Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed) and head of the Rabbinical Court for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Haredi-Religious Sector, spoke at a meeting of the Knesset Lobby for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse on the importance of dealing with and fighting sexual offenders.
"I didn't choose to deal with this story of sexual abuse," he shared. "We stumbled upon this, because of the Ezra Sheinberg case, and since then I've seen that it's really a matter of ‘saving lives.’ There is no other way to describe it."
He added: "I am learning to appreciate and respect all the other agencies working in this field and from day to day I appreciate more and more how valuable they are."
"I frequently tell Efrat, my daughter, after a day of court hearings that it was worth working in this field just for this day. It’s as simple as that. In one day of a court hearings, you can correct so much wrong in this world. Save so many lives."
Rabbi Eliyahu added: "It's no shame to deal with these matters, this is a holy mission. We are not dealing with mud and dirt here. We are dealing with light, man and the image of God. We are building a normal, functioning society."