Unkept Secrets
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
What happens to a mother of eight when she finds out that the admired rabbi, teacher of her three sons, has been sexually abusing all of them for years?
When the boys reveal themselves to us we realize the magnitude of horror they suffered. We follow them on the difficult journey leading up to the end of the trial. In this community, people shy away from cameras. Here, they give their testimony as it never has been seen or recorded before.
Citation
Main credits
Kimor, Dalit (film director)
Kimor, Dalit (screenwriter)
Kimor, Dalit (film producer)
Halter-Shenkar, Tali (screenwriter)
Other credits
Cinematographer, Yoram Millo; editor, Tali Halter Shenkar; original music, Doran Shenkar, Yonatan Shenkar.
Distributor subjects
No distributor subjects provided.Keywords
00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:36.840
Ok, Mushka'le, sweetie,
please bring the bags
00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:39.360
Mom, I'm going this week to...
00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:41.360
Mandy.
00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:43.640
Nechamush, did you finish?
00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:49.680
Are you going to cut her hair?
-No, just the bangs.
00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:53.400
Bring me your hair band, honey.
00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:57.640
Good...
You may go out now.
00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:00.520
See... -You.
00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:05.120
Kiss the mezuzah.
00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:06.800
The mezuzah, Mushka.
00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:09.720
Go downstairs, sweetie,
I am watching you as you go.
00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:12.120
Look out the window.
-OK.
00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:20.120
Eat everything, OK, sweetie?
00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:22.320
You can take it.
00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.040
See... -You... -Soon.
00:01:25.960 --> 00:01:29.080
A good and pleasant day.
Kiss the mezuzah.
00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:31.640
Walk carefully and quickly.
00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.040
Don't let anyone talk to you
or touch you. Walk quickly.
00:01:44.360 --> 00:01:47.000
Look how special the kids are.
00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:49.360
It's a photo for eternity.
00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:55.120
It will be the screensaver
on my computer all my life.
00:01:56.720 --> 00:01:58.840
What a happy picture!
00:02:01.240 --> 00:02:04.400
It was taken before it all exploded, right?
00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:13.000
That's right.
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.360
- Each book - 10 NIS -
00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:31.920
- One word too many -
00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.080
- The place of the temple -
00:02:45.200 --> 00:02:47.840
Hello.
-Good evening.
00:02:48.160 --> 00:02:52.080
I received your phone number
from Lilach.
00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:54.480
Sure, no problem.
00:02:54.760 --> 00:02:57.680
I have about ten minutes to spare
00:02:57.920 --> 00:03:00.160
as I have to leave
for a meeting shortly.
00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:04.440
If it's okay with you, let me explain
who we are and what we do.
00:03:04.640 --> 00:03:08.960
Our organization is called JCW,
and I'm its head here in Israel.
00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:10.920
Basically we assist people
00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:14.280
who have experienced
child sexual abuse,
00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:17.000
within the Jewish and
Ultra-orthodox community.
00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.160
People from around the world.
00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:22.760
We help with emotional treatment
00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:26.960
and legal matters. Wherever
there is a need to get to the police,
00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:31.280
or the court, or anything
related to the investigation
00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:34.680
which is at times a difficult
and long process,
00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.560
we are here to help
in all these matters.
00:03:40.640 --> 00:03:42.840
"Dear visitors,
when you visit this city
00:03:42.920 --> 00:03:45.080
"please respect the residents
and dress modestly"
00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:03.320
So we're talking here
about the film.
00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:08.000
It's up to you to decide
whether to do it, and how.
00:04:08.320 --> 00:04:12.520
Whenever we have survivors
who stand up and tell their stories,
00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:14.840
it's huge. It's huge.
00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:19.080
People come to us
that very same night,
00:04:19.400 --> 00:04:23.920
ready to start treatment.
That's why we...
00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.760
So will our contribution to the film
actually make that happen? -Yes.
00:04:28.880 --> 00:04:31.320
Yes, it's important.
00:04:37.880 --> 00:04:40.440
It's really not a simple decision.
00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:45.520
There are many things
to consider.
00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:49.920
There is the reaction
of the community,
00:04:50.080 --> 00:04:52.880
this population doesn't
even have TV sets.
00:04:52.960 --> 00:04:55.760
Going to the media is
something you just don't do.
00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:00.600
They spoke to the Rav about it.
They had to ask him, of course.
00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:02.600
- Posters calling for
ultra-orthodox demonstrations -
00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:05.520
A community that sometimes
doesn't even show pictures of women,
00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:08.840
so to have even talk about a movie,
is something that's...
00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:12.920
that's a... is a very very
complicated decision for them.
00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:15.760
Don't film, please.
00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:25.640
So let's start.
00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:41.800
OK, so the story started when...
I was in the eighth grade,
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.920
that means I was 12,
00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:51.760
I went into this teacher's class,
a highly respected teacher...
00:05:56.840 --> 00:06:00.400
Even before that,
in the lower grades,
00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:04.640
everyone knew that this Rabbi
is a figure,
00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:07.320
he's a role model,
he's a great rabbi.
00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:10.400
He even served
in the Israeli army.
00:06:10.520 --> 00:06:14.320
He is different
from anyone else,
00:06:14.440 --> 00:06:17.440
he is more than others,
he is superior.
00:06:17.640 --> 00:06:20.880
Little by little...
I mean, from the start
00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:24.440
he would abuse me
and used to do things to me...
00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:27.840
I did not see it as violation,
I saw this as a part of love.
00:06:28.440 --> 00:06:33.640
Caressing me...
sitting me on his lap...
00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:44.240
He would make me sit on his lap
and touch me all over my body,
00:06:44.440 --> 00:06:48.760
and throughout, he'd say I was the
best and most special boy in the world,
00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:54.520
with the best heart,
that he loves me most,
00:06:54.760 --> 00:06:58.160
that I am the most righteous...
00:06:58.400 --> 00:07:01.920
He used to tell me stories of
the righteous - through it all.
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.200
He used to say,
"Listen, I am doing this just to you,
00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:06.560
"you should...
00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:12.240
"you should feel proud about this,
I don't do it to anyone else,
00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:17.200
"but don't tell anyone,
so they won't envy you."
00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:23.920
Think of it, it's as if God
is revealed to you and does to you...
00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:26.480
causes to you... something,
00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.200
He himself does to you
something very very...
00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:31.160
terrible.
00:07:31.280 --> 00:07:33.000
Only you don't know it's terrible,
00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.640
because nobody ever talked to
you about these things,
00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.800
and he keeps telling you that
it's the most positive thing.
00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:46.840
Where are the little kids?
Perhaps you should call them?
00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.120
To eat before
the Hamantaschen are ready.
00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.120
He kept doing it all the time,
00:08:07.200 --> 00:08:09.160
caressing, and hugging...
00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.560
it was something terrible,
never-ending.
00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:16.280
Something you don't understand.
00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:20.480
Even if you are angry with him
and you don't want him to do it,
00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:25.560
It's like... he is your rabbi, and if he
does this, it's supposed to be good.
00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:32.280
And they kept telling me at home
that he is the best person.
00:08:32.400 --> 00:08:37.720
He would always write notes
after I spent time with him.
00:08:37.800 --> 00:08:41.720
"Mandy is a good student,
he helps me a lot. And good for him!"
00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.200
During military operation
Pillar of Defense
00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.400
the alarm went off
when we were in class,
00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:50.880
and I had a panic attack,
00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:54.760
I cried, and I couldn't go into
the bomb shelter, I couldn't do anything.
00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:59.840
So he called me...
he took me aside
00:09:00.040 --> 00:09:03.480
and he... again, he hugged me
and caressed me.
00:09:03.560 --> 00:09:09.160
Then he asked me: "Do you want
to go to my home and relax?"
00:09:09.400 --> 00:09:12.080
We arrived at his home,
00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:15.200
I was very stressed,
he read the newspaper and said,
00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.360
"come, Mandy,
sit on my lap, relax."
00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:22.160
He held me really close to him.
00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:24.720
I didn't feel good at all.
00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.800
Very uncomfortable,
not good, like...
00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.520
After three minutes...
00:09:31.640 --> 00:09:36.040
I felt something wet
in his pants.
00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.160
Then he picked me up and said,
00:09:39.400 --> 00:09:42.880
"Ok, Mandy, you do laps
around the table to relax,
00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:46.720
"and meanwhile, I'll go
to arrange something..."
00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:51.000
I was stunned,
I was in shock.
00:09:52.560 --> 00:09:55.560
I felt that all the things
he had done to me until that day,
00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:57.720
his hugs and his caressing...
now I was sure
00:09:57.800 --> 00:10:01.560
that this is not out of love.
I was sure of it 100 percent.
00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:26.480
Hi, nice to see you. -You too.
We meet in person, finely. -Yes.
00:10:27.760 --> 00:10:33.600
So... I first remembered
being abused,
00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.200
when I was about 19
00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.080
18, 19.
19. I was in therapy.
00:10:41.640 --> 00:10:43.240
And...
00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.400
my whole life
suddenly made sense,
00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:48.480
in a way that it never
made sense before.
00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:53.280
I've exposed my father,
I have gone public, I have a blog,
00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:56.440
and nobody will speak.
00:10:56.560 --> 00:10:59.480
And I'm all most 100% sure
that he is still doing this.
00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:02.560
I can't imagine that he stopped.
00:11:02.920 --> 00:11:09.280
And I want him to be investigated,
I want a serious investigation.
00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:12.640
Honestly, we are talking about
many years ago
00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:14.440
In terms of what you remember,
00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:16.920
and...
00:11:17.160 --> 00:11:20.920
and in a community where we know
00:11:21.040 --> 00:11:23.200
that there is an incredible
amount of push back.
00:11:23.280 --> 00:11:27.400
We have seen it every other case
and situation that we worked on,
00:11:27.560 --> 00:11:30.920
in some way even more than
other communities, often times.
00:11:31.040 --> 00:11:34.200
Also they made an example of me.
They tell people that I'm crazy,
00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.880
and that I'm not credible,
00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:39.680
and they basically kicked me out
of the community and out of my family.
00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:42.000
And anyone who thinks
about coming forward,
00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:44.360
has me as an example
to see what might happen.
00:11:44.640 --> 00:11:48.560
Right. Like you are the...
you are the head on the wall.
00:11:48.800 --> 00:11:50.720
Like you are the proverbial head
on the wall.
00:11:50.800 --> 00:11:52.680
Like this is
what's going to happen if you...
00:11:52.800 --> 00:11:54.400
And that...
00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.400
I mean, for you and for everybody else
who feels like they can't talk,
00:11:58.560 --> 00:12:00.800
because of the example
that was made of you,
00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:02.640
that's really really concerning.
00:12:03.040 --> 00:12:06.640
We definitely want to do
what we can, whatever we can.
00:12:06.760 --> 00:12:10.360
Our office in America definitely
wants to try to do something.
00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:12.880
And may be even more than that,
00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:16.200
understand how anyone in
the community thought that
00:12:16.280 --> 00:12:17.920
it was appropriate that...
00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:20.400
why would you be run out of town?
00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.520
"Father Damage"
00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.720
"Fathers are stories
too confusing to tell
00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.600
"Their loving and hating
00:12:36.680 --> 00:12:39.400
"So strong their legacy
of rapes and hugs
00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:43.280
"kind words and large hands
in private places
00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.160
"The child's mind dissociates,
00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:53.000
"her spirit passes through dimensions,
slipping far away to safety
00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:56.840
"and forgets, as he comes daily
to hunt and probe
00:12:56.920 --> 00:13:00.480
"the depth of the soul
he was given to destroy".
00:13:01.280 --> 00:13:04.800
"Genendy"
00:13:05.640 --> 00:13:07.280
My father was touching me.
00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:08.800
He was...
00:13:08.880 --> 00:13:11.520
He was lying on top of me,
00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.560
he was putting things inside me,
I don't remember seeing what.
00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:18.920
I remember I was bleeding.
00:13:20.160 --> 00:13:22.200
I remember...
00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.520
feeling something very sharp.
00:13:27.680 --> 00:13:30.440
Very sharp,
like I was being ripped,
00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.280
and I remember that he took me
to a doctor or to somebody
00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.040
to get stitches,
because I was bleeding.
00:13:41.400 --> 00:13:44.000
And he told me
I was not allowed to tell anyone.
00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:50.600
He said if I told my mother,
00:13:50.680 --> 00:13:53.080
he would hit me so hard
that I would never speak again.
00:13:56.040 --> 00:13:58.920
Every time I was abused,
00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.520
and it happened a lot
over many years,
00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.600
until I was about 6 or 7.
00:14:07.160 --> 00:14:10.920
Every time it was like it was
like happening for the first time.
00:14:12.520 --> 00:14:16.320
Because I couldn't remember.
00:14:16.400 --> 00:14:18.000
I couldn't...
00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:21.240
remember what had happened
the time before
00:14:21.760 --> 00:14:26.840
and then get up and go eat
and go to school
00:14:26.920 --> 00:14:29.080
and go play with
my brothers and sisters.
00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.360
So I had to block it out.
I had to disconnect from it.
00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:37.640
So it was sort of like,
I put the feelings in a box,
00:14:38.520 --> 00:14:43.720
and I put the pain in a separate box,
and I put the facts in a different box,
00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:47.920
and then I put all the boxes
in the basement,
00:14:48.040 --> 00:14:50.440
and I just forgot they were there.
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:56.160
And soon there was no more room,
there was no more room.
00:14:57.920 --> 00:15:02.000
And I started having
memories,
00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.720
like flashbacks of things
that had happened,
00:15:04.880 --> 00:15:07.840
without really understanding
what it was.
00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.080
I knew something not good
is going on here.
00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:45.960
My brothers are also going through this,
so it felt to me.
00:15:46.640 --> 00:15:48.360
And...
00:15:50.520 --> 00:15:52.640
I had a fourth brother
00:15:52.800 --> 00:15:55.720
who started that year a class
with the same teacher.
00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.880
A fourth brother!
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:02.520
This was a stage...
I was 18 then.
00:16:02.800 --> 00:16:06.400
Then I decided that my fourth brother
will not suffer this too.
00:16:06.520 --> 00:16:10.000
It was like, STOP!
Let's stop. It's no longer possible.
00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:16.120
I called the principal
of the Talmud Torah (School)
00:16:16.280 --> 00:16:20.320
and said I have something urgent
to discuss with you.
00:16:20.520 --> 00:16:22.680
It was midnight.
00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:28.080
He didn't provide exact details,
00:16:28.160 --> 00:16:30.320
he also didn't know
how to express them in words,
00:16:30.400 --> 00:16:35.120
but he knew to say
he does all sorts of indecent thing.
00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:38.840
He might seem like a righteous person
to you, but he is not exactly that.
00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:40.920
At one point I stopped him
and said to him,
00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:45.040
{\an7}Rabbi Menachem Mendel Cohen
School Principal
Listen, this is very very important,
what you are telling me,
00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.560
What you're doing
might even be heroic.
00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.320
To share something like this
with the principal...
00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:55.080
you really should receive
an honorary certificate.
00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.480
Let's say that if there was ever
justification for my salary,
00:16:58.560 --> 00:17:00.760
for my career - it is this story.
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:05.560
This is really to back up a child,
this is really to protect him.
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:10.960
On the next morning
I reported it to Social Services.
00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:22.160
That Thursday has arrived,
and my husband is very closed
00:17:22.320 --> 00:17:25.640
and very very... he is going through
something, I can see it in his eyes,
00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:27.720
And I see that something isn't right.
00:17:27.800 --> 00:17:30.120
I said to him, "Moshi, you must tell me
what's going on.
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:31.880
"Something is not right,
I don't know...
00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:33.760
"you are going through something,
00:17:33.840 --> 00:17:37.040
"and also something is not right
with Yankie, at home."
00:17:37.320 --> 00:17:40.560
I kept trying to pull it out of him
for an hour or two...
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:45.160
and then he said: "No, all is well,
you don't need to get into the thick of it".
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.560
I started really crying and said:
"you must tell me what's going on,
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.120
"because this isn't like you!"
00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:53.920
So then he told me,
"Look, someone hurt Yankie".
00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:58.800
I went to see Yankie, I was shaking,
trembling, crying...
00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:04.000
He was in bed all covered up
with his blanket over his head.
00:18:05.560 --> 00:18:07.240
And I...
00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:12.320
And I said, "Yankie, what's up,
what's going on with you?"
00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:14.400
And he said,
"What? Dad told you?"
00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:16.960
It was important to him
to cover himself up -
00:18:17.080 --> 00:18:18.560
he said, "Dad told you?"
00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.880
I said, "Yes, Dad told me.
But he didn't tell me...
00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:24.080
"what did he do to you?
Tell me what he did to you,
00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:27.000
"so I will understand.
I can't believe it."
00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:30.320
He said, "He did something to me
at the Mikveh (Ritual bath)..."
00:18:33.080 --> 00:18:35.040
Good night, sweetheart.
00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:39.200
Your right hand...
00:18:39.280 --> 00:18:41.320
Your right hand,
over your eyes.
00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.640
Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu
Adonai E... -Chad. (Prayer)
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.200
I said just one sentence to him,
00:18:50.280 --> 00:18:53.040
"Yankie, from this moment on,
we are with you only".
00:18:53.280 --> 00:18:56.840
I sat with him until morning,
the two of us didn't sleep.
00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.760
We cried a lot,
I didn't stop shaking.
00:18:59.840 --> 00:19:04.040
In the morning, I had to go to work,
I was a first grade teacher.
00:19:04.320 --> 00:19:08.080
I did not prepare Shabbat,
it was Shabbat eve,
00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:12.920
I didn't cook anything.
Everything here was like mourning.
00:19:13.320 --> 00:19:18.040
All I could get out of him
throughout all these hours was...
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.440
"Mom, check
with my brothers too."
00:19:20.560 --> 00:19:25.040
It was like the atom was discovered,
like lava exploding.
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.800
Like the most personal thing,
the most concealed thing,
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:30.280
the secret I kept.
00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.720
I didn't even dare thinking
to myself about it for 5 years.
00:19:33.800 --> 00:19:36.320
And suddenly...
Hey, it's... it's...
00:19:36.520 --> 00:19:40.320
We are talking about it,
starting to open...
00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:44.920
I know that my mom asked my brothers
if they too were hurt.
00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:51.240
And so we found out
that all three of us were assaulted.
00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:13.920
Fork anyone?
00:20:15.840 --> 00:20:18.000
So I was in the middle of saying.
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.240
You know dad's parents,
Mama and grand pair,
00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.080
but you never met
my parents even though
00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:26.200
they are your
grandmother and grandfather.
00:20:26.320 --> 00:20:30.880
Where do they live? -In America,
the U.S.A., that's where I grew up.
00:20:33.120 --> 00:20:37.840
Do you think they would like
meeting my brothers?
00:20:38.320 --> 00:20:41.200
I think, I cannot imagine
00:20:41.360 --> 00:20:43.160
being a grandparent or a parent
00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:46.200
and not wanting to see
your own child or grandchild.
00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:49.240
If I was my child
I would miss me very much
00:20:49.320 --> 00:20:51.600
and want to have
a relationship with me.
00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:55.600
And if any of you would ever be not in
my life, it would be devastating for me,
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.760
and I would do anything I could
to try to have a relationship with you.
00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:01.320
Even if you were murderers in jail
I'd still come visit you.
00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.360
And I would still love you, even
if don't agree with what you did.
00:21:04.520 --> 00:21:06.760
I don't want to invite them
to my Bar Mitzvah,
00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:10.320
Because I think they will come
just to see Israel, not to see you. Or me.
00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:13.400
Mom do you think
they'd like to meet me?
00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:15.560
I do.
00:21:16.600 --> 00:21:20.040
I think they would like to meet you
but they are scared to meet you
00:21:20.120 --> 00:21:22.480
because you are my daughter.
00:21:23.360 --> 00:21:26.200
and they are kind of scared of me
and what I know,
00:21:26.280 --> 00:21:28.120
and the secrets I will not keep.
00:21:39.280 --> 00:21:42.280
I want to invite my sister
to the Bar Mitzvah.
00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:43.760
Alright. Good luck kid.
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:47.080
Hey, come here, come here lucky,
come here.
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:49.720
Good boy.
00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:13.720
Hi,
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:16.000
good morning.
00:22:17.800 --> 00:22:20.000
Good morning to you,
who am I speaking with?
00:22:23.720 --> 00:22:25.120
Genendy.
00:22:28.080 --> 00:22:30.480
God bless, I'm good,
how are you?
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.960
I just called to tell you
that I miss you
00:22:38.080 --> 00:22:41.640
and that we are making a bar mitzvah
for my son and I wanted to invite you.
00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:51.200
She hung up.
00:22:54.840 --> 00:22:56.720
That's it?
-That's it.
00:23:00.600 --> 00:23:02.640
She won't talk to me.
00:23:06.120 --> 00:23:09.960
Is that what you were expecting?
Ya. Rejection.
00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:49.840
Hope is the food of survival.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.960
I haven't spoken to any of my siblings
over 15 years.
00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:57.640
Do you miss them?
00:23:57.920 --> 00:23:59.480
Yes.
00:24:02.520 --> 00:24:04.320
Very much.
00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:08.520
They are part of me.
00:24:21.280 --> 00:24:24.920
So when I first try to tell
00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:29.280
I was about 19 or 20 and...
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:35.280
Until 19-20?
-Until 19, 20, I didn't have any words.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:37.400
I didn't have the word
"sexual abuse",
00:24:37.560 --> 00:24:41.320
I didn't have the knowledge
of such a thing existing in the world.
00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:45.480
I was never taught about sex
or sexual abuse,
00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:48.440
or sexuality in any way.
00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:55.240
I told my sister,
my older sister,
00:24:55.360 --> 00:24:57.640
that I remembered
my father raping me.
00:24:58.840 --> 00:25:02.040
She said, it couldn't have happened.
It didn't happen.
00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:04.840
You are making a mistake.
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:07.760
At that point,
00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:12.240
two of my sisters came to my house
with their husbands,
00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:15.000
and they said that unless I promised
never to tell anyone
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:18.720
that my father abused me, they were
going to cut me out of the family.
00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:23.960
And they told me it was a decision
of the Rabbi, of the family Rav.
00:25:24.120 --> 00:25:27.160
So I called him up, and he said
that my siblings had to choose
00:25:27.320 --> 00:25:30.520
between me and my father,
and they chose my father.
00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:34.000
And I said: why do they have to choose?
Why can't they...
00:25:34.080 --> 00:25:35.480
it's a complex situation,
00:25:35.560 --> 00:25:38.600
they need to support their father
and they need to support their sister.
00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.800
And he said:
No, they have to choose.
00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:42.920
And anyway I don't think
you are credible.
00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:44.400
I don't believe you.
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.200
And I also started thinking
maybe I am crazy, because
00:25:51.280 --> 00:25:54.880
every time I tried to get help
and tell someone about it
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:58.000
they said it couldn't be
It wasn't true, it didn't happen.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.760
And they were there,
so I figured they must know, right?
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:02.520
It's my parents, it's my siblings...
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:05.280
they kept saying, "We were there,
nothing happened".
00:26:05.400 --> 00:26:09.440
Did you ever doubt yourself?
-Oh, yes!
00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:13.080
And I wanted to.
Because I wanted to believe them.
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.920
Believe what? -I wanted to believe
them that nothing happened.
00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:19.000
Who wants to believe
that their father raped him?
00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:21.880
I'd rather believe anything else.
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.440
I'd rather believe I am crazy.
00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:44.000
There were these couple of weeks,
that you are at the Yeshivah,
00:26:44.120 --> 00:26:48.440
and what will happen to you
now that you have said it...
00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:55.520
and then there's this fear
that he might catch you,
00:26:55.600 --> 00:26:57.720
even before we go to the police,
00:26:57.800 --> 00:27:01.400
he may come and take revenge on us,
something like that.
00:27:02.520 --> 00:27:07.200
I think anyone in the community,
every person who knew him,
00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:11.560
if you were to ask him
about Lisson, our teacher,
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:14.880
they'd say he is
a very positive figure,
00:27:15.120 --> 00:27:20.200
a strong contributor, very caring.
A well-known scholar of the Torah,
00:27:20.360 --> 00:27:23.640
and for all practical purposes
he knew the full Tanya by heart.
00:27:23.760 --> 00:27:25.360
- With God's help -
00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:28.000
He was really an ideal figure.
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:31.560
When I analyze this figure...
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:36.280
I see him as a person
who does good deeds,
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.440
not to help, but to find prey.
00:27:40.760 --> 00:27:43.760
It seemed that once he locks in
on a specific target
00:27:43.840 --> 00:27:46.440
he will help that target,
he will nurture it,
00:27:46.600 --> 00:27:51.040
then, finally, he will be able
to invite him and do things to him.
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:14.120
Meanwhile, I found out that
the authorities are looking for me.
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:17.800
A social worker has contacted me.
I said: "please, leave me alone,
00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:20.520
"let's shut this down.
He should take care of himself,
00:28:20.600 --> 00:28:24.320
"I'll take care of my children.
This isn't for me, this war.
00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:27.160
She said: "You can't!
He is a teacher of children.
00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:32.040
"If you don't take the children to the police,
we'll pick them up from their schools
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:35.440
"and investigate them.
Because this is the law".
00:28:36.120 --> 00:28:39.320
It's me against the entire community,
I'm against the cheider (school),
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:41.880
I'm against families,
00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:45.080
It is unacceptable for us to go
to the police at all. Understand this!
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:47.040
These are things
that we cover up.
00:28:47.120 --> 00:28:51.040
And anyway, I'm not one for wars,
and I don't really know how to go and do it.
00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:54.320
And suddenly it fell on me.
Go fight, go to the police...
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:57.280
I was never in my life
at a police station.
00:28:59.560 --> 00:29:03.560
People came by and knocked on my door
and told me: "Don't you...
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:06.360
"don't you have a righteous soul?
00:29:06.600 --> 00:29:09.760
"Why did you go to the police?
Couldn't you have dealt with this quietly?"
00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:13.160
Everyone in the community
knows us very very well,
00:29:13.280 --> 00:29:17.080
we have a good reputation,
and we are very active people, very social.
00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:21.360
And thank God, our reputation
alway preceded us.
00:29:21.520 --> 00:29:23.760
But suddenly, there is no one.
00:29:23.840 --> 00:29:27.840
And not only that,
the community is collecting money
00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:31.040
to help him
hire a lawyer against us.
00:29:31.520 --> 00:29:34.280
His wife is at home with the children
because he is in custody,
00:29:34.360 --> 00:29:39.880
so the community supports him,
and sends meals and babysitters to help her.
00:29:40.120 --> 00:29:42.920
But here at home, where we are
under complete mourning,
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:45.960
where the mother doesn't function,
where three children were hurt.
00:29:46.080 --> 00:29:50.280
Here no one even has the the strength
to scramble an egg.
00:29:50.560 --> 00:29:54.600
No one from the community even picked up
the phone to ask if we need anything.
00:29:54.800 --> 00:29:59.360
No one from the community called
to ask, how are you doing.
00:30:17.840 --> 00:30:21.120
The guys talked about us behind
our backs at the Yeshivah.
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:25.280
Instead of supporting us,
they did quite the opposite,
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:27.520
they fought us.
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:31.040
I remember when the trial started,
the teacher kept saying:
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.480
"Now I have a friend who is in court,
Aaron Shlomo Lisson.
00:30:35.600 --> 00:30:38.080
"We should pray for him to prevail."
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:41.480
And me, I am sitting in that class
all alone, eating myself up.
00:30:41.600 --> 00:30:43.960
And nobody...
not only do they not believe it,
00:30:44.080 --> 00:30:47.400
nobody fights,
and nobody supports.
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:50.400
This was so painful, it was so...
00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:53.560
To this day, I don't trust
human beings at all.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.480
I only have animals,
which are the only thing I believe in.
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:07.800
At the Yeshivah the children
went through very difficult things,
00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:09.520
until they have left the Yeshivah.
00:31:09.600 --> 00:31:13.320
The children didn't leave the house
for a year and a half,
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.640
without an educational framework,
without friends,
00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:19.200
no teacher or friend calling
and asking how they are doing.
00:31:19.360 --> 00:31:22.000
Just so you understand,
how far they were shunned.
00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:24.560
There was this event in the synagogue,
with my son.
00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:27.120
He went to the synagogue
to pray,
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:31.600
and one of the people there was a...
supporter of Lisson,
00:31:31.760 --> 00:31:34.960
and he counted a Minyan (prayer quorum)
without including my son.
00:31:35.040 --> 00:31:38.080
He didn't count my son
as one of the Minyan.
00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:41.440
Because my son is
a Moisser (Informer).
00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:45.880
I went to one of the important
people in the community,
00:31:45.960 --> 00:31:49.520
I asked him a question
on a Torah matter that he wrote,
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:54.200
to explain to me a topic
that I wanted to study.
00:31:55.800 --> 00:31:59.920
He said: "Listen, I don't know
if I can even talk to you.
00:32:00.120 --> 00:32:02.800
"You are a Moisser (informer)."
00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:11.640
What about friends?
How did they treat you?
00:32:17.760 --> 00:32:23.200
I was at an upper level Yeshivah by then.
It was very hard.
00:32:25.120 --> 00:32:27.360
Can we take a break
for a few minutes?
00:32:27.560 --> 00:32:29.880
Let's take a break
for a few minutes. -Yes.
00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:32.400
This is very hard on me.
There are so many things.
00:32:48.360 --> 00:32:50.800
We are having a Bar Mitzva,
God willing,
00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:54.800
and I'm looking for a suit,
a shirt.
00:33:19.080 --> 00:33:22.240
Hi, how are you doing?
Oh hi, how are you?
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:28.000
I wanted to talk to you because
we are doing this documentary,
00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:32.000
{\an7}Rav Yosef Blau
Spiritual guidance counselor
Yeshiva University
And I wanted to know what you think
00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:36.560
the jewish law says about
going public with something like this.
00:33:37.520 --> 00:33:40.720
You are doing actually
"kidoosh hashem"
00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:45.000
You are doing something positive
for God's images in this world.
00:33:45.120 --> 00:33:48.640
To know that there are people
in the Orthodox community
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.920
who are fighting for change,
00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:56.120
to protect all thoughts who should not
become victims in the future.
00:33:57.360 --> 00:34:00.680
Right. On the one hand I feel
like this is my mission,
00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:03.880
that I have to do this work,
00:34:04.080 --> 00:34:08.520
And on the other hand,
it's so tempting not to do it,
00:34:08.640 --> 00:34:11.560
because my family will be
much more open
00:34:11.640 --> 00:34:13.960
to having a relationship with me,
00:34:14.120 --> 00:34:16.440
if I would just keep my mouth shut.
00:34:16.760 --> 00:34:18.960
Is that something
you could understand?
00:34:20.160 --> 00:34:23.320
I think it's wonderful that you do it,
00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:25.880
and the truth of the matter is
00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:31.600
that if you try to reestablish
a relationship with your family
00:34:31.720 --> 00:34:36.040
without being honest,
it wouldn't work.
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:39.800
Right.
To me it's not a real relationship.
00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:42.000
Am... we lost him.
00:34:42.160 --> 00:34:44.240
We can't see you anymore.
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:46.080
Can you see us?
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:48.320
We lost your screen.
00:34:48.640 --> 00:34:50.240
Ah, there you are!
00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:52.720
And since we have known each other
for many years
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:55.880
I have some sense
of what you've gone through,
00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:59.760
and hopefully at some point
your family will understand that
00:34:59.920 --> 00:35:02.280
and appreciate your contribution.
00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:05.840
Amen. Thank you.
00:35:08.560 --> 00:35:12.560
Baruch ata...
00:35:12.640 --> 00:35:16.360
- Prayer for good dreams -
00:35:23.200 --> 00:35:24.840
Have sweet dreams.
00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:27.960
Can I get and give a hug and a kiss?
-Yes, you do.
00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:50.640
I'm having a panic attack.
00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:58.120
(Calling her brother)
00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:00.600
Hello, please leave a message.
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:03.840
At the tone record your...
00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:06.360
Please leave a message.
00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:09.080
Hi, this is Genendi calling.
00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:13.280
We haven't been in touch for a long time
but I wanted to let you know
00:36:13.480 --> 00:36:16.840
that we are making a bar mitzvah
for our son in a few months
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:19.880
and I wanted to invite you.
Bye.
00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:29.720
After I got married, when I was 25
00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:33.280
somebody called me and said that
my father was being investigated
00:36:33.400 --> 00:36:37.200
for sexually abusing
a boy in the school
00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:39.560
where he was the principal
at that time.
00:36:43.080 --> 00:36:45.920
And they wanted me
to speak to the detective,
00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:49.520
and I spoke to the detective
00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:52.600
and he told me he thought
that my father was guilty,
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.760
but that the community was not
cooperating with the investigation.
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:57.840
Nobody would speak to him,
00:36:58.040 --> 00:37:00.240
and what happen to me
was in another state
00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:04.720
and also there was a statute of limitations
that ran out for me when I was about..
00:37:08.520 --> 00:37:11.920
I can't remember, but it was earlier
maybe when I was 18?
00:37:12.240 --> 00:37:15.960
And he said he couldn't enter
what I was telling him as evidence.
00:37:16.200 --> 00:37:19.520
But that... but that he believed me.
00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:41.520
We used to go to court,
I was at court 61 times.
00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:45.200
I'd arrive to the courthouse,
just me on my own,
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:47.440
because my husband
had to work and provide for us.
00:37:47.520 --> 00:37:51.440
And people from the community
came with him, to support him,
00:37:51.600 --> 00:37:53.440
and to laugh at me!
00:37:53.600 --> 00:37:56.000
And look me in the face and tell me,
"You are a liar,
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:58.560
"you are a false accuser."
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:02.440
People who are educators,
that in the mornings
00:38:02.520 --> 00:38:05.080
are supposed to educate my son,
who is at the same yeshivah,
00:38:05.160 --> 00:38:08.320
they come and testify
in support of the offender...
00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:12.520
and the children sit in court,
listening to their testimonies and crying.
00:38:12.600 --> 00:38:16.000
Because they can't see an educator,
whom they know so well,
00:38:16.080 --> 00:38:19.000
and even was a role model for them,
and was close to them,
00:38:19.120 --> 00:38:23.680
comes and testifies for a person
who has butchered their lives.
00:38:24.720 --> 00:38:27.600
And so three years went by.
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:36.280
They kept watching us,
what do we do.
00:38:36.680 --> 00:38:39.680
No one could have moved on our side,
because If someone held up a phone,
00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:42.480
they ran to the judge to complain
that we are photographing them!
00:38:42.560 --> 00:38:45.280
This was such a persecution,
such a shunning!
00:38:46.680 --> 00:38:49.600
And then this lawyer stands up
and says to the judge:
00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:53.120
"Look how many rabbis and people of
the community came here to tell you
00:38:53.240 --> 00:38:58.120
"how righteous this person is
and how this mother is a false accuser."
00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:02.600
At the end of the hearing,
I stood up and shouted:
00:39:02.680 --> 00:39:06.200
"Who are those rabbis
who came to support this criminal?"
00:39:06.360 --> 00:39:08.560
Then one member of the community
stands up and says:
00:39:08.640 --> 00:39:11.160
"Look at this mother!
If you are screaming this way at rabbis,
00:39:11.240 --> 00:39:13.800
"no wonder
your children are such liars."
00:39:19.640 --> 00:39:22.320
I spoke with Ornit and heard
00:39:22.560 --> 00:39:24.400
how the community
is treating them,
00:39:26.160 --> 00:39:29.840
it was just a classic
case of Moisser (informer)
00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:33.600
and it touched me,
00:39:33.960 --> 00:39:37.960
and I decided that I will accompany
them to all the hearings.
00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:42.760
This concept of Moisser (informer)
is an Halachic matter,
00:39:42.920 --> 00:39:46.960
and it is important to understand its
historical background.
00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:49.800
If somebody were to bring a Jew
00:39:49.880 --> 00:39:52.760
to report on a Jew to the
secular authorities for a crime
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:56.960
In an era where there was a
tremendous amount of anti-Semitism,
00:39:57.040 --> 00:40:00.000
it could literally put the entire
community in danger,
00:40:00.080 --> 00:40:02.600
it could endanger the lives
of everyone in the community.
00:40:05.600 --> 00:40:08.080
Any community that sees
themselves as being "us"
00:40:08.160 --> 00:40:10.720
and there is a "them"
there is this concept.
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:12.920
You see it with gangs,
00:40:13.040 --> 00:40:16.680
you see it in the Christian community,
you see it in the Arab community.
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:19.800
Something they talked a lot
in the Kibbutzim.
00:40:19.960 --> 00:40:22.360
Any community.
in universities in the U.S.A.
00:40:22.600 --> 00:40:25.840
Any community that sees itself
as being insular in anyway,
00:40:25.960 --> 00:40:28.480
has a resistance to bringing
their dirty laundry
00:40:28.560 --> 00:40:30.920
to the outsiders
and to the outside authorities.
00:40:44.560 --> 00:40:47.160
- Danger! -
- Indecent devices sold here -
00:40:47.360 --> 00:40:50.760
Danger. For all who want
to be saved from blasphemy
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:53.760
and contradicting the words of wise men
and many other offences -
00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:57.800
Rabbis Berland, Bnayahu-Shmueli
and Zedakah, have forbidden
00:40:57.880 --> 00:41:01.160
shopping in stores that sell devices
that connect to the internet and films.
00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:06.200
- No computers here or any devices
that connect to the internet -
00:41:06.360 --> 00:41:10.320
If you want to be saved from blasphemy
and placing obstacles for the many,
00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:12.960
there's a kosher phone store
20 meters away.
00:41:15.520 --> 00:41:18.000
Rabbis Berland, Bnayahu-Shmueli
and Zedakah,
00:41:18.160 --> 00:41:21.600
have forbidden shopping
in stores that sell devices
00:41:21.680 --> 00:41:23.840
that connect to
the internet and films.
00:41:25.240 --> 00:41:29.920
These devices cause severe
psychiatric illnesses, divorces...
00:41:31.560 --> 00:41:34.480
"Attention all residents!
In this building lives a Moisser (Informer)
00:41:34.560 --> 00:41:37.320
"He informed to the police about a
Yeshiva student
00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:39.520
"who in a fit of whimsy,
fooled around with children.
00:41:39.600 --> 00:41:41.920
"The life of the yeshiva
student was ruined
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:43.920
"and ever since,
he is deeply depressed.
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:47.600
"Instead of going to the Rabbis,
he informed the heretics' police
00:41:47.680 --> 00:41:50.000
"Get out, impure orthodox
from our neighborhood,
00:41:50.080 --> 00:41:53.040
"you'll have no place
in the world to come."
00:41:53.200 --> 00:41:55.120
Way to go my bro!
00:41:57.080 --> 00:41:59.920
I arrived at the Mikveh (Ritual bath)
and he arrived after me.
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:05.440
There is a specific situation
That I don't want to elaborate on.
00:42:05.720 --> 00:42:09.400
He saw that there
were no people around, and...
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:11.720
he did to me what he did.
00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:13.920
In that moment you freeze.
00:42:14.080 --> 00:42:16.560
I just froze, right there on the spot.
00:42:17.520 --> 00:42:19.640
These are hard things.
00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:22.160
These are things
that don't leave me,
00:42:22.720 --> 00:42:25.760
for days on end...
00:42:27.080 --> 00:42:30.040
I can feel him,
00:42:31.560 --> 00:42:33.920
accompanying me,
physically.
00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:37.320
I can remember his breathing.
00:42:40.160 --> 00:42:42.640
His beard behind me.
00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:47.400
This is... this is hell.
00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:56.680
I want to say that there was a huge failure
of the police in investigating my children.
00:42:56.800 --> 00:42:59.200
They did not know
how to investigate them.
00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:02.120
They did not know how to investigate
ultra-orthodox children.
00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:04.680
They didn't know how to go gently
into details with them.
00:43:04.760 --> 00:43:06.880
And if the child didn't say enough
about something,
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:09.160
something he felt,
they didn't pay attention to it.
00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:12.840
And from the child's point of view,
he has gone through a terrible event.
00:43:13.040 --> 00:43:17.080
Investigators must adjust to
whomever they are investigating.
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:20.360
There is a specific point that is not...
00:43:20.520 --> 00:43:24.440
that it was difficult for me...
It was traumatic to pinpoint.
00:43:24.680 --> 00:43:28.640
In the indictment... It was hard for me
and I didn't say it clearly.
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:30.160
Outright.
00:43:31.440 --> 00:43:35.800
And this... sometimes...
it kills me. Kills me.
00:43:41.040 --> 00:43:43.440
The trial is going on
for more than a year and a half.
00:43:43.520 --> 00:43:45.240
This is the injustice by the way,
00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:48.000
this is the injustice and it is
part of the attrition process.
00:43:48.080 --> 00:43:51.080
I call on the Chief Justice of the
Supreme court on a personal level,
00:43:51.160 --> 00:43:54.200
let me rehabilitate my children,
let me bring home normal children.
00:43:54.360 --> 00:43:58.360
Help me finish with this trial already.
They can't be normal children anymore.
00:43:58.480 --> 00:44:02.320
The family is demanding to expedite
the judicial process, to reach the truth.
00:44:02.560 --> 00:44:06.120
So things went on for six months,
that things only deteriorated
00:44:06.240 --> 00:44:09.200
mentally and physically.
00:44:09.640 --> 00:44:12.080
And my husband,
it was very painful for him.
00:44:12.200 --> 00:44:14.400
As in, what are you doing?
You let it conquer you.
00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:17.200
True, you fight and all,
but here you are harming yourself,
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:20.040
and I was in situations
that I wished I was dead.
00:44:20.160 --> 00:44:22.800
I felt screwed up,
you don't know what it's like, Dalit.
00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:25.320
I didn't leave the house
the entire Sukkot holiday,
00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:28.680
and I said, Ornit, you're worthless
You should die and let this be over.
00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:31.280
You're worthless.
Your home is falling apart,
00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:33.160
you have no intimacy
with your husband,
00:44:33.240 --> 00:44:35.000
your economic situation
is down the drain,
00:44:35.080 --> 00:44:37.560
you can't even go for a walk with
your kids in Jerusalem.
00:44:37.640 --> 00:44:38.840
There's not even 1 NIS.
00:44:42.520 --> 00:44:45.400
I went to Rachel's Tomb
and cried there,
00:44:45.560 --> 00:44:48.680
I broke down into pieces.
I said to her, you must guide me,
00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:53.720
either I am going down to the ground,
or you help to get back on my feet.
00:45:04.800 --> 00:45:07.960
And then I said, Ornit,
you will do something with yourself:
00:45:08.120 --> 00:45:10.120
You are going to law school
00:45:10.840 --> 00:45:13.480
I called my husband,
he was in shock.
00:45:13.640 --> 00:45:16.560
He said to me,
"You are going to study Law,
00:45:16.680 --> 00:45:21.600
"and God willing, help any family
that goes through this.
00:45:21.800 --> 00:45:26.320
"Help, support and accompany families
who are going through this."
00:45:28.160 --> 00:45:31.800
The offenders, they'd better not
fall into my hands.
00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:37.040
They'd better not!
because I will not let them breath.
00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:50.320
Yes, this upsets me and it's painful,
00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:54.480
and the questions and reflections,
how does this all fit together?
00:45:54.680 --> 00:45:57.960
Why did he do this to me
for so many years.
00:45:58.200 --> 00:46:04.080
And I came to the conclusion that
he is not the religion. He is not God.
00:46:05.120 --> 00:46:07.680
At most he is a person
representing God,
00:46:07.760 --> 00:46:10.480
and even in this count
he sinned big time.
00:46:10.680 --> 00:46:14.720
Religion is justice,
and this is injustice.
00:46:20.120 --> 00:46:23.040
It's not a matter of being religious or not,
this is a matter of...
00:46:23.200 --> 00:46:26.280
I prove to myself that...
00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:30.960
the external part, or how I look,
or how I dress, anything like this,
00:46:31.120 --> 00:46:33.240
doesn't prove anything
about the person himself.
00:46:33.400 --> 00:46:35.440
It does not prove whether I am
a good person or not.
00:46:35.520 --> 00:46:38.680
I saw my teacher,
00:46:39.320 --> 00:46:41.800
the offender
who hurt me,
00:46:41.880 --> 00:46:45.000
who was externally so righteous,
00:46:45.680 --> 00:46:49.680
who always wore a hat and suit,
and used to pray...
00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:54.200
This is a type of disguise. This is
A person dressing up as one thing,
00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:57.000
when on the inside,
he is something entirely different.
00:46:57.080 --> 00:47:01.080
And I am not... I prefer
to be true to myself with what I am
00:47:01.160 --> 00:47:04.760
and for this it doesn't matter
how I look or how I dress,
00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:07.960
or if I believe or if I don't believe...
it's not something...
00:47:08.280 --> 00:47:11.080
The most important thing for me,
is to be a human being,
00:47:11.200 --> 00:47:15.680
to be someone who cares about himself,
cares about others.
00:47:17.640 --> 00:47:20.520
Yossi, good morning,
I am in the midst of all the pressure.
00:47:20.640 --> 00:47:23.720
I will be happy if you send me
the flight details.
00:47:24.400 --> 00:47:28.920
Hong Kong time is hours
ahead of here.
00:47:29.080 --> 00:47:31.240
I land on Tuesday at noon,
00:47:31.320 --> 00:47:34.600
so what's the schedule?
how long, etc. Thanks.
00:47:39.640 --> 00:47:42.960
To remain in the place where...
00:47:43.080 --> 00:47:45.800
no other child confessed
that he too was hurt by Lisson,
00:47:50.760 --> 00:47:53.800
all remained quiet
everything remained under the carpet.
00:47:55.800 --> 00:48:00.600
But I understood them, nobody wants
to go through what we went through,
00:48:00.720 --> 00:48:04.800
sacrifice one's personal
and family life,
00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:07.360
it's too hard!
00:48:09.280 --> 00:48:12.000
God willing,
I will update you with everything.
00:48:12.320 --> 00:48:15.160
God willing all will be ok.
I'll be back before the verdict.
00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:20.080
God willing, the truth will prevail and
will make it all the way to Hong Kong.
00:48:22.520 --> 00:48:25.280
Mom, I will close it.
Please move.
00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:38.600
I think that people who help others,
they themselves feel better.
00:48:38.760 --> 00:48:41.760
So I decided I will go to Hong Kong,
to help people there.
00:48:42.040 --> 00:48:45.720
Help Israelis who arrive there,
travelers, students.
00:48:46.080 --> 00:48:51.320
To disengage from this environment,
and cleanse a bit.
00:48:59.960 --> 00:49:04.960
Bye, mom.
-Be strong, all will be well.
00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:29.760
Over the last number of months
there have been lots of phone calls
00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:33.200
I and Meir have spoken
to enough people
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:35.960
who personally know victims
00:49:36.160 --> 00:49:39.520
and at this point...
-My father? -Yes.
00:49:40.800 --> 00:49:42.840
Wow! That's huge. -Yes.
00:49:43.840 --> 00:49:45.920
Unfortunately, nobody wants
to talk about it,
00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:47.960
nobody wants to admit
that it is happening,
00:49:48.040 --> 00:49:49.640
nobody wants to be
moisser about it,
00:49:49.760 --> 00:49:53.400
nobody wants to discuss it openly.
00:49:53.680 --> 00:49:58.080
And we begged and pleaded
and written letters, they will not talk.
00:49:58.560 --> 00:50:03.360
I wonder if you would ask
these friends of the victims
00:50:03.480 --> 00:50:05.400
If they will be willing to speak to me.
00:50:05.640 --> 00:50:09.120
Because it will be
so validating for me,
00:50:09.200 --> 00:50:11.600
Just to hear somebody saying:
"Ya, it happened to me too".
00:50:11.680 --> 00:50:13.800
Because for so many years
I have been told
00:50:13.880 --> 00:50:15.800
that I'm crazy
and that I'm the only one.
00:50:16.360 --> 00:50:19.320
And... I don't know
if they would do it,
00:50:19.440 --> 00:50:23.200
but... or even just to send me
some confirmation or something.
00:50:36.240 --> 00:50:38.120
Verdict day.
00:51:03.920 --> 00:51:07.480
Enter, it is allowed to come in today.
00:51:09.040 --> 00:51:11.600
Today everybody may enter.
00:51:25.240 --> 00:51:31.160
I am very nervous,
so we'll wait, and I believe the judge
00:51:32.440 --> 00:51:36.080
will give the verdict as it should be.
God willing...
00:51:38.640 --> 00:51:40.880
A person like this
who has harmed children
00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:44.280
should know he'll never see
the light of day.
00:51:44.600 --> 00:51:47.920
One cannot take the lives of children
just like that.
00:51:48.040 --> 00:51:50.640
God willing he will get his
due punishment,
00:51:50.760 --> 00:51:53.800
and we are waiting for this in
the next few minutes, God willing.
00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:56.840
How are the kids?
-That's it.
00:52:04.080 --> 00:52:05.920
Security!
00:52:08.600 --> 00:52:10.440
Do you have regrets?
00:52:26.720 --> 00:52:30.960
{\an7}Lawyer Yifat Pinchasi
State Attorney's Office
The court has sentenced today 7 years
of imprisonment on Aaron Shlomo Lisson
00:52:31.160 --> 00:52:34.720
for sexually assaulting
three of his students.
00:52:35.440 --> 00:52:38.880
We respect the Court's ruling,
however we think it was made in error,
00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:45.320
{\an7}Lawyer Ariel Atari
Represents the defendant
will succeed, and will determine
that the accusers are liars,
00:52:45.440 --> 00:52:47.840
and Mr. Lisson will finally
be acquitted of all charges.
00:52:47.960 --> 00:52:51.080
Mommy's hero. Mommy's hero.
00:52:51.720 --> 00:52:54.200
I expected a little more, but...
00:52:54.680 --> 00:52:57.320
a punishment more severe
for these types of acts,
00:52:57.480 --> 00:52:59.560
we argued for 12 years.
00:53:01.160 --> 00:53:03.240
Yankie...
00:53:04.040 --> 00:53:06.640
My Yankie, my soul!
00:53:08.760 --> 00:53:12.000
Yankie, your truth has come out.
00:53:13.960 --> 00:53:17.080
Yankie, you are
brave and courageous,
00:53:17.160 --> 00:53:19.520
look what you have done.
00:53:20.120 --> 00:53:22.960
You three changed the world today.
00:53:23.880 --> 00:53:27.040
Now you are coming out of it
with your heads held high,
00:53:27.160 --> 00:53:29.960
because you won, over them all,
00:53:30.080 --> 00:53:33.680
the system, the people,
the community, everybody, you won.
00:53:33.800 --> 00:53:38.120
That's it. Yankie, I am proud of you!
I am so proud of you all! So proud!
00:53:38.520 --> 00:53:42.000
Be strong, Yankie...
My sweetie...
00:53:44.680 --> 00:53:46.960
Say something to Mom...
00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:49.400
Say something...
00:53:53.160 --> 00:53:56.040
He's so sweet...
00:53:56.520 --> 00:53:59.080
How are you doing, Yankie?
-What? -How are you?
00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:05.400
What? -It's not easy to be
so far away out there. -What?
00:54:06.200 --> 00:54:08.920
It's not easy to be so far away.
00:54:09.080 --> 00:54:12.320
Yes, you are right.
It's not easy with you being there.
00:54:12.520 --> 00:54:14.960
But you know this is from heaven too.
00:54:16.840 --> 00:54:18.760
My sweetie...
00:54:20.920 --> 00:54:22.920
We'll talk to you later.
00:54:23.400 --> 00:54:27.680
See you, dear.
I love you. Bye.
00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:49.480
Dance, dance.
00:54:58.320 --> 00:55:00.000
Dance, dance.
00:55:18.040 --> 00:55:20.120
I made a decision to come forward.
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:23.960
Today, for the first time,
I decided to remove the glove,
00:55:24.080 --> 00:55:27.040
and to be exposed here,
on my facebook page
00:55:27.160 --> 00:55:30.640
and share with you a bit,
of the stormy ocean of my life.
00:55:30.960 --> 00:55:33.960
And even if only to encourage,
strength, and raise the spirit, spirit,
00:55:34.080 --> 00:55:36.480
and give hope
to those children and youth
00:55:36.600 --> 00:55:39.720
who are going through the same story
of abuse that I underwent.
00:55:40.160 --> 00:55:44.400
I am Yankie, I'm 21.
I have decided to come forward.
00:55:48.360 --> 00:55:51.080
It was very stressful
to press the Enter key.
00:55:55.160 --> 00:55:59.200
This post did, what no media
was able to do, It's amazing!
00:55:59.440 --> 00:56:01.920
I wrote the post
without thinking too much.
00:56:02.720 --> 00:56:06.200
I thought I'd get a hundred 'likes' and
will be on my private facebook page
00:56:06.640 --> 00:56:08.840
and instead,
I reached the entire globe.
00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:11.280
it went so viral and so many...
00:56:11.760 --> 00:56:14.400
hundreds of thousands of people
have seen it, and responded.
00:56:14.520 --> 00:56:16.520
and the discussions
in many synagogues...
00:56:16.600 --> 00:56:19.160
People contacted me from
Crown Heights, from New York,
00:56:19.240 --> 00:56:22.920
from France, from all kinds
of places... from Europe...
00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:25.800
this has become a topic
of discourse in our community.
00:56:27.200 --> 00:56:29.320
These things are keeping me strong,
00:56:29.440 --> 00:56:33.440
and I think that on that night I smiled
to myself like I never did before.
00:56:52.760 --> 00:56:56.000
He is about the same age
that I was when I first
00:56:56.160 --> 00:56:58.360
spoke about
what happened to me.
00:56:59.040 --> 00:57:03.800
And also had to deal with the denial
and the anger of the community.
00:57:04.720 --> 00:57:07.360
It gives me hope
that things are changing,
00:57:08.320 --> 00:57:13.400
and maybe the time is right
00:57:13.640 --> 00:57:18.800
and my family will realize
that they made a mistake.
00:58:32.800 --> 00:58:38.160
Hello. -How are you?
Good to see you again. -Come in.
00:58:39.560 --> 00:58:41.840
So as you know,
we have been investigating it,
00:58:41.920 --> 00:58:43.400
and I spoke to you
a few weeks ago...
00:58:43.720 --> 00:58:45.760
and we have been calling
people up
00:58:45.840 --> 00:58:48.400
and trying to gather
so much information,
00:58:48.520 --> 00:58:50.320
here, there,
there is a rumor...
00:58:50.600 --> 00:58:53.480
but there is nobody actually coming out
and saying 'I was abused'.
00:58:53.800 --> 00:58:56.600
{\an8}Meyer Seewald
Jewish CommunityWatch - CEO
It's all second hand.
00:58:56.680 --> 00:58:58.280
And when we tried to get to them -
they are like...
00:58:58.360 --> 00:59:00.800
Oh, the person doesn't want to talk.
They shut down, and shut down...
00:59:00.880 --> 00:59:03.000
over and over...
for years.
00:59:03.560 --> 00:59:05.680
They are afraid.
00:59:06.360 --> 00:59:08.960
We had a major breakthrough
last week.
00:59:11.880 --> 00:59:15.840
Through one of those
people that knew somebody
00:59:16.560 --> 00:59:21.200
We ended up speaking to a young boy,
in the statute of limitations
00:59:21.760 --> 00:59:23.760
who said that he was abused.
00:59:23.920 --> 00:59:26.080
By my father?
-By your father.
00:59:31.160 --> 00:59:34.960
And he was abused for a few years
starting at 5 years old...
00:59:35.160 --> 00:59:38.920
He spoke to you? -He spoke
to me. -He spoke to both of us.
00:59:39.200 --> 00:59:43.120
And I have his name and he gave us
a lot of more information,
00:59:43.240 --> 00:59:45.560
of a lot of things that you gave us,
00:59:45.640 --> 00:59:49.080
of the second hand people that you
heard of that may have been abused...
00:59:49.880 --> 00:59:51.720
This boy is...
00:59:53.440 --> 00:59:55.920
he told us on the phone...
00:59:56.160 --> 01:00:00.760
that he finally feels that something
is being done in the community.
01:00:01.880 --> 01:00:04.200
He wants to speak to you.
01:00:04.320 --> 01:00:05.880
I can't believe it.
01:00:08.280 --> 01:00:10.320
I can't believe it.
01:00:10.600 --> 01:00:13.840
It's like I've been waiting for this
for years.
01:00:13.920 --> 01:00:15.600
Years and years and years.
01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:19.600
Unfortunately it sounds like all the guys,
all the name he told us,
01:00:19.720 --> 01:00:23.760
they were names that
we heard rumors about before,
01:00:23.880 --> 01:00:25.680
and were never able to get to.
01:00:25.800 --> 01:00:28.800
They are all heavily abused in drugs.
01:00:30.280 --> 01:00:34.120
What happened to this kid, was it sort
of the level of abuse that I remember?
01:00:34.520 --> 01:00:37.040
It was bad, I mean,
it was serious.
01:00:37.200 --> 01:00:40.520
And there were other kids there,
he saw other kids.
01:00:43.760 --> 01:00:47.760
Oh, my gosh.
I just want to give you a hug.
01:00:48.880 --> 01:00:52.920
I'll give you a hug. I'm just so sorry
that you had to wait so long.
01:00:55.360 --> 01:00:57.520
Oh my God.
-I don't know...
01:00:57.640 --> 01:01:01.200
I'm just sorry that
I went so many years
01:01:01.440 --> 01:01:04.360
trying to convince myself
that I was crazy.
01:01:04.760 --> 01:01:08.280
Well you are crazy,
but it's a good crazy.
01:01:08.440 --> 01:01:14.320
Because it just would have been
so much easier to be crazy...
01:01:17.640 --> 01:01:20.360
He said the same thing to the...
01:01:21.160 --> 01:01:27.040
..when we spoke to him, he said,
I'm happy to put my name out there,
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:30.240
and we said,
Ok, that's a big decision,
01:01:30.320 --> 01:01:32.760
maybe you sleep on that.
01:01:32.840 --> 01:01:35.400
And he said no,
they already...
01:01:35.480 --> 01:01:39.280
(Attending a blessing)
01:02:13.920 --> 01:02:15.880
Hi, sweetie. -Ya?
01:02:16.880 --> 01:02:19.200
I have something to show you.
01:02:22.760 --> 01:02:26.200
It's a letter from my mother,
from your grandmother. -Really?
01:02:26.840 --> 01:02:28.560
Can I read it?
01:02:34.960 --> 01:02:38.800
Congratulations
for your brothers bar mitzvah
01:02:39.200 --> 01:02:42.320
I got your message, we are out..
01:02:42.760 --> 01:02:47.560
We are out of the house
most of the day.
01:02:48.160 --> 01:02:52.000
Do you read English
as well as you speak it?
01:02:52.800 --> 01:02:54.160
No.
01:02:55.480 --> 01:03:01.160
You can write back a letter
in English or Hebrew.
01:03:01.720 --> 01:03:06.880
Whichever is better for you.
01:03:07.440 --> 01:03:10.040
With love, your granny...
01:03:10.480 --> 01:03:13.280
It's so nice that she sent it to you.
-Yeah.
01:03:15.120 --> 01:03:16.760
Put it on for me?
01:03:21.680 --> 01:03:24.680
You're choking me.
Choking? -Not really.
01:03:37.120 --> 01:03:38.680
Come give me a hug.
01:03:42.960 --> 01:03:45.720
It makes me feel a little sad,
and happy.
01:03:45.840 --> 01:03:48.080
I'm happy that she sent it to you,
01:03:49.160 --> 01:03:51.800
and I'm sad.
-Are you crying?
01:03:54.240 --> 01:03:56.600
No, but I feel sad.
01:03:57.520 --> 01:03:58.840
Thanks.
01:04:00.480 --> 01:04:02.760
I want to meet her.
-Really?
01:04:03.640 --> 01:04:05.400
Maybe you will.
01:04:08.120 --> 01:04:11.000
Maybe you will some day. -Ya.
01:05:00.120 --> 01:05:02.320
Our Torah is beautiful.
01:05:03.000 --> 01:05:05.800
Child sexual abuse is not.
01:05:05.960 --> 01:05:10.560
It is frightening, ugly,
traumatic and damaging.
01:05:11.080 --> 01:05:14.800
My childhood was a
confusing mixture of both.
01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:20.040
Our entire dream to raise children
educated based on the Torah
01:05:20.280 --> 01:05:22.120
has shattered in our face.
01:05:22.480 --> 01:05:27.200
Our lives have changed 180 degrees,
and we were left entirely on our own.
01:05:27.280 --> 01:05:29.920
The denial by the rabbanim
who I approached for help
01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:31.560
and by my family,
01:05:31.680 --> 01:05:37.000
was actually more traumatic and
devastating than the sexual abuse.
01:05:37.280 --> 01:05:41.560
Our society must change. Our duty is
to accompany the ones who were hurt,
01:05:41.680 --> 01:05:45.640
lift them up, help them and
accept them as if they were flowers,
01:05:45.840 --> 01:05:47.320
not step on them.
01:05:47.880 --> 01:05:48.880
Thank you!
01:05:53.960 --> 01:05:57.080
You can't imagine how touched I am
to meet you.
01:05:57.240 --> 01:05:58.880
Me too.
I heard about you.
01:05:58.960 --> 01:06:02.640
Shana told me your story.
-A little, not everything, there is more.
01:06:02.720 --> 01:06:04.440
It seems so unreal.
01:06:09.600 --> 01:06:11.720
I feel that this is one family.
01:06:11.800 --> 01:06:14.160
Yes, that is how I feel too,
and that's why
01:06:14.240 --> 01:06:16.600
it was so important to me
that you meet each other.
01:06:18.080 --> 01:06:19.800
Thank you.
-I would like to hug you.
01:06:19.880 --> 01:06:20.880
Thank you.
01:06:21.520 --> 01:06:23.240
I appreciate you a lot.
-Thanks.
01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:50.400
- Faculty of Law -
01:07:08.160 --> 01:07:11.360
Genendy's story is told by her according
to her version based on her memories.
01:07:11.480 --> 01:07:14.240
The creator of the film shows
the shunning that Genendy experienced
01:07:14.320 --> 01:07:16.800
by her community as
a result of her speaking out
01:07:16.920 --> 01:07:20.320
and the secondary trauma she feels
the shunning had caused her.
01:07:20.400 --> 01:07:23.600
Genendy's Father: ““To me, this has been
all so painful that I just can't discuss it.”
01:07:23.680 --> 01:07:26.480
In regard to the allegations of others
who were abused he responds:
01:07:26.560 --> 01:07:28.800
There is nothing to it, zero.
I don't wish to discuss this.
01:07:28.880 --> 01:07:31.640
Speak to the Rabbanim. There is a Bais Din here
and should be done right according to the Torah.
01:07:31.720 --> 01:07:33.840
Genendy's sister: "The family
has nothing to say about my sister.
01:07:33.920 --> 01:07:36.040
As far as we are concerned,
Genendy hardly exists anymore,
01:07:36.040 --> 01:07:40.200
unless she recants her claims against the father
We believe Genendy is mentally unstable.
01:07:40.320 --> 01:07:42.720
The family's rabbi: “Genendy's accusations
were made known to police and social services.
01:07:42.840 --> 01:07:45.240
None of the psychologists she consulted
with took her seriously.
01:07:45.320 --> 01:07:47.960
At the time, I advised her siblings
to maintain contact and be kind.
01:07:48.040 --> 01:07:50.320
The therapist strongly recommended Genendy
to put her issues behind her and get on with her life.
01:07:50.400 --> 01:07:52.720
She refused, and only then did I advise
the family to break off contact with her.
01:07:52.800 --> 01:07:55.280
Sexual abuse is a serious issue,
and I take these allegations seriously.
01:07:55.360 --> 01:07:57.720
Morever, professionals are legally
obligated to report abuse to the authorities.
01:07:57.800 --> 01:08:02.440
This was done in this case and
we have taken action in other cases
01:08:02.560 --> 01:08:05.360
where action was warranted.
But not all allegations are true.
01:08:05.520 --> 01:08:07.840
A detective who investigated
other complaint about Genendy's father
01:08:07.920 --> 01:08:10.520
that was filed by parents in 1999:
"The investigation was dropped.
01:08:10.640 --> 01:08:12.560
We had sufficient material...
to place him under arrest
01:08:12.640 --> 01:08:14.120
(but) no one in the community
wanted to come forward.”
01:08:14.240 --> 01:08:16.200
The responses were given
to Phil Jacobs (City Paper 2014)
01:08:16.360 --> 01:08:18.120
Andrew Friedman (Jerusalem Post2013) and
Meyer Seewald J.C.W.2018 J.C.W. 2018