Tel-Chai Nation

One of the now deceased Haredi rapist Chaim Walder's victims went public about her experiences with him recently, and she appears to be a niece of his, and the only victim who actually turned to police almost 15 years before:

One of the victims of Chaim Walder who testified to police against him in 2008 has gone public on Israeli television and described her experience.

In an appallingly candid and jarring interview, Romi Schwartz, now a woman of 40, described how as a young woman of 17, distantly related to Walder by marriage, she was referred to him and subsequently repeatedly abused by him.

Romi was the only one of Walder’s victims to complain against him in the police. It took a few years for her to gather courage and complain against Walder, who was already a celebrity figure in the chareidi community. However despite testimonies which supported her version of events, police closed the case due to lack of evidence. Walder’s family later contacted her and paid her to sign a non-disclosure agreement which would prevent her from telling anyone, both private individuals or media of any complaints she might have had against Walder.

Bracha Walder tried to renew the agreement recently when stories began to emerge about her husband’s errant behavior. However Schwartz elected not to remain silent any longer and was apparently one of the women who referred to the Beis Din of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and told her story. In 2015 she had even contacted Channel 13’s Anat Goren but elected not to publicize her story, possibly after signing the non-disclosure agreement. On Tuesday her story was finally made public on Channel 13.

So the wife of the monster was defending him despite the seriousness of his predatory actions? Now that's certainly telling. Equally so is the police closing the case against him at the time; this was the same leftist-run outfit which refused to take convincing action against LGBT activist Gal Uchovsky, despite any concrete testimonies/evidence against him. I recently discovered that nearly a decade ago, Walder wrote op-eds approving of socialist tactics for raising children in Haredi society:

Why can't it be that the rest of Israel is worried about the economic future of a country in which there is massive under-employment? Why can't it be that people justifiably resent the fact that they send their sons to the army for three years, while charedim sit in yeshivos and don't show the slightest hakaras hatov for the sacrifices made on their behalf? Why can't it be that people think it's a disaster for the country when a rapidly-growing sector of the population demands to bring up their children with zero secular education and zero desire to enter the workforce? Why can't it be that people resent having to give money to a large segment of the population that claims a right to be vastly underemployed, to have 90% discounts on taxes, and to be subsidized by everyone else? (These astonishing demands were made explicitly and shamelessly by popular chareidi writer Chaim Walder and UTJ Knesset Member Rabbi Meir Porush.)

I may not agree with everything Natan Slifkin thinks, but he's got a point regarding Walder, and the whole notion the now deceased abuser's family would approve of erecting a fancy tomb for him, in contrast to how the British entertainment jockey Jimmy Savile's family shunned him to the point they wanted his tomb downgraded after revelations of his history of sexual abuse emerged, is stupefying. Schwartz was right to step forward, and she was also right to leave the Haredi lifestyle behind. That's an example many women and men alike in ultra-Orthodox communities would do well to consider. Besides, the way some of the more extreme clans are conducting their business practically leads to homosexuality, but of course, how could you expect the would-be psychologists in their communities to realize this? Unfortunately, political correctness in wider society is exactly why it'll be difficult to make the case of religious customs causing homosexuality clearly. After all, if it can happen in a religious setting, why couldn't anything similar happen in a secular setting? That's why most liberal outfits otherwise skirt around the subject; it'd surely piss off the LGBT advocates whose backing they seek.

It'll remain to be seen how much longer Walder's family will continue to defend his image, despite the sexual abuse he committed. If they're smart, they'll follow the example of Savile's family and downgrade the tombstone Walder's received as well. And, they'll apologize to his victims for siding with such vile scumbag.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Judaism, misogyny, Moonbattery, sexual violence