Outcry

Unfortunately there is no shortage of sexual abuse allegations at sleepaway camps: Camp Agudah, Dora Golding, Sternberg, Oorah Girl Zone, Magen Av, Romimu, and so many more. Whether we like to admit it or not, sleepaway camp often creates an environment where abusers can more easily prey on children and get away with it. In this episode we do a deep dive on the case against Eddie Ward at Surprise...

This week we are honored to be joined by Shulim Leifer. Shulim is a community activist on behalf of survivors, who has helped numerous survivors seek justice against their abusers. He joins us this week to discuss the sentencing of former Shomrim head, Yanky Daskal. In 2017, Daskal was arrested on charges connected to his rape of a 15 year old girl placed in his care. Originally brought up on stat...

While Shlomo Carlebach was considered by many to be a beloved if unconventional saint for mid to late 20th century Jewery, he had, as was described by Lilith Magazine in 1998, a Shadow Side to him. Many prefer to ignore this part of his life, minimizing it or pretending it never happened, but Shlomo Carlebach sexually abused and harassed an innumerable amount of women over the 30 years he was acti...

Mendy Pellin's interview with registered sex offender, Gershon Selinger, took the internet by a storm. Was it just the thing the community needed to shake it out of its denial? Was it a harmful platforming of a manipulative abuser? Is there anything to be learned from what Gershon said? As with most things, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Asher Lovy, director of ZA'AKAH, i...

The Weberman trial ended 10 years ago with a conviction and sentence to over 100 years in prison, but within the Satmar community, Nechemya Weberman is still considered not only innocent, but a sainted martyr. He has had articles published in local Satmar newspaper, the community still fundraises for him, and the Satmar Rebbe himself even visited him last year in Riker's Island. Recently the...

In our last episode we covered how Camp Shoresh, Beth Tfiloh, and Suburban Orthodox responded to the allegations of sexual abuse against Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky. Rabbi Krawatsky was allegedly strongly supported by the leadership at all 3 institutions, including by alleged financial contributions and fundraising toward his legal fees. In this episode we wrap up our coverage of this case. Obviously t...

In our last episode we discussed the allegations of sexual abuse against Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky, a former director at Camp Shoresh in Baltimore. We discussed the three children who came forward with allegations and the particulars of their claims. This week we get into the Child Protective Services investigations, the appeals of those decisions, and what Shoresh, Beth Tfiloh, and Suburban Orthodox...

We've discussed the Orthodox community in Baltimore many times on this podcast. We've detailed the various ways in which that community is uniquely dangerous to survivors of sexual abuse and children in general. From the numerous coverups that have happened over the years, to the numerous accused and convicted pedophiles who are allowed to attend community shuls, to general attitudes tow...

In our previous episodes about the Child Victims Act case against Yeshiva University for decades of sexual abuse allegedly committed during the 1960s 70s and 80s by Macy Gordon, Richard Andron, George Finkelstein, Elan Adler, Richard Ehrlich, and Marc Gafni, we discussed the history of the case, how the cases evolved over the years, the passage of the Child Victims Act, and the filing of the lates...

In our previous episode we covered the case against Richard Andron, the martial arts teacher at YUHS who allegedly molested a number of his students and was covered up for by the administration and his alleged child molester colleague George Finkelstein. In this episode of Outcry we cover the case against Macy Gordon, described by some as the most sadistic of the child sexual abusers at YUHS durin...

In our last episode about the child sexual abuse allegations against Yeshiva University, we covered the filing of the 2019 Child Victims Act lawsuit against Yeshiva University outlining allegations against all the named defendants, and the people involved in covering it up. In this episode we start our series of deep dives into the individual alleged abusers starting with Richard Andron. Andron wa...

In our last episode about the prolific sexual abuse committed and covered up at Yeshiva University we laid out the history of the case, previously filed lawsuits, Yeshiva University's sham investigation into these historical allegations of sexual abuse, and why the previous cases were unsuccessful. With the passage of the Child Victims Act in 2019, however, the alleged victims of Macy Gordon,...

Due to incredibly selfish reasons by Asher for bring unprepared for today's episode (namely, being busy in the process of getting engaged), the Yeshiva University case is temporarily out on hold while we instead provide some updates to 5 cases we've been getting a lot of questions about. In this episode we cover updates about the cases against former TABC principal Rabbi Shlomo Adelman,...

In this episode we begin our series on the decades of sexual abuse committed and covered up at Yeshiva University. Over the course of this series we'll be covering the many the abusers named in the currently active Child Victims Act lawsuits, of which there are over a dozen, and the many people who were responsible for covering it all up. Among the people named as enablers, we'll be disc...

After taking  a break to allow this episode's guest to recover from COVID, and for us to discuss the dangers of letting abuse enablers like Leslie Wexner and others off the hook too easy, we're finally please to invite Detective Rory Forrestal on the podcast to discuss the law-enforcement side of CSAM cases. Detective Forrestal has decades of experience in the field, both working within...

Last episode we said we would be bringing on a law enforcement expert in Child Sexual Abuse Materials cases to answer questions about the Belitz, Steen, and Keil cases, and that's still going to happen, but unfortunately he came down with COVID and we had to push his interview off to next episode. This week we invited Sara Rosenberg, founder of the Jewish Survivors Forum, on to discuss the is...

In last week's episode we began discussing the case against Leo Keil, a Philadelphia-based pedophile who was arrested and convicted for possessing and distributing hundreds of horrific images and videos of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) over IRC chats. Aside from just sharing these materials, Keil would hang around in chatrooms dedicated to sharing and discussing CSAM, and would actively...

In the wake of the case in Baltimore involving former TAG director and Bnos Yisroel STEM teacher, Zev Steen, being arrested for possession, distribution, and possibly creation of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), we'll be covering a similar case involving Leo Keil, a member of the Philadelphia Jewish community who was arrested and plead guilty to possession and distribution of CSAM. Keil w...

Nechemia Weberman is one of the most well-known sexual abusers in the history of the Orthodox Jewish community. His trial helped start ZA'AKAH and for many was the first time they were forced to contend with the reality and prevalence of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. Following his conviction on 87 counts of sexual abuse for repeatedly sexually assaulting his 12 year old clien...

Weberman's sentence to 103 years of prison for sexually abusing his 12 year old client was not the end of the case. Almost immediately an appeal was filed in state court to overturn the sentence. Both his first and second appeals were denied, and he is currently appealing the decision in federal court. In this episode we get into the weeds on his appeals, what his claims are, why they're...

Modeled after the Child Victims Act, the New York State legislature passed the Adult Survivors Act in May of 2021. The new law opens a one-year lookback window during which any adult survivors of sexual assault whose case had previously been barred by the statute of limitations can sue their abuser or anyone who enabled their abuse in civil court. In this episode we sit down with Linda B. Rosentha...

In our last episode we covered the beginning of the Weberman trial from his arrest to his victim's harrowing testimony and cross-examination in court, the fundraiser held for Weberman that raised $500,000 for his defense, and a few of the many instances of backlash and intimidation against the victim by the community. In this episode we'll talk about the rest of the trial and Weberman&ap...

A lot happened during the trial of Nechemya Weberman. A wildly successful fundraiser for an alleged pedophile, half a million dollar bribe declined and reported, 4 people arrested for witness intimidation, family retaliated against, businesses destroyed, and a victim publicly humiliated by one of the leaders of her community. But while this is certainly a story of a community unleashing hell upon...

Welcome to Outcry, a podcast about sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community! Outcry, the English translation of ZA'AKAH, will be covering current and historical cases of sexual abuse in the community, busting myths and disinformation about sexual abuse, providing best-practices based information for survivors, parents, teachers, and community leaders on how to prevent and respond to sexu...

In this episode of Outcry we introduce ourselves so you can get to know us a little. We are Asher Lovy, director of ZA'AKAH, and Ariella Goldberg-Kay, ZA'AKAH's TikTok manager and survivor liaison. We introduce ourselves and talk about why ZA'AKAH started in 2012, what we've been doing since then, and what our goals are for this podcasts. We touch on topics like the Intern...