When it comes to sexual harassment, the impulse to protect ‘one of our own’ is wrong
OPINION | Ending sexual harassment within Jewish communities
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s opinions staff.
One best idea: Sexual harassment takes place everywhere. This is one in a series of posts about how various industries can change to stop sexual harassment. What’s your one best idea? Share it here.
Danya Ruttenberg’s one best idea: Empower an independent reviewer
Ruttenberg is rabbi-in-residence at Avodah and author of “Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting.”
The Torah teaches us not to stand idly by the blood of our neighbors. If our concern is to care for victims of sexual misconduct and to prevent new victims, we must create and expand the systems and structures that allow us to do so.
I would like to see the development of a new, independent organization entrusted by every Jewish denomination and major organization with the authority to help the Jewish community do better around issues of sexual misconduct. If enough major players in the Jewish system agreed to entrust this body with authority, others would look to it as well.
I imagine that this body would serve several functions: It would run trainings on sexual ethics, power dynamics and bystander intervention that would be mandatory at every rabbinic seminary, for new employees at every Jewish organization and as a periodic professional development refresher. This training would be a semester- or year-long course and would force participants to confront their deep-seated issues in the same way that clinical pastoral education does.
Incidents of sexual misconduct would also be reported to this body. Today, it’s not always clear to whom issues should be reported, and reporting can be particularly complex given the intricate tangle of relationships inside an organization. This third-party body would have clear procedures for reporting (including anonymous reporting), and every affiliated organization would agree to make information on reporting clearly available to constituents. This body would evaluate and investigate allegations fairly and, if warranted, bring recommendations for consequences, ranging from restorative justice to professional dismissal to involving legal authorities.
Lastly, this body would work with Jewish organizations to standardize and implement safe-conduct policies for working with congregants, campers, students and other constituents.
There are some organizations out there doing pieces of this work — Sacred Spaces most notably — that could be expanded to more comprehensively cover education and reporting as well as policy work. But as long as we leave it to each individual organization, denomination and community to fight sexual misconduct, we risk the work happening inconsistently and inexpertly, or allowing personal relationships, the impulse to protect “one of our own,” or concerns about public relations to impact the process.
