Isaac Hersh, the son of the CEO of a prominent Orthodox organization based in Brooklyn, was recently rescued from a torture camp in Jamaica and brought home to America in what has to be the most sensational story to come out of the Orthodox world in a long time. I happen to have some inside info on what transpired and wanted to share it. None of this is confirmed or official and should not be repeated as absolute fact, but the essentials of the story were covered already in the NY Post and the Jewish Week.
Hersh had been abused by his father and ran away to live with a family in Texas. The Texan family, headed by a prominent rabbi, took him in lovingly and treated him like a son. He was described as a normal, well adjusted teen. Eventually, Isaac’s parents lured him back to Brooklyn with promises of financial assistance, as well as promises to help him secure a visa to work in Canada as a summer camp counselor. When he reached Brooklyn he was bound, gagged and handcuffed, thrown in the back of a van, and flown to Jamaica to a “boot camp” for troubled teens with the Orwellian name “Tranquility Bay.” While I usually detest Holocaust analogies, one cannot help but describe this “boot camp” as a concentration camp. Punishments included being forced to eat your own vomit and lying face down in the mud for 24 hours without moving. And that was for minor infractions like starting at the guards the wrong way. Hersh said he had a friend who laid that way for weeks on end (while being fed) because he kept moving. He also said every other kid there was a murderer or gangster.
He had been at Tranquility Bay since last summer, and his foster family in Texas had no idea what happened to him. Eventually, he somehow managed write an email to them and was severely punished for doing so. Prominent Orthodox Yeshiva heads were brought in to organize a rescue, including Rabbis David Feinstein, David Cohen, Shmuel Kaminetzky, and Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski. R. Cohen, who has a lot of pull with the organization that Hersh’s father is CEO of, immediately ordered Hersh’s father fired from his job. However, one prominent yeshiva head continued to support the father, apparently because he simply didn’t know how bad Tranquility Bay really was and thought the boy might “shape up” there. It is unclear whether that rabbi has come to his senses since.
Dr. David Pelcovitz, a highly respected psychologist who teaches pastoral counseling to Yeshiva University rabbinical students, was flown on a private jet to Jamaica to evaluate Isaac and prove that he was traumatized and needed to be sent home. The Jamaican government was not being cooperative and was threatening to detain Pelcovitz there. Meanwhile, someone close to Hillary Clinton told her of Isaac’s plight and she threatened to send in US Marshals to rescue Isaac if the Jamaicans would not let him go. Eventually, Dr. Pelcovitz and Isaac were flown to Miami, where they were greeted by hundreds with song and dance.
A resolution is being proposed in Congress to shut down Tranquility Bay. Other former students have come forward to testify to the atrocities committed there. Isaac’s parents are also being sued and, needless to say, they’ve lost custody. Isaac should be in all of our prayers. You can’t make up stuff like this if you tried. Unfortunately, real life is often scarier than action films. A chilling video documentary on these “behavior modification camps” is viewable on Youtube. Apparently, these camps are run according to a radical Mormon doctrine of strict patriarchal obedience. Be warned, it’s scary. Forward it along and raise awareness.
