The wearer should expect to be held to a higher standard. Isn't that what being "Haredi" is all about?

He found out that this is true with violent Juvenial delinquency among haredi youths. It is true and perhaps something that we can be proud of that muggings and women being raped at a bus stop on a Saturday night is unheard of in haredi neighborhoods by drunken youths. However, wife and child abuse both physical and sexual is prevelant in haredi society. I am not aying that it is especially our problem though sweeping it under the carpet through apologetics, non-disclosure and ignoring it will ensure that the problem will fester more seriously in future generations to the point where the haredi sector will have the most serious problem when it comes to abuse.

the psycho "rabbi" and his cult were not Orhtodox; not haredi; and not even Jewish, interms of Judaism. It was a mini cult , of sick people who had no knowledge of Judaism, nor of humanity. They may have used disguises, but this had nothign to do with any form of Judaism,orthodox or otherwise. Noone else has ever claimed wearing a burka is Jewish. Nor has this kind of child abuse ever been pracitsed as Judaism. We abhorr mutilation and child sacrifice.

We have to thank YNET for hosting this article even though they themselves hate the Hareidim.

The fact is that the haridem like to preach the moral high ground and continously preach to people their morals, judge and slander and attempt to deny people their democracy and choice. So prehaps they should be checking their own back yard forst. It amazes me the silence of the Shas party that like to attack anything they consider unmoral. Shouldnt they be instructing their followers that this kind of behavior goes against the Torah. It seems that His holliness and his bunch of convicted criminals have selective hearing.

Yes but the question is how did these cases go for so many years without being reported? The rabbi here suggests that this is an exception - people on the margins of charedi society - why then was the case not reported by their neighbours? The fact that so many teachers/ neighbours must have know what was going on yet did not report it shows a serious problem in that society

This article portrayed my exact feelings. #2 Bartley - wife/child abuse is very minimal. I live in a Chareidi community and I see what goes on around me - believe me, wife abuse is not one of them. Sometimes I think it's almost the opposite - the husband has to be home for kids' bath time; husbands take kids to the doctor, husbands going around in the same old suit/shoes for years so wife can have a new outfit for Yom Tov, etc etc.

I stayed with the haredi rabbis for a week , they are wonderful rabbis, and very poor people.But this case of child abuse, has cause a lot for my feelings and heartbreaking plain sick thing to do to innocent children. I myself am fighting inside me over this issue, it is very wicked to do such things to children. I was once a child my self ! But I will not shut my door on this haredi rabbis or their families.They are part of Yisrael as many claim to be these days.It is like redeeming the first born donkey ( Exodus 13;13). The ironi that i have not understood to date is how is that The Lrd whated us to redeem the unkosher donkey with the sheep. Rabbi Levi you tell me! where an what can I do with that haredi rabbi. Is there a place for him and those mad parents who abused their childern in Judaism > Or are we to redeem these donkeys with the sheep ? I dont know how to handle this tragedy !

This is propaganda. Ask anybody who has been brave enough to chozer im shelot and you'll hear the horror stories. Abuse at yeshivas, abuse by rabbis, abuse by older boys. The Haaredi need to look themselves in the mirror and see the golum that they are. And the honorable rabbi should ask a police commissoner now about youth crime and he'll tell him that there are dozens of criminals in prison who don't even recognize the authority of the state, inspired by the Haredim. Like the burqah, the black uniform hides terrible secrets

Is the "wall of silence" and denial that the Haredim place between themselves and these events. I don't know how prevalent abuse is in the Haredi community, but denying its existence entirely will not solve the problem. It DOES exist. If Haredim wish to claim that they "hold the moral high ground" they will have to stop denying these facts: there IS family abuse in the Haredi community, there ARE homosexuals in the Haredi community and there ARE "hozrim b'sha'ela" in the Haredi community as well as "hozreim b'tshuva", and will have to begin actively solving their own problems. You can not solve a problem until you admit it exists. That's the first step.

Child abusers are found in all religions, at all levels from the pedofile priests of the Roman catholic church, Rabbis like Chen are some examples. The Child abusers can be mothers, Fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, teachers, Rabbis, Priests anyone.... what is needed are some screening procedures for teachers, Rabbis, Priests etc. and the abusers weeded out. Children need to be taught that touching private areas by another adult is a no no, and that only a Md can touch them with a parent present! Children must be told that if someone touches them in ainappropriate way that they need to tell either a parent or other trusted person so that the situation can be dealt with. Above all , the abusers must be proscuted to the fullest and given the harshest sentences and never allowed to be around children! In closed communities such as the Haredi community this can be dealt with by the women under guidance from the Rabbizen as to what to tell the children and their parents and how to deal with such delicate matters, then the police can get involved by using female officers to talk with community women and deal with the problem. Child abuse must be stopped and stopped now, because vicitms of child abuse can grow up to become abusers themselves!

WHY NOT. YOU ALSO ABUSE YOUR WOMEN. LET THE WORLD KNOW what u r are really like.

I have lived in various haredi neighborhoods and enclaves for over twenty years and I have experienced this. The striking thing about the families involved is that you would never suspect what is going on. The families are very good at maintaining a facade. This is not unique to haredim. In most cases of abuse nobody knows what is happening for years. I am not saying that abuse is like the bubonic plague among the religious. It is not like that in your average secular neighborhood either. What I am saying is the religious have not began a proactive approach to this problem to the same extent as they have in secular society. Therefore we are much more vulnerable to this. A good example of this with the case in Beit Shemesh was how the Rav who first heard from the son what was going on. He said sshh! This is a typical response. Rabbi metzger even went so far as to say that it is a baal tshuva problem. Meaning they bring there secular baggage into our religious society. The irony of his remarks were that the recent cases in the news did not involve newly religious people.

As long as it is the standard in the Haredi community to relinquish personal responsibility and accountibility and accept a rabbi's dictum as the word from above we will, unfortunately, continue to hear more of these dreadful stories.

denial doesn't lead to improvement. dysfunctional families exist in all communities, and are not representative of the majority in any of them. the first step in dealing with a problem (and domestic violence IS a problem), is to recognize that it exists. so long as people like rabbi brackman keep denying that there is domestic violence in the hareidi community, or keep hiding behind these claims that this is only "bashing", nothing will be done to solve the problem.

NO MATER WHO COMMITS CRIMES TO CHILDREN IT MUST BE REPORTED AND CHARGES MUST BE FILED. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE FOR HARMING A CHILD.

Refusing to address an obvious problem is becoming part of it. This "rabbi" believes that his anecdotal evidence means that we should expect that a whole community is beyond reproach or not subject to the same scrutiny as everyone else. The rabbis assistance in denying a documented problem is almost as bad as the abusers actions themselves. If the Charedi community wanted to actually fix a problem they would do what any other thoughtful community would do. Bring in Councilors and create a structure in which there is immunity for reporting abuse. Have they done this???? Time will tell.