Knitted news10.11.22 15:26 16:00 in Hashvan Tishpag
(Photo: Yossi Zeliger / Flash90)
After Rabbi Yuval Sharlo, and his son Rabbi Avraham Stav, rabbi of the city, who is Rabbi David Stav, even Hor comes out with a call to check the allegations made against Rabbi Zvi Tau.
Rabbi Stav clarifies that due to the disagreements between him and Rabbi Tau, he has so far preferred not to comment on the issue, but after hearing the testimony of two complainants, he decided to issue a call to investigate the complaints.
Rabbi David Stav’s full post
For several weeks now, I have been agonizing over the question of whether it is right to address publicly the claims made by a number of women, regarding serious sexual abuse inflicted on them by an important rabbi in religious Zionism.
There is no need to exaggerate the right of the complainants to make their voices heard and contact all the relevant authorities (police or other professional bodies). It is the duty of the police to investigate the complaints impartially – it seems that no one would disagree. Also on the presumption of innocence of the suspected rabbi and the need not to exact judgment without a trial – no one will appeal. And yet I preferred to remain silent. Since I have a long-standing ideological disagreement with the suspect rabbi, I thought it was inappropriate that I should be the one to voice the cry of the complainants.
In the last few days, I spoke with one of the complainants and she told me about the difficulties that are piled on her face by various bodies to which she turns, in order to clarify her complaints. Some of them, out of fear of touching up related to previous controversies. Since this is the case, I have come to the conclusion that I have no choice, and it cannot be that considerations of personal comfort and appearance will cause the voice of these women not to be heard and that justice will not be served. The role of rabbis in all generations was to stand on the side of the attacked, the injured, and the weak against those in power and to save Ashok from his wrath.
The accusations I was exposed to, through a conversation with one of the complainants and a recorded testimony of another complainant, are extremely serious. But this is of course only one side, and I have no tools to determine whether the claims are justified or not. Precisely because we have no tools to judge the validity of the claims, we cannot allow such accusations to remain hanging in the air.
The public in general, and the rabbi’s students and followers in particular, are supposed to demand that the facts be clarified without bias. In a reformed country, and in particular in the State of Israel, the beginning of the growth of our salvation, we have no better tools than law enforcement and order, chiefly the police and the prosecutor’s office. And hence the reference to them to check the issues up to eight.
The divine call, “And be a holy disciple”, obliges us more than ever to ensure that if there are people among us who are dangerous to the public, they will be removed from the public and come for their punishment, and on the other hand, to guard against slander and slander and false complaints. Only a vigorous investigation carried out in an orderly body will be able to create the necessary balance.
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