Why the need to hand sexual offenders to the police

What if you or one of your children was a victim of sexual abuse? What if you have spent many, many months living with shame, fear, misplaced guilt, anguish, and confusion? What if, after lots of therapy and self-reflection, you decide to report the crime and, in so doing, accuse another member of the Jewish community? Your decision is based on what you feel to be a moral obligation to protect the community from a sexual predator.

What if once going through the difficult process of reporting, of reliving the events but pushing through, you’re accused of being a moser (handing a Jew over to non-Jewish authorities) by members of the very community you seek to protect? What if you’re called a liar, accused of being on a witch hunt, declared the destroyer of this person and his family? What if you’re constantly told that the alleged offender has done teshuva (repented) and that he should be given a second chance?

What if you’re threatened and intimidated to the extent that you feel your life or your family will be in danger if you don’t drop the charges? What if you, the victim, are turned into the aggressor? What if this scenario is commonplace when it comes to reporting abuse in the Jewish community?

In Jewish law, one is forbidden to hand a Jewish offender over to non-Jewish authorities. This is called mesira and, historically, has been viewed as a grave sin. One of the reasons given for this is that, in earlier centuries, the courts were extremely antisemitic, resulting in overly harsh punishments. However, due to the evolution of the justice system in upholding human rights, this is generally no longer the case.

Rabbi Avrohom Union was brought out from Los Angeles by Koleinu SA in mid-June for a three-day conference on domestic violence and child sexual abuse. Rabbi Union is a dayan (judge) on the Los Angeles Beth Din, holds a Master’s degree in psychology, and is a renowned expert in these fields within the international Jewish community. He presented a strong case, based on multiple Torah sources, on the obligation and right that a community has to hand a sexual offender to the secular authorities in order to protect the community.

A sexual offender is considered a rodef, which is explained as someone attacking or attempting to attack an individual in order to kill them. According to Rabbi Union, child sexual abuse is seen in the eyes of the Torah as a life-threatening offence as it can condemn a victim to existential misery for the rest of their life. Even where there’s a strong suspicion of child sexual abuse, the alleged perpetrator is still considered a rodef and, according to the Torah, all means can be used to stop them, even if it means killing them. This indicates how seriously the Torah views the crime of sexual abuse and the damage and destruction it wreaks.

This obligation to take the strongest steps to protect the innocent and vulnerable overrides the risk of the perpetrator being killed or assaulted in jail. Jewish South Africans are generally reluctant to have a Jewish person sent to jail because they fear for their safety. However, the Torah mandates community members, both leaders and lay people, to take extra steps to protect the community. This protection of the community takes such priority that even when there’s no concern of the perpetrator re-offending, they can still be jailed in order to serve as an example to others.

Rabbi Union went on to discuss the matter of teshuva (repentance). In our community, when discussions around sexual predators arise, very often the automatic position is to assume that the perpetrator has done teshuva and is no longer a threat.

Often members of the community castigate a victim and accuse them of being overly harsh and of destroying the person and their family. They’re interrogated and re-traumatised with the question – but don’t you believe in teshuva?

They’re made to feel like they’re the guilty party for holding a perpetrator accountable. In most cases, the Torah allows the sinner to be given the benefit of the doubt; that is, that they have done teshuva, repented of their sin, and are determined never to repeat the offence. However, when do we know that a sexual offender has actually done teshuva?

The Torah prescribes teshuva to be a very specific and intentional process, demanding all the following steps: acknowledgement and admission of wrongdoing; sincere regret and remorse; a genuine and deeply felt apology to the victim; restitution, for example paying for the therapy of the victim; and a commitment to stopping the behaviour, which will most likely include intensive therapy.

Other actions completing the teshuva would be a commitment to remove themselves from an occupation or environment that triggers the behaviour. For example, a paedophile would agree to never work or be around children for the rest of their lifetime. Or a medical doctor who has used his position to sexually assault his patients would deregister and no longer see patients; and a teacher or religious leader should step down from their post.

These behaviours demonstrate that an offender has taken responsibility for the behaviour and has taken the appropriate measures to ensure that there will be no further victims at their hands. If one of these steps is left out, this doesn’t constitute teshuva. When community members insist on advocating for the perpetrator and insisting that he or she has done teshuva, when they haven’t, they’re endangering the safety of the community.

So now the question arises as to the case where there are only rumours, but no hard evidence. The Torah understands that there are those cases where an adult or child is terrified of the offender and can’t be expected to testify in court. In these cases, we can accept testimony collected other than in a courtroom. The Shoel umeishiv, a leading Rabbinic authority in the 1800s, stated that if there’s a constant murmur in the community and people are quite sure that this person is a problem, that’s sufficient to hand a person over to the authorities.

There’s a Torah category of meitzer larabim, where a person is considered a hazard to the community. When an individual is a source of danger or suffering to the community, it’s up to the community leadership to use all means at their disposal to restrain the person. However, if they’re unable to get them to stop their offending behaviour, then we’re forced to hand them over to the secular authorities.

While Koleinu SA is victim-centric, we feel passionately about the need to protect our community and understand that part of the healing process for a victim is often the need to pursue justice. This involves the necessity of working with the courts and within the justice system.

While this isn’t an easy road to take, it’s enormously reassuring to know that the Torah advocates for the right of the victim to pursue justice within the secular South African justice system and in so doing, protect the community from further harm.

It’s time to move from a position of supporting and enabling perpetrators through false kindness and a faulty understanding of teshuva to upholding and empowering victims in their search for justice and ultimate healing. In so doing, our community becomes much safer for everyone.

• Rozanne Sack is a co-founder of Koleinu SA, a helpline and advocacy organisation for victims of gender-based violence and child abuse in the Jewish and wider community.