Zei Gezunt

After years of cover-up and denial, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is finally coming to accept child sex abuse as a problem in need of remedy. Outspoken advocate for sex abuse victims, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, recently translated his book on child abuse prevention, Let’s Stay Safe, into Yiddish, the primary language of the Hasidic world. The book’s translation is part of a movement that sheds light on molestation.

More than half of young Hasidic males have been sexually abused, according to Ben Hirsch of Survivors for Justice — an advocacy organization for Orthodox survivors of sex abuse. Historically, sex abuse has been swept under the rug, or handled only internally by a rabbi. “No one wants to speak about this issue, you have to know,” insisted Eli Weill, an elder in the ultra-Orthodox community. “We were raised not to speak about sexual issues,” he explained. But with a lack of sex education, molestation has evolved into a cyclical problem. “Most abusers have themselves been abused,” said Hirsch. “That’s not to say that most victims become abusers,” he added.

According to Weill and Hirsch, sex abuse in the Hasidic community is on par with that in any other culture with heavy religious influence and enforced separation of the sexes. The Hasidic community is also exceedingly insular. Marriages are arranged strictly within the community, children only study at yeshivas, ultra-orthodox schools, and Yiddish is the first language. There is little, if any, interaction with the secular world. Reporting sex abuse to outside authorities is a taboo that, if made public, draws severe retaliation and even banishment from the community. That’s what happened in 2010 to the victim’s family when perpetrator Rabbi Yosef Kolko of Lakewood, N.J., was charged with child endangerment and sexual assault. The victim’s father, initially reluctant to betray his community, eventually reported the case to police after internal authorities failed to address the matter. Lakewood’s angry ultra-Orthodox community forced out the victim’s family.

Families seldom report abuse because “they are dependent on the community for absolutely everything — from their jobs to the marriage prospects of their children. They have no place to go by design” said Hirsch. He explained that teachers who abuse children are protected by the school: “to not protect the teacher means to expose the school to a scandal — it’s a lot easier for them to dispose of the victims than to expose a scandal. The safest place for a child molester to be is teaching at a yeshiva. Surrounded by kids and unsupervised.”

Rabbi Horowitz has been passionate about education ever since he began teaching at a Jewish summer camp when he was 18. As his career developed, he sought to remedy what he perceived as a lack of resources for troubled youth in yeshivas. So in 1997, when Horowitz founded his at-risk youth mentoring program, Project Y.E.S. (Youth Enrichment Services), he realized just how many children were being molested. “And that’s when I started writing about it,” he said in reference to his child safety books and videos on abuse prevention. Horowitz’s advocacy for sex abuse victims has earned him a controversial reputation in the Hasidic community.

Horowitz expressed vocal support for the victim in the high-profile Weberman sex abuse case of 2013. Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed therapist, yet well-respected member of Williamsburg’s Hasidic community, was sentenced to 103 years in prison for repeatedly abusing one of his patients. Many in the community believed that the sentence was unfair. “How can you prove that?” asked Yisroel Weiss, an employee at a local chocolate shop. The trial shed unwanted light on one of Williamsburg’s most shameful scandals, and Horowitz was an unyielding advocate for the victim who brought the scandal into the public eye.

Due to his controversial reputation, Horowitz left his name off the Yiddish version of Let’s Stay Safe (Zei Gezunt), which he translated five months ago and has since sold 4,000 copies. Even leaders of the Satmar Hasidim in Kiryas Joel — among the most insular Hasidic communities — have purchased 1,200 copies to distribute in schools. “They read it to their children at school assemblies and send it home with kids,” Horowitz said of Zei Gezunt, which he co-wrote with children’s author, Bracha Goetz. Horowitz’s website lists numerous yeshivas associated with his educational program, but in calls to more than a dozen schools, not a single administrator was willing to discuss Project Y.E.S. or Let’s Stay Safe.

The book integrates issues of molestation with more general safety precautions, like wearing a bicycle helmet. Ultra-orthodox children can identify with the narrator of a Let’s Stay Safe, a young boy in traditional religious garb. “But even someone we know and like very much shouldn’t touch us in ways we don’t want them to touch,” the book says, adding “And if I’m not sure if a touch was right or wrong, I’d ask my Daddy and Mommy — and not wait too long!”

According to Horowitz, Hasidic community leaders have come to accept that molestation is a problem. “Many of them are not happy with the solution of arresting and jailing the community,” he said. Horowitz considers his educational materials to be part of the “winning formula.” Absent from this “formula,” however, are explicit instructions to call the police in a case of molestation. “They’re still not comfortable with the whole reporting thing,” Horowitz said about Hasidic leaders.

Hirsch contends, however, that Horowitz is “a very problematic figure. On one hand, he raises awareness by talking about the topic. Yet, by being ambiguous about the need to bypass the rabbis and report directly to the police, he gives license to the powers that be who cover up the problems, thereby preventing the victims and families from going to the police.” According to Hirsch, the only way to control the problem is for people to “go directly to the authorities.” Yet, Mayer Seewald, co-founder of Jewish Community Watch, a group that investigates cases of sex abuse, said “Yakov Horowitz is an amazing man and has done tremendous work,” adding that “his main focus is education.”

Seewald and Hirsch, whose organizations deal directly with survivors of sex abuse, have both noticed a rise in calls to the police. “Times are changing,” said Seewald, who attended a 1,000-person event last week in Brooklyn to raise awareness about sex abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community. Rabbis, mental health professionals and politicians were all in attendance to hear survivors tell their stories. The problem is not just sex abuse, but silence, explained Seewald. “The community is waking up.”

According to Weill, many classrooms now have cameras. “Years ago they never took it seriously, no one spoke about it. Today we have a solution because people took it in their hands,” he said, alluding to recent arrests and investigations.

Though sex abuse is still a taboo subject, many in the ultra-Orthodox community agree that progress is underway. “People have been empowered,” said Hirsch, “and people have been forced to look the problem in the eye and say, ‘okay, it’s real.’” Seewald believes that the Yiddish translation of Horowitz’s book is an “amazing” step in the right direction. “It’s not about me,” said Horowitz, “it’s about the kids. Just keep it safe.”