Tzedek-Tzedek

Today Israel is reeling in shock from the Moshe Katsav guilty verdict. Like everyone else, my initial reaction to this first-impact shock is transient, and is unlikely to resemble my thoughts and feelings in a week, a month or a year. That said, here we go… The victims were heard. Even above the voice of Moshe Katsav, the President of Israel himself, his expensive lawyers, Establishment support and hitherto popularity. A mere secretary, and an 18 year old national service volunteer, had the tremendous guts to accuse the most prestigious man in the country of disgusting crimes - but for which there were no other witnesses. Her word, against His. On this absolutely uneven playing field, these women stuck to their guns, and remarkably the legal system found their word to be true, and Him to be a liar and sex offender. This represents a tremendous Victory for Sex Abuse Victims Everywhere. It also is a remarkable victory for Israel’s system of Justice. The Presiden...

Following the murder on 18th December of Kaye Susan Wilson, an American tourist, in the hills near Beit Shemesh, Israel's Channel Two News aired this short documentary piece about the illegal Arab workers in Beit Shemesh. Rabbi Dov Lipman is rallying concerned citizens to protest the presence in the town of potentially dangerous illegals. To sign the peition (preferably in Hebrew):   http://atzuma.co.il/ protectbetshemesh   Here is the TV clip, about the illegal workers in Beit Shemesh...

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!!

By Rabbi Dov Lipman MURDER SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN BET SHEMESH   Last Saturday night, residents of RBS Bet saw two suspicious Arabs enter one of the buildings of the construction site in Kiryat Belz, right in the beginning of RBS Bet.  They alerted police who immediately suspected that they could have been involved in the horrible murder of the US citizen in the woods near Bet Shemesh.  On Sunday afternoon, plain clothed police raided the site and ended up arresting two suspects in the murder.  The police have not released any further information.  (DL - Once the police release all the information, I will be organizing a mass public outcry regarding the illegal workers throughout the city, and especially those who linger at the entrance to RBS Bet and in other locations throughout the day.  I will send out all the information once our mode of action is finalized.)  --------------- CITY TACKLES YOUTH ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE The city has hired Shl...

Who would have thought , just a few years ago, that the great taboos of Jewish communal life, child sex abuse and wife abuse, would be the subject of an exhaustive and authoritative book by Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn, an important rabbi and scholar. On the other hand, the fact that no Jewish book publisher was willing to even stock this important book, nor was any other rabbi willing to give the book a public haskama , shows that even this erudite and passionate work, is more akin to just the first step of Chairman Mao’s Great March. Regretfully, there is much more work to be done in bringing more sunlight to this methodically hidden aspect of Jewish communal life. Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn’s powerful two volume book Child & Domestic Abuse reveals the horrors of child abuse and wife beating in the orthodox Jewish community.  Rabbi Eidensohn has  collected a series of articles by psychologists, lawyers, abuse survivors, communal activists and rabbis. In addition, in the secon...

Pini Taub Speaks Out: This is well worth taking a few minutes to watch BOTH parts. Part One Part Two

By Rabbi Dov Lipman CARMEL FIRES SHED LIGHT ON LOCAL FIREFIGHTING PROBLEMS Deputy Mayor Shmulik Greenberg (Degel Hatorah) sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu this past week, in which he outlined the inadequacies of the Bet Shemesh fire department, in light of the attention being given to the issue nationally.   According to the Jewish National Fund, the forests in the region under the responsibility of the Bet Shemesh Fire Department (the city, Mateh Yehuda, Mevaseret Tzion, Abu Gosh, and Kiryat Yearim) holds 30% of the country's forest land.   And yet, the station has less than 50% of the fire trucks mandated for that much land and an area with a population of around 200,000 residents and most of the trucks are 20-25 years old with no new acquisitions in the last 12 years.   Greenberg asked the Prime Minister to please take the Bet Shemesh region into account in any restructuring, upgrades, and general changes made in the wake of the Carmel tragedy . -----------...

If you see these people, please call the police immediately, as they have reportedly fled from New York to Israel to evade arrest in connection with child sex abuse allegations.   (From the Wall Street Journal. Full article HERE )  The former rabbi of a Brooklyn school for boys is believed to have fled to Israel after police identified him and three of his sons as suspects in the sexual abuse of the rabbi's four daughters, authorities said Friday. Gershon Kranczer, 58 years old, allegedly boarded a flight from Kennedy Airport destined for Israel on Monday along with his 21-year-old son Asher, after an informant told police that Mr. Kranczer had allegedly engaged in a prolonged sexual relationship with at least one of his daughters, police said. Asher, who a law-enforcement official said is legally blind, is being investigated in the sexual abuse of three of his sisters, police said. "We are seeking the exact whereabouts and return from Israel of the two men," top NYPD s...

Rav Moshe Soloveichik of Chicago recently spoke at an conference organized by the Jewish Board for Advocacy for Children, dealing with sex abuse in the Orthodox world. Rav Soloveichik's impassioned speech attacks the policy, still current in many orthodox Jewish communities, that child abuse should be dealt with as an internal community matter, and that victims and their families should be actively dissuaded (he mentions threats to the shidduchim of their children, etc) from reporting to the authorities.    I have witnessed such policies, very close to home, and the damage they have caused our children. Kudos to Rav Moshe Soloveichik for standing up and declaring, without nuance or ambiguity, " go immediately to the police!! ".

By Rabbi Dov Lipman GERMAN PRESIDENT VISITS BET SHEMESH Christian Wulff, Germany's newly elected president, visited Bet Shemesh this past week as part of his official state visit to Israel. Wulff visited the Solel company which was purchased recently by the international company Seamens. The president responded to Mayor Abutbol's warm welcome by saying that he hopes the visit to Bet Shemesh will help strengthen the relationship between Israel and Germany in the hi-tech realm like solar energy. ----------------- DEPUTY MINISTER GILA GAMLIEL VISITS THE CITY Gila Gamliel (Likud), Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office responsible for youth and young adults, visited Bet Shemesh this week. The visit began in the Mayor's office where the Mayor summarized the youth activities in the city after which she met with some of the leaders of these groups. Gamliel announced that her office has allocated funds for Bet Shemesh to run more activities for youth groups ...

In the third such case in as many months, another anglo-saxon (English speaking) man has been arrested in Ramat Bet Shemesh Aleph under suspicion of child sex abuse. This past Friday night, a 29 year old American tourist was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15 year old girl, and two teenage boys. According to Walla news-service , the man’s custody was extended in court yesterday (Tuesday), to enable the police to further investigate. Beyond the published information, the man apparently is from Brooklyn , NY , and he was lodging with an anglo family on Nahal Soreq, Ramat Bet Shemesh. The alleged incidents apparently took place in the Ayalon Park and in the host family’s apartment. The man is apparently from a prestigious rabbinical family in NY. This arrest follows the arrest several weeks ago of a 60 yo English speaking man at his home on Nahal Dolev, who allegedly operated also in the area of Nahal Revivim. This man is alleged to have committed sex crimes against min...

Two high profile cases in Israel have spotlighted the issue of proving sex crimes. Judging such cases is a challenge which has existed for thousands of years, and is discussed in the week’s Torah portion (Vayeshev).   Major General Uri Bar-Lev is a top candidate to be Israel ’s next Police Commissioner, the top dog in the Police hierarchy. This career move has been challenged, and probably successfully torpedoed, as a result of allegations against Bar-Lev of sex crimes, brought by two women, one of whom has gone public – Dr Orly Innes. Lurid narratives have been published pointing to Bar-Lev’s alleged rape of Dr Innes, and of a still-anonymous second woman (“M”). On the other hand, Bar-Lev’s defenders have alleged these relationships were consenting – indeed a ménage a trois.        Meantime, the spotlight is also returning to the lingering case of ex-President of Israel , Moshe Katsav. After two years of scandal and allegations, Moshe Katsav's t...