Guest Post by Rabbi Yosef Blau
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| Rabbi Yosef Blau |
One of the strongest advocates for victims of sex abuse is Rabbi Yosef Blau, Mashgiach Ruchani of Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchok Elchanan (YU). I received the
following a submission of a short post generated by the scandal in the
seminaries owned and operated by sex abuser Elimelech Meisels. I am honored to
do so. It follows:
Sexual abuse is criminal behavior and the police should be
contacted. This does not imply that there is no role for the rabbinate and the
community leaders in confronting abuse. In many cases the victims are unwilling
to cooperate with the police often because of community pressures. Even when
they do there is a need to remove an accused offender from a position where he
is a potential danger before the slow process of a police investigation and
prosecution is completed.
The recent case of the head of a seminary in Israel accused
of sexual misconduct with students is an example of the need for rabbinic
action. While according to Israeli law the behavior is illegal it is unlikely
that American students, who have returned home and know little Hebrew, will go
to the Israeli police. Only pressure from an external דין בית
will cause the offender to resign his position.
Since he created the school and chose its staff a thorough
investigation of the circumstances is necessary to determine if others were
negligent and guilty of enabling the abuse or covering it up. This would
require speaking first to all the students who were abused or witnessed any
questionable behavior and to ascertain if they informed anyone on staff of
their concerns.
After such an ordeal the community has to provide support
for the victims. The impact of discovering that the primary religious
personality of a critical year of Torah learning was an abuser often has a
devastating effect on the students who attended the seminary. Rabbis should
meet with any students who want to discuss their experiences.
Unfortunately the world of Israeli seminaries has no process
for oversight. There is no supervising body. A change of ownership, while
necessary, clearly is inadequate to ensure that the seminary is safe and that
there has been a re-evaluation of the education and atmosphere created by head,
who was revealed to be an abuser of his students.
There is an appropriate concern for the economic welfare of
the administrators and staff of the institutions involved. However the victims
deserve to be the primary concern followed by the other students who attended
or who have registered for the coming year. Any attempt to pressure parents by
refusing to return deposits is a manifestation of wrong priorities.
The lack of any apology to students affected, coupled by
attempts to use religious arguments to prevent them from coming forward, is a
telling indictment of those connected to the seminaries. The way that the
present crisis is handled is the clearest indication of the amount of progress
or lack of such in the response of the Orthodox rabbinate and major
institutions to abuse within the community.
