Four Horsemen of the Kol Koreh 2 – Rav Ratzon Arussi and the Media Ambush

Author's note - This post is the latest installment on the series about The Four Horsemen of the Kol Koreh Apocalypse. If you are not up to date on the tpic, please see the opening post HERE.

 

Welcome back from our interlude (previous post). I apologize that it took way longer than expected to resume.

The interlude was meant to impress a very important lesson. When we turn over a case or an individual to the civil authorities, they are going to handle it their way. And their way may not always be the right way.

As we saw, the consequences may be above and beyond what is called for, it may be highly damaging in general, and in turn, it may be damaging to people other than the perp such as innocent family members of the perp, the alleged victim as well as family members of the victim, and a cast of thousands.

This damage may be extensive, devastating and irreversible.

Although there are teshuvos from prominent poskim that tell us that if this is what we must do, we cannot worry about the fallout; the same teshuvos either say or intimate that if this is not what we must do, it is to be avoided at all reasonable costs. The words of HRHG Rav Elyashiv, ZTL, to Rav Feivel Cohen, Shlita, reign supreme: “Each individual case must be assessed by a qualified talmid chacham.” In fact, Agudath Israel of America officially took this position in a Halachic Conference for Professionals on May 15, 2011. (From the link it appears that the liberal Orthodox criticized this.)

Wise rabbanim are aware of this. Those that are not as wise sign indiscriminate, broad-based Kol Korehs telling “Every individual” to “promptly notify secular law enforcement”. It’s amazing how the Halacha can change in a mere four years.

Fortunately, it hasn’t changed for everyone. In June of 2015, a pair of young liberal minded journalists from Ynet (Yediot Aharonot) embarked on an undercover sting operation to reveal that at least 21 out of 27 chareidi rabbanim in Eretz Yisroel have not lost their sanity – even though this isn’t how they reported it. As liberal secular-minded consumers, they evidently have a different definition of “sanity” than our Torah does.

This is because, as I wrote in the height of my Mesira series, consumerism impairs one’s ability to Think like a Jew. It makes one think like left-wing journalists. But rabbanim who have studied our Torah are not “consumers”. They are mumchim - experts. They (read: we) think very differently. They (we) think the way HKBH wants us to think. This is what we pray for when we say “Attah chonen l’adam daas…”. Daas is not just knowledge; it is logic and reason. And only those who aspire to it and pray for it, acquire it.

We continue our discussion of the Four Horsemen of the Kol Koreh Apocalypse with the saga of the “media ambush” (i.e., journalistic sting operation) of 27 chareidi rabbanim in Eretz Yisrael among whom is HRHG Rav Ratzon Arussi, Shlita. Note, the term media ambush was expressed by Harav Arussi himself.

It goes without saying (though I will say it anyhow) that the media ambush was carried out by the liberal Israeli secular press. In June of 2015, two investigative reporters for Ynet (Yediot Aharonot) named Ariella Sternbach and Yehuda Shochat embarked on an undercover vendetta to discredit chareidi rabbanim for not stooping down to their level. They approached 27 chareidi or chardali rabbanim to see if they are as narrow minded as they are. If you understand Hebrew or use Google Translate, you can see the complete report HERE.

For those who prefer English, the event was enshrined in a blog titled A Mother in Israel by Hannah Katsman. You can see it HERE.

It appears that the female of the species, Ms. Ariella Sternbach, then 25, posed as a 17-year-old chareidi girl who was visiting a friend and was molested by the man of the house, i.e., father of said friend, or by a teacher or Rav. I believe that in most cases, if not all of them, the fictitious petitioner said that her fictitious mother doesn’t want her to complain to police. In effect, the rabbanim were being asked not only whether to complain to police, but also, should the young girl actively overrule her mother in order to do so.

For some reason, Ms. Sternbuch does not believe that what a girl’s mother thinks about what is best for her daughter should carry any weight.

In any case, the results that they obtained, which were exactly what they were looking for and what anyone should expect, were presented as shocking and Sodom-like. It seems to them that about six rabbanim responded to their satisfaction, so those few are referred to as the “Tzaddikim in Sodom”.

We must note, as is evident with the narrative of Rav Arussi, that there must have been variations in each case. Firstly, the article says that she posed as a victim sometimes of a neighbor, sometimes of a Rav and sometimes of a teacher. Invariably, in all the cases the Rav being solicited asked some questions and, as all conjurers must, they needed to make up details as they went along. As is common in fictitious events, sometimes a detail made at one point conflicts with one made later. Clearly, each Rav heard a slightly different story.

The report actually names most of the 27 rabbanim with a one-line synopsis of their advice. Only a select few are singled out for detailed discussion. As the trailblazer for the group, they chose to target HRHG Rav Ratzon Arussi who, we can see, is an exceptionally rational and reasonable thinker.

Rav Ratzon Arussi is a Yemenite born talmid chacham as well as a law professor. He was born in Yemen in 1944 and immigrated to Israel in 1949 (B”H, he survived the horrific Yemenite children purges). He learned in some prominent Yeshivos and studied law at Tel Aviv university and is currently the Chief Rabbi in Kiryat Ono.

I would gather that most readers never heard of Kiryat Ono. Kiryat Ono is a tiny township located just south of the point where Ramat Gan, Petach Tikva and Bnei Brak converge. It is adjacent to Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer. Like most of suburban Tel Aviv, it is a predominantly secular township with its token religious population.

In any case, Ms. Sternbach called up Rav Arussi and said she was visiting a friend and when the friend went out on an errand, the friend’s father molested her. She noted that her mother does not think she should take this incident to the police because it may interfere with shidduchim “and such”. What does the Rabbi think?

The Rav asked her some questions to which she gave conflicting answers. No, he didn’t get to "the act", wait, yes he did, yes, she was touched intimately with real genital contact...but she is still a virgin.

Uh-huh.

The Rav clearly told her that this is a very serious incident and she has grounds to go to the police, but for her personal well-being, she should not.

What is interesting is the way he told her. He said, “Your mother is right”. He actually said, “to my consternation, your mother is right.” He wasn’t discussing whether it is permitted to go to the police or not. He certainly did not forbid it. In truth, that wasn’t her question. Her question was, should she obey her mother or not? Her mother certainly has a vote in this. After all, the girl is a minor besides being “chareidi”. And the mother already voted. She is asking the Rav whether she, the 17-year-old “victim”, should overrule her mother for altruistic or social reasons but at risk to herself.

As an aside, it is interesting that neither the fictitious victim, nor the Rav, was interested in the position of the girl’s fictitious father – who, in the fictitious scenario was probably not even informed. Regardless, he is also entitled to a fictitious vote.

In general, throughout the exercise, the rabbanim were remarkably consistent. It appears that in most of these cases, there are two very strong reasons not to report the event to the police at this point:

A.   Concern for the long-term welfare of the alleged victim

B.   Concern for the long-term welfare of the alleged perpetrator and/or those associated with him (or her)

As reported, some of the rabbanim put the emphasis on reason A and some of them on reason B. In most cases, both are in effect. As such, being light on the perp would not be coming at the expense of the victim since the victim stands to get hurt from police involvement just the same.

Subsequently, Rav Arussi was asked to publicly rationalize his advice. He did so in detail and he basically said all the above. He also added that the alleged perp could claim that the incident was consensual or seduction on the girl's part. I would add that since: (a) this happened on his turf and (b) there were no witnesses and (c) it fictitiously happened a month previously and (d) there was no complaint at the time and (e) there was no penetration or lasting physical effects, so long as he denies it, she won’t get very far with the authorities. 

To me, all this makes a lot of sense. thus, I find it shocking that both Ms. Sternbach and Ms. Katsman believe that Rav Arussi’s response (and those of his colleagues) was the wrong answer. To them, any Rabbi worth his frock should tell this or any 17-year-old girl, “Go ahead and defy your mother and put your entire future at risk and enter the unknown world of entanglement in criminal prosecution, not because it is best for you but because this is what Western society demands. Everyone else comes first and you come second.”

Liberals (consumers) are slaves to the dictates of Western society. They will shoot harmful drugs up their veins, and up those of their parents and children, just because they are told to by the "establishment" and by those who produce and sell those drugs, and they will disenfranchise those who question if it is safe and effective. It’s a common secular mindset that “the law” trumps common sense. I always thought that laws are supposed to reflect common sense.

I am also shocked at the shallowness of these two kalei-daas ladies who are totally oblivious to the non-practicality of filing a complaint (as explained a few paragraphs back). I suppose it’s all part of the liberal herd-mentality.

In her blog, Ms. Katsman initially responsibly presents both sides of the event. But in conclusion, she presents a very biased “summary” of “a few of the issues with Rabbi Arussi’s approach”. What she means is a “summary” (read: list) of the issues that she has with Rabbi Arussi’s approach. She totally ignores the reasoning presented by Rabbi Arussi and does absolutely nothing to explain why it isn’t sound advice.

Evidently, these journalists consider the approach that they personally advocate - self-sacrifice because reporting is automatically the "right thing to do" - to be the "compassionate" approach. Rabbis who think a molested girl going into shidduchim should look into her personal best interests clearly must be totally devoid of compassion and are Sodomites.

These modern women don’t seem to have the sense to figure out that if 21 out of 27 rabbanim who are all elderly and learned people, and who are community and family men, and who have daughters of their own, and have much more experience in human nature and the ways of the world than they have, are advising this person to take other measures (at least initially), maybe, just maybe, there is something to it and they may actually be able to learn from them.

At least we can learn from them, as Harav Arussi said in his response:

הנה צאו וראו, נתאר לעצמנו שיש מתלוננת שהיא בנפשה מאוד רכה ועדינה ולא יהיו לה את כוחות הנפש לעמוד בכל החקירות וכל הטענות שכנגד והיא עלולה להיות נפגעת נפשית בכל העניין, פושע מי שיגיד לה ללכת להתלונן, צריך לחפש דרך איך לפגוע באותו עבריין מיני אבל לא לחשוף אותה ולא לפגוע בה, כל מקרה לגופו של דבר, לכן כאמור זוהי עמדתנו.

Here, go out and see, let's imagine that there is a complainant who is very soft and gentle in her soul and will not have the strength of mind to withstand all the investigations and all the counter claims and she may be emotionally harmed in the whole thing, whoever tells her to go complain is negligent. We should look for a way to impair that sex offender but not to expose her and not harm her, each case on its merits, therefore as mentioned this is our position.

To me, this sounds a lot like the positions of Rabbi G. Shlita and HRHG Rav Elyashiv, ZTL. One thing is certain.

None of these 21 rabbanim would ever sign such an appalling Kol Koreh and probably not even the other six would.

Nor should they.