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Jewcy Book Club
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Benyamin Cohen
& Matthew Rothschild
who are posting all week.
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- 12/08: Seth Greenland
 |
The Heretic: How the Law of Lashon Hara Has Been Dangerously Perverted By Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis |
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| Everything you are about to read is evil... | ||
 by Shmarya Rosenberg, July 30, 2008 |
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A young boy is called up to his teacher’s desk in a yeshiva grade school.
“Stay after class, Shmuley. I want to talk to you.”
Shmuley stays, frightened that he has done something wrong and his teacher will punish him. Once the other boys have gone, his teacher – a rabbi – places Shmuley on his lap and uses his tiny, warm body to stroke his erection. When the rabbi is finished pleasuring himself, he tells Shmuley to leave. “But you be quiet. You don’t tell anyone what we did. It’s lashon hara, and it will hurt you and hurt your parents.”
Shmuley leaves, frightened and confused.
Later, after the fifth molestation or the fiftieth, after months or years have passed, Shmuley tells his parents.
His parents tell the school’s head rabbi, who responds by denying the boy’s report. He sternly warns the parents not to “talk lashon hara” (gossip) about Shmuley's teacher or about the yeshiva.
This is not the first time the yeshiva head has heard allegations about Rabbi X, and he knows how to effectively respond.
“It is lashon hara to do so,” the yeshiva head says. “And it will only hurt you.” Your other children will have difficulty finding marriage partners, the rabbi says, and Shmuley – well, Shmuley will be “damaged goods” – no one, except a girl who is also very damaged, will ever marry him. This is far from an idle threat in a community that thrives on arranged marriages and rabbinic control.
The parents leave, frustrated and frightened. Their eight-year-old son is now “damaged goods.” They approach another rabbi, powerful in their community, and ask his advice.
“Your son is a minor. his testimony would not be accepted in beis din (religious court). It is his word against Rabbi X – and Rabbi X is a very well regarded teacher. And, from what you tell me, even if what Shmuley said is true – and I doubt that – no violation of Torah law took place. Shmuley was not violated.
“So, my advice to you – my legal judgement, in fact – is to listen to what the head of the yeshiva told you. Do not speak lashon hara against him, or against his school – and most certainly, not against Rabbi X.”
The parents go to another important community rabbi and get a very similar answer.
Without community support to back them, and with the very real prospect of “destroying” their children’s lives by branding them “damaged goods,” the parents stay silent.
Shmuley isn’t given counseling because the stigma, if revealed, would be too great. The family lives with this terrible secret, an elephant always in the room but never spoken of, the tarnished Elijah’s Cup of every meal, every celebration, every enjoyment they will ever have. Rabbi X continues to abuse young victims from his desk in the yeshiva, protected by a presumption of innocence belied by the facts, by the silence of Shmuley’s family – and by a Jewish law.
This nightmare scenario has allegedly been repeated multiple times in Brooklyn, Monsey, Bnei Brak, and other ultra-Orthodox communities worldwide. How did this happen? How did a law meant to protect people from gossip become a club used by rabbis to beat defenseless children and their families into submission?
There is a long answer and a short answer to that question, and both can be summed up in same three words: The Chofetz Chaim.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan is the iconic figure of today’s ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Kagan wrote many books on Jewish law in his long life. The first – and what may in retrospect prove to be his most controversial – was the Chofetz Chaim, a compendium of the laws of lashon hara.
Nothing that Kagan wrote in Chofetz Chaim was really new. What Kagan did – to the dismay of a few prescient rabbis – was compile laws scattered is disparate sections of the Talmud and in codes of Jewish law, and publish them for the first time as an organic whole with his commentary woven in. Kagan wanted his “little book” to be studied by the masses. He lived his entire long life firmly believing the messiah was literally coming any minute. Legend has it that at one point, he went into training for the “event,” running the stairs in his home to keep his aging body in shape for the blessed day. He thought the study of these laws would speed the messiah’s coming.
But Kagan’s book did bring these disparate laws out of the shadows and into the spotlight of Orthodox observance. And that, by and large, has been a bad thing.
Kagan’s idealism surpassed his realism. And, because Kagan’s book contained no dissenting opinions, that idealism became the baseline Jews were expected to follow – without nuance, without shades of gray, without real compensation for corrupt judges, rabbis, and leaders. It was Jewish law written in a vacuum but enforced in real life, law without context and without soul.
Kagan was a founder of the Agudath Israel movement, whose American branch recently campaigned against mandatory background checks for religious school teachers and employees, and would itself be linked to inaction in the face of rabbinic sexual abuse.
He urged Jews (with a few notable exceptions) to remain in Eastern Europe rather than settle in Palestine or America, and would go on to write twenty more books on Jewish law and ethics before he died in 1933 at the age of 95, in the shadow of the Holocaust that took so many of his followers and townspeople.
Kagan’s reputation as a saint survived nonetheless, and he and his books serve as totems worshipped with almost childlike veneration by ultra-Orthodoxy. He is often cited as the posek acharon, the final decisor and codifier of Jewish law, and his name and works have been preserved by the New York-based Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation. His books are found in almost every Orthodox home, library, shul and school – and in quite a few non-Orthodox settings, as well.
Orthodox Jews would be quick to point out that Kagan’s laws of lashon hara are misapplied by the rabbis in Shmuley’s story. Orthodox Jews are correct – the law is misapplied. But, like Kagan, what they miss is the inevitability of that misapplication, and the certitude of it.
The ultra-Orthodox community is not a democracy. It has no system of checks and balances, no ombudsman to press the case of the powerless, no campaign finance laws or transparency. It has no elections and no governance. It is a loosely joined series of potentates run by pashas dressed in black frock coats, fedoras and shtreimels, who owe allegiance to no one but themselves, and who are answerable only to God. And, as history and common sense tell us, God doesn’t often demand answers from those still here on this earth.
Until ultra-Orthodoxy adopts a fully transparent form of governance with a working system of checks and balances, laws meant to protect reputations will instead often be used to destroy lives – especially the lives of the smallest and the weakest, especially the lives of children like Shmuley.
Anonymous
dude you have some sick vendetta against religious jews-as a former "ultra orthodox"person (growing up in that bastion of chareidim-lakewood new jersey) i can tell you youre wrong on so many accounts,trying to twist "kagans" words to imply hes an evil molester denying rabbi is just stupid .what happened to you as a child that you have to use blogs to get it out of youre system? therapy is a lot more convenient-not to mention sparing the rest of us youre moronic attemp to vilify an entire community. im not denying theres molesting and people denying it but theyre not misusing rabbi kagans words theyre making up there own shit to cover theyre asses. theres a hotline that just opened up for orthodox victims of abuse and a religious councilman in brooklyn just the other day vowed to fight molesters in yeshivas and he has the full backing of all rabbis -what else do you want them to do ? and by the way cut that opening paragraph ,we can all do without a blow by blow description of youre childhood
Barbara Reader
lead you to attack Orthodoxy instead of embrace NACOJ. All this passion could be doing good, and right now Ethiopian Jewry needs it. Israel and many Jewish organizations have cut off funding for the feeding program for Jewish children in Ethiopia. In the "post-Zionist" era, Israel is all about embracing Europe, not Jewry.
I read part of your blog, but not all of it. I read the opening.
Your biography make it sound like you were personally responsible for Operation Moses. I know many people personally that were involved. Then you complain about other people's distortions. People do object more strenuously to those sins they do themselves, so, not a surprise.
The fact that the Chabad have excommunicated you, if true, wouldn't stop you from attending a lot of other shuls, Orthodox, Conservative or Reform. And BTW, as a woman, I can never count in an Orthodox minyan. That's a sad excuse for your vendetta. If I want to count, I'll just attend a Conservative shul. Can I direct you to one? Well, I'm sure NJOP can. Chabad isn't the only outreach organization.
I understand feeling a group is obnoxious. So work for something good in another. I had some bad experiences with Reform. I try extra hard to grasp what is good about it while not being part of it.
May I suggest a better use of your considerable energy would be fund-raising for NACOJ? Ethiopian Jews really need help RIGHT NOW.
Others have already addressed your specific discussion. There can be no doubt that Jewish institutions are subject to abuse and distortion. The good news is, there are a lot of them. Help one worthy of your time and efforts.
Anonymous
I know you won't believe it but there are people who are very orthodox jews who go to the district attorney's office in order to fight these abuses at any cost. But we don't broadcast it or put it up to the public to castigate and denigrate Torah and Yiddishkeit.
Anonymous
"thrives on arranged marriages and rabbinic control..............) puhleeze- give orthodox jews a little more credit get a life and some facts ........................asshole
Anonymous from Melbourne
Over the past few months, in two seperate cases, rabbis have urged their communities, in no uncertain terms, not to engage in Leshon Hara. The cases eliciting this warning were 1) the Head Mistress of the Adas school who's been found to be sexually harassing her girl students. 2) The case against Rabbi Kohn who's been sexually harassing female members of his community. In both cases there has been an elaborate campaign by rabbis to subdue any calls for investigations and seriously dealing with the allegations. This is blindness to say the least and making use of halachic rulling to the advantage of the guilty ones. Shameful behaviour.
rabbidw
On the one hand, you applaud all the chareidim who jumped on the anti Tendler bandwagon. OTOH you think that every time something comes up, lashon hara is used as a coverup. Politics is more complicated. Lashon harah is used as an excuse to protect the well connected, whether finacial givers, or important families, relatives etc. There is no galacha of lashon harah where there is a danger to others, where there is a need for publicity. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Tghere are certain elementery principles that do not need a Rabbis psak. You don't ask a Rabbi if you can eat pork. You don't ask a Rabbi if you can have relations with your wife during her period. And you don't ask a Rabbi what to do if a teacher is sexually abusing your child.
factualbasis
Its amazing how you blame the CC when if you ever read the book you would know that you would be required
to report what he did to you. There is a halacha of lashon hara that
requires one to report something to protect others or about someone who
is a rasha (such as that Rabbi).
Stop acting like these people who pervert the law to get their way are right. And stop blaiming the law which they incorrectly rely on to cover up their misdeeds.
David Kelsey
And you don't ask a Rabbi what to do if a teacher is sexually abusing your child.
BULL! The long and the short of it in the haredi community has absolutely been to "always ask your rabbi" -- and the rabbis have all too often been of one mind on these issues: "Do Not Tell!"
Rachel76
"Shmuley stays, frightened that he has done something wrong and his teacher will punish him. Once the other boys have gone, his teacher – a rabbi – places Shmuley on his lap and uses his tiny, warm body to stroke his erection. When the rabbi is finished pleasuring himself, he tells Shmuley to leave.”
Are you writing kddie porn, or an article here? Tough to tell. "Using his Tiny, warm body to stroke his erection"??? I think you can make your point, excuse the pun, without providing the masturbation material for all of the pedophiles out there.
Believe me, the story is a strong one without it.
Thanks.
zbird
Shmarya has two main points:
1. Child abuse happens in the orthodox community.
2. The way the orthodox community is led and organized discourages people from coming forward with accusations of abuse, thereby allowing the perpetrators to go unpunished and continue to harm others.
Point #1 is indisputable but also not completely damning. After all, these thing, though horrible, happen in every culture, and Shmarya presents no evidence that this happens more often among the orthodox then in other cultures/communities.
Point #2 is more serious and more controversial. Shmarya says the orthodox attitude toward L'shon Hara and their reliance on unnaccountable rabbis to handle difficult life decisions combine to allow these perverts free reign. He could be right or wrong here, but the commentators (particularly the vile anonymous ones) don't even address the point, instead focusing on ad hominem attacks and berating the author for describing child abuse as what it is. This just strengthens the notion that the orthodox are not interested in resolving real problems but instead attach the messenger who dares to embarrass the community by discussing the problems.
--Z
Anonymous
'Trying to twist "kagans" words to imply hes an evil molester denying rabbi o imply hes an evil molester denying rabbi'
What ? ehile the author may overall have a bias against many of the behaviors of what ultra orthodox judaism has become... he in no way "twisted the works of Kagan to imply that he was evil. To the contrary. Read what he wrote and I am not sure how you come away thinking anything but that Kagan was a pure beleiver who could not imagine that people would twist his efforts to communicate what true Lashon Harah is about. In his article, he never said Lashon Harah is good. He merely seems to say that a rightious man with good intentions assembles writings that have been abused by people who are more concerned with the reputation of child molesters (who happen to be rabbi's) than they are with the victims. Do some research on this kind of crime and you will see that too often, molesters are protected (maybe with misplaced good intentions). Rabbi Blau, a prominent and very orthodox man, affiliated with YU and other orthodox organizations has stated that he has seen these mistakes made by good people (so to use a litte talmudic attitude here.. "how much more so by bad people"). He actually recognizes that he once sat on a Beit Din to hear the testimony of young women/girls with regard to a rabbi who molested them. He admits that the Beit Din did not really listen to the girls... If I remember his words well, he says that they were too enamoured by the personality of the Rabbi. Years later, aftert the Rabbi moved 3 or 4 times around the world, the Rabbi himself admitted to the crimes. In Rabbi Blau's case, he is big enough to recognize the failing. Shame on any man, woman or community who can not admit such a failing. Religion is worthless if it is more interested in preserving the reputations of individuals with titles than pursuing righteousness.
The orthodox community should quickly and carefully act on any such complaint and show no mercy to the real abusers !
YD
Did you really just accuse the Chofetz Chaim of not realizing that one day there would be a community that misuses his rules to protect child molestors!? To think that way, is a bit paranoid, don't you think?
Bartley Kulp
Like anything alse in halacha. One can make a drasha to suite themselves. First of all the laws of lashon hara do not apply to a rodef when one is trying to stop him/her. Even the point that some of these children could not considered halachic witnesses. This is besides the point. The issue was not whether or not to try this pervert for dinei nefashot. Nor was the issue a monitary one.
The most important issue would be whether or not it was safe to have this person employed working with children. If there has been a few complaints regarding an individual it is not important whether or not they can be completely substantiated. The main thing is that this individual can no longer have a hescat kashrut in working with children. He/she must be immediately removed from the classroom. That person should never be aloud to work with children again. The excuse that the person may have done tshuva also does not apply here because it is known that there is a high recidivism rate among molesters. If the person has in fact done tshuva good for him/her. However that is between him/her and G-d. It is none of our business and we must act stringent in favor of child safety.
Like I say, these people who use bogus halachot to protect molesters are in the category of willing sinners. They know the psakim on this issue from Rav Moshe. They also know the psaking from Rav Elyashuv regarding molesters.
That people should not speak evil about one another is a good thing. That they should apply this principle to protect monsters is a sin.
zbird
Bartley: No one is arguing that child abuse or hiding child abuse is halachically permissible. Shmarya is saying that the orthodox community is ignoring halacha by allowing this abuse to go unrecognized and unpunished.
--Z
Anonymous
Absolutely spot on. Give that haredi world hell!
dietrc70
Thank you very much. This article is very well-written and I learned a great deal from it. Not being Orthodox, I have read a bit about lashon hara, but I did not know anything about this compilation. I have heard about the problems of lashon hara being applied improperly, and you explain very well how easily it could be misused to protect a corrupt halachic authority.
Bartley Kulp
I was making two points. The first one was that Shmarya seems to hold that learning hilchos lashon hara is problematic because it is being used to cover up abuse. I was just making a point that like anything else it can be misapplied. That however does not mean that we reject it. I also was not implying that anybody was suggesting that child molestation is permissible. What I was saying is that there are those in the community that try to cover it up for their own self interest reasons. They do this in three ways and I will explain them more in-depth now. One way is the lashon hara issue, which does not apply to a rodef. The second way is saying that it is assur to hand them over to the authorities. There is well known psak halacha over this issue to the contrary. The third way is invalidating for beit din purposes the testimony of minors. There is also a psak from Rav Eliyashuv that he sources from a rishon called the Ritva. He says that if we govern society strictly by halacha we will destroy society. This statement could very well be misunderstood and used beyond its intention. However Rav Elyashuv was answering a sheila on what do do about child abuse.
Both he and Rav Moshe Feinstein have had a well known psak that a child molestor is in the category of a rodef and one may use the authorities to stop them.
Some of the very same people who invoke all of this daas torah stuff are involved in these cover ups. They use the venacular language of listen to us this is daas torah, we know better so just stay out of this and do not say a thing about this to anybody. They talk the talk but they expect everybody else but themselves to walk the walk. The reason that I call them (the ones who cover for molesters) willful sinners is because they are well aware of what the real halacha is but they try to put a bag over everybody elses head in order to blind them. They drag down great tzaddikim like the chofitz chayim and the importance of his work with them as well as kavod hatorah in general. This in itself is a bigger chillul Hashem than the abuse itself.
Mika
nice work.
Barbara Reader
Opposing the laws against Loshan Hora because a some rabbis used it to cover a crime is like opposing a happy marriage because an organization was formed in Brooklyn called Shalom Bayit was organized to provide Jewish men with concubines.
There are evil people in the world. Some are Jewish. Some are even rabbis. Evil people will pervert anything for their own ends.
Shmarya Rosenberg
"Opposing the laws against Loshan Hora because a some rabbis used it to cover a crime is like opposing a happy marriage because an organization was formed in Brooklyn called Shalom Bayit was organized to provide Jewish men with concubines.
"There are evil people in the world. Some of Jewish. Evil people will pervert anything for their own ends."
Here's a quote, which may be slightly paraphrased, from Rabbi Steinwurtzel, a former Rosh Yeshiva of Bobov in New York:
"Had the Chofetz Chaim known how much innocent blood would have been spilled in the name of his sefer Chofetz Chaim, he never would have written it."
YD
Shmarya -
First of all, just because you quote a rabbi (albeit he may be a chashuv one) doesn't make you right.
Second of all, G-d did not give us the ability to see into the future, and therefore one can only be judged based on comparing their actions to the surrounding context. When the C.C. wrote his sefer, there was no way he could have known this kind of stuff would happen, nor do I believe that he was bound to take it into consideration b/c the chances of it working out in such a severe way were so remote. To fault him writing the sefer is unfair; what shouldn't exist are these sick people, not the sefer. It's like saying that cars shold never have been created b/c of all the accidents or whatever metaphor you'd like to use.
If we lived life scrutinizing things the way you have in this article, nobody would ever be creative, or even leave the house.
Barbara Reader
your own posting which started this discussion proves you can always find a rabbi who agrees with any proposition, no matter if it's good or bad. A rabbi is not a Guru or Catholic Priest, he doesn't have a higher spiritual level, just study. There are good lawyers and evil lawyers, and well-meaning lawyers who do evil and evil-meaning lawyers who do good... the same can be said of rabbis.
If you are incapable of keeping your brain on while looking critically at halacha, perhaps you should consider an affiliation with the Reform movement. They do a lot of good in the world.
Shabtai Zvi
I applaud Mr Rosenberg's attempts to besmirch authentic Torah Judaism. Only by abandoning the Torah will Jews become citizens of the world. However, I think that Mr Rosenberg's admirable efforts pale in response to todays tragedy in the zionist entity. Our agent, sponsored by the Council of Foreign relations, Ehud Olmert, announced his resignation. This is a serious setback to our efforts to erase the borders of the zionist entity. Also, I am wondering if Mr Rosenberg could teach a seminar on sexual "immorality". While this is proscribed by traditional Judaism, it is encouraged by our movement. It goes hand in hand with our efforts on divorcing Jews from Judaism. I led thousands of Jews from Judaism when I coverted to Islam, and my colleague Jacob Frank did the same when he converted to Catholicism.
Shootingsparks
That folks could condemn you for shining disinfectant sunlight on this issue points to the heart of the issue raised by it...
shhhhhhh.......
Shmarya Rosenberg
>>>"To fault him writing the sefer is unfair; what shouldn't exist are these sick people, not the sefer"<<<<
Those same sick people existed back then, too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
">>>There are good lawyers and evil lawyers, and well-meaning lawyers who do evil and evil-meaning lawyers who do good... the same can be said of rabbis. "<<<
You completely miss the point.
The issues is not what I think about rabbis – the issue is what ultra-Orthodox Jews think about leading rabbis, and what ultra-Orthodox Jews do to those who disagree with them.
Alhendra
This brings up an interesting thought, if the parents of the child abused decided to beat up the rabbi who abused their child, and told him if told anyone he would then be commiting Lashon Hara. Then the rabbi would suffer as those he abused I would.
I also believe those who abuse children should be punished for their deeds.
Pinchas ben Elazar
"This brings up an interesting thought, if the parents of the child abused decided to beat up the rabbi who abused their child, and told him if told anyone he would then be commiting Lashon Hara."
What makes you think that doesn't happen? Something to think about next time you see a teacher suddenly move on in the middle of the school year.
Barbara Reader
is to attack a tiny minority of Jews, who are doing, according to you, a great job of destroying themselves anyway. Gotcha.
YD
"those same sick people existed back then, too."
- That doesn't mean he had to assume that people would misappropriate his sefer to protect them.
zbird
...for the benefit of those of us who unfortunately went to Conservative/Reform Hebrew school, would you mind translating some of the hebrew terms you used? From the context I can guess what "rodef" might mean but I'm not sure.
--Z
Shmarya Rosenberg
"those same sick people existed back then, too."
>>>- That doesn't mean he had to assume that people would misappropriate his sefer to protect them. <<<
It means he did have to take into account how the book would be used. He did not do that, and the results are clear.
Shmarya Rosenberg
>>>OK, so your purpose here
is to attack a tiny minority of Jews, who are doing, according to you, a great job of destroying themselves anyway. Gotcha.<<<
I suppose the concept of trying to cause change to protect the weak and innocent never occurred to you.
yudel
shmarya
Yep same Yudel from your other site. The comments here as I mentioned on my last post at Failed missed the mark. In fact as I stated this is not where you need to go. You are way better than letting kaas go heavy metal thru your frontal lobes.
Reb Moshe Feinstein tzl did not rail against anyone but never was of the notion to just quote the mishna beruria. In fact he warned yidden to stay away from poskim who simply quoted sources without knowing the case up close and person and doing the research.
And do not turn off the folks go to DA and do it there way. I thought if you read posts that i mentioned there is also an underground that does its work and has no need for posting but saving moms and kids et al and no one ever will know the depth of these peoples heroism.
i think you have my email. Use it cause i want to send you my book on this subject that is not to hawk my book but to give you insight into the war on the streets for kids that used to go on when i was the only person upfront dealing with these kids.
It was a a best selling recovery title and published up north of you by Hazelden ....if you are hesitant take my email name and to the Y put in yehuda and then take the last name which is the my last name and put them together and put a .com and go see who i am....my site i am just upgrading so it lacks much...
yudel
Anonymous
dude, how can you speak against him? do you realize the person he was? the greatness? We should all strive to be as great as he was.
and its not true what you said about him urging Jews to stay in Europe, as a matter a fact, it is recorded that the Chafetz Chaim tried on many occasions to get to Eretz Israel and unfortunately failed every single time! He wanted to be there but fate kept him in Poland. do some research before you display false reports (totally lashon hara)
yes there are creepy "orthodox" Jews out there...who says just because they are dressed the part they are living the part? dont judge Torah Judaism by its cover.
Anonymous
But what is "Torah Judaism"? Is there non Torah Judaism? I thought Orthodox/Conservative/Reform still read the same parsha in the same order on pretty much the same weeks every year.
-Matt
P.S. My apologies to the Renewal, Falasha, and Reconstructionist movements as I don't know enough about them.
Anonymous
I believe Torah Judaism is used to emphasize unity between all the Orthodox/Heredi/Chassidic groups, and also "subtly" imply that those groups with more liberal interpretations (Conservative, Reform, Renewal, Reconstructionist) are not following Torah.
Richard "the shoe" Reid
> Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he
> had anything to say. His response: After admitting his
> guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance
> to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly
> stating, "I think I will not apologize for my actions," and told the
> court "I am at war with your country."
>
> Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:
>
> January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid. Judge Young:
>
> "Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court
> imposes upon you.
>
> &nbs p; On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in
> prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On
> counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on
> each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's
> 80 years.)
>
> On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years
> again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The
> Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000
> that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the
> government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders
> restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to
> American Airlines.
>
> The Court imposes upon you an $800 special asse ssment.
> The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release
> simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real
> life sentences so I need go no further.
>
> This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes.
> It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.
>
> Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you
> or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans.
> We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk
> here and I say that to every-one with the utmost respect. Here in
> this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for
> individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for
> justice.
>
> You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You
> are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that
> reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature.
> Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or
> if you think you are a soldier. You are not----- you are a terrorist.
> And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with
> terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them
> down one by one and bring them to justice.
>
> So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big
> fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known
> warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty
> of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper
> Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and
> into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were,
> and he said: "You're no big deal."
>
> You are no big deal.
>
> What your able counsel and what the equally able United
> States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I
> know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific.
> What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?
>
> I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I
> ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of
> unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admi t you are
> guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy
> you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to
> understanding as I know.
>
> It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most
> precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our
> individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose,
> to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this
> society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from
> sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much
> that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can
> see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and
> discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving
> so vigorou sly on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their
> representation of you before other judges.
>
> We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know
> that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own
> liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bare
> any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this
> courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember
> what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten,
> but this, however, will long endure.
>
> Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America,
> the American people will gather to see that justice, individual
> justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.
> The very President of the United States through his officers will
> have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific
> matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and
> judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our
> sense of justice.
>
> See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United
> States of America That flag will fly there long after this is all
> forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.
>
> Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.
>
> So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV
> sets? We need more judges like Judge Young, but that's another
> subject. Pass this around. Everyone should and needs to hear what
> this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home. God
> bless America
>
> Please forward this----------so that every American has a
> chance to read it.
tellner
I know, it doesn't say that in Torah. But it really ought to.
This sort of abuse is not practiced by many. Pedophiles are a tiny minority in any community. So are murderers and arsonists. We have vast legal and social mechanisms in place to stop all of them. Acknowledging that Jews do all of these things as do people of all nations and doing one's best to stop the crimes is simply one of those things that any community must do if it wishes to be within the bounds of common human decency. When communities cover up for evil doers they undermine the foundations of their righteousness.
The people who damn the parents for trying to get justice or Shmarya for shining light on the cockroaches that infest the synagogue talk a lot about Lashon Hara and bringing disrepute on Judaism. Very well, if that's your standard here's a few ways the evil doers and their apologists damage Judaism even more
1) If the abuse is not stopped it will almost certainly devastate the child's life. He or she will have to work long and hard to trust people ever again.
2) Relations with a future husband or wife will be very difficult. Divorce and adultery are very likely.
3) Some although by no means most of the victims will have inappropriate feelings for children. Some will act on them.
4) Sexual abuse is the premier cause of prostitution outside of those born into abject poverty.
5) Many will fall away from Judaism. The community gave honor to their abusers and threatened them for coming forward. As Judaism turned it's back on them they will quite rightly turn their back on it.
6) If the rabbinate protects evil it will attract evil people to it. Baby rapers will know they have a safe place next to the Ark, so they will flock to it like bees to a flower. I don't know what the Almighty intended for the Torah. I don't think it included the destruction of innocent childrens' lives and the promotion of the more disgusting practices of the Ancient Egyptians.
7) No matter how hard people try to cover it up this stuff gets out. The damage to the reputation of everyone who tolerated it will suffer far worse for the coverup.
8) The coverup will bring disrepute on all Jews, particularly the observant. It will give antisemites ammunition that hurts far worse because it's true.
9) If crimes like these are tolerated the wider secular society will get involved. The Catholic Church is much bigger, richer and more powerful in America than all of Judaism. If they are getting sued on a regular basis for this sort of thing you know that we poor Jews don't stand a chance. And when they start looking at one set of crimes they won't stop. We'll see the end of rabbinical courts. And it will be our fault
Any one of these would be bad enough. Taken together they are abominable. Set up the scales. On one side we have a devout pious man who said it was a sin speak evil about others. On the other we have people who are willing to condemn little children to fear, destroy their marriages, drive them away from Judaism, encourage them to become child molesters and prostitutes, force good people to protect evil, destroy the institution of rabbinical courts including the bes din, bankrupt whole communities and bring disrepute on all Jews to further their disgusting sexual urges. If that's what Torah comes down to, we might as well throw the whole thing away. At least the Satanists have a commandment "Do not hurt little children". And it's pretty sick when the black-robe-and-pentagram crowd is morally superior to Eretz Yisrael.
Anonymous
big deal...
happens all the time in our world, so these crazy jews also have problems
I think Shamarya Rosenberg has his hands in his pants and he can't get a date so he blogs about some fake cause for nothing.....
YOu could be spending your time pickuping garbage instead of creating it from your mouth..... to bad he won't resond...he's balls are busy I guess....
Anonymous
Although I am not a "religious Jew" and don't necessarily care one way or the other for the laws of "Lashon Hara" I do think it's worthwhile to point out that unfortunately, people who choose to harm others will always find justification for doing so as well as ways to disguise the truth and/or manipulate the situation to prevent the truth from ever emerging.In fact, many do so through exploiting the traditions, laws and/or guilt of a number of religions--not just Judaism. In short, the people in the situation are to blame, not the mis-use of the laws they hide behind.
Anonymous
I'm really amazed at all the comments here from people who don't seem to know how horny these Haraedi guys are! In my neighborhood in Jerusalem I could point out one of the buildings down the block where all the Haraedi men go to meet the Russian prostitutes. I thought everybody knew that the whore's best friend is the Haraedi. It's just a common saying among us.
I have a friend in Jerusalem whose roommate gives massages to Haraedi men...... man to man! My friend told me that he always has to leave the apartment when his roommate has a client. Finally, my friend confronted his roommate. The roommate admitted his clients always want more than "just a massage". Once as my friend was leaving he was quite shocked to run straight into the client who happened to be an Aish rabbi whom he knew.
It's all amazing that so many of you don't know it goes on.
Anonymous
there's no "drasha" without "rasha". Unfortunately, sexual abuse of vulnerable people - children, people, most often women, in abusive situations or mourning - happens across all denominations of Judaism. It would be great if we could know a "rodef" by his streimel, Borsalino or crocheted kippah, but we don't. Regardless of their stripe, we have every right to expect rabbis and all yidden to behave with basic respect for other people. That this includes not taking emotional and sexual advantage of children should go without saying. And if Shmuley or Soreleh were the child of the Chofetz Chaim, and he found out about his "zeeskeit" being fondled by some melamed or rav I would challenge even the CC not to want to smoke the abuser's ass.
Anonymous
filthy comment add to the substance of the article or its argument? Let's try to show a little derek ha'eretz here. That innocent children are abused and victimized is a shanda - end of discussion. That it happens among so called erlicher yidden is unacceptable on any terms.