Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Comments On Self Policing of Rabbis

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1) Self policing of any specific professional group has never worked, MD's, JD's or Rabbis. However, where are the folks who granted these perverts the titles they hold, and where is the mechanism to remove these titles. A pervert who sexually messes with people over whom they have any type of power, need to be brought to account...if proven, pedophiles should just be shot (no cure for those folks...and too great a danger to keep alive for any society).

Frankly, the Title granters ought to have to carry indeminity for their product. If their product is nasty, they are accountable.
-- Hadassah M. Cohen


2) The system is broken and needs fixing.
"We NEED to DEMAND that all rabbis should refer these cases to the proper authorities immediately." Absolutely. I don't believe in "self policing."

Community pressure could be one part of the solution. The congregations finance the whole thing. The rabbi's salaries come from that. The community can demand proper procedures or switch to other shuls.

-- Henry Gregory

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not all improper behavior is criminal. If a rabbi seduces women it is appropriate that the complaint go to the rabbinical organization where he is a member. If a lawyer acts unethically he is brought before the bar association. This does not intefere with going to the police when the behavior is criminal. A good process will involve an independent investigation of the accusations.
Yosef Blau

January 17, 2007 5:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Rabbi Blau,
I strongly disagree with you. If a rabbi "seduces" a womam, the woman should report this to her local rape crisis center. There are times that this sort of behavior can be called sexual harassment. In many states this is a crime. Also if the rabbi provided this woman with any sort of spiritual counseling and "seduces" her, it falls under the catagory of professional sexual misconduct. Once again in many states this is also a crime.

Much better to go to your local rape crisis center and have them determine which way to proceed. What power does a rabbinic organization really have? The only thing they can do is revoke a rabbis membership. The rabbi will retain his title of rabbi and will either stay at the same Temple or move to another community and create more victims.

January 17, 2007 7:09 PM  

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