Rabbi Yuval Cherlow participated in a conference of the Tahel organization which is fighting abuse in the religious community and said that one cannot rely on the halakhic laws forbidding seclusion with the opposite sex in order to prevent sexual attacks and harassment.
Cherlow said that "there are attacks by males on males and females on females and therefore the laws of seclusion won't solve the problem.
Debby Gross, director of Tahel and organizer of the conference said that child abuse has unfortunately become an epidemic and affects every community, religion and culture.