107 Low-Level Rabbis Teach Haredi Leaders Moral and Just Law

More Than 100 Haredi Rabbis Say Report Suspected Child Sex Abuse To Police, But Top Haredi Rabbis Won't Sign On

FailedMessiah.com

A group of 107 haredi rabbis in the US, none of them (except one) top tier, none of them representatives of any haredi umbrella organizations, have issued a kol koreh (Torah proclamation) telling everyone with a reasonable suspicion of child sex abuse to report that alleged abuse to police.

The Kol Koreh reads (please click to enlarge):

Other than Shmuel Feurst (who held this position previously), none of the other rabbis are (in terms of political importance in the haredi community) top tier.

Missing are members of the Aguath Israel of America's Council of Torah Sages, and prominent rabbis and rebbes of Satmar and other hasidic groups. Also missing is Yisroel Belsky of Torah Vodaas, who is OU Kosher's co-posek (rabbinic decisior, in this case on kashrut issues) and any of Lakewood's top rabbis.

Those signatures are missing because those missing rabbis believe child sex abuse committed by a haredi Jew against a child, even a haredi child, should almost never be reported to police (the position of Satmar, Munkatch, and many other hasidic groups) or that only top tier haredi rabbis can hear the evidence and decide whether the halakhic standard for reporting, reasonable suspicion, has been met (Agudath Israel of America).

But what is good about this new kol koreh is that it was issued anyway, that known haredi rabbis were willing to put their names on a statement their leaders disagree with.

You can see all the signatures on the kol koreh, which was posted by the Jewish Press, here.