Tag Archives: human trafficking

[Alumni Guest Post] Sarah Mulhern on Parashat Lech Lecha

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Sarah Mulhern (Year Program ’09, Fellows ’10) shares her dvar Torah for Parashat Lech Lecha with These&Those. This commentary is provided by special arrangement with American Jewish World Service. To learn more, visit www.ajws.org.

Lech Lecha

One of the things I find most inspiring about studying Torah is that the biblical characters are human. They may be our valorized, mythical ancestors, but they also consistently make mistakes, leaving a record of paradigmatic human foibles from which we can learn. There is one biblical failure, however, that I have always struggled to understand as a useful example. It occurs Continue reading →

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מעבדות לחירות [From Slavery To Freedom]

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[cross-posted from my blog]

Celebrating Pesach in Israel, for only the second time in my life, has definitely been a unique and enjoyable experience.  From the relative lack of restrictions on access to delicious food — since so many of the restaurants in the city stay open with completely kosher-for-Pesach menus — to enjoying a seder with some of the inspiring and engaged Jews I have the privilege to study with this year, I am sure I will remember this Pesach for years to come.

There are two thoughts that have occupied me leading up to this year’s seder, connected to two of the classic themes of the holiday.  The first I spoke of during the seder: in thinking about the plagues (whether there were 10 or 300 of them, as the Midrash brought in the Hagaddah asserts), I was struck by the rabbinic impulse to argue that there were more plagues inflicted upon the oppressors of the Israelites in their effort to become free.  Why stress the plagues, and the attendant suffering they caused the Egyptians?  What kind of god does that imply that the Israelites (and the rabbis) believed in, and what theological differences would it have made had the Midrash (or the Torah itself) instead tried to minimize the plagues, championing the miracle that Hashem was able to free the Israelites with a minimum amount of harm dealt to the Egyptians?

The second is much more of a modern, grounded concern.  I have focused a little bit this year on a problem of slavery as it exists in the world today, in the form of sexual trafficking.  From volunteering for ATZUM’s Task Force for Human Trafficking, to reading and talking about Half The Sky, the plight of trafficked people has been prominent for me this year.  The tie-in to the seder occurred when I began thinking about how the formal seder ends (before the concluding songs): לשנה הבאה בירושלים — Next Year in Jerusalem!  As someone celebrating the seder in Jerusalem, with little chance of doing so next year, I began to wonder what Jews have traditionally said about this paradox (quite different from being in another country with an equally slim chance of celebrating the following year in Jerusalem).  The basic understanding of this phrase, shared by many, is that the ‘Jerusalem’ referred to is not the city I have been living in this year, but rather ירושלים של מעלה — The Heavenly Jerusalem.  The call at the end of the seder is not one of mass aliyah to Jerusalem, but rather a call to rebuild our world as a whole to more properly reflect what we would consider a heavenly Jerusalem.  I could not help but think that the Jerusalem I had in mind when saying that concluding phrase would have no place in it for the sexual trafficking that occurs in ירושלים של מטה — the Earthly Jerusalem which I live in.

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A good news day in Israel

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Dear all,

Thank you to everyone who signed the letter or attended the demonstration in support of the proposed bill criminalizing the purchase of sexual service in Israel. Today we received the fantastic news that it was approved by the Justice Committee, meaning it will almost certainly make it through the Knesset and become part of Israeli law. This is a good day for Israel! You can read more about it here.

Also pasted below is a message of thanks from Rabbi Levi Lauer, founder of Atzum, one of the leading voices in the fight against sex trafficking in Israel.

Best wishes,

Rose

Message from Levi Lauer:

Dear All,

Mazal tov!!!!

Today’s vote in the Ministerial Committee to approve legislation criminalizing the purchase of sexual services is a victory f or all who seek to free Israel from the evils of sex trafficking and the degradation of women and children. The message is clear: human bodies are no longer for sale in an enlightened society; trafficking in sexual services and prostitution are no longer legitimate enterprises on our streets; clients who rape sex slaves and make women and children the victims of their perverse power are now criminals. I celebrate this decision together with MK Orit Zuaretz who tirelessly advanced this legislation; with Zahava Galon who fearlessly laid the foundations for this effort in the Knesset; with Minister of Education Gidon Saar who for many years and through many political thickets supported these efforts; with the many organizations and volunteers who brought this measure to wider attention; and above all with the staffs of ATZUM , Kabiri-Nevo-Keidar, and the Task Force on Human Trafficking wh o coordinated the information, legal and lobbying campaigns that brought us to this day. Now we need remain zealous in our insistence the enforcement and judicial agencies do all in their power and new authority to arrest, prosecute and punish the pimps and traffickers — and now the clients, who have far too long, too easily turned too many of our streets and neighborhoods into comfortable environments for the brothels and slave pens that are our shame and disgrace.

Levi Lauer
Rabbi Levi D. Lauer
Founding Executive Director, ATZUM

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Against: Help Israel combat sex traffickin​g and prostituti​on

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Here is the original post by Rose, proclaiming ideas that I strictly oppose.

The initiative of “criminalizing the purchase of all sexual services” sounds absolutely wrong and horrific.

There is a huge problem of FINANCIAL incapability of more and more people every day. Poor girls and boys have to step over themselves and start selling their bodies, because this is the only way they can survive. Lets face the real problem to be solved – the problem of unemployment, the problem of high rent rates, the problem of inflation.

There is a huge HEALTH problem also involved: e.g. AIDS – lets invest more in the sex educational programs, reorganize safe sex propaganda policy completely (so it is finally convincing), the price for the pack of condoms is around the price of a good meal isn’t that a problem(!?), lets double the investment into scientific medical researches so we learn to solve this problem totally and forever, and as soon as possible.

There is a huge SOCIAL problem: once you find yourself a part of a particular social class its close to impossible to break through. If you are born in a suburban slum there’s 99% chance you going to die there. And everybody realizes that. The “american dream” works only for one percent. People accept that as it is and they choose the only possible ways to survive, no matter how ethically disgusting they are. Those, who are already prostitutes, and suffering from all the possible dangers of this style of life never come to courts, because they are legal and social outsiders, and they know it. Isn’t that a real problem?!

Yes, any form of violence should be immediately prosecuted and punished. Yes, every form of forced sex interaction should be considered to be a rape, prosecuted and punished. There’s no discussion about that. If it is not happening, it means the police is not managing its expressly enjoined duties. It means that police service has to be revised and reformed.

BUT:
“Criminalizing the purchase of all sexual services”?! The PURCHASE?! It will do absolutely nothing. Prostitution will not disappear. All that will happen – it will get more down into even more criminalized circles than it is now. If today there are escort agencies that we more or less can control, than tomorrow it will be all in the hands of the worst outrageous pimps and wild bastards. Those poor girls will still become prostitutes, and those clients will be still purchasing sexual services, just all of them will be in much more danger.

More prohibitions, more trials, more criminalization will do only worse. There is a huge number of people who already hate the police, don’t trust the government, hate the rich, and have to fight for their piece of bread every day. And this crowd is becoming bigger and more impulsive every day. Be aware of that, when you sitting in your cosy apartment on Emekh Rafaim. They are patient and scared, but be sure, if they explode, the wave will sweep us all. We had a lousy tent town lately, tomorrow we will have murders. There are already areas in Tel Aviv and other cities police is scared to enter, tomorrow we will just have to leave the country, if instead of solving the problems that need a serious, accurate, deep and longtime effort – we just propose more “polizai” regulations.

How to solve those? I have no idea. But that is exactly why people are spending both: their money(in taxes) and they time(on elections) to choose those who are supposed to solve those problems. If instead of solving the real problems, which are hard to solve, all they can do is proclaiming more and more criminalization, they should be fired. And as soon as possible, as we don’t have so much time to waste it on such a simple, lame and uncreative solutions.

Which link do I have to click to claim that i am against this initiative?

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Help Israel combat sex traffickin​g and prostituti​on

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Dear all,

At Sunday’s community lunch I mentioned a new project I was working on for Rabbi Levi Lauer’s organisation Atzum and the Task Force on Human Trafficking.   Please see below for more details and how you can help with the mere click of a button.

As I am sure you are aware Israel is a major destination for sex trafficking and research shows that most of Israel’s prostitutes enter the sex industry between the ages of 12 and 13. In its Trafficking in Person’s Report for 2011 the US State Department labelled Israel a “tier 2″ country, meaning that Israel has not only a significant amount of human trafficking but has failed to take adequate steps to combat it. It is estimated that there are currently more than 10,000 prostitutes working in Israel, 4,000 of whom of minors. Most of t he women and girls who work in prostitution are controlled by pimps, and experience significant acts of violence at the hands of their clients. The customers of prostitutes come from every segment of society, and they make an estimated million visits a month to forced prostitutes.

Next month on February 12th, the Ministerial Committee, comprised of 21 ministers, will be voting on a crucial piece of Israeli legislation. The legislation under consideration, proposed by Kadima Knesset Member Orit Zuartez, criminalizes the purchase of all sexual services. This bill is based closely on the Nordic Law, which has been enacted in Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and most recently France. The Nordic model, which establishes consequences for those who purchase sexual services, works on the principle that in order to effectively combat sex trafficking and prostitution the demand for sexual services must be addre ssed. It has proven to be an effective deterrent to potential clients of prostitutes and the countries that have passed legislation based on this model have seen significant declines in both prostitution and sex trafficking.

In addition it is vital that we lobby the Ministerial Committee to send the proposed bill to the Knesset, and allow it to be put to a vote. Without your help in lobbying for this the Committee could decide to kill the bill. We therefore ask that you take part in our 119 campaign to lobby the individual members of the Justice Committee by writing to explain how important this legislation is and how urgent the need is for it to be passed now. To send an automatic letter to the Justice Committee showing your support for the bill please click on the link below:

http://atzum.org/projects/task-force-on-human-trafficking/project-119/letter-to-members-of-knesset/

And invite all your friends to join the facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-119-Lobbying-to-Banish-Sex-Slavery/209985302427754?sk=wall.

We are also hoping to organize demonstrations on this issue outside international Israeli Consulates on the 5th of February at 11am. If you know people in your home towns who may be willing to take part please do let me know and I will help you to organise. With your help this bill will make it into the Knesset, where we will continue to lobby for it to be passed into Israeli law.

The Task Force on Human Trafficking strongly believes that Israel must eradicate this form of modern slavery. The time has come for our society to stop tolerating the purchase of sexual services. There must be real  consequences in place for those who purchase sex to the great detriment of women, children, and Israeli society as a whole. This is a call to action. If you care about the future of Israel, if you want the State to be a leader in the war against modern slavery, then we urge you to get involved in our campaign.

If you have any questions, want to do more to help or would or like to see a copy of the proposed bill please either email or find me in person to discuss.

Best wishes,

Rose

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Parshat Vayeishev

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My post at Uri L’Tzedek below:

In Parshat Vayeishev, after Yosef is captured by his brothers and sold into slavery, the Torah digresses to the esoteric story of Tamar and Judah. After the death of Tamar’s husband Er, Judah’s firstborn, she marries Er’s younger brother Oran. When Onan also dies, Judah instructs Tamar to wait in his house before her future levirate marriage to his third son Shelah. Time passes, and upon realizing that Judah will perhaps never permit her to marry Shelah, Tamar takes matters into her own hands. Disguising herself as a harlot, she seduces Judah, and he impregnates her. When Judah learns that his widowed daughter in law, Tamar, is pregnant, he complies with public accusation of Tamar as an adulteress. As Tamar is taken out of her home to be burned, she does not declare her innocence by directly confronting Judah.

It is bewildering that Tamar abstains from announcing her innocence, especially for the sake of her life and unborn child. Rashi interprets her silence as attesting to her piety. Citing Sotah, Rashi reminds us that a person should go to extreme lengths to avoid embarrassing another. In this light, perhaps Tamar chose to sacrifice her dignity to avoid embarrassing Judah publicly. However, I propose that Tamar keeps her secret because she feels frightened that if she tells the truth- a daring move- maybe nobody would believe her. Tamar wisely realizes that pointing out the truth to Judah directly could cause him to deny everything, perhaps out of shame. And without his corroborated testimony, she would be unable to prove her innocence. Afraid of this result, Tamar felt powerless to act.

Modern day juxtaposition to Tamar’s dilemma is our own reluctance to mobilize awareness of injustice in our communities and in Israel, because we feel concerned that doing so might negatively impact public perception of Jews. There are numerous reported instances of Jewish business owners not adhering to ethical labor practices. In Israel, furthermore, there is the egregious reality of human trafficking. These affronts to human dignity stand diametrically opposed to the fundamental ethical principles of Judaism. It can feel difficult to advocate publicly for these victims and demand change in the status quo, because these incidents are not only embarrassing, but also represent a breach of trust in our commitment to live holy lives. This fear for our reputation, but more so, the sense that we feel powerless to create adequate reform, sometimes perpetuates these immoral activities and hinders change.

Ultimately, Tamar does not allow fear to curtail her demand for justice. She arranges to have the objects that Judah gave her when she was disguised as a harlot delivered to him. Upon recognizing them, Judah proclaims צדקה ממני ‘she is right, it is from me’, disclosing his feelings of responsibility for her pregnancy. Ramban and Rashbam, however, read these words differently, as ‘she is more righteous than I’. Based on this reading of the text, Tamar ascends to a higher level of righteousness after she reveals the truth. Like Tamar, when we encounter injustice, let us not feel paralyzed by the fear of disclosing these crimes, but instead have the conviction to expose them in order to pursue true justice.

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Learn more about how you can advocate for the abolishment of human trafficking in Israel by visiting ATZUM’s Task Force Against Human Trafficking webpage at http://tfht.org/

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