Honoring A Hero - Rabbi Yosef Blau
Rabbi Yosef BlauOver the last several months it seems like many bloggers are busy exposing the names of those who offend and also those who enable the offenders.
Today I felt like doing something different. I think we all need to be thanking and honor a rabbi who has dedicated zillions of hours talking to survivors and really doing something to make a difference. We all need to be thanking Rabbi Yosef Blau!
Rabbi Blau is someone who has been volunteering his own time to talking and listen to what survivors of sex crimes have to say. Rabbi Blau has really been there for so many. I don't know how he does this. All I can come up with is that for someone to be able to handle this sort of work they really need to have a support system standing behind them. For that reason I also think it's extremely important for us all to thank his wife Dr. Rivka Blau. She too deserves a great deal of credit.
Next time you see either Rabbi Yosef or Dr./Rebbitzen Rivka Blau, make sure to thank them for being who they are and trying to make a difference.
Below is a list of just a few of the articles that quoted Rabbi Blau. If you know of others please forward them so I can add them to the list.
- July 14, 2000 - Associated Press. "Students accuse New Jersey rabbi of abuse over 20 years."
- January 30, 2003 - New York Jewish Week. "Stolen Innocence".
- February 2, 2003 - Washington Post. "Rabbi's Odyssey Reflects Struggle on Sexual Abuse".
- May 9, 2003 - The Associated Press. "Panel To Hear Charges Against Prominent Rabbi".
- December 19, 2003 - New York Jewish Week. "Curbing Rabbinic Abuse".
- September 24, 2004 - New York Jewish Week. "The Re-Invented Rabbi".
- May 15, 2006 - New York Magazine. "On the Rabbi's Knee: Do the Orthodox Jews have a Catholic-priest problem?"
- May 19, 2006 - Forward. "Rabbi Fired Over Sex Claims, Defenders Offer MeaCulpa".
- September 19, 2006 - Baltimore Examiner. "Community rallies for woman’s right to divorce abusive husband."
- January 10, 2007 - Washington Jewish Week. "Awareness Center a clearinghouse of concern — and controversy".
- January 19, 2007 - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. "Denominations take aim at sex abuse."
- January 19, 2007 - Washington Jewish Week. "Secrecy vs. privacy".
- February 14, 2007 - Jewish Press. "The End Of Innocence".
posted by Jewish Survivors at Tuesday, February 20, 2007
10 Comments:
Way to go Rabbi Blau!
I've been following your career and your great work for some time now. Of all the people involved in helping victims of this murky business you are on a level all to yourself. As a victim, it is people like you that keep me going. I never met you, but 1 day my dream is to garner enough courage to make an appointment to see you. I dont think I would be the first Chassidishe victim turning to you for you are the only sympathetic ear out there.
I agree, Rabbi Blau is a hero!
A few years ago I spoke to you on the phone. I never told you that I was considering suicide. I couldn't handle my past. I felt betrayed by so many. You held me together in a way that kept me alive. I'm now married with a child.
Thank you for being there for me and everyone else!
It brings tear to my eyes that Rabbi Blau saved someone from the brink of suicide. I shudder to think how many others were lost because they called a different rov who wouldn't help. Rav Blau must have saved the "entire world" many times over.
I agree with what's said here.
I was raped by a rabbi many years ago in my youth. As an adult I basically walked away from being Jewish. After a conversation with rav Blau I started to reconsider. He was the first and only rabbi who ever stopped to hear my story.
Thank you for posting this. I've always felt that he was extremely helpful to my family when we were dealing with an abuse issue that occurred to a family member. I never felt like I've thanked him enough. I'm sure there are many others out there just like my family.
I hope rabbi blau reads this. He deserves to how much he's changed the lives of so many.
Over the years I've gone to many ravs looking for help. I didn't know what I really wanted until I spoke to rabbi blau. After I hung up I realized I just wanted to have a rabbi to hear what happened to me. Rabbi Blau did just that. A miracle happened I actually spoke to rabbi and I didn't feel attacked. I didn't hang up feeling like I was a low life. In the past that's exeatly the way I felt when I spoke to other rabbis
So rabbi blau, if you are reading this thank you so much. The time you spent with me made a difference in my life.
Vicki Polin at the awareness center suggested several times that I call rabbi Blau. I really thought her reason was because she was trying to push me to become religious.
After about eight months of prompting I finally called him. Now I laugh when i think of what I was afraid of. Rabbi Blau was a rabbi who actually "gets it". I mean he understood what I was saying. He know the people I knew and told me that he heard rumors about my rapist. All these years and no one ever admitted that to me before. It was very validating.
I too want to say that Rabbi Blau is in a league of his own. Thank you so much for taking my call and for taking the time to chat with me.
Thank you for honoring this man. I agree with what everyone is saying.
Thank you for posting this on Rabbi Blau.
A few years ago I was encouraged by Vicki Polin to give him a call, and am so glad I did. He absolutely does "get" abuse survivors, and has a way with words that is very validating. That he acknowledged having heard many, many stories from a wide variety of sources about my abuser, similar to my own, helped me feel less crazy.
Thank you Rabbi Blau, for all the hard work you do for abuse survivors.
I graduated YU in the late 1990s and up to that point never got along with my rebbeim (and I went through the yeshiva system), but I always listened when Rabbi Blau spoke. He is a wonderful human being and by example he taught me to see the forest for the trees. If only more rabbanim were like him maybe I'd have more of an inclination to be Torah Observant. Rabbi Blau, your drasha before the NCAA finals in 1997 is something I'll never forget, thanks.
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