The ultra-Orthodox face up to abuse
Catholicism doesn't have a monopoly on child abuse scandals, as the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has discovered
The uncovering of sexual abuse perpetrated by religious leaders in the Catholic church is mirrored within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. As with the Catholic church, where the abuse was uncovered early on in the US, institutional child sexual abuse is starting to be prosecuted in New York. And as with the Catholic church, which has begun to change its stance on prosecuting priests, ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders are beginning to permit the reporting to police of these crimes. As with the Catholic church, Jewish victim support groups and advocates have brought these crimes to the public's attention. The question is whether, as with the Catholic church, this is far too little far too late.
A little known Jewish law called mesira, found in the Talmud with some scriptural support, forbids a Jew from reporting another Jew to the gentile authorities. The law was in response to non-Jewish governments whose courts were staffed by antisemites. According to Jewish leaders, those courts looked for any excuse to find against a Jew. Many rabbis took a rather dim view of gentile legal processes, advocating that their courts were flawed, antisemitic and less capable than Jewish courts. Mesira essentially allowed Jewish courts to retain control over all disputes, ensuring that religious law prevailed.
In today's society, where there are proper, transparent and just courts of law, the law of mesira has largely been abandoned. Most Jewish communities recognise the legal system of the countries where they live; saving relatively few disputes, mostly centring on religious issues such as divorce, for the Jewish courts. However, the ultra-Orthodox communities still use mesira to prohibit any Jew being reported to the non-Jewish authorities.
As can be imagined, this is a pretty dangerous stance to take, particularly in terms of violent criminals. Perpetrators of, for example, domestic violence, child abuse, or sexual crimes, are often protected by the ultra-Orthodox communities and dealt with "in-house". They are sometimes beaten up by the self-appointed Jewish "police", and often moved to areas where there is no knowledge of their crimes.
Perpetrators of child sexual abuse within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities have been afforded similar protection to Catholic priests. Rabbis have continued to teach, in their own or in new institutions. Yehuda Kolko allegedly had his crimes covered up by the Yeshiva Torah Temima school where he taught for over 25 years. Communities have shielded fugitives, such as Nachman Stal, who fled charges in Israel and was protected for almost a decade by the North London ultra-Orthodox community.
As with the Catholic church, silencing the victims has kept secret, at least from the wider public, ongoing abuse within ultra-Orthodox Jewish institutions. Various Jewish laws have been twisted and misused to threaten victims with divine retribution for reporting crimes. Families are told that their other children will not be given suitable matches for marriage, or won't be accepted by good schools, if the boat is rocked. Similar threats of communal ostracism were used by the Catholic church in Ireland to silence the many people who knew of abuse in Christian Brothers' institutions.
Within many closed, religious communities there is fear of communal repercussions, religious leaders, and ultimately of God. Fears are exploited to allow grave crimes to be covered up, and to continue within religious institutions. Motives of religious leaders may be hard to prove, but there are clear financial incentives as well as issues of power and control that have influenced the positions taken towards perpetrators of child sexual abuse.
There are huge financial implications for admitting abuse and permitting court cases. In the US alone, the Catholic church has paid over $2.5bn to victims. Little wonder then that ultra-Orthodox rabbis opposed New York's Markey bill which sought to extend the statute of limitations for criminal and civil cases about child sexual abuse. Now that abuse is coming to light, the financial implications could be devastating for institutions that covered up allegations and continued to employ abusers.
Similarly, leaders, seeking retain a tight grip of control over their communities, covered up scandals to avoid schisms, splits or defections. Yet these tactics have backfired. In silencing victims and protecting perpetrators, these religious communities face a crisis beyond anything they could have imagined.
As in the Catholic church, things are starting to change in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world. Top rabbis, such as Rav Elyashiv, have come out in support of reporting abuse to the police. Indeed, they have emphasised that prosecution is necessary to keep communities safe and to protect children. Self-appointed Jewish "police" in Flatbush have now told their community to report all abuse directly to the gentile police. Clearly, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world is learning from the recent spate of cases, the Catholic church's experience, and listening to the victims. But can it be enough to say that the institutions will change only once the scandals have broken, or is a Catholic-style crisis of faith about to hit the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community?
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http://blog.nj.com/njv_publicblog/2010/04/sexual_abuse_rampant_across_de.html
In Lakewood, N.J., the "Rome" of Orthodox Judaism, the arrest of a Yeshiva teacher for molesting a young boy was a beginning, just last July. Nonetheless, pressure remains to let the child victims suffer and to clear all criminal abuse through a rabbi, and a closed rabbinical court. As one blogger noted, these religious leaders deny that "pedophilia is not a right of those in authority". In New Jersey, all matters that have been brought before a rabbinical court involving sexual abuse need to be brought to the attention of the police and the district attorney. This is an ongoing criminal conspiracy if rabbinical authorities are covering up crimes against children. Where's the Grand Jury?
Next: Brooklyn Orthodox sexual abuse and the good works of DA Charles "Joe" Hynes, a Catholic prosecutor with close ties to the new Orthodox reformers. A year ago he brought 26 sexual abuse cases against Yeshiva teachers, rabbis, camp counselors, merchants, and relatives of children. Yet, one Brooklyn rabbi cited Jewish law that calls for the killing of a Jew who informs on another Jew...even a pedophile. It gets worse.
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http://www.counterpunch.org/rosen04162010.html
Since mid-February, the New York Times has led a systematic campaign exposing sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. The Times has run approximately four dozen front-page articles, follow-up stories and news reports as well as op-ed pieces and letters-to-the-editor on the sexual abuse of young people by Catholic prelates in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the globe. As America’s news-source of record, its attentions to this issue has been picked up by other media and also led to additional local follow-up reports. The Times’ reporting has also led to denunciations by the Vatican and others.
A little known Jewish law called mesira, found in the Talmud with some scriptural support, forbids a Jew from reporting another Jew to the gentile authorities. The law was in response to non-Jewish governments whose courts were staffed by antisemites. According to Jewish leaders, those courts looked for any excuse to find against a Jew. Many rabbis took a rather dim view of gentile legal processes, advocating that their courts were flawed, antisemitic and less capable than Jewish courts. Mesira essentially allowed Jewish courts to retain control over all disputes, ensuring that religious law prevailed.
In today's society, where there are proper, transparent and just courts of law, the law of mesira has largely been abandoned. Most Jewish communities recognise the legal system of the countries where they live; saving relatively few disputes, mostly centring on religious issues such as divorce, for the Jewish courts. However, the ultra-Orthodox communities still use mesira to prohibit any Jew being reported to the non-Jewish authorities.
As can be imagined, this is a pretty dangerous stance to take, particularly in terms of violent criminals. Perpetrators of, for example, domestic violence, child abuse, or sexual crimes, are often protected by the ultra-Orthodox communities and dealt with "in-house". They are sometimes beaten up by the self-appointed Jewish "police", and often moved to areas where there is no knowledge of their crimes.
Perpetrators of child sexual abuse within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities have been afforded similar protection to Catholic priests. Rabbis have continued to teach, in their own or in new institutions. Yehuda Kolko allegedly had his crimes covered up by the Yeshiva Torah Temima school where he taught for over 25 years. Communities have shielded fugitives, such as Nachman Stal, who fled charges in Israel and was protected for almost a decade by the North London ultra-Orthodox community.
As with the Catholic church, silencing the victims has kept secret, at least from the wider public, ongoing abuse within ultra-Orthodox Jewish institutions. Various Jewish laws have been twisted and misused to threaten victims with divine retribution for reporting crimes. Families are told that their other children will not be given suitable matches for marriage, or won't be accepted by good schools, if the boat is rocked. Similar threats of communal ostracism were used by the Catholic church in Ireland to silence the many people who knew of abuse in Christian Brothers' institutions.
Within many closed, religious communities there is fear of communal repercussions, religious leaders, and ultimately of God. Fears are exploited to allow grave crimes to be covered up, and to continue within religious institutions. Motives of religious leaders may be hard to prove, but there are clear financial incentives as well as issues of power and control that have influenced the positions taken towards perpetrators of child sexual abuse.
There are huge financial implications for admitting abuse and permitting court cases. In the US alone, the Catholic church has paid over $2.5bn to victims. Little wonder then that ultra-Orthodox rabbis opposed New York's Markey bill which sought to extend the statute of limitations for criminal and civil cases about child sexual abuse. Now that abuse is coming to light, the financial implications could be devastating for institutions that covered up allegations and continued to employ abusers.
Similarly, leaders, seeking retain a tight grip of control over their communities, covered up scandals to avoid schisms, splits or defections. Yet these tactics have backfired. In silencing victims and protecting perpetrators, these religious communities face a crisis beyond anything they could have imagined.
As in the Catholic church, things are starting to change in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world. Top rabbis, such as Rav Elyashiv, have come out in support of reporting abuse to the police. Indeed, they have emphasised that prosecution is necessary to keep communities safe and to protect children. Self-appointed Jewish "police" in Flatbush have now told their community to report all abuse directly to the gentile police. Clearly, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world is learning from the recent spate of cases, the Catholic church's experience, and listening to the victims. But can it be enough to say that the institutions will change only once the scandals have broken, or is a Catholic-style crisis of faith about to hit the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community?
==========================================================================
http://blog.nj.com/njv_publicblog/2010/04/sexual_abuse_rampant_across_de.html
Sexual Abuse Rampant Across Denominations.
By Golumba
April 12, 2010, 4:54PM
FailedMessiah.com has done yeoman's work unfurling the hidden sex abuse in the Jewish community that's NOW going on, to the detriment of the children. This isn't about egregious abuse from 15 to 50 years ago, like the horrific Catholic history, but forums addressing crimes against New jersey children occuring NOW in Passaic, Lakewood and Teaneck. It's a familiar, but ghastly, routine: The victim reports the molestation to a rabbi, rather than face SHUNNING...not only for himself, but also for his entire family... by the whole community for bringing the crime to the attention of the police. When the rabbi takes the complaint of sexual abuse, the matter is covered up, handled "in house". Thanks to a new honesty, pedophile arrests are up 800% in Brooklyn, alone, amongst the Orthodox Jewish community.In Lakewood, N.J., the "Rome" of Orthodox Judaism, the arrest of a Yeshiva teacher for molesting a young boy was a beginning, just last July. Nonetheless, pressure remains to let the child victims suffer and to clear all criminal abuse through a rabbi, and a closed rabbinical court. As one blogger noted, these religious leaders deny that "pedophilia is not a right of those in authority". In New Jersey, all matters that have been brought before a rabbinical court involving sexual abuse need to be brought to the attention of the police and the district attorney. This is an ongoing criminal conspiracy if rabbinical authorities are covering up crimes against children. Where's the Grand Jury?
Next: Brooklyn Orthodox sexual abuse and the good works of DA Charles "Joe" Hynes, a Catholic prosecutor with close ties to the new Orthodox reformers. A year ago he brought 26 sexual abuse cases against Yeshiva teachers, rabbis, camp counselors, merchants, and relatives of children. Yet, one Brooklyn rabbi cited Jewish law that calls for the killing of a Jew who informs on another Jew...even a pedophile. It gets worse.
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http://www.counterpunch.org/rosen04162010.html
A Case of Selective Journalism?
The New York Times vs. the Pope
By DAVID ROSENSince mid-February, the New York Times has led a systematic campaign exposing sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. The Times has run approximately four dozen front-page articles, follow-up stories and news reports as well as op-ed pieces and letters-to-the-editor on the sexual abuse of young people by Catholic prelates in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the globe. As America’s news-source of record, its attentions to this issue has been picked up by other media and also led to additional local follow-up reports. The Times’ reporting has also led to denunciations by the Vatican and others.
However, reading the Times’ coverage, it is striking that comparable issues of sexual abuse have not received the same sustained, in-depth, often front-page and editorial attention. Why has the sexual abuse of female soldiers in the military, of youthful inmates in the nation’s prison system, of boy scouts, of teen prostitutes, of Mormon girls and of youths within the Brooklyn Hassidic community not received the same scale of reporting? Indeed, these issues have been covered in occasional daily news reports. But why have they not received a comparable degree of attention?
As evident by what it chooses to focus its investigative resources on, the Times, like other information organizations, articulates an often-unstated political perspective. Its reprehensible policy of backing the Bush 
administration’s illegal invasion of Iraq, particularly through its publication of Judith Miller’s false reports, is illustrative of such unstated political decision-making masquerading as journalism. A more recent case is its cheerleading coverage of the rightwing campaign against Acorn and the disingenuous mea culpa by its Public Editor, Clark Hoyt.
administration’s illegal invasion of Iraq, particularly through its publication of Judith Miller’s false reports, is illustrative of such unstated political decision-making masquerading as journalism. A more recent case is its cheerleading coverage of the rightwing campaign against Acorn and the disingenuous mea culpa by its Public Editor, Clark Hoyt. A reader of the Times can appreciate the in-depth reporting about sexual abuse within the Church: it is a shameful practice that needs to be fully exposed. However, one must question the underlying agenda or intentionality of this campaign, especially in light of the fact that similar attention has not been given to other pressing sexual abuse issues that take place on a daily bases.
* * *
Word about America’s gravest religious sex scandal involving Catholic priests began to emerge in the mid-1980s, but did not fully grip the nation’s attention until the late-‘90s. And the New York Times did not break the story.
Sexual abuse of women and youthful male and female parishioners by individual Catholic clergy has taken place since time immemorial. However, with the rise of post-‘60s political environment, abuse finally came under intense public scrutiny. According to journalist Carl Cannon, Louisiana writer Jason Berry was the first to begin to raise the issue of sexual abuse by priests and the Church’s cover-up. The issue began to generate national attention when “The Phil Donahue Show” covered it on St. Patrick’s Day, 1988.
By the early-‘90s, momentum was building against the Church’s cover-up when indictments were handed down against John Porter for molesting twenty-eight boys in Fall River, MA, and John Geoghan, who molested young boys from at least 1972 but was not defrocked until 1998. In 2001, Kristen Lombardi, writing in the “Boston Phoenix,” directly tied Geoghan to the local Catholic hierarchy, naming Boston Cardinal Bernard Law as complicit in the cover-up. Geoghan was eventually convicted of child molestation and, in 2003, was murdered in prison; Law resigned in disgrace in 2005 and moved to the Vatican where he was rewarded with a high post in the Church bureaucracy.
Pope Benedict XVI visited the U.S. in the spring of ’08, the first visit by a pope since the Church pedophile scandal broke. He came, in part, to reassure the millions of American Catholics who were deeply disturbed by the Church hierarchy’s role in the cover-up. At a well-publicized but private get-together, he met with victims of the abuse who came from two groups, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Voice of the Faithful. According to SNAP’s Edward Lozzi, “the meeting was forced upon the Pope by the victims.” He adds:
Pope Benedict was very uncomfortable meeting with the fiverepresentative victims who had been raped by priests and had their lives and families changed forever. This was a private meeting of course. The Pope was visibly embarrassed and in agony throughout the whole encounter.
Lozzi concludes, quite pessimistically, “… Ultimately that April meeting was just a publicity stunt by Benedict.”
Pope Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, has lived nearly his entire adult life behind the walls of the Church. At age 12, he enrolled in a seminary near where he grew up in Traunstein, Germany. In 1945, after demobilizing from the German military and a brief internment as a POW, he entered Catholic seminary in Freising and was ordained in 1951. He became Archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977 and, moving up the Church hierarchy, became Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faithful in 1981. In 1998, Cardinal Ratzinger became Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals and was elected Pope in 2005.
The Church’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faithful was traditionally known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition. It was formally established in 1542 and, for the last four-and-a-half centuries, has enforced official Church doctrine. In the Church’s heyday, it undertook trials for heresy against both Protestants and Catholic reformers, including Galileo. As Cardinal and subsequently as pope, Ratzinger has steadfastly moved to maintain orthodox control of the Church’s bureaucracy and increasingly diverse followers.
In particular, the pope has systemically moved to reverse the changes instituted in Vatican II. These actions included: a return to the Latin mass; lifting of the excommunications of four reactionary bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X; moving to canonizing Pius 12 (who abandoned the Jews during WWII); and campaigning against Latin America priests sympathetic to liberation theology as exemplified by the recent appointment of the conservative (and Opus Dei member) archbishop of San Antonio, Mexiccan-born Jose Gomez, as archbishop of Los Angeles. Some within the Church wonder if he will overturn Vatican II’s most important action and reinstate the charge that Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus.
The pope continues to appear uncomfortable and embarrassed by the pedophile scandal, unable to grasp the scandal’s full moral and legal consequences. While Benedict has, up until recently, appeared to take seriously sexual-abuse charges against the clergy, he is ultimately a faithful follower of the traditions of the Inquisition. His primary duty seems to be to protect those who adhere to Church dogma even if they break secular laws. As such, the indiscreet actions of loyal servants of the bureaucracy are hushed up, offenders shifted to another parish and abusers permitted to continue to serve the Church. Sadly, it appears the neither the pope nor his loyal minions really comprehend (or care about) the institutional failure at the heart of the scandal: where Vatican II sought to open the Church to its faithful, Benedict seeks to limit accountability to only those who accept faithful obedience.
* * *
A review of Google listings of New York Times articles about the Catholic Church sexual abuse as well as sex scandals and related topics provides an invaluable insight into the newspaper’s apparent coverage policies. Like most media outlets, the Times gave extensive coverage to the misadventures of Tiger Woods, John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer, among many other sex scandals involving celebrities and politicians.
The Times also reports on a wide array of other sex-related issues and a few are given significant coverage. Like other media outlets, the Times extensively covered the Texas polygamy scandal involving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). From February thru June 2008, it ran about two-dozen articles, many informative accounts, about this religious cult and the ham-fisted efforts by Texas law enforcement to break it. Sadly, since the original controversy, the Times has given no real attention to this subject. [see “The New Texas Two-Step: Polygamy & State Regulation of Sexual Life,” CounterPunch, April 19-20, 2008]
Unfortunately, its coverage of most sex-related issues tends to be more episodic, with an occasional news report. Examples of such coverage include the use of rape as a military weapon in the Congo; the sexual abuse of boy scouts by scoutmasters; the sexual abuse of imprisoned young people; and the failed policies relating to sex offenders. These stories are often tied to a horrendous event, the issuance of an important study or an on-going court proceeding.
An illuminating example of this type of reporting involves the increasing incidence of rape and sexual abuse of U.S. female military personnel. The Times recently reported on the Defense Department’s release of its annual report “Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services.” [see “The Third Front: Sexual Assault in the U. S. Military,” CounterPunch, March 19-21, 2010] While the Times has addressed this issue repeatedly over the last decade, it has, like its coverage of Mormon polygamists, never undertaking a rigorous or in-depth investigation of the institutional sexism at their heart of the military.
The Times’ coverage of sexual abuse and a religious group is revealing. In March 2010, “Rabbi” Baruch Lebovits, a Brooklyn Hasidic Jew, was found guilty on eight of 10 counts of sexually molesting Jewish teens in 2004 and 2005. Lebovits, was the owner of a Borough Park travel agency and faces up to seven years in prison. This story was not reported by the New York Times but by the New York Daily News.
Sadly, the Times has offered little coverage of the mushrooming sexual abuse scandal involving Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn. Hasidics are ultra-orthodox Jewish sects such as the Satmars, Vizhnitzs and Bobovs. In October 2009, like other New York print and media outlets, it covered Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ press conference in October 2009. As it restated from a press release, over the preceding year, 26 Orthodox Jewish “yeshiva teachers, rabbis, camp counselors, merchants and relatives of children” were arrested and eight were convicted; 18 still awaited trial. [NY Times, October 13, 2009] Unfortunately, the cases involving Rabbis Avrohom Reichman and Yehuda Kolko, yet the 26 originally arrested by DA Hynes, have not been reported.
The Times can take an adversarial position with regard sex-related issues. During the summer and fall of 2008, it ran a series of articles regarding the horrendous treatment of teen prostitutes by the New York police and Court system and the need to pass the Safe Harbor Act for Exploited Children then pending before the State legislature. It also ran an editorial supporting Gov. David Paterson’s signing of the law. [see “Teen Prostitution in America: Looking for Safe Harbor,” CounterPunch, August 2-3, 2008.]
The New York Times has devoted extensive investigative resources and page space to exposing the sins of the Catholic Church and its sclerotic leadership to cover-up the long-endemic pedophilia scandal. This reporting has been valuable and one can hope for more of it. But one must ask why such extensive selective journalism has been devoted to this one sinful subject? Why has not similar attention been paid to the other equally troubling examples of sexual abuse of the young, of women and other powerless people, many living in the Times’ very backyard?
David Rosen is the author of “Sex Scandals America: Politics & the Ritual of Public Shaming” (Key, 2009); he can be reached at drosen@ix.netcom.com.
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33 comments:
A partial list of accused pedophiles with access to children.
1) (Rabbi) Yehuda Nussbaum - Teaches at Yeshiva of Brooklyn. (Rabbi) Shlomo Mandel refers kids over for tutoring to him.
2) (Rabbi) Moshe Eisemann - lives on campus of Ner Israel. Teaching and or tutoring students in his home or else where. Endorsed by (Rabbi) Aharon Feldman - Rosh Yeshiva
3) (Rabbi) Ephraim Bryks - Over the years Rabbi Ephraim Bryks has left a trail of alleged victims from such far-away places as Winnipeg, Canada. He is currently located in New York City. There are no documented cases or public information regarding any victims in New York, yet he has been let go by schools (one characterized as firing), but the schools will not discuss the matter.
For years alleged victims have been going to rabbinic leaders in their communities looking for guidance. For years rabbinic leaders have found it more important to protect an alleged sexual predator over protecting our children.
49 year-old Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks will continue to run Yeshiva Berachel David in Queens until the end of the 2003 school year. No public statement has been made concerning his decade- long membership on the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. Rabbi Bryks was a member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) for over a quarter of a century before his May 27, 2003 resignation. Ads in The Jewish Press indicate that Rabbi Bryks is currently working as a mortgage broker for a company he runs out of his home called REB International LLC.). Source: The Awarness Center
4) (Rabbi) Avrohom Reichman,It alleges that in 1993, Rabbi Reichman, now 57, regularly molested him, and that the Satmar school, United Talmudical Academy, later committed fraud by agreeing to dismiss Rabbi Reichman — and then reneging on this once the criminal statute of limitations had passed.(NAME REMOVED)'s sexual abuse allegations are the latest in a string of such charges made by former male yeshiva students in ultra-Orthodox schools in Brooklyn. Source: The Awarness Center
Child Victims Act of New York
New York Clergy Abuse Attorney
A new proposed bill called the New York Child Victims Act is currently under consideration by the New York State Assembly. Authored by Margaret M. Markey, this bill would effectively change the statute of limitations in sexual abuse and clergy abuse cases in the state.
If this Child Victims Act passes, it will increase the time in which a person who has suffered childhood sexual abuse can file a civil lawsuit. The current law has a different statute of limitations if you were abused in a public institution versus a private institution. A person has 5 years after they reach the age of 18 to file a suit against a private instution and only 90 days after they reach majority if the abuse occurred in a public institution. This act would change that time period to 10 years in both cases.
Additionally, the bill would create a one year window in which the current statute of limitations is extended in civil sexual abuse and criminal sexual abuse cases.
What will the Child Victims Act do for me?
If you have been sexually abused by anyone - whether it was a member of the clergy, a schoolteacher or other individual in your life, you could have the right to file a lawsuit against that individual or entity. As a survivor of sexual abuse, your life has almost certainly been drastically affected by the criminal sexual acts perpetrated against you. You deserve to receive justice and no abuser should go unpunished for his or her deeds.
The New York clergy abuse attorneys at the Zalkin Law Firm have years of experience handling these types of cases and they will do everything in their power to assist you through the process. They understand the emotional toll that sexual abuse can take on a person. That is why the legal professionals at the Zalkin Law Firm have devoted the practice to providing abuse survivors with the counsel and representation that they need.
Please don't hesitate to contact one of their experienced sexual abuse lawyers. They can help.
Contact a New York Clergy Abuse Lawyer at the Zalkin Law Firm today!
Contact Us
The Zalkin Law Firm, P.C.
Toll Free: 800-724-3235
New York, NY
Seven Times Square
New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-889-1300
San Diego, CA
12555 High Bluff Dr
Suite 260
San Diego, CA 92130
Phone: 858-259-3011
YOB has a long history of physical and sexual abuse. As a child I remember them locking me up in a closet for hous as punishment. They would also have us little girls stay in the freezing cold outdoors. The Morahs were cruel.
From my brother and his friends they related to me the terrible abuse that went on (goes on) in the boys school yeshiva ketana & mesivta.
Why anyone is still sending their kids there is beyond me. The Mandel's, and "educators" are mean spirited and violated laws of unspeakable nature (and still do).
The problem with the Zalkin Law Firm and ALL other clergy abuse attorneys in New York is that they're up against a wall in the statute of limitations. This is one of the worst loopholes ever that protects pedophiles from prosecution. it must be rectified at once. I hope Marge Markay can get her bill passed once and for all!
I gradeh sleep a little better knowing the SOL protects me. I would get hysterical if a recent victim popped up or Markey has her way.
I am the putz who blames the so-called victim Yoel Englman for his daring try in outing Rabbi Avrohm Reichman as his molester.
If you click the link you will see in pictures how chushuv I am. I hang out with Bloomberg, Paterson. Greenfield jus to name a few, so wipe it in your faces all you loshon hurha people.
http://unitedjewish.org/who.html
Idiot control is what we need more of exposemolesters. Idiots like me who like to molest boys.
And who in the world is Failedmessiah think he is to label me "Satmar's version of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko?"
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/09/a-claim-of-doub.html
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3888436,00.html
4 of 'abusive rabbi's' followers convicted
Published: 05.12.10, 09:55 / Israel News
Four followers of "abusive rabbi" Elior Chen were convicted on Wednesday of all counts of child abuse with which they were charged. David Kugman, 24 was convicted of pinning a child to an electrical oven in February 2008 until his skin was burned and began to peel.
Avraham Maskalchi, 25 was convicted of burning the fingers of one of the children, binding him with rope, forcing a yarmulke in his mouth and blocking his breath with duct tape. Masklatchi and Kugman put the child in a suitcase and deprived him of food and drink for many hours. The two others to be convicted are Roi Tzoref and Shimon Gabai. (Aviad Glickman)
Nussbaum and Kolko don't have televisions or internet so I don't want to hear people blaming them for this.
>
London, May 13 (ANI): Child sex abuse images are a big business online, according to the UK's Internet
Watch Foundation (IWF).
Buzz up!
The IWF's annual report discloses that about 450 criminal gangs across the globe are using child sex abuse images to make money, with the 10 most prolific of these accounting for over 650 web pages.
While the report says the industry
is not growing despite being well-established online, it also points out that these groups are finding newer ways to distribute these images.
It reveals that content distributors are now using smaller social networks, image-sharing sites, free website hosting platforms and hacked websites to avoid detection.
Moreover, to avoid getting caught they shift their distribution networks frequently between different providers and countries.
Most gangs run a pay-per-view system, charging a monthly fee of about 55pounds for access to photos and videos.
The IWF believes a large part of the commercial material is initially exchanged privately between sex offenders.
"Although internet usage
and the volume of content continue to rise globally, we are not seeing a proportionate rise in commercial child sexual abuse material which instead appears to have remained fairly static over recent years," the BBC quoted Peter Robbins, chief executive of the IWF, as saying.
The IWF received more than 38,000 reports about illegal content last year.
The majority of this was either hosted outside the UK or outside its remit.
About 44 percent of the content highlighted to the IWF in 2009 depicted the rape of a child and 23 percent of it featured children below the age of six. (ANI)
This is an outrage!
MONTPELIER, Vt. – Dozens of former altar boys who sued Vermont's Catholic church over alleged sexual abuse by priests will share in a nearly $18 million settlement of their cases.
The attorney for the 26 former altar boys and the bishop of the statewide Diocese of Burlington said Thursday they were pleased by the settlement, but both acknowledged that the cases had been difficult for the victims.
"Our clients are very happy to have the opportunity to close this chapter in their lives," said attorney Jerry O'Neill. "All of them know that nothing goes away, nothing changes the pain, they will live with this the rest of their lives, but at least now they can put this piece behind them and move forward."
Bishop Salvatore Matano asked for prayers to help the victims heal from the scars of abuse.
"This has been a very painful process for the victims and for all the members of our diocesan family. I once again apologize most sincerely for the pain the victims have suffered," Matano said. "I ask that you join me in praying always for these wounded and hurt brothers and sisters."
The lawsuits accused the diocese of negligent hiring, and many of the cases centered on defrocked Rev. Edward Paquette, who was the target of allegations before he transferred to Vermont in the mid-1970s.
Last month, a judge set a Sept. 20 trial date for the cases unless they could be settled out of court.
In addition to the 26 pending cases that were settled for $17.65 million, the two sides agreed to settle three cases that had already been decided in court and were on appeal. The diocese said those settlements would remain confidential.
In a statement posted on the website of the 118,000-member diocese, Matano said that to make the payment, the church would sell its Burlington headquarters, which includes prime, undeveloped Lake Champlain waterfront property, and a lakeside summer camp on Malletts Bay in Colchester.
Yeshurun, XV, Nisan 5765
pp.641
Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv
A Question in the Matter of Informing the Government Concerning Sexual Abuse of
a Boy or a Girl
BS"D Fast of the Tenth (Month) 5764
To My Friend etc. Rabbi Shraga Feivel Cohen etc.
I received this letter in its time but was unable to respond until "a day on which scholars
take a holiday." The essence of the letter [you sent to me, is that]: one knows that
someone is sexually abusing a boy or a girl; is it permissible to report such a matter to a
secular government official [police, etc.]?
This is the language of the Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, Spain, 1235-1310, one of
the foremost authorities in Jewish law) in his Responsa, III no. 393, "It appears to me that
if the witnesses are believed by the selected Bais Din [Jewish Court of Law] judges, [these
judges] are permitted to impose a monetary fine or corporal punishment [which penalties
and punishment fall outside those proscribed by the Torah], all in accord with their
evaluation; and this maintains society.
Because if you will adjudicate based only on the laws established by the Torah, society
will be destroyed... And, therefore, those Bais Din judges who did this, if they saw that the
situation required [such action] for communal welfare, they acted legally,.."
From the words of the Rashba we learn that in matters that concern societal welfare the
Sages of Israel of every generation have the authority to extend their authority and decide
matters according to their best judgment and [in the absence of a clear directive contained
in the Torah] to stand in the breach …
Accordingly, it is my determination that one should report (an abuser) to the secular
government authorities [police, etc.]; and in this there is benefit to society…
[Rabbi] Shalom Yosef Elyashiv
Meir Dascalowitz made the allegation in a
confession while he was questioned about his 2009
encounters with a 12-year-old in a ritual bath in
Williamsburg, a source told the Daily News.
Dascalowitz alleged that he had been molested by
Rabbi Baruch Lebovits - who was recently convicted
of abusing a 16-year-old boy and has been charged
in two other sex cases. "He said he was molested by
Lebovits and made an outcry, but nothing ever
happened," a source said.
Dascalowitz, 28, an unemployed married clerk with
a wife and child, was arrested Tuesday after he left
his therapist's home.
Prosecutors allege he molested the 12-year-old
once a month between January and June 2009,
according to court papers. Almost a year later, the
boy told his father, who went to authorities,
prosecutor Wilfredo Cotto told a judge.
Dascalowitz declined to comment as he left the
courthouse after being freed on $150,000 bail.
"He denies the allegations," said his lawyer Israel
Fried.
Lebovits' lawyer also declined to comment.
The rabbi was sentenced last month to 10 to 23
years behind bars for abusing a teenage friend of
his son. He has vowed to appeal.
sshifrel@nydailynews.com
http://www.tcavjohn.com/index.php
Dr. Johnson has testified in Dependency, Civil and Criminal courts as an expert witness since 1988. She has a solid background in all aspects of child sexual abuse and children with sexual behavior problems.
Dr. Johnson has been invited to lecture on child abuse and child sexual abuse in Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe, Africa, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Canada and in 41 of the United States of America. She provides consultation to protective service workers, mental health professionals, attorneys, the police, probation and the courts in the areas of sexual victimization and perpetration and domestic violence.
In the civil and child abuse and dependency cases, Dr. Johnson has done thorough review of the records and psychological testing of the plaintiff or defendant prior to testimony. Many cases do not go to trial they are settled out of court
It's time the Moetzez pay for their crimes too.
-----------------------------
Diocese of Vermont to pay $17.6M to sex-abuse victims
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont will pay $17.6 million to dozens of former altar boys who sued the church over alleged sexual abuse by priests.
The payout, announced Thursday by the diocese, will settle 26 lawsuits. The altar boys served in the 1970s.
"Our clients are very happy to have an opportunity to close this chapter of their lives," said Jerome O'Neill, lead attorney for the victims. "All of them know that nothing goes away, nothing changes. They will live with this for the rest of their lives."
Bishop Salvatore Matano, speaking at the diocesan headquarters, which was put up for sale to help pay the settlements, said the diocese agreed to the deal as a way to end the pain the scandal has caused for both the victims and the Catholic Church.
"These unfortunate incidents crippled the life of the church," he said. "It seriously impacted (the church's) mission. Now it is my task to rejuvenate that mission."
Matano — who joined the statewide diocese in 2005, inheriting the lawsuits when he arrived — said he deeply regretted the abuse the victims had endured. "I apologize most sincerely for the pain the victims have suffered," he said. "I ask for all of our faithful to pray for our wounded brothers and sisters."
Matano said no church programs will be affected by settlement cost. He said sale of the diocesan headquarters and a sprawling church camp complex in Colchester will help pay off a loan the diocese obtained to pay the settlement.
FAITH & REASON: Pope calls for justice, repentance
Most of the cases covered by the settlement centered on Edward Paquette and his time as a parish priest in Rutland, Montpelier and Burlington between 1972 and 1978.
Paquette was suspended in 1978.
The diocese did not dispute the abuse, but claimed it had been advised by church psychiatrists that Paquette had been cured of what was identified as "homosexuality" at the time. Church documents displayed during the trials showed that the diocese hired Paquette in 1972 even though he had molested boys at parishes in Massachusetts and Indiana.
Paquette, who lives in Westfield, Mass., and was officially defrocked by the Vatican in 2009, told The Burlington Free Press last year he regretted his conduct.
"If what I know now I knew back then, all of this would have been avoided," he said. "But I was blinded. It's hard to explain why I did it. I don't know."
In addition to the 26 cases settled Thursday, the diocese also agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to settle three other abuse cases. Those cases were on appeal before the Vermont Supreme Court. The diocese said the settlements would remain confidential.
O'Neill said his clients who are party to the mass settlement — 25 men and one woman — took a courageous stand in pursuing their cases.
"They have mixed feelings about the settlement," he said. "A few are frustrated that they will not get the chance to present their case to a jury."
The settlement was hammered out during the past three months in closed-door mediation sessions between O'Neill's firm and lawyers for the diocese, O'Neill said
May 14, 2010
Justice for Child Abuse Victims
The Catholic Church is working against the interests of child abuse victims in state legislatures around the country. In recent weeks, lobbying by the church has blocked measures in Wisconsin, Arizona and Connecticut intended to widen the legal window for victims to file lawsuits against hidden predators.
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.
The measure recognizes that it typically takes many years before victims are ready to come forward. The measure also recognizes the Catholic Church’s history of intimidating victims and burying abuses in church files, creating a shroud of secrecy that extended in many cases until victims were in their 30s or older, well beyond existing time limits for prosecutions or civil lawsuits.
An earlier version of the bill passed the Assembly in 2006, 2007 and 2008, but the Senate, then under Republican control, refused to consider it. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver expresses strong support for the latest bill, amended to cover abuses by both religious and non- religious entities. But he is insistent that the Senate act first before requiring his members to cast another politically sensitive vote on the issue.
The Senate Codes Committee is set to consider the measure by mid-June. The committee’s chairman, Eric Schneiderman, Democrat of Manhattan, should work to ensure passage of the bill, which has safeguards against the filing of bogus claims.
The Catholic Church fears a wave of costly settlements and damage awards like those that followed California’s temporary lifting of the statute of limitations several years ago. Those concerns, and the difficulty of trying to judge decades-old accusations, are outweighed by the need to afford victims a measure of justice, the demands of public safety, and the injustice of rewarding any group for covering up sexual abuse of children.
Childhood Abuse May Lead to Severe Binge Eating
The underlying causes of binge eating disorder (BED), a psychiatric condition characterized by uncontrolled eating of large quantities of food in a short period of time, remained a mystery - until now. A new study, led by psychiatric researcher and clinical psychologist David M. Dunkley, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, reveals that the severity of BED may be linked to childhood sexual and/or emotional abuse. “Childhood sexual or emotional abuse were associated with greater body dissatisfaction in BED, whereas physical abuse or physical or emotional neglect were not," said Dunkley. BED is more common in women and, according to Dunkley’s research, therapists should concentrate on self-criticism in suspected cases. The study appears in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Hi EM,
Chag Sameach!
It is appropriate to call for the resignation of a vicious child molester enabler on this erev shavuos.
I'm sure Shavuot was an awesome, inspiring all-nighter for all those pompous donkeys, sledge-hammering the very same Torah they claim to uphold.
So let's all stand up and applaud the pious facade, a display of once again mocking our intelligence, and attempting to pull the wool over our eyes. Yay-- Moetzez Gedolei Hatorah!
Chabadmeisters always get front page recognition, as is the case here.
This year when we lobby Albany together with the Catholics - against this 'window' nonsense - they better erect some billboard or something of that kind with the logo - Shafmeister always wins.
That's right Avi. You are the apple of my eye. If people only knew when I give my Pirkei Avos shiur how much stress I place on recognizing the good and ignoring the bad.
They report anything except sexual abuse in the Orthodox world.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/News+Alerts/58303/JCC-of-Marine-Park-Hosts-Rabbi-Chaim-Dovid-Zweibel-For-Inspirational-Shabbos-.html
I think Shmuley Boteach should stop being a media hound. Besides, he is sticking his neck way out of his level playing field. It's like me going out of Borough-Park and not minding my own business.
My killer may go free.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Convicted-killer-on-verge-of-freedom-94879134.html
A federal judge moved closer Tuesday to freeing a Brooklyn rabbi's convicted killer after state prosecutors admitted that they had withheld evidence during his 1995 murder trial.
Federal Judge Dora Irizarry chided the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and over their objections, ordered a rare evidentiary hearing Wednesday that could free Jabbar Collins, 37, and bar prosecutors from retrying him for the rabbi's slaying.
"What is troubling is that back in 2006 the DA's office didn't take that extra step," said the judge, criticizing Brooklyn prosecutors for failing to thoroughly investigate defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct years ago.
Prosecutors did admit a crucial mistake: not revealing back in 1995 that a key witness against Collins briefly recanted. He went on to testify against Collins, who was sentenced to 34 years to life in prison for fatally shooting Rabbi Abraham Pollack during a 1995 robbery in Williamsburg.
"We have admitted error," said Monique Ferrell, a Brooklyn assistant district attorney, who claimed that her office only recently learned about this witness' temporary flipflop.
Ferrell claimed that the DA's office "spent hundreds of hours" back in 2006 investigating defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct but overlooked a retired Brooklyn detective who recently disclosed that the witness had wavered in his story.
The defense also accused Brooklyn prosecutors of intimidating other witnesses, misleading the jury and witholding a 911 tape.
"This is a course of behavior that is truly shocking to the conscience," said defense attorney Joel Rudin.
The judge appeared to side with Collins, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, spent years studying the law while behind bars and filed freedom of information requests on his case. Half the courtroom was filled with his eight brothers and sisters, his mother, two of his three children and friends.
"Frankly there are a lot of documents that seem to back up petitioner's claims," Judge Irizarry said. She is expected to rule as soon as Wednesday on whether to let Collins out on bail while the hearing on his fate continues.
While the DA now agrees with the defense motion to void the original conviction, prosecutors said they will retry Collins for the 1995 murder and opposed his bid for bail.
"We stand by our view of the defendant's guilt," said Leonard Joblove, a Brooklyn assistant attorney.
However prosecutors admitted to recently offering Collins a deal to admit to a lesser charge of manslaughter, effectively freeing him because he has already served 15 years in prison. Collins refused the deal and wants to clear his name, said Rudin.
Sounds hot! Why dosen't shlomie mandel open up another branch of YOB in Italy?
Conti is charged with sexual violence and other charges. In police interrogations, the boys — some as young as 13 at the time of the alleged abuse — said Conti would masturbate them and force them to perform oral sex on him in his home, where he frequently invited them to eat dinner and watch movies
I think this is an excellent banning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10161713.stm
The chief rabbi of a West Bank settlement has prohibited women from standing in a local community election.
The Obama administration reportedly has sided with the Vatican in a case involving a man who says he was sexually abused decades ago by a priest from Oregon.
Drunk driver crashes into Yeshiva entrance
JewishByte Baltimore – Shortly before 10 p.m. last night on May 25th, a drunk driver veered off Mount Wilson Lane and crashed right into the entrance sign of Ner Israel Rabbinical College. A sharp bend in this windy road marks the entrance to Ner Israel Rabbinical College a renowned Jewish Yeshiva in Pikesville. Students said they were told the driver, a black male was under the influence when the small truck he was driving went off the road and crashed into the college entrance sign. According to students asking not to be identified the driver was transported to shock trauma for treatment. One student mentioned how lucky everyone was that there were no other vehicles entering or leaving the usually busy premises.
Why is that molester still living on Yeshiva Lane and tutoring buchrim?
A Reply to Von Keetch's Comments on Clergy Child Sex Abuse and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
By MARCI A. HAMILTON
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20100527.html
The Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Mark Coleridge, has called on Catholic leaders to do everything possible to stop sexual abuse within the Church.
Archbishop Coleridge says he accepts there is a cultural problem within the Church that has led to the abuse, and an institutional pride that has prevented many from speaking out.
The Archbishop will raise the issue in his pastoral address to the community this week.
He has told Radio National that although the level of abuse in the Church is small, every incident is appalling.
He says the situation is made worse because the abuse breaches the trust held in the clergy.
"No one now can deny the scale of the problem and the urgent task," he said.
"In the case of clerical abuse of the young, we are dealing with crime. And the Church has struggled to find the point of convergence between sin and forgiveness on the one hand, and crime and punishment on the other.
"True, sin must be forgiven, but so too must crime be punished...
Rubashkin trial: State agent tries to identify photos of minors at plant
This blog from the Sholom Rubashkin trial will be updated throughout the day. Refresh for new content, or subscribe to the crime & courts blog to get updates via e-mail.
3:40 p.m., Waterloo, Ia. — The defense said it has run out of witnesses for the day. The jury will return Tuesday morning. Tomorrow the court is closed because of budget cuts, and Monday is Memorial Day.
The final witnesses for today:
Moses Weissmandel, a former supervising rabbi at Agriprocessors, said he walked every area of the plant once a month and always observed workers wearing all their safety equipment.
“Never ever did I see an Agriprocessors worker that appeared to be under 18,” he said.
He spent some time explaining the difference between orthodox, conservative and liberal Jews. He said 170 years ago there was a split in the Jewish community when some wanted to modify or loosen the Jewish codes. Only the orthodox community kept true to the original code of Jewish law.
Hekhsher Tzedek is a conservative kosher certification that he said was started to steal orthodox certification business.
The defense has spent a bulk of time going over the various forces working against Agriprocessors. The list includes: Unions, liberal Jews like those at The Forward, conservative Jews like those pushing the Hekhsher Tzedek kosher certification, PETA, and the Catholic church in Postville.
A former student at Postville’s Jewish boys school said Sholom Rubashkin refused to give him a job at the plant when he was 16.
Eli Pinson, who lives in Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, said Rubashkin also refused to give a job to one of his friends who was a minor.
3:00 p.m., Waterloo, Ia. — A construction worker with projects at Agriprocessors said Aaron Rubashkin was clearly in charge of the construction.
Trevor Seibert said he remembered Sholom giving his opinion on a particular project, and his father, Aaron, telling him: “That was dumber than the idea you had yesterday.”
There was no cross-examination from the state.
An orthodox Jewish man from Minnesota said he toured Agriprocessors in 2006 with a rabbi and a federal safety inspector.
They examined every corner of the plant and didn’t find any safety violations.
Carlos Carbonera said he made the trip after reading a now famous expose in a New York City-based Jewish newspaper that alleged horrendous conditions inside the slaughterhouse.
Carbonera said he would have stopped buying the Agriprocessors meat if he had observed any of the problems detailed in the article.
Deputy Iowa Attorney General Thomas H. Miller said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Agriprocessors in 2008 for failing to train employees to assist in an orderly and safe evacuation.
Miller then asked Carbonera if he was aware of safety violations at the plant for failing to post safety evacuation routes and for an ammonia leak.
2:30 p.m., Waterloo, Ia. — For nearly 45 minutes, defense attorney Mark Weinhardt showed picture after picture of fresh-faced Latino workers he said were over 18 to a state criminal investigator and the jury.
He instructed Jon Turbett, an agent with Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, to try to guess the ages of the laborers in photographs taken during a May 12, 2008 immigration raid at Agriprocessors, a kosher slaughterhouse in Postville.
When the attorney asked Turbett to estimate the age of the person in the first photograph, he guessed 17 or 18 years old, “based solely on this photograph.”
The person in the photograph was over 18, the attorney said.
“There’s a wide, wide difference between those two ages, isn’t there?” Weinhardt said.
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