ABC News reported today on 23-year-old Joel Engelman, a former member of a strictly conservative Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, who has come forward with allegations of sexual abuse.
Engelman attended the United Talmudical Acadamy as a young child. While at school one day, the 8-year-old Engelman was summoned to Rabbi Avrohom Reichman's office where he was touched and fondled inappropriately. The rabbi, also the principal of the school, placed Engelman on his lap and began swinging the chair back and forth while touching and fondling Engelman's body, including his genitals. This abuse went on several times a week for several months.
Not only was the young student a survivor of shocking and continued sexual abuse, Engleman tells a horrifying tale of religious leaders advising him and his family to avoid going to the police and that they had "dealt with this before." Additionally, only days after the statute of limitations had passed in which Engelman could have filed a civil suit against the rabbi and the yeshiva, Reichman was reinstated as principal of the United Talmudical Academy.
Traditionally, Hasidic groups often try to avoid going to outside authorities, relying on their own community justice and religious courts. As a result, many individuals within the community with accusations of abuse refuse to take action or are too afraid of social repercussions within the group to go to police or other authorities.
Sexual abuse in any religious community is criminal and abhorrent. These illegal acts committed by rabbis and other members of the Hasidic community should not go unpunished and unreported. With the help of an experienced Brooklyn rabbi abuse attorney at the Zalkin Law Firm, you could be able to take action against your abuser.
