Business as Usual or a Teachable Moment?

Two young women studying at a seminary in Israel (TOI)

Cross Currents beat me to it. But that does not mean I am free to ignore it. Rabbi Yakov Horowitz has posted on his website what I consider to be the sine qua non for all seminaries in Israel. (Part of it was re-posted on Cross Currents.)

1) As nashim tzidkaniyos (righteous women) who, at great personal risk, did the right thing to protect others from what had happened to them?

2) As troublemakers and m’saprei lashon ha’ra (gossip-mongers), who ruined the career of Rabbi Meisels and jeopardized the very existence of the seminaries?

3) Or they are not mentioned at all – basically, “Let’s-Not-Spoil-the-Party-by-discussing-sordid-things-like-this.” (In the month of Elul, no less). 

Giving the young ladies messages contrary to these -- either by commission or omission -- after such a public scandal occurred, will create a toxic and unsafe environment for them both physically and spiritually.