What would you do?

amother

Wed, Nov 07 2007, 2:29 pm

What would you honestly do in this situation. My husband told me last night that someone told him that a certain Rebbi in a local Yeshivah is molesting children. We obviously don't know forsure. My husband knows who the guy is, and he told me that the reason it isn't being made a big deal of is because the "accused molester" is the son in law of the principal of another big school in the neighbourhood, and his sister in law is married to the son of the principal of the school where he works.

I don't have kids in that yeshivah but it makes me totally sick that this might be happening to innocent little boys. I really have no way to find out if it is true, and don't chas vesholom want to damage this guy if it isn't. However, the flip side is that if it is true he must be removed from the system and punished, not allowed to continue.

What is to be done? Last night I was physically sick at the thought of this going on. My son is 18 months old but will eventually be in a yeshivah system and it breaks my heart that this problem exists at all.

Is the risk of destroying a possibly innocent person outweighed by what he is being accused of?

southernbubby

Wed, Nov 07 2007, 3:23 pm

Parents can teach their children about inappropriate touching early in life and to report any attempt of another person to touch them inappropriately. They can also have parlor meetings with other parents to discuss what to do and how to form a coalition to keep kids safe. The same way that frum communities have formed groups like shomrim and chavarim and hatzolah, they could form groups to educate kids and parents for prevention.

grin

Wed, Nov 07 2007, 7:37 pm

I know for a fact that there are now rabbanim in the US who are targetting such molesters and bringing them to judgement to rightly protect the children. There treally is no other solution and this is a major probelm. People who were molested in childhood grow up with emotianl disturbances; the fact the the molester may ahve been a rabbi may turn them off to yiddishkeit as well.

see http://www.theawarenesscenter.......html
also http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/legal.html
http://www.shomreiemunah.us/Pe.....a.htm

hers's an exceprt from the last:

Quote:

Rav Gedalyah Dov Schwartz, shlita. R. Schwartz, as you all know,
is the Av Beis Din of Chicago, and a number of years ago Chicago became the
first city to develop protocols for dealing with abuse.
...
Another important element of the effort in Chicago – and R. Schwartz asked
me to stress this – is that it has been led by both R. Schwartz and Rav Avraham
Chaim Levin, shlita, the Telshe Rosh Yeshiva. They are both committed to
dealing with this problem and by working together it has assured all parts of the
community that they are represented and given their effort the widest possible
support.
...
Any questions about the speech or the general topic it discusses can, of
course, be addressed to Rabbi Gottlieb, either by phone (410-358-8604) or by email
rabbigottlieb@shomreiemunah.us

hatzlacha raba