Friday, January 14, 2005

It's Not About Rabbi Yaakov Menken

He's just the Internet point man for Ner Israel and the two leaders of Baltimore's Orthodox community -- rabbis Yaakov Hopfer and Moshe Heinemann. They sent him out onto the Internet with Cross-currents.com to defend the Orthodox rabbinate against accusations of sexual abuse (I wonder if they had done due diligence on their man first?).
The degree of brazen protection given by rabbis Hopfer and Heineman to those accused of sex abuse is staggering (or at least it staggers the mind of those who expect credible accusations to be professionally investigated and actions taken against those who abuse).
The story here is not that people in power sometimes abuse those with less power. The story is that the religious leadership of an Orthodox community wills itself to be blind to the sex abuse problem in its midst.
Rabbis Hopfer and Heineman cry peace, peace when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:14)