Ephraim Padwa Issues a Clumsy, Agudah-Style Press Release to Deny Covering Up Molesting

As previously reported, London’s Haredi Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, head of their Union of Hebrew Orthodox Congregations (UHOC) is up to his neck in a swamp of scandals whose common denominator is covering up sex abuse. Like his American colleagues in Satmar, he thinks he can sucker the secular world. No dice!

Channel 4 in Britain is nipping at his heels. On January 30 they will air a program about cover-ups of molesting in the Haredi world and they have the goods on him. In a teaser conveyed by Miriam Shaviv we learn that he was recorded acknowledging that someone was a molester but shouldn’t be reported to the authorities.Padwa knows that more will follow.

So he issued a statement about reporting child abuse that sounds a lot like the Agudah position in America, but it was less artful. In essence it professes concern for children, insists that all complaints should first be brought to the UHOC and assures everyone that, when appropriate, cases will be forwarded to the proper civil authorities. This is also the policy of Agudath Israel of America (aka Agudah) which I call, Intercept and Deflect.

For the full text and translation see the posting on Miriam’s Shaviv’s blog, Bloghead.