Tagged sexual abuse

Child advocates blast systemic failures in Israel’s handling of sex abuse cases

Malka Leifer, center a former Australian teacher accused of dozens of cases of sexual abuse of girls at a school, is escorted by police as she arrives for a hearing at the District Court in Jerusalem, Feb. 27, 2018. Advocates say Israel's government have not adequately dealt with the issue of child sexual abuse. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
July 3, 2019 / Sam Sokol, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — In April, Israeli police announced the arrest of a 22-year-old man in Beit Shemesh accused of multiple counts of child sexual assault. Short of celebrating the arrest of an abuser, local victims’ rights advocates took the authorities to task. Shana Aaronson, head of the Israeli branch… Read more »

The Catholic Church has finally gotten serious about handling sexual abuse. Here’s what Jewish institutions could learn from the process.

Pope Francis, flanked by cardinals and bishops, attends a closing Mass of The Protection of Minors in the Church meeting in Vatican City, Feb. 24, 2019. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
June 19, 2019 / Bethany Mandel, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – In May, Pope Francis issued a detailed ruling on how officials in the Roman Catholic Church must handle cases of clerical sexual abuse, the first official codification of the church’s global policy. Though abuse survivors have criticized the pope’s ruling as not strong enough and for… Read more »

Orthodox activists and victims asking NY to change sex abuse reporting laws

Orthodox activists, like these protesting outside a Brooklyn yeshiva, are asking institutions to do more to report and investigate allegations of child sexual and physical abuse. (Courtesy of Chaim Levin)
May 2, 2016 / Debra Nussbaun-Cohen, JTA

  NEW YORK (JTA) – Advocates for sexual abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community will be descending on New York’s state capital on May 3 to lobby the legislature to eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex abuse offenses. A bill to change the statute of limitations… Read more »

Investigation: Y.U. sex abuse extended beyond high school for boys
August 26, 2013 / JTA Staff

NEW YORK (JTA) — Incidents of physical and sexual abuse at Yeshiva University were not limited to its high school for boys, an investigation has found. The investigation commissioned by the university and carried out by the New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell followed reports of sexual abuse… Read more »

Acknowledging failure on sex allegations, Norman Lamm steps down from Y.U.
July 1, 2013 / Uriel Heilman, JTA
Norman Lamm (Yeshiva University)

NEW YORK (JTA) – In his letter announcing he was stepping down as Yeshiva University’s chancellor and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Norman Lamm acknowledged his failure to respond adequately to allegations of sexual abuse against Y.U. rabbis in the 1980s. Lamm, now 85, became the school’s third president and head… Read more »