Tshuva

At this time of year I have been working very hard on my anger toward certain rabbonim. The best I have come to, which really helped actually, is to accept their humanness.

The rabbonim who have covered up for the pedophiles and minimized the abuse suffered by the children, are completely wrong and dangerously so. But they are human beings, making mistakes.

Giavah is a human weakness. I can forgive them for their human weaknesses.

I don't accept their actions. I hold them accountable for the damage they have done. I would never trust those  rabbonim again.

The children, when they are old enough, are the only ones who can actually forgive them, if they choose to, for the cover up and protection of the pedophiles which allowed many of these children to get hurt.

As for hope in the tshuva of the rabbonim, I think that is a weakness, but one I am working to overcome. It has gotten much easier when this Nachalot crisis happened, and I saw the community, including their rabbonim, respond with such appropriateness and support. That's when I realized, there is no excuse for the other rabbonim to make, and stand firm on, the mistakes they have made, other than the human error I mentioned.

When our community faces reality, that certain rabbonim have failed us, then we can move on to be better advocates for the children and families, and not risk their well being with the hopes that those rabbonim will 'do it right this time'.