Federal law states that a child who is sexually abused has until their death to make a claim.

(§ 3283) Federal law states that a child who is sexually abused has until their death to make a claim.

Federal law states that a child who is sexually abused has until their death to make a claim.

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When a case like Judy Delonga's goes in front of the courts, the first thing a judge may look at is the statute of limitations. How long after the incident is the victim coming forward?

SOUTH DAKOTA - Keloland

Delonga's Case: Statute Of Limitations (See Below)

UNITED STATES CODE SERVICE

Copyright © 2005 Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.,

one of the LEXIS Publishing (TM) companies

*** CURRENT THROUGH P.L. 109-94, APPROVED 10/26/05 ***

TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

PART II. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 213. LIMITATIONS

GO TO CODE ARCHIVE DIRECTORY FOR THIS JURISDICTION

18 USCS § 3283 (2005)

§ 3283. Offenses against children

No statute of limitations that would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or physical abuse, or kidnaping, of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such prosecution during the life of the child.

HISTORY:

(June 25, 1948, ch 645, § 1, 62 Stat. 828.)

(As amended Sept. 13, 1994, P.L. 103-322, Title XXXIII, § 330018(a), 108 Stat. 2149; April 30, 2003, P.L. 108-21, Title II, § 202, 117 Stat. 660.)

HISTORY; ANCILLARY LAWS AND DIRECTIVES

Prior law and revision:

This section is based on R. S. § 1046; Act July 5, 1884, ch 225, § 2, 23 Stat. 122 (former 18 U.S.C. § 584).

The words "customs laws" were substituted for "revenue laws", since different limitations are provided for internal revenue violations by 26 USCS § 3748.

This section was held to apply to offenses under the customs laws. Those offenses are within the term "revenue laws" but not within the term "internal revenue laws". United States v Hirsch (1879) 100 US 33, 25 L Ed 539, United States v Shorey (1869) F. Cas No 16,282, and United States v Platt (1840) F. Cas No 16054a, applied this section in customs cases. Hence it appears that there was no proper basis for the complete elimination from former 18 U.S.C. § 584 of the reference to revenue laws.

Meaning of "revenue laws": United States v Norton (1876) 91 US 566, 23 L Ed 454, quoting Webster that "revenue" refers to "The income of a nation, derived from its taxes, duties, or other sources, for the payment of the national expenses" and quoting United States v Mayo (1813) F Cas No 15755, that "revenue laws" meant such laws "as are made for the direct and avowed purpose of creating revenue or public funds for the service of the Government".

Definition of revenue: "Revenue" is the income of a State, and the revenue of the Post Office Department, being raised by a tax on mailable matter conveyed in the mail, and which is disbursed in the public service, is as much a part of the income of the government as moneys collected for duties on imports (United States v Bromley, 53 US 88, 99, 13 L Ed 905).

"Revenue" is the product or fruit of taxation. It matters not in what form the power of taxation may be exercised or to what subjects it may be applied, its exercise is intended to provide means for the support of the Government, and the means provided are necessarily to be regarded as the internal revenue. Duties upon imports are imposed for the same general object and, because they are so imposed, the money thus produced is considered revenue, not because it is derived from any particular source (United States v. Wright (1870) F. Cas No 16770).

"Revenue law" is defined as a law for direct object of imposing and collecting taxes, dues, imports, and excises for government and its purposes (Re Mendenhall (1935, DC Mont) 10 F Supp 122).

Act March 2, 1799, ch 22, 1 Stat. 627, regulating the collection of duties on imports, is a revenue law, within the meaning of Act April 18, 1818, ch 70, 3 Stat. 433, providing for the mode of suing for and recovering penalties and forfeitures for violations of the revenue laws of the United States (The Abigail, (1824) F. Cas No 18).

Changes were made in phraseology.

Amendments:

1994. Act Sept. 13, 1994, substituted the section heading and text for the following:

"§ 3283. Customs and slave trade violations "No person shall be prosecuted, tried or punished for any violation of the customs laws or the slave trade laws of the United States unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after the commission of the offense.".

2003. Act April 30, 2003 substituted this section for one which read:

"§ 3283. Child abuse offenses

"No statute of limitations that would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such prosecution before the child reaches the age of 25 years.".

NOTES:

Related Statutes & Rules:

Customs offenses, 18 USCS § 541 .

Slave trade offenses, 18 USCS § 1582 .

Limitations for offenses under internal revenue laws generally, 26 USCS § 6531 .

Research Guide:

Federal Procedure:

9 Fed Proc L Ed Criminal Procedure § 22:774.

Am Jur:

41 Am Jur 2d, Indictments and Information § 43.

Interpretive Notes and Decisions:

1. Conspiracy 2. Perjury 3. Smuggling 4. Miscellaneous

1. Conspiracy

Conspiracy to defraud United States out of duties on imported merchandise was not crime arising under revenue laws so as to be governed by statute of limitations provided by predecessor to 18 USCS § 3283. United States v Hirsch (1879) 100 US 33, 10 Otto 33, 25 L Ed 539.

Offense of conspiring to defraud United States of taxes upon distilled spirits arose under revenue laws, subject to limitation under predecessor to 18 USCS § 3283. United States v Dustin (1872, CCSD Ohio) 25 F Cas 946, No 15012; United States v Fehrenback (1875, CCD La) 2 Wood 175, 25 F Cas 1057, No 15083.

2. Perjury

Periods of limitation of actions fixed with respect to offenses arising under revenue laws under R.S. 1046 [predecessor to 18 USCS § 3283], do not apply to indictment for perjury. United States v Noveck (1926) 271 US 201, 70 L Ed 904, 46 S Ct 476, 1 USTC P 177, 5 AFTR 6017.

3. Smuggling

Smuggling is offense under revenue laws for purposes of determining appropriate statute of limitations. United States v Shorey (1869, CCD NH) 27 F Cas 1071, No 16282.

4. Miscellaneous

Where general five-year limitations period, 18 USCS § 3282, had not expired for defendant's crimes when Congress enacted former 18 USCS § 3509(k) (recodified at 18 USCS § 3283), which extended limitations period for crimes involving physical and sexual abuse of child, applying extended limitations period to defendant's crimes did not violate Ex Post Facto Clause; thus, district court properly declined to dismiss indictment against defendant as time-barred. United States v Jeffries (2005, CA8 SD) 405 F3d 682.

Rights granted servicemember by five-year statute of limitations for sodomy of child as set out in Unif. Code Mil. Justice art. 43, 10 USCS § 843, were not affected by 18 USCS § 3283, which provides that no statute of limitations precludes prosecution for physical or sexual abuse or kidnapping of child during life of child. United States v Toy (2004, NMCCA) 60 MJ 598, 2004 CCA LEXIS 158.

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Delonga's Case: Statute Of Limitations

2005 KELOLAND TV - November 2, 2004

When a case like Judy Delonga's goes in front of the courts, the first thing a judge may look at is the statute of limitations. How long after the incident is the victim coming forward? 

Federal law states that a child who is sexually abused has until their death to make a claim. 

But South Dakota state law gives a victim of sexual abuse just 3 years to come forward from the time they were abused or from the time they recall the seriousness of the abuse. DeLonga's lawyer says that law needs to change.

Did Judy DeLonga's forty years of silence help Father Bruce MacArthur stay a free man?

According to South Dakota's statute of limitations...Yes.

Delonga's attorney Stephanie Pochop said, "It limits the rights of victims who often times like Judy suffer in silence for decades from being able to come forward and bring their claims in civil suits because of the way the statutes are drafted in South Dakota."

Pochop says her client's case should be used as an example to get the law changed.

"I think this is a tool we can use to have a voice with our legislature to take some recognition of that right now in the state of SD we have statutes of limitations which prevent admitted pedophile like the serial pedophile that abused Judy from being in prison and prosecuted criminally," said Pochup.

State Representative and Sioux Falls attorney Joni Cutler said, "The law favors acting soon after a person feels they've been wronged over waiting long periods of time."

Cutler says waiting makes it difficult to prove a case but she agrees with Delonga's attorney that 3 years isn't enough time for a victim abused as a child to come forward.

Cutler said, "That's a relatively short period of time given the nature of these types of cases where a child who's been a victim may take a very long time and lot of help, a lot of years processing their victimization."

It's a statue Cutler says should possibly be changed to reflect federal law.

"It may be worthy of taking a look at what our statute of limitations does in these cases and see if maybe we shouldn't compare it to the federal statures and perhaps take a second look at how we treat child victims of sexual abuse," she said.

In 1990, the US Congress created a special statute of limitations for children who are victims of sexual abuse. That was amended in 1994, and again in 2003.

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Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  --Margaret Mead

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Idaho Statutes - Title 18: RITUALIZED ABUSE OF A CHILD -- EXCLUSIONS -- PENALTIES -- DEFINITION

Idaho Statutes
TITLE 18

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

CHAPTER 15

CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE ADULTS

18-1506A. RITUALIZED ABUSE OF A CHILD -- EXCLUSIONS -- PENALTIES --

DEFINITION.


(1) A person is guilty of a felony when he commits any of the following acts with, upon, or in the presence of a child as part of a ceremony, rite or any similar observance:

(a) Actually or in simulation, tortures, mutilates or sacrifices any warm-blooded animal or human being;

(b) Forces ingestion, injection or other application of any narcotic, drug, hallucinogen or anaesthetic for the purpose of dulling sensitivity, cognition, recollection of, or resistance to any criminal activity;

(c) Forces ingestion, or external application, of human or animal urine, feces, flesh, blood, bones, body secretions, nonprescribed drugs or chemical compounds;

(d) Involves the child in a mock, unauthorized or unlawful marriage ceremony with another person or representation of any force or diety, followed by sexual contact with the child;

(e) Places a living child into a coffin or open grave containing a human corpse or remains;

(f) Threatens death or serious harm to a child, his parents, family, pets or friends which instills a well-founded fear in the child that the threat will be carried out; or

(g) Unlawfully dissects, mutilates, or incinerates a human corpse.

(2) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to apply to:

(a) Lawful agricultural, animal husbandry, food preparation or wild game hunting and fishing practices and specifically the branding or identification of livestock;

(b) The lawful medical practice of circumcision or any ceremony related thereto; or

(c) Any state or federally approved, licensed or funded research project.

(3) The penalty upon conviction of a first offense shall be imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not to exceed fifteen (15) years. Upon conviction of a second or subsequent offense, the penalty shall be for a term not more than life imprisonment.

(4) For the purposes of this section, "child" means any person under eighteen (18) years of age.


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Case of Unnamed Cop in Tel Aviv

Case of Unnamed Cop in Tel Aviv   Police Officer - Tel Aviv, Israel Served in the IDF - Israel Defense Forces

 

 

A man was sentenced to four years in prison for raping his younger brother.  The boy was between the ages of 6 to 10 years-old at the time of the sexual assaults.  The abuse of the younger brother back in 1984.  The perpetrator became a police officer in 1989, which was during the time he was still abusing his brother.  

Defense attorney Ofer Bartal argued that, apart from the crimes in question, the defendant had exhibited normative behavior, is a father of four, served in the Israel Defense Forces and was a serving policeman for 13 years.

 

If you have more information about this case please forward it to The Awareness Center.

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Table of Contents

2003

1. Four years jail for former cop who raped his younger brother (04/28/2003)

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Four years jail for former cop who raped his younger brother
By Zvi Harel
April 28, 2003 - Ha'aretz 

  The Tel Aviv District Court yesterday sentenced a man to four years in jail for raping and sodomizing his younger brother. The defendant, who is 11 years older than his brother, committed the acts over a four-year period, when the younger sibling was aged between 6 and 10. 

The defendant began committing the crimes in 1984, sometimes as often as four times a week. According to the prosecution, the defendant forcibly raped his younger brother, despite the latter's protestations. Some of the acts with which he was charged are now covered by the statute of limitations. 

The defendant was convicted as part of a plea-bargain deal with the prosecution, and the punishment imposed was the maximum that the court could hand out within the framework of the deal. The defendant was also ordered to pay compensation of NIS 20,000, and was handed an 18-month suspended sentence. 

While arguing over the sentencing, prosecuting attorney Iris Ramati claimed that the victim not only agreed to the plea bargain, but encouraged it, in order to avoid having to testify against his brother in court. 

The defendant joined the police, as a patrolman, in 1988, only to retire from the force 13 years later after he was involved in a traffic accident. His crimes only came to light after he had retired from the force. 

In handing out the punishment, the presiding judges stated that the victim, who is now 25, has tried to commit suicide in the past and, as a result of the pain and humiliation he feels, is a regular drug user. The court also wrote that the victim finds it very difficult to enter into long-term relationships, and that he has spoken of his inability to trust others. 

Commenting on the circumstances surrounding the crimes, the court wrote that the defendant turned his younger brother into "a sex slave" from the age of six, causing him severe emotional damage, some of which is irreversible. 

Defense attorney Ofer Bartal argued that, apart from the crimes in question, the defendant had exhibited normative behavior, is a father of four, served in the Israel Defense Forces and was a serving policeman for 13 years. 

The judges ruled however that, despite the leniency of the plea bargain, it should be adopted in this case.
 

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FAIR USE NOTICE
Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues,etc. 

 

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. 

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

Young Girls at Risk

Young Girls at Risk

by Shalva Ben David

Aish Ha Torah - April 28, 2003

15,000 Jewish teenage girls, from impoverished or broken families, have run away from home and are currently living with Arab men. One woman is trying to do something about it.

 

Miriam Schwartz is worried about the future of the Jewish people. It's not the terrorist attacks. It's not the failed Oslo accords. Miriam Schwartz is afraid that many Jewish souls in the State of Israel are being swallowed up by the Arab population.

 

Her concerns are fueled by the astonishing statistic from a source in the Ministry of Labor and Welfare that 15,000 Jewish teenage girls, from impoverished or broken families, have run away from home and are currently living with Arab men. Mrs. Schwartz, a Jewish educator of over 20 years, is determined to fight this phenomenon by offering these teens the chance to build new lives.

 

In an interview, Mrs. Schwartz said that she came across this trend purely by accident. En route to deliver a lecture in Be'er Sheva, she picked up a 12-year-old girl hitchhiking at the exit from Jerusalem. During the course of their conversation, the young girl revealed that she was living with an Arab and had persuaded a friend of hers to move in with a friend of his. Mrs. Schwartz gave the young girl her phone number and was not surprised when the girl contacted her for help a few months later.

 

After some investigation, Mrs. Schwartz learned that Arab men frequently target girls from broken homes or impoverished families. "In many cases the first contact takes place at a local grocery store, where an Arab stock boy is working. At first he just offers the girl some candy or a small toy. The next day the girl, who has no such luxuries at home, comes back for another treat. Until now, the girl does not know that the man is actually an Arab -- he poses as a Jew. After several months, and many gifts, the Arab entices the girl to come and live with him. Initially, she lives in the house as a daughter of the household, but when she becomes an older teenager, she enters into a relationship with the man, and tragically bears Jewish children who are raised as Arabs."

 

According to Mrs. Schwartz, this situation is nothing less than a national emergency that calls for immediate action. "With 750,000 Israeli children living under the poverty line, many children are at risk."

 

She reported that while these girls are treated reasonably when they are still young, their status changes once they are older and have borne children. Then they are treated more like slaves, but by that time, the girls are too deeply entrenched in the household to leave.

 

Additionally, there is great potential for damage to Jewish demographics in Israel. While a child born of a Jewish mother and an Arab father is a Jew according to Torah law, s/he is an Arab according to Arab tradition. Unless these young women are persuaded to take their children and leave these Arab homes, this phenomenon will compound the increasing gap that exists between the Jewish and Arab population.

 

After learning more about this worrisome trend, Mrs. Schwartz formed the organization Yad B'Yad in order to bring these girls back into the Jewish fold. This is, in fact, a two-part battle: persuading the girls to leave their Arab household, and finding a totally new home for them, since their biological parents are absent, uninvolved or unable to raise them. As founder and director of Am Echad United, a grassroots organization that promotes Jewish unity, she was familiar with the route a non-profit cause must take, and lost no time in contacting potential donors in North America as well as Welfare Minister Rabbi Shlomo Benizri in order to raise funds.

 

Mrs. Schwartz's dream is to build an educational complex with dormitory facilities in order to house these girls and enable them to build new lives. However, dreams are accomplished in stages and her first step was to rent out two houses in the center of Israel and settle the first group of girls in gradually. Yad B'Yad assumes responsibility for the girls' basic, immediate needs - food, clothing, shelter - as well as secondary needs such as schooling and medical care. The local municipality provides psychologists and social workers who are in constant contact with each girl. A housemother will be living on the premises and Sherut Leumi (National Service) volunteers will soon join the staff as youth advisors. Additionally, Mrs. Schwartz teaches the girls about their Jewish heritage so that they will be motivated from within to raise a Jewish family.

 

However, Mrs. Schwartz distinguishes between Jewish heritage and Jewish law. "I'm against religious coercion. Girls who live in our shelter do not have to observe the mitzvot. On the other hand, basic ground rules must be observed. Drugs are absolutely forbidden at Yad B'Yad and the girls must attend some type of educational institution."

 

Yad B'Yad does not accept a girl if there is a warrant for her arrest, nor does it accept girls that are being forced there by an outside authority. "The girls at Yad B'Yad come willingly," Mrs. Schwartz notes. "They are motivated to start a new life."

 

Yad B'Yad also operates on the preventative level, as Mrs. Schwartz explains, "I visit hang-outs in Tel Aviv, Holon and Jerusalem at night and talk to girls at risk. I give them my phone number and tell them that they can call me at any time. We give lectures to mothers to raise awareness about the problem. We urge them to be mindful of their daughters' whereabouts at all times and caution against sending a young girl to the grocery store alone."

 

It's clear that there are many obstacles to overcome in a project such as this. The financial costs of building an entire complex alone are staggering. However, Mrs. Schwartz is undaunted and is proceeding in stages. "This is a war we cannot afford to lose," she says. "It is a fight for the Jewish future."

Panel To Hear Charges Against Prominent Rabbi

Former students accuse Matis Weinberg of sexual abuse in California and Jerusalem.

Rabbi Matis Weinberg: Scion of a noted rabbinic family denies charges, says accusers are troubled.

by Elli Wohlgelernter and Gary Rosenblatt
Jewish Week - April 20, 2003 

Allege Sexual Predator - Rabbi Matis Weinber (Now and Then)

A panel of rabbinic authorities was scheduled to hear testimony in Brooklyn this week from several former yeshiva students of Rabbi Matis Weinberg, a prominent and charismatic American-born Torah scholar, author and teacher living in Jerusalem who is alleged to have made sexual advances toward them and others, The Jewish Week has learned. 
 

Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, enabler of sex offenders

Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, a highly respected Torah scholar in Philadelphia, arranged the proceedings at the urging of alleged victims and their supporters, and a prominent Los Angeles rabbi who once worked with Rabbi Weinberg, a number of sources told The Jewish Week. 
 

Some of the victims say they are seeking rabbinic endorsement to pursue their charges in criminal court or in an Israeli din Torah (religious tribunal), or both. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg, whose books on the Bible and Jewish thought are widely read and praised, denies all the charges, which span a 25-year period. He told The Jewish Week he did not believe any rabbinic panel was taking place and he expressed frustration at the allegations made against him. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg noted that while he was physically demonstrative to his students, often hugging them, it was never in a sexual way. 
 

"I don't get a hard-on" from such encounters," asserted the rabbi, who is married and has a large family. 
 

Among those scheduled to testify May 1 is "Sammy," a 20-year-old former student at Derech Etz Chaim, a small Jerusalem yeshiva for post-high school American students with which Rabbi Weinberg, 56, is loosely affiliated. He has been a rebbe to several of the rabbis teaching at the school and is considered its spiritual mentor. 
 

Sammy and several other men have spoken at length with The Jewish Week on the condition of anonymity. 
 

Sammy said the rabbi kissed him on the lips at least once, and climbed into his bed when the two were alone and shared a room during an excursion in Israel this winter. He said he had been close to Rabbi Weinberg and his family and had been a frequent Shabbat guest at their home during his time as a student at the yeshiva, looking up to the rabbi as his religious guide and leader. 
 

At various times when they were alone, the rabbi would "lift my eyeglasses and kiss me slowly and purposefully on my eyelids or my ears, or pinch me affectionately above the waist," Sammy said, noting that these gestures made him feel uncomfortable. "But he was my rebbe, and part of me felt almost flattered" at the attention, he added. 
 

He said it was only later, after denying to himself that any misconduct had taken place, that "I realized I had been lying to myself." 
 

Sammy later told a rabbi he trusted and his parents about the incidents. 
 

On another front, Yeshiva University severed its affiliation with Derech Etz Chaim in February for its ties with Rabbi Weinberg and for allegedly seeking to downplay the complaints. 
 

Rabbi Yosef Blau

Rabbi Yosef Blau, mashgiach ruchani (spiritual adviser) at Yeshiva University, explained that after officials at Yeshiva looked into the matter and "became aware of the possibility of something that would cause an unhealthy environment and produce a potential risk," they decided to end YU's relationship with Derech Etz Chaim. 
 

The YU newspaper, The Commentator, ran a lengthy piece in March about the school severing ties because of "compelling evidence" of a rabbi associated with Derech Etz Chaim having "a history of allegedly sexually abusing and engaging in cult-like behavior with his students." The article did not name the rabbi. 
 

Officials of the Israeli yeshiva and several students complained that YU acted hastily and unfairly. 
 

Two of the eight rebbes at Derech Etz Chaim are said to have left their posts over the controversy. One, Rabbi Avraham Schorr, gathered his students at his home one morning last month to tell them he was leaving because of the scandal, according to someone who was present. 
 

Rabbi Schorr did not return calls from The Jewish Week. He was one of many people related to the case who chose not to discuss the matter. 

 

Reluctant To Speak Out

This story has come to light slowly, in fits and starts, over a period of months, hindered by a reluctance of the alleged victims and their supporters to speak out publicly. They express fear of condemnation for chilul Hashem (desecration of God's name), and personal embarrassment or recrimination in the Orthodox world for criticizing a major scholar who has reached countless Jews in positive ways through his lectures and writings. 
 

"Why should I be victimized twice?" one former student said, noting that he would be shunned in the Orthodox community were he to come forward with his name. 
 

At the same time, these critics say they want Rabbi Weinberg's alleged misdeeds to be widely known so that no student in the future will be harmed. 
 

Dozens of supporters of Rabbi Weinberg have written or called The Jewish Week over the last several weeks to vouch for his reputation as a brilliant, charismatic scholar with a sterling character and to decry what they consider to be a campaign to besmirch him. 
 

Ari Hier of Los Angeles, a student of Rabbi Weinberg in Santa Clara, Calif., in the 1970s, describes his rebbe as a warm, caring and innovative educator. 
 

"He is unconventional in his teaching," Hier said, noting that it was easy to see why the deeply conservative establishment of the yeshiva world would look askance at a rebbe who quoted pop music lyrics or cited Hollywood movies in his lectures and writings. 
 

Indeed, Hier compared Rabbi Weinberg to the Robin Williams character in the film "Dead Poets Society," a teacher who prodded his students into deeper understanding of literature, and themselves, by being outrageous at times. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg, in an interview with The Jewish Week, used the "Dead Poets" analogy as well. One thing that he, his supporters and critics agree on is that he is a maverick. But while his defenders portray him as a brilliant, caring rabbi, his critics say he was authoritarian and manipulative, emotionally and psychologically, in addition to the sexual charges. 

 

Persistent Rumors

Ner Israel Rabbinical College and High School

Controversy has clung to Rabbi Weinberg, the son and grandson of two successive rosh yeshivas of Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Ner Yisroel) in Baltimore, since he founded Kerem Yeshiva in Santa Clara. He started the school at the age of 29 in the 1970s and left in 1982 under a cloud of suspicion. The yeshiva closed about a year later. 
 

"My approach is to be open, open to criticism, open to questions," Rabbi Weinberg said in the interview. He described the Kerem method as "experimental" but said he taught "with utmost transparency." 
 

Rabbi Weinberg settled in Israel after he left Kerem. There were persistent rumors at the time that the rabbi was forced out suddenly. Some say it was because of financial problems at the yeshiva. Others insist that Rabbi Weinberg was found to have made sexual advances toward students and that an oral agreement was reached where the rabbi agreed to leave the country and stop working with young people and in return, no charges would be filed against him with civil authorities. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg said the charges are baseless and that he made the move because he always intended to live in Israel. 
 

While he initially denied all charges of any kind of abuse as "absurd," the rabbi did acknowledge, when questioned, that he had slapped a Kerem student hard, repeatedly, in the mouth, drawing blood in front of a large group of students. He said the student had asked to be "embarrassed publicly" because he had violated the school ban on smoking, and Rabbi Weinberg agreed, reluctantly, to punish him physically. 
 

"I agree it's strange," he said. "I'm more mature now and I wouldn't do this now. 
 

"I was a creative teacher," and "it worked," he added. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg also admitted that he had once extinguished a burnt cigarette in the palm of a student's hand. 
 

But he was adamant about there being "no sexual connotation" to the frequent hugs and kisses he gave students, noting that this was California in the '70s, and that "I am a physical person, that's just the way I am." He said "it makes me feel ugly and violated to take something warm and caring and turn it into something furtive and disgusting." 
 

Asked if he ever kissed students on the lips, as some have charged, he responded: "How long?" 
 

When questioned about specific incidents of alleged sexual contact, Rabbi Weinberg volunteered the names of the former students and portrayed them as psychologically troubled. He said that Sammy, the 20-year-old, and his family had a "troubled history" and that his own children worried that Sammy was "like Neil," a character in "Dead Poets Society" who commits suicide. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg charged that Sammy has been "emotionally abused by rabbis and others who have an agenda" in seeking to make sexual charges out of innocent gestures, like rubbing the young man's back or shoulders. 
 

A rabbi close to Sammy said the young man is part of "a normal, stable and loving family," and that while he knew Rabbi Weinberg and respected him, he has come to believe that Sammy is telling the truth. 
 

Rabbi Weinberg said that another former student from his Kerem days who has made allegations against him was "a problematic young man" with a "violent" nature and was not credible. 
 

That student, "Adam," now 40, told The Jewish Week that when he was 17, Rabbi Weinberg led him by the hand to his private study in the yeshiva, "pushed me on the bed or sofa and literally got on top of me, grappled me all over my body as a man would with a woman he was passionate about. I went into a catatonic shock. He fell asleep and slept on me for hours." 
 

Adam said that afterward, "it was as if nothing ever happened," but he felt "an implicit sense" that he had lost favor with his rebbe. 
 

"I wasn't there for him physically so he wasn't there for me emotionally, and there was a sense of abandonment," Adam said. Most damaging, he said, was that "he was playing with my head. That was most inviolate." 

 

Act Of Closure

Contemporaries and former classmates of Adam tell similar stories of alleged abuse from Rabbi Weinberg, whom they revered as a rebbe. 
 

"It's very vivid in my mind," said "Avraham," recalling the incident that took place in 1981, when he was 15, in a back room in the dormitory that was reserved for Rabbi Weinberg. 
 

Avraham said the rabbi said he wanted to talk to him. "He started unbuttoning my shirt, kissing my chest and stuff, started unbuttoning my pants, and he started to fondle me. I basically freaked out and I left." 
 

He said he later remembered feeling that the rabbi "was making this out to be ... some type of spiritual or religious experience." 
 

"Yitzchak," another former Kerem student, recalled three incidents of alleged touching that continues to haunt him more than 20 years later. The first took place in the dormitory in May 1982 when the rabbi came in and fondled the youngster's private parts, he said, while making "guttural, love-making noises." 
 

Yitzchak said he was "totally in shock. ... Obviously it wasn't normal, it was obviously something that was wrong, but I didn't understand it." 
 

A very similar event occurred a year later at a yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, he said, when he was getting dressed in the dorm. He said Rabbi Weinberg "came into the room, gave me a hug, hands inside the robe, fondling me again." 
 

Yitzchak said he was confused because he felt that to break away from Rabbi Weinberg was "like breaking off from the path of enlightenment, your opportunity to really develop fully as a Jew." 
 

But after another encounter two months later in the rabbi's home, "I was gone," he said, and soon left the school. 
 

Six or seven years later, Yitzchak felt a need to confront Rabbi Weinberg, he said. When he next saw the rabbi, "he tried to tell me that I enjoyed it, that I wanted it." 
 

Yitzchak said it was "a liberating experience" for him to see the rabbi "squirm." 
 

"It was an act of closure," he said. 

 

Moving Forward

But several of the other alleged victims say they are pursuing the case now because they are still troubled emotionally by the long-ago encounters and feel a strong need to try to protect young men from being harmed in the future. They note that a number of the alleged incidents of sexual abuse took place at the Kerem yeshiva and that California has no statute of limitations on such crimes. 
 

Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz

A key figure in moving the case forward is Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz, a well-respected principal of a Los Angeles yeshiva and kashrut authority who is said to have played a role in having Rabbi Weinberg leave Kerem two decades ago. 
 

Rabbi Eidlitz was planning to be at the May 1 panel in New York and said his purpose is "to protect people from being molested. I have to put my own feelings and emotions aside to be able to accomplish that goal." 
 

He said he is dedicated to "doing what is needed to end this disgusting type of act in the frum community." 
 

Rabbi Blau of Yeshiva University noted that while the community "has become sensitized to the problems of abuse since the [Rabbi Baruch] Lanner scandal [three years ago], we are still lacking a clear and effective mechanism to deal with allegations of abuse that protects the victims while filtering out frivolous accusations." 
 

He said that only when there is success in dealing with these problems internally, without fear that the offender will simply move somewhere else and repeat his behavior, can "we discuss dealing with issues in privacy." Until that time, he said, "only public exposure is effective in protecting the community from abusers." 
 

Rabbi Blau called it "a misapplication of chilul Hashem" to worry more about communal embarrassment than "protecting future potential victims at risk." 
 

Rabbi Weinberg's past has taken its toll on his family and led to estrangement within it. 
 

Aviva Weisborg, PhD

His sister, Dr. Aviva Weisbord, a psychologist, and his mother, Chana Weinberg, who founded a shelter for women victims of domestic abuse, issued a statement from their home in Baltimore this week in regard to this investigation, asserting that their family "strongly condemns any and all abuse by anybody against anybody at any time in any place in any form." 
 

They said they plan to help form a panel of rabbis and professionals, including women, to act as a clearinghouse of abuse complaints and to appoint investigators to look into allegations. Weisbord said she would like to see a system of checks and balances, so that if parties are not satisfied with the results of the panel's probe, "they can go to the press." 
 

"We would like to minimize chilul Hashem," she said, "but the first priority is that children have to be protected." n 

Elli Wohlgelernter is a former editor and reporter at The Jerusalem Post. Gary Rosenblatt is editor and publisher of The Jewish Week.

Rabbinical Statements About Reporting Childhood Sexual Abuse

Rabbinical Statements About Reporting Childhood Sexual Abuse

Table of Contents:

1. Rabbi Hershel Billet
2. Rabbi Mark Dratch

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Young Israel of Woodmere 

859 Peninsula Boulevard, Woodmere 

New York 11598-2498 

(516) 295-0950  (516) 295-1050

April 15, 2003


To whom it may concern:

It is my opinion that it is halachically permissible and in may cases obligatory to call civil authorities (child protection services and/or your local police department) when you SUSPECT a child is being abused and/or neglected. "This does not constitute "mesirah".   A sexual predator, molester, abuser, etc., is a "Rodef."


Respectfully yours,

Rabbi Hershel Billet
Young Israel of Woodmere, New York


(FYI:  Rabbi Billet also serves as the President of the Rabbinical Council of America and a member of the Orthodox Caucus)

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From:  Rabbi Mark Dratch
April 15, 2003

(Translations in English "in caps" by Na'ama Yehuda)

Based on the verse, "These are the judgments which you shall place before them: (Ex. 21:1), Jewish law prohibits adjudication by Jews in non-Jewish courts. (See Gittin 88b)  Rambam, Hilkhot Sanhedrin 26:7, elaborating on the severity of this sin, claims that "whoever adjudicates in a non-Jewish court ... is wicked and it is as though he has reviled, blasphemed, and rebelled against the law of Moses."  Many explain that the prohibition of "mesirah" (LITERALLY, GIVING AWAY TO), the reporting of a fellow Jew to civil authorities, is for the purpose of privileging the Jewish legal system over those of others. All legal matters concerning Jews should be redressed in a Jewish court according to Jewish law.

However, there are many reasons why this prohibition does not apply in cases of domestic and child abuse.

1) Arukh HaShulhan,  Hoshen Mishpat 388:7, (THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT HALACHIC SET OF BOOKS) maintains that "mesirah" (GIVING AWAY, TO FORIEGN AUTHORITIES) was prohibited because of the nature of autocratic governments under which Jews lived throughout much of our history. Such informing often led to dangerous persecution of the entire Jewish Community. He (ARUKH HASHULHAN) posits that this injunction no longer applies in those communities in which the government is generally fair and non-discriminatory.  Despite some claims that this position was reccorded only in deference to the censors, it is cited authoritatively by Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz in "The Abused Child: Halakhic Insights." Ten Da'at, Sivan 5748. p. 12. (TEN DA'AT--THE NAME OF THE BOOK, MEANS "GIVE WISDOM") Accordingly, it is obligatory in the Western world today to inform the civil authorities about child abusers.

2) The prohibition of "mesirah" applies only when testimony assists civil authorities in illegally obtaining the money of another Jew, not when it aids a non-Jewish government in fulfilling such rightful duties as collecting taxes and punishing criminals. When, however, the information concerns the criminal activities of a fellow Jew--as long as the Jewish criminal has also violated a Torah law, and even if the punishment will be more severe than the Torah prescribes (RaN to Sanhedrin 46a) -- the ban of mesirah does not apply. (Herschel Schachter, "Dina deMaIchusa Dina." Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Vol. 1, no. 1., p. 118.) THE QUOTES DESCRIBE THE TITLE OF AN ARTICLE, WHICH ROUGHLY MEANS: THE LAW OF THE LAND YOU ARE LIVING IN, IS THE LAW TO FOLLOW

3) Even should one hold that the prohibition of "mesirah" is relevant today, reporting abusers to civil authorities is nevertheless mandatory. According to Rema (A PROMINENT JEWISH SCHOLAR), even when the prohibition of mesirah is in force, "a person who attacks others should be punished. If the Jewish authorities do not have the power to punish him, he must be punished by the civil authorities." (Hoshen Mishpat 338:7 and Shakh, no. 45. See also Gloss of Rema to Hoshen Mishpat 338:9; B'nei Hayei and Maharam miRiszburg cited in Pahad Yitzhak, Maarekhet Hoveil Behaveiro---ALL THESE ARE SOURCES OF HALACHIC LAW AND CORRESPONDENCE AMONG THEM.)  Our Batei Din today have neither the power nor the authority, and in many cases they lack the competence, to handle such matters.

4) Shulhan Arukh (THE HALACHIC TEXT MENTIONED PREVIOUSELY--IT'S TITLE MEANS, "THE SET TABLE" BUT IS NOT A LITERAL MEANING BUT MORE OF THE SYMBOLIC MEANING OF SETTING THE TABLE BEFORE HASHEM, OR THE "HOW TO" OF JEWISH LIFE) rules that the prohibition of mesirah restricts an individual who is being harassed from making a report to the civil authorities. However, when there is a "meitzar hatzibbur" (public menace--A PERSON WHO CAUSES MISERY TO THE PUBLIC), mesirah is permissible. ( Hoshen Mishpat 338:12 according to the text quoted by Shakh, no. 59 and Gra no. 71.) Abusers and molesters clearly endanger the welfare of many adults and children with whom they have contact. (See statement of Rabbi Waldenberg quoted in Nishmat Avraham, Vol. IV, p. 209.)

5) The concern of "hillul Hashem" (desecrating God's Name) has also been raised as an objection to the reporting of Jewish abusers, i.e., it would be disgraceful for a Jew to be tried publicly for such an offense and a "hillul Hashem" to resort to non-Jewish courts.  However, the problem of "hillul Hashem" cuts both ways. Not reporting or testifying about such abuse, when such is required by civil law, is classified by Rosh as hillul HaShem. ( Baba Kamma, chapter 10, no. 14.) Although, according to Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 28:3.,(HALACHIC TEXT) the desecration of God's Name occurs only in those cases when Jewish witnesses have been specifically designated by the non-Jews to testify, Bach maintains that Rosh's position applies in our own day even when such witnesses have not been officially summoned because of the danger to Jewish lives that may subsequently ensue by withholding information. Certainly, in countries where physicians, teachers, and youth workers are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse, it would be a hillul Hashem and a violation of dina de-malkhuta dina to withhold such information. (I.E.--IT WOULD BE DESECRATING G-D's NAME AS WELL AS THE LAW TO FOLLOW THE LAWS OF THE LAND YOU ARE IN TO NOT REPORT).

The Mishnah, Avot 4:4, (A FAMOUS JEWISH TEXT, OFTEN STUDIED ON SHABBAT AFTERNOON AND IN PRACTICALLY ALL RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS OVRE THE YEAR) reminds us that sequestering a hillul Hashem will always be unsuccessful: "Whoever desecrates the name of Heaven in private will ultimately be punished in public, whether the desecration was committed unintentionally or intentionally." Hence, a conspiracy to conceal information about abuse will ultimately be made public, creating an even greater hillul Hashem. The greater severity of the hillul Hashem in concealing the information can be further supported by the Talmud, Yoma 86b, which maintains that "one should expose hypocrites to prevent the desecration of the Name. (See also Hilkhot De'ot 6:8)  Rashi (ONE IF NOT THE MOST FAMOUS AND BASIC COMMENTATOR ON THE TORAH AND TALMUD) explains that the reason for this disclosure is that people, thinking that this person is righteous, may learn from his behavior. Rambam (ANOTHER PILLAR OF JEWISH COMMENRARY) is of the opinion that after unsuccessful attempts to correct the matter privately, public remonstration and broadcasting of the outrage is required. There is no concern about the hillul Hashem of exposing the offense.


I concur with my colleague Rabbi Hershel Billet who wrote:

It is my opinion that it is halachically permissible and in may cases obligatory to call civil authorities (child protection services and/or your local police department) when you SUSPECT a child is being abused and/or neglected.  "This does not constitute "mesirah."  A sexual predator, molester, abuser, etc., is a "Rodef." (RODEF--LITERALLY, A PERSON WHO IS CHASING ANOTHER IN A THREATENING, DANGEROUS MANNER. ALSO USED TO DESCRIBE PREDATORY BEHAVIOR.)

Rabbi Mark Dratch

(FYI:  Rabbi Dratch is affiliated with: Agudath Shalom, and a member of the Orthodox Caucus)

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