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D.A. Denies Sex Prosecution Allegations

And why didn’t the NYT cite Jewish reporting in its series?

by
Marc Tracy
May 16, 2012
Abraham Mondrowitz, an accused Ger Hasidic sex offender, in 2007.(Brian Hendler/Getty Images)
Abraham Mondrowitz, an accused Ger Hasidic sex offender, in 2007.(Brian Hendler/Getty Images)

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes responded to the charges in last week’s New York Times series on the covering up of and/or minimizing of child abuse within some of Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities. “The statistics show how absurd it is to suggest that we cover up, downplay or in any way ‘give a break’ to sex offenders in the Orthodox Jewish community,” he wrote. “Like any other defendants, they are often arrested in public by the police, and their court appearances are open and available to the public as part of the public record. I welcome scrutiny of these cases.”

Mayor Bloomberg’s office has attacked Hynes for alleged favoritism.

Meanwhile, the Village Voice’s Nick Pinto has a different complaint: “many were dismayed,” he reports, “that the Times series failed to credit the work of other reporters who have been on the beat for years.” Many of these reporters, of course, have come from the world of Jewish media; Pinto cites work in Jewish Week and Failed Messiah’s Shmarya Rosenberg.

In Tablet Magazine last year, Paul Berger reported on one Borough Park Scandal in which community members allegedly failed to take complaints to the civil authorities. And also last year, Michael Orbach accused Hynes of not pursuing another sex case against a Brooklyn Hasidic man. So, from all of us at other daily magazines of Jewish life and culture: ahem.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.