From time to time, we hear about cases of serious harm to children within the Haredi community.
It can be said that many of us have heard of such a story firsthand, of serious harm or an attempt to do so. Are these things that modesty is good for, as some believe?
In light of the large number of cases, it becomes increasingly clear that austerity is not good at all, since we are dealing with 'pikuach nefesh'.
Despite consensus regarding the seriousness of the act itself, and the irreversible damage to the victims of these acts, there is no agreed-upon course of action on this serious matter.
While there are responsible rabbis who will immediately refer the complainant to the nearest police station, many communities prefer to handle the matter independently and wash the dirty laundry at home. This can be done through a variety of different actions: banishing the "offender" to another community, threats and beatings, and other methods that occur to the rabbi in charge.
A sexual assaulter has the status of a murderer.
How do I know this? It is written: "For as a man rises up against his neighbor and kills his soul, so is this matter." Rashi writes there: "For she is a forcible and he stood upon her with strength, like a man who stands upon his neighbor to kill him.".
Why then is the attitude in the community towards the murderer and the attacker different? For the murder of an innocent child, no one will hesitate to contact the authorities, even at the cost of 'harming the family and the matchmaking of their children' - why is it different here?
It seems that those who are trying to hide or silence these serious cases perceive the problematic nature of a person who attacks and harms innocent people differently. They view him as someone who has a religious and mental problem. Or, in a more standard form: "he has problems with holiness.".
deterrence?
This sentence will be etched in my memory, following a true story that occurred in one of the more reputable yeshivahs in Jerusalem: After it became known in the yeshiva that there was a problematic young man who was attacking young men of weak character against their will, and taking advantage of their mental weakness to stand up to his aggression, one of my friends asked the supervisor, a respected man considered to have relatively open views, what his position was regarding the affair that was shaking the yeshivah.
""He has serious problems with holiness, and the problem must be addressed," the overseer replied.
He says that the treatment required of such a person, in accordance with his distorted system, is to address the problem of 'holiness.' The fact that the Torah, as noted, treats a person of this type as a murderer did not motivate the esteemed rabbi to find a more practical solution, such as handing him over to the law enforcement authorities.
A central part of the purpose of punishment by the legal authorities is "deterrence," and as the Sages have already said, "Were it not for the fear of the kingdom, one man would devour another." Will the supervisor's method, 'treating the problem,' or even threats and banishing him from the community, create the same desired deterrence?
It seems that the offender, aware that the community system treats these acts with leniency, will return to his criminal acts. Only the knowledge that his actions have a criminal dimension that could lead him to prison may prevent the harm to the next innocent child.
Removal from the community
In an important community in the north of the country, a complaint was filed with the local rabbi about a teacher at Haidar who was severely assaulting children.
The local rabbi, just like the yeshiva supervisor, believed that the man apparently had a 'holiness problem' and decided, after investigating the matter, to remove him from the community. He also spoke to him in a "responsible" manner about the matter and explained to him that he had no place in this community.
The authorities, of course, were not informed about the criminal roaming free, but his wife knew nothing either, since the rabbi believed that he should not harm the peace of the couple's home.
The attacking teacher moved to another city and, mercifully, resumed his teaching profession. There, too, he returned to his ways and attacked again. When the matter was discovered again, unfortunately, he was treated in a manner quite similar to the first case, and so on in several holy communities in the Land of Israel.
Today, thank God, the perpetrator is sitting in prison.
Besides the innocent children whose world collapsed due to the irresponsibility of the northern rabbi, the teacher's wife was also filled with great anger that they had kept it a secret from her that she had lived with such a man for years and had borne him several children. This was in addition to the fear that he might harm his own children as well.
These things were not written to tease certain rabbis or businessmen, God forbid.
The writer is a father of young children, who fears for their future in such a cruel world.
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