead of protecting their community, they are doing enormous, shameful damage.

Brooklyn’s district attorney, Charles Hynes, who has received considerable political support from ultra-Orthodox rabbis, has been accused by victim advocates of not doing enough to face the problem. His office denies this, noting he roiled the community in 1999 in accusing a prominent rabbi of witness-tampering in a child abuse case and three years ago set up a hot line for child abuse complaints in the community.

He needs to do a lot more to help the victims and demonstrate his independence. Mr. Hynes can start by ending his policy of refusing to announce the names of accused molesters from the ultra-Orthodox community. He does not shield the names of other defendants, and no other city district attorney employs such a selective policy, according to The Times.

Mr. Hynes’s insistence that victims might hesitate to come forward if defendants were identified is absurd. The clear message to the victims is that the system is intent on protecting abusers.

Studies find that the problem of child abuse in the Brooklyn community is no greater than elsewhere. What is needed is far more of the candor and initiative displayed last summer by a religious court in Brooklyn’s Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic neighborhood. The court ruled the traditional prohibition against mesirah — turning in of a Jew to non-Jewish authorities — did not apply in cases of sexually abused children. “One is forbidden to remain silent in such situations,” it declared. Everyone who cares about children should listen.

READ MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/opinion/who-speaks-for-the-children.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

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Bloomberg Among Critics of Prosecutor in Brooklyn

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday sharply criticized the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, over his handling of child sexual abuse cases among the borough’s large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Mr. Bloomberg said through a spokesman that he “completely disagrees” with Mr. Hynes’s decision to not object to the position of an influential ultra-Orthodox advocacy group on reporting allegations of child sexual abuse. The group announced last year that adherent Jews must obtain permission from a rabbi before reporting such allegations to district attorneys or the police.

The group’s position could conflict with a state law that requires teachers, counselors and others to report allegations immediately to the authorities.

“Any abuse allegations should be brought to law enforcement, who are trained to assess their accuracy and act appropriately,” said a spokesman for the mayor, Marc LaVorgna.

The mayor was responding to an article in The New York Times on Friday that examined Mr. Hynes’s record on these cases and his relations with ultra-Orthodox leaders in neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Borough Park.

District attorneys in New York are elected, and the mayor has no authority over Mr. Hynes’s conduct. But the mayor was adding his voice to growing criticism of Mr. Hynes’s record on child sexual abuse cases involving the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.

Victims’ groups have accused Mr. Hynes of being too accommodating to politically powerful rabbis who have often sought to resolve allegations of sexual abuse quietly through rabbinical panels.

Mr. Hynes has also adopted a policy of not publicizing accusations of child sexual abuse involving ultra-Orthodox Jews, even as he has continued to publicize the names of other defendants accused of sex crimes. Mr. Hynes’s aides said Mr. Hynes was not publicizing the accusations to avoid revealing the identities of victims in the highly insular community.

Asked on Friday about Mr. Bloomberg’s criticism, Mr. Hynes’s spokesman, Jerry Schmetterer, declined to comment.

Last summer, Mr. Hynes met with a top official of Agudath Israel of America, the ultra-Orthodox advocacy group, who informed him about the group’s position that allegations could be reported to the authorities only if a rabbi first determined that they were credible. Mr. Hynes’s aides said Mr. Hynes told the official, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, that he “wouldn’t interfere with someone’s decision to consult with his or her rabbi about allegations of sexual abuse, but would expect that these allegations of criminal conduct be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

In an interview, Rabbi Zwiebel said the need to consult a rabbi first outranks even New York’s mandatory reporting law. Even a teacher, he said, should go to a rabbi if a child says he or she is being abused before the teacher reports it.

“The rabbis’ consensus is go to a rabbi, because of the stringency of the matter on both sides of the equation, both the Jewish legal implications and because you can destroy a person’s life with a false report,” Rabbi Zwiebel said.

On Friday, the leading Democratic mayoral candidates also took issue with the ultra-Orthodox policy on reporting abuse allegations. “Our first concern is with victims of crime, especially potential victims of child abuse, and the first call should be to the appropriate law enforcement authorities,” Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, said.

Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, said, “Law enforcement must focus all its attention on protecting victims, not on shielding abusers.”

The public advocate, Bill de Blasio, said, “There should be one standard of justice for the whole city.”

Tom Allon, a community newspaper publisher who is also a candidate, compared the issue to those involving the Roman Catholic Church “and what happened at Penn State....”

READ MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/nyregion/bloomberg-among-critics-of-brooklyn-district-attorney.html?nl=nyregion&emc=edit_ur_20120512

For Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Sex Abuse Cases, Prosecutor Has Different Rules!

An influential rabbi came last summer to the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, with a message: his ultra-Orthodox advocacy group was instructing adherent Jews that they could report allegations of child sexual abuse to district attorneys or the police only if a rabbi first determined that the suspicions were credible.

The pronouncement was a blunt challenge to Mr. Hynes’s authority. But the district attorney “expressed no opposition or objection,” the rabbi, Chaim Dovid Zweibel, recalled.

In fact, when Mr. Hynes held a Hanukkah party at his office in December, he invited many ultra-Orthodox rabbis affiliated with the advocacy group, Agudath Israel of America. He even chose Rabbi Zweibel, the group’s executive vice president, as keynote speaker at the party.

Mr. Hynes has won election six times as district attorney thanks in part to support from ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who lead growing communities in neighborhoods like Borough Park and Crown Heights. But in recent years, as allegations of child sexual abuse have shaken the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, victims’ rights groups have expressed concern that he is not vigorously pursuing these cases because of his deep ties to the rabbis.

Many of the rabbis consider sexual abuse accusations to be community matters best handled by rabbinical authorities, who often do not report their conclusions to the police.

In 2009, as criticism of his record mounted, Mr. Hynes set up a program to reach out to ultra-Orthodox victims of child sexual abuse. Called Kol Tzedek (Voice of Justice in Hebrew), the program is intended to “ensure safety in the community and to fully support those affected by abuse,” his office said.

In recent months, Mr. Hynes and his aides have said the program has contributed to an effective crackdown on child sexual abuse among ultra-Orthodox Jews, saying it had led to 95 arrests involving more than 120 victims.

But Mr. Hynes has taken the highly unusual step of declining to publicize the names of defendants prosecuted under the program — even those convicted. At the same time, he continues to publicize allegations of child sexual abuse against defendants who are not ultra-Orthodox Jews.

This policy of shielding defendants’ names because of their religious status is not followed by the other four district attorneys in New York City, and has rarely, if ever, been adopted by prosecutors around the country.

Some sex-crime experts and former prosecutors said the policy contributed to a culture of secrecy in ultra-Orthodox communities, which made it harder to curb sexual abuse.

Mr. Hynes, through a spokesman, said he would not publicize information about specific accusations because he did not want to discourage victims from coming forward. But at least one ultra-Orthodox rabbi acknowledged asking him not to publicize these cases and said other rabbis had as well.

The number of sexual abuse cases involving children being prosecuted by Mr. Hynes’s office is up sharply. But an examination by The New York Times shows that some of Mr. Hynes’s claims about the Kol Tzedek program appear to be inflated.

Through an extensive search of court and other public records, The Times determined the names of suspects and other details in 47 of the 95 cases attributed to the Kol Tzedek program. More than half of the 47 seemed to have little to do with the program, according to the court records and interviews.

Some did not involve ultra-Orthodox victims, which the program is specifically intended to help. More than one-third involved arrests before the program began, as early as 2007. Many came in through standard reporting channels, like calls to the police.

While the 47 cases did include charges against camp counselors, yeshiva teachers and rabbis, they also included cases like that of a Borough Park cafe owner who was convicted of molesting a female Hispanic immigrant who worked for him.

At least three others were of ultra-Orthodox defendants who groped women on public transportation, including one Borough Park resident accused of placing his penis on a woman’s shoulder. The woman immediately called the transit police......

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/nyregion/for-ultra-orthodox-in-child-sex-abuse-cases-prosecutor-has-different-rules.html?hpw

Ultra-Orthodox Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse!

The first shock came when Mordechai Jungreis learned that his mentally disabled teenage son was being molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn. The second came after Mr. Jungreis complained, and the man accused of the abuse was arrested.

Old friends started walking stonily past him and his family on the streets of Williamsburg. Their landlord kicked them out of their apartment. Anonymous messages filled their answering machine, cursing Mr. Jungreis for turning in a fellow Jew. And, he said, the mother of a child in a wheelchair confronted Mr. Jungreis’s mother-in-law, saying the same man had molested her son, and she “did not report this crime, so why did your son-in-law have to?”

By cooperating with the police, and speaking out about his son’s abuse, Mr. Jungreis, 38, found himself at the painful forefront of an issue roiling his insular Hasidic community. There have been glimmers of change as a small number of ultra-Orthodox Jews, taking on longstanding religious and cultural norms, have begun to report child sexual abuse accusations against members of their own communities. But those who come forward often encounter intense intimidation from their neighbors and from rabbinical authorities, aimed at pressuring them to drop their cases.

Abuse victims and their families have been expelled from religious schools and synagogues, shunned by fellow ultra-Orthodox Jews and targeted for harassment intended to destroy their businesses. Some victims’ families have been offered money, ostensibly to help pay for therapy for the victims, but also to stop pursuing charges, victims and victims’ advocates said.

“Try living for one day with all the pain I am living with,” Mr. Jungreis, spent and distraught, said recently outside his new apartment on Williamsburg’s outskirts. “Did anybody in the Hasidic community in these two years, in Borough Park, in Flatbush, ever come up and look my son in the eye and tell him a good word? Did anybody take the courage to show him mercy in the street?”

SLIDE SHOW: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/05/10/nyregion/20110510orthodox.html?nl=nyregion&emc=edit_ur_20120510

A few blocks away, Pearl Engelman, a 64-year-old great-grandmother, said her community had failed her too. In 2008, her son, Joel, told rabbinical authorities that he had been repeatedly groped as a child by a school official at the United Talmudical Academy in Williamsburg. The school briefly removed the official but denied the accusation. And when Joel turned 23, too old to file charges under the state’s statute of limitations, they returned the man to teaching.

“There is no nice way of saying it,” Mrs. Engelman said. “Our community protects molesters. Other than that, we are wonderful.”

Keeping to Themselves

The New York City area is home to an estimated 250,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews — the largest such community outside of Israel, and one that is growing rapidly because of its high birthrate. The community is concentrated in Brooklyn, where many of the ultra-Orthodox are Hasidim, followers of a fervent spiritual movement that began in 18th-century Europe and applies Jewish law to every aspect of life.

Their communities, headed by dynastic leaders called rebbes, strive to preserve their centuries-old customs by resisting the contaminating influences of the outside world. While some ultra-Orthodox rabbis now argue that a child molester should be reported to the police, others strictly adhere to an ancient prohibition against mesirah, the turning in of a Jew to non-Jewish authorities, and consider publicly airing allegations against fellow Jews to be chillul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name.

There are more mundane factors, too. Some ultra-Orthodox Jews want to keep abuse allegations quiet to protect the reputation of the community, and the family of the accused. And rabbinical authorities, eager to maintain control, worry that inviting outside scrutiny could erode their power, said Samuel Heilman, a professor of Jewish studies at Queens College.....

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE & HUNDREDS OF COMMENTS: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/ultra-orthodox-jews-shun-their-own-for-reporting-child-sexual-abuse.html?hpw

Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis Raise $1.5 M. for Massive ‘Jews Against the Internet’ Rally At Citi Field

"This will be a mass rally never before seen in the history of Orthodox Jewry in the U.S. "...except everyone is Jewish and there is no baseball.

Update: No women are permitted to attend the rally, so it looks like Ladybeat will be invading the bleachers in drag.

By definition, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community cleaves to the old ways over modern societal norms. Thus it finds itself even more at odds with the technological wave of apps and gadgets transforming American culture.

And the time has come, apparently, to make that opposition known.

The Jewish Press reports that a massive rally is being planned for Sunday, May 20th at Citi Field in Queens “to combat the evils of the Internet and the damages caused by advanced electronic devices.”

The rabbis behind the rally don’t specify which “evils” and “damages,” in particular, they are railing against. Merely noting that they want to save a generation from “the ravages of advanced technology.”

However, a message signed by a number of Israeli rabbis in the Haredi press offers some clarification under the following headline, “A Letter from our Masters the Great Men of Israel Shlita In Preparation for the International Conference in the U.S. Against the Scourge of Technology,”

“It is well known that in recent times that through the Internet many serious family-related problems have been created, and it all happens because of it, and something must be done so they won’t be hurt. And since this touches almost everyone, we must assemble together to protect and be protected, and we hope that through this gathering in search of ideas we will be helped from Heaven to save the many, and may it be that we will be successful in encouraging the public not to stumble over this obstacle, and the Lord will guide us in a truthful path.

We’ll definitely be showing up at the rally, if only to hear more about these “family-related problems.” Probably something more insidious than just Angry Birds at the dinner table, right? But, why Citi Field? Well, the event organizers are expecting quite a show:

“This will be a mass rally never before seen in the history of Orthodox Jewry in the U.S. It will be a gathering of unity of all the Jews living in the U.S., a gathering to disseminate information and a prayer rally for the success of Klal-Israel’s war on the Technology which threatens the sanctity of the homes of Israel.”



Banning ArtScroll Shas on the iPad



“All the Jews” in America sounds a tad ambitious for a turnout goal, but JDN reports that the organizers have managed to raise $1.5 million from “private philanthropists” to produce the event. Just imagine how many iPads that could buy you!

READ MORE:

http://www.betabeat.com/2012/04/27/ultra-orthodox-rally-jews-against-the-internet-04272012/

What's Really Ticking Off Matisyahu Salomon!

Rabbi Salomon Promoting his anti-Internet Gathering May 20, 2012

...Since the Agudath Israel Convention in 2006, where he boldly pounced on a certain unnamed Blogger by claiming "ONE child rapist may have slipped through our fingers"... There have been at the very least, well over 100 arrests of child-rapists in the Orthodox Jewish Community in the USA, and hundreds more in Israel involving thousands of innocent children! His anti-Internet gathering is nothing more than a continuation of the cover-up of child-rapists in the Orthodox Jewish community! ... And now it's personal Matt, because I'm now convinced you're a  filthy fraud!

The passivity of the Catholic Church (and the Orthodox Jewish leadership).....

Editorial Board, TheWashington Post 

By the Catholic Church's reckoning,  it has undergone a sea change since the days when sexual predators in clerical collars sexually abused young boys with scant fear of dismissal, reprimand or even excessive concern by their supervisors. American dioceses have paid billions of dollars in compensation to victims, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued what amounts to a zero-tolerance policy and Pope Benedict XVI has apologized to victims of clergy sexual abuse here and in Ireland.

Yet despite the hierarchy’s insistence that it is investigating and rooting out sex criminals, the church often seems stuck in a defensive crouch. Too often it has failed to move against abusers and those who tolerate them until forced to do so by legal action or the threat of full-blown scandal.

In its reluctance to discipline Catholic leaders who covered up or ignored sex crimes, the church also deepens the impression that it remains focused more on safeguarding its image than protecting victims.

That’s the lesson in the story of the Rev. Bradley M. Schaeffer, for many years one of the most prominent Jesuit leaders in America. As the Boston Globe reported last month, Mr. Schaeffer, as leader of the Jesuits in Chicago in the 1990s, was presented with credible complaints from family members that a priest under his supervision was sexually abusing young boys. The priest, Donald J. McGuire, had been the subject of similar reports going back to the 1960s.

Rather than alerting police or removing Mr. McGuire from any ministry that would have allowed him contact with boys, Mr. Schaeffer sent him for treatment for a sexual disorder — which didn’t work. According to court records, Mr. McGuire continued to prey on boys for years afterward. Convicted by a federal jury in 2008 for molesting a schoolboy, Mr. McGuire is now serving a 25-year prison sentence.

In response to the Globe’s reporting, Mr. Schaeffer said he regretted that in the early 1990s he had not stopped what he called “these horrific crimes.” Yet he went on to become president of the U.S. Jesuit Conference, the largest Catholic order in America, and a board member of major Jesuit institutions, including Georgetown University. He resigned from Georgetown’s board of directors, on which he served as vice chair, shortly after the Globe’s story appeared.

The Schaeffer saga fits an all too familiar pattern of passivity by the church. Worryingly, there are even signs that the church’s passivity has morphed into hostility toward its accusers. In March, the New York Times reported that lawyers for the church have launched a campaign against a group that has championed the victims of pedophile priests, asking courts to force the group to disclose more than 20 years of e-mails. The organization, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, says that the church’s action is a serious threat to its advocacy.

While Catholic leaders insist they have turned the tide against clerical sexual abuse, the church’s behavior suggests that its default is to protect the abusers and their supervisors who turned a blind eye. Until that changes, the church’s promises of zero tolerance will remain an illusion.

 READ MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-passivity-of-the-catholic-church/2012/05/06/gIQAJgAU6T_story.html

Mandated Reporting in NJ: Dr. Pelcovitz, what are you thinking?



Pelcovitz's Travel Sponsored by The 17 Day Diet



by Vicki Polin

 The saga continues with the dynamic duo of David Mandel (director of Ohel Family Services) and David Pelcovitz (licensed psychologist and Yeshiva University professor). Both have been speaking at workshops in haredi communities around the United States and NOT providing parents with the most important information needed to protect their children from being abused. Once again these two self proclaimed experts omitted providing parents in Lakewood, NJ the necessary information regarding mandated reporting.

The ongoing issues of Pelcovitz and Mandel not talking about mandated reporting during workshops ispartially due to the fact they continuously cave into political pressures from various rabbonim -- who mandate that individuals get permission from rabbis prior to reporting suspicions of child abuse and or neglect to law enforcement officials or making hotline reports without the permission of local rabbis first. Several experts in the field of mind control have described the ciphering information to its membership by any community leader, such as the rabbonim of Lakewood, as being a form of cult like behavior.

On May 3rd, Dr. Pelcovitz and David Mandel spoke at a symposium held at Ateres Riva that was sponsored by the Lakewood Community Services Corporation, and organized by Rabbi Moshe Velvel Weisberg who is a member of the Vaad of Lakewood (Jewish religious court).

A few days after the event an audio recording of psychologist David Pelcovitz was released on youtube.com. On that recording Dr. Pelcovitz admits to a concerned parent that he was asked NOT to discuss calling the police in suspected cases of child abuse during the workshop.

What is interesting is that in the state of New Jersey, EVERYONE is a mandated reporter, including individuals giving workshops on child abuse and neglect. In New Jersey, mandated reporting does NOT mean going to your local orthodox rabbi first to get permission. The truth is that pressures from the rabbonim in Lakewood could also be construed as a form of witness tampering, and should be reported to local, state and federal law enforcement officials.

In the Asbury Press article published back in 2009, “Culture clash: Secular law and the Torah: Orthodox community deals with sexual abuse”, Rabbi Weisberg stated: “The town's rabbinical leaders strongly deny their residents are discouraged from reporting suspicions to law enforcement as a way to avoid outside stigma. If anything, they say, there is an increased hypersensitivity toward ridding the community of offenders swiftly and openly. But because of an inherent distrust in the secular legal system, a fear of a destroyed reputation or an uncertainty of the evidence, another option is needed. Their system offers those people who are reluctant to go to authorities another channel through which to bring allegations that otherwise would never be heard.” . . . "The moral weight of a Bais Din can have a tremendous effect as an incentive for perpetrators to stop their activity for fear of community sanctions,"

During the 2006 Agudath Israel of America conference, Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon -- who is not only a highly respected teacher at Lakewood's Beth Medrash Govoha yeshiva, he’s also the head spiritual advisor (mashgiach ruchanai) -- and is one of the rabbonim who allegedly apply pressure not to report suspicions of child abuse and neglect to authorities, addressed the handling of sensitive matters such as sex crimes in the context of criticizing anonymous bloggers.

"Yes, I would say we do sweep under the carpet sometimes," Salomon said at a 2006 convention for Agudath Israel of America, a national organization of Jewish leaders. "You know what we sweep under the carpet? Not what we don't do; what we do. Do these people know how many times perpetrators have been dealt with? Do these people know to what extent one had to have the courage to stand up against public opinion in order to make sure to protect our children? The only thing is, that was swept under the carpet, because we protect human dignity . . . And sometimes if the thing is not proven 100 percent, yes, we are guided by the Torah . . . . we don't jump to conclusions but we are consequent." In 2009 Rabbi Salomon reiterated “that perpetrators and predators must be punished, albeit not in the limelight."

According to psychologist, Michael J. Salamon, author of the book “ABUSE in the Jewish community”, "If you are a mandated reporter and you delay making a report you are contributing to the abuse of others."

A great example of the abuses and neglect of the community leaders in Lakewood include the story of Shua Finkelstein, who was a survivor of sexual abuse who and lost his battle with a drug addiction. Soon after his death a letter was discovered on his computer, which was made public. A few weeks later on April 14, 2009 his families home was gutted by fire. Luckily no one was home. The police report cited arson was the likely cause.

It wasn’t until Shua was 19 years old that he had enough courage to disclose to his mother that starting at the age of 6 he started being molested by and older male. After Shua’s death his mother Rivkah Finkelstein was asked why she didn't report the crime to the police. Rivkah responded by saying the idea of reporting didn't occur to her. Like many others living in communities like Lakewood, she was given the impression that by reporting the abuse she might increase the incidents of anti-Semitism or even start another pogrom. The message to community members was that it was best if issues like this were handled by the rabbonim. Eventually, Shua Finkelstein’s alleged offender was put into therapy. Yet no one knows if the therapist was someone trained in working with sexual predators.

Going to a bet din (Jewish religious court) to handle sex crimes is ludicrous. The truth is that not one rabbi has forensic training let alone taught victim sensitive interviewing techniques -- which take us back to the fact that by David Pelcovitz and David Mandel not teaching parents in Lakewood to make hotline reports, they are enabling sex offenders to continue on with their molesting careers.

Please help educate the parents in Lakewood along with other ultra-orthodox communities in New Jersey that if you suspect a child is being abused or neglected YOU ARE MANDATED to call 1-877-652-2873. If the child is in immediate danger, call 911 as well as 1-877 NJ ABUSE. A concerned caller does not need proof to report an allegation of child abuse and can make the report anonymously.

READ MORE:

http://www.examiner.com/article/mandated-reporting-nj-dr-pelcovitz-what-are-you-thinking

UOJ READER TIP LEADS FBI TO ARREST EVAN ZAUDER - ORTHODOX DAY SCHOOL TEACHER

Evan Zauder arrested for child pornography by FBI

Evan Zauder is a Dual Masters student and a Jim Joseph Fellow in Education and Jewish Studies at NYU. After high school graduation from CHAT in Toronto, Canada, he went on for two years of study at the renowned Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem's Old City. He continued his education at Yeshiva University, achieving a BA  in Political Science and a minor in Hebrew Language. Upon his arrival in New York, he began working for Bnei Akiva of New York as a Regional Director, and quickly moved his way up the ranks at Bnei Akiva to director of the In-School Programming division. He is the Director of Youth Programming at The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and he spends his summers working for Bnei Akiva of North America, most recently directing a post-tenth grade summer program in Israel. Evan is also founding and current Director of the Yeshivat HaKotel Alumni Association of America.

 READ: www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/manhattan-u.s.-attorney-and-fbi-assistant-director-in-charge-announce-arrest-of-new-jersey-teacher-for-possessing-child-pornography

Manhattan U.S. Attorney and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Announce Arrest of New Jersey Teacher for Possessing Child Pornography

U.S. Attorney’s Office May 03, 2012 -- Southern District of New York (212) 637-2600

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Janice K. Fedarcyk, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the arrest of EVAN ZAUDER for possessing child pornography. ZAUDER, 26, a sixth-grade teacher at a private school in New Jersey, was arrested by FBI agents late in the evening on Monday, May 1, 2012, at his Manhattan residence. He was presented yesterday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein in Manhattan federal court.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “As a teacher, Evan Zauder was supposed to help children not, as alleged, contribute to their exploitation. Protecting children from harm is an important priority shared by our office and the FBI, and we will continue to work tirelessly to pursue and prosecute individuals who prey on the innocent.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice Fedarcyk stated: “The FBI remains committed to protecting children from exploitation. The market for child pornography creates demand for production of images, and every photo and video is a record of abuse.”

According to the criminal complaint filed yesterday:

ZAUDER possessed child pornography that had been downloaded from the Internet and saved onto his computer. During a search of ZAUDER’s residence conducted on Monday, May 1, 2012, a computer containing hundreds of images and videos of minor children engaging in sexually explicit conduct was seized.

ZAUDER is charged with one count of possessing child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI. He added that the investigation is continuing.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrea Surratt and Paul Monteleoni are in charge of the prosecution.

The charge contained in the complaint is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The FBI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through their switchboard at (212) 384-1000. It is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800- 843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

The Internet is NOT the Problem!

 On Sunday, May 20th, 2012, thousands are expected to gather in Citi Field to rally against the perceived evils of the internet. Join us for a massive counter rally to bring awareness to a far bigger problem in the Frum (ultra-orthodox Jewish) community: keeping our children safe.

We are fed up with rabbinical leaders' dismissive attitude towards sexual and physical violence against children, inadequate educational systems and the shattering of families due to the religious choices of parents or children.

This is NOT an anti-religious protest. We are ultra-Orthodox, Modern Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, secular, male, female, young and old. This is not an ideological issue. This is not an issue only for “insiders.” When it comes to the safety of our children, we must be united and unabashed in our actions.

Nothing comes before the safety of our children!

For More Info: http://www.facebook.com/events/320642868009045/

New York City Lays Out Social Media Rules for Teachers!

City Lays Out Digital Rules For Teachers

New York City on Monday issued its first guidelines for the use of social media in schools, stopping short of an outright ban but warning teachers to keep a bright line between personal and professional accounts.

New York unveiled guidelines for use of social media in schools, and the Department of Education is considering asking parents to sign consent forms before children participate in socia-media activities.
The Department of Education also is considering asking parents to sign consent forms before children participate in social-media activities and before their children's work or pictures appear online, and informing parents about how social media is being used in schools.

"In an increasingly digital world, we seek to provide our students with the opportunities that multi-media learning can provide—which is why we should allow and encourage the appropriate and accepted use of these powerful resources," schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in an e-mail to principals.

The city in May will start providing training sessions for teachers and spotlight examples of the best uses of social media in classrooms. In laying down the guidelines, the department is trying to balance free-speech rights and the educational benefits of online learning with the dangers it sees in teachers and students getting too comfortable in less-traditional settings.

"In this digital era, the lines between professional and personal endeavors are sometimes blurred," the guidelines say. Teachers should reject friend requests or other contact with students on their personal accounts, the guidelines say.

As the popularity of Facebook and Twitter has increased, so have the complaints about inappropriate student-teacher contact. The number of complaints received by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for schools that referenced Facebook leaped to 59 in 2010 from two in 2008, though they were not all substantiated.

After a series of arrests of education department employees on sexual-assault charges, Mr. Walcott spoke about how the department was reviewing its social-media policy and favored a total ban, but the department said the timing was unrelated. The guidelines have been in the works for about six months, department officials said.

Still, teachers have been disciplined for inappropriate comments, such as one who wrote that a student looked "sexy."

There aren't consequences for not abiding by the guidelines, as long as other department policies about appropriate conduct are followed, schools spokesman Matthew Mittenthal said.

"These are strong recommendations," he said.

Teachers will be told in no uncertain terms that their interactions with students online will be monitored. Employees "have no expectation of privacy" when using social media, the guidelines say. Principals or other supervisors are expected to keep a list of all school-related social media accounts, monitor them regularly and report any "questionable" behavior.

They're also asked to use common sense.

"If a particular type of behavior is inappropriate in the classroom or a professional workplace, then that behavior is also inappropriate on the professional social media site," the guidelines say.

The guidelines also tell teachers to steer clear of looking at students' personal Facebook pages.

Some teachers have said they have flagged emotional or other problems with their students through what they've read on Facebook. Department officials said they understood that teachers care about the entire student and want to make sure they're doing well, but students need their own space and parents have made clear they aren't looking for co-parents.

Courtenaye Jackson-Chase, who will soon take over as the department's head lawyer, said city officials understand that teachers care about the entire student and want to make sure they're doing well, but students need their own space and parents have said "pretty loud and clear they're not looking for teachers to be co-parents."

Some teachers interviewed said the guidelines were fair.

"That all sounds reasonable to me," said Chris Casal, a computer teacher at Public School 10 in Brooklyn, who maintains an individual, professional Twitter account along with one for his school. "I'm not going to do something that's going to jeopardize the way people view me as an educator."

Mr. Casal said that because he works in an elementary school, he generally keeps in touch with parents more often than students. He said he feels Twitter has helped him stay at the top of his game by collecting and sharing links to relevant school news, resources and computer tips.

New York City, the largest school system in the country, is following a growing wave of districts that have implemented online guidelines, often in the wake of scandal.

Mr. Walcott said he wanted to make sure teachers didn't take the risk of saying something that could be misinterpreted.

Darrell M. West, a Brookings Institution vice president, said the new guidelines make it appear that the department is thinking only about the downsides of social media and protecting itself. "It sounds like best practices on how to avoid getting sued, as opposed to thinking about how to use social media to broaden the learning experience," he said. "We all know there has been bad behavior enabled by social media, but we shouldn't make policy based on extreme cases."

Department officials pointed to the upcoming training sessions as examples of how they were going beyond simply protecting themselves.

Richard Condon, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for schools, said what teachers were doing was more important than how they were doing it.

"I am not concerned with policy, I'm concerned with content," he said. "...If a teacher is dealing with a student through social media and it's within the bounds of the teacher-student relationship, and it's related to school and all that, I have no comment on that."

VIDEO & MORE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577376541510305510.html?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLETopStories#project%3DWSJPDF%26s%3Ddocid%253D120501040021-d09d61391884434caaad2041f5b2700c%257Cfile%253Dsocial_media_guidelines%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Staffers who abuse special-education students don't appear to have the skills they need...

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – When harsh words flew in a classroom for autistic children here, the school employees who spoke them likely thought no one in authority would ever hear.

"Go ahead and scream because guess what? You're going to get nothing until your mouth is shut.

"Oh Akian, you are a bastard."

But after the boy's father, Stuart Chaifetz, released excerpts of the tape in an online video last week, millions of people learned what was said at the Horace Mann Elementary School.

Now, educators and others are trying to figure out just what the incident means.

"What happened in the classroom is not excusable and should not have happened," Cherry Hill school officials said in a statement Friday. But while vowing to learn from the experience, the officials assert, "We believe this regrettable incident is an anomaly."

Others aren't so sure. They say special-education programs in many communities may lack the support and expertise needed to benefit children with disabilities.

Staffers who abuse special-education students "don't appear to have the skills they need … and clearly don't have the supervision they need," said Brenda Considine, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Coalition for Special Education Funding Reform.

"It's ironic that this stuff is garnering so much attention because we just passed one of the toughest anti-bullying laws in the country aimed at stopping kids from bullying one another," said Considine. "Here's clear-cut evidence that (school employees) are engaged in bullying."

The Cherry Hill incident wasn't the first such case in New Jersey.

In Deptford, a 15-year-old special education student made a covert video last year that appeared to show bullying by his teacher. The Gloucester County Special Services District is seeking to dismiss the teacher, who was suspended without pay in November.

And Stuart Chaifetz says he's heard from thousands of concerned parents and bullying victims, "some with special needs," since he posted a YouTube video with excerpts of the recording. The video has drawn more than 3.7 million viewers in the past week.

Chaifetz says people responding to the video include parents "who have suffered and who are in the exact same situation as I am and who are asking for advice on how to put a wire or a digital recorder on their child."

Assemblyman Dave Rible, a Republican from Monmouth who has called for improvements to special education in New Jersey, said he understands the outcry. "No one wants to see their children degraded or hurt."

Rible last week urged legislative action on a measure he's sponsored to create a task force of special-education experts.

"The whole crux of my bill is to examine special education, how we're spending money there and how we can improve it," said Rible. "If we're providing a service, we've got to provide the best possible service."

He and Considine expressed concern that special-education students could suffer as districts seek to cut costs by bringing such services into their schools, rather than paying steep tuitions to private organizations.

"I'm not against public schools," said Rible. "But we've got to make sure those teachers are provided the tools that they need."

Among other measures, Considine said, administrators should regularly pop into special-education classrooms to monitor staffers' performance. And she said detailed records should be kept for each student, so that potential problems can be addressed as early as possible.

"There has to be a school-wide culture of support," said Considine, acknowledging that would require an investment of time and money. "Educating kids with disabilities is more challenging."

That challenge can require special-ed teachers and aides to have an extra reserve of tolerance.

"If you take autistic children, for example, they can get upset over something and it may have nothing to do with the actions of the teacher," observed Jay Kuder, chair of the Language, Literacy and Special Education Department at Rowan University. "It could be something sensory like a smell in the room or even how bright the lights are."

Chaifetz said he hid the recording device in his son's pocket after the school reported uncharacteristic outbursts by the child.

Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, said the overwhelming majority of teachers, and especially those in special education, respect their students.

"Becoming a special education teacher is not for everyone," said Wollmer. "It is challenging work, and the vast majority of special education teachers are sensitive to the needs of their students and know how to keep them safe in the classroom."

At the same time, he noted, "We live in a brave new world and the reality is people have access to technology on a massive scale. Teachers are susceptible to audio- and video-recording, and you should know that what you say can be captured and replayed."

Cherry Hill officials say all staffers heard speaking inappropriately on the video are no longer with the district, and that others in the classroom that day are on leave while an investigation continues. The district has not identified any of the employees, but an attorney for Akian's teacher, Kelly Altenburg, says she was not present when the offensive language was recorded.

READ MORE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-04-29/autism-education-abuse-reform/54616582/1

Obesity-Linked Diabetes in Children Resists Treatment

Obesity and the form of diabetes linked to it are taking an even worse toll on America’s youths than medical experts had realized. As obesity rates in children have climbed, so has the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, and a new study adds another worry: the disease progresses more rapidly in children than in adults and is harder to treat.

“It’s frightening how severe this metabolic disease is in children,” said Dr. David M. Nathan, an author of the study and director of the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s really got a hold on them, and it’s hard to turn around.”

Before the 1990s, this form of diabetes was hardly ever seen in children. It is still uncommon, but experts say any increase in such a serious disease is troubling. There were about 3,600 new cases a year from 2002 to 2005, the latest years for which data is available.

The research is the first large study of Type 2 diabetes in children, “because this didn’t used to exist,” said Dr. Robin Goland, a member of the research team and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She added, “These are people who are struggling with something that shouldn’t happen in kids who are this young.”

Why the disease is so hard to control in children and teenagers is not known. The researchers said that rapid growth and the intense hormonal changes at puberty might play a part.

The study followed 699 children ages 10 to 17 at medical centers around the country for about four years. It found that the usual oral medicine for Type 2 diabetes stopped working in about half of the patients within a few years, and they had to add daily shots of insulin to control their blood sugar. Researchers said they were shocked by how poorly the oral drugs performed because they work much better in adults.

The results of the study and an editorial were published online on Sunday by The New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings could signal trouble ahead because poorly controlled diabetes significantly increases the risk of heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, amputations and kidney failure. The longer a person has the disease, the greater the risk. So in theory, people who develop diabetes as children may suffer its complications much earlier in life than previous generations who became diabetic as adults.

“I fear that these children are going to become sick earlier in their lives than we’ve ever seen before,” Dr. Nathan said.

But aggressive treatment can lower the risks.

“You really have to be on top of these kids and individualize therapy for each person,” said Dr. Barbara Linder, a senior adviser for childhood diabetes research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which sponsored the new study.

Sara Chernov, 21, a college senior from Great Neck, N.Y., learned that she had Type 2 diabetes when she was 16. Her grandfather had had both legs amputated as a result of the disease, and one of the first questions she asked was when she would lose her legs and her eyesight.

A doctor scolded her for being fat and told her she had to lose weight and could never eat sugar again. She left the office in tears and did not go back; soon after, she joined the study at Columbia. Like many of the children in the program, she did not even know how to swallow a pill.

Ms. Chernov believes that the disease “is not a death sentence,” she said, if she is careful about controlling her blood sugar. But it has been a struggle. Her family tends to be overweight, she sometimes craves sweets and she has orthopedic problems that have required surgery and have made it hard for her to exercise. She is also being treated for high blood pressure.....

 READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/health/research/obesity-and-type-2-diabetes-cases-take-toll-on-children.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

85 "Unique" Jews! April is National Autism Month!

Severe Abuse in Childhood may Treble Risk of Schizophrenia!

The risk of developing schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis increased in line with the amount of abuse or trauma a child went through.

Children who experience severe forms of abuse are around three times as likely to develop schizophrenia and related psychoses in later life compared with children who do not experience such abuse, according to a study that has brought together psychiatric data from almost 80,000 people.

The results add to a growing body of evidence that childhood maltreatment or abuse can raise the risk of developing mental illnesses in adulthood, including depression, personality disorders and anxiety.

Prof Richard Bentall of the University of Liverpool's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, who led the study, showed that the risk of developing psychosis increased in line with the amount of abuse or trauma a child had gone through, with the most severely affected children having a 50-fold increased risk compared with children who had suffered no abuse. He also showed that the type of trauma experienced in childhood affected the subsequent psychiatric symptoms later in life.

Schizophrenia occurs in around 1-3% of the population and is defined by psychiatrists as one of the most severe types of mental illness. It is characterised by hearing voices, bizarre beliefs and loss of motivation.

Bentall's team analysed 36 published studies that contained data on childhood maltreatment (including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, death of a parent, school bullying and neglect) and psychiatric symptoms in almost 80,000 people, collected over the course of 30 years. People who experienced these types of trauma in childhood were between 2.7 and 3 times as likely to develop schizophrenia as adults, the team found. The research is published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.

In cases where someone had suffered sustained abuse or several types, their risk of developing schizophrenia in later life was increased further. "People who had severe and multiple traumas in their lives, in some of their studies they'd go up to an odds ratio of 50 times greater risk of psychosis [in later life]," said Bentall. "There is nothing in genetics which looks as strong as this in terms of effects and it's consistent across the different studies, so it's a highly robust effect."

The latest results add to recent evidence that childhood abuse can lead to serious problems in later life.

 In 2011, scientists at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King's College London found that people with a history of abuse or maltreatment during childhood were more than twice as likely to have recurrent episodes of depression in adulthood and also 43% more likely to experience a poor outcome when it came to psychological or drug-based treatment. They examined data from 16 epidemiological studies involving more than 23,000 people in total and 10 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 people

The mechanisms behind the link between childhood maltreatment and schizophrenia are not yet understood. Earlier this year, psychiatrists at Harvard University found that being sexually or emotionally abused as a child correlated with reduced volumes of three important areas of the hippocampus, which is involved in the control of memory and regulation of emotions. Volumes were reduced by up to 6.5%.

"It's entirely possible that these changes in the brain that we see in patients are the results of their life experiences," said Bentall. "But we don't know if that's the case."

Louise Arseneault, a senior lecturer at the IoP, said it was encouraging to know that so many different studies were coming up with similar conclusions on the relationship between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms. "We already know that trauma and harmful experiences in childhood bring their share of difficulties, whether it is mental health or physical health problems. But it is striking that these adversities extend to mental health as disabling as psychosis, which has been thought to be highly influenced by genetic factors."

Andrea Danese, a researcher in child and adolescent psychiatry at the IoP, said: "These tragic findings may help us uncover new solutions. If we can understand how childhood adversities influence risk for psychosis, we will have new hopes for developing interventions to prevent and treat mental illness."

READ ARTICLE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/18/severe-abuse-childhood-risk-schizophrenia?newsfeed=true

Senate Considering Outlawing Anonymous Online Speech That’s Supposedly “Intended to Harass” the Person Being Criticized

by Eugene Volokh • April 24, 2012 - Professor of Law - UCLA School of Law

This is happening in § 1003 of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011, which is apparently being debated tomorrow. Here’s the deal: 47 U.S.C. § 223(a) currently criminalizes

(C) mak[ing] a telephone call or utilizes a telecommunications device, whether or not conversation or communication ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications; [or] …

(E) mak[ing] repeated telephone calls or repeatedly initiat[ing] communication with a telecommunications device, during which conversation or communication ensues, solely to harass any person at the called number or who receives the communication.

This law already has some problems, I think, given the vagueness of terms such as “annoy” and “harass,” and it’s been held unconstitutional as applied in a case in which a man was prosecuted for leaving racist voice-mail for then-U.S. Attorney and now-Attorney General Eric Holder; it might therefore be unconstitutionally overbroad. But it has generally been upheld in most cases, and such a result may be defensible precisely because the statute deals with calls or messages to the person who is being harassed. Restricting such unwanted one-to-one speech (with a properly crafted and narrowed statute) should be permissible, because it leaves people free to communicate with willing listeners. See generally Rowan v. United States Post Office Dep’t (1970).

But now the Senate is considering replacing “harass any person at the called number or who receives the communication” with “harass any specific person.” This appears to be a deliberate attempt to remove the language that could be read as limiting the current statute to one-to-one communications. (The proposal would also remove “annoy” from item (C), but it would keep “harass.”)

So say that someone started to post anonymous (or pseudonymous) blog posts — or Twitter messages or online newspaper articles — criticizing Attorney General Holder, a local official, a police officer, a businessperson, a religious leader, or anyone else. The posts aren’t threatening or false, just harshly critical. And say a prosecutor decided that the speaker was partly motivated by a desire to “badger, disturb or pester” the target of his messages. The speaker could then be prosecuted, on the theory that he was
utiliz[ing] a telecommunications device … without disclosing his identity and with intent to … harass any specific person [added text italicized].

And this is so even though the speaker is talking to the public at large, not just to the target: As I said, the proposal would expressly delete the statutory language that could now be used to try to limit the statute to one-one unwanted messages.

The intent to harass would not have to be the sole intention. Subsection (E) specifically limits itself to situations where the speaker has the sole intention to harass, and while that’s problematic enough on its own terms (since it’s so hard to tell what’s a speaker’s “sole” intention), it makes clear that subsection (C), which lacks such limiting language, applies even to cases where the intent to harass is one of the speaker’s intention.

Say a speaker thinks Congressman Joe Schmoe (or Officer Joe Schmoe or Reverend Joe Schmoe) has done bad things and therefore (1) intends to communicate to the public why he thinks Joe Schmoe should be reviled, and (2) wants Joe Schmoe to feel reviled and embattled. Harsh and, especially, repeated anonymous criticism of Schmoe would then reasonably be seen as having an “intent to harass” as well as an intent to communicate to the public. Note also that the word “harass” is not defined in the statute, but the definition I gave above, which is to “badger, disturb or pester,” is taken from a case interpreting another criminal prohibition on things done with “intent to harass,” and reflects that court of appeals’ judgment of the dictionary meaning of the word. I have no reason to think that “harass” would be interpreted any more narrowly (or more clearly) than “badger, disturb or pester.”

And of course there’s every reason to think that the revised statute could be used not just to go after criticism of private individuals — though I think it would be unconstitutional even then — but also government officials. As you can see in these posts, these sorts of broad “harassment” statutes have recently been used to silence, prosecute, or try to unmask critics of prominent religious leaders, city commissioners, police officers, and candidates for elective office. Why is the Senate considering broadening federal speech restrictions to make such prosecutions easier?

Note also that the bill would also remove the limiting language from the provision (§ 223(E)) that covers even nonanonymous speech that’s said “solely to harass.” Under the bill, a signed blog post, online newspaper article, or Twitter message could lead to a prosecution if the prosecutor thinks the purpose of the message is “solely to harass” the person being criticized in the article. I would argue that statements to the public always have the intention to inform, persuade, entertain, or something else, even if they also have the intention to harass. But the bill is deliberately expanding the subsection to cover not just speech said to a person, but also speech said to the public about the person. And given the human tendency to assume the worst motivations in those whose views one disagrees with, it’s quite plausible that prosecutors, judges, and jurors might find someone guilty of publicly speaking “solely to harass” the person whom he is harshly criticizing, even when the speaker also has the purpose of informing or persuading the public.

 READ BLOG: http://volokh.com/2012/04/24/senate-considering-outlawing-anonymous-online-speech-thats-supposedly-intended-to-harass-the-person-being-criticized/

TELL CONGRESS STAY OUT OF MY INBOX!

CLICK: https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8609

COMMENTS SECTION ON UOJ REOPENED!

I Recently Watched a Series on the Brain on PBS, Hosted by Charlie Rose

   CLICK: http://www.medicinenet.com/dementia_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

 The various doctors and scientists added their thoughts on illness, dementia, Alzheimer's in the aged, mental retardation, depression and various other illnesses that healthy folks never think about --- of course until illness strikes them or people close to them.

What I always believed, that scientists are always either finding out how right they are, or on the flip side, how misunderstood the initial data was. Recently, I read in the WSJ, how for years medical researchers misunderstood the data they thought were for particular forms of cancer, people were treated with these misdiagnosed treatments, and many people died because of these serious, honest misreadings. I'm not talking about the charlatans who sell bogus treatments to cancer patients, or people with MS, I'm talking about professionals who erred.

CLICK: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203721704577159280778957336.html

One thing is certain....either the brain is functioning on all cylinders (excuse the street language), or the malfunctioning part of the brain, causes the person to be ill without knowing it, and/or the illness can be discreet, disguising itself as healthy behavior until the body breaks down perhaps - or more importantly, the person lives a long life never knowing how ill they really are, even fooling the people closest to them.

A simple lack of appropriate levels of any brain chemicals, will distort a person's view of what they see, think or feel. Their ability to process information will be distorted; think Charles Manson at one extreme, and think the typical sociopath/psychopath who you probably interact with on a daily basis in one form or another, either knowingly or not.

So when I recently read the protocols issued by the Bais Yaakov of Baltimore how a teacher must interact with their students - I was struck with the depraved society that I knew we live in - but now right in front of me -- in black and white -

 " A JEWISH RELIGIOUS ORTHODOX TEACHER MUST NEVER MAKE ANY INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL GESTURES OR SEXUAL TOUCH TO THEIR STUDENTS - OR SHOW THEM PORNOGRAPHY....."

 I went numb! A rebbe, morah, or teacher in our yeshivas have to be instructed not to show pornography........ to their students?!!!

CLICK: http://www.baisyaakov.net/scpbs - bais_yaakov_school_conduct_policy[1].pdf

Scapegoating is always used by corrupt people in positions of power as a form of circling the wagons around their devotees as a way of "protecting" their cowboys from the bad-guy Indians. Yesterday it was the bad White Police in Florida; Sharpton & Co. blaming the White Boys across America for the death of a black teenager in Florida. Nothing new here at all....after 45 years of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and hundreds of billions of dollars poured into anti-poverty programs --- the poverty level among the blacks are the same 45% as it was 45 years ago. Of course it's the whiteys...If the entire Senate, House, Supreme Court and government staffers were comprised of black Americans it would still be the slave that Thomas Jefferson had that is at fault for the plight of the Blacks today.

So too is it the Bloggers' fault that today's silent (and not so silent) vast minority of Jewish teenagers are finding Judaism devoid of meaning. Let's ban all New Technology -- the problem gets fixed immediately. More gatherings by imbeciles for imbeciles are needed to spell out the ills of the Social Media, Blogs and Smartphones. Yesterday it was the PC in the house, before that it was the TV in the closet, before that it was the radio, and before that, the telephone....I'm waiting for a ban of kids going to the doctor's office in case they pick up a People's magazine.

Yes, these ghastly ill demented sociopaths among us are the folks calling these gatherings, they can get away with the charade of looking normal, speaking eloquently, and have large followings. But so did every charismatic, demented dictator and televangelist, now and then....

If there are no role models today that we can point our children to -- to emulate, not some nonsense Baal Shem Tov stories that are not only fairy tales, but mock our intelligence; our kids will indeed get lost to the new technology.... and of course we the Bloggers would be at fault. Not the rebbes, not the rosh yeshivas, not the bankrupt Jewish leadership, not our failed educational system, not the horrible parenting, not the misguided value system of our communities,  but "the guy in his underwear in the basement of his house who has nothing else to do......"

Torah Live - The Beauty of the Internet!

 

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Its Our Kids!!! - 4 Suicide Notes!

Rabbi Ronald Greenwald Talks Tachlis! A Must For Every Jewish Parent! Watch In Its Entirety!