The Awareness Center
| Formation | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit |
| Headquarters | Skokie, IL |
Founder and CEO | Vicki Polin |
| Website | The Awareness Center, Inc. |
The Awareness Center, Inc. is a nonprofit organization, also known as the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA). Its stated mission is to end sexual violence in Jewish communities,[1] The Center and its director have been criticized for making improbable and unfounded accusations of abuse, including her personal claim of having been raised in a secret, Satanic Jewish sect.[2]
History, goals and leadership
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
The Awareness Center was founded by Vicki Polin in 2001[3] and incorporated in 2003.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[verification needed][dubious – discuss]
Rabbi Yosef Blau, a religious adviser at Yeshiva University and an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and other misconduct by clergy, has said that the Center's website is very valuable. "Since you can't get people arrested and there are no court cases, you have to use a standard that's reasonable and [disclosure] works in that context".[3]
Activities
The organization's brochure claims to provide educational traing programs to community groups, rabbis, teachers, parents, and survivor groups.[4] The Center's webpage describes active involvement in a movement to abolish the statute of limitations for filing civil suit against alleged and convicted sex offenders. It includes documents indicating that its executive director has provided testimony on the topic.[5][6]
Criticism of the Center and its director
The Awareness Center has attracted criticism for publishing and publicizing rumors, accusations and allegations without verification. The Center routinely relies on anonymous blogs and other sources without appreciable credibility, with some people profiled on its website never having even been charged with any criminal or civil offense.[3]
Rabbi Mark Dratch, chair of the Rabbinical Council of America's Task Force on Rabbinic Improprieties and founder of the organization JSafe, which addresses domestic violence and child abuse in the Jewish community, withdrew his support from the Center because its use of dubious sources victimized the falsely accused. He once commended Awareness Center founder and director Vicki Polin for creating her list of offenders,[7][failed verification] but later resigned from the Center's advisory board, saying "I wasn't satisfied with the threshold of verification. There are people who've been victimized and others who've been subject to false reports also being victimized."[3]
Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for the Orthodox Agudath Israel of America group, has also criticized the center for using material from anonymous blogs. "The blogorai, as I call it, is the new way of making irresponsible accusations," he said. "Using a blog is a very easy and effective way of casting aspersions on people." Even Rabbi Blau agreed, despite his words of general support for TAC, saying "since they are anonymous, they can say almost anything."[3]
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union and a trained psychologist, has said that while the Awareness Center and the blogs "have served the purpose of keeping this in the public spotlight and keeping the pressure on established institutions to police their constituencies," nonetheless "I read everything with a grain of salt."[3]
Jeff Bell, writing in the July 2008 issue of Catalyst magazine, went further, accusing Polin of misusing the TAC as a tool for defamation:
She now claims to be a victim’s advocate; but her advocacy seems to have taken all the aspects of vigilante misanthrope, and the power of the blog is her weapon. Polin has a singular focus to not only expose, but to destroy the life and reputation of whatever person that falls into her sights, regardless of facts. Any Google search on her name serves up a fairly even return of Polin's attacks on rabbinical leaders, and pages written by victims of Polin's tactics.[8]
Before founding The Awareness Center, Polin appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, under a pseudonym, claiming that she was a survivor of a secret Jewish Satanic cult, wherein she and her family, along with others, had sacrificed babies to the devil.[2] The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and a host of other Jewish organizations sharply criticized Winfrey for publicizing an obviously false blood libel and thereby helping to perpetuate anti-Semitism.[9] Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism described Polin to the New York Times as "clearly mentally ill" and her treatment by Oprah as "insensitive manipulation," and said the result "can only inflame the basest prejudices of ignorant people."[10] Footage of the video has been posted to YouTube and used by anti-Semitic websites to "prove" the existence of Jewish Satanic cults.[2]
See also
Kitty Kelley's book on Oprah - See page 201
References
- ^ The Awareness Center Home Page.
- ^ a b c Orbach, Michael (2010-04-23). "Victims' advocate accused of misconduct". The Jewish Star. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
- ^ a b c d e f Meyer, Eugene L.; Greenberg, Richard (January 10, 2007). "Awareness Center a Clearinghouse of Concern — and Controversy". Washington Jewish Week. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
brochurewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Rabbi Marc Dratch's address at the 2004 Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance conference
- ^ Trial by Internet: An archetypal spiritual drama, by Jeff Bell, Catalyst magazine, July 2008.
- ^ "Oprah Winfrey meets with Jewish leaders on Satanic controversy. (Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith)". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
- ^ Kelley, Kitty (2010). Oprah: A Biography. New York: Crown Archetype. p. 202.