A clear Psak requiring Reporting is needed to stop Abuse

I am reblogging  this one from Daas Torah, as it’s important, and yet another tragic story.

I just finished a long trans-Atlantic call with an American rav whose grandson was recently abused in a shul in Europe during davening. He was distressed by a number of developments besides the fact that his grandson had been abused. 1) the community rav who had been consulted said that the perpetrator had suffered enough embarrassment already and thus nothing more should be done. The rav stated clearly that the matter should be dropped and if the police were involved it would be mesira. He was clearly ignorant of the rulings of Rav Eliashiv and other gedolim on the matter. 2) Despite this the parents reported the abuse  the police  – but they didn’t seem interested in getting involved either.  3) To make the matter more distressing the family has been informed that the alleged abuser has been observed  in the past – touching kids inappropriately in the mikveh – but nothing was done. 4) The parents of the child are now being harassed and threatened by the community as trouble makers and informants.

This American rav is well aware of the halachic and psychological issues and suggested something which is very simple – but should be very effective in changing the dynamics of the situation. Most people would have no problem of reporting if they witnessed a child being raped or severely beaten. In fact they probably would physically intervene to stop the abuse. The events of Penn State have hopefully taught us that good people don’t act unless they know that they must act and are informed in advance what constitutes abuse. Similarly most rabbonim today acknowledge the importance of reporting abuse – to the local rabbi or police – but they would not necessarily recognize that inappropriate touching or fondling is abuse

Therefore the American rav suggested that the community needs that important poskim publicly proclaim in a written declaration what actions constitute abuse that we need to report. The  proclamation must state clearly and unambiguously that abuse is wrong – even if it doesn’t involve rape. It must list the halachic requirements to prevent harm by reporting. And finally it needs a clear and unambiguous list of specific actions that constitute abuse that need to be reported.

Here is a tentative text regarding what is abuse:

You must report the following to your rav and/or police department. If you see a child being touched  inappropriately in the mikveh, playground, summer camp or school or neighbor’s home. Not only must you report inappropriate adult fondling of a child – but also such actions between  children – even if they are the same age. You must report not only what you yourself observe but also when you hear rumors or your children tell you – it needs to be reported in order to verify and stop it. In sum – all awareness of abuse that you know about –  must be reported to someone. However it is not enough to just report that you witnessed or heard about abuse. If the person you report to doesn’t follow through – whether it is a parent, teacher, principal, rav or police – you must persist either with that authority or find someone else who will listen and act. It is clear that a child’s well being is not to be sacrificed to avoid chilul hashem, financial loss to a yeshiva or synagogue, or the embarrassment to the family of the abuser or even a prison sentence for the perpetrator. There is no prohibition of lashon harah to report these issues, nor is there a prohibition of mesira. A Rav or community leader is obligated to listen to any and all alleged incidents of abuse. Every member of the community is obligated to make sure that children are protected and that perpetrators are stopped.

ה’ ירחם

Author: pitputim

I've enjoyed being a computer science professor in Melbourne, Australia, as well as band leader/singer for the Schnapps Band over many years. My high schooling was in Chabad and I continued at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel and later in life at Machon L'Hora'ah, Yeshivas Halichos Olam.

14 thoughts on “A clear Psak requiring Reporting is needed to stop Abuse”

    1. Interesting and encouraging article. No we don’t need Dr. D here, he is sorely needed where he is, BUT we could do with someone like him here too!
      Though these cases are serious and should not be ignored there are other issues too, so we shouldn’t lose focus.
      Assimilation, good quality teaching, properly and responsibly managed schools to mention a few.

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    1. Pitputim: “You must report the following to your rav and/or police department”. Don’t tell me you have bought the immoral and unhalochic Aguda line? “to your police department” will do thank-you very much, as per the RCA.
      Steven: Hope you are wrong, but fear you are right.

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    1. There are views of the Agudah, which to my untrained eye are designed to ensconce their self-declared position as overlords of Judaism, or should I say, using their parlance “Torah True” Judaism. If and when these are not based on published Tshuvos and/or are contradicted by rulings/advice of personalities who I do not discount as being non “Torah True”, I feel no obligation to follow their dicta. Another tell tale sign is their use of the term “Kelal Yisroel.” More often than not, I find this a transparent self-limiting definition.

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      1. It’s their attempt to ensure there is no “Hefkeyrus”. In other words, they are worried that there will be a “rash” of rash accusations against “innocent” people because they don’t trust their constituency to only or (in 99% of cases) make such a heinous accusation unless there was a real concern. At the same time, it ensures that their Sarei HaTorah are the only ones in a position to determine if there is a “real concern”. They determine if there is a real concern about Anisakis in Fish, so they argue that they must also be qualified to determine if there is a real concern of a crime. Problem is that children aren’t worms, and they aren’t trained psychologists or the like who understand the tell tale signs.

        They would never do this, but if they are truly worried about an avalanche of false cases, let them declare a 6 month period where people are permitted to go directly to a professional/policeman to report abuse. I wonder if the world will fall apart because there will be lines of falsely accused? Statistics say there won’t be, and at any rate, there an argument that heilige yidden would be far less likely to falsely accuse someone. Is that not the case?

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