For decades we have heard of the horrors of abused children who have come forward to accuse their alleged pedophiles of unspeakable acts. The highest levels of the Catholic Church have been rocked by these kinds of accusations. Coverups designed to protect the institution’s reputation from being besmirched were conducted by ill-advised officials, while others with malevolent intent or hoping to maintain the secrecy associated with the abuse, offered payoffs or threatened censure or excommunication. As a result, the abuse continued unabated for decades and hundreds – if not thousands – of children continued to be attacked.
Because of its lack of centralized structures, the Orthodox Jewish world has been largely spared the same level of scrutiny by those that would accuse Jewish religious leaders of this same kind of abuse. Some scandals have flared here and there and a number of bettei din (rabbinical courts) have been convened to hear the charges and to decide the fate of the accused. Largely, the Jewish world has been spared of dealing with these detestable acts.
Nonetheless, last week’s resignation of Yeshiva University president Rabbi Norman Lamm signals a troubling new chapter of accusations. A $380 million dollar lawsuit by former students accuses Lamm and others with covering up decades of sexual misconduct and abuse at the university and its namesake high school. Whether the charges are proved or not, the Jewish world is headed down a precipitous cliff where the basest of accusations and the most horrible of misdeeds may be recounted by victims in front of all the world to see and hear.
It is our hope the 19 victims listed in the suit will receive justice and that policies will be put into place which will prevent these kinds of inappropriate contact between adults and youngsters from ever taking place again. Meanwhile, lawyers, judges and juries will have to decide whether the nation’s largest Jewish university – a system of 17 schools and divisions – will be able to withstand damages that may sully its once sterling reputation and a disastrous financial blow from which it may never recover.
