Child abuse in the Jewish community

On 30 January 2013, 'Britain’s Hidden Child Abuse', an undercover investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches team, was aired on Channel 4.

Below is a transcipt of a conversation between Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, an expert in Jewish religious law and the leader of the Charedi community in Stamford Hill, London, instructing an alleged victim of sexual abuse not to go to the police.



The footage shows a community member saying:

“Someone that did bad things to me when I was younger. Someone who you may know of, who abused me, sexually abused me when I was younger, when I was a child and I’m looking for your advice, to be honest, what to do. I think it’s someone you might have dealt with in the past. I think it’s someone you might dealt with in the past.”

Rabbi Padwa replies: “I imagine that I know whom you are talking. And if I’m correct, we are dealing with this. We are dealing with this.”

Community Member: “Do you think maybe, is it a good idea to speak to the police about it?”

Rabbi Padwa: “Oh, No.”

CM: “No? Why?”

RP: “It’s mesira.”

CM: “But this is a very serious issue.”

RP: “Yes, but not police.”

CM: “Not the police?”

RP: “Men Tur Nisht (People must not tell tales).”

CM: “Even if you think it may be happening to other people?”

RP: “No. Not police.”

CM: “Not the police. And um, How, how, I mean, how can you reassure yourself that this man is not doing it to others?”

RP: “Look, the police also cannot assure. The police is not the solution.”

CM: “Under no circumstances?”

RP: “No.”

CM: “Now I’ve got a question: if, if the police found out about it and they called me in, what would, what would you say to me?”

RP: “HaShem (heaven forbid), let’s hope it wouldn’t happen. You shouldn’t do anything that can lead to the police."

CM: “But if, if someone else went to the police on him and I was called what, what do I do then?"

RP: “Let’s hope it wouldn’t happen."

Dispatches added:

"A Charedi Rabbi, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, takes the extraordinary step in this programme of breaking rank and speaking out against Rabbi Padwa.

He is outraged at how a young family was targeted and driven out of their community after reporting to the authorities that their child had been sexual abused in a Synagogue."

Interviewer: “When the child's telling his mum and dad all this, I mean what thoughts did the father say was going through his head?"

Rabbi: “The young man didn’t know what to do, and out of desperation, he made the decision to call the police."

Interviewer: "To people outside they’ll be saying, he believes his son was abused, of course go to the police."

Rabbi: “There are tremendous ramifications for the victim’s family because in certain segments of the Orthodox community, being labelled as an informer is one of the most terrible things that can happen.

The police felt there was enough evidence to take out the perpetrator from the middle of the Stamford Hill community in handcuffs. And this is disgraceful, a scandal… most of the community knew about it that night, and whoever didn't knew about it in synagogue the next morning.

Then he went to the senior Rabbi of the Stamford Hill community, whose name is Rabbi Padwa. His whole total concern was to berate the father.

'How dare you go and be an informer?' he said. 'You ruined his life, he was ashamed enough by the arrest and what happened, and therefore leave it go. It's forbidden for you to pursue the case.'

Rabbi Padwa never expressed sympathy not for the child and not for the parents…

Six hours later, a person banged on the door. The first thing that man said: 'Do you know that the whole London community has not slept the whole night because of what you did? And I myself will go and get social services to take away your children.'

The harassment escalated into cars that would gun their motors and zoom up next to the family if they were out on the street. The synagogues told them, ‘You're not welcome here anymore,’ they would be cursed and spat at in the street and called informer. So it becomes hopeless to them and ultimately they leave the country.”

The programme makers state:

"During our investigation we uncovered 19 different alleged cases of child sex abuse across England yet not one was reported to the police because alleged victims feared reprisals from within the community."

Political correctness has kept a great deal of this kind of thing under wraps for a long time. The Jews were off limits, no matter what they did.

Things are changing, some of the not so savoury stuff is now being allowed through into the mainstream. But what we are now allowed to know is just the tip of the iceberg, the establishment is at pains to kepp the vast majority of historical Jewish misbehaviour under wraps.

More here...