The Child-Rape Assembly Line

[Snowfield]

IN RITUAL BATHHOUSES OF THE JEWISH ORTHODOXY, CHILDREN ARE SYSTEMATICALLY ABUSED


Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, the lone whistleblower among the Satmar, a powerful Hasidic sect, who recently was the victim of a bleach attack in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-child-rape-assembly-line-0000141-v20n11

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg—who is 63 with a long, graying beard—recently sat down with me to explain what he described as a “child-rape assembly line” among sects of fundamentalist Jews. He cleared his throat. “I’m going to be graphic,” he said. A member of Brooklyn’s Satmar Hasidim fundamentalist branch of Orthodox Judaism, Nuchem designs and repairs mikvahs in compliance with Torah Law. The mikvah is a ritual Jewish bathhouse used for purification. Devout Jews are required to cleanse themselves in the mikvah on a variety of occasions: women must visit following menstruation, and men have to make an appearance before the High Holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many of the devout also purify themselves before and after the act of sex, and before the Sabbath.

On a visit to Jerusalem in 2005, Rabbi Rosenberg entered into a mikvah in one of the holiest neighborhoods in the city, Mea She’arim. “I opened a door that entered into a schvitz,” he told me. “Vapors everywhere, I can barely see. My eyes adjust, and I see an old man, my age, long white beard, a holy-looking man, sitting in the vapors. On his lap, facing away from him, is a boy, maybe seven years old. And the old man is having anal sex with this boy.”

Rabbi Rosenberg paused, gathered himself, and went on: “This boy was speared on the man like an animal, like a pig, and the boy was saying nothing. But on his face – fear. The old man [looked at me] without any fear, as if this was common practice. He didn’t stop. I was so angry, I confronted him. He removed the boy from his penis, and I took the boy aside. I told this man, ‘It’s a sin before God, a mishkovzucher. What are you doing to this boy’s soul? You’re destroying this boy!’ He had a sponge on a stick to clean his back, and he hit me across the face with it. ‘How dare you interrupt me!’ he said. I had heard of these things for a long time, but now I had seen.”

The child sex abuse crisis in ultra-Orthodox Judaism, like that in the Catholic Church, has produced its share of shocking headlines in recent years. In New York, and in the prominent Orthodox communities of Israel and London, allegations of child molestation and rape have been rampant. The alleged abusers are schoolteachers, rabbis, fathers, uncles – figures of male authority. The victims, like those of Catholic priests, are mostly boys. Rabbi Rosenberg believes around half of young males in Brooklyn’s Hasidic community – the largest in the United States and one of the largest in the world – have been victims of sexual assault perpetrated by their elders. Ben Hirsch, director of Survivors for Justice, a Brooklyn organization that advocates for Orthodox sex abuse victims, thinks the real number is higher. “From anecdotal evidence, we’re looking at over 50 percent. It has almost become a rite of passage.”

snip

[Sheri]

1. gross and shocking.

is this real?

[Snowfield]

7. real, unfortunately

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chaim-levin/incompetence-or-corruption-ultra-orthodox-sex-abuse-and-the-brooklyn-district-attorney_b_2533549.html

[Sheri]

10. wow.

thanks for the link.

[AngryAmish]

2. Brings to mind Penn State and the BBC

[WinkyDink]

9. HARDLY. Sandusky was ONE man, not near what this witness, or OP headline, claims.

[LiberalEsto]

22. Sandusky got away with it for years

because he was protected by a male authoritarian culture in the sports world.

[leftynyc]

3. Disgusting behavior

Put them in jail and throw away the key. I hope the kids can recover their souls these animals tried to destroy.

[In_The_Wind]

4. Sexual abuse is unacceptable.

[mountain grammy]

5. Between Catholic priests and Hasidic rabbis, hell is for children.

[BlueToTheBone]

35. You left out the baptists and the evangelicals

Scrape their veneer and you'll find many shocking stories.

[pnwmom]

47. There is no large group that doesn't include child molesters. n/t

[MoonRiver]

6. Sickening

Lock the bastards up and throw away the keys!

[LiberalEsto]

8. One might speculate that heavily patriarchal authoritan hierarchies

can, although perhaps not always, lead to this type or aberrant behavior, as well as to horrifying attacks on women and girls.

My opinion is that contempt and loathing for women is a powerful influence on male behavior in these kinds of social structures. Some of them would rather rape boys than have a potentially egalitarian relationship with a woman.

[Sheri]

12. i think you're right about that.

but, how to change it?

[seabeyond]

14. speaking out against it every. single. time. it is thru out our culture. gaining momentum.

because there have been so many steps forward, we are getting massive backpedaling, a backlash, to get us back where we were. it cannot be done by making women submissive. non education. not allowed in the work place. how they are doing it is thru sexual dominance and control. and it is literally spinning out of control. it will hit all people

[Sheri]

18. yeah, but if you speak out they'll call you a "angry" feminist

most of us are just going along to get along, ya know?

i can't afford to speak my mind most of the time. it could cost me my job and some family members, if i'm honest.

is there another way?

[seabeyond]

20. i am old and tired. let people walk. i am done with accepting our girls being raped, put on the

net to entertain the men/boys so they can jack off to the humiliation of our girls, to point of girls dying.

you have to make your own choices. i am raising two boys. their overall health, emotional health and sexual health is too important to me to turn my back on.

if people do not like it, fuck them.

[Sheri]

23. i will never "accept" rape.

but i want to find a way to fight for what's right without losing my job and my family.

i still admire and appreciate your stance.

[seabeyond]

25. what i am saying, is i think just support does that. instead of dismissing, denying, ignoring.

liek i said below. this one man had the courage to stand up. now, what happens if masses stand with him. it just cannot be ignored. it does not solve anything. it does not go away.

i learned a long time ago, there were people that are not capable of walking life like me. and that is a good thing. we would not want all me's. life would be hell. but that does not mean that people do not have a responsibility, obligation, role in this. there role is as or more important than the person that speaks out.

[Sheri]

26. in case nobody has told you recently, you rock!

the level of self-awareness that you display is remarkable.

i'm skeptical, but maybe one day if we keep working at it the rest of the country can see some justice like what this NY rabbi has brought about.

[seabeyond]

28. see... how effective. and your simple comment to me, instead of staying quiet,

has given me reassurance that i can continue. see how effective support is. universal law, i am telling you. this is all so simple. and you got an example in this little subthread exactly has it works.

but, lets take it on a larger scale. we have seen repeatedly how effective it is. look at stuebenville. a town against one girl. the nation spoke out. and it was effective. there was another in kansas. we see it all the time anymore.

that would be the blessing of the net, that empowers us.

smaller scale. we see it happen often on du. male prison rape jokes. at first the people that spoke out (mostly women, and mostly feminists) were ridiculed and dismissed. more and more people starting standing with those that spoke out. prison rape jokes are rarely accepted now.

now, there is a reason it was so easily with MALE prison rape jokes and not so much with regular sexism and misogyny on du. but that is a whole other story.

anyway, i am digressing. thank you.

[Sheri]

31. the internet does promise to make things a lot better.

... and i hope you continue to do what you do for a long time.

thanks.

[Comrade Grumpy]

41. You do realize that the OP described a sexual assault on a boy.

[seabeyond]

42. ah grumpy. and here you are. such a contribution to the conversation. yes sir. hmmm.

[nomorenomore08]

50. It's the same problem though. Not just child abuse, but abuse of all vulnerable people.

Something which seems almost endemic (thought not unique) to ultra-conservative, patriarchal religion.

[LiberalEsto]

16. Enforcing the laws & making them do prison time

Educating women to help them understand that they are more than child-breeding factories
Bringing the situation out in the open as this courageous rabbi has done
Helping the victims in every way possible
Lawsuits

[seabeyond]

17. all of this. and yes. so damn important for there to be a penalty for this, and we are seeing more

and more where there is not. that is going to be a huge nod for this behavior. and not just in a religious sect....

[Sheri]

21. good list!

i like your second suggestion best. sunlight is a great disinfectant. still, i wonder what's going to happen to this rabbi. he showed a lot of courage, but i bet he gets punished for it.

[seabeyond]

24. what would happen if in mass he was actually supported. by people that a fearful of speaking out.

it is when we are concerned with repercussions that we all stay quiet. and in that quiet is where the ugliness grows. it is when in mass, we stand together and say, not acceptable that we accomplish so much.

one person, standing, speaking out is hard. in a mass, it is so much easier for all.

[Sheri]

27. i'm catholic, not orthodox jewish.

not sure how the orthodox jews will respond, but i bet they're afraid to rock the boat. most of us are. sad but true. i feel a little guilty about it. no, i feel a lot guilty about it, but i have to live ...

[seabeyond]

29. i am non religion. i can respect most al religion. i can also call out most religion,

in respect and love.

see what one pope has accomplished in a very small amount of time.

pretty damn awesome

not perfect, but he is certainly walking in the right direction.

a ripple.

anyway, thank you for the very interesting conversation that allowed us to walk deeper. we use to have that a lot on du. not so much any more. i enjoyed.

[Sheri]

32. i enjoyed it too.

to be honest, about Francis, i am so excited. my catholicism is by training and tradition, not actual belief. i'm a bad catholic, and i have been away from the church for some time, but Francis actually gives me hope that the catholic church may return to being a force for good in the world. i hated the church for a long time. now, against my better judgment, i feel hope.

[seabeyond]

34. what do they call it.. non practicing catholic, but always a catholic, lol.

i grew up in calif, lots of catholics. but in texas i have massive amounts of baptists. i had never experienced baptists. so it was such a revelation and eye opener and lesson for me. BUT... every friend i made was one of the few catholics in this area. hubby is a catholic. non practicing catholic. for whatever reason, i really enjoy catholics.

the thing, in calif in the 70's and 80's, catholics were liberal. then conservatism took over.

so ya. i like what this pope is doing.

[Sheri]

37. the american catholic church used to be pretty liberal.

that's how it looked from the pews, anyway. things changed with John Paul II, and they changed for the worse.

[seabeyond]

38. yup. nt

[seabeyond]

13. agreed. well put. nt

[whttevrr]

11. wtf?

[enough]

15. A terrible situation in a terrible context.

snip from the article>

According to Ben, the ultra-Orthodox community has never been as repressive as it is today. The repression, as he describes it, stems from the burden of having too many children. Huge families are encouraged: every child born to a Hasid is seen as “a finger in the eye of Hitler.” Ben also told me that the average family size among Williamsburg Hasidim is nine, and that some families include more than 15 children.

Families saddled with an increasing number of children soon enter into a cycle of poverty. There is simultaneously an extreme separation of the sexes, which is unprecedented in the history of the Hasidim. There is limited general education, to the point that most men in the community are educated only to the third grade, and receive absolutely no sexual education. No secular newspapers are allowed, and internet access is forbidden. “The men in the community are undereducated by design,” Ben said. “You have a community that has been infantilised. They have been trained not to think. It’s a sort of totalitarian control.”

The rabbis, dominating an ignorant and largely poverty-stricken flock, determine the fate of every individual in the community. Nothing is done without the consent of the rabbinical establishment. A man wants to buy a new car – he goes to the rabbi for counsel. A man wants to marry – the rabbi tells him whether or not he should marry a particular bride. As for the women, they don’t get to ask the rabbi anything. Their place is beneath contempt.

snip>

[LiberalEsto]

19. Absolutely

My husband's sister (raised Catholic) became a Haredi (extremely ultra-Orthodox) Jew many years ago, married, moved to Israel, had 8 children and is working herself to death supporting her husband, who doesn't work, and a couple of kids still at home, and a divorced daughter with several small children whose ex-husband is not required to pay any kind of child support. Much as I love her, I cannot fathom why a college-educated American woman would choose to run the village post office, keep a herd of goats, do upholstery work, bake specialty cakes and basically work hard from the time she wakes up at 4 am until she collapses late at night, at the age of 63.

[LittleBlue]

33. The Haredi are by far the largest growing demographic in Israel

Israel will become much less secular every generation. Like you say, the men are expected to devote themselves to prayer and not work, not even compulsory military service.

The situation is a ticking bomb for Israel. I can't understand why your sister did it, anymore than I can understand joining any strict religious sect.

[LiberalEsto]

36. Theoretically, if Haredis became the overwhelming majority

there wouldn't be much of a military to protect them from invasion. It is a recipe for self-destruction.

A couple of my sister-in-law's sons were so ashamed at avoiding the military that they chose to do military service anyway.

[freshwest]

40. You win the thread. This is being done nationally by conservatives:

You have a community that has been infantilised. They have been trained not to think. It’s a sort of totalitarian control.

And the media gave its consent to this, promoting all vehicles to do so. Religion was just one of them, the anti-science groups another, the commercialization of fear and arming oneself to the teeth, the destruction of civil society to keep the wackos in line and privatization. I could go on but have a killer headache this morning. They are creating a huge class of ignoratti that will do anything to survive.

[Quantess]

30. Is there any major religion that does not have a systematic child abuse problem?

Religion seems to be the justification for the most depraved human behaviors.

[PassingFair]

39. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Or something like that.

Slap a veil of sanctity and secrecy over it and it will
perpetuate itself.

[polly7]

43. Good grief that's disturbing.

Doubly sick that they justify this with religion when they're actually just filthy child-rapists. Well, not 'just' ... they're much worse, if that's even possible.

This Rabbi is a hero.

[Brigid]

44. Read Deborah Feldman's "Unorthodox."

The Satmar Hasidim are some seriously strange people.

[Hekate]

45. Rabbi Rosenberg's graphic descriptions are the outrage of a righteous man

Bless him. I'm glad he's going Old Testament Prophet on them rather than using that bleach to clean his eyeballs and move on. I wish him all the best.

[rhett o rick]

46. Are the parents aware? nm

[pnwmom]

48. The article gives examples. Some parents become aware

Last edited Fri Nov 15, 2013, 09:09 PM - Edit history (1)

and are too intimidated to do anything.

[rhett o rick]

51. That's kinda what I figured. I see that as a failing in some churches. They train people to

obey and have faith, instead of thinking for themselves, being open-minded and using common sense.

[pnwmom]

53. There seems to be a pretty stark difference here because of the extremes

to which the community is supporting the perverts.

According to the article, half of the children are being molested and the Rabbi is the only person fighting this -- and he's become an outcast.

Women who complain are losing all their children to the decisions of rabbinical courts, and hardly anyone reports to the police.

The members of the Catholic Church, once they became aware of the problem, have not reacted like this community, probably because individual Catholics don't submit themselves to this degree of tight control by the Church.

[rhett o rick]

60. I agree that the Catholic Church isnt as bad as this case, but

it's my opinion that the Catholic Church made a decision a long time ago, to continue telling their members that priests are close to God and not mere human males. So the church members give more trust and faith to these priests that really are only human. The church decided it was worth the "occasional" molestation to keep the sanctity of the priesthood. Just my opinion.

[pnwmom]

61. The post Vatican 2 generation of young Catholics didn't get that kind

of brainwashing. We were very well aware of the humanity of priests and nuns. Unfortunately some members of the hierarchy seemed to think they were better off if they swept any problems under the carpet.

Still, the situation seems almost open and above-board compared to the problems the Rabbi is trying to address.

[pnwmom]

49. Where is civil law in all of this? And why are the women subjecting

themselves to the religious courts that take away their children?

[nomorenomore08]

54. When a community is this insular, with its own court system etc., secular authorities in most cases

are nearly helpless. And anyone who wants to go up against the community authorities is likewise helpless.

[Warpy]

52. Closed, rigidly patriarchal religious sects = abuse

It's pretty consistent throughout them and it doesn't matter if it's some guru in India or some fundy Christian congregation or an Hasidic sect. Or the Catholic hierarchy.

Children are especially vulnerable to profound shaming and deep fright, although women are also vulnerable in these organizations.

I'm not surprised by this. It always makes me sad when it comes to light.

[Matariki]

55. WTF is this bs?

Some bullshit article on the 'evidence' of one guy and everyone in this thread believes it?

"Child-Rape Assembly Line among sects of fundamentalist Jews"? Seriously? There's an unbelievably sensationalistic headline if I've ever seen one. What next, candles made from babies?

[Nine]

58. I read this thread earlier and wondered about the veracity.

It does seem to be based mostly one guy's word. And I find it hard to believe that molestation rates exceed 50%. The whole thing struck me as propaganda and sensationalism.

On the hand, ever since the Jerry Sandusky stuff came to light, I'm more keenly aware of the prevalence of child sexual abuse. I do feel like it's everywhere, at higher rates than many of us ever suspected.

I just don't know what to think.

[Matariki]

63. I'm sure abuse happens in Orthodox Jewish communities same as everywhere else, tragically

But this article reads like a bunch of anti-semitic crap to me. The BS creepy headline is the give away. "Rape assembly line" ffs.

I can't believe so many people in this thread believe this one guy without question. It's how ugly mobs start. Appeal to the ugly and prurient in people's secret hearts

[Nine]

64. That's the sense I got too.

I'm not sure how much, if any, truth is in these accusations, but it would be nice to see a little healthy skepticism on this thread. Or at least someone explaining why they think the source and story are credible.

[gopiscrap]

56. holhy shit, that's fucking horrible

[Warren DeMontague]

57. There seems to be a statistical correlation between extreme religious fundamentalism and Massively

Fucked Up Behavior.

At least, that is how it appears to this admittedly untrained eye. Perhaps, some others feel that this is because of Pirates, or Unleaded Gasoline, or something.

I'm sure with enough time they'll figure out a way to make that case.

In the meantime, Kudos to this Rabbi for speaking out.

[Liberal_in_LA]

59. sick rapists

[FedUpWithIt All]

62. I am sick to death of children being forced to carry these burdens

I wish, with all of my heart, that we lived in a world where tiny bodies were only protected and nurtured. Adults should bear the burdens of the failings of this world. It is the adults that are responsible for these failings and it devastates me when helpless, frightened and vulnerable children are crushed beneath them.

It is hard sometimes not to hate people.