Letter to the Editor - Errors regarding the case of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler
Jewish Press - May 4, 2005
Dear Editor,
I
wanted to start off by informing you of the many errors I've found in
your recent articles relating to the allegations of rabbinical sexual
misconduct by Rabbi Mordecai Tendler. In this letter I am only going to
address the many errors that I found that are directly related to The
Awareness Center. Please feel free to call me to discuss these issues. I
can be reached at 443-857-5560.
1. The Awareness Center is
more then just a "website". We are a (Sexual Violence) Victims Rights
Advocacy organization. Our organization offers a clearinghouse of
information on various issues pertaining to the topic of sexual
violence. As of today, The Awareness Center is the only Jewish
organization that focuses purely on helping survivors of incest, sexual
abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and rabbinical sexual
misconduct.
Only a small part of our time and web page focuses on
listing the names of alleged and convicted sex offenders. I think it's
important to mention that for years there has been an ongoing trend for
alleged and convicted offenders to move from one community to the next,
leaving a trail of survivors behind. There have been several incidents
where the alleged and also convicted offenders will move from city,
state or even country to another, to avoid prosecution and or because
they were chased out of town. There has also been a trend that they will
change their names from their English names to Hebrew names. The
Awareness Center tracks these occurrences the best we can as a way to
prevent any future victims. The Awareness Center also offers resources
for those who do offend and are seeking help, and also for family
members of alleged and convicted sex offenders. For more information go to: http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/offenders.html and
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/familymembermolests.html
2.
Rabbi Mark Dratch resigned from the Advisory Board of The Awareness
Center quite awhile ago. Rabbi Dratch has never been a member of our
Board of Directors. He never had a decision making role in our
organization. In your article "An Inappropriate Process (Part IV) dated
April 28, 2005, you stated Rabbi Mark Dratch is currently on our board
of directors. He is not. You can easily verify this information by going
to our web page: http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/board.html
3.
The Awareness Center is NOT an investigator organization. We are a
clearinghouse of information. We have policies in place of what goes up
on our list of alleged and convicted offenders. To view our policies go
to: http://theawarenesscenter.org/policies.html
4. The
Awareness Center had nothing to do with the way the Vaad Hakavod
operated. I personally wish we had been able to, yet that has never been
the role of our organization. Please remember we are an educational and
advocacy organization. The role our organization usually plays in any
case has been to provide information and resources to those who have
stated they had been sexual victimized. We have also supplied
information and resources to those in supportive roles to survivors, to
family members of alleged and convicted offenders, and also to alleged
and convicted offenders.
Considering all of the information provided
above that is readily available to anyone on our web page, I find it
amazing that there have been so many errors in your articles. I am also
surprised that no one from your paper has ever contacted The Awareness
Center.
On another note, I felt that it was important to thank
you for calling The Awareness Center "notorious." I had no idea that an
organization that is supported purely by volunteers and which has very
little funding could have such an impact in the orthodox world. I'm
amazed that it would be considered "notorious."
It makes one have
to stop and wonder, why you feel it is so threatening for an
organization to advocate to those who have felt they have been sexually
violated.
Sincerely,
Vicki Polin, Executive Director
The Awareness Center
