Manny Waks
14/8/2016
Today is Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, when we commemorate the destruction of the Jewish temples. Traditionally we read from Eicha, the Book of Lamentations.
A courageous victim/survivor of child sexual abuse has written their own powerful version, which I’m sharing below with their permission:
Kinah, from a survivor of child sexual abuse.
אֵיכָה
How
How did you let this happen to her?
בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַּיְלָה וְדִמְעָתָהּ עַל לֶחֱיָהּ אֵין לָהּ מְנַחֵם מִכָּל אֹהֲבֶיהָ כָּל רֵעֶיהָ בָּגְדוּ בָהּ הָיוּ לָהּ לְאֹיְבִים:
She weeps, yea, she weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheek; she has no comforter among all her lovers; all her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
How do you, a rav, an askan, a dayan, a teacher, see the pain of an adult still hurt from the pain inflicted upon them as a child, and turn the other check ‘because it happened ten years ago’?
How do you, a rav, an askan, a dayan, a teacher, see the pain of a parent begging on behalf of their betrayed child, and say, well, we can’t believe the testimony of a child, and there is no one else who witnessed the act?
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.