ISRAEL (VINnews) — The following Teshuva was posted on the Facebook page of Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, explaining his Bais Din’s psak against Chaim Walder:
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Question: How was the Bais Din allowed to establish Chaim Walder’s guilt without hearing directly from the accused? Especially since they paskened (with certainty) that he was guilty?
- The Halacha requires us as Rabbanim to act against people who defile Bais Yisrael. This involvement is not done with conventional parameters of Bais Din and we are not required to accept testimony before the defendant. Even more so when he regularly threatened women and they feared him.
- Despite this, we checked, investigated and questioned thoroughly. Witnesses testified that he committed adultery with married women for many years and they were forced to divorce because they were prohibited from their husbands. We saw rulings from other Batei Din about these issues and supported the findings with additional unanimous evidence. In addition, we heard recordings in his own voice that attest to serious immoral acts, and we found him guilty without a doubt.
- Although it was clear to him that he was destroying homes, and causing Jewish families to be hurt and become tamei, he continued this behavior without stopping for a moment. We heard testimonies about 22 women and girls whom he assaulted, and there is no doubt that these cases are just a small fraction of the evil that he did.
- The Torah teaches us to treat Walder’s actions iwith the same severity as if it was murder. “For as a man will stand up against another man and murder him so is this thing.” Such acts bring anger upon Klal Yisrael, evil decrees, and prevent our prayers from being heard.
- According to Halacha we are allowed to publicly lash him, threaten him, and humiliate him. We may remove him from being a shliach tzibbur and stop him from teaching Jewish children. In addition to many other things that are not customary today.
- We don’t do these things [nowadays], but we are still obligated to stop him. If we don’t warn the public about his actions and he continues, the blame will be on us, chalilah. Due to the great responsibility on us to stop this [behavior] from happening in the future, we were forced to stop these abominations.
- We called upon Walder to take upon himself a path of teshuva. We sent people to convince him to repent, in order to prevent a huge Chilul Hashem when his actions became public. Instead of repenting, he chose to threaten us through his messengers, just as they tried to threaten Rav Yehuda Silman shlit”a who paskened that people to remove Walder’s books from their homes. It’s a pity that he doesn’t (didn’t) surrender and follow a path of teshuva.
Dynamite
Maybe this is a wake up call to parents to gently discuss this danger with their children. A criminal like this is one in a million, most frum people are refined and trustworthy, but young people should be aware and cautious. If something seems off, it probably bis off, and a parent or other adult should be told.
The גמרא in יומא on דף פו says מפרסמין את החנפים מפני חילול השם.
רש”י explains that if we see someone who lives a double life, on the outside he acts as if he is a righteous person but behind the scene he is a רשע, we are obligated to publicize him for his misdeeds for two reasons: firstly that people should not learn from his ways and secondly because when he’s punished (or like in this case where he took his life) people should not be puzzled by it. It should be made clear that he was an evil רשע.
Surely, קל וחומר, in the case at hand, where this individual was an extremely dangerous person, Rav Eliyashiv paskened on such people that they are considered a רודף – a murderer for putting their victims in סכנת נפשות – surely it was a great mitsva to expose him to the public and to let everyone know that what befell him came from his own misdeeds.
It sounds like the Rabbis would have covered up his acts if he had promised to do Teshuva. With all respect to the Rabbis I don’t think that is a strong enough action. He should have been reported to the authorities and prosecuted. He could do his Teshuva in prison.
” This involvement is not done with conventional parameters of Bais Din and we are not required to accept testimony before the defendant. “
Source?
yeshiva world, the scumbags, removed all of their chaim walder articles from the past two weeks, including ones they put up yesterday
When someone like Walder needs therapy and a wise psychological message for him to be stirred into the long slow journey of moving to a correct path, why expect a message of must-do-tshuva and see immediate behavioral improvement to be more effective? The Bais din is correct, their message to Walder was correct, just that of the message options a betting man would choose as most likely to be effective, their message appears low on that list. Why not instead paskin the din, make the required proclamations and engage a psychologist to draft the message?
Why did the Rabunim immediately report him to the authorities after he refused to cooperate?
From this article it sounds like Rav Eliyahu’s primary concern was that he had with married women, and was afraid he’ll continue to do it. I’m sure a lot of here agree this behavior is Chayav Misah, but a lot of us with a western mindset believe that this is a private issue. (am not saying he wasn’t a threat for kids or adults, just analyzing this article what R’ Eliyahu’s primary concern was).
I.e.“According to Halacha“Rabbi nicely written-please write sources for the unscholarly.
WE WANT SOURCES OPINIONS WE HAVE MANY
DAAS TORAH – end of discussion
Once the beis din paskined that they have a right to publicize the situation maybe Chaim zl should have been given an around the clock suicide watch. It should have been clear that he needed it.
Beautifully said. The sad part is that if even needs to be said in the first place. What other society or people would demand this type of explanation from someone who tried to stop an evil pedophile. I am proud of this man. We should go to his home and destroy it lfnei kol am veidah – same as an Arab terrorist. Walder is far worse than an Arab terrorist.