Case of the Unnamed Abusive Mother From Netivot

(Netivot, Israel)

This page is dedicated in honor of all children who were abused by the parents of those who followed Rabbi Elior Chen.  May their healing journey go easy and they only know nonviolent - unconditional love the rest of their lives.

Rabbi Elior Chen, who fled to Canada shortly after one of his followers was charged with systematic child abuse including burning her toddlers, making them eat feces, and putting them in a suitcase for days.  Chen was not charged with anything, but fled as news reports of the Jerusalem mother's detention were circulated, and it appeared she had committed the abuse following instructions from him on child disciplining techniques.

Chen is also accused of cult like practices.

Table of Contents:

1. State helpless in face of skeletons in haredi closet  (04/03/2008)

Also see:  

• Related Cases

  1. Case of the Unnamed Abusive Mother in Jerusalem (Jerusalem, Israel)
  2. Case of Rabbi Elior Chen (Jerusalem, Israel)
  3. Case of Joseph Fisher (Jerusalem, Israel)

• Related Information:

  1. The Awareness Center's Brochure  
  2. Jewish Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
  3. Jewish Survivors of Sexual Assault
  4. Spiritual Abuse
  5. Missionaries, Cults and the Jewish Community
  6. Rabbis Investigating Sex Crimes
  7. Recidivism of Sex Offenders  (U.S. Department of Justice: Center for Sex Offender Management)
  8. National Sex Offender Registry

  9. Rabbis, Cantors and Other Trusted Officials

  10. Background Information and The History of Rabbinical Ordinations

  11. Offenders: Problems Our Parents Wouldn't Speak Of

  12. Policies Addressing Victimization and Offenders

Jerusalem Post - April 3, 2008

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207159746535&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A Jerusalem woman who immigrated from the US and her companion are expected to be indicted next week for allegedly abusing her two young children, police said Wednesday.

The woman's three-year-old child remains hospitalized in critical condition with severe head injuries, and is likely to remain in a vegetative state, officials said.

Police said that several months ago, the woman's relations with her husband broke down, and he was removed from their Jerusalem home by two men whom the couple had brought into their home to educate their children.

The mother told police that since they were unable to educate her children in the "standard" way because they were "mischievous," the two men "corrected" the children, a police representative told a Jerusalem court on Wednesday.

The "corrections," which took place in the mother's presence, included beatings, tying up the children, shaking them dozens of times, setting their fingers on fire, dousing them in hot and cold water, and breaking their bones by beating them with hammers and other tools, according to the testimony of the police representative.

A court order has prevented the release of the names of the woman and her companion, who on Wednesday were remanded in custody for an additional five days by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ahead of their planned arraignment next week.

The children's father, who has been released from custody, was allowed by the court to pray at his child's hospital bedside, in the presence of social workers.

The two key suspects in the child abuse case, identified by police as Shimon Gabbai and Rabbi Elior Chen, remain at large, and are wanted by police.

The Jerusalem abuse case is one of a series of grisly incidents of brutality against children that have recently come to light.

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By Yael Branovsky

YNet News - April 3, 2008

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3526809,00.html

In spite of efforts by welfare officials, local rabbis, state authorities are unable to curb rampant child abuse in ultra-Orthodox families.

One harrowing case after another, yet welfare officials stand by helpless: Faced with a string of heart wrenching cases of child abuse in the haredi community, even state officials now concede that they have only been able to reach this closed community on rare occasions, and often too late.

One recent, disturbing case, for instance, in which a Netivot mother had sexually abused her son, only came to light when the son began to attend boarding school and molested a fellow pupil. The social workers who handled his case quickly realized that the child had no idea that what he was doing was wrong.

Dalia Lev-Sade, director of community services at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, stated in an interview with Ynet that seeing as the haredi community is so sequestered, haredi children enjoy less exposure to societal conventions of right and wrong.

"This is a group that is extremely closed off from the rest of the world, and so many times we are unaware of problems within the community and cannot intervene."

"The case in Beit Shemesh is a classic example," recounts Lev- Sade. "Even though the family was monitored by welfare services, the social workers involved could not fully understand the family, nor the essence of the problems it was facing, because they kept such closely guarded family secrets. Only when something drastic occurs can we actually begin to take action."

The ultra-Orthodox community, however, is slowly becoming more open, according to Lev-Sade. "The haredi community is slowly opening up and coming to realize that you can't keep the skeletons in the closet forever."

Orlet Moyal, director of welfare services at the Bnei Brak Municipality, tends to haredi families on a daily basis and knows all too well that that road to reaching this clandestine community is long and torturous. "It was nearly impossible to reach the haredi community just a few years ago, but we began to come up with creative means of reaching this community without offending its sensibilities.

"We wanted to be able to reach the haredi community before things became disastrous," says Moyal, "and so we contacted local rabbis and rabbinical councils and urged them to mediate and intervene when families were reluctant to accept help."

'More willingness to report abuse'

Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, head of the National Council for the Child, believes that it is the closed and reticent nature of the haredi community that in many instances precludes intervention by state authorities in child abuse cases.

"The haredi community firmly opposes airing its dirty laundry out in public, like we saw with many kibbutz communities in the past. The haredi community is extremely concerned about its public images, and in many cases rabbis did not allow families to go to the police and report abuse."

Kadman noted, however, that this trend is mercifully changing. "In recent years there is more willingness among haredi families to report abuse. In our council alone, 30% of individuals involved in a project tending to victims of sexual abuse are haredi."

Doron Aggasi, director of the Shlom Banecha foundation, which aids victims of sexual abuse and violence in the haredi community, stated that the recent public cases of child abuse within the haredi community indicate that the haredi world is changing for the better when it comes to reporting such crimes.

"These kinds of cases were often stifled in the past, because the haredi community was unwilling to disclose anything. Now however, people are far more aware of issues such as sexual abuse and familial violence, be it through exposure to the internet or other sources."

Aggasi maintains that it is rabbis that are at the forefront of these positive changes in the haredi community.

"Rabbis have asked me about the best treatment options for pedophilia and sexual deviance, and we are currently training social workers to treat both victims and perpetrators.

"In this respect, the haredi community has bypassed its secular counterpart by far, because this is a very motivated, obedient society that has taken heavy handed measures to help curb such phenomenon."

Roi Mandel contributed to this article

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Updated Last:  04/07/2008

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