A Hard Post To Write

It has become impossible to ignore the lastest round of accusations of Rabbinic abuse in Yeshivas. I found it difficult to take seriously the anonoblogger who had been covering this story up until now - it's hard to get past the obvious personal agenda and manic rantings that he espoused, whether or not the story was true - but now that there is a lawsuit filed, and a detailed mainstream media story out there that quotes a victim under his real name, it's time to comment.

This story makes me ill on so many levels. The ones most obviously hurt by this are the direct victims of this horrible alleged crime, both past, and God forbid, future. Every new child that is put into danger by leaving a known or suspected pedophile in a position to strike again is being failed by anyone who is at all aware of any accusations, be it their Rabbis, teachers, administrators or the entire community. I cry for these victims.

The question then is, whether there actually exists a concerted effort to cover up these types of crimes in our Yeshivas and communities. And the answer seems to be a clear yes. The incredibly sad part of this mess is that this is not a story line that we're seeing played out for the first time. Ten years ago, there was a similar story of alleged abuse in the Yeshiva system. The allegations were ignored time and time again. The accused was shockingly allowed to remain in a position where he was in constant contact with youths, and was enabled to keep up with his depraved behavior. Any attempts by victims or their advocates to bring up the issue were stonewalled. In the end, the whole sordid mess was played out in the press, in the most public possible manner.

The story here seems to be following the same script. The allegations were ignored, the accused was allowed to remain in contact with defenseless children without a real attempt to uncover the truth, and the story has broken in the mainstream media in a way that has brought nothing but shame upon our community. This shouldn't be. This culture of denial has allowed the pool of victims of this crime to balloon in a way that is completely unecessary and terribly tragic. Does anyone really believe that those with pedophilic tendencies are anything but sick, sick people, who need psychological and/or psychiatric assistance, and most importantly, to be immediately removed from positions that allow them to abuse again? Does anyone really believe that they are doing these perpetrators a favor when they are allowed to remain in these positions to "save face"? That the direct victims of the abuse are being failed in the worst possible way is evident. But how about the families of the accused? Do they benefit from the burying of this story, especially in a case such as this, when the attempted coverup ultimately subjects them - and the whole Orthodox community - to the public embarassment of a mainstream media story?

Do we never learn from our mistakes?

Please keep all comments appropriate.