Ultra-Orthodox Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse via NYTimes
From the page:
“Abuse victims and their families have been expelled from religious schools and synagogues, shunned by fellow ultra-Orthodox Jews and targeted for harassment intended to destroy their businesses. Some victims’ families have been offered money, ostensibly to help pay for therapy for the victims, but also to stop pursuing charges, victims and victims’ advocates said.”
“Some ultra-Orthodox Jews want to keep abuse allegations quiet to protect the reputation of the community, and the family of the accused. And rabbinical authorities, eager to maintain control, worry that inviting outside scrutiny could erode their power…”
“There is no nice way of saying it,” Mrs. Engelman said. “Our community protects molesters. Other than that, we are wonderful.”
“You can destroy a person’s life with a false report,” said Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, the executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a powerful ultra-Orthodox organization…”
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Let me repeat that bit there… “You can destroy a person’s life with a false report…”
Another instance in which the honor of an adult man with prestige and power demands more protection than the innocence of a child, or as in most cases like this, multiple children. There is nothing “wonderful” about a community of people who actively turn a blind eye to child abuse.