Pandora's box of sexual abuse in mikvehs has been opened

The publication of the "Hayom" investigation, which exposed the quiet and systematic sexual abuse experienced by Haredi teenagers and children in mikvehs, triggered a wave of reactions and a flood of new testimonies. The testimonies, which appeared on social media and through direct messages, prove that the phenomenon is much more widespread.

In one of the comments on the X network, a user wrote:

"I would get angry at the framing, but it is simply true, unfortunately. I know 100 stories. I will not forget how a friend of mine told me naively, 'There is some guy who gives my little brothers a shekel so they will agree to let him touch them.' And when I asked him why he doesn't do anything about it, he answered me: 'Because he is such a miserable person.'"

Another testimony online describes a recurring pattern of freezing in place and a heavy sense of guilt. One user shared: "At the age of 15, I was harassed by an adult in a mikveh after I entered because he asked. I couldn't speak, I just froze and shook. I warned him with a trembling finger and ran away. Some time later he waited for me in the pool and I ran away. Of course, I was ashamed to tell and felt guilty. For years I didn't remember the incident, only recently."

"I felt I had to run, but I froze"

Alongside the open publications on the web, direct testimonies also reached "Hayom". One victim told of an incident that occurred in a mikveh in Zichron Moshe in Jerusalem: "About 7 years ago I came to immerse, the showers are built of a large room and a small room. I entered the small room and started to wash. Someone entered and asked for soap, I gave it to him and I felt that feeling that I must run, but I froze. It turns out he was looking at me while touching himself. I still feel bad anyway, I think that what could prevent or help catch him is cameras at the exit and entrance to the mikveh."

Many commenters expressed gratitude for raising the silenced issue. In one of the messages sent, it was written: "I know the phenomenon closely. This is a Pandora's box that no one has touched. In the neighborhood where I grew up - Allah yustur (God forbid) what was there."

The new testimonies reinforce the call that was at the center of the original investigation: an urgent need to increase protection, and to open an educational and conscious discourse by parents and the community to prevent the next abuse. Following the publication in "Hayom", the CEO of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, Orit Sulitzeanu, issued an urgent call to the Ministry of Religious Services, demanding that the Ministry implement an emergency protocol and prohibit the entry of minors into a mikveh without a responsible adult.

Helplines for the religious community of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers:

Women: 2511*

Men: 02-5328000