We currently have no mechanism to track abusers as they hide their tracks by moving jobs or preying on the weak in our community. For a community as organized and strong as we are, this is inexcusable. A process and destination must be established as a clearinghouse for all suspicions of abuse. We need a place to keep all the puzzle pieces so no one can say, “if only we had known.”
Such an effort will require unprecedented levels of cooperation across Jewish communal lines. Organizations will have to support this effort morally and financially. It must not be viewed as a fringe movement or it will fail. We must partner with our elected officials and law enforcement. Governance must be constituted with representatives from across the Jewish community.
We must come together based on concern for the safety of our children, to make clear that abuse will no longer be tolerated. This is not just a conversion or mikvah problem. It is a Jewish problem. The only way change will happen is if we all come together, committed to making our Jewish community safe.
Steve Burg, “Lessons from the Lanner Fallout”, The Jewish Week (28 November 2014), 56.