MK forum

“You can destroy a person’s life with a false report,” said Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel, the executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a powerful ultra-Orthodox organization, which last year said that observant Jews should not report allegations to the police unless permitted to do so by a rabbi.

Rabbinic authorities “recommend you speak it over with a rabbi before coming to any definitive conclusion in your own mind,” Rabbi Zweibel said.

When ultra-Orthodox Jews do bring abuse accusations to the police, the same cultural forces that have long kept victims silent often become an obstacle to prosecutions.

In Brooklyn, of the 51 molesting cases involving the ultra-Orthodox community that the district attorney’s office says it has closed since 2009, nine were dismissed because the victims backed out. Others ended with plea deals because the victims’ families were fearful.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyreg ... =2&_r=1&hp

The degree of intimidation can vary by neighborhood, by sect and by the prominence of the person accused.

In August 2009, the rows in a courtroom at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn were packed with rabbis, religious school principals and community leaders. Almost all were there in solidarity with Yona Weinberg, a bar mitzvah tutor and licensed social worker from Flatbush who had been convicted of molesting two boys under age 14.

Justice Guston L. Reichbach looked out with disapproval. He recalled testimony about how the boys had been kicked out of their schools or summer camps after bringing their cases, suggesting a “communal attitude that seeks to blame, indeed punish, victims.” And he noted that, of the 90 letters he had received praising Mr. Weinberg, not one displayed “any concern or any sympathy or even any acknowledgment for these young victims, which, frankly, I find shameful.”

“While the crimes the defendant stands convicted of are bad enough,” the judge said before sentencing Mr. Weinberg to 13 months in prison, “what is even more troubling to the court is a communal attitude that seems to impose greater opprobrium on the victims than the perpetrator.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyreg ... =2&_r=1&hp

I understand that this last post is a bit off topic. Lately I have asked myself more and more about the accountability of churches and other organizations on the issue of having known pedophiles amoungst us.
HOW AND WHY ARE PEDOPHILES GETTING AWAY WITH SO MUCH WITHIN CHURCHES AND ORGANIZATIONS?

It's very common for churches to know some of those who have histories as pedophiles and have even offended against people in the church or organization. Churches are being run more and more like businesses....aside from the fact that pedophilia is a horrific CRIME why are members not informed by it's leaders?. Especially when you are paying the leaders salary.....they owe it to you to keep you fully informed.

I wonder how many churches/organizations will be sued in the future because they knew clearly of their pedophile members but did not keep everyone else fully informed?.

Many organisations have started out with good intentions and good people. Alas the allure of money can attract the wrong people to the top and others with different agendas into the cover of a large organisation.

In to many churches the leader is seen as infalible and the congregation assumes a degree of gullibility, especially those churches where the leader comes to believe that they have a special communication ability with the diety that others don't have.

My own humble opinion, based on a few years of observation.

You are so right Bemused....once again money talks. All the same, one day in the future no one with children will attend churches/etc as the majority of members will be pedophiles....thats if people(esp. women) wake from the "opiate of the people" long enough to start protecting their children.

Maybe going back to home churches wouldn't be a bad thing......people might get their understanding of Gods word back in perspective without the overwhelming "every things wonderful" window dressings veneer so desperately clung to by the "give us ya money and God will bless you" brigade.

You are so right about the gullibility......it really is sad.

Every church/organisation needs an open policy on the Pedophile issue.....eg. the congregation/organization will be made aware of certain individuals and will be given the oppurtunity to discuss it openly. Until this happens nothing will change.......

I am not sure where all this money is or who is getting it, but in my 30 years, I haven't seen too many wealthy missionaries. Most were undersupported. I left a $15,000 a year job to earn $5,000 on the mission field, and a good part of that went for the ministry, not personal expenses. Maybe the mission benefitted, but I sure don't have much.

My husband is a good example of what might happen to you if you dare question an organization and deem you want out. We were with ABWE and just wanted out. My husband wrote a letter of resignation and then basically memorized the ABWE Principles & Practices booklet to make sure we were doing everything right. ABWE asked for a meeting with us, David agreed but asked for me to be excused, they consented to that. The meeting was a total set up. ABWE had several pastors attend that were on "their side." I really felt bad I was not there to support my husband. Some time later our pastor got a letter saying we "were terminated for insubordination." We, to this day, have never received a letter telling us we were terminated but several months later and after much ado from us and other pastors they did send us a copy of the letter they sent our churches (our son had already obtained one for us). I guess wanting to resign makes you insubordinate. When this was transpiring we were told by some that they treated us worse than they did Dr. Donn Ketcham. Of course at that time we thought he had committed adultery with a Bengali women and of course it appeared that is what ABWE wanted everyone to think. We had absolutely no idea he was a pedophile. I am reiterating this story to make a point that when you dare question an organization this is how you get treated. Now compare us (see bangladeshmksspeak diary and letters of confession) to how they treated Dr. Donn William Ketcham, a confessed pedophile and friend to Dr. Russ Ebersole and the late Dr. Wendell Kempton, the then president of ABWE. Of course I realize the fact he was a medical doctor held clout for him as well. We escaped basically unharmed but this 14year old girl that was victimized by Dr. Donn William Ketcham is still paying for his crime. I guess what I am trying to say is most missionaries have an "organizational mentality" and can't stand alone. These mission agencies are "the boss" and the churches go right along with it. Enough said. Full stop.