A month after allegations of child sexual abuse surfaced in the mainstream press, the Hasidic community in Brooklyn, N.Y., is taking cautious steps to confront the scandal. Meanwhile, outsiders are tackling the issue head on.
On Sunday, state Assemblyman Dov Hikind plans to host a community-wide “morning of chizuk” (support) for the alleged victims of abuse. Hikind, an Orthodox Jew who is largely responsible for bringing public attention to the scandal, has recruited rabbis and community leaders to speak at the event, which takes place in Boro Park, the center of the Hasidic district he represents. Some community members believe the gesture is merely symbolic, but Hikind calls the event “unprecedented.”
“No one has touched this subject before,” he says. “We’re telling the victims we’re sorry we didn’t see your pain before, and we’re turning the corner.”
I caught this this morning on the way to worship. Definitely disturbing but nevertheless important. Read or better still listen to it all.
Of course it is good that this awful problem is being given attention. I don’t know what could possibly be meant by “no one has touched this subject before’, however. Just try googling with ‘New York rabbi abuse’ and read a few random selections.
Apparently it is very threatening to parts of the community that the matter is being looked into, though: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/09/rabbi_claims_ha.php
A high price to pay.
Meanwhile, back at the Episcopal ranch (or is that a castle?), how precisely would this sort of treatment at the hands of a religious authority really differ from the ends being pursued by, for example, NAMBLA, which ends are steadily advanced (whether they really mean to or not) by the uber-liberals of TEC?
Let’s see if this gets as much coverage in the media as the Roman Catholic priest child-abuse scandal