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
