In a major announcement this week, the Ohio Attorney General announced his second lawsuit against Hebrew Union College. The Ohio Attorney General’s announcement came just seven days after Anglican Watch, a religious watchdog agency, issued a press release initiating a “major investigation into allegations of abuse” and “criminal conduct at leading institutions within Reform Judaism” at the request of multiple Jewish victims.

The Reform Movement, currently and historically, presents itself as progressive, accountable and a model of ethical leadership.  However, credibility is not built on crafty words constructed by charismatic leaders, rather, it is built on swift and transparent actions, acknowledging failure and correcting wrongdoing.  For decades, mounting concerns have been building regarding the conduct of the movement’s upper leadership. 

As early as 2016, the Committee on Ethics in Jewish Leadership warned of an ethics crisis, citing repeated scandals, failures of accountability, and erosion of public trust. Yet so soon after the 2022 public apologies by HUC, CCAR and the URJ, the Reform Movement’s credibility is again under strain as all three agencies face renewed accusations of leadership failure that will be addressed by the, recently announced, Anglican Watch investigation.

By 2024, these criticisms culminated in calls for external oversight, including appeals to multiple state Attorney General’s offices, stemming from incidents occurring well after the movement’s promises to change.

In the years that followed, survivors and advocates have increasingly turned to public pressure, including petitions and open letters, to call for reform of the movements ethics processes. 

The financial failures that have led to the recent Ohio Attorney General lawsuits are not occurring in a vacuum.  Prior investigations into HUC, CCAR and the URJ documented a culture marked by lack of transparency, a “good ole boys” system, and repeated failures to report crimes, including child sexual abuse, as well as repeated failures to address retaliation and misconduct.  These issues were publicly acknowledged in and after their 2021 investigation reports. Years later, these issues appear unresolved. It is my personal opinion that the only path to public trust is a massive change in leadership.

It is a disgrace to the entire Jewish community that these matters should ever reach the Attorney General’s desk. The community should be able to rely on and trust that its community and its leaders are ethical and safe.  It is not only a disgrace, but puts our entire community at risk. The onus of responsibility falls on the leadership to act ethically.  The calls for victims to remain silent to protect the community are inherently immoral and cannot be tolerated.  It is on the leadership and the rabbis to behave in ways consistent with our values.  

While intervention in religious institutions is on the rise, authorities continue to be hesitant to intervene in religious matters. It falls on each and every one of us to demand change from these organizations and even more so, to stop supporting them until they demonstrate ethical financial practices, transparency, accountability, and victim centered ethics investigations.  Together, we can make a difference to change our own communities and make them safer.

I have personally spoken to Anglican Watch and will be following and writing about these stories.  Anglican Watch is open to shining a light on all religious misconduct regardless of the religion or denomination and encourages those who want to share to contact them directly.  You can do so anonymously.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)