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	Agudah Rabbis: Talk to Rabbi, Not Police about Molesters By Simone Ellin Baltimore Jewish Times June 9, 2011 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/local_news/agudah_rabbis_talk_to_rabbi_not_police_about_molesters/25349 Yacov Margolese is more than willing to share his story. It’s important that people hear it, the 37-year-old Pikesville resident says. Nearly 25 years ago, Margolese was molested by his bar mitzvah tutor. When he finally reported the abuse in 2006, the teacher received a 5-year suspended sentence after filing an Alford plea, in which the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict him. Margolese says one other victim came forward to prosecute the teacher, but he knows of at least six others molested by him. Although he grew up in Baltimore’s Orthodox community, Margolese no longer considers himself a part of it but remains “close to it.” Margolese was not surprised when he learned that Rabbi Shlomo Gottesman of Agudath Israel of America, a leading national ultra-Orthodox organization, advised attendees of the May 15 Halacha (Jewish law) Conference for Professionals in Brooklyn, N.Y., to bring suspicions of child sexual abuse to their rabbis before contacting law enforcement authorities. The rabbi’s audience included professionals, such as social workers and teachers, who are mandated by law to report suspicions of child abuse to secular law enforcement authorities. “It’s in line with how they always behave,” Margolese says. “This community is very insular and isolated. They are living this way to protect themselves from the ills of the world, but that can’t be done. Because of their religious observance, they feel they are morally superior, and they can’t believe that religious people can be abusers.” Elaine Witman, director of the Shofar Coalition, a program of CHANA and the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, is concerned that Agudath Israel’s position will be detrimental to those affected by the ruling. “Not only is this illegal,” she says, “but even more importantly, law enforcement officials, not rabbis, are the people trained to investigate abuse cases.” Witman says the “shande [shame] factor” is a major reason that Jews and victims of all backgrounds fail to report abuse. In the Orthodox community, the situation is complicated by concerns that a family with a child who has been abused, or someone who reports on another community member, especially a rabbi, will be viewed as less marriageable and ostracized from the community. According to Witman, the ramifications of silencing a victim can be dire. “When victims are silenced, they are doubly traumatized,” she says. “These people need our help and they need services so that they can deal with their trauma. Those who don’t receive help will have difficulties in their work, their relationships and their lives.” According to Witman, local branches of Agudath Israel are not bound by the policies of the national organization. Witman says she does not know whether Baltimore’s Agudath Israel branches plan to follow the ruling of the national organization. (When contacted by the Baltimore Jewish Times, Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, spiritual leader of Agudath Israel of Baltimore, declined to comment on the ruling.) When asked how he felt about the Agudath policy, Rabbi Mitchell Wohl-berg of Pikesville’s Beth Tfiloh Congregation was blunt. “Yeah, we tried that already and that’s part of the reason we have the problem of sexual abuse,” he says. “Go straight to the police!” Margolese says he is not overly concerned about the Agudath policy. “I would rather expend my energy helping members of the community,” he says. Margolese admits that breaking through deeply-held beliefs and communal denial is a difficult process. But he feels his efforts and those of other victims, victims’ advocates and mental health professionals have paid off tremendously. “Since we started our efforts, we have developed survivors groups, education programs for schools, healing services and a huge network of trained trauma therapists,” he says. “People are tired of leaders not protecting them. They’re looking for solutions.”
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