A child sex abuse scandal in Australia’s Jewish community has spilled into America, as a pending extradition, arrests in Australia and a slew of cover-up allegations put that community’s response to molestation under scrutiny. Australian police are seeking to extradite convicted child molester David Kramer, currently in jail in Farmington, Mo., on suspicion of having…
Three weeks ago, the Forward published a story about the dramatic increase in arrests of Orthodox men for child sexual abuse in Brooklyn. The figure that the Forward published — 89 men arrested and charged between October 2009 and October 2011 — was given to this newspaper during two separate conversations with the Brooklyn District…
The chimes of Old Main, the clock tower that looms over the campus of Pennsylvania State University, sound different these days: vacant, distant, ominous, as they?ve never been in my previous semesters. They?re no longer a quintessential collegiate timekeeper sheltered in a limestone tower. Now they?re a grave reminder of dark secrets that may have…
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes claims to have arrested an unprecedented 89 men on child sex-abuse charges in the ultra-Orthodox communities in Brooklyn over the past two years — but declines to provide any details backing up the numbers or to give the status of any of the cases. Sexual abuse survivors and their advocates…
Students rioted in the streets of State College, Pa., Wednesday night after Penn State’s board fired revered football coach Joe Paterno, who has been caught up in a spiralling child sex scandal involving a former top assistant coach. The president of Penn State, Graham Spanier, who is Jewish and according to The Daily Collegian was…
One of the most high-profile convictions of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi for sexual abuse in recent times may be in danger of reversal, according to new disclosures in court records obtained by the Forward. When Baruch Lebovits was sentenced last year to up to 32 years in jail, victims’ rights advocates hailed it as a turning…
The abduction and murder of Leiby Kletzky in a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn has reignited a debate over when Jews can report sexual abuse to the authorities. Levi Aron, 35, was indicted on murder charges in the July 12 killing and dismemberment of 8-year-old Leiby. In a confession to police, Aron said he…
Maya Vered-Lev has been on a hunger strike since June 5. Perhaps for someone like her whose body has experienced some of the greatest horrors in human existence, extreme hunger may not be so terrible. Still, she has been sitting in front of the Knesset for weeks trying to get someone’s attention. She’s competing with…
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