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‘Mormon Land’: ‘Isn’t God supposed to protect children?’ Sex abuse survivor details his painful path to healing.

Utah Rabbi Avremi Zippel discusses his new book, “Not What I Expected: A 20-Year Journey to Reclaim a Child’s Voice.”

(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah poses for a photograph, Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

Note This podcast discusses sexual assault. If you need to report or discuss a sexual assault, you can call the Utah Sexual Violence help line at 801-736-4356.

Rabbi Avremi Zippel was 8 years old when his nanny began sexually abusing him in a basement bathroom in his Salt Lake City home.

For Zippel, the abuse, which continued for a decade, violated everything he believed as an Orthodox Jew and threw him into a whirlwind of shame, guilt, depression, anxiety and even questions about God. He eventually told his wife, his parents, his siblings, a therapist and the police, which was an agonizing but ultimately healing journey.

Zippel, who followed in the footsteps of his father, Rabbi Benny Zippel, a Chabad Lubavitch leader in Utah, tells the harrowing story in his new book, “Not What I Expected: A 20-Year Journey to Reclaim a Child’s Voice.”

On this week’s show, Avremi Zippel discusses his book, what he endured and what religious leaders can do in the fight against sexual abuse.

Listen here: