Ami Magazine - Frankfurter Op-Ed about Zev Brenner Show

zealots dren from people who wouid hurt them, anti-Orthodox volleys the to response' The harm huu" .u,.rr.d ctnsiderabie rabof vitriol aimed at the community by these anti-religious upstanding many cause to been bl.-rorr"rr, has unfortunately attention members of the community to not give this cause the

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hls past motzei Shabbos I dld what 1 usually do that each week. I checked my BlackBerry e-mail l$lffiffi inbox. And. like each week, I received an e-mai1 lrom the radio program TalltlineWithZev Brenner anffi nouncing that nights show: "Dr' MichaelJ Salamon' Woodmere PsycholSgist, factting Abuse in Orthodox Jewlsh

it

deserves.

Dr' 1 was looking forward to the opportunity to confront remarkable were show the on remarks Salamon. Hls opening ' and telling. After discussing the chl1d abuse problem, in a polite demeanor he brought

Communitrr" My instinctive response was: There they go again "Iim disappointed," was my two-word email reply to Zev.

up Natan Slifkin, presumably not a victim oi chlld abuse. Saiamon went on to cite the "Zoo Rabbl"'s unrelated grievances against

"Why?" he resPonded in turn' Since he solicited an explanation, i elaborated: "Because this is a biood llbe1 against the Orthodox communlty, perpetrated not

the charedi community. Likewise telling was Dr. Salamon's taklng issue with the concept

by Cathollcs, but by our secular brethren'

of daos Torah.

There are no statistics supporting their allegations. Abuse is not an Orthodox prob1em

but a giobal human problem'

told the doctor that, from the religious community's perspective, there were two horrific abuse problems. One perpetrated against children, and the other against the 1

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neiState, which had a serious problem, is has issue This Orthodox nor ther religious " self-hating b1' us Jews been used against Zev persisted: "I have on an Orthodox doctor."

O"rthodox community itself; and that while he is ostensibly trying to alleviate the former' he is unfortunately committing the latter'

When he strongly objected to my statement. i asked him about the biurb on the back cover of his book, which reads as fol-

In light of my good friend Zev's tenac"He is ity, 1 shared with hlm my thoughts: this addressing be to person ,-,lt the right victim a He's Taub Pinny on probiem. Put

lows: "lr4ichae1J. Salamon, Ph'D

a.rd att advocate. When he realized these activists have an arrti-charedi agenda, he

by smooth u1kers."

an invitation: The next e-mail I received from Zev included tonight?" him with show the on be "Do you want to "einny Taub and I will go on," was my rep\'' child abuse is in eerhaps a brief overview of the scourge of came to light in order. Since the time that the abuse problem brethren have if-r. no^u" Catholic Church, our secular Jewish to proclaim mesira against prohibltion seized on the halachic authodties' civil the to abuse report failio ifrul-ot,tt"aoxJews Orthodox in the lolerated is more abuse they allege,

A, , ..rrrlt, world than elsewhere.

these are a member of the community' according to worst the one of abetring of guilty activists, you are ipso Jacto child abuse' No one would dare lndict the

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.ri-"1i"irglnable: inc^ifr"f* cJrtmunity for the sins of its church hierarchy or

u'orld dlvidual pri.ests. But tarring the entlre Orthodox Jewish ,-roi to violate the standards ol politlcal correctness'

innocent chilBy hijacklng the serious mandare of protecting

8 AMI

MAGA zrNE IINoVEMBER

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2o1'1

book is so

this issue and identlfies how and why abuse in the Jervish community ls less reported and less known than that ln the Catholic Church

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parted company and formed his own ad,ro.u.y group. Don't get yourself drawn in

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important in that it actually sheds-llght on

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withln other religious groups " or --Dr. inaccurale' lt Salamon, iroiically, said rhat the blurb was CDC figures that confirmed he *^ utro quite gratifpng *hen in all comsame rhe is about ,t o* ittu,',l't. .I," oi .liild ub"" deals with he personnel -""iti"t, and that the law enforcement routinely who activists many corrcut- T" the great chagrin of the the community' charedt inthe claim that the abuse ratis higher leve1 the thought personally ao.,o, shared his feeiing thai he mieht actually be lower there than eisewhere'

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also didn't seem to see a problem with rabbonim

warvetting abuse allegations and deciding which allegations as long as ruled' have ,u.l,"i calling police, as many poshim I and. Taub Pinny when properly tralned' And those rabbis were

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the

Forwari,

Salamon openly JewishWeeh, and blogs'

proclaimed, "l don't like blogs'"

"--Ai;h;rgh the callers somehow consisted of an inordinate Zev ,rr*tr., oi critlcs of the Orthodox community' as I left o feeling cluttered studio I had a rather content Brenner's

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