Taking the Rabbis to Church: Learning a Lesson on Dealing with Abuse

WE MIGHT HOPE to be be frummer than the Pope, but we're certainly not infallible. And we might even stand to learn a thing or two from the European Catholic Church when it comes to soul searching.


As reports of sexual abuse by catholic clergy continue to sweep through Europe, so do the searches for answers. What is remarkable about these inquiries is their boldness—how deep they are willing to look for the causes of the abuses and how high up they are willing to look for who is responsible. 


A German investigation that has come increasingly close to the pope has resulted in a senior church official’s acknowledgment that an archdiocese there, while the pope was its archbishop, made “serious mistakes” in handling an abuse case. In Austria, two leading archbishops’ calls for an “unflinching examination” of the roots of the problem of priests abusing children have brought them to question the very institution of priest celibacy and the issue of celibate priests’ “personality development.” As the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn stressed in a recent article, it is time to acknowledge that this examination “requires a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the church and of society as a whole.”
 
COMPARE THAT response to the one offered by the Orthodox leadership, and it begins to seem like some confession might be in order. 


It has been nearly four months since Agudah's Chaim Dovid Zwiebel acknowledged to the press and before a packed convention hall that the way that sexual abuse is dealt with in the Charedi (so-called "Ultra-Orthodox") community must change. During that time, the lack of substantive action toward that end has all but confirmed what advocates had warned at the time: that those words were just that and nothing more.  


As Survivors for Justice's Ben Hirsch points out, even the government seems to be more concerned about abuse in our community than our own leaders. Even as Governor Patterson approved $500,000 for Orthodox abuse victims, our rabbonim have remained silent. 



IN AN AGE when our leaders are being bullied and mislead, standing up to a defensive and complacent public is a difficult task, especially when it pertains to such an ugly truth. But, those in the community who recognize the seriousness of this issue must demand more of our leaders, both our "sarei mei'ot," our shul rabbis and menahalim, and our "sarei alaphim," the gedolim and prominent leaders. 

Parents must ask their principals why they haven't adopted the Torah U'Mesorah guidelines for dealing with reports of abuse in schools. (Unless, you happen to be dealing with the ONE school that has actually adopted them. Of course, these guidelines are only a small start, but they are something!) Congregants must ask their rabbonim what their protocols are for reporting abuse to the police and for supporting those who come forth and their families. If they have none, then why not? 

We do not have to resort to angry finger-pointing. But we do, as individuals and as a community, have to make ourselves heard. We cannot continue throwing our hands up and hiding behind the gravity of the issue. Until the community and its leaders establish and uphold viable policies for dealing with the abuse in our midst, we will be left with a vacuum that will only continue to foster denial, secrecy, and the invalidation of reporters and victims.

IN HIS OPENING REMARKS at the Agudah convention, R' Zweibel quoted Rav Elya Svei as saying of our times, "The problems are becoming greater and greater, and the [number of] people to deal with the problems are becoming smaller and smaller." That might be true, but it can no longer be an excuse. It's time to confess that our community's handling of sexual abuse has been flawed and must be changed. Each of us, leaders and laymen alike, have to step up the efforts toward a safe and supported community. For the problems may be great now, but I shudder to think what they will become the day that we stop trying to fight them.