UNITED STATES
Jerusalem Post
More than 100 prominent haredi rabbis and Jewish educators from across the United States have signed a public declaration stating that it is an obligation of Jewish law on all Jews to immediately report and notify law enforcement officials when a reasonable suspicion of child abuse exists.
The declaration was described as “a historic watershed” for its broad-based support from a large number of haredi rabbis from major Jewish communities in the US.
The letter addresses the need to prevent and eradicate the epidemic of child abuse adversely affecting the Jewish community.
“We, the undersigned, affirm that any individual with firsthand knowledge or reasonable basis to suspect child abuse has a religious obligation to promptly notify the secular law enforcement of that information,” the declaration reads. “These individuals have the experience, expertise and training to thoroughly and responsibly investigate the matter. Furthermore, those deemed “mandated reporters” under secular law must obey their State’s reporting requirements.”
The rabbis said in their declaration that “lives can be ruined or ended by unreported child abuse, as we are too often tragically reminded” and cited the Biblical injunction “Do not stand by while your neighbor’s blood is shed,” as the basis for reporting suspected cases of child abuse.
Among the signatories are Rabbi Nota Greenblatt, the head of the rabbinical court in Memphis, Tenn., Rabbi Dov Aharon Brisman, head of the rabbinical court in Philadelphia, Rabbi Peretz Steinberg, co-chairman of the rabbinical court of the Agudath Yisroel organization and Rabbi Yechiel Perr, Dean of the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway/Derech Ayson Rabbinical Seminary
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