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Viewpoints Contributor Mitch Morrison is quoted extensively in this Jewish Week article about Passaic, New Jersey, confronting sexual abuse in the Orthodox community.
Rabbi Eisenman says he put the program together on short notice — he intentionally scheduled it during the High Holy Days, for the greatest spiritual impact — and proceeded when other local rabbis dropped out. The other rabbis reportedly expressed concern about what the panelists might say, including giving names of molesters who have not been formally accused, indicted or convicted.
“It’s just easier to do it alone,” Rabbi Eisenman says.
He did not tell the panelists what to say or what not to say; such limitations, he explains, would limit the emotional impact of their words.
“It opened him up to criticism … some felt it was irresponsible for him to allow people to have an open mic,” Morrison says.
In his FailedMessiah post on the Ahavas Israel program, Morrison called Rabbi Eisenman “a maverick rabbi.”
“He’s very much an independent person,” Morrison says. “Rabbi Eisenman is an emotional person. Passaic is a passionate community. In a lot of [other Orthodox communities] there’s an intellectual response that’s devoid of passion.”
Read more at https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/a-haredi-town-confronts-abuse-from-the-inside/. Read an article by Mitch Morrison about this issue at https://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2009/10/letter-from-passaic-talking-abuse-456.html.
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