Nu, Maybe You Saw Him on Dateline?

Jewschool is all over the JTA feature about sex scandals in our tribe. And if this is the first you’re hearing about it, you must be living under a rock (though you shouldn’t fret too much, because there are lots of Jews living under that rock with you).

We tend to have this notion that Jews don’t do things like rape and batter. We think that rabbis don’t take advantage of the power they hold, or abuse the respect of their congregants. Certainly rabbis don’t have sex with children!

Ummmm…. Yeah.

Why is that? How could we possibly think we aren’t out there doing the same awful shit other people are doing?

Because we’re CHOSEN? Because we’re LAWYERS and DOCTORS?

Jews make it a point (much like the Catholic Church) not to “air dirty laundry in public”. We keep quiet and circle the wagons when our fellow tribe-members do nasty things.

Funny… since technically our religion is very clear on, say, how rape is defined:

Marital sex is regarded as the woman's right, and not the man's. Men do not have the right to beat or mistreat their wives, a right that was recognized by law in many Western countries until a few hundred years ago. In cases of rape, a woman is generally presumed not to have consented to the intercourse, even if she enjoyed it, even if she consented after the sexual act began and declined a rescue! This is in sharp contrast to American society, where even today rape victims often have to overcome public suspicion that they "asked for it" or "wanted it." Traditional Judaism recognizes that forced sexual relations within the context of marriage are rape and are not permitted; in many states in America, rape within marriage is still not a criminal act.

Which makes a lot of Jewish men (and some I’ve known) rapists.

I really know nothing about this subject, though I think we all need to learn about it. What our leaders are doing… as an example of what our tribe is doing. And what our tradition has to say about it. This is a GREAT resource if you want to know more.