The Appalling Jewish Press Smears 6-Year-Old Alleged Child Sex Abuse Victims

The appalling Jewish Press has published a horrific news article by its online editor, Yori Yanover. Yanover has a long history of allegedly harassing and stalking online advocates for victims. He also infamously wrote a very biased, unethical article many years ago for the Forward about Chabad – without disclosing that he worked for Chabad. The Jewish Press knew about Yanover's "issues," but it hired him anyway. And this is the result…

Yori Yanover

The horrific 'news' piece posted below – which is unethical, openly biased, stupid and obscene – was published as a news report by the Jewish Press. (It would simply be horrific, stupid and obscene if it were an op-ed.)

Its author, Yori Yanover, has a long history of allegedly harassing and stalking online advocates for victims. He also infamously wrote a very biased, unethical article many years ago for the Forward about Chabad – without disclosing that he worked for Chabad.

Even with this history, the Jewish Press hired Yanover to be its senior Internet editor – something I told people close to the Jewish Press would be a tremendous error.

And an error it clearly is.

Here is a prime example of why Yori Yanover should never work in news ever again:

Jewish Teacher Charged with Molestation and Fired on Dubious Grounds
The arrest was made based on the testimony of a 12-year-old babysitter's hearsay from a 6- and a 7-year-old.
Yori Yanover • The Jewish Press
Published: May 13th, 2013

Jordan Eareckson Murray, 32, father of three, known by his students as Rabbi Yaakov, taught first and second grade at the Torah Day School, on South Ferdinand Street in Columbia City, Seattle, and, reportedly, groped two female students, ages 6 and 7, after putting them on his lap behind his desk, in front of other students.

He was arrested May 3 and spent close to 48 hours in the King County Jail before posting a $100,000 bond, according to jail and court records.

Formal charges were filed last week, accusing Murray of touching the two girls under their clothes numerous times since the middle of the school year. Other students were unaware of the behavior because Murray’s desk blocked their view, according to the charges.

Here’s how the evidence against Muray was collected:

The two alleged victims were playing together at the younger girl’s house and told the girl’s 12-year-old sister, also a student at the Torah Day School, that “Rabbi Murray puts his hands in their pants,” according to the charges, which note that the two younger girls “were scared” and confused and didn’t know why it was happening.

If it was happening.

The 12-year-old sister brought the girls to her mother, and they disclosed the alleged abuse, according to the charges.

The 12-year-old had baby-sat Murray’s children in the past, according to reports.

In other words, the arrest was made based on the testimony of a 12-year-old babysitter’s hearsay from a 6- and a 7-year-old.

The Seattle Police Department received two referrals from Child Protective Services on April 23 and launched an investigation, the papers say.

Murray declined to speak with investigators, which means he’s getting good legal advice.

Here’s what Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Spoor had to say on the case:

“The defendant is a clear danger to children given the circumstances of this crime where he abused his position of trust as a first- and second-grade teacher, secretly molesting these girls in class in front of others.”

Based on the hearsay testimony of a 12-year old who heard it from her 6-year-old sister and her 7-year-old friend.

I’m not saying the man is innocent—how could I possibly tell? But I’ve been in this business a few years, and when it smells, I can sense it. These cases always depend on the quality of police investigation, most importantly: how much of the information came voluntarily from the child witness, and how much did the interrogating detective feed her.

Children do not have a developed sense of right and wrong, children have magical thinking, children are incapable of reasoning the way adults do. It’s extremely tough for experts in the field to get untainted information from children, because children are constantly on the lookout for cues as to what the adult wants them to say.

Here’s something about the quality of the detective work in this case:

Seattle Detective Michael Moore told the court that a 6-year-old girl had told him that after she approached Murray to show him her school work, Murray put her on his lap and shoved his hands down her pants while he was seated behind his desk. As he did so, Murray stared at the girl’s school work as though he was reading it, Moore continued. The detective added that the rest of the first-grade class was unaware Murray was groping the child.

Having spent two years of my life in the first and the second grades (one year each), I’m trying to imagine a situation whereby a teacher manages to pull off that feat of depravity with no one noticing.

Of course, as is common in these cases, which often turn out to be nothing more than mass hysteria, once the news spreads about the alleged molestation by a rabbi, local children suddenly remember having been abused by the same man.

The chilling documentary, Capturing the Friedmans, shows one such case, where an entire family was destroyed by mass hysteria, spun by confused children, frightened parents, and shoddy work, even, possibly, lies, of the detectives of the Great Neck PD. In 1988, one of the family members, Jesse Friedman, was coerced into pleading guilty to some incredible and imaginary crimes of child sexual abuse, and sentenced to 18 years in prison. In July, 2010, the Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals said there was “a reasonable likelihood” that Jesse Friedman was wrongfully convicted.

In the Seattle case, another 6-year-old has already come up with a description of sitting on Murray’s lap or standing between his legs, and said other girls in her class also sat on his lap, according to the charges. The girl said Murray often hugged her from behind and touched her over her clothing, the papers say.

So, after having been unaware of anything out of the ordinary happening in the original report, all of a sudden we hear of busy molestation schedules in Rabbi Yaakov’s classroom.

By now there are at least four other students in Murray’s classes, in addition to the original two, all ages 6 and 7, who have “routinely complained of anxiety, headaches and stomach aches,” but the girls’ parents said the children were fine and acted normally after being sent home early, the papers say.

In today’s U.S.A. you’ll catch a better break planting bombs than being a rabbi accused of henky penky.

Murray was fired following the allegations. According to Dan Donohoe, spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, he does not have a criminal history. Originally, the police told the press that Murray had a criminal record in another state, but then they issued a retraction.

Gives you an idea of the quality of their police work?

Here is the redacted charge sheet and other court documents. You can see what Murray allegedly did and how he was arrested.

Download Information Charge Sheet Yaakov Jordan E. Murray 5-2013 extra redactions

Here are two previous FailedMessiah.com posts accurately reporting what happened:

Seattle Day School Teacher Charged With Child Sexual Abuse.

Why Didn't The Haredi Torah Day School Of Seattle Do A Background Check?

The Jewish Press has as I see it no choice. It either fires Yanover or it loses any semblance of credibility it might have.

Yori Yanover is a sick, disgusting and dishonest man, and the time has long since past that he should be permanently removed from public Jewish life.

In Yanover's twisted mind, the children are all liars or all manipulated, and poor rabbi is wronged – this despite the fact that the girls' reactions to the alleged abuse and the manner in which they told their stories is entirely consistent with how abuse victims of that age behave.

The behavior of the other alleged victims (who may also press charges) is also utterly consistent with the behavior of abuse victims of that age.

I could go on, but what's the point?

There are complaining witnesses who say Murray sexually abused them and there are two complaining witnesses who can testify to the girls' behavior.

In the world of sick, evil little men like Yanover, the testimony of children does not count and a child telling an adult or older sibling that a rabbi "put his hands down my pants" is hearsay.

In the world of Yori Yanover, the only pedophiles who would ever be convicted are the ones caught as at the moment they abuse a child or, perhaps, if the abuse is caught on tape. But this would also be true of adult rape victims and of women who say they were sexually abused by their rabbi – a rabbi who happens to be a close friend of Yanover's.

Normal people understand that not all allegations are true, but they also know that the vast majority are – as the evidence clearly shows.

Yanover's calculus flips this upside down.

Despite the facts, despite the evidence, despite the fact that law enforcement (at least in major and mid-sized cities throughout the US and Canada) have not used the poor interview techniques that were used in some cities 25 years ago in more than two decades, despite the fact that law enforcement officers are now primarily college educated and those who investigate sex crimes against children get extensive detailed training in interview techniques meant to prevent leading the alleged victims to say what they think the detective wants to hear – despite all that,  Yanover sees a world where the alleged abusers are almost always innocent, and the alleged victims are almost always lying, manipulated or enticers.

He is sick, evil man.

The Jewish Press should be very ashamed.

Comments

[maven]

yanover won't be removed because the rabbonim that control the sheep like his position.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"If it was happening."

Nice "news reporting" there.

Old joke about The Jewish Press:

Congregant: Rabbi, can I take The Jewish Press into the bathroom?

Rabbi: The better שאלה is "Can you take The Jewish Press out of the bathroom?"

[bendinai]

"I’ve been in this business a few years, and when it smells, I can sense it." - Yanover

Perhaps the most upsetting issue here is the fact that Yanover is writing about this at all; not even the position that he takes. There are people whose lives are permanently ruined by this, and he has the audacity to comment on it as if he is some moral journalist.

There was a case in a day care center(involving non-Jews) in Massachusetts years ago. The police were able to elicit very detailed accounts of sexual abuse by children; including some very bizarre claims that were so outrageous, the police themselves recognized the lack of reliability. Yet, they picked and chose which pieces of testimony to include in the case, and which to exclude. Finally after years prison served, a judge in the case threw out some of the convictions based on lack of reliable evidence. In the case of Hillary Morgan, whose mother fled the country with her, the only documented sexual abuse was when the mother on her own actually made the daughter pose for pictures simulating what her father had supposedly done to her.

The Massachusetts case showed how young children are subject to pressure exerted by adults; in that case by the police and by the psychologists. What it also revealed was how far kids that age will go in saying things in order to please the adults they are testifying to; and to save that prosecution, the police needed to exclude much of the testimony.

We will never know who did what if anything in this case, but people like Yanover take a tragedy an turn it into a disgusting and despicable farce at the public expense of others.

[WoolSilkCotton, I am a work of art as well as a sports and rock superstar]

That is exactly the kind of story that readers of The Jewish Press want, and that's why it's there.

We are talking about the VIN crowd. No orthodox rabbi can ever do wrong. Women, children, and dogs are in the same category. Israel's government is evil and will remain evil until the frumma are allowed to take over. Secular Jews are dirt, although we will take their money.

Readers of a niche newspaper get the kind of stories they want and deserve.

[GAON]

Interesting advice for pedophiles. If you want to be certain to be judged innocent, stick to 6 year olds, because obviously they have no brain and no sexual organs. And the Jewish Press can dismiss their claims out of hand. DO NOT, DO NOT I repeat, if you are planning pedophilia as a career, go for older children. Their testimony is more likely to be believed. Oh, and i think free copies are available at Hineni on West End Avenue for the taking,
Makes me sick.

[rebitzman]

"the quality of their police work" will be determined at trial.

As to the Jewish Press firing Yori - writers write, often provactive stuff........... it's what they do.

Fire the freakin' editor that let this hatchet job get through.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

"Secular Jews are dirt, although we will take their money."

Tell me about it. Here's an incident that I witnessed first hand many years ago.

There's a guy in Chicago who runs a kiruv organization who happens to be a descendant of the Chidushei HaRim (he's quite proud of that). One day, his הייליקע מוסד received a donation from a Hindu fellow who was a friend of a frummer Yid.

The guy who heads up the מוסד insisted that he could not accept the check because "We don't take money from goyim".

So, he sent the check back to the Hindu fellow's friend -- the frummer Yid. The frummer Yid then went to his Hindu friend and asked that it be endorsed over to him.

The frummer Yid then took the endorsed check back to the kiruv organization thereby preventing "dirty" money from tainting the coffers of this הייליקע מוסד.

[FF]

Yanover writes:'children do not have a developed sense of right and wrong. Children have magical thinking.Children are incapable of reasoning the way adults do.' We could say that yanover doesn't have a developed sense of right and wrong and he behave,think and write like a child.and he's reasoning also like a child. He flaunt himself of spending 2 years (one each) in first and second grade. perhaps even this was too much for him.

[Forty Eighter]

What I am surorised most about this story is that the Jewish Press is still being published. I though that rag was gone years ago.

[rebitzman]

Yori is doing what Yori does - it's the editor that let it through that should be canned.

[Barry]

Some years ago, I watched a documentary about Richard Wagner. The narrator spent 45 minutes torturing himself about the fact that he loved Wagner's music notwithstanding he was morally flawed. He was of the view that someone who had an expertise in 'high culture' would have an inherent higher sense of morality. It took a Holocaust survivor forced to play in a concentration camp orchestra to explain to the narrator that this is not so and that the fact that someone may be an exceptionally talented musician does not make that person intrinsically morally superior, any more than being uninterested in music makes someone morally inferior.

Unfortunately, the view that some 'specialties' are intrinsically morally uplifting is very common and is probably the main factor as to why emotional, physical and sexual abuse is more common in music /choral schools and ballet schools. The horror girls in China suffer to become gymnasts or the drugging of girls by East German swimming coaches is another example of that. In fact what is seen as 'high art' or 'high culture' may more realistically be seen as an unhealthy obsession which children should be protected from. So for example, girls needed to be protected from a ballet director who pressured them to become anorexic for the sake of their art.

I am convinced that something similar happens with religious schools in that priests and rabbis can get away with such conduct because they are seen as having a 'higher calling' so they cannot be harming children when in fact these priests and rabbis religiosity is just have an unhealthy obsession.

Not carrying on the Sabbath, waiting six hours between eating meat and milk, or adopting the lifestyle of 18th century Eastern Europe DOES NOT make you intrinsically moral or safe to be with children. In fact it might do the opposite. It can drive you to put that obsession above that of child welfare.

I am of the view that every 'specialist' school, be it a music school, ballet school or religious school should have a good number of 'non-believers' in its management staff for whom child welfare is not secondary to the 'specialty'. You need to have staff at a ballet school with little interest in dancing who see the importance of girls healthy development as of primary important to stand up to extreme views such as that of the English ballet director at a leading ballet school who encouraged anorexia by complaining that 'tits' on dancers were impediments. You need to have someone to stand up to a music teacher who throws tantrums and screams insults at an eight year old child for not being note perfect at a recital.

It may because Torah Day School only has frummers who over-respect rabbis, at management level that these problems occur. Child welfare is more important than Torah just as it is more important than music, sport or dancing. It should be a requirement that such schools, notwithstanding that they may be private, have a good percentage of non religious people (particularly women) who would never read the Jewish Press, on their boards.

[Abracadabra]

The Jewish Press
4915 16th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11204

NY Telephone Number
(718) 330-1100

Out-of-NY-State Telephone Number
(800) 992-1600

Israel Telephone Number:
972-052-2776-374

www.jewishpress.com/contact

[Jeff]

"I’m not saying the man is innocent—how could I possibly tell? But I’ve been in this business a few years, and when it smells, I can sense it"

Well, there you go.

"Children do not have a developed sense of right and wrong, children have magical thinking, children are incapable of reasoning the way adults do."

Oh no; he did NOT just go there!

You absolutely CANNOT make up this stuff.

[Jeff]

"In today’s U.S.A. you’ll catch a better break planting bombs than being a rabbi accused of henky penky."

Isn't Henky Penky the local gabbai?

Barry, btw - excellent analysis.

[The editor]

this is the same Jewish press that defended mordechai tendler, so what do you expect?

[Avi]

While put in inflammatory language, there is a fair point here: first, innocent until proven guilty; second, there are plenty of cases in which allegations of sexual abuse in child care settings have been found to have been fabricated. Sometimes, the defendants were convicted despite the fact that the children's stories were wildly implausible, and indeed directly contrary to the available physical evidence (e.g., the teachers were sacrificing animals in the basement, but no blood, animal parts, etc. could be found).
So what we have now is an arrest, which is appropriate given the allegations. Beyond that we should reserve judgment.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

@Avi "first, innocent until proven guilty;"

Only in a court of law.

"second, there are plenty of cases in which allegations of sexual abuse in child care settings have been found to have been fabricated"

Name three in the past 18 months.

"Sometimes, the defendants were convicted despite the fact that the children's stories were wildly implausible, [...]"

One case, and you had to crawl into a time machine and travel back 26 years in time to dig it up.

"So what we have now is an arrest, which is appropriate given the allegations. Beyond that we should reserve judgment."

No, we shan't.

[Jay]

The article is clearly biased against the victims. It's only natural coming from someone who grew up on Pravda. His article on Women of the Wall praised the group and questioned their opposition; a surprise move from a paper that opposes WoW

[GAON]

You who presume fabrication are all fn idiots. Do you have any idea how many 30, 40, 50, 60 year olds have just revealed for the very first time, to anyone, re their abuse, where the abusers were dead and there was no motivation to reveal painful things of that nature for which , if they had not had a competent therapist, they still felt inappropriate shame and guilt even if they were , say, rak , l'dugma, 9-13 or so when it happened,. wtf do you think these, now adults have stepped forward, where, in many cases the perps are dead, thank g-d. because it fn was true. why would an adult expose themselves to the embarrassment, amnam that the embarrassment was not theirs, should never have been theirs, but that of the perp, when they were 9 years old. no law suit, no vengeance nothing, only intense discomfort and perhaps still unjustified shame and guilt, which never was theirs, which at nine years old more or less, abused by a trusted person, , but that is the effect of child abuse on the abused. so you who don't believe in the phenomenon, may it never happen to your kids or your grandkids, or maybe it should, so you can then write a book about it, and publish an article in the Jewish Press that the phenomenon does exist. see no evil hear no evil. nice. until it happens to you. or yours, and based on statistics, it probably will.

[unbelievable]

repeat:

see no evil hear no evil. nice. until it happens to you. or yours, and based on statistics, it probably will.

[Critical minyan]

Yori yanover was perfectly lovely to me, always helping out in the lower east side before he moved to Israel.
Defending a possible child molestor is always a controversial thing.
I myself, can't pass judgement on who is right, Shmarya or Yori, because once I start reading the details of the crime i got sickened and skipped to the end.

[Jeff]

"Oh, and i think free copies are available at Hineni on West End Avenue for the taking"

Do they have a history of covering for pedophiles, or are you just saying that b/c they do a lot of "outreach"?

[GAON]

I am only saying that in the past free copies of the "Jewish Press" were available, similar to places that have the Jewish World available.
That is all. I have zero knowledge re your other questions.

[Avi]

GAON, I can give you two reasons why some adults come forward with tales of abuse that turn out to be phony. One is money, if there is someone to sue. Another is incompetent therapists who use hypnosis and other techniques to persuade people that their problems stem from abuse that never happened. There are MANY documented cases of the latter. Of course, most allegations are true. But allegations are just that until they are proven.

[Avi]

Nigritude, false allegations often take years to unravel, as in some of the most egregiously false allegations of child abuse in day care centers. So ask me ten years from now about recent false allegations.