Summary of the second installment of the series about sexual abuse in ulpanot appearing on Kan 11 news this week. I will post the video when it goes up.
The presenter said that after yesterday's story, they received many more accounts.
The witness is Tzofnat Levanon from Maaleh Adumim. Only in recent years did she realize what happened to her. A few months ago she wrote about it on FB, and thirty girls wrote to her with similar experiences.
Maaleh Adumim was considered a very good ulpana. The teachers were mostly women, but there were a few male figures, who were known as "the rav".
Lebanon's account:
"I want to say his name. Eli Tubul. He was very welcoming, he offered to talk about faith with us. He kept approaching me and inviting me to talk, this was in tenth grade. I tried to avoid him, I didn't understand how bizarre it was that I should want avoid a teacher like that. I didn't want to be alone with him.
One time he caught me coming up the stairs and drew me into his office, I couldn't refuse, I tried to stay near the door, he closed it, and came closer, much closer, asking 'what did I do, did I hurt you?', and I said I wanted to go home, it was Thursday afternoon, but he trapped me near the wall, he put his hands on either side of my face on the wall, he breathed on me, at that moment I had a blackout, I have patches of memories, I only remember little bits, the next I remember I found myself outside of his room, I now know that this is a reaction to trauma and sexual abuse. I remember my sigh of relief, I went home, and I didn't return for two weeks. But no one noticed, because I went to volunteer, and then I didn't go to his classes or the discussions he held.
I didn't understand what happened. Only years later, and this is the most humiliating, in twelfth grade, I thought before Yom Kippur that I needed to respect the rabbis more. So I decided I had been disrespectful to him, and I went to apologize. But he seemed to know why I was there, he said 'I'm so happy you came, and you can tell me what's wrong,' it was very clear that he knew, it was a strange reaction. It was very humiliating, we didn't know the language, we didn't know how to say it, sex was a bad word, they told us not to be 'there,' not to play on this field, but because he was the only male, or one of two, we put our sexual feelings onto them, he was young, cute, blond, he didn't have any idea either. He told us once that he had learned that he had to keep distance and he is working on it, can you imagine? It's strange.
Years later, while I was on a date with a religious man, he came in with his wife. He came to our table and greeted me warmly. I stood and exchanged a few words with him. After I sat down my date asked, 'What did he do to you?' I said that he sexually abused me in tenth grade. This was the first time I had said it.
A friend who had a similar story called Takana. They said they had received many complaints but they were in the gray zone. After a few years, he left to a boys' high school where he is still teaching.
Now, looking back, I can see the change that I underwent between ninth and tenth grade, a subtle but definite change. I was quiet and gentle and not provocative. If someone would have opened the door, like my date did, I would have understood what happened. And every young girl needs to know.
Tubul sent a statement to the program denying the accusations.
