Reply To: Jewish Boy Dies from Bullying

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#2319910
The little I know
Participant

I read this with deep pain. While a 100% verified cause cannot be stated, there may wellbe a connection. The bullying is a highly stressful burden on a victim, and such experiences can indeed affect medical issues. Whether there was an underlying tendency to this is irrelevant. It is a teaching moment. And any school or yeshiva that fails to train staff for bullying is a yeshiva that deserves to be closed down. And when events happen, the obligation to utilize them to the max is priority. Learn a blatt gemora less, if that’s the cost.

Next, bullying is a deadly serious problem. It is also insidious. It is often that the bully raises the issue him/herself, claiming to be the victim, pointing to the true victim as the perpetrator. These situations must be investigated throughly. It is also infrequent that the yeshiva has the training and staff who can do this. Consultation becomes critical.

In some cases, the bullies are children of wealthy parents who support the yeshiva or school. These situations become sticky, as there is a financial incentive to support the bully, even at the cost of the life of another student.

Staff must be well trained to spot bullying. I believe the training program at Torah Umesorah includes this, and there may be others that can provide it. It is getting tiring and frustrating when we refer to yeshiva faculty as chinuch professionals when this crucial training is not in place.