ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most influential experts on Jewish law in Israel, advises parents of molested boy to report to police without prior recourse to a rabbi.
Sexual abuse of a minor should be reported to the police without prior recourse to a rabbi, a senior ultra-orthodox figure has stated.
In a video posted to You-Tube, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most influential experts on Jewish law in Israel, was asked if the parents of a young boy who was molested were permitted to inform the secular authorities.
According to a translation of the Yiddish exchange provided by Jewish Community Watch, a Crown Heights based activist group, Kanievsky said that “it’s logical [to go to the police first] because one is saving others.”
“Rabbi Kanievsky’s psak (Rabbinic ruling) reflects a large positive step towards combating Child Sexual Abuse in our community and represents a turning point in the way abuse is being handled, even in the most religious sectors of the Frum [observant] community,” according to JCW.
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