New York – A recent article by Israeli journalist Yaron London headlined “We Need Fewer Haredim” and two major pieces in The New York Times about the haredi approach to sex abuse cases highlight the challenge and the need to address serious issues emanating from the haredi world without demonizing an entire community.
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Questions of avoiding stereotypes of large groups while not rationalizing bad behavior by some are constantly on the Anti-Defamation League’s agenda. Moreover, when part of the Jewish community is under scrutiny, it raises particular concerns for us about that segment’s relations with the rest of the community and the impact on broader views of Jews. Finally, when the behavior of a sector of the Israeli public has an impact on the larger Israeli public, that too is a matter of deep concern to us.
On the face of it, criticism of individuals, if accurate, would seem legitimate. Generalizing that criticism to a whole group, on the other hand, would not.
But with haredim it is not so simple. As one can see from the issues discussed — sexual abuse, service in the Israeli army, secular education in Israel — criticism of the haredi world goes beyond individual behavior and enters the realm of the broader haredi community’s beliefs, attitudes and policies. That, I would argue, does not automatically disqualify it as stereotyping an entire community. When it is the prevailing view of the community, and most of its members adhere to that view, it is acceptable to criticize from the outside.
On the other hand, there must be special care and sensitivity taken when addressing group behavior. That’s because the phenomenon of spillover from speaking about particular issues to a broad-based attack on the very essence of the community is too easy and too common.
Continue to read the Op-Ed at The JTA
(Kenneth Jacobson is the deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League.)
Someone here has bumped his head. ADL – is the Anti-Defamation League. It is not okay to defame anyone but Chareidim. A little anti-psychotic medication would be in order.
I, too, am critical about the way certain issues are being handled within the frum community. Many of these are highly dependent on how the frum public views these issues. There is undeniably much that has been done constructively, and there’s more to do. But changing community attitudes does not happen overnight. Ask anyone who has studied sociology or anthropology.
These anti-chareidi articles are getting sickening and boring. If the authors who write these poison pen stuff want to have an effect on the frum community, they need to get away from their computers, roll up their sleeves, and engage in the actual work. Complaining about what was not yet done cannot and will not help anyone, except for the anti-Torah media. If ADL is against defaming, then someone here is a major hypocrite.