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| Rabbi Chaim Druckman (Wikipedia) |
I recall the reaction of a Charedi Mechanech in Israel I
know who was devastated by that news. He told me that he respected Elon as much
as any Charedi Rosh Yeshiva and that he had become very close to him. To say
that he was in a state of shock is an understatement.
Elon’s conviction did not include any jail time. His prison sentence was suspended and he was ordered instead to do community
service and pay a fine to his victim.
At the time a group mental health professionals, rabbis and educators led by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein
formed the Takana Forum. An organization that worked to prevent
sexual abuse. They stripped Elon of his position as head of HaKotel and forbade him from making any public appearances.
He moved to a small town near the Kinneret and agreed to no longer deal with
young men in any way.
I wish I could say the story ends there. But I am sorry to
say that it does not. Elon’s self exile didn’t last very long. And he once again
found ways to continue sexually assaulting young men and proceeded to do exactly that. He sexually assaulted a
young man seeking his counsel. That young man documented it all. There is apparently
no doubt it. From the Jerusalem Post:
Elon had opened a yeshiva in Jerusalem called “Beit Va’ad U’Midrash” and… was once again meeting with and teaching young men. We also took issue with the support he was receiving from another rabbi, Haim Druckman, an Israel Prize laureate, former member of Knesset and dean of the prestigious Or Etzion Yeshiva…
With the endorsement of a prestigious Rav Elon probably found it rather easy to find his prey.
It is always sad to see icons fall. But it is sadder when
they don’t fall if they are guilty of the kind of crimes Elon has committed.
Why do these kinds of things keep happening? I think it is
simply human nature not to believe the worst about accomplished people that have
otherwise contributed much to society. Elon was that guy. He and many others
like him keep getting away with it because of that.
A man like Rabbi Druckman
sees Elon and simply cannot believe it. Even when it is so obviously true. Rabbi
Druckman must realize that. But there is still a level of incredulity about it that leads him to rationalize his support by saying:
“I don’t believe there is anything in his Torah lessons that is not kosher, there is no reason not to learn from him or listen to Torah lessons from him.”
How simple it is to delude oneself about an iconic figure.
Rabbi Druckman is not the first one to do that. Respected rabbis in other Orthodox communities of all
types have deluded themselves this way. Which ends up with them protecting molesters over victims.
I believe that this is one reason why for example the Agudah requires all suspicions of sexual abuse be reported to a rabbi first. Who will then determine whether the accusations are
credible enough to report to the authorities.
When dealing with icons or any respected rabbis or Mechanchim with otherwise good reputations, they may end up supporting the accused rather
than the accuser. Sincerely believing that there is no way that a man as widely respected
as the accused could ever have done what he is accused of doing.
Which is
probably one of the reasons Rabbi Druckman endorsed Elon even after he was
convicted. After all Elon denied it (as almost all of them do unless they are caught in
the act) and that leaves room for doubt about his actual guilt even after
being convicted. Let alone if there is only an accusation of abuse as is the
case with Agudah’s requirement.
There are no bad people here. Just misguided ones that are
convinced they are protecting the innocent when in fact they are doing just the
opposite. And in the process doing much harm to survivors and future victims of the individual they are protecting.
It seems to me that no matter how many times there have been
credible reports of abuse… no matter how much pain is expressed by survivors of
abuse… no matter how many survivors go OTD... or become so clinically depressed
that they attempt suicide, it hasn’t helped change things. There is a predisposition to give an
accused respected member of the community the benefit if the doubt. I guess when you know someone personally, then the number of reports about prominent people exposed as sexual abusers... or the studies that show that the vast majority of the time people say they have been abused they are telling the truth - does not seem to apply to
the accused individual so familiar to them ‘who couldn’t have done it’.
There is also the possibility that someone accused of sex abuse
might actually be innocent, rare though that may be. It does happen. That adds
to the problem.
I suppose that is human nature. Which makes solving this
problem seem almost impossible. Thankfully however, despite all of this - progress has
been made. But we have a long way to go.
