Yeshiva University Offers Online Child Abuse Prevention Course for Rabbis Early each Monday morning, from 1:30 to 3:30 a.m., Rabbi Alon Meltzer wakes up and logs on to his computer, joining 20 other rabbis from countries around the world who are participating in a new online Yeshiva University course designed to help rabbinic leaders identify and protect their communities from the dangers of child abuse. As rabbi of the ACT Jewish Community, Inc., in Canberra, Australia, he considers the sleep loss a small price to pay.

Victor Vieth

“It’s imperative that we, as rabbis in the Orthodox world, understand as much as we can about child abuse if we are going to navigate the complexity of emotions and pain of congregants, or anyone who has experienced an atrocity like this, as they seek guidance,” said Meltzer. “Continuing my education is paramount and the opportunities afforded to me through YU grants me, and by extension my community, access to the brightest minds in an array of fields.” Jointly offered by YU’s Center for the Jewish Future (CJF), YU-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) and Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center, the course, “Addressing Child Abuse: Defining Roles, Enhancing Skills,” takes place over 12 weeks and features experts in fields that run the gamut from synagogue safety to emotional healing. “Rabbis engage the issues relating to child abuse on multiple levels,” said Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, the David Mitzner Dean of the CJF. “They play a crucial role in educating the community regarding awareness and prevention, they contribute to setting policies in local institutions to prevent and address issues of child abuse and they are often on the front lines of guiding families through these extraordinarily difficult circumstances and counseling them through the complexities of the situation.” “The rabbi is in a unique position,” said Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda, director of online rabbinic programming at the CJF. “The rabbi has to be this Superman: he’s the first responder for all crises in the community and bears the weight of every person’s pain, suffering and troubles. This course seeks to provide rabbis with the skills, resources and relationships with presenters so that they have a full toolkit to draw on, both in terms of knowledge and being able to connect to people and consult with them as these issues come up.” The course was developed after a one-day intensive workshop offered last year met with overwhelming demand for further exploration. “The response from the one-day seminar was this feeling that it had been both incredibly eye-opening and incredibly unnerving and scary,” said Lavenda. “Victor Vieth, founder and senior director at Gunderson, will be leading many sessions, and he has a background in working with faith-based institutions, clergy and chaplains. But we also have our own community experts that provide real, relatable experiences about what’s really going on in our shuls, our schools and our communities.” Lectures in the course are tailored to the dilemmas of dealing with abuse in religious communities, with presentations from Dr. David Pelcovitz, the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Psychology and Jewish Education at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, on the unique presentation of child abuse in Orthodox Jewish communities, and Dr. Shira Berkovitz, director of Youth Department Consulting, on implementing effective policies in synagogues. Sessions with Vieth cover everything from the dynamics and long-term effects of child abuse to how spiritual communities can help victims heal and how rabbis can care for their own mental and emotional health as they work with difficult and painful cases. Other presenters include Debbie Fox, director of the Magen Yeladim International Child Safety Institute; Alison Feigh, director of the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center; Rabbi Mark Dratch, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America and founder of Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse Free Environment; and Amy Russell, executive director at Gundersen. For many of the participants, one of the most difficult and eye-opening elements of the course is confronting the prevalence of abuse in religious communities. “We tend to assume that folks inside faith communities are moral, upstanding, and would never violate a child,” said Vieth. “Just accepting the likelihood that most communities have survivors and people who prey on children is hard. Participants will leave this course with state-of-the-art knowledge about what kinds of protection policies should be in place, how to respond to child abuse, and how to work with criminal justice professionals and mental health professionals, as well as a deeper appreciation of the spiritual questions survivors have.” For Rabbi Yaakov Weiss, a chaplain from Omaha, Nebraska, facilitating that healing is one of the most important skills he hopes to gain from the course. “One of the jobs of the rabbi is to be there to support those that have been hurt, and the best way I know to help people is to understand them,” he said. “I want to serve as a resource to the synagogue and Jewish community about how to deal with cases of abuse and create safeguards to prevent future offenses. I am looking to hear ideas of how to help victims regain their comfort with themselves, humanity and God. There is tremendous pain that survivors have on their shoulders—my heart breaks for those that have been affected.” He added, “Abuse affects the whole person and the whole community. Those who survive it need the support of the whole community behind them.” Vieth noted that the depth and scope of YU’s 12-week course showed unprecedented initiative and commitment to improving community safety and awareness. “There are studies showing that undergraduate institutions and universities don’t know much about child abuse,” he said. “I think this YU course is historic and could be a model for other faith-based communities as well.” Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate in recognition of the significant time and resources they have dedicated to developing expertise in the area. “The role of continuing rabbinic education is something that Yeshiva University takes very seriously,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, YU vice president for university and community life. “It enables us to convene our academic and spiritual resources assuring the rabbinic couple and their community that Yeshiva’s engagement is a lifelong experience.”