Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities and Child Sex Scandals (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, & Life) (Hardcover)

~ Amy Neustein (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tempest is a testament to how we can protect our children and make our Jewish communities the safe and nurturing places we want them to be."--Esther Giller, President and Director of the Sidran Institute, Baltimore

"Neustein's work is a most timely volume that serves educators, parents, clergy, and mental health professionals who face the challenge of protecting children from child sexual abuse."--Debbie Fox, Director of Children and Family Services, Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles

"The veil of secrecy shrouding clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse has been torn asunder in the past decade. Neustein's thoughtful and pragmatic collection provides practical interventions to assist clergy of all religious faiths."--Terence A. Keane, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Boston University, and Robert A. McMackin, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

"Neustein's fascinating collection includes perspectives from rabbis, lawyers, psychotherapists, social workers, and educators who seek to empower children against predators. One chapter tells the parallel history of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. . . . This book skillfully gathers the voices of those who struggled against official silence to speak truth and demand justice in this case and others . . . [and] helps us begin the discussions we have resisted too long." --Providence Journal

Product Description

In 2006, New York magazine and ABC's Nightline both featured stories dealing with rabbis who had abused children entrusted to them. Then, at the start of 2007, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published a five-part series on sexual abuse by rabbis who led congregations, taught religious studies, and ran youth groups. The series soon was picked up by Jewish newspapers nationwide. Despite this spate of media coverage, there has been a dearth of scholarly material investigating sexual abuse within the Jewish clergy.
Tempest in the Temple brings together fifteen practicing rabbis, educators, pastoral counselors, sociologists, mental health professionals, and legal advocates for abuse victims, each of whom offer insights into different facets of the problem.
This book is divided into three sections. The first section, "When the Vow Breaks," describes rabbis who break their "vows" through active pedophilia. The second section, "Sacrificing Victims," illuminates the community dynamics surrounding abuse: how a community unwittingly contributes to the cover-up of abuse; why victims of abuse are all too often ignored or cast off by their religious communities; and the mechanisms by which powerful religious institutions protect their own. The third section, "Let Me Know the Way," addresses how Jewish communities can overcome the ignorance, bias, and corruption associated with clergy sexual abuse. Solutions--some already successful, others yet to be tried--are explored here.
Tempest in the Temple offers an open discussion of some of the most deeply rooted fears in the Jewish community. While it is the first book to bring child sex scandals in temples and synagogues to light, its purpose is not to blame or shame Jews but to examine this horrific problem with as much clarity and precision as possible so that the best remedies can be offered to the community as a whole.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: Brandeis (April 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584656719
• ISBN-13: 978-1584656715
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #635,267 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and engaging read to an underreported topic, November 1, 2009

By	Matthew Posey (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Tempest in the temple is a collection of essays edited by Amy Neustein that addresses the much under-reported issue of sexual abuse within Jewish Communities. The book is divided into three parts and comprised of nine essays from people with diverse backgrounds - lawyer, rabbi, survivors of child abuse, psychologists, and social workers. These different perspectives each bring a unique voice to the topic. This book includes essays containing heart wrenching tales of abuse, the frustrating pursuit of an accused abuser over twenty years, technical issues of how the abuser/abused relation develops, characteristics of abusers, and recommended approaches to handling potential cases of abuse.

One of the most intellectually engaging aspects of the book are the attempts to understand why the community would act to hide cases of abuse. One particularly striking reason is the concept of m'sirah; the idea of informing on a Jew to a non-Jewish authority being against Judaic law. In some Orthodox circles there are amazingly strong proscriptions against m'sirah that include enacting a death penalty on the informant. There are also strange concerns of providing fuel for anti-Semitic views and generally an attitude that suggests the shame of revealing that abuse occurs in the community is somehow worse then the actual presence of the issue.

This book provides a number of well written essays that explores the topic of child abuse in an in depth manner. The only concern I would have is that a reader might conclude that the assertions and issues brought up only apply to Jewish communities.After reading this collection it is apparent that many of the reasons for abuse arise out of the power differential of rabbi and congregant and are allowed to occur due to the surrounding bureaucracy - neither of which are unique to Jewish communities. I'd encourage any reader of this book to keep this aspect in mind while reading this collection.

A at times painful read but I'd recommend it to anyone interested in better understanding how abuse occurs within a religious context.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexual Abuse and Jewish Clergy, October 16, 2009

By	Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

tein, Amy (editor). "Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities and Child Sex Scandals", Brandeis University Press, 2009.

Sexual Abuse and Jewish Clergy

Amos Lassen

I never dreamt that I would see a book like this. I suppose that is because I have never heard of any instances in which Jewish clergy was responsible for child sex scandals. Now I see I was wrong and I guess my Jewish chauvinism of "it can't happen here" has lost its credibility.
In the past few years we have been made more and more aware of child abuse from the clergy and I know I would read stories with my mouth wide open thinking what a horrible thing this is. I figured that a lot of this happened in the Catholic Church because of celibacy and in other Christian churches because of the fundamentalist views. As I read this book I discovered that in 2006 there were stories in the media about rabbis who had abused children in their care. In 2007, the stories began to spread and what was obviously missing from the picture was a way to deal with the problem. Unlike other religions, Judaism has no central body to legislate on such happenings and I am sure that many other Jews felt the same way that I did about it not happening to us.
Amy Neustein takes a look at the situation from different perspectives--she has essays written by rabbis, lawyers, psychotherapists, social workers and educators who include in their work ways of teaching children how to be safe from the predators that are out there. She has divided the book into three sections--in the first section, "Breaking the Vow", the essays relate to rabbis who practice pedophilia and I found this to be totally shocking. The second section, "Sacrificing Victims" shows the community reaction to abuse and shockingly describes how abuse is covered up by a community and how and why victims of abuse are ignored or cast out of their communities. We also see here how some religious communities will protect their own leaders. "Let Me Know the Way", the third section shows how we can rise above the situation and the abuse and offers solutions of how to handle abuse.
What we get here--in what I understand is the first book on the subject--is an overview of the entire issue and what we can do about it. The book is, in effect, a way to learn how to protect children and thereby make Jewish communities safe havens. The book itself is quite open and it is written in a way that anyone can understand it. We are able to further see the values of Torah and in doing so we can make sure that abuse does not come to be in our communities. The book may shock you as it did me but it is also a call to make sure that something like this will never happen. It is a must read for all those who have children, want to have children and who work with children.