Q&A: The Distress of the Many
The Distress of the Many
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I’m writing to you after in the past few months I tried every other avenue I could think of.
A broken engagement got me into trouble with a family very close to perhaps the greatest rabbi in the Religious Zionist public.
I am experiencing threats on my life, harassment, abuse, and all of it under the patronage of the rabbi whose name I prefer not to mention. Recently I left my home and moved to a shelter.
Together with a support group, I turned to the police, to leading rabbis, and even to the Chief Rabbinate. In response, all of them unanimously answered me on the spot (!) that considering the family’s closeness to the honored rabbi, there is nothing they can do. Not ask, not clarify, not investigate, and certainly not act.
I’m asking your opinion—what else can be done? I’m afraid this won’t stop.
Thank you
Answer
I have no idea. File a complaint with the police, and also go to the media (maybe it will interest them if a famous figure is involved). The police are telling you there’s nothing to be done because it involves a great rabbi? I find that hard to believe. That itself is an interesting subject for the media.
Discussion on Answer
What slanderous speech? They’re persecuting her, and self-defense is slanderous speech?!
Rabbi, is she allowed to tell the media or write posts herself, or would that be slanderous speech?
Also, what will happen if they make false accusations against her because of that?
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In any case, it seems to me that if she turns to the secular media they’ll be happy to take the story.
Unrelated, as far as I know there’s no such thing as the single greatest rabbi in the Religious Zionist public. Every stream and sub-stream has its own style, and they can be completely opposite in their approaches and everything else, and still live more or less side by side.