超正統派ユダヤ教社会に＃ＭｅＴｏｏ運動　イスラエル

【エルサレムＡＦＰ＝時事】イスラエルのユダヤ教超正統派社会が、著名人の性的虐待疑惑と、セクハラ被害を告発する「＃ＭｅＴｏｏ（私も）」運動に揺れている。（写真は「タヘル危機管理センター」のボランティア、ジョジアンヌ・パリスさん）
　敬虔（けいけん）な超正統派ユダヤ教徒（ハレディム）の有力者が、子どもらを対象に性的虐待を繰り返していたとの告発を受け、「ロー・ティシュトク（ヘブライ語で『黙っていない』の意）」という言葉が口にされるようになった。
　昨年１２月、著名な児童文学者でラビ（ユダヤ教指導者）のチャイム・ワルダー氏が自殺した。同氏は否定していたが、日刊紙ハーレツは、子どもを含む約２０人に同氏が性的暴行を加えていたと報じていた。
　ハーレツは昨年３月には、宗教者で組織する救命救急隊Ｚａｋａの創立者で、国内で最も栄誉ある賞とされる「イスラエル賞」を受賞したイェフダ・メシ・ザハブ氏による少年や少女、成人女性への性的暴行疑惑を報じた。
　メシ・ザハブ氏は「でっち上げだ」と否定したが、４月に自殺を図った。その直後にも、同氏の新たな性犯罪疑惑がテレビで報じられた。
　ハレディム社会における性的虐待被害者の支援団体「ロー・ティシュトク」の創設者、アビゲイル・ハイルブロンさん（３３）は、ワルダー氏のような著名人をめぐる疑惑は「大きな衝撃」だとＡＦＰに話した。

■１か月に相談５００件
　イスラエルの人口９３０万人のうち、超正統派ユダヤ教徒は約１２％を占める。人種はさまざまだが、戒律に厳格に従って生活しており、一般社会との間で緊張が生じることも多い。
　ユダヤ教社会の子どもや女性を支援する、エルサレムに拠点を置く「タヘル危機管理センター」のボランティア、ジョジアンヌ・パリスさんは、被害者は沈黙を守ることが多いと、ＡＦＰに語った。「学校やシナゴーグ（ユダヤ教の会堂）で、または隣人から何か言われることを恐れている」
　同センターは３０年前、ドメスティックバイオレンス（ＤＶ）や性的虐待、レイプの被害者を支援するためにホットラインを開設した。当初、電話はほとんど鳴らなかった。それが、「今では１か月に約５００件の相談がある」とパリスさん。ＭｅＴｏｏ運動がイスラエル社会にも影響を及ぼしていることを示すものだ。
　同じくボランティアのミリアム・メルツバッハさんは、電話をかけてくる女性の中には「一言も発しない」人もいると話す。「苦しんでいるのが分かる。怒りを口にする人、泣き出す人もいる。私たちの仕事は、電話をかけてきた人を支え、励まし、解決策を見つけようとすることです」

■道徳の破綻
　イスラエル最高位のラビ、ダビド・ラウ師は、ワルダー氏の死後、弔問したことで厳しい批判にさらされた。英字紙エルサレム・ポストのヤコブ・カッツ編集長は、「道徳の破綻」だとして、ラウ師の解任を呼び掛けた。
　シンクタンク「イスラエル民主主義研究所」のハレディム専門家で、公共放送ＫＡＮのジャーナリスト、ヤイル・エッティンガー氏は、宗教指導者は「現実から目を背けている」と、ＡＦＰに語った。
　ただ、名誉を失う著名人が相次いだことで、「問題認識の芽生え」がもたらされたとも指摘する。「無垢（むく）な時代は終わったのだ」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/02/08-10:39）

After Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was shaken by sexual abuse allegations against several of its leading figures, a call has begun to reverberate throughout the deeply devout and introverted society.
Lo Tishtok -- Hebrew for You will not be silent -- is a phrase gaining momentum among ultra-Orthodox Jews, or haredim, who are being forced to reckon with claims of serious crimes, including sexual abuse of children, against several of their cultural icons.
In December, prominent children's author and rabbi Chaim Walder committed suicide after the Haaretz newspaper published a story accusing him of sexually assaulting nearly two dozen people, including children -- allegations he had denied.
Haaretz had in March reported that Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, founder of the Zaka emergency response organisation and winner of the Israel Prize -- the country's hightest public honour -- had sexually assaulted boys, girls and women.
Meshi-Zahav, who denounced the claims as lies, also tried to hang himself in April before new allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced on N12 Channel.
An Israeli police spokesperson told AFP that there was an open investigation into the allegations against Meshi-Zahav, but police offered no comment on the status of a criminal probe against Walder at the time of his death.
Avigayil Heilbronn, who founded the Lo Tishtok organisation that aims to support haredi sexual abuse victims, said the ultra-Orthodox community has been rattled.
The allegations against Walder marked an extraordinary blow, said the 33-year-old divorced mother of two, who describes herself as modern Orthodox.
If a cultural icon like Walder can be a predator, haredim have been forced to consider if they can trust anyone, Heilbronn told AFP.
- 'I was a child' -
The ultra-Orthodox community makes up roughly 12 percent of Israel's 9.3 million population.
Haredim are not a homogeneous group, but each professes to live in strict accordance with Jewish law, often creating tension with mainstream Israeli society.
The most recent misconduct revelations emerged this month, when the Yediot Ahronot newspaper published claims a prominent ultra-Orthodox radio host had assaulted three women, including a minor.
Adiel Bar Shaul, a 43-year-old ultra-Orthodox from the mainly haredi city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, recounted his experience of being abused as a child shortly after that report came out.
Shaul said he was raped several times when he was 10 by a close family acquaintance, who was also ultra-Orthodox.
The first rape happened when Shaul's family hosted his attacker on Shabbat, a sacred period of rest and worship for haredim, he told AFP.
He started giving me stickers. Then, in exchange for them, to put my hand on his pants, said Shaul, who kept silent for most of his life before going public years ago.
I was a child. I did not understand... I was alone, I was extremely ashamed and I felt guilty, said Shaul, who now works with sexual assault victims.
- 500 calls a month -
Josiane Paris, a volunteer at Jerusalem's Tahel Crisis Center, which supports children and women in religious Jewish communities, said victims often stay silent.
They are afraid of what people and neighbours at the school or synagogue will say, she told AFP.
When the centre opened its crisis line three decades ago to help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape, calls were relatively infrequent.
Today we receive about 500 calls a month, said Paris -- evidence the #MeToo movement was impacting Israel's religious communities.
Volunteer Myriam Merzbach said some women who call simply remain silent.
We feel the distress. There are some who are angry, who cry... Our job is to support them, to encourage them and to seek solutions.
- 'In denial' -
Israel's chief rabbi David Lau faced scathing criticism for visiting the home where Walder's relatives were mourning.
The editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post newspaper, Yaakov Katz, called for Lau to be fired for the case of moral bankruptcy.
After the visit, Lau issued a statement saying his heart out goes out to the victims of sexual abuse.
But for Yair Ettinger, an expert on haredim at the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank and a journalist at public broadcaster Kan, Israel's rabbinical establishment remains in denial.
Haredim are part of an idealistic society which struggles to look at itself in the mirror, Ettinger said.
But there was now real awareness of the problem especially after multiple haredi celebrities have been disgraced, he told AFP.
The age of innocence is over, he said.