British Haredi Leader Caught On Video Telling Alleged Child Sex Abuse Victim That It Is Forbidden To Report The Crime To Police

Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, head rabbi of the of the London-based haredi umbrella organization the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, commonly known as Kedassia, was reportedly surreptitiously recorded by a victim of alleged child sexual abuse telling the victim not to report his abuser to police because doing so would be mesirah, informing – a serious violation of Jewish law punishable in some cases with death.

Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, second from left, head down, in a gathering at former Kedassia president Rabbi Elchonon Halpren's synagogue. Second from Padwa's right is the alleged sexual abuser Rabbi Chaim Halpren. This photo was taken weeks after Padwa had heard reports from multiple victims of Halpren – including, allegedly, a tape recording of Halpren confirming the abuse.

British Haredi Leader Caught On Video Telling Alleged Child Sex Abuse Victim That It Is Forbidden To Report The Crime To Police
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, head rabbi of the of the London-based haredi umbrella organization the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, commonly known as Kedassia, was reportedly surreptitiously recorded by a victim of alleged child sexual abuse telling the victim not to report his abuser to police because doing so would be mesirah, informing – a serious violation of Jewish law punishable in some cases with death.

The victim made the video recording as part of Channel 4’s documentary on Haredi child sexual abuse that will air next Wednesday.

In the undercover video the victim reportedly tells Padwa, “Someone who you may know of…sexually abused me when I was younger, when I was a child.” The victim then asks Padwa what he should do about it.

“We are dealing with this,” Padwa responds.

The alleged victim asks whether he should go to the police.

“Oh no,” Padwa replies. Telling police about the sexual abuse would be “mesira.” Padwa then reportedly admonishes the victim, saying in Yiddish, “People mustn’t tell tales.”

The alleged victim asks Padwa if he can be certain that the alleged pedophile isn’t sexually abusing more children.

“The police also cannot assure. The police is not the solution,” Padwa says.

The alleged victim asks what he should do if police find out about the abuse independently.

“Let’s hope it wouldn’t happen,” Padwa says. He then adds, “You shouldn’t do anything that can lead to the police,” the Times of Israel reports.

Channel 4’s documentary will air Wednesday as a special edition of the its Dispatches series. The documentary reportedly highlights 19 alleged cases of child sexual abuse in UK haredi communities. None of those cases have been reported to police because the victims and their families fear they will be persecuted by the haredi community if they do involve police.

When confronted about the contents of the undercover video, a spokesman for Padwa said the alleged victim’s allegations had already been dismissed as “malicious” by UK social services. Padwa’s remarks about avoiding the police were made with that in mind, he claimed.

Minutes of a March 2005 meeting run by UK social services in Hackney, London, and seen by the Times of Israel reportedly document the complaint against an unnamed teacher in a haredi school. The alleged victim claimed to be concerned that his nephew, then a student in that school, “could be subject to the same abuse.” The teacher allegedly offered his former student money “to shut the young person up,” the social services document notes.

The teacher claimed he had not offered the money. Instead, he insisted that the alleged victim had tried to extort him.

Social services accepted the teacher’s version of events, and declined to take further action.

Kedassia will reportedly issue a statement to rabbis and educators tonight or tomorrow announcing the establishment of an internal committee that will work to deal with allegations of abuse in partnership with Kedassia’s beit din, religious court.

According to the Times of Israel, that internal Kedassia committee “is expected to include experts trained in child protection” and will act “in accordance with secular law.”

However, the Times of Israel does not name those experts and their qualifications as experts are not enumerated.

The Times of Israel also does not explain how a rabbinic committee that screens abuse cases and decides which cases, if any, may be reported to police or social services could possibly be acting “in accordance with secular law.”

Indeed, Kedassia’s expected statement reportedly does not tell haredim who suspect a child has been sexually abused to call police or social services.

Instead, the suspected crime is to be reported directly to Kedassia, even though the statement reportedly does acknowledge that there are certain unspecified circumstances where it would be correct to report a pedophile to police or social services.

Kedassia allegedly has a decades long history of covering up child sexual abuse allegations.

[Hat Tip: HeathenHassid.]

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Comments

[987230/מ]

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the main qualification for obtaining semmicha and acting as a rabbi is no longer having a deep and detailed knowledge of Jewih law.

However, being a dangerous sexual deviant (pedophiles being given precedence over all other sexual quirks and foibles) seems to be the way ahead. Is it no wonder that more and more Jews are abandoning orthodoxy with the examples their so-called "spiritual leaders" are offering?

Also, let us not forget that good old Jewish mantra: "Mah yagidu hagoyim"? They are rolling on the floor laughing at us - and with excellent cause, too.

[jancsibacsi]

Lets understand one thing theese all knowing rebbes are perfect gods in human form and they have the solution to all things that ail humanity ,that is why they are clothed in such a holy way,of course if they stroke their beard then they are truly have a perfect answer one of them is just to let a molester go his way and if no one knws about it then they solved the problem,i can say for sure that theese all knowing wise man are the ultimate fools on this planet just sit on their asses and everything will be solved

[Yosef ben Matitya]

one has to understand the turd animal, if every victim goes complaining to the police, who know? one day, the victims of his holyness (that behatted in a rodent skin hat) might complain about him!

[YTHM]

Timesofisrael.com is a ZIONIST propaganda machine. How many secular pedophiles are walking around in the UK or Israel? You would think zero because you never hear anything about it in the press. My guess is in the hundreds.

But it's clear what's going on today. The goal of the zionists is to destroy Yiddishkeit world-wide by any means, with a focus on the Charedim first. Even if it means being silent about their own mishaps in their failed zionist concoction called "Israel".

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Yankel
"Torah law comes first."

Unless, as any religion, it's subverted to push a false statement or cover a crime (see: Roman Catholic Clergy, Pedophiles, protection off).

Ah, technology. The bane of the extremist Chareidim Rabbinate.

[Dovid]

YTHM - you are a disgusting piece of vermin who is not interested protecting our precious children from sexual abuse and who tries to use Yiddishkeit to protect the abusers. I cannot think of a more serious example of Chillul Hashem than the one perpetrated by people like you.

Just like the Catholic church hid and covered up for its priests who were sexually abusing young children, SOME chareidi Rabbis and institions are doing the same thing.

When people and institutions (specially ones that parents have trusted to take care of their children) help pedophiles to hide from the police, those people also get into trouble. Their institutions get fined, forced to reform themselves or get taken down completely.

Was the Catholic Church not in the news for the same thing almost every day for the past decade and more for doing the same thing, idiot??? Is that a Zionist plot too??

How do you dare to try to use Yiddishkeit to shield men who rape our children???

[Dovid]

Shmarya, Kedassia is the name of the UOHC's kashrus supervision. It's inaccurate to use it as a synonym for the UOHC.

[Shmarya]

Shmarya, Kedassia is the name of the UOHC's kashrus supervision. It's inaccurate to use it as a synonym for the UOHC.

Posted by: Dovid | January 24, 2013 at 06:09 PM

As I wrote, UOHC is commonly known as Kedassia – and it is.

[jancsibacsi]

YTHM-No one can destroy yiddishkeit as much as the religious fanatics like you you are youre own worst enemy that is obvious from youre writing you are evil beyond words,for youre information the zionists are successes compared to youre fanatical hate and insane fixation on the zionists youre projecting youre own miserable self hate on youre tottaly incapable of seeing the obvious youre own failu.

[A. Nuran]

Because nothing, NOTHING is as important as preserving a yid's right to fuck little children in the arse. If that's Judaism sign me up as a Baptist. Or a Rastafarian. Or a Pastafarian.

[Lawrence kulak]

One of the main reasons why the Haredim don't want to involve the police is because they view somebody who molests as a sick person who needs help and who needs to to teshuva. However, because of this sympathy for the perpetrator it is too often the case that he is allowed to go on committing these acts because the punitive measures (if any) that are put in place cannot halt his sick desires. The Rabbonim will not get a molestor to stop unless his bones are broken and it is made clear to him that it will happen again. If they refuse to do this and still preach against involving the police they are nothing more than hypocrites.

[NeverFrum]

But it's clear what's going on today. The goal of the zionists is to destroy Yiddishkeit world-wide by any means, with a focus on the Charedim first. Even if it means being silent about their own mishaps in their failed zionist concoction called "Israel".

Posted by: YTHM | January 24, 2013 at 05:27 PM

Whatever do Cheredim have to do with Judaism....they are members of a sick cult that maybe at one point long ago was derived from the Jewish religion. I hope that the Zionists do indeed destroy this sick and twisted deviant subculture.

[S M L]

"...mesirah, informing – a serious violation of Jewish law punishable in some cases with death...."

"...Omertà implies "the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime." A person should absolutely avoid interfering in the business of others and should not inform the authorities of a crime under any circumstances (though if justified he may personally avenge a physical attack on himself or on his family through the use of vendetta). Even if somebody is convicted of a crime he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence without giving the police any information about the real criminal, even if that criminal has nothing to do with the Mafia himself. Within Mafia culture, breaking omertà is punishable by death..."

OK, class: your assignment for today is to explain the moral and functional difference between the two: mesirah and omerta, ethnic origins of the two aside.

Probably the only reason that this perversion of religiosity and the sexual perversion that goes along with it won't be on the front pages is that hardly anybody but Jews give a f--k about what the fur-hatted ones do so they fly pretty much under the radar, keeping their abuses hidden under fur and gabardine and tzitzit. Sickening.

[S M L]

This is completely off topic I realize however I would like to observe that the 'captcha' graphics that this blog uses at time of posting are the most obscure and illegible of any I've ever experienced anywhere. Nowhere but here do I find myself guessing wrong with regularity as to what the characters are. Is this really necessary? Are the spam bots beating down the doors with greater intensity here than just about anyplace else?

[three_oaths]

Death to R. Padwa and the brainwashed clerics at Kedassia! They ought to be beaten upside-the-head and/or prosecuted for obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

R. Padwa's opinion is full of baloney. There is no issur of mesirah in a country like the UK because England is governed by the rule of law with the legal system fundamentally just and fair. The Beis Din system in Great Britain is obviously incapable of prosecuting child sex abuse due to the lack of dayanim with training from a sex crimes unit, the inadmissability of testimony from women and children, and the absence of law enforcement powers (arrest, subpoena, pre-trial detention, compel production of evidence, prosecute for tampering or obstruction, and impose jail time). In addition, child sex abuse is a violent crime that threatens public safety, and an abuser is considered a rodef.

[Horsey]

If a fellow refuses to give a get to a choshuve girl the rabbis will see to it that he gets the shit kicked out of him within inches of his life. Why is a child molester not at least deserving of the same?

[David]

But it's clear what's going on today. The goal of the zionists is to destroy Yiddishkeit world-wide by any means, with a focus on the Charedim first.

Posted by: YTHM | January 24, 2013 at 05:27 PM

As NeverFrum said Charedism has very little to do with Judaism. It is a sick perverted cult and getting worse daily. It engages in regular gross violations of Halacha and causes an enormous Chillul Hashem.

Examples include:
-Failing to educate children or themselves.
-Failing to work (partly because children are uneducated).
-In Israel refusing to do compulsory military service.
-Ongoing fraud, theft and coercion and the covering up of major crimes like pedophilia as a WAY OF LIFE.
-Ignoring the civil law wherever they live.
-Full time "learning" when that was never a genuine Jewish lifestyle. Even great sages and scholars had normal jobs.

The list is endless - just read FM every day!

YTHM, the Charedim represent one of the most destructive forces that Judaism has ever encountered. By their example they are driving Jews AWAY from Yiddishkeit and turning non-Jews into antisemites.

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: David
"By their example they are driving Jews AWAY from Yiddishkeit and turning non-Jews into antisemites."

The concise point of the article (well, the whole of the extremists in this subculture), in a nutshell.

[real]

The real reason why they protect molesters is mainly that there wives should stay with them. If they dont they fall on the community to support them and their children.

[MR]

Anyone who peverts the cause of justice should be reported to the police and be tried in court.

It makes no difference who it is, or what position they hold. Geffrey Archer a Lord and a member of parliament was jailed for four years for lying about a diary.

The maximum sentence for perverting the cause of justice in UK is life imprisonment.

The recording should be taken straight to the police.

[Dovid]

Shmarya: "UOHC is commonly known as Kedassia"

No it isn't.

Where did you hear that? (From the Times of Israel, which also gets it wrong?)

[Shmarya]

Shmarya: "UOHC is commonly known as Kedassia"

No it isn't.

Where did you hear that? (From the Times of Israel, which also gets it wrong?)

Posted by: Dovid | January 25, 2013 at 11:33 AM

Sigh.

Well, then the haredim who have referred to it that way over the past few years that I've been doing this are also wrong.

I think your confusion comes from the fact that there is a need that you miss to distinguish the UOHC from the OU and to indicate that the UOHC is haredi while the OU is not.

[Dovid]

Nope. I don't know which chareidim you mean - perhaps you can cite some examples.

I'm English, and no-one ever uses "Kedassia" to refer to anything other than in connection with the kashrus authority. (Someone might call them "the Kedassia rabbis" or some such thing, but then it's only to refer to the fact that the rabbis are some of the same people).

[Shmarya]

Nope. I don't know which chareidim you mean - perhaps you can cite some examples.

I'm English, and no-one ever uses "Kedassia" to refer to anything other than in connection with the kashrus authority. (Someone might call them "the Kedassia rabbis" or some such thing, but then it's only to refer to the fact that the rabbis are some of the same people).

Posted by: Dovid | January 25, 2013 at 12:40 PM

You're wrong.

They certainly do when speaking to Americans.

Past this, you're being pedantic.

Kedassia is a part of UOHC just as Badatz Yerushalayim is a part of Edah Haredit, and both are best known by their kosher supervision marks, just as the OU is best known by it's.

[NeverFrum]

Dovid, who gives a shit what you call them....they are a sick cult and they protect child molesters...call them whatever you want.

[Dovid]

Sorry Shmarya, I'm right.

I asked for an example and you haven't come up with one.

You're not in a position to assert how the UOHC is "best known."

You'll never, ever admit to a mistake.

[nuchem]

efraim padwa is a gangster working for satmar