Sexual Abuse, Shonda and Concealment in Orthodox Jewish Communities

by Michael Lane Lesher, Dane S. Claussen (Foreword)

This book--the first of its kind--analyzes how and why cases of child sexual abuse have been systematically concealed in Orthodox Jewish communities. The book examines many such cover-ups in detail, showing how denial, backlash against victims, and the manipulation of the secular justice system have placed Orthodox Jewish community leaders in the position of defending or even enabling child abusers. The book also examines the generally disappointing treatment of this issue in popular media, while dissecting the institutions that contribute to the cover-ups, including two--rabbinic courts and local Orthodox "patrols"--that are more or less unique to Orthodox Jewish communities. Finally, the book explores the cultural factors that have contributed to this tragedy, and concludes with hopes and proposals for future reform.

296 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2014

Reviews

[Jengordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly wish I could say I enjoyed this book. But I didn't. No one can, because of the sheer awfulness of the topic (sexual abuse of children) and the thoroughness with which Lesher documents the lengths to which Orthodox Jewish institutions and leaders go to hide it, prevent its reportage to civil authorities, punish those who do report it, and in so doing, to perpetuate it. As I read this book, the scandal at the Kesher Israel mikvah was unfolding.
That Orthodox Jews would sexually assault children in at least as high an incidence rate as the general population is unsurprising. Men are men, and men in my community are no better than anyone else, no matter what the community wants to think about itself. But that in an era after all the scandals involving Catholic priests in Boston and elsewhere a few years ago, community leaders should continue to tolerate and hide sexual abuse, is shocking in its lack of foresight. Lesher does a nice job of documenting everything he claims as well as analyzing underlying communal tendencies that create problems. These include maintenance of rabbinic authority; racism (a sense of being better than the goyim, who are dirty oversexed animals) and a corresponding sense of superiority (can't happen in our community because we're observant of the Torah); a suspicion or distrust of civil authority that was correct for Europe and Russia/USSR/Ukraine, an attitude which is accompanied by wink-and-nod agreements to provide Orthodox votes in exchange for non-prosecution (as documented by Lesher); the use of lashon hara and the moser concepts to beat would-be reporters with a stick fashioned from halacha (as interpreted by those with a vested interest in maintaining the community a certain way). That said, one of the most striking communal tendencies Lesher documents is a lack of interest in the wellbeing of children at odds with the emphasis the Orthodox community, or at least its right wing, places on unlimited fecundity -- at least, a lack of interest in children's wellbeing when the comfort or wellbeing of adults, and in particular klei kodesh is threatened.
One problem I found with the book is that Lesher frequently refers to "community leaders" or similar terms without specifying whom he means. Roshei yeshiva? Congregational rabbis? Hasidic rebbes? The managers of community charity funds? All of the above? In specific cases that he discusses, he names those involved, but in his discussions of more general cases or trends, he remains vague in a way that had me thinking that when everyone's guilty, no one is.
It would also have been nice had he spent a little more time examining religious attitudes that prevent lay victims from reporting and the lay population (some of whom, in the most right-wing areas, are kollel men who themselves have the title "rabbi" -- back to that "who is Lesher referring to" issue) from believing reports of sexual impropriety. What aspects of right-wing Orthodox thought regarding rabbis (the great ones, not just any shmoe with the title) gives them the authority and near-infallibility necessary to perpetuate the system Lesher reveals? Something looking at the role of the "daas Torah" concept might have been useful. Also, Lesher notes that claims that sexual abuse of children is a recent phenomenon due to pollution of the Orthodox community by contact with the goyim can't be checked, because in our grandparents' time there wasn't a civil mechanism for reportage and records of how the Jewish community handled things like that would not still be extant. But he could also look at the question of whether the community has made itself more likely to engage in sexual abuse and coverups simply because of the relatively recent trend toward greater emphasis on tznius as a dress code; emphasis on full-time study of Torah at the expense of secular learning and earning a living; emphasis on isolation from the rest of the world (goyish or Modern Orthodox and left-wing Jewish).