JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In a painfully candid interview aired on Israel’s Kan 11 state television channel, a young woman (whose voice was dubbed and face blurred) described the severe abuse she suffered at the hands of the rabbi of her school and subsequently the harassment she endured at her Ulpana, or girls high school.
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The young woman, a member of a prominent religious Zionist family, said that she had been sent to an “extremely religious school” where modesty was at a premium and no allowance was made for exposure to technology.
During the 8th grade, girls were vying to be accepted to an exclusive high school, with the yardstick being based not only on grades but also on their level of religiousity. The school’s rabbi was involved in the admission process as he was acquainted with the high school and could provide references on each girl. The rabbi spoke to the girls about the dangers of Facebook and warned them not to be involved in it. After the rabbi discovered that the young woman had Facebook, he asked her if her parents knew of this. She answered in the negative but realized that he now had information which he could use against her.
From this point on, the woman revealed that the rabbi had exploited her and abused her on many occasions at a building near the school. She described the abuse as “aggressive, humiliating and continuous.” She felt that she was the guilty party and also did not understand what was happening, but since the rabbi was the person responsible for her possible future schooling, she kept silent, suffering through her ordeals without any respite.
The woman said that despite all the warning signs and deterioration in her physical and emotional health, nobody took note of the signs. At one point the 13-year-old girl wrote a pornographic story about a girl who had been raped and read it out in class. When the staff heard about the story, they took her to task for “badly influencing the other girls”. None of the staff and even the school counsellor did not question whether she herself had been abused, they simply wished to prevent her from influencing others.
The woman says that despite the fact that she was crying out for help, nobody was listening. She wrote mails to friends saying that she wants to murder the rabbi and wrote the story of her rape in her own words. She says that “today I know that I was not the only victim of this rabbi and this was not something which occurred only in my neighborhood.”
The woman later described her ordeals in the high school with the rabbi, who insisted on having private conversations with her, asked her very intimate questions and stood very close to her, sometimes brushing her as he went past. She hated going to school and hated most the silencing of any complaints about abuse which she feels is still a major problem in the religious Zionist world.
The interview is the first of a 3-part expose on issues of abuse in the Ulpanot. The next part, due to be aired this week, contains girls who appear in person in front of the camera and describe harassment they suffered.
The first step in preventing and stopping this scourge which has been inflicting us for decades is to remove the veil of silence and impunity and believing and not stigmatizing victims
We can reduce 90% of abuse if predator’s know their victims will be taken seriously and they themselves will face justice
We are going in the right direction, the situation today is infinitely better than it was a mere 10 years go. there is hope.
Has the “rabbi” been arrested? & locked up? How many more stories do we have to keep buried until it is too late?
This is terrible but where was the out cry when young boys were being molested in some of Brooklyn’s finest yeshivas.
Abuse of different types are still being done by
Rebbes today how many of our fine young children are being turned off because no one listens or cares. Until it’s their child
Parents need to wake up, be proactive, protect and aware.
After hundreds and thousands of such abuse stories destroying and literally killing innocent lives , why are there still any male teachers, rabbis in a girls school. No male teacher or rabbi has any place in a girls school.
same old mistakes? why is the rabbi talking to girls? men mekarev men, women mekarev women. lets stick to the tznius guidelines to avoid stupid problems
“If the Free Press wouldn’t tell you, who would?”
Where is an “aseifa” for this??
Or is it because of smartphones that this happens in our communities?
This whole concept of control that we’ve instituted in our approach to religion is extremely unhealthy and is a breeding ground for dysfunction and abuse.
What does silhouette abuse mean?
Truly tragic and sadly it happens in many types of communities and schools around the world in one form or another
A small number of comments questioned the newsworthiness of this article. Any light that can be shined on this sad tragic topic must be. But we also need to remember that statistically most abuse occurs at home. Focusing solely on academic institutions means that we will overlook the majority of victims. To truly protect the innocent we need to expand our focus.
How do u know the story is true?:
interesting…no comments….
suddenly the tongue is on vacation…
Principals such as these MUST be exposed, evicted and get their just deserts, there’s no question!
There exists abuse and cover-up in every community. This should not be news!
What is their point? Charedi bashing as usual – that’s the point.
Sexual abuse is unfortunately in our religious community on the same frequency as the general non-religious population. That’s a fact according to Dr. Shimon Russel who has many years experience working in the field. Our community is not immune, nor is it immune to crazy people such as this news-worthy post.
What’s the purpose of this article? To say that abuse can take place in girls’ schools? To say that not lettimg girls use Facebook can also be dangerous? That men shouldn’t be principals in girls’ schools? That religious schools aren’t religious? To disuade people from going to such schools? To bring forthbmore witnesses?
What’s even sadder about this is that this is about “Religious Zionism” which is idolatry. So as terrible as the abuse is for any reason, it’s even worse if it’s just for idolatry.
What’s the point in writing this story? Is it for us to know not to send our girls to that school? Otherwise it’s plain loshon horah EVEN if true!
this sounds like a lie. thankfully there are better venue for dealing with this than the press