Excerpts translated from current Hebrew Mishpacha – an interview with Dayan \Tzvi Braverman of Beitar by Aryeh Erlich pages 82-84
“I spoke this week at a rabbinic convention. There are some mitzvos that apply specifically to men, while some are specifically applicable to women. Some apply specifically to cohanim. Some are especially relevant to rabbis. One such mitzva is “do not be afraid of any man” Lo saguru Mipnei Ish. Any rabbi who has a problem with this mitzva is like a cohen gadol who refuses to offer all the required sacrifices but only wants to burn incense and some sacrifices. We say to him, “Why don’t you want to fulfill your duty?” We remove him from his position and replace him with a cohen who will fulfill all his duties. The same is true with community leaders. This is an absolute minimal requirement that no leader can avoid. We are talking here of actual spilling of blood that is occurring in our streets near our homes. Literally under our noses. Turning a blind eye is not an option in any form.”
He was asked if it is appropriate to bring this topic up in newspapers? He answered actually the opposite is true. This is like a shofar in your hand with which you can save by arousing and awakening the public, and thus help many. Every day that passes without dealing with this topic, it gets worse and claims more victims. It is another day of destruction of life. Another generation will grow up paying the heavy price. More families will be totally destroyed. Thus, it is an obligation for every newspaper columist and writer to bring up this topic. They should not write sensationalism to frighten nor shall they remain silent. The primary focus should be to get the community leaders to take responsibility for the problem and not to continue supporting the perpetrators. Rav Braverman continued by admitting he was speaking harshly but noted it that the present situation must be described. These problems are coming to community leaders but instead of dealing seriously with the problems, they simply ignore them. They don’t remember that mercy shown to the perpetrators is cruelty to the victims. It is important to note that rarely will the perpetrators be satisfied with only one or two victims. These cases rarely involve only a single incident. There are some perpetrators who succeed in harming tens and even hundreds of victims. These disgusting serious attacks continue because of the silence and mercy being shown to them. The result is destruction of the victims psychologically, physically, and even spiritually. A large percentage of those who have left religion in our time have done so because of the scars resulting from harsh abuse in childhood.