I recently posted the following on my LinkedIn account:
You aren’t to blame if the abuser loses their job due to your reporting.
You aren’t to blame if the abuser ends up getting divorced due to your reporting.
You aren’t to blame if the family of the abuser suffers because the abuser gets put in jail due to their actions.
And Finally:
You aren’t to blame if the abuser decided to take their own life rather than go to court and/or jail.
It is the abuser themself who is solely responsible for all the above.
Some of the comments complained that religious Jews should not be speaking about this in public. That the family of the (alleged) perpetrator shouldn’t suffer (despite the fact that I listed no names). That I was defiling Jews across the globe.
My reaction to these comments was a single word: “GEVALT!”
We have made huge strides in the area of child sex abuse prevention, but huge strides doesn’t mean we are anywhere near the goal.
