Based on the assumption of guilt indicated by the many accusations of victims and the presumption that the handwritten suicide note is legitimate, Prof. Juni presents a psychological analysis of the perpetrator in an elaborated context of psychopathy, character disorder, and psychiatric disturbance that characterize suicidal individuals. (Each of these concepts is explained in laymen’s terms to accommodate our wide audience.) The seemingly indiscriminate spectrum of Walder’s victims – from boys to girls to adults –has crucial diagnostic implications. We are not dealing here with problem of impulse dysregulation (i.e., a sexual acting-out disorder). Instead, the perpetrator suffered from a severe underlying developmental fixation. This means that he was in the grip of profound pre-sexual childhood issues which became mired in aggressive outbursts, and that his offenses were precipitated by unresolved inner hounding related to interpersonal dependency and dominance.  

The irrational and disturbed thought processes inherent in suicidal patients are annotated in the specifics of the note. These are contrasted from rational suicides – such as terminal illness patients, existential philosophers who eschew life, and incarcerated individuals (or prisoners of war) who decline to face horrific living conditions.  

Juni points out his rejection of Thanatos Theory, arguing that suicide is most reasonably conceptualized as guilt-based. Along this approach, Juni also considers an alternative hypothesis that Walder was a true psychopath and that his suicide note was merely another of his manipulations to secure a source of sympathy and income for his family.   

Rabbi Kivelevitz presents the profiles of a number of scholars and artists who manifested significant flaws, pushing the question of whether Walder’s shortcomings must not necessarily doom his significant corpus of work which has been hailed by educators and Developmental professionals. Not taking a definitive stance, Juni equivocates as he stresses that it is difficult to ascertain whether Walder’s perversity is imbued in his work, arguing that it would all hinge of whether we are dealing here with psychopathy or a more profound psychiatric disorder.  

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Prof. Juni is one of the foremost research psychologists in the world today. He has published ground-breaking original research in seventy different peer reviewed journals and is cited continuously with respect by colleagues and experts in the field who have built on his theories and observations.  

He studied in Yeshivas Chaim Berlin under Rav Yitzchak Hutner, and in Yeshiva University as a Talmid of Rav Joseph Dov Soloveitchik. Dr. Juni is a board member of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists and has regularly presented addresses to captivated audiences. Associated with NYU since 1979, Juni has served as Director of MA and PhD programs, all the while heading teams engaged in cutting-edge research. Professor Juni's scholarship on aberrant behavior across the cultural, ethnic, and religious spectrum is founded on psychometric methodology and based on a psychodynamic psychopathology perspective. He is arguably the preeminent expert in Differential Diagnostics, with each of his myriad studies entailing parallel efforts in theory construction and empirical data collection from normative and clinical populations. 

Professor Juni created and directed the NYU Graduate Program in Tel Aviv titled Cross-Cultural Group Dynamics in Stressful Environments. Based in Yerushalayim, he collaborates with Israeli academic and mental health specialists in the study of dissonant factors and tensions in the Arab-Israeli conflict and those within the Orthodox Jewish community, while exploring personality challenges of second-generation Holocaust survivors. 

Below is a partial list of the journals to which Professor Juni has contributed over 120 article (many are available online): Journal of Forensic Psychology; Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma; International Review of Victimology; The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease; International Forum of Psychoanalysis; Journal of Personality Assessment; Journal of Abnormal Psychology; Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology; Psychophysiology; Psychology and Human Development; Journal of Sex Research; Journal of Psychology and Judaism; Contemporary Family Therapy; American Journal on Addictions; Journal of Criminal Psychology; Mental Health, Religion, and Culture.  

As Rosh Beis Medrash, Rabbi Avraham Kivelevitz serves as Rav and Posek for the morning minyan at IDT. Hundreds of listeners around the globe look forward to his weekly Shiur in Tshuvos and Poskim.  

Rav Kivelevitz is a Maggid Shiur for Dirshu International in Talmud and Halacha as well as a Dayan with the Beth Din of America.  

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