“As Beit Dins Spar, Apparent Abuser Remains Free” (Dec. 5) is a valuable article. The reporter, Rachel Delia Benaim, and The Jewish Week served the community well by exposing an alleged rapist who remains free. This story is unusual because the secret workings of Jewish religious courts (batei din) were exposed through a set of leaks on my blog, Frum Follies, and Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn’s blog, Daas Torah. Both of our blogs are heavily focused on sex abuse in the Orthodox community and have been around for more than five years. But for the postings on our blogs, many critical documents would not have been available to be quoted in this story. Yet the story never acknowledges these sources either by name or link.
Readers seeking the full source documents on which the above was based should visit my blog, Frumfollies.Wordpress.com.
The Jewish Week complained to The New York Times when The Times published articles about sex abuse, which drew heavily on the work of Hella Winston, reporting for The Jewish Week, without crediting her. The Times Public Editor investigated and credited Winston’s work. I hope The Jewish Week will do the same and identify my contribution.
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