Rav Moshe Soloveichik: Report Child Abuse to the Police!

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!!".

Comments

  1. car donation29 December 2010 at 03:21

    Rav Moshe Soloveichik is one of the people that shows love to abused children. We could also be like him by showing our deepest love and concern. I suggest we helped charities and start standing out to be one of them.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why IS That Man Taking Such An Interest In My Child??

Image
[Introductory Note: There have been several cases in Bet Shemesh/RBS in recent weeks of charismatic men who have a Pied Piper influence over kids, some of whom they allegedly have molested. The kids' parents were aware of the 'specialness' of the relationship, even the peculiarity, but were not aware of the risks. I offer this article as guidance to help parents become more aware of the potential downside of these relationships. I have used males, but whereas most pedophiles are male, their child victims can be equally likely girls or boys.]   ------- If you reminisce back to your school days,   you can probably think of a specific adult who had a profound influence on you and helped you overcome your growing-up challenges.  There are some particularly gifted and wonderful people who are able to bridge an age gap, and thereby positively engage with someone who is even many years their junior. Such people can apply this talent to working with kids and youth in a profe
Read more

Marrying a Soloveitchik

Image
Mazaltov! My nephew, Gedaliah Kestenbaum married Devori Soloveitchik in Jerusalem last week. Gedaliah has married into rabbinical aristocracy .    Devori is the daughter of  Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, and the grand-daughter of Rabbi  Meshulam Dovid (Reb Dovid) Soloveitchik , who is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk (one of the two) in Jerusalem . The Soloveitchik's are a rabbinical dynasty descended from Rabbi  Yosef Dov (HaLevi) Soloveitchik (The "Beis Halevi") and his son Rabbi  Chaim Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker"). Rav Chaim's sons Rabbi  Yitzchak Zev (Reb Velvel) Soloveitchik ("The GRIZ" The Brisker Rov) and Rabbi  Moshe Soloveitchik seem to have gone in different hashkafik directions. Whereas Reb Velvel's descendents are predominantly right wing hareidim, Rav Moshe's branch are leaders in the Modern Orthodox/National Religious hashkafa – most notably Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ("The Rav")
Read more

Hoax Letter Sent to Synagogue

Image
            (Beis Tefillah Synagogue, Ramat Beit Shemesh) The following hoax letter has been sent to members of the Beis Tefillah Synagogue board of management, as if it was written by Rabbi CM [ed. name respectfully withheld] who serves as their rabbi: I think that as long as David Morris sets policy for L.A [ed. Lema'an Achai ], and is their public face,  I will not allow L.A. to use the Shul for fundraising purposes. This will change if: 1)David M apologizes publicly for stating,and insinuating again and again(in many forums,but especially in his childish Tzedek Tzedek blog) that , as a group ,  "Rabbis" (of RBSA ) are guilty of aiding and abetting and enabling child molesters.(And that of course that leaves LA to come to the rescue of our children.) OR IF  2)LA  publicly , clearly,and unambiguously disavows such statements .They must say--we clearly,and unambiguously ,disavow  statements or blogs which say or imply that  Rabbis  of RBSA (as a group ) aid or a
Read more