Justice. That’s an elusive thing to achieve sometimes. Nowhere is that more evident than in cases of child molestation in the Jewish community. And even if there is some semblance of justice achieved eventually, it is often delayed for many decades. Justice delayed is justice denied. But at least there is a semblance of it. Some perpetrators do eventually pay for their crimes.
One might say that whatever punishment sexual predators, receive it is not enough. Their victims will have lifelong serious psychological issues to deal with… that will negatively impact their lives and those of their families. In fact many sexual predators have themselves been molested as children. So the problem is perpetuated. Victims become predators. So damaging... is the act of a sexual crime against a child!
There is no way to undo that. Multiply that by the numerous victims of the long ‘careers’ of these abusers and the belated punishment hardly seems just. But at least there is something.
The three most prominent Orthodox Jewish cases of delayed justice are those of Rabbis Lanner, Kolko, and Mondrowitz.
The first two have finally met their fate… at least in part. After committing years of sexual abuse in his postion at NCSY, Rabbi Baruch Lanner was convicted and sentenced to prison. After decades of committing sexual abuse to young people in his postion as a Rebbe at Yeshivas Torah Temmimah, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko is now under indictment.
And now, finally, after 23 years, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz is being extradited to New York from Israel where he fled to avoid facing charges of child sexual abuse.
To say what they did is reprehensible doesn’t even begin to describe the gravity of their offences. Many people’s lives have been ruined by them. These sexual predators deserve what they get from the criminal justice system… if not more. Much more!
Yet, while many people might have a sense of glee about the extradition of Avrohom Mondrowitz, I cannot help but have a sense of sadness about it too. I know his elderly parents who are holocaust survivors. They are among the finest people I know. And then, there is his wife and his own children. They are paying a price too.
While the victims of his crime are clearly of paramount concern as they are the ones most seriously hurt, there are other victims, all of them innocent. And though they have suffered in silence for all these years, they are now about to suffer even more. They will be dragged down with him… through the mud… again! How incredibly difficult it must be for a parent to have to witness this!
How sad it is that this sick individual has caused so many problems to so many people.
So my attitude is a more sober one. A man who has committed unspeakable sex crimes to young children will now face justice… of sorts. That’s good. But his innocent family will pay a price too… a very high one. And that’s bad. It makes the tragedy even greater.
That leads me to make the following observation. Mostly our community is now in a protectionist mode: What can we do to protect our children from being molested. That was the substance of a Jewish Observer article I wrote about recently. And that of course is a very important discussion.
But a far more important one in my mind is to figure out why some people have this sickness and how to treat them before they ever act on their impulses… while they are still very young. We need to be able to learn what the causes are. We need to know how to spot abberative behavior in our children so that they can be treated by professionals early... if that’s even possible. I’m told that pedophiles cannot be cured. But… perhaps if we get them young enough…
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The best way to solve any problem is to prevent it from ever occurring. And that should be our ultimate goal.
