Presence

this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of sexual abuse that has happened in baltimore. I'm glad now the BJT didn't wimp out in writing this like it did last time (probably b/c the molestation was done outside of baltimore, and the part in baltimore was done by now convicted felon Juravel). I feel that Baltimore is missing a leader who can take this bull-by-the horns. Too bad, that now that this city needs a leader in this area, he moved to NY and is being jerked around by the OU about his contract. much more to say, but can't.

Very Very sad. I am amazed how well put together he still sounded. To simply not be Orthodox anymore is such a small price for this young man to pay. How many people have committed suicide or murder for far less?

I hope given his still amazing connection and feeling towards the holocaust through his grandmother, that the right caring and responsible Orthodox leaders (maybe they do not exist here but they do exist) speak, listen and care for him.

He deserves so much from so many people, I hope he comes back to a more normal Orthodox environment. That is not always easy to find either but it exists and his feeling that a G-d is still real to him leaves some hope.

Phil Jacobs deserves quite a reward for exposing this. Knowing Orthodoxy, he likely is getting much flak. I hope he feels so much personal satisfaction as writing this arctile and giving this young man a forum may very well help him heal and what could be anymore important then that?

G-d bless him.

Ok, I just finished reading the article, and it was really well written.

One thing I'm happy about is that the Awareness Center wasn't at all mentioned.

I said the same thing, Aishel.

It's a shame that it takes articles in mainstream media in order for anything to be done about problems of this type. But, if the frum establishment keeps playing the loosy-goosy card in the interest of keeping things "heimish", this seems to be the only strategy that works. Just take a look at how some of the schools are run by untrained teachers and administrators without any protocols or explicit codes of conduct. Obviously, if one reads the WWW, it seems that the only serious problems that exist in frum Baltimore are carpools that come late and 21 year old "over-the-hill" girls who are having problems finding their bashert (and their parents who rack their brains to figure out where they went wrong. I guess we're not in Kansas anymore.

I don't know the extent to which the abuse problem is still pervasive and unreported. Maybe it's great, maybe not. That's an empirical question. But it seems that these issues are only looked into as the result of such stories. And that's a crying shame.

So what is the deal with the Awareness Center?

It seems like I good thing, but I hear people bashing it all the time.

What's the deal?

one thing about the article bothered me, why mention the name of only one offender either mention them all or mention none. It isn't like the one mentioned is a danger to society he is locked behind bars for a very long time. SO in the end the only people you hurt are his family.

Anon-

It says that the article is the first of an occasional series. So, perhaps there is more to come...

my point was that there was nothing to be gained in mentioning the name of someone who is behind bars (where he belongs) other then embarrassing his family further.

SRR, the problem as I see it is that the AC will take any random blog post and accept it as truth. Therefore, if I were to write a blog post saying that you were a molester, the AC would put your name up on the website. There's little or no accountability.