Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger made an emotional call to rabbis nationwide on Tuesday, asking them to denounce violence against children in their sermons on Shabbat next week. Rabbi Metzger’s call came shortly after the exposure of several cases of severe child abuse, two of them among families from extremist Jewish sects.
Rabbi Metzger asked rabbis to talk about Jewish education, “which is based on true love for our children.” Parents must realize the importance of setting a personal example for their children, and of teaching each child pleasantly and calmly according to his or her own needs, he said.
He harshly criticized those involved in the child abuse cases revealed this month, particularly a violent rabbi who has since fled the country. Religious Jews and rabbis “must vomit these parents and rabbis out of the camp and do everything in our power to save the souls of these young children,” he said.