Happy for your brothers!
My parents have a lot of Catholic friends (mostly New Yorkers of Italian and Irish descent) who, at the height of the sexual abuse scandals involving the clergy, said they couldn't leave the church. For them, leaving the Catholic Church felt like turning away from who they are. The same is true with my nanny who's Filipino. A Dominican priest sexually abused her great-grandmother when she was 13, which resulted in pregnancy. To avoid further scandal, the family sent the girl off to a distant cousin until she gave birth to a baby girl! The priest was reassigned to a far-flung parish by the bishop, never to be heard from again since. That baby girl eventually became my nanny's grandmother. Despite that fact, her family remained Catholic. She said always argued that sexual abuse occurs everywhere perpetrated by monsters in positions of authority, not just in the Catholic Church, and she's right. It happens in Jewish yeshivas and synagogues, Buddhist monasteries, Muslim communities, Protestant churches, and other secular institutions, a lot of which are unreported, unfortunately.
That pigeon poop is bad omen at the start of the year! 2023 will be a crappy year for SJ and her cohort.
The
Adass Israel School sex abuse scandal (
Hebrew: פרשת מלכה לייפר,
lit. 'the Malka Leifer scandal/affair'
[1]) is a criminal case and
extradition dispute regarding allegations of
child sex abuse at a Jewish
religious school in
Melbourne, Australia. A former principal, Malka Leifer, will stand trial in 2022 on 70 sex offence charges laid by
Victoria Police, with accusations from at least eight alleged victims.
[2][3][4][5][6] Leifer, a
dual Israeli-Australian citizen,
[7] fled under suspicious circumstances shortly before a
warrant could be issued, and remained in Israel from 2008 until January 2021, under varying levels of police and court supervision, pending the resolution of her extradition case.
[8] Leifer's trial will not address other alleged sex crimes in Israel and the
West Bank because they did not occur in Australia.
[4][5]
The degree of freedom she enjoyed in Israel prompted worldwide media coverage and criticism of
Israel's justice system;
[9][10] activist
Manny Waksdescribed the case as "a farce"
[11] and "an embarrassment".
[12] Leifer lived an apparently normal life for some time in the
Israeli settlement of
Emmanuel, despite a court ruling that she was mentally unfit for proceedings.
[13][14] She was eventually rearrested after media and police scrutiny of her behavior,
[9]but continued to evade extradition, with more than 70 court hearings and appeals requested by her legal team, and delays due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
[15] In January 2021, after more than 13 years as a fugitive, Leifer was extradited to Australia; she appeared before a Melbourne judge
via video link in April 2021, her first appearance in Australian court, and remains jailed without bond as of 2021.
[16][17]
In 2015, the
Supreme Court of Victoria awarded over
AU$1 million against the school, and also $150,000
exemplary damages personally against Leifer. Australian police confirm there is an ongoing investigation into the actions of some members of the Adass Israel community in helping her leave Australia.
[18] Israeli police investigated and indicted former
Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, following an investigation into official interference with Leifer's case.
[19][20] Litzman eventually pled guilty to breach of trust in the case in early 2022.
[21]
but poogeons too. Wonder how it did get into the wintersalon ? Can't imagine them airing.
) a wrap skirt worn like a short train over all that and a matching jacket. Dana looks halfway decent with hair and makeup because the picture is in medium soft focus despite the harsh lighting! That said, I wish my tummy were that flat at any age!
