Child Abuse Allegations Plague the Hasidic Community

Child Abuse Allegations Plague the Hasidic Community
By Elijah Wolfson On 3/3/16

....It’s widely accepted by child abuse experts and advocates that some kids are particularly vulnerable. Usually, they are disadvantaged in some way—family problems, rejection by their peer group—that perpetrators can exploit, particularly if they are teachers who also happen to be religious authorities.

....It was widely known that if you ratted out someone in the community for abuse, the community would turn its back on you. Gena Diacomanolis is the senior director of Safe Horizon’s Jane Barker Brooklyn Child Advocacy Center, where, over the past decade, she says, they have made tremendous strides in the Haredi communities. But the biggest barrier remains the pressure the community puts on individuals who want to come forward with stories of abuse.

“I can tell you tons of stories where they were so fearful of going forward,” she says. “I had one dad who said his son was sexually abused at school.” He decided not to press charges, Diacomanolis recalls. “He said, ‘I don't want you to think I don't love my child, but if I go forward, I won't find a marriage for my daughter.’”

Diacomanolis also says families are often harassed when they come forward. One client who charged her husband with abusing their child “left her house, and the whole block was papered with things saying terrible things about her.”

One mother who found out her son had been sexually abused by a teacher at United Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway (another Hasidic school in Brooklyn) says when she complained to the yeshiva’s principal, she was shunned. “I got thrown out of the community,” she says. “You can’t imagine what was said to me. The phone calls I got. I was an outcast. I was threatened.”

....Protecting the Predators

Chabad has a global network of synagogues, schools and other facilities that is often used to shelter abusers on the run. When rumors of abuse begin to bubble up, teachers are shuttled from school to school, city to city—like Reizes, shipped from Brooklyn to Miami and then back. In March 2008, eight students accused Malka Leifer, principal of the Adass Israel school for girls in Elsternwick, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, of sexual abuse. Just days later, she hopped on a plane and fled to Israel. In September 2015, Australia’s Supreme Court awarded over $1 million in compensation to a 28-year-old abused by Leifer from 2003 to 2006.

According to court documents, it was discovered during the course of the trial that there was a concerted effort by the community to protect Leifer: The school’s president at the time, Yitzhok Benedikt, and board member Mark Ernst played key roles in arranging her escape to Israel. The two men are facing criminal charges; Leifer was arrested in Israel last year and is now fighting extradition to Australia.

In recent years, Australia has emerged as the country most willing to confront child abuse in the Hasidic world. In 2013, the government formed the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and in early 2015 it began a large investigation into the Hasidic community. Weeks of hearings led to a report detailing alleged abuses—and how yeshivas and rabbinical leadership cover up that abuse and systematically ostracize survivors and their families.

....In New York, survivors of most cases of child molestation have five years after they turn 18 to get the district attorney to prosecute. (In cases of sexual misconduct, legal proceedings must begin within two years after the offense was committed, regardless of the child’s age at the time of the alleged crime.) Many child abuse experts say that window is not nearly big enough for young men just starting to understand what happened to them. It’s no surprise that most of the abuse Newsweek uncovered happened long ago—no 10-year-old has the wherewithal to talk to the press about his abusive teacher. It takes a 25-year-old who has finally received a proper education to understand what was done to him 15 years ago.

For almost a decade, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, from Queens, has been trying to pass a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on both criminal and civil cases of sex crimes against children. But she has faced fierce opposition from two political powerhouses: the New York State Catholic Conference and Agudath Israel of America.

The Hasidic world is starting to take allegations of abuse more seriously, and many of the individuals who talked on the record with Newsweek for this story say they finally feel comfortable speaking publicly about their personal histories with abuse because of the community support that has emerged in recent years.
http://www.newsweek.com/2016/03/11/child-abuse-allegations-hasidic-ultraorthodox-jewish-community-brooklyn-432688.html   

Vatican defends Cardinal George Pell in child sex abuse scandal

Vatican defends Cardinal George Pell in child sex abuse scandal
June 02, 2015

THE Vatican has defended its finance chief, Australian Cardinal George Pell, after he was accused by one of Pope Francis’ commissioners for child protection of being almost sociopathic.

Spokesman Federico Lombardi says Peter Saunders, who called for Pell to be dismissed over allegations he covered up abuse and denigrated victims, was expressing his personal views and not speaking on behalf of the commission.

Lombardi told journalists Pell, formerly the top Catholic cleric in Australia, has replied to all questions posed by the authorities and his defence must be considered reliable and worthy of attention and respect.

Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday requested Pell give evidence when the inquiry next meets at a date to be determined.

Pell says he will be present at the hearing.

Mr Saunders, an abuse survivor, made headlines earlier this week when he called on the Pope to sack Cardinal Pell as the Vatican’s financial chief over allegations he helped cover up paedophile activity in Australia.

Now Mr Saunders has revealed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors may not be able to do its job properly due to a lack of resources.

“George Pell is in the Pope’s cabinet, the inner sanctum, and is in charge of Vatican finances,” he said....

Cardinal Pell, who denies the cover-up allegations, said he was consulting his legal advisers after Mr Saunders said the Australian’s lack of care for victims was “almost sociopathic”.

Mr Saunders responded by stating the threat of legal action wasn’t surprising and he wouldn’t shut up for anyone. http://www.news.com.au/national/vatican-defends-cardinal-george-pell-in-child-sex-abuse-scandal/story-fncynjr2-1227378918090

Investigation Claims Jehovah Witnesses' Watchtower Is Hiding Child Sexual Abuse Claims, Yeshivah abuse victim says scholarship was removed after he reported rape, Royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, Rabbi pleads guilty to taping nude women at ritual bath

Investigation Claims Jehovah Witnesses' Watchtower Is Hiding Child Sexual Abuse Claims
The Huffington Post By Kira Brekke   02/18/2015

Evelyn Selimaj, 30, left, of East Haven and her sister Sybelle Almodovar, 35, of North Guilford hold a photograph of themselves together with their brother Ferdinand Almodovar that was taken about the time that the three siblings say they began to be sexually abused by a ministerial servant who acted as a church leader in their congregation. They were child members of the New Haven East Spanish Jehovah's Witnesses congregation. In October 2014 in New Haven, Connecticut, their attorneys filed ch

A new report out of the Center for Investigative Reporting claims that the Jehovah's Witnesses' parent organization in the United States has systematically hidden child sexual abuse cases for more than 25 years.

Trey Bundy, the Reveal journalist behind the report, explained to HuffPost Live on Tuesday that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York has issued detailed memos since 1989 mandating spiritual leaders to immediately report any allegations of child abuse to the Watchtower's legal department before the police.

"Essentially what they say is, 'You don’t need to call police unless state law requires you to, and we’ll determine if that’s the case.' They say not to warn other members of the congregation if you have a child abuser in your congregation, that’s confidential information," Bundy told host Alyona Minkovski. "And they also ... lay out a very sort of convoluted process for determining whether or not you’re even going to take child abuse seriously."

But in the "many times" Jehovah's Witnesses have been sued in civil court by alleged victims of abuse, Bundy explained, the freedom of religion has been invoked to protect them....

In a statement to Bundy in his article, Watchtower representatives defended the organization's practices regarding abuse.

Watchtower officials say they instruct their members to obey state laws. Their policy memos direct elders who hear of alleged child abuse to “contact the Society’s Legal Department immediately” to learn whether the laws in their states require them to notify police....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/18/jehovahs-witness-child-sex-abuse_n_6705852.html

Yeshivah abuse victim says scholarship was removed after he reported rape
Victim of jailed abuser David Cyprys says principal Rabbi Abraham Glick cancelled the award after telling him of incidents, royal commission hears
Yeshiva college
Rabbi Pinchus Feldman did not alert police when the alleged abuser said he might leave the country.

Melissa Davey Monday 9 February 2015

A child sex abuse victim who was repeatedly raped by a staff member of an Orthodox Jewish school said he was stripped of his scholarship when he told the principal what happened.

The victim, identified only as AVR, said a security guard at the Yeshivah centre and college in Melbourne, David Cyprys, raped him multiple times.

Cyprys was convicted of those offences in 2013, and is in jail....

His mother immediately flew to Melbourne see him, and together they reported the abuse to the principal of the school, Rabbi Abraham Glick, and the director, Rabbi David Groner, who is now dead.

“Rabbi Glick said my scholarship had been cancelled from that time,” AVR said. “I feel Rabbi Glick and Yeshivah did not want me there any more. They did not offer help or counselling. No one at Yeshivah would speak to us or help us. Even our own family members would not help us, and we had a lot of trouble getting back to the airport.”....

Cyprys was “a serial abuser of children”, the commission heard last Monday. AVR said his mother had stopped treatment for her cancer when she came to Melbourne to rescue him from Cyprys, and that she passed away a few years later, in 1995....

Last week, other victims told the commission how they were ignored by senior religious leaders within the orthodox Yeshivah community after reporting their abuse, and of being verbally abused and ostracised....
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/09/yeshivah-abuse-victim-says-scholarship-was-removed-after-he-reported 

Royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse
Latest news on Australia's royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse
February 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/royal-commission-into-institutional-responses-to-child-sexual-abuse  

Rabbi pleads guilty to taping nude women at ritual bath
February 19, 2015 By JESSICA GRESKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent Orthodox rabbi acknowledged Thursday that for years he videotaped women in a changing room of a Jewish ritual bath, ultimately recording approximately 150 nude women.

Barry Freundel pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism during a hearing at D.C. Superior Court. Each count is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

Freundel's attorney, Jeffrey Harris, acknowledged after the hearing that it was unlikely that his client would get a 52-year sentence but declined to say what sentence he would seek at a hearing set for May 15. Harris said his client was taking responsibility for his actions and was looking to move on with his life....

Freundel, 63, was a rabbi at the Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington for more than 25 years before his arrest in October on voyeurism charges. As part of the plea agreement Freundel entered into Thursday, he acknowledged that starting in 2009 he set up hidden recording devices in a changing and showering area of The National Capital Mikvah, a ritual cleansing bath affiliated with Kesher Israel. He acknowledged he secretly videotaped women who were partially or totally undressed before or after they showered.
http://helenair.com/news/national/rabbi-pleads-guilty-to-taping-nude-women-at-ritual-bath/article_0e282e91-f2cf-5966-9ccc-183bde2797f6.html 

Cardinal George Pell to give evidence at child sex abuse inquiry, Child sexual abuse royal commission: O'Callaghan advised abuse victims on strength of cases

"But victims were told if they chose to go to police, they were no longer eligible for compensation"

Cardinal George Pell to give evidence at child sex abuse inquiry
Pell was archbishop of Melbourne when the church set up the Melbourne Response compensation scheme

 Australian Associated Press
 theguardian.com, Wednesday 20 August 2014

Cardinal George Pell’s role in setting up a Catholic Church compensation scheme for victims of pedophile priests will be scrutinised on Thursday at the child abuse royal commission.

Pell was archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 when the Melbourne archdiocese decided to respond to growing allegations of child sex abuse by its clergy. The church considered creating a legal entity that could be sued by victims, but designed the Melbourne Response compensation scheme instead.

Cardinal Pell told the royal commission earlier this year he believed the church should now create an entity that could be sued.

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry last year recommended the Catholic Church be incorporated so it could be sued....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/cardinal-george-pell-to-give-evidence-at-child-sex-abuse-inquiry


Child sexual abuse royal commission: O'Callaghan advised abuse victims on strength of cases
By court reporter Peta Carlyon  20 August 2014

The man in charge of the Catholic Church's so-called Melbourne Response to allegations of child abuse has rejected suggestions he failed to encourage victims to go to police.

Peter O'Callaghan QC has been dealing with complainants and deciding whether they are eligible for compensation since the scheme began in 1996.

He was repeatedly questioned about the legal integrity of his decision-making at today's hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr O'Callaghan has been a Queen's Counsel for 40 years and said the Melbourne Response was based in canon law and "natural justice".

He said when there was a dispute with a claim he would take on a role similar to a magistrate in a criminal case.

He was again asked repeatedly why he did not report cases of abuse to Victoria Police and why he took it upon himself to advise victims on the potential strength of their cases....

Yesterday he told the commission he had made more than 330 adverse findings against priests within the Melbourne archdiocese since the complaint's procedure began.

The church has paid out more than $17 million to abuse victims through the scheme.

But victims were told if they chose to go to police, they were no longer eligible for compensation....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-20/abuse-victims-advised-on-strength-of-their-cases-by-church/5684036

Police knew of Qld abuse millionaire

Police knew of Qld abuse millionaire 
By Eoin Blackwell  AAP February 05, 2014

QUEENSLAND police were aware of allegations boys held in state care were being flown to Sydney to be abused by a millionaire and a chef in the mid 1970s, a former assistant police commissioner says.

Retired assistant commissioner David Jefferies has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he received information a Queensland millionaire, known as JA, flew boys to Sydney to be abused as part of a pedophile ring.

"This JA was certainly known as a millionaire and had, I believe, a construction business, and we certainly had received information about children actually going to his home," Mr Jefferies said.

"We were aware that boys in state care and from some institutions had in fact been flown to Sydney."....

Working for Queensland's Juvenile Aid Bureau from 1968 to 1989, Mr Jefferies said he investigated allegations four pedophiles were operating in the northern Brisbane suburbs and the Gold Coast in the early 1970s.

One, JA, was a millionaire, and the other was a school teacher known to the commission as JB.

He said four suspects were arrested, but he and his partner were waved off investigating JA and JB and told to hand the case to more experienced officers....
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/qld-cops-aware-of-millionaire-abuse-claim/story-fni0xqi4-1226818607488