This is a really big deal, and truly is unprecedented.🧵 https://t.co/oYSlhrNltQ
— Shlomo Zuckier (@ZuckierShlomo) January 4, 2022
R’Lopiansky’s opening words: “It has been a week of upheaval and devastation. The notion of a serial predator comfortably ensconced within chareidi society shakes us to the core. This was never even remotely part of our vision of Torah community life.”https://t.co/1FJgdg1pF8
— Alexandra Fleksher (@alexfleksher) January 4, 2022
If true this is big news!
Zelenko: Anyone who is vaccinated is no longer human. They’re another species. pic.twitter.com/1gCKnsXnaJ
— Blimi Marcus (@MarcusBlimi) January 3, 2022
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| Ari with singers Shapiro and Leiner |
In the legally obtained recording, shared by @MendyTV, an investigator asks AT if he abused the victim as a child. Without knowing the name of the victim, AT says he remembers and asks if it’s X. The investigator says no. So the recording is evidence he had at least 2 victims. pic.twitter.com/xNrbg4RMiK
— Netanel Zellis-Paley (@wordpaley) January 3, 2022
"He knows who his alleged victims are. He’s made no attempt to atone for the irreversible harm he’s caused them. Given those facts, we must assume he’s still dangerous."
His alleged abuse has been public knowledge since at least 2015, when he was added to the Wall of Shame of Jewish Community Watch, a now-defunct organization raising awareness about abusers. This was not common knowledge however until May 2021, when the recording was shared.
In an act of defiance towards the established leadership of the Chareidi community, a group of activists distributed fliers in Chareidi neighborhoods stating that “We all believe the victims”, referring to the revelations regarding Chaim Walder.
Hundreds of thousands of such fliers were distributed Friday, depicting a young girl holding her hand over her mouth and including the caption “We all believe the victims.” The girl’s mouth is being shut by a man wearing a bracelet which states that “Lashon Hara doesn’t speak to me”, a reference to Chareidi concerns about Lashon Hara regarding victims of abuse which can lead to silence in the face of such abuse.
The backside of the fliers explains the importance of speaking out about sexual abuse and believing the alleged victims. The pamphlets were placed on bulletin boards, stuck in mailboxes and distributed in shuls around Israel.
The campaign, which involved 150 volunteers who distributed the fliers, is a response to claims by Chareidi leaders and media outlets that the stories of Walder’s alleged victims who came forward in recent months are Lashon Hara and may have caused Walder to take his own life. The Chareidi activists behind the campaign, who preferred to remain anonymous, decided to strengthen the victims and to negate the response of the Chareidi media, which lauded Walder as “well-known writer and educator” and omitted any of the abuse allegations or the manner in which he died.
The campaign organizers have launched a crowdfunding campaign in order to produce another batch of fliers.
Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau made a condolence visit to Walder’s family. In response to the uproar that ensued, he issued a statement, expressing his support for Walder’s victims.
“Unfortunately, there were those who interpreted the fact that I made a condolence call to the mourners — widows and orphans who I know personally, and there is no need to exaggerate what they are going through — as if I do not identify with victims,” Lau said in letter released Sunday.
“My heart goes out to the victims who are going through some very difficult days, and we must all stand by them always, and at this time in particular. I believe completely everyone who has been affected,” he added.
When the allegations first came to light in November, a number of Chareidi entities severed their ties with Walder. Radio Kol Chai stopped featuring Walder’s program, Hidabrut magazine stopped accepting his stories and the Otiyot children’s magazine said it would stop publishing his stories. At his funeral it was claimed that he had decided of his own volition to stop writing in the Yated Neeman Newspaper
Sol Werdiger - very worried Gerrer chassidim from abroad won't make it to the Rebbe's grandson's wedding next week in Yerushalayim - urges PM Bennet to ease covid flying restrictions. (oh, and in the name of Agudath Israel). pic.twitter.com/9qWtnNYLmE
— ira sorry (@SorryIra) January 2, 2022
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Throughout Charedi communities in the United States as well as on social media, warnings have been posted regarding one Uriel Goldman who is allegedly engaged in collecting funds for the Lev Tahor community, widely viewed as a cult.
“Warning: Uriel Goldman, head of Lev Tahor, is collecting funds in Brooklyn,” reads one such posting. Another reads, “Uriel Goldman is now in Brooklyn, presenting himself as someone who is collecting funds for needy families abroad. In fact, the money is used by the Lev Tahor cult in Guatemala.” Some of the ads are written in Yiddish; several allege that the money collectors raise will be used in order to “kidnap children.”
According to community activists who are engaged in trying to prevent the cult from moving to Iran, Lev Tahor’s members are endeavoring to raise money to fund lawyers, buses, hotel rooms, and additional expenditures, in order to reach that country. The activists are determined to prevent them from doing so, as it will be impossible to monitor the group’s activities if they succeed in settling in the Islamic state.
Activists, as well as those who have left Lev Tahor, say that the group also uses part of its funds for its legal battles against those seeking to extricate their loved ones from Lev Tahor. One former member told Behadrey Haredim, “The children appear malnourished and actually hungry. Their clothes are ragged and torn. Their money is used for their wars against the whole world – if they cared about their children, they would provide them with their needs. They wouldn’t wander from one place to the next; they would settle somewhere normal, like the Skver or Tosh communities have, for instance.”
Behadrey Haredim contacted Uriel Goldman, who told them, “These people just hate us and they are doing things like this all the time. I don’t take people’s money in order to fund trips to Switzerland and not to fund terrorism either. Now they want to stop us from having money to buy food too. If someone thinks that we don’t deserve to have food to eat, I’ll take him to a din Torah with the Ribbono Shel Olam [to the Heavenly Court]. We trust in G-d and He will provide for us. These people are persecuting us for no good reason.”
Goldman added that, “No one asked us if the allegations have any basis to them. They just write what they want. G-d will help us. I’m not going to get stressed out about people who have always persecuted us.”
He discussed multiple lessons and takeaways from this challenging episode, and clarified the position of the Gedolim in this complex matter.
Rav Berkovits essentially said that any doubts that one may have had about the allegations were erased by Walder himself.
He said, “What made things very clear was the suicide note. This was not a depressed person writing a note. This was narcissism at its best, this was manipulative, this was a person preparing to commit a violent crime, murder, and the victims…all of us, [he intended that] we should all feel guilty for his death. I think to any level headed human being who has any sensitivity to human beings and a bit of nuance–it’s obvious.”
He added, “We are dealing with a sociopath, who knows how many victims we don’t know about, who knows how many lives were destroyed.”
The Rav said that he does not know why this was not handled by the conventional Bais Din protocol. He was not critical of anyone involved, however he said that victims generally do not need to face perpetrators in Bais Din, and that many Batei Din have dealt with these issues extremely effectively.
He also said that while not every complaint is substantiated, that is usually the exception and not the rule.
In addition, the Rav said that he highly doubts the claim that “nobody wanted to touch this case”, because many cases like this have been properly handled in Bais Din and predators have been punished and prevented from acting further.
He said that “Rav Shmuel Eliyahu has a heart of gold, and when he heard from victims, that was certainly not something that he could live with.”
Rav Berkovits was adamant that males should never counsel females. He told the professionals that “the number one takeaway is that there is no heter for a male to counsel a female, whether as a therapist, counselor, or coach…seminaries where young charismatic good looking men teach women, we have had too many problems, there is something sick with that.”
The Rav said there “are plenty of competent professional women and there is no reason or justification for a woman to ever visit a man.”
He said “in theory it should all be professional, however l’maaseh it is not that way.”
Rav Berkovits is Rosh Kollel in the renowned Jerusalem Kollel. He is recognized world-wide as a prominent posek and ba’al eitzah. Through his varied roles in the kiruv world, he has become a sought after speaker and his advice on complex community matters is valued by Rabbonim and leaders across the globe.
