Syag, here is part of the problem. If a person, a Rabbi, is protecting someone they know, then that is one specific human being making a choice based on his knowledge – mind, body and soul, to do what he thinks is the right thing to do.
When a group of Rabbonim take upon themselves to protect “many” colleagues who people have come and complained to them about, whether individually or as a group, they are making a “joint” decision based on what they think is best for whatever and however they concluded it should be done. But when the issue keeps growing and the list of people they are protecting keeps growing then the decision they made needs to be reconsidered because the way they handled it obviously wasn’t working.
In addition. When that group of Rabbonim handle that situation that way, it is harmful to the public but still it is manageable depending who went to them with the information. However, when that same group of Rabbonim have unlimited power and authority and they use that to pronounce that THEIR way is the ONLY way and ALL RABBONIM MUST follow their guidelines, then that is a whole other ballgame. Then it blocks any other Rabbi from having another opinion and helping anyone that has the same problem. He is then forced to also protect the guilty.
Take that one step further, when that group of Rabbonim then take it upon themselves to tell Jewish Mandatory Reporters such as an organization like Ohel and their therapists to NOT report to the authorities. THEY are telling ALL these people to break the law and put their parnasah in jeopardy. They are also interfering with justice and the commission of crimes.
Hence the huge problem and the difference of opinions. Where most of us have a problem with the way this issue was handled and is still being handled by the group of Rabbanim and their instructions to the K’lal AND their lack of implementing guidelines and taking actions to prevent this crime from happening and destroying our children, others are just defending their honor and calling us Rabbi Bashers. This attitude of “kill the messenger” is what continues to give them the freedom to continue in this cycle of destruction. The K’lal protects the organization and their Rabbis, they in turn continue to protect the molesters and our kids keep on being the kaporas.
The entire system of learning Torah and Gemora is based on asking questions and getting answers and yet WE as a K’lal do not have the common sense and the where-with-all to ASK questions of our leaders, WE are expected to follow blindly, and gladly comply. Until it came to this issue. When we were forced to open our eyes.
Lets take a look at the Kolko case. Margolis threatened the parents of victims that he would destroy them. That their kids would be kicked out and they would never get into another Yeshiva in Brooklyn. If they didn’t keep quiet they would have to move far away because he would make sure no one believed them. Margolis protected Kolko even though he knew he was putting countless children at risk. Did he watch him? Did he warn the parents, did he even warn Kolko?
This whole story comes out, law suit and all, so he decides to hedge his bets and goes to open another Yeshiva in Lakewood. Did they not hear how he put kids at risk? The community comes out to greet him with open arms and showers him with kovod and can’t wait to enroll their kids in his yeshiva. What is wrong with this picture?
What happened to all the molesters in Lakewood? Where are they now? The Rabbonim took care of them, they handled things very quietly and they made sure that the kids and parents kept quiet too. So where are they now? Where are they living and where are they teaching? Wouldn’t YOU like to know? Me too! I want to make sure they are no where near children, but we will never know. This is how the game is played.
But like Mike said, we are in denial that anyone who calls himself Rabbi can do anything wrong. And we are in denial that anyone that calls themselves Rabbi will lead us down the wrong path. During the Weingarten trial I heard about all these Rabbonim that came to his defense. They didn’t know him from Adam but they were all saying what a Chashuva mentch he was, a Rosh Yeshiva, and so on. So I asked a very logical question. “Does anyone know where he got semicha from?” No one knew. So I then asked, “if he doesn’t have semicha how can he call himself a Rav and then more so a Rosh Yeshiva?” I was then told “you don’t have to be a Rav to open a yeshiva and call yourself the “Rosh”.” I was shocked.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is how blind we are, and this is also how we get fooled and mislead. And this is why we have to ask questions and we have to fight for what’s right. We are losing this war, not a war against Rabbonim. We are losing the war against keeping our children safe and innocent. Our Rabbonim speak of the evils of internet and that is what’s causing our children to go off the derech. They speak of the evils of the computer, the cell phone, and anything else they can think of. But they stay silent about the evils of molestation in the home and in the school, by relatives, by mechanchim, by friends, by strangers but most of all by fellow jews. This is the most dangerous thing to our children and yet they are silent about protecting our children from this evil.
The Ehrliche Yid who follows all the guidelines from the Aguda Rabbonim is still at risk and still puts his children at risk because they are doing nothing to protect his children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, from this terrible evil. WE are not saying that these Rabbonim are bad people c”v. WE are not saying that they are evil people. WE are saying that they are ignoring this huge sakanah to our children and instead of doing whatever is humanly possible to protect our children they are putting their kochos into protecting the perpetrators, keeping things quiet and silencing and combatting those in the know.
They are NOT only protecting the perpetrators, but it spiraled into a greater issue. They are also protecting their own bottom line and doing whatever they can to avoid lawsuits. They are all nogeah b’davar and if they are found complicent in the cover-up they won’t be covered by insurance should they be sued. The financial loss to the organizations and yeshivas who are involved in harboring the criminals can financially bankrupt them should they be sued and that is the bottom line they are watching.