"Do we have faith in our religious leadership on this matter? If the answer is no, a restructure is in order."

Op-ed: rabbinic failures go deeper than a lapse in judgment - THERE SHOULD BE HELL TO PAY!

I want to dig into what is fundamentally wrong with the current generation of rabbinic leadership in this country, as exemplified by one Rabbi Tzvi Telsner. The Royal Commission is giving a lot of airtime to a paradigm that goes largely unchallenged. I am interested in challenging this paradigm because children’s safety depends upon it.

This paradigm is worlds away from mainstream society. It is worlds away from most religious homes. And the expression of this paradigm — as clear in Rabbi Telsner’s evasions, half-answers, and omissions as it is in what was said — is giving rise to fury, but not much discussion. I am hoping to name this problem so that we can fix it.

The problem is the terrifying moral equivalence that the rabbis are still struggling to shake themselves from. Rabbi Telsner’s testimony is the most recent illustration of this.

Most people hold child sexual abuse apart from just about every other evil they can think of. The report title Little Children Are Sacred spells it out clearly: when secular society uses religious terminology, you know it cares very, very much about the matter at hand.

But it is clear from Rabbi Telsner’s testimony that for our rabbinic leaders, child sexual abuse is just another evil, just another sin. It is merely one way that God’s will can be thwarted. Eating bacon is another way. Lashon hara is yet another.

The Torah and halacha does not encourage scholars to rank sins from bad to worst. This is helpful for discouraging sin altogether but is not helpful when two sins need to be weighed against each other. Until 2011 the rabbinic leadership weighed the evil of allowing children to be harmed against the evil of reporting on fellow Jews and favoured the former.

The religious leadership has changed its mind on that issue,  but Rabbi Telsner’s statements indicate that the above approach is alive and well. We, the lay people, find ourselves in the bizarre position of questioning the moral compass of our religious leaders.

This is the failure of the rabbis coming before the Royal Commission. They are failing to spell out, in clear terms, that abuses against children constitute a violation of God’s will several orders of magnitude greater than the other common aveirot  they are normally faced with. This is what we want to hear, and they are dancing around this point.

Perhaps it is simply the case that there is not room in the halachic system to accommodate this paradigm shift. That to place child sexual abuse apart from other sins (sins, not crimes) is intellectually dishonest. If this is true, then the rabbinic leadership must abdicate authority on this matter. If halacha does not allow them to ensure that their institutions are safe for children, then the lay leadership must do so.

If one is inclined to be generous to Rabbi Telsner — and I am not, particularly, but here goes — there is a smidgen of entrapment in the questions he was posed. He did not draw the link between paedophilia and homosexuality: he was asked to comment on it by a lawyer.

All he needed to say was “I object to these terms of reference. The two issues are nothing alike.” But he didn’t do that. He retreated to academic possibility-granting, to probablies, and I-can’t-recalls.

Let me be very clear. I do not believe that homosexuality is a disease. I do not believe it is wrong to  be gay. I think it is cruel — oppressive — to suggest either of the above. However, the point that Rabbi Telsner was making was that oppression, or rather, repression can work. Put enough effort into it, and you can convince gay people not to have sex. Put enough effort into it, and you can convince paedophiles not to offend.

The first is an act of oppression, motivated by homophobia. The second is straightforward rehabilitation, and is necessary for the safety of society. Most paedophiles do not serve life sentences. They will one day re-enter the community. So we do need ways to keep leashes on former offenders. If therapy helps to do that, fantastic.

Which brings me to yet another problematic element of Rabbi Telsner’s testimony:

“I thought we had cured him.” Again, to be fair, Rabbi Telsner didn’t say this. Rabbi Groner did. But Rabbi Telsner was asked to explain this statement, essentially, to explain why Rabbi Groner would have thought it reasonable to allow a paedophile — reformed or otherwise — to continue to work amongst children.

Because even if therapy can be effective at helping a paedophile not re-offend, surely we shouldn’t be making it harder for them to do so. By which I mean: why on earth would you allow anyone with a history of hurting children anywhere near children?

And again, to be fair, we, the community, don’t actually want an explanation. We want an apology. Because the answer here is foregone: it is indefensible that David Cyprus was allowed to continue to work amongst children. At best, that was the outcome of reckless naiveté, at worst a shocking indifference to the pain and suffering of children. Either way, it speaks of a rabbinate that must change radically or must hand over certain responsibilities.

This is why we have Working With Children Checks. Why recovering alcoholics don’t touch alcohol. Why I, as a paramedic, am required to consider a patient’s past abuse of opiates before I administer morphine. The principle at work here is that re-exposure interferes with recovery. A paedophile who truly wishes not to re-offend would make every effort to deny themselves the opportunity to do so.

This principle exists in halacha as well. It’s why we have fences around real prohibitions, so that we do not even come close to sinning.

Rabbi Telsner’s testimony, like Rabbi Feldman’s, fills us with fear and fury because we are not being permitted to feel confident that things will get better. And if the leadership can’t change themselves, then our children are still at risk.

I invite religious scholars and leaders to make a halachic case for the protection of children. And I invite the community to judge it. Do we have faith in our religious leadership on this matter? If the answer is no, a restructure is in order.

http://galusaustralis.com/2015/02/8523/op-ed-rabbinic-failures-go-deeper-than-a-lapse-in-judgment/

"Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up."

"Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on."

"Not A Real Doctor - We spend more time taking care of our teeth than our mind"...

"We'll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don’t we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness? Too many of us deal with common psychological-health issues on our own, says Guy Winch. But we don’t have to. He makes a compelling case to practice emotional hygiene — taking care of our emotions, our minds, with the same diligence we take care of our bodies."

The Jews Need FERD פֿערד Immunity!

Community Immunity ("Herd Immunity")

Vaccines can prevent outbreaks of disease and save lives.

When a critical portion of a community is immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak. Even those who are not eligible for certain vaccines—such as infants, pregnant women, or immunocompromised individuals—get some protection because the spread of contagious disease is contained. This is known as "community immunity."

In the illustration below, the top box depicts a community in which no one is immunized and an outbreak occurs. In the middle box, some of the population is immunized but not enough to confer community immunity. In the bottom box, a critical portion of the population is immunized, protecting most community members.

The principle of community immunity applies to control of a variety of contagious diseases, including influenza, measles, mumps, rotavirus, and pneumococcal disease.





Credit: NIAID

http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/protection/ 

Herd immunity or herd effect, also called community immunity, describes a form of immunity^[1] that occurs when the vaccination of a significant portion of a population provides a measure of protection for individuals who have not developed immunity.^[2] Herd immunity theory proposes that, in contagious diseases that are transmitted from individual to individual, chains of infection are likely to be disrupted when large numbers of a population are immune or less susceptible to the disease. The greater the proportion of individuals who are resistant, the smaller the probability that a susceptible individual will come into contact with an infectious individual.^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

Let It Be... Whispering Words of Wisdom.... Let It Be....

Let it be, Let it be, Let it be, Let it be.....There Will Be An Answer, Let it be.....

The UOJ Doctrine!

The UOJ Archives - April 21, 2009

I can't be intimidated!

I will not let our people be taken-in by the tyrants who would prefer to keep the sanctity of their club membership limited to the inhumane dregs of society. It is no longer cool to be an idiot - fooled by every ridiculous proclamation in the name of Torah.

I will attack mercilessly and relentlessly - and continue to mock the sub-humans who conspired to let our children die a thousand deaths, rather than admit Judaism is flawed - because all humans are flawed. This was a conscious decision by the moronic imbeciles --- they chose to sacrifice as many kids as it would take - rather than admit that the Jews are no different than other humans when it comes to illness. All kinds of illness.

Mental illness is illness!

Is there less mumps and measles among the Jews than the other nations? Are there less physical ailments of every kind - among the Jewish people? Are there less heart attacks?

The fact that the rabbis consciously, knowingly, intentionally, with malice and forethought....made a conscious decision to let the "few (thousand)" kids die - an entire lifetime of death - makes them no different than any other cold-blooded murderer.

They knew - they discussed the molestation issues over the years - IT WAS THEY WHO DECIDED - TO CONTINUE THE FRAUD THAT JEWS DON'T SUFFER FROM MENTAL ILLNESS AND SEXUAL PERVERSIONS AS ALL THE OTHER NATIONS -- AND WAS AN INTENTIONAL COVER-UP THAT CONTINUES UNTIL TODAY! {Witness the fight that the Agudath Israel is waging to block the Markey Bill.}

I will strike preemptive attacks against them with every possible bomb in my arsenal...regardless of the collateral damage.

The original rabbinic defenders/gedolim claimed that they were ignorant of the problem. Really.....The entire rabbinic establishment shipped Mondrowitz off to Israel in the middle of the night in the 1980's to avoid him talking to the police, including Elya Svei, Shmuel Kaminetzky and Ohel Family Services "rabbi" in-chief, Dovid Cohen!

Moshe Eisemann was shipped off to Baltimore from Philadelphia in middle of the night some forty years ago by Svei and Kaminetzky.... rather let him play with Baltimore kids than perhaps a Philly boy. Not that they cared about the Philly boy....it was their business that concerned them.

Don't be fooled! These rabbis are the armpits of the world. Because they refuse to shower themselves with the truth! They choose lies! They live by lies! They don't care who gets hurt! I will root them out - and protect our children and families - because nobody else does or will! (Others are finally joining this battle)

Now you know the UOJ doctrine!



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

Dear UOJ,

I am a communal figure and mental health professional from the US that also holds a residence in Israel. I am quite familiar with the Akiva Kagan case and the lack of response on behalf of the community and its leadership.

My involvement in the case stems from a connection to the family of one of the victims. Perhaps one could say that this "jades" my opinion but let me also say that the Rabbonim involved are NOT aware of my connection.

The 3 young victims who have already given testimony are quite credible for their ages. Their stories are consistent and fluid in regard to facts. The times, places and circumstances all "pan out" and there is no variance throughout the testimony. I have been in touch with both Child Protection Center and the Police as an advocate for the families. The investigators believe that abuse did happen at the hand of this man and police continue to gather evidence.

Meanwhile these families have to deal with trauma set upon them. It affects not only the victim himself but all of the siblings and of course the parents. Innocence and purity have been stolen from these children. In one case in RBS the child (at 7!) no longer wishes to wear a "charedi" kipa or do anything that associates with his rebbe.

Imagine being violated by the one who is supposed to bring you closer to HaShem?

Several of the community rabbonim became involved from "day 1". They were quick to suggest that the molestation was done by someone other than the rebbe. Then they wanted to contain the story by using a therapist from their "camp. All of the families that I have spoken with have told me that other than the initial call to follow their instructions not one of the rabbonim involved has contacted them regarding the welfare of their children or how they could help. Thank G-d there are a few brave and upstanding rabbis in the community who have been supportive.

The incredulous part of this sad story is that another school could take this man into the classroom. Many parents have come to the families to ask about the case. The identity of the families was made known to the suspect and his wife by the school and their rabbonim. This infringement on the privacy of the family is another grave infraction on the part of the rabbonim.

Yes, ultimately it is the molesters who commit the crimes. They are sick and need treatment and removal from children if not from society as a whole. But equally culpable are those individuals who, in the name of preserving the name of the community, continue to sacrifice our children on the alter of "Chilul HaShem".

They, are in fact, the greatest perpetrators of Chilul HaShem and must be dealt with.

Kol Hakavod to you!

"Ruth Gordon spoke about the specific struggles that victims of abuse face within the orthodox Jewish community, where the institutional cover-ups and shame have destroyed numerous lives. She noted the irony that her late son Dave had received more unconditional support in his Narcotics Anonymous groups, which were mostly held in churches, than he received at his local synagogue."...

200 Orthodox Jews Gather in Cleveland to Combat Child Sexual Abuse

200 members of Cleveland’s orthodox Jewish community gathered on Sunday night to hear from abuse survivors, mental health professionals, and legal experts, in a “Night of Awareness and Education” about child sexual abuse. The event was organized by Jewish Community Watch (JCW), an organization committed to raising awareness of and preventing child sexual abuse in the orthodox Jewish community. The standing-room only crowd included survivors, parents of small children, and community leaders.

Ruth Gordon spoke about her son Dave Gordon who he had been a victim of horrific sexual abuse as a child growing up in Michigan. As a young adolescent he suffered through depression and addiction but eventually turned a corner and became an outspoken anti-abuse activist. He joined the Israeli Defense Force and partook in the Operation Protective Edge in Gaza this past summer. Shortly after, he was tragically found dead of gunshot wounds. 

Ruth spoke about the specific struggles that victims of abuse face within the orthodox Jewish community, where the institutional cover-ups and shame have destroyed numerous lives. She noted the irony that her late son Dave had received more unconditional support in his Narcotics Anonymous groups, which were mostly held in churches, than he received at his local synagogue. With her voice shaking she concluded with a message for the parents in attendance “watch your children, listen to your children, believe your children, protect your children and love your children”

Eli Nash, a survivor of CSA and an anti-abuse activist, urged parents not to “sacrifice your children on the altar of keeping up an image and reputation.” While Meyer Seewald, founder and CEO of JCW had a message for survivors “You are not alone! You must know that you have a place to turn to!”

Dr. Norman Goldwasser, a trauma psychologist, spoke about the impact he’s seen firsthand from JCW events on survivors. Ronnie Ducoff, an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Cleveland, explained the process of bringing charges against a perpetrator and by urging victims to go to the police.

Rivka Joseph, a member of the Cleveland community and the local coordinator of the event, revealed publicly for the first time that she is a survivor of child sexual abuse, declaring that she is no longer ashamed and no longer feels judged. “Jewish Community watch is a survivor’s best friend” declared Joseph.

Mendy (Robert) Klein, a businessman, philanthropist and community leader, stood up at the conclusion of the event and declared that the Cleveland Jewish community maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards CSA and that this is the policy adopted by the community Rabbis.

After the event, Seewald said, “Thank G-d, I really feel the tides shifting. This is the third event JCW has held in the last 6 months and in each case the turnout and support from the community has been overwhelming. The age where abuse in our community is covered up is coming to an end. JCW has another event planned next week in Miami, and we plan on traveling to every city with a major Jewish population in order to bring our message of prevention, healing, and education.”

Join a JCW event in Miami next Sunday, February 15th https://www.facebook.com/events/860939950624556/

"The vaccination of children who can medically be vaccinated is absolutely the only responsible course of action!"

Statement on Vaccinations from the OU and Rabbinical Council of America

OU Staff February 10, 2015 

 

Orthodox Jewish parents, like responsible parents across the United States, overwhelmingly vaccinate their children against measles, mumps, rubella, polio and the other childhood diseases for which inoculations are now almost miraculously commonplace. As in many communities, a small minority of parents chooses not to do so. The ongoing measles outbreak demonstrates how this could bear very serious consequences, not only for their own children but others’ too, especially those medically unable to be vaccinated.

 The Orthodox Union (OU) and the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) strongly urge all parents to vaccinate their healthy children on the timetable recommended by their pediatrician.


Parents who choose to not vaccinate often cite a medical study that purported to link autism and the MMR vaccine.  The study was discovered to be fraudulent and was withdrawn; its lead author was found to have acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly,” and his license to practice medicine in Britain was revoked.

Judaism places the highest value on preserving human life. It is well known that those facing even a potential life or death situation are instructed to set aside the Sabbath and other key tenets of halachic (Jewish law) observance until the emergency has passed. Prayers for good health and for the complete and perfect healing of the ill are an ages-old aspect of Jewish tradition. But prayers must go hand-in-hand with availing oneself of medical science, including vaccination.

There are halachic obligations to care for one’s own health as well as to take measures to prevent harm and illness to others, and Jewish law defers to the consensus of medical experts in determining and prescribing appropriate medical responses to illness and prevention. Therefore, the consensus of major poskim (halachic decisors) supports the vaccination of children to protect them from disease, to eradicate illness from the larger community through so-called herd immunity, and thus to protect others who may be vulnerable. The vaccination of children who can medically be vaccinated is absolutely the only responsible course of action.

 https://www.ou.org/news/statement-vaccinations-ou-rabbinical-council-america/

Making Sruli Belsky Proud: "AVB said he and his family had been bullied, harrased and vilified for trying to rid the ultra-orthodox Chabad commuity of the sexual abuse scourge."

Rabbis accused of sex abuse cover-up granted religious honours at Yeshivah Synagogue

A JEWISH victim of child sexual abuse was forced to sit and watch at the weekend as Rabbis accused of a widespread cover-up were granted religious honours.

The victim, known only as AVB, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse today that the honours were granted during a shul service at Yeshivah Synagogue.

He said both Rabbi Abraham Glick and Rabbi Yosef Feldman were given the honours in front of the congregation.

Rabbi Glick is yet to give evidence to the commission but has been blamed for failing to handle complaints of child abuse appropriately.

The former Yeshivah College principal still holds one of the most senior positions at the school despite reports he didn’t pass on numerous alleged incidents of sexual abuse to authorities while in charge between 1986 and 2007.

He was in charge of the school when convicted paedophile Rabbi David Kramer was hurriedly shipped to the US after complaints were made by parents alleging serious sexual misconduct in the early 1990s.

Rabbi Feldman sparked widespread criticism yesterday when he made a shocking defence of paedophiles, saying some should be left alone if they have not offended for several decades.

Rabbi Feldman said he didn’t agree that paedophiles who had repented and not reoffended risked jail time if they were prosecuted.

While the men were granted the honours at the weekend victims of abuse have complained that they have been shunned from receiving them since going public with their stories.

AVB said he and his family had been bullied, harrased and vilified for trying to rid the ultra-orthodox Chabad commuity of the sexual abuse scourge.

He said one Rabbi had even referred to him as a ‘moser’, the most offensive term for Jews, referring to one who breaks the rule of Mesirah, informing on Jews to secular authorities.

“We are being victimised. We’re being judged,” he said.

“The foundation is rotten to its core.

“I often wonder whether I made the right decision coming forward.

“I know I need to do what I need to do if we’re going to change things.”

Comparing the child sexual abuse crisis to the Holocaust AVB said Jews needed to learn from the wrongs of the past.

“We will never forget (the Holocaust). That is always etched in our history so it shall never happen again,” he said.

“The holocaust was the murder of Jews.

“We’ve heard evidence from multiple rabbis that the perpetration of abuse is a kin to murder.

“We need to accept and hold up that the murdering of children through sexual abuse by our own is also a crime.

“Those individuals need to be, I’m not sure if the word is banished, but they need to be held in that regard as having perpetrated that murder.”

AVB, who was molested by Yeshivah employees Daniel Hayman and David Cyrprys in Melbourne and Sydney, said abuse perpetrated on him was wholly avoidable.

And he said the Yeshivah community continued to rally around his abusers.

Yesterday, Rabbi Feldman, a close friend of Daniel Hayman, admitted being angry when he was charged fearing he would end up in jail.

“Is it just a situation where we punish someone for what they did 40 years ago even though they’ve changed totally? They’re not a threat to society and everything else,” he said.

“Of course according to law you’re supposed to, I never said it shouldn’t be done according to law.

“But I’m certainly not happy about it. I’ve said this again and again. I done know why this is an issue.”

The hearing continues.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/rabbis-accused-of-sex-abuse-cover-up-granted-religious-honours-at-yeshivah-synagogue/story-fni0fee2-1227214661016

"Not to mention those ultra-Orthodox Jews who blindly follow their rabbis’ ridiculous dictates"....

Shmuel Kaminetzky - Anti-Vaxxer

It’s only a pinprick, a momentary burst of pain for a tiny human being who doesn’t know what is happening and therefore cries with such abandon that even a veteran parent cringes at the sight. Vaccinating an infant can be frightening, and not just for the baby. It is essentially an act of faith, based on an intuitive belief that short-term pain will bring long-term protection. Until the latest measles outbreak became a public health crisis and a political punching bag, it was a routine that most of us in America followed without question, without thinking how lucky we are that the diseases plaguing prior generations had become a distant memory.

Now, a backlash fueled by fear, ignorance, narcissism and privilege has re-introduced a potentially fatal disease, measles, that public health officials thought had been eliminated 15 years ago.

 An odd alliance of libertarians who reflexively rebel at any sort of government mandate and impressionable liberals who practice what Jon Stewart calls “mindful stupidity” — not to mention those ultra-Orthodox Jews who blindly follow their rabbis’ ridiculous dictates — are demonstrating how badly frayed the American civic consensus has become.

But here’s what gives us hope: the backlash to the backlash. It’s been spontaneous, fierce, filling Facebook feeds with indignation and even nudging a few spineless politicians back from their pandering perches. When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is forced to be quiet after his recent mumbling about “freedom to choose” and Sen. Rand Paul takes to showing off his latest vaccination on Twitter, there’s evidence that the backlash is exacting a political price.

In an America that seems to have lost its sense of communal responsibility, the vaccination debate may have pushed us to the breaking point. Other major public health issues pitting the rights of the individual against the needs of the community can feel distant until they swing into our consciousnesses and wallop us in the gut or the pocketbook, only to recede quickly, replaced by our more selfish impulses.

So after the massacre of children at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, any reasonable national action to limit the rights of gun owners rose and fell on the crest of public emotions, fading once the victims were buried and the horror forgotten. After Hurricane Sandy, the public debate about preventing widespread destruction from swelling seas and warming temperatures brought about by global climate change was eclipsed by the science deniers and the worries about economic consequences.

When it comes to public health, we have dangerously short attention spans and limited perspectives. Except, perhaps, with regards to our childrens’ well-being. The very reasons that extremists reject vaccinations is the very reason the majority of Americans so adamantly rejects the rejecters.

Because it’s not only about my child. Or your child. It’s about all of our children. It’s about the risks we assume together, based on the incontrovertible science that had banished measles, crushed polio, all but eliminated diphtheria and made us the envy of the developing world.

The backlash to the backlash is saying: I’ve done my bit to protect my child. You need to do the same, even if you are worried or uncomfortable, even if you still hold fast to the thoroughly debunked link of vaccines and autism, even if you are right to be concerned about an over-medicalized culture. Otherwise, the system doesn’t work, the immunity is punctured, the unity dissolves.

Rabbi Edward Reichman, a medical ethicist at Yeshiva University, points out that rabbinic decisors even permit Jews to violate the Sabbath if that is the only time an urgent vaccination can be had, so essential is it to protect public health. That fundamental Jewish impulse is behind the anti-anti-vaccinators’ impassioned cry. May it win the day.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/214153/the-vaccination-nation/#ixzz3RHqzjnAc

U.S. Measles Cases for 2015 Rise 18.6% Over Past Week

CDC Reports 121 Measles Cases Currently

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that from Jan. 1, 2015 to Feb. 6, 2015, 121 people from 17 states and Washington, D.C. were reported to have measles [AZ (7), CA (88), CO (1), DC (1), DE (1), IL (3), MI (1), MN (1), NE (2), NJ (1), NY (2), NV (2), OR (1), PA (1), SD (2) TX (1), UT (2), WA (4)]. Most of these cases (103 cases or 85 percent) are part of a large, ongoing multi-state outbreak linked to an amusement park in California.
The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2014, with 644 cases from 27 states reported to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). This is the greatest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.

Source: CDC

"I have covered child abuse in the Jewish community for several years but even I didn’t understand the extent of the cover-ups, the lies, the ignorance and ridiculous actions of Rabbis in our community."

Royal Commission: Our darkest week

The Australian Jewish community has just witnessed one of its darkest weeks.

I have covered child abuse in the Jewish community for several years but even I didn’t understand the extent of the cover-ups, the lies, the ignorance and ridiculous actions of Rabbis in our community.

It’s time for us, as a community, to wake up and smell the roses.

• There are dozens of victims of child abuse in our community.
• Victims considered suicide, became addicted to drugs and some will never recover.
• Many victims have never, and probably will never, come forward.
• Victims came forward to Rabbis in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1980s.
• Sometime, Rabbis did nothing.
• Sometime, Rabbis tried to “fix” child sexual abusers.
• And every time, Rabbis didn’t tell the police.

And in Sydney, which has been the focus of most of this week it was worse:

• One rabbi thought a victim was joking when he came forward.
• Another rabbi placed a young girl from interstate in the home of convicted child sexual abuser Daniel ‘Gug’ Hayman and then told her she was lying when she claimed she was sexually assaulted.
• At one time an entire group of victims came forward to a rabbi, and was ignored.
• Yeshiva spiritual leader Rabbi Pinchus Feldman did not tell police he knew an alleged child sexual abuser was planing to leave the country because Rabbi Feldman “did not know there was any such obligation”.
• Rabbi Pinchus Feldman now accepts that his right-hand-man, Rabbi Baruch Lesches, knew of abuse allegations, but didn’t tell him.
• The head of Yeshiva’s Rabbinic School, Rabbi Yossi Feldman, did not know it was a crime for a teacher to touch the genitals of a child in 2002.
• Rabbi Yossi Feldman, at the age of 33, didn’t understand mandatory reporting laws when he was the director of a company that had a school.
• As recently as 2011 Rabbi Yossi Feldman said you “must” go to rabbis to report abuse instead of the police.
• As recently as 2011 Rabbi Yossi Feldman urged the rabbis not to call on victims to go the police because it would hurt his “friend”, and now convicted child sexual abuser, David Cyprys.

And these are just some of the unbelievable revelations that came out this week.

This was a horrific week for the Australian Jewish community, and it will only get worse next week when the focus moves from Sydney to Melbourne, where both Cyprys and David Kramer have been convicted of child sexual abuse allegation.

It shone a light on a part of the community that many of us either didn’t know about or refused to acknowledge.

There were serious problems within Chabad in the 1980s and dozens of victims of child abuse suffered as a result. But worse than that, is the problems that still exist today.

Victims are still shunned, they are still outcasts, they have lost friends and they have been let down by the religious leadership of the community.

So how do we fix this problem? How do we move forward?

For that, we turn to Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, who said this week:

“Each and every individual, mother and father, look into the eyes of their children and ask themselves the question: Do they want their children to have been abused? When the answer must be no; and when the answer must be that they would not want it to have been covered up; and when the answer must be that if it happened to them they would want the police to be called and justice to be served, they’ll look into their hearts and then they will know what to do.”

 Joshua Levi

http://www.jewishnews.net.au/royal-commission-our-darkest-week/40459

"I did not know what a crime was. In Japan, I heard they allow child pornography.”

Day 5: ‘I didn’t know it was illegal for an adult to lay down and massage a child”

FEBRUARY 6, 2015 · BREAKING NEWS, NEWS, THE-LATEST

RABBI Yossi Feldman, former president of the Rabbinic Council of NSW, told the Royal Commission today that when he was 33 years old in 2002 he didn’t know it was illegal for a man to touch a child’s genitals.

In another day of testimony that was baffling, almost unbelievable and surprising, Rabbi Feldman said that he hasn’t had formal training in spotting or dealing with child sexual abuse because he hasn’t had the time and a lot of it is common sense.

When explaining why he didn’t stop alleged child abuser AVL, who’s name has been withheld from the public, Rabbi Feldman said he didn’t think about the secular law and only the Jewish law.

The Counsel assisting the Royal Commission then asked the following question.

• You know there had been touching? Yes
• Had been massaging a child? Yes
• You know he is your relation? Yes
• You know a complaint has been mad? Yes
• You know it is about to be reported to the authorities? Yes
• You knew one of the things that might occur is a complaint would be made to the police? I didn’t know the seriousness of the legalities of these issues and I didn’t know if that was a criminal matter. I didn’t know much about sexual abuse at the time.
• You know when you had a conversation with AVL that he admitted to you the physical contact and laying down with a child could be a crime? I don’t know what the criminal code is and what is a crime. A lot of things could be a crime.

And she continued.

• After the conversation with your father you have a one-on-one conversation in which you learned that he lay down with a child and massaged the child? Correct
• You know now there has been physical contact? Correct.
• You know from that conversation that a complaint is being made about the abuse? Correct.

He went on to say: “I strongly feel form a Jewish perspective it (laying down and massaging a child) was wrong, but I wasn’t looking from a legal criminal perspective,” Rabbi Feldman said.

And then when Counsel asked if Rabbi Feldman knew it was illegal for an adult or teacher to law down and massage a child he said: “It could potentially  be something that was highly inappropriate. I did not know what a crime was. In Japan, I heard they allow child pornography.”

Later during Rabbi Feldman’s testimony he said that he tried to stop a press release by the rabbis asking for victims to come forward and go to police because it would negatively impact his friend, and now convicted child sexual abuser, David Cyprys.

http://www.jewishnews.net.au/day-5-i-didnt-know-it-was-illegal-for-an-adult-to-lay-down-and-massage-a-child/40456

What about students who are not learning disabled, but are just not interested in academics? What about students who may not have the aptitude or desire for schoolwork but have other skills and interests? Are their parents’ goals and aspirations congruent with their desires and abilities? Must every child go to college? Can Jewish parents handle a successful child who doesn’t have a college degree?

The Non-Academic Child: Is It Time to Create Kosher Vo-Tech Schools?

We’ve all heard the old jokes about proud Jewish mothers bragging about “my son the doctor, my son the lawyer,” etc. We also know the widespread belief that Jews are smart and, truth be told, we do have a disproportionate percentage of Nobel Prize winners relative to our numbers. We ought to be proud of our children who go on to distinguished careers in so many professions. The nachas is always multiplied when that successful child is also proud and unashamed of his/her heritage.

Educators can always spot children with great potential early on. Not just the rare gifted and talented students, but those with great aptitude, motivation, and love of learning—be it for math, science, Talmud, art, or creative writing. Schools have made great progress in the area of differentiated learning to provide for the individual needs of all students.

Many parents want their children to go to college and follow a career path that includes graduate school. This is as it should be for the average and above average student. Students with developmental issues will follow a different path. There is still much to be done in this area, but progress is being made.

What about students who are not learning disabled, but are just not interested in academics? What about students who may not have the aptitude or desire for schoolwork but have other skills and interests? Are their parents’ goals and aspirations congruent with their desires and abilities? Must every child go to college? Can Jewish parents handle a successful child who doesn’t have a college degree?

In many countries only those who are academically qualified by virtue of a standardized examination are allowed to enter university. Those who do not qualify follow another career path. In the pre-modern era it was called an apprenticeship. Young men and women learned a trade and developed skills that led to a livelihood. Today we call it a trade school or vocational training.

Not every child is college material. Literature, math, and science—not to mention rigorous Talmud study—may not be relevant to many children, as important as they may be in general. Why doesn’t the Jewish community operate schools to train young men and women in various trades and occupations that are needed and used by everyone? They can attend secular vocational training schools, but a Jewish school would be sensitive to issues of kashrut, Shabbat and holidays, co-ed classes, mincha breaks, etc. If there were a Jewish vocational high school, courses would include practical limudei kodesh. In addition, a Jewish school in a Jewish community provides many opportunities for networking and employment.

Many of these occupations can yield a very good income: computer repair, website design, diamond sorting and cutting, electricians, plumbers, graphic designers, contractors, HVAC engineers, auto repair, beauty, grooming and fashion trades, real estate brokers, insurance agents, appliance repairmen, civil servants, building trades, food service, agricultural careers, and the list goes on. It is not at all unusual to find Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews in these professions.

We tend to think of vocational education as being outside educational enterprise and often in pejorative terms. The result is that vocational schools are underutilized. If Jewish stand-alone vocational schools are too far off on the horizon, vocational training can become an acceptable track in our high schools. We can restructure the relationship between academic and vocational education. Integration need not focus heavily on “high tech” vocational programs to the exclusion of more traditional vocational education. Mainstream educational and cognitive research has just started to address the potential value of efforts to integrate or align academic and vocational curricula.

Educational researchers, theorists, and policymakers have thus far failed to consider vocational education seriously—in combination with applied academics—as part of the solution for improving educational outcomes for non-college-bound youth. Perhaps because of the stigma attached to vocational education—or more likely because vocational education does not typically show up on the mainstream education or psychology researcher’s radar screen—the logical connections between theories or observations and the types of learning opportunities offered by vocational education are overlooked.

Many years ago, Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University challenged the idea that human intellect is a unidimensional, overarching faculty. Instead, he articulated a theory of “multiple intelligences,” suggesting that, at a minimum, there are seven different ways in which an individual can be intellectually talented. Gardner does not dispute the need for a core curriculum that transmits the critical elements of our common culture to all students. He argues that our tunnel vision in how we deliver the common culture in the classroom is costing us a great loss of human talent. So long as a uniform curriculum is embraced, most individuals are destined to emerge as untalented. Not only is there little room at the top, but standardized regimens tend to favor individuals who exhibit certain intellectual profiles, ones which may be valuable for the aforementioned curricula but need not signal success outside the school setting.

This is not a novel idea, but we as a community—and especially the ultra-Orthodox community— have failed this segment of the population. Surely somewhere out there is an investor or group of investors who see the business potential of operating such a school or network of schools. It could help the Jewish community in myriad ways.

Suffice it to say that our future poets and artists, musicians and authors, salesmen and shopkeepers, builders and fixers are the square pegs that don’t always fit into our round holes. Isn’t it time that we as a community offer them the means to further their dreams?

Rabbi Dr. Wallace Greene has had a distinguished career as a Jewish educator. He is currently a consultant to schools and non-profit organizations, and serves as Executive Secretary of The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund. He can be reached at wmg14c@gmail.com.

http://jewishlinknj.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6688%3Athe-non-academic-child-is-it-time-to-create-kosher-vo-tech-schools&catid=162%3Aschools&Itemid=574