Dear frum community, Jewish organizations, and Rabbonim,
I am offering you the opportunity to view an award winning film by Dalit Kimor that I participated in, Unkept Secrets* https://www.youtube.
The film will open your eyes to the painful reality of childhood sexual abuse even in our most respected Torah families and the damage it causes to all of us for generations.
Most importantly, Unkept Secrets will give you hope, that we are educating ourselves as a community and we are making important changes! The goal of the film is to help end the secrecy and the lack of accountability that allows this kind of abuse to continue, and to give survivors a voice.
The film is sensitive to our Torah values of tznius and shows that we as Torah Jews are making important changes and taking responsibility for healing our children and families, who have been hurt through our silence and lack of understanding.
As Rav Yosef Blau says in the film, when I ask him what the halacha is in making such a difficult and painful film,
"It is a Kiddush Hashem."
Everyone who views this challenging film is taking personal responsibility for an evil that is happening even as we speak, to so many of our precious children. It is especially relevant now as children are home more due to the Corona virus and child abuse is on the rise. This is not an easy film to see, but a necessary one.
I live in Eretz Yisrael and I'm a teacher and educator, as well as the author of a memoir about childhood sexual abuse in the frum community, The Price of Truth, which can be purchased from me or at amazon.com. I am an advocate for survivors, and I run a therapy group for women who have been abused. I am in my second year of studying psychotherapy.
The film can be accessed for free on Amazon Prime in the U.S. or rented from the producer for group viewing for 300 dollars outside of Israel, (500 NIS in Israel) for a maximum of 100 viewers. (Thirty participants at 10 dollars each will cover the cost.) The full version of the film is 70 minutes long. A shortened version, 58 minutes long, is also available.
A link to the film will be sent out to the recipients of your choice for a 12 hour period. An optional Zoom discussion with me on the healing process will be scheduled for later that day or for the following day, (time zone depending) at no additional charge.
I'm writing to you from my heart as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse in the frum community. It is time to usher in Mashiach and put an end to the evil of child sexual abuse among us!
To participate in this important project please send an email to me at genendy.safekids@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Genendy Radoff
* Unkept Secrets won first prize at PriMed doc film festival Marseille 2019, and won a prize at the Chaifa film festival that same year.
