ABSTRACT
This chapter is focused primarily on sexual abuse in US Jewish settings. It establishes first, that abuse, including sexual abuse, exists across a spectrum of Jewish life, including across all Jewish denominations represented in North America. Primary focus centres on the role of halakha, or rabbinic law, and its centrality for establishing rightful conduct. Halakha is described as originating from male-centric settings and as catering to males and protecting male authority, often to the detriment of women. Halakha also, however, offers pathways towards establishing protections against abuse. The chapter draws on distinctly Jewish concepts (lashon hara, tsniut, mesira, and teshuva) to explain occurrence and persistence of abuse in Jewish settings. It refers to Jewish organisations that call out and establish protections from abuse in Jewish settings (Jewish Community Watch, Sacred Spaces, and Za'akah). It concludes with a call for halakha to extend not only its areas for regulation but also its sources for determining authority.
