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(JTA) – An embattled Orthodox feminist group has commissioned an exterior overview of its “office and board tradition,” weeks after a number of former workers shared allegations of harassment towards a distinguished intercourse therapist who was the group’s former board chair.
The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance introduced Wednesday that it had contracted an outdoor agency to analyze its tradition, in addition to leaders’ responses to “considerations raised by former JOFA workers.” It will likely be the second impartial investigation commissioned by the group stemming from allegations towards Bat Sheva Marcus, following an earlier one in 2018.
Two former government administrators had beforehand mentioned they’d felt harassed by Marcus, the group’s co-founder and former board chair who can also be a well-known intercourse therapist with many Orthodox ladies sufferers. They mentioned JOFA’s observe of getting former workers signal non-disclosure agreements had impeded their capability to talk up about their experiences sooner.
“In current weeks, quite a few people previously affiliated with JOFA have raised considerations about sexual harassment, retaliation, and our office setting,” reads a joint assertion signed by JOFA board president Pam Scheininger, incoming president Mindy Feldman Hecht and government director Daphne Lazar Worth. “These discussions have sparked renewed introspection for all of us at JOFA.”
The group heads didn’t title Marcus straight however famous that there had been “very actual criticism of actions taken by our prior board president, and the way we as a company responded to these actions.”
Marcus has not been related to JOFA since 2018, when she was requested to go away following the primary impartial investigation into her habits; each investigations have stemmed a minimum of partly from the identical former worker’s complaints.
The brand new overview will likely be carried out by Cozen O’Connor’s Institutional Response Group, which focuses on investigations of allegations of institutional gender- and sex-based discrimination. To make sure independence, JOFA chosen a subcommittee of three board members who weren’t concerned in any of the allegations to “facilitate” Cozen O’Connor’s work.
The group’s newest reckoning was prompted by an essay Marcus penned in Pill detailing the accusations towards her. Nearly instantly, JOFA freed all former workers from their non-disclosure agreements. Marcus additionally resigned from the board of a liberal Orthodox seminary in New York following strain from its alumni. And a handful of individuals affiliated with JOFA mentioned they might step again from their involvement with the group.
In the meantime, Elana Sztokman, one of many group’s former government administrators who had come ahead with allegations towards Marcus, is making ready to launch a brand new ebook, “When Rabbis Abuse: Energy, Gender, and Standing within the Dynamics of Sexual Abuse in Jewish Tradition.”
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