The Weberman Trial, or: The Wolf Who Cried Bias
David Lerner2012OpinionNews & MediaReligionThe Frum World
Nechemya Weberman
King Alexander Jannaeus once warned his wife that the only people one needs to fear are pseudo-pious hypocrites. “They commit the act of Zimri and demand the reward of Pinchas,” he said, and this is exactly what came to mind in the aftermath of Nechemya Weberman’s trial and the surreal attempts by the Satmar Hasidic community to paint itself as the victim.
Nechemya Weberman has by now been found guilty on 59 charges, including sexual abuse of children, and the following is now abundantly clear: The Satmar Hasidic community, on our watch, protects and shelters abusers of children. This is no longer a matter for debate, but an irrefutable fact.
The community’s reaction to recent events has been truly bizarre. Community members argue that they have been unfairly depicted in the media; journalists and columnists, they claim, are biased and use anti-Semitic imagery. But the most widespread gripe is that the entire community was put on trial, and that’s unfair! Weberman’s own defense attorney, George Farkas, employed this canard in his opening statement at trial, alleging that the victim had “great vengeance and furious anger … against Nechemya Weberman, and [sought] through this to bring down the entire community that either supported him, or of which he was a part.”
In a recent interview with the squalid Ami magazine, Farkas reiterated much of this, arguing essentially: The jury didn’t get the whole truth, but I can’t tell you what that is. One can perhaps forgive George Farkas; he’s an attorney defending his client. What I do take issue with is his assertion that: “I think they [Satmar] have the right to distrust her.”
With those words, Farkas is going beyond defending Weberman. He is essentially excusing all the intimidation that led up to the trial, and restating the fatuous “the entire community was on trial.”
If there is any merit to this rather grandiose claim, it is only because the community inserted itself into the proceedings with their own actions; it is they alone who put themselves on trial. Let us review how this very community has reacted in response to the allegations against Weberman.
On May 16th of this year, the Satmar community threw an extremely well-publicized and well-attended fundraiser for Weberman, a man then accused of truly heinous acts. It is reported that they sought to raise $500,000 at this event for Weberman’s defense. Some of the publicity might be credited to victim advocates protesting at the event, but Satmar made no pretense of discretion; the event was widely announced via Yiddish posters all over Williamsburg. That their support for Weberman was meant for public consumption is further evidenced by the hiring of an unlettered PR hack; a man whose Twitter bio contains the laughable falsehood: “My Opinions are Based on Facts; Not Ideology [sic].” Employing his unique brand of casuistry, he assured the media that this was all about ensuring justice, a fair trial, and the American Way. (Justice for the victim? They overlooked that American tradition, it seems.)
A mere few weeks later it became clear that some people were willing to invest substantial capital in making this case disappear. Four Hasidic men were arrested on charges of bribery: they tried to buy the victim’s silence and/or departure with $500,000. Some will argue that these men were acting on their own, that there is no connection between the two events, but I trust intelligent and literate people to review the sequence of events and draw their own conclusion.
Let us also review what happened to the victim and her family for pursuing justice:
They have been subject to numerous threats of bodily harm.
They have been expelled from schools and synagogues.
They have had their businesses defaced and boycotted.
They have become the objects of widespread slander, dismissed as the dregs of their own society.
Satmar men photographed the accuser in court, necessitating precautions usually reserved for gang trials. (One of the men claimed to be a supporter of the victim; if that is the case he is only guilty of ignorance.)
Near the end of the trial came the most damning news of all: Schoolchildren were being recruited to pray for Weberman’s acquittal. Teachers received instructions to employ their students in beseeching God on behalf of “the important activist” falsely accused by “debased and lowly people.” For extra weight, the instructions quoted the Shemone Esreh prayer–“May there be no hope for informants”–implying that Weberman’s accuser was deserving, as the prayer hopes, “instant annihilation.”
There is so much more: the Anthony Comstock-esque Vaad Hatznius, the perjury of the school principal denying its existence, the intimidation of Weberman’s other victims who have not yet come forward, the cowardice of Weberman’s anonymous defenders on Twitter and other social media, and much more. All these point to the same inevitable conclusion: Weberman, a man accused of monstrous offenses against children, received widespread support from the community.
And still they cry: “The community was put on trial!”
It wasn’t. It was never about the community–until they themselves made it so.
We often compare people who shout inflammatory lies to The Boy who Cried Wolf. The more conventional moral to that fable is that if one wishes to deceive, do not employ the same falsehood over and over. This eludes Satmar, one of whose leaders referred to the young girl as a “whore”–a classic tactic among those who blame victims for their abuse. But in this case, there is a unique twist to it: In Aaesop’s classic fable, the boy who cried wolf does not directly lead the wolf to his flock; the same cannot be said of Satmar. The Satmar community led the victim directly to her predator, then rejoiced in protecting, defending, and sheltering him.
Satmar had a real wolf but ignored it, and then cried about an imaginary wolf: the outside world and the media. That is disgraceful.
After all is said and done, each of us can only be responsible for our own actions and inactions. I do not believe in collective guilt, but ultra-Orthodox Jews as a group must do some serious soul-searching over how they handle criminals within their community: Child sexual abuse exists and is a serious problem; Mesirah, as Rabbi Eli Fink argued in a recent blog post, is an outdated concept that needs to be discarded; rabbinical courts do not have the power to deal with sexual predators save for the same power we all have: involving the police. The sooner all this is realized the better it will be for children. Change can happen only when more Chasidim defy societal taboos against talking about abuse and reporting abusers; maintaining the status quo will only bring about more victims.
Finally, it is no secret that many (although certainly not all) of the victim’s advocates are “OTD,” or “Off the Derech,” the people who have left the path of Orthodox and Hasidic Judaism. These men and women, including myself, are repeatedly asked: “Why do you care?” In other words: you guys left the community, so why don’t you just mind your own business?! This echoes the “outside agitators” claim used by every tyrant in dismissing calls for change, and deflects the issue entirely. But still, as a former Hasid and an “OTD” myself, I will offer this in response:
We grew up in these communities. The victims are our sisters, our brothers, our friends. We personally know many victims of abuse who have not come forward for fear of retaliation. Yes, it is true we no longer share your religious views, but we are still your brothers and sisters. We see protecting children as the most universal human value. We intimately know this community and its attitudes; we don’t want to destroy them, we want them to protect their most vulnerable members.
That is why we care, and that is why we will not remain silent.
31 Responses
The site counted 34 responses; 31 survive in the archived copies.
As the Talmud says, “He who can protest an injustice but does not is an accomplice to the act.”
Looks like a few of these so-called “practicing” folks need to re-read their own books.
Excellent piece, but I question the efficacy of calling upon the Satmar community and its leadership to engage in “soul searching.” You’re not the the first to demand this, David, but perhaps you can explain why you think it’ll happen, and what you think it’ll accomplish. Satmar (and others like it) gives no quarter to sociological modernity. Whatever cultural and legal mores were prevalent in 1850 are assumed to be prevalent today. The outside world is the enemy. Older men with beards are the ultimate arbiters of authority and command the highest respect. Women and girls are second-class citizens, at best. Certainly not worthy of any regard or consideration. That’s the way they’ve operated for 250 years, and no amount of ‘soul searching’ is going to change that.
Apikorus: I agree with you that Satmar isn’t likely to do much real soul-searching any time soon on the institutional level, but incremental change is possible among individuals. We’re already seeing it. Ten years ago, this piece by Ezra Friedlander would been absolutely inconceivable:
http://forward.com/articles/168459/orthodox-jews-face-a-moment-of-reckoning/
Also, let’s not be blind to a real sociological truth: even the most rigid ideologies can and do change in response to new facts and circumstance (i.e. People going to jail for abuse; changes in public opinion; an outcry by mothers who will no longer put up with their children being abused. Etc.).
David,
My compliments. One of the most cogent and well written arguments for why Satmar is itself responsible for its lousy reputation in the aftermath of the Weberman conviction.
Also, great simple refutation to the insistence that OTD’s should not stick their nose into this business.
Thank you for this posting.
מיין רבי’ס זענען געווען אזוי פארזיכטיג זיי האבן נאר מאלעסטעט די קינדער וואס זענען צום סוף ממילא אראף פון דרך.
My problem with the “don’t ask them to change, they’ll never change” argument is that it is lodged by people who want them to change and people who don’t want them to change alike. How mysterious, right? No, it’s not mysterious. It’s because the people who don’t want them to change really know or intuit that asking them to change *might* lead to change. The one thing which truly will result in no change ever is keeping quiet about it. Only two kinds of people keep quiet, those who don’t care at all and those who don’t want any change. If you are neither of those, then why should you keep quiet? At the very least, we are not likely to see another incident in which a Satmar Rebbe calls an 18 year old girl reared in his community a zonah. If I’m right, that isn’t a change? Imagine, a big rebbe realizes that shmiras ha-lashon is also for him. And if he didn’t learn the lesson this time, how many more times do you think it will take before he does? And this only happens because people are talking about it.
And as always, people should be exceedingly careful not to project communal attitudes onto individuals or demonize people. [/soapbox]
Shulem,
Ezra Friedlander and people like him can write all they want. They and their views are totally irrelevant when it comes to any change in Satmar and similar communities. I’m sure you know that no one gives a damn about what they have to say. No one IN the community is listening.
Now, if you’ll find such a piece by a Rebbe or leader who’s respected by the Chassidim, that’s a different story. But we know that will not happen for a very, very long time.
I sincerely believe change is coming. But articles on the Internet will not be the ones that make it happen.
Miriam, what makes it happen then, and why do you believe change is coming? And if it is coming because of the work of people who read things on the internet and had their minds opened, then what is the difference?
No,the reason why the OTD care because they feel a need to prove that religious Jews are not what they claim they are.OTD folks motto is to prove Orthodox Jews are a bunch of child molesters and we the otd are the good ones.
It is widely known in the Orthodox community that those who leave the fold are not playing with a full deck,true or not.And that’s why they picked this sensitive topic of pedophilia it has nothing to do with caring about kids becuase “we are your brothers and sisters.”
Shulem, if mothers actually spoke up in Williamsburg, what do you think would happen? A few kol korehs, a few vandalisms, a few expulsions from yeshiva, and the dissidents will be quashed. It’s not going to change until the people demand it, and that will never happen. They’re indoctrinated from birth to believe that the rebbe is second to god and every. other. entity is the enemy.
Also, S., why do you think we won’t see another Satmar rebbe call an abuse victim ‘zoineh?’ At what point did he retract the statement or modify or qualify it?
Apikorus: Don’t underestimate the power of mothers. There’s a fairly well-known case where this was at least somewhat effective. The right-hand-man of a major rebbe was known to have molested teenage boys for decades. Until one mother decided she had enough and she refused to be silent. The man was not prosecuted, but he lost his position and was forced to move away; essentially, he had his life uprooted and everything he’d worked for taken away from him. No, this isn’t justice via the law, but the point is, a mother stood up to a very powerful man, persevered against the predictable resistance, and forced her “rebbe” to act. As inadequate as such measures are, they’re very significant as examples of barriers being pushed past.
Granted, maybe I was too hasty. However, I didn’t have in mind that he retracted or tried to spin it, but the unprecedented nature of what happened altogether. When was such a statement by a Satmar rebbe ever revealed to the world at large, for the public to chew over, and so close to when it was made, and so timely to a current event? If indeed “Satmar was put on trial,” then gee, what a dumb piece of evidence to add just while the trial was underway.
That was unprecedented, so I don’t know what will happen. But here is what I can guarantee: he knows what happened with his words. This never happened before. This will happen again [if he repeats]. Maybe it won’t make a difference, but it might. But this possibility is new and it may yet change the rules of the game. Sorry, not as dramatic as what I said before, but can you at least agree that we’re dealing with something new? And if you will say, so what, the Chassidim don’t care. Yes, but the people in the 5 Towns who host parlor meetings for Satmar may care. The politicians who get into bed with them might care. A lot can happen even if the people don’t care. Anyway, I think we are starting to realize that more of the people do care, in greater numbers, than anyone realized.
Miriam: I think you’re forgetting the importance of communities surrounding Satmar. Take Ami magazine, for instance. There’s no doubt in my mind that Satmar takes strength from it. Even if no one in Williamsburg reads it, the defense of the community gives it strength. The fact that Ami publishes that article shows that they know their readership, and they know this appeals to them, and it’s that demographic that needs to be reached first. And it’s that demographic that Ezra Friedlander can reach.
There’s the old saying: Azoi vie s’goyisht zich, azoi yiddish’t zich.
You might say in this case, Azoi vie s’Boro Park’t zich, azoi Villamzburg’t zich.
Yes, but the people in the 5 Towns who host parlor meetings for Satmar may care. The politicians who get into bed with them might care.
Exactly.
Plus, what more do you need than the fact that Yossi Gestetner was officially hired for PR? Obviously, the people in charge care about what outsiders think; they know very well they can’t ignore public opinion.
As a former Roman Catholic I watched this story with interest. Although I belong to a different branch of the Mainline Christian tree now, so much of this story resonates with the RC Church’s late and continuing unpleasantness: Accusations of the press being anti-[insert community], shunning of victims and families, calls for new procedures and better policing (and just plain calling the police when this happens), and so on down the line including the “why do you care” for those who are no longer RC but who call the Church to account. I fully realize and acknowledge that being RC is not the same as being Jewish (I note the ethnicity component which is absent in Catholicism), but RC Church is similar to other orthodoxies in that it claims that it is the ONLY way, and thus “better” than the rest. I don’t know to what extent that point of view applies to the Satmar, but it does apply to orthodoxies of other faiths aside from Christianity and Judaism as well…
This seems to be a particular problem with faith communities that are insular. The RC Community is not so much like that today, but there was a time when they were as distinctive in customs as the Satmar and other Orthodox communities are today.
Thank you for reporting on these stories. I appreciate the good and happy stories as well as the indifferent and these — the bad ones. Although I am not a member of the community, I appreciate reading the stories on Unpious as they give me a little window into a community which is physically so close to me (I’m just across the Ocean Parkway from Boro Park) but trillions of miles away across an almost unbridgeable chasm. It shouldn’t be that way, but that’s what it is.
Thanks again!
I don’t know to what extent that point of view applies to the Satmar…
Oh, you bet it applies.
Good comment, Andy. Thanks for adding that perspective.
I wonder how many non-otd like me, still fully committed, are reading this quietly (some not so quietly, but you know the pressures!) and nodding their heads in complete agreement. Just don’t throw out the baby with the bath-water. Non-hypocritical, truthful, authentic Yiddishkeit is still good.
We all know there are many like you. The question is how many of you will have the courage to demand change from inside. Can a frum Jew let this keep on going on and not be guilty of lo saamod and lifnei iver and the mageyfah of child abuse.
Put differently, how many people who consider themselves frum have been bullied out of frumkeit by shidduch pressures and other social pressures to violate their own religious beliefs and tolerate such chazerai.
The fact that I must use an alias says it all.Some of us who speak out openly achieve little within and lose most of our so called friends.
Emanuel,
I give you credit for acknowledging the awful internal pressures to stay silent. You said, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” So where will the pressure from change come if insiders are repressed and outside pressure is considered unfair.
It is not a question of throwing out the baby. It is a problem of the babies and children swimming right now in a polluted pool full of lurking hazards. The cesspool must be drained and cleaned out before it is safe.
How do you propose to accomplish this?
I do not consider outside pressure unfair.its the only way to help any possible internal pressure.I was just warning against throwing out judaism completely because of these problems. but in the short term I am not hopeful. When it comes I think it will be with an explosion. When the floodgates open in Israel change will be inevitable but it will be resisted violently as it is now because of the pain.
Yes, when a system resists gradual change for too long, change can be very messy.
Any person with the slightest intelligent understands that weberman is guilty ,After all unless this 18 year old girl graduated top acting class & has an agenda to incarcerate an innocent man for life ,he is guilty,as well as she would surely accept half a million if he was not.So know that we understand his guilt lets try to understand the community.The Satmar community is a community which represents all types of religious groups even though they all appear alike,from the most pious older men to the younger open minded types.The community is in practice actually the most spiritual in some ways as well as charitable and in other ways hedonistic [lavish lifestyle ,clothes ,Jewelry ,vacation spots including Miami Beach ,Palm Springs,New Hampshire.Unlike other Chassidim that stay put except for the Catskills.Deep down most in that community accept webermans guilt however find it shameful & by denial feel that that is the proper way as well as defending their own shame .Are they wrong in not letting this beast fend for himself ,yes.However you must understand their mentality prior to see that it is a defense of their own no matter how guilty that person might be.The Satmar community is a beautiful community and this incident is something that will unfortunately tarnish that reputation.
Randy,
What in god’s holy name are you blathering about?
Shluem – Per your earlier comment re Yossi Gestetner:
No matter what, Yossi Gestetner (and his ludicrous tweets!) is/are the best thing(s) to make people (and outsiders like me!) realize that yes, there are, in fact, people who actually think like he does. Thankfully, his willingness to publish his (horrifically misspelled and grammatically incorrect) opinions allows others to see that people like him are the reasons why things get covered up, and the real story so often never gets told. Honestly, nothing has confirmed my conjectures about the mishandling of cases, thought pollution, and various other forms of crazy in the Satmar/surrounding communities than the existence of this man. For this reason alone (well, and maybe because I do enjoy a good chuckle at his expense) I hope he keeps his job!
Egg,
I agree with you about Gestetner. He is the source of inspiration to me in some of my nasty tweets about him using my handles @frumfollies and @yerachmiellopin. You will have to search for him by name rather than by his handle because he has blocked me from replying and marks me as spam if I mention him. but search away under Yossi Gestetner or #GestetnerLies.
Long live Yossi Gestetner!
“”The right-hand-man of a major rebbe was known to have molested teenage boys for decades””
Shulem,was this your former Rebbe in NS ?
I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to participate in the discussion until now. But here goes:
I don’t have any illusions that my essay will cause the germination of change in Satmar as a whole, but one hopes to reach at least one person. If this makes even one person see the need for change, Dayenu.
Moe: Not only do you not know what a motto is, you slander every individual OTD as a mentally deficient person who wants to besmirch an entire community as child rapists. You don’t merit a response. Shame on you.
I agree with Shulem about the power of mothers. Empowerment of women brings any community out of physical, and moral, poverty.
Andy Jo: As far as I know, the Catholic laity never intimidated victims for going to police. Lay Hasidim do.
David, you say to Andy Jo, “As far as I know, the Catholic laity never intimidated victims for going to police. Lay Hasidim do.”
I would add on that Catholics do not have a doctrine of “No Catholic in jail, no matter how evil.” Satmar does.
@YL/@DL: I would watch the documentary “Deliver Us From Evil: The Oliver O’Grady Story” for an in-depth look at sex abuse in the Catholic Community if you want another perspective. Much like “Standing Silent,” which offers a “case study” of sexual abuse in U-O communities, the film follows survivors and abusers and the twisted and ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of “justice.” While of course there are major differences between the cases and the circumstances, Catholic sex crimes are, at times, as systematic, hushed up, and unpunished as Haredi sexual abuse. And from personal experience, victim intimidation is very, very real. We may not have the Vaad, but threats are real and often monetary. (The real reason behind the collection plate?)
But you’re both right: Catholic sexual abuse is something everyone can get behind in stopping, shouting about, protesting, and punishing. U-O crimes are swept under the rug by comparison. I think one of the reasons why sexual abuse is more “publicized” in Christianity/Catholicism is twofold: one, Christianity is seen as the majority religion in the world. (Whether or not facts and statistics support that assumption, I wonder, but still.)More people practice it, know about it, and go to church with their kids. Two: aside from our friends at FLDS and our Amish bros in Lancaster County, Christianity is much less of a “closed community.” Catholics, even the more extreme ones, are (aside of course from the Vatican) not isolated nor separated from society, and while you guys speak Yiddish on the reg, we’re not running around chatting in Latin. Outsider involvement, awareness, and belief in the victim’s claims are much more common, because we’re not off by ourselves, with our own newspapers, trying to do anything not to get kicked out of Boro Park and worrying about fucking up our children’s reputations by coming forward. The repercussions for the families/survivor’s of Christian sexual abuse are not as far-reaching, in general, as they are in Haredi Communities (speaking solely on the subject of relationship/standing with the church.) Basically, Church is only a part of your life as a Christian, whereas in Haredi communities, religion DEFINES your life. You lose your religion coming forward in Catholic cases, but your entire life/livelihood is at stake in the Haredi world when you speak up. It’s maddening.
@David Lerner —
Within Catholicism there is a lot of variety in terms of attitude toward the scandals, the victims, the perpetrators, and the Church. Some still disbelieve the stories (head on over to National Catholic Reporter and see the screams from this group in the comment threads related to the scandal). Some just left the Church in disgust. Some stayed and tried to mend it… And so on down the line… There has also been an evolution of how this issue has been handled over the years. At least now there i
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator and inform them of the time the error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Apache Server at www.unpious.com Port 80