Brooklyn, NY – Dov Hikind Subpoenaed On Sex-Abuse Information

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    Vows to ‘go to jail for 10 years’ to protect victims’ identities; his failure to report molester ‘outrageous,’ says legal expert. [The Jewish Week]Brooklyn, NY – State Assembly member Dov Hikind was subpoenaed Monday to provide testimony and files he has compiled about rabbis and yeshiva employees who have allegedly sexually abused children under their charge, and rabbinic leaders who may have protected the abusers.

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    The Brooklyn Democrat says he has assembled detailed dossiers on “hundreds” of such cases. But he said he would “go to jail for 10 years” rather than reveal the names of the alleged victims, whom he has guaranteed anonymity.

    Michael Dowd, the attorney who served the subpoena on behalf of several clients allegedly molested by their yeshiva teacher as children, said he was willing to keep the names of the alleged victims from becoming public. He is representing his clients in a civil suit against Yeshiva

    Torah Temimah in Flatbush and its longtime teacher, Yehuda Kolko, who was convicted of child endangerment last April.

    “I’m willing to try to work with him in a way that protects the sources yet exposes the villains,” said Dowd of Hikind. “I am not at all seeking to do harm or impair his progress, but I have a responsibility to my clients.”

    Hikind also faced new pressure this week over his effort — publicized on a recent edition of his radio show — to work with a chasidic man who has come to him acknowledging he has repeatedly molested children, and confesses to one incident as recently as two months ago. Hikind says he has gotten the man into therapy with a “top person in the field” and has declined to disclose his name or tell law enforcement authorities about what he knows.

    On Tuesday, Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University law professor and national expert on child sexual abuse, said Hikind’s holding back of this information “is outrageous. At this point he’s engaged in obstruction of justice. Is there any indication that [the abuser] has taken anyone over state lines? It seems to me if local prosecutors won’t do it, the FBI should be called.”

    A New York police department source with long experience in sex crimes said that even in cases where therapy might help repeat sex offenders, it is essential that the process be overseen through the legal system. Otherwise, she said, there is no way to ensure the offender’s continuing participation and no way to identify him so as to protect the public in case of relapse.

    Bill Josephson, a senior partner at Fried Frank and Harris who served as a top lawyer to former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer also asked, “Why aren’t they convening a grand jury?” Given Hikind’s public acknowledgement that he has gathered a virtual mountain of first-hand testimony of sexual wrongdoing, “Why can’t you empanel a grand jury and then subpoena Dov? Josephson asked. “He can’t hide from [a criminal] subpoena. That’s a very powerful instrument.”

    Asked if Hikind’s collection of evidence might move him to empanel a grand jury to investigate what is happening within the Orthodox community on this issue, a spokesperson for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said only, “If Dov Hikind has evidence of wrongdoing or criminality, we are open to hear it. I can’t say we will empanel a grand jury.”

    Access by prosecutors to the most recent victim of Hikind’s self-confessed chasidic abuser might enable state authorities to prosecute him. If the victim is a minor, as the abuser’s past prey have been, he would fall within the state’s narrow statute of limitations for such criminal prosecution.
    But Hikind said, “He has many victims. None of those will come forward. That’s part of the story.
    “The therapists say that if you don’t stop one of these people they will have a hundred victims,” Hikind said. “Believe it. Just this guy started listing to us a lengthy list of his own victims from the past 10 years.”

    The developments marked a new twist in Hikind’s campaign to get the Orthodox community to address a problem he has come to view as much more widespread than he ever imagined, one in which he says he is trying to do the right thing.

    Last April, after the conviction of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko of Yeshiva Torah Temimah for child endangerment, Hikind began addressing the issue bluntly on his weekly call-in radio program. He invited members of the Orthodox community who had been molested as children to come to him with details about their experience and about rabbis, teachers or others in the community who were responsible.

    Stunned by the massive response, the state lawmaker now says he has assembled testimony and information detailing at least 1,000 cases of childhood sexual abuse.

    In the Rabbi Kolko case and others, victims who were ultimately willing to come forward publicly say that they told school administrators about what their teachers were doing to them but that the administrators did nothing, or even tried to keep them silent. Some report receiving threats and pressure when they do speak out or seek to go to the authorities.

    In the ultra-traditional Orthodox community overall, there is a widely acknowledged taboo about going to secular authorities to prosecute such crimes. And in Brooklyn, some victims who have come forward complain that the D.A.’s office does not prosecute such cases vigorously. They cite Rabbi Kolko’s ultimate sentence.

    Hynes negotiated a controversial plea bargain that reduced the felony sexual molestation charge to misdemeanor that did not require Rabbi Kolko to serve prison time or register as a sex offender.
    At the same time, Hikind and other observers say the community’s own rabbinic leaders have failed to deal with the problem internally.

    Many of his informants are now adults over the age of 23 — the state’s deadline for allowing criminal prosecution of a child sexual abuser and for most civil suits, as well. But even those who are not, says Hikind, are not willing to go to secular law enforcement authorities.

    Some have criticized Hikind for making this determination on his own. In the Rabbi Kolko case, a determined detective produced victims willing to come forward by obtaining class lists of hundreds of students taught by Kolko over the years and going from door to door seeking victims who would work with her. Some who initially refused were, in the end, eager to testify.

    Hikind says he believes strongly that victims should go to law enforcement authorities and that he encourages them to do so. But given the reality of community reluctance, he says he will use the information he has amassed to go to rabbinic leaders and get them to deal with the situation internally. He hopes to secure their cooperation in establishing a communal registry that would list the names of teachers removed from schools due to abusive behavior.

    But apparently recognizing that many schools are often reluctant to dismiss such teachers in the first place, Hikind has at times appeared to envision forming some sort of rabbinic panel with a more ambitious, quasi-judicial function.

    “It’s sort of hard to investigate yourself,” Hikind admitted in an interview last September. “There’s got to be a system where trusted people, respected leaders, who are not directly a part of that particular organization examine everything. We have to make judgments. We do that all the time.”

    Last August, Hikind threatened to reveal the names of abusers publicly if communal rabbinic leaders failed to act. This week, Hikind said it would take “another two months” to finish his “current phase.” He said that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) had recently allocated money for him to hire a staff person for the project.

    Survivors for Justice, a new group of self-described childhood victims of sexual abuse in the New York Orthodox community and their advocates, dismissed the willingness and ability of rabbinic leaders to play the role Hikind envisions.

    “We applaud Dov Hikind’s efforts, but we believe it is crucial that any information [he] has be brought directly to the police,” the group said in a statement. “It’s crucial in an effort to prevent sexual abuse from continuing that all perpetrators be brought to justice. We are dealing with sex offenders, and they need to be arrested, prosecuted and registered in order to protect our children.”

    Dowd, who is representing alleged victims of Rabbi Kolko in their suit against him, the school and its administrator, said, “With all due respect to his intellect, skill and ability, [Hikind] can’t be the arbiter of what is useful to my case. The lawyers representing those who are abused are in the best position to do that. Therefore, I have to depose him, question him under oath.”

    Dowd stressed, “I mean no harm. We are both pointed in the same direction.” He said he was willing to agree to “reasonable constraints” on his use of Hikind’s material. But he added: “I fully intend to use any information that proves the case.”

    Hikind said he had turned Dowd’s subpoena over to “a lawyer for the Assembly” who will determine to what extent he is required to cooperate as a state legislator. But regardless of the lawyer’s determination, expected Wednesday, “Hell would have to freeze over for me to disclose any of the private things to anybody,” he said.

    Some legal experts said that Hikind might find a successful argument against having to comply with Dowd’s subpoena by citing the state constitution’s speech and debate clause — a provision that grants privileges and immunities to lawmakers in connection with information they gather for the purpose of legislating. A few said he might also be able to resist the subpoena under the state’s shield law for journalists since he used his radio program to gather some of the information.

    Hamilton, the Yeshiva University legal expert, was unfamiliar with the state constitutional provision. But under the federal constitution’s speech and debate clause, “The activity must be related to his role as a member of the state legislature,” she said. “Here, it is hard to argue he was engaged in a legislative issue, because he was restricting his interest to his own religious sect. In any event, speech and debate only goes to words, not to illegal acts.”


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    177 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    the day has finally arived!!!to all the molesters and abusers .e.t.c i hope u all rot in hell

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    The perpetrators of child sexual abuse are often incurable and must be monitored and controlled. If Hikind gives the names and info over to rabbis, what is to prevent these rabbis from giving the ‘heads up’ to friends and family members who are rodfim and enabling them to escape legal action, cover their tracks, and maybe even silence the victims?

    As a professional who has worked with victims of child sexual abuse, I wonder about the wisdom of leaving the investigation, treatment, and prosecution (if any) of child sex crimes in the hands of inexperienced legislators who are not trained in the clinical and legal aspects as well as in the hands of haredi rabbis who are equally untrained and ignorant of how these crimes are perpetrated, the high rate of recurrence, and what does and does not work with offenders.

    However, giving the information over to Charles Hynes is also quite risky. Just read what he did with the case of Fhima decades ago.

    The only answer seems to be a recognition that we are living in a medina of chesed, not a shtetl in Poland, and that we need help from authorities with integrity in dealing with this epidemic.

    Molestors BEWARE !!
    Molestors BEWARE !!
    15 years ago

    Time for Justice !! you cannot hide anylonger !

    Peace of mind
    Peace of mind
    15 years ago

    you really thought that this wont happen we couldn’t wait, the police have a lot of open files that they need to solve come on I cant wait to see some handcuffs on this garbage lowlifes

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    If he’ll be forced to give out names, this will be the end of it!! no one will ever come forward.

    momma
    momma
    15 years ago

    I knew this will come to this point! Hikind promised NOT to go public with the names of the accused and I know he will stick by his promose. However, how does he expect to let them get away with this horrific crime???

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Sure there’s a “taboo” to go to secular authorities! Mr Hikind was trying to do a service, in a proper way, to help the community without breaking as many families as possible. Once the Government gets involved, everyone will be thrown in jail, and they will have no benifit of the doubt. More importantly, the victims are bound to lose their privacy.
    Its better when WE do things quietly.

    "VICTIM"
    "VICTIM"
    15 years ago

    R’Dov Don’t give up! We need you! You have about 1,000 cases, how many more did not come forward?!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Wow!!!! What a developement!! I wonder where this is going next?????? Truly Astonishing!!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Before anyone posts insensitive and thoughtless comments, think about about OUR victims!

    Exactly
    Exactly
    15 years ago

    That’s exactly what happens when a POLITICIAN steps into the shoes of an ASKAN or Torah Authority.
    Had Hikind consulted daas torah, he would not have so foolishly gone on the airwaves with his outrageous accusations and boasting about his new found mission of Abuse Vigilante.
    Same is true to any person who trusted Hikind with their tragedies AS IF he would be their savior.
    Please Dov, stick to what you’re good at – politics.

    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies. — Groucho Marx

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Looks like everything is going to hit the fan now- Seems like Dov Hikind bit off more than he could chew

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    This is crazy, let dov do the Job. No one will benefit long term if Dove needs to report everything. He’ll just stop doing what he started and we’ll be at exactly where we were before Dov Hikend got involved. These are hungry trial lawyers that will stop at nothing. Dov you are exactly that and we’ll support you. Do not give up!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Today at 06:09 PM
    Anonymous Says: Sure there’s a “taboo” to go to secular authorities! Mr Hikind was trying to do a service, in a proper way, to help the community without breaking as many families as possible. Once the Government gets involved, everyone will be thrown in jail, and they will have no benifit of the doubt. More importantly, the victims are bound to lose their privacy.
    Its better when WE do things quietly.

    I agree as well with this. Dov keep it up!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I’m afraid that hikind’s problem is the inflated number of “a thousand victims that came forward”, he probably has much much less than that, but now he has to answer the government and forward them those files that don’t exist (up to this extent and inflated blown up figures).. yea, he’s really got a problem..

    Big Masmid
    Big Masmid
    15 years ago

    Boy Oh Boy Dove Hashem has always been on your side don’t give up

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I think that Dov’s “thousands of cases” is dramatically overstated, yes there is a problem, but much much smaller than these people (yes I mean nachum to) are trying to make it look, I call it “Schumer syndrome” (some people call it attention seeking) so that’s why he wont say names, cause it will come out that he doesn’t have much!!!

    Now this looks very bad for the Jewish community as of now, but it might make things better, once he is forced to admit that he was “crying wolf” in the time that the problem was much smaller then he made it look like, it will make Klal yisrael look better.

    Shaul in Monsey
    Shaul in Monsey
    15 years ago

    Dov Hikind is doing the most important work on behalf of Klal Yisroel since Moshe Rabbeinu implored Paroah to imancipate us. He should be commended and supported by all facets of our Faith, from Reform to Chassidish, Litvish to Modernish and Conservadox. He is doing what no Rav has had the strength, ability, foresight and courage to do. I have personally shared these sentiments with Dov Hikind via his web email page, and he called me back personally to thank me. What a special person who is destined for further greatness.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    What is all this pandemonia all about? He will be subpeoned to reveal the abuser list not those of victims. The state has laws protecting victims from exposure and they cannot legaly make him reveal the names of victims. Dov is a smart cookie and up to this game. Remember, he is an attorney and will cite attorney-client privlige plus victim protection and protecting the innocent and will never have to reveal the names of victims. I myself spent an hour with Dov and his chief of staff, relating the deeds of my 2 abusers/molesters. He has my full confidence and I know he has his bases covered. He has always been a baal mesiras nefesh for truly worthy causes he has carefully researched. I recall years ago how he led the demonstrations against ronald reagan for visiting a nazi cemetery in Berlin, and allowed himself to be arrested. He is an emesser mentch if ever we had one. His deeds show how his greatness exceeds even that of admorim and roshei yeshivos who care only for image and self benefit. Dov, rock on! If you want to know who I am, I am the one you met right before you left to Israel last. You said you would contact me again as soon as you came back, but you must of gotten too busy. You also said my abuser will probably face the music before the year is out. I’m holding out for that one. Call me if I can be of any help. Your most kind words and “actions” I witnessed when I met you cemented by beleif in your work and your capability.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Amazing stuff!!!!
    To all molester defenders!

    U are just as guilty
    And this should not be handled internaly
    It’s been don’t like this for years and did jack!
    The law is the way to go!!!!!

    These monsters should finally get the justice they deserve!!!

    There are hundreds of mollesters in our comunities that hide behind religion and quote on quote frumkeit!!!
    That kill our young jewish souls time and time again!!
    Then they blame the kids that the kids started up with the adults!!!

    I knew an 80yr old frum belzer chusid that’s not alive anymore that mollested kids time and time again and no one stopped him for years!!!

    Dogs ur time has come b”h

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    We should gather together for a show of support for what Reb Dov is doing for the good of the community. He could of wiped his hands off this mess and left Lippy Margo and the other gedolim to cover up and perpetuate these crimes. Sick how the gerrer goons who edit the Hamodia allowed BMG to put a centerfold ad into this weekend addition with a photo of fat margo

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I WAS MOLESTED BY A TEACHER.

    Dov-I usually agree with you-but I must say-you are a SOB. How dare you not report these a** holes?????? Do you know that i’m sickened till today from what happened to me? This happened over 15 years ago and only now do I know what really happened to me. I can’t beleive it really did. If i saw this person on the street today, i would seriosly beat the hell outta him. And you go and protect these sickos????? What the hell is wrong with you???

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    If Dov is subpoenaed, they should also subpoena Nuchem Rosenberg. THey were dealing with one and the same issue and they both have tons of information. But personally, I hope the legal system don’t succeed against Dov.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I don’t recommend taking the law in your own hands, but when you see someone (a chazzer) soaking away in mikva facing the stairs where people enter feel free to tell to turn and face the wall.

    cher
    cher
    15 years ago

    i think he should make the names of the offenders public, while keeping the victims privacy. They deserve to be investigated by law enforcement. This is common sense, and it’s the rule of the land. He especially should be following the rules!! And, if these people are innocent, let them be judged, and they will be innocent till proven guilty.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    This is a big mess.

    1) Not all the names that Dov has are confirmed stories and if he has to release these names there might be an inocent person that will go through what no one will ever want tyo go through.

    2) What garantee does the victim have that this lawyer won’t Subpoena him to court to testify against the defedent?

    3) Just wait when all this information will be released how the Press will have a ball field. What a Chillul Hashem.

    M. Richter
    M. Richter
    15 years ago

    Its truly a pitty that they’re getting in the way of the only person that was MAN enough to even go close to the topic in public (besides R’ Rosnberg).
    Howerver to Dov I have 2 questions:
    1) What good will a doseir of 1000 casses do while collecting dust in a closet?
    2) Your a public figure who’s supposed to be prepared for the unthinkable, didn’t you know this moment will come sooner or latter?
    But still Dov Chazak Veamutz!!! This just makes the schar so much greater!!!

    KUGEL
    KUGEL
    15 years ago

    An intresting turn of events.

    In the beginning Dov was angry about Rabbonim who knew about these horrific molesters but were protecting the molesters by not going public. Now suddenly that he is the one who knows the names he is also unwilling to go public with them.

    What an upside down world!! It’s like now that he is the one to know what the Rabbis knew he also thinks that it is the best to remain silent just as the Rabbonim have been doing…

    For Your Consideration
    For Your Consideration
    15 years ago

    (1) The abusers must be stopped. (2)The victims need support and treatment. All the other issues are secondary.
    The abusers will not stop without professional intervention and won’t seek it without being forced to do so by the legal system. Each of them is a rodef that must be stopped before harming another child. Who is the “we” that is going to do this? This is a job for the professionals: the police, the courts, and the mental health providers. With all due respect, our Rabbanim do not have the tools to do this: they do however have the ability to lead the community and deal with this in a forthright manner.
    The victims need our support and this means that the community must accept the reality of abuse and not add insult to injury by shunning them.
    Lastly, whose families are going to be “torn apart” by this? The families of the abusers need protection (family members are quite often the targets: the social science literature is full of cases of multi-generational abuse patterns–the abused children become abusive adults). The families of the victims need care and professional help: this is a crime that affects the entire family.
    This is an issue of p’kuach nefesh. Would we not call the police if a yid was shooting a gun at a playground filled with children? Why is killing a child’s soul in private any less of an emergency?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    That there are some people in the community who engage in horrific acts that destroy children affecting them for life is unacceptable. Such persons have no place in a school, mikva, a synagouge or anywhere there are children .
    Remaining in the place of temptation removes whatever compassion these sick people might elicit from a place of remorse.
    What is unspeakablly appauling is that the fortress of holiness the Yeshivos and their Generals, Roshei Yeshiva, Menahalim as well as Gedolei Hador may hsve defended, protected or facilitated this vile conduct.
    The mere fact one can write this casts an acusing finger at the living Sifrei Torah of our generation how could you tolerate this on your watch? How can I look at you let alone look to you for guidance for seeking Daas Torah?
    How does your shiur in the depths of the Yam HaTalmud still float with a gapping moral hole eatting out the middle.
    As times are worsening for Klal Yisrael in a way none of us could have imagined even a few months ago this moral lapse, this failure of leadership has led to the Torah being dragged through the mud in open court
    As my Rebbe Rav Henoch Liebowitz ZT’L taught us there is no such thing as a cover up, everything comes out.

    lo almen yisroel
    lo almen yisroel
    15 years ago

    Chazak chazk dov

    Finally there is a chance of correcting some of the many yrs of wrongdoing and cover ups and will be saving thousands of thousands of our sweet children from these nazi monster molesters that some of u crying wolfs on here probably are! How dear u attack dov and say that these ppl are innocent etc! Anyone who harnors or protects a molester is as guilty as them these chayos deserve there faith

    How many ppl do me and u know that walk around as sheine yiden and hangout with little bochurim
    Or how many shomrims have hangeron little kids that are from broken homes etc
    And they are molested time and time again

    Then we don’t understand why some of our kids are confused about there sexuality and can’t lead normal lives to respect there wives and kids

    And the cycle continues year after year century after century

    Someone that was a molester at 30 is a molester at 40 and at 50 all he does is collect victims under his belt

    Burech hashem yerachem hasem on the victims and there families and on the families of the accused as well

    But the mamzerim should rot in prison on there way to hell!!!!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    “But he said he would “go to jail for 10 years” rather than reveal the names of the alleged victims, whom he has guaranteed anonymity.”

    The government and police guarantee the anonymity of all victims of sexual abuse, but not the perpetrator. If he’s protecting anyone, it sounds to me like he’s protecting the perps.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    It’s tim to reclaim that not everyone have to go to a mikva! The opinion of the “minchas yitzchok” and the “sheivat halivi” is that a shower is good like a mikva. (like “tishu kabin”) their is to many people with problems.

    simcha
    simcha
    15 years ago

    i know Dov since i was 3 years old… he is a selfless and righteous man. this might be sort of like when a doctor or lawyer has patient / confidentiality- he might have promised it to help these people out, why should he be forced to give up the people who only came forward on condition of anonymity?
    his integrity should NOT be compromised because other victims waited so long to come forward or what have you…
    in 100% of “cases” there are many factors involved that can prevent the crime from ever seeing the light of day. it is sad. it is unfortunate.
    It is my belief that the child ultimately suffers more in the short – as well as in the long term when “things are swept under the carpet” “for the sake of the child” (it will ruin his/her reputation) and sadly sometimes “for the sake of the molester” (he/she has a family etc…)
    as far as providing asylum or services to the criminals- i would like to think its nice to get them help, but in no way is confidentiality binding in such instances. a criminal is a criminal.
    May we all be zoiche to get out of this golus asap

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    yasher koach dov, keep up the great job. my son was molested as a child and i still cant sleep at night knowing that i did not report that rebbe to the yeshiva. My son himself reported the Rebbe the followin year, when he heard he was doing the same to other kids. They never stop, so they MUST be stopped.

    bigwheeel
    bigwheeel
    15 years ago

    If I were a conspiracist or conspiratorialist (I don’t think such a word exists. So, we’ll make it up right now. My Dict. doesn’t list either.) I would venture to say that there is a major conspiracy going on against making progress and bringing help to the victims and neutralizing the molesters! Here we have a person like Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who is heading a team of dedicated, hard working professionals, with the above stated goal in mind at a great emotional cost. Yet, [the Oylom], instead of showing appreciation and cooperation, every hindrance is thrown his way. Like that [do-gooder] professor at Yeshiva University, who hasn’t done any of the work (in listening to the victims and contacting their victimizers), or throwing subpoenas at him. Dov Hikind’s plan (the way he explained it on his radio show) is by far the best and fairest even from a Torah point of view! (Other than the victims contacting the Police, directly. Which no one objects to, either!)

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I thought we were supposed to follow the “law of the land”. This situation should never have occured. A sexual-abuse victim is a VICTIM and the prepetrator should be brought to justice. Covering up crimes does nothing to solve the problem, and in fact increases it. I suggest it would only have taken one rabbi’s conviction to halt the rest of them. We could have stopped a lot of sexual assaults if we’d followed the law of the land as the Torah tells us. No offence to Mr Hikind, I do not know who he is, but in this case I think he was wrong, even if he meant well.
    Victims lives are ruined forever. Imagine the parents of the poor child, they must feel totally helpless in such a situation. If it was my kid G-d forbid, I know that my husband would have taken matters into his own hands and I hate to think how the “rabbi” would end up.

    Abe S.
    Abe S.
    15 years ago

    I disagree with every bit of Mr. Hikind’s politics, but Mr. Hikind should be aplauded for what he has done in the sexual abuse category.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    What happened with the rebbe in Satmar Hikind said was a molestor. Is he still a rebbe in Satmar yeshivah?

    Noclue
    Noclue
    15 years ago

    Marci Hamilton hates frum people. She wrote a brief on behalf of a group determined to keep “undesirable” people, i.e. orthodox Jews, from West Hampton. The brief argued that every eruv in the U.S., including the one around the Supreme Court, is unconstitutional. The brief is a well written piece of sophistry. Any resemblance between the actual law, the true facts, and the brief simply does not exist. (THE WEST HAMPTON TOWNSHIP ATTORNEY HIMSELF EASILY RECOGNIZED THAT THE POSITION TAKEN BY THE BRIEF WOULD NEVER BE UPHELD.)

    Hikind is well within his rights to resist the subpoena and it is up to the Supreme Court to decide whether to compel compliance. Marci Hamilton’s supposed outrage is only a manifestation of her own bigotry.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    It is unfortunate that the media has managed to do quite an inferior job of explaining what Dov Hikind was trying to accomplish. That failure leads to many of the boorish and inaccurate comments that have bashmootzed the comment section of this article as well as others.

    Dov was addressing this issue as a politician, not an arm of law enforcement. He has every intention of working with the community on every facet of the problem. He has reached out to Rabbonim, yeshivos, and professionals in an admirable and exemplary fashion. If only the “hamon am” would understand and not rush to judge.

    The collection of information was not to chase down perpetrators, not to report cases to authorities, not to close down yeshivos, and not to publicize names of either victims or molesters. It was to identify the scope of the problem to understand it better. One would be foolish to attempt to use governmental powers to do anything, whether legislation, allocation of monies, development of programs, etc. without learning the facts on the ground. This requires study – yes, books and articles, and direct contact with individuals involved – yes, molesters, victims, parents, therapists, yeshivos, and more. Dov checked out his status, and discovered that he was not a mandated reporter.

    Molesters (or accused molesters) are seriously invested in keeping their status secret. But guess what? So are most victims. Most victims do not want their experience and private experiences in the newspapers, discussed in shuls and Shabbos tables, and many are content with their own safety (and that of others) without the circus that follows much of the reporting to authorities. There are plenty of cases that do not get reported because of counter threats by the perps, their employers, and Rabbonim. But it is also true that way more do not get reported because the victims want it so.

    Many cases that were brought to Dov occurred many years ago, and the statute of limitations has long expired. No one could get prosecuted anyway. Making a report would result in a public circus with no prosecution or consequences for the perp. So what’s the use? I find the negative comments and accusations against Dov totally irresponsible. Someone gets responsible in trying to address a problem, and all some people can do is display their ignorance by throwing stupid comments onto the blogs.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    As I understood it, Marci Hamilton’s outrage was directed at Hikind’s self-proclaimed ongoing interaction with a pedophile whom he has not reported to the police.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    The evidence Hikind has can be viewed in camera by a judge to protect the identity of the victims. The judge should notify the DA of any criminality. The offenders should be tried like every other person. If found guilty they should be sent to prison where they can be punished and attend sex-offender therapy programs. After release they should be prevented from being with children. Our criminal Justice system is far from perfect, but we must protect the victims and future possible victims. We have ways of examining offenders for post-conviction release, perhaps those same psychological / parole tests can be given to the possible offenders. If Hikind knows of a crime he must come forward. As a servant of the people, whom does he serve?

    Tina
    Tina
    15 years ago

    Is this only a problem in boys schools or do girl schools have the same issue?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Marci hates frum jews. she is trying everything in her power to undermine an eruv.

    noclue
    noclue
    15 years ago

    As I understand it, Marci Hamilton’s outrage is reserved for orthodox Jews, because she hates them. If not, let her reply and defend her distortions of the law in the eruv brief. Let her explain why she represents admitted bigots.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Sure throw out the babby with the water. If this becomes public, they can get DOv to be quit and stop working on this issue. SO who wins? the criminals. Who loses? people who thought they could get help quietly.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    i pay taxes in this city this maybe ill take my chances and send my kids to public school at least there the school doesnt protect the molesters

    Yoily Voily
    Yoily Voily
    15 years ago

    Maybe this is the reason our Rabbunim and Askunim have been dealing with the issues quietly.

    It’s not always beneficial to make a ruckus.

    “If you’re going to argue, make a coherent argument, otherwise keep quiet!”
    -Yoily Voily

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Amazing how the tide of public opinion has not turned in favor of the victims, just a short while ago everyone was beating the victims.