NEW YORK (NY)
The Times of Israel
December 19, 2017
By Cathryn J. Prince
After an internal investigation, the movement cuts ties with its longtime youth head. But a leading child advocate says it shouldn’t take one person’s courage to change a system
NEW YORK — An anonymous November 9 Facebook post cracked a dam of silence surrounding a decades-long child sex scandal as allegations of abuse began trickling forth from the dozens of alleged victims of Jules Gutin, the longtime and much lauded director of the Conservative movement’s youth movement.
Earlier this week the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) severed ties with Gutin, 67, after an internal investigation substantiated an allegation of child sexual abuse dating back 33 years.
For many former USY members, the airing of the abuse allegations is a moment of reckoning that is late in coming — and not entirely embraced by all.
Speaking from his Jerusalem office, former United Synagogue Youth (USY) leader Arnie Draiman said he wasn’t shocked late last week to hear USCJ had severed ties with Gutin, but is dismayed by the shattering silence from his cohort in the announcement’s wake.
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