Gary Rosenblatt of the Jewish Week writes about his 2004 column that (partially) exposed the crimes of serial sex abuser Rabbi Mordechai Gafni:
I tried to present both sides, offering damning accounts from several women who claimed to have been victims of Gafni’s abuse when in their teens, and rabbis and others who supported their claims. And I offered up Gafni’s denials, and other rabbis defending him. They said that even if these things had happened, it was a long time ago and he had done teshuva (repentance).
Not surprisingly, the column was criticized harshly from both sides. The defenders, several of whom I greatly respect, said I had besmirched Gafni’s name; the women said I had been too sympathetic to him rather than expose him for the criminal they believed him to be.
My role is journalist, not judge. But in hindsight, I think I should have written at the time that I found the women far more credible than Gafni.
In the wake of Gafni’s apparent downfall, I spoke about the case to several colleagues who practice and teach journalism. One thinks I should have acted on my instincts and been tougher on Gafni, even though I had no first-hand accounts on the record. Another said I was right to have held out for on-the-record attribution.
Several of Gafni’s most fervent defenders in the community now acknowledge that they were taken in by his protestations of victimization. Each seemed to rely on the other as the source of proof of Gafni’s innocence, underscoring the lack of serious and professional investigations into such murky matters. At least one rabbinic defender was so upset at the time with the tone and tenor of Gafni’s critics, particularly on blogs and Web sites, that he seemed to conflate their stridency with Gafni’s claims of innocence.
But just because critics can be zealous and over the top at times doesn’t mean the source of their ire is blameless.
In the past, when Gafni said he had made mistakes in his life but that he had done teshuva, some were ready to believe him; others were not. At some point in the future he is sure to reappear, eager to resume his role of spiritual guide and teacher, insisting he has gone through therapy and is cured.
Will we believe him then?
Believe him? After years of abusing women and girls and then feigning teshuva? I hope not.
Even if his next sure-to-be teshuva is believable, Gafni still cannot be trusted with any position of leadership or authority in the Jewish community. He's a talented teacher? A brilliant speaker? A tremendous resource? Too bad. Let him wash dishes for a living if he has to.
Will that be a life wasted? Sure. But it will be a guilty life wasted to preserve the lives of innocent people.
If Rabbis Saul Berman and Joseph Telushkin, along with the rest of the rabbinic trash that supported this creep and demonized his victims, do not understand this – and that is likely – I can offer only one suggestion. Go find work in the private sector, something not related to rabbinics or Jewish leadership. Like Gafni, you are not fit for leadership.