There is an open letter to Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon at a blog located here. It contains a poignant step by step description of events concerning the sexual abuse case of a Rebbe at a famous Yeshiva and its apparent cover-up by the Rosh HaYeshiva. The letter castigates Rav Salomon for turning an abuse issue into a Kavod HaTorah and blogger issue.
In the comments section fellow blogger Rabbi Gil Student takes the blogger to task for not having enough courage of his convictions to identify himself. I totally agree and I think it takes away a bit from his credibility. That being said, I agree with the gist of what he says. Even though he gave no explanations as to how he came to know so many of the victims, or how he came upon so much detailed information about the involvement of rabbinic leaders with the case over the years, my gut reaction is to trust his account of events.
The real guilty party here is the Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Lipa Margulies, who apparently covered this thing up for so many years. I don’t know if he just stubbornly refused to believe it or didn’t care. I suspect the former but that is no excuse.
As for alleged abuser, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, the overwhelimg evidence of his guilt shows that he is a very sick man and morally bankrupt … a man with little or no conscience. And while he was abusing his young victims for four decades, he managed to put up a good front. And it is my understanding that he raised a decent family. This makes the tragedy that much greater because among his victims are those very same members of his family. The shame they must feel is beyond description. I feel sorry for them. They must be going through a living hell.
The truth is that I find less fault with the handling of the rabbinic leadership who were involved in examining this case over the year. But there is some fault to placed there too, in their apparent inability to recognize that a real problem existed… the extent of it… and its longevity. Clear knowledge of it now and indignation over how it was handled is the result of our 20/20 hindsight. And in the defense of these rabbinic leaders, they must be protective of all Rabbanim who have a Chezkas Kashrus until proven otherwise. But I agree that they were a bit over zealous in this regard and not zealous enough in the other. The results were devastating. And the reticence to pursue this case more zealously, unnecessarily prolonged the problem. I’m sure that as we speak all involved regret not being more “hands on”. The result of this reticence is tragic... tragic for Kavod HaTorah, tragic for Klal Yisroel, and most importantly tragic for the many victims and their families.
I posted my views about UOJ when he decided to stop posting and gave him credit for his accomplishments while blasting his methods and shotgun approach to all manner of hearsay about others, many of whom were innocent.
But the bottom line is that this blogger is basically correct. Furthermore, I believe that if this letter is not responded to, it should be put in an even more public forum because the questions raised about Agudah’s response to this issue are valid in my view and deserve a public response.
I end with a comment made to the blogger by Yeshiva University Mashgiach Ruchani, Rabbi Yosef Blau:
"The pattern of failure of the rabbinic leadership to respond to the ongoing accusations over three decades is extremely disturbing. Your letter's credibility is enhanced by the specific chronology. When similar accusations surfaced about the OU, and how it dealt with allegations against Baruch Lanner, they created an independent commission to investigate."
"If Daas Torah is interpreted that the gedolim can not be questioned then no mechanism exists to evaluate the situation. Perhaps a group of rabbinic authorities who have not been involved and are respected for courage and integrity would be willing to examine the evidence and make suggestions for a future policy."
To this I say, Amen.
