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Already a convicted Megan’s Law offender, Mitchell Levinton of Passaic Park told a judge in Paterson that he tried to pay the boys to give him oral sex after having them masturbate in front of him in 2006, while working for a kosher catering company.
Vicki Polin, founder and CEO of the Awareness Center, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning that she hopes the community continues “to rely on law enforcement and child protective services when there is a case of suspicions of child abuse and or neglect” by any member, instead of dealing with it privately.
Statistics show that only 16% of cases involving sex crimes against children are ever reported to law enforcement in the secular world, as opposed to what she believes is 1 or 2 percent among the Orthodox, Polin said.
Debate has raged the past couple of years, as cases not only against community members but also prominent rabbis have come to light.
And while there are some who still adhere to the traditional approach, others are vehemently calling for a dedicated shift to criminal prosecutions in all instances.
“While the good news is that justice is served and the community’s children are now protected from this monster, it is shameful and disgraceful that the community leaders and rabbis knew that he was a convicted sex offender and did nothing to warn parents,” said Rabbi Asher Lipner, Ph.D.
“This is yet another example of misplaced “rachmanus” (mercy) that is so prevalent in the Orthodox community, in which pedophiles and sexual abusers are given every benefit of the doubt,” Lipner said. “And even when there is no doubt, are welcomed with open arms and love into the community where they inevitably re-offendm.
“Meanwhile the innocent children have nobody to stand up for them. It will be interesting to see if we will witness at the sentencing a similar spectacle to what happened only a few weeks ago in Brooklyn, when the whole Orthodox community sided with the convicted molester and nobody could find even one word of support for the victims.”
Levinton faces up to five years in state prison when he is sentenced in January, after pleading guilty to endangerment charges on Monday. He is being held without bail in the Passaic County Jail because he is also awaiting sentencing on a lewdness conviction.
Authorities first arrested him nearly 18 months ago on charges of exposing himself to a 17-year-old developmentally disabled boy in Passaic. He was on lifetime probation at the time, after a 2001 sex-related conviction involving an adult.
The Orthodox community, while wanting to help an obviously troubled individual, also couldn’t overlook his crimes.
“I am pleased to say that by far most of the rabbis in Passaic have been supportive of the alleged victims and of bringing the allegations to law enforcement authorities,” attorney Michael Lesher, who has worked to protect children nationwide from sexual abuse, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT earlier this year.
Those unfamiliar with the Orthodox faith are only just discovering the struggles its people are dealing with. And yes, there are similarities to the scandals within the Catholic Church — with prior incidents handled, for want of a better term, in-house.
“[M]any of the Rabbanim, therapists and parents knew very, very well about the danger that this individual presented to children,” Lipner added. “He had been arrested several times prior.
“Some rabbis chose to cover it up by refusing to alert their congregations,” said Lipner, who is vice president of the Jewish Board of Advocates for Children and an advocate for the victims of abuse. “Who knows how many more children had to pay the price for this decision.”
Lipner has tried to get the community to turn to law enforcement authorities when such incidents occur. His religion actually requires criminals be turned over to secular authorities, he said. Those who don’t are guilty of “idly standing by the blood of your neighbor.”
“Some people feel … if you publicly name a rabbi as a molester, you are ‘anti-rabbis,’ or if you publicly criticize a yeshiva that acts irresponsibly you are ‘attacking yeshivas,’ or if you say the Orthodox community has a problem, just like everybody else, then you are ‘anti-Orthodox’,” Lipner said in an interview with Jewish Week.
Indeed, critics within the Orthodox community have said that abusers often weren’t recognized for what they were. People simply couldn’t believe it could happen.
Orthodox leaders also apparently believed that if they counseled the abuser — or perhaps moved him someplace else — the trouble would end, community members say.
Such “behind-the-scenes” agreements obviously have failed, as the number of publicly-cited victims have increased. But they’ve also taught the community a lesson — at least in Lipner’s eyes.
In turn, the Orthodox community’s attitude toward sexual predators seems to be changing, he said.
The “fear so many have of speaking up is based on a stigma that is illogical and disappearing with education and awareness,” Lipner said.
The Jewish Board of Advocates for Children (www.jewishadvoctes.org) has called for mandated reporting of suspicion of abuse by rabbis and teachers in yeshivas; mandated fingerprinting and background checks of all employees in yeshivas; mandated safety plans with full transparency and written instructions to parents; and mandated firing and punishment of employees for any sexual or physical abuse.
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