Hasidic leader found guilty of molesting teenage girl

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

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http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/satmar-leader-weberman-guilty-molesting-girl-article-1.1217092

OMG ANTI-SEMITIC JURY!!!!!111!!! [/NY Jew]

In all seriousness though this is quite frightening because with the way Hasidic culture works it could easily happen quite often and not get reported or found out. Child protective services needs to be keeping a close eye on these people just like with the FLDS.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Here's the biggest difference: If you want to quit being Catholic it's not a big deal, few if any people you know will care and it makes no serious change to your lifestyle. If you want to quit being a Hasid that's not quite as simple. These type of people have way more power and ability to get away with things than Catholic priests do. But ignoring that that's the real reason to "implicate an entire religious tradition" over this, these people use brutal tactics to keep folks in line and try to enforce their own style of law in their area like Sharia. Read the comments (mostly by people in Brooklyn.) There's a reason why people in Brooklyn in general including normal Jews aren't very fond of Hasids.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Here's the biggest difference: If you want to quit being Catholic it's not a big deal

You're sailing perilously close to the deluge.

1-in-3 Americans raised Catholic have left the church. People do it all the time. Probably just about everyone knows at least one ex-Catholic.

It's certainly not comparable to this: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hasidic-jew-runs-orthodox-roots-arranged-marriage-child/story?id=15540395

Someone might want to explain how the FLDS comparison is not warranted after that story above.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

BTW the reason this story is kind of notable is it marks a rare time the Brooklyn DA's office actually took action on such a case and didn't just ignore it or expect the shromrim to handle things, something the DA has received massive criticism for. Why did the Brooklyn DA act this way in the past? Well it's well known these communities will vote >90% in favor of whoever the lead rabbi endorses, so pissing them off would have some electoral consequences...

If you look a bit deeper into the case you'll find some other interesting things: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/nyregion/4-ultra-orthodox-men-charged-with-trying-to-silence-accuser-in-abuse-case.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

And remember that while all sorts of coverups occur in mainstream society and other religions, most don't have a concept similar to mesirah which is a complete prohibition on turning over another Jew into secular authorities (or more accurately, turning in a Hasid to non-Hasidic authorities, these people don't consider the vast majority of Jews to be legitimate Jews after all and here's what a mainstream rabbi has to say about it, obviously not supportive.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm fine with freedom of religion.  But, freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom to create your own laws or act like you own the people who were born into your sect.  Obviously, we want to respect any individual choosing to adopt this lifestyle.  That changes when religion leaders demand the ability to control other people.

EXACTLY. In fact that's not freedom of religion, it's the exact opposite. It's downright abhorrent to have one set of laws (or even not de jure laws but societal standards) for people in general and another for people who happen to be born in a certain tradition.

Just from personal experience, the Hasidim in my part of Brooklyn don't tend to show a lot of respect for the freedom of non-Hasidic people.  They have their own vigilante police, they violate housing laws constantly, they go nuts about women riding bicycles or dressing provocatively and they make inflammatory anti-Israel statements.

Yeah that's what I've heard. One guy on another forum who lives in Brooklyn (raised Reform Jewish, now atheist) jokes about how he wants to walk through their neighborhoods on the Sabbath eating a bacon cheeseburger because of their attitudes toward everyone else (which includes normal Jews as well).

Sure, it's much better to pretend to be tolerant than to accept there is a lot of problems with Hasidics.

Their lifestyle isn't compatible with Western laws and standards.

Could you elaborate on that please?

Their schools are illegal in Quebec and they refuse to respect the programs.
They have 5 days of Torah studying and one day of English and Maths. No science
That's obviously a way of dumbing down kids to keep them under control.

That is one example of how their backwards ways are incompatible with the freedoms and liberty of Western World.

You lost me on the last part. They are backward, so we have to ban their schools and force them to educate their children the way we want?.... in the name of freedom & liberty?

I don't follow.

In my view of things, Government first role is to protect its citizens.
And those kids really need protection. Those kids deserve to be able to have the same opportinuities than other kids, that is impossible under that lifestyle.

Pretty much this, yes. Someone born into this does not have freedom (look at the girl in question in the article and the other one in the later article) and that shouldn't be just tolerated by society.