Within Jewish circles, much of the focus on sexual predators hascentered on the Orthodox community, particularly its moreultra-religious precincts, where some contend that clergy sex abuse ismore hidden -- and possibly more widespread -- than elsewhere.
Whether or not those contentions are true, the problem in thatcommunity was spotlighted by two recent episodes in the ferventlyOrthodox, or haredi, community. The first involved a fierce debate overpublic remarks criticizing his community by a haredi rabbi. The secondinvolved the arrest of a haredi rabbi and teacher, who was charged withsexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor.
On Thanksgiving, at the annual national convention of AgudathIsrael of America, a haredi advocacy organization, Rabbi MatisyahuSalomon, a featured speaker, ignited a controversy with his discussionof the haredi response to clergy sex abuse.
Salomon, a dean of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., oneof the world's largest yeshivas, said, according to an Agudath Israelspokesman, that haredim are indeed guilty of "sweeping things under thecarpet." What he meant was open to interpretation.
Salomon declined comment, but according to the Agudath Israelspokesman, Rabbi Avi Shafran, Salomon meant that rather than ignoringor covering up sexual misconduct, as detractors maintain, harediofficials deal with it discreetly to protect the dignity of thefamilies of perpetrators and victims. The response to Salomon's remarkswas swift and often heated, with several Web site and blog contributorsarguing that the rabbi's comments should be taken literally -- that is,haredi officials often look the other way when clergy sex abuse takesplace in their midst.
Shafran, who accused the online detractors of making glib andsweeping generalizations without corroborating evidence, termed thecomments "abhorrent."
Other communities were criticized as well on one Web site.
"Denial, secrecy and sweeping under the carpet are not uniqueto charedi, Orthodox or Jewish institutions," wrote Nachum Klafter, aself-described "frum psychiatrist," in a Nov. 26 posting on the Website, haloscan.com. "They are typical reactions of well-intentioned,scandalized human beings to the horrible shock of childhood sexualabuse."
Eleven days after those remarks were posted, a haredi rabbi, YehudaKolko, was arrested and charged in connection with the allegedmolestation of a 9-year-old boy and a 31-year-old man, both formerstudents of his during different eras at Brooklyn's Yeshiva-MesivtaTorah Temimah. Kolko, 60, had long served the yeshiva as a teacher andan assistant principal.
Kolko, meanwhile, is named in at least four civil suits filedover the past eight months by his alleged victims, including the9-year-old boy. The most recent litigation, which seeks $10 million indamages from Torah Temimah, was filed in New York state court the daybefore Kolko was arrested. It alleges not only that Kolko molested the9-year-old during the 2003-04 school year, but that the schooladministration covered up the rabbi's pedophilia for 25 years.
The suit charges that Rabbi Lipa Margulies, identified as the leader ofTorah Temimah, knew of many "credible allegations of sexual abuse andpedophilia against Kolko," yet continued to employ him as an elementaryschool teacher "and give him unfettered access to young children."
Avi Moskowitz, the attorney representing Torah Temimah, said:"The yeshiva adamantly denies the allegations in the complaints and issure that when the cases are over, the yeshiva will be vindicated."
Another one of the lawsuits brought against Torah Temimah was filed inMay by David Framowitz, now 49 and living in Israel. In that $10million federal litigation, Framowitz, who was joined by a co-plaintiffalso seeking $10 million, alleged that he was victimized by Kolko whilehe was a seventh- and eighth-grader at Torah Temimah.Although the lawsuit, which named Kolko as a co-defendant, referred toFramowitz only as "John Doe No. 1," he has since dropped his anonymityand gone public with his story.
"That's the only way that people would believe that there's actually aproblem, if they knew that there's a real person out there who wasmolested," Framowitz said in a recent telephone interview. "There aremany other victims out there, and I want people to know that thisreally exists."
Framowitz grew up in part in ultra-Orthodox communities inBrooklyn, where rabbinic sex abuse, he said, is rarely reported. Andwhen it is reported, he added, rabbinic courts seldom have theexpertise or the inclination to deal with it effectively.
After his own reports of abuse were met with disbelief andinaction, Framowitz said he chose to "deeply bury" his painful memoriesof the alleged incidents.
"I never really got over it," he said, "but I was able to get on with my life."
An accountant by trade, Framowitz made aliyah several yearsago, and now lives in the West Bank community of Karnei Shomron withhis wife and four adult children. They have one grandson.
Framowitz said he decided to speak out publicly about his experienceafter he learned through the Internet in the fall of 2005 that Kolkowas still teaching young boys. He said he is relieved that Kolko hasbeen arrested and charged, although in connection with reportedincidents unrelated to his alleged victimization.
"It's a relief knowing that the story is finally out there," Framowitzsaid, "and that maybe Kolko will be prevented from being around otherkids."
JTA tried unsuccessfully to reach Kolko, who along with Framowitz, wasthe focus of a May 15 New York magazine story that said "rabbi-on-childmolestation," according to several sources, "is a widespread problem inthe ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, and one that has been long coveredup."
Attorney Jeffrey Herman, who is representing the plaintiffs inthe lawsuits stemming from Kolko's alleged misconduct, was quoted inthe New York magazine piece saying that the clergy abuse situation inthe haredi community "reminds me of where the Catholic Church was 15 or20 years ago. What I see are some members of the community turning ablind eye to what's going on in their backyards."
Sifting the Evidence
Hard numbers are not available to determine if clergy sex abuseis more widespread in haredi communities than in other Jewish locales.However, several insiders said there is anecdotal evidence that abuseoften goes unreported there. The reason, they said, is that manyindividuals in those communities, which are noted for their insularity,resistance to modernity and reverence for religious leaders, are loathto confront rabbis for fear of being publicly shunned.
Shafran said he doubts that clergy sex abuse is more prevalent in theultra-Orthodox world than elsewhere. Asked whether victims there areafraid to report abuse, he said, "I hope it's not true. But it's easyto see how someone would be reluctant to publicly report such anissue."
He said modesty, which is prized by many haredim, might preclude theopen discussion of matters "that are part of the average radio talkshow agenda."
In fact, Shafran acknowledged that "for a person whose whole liferevolves around the community," the ostracism that results frompublicly confronting a leader of that community "can be worse thandeath." Others believe that underreporting of clergy sexual misconductmay in fact facilitate abuse.
"Offenders have learned to hide behind" the reluctance ofvictims to speak out, said Brian Leggiere, an Orthodox Jew and apsychiatrist in Manhattan who has treated both perpetrators and victimsof sexual abuse. He added, though, "The situation is changing for thebetter, but very slowly. Each community is different, so it's hard togeneralize."
In some neighborhoods, Leggiere pointed out, public safety isbeginning to gain traction as an ideal worth defending, as is thenotion that professional therapy or other forms of treatment for sexabuse victims, as well as for perpetrators, should not be stigmatized.
Judging the Judges
Among many Orthodox Jews, thepreferred forum for adjudicating communal disputes is a beit din, arabbinic court. But critics say such panels often try to dissuade sexabuse victims from pursuing their complaints, a charge vigorouslydenied by Shafran. However, he added, "In cases where there is somedegree of doubt, the beit din has a responsibility to counsel againstgoing to authorities until there is proven criminal activity."
"The problem in the ultra-Orthodox community is people go tothe beit din and not to civil authorities," said Mark Dratch, a ModernOrthodox rabbi who chairs the Rabbinical Council of America's TaskForce on Rabbinic Improprieties.
"There is a very complicated relationship between rabbis andcivil authorities," he said. "It doesn't always work appropriately."
Agudath Israel has not promulgated anti-abuse policies for itsaffiliated congregations, Shafran conceded, "nor have there beencomplaints" of sexual misconduct at Agudath Israel-affiliatedcongregations. However, he added, "I wouldn't rule out that one daythere would be such guidelines. The Talmud teaches us that we shouldstay away from even the appearance of impropriety."
Agudath Israel does have binding behavioral guidelines thatapply to its youth groups and its five summer camps, which serve about2,000 youngsters, according to Shafran. Kolko worked at one of thosecamps, Camp Agudah in Ferndale, N.Y., decades ago, according toShafran, apparently long before the behavioral guidelines existed.
The federal lawsuit filed in May states that while Kolko wasat Camp Agudah, he repeatedly molested Framowitz, who was a camperthere in the summers following his seventh- and eighth-grade years atTorah Temimah.
Framowitz's co-plaintiff -- "John Doe No. 2," an adult maleliving in the United States -- alleged that he also was abused byKolko, but only at Torah Temimah. The lawsuit contends that theadministrations at both the camp and the school knew Kolko was apedophile and did nothing about it.
Shafran declined comment on the litigation, which is being divided intotwo complaints, one for each plaintiff, according to attorney Herman.The complaint initiated by Framowitz has been dismissed on theplaintiffs' initiative but will be re-filed, Framowitz and Herman said.
An attorney representing Kolko in the federal litigation declined comment on behalf of his client.
Elsewhere in Orthodoxy
Both the Orthodox Union (OU)and the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) have upgradedbehavioral guidelines and enhanced anti-abuse training programs,according to officials at both organizations. The NCSY policies, whichcovers 17 pages and were revised most recently in October, are bindingon at least 25,000 individuals, including NCSY professionals,volunteers and program participants. The guidelines spell outprohibited conduct in detail, and include step-by-step instructions forfiling an abuse complaint.
Both OU and NCSY officials said they are not aware of anycomplaints of sexual misconduct toward youths since the NCSY guidelineswere upgraded a few years ago.The Chabad-Lubavitch movement has no written conduct guidelinesapplying specifically to its estimated 4,000 global emissaries, knownas shluchim, or its approximately 3,000 multiuse facilities that doubleas synagogues and are usually referred to as Chabad houses. However,many Chabad houses have adopted behavioral policies originallyformulated for the movement's schools, according to movement spokesmanRabbi Zalman Shmotkin.
In addition, Shmotkin said, shluchim must strictly abide bythe Shulchan Aruch, the 16th century code of Jewish law that prohibitsnonmarried or unrelated adults of the opposite sex from being secludedwith each other.
On the School Front
Some of the denominational policies are designed to guard againstsituations that could result in inappropriate contact with minors,regardless of their sex. They mandate, for example, that at least twoadults be present when a child is receiving private religiousinstruction.
A nonseclusion requirement is among many anti-abuse provisions includedin mandatory school behavioral policies adopted by Chabad about fiveyears ago. The policies cover approximately 2,000 personnel at some 350Chabad schools attended by about 24,000 students.
The policies also instruct school officials to consult tworecognized rabbinic authorities -- one Chabad-affiliated and one not --regarding the centuries-old Jewish legal injunction known as mesirah,which in some instances prohibits Jews from reporting Jewishperpetrators to non-Jewish authorities.
Mesirah has been blamed for the reticence of some Orthodox sexabuse victims to go public with their complaints. In a spring 2004article in the anti-abuse publication, Working Together, Dratch saidthat in cases of child sex abuse, "the consensus of contemporary Jewishreligious authorities is that such reporting is religiously mandatory."
Three years ago, several safeguards were adopted by TorahUmesorah-The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, a serviceorganization -- the largest of its kind in the United States -- thatprovides religious educational materials for nearly 200,000 Orthodoxstudents spanning that denomination's ideological spectrum.
The Torah Umesorah guidelines, which were presented to schoolprincipals, warn teachers and other staffers to refrain from sexuallyimmodest behavior or speech and from inappropriate touching. They alsoprohibit school personnel from being secluded with students.
But the guidelines are nonbinding, because each of the hundreds of schools served by Torah Umesorah are self-governing.
"We're a service agency, not a governing agency," said Rabbi Joshua Fishman, the organization's executive vice president.
ElliotPasik, a New York attorney and children's rights advocate, said the wayin which the guidelines were distributed calls into question TorahUmesorah's commitment to protecting students from sexually predatoryteachers and other staffers.
The guidelines were accompanied by a Sept. 24, 2003, coverletter signed by Fishman that said in part: "This document should bemaintained with a sense of confidentiality. It should only be sharedwith your educational administrative and teaching staff."
Perhaps as a result of that directive, Pasik said few, if any,parents he knows with children attending schools serviced by TorahUmesorah were told about the rules, unless they called the nationaloffice in Manhattan. Pasik's children have attended yeshivas affiliatedwith Torah Umesorah. Furthermore, he added, "I have personally spokenwith several teachers, and they knew nothing about these guidelines."
Asked to respond, Fishman declined comment, except to say, "We believe that molesters should be reported."
Pasik said the situation shows the need for a centralized governingbody -- perhaps a state or federal agency -- that can hold schoolsaccountable for the safety of students.
"It's hard for people in any organization to govern themselves," he said. "We're not being patrolled or governed by anybody."
Pasik lobbied for passage of legislation in New York thatauthorizes nonpublic schools to require fingerprinting and FBIbackground checks for prospective employees. The measure was enactedAug. 16.
The larger issue of child molestation in the Orthodoxcommunity was addressed in a one-page statement accompanying the TorahUmesorah guidelines. Issued by the organization's rabbinical board, thestatement says in part that "a small number of individuals have causeduntold pain to many children. In addition to the sins which they havecommitted, they have created painful memories in the minds of theirvictims, memories which can have a devastating lifetime impact."
The statement urges "everyone to use every means to stop theseviolations of children, including, at times, exposing the identities ofthe abusers and even their incarceration. At times, our primary intentmay not be to punish the perpetrators, but rather to help them.Therefore, it is preferable, wherever appropriate, to force them toundergo appropriate professional therapy."
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