This video is provided by The Awareness Center, Inc. (the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault).
David Mandel is the CEO of Ohel Children's Home and Family Services in Brooklyn, NY. Ohel is an mental health agency that receives both State and Federal funding.
A few people asked what was the question posed to David Mandel. Due to time limitation on Youtube The Awareness Center has to break the video down into to parts. The first person speaking is Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb: Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Baltimore, MD. The Second person is Dr. David Pelcovitz, Phd. Here's the introduction to Mandel's question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX2RvX... Here is David Mandel's response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soo67u... For more films on sexual violence in the Jewish community go to: http://www.theawarenesscenter.blogspot
Category: Nonprofits & Activism
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Child Sexual Abuse Assault Clergy David Mandel Rabbi Orthodox Brooklyn New York The Awareness Center Inc.
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About Me
- exposemolesters
- It is unfortunate that it has come to this. It is a big darn shame it has come to this. It is very hurtful that it has come to this. But yet, IT HAS COME TO THIS. It has come at the price of a GREAT CHILUL HASHEM. It has come to Hashem having to allow his holy name to be DESECRATED so that his CHILDREN remain SAFE. Shame on all those responsible for enabling and permitting Hashem's name to be desecrated! When you save children you save the future. You save the future you save generations. You save generations you save lives. You save lives you have saved the world!!!!!!!
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34 comments:
Dr. David Pelcovitz thinks I am qualified, that is all I care about. Vicky Polin should stop looking for shadows that do not exists.
http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=3262
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Young Israel Pastoral Counseling Program Begins October 29
The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI), in conjunction with OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services, has organized a pastoral counseling program for rabbis, graduates of NCYI rabbinic training programs, and chaplains. The pastoral counseling program will provide a professional environment for rabbis to hone their skills and expand their knowledge of how to effectively address various issues of importance that occur in the community. The program will also include two leilei iyun, which will be open to all rabbis, rebbetzins, rabbinic students, and chaplains.
The program will begin on Wednesday, October 29. Upon completion of the ten-course program, each participant will receive a certificate from the NCYI, OHEL, and Touro College.
All program presenters are OHEL staff members or are specifically selected by OHEL and the NCYI, such as Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, a renowned psychiatrist and author of A Practical Guide to Rabbinic Counseling, and Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, the director of community mental health services at OHEL.
“In today’s world, the esteemed role of mara d’asra is increasingly challenged by the psychological and social pressures that the 21st century has placed on their congregants,” said Rabbi Binyamin Hammer, NCYI’s director of rabbinic services. “These issues compound the traditional role of the pastoral counselor and create pressures and demands for the mara d’asra that may not have been present years ago. Among these are the need that rabbis develop a better understanding of counseling and how to make a proper referral to the correct agency. This is not an easy job and requires a deep understanding of the issues and the modalities for treatment. Our hope is that the pastoral counseling program will enable rabbinic leaders to expand their breadth of understanding in this critical area.”
According to Rabbi Hammer, NCYI and OHEL have developed a course of study in psychological and social issues as well as basic counseling skills. The program will enhance the ability of a mara d’asra to understand the needs of his kehillah and to enable him to make appropriate and helpful suggestions, whether halachic or personal. Improving his skills will help a rabbi to become an important resource for each member of his congregation in every aspect of their lives.
Rabbi Hammer also noted that both historically and philosophically, the Young Israel movement has been in the forefront of the effort to facilitate close relationships between rabbi and congregant. Through its rabbinic conferences, leilei and yemei iyun, and its heralded rabbinic training program, the NCYI Department of Rabbinic Services has worked tirelessly to ensure that Young Israel members feel they are receiving the very best from their rabbis.
Applications for the pastoral counseling program are available through the NCYI office and are subject to review. For more information, contact the NCYI’s Department of Rabbinic Services at 212-929-1525 ext. 113, rabbis@youngisrael.org, or www.youngisrael.org/content/rabbinic_training.cfm.
Bill Maher is a pornographer.
'Religulous': Are Faith, Religion, Extremism All the Same?
Thursday October 23, 2008
Categories: Movies
I'm not a Bill Maher fan, nor am I really one of his detractors. His demeanor has never appealed to me, but it has also not appalled me. He pushes envelopes, and I support that within my appreciation for free speech and comedy. But I'd seen enough of the trailers for "Religulous" to know that the movie was important for me, as someone who writes often about religion, to see for myself.
The film, as others have noted, is not about religion. It's about religion gone wrong, or religion as excuse for violent (or materialistic) extremism. Maher shows the violence, and derides the religionists, out of a hatred for religion, without caring to see the more compassionate side of faith. He blames religion for the world's troubles, which is part-right. But whether you believe in predestiny or free will, the religion itself doesn't kill people...people kill people.
A friend of mine--a rabbinical student, as it happens--pointed out that the two most murderous regimes were actually not based in religion: communism and Nazism. (Beliefnet founder Steve Waldman makes a similar point by citing Rabbi David Wolpe in a post about the film... ) But what these systems share with violence that results from religious extremism is a clear demarcation of lines between "us" and "them," with the "us" being the group that is elite, just, or morally superior, and the "them" being everyone else.
This may or may not have anything to do with religion, or even with religious faith. It has everything to do with egomania, elitism, and most disturbingly, the commitment to one's superiority over another that might, indeed, be part of practicing a religion. If you don't believe that your religion (or your belief system) is the best, then why believe it at all? Is it all ego, or is there a mission involved? And does a mission always have to demonize and persecute the other?
In the Huffington Post, LA-based rabbi Sharon Brous (from the newish synagogue/community known as IKAR-LA) shares her Yom Kippur sermon from this year, which jumps off from "Religulous" to speak about religion, and how the things that both hurt and thrill us, and why we do them, are often beyond rational explanation.
In her examination of faith as a concept and belief system, Rabbi Brous also speaks about Judaism as an "exodus" religion, not a "genesis" religion: that it's not about perfection, but a quest for "ascent, redemption" and a "carving a path toward light"-- she doesn't see faith in extremism. She sees faith as a body of strength to pull from in hardship, and as something that encourages us to take responsibility for the things that happen to us and how we handle them.
Why have we allowed the most extreme, most narrow-minded interpreters, the most violent forces to define faith and religious life? Faith is not about hatred and exclusion -- those are perversions of the deepest religious truths. The religious life is not about pretending to know with certainty; it is about living with deep humility. It is not about harnessing forces to restrict other people's freedom, it is about showing up at someone's home with dinner when you know she is suffering. The religious life is about saying to every mother of a sick kid: don't give up. To every lonely person: I know your heart hurts, but love might still be possible. It is about praying, singing, crying, and working with all our hearts to bring holiness into our world. It is about seeing every person, in every generation, as a potential agent of transformation.
Can any religion serve as a solely positive force within the world, without fringe elements venturing into extremism? And is it extremist to be exclusive with your message?
What makes Dr. David Pelcovitz think so highly of David Mandel? The whole video is filled with insincerity.
Pope John Paul II is velcomed at 555 Ocean Parkway anytime.
Independent.ie
Pope's silence on Nazi horrors
Silvano Taddei defends Pope Pius XII's method of dealing with the Nazi regime, comparing his actions to those of Oskar Schindler (Letters, October 6).
The obvious flaw in this argument is that Mr Schindler was a factory owner, whereas Pius XII was a world leader and, as Pope, his followers depended on words for direction and leadership.
Pope John Paul II is also on the track for sainthood but many would also claim that he also failed to speak or act on the countless cases of sexual abuse perpetrated by some Churches' ministers, thereby needlessly prolonging the victims' suffering.
How often are we reminded that evil can prosper where good men do or say nothing?
PAUL M BARRY
BALLYMAHON, CO LONGFORD
Ultra-Orthodox Israeli newspapers have banned photographs of Tzipi Livni, elected by her party to become Israel's next prime minister, in their political coverage because she is a woman, the Daily Mail reported Sept. 23. This week, leaders of the United Torah Judaism party said they might not join a government coalition if Livni is the head, the Middle East World news reported Oct. 16.
Livni is expected to become the Israeli leader when she negotiates a coalition government. But United Torah Judaism member Rabbi Joseph Shalom Elyashiv said his party has not made a final decision about whether it will join, which could prove crucial to Livni's ability to stay in power. "It is not simple to sit in a government when the prime minister is a woman," he said.
Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox believers, form 12 percent of the Israeli population and hold significant political power. Over the past two years, women accused of immoral behavior have been regularly and violently assaulted and Orthodox followers are imposing gender-segregation rules on women more forcefully, Menachem Friedman, a sociology professor at Bar-Ilan University, told the Guardian. More Haredi women are wearing veils and scarves to cover themselves.
More News to Jeer This Week:
* Nicaraguan women's rights activists are subjecting President Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista revolutionary, to the tribunal of public opinion by reviving accusations of raping his stepdaughter in the 1980s, Time reported Oct. 16. Ortega is in the process of rehabilitating his image as a progressive and revolutionary leader. Zoilamerica Narvaez, Ortega's stepdaughter, has withdrawn her abuse case, said journalist and activist Sofia Montenegro, "but the protests will continue to grow."
* Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons is facing a civil lawsuit from a Las Vegas waitress, Chrissy Mazzeo, who claimed he attacked and threatened to rape her while he was a candidate for office, the AP reported Oct. 15. Mazzeo is seeking $10,000 in damages; Gibbons has denied the claims and was cleared in a criminal investigation in 2006.
* An Oct. 10 Chicago Tribune analysis found only one-sixth of the 19,000 domestic violence cases brought each year in Illinois' Cook County result in convictions, leading victims to lose faith in the courts. Convictions in Chicago also dropped to 14 percent in 2007 from 20 percent in 2003.
* Sexual harassment is routine and the biggest fear for Pakistan's female journalists, the Inter Press Service reported Oct. 14. Fourteen percent of the Pakistan Association of Television Journalists members are women.
* Sierra Leone, Africa's poorest nation, has the greatest risk of death in childbirth, with 1 in 8 mothers dying, the Washington Post reported Oct. 12. In the United States, maternal deaths occur in 1 in 4,800 live births. Across the globe, more than 500,000 women a year--about one every minute--die in childbirth.
* Fledgling efforts to reform Northern Ireland's abortion laws were abandoned after officials warned that it could threaten ongoing peace negotiations with provincial leaders and undermine a fragile peace established in 1999 between Catholic separatists and Protestant loyalists, the London Telegraph reported Oct. 10.
In Memoriam:
* Women's health advocate Allan Rosenfield, dean of the Mailman School at Columbia University, died Oct. 12 in Hartsdale, N.Y. Focusing his efforts on the HIV-AIDS pandemic, Rosenfield helped bring comprehensive health care to over 500,000 women and children through programs to prevent transmission of the virus from mother to infant. He worked for over four decades advocating for reproductive rights and family planning programs.
* Journalist, author and women's rights activist June Levine died in Dublin on Oct. 14 from a stroke. Levine took part in the fight against Ireland's ban on contraception, was a strong voice in denouncing the harsh lives of prostitutes and participated in supporting rape victims. She wrote for the Irish Times and the RTE's "Late Late Show" where she helped create a show about the women's movement and wrote books about her experiences with movement "sisters."
Iulia Anghelescu is a freelance writer in New York
Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
How bad is Yeshiva of Brooklyn's sweeping under the rug tactics? VERY BAD. There was some very sick stuff done to kids. People knew this was going on and did nothing to stop it. This is a very dangerous place. Please do not ever send someone there.
sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbsafety1025sboct25,0,3227658.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Young victims of sex abuse often stay silent
Fear, guilt keep youth from reporting crime
By Rafael A. Olmeda
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 25, 2008
The older daughter was the first to speak up.
Her mother, Michelle, struggled to process what the girl was saying. Was the 15-year-old misinterpreting her father's affectionate behavior? Was this the product of an overactive imagination?
Then Michelle thought about her younger daughter. She was only 9. And Michelle's ex-husband had a scheduled visit coming up with her. Michelle called the Department of Children & Families to report her suspicion that the girls were being sexually abused by their father.
It may seem natural for a teenager to disclose when she's being sexually abused by a parent or another authority figure, but the reality is that many stay silent out of fear or misplaced guilt.
Boca Raton psychologist Dennison Reed said child molesters are skilled at "seducing" their victims and persuading them to keep quiet.
They say things like, "If you tell, it will kill your mother," or "no one will believe you," Reed said. According to one study Reed cites, more than 65 percent of adults who experienced abuse as children did not report it during their childhood.
Michelle and her older daughter did the right thing by speaking up, said Sgt. Ed McCardle, who heads the Broward Sheriff's Office Sex Crimes Unit. His advice to other victims: "Tell someone in confidence. Notify a school counselor, a teacher, a friend. Tell law enforcement."
Any of those options is better than allowing the abuse to continue.
"These children are groomed since they're very young," said Michelle, who said her husband began the incestuous behavior when their older daughter was 9. "You would never think this kind of thing goes on in your own house."
As reported by the Sexual Assault Treatment Center in Broward, between 30 percent and 40 percent of child sex assault victims are abused by someone in the family, with the father or a father figure as the abuser in about 40 percent of those cases.
The Sun Sentinel does not disclose the names of sex abuse victims or their immediate family members. Michelle agreed to be identified by her first name only. Her ex-husband has not been charged, but law enforcement officials are investigating the allegations.
Cases such as the recent arrest of a Seminole Police Department officer accused of molesting his daughter in Sunrise serve as a reminder that the victim won't always come forward — that abuse might still be going on if the officer's mother hadn't caught him fondling the girl, police and officials said. The suspect was fired from his job and is now in jail awaiting trial.
McCardle issued this plea to people who are being molested or suspect someone else may be:
"Come forward," he said. "Please don't wait."
Incidents of rape, incest, molestation or other cases of abuse in Broward or Palm Beach County can be reported to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96ABUSE (962-2873). In cases that require immediate police response, call 911.
Staff Researcher Gail Bulfin contributed to this report.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4694.
Have a discussion
Want to talk to your children about sexual abuse? Read how to handle it in our parenting blog. Sun-Sentinel.com/transparent
Even a gentile child molester would tell you he would prefer to have a Jewish lawyer defending him like this guy.
http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=84311&TM=68349.76
Chevra Kadisha: Crash victim won't be buried in coffin
Family of Friday's plane crash victim at odds with Israeli burial society which refuses to allow burial in coffin, saying it's against Jewish law, suggests using a doll instead of corpse
Roi Mandel
Conflict arose Sunday over the burial of one of Friday's light plane crash victims as his family requested to lay him to rest in a coffin, while Chevra Kadisha, the Israeli burial society, refused and demanded he be buried in a shroud.
The family of Menachem Ben-Zaccaria of Netanya, who was killed in the crash along with three others, was told that using a coffin was against Halacha (Jewish law) and would be impossible...
Commentary
Marci A. Hamilton: Killing abuse suit bill puts children at risk
Marci A. Hamilton
2008-02-29 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked
BALTIMORE -
Under pressure from the Catholic Church, Maryland lawmakers shelved legislation to identify predators among us. With HB858, Maryland was part of a national movement to eliminate statutes of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. This bill offered the hope of a “window” to allow claims previously barred.
Our legal system favors predators over the protection of children. By the time victims are capable of coming forward, the law lets predators escape through the statute of limitations — again and again.
Those predators now live and work near — often with — our children, but we do not know who they are because we keep the courthouse locked against victims.
Perhaps even harder to understand, the Catholic Conference of Maryland killed this bill through lies and misrepresentations about its purposes and effects.
Churches recently distributed handouts to area Catholics making outrageous and dishonest claims. They argued the legislation “targets” the church, even though its terms plainly cover all private institutions. This claim must be challenged — clergy members attack about 5 percent of victims in this country. The rest are attacked by family, family acquaintances, teachers, coaches, scout leaders and others. Those are covered by the bill as well. So let’s get to the truth: The church’s lobbyists concocted a false accusation of “targeting” when really they are keeping the courthouse locked against millions of other victims.
The hierarchy also claims the bill targets it because so many claims have been brought against the church in other jurisdictions. But hasn’t it just made the case for the bill? Don’t the numbers prove the need for the bill? The public impact is extraordinary. Window legislation revealed predators we could not have known otherwise.
We have had two windows so far. In California 300 perpetrators were identified who were unknown before. Delaware’s window opened in July, but in both states records proved the hierarchy continues to harbor an unconscionable number of secrets, and helped to identify predators in other states.
The church also misled about who really pays settlements for covering up child abuse. So far, 50 percent of settlements have been paid by the insurance companies to whom the dioceses were paying premiums for years.
The other 50 percent has been paid by sale of land unrelated to ministry. Schools weren’t shut down and services were not curtailed. Instead, the church sold office buildings, mansions and empty lots. Indeed, one would hardly expect Catholic Charities to be affected by any settlement given that a minimum of 70 percent of funds for the major Catholic services provider comes from local, state and federal taxes.
Predictably, the church’s lobbyists complained the bill applies only to private institutions and not to public. The Constitution divides private and public, and states have always treated the two as separate.
Here is what the citizens of Maryland need to understand: If the conference really cared about children, it would introduce a bill to apply the same principles in HB858 to public entities. I support such reform. But its goal in talking about equal treatment is to kill the bill, not to aid all children.
Finally, church lobbyists argue that reopening the statutes of limitations is unfair, because evidence gets stale and witnesses die. Those deficiencies undermine the victims’ cases. It only removes the bar to a lawsuit. It does not alter the burden of proof.
Nor does the church take responsibility for the fact that the statute of limitations ran out because it did not call police when it knew priests committed crimes.
We are all complicit in the national silent epidemic of childhood sexual abuse by legally protecting predators and endangering children. Maryland leaders failed to make this state a safer place for our children.
While the men of the Catholic hierarchy and their lobbyists toast one another for eviscerating HB858, Maryland parents will never learn about 90 percent of the predators in their midst, and incest survivors can only wonder how propaganda could push their interests off the table.
Marci Hamilton is a visiting professor at Princeton University and the author of “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect
Its Children” (Cambridge 2008). She can be reached at hamilton02@aol.com
Examiner
http://kob.com/article/stories/S631723.shtml?cat=504
A man convicted of posing as a child psychologist and molesting a child at an Albuquerque guidance clinic will probably spend the rest of his life in prison.
During Friday morning’s sentencing of 58-year-old Louis Deprano, a judge imposed the maximum sentence – 66 years.
“This man will never hit the streets of the United States of America again so he can never prey upon another child,” said Brett Loveless, the prosecuting attorney.
Deprano was charged with 64 counts including battery, criminal sexual contact with a minor and working without a license.
Deprano will have to serve 25 years behind bars before he will be eligible for parole.
Before coming to New Mexico, Deprano had served two years in a Colorado prison for posing as a doctor.
October 26, 2008
People of Postville see a complicated picture
By MIKE KILEN
mkilen@dmreg.com
Postville, Ia. — Imagine this is your hometown, population 2,320, in the middle of hilly Iowa farm country.
Walk down the street and it might appear exciting at first.
African natives wear colorful robes, and Hasidic Jews white ones. African-Americans from southern U.S. cities hang out open second-story windows on Main Street. Pacific Islanders chew and spit a concoction - beetle nut and tobacco wrapped in leaves - popular in their tiny island country of Palau. Among them are Guatemalan women who wear ankle bracelets because they were arrested in The Raid.
All mingle near a massage parlor where a real estate agent's office once stood.
Perhaps no small town in Iowa, or even in America, has faced a social upheaval as drastic as that of Postville.
For the last 20 years, one business has created an ever-shifting population and changed the dynamics of a largely white, northeast Iowa farm town.
After federal agents rounded up 389 illegal immigrants at Agriprocessors in May, a controversial summer led to a fall of new, louder dissatisfaction. One researcher says the town has become "a slaughterhouse slum."
Yet when you talk to longtime residents, you find some who voice opposing views based on the hard reality of economics.
"This town would be in a world of hurt if that plant closed," said Jeff Mott, owner of the local hardware store.
Others have simply had enough.
"I was for Agriprocessors when they came here," said Fred Comeau, owner of the Brick Pizza & Eatery. "Today, I would help them pack. They have destroyed Postville."
How 'picturesque town' changed over 20 years
Longtime residents quietly grumbled when Hasidic Jews moved to Postville and opened Agriprocessors, the kosher meat processing plant, in 1987. After an Iowa author wrote a book on a simmering dissent in 2000 among locals, Jewish owners and immigrant plant workers, a quiet acceptance was advanced, at least on the surface.
Immigrants from more than 20 counties were said to be settling in and raising children as the town's population became a quarter minority by 2000. People learned each other's ways. A multicultural center was opened in 2003. English classes were liberally offered. The radio station offered Hispanic programming. The Lutheran church erected a menorah. A diversity council was formed. A new slogan, "Hometown for the World," was promoted.
But today, newly recruited plant workers - the poor from the south, Pacific Islanders from halfway around the world, and natives of Sudan and Somalia -are packing 10-deep into rental homes. Some workers say they are only here for a few extra bucks and will soon head home. The city hired three new part-time cops to face new worries of crime. New housing ordinances are under consideration by city officials. And new groups of people come and go every week, creating an uneasy tension that is palpable on the street.
"When I first went to Postville in the early 1990s, it was a bucolic town in the most picturesque part of Iowa," said Stephen Bloom, author of the book "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America."
"The town has become ruined," Bloom said. "It has become a slaughterhouse slum. Postville has become a way station and revolving door of the latest new immigrants who can get away with working legally and illegally."
Company officials say Agriprocessors has helped regional farmers market their product, added retail business to the town and ushered in prosperity. Researchers who write about the social turmoil have an agenda, says company spokesman Chaim Abrahams.
"The lifestyle didn't change much from what I hear," said Abrahams, who moved to Postville from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Some residents say otherwise.
Personal connections are the key, townspeople say
Rodney Livingood has been a Postville barber for 48 years.
"Postville was the town a long time ago," he said. "It was a clean town with German descendants. Now you walk past the houses - I haven't been in them, but the curtains are torn down, the storm doors are open and people walk out and spit. They don't have the means to live like we do. Everybody wants to go back the way it was."
Long ago, there was a German-language newspaper. But as decades passed, most descendants had similar backgrounds.
Carol Lange graduated from high school here in 1966 before living in cities across the United States. She returned to take care of her elderly mother in 2003.
"Back then you had a feeling that everyone was connected," she said. "Unless the new transients can build community, it's going to be a revolving door until they run out of resources and go home."
Lange saw it happen once.
"The Guatemalans settled here and were religious people who raised families. They had a parade down the street on the Feast of Gaudalupe, and it was wonderful," she said. "So it's not the people, it's the camaraderie. It's what makes Mayberry Mayberry."
Many residents want to be clear: Much of the reason they haven't spoken out over the years is they didn't want to be labeled bigots. They have no problem with workers of whatever racial or ethnic background, just with the company.
Agriprocessors management has been accused by the government of mistreating a work force largely of illegal immigrants. The Iowa attorney general's office has charged Agriprocessors owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin; his son, Sholom Rubashkin; and three other company employees with 9,311 child labor law violations.
Other court filings suggest that managers at the kosher meat-processing plant may have violated overtime and record-keeping provisions of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.
A Des Moines Register report in September found 14 percent of rental properties in town were owned by two companies associated with Agriprocessors - and many are rented to new recruited workers.
"People are fed up. They need to stand up," said Jeff Abbass, who works at a Postville radio station and is urging people to show support for a new housing ordinance being drafted by city officials that places restrictions on rental homes.
Merle Turner, a retired teacher, has been teaching English to immigrants in Postville since the 1990s. She couldn't turn away people such as the young child who knocked on her door and begged her to teach her Ukrainian father English. "Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Guatemala and Mexico, Bangladesh and Belarus. I can't even remember them all."
When asked if Postville is better off from this lesson in diversity, she hesitates.
"I think I am better for each individual," she said. "My husband always wanted to travel, and we couldn't. So we'd bring other countries right here to our kitchen table. You get a better understanding of people in the world, and you get to understand yourself better when you see what other people believe."
What needs to happen now is what has happened before, she said. Bring people together, sit around a table and learn about each other's ways. After all, when the Jewish community moved to Postville years ago, they didn't consistently mow their yards. Gradually, they learned it was important to people here, and complied.
Anger over 'despair' and 'uneasy' feeling
Some Postville residents remain angry that the company and its owners haven't faced more punishment. Yet that emotion is tempered by the fact that the plant is the town's major employer and is partly responsible for one of the highest percentages of growth of any Iowa town from 1990 to 2000 - 54 percent.
"Ask them what business was like 20 years ago," Abrahams said.
When asked, Sharon Drahn, editor of the Postville Herald-Leader, said: "I'm sick and tired of hearing people say they were the savior and took us from the depths of despair. Those were tough times no matter where you were."
Many are also sad that a town that took this long to reach a point of stability is unsettled again. Among the problems: Lines grow long at the food bank, where the 30 families served have turned into 150. On one recent day, there was still a line at 5 p.m., four hours after the food bank opened.
"It's like starting over again," said Darcy Radloff, the city clerk. "Dealing with a transient population is a struggle.
"But as far as private business, the city has no control over them. Our interest is the citizens, their safety and well-being."
Mark Grey, a University of Northern Iowa professor and director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration, is writing a book about Postville and 20 years of transformation.
"I don't know anyone who says this works now," Grey said. "You bring in people with no ties to the community who realize they are not going to be here for the long term. So you have this sense it's a very uneven place. It really feels uneasy."
Workers keep arriving; will they stay long?
Yet people travel halfway around the world to work here.
Among Postville's population are people such as Lyubov Tavyanskaya, who moved to town from Ukraine about10 years ago, learned the English language, and worked at Agriprocessors.
"You don't know why people come to America?" she asked. "For a better life and job."
She packaged chickens for two years, then went on to work in a nursing home, earned her certified medical assistant degree and now is looking for hospital work.
Two months ago she earned her citizenship. Local friends threw her a party last week at the multicultural center.
"It's a little bit different now," she said. "American people don't like changes. They're afraid. They're afraid they will make some crimes. I think we need to move someplace else, too, but not because of the people. Because there's not too much jobs around. Not everyone can work in the plant."
On a street corner near the high school, a large two-story home holds 10 workers with a day off from Agriprocessors. They recently arrived from Palau Islands, near Guam in the Pacific. They are legal workers because of an agreement between the countries.
"I came from seven miles north of the equator," said Ding Ngotel. "When I got here a month ago it was 60 degrees. That's cold."
He said he was surprised there were so few white people in town.
"There are more than 100 of us Palauans here," he said. "We don't have a car. We watch TV and play games. For me, I'm not staying a long time. Maybe a year or year and a half. Save and go back and start a business or something. Back home, we only make $2.50 an hour. Here, it's $10. Money is not all of it. I just wanted to get out and experience life."
Like Ngotel, most are in their 20s, and a third are women, he said.
"I'm not staying long," said Rolinda William, 29, spitting beetle nut and tobacco juice off the porch. "I'm not staying for the snow."
Next to the house, people drift into the multicultural center. Two or three a week ask Abbass, whose radio station is next door, for a ride or money to leave town.
This stew of humanity is cooking in new flavors daily, such as Muslims from Sudan packing chickens in a Jewish kosher plant.
"A nuclear bomb has gone off there in terms of immigration issues," said Bloom. "It's a social laboratory for what can go wrong."
Q: How did you get the idea for the book?
A: The idea for the book came after a class I was giving. One of the participants was a man called Sam Jaffe.
He said the ideas in one of the teachings inspired him and helped him start his own business and that I should write a book. Sam used to write for The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. I said I would do it if he would partner with me on the book.
Q: What was that teaching?
A: It was about how to overcome fear.
If one is going to start something new, they have to leave something behind. There is a fear of the unknown. The first step is to overcome fear.
Q: What are some of the other lessons in the Torah that can be applied to business?
A: Every single lesson in the Torah applies to business. I could have written a whole compendium, a 13-volume set.
But I had to pick the most relevant and best. First is fear. Next is finding your authentic will, your niche, that thing you are really meant to do.
You also have to learn the right way to think about money. A lot of people have guilt about making money, and there's no reason for it.
Q: You use the phrase "spiritual entrepreneurship." What is it, and how is it helpful?
A: Spiritual entrepreneurship is the concept of making money and elevating the money- making process by having the intent to do good things with that money. I need to make money because I realize the value of money to achieve the greater good.
Spiritual entrepreneurship can get rid of the guilt over making money by doing good.
Q: What are your thoughts on the financial crisis?
A: The financial crisis came about because a lot of people were doing things beyond their capabilities. These were very difficult-to-understand derivatives. You had people getting involved in investments they didn't understand.
We define ego in the book very differently than in popular culture. A humble person is realistic about who they are and their ability in life. An egoist is a person who has overestimated his ability.
That's what we have here — people overestimating their capabilities.
Warren Buffett won't get involved in tech stocks because he can't get a handle on it. He's not overestimating what he understands. He stays away from it.
Q: What is the solution to the financial crisis?
A: The question is whether regulation is a good or a bad thing. Judaism is all about regulating one's life.
America has gotten to that stage. Now we've come to where we're begging for (regulation). We need oversight.
This is not just about Wall Street's greed. What about the average people who bought a house they couldn't afford and lied on their applications? This is not Wall Street's greed. This is America's greed.
It's overconfidence in themselves. It's a lack of discipline and humility.
The reason I needed Sam for this book is because my competency level was exhausted. I'm a religious person. Sam brought the business expertise.
Edited for length and clarity by Margaret Jackson.
The statute of limitations must be eliminated when a child is sexually abused. The legislature as currently constituted leaves no recourse for so many survivors and that is an absolute travesty.
===================================
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=99437
Doctor delays molestation hearing
By Michelle Durand
A court conference scheduled today for the former child psychiatrist accused of molesting young male patients will be delayed but the District Attorney’s Office is confident the postponement won’t similarly derail the doctor’s jury trial in January.
Dr. William Hamilton Ayres, 76, is currently set for a pretrial conference this afternoon but his defense attorney Doron Weinberg has alerted the District Attorney’s Office he will be unable to make it do to illness. The conference is typically a hearing at which a defendant either accepts a plea deal or confirms an upcoming trial date so its postponement doesn’t necessarily push back any other scheduled appearances. Ayres’ is on the calendar for jury trial Jan. 5 and there is no indication it will change, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
The news is welcome to those closely watching the criminal proceedings and who have expressed frustration at its numerous stops and starts since Ayres’ arrest.
Ayres was a prominent San Mateo child psychiatrist who garnered national recognition for his controversial sex-education program and treated dozens of minors referred by schools and the justice system. He is charged with abusing seven former patients under the guise of medical examinations although the prosecution argues there are many more outside the statute of limitations. Ayres, who already settled one civil suit by a former patient not included in the criminal case, has pleaded not guilty.
Ayres was arrested in April 2007 and has been essentially free from custody on varying amounts of bail since. He is charged with 20 felonies stemming from seven alleged victims between 1991 and 1996. Dozens more made allegations but fell outside the statute of limitations.
Accusations against Ayres have swirled since a former patient accused him of child abuse in 2003. Ayres settled the case in 2005 for an undisclosed sum and he was never charged criminally until a March 2006 search of his home and storage locker turned up hundreds of patient files. From those documents, authorities found three alleged victims which were within the statute of limitations. The following publicity brought out another approximately 27 to 29 other victims, four of which also fell within the statute.
Ayres’ practice included private clients and referrals from both the juvenile justice system and school districts. He also became known as president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and for hosting the sex education series “Time of Your Life.” Ayres received juvenile court referrals up through 2004. San Mateo police first began looking at Ayres in 2002 after a former patient accused him of molestation during the 1970s when he was 13. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the statute of limitations nixed criminal prosecution, the victim and Ayres reached a confidential settlement in July 2005. In a deposition for the lawsuit, Ayres reportedly admitted conducting physical exams of patients as part of his care.
Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.
Published on National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline3.org/drupal)
Litigating clergy sex abuse
By Dennis Coday
Created 10/22/2008 - 17:28
Reviewed by DARRELL TURNER
Publication date:
October 22, 2008
Section:
I. Book Reviews
HOLDING BISHOPS ACCOUNTABLE: HOW LAWSUITS HELPED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CONFRONT CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE
By Timothy D. Lytton
Harvard University Press, 286 pages, $35
JUSTICE DENIED: WHAT AMERICA MUST DO TO PROTECT ITS CHILDREN
By Marci A. Hamilton
Cambridge University Press, 160 pages, $22
SACRILEGE: SEXUAL ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
By Leon J. Podles
Crossland Press, 675 pages, $22.95
One of the missions of the church is to bring light to the world, but sometimes things work out the other way. This is demonstrated by three recently published books that show how the civil justice system has helped to expose the dark secrets of clergy sexual abuse in the last quarter-century.
Timothy D. Lytton, a professor at Albany School of Law, demonstrates the role of litigation in policymaking in church and society in Holding Bishops Accountable: How Lawsuits Helped the Catholic Church Confront Clergy Sexual Abuse. His book is the most nuanced of the three under consideration here and is careful not to reach conclusions that aren’t supported by the evidence he provides. While declaring that litigation made it possible for abuse victims “to hold publicly accountable one of the largest, richest and most powerful institutions in America,” he refrains from claiming that lawsuits reduced the rate of clergy sexual abuse and also highlights the role of other forces, such as the media.
Professor Lytton shows how litigation helped to open the secret archives of several dioceses that documented the suffering of hundreds of abuse victims, exposed these sins to the light of day, and pressured both the church and law enforcement officials to take allegations of clergy sexual abuse seriously. He quotes Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., as having said the case of Louisiana priest Gilbert Gauthe in the 1980s gave prelates a deeper appreciation of the harm experienced by victims and put them on notice that if they didn’t do something effective to protect the community against priestly predators, “you were opening yourself up to major liability.”
Although the U.S. bishops adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward clergy sexual abuse in 2002, Professor Lytton says litigation continues to perform a role in exposing noncompliance with the policy in several dioceses. “While it will take a lot more than lawsuits to fix this problem, litigation has been a good start,” he writes.
One way to make litigation more effective would be to reduce or eliminate the statute of limitations for civil cases involving child sexual abuse. This reform is championed by Marci A. Hamilton, professor of public law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. She has testified before several state legislatures on behalf of such changes, which would acknowledge that it frequently takes several decades for child abuse victims to understand, acknowledge and go public with their experiences.
Professor Hamilton helped to persuade the Delaware Legislature to adopt a retroactive abolition of the civil statute of limitations in 2007 and issues a clarion call for such moves in Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children. Unfortunately, the book’s tone is more like that of a talk-show host than what one might expect from a law professor and often makes sweeping generalizations unaccompanied by supporting evidence.
Professor Hamilton portrays opponents of her stance as defending abusers rather than children, presumes guilt before trial in saying that defense attorneys “represent those who have committed the crime or the tort” and charges that the American Civil Liberties Union’s “focus on old-fashioned civil liberties” tends to make it sympathetic to perpetrators’ interest in shorter statutes of limitations. She goes over the top in charging that “the United States has structured itself to date in a way that subverts the interests of children.”
Such rhetoric is unfortunate in a book that has a legitimate argument to make and that demonstrates the unfortunate fact that “the major player trying to block such reform to date is the Roman Catholic hierarchy.”
Leon J. Podles, a former federal investigator, advocates abolition of the civil statute of limitations and other reforms in the civil justice system and the church in his massive book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. His carefully documented work shows how both conservative views of the elevated, protected role of the clergy and liberal advocacy of sexual expression, including relations between adults and children, helped to create an atmosphere in which abuse could continue without any effective challenges.
Dr. Podles draws on psychological studies that suggest that pedophiles feel a need to control other people because they are not in control of themselves. For this reason, a priest who rapes minors “does not feel he is doing anything wrong because he is the victim and he is angry -- at God, the world, society -- for having made him different.”
The author also discusses obstacles to dealing with such men by a process under which a priest could make appeals to Rome for years -- which may have led some bishops to believe that pursuing such matters wasn’t worth the time and effort -- and an atmosphere in many parishes in which families who complained about priestly predators have been viciously denounced by supporters of “Father Joe.”
While lamenting the repeated lies of both priests and bishops about abuse cases and the look-the-other-way attitude of Pope John Paul II, Dr. Podles finds hope in Pope Benedict XVI’s measures to speed up the trials of accused abusers when he was a cardinal and in taking action against Br. Gino Burresi, founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ. The author writes that Benedict lets all know that “no one is immune from discipline, not even the founders of successful religious orders.”
One regrettable feature of Dr. Podles’ book is his detailed descriptions of abuse cases in quasi-pornographic detail in the first nine chapters. He defends this as a way of demonstrating the suffering of the victims and the need for strong measures for abusers, but this seems questionable. One need not describe various methods of torture in gory detail to make a case for its abolition.
Despite the horrific nature of clergy sexual abuse described in his book and the other two discussed here, Dr. Podles explains how he can remain a Catholic. Any religion can become corrupt, he says. “Attacking sexual abuse is not attacking the Catholic church, but is seeking to hold it to its own standards of justice and mercy and love.”
Darrell Turner is a frequent reviewer for NCR and writes the annual religion section for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
National Catholic Reporter October 3, 2008
The only book mentioned above that I haven't read is Lytton's " HOLDING BISHOPS ACCOUNTABLE: HOW LAWSUITS HELPED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CONFRONT CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE."
I would certainly recommend, without reservation, both of the other two.
I agree with Professor Marci Hamilton when she says that removing statutes of limitation regarding the sexual abuse of children is the single, most effective way to hold sexual predators accountable along with any enabling individuals or institutions.
In Delaware we were successful in removing ALL criminal and civil statutes of limitation in regard to the sexual abuse of children AND we have a two year civil window open for previously time barred cases of abuse.
ALL STATES IN THE UNITED STATES SHOULD REMOVE CRIMINAL AND CIVIL STATUTES OF LIMITATION IN REGARD TO THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN AND THE INSTITUTIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SHOULD BE LEADING THE PARADE IN SUCH A MOVEMENT.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victims' Advocate
New Castle, Delaware
maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24515920-661,00.html
Fleeing Jewish school teacher jailed in US
A SECOND case has emerged of a teacher at a Jewish school fleeing Australia after allegations of inappropriate behaviour with students.
David Kramer - a former teacher at Yeshiva College in Caulfield - was jailed in July for seven years in St Louis, Missouri, US, after pleading guilty to two counts of child molestation.
Allegations were made in the 1990s that Kramer, now 47, had abused boys while teaching at Yeshiva.
He is understood to have been dismissed by the school and is claimed to have been asked to leave the country. The alleged incidents were not reported to the police.
Vicki Polin, of the US-based International Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault, said she had been contacted by several former pupils and parents of the school.
"I have been told that Kramer abused over 30 boys in his time at Yeshiva," Ms Polin said.
She said when parents complained to the school, Yeshiva Centre head, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner - who died in July - told Kramer to leave.
"He paid for him to leave - he gave him a ticket," Ms Polin said.
Yeshiva College general manager Nechama Bendet confirmed the school employed Kramer in June 1989, but could not find records of when he left.
"We have robust policies in place to deal with these allegations," she said. "We take it very seriously."
In March, Malka Leifer, principal of Adass Israel Girls School in Elsternwick, fled Australia after being sacked over allegations of improper behaviour with girls in her care.
Plain and simple, same-sex marriage violates halachah
by rabbi avi shafran
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/36355/format/html/displaystory.html
Is there anything wrong when we advertise on shabbos?
http://www.dancinginthedarkness.com/
Welcome to "Dancing In The Darkness", an informative and thought-provoking resource for rape, sexual assault, incest, and sexual abuse survivors. As author of this website, I myself am a survivor of rape and I dedicate Dancing in the Darkness to the thousands of other rape and sexual abuse survivors around the world. It doesn't matter if you are a survivor of date rape, stranger rape, marital rape, incest, sexual abuse, or molestation. You are all welcome here.
If you are a survivor of any kind of rape or sexual abuse, I hope you will visit this site and take comfort in it. It is my goal to offer help and support for survivors, their friends, and loved ones.
Dancing in the Darkness website serves as a safe haven for rape and sexual abuse survivors to share their thoughts and fears as well as words of hope and courage for others like them.
I have shared my story within this site, many other rape and sexual abuse survivors have shared their stories here, and I hope that you will feel safe enough to share your story too. If you wish to talk with other survivors, you are also welcome to join our affiliated message board and chat room, After Silence. I can promise you that you will be heard and supported.
After Silence, online support group, message board, and chat room for rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse survivors.
Join the After Silence support forums and chat room to heal from rape and sexual abuse. You are not alone!
I'm not a therapist. I don't have any specialized training or qualification. I don't have answers or solutions. My knowledge is simply based on my own experiences and can be different from yours in many ways but I believe all rape and sexual abuse survivors are emotionally bonded together. We all went through a traumatic violation of the mind, body and spirit -- and, most importantly, we survived.
Please remember that rape is NEVER your fault. Being forced to have sex, even if you know the person, is rape and it is a crime punishable by law. Rape and sexual abuse survivors don't have to suffer alone or hide their feelings. Your cries and voices need to be heard -- by breaking the silence you can bring an end to abuse. You are a victim no more.
I wish you the very best of luck in your healing journey.
Please stay safe while visiting this site as there are parts that may be triggering and emotionally charged for rape and sexual abuse survivors.
If you need help NOW, call these hotlines for survivors, including RAINN - The Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.
If you are the loved one of someone who has been sexually abused, I sincerely hope you will find this site to be useful in gaining insight on supporting and better understanding sexual violence.
You can contact me at vera@dancinginthedarkness.com
In The Time It Takes To Read This Page, Another Woman Will Be Raped.
"Rape really is a way of killing a person, but then asking them to get up afterwards. So it's a way of stealing one's spirit, but you're supposed to somehow keep going." (Salamishah Tillet)
U.S. Marshals arrest suspected child molester
by Lily Leung - Oct. 26, 2008 04:49 PM
The Arizona Republic
A U.S. Marshals' task force arrested a suspected child molester Friday who was on the run from police for nearly 20 years.
Clinton Jones was captured in Detroit after he fled the Phoenix area in 1989, said Deputy Matt Hershey, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman.
Jones, 56, is accused of sexual misconduct with a minor numerous times from 1988 to 1989 and had a warrant issued by the Maricopa County Superior Court for his arrest.
Members of the Child Predator Apprehension Team, a U.S. Marshals-led task force, made the arrest. The group partnered with Phoenix police to find Jones, who was working at an automobile plant.
I am against having yehuda nussbaum or any other child molester sent to prison due to them being beaten to death by other inmates.
--------------------------------
Green suffered severe head trauma when beaten in a bathroom in the C Yard, 7 building. He was transported to Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe and then moved to the critical care unit at a UC San Diego hospital, where he remained unresponsive.
Green's family made the decision to take him off life-support systems several days later.
Orlando told jurors at the outset that many offenses are accepted by the general prison population, but convicted child molesters are "in trouble."
Full Article:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=6459075
Molester's tongue tip bitten off
Saturday, October 18, 2008
The China Post news staff
CHIAYI, Taiwan -- A molester shouldn't try to kiss his victim.
It's dangerous to do so, and a molester at Chiayi regretted yesterday he tried.
Chiayi police said they arrested the suspect, identified only as Lee, six hours after he had tried.
Lee tailed a girl in suburban Chiayi shortly after 5 a.m., investigators said.
"He was riding a motorbike," a Chiayi police sergeant said. "When he nearly cornered her at a crossroads," he added, "he got off and grabbed her." The identity of the girl was withheld.
But Lee tried to kiss her first.
She fought back. And she was lucky. A car happened to pass by.
"The grip on her slackened, as Lee's attention was diverted by the oncoming car," the police sergeant said. She bit Lee's tongue.
It turned out to be a truly sharp bite. A two-centimeter-long tongue tip was bitten off. Lee, with his mouth bloodied, had to beat a retreat.
After Lee sped away on his motorcycle, the girl was able to spit out the tip of the tongue into her hand and then reported the case to Chiayi police.
She had the tongue tip kept in a fridge at the police sub-station, where she told the sergeant on duty her story. "We searched every nearby hospital," said the police sergeant. It was shortly after noon when Lee was found at a Zhuqi hospital, more than 12 miles away.
He was taken to the Chiayi Christian Hospital, where doctors were able to stitch the tip of the tongue back. Doctors said Lee is all right, except that he could not be questioned. "Well," a surgeon in charge said, "the patient can't answer questions. He can't speak."
ADL Condemns "Ugly, Divisive" E-Mail Message Sent To Jewish Voters In Pennsylvania
New York, NY, October 27, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned an e-mail message sent to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, reportedly paid for by the "Republican Federal Committee of PA – Victory 2008."
The e-mail suggested that a vote for Barack Obama would be a "tragic mistake," and "Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision," adding that "many of our ancestors ignored similar warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s."
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, issued the following statement from Poland, where he is traveling with an Israel Defense Force delegation visiting Auschwitz and other historical sites associated with the Holocaust:
Ugly, divisive personal attacks against a candidate for any political office should never be acceptable, and using Holocaust analogies is completely beyond the pale.
Regardless of which candidate one supports, it is shocking and profoundly distressing that anyone would see fit to make such an odious, false and repugnant analogy. Not only does it further debase the level of our political discourse, but it also diminishes and trivializes the virulent anti-Semitism and Nazi aggression that led to the slaughter of six million Jews and millions of others.
We hope that the signatories of this letter and those responsible for its dissemination will repudiate its message and apologize to both the candidate and the Jewish community.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ADL neither supports nor opposes any candidate for political office.
Read more online on our web site at http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/5379_52
Posted on Tue, Oct. 28, 2008
SNAP urges Bishop Braxton to drop appeal of sex abuse case
Appellate court ruled against diocese
BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat
--
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Monday delivered a letter to Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton asking him to drop an appeal aimed at throwing out a 1984 abuse case brought by an O'Fallon man's case.
"Just six months ago, during his U.S. visit, the pope told bishops and Catholics to 'do everything possible' to help victims of pedophile priests heal," David Clohessy, national director of SNAP wrote to Braxton. "Do you think he meant forcing victims like Chris Amenn to wait years and years for healing, justice and closure?"
A reporter who visited Braxton's office Monday seeking a response was told by a secretary that he was not available.
Amenn, who handed the letter to a Braxton staff member, filed a lawsuit against the Belleville Diocese in 2003 stating he was molested as a youth by a priest, the Rev. Kenneth Roberts. The diocese countered that the case should be thrown out because the abuse is alleged to have happened in 1984, when Amenn was 14 years old, and the statute of limitations has run out. In March, the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon ruled in a 2-1 decision that the case could go forward.
Braxton appealed the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court, which has not yet announced whether it will hear the case.
"If he thinks Roberts is innocent, why would the bishop appeal the ruling?" Clohessy asked of the appellate court decision. "Argue the merit of the case, not technicalities."
Amenn, who is now a St. Louis firefighter, said it is important to him to fight on to make sure the case is eventually heard, no matter how long it takes.
"This is bigger than me now," Amenn said. "This is about protecting innocent people who can't speak for themselves. I hope the Supreme Court hears this case and upholds the appellate court's decision."
Braxton told members of the Belleville Diocese in a letter earlier this year that the decision was made to fight cases like Amenn's because the church could not afford to pay the multimillion judgments that have been awarded in similar cases across the country.
Anne Harter, of the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity, said that argument isn't logical because the church is spending tens of thousands of dollars meant for programs to help the sick and the poor on legal fees to defend itself.
"What nerve they have to whine about the ministries not having enough funds," Harter said.
Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or 239-2626.
http://theawarenesscenter.org/costofabuse.html
Sometimes, people don't realize the degree of harm that is caused when a person is sexually/emotionally exploited by a "trusted helping professional" (mental health, medical, clergy, law enforcement, teacher, coach, etc.). Time after time, in news articles, the focus is on the professional's "misconduct". This abuse isn't just a theoretical ethical "no no". There's another side to each of these "professional misconduct" stories which is usually glossed over... the victim's story. Victims pay a tremendous price for this abuse, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, socially, sexually, physically, and financially. It's no wonder that an increasing number of States are criminalizing this abuse, as a serious felony offense and professional codes of ethics prohibit this abuse. This is NOT a victimless crime. When you encounter these stories of abuse, ask yourself a question: "What about the victim?"
The Question:
Having been sexually/emotionally exploited by a helping professional, what has been the 'cost' of this abuse? What has it taken from you?
The Answers:
1. Words are insufficient to explain the cost of this exploitation on my life-and to my family, friends, subsequent therapy, etc. I try to write this over and over and I cannot find the words that convey my sorrow, grief, betrayal, anger, etc.
2. I lost my identity. My sense of who I am was shattered.
3. I lost all hope of recovering from childhood sexual abuse.
4. I lost any hope that safety exists anywhere on this earth.
5. I lost my connections to important people in my life- due to the extreme isolation.
6. I lost the few good feelings I had about my body.
7. I lost 99.9% of everything meaningful in life: trust, faith, value systems, 2 babies' lives, motherhood, family, friends, career, and a nearly successful attempt on my own life
8. The abuse was a re-enactment of childhood abuse and It re-traumatized me to the core.
9. He/She took my dignity and self-respect.
10. He also took my ability to be physically close to and sexually intimate with my husband and my ability to go to synagogue without feeling sick to my stomach.
11. I can honestly say that although sex was a regular part of my experience, 90% of the damage came from the long term emotional and verbal abuse.
12. He/She has taken from me my trust in male doctors.
13. He/She took my innocence, my love, and almost my soul.
14. He/She has taken my peaceful nights of sleep - I still wake up with nightmares, and in tears.
15. He/She did not take my integrity, my fire, or my spirit -- but if he would have been able to keep exploiting me, I'm sure he would have sucked every ounce of self respect out of my being. And called it love.
16. Flashbacks awake... Nightmares asleep...He took away my definition of who I am.
17. He/She ROBBED me of my courage, my trust in others, confidence in my own judgment and past healing by re-enacting the prior abuse.
18. Sex was the weapon or means used to abuse us emotionally and spiritually.
19. This abuse has cost me my friends and my family who just don't understand.
20. His/Her abuse has cost me my freedom, my rights, my privileges, my trust in others and the mental health profession; and my freedom to be who I am.
21. It cost me valuable years of my life, when I felt incapacitated to enjoy life or to be a vital member of a family consisting of members who needed me.
22. It cost me the sense of being capable of protecting myself, of solving problems for myself. I realized I was unable to know soon enough what was profoundly dangerous to me, nor did the experience teach me how to do that other than by withdrawing from the world.
23. It cost me my sense of who I was, of well-being, and hopes and dreams for the future.
24. The experience placed me outside cultural expectations, leaving me with feelings of profound confusion. At the same time it separated me from important others as it was an experience beyond what those near and dear to me could comprehend.
25. He/She stole away my faith that there is good in the world. I don't know who I can trust any more, now that I've learned that the people I am "supposed" to trust CANNOT be trusted.
26. I've lost my synagogue, all of my friends, all of my support at a time when I needed them the most. I have to deal with this violation alone.
27. He/She stole from me my faith in the office of rabbi, and the failure of the movement's leadership, also rabbis, to respond in a just and healing way has destroyed my faith in my chosen religion and very nearly my faith in God.
28. I've lost my ability to do the work I loved.
29. I've lost the ability to take care of my house and yard; I'm not a good 'mother' to my cats anymore.
30. I've lost all the waking hours from every day in my attempts to achieve justice and to heal; I've lost all the sleeping hours from every night to nightmares.
31. I've lost my energy and motivation for life.
32. I lose many many thousands of dollars every year in lost income and in healing expenses.
33. The very foundations of all I held dear and sacred were undermined. The very principles I had grounded my life on were ripped out from under me, hurling me into dark chaos.
34. I lost my synagogue, my friends, my support network, my ability to trust, my faith, and my sense of who I was.
35. I was injured to the core, at every level of my being. It nearly cost me my physical life as well. I am determined to reclaim my life, and raise good out of the ashes of evil.
36. My mind shattered, and picking up the pieces and putting them back together may take a lifetime.
37. He/She stole my personhood, and never gave it back. I thought I was going to be healed, but instead I was wounded almost to death. I ended up in the hospital despairing of life again and again.
38. It made me realise the difference between synagogue and God! I lost synagogue, but not God. I lost trust in Torah. It hurt to my very core. I feel bruised, discarded, ignored, violated, angry. I lost, but also gained . . . my soul, my God.
39. It is now terrifying to ask for help from any mental health professional. I have to go to the profession that devestated me for help. It is an impossible double-bind.
40. I lost the joy in my life, my ability to trust myself and others, faith in God, my inner strength, respect for the synagogue, my identity.
41. I lost belief in myself. I told myself that I could handle him/her, that I could stay out of danger, but I couldn't. I lost my self-determination and personal feelings of power.
42. I have lost my sense of relationship with God and other Jews. For most of my life, God was my Source of strength, courage and unconditional acceptance. Because the abuse was from someone who represented God to me, my feelings of shame and betrayal have separated me from this Source. And so many "Jews" don't or can't understand...
43. It has cost me trust. I has made me wear a frown on my face and have a suspicious look in my eye.
44. It has cost me my innocence, my ability to think wonderful of life.
45. It has cost me myself. Who am I? I don't know. The "me" has been lost. Never to be seen or heard from again. Just plain gone. Now, I just "be" what everyone else wants me to be.....whatever, whomever that is.
46. It has cost me my marriage, my family, my financial security, my trust in others, my sense of safety in the world, my sense of Self, my ability to feel joy, my desire to truly live.
47. Most importantly, the abuse by my therapist has caused me to lose my belief in the God that I had always embraced, faith in something bigger than myself, hope that there will be more beyond this life. The man who was supposed to care for me has robbed me of my life and I am left with a hole where my heart once was.
48. It has cost me and still costs me the joy in my life. I still harbor hopes that he truly loved me and that someday it will all work out.
49. It cost me the ability to think and trust my own rationality, my own intuition. He/She always said my intuition about his feelings for me were right on target... are they? Can I ever trust myself again?
50. * It took the reality out my life and replaced it with false hopes, false images of myself and others. I no longer function with the hope that I can be something different, but rather must accept the trash I have become because of our relationship!
51. It cost me 1) my sense of God as a presence and factor in people's actions, what kind of God did this man profess to follow, 2) my synagogue family, 3) most of my friends, 4) my good name, 5) my self respect, 6) the thought that I have a clue about peoples intentions and motives, 7) the trust of my husband and 8) all faith in fellow Jews in general, 9) the clergy in particular.
52. When I go out now, I almost always encounter at least one person who gives me that "oh you're THAT woman/man" look, and some men/women feel that they now have a right to hit on me because if I would sleep with my rabbi then why not them. So many things about me have changed due to this I don't have the time or enough space to list them all.
53. The cost of abuse: Incalculable. Costs you the tiny bit of self-respect you had, your ability to trust/love anyone, including yourself, your soul. Your minute will to live.
54. He/She shattered me, leaving permanent shards of glass in my psyche.
55. I became spiritually, emotionally, and morally bankrupt. He/She took away my reasons to live. I've had to learn to live my life all over.
56. He/She conspired to discredit me, and his/her brutal abuse ended up costing me the loss of my hospital. He/She is a deviant Registered Nurse, and he continues to provide "services" to female/male patients. What will he/she cost our society?
57. My rabbi discarded me after he took away dignity, my integrity, my sense of spiritual wholeness. He/She left me with pain, terror, nightmares, shame and self-loathing.
58. I feel like I am terminated. I was controlled, and then deleted. If I committed suicide, I would only be finishing the job he/She started.
59. She/He was my coach, my mentor. Because of her/him I have lost my innocence, relationships with the people I love, my goals for the future, my spiritual wholeness, and all ability to be independent. Sh/Hee gained my complete love only to leave me broken and alone.
Ohel founded just such a program a few years ago in Brooklyn. After being approached by DA Charlie Hynes about secrecy in the Orthodox community, a secrecy that ends up protecting pedophiles from prosecution, Ohel took the initiative and created a program to answer the need. Any pedophile from the community brought before a judge is given the choice of entering the Ohel Support Program for Pedophiles, or going to jail. The last I spoke to David Mandel from Ohel about the program, there were 16 pedophiles who had molested thousands between them before entering the program.
Read in full here:
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/offendersarticles.html#Can
quote via vosizneias
http://www.vosizneias.com/20074/2008/09/06/brooklyn-ny-hasidic-man-goes-public-on-radio-show-about-his-torment-of-abuse-fifteen-years-ago-as-a-child-at-the-hands-of-two-community-members/
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The Dov Hikind Show has arranged for a hotline sponsored by Interboro after the show, from 12:00 midnight to 1:00 a.m. Frum therapists are on-call, male and female, for individuals who would like to reach out.
I know about Interboro. I went there when I was sixteen. They sure listened to my tale. They gave me three medicines to curtail my sexual hormones, had me practically lobotomized for over two years until a Shrink at Albert Einstein got me off the meds. And they offered no talk-therapy, just walking in once a month to an office which looked like a Harlem AIDS clinic, — sitting there with several psycho cases, all from the frum community, in the same waiting room, was a horror of an experience in itself — and just getting your brain fucked by a slew of drugs without anybody caring about what you went through. Is there not supposed to be a criteria for treating abuse victims?
It's not just Interboro: A brother of a friend of mine who was raped when he was 14 is now being given Haldol without any therapy whatsoever.
Is it just easier to medicate without dealing with the real issue?
What is an alternative solution? Instead of finger-pointing and court-cases, I think mandatory intensive talk-therapy, upwards of three to four times a week, for many many people from the frum community, is somewhere to start.
This would call for major funding and will not be done because nobody really gives a fuck. Just politicians getting headlines.
I am in no way affiliated with
"The Agudah"
The Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender in Israel
The Agudah (formerly the SPPR) is a volunteer-based non-profit organization
serving the GLBT community in Israel.
The Agudah is the only national GLBT organization in the Middle East.
Goals
To work for the full legal, social and cultural equality of the Israeli GLBT community.
To provide support and social interaction for GLBT persons and enhance a sense of communal cohesion.
To educate the general public and widen the sphere of understanding and pluralism within Israeli society.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a13852/News/New_York.html#
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Alleged Abuse Victims Urge Going To Police
David Framowitz, a founding member of the new group, alleges he was abused by Rabbi Yehuda Kolko of Torah Temimah in Flatbush.
by Hella Winston and Larry Cohler-Esses
Special To The Jewish Week
A group of alleged survivors of sexual abuse from strictly Orthodox backgrounds and victim advocates have joined together to encourage Orthodox victims to seek justice in New York’s secular courts, rather than quietly within their communities.
The new group, Survivors for Justice, will also lobby the state legislature to pass a long-pending bill to extend the statute of limitations on such crimes so that victims can get into court.
The organization, the first of its kind, will work to break an intimidating communal code of silence, said Mark Weiss, one of its founders.
“It’s about time that people start recognizing the destructive effects of people’s fear of being stigmatized for talking about this issue,” said Weiss. “People need to realize that being associated with
[the issue of sexual abuse] creates a stigma only if they allow it to. Fear and intimidation under the guise of upholding the reputation of the Torah should have no place in our midst.”
The group declares that one of its prime aims will be to support individuals who have been victimized as children by adult staff in yeshivas and other Orthodox institutions in going to law enforcement authorities.
Such victims, said co-founder Joel Engelman, “have to deal with all the shame and stigma. There are no visible people out there saying we are here, we went through what you went through, and we’re here to help.” Rabbinic leaders, he added, often apply pressure to keep matters within the community.
Last month Engelman himself came out with his story of alleged sexual molestation at age 8 by Rabbi Avrohom Reichman of United Talmudical Academy, a yeshiva in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, affiliated with the Satmar chasidic sect. (“A Charge Of Double Betrayal In Williamsburg,” Sept. 5) He has filed suit against Rabbi Reichman, UTA and a Satmar summer bungalow colony that also employed the rabbi, charging the institutions were told of the abusive conduct but did nothing.
Weiss, 41, is an alleged survivor of abuse by Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, who was indicted in 1984 on four counts of sodomy and eight counts of sexual abuse in the first degree for allegedly abusing four boys in Brooklyn. Mondrowitz fled to Israel, where he escaped law enforcement until last year, when he was arrested and now awaits a decision on his extradition to the United States.
Another founding member of the group is David Framowitz, 50, who alleges he was molested by Rabbi Yehuda Kolko of Torah Temimah in Flatbush. The group also includes a man who says his son, now 9, was also abused by Rabbi Kolko. Like Rabbi Reichman, Rabbi Kolko now faces civil suits from some of his alleged victims, as do the yeshiva and its principal, Rabbi Lipa Margulies. The plaintiffs charge that the school and its administrators knew of Rabbi Kolko’s conduct but protected him.
Rabbi Kolko was indicted twice by a Brooklyn grand jury on felony sex abuse charges but, in a controversial plea bargain offered to him by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, pleaded guilty last spring to two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
This week, Baruch Sandhaus, 41, another alleged survivor of childhood molestation in a yeshiva, came out for the first time in connection with formation of Survivors for Justice.
Sandhaus, who has been active behind the scenes on this issue for several years, says he is a survivor of molestation by both Rabbis Kolko and Mondrowitz. A civil suit he brought against Torah Temimah as a “John Doe” was recently dismissed due to the statute of limitations.
The group plans to make extending both civil and criminal statutes of limitations for childhood sex abuse one of their main goals.
A bill to extend the statute has passed several times in the state Assembly but has stalled in the Senate, where it is opposed by the Catholic Church and the insurance industry. State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) has voiced concern that it would be difficult to have credible prosecutions of abuse that took place long ago.
Under current law, a victim must bring a civil suit against his molester or against the school he alleges failed to protect him by between one and six years after his 18th birthday, depending on the nature of the allegation. But childhood victims are often unable to process what has happened to them and act on that awareness until decades later, well into their adulthood, according to psychologists.
The pending bill, backed by Survivors for Justice, would extend the statute of limitations for civil suits and criminal prosecutions to the victim’s 28th birthday. It would also open a one-year window during which victims could file civil claims regardless of when their abuse took place.
The pending bill was among the issues highlighted at a press conference at Cardozo Law School on Wednesday focusing on legislative reform to protect children from predators. The event was organized by SNAP, a Roman Catholic group that has fought comparable patterns of sexual abuse by priests — and protection of such priests by fellow clergy and religious institutions.
“There is going to be a price tag which will give the organizations no choice but to cease and desist from their protection of the pedophiles,” said one member of Survivors for Justice, who asked to remain anonymous because of his sensitive role as an advocate in the community. “They simply cannot afford to pay the massive amount in damages and hope to continue operations.”
The idea of establishing Survivors for Justice came about as a result of discussions among survivors and advocates, who have connected with one another through their involvement in this issue.
One of the group’s financial backers is Matt Olim, a co-founder of CDNow.com, one of the first successful global online retailers and now a part of Amazon.com. Olim, a philanthropist, is not from a strictly Orthodox background himself. But he began volunteering several years ago as a math tutor for ultra-Orthodox adults working to obtain their GEDs. Through this work and his own research, Olim said, he “learned about the prevalence of sexual abuse in some of those communities, and how it was systematically covered up.”
Approached by some of his contacts for help, Olim eagerly offered support “in the hopes that it will help give a voice to the survivors and stop the abuse from continuing.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1032853.html
To all women. Dress modestly or you will meet my fist. -----------------------
Police fail to stop Ultra-Orthodox 'modesty patrols'
By Yair Ettinger
The young woman exudes strength and independence. But she bears the sign of a head fracture and scars on her face. One night, a few months ago, men broke into her apartment through the front door. They beat her up and humiliated her, knocking her head against the floor. They threatened to tear gas her if she tried to interfere with their rummaging through her possessions. And they left her bleeding on the floor.
To whom could she go for help? Her family turned its back on her when she chose to divorce her ultra-Orthodox husband; her children were taken away from her; and the neighbors in her building cold shoulder her. Now it transpires that the authorities can't help either. The investigation that began with a great deal of media fuss, has ended in failure. That, of course, took place far from the public eye.
Elhanan Buzaglo is currently being tried in a Jerusalem court. The state prosecution describes him as "a fist for hire" and he is charged with assaulting the complainant, Michal (whose full name is withheld) on June 1 of this year. The other attackers and those believed to have sent them were questioned and released. Details of the investigation that reached Haaretz reveal how it happened that Buzaglo alone faces indictment.
The basic premise
The police believe that an organization known as "the modesty patrols" is responsible for a series of violent attacks over several years, but the authorities have not been able to bring them to justice. This time seemed to be different. The opening of the indictment against Buzaglo states that "the accused acted on behalf of an organization that calls itself The Modesty Patrols and that operates in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Mea She'arim and Geula... Among other things, the organization, in order to achieve its goals, uses threats and violence and commits other violations of the law."
On June 1, Buzaglo and about six other men allegedly broke into the home of Michal, a formerly ultra-Orthodox woman. They brutally assaulted her and questioned her about supposed relationships with married men. The assailants stole two telephones from her home "to check the names of those who call her" and left after threatening to murder her if she did not leave the neighborhood within 72 hours. She now lives in Jerusalem's Ma'alot Dafna neighborhood.
Buzaglo, 29, grew up in an ultra-Orthodox environment. Over the years he has been convicted of a number of offenses. He was arrested in July after his fingerprints were found in Michal's apartment. At first, he refused to talk but later started speaking, but nothing he told his interrogators led to a breakthrough in the investigation.
The police had no difficulty connecting Buzaglo with Binyamin Meirowitz, a Gerrer Hasid who is known in Jerusalem to be connected unofficially with "the committee for the purity of our camp." This is a veteran ultra-Orthodox organization which, in addition to its overt activities on matters of modesty, is said to have been active over the years in "enforcing the law" against pedophiles in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and against ultra-Orthodox men involved in forbidden romantic affairs. Among his other activities, Meirowitz owns the Ne'eman printing press, where Buzaglo worked, posting public notices.
The breakthrough in the investigation came on August 5, when Buzaglo asked to go out into the yard, accompanied by investigator Ronen Mizrahi. He did not speak in the interrogation room for fear of being secretly recorded. He asked about a possible deal and asked to telephone Rabbi Shmuel Zafrani, the secretary of the former chief rabbi, Mordechai Eliahu, to check whether he would be considered as violating din moser (the religious prohibition against revealing information about a Jew to non-Jewish authorities) should he spill the beans.
The investigator noted in a memorandum that Zafrani explained the religious precept to Buzaglo and said that "it was permissible for him to talk about all the people who had carried out offenses of assault and other offenses against other people." After that, Buzaglo was shown photographs of the wounded Michal, and he said: "I did not beat her. It is possible that one of the others kicked her." Later he also mentioned the name of the person who employed him, Meirowitz, as having been present in the apartment, but the information provided was of limited value.
The investigator noted in the memorandum, "Because of a technical fault with the recording equipment, the contents of the investigation were not recorded."
The following day, Buzaglo continued to speak and this time, he specifically mentioned that Meirowitz had initiated the assault. He asked whether he could get the status of state witness in return for incriminating the members of the "patrols." In his memorandum, the investigator wrote that Buzaglo had spoken of "a great number of incidents, between 15 and 20 incidents, in which they had dealt with people. He had received $2,000 for every job. He said he would have to think it over very carefully whether he wanted to make such a deal and if he decided to go ahead with it, he would tell us about all the people and all the cases."
Buzaglo said that another five men were involved in the attack on Michal, including a youth called Cahane "about whom he does not know full details but he can show us the house where they live in Meah She'arim." He later said there were actions that he refused to take upon himself. "According to him, he was involved in dozens of incidents and also knows about other incidents that he was not involved in," the investigator noted, but this time, too, the memorandum ended with the remark that it had not been possible to record Buzaglo.
Nevertheless, in August the police arrested Meirowitz and also summoned Rabbi Yitzhak Safranovich, who heads the committee for the purity of our camp. At the same time, two other youths who the police believed were connected with the "patrols" were arrested.
Neighborhood demonstrations
The arrests and the investigation of the rabbi led to a wave of demonstrations in Mea She'arim and to demands that they be released. Those being held were released within days while tempers cooled, but the police claimed there was no significance to the move, and that the prosecution was planning to submit indictments against all of them. Only now, after the Haaretz investigation, does it transpire that no one other than Buzaglo is going to be indicted, for "lack of evidence."
"It is very strange," says a legal source connected to the case. "We all know what the modesty patrols are, but here they take a Moroccan and place all the blame on him. It is clear that Buzaglo is on the fringe of the fringe in this case."
The Jerusalem District police said in response that "following the assault, a number of suspects were interrogated. The investigation against them was exhausted but when insufficient evidence was found against them in order to bring them to trial, it was decided to submit an indictment against the main suspect." One of the reasons for the failure of the investigation, the police admit, was "a technical fault with the recording device."
Meanwhile Buzaglo has changed his story and found a new explanation for the fingerprint found in Michal's apartment. He says he was having an affair with her and he knows nothing about the assault. During one discussion over extending his remand, he asked that his wife leave the courtroom before admitting to the supposed affair. Police arranged a confrontation between him and Michal, and she claimed that she had never seen him before. When the investigator asked him whether he was prepared to lie by giving a bad name to a young woman he did not know, Buzaglo merely recited psalms in a monotonous voice. Since that moment, everything that he related about the modesty patrols has been forgotten.
Thus Michal was abandoned for a second time. Buzaglo's story now not only cleanses him of guilt but also supposedly backs the claim that the victim was having affairs with married men. Until a few days ago, Michal was not aware that the investigation was completed.
"From time to time, the police call me and tell me that the investigation is proceeding," she says. "That is annoying. People can do whatever is in their head, take the law into their hands, but the law itself is not put in motion. I can do nothing. I am just trying to survive."
IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
PLEASE GO TO THE POLICE IF YOU HAVE BEEN SEXUALLY ABUSED AT THE BOROUGH PARK Y.
A FRUM MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED AND THERE ARE PROBABLY SEVERAL MORE VICTIMS.
SHOULD YOU NEED HELP FILING A REPORT - CONTACT ME ASAP AT:
Matzil_Nefoshos@yahoo.com
IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
ARE YOUR BOYS SAFE WHEN THEY GO TO THE MIKVAH? THE ANSWER IS NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
IT IS THE FAVORITE PLACE FOR CHILD PREDATORS TO HANG OUT.
WARNING TO MIKVAH CHILD MOLESTERS -
I AM ON TO YOU - YOU SICK PRICKS!
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