Justice or Vengeance?

NY Governor Cuomo meets with survivors and advocates back in January (NYP)

The State of New York just passed a law removing the statute of limitations on how long a survivor of sexual abuse can sue his abuser and the institutions that protected them. It is called the Child Victims Act and will enable survivors who were denied justice in the past to seek it now. Survivors up to age 55 will have a one year window to file suit.

I supported this legislation and welcome it - even though there was a lot of opposition to it from some sectors of the Orthodox Jewish establishment. The most prominent among them being Agudath Israel. (They have responded to the passage of the Child Victims Act here.)

The fear was that a lot of well established Yeshivos and day schools where abuse took place even decades ago and whose administration; faculty;  parent and student body have long ago been totally replaced. And might not even have any knowledge at all about what happened back then and certainly no blame. Good schools that are doing their jobs and even have programs in place to prevent sexual abuse and properly deal with it if it happens could easily be destroyed by a massive judgment against them for a survivor of abuse that happened decades ago.

I believe that is a reasonable fear. But I still supported the legislation based on the observation made by Rabbi Yosef Blau a few years ago when the legislation was first proposed (and later defeated). He said that similar legislation that had existed in other locations did not significantly harm those institutions while at the same time giving survivors a measure of justice. I believe the same thing will happen here. Those institutions that deserve to continue educating our children will survive.

But as I said, Agudah and other organizations in opposition to this legislation do have a principled opposition and legitimate fears. There is no guarantee that any school that is sued will survive a multi million dollar judgment against them. I don’t see how anyone cannot understand such fears. If enough schools are successfully sued that way, it could lead to a lot of children being left out in the cold - with no ability to get a formal religious education.

That is not a desirable outcome no matter whose side you are on. While I am on the side of the victim that does not mean I don’t share Agudah’s concerns. I do. I just believe that justice will somehow prevail for both sides. Survivors will get their due. And most schools will survive. At the end of the one year window, I believe there will be little if any permanent damage to New York’s Orthodox Jewish educational system.

What get’s me upset, however, is the venom some survivor advocates have against anyone whose views are not in lockstep with them. They have a ‘no prisoners’ mentality about this. ‘If you’re not with us 100% - you’re against us’. ‘You are a terrible person that cares only about money while not caring about justice for survivors at all!’

I’m sorry but that just rubs me the wrong way. Is there room for nuance? Is there no room for principled disagreement? How can they smear the name of one of the most effective fighters for survivor justice in the Orthodox world today, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz just because he disagreed with them on one issue! Rabbi Horowitz is a hero! …a  man that is involved in a legal battle in Israel – spending much time and money defending himself in a ‘defamation’ lawsuit brought by a sexual predator. All because he tried to warn people there about him. 

And even before that he has worked tirelessly on a variety of ways to teach the entire Orthodox Jewish community (from left to right) how to prevent sexual abuse in any and all situations - and what to do if it God forbid happens. A book on that subject he collaborated on has been translated into Hebrew (and I believe Yiddish as well) and has been widely distributed both here and in Israel! This is someone to criticize and smear because of a principled opinion that is not in lockstep with survivor advocates?!

Then there is Amudim founder and director, Rabbi Zvi Gluck- yet another hero that has dedicated his life to helping survivors.  He even welcomed this legislation back in January when it was still pending. And yet he too was smeared by the same survivor advocate. Instead of praising Rabbi Gluck for all he’s done and continues to do, he vilified him for an error he made back then: 

Perhaps the most deceptive position on the issue came from Rabbi Zvi Gluck who celebrated the extension of the criminal statute of limitations  but wrote  “The Child Victims Act will, unfortunately, not apply to those victims who were abused prior to the new law going into effect.”  This is outright false. The lookback window allows survivors of child abuse to sue (but not press criminal charges) regardless of how long ago it happened. I can only imagine he was using his cred for his work helping survivors of abuse with therapy to ward off threats to the institutions whose backing he needs including the Agudah’s Moetzet. His halachic advisor is Rabbi Elya Brudny, a member of the Moetzet 

I’m sorry but this kind of intolerance is just plain wrong and in and of itself deceptive since he failed to mention that this error was made back in January. Not now in August when the  Child Victims Act was finally passed.

Based on these kinds of reactions, I fully expect to be vilified too just for defending two people that were  in my view wrongly attacked!

This kind of intolerance smacks of vengeance not only against abusers and their protector/enablers but against Orthodoxy itself. It is almost as though the hope is the entire Yeshiva system collapses and Orthodox Judaism right along with it! 

I understand why a sincere survivor advocate might feel that way. But that does not make it any more rational or moral. And perhaps even worse - it undercuts their credibility in my view. Something survivors do not need.