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Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
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2 Jan, 4 tweets, 1 min read
To all my non-religious/non-Jewish followers confused/disturbed why I’m tweeting so much about sexual abuse:

Thank you for staying with me until now. My community is undergoing a major reckoning and it’s difficult to think, and certainly tweet, about other things right now. 1/3
I’m also in a PhD program, which limits the amount of time I can spend here. So for the next few weeks most, if not all of my tweets, will be about this issue. I promise you, I wish I didn’t have to tweet so much about this. But I cannot remain silent given the platform I have. 2
If it’s traumatizing or otherwise upsetting for you—which I COMPLETELY understand (I myself am learning my limits)—please mute me. I’ll send out a tweet when things are somewhat back to normal. Until then, take care of yourselves and can’t wait to talk lighter stuff with y’all!❤️‍🩹
To clarify: there is no “normal” until all victims of sexual abuse get justice and closure and policies and protocols are put in place so there are no more victims in the future. I only mean normal in the sense that I’m not exclusively thinking and tweeting about this stuff.

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More from @wordpaley

Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
3 Jan
CW: sexual abuse

His name is Aaron Teitelbaum. He is the owner of a popular and highly sought-after music production company. He does weddings for the upper crust of the Modern Orthodox communities in northern New Jersey and Long Island. And every big Orthodox singer knows him. Image
Please note: I use the word “alleged” in this thread only to protect myself and others who have worked on this from a defamation lawsuit from Teitelbaum. By using the word, I do not intend to imply the abuse did not occur. On the contrary, we believe all his alleged victims 100%.
Teitelbaum has many, many alleged victims. They are all afraid to come forward because he is very well-connected in the Chasidic communities of the New York area. Rabbis, gvirim and askanim (rich male community leaders), media personalities. He can easily ruin all their lives.
Read 26 tweets
Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
3 Jan
Read this thread until the end.
The texts that must be grappled with are everywhere, even where you don’t think to look. Just in yesterday’s daf, the Talmud says we can’t rely on testimony of a person who experienced something as a child. Would the Sages believe Walder’s victims?
sefaria.org/Megillah.20a.4
Or what about the opinion of the Amora Shmuel’s father, that every married woman who is raped by another man is forbidden to her husband because we must assume she ultimately acquiesced (תחלתה באונס וסופה ברצון)? Would he believe Walder’s victims?

sefaria.org/Ketubot.51b.8
Read 13 tweets
Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
1 Jan
Shavua tov. If your rabbi didn’t talk about believing and supporting victims of sexual abuse (either in a speech, email, or even a note in the newsletter), it might be time to find a new rabbi. Even better, it might be time to rethink your relationship with rabbis.
As Asher says perfectly here, there’s nothing that rabbis learn in their training that makes them remotely qualified to handle sexual abuse. Even @YUNews’ rabbinical school, a “Modern Orthodox” institution, offers no formal training to their students.
Why? Because Orthodoxy’s idea of the rabbi’s role, and in turn laypeople’s relationships with rabbis, is deeply, deeply skewed and unhealthy. People think rabbis have the answers for everything, that they’re God’s messengers on Earth because they spent a few years learning Torah.
Read 7 tweets
Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
24 Nov 21
Gentle reminder that the Baruch Lanner scandal was widely considered a watershed moment and yet Orthodox institutions continue to look the other way on child sex abuse. There will be no real watershed moment until there is trauma-informed Halacha mandating us to believe victims.
Chaim Walder had dozens of victims. Baruch Lanner might have had more. You know why the community acted? Because victims don’t get together to make this stuff up. It’s a numbers game.
How do I know it’s a numbers game? Because of the leaders (yes, Modern Orthodox leaders too) who didn’t do anything when they knew about 1 or 2 victims. And press generally won’t cover it unless there are more. So the leaders are in the clear. And the victims suffer in silence.
Read 27 tweets
Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
17 Nov 21
Update: Radio Kol Chai, one of the top 2 Charedi radio stations in Israel, just suspended Walder's show. There are rumors his column in Yated Neeman will be suspended as well. It is possible these media outlets are just doing damage control, but this is still unprecedented.
The Charedi-owned department store chain Osher Ad has also removed Walder's books from its stores.

This would likely not be possible without the hard work of the Charedi feminist organization @Nivcharot and feminist activists @Estyshushan, @pninapf, @EfratChocron, @AvigayilKar, and many more I'm forgetting. They are making real change. Follow them!

the7eye.org.il/436158
Read 7 tweets
Netanel Zellis-Paley Profile picture
16 Nov 21
It’s now been more than 3 days since this news broke. And the only people talking about it here are the people who always call out abuse.

I want to be shocked, but I’m used to it already.

A thread on how the institutional structure of the Orthodox community perpetuates abuse:
First I’ll lay out the 3 problems with Orthodox infrastructure that perpetuate abuse, then I’ll explain each one by one in separate threads.
1. There’s no check on men in power.
2. Teacher is a lowly, unglamorous job so no one cares to properly evaluate their suitability to teach kids.
3. The well-being and right to self-determination of Orthodox children is not prioritized over their staying within the Orthodox fold.
Read 30 tweets

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