Tempest In The Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals

Book Summary

In 2006, New York magazine and ABC's Nightline both featured stories dealing with rabbis who had abused children entrusted to them. Then, at the start of 2007, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published a five-part series on sexual abuse by rabbis who led congregations, taught religious studies, and ran youth groups. The series soon was picked up by Jewish newspapers nationwide. Despite this spate of media coverage, there has been a dearth of scholarly material investigating sexual abuse within the Jewish clergy. Tempest in the Temple brings together fifteen practicing rabbis, educators, pastoral counselors, sociologists, mental health professionals, and legal advocates for abuse victims, each of whom offer insights into different facets of the problem. This book is divided into three sections. The first section, "When the Vow Breaks," describes rabbis who break their "vows" through active pedophilia. The second section, "Sacrificing Victims," illuminates the community dynamics surrounding abuse: how a community unwittingly contributes to the cover-up of abuse; why victims of abuse are all too often ignored or cast off by their religious communities; and the mechanisms by which powerful religious institutions protect their own. The third section, "Let Me Know the Way," addresses how Jewish communities can overcome the ignorance, bias, and corruption associated with clergy sexual abuse. Solutions--some already successful, others yet to be tried--are explored here. Tempest in the Temple offers an open discussion of some of the most deeply rooted fears in the Jewish community. While it is the first book to bring child sex scandals in temples and synagogues to light, its purpose is not to blame or shame Jews but to examine this horrific problem with as much clarity and precision as possible so that the best remedies can be offered to the community as a whole.

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