I have received several emails asking me what my thoughts are on the whole Twerski fiasco
For those of you who do not read the NY Post or VIN, Dov Hikind has decided to try and combat this whole child molestation thing in yeshivas by making some sort of effort- because everyone else likes to shove it under the table and plead denial. He hired famous Chassidic psychologist Dr Bentzion Twerski to spearhead the whole organization. Last week Dr. Twerski resigned after receiving multiple threats from unnamed sources against himself and his family if he does not resign the post. Someone also threatened him with cherem.
Now you all can scream with terror and wonder if all these people who are atheists, off the derech, agnostics and anyone else who is vehemently against anything related to the frum establishment are not justified. Also why would Dr. Twerski care about being put in cherem by a community who would rather people not expose the wrong doing by a few sick individuals. This whole thing is beyond me- and frankly I really didn’t want to write about it- because it just pisses me off.
What could be wrong with someone trying to expose child molesters in the frum community? Maybe the people threatening him are child molesters? DUH!!! Or they house little boys from cheder in cages in their basements for sale to child molesters.
I personally think that the issue will eventually reach the front page of the NY Times in a form reminiscent of the Catholic Priest fiasco and instead of us Jews telling jokes like the following:
What’s the difference between catholic priests and zits? At least a zit waits till your 14 to come on your face!
The non-Jews will be saying it about our Rabbeim and community leaders. Do we want that?
It just irks me, and it also irks me that no one is speaking up for him. Go and google this whole thing. There is not much of a mention in mainstream Jewish media. Our dear friends Yeshiva World News who like to constantly bash the modern orthodox world made absolutely no mention of it. Dov Bear who hates the Yeshiva World News with a passion notes this in a post, but we already know that yeshiva world news is just like Fox News or any other media outlet in that they sensor and have an agenda.
Hey sorry about the serious post, it will be buried, but just to satisfy some of you people hungry for some news on this beautiful Monday.
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Sad situation for Rabbi Twerski, really hard to believe that people would put him in Cherem before the perps.
This hikind character should put the rav/rabbi of each Borough park shtiebel and shul on his task forces, that way this kind of extortion would be baseless.
Then he should set up some infiltrators, investigators and detectives to crack down on all offenders in one big “sweep”.
We had a biker war in Quebec during the mid ninties, that kept escalating until media members and other innocent bystanders started being killed. At that point, the province formed an elite force that brought the entire structure of both rival gangs down with about 1 year, something no one thought they would achieve.
Anyone helping these criminals should have the book thrown at them as well, maybe then they will stop trying to sweep these atrocities under the carpet.
I agree with you – its a sad, disgusting situation. I also wonder why YWN will post stupidity like the music ban, but has absolutely NOTHING about this topic. I just don’t get it. Anyway – glad you commented on it, in spite of the seriousness!
This is absurd. First Kolko gets off scott free for 30 years of molestation, and then Rabbi Twersky resigns due to pressure over rooting out other pervs?
What’s wrong with this picture? Who are these ‘unnamed sources’ that are issuing threats, and why can’t Hikind stand up to them?
Imagine the threatening phone call to Twersky:
Pervert Rabbi: “So, you think you’re going to expose yeshiva perverts? Vee heff vays of making you sorry for your investigation!”
R Twersky: Oh no, pervert rabbi, please don’t impugn my character, I’m just trying to help out!
(click)
It’s theatre of the absurd.
I was actually impressed by the letter Rabbi Twerksi wrote that is posted at Vos is Neias. He put his family first because it was the right thing to do, but at the same time made it publicly known just what he thinks of the situation. He conintually reiterated his support for Dov Hikind and the need to address the issue of molestation in the frum world.
From what I read in the letter, he didn’t step down from the task force because of any fear of retribution against him personally. Rather it was the fact that his children and grandchildren were receiving the threats too. I can understand that.
The people who threatened him should be ashamed of themselves. They have driven an educated, yet frum rabbinical figure away from communal service. Sadly, I guess that is just the way they wanted it.
I e-mailed a link to the story to the editor Yeshiva World a few times. nothing….it’s far more important to bash YU
If no one is standing up to the child molesters and wife beaters who are roaming free, then can Dr. Rabbi Twersky really be all that certain that his children and grandchildren will be safe and protected?
As I was reading his article in VIN, it struck me that something sounded so familiar…then it hit me, a “Frum” version of the Klu Klux Klan is alive and well in Brooklyn, NY. Yeah, hats off to you, Gents.
People have been made aware. This issue goes beyond just the right wing. Who will come out with guidelines for our educators and parents to address this first, the reconstructionists, the reform movement, the USCJ, the OU, the ACLU, the ABC-123, the Nanach?
This is an issue that affects kids in day schools, and kids in families, everywhere. Not that YWN readers would necessarily take anything put forth by the traditional ecohippiedox seriously (and not that they have a national organization or day schools). Which organization has the koach to stand up to the molester protectors for the safety and well-being of children?
I know people who die emotionally every day because of what happened to them in their parochial schools. It is time for this to stop. Which organization will lead our children to a safer educational and home environment?
Which group will tell children that the future of the Jewish people is in their hands and should be in their hands only? Who will have the guts to tell our camps and yeshivas that background checks are a no-brainer and should be mandatory for every single person who ever has contact with a child, period? Who will tell little Jewish children that it’s okay to tell their parents if someone touches them the wrong way, and who will teach them what the wrong way is?
Leadership of Jewish Organizations Needs to Speak Out and Up Against Perpetrators of Harm Against Children Unequivocally. Each passing minute is another minute a child suffers in silence, a child is being hurt. I will come back from this weekend with more information (stats) on this topic and with written guns blazing.
There is no excuse for anyone to be asleep at the wheel about protecting children from sexual predators.
Any society that is overly insular and closed to the outside world is going to breed perversion (just look at the Mormon communities that practice bigamy and child molestation.) It’s time for these people to stop hiding behind concrete walls and join the rest of us who try to abide by the law.
* * When a prominent OU rabbi threatened to expose Phillip Berg and his phony Kabbalah Centre, the rabbi found a dead animal’s head on his office doorknob. Them, two guys came and “talked to him.” Needless to say, power and criminality is everywhere. Just like they force this rabbi to run, they emotionally and anti-intellectually demand you by special “kosher” products which are intrinsic products like rice and vegetables which do not need supervision. Oh, and by the “Jewish” milk lol.
If S(b) is wondering, the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism has a resolution (from 1993), which states
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM supports:
. . .
increased funding for programs that provide support service to preserve families, and to reduce the incidence of child abuse or neglect and the number of children placed in foster care;
Also, there is a responsa by rabbi Elliott Dorff (approved 16-1 by the committe on Jewish Law in 1995), which acknowledges family violence and compares sexual abuse to murder. The responsa states that we may embarrass the perpetrator, may and MUST inform civil authorites of the crime.
Lastly, unlike the Lanner situation, the conservative rabbinical assembly removed all of the authority of David Kaye, who was convicted of sexual abuse.
I suspect that similar rules are in place in the reform, reconstructionist and modern orthodox (YU) world. It is only the ultra orthodox who resist.
I seem to remember that when Dr. Abraham Twerski attempted to expose the man who was abusing his daughter Surel, he also got death threats.
History would seem to indicate that Orthodox Jewish Rabbis take a great risk when they stand up for what’s right.
I have lived in the Orthodox Jewish communities of Far Rockaway, Boro Park, Jerusalem, Denver and Baltimore.
I’ve seen that Jews in general and Orthodox Jews in particular get the leadership they deserve. All the people who want any Dr. Twerski to risk his life should put tuchas affan tish and risk their own, daily.
Nama Frenkel from Jerusalem
I am convinced that the editors of the Yeshiva World News are not frum people – I don’t mean that they are spiritually deficient, I mean that they are not actually members of any Orthodox community. The sheitel ads must be a big moneymaker. And the most active “machmir boy” poster over there got into a serious flirtation with a chick called Think BIG!
I am agreeing with honestly frum YWN can bash YU but it wont write anything on this.
Maybe we should start a boycott of YWN for being a propaganda tool of the child molesters. The only reason they didn’t write about it is probably because their advertisers or underwriters are involved with little boys.
Thanks for that info, csf. Sorry for the dramatic soapboxing, there. I think it’s worth my energy. YU, the JTS, YCT and any other smicha-granting organization are called upon to step up with some guidelines for how the leaders they graduate into our community should/can handle these situations. Chabad and any major religious organization that has members who work with children, too.
i wouldn’t give hikind too much credit for forming the taskforce. he claims to have a list of sex abusers and he threatens to name names if he does not receive communal support for his initiative. the only thing his taskforce needs to do is take that list to police immediately.
I started compiling links to policies mentioned (in other blogs’ comments) on my blog, as well as to some practical guidelines and information offered in various comments. Anyone with useful information is welcome to add to it.
This stuff has me so livid; it’s a shame that some folks in ortholand won’t take what I write seriously because I don’t have man parts. If they would, I’d be tempted to find a skirt-required job in a community organization.
But no shtieb cred, no daily skirt. The glass mechitzah re: ability to communicate with ravs when you’d like to help promote positive change in ortholand can be a real PIT (you know, PIA, but cleaner).
Abuse is terrible… but….
Dov Hikind with no due respect has NO credibilty, Rabbi twerski made a mistake alligning himself with him and his organization
Hikind is a politician and pol’s just care about publicity and not necessarily the end result.
There was a famous case in England where a disturbed girl used abuse on a teacher to get back at him etc, etc. and all the politicans and police took the girls side and there wasn;t a shred of truth in her story.
Hikind wants headlines and headlines are easy to create, how many korbonos of innocent people are we going to let him create before he catches a guilty perv.
Rabbi Dr Twerski lives under a different set of rules called a shulchan Aruch that believes in things like Dan Lekaf Zechut, And Edut and other laws that the media and secular society has no use for.
There is no perfect solution because no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors (except maybe there should NEVER be closed doors, but the ACLU doesn;t allow camera’s anywhere) i know of teachers that never allow themselves to be alone with a student, always with the door open to a sec’y or camera
Start demanding things like that
The following is my letter that I sent to YWN news and also posted to the coffee room- and of course they didn’t post it, didn’t respond to me…
I have been reading with much horror and sadness about the goings on in the “Chareidi” communities in America. The fact that Dr. Bentzion Twerski was threatened into leaving his much admired, self appointed position as leader of a panel to prosecute child molesters is sick and twisted.
My question to you, YWN is if the general chareidi public is, as I believe them to be, good decent people who are as horrified as I am at the fact that molesters get protected and saviors get prosecuted, then why is there not a public outcry to release the names of these reshaim and bring down the hooligans once and for all and restore the good name that chareidim used to have?
You, YWN reach quite a large readership, from all walks of life, but I would assume the mojority of your readers would associate themselves as “yeshivish/chareidi”. If you believe as I do, that most of that community are, in fact, decent people then please please publicize what has happened to Dr. Bentzion Twerski! You have the power to reach many many people and to try and make things right. Let the chareidi public know who is amongst them and let the chareidi public outwradly condemn and prosecute those who are wrong!
If you, YWN stay silent on this issue that is flooding the blogs belonging to the more moderate orthodox then that just proves that the entire chareidi community is still burying their heads in the sand, which is effectively allowing more children to be molested every year, and rachmana l’tzlan preventing those who have already been victimized to get proper treatment. Do the right thing, and make a difference, you have the power to do so. YWN Editor, I don’t know who you are, but if you are in the yeshivish circles as I would assume you are, just think. If it’s Chas V’shalom your kid’s turn next, and you had the power to help stop it- how would you feel?
Do I feel a boycott coming on?
Yes, I say boycott. Dry up their comments (how big can the threads get when there’s no one to attack?) and dry up their advertising. Any other suggestions?
here’s a link to sex offender registries in all states. people can make sure their children’s teachers aren’t on those lists.
missingkids dot com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=1545
LIMEY:
“Abuse is terrible… but…”
always a but
“pol’s just care about publicity and not necessarily the end result.”
the rabbis don’t seem to care much about the end result here either.
“There was a famous case in England . . .”
of course, so all victims are liers
“how many korbonos of innocent people are we going to let him create before he catches a guilty perv.”
how many korbonos of innocent kids are we going to let perverts create before the community steps up to the plate
“Rabbi Dr Twerski lives under a different set of rules called a shulchan Aruch that believes in things like Dan Lekaf Zechut, And Edut and other laws that the media and secular society has no use for.”
a) this didn’t stop him from joining the taskforce to begin with and he didn’t cite it as the reason why he left either
b) i love it how people get selective about when they want to apply halakhah as opposed to state law to various crimes.
c) maybe the shulkhan arukh doesn’t have the solution to every contemporary problem? i remember learning sanhedrin in 11th grade and how difficult it is to convict somone of a capital offense. someone asked the teacher how it could be that the gemara made it so difficult to maintain an orderly society in this regard. he responded that the halakhah was predicated on a generally orderly society in which its members did not regularly committed capital offenses.
Let the anonymous but proud poster get off their butt and say their name when they suggest a boycott!
That rag is such toilet paper that no one who can read English would read it anyway. The notion that one can have an intelligent discussion with a publication printed up in a brick shit house is pathetic.
The people who read this rag are interested in buying things, not in protecting their children.
Everyone reads the New York Times, everyone reads the Wall Street Journal and everyone looks at CNN.
Go there with your case if you have one.
better 100 korbonos of innocent people who are wrongly accused than 1 innocent child molested.
anyway rabbi twersky said in his letter than the task force wasnt about starting a molestation police brigade .. it was precisely about filtering accusations and putting in place systems…
i have no doubt that he will continue his work from behind the scenes, but it’s sad to see that some poeple misunderstood his resignation as meaning “Abuse is terrible… but….”
Mookie
You are the VERY next person I plan to accuse of child abuse. You are probably aware that there is a certificate on file for your Internet address. I’m going to track you down and put you in jail. Just on suspicion and then you can discuss all the karbonos that are worth it, from the inside where the rats and other people like you are hanging out.
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/PreventingChildAbuse.htm
huh?
have trouble reading english?
or was it me??
Woa Nama such violence is not nec
s(b.):
hold your horses. i think you’re missing the whole point. that last link is to the CDC, an agency of the sinister goyyim. this means that not only is it assur to follow its guidelines, but we should davka do the opposite.
but you get an A for effort.
HESH:
did you take me off your blackball list? my comments are actually going through today
Blackball list, an interesting place to be. Lion, yo de man.
Lion, I posted that link to put it out there; people can read it (if they want) and take anything from it they may find useful and adapt it for use in their communities. I will say that I posted the same link in a comment on today’s abuse story on VIN, and the moderator removed the comment (!!). The link is still up on my blog, and the .pdf titled “Responding to inappropriate behavior, breaches in policy, and allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse” has lots of information that could be adapted for use by the shtetl-fabulous. (Yes, I actually read it.)