Power of print

While at first I was perturbed by Jonathan Rosenblum's article Think Again: Those primitive haredim - yet again in this weekend's Jerusalem Post magazine condemning a story that I wrote last week about the growing problem of child abuse in the Haredi educational system and the unwillingness of the community's spiritual leaders to address the issue, I later realized that my job of raising awareness to particular issues, even delicate ones like this, is actually being done. It has started a discourse on a very difficult subject and made it very hard to ignore.

Rosenblum's was not the first response to that article. The version that appeared on line garnered some 53 talkbacks and on one Haredi blog http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/06/local-sexual-abuse-headlines-in-jpost.html#links
that I was directed to there are nearly 200 talkbacks to the article. Some are good, some are bad and some downright offensive but at the end of the day I am just pleased to have ignited debate and got people thinking. Thats important.

Although Rosenblum's article was critical of our approach, saying that my article was one-sided and did show the full picture, he also acknowledged the problems faced by the community and outlined some of the measures being taken to address the issue.

He quoted rabbis from the community in Ramat Beit Shemesh who assured him that the problems of sexual abusers were being dealt with, albeit in a quiet and discreet manner so as not to cause embarrassment to those involved. Hopefully this will put some people's minds at rest or at least reassure them that their leaders are not totally ignorant. Hopefully these leaders are being truthful and will follow through with what they have promised.

I just also hope that his lashing out at my article or those quoted in it will not cause those individuals or organizations harm because that they are only trying to help and day to day do amazing work for the entire community in Beit Shemesh.

At the end of the day, I truly believe that these people had good intentions and it was for those reasons that I decided NOT to mention specific names of alleged sexual molestors or institutions that have been accused of doing little to address the problem. That is the job of the courts or the police and not of a journalist.

Jonathan Rosenblum's article:
Think Again: Those primitive haredim - yet again
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371074854&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

My original article:
Haredim take on sex abuse of children
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1243872320108&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull