Q&A: Is It Normal That the Takana Forum Doesn’t Publicize What Comes to It?
Is It Normal That the Takana Forum Doesn’t Publicize What Comes to It?
Question
Hello,
I saw the Kan video today – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYx1yNQ5IXQ
in which once again I see that complaints reached the Takana Forum about a certain “rabbi,” and instead of going to the police and publicizing the rabbi’s name publicly, they try to “close it” within the “rabbinic” framework or something like that.
And then again the “rabbi” goes back and harms people.
I think it was the same with Moti Elon – it reached the Takana Forum, they “imposed” various things on him, and in practice he offended again.
I know from personal experience that I once approached them because of a rabbi who harassed me in yeshiva, and they treated me in a very unprofessional way (to put it very mildly), and I also heard about someone else who went through a similar experience.
I don’t understand what is going on – what is this???
Is this serious? a0
Are we still living in some shtetl in Europe or something, where “you don’t inform to the authorities”? Or maybe there’s some other theory here?
I simply can’t understand what could justify not immediately publicizing the “rabbi” and going to the police. If there’s concern about harming the complainant, you can keep the complainant’s details completely confidential.
What do they think? That the person really won’t go back and hurt people?
There are, for example, statistics about pedophiles saying that over the course of his life a pedophile will harm 117 people.
How are they free of blame for additional harms that will come?
Answer
I don’t know enough about the matter. One has to take into account that complainants in the religious world do not always agree to file a complaint with the police, especially when it involves a rabbi. There are social constraints within which this framework operates. There are good people in it, and I think there is room to trust them. Screwups and failures exist everywhere. And when you complain to the police, do you always receive proper treatment and efficient and fair handling?!
Yochai, it seems to me there is a misunderstanding here about the forum’s role. It does not exist to replace the police, but rather to deal with cases in which the police are not relevant, whether because the complainants do not want that or because there are no criminal offenses involved (but there are things unbecoming of a rabbi). The option of going to the police is available to complainants just like to any other citizen. You are surely not suggesting that the forum violate the complainants’ privacy and go to the police against their wishes.
Of course, if the complainants are minors the situation is more delicate, but as I understand it that is not the case.