Bloggers, MeToo, the CVA and the Ultra-Orthodox Community’s Sex Abuse Crisis that is too Widespread to Ignore

The Ultra-Orthodox Community’s Sex Abuse Crisis Has Finally Reached a Tipping Point

By Hella Winston; illustrated by Hunter French

Thanks to a new law, one of the most secretive and isolated subcultures in the United States is facing possible exposure.

Fourteen years ago, an anonymous blogger calling himself Un-Orthodox Jew (UOJ) lit a fuse in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world when he began posting sexual abuse allegations concerning a Brooklyn yeshiva teacher named Yehuda Kolko. As the blog’s hit counter climbed into the hundreds of thousands and the comments piled up, it became clear to anyone reading that Kolko’s alleged behavior spanned several decades and was not exactly a secret in his community. It had even been the subject of an inquiry by a religious court in the 1980s, a proceeding that reportedly was derailed by threats made by the head of the yeshiva where Kolko taught to the dozen or so people who had come forward to give testimony. (Among ultra-orthodox Jews, going to the police to “inform” (mesira) on another Jew was and largely remains taboo and can result in ostracization or worse.)

But until that day in 2005, nobody had ever discussed the details of the saga in a public forum.

One of the early comments on the blog came from a reader named David, who wrote, “I too was molested by Rabbi Yidi Kolko, both while a student in 7th and 8th grades… and during those same summers whilst a camper in Camp Agudah.” His full name, he would later reveal, was David Framowitz, and for some time he had been obsessively searching the internet for any mention of Kolko. Before closing his initial comment, he wrote, “It is about time that the wall of silence be torn down.”

Thanks to a law that took effect last month, Framowitz’s hope may finally be realized.

Early this year, in the wake of the explosion of the MeToo movement and a cascade of abuse allegations leveled against institutions from Hollywood to the Catholic Church, New York passed the Child Victims Act (CVA). In addition to extending the statute of limitations for civil suits and criminal charges, the law allows a survivor of child sex abuse to file a lawsuit within a one-year period that began on August 14, no matter their current age. The so-called “look-back window” is key when it comes to cases involving the ultra-Orthodox world because those most likely to sue are people who are no longer in the community and subject to pressure or intimidation by its members, which often means they are much older than the prior limit on child sex abuse cases: between the ages of 21 and 23.

According to Frum Follies blogger Yerachmiel Lopin, who writes about sex abuse in the Orthodox Jewish world and says he has been in contact with more than 100 abuse survivors over the past 10 years, fear of retaliation and becoming a social pariah deters many “inside the [Ultra-Orthodox] community who want to publicly expose abusers and have them face legal consequences.”

“An Orthodox Jew needs to live within walking distance of a synagogue,” he said. “There is no getting away from the ties, and the risks of having their children expelled from schools, losing their jobs, and being shunned by their neighbors and relatives. Even moving to another country doesn’t get you away, because the networks are international.”

Legal obstacles proved insurmountable during the initial push to expose Kolko. None of the victims appeared to be within New York’s statute of limitations to press criminal charges (before the victim’s 23rd birthday) or file civil suits (before 21 to sue an institution and before age 23 to sue a perpetrator). The activists did recruit a lawyer willing to take a gamble on a legal theory arguing that a climate rife with “concealment, intimidation, and misrepresentations” had prevented the victims from filing timely lawsuits. The attorney initially filed a lawsuit on behalf of two victims against Kolko and the yeshiva where he had taught for more than 30 years (other suits were subsequently filed).

 

An Unprecidented Step – Reporting Sexual Violence

 

FROM THE PAGES OF FRUM WATCH:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=frum%20watch

This is an unprecedented and long overdue step. These 300 rabbis are to be commended.

However, Frum Watch notes that the bulk of the signers are from the Modern Orthodox camp. It is the insular, self ghettoizing ultra-orthodox communities that lag farthest behind on reporting of suspected abuse directly to the secular authorities. We call upon the rabbonim, dayanim, rebbes, and rosh yeshivas of these communities to join their colleagues and endorse this initiative.

JTA: http://www.jta.org/2016/08/25/top-headlines/300-orthodox-rabbis-urge-reporting-of-child-sex-abuse

 

300 Orthodox rabbis urge reporting of child sex abuse

August 25, 2016 2:03pm

(JTA) — Three hundred Orthodox rabbis have signed a proclamation urging those suspecting child sex abuse to notify secular authorities and calling on Jewish institutions to take preventative measures to prevent abuse.

The letter, which was released Thursday and signed by rabbis from the the United States, Canada, Israel and Europe, recognizes that Orthodox communities “could have responded in more responsible and sensitive ways to help victims and to hold perpetrators accountable.” It also condemns attempts to ignore or silence abuse victims and witnesses.

Those suspecting sexual abuse do not need to seek rabbinic approval before contacting civil authorities, the proclamation states.

“We condemn attempts to ignore allegations of child sexual abuse. These efforts are harmful, contrary to Jewish law, and immoral,” it said. “The reporting of reasonable suspicions of all forms of child abuse and neglect directly and promptly to the civil authorities is a requirement of Jewish law.”

The letter strongly condemns ostracizing victims of sexual abuse and calls upon synagogues and schools to set up policies to prevent sex abuse, including carefully screening new employees, raising awareness of the issue, and teaching children about sexual development and safety.

The proclamation draws upon the biblical precept not to “stand by while your fellow’s blood is being spilled” (Leviticus 19:16).  One of the signatories likened sexual abuse to murder.

“Every sexual abuser is a potential murderer,” said Rabbi Hershel Billet of the Young Israel of Woodmere. “They destroy the souls of their victims and at times cause the death of their victims.”

The signatories include members of the Orthodox Union, Rabbinical Council of America and Yeshiva University.

In August 2015, more than 100 haredi Orthodox rabbis and teachers signed a proclamation obligating Jews to report suspected child sex abuse to the authorities, citing the same verse from Leviticus.

http://www.jta.org/2016/08/25/top-headlines/300-orthodox-rabbis-urge-reporting-of-child-sex-abuse

LETTER TO THE EDITOR – YOSEF FELDMAN

 

Lost Messiah – Yosef Feldman – a Fundamental Disagreement on the Acts, Conduct and Omissions of an Individual and the Community he Supports…

Lost Messiah, July 24, 2016

We are posting these three letters to the editor, from someone whom we are taking at face value is the real Yosef Feldman. We can’t think of why anyone not him would go to the trouble.

We make no comment with regard to what we believe to be the truth and veracity of his statements or the lack thereof. We do reiterate that we are going on the assumption that this is coming from Yosef Feldman.

We leave you to come to your own conclusions.

If criticizing Chabad and those within the organization who cover up, or advocate for leniency for abusers is Jew bashing than we wear that as a badge of honor. Are we to believe that Chabad and its actions in this debate is what it means to be a Jew? If so, than G-d help us all.

In our view, criticising and demanding accountability is our jobs, collectively as Jews. Anything less than harsh and unwavering scrutiny would be throwing salt on the wounds of children whose lives have been forever changed, whose wounds will never heal. The level of insensitivity is beyond the pale. Didn’t Maimonides say something about the levels of giving?

We think that changing the focus from the children to the man who wrote these letters and has about a dozen lawsuits against people and entities who allegedly mischaracterized him, is the quintessential reason why this man and the organization he supports is a disgrace.

We will not be retracting or apologising. We apologize, however, to the former abuse victims, the adults and the children who may read this. You deserve better from the community in which you may live and the people in whom your very upbringing was entrusted. You were wronged. We hope to help make things right. We sincerely hope that Mr. Yosef Feldman will donate to you the spoils of his settlements. That would be only a tiny sliver of the justice you so deserve.

LM

For references: FrumFollies, Eric Aiken and Protect Jewish Kids, Chafraud Depravitch

For DONATIONS: Annual Drive of JCW

The IBT Apology Link

---

Again re dishonest LM

He posted the above notwithstanding that I already posted and emailed (with him responding…) this…

Firstly it is pro bono and if I lose I don’t owe them anything but if I win then obviously they’d want and Id want to pay them for their costs…

Re leniency, again if you’d read the evidence you’d know. There were 3 perpetrators. One was in my charge thst before he left I didn’t know that there was sexual abuse. The other one who was a friend of mine in my younger years but didn’t have real remorse is in jail. The third one (Gug) who had remorse and paid his victims is, who I argued, should have leniency and the judge actually showed him leniency and gave him a suspended sentence.

Did you know that there are different sort of abusers. There are some who act out of a natural tendency for sexual relations with little children and don’t control themselves. There are some with sexual attraction for young adults who don’t control themselves and there are some who abuse because they were abused. And in each group there are all sorts. Some can certainly and have been rehabilitated and the one who I called for leniency was from the category which I saw the report that he was rehabilitated with very little or no risk of reoffending…

I am not looking for words of praise from yourself or from anyone else (besides from my parents and wife…) and even from my recipients! I do what I do as it’s the right thing. As I said in Sydney it is well known and even the paper reported how I help people and victims. The outrageous defamation against me was generated by the anti Chabad forces and so be it.

As you may know all Chabad institutions here are working hard to rectify any mistakes made in the past and even M Waks met with the Groners to make peace as it was reported. Any mistakes were made -not because of not caring for the victims. But because of not realising the serious effect on the victims and how best to deal with it at the time. This is not the case now in Australia or in any Chabad institution in the world that I know of at present. Everyone is trying their best. Otherwise the reporting negatively is just Loshon Horo and hoitsoas Shel Ru as you see how you got it all wrong in my case. You attacked Chabad for supporting me in my cases. WRONG YOU SHOULD RETRACT AND APOLOGISE FORTHAT. You attacked myself for saying that I held that touching genitals sexually isn’t a crime. WRONG AND YOU SHOULD APOLOGISE FOR THAT.

So instead of being a publicly false holier than thou person with me, do the right thing and make an article of retracting and apologising FOR ABUSING MYSELF IF YOU REALLY GENUINLY, SINCERELY AND HONESTLY care about abuse. Let’s see you have the courage not to do the easy thing by being a hero for all those Orthodox Jew haters but by showing you’re a person of integrity that when you make a mistake in a abusing someone you retract and apologise. If you don’t all you are is the Orthodox Jew basher protector and not an abuse protector…

Btw a settlement may be to negate further costs but not an apology. Please read the apology. IBT understood they did the wrong thing an apologised because they don’t have the Jew bashing agenda. Let’s see if you can be as proper as these Goyim or you’re just a real continuation of Shmarya who ultimately no one of substance took seriously because it was clearly seen that he had an agenda and acted improperly accordingly and those loser Jew bashers couldn’t even support him because he was just catering to the low class substandard humans who couldn’t make a living. Is that the direction you want to go?

I’m awaiting to see whether you’ll do the right thing resgarding your abuse of myself and Chabad or if you’re just a reincarnate Shmarya to end up like him. It’s your choice…

 

Another Iteration of Letter to the Editor – Yosef Feldman

Re dishonest LM who doesn’t report what I’ve already posted.

Firstly it is pro bono and if I lose I don’t owe them anything but if I win then obviously they’d want and Id want to pay them for their costs…
Re leniency, again if you’d read the evidence you’d know. There were 3 perpetrators. One was in my charge thst before he left I didn’t know that there was sexual abuse. The other one who was a friend of mine in my younger years but didn’t have real remorse is in jail.

The third one (Gug) who had remorse and paid his victims is, who I argued, should have leniency and the judge actually showed him leniency and gave him a suspended sentence.
Did you know that there are different sort of abusers. There are some who act out of a natural tendency for sexual relations with little children and don’t control themselves. There are some with sexual attraction for young adults who don’t control themselves and there are some who abuse because they were abused. And in each group there are all sorts. Some can certainly and have been rehabilitated and the one who I called for leniency was from the category which I saw the report that he was rehabilitated with very little or no risk of reoffending…

I am not looking for words of praise from yourself or from anyone else (besides from my parents and wife…) and even from my recipients! I do what I do as it’s the right thing. As I said in Sydney it is well known and even the paper reported how I help people and victims. The outrageous defamation against me was generated by the anti Chabad forces and so be it.

As you may know all Chabad institutions here are working hard to rectify any mistakes made in the past and even M Waks met with the Groners to make peace as it was reported. Any mistakes were made -not because of not caring for the victims. But because of not realising the serious effect on the victims and how best to deal with it at the time. This is not the case now in Australia or in any Chabad institution in the world that I know of at present. Everyone is trying their best. Otherwise the reporting negatively is just Loshon Horo and hoitsoas Shel Ru as you see how you got it all wrong in my case. You attacked Chabad for supporting me in my cases. WRONG YOU SHOULD RETRACT AND APOLOGISE FORTHAT. You attacked myself for saying that I held that touching genitals sexually isn’t a crime. WRONG AND YOU SHOULD APOLOGISE FOR THAT.

So instead of being a publicly false holier than thou person with me, do the right thing and make an article of retracting and apologising FOR ABUSING MYSELF IF YOU REALLY GENUINLY, SINCERELY AND HONESTLY care about abuse. Let’s see you have the courage not to do the easy thing by being a hero for all those Orthodox Jew haters but by showing you’re a person of integrity that when you make a mistake in a abusing someone you retract and apologise. If you don’t all you are is the Orthodox Jew basher protector and not an abuse protector…

Btw a settlement may be to negate further costs but not an apology. Please read the apology. IBT understood they did the wrong thing an apologised because they don’t have the Jew bashing agenda. Let’s see if you can be as proper as these Goyim or you’re just a real continuation of Shmarya who ultimately no one of substance took seriously because it was clearly seen that he had an agenda and acted improperly accordingly and those loser Jew bashers couldn’t even support him because he was just catering to the low class substandard humans who couldn’t make a living. Is that the direction you want to go?

I’m awaiting to see whether you’ll do the right thing resgarding your abuse of myself and Chabad or if you’re just a reincarnate Shmarya to end up like him. It’s your choice…

And Yet Another Self-Promoting Iteration of the Dear LM Letter:

Dear LM

So I see you do have a little honesty to post my response. Thanks for at least that.
Just to remind all part of my other post of clarification…

I have financially helped many victims in the past. My main reason for suing is to get them to retract and apologise. The financial aspect is secondary and not that profitable as the lawyers need to get paid and certainly not assured…

With regard to yourself Im seriously waiting for you to retract.

Just briefly to explain it further to you, I NEVER said that I didn’t know it was a crime to sexually touch genitals. It’s in fact legally allowed to
touch genitals for many reasons including a Bris. She was trying to lead me on with the question as though I knew at the time that there was sexual abuse that I didn’t which is why I answered it literally. Look at comments on reddit (who don’t have an agenda…) who recognised this. Many times in the evidence I clearly mentioned that to sexually touch is a crime. Please read my evidence and submission. All of this is coming out in court which is why IBT settled. If you’re an honest person, which it seems from your writing -a little different than Shmarya- that you may be, please retract everything you wrote and apologise.

Rabbi Meir Pogrow Denounced for Sexual Misconduct by Six Rabbis from US and Israel

LM had been provided with significant information, including a copy of the Beit Din from the Rabbinical Court in Israel. We also noted that the Teudat Zehut Number (the Israeli Identification Number) is one that is granted to New Olim or new citizens of Israel. We had planned an extensive article based upon the information we had obtained. We could not have done the article justice and the story needed to be told. Frum Follies did for this article what we could not have even contemplated.Thank you to those who provided us with information and to Yerachmiel Lopin for the “Reblog” button.

FRUM FOLLIES by Yerachmiel Lopin

Pogrow

An Israeli rabbinical court issued a ruling (6/14/16; 8 Sivan 5776) denouncing 46-year-old Rabbi Meir Pogrow for sexual misconduct with women (see image below). The court ruling which I hope to translate in full was signed by Rabbis Menachem Mendel Shafran (Bnei Brak, Israel; a Hasidic posek on the Bais Din of R. Karelitz), Chaim Zev Malinowitz (Beit Shemesh, Israel; the dominant Yeshivish rav in Beit Shemesh), and Gershon Bess (Los Angeles, CA; a product of the Lakewood BMG constellation of yeshivas). The ruling was written as a set of directives to Meir Pogrow about restrictions the Beit Din is imposing on him.

The ruling was followed by a Public Danger Warning with a synopsis of the ruling in Hebrew and English telling the public to avoid Pogrow in all sorts of roles. The advisory to females focused on any sort of interaction. The advisory section addressed to males…

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Passaic’s Orthodox Rabbis Ban Child Molester Stefan Colmer from their Synagogues

There is little to be said that could do this article and the blog to which it refers justice. We suggest you read it. Please also keep http://www.protectjewishkids as a point of contact for reporting.

FRUM FOLLIES by Yerachmiel Lopin

Stefan Colmer

The following email was just sent out to members of a large orthodox synagogue in Passaic, NJ, a sizable orthodox Jewish Community.

From: R. Y. Eisenman <rabbi@ahavasisrael.org
Subject: Important
Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2016, 10:02 PM

Please be aware that Stefan Colmer, whom I spoke publicly about a few years ago and who was subsequently arrested, convicted and imprisoned for sexually abusing minors, has moved back to his home on 38 John Street [Passaic, NJ].

Congregation Ahavas Israel, together with all the Shuls in the Passaic-Clifton area has prohibited him from entering our premises; he is also not allowed in any of the Yeshivas. Mr. Colmer’s picture and the details of his criminal record can be found here.

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Frum Follies Back Online

While I was waiting for the restoration of the server, I chanced on a sort of compliment to the efforts of all of us who blog about abuse. The Novominsker Rebbe (Yaakov Perlow), Head of the Council of Torah Sages (Moetzet) of Agudath Israel of America spoke at a recent meeting of Torah Umesorah (TU)Torah Umesorah (TU). I watched a video segment and most of it was the usual nonsense. You know, we care, we have many meetings, we educate kids and parents, etc, etc, etc.

FRUM FOLLIES by Yerachmiel Lopin

Starting yesterday(5/31/16) around noon, my readers could not access this blog. The techies at WordPress restored server performance in the last hour (~4 p.m., EST). I await word from them of the source of the problem. But my account was not hacked and contents were not endangered. I was able to see all the content through the back-end.

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FROM THE SATIRE ARCHIVES: Panic Spreads in Rabbinic Circles Over Failed Messiah’s Purchase of Vos Iz Neias (SATIRE)

LostMessiah’s very existence is to carry the torch for Shmarya Rosenberg and his FailedMessiah.com site. We feel this post quite apropos given the circumstances. LostMessiah, March 1, 2016

FRUM FOLLIES by Yerachmiel Lopin

This post first appeared in January 2011 when the website Vos iz Neias was subjected to kol koreh (proclomation) banning the site. It is a timely reminder of how things can change. Now it is Failed Messiah that was bought out by orthodox bussiness people. Enjoy and laugh.

Panic Spreads in Rabbinic Circles Over Failed Messiah’s Purchase of Vos Iz Neias (SATIRE)

Jewish Financial Times– Exclusive Report by Zahava Gold

Shmarya (Scottie) Rosenberg, the blogger who operates the muckraking site, Failed Messiah, announced today that he acquired Vos Iz Neias, known for short as VIN. Goldman Sachs provided a $7.3 million dollar combined equity investment and loan to make this deal possible. The two sites will operate separately but Shmarya intends to make major changes in VIN. He said in an interview today with the Jewish Financial Times:

Jews are entitled to the…

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