wanderingchana –
I don’t need any descriptions. I have already known for a while.
____ is someone who is not with us any longer partly due to this. I was best friends with someone very close to him.
____ is someone who is now known to be a child molester, prior to that one of his occupations was in a camp where he was extra mean to me and had me kicked out, so when the whole thing came out I made it my duty to find out every nasty story, because I just hated the man.
____ is a massive talmid chacham and I was overjoyed when I started to be part of his circle because I had finally found someone who was really, really unbelievable in learning and also so “normal.” One day I mentioned this to a rebbi I was close with (the one I spoke of before) and he told me to stay away, telling me all sorts of horror stories, saying that he deals today with victims of this person’s victims, and he wishes he could have the guy put in jail and throw away the key but for technical reasons (not political, legal) it’s impossible.
These are just examples of how I am aware of the general situation. I have been personally affected as well but I will not elaborate on that. I still stand by what I said, and graphic descriptions aren’t going to change my opinion. I don’t know if you get it. These stories sicken me and hurt me. Yet I still do not believe that the rabbanim are not doing their job. We all feel the need to scream and blame people when terrible things happen. That does not mean they deserve the blame.