It had been a week, and Chana knew something wasn’t right. Her typically bubbly 7-year-old Rivky had been quiet. She wouldn’t eat, at night she came to her room in tears from nightmares. She stared out the window with a pensiveness beyond her age. Chana knew, as mothers know, that there was more to the story.
It was a Friday night when it all came out into the open. There was a knock at the door. Chana went to answer, it was a male neighbor asking for a bottle opener. Rivka stood in the doorway gazing in horror, and began to scream. She slammed the door shut and locked the door, begging her parents not to open it again. “Don’t let the man with the beard in,” she screamed. “Not the man with the beard. Her parents were bewildered – “Rivky, what is going on with you? That’s Rabbi T, from upstairs. You know him.” But she was inconsolable. Chana’s heart sank. She began to understand. Their neighbor reminded Rivky of someone – But who?
It was through therapy that they were able to give Rivky a voice to tell over what had happened to her. She had been walking to school when a bearded man had pulled over the car and asked her for instructions. She told him where to turn but he asked her to come closer, because he “could not hear.” Within moments, she was pulled into the front seat of the car. For an excruciating hour, the man drove up and down the main street of Sanhedria Murchevet, in broad daylight. Pedestrians walked by, completely unaware that a young girl’s life was being irrevocably changed.
When she opened up and told the story, Rivky’s parents were devastated. They turned immediately to Rabbi Berkowitz, who offered them not only advice and guidance, but told them about a project which could help them tremendously. In 2018, Rav Berkowitz started Jerusalem Eye, a community effort to place several surveillance cameras on main streets in the neighborhood. Through this effort, the number of reported incidents went down drastically. More importantly to Chana, that meant that the perpetrator who had abducted Rivky would have been recorded.
The tapes were played back and Rivky’s abuse was indeed caught on camera. The license plate of the perpetrator was captured clearly, and he is now in jail. It will not undo the trauma that Rivky has endured, but it will save other children from being picked up by the same man.
Since the installation of the cameras in Sanhedria, reported assaults on children have gone down by a staggering 90%. Unfortunately, however, the system is extremely expensive to maintain. Some months, they have been unable to keep them on. During those times, the urgency has weighed heavily upon the few who knew that the streets were less safe.
Funds are being raised by Rav Berkowitz, Rav Boruch Soloveitchik, and Rav Morgenstern to keep the cameras active, as well as extending their reach to the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo as well. The emergency fund page includes a powerful video message from Rav Berkowitz, as well as several hascamas from leading rabbanim.
Readers can donate here to help make sure kids like Rivky can be safe on their walk to school.
