Community
Eli Spitzer named new head of Orthodox support group for victims of abuse
Leading educator will take on part-time role at Shema Koli
February 20, 2023 16:13
Leading educator will take on part-time role at Shema Koli
February 20, 2023 16:13One of the leading educational figures in the Charedi community has been appointed executive director of an organisation to support victims of sexual, emotional and other abuse.
Eli Spitzer, the headteacher of a Strictly Orthodox boys school in Stamford Hill, Talmud Torah London, will run the charity Shema Koli.
Its helpline, which was set up 10 years ago, offers support to victims and witnesses of abuse.
Under Mr Spitzer’s leadership, it plans to expand its rabbinically approved educational programmes in schools and other institutions in order to prevent abuse.
He will remain at Talmud Torah London, combining his work there with the new part-time role at Shema Koli.
Mr Spitzer said he had long admired the charity’s work “addressing the urgent issue of preventing abuse in the Charedi community. As a parent and an educator, I am acutely aware of the need for a communal resource with the capacity, expertise and credibility to address our communal challenges."
He looked forward to working with rabbis, trustees and staff of Shema Koli “to develop effective strategies to ensure even greater success in fulfilling its vital mission”.
Shema Koli’s trustees said, “His achievements to date together with his experience in chinuch [education] and knowledge of the community make him ideally placed to further develop our work of educating to prevent abuse, and in listening to its victims.”
In recent years, Mr Spitzer has emerged as a prominent commentator on the Charedi world, writing a blog and regularly contributing essays to the American Jewish journal, Mosaic.