UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah
The fact that communal leaders in these two cases are protecting and enabling abusers, or condemning legitimate accusers, underscores that our community still has a long way to go. And given the high stakes of life and death and mental health of our children, we can’t afford to wait. Things will only change if our community loudly and articulately demands it.
Rabbi Heshie Billet, a former president of the Rabbinical Council of America, has a good piece on child sexual abuse in the Jewish Week.
Billet points out that one of the effects of child sexual abuse is suicide by victims and that allegations of child sexual abuse must be treated as a life and death issue akin to murder becauase of that. He castigates Bnei Akiva for allowing Rabbi Haim Druckman – a known enabler and defender of pedophiles – to rehire convicted child sexual abuser Rabbi Mordechai Elon only days after Elon was convicted of using force to sexually abuse a minor student, and does the same to the OU for allowing Rabbi Yisrael Belsky – another well-known enabler of pedophiles and abuser of theiri victims – to remain on staff:
Unfortunately, the very simple, just and halakhic actions Billet calls for will almost certainly not be taken by
…[Yeshivot Bnei Akiva] must insist that Rabbi Druckman retract the Rav Elon appointment. If he refuses, the organization must override his decision.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.