This week’s stunning announcement of the Archdiocese of California’s $660 million settlement with 508 sexual abuse victims may or may not catch the attention of Baltimore rabbinic leaders. It sure should.

At least in California, no longer will the victims or the courts sit idle as religious leaders shuffle sexual predators around to new jobs to cover for crimes, hoping that such disaster doesn’t strike again.

Locally, at the Baltimore Jewish Times we have uncovered at least two rabbis who have allegedly abused dozens of young boys and girls in hundreds of cases.

In the coming months, there will be even more news forthcoming. When these mounting facts come to light, a scary trail of covering up these crimes will be exposed. Some Baltimore rabbinic leaders knew about the scores of victims left behind as these perpetrators had access to innocent children. In some instances the only action they took was to remove the offenders from classrooms. In other cases, nothing was done. Why isn’t anyone safeguarding our children to ensure that certain rabbis and educators are not still molesting?

Unlike the Catholic Church, there is no central address for rabbis – Orthodox or otherwise. So, there is no one group to be held responsible for a multi-million class action suit. But individuals are not immune.

After our first series of articles, several local Jewish leaders spoke out publicly about the need for change. Many rabbis signed documents and gave sermons. School administrators began meeting on this most serious of topics. I hope it goes much farther than that. That’s because, still, the molesters are out there; our rabbinic leaders are well aware of the alleged abuse. In fact, they have been so for years.

I hope and pray that we don’t need a multi-million dollar lawsuit to stop this racket. More importantly, I hope our leaders come to their senses quickly to ensure the safety of our children.