Sunday, June 08, 2008

Haaretz: Interpol suspects Brazilian Jewish community hid rabbi wanted for child abuse

_{What a surprise! A Jewish community harbors a su}_{spected vicious child abuse}_{r. Haven't we seen this act before?
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By Jonathan Lis and Paula Idoeta, Haaretz Correspondents}

SAO PAULO - Interpol suspects that the Jewish community in Sao Paulo hid an an ultra-Orthodox rabbi suspected of seriously abusing Jerusalem children, one of whom is in a vegetative state.

Local police arrested Rabbi Elior Chen Wednesday on a street corner in the Bom Retiro neighborhood after conducting an extensive search through the Jewish neighborhood.

"Apparently he was being protected by the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Sao Paulo, who supposedly didn't know about the accusations against him in Israel," said Menoti Barros de Oliveira, the Interpol sheriff in Sao Paulo. "He was found alone, in the street of Julio Conceicao, so we think he was already separated from his peers."

Chen is considered the spiritual leader of a Jerusalem sect that was found to have abused young children, two of whom, aged 3 and 4, were hospitalized in March in critical condition.

On Wednesday, Chen was reported to have turned himself over to the Brazilian police. Later in the day, however, Sao Paulo police informed their counterparts in Israel that he had not turned himself in, but was arrested.

Chen's lawyer Ariel Atari denied reports on Wednesday that Chen had been arrested and insisted he had turned himself in. "When Elior Chen arrived at the Sao Paulo police department in the morning, he threw police into great confusion. None of them expected him to turn himself in," Atari said.

"Israeli police did not ask the Brazilian police to carry out an extensive search for him," said Moti Edri, a police official in Jerusalem. "It was the Brazilian police's own initiative, undertaken due to a similar case of child abuse there recently."

Police sources say Chen's extradition is currently awaiting approval by the Brazilian Supreme Court. They expect him to be extradited to Israel within a few weeks. Chen had fled Israel to Canada with his wife and their four children three months ago after the arrest of a Jerusalem mother, who was apparently one of his disciples, on suspicion that she severely abused her eight children at Chen's bidding. The mother was indicted for allegedly burning her 3- and 4-year-old, making them eat feces and locking them in a suitcase for days at a time, among other charges.

When he arrived in Brazil, local authorities detained Chen's wife and children, yet he evaded arrest. Hoping to pressure Chen's wife into turning him in, Brazilian authorities removed the children from their mother's custody and placed them with a foster family for two days, after which they were returned to their mother.

Israel Police representatives went to Brazil to pursue Chen last week and an international warrant for his arrest was issued in April.

Brazilian Federal Police released a communique Wednesday to the Jewish community in Sao Paulo informing them of the serious offenses Chen allegedly committed. "Elior Noam Chen, also known as Eliyahu Abuhatzeira, frequented a synagogue in Bom Retiro and we're sure that Sao Paulo's Israeli community, upon learning of the torture cases, alerted the religious representatives of the city and prohibited the community to cover for the fugitive," the statement said.

Read the article at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/990518.html

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Speaking of the crazy lunatic Hasidim such as Elior Chen, one may be tempted to the throw the Netuei Karta pitiful screwballs into the mix of crackpots and scumbags (in Bill Clinton speech).

They were crashing the Israeli Day Parade, standing with Palestinian flags raised high, eyes closed at times, mumbling to themselves, shouting the same words over and over - 'Israel is a Zionist state' to anyone who cared to give them the attention they craved. Every once in a while they'd go to their bags and take a drink from Poland spring water bottles. A few sympathetic anti-Israel news media outlets came to interview them. The police were working on maintaining order. The perimeter was barricaded and separated from the rest to protect them from being harmed. A few Pro-Israel hecklers threw some Israeli paraphernalia at the Netuei Karta Dreks. The Dreks would proceed to destroy that item and seemingly get it out of the environment.

The best were the Jewish children who marched and showed support, some putting on quite a show and shutting up these dreks. The many Non-Jewish marchers who came to show support was so incredible and a big kidush hashem. Many colored people were there showing their love for the state of Israel as well. It was a total unification of people from all diverse backgrounds and faiths. It was quite a scene to behold.

All in all a very successful 60th birthday!
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No Good Samaritans in Hartford

A 78-year-old man is paralyzed after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Hartford, Connecticut. A surveillance tape showed that pedestrians walked by without aiding him. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4zAh3-HEE&eurl=http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=15427

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in QuickList

President Ahmadinejad Meets Neturei Karta Rabbis - 9/24/2007

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets leaders of Neturei Karta International (www.nkusa.org) an anti-Zionist Jewish group on Monday, September 24, 2007 (more)

Added: 8 months ago

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41 comments:

Anonymous said...: June 8, 2008
Our Towns
The Day the Traffic Did Not Stop in Hartford
By PETER APPLEBOME

HARTFORD

The video of a 78-year-old man being tossed in the air after being hit by a car and then left in the street like a discarded food wrapper would have been hideous whoever the victim.

But this was the victim: Angel Arce Torres, known to all as Ponce, the town in Puerto Rico he left in 1966 to come to the United States. Father of six daughters and one son, with a flock of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Dominoes player extraordinaire. Fisherman and Yankees fan. The guy who bought his own garbage can and chained it up to keep the street clean in front of his beloved El Bohio Café, where he swept the sidewalk, the way others tend their rosebushes, with the broom he kept in the alley. A retired forklift operator who picked up cans to earn a few extra dollars for Carmen Rodriguez, who lives next to the cafe. The least anonymous man on Park Street, who, thanks to one sickening video, became an unlikely symbol of the scary anonymity of the modern street.

And however imperfect the metaphor, no one who knows Mr. Torres can get past the identity of the man lying like a rag on Park Street, the gold dome of the Connecticut Statehouse glimmering on the horizon, as cars drove past and passers-by stopped and stared or walked along. “Everyone knows Ponce and everyone loves Ponce,” said Marisa Estrada, who tends bar at El Bohio. “He’s the one who’s always doing something for someone else, so how could anyone have done this to him?”

Mr. Torres, in critical condition and apparently paralyzed, would have been merely the subject of a local crime story if not for two things.

The first is the insatiable appetite for daily video of the Internet and the nightly news. This one came in the form of a police video from May 30 that shows two cars, what looked like a dark Honda chasing a tan Toyota. Traveling on the wrong side of the street, the first just misses Mr. Torres, who had just bought milk at the corner store. The second hits him, sending him flying over the windshield. Both cars speed off. As Mr. Torres lies on the pavement, nine cars go past without stopping, people walk by or stop and look, seemingly without doing anything to stop traffic or comfort him, until a police cruiser on its way to another call drives up.

The second is a simmering concern over crime in Hartford, heightened by another hideous case the same week, in which a former deputy mayor, Nicholas R. Carbone, was beaten and robbed and now faces brain surgery. Combined with some impassioned language by Police Chief Daryl Roberts (“At the end of the day we’ve got to look at ourselves and understand that our moral values have now changed. We have no regard for each other”), you had not just a sickening scene but also a moment to take stock, for those who live in Hartford and those who do not.

On Friday, people were still trying to make sense of what had happened. Some, like David Myers, 29 and unemployed, who was on Park Street where Mr. Torres was hit, said the metaphor was simpler than the reality. Rather than being indifferent, four people did telephone 911, he and others said. It happened so fast that many did not quite know what to do. (The police arrived in just over a minute.) People knew that the worst thing they could do would be to try to move an accident victim.

“I don’t want to get too political,” Mr. Myers said, “but I’d just say a lot of things go on in society on a daily basis that are definitely inhumane, and no one raises an eyebrow. But this, something that happened so fast, you were stunned by it, this is inhumane? We’re not human? We’re subhuman? What does that mean?”

Others tried to put what happened in the context of street sociology. The accident occurred on a frazzled block across from a vacant lot, an area favored by homeless people and, some say, by drug users. One block over, where El Bohio is, where there’s more commerce and a stronger sense of community, people would have reacted faster, would have been more likely to recognize who the victim was and render aid.

But, of course, that man lying on Park Street might have been a homeless person or a drug user, and he might be Ponce with a container of milk, but he was still a human being, said Mr. Torres’s son, Angel Arce. If we can’t all be heroes, any human being, in the most traumatic moment of his life, deserves someone to stop traffic, someone to hold his hand until help arrives, deserves someone who would have responded the way that Ponce almost certainly would have. And, Mr. Arce added, he certainly deserves someone to come forward with information about the drivers, both still unidentified.

And if Mr. Myers has a point on broader societal failings, surely the lesson isn’t to adjust responsibility down, it is to adjust compassion up, as the elderly man lying on the street did.

So if Mr. Arce takes some solace from calls of support and the cards from 100 children at a local elementary school, it’s hard to get past the image of his father alone on the street.

“It makes me angry and it leaves me hurt,” Mr. Arce said. “To think of him there and no one to grab his hand, to offer comfort. He was always there helping everyone in their time of need and in his time, no one was there for him.”

E-mail: peappl@nytimes.com; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: We were just trying to protect Elior Chen because he's a yid. We knew he was wanted, but the toireh says you can't be a moiser.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: I don't think I could have survived such an impact. My groiseh boich would have exploded!
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Police hunt heartless hit-run motorists

* June 8, 2008

POLICE in the north-eastern American state of Connecticut are hunting two heartless motorists who fled after hitting an elderly man.

The US has been shocked by a video showing the man being hit by speeding cars, then lying on the road as motorists and onlookers do nothing to help.

Police in Hartford, population 120,000 and the capital of Connecticut, released the dramatic 1½-minute video, taken a week ago, in an attempt to identify the two drivers who fled after slamming into Angel Arce Torres, 78. The video shows Mr Torres, who had just bought milk at a convenience store, crossing a street, then trying to avoid being hit by two cars hurtling down the road in the wrong direction.

He apparently manages to avoid the first car, but is hit by the second, which sends him flying into the air. His daughter said he was fighting for his life.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Lo taamod al daam reiecha. You're no better than the bystanders who let this man die on the pavement.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Evidence may prove police lied about arresting 'Rabbi' Chen

In letters sent to Jewish community prior to his alleged arrest, Elior Chen details why he plans to turn himself in to local authorities

Avner Hofstein
Published: 06.08.08, 12:56 / Israel News

Letters sent by Elior Chen to his supporters in the Jewish community of Sao Paulo days before he was detained raise doubts in the versions of the story presented by the Israeli and Brazilian police and may indicate he was not arrested but rather chose to turn himself in.

In letters written to rabbis in the community and sent a very shortly prior to his arrest, Chen declares that he decided to turn himself in and describes his plans for the future.

Child Abuse
'Rabbi' Elior Chen nabbed in Brazil / Efrat Weiss
Self-proclaimed 'rabbi' suspected of ordering followers to abuse children reportedly turns himself in to Brazilian police, who later say he did not surrender, but rather, was nabbed. Chen, who maintains innocence, says he preached legitimate educational values
Full story

“Unfortunately, I am compelled to turn myself in so that the entire community will not be harmed because of me,” explains Chen in a letter which describes his decision to put an end to the three-month period as a fugitive from the authorities.

“I presume this will help my situation, since if they catch me they will act in a much harsher manner and I have almost no refuge. I have nowhere or way to hide if I don’t turn myself in. So, with a heavy heart I am surrendering with the hope that God has mercy on me and will deliver me from fear and worry.”

In addition, Chen asked rabbis to help him while in jail and talks of his loneliness. “If they keep me in Brazil, try to assist me as much as possible with all my Jewish observance needs and the conditions, and come to visit me here because I am very lonely. My family has left and I am truly like an unwanted carcass.

“I am scared that they won’t support me and leave me here in order to show the police that they have no ties with me. So, I ask you, for God’s sake don’t forget me and try to help me,” he added.

Chen turned himself in on Tuesday at midnight and arrived at the police station with his lawyer. The following day Brazilian police notified their Israeli counterparts that Chen had been apprehended in the street in a daring operation.

Chen, his lawyers, and those closest to him have denied the claims and maintain he turned himself in.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Appellate Court Unanimously Rules in Favor of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

A New York appellate court unanimously reversed a lower court and ruled that a New Hempstead, NY synagogue breached its contract with its rabbi when it fired him without adhering to the terms of the contract and attempted to justify its action by later obtaining a unilateral ruling from a purported "rabbinical court."

New York (PRWEB) June 8, 2008 -- In the long awaited decision, The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court ruled in a decision dated June 3, 2008 that the Kehillat New Hempstead breached the contract of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler when they terminated him in February, 2006.

The court stated: (http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2008/2008_05067.htm)
"In May 1992 the plaintiff entered into a contract with the defendant...The Parties' contract expressly provided that the Congregation could not terminate the plaintiff's employment as its rabbi "unless" it had obtained prior authorization from a rabbinical court...While implicitly conceding that it terminated the plaintiff as its Rabbi sometime before February 27, 2006, the Congregation contends that it obtained the required rabbinical court ruling authorizing such action. However, the rabbinical court ruling upon the Congregation relies is dated March 21, 2006...Accordingly, the plaintiff established, as a matter of law, that the Congregation breached the contract."

Rabbi Tendler argued that reliance upon a document purporting to be a Rabbinical Court decision authored by Benzion Wosner, of Monsey, New York was untenable inasmuch as it was dated after his termination. Rabbi Tendler was not involved in any such proceeding at any time. In fact, he was never advised of the existence of Wosner's so called "rabbinical court" action until it surfaced in the litigation as an apparent pretext for his termination.

Wosner, an Israeli immigrant, living in Monsey, New York, has been involved in several controversial actions regarding the Eruvs in Flatbush and Washington Heights, New York. (http://www.flatbusheruv.org/hech_page.htm) He also provides Kashrus certification in Monsey New York (http://www.kashrusmagazine.com/ksg/nyc/nyc_metro.htm).

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Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/WmV0YS1TaW5nLUNvdXAtSW5zZS1Qcm9mLVplcm8=; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Bearing the yoke
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 8, 2008

Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar recently sent out a press release to religious affairs reporters that seemed to have no news value whatsoever. In the communiqué, Amar, who is personally in charge of supervising the National Conversion Authority, clarified various legal aspects of the process that transforms a gentile into a Jew.

The chief rabbi's main message was that becoming a Jew entailed embracing an Orthodox way of life, known in Jewish legalese as "accepting upon oneself the yoke of the commandments."

For most Orthodox-minded Jews, Amar's message was no big surprise. Amar seemed to be reiterating the obvious. True, Amar's statement was a relevant message ahead of Shavuot, a holiday that focuses on conversion as a major theme.

On Shavuot we read the story of Ruth the Moabite's decision to cleave to Naomi's people. Ruth is seen as the archetypical Biblical conversion story. Shavuot is also the holiday that commemorates the "conversion" of the entire Jewish people via their acceptance of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

However, seen on the backdrop of the latest controversy rocking the Conversion Authority, Amar's innocuous missive was no less than an attempt to stave off a massive haredi offensive on the chief Sephardi rabbi's credibility. Amar was restating the obvious in an attempt to defend himself against haredi rabbis and machers who accused him of being negligent in his position as Israel's guardian of the gateway to the Jewish faith.

The saga that precipitated Amar's hasty press release began about a month ago when Rabbi Avraham Sherman, a highly respected rabbinical judge, published a 50-page diatribe thinly veiled as a halachic decision. In it, Sherman discredited Rabbi Haim Druckman, who headed the authority, and he also severely criticized the raison d'etre of the authority.

Sherman, who lives in the large haredi enclave of Bnei Brak, wrote that the rabbis who worked in the Conversion Authority had a Zionist agenda and were, therefore, guilty of allowing irrelevant ideological considerations to corrupt their judgment.

"All these rabbis have one thing in common," wrote Sherman, referring to rabbis serving on state-run conversion courts. "They all see in conversion a sacred commandment as part of their national responsibility...

"But in reality, for tens of years now, the vast majority of converts via the Conversion Authority remain gentile in their behavior, except for the performance of rituals that remain for these converts empty of spiritual content. These converts see themselves as belonging to the Jewish people solely in a patriotic, nationalistic way without any religiously significant feelings of belonging.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659685085&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: In 2003, the state of California settled a lawsuit with Victor Wayne Cooper, an Orthodox Jew serving a 60-year sentence for child molestation. Cooper had sued the state for not providing him with kosher meals. As part of the settlement, the state agreed to make good-faith efforts to have kosher food available to inmates in all of its 33 prisons by 2006.
A
s a direct result of the lawsuit, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been scrambling in recent years, in conjunction with the Northern and Southern California boards of rabbis, to install a Jewish chaplain at every prison in order to oversee the preparation of kosher food.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.raid09jun08,0,372842.story
baltimoresun.com
Postville to Pikesville
Our view: Immigration crackdown is wrong approach

June 8, 2008

The run on kosher meat in supermarkets in Northwest Baltimore and beyond has little to do with choice cuts and everything to do with the Bush administration's get-tough-on-illegal-immigrants policy. How's that?

Several weeks ago, federal immigration agents raided AgriProcessors Inc. in Postville, Iowa, one of the best-known kosher slaughterhouses in the country, and arrested 339 workers. The disruption of business there has left kosher markets in Maryland and elsewhere with fewer meats carrying the Rubashkin brand. But the case reinforces the need for a fair, progressive reform of U.S. immigration policies.

The administration's crackdown on businesses suspected of employing illegal immigrants falls heaviest on workers who are rounded up in a flash, often leaving behind families and children. Since the May 12 raid at AgriProcessors, for example, no action has been taken against the company owners although federal officials insist the investigation is continuing. The impact on workers is borne out in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's statistics: Between October of last year and May 27, the agency arrested on criminal charges 775 employees and 75 owners, supervisors or managers.

Immigration officials have gotten tougher on business owners and supervisory staff: Criminal arrests increased from 25 managers in 2002 to 100 in 2007. Prosecutions of employers also resulted in $30 million in fines and forfeitures in 2007.A single-minded focus on enforcement is the wrong approach. With an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants here, federal officials can't possibly lock up all of them. Workers need a safe, timely path to citizenship, and employers need a reliable source of workers.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Only in the Orthodox Jewish community can there exist such idiocy. Enough of protecting child abusers from the arms of the law. It happens way too much.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Berlin Jewish leader backs publishing Mein Kampf with commentary
By DPA
Tags: Holocaust, Mein Kampf, Berlin

A prominent member of Berlin's Jewish community came out Sunday in favor of publishing Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf with commentary.

Lala Suesskind, chairwoman of the Jewish community in the German capital, said putting out the banned text would no longer break any taboos.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: I disagree with this article. I don't think I'm as big of an anti-semite as you think.

Attention Jewish Voters: You're Getting Played by an Anti-Semite

Fri Jun 6, 12:09 PM ET

The Nation -- Addressing AIPAC the other day, Barack Obama began with a joke about the emails have circulated, particularly in Jewish social circles that claim Obama is some kind of secret Muslim.

Before I begin, I want to say that I know some provocative emails have been circulating throughout Jewish communities across the country. A few of you may have gotten them. They're filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for President. And all I want to say is - let me know if you see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty frightening.

But what Obama didn't note and what has gone largely unremarked is the incredible irony that the source of the rumors being used to spook Jewish voters is an avowed and well-known anti-Semite. Last year I wrote a piece about these emails that sought to trace them to their root. Here's what I found:

But even if the identity of the e-mail's author was unrecoverable, it was still possible to trace back the roots of its content. The origin proved even more bizarre than I could have guessed.

On August 10, 2004, just two weeks after Obama had given his much-heralded keynote speech at the DNC in Boston, a perennial Republican Senate candidate and self-described "independent contrarian columnist" named Andy Martin issued a press release. In it, he announced a press conference in which he would expose Obama for having "lied to the American people" and "misrepresent[ed] his own heritage."

Martin raised all kinds of strange allegations about Obama but focused on him attempting to hide his Muslim past. "It may well be that his concealment is meant to endanger Israel," read Martin's statement. "His Muslim religion would obviously raise serious questions in many Jewish circles where Obama now enjoys support."

A quick word about Andy Martin. During a 1983 bankruptcy case he referred to a federal judge as a "crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." Martin, who in the past was known as Anthony Martin-Trigona, is one of the most notorious litigants in the history of the United States. He's filed hundreds, possibly thousands, of lawsuits, often directed at judges who have ruled against him, or media outlets that cover him unfavorably. A 1993 opinion by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta, described these lawsuits as "a cruel and effective weapon against his enemies," and called Martin a "notoriously vexatious and vindictive litigator who has long abused the American legal system." He once even attempted to intervene in the divorce proceedings of a judge who'd ruled against him, petitioning the state court to be appointed as the guardian of the judge's children.

When I asked Martin for the source of his allegations about Obama's past, he told me they came from "people in London, among other places." Why London, I asked? "I started talking to them about Kenyan law. Every little morsel led me a little farther along."

...

"Everybody started calling me" when the e-mail first made the rounds, Andy Martin told me. "They said, 'Hey, did you write this?' My answer was 'they are all my children.' "; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=780800

Principal uncovers shocking abuse
Prega Govender Published:Jun 08, 2008

Pupil admits to being sodomised for months; classmates make similar claims.

An explicit pornographic magazine, circulated among primary school boys in Thohoyandou, has resulted in the exposure of a horrifying tale of abuse in the Limpopo town.

Several boys, some as young as 10, have allegedly been sexually abused and one of them, according to his older sister, has been a “wife” to somebody.

Mashudu Tshivhase, the principal of Matshele Senior Primary School, stumbled upon the children going through the magazine two months ago. He was shocked when a 12-year-old boy, who had hidden in the toilets for hours out of fear, admitted to having brought it to school.

But even more horrifying, for Tshivhase, was the boy’s startling admission that he had been sodomised for months. Tshivhase believes the boy was given the magazine to keep him “sexually aroused”.

Speaking to the Sunday Times this week, Tshivhase said several of the boy’s classmates had since come forward with similar claims. Some said they had been paid between 50c and R5 to perform sexual acts.

He fears that more children might be involved. “Some people in Venda like to keep these things a secret,” he said.

Tshivhase alerted the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP), a non-governmental organisation that handles rape and sexual abuse cases. The children were examined and the police were called to take statements.

A suspect has since been arrested, but the community believes there may be more than one culprit.

Just this week, when pupils at Matshele Senior Primary were counselled by a social worker and nurses about the danger of accompanying strangers, a 14- year-old teenager became the subject of a police investigation. He is alleged to have asked four children, aged between seven and nine, to perform sexual acts on each other after showing them a pornographic DVD.

The teenager, who is alleged to have recorded the children on his cellphone, was caught when his sister unexpectedly walked into the room.

The boys from Matshele Senior Primary are among a group of six children — two of whom have made statements to the police. A further three boys are from a neighbouring school.

The TVEP’s senior legal officer, Tshilidzi Masikhwa, said sexual matters were still regarded as taboo among some members of the Venda community.

“Often children cannot disclose what’s happening to parents and teachers because sometimes there isn’t a good relationship between them.”

For those who have spoken out, life has changed.

Eight months ago, a bubbly 10- year-old boy loved playing the game marabaraba with his two friends as well as hide-and-seek among the leafy avocado trees close to their homestead.

Now their laughter is seldom heard and they are terrified to venture into the nearby plantation. The trio have become withdrawn and have lost all interest in their school work.

The parents of some of the alleged victims have noticed clear behavioural changes.

The mother of a 10-year-old boy expressed her fear that the alleged abuse would psychologically scar her child for life.

On Thursday, while sitting, his head bowed as his uncle asked him about the incident this week, the boy did not utter a word and continued to draw patterns on his leg.

“He didn’t want to tell us. Sometimes he’s afraid, sometimes he dreams about what happened. He’s not the same boy he was before.”

She said her son had lost all interest in reading and writing.

Another mother said her biggest fear was her son becoming infected with HIV/Aids.

She said her son had become withdrawn and moody.

Another mother said her son was coming home from school crying as a result of being teased by classmates about the alleged abuse.

Lisa Vetten, a senior researcher for the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, said the silence around male-on-male rape has made it difficult for boys and men to seek help.

“Because we live in a society that is still very homophobic, unfortunately what attracts people’s attention is that it was another man rather than the fact that you have been sexually violated,” she said.

Shireen Said, chief director for the promotion of the rights of vulnerable groups in the Department of Justice, said the national register for sex offenders was aimed at protecting children and the mentally disabled from those convicted of sexual offences.

From June 16, courts will be obliged to forward the names of convicted sex offenders to the Justice Department to be kept on a special register.

ý A local resident has been charged with four counts of indecent assault and has appeared several times in the Thohoyandou District Magistrate’s Court. The suspect, who has not yet pleaded, is scheduled to appear in court again on June 30.

A local resident, Avhapfani Simani, 26, has since been charged with four counts of indecent assault and has appeared several times in the Thohoyandou District Magistrate’s Court. He will appear again on June 30.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Please report child abuse to authorities. You're not doing anyone a favor by remaining silent!

Ex-Chosid

http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=141880&sc=506

Recognition of child abuse important factor, says speaker print this article

CORY HURLEY

The prevention of child abuse and neglect will lead to a better society in the future, says Beoncia Loveless.

The child abuse specialist/medical examiner investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation presented to the delegates of the 22nd Annual Crime Prevention Conference ongoing in Corner Brook Friday.

Working strictly with abuse and child death cases for the past four years and related investigative work for a decade, the job often doesn't have a pretty side. The slides of children full of bruises and scars are proof of that. So, it is the ultimate goal of child protection and keeping families together that Loveless focuses on.

"I am from a law enforcement background, so the goal in mind is to always catch the bad guy and take somebody to court and things like that," Loveless told The Western Star during a break between sessions held at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. "But, if you look at it from a social work and prevention perspective, it really is about keeping these families together and raising up a good society.

"If you have children who are being loved and cared for in their homes, they are living in good homes, and they have everything that they need, then we tend to have a better society in the future because we don't have a lot of other social issues. If you can really nip child abuse in the bud, then you can stave off a lot of other problems in society - drug abuse, criminal activity and any number of things you can catch before it happens, if you can prevent abuse."

The presentation itself focused on the difference between an accidental injury in a child and when it is abusive in nature. There was also a portion related to the "stories" often given by perpetrators to explain away children's injuries, and how to discredit them. Another aimed at preparing for court and how to make the best case possible.

"I think the big thing is telling the difference between accidental injuries and abusive injuries in kids, because kids get hurt all the time," Loveless said.

"Kids are out running and playing sports with their friends and they are riding their bikes, and they have accidents. Kids get hurt all the time. So, the trick is being able to tell difference between an injury that needs scrutiny and an injury that is normal for a child in that age range.

"In my opinion, that is the most important thing - that recognition. Abuse tends to escalate and, if you do not catch it early, the child will suffer more extensive and severe abuse - statistically anyway."

She said proof of abuse is not always the most difficult thing in cases, but who's responsible, especially when dealing with children who are not in stable homes. She has an obvious passion for her work that often times has her following cases through the courts or the lives of those involved.

"A lot of the cases in the presentation today I know if the children survived or if they were removed from the home. I know if they were adopted or not or if they are still in the foster care system or if they were placed with relatives," she said.

"I try to give everybody, from start to finish, the entire story because it can be very difficult to sit and look at pictures of children who have been abused and take something positive from that.

"I try to at least say the child is safe now and they are in this home environment and thriving, if that's the case. I also try to give them the criminal outcome of the case, if the child died, so they know someone was actually arrested and prosecuted for it.

"That can be about the only good thing you can take away from cases like that, unfortunately."

The conference continues today.

churley@thewesternstar.com; June 08, 2008
exposemolesters said...: http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_9519143

Park restrooms: Safe for kids or molester magnets?
By María Villaseñor
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:06/08/2008 02:12:12 AM MDT
NORTH SALT LAKE - Milt Buhrman knows of a few cases of children being abused by sexual predators.
So he takes it upon himself to protect the kids who play in Palmquist Park, across the street from his North Salt Lake home, or those who walk past on their way to school.
If he sees someone he doesn't recognize from the neighborhood, he'll go over and sit at one of the three picnic tables and wait until the stranger leaves.
But now that North Salt Lake has placed a two-room restroom in the roughly one-acre park, Buhrman's concerns are elevated.
"A great portion of the park is blocked from view," he says. "It just takes a moment for terrible things to happen."
Neighbors and city leaders are divided over the restroom. Some want it; some don't.
It's a debate that is popping up more and more: Are park restrooms safe or are they hangouts for molesters? "In some cases it's perception, in other cases it could be reality," says Val Pope, Salt Lake City parks manager. "Overall, I do think it's good that people are concerned."
He urges residents to get involved in park planning and advises parents to teach basic safety measures to their children.
"I guess the word is 'discussion' and not 'paranoia,' " Pope says. "Do things happen in parks? Yes. Do things happen in people's homes? Yes."
In his 15 years as Bountiful's parks director, Jerry Wilson says he's never heard of any child sexual abuse happening at one of his Davis County city's parks. The biggest crime is vandalism - kids swiping toilet paper and toilet-papering someone's yard.
Vandalism and graffiti are the biggest headaches for Salt Lake County park protectors as well.
"The sexual [abuse] issues are rare," says Wayne Johnson, who oversees the county's parks, trails and golf courses.
Gay cruising at park restrooms is another matter.
"A lot of it is homosexual activity, more than anything else - which parents fear, anyway," says Salt Lake County sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.
The crime usually involves men, explains Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Bedard. A man enters a restroom stall and then signals a man in the next stall to see if he is interested in hooking up.
Salt Lake City has tackled the homosexual activity by installing restrooms that have one single locking door and one toilet (the same kind North Salt Lake put at Palmquist Park).
It reduces contact between people, Pope explains, and increases privacy - a plus for parents with children. Their kids can go into a restroom and they won't encounter strangers.
Pope and other park managers stress the importance of putting bathrooms near the street and keeping them in plain sight and lighted.
North Salt Lake City Council members recently staged a meeting with residents at Palmquist Park to hear their concerns about the still-unlocked restroom and find a solution. Some options: Replace it with Port-A-Potties or move it so neighbors can see the sidewalk kids use.
The city already has spent more than $30,000 on the restroom.
Finishing the curbing, landscaping and sewer connections is expected to bring the tab to $75,000.
But Councilwoman Lisa Watts Baskin worries about a potential safety hazard going up on her watch.
"I don't want to be the person who facilitates that kind of harm to a child," she says.
Police and park directors argue the best solution is awareness.
"You just need to talk to your kids," Jaroscak says. "As parents, we have to take an active role in their safety and their upbringing."
mariav@sltrib.com; June 08, 2008
exposemolesters said...: Oh Boy!

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/16530401/detail.html

Suspected Child Molester Arrested After Knocking On Officer's Door

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. -- Coweta County officials have charged a suspected child molester they say went door to door in search of young victims. But when Eugene Murphy, 20, knocked on the door of an officer who investigates sex crimes, she made sure authorities knew what he was up to.

Authorities said Murphy had an intense desire to harm children. Murphy was knocking on doors wearing running shorts, a tank top and no shoes, according to officials. An off-duty officer told police she knew something wasn’t right and jumped into action.

Neighbors told Channel 2 they are angry after hearing Coweta County investigators say Murphy brazenly went door to door in search of a child to harm.

A homeowner said she thinks Murphy saw the basketball goal in her yard and came to her door and asked if any kids were home. She said Murphy told her his uncle was having a party and he was looking for children to invite. It was the suspect’s unlucky day because the homeowner happened to be an Atlanta police officer who investigates sex crimes and she thought his behavior was suspicious. She followed Murphy and called deputies.

“At that time the suspect made statements that were alarming to the deputies about his intent and why he was looking for these children,” said Lt. John Lewis with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office.

Murphy was arrested and charged with criminal attempt to entice a child for indecent purposes. After further investigation, authorities said they found another victim and Murphy was charged with kidnapping and attempted child molestation.

Investigators said they continue to talk to potential victims. Murphy had a court appearance and was denied bond.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Prosectors to seek long prison term for child molester DA to seek long term for molester
By Leslie Griffy
Mercury News
Article Launched: 06/07/2008

A 41-year-old man could face up to 45 years to life in prison for molesting his 7-year-old stepdaughter, prosecutors said.

Jose Maria Gomez was convicted May 30 of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts assault by fear.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office accused Gomez of molesting his stepdaughter from 2000 to 2001, when she was 7.

He attempted to keep the girl quiet by threatening to hurt her mother if she told anyone about the abuse, according to authorities. When she did tell what happened, she and her mother then reported the abuse to San Jose police.

Contact Leslie Griffy at lgriffy@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5945.; June 08, 2008
Anonymous said...: Shavuot is over! How many people stayed up the the whole night and learned some Torah? How many of you stayed up the whole night and then went to the mikvah?

Just remember that if you are involved in the protection of a child molester - that your Shavuot righteousness is nothing but a farce.; June 10, 2008
Anonymous said...: We disagree with the conservative "rabbi." All workers (under aged or not) are treated fairly and equally rough.
********************************

"But there are two sides to every issue, he adds. Downtown there’s a new community center that the Rubashkins help build. And a local minister told him none of his parishioners wants AgriProcessors to close. They depend on it for their livelihood. “He said, we certainly want to see the workers treated differently, but the success of the plant is beneficial for all of us in Postville,” Allen reports."; June 10, 2008
Anonymous said...: Blind rabbi wins N.J. primary

Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:16 PM EDT
NEW JERSEY (JTA) -- A blind rabbi and psychologist won a Democratic congressional primary in New Jersey. Dennis Shulman won a decisive victory Tuesday over two rivals with 60 percent of the vote in the northern New Jersey 5th District. He will face incumbent Republican Scott Garrett in November. After his victory, Shulman promised to mitigate what he described as the corrupt, special-interest politics in Washington and address the economic crisis. Shulman maintains that Garrett is more conservative than his constituents on the Iraq war, abortion and health care.; June 10, 2008
Anonymous said...: Southern Baptists reject sex-abuse database

By ERIC GORSKI – 7 hours ago

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Under pressure to fight child sex abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee said Tuesday that the denomination should not create its own database to help churches identity predators or establish an office to field abuse claims.

The report decried sexual abuse as reprehensible and a sin. But the Southern Baptist principle of local church autonomy means it's up to individual churches — and not the convention — to screen employees and take action against offenders, the committee said.

Opening its two-day annual meeting, the nation's largest Protestant body also elected a new president, Georgia megachurch pastor Johnny Hunt, a theological conservative. He is of Native American descent, a biographical detail that might help the convention reach out to minorities.

Hunt, 55, prevailed in a crowded field of six — winning 53 percent of the vote on the first ballot — and will seek to reverse troubling trends, including a decline in membership.

The clergy sexual abuse scandal that struck the U.S. Roman Catholic Church starting in 2002 has also touched the Southern Baptist Convention, although to a much lesser degree. The past two years have seen a few high-profile allegations against Baptist clergy, and a key victims' advocate in the Catholic crisis, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, began lobbying the Baptists.

In 2006, an executive committee panel began studying how to address the issue. Then, last year, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson proposed that the convention develop a database to track clergy and staff who are "credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse." The database would then be available to all churches.

The executive committee report, "Responding to the Evil of Sexual Abuse," urges churches to conduct background checks using a U.S. Department of Justice database of sexual offenders.

But it rejected establishing a new Southern Baptist database, arguing it would be impossible to build a comprehensive list. Referring churches to a more exhaustive federal database is better than a limited "Baptist only" system that predators could slip through, it said.

The database idea also is undermined by the fact that the convention cannot require churches to report instances of sexual abuse to local, state or national conventions, the report said...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5htrzfk-dur8TqNhrVkbqIVRFxuoQD917G9K00; June 10, 2008
Anonymous said...: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659707573&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Religious Zionism is under siege today. If it fails to confront and overcome its adversaries, it will become marginalized from Israeli society and Jewish life.

To this day the knitted kippot represent the badge of pride of those committed to their homeland and Jewish values, those who promote volunteerism and good citizenship in a society which has become increasingly consumed by hedonism and materialism. It is no coincidence that a highly disproportionate number of national religious serve as officers in IDF combat units.; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: New York (PRWEB) June 10, 2008 -- A spokesman for Rabbi Mordecai Tendler stated today that the allegations made in the Marmelstein complaint are without any basis in fact, fabrications and have always been vehemently denied both in court filings and in the public forum. (http://www.ereleases.com/pr/20060118009.html)

The statements made before the Court of Appeals by counsel for both parties are in the context of a motion to dismiss the complaint. Procedurally the court must entertain such allegations as true solely for the purposes of determining the legal sufficiency of the Marmelstein allegations as set forth in her complaint. The unfortunate press reports which imply any concession by Rabbi Tendler's attorney are recklessly taken out of context and a distortion of the record.

###

Contact Information
Hillel Tendler
845-354-4948; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: "How any Jew could vote for Obama defies logic. Obama is wildly insensitive to Jews as is evidenced by his church and his associations and he's rabidly Pro Arab when it comes to Middle East policy. Please spread the word because Obama knows he has a Jewish problem and his handlers and enablers are trying to rewrite and fudge his record. They are lying and deceiving people in the process."; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: http://southshore2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/09/3-year-old-makes-cut-during-orthodox-jewish-tradit/

D'Ann Lawrence White, Tribune photo

Three-year-old Schmuli Rubashkin looks suspiciously at the scissors used to cut the locks he’s been growing all his life.

By D'ANN WHITE | The Brandon News & Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

Updated: 06/09/2008 05:46 pm

LITHIA - Running her fingers through her middle child's long, curly locks for the last time, Tzippy Rubashkin said she had mixed feelings about her 3-year-old's first haircut.

Called the upsherinish ceremony, the first haircut represents a milestone in the Orthodox Jewish faith. Rubashkin admitted she'll miss the long brown locks she used to capture in a bun and attempt to hold in place beneath a cap, though a few errant curls usually managed to escape.

"But I definitely won't miss people mistaking my son for a girl," she said, chuckling.

As part of his Jewish tradition, Schmuli Rubashkin, the son of Tzippy and Rabbi Mendel Rubashkin, founder of the Chabad of Brandon Jewish fellowship in Valrico, did not have his hair cut before his third birthday.

Mendel Rubashkin explained that age 3 marks a significant turning point in the life of an Orthodox Jewish boy.

"Although a child's character is being molded from birth, he doesn't really form an identity of his own and isn't ready for a formal education until the age of 3," Mendel Rubashkin said.

He said a boy is compared to a tree, and, according to the Torah, fruit should not be harvested from a tree for the first three years so the roots have time to nourish the fruit.

Although novel to Brandon, the upsherinish ceremony is a long-standing custom in the Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish communities in Portugal, Spain and Germany and is cause for major celebration, Rubashkin said. The milestone goes hand in hand with another custom that takes place on a child's third birthday: areinfirinish, the beginning of formal education.

Family and friends from as far away as New York attended Schmuli's upsherinish ceremony May 22 at the Palmetto Club in FishHawk Ranch, where guests were invited to trim a lock of Schmuli's hair during a ritual that dates to the 16th century.

For his part, Schmuli had been preparing for months. He memorized the Hebrew alphabet, practiced wearing his yarmulke and recited morning blessings, grace after meals and the Shema, a daily prayer, before going to bed.

As is customary, the upsherinish began as Schmuli's father carried him to the service wrapped entirely in a tallit, or prayer shawl.

"I think this is too big for me," the good-humored boy said in a muffled voice from beneath the shawl.
Freed from the shawl and standing on a chair in front of the crowd, Schmuli then recited the Hebrew alphabet.

"Aleph, bet, gimel," he said confidently, swinging his arm with each letter.

That was followed by a ceremony in which other children tossed candy at Schmuli and he, in turn, distributed bags of candy to them in a custom meant to "show them that learning is sweet and rewarding," Rubashkin said.

Finally, Schmuli received a blessing from his father's cousin Rabbi Mendy Rosenfeld of Lake Worth, who was given the honor of cutting the first lock of hair. Other family members did the same, including Schmuli's grandmothers, Chanie Deitsch and Bella Rubashkin, and his sister Mirel, 5.

Then Schmuli, occupying himself with a bag of candy, waited patiently while everyone at the party took a turn cutting his hair. Each time a lock was snipped, Schmuli placed coins his family had been collecting at home in a charity box beside him. He hadn't yet specified a charity to receive the coins.

Tzippy Rubashkin admitted that Schmuli's new look was a bit choppy but assured the boy they would have it taken care of at a hair salon the next day.
Schmuli didn't mind.

After the hourlong ceremony, he was eager to be out of the limelight and get back to playing with his friends.

"Can I get off now?" he asked from his perch on top of the chair.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.; June 11, 2008
exposemolesters said...: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a12222/News/New_York.html

Kosher Meat Now Seen In Short Supply
Weeks after raid of Agriprocessors, retailers feeling the pinch, scrambling to fill order

by Sue Fishkoff
JTA
Jacqueline Lankry doesn’t know how she’s going to fill her orders.
Owner of her own kosher catering firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Lankry orders a box a week of meat and poultry from Agriprocessors, which runs the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, where production has slowed to a crawl since a federal immigration raid last month at the Postville, Iowa plant.
Lankry learned last Wednesday that this week’s box isn’t coming. “They told me they have no merchandise,” she told JTA. “I’m closed for business today. I’m going from store to store, looking for meat to fill my orders.”
Instead of buying wholesale chopped meat for $2.19 a pound, she’s dishing out $6.99 to buy it retail. That’s going to hurt her bottom line in a

big way. But she’s stuck, she said. There are no other kosher meat suppliers in town—everything comes from Agriprocessors, which she and other caterers refer to as “Rubashkin’s,” after the family that owns it.
She doesn’t know about the raid, she said. She doesn’t know about problems with the workers, or PETA’s allegations of inhumane slaughter methods. She just knows that if Agriprocessors shuts down, she and a lot of other people will be out of business.
“We don’t have a choice,” she explained.
The 400 undocumented workers arrested in the May 12 raid, and their families, are living in limbo, out of work and facing deportation. But now the fall-out is beginning to extend beyond those most directly impacted. This week, the production slow-down at the Postville plant finally hit the nation’s kosher markets and, by extension, kosher consumers. Retailers from coast to coast report trouble getting orders filled, and many report price hikes, although they’re generally vague about whether those increases are coming from Agriprocessors or competing suppliers.
Bottom line is, there is less kosher meat, and it’s costing more.
Some retailers aren’t even bothering to try ordering from Agriprocessors, which has scrambled in recent weeks to bolster its depleted workforce.
Klara Gottesman, manager of the meat department at Kosher Marketplace in Manhattan, stopped ordering a week ago. “I know they don’t have stuff, so I can’t rely on him,” she explained. “I can’t close the business and wait until Rubashkin brings it to me.”
She’s looking for other meat sources now.
Mordechai Yitzhaky, owner of Kosher Mart in Rockville, Md., said his meat supply is down 80 percent. He hasn’t seen any price hike yet, but he expects it if production doesn’t get back to normal soon. He won’t pass on the increase to his customers, however.
“Kosher meat is already more expensive,” he said. “We don’t want people to stop keeping kosher.”
Albert Zadeh, owner of Pico Glatt in Los Angeles, buys all his meat and poultry from Agriprocessors, which sells its products under various labels that include Aaron’s Best, Rubashkin’s, Shor Habor, Iowa’s Best Beef and Supreme Kosher. He’s seen a sharp decline in supply. “If you order ten boxes of beef shank, you only get four,” he said.
There’s also less poultry, and it arrives more haphazardly. “They used to send chicken legs, cut up. Now they give you whole chickens, all sizes, whatever they have,” he said.?
His customers “understand the situation,” Zadeh says, and are making due with less. Prices have gone up “a few cents,” he said, but for now, he’s absorbing the difference and charging his customers the same.
Dov Bauman, owner of Glatt Mart in Brooklyn, said his fresh poultry supply from Agriprocessors is down, and he, too, is getting whole chickens instead of ready-to-sell parts. “I don’t have the manpower to break it down,” he said. Prices have gone up from 3 to 15 percent, he said, depending on the item.
But Bauman, like other kosher retailers, doesn’t blame it all on Agriprocessors. Fuel hikes, which increase shipping costs, are affecting meat prices as well, he said.
And in a way, the tighter supply means more people are eager to stock up on kosher meat and poultry now, in case things get worse. “I’m getting more business,” he admits.
Agriprocessors has taken several steps in an effort to boost its image and reassure customers, starting with the removal of the manager of the Postville plant, Sholom Rubashkin, son of the company’s owner and founder. The company also issued a statement Thursday announcing that it had retained Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to serve as its outside corporate compliance officer. Martin will begin his efforts immediately.
Martin was quoted as saying that the company would be able to meet the needs of consumers.
“Agriprocessors’ 800 jobs are important to Postville and northern Iowa, along with the observant Jewish community across the country that relies on them for their kosher meat and poultry,” he said. “Agriprocessors can meet the needs of those who depend on the company and operate in compliance with all laws, and I intend to see that happen.”
Marketing consultant Menachem Lubinsky, who represents Agriprocessors, admits there are “shortages in many markets,” particularly outside New York. “Last week there was enough inventory, but it became depleted and people are buying more than usual,” he said.
Prices have gone up “sporadically” he reported. And other kosher suppliers, like Empire Kosher, have stepped up production to try and fill the supply gap.
Part of the problem, he said, is that Agriprocessors dominates the market so heavily, supplying 60 percent of the country’s kosher meat and 40 percent of its chicken. Any slowdown in its production affects the entire system, “and this comes at a time when demand for kosher meat is up,” Lubinsky added. “They tell me they’re stepping up production, but from what I see, it hasn’t happened yet.”
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 kosher consumers, including several leading rabbis, have signed a petition being circulated by Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice group in New York.
The petition calls upon Agriprocessors to treat its workers fairly and abide by all laws pertaining to workers’ rights and safety. The petition also asks the company to create a transparent monitoring system, open to third-party inspection, “so consumers can have faith that the meat is coming to them in an ethical manner,” said Ari Hart, a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and one of the four founders of Uri L’Tzedek.
The petition states that if these conditions are not met by June 15, those who signed the petition will no longer patronize the company.
Hart says that the petition is not aimed at challenging the kosher system, or hurting any particular supplier.
“We have no interest in hurting the Rubashkin company or in promoting any other company,” Hart explained. “We are simply consumers of this meat, and our interest is in having an available supply of kosher meat we are comfortable purchasing.”; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/2008/06/04/444/aaron-and-me/

To hear Aaron tell it, he is the victim of all this — not the Mexican workers who claim they were abused by Jewish supervisors; not the town of Postville, whose economic in future is very much in peril since the federal government arrested 20 percent of its population; not the kosher consumers who may face very real shortages and price increases if Agriprocessors can’t get back on its feet, and soon (more on this later in the week).

No, as Rubashkin sees it, he is the victim of workers who make baseless allegations and a news media that gobbles them up, more interested in selling newspapers than the truth. Several times he compared the press to the Soviet, state-run media (”a lynching press, a one-sided press”) and seemed resigned to being at a fundamental disadvantage in making his case to the public.

“I am the one who’s at fault?” he asked. “I will never accept that.”

Rubashkin seemed particularly offended by the notion, implied by the criticism from Jewish social activists, that he is somehow opposed to justice. He carried on at length about “tzedek,” using the Hebrew word for justice, as if to say that destroying a man’s livelihood based on hearsay couldn’t possibly be just. “If there is a group about tzedek,” he said to me, “I want to be part of it.”

One of the most interesting facets of this story is how divergent are the reactions between the ultra-Orthodox communities who are Rubashkin’s major customers and the liberal religious communities who are his foremost critics. On Friday, a steady stream of Orthodox customers filed in and out of the store, and none seemed particularly bothered by the allegations against their local butcher. Invariably, they said they didn’t believe the charges, and even if they were true, it wouldn’t make much difference. “The meat’s nice, the meats good,” said one. I’m going to continue to buy it.”

My full story on the interview is here.

Selected audio from the Rubashkin interview is here:; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: The meshiguneh lawyers are driving me crazy. How much money do they think ytt has already? I'm not giving a dime to kolko's victims.

Settlement hearings for Mormons, Boy Scouts sex abuse suit

04:53 PM MDT on Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Settlement hearings are planned this week for a $25 million lawsuit that claims the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts failed to protect six boys from a man who was eventually convicted of sex abuse.

U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan and retired Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure plan hearings Wednesday through Friday.

They presided over the settlement of a similar lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland last year.

The hearings this week are on a suit that alleges abuse in the 1980s and early '90s by a former Sunday school teacher who was also a Scout leader. He was convicted of sexually abusing children and sent to prison.; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: Child abuse never killed anyone.
---

Child abuse detectives work to protect the innocent
Police unit's job can be traumatic.

By Joshunda Sanders
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Each week, the Austin Police Department's child abuse unit is investigating hundreds of reports of physical or sexual abuse of children and teenagers. In the words of former child abuse Detective Cliff Rogers, they talk too often to children "not about the monster under the bed, but the monster in the house."

Or monsters elsewhere.

The men and women of the unit are a special group of 14 detectives who have to be mentally prepared to tackle graphic and chilling material day after day as they investigate child exploitation, neglect and Internet crimes.

They work with children who are sometimes so traumatized they cannot even talk about what happened to them. Then, detectives talk to suspects, who come up with rationalizations for their behavior and sometimes tell investigators that their child victims were being seductive.

In recent weeks, child abuse detectives have been mired in the case of Billy Dan Carroll, an entrepreneur and former court-appointed child advocate who police say made videotapes in which he appeared to have sexually assaulted children, ranging in age from 3 to 15, and two adult women who appeared to have been unconscious. Carroll is being held at the Travis County Jail with bail set at $2 million.

Sgt. Brian Loyd, a 22-year veteran of the department, said it is the worst case of sexual abuse he's seen.

"It's very hard to keep the emotions under control," he said. "There's a lot of hurt because we know the children are going to suffer for a long time after this."

Loyd said the victim services counselors, the assistant district attorney and all of the detectives who have been working 14-hour days as the case unfolds will likely need to be debriefed by a clinical psychologist when the case is closed.

"Of all the things that officers can be exposed to," said police psychologist Carol Logan, who has been with the department for five years, "the abuse or death of a child is the worst."

Images from cases can get burned into officers' memories, she said, and those images can haunt them for weeks or, in some cases, years, Logan said.

Death and blood are hard to handle, but she said that the innocence of children is what makes investigating child abuse hardest.

It is not work for the faint of heart, Rogers said: "Say you get called in the middle of the night because you're on call and there's a baby with burns all over his legs up to where the socks cover the skin. That stays with you."

Although Logan said it's rare for officers to break down emotionally, the long-term effects of being exposed to the abuse of children can manifest into physical ailments such as heartburn or headaches.

"The body takes on what the mind can't handle," she said.

Detective Greg White, who has been with the child abuse unit for four months and has been working on the Carroll case, said he reluctantly transferred to the group after working in the K-9 unit.

"It wasn't my first choice," he said, noting that he has two young children. It's hard to have children and talk to pedophiles for a living, he said.

"A grandfather who had been molesting his 4-year-old granddaughter came in and confessed, and it really got under my skin," White said. "I mean, it creeped me out. He was talking about this girl and how she really got to him, you know, and how soft she was. It made my skin crawl."

The man's son had called to say he'd witnessed the molestation. After the grandfather's confession, White said he stayed late, "just so I could serve him with a warrant the next day."

The day starts out with detectives sifting through voice mails left by Child Protective Services investigators or family members reporting abuse. Each detective works about 15 cases a week.

When school's out, things are steadily busy, Loyd said. But caseloads more than double in September, when kids go back to school and tell their teachers about what happened during summer vacation. Sgt. Pat Cochran of the child abuse unit said that if children are abused when school's out, "there's no one to tell."

William Petty, manager of victim services at the Austin Police Department, said that individual resilience as well as the support of peers within and outside the department helps detectives stay effective in their positions. The department also offers investigators a chance to talk to a chaplain if they need help processing something particularly heinous.

Another antidote to bitterness is laughter, Rogers said. Someone might strike up a debate about something lighthearted.

"Something like, should Jessica Simpson be outlawed from Dallas Cowboys games for eternity," he said with a slight smirk. "Something to just get your mind off of what you just saw."

If the images are too haunting, if investigators are kept up at night by the monstrous details, at least at the end of the day they can say they made a difference, Cochran said: "We had something to do with protecting a child."

joshundasanders@statesman.com;445-3630; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: Force anxious to track down missing 40-year-old man
Police issue alert over child abuse suspect

Published: 11/06/2008

Police in England have warned that a man suspected of sexually abusing children could be in Scotland.

Warwickshire Police have contacted forces throughout the country, including Northern Constabulary, appealing for help in tracing Brian Hughes from Rugby.

He is suspected of abusing children over a 40-year period, and raping a young girl who he had groomed over a seven-year period.

Hughes went missing from his family home in Overslade last July. Despite an extensive search he remains missing, and police believe he may be living elsewhere in the country, within a family environment and grooming other children. A spokeswoman for the Warwickshire force said they had no reason to believe Hughes was in the north.

“He could be anywhere,” she said.

Police investigator Peter Herring said: “This man is a danger to the community and needs to be found. We are aware of four victims, girls and boys, one of whom was four, but we fear there may be others who haven't come forward. It is essential to trace him and I would ask anyone who believes they know where Hughes is, to call police immediately.

“Even if the description of him doesn't exactly match the person suspected of being Hughes – he could have changed his appearance – anyone suspicious of someone should call police.

“It is very easy to eliminate someone if it isn't Hughes.”

Hughes was born on March 5, 1945. He is slim, with blue eyes and was last seen with short dark-brown hair. He tends to wear casual clothes and is a qualified bricklayer. His last job was working as a block paver. He was taking tablets for high blood pressure. He smokes roll-up cigarettes, is a regular reader of the Sun newspaper and often enjoys drinking alcohol at home. He has enjoyed coarse fishing in the past. It is believed he used internet dating sites to meet women.

Mr Herring added: “If any of this description rings a bell with someone please call us on 01926 415 000. It is essential we find him.”; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/16561959/detail.html

June 10, 2008
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A 21-year-old Ypsilanti mother was charged Tuesday with attempted murder after she was caught trying to smother her 2-month-old daughter in a hospital bed, prosecutors said.

April Palmer was arraigned on attempted murder and child abuse charges and remains at the Washtenaw County Jail on $50,000 bond.

The infant remains hospitalized and is listed in good condition.

Police said Palmer's baby was brought to the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital about 10 days ago for life-threatening injuries. Doctor's determined the injuries were suspicious in nature and placed the baby under round-the-clock observation.

Around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, hospital staff reported seeing Palmer in the baby's hospital room and said she placed a pillow over the infant's face.

Hospital police arrested Palmer immediately after the incident.

Court records show Palmer will be back in court on June 18 for a preliminary hearing.

If convicted, Palmer faces up to life in prison for the attempted murder charge and another two years on the child abuse charges.; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: My days of being a bus driver are over. You must now call me Rosh Yeshiva.
--------------------------------

Recording’s use in abuse case upheld
School bus driver berated 9-year-old
By MARIE ROHDE
mrohde@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 10, 2008

Tape-recorded evidence was appropriately used in the trial of a school bus driver convicted in 2004 of child abuse for berating and slapping a 9-year-old boy with Down syndrome, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in a decision released Tuesday.

The decision affirmed a ruling by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who conducted the bus driver’s trial, and reversed a split decision by the 1st District Court of Appeals panel that said the statements should not have been used in the trial.

The driver, Brian Duchow, 33, of Milwaukee, was sentenced by Brennan to six months in the House of Correction and three years of probation but has not yet served the sentence.

Although he entered a guilty plea, he appealed a decision that denied his request to suppress the tape-recorded evidence. The appeals court decision said the tape recording should not have been admitted as evidence; the high court reversed that ruling.

Rosemary and Vince Mutulo had placed a voice-activated tape recorder in the backpack of their son, Jacob, on April 29, 2003, after they became concerned because of changes in the boy’s behavior and a report by the boy’s teacher that he cried when it was time to board the bus to go home. The child, according to court records, had begun punching his toys, tried to kick the family dog and resisted boarding the bus for school.

According to court records, the tape recorded Duchow saying, “Stop before I beat the living hell out of you,” and several other remarks indicated violence; there was also a sound that indicated that the boy had been slapped.

The high court, in a decision written by Justice Patience Drake Roggensack, found that the taping did not violate the electronic surveillance control law, because Duchow had no reasonable right to the expectation of privacy on the school bus. The decision also said threats to harm a person are not protected by a right to privacy.

The parents of the child and those of another child filed a civil lawsuit against Duchow, the bus company, Milwaukee Public Schools and several insurers. An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2006.

Rosemary Mutulo, the boy’s mother, said Tuesday that prosecutors had initially been reluctant to pursue the case but a newspaper article in the Journal Sentinel drew national media attention.

“Another mom had witnessed him (Duchow) pick up my son and throw him into a seat,” Mutulo said. “She reported it to seven school officials, and none of them did anything.”

She said state law on the mandatory reporting of abuse “has no teeth” in that it must be proven that those required to report abuse — such as teachers — intentionally did not report it.

Mutulo said she and other parents have been working for legislative changes and have met with some success, including “Jacob’s law,” a list of 65 offenses that would prevent someone from being able to drive a school bus. Parents also now have the right to obtain the name of the driver of their child’s school bus, she said. More needs to be done, she said.

“It’s taken years for Jacob not to be afraid when we would leave home,” said Mutulo, who is a nurse. “He still sees a therapist.”; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: http://www.imakenews.com/jewishwomeninternational/e_article000311950.cfm?x=b11,0,w

October 6, 2004
Judaism and Child Abuse: If You Beat Him He Will Not Die
A personal and theological meditation on child abuse
by Richard Silverstein

As spiritual communities, it is enormously important that we provide grief work as part of the process of healing [from the effects of abuse]. At the same time, we have to take that lesson of choosing to make justice, of choosing to make meaning out of our experience, and say, 'There wasn't a reason I suffered, but I will make a purpose out of that suffering. I will make sure that suffering doesn't happen to others. I will make sure that suffering is known, so that justice can happen.'[2]

I was a victim of child abuse. I should say I am a victim of child abuse, since my early abuse continues to afflict me to this day. Strangely enough, while this trauma has had negative repercussions it has also had positive ones too. On the one hand, it has inhibited my ability to form strong and lasting friendships, especially with women. I suffered from crippling shyness as a child. I have always mistrusted authority figures which in turn impaired my work performance. But on the other hand, I have developed great empathy for the plight of the oppressed. Because I was inhibited from developing relationships with peers, I resorted to the world of books. While this was an isolating behavior, it enabled me to fall in love with the world of ideas and writing. So there is good with the bad. But I would have much preferred not to suffer; and so given up whatever I have gained positively from this experience.

Rabbi Drorah Setel writes on this subject: "The experience of suffering or injustice [felt by abuse victims] opens at least two possibilities. One is that it makes us very aware of injustice. As a people, Jews have a history arising out of our own oppression and we have the capacity to respond to that history by being outraged and angry and sensitive to injustice done to ourselves and others. But the flip side of our history of oppression, a side we don't like to talk about is that the experience of suffering also teaches us how to inflict suffering. The experience of injustice teaches us how to be unjust."[3]

Many of us are angry towards ourselves for allowing the abuse (as if we could control it!) and at our abusers for perpetrating it. Our friends, family and rabbis who do not know what abuse is, accept a societal norm that suspects and rejects such anger. In dismissing the abuser and his or her anger, we do a great disservice to the victim and foreclose the ability to empathize with his/her suffering. We also misunderstand the role of anger in relationship to justice. Those of us who have been victims should never lose the anger at the injustice done to us. I do not mean that we should constantly live with anger, or let it rule our lives.[4] But rather, anger, like the proverbial Jewish guilt can be a powerful motivating force for good in the world. In a more humorous vein, Rabbi Leonard Beerman delivered a High Holiday sermon in which he memorably said: "Guilt is good and Jewish guilt is the best guilt of all!"

Abuse victims often look for a purpose in their suffering. Why did it happen? What can I do about it now to make something more positive out of the experience? In a sense, this is why I am writing this article--so that a rabbi or a victim reading this might find some guidance or comfort in these words; so that another does not have to suffer as I did. But really what can be the purpose of such suffering? We hope that God does not cause suffering in order to make a point or teach a purpose; for this would make God terrible.

Judaism always allows for the sinner to turn from his sin in tshuva (return). But the sad fact is that most abusers don't even acknowledge what theyve done, let alone turn away from it. So sufferers like me will never have the opportunity to accept an abusers entreaty to forgive. For many years, I believed that my mother would change; that she would see how loving and caring I was and that this would make her turn; that she would realize how wrong she'd been and say how sorry she was. Alas, this put me into a hopeless situation of always expecting an imminent return, but never seeing it. This has led to many bitter, disappointed tears.

My siblings and I feared we would be cursed with the mark of abuser as were our parents. We knew that abuse was a learned behavior whose lessons are passed on from parent to child. But I've learned subsequently that children who become abusers usually see their father abuse their mother or themselves and this is how the poison is passed on from one generation to the next. In our family's case, the primary abuser was my mother. My father (who sometimes abused us, but not as often as my mother) never abused my mother. And while our abuse was severe, it was not sexual and it was not life-threatening. This possibly explains why none of my siblings have carried the curse into this generation.

There are many forms and gradations of child abuse. For the purposes of this article, I will focus mainly on psychological and emotional abuse because that is what I suffered. To understand the psychology of the child abuser, Rabbi Elliot Dorff provides a good clinical prescription: "Hitting the child is not responsive to the child's behavior or needs, but rather acting out the parent's frustration. This occurs especially when the parent either does not understand the needs of the developing child or has expectations of behavior that do not match the childs capabilities. Parents abuse children when they do not know alternative, effective methods of discipline."[5] I couldn't describe my own abusive parents better than this.

Why Victims Do Not Recognize Their Victimhood?

Most of my life I did not consider myself abused. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. I've had thirty years of therapy on and off, in which my parental relationships were a major topic of conversation. I discussed all the symptoms of my own child abuse with therapists; but it was, for all intents and purposes, the horror "that dare not speak its name." Only in the last ten years have I begun to discuss with my siblings their own abuse (which in some cases was worse than my own). Hearing how my parents repeated these patterns of abuse on each of us enabled me to cross over the threshold and call myself an abuse victim.

This article is a personal and communal meditation on child abuse: how its affected me and how our Jewish communal leaders and institutions respond to the problem.

Did the Jewish Community Fail Me?

I was raised in an east coast Conservative synagogue, then attended Camp Ramah and the Joint Program (Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University). Because of my deep childhood involvement with the synagogue, I'd like to focus the communal portion of this article on synagogues, rabbis and rabbinical seminaries. How does my rabbi's response 40 years ago to my predicament compare with how a rabbi today might respond? Have things changed for the better?

My congregation rabbi is a mensch. He was the founding rabbi of a small suburban congregation-----; June 11, 2008
Anonymous said...: I'm real quick to open up my big mouth about superficial stuff, but if you asked me about child molesters I would tell you I have no comment on that.
--------------------------------

Political Tidbits: McCain pursues the Jews, Willie Horton admaker plays Muslim card

By Ami Eden on Jun 11, 2008 in Barack Obama, John McCain, Presidential Race, Uncategorized | ShareThis

* Republican Jews say they’ve nabbed big Jewish Dem donor from South Florida. (Some liberal bloggers claim he’s given to GOPers before, but his FEC records show he generally helps Democrats.)
* Congress Daily reports on John McCain’s efforts to make inroads with Jewish voters.
* Rabbi Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel of America defends Pastor John Hagee. Michael Felsen of the Workmen’s Circle says Israel and the pro-Israel lobby might be better off without friends like him.
* The creator of the Willie Horton ad presses Obama-is-a-Muslim campaign.
* L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa heads to Israel as his re-election campaign gears up.
* Michael C. Desch, the Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security Decision-Making at Texas A&M University, says a presidential candidate who wants to be a true friend of Israel would sound more like Kissinger, Carter and Baker.; June 12, 2008
Anonymous said...: A black-and-white issue

Rabbi Avi Shafran’s commentary (“What we’re hearing isn’t the Wright stuff,” CJN, May 9) discusses the “black church” and the undercurrent of anti-Israel sentiment, which is today’s “respectable” proxy for anti-Semitism...; June 12, 2008
Anonymous said...: Developer takes mid-rise plans off the table

By Laura Elder
The Daily News

Published May 26, 2008
He’ll be back: Those rumors that developer Omri Shafran is walking away from controversial plans to build an eight-story condominium project, 20 townhomes and possibly a hotel on 6.4 acres between 41st and 45th streets on the island, aren’t true, he said. What is true, is that Shafran, a principal in development firm Houstate, pulled his condominium project from Galveston Planning Commission’s June 3 agenda.

Shafran declined Friday to divulge reasons, except to say that he would return with different plans for the former site of U.S. Coast Guard officers housing at Fort Crockett. The site is partly along the seawall.

For months, Shafran has been negotiating with neighbors of the proposed condominium project. Those neighbors, concerned about traffic, blocked views and loss of privacy, talked him down from 12 stories to eight.

Shafran, along with Houstate principal Avi Rozenman, began more than a year ago with a plan to build the 280-unit condominium called The Presidio, along with 20 single-family townhomes and a hotel. But the project presented two political hot potatoes — preservation and building heights.

The Coast Guard housing is one of the few remnants of a massive military installation dating back to a time when coastal gun emplacements were important to national security.

Houstate’s original plans called for the demolition of six duplexes built between 1918 and 1939, while preserving three on the west side of the project behind Hometown Bank.

Late last month and after more than year of studying the issue, the Galveston City Council passed new rules limiting building heights to eight stories. If developers wanted to go higher, they would have to offer gifts that benefit the public, such as building affordable housing elsewhere on the island. Stay tuned.

Progress report: Looks like the sale of 287 acres of waterfront property in Texas City is still in play. Kemah-based investment group American International Industries Inc. said last week that Westfield Forest, which is in contract to buy the parcel from the holding company, has offered a progress report for the engineering study related to the “wetlands issue.” Because some wetlands, which are considered essential ecosystems, will be affected, Westfield will have to mitigate. The progress report is among prerequisites of the sale. Westfield Forest, a subsidiary of Houston-based Todd Land Co., is expected to pay $16 million in cash for the land at state Highway 146 near Dickinson Bayou.

Westfield Forest has said it intends to build a marina, boardwalk restaurants, hotel and amphitheater on the property. But officials a year ago cautioned there would be much due diligence before consummating the deal.

In the past several years, the land has been under contract to several development firms.

American International Industries, has been carrying the property on its books for $225,000.

The long goodbye: A longtime island business that has been telling customers it intends to shut its doors isn’t ready to go public with an official announcement. Stay tuned.

Chicken scratch: Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A on Friday plucked away hope that it might open an island store anytime soon. Spokeswoman Brenda Green said there were no immediate plans for an island spot.

The wishful rumor is rooted in reports a few years ago that the chain, known for those self-preserving cows pushing us to “Eat More Chicken,” was pecking around for island sites. There was talk that Chick-fil-A would roost in the Galvez Shopping Center, 6202 Broadway.

North county residents are in luck, however. Chick-fil-A, with more than 1,380 locations, plans a free-standing eatery at League City Towne Center, southeast quadrant of Interstate 45 and FM 646. No word on an opening date. Want to cluck about it? Go to Buzz Blog, galvnews.com.

Mailbag: A reader e-mailed to ask: “What is the latest on TJ Maxx going into the shopping center around the Victory Lakes area?”

Answer: Officials at the clothing retailer’s Framingham, Mass.-based corporate office could not be reached for comment last week. But city officials say it appears the retailer of name brand clothing at a discount has poured the slab for its League City store, in Victory Lakes Town Center, northeast corner of I-45 and FM 646. Stay tuned.

Biz Buzz appears Mondays and Thursdays. We welcome your tips and suggestions. Call 409-683-5248 or e-mail laura.elder@galvnews.com.; June 12, 2008
Anonymous said...: Stop running your mouth, and start addressing the Haredi abuse epidemic you so blatantly ignore. Coward!
--------------------------------

Egalitarianism has landed
May. 20, 2008
Avi Shafran , THE JERUSALEM POST

My computer cautions me against fooling with certain manufacturer-determined system settings. Doing so, it warns, could create serious problems.

Riskier still is messing around with Judaism's system-settings, determined by the ultimate Manufacturer.

That lesson might be the one being learned the hard way by contemporary Jewish religious movements which, unconstrained by the Jewish religious tradition, chose years ago to remove the slash that Jewish tradition places diagonally through the equal sign flanked by "men" and "women."

Both genders, of course, are equally important to God. Women should be paid equal amounts for equal work on a par with men, and they should be respected no less than males. But pretending that men and women are identical and interchangeable in their life-roles - the much-cherished "egalitarian" approach - not only offends Jewish tradition, it may bode demographic disaster.

A soon-to-be-released report entitled The Growing Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life, by Brandeis University sociologist Sylvia Barack Fishman, will present statistical evidence to confirm what has been widely suspected in recent years: males in non-Orthodox communities are opting out of religious activities. Professor Fishman fears that as non-Orthodox Jewish men become increasingly estranged from religious and communal life they are more likely to intermarry and become "ambivalent at best, if not downright hostile to Jewish tradition."

Could the exodus of non-Orthodox men from communal religious participation have some relationship to "progressive" Jewish groups' efforts to erase the idea of gender roles in Judaism?

I don't mean that non-Orthodox men feel insulted, having been displaced by their female counterparts in practices and positions that were once their lot. No, I mean something more subtle: that messing up the system settings, well, messes up the system.

Full article:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288129643&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter; June 12, 2008
Anonymous said...: Protecting your child from sexual predators
Thursday, 12 June 2008

By D. Linsey Wisdom
News Editor

District Attorney Michael Bonfoey successfully convicted three individuals for sex crimes against children. A fourth man, a Macon County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested for similar offenses.

Joshua Wade Adams, a registered sex offender, was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 28 years after improper sexual touching a six-year-old child.

James Lee Clapsaddle was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years for statutory rape of a minor.

Christopher Lee Giddens was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years for two counts of first degree sexual offense, first degree rape and taking indecent liberties with a minor on two children, ages 8 and 11.

Christopher David Hoover was arrested and charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a minor, a three-year old child.

Twenty-six registered sex offenders live in Macon County, not including those currently serving time. And, although three convictions and one arrest in one week may seem like a high number, Sheriff Robbie Holland said the numbers really reflect the concerted collaborative efforts of a variety of agencies working together. He said at least one offender is convicted almost every time Superior Court is in session.

“We’ve got law enforcement, medical professionals, Department of Social Services, KIDS Place – all of these organizations working together for children, for the protection of children,” Holland said.

Numbers on the sex offender registry have been as high as 35 in the past. But, Holland said, the registry sometimes gives people a false sense of security.

“There’s a myth that children are safe because [parents] can see those faces on the sex offender registry, but there is no one face of a child molester,” he said.

Alisa Ashe and Elizabeth Adams both agreed. Ashe is the executive director and Adams the case manager for KIDS Place, Macon County’s child advocacy center.

“It is rarely ‘stranger danger’ that you need to worry about. Your child is more likely to be hit by lightning than to be molested by a stranger,” Adams said.

Molesters don’t have fangs, or horns – they’re not covered from head to toe in hair.

“They don’t have the face of a monster,” said Holland.

They are most likely a friend, a neighbor, a family member. They come in all professions – doctors, teachers, ministers. It does not mean that all family members you have are molesters or that all professionals that work with children should be suspect.

Statistics from abuse prevention organization Darkness to Light, indicate that in more than 90 percent of sexual abuse cases, the child and the child’s family know and trust the abuser. Thirty to 40 percent of those are abused by a family member and nearly 40 percent of children molested are victims at the hand of older or larger children.

For the number of cases that are reported, Adams said, it has been estimated that another 90 percent are not ever reported.

“In Macon County last year, we offered services to 154 families. Not all of those were victims of sexual abuse, but if you think of the number of children we saw, and how many cases go unreported, then that number becomes astonishing,” Ashe said. “It really is the tip of the iceberg.”

It is hard to think, she said, that in the quiet, rural streets of Macon County where everyone knows their neighbor, abuse is going on here.

But it is.

Darkness To Light also reports that it is estimated one in four females have been molested and one out of every six males.

“We don’t know if boys are actually victims less often, or if they are just even that much more reluctant to report it,” Ashe said.

When children do report abuse, she said, it is vital to believe them.

“It can have as much long term effect if not more for a child to report they have been abused and not be believed,” she said.

Holland said one of the most important things you can do for your children is to listen to them, be aware of what they are doing and who they are with and don’t shrug off the little things.

Professionals that work with children are required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse.

“And by suspicion, we don’t mean you have an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. We mean that you have a good reason to believe that a child has been abused,” said Adams.

KIDS Place works with professionals across Macon County to help them attain specialized training to recognize the signs of abuse. But this does not mean that social services or law enforcement is working to inflate cases of abused children.

“When we get a case and can find that abuse has not taken place, that marks or evidence can be explained by some other means – well, that is a good day,” Ashe said.

The move towards collaboration of agencies is something Adams said has worked in the best interest of the child. Before KIDS Place was established in 1991, a victim of abuse may have to go to Social Services, rather than speak with a law enforcement officer. Later, the child would be examined by a medical professional and then have to tell their story again to a prosecutor.

“Everything revolved around the needs of the professional instead of the needs of the child,” Adams said.

KIDS Place offers one central location, where trained professionals can come to the child in an atmosphere that is comfortable for the child. Counseling is available and physicians trained in working with abuse cases can conduct medical services. They also work to make dealing with victims of abuse more kid-friendly.

And, they offer education resources to other organizations that are interested in learning more.

“We shouldn’t put prevention on the backs of children. It used to be the child’s responsibility to say ‘no’ and to set boundaries, but it should be up to adults really to help prevent the abuse in the first place,” she said.

Education is one of the best tools for parents to rely on. Sexual abuse of children is a subject many people do not want to discuss and would rather not know about in detail. But Adams said molesters use that fact to their advantage.

Shame often keeps a child quiet and often can create the same reaction in the parent of a child who has been victimized.

Molesters are almost sociopathic in their efforts to position themselves in places near children and to gain trusts of entire families. Adams referred to them as “groomers.” At times, societies tendencies to keep things “in-house,” remain nonconfrontational and simple denial can keep people, businesses and communities from talking about abusers, allowing them the freedom to move into another community or circle without detection.

“Most importantly, listen to your children. Listen with your ears, your eyes and your hearts,” Adams said.

If you suspect a child is in a victim of abuse, contact the Department of Social Services at 828-349-2124.

Seven Steps to Protecting Children

Step 1: Learn the facts. Understand the risks.
Step 2: Minimize opportunity.
Step 3: Talk about it.
Step 4: Stay alert.
Step 5: Make a plan.
Step 6: Act on suspicion.
Step 7: Get involved.

From Darkness to Light

Suggested reading for parents:

* www.Darkness2Light.org
* www.Preventchildabuse.org
* www.kidsplacecac.org
* The Socially Skilled Child Molester, by Carla van Dam
* Predators, by Anna Salter; June 12, 2008
exposemolesters said...: We are taking a much needed summer break. The comments section will remain open, and we will publish some periodically.

If you need to contact exposemolesters - please do so at:

Matzil_Nefoshos@yahoo.com

Be safe!

EM; June 12, 2008
Anonymous said...: You have done a lot of good. May Hashem give you bracha and hatzlacha in all your endeavors. I'll miss you EM. You deserve a vacation!; June 12, 2008
exposemolesters said...: A Yid,

Thanks my friend!; June 12, 2008

Are you a victim? Did Yeshivah College or Adass Yisroel girls’ school hush you up back then?

Victorian Police are appealing to anyone who may have information or indeed may have been victims of sexual abuse during the period between 1989 and 1993. They have also launched an investigation into sexual abuse at the Adass Yisroel girls’ school n Elsternwick whose principal Malka Leifer fled to Israel in 2008. David Kramer went back to the US where he was arrested and is currently serving a prison sentence for sexual assaults on children. Acting Detective Sergeant Scott Dywer has asked anyone with information to contact him at the Moorabin Sexual Offences Unit on 03 9556 6128

Manny Waks as a schoolboy in 1988 (click to watch video)

Based on reliable information I have, it is anticipated that arrest(s) will be conducted very soon. This is certainly a move I have been anticipating for many years and will welcome once it occurs. There are two fundamental reasons why I have decided to share my information publicly. Firstly, this is about justice and closure – both for myself and other victims. I intend to hold both the perpetrators and Yeshivah Centre to account, the latter for persuading victims to remain silent and not taking appropriate action subsequent to the crimes occurring. The most important people in this tragedy are the many victims that have been abused and betrayed by the perpetrators and Yeshivah Centre many times over. The victims need and deserve justice and closure. Further, it is also my hope that as I take a public stand on this matter, it may embolden other victims to lodge a complaint with the police. As I hold central leadership positions within the Jewish community, it is my hope that I may also help change the stigma associated with victims of such crimes and thereby further embolden other victims to seek the justice that they rightly deserve. I have been informed that there are many, many additional victims out there, some of whom I personally know. Some of these victims apparently have not shared their experiences even with their wives/families. While the perpetrators’ responsibilities are obvious, the negligence of Yeshivah Centre must be seriously addressed, both in terms of seeking justice for what did occur, and in terms of preventing such cases from reoccurring. Whether or not there was no mandatory reporting at the time of the crimes in question is irrelevant – despite recent statements by the Yeshivah Centre in trying to defend the indefensible.

Yeshivah College did not report complaints to police. David Kramer fled Australia in the 1990s

Rabbi Ze'ev Smason, who alerted police in Missouri after the boy's family told him something inappropriate had occurred, said: ''The Kramer case provides a great opportunity to trace the failure of segments of the Jewish community to their source. ''If only the problem had been addressed in Australia … the victim in St Louis and countless others would have been spared suffering,'' he wrote in 2008. Speaking from the US last night, Rabbi Smason said individuals had a religious, ethical and moral obligation to ensure a person who committed a crime could not do so again. ''If there were other victims, any religious authorities who did not step forward enabled him [Kramer] to commit such crimes,'' he said. ''To a degree, an individual who could prevent evil from happening is responsible when it occurs - that's a pretty heavy spiritual burden to carry.'' Kramer pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy of a child under 14 and one count of sexual misconduct. The Age understands Victoria Police hopes to extradite him when he is released, with the earliest parole date April next year.

Teacher molested kids for 20 years, while community turned blind eye

For almost 20 years, one man allegedly sexually abused dozens of children on Moshav Kommemiyut, an ultra-Orthodox community in the northern Negev. Yet no one ever complained - either to the police or to the welfare authorities. The police have since opened an investigation into the abuses, but the suspect is in the U.S. and refuses to return. Meanwhile, some say community leaders knew of the crimes but did nothing to stop them. At least one of the victims is suspected of having sexually abused younger children in turn. The main suspect, Shimshon Walzer, began his alleged career as an abuser 19 years ago, while serving as a teacher at a religious elementary school. Two years later, rumors of his abusive conduct led to him being fired as a teacher. Yet for some reason, he was allowed to retain an office at the school. Over the ensuing years, his conduct became ever more abusive, police say, and an entire generation of children became his sex slaves. According to the testimony they have collected, he abused his victims frequently and in broad daylight, in barns and chicken coops, in fields and even at the mikveh (ritual bath ).

Kevin Ricks accused of being a serial sexual predator

They didn’t know about his apparent library of homemade pornographic videos and explicit photographs that officials say capture his tequila-soaked sex acts with teenage boys he had handpicked. They didn’t know about the makeshift shrine boxes that police say contain mementos of the episodes, including sex toys, soiled tissues and hair trimmings. Even some of the possible victims didn’t know they were victims. A four-month Washington Post investigation of Ricks’ career as a teacher, tutor, foreign exchange host and camp counselor has revealed what appears to be a pattern of abuse that dates to at least 1978 and has left a trail of victims spanning the globe. But despite the abuse, Ricks moved from one teaching job to the next over nearly 30 years, navigating the nation’s public and private school systems undetected, evading traps designed to catch him. He spent the 1982-83 school year in Norfolk, teaching at Hampton Roads Academy. In some cases, school officials and foreign exchange companies knew of or suspected Ricks’ inappropriate behavior and simply let him go, leaving the next employer with no idea what was coming.

More victims coming forward with accounts of indecent sexual assault and battery

Two years ago, Michael Brecher came to prosecutors in Boston with a disturbing allegation: In the 1970s, he said, he had been molested by a rabbi who was teaching sixth grade at one of the region’s most prestigious Jewish day schools, the Maimonides School. One of Brecher’s classmates came forward at the same time. And last year, after reading news accounts of indecent sexual assault and battery charges filed against Stanley Z. Levitt, a third person said that he, too, was abused by Levitt. Now, court records show that Levitt might have tried to entice two more students into having intimate contact with him while they took showers in his Brighton home. One of those former students has told Boston police that Levitt took him and other students on a field trip to Montreal where Levitt directed the students in a ritual purification bath, or mikvah, while all of them were naked, an inappropriate practice, according to an official at a prominent Jewish theological seminary. Levitt has also faced allegations in Philadelphia, where he lived after leaving Maimonides.

Ex-Mass. rabbi charged again in child abuse

The Suffolk County district attorney says a rabbi who once taught at a Boston-area school faces another child assault charge. Authorities said Sunday that Stanley Z. Levitt was charged with indecent assault and battery on a child. The 64-year-old Levitt is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court. Levitt was arraigned last year on four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. Prosecutors say he assaulted two boys about 11 years old who attended the Maimonides School in Brookline where he taught between 1974 and 1977. Prosecutors say the third person approached them after reading media accounts. Authorities say he also was a sixth grader at the school that employed Levitt in the mid-1970s.

For 5th Year, Child Sex Abuse Bill Dies in Legislature

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, a Queens Democrat who wrote the legislation and has been its chief advocate, said that in one sense the vote on Wednesday represented progress. “Our bill has never even come to a vote before in the Senate,” she said. “So we feel this was an important step.” Since it was first introduced in the 2006-7 session, the Child Victims Act has been fervently opposed by the Catholic Church and several Orthodox Jewish groups, which saw potentially devastating financial implications in opening an opportunity for victims, regardless of age, to bring lawsuits for sexual abuse suffered in childhood. Last year, in an attempt to blunt complaints from the religious groups that they were being singled out, the bill was amended to make public institutions like schools equally liable.

Justice for Child Abuse Victims

We urge the New York State Legislature to rise above intense lobbying by the New York State Catholic Conference and Orthodox Jewish officials and pass the overdue Child Victims Act. Like a similar measure enacted in 2003 by California, it would create a one-time, one-year suspension of the statute of limitations for bringing civil lawsuits over the sexual abuse of children. Once that window closes, people alleging abuse would have until age 28 to bring a claim. Current law sets the limit at 23 in most circumstances.

Supporters of Lebovits wait for the verdict outside the Kings County criminal court

the trial took a shocking turn when Gregory asked Ashkenazi if he knew a particular Brooklyn boy. Ashkenazi, who speaks fractured English, sat uncomfortably on the witness stand and acknowledged that he did know the boy. “Isn’t it true,” the prosecutor continued, that Ashkenazi had once touched his knee to the boy’s private parts? Ashkenazi, flustered, denied that that was true. Then, Gregory named another boy and asked the witness if, “back in 1998, on multiple occasions, [he] sexually molested him when he was 13 years old?” Ashkenazi protested to the assistant district attorney, “I am a holy person!”

Rabbinic Leaders Silent On Child Sexual Abuse

Every attempt I made to enlist the aid of rabbinic leadership was met with reactions ranging from an unwillingness to deal with the problem, to indifference, to total denial of the existence of a problem — which I have since learned was in all cases completely disingenuous. The rabbis in fact knew about this problem all along and they acted to protect the pedophiles and intimidate the victims and their families, all the while maintaining a public silence. (by Ben Hirsch Special To The Jewish Week)

“To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business.”

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits is facing a long prison term after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy. "Thank God, justice is served," the victim's father said in the packed courtroom as Lebovits family members wiped tears from their eyes. "This makes a statement to the Jewish community," said Beth Kaplan of the group Sacred Lives, one of several advocates who sat through the week-long trial. "There is denial. The majority of the Orthodox community doesn't believe this can happen. Here we see it can happen."

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits found guilty on eight counts of sexual abuse; hauled away in handcuffs.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-rabbi-molester,0,6181257.story

BROOKLYN -- A jury today convicted an orthodox rabbi of repeatedly molesting a 16-year-old classmate of his son.

The panel of 10 women and two men deliberated less than half a day before finding the rabbi, Baruch Lebovits, 58, guilty of eight counts of sexual abuse.

Lebovits was acquitted on two additional counts.

The victim, now 22, alleges Lebovits lured him into his car by offering to let him drive, then proceeded to unzip his fly and perform oral sex on him.

The incident occurred on eight separate occasions in 2004 and 2005, according to Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes

The Yeshiva student said he knew Lebovits as a rabbi and prominent business man in the Borough Park community, where they both lived.

Lebovits is slated to be sentenced March 29.

He faces up to a 32-year prison term.

You can kiss convicted child molester, Boruch Mordechai Lebovits, goodbye.

Lebovits was convicted on eight counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Third Degree. When he is sentenced on March 29, he will face up to four years in prison on each count. The victim knew Lebovits as a rabbi and prominent businessman in the Borough Park community, where they both lived. Lebovits is also charged in two other cases of sexual assaults on minors. Those cases are pending. The case was prosecuted by Miss Gregory, First Deputy Bureau Chief in the Sex Crimes Bureau. Rhonnie Jaus is Chief of the Sex Crimes Bureau.

grand jury charges Dr. Earl Bradley of Lewes with 471 counts of sexual crimes against 103 children.

After years of suspicions among parents and questions about his strange behavior from colleagues, Bradley was arrested after a 2-year-old girl told her mother that the doctor hurt her in December when he took her to a basement room of his office after an exam. The case has shocked the close-knit coastal community of Lewes and the central Delaware town of Milford, where Bradley closed an office in 2005 after police investigated him. Biden and Gov. Jack Markell have ordered reviews to determine whether doctors, hospitals, state agencies or law enforcement authorities failed to comply with a state law that requires all such entities to report to the medical licensing board in writing within 30 days if they believe a doctor is or "may be" guilty of unprofessional conduct. Biden said Monday that those investigations are aimed at determining "how this physician could lurk in our midst for as long as he did."

'Trust, but check,' our sages tell us.

Our first and foremost concern must always be for the victim. Societies today may be so focused on securing the rights and privileges of the accused that they neglect the suffering of those who are harmed in the first place. More than one community, having detected a sexual predator in its midst, has simply transferred the criminal to another, unsuspecting community so as to avoid a legal battle and all the negative publicity that comes along with it. Meanwhile, the victims are denied their right to justice and the fox is now transferred to a new hen-house, where he may continue his deviant behavior on new victims.

"Brooklyn Bundler" is at it again.

Rabbi Milton Balkany, 63, was charged with extortion, blackmail and making false statements as part of an elaborate scheme to shake down the hedge fund, prosecutors charged. They say Balkany told the hedge fund the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI were trying to get a jailbird he knew to give up information about illegal insider trades made by the financial firm. There were no insider trades. Balkany made up the story to trick fund managers into giving millions to the Bais Yaakov School in Borough Park, where he is the dean, and another school, Torah Vodaath, prosecutors said. Balkany said prosecutors are telling tales.

Wicked Man!

New Jersey lawyer representing several clients who claim they were abused by Mondrowitz, told the New York Jewish Week that he has uncovered evidence that Mondrowitz has continued his practice of treating young boys in Israel. Michael Lesher, an attorney and a writer specialising in sexual abuse cases, says a document obtained from Mondrowitz’s computer shows a 15-year-old boy was assessed by Mondrowitz in 2006. “We have always heard from the rabbis that, whatever has happened, in Israel, Mondrowitz has been kept away from children. Taking this at face value, it seems, that is not true.”

Child advocates still in a state of shock and disbelief over Mondrowitz ruling

Yitzhak Kadman, president of the Israeli National Council for the Child, the oldest and largest children’s rights advocacy group in Israel, told The Jewish Week that “We are disappointed with the decision. We believe that it is sending [the] wrong message to people who are accused of such serious crimes [as the] sexual abuse of children.” Kadman added, “We believe that regardless of the question that Israel is and should be a shelter for every Jew in the world, the Law of Return [did not intend for] Israel to become a shelter for people who are pedophiles who are running from the court system in other countries.”

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Mondrowitz will not be extradited to stand trial in America.

“At the very least, the authorities in Israel should be pursuing criminal charges against Mondrowitz for recent crimes that both they and the U.S. authorities have clear and convincing evidence of,” said SFJ president Ben Hirsch. Michael Lesher, a Passaic, N. J., attorney who represents six American Jews who claim Mondrowitz abused them as children, said, “We know now, which we didn’t before, just what kind of denial we are facing. “We feel outrage, we feel bitterness and we feel rising anger that bringing Mondrowitz to justice is being resisted.”

At the mikveh, Weiss “touched his penis to the boy’s buttocks,” states the indictment.

“He got a slap on the hand. Across the country people are copping pleas so they don’t end up on sex offender registries,” said Vicki Polin, founder and chief executive officer of The Awareness Center, which advocates on behalf of victims of rabbinic sexual abuse. “Our courts seem to care more about white-collar crime than they do about our own children,” she said. “If he’s not on a sex offender registry, it means he still can teach. There are so many cases just like this and then they just re-offend.”

"rabbi" Yaakov Weiss admitted he had "inappropriate physical contact" with two naked boys.

Yaakov Weiss, founder of the Chabad of Colonie and the Chabad Hebrew School, pleaded guilty to child endangerment during an appearance in front of Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick. He faces up to 60 days in jail and three years probation as part of a plea bargain reached with the district attorney's office. His sentencing his schedule for March 1. Under questioning by the judge, Weiss admitted he had the inappropriate contact with the boy. He also told the court he told one of the boys to lie about the contact if asked by parents or police. In both cases, the indictment alleged that Weiss had sexual contact "consisting of placing his penis in contact with said child's buttocks." The incidents allegedly took place inside a pool, called a mikveh, used by some Jews for ritual purification, according to his attorney. (THE PUNISHMENT DOES NOT FIT THE CRIME)

Steve Lipman's eye-openening article in The Jewish Week

"Twice within the past few years, several pulpit rabbis in Passaic, Rabbi Eisenman among them, announced in shul when men accused of being sexual molesters had moved into the community. One, Stefan Colmer, left Passaic soon thereafter, likely because of the public exposure, Passaic residents say, and is now in jail having been convicted of eight counts of criminal sexual act in the second degree; the other, Mitchell Levinton, pleaded guilty to child endangerment last month and faces a five-year prison term."

Donkeys of Lakewood and Brooklyn forced to look in the mirror.

September 12, 2009

Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood deals with sex abuse (by continuing to claim ignorance and telling more lies)

By ZACH PATBERG
STAFF WRITER

At some point, amid battling a drug addiction and childhood memories of molestation, Shua Finkelstein wrote a letter. Discovered on his computer after he died Feb. 28 from an overdose of pain killers, the letter admonished his Orthodox Jewish community...

"It is your duty as a Jew, as a human to find these people in our community and no longer let them live among us!!!" it read. On April 14, a few weeks after the letter became public online, the Finkelsteins' house was gutted by a fire while they were out of town for Passover. A police report cited arson as the likely cause. Authorities say they are still investigating.

Continued....

http://www.app.com/article/20090912/NEWS/909120323/1070/NEWS02/Orthodox+Jewish+community+in+Lakewood+deals+with+sex+abuse

OUR MISSION IS - PREVENTING ALL FORMS OF ABUSE AND CURRUPTION IN THE JEWISH WORLD AND BEYOND!!!

1. Tell Others The Facts

What are the first three facts you can tell others? Fact one: Today, 95 percent of child molestation can be prevented. We have the knowledge to stop it. Fact two: Today, living in the United States, there are 39 million adults who have survived child sexual abuse. Fact three: Today, more than three million American children are victims. Most of them are children, struggling alone, believing there is no adult who can help them. To help prevent child molestation from happening to the children closest to you, begin by telling others the basic facts.

(Child Molestation Research & Prevention Institute, Inc.)

http://www.childmolestationprevention.org

24 Hour Crisis Line: (812) 336-0846

Sexual Abuse Facts

Rape is not motivated by lust or sexual desire. Rape is an expression of power or anger.
The effects of date rape drugs are enhanced by alcohol which can also impair your judgment and ability to respond.
Rape can happen in the context of marriage or a committed relationship.
Every 41 seconds a woman is raped in the United States.
50 % of the victims are 12-24 years of age.
60-80 % of women who are raped know their attackers.
57 % of rapes occur on a date and 60 % of sexual assaults occur in homes.
One in 10 men is raped in his lifetime.

If you were raped:

Seek help immediately
Remember, it is not your fault
Do not wash, change, shower or douche before going to the hospital

Protect Yourself Against Rape:

Watch your drink:

Keep an eye on your drink at all times
Only take drinks from a bartender or waitress

Watch out for each other:

Never leave a friend who is drunk alone
Communicate before a party that you will look out for each other's safety

If you start to feel sick or strange, tell a friend immediately! Date rape drugs can take effect in as little as 15 minutes. Trust your instincts! If you feel something is wrong, it probably is. Don't be afraid to make a scene and stand up for yourself. This could be the difference between life and death.

If you have any questions about sexual assault or need to talk about what has happened to you or a friend, call our 24-hour crisis line at (812) 336-0846.

http://www.bloomington.in.us/~mwhouse/sexassault.htm

===========================================

Child Sexual Abuse ~ Disclosures

Among victims of sexual abuse, the inability to trust is pronounced, which also contributes to secrecy and non-disclosure.
Source: Courtois & Watts, 1982.

Children often fail to report because of the fear that disclosure will bring consequences even worse than being victimized again. The victim may fear consequences from the family, feel guilty for consequences to the perpetrator, and may fear subsequent retaliatory actions from the perpetrator.
Sources: Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984; Groth, 1979; Swanson & Biaggio, 1985.

Victims may be embarrassed or reluctant to answer questions about the sexual activity.
Source: Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984.

Victims may also have a feeling that "something is wrong with me," and that the abuse is their fault.
Sources: Johnson, 1987; Tsai & Wagner, l978.

In addition to "sexual guilt," there are several other types of guilt associated with the abuse, which include feeling different from peers, harboring vengeful and angry feelings toward both parents, feeling responsible for the abuse, feeling guilty about reporting the abuse, and bringing disloyalty and disruption to the family . Any of these feelings of guilt could outweigh the decision of the victim to report, the result of which is the secret may remain intact and undisclosed.
Source: Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tsai & Wagner, l978.

A child's initial denial of sexual abuse should not be the sole basis of reassurance that abuse did not occur. Virtually all investigative protocols are designed to respond to only those children who have disclosed. Policies and procedures that are geared only to those children who have disclosed fail to recognize the needs of the majority of victims.
Source: Sorensen & Snow, 1991.

Study of 630 cases of alleged sexual abuse of children from 1985 through 1989: Using a subset of 116 confirmed cases, findings indicated that 79 percent of the children of the study initially denied abuse or were tentative in disclosing. Of those who did disclose, approximately three-quarters disclosed accidentally. Additionally, of those who did disclose, 22 percent eventually recanted their statements.
Source: Sorensen & Snow, 1991.

Young victims may not recognize their victimization as sexual abuse.
Source: Gilbert, l988.

There is the clinical assumption that children who feel compelled to keep sexual abuse a secret suffer greater psychic distress than victims who disclose the secret and receive assistance and support.
Source: Finkelhor & Browne, 1986.

Early identification of sexual abuse victims appears to be crucial to the reduction of suffering of abused youth and to the establishment of support systems for assistance in pursuing appropriate psychological development and healthier adult functioning . As long as disclosure continues to be a problem for young victims, then fear, suffering, and psychological distress will, like the secret, remain with the victim.
Sources: Bagley, 1992; Bagley, 1991; Finkelhor et al. 1990; Whitlock & Gillman, 1989.>

http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats.htm#Disclosures

"Yeshiva" of Brooklyn also Guilty of Child Abuse

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Haaretz: Interpol suspects Brazilian Jewish community hid rabbi wanted for child abuse

No Good Samaritans in Hartford

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YESHIVA OF BROOKLYN UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE COVERUP

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BUTCHER OF BROOKLYN BOY DEEMED FIT FOR TRIAL

Cain and Abel

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Amateur sleuth Yaakov German helps cops catch Levi Aron and solve murder of Leiby Kletzky

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The boy butcher doing the perp walk

Meet Levi Aron - The Monster Who Savagley Murdered Leiby Kletzky A'H

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Man in gold colored sedan being sought for questioning

Missing! $125,000 reward offered

Are you a victim? Did Yeshivah College or Adass Yisroel girls’ school hush you up back then?

Manny Waks as a schoolboy in 1988 (click to watch video)

Manny Waks is a courageous, heroic human-being!

Yeshivah College did not report complaints to police. David Kramer fled Australia in the 1990s

Bye Bye Mass Murderer~..~

“Never be haughty to the humble or humble to the haughty.”

Ohel apparently acting in violation of mandatory reporting laws (Click for The Jewish Week report)

All's Not Swell

Meat Carving station at the Agudah convention

Cheryl Burke reveals child molestation, physical abuse by former boyfriends

Convicted Child Molester Gets 675 Years in Prison

Man Accused of Molesting 3 Girls at Wife's Day Care Center

Vatican and Irish church cover-up of worst pedophile priest

House of Horrors!

Barukh Atta Adonay Eloheynu Melekh Ha-olam She-asa Nissim La-avoteynu Ba-yyamim Ha-hem Bazman Hazeh

Oprah Winfrey Breaks the Silence on Men Who Are Sexually Abused

Shana Tova!

Child Rapist B.L Gets "Stricter" Kosher meals

Teacher molested kids for 20 years, while community turned blind eye

Kevin Ricks accused of being a serial sexual predator

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US district attorney blasts Swiss ruling that set Roman Polanski free

Witness Tampering & Coverup In Fakewood

Russian pianist faces Thai paedophile rape charge

Founders of Rape Crisis Center remember friend who helped create hot line and justice for victims

Hayes ordered Streicher, an American whose family lives in Israel, behind bars for at least a year.

Ex-Mass. rabbi charged again in child abuse

Al Gore Accused of Sexual Abuse!

Restaurant Owner Arrested For Sex Abuse Of 16-Year-Old Girl

Shmuley and the Pope make nice

If you are a victim of Michael Sabo or know someone who is call 911

Helen Thomas told rabbilive.com that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine."

Sex abusers at Disney: Men sent to prison for lewd acts on boys

For 5th Year, Child Sex Abuse Bill Dies in Legislature

Former B'nai Brith leader pleads guilty to child porn charges

Covering up a shocking crime

Justice for Child Abuse Victims

Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime

Elior Chen accomplices convicted

Shlomo Mandel's newest 4th grade Rebbe at YOB

Supporters of Lebovits wait for the verdict outside the Kings County criminal court

"Rabbi" Shloime Mandel practicing bedikas chometz

Rabbinic Leaders Silent On Child Sexual Abuse

“To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business.”

Rabbi Yaakov Weiss holds his prayer books Monday after being sentenced to 60 days in Jail.

Rabbi Baruch Lebovits found guilty on eight counts of sexual abuse; hauled away in handcuffs.

You can kiss convicted child molester, Boruch Mordechai Lebovits, goodbye.

A face not even a mother can love!

No matter how gloomy things seem, everything can turn around.

grand jury charges Dr. Earl Bradley of Lewes with 471 counts of sexual crimes against 103 children.

'Trust, but check,' our sages tell us.

Rabbi Milton Balkany, Rubashkin Brother-In-Law, in a heap of trouble

"Brooklyn Bundler" is at it again.

NY Coalition to Protect Children - Stop Shielding Sexual Predators, Provide Justice for Victims.

Wicked Man!

ensnared 44 rabbis, politicians and public officials in a sweeping anti-corruption raid last year

Child advocates still in a state of shock and disbelief over Mondrowitz ruling

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Mondrowitz will not be extradited to stand trial in America.

At the mikveh, Weiss “touched his penis to the boy’s buttocks,” states the indictment.

Justice Denied!