The revolution is still not complete, and won’t be until the people in power don’t even remember a time when anyone was kept on board after multiple such accusations. Which is to say, we’re still a few generations off. But if we are not witnessing the beginning of the end, we are at least at the end of the beginning....

Why the Tide Finally Turned Against Bill O'Reilly  

The culture decided.

Revolutions come not all at once, but in tiptoe steps. Especially the bloodless ones, of course, but even rivers of blood will not convert the rest of the population instantly to the revolutionary’s command.

Just think how long it took for the United States to go from declaring that “All Men are Created Equal” to actually abolishing slavery. Or the back-and-forth dance of the early Bolsheviks before they decided to make war on all economic activity outside of the state.

Or consider how long it took 21st Century Fox Inc., the parent of Fox News, to decide that it was time to stop settling sexual-harassment suits and jettison their powerful targets. We have come a long way, legally and morally, since the days when people thought that men chasing secretaries around their desks made for a pretty funny joke. But it has taken us many decades to get to the point where even a powerful conservative media figure like Bill O’Reilly faces career-ending repercussions based on accusations of such behavior.

You might think it would have happened sooner, given that he seems to have been costing the company a lot of money in sexual-harassment settlements. But, of course, he was also generating lots of advertising dollars, thanks to a strong audience.

Given the age demographic of the average Fox News viewer, it’s safe to say that many of them remember the days when powerful men had a lot of leeway to do or say lewd things to lower-level female employees  -- and judging from his ratings (which actually went up as the scandal unfolded), not all of them remember those days with horror. It may well have been the economically rational thing to do to keep paying off the lawsuits, and keeping the audience happy.

So what changed? Several things, actually, but before we get there, let’s go back for a moment and trace the history of sexual harassment in America. Contrary to somewhat popular belief, it wasn’t that everyone back in the bad old days thought that sexually harassing your employees was perfectly all right. It’s just that they had somewhat more nuanced views of these things than we do today. (Nota bene: “Nuanced” is not a synonym, or a code word, for “correct,” though it is often so misused by the commentariat.)

Old movies are full of young, handsome dudes engaging in relatively minor harassment, such as patting derrieres. They are certainly more tolerant of marital rape than we are. But they do not spend a lot of time celebrating men who demand sex in exchange for something a woman desperately needs, such as her job. Nor are they particularly tolerant of older and unattractive men who fondle their employees -- bosses who at best come off with comic desperation, at worst as evil.

Roughly, the people of yesteryear thought that women might enjoy the attentions from very attractive men, but also understood that such attentions could be unwanted and abusive. And that probably reflects the beliefs of the larger culture, which might be summed up as “sexual harassment exists, and is wrong, but not all unsolicited advances are sexual harassment.” What we see in black and white, they saw in shades of gray.

In part because of this, they didn’t take it as seriously as we do. If you didn’t like sexual harassment, and your boss or your boss’s boss wouldn’t put a stop to it, you had a choice between putting up with it and looking for another job. The feminists of the 1970s changed that, by getting courts to declare that women who were sexually harassed had a legal cause of action against their firm. Companies were no longer allowed to care more about keeping the boss happy than keeping him from mauling the secretaries. And as firms grew wiser about the legal risks, they began to crack down
.
Yet despite the legal risks, sexual harassment continued -- I experienced it (from clients) as a young consultant in the 1990s. And, of course, all revolutions take longest to reach the top. Think of the Soviet party chiefs who were living remarkably like affluent capitalists, while the rest of their country lined up in empty supermarkets.

As long as sexual-harassment allegations were basically a legal problem, it made sense (economic if not moral) to subject it to cost-benefit calculation: Are the lawsuits going to cost me more or less than firing the accused harasser? In most cases, the answer is “yes.” But in the case of major producers in lucrative industries? It might be more profitable simply to assign a lawyer to their case and pay the plaintiffs to shut up.

But sexual harassment is no longer just a legal problem, because the law changed the culture. When the majority of managers are strictly forbidden to engage in that kind of behavior, it is exiled from the realm of “Something that unfortunately happens,” and banished to “Never Neverland.” Cultural tolerance for it erodes, and resentment from lower-level managers who have to play by the rules grows as the stars get the company to pay their lawsuits off for them.

And culture, in turn, informs both the economics of the decision, and the willingness of companies to subject those decisions to cost-benefit analysis. If management had received allegations that Bill O’Reilly was killing his staffers and stuffing their bodies in trunks, we can assume that Fox would not have been asking, “How much to make this go away?” And the more we regard these things as moral crimes, rather than “a series of unfortunate events,” the more costly it is when accusations come to light. According to CNN, more than 60 advertisers pulled out after the New York Times ran a story about O’Reilly’s history of accusations.

I think we may also be witnessing a transition, both in Fox News and the larger Rupert Murdoch empire. All innovative companies get to the point when they have to transition from the control of a dynamic founder to the next generation of talent, whether that is the children or a new CEO. When that happens, companies often become more “normal” in all ways -- less of an outlier in both profits and behavior.

You can see this at Apple Inc., which still makes a fine product, but hasn’t given us a revolution along the lines of the iPod or the iPhone since the untimely death of Steve Jobs. And we may also be seeing it at the Murdoch empire. According to Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine, “Late last week, the feeling inside the company was that Rupert Murdoch would prevail over his son James, who lobbied to jettison the embattled host.” Somehow, the tide turned, possibly because James's brother Lachlan was persuaded (by his wife) that O’Reilly had to go.

The revolution is still not complete, and won’t be until the people in power don’t even remember a time when anyone was kept on board after multiple such accusations. Which is to say, we’re still a few generations off. But if we are not witnessing the beginning of the end, we are at least at the end of the beginning.

1. Both men and women are capable of sexual harassment. But at the time of the lawsuits, relatively few women were in a position to do it, which is why I am gender-specific when talking about early situations, and not when I discuss the modern landscape.
   

To contact the author of this story:
Megan McArdle at mmcardle3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Katy Roberts at kroberts29@bloomberg.net

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Megan McArdle is a Bloomberg View columnist. She wrote for the Daily Beast, Newsweek, the Atlantic and the Economist and founded the blog Asymmetrical Information. She is the author of “The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success.”

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To obtain a diverse group of observant Jewish women, subjects were sought across a large range of religious Jewish communities by advertising through synagogue bulletins, Jewish organizations, newspapers, Jewish- oriented web sites and Listservs, and a network of medical professionals (e.g., obstetricians/gynecologists, nurses, and pediatricians) whose practices consisted of sizable numbers of Orthodox Jewish women.

History of Past Sexual Abuse in Married Observant Jewish Women. American Journal of Psychiatry, November 2007, 164:1700-1706 .

Author: 

Friedman, M., Labinsky, E., Rosenbaum, T., Schmeidler, J. & Yehuda, R. 

 

Objective:
The authors examined instances of past sexual abuse and related demographic characteristics in the self-reports of a select group of married observant Jewish women.

Methods:
Orthodox Jewish married women (N=380) ages 19 to 58 responded to advertisements asking them to complete an anonymous questionnaire about sexual experiences, including sexual abuse.

Results:
Sexual abuse was reported by 26% of the respondents surveyed, with 16% reporting abuse occurring by the age of 13. More ultra-Orthodox Jews reported abuse than modern-Orthodox Jews. Women who were raised observant reported significantly less childhood sexual abuse than those who became observant later in life. Sexual abuse was associated with increased treatment-seeking for depression, marital counseling, or other emotional or psychological problems.

Conclusion:
While observant Jewish women live in a culture defined by a high degree of adherence to specific laws of conduct, including rules designed to regulate sexual contact, sexual abuse of various types still exists among them.

File: 

Download the full article

• 

Houses of worship and a person’s experience of their faith should be free of sexual abuse.  

Shockingly, when victims of child sex abuse by religious leaders and other perpetrators come forward to seek justice and stop abusers from causing more harm, they are blocked by current New York State law. New York ranks among the very worst in the nation -- alongside Alabama, Michigan and Mississippi -- for how the courts and criminal justice system treat survivors of child sex abuse.

Mental health experts know it can take decades for a victim of this abuse to overcome the fear, shame, and trauma to be able to come forward to confront their abuser, but our current law allows survivors of abuse to pursue criminal or civil justice only until the age of 23 -- a statute of limitations of, in some cases, only five years.

A bill called the Child Victims Act can change that at the upcoming session. It will extend or eliminate the statute of limitations so victims come forward and perpetrators can be prosecuted, helping victims get justice and taking unknown abusers off the streets. April and May are critical months for clergy to demand that officials introduce and vote for the bill.

Add your name to demand action here  

Right now, many Republican members of the New York legislature are opposing the bill. Some religious institutions are pressuring legislators to reject the bill because it could mean holding them accountable. Religious groups and others are threatening to thwart the re-election of members if they pass the bill.

Clergy for Child Victims is mobilizing faith leaders to sign this petition to the governor letting the governor, state assembly, and state senate know that we stand behind the governor's support of the bill. On May 9, a group of clergy will make a lobbying trip to Albany to try and get new legislation passed before budget negotiations start.

Sign and share with your colleagues here  

To: New York State Senate, Assembly, and Governor

New York State Must Stop Failing Victims of Child Sex Abuse

Campaign created by

Ari Hart

New York State's laws protecting survivors of child sex abuse are broken. The New York State Legislature must eliminate the Statute of Limitations for child victims of sex abuse, enable those who were denied justice the chance to pursue it, and thereby help get abusers off the streets.

Why is this important?

 

Jennie's life changed when her coach began molesting her at age 15, trauma that has impacted every area of her life. But like so many victims of child sex abuse, it wasn’t until many years later, when she was 25, that she understood what had happened to her. Under New York State law, the window for pursuing legal action for child sex abuse is only 5 years after one turns 18. Not only can Jennie not pursue justice; her abuser remains on the streets.


New York State ranks alongside Alabama, Michigan and Mississippi, as among the worst states in the U.S. in how its courts and criminal justice system treat survivors of child sex abuse.


Shockingly, victims brave enough to come forward to seek justice and stop abusers from causing more harm, are blocked by New York State law because current state law allows survivors to pursue criminal or civil justice for a maximum of just five years after they turn age 18. But mental health experts know it can take decades for a victim of child sexual abuse to overcome the fear, shame, and trauma before they are able to come forward to confront their abuser. Perpetrators can continue to abuse if not stopped.


Many of us faith leaders have seen the wounds caused by sexual predators; wounds whose pain cannot be overstated, wounds that may never be fully healed. We also painfully acknowledge that rather than being a source of healing for victims of child sexual abuse, religious institutions have too often been a part of the problem. It's now time to be a part of the solution.


Please join us in urging New York to join states like California, Delaware, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois and Florida that have recently passed legislation extending or eliminating the statute of limitations and creating windows for survivors to come forward. This legislation will no doubt bring justice and importantly, prevent further abuse. When similar legislation was passed in California, over 300 previously unknown abusers were identified.


Reforming NY State’s Statute of Limitations makes all our children safer and we urge you to join us today as we prepare to take this issue to Albany.

How it will be delivered

 

Right now legislators in Albany are debating the 2017 Child Victim's Act which will repeal the Statute of Limitations for civil and criminal cases and create an opportunity for victims who were denied justice to pursue it. We urge you to sign our petition today. We will deliver the signatures to the Governor, State Assembly and State Senate to encourage them to pass the Child Victim's Act.

Dear Friends,

I just signed the campaign: New York State Must Stop Failing Victims of Child Sex Abuse

It would mean the world to me if you could also add your name. Each of us can help build the momentum we need to bring about a more just world.

Will you join me by taking action on this campaign?

http://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/petitions/tell-the-new-york-state-legislature-to-stand-up-for-victims-of-child-sex-abuse

After you've signed the petition please also take a moment to share it with others. It's super easy – all you need to do is forward this email.

Thank you!

Paul

Sign the petition:

https://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/petitions/tell-the-new-york-state-legislature-to-stand-up-for-victims-of-child-sex-abuse?source=gse

Thank you for supporting this crucial effort.

Rabbi Yosef Blau on The Horrors of Child Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community! (Mashgiach Ruchni Yeshiva University)

In some cases, hundreds and thousands of calls, emails and faxes would be received every day, with the goal being to coerce the companies to advertise....

Dozens Arrested in Ultra-Orthodox Newspaper Extortion Scheme - NO YESHIVA - NO ARMY - NO JOBS - NO ETHICS - NO DECENCY - NO EDUCATION -  NO SKILLS   -  JUST A BUNCH OF DIRTY CRIMINAL BUMS!

Israel Police arrested Tuesday 28 suspects on suspicion of being involved in a harassment and extortion with threats scheme against executives of large private and government companies, in an attempt to force them to advertise in the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Hapeles.

The police this morning carried out a search at the newspaper’s offices and arrested senior editorial staff.

The newspaper is affiliated with Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, whose Jerusalem faction leads demonstrations against Haredi conscription into the IDF.

Companies targeted by the scheme include Coca Cola, Shufersal, Materna, Tara, Strauss, Tnuva and Optica Halperin.

In the last six months, police conducted an undercover investigation against the extensive operation that concluded last night with a wave of arrests throughout the country. Police also visited the headquarters of Hapeles in Jerusalem and confiscated computers and other multimedia devices.

Some 250 police officers participated in the arrest operation that took place in the early morning hours of Tuesday. Suspects were detained in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Modi’in Illit, Ashdod, Rekhasim and Hadera.

Several of the suspects are expected to be arraigned later Tuesday in the Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court.

During the arrests, police were attacked in several locations by crowds of residents who threw objects and shouted abuse at officers. In the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, protestors blocked roads with dumpsters.

The investigation began after police received dozens of complaints from company executives who alleged that they were receiving constant harassment by phone, email and fax.

According to police, suspects presented themselves as those representing a large section of the public that “felt deprived” that the companies were not advertising in a newspaper that represents them, such as Hapeles.

At this point, suspects would begin a ceaseless campaign of calls, faxes and email to the same company executives and their families leading to severe disruption, not only in the company’s normal activities, but also those of executives’ families.

In some cases, hundreds and thousands of calls, emails and faxes would be received every day, with the goal being to coerce the companies to advertise.

According to police, the operation was so extensive that suspects operated a special call line in which dozens of workers would clandestinely receive instructions and details related to the people they were supposed to harass.

Shufersal CEO Itzhak Aberkohen said, “It was the same group of people who would harass every day for weeks from the early hours of the morning until the late hours of the night. It got to the point where we had to turn off the phones or put them on silent. It interfered greatly with our personal and family relationships.”

According to another executive, “When I was answering and trying to have a conversation, some of the people were polite and some really threatened me. From the other side of the line were children and adults who cursed, screamed and screamed.”

Another executive said that apart from threatening the workers, they would also call their parents at unusual hours.

“My mother told me that one morning they called her and said to her, ‘Your son is taking a side and you will pay the price for it, the company will also pay a personal price,'” said the executive.

By Ynet New

(Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg)

Read more about: Crime, Hapeles, ultra-Orthodox newspaper

http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2017/04/18/dozens-arrested-ultra-orthodox-newspaper-extortion-scheme/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JewishBusinessNews+%28Jewish+Business+News%29

Four families aren't cooperating with the Health Department's investigation, according to a spokesman...

Orthodox Families Won't Out The Mohels Who Gave Babies Herpes, City Says

Four families aren't cooperating with the Health Department's investigation, according to a spokesman.

WILLIAMSBURG — A Health Department investigation into who infected four infant boys with herpes during Orthodox Jewish circumcision ceremonies has been thwarted because the community — including the children's parents — refuses to cooperate, the city said.

Only two of six families whose babies contracted herpes since 2015 from metzitzah b'peh, a religious rite that calls for a trained devotee, or mohel, to clean circumcision wounds by oral suction, have provided the names of the practitioner, according to Health Department spokesman Christopher Miller.

"Unfortunately, some in the community are resistant to sharing the name of the mohels," Miller said. "This is a very insular community. This is a very religious ritual." The city ordered the two mohels who were identified to stop performing metzitzah b'peh in mid-March and they could face civil and criminal fines and punishment if they don't comply, under a revised city policy. They have to test negative for herpes simplex antibodies before the city will rescind the order, Miller said.

The men were asked informally by the Health Department not to perform ritual when the city found out about the infections of two babies in December of 2015 and July of 2016, Miller said.

Health Department officials said they were able to track the herpes infection to the mohels because of the timeline of when and where herpes blisters appear on the newborn. Because they appear in the genital region five to seven days after the baby's eighth day of life, when the bris takes place, health officials pinpoint the mohel as source of the virus.

A herpes infection in an infant can cause brain damage and even death.

Orthodox leaders have said they were cooperating with authorities, but questioned how pervasive the problem is.

Rabbi David Niederman, the head of United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn, an umbrella organization for the area's Orthodox community, said in an earlier interview that they were fully cooperating with the city, though he highlighted, "the sheer numbers of metzitzah b’peh which are done annually here in the city and in the Jewish community all over the world,” where no baby boys contract herpes.

“This is a religious practice that has been going on for thousands of years," he said.

“We have been working with different authorities and we are ready…to determine who the cause is. If anybody is the cause, not only will the community actually ban him, that person himself would refrain..to ensure that anybody who infects a child is taken off the practice,” Niederman said in an earlier interview.

He could not be reached for comment Tuesday because of the Passover holiday.

A source privy to discussions about the infection issue, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak about it, said that the community was skeptical that the mohels had caused the infections and believed that Health Department officials just wanted to end metzitzah b'peh.

"That’s why we’re not willing to give out the mohels. We know the city is going to ban them without giving them due process,” the source said. "There is not proof that they actually infected the baby."

“It has to be proven, not blind accusation," the source said. "We believe there is a group of overzealous officials in the Department of Health whose goal is banning the practice entirely. It's just a step for them."

"The health of infants is our primary concern, which is why [we] recommend against direct oral suction all together," Miller said.

Health experts said they are confident that the mohels are infecting the infants, though they admit definitive proof is elusive.

The agency could, theoretically, outsource the genetic sequencing of viral samples to research laboratories, according to Dr. Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center.

But, he added, "I think, based on location of the lesions and time, the simplest hypothesis" — in this case, transmission via metzitzah b'peh — "seems to be the most likely."

Whether or not mohels are the definitive source of the infection, if they test positive for herpes simplex, they shouldn't perform the ritual either way, Miller said.

"Anyone infected with [herpes] simply should not be placing his mouth on an infant’s open wound because of the risk of infection,” Miller said.

Since 2000, the controversial practice of metzitzah b’peh has been linked to two deaths and two cases of brain damage and there have been 24 laboratory-confirmed cases of herpes infection, according to Health Department alert sent out to doctors on March 8 following the most recent infection.

There are dozens of well-known mohels within Brooklyn's Orthodox community, often doctors or rabbis, who are trained in the sacred ritual of metzitzah b’peh.

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, the Williamsburg rabbi who faced retaliation and physical attacks for his advocacy on behalf of children who'd been sexually abused by rabbis, worried parents of sick babies were being silenced by community leaders, much the same as they had been in cases of sex abuse.
"The only [reason] why they're not coming forward is because they're being threatened, ostracized," he said. "You don't know what kind of intimation goes on in this community."

   Commissioner Order 1 3-17-17 by DNAinfoNewYork on Scribd

   Commissioner Order 2 3-17-17 by DNAinfoNewYork on Scribd

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170418/williamsburg/herpes-de-blasio-metzitzah-bpeh-health-department-herpes-simplex-virus-cdc

The conversation we're not having about digital child abuse - Yes - Jewish Kids Included!

We need to talk to kids about the risks they face online, says information security expert Sebastián Bortnik. In this talk, Bortnik discusses the issue of "grooming" — the sexual predation of children by adults on the internet — and outlines the conversations we need to start having about technology to keep our kids safe. (In Spanish with English subtitles) 

[This talk contains graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.]
 

0:15 This is Nina Rodríguez's Facebook profile. This person had three different profiles and 890 kids between 8 and 13 years old among her friends list. These are excerpts of a chat with one of those kids. This is an exact copy of the chat. It's part of the case file. This kid started sending private photos until his family realized what was going on. The police report and subsequent investigation lead them to a house. This was the girl's bedroom. Nina Rodríguez was actually a 24-year-old man that used to do this with lots of kids.

 

1:12 Micaela Ortega was 12 years old when she went to meet her new Facebook friend, also 12. "Rochi de River," was her name. She actually met Jonathan Luna, who was 26 years old. When they finally caught him, he confessed that he killed the girl because she refused to have sex with him. He had four Facebook profiles and 1,700 women on his contact list; 90 percent of them were under 13 years old.

 

1:51 These are two different cases of "grooming": an adult contacts a kid through the internet, and through manipulation or lying, leads that kid into sexual territory — from talking about sex to sharing private photos, recording the kid using a webcam or arranging an in-person meeting. This is grooming. This is happening, and it's on the rise. The question is: What are we going to do? Because, in the meantime, kids are alone. They finish dinner, go to their rooms, close the door, get on their computer, their cell phones, and get into a bar, into a club.

 

2:41 Think for one second about what I've just said: they're in a place full of strangers in an uninhibited environment. The internet broke physical boundaries. When we're alone in our bedroom and we go online, we're not really alone.

 

3:04 There are at least two reasons why we're not taking care of this, or at least not in the right way. First, we're sure that everything that happens online is "virtual." In fact, we call it "the virtual world." If you look it up in the dictionary, something virtual is something that seems to exist but is not real. And we use that word to talk about the internet: something not real. And that's the problem with grooming. It is real. Degenerate, perverted adults use the internet to abuse boys and girls and take advantage of, among other things, the fact that the kids and their parents think that what happens online doesn't actually happen.

 

3:58 Several years ago, some colleagues and I founded an NGO called "Argentina Cibersegura," dedicated to raising awareness about online safety. In 2013, we attended meetings at the House of Legislature to discuss a law about grooming. I remember that a lot of people thought that grooming was strictly a precursor to arranging an in-person meeting with a kid to have sex with them. But they didn't think about what happened to the kids who were exposed by talking about sex with an adult without knowing it, or who shared intimate photos thinking only another kid would see them, or even worse, who had exposed themselves using their web cam. Nobody considered that rape. I'm sure lots of you find it odd to think one person can abuse another without physical contact. We're programmed to think that way. I know, because I used to think that way. I was just an IT security guy until this happened to me.

 

5:10 At the end of 2011, in a little town in Buenos Aires Province, I heard about a case for the first time. After giving a talk, I met the parents of an 11-year-old girl who had been a victim of grooming. A man had manipulated her into masturbating in front of her web cam, and recorded it. And the video was on several websites. That day, her parents asked us, in tears, to tell them the magic formula for how to delete those videos from the internet. It broke my heart and changed me forever to be their last disappointment, telling them it was too late: once content is online, we've already lost control.

 

6:03 Since that day, I think about that girl waking up in the morning, having breakfast with her family, who had seen the video, and then walking to school, meeting people that had seen her naked, arriving to school, playing with her friends, who had also seen her. That was her life. Exposed. Of course, nobody raped her body. But hadn't her sexuality been abused?

 

6:41 We clearly use different standards to measure physical and digital things. And we get angry at social networks because being angry with ourselves is more painful and more true. And this brings us to the second reason why we aren't paying proper attention to this issue. We're convinced that kids don't need our help, that they "know everything" about technology.

 

7:11 When I was a kid, at one point, my parents started letting me walk to school alone. After years of taking me by the hand and walking me to school, one day they sat me down, gave me the house keys and said, "Be very careful with these; don't give them to anyone, take the route we showed you, be at home at the time we said, cross at the corner, and look both ways before you cross, and no matter what, don't talk to strangers." I knew everything about walking, and yet, there was a responsible adult there taking care of me. Knowing how to do something is one thing, knowing how to take care of yourself is another. Imagine this situation: I'm 10 or 11 years old, I wake up in the morning, my parents toss me the keys and say, "Seba, now you can walk to school alone." And when I come back late, they say, "No, you need to be home at the time we said." And two weeks later, when it comes up, they say, "You know what? You have to cross at the corner, and look both ways before crossing." And two years later, they say, "And also, don't talk to strangers." It sounds absurd, right?

 

8:37 We have the same absurd behavior in relation to technology. We give kids total access and we see if one day, sooner or later, they learn how to take care of themselves. Knowing how to do something is one thing, knowing how to take care of yourself is another.

 

8:55 Along those same lines, when we talk to parents, they often say they don't care about technology and social networks. I always rejoin that by asking if they care about their kids. As adults, being interested or not in technology is the same as being interested or not in our kids. The internet is part of their lives. Technology forces us to rethink the relationship between adults and kids. Education was always based on two main concepts: experience and knowledge. How do we teach our kids to be safe online when we don't have either?

 

9:39 Nowadays, we adults have to guide our children through what is often for us unfamiliar territory — territory much more inviting for them. It's impossible to find an answer without doing new things — things that make us uncomfortable, things we're not used to.

 

9:58 A lot of you may think it's easy for me, because I'm relatively young. And it used to be that way. Used to. Until last year, when I felt the weight of my age on my shoulders the first time I opened Snapchat.

 

10:21 (Laughter)

10:25 (Applause)

 

10:30 I didn't understand a thing! I found it unnecessary, useless, hard to understand; it looked like a camera! It didn't have menu options! It was the first time I felt the gap that sometimes exists between kids and adults. But it was also an opportunity to do the right thing, to leave my comfort zone, to force myself. I never thought I'd ever use Snapchat, but then I asked my teenage cousin to show me how to use it. I also asked why she used it. What was fun about it? We had a really nice talk. She showed me her Snapchat, she told me things, we got closer, we laughed. Today, I use it.

 

11:25 (Laughter)

 

11:27 I don't know if I do it right, but the most important thing is that I know it and I understand it. The key was to overcome the initial shock and do something new. Something new. Today, we have the chance to create new conversations. What's the last app you downloaded? Which social network do you use to contact your friends? What kind of information do you share? Have you ever been approached by strangers? Could we have these conversations between kids and adults? We have to force ourselves to do it. All of us. Today, lots of kids are listening to us. Sometimes when we go to schools to give our talks, or through social networks, kids ask or tell us things they haven't told their parents or their teachers. They tell us — they don't even know us. Those kids need to know what the risks of being online are, how to take care of themselves, but also that, fundamentally, as with almost everything else, kids can learn this from any adult.

 

12:50 Online safety needs to be a conversation topic in every house and every classroom in the country. We did a survey this year that showed that 15 percent of schools said they knew of cases of grooming in their school. And this number is growing. Technology changed every aspect of our life, including the risks we face and how we take care of ourselves.

 

13:19 Grooming shows us this in the most painful way: by involving our kids. Are we going to do something to avoid this? The solution starts with something as easy as: talking about it.

 

13:36 Thank you.

13:37 (Applause)

87% of the participants in the Israeli organization's program break the cycle of poverty. "All that a child needs is one adult who will believe in him,"

The 'Touching the Horizon' educational project from Pitchon-Lev

"Touching the Horizon" participants from Sderot on a day of consolidation. (photo credit:Courtesy)

Pitchon Lev, a nationwide humanitarian organization in Israel, is providing at-risk youth with a guiding light, a future of hope, and the essential tools for a chance at success. Established in 1998, they have impacted the lives of thousands of diverse youth and families from disadvantaged neighborhoods across Israel. As an inclusive organization, Pitchon Lev’s goal is to breakdown the barriers of gender, religion, race, ethnicity, or nationality, and provide support for all people in Israel.

One entity of Pitchon Lev is Touching the Horizon, an educational program engaging at-risk youth as part of their overall objective of eradicating poverty in Israel. This seven-year program takes in at-risk youth from diverse communities and guides them through everything from schooling, social support, army preparation, and guidance upon enlisting. Participants are led by the same adult who accompanies them for seven consecutive years. As Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach says, "All that a child needs is one adult who will believe in him," which is precisely the role of the adults in the program - to provide each child with someone to be their teacher, mentor, and friend, and to guide them through the critical life transitions of school, army, and citizenship.

• Meet Pitchon Lev, the NGO aiding scores of vulnerable Israelis this Pesach

Touching the Horizon, which is the end result of the seven-year program, is broken down into three life stages. The first phase of the program begins in 10th grade through high school graduation, followed by three years of empowerment and cultivating leadership skills through volunteering, community connections, and ongoing assessments of each individual’s achievements. The second phase is army service, in which participants are accompanied through the process of enlisting into the IDF or Sherut Leumi (National Service), and have three years of continued mentorship and leadership training during their service, along with financial support in the form of a monthly stipend. The third and final phase of the program is helping the young adults transition into civilian life after completion of their service. The same mentor who has been with the participant for the previous six years continues with them for one more year to guide and support them through the processes of integrating into an academic institution or workplace.

The organization is accredited by the Ministry of Education and accompanies its students with guidance and support to achieve an official high school diploma upon completion of the program, along with a variety of skills to continue on to higher education or a successful career path. Chen Ben Lish, a 20-year-old soldier in the program explains, “There is a mentor who accompanies you for seven years, from the 10th grade, through military service to citizenship, and he works with us to realize potential, strengthen our self-confidence, believe in ourselves, and make our society better."

 
The opening of a new class at the Gutman High School in Netanya

Youth who take the opportunity to join this remarkable educational program learn and grow through formal schooling, social interaction, forming community connections, and taking on volunteer roles. With an emphasis on building empowerment among the participants, one goal is for each child to take responsibility for him or herself, and their own achievements. Shai Ohayon, a  17-year-old in her second year of the program reflects on her experience, "I feel like I'm a different child," she says, "My mom says I've changed completely from my studies, and that she no longer has to beg me to wake up every morning.”

The program also helps students gain a connection to Israel, to the land, the culture, and the people of their own country. Ella Shlomkovitz, one of the teachers, was amazed at the change of view within her students. “When I first went in, they were in the place of 'let us go', 'what is this nonsense?' There were questions like,` Why should we give [to Israel]?, and today they are talking about combat service” Shlomkovitz says of her students.

Tel Aviv University has partnered with Pitchon Lev to conduct in-depth research analysis on the educational program. Professor Yizhar Uplatka, who conducted the project research, said that the program made the youth take responsibility for their lives, and concluded that:

- 93% are eligible for matriculation
- 93.7% of graduates of the program enlist in military or national service

- 87% are graduates of the program and were in enrolled in higher education or suitable work

There is no doubt that this unique organization is saving lives from the cycle of poverty, and establishing the next generation of successful Israeli citizens.

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This article was written in cooperation with Pitchon Lev

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, some 17,000 Israelis between the ages of 20 and 40 report having left the ultra-Orthodox world, and now share Rubinstein’s plight. Moshe Shenfeld, who abandoned his religious lifestyle and established Out for Change, claims that trend is only increasing; the average dropout rate is 10 percent, or at least 1,300 annually.

Do Haredim Deserve the Right to a Functional Modern Education in Israel? (and in the U.S.A.)

 

 

A lawsuit argues that men and women who left the ultra-Orthodox world without basic math, history, and language knowledge to live secular lives were neglected by the state. The state counters that it’s the parents’ fault.

By Elhanan Miller

April 3, 2017 • 12:00 AM

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It was radio that rescued Haim Rubinstein from the ultra-Orthodox world.

As a 13-year-old boy growing up in the religious Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, Rubinstein would surreptitiously listen to talk radio using earphones he hid under his pillow. “I would tune into a program for teenagers, where kids would talk about their fights with girlfriends or parents. Through the program I was exposed to the lives of secular children,” he recalled recently. “Radio saved my life.”

By the age of 16, Rubinstein had left his prestigious yeshiva in Jerusalem, and started managing the online chatroom of a Tel Aviv radio station. Fearful that he was on his way to abandoning his religious lifestyle entirely, his parents put him on a plane to England, where more-liberal yeshivas were available. “At the time, I couldn’t count to 10 in English,” he remembered. “I boarded a plane for the first time, but the stewardess couldn’t speak any Hebrew, and I was unable to ask for a cup of water. My frustration was immense. I remained thirsty for the entire five-hour flight.”

Today, Rubinstein is determined to be compensated for his lack of secular education. Math classes at his yeshiva terminated at long division, and he never studied English, geography, civics, or history. The long school days were typically filled with Talmud and bible classes. Now, at 28, Rubinstein is the spokesman of Out for Change, a nonprofit created in 2013 to lobby for ex-Haredi Israelis finding their way in the secular world.

In late 2015, Out for Change filed a landmark damages lawsuit for 4 million shekels ($1 million) against the state of Israel, on behalf of 52 young men and women who left the ultra-Orthodox world and struggle to find a decent job or make up their lost years of math and English. They argue that the state had neglected to enforce its core curriculum in ultra-Orthodox schools, depriving them of a basic right to useful education.

Surprisingly, the state responded with a third-party lawsuit against the plaintiffs’ parents and educational institutions, claiming they bear responsibility for any such harm, “if it indeed occurred.” After all, the state argued, the parents could have sent their children to non-Orthodox public institutions.

Ultra-Orthodox schools in Israel are budgeted proportionately based on the existence of a “core curriculum” in civics, English, history, mathematics, literature, Hebrew and Bible. Schools that teach the full core curriculum receive 100 percent budgeting. The majority of ultra-Orthodox schools—known as “recognized but unofficial”—receive 75 percent budgeting based on the assumption of 75 percent compliance. Private schools, where no education-ministry oversight exists and no core curriculum is taught, nevertheless received 55 percent government funding. According to Education Minister Naftali Bennett, some 40,000 students study in such institutions.

Haim Rubinstein at age 13, and today

For nearly two decades, Israel’s secular parties have attempted to introduce the core curriculum in Haredi schools, with limited success. In 1999, MK Yosef Paritzky of the Shinui party filed a claim to the supreme court against the ministry of education, demanding it set a minimum number of class hours for secular studies. The court ruled that government budgets can only be allocated to schools that teach a core curriculum, but the status quo remained. The 2003 Dovrat Committee and the 2011 Trachtenberg Committee of 2011 also stressed the importance of a broad education, but to little avail. The final attempt came in 2013, when Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, passed the “core-curriculum law,” reducing the funding of recalcitrant primary schools from 55 percent to 35 percent (starting in 2018). Lapid’s law was annulled by his successor Naftali Bennett, who reclaimed full discretion in allocating budgets to schools.

“So what about the 40,000 [students] who don’t study the core curriculum?” asked Bennett in a Facebook post last year. “That’s a tough question and there are no magic solutions. … I believe that with no noise and no legislation we’ll see progress. When over 90 percent of ultra-Orthodox (who do study some core subjects) will receive high-quality education and jobs, more and more Haredim will join.”
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But what of the thousands of ultra-Orthodox men and women who wish to join Israel’s high-tech job market now but have no qualifications? According to Out for Change, the government has allocated some 200 million shekels ($52.5 million) to programs geared at bridging the educational gap for Haredim interested in academic studies. But Israelis who left the ultra-Orthodox world fall between the cracks, ineligible for most of the make-up programs. After three years of military service, Rubinstein applied for a grant to the preparatory school of Ono College outside Tel Aviv. To his surprise, his interviewer asked him whether he observed the Sabbath and prayed every day. His ultra-Orthodox counterparts enter such programs en masse, no questions asked, and are normally younger, having not served in the army. “I want to be a productive citizen. How does the state expect me to become one?” he wondered.

Disheartened by the exorbitant price of private tutoring, Rubinstein never went back to school. He taught himself how to read English by listening to the loudspeaker on the London Underground, comparing the station names to the ones written on the map he held.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, some 17,000 Israelis between the ages of 20 and 40 report having left the ultra-Orthodox world, and now share Rubinstein’s plight (I am informed that the real numbers are much higher). Moshe Shenfeld, who abandoned his religious lifestyle and established Out for Change, claims that trend is only increasing; the average dropout rate is 10 percent, or at least 1,300 annually (Only those that do so publicly).

While insisting that the purpose of the lawsuit is not to force ultra-Orthodox schools to introduce secular studies, Shenfeld nevertheless believes that if accepted, it will obligate the state to reexamine the far-reaching autonomy it grants the schools. “The idea is not that generation after generation of children don’t study and then are compensated. Everyone loses that way,” he insisted. “We want there to be an easy and organized way to make up the gap.”

What gives this claim special force is that Israel is obligated to institute secular studies not only by its own education laws but as a signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlines the minimum requirements of school education. Institutions that received threatening lawsuit warnings from the state last fall have already begun hinting to plaintiffs that their siblings, still registered in the schools, may be harmed by their decision to confront the state. But Shenfeld said that only eight of the 52 original plaintiffs have withdrawn their names as a result.

Shenfeld, 32, began his own voyage toward secularism 12 years ago at the National Library in Jerusalem, where he took interest in old books on biblical criticism. “I was educated to be religious not by default but because it’s the proper way of life,” he recalled. “If other people only listened to us, I was told, they would be convinced that we’re right.”

It was a verse in the Book of Judges, a book he scarcely read in yeshiva, that shattered his religious worldview. Following the death of Joshua, chapter two recounts, a new generation emerged in the Land of Israel, which was unaware of exodus from Egypt. That text seemed to contradict the Jewish belief in a contiguous tradition of revelation from Mount Sinai to the present day. “I caught them telling a serious lie,” he said. “This meant I couldn’t believe a whole bunch of things I’d never closely examined.”

Shenfeld completed his matriculation exams on his own, served in the army, and completed a triple-major degree at Hebrew University in physics, mathematics and computer sciences, fully funded by a grant for academic excellence. Today, he works as a programmer with Mobileye, a Jerusalem-based high-tech company specializing in driver-assistance systems, while mastering the details of his legal battle against the state with Talmudic precision.

While Shenfeld’s stellar career track may be exceptional for ex-Haredis, but his motivation to succeed at all costs isn’t, claims Rubinstein, the organization’s spokesman. “The media loves stories about poor, pitiful ex-Haredis, but that is simply not true,” he said. “People who left that world are strong people who break boundaries. Otherwise, they would have remained in that cozy world. We got out, transformed our lives, and the country should invest in us.”

For Shenfeld, a Talmudic parable best exemplifies his mission. It is the story of Honi ha-Me’agel, who met an elderly man planting a carob tree that would take 70 years to bear fruit. “Why are you bothering with a tree whose fruit you’ll never enjoy?” Honi asked. “I’m doing it for my grandson,” the elderly man answered.

“I have a delusion of grandeur and want to change the world, starting with those closest to me,” Shenfeld added, jokingly. “I’m 100 percent sure that the ex-Haredi phenomenon is too significant to be ignored.”
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http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/228350/haredim-modern-education-israel

Elhanan Miller is a Jerusalem-based reporter specializing in the Arab world. His Twitter feed is @ElhananMiller.