Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:34:03.637Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ultra-orthodox Jewish communities and child sexual abuse: A case study of the Australian Royal Commission and its implications for faith-based communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

Philip Mendes Open the ORCID record for Philip Mendes [Opens in a new window] ,
Marcia Pinskier ,
Samone McCurdy  and
Rachel Averbukh
Philip Mendes*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Marcia Pinskier
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Samone McCurdy
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Rachel Averbukh
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Philip Mendes, Email: philip.mendes@monash.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To date, little is known about manifestations of child sexual abuse (CSA) within ultra-orthodox Jewish communities both in Australia and abroad. There is a paucity of empirical studies on the prevalence of CSA within Jewish communities, and little information on the responses of Jewish community organisations, or the experiences of Jewish CSA survivors and their families. This paper draws on a case study of two ultra-orthodox Jewish organisations from the recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to examine the religious and cultural factors that may inform Jewish communal responses to CSA. Attention is drawn to factors that render ultra-orthodox communities vulnerable to large-scale CSA, religious laws and beliefs that may influence the reporting of abuse to secular authorities, and the communal structures that may lead to victims rather than offenders being subjected to personal attacks and exclusion from the community. Commonalities are identified between ultra-orthodox Jews and other faith-based communities, and reforms suggested to improve child safety across religious groups.

Keywords

Child sexual abuseAustralian JewsRoyal Commissionreligious and cultural factors
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 14 - 20
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous (2017). Chabad leaders call for reporting child abuse to secular authorities. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 18 September.Google Scholar
Ashton, G. (2012). Transcript of evidence to Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations, Family and Community Development Committee, 19 October.Google Scholar
Berkovits, S. (2017). Institutional abuse in the Jewish community. Tradition: Rabbinical Council of America, 50, 11–49.Google Scholar
Bernstein, D. (2000). Diamonds & Demons: The Joseph Gutnick story. Melbourne: Lothian Books.Google Scholar
Blau, Y. (2017). Sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community: An analysis of the roots of the failure to effectively respond to the crisis. Tradition: Rabbinical Council of America, 50, 50–59.Google Scholar
Brofsky, D. (2017). Discussing and reporting abuse – A Halakhic perspective. Tradition: Rabbinical Council of America, 50, 60–77.Google Scholar
Cohen, D. (2011). Molestation – A Halachic Perspective. In Mandel, D. & Pelcovitz, D., (Eds.), Breaking the silence: Sexual abuse in the Jewish community (pp. 121–128). New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House.Google Scholar
Dorff, E. (2003). Jewish law and tradition regarding sexual abuse and incest. In Lev, R. (Ed.), Shine the light: Sexual abuse and healing in the Jewish community (pp. 46–60). Boston: Northeastern University Press.Google Scholar
Dratch, M. (2009). A community of co-enablers: Why are Jews ignoring traditional Jewish law by protecting the abuser? In Neustein, A. (Ed.), Tempest in the temple: Jewish communities & child sex scandals (pp. 105–125). Waltham: Brandeis University Press.Google Scholar
Eliezrie, D. (2016). The secret of Chabad. New Milford: Toby Press.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., & Crisp, B. (2018). Educating Australia’s Jewish communities about child sexual abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 27, 523–536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fagenblat, M., Landau, M., & Wolski, N. (2006). Will the Centre hold? In Fagenblat, M., Landau, M. & Wolski, N. (Eds.), New under the sun: Jewish Australians on religion, politics & culture (pp. 3–16). Melbourne: Black Inc.Google Scholar
Feit, A. (2013). Modesty from cats, sexual morality from doves: Orthodox Jewry’s silence in the face of sexual misconduct. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 8, 154–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishcoff, S. (2003). The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the world of Chabad-Lubavitch. New York: Schocken Books.Google Scholar
Graham, D., & Markus, A. (2018). GEN17 Australian Jewish community survey preliminary findings. Melbourne: Monash University Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation.Google Scholar
Greenbaum, E. (2003). The Rebbe’s Australian army: The success of Chabad-Lubavitch in Australia. In Fagenblat, M., Landau, M. & Wolski, N. (Eds.), New under the sun: Jewish Australians on religion, politics & culture (pp. 192–203). Melbourne: Black Inc.Google Scholar
Harper, C., & Perkins, C. (2018). Reporting child sexual abuse within religious settings: Challenges and future directions. Child Abuse Review, 27, 30–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2004). The nature and scope of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and deacons in the United States, 1950–2002. New York: The City University of New York.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, D., & Fontes, L. A. (2017). Twice silenced: The Underreporting of child sexual abuse in Orthodox Jewish communities. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 26, 752–767.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaufman, K., & Erooga, M. (2016). Risk profiles for institutional child sexual abuse: A literature review. Sydney: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.Google Scholar
Lesher, M. (2014). Sexual Abuse: Shonda and Concealment in Orthodox Jewish Communities. Jefferson: McFarland & Company Incorporated Publishers.Google Scholar
Lev, R. (2003). If it’s there, why don’t we see it? Denial, silence and some of their costs. In Lev, R. (Ed.), Shine the light: Sexual abuse and healing in the Jewish community (pp. 22–45). Boston: Northeastern University Press.Google Scholar
Lopiansky, A., Berman, Y., & Eisen, E. (2017). Child sexual abuse in the frum community – An overview. Dialogue, 7, 10–76.Google Scholar
Mansbach-Kleinfeld, I., Ifrah, A., Apter, A., & Farbstein, I. (2015). Child sexual abuse as reported by Israeli adolescents: Social and health related correlates. Child Abuse & Neglect, 40, 68–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLoone-Richards, C. (2012). Say nothing. How pathology within Catholicism created and sustained the Institutional abuse of children in 20th century Ireland. Child Abuse Review, 21, 394–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melchior, M., & Waks, M. (2015). Confronting sexual abuse in the Jewish community. Jerusalem Post, 7 July.Google Scholar
Minto, K., Hornsey, M., Gillespie, N., Healy, K., & Jetten, J. (2016). A social identity approach to understanding responses to child sexual abuse allegations. PLOS ONE, 11, e0153205. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neustein, A. (2009). Introduction. In Neustein, A. (Ed.), Tempest in the temple: Jewish communities & child sex scandals (pp. 1–9). Waltham: Brandeis University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neustein, A., & Lesher, M. (2008). A single-case study of Rabbinic sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 17, 270–289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neustein, A., & Lesher, M. (2009). Justice interrupted: How Rabbis can interfere with the prosecution of sex offenders – and strategies for how to stop them. In Neustein, A. (Ed.), Tempest in the temple: Jewish communities & child sex scandals (pp. 197–229). Waltham: Brandeis University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelcovitz, D., & Mandel, D. (2011). Introduction: Transforming victims into survivors. In Mandel, D. & Pelcovitz, D., (Eds.), Breaking the silence: Sexual abuse in the Jewish community (pp. xi–xviii). New Jersey: Ktav Publishing House.Google Scholar
Resnicoff, S. (2012). Jewish law and the tragedy of sexual abuse of children – the dilemma within the orthodox Jewish community. Rutgers Journal of Law & Religion, 13, 281–362.Google Scholar
Robinson, M., & Hanmer, S. (2014). Engaging religious communities to protect children from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 600–611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rose, M. (2011). Nowhere left to hide. Galus Australis, 5 July.Google Scholar
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2016). Report of Case Study No.22: The response of Yeshiva Bondi and Yeshivah Melbourne to allegations of child sexual abuse made against people associated with those institutions. Sydney: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017a). Final Report, Volume 16: Religious Institutions Book 3: 162–191. Sydney: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017b). Transcript of Public hearing into Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi Case Study 53. Sydney: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017c). Final Report, Volume 16: Religious Institutions Part A: Introduction. Sydney: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, W. (1991). The Jews in Australia: A thematic history. Melbourne: Heinemann Australia.Google Scholar
Salamon, M. (2011). Abuse in the Jewish community: Religious and communal factors that undermine the apprehension of offenders and the treatment of victims. Jerusalem: Urim Publications.Google Scholar
Sawrikar, P. (2017). Working with ethnic minorities and across cultures in western child protection systems. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schein, M., Biderman, A., Baras, M., Bennett, L., Bisharat, B., Borkan, J., … & Kitai, E. (2000). The prevalence of a history of child sexual abuse among adults visiting family practitioners in Israel. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 667–675.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schere, D. (2016). 300 Orthodox Rabbis condemn child sexual abuse. Baltimore Jewish Times, 31 August.Google Scholar
Stewart, C. (2017). Private lessons. The Weekend Australian Magazine, 18 March, 25–29.Google Scholar
Topsfield, J. (2011). Jewish community leader tells of sex abuse. The Age, 8 July.Google Scholar
Waks, M. (2016). Who gave you permission? The memoir of a child sexual-abuse survivor who fought back. Melbourne: Scribe.Google Scholar
Waks, M. (2017). Chabad’s hollow statements on child sexual abuse. The Times of Israel, 29 September.Google Scholar
Waks, M. and Anonymous others. (2012). Submission to Victorian Government Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.Google Scholar
Waks, M., & Waks, Z. (2012). Transcript of evidence to Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations. Family and Community Development Committee, 10 December.Google Scholar
Yehuda, R., Friedman, M., Rosenbaum, T., Labinsky, E., & Schmeidler, J. (2007). History of past sexual abuse in married observant Jewish women. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 1700–1706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zalcberg, S. (2015). They won’t speak to me, but they will talk to you: On the challenges facing a woman researcher doing fieldwork among male Ultra-Orthodox victims of sexual abuse. Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies & Gender Issues, 29, 108–132.Google Scholar
Zalcberg, S. (2017). The place of culture and religion in patterns of disclosure and reporting sexual abuse of males: A case study of ultra orthodox male victims. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 26, 590–607.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zucker, D. (2005). A betrayal of their sacred trust: Rabbis, cantors and chaplains who violate sexual boundaries. Journal of Religion & Abuse, 7, 77–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar