Dear Friends,
Several years ago, I was unaware that sexual slavery not only exists in Israel but is a thriving business. It brings up to three quarters of a billion dollars a year into Israel’s economy. I was unaware that 3,200 women, many of them orphans, all of them poor, are trafficked across Israel’s borders every year. I was unaware that for a few thousand dollars, I could buy a girl or a woman, and sell her body to others to use and abuse as they saw fit. I was unaware that despite Israel having strong anti-sexual slavery and anti-trafficking laws, they are rarely enforced.
Several years ago I was unaware about the realities of sexual slavery in Israel, and worse I was doing nothing about it. Then I had a cup of coffee and a conversation with the wrong person. You should be very careful with whom you have coffee. Without much introduction I was made aware. Someone forced me to acknowledge the presence in Israel of an industry so perverse it undermines the ability of a just society to exist. She provided me with this information, and left me with difficult questions about what to do with it.
There are many reasons for not doing anything; I’ve heard nearly all of them.
Yet Israel was created with a hope and the dream we would proactively be a model for decency and dignity, a prophetic light for other nations” (Isaiah 49:6). We always recognized this would not be an easy task and this undersanding is embedded in the name of the State, Medinat Yisrael, a nation that would wrestle with God — and wrestling with God can be exhausting, and exhilirating. For engaging ultimate resposnibility is to engage difficult questions for which we will not have all the answers. To wrestle with ultimacy is to refuse to undermine our dignity.
Thus, we need choose to engage this struggle, refuse to tolerate sexual slavery on the streets of Israel. There are many ways to do this, and each of us has something to bring to this effort. I encourage you to get involved. Read this newsletter, learn more about our Task Force on Human Trafficking, send a letter to a Knneset Member, donate money or time. Contact us to see what you can do to help. Join us in wrestling with God.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Levi Lauer
Founding Executive Director, ATZUM
