Is a smokescreen hiding the issue of abuse?

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Rabbi Frankfurter called Pinny Taub his hero for sticking by the haredi community. “You can become prejudicial against your own kind if you are molested. There are those who are using the abuse issue to bring down the community, but my policy is that my enemy’s enemy is not my friend.”
Rabbi Frankfurter conceded that he had not read Salomon’s book, which devotes a chapter to the apparent failings of Daat Torah, the concept of seeking advice from rabbinic leaders on non-religious questions.
“When taken to an extreme, it perpetuates an adoration of individuals that places them above secular law,” Salomon writes.
In addition to criticizing Daat Torah, Salomon points to mesira — the traditional prohibition against reporting a fellow Jew to secular authorities — as an excuse for abuse cover-ups.
He points to the March 2009 case of Rabbi Israel Weingarten, who was convicted of abusing his wife and daughter. When the wife testified against Rabbi Weingarten in court, the defendant and his supporters accused her of a mesira violation.
Rabbi Yosef Blau, who heads the rabbinic seminary at Yeshiva University, backs up Salomon’s criticism of the misuse of Daat Torah and mesira.
“Despite the fact that it is unpleasant to hand matters over to secular authorities, I have realized that our community is simply not equipped well enough to deal with issues of abuse,” Rabbi Blau said in a 2009 interview with the student publication Yeshiva University Observer. “We cannot investigate properly, and we cannot take measures strong enough to protect children from potential abuse.”
As an alternative to outside reporting, Rabbi Frankfurter made an on-air promise to meet with advocates and survivors of abuse, but he added that those with “an agenda” would not be considered.
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