Letters to the Editor 7-24-09

Issue of July 24, 2009 / 3 Av 5769

Joy and sadness

To the Editor:

Reading Bracha Goetz’s excellent piece (“Ba’alei Teshuva in co-pilot seat; July 17 2009) filled me with joy and sadness. Joy because we are so fortunate to have such painfully honest voices reminding us of our core values and traditions.  It cannot have been easy for her to write about her sadness at the way so many of our co-religionists simply miss the essential messages of Torah. But at the same time, it reminded me of our great prophets who similarly pointed out our failings and whom we consistently ignored, both politically and religiously, to our own detriment. Thousands of years later little has changed.

Rabbi Dr Jeremy Rosen

New York City

What’s news?

To the Editor:

Thank you for having had the guts to publish Ms. Goetz’s article (“Ba’alei Teshuva in co-pilot’s seat”; July 17, 2009). It was picked up by Vos Iz Neias (www.vosizneias.com) and generated a lot of comment on that site, most of it agreeing with her points. She’s right on target and could even have put her position more strongly.

Mrs. H. Meyer

Manchester, UK

HAFTR parent weighs in

To the Editor:

Based on Mr. Gross’s comment that from the Rambam perspective it was all about what can we take, grab, borrow or steal from the HAFTR parent body in exchange for two part-time administrators (“HAFTR and Rambam to split”; July 17, 2009), it was apparent three years ago [that Machon Hatorah] was a terrible deal for the HAFTR parent body and had it been put to a parent body vote, I doubt it would have passed. Unfortunately, the lack of transparency, the clique-ism, and the absolute lack of respect that previous boards have shown to the parent body placed us all in this situation.

Personally, I am glad that my tuition dollars are not building Rambam kids a gym or a beis medrash. If you want those for your kids, knock yourselves out.  Spend your money — not mine.

Jason Kanefsky

Woodmere

Forging a New Path

To the Editor:

Dr. Michael Salamon may be forging a new path in “Diffusing Responsibility,” (July 10, 2009) for protecting our community against child sex molesters. Increased reporting to government authorities by mental health care practitioners is one answer to the problem.

Elliot Pasik

Cedarhurst

Speaking badly of Lashon Harah

To the Editor:

Dr. Michael Salamon’s column (“Diffusing Responsibility”; July 10, 2009)  expressed a problem that is of “biblical proportions.”  While in America there are very few “Good Samaritan laws” that require people to report dangerous crimes, we as Jews answer to a Higher Authority. The Torah says “Lo Sa’amod Al Dam Reyecha — thou shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” This is in the same place in the Torah as “Lo Seylech Rachil B’amecha — Thou shall not be a tale bearer among your people.” The juxtaposition of these two mitzvos back-to-back teaches us that when there is a threat of harm, you must tell others and this is not being a tale bearer.

The laws of Lashon Harah have too often been used as an excuse for people in our community not to get involved. The laws of client-therapist privilege have likewise too often been used by therapists in our community to protect information about dangerous criminals among us. While mandated reporting laws are there to help the situation, the community has recently been made aware that these laws are woefully inadequate as they do not explicitly mandate every molester being reported.

While many people mistakenly see a dilemma in abiding by mandated reporting (one rabbi recently told me that you are only allowed to report a Jewish child molester when your parnassa (livelihood/ license is at risk), in reality, the ethical and moral dilemma is the opposite. What right do we have in halacha not to report when we know a life is in danger, even if it means putting our livelihood at risk. My father, who is a rabbinic expert on Jewish medical ethics, stated at an international conference that a therapist who knows her patient has AIDS and is failing to take proper precautions, must inform the patient’s partner if the patient won’t, even if it means jeapordizing the therapist’s license and her parnassa.

As Dr. Salamon rightly asserts, surely children’s lives are equally as sacred and if we know of a serial molester who is a menace to society, we therapists cannot hide behind legalistic reasons to neglect our moral duty to report to the proper channels.

Asher Lipner

Vice President, Jewish Board of Advocates for Children

Regards from New Jersey

To the Editor:

I reside in Southern New Jersey.  My son who lives in Far Rockaway gave me my first exposure to your newspaper of July 3rd which I read from cover to cover. All the content was well written and resonated with me. With all good wishes for your continuing success.

Milton M. Adler

Cherry Hill, NJ