Jerusalem Opens Multidisciplinary Child Abuse Recovery Center

"We are striving to create the first-ever research and treatment center for maltreated kids."

photo credit:INGIMAGE

The Haruv Children’s Campus, an unprecedented global child abuse recovery center combining research and treatment methodologies across an array of disciplines, will officially open on Monday at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus.

Located directly across the street from the main entrance to Hadassah University Medical Center, dozens of construction workers on Sunday installed the final touches to the sprawling campus, which will include emergency treatment, therapeutic facilities and child advocacy assistance.

Prof. Asher Ben Arieh, director of the Haruv Institute, the leading authority on child abuse in Israel, said the campus houses seven organizations working jointly on all aspects of identifying, diagnosing, and treating neglected children.

“This multi-disciplinary campus provides a holistic, child-centered approach to treating, studying and addressing the global issue of child abuse, and creates new opportunities for groundbreaking collaboration between institutes and organizations in Israel, and around the world,” said Ben Arieh.

“Child abuse and neglect occurs in all sectors of society, and has a destructive impact on growth and development. We are striving to create the first-ever comprehensive research and treatment center for maltreated children, based on the widely- admired university hospital model.”

Ben Arieh continued: “The campus will attract top researchers, professionals and students from Israel and abroad, creating opportunities to affect real change for at-risk children.”

Twenty children between the ages of four and 16 will live in the center, while over 100 children will attend day clinics featuring counseling, clinical treatment and child abuse investigations.

The planning and design of the campus were carried out to reflect its emphasis on addressing the needs of children and families, said Ben Arieh.

“Throughout the campus, calming elements have been introduced, such as pools of water, pastoral greenery and play areas created from natural materials,” he said.

“The interior spaces have colorful playrooms, work areas that provide privacy and a school and kindergarten for children at the emergency center.”

According to the World Health Organization, every fourth child worldwide is a victim of child abuse. Within Israel, about 400,000 youth are considered at-risk.

In 2015, there were an estimated 44,000 new cases of child abuse reported, with every third Israeli child suffering some form of neglect. Among that population, 20% were children with special needs, and 11% suffered sexual abuse.

The problem is so acute, that Ben Arieh said child services workers routinely deal with unmanageable levels of caseloads.

Study: 53 percent of Israeli youngsters suffer from abuse, victimization 
Efforts to combat child sexual abuse are being stepped up

He noted that the Mount Scopus campus was selected for its strategic location and general accessibility, adding that it is close to ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities, and offers a culturally sensitive approach to its work with these disparate populations.

The Haruv Institute, which spearheaded the initiative, was aided financially by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation; JDC-Israel; the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry; the National Insurance Institute; and the Jerusalem Municipality Welfare Services.

The NIS 50 million campus will house the Schusterman Emergency Center; the Beit Lynn Child Protection Center; the Israel National Council for the Child; the Center for Treatment of Sexually Abused Children; the Israel Medical Stimulation Center; the Municipal Child Welfare Center; and the Goshen Program for Comprehensive Child Health.

“Ever since its founding in 2007, Haruv has served as a beacon of hope and a source of strength for victims of child abuse and their families,” said Lynn Schusterman, founder and co-chairwoman of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

“It has been a forceful advocate for those least able to defend themselves, and it has trained thousands of professionals responsible for preventing and treating abuse and neglect. The opening of the Haruv Children’s Campus ushers in the next phase of this critically important mission, and is a striking example of how Haruv has grown to become an international center of excellence in its field.”

David Schizer, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee called the campus a “major step in the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect in Israel and beyond.”

“It champions a holistic approach, ensuring critical players in this field can learn from and inform each other’s success, something we understand full well from our own work in Israel,” Schizer said.

“We’re proud of our partnership with the Haruv Institute and the Schusterman Family Foundation to once again foster innovation of new program models to support Israel’s most vulnerable community.”

2 Israeli Rabbis Arrested For Alleged Child Sex Abuse

Two Israeli rabbis have been arrested for separate cases of alleged child molestation involving multiple victims at different religious institutions.


Rabbis Arrested For Alleged Child Sex Abuse
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A rabbi at an unnamed Jerusalem yeshiva was arrested today after a 19-year-old student filed a criminal complaint alleging he was molested by the rabbi over a  five-year period, the Times of Israel reported based on reports in the Hebrew-language media.

The victim also alleges other students at the yeshiva were also abused by the rabbi.

The rabbi, who denies the allegations, is scheduled to be arraigned at the the Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court later today.

Meanwhile, last week the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court reportedly extended the remand of a different rabbi who has been accused of molesting two teenage boys. But in that case, the yeshiva or religious organization that had once employed the rabbi reported the alleged abuse to police.

The rabbi’s attorney notes the yeshiva fired the rabbi a year and a half ago prompting the rabbi to sue the institution. That the attorney claimed, caused the institution to use the abuse claims to pressure the rabbi to drop his suit against the institution.

Pedophiles are not only evil, they are stupid!

A Child Sex Abuse Panic In Jerusalem?

 Haredi kids eyes covered

What appears to be another child sex abuse panic is now ongoing in the haredi neighborhood of Sanhedria Murchevet.

The following article breaks down what sometimes happens in insular heredi communities when child sex abuse emerges. 


Failed Messiah
Menachem Kaiser has a piece in Tablet about what appears to be a child sex abuse mass hysteria in another haredi neighborhood of Jerusalem, similar to the one in Nachlaot several years ago.

Several weeks ago, I offered to help one of the rabbis involved in investigating this latest case in Sanhedria Murchevet. He didn't respond, and I left the matter.

But since Kaiser wrote his Tablet piece, I'll add a few points to it that may help that rabbi – points I would have made if he had responded:

• Some of the same therapists and community members who fueled the Nachlaot hysteria appear to be involved in the Sanhedria Murchevet hysteria, as well.

• Little children hear many things adults don't realize they've heard and often understand unspoken desires of adults. So when an adult appears to want "Effie" or "Rivky" to be the child who did wrong, the playmates of "Effie" or "Rivky" will frequently tell those adults what the adults appear to want to hear, even if it isn't true. Little kids also talk among themselves and share stories – stories adults don't hear them share and which may not be true.

• That process is at play in any mass hysteria, and what that means, I think, is this: a child who was actually abused – perhaps by a rabbi or a teacher or even an older sibling or other family member – told a parent about the abuse. But because the parent so clearly would be mad at and disapprove of the abuser – who could be her husband or a powerful (in the child's eyes) teacher – the little child does not name his abuser. He only speaks in vague terms about the abuse and only after much coaxing.

Seeking help, the parent goes to a therapist or community leader – people who, in the haredi community, often do not want to see insiders as abusers. The child is interviewed; the unspoken (or even sometimes spoken) desires to name an outsider or a specific person or type of person as the abuser is understood by the little child, who then does what the powerful adults want and names that type of person.

• For a panic to start, all that is needed is a relatively closed community, one or two cases of actual child sex abuse, and the type of mishandling of child victims I just described. All of these factors appear to present in Sanhedria Murchevet.

• Word quickly gets out that "secret Christians" or some other shadowy figures (almost always outsiders in ideology or religion, even if that is hidden) are sexually abusing children. Parents warn their children and children hear and share horror stories among themselves. And suddenly, the two or three actual cases of child sex abuse that took place last week become dozens or even hundreds of cases.

• The key points here are not to say that no child sex abuse took place or that the actual abusers, if the exist, are definitely not outsiders.

• Instead, the key points are that some abuse likely did take place, that abuse is likely ongoing, and the perpetrator is (or, perpetrators are) far more likely to be a child's (children's) teacher, father, uncle or neighbor than a secret Christian running a large secret blood cult and ritually abusing little children in secret tunnels and rooms hidden deep under Jerusalem and reached by an elevator in a special blue building. In other words, there may be a small number of children who are being currently (or were recently) victimized, but there are almost certainly not several dozens or even hundreds of current child victims.

I know some of the haredi leaders involved here did go to police and did try to handle this sad affair correctly. But not all did. And as I noted above (and as Kaiser notes in his piece) there were other bad actors (or mistaken actors) involved, as well.

But at least this time, some haredi rabbis – in particular, one haredi rabbi – did try to do it right. Unfortunately, the tools and professionals at his disposal appear not have been up to the task, or the panic spread too quickly and widely before he was involved to be able to deal with it.