Every once in a while, it’s nice to get a nod to know you’re doing the right thing. I mean, our mission is to strengthen the community that we serve. But it’s a difficult thing to measure.

Today, we got a little validation.

Right there on the front page of one of the leading dailies in the world—the New York Times—- was a story about how the fervently Orthodox are finally starting to change. They are now for the first time starting to report sexual abuse to the legal authorities, and not just to their rabbis.

The Times credits the work of rabbis, social workers, and the Jewish press. They mentioned the New York Jewish Week by name for its work in outing Baruch Lanner in 2000.

Much credit also has to go to Baltimore Jewish Times Editor Phil Jacobs for his courageous series on sexual molestation among Baltimore rabbis. It literally has changed our community. Most rabbis have supported our efforts and have pushed for changes since our series started. Even Talmudic Academy changes its procedures.

Still, some remained in denial and are hiding sexual predators. We also get all sorts of angry letters and people accusing us – and the victims of wrongdoing.

Today’s New York Times story shows that we, as a leader in the Jewish press, are fulfilling our mission if changes are being made and the perpetrators of violence against children are brought to real justice, not kangaroo courts.

The stories outline that blogs and other sources are forcing sects of Judaism that have been closed for centuries to start to opening up to this very important reality. It’s a huge positive movement and moment for the Jewish people.