Five years ago, when I was researching allegations of sexual abuse made against Rabbi Baruch Lanner, I called an official at the Rabbinical Council of America, the rabbinic body of the Orthodox Union, who told me that his group did not have specific guidelines for dealing with members accused of abuse because it never happened.
Much has changed since then. Rabbi Lanner is in jail for his crime, and the RCA, acknowledging reality, has adopted procedures for dealing with colleagues charged with misbehavior.
[There is a] need for clear policies and guidelines, and trained personnel to deal with allegations of abuse. That’s just what Rabbi Mark Dratch plans to do when he leaves his Stamford, Conn., pulpit this June and launches JSafe, The Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse Free Environment. It will be the first serious attempt in the Jewish community to establish and maintain standards and procedures dealing with child abuse, domestic violence and professional improprieties. Rabbi Dratch, a vice president of the RCA who led the effort to create its task force on rabbinic improprieties, is hoping that JSafe, a non-profit organization, will be of service to schools, camps, synagogues and organizations across the denominations and around the country, a kind of “Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” he said, that will create awareness in the community, offer training, and provide oversight.
Abuse is an issue “whose time has come,” Rabbi Dratch noted, and though he credited the community with taking steps to deal with the problem in the last several years, he believes “a lot more has to be done.” Denial is still a major concern, he said, particularly among Orthodox Jews whose worries about the stigma sometimes prevent them from contacting the authorities.
As one who has been calling for the community to establish a mechanism to police itself more effectively in these areas, I applaud Rabbi Dratch’s ambitious effort and seriousness of purpose. A veteran of 15 years of writing about and dealing with abuse issues, he observes that “there are too many holes in the system” and that the problem is widespread, compounded by the fact that “there is no single hierarchy or unifying infrastructure that enables [the community] to set standards for training or to hold professionals responsible in these areas.”
His plan is for JSafe to create a certification program that will be “the gold standard” for training professionals and volunteers, establishing policies and guidelines for proper behavior, and offering guidance on dealing with abuse. Each organization certified by JSafe will be responsible to manage its own compliance, but will give JSafe the right of oversight. In addition, JSafe, which will be based in the New York area, will offer seminars, newsletters, journals and books on topics related to protecting people and making the community aware of the issues.
Rabbi Dratch is hoping that JSafe will not only help in terms of training, guidance and awareness, but become the standard that parents will look for and demand when his organization sets up operation over the next year.
It couldn’t come a moment too soon.
E-mail: Gary Rosenblatt can be reached by e-mail at Gary@jewishweek.org.
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