Do top haredi rabbis and their mouthpieces really care about stopping child sex abuse?
A group of 107 haredi rabbis signed a kol koreh (public proclamation) telling people it is their Torah responsibility to promptly report reasonable suspicions of child sex abuse to police.
The kol koreh does not mandate or even suggest a rabbi or a senior rabbi or a beit din be consulted before police are called. It just tells Jews to "promptly" report the abuse or suspected abuse to police, who have "the expertise and training to thoroughly and responsibly investigate."
The haredi umbrella organization Agudath Israel of America insists that everyone who suspects child sex abuse may have taken place has to have a senior rabbi or beit din skilled in these issues evaluate the evidence and rule on whether or not the suspected abuse should be reported. In the years since Agudath Israel adopted this position it has never produced a list of these senior rabbis and beit dins for people to consult with, despite claiming years ago that it was working to compile one.
But list or no list, having rabbis evaluate criminal evidence of this sort is a very big mistake. Rabbis lack the proper training and bailiff powers to do so, and the people who they are asked to investigate are often their friends, colleagues or supporters.
But Agudath Israel's top rabbis insist on prior rabbinic approval anyway, knowing that it endangers children.
Satmar and most other hasidic groups not only want rabbis to be told of cases of alleged child sex abuse, they want to be told of cases of certain child sex abuse and they want to be able to handle both types of cases completely in house with no police or child protective services involvement.
None of members of Agudath Israel of America's Council of Torah Sages signed the kol koreh. Neither Satmar rebbe signed. No leading hasidic rabbis or other hasidic rebbes signed. The co-posek (decisor of Jewish law) for OU Kosher, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky did not sign.
All of this is why only one of the 107 rabbis who signed the kol koreh, Shmuel Feurst, is a top tier haredi rabbinic leader. The rest are second or third tier and almost none are hasidim.
And now, in a news blackout worthy of the Soviet Union under Stalin, Yeshiva World and Matzav.com, both closely linked to Agudath Israel, and VIN News, which is close to Satmar, have all failed to even report the kol koreh exists.
And that, my dear readers, is a very strong indication of how unsafe haredi children still are.
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