Seeking second shot at predator clergy

Bid to restart clock on civil penalties passes NY Assembly

By Michael Orbach

Issue of March 20, 2009 / 24 Adar 5769

It was Pearl Engelman’s first trip to Albany.

The Satmar woman, hair covered with a blonde sheitel, dressed in accordance with the strictest laws of Jewish modesty, was aboard a chartered bus filled with survivors of sexual abuse and Brooklyn community activists.

They were on their way to Albany to lobby for passage of the Child Victim’s Act, a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Marge Markey (D-Queens) that would extend the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse from the victim’s 18th birthday to the 23rd, and the statute of limitations for civil damages from a victim’s 23rd birthday to the 28th. More importantly, the legislation would open a yearlong window to file civil lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations has already expired.

Pearl distributed nuts and dried fruit left over from mishloach manot. As the bus reached the RFK Triborough Bridge she passed around photos of her son, Joel, who sat a number of rows behind her watching a video iPod.

The first photo showed Joel in front of a cake on his 18th birthday. He wore a long black coat and black velvet hat, surrounded by brothers-in-law and sisters also in Chassidic garb.

The second image was a grainy black and white snapshot. It was taken on Joel’s 19th birthday, Pearl explained. His once curly peyos (side locks) were gone, his hair was long; he resembled a heavy metal musician.

“He has the face of an angel,” Pearl said, running her finger over the edges of the photograph “We didn’t know anything.”

Joel Engelman is currently suing Rabbi Avrohom Reichman, a teacher at the United Talmudic Academy, for sexually abusing him over a two-month period beginning when Joel was eight. The lawsuit also accuses United Talmudic Academy of reinstating Reichman as soon as Joel turned 23 and the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse ran out. Joel’s attorney is Elliot Pasik of Long Beach.

The Albany trip was organized by Survivors for Justice, an organization that helps Jewish victims of sexual abuse work with police and civil authorities. Joel is a founding member. So far the group has brought mainstream attention to the issue of sexual abuse inside the orthodox community, including a confrontation between Engelman and his accused molester that aired on Channel 11 News.

Standing with her son who looms a head taller than her and dresses all in black, Pearl cuts a striking figure. She declined to be photographed but invited a reporter to her house for Shabbat. As an orthodox woman, Pearl represents a rare type of reluctant activist.

“I’m fighting for my son’s life,” she explained.

Pearl spent her day in a whirlwind of meetings with legislators attempting to drum up support for the perennial bill. It has passed the Assembly three times but failed each time to be brought to the Senate, largely due to former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and the influence of the Catholic Church, which would be liable for back damages in a large number of cases.

The bill passed the Assembly on Tuesday and was awaiting possible consideration in the State Senate.

Marci Hamilton, a Cardozo Law School professor and author of “Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children,” believed the bill had a strong chance of succeeding.

“We all remain cautiously optimistic,” she explained by phone two days after the trip. “I think we’re at a tipping point for survivors for sexual abuse."

Supporters stress that most victims do not come forward until they reach adulthood. For that reason, they say, current statutes make it nearly impossible to file criminal charges or bring civil suits.

Hamilton credited a cross-denominational lobbying effort by Catholic and Jewish survivors of sexual abuse to push the bill forward. Representatives of both groups met in Albany to lobby for the bill.

“The story’s the same, it’s an abuse of authority,” explained Jim Shovah, whose son was raped by the family’s preacher. “I didn’t know I was turning my son over to a lion.”

Speaking to The Jewish Star, Assemblywoman Markey, the bill’s sponsor, was open to the challenges her legislation will face.

“My fear is with my own church they’re using finance as a reason for not doing my legislation. The real reason is they don’t want members of my church to know how extensive it [sexual abuse] is,” she explained.

In November, Dennis Paust, the spokesperson for the New York Catholic Conference told The Jewish Star that his group opposes the bill since it unfairly targets non-profits and private institutions. The bill is “about bankrupting the Church,” he said, and the Child Victim Act is simply “a trial lawyer bill to enrich trial lawyers.”

Another opponent is Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored a competing bill that would only extend the statute of limitations by five years and would not provide a new window for civil claims by abuse survivors. In a heated exchange with members of Survivors for Justice, Lopez defended his position by noting that the bill only extends the window for victims of private institutions and not public schools.

“That’s discriminatory,” Lopez said.

When it was pointed out that Lopez voted for the measure three times in the past, when it passed the Assembly, he explained that on the last three occasions he “had not read it.”

Rabbi David Niederman, Executive Director of the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg, said that they were supporting Lopez's bill.

"This year-long window will make it impossible for innocent people to defend themselves and it will serve as a deterrent for qualified professionals to pursue a teaching career in private institutions," Niederman said.

[In the end, Lopez's amended bill never made it out of committee and the Markey version, with the one year window provision, is what will go to the Senate for consideration.]

However, support for or against the bill in the Jewish community is not uniform. “The Jewish community is not nearly as centralized. Even a large number of the rabbis would not mean the Jewish community is opposed or in favor,” Hamilton noted.

Rabbi David Zwiebel, Agudath Israel’s Executive Vice President, said that they have not yet taken a position on the issue.

“It’s a subject of conversation at the highest levels of our rabbinical leadership,” Rabbi Zwiebel told The Jewish Star.

“There are likely to be real-life cases that are resuscitated as a result of the passage of such a bill. And that is part of the consideration,” he elaborated. “You can’t ignore the real world potential of a bill like this in evaluating whether it is the correct thing for our community to embrace. On the other hand, you can’t ignore the real impact on victims of abuse.”

After a wearying day, the bus left Albany at 4:30 p.m. and arrived back in Williamsburg close to 8:00. Midway through the ride, the bus erupted in cheers when it was announced that Israel Weingarten, who was accused of sexually abusing his daughters, had been found guilty. Pearl asked her son to take out a sweet noodle kugel from the brown bag and give it out to the rest of the riders.

“It’s not up to us to accomplish,” she said, echoing a passage in the Talmud. “It’s for us to do.”

This online story reflects developments that took place after the press deadline of the March 20, 2009 issue of The Jewish Star.