It is not trivial that at night the director of the "Regulation Forum", Yehudit Shilat, is called with sudden dramatic events.
But when in the same week two cases concerning sexual assault in Torah and mitzvot observant communities explode - the conversations multiply.
The first affair was exposed by Chen Artzi Srur in Yedioth Ahronoth, and at its center is Tzipi Diner, a teacher from the Shaalvim studio who is suspected of committing indecent acts on her students.
The second - the suicide of Haim Velder after it was revealed that he had abused women and girls for years.
"The exposure of Velder did not surprise me because these are things that have been heard over the years, but the Regulation Forum had no launch points with the incident. We can only regret what happened to his victims and what happened to him," said Shilat, who is behind the Public Sexual Injury Prevention Forum. Religious.
She reveals that in recent years there have been appeals from ultra-Orthodox elements to her, in an attempt to establish an ultra-Orthodox format of "regulation": "It is not a cream of the crop because their working principles are different from ours. "Cooperation with external parties. Community maturation is needed to create a move that encompasses all currents in the ultra-Orthodox communities. I guess if there was early organization, it would have been possible to prevent vulnerability and perhaps also Velder's desperate act."
Explain again
Haim Velder, as I recall, was a well-known writer and educational consultant in the ultra-Orthodox sector and slightly outside it.
Among other things, how symbolic, he won an award from the National Council for Child Welfare.
After Haaretz revealed a collection of evidence of sexual acts he allegedly committed on women, girls and boys, a police investigation into the matter began.
A day after Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu published new testimonies that reached him about sexual assault, Velder put an end to his life.
The funeral was attended by the mayor of Bnei Brak and other public figures from the sector, who tied luxury crowns to the deceased.
De facto Velder chose to admit his actions, didn't he? This suicide is not a denial, even if in the letter he left he claimed his innocence.
"I do not know. In his case, suicide can also be from a sense of no way out and there is no chance he can stand what he will go through. I'm worried when public figures eulogize him in Hadar, it's a tragedy. It's automatic because they still probably do not know how to react, Unexpected and a person who is hard to believe who did these deeds.
"I am angry at educators in Talmud Torah who tell children that 'it is forbidden to speak slander.' "As part of which the children learned that they need to share. A child who was educated for protection and suddenly hears that it is slander and 'there is no part in the next world', will have to be explained again which slander is allowed and which is forbidden.
Then a framework will be set up that will take responsibility for the issue?
"When we started in 2003, we were inexperienced. The ultra-Orthodox community will now be able to do it better than us."
fell between the chairs
The purpose of the forum is to enable religious people to complain about professionals in the field of education and the rabbinate, when these perform acts on the verge of sexual delinquency or actual delinquency. It sounds less stressful to me to go to a diary than to a forum made up of reputable religious people.
"So a regulation forum is not for you. We are here because the criminal procedure is difficult and needs resilience and maturity. Until it arrives there may be years in which the offender can continue to harm. There is an intermediate stage where the offender's ability is reduced, and this happens Things will be published and it will be possible to be careful of him. "
News of Walder's suicide in "Yated Ne'eman"
Is not it better to educate in advance to go and complain to the police?
"Not every complaint to the police comes to a criminal trial. We need evidence and the law of evidence in the law is not simple when it comes to sex offenses, because the acts take place in secret and if there is no forensic evidence or witnesses it is a problem. You said-person and slander.
"We do not do criminal proceeding or putting people in jail.
The law of evidence here is lighter, and requires less mental strength on the part of a complainant to speak.
It is enough to go beyond the halakhic norm.
We are satisfied with the response of the parties and our experience of who can be trusted. "
What teeth do you have?
"We do not. We transfer the responsibility to the employer. We inform him that he has a person with potential for harm, and make sure he is not in the field and does not violate the regulations of the Regulation Forum. It should be understood, we do not treat all sex offenders but only those with educational authority and authority. "To be a criminal who is expelled from the system and goes to run a writer, and we will not know what he continues to do. We want to clean up the educational and rabbinical system."
It was reported that Diner continued to work at an educational institution.
"Things fell between the chairs. It could have been done more tightly and maybe there are more cases like that, but still, there were factors that could have taken responsibility - and it did not happen."
A regulation forum will soon enter its third decade.
Shilat says the changes that have taken place in the national-religious sector are heavy: "No one says 'it can't be' anymore. Everyone knows it's happening.
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