Baltimore Rabbis and Ohel Make the Wrong Choice on Rabbi-on-Boy Child Sexual Abuse – Again, part 2

So what kind of gathering was the Baltimore Vaad HaRabbonim's “How To Protect Our Children,” held a couple of weeks ago in response to a myriad of child sexual abuse  allegations in the Baltimore Orthodox community?

This kind:

The "Catholic Conference of Orthodox Rabbis
By Phil Jacobs
Baltimore Jewish Times Blog - February 29, 2008

It was as controlled an environment as a fish tank. The temperature was right, the filter was working perfectly, there was enough food sprinkled on top for feeding.

Over 500 people don’t just come to a meeting on a freezing February night to hear what the Vaad HaRabbonim wanted them to hear. They, for the most part, ate the “fish food.”

Questions were controlled and filtered.

The man we really all came to hear was ostensibly silenced by a time limitation.

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, a man who knows of so much community pain and victimization, is given the opportunity to speak…for an inordinately long period of time. He took from the time we could have used to get yet another question in for Dr. Pelcovitz.

So before we start thumping our chests about what a wonderful success story last Wednesday night was, this was opportunity missed.

Hug your kid, make him tougher, call your rabbi. That’s right, keep it in the fish tank, in the filtered water, in the community.

That’s pretty much all you have to know.

A letter from the Vaad went out on April 11 of 2007. Ten months later, we have a meeting. Did it ever occur to anyone why the numbers were so high at this meeting? Was it because we had nothing else to do on a Wednesday night? People are hurting. They need help. Some looked around the room nervously and took note of the friends and neighbors they saw there.

Where were the civil authorities to address us? Molestation is a felony, isn’t it?  Who do we call if we suspect something is wrong, a rabbi? Should I call a rabbi if I see a house burning down?
Should I call a rabbi if a kid breaks his arm? Should I call a salesman if I want to learn about Shabbat?

Don’t accept last Wednesday evening. Demand that something better be presented.

Where were the 23 who so “bravely” signed that letter last April 11? I’d say less than half attended. A couple of the rabbis even left early

Maybe we should have a meeting without the rabbis. Maybe we’d feel less inhibited about asking real questions. Rabbis, did you look around the sanctuary last Wednesday? Did it dawn on you that some of these people were perhaps coming because they needed to be saved some how?

A small handful of rabbis showed admirable effort getting a full house last week. You brought the issue to the front, which I give you total credit for.

But we are all still wondering what to do now? Do we wait another 10 months?

The name of the program was “How To Protect Our Children.” An obviously frustrated man sitting near me had his own name for the evening. He simply renamed it a meeting of the “Catholic Conference of Orthodox Rabbis.”

Earlier post.

Baltimore Jewish Times Blog.

[Hat Tip: Yankel.]

Comments

[Emdee]

Shmarya,

I've been reading your blog for a couple days now. Although I don't agree with everything you say, there are some views that you espouse which I feel strongly about. Particularly about Rabbis and crime. I actually found you site while reading about the Spinka Rav.

Much of you site seems dedicated to showing the "fallacy" of Chabad.

You seem to hold that it is a unanimously **rejected idea** that the messiah may be chosen from those who are resurrected. I would like to know your response to the following:

In the Artscroll Sanhedrin on page 98b4 in note 42 it says, quote, "Abarbanel explains that it is possible for the Messiah to be among the resurrected (Yeshuos Meshico Iyun 2 ch. 1)."

Thank you.

[Shmarya]

The Abarbanel rejects that idea clearly. He cites a minor rabbi he considers mistaken and proves him so.

There is no normative source for a risen messiah, a messiah from the dead, or the like.

See the uncensored rambam, hilkhot melakhim.

[Emdee]

Well the Artscroll clearly quoted him. You can hardly argue that the Artscroll is not "normative."

You, however, contend that the Arbabanel clearly rejects the idea. I will attempt to find the source quoted in the artscroll. I will report what I find.

[a reader]

artscroll is only "normative" if normative means "distorted to promote ridiculous haredi agenda"

[Yochanan Lavie]

Q: Why did the baal teshuvah cross the road?

A: Because the Artscroll siddur told him to.

[shmuel]

Baltimore's Jewish community is both great and pathetic at the same time. How a bunch of otherwise intelligent people can put up with such "leaders" is beyond me. Instead of asking for the resignations of those 23 rabbis who admitted that they acted horribly wrong for 40 years, they:
1. Take no action at all;
2. Don't arrange a community-wide meeting for 10 months (though The Awareness Center did put together something recently, true);
3. Show up when the "Vaad" tells them to;
4. Go along with the ridiculous "submit your questions for our vetting and we'll decide which ones we'll answer" policy, something that seems to be a Baltimore minhag---it was also done at a "chinuch" conference 1-2 years ago;
5. When they are lectured to that they must report crimes to the very rabbis who admitted their complete ignorance of the depth of the problem for 40-50 years(!), they just sit politely and keep listening(though Vicky Polin claims to have gathered the courage to ask David mandel about the idiocy of that approach and he just...ignored her);
6. No outrage at the insult that they just sat through. Everything is fine. Some of our boys, baruch Hashem, are in Lakewood. Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem. That's all that counts.
7. The nicest people, who are the biggest saps I ever saw. And they put up with this joke of rabbinical "leadership' because how else will their kids get that Lakewood shidduch?

[Yankel]

What is interesting is that Ohel has some mandated reporters working for them.

Do they report suspected abuse or do they go to Rabbis?

If they go directly to the police, or protective services etc they will be violating what seems to be the official policy of their organization.

If Ohel receives funds from Federation, Federation should be contacted and told they are supporitng a Jewish social service organization that promotes violating NY State Law and protects possible abusers from prosecution.

Yankel