Shofar Coalition in the Media
Jewish community brings sex abuse to forefront
01/24/08
By Bryna Zumer
Owings Mills Times
The movie that drew more than 100 residents to Pikesville Library's meeting room Jan. 2 was on a topic that, until recently, has almost never been addressed publicly and, in some cases, is still met with silence and stigma.
The movie "Narrow Bridge," directed by Israel Moskovits, a young law student from Chicago, told the story of a Jewish college student who comes to grips with being sexually abused by his childhood rabbi.
Although the story is fictional, the overflow crowd at the film screening, sponsored by The Awareness Center, an advocacy group for Jewish sex abuse victims, spoke to the recent focus on sex abuse within Baltimore's Jewish community.
The interest was largely sparked by allegations of rabbinical sex abuse that have been reported in The Jewish Times and publicized by local groups such as The Awareness Center.
Most recently, a Baltimore rabbi, Yisroel Shapiro, was arrested by Baltimore police and charged with child abuse, assault and third- and fourth-degree sex offense for alleged incidents in 1993 and 1987. A trial is set for April 1.
"Nobody really wants to face the fact that this could be happening in our families, in our schools, in our synagogues, in our community, and that's really the biggest issue -- helping people understand that putting it on a shelf and ignoring it doesn't make it go away," said Esther Giller, president and director of the nonprofit Sidran Traumatic Stress Institute, of Baltimore. Several years ago, the institute created the Shofar Coalition, a collaboration among 31 Jewish and secular organizations to address child abuse in the Jewish community.
"It was at that point that some of the revelations about the rabbinical abuse came up. Those things dovetailed with our objective from the very beginning," Giller said. The objective "was to involve clergy because we know when people are abused it often impacts their sense of spirituality."
In December, the coalition met with members of the Baltimore Board of Rabbis and a separate group of Orthodox rabbis to discuss ways to deal with the problem.
Giller added that the problem is not more prevalent in Baltimore or in the Jewish world than anywhere else.
"It's a challenging issue, not just in the Jewish community, but everywhere. It's an issue that people don't want to talk about. It makes people uncomfortable," she said.
"In terms of the Jewish community, we are one of the first to start to address it in an active, community-wide way," Giller said.
Taking action
Child abuse is one of Sidran's top concerns and most abuse of any kind occurs within families, Giller said.
Elaine Witman, director of partnership and program development at Sidran, oversees the Shofar Coalition. She said the coalition has brought sex abuse to the forefront.
"There's a lot of people who have been silent for a very long time, and we are looking to help them heal," she said.
The coalition has already run one support group each for men and women, and will offer at least two more this year through its partnerships with Jewish Family Services and Jewish Addiction Services, Witman said.
"There were not many therapy groups offered to adults who were the victims of childhood sex abuse. There is much evidence that being in a group with others is critical to healing," she said. After a collective training session for all coalition partners in September, several other groups, including Jewish Family Services and Jewish Big Brothers and Big Sisters, requested individual training sessions, Witman said.
"I think that speaks to people's willingness to say, 'We need to learn something about this," she said.
Rabbis respond
Baltimore's rabbis have also struggled to respond both to the general challenge of child sex abuse and accusations that some rabbis could also be abusers.
The Vaad HaRabbonim, a rabbinical council that oversees Baltimore's Orthodox community, released the statement "Abuse in Our Community," signed by 23 rabbis, in April 2007, in anticipation of a major Jewish Times article accusing a deceased rabbi of abuse.
The statement, which was distributed throughout the community, cited the need to educate children and report credible abuse cases to authorities. It stated that the rabbis were in the process of developing "a clear approach to protecting our community."
It noted that "many terrible mistakes" were made in past handling of abuse, with "tragic consequences," although communities and day schools have facilitated the reporting of crimes.
Several Vaad members who were contacted for this article either declined to comment or did not respond to phone calls.
Witman, who worked with some individual Orthodox rabbis for the Shofar Coalition, said she believes they are taking the issue seriously.
"This particular group is very eager to have some community events, and there's really an eagerness to get these issues out," she said.
Both that group and the Baltimore Board of Rabbis, which consists of Modern Orthodox and nonOrthodox rabbis, plan to participate in two levels of training: a basic one available to every rabbi and an intensive one for rabbis wishing to be specialists on abuse.
Some rabbis also plan to have a Shofar Shabbat to bring up the issue during their Sabbath sermons or host special events such as discussions with mental health professionals.
Hearing the pain
Arthur Abramson, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, the community relations and advocacy arm of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, said that, as far as he is aware, that issue is being addressed.
"Obviously, the (Jewish) community is always disturbed at sexual abuse against anyone. In light of the specific scandal in the Catholic church, I think there is a lot more attention placed on the clergy and their relationship with young people," he said. "The allegations are there, they need to be investigated, and those in positions of authority who are found guilty of this kind of thing need to be punished."
Rabbi Amy Scheinerman, of Carroll County's Beth Shalom Congregation, became involved with the Shofar Coalition several years ago while organizing a presentation called "Outing Abuse" for the Baltimore Board of Rabbis, of which she is a member.
"Perhaps there was a time we wished to pretend these issues didn't occur in the Jewish community, but that time has long passed," she said, noting that child abuse is interwoven with problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, and rabbis need to learn how to confront that and to educate their community effectively.
"There is too much suffering. People are being hurt and their pain needs to be our pain," she said.
E-mail Bryna Zumer at Bryna Zumer@patuxent.com