Litzman Must Go!

This comment was made by Yaakov Tessler, a former aide to Deputy Health Minister, Yaakov Litzman. I’m sure he was simply restating his former boss’s position.

I used to have a soft spot for Litzman. By most accounts he has been a very effective health minister. His polices have benefited all Israelis, secular and religious. He commanded the respect of all Israelis for his service and was so effective at his job that for a while he became Health Minister (dropping ‘Deputy’ from his title). That made him one of the most powerful politicians in Israel.

That was quite an accomplishment for a Charedi politician. First because to the best of my knowledge no Charedi politician has ever been a member of the Israeli cabinet.  And 2^nd because this was an exception made by Charedi leaders in their Hashkafic policy of never serving in a cabinet position .

He has since resigned and returned to his deputy position in protest over Israel’s draft laws. But for all practical purposes he is the Health Minister since there is no one carrying that title. He is the man at the top.

Unfortunately recent actions by Litzman have made me lose that soft spot. Because he apparently has his own soft spot for convicted pedophile rapists and perhaps even convicted murderers – at least if they are Charedi. The Times of Israel reports the following: 

This follows the revelation a few moths ago that Litzman interceded on behalf of Malka Leifer, a former religious girls high school principal in Australia. Facing 74 counts of sexually abusing  her students Liefer fled to Israel. All attempts at extradition have thus far been thwarted. Litzman who has interceded on her behalf has been accused of trying to get state psychiatrists to falsify their evaluations of Leifer’s mental state by saying that she was mentally unfit for trial and therefore not to be extradited.

Litzman denies all these reports calling them ‘lies and slander’. But that belies his own admission of trying to help any citizen that appeals to his office for help. Trying to get state psychiatrists to lie about their psychiatric evaluation of an accused pedophile goes just a ‘wee bit’ beyond helping Israeli citizens.

Litzman apparently feels that rapists and murderers deserve compassion too if they are Charedi. What about compassion for the victims and their families? Does he not understand that being kind to the cruel ends up being cruel to the kind? How does he think the victims and their families feel about what he is doing? Where is his compassion for them?

How can someone who defines himself as being Chareid L’Dvar HaShem (fearing the word of God) not follow the example of God Himself who is a Rachum V’Chanun? We are a people who have compassion in our blood dating back to the patriarchs? What Litzman is doing is the opposite of that disguised as compassion. His compassion if for the tormentors. Not for the tormented who need and deserve his compassion. How can it be that someone like that misses the mark by so much?

I don’t really know the answer to that. But Litzman is a Gerrer Chasid. It is unfortunately a characteristic of Ger Chasidus that protects their own no matter how vile one of ‘their own’ might be.

This has nothing to do with anti Chasidic bias. It has to do with demonstrable fact as the following example will illustrate.

Avreimel Mondrowitz is a Gerrer Chasid and a notorious pedophile. Here is what he did to earn that reputation.

Mondrowitz advertised in the Jewish Press posing as a psychologist (which was a lie – he never attended college,  never received any training, and created false degrees from prestigious universities that he hung on his wall). The ad read something like ‘Psychology Al Pi Halahca’. 

Religious parents would send him children in need of therapy. He groomed  countless numbers of them into becoming his rape victims - many of them via Mishkav Zechor! His sex abuse was so prolific that over the years his victims included Jews and non Jews alike. Until he was caught.  

He fled to Israel and has been living a full life  free to go where he pleases and do what he pleases with whomever he pleases. The US tried to extradite him and has failed every time they tried.  Ger pulled out all the stops to prevent that and succeeded. 

There is little doubt about Mondrowitz’s guilt.  At the time many survivors of his abuse came forward -  all describing the same pattern of grooming and abuse. I can’t explain Ger’s actions other than to say they thought he was innocent - despite all the evidence to the contrary. Evidence so strong that even some prominent Charedi leaders believed it. One of whom publicly called Mondrowitz a monster!

I guess that Litzman’s actions in this regard is consistent with Ger’s general attitude of presuming all Frum accused sex criminals to be innocent regardless of the evidence.

In my view, Litzman has lost the right to his office and should resign. He may have been a good public servant in that role in the past. But he lost that distinction. He should be trying to heal the souls of survivors, not trying to help the abusers that made them survivors. He should no more be the Deputy Minister of Health than Avreimal Mondrowitz should.