MARYLAND
Times of Israel
MAY 17, 2018
Dana Janine Diamond
This is one that is hard to begin. About a week ago, Hannah Dreyfus reported in The Jewish Week (also published in Times of Israel) on suspicions of corruption surrounding Reform Jewish summer camp programs on child sex abuse. For example, it seems that prevention is not actually on the agenda. That’s a head-scratcher. Additionally, they are using educators and leaders who are currently adversely embroiled in a current child sex abuse scandal, stemming from alleged assaults at a Baltimore camp.
Having lived in Baltimore, I know some of the individuals involved in this tragedy. And I understand all too well the power structure and financial influence that ill serves those most vulnerable in the summer camp industry — the children. For more insight, I strongly suggest reading excellent reporting by Hannah Dreyfus linked above, as well as another article she wrote, published several months ago in The Jewish Week.
As a writer, I was asked to sit in on numerous meetings on child sex abuse in Baltimore as far back as eight years ago. I was also following the many emerging stories in the international Chabad community. Suffice to say they related to people (victims) I knew. The preponderance of child sex abuse crimes in the Orthodox Jewish community was but one of the reasons I ultimately left.
I found my home again in Reform Judaism. And yet, in the wake of #metoo, we are seeing that child sex abuse is still not taken seriously enough, nor is rabbinic sexual misconduct — no matter the community. This is upsetting. Because it is all so ubiquitous.
And the cover ups are such a betrayal. It’s like a game of musical chairs, the powers that be keep sending abusers to the next camp, the next school, the next job… to continue abusing in some other city or country.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.