A stress-laden day

In response to my occasional blog posts about an event in the news involving abuse, my father הכ’’מ always used to ask me in Yiddish

Okay, Okay, but why does it have to be YOU. Leave it to someone else

This is a good question. I’m also enjoined to keep כיבוד אב after his פטירה which some Rishonim link to writing הכ’’מ (as above) during the first year.

I write my blog posts because my mind bubbles. In fact, I sometimes wish I had more down time with my mind, especially at night. Since my father was נפטר I have been unable to have a natural night’s sleep. I wake in the morning as if I’ve been in a fight with עשיו and I’m very tense. It is my nature when faced with certain challenges. It was my father’s nature. Call it a family trait—Nerven. Others would say, it’s simply because I’m a Cohen and come from Pinchas.

I really envy those who can meditate or those who can sublimate during davening. My wife is so much calmer than me and I thank God for that! I’m pretty sure that I’ve always liked a tipple simply because it takes the edge off. Oh, and all whisky, even in wine casks are kosher (more on that in a follow-up post when I get some time).

So, on Sunday morning, at around 4am when I found myself “awake”, I clicked on the Age and was horrified that we, Yidden, were again on the front page, and that there was yet another alleged pervert from yester-year closeted away somewhere, and that a Rov was quoted in most undignified fashion. I reacted, and was critical of the statements attributed to the Rov. Yesterday (or was it the day before) I was sent a statement from the Rov. On face value, based on the available evidence, he had explained what had happened, and claimed that he was quoted out of context of the thrust of the original article. I still questioned some of his remarks and do. I’d like him to withdraw them, and wrote thus.

I have a day job. My phone didn’t stop ringing yesterday about this issue. My blog got a spike in hits. Sadly, if I write Torah which I think is interesting from a Halachic point of view, it doesn’t seem to attract the same interest 😦

After all the calls, some with conflicting information, I’m not going to comment further on the issue at hand. I will close with one thing:

Dear alleged perpetrator. If you are reading this or someone shows you this post, face the music. I remember you. Come back to Australia and be a man. I truly believe that  past wrongs must be dealt with. Together with education, it’s our only way forward. Do it quietly, with humility, and face justice. Do Tshuva. You know what you have done. If it was your own child, you would be going after the perpetrator with all your might.

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. View all posts by pitputim