New York – Noted Child Safety Advocate Continues To Speak Out On Kids’ Safety Issues

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    New York – Continuing his crusade of raising awareness about abuse in the Jewish community, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz will tackle the subjects of child safety and personal space in an effort to teach parents how to empower their children and prevent them from falling victim to would-be child molesters in a special series of lectures to be held in the New York area.

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    Rabbi Horowitz, who has been speaking out against child molestation for well over a decade is the director of Project Yes, which released a children’s book on the subject of child safety last year. The thirty three page Artscroll book, titled Let’s Stay Safe, touched on issues as diverse as bicycle and fire safety, crossing the street, dealing with strangers as well as personal safety, using child friendly rhyming text and full color illustrations.

    Thousands have attended Rabbi Horowitz’s lectures over the years and he is the author of two books, a series of audio-visual materials on parenting, a regular contributor to a broad range of Jewish newspapers as well as serving as the dean of Yeshiva Darchei Noam in Monsey.

    This is the sixth annual pre-summer safety lecture series being run by the Karasik Safety Initiative of Project YES and according to Rabbi Horowitz the response from parents over the years has been extremely positive.

    “There is a significant rise in abuse cases during unstructured time, like the summer,” Rabbi Horowitz told VIN News. “Parents need to speak to their kids now, before they go to camp and before they go to the bungalow colony, so that they are prepared to deal with any potential predators.”

    While according to Rabbi Horowitz summer camps have become much more attuned to the molestation issue, it is still crucial for parents to make their children aware of the problem and teach their children from even the youngest ages what to do if they feel uncomfortable or threatened.

    The first two lectures will take place on Sunday, June 10th. Rabbi Horowitz will be speaking in Monsey at Congregation Ahavas Yitzchak, 73 Forshay Road at 11:30 AM and in Teaneck/Bergenfield at Congregation Beth Abraham, 396 New Bridge Road in Bergenfield at 8:15 PM. A third lecture will take place on Wednesday in Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Jewish Center, 1604 Avenue R at 8:30 PM. There is a $10 entrance fee and each attendee will receive a copy of Let’s Stay Safe. Questions or topics that may potentially be covered at the lectures can be submitted in advance by emailing them to [email protected].

    Another lecture on child safety will be presented by Magen New York on June 11th at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, 150-05 70th Road at 8:30 PM.

    Below video Rabbi Horowitz Speaking about Children Personal Safety in the Catskills in 2011.


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    46 Comments
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    11 years ago

    Rabbi Yakov Horowitz is a voice in the wilderness. Many other rabbis are more concerned with the fate of the molestors than with the victims. I will repeat it, to all of you who don’t want to see it the first time. Many other rabbis are more concerned with the fate of the molestors than with the victims. R’L

    11 years ago

    Some people make this issue into the biggest issue facing works Jewry right now and it’s just not. There are other things going on in the world to but done people just seem to have gotten stuck at the side of the road, always taking about this same issue again and again.

    11 years ago

    The panick and fear in a lot of the above comments prove that our hard work to eradicate abusers from our midst is slowly but surely gaining momentum. It’s pretty obvious who the insensitive and ignorant commenters are. Keep up your holy work Rabbi Horowitz! You are a true Gadol of our times!

    11 years ago

    Your description of Rabbi Horowitz as a “noted child safely advocate” is nothing short of arrogant. He is the one who Agudah chose to head its project Y.E.S., and then when it got too hot for them to handle and too much evidence came to the fore because of Rabbi Horowitz, they dropped him like a hot potato. He is a lone voice who continues to be a great source of comfort to frum victims the world over.

    Sherree
    Sherree
    11 years ago

    Really, let me hear you say the same after you or your own child were raped. How dare you judge his brother!!!! Who are you to call him a shatgitz? Did you live through what he did? Were you molested by your own brother? Don’t you dare say one negative word against him or his niece, her own father’s victim! shame on you. And you choose to believe the innocence of this monster? You are a very poor judge of character. You know him so well, this perfect gentleman, this model prisoner. How could he possibly be be guilty of what he is accused of? Let me tell you what an abuser looks like. Just like you and your brother, maybe even your lawyer, accountant, your Rav, the bus driver that you trust to drive your kids to school, the man who sits next to you in shul, the gabbai, the grocer, the softer, etc. need I go on? No one looks like they would molest or abuse another person. They look as normal as normal can be. that is why they get support that they don’t deserve. Because no one believes that their friend, neighbor, grocer, lawyer, mechanech, husband, son, father, etc could ever do such an evil thing. They seem to be so normal, good, ehrliche and torah observant. It is true but when they can’t overcome their yetzer horah they do monstrous things that they do not own up to and take responsibility for. They lie to cover up their sin and would rather harm more and more victims than admit their own sins. They are not tzadikim and they do not deserve your support or your sympathy.

    Look at Webberman, just think about it for a minute. He has no training or schooling as a therapist, has no certificate or license. He claims as does all his supporters to be a frum ehrliche man and yet he took upon himself the job of what therapist, mashpiah, healer of young frum girls????? On what basis? Where did he meet with them? In their homes, with their parents in the next room? In their school where any teacher or secretary could walk in? Or in an office with his own secretary in the outer office? The answer to all these questions is a resounding. “no”. This alleged tzaddik was alone in a private office, car, area, with many young defenseless frum girls. What excuse is there for that? Who reading this does not know the laws of Yichud? Which girls school in their right mind who would not even hire a male teacher would even consider sending girls off alone to be counseled in seclusion with an unlicensed, unqualified male the likes of Mondrowitz? The only reason he is garnering support is to protect the yeshivas for their stupidity, culpability and guilt. These girls are still within the statute of limitations and can and should still sue the school for negligence and level any and all available and appropriate charges against them. The school is covered by insurance and no one should feel badly about bringing charges gainst the schools. It is important to teach these yeshivas a lesson. Each and every student and child is an important commodity, more so than the school as an organization and business. It is the child’s safety and welfare that must come first. Weberman is just as guilty as Weingarten and so are anyone who sent him victims and anyone who supports him.

    Sherree
    Sherree
    11 years ago

    Really, let me hear you say the same after you or your own child were raped. How dare you judge his brother!!!! Who are you to call him a shatgitz? Did you live through what he did? Were you molested by your own brother? Don’t you dare say one negative word against him or his niece, her own father’s victim! shame on you. And you choose to believe the innocence of this monster? You are a very poor judge of character. You know him so well, this perfect gentleman, this model prisoner. How could he possibly be be guilty of what he is accused of? Let me tell you what an abuser looks like. Just like you and your brother, maybe even your lawyer, accountant, your Rav, the bus driver that you trust to drive your kids to school, the man who sits next to you in shul, the gabbai, the grocer, the softer, etc. need I go on? No one looks like they would molest or abuse another person. They look as normal as normal can be. that is why they get support that they don’t deserve. Because no one believes that their friend, neighbor, grocer, lawyer, mechanech, husband, son, father, etc could ever do such an evil thing. They seem to be so normal, good, ehrliche and torah observant. It is true but when they can’t overcome their yetzer horah they do monstrous things that they do not own up to and take responsibility for. They lie to cover up their sin and would rather harm more and more victims than admit their own sins. They are not tzadikim and they do not deserve your support or your sympathy.

    Look at Webberman, just think about it for a minute. He has no training or schooling as a therapist, has no certificate or license. He claims as does all his supporters to be a frum ehrliche man and yet he took upon himself the job of what therapist, mashpiah, healer of young frum girls????? On what basis? Where did he meet with them? In their homes, with their parents in the next room? In their school where any teacher or secretary could walk in? Or in an office with his own secretary in the outer office? The answer to all these questions is a resounding. “no”. This alleged tzaddik was alone in a private office, car, area, with many young defenseless frum girls. What excuse is there for that? Who reading this does not know the laws of Yichud? Which girls school in their right mind who would not even hire a male teacher would even consider sending girls off alone to be counseled in seclusion with an unlicensed, unqualified male the likes of Mondrowitz? The only reason he is garnering support is to protect the yeshivas for their stupidity, culpability and guilt. These girls are still within the statute of limitations and can and should still sue the school for negligence and level any and all available and appropriate charges against them. The school is covered by insurance and no one should feel badly about bringing charges gainst the schools. It is important to teach these yeshivas a lesson. Each and every student and child is an important commodity, more so than the school as an organization and business. It is the child’s safety and welfare that must come first. Weberman is just as guilty as Weingarten and so are anyone who sent him victims and anyone who supports him.

    Sherree
    Sherree
    11 years ago

    Anyone who heard the testimony and followed the story understood the arrogance of this man who tried to intimidate the witnesses as he intimidated his family all his life. Stop avoiding my question. I will ask it again to anyone who supports Weingarten and visits him in jail. Where did he “learn” and who gave him semicha? What qualified him to open a yeshiva in Belgium and what qualified him to call himself a Rabbi or a Rosh Yeshiva? What qualifies him as a tzaddik? If he was such a tzaddik why did he marry at such an older age, why wasn’t he chapped up earlier? Why did his neighbors in Belgium corroborate Leah’s story? If he is such a Tzaddik should he not also then be anov? Why did he not allow a lawyer to represent him at trial? Why did he try turn the trial I to a three ring circus? If he was such a tzaddik, why did he purposely try to hurt, intimidate and humiliate his daughter, son and ex-wife at the trial? A tzaddik would keep quiet and not cause them such pain even if he felt they deserved it.

    As for Webberman, yes I believe this victim and I also believe my friend he says Webberman raped him in the mikveh when he was eight years old. He has gone OTD since, but he will never forget the face of the animal who destroyed his innocence and the life he knew. After hearing both sides I choose to believe the victims in this case. I choose to believe the victims of Leibovitz, I choose to believe the victims of Kolko and of Mondrowitz. I choose to believe the victims of Eiseman and Reichman. I heard the stories first hand and I believe them. My only wish is that more people take their heads out of the sand and understand that they should believe a lot more of what they hear. It is way too easy to ignore the truth. Look what was going on in the home of Kranzler who escaped to Eretz Yisroel when he realized that he and his sons would be caught. Who would have believed that he would do these things to his own daughters and allow his sons to do it too? Where was the mother in all of this? Let’s not forget the case of the young boy who was sent overseas and was tortured in some kind of prison camp which was supposed to be some kind of boot camp and the parents refused to bring him home. It took intervention from other members of the community to rescue him as well. Who would believe that things like that could happen? And yet it did.