The “Awareness Center” was a website administered by a Jewess named Vicki Polin, who had been a victim of incest, she said, in her own family — and she averred that this practice had gone on for generations among her kin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awareness_Center
Excerpt:
The Awareness Center was founded by Vicki Polin, a licensed clinical professional counselor, in 2001[3] and incorporated in 2003.[2] It closed for a time in 2011,[10][11] but claimed to resume operations in 2013. The website registration was then allowed to lapse.[12]
Polin famously appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 1989 to say that her own family had practiced incest, Satanism, cannibalism, and sacrificing babies for generations.
The following is from that now-disappeared website:
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Cases of Clergy Abuse and Other Trusted Officials
Case of Rabbi Yoram Aberjil (Netivot, Israel) (Accused of cult like practices and sexual harassment of young women and treatening the lives of the survivors and those who support them.) 1
Case of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner (Beit El, Israel) (Two women accused the rabbi of creating emotionally intimate relationships with them. These relationships included his expressions of his love for them during regular late-night phone conversations, extracting details from them of their sexuality and promoting an unhealthy emotional dependence on him). 2
Case of Rabbi Aryeh Blaut (AKA: Louis Blaut, Louis Steven Blaut, Louis A. Blaut, Louis S. Blaut) (Seattle, WA) (Convicted sex offender on federal charges of possession of child pornography. According to the United States Department of Probation, Louis Blaut is not allowed contact with anyone under the age of eighteen on the internet or in person).
Case of Rabbi Jerry Brauner (Boro Park, Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted on the charges of Sexual Abuse-1st Degree and Sexual Abuse-3rd:Subject Another Person to Sex Contact Without Consent. He was sentenced to 11 years probation, with the condition he must participate in a sex offender treatment program. Brauner has been on probation since 2002 for the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old boy. On December 27, 2006, Jerry Brauner was arrested on charges of stealing a half-million-dollar home from a cancer-stricken woman, using a forged power of attorney to sell it and pocket the profits. Brauner is being held in lieu of $85,000 bail for lying about prior sex-abuse convictions when he applied for his notary’s license.)
Case of Rabbi Lewis Brenner (AKA: Lippa Brenner) (Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted of child molestation. The original charges included 14 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the third degree, a Class E felony, in exchange for a sentence of five years’ probation.)
Case of Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak Brizel (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of child molestation)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks (Winnipeg, Canada, New York, NY) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accusations about sexual inappropriate behavior with children started surfacing in the 1980’s. Rabbi Bryks is currently a member of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. The Vaad is a Rabbinical committee that makes important decisions within an orthodox community.)
Case of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused of several cases of child molestation, and sexual assault of young adult women)
Case Rabbi Perry Ian Cohen – Montreal and Toronto Canada (Accused of sexual abuse of a seventeen year old. Fired for sexual impropriety with congregants)
Case of Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen (Israel) (Accused of sexually harassing students at Bar-Ilan University)
Case of Rabbi Asher Dahan, Be’er Sheva, Israel (Arrested after being accused of raping and sexually abusing two 17-year-old girls after he offered « to redeem them of sin and evil inclinations. »)
Case of Rabbi Anthony Dee (Blackpool England; Portsmouth, England) (Former synagogue minister Reverend Anthony Dee found guilty of sexually abusing two boys and a girl in Blackpool and Portsmouth, England. This is the first set of convictions, there was a second set of convictions in 1997.)
Case of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann (AKA: Moshe Eiseman) – Mashgiach Ruchni Ner Israel Rabbinical College (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this case – Accused of child sexual abuse)
Case of Rabbi Eliezer Eisgrau – Principal, Torah Institute (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused of physically abusing and sexually assaulting one of his children. There have also been allegations that two families were « run out of Baltimore » because they wanted to go to secular legal authorities to deal with the accusations of child abuse)
Case of Rabbi Arnold Fink – Beth El Hebrew Congregation – Alexandria, VA (Accused of Professional Rabbinic Sexual Misconduct)
Case of Rabbi Benyamin Yaakov Fleischman (AKA Benyamin Fleischman, Ben Fleischman)- Photographer (Baltimore, MD) (Convicted of sexually assaulting a minor.)
Case of Rabbi Gershon Freidlin (Colonia, NJ; Pittsburgh, PA; Washington, PA) (Rabbi Gershon Freidlin pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment , saying he had touched the youth’s penis and buttocks while applying tanning lotion on the boy on July 10, 1995 Under the terms of a plea agreement, the rabbi will not be jailed for the crime, but faces up to five years probation.)
Case of Yehudah Friedlander – Rabbi ‘s Assistant (Brooklyn, NY) (Accused of molesting a 15 year old on a 1995 plane flight from Australia to LA. Friedlander was the assistant to the chief rabbi of an Hungarian Hasidic congregation in Brooklyn, known as the Pupas)
Case of Cantor Stuart Friedman (Halifax,Canada-Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore) (Convicted and sentanced to 15 months in federal prison on one count of distributing child pornography).
Case of Cantor Philip Friedman (Albany, NY, Queens, NY, Long Island, NY) (Temple Israel fired its longtime cantor for « inappropriate behavior » toward a member of the congregation, and the Albany County district attorney’s office confirmed Tuesday that it is investigating the matter.)
Case of Rabbi Jacob Frank (AKA: Yaakov Frank) and the Frankist Movement (Convicted of cultic type practices and sexual offenses.)
Case of Rabbi Lewis Furman of Ohr Somayach, Johannesburg, South Africa (Prominent South African rabbi who was allegedly caught having an affair with a married woman. He is also accused of being « serial philanderer » — was forced to resign his position in South Africa and will not practise as a rabbi in this country again.)
Rabbi Tobias Gabriel (Toronto, Canada) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused by more then one woman of clergy sexual abuse / professional sexual misconduct).
Case of Rabbi Mordechai Gafni (aka: Marc Gafni, Mordechai Winiarz, Marc Winiarz) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused sexually abusing teenage girls, attempted sexual assault of a young adult, and also accused of cult like practices).
Case of Rabbi Shimon Gerlick (Nahariya, Israel) (Arrest for allegedly committing indecent sexual acts with a two minors and and adult woman)
Case of Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg (St. Paul, MN) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Resigned as senior rabbi at Temple of Aaron, shortly after reaching an out-of-court settlement with a former congregation member who accused him of sexual misconduct. A criminal investigation into the case also is being closed, with no charges forthcoming).
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg (Boca Raton, FL) (Pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of exposure of sexual organs in a washroom at a Palm Beach Mall.)
Case of Rabbi/Cantor Sidney Goldenberg (Levittown,NY; Seaford, NY; Bayshore, NY; Petaluma, CA; Coney Island, NY) (Convicted of molesting children. The first complaints came in 1971. He was finally convicted in 1997.)
Case of Cantor Joel Gordon (Buffalo Grove, IL) (Convicted of having keeping a house of prostitution and involvement in a prostitution ring.)
Case of Rabbi Mark A. Golub – Mental Health Counselor (Newport, Virginia) (Had professional counseling license revolked for having sex with a female client, according to a state disciplinary order).
Case of Rabbi Yisrael Menachem Grunwald (AKA: Israel Grunwald) (Borough Park/Brooklyn NY) (In a plea bargin agreement Rabbi Israel Grunwald agreed to 500 hours of community service and counseling after being accused of fondling a 15-year-old on a 1995 plane flight from Australia. The charges against him were then dropped.)
Case of Rabbi Solomon Hafner (Borough Park/Brooklyn, NY) (Accused of sexually abusing a developmentally disabled boy)
Case of Cantor Mark Horowitz, Temple Beth Am in Amherst (Getzville, NY) (Charged with committing lewd acts on an undercover police officer.)
Case of Rabbi (Alan J.) Shneur Horowitz (Hagerstown, MD; Israel; Schenectady, NY; California; Iowa) (Convicted and sentenced to 10 – 20 years in prison for sodomizing a nine-year-old psychiatric patient. Allegedly, he has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel to New York in the past twenty years. Alan J. Horowitz is an Orthodox rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D. A graduate of Duke University, and was a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association).
Case of Rabbi Steven J. Kaplan (Saskatoon, Canada) (Allegations, detailed in court documents, that he lacked proper ordination, sexually harassed female congregants and committed adultery with one of them).
Case of Rabbi David Kaye (Potomac, MD; Rockville, MD; San Antonio, TX) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Featured on « Dateline NBC » for seeking a sexual encounter with an underage boy in a chat room. NBC News conducted a sting in August, (2005) working with a group called « Perverted Justice. » Members of the group, posing as underage boys and girls, entered Internet chat rooms and waited for adults to engage them in conversations)
Case of Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum (New York, NY) (Convicted of child pornography on the internet)
Case of Rabbi Robert Kirschner (San Francisco, CA) (Confessed to sexually exploited or harassing three congregants and a synagogue employee)
Case of Rabbi Yisucher Kohn (AKA: Barry Kohn) (New Square, NY) (Convicted of Sexual Abuse 1st: Sexual Contact With Individual Less Than 11Years Old.)
Case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko (AKA: Joel Kolko, Yudi Kolko) – Yeshiva Torah Temimah (New York, NY) (Arrested in New York City on December 7, 2006 following a long-term police investigation. He was charged with four counts of sexual abuse, including two felony counts, and endangering the welfare of a child. The most recent sexual abuse was allegedly against an 8-year-old boy, who says he was abused while he was in the first grade during the 2002-03 school year.Rabbi Yudi Kolko and Yeshiva Torah Temimah were hit with a $20 million civil lawsuit on May 5, 2006, accusing him of molesting two students more than 25 years ago. One of the alleged victims said Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, 60, sexually assaulted him when he was a seventh-grade student).
Case of Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch (Jerusalem, Israel) (Convicted of molesting students at Rosh Yeshiva, Netiv Meir yeshiva high school)
Case of Rabbi Avraham M. Leizerowitz (AKA: Avraham Mordecai Lazerewitz) – Geres Misivta Bais Yisroel School, (Borough Park Brooklyn) – (A civil suit was filed against Rabbi Avraham Mordecai Leiverowitz of the Gerrer Mesivta High School in Borough Park Brooklyn. The charges include improperly touching a boy during a one-on-one help session in the rabbi’s office in the Borough Park secondary school. Three other older boys have also come forward making similar allegations.)
Case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner (New York, NY) (Convicted – child molestation. Sentancing still pending after 2 years)
Case of Rabbi Jerrold Martin Levy (Boca Raton, FL) (Convicted of two counts of soliciting sex through the Internet and two counts of child pornography. He was sentenced to six years and sex in prison. He was caught in the « Candyman » year-long sting operation by the US government.)
Case of Rabbi Pinchas Lew (Pottville, IA and Chapel Hill, NC) (Accused of exposing himself and touching his genitals repeatedly in front of an unrelated woman in his home)
Case of Rabbi David E. Lipman – Kiruv Rabbi (Prescott, AZ; Cranston, R.I.) (Pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, a Class 2 felony, and three counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, Class 3 felonies. Lipman pleaded guilty to pertain to the computer images of children younger than the age of 15. ).
Case of Rabbi/Psychologist Mordecai Magencey (St. Louis, MO) (Lost his license to practice in the State of Missouri because of his sexual misconduct with his patients.)
Case of Rabbi Richard Marcovitz (Oklahoma City, OK) (Convicted of indecent or lewd acts with a child, and sexual battery)
Case of Rabbi Michael David Mayersohn (Westminster, CA) (Accused of « groping » a female congregant who was undergoing pastoral counseling with the rabbi, due to marital problems. The rabbi is also accused of tring to « convince the congregant to have sex with him » in a second meeting. The female congregant refused).
Case of Rabbi Samuel Mendelowitz – Licensed Marriage Counselor (Teaneck, NJ) (Accused of gross malpractice with four female patients between 1981 and 1992. He allegedly pressured women to remove their blouses and touched them sexually, engaged in masturbation and oral sex with one patient, and disparaged their husbands and urged them to have extramarital sex with what he called « surrogate lovers » male patients in his group sessions.)
Case of Rabbi Yaakov Menken (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Serious allegations have been made against Rabbi Yaakov Menken which include sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and sexual assault. Menken’s alleged modus operandi (M.O.) is of becoming a father figure to vulnerable young women and eventually allegedly sexually assaulting them.)
Case of Rabbi Yona Metzger (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of sexually misconduct with four men)
Case of Rabbi Juda Mintz – AKA: Yehuda Mintz (Montreal, Canada; Williamsburg, NY; Atlanta, GA; Mt. Freedom, NJ; Los Angeles, CA; Venice, CA) (Convicted – internet sting on child pornography)
Case of Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, M.Sc., Ph.D., L.N.H.A. (Chicago, IL; Brooklyn, NY; Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of two counts of sex abuse with boys at a special education school in New York. He is currently a college professor in Jerusalem, Israel).
Case of Rabbi Shalom Nagar – AKA Shlomo Nagar (Ariel, Israel) (Arrested for allegedly raping a woman who had turned to him for advice. Nagar, married with children, has served for many years as the chief rabbi of this mainly secular town, the largest Jewish settlement in Samaria)
Case of Cantor Howard Nevison (New York, NY) (Nevison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children. Two felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed when Nevison is sentenced. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.)
Case of Rabbi Gabriel Ohayon (Boca Raton, FL) (Alleged rabbinical sexual misconduct. A former employee sued a Boca Raton Judaic studies institute, alleging that Rabbi Gabriel Ohayon groped and sexually harassed her).
Case of Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Oratz (AKA: Yehoda A. Oratz) (LAKEWOOD, NJ; Marietta, GA; Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted of stalking children under the age of thirteen, and then sexually assaulting them. The Victims did NOT know the offender.Please note that there is more then one Rabbi Yehuda Oratz. This convicted offender was born on April 11, 1967).
Case of Rabbi Michael Ozair (Beverly Hills, CA) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Convicted, pleaded no contest to oral copulation with a 14-year-old minor. )
Case of Cantor Alain Oziel (New York, NY; Toronto, Canada) (Convicted on one count of indecent assault, gross indecency and attempted buggery during the period January 1, 1981, to December 31, 1982, of a teenage boy. He was sentenced to five years’ in prison. Oziel’s sentence was reduced due to his deteriorating health).
Case of Rabbi Haim Pardes – Former President of the Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court (Israel) (Convicted of sexually blackmailing » and performing « licentious acts » with women who sought his counsel in a synagogue. Pardes was sentanced to six months in prison and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and fined 25,000 shekels ($12,500).
Case of Lou Pearlman – Mentor to the Stars (Queens, NY, Hollywood, CA) (Alleged child molester)
Case of Shimon Rosen (Monsey, NY) (Convicted sex offender)
Case of Cantor Stanley Rosenfeld (Warwick, RI) (Convicted of molesting a 12-year-old boy he was tutoring.)
Case of Rabbi Edward Schlaeger (Shelton, CT; West Haven, CT) ( Arrested on a warrant Saturday and charged with one count of third-degree possession of child pornography.)
Case of Rabbi Arthur Charles Shalman (AKA Charles Friedman, Charlie Frideman, Arthur Friedman, Arthur Shalman) (Buffalo, NY) (The Rabbinical Assembly concluded that Rabbi Shalman violated several principles of rabbinic conduct. Accused of sexual misconduct toward female congregational members. )
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused of molesting several boys.)
Case of Cantor Robert Shapiro (Detroit, MI) (Pleaded guilty to 14 counts of indecent assault and battery on a mentally retarded person. In return, Norfolk County prosecutors dropped seven counts of rape.)
Case of Yisroel Shapiro (Baltimore, MD) (Accused of molesting children)
Case of Cantor Michael Segelstein (Las Vegas, NV) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Originally arraigned on one count each of attempted sexual assault, battery with intent to commit sexual assault and open and gross lewdness. On December 19, 2002, Michael Segelstein pled guilty to the lessor charges of open or gross lewdness, in which he received one year suspended sentence with conditions and court ordered into counseling. According to court documents, Segelstein’s probation was successfully completed. He has since been discharged. A civil suit is currently pending.)
Rabbi Ben Zion Sobel (New York, NY; Jerusalem, Israel) (« Rabbi Ben Zion Sobel is one of the most notorious pedophiles he has known, leaving hundreds of boys he has victimized. At one point Rabbi Shach made a rabbinic decree stating that Rabbi Ben Zion Sobel could NEVER teach again. » « Ben Zion has left survivors in both the United States and Israel. » « His modus operandi was extremely violent and barbaric. » )
Case of Rabbi David Alan Stein (AKA: David Stein, David A. Stein) – Dean of Jewish Life, American Hebrew Academy’s former director of campus (Greensboro, NC) (charged with eight counts of having sex with a student. The alleged sex acts occurred on campus during the 2006-07 school year. The student was a 16-year-old male.)
Case of Robert Sternberg (AKA: Yerachiel Sherberg, Robert Stein) (Monsey, NY) (Convicted sex offender)
Case of Rabbi Ze’ev Sultanovitch (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of sexually molesting a number of adult yeshiva students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva)
Case of Rabbi Melvin Teitelbaum (Los Angeles, CA) (Charges dismissed at the request of the District Attorney’s Office, which conceded it had insufficient evidence to prosecute.Teitelbaum then a filed a $10-million damage suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. In his suit that the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles and the family that accused him conspired to have him arrested and charged.Later, confronted with evidence that placed Teitelbaum elsewhere at the time of the alleged incident, the siblings changed their story, a move the prosecutor said was « devastating » to their credibility.)
Case of Rabbi Aron Boruch Tendler (Los Angeles, CA; North Hollywood, CA) (Accused of sexually abusing teenage girls. Please Note: There is more then one Rabbi Aron Tendler. This page is about Rabbi Aron Boruch Tendler, who was born on January 15, 1955.)
Case of Rabbi Mordecai Tendler (AKA: Mordechai Tendler) (Monsey, NY) (Accused of innappropriate sexual behavior with women in he counseled that had gone on for years. According to Rabbi Benzion Y. Wosner, head of the Shevet Levi rabbinical court in Monsey, One should never allow their wives or daughters to go to Rabbi Mordecai Tendler at all including [for] counseling… and all his rulings are null and void. » He also stated: « The RCA had every right to oust this rabbi from their organization, and his own congregation has the same obligation. » In conclusion, he wrote, « the rabbi can no longer officiate at divorces, weddings, etc.)
Case of Rabbi Isadore Trachtman (Chicago, IL and Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of cultic type practices and sexual offenses)
Case of Rabbi Hirsch Travis (Monsey, NY) (Charged with the sexual abuse of an unidentified 27-year-old female patient. He was also charged with posing as a Brooklyn doctor specializing in infertility problems, and illegally operating the Fertility Foundation in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.)
Case of Rabbi Eliyahu Tzabari – Former chief rabbi of Ganei Tikva, Israel (Charged with sexually abusing a women with whom he counseled).
Case of Rabbi Ivan Wachmann – Manchester, England (Accused of sexual misconduct with women from his Manchester synagogue)
Case of the Rabbi Tzvi Wainhaus (AKA: The Rabbi at Hillel Torah (Chicago, IL) (Accused of child molestation at a private day school. A public statement was made by the Ad Hoc Bais Din of Chicago regarding this case).
Case of Rabbi Matis Weinberg (Baltimore, MD, Santa Clara, CA and Har Nof, Israel) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused of cultic type practices and sexual offenses)
Case of Rabbi Yaakov Weiner (New York, NY and Israel) (Accused of molesting boy at Camp Mogen Avraham, New York)
Case of Rabbi Nachman Weisfeld (Northern, Israel) (Convicted of physically and sexually abusing children under his care in an education institution)
Case of Rabbi Don Well – Principal (Brooklyn, NY) (Accused and charged with Rabbi one count of third-degree sexual abuse).
Case of Cantor Phillip Wittlin (Harrisburg, PA) (Convicted of molesting two girls)
Case of Rabbi Hershel J. Worch (Manchester, England, Mbale, Uganda; Melbourne, Australia; Pawtucket, RI; Chicago, IL; Istanbul, Turkey) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Formerly known as the Case of the Unnamed Rabbi in West Rogers Park). Accused of cult like practice which include BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sadism, Masochism). The alleged offender originially mmets his victims on line. Allegations include using a mixture of kabbalah, hypno-eroticism and other manipulative techniques to enagage his potential victims prior to sexually assaulting them.
Case of Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov (Los Angeles, CA) (WARNING: Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov, is in violation of sex offender registration requirements in California for past 2 years. If you know his whereabout please notify the California authorities at: (916) 227-4974. Convicted of sexual abuse and committing lewd acts against three boys)
Case of Sabbatai Zevi (Accused of cultic type practices and sexual offenses.)
Case of Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman (New York, NY) (Suspended from the Reform movement’s rabbinic organization because of sexual impropriety was later hired to a top position by a program that sends thousands of young Jews on free trips to Israel.. Sheldon Zimmerman was based in Cincinnati, OH, yet, also had responsibility for the Hebrew Union College’s campuses in New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA and Jerusalem, Israel .)
Case of the Rabbi Max Zucker (Dallas, TX) (Accused by three women of improperly touching)
Case of a List of Abuses at Ner Israel (Toronto, Canada) (High school student, said he was assaulted by two college students)
Case of The Zwi Migdal Society (Brazil, South Africa, India, China and Poland) (According to reports there were rabbis who were members of the society. From the 1860s to the beginning of the Second World War, thousands of naive, impoverished Jewish girls from eastern Europe were sold by Jewish mobsters into sexual slavery. This hugely profitable (annual revenues of $50 million in the 1890s) commerce in flesh was operated by the Zwi Migdal, a criminal association)
Case of The Unnamed Kidnapping Chazen /Cantor (Toronto, Canada) (Accused of kidnapping young boys from Europe and bringing them to Toronto, Canada)
Case of the Unnamed New York Rabbi Who Has An Unhealthy Interest In Teenage Boys
Case of the Unnamed Rabbi – Principal Who Inpregnated A Girl With Learning Disabilities (There is a Call for Action on this case. The Awareness Center is looking for all the information we can find regarding the Rabbi-Prinicipal who inpregnated a girl with learning disabilities at school he was principal at.)
Case of The Unnamed Orthodox Rabbi (Quebec, Canada) (An undercover reporter posed as an employee of an escort service. One of her two clients included a Hasidic rabbi, who masturbated in a motel room while looking at pornography on television and at the reporter in her underwear.) 98
Case of 40-year-old man residing in an ultra-orthodox yeshiva (Several yeshiva students have testified in the case and verified suspicions that a 40-year-old man who resides in the yeshiva sexually assaulted them). 99
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And Other Trusted Officals (Parents, Teachers, Camp Counselors, etc.)
Case of Isa al-Natcha (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentence to 25 years for robbery, rape and false imprisonment, terrorized the women working at the brothels, raped them and stole money and possessions from them.) 1
Case of Yisrael Abadi – Teacher (Holon, Israel) (Convicted of sexually molesting three children, aged eight to 10, in the synagogue where he teaches) 2
Case of Faiz Suleiman Abukarinat – The Negev Pedophile (Israel) (Convicted of kidnapping and raping three girls from Beersheba and Ashdod)
Case of Eugene Abrams (AKA: Eugene George Harris) (Long Island, NY; Miami, FL) (Convicted on 77 counts of child of rape, incest, sodomy and obscenity involving five young girls, including his own daughter. He spent 10 years in Attica State Prison. He was also convicted of running a nationwide child pornography ring on Long Island, He relocated to Flordia and was charged and convicted ofsexually assaulting a 4 1/2-year-old girl).
Case of Joyce Abrams (North Bellmore, NY) (Convicted of running a nationwide pornography ring with her husband Eugene Abrams, out of their home. One of the victms was her own daughter).
Case of Faiz Suleiman Abukarinat – The Negev Pedophile (Israel) (convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping and raping three girls from Beersheba and Ashdod)
Case of Errine Renata Acciaroli (AKA: Shlomit Acciaroli) – Special Education Teacher (Hamilton, Canada) (Found guilty of professional misconduct for kissing a 10th grade student after asking him to make love to her and showering him with gifts, e-mails, phone calls and visits to his home)
Case of Arie Adler and Marisa Rimland (New York, NY) (Arie Adler was accused of molesting his daughter. Marisa Rimland murdered her daughter, and then committed suicide).
Case of Gerald « Ajax » Ackerman – Former Mayor (Port Huron, MI) (Convicted and sentenced to up to 38 years in prison for having sex with children he was supervising as part of a youth program he ran).
Case of Simcha Adler – Ohel Counselor (Borough Park/Brooklyn, NY (Plea-bargained charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child down to attempted sodomy.)
Case of Ya’acov Agmon – Director of Habima Theater (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused of sexually harassing a secretary who worked for him for two-and-a-half years with words and deeds, and of committing indecent acts against her on three separate occasions. The prosecution closed the file for lack of sufficient evidence).
Case of Tal Alaluf (Arrested and confessed to raping a 13-year-old boy he « groomed » via an Internet chat room, according to police detectives).
Case of Hen Alkobi (Haifa, Israel) (Accused of raping and sexually abusing teenage girls in the Haifa area, ended in a plea bargain arrangement.)
Case of Ben Amotz (Tel Aviv and Jaffa, Israel) (Allegedly lured 12 to 13-year-old girls to his apartment using drugs)
Case of Igor Antapika – Haifa, Israel; Soviet Union (AKA: Street Stairwell Rapist) (sentenced Igor Antapika, known as « the stairwell rapist, » to 31 years in prison. The 25-year-old serial rapist who had terrorized Haifa women in 2004 was convicted on eight of nine counts. He earned his nickname after assaulting his victims in dark stairwells in the city’s Hadar and Carmel neighborhoods)
Case of Herbert Aptheker – (Accused of sexually abusing his daughter)
Case of Eugene Loub Aronin – School Counselor (Joppa, TX and Buffalo Grove, IL (Convicted in 1984 of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy)
Case of David Carl Arndt, M.D. (Boston, MA) (Charged with four counts of statutory child rape and one count each of indecent assault and battery, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, contributing to the delinquency of a child, and possession of the drugs ketamine hydrochloride (« Special K ») and methamphetamine).
Case of Michael Ashbal – Hebrew Academy Teacher (Miami Beach, FL; Barbados) (Arrested for allegedly fondling an 11-year-old male student.)
Case of Stanley Ashman (AKA: Stanley Virgil Ashman, Butch Ashman) (Baltimore, MD) (In 2006, police overheard a telephone conversation between the woman and Ashman in which the former teacher admitted to having sex with her when she was 14, and repeatedly apologized, according to court records)
Case of Samuel S. Aster – Music Teacher/College Professor (Teaneck, NJ) (Gave prosecutors a sworn statement detailing the crimes and his videotaping of them.)
Case of Yehezkel Atar (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of raping a nine-year-old girl).
Case of Boris Bardichevsky (Petah Tikva, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Leeore Batshaw – Psychology Student at The University of Winnipeg (Israel) (Convicted – internet sting on child pornography)
Case of Philip Bender, Consultant (Columbia, MD; Baltimore, MD) (Pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse in return for prosecutors’ recommendation for probation before judgment).
Case of Uriel P. Bendavid – AKA: Peter Bendavid, Peter U. Ben, Peter U. Bendavid, Peter U. David, Peter D. King (Passaic, NJ) (Convicted of endagering the welfare of a child The victims were students at the school where Bendavid taught)
Case of Ralph Harrison Benning (Fulton County, GA) (pleaded guilty to molesting and murdering Peter Downing Howell Jr., 8. Benning told police he killed Howell on the site where he was molested as a child).
Case of Shimon Bentov (Jerusalem, Israel) (Charged with alleging he committed sexual assaults on children and child-pornography offences).
Case of Achi Ben Shalom – Music Teacher (San Francisco, CA) (Arrested for alleged « lewd and lascivious acts » with a female student).
Case of Robert Berezin (Brooklyn, NY; Skokie, IL) (Allegations were made that he entered the apartment of one of his tenents in the middle of the night, pushed her against the door, groped and forced his tongue into her mouth. When he was leaving, she said, he suggested she could provide sexual favors in lieu of rent).
Case of Alexander Berg (Czech Republic; Haifa, Israel; Petah Tikva, Israel; Tel Aviv, Israel) (Extradited from the Czech Republic to Israel under suspicion of involvement in women trafficking, as well as a myriad of related offenses including pimping, imprisonment, assault, threats and rape.)
Case of Jonathan (Yochanan) Berkowitz, MSW, CSW, LMSW – Yoga Instructor (Monsey, NY; New York City, NY; Passaic, NJ; Clifton, NJ) (Allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior and of allged date rape)
Case of Harvey N. Berish – School Teacher (Bronx, NY) (Drama teacher in an intermediate school in the Bronx was arrested on charges that he had sexually abused four boy pupils).
Case of Ariel Berlin – Retired Travel Agent (Arrested along with an a father who is an Ex-convict, who offered up his 5-year-old daughter for sex).
Case of David Steven Berman (Ruislip, England) (Convicted and sentenced to prison. Berman admitted to 13 charges of making indecent images of children. Judge Jeremy Connor stated: « The images showed children as young as six, some with elements of sadism. »)
Case of Yoav Biran (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of distributing child pornography over the Internet, also of preforming indecent acts on children. Also see: Case of Rafael Kaplanovsky and Case of Itai Snapier).
Case of Moni Biton (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentence to sentenced to 22 years for purchased a stun gun, tear gas, knives and scissors, and decided in advance which brothels him and his friends would attack).
Case of Yaron Blanc (Ariel, Israel) (Accused of using the internet to lure minors for sexual activity)
Case of Baron Bloom (London, England) (Convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl. The judge ordered Bloom’s name to be placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and sentenced him to one year’s imprisonment).
Case of Harold Bloom – Humanities and English Professor at Yale (New Haven, CT) (Accused of sexually harassing students).
Case of Yossi Boker, Assistant Commander – Police Investigative Department (Jerusalem, Israel) (Arrested on charges of sexual harassment.)
Case of Yitzhak Bohasilovsky (Bnei Brak, Israel) – (confessed to series of indecent acts involving 300 children)
Case of Nachman Borenstein – Teacher’s Aide at Talmud Torah (Jerusalem, Israel) (Convicted of molesting five children)
Case of Peter Braunstein (New York, NY) (Accused of drugging and molesting a woman for 13 hours. He entered her apartment by wearing a firefighter’s uniform, after allegedly setting small hallway blazes to trick his way into her apartment.)
Case of Zerach Brown (AKA: Scott Brown) (Seattle, WA; New York, NY) (Arrested in 1999 in Mountaindale, NY on charges relating to sexually improper conduct in respect to minors.)
Case of Michael Broman (Givatayim, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Rami Buchnik – Physical Education Teacher (Tiberias, Israel) (Arrested after complaints that he had been molesting youths at several kibbutzim in the region. He was also charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm).
Case of Lieutenant Colonel Eli Buhbut – Israel Defense Forces (Accused of sexually assaulting another officer)
Case of Franklin « Jack » Burr – Piano Teacher (Edison, NJ) (On trial charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He is facing up to 20 years in prison).
Case of Ralph Capone – School Custodian, Patachogue: Medford School District (Long Island, NY) (Accused of asking two male students in their 20s, working on the High School equivalency diploma, claimed Capone asked them for oral sex).
Case of Chaim Ciment (Williamsburg/Brooklyn, NY) (Accused and charged with first-degree sexual abuse, after allegations were made that he fondled a 17 year old girl in an elevator).
Case of Adiah Cohen, Moshav Shadot, Israel (Accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the washroom of DOME in Tel Aviv)
Case of David Cohen (Jupiter, FL) (Convicted of Lewd, Lascivious Child acts with a minor child)
Case of James A. Cohen – Jewish Youth Group Leader (Davi, FL) (Convicted child molester, sentenced to 9 years for assaulting 4 boys)
Case of Larry Cohen – Soccer Coach (Lake Oswego, OR) (Accused of molesting two individuals.)
Case of Lawrence Cohen – Kindergarten School Teacher (Manalapan, NJ; Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for transmitting child pornography through his home computer).
Case of Lewis K. Cohen (AKA: Keith Cohen, Lewis Cohen) (Milwaukee, WI) (Convicted after being charged with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and child enticement-exposing sex organs. Cohen used his work and home computers to engage in sexually explicit conversations with a 14-year-old boy in Internet chat rooms. The complaint also charges that Cohen sent nude photographs of himself and other males to the boy via e-mail).
Case of Phillip « Eli » Cohen (London, England) (Accused of 13 charges of indecently assaulting a boy and four offences of indecently assaulting a girl)
Case of Seth David Cohen, MD (Southfield, Michigan) (Convicted- Pled no contest to Accosting a Minor for Immoral Purposes)
Case of Stephen Colmer (Brooklyn, NY; Passaic, NJ; Jerusalem, Israel) (Indicted on charges of child sexual abuse. He attempted to escape facing charges by moving to Israel)
Case of Victor Wayne Cooper (CA) (Convicted of four counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child. He is serving four consecutive terms of fifteen years to life due to two prior rape convictions).
Case of Stuart Cooperman, MD – Pediatrican (Merrick, New York) (Accused of molesting six female patience).
Case of Corrido (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Suspected of sexually abusing several minors claims to have witnessed the murder of 10-year-old Alexandra Brandt in 1994)
Case of Jon Andrew Cottriel (Holdenville, OK) (Convicted of Forcible Sodomy and Rape in the 1st Degree).
Case of Gil Dahan (Convicted of a gang rape and sodomy of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of confining her).
Case of Oren Danan (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Confessed to child abduction, sexual assault, and attempted murder of a neighborhood girl)
Case of Sliman Dawiri (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentence to 28 years for robbery, rape and false imprisonment, terrorized the women working at the brothels, raped them and stole money and possessions from them).
Case of Lior Dekel (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Arrested after the girl told her school counselor of the rape. In the past, a court acquitted Dekel of rape charges against a 16-year-old girl due to lack of evidence.)
Case of Gary Dolovich, former Executive Director of Manitoba Kosher, Winnipeg, Canada (Arrested and charged with 17 counts of distributing child pornography).
Case of Eric Dorfner, BBYO Group Leader (Evesham/Cherry Hill, NJ) (Plead guilty and was sentenced to five years in state prison for sexually abusing two teenage boys once in his care.
Case of Gary Edelman (Skokie, IL) (Convicted sex offender)
Case of Mordechai Ehrman (AKA: Morton Ehrman) – Simcha’s Play Group (Brooklyn, NY) Accused of molesting dozens of students).
Case of Ariel Elimelech, Jerusalem, Israel (Convicted of rape and indecent assault under aggravated circumstances, of two minors aged 14 and 17)
Case of Victor Einhorn – Owner of Two Brooklyn-Based Bus Companies (Brooklyn, NY) (Pleaded guilty to two of 12 counts of unlawfully transporting minors to a New Jersey hotel for sex)
Case of Benjamin Elisha (Miami, FL) (Convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old in a Swap Shop restroom).
Case of Jeffrey Epstein (New York, NY; Virgin Islands) (Allegedly solicited sex with a minor at least three times between August 1 – October 31, 2005. He has been charged with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and of lewd and lascivious molestation).
Case of Werner Erhard (AKA: John Paul Rosenberg) Founder EST (now called Landmark Forum) (Accused of incest, which were later recanted. Also accused of cult like practices)
Earl R. Everett – Teacher South County Jewish Community Day School (Boca Raton, FL) (Arrested and charged with sexual battery on a child under the age of 12 (the girl was 7). His victim was not one of his students.)
Case of Shmuel Faber – KACH Rescue Squad Volunteer, Israel (Accused of sexually pressuring two women into sexual acts, so that they could obtain better treatment).
Case of Ed Fagan, Attorney (Short Hills, NJ) (Accused of paying to have sex with a minor)
Case of Naftali Feig (Chicago, IL; Beachwood OH; Cleveland, OH; Far Rockaway, NY; St. Louis, MO) (Convicted after communicating online for months with an investigor posing as 12-year-old girls.)
Case of Robert Feivish – security guard (Brooklyn, NY) (Convictedof sexually abusing a teenage boy over the course of a year, at times in a synagogue).
Case of Irina Fishman (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of delivering women to work as prostitutes)
Case of Zora Flagashvili (Convicted of a gang rape and sodomy of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of confining her).
Case of Hbrandon Lee Flagner (Akron, OH) (Convicted of the kidnapping and aggravated murder of Tiffany Jennifer Papesh a 8-year-old girl. Flagner also claimed to have molested hundreds of girls during his life. While in prison, Flagner convert to Judaism by an Chasidic rabbi.)
Case of Rabbi G. George Fox (Galveston, TX)
Case of Kenneth A. Frank, MD (AKA: Yonatan Efrat) (Bakersfield, CA; Ra’anana, Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel) (Frank was convicted on Dec. 20, 1989, in Kern County (California) of drugging and raping two woman in separate incidents in 1985 and 1986)
Case of Arnold and Jesse Friedman « Capturing the Friedmans » (Great Neck, NY) (Convicted sex offenders). Also see: Case of Ross Goldstein
Case of Steven Frucht – Housekeeping Supervisor – Yeshiva University (New York, NY) (Accused of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment of at least four female employees)
Case of Dennis E. Fulbright (Boley, Oklahoma) (Convicted of Lewd or indecent acts with a child under 16, Rape in the first degree, Burglary, nad Larceny of Merch from Retaile.)
Case of Ramon Gantz – Gym Boss (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentanced after slipped two tablets of the dance drug into the victim’s orange juice after she rebuffed his romantic advances on a Monarch flight from Tel Aviv to Gatwick).
Case of Ellen Garfield – Music teacher (Boston, MA) (Acquitted of charges she raped a 14-year-old boy.)
Case of Avraham Ger (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused of sexually assaulting several girls and boys)
Case of Daniel Gersh – Former FA-Registered Coach (Bloomingburg, New York; Ilford, Essex, England) (Arrested after admitting to 60 counts of assault and related charges, including molesting nine boys, aged seven to 11, and filming several of them. Daniel Gersh stated in court: « My life is over. I have been trying to hide this since I was 13 years old. »)
Case of Ovadia Gershon – Director of Group home for Mentally Challenged minors (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted raping a mentally challenged resident in a group home in Tel Aviv, Israel)
Case of Barry Gerstein – Attorney at Law (Beverly, MA) (Convicted and sentenced to serve seven to fifteen years at MCI-Walpole and ordered to serve a concurrent ten- to eighteen-year sentence for the cases in Norfolk County)
Case of Ofer Glazer (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of two incidents of committing obscene acts and of sexual harassment).
Case of Richard « Steve » Goldberg (Long Beach, CA) (Allegedly engaging in sex acts with several girls under 10 in California. He is on the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives list)
Case of Shaul Golan – Chief Financial Officer, Shalem Center (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of sexual harassment, is facing a criminal investigation for embezzlement. Shaul Golan was a former senior official at a prominent Jerusalem think tank).
Case of Eugene Gold, the former Brooklyn District Attorney (New York, NY; Israel) (Confessed that he had fondled the 10-year-old daughter of an Alabama prosecutor and agreed to undergo psychiatric treatment to avoid prosecution.) 100
Case of Jeremy D. Goldberg (Highland Park, IL) (Convicted on charges of possessing child pornography). 101
Case of Aron Goldberger (Baltimore, MD, Israel) (self-described religious scholar convicted of molesting his children)
Case of Hanan Goldblatt (AKA: Hannan Goldblatt) – Children’s Televison Actor (Beit Nehamia, Israel) (Pled Guilty to having sexual intercourse with two of the minors he is suspected of raping, but said both cases were consensual.)
Case of Arieh (Arik) Goldman (Ramle, Israel) (Arrested after being accused of molesting 43 children)
Case of Robert Goldman – Sportscaster – CLTV (Aurora, IL) (Convicted of indecent solicitation of a child).
Case of Neil Goldschmidt (Former Governor of Oregon / Former Cabinet Member to President Jimmy Carter) (Confessed to having a sexual relationship with a teenager girl while he was mayor of Portland).
Case of Alvin « Al » Goldstein – Executive Editor, Milky Way Productions (New York, NY) « Allegations of sexual harassment made against Goldstein over the years. Named in an indictment along with Milky Way Productions after Eugene Abrams a advertised for girl models between the ages of 4 and 14 years of age in issues of Screen magazine which is published by Milky Way Productions.)
Case Andrew B. Goldstein (Pinellas, FL) (Convicted of possession of child pornography and unlawful sexual activity with certain minors.)
Case of Craig Goldstein (Mastic Beach, NY) (Convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree and sodomy in the second degree with an eleven-year-old boy.)
Case of Gary Goldstein (Alphaetta, GA; Atlanta GA) (Convicted on charges of child molestation and aggravated sexual battery charges.)
Case of Jeremy Goldstein – Former Ohio State University Student (Cleveland, Ohio) (Plead guilty to a charge of criminal sexual imposition. Sentenced to two-years probation and is now attending New York University. Several women came forward making allegations of sexual assault)
Case of Ross Goldstein (Great Neck, NY) (Convicting of sodomy in the first degree (three counts) and use of a child in a sexual performance. He was Sentenced to four concurrent indeterminated terms of 2 to 6 years imprisonment. Also see: Case of Arnold and Jesse Friedman)
Case of Israel Goluboff (AKA: Lester Mor, Lester Goluboff) – Caricaturist (Whiting, NJ; Manchester, NJ) (Convicted in Essex County (NJ) in 1985 of aggravated sexual assault on a girl under the age of 13. He has served his time and is considered a Tier 2, or moderate-risk, sex offender by the state of New Jersey. According to his listing on the State Police sex offender Web site, he had victimized children who worked with him in his caricature sketching business).
Case of Lawrence Gordon (Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted of murdering eight-year-old boy in 1982. In 1973 Gordon had been convicted of sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child)
Case of David Graetz (Kiryat Ata, Israel) (Accused of attempted sexual assault of a neighbor. The alleged victim stated that she beat her alleged assailent to death in self-defense).
Case of Marc Evan Greenberg – Webe Web Corp (Fort Lauderdale, FL) (Alabama federal grand jury indicted Marc Greenberg and Jeffrey Libman for operating a child modeling Web site that gained national attention for posting provocative photos of underage girls. Both were charged with 80 counts of conspiring to use minors for sexual photos and interstate transportation of such photos.)
Case of Leslie Griesdorf, DDS – Dentist (Toronto, Canada) (Received an 18-month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to accessing and possessing child pornography. Griesdorf was originially charged with making, importing, accessing and possessing pornography, plus obtaining the sexual services of someone under 18 years of age. This case involved the largest collection of child pornography in Canadian history.)
Case of Moshe Grots (Convicted of assisting in the rape and the confinement of a 20 year-old mentally disabled woman).
Case of Ilan Hacham – Maternity Ward Nurse (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Arrested and charged with allegedly molesting two women in maternity ward of Assaf Harofeh Hospital).
Case of Ya’akov Ha’elyon – Tel Aviv Arts School (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Highly regarded educator at an « enlightened » secular liberal arts school accused of abusing children).
Case of Yoel Hagirm (Kfar Kasam, Israel) (Accused of sexually assaulting co-workers at hospital in Israel)
Case of Uzi Hakhmon – Coach of a Boys’ Soccer Team (Tiberias, Israel) (Arrested on suspicion of raping and sexually assaulting several members of the team – all of them minors).
Case of Brad Hames (Baltimore, MD; Columbia, MD; Far Rockaway, NY) (Accused of showing a porographic movie to an orthodox minor as part of the grooming process. Hames is also accused of child sexual abuse).
Case of Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman (Baltimore, MD) (Accused of having sexually inappropriate converstations with a 16 year-old boy).
Case of Micha Hanan, Principal Beit Rotenberg (Haifa, Israel) (Accused of sodomizing several youths between the ages of 14 and 18. Allegations date back to 1994).
Case of David B. Harrington – School Principal / Big Brother (Rockville, MD) (Convicted sex offender. Cases from the 1960’s – 1980’s.)
Case of Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans (Monsey, NY) (Convicted.)
Case of Eric Hindin – Jewish Big Brother Volunteer (Newton, MA) (Convicted of 35 counts of child rape. He was sentenced to 20-22 years in prison).
Case of Yoni Hovra – High School Teacher (Petah Tikva, Israel) (Arrested and charged with raping and sexually abusing 14 of his pupils. According to the charge sheet, Hovra slipped prescription sleeping tablets into the drinks of some male students who visited him at home, so that they would not be aware of the assault).
Case of Ronny Hubara – School Teacher (Petach Tikva, Israel) (After being accused of molesting children, police confiscate child pornographyfrom the home of the school teacher).
Case of Martin Frankel – Former Financier (Confessed to having desires to having sex with children)
Case of Lord Greville Janner – Former British Labour MP (London, England) (Accused of molesting a boyt in a group home for over two years).
Case of Jay Jarvis (AKA: Elber John Jarvis) – Beth El Hebrew Congregation Brotherhood’s – 2005 Man of the Year (Arlingon, VA) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Pled guilty to sexual contact with a young child).
Case of Yosef Jibli – Jewish Agency’s Head of Administration (Jerusalem, Israel) (Charged in a Jerusalem Magistrates Court with « exploiting his authority » to sodomize a 17-year-old female high school pupil).
Case of Andrew Josephs – Hebrew Teacher (Parklands Court, Edgware, UK) (Charged with five counts of indecent assault, possession of indecent photographs of children, three of sexual assault of a child and two of abuse of trust between December 8, 2003, and August 4, 2004. Josephs, denies all the allegations and claims the boy’s have concocted their stories)
Case of Daniel Joubert (South Africa; Tel Aviv, Israel; Petach Tikva, Israel ) (Convicted and sentanced to 25 years on two counts of violent rape and one count of grave sexual abuse.The first assult involved an attack on a 75-year-old woman.)
Case of Albert Junatanov (Los Angeles, CA) (Accused of physically abuse and sexually assaulting his children).
Case of Samuel (Shmuel) Juravel Savannah, GA (formerly of Baltimore, MD) (Arrested by Agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI (Feb. 21, 2005) at a Birmingham hotel after he arranged to have sex with a minor).
Case of Rafael Kaplanovsky (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of distributing child pornography over the Internet. Also see Case of Yoav Biran and Case of Itai Snapier).
Case of Ryan Karben – Assemblyman (Rockland County, NY) (Allegations of childhood sexual abuse).
Case of Ariel Katsav (Jerusalem, Israel) – Son of Israeli President (Accused of sexual harassment. Israel Railways said that the younger Katsav, Ariel is senior member of the Israel Railways PR staff. He was accused of verbally harassing a coworker. He is the son of Israeli President Moshe Katsav.)
Case of Moshe Katsav – President of Israel (Jerusalem, Israel) (Allegations of professional sexual misconduct).
Case of Martin Kaufman (Baltimore, MD) (Listed on the National Sex Offenders Registry under the category of « Sexually Violent Offenders)
Case of David Kay (Chicago, IL) (Accused of sexually abusing children at the Rogers Park JCC Day-Care Center).
Case of Judge Ronald Kline (Turtle Rock, CA) (Molestation charges against former Judge Ronald Kline, were dismissed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ban on the prosecution of old sex crimes. The original charges stated that Kline molested a 14-year-old boy in 1979).
Case of Sofia Kochik (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentenced to four years in jail for trafficking in women, running a brothel, false imprisonment and solicitation).
Case of Lee Kolker (Creve Coeur, MO, Fairview Heights, MO) (Convicted of two felony and two misdemeanor counts of sexual abuse. Kolker was acquitted of one felony count of sexual abuse; that charge related to an allegation that he had fondled a third girl.)
Case of Aaron Kosminski (Jack the Ripper) – London, England (Allegedly murdered at least five prostitutes in the 1880s. Aaron Kosminski, a hairdresser living in Whitechapel, East London, who was eventually committed to a lunatic asylum, where he died.)
Case of John Joseph Kosky (aka Jonathan Kaye) , School Teacher (Melbourne/Perth, Australia) (Convicted of Organising Child Sex Tour in Thailand: Sentenced in 2003 to 6years jail/ 3years non parole).
Case of Michael Koval (Rockland County, NY) (Convicted, served six months for first-degree sexual abuse involving two girls under the age of 11. He was convicted in 1996).
Case of Joseph Krim – Teacher (Aztec, NM) (Convicted – pleaded guilty to child pornography charges has been sentenced to six years in prison.)
Case of Stanislav Kuperman (Arrested as part of an operation launched by Tel Aviv detectives, in which an officer was sent undercover to purchase women over the telephone)
Case of Sergei Kuperman – Dentist (Rishon Letzion, Israel) (Suspected of sexually assaulting a woman and aslo trafficking in women).
Case of Seymour Kushner – Retired Music Teacher (Hartsdale, NY) (Convicted after pleading guilty to a federal grand jury charge of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sex).
Case of Moti Lahav (Migdal Ha’emek, Israel) (Confessed to sodomizing and sexually abusing two male youths and one female youth he met via the Internet).
Case of Levy Lalik (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Arrested for allegedly sexually abusing and murdering his two-month-old daughter)
Case of Sidney Landau (AKA: Sid Landau, Sid Landall) (Santa Ana, CA; Queens, NY) (Multiple convictions of child sex abuse)
Case of Itai Leibovich – Kindergarten Security Guard at a Kindergarten – (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted on two counts of rape and other counts of sodomy, attempted rape and indecent assault of four girls aged six to eleven).
Case of Vitaly Levshin – Pianist (Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Moldova, US) (Charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Toronto boy and making thousands of child-pornography images that he distributed around the world).
Case of Leo Lewie (Beverly Hills, CA) (Convicted of murdering his wifeand his stepdaughter. Prior to the murders, there were allegations of two counts of child molestation and two counts of statutory rape).
Case of Marc Lewis – Tennis Coach (AKA Mark Lewish) (Edgware, England) (Convicted of sexual assault of a fifteen-year-old girl with two of his friends. Lewis is an award-winning Wimbledon tennis coach. Police were unable to charge the other men because they only discovered their identities 12 months after the alleged offences. In England, unlawful sexual intercourse cases the suspect has to be charged within a year of the offence. Lewis refused to name either man during police interview).
Case of Howard Lichtenstein, Dentist (Skokie, Illinois) (Convicted of indecent solicitation of a child.)
Case of Brad J. Liebermam – AKA « the Plumber Rapist » (Skokie, IL) (Serial rapist. Convicted on over a dozen counts of criminal sexual assaults in the 1970’s and 80’s. AKA: the « Plumber Rapist ». Pose as a plumber, when women let him into their apartments, he would sexually assault them)
Case of Anton Nikolayevich Lipin (Baltimore, MD) (Listed on the National Sex Offenders Registry under the category of Child Sexual Offenders)
Case of Sidney Landau (Anaheim, CA; Placentia, California; Santa Ana, CA; San Francisco, CA; Queens, NY) ( In 1982, Landau was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy and served two years in prison. After a 1988 conviction for molesting an 8-year-old Anaheim boy, he served eight more years)
Case of Jeffrey Robert Libman – Webe Web Corp (Fort Lauderdale, FL) (Alabama federal grand jury indicted Marc Greenberg and Jeffrey Libman for operating a child modeling Web site that gained national attention for posting provocative photos of underage girls. Both were charged with 80 counts of conspiring to use minors for sexual photos and interstate transportation of such photos)
Case of Simon Livshitz (Haifa, Israel) (Suspected in the trafficking of women. Charged with money laundering leading to property and funds confiscate by police).
Case of Matthew A. Lowe – Baby sitter, Camp Counselor Temp Dor Dorim (Weston, FL) (Pleaded no contest in circuit court to three counts: two misdemeanor charges of exposure of sexual organs and one felony charge of aggravated battery)
Case of Michael Lytton (Ilford, England) (Convicted of sexually assaulting a woman after posing as a clinical psychologist).
Case of Meir Maman, Tiberias, Israel (Indicte on charges of sodomizing and sexually molesting 10 young boys, including a three-year-old, over the past few years).
Case of Perry March – Attorney at Lawyer (Nashville, TN) (Allegations made of sexual harrassment, with an out of court settlement. Arrested and chared with murder of his wife)
Case of Rochelle Marcus (Accused of sexually abusing children at the Rogers Park JCC Day-Care Center).
Case of Sergei Mayatski (Eilat, Israel) (Charged with of sexually abusing 13 year old teenager from Minsk, Belarus over the past three years. Mayatski admitted that he had sex with the teen, but said it was consensual and that it was partly done for educational purposes).
Case of Roger Mason Levin, MD (Palo Alto, CA; Menlo Park, CA) (Allegations of child sexual abuse and professional sexual misconduct span for over 20 years. There were also allegations of possessing child pornography)
Case of Yosef Meystel (AKA: Joseph Meystel) – Yeshiva Administrator, Rabbi Naftoli Riff Yeshiva (South Bend, IN; Chicago, IL. (Accused of child molestation)
Case of Meyer Miller (AKA: Unnamed Kosher Butcher) (Chicago, IL) (Accused of molesting children for over 30 years)
Case of Morris Ray Millman (Chicago, IL) (Convicted of aggravated kidnapin, aggravated criminal sexual abuse with bodily harm)
Case of Avi Mizrahi (Convicted of a gang rape and sodomy of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of confining her).
Case of David Mizrahi (Convicted of a gang rape and sodomy of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of confining her).
Case of Mordechai Mizrahi (Convicted of a gang rape and sodomy of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of confining her).
Case of Yosaf Mizrahi (Brooklyn, NY) (Arrested for promoting prostitution — an indication he was involved in the operation of the brothel, and not merely a customer).
Case of Yitzhak Mordechai – Israeli Public Official (Jerusalem, Israel) (Convicted of sexual assault)
Case of Bernard Mutterperl (Brooklyn, NY) (Charged attempted kidnapping (upgraded from first- and second-degree unlawful imprisonment), third-degree burglary and endangering the welfare of a child.)
Case of Laizer Nabochov (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Dan Nadger – Cook at Gan City Wedding Hall (Rehovot, Israel) (Tel Aviv District Court Judge Noga Ohad on Wednesday released a rape suspect to house arrest, saying that he and the victim of the alleged attack were « jointly responsible for what occurred. »)
Case of Lawrence Nevison (New York, NY) (Convicted of molesting his nephew. He is the brother of Cantor Howard Nevison)
Case of Stuart Nevison (AKA: Stewart Nevison ) (New York, NY) (Convicted of molesting his cousin. He is the brother of Cantor Howard Nevison)
The Case of the Students of Ner Israel Yeshiva in the 1950’s (Baltimore, MD) (Students accused of sexually molesting a younger student)
Case of David Newman (Los Angeles, CA) (Pleaded no contest to a felony lewd act against a 15-year-old).
Case of the New York Society for the Deaf’s Home (New York, NY) (Accused of treating disabled patients « like animals,’’ beaten, drugged and robbed of their government checks).
Case of Arkadi Nissanov (Jerusalem, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Yosef Sagiv Ofri – Israeli Vice Consul, Security Officer (Atlanta, GA; Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused of using the internet and email in order to persuade a child to carry out illegal acts such as sodomy and severe sexual abuse. The Jerusalem Post reports that Ofri is a security officer with the consulate and carries an Israeli diplomatic passport. The Israeli Embassy in Washington confirmed that Ofri had been charged but refused to release more information on the case.)
Case of Steven Howard Oken (Baltimore, MD) (Convicted of a series of sexual assaults and murders. Received the death penalty)
Case of Ephraim Ohana (AKA: Efraim Ohana) (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this case. A letter from the Vaad HaRabbonim of Greater Baltimore has been issued regarding Efraim Ohana which states that he should be refused entry into all synagogues and homes in the Baltimore community.)
Case of Raymond M. Pietrowski (Chicago, IL and Jerusalem, Israel) (Convicted in the attempted rape of an 11-year-old boy will serve no prison time but instead will spend 10 years on probation in Israel)
Case of Mark Pikovsky (Convicted and sentanced to five years for trafficking women for prostitution).
Case of Arthur S Pomerantz – School Psychologist, (Silver Spring, MD) (Convicted, on charges of child sexual abuse)
Case of Roman Polanski (AKA: Raimund Liebling) Filmmaker- (Los Angeles, CA; Paris France) (Convicted sex offender who fled the United States following his arrest for drugging, raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old girl back in the 1980’s)
Case of Haim Ramon – Defense Minister (Jerusalem, Israel) (Stands trial for indecent assault on charges of having forcibly kissed a female soldier in an Israeli government office).
Case of the Rogers Park JCC, (Chicago, Illinois) (This was the first case of alleged mass molestation recorded in Illinois to involve accusations of sexual abuse by a group of adults, consists of 246 allegations that staff members abused children enrolled at the center, according to the Illinois Department of children and Family Services).
Case of Harold S. (Ontario, Canada) (Confessed to having sexual relations with a boy)
Case of Gadi Saban, Israeli soap opera star (Arrested and charged with the rape, attempted rape and indecent assault on a woman in the bathroom of a Tel Aviv night club).
Case of Guy Joseph Raz (AKA: Guy Raz) – Hebrew School Teacher (Pasadena, CA) (Convicted, plead guilty on federal charges that he used the Internet to solicit sex from a 13-year-old former student)
Case of Avi Rodef Shalom (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prision for sexually assaulting a six-and-a-half year old girl)
Case of Tuvya Rokach – Monsey, NY; Brooklyn, NY; Toronto, Canada (Rokach with second-degree criminal sexual act, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.Rokach also is being investigated by police in Toronto, apparently where he had lived before coming to Monsey, police said).
Case of Darryl Rosen, Police Officer (Sacramento, CA)
Case of Sam Rosenbloom – Operates an On-Line Succah business at http://www.succah.com (Accused of Domestic Violence and refusing to give his wife a Get <Jewish divorce>).
Case of Jonathan Rosenthal – Community Police Liason (London, England) (Acquitted of sexually assaulting a few children, after a jury used ancient common law right, deciding evidence wasn’t strong enough.)
Case of Rabbi Joel Roth (Alegedly making a sexually explicit statement to a student at the seminary)
Case of Marni Nasia-Rubin (Toledo, OH) (Convicted, pleaded no contest to one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor).
Case of Adam Theodore Rubin – Teacher, Coach and Girl Scout Coordinator (Arnold, MD) (Convicted of using a computer to solicit sex with a minor, possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of drug paraphernalia).
Case of Tuvya Sa’ar – Director-General of the Israel Journalists’ Union (Tel Aviv) (Arrested on suspicion of having intercourse with a minor and coercing her for sexual favors.)
Case of Drew Sanders (New Springville, NY; Staten Island, NY) (Pleaded guilty to three counts of forcible touching)
Case of Aryeh Scher – Israeli vice-consul (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) (Accused of possession of child pornography. Charges dropped when Scher fled the country).
Case of George Schteinberg – Teacher (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) (Accused of possession of child pornography. Charges dropped when Schteinberg fled the country).
Case of Pinchas Schneider – restaurateur (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused and ndicted on rape and assault charges).
Case of Yaakov Shneiderman (Be’er Sheva, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Adrian Schwartz (Rishon Lezion) (Convicted, sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping a 10 year-old-girl and a 23-year-old woman).
Case of David Schwartz – Camp Counselor (Culver City, CA) (Convicted and sentenced to one year in residential treatment and five years’ probation for molesting a 4-year-old boy in his care at summer camp. A six-year prison sentence was suspended).
Case of Jerrold Schwartz – Scoutmaster (New York, NY) (Convicted and sentanced to 8 years in prison for multiple counts of sodomizing his former scout ).
Case of Dana R. Schwartzenfeld (Buffalo Grove, IL; West Bloomfield, MI) (Convicted on charges relating to grabbing and massaged a students genitals through his slacks.)
Case of Benny Sela (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Escaped from prison – Benny Sela known as the « Tel Aviv serial rapist » was convicted in October, 2000 on 13 counts of rape. Sela tortured, beat and raped dozens of little girls and women, terrorizing an entire city for months.
Case of Gal Shamir (Holon, Israel) (Convicted to 17 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting six children.
Case of Yitzhak Sha’ari and the House hostel – International Youth Hostel (Jerusalem, Israel) (The local building and planning committee cited allegations of sexual harassment against Sha’ari published in the popular U.S. student travel guide Let’s Go.)
Case of Boris Shimshishvilli (Arrested as part of an operation launched by Tel Aviv detectives, in which an officer was sent undercover to purchase women over the telephone).
Case of Grig Sholkin (Israel) (Convicted of human trafficking, assault and other charges, by his own admission. He has not yet been sentenced).
Case of Jackie Shoshan (Be’er Sheva, Israel) (Convicted of 14 indecent acts against a 13 year old boy)
Case of Robert A. Singer – CEO, National Children’s Museum (Arrested on child pornography charges, accused of using his work computer to send explicit images to others — including an undercover New York City detective)
Case of Blake Sinrod – Teacher and Camp Counselor (West Boca Raton, FL) (Arrested and charged with molesting two students in his elementary classroom. It has been reported that there might be eight other victims as well. Sinrod faces five felony counts on charges. It appears that Sinrod targeted children of non-English-speaking parents so they would have a hard time reporting it.)
Case of Irwin Silverman – Chief Counsel to U.S. secretary of interior 1933-53 (Accused of molesting his daughter Sue William Silverman).
Case of Paul Slifer – Teacher (Livingston, NJ) (Accused of sexually assaulting a several students, and impersonating a doctor).
Case of Itai Snapier (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of distributing child pornography over the Internet. Also see: Case of Yoav Biran and Case of Rafael Kaplanovsky )
Case of Ari Sorkin – Synagogue Youth Worker (Elkins Park, PA) (Convicted of molesting a 16 yr. old girl)
Case of Martin H. Stein, MD – Psychiatrist (Arlington, VA) (Stripped of his medical licenses in Virginia and the District for negligence, inappropriate and excessive prescribing of drugs for patients as young as 4 and sexually intimate behavior with a patient.)
Case of Robert Sternberg (Monsey, NY) (Convicted sex offender)
Case of Uri Suissa, Senior Justice Ministry official, Israel (Accused of sexually harassed a female worker and that pressure was put on her to deny the charge).
Case of Robert Taylor – Former Board Member Temple Beth Emet (Los Angeles, CA) (Convicted of molesting a boy, served a sex month jail sentance).
Cases of Vladislav Vaksler (Czech Republic; Haifa, Israel; Petah Tikva, Israel; Tel Aviv, Israel) (Extradited from the Czech Republic to Israel under suspicion of involvement in women trafficking, as well as a myriad of related offenses including pimping, imprisonment, assault, threats and rape.)
Case of Alan Edwin Waldman (Pikesville, MD) (Listed on the National Sex Offenders Registry under the category of Child Sexual Offenders. Charged with 2nd Degree Sex Offense).
Case of Mark Anthony Wares (Hutchinson, Kansas) (Convicted of aggravated sexual battery and making a terrorist threat.(2) While on parole from these charges, he was convicted of kidnaping and aggravated battery. He is presently serving a sentence of twenty to forty-five years.)
Case of Jonathan Warrents (Newcastle, England) (Convicted on charges of gross indecency with an 11-year-old boy. Warrents had a previous sex offence conviction dating back 25 years. In January, 2006 Warrents was barred from saying Kaddish for his mother at Newcastle’s United Hebrew Congregation.).
Case of Sanford Wasserman (Tamarac, FL)
Case of Howard Marc Watzman, MD – Pediatrician (Chicago, IL; Peoria, IL; Rockford,IL; Wichita, KS; Philadelphia, PA and in Maryland) (Pleaded guilty to charges that he spent thousands of dollars collecting hundreds of computer images of child pornography including photos of victims as young as 4 years old engaging in sex with adults).
Case of David Douglas Webber – Mashgiach « Kashrut Supervisor » – (Calgory, Canada) (Convicted and sentenced to six years for possessing child pornography and molesting seven boys over the past eight years).
Case of David Weinberg – former Bar-Ilan University spokesperson (Israel) – (Convicted of sexual harassment and indecent assault).
Case of Joshua Adam Weinstein (Toronto, Canada) (Arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault, four counts of sexual interference, and one count each of invitation to sexual touching and luring a child under 14 years of age (by Internet))
Case of Yeedle Werdyger – Chassidic Singer (Jerusalem, Israel) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Arrested for drugging teenage girls some of whom were below the age of 16, video tayping and then having sexual relations with them. Charges were dropped due to lack of evidence after Werdyger tried to swallow the memory disc of his computer, breaking the chip as he chewed it.).
Case of Adam Wexler – Musician (Bat Ayin, Israel) (Arrested for rape and « maasim megunim » (tranlation: bad things)of a girl when she was seven (she is now 16 or 17) He is a resident of Bat Ayin)
Case of Michael Scott Wheeler -Teacher at Tucson Hebrew Academy (Tucson, AZ) (Convicted on two counts of child abuse.)
Case of Omer Yaish (Mea Shearim), Jerusalem, Israel (Suspected of sexually molesting at least seven haredi children, aged nine to 15, in the neighborhood over the last three and a half years.)
Case of Peter Yarrow – Singer (Pleaded guilty to taking « immoral and improper liberties » with a 14-year-old girl back in 1970, was pardoned by Carter in 1981).
Case of Jacki Yazdi (Jerusalem, Israel) (Charged with raping two of his employees at Tropicana, a brothel that flourished in Jerusalem, prior to being shut down by authorities in 2003).
Case of Michael Yeikovsky (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of delivering women to work as prostitutes)
Case of Uriel Yitzhaki – Former Israeli Consul in Holland (Accused of sexually assaulting a female subordinate 10 years ago, during an earlier stint in the embassy in Holland. According to the complainant, she went to a casino one night with several other embassy employees, including Yitzhaki, and at some point, she went out to their car to fetch something. Yitzhaki then fell upon her, tore her clothes and tried to rape her, but she managed to push him off and escape.)
Wayne Stephen Young – Fish Store Owner (Baltimore, MD) (Convicted of the murder of Esther Lebowitz. Sentenced him to life in prison)
Case of Moshe Meshi Zahav (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of molesting adolescent girls who were runaways or in boarding schools. Allegedely the Zahav gave his alleged victims thousands of Shekels and expensive gifts, and then pressured them to have sexual intercourse with him).
Case of Dr. Yosef Zaider – Psychologist and T.V. Show Host (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted on three counts of sexual assault)
Case of Colonel Atef Zaher, IDF (Israel) (Convicted of indecent sexual acts and illegal intercourse, and was acquitted of the crime of rape.)
Case of Arnold Zar-Kessler – Headmaster, Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston (The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination reached a decision June 28, 2004 to dismiss the complaint of sexual harassment against the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston and its headmaster, finding that there was a lack of probable cause).
Case of Yitzhak Zarif, 26 (Ra’anana, Israel) (Accused of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl. He was found not-fit to stand trail andwas committed to a mental hospital by the Tel Aviv District Court).
Case of Michael Leon Zeve – AKA: Michael Silver (Detroit, MI; Irvine, CA; Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused of molesting a neighborhood child and members of a youth roller hockey team he coached between 1996 and 2000).
Case of David Zimmer (Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted of Sexual Abuse-1st Degree of a ten year old female child). 262
Case of Avi Zohar – Or Yehuda Toy Store Employee (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Arrested on suspicion of trying to induce boys aged 12 to 14 to perform sexual acts). 263
Unnamed Cases
Case of Several Unnamed Child Sex Offenders in Har Nof (Jerusalem, Israel) (Outlines several cases of alleged child sex offenders in the charedi town of Har Nof) 1
Case of Two Unnamed Adolescent Males in Rehovot (Jerusalem, Israel) (Two adolescent males were arrested after accusations were made that they beat and sexually assaulted a seventeen year old female for over a sex month period). 2
Case of Two Unnamed 14-year-old Sex Offenders (Convicted of indecent acts against a five- year-old girl)
Case of Three Unnamed Babysitting Youths (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentenced to two years’ probation and public service)
Case of the Unnamed Babysitting Sex Offender (Kibbutz Misgav Am, Israel) (Convicted and sentanced to 28 months after sexually assauling a five-year-old. The criminal was a relative of the girl for whom he was a babysitter).
Case of the Unnamed Be’er Sheva Sex Offender (Be’er Sheva, Israel) (Convicted of sexually molesting a four-year-old girl and of raping a middle-aged woman).
Case of the Unnamed B’Nai Torah Congegation – Hillel Community Day School janitor (Boca Raton, FL) (Accused of child molestation).
Case of the Unnamed Haredi Friend of an Orthodox Singer (Jerusalem, Israel) (Two haredi men, YeedleWerdyger and an unnamed friend, were arrested for enticing girls, some of whom were below the age of 16, to take dangerous drugs and then to have sexual relations with them).
Case of the Unnamed Cook at Camp Kee Tov, Troy, MO (near St. Louis) (Camp Kee Tov was accused of covering up sexual abuse by an employee).
Case of the Unnamed Cop (Tel Aviv Israel) (Convicted of sexually assaulting his younger brother)
Case of the Unnamed Elementary School Principal (Haifa, Israel) (Convicted of sexually abusing students, aged eight to eleven).
Case of the Unnamed Father committing Incest (Eilat, Israel) (Convicted of sexually assaulting his eleven children. Serving a 10-year term).
Case of Unnamed Father committing Incest in Karmiel, Israel (Allegations that a father had raped his daughter for the last eight years).
Case of Unnamed Father committing Incest at Kibbutz Evron – Nahariya, Israel (Allegations that a father had sexual relations with his 12-year-old daughter).
Case of the Unnamed Fifty-Five-Year-Old Father (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Charged with molesting a nine-year-old girl several times)
Case of Unnamed Fifty-One-Year-Old Father Committing Incest (Central Israel) (Charged a 51-year-old man from the center of the country with raping and sodomizing his nine-year-old daughter. The man had been pardoned five years previously after being convicted of sodomizing and abusing another man.)
Case of the Unnamed Internet Pedophile (Kfar Sava, Israel) (Arrested on suspicions he molested at least six children between the ages of 8 and 15 after luring them via the Internet.)
Case of the Unnamed Kemp Hills Juvenile Sex Offenders (Silver Springs, MD) (Allegations have been made that children from the same family have been molesting other children in the neighborhood. It has been suggested that the chldren who are offending are »sexually reactive ». Allegations have also been a made against the parents of the alleged juvenile offenders).
Case of the Unnamed Father committing Incest at Kibbutz Evron – Nahariya, Israel (Allegations that a father had sexual relations with his 12-year-old daughter).
Case of Unnamed Father committing incest on his two daughters (Zevulun, Israel) (Arrested on suspicion of having sexual relations with his four-and five-year-old daughters).
Case of the Unnamed Father committing Incest from Delaware (New Castle, DE) (Father accused of alleged child molestation)
Case of the Unnamed Father committing Incest in a Mazda 323 (Be’er Sheva and Negev, Israel) (Accused of being a serial child rapist)
Case of the Unnamed Father committing Incest who is Fiftyone-years-old (Central Israel) (Charged a 51-year-old man from Central Israel, with raping and sodomizing his nine-year-old daughter. The man had been pardoned five years previously after being convicted of sodomizing and abusing another man).
Case of the Unnamed Soviet Father committing Incest (Rishon Letzion, Israel) (Accused of sexually and physically assaulting his 17 year old daughter).
Case of the Unnamed Father who Sold his Mentally-Handicapped Daughter (Central Israel) (Convicted & sentenced to 14 years’ for selling his 11- year-old mentally-handicapped daughter to a friend to rape in exchange for NIS 50 ($12.00).
Case of Unnamed Father/Grandfather Vs. State of Israel Vs.(Jerusalem, Israel) (Convicted – 68 year old Israeli religious man pled guilty to repeated molestation of his granddaughter, was sentenced to 19 years in jail.
Case of the Unnamed Father/Grandfather (Ashkelon, Israel) (Accused of molesting his daughter and granddaughter)
Case of the Unnamed Grandfather (Tel Aviv) (Charged with raping and sodomizing two of his grandchildren).
Case of the Unnamed Female (Three) Teenagers who Beat and Sexually Assault Younger Girl (Rishon Letzion, Israel) (Accused of molesting at least 2 younger girls in the neighborhood).
Case of the Unnamed Fifty-eight-year-old man from Petah Tikva, Israel (Charged in Tel Aviv District Court with repeatedly raping the 10- year-old daughter of his girlfriend over a three-year period).
Case of the Unnamed Fiftyfive-year-old Man (Tel Aviv) (Charged with molesting a nine-year-old girl several times). .
Case of Unnamed Florida pedophile who works with Jewish youth (FL) (Accused of molesting children in his care)
Case of the Unnamed Forth Individual (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of distributing child pornography over the Internet, a gag order has been placed on the name).
Case of the Unnamed Fortysix-year-old Man (Herzliya, Israel) (Charged with molested a 10-year-old neighborhood girl several times from 1989 through 1991 in his car. Also allegedly took the girl to a public park, waiting until other children left to abuse her).
Case of Four Unnamed Israeli soldiers (Israel) (Suspected of raping a female soldier while on vacation in the southern town of Eilat. Another soldier is suspected of witnessing the rape without trying to prevent it.)
Case of the Unnamed Four Suspected Web Pedophiles (Jerusalem, Israel) (Arrested in connection with an international child pornography ring. Also see:Case of Yoav Biran and Case of Rafael Kaplanovsky)
Case of the Unnamed Fourteen-year-old boy (Haifa, Israel) (Accused of the rape of a five-year-old girl and a six-year-old girl).
Case of the Unnamed Fourteen-year-old Rapist (Convicted and sentenced a 14-year-old boy to 15 years in prison and three years of probation for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl).
Case of Two Unnamed 14-year-old Sex Offenders (Jerusalem, Israel) (Convicted of indecent acts against a five- year-old girl).
Case of the Unnamed Gang Rapes (Rishon Letzion and Ashdod, Israel) (gang rapes in two different towns)
Case of the Unnamed Hadera Train Station Sex Offender (Haifa, Israel) (Accused of raping a pregnant woman)
Case of the Unnamed Haredi Israeli Soldier (Jerusalem, Israel) (An Israeli soldier serving in a predominantly haredi combat unit was under arrest for allegedly having sexual relations with several 16 year male teens in his room in the Soldier’s House soldiers’ quarters in Jerusalem.)
Case of an Unnamed Israeli Public Figure (Accused of committing indecent acts, including sodomy, on his stepson).
Case of the Unnamed Jaffa Teenage Serial Sex Offender (Arrested and confessed to molesting 20 children aged eight to 12 over the past half year).
Case of the Unnamed Jewish Youth Group Leader/Rabbinical Student (Queens, NY) (Accused of molesting an 11 year old boy in the basement of a synagogue).
Case of Unnamed Jewish Quarter child molester (Jerusalem, Israel) (suspicions in the quarter that the 16-year-old arrested by the police in 1988 had « taken the rap » for his older brothers, who are still on the loose. The youth was eventually institutionalized. This case involves a 5 year old male victim).
Case of the Unnamed Lakewood Rapist (Lakewood, NJ) (The attacker dragged his 19-year-old victim into his green Jeep Cherokee and used restraints to keep her there. He returned her to the gym about 5 a.m. Monday.)
Case of the Lower East Side Ex-Convict Unnamed Father (Arrested after admitting that he had sex with his 5-year-old daughter and later offered her up to another man (Ariel Berlin), who was a sexual partner of his).
Case of Unnamed Maccabi Haifa player, Israel (Accused of sexual abuse and assault)
Case of the Unnamed Maintenance Worker at Congregation Netzah Yisrael (Ashkelon, Israel) (Arrested and accused of sexually abusing a four-year-old girl at a city pre-school complex. The suspect has also been accused in another case – he was also questioned following similar allegations in Eilat. No indictment has emerged from the Eilat case).
Case of the Unnamed Man Wanted by the FBI Found in Israel (Los Angeles, CA; Eilat Israel) (The 47-year-old man, who is a US citizen was withheld by the police at the FBI’s request, is suspected of serious sex crimes against several relatives, including his granddaughter)
Case of the Unnamed Man who Paid to have sex with a Mentally-Handicaped Girl (Central Israel) (Convicted of sexual assault, and was sentenced to 16 years in jail after paying the girls father to have sex with her).
Case of the Unnamed Man who Molested his Wifes Younger Siblings (Netanya, Israel) (Arrested after being accused of molesting wife’s four siblings, three girls aged 5, 8 and 12 and a 3-year-old boy).
Case of the Unnamed Man from Ramle, Israel (A man was arrested after stabbing a 13 year old girl, over an argument over payment for her services).
Case of Unnamed Principal’s Husband at the Tel Aviv Arts School (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Case of Unnamed Principal in a Brooklyn yeshiva (Brooklyn, NY) (Accused of molesting students)
Case of the Unnamed Repeat Sex Offender (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted unnamed Sex offender sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl. After choking her until she lost consciousness, the assailant rolled her up in a carpet and left her for dead outside).
Case of the Unnamed Rishon Letzion Rapist (A 13-year-old girl filed a complaint at a Rishon Letzion police station stating she had been sexually assaulted by two men).
Case of the Unnamed Safad Rapist (Safad, Israel) (Allegations were made that a man wearing hassidic garb sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl).
Case of the Unnamed Senior Driver Licensing Inspector And A Driving Instructor (Negev, Israel) (Arrested a senior driver licensing inspector and a driving instructor on suspicion of having offered to grant a young woman a license if she agreed to have sexual relations with both of them.)
Case of the Unnamed Serial Pedophile (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Man arrested this weekend on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl who was found rolled up in a carpet.)
Case of the Unnamed 17-year old Rapist (Central Israel) (Accused of sexually assaulting a girl from his school for over two years).
Case of the Unnamed Seventy-eight-year old man from Jaffa, Israel (Charged with raping his friend’s five- year-old daughter.)
Case of Unnamed Teacher in Eda Haredit School, Israel (Sexually molested at least two of the pupils in a school belonging to the hassidic sect)
Case of Unnamed Teacher at Michael Sobell Sinai School (England)
Case of the Unnamed Three Students from Bat Yam Yeshiva (Ayalon Region, Israel) (Three students aged 13-14 were arrested and confessed to the allegations of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old schoolmate)
Case of the Unnamed Two Sharon Region Absorption Center Rapist (Two Alleged rapists (aged 17 and 18) were arrested).
Case of the Unnamed Sibiling Incest (Zevulun, Israel) (Arrested after allegedly forcing his seven-year-old sister to have sexual relations with him several times).
Case of the Unnamed Six Male Teenagers (Kibbutz Shomrat, Israel) (Accused and Convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, over a period of several days on the kibbutz)
Case of the Unnamed Sixteen-year-old repeat sex offender (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy and confessed to sexually assaulting another child, who was his 10 year-old neighbor).
Case of Unnamed Sixty-year-old Man (Herzliya, Israel) (Charged with sexually abusing a neighborhood boy, 11, after inviting him to try his exercise bicycle in the basement).
Case of the Unnamed Sixty-four-year-old Neighbor (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Charged in Tel Aviv District Court with systematically raping and sexually assaulting a 20-year-old man over an 11-year-period).
Case of the Unnamed Synagogue Rapist (Jerusalem Israel) (Accused and arrested. 20 year old Jerusalem man was under arrest for sexually assaulting at least ten children in a city synagogue).
Case of the Three Unnamed Students from Bat Yam Yeshiva (Three students aged 13-14 were arrested and confessed to the allegations of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old schoolmate)
Case of Three Unnamed Female Teenagers who Beat and Sexually Assault Younger Girl (Rishon Letzion, Israel) (Accused of molesting at least 2 younger girls in the neighborhood).
Case of the Unnamed Two Sharon Region Absorption Center Rapist (Two Alleged rapists (aged 17 and 18) were arrested).
Case of Two Unnamed men from the West Bank village of Yata (Two men from the West Bank village of Yata have been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a teenage girl and enticing her to use drugs).
Case of Two Unnamed Students who attempted to Film Female Classmates (Holon, Israel) (Arrested after allegations were made that two high school students, both aged 16, attempted to film female classmates in the school’s bathrooms).
Case of Unnamed Teacher Molesting Students (1853) (Accused of molesting students back in 1800’s that were under the age of 13).
Case of Unnamed Thirty-five-year-old man from Bnei Brak, Israel (Arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting his neighbor and performing indecent acts on him).
Case of the Unnamed Thirty-three-year-old Man (Petah Tikva) (Accused of raping a colleague).
Case of the Unnamed Twenty-one-year-old Man (Beersheba, Israel) (Charged with raping a five-year-old girl whose mother had asked him to bring her home to a Beersheba absorption center from kindergarten).
Case of the Unnamed Yachting Instructor (Herzliya, Israel) (Arrested on suspicion of abusing four 11-year-olds)
Case of the Unnamed Youth Basketball Coach (Jerusalem, Israel) (Arrested after six youths complained to police). 84
Related Cases
Case of The Dentist Couple (Kfar Sava, Israel) (Charged with Severely Abusing Daughters) 1
Case of Rabbi Bernard Freilich (Borough Park/Brooklyn, NY) (Acquitted of death threats to an alleged victim) 2
Case of Kenneth Gribetz, District Attorney (Rockland County, NY) (Plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of defrauding the government in a deal he worked out with the U.S. Attorney. Although married, a father and grandfather, Gribetz was partly done in by his former mistress, who went to the media with information about him.)
Case of Jewish School in Manchester, England (School was under investigation by social services over allegations that pupils have been mentally abused).
Case of Rabbi Steven Jacobs (Los Angeles, CA) (Accused of Rabbinical Sexual Misconduct by congregants after learning Rabbi Jacobs was having an alleged affair with Anina Green, who was later murdered by her husband according to Michele Samit’s book, « No Sanctuary: The True Story of a Rabbi’s Deadly Affair » )
Modesty Patrol (Jerusalem, Israel) 6
Psy violeurs
An echo of this has long been a problem in the psychotherapy and psychiatry worlds: the sexual exploitation of vulnerable patients by predatory therapists. Such fields, as evidenced earlier, are enormously overpopulated with Jewish men. [« That vast apparative of putative concern, psychiatry, is largely a Jewish monopoly. » — Kahn, Roger. The Passionate People, William Morris, Inc., 1968, p. 53 / « All over the world, Jews are drawn to the profession of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy. The 1990 roster of the International Psychoanalytical Association reads like the membership list of a synagogue. » — Earl Hopper, Psychotherapy and the ‘Jewish Experience.’ European Judaism, Spring 1996, p. 17-25] Rapes and other similar incidents are only sometimes reported by patients who have the courage to complain to authorities. A 1994 Boston Globe article noted the great scope of the problem, mentioning the cases against therapists Martin Teicher, Arthur Reider, Lionel Schwartz, Joel Feigon, Jacob Goldberg, Leonard Friedman, and others, including, in 1992, « several accused multiple offenders — Sheldon D. Zigelbaum, Edward M. Daniels, and Stanley S. Kanter [who] either lost or gave up their licenses [to practice therapy] under pressure … Though polls have shown that about 8 to 10 percent of psychiatrists admit to having sex with patients, many experts believe the actual frequency is higher, up to 25 percent. Many psychiatrists, they say, are not about to admit to such a clear violation [of therapists’ ethical codes], even anonymously. » [LEHR, 10-4-94] Worse, as the Citizens’ Commission on Human Rights noted:
« Although only ten percent of psychiatrists admit to sexually abusing patients, interestingly, 65 percent say new patients tell them of being abused sexually by their former psychiatrist. In other words, the 10 percent figure can be
considered very, very low. In fact, in an article from the March 12, 1990 edition of U.S. News and World Report, experts put the figure at more like 25 percent, or one out of every four psychiatrists. And a 1973 study in California puts the figure at an astronomical 51 percent! » [CITIZENS’ COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 2001]
This organization estimates that there are 150,000 women « sexually abused by psychiatrists in the USA. » 21,000 try to kill themselves, 1,500 DO kill themselves, and 16,000 end up hospitalized because of the harm caused to them. » [CITIZENS’ COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 2001]
In 1993, another Jewish sexual predator, this one especially prominent, Dr. Jules Masserman, began making the news. Masserman has been called « the most prominent psychiatrist in the world. » He had a resume of 432 articles and 16 books of his authorship. He was the past president of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychoanalysts. He was also a vicious sexual predator, one who « admitted that he, over his 50-year career, drugged and sexually molested female patients in his office. » [ROZNAFSZKY, p. 10F] Four women eventually accepted out-of-court settlements of claims against him. Eventually, a dozen women came forward to note similar sexual predations against them by Masserman. Former patient Barbara Noel even authored an entire volume about her experiences with the therapist, underscoring his control over her and the difficulties in getting anyone to initially believe her stories against such a powerful man.
By the 1970s, for example, the psychoanalytic practice of John N. Rosen began making the news. Rosen was not obscure; articles about his therapy theories had appeared in various scholarly realms by himself and others. In 1983, he gave up his medical license rather than face trial on 67 counts of violations of the Pennsylvania Medical Practices Act. As part of « therapy, » for example, patient Sally Zinman faced the following outrages:
« Without a word of explanation, [Rosen] and his main aide, an ex- Marine, tore off all of her clothes except her underpants and began beating her on the face and breasts (the aide held her down while Rosen beat her). She was then tied to her bed, still with no clothes on, and kept her that way for 24 hours under close guard … [Therapy also included Rosen] suggesting various ‘delusions’ to her and fondling her breasts when they were alone (often the sessions were in groups), and once even her vagina. » [MASSON, p. 136-137]
In the case of another patient, Janet Katkow, Rosen « took off his pants and boxer shorts down over his penis and commanded the plaintiff to suck on his penis. » [MASSON, p. 138] This Katkow was required to do « hundreds of times » over a seven year period. « This is what it is all about, this is when a baby is at peace, » he told her. [MASSON, p. 141] This patient was also forced to lick his anus « and orally take in as much of his feces as she could, which she did. » Katkow was also directed to have cunnilingus with another woman and have sex with an impotent judge. [MASSON, p. 144] Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson noted in 1988:
Rosen also had « numerous sexual relations » with patient Julia Blythe. Three other women eventually came forward with similar stories of abuse. [MASSON, p. 145]
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, a former psychoanalyst, became profoundly disillusioned with the field and notes, in his volume entitled Against Therapy, the disturbing undercurrent of such stories, that such abuses are part of a perversely authoritarian doctor-patient relationship that is the foundation of the psychoanalytic world itself:
« Is Rosen an exception or is there something about psychotherapy, something in the very nature of psychotherapy, that tends toward abuses? A prison warden, a slaveholder, and a psychotherapist have in common the desire to control another person. » [MASSON, p. 147].
In late 2000, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles noted with concern a number of newsworthy cases of sexual abuse by rabbis:
« For those who look up to the American Jewish clergy, it has not been a good year. Last week, one of the Reform movement’s most prominent rabbis was suspended from the rabbinical movement for past sexual misconduct …Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, widely respected as a Jewish thinker and teacher, resigned as president of the movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion … The wave of incidents is refocusing on an issue that has come into public view only in recent years. In the past, rabbinical misconduct – particularly sexual misconduct — was rarely discussed publicly. Many advocates for victims complained that rabbinical associations were more interested in protecting their members than the people they hurt. » [WIESNER, J., 12-15-200]
Also noted in the article is the sexual harrassment « by the late charismatic Orthodox leader, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, » a Reform rabbi in New Jersey who « allegedly hired people to murder his wife, » a « Conservative Cantor in the Chicago area [who] was arrested … for alleged involvement in a prostitution ring, » and a « New York rabbi working for [the Orthodox Union’s] national youth group [who allegedly] sexually harassed and molested teens. » [WIESNER, J., 12-15-00]
In 1996, a Los Angeles Jewish showpiece, the Skirball Cultural Center and Museum (a $65 million cultural center created by Israeli architect Moshe Safdie and founded by Israeli-born president and CEO Uri Herscher), named Robert Kirschner as its Program Director despite his past as the former rabbi of one of northern California’s pre-eminent synagogues, Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. Kirschner resigned his rabbinical post there in 1992 after four women (eventually a total of twelve) came forward with complaints of the rabbi’s sexual misconduct, « involving, » he publicly apologized, « sexual relations outside my marriage. » At least three of the women reportedly « reached settlements with the temple’s insurance policy. » [LA TIMES, 11-2-96, p. B4]
In 2000, the Miami-Dade Public Schools district paid a million dollar settlement to five women, four of them teachers, who charged that Michael Exelbart, the principal of a school for the handicapped, had sexually harassed them. Two had been « coerced » into sex, including at the site of « a conservative Jewish temple in Kendall where Exelbart was an officer. » Exelbart wasn’t fired, and continued to make $80,000 a year at another position. [KISSELL, T., 4-20-2000]
In April 2001, Jerrold M. Levy, a rabbi at Temple Beth El in Florida, was arrested for « online solicitation of a juvenile » over the Internet. The synagogue had hired him as an associate rabbi in 1992, even though it was known by those hiring him that he had been arrested on a past sex-related charge:
Two weeks later, in the Boston area, also in April 2001, Eric Hindin was charged with « two counts of rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery, and two counts of statutory rape. » Hindin had sexually assaulted and videotaped the crimes with two boys, one of whom « he was matched with through a Jewish Big Brother organization. » [ELLEMONT/TWAROG, 4-12-00]
In 1981, the four-term (1968-81) Brooklyn District Attorney, Eugene Gold, « announced he would not seek re-election and planned to devote himself to Jewish charitable causes. » In 1983, he was charged with « unlawful sexual conduct » in a hotel with a 10-year old girl. In return for probation, Gold pleaded guilty and would seek « psychiatric treatment in Israel, where he had a home. » [NY TIMES, 10-21-83] In 1992, Sol Wachtler, « chief judge of New York state’s Court of Appeals, one of the most prestigious courts in the United States, resigned … [He was] the central figure in a scandal involving sex, blackmail and kidnapping threats … Before his arrest, he was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the governor of New York state. » The object of Wachtler’s sexual attentions and threats was Joy Silverman (a former lover), whose personal friend at the FBI put 80 agents on the case to nab him. [CHISHOLM, P., 1992, p. 56]
In 1995, Frederick Werbell, a rabbi who co-wrote « a best-selling Holocaust book » (Lost Hero: The Mystery of Raul Wallenberg), pleaded guilty to « second-degree sexual abuse » of his cleaning lady. « He sprang naked from the bathroom of his Eastside apartment, grabbed his 39-year old housekeeper and fondled her. » He had earlier been sentenced to 17 months in jail for grabbing a woman he was interviewing in his apartment for a job as a receptionist. » [BREEN, 7-18-95]
In 2001, Rabbi Pinchas Lew, a Chasidic Lubavitcher (ultra-Orthodox), « was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges … after a woman accused him of repeatedly touching his genitals in front of her. The woman, a housekeeper in Lew’s home, reportedly said Lew had bolted all the doors and that she feared he planned to assault her. She managed to escape through a back door … Lew, married with five children, led religious study and frequently held services in his home for college students … Members of the community had had just learned of Lew’s conviction for his part in an Iowa armed robbery 10 years ago … After the local community learned about [this] incident,
more than 100 members of the local Jewish community attended a meeting to hear Lew talk about his criminal past. Coincidentally, that meeting occurred on the same day he allegedly assaulted the woman in his home. » [FLEISHMAN, D., 7-3-01]
Lew is a member of a prominent Chabad family — « his father was second in command of Chabad in London, a key post in worldwide Lubavitch. » [BLOOM, S., 2001, p. 265] The national Chabad community stunned the judge in providing the required $200,000 bond for the arrested and jailed man. This, notes, Stephen Bloom, was based on the Jewish tradition that « observant Jews are compelled to post bail that will allow a fellow Jew ‘imprisoned unjustly’ to be released. Called in Hebrew pidyon shevuyim, the ‘ranson of captives’ is a particular obligation of the Hasidic community. » [BLOOM, S., 2001, p. 253]
Lew’s criminal accomplice was fellow Chabad member Philip Stillman who robbed a smalltown popcorn vendor and shot a grandmother at point-blank range after taking her money. Stillman reportedly accepted an offer from two rabbis to accept a bribe to accept full blame for the crimes. Lev, despite an original sentencing of ten years in prison, was merely put on probation. The judge told a journalist that he was influenced and « impressed by many of the Jews who came [to the Lew trial]. The courtroom had a significant number of rabbis. They were very intellectual individuals. « If the crime had stunned the locals [of Iowa], » says Stephen Bloom, « the double standard of punishment for Stillman and Lev took their breath away. » [BLOOM, S., 2001, p. 255-256] Marion Bakken, the woman who was shot, survived and was awarded $1.6 million as settlement for her injuries. She has never been paid. [BLOOM, S., 2001,p. 274]
Secular Jewish journalist Stephen Bloom believes that ultra-Orthodox disdain for Gentiles contributed to the robberies and attempted murder: « The attitude shared by many Postville Hasidim toward the locals nourished
a destructive environment of contempt and scorn providing a setting for Stillman and Lew. While the Hasids would not encourage unprovoked violence against gentiles, their everyday us-against-them mentality helped set the stage for two cocky fellowers to fantasy into reality. For more than a year, the Hasidic Jews’ imperious attitude toward the Postville locals had stuck in my craw. As a Jew, I was embarrassed by their take-it-or-leave-it mentality. » [BLOOM, S., 2001, p. 273]
In 1995, a rabbi’s assistant, Yehuda Friedlander, pleaded guilty to the charge of sexually molesting a 15-year-old girl sitting beside him, alone, on an international plane flight. He had also had an earlier arrest for a sexual crime in 1991. A rabbi with him, Israel Grunwald, the leader of New York’s Pupa ultra-Orthodox community, was also accused of sexually harassing the girl. He remained under investigation as Friedlander accepted blame. According to the affidavit filed against both men, substantiated by another passenger who witnessed the incident, Grunwald first fondled the girl’s breast, then exchanged seats with Friedlander, who violated her further as she protested and resisted under a blanket, trying to sleep. The two men were returning from Australia where Grunwald had lectured about the Talmud. Later, « about 15 supporters from New York and Los Angeles, » noted the Los Angeles Times, « attended the court hearings chanting from prayer books as they waited for the proceedings to begin. » [BOXALL/KENNEDY, p. B1; and LOS ANGELES TIMES, 11-1-95, p. B4]
In 1999, Ze’ev Kopolovitch, a rabbi and the principal of Netiv Meir, an all-male yeshiva high school in Israel, was accused of sexually abusing 19 students from 1991-1997. The most disturbing part of the case, noted the Jerusalem Post, was that « investigators say Kopolovitch’s alleged behavior was known within the school for several years and tolerated by the governing hierarchy of the religious Zionist movement. » [GROSS, N., 1999, p. 28] In 2001, a « part-time synagogue sexton » in Jerusalem was convicted « for sexually assaulting children who went to synagogue to pray with him … At least three children were involved, with one, the 13-year-old, being the son of another synagogue official. That boy was so disturbed by the sexual abuse that he took up drugs, and the sexton then exploited that knowledge to blackmail the youth into more sexual intercourse. The other two children were subject to his fondling, often on the back porch of the synagogue dduring prayers, in exchange for sweets. » [REINFELD, M., 6-22-01]
In 2001, Chabad rabbi Mordechai Yomtov, a teacher at Cheder Menachem grade school in Los Angeles, was jailed on $500,000 bail for « ten felony counts of committing lews acts with children … Yomtov was keeping [three boys] alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess. » [FAX, J., 12-14-01]
In 2000, John Douglas Wynn was arrested for molesting a 12-year old boy in the spa at California’s Palo Alto Jewish Community Center. [SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 5-18-2000, p. A18]
In 2000 an unnamed young Jewish woman came forward to press criminal charges against Rabbi Baruch Lanner, the religious director of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), an Orthodox youth group. She claimed she was molested by Lanner on a daily basis for eight months beginning in 1995. [ROSENBLATT, G., 7-10-2000, p. 9] Lanner, noted the Jewish Week,
« is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant, dynamic and charismatic educators in Jewish life today … Reports have continued to circulate that he has harassed, if not abused, many scores of teens sexually, physically and/or emotionally, from the early 1970s to the present … Those who have elected to tell their stories say they are motivated by anger and frustration over the refusal of the OU, the national central body of Orthodox synagogues, to act decisively on repeated complaints about Rabbi Lanner’s behavior. » [ROSENBLATT, G., 6-23-2000]
In 2000, the head of the Defense Ministry’s publishing unit, Amnon Tzabari, was charged with sexual harassment for « performing lewd acts on four female workers in his office. » This followed disciplinary actions against « long-time ministry spokesman » Dan Weinrich and, in a separate case, the head of the Defense Ministry’s media section, Shachar Halevi. « The situation became so bad, » noted the Jerusalem Post, « that ministry Director-General Arno Yam gathered all senior officials and warned he was going to uproot the phenomenon. » [O’SULLIVAN, A., 9-8-2000] In 2001, a parliamentary aide to Israeli MK (member of Knessset/Parliament) Ayoub Kara publicly accused him or raping her. Ayoub is Prime Minister Sharon’s « liason to Israeli Arabs. » [JERUSALEM POST, 2-28-01] In 2000, Israel’s Transport Minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, « who deputizes for [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak in his absence, suspended himself pending an investigation into accustions that he sexually assaulted a female civil servant. » [REEVES, P., 3-8-00] In 2001, the director general of the Israel Journalists’ Union, Tuvya Sa’ar, was « arrested on suspicion of having intercourse with a minor and coercing her for sexual favors … In one instance … he is suspected of promising the girl an appearance on the TV channel for children because of his connections there. » Sa’ar is the former director of Israel TV. [ARBELI, A., 8-15-01]
In 1999 Rabbi Bernard Freilich, « who holds a $76,000–a-year political patronage in the [New York governor] Pataki administration » was charged with « witness tampering in a case of an alleged incest victim, raped by her (unnamed) father. George Messner, Mates Fisher, Richard Finkel, Sam Lustigan and Baruch Weiss were also indicted for attempting to keep the victim from testifying. » [LIFF, 7-15-99]
Federal Prosecutors Try to Keep Boca Rabbi Jailed, Calling Him a Menace. Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, July 20, 2001. « Responding to a jailed rabbi’s appeal that he be allowed to await trial in a psychological program, federal prosecutors this week argued that Jerrold Levy remains a threat to the community and a flight risk … Prosecutors said they have developed additional evidence that Levy distributed child pornography to other people, received child pornography from a minor contacted in an Internet chat room, and pursued other minors … In their response to Levy’s appeal, prosecutors said there is ‘overwhelming’ evidence against Levy to support their existing nine charges of child pornography and using the Internet to entice a juvenile. Last week, Levy, a former associate rabbi at Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, filed an emergency motion for release from prison as he waits to hear about an appeal. »
Marvin Hersh, a Florida Atlantic University professor, was charged with alien smuggling and passport fraud for going to Honduras and bringing a teen-age boy back to Boca Raton, Florida for sex. Affidavits described Hersh as a longtime pedophile who traveled to Central America and Asia to find victims. He passed the boy off as his son. Hersh’s friend, Nelson Jay Buler, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida was charged with travelling for the purpose of illegal sexual contact with a minor, and aggravated sexual abuse of a child in Honduras. According to Title 18, Section 2423, a federal statute in the US, it is a crime for any American citizen to travel abroad with the intent to sexually abuse children. Sentences can be up to 10 years of imprisonment plus fines of US$ 250,000 (« Bond set for man accused of Honduras juvenile-sex trips, » Associated Press) …
Richard Blau, a Manhattan businessman, has been charged with abusing an immigrant Burmese woman whom he kept chained in his bedroom for nearly two weeks after offering her work as a cleaning woman. (UPI, 20 August 1997)
http://www.the7thfire.com/new_world_order/zionism/jewish_pedophilia.html
Yeshiva Teacher Accused of Molesting Students. Jerusalem Post, January 12, 2000
« Police three weeks ago launched an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by a teacher at Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav yeshiva 14 years ago … In mid-December, police were alerted to accusations by three men – now in their late 20s – who studied at the yeshiva in their teenage years and said they were sexually molested by the man. Police then began investigations into other men who reportedly were also sexually abused, but did not come forward … The head of the yeshiva, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, was alerted to the complaints several months ago in an anonymous letter and soon after in an anonymous phone call … Senior National Religious Party figures, meanwhile, reacted to reports that Shapira attempted to silence those who made the allegations of sexual misconduct … This is not the first time that Shapira has been suspected of trying to prevent a police inquiry into the improprieties of yeshiva teachers. Last year, he received a warning letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein after he was said to have tried to cover up the illegal sexual behavior of Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. »
« A former employee of Calgary Jewish Community Council has been charged with possession of child pornography, sexual assault and sexual interference with a child under 14 years of age. David Webber, 35, was arrested on February 22. On that date, police executed a search warrant on his apartment. In the search, they seized a large number of Polaroid photographs of nude boys aged 10 to 14 and written materials. Several children have already been interviewed and are alleged to be victims of sexual assault … Before moving to Calgary, Webber was youth director of the Beth Israel Synagogue in Edmonton. In 1990, he was charged with sexual assault in Edmonton, but the charges were subsequently dismissed. »
Synagogue Sexton Guilty of Pedophilia. Haaretz [Israel], June 22, 2001
« A garbage truck driver with a part-time job as a synagogue sexton in a town in the center of the country was convicted yesterday by a Jerusalem District Court for sexually assaulting children who went to synagogue to pray with him … At least three children were involved, with one, the 13-year-old, being the son of another synagogue official. That boy was so disturbed by the sexual abuse that he took up drugs, and the sexton then exploited that knowledge to blackmail the youth into more sexual intercourse. The other two children were subject to his fondling, often on the back porch of the synagogue during prayers, in exchange for sweets. »
Rabbi Jailed. Instructor at Cheder Menachem Grade School Accused of Molesting Boys, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, December 14, 2001
« A rabbi accused of molesting three boys at a Chabad elementary school was arrested Dec. 3 and remained at the L.A. Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail as The Journal went to press. Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov’s arrest on 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with children came following an investigation by the LAPD after three boys, ages 8 to 10, reported last month that Yomtov was keeping each of them alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess. Yomtov, 36, an Australian-born rabbi with a wife and four children, pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court is set for Dec. 17. Yomtov has taught 8- to 10-year-olds for six years at Cheder Menachem, a school with 220 boys, kindergarten through eighth grade, on Melrose Avenue in the Beverly Boulevard-La Brea Avenue neighborhood. The school issued a written statement following the arrest: ‘Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and to protect the privacy of our students, parents, teachers and staff, the school will be making no public comment.’ The statement went on, ‘We request that our privacy be respected. The school is cooperating fully with all applicable authorities.’ »
Scout ‘Perv’ Might Go Free, New York Post, December 19, 2001
« The accused pedophile scoutmaster of the Upper East Side’s Boy Scout Troop 666 will seek a no-jail deal today – and the young sodomy victim’s anguished family is furious. ‘He is a wolf of the worst kind under that sheep’s clothing,’ the victim’s mother said of the since-fired scoutmaster – married Upper East Sider Jerrold Schwartz, 42. ‘Anything less than the maximum sentence would be unfair to my son,’ the mother – whose name is being kept confidential – said in a Dec. 13 letter to the judge, who will consider a possible plea deal today in Manhattan Supreme Court. Prosecutors say a total of five credible victims have accused Schwartz – who also ran a Colorado-based youth travel company – of turning Troop 666 into Boy Scout hell through a pattern of winning kids’ trust, tempting them with overnight ski and camping trips – and then molesting them. ‘I say 10 minutes in a room with me – that’s a fair sentence,’ one of these alleged victims, a now 30-year-old Queens man, angrily responded when informed of the negotiations yesterday. But Schwartz is only charged with sodomizing one boy – a total of 36 times – because the statute of limitations has run out on the other cases. That boy is now 20 years old. He’s in in-house rehab for cocaine addiction and alcoholism, his parents wrote the judge. He bathes compulsively ‘because he feels so dirty,’ they said. He also has nightly nightmares, and self-mutilates. »
Synagogue Cantor Arrested on Sexual Abuse Charges, Newsday, February 20, 2002. « The longtime cantor at one of the nation’s largest and most prominent Reform synagogues was arrested in New York on Wednesday on charges that he sexually abused a nephew, a prosecutor said. Howard Nevison, 61, of Congregation Emanu-El, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was arrested at his apartment, said Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. Police in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia, charged Nevison with sexually assaulting the boy on three occasions between 1993 and 1997 while the boy was 3 to 7 years old. ‘Like anyone else, we in law enforcement tend to believe that religious figures are beyond reproach. You want to make very sure before you go accusing one,’ Castor said. Police have known about the allegations since about 1998 but did not pursue charges until the victim, who was undergoing therapy, was ready to confront the uncle, Castor said. ‘He had terrorized the child to the point that, in the judgment of his parents, his therapists and our investigators, he was too traumatized to go forward,’ Castor said. »
In 2 Communities, Concern Over the Arrest of a Cantor, New York Times, February 22, 2002. « The proper, prosperous residents of the Upper East Side of Manhattan and of the Main Line Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion Township stood united yesterday in sheer disbelief over the same sordid tale — a synagogue cantor accused of molesting his prepubescent nephew. The lawyers, investment bankers, politicians and other prominent members of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan struggled to square their image of the cantor, Howard Nevison, the golden-voiced tenor who led them in prayer for 23 years, with the Lower Merion police’s description of him as a violent sexual abuser of a child. The imposing temple at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street, said to be the largest synagogue in the world, is home to one of the nation’s most prominent reform congregations. It counts among its members the new mayor of New York, the Manhattan district attorney and familiar names from the media and the arts. »
Song of Sorrow, New York, April 15, 2002. « Joel’s parents were as baffled as they were horrified. Almost a year would pass before they’d come to understand the source of his demons, a year in which their curly-haired boy was frequently suicidal and obviously terrified. In therapy over the subsequent months, he slowly started revealing the torments he’d endured at the hands of his own family. He’d been sexually abused by his uncle Larry (his father’s older brother, who confessed in 1999 and is currently in prison), and also by Larry’s adult son Stewart, who pleaded guilty and served a year before being released on parole. Finally, the boy charged, he was sexually abused by his uncle Howie (his father’s oldest brother, fourteen years Henry’s senior). Uncle Howie is better known to New Yorkers as Cantor Howard Nevison, part of the rabbinical hierarchy at Congregation Emanu-El, the city’s most prominent Reform Jewish synagogue, for 23 years.
In the early-morning hours of February 20, police arrested him in his Upper West Side home. On April 17, a preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. He is contesting the charges. ‘Howard Nevison is innocent, and we are confident he will be exonerated,’ says his attorney, Ralph Jacobs. These accusations are very different from the suddenly ubiquitous stories of priests molesting parishioners. This is strictly a family affair … .
But for Nevison, the blow had been coming for years; the cantor first learned he was a suspect not long after Joel’s parents initially approached the police in 1998. Linda Fairstein, former longtime chief of the New York district attorney’s sex-crimes-prosecution unit, says she’s « stunned » that it took so long to file charges against the cantor. « I’ve never heard of that, » she says. « It’s quite extraordinary that people who already gained the trust of a child for the prosecution of relatives couldn’t then also elicit his consent in prosecuting another one at the time. »
Why the delay? Joel, according to the Pennsylvania district attorney bringing the charges, was too afraid to testify against the cantor, allegedly the most terrifying of the three men accused of molesting him. In the affidavit of probable cause that resulted in Howard Nevison’s arrest, the boy describes him as ‘a big man with a mean, powerful voice and frightening glare,’ who threatened to kill him if he spoke up … Some parents were outraged to learn that the temple leadership had known since 1998 about an investigation of the Nevison family yet continued allowing the cantor to meet with boys and girls preparing for their bar mitzvahs. »
A Cry for Help that Went Unheeded. philly.com, April 6, 2000. « Prosecutors say the Kensington man repeatedly raped and sodomized two girls whom his wife was baby-sitting at their rowhouse. He allegedly employed a plastic baseball bat on one occasion. But the ugliness of the details is not all that makes the case stand out. Philadelphia police were called in four years ago, when the attacks allegedly began. One of the girls, then 8, described the assaults in graphic detail. But the sex-crimes unit closed the case after a cursory investigation. Investigators did not interview the man, Samuel Cohen, or inform child-welfare authorities of the allegations against him, The Inquirer has learned. Cohen continued assaulting one of the girls, then 7, for five more months, police now say. One of the assaults was so brutal that the child was taken to a hospital with vaginal injuries, records show. »
Man Sentenced to at Least 45 Years in Child Sex Cases. Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 4, 2000. « A 41-year-old man with a prior felony conviction for child molestation was sentenced Monday to a minimum of 45 years in prison. In March, Russell D. Cohen pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual assault with a minor under 14, sexual assault with a minor under 16, and use of a minor in producing pornography. Incidents involving about 10 victims were combined into the three charges. Cohen was arrested in August and accused of forcing two boys into sex acts. Authorities said Cohen met young boys by employing them to distribute fliers throughout the Las Vegas Valley and then took them to his home, where they were sexually abused. Shortly after news of Cohen’s arrest was circulated in the Las Vegas media, police received a videotape in the mail that showed a man engaging in sex acts with several male juveniles. In October, additional charges were filed against Cohen in connection with the videotape. »
Lanner Indicted on Sex Abuse Charges. Jewish Week, March 16, 2000. « Nine months after The Jewish Week reported on allegations that Rabbi Baruch Lanner had abused teenagers in his charge for three decades, a Monmouth County, N.J., grand jury indicted him Wednesday on six criminal charges. The rabbi faces two counts each of aggravated criminal sexual conduct, criminal sexual conduct and endangering the welfare of a child. The crimes are second-, third- and fourth-degree offenses. A second-degree offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison … The first woman, now 19, alleged that Rabbi Lanner sexually abused her almost daily in his office at the yeshiva when she was a 14-year-old ninth-grader there in 1995 and 1996. »
Father charged with abusing, raping his children and wife, by David Ratner, Haaretz (Israel), February 19, 2003. « A 62-year-old Haifa man was charged yesterday with physically and mentally abusing his children and wife for many years. He is also suspected of raping two of his daughters … In 1984, the indictment says, he married a woman who had two daughters, aged 12 and 8. He is accused of raping his elder stepdaughter for the first time when she was 17 and then throwing her out of the house naked. He continued raping her until she turned 21, threatening to tell that she was sleeping with him if she resisted. He stopped raping and abusing her only when she married, at the age of 23. He started raping his younger stepdaughter when she was 15, in addition to beating her and screaming at her. He is alleged to have raped her several times more between 1991 and 1993. When she joined the army, he humiliated her and threw her out. She never returned to the family home. The man is also charged with beating his wife in 2000 so badly that she required medical treatment. In addition, he abused his wife for years with humiliating acts and insults at every opportunity. The couple had three more daughters, born in 1986, 1987 and 1990. The man is also charged with abusing the young girls. He used to scream at the older one and insult her until she started getting anxiety attacks. He insisted on watching her dress against her will and stroke her behind against her explicit wishes. He used to masturbate in front of the second daughter and abuse her in similar ways, and is also suspected of brutally beating the youngest child. »
Bnei Brak resident gets nine years for sexual abuse, Ha’aretz (Israel), January 22, 2003. « Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old Bnei Brak resident to nine years in prison and two years’ probation for sexually harassing and assaulting six ultra-Orthodox youths between the ages of 14 and 16 over a period of years. Avraham Asher was also accused of ‘offering’ one of the youths to two of his friends, who also abused him. The two, Yossi Mozas and Yosef Garus, both 29, from Bnei Brak, were given much lighter sentences … The court heard that Asher and his friends harassed the youths in bus shelters and at ritual baths in Bnei Brak. Asher also assaulted the youths in showers and once visited a yeshiva in Jerusalem, where one of the teenagers studied. »
Prosecutor faces child sex charges, Palm Beach Post, January 22, 2003. « With his Mickey Mouse lapel pin replete with an American flag, prosecutor Ira Karmelin cut a squeaky-clean image in the Palm Beach County Courthouse. But on Tuesday the image was of the top assistant state attorney handcuffed outside the courthouse and carted off to jail to face child sex charges. Karmelin, 38, is accused of soliciting a woman, whom he believed was a 13-year-old girl, on the Internet and performing lewd acts in front of her via a camera attached to his computer. The prosecutor — who also is a former sheriff’s deputy — is charged with two third-degree felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison. He is the first prosecutor under Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer arrested on a felony charge. He was suspended without pay indefinitely and could lose his law license … Karmelin talked openly about his wish to become a judge. Many of his colleagues, as well as defense attorneys, described Karmelin as Krischer’s favorite bulldog prosecutor. Just last week, Krischer recommended Karmelin to be an assistant attorney general … Orange County Sheriff’s Office Detective Tom Harrison, who came to West Palm Beach to make the arrest, discovered Karmelin was a prosecutor when making background checks on the screen name. ‘When I learned that he was in fact an assistant state attorney, after picking my chin off the floor and restarting my heart… I knew he was not above anybody else,’ Harrison said. »
Critics Charge Rabbinic Court Covered Up Lanner Abuse, [Jewish] Forward, January 31, 2003. « Nineteen critics of convicted sex offender and former Orthodox Union youth leader Rabbi Baruch Lanner have signed a letter excoriating a respected rabbi, saying that he withheld for more than a decade a 1989 rabbinical court ruling that found Lanner guilty of abuse. The January 24 letter accuses Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a highly regarded spiritual leader at Yeshiva University’s rabbinical seminary, of sharing the rabbinical court’s findings against Lanner only with select individuals who apparently ‘did nothing to remove him from children.’ It also accuses Willig of pressuring one of Lanner’s accusers, Elie Hiller, to write a letter of apology. According to the letter, Willig, who in 1989 led the New Jersey-based rabbinical court, or beit din, fed the public perception that Lanner was innocent while Lanner continued to have contact with children. Signed mostly by alleged Lanner victims and their families, the letter comes after a meeting earlier this month in which attendees say Willig stated, for perhaps the first time in so public a forum, that Lanner was found guilty of some of the charges brought against him in 1989. ‘Rabbi Willig prioritized the reputation of a rabbinic colleague a colleague who he knew was abusing kids ahead of the safety of children,’ says the letter …
And in a separate development, famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz has been serving as a consultant to Lanner’s defense team, according to Dershowitz’s brother Nathan. Nathan Dershowitz is one of Lanner’s full-time attorneys. Lanner is appealing his July conviction that he sexually abused two teenage girls while he was their principal during the 1990s at Hillel Yeshiva high school in Ocean Township, N.J. …
A report prepared in 2000 by a special commission appointed to investigate the O.U.’s role in the Lanner affair stated that Lanner sexually abused women and teenage girls and physically abused boys and girls while he was a leader for decades at the O.U.’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth. The report also cited the failure of members of the O.U. and NCSY leadership to take effective action, allowing Lanner’s conduct to ‘continue unchecked for many years.’ »
Rabbi’s Odyssey Reflects Struggle on Sexual Abuse. Jews Begin to Confront Silence That Hid Clergy’s Misdeeds, by Alan Cooperman, Washington Post, February 2, 2003; Page A17. « During his 30-year career, Sidney I. Goldenberg taught math in the New York schools, served as cantor at two synagogues on Long Island and became the rabbi of a Jewish congregation in California. He was a respected teacher, a man of learning — and a child molester. Before he was convicted and sent to prison in 1997 for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl during bat mitzvah lessons, there had been numerous complaints against him. But each time allegations arose, he moved to a new community, leaving a trail of whispers and shattered lives. Prosecutors, alleged victims and their families say Goldenberg was able to move from job to job because of a wall of silence and shame around sexual abuse in the Jewish community — a wall that some believe is finally coming down, thanks to the scandal over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests. ‘In the past it was covered up, just like in the Catholic Church,’ said Vicki Polin, an art therapist in Baltimore who is forming an association of Jewish survivors of childhood sexual abuse. ‘Survivors’ stories were discounted. They were told they were lying. Their parents would go to the proper authorities within the Jewish community and nothing was done’ …’I don’t think pedophilia has a religion,’ said Na’ama Yehuda, a speech pathologist in New York who is co-founder, with Polin, of the Awareness Center, an organization for Jewish survivors of childhood trauma. The center’s Web site (http://www.theawarenesscenter.org) lists more than 30 Jewish officials who have been accused of child sexual abuse. They include the late Shlomo Carlebach, a renowned Hasidic rabbi; Baruch Lanner, an Orthodox rabbi who was convicted last year of molesting two teenage girls; and Jerrold Levy, a Reform rabbi imprisoned for sex crimes involving teenage boys … ‘In the Catholic Church, the issue was the cover-up by the church hierarchy. Here, it’s the community, not the hierarchy. It’s the whole community not wanting to admit trouble in our midst,’ said Yosef Blau, an Orthodox rabbi at New York’s Yeshiva University who counsels victims of sexual abuse. »
Child Molester Sent to Treatment Center, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, February 7, 2003. « David Schwartz, a counselor for preschool boys at an Orthodox music and arts camp, was sentenced to one year in residential treatment and five years’ probation for molesting a 4-year-old boy in his care at summer camp. A six-year prison sentence was suspended. The Jan. 21 sentencing at the Airport Courthouse came after Schwartz, the 36-year-old father of young children, accepted a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to one felony count of committing lewd acts with a child. (A plea of no contest in a criminal court is the equivalent of guilty, but if victims decide to sue Schwartz, they cannot use the criminal plea against him, according to the district attorney’s office.) Schwartz will have to register as a sex offender for life, undergo at least two years of sex offender therapy and is prohibited from being alone with minor children, including his own, for the period of probation … While all the boys in the group told stories that indicated they had been molested and tormented, only two were able to tell their stories coherently and consistently enough to be considered admissible in court. Three parents spoke with The Jewish Journal, telling of the long-lasting pain Schwartz has inflicted on their families. Parents said their children spoke of being touched and hurt, and watching Schwartz make ‘white pee-pee.’ Testimony and physical evidence on at least one boy indicated that he was sodomized. Schwartz is alleged to have brought a bird into class and cut off its head in front of the children, telling them that if they told anyone about what happened, he would do the same to them and their parents… When Schwartz was first arrested, many in the Orthodox community — those who knew him and those who didn’t — asserted the innocence of Schwartz, who was a counselor at Camp Ruach for two years and taught middle school social studies at Yeshivat Yavneh in Hancock Park. Several rabbis who knew him privately expressed disbelief that he could have perpetrated such acts. At a hearing soon after his arrest, at which his bail was reduced from $1 million to $300,000, Schwartz’s supporters heckled the parents of the victims, accusing them of harming another Jew. But as details of the boys’ stories came out, support waned. »
L.A. program offers help after arrest of rabbi for pedophilia, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (from Jewish Week), February 26, 2003. « In the wake of the arrest last week of Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum in a police Internet sex sting operation, the director of a Los Angeles-based residential treatment program for Jews with addictive and behavioral disorders believes a similar program is needed here and has offered to assist. ‘If we can share what we have learned in our 16 years of existence, we would be glad to help,’ said Harriet Rossetto, director of Beit T’Shuvah, believed to be the country’s only residential program for Jewish adults. Rossetto said three of the 110 Jews in her program are rabbis there for sexual addiction. She is convinced that their cases, as well as the arrests in recent years of rabbis accused of sex crimes, are ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ … The call for a treatment program for rabbis comes after a string of much-publicized cases involving Jewish clergy charged with sexual abuse of minors. They include Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who last June was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually abusing two girls when he was principal of a New Jersey yeshiva in the 1990s. Rabbi Lanner is free pending an appeal. Also, Cantor Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-el in Manhattan was charged last spring with sexually abusing his young nephew. That trial has not begun. Rabbi Kestenbaum’s arrest is not the first involving a rabbi accused of using the Internet to lure minors. In December 2001, Rabbi Jerald Levy, 58, of Boca Raton, Fla., was sentenced to six years in federal prison for downloading child pornography and luring teenage boys to meet him for sex … In the aftermath of two highly publicized child abuse cases involving a rabbi teaching at a day school and a kosher butcher, the Chicago Rabbinical Council a number of years ago established a special bet din, or rabbinical court, to address allegations of sexual abuse of children. »
Runaway teen was sex slave for three years, Haaretz (Israel), March 31, 2003. « A 34-year-old Eilat resident was charged today in a Be’er Sheva court of sexually abusing an underage teenager from Belarus over the past three years. According to the indictment, Sergei Mayatski ‘imported’ the youth from Minsk, in Belarus, after he met him in a public park during a visit to the city in September 1999. Following a number of meetings with the youngster, who was 13 at the time, Mayatski met his parents and convinced them to allow him to bring their son to Israel. It is unclear whether the parents were aware of Mayatski’s intentions.
Two weeks later, the teenager was sent to Israel, where a friend of Mayatski received him at the airport as his own departure was delayed for two weeks because of a problem with his entry visa into Israel. The friend took the teen to his home in Ashdod, and according to the youth’s testimony, also sexually abused him. Upon his arrival to Israel, in November 1999, Mayatski collected the youth from Ashdod, took him to Eilat, and presented him as his son. However, during these years, Mayatski systematically sodomized him. The sexual abuse was revealed nine days ago following a complaint filed by Mayatski at the police that the youth had disappeared. When the teenager was located, he was questioned and said that he left home because he was tired of serving as Mayatski’s sex slave. »
[Sexual assault statistics from the Jewish homeland: « The Light unto the World. »]. Aid centers: Most sexual assault victims in 2002 were minors; one-third were under 12, by Ruth Sinai, Haaretz (Israel), April 8, 2003. « More than 2,300 girls and boys under the age of 12 were victims of sexual assault in the past year, constituting 30 percent of the new cases reported to the sexual assault aid centers. Almost 26 percent of the victims were 13 to 18 years old … Forty percent of the sexual assaults were carried out in the victim’s home. ‘The home, of all places, which should be a safe, protective and supporting place, is where many of the horrors take place,’ states the report. About half of the victims refrained from going to the police. The most prevalent attack – 26 percent of the new calls – was rape, including gang rape. About 16 percent of the callers complained about incest by fathers (6.5 percent), brothers (2.6 percent) or other relatives. Some 14 percent complained of indecent acts. About 30 percent of the 110 gang rape victims who called the Tel Aviv aid center were men. Out of 519 calls reporting non-gang rape to this center, 25 percent were men. Some 20 percent of the victims of indecent acts reported in Tel Aviv were men. ‘The sexual assault of boys, male youths and men is a hushed-up crime, which is almost completely absent from discourse in Israeli society,’ the report states. ‘It does not occur to the victims that anyone would listen to their ordeal.’ The centers operate a hotline and support groups, and accompany the victims during the criminal procedures … According to the report, the largest group of victims – constituting 19 percent – were attacked by family relatives, 4.2 percent were attacked by a spouse, and 14 percent by a friend or acquaintance. Only 12 percent of the assaults were perpetrated by a complete stranger. »
Jewish pedophilia sur NFTWest
http://www.the7thfire.com/new_world_order/zionism/jewish_pedophilia.html
Yeshiva Teacher Accused of Molesting Students. Jerusalem Post, January 12, 2000
« Police three weeks ago launched an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by a teacher at Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav yeshiva 14 years ago … In mid-December, police were alerted to accusations by three men – now in their late 20s – who studied at the yeshiva in their teenage years and said they were sexually molested by the man. Police then began investigations into other men who reportedly were also sexually abused, but did not come forward … The head of the yeshiva, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, was alerted to the complaints several months ago in an anonymous letter and soon after in an anonymous phone call … Senior National Religious Party figures, meanwhile, reacted to reports that Shapira attempted to silence those who made the allegations of sexual misconduct … This is not the first time that Shapira has been suspected of trying to prevent a police inquiry into the improprieties of yeshiva teachers. Last year, he received a warning letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein after he was said to have tried to cover up the illegal sexual behavior of Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. »
Arrest of Ex-Employee Sparks Concern. compcocity.com [originally from Edmonton Jewish Life], [Undated, 1990s]
« A former employee of Calgary Jewish Community Council has been charged with possession of child pornography, sexual assault and sexual interference with a child under 14 years of age. David Webber, 35, was arrested on February 22. On that date, police executed a search warrant on his apartment. In the search, they seized a large number of Polaroid photographs of nude boys aged 10 to 14 and written materials. Several children have already been interviewed and are alleged to be victims of sexual assault … Before moving to Calgary, Webber was youth director of the Beth Israel Synagogue in Edmonton. In 1990, he was charged with sexual assault in Edmonton, but the charges were subsequently dismissed. »
Synagogue Sexton Guilty of Pedophilia. Haaretz [Israel], June 22, 2001
« A garbage truck driver with a part-time job as a synagogue sexton in a town in the center of the country was convicted yesterday by a Jerusalem District Court for sexually assaulting children who went to synagogue to pray with him … At least three children were involved, with one, the 13-year-old, being the son of another synagogue official. That boy was so disturbed by the sexual abuse that he took up drugs, and the sexton then exploited that knowledge to blackmail the youth into more sexual intercourse. The other two children were subject to his fondling, often on the back porch of the synagogue during prayers, in exchange for sweets. »
Rabbi Jailed. Instructor at Cheder Menachem Grade School Accused of Molesting Boys, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, December 14, 2001
« A rabbi accused of molesting three boys at a Chabad elementary school was arrested Dec. 3 and remained at the L.A. Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail as The Journal went to press. Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov’s arrest on 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with children came following an investigation by the LAPD after three boys, ages 8 to 10, reported last month that Yomtov was keeping each of them alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess. Yomtov, 36, an Australian-born rabbi with a wife and four children, pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court is set for Dec. 17. Yomtov has taught 8- to 10-year-olds for six years at Cheder Menachem, a school with 220 boys, kindergarten through eighth grade, on Melrose Avenue in the Beverly Boulevard-La Brea Avenue neighborhood. The school issued a written statement following the arrest: ‘Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and to protect the privacy of our students, parents, teachers and staff, the school will be making no public comment.’ The statement went on, ‘We request that our privacy be respected. The school is cooperating fully with all applicable authorities.’ »
Scout ‘Perv’ Might Go Free, New York Post, December 19, 2001
« The accused pedophile scoutmaster of the Upper East Side’s Boy Scout Troop 666 will seek a no-jail deal today – and the young sodomy victim’s anguished family is furious. ‘He is a wolf of the worst kind under that sheep’s clothing,’ the victim’s mother said of the since-fired scoutmaster – married Upper East Sider Jerrold Schwartz, 42. ‘Anything less than the maximum sentence would be unfair to my son,’ the mother – whose name is being kept confidential – said in a Dec. 13 letter to the judge, who will consider a possible plea deal today in Manhattan Supreme Court. Prosecutors say a total of five credible victims have accused Schwartz – who also ran a Colorado-based youth travel company – of turning Troop 666 into Boy Scout hell through a pattern of winning kids’ trust, tempting them with overnight ski and camping trips – and then molesting them. ‘I say 10 minutes in a room with me – that’s a fair sentence,’ one of these alleged victims, a now 30-year-old Queens man, angrily responded when informed of the negotiations yesterday. But Schwartz is only charged with sodomizing one boy – a total of 36 times – because the statute of limitations has run out on the other cases. That boy is now 20 years old. He’s in in-house rehab for cocaine addiction and alcoholism, his parents wrote the judge. He bathes compulsively ‘because he feels so dirty,’ they said. He also has nightly nightmares, and self-mutilates. »
Synagogue Cantor Arrested on Sexual Abuse Charges, Newsday, February 20, 2002
« The longtime cantor at one of the nation’s largest and most prominent Reform synagogues was arrested in New York on Wednesday on charges that he sexually abused a nephew, a prosecutor said. Howard Nevison, 61, of Congregation Emanu-El, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was arrested at his apartment, said Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. Police in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia, charged Nevison with sexually assaulting the boy on three occasions between 1993 and 1997 while the boy was 3 to 7 years old. ‘Like anyone else, we in law enforcement tend to believe that religious figures are beyond reproach. You want to make very sure before you go accusing one,’ Castor said. Police have known about the allegations since about 1998 but did not pursue charges until the victim, who was undergoing therapy, was ready to confront the uncle, Castor said. ‘He had terrorized the child to the point that, in the judgment of his parents, his therapists and our investigators, he was too traumatized to go forward,’ Castor said. »
In 2 Communities, Concern Over the Arrest of a Cantor, New York Times, February 22, 2002
« The proper, prosperous residents of the Upper East Side of Manhattan and of the Main Line Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion Township stood united yesterday in sheer disbelief over the same sordid tale – a synagogue cantor accused of molesting his prepubescent nephew. The lawyers, investment bankers, politicians and other prominent members of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan struggled to square their image of the cantor, Howard Nevison, the golden-voiced tenor who led them in prayer for 23 years, with the Lower Merion police’s description of him as a violent sexual abuser of a child. The imposing temple at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street, said to be the largest synagogue in the world, is home to one of the nation’s most prominent reform congregations. It counts among its members the new mayor of New York, the Manhattan district attorney and familiar names from the media and the arts. »
Song of Sorrow, New York, April 15, 2002
« Joel’s parents were as baffled as they were horrified. Almost a year would pass before they’d come to understand the source of his demons, a year in which their curly-haired boy was frequently suicidal and obviously terrified. In therapy over the subsequent months, he slowly started revealing the torments he’d endured at the hands of his own family. He’d been sexually abused by his uncle Larry (his father’s older brother, who confessed in 1999 and is currently in prison), and also by Larry’s adult son Stewart, who pleaded guilty and served a year before being released on parole. Finally, the boy charged, he was sexually abused by his uncle Howie (his father’s oldest brother, fourteen years Henry’s senior). Uncle Howie is better known to New Yorkers as Cantor Howard Nevison, part of the rabbinical hierarchy at Congregation Emanu-El, the city’s most prominent Reform Jewish synagogue, for 23 years.
In the early-morning hours of February 20, police arrested him in his Upper West Side home. On April 17, a preliminary hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. He is contesting the charges. ‘Howard Nevison is innocent, and we are confident he will be exonerated,’ says his attorney, Ralph Jacobs. These accusations are very different from the suddenly ubiquitous stories of priests molesting parishioners. This is strictly a family affair … .
But for Nevison, the blow had been coming for years; the cantor first learned he was a suspect not long after Joel’s parents initially approached the police in 1998. Linda Fairstein, former longtime chief of the New York district attorney’s sex-crimes-prosecution unit, says she’s « stunned » that it took so long to file charges against the cantor. « I’ve never heard of that, » she says. « It’s quite extraordinary that people who already gained the trust of a child for the prosecution of relatives couldn’t then also elicit his consent in prosecuting another one at the time. »
Why the delay? Joel, according to the Pennsylvania district attorney bringing the charges, was too afraid to testify against the cantor, allegedly the most terrifying of the three men accused of molesting him. In the affidavit of probable cause that resulted in Howard Nevison’s arrest, the boy describes him as ‘a big man with a mean, powerful voice and frightening glare,’ who threatened to kill him if he spoke up … Some parents were outraged to learn that the temple leadership had known since 1998 about an investigation of the Nevison family yet continued allowing the cantor to meet with boys and girls preparing for their bar mitzvahs. »
A Cry for Help that Went Unheeded. philly.com, April 6, 2000
« Prosecutors say the Kensington man repeatedly raped and sodomized two girls whom his wife was baby-sitting at their rowhouse. He allegedly employed a plastic baseball bat on one occasion. But the ugliness of the details is not all that makes the case stand out. Philadelphia police were called in four years ago, when the attacks allegedly began. One of the girls, then 8, described the assaults in graphic detail. But the sex-crimes unit closed the case after a cursory investigation. Investigators did not interview the man, Samuel Cohen, or inform child-welfare authorities of the allegations against him, The Inquirer has learned. Cohen continued assaulting one of the girls, then 7, for five more months, police now say. One of the assaults was so brutal that the child was taken to a hospital with vaginal injuries, records show. »
Man Sentenced to at Least 45 Years in Child Sex Cases. Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 4, 2000
« A 41-year-old man with a prior felony conviction for child molestation was sentenced Monday to a minimum of 45 years in prison. In March, Russell D. Cohen pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual assault with a minor under 14, sexual assault with a minor under 16, and use of a minor in producing pornography. Incidents involving about 10 victims were combined into the three charges. Cohen was arrested in August and accused of forcing two boys into sex acts. Authorities said Cohen met young boys by employing them to distribute fliers throughout the Las Vegas Valley and then took them to his home, where they were sexually abused. Shortly after news of Cohen’s arrest was circulated in the Las Vegas media, police received a videotape in the mail that showed a man engaging in sex acts with several male juveniles. In October, additional charges were filed against Cohen in connection with the videotape. »
Lanner Indicted on Sex Abuse Charges. Jewish Week, March 16, 2000
« Nine months after The Jewish Week reported on allegations that Rabbi Baruch Lanner had abused teenagers in his charge for three decades, a Monmouth County, N.J., grand jury indicted him Wednesday on six criminal charges. The rabbi faces two counts each of aggravated criminal sexual conduct, criminal sexual conduct and endangering the welfare of a child. The crimes are second-, third- and fourth-degree offenses. A second-degree offense carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison … The first woman, now 19, alleged that Rabbi Lanner sexually abused her almost daily in his office at the yeshiva when she was a 14-year-old ninth-grader there in 1995 and 1996. »
The Awareness Center, [List of over 30 rabbi and other Jewish clergy child molesters, etc.]
« Mass Molestation Cases Not Including Clergy Case of Ohel Counselor – Simcha Adler, NY Case of School Counselor – Eugene Loub Aronin, TX Case of School Teacher – Lawrence Cohen, NJ Case of School Principal – David B. Harrington, Rockville, MD Case of Jewish Big Brother Volunteer – Eric Hindin, Newton, MA Case of Judge Ronald Kline, CA Case of the Kosher Butcher in Chicago Case of the New York Society for the Deaf’s Home Case of the Rogers Park JCC, Chicago Illinois Case of Teacher/Track Coach – Adam Theodore Rubin, MD Case of Cantor Michael Segelstein, Las Vegas, NV Case of Teacher – Georges Schteinberg, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Israeli vice-consul Aryeh Scher – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Case of Camp Counselor – David Schwartz, Culver City, CA Case of Scoutmaster – Jerrold Schwartz, NY Case of Tel Aviv Arts School, Tel Aviv, Israel Case of Mashgiach (Kashrut Supervisor) David Douglas Webber, Canada Clergy Abuse Case of Rabbi Lewis Brenner Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks Case of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Case of Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg Case of Cantor Joel Gordon Case of Rabbi Israel Grunwald Case of The State of Israel Vs.Sex Offender Case of Rabbi Tzvi Flaum Case of Yehudah Friedlander Case of the Rabbi at Hillel Torah, Chicago, IL Case of Rabbi Steven Jacobs Case of Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement Case of Rabbi Steven Kaplan Case of Rabbi Robert Kirschner Case of Rabbi/Rosh Yeshiva Ze’ev Kopolevitch Case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner Case of Rabbi Jerrold M. Levy Case of Rabbi Pinchas Lew Case of Rabbi Richard Marcovitz Case of Rabbi Juda Mintz Case of Rabbi/Psychologist – Avrohom Mondrowitz Case of Cantor Howard Nevison Case of Rabbi Fred Neulander Case of Rabbi Michael Ozair Case of Rabbi Charles Shalman Case of Rabbi/Yeshiva Teacher Ze’ev Sultanovitch Case of Rabbi David Weinberger Case of Rabbi Yaakov Weiner Case of Rabbi Mordechai Willig (Accused of cover-up in the case of Baruch Lanner) Case of Cantor Phillip Wittlin Case of Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov Case of Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman Case of Rabbi Max Zucker »
Father charged with abusing, raping his children and wife, by David Ratner, Haaretz (Israel), February 19, 2003
« A 62-year-old Haifa man was charged yesterday with physically and mentally abusing his children and wife for many years. He is also suspected of raping two of his daughters … In 1984, the indictment says, he married a woman who had two daughters, aged 12 and 8. He is accused of raping his elder stepdaughter for the first time when she was 17 and then throwing her out of the house naked. He continued raping her until she turned 21, threatening to tell that she was sleeping with him if she resisted. He stopped raping and abusing her only when she married, at the age of 23. He started raping his younger stepdaughter when she was 15, in addition to beating her and screaming at her. He is alleged to have raped her several times more between 1991 and 1993. When she joined the army, he humiliated her and threw her out. She never returned to the family home. The man is also charged with beating his wife in 2000 so badly that she required medical treatment. In addition, he abused his wife for years with humiliating acts and insults at every opportunity. The couple had three more daughters, born in 1986, 1987 and 1990. The man is also charged with abusing the young girls. He used to scream at the older one and insult her until she started getting anxiety attacks. He insisted on watching her dress against her will and stroke her behind against her explicit wishes. He used to masturbate in front of the second daughter and abuse her in similar ways, and is also suspected of brutally beating the youngest child. »
Bnei Brak resident gets nine years for sexual abuse, Ha’aretz (Israel), January 22, 2003
« Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old Bnei Brak resident to nine years in prison and two years’ probation for sexually harassing and assaulting six ultra-Orthodox youths between the ages of 14 and 16 over a period of years. Avraham Asher was also accused of ‘offering’ one of the youths to two of his friends, who also abused him. The two, Yossi Mozas and Yosef Garus, both 29, from Bnei Brak, were given much lighter sentences … The court heard that Asher and his friends harassed the youths in bus shelters and at ritual baths in Bnei Brak. Asher also assaulted the youths in showers and once visited a yeshiva in Jerusalem, where one of the teenagers studied. »
Prosecutor faces child sex charges, Palm Beach Post, January 22, 2003
« With his Mickey Mouse lapel pin replete with an American flag, prosecutor Ira Karmelin cut a squeaky-clean image in the Palm Beach County Courthouse. But on Tuesday the image was of the top assistant state attorney handcuffed outside the courthouse and carted off to jail to face child sex charges. Karmelin, 38, is accused of soliciting a woman, whom he believed was a 13-year-old girl, on the Internet and performing lewd acts in front of her via a camera attached to his computer. The prosecutor — who also is a former sheriff’s deputy — is charged with two third-degree felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison. He is the first prosecutor under Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer arrested on a felony charge. He was suspended without pay indefinitely and could lose his law license … Karmelin talked openly about his wish to become a judge. Many of his colleagues, as well as defense attorneys, described Karmelin as Krischer’s favorite bulldog prosecutor. Just last week, Krischer recommended Karmelin to be an assistant attorney general … Orange County Sheriff’s Office Detective Tom Harrison, who came to West Palm Beach to make the arrest, discovered Karmelin was a prosecutor when making background checks on the screen name. ‘When I learned that he was in fact an assistant state attorney, after picking my chin off the floor and restarting my heart… I knew he was not above anybody else,’ Harrison said. »
Critics Charge Rabbinic Court Covered Up Lanner Abuse, [Jewish] Forward, January 31, 2003
« Nineteen critics of convicted sex offender and former Orthodox Union youth leader Rabbi Baruch Lanner have signed a letter excoriating a respected rabbi, saying that he withheld for more than a decade a 1989 rabbinical court ruling that found Lanner guilty of abuse. The January 24 letter accuses Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a highly regarded spiritual leader at Yeshiva University’s rabbinical seminary, of sharing the rabbinical court’s findings against Lanner only with select individuals who apparently ‘did nothing to remove him from children.’ It also accuses Willig of pressuring one of Lanner’s accusers, Elie Hiller, to write a letter of apology. According to the letter, Willig, who in 1989 led the New Jersey-based rabbinical court, or beit din, fed the public perception that Lanner was innocent while Lanner continued to have contact with children. Signed mostly by alleged Lanner victims and their families, the letter comes after a meeting earlier this month in which attendees say Willig stated, for perhaps the first time in so public a forum, that Lanner was found guilty of some of the charges brought against him in 1989. ‘Rabbi Willig prioritized the reputation of a rabbinic colleague a colleague who he knew was abusing kids ahead of the safety of children,’ says the letter …
And in a separate development, famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz has been serving as a consultant to Lanner’s defense team, according to Dershowitz’s brother Nathan. Nathan Dershowitz is one of Lanner’s full-time attorneys. Lanner is appealing his July conviction that he sexually abused two teenage girls while he was their principal during the 1990s at Hillel Yeshiva high school in Ocean Township, N.J. …
A report prepared in 2000 by a special commission appointed to investigate the O.U.’s role in the Lanner affair stated that Lanner sexually abused women and teenage girls and physically abused boys and girls while he was a leader for decades at the O.U.’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth. The report also cited the failure of members of the O.U. and NCSY leadership to take effective action, allowing Lanner’s conduct to ‘continue unchecked for many years.’ »
Rabbi’s Odyssey Reflects Struggle on Sexual Abuse. Jews Begin to Confront Silence That Hid Clergy’s Misdeeds,
by Alan Cooperman, Washington Post, February 2, 2003; Page A17
« During his 30-year career, Sidney I. Goldenberg taught math in the New York schools, served as cantor at two synagogues on Long Island and became the rabbi of a Jewish congregation in California. He was a respected teacher, a man of learning — and a child molester. Before he was convicted and sent to prison in 1997 for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl during bat mitzvah lessons, there had been numerous complaints against him. But each time allegations arose, he moved to a new community, leaving a trail of whispers and shattered lives. Prosecutors, alleged victims and their families say Goldenberg was able to move from job to job because of a wall of silence and shame around sexual abuse in the Jewish community — a wall that some believe is finally coming down, thanks to the scandal over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests. ‘In the past it was covered up, just like in the Catholic Church,’ said Vicki Polin, an art therapist in Baltimore who is forming an association of Jewish survivors of childhood sexual abuse. ‘Survivors’ stories were discounted. They were told they were lying. Their parents would go to the proper authorities within the Jewish community and nothing was done’ …’I don’t think pedophilia has a religion,’ said Na’ama Yehuda, a speech pathologist in New York who is co-founder, with Polin, of the Awareness Center, an organization for Jewish survivors of childhood trauma. The center’s Web site (www.theawarenesscenter.org) lists more than 30 Jewish officials who have been accused of child sexual abuse. They include the late Shlomo Carlebach, a renowned Hasidic rabbi; Baruch Lanner, an Orthodox rabbi who was convicted last year of molesting two teenage girls; and Jerrold Levy, a Reform rabbi imprisoned for sex crimes involving teenage boys … ‘In the Catholic Church, the issue was the cover-up by the church hierarchy. Here, it’s the community, not the hierarchy. It’s the whole community not wanting to admit trouble in our midst,’ said Yosef Blau, an Orthodox rabbi at New York’s Yeshiva University who counsels victims of sexual abuse. »
Child Molester Sent to Treatment Center,
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, February 7, 2003
« David Schwartz, a counselor for preschool boys at an Orthodox music and arts camp, was sentenced to one year in residential treatment and five years’ probation for molesting a 4-year-old boy in his care at summer camp. A six-year prison sentence was suspended. The Jan. 21 sentencing at the Airport Courthouse came after Schwartz, the 36-year-old father of young children, accepted a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to one felony count of committing lewd acts with a child. (A plea of no contest in a criminal court is the equivalent of guilty, but if victims decide to sue Schwartz, they cannot use the criminal plea against him, according to the district attorney’s office.) Schwartz will have to register as a sex offender for life, undergo at least two years of sex offender therapy and is prohibited from being alone with minor children, including his own, for the period of probation … While all the boys in the group told stories that indicated they had been molested and tormented, only two were able to tell their stories coherently and consistently enough to be considered admissible in court. Three parents spoke with The Jewish Journal, telling of the long-lasting pain Schwartz has inflicted on their families. Parents said their children spoke of being touched and hurt, and watching Schwartz make ‘white pee-pee.’ Testimony and physical evidence on at least one boy indicated that he was sodomized. Schwartz is alleged to have brought a bird into class and cut off its head in front of the children, telling them that if they told anyone about what happened, he would do the same to them and their parents… When Schwartz was first arrested, many in the Orthodox community – those who knew him and those who didn’t – asserted the innocence of Schwartz, who was a counselor at Camp Ruach for two years and taught middle school social studies at Yeshivat Yavneh in Hancock Park. Several rabbis who knew him privately expressed disbelief that he could have perpetrated such acts. At a hearing soon after his arrest, at which his bail was reduced from $1 million to $300,000, Schwartz’s supporters heckled the parents of the victims, accusing them of harming another Jew. But as details of the boys’ stories came out, support waned. »
L.A. program offers help after arrest of rabbi for pedophilia, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (from Jewish Week), February 26, 2003
« In the wake of the arrest last week of Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum in a police Internet sex sting operation, the director of a Los Angeles-based residential treatment program for Jews with addictive and behavioral disorders believes a similar program is needed here and has offered to assist. ‘If we can share what we have learned in our 16 years of existence, we would be glad to help,’ said Harriet Rossetto, director of Beit T’Shuvah, believed to be the country’s only residential program for Jewish adults. Rossetto said three of the 110 Jews in her program are rabbis there for sexual addiction. She is convinced that their cases, as well as the arrests in recent years of rabbis accused of sex crimes, are ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ … The call for a treatment program for rabbis comes after a string of much-publicized cases involving Jewish clergy charged with sexual abuse of minors. They include Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who last June was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually abusing two girls when he was principal of a New Jersey yeshiva in the 1990s. Rabbi Lanner is free pending an appeal. Also, Cantor Howard Nevison of Temple Emanu-el in Manhattan was charged last spring with sexually abusing his young nephew. That trial has not begun. Rabbi Kestenbaum’s arrest is not the first involving a rabbi accused of using the Internet to lure minors. In December 2001, Rabbi Jerald Levy, 58, of Boca Raton, Fla., was sentenced to six years in federal prison for downloading child pornography and luring teenage boys to meet him for sex … In the aftermath of two highly publicized child abuse cases involving a rabbi teaching at a day school and a kosher butcher, the Chicago Rabbinical Council a number of years ago established a special bet din, or rabbinical court, to address allegations of sexual abuse of children. »
Runaway teen was sex slave for three years, Haaretz (Israel), March 31, 2003
« A 34-year-old Eilat resident was charged today in a Be’er Sheva court of sexually abusing an underage teenager from Belarus over the past three years. According to the indictment, Sergei Mayatski ‘imported’ the youth from Minsk, in Belarus, after he met him in a public park during a visit to the city in September 1999. Following a number of meetings with the youngster, who was 13 at the time, Mayatski met his parents and convinced them to allow him to bring their son to Israel. It is unclear whether the parents were aware of Mayatski’s intentions.
Two weeks later, the teenager was sent to Israel, where a friend of Mayatski received him at the airport as his own departure was delayed for two weeks because of a problem with his entry visa into Israel. The friend took the teen to his home in Ashdod, and according to the youth’s testimony, also sexually abused him.
Upon his arrival to Israel, in November 1999, Mayatski collected the youth from Ashdod, took him to Eilat, and presented him as his son. However, during these years, Mayatski systematically sodomized him. The sexual abuse was revealed nine days ago following a complaint filed by Mayatski at the police that the youth had disappeared. When the teenager was located, he was questioned and said that he left home because he was tired of serving as Mayatski’s sex slave. »
[Sexual assault statistics from the Jewish homeland: « The Light unto the World. »]
Aid centers: Most sexual assault victims in 2002 were minors; one-third were under 12,
by Ruth Sinai, Haaretz (Israel), April 8, 2003
« More than 2,300 girls and boys under the age of 12 were victims of sexual assault in the past year, constituting 30 percent of the new cases reported to the sexual assault aid centers. Almost 26 percent of the victims were 13 to 18 years old … Forty percent of the sexual assaults were carried out in the victim’s home. ‘The home, of all places, which should be a safe, protective and supporting place, is where many of the horrors take place,’ states the report. About half of the victims refrained from going to the police. The most prevalent attack – 26 percent of the new calls – was rape, including gang rape. About 16 percent of the callers complained about incest by fathers (6.5 percent), brothers (2.6 percent) or other relatives. Some 14 percent complained of indecent acts. About 30 percent of the 110 gang rape victims who called the Tel Aviv aid center were men. Out of 519 calls reporting non-gang rape to this center, 25 percent were men. Some 20 percent of the victims of indecent acts reported in Tel Aviv were men. ‘The sexual assault of boys, male youths and men is a hushed-up crime, which is almost completely absent from discourse in Israeli society,’ the report states. ‘It does not occur to the victims that anyone would listen to their ordeal.’ The centers operate a hotline and support groups, and accompany the victims during the criminal procedures … According to the report, the largest group of victims – constituting 19 percent – were attacked by family relatives, 4.2 percent were attacked by a spouse, and 14 percent by a friend or acquaintance. Only 12 percent of the assaults were perpetrated by a complete stranger. »
RABBINS PEDOCRIM
Abraham Mondrowitz
02.11.08Court okays extradition of haredi suspected of pedophilia
Abraham Mondrowitz, 60, was arrested in Jerusalem in November for allegedly abusing dozens of children at his unlicensed private clinic at his Brooklyn home during the 80s
Associated Press
An Israeli court on Sunday approved extradition to the US of an American Orthodox Jew wanted on suspicion of multiple sexual attacks two decades ago, the Justice Ministry said.
Abraham Mondrowitz, 60, a member of the Gur Hasidic Jewish sect, was arrested in Jerusalem in November for allegedly abusing dozens of children at his unlicensed private clinic at his Brooklyn, New York home during the 1980s. He fled to Israel in 1985 as police were investigating charges against him.
Israeli Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen said the Jerusalem District Court approved the extradition order, but Mondrowitz has the right to appeal. Court spokeswoman Tal Rosner said the state would make the final decision about whether to extradite Mondrowitz, who could appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court against Sunday’s ruling.
Last September, the United States resubmitted an extradition request first made in 1985, months after Mondrowitz fled Brooklyn for Israel.
The renewed US request came after Israel and the United States amended their extradition treaty to include all crimes whose punishment is more than one year imprisonment, according to the Israeli state prosecutor’s office. Before the change that took effect a year ago, the extradition treaty between Israel and the United States did not include sodomy.
December 3, 1984 — Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman’s office said Mondrowitz was named in an arrest warrant charging him with two counts of sex abuse« . At the time, Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz worked in special education school for boys in Brooklyn, that had connections with Ohel Children and Family Services in Brooklyn, New York. He was responsible for about 20-25 young children who already had either emotional problems and/or learning disabilities.
October 11, 2007 — Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes finally signed papers requesting the U.S. Justice Department extradite Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz back to the United States. Fled to Israel months after charges were first brought up against him twenty-three years ago.
November 16, 2007 — Israeli police arrested Avrohom Mondrowitz, a Gur Hasid who was suspected of sexually abusing children in the United States was arrested pending extradition orders to the U.S.
Avrohom Mondrowitz is originally from Chicago, the son of a highly respected rabbi.
Mondrowitz, who was born in Poland in 1947, relocated as a child to Tel Aviv and later moved with his family to Chicago. He is the son of a prominent rabbi. In the late 1970’s Mondrowitz moved to Brooklyn, NY in the late 1970s and presented himself to Orthodox educational institutions as a rabbi and clinical psychologist.
While in New York Modrwoitz provided psychological treatment to children from the mixed Jewish-Italian Borough Park neighborhood where he lived. He also opened a yeshiva for children with behavioral problems.
Four children, all from Italian families and all neighbors of Mondrowitz, complained of sexual abuse perpetrated by Mondrowitz. Jewish victims also eventually testified against him, but only after the statute of limitations had expired.
In 1985, a New York State court charged Mondrowitz with eight counts of child abuse in the first degree, endangering the welfare of a child and five counts of sodomy in the first degree.
Mondrowitz and his family fled to Jerusalem after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
At the time of the indictment, sodomy of boys was not an extraditable crime, since it was not defined as rape under Israeli law. In 1988, the Knesset changed that law, apparently opening the way for Mondrowitz’s extradition.
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
Lilith Magazine Volume 23, No. 1/Spring 1998 By Sarah Blustain
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach était un rabbin moderne, proche du Renouveau juif, et le premier rabbin à ordonner des femmes. Il était proche des préoccupations de la jeunesse. Il exerçait depuis quarante ans. Il est mort en 1994, une foule assista à ses obsèques, dans un quartier chic de Manhattan. Il était un chef spirituel, une véritable idole. Dans le Colorado, pour le premier anniversaire de sa mort, 800 personnes s’étaient réunis pour honorer sa mémoire avec des chansons.
Des murmures s’étaient néanmoins fait entendre. Rachel avait raconté son histoire : dans les années 60, disait-elle, elle avait fait un camp de jeunesse, durant un été. Rabbi Carlebach était un excellent chanteur et les chants avaient une grande place dans sa communauté. Un jour, il lui demanda de venir le rejoindre. « C’était un grand honneur d’être seule avec ce grand homme », disait-elle. Il marchèrent un peu, en parlant de philosophie et d’Israël, des étoiles et de poésie. Il demanda à la serrer dans ses bras un moment, mais ilne la lâcha pas. Elle se débattit alors. Le lendemain, il ne la reconnaissait plus ! Trente-cinq ans plus tard, elle se rendait compte que son expérience était loin d’être un cas isolé.
Robin Goldberg avait 12 ans quand le rabbin Carlebach rendit une visite à la communauté orthodoxe Harrisburg, en Pennsylvanie, pour donner un concert de chant et de danse. C’est durant la danse qu’il avait commencé à la toucher. Sa mère lui avait dit qu’elle avait dû se tromper sur ses intentions. Pourtant, le rabbin recommenca des années plus tard, alors qu’elle était au collège. Goldie Milgram, 43 ans aujourd’hui, avait 14 ans quand rabbi Carlebach fut invité à la Convention des jeunes de la Synagogue unifié, dans le New Jersey. Ses parents l’avait invité à rester à la maison. Tard dans la nuit, il l’avait attiré contre lui et l’avait pelotté sous ses vêtements. Il l’appelait “Mammele”. Elle avait caché cet incident à ses parents pendant trois ans, jusqu’à son voyage en Israël. Carlebach y donnait un concert. Elle lui demanda des explication, en criant.
Pendant 15 ans, marcia Cohn Speigel, de Los Angeles, avait étudié la violence sexuelle dans la communauté juive, en parlant à de nombreuses associations de femmes juives.
Elle témoignait pour de nombreuses femmes, qui avaient maintenant la quarantaine, et que le rabbin avait caressées. Quand il étudiat avec elle. D’autres avaient vingt ou trente ans quand c’était arrivé. Le rabbin les appelait tard dans la nuit. Une se souvenait qu’il haletait au téléphone. Dans toutes les comunautés qu’il avait visité à travers le territoire, mais aussi au Canada et en Israël, il y avait laissé ces souvenirs, sans que personne ne soulève l’affaire. Né en Allemagne, fils d’un rabbin, Shlomo Carlebach était arrivé en 1938 et commença à enseigner dans les institutions loubavitch du New Jersey, où la ferveur religieuse et manbifestée par des chants et des danses. Mais il rejeta la séparation des hommes et des femmes. Dans les années soixante, il avait rejoint la culture hippie, à San Francisco. « Il embrassait tout le monde sur la bouche ! » Il avait la réputation d’un prédateur. Le mur du silence se fissurait. « Il a blessé si profondément tellement de femmes », disait Nan Fink
Petaluma rabbi pleads no contest to charges of sexual misconduct
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California/February 21, 1997
By Ronnie Caplane
The Petaluma rabbi accused of sexually molesting a bat mitzvah student has pleaded no contest to the charge and faces up to eight years in prison.
Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg, formerly of Petaluma’s Congregation B’nai Israel, entered his plea at Santa Rosa Municipal Court Tuesday to a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under the age of 14.
The sexual misconduct allegedly took place over several months late last year while Goldenberg was tutoring the victim, a 12-year-old girl, for her bat mitzvah.
Police said Goldenberg, 58, took the girl into his office, made lewd remarks, touched her breasts and asked that she put her hands into his pockets.
According to Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Gary Medvigy, a plea of no contest is the legal equivalent of a guilty plea.
The rabbi pleaded no contest « just to make himself feel better, » Medvigy reported.
The rabbi’s attorney, Stephen Gallenson, did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.
Two misdemeanor counts of annoying a child will be dropped as part of Goldenberg’s plea bargain, Medvigy said.
Goldenberg, who originally had pleaded not guilty, will return to the court Tuesday, Feb. 25, when a psychiatrist or psychologist will be appointed to evaluate him and a date will be set for sentencing. He could receive a minimum of probation, a maximum of an eight-year prison term.
Medvigy said the actual sentencing will not take place for another four to six weeks.
During that time, the Sonoma County court’s probation department will review the psychologist’s report, talk to the victim and her family, and investigate the case before recommending a sentence to the judge.
One factor that will be considered is whether the defendant has a history of sexual abuse involving minors, Medvigy said.
Several women from New York have contacted the Santa Rosa district attorney’s office claiming to have been molested by Goldenberg while they were teenagers, Medvigy said. Their calls came amid national media attention to the case.
Goldenberg taught high school in Levittown, Long Island, and was a lay educator and cantor at several synagogues on Long Island.
Medvigy said his office has reports about 10 women, six of whom either made statements to his office or spoke to him. The other reports came from family members who refused to disclose the whereabouts of the alleged victims.
« The first victim we know of is from 27 years ago when [Goldenberg] was a high school teacher, » Medvigy said.
Such cases can’t be prosecuted in New York now because the statute of limitations has expired.
« Some [prior incidents] are more egregious than what we have here, » Medvigy added. « The process began with dirty talking. There are allegations of serious sex acts. [With] those who didn’t complain, [Goldenberg] seemed to go as far as he could. »
According to Medvigy, complaints were made at the time, but no disciplinary action was taken. Goldenberg was either moved into a job where he was not working with adolescent girls or he was allowed to resign and subsequent employers were not told of the past misconduct.
« I think things are changing in the world, » said Medvigy. « If we had the mentality back then [that] we have now, [Goldenberg] would have been stopped. »
Although Goldenberg hasn’t taught in the Levittown schools since the early ‘70s, he still holds New York teaching credentials. However, Peter Sherman of the New York State Teachers Certification Office expects action will be taken against Goldenberg’s credentials in light of the Petaluma case.
Goldenberg, however, cannot be stripped of his rabbinic ordination.
« One cannot lift an ordination, » said Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the national organization of Conservative rabbis. « It’s like a degree. »
Goldenberg was ordained four years ago by Tifereth Yisrael Rabbinical Yeshiva of Long Island, an independent seminary. For several years before that, he ran a small computer company. Medvigy said there are no indications of any complaints against Goldenberg during that time.
Last summer, Goldenberg was hired by B’nai Israel, a small, Conservative congregation of about 100 families. It was his first employment in California.
Meyers said the Rabbinical Assembly takes misconduct of its members seriously, but Goldenberg is not a member. The organization, thererefore, lacks jurisdiction to take disciplinary action.
« Congregations that employ rabbis who are not under the jurisdiction of a rabbinical organization run certain risks, » Meyers said.
B’nai Israel is not a member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the organization of Conservative synagogues, said Rabbi Jerome Epstein of United Synagogues, which helps its member synagogues check out rabbis.
B’nai Israel « isn’t a member of any association, so they had no one to help them check this through, » he said. « The congregation hired someone who is a freelancer. »
Goldenberg resigned from B’nai Israel Jan. 11 after being put on paid leave in the wake of his Dec. 16 arrest.
Medvigy praised B’nai Israel for its handling of the situation.
« It’s a testament to the community, » Medvigy said. « They are really rallying and pulling together. »
Friday November 1, 1996
Last in a Series: `Conspiracy of silence’ fuels rabbis’ sexual misdeeds
DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK — When women charge sexual exploitation by a rabbi, a conspiracy of silence often ensues.
The secrecy protects the perpetrators, leaving victims alienated.
Victims who speak out often find themselves ostracized by their religious communities. And they say that when they turn to the rabbi’s professional association or their movement’s congregational organization, they feel unwelcome.
Many congregants are unable to imagine that their spiritual leader, who has overseen so many significant moments in their lives, is capable of sexual misconduct.
« By and large, the people who are exploitative are charismatic and well-loved, not sleazy people on the street who we’re all going to be afraid of, » said Debra Warwick-Sabino, an expert in clergy sexual abuse.
« When you say to someone that their rabbi is capable of this, for them to suspend their disbelief would cause such a spiritual crisis in their own lives that it’s easier for them to say `Boys will be boys’ than face that faith crisis, » said Warwick-Sabino, who directs the California Center for Pastoral Counseling, a Sacramento-based agency that handles clergy sexual misconduct.
At the congregational meetings that follow allegations of rabbinic sexual misconduct, synagogue members often ostracize accusers. Some accusers have been called « liars, » « whores » and worse, she said.
« Even in situations where the perpetrator admits all the things the women allege, congregations sometimes will line up behind the rabbi, » said Marie Fortune, another expert on clergy sexual abuse. « It blows my mind. »
Fortune, a United Church of Christ minister and the founding director of the Seattle-based Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, has handled more than 3,500 clergy sexual misconduct cases in dozens of faiths and denominations.
She has run a seminar on the topic at a regional meeting of Reform rabbis as well as one for students at Los Angeles‘ Reform rabbinical seminary, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Women who have experienced rabbinic exploitation usually feel a deep and degrading sense of shame and guilt, experts say.
They often feel they have a lot to lose: their place in their synagogue communities, respect and success in their careers and even, in some cases, their marriages.
At Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, some congregants allegedly tried to discredit the women who came forward to charge their rabbi, Robert Kirschner, with sexual exploitation.
At a congregational meeting soon after Kirschner resigned, the women were accused of wanting to ruin the well-liked rabbi’s career. They were called « harlots » and « jezebels, » some of the women reported.
Two of the women overheard a congregant saying « `Boys will be boys. I don’t see what the big deal is,’ » said Warwick-Sabino, one of the women who claimed Kirschner sexually harassed her. Then a student at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union, she has since become a professional in the field of clergy sexual abuse.
In a letter to the dean of the Reform movement’s Los Angeles rabbinical seminary, she wrote that she heard another congregant saying: « If [Kirschner] made a pass at me, I’d be flattered. I wouldn’t object. »
The Emanu-El congregants’ responses were typical, experts say.
In one highly publicized case, Michele Samit — who does not claim to be a victim of rabbinic sexual misconduct — says her community vilified her after she wrote a book about the relationship between Anita Green and Green’s rabbi, Steven Jacobs.
Green was the president of Shir Chadash/The New Reform Congregation in Los Angeles when she was murdered in 1990.
Her husband, Mel Green, was convicted of ordering the killing, and is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Although the Greens were separated at the time of the murder, Anita’s affair with Jacobs began while she was still living with her husband, according to Samit’s book, « No Sanctuary: The True Story of a Rabbi’s Deadly Affair. »
Mel Green was an angry, jealous and violent man who had long threatened Anita, even in public, Samit wrote.
Several people who were Jacobs’ congregants at the time said in telephone interviews that at Green’s funeral, Jacobs — who had first denied but later reluctantly admitted the relationship — eulogized the dead woman not as a rabbi talking about his temple president but as a lover.
Samit wrote of the eulogy: « The rabbi recalled `admiring or just staring at her beautiful nails and her gentle hands; those hands, her skin so very soft, so reassuring, those beautiful hands.’
« No one [in the congregation] said anything » about it, Samit said in a recent interview, referring to what she believed was Jacobs’ inappropriate language.
« The reaction of the congregation was nothing. Not even discussion. »
That’s what convinced Samit she had to leave the congregation and the rabbi who had been her lifelong spiritual guide, she said. She said she was the target of a smear campaign.
« People called me from the congregation and harangued me. They said, `You egomaniacal whore, you think you’re better than us. How could you destroy such a wonderful man?’
« This was the most painful thing. Rabbi Jacobs was my hero. I had him on such a pedestal. He bat mitzvahed me » and presided at her wedding. « I baby-sat his kids. We were so close. »
Jacobs denied that his relationship with Green was an illicit affair.
« She was a dear friend, my temple president, and after the fact that she was going through a divorce and I had already been divorced, there was a romantic relationship, » he said in a recent telephone interview.
He described Samit’s book as « full of lies, » and said some have accused him of adultery because « people are angry when you achieve a lot in rabbinic life.
« I would not be in the position and stay in the position if people didn’t know who I am. »
Samit said she believes she and every other member of Jacobs’ congregation bear some responsibility for Anita Green’s murder.
« There were signs to all of us that Anita was in danger, and we ignored them because we wouldn’t dare cross our beloved rabbi, » she said.
Another congregant, Michael Hirsh, outraged by his rabbi’s behavior and his community’s response, wrote to the head of the Reform rabbinical association’s ethics committee in April 1993, charging Jacobs with violating the group’s ethics code and demanding that it assess Jacobs’ behavior.
Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman, then the head of the committee, wrote back to Hirsh that Jacobs had agreed « to uphold all provisions of our Code of Ethics, » which requires rabbis « to adhere to an exemplary moral code » and « to avoid even the appearance of sexual misconduct. »
Hirsh responded to Stiffman with a letter saying that the action amounted to nothing more than « a rabbinic consent decree » for Jacobs to do it all over again.
« If there is a shanda [shame] here, it is not only in Jacobs’ immoral conduct but in your organization’s complicity in covering it up, » wrote Hirsh, a former investigative journalist and current television producer.
Jacobs remains the rabbi of Temple Kol Tikvah, the name adopted after Shir Chadash merged with another synagogue.
Experts in clergy sexual abuse say congregants’ denial is dangerous because a rabbi can harass and exploit numerous victims for decades on end without any of the individuals knowing the others exist, forcing each to suffer alone.
If a rabbi has sexually exploited one congregant, he almost always has exploited several, Fortune said, without referring specifically to any of the above-mentioned cases.
In the end, while rabbinic perpetrators often take a new job within their movements or even stay in their pulpits after a slap on the wrist from their rabbinical organizations, it seems the victims often go away.
They often break all ties to the Jewish community and, in some cases, convert to another religion.
According to Fortune, denial of the problem is so pervasive because « none of us wants this to be happening. »
There is « long-term damage being done here that we’re going to be living with for years, » she said.
« It doesn’t have to be that bad if we respond better. »
Friday October 18, 1996
Rabbi Robert Kirschner apologizes
DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN
and NATALIE WEINSTEIN
Nearly five years after Rabbi Robert Kirschner left the pulpit of San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El, he has for the first time publicly apologized for sexual improprieties that led to his resignation.
« I hereby acknowledge, with sorrow and profound regret, that I engaged in sexual relations outside of my marriage, » Kirschner said in a recent statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The statement included quotes from a letter he wrote in October 1995 to the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ executive board. However, releasing the information to the JTA marked the first time his apology has been made public.
Kirschner referred in that letter to his conduct as « morally and ethically indefensible, » adding that « I ask the forgiveness of anyone who was hurt by my actions, and of my rabbinic colleagues, whose standards I breached. »
But according to several of the women who accused Kirschner of sexual misconduct, some of whom were Emanu-El congregrants, the rabbi has never directly apologized to them.
In addition, « there are still people who feel an apology should have come to the congregation, » said Stephen Pearce, Emanu-El’s senior rabbi who replaced Kirschner.
The public apology may mark a turning point for both Kirschner and Emanu-El, even though Kirschner’s story illustrates what critics charge are deep flaws in the way congregations and the religious movements generally deal with accusations of rabbinic sexual misconduct.
« The fact that he has been able to admit it is very significant, not only in the eyes of people but in God’s eyes, » Pearce said.
Because Kirschner resigned, Pearce said, synagogue leaders saw no reason to investigate the women’s charges of sexual misconduct. « Since there was no definitive judgment of guilt other than the statement of the women who came forward, there were those who felt he had been wronged. »
Calling Kirschner « a brilliant rabbi, but a fallen rabbi, » Pearce said the statement creates a sense of closure for the congregation.
« There were doubts in people’s minds. They now know there was misconduct and regret, » Pearce said. « What more is there to say after this?…Everyone involved should now be getting on with their lives. »
Stuart Aronoff, Emanu-El board president, similarly called the apology « a step in the right direction. »
Kirschner was once a rising star in the Reform movement. While still in his 30s, he became the religious leader of one of the two largest synagogues in Northern California and the youngest rabbi ever to head such a sizable Reform congregation.
He was destined for a major leadership role in the Reform movement. Some say he would have been on the short list of candidates to succeed Rabbi Alexander Schindler as president of the movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
But after serving Emanu-El for 11 years, Kirschner suddenly resigned from his pulpit on New Year’s Day 1992 amid accusations from three congregants and a temple employee that he had sexually exploited or harassed them.
Eight other women later came forward to the temple board to complain about the rabbi’s conduct, including members of his congregation and two students from the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley. According to parties involved, at least three of the accusers later reached financial settlements with the temple’s insurance company.
The rabbi left the 1,600-household congregation with a package that included a year’s pay, his accrued pension, and the equity from his share of the family home jointly owned with the temple. According to a source close to the congregation’s board, the total figure came to about $230,000.
It took nearly four years after charges against Kirschner first surfaced until the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform movement’s rabbinical association, suspended him from its ranks.
As a result, he cannot receive CCAR benefits, such as the use of its placement services or pension fund, until at least the year 2000. The suspension does not affect his rabbinic ordination but basically precludes any Reform congregation from hiring him as its rabbi.
He is required to get counseling from a psychotherapist and from a senior rabbinic mentor, according to Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman, then-chairman of the CCAR ethics committee. Kirschner’s suspension will be lifted in the year 2000 only upon the recommendations of his therapist and rabbinic mentor.
The CCAR’s executive committee, which acts on recommendations from the ethics committee, did not stipulate what Kirschner must do to illustrate his repentance.
But according to Kirschner’s written statement to JTA, the rabbinical association has appointed a committee of three rabbis to « approve and supervise » his rehabilitation process.
Though he has not returned to the pulpit, Kirschner is now program director at the prestigious, new Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, which has strong ties to the Reform movement.
Kirschner has refused to discuss any of the charges leveled against him with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency or with the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. After initially refusing several phone interviews, he agreed to respond to a written list of questions from JTA.
But then he demurred, and through his attorneys, Kirschner provided JTA with the statement in which he admits engaging in extramarital relationships during his years at Emanu-El and violating the CCAR’s Rabbinic Code of Ethics.
In the statement, Kirschner also said: « In June 1994, I acknowledged in writing to the Ethics Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis that I had failed to abide by the provision of its Ethics Code relating to sexual misconduct. `For this failure,’ I wrote, `I express my contrition to those whom I wronged and to the CCAR, whose standards I breached.’ »
In the statement to JTA, Kirschner said that as part of his « process of rehabilitation » he has indicated his « willingness to apologize personally to anyone to whom my conduct as a congregational rabbi was hurtful or offensive. »
He has never apologized to Gemma Elftman.
Elftman, who weighs less than 100 pounds and has been battling anorexia nervosa for years, now lives in Hawaii. She moved there after dropping out of U.C. Berkeley, which she attended during her relationship with Kirschner.
Their 18-month sexual relationship began in early 1990 after the rabbi approached her at a reception for new members and offered to drive her home, according to a 48-page document she submitted in connection with her complaint againt the rabbi and the temple.
Now in her early 30s, Elftman no longer has a connection to the Jewish community.
Lisa Sherman also has left the community.
Sherman was a newlywed and new to Emanu-El, she said, when Kirschner approached her in the late 1980s.
After pursuing her « ardently » for nearly four years, Sherman said, Kirschner kissed her against her will in February 1991, shortly after her father’s death. She rejected him, she said, but Kirschner continued to pursue her for months.
Today, the 41-year-old woman has no connection to Judaism and has divorced her husband of that time. She has returned to Greek Orthodoxy, the religion she was raised in, and had her son baptized into that faith.
The extent of Kirschner’s actions began to surface in November 1991 at a party. Sherman said she was talking with three other women from Emanu-El when one expressed doubt about Kirschner, describing him as « shady. »
« Though she didn’t know it, she was talking to three other victims, » Sherman said.
According to Sherman, the four of them jointly hired an attorney and wrote statements that were presented to Emanu-El’s board in December 1991. The women threatened legal action if Kirschner was not immediately removed from his job.
Kirschner resigned from his pulpit on Jan. 1, 1992.
A letter from the temple president informed congregants of Kirschner’s resignation « with regret » in language that spoke warmly of his contribution to the synagogue and made no reference to the circumstances of his departure.
In Kirschner’s own letter of resignation, sent to the temple’s members, he cited personal reasons for stepping down and did not acknowledge any misconduct.
But in the next few months, another eight women came forward and told temple leaders that they had been sexually harassed or abused by Kirschner, said a member of the Emanu-El’s executive board. That board member agreed to be quoted only anonymously because of the pain the congregation had suffered over the matter.
The CCAR did not get involved in the case until later. The association said it would not investigate the matter until someone filed an official complaint with its ethics committee.
When a formal charge was made, CCAR’s Stiffman wrote back to the complainant declining to investigate Kirschner’s conduct, according to a copy of the letter obtained by JTA. As long as allegations about Kirschner were being worked out through lawsuits, he wrote, the CCAR’s ethics committee could not get involved in the case.
But the CCAR did try fruitlessly to find Kirschner a job shortly after he left Emanu-El.
Rabbi Arnold Sher, the CCAR’s placement director, defended the decision and said a new position would have enabled Kirschner to get « psychological help. »
This year, Kirschner was hired as program director of the newly built Skirball Cultural Center. It is a position he assumed after holding a research fellowship at the Skirball Museum, the center’s predecessor, which was then part of the Reform movement’s seminary in Los Angeles.
The fellowship was funded entirely by Kirschner’s supporters from the leadership of Emanu-El, according to Rabbi Uri Herscher, president and chief executive officer of the Skirball Cultural Center, which has strong ties to the seminary but is legally independent.
Herscher said he believes that Kirschner has repented and that the rabbi’s record has been made clear to the staff of the cultural center. He said every staff member expressed confidence in Kirschner.
But sources at the Skirball, who asked not to be named, say no such presentation was made to the center’s dozens of volunteers, nearly all of whom are women.
Still, there are those who believe that Kirschner has made the necessary amends.
Rabbi Lee Bycel, dean of the Reform seminary in Los Angeles known as the Hebrew Union College, said Kirschner « has done more repenting and more work and more dealing with this than anyone I’ve ever known in my life. »
« In my own conversations with him, I saw a man who had recognized what he had done, was well aware of what these actions meant and had addressed them psychotherapeutically, » said Bycel, who in 1993 offered a seminary teaching job to Kirschner, which he turned down after a small uproar from HUC alumni.
« He was reflecting on it in what I felt was a very Jewish manner, in examining what he had done wrong, seeking to understand why and trying in every way to make teshuvah, that is, restoring the wholeness of his own life. »
Friday April 30, 1999
Former yeshiva head indicted on sex charges
JERUSALEM (JPS) — Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, was indicted on Thursday of last
In all of the cases, Kopolevitch, 51, was accused of conducting « indecent acts without the consent of the student. The accused e
Justice Ministry officials said it has taken a long time to file the indictment because of the investigation of the other rabbis and because Kopolevitch’s lawyer asked to see the indictment and respond to it before it was presented to Jerusalem District Court.
The lawyer’s response was not immediately available.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class at the residential high school. He gave some of them private lessons in the early morning, brought them to his home or met them in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, during the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct, beginning with kisses (including on the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch and the sexual organ), and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
One of the students whom Kopolevitch allegedly forced to have sex was 14 years old.
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Ex-yeshiva head indicted for forcing pupils to have sex
By DAN IZENBERG
Jerusalem Post – Friday, April 23, 1999 (7 Iyar 5759 )
http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/23.Apr.1999/News/Article-3.html
JERUSALEM (April 23) – Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, was indicted yesterday on charges of forcing 19 of his pupils, many of them under 16, to engage in homosexual relations with him.
In all of the cases, Kopolevitch, 51, was accused of conducting « indecent acts without the consent of the student. The accused exploited the relationship of dependency inherent in the teacher-student relationship to put pressure on the student. »
According to a Justice Ministry communique, police are still investigating allegations that some of the students complained to other rabbis about Kopolevitch’s behavior and they did nothing about it. Among the rabbis who were reportedly informed were former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and National Religious Party Knesset candidate Haim Druckman.
The Justice Ministry said it has taken a long time to file the indictment because of the investigation of the other rabbis and because Kopolevitch’s lawyer asked to see the indictment and respond to it before it was presented to Jerusalem District court.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class. He gave some of them private lessons in the early morning, brought them to his home, or met them in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, during the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct, beginning with kisses (including on the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch, and the sexual organ), and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
One of the students whom Kopolevitch allegedly forced to have sex was 14 years old.
(Top)
News in Brief
By Danna Harman, Dan Izenberg, Jerusalem Post Staff, Itim
The Jerusalem Post – April 27, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2
Meimad activists protest against Lapid
Holding pots of « chulent, » Meimad Party youth staged a demonstration yesterday outside the Shinui Party offices in Tel Aviv to protest recent statements made by Shinui leader Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, which they find offensive and divisive.
« Why not eat chulent on Shabbat? » the protesters chanted, in response to Lapid’s call for secular Jews to « eat shrimp on Shabbat. »
« Tommy Lapid, using gimmicks and harsh language, is dividing the people and increasing hatred between secular and religious in this country, » said Meimad spokesman Moni Mordechai. Danna Harman Shapira, Druckman won’t be prosecuted
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein decided yesterday not to prosecute former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and former NRP MK and current NRP candidate Haim Druckman for failing to take action against the former head of Yeshivat Netiv Meir, Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch. Kopolevitch has been indicted on charges of forcing 19 of his students to engage in homosexual relations with him.
Police investigated allegations that some of the students had complained about Kopolevitch to Shapira, the head of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, and Druckman, who was head of the B’nei Akiva yeshivot at the time, and that they had not passed on the complaints to the authorities. Police recommended prosecuting the two rabbis. Rubinstein did not provide the reasons for his decision not to do so. Dan Izenberg
30 injured in bus crash
Twenty-six seventh graders and four escorts were lightly injured yesterday when a bus driving them home from Masada turned over on its side, just north of the Beit Kama intersection in the Lachish area, Israel Radio reported last night.
The pupils from the Korczak School in Ramat Gan were treated at the scene and taken to Soroka and Barzilai hospitals, the radio said.
The driver said a semitrailer suddenly appeared before him, apparently trying to make a U-turn, without its headlights on. To avoid hitting the truck, he veered to the right, going up onto the shoulder of the road. The bus hit the side of the truck and then turned on its side, he said, according to the radio. Jerusalem Post Staff
No appeal on Lederman’s release
State Attorney Edna Arbel decided yesterday not to petition the High Court against the parole board’s decision to release Yisrael Lederman one year before the end of his three-year jail sentence. Lederman was convicted of spilling boiling tea over Labor MK Yael Dayan in 1996, causing second degree burns to her neck and chest.
The parole board decided that Lederman had expressed unambiguous regret for his action and said he had learned his lesson. The board first decided to release Lederman last September, after he completed half his jail term. However, the High Court of Justice accepted a petition by Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein calling on it to reconsider its decision. In 1978, Lederman was convicted of killing a Palestinian and sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was released after three years. Dan Izenberg
Ben-Porat: Report too close to elections
Former state comptroller Miriam Ben-Porat said yesterday on Army Radio that the latest report should have come out earlier rather than so close to elections. « The date could have been moved up, » she said. « Publication of a state comptroller’s report influences elections results. I wouldn’t put out a report so close to elections. » Ben-Porat said in 1992, she had moved up the then-annual report’s publication date by two weeks to distance it from the election campaign. Itim
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The Unraveling Kippah
by Naomi Ragen (May 7, 1999)
http://www.naomiragen.com/Columns/KnittedKippah.htm
The symbol of the election campaign for the National Religious Party is the unraveling knitted skullcap. Vote for the Mafdal, the commercial says, or all our wonderful educational institutions, our youth groups, our synagogues will go under.
As I watched the commercial, I thought of an experience I had last summer.
Boiling beneath a corrugated tin roof and its one lone fan that sluggishly pushed the stale air in dusty circles, I sat beside an old school friend. We were waiting to visit her son. I studied the bars across the small opened window, the gray metal lockers, the old peeling wooden cubbyholes where visitors like us were meant to deposit our personal belongings before being led inside. It was visiting day at the « religious wing » of a prison somewhere in Israel. My friend’s son was serving out a term for murder. Like many others in the prison’s « religious wing, » he too wore a knitted skullcap.
This week I read about the indictment of Rabbi Zeev Kopolevitch, once head of the most prestigious yeshiva high school in Israel, Netiv Meir. In 23 pages, over nineteen former students describe a series of shocking sexual abuses at the hands of Kopolevitch. But most shocking of all, was the fact that the most respected Rabbis of the National Religious Party, leader of B’nai Akiva yeshiva movement and Knesset member Rabbi Druckman, and former chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, had both allegedly been informed about the abuse and had chosen to do nothing, thus allowing it to continue.
My school friend and her husband are gentle, educated, deeply religious people who abhor violence and extremism. When their son was thirteen years-old, he was invited by a Kahane party activist to use Kach’s workout room in the Old City. Unbeknownst to his parents, he became an avid Kach follower. When he was barely fifteen, he and two friends decided to avenge Meir Kahane’s death by exploding a grenade in the crowded Old City shuk. As a result, an elderly Arab man was killed.
My friend and I see each other in synagogue every Shabbat. It is a synagogue in which prayers for the government and the army are said with sincerity, where new recruits are blessed from the pulpit, and where more than one son has fallen in defense of our country. It is also a place where- despite the admirable but ignored protests of one or two members — someone regularly places Kach literature along with the study sheets about the weekly Torah portion.
Something has gone awry here.
When did messianic fervor to settle Yehuda and Shomron begin to erode reason and human values?
Was it inevitable that the hatred which Jewish settlers experienced in building their homes among Arab villagers, find an echo in their own hearts, shouting down the sincere idealism, the love of Eretz Yisrael which was their original motivation? And if so, is it possible to really serve G-d with a heart attune only to the worthiness of its own cause, deaf to the cries of pain coming from others?
I was taking a bus the other day and an elderly woman got on. She put her cane on the side and stretched her arms between both of the bus’s railings to help herself up. A woman wearing a wig, perhaps innocently in a hurry, rushed up the steps behind her, pushing her. The elderly woman turned around, furious: » And you call yourself religious? » She thundered. « You’re a fake, a fake! »
Like it or not, those who wear the knitted skullcap, or any other accouterment of religious observance, have a tremendous responsibility. We aren’t allowed what for others would be natural human frailties, feelings of revenge, because our Torah forbids us to hold a grudge, to take revenge, to spill human blood….Or to ignore the suffering of innocents because it embarrasses those in power.
We must ask ourselves if in our enthusiasm for one sacred idea, we have not trampled so many others. We must ask ourselves if the knitted skullcap still sits well, and firmly, and comfortably on our heads. As any B’nai Akiva girl– knitter–of- skullcaps– will tell you, when a skullcap starts to get crooked, or is too round or flat, all you can do is start from scratch, taking out all the wrong stitches that led you astray.
Stitch by painful stitch, we need to get back to where it was we started from, not so long ago.
(Top)
Conspiracy of Silence
By Netty C. Gross
The Jerusalem Report – May 24, 1999
SECTION: Pg. 28
An alleged scandal at a flagship Orthodox Jerusalem high school is exacerbated by suggestions that it was allowed to fester for years
STUDENTS MILL AROUND THE corridors of Netiv Meir, an all-male yeshivah high school located on the main drag of Jerusalem’s largely ultra-Orthodox Bayit Vegan neighborhood. Portraits of bearded, glum and famous rabbis share wall space with ads for an Orthodox rock concert. In the halls, teachers talk to students, who are preppy-looking even if there’s an odd tzitzit, or ritual fringe, protruding from under a shirt. There’s a security guard, who wants to know why I am in the place. In short, everything seems normal. But it’s not. The 46-year-old live-in school, until recently the jewel in the crown of the religious Zionist Bnei Akiva yeshivah network and the darling of the parent National Religious Party, is reeling from a sex scandal. Indeed, some feel that the affair has visited as much pain and anguish on religious Zionists as Bar-Ilan University student-turned Rabin assassin, Yigal Amir.
In the last week of April, charges were filed against Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolovitch, for 15 years Netiv Meir’s rosh yeshivah, or principal. The charismatic, 52-year-old rabbi is accused of sexually abusing 19 students between 1991 and his dismissal in 1997. The 23-page indictment describes him as a pedophile, who promised good grades to male students, who allowed him to kiss and touch them in intimate areas. In the 1,500 pages of evidence gathered by police, it’s alleged that Kopolovitch asked his victims to strip and masturbate with him, threatening bad marks if they refused.
Kopolovitch, the indictment alleges, arranged late-night study sessions for favorites at the Netiv Meir dormitory, in its infirmary or at his nearby home, stressing the importance of a relationship « beyond the spiritual. » The alleged contact with Kopolovitch was the first sexual encounter for many of the victims. Some reportedly needed psychological counseling to recover from the trauma. Kopolovitch, married and the father of three, denies the charges. Through his lawyer, he has reportedly said he is the victim of a witchhunt orchestrated by students « who didn’t understand me » and a power struggle at the yeshivah.
THE CHARGES AGAINST Kopolovitch are serious enough, but they’re only part of the story. There’s also the « conspiracy of silence, » as police call it. Investigators say Kopolovitch’s alleged behavior was known within the school for several years and tolerated by the governing hierarchy of the religious Zionist movement. Top rabbis were allegedly aware of what was going on, but didn’t stop it or report it to police or social workers – a criminal offense.
Netiv Meir had a close relationship with leading figures of religious Zionism, including former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapiro, former Bnei Akiva yeshivah network chairman Rabbi Avraham Zuckerman, and his successor, Rabbi Haim Druckman, who in late March accepted the No. 2 slot on the NRP’s Knesset slate. Police believe Shapiro and Zuckerman knew about Kopolovitch’s alleged abuses for five years and did nothing; Druckman forced the rabbi to resign in 1997 after a Jerusalem weekly published the allegations – but failed to inform law enforcement authorities.
Another theme echoing through the case is the deferential treatment afforded NRP high-ups by the legal system. The initial police request to question the three rabbis languished on Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein’s desk for months after it was made early last year. Rubinstein allowed Shapiro’s interrogation to take place by correspondence, and let Zuckerman and Druckman be questioned in their homes. Explaining that decision, a Justice Ministry statement said that Shapiro and Zuckerman are both in their 80s, and cited « overall circumstances, including the nature of the investigation and the type of offenses. » All three rabbis denied knowledge of Kopolovitch’s alleged abuses. In late April, Rubinstein said the rabbis would not be indicted for failing to notify authorities. But indictments for this failure are being prepared against former rosh yeshivah Eliyahu Grossberg and Haim Zvi Rosenberg, the vice-principal. The three rabbis were not, explained Justice Ministry spokeswoman Orit Shemesh, « educational employees, » and as such the requirement to report to the police under Section 368D/b did not apply. Shemesh declined comment when asked if the case didn’t also come under Section 368D/a, which requires any citizen who has « reasonable basis » to believe that an offense has been committed against a minor by those responsible for him to report the case to the police or a social worker. Tellingly, a senior NRP official told The Report that the Justice Ministry quietly informed the party a month ago, before Druckman was put on the Knesset ticket, that the trio would not be indicted. « We knew they were off the hook back then, » said the NRP official. Should the ministry be giving confidential information to a political party? The spokeswoman for the ministry would not comment. WHEN IT COMES TO SEX SCANdals, the modern Orthodox are as defensive and tight-lipped as the ultra-Orthodox. Yair Sheleg, an Orthodox journalist at the daily Ha’aretz, says that fits small, closed communities – that kibbutzim are « notoriously reluctant to come forward in reporting rapes. »
Many Orthodox rabbis decline to talk about the case. Others have explanations for the tendency to cover things up. « Religious Zionists still haven’t emerged from our ghetto, » says Rabbi Yehudah Gilad, of the religious kibbutz movement’s Yeshivat Ma’aleh Gilboa and a Knesset candidate from the moderate Orthodox Meimad party. « I think it’s changing, but for the most part, we aren’t mature or confident enough as a group to step forward and accept criticism. Some of the insecurity is a reaction to the culture war with the secular. Orthodox people know modesty is one of their emblems, and when a sexual scandal unravels, the thinking is, ‘Why give the secular a rope to hang us. Let’s deal with this internally.’ » Asked how he’d confront a similar crisis, Gilad parses it out carefully. « My first concern, » he says, « would be for the student’s welfare. Next, I’d inquire what the law required me to do, and implement it. » Shmuel Reiner, the rabbi of Kibbutz Tirat Zvi and dean at Yeshivat Ma’aleh Gilboa, says the Orthodox community is « paying a price for our emphasis on modesty, on not being forthcoming about sexuality. When something like this happens, we’re unequipped to deal with it. » Reiner says the Kopolovitch case has had two immediate effects: High school yeshivot, which insist that students board at the school, « have declined in popularity and I’m happy. The rabbis in these yeshivot have too much of a hold on kids’ lives. » And, Reiner says, he and colleagues have become increasingly careful about being alone with students or touching them, however innocently. « I travel all over the country seeing soldiers, but I’m sure never to be alone in my car with students. »
ZE’EV KOPOLOVITCH WAS raised in an Orthodox Zionist family from Rehovot. His religious identity was blurred; he joined the Slonim hasidic sect and showed up for his first teaching job at a Bnei Akiva school in Pardes Hannah in the 70s, wearing an ultra-Orthodox hat and long coat. « His nickname was ‘Crembo’ (a popular chocolate-covered marshmallow treat), recalls one former student there. « Black on the outside, white on the inside. He was warm, physical, charismatic, pushing the idea of being more religious rather than being more right-wing politically. When I heard of the charges, I said it must be a misunderstanding. There was no hint of sexual impropriety back then. » In 1982 Kopolovitch was asked to take over at Netiv Meir by Rabbi Aharon Bina, the yeshivah’s founder. Opened in 1953, the school has always been at the center of a tug-of-war between nationalist and ultra-Orthodox factions. The appointment of Kopolovitch, who tried to accommodate the nationalists but leaned toward the ultra-Orthodox, created a furor among the more politically oriented faction. Still, the school flourished during his tenure.
Over the years, stories about his alleged sexual activities also flourished in the school. A Purim video made by a student reportedly was rife with innuendo; students complained to other teachers and rabbis but their complaints went unheeded.
His downfall came as a fluke. In 1994 it looked like Kopolovitch might simply fade away. After heart surgery, he retired. But a fight erupted over the future of the yeshivah, which went four months without a principal. Kopolovitch was persuaded to return. Then, in 1997, after a Jerusalem weekly referred to allegations about him in a larger story on the religious-nationalist power struggle in the yeshivah, Druckman, as head of the Bnei Akiva network, asked him to leave.
These days, Netiv Meir is a fossil of its former self. It used to take in 120 students a year and turn away hundreds more; for the 5760 academic year, only 49 new students have signed up. Kopolovitch is said to be a broken man. He is no longer allowed to pray in Jerusalem’s Slonim shtiebl or other synagogues, and has taken refuge in the tiny Sokhotchover hasidic sect.
It remains to be seen whether the case will have any effect on the NRP’s chances in the upcoming elections. One NRP source insisted « this story won’t affect us politically. Druckman was cleared of any wrongdoing. » Others disagree. One parent, whose son attended the school until the scandal broke, makes no bones about her feelings. « Kopolovitch, » she says, « was sick. The rabbis who protected him were evil. They will never get my vote again. »
(Top)
Kopolevitch pleads not guilty
By Dan Izenberg
The Jerusalem Post – June 11, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5A
Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch yesterday pleaded not guilty in the Jerusalem District Court to charges of having forced 19 students, many of them minors, to engage in homosexual relations with him.
Judges Ya’acov Zemach, Miriam Naor and Moussia Arad read out the indictment during yesterday’s session, the first in the trial of the 51-year-old former head of Yeshivat Netiv Meir. The court agreed to a request by Kopolevitch’s lawyer, Eyal Shomroni, to suspend the hearings until he has studied the evidence, and postponed the trial for three months. « There is so much material that it will take some time to cope with it, » Shomroni said afterwards.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students from each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class. He tutored them privately early in the mornings, brought them to his home or met then in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, in the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct beginning with kisses (including in the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch and the sexual organ) and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
Photo: Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, former head of Yeshivat Netiv Meir, walks through the Jerusalem District Court yesterday. (Credit: Ariel Jerozolimski/The Jerusalem Post)
(Top)
Plea bargain agreement reached in yeshiva molestation case
IsraelWire – Monday, October 11, 1999 16:36
(IsraelWire-10/11) The attorney for defendant Rabbi Ze’ev Kapelovich and the state have reached a plea bargain agreement in the case charging the former principal of the Netiv Meir Yeshiva with molesting many students during his employment.
The indictment against the rabbi was handed down about a half a year ago following a comprehensive police investigation, which uncovered that prominent rabbinical authorities affiliated with the National Religious Camp made efforts to cover up the rabbi’s actions.
During the legal proceedings, many of the rabbi’s former students testified as state witnesses. The Justice Ministry must now approve the deal.
(Top)
Court convicts former yeshiva head of indecent acts against students
By Dan Izenberg
The Jerusalem Post – October 11, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4
The Jerusalem Distict Court yesterday accepted a plea bargain arrangement and convicted Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Netiv Meir, of indecent acts against 12 of his students.
The agreement between Kopolevitch and the state was controversial because the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office agreed to ask the court for a sentence of no more than three-and-a-half years in jail while giving Kopolevitch’s lawyer, Eyal Shomroni-Cohen, the right to plead for a lighter sentence.
Indeed, Shomroni told the panel of three judges, Ya’acov Zemah, Miriam Naor and Moussia Arad, that he would ask them not to send his client to jail. Had Kopolevitch not reached a plea bargain agreement, he might have faced a much stiffer punishment. However, in accordance with the agreement, the state submitted a modified indictment which reduced the number of Kopolevitch’s victims from 19 to 12. It also drastically reduced the number of charges carrying a maximum of seven years in jail according to the Sexual Crimes section of the Penal Code. Of the 12 charges included in the modified indictment, nine carried a maximum sentence of four years.
Jerusalem District Attorney prosecutor Drora Nahmani- Roth justified the state’s consent to the agreement during a court hearing yesterday. « The State Attorney’s Office seriously considered whether or not to agree to the plea bargain, » she said. « It was not an easy thing given the nature and scope of the charges and the behavior of the defendant in each of the separate cases. We held meetings, examined previous cases and (found) that we are not significantly deviating from the appropriate punishment.
« We also believe that (Kopolevitch’s) readiness to confess is very important for the plaintiffs. We are talking about youths who are the salt of the earth. Today, most of them are serving in army battlefront units. We did not want to remove them from the new system of relations they have established since their school days. We very much wanted to spare these 19 boys, who have all graduated from the yeshiva, from having to testify in court. » Nahmani-Roth added that all of the original plaintiffs had consented to the plea bargain.
The State Attorney’s Office announced yesterday that two other yeshiva officials face charges of complicity. They allegedly knew about Kopolevitch’s crimes but did not report them to the authorities. Before deciding whether to submit the charges to court, the State Attorney’s Office will hold a hearing for the two unnamed officials.
There have been reports that former chief Ashkenazi rabbi Avraham Shapiro, the head of Mercaz Harav Kook, and NRP MK Haim Drukman were among those who had received complaints about Kopolevitch’s behavior and had done nothing about them.
(Top)
May I Have a Word, Mr. Rubinstein?
by Naomi Ragen
Jerusalem Post – November 4, 1999
http://naomiragen.com/Columns/MrRubinstein.htm
I am having difficulty understanding something about the Ministry you head, Mr. Rubinstein, and would really appreciate your help. It seems that in the last few weeks in at least two instances your Ministry seems to be working overtime to get sex offenders, pedophiles and rapists, as well as those who harbor and protect them, special light treatment under the law because they all happen to be rabbis.
First, there is the disgraceful case of the former headmaster Kopolevitch of Netiv Meir yeshiva high school who lived in a pedophile’s heaven for the last fifteen years, abusing dozens, even hundreds of boys under his tutelage, boys whose complaints were apparently ignored by the Bnai Akiva yeshiva network’s most respected spiritual leaders, Rabbi Druckman and Rabbi Shapira.
And then there is the rapist in Kabbalistic rabbi’s clothing who is still wandering around the south teaching Torah to innocent children, when he should have long joined his comrades in the religious wing of Masiyahu Prison.
Mr. Rubinstein, what can your Ministry be thinking when it agrees to a plea bargain of four and half years for Rabbi Kopolevitch? When it dismisses charges against Rabbis Druckman and Shapira for allowing Kopolevitch to continue committing the most disgustingly immoral acts against young boys in their educational network, long after they apparently knew the facts? When it suspends proceedings against a Rabbi who raped a young woman under the guise of giving her kabbalistic help?
I am only a woman (and everyone knows with what great respect and interest the opinions of such people are held in the religious world) yet, I think that it behooves you to listen carefully to my opinion and my amazement at your Ministry’s behavior.
A friend of mine who was visiting Israel from the States went on a tour of the Supreme Court building. She sat in on an actual case in which a religious man who had molested a child was serving seven years. The man expressed regret, but the judges, pointing out how terrible such a crime is, how destructive to the victim, denied his appeal to have his sentence shortened. How can it be, my friend asked , that this criminal got six years for abusing one child, and Kopolevitch, whose crime is a hundred-fold, will get only four and a half? And this criminal was just an ordinary fellow, unlike Kopolevitch who had perfected a system in which he exploited the full measure of his spiritual and educational authority to lure his victims and ensure their silence.
My friend, an Orthodox woman, daughter of a famous Rabbi who received rabbinical ordination from the Chafetz Chaim himself, was appalled.
And now we have the rapist who presented himself as a Rabbi versed in the mysteries of the kabbalah, a spiritual magic-worker, and wound up instructing a young woman who had come to him for help to undress and submit to his « magic » sexual demands. Exploiting a religious young woman’s innocence, he used his tremendous spiritual power to desecrate not only her body, but her soul as well. Why does such a person deserve leniency? Why does he deserve to have the case against him suspended because « he isn’t feeling well? » I would think such a person deserves to have the case against him pursued relentlessly; deserves to serve a prison sentence twice as harsh as anyone else’s.
Because when a Rabbi abuses someone who looks up to him, he does it not only with his body, but with the full weight of everything the victim holds sacred, destroying the victim’s innocence, faith, religious beliefs, connection to G-d, in a way that no ordinary hormone-crazed offender could ever do. The damage is much greater, because the victim’s faith — that which drew them to be students in Netiv Meir, or to the doorstep of a Kabbalistic mystic — has been raped as well.
I appeal to you, Mr. Rubinstein, as a comrade, a fellow religious Jew, to whom the Torah is sacred. You sent your children to school with mine. We go to the same kind of synagogue. And I have to believe, that as a professed religious Jew, we both hold the Torah in the highest respect.
Would it not make more sense, therefore, to deal twice as harshly with such perpetrators as Kopolevitch and the rapist in « mekubal’s » clothing, and to insist on calling to task those who harbor and employ them? Your apparent sympathy and kindness towards these people baffles me. More, it causes me endless shame.
Why, Mr. Rubinstein? In Heaven’s name, why?
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Former yeshiva head apologizes for molesting students
By Dan Izenberg
The Jerusalem Post – November 11, 1999, Thursday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4
Speaking softly, his hands trembling, the former head of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Netiv Meir Yeshiva apologized in court yesterday for the sexual assaults he committed on several of his students.
« I express regret, » he told Jerusalem District Court Judges Ya’acov Zemah, Miriam Naor, and Moussia Arad. « I am sorry for all the students who were harmed and ask for the mercy of the court. » The brief appeal came at the end of a three-hour session in which seven character witnesses, including the principal of the Horev Yeshiva High School, Mordechai Alon, the former secretary-general of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and former students, attested to Kopolevitch’s exceptional devotion to his students and school.
Kopolevitch, dressed in black suit and hat, sat alone, his head down, hands trembling, a wet handkerchief clutched in his hand, as he heard the testimonies to his educational qualities.
He is on trial for forcing 12 of his students, who belonged to a favored inner circle which he created, to conduct homosexual acts with him. The prosecution dropped charges involving seven other students after reaching a plea-bargain arrangement in which Kopolevitch confessed to having relations with the others.
« He was the yeshiva head who invested the most in his students, was ready to do anyone’s bidding to an exceptional degree, » said Ya’acov Lipshitz, the former head of Bnei Akiva. « He went to Bnei Akiva camps all over the country and was always received with great love and esteem. No other yeshiva head gave so much, with so much intensity. It was very unusual. »
Avishai Grosser, who graduated from Netiv Meir in 1997, said that Kopolevitch remembered the name of every one of the 450 students in the school. « He always put his heart into it, » he said. « He attended every Shabbat meal, almost always came to prayer services, and was always ready to hear our problems and help us. »
Given the charges against Kopolevitch, including that he performed some of his acts on his students at his home late at night, some of the tributes were unintentionally ironic.
« He was dedicated to each student individually and would receive them in his home, » said Netiv Meir graduate Asher Vodka. « His home was very close to the yeshiva. Any student could come for advice at any time of day or night. »
Another student, Ehud Shraga, inadvertently damaged his credibility when, in his overeagerness to protect his teacher, he told the court that he does not believe Kopolevitch performed sexual acts and that the students who testified against him are liars.
Prosecutor Ruth Nahmani-Roth asked the court to sentence Kopolevitch to three-and-a-half years in jail, saying that this would be a moderate punishment that would take into account his heart problems.
Kopolevitch’s lawyer, Eyal Shomroni-Cohen, asked the court to sentence his client to do community service in lieu of a jail sentence. He pleaded for leniency on the grounds that Kopolevitch has a serious heart problem, that the first and most severe incidents occurred almost 10 years ago, and that Kopolevitch had spared his students from testifying in public by agreeing to a plea bargain.
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Constructive whistle-blowing
By Barbara Sofer
The Jerusalem Post, November 12, 1999
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 9B
Vomiting out those who shame our community will not diminish our tradition. Our concern is fixing what isn’t working within our ranks
Last Shabbat, after synagogue, one of my dearest friends praised me for not writing anything negative about Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Bnei Akiva’s flagship yeshiva high school, Netiv Meir.
Kopolevitch, you may recall, was arrested for sexually molesting the young men entrusted to his care. Many of the boys and men in my synagogue attended that school, although – as one neighbor whose son graduated there sadly put it – they’re not bragging about it anymore.
There’s a rabbinical term, « shtika kehoda’a, » meaning « silence is acquiescence. » Lest my muteness be misunderstood, I join with the many who have already expressed their repugnance over his behavior and the abuse of his position. Who wouldn’t be disgusted? Imagine what a tragedy this must have been for young men at the cusp of manhood. A dozen young men came forward with accusations. How many more were too ashamed to come forward?
I differ from my friend and co-columnist Naomi Ragen only in my reaction to the plea bargain. True, Kopolevitch got fewer years in prison than he might have in a regular trial. But his admission of guilt was imperative. Had he not confessed, the religious community in which I live might have found every reason not to believe the ugly truth.
In the many months since this hideous scandal became public, the accusations were waved away as everything from teenage misinterpretation of innocuous rabbinical affection, to a witch hunt, to a plot by the rabid leftist press panting to destroy religion at every opportunity.
Indeed, unbelievable as it sounds, even after his confession, I’ve heard testimonies as to what a fine educator Kopolevitch was. Had he not fessed up, we might have expected videotapes with catchy tunes documenting the travesty done to him.
Still, I can understand the reason my usually sagacious friend doesn’t want anyone to write about this disgrace. We in the religious community hate to show our blemishes. Not only because we’re personally embarrassed, but because we see ourselves in an ongoing , historical, daily struggle with forces that belittle and obliterate our beloved tradition.
This goes way beyond political concerns. We want others to embrace Judaism. If we ran into one of those three-wish-giving genies we would want her to wave a magic wand over the Jewish people and have them start observing Shabbat. We believe it would bring peace. We believe it will bring the messiah. In this context, highlighting our own imperfections seems counterproductive.
Then along comes a kippa-wearing debaucher of innocents, and our efforts to impart the real impressive standards of religion are made considerably more difficult. Even worse, this particular problem goes beyond one twisted figure, but to rabbis who were told of his repugnant abuses, who harbored him and still go unpunished.
WE often feel trapped against our will into being perpetual sales representatives for our chosen way of life. We needn’t be. Vomiting out those who shame our community will not diminish our tradition. This isn’t the whistle- blowing of previous centuries, when members of the Jewish community tattled on wayward Jews to the local magistrate or the Czar. Our concern is fixing what isn’t working within our ranks.
Where to draw that line in finding fault within our community is a question raised indirectly by my fellow columnist Jonathan Rosenblum.
In last week’s column « Are haredim lousy parents? » he criticized Naomi Ragen and another friend of mine, Tzvia Greenfield.He accused them of building their careers on attacking the haredi community, in particular because they were quoted in « Be Fruitful and Multiply, » an article in Time magazine (October 25) equating large families with lack of responsibility. (If you missed the original article and want to see what the fuss is about, log on to the Time magazine Web site, and plug « Jewish women » into the magazine’s search engine.)
Like Rosenblum, I found the article outrageous. It echoed old political credos advising poor people to learn to curb their family size. The article presented no hard evidence that showed children of conscientious parents in large families fared worse – i.e. in measures of self- esteem, health, or education – than those in small families. Nor could I imagine Time running such a story about families in Bangladesh or Ethiopia.
Family size is ultimately the most personal – to use a loaded word – choice. Most women I know wish they had more, not fewer, children.
Nonetheless, the voices of concern sounded by influential women living inside or close to the community are legitimate. If they believe that families are indeed living under appalling, unnecessary stress, and that women are helpless against social coercion to reproduce, they are obligated to speak up. We all are. Shtika kehoda’a.
Light, even from an unflattering spotlight, can be ultimately healing. We who cover our heads – men and women both – simply have to make extra sure that no shadow falls over our eyes – or our minds.
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Kopolevitch gets 3 1/2 years
Bt Tamar Hausman
The Jerusalem Post – November 19, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4A
The Jerusalem District Court yesterday sentenced Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch to three-and-a-half years in prison for sexually assaulting several students during his time as principal of Yeshivat Netiv Meir in Jerusalem.
Kopolevitch admitted his guilt as part of a plea bargain to reduce his sentence from the original five-year term. The judges were initially angered by the deal but, after a lengthy deliberation, decided to let it stand. Kopolevitch was convicted of violating a dozen students – nine under the age of 14 – between 1991 and 1997. He organized meetings with the students in his office, the yeshiva’s infirmary, and outside the school after class hours, forcing them to engage in sexual acts with him by telling them that their compliance was a condition for retaining a good relationship with him and receiving good grades.
Last week, Kopolevitch apologized for his actions, saying: « I am sorry for all the students who were harmed and ask for the mercy of the court. »
Lawyers on both sides agreed to the shorter sentence in order to end the drawn-out trial, which, the prosecution argued, caused additional harm to Kopolevitch’s victims. The defense pleaded for leniency on the grounds that Kopolevitch suffers from serious heart problems.
Even after the deal was reached, defense attorney Eyal Shomroni-Cohen had asked the court to reduce the sentence to community service, while prosecutor Ruth Nahmani-Roth asked the court to give Kopolevitch the maximum five-year sentence.
Judges Ya’acov Zemah, Miriam Naor, and Moussia Arad wrote in their final ruling that « the defendant made his students into sexual objects – objects that are easily accessible and easy to abuse. He took advantage of the honor young boys feel toward their rabbi for the sake of performing vile acts. »
« He trapped naive boys and gave them no room to escape. If they didn’t comply, their studies would suffer; if they did, it would be their souls and their youth that would be damaged. He performed rude sexual acts during an impressionable, emotional period in their lives, as they were entering adulthood. »
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Decries Light Penalty
By:Doron Blau
The Jerusalem Post – November 28, 1999
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 6
Sir, – It is common practice in many countries to sentence a convicted criminal to concurrent jail sentences for several offenses. On this basis, the sentence of 3 1/2 years (42 months) for 12 cases of child abuse means that the value of punishment for this unspeakable crime to innocent children, who were placed in their tender years in the hands of « an honorable rabbi, » is 3 1/2 months per child. I am disgusted at the gall of the Israeli judicial system that gives us the feeling that a punishment of 3 1/2 months in jail (not considering time off for « good behavior ») is the value placed on our children.
My children are worth more than that. Aren’t yours?
DORON BLAU, Netanya.
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Dedicated Teacher
By M. G. Steinhart
The Jerusalem Post – February 6, 1998
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 8
Readers Letters:
Sir, – As a parent who has had five sons study at the Nativ Meir school over the past 10 years, I have been privileged to know Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch. I can state unequivocally that he was at all times a caring, dedicated headmaster who was concerned for the welfare and the well-being of his students above all else. All my children have nothing but praise for him concerning his dealings with students. Whenever any sort of problem arose, he would give of his time and spare no effort in trying to help.
To suggest that such a man could be guilty of child molestation is so totally ridiculous as to be unworthy of response. To subject a man to a police inquiry with all the attendant publicity on the basis of the comments of a few disgruntled individuals – without a shred of proof – is a tragic comment on the society in which we live.
When his innocence has been proved, as I am sure it will be, how will his good reputation be reinstated by those who now seek to condemn?
G. STEINHART, Jerusalem.
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News in brief
By Batsheva Tsur
The Jerusalem Post – February 2, 1998
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2
Police mull rabbi’s detention for abusing boys
Police representatives met with State Attorney Edna Arbel yesterday to discuss whether to detain Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir yeshiva high-school, who is suspected of committing indecent acts on his former students.
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Etty Eshed refused to reveal whether any decision was taken, saying merely that the investigation was continuing, but Israel Radio reported Kopolevitch would be questioned but not detained. She also refused to comment on reports that former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and former MK Rabbi Haim Druckman would be questioned under caution on suspicion of refraining from reporting the alleged indecent acts. Batsheva Tsur
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Police seek to question Shapira, Druckman in connection with yeshiva sex scandal case
By Jerusalem Post Staff
The Jerusalem Post – January 30, 1998
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5
The police have asked State Attorney Edna Arbel’s permission to question Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Haim Druckman under caution on suspicion that they did not report a string of indecent acts an influential yeshiva head allegedly committed on his students over a number of years, Israel Radio reported yesterday.
The rabbi suspected of improper sexual behavior is Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Netiv Meir, the flagship of the Bnei Akiva yeshivot.
Kopolevitch allegedly kissed and fondled dozens of students at the yeshiva over a number of years. He has denied the allegations, which first appeared in the local Jerusalem press a few months ago.
The intention to question Shapira, a former Ashkenazi chief rabbi, and Druckman has raised the ire of the National Religious Party.
« Everybody in the country has to obey the laws of the land, » Acting Education Minister Yitzhak Levy said on Israel Radio yesterday.
« I am sure that if the police need to investigate, they will investigate, » he said.
« I am also sure that there is nothing to this. I am only saying that this has harmed the privacy of public leaders, in that everyone, including their students, now knows that they will be investigated under caution, even though the police have not called them in for questioning. »
These developments follow the investigation this week of another prominent educator.
Gary Bilu, head of the Beit Zvi drama school in Tel Aviv, is also under investigation for allegedly improper sexual conduct with male students.
Two of Kopolevitch’s former students, interviewed anonymously on Israel Radio yesterday, said that Kopolevitch had kissed them, and there were rumors that he fondled other students.
A parent, who would only identified himself as Eli, said that Kopolevitch suddenly left the yeshiva three years ago, apparently because of sexual misconduct, but was reinstated a year later.
He reportedly was suspended again six months ago.
Yehuda Glick, today the spokesman for the Absorption Ministry, came to Kopolevitch’s defense.
He said he does not know how he would have coped with the problems of adolescence « without the caring relation of the rabbi, including kisses and hugs, that were in my eyes the kisses and hugs of a rabbi who loves his students. »
Glick said that rumors surrounding Kopolevitch are nothing new, and that they are the result of the jealousy of « haredi rabbis » in the yeshiva who could not tolerate a man with a haredi appearance, like Kopolevitch, being open to modernity and Zionism.
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Rabbi faces indictment for sexually abusing students
By Tamar Hausman
Jerusalem Post – Wednesday, March 8 2000 (1 Adar I 5760)
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/08/News/News.3739.html
(March 8) – Jerusalem police yesterday recommended that Rabbi Ze’ev Sultanovich, a lecturer at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva who allegedly sexually abused a number of students between 1994 and 1996, be indicted.
An investigation into the matter was launched in early January, several weeks after police received complaints from three men, now in their 20s, who studied at the yeshiva in their teens and said they had been sexually molested by Sultanovich. Sultanovich has denied the charges.
Police also recommended that Rabbi Menahem Burstein, a teacher at the yeshiva, and eight students, be indicted for trying to prevent the three men who filed the complaint from providing evidence in the investigation.
Burstein had allegedly written a letter to the parents of the three requesting that they drop the matter. Police also said that the eight students, friends of Sultanovich, came to the house of one of the complainants on Monday night and threatened him to stop the complaints to police or else they would spread stories about him and the two others.
Police now believe that Sultanovich, who is about 40, also sexually molested several other students. But those students have not yet come forward, and police are trying to determine whether they are being prevented from doing so by other students or by Burstein.
Police have turned the case over to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The head of the yeshiva, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, was alerted to the complaints about six months ago in an anonymous letter and soon after in an anonymous phone call. He asked Burstein to look into the accusations, and Burstein found them to be false following a three-month investigation.
Shapira sent several verbal messages via other students and teachers for the accusers to speak to him personally, but no one came forward.
Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes, a teacher at Mercaz Harav, said that Sultanovich, who was once a student there, often lectures on an informal basis, is friendly with some of the students, and comes to pray. Magnes confirmed Burstein’s letter to parents and said that he also « may have spoken directly to the boys to try to prevent them from talking. »
Magnes responded to the police recommendation by saying, « There doesn’t seem to be such a strong case. It seems a bit shaky. But we’ll wait and see. »
Shapira was also previously suspected of trying to prevent a police inquiry into the improprieties of a yeshiva teacher. Last year, he received a warning letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein after he was said to have tried to cover up the illegal sexual behavior of Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir yeshiva, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
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Yeshiva teacher accused of molesting students
By Tamar Hausman And David Zev Harris
Jerusalem Post – Wednesday, January 12 2000 02:00
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/01/12/News/News.1204.html
JERUSALEM (January 12) – Police three weeks ago launched an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by a teacher at Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav yeshiva 14 years ago.
Officials at the yeshiva, however, said the man under investigation never taught there, but was a student about 20 years ago and that he still comes there on occasion to pray.
In mid-December, police were alerted to accusations by three men – now in their late 20s – who studied at the yeshiva in their teenage years and said they were sexually molested by the man. Police then began investigations into other men who reportedly were also sexually abused, but did not come forward. The head of the yeshiva, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, was alerted to the complaints several months ago in an anonymous letter and soon after in an anonymous phone call, said Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes, a teacher at Mercaz Harav. Shapira asked Rabbi Menahem Burstein to look into the accusations, and he found them to be false following a three-month investigation.
Magnes also said that Shapira sent several verbal messages via other students and teachers for the accusers to speak to him personally, and that no one came forward.
« It’s possible that something like this could happen, but if it were something illegal and we knew about it, we would have dealt with it immediately, because it would hurt the yeshiva, » said Magnes.
« But the media have found him guilty already, at the first stages of the investigation. If it’s true, then he deserves all of this, but if it’s not, then, really, the damage has already been done. »
Israel Radio reported that the suspect once told his students that if Yigal Amir hadn’t killed prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, he would have.
Senior National Religious Party figures, meanwhile, reacted to reports that Shapira attempted to silence those who made the allegations of sexual misconduct.
« If this is really true, we must condemn the deeds with full force, » said one NRP leader. « The idea of covering up is grotesque and unacceptable. »
There is a growing feeling in the party that should the police find that Shapira warned the victims and their families not to go public, that the time has come to place a gap between themselves and the aging rabbi.
This is not the first time that Shapira has been suspected of trying to prevent a police inquiry into the improprieties of yeshiva teachers. Last year, he received a warning letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein after he was said to have tried to cover up the illegal sexual behavior of Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. Party leader Yitzhak Levy told reporters victims of such attacks must not be afraid to go straight to the police. However, he fell short of criticizing Shapira.
It is impossible to prevent the symbiosis between rabbis and the party, said one senior NRP figure. « However, what we can do is cooperate intelligently with them and perhaps not work according to their commands. »
Another senior party member said it is wrong for the party’s leaders to consult rabbis on serious political issues, in particular regarding the Golan. Last week, a group of rabbis led by Shapira issued a halachic edict banning a withdrawal from the Heights, stating they are a part of the Land of Israel. « I fear that such a halachic ruling is not a beneficial intervention on the part of the rabbis, » said the party member.
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Former yeshiva head indicted on sex charges
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk990430/iyeshivaassault.shtml
JERUSALEM (JPS) — Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, was indicted on Thursday of last week on charges of forcing 19 of his pupils, many of them under 16, to engage in homosexual relations with him.
In all of the cases, Kopolevitch, 51, was accused of conducting « indecent acts without the consent of the student. The accused exploited the relationship of dependency inherent in the teacher-student relationship to put pressure on the student. »
According to a Justice Ministry, police are still investigating allegations that some of the students complained to other rabbis about Kopolevitch’s behavior and that the rabbis did nothing about it. Among the rabbis who were reportedly informed were former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira and National Religious Party Knesset candidate Haim Druckman.
Justice Ministry officials said it has taken a long time to file the indictment because of the investigation of the other rabbis and because Kopolevitch’s lawyer asked to see the indictment and respond to it before it was presented to Jerusalem District Court.
The lawyer’s response was not immediately available.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class at the residential high school. He gave some of them private lessons in the early morning, brought them to his home or met them in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, during the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct, beginning with kisses (including on the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch and the sexual organ), and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
One of the students whom Kopolevitch allegedly forced to have sex was 14 years old.
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Nowhere to Cry For Help
By Jacob Solomon
The Jerusalem Report – January 31, 2000
SECTION: Pg. 54
THE JERUSALEM DISTRICT COURT’S CONVICTION of Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolovitch last November for sexually molesting 19 of his students at the all-male Netiv Meir yeshivah high school sent shock waves through national-religious circles – and well beyond. Netiv Meir is considered the flagship of the B’nei Akiva yeshivah network, and Rabbi Kopolovitch, its 52-year-old principal, had committed the offenses over a six-year period. The consternation was all the greater because Israel’s religious citizens identify themselves, to a large degree, by their adherence to the precepts of sexual modesty. The hallmarks of religious communities in Israel include a strict dress code, the segregation of men and women at social and cultural events, and a prohibition against women teaching even secular subjects in yeshivah high schools like Netiv Meir.
Still, however stringent a society may be, it cannot altogether suppress human nature. Men and women from all backgrounds and all walks of life have fantasies – and some of them are patently bizarre. Most people keep their wanton urges under control, and certainly keep them secret. They may well lead worthy lives, give of themselves, and serve the community with imagination and integrity. But for a small minority, such thoughts become obsessions that, when self-control is lacking, may get in the way of responsible behavior.
Where can such troubled people – and especially public figures grappling with this kind of problem – turn for help? The question is a difficult one given that Israel is a small and intimate society. It’s all the more onerous in Israel’s even smaller and more intimate religious community, in which a stigma is often attached to those who avail themselves of psychotherapeutic counseling, and anonymity can never be taken for granted.
Could Rabbi Kopolovitch have confided in a skilled professional his strong urge for physical intimacy with his students and still feel assured that his right to privacy would be rigorously respected? Could he have received counseling in tune with his background and beliefs?
The answer to both these questions is most probably « no. » Rabbi Kopolovitch was undoubtedly a prisoner of his public position. The very act of consulting a mental-health professional, had it become known, would have exposed him to the risk of having a black mark placed on his record and perhaps even losing his position as a yeshivah principal. So how could Rabbi Kopolovitch – and other Orthodox people with similar problems – have been helped? And what can now be done to prevent ugly and destructive incidents of this sort from recurring?
The way forward is to train many more therapists with roots in the modern- and ultra-Orthodox communities. No doubt some therapists suitably trained to work with religious patients already exist. But few in the community know of them. What’s more, under the health-fund system, in order to receive psychological counseling as part of the « basket of services, » a patient must obtain a referral from his family doctor. The inevitable questions from non-specialists and clerks would likely deter many a needy but embarrassed person from seeking help. And failing recourse to health-fund doctors and therapists, one’s only choice is to pay the high fees of private consultations.
Provision should therefore be made for certified therapists to advertise themselves, however discreetly, through the press (which is currently illegal). They should be directly accessible by phone, obviating the need to face a line of clerks and their awkward questions. And they should be able to establish their practices in places that will ensure their patients’ privacy. Finally, as many potential religious clients have low incomes and high family responsibilities, such counseling should be subsidized by the taxpayer and/or private donations. This would be a small price to pay for preventing a recurrence of such appalling incidents.
Had a system like this been in place when Rabbi Kopolovitch became aware of his aberrant drives, he would have been able to turn to a qualified therapist without fear of exposure. Certainly it is society’s duty to protect innocent youngsters from the perversions of their elders. But it is equally a duty not only to provide necessary social services to all sectors of society but to tailor them to the needs of special groups, where necessary. Just because the religious public is not clamoring for the conditions described above does not mean that it doesn’t desire or deserve them.
Jacob Solomon lectures on economics at Touro College and heads the humanities faculty at the Anglican International School in Jerusalem.
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/kopolevitch_zeev.html
Boca rabbi faces maximum of 8 years in prison for molesting boys
By Jon Burstein Staff Writer Posted December 21 2001
FORT LAUDERDALE · A once-popular Boca Raton rabbi now faces no more than eight years in prison after federal prosecutors on Thursday backed away from seeking the harshest possible prison sentence for sex crimes involving children.
The surprising move came in the opening minutes of Rabbi Jerrold Levy’s sentencing hearing and only a couple of weeks after prosecutors filed court documents portraying him as a cunning pedophile who targeted vulnerable boys.
If U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas chose to follow prosecutors’ initial request, Levy, 59, could have faced up to 60 years in prison.
But prosecutors instead asked the judge to sentence Levy within standard federal sentencing guidelines for the crime: between 61/2 and eight years. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Reinhart declined to discuss what prompted Thursday’s reversal, but said the reasons will become clear after Levy’s sentencing hearing resumes next Friday.
Ed Shohat, Levy’s attorney, said he learned on Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had backed away from its initial stance.
« They didn’t have a basis for [the request for a maximum sentence], and I think they knew it, » Shohat said.
Levy, who was an associate rabbi of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, pleaded guilty in August to four federal charges that include having sex with a 14-year-old Wellington boy he met online and sending child pornography over the Internet.
Levy’s April 5 arrest on the first day of Passover left the temple — one of the region’s largest Reform Jewish congregations — reeling. The married rabbi had been with the temple for eight years.
About 30 congregation members, along with Levy’s wife and children, packed Dimitrouleas’ courtroom on Thursday in a day of testimony from mental health experts who had examined Levy. Levy — visibly thinner since his arrest — nodded and smiled to several spectators as he walked in handcuffs and leg shackles into the courtroom.
Levy’s attorneys argued on Thursday that the rabbi deserves a sentence of less than 61/2 years because his sexual disorder drove him to illicit behavior with teenage boys.
In addition to the Wellington boy, Levy solicited up to six boys on the Internet for sex, according to court documents. He would approach the teenagers in an Internet chat room for gay teens.
Dr. Fred Berlin, a psychiatric expert in sexual disorders, testified Levy’s attraction to teenagers was a preoccupation he couldn’t control. An obsessed Levy — who spent up to five hours a night on the Internet — knew what he was doing was wrong, but it was as if he had a gun to his head, said Berlin, founder of Johns Hopkins University’s sexual disorder clinic, in Baltimore.
« This was a man who was struggling and losing the battle, and not someone who just didn’t give a darn, » Berlin said. « This was the culmination of a long history of being a sexually troubled, repressed and confused man. »
The government’s expert, Dr. Phillip Resnick, is an internationally known forensic psychiatrist who has provided expert testimony or consultation in the cases of Jeffrey Dahmer, Timothy McVeigh and Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two sons. Resnick testified that Levy could control his sexual appetites. Levy never victimized any congregation members because the risk was too high, he said.
But with the Internet, Levy had the opportunity to approach teenage boys in a setting where the chance of getting caught was much lower, Resnick said.
Temple Beth El congregation members who attended Thursday’s hearing said Levy is clearly a man who needs mental help.
« It’s just a shame that we have to turn our backs on understanding, » said Shirley Applebaum, a congregation member. « It’s a shame to make a circus out of a sickness. »
Stanley Winter, a 10-year member of the temple, said he was shocked on Thursday to hear some of the lurid details of Levy’s case.
« In plain English, he just isn’t all there, » Winter said. « This man belongs institutionalized, not in jail. »
Levy’s attorneys are set at next week’s hearing to call at least three more witnesses. The rabbi also will be given a chance to speak.
Jon Burstein
Ex-yeshiva head indicted for forcing pupils to have sex
By DAN IZENBERG
Jerusalem Post – Friday, April 23, 1999 (7 Iyar 5759 )
http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/23.Apr.1999/News/Article-3.html
JERUSALEM (April 23) – Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, was indicted yesterday on charges of forcing 19 of his pupils, many of them under 16, to engage in homosexual relations with him.
In all of the cases, Kopolevitch, 51, was accused of conducting « indecent acts without the consent of the student. The accused exploited the relationship of dependency inherent in the teacher-student relationship to put pressure on the student. »
According to a Justice Ministry communique, police are still investigating allegations that some of the students complained to other rabbis about Kopolevitch’s behavior and they did nothing about it. Among the rabbis who were reportedly informed were former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and National Religious Party Knesset candidate Haim Druckman.
The Justice Ministry said it has taken a long time to file the indictment because of the investigation of the other rabbis and because Kopolevitch’s lawyer asked to see the indictment and respond to it before it was presented to Jerusalem District court.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class. He gave some of them private lessons in the early morning, brought them to his home, or met them in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, during the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct, beginning with kisses (including on the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch, and the sexual organ), and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
One of the students whom Kopolevitch allegedly forced to have sex was 14 years old.
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News in Brief
By Danna Harman, Dan Izenberg, Jerusalem Post Staff, Itim
The Jerusalem Post – April 27, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2
Meimad activists protest against Lapid
Holding pots of « chulent, » Meimad Party youth staged a demonstration yesterday outside the Shinui Party offices in Tel Aviv to protest recent statements made by Shinui leader Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, which they find offensive and divisive.
« Why not eat chulent on Shabbat? » the protesters chanted, in response to Lapid’s call for secular Jews to « eat shrimp on Shabbat. »
« Tommy Lapid, using gimmicks and harsh language, is dividing the people and increasing hatred between secular and religious in this country, » said Meimad spokesman Moni Mordechai. Danna Harman Shapira, Druckman won’t be prosecuted
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein decided yesterday not to prosecute former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and former NRP MK and current NRP candidate Haim Druckman for failing to take action against the former head of Yeshivat Netiv Meir, Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch. Kopolevitch has been indicted on charges of forcing 19 of his students to engage in homosexual relations with him.
Police investigated allegations that some of the students had complained about Kopolevitch to Shapira, the head of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, and Druckman, who was head of the B’nei Akiva yeshivot at the time, and that they had not passed on the complaints to the authorities. Police recommended prosecuting the two rabbis. Rubinstein did not provide the reasons for his decision not to do so. Dan Izenberg
30 injured in bus crash
Twenty-six seventh graders and four escorts were lightly injured yesterday when a bus driving them home from Masada turned over on its side, just north of the Beit Kama intersection in the Lachish area, Israel Radio reported last night.
The pupils from the Korczak School in Ramat Gan were treated at the scene and taken to Soroka and Barzilai hospitals, the radio said.
The driver said a semitrailer suddenly appeared before him, apparently trying to make a U-turn, without its headlights on. To avoid hitting the truck, he veered to the right, going up onto the shoulder of the road. The bus hit the side of the truck and then turned on its side, he said, according to the radio. Jerusalem Post Staff
No appeal on Lederman’s release
State Attorney Edna Arbel decided yesterday not to petition the High Court against the parole board’s decision to release Yisrael Lederman one year before the end of his three-year jail sentence. Lederman was convicted of spilling boiling tea over Labor MK Yael Dayan in 1996, causing second degree burns to her neck and chest.
The parole board decided that Lederman had expressed unambiguous regret for his action and said he had learned his lesson. The board first decided to release Lederman last September, after he completed half his jail term. However, the High Court of Justice accepted a petition by Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein calling on it to reconsider its decision. In 1978, Lederman was convicted of killing a Palestinian and sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was released after three years. Dan Izenberg
Ben-Porat: Report too close to elections
Former state comptroller Miriam Ben-Porat said yesterday on Army Radio that the latest report should have come out earlier rather than so close to elections. « The date could have been moved up, » she said. « Publication of a state comptroller’s report influences elections results. I wouldn’t put out a report so close to elections. » Ben-Porat said in 1992, she had moved up the then-annual report’s publication date by two weeks to distance it from the election campaign. Itim
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The Unraveling Kippah
by Naomi Ragen (May 7, 1999)
http://www.naomiragen.com/Columns/KnittedKippah.htm
The symbol of the election campaign for the National Religious Party is the unraveling knitted skullcap. Vote for the Mafdal, the commercial says, or all our wonderful educational institutions, our youth groups, our synagogues will go under.
As I watched the commercial, I thought of an experience I had last summer.
Boiling beneath a corrugated tin roof and its one lone fan that sluggishly pushed the stale air in dusty circles, I sat beside an old school friend. We were waiting to visit her son. I studied the bars across the small opened window, the gray metal lockers, the old peeling wooden cubbyholes where visitors like us were meant to deposit our personal belongings before being led inside. It was visiting day at the « religious wing » of a prison somewhere in Israel. My friend’s son was serving out a term for murder. Like many others in the prison’s « religious wing, » he too wore a knitted skullcap.
This week I read about the indictment of Rabbi Zeev Kopolevitch, once head of the most prestigious yeshiva high school in Israel, Netiv Meir. In 23 pages, over nineteen former students describe a series of shocking sexual abuses at the hands of Kopolevitch. But most shocking of all, was the fact that the most respected Rabbis of the National Religious Party, leader of B’nai Akiva yeshiva movement and Knesset member Rabbi Druckman, and former chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, had both allegedly been informed about the abuse and had chosen to do nothing, thus allowing it to continue.
My school friend and her husband are gentle, educated, deeply religious people who abhor violence and extremism. When their son was thirteen years-old, he was invited by a Kahane party activist to use Kach’s workout room in the Old City. Unbeknownst to his parents, he became an avid Kach follower. When he was barely fifteen, he and two friends decided to avenge Meir Kahane’s death by exploding a grenade in the crowded Old City shuk. As a result, an elderly Arab man was killed.
My friend and I see each other in synagogue every Shabbat. It is a synagogue in which prayers for the government and the army are said with sincerity, where new recruits are blessed from the pulpit, and where more than one son has fallen in defense of our country. It is also a place where- despite the admirable but ignored protests of one or two members — someone regularly places Kach literature along with the study sheets about the weekly Torah portion.
Something has gone awry here.
When did messianic fervor to settle Yehuda and Shomron begin to erode reason and human values?
Was it inevitable that the hatred which Jewish settlers experienced in building their homes among Arab villagers, find an echo in their own hearts, shouting down the sincere idealism, the love of Eretz Yisrael which was their original motivation? And if so, is it possible to really serve G-d with a heart attune only to the worthiness of its own cause, deaf to the cries of pain coming from others?
I was taking a bus the other day and an elderly woman got on. She put her cane on the side and stretched her arms between both of the bus’s railings to help herself up. A woman wearing a wig, perhaps innocently in a hurry, rushed up the steps behind her, pushing her. The elderly woman turned around, furious: » And you call yourself religious? » She thundered. « You’re a fake, a fake! »
Like it or not, those who wear the knitted skullcap, or any other accouterment of religious observance, have a tremendous responsibility. We aren’t allowed what for others would be natural human frailties, feelings of revenge, because our Torah forbids us to hold a grudge, to take revenge, to spill human blood….Or to ignore the suffering of innocents because it embarrasses those in power.
We must ask ourselves if in our enthusiasm for one sacred idea, we have not trampled so many others. We must ask ourselves if the knitted skullcap still sits well, and firmly, and comfortably on our heads. As any B’nai Akiva girl– knitter–of- skullcaps– will tell you, when a skullcap starts to get crooked, or is too round or flat, all you can do is start from scratch, taking out all the wrong stitches that led you astray.
Stitch by painful stitch, we need to get back to where it was we started from, not so long ago.
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Conspiracy of Silence
By Netty C. Gross
The Jerusalem Report – May 24, 1999
SECTION: Pg. 28
An alleged scandal at a flagship Orthodox Jerusalem high school is exacerbated by suggestions that it was allowed to fester for years
STUDENTS MILL AROUND THE corridors of Netiv Meir, an all-male yeshivah high school located on the main drag of Jerusalem’s largely ultra-Orthodox Bayit Vegan neighborhood. Portraits of bearded, glum and famous rabbis share wall space with ads for an Orthodox rock concert. In the halls, teachers talk to students, who are preppy-looking even if there’s an odd tzitzit, or ritual fringe, protruding from under a shirt. There’s a security guard, who wants to know why I am in the place. In short, everything seems normal. But it’s not. The 46-year-old live-in school, until recently the jewel in the crown of the religious Zionist Bnei Akiva yeshivah network and the darling of the parent National Religious Party, is reeling from a sex scandal. Indeed, some feel that the affair has visited as much pain and anguish on religious Zionists as Bar-Ilan University student-turned Rabin assassin, Yigal Amir.
In the last week of April, charges were filed against Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolovitch, for 15 years Netiv Meir’s rosh yeshivah, or principal. The charismatic, 52-year-old rabbi is accused of sexually abusing 19 students between 1991 and his dismissal in 1997. The 23-page indictment describes him as a pedophile, who promised good grades to male students, who allowed him to kiss and touch them in intimate areas. In the 1,500 pages of evidence gathered by police, it’s alleged that Kopolovitch asked his victims to strip and masturbate with him, threatening bad marks if they refused.
Kopolovitch, the indictment alleges, arranged late-night study sessions for favorites at the Netiv Meir dormitory, in its infirmary or at his nearby home, stressing the importance of a relationship « beyond the spiritual. » The alleged contact with Kopolovitch was the first sexual encounter for many of the victims. Some reportedly needed psychological counseling to recover from the trauma. Kopolovitch, married and the father of three, denies the charges. Through his lawyer, he has reportedly said he is the victim of a witchhunt orchestrated by students « who didn’t understand me » and a power struggle at the yeshivah.
THE CHARGES AGAINST Kopolovitch are serious enough, but they’re only part of the story. There’s also the « conspiracy of silence, » as police call it. Investigators say Kopolovitch’s alleged behavior was known within the school for several years and tolerated by the governing hierarchy of the religious Zionist movement. Top rabbis were allegedly aware of what was going on, but didn’t stop it or report it to police or social workers – a criminal offense.
Netiv Meir had a close relationship with leading figures of religious Zionism, including former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapiro, former Bnei Akiva yeshivah network chairman Rabbi Avraham Zuckerman, and his successor, Rabbi Haim Druckman, who in late March accepted the No. 2 slot on the NRP’s Knesset slate. Police believe Shapiro and Zuckerman knew about Kopolovitch’s alleged abuses for five years and did nothing; Druckman forced the rabbi to resign in 1997 after a Jerusalem weekly published the allegations – but failed to inform law enforcement authorities.
Another theme echoing through the case is the deferential treatment afforded NRP high-ups by the legal system. The initial police request to question the three rabbis languished on Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein’s desk for months after it was made early last year. Rubinstein allowed Shapiro’s interrogation to take place by correspondence, and let Zuckerman and Druckman be questioned in their homes. Explaining that decision, a Justice Ministry statement said that Shapiro and Zuckerman are both in their 80s, and cited « overall circumstances, including the nature of the investigation and the type of offenses. » All three rabbis denied knowledge of Kopolovitch’s alleged abuses. In late April, Rubinstein said the rabbis would not be indicted for failing to notify authorities. But indictments for this failure are being prepared against former rosh yeshivah Eliyahu Grossberg and Haim Zvi Rosenberg, the vice-principal. The three rabbis were not, explained Justice Ministry spokeswoman Orit Shemesh, « educational employees, » and as such the requirement to report to the police under Section 368D/b did not apply. Shemesh declined comment when asked if the case didn’t also come under Section 368D/a, which requires any citizen who has « reasonable basis » to believe that an offense has been committed against a minor by those responsible for him to report the case to the police or a social worker. Tellingly, a senior NRP official told The Report that the Justice Ministry quietly informed the party a month ago, before Druckman was put on the Knesset ticket, that the trio would not be indicted. « We knew they were off the hook back then, » said the NRP official. Should the ministry be giving confidential information to a political party? The spokeswoman for the ministry would not comment. WHEN IT COMES TO SEX SCANdals, the modern Orthodox are as defensive and tight-lipped as the ultra-Orthodox. Yair Sheleg, an Orthodox journalist at the daily Ha’aretz, says that fits small, closed communities – that kibbutzim are « notoriously reluctant to come forward in reporting rapes. »
Many Orthodox rabbis decline to talk about the case. Others have explanations for the tendency to cover things up. « Religious Zionists still haven’t emerged from our ghetto, » says Rabbi Yehudah Gilad, of the religious kibbutz movement’s Yeshivat Ma’aleh Gilboa and a Knesset candidate from the moderate Orthodox Meimad party. « I think it’s changing, but for the most part, we aren’t mature or confident enough as a group to step forward and accept criticism. Some of the insecurity is a reaction to the culture war with the secular. Orthodox people know modesty is one of their emblems, and when a sexual scandal unravels, the thinking is, ‘Why give the secular a rope to hang us. Let’s deal with this internally.’ » Asked how he’d confront a similar crisis, Gilad parses it out carefully. « My first concern, » he says, « would be for the student’s welfare. Next, I’d inquire what the law required me to do, and implement it. » Shmuel Reiner, the rabbi of Kibbutz Tirat Zvi and dean at Yeshivat Ma’aleh Gilboa, says the Orthodox community is « paying a price for our emphasis on modesty, on not being forthcoming about sexuality. When something like this happens, we’re unequipped to deal with it. » Reiner says the Kopolovitch case has had two immediate effects: High school yeshivot, which insist that students board at the school, « have declined in popularity and I’m happy. The rabbis in these yeshivot have too much of a hold on kids’ lives. » And, Reiner says, he and colleagues have become increasingly careful about being alone with students or touching them, however innocently. « I travel all over the country seeing soldiers, but I’m sure never to be alone in my car with students. »
ZE’EV KOPOLOVITCH WAS raised in an Orthodox Zionist family from Rehovot. His religious identity was blurred; he joined the Slonim hasidic sect and showed up for his first teaching job at a Bnei Akiva school in Pardes Hannah in the 70s, wearing an ultra-Orthodox hat and long coat. « His nickname was ‘Crembo’ (a popular chocolate-covered marshmallow treat), recalls one former student there. « Black on the outside, white on the inside. He was warm, physical, charismatic, pushing the idea of being more religious rather than being more right-wing politically. When I heard of the charges, I said it must be a misunderstanding. There was no hint of sexual impropriety back then. » In 1982 Kopolovitch was asked to take over at Netiv Meir by Rabbi Aharon Bina, the yeshivah’s founder. Opened in 1953, the school has always been at the center of a tug-of-war between nationalist and ultra-Orthodox factions. The appointment of Kopolovitch, who tried to accommodate the nationalists but leaned toward the ultra-Orthodox, created a furor among the more politically oriented faction. Still, the school flourished during his tenure.
Over the years, stories about his alleged sexual activities also flourished in the school. A Purim video made by a student reportedly was rife with innuendo; students complained to other teachers and rabbis but their complaints went unheeded.
His downfall came as a fluke. In 1994 it looked like Kopolovitch might simply fade away. After heart surgery, he retired. But a fight erupted over the future of the yeshivah, which went four months without a principal. Kopolovitch was persuaded to return. Then, in 1997, after a Jerusalem weekly referred to allegations about him in a larger story on the religious-nationalist power struggle in the yeshivah, Druckman, as head of the Bnei Akiva network, asked him to leave.
These days, Netiv Meir is a fossil of its former self. It used to take in 120 students a year and turn away hundreds more; for the 5760 academic year, only 49 new students have signed up. Kopolovitch is said to be a broken man. He is no longer allowed to pray in Jerusalem’s Slonim shtiebl or other synagogues, and has taken refuge in the tiny Sokhotchover hasidic sect.
It remains to be seen whether the case will have any effect on the NRP’s chances in the upcoming elections. One NRP source insisted « this story won’t affect us politically. Druckman was cleared of any wrongdoing. » Others disagree. One parent, whose son attended the school until the scandal broke, makes no bones about her feelings. « Kopolovitch, » she says, « was sick. The rabbis who protected him were evil. They will never get my vote again. »
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Kopolevitch pleads not guilty
By Dan Izenberg
The Jerusalem Post – June 11, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5A
Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch yesterday pleaded not guilty in the Jerusalem District Court to charges of having forced 19 students, many of them minors, to engage in homosexual relations with him.
Judges Ya’acov Zemach, Miriam Naor and Moussia Arad read out the indictment during yesterday’s session, the first in the trial of the 51-year-old former head of Yeshivat Netiv Meir. The court agreed to a request by Kopolevitch’s lawyer, Eyal Shomroni, to suspend the hearings until he has studied the evidence, and postponed the trial for three months. « There is so much material that it will take some time to cope with it, » Shomroni said afterwards.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students from each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class. He tutored them privately early in the mornings, brought them to his home or met then in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, in the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct beginning with kisses (including in the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch and the sexual organ) and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
Photo: Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, former head of Yeshivat Netiv Meir, walks through the Jerusalem District Court yesterday. (Credit: Ariel Jerozolimski/The Jerusalem Post)
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Plea bargain agreement reached in yeshiva molestation case
IsraelWire – Monday, October 11, 1999 16:36
(IsraelWire-10/11) The attorney for defendant Rabbi Ze’ev Kapelovich and the state have reached a plea bargain agreement in the case charging the former principal of the Netiv Meir Yeshiva with molesting many students during his employment.
The indictment against the rabbi was handed down about a half a year ago following a comprehensive police investigation, which uncovered that prominent rabbinical authorities affiliated with the National Religious Camp made efforts to cover up the rabbi’s actions.
During the legal proceedings, many of the rabbi’s former students testified as state witnesses. The Justice Ministry must now approve the deal.
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Court convicts former yeshiva head of indecent acts against students
By Dan Izenberg
The Jerusalem Post – October 11, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4
The Jerusalem Distict Court yesterday accepted a plea bargain arrangement and convicted Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Netiv Meir, of indecent acts against 12 of his students.
The agreement between Kopolevitch and the state was controversial because the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office agreed to ask the court for a sentence of no more than three-and-a-half years in jail while giving Kopolevitch’s lawyer, Eyal Shomroni-Cohen, the right to plead for a lighter sentence.
Indeed, Shomroni told the panel of three judges, Ya’acov Zemah, Miriam Naor and Moussia Arad, that he would ask them not to send his client to jail. Had Kopolevitch not reached a plea bargain agreement, he might have faced a much stiffer punishment. However, in accordance with the agreement, the state submitted a modified indictment which reduced the number of Kopolevitch’s victims from 19 to 12. It also drastically reduced the number of charges carrying a maximum of seven years in jail according to the Sexual Crimes section of the Penal Code. Of the 12 charges included in the modified indictment, nine carried a maximum sentence of four years.
Jerusalem District Attorney prosecutor Drora Nahmani- Roth justified the state’s consent to the agreement during a court hearing yesterday. « The State Attorney’s Office seriously considered whether or not to agree to the plea bargain, » she said. « It was not an easy thing given the nature and scope of the charges and the behavior of the defendant in each of the separate cases. We held meetings, examined previous cases and (found) that we are not significantly deviating from the appropriate punishment.
« We also believe that (Kopolevitch’s) readiness to confess is very important for the plaintiffs. We are talking about youths who are the salt of the earth. Today, most of them are serving in army battlefront units. We did not want to remove them from the new system of relations they have established since their school days. We very much wanted to spare these 19 boys, who have all graduated from the yeshiva, from having to testify in court. » Nahmani-Roth added that all of the original plaintiffs had consented to the plea bargain.
The State Attorney’s Office announced yesterday that two other yeshiva officials face charges of complicity. They allegedly knew about Kopolevitch’s crimes but did not report them to the authorities. Before deciding whether to submit the charges to court, the State Attorney’s Office will hold a hearing for the two unnamed officials.
There have been reports that former chief Ashkenazi rabbi Avraham Shapiro, the head of Mercaz Harav Kook, and NRP MK Haim Drukman were among those who had received complaints about Kopolevitch’s behavior and had done nothing about them.
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May I Have a Word, Mr. Rubinstein?
by Naomi Ragen
Jerusalem Post – November 4, 1999
http://naomiragen.com/Columns/MrRubinstein.htm
I am having difficulty understanding something about the Ministry you head, Mr. Rubinstein, and would really appreciate your help. It seems that in the last few weeks in at least two instances your Ministry seems to be working overtime to get sex offenders, pedophiles and rapists, as well as those who harbor and protect them, special light treatment under the law because they all happen to be rabbis.
First, there is the disgraceful case of the former headmaster Kopolevitch of Netiv Meir yeshiva high school who lived in a pedophile’s heaven for the last fifteen years, abusing dozens, even hundreds of boys under his tutelage, boys whose complaints were apparently ignored by the Bnai Akiva yeshiva network’s most respected spiritual leaders, Rabbi Druckman and Rabbi Shapira.
And then there is the rapist in Kabbalistic rabbi’s clothing who is still wandering around the south teaching Torah to innocent children, when he should have long joined his comrades in the religious wing of Masiyahu Prison.
Mr. Rubinstein, what can your Ministry be thinking when it agrees to a plea bargain of four and half years for Rabbi Kopolevitch? When it dismisses charges against Rabbis Druckman and Shapira for allowing Kopolevitch to continue committing the most disgustingly immoral acts against young boys in their educational network, long after they apparently knew the facts? When it suspends proceedings against a Rabbi who raped a young woman under the guise of giving her kabbalistic help?
I am only a woman (and everyone knows with what great respect and interest the opinions of such people are held in the religious world) yet, I think that it behooves you to listen carefully to my opinion and my amazement at your Ministry’s behavior.
A friend of mine who was visiting Israel from the States went on a tour of the Supreme Court building. She sat in on an actual case in which a religious man who had molested a child was serving seven years. The man expressed regret, but the judges, pointing out how terrible such a crime is, how destructive to the victim, denied his appeal to have his sentence shortened. How can it be, my friend asked , that this criminal got six years for abusing one child, and Kopolevitch, whose crime is a hundred-fold, will get only four and a half? And this criminal was just an ordinary fellow, unlike Kopolevitch who had perfected a system in which he exploited the full measure of his spiritual and educational authority to lure his victims and ensure their silence.
My friend, an Orthodox woman, daughter of a famous Rabbi who received rabbinical ordination from the Chafetz Chaim himself, was appalled.
And now we have the rapist who presented himself as a Rabbi versed in the mysteries of the kabbalah, a spiritual magic-worker, and wound up instructing a young woman who had come to him for help to undress and submit to his « magic » sexual demands. Exploiting a religious young woman’s innocence, he used his tremendous spiritual power to desecrate not only her body, but her soul as well. Why does such a person deserve leniency? Why does he deserve to have the case against him suspended because « he isn’t feeling well? » I would think such a person deserves to have the case against him pursued relentlessly; deserves to serve a prison sentence twice as harsh as anyone else’s.
Because when a Rabbi abuses someone who looks up to him, he does it not only with his body, but with the full weight of everything the victim holds sacred, destroying the victim’s innocence, faith, religious beliefs, connection to G-d, in a way that no ordinary hormone-crazed offender could ever do. The damage is much greater, because the victim’s faith — that which drew them to be students in Netiv Meir, or to the doorstep of a Kabbalistic mystic — has been raped as well.
I appeal to you, Mr. Rubinstein, as a comrade, a fellow religious Jew, to whom the Torah is sacred. You sent your children to school with mine. We go to the same kind of synagogue. And I have to believe, that as a professed religious Jew, we both hold the Torah in the highest respect.
Would it not make more sense, therefore, to deal twice as harshly with such perpetrators as Kopolevitch and the rapist in « mekubal’s » clothing, and to insist on calling to task those who harbor and employ them? Your apparent sympathy and kindness towards these people baffles me. More, it causes me endless shame.
Why, Mr. Rubinstein? In Heaven’s name, why?
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Former yeshiva head apologizes for molesting students
By Dan Izenberg
The Jerusalem Post – November 11, 1999, Thursday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4
Speaking softly, his hands trembling, the former head of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Netiv Meir Yeshiva apologized in court yesterday for the sexual assaults he committed on several of his students.
« I express regret, » he told Jerusalem District Court Judges Ya’acov Zemah, Miriam Naor, and Moussia Arad. « I am sorry for all the students who were harmed and ask for the mercy of the court. » The brief appeal came at the end of a three-hour session in which seven character witnesses, including the principal of the Horev Yeshiva High School, Mordechai Alon, the former secretary-general of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and former students, attested to Kopolevitch’s exceptional devotion to his students and school.
Kopolevitch, dressed in black suit and hat, sat alone, his head down, hands trembling, a wet handkerchief clutched in his hand, as he heard the testimonies to his educational qualities.
He is on trial for forcing 12 of his students, who belonged to a favored inner circle which he created, to conduct homosexual acts with him. The prosecution dropped charges involving seven other students after reaching a plea-bargain arrangement in which Kopolevitch confessed to having relations with the others.
« He was the yeshiva head who invested the most in his students, was ready to do anyone’s bidding to an exceptional degree, » said Ya’acov Lipshitz, the former head of Bnei Akiva. « He went to Bnei Akiva camps all over the country and was always received with great love and esteem. No other yeshiva head gave so much, with so much intensity. It was very unusual. »
Avishai Grosser, who graduated from Netiv Meir in 1997, said that Kopolevitch remembered the name of every one of the 450 students in the school. « He always put his heart into it, » he said. « He attended every Shabbat meal, almost always came to prayer services, and was always ready to hear our problems and help us. »
Given the charges against Kopolevitch, including that he performed some of his acts on his students at his home late at night, some of the tributes were unintentionally ironic.
« He was dedicated to each student individually and would receive them in his home, » said Netiv Meir graduate Asher Vodka. « His home was very close to the yeshiva. Any student could come for advice at any time of day or night. »
Another student, Ehud Shraga, inadvertently damaged his credibility when, in his overeagerness to protect his teacher, he told the court that he does not believe Kopolevitch performed sexual acts and that the students who testified against him are liars.
Prosecutor Ruth Nahmani-Roth asked the court to sentence Kopolevitch to three-and-a-half years in jail, saying that this would be a moderate punishment that would take into account his heart problems.
Kopolevitch’s lawyer, Eyal Shomroni-Cohen, asked the court to sentence his client to do community service in lieu of a jail sentence. He pleaded for leniency on the grounds that Kopolevitch has a serious heart problem, that the first and most severe incidents occurred almost 10 years ago, and that Kopolevitch had spared his students from testifying in public by agreeing to a plea bargain.
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Constructive whistle-blowing
By Barbara Sofer
The Jerusalem Post, November 12, 1999
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 9B
Vomiting out those who shame our community will not diminish our tradition. Our concern is fixing what isn’t working within our ranks
Last Shabbat, after synagogue, one of my dearest friends praised me for not writing anything negative about Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Bnei Akiva’s flagship yeshiva high school, Netiv Meir.
Kopolevitch, you may recall, was arrested for sexually molesting the young men entrusted to his care. Many of the boys and men in my synagogue attended that school, although – as one neighbor whose son graduated there sadly put it – they’re not bragging about it anymore.
There’s a rabbinical term, « shtika kehoda’a, » meaning « silence is acquiescence. » Lest my muteness be misunderstood, I join with the many who have already expressed their repugnance over his behavior and the abuse of his position. Who wouldn’t be disgusted? Imagine what a tragedy this must have been for young men at the cusp of manhood. A dozen young men came forward with accusations. How many more were too ashamed to come forward?
I differ from my friend and co-columnist Naomi Ragen only in my reaction to the plea bargain. True, Kopolevitch got fewer years in prison than he might have in a regular trial. But his admission of guilt was imperative. Had he not confessed, the religious community in which I live might have found every reason not to believe the ugly truth.
In the many months since this hideous scandal became public, the accusations were waved away as everything from teenage misinterpretation of innocuous rabbinical affection, to a witch hunt, to a plot by the rabid leftist press panting to destroy religion at every opportunity.
Indeed, unbelievable as it sounds, even after his confession, I’ve heard testimonies as to what a fine educator Kopolevitch was. Had he not fessed up, we might have expected videotapes with catchy tunes documenting the travesty done to him.
Still, I can understand the reason my usually sagacious friend doesn’t want anyone to write about this disgrace. We in the religious community hate to show our blemishes. Not only because we’re personally embarrassed, but because we see ourselves in an ongoing , historical, daily struggle with forces that belittle and obliterate our beloved tradition.
This goes way beyond political concerns. We want others to embrace Judaism. If we ran into one of those three-wish-giving genies we would want her to wave a magic wand over the Jewish people and have them start observing Shabbat. We believe it would bring peace. We believe it will bring the messiah. In this context, highlighting our own imperfections seems counterproductive.
Then along comes a kippa-wearing debaucher of innocents, and our efforts to impart the real impressive standards of religion are made considerably more difficult. Even worse, this particular problem goes beyond one twisted figure, but to rabbis who were told of his repugnant abuses, who harbored him and still go unpunished.
WE often feel trapped against our will into being perpetual sales representatives for our chosen way of life. We needn’t be. Vomiting out those who shame our community will not diminish our tradition. This isn’t the whistle- blowing of previous centuries, when members of the Jewish community tattled on wayward Jews to the local magistrate or the Czar. Our concern is fixing what isn’t working within our ranks.
Where to draw that line in finding fault within our community is a question raised indirectly by my fellow columnist Jonathan Rosenblum.
In last week’s column « Are haredim lousy parents? » he criticized Naomi Ragen and another friend of mine, Tzvia Greenfield.He accused them of building their careers on attacking the haredi community, in particular because they were quoted in « Be Fruitful and Multiply, » an article in Time magazine (October 25) equating large families with lack of responsibility. (If you missed the original article and want to see what the fuss is about, log on to the Time magazine Web site, and plug « Jewish women » into the magazine’s search engine.)
Like Rosenblum, I found the article outrageous. It echoed old political credos advising poor people to learn to curb their family size. The article presented no hard evidence that showed children of conscientious parents in large families fared worse – i.e. in measures of self- esteem, health, or education – than those in small families. Nor could I imagine Time running such a story about families in Bangladesh or Ethiopia.
Family size is ultimately the most personal – to use a loaded word – choice. Most women I know wish they had more, not fewer, children.
Nonetheless, the voices of concern sounded by influential women living inside or close to the community are legitimate. If they believe that families are indeed living under appalling, unnecessary stress, and that women are helpless against social coercion to reproduce, they are obligated to speak up. We all are. Shtika kehoda’a.
Light, even from an unflattering spotlight, can be ultimately healing. We who cover our heads – men and women both – simply have to make extra sure that no shadow falls over our eyes – or our minds.
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Kopolevitch gets 3 1/2 years
Bt Tamar Hausman
The Jerusalem Post – November 19, 1999
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 4A
The Jerusalem District Court yesterday sentenced Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch to three-and-a-half years in prison for sexually assaulting several students during his time as principal of Yeshivat Netiv Meir in Jerusalem.
Kopolevitch admitted his guilt as part of a plea bargain to reduce his sentence from the original five-year term. The judges were initially angered by the deal but, after a lengthy deliberation, decided to let it stand. Kopolevitch was convicted of violating a dozen students – nine under the age of 14 – between 1991 and 1997. He organized meetings with the students in his office, the yeshiva’s infirmary, and outside the school after class hours, forcing them to engage in sexual acts with him by telling them that their compliance was a condition for retaining a good relationship with him and receiving good grades.
Last week, Kopolevitch apologized for his actions, saying: « I am sorry for all the students who were harmed and ask for the mercy of the court. »
Lawyers on both sides agreed to the shorter sentence in order to end the drawn-out trial, which, the prosecution argued, caused additional harm to Kopolevitch’s victims. The defense pleaded for leniency on the grounds that Kopolevitch suffers from serious heart problems.
Even after the deal was reached, defense attorney Eyal Shomroni-Cohen had asked the court to reduce the sentence to community service, while prosecutor Ruth Nahmani-Roth asked the court to give Kopolevitch the maximum five-year sentence.
Judges Ya’acov Zemah, Miriam Naor, and Moussia Arad wrote in their final ruling that « the defendant made his students into sexual objects – objects that are easily accessible and easy to abuse. He took advantage of the honor young boys feel toward their rabbi for the sake of performing vile acts. »
« He trapped naive boys and gave them no room to escape. If they didn’t comply, their studies would suffer; if they did, it would be their souls and their youth that would be damaged. He performed rude sexual acts during an impressionable, emotional period in their lives, as they were entering adulthood. »
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Decries Light Penalty
By:Doron Blau
The Jerusalem Post – November 28, 1999
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 6
Sir, – It is common practice in many countries to sentence a convicted criminal to concurrent jail sentences for several offenses. On this basis, the sentence of 3 1/2 years (42 months) for 12 cases of child abuse means that the value of punishment for this unspeakable crime to innocent children, who were placed in their tender years in the hands of « an honorable rabbi, » is 3 1/2 months per child. I am disgusted at the gall of the Israeli judicial system that gives us the feeling that a punishment of 3 1/2 months in jail (not considering time off for « good behavior ») is the value placed on our children.
My children are worth more than that. Aren’t yours?
DORON BLAU, Netanya.
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Dedicated Teacher
By M. G. Steinhart
The Jerusalem Post – February 6, 1998
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 8
Readers Letters:
Sir, – As a parent who has had five sons study at the Nativ Meir school over the past 10 years, I have been privileged to know Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch. I can state unequivocally that he was at all times a caring, dedicated headmaster who was concerned for the welfare and the well-being of his students above all else. All my children have nothing but praise for him concerning his dealings with students. Whenever any sort of problem arose, he would give of his time and spare no effort in trying to help.
To suggest that such a man could be guilty of child molestation is so totally ridiculous as to be unworthy of response. To subject a man to a police inquiry with all the attendant publicity on the basis of the comments of a few disgruntled individuals – without a shred of proof – is a tragic comment on the society in which we live.
When his innocence has been proved, as I am sure it will be, how will his good reputation be reinstated by those who now seek to condemn?
G. STEINHART, Jerusalem.
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News in brief
By Batsheva Tsur
The Jerusalem Post – February 2, 1998
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2
Police mull rabbi’s detention for abusing boys
Police representatives met with State Attorney Edna Arbel yesterday to discuss whether to detain Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir yeshiva high-school, who is suspected of committing indecent acts on his former students.
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Etty Eshed refused to reveal whether any decision was taken, saying merely that the investigation was continuing, but Israel Radio reported Kopolevitch would be questioned but not detained. She also refused to comment on reports that former chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and former MK Rabbi Haim Druckman would be questioned under caution on suspicion of refraining from reporting the alleged indecent acts. Batsheva Tsur
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Police seek to question Shapira, Druckman in connection with yeshiva sex scandal case
By Jerusalem Post Staff
The Jerusalem Post – January 30, 1998
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5
The police have asked State Attorney Edna Arbel’s permission to question Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Haim Druckman under caution on suspicion that they did not report a string of indecent acts an influential yeshiva head allegedly committed on his students over a number of years, Israel Radio reported yesterday.
The rabbi suspected of improper sexual behavior is Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Netiv Meir, the flagship of the Bnei Akiva yeshivot.
Kopolevitch allegedly kissed and fondled dozens of students at the yeshiva over a number of years. He has denied the allegations, which first appeared in the local Jerusalem press a few months ago.
The intention to question Shapira, a former Ashkenazi chief rabbi, and Druckman has raised the ire of the National Religious Party.
« Everybody in the country has to obey the laws of the land, » Acting Education Minister Yitzhak Levy said on Israel Radio yesterday.
« I am sure that if the police need to investigate, they will investigate, » he said.
« I am also sure that there is nothing to this. I am only saying that this has harmed the privacy of public leaders, in that everyone, including their students, now knows that they will be investigated under caution, even though the police have not called them in for questioning. »
These developments follow the investigation this week of another prominent educator.
Gary Bilu, head of the Beit Zvi drama school in Tel Aviv, is also under investigation for allegedly improper sexual conduct with male students.
Two of Kopolevitch’s former students, interviewed anonymously on Israel Radio yesterday, said that Kopolevitch had kissed them, and there were rumors that he fondled other students.
A parent, who would only identified himself as Eli, said that Kopolevitch suddenly left the yeshiva three years ago, apparently because of sexual misconduct, but was reinstated a year later.
He reportedly was suspended again six months ago.
Yehuda Glick, today the spokesman for the Absorption Ministry, came to Kopolevitch’s defense.
He said he does not know how he would have coped with the problems of adolescence « without the caring relation of the rabbi, including kisses and hugs, that were in my eyes the kisses and hugs of a rabbi who loves his students. »
Glick said that rumors surrounding Kopolevitch are nothing new, and that they are the result of the jealousy of « haredi rabbis » in the yeshiva who could not tolerate a man with a haredi appearance, like Kopolevitch, being open to modernity and Zionism.
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Rabbi faces indictment for sexually abusing students
By Tamar Hausman
Jerusalem Post – Wednesday, March 8 2000 (1 Adar I 5760)
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/08/News/News.3739.html
(March 8) – Jerusalem police yesterday recommended that Rabbi Ze’ev Sultanovich, a lecturer at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva who allegedly sexually abused a number of students between 1994 and 1996, be indicted.
An investigation into the matter was launched in early January, several weeks after police received complaints from three men, now in their 20s, who studied at the yeshiva in their teens and said they had been sexually molested by Sultanovich. Sultanovich has denied the charges.
Police also recommended that Rabbi Menahem Burstein, a teacher at the yeshiva, and eight students, be indicted for trying to prevent the three men who filed the complaint from providing evidence in the investigation.
Burstein had allegedly written a letter to the parents of the three requesting that they drop the matter. Police also said that the eight students, friends of Sultanovich, came to the house of one of the complainants on Monday night and threatened him to stop the complaints to police or else they would spread stories about him and the two others.
Police now believe that Sultanovich, who is about 40, also sexually molested several other students. But those students have not yet come forward, and police are trying to determine whether they are being prevented from doing so by other students or by Burstein.
Police have turned the case over to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The head of the yeshiva, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, was alerted to the complaints about six months ago in an anonymous letter and soon after in an anonymous phone call. He asked Burstein to look into the accusations, and Burstein found them to be false following a three-month investigation.
Shapira sent several verbal messages via other students and teachers for the accusers to speak to him personally, but no one came forward.
Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes, a teacher at Mercaz Harav, said that Sultanovich, who was once a student there, often lectures on an informal basis, is friendly with some of the students, and comes to pray. Magnes confirmed Burstein’s letter to parents and said that he also « may have spoken directly to the boys to try to prevent them from talking. »
Magnes responded to the police recommendation by saying, « There doesn’t seem to be such a strong case. It seems a bit shaky. But we’ll wait and see. »
Shapira was also previously suspected of trying to prevent a police inquiry into the improprieties of a yeshiva teacher. Last year, he received a warning letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein after he was said to have tried to cover up the illegal sexual behavior of Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir yeshiva, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
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Yeshiva teacher accused of molesting students
By Tamar Hausman And David Zev Harris
Jerusalem Post – Wednesday, January 12 2000 02:00
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/01/12/News/News.1204.html
JERUSALEM (January 12) – Police three weeks ago launched an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by a teacher at Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav yeshiva 14 years ago.
Officials at the yeshiva, however, said the man under investigation never taught there, but was a student about 20 years ago and that he still comes there on occasion to pray.
In mid-December, police were alerted to accusations by three men – now in their late 20s – who studied at the yeshiva in their teenage years and said they were sexually molested by the man. Police then began investigations into other men who reportedly were also sexually abused, but did not come forward. The head of the yeshiva, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira, was alerted to the complaints several months ago in an anonymous letter and soon after in an anonymous phone call, said Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes, a teacher at Mercaz Harav. Shapira asked Rabbi Menahem Burstein to look into the accusations, and he found them to be false following a three-month investigation.
Magnes also said that Shapira sent several verbal messages via other students and teachers for the accusers to speak to him personally, and that no one came forward.
« It’s possible that something like this could happen, but if it were something illegal and we knew about it, we would have dealt with it immediately, because it would hurt the yeshiva, » said Magnes.
« But the media have found him guilty already, at the first stages of the investigation. If it’s true, then he deserves all of this, but if it’s not, then, really, the damage has already been done. »
Israel Radio reported that the suspect once told his students that if Yigal Amir hadn’t killed prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, he would have.
Senior National Religious Party figures, meanwhile, reacted to reports that Shapira attempted to silence those who made the allegations of sexual misconduct.
« If this is really true, we must condemn the deeds with full force, » said one NRP leader. « The idea of covering up is grotesque and unacceptable. »
There is a growing feeling in the party that should the police find that Shapira warned the victims and their families not to go public, that the time has come to place a gap between themselves and the aging rabbi.
This is not the first time that Shapira has been suspected of trying to prevent a police inquiry into the improprieties of yeshiva teachers. Last year, he received a warning letter from Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein after he was said to have tried to cover up the illegal sexual behavior of Ze’ev Kopolevitch, formerly head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. Party leader Yitzhak Levy told reporters victims of such attacks must not be afraid to go straight to the police. However, he fell short of criticizing Shapira.
It is impossible to prevent the symbiosis between rabbis and the party, said one senior NRP figure. « However, what we can do is cooperate intelligently with them and perhaps not work according to their commands. »
Another senior party member said it is wrong for the party’s leaders to consult rabbis on serious political issues, in particular regarding the Golan. Last week, a group of rabbis led by Shapira issued a halachic edict banning a withdrawal from the Heights, stating they are a part of the Land of Israel. « I fear that such a halachic ruling is not a beneficial intervention on the part of the rabbis, » said the party member.
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Former yeshiva head indicted on sex charges
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk990430/iyeshivaassault.shtml
JERUSALEM (JPS) — Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolevitch, the former head of Jerusalem’s Netiv Meir Yeshiva, was indicted on Thursday of last week on charges of forcing 19 of his pupils, many of them under 16, to engage in homosexual relations with him.
In all of the cases, Kopolevitch, 51, was accused of conducting « indecent acts without the consent of the student. The accused exploited the relationship of dependency inherent in the teacher-student relationship to put pressure on the student. »
According to a Justice Ministry, police are still investigating allegations that some of the students complained to other rabbis about Kopolevitch’s behavior and that the rabbis did nothing about it. Among the rabbis who were reportedly informed were former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira and National Religious Party Knesset candidate Haim Druckman.
Justice Ministry officials said it has taken a long time to file the indictment because of the investigation of the other rabbis and because Kopolevitch’s lawyer asked to see the indictment and respond to it before it was presented to Jerusalem District Court.
The lawyer’s response was not immediately available.
According to the indictment, Kopolevitch systematically selected a group of students each year and gave them preferential treatment in and out of class at the residential high school. He gave some of them private lessons in the early morning, brought them to his home or met them in the school health clinic when it was empty.
« For seven years, during the period between 1991 and 1997, the accused committed sexual crimes against students studying at the yeshiva, » the indictment reads. « These crimes involved various types of sexual conduct, beginning with kisses (including on the mouth), fondling (including the chest area, the crotch and the sexual organ), and ending with masturbation through hand or body contact. »
One of the students whom Kopolevitch allegedly forced to have sex was 14 years old.
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Nowhere to Cry For Help
By Jacob Solomon
The Jerusalem Report – January 31, 2000
SECTION: Pg. 54
THE JERUSALEM DISTRICT COURT’S CONVICTION of Rabbi Ze’ev Kopolovitch last November for sexually molesting 19 of his students at the all-male Netiv Meir yeshivah high school sent shock waves through national-religious circles – and well beyond. Netiv Meir is considered the flagship of the B’nei Akiva yeshivah network, and Rabbi Kopolovitch, its 52-year-old principal, had committed the offenses over a six-year period. The consternation was all the greater because Israel’s religious citizens identify themselves, to a large degree, by their adherence to the precepts of sexual modesty. The hallmarks of religious communities in Israel include a strict dress code, the segregation of men and women at social and cultural events, and a prohibition against women teaching even secular subjects in yeshivah high schools like Netiv Meir.
Still, however stringent a society may be, it cannot altogether suppress human nature. Men and women from all backgrounds and all walks of life have fantasies – and some of them are patently bizarre. Most people keep their wanton urges under control, and certainly keep them secret. They may well lead worthy lives, give of themselves, and serve the community with imagination and integrity. But for a small minority, such thoughts become obsessions that, when self-control is lacking, may get in the way of responsible behavior.
Where can such troubled people – and especially public figures grappling with this kind of problem – turn for help? The question is a difficult one given that Israel is a small and intimate society. It’s all the more onerous in Israel’s even smaller and more intimate religious community, in which a stigma is often attached to those who avail themselves of psychotherapeutic counseling, and anonymity can never be taken for granted.
Could Rabbi Kopolovitch have confided in a skilled professional his strong urge for physical intimacy with his students and still feel assured that his right to privacy would be rigorously respected? Could he have received counseling in tune with his background and beliefs?
The answer to both these questions is most probably « no. » Rabbi Kopolovitch was undoubtedly a prisoner of his public position. The very act of consulting a mental-health professional, had it become known, would have exposed him to the risk of having a black mark placed on his record and perhaps even losing his position as a yeshivah principal. So how could Rabbi Kopolovitch – and other Orthodox people with similar problems – have been helped? And what can now be done to prevent ugly and destructive incidents of this sort from recurring?
The way forward is to train many more therapists with roots in the modern- and ultra-Orthodox communities. No doubt some therapists suitably trained to work with religious patients already exist. But few in the community know of them. What’s more, under the health-fund system, in order to receive psychological counseling as part of the « basket of services, » a patient must obtain a referral from his family doctor. The inevitable questions from non-specialists and clerks would likely deter many a needy but embarrassed person from seeking help. And failing recourse to health-fund doctors and therapists, one’s only choice is to pay the high fees of private consultations.
Provision should therefore be made for certified therapists to advertise themselves, however discreetly, through the press (which is currently illegal). They should be directly accessible by phone, obviating the need to face a line of clerks and their awkward questions. And they should be able to establish their practices in places that will ensure their patients’ privacy. Finally, as many potential religious clients have low incomes and high family responsibilities, such counseling should be subsidized by the taxpayer and/or private donations. This would be a small price to pay for preventing a recurrence of such appalling incidents.
Had a system like this been in place when Rabbi Kopolovitch became aware of his aberrant drives, he would have been able to turn to a qualified therapist without fear of exposure. Certainly it is society’s duty to protect innocent youngsters from the perversions of their elders. But it is equally a duty not only to provide necessary social services to all sectors of society but to tailor them to the needs of special groups, where necessary. Just because the religious public is not clamoring for the conditions described above does not mean that it doesn’t desire or deserve them.
Jacob Solomon lectures on economics at Touro College and heads the humanities faculty at the Anglican International School in Jerusalem.
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/kopolevitch_zeev.html
LA Times – February 5, 2002
From Times Staff Reports
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000009105feb05.story
LOS ANGELES – A rabbi who taught Hebrew at a private school in Hollywood pleaded guilty Monday to sexual abuse and committing lewd acts against three boys.
Mordecai Yomtov, 36, a teacher at Chedar Menachem School, was charged in December with committing 10 lewd acts against three boys, ages 8 to 10. Conviction on all counts could have sent him to prison for 40 years, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Irene Wakabayashi.
In the plea arrangement, he was allowed to plead guilty to two acts of continuous sexual abuse of minors and one count of lewd conduct, Wakabayashi said.
In addition to the jail time and probation, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer ordered that he not associate with minors or seek any jobs teaching minors.
The all-male Orthodox Jewish school on Melrose Avenue serves about 185 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
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Rabbi Jailed – Instructor at Cheder Menachem grade school accused of molesting boys.
By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles – December 14, 2001
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=7856
A rabbi accused of molesting three boys at a Chabad elementary school was arrested Dec. 3 and remained at the L.A. Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail as The Journal went to press.
Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov’s arrest on 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with children came following an investigation by the LAPD after three boys, ages 8 to 10, reported last month that Yomtov was keeping each of them alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess.
Yomtov, 36, an Australian-born rabbi with a wife and four children, pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court is set for Dec. 17.
Yomtov has taught 8- to 10-year-olds for six years at Cheder Menachem, a school with 220 boys, kindergarten through eighth grade, on Melrose Avenue in the Beverly Boulevard-La Brea Avenue neighborhood.
The school issued a written statement following the arrest: « Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and to protect the privacy of our students, parents, teachers and staff, the school will be making no public comment. » The statement went on, « We request that our privacy be respected. The school is cooperating fully with all applicable authorities. »
Rabbi Chaim Cunin, spokesman for West Coast Chabad, expressed deep pain at the incident and said the school is doing everything possible to cooperate with the authorities.
« In over 36 years and in well over 30 schools that are under the Chabad umbrella on the West Coast, we have never had to deal with anything remotely similar to this, » he said. « It is very painful to even be having this conversation. »
Cunin said Chabad has arranged for therapists and psychiatrists to come to the school and give the parents, teachers and children the tools they need to deal with the incident. « We are doing everything we can do to be there for the community and the school and the parents, and we are doing anything and everything we can to make sure nothing like this should, God forbid, ever happen again, not in our school or in any school or in any community, » he said.
Mental health professionals familiar with the situation said the school seems to be taking all the correct restorative steps to help students, parents and staff cope.
Dr. David Fox, a clinical psychologist and Orthodox rabbi who is not involved with the Cheder Menachem case, said situations of abuse in the Orthodox community arouse feelings of « shock and grave disappointment. »
« We expect our people to conform not just to the general standards of moral decency, but to the Torah system. We expect observant Jewish people to function at the highest level of regard for people’s welfare and for own moral welfare, » he said, adding that nonetheless, in the last seven years or so, « there has been a lot more openness in discussing these issues in discreet forums, and, more and more, the rabbinic community is making use of Orthodox mental health professionals who have specialized training in both prevention and treatment of perpetrators and their victims. »
Fox himself is a leader in Nefesh, the International Association of Orthodox Mental Health Professionals, which, in conjunction with several Orthodox umbrella organizations, put together a think tank in September 2000 to develop prevention models for the Jewish community.
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (JFS), a beneficiary agency of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, has an Orthodox Counseling Division staffed by Orthodox professionals sensitive to the particular cultural and religious milieu of the community.
And, Fox said, he has seen a rise both in the number of articles in rabbinic journals dealing with maladaptive behavior, and in conferences targeting youth leaders, mikvah personnel and educators, to train them how to spot abuse or potentially abusive situations.
Still, he acknowledged, « There has not been an overwhelmingly unanimous receptiveness, because many of these groups hail from a tradition where the problems are dealt with very discreetly and in-house, and they shun publicity. »
Resistance to preventive and educational programs is not exclusive to the Orthodox community, said Sally Weber, director of Jewish Community Programs for JFS, which has developed Steps to Safety, an abuse prevention program involving children, parents and educators that has been presented at some Los Angeles preschools and day schools.
There are still a lot of barriers to realizing that this happens in the Jewish community and in Jewish schools. There is a certain resistance to the urgency of it, » she said.
Weber is meeting this week with several Orthodox principals to review the program and see what changes would be necessary to make the script more appropriate for the observant community.
The program involves one session each for teachers, parents and children. It begins with training educators to spot signs of abuse and reviewing the legal issues around reporting suspected abuse. JFS also works with schools to have a system in place so that any abuse can be handled appropriately and efficiently.
JFS professionals let parents know what their children will be learning and teach them how to talk to their children about body privacy and abuse. The program for children, tailored to age levels, reviews what is inappropriate behavior, how to get out of uncomfortable situations, and how to tell a trusted adult.
One Orthodox mental health professional says the work should not be left just to schools, but should begin at home with children as young as preschool age.
« The children need to be taught how and when to say no; they need to be taught that anytime an adult says ‘don’t tell your Mommy or Daddy,’ that you have to tell, even if they [the adult] says Mommy and Daddy won’t love you, » she said.
Fox said that while he and other professionals are not adopting an attitude of « I told you so, » there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that cases like the one at Cheder Menachem, devastating as it is, can only help increase awareness.
« There’s always been a kill-the-messenger attitude in religious circles when someone blows the whistle or tries to alert those in charge to the presence of a deviant or a molester or an abuser, » Fox said. « Everyone used to hush these things up, and no one likes to be reminded that these pathologies can seep into religious circles. But when, to our chagrin, some of these situations do attract publicity, there is some satisfaction in the mental health community that now, maybe we will take appropriate steps to offer some prevention. »
For more information on Steps to Safety, contact Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles at (323) 761-8800. Anyone with information relating to this case should call the LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit, Monday thru Friday at (213) 485-2883. On weekends and evenings, call the Detective Information Desk at (877) 529-3855.
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Rabbi arrested on 10 counts of molestation
By JULIE GRUENBAUM FAX
Jewish Telegraphic Agency – December 21, 2001
LOS ANGELES — A rabbi accused of molesting three boys at a Chabad elementary school remained at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles this week in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov was arrested last Monday on 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with children.
The arrest came after a Los Angeles Police Department investigation into claims last month by three boys, ages eight to 10, that Yomtov was keeping each of them alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess.
Yomtov, 36, an Australian-born rabbi with a wife and four children, pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court is set for Dec. 17.
Yomtov has taught eight- to 10-year-olds for six years at Cheder Menachem, a kindergarten- through eighth-grade school with 220 boys.
Cheder Menachem issued a written statement following the arrest.
« Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and to protect the privacy of our students, parents, teachers and staff, the school will be making no public comment, » it read. « We request that our privacy be respected. The school is cooperating fully with all applicable authorities. »
Chaim Cunin, spokesman for West Coast Chabad, said the school is doing everything possible to cooperate with the authorities.
« In over 36 years and in well over 30 schools that are under the Chabad umbrella on the West Coast, we have never had to deal with anything remotely similar to this, » Cunin said. « It is very painful to even be having this conversation. »
Cunin says Chabad has arranged for therapists and psychiatrists to come into the school.
« We are all of us doing everything we can do to be there for the community and the school and the parents, and we are doing anything and everything we can to make sure nothing like this should G-d forbid ever happen again, not in our school or in any school or in any community, » Cunin said.
Mental health professionals familiar with the situation said that the school seems to be taking all the right restorative steps to help students, parents and staff cope with the situation.
Dr. David Fox, a clinical psychologist and Orthodox rabbi who is not involved with the Cheder Menachem case, says situations of abuse in the Orthodox community arouse feelings of « shock and grave disappointment. »
« We expect our people to conform not just to the general standards of moral decency, but to the Torah system, » Fox said. « We expect observant Jewish people to function at the highest level of regard for people’s welfare and for our own moral welfare. »
In the past, such attitudes have made Orthodox clergy and leaders reluctant to deal with these issues, but in recent years he has seen a growing willingness to address issues of domestic and child abuse and sexual deviance, Fox said.
« There has been a lot more openness in discussing these issues in discreet forums, and more and more the rabbinic community is making use of Orthodox mental health professionals who have specialized training in both prevention and treatment of perpetrators and their victims, » he said.
Fox himself is a leader in Nefesh, The International Association of Orthodox Mental Health Professionals, which put together a think tank in September, 2000 in conjunction with several Orthodox umbrella organizations to develop prevention models for the Jewish community.
Jewish Family Service in Los Angeles has an Orthodox counseling division staffed by Orthodox professionals, sensitive to the community’s particular cultural and religious milieu.
Fox also says he has seen a rise in the number of articles in rabbinic journals dealing with maladaptive behavior, and at conferences targeted at youth leaders, mikvah personnel and educators, to train them to spot abuse or potentially abusive situations.
Still, Fox acknowledges that the educational efforts have not reached every corner of the community.
« There has not been an overwhelmingly unanimous receptiveness, because many of these groups hail from a tradition where the problems are dealt with very discreetly and in-house, and they shun publicity, » Fox said.
But even those communities are increasingly turning toward the growing pool of Orthodox mental health professionals.
Resistance to preventive and educational programs is not exclusive to the Orthodox community, said Sally Weber, director of Jewish Community Programs for LA’s Jewish Family Service.
JFS has developed Steps to Safety, a three-pronged abuse prevention program involving children, parents and educators that has been presented at some Los Angeles preschools and day schools.
« Preschools have been enormously responsive to the program, but it’s been difficult to get into day schools in general, » she said.
« Part of it is there are still a lot of barriers to realizing that this happens in the Jewish community and in Jewish schools. There is a certain resistance to the urgency of it. »
Weber is meeting this week with several Orthodox principals to review the program to see what changes would be necessary to make the script more appropriate for the observant community.
One Orthodox mental health professional said the work should not be left just to schools, but should begin at home with children as young as preschool age.
« The children need to be taught how and when to say no, they need to be taught that their privates are their own, they need to be taught that any time an adult says ‘don’t tell your Mommy or Daddy,’ that you have to tell, even if they say Mommy and Daddy won’t love you, » she said.
Fox said that while he and other professionals are not adopting an « I told you so » attitude, there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that cases like the one at Cheder Menachem can only increase awareness.
« There’s always been a ‘kill the messenger’ attitude in religious circles, when someone blows the whistle or tries to alert those in charge to the presence of a deviant or a molester or an abuser, » he said. « Everyone used to hush these things up and no one likes to be reminded that these pathologies can seep into religious circles. But when, to our chagrin, some of these situations do attract publicity, there is some satisfaction in mental health community that now maybe we will take appropriate steps to offer some prevention.’’
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LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, December 5, 2001
« Child Molester Arrested »
http://www.lapdonline.org/press_releases/2001/12/pr01804.htm
Hollywood: On Monday, December 3, 2001, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit, arrested 36 year-old Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov for Lewd Acts With Children Under 14 Years of Age.
In November 2001, three students of the Chedar Menachem School in Hollywood, an all boys Jewish school, reported to the LAPD that their Hebrew teacher kept each of them in the classroom and individually molested them. The acts occurred throughout the school year when the other students were at recess. The victims range in age from eight to ten. Officials from the school have been cooperative with the investigators.
On December 5, 2001, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Christina Flemming filed ten felony counts that included Continuous Lewd Acts with a Child Under 14 Years of Age. The Office of the District Attorney suggested that bail be set at 3.5 million dollars. Yomtov was arraigned today in Division 30. Further court dates are pending.
Detectives are requesting assistance from the public in identifying other possible victims. Rabbi Yomtov taught Hebrew at the Chedar Menachem School for the last seven years. His students were boys in the 8-10 year age group. A photograph of Rabbi Yomtov is available at Media Relations Section.
Anyone with information should call Juvenile Division’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit at 213-485-2883 during the week days. On weekends and during off-hours, call the 24-hour toll free number at Detective Information Desk, 1-877-LAWFULL (1-877-529-3855).
This press release was prepared by Public Information Officer Grace Brady, Media Relations Section, 213-485-3586. For Release 5:00 pm PST
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A Rabbi Is Accused Of Molesting A Student – More Possible Victims
ABC News – Dec 6, 2001
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/120601_nw_rabbi_molestation.html
LOS ANGELES — There could be more victims. That is the word from Los Angeles police as they probe the case of a Hollywood-area Rabbi arrested on suspicion of child molestation.
Mordechai Yomtov, 36, was arrested Monday on suspicion of committing lewd acts with children younger than 14, said Los Angeles police Officer Grace Brady.
Last month, three of his students at Hollywood’s Chedar Menachem School, 5120 Melrose Ave., reported that the Yomtov kept them in class during recess and molested them during the current school year, she said. The victims are between 8 and 10 years old, according to police. Yomtov was charged with 10 felonies in connection with the alleged molestations, police said.
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Rabbi Accused of Molesting Young Male Students
By KENNETH REICH, TIMES STAFF WRITER
December 7, 2001 – LOS ANGELES TIMES
http://latimes.com/news/local/la-000097287dec07.story
A rabbi who taught Hebrew at a private school in Hollywood was in jail Thursday in lieu of $500,000 bail on charges of committing lewd acts with three of his male students, ages 8 to 10.
Los Angeles police said Mordechai Yomtov, 36, was arrested Monday on 10 felony counts, one for each alleged act. They appealed to the public to come forward to identify other incidents that may have occurred during the last seven years.
Yomtov has taught during that time at the Chedar Menachem School, an all-male Orthodox Jewish school serving about 185 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The school, at 5120 Melrose Ave., was in session behind locked gates as usual Thursday and officials declined to discuss the case beyond issuing a written statement.
« Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and to protect the privacy of our students, parents, teachers and staff, the school will be making no public comment, » the statement said. « We request that our privacy be respected.
« The school is cooperating fully with all applicable authorities, » it said.
Yomtov was arraigned Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. He pleaded not guilty to all counts, and a preliminary hearing was set for Dec. 17 in Judge Michael Sauer’s court. Detectives said the investigation began last month after three students each reported to the LAPD that Yomtov had molested them in a classroom while other students were at recess.
Det. Dale Darraclough said police experience in such cases has been that other students may have been molested too, and so the police are asking anyone with further knowledge to call investigators at a 24-hour toll-free number, (877) 529-3855.
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A Rabbi Is Accused Of Molesting A Student – More Possible Victims
December 6, 2001
LOS ANGELES — There could be more victims. That is the word from Los Angeles police as they probe the case of a Hollywood-area Rabbi arrested on suspicion of child molestation.
Mordechai Yomtov, 36, was arrested Monday on suspicion of committing lewd acts with children younger than 14, said Los Angeles police Officer Grace Brady.
Last month, three of his students at Hollywood’s Chedar Menachem School, 5120 Melrose Ave., reported that the Yomtov kept them in class during recess and molested them during the current school year, she said.
The victims are between 8 and 10 years old, according to police.
Yomtov was charged with 10 felonies in connection with the alleged molestations, police said.
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Instructor at Cheder Menachem grade school accused of molesting boys
By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=7856
December 14, 2001
A rabbi accused of molesting three boys at a Chabad elementary school was arrested Dec. 3 and remained at the L.A. Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail as The Journal went to press.
Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov’s arrest on 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with children came following an investigation by the LAPD after three boys, ages 8 to 10, reported last month that Yomtov was keeping each of them alone in the classroom and molesting them while the other children were at recess.
Yomtov, 36, an Australian-born rabbi with a wife and four children, pleaded not guilty. A preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court is set for Dec. 17.
Yomtov has taught 8- to 10-year-olds for six years at Cheder Menachem, a school with 220 boys, kindergarten through eighth grade, on Melrose Avenue in the Beverly Boulevard-La Brea Avenue neighborhood.
The school issued a written statement following the arrest: « Due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and to protect the privacy of our students, parents, teachers and staff, the school will be making no public comment. » The statement went on, « We request that our privacy be respected. The school is cooperating fully with all applicable authorities. »
Rabbi Chaim Cunin, spokesman for West Coast Chabad, expressed deep pain at the incident and said the school is doing everything possible to cooperate with the authorities.
« In over 36 years and in well over 30 schools that are under the Chabad umbrella on the West Coast, we have never had to deal with anything remotely similar to this, » he said. « It is very painful to even be having this conversation. »
Cunin said Chabad has arranged for therapists and psychiatrists to come to the school and give the parents, teachers and children the tools they need to deal with the incident. « We are doing everything we can do to be there for the community and the school and the parents, and we are doing anything and everything we can to make sure nothing like this should, God forbid, ever happen again, not in our school or in any school or in any community, » he said.
Mental health professionals familiar with the situation said the school seems to be taking all the correct restorative steps to help students, parents and staff cope.
Dr. David Fox, a clinical psychologist and Orthodox rabbi who is not involved with the Cheder Menachem case, said situations of abuse in the Orthodox community arouse feelings of « shock and grave disappointment. »
« We expect our people to conform not just to the general standards of moral decency, but to the Torah system. We expect observant Jewish people to function at the highest level of regard for people’s welfare and for own moral welfare, » he said, adding that nonetheless, in the last seven years or so, « there has been a lot more openness in discussing these issues in discreet forums, and, more and more, the rabbinic community is making use of Orthodox mental health professionals who have specialized training in both prevention and treatment of perpetrators and their victims. »
Fox himself is a leader in Nefesh, the International Association of Orthodox Mental Health Professionals, which, in conjunction with several Orthodox umbrella organizations, put together a think tank in September 2000 to develop prevention models for the Jewish community.
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (JFS), a beneficiary agency of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, has an Orthodox Counseling Division staffed by Orthodox professionals sensitive to the particular cultural and religious milieu of the community.
And, Fox said, he has seen a rise both in the number of articles in rabbinic journals dealing with maladaptive behavior, and in conferences targeting youth leaders, mikvah personnel and educators, to train them how to spot abuse or potentially abusive situations.
Still, he acknowledged, « There has not been an overwhelmingly unanimous receptiveness, because many of these groups hail from a tradition where the problems are dealt with very discreetly and in-house, and they shun publicity. »
Resistance to preventive and educational programs is not exclusive to the Orthodox community, said Sally Weber, director of Jewish Community Programs for JFS, which has developed Steps to Safety, an abuse prevention program involving children, parents and educators that has been presented at some Los Angeles preschools and day schools.
There are still a lot of barriers to realizing that this happens in the Jewish community and in Jewish schools. There is a certain resistance to the urgency of it, » she said.
Weber is meeting this week with several Orthodox principals to review the program and see what changes would be necessary to make the script more appropriate for the observant community.
The program involves one session each for teachers, parents and children. It begins with training educators to spot signs of abuse and reviewing the legal issues around reporting suspected abuse. JFS also works with schools to have a system in place so that any abuse can be handled appropriately and efficiently.
JFS professionals let parents know what their children will be learning and teach them how to talk to their children about body privacy and abuse. The program for children, tailored to age levels, reviews what is inappropriate behavior, how to get out of uncomfortable situations, and how to tell a trusted adult.
One Orthodox mental health professional says the work should not be left just to schools, but should begin at home with children as young as preschool age.
« The children need to be taught how and when to say no; they need to be taught that anytime an adult says ‘don’t tell your Mommy or Daddy,’ that you have to tell, even if they [the adult] says Mommy and Daddy won’t love you, » she said.
Fox said that while he and other professionals are not adopting an attitude of « I told you so, » there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that cases like the one at Cheder Menachem, devastating as it is, can only help increase awareness.
« There’s always been a kill-the-messenger attitude in religious circles when someone blows the whistle or tries to alert those in charge to the presence of a deviant or a molester or an abuser, » Fox said. « Everyone used to hush these things up, and no one likes to be reminded that these pathologies can seep into religious circles. But when, to our chagrin, some of these situations do attract publicity, there is some satisfaction in the mental health community that now, maybe we will take appropriate steps to offer some prevention. »
For more information on Steps to Safety, contact Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles at (323) 761-8800. Anyone with information relating to this case should call the LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit, Monday thru Friday at (213) 485-2883. On weekends and evenings, call the Detective Information Desk at (877) 529-3855.
Two Rabbis Are Charged In Sexual Abuse on a Plane
By ROBERT D. MCFADDEN
New York Times – June 2, 1995
The chief rabbi of a Hungarian Hasidic congregation in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and his assistant rabbi were charged in Los Angeles yesterday with sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl on a flight from Melbourne, Australia, where the men had been on a lecture tour. The rabbis denied the allegations.
The suspects, Rabbi Israel Grunwald, 44, the head of Congregation Tuldos Yakov Yosef, and his assistant, Rabbi Yehudah Friedlander, 44, were arrested as they stepped off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday on the basis of a complaint made during the flight by a sobbing girl and radioed ahead, Federal officials said.
Arraigned in Los Angeles yesterday before a United States magistrate, Carolyn Turchin, Rabbi Grunwald was released on $10,000 bail for a June 21 preliminary hearing on a Federal charge of sexually touching a minor, an offense with maximum penalties of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Rabbi Friedlander, who was charged with more extensive sexual abuse, was held for further investigation after the court was told he had admitted some of the acts to Federal agents, though contending that the girl had encouraged him, and that Rabbi Friedlander had pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree sexual abuse in Monticello, N.Y., in 1991. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years and a $250,000 fine.
Neither suspect entered a formal plea during the hearings, which were attended by dozens of rabbis from Los Angeles and New York in support of their colleagues. But outside the court, Mitchell Egers, a lawyer representing both men, said his clients vehemently denied the charges.
« These are fine, decent, moral men, highly respected and looked up to by thousands of people in their community, » Mr. Egers said. He said neither rabbi knew the girl, who is American, and he called the case « a mixup » and said he was « confident that the truth will emerge and that we’ll all be happy. »
Rabbi Bernard Freilich, administrator of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Borough Park, which represents 250 Jewish congregations, said Rabbi Grunwald was the son of Josef Grunwald, the late Grand Rabbi of the Pupa Hasidim, who transplanted Holocaust survivors from Pupa, Hungary, to Brooklyn after World War II.
Today, the sect has more than 12,000 members in Monsey, N.Y., Montreal, London and Jerusalem, as well as in Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn. Yakov Grunwald, the founder’s eldest son, is the Grand Rabbi and head of the Williamsburg community, and Israel Grunwald leads several hundred families in Borough Park.
The acts were said to have occurred on United Air Lines Flight 842 over the Pacific. Federal prosecutors, who assumed jurisdiction under laws governing United States aircraft in flight, said the girl, whose name was withheld because of her age — she turned 15 during the flight — had accused Rabbi Grunwald, after first engaging her in conversation, of reaching across an empty seat, placing his hand under her shirt and touching her breast.
The girl’s detailed complaint said Rabbi Friedlander, who had been sitting on the far side of his colleague, exchanged seats with Rabbi Grunwald, and made a series of unwanted approaches while the cabin lights were dimmed for movies and rest periods during the long overnight flight.
She said he forced his hand under her clothing and touched her breast repeatedly and her vagina, despite her pleas for him to stop and her efforts to push his hand away. The girl said she finally began sobbing and retreated to the lavatory.
An affidavit by Mark Van Steenburg, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s senior agent at the Los Angeles Airport, said that another passenger, Sheila Myers, seated across an aisle just forward of the girl, told him she saw Rabbi Friedlander grope the girl for five to eight minutes under a blanket and alerted the flight crew.
Mr. Van Steenburg said Rabbi Friedlander told him the girl had put his hand on her breast twice, and on her pelvic area. « I did it, I shouldn’t have done it, but it happened, » the agent quoted the rabbi as saying.
The allegations stunned the rabbis’ colleagues, neighbors and members of their community in Borough Park, many of whom called the actions unthinkable and the charges unbelievable, possibly trumped up by the teen-aged girl. They also complained that the rabbis, who were dressed in their traditional black garb and wore beards and sidecurls, had been humiliated by Federal agents who handcuffed them as they stepped off the plane.
« It’s the most shocking thing I could ever think of, » said a neighbor of Rabbi Grunwald, who lives with his family above his synagogue at 1137 53d Street.
Rabbi Freilich spoke of « tremendous anger in the Jewish community » over the charges, and said: « It is impossible that an Orthodox Hasidic person would even speak to a female, much less touch her. Our information is that she was trying to get into a conversation with them. To us, it looks like she drummed up a charge. »
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Grand jury to hear sexual misconduct case involving rabbis
by TOM TUGEND
Jewish Telegraphic Agency – June 9, 1995
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk950609/uscase.htm
LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities will decide next week whether to seek indictments of a respected Chassidic rabbi and his assistant, both of whom have been charged with sexually abusing a 15-year old girl on a flight from Australia to Los Angeles.
The assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Joel Thvedt, said he intended to present the case to a grand jury, which would decide whether to prosecute.
The accused are Rabbi Israel Grunwald of Brooklyn, a leader of the Hungarian Pupa Chassidim, and his assistant, Yehudah Friedlander, both 44 years old.
Their arrests have sparked outrage in the Chassidic and Orthodox communities of New York, while Los Angeles rabbis moved quickly to aid their colleagues.
Both of the accused have vehemently denied the charges, according to their attorney, Mitchell W. Egers.
After a hearing here June 2, U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Turchin released Grunwald on $10,000 bail. He immediately flew back to New York.
Grunwald, charged with sexually touching a minor, faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he is convicted.
Friedlander remained in detention over the Sabbath and the Shavuot holiday, despite Egers’ protests. He was being held pending clarification of the disposition of a 1991 arrest in New York state, in which he was charged with a sexual offense.
On Tuesday, Turchin denied a cash bail to Friedlander, calling him « a danger to society. »
The judge said Friedlander only would be released if someone put up his or her house with equity valued at least at $100,000.
If convicted, Friedlander, who was charged with more extensive sexual abuse, faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Friedlander has been identified in the media as a rabbi or « assistant rabbi, » but according to Egers and New York sources, he is actually a non-rabbinical assistant.
A nine-page affidavit submitted to the court by an FBI agent, which cites statements by the young girl, a witness on the plane and Friedlander, alleges a number of occurrences during the long United Air Lines overnight flight.
The girl, an American traveling alone, accused Grunwald of leaning across an empty seat and, following some conversation, touching her necklace and fondling her breasts.
At some point, Friedlander allegedly exchanged seats with Grunwald, and while the cabin lights were dimmed, Friedlander allegedly groped and fondled the girl’s private parts and breast for some five to eight minutes, the complaint charged.
The teenager told authorities that she tried to fend off the advances but was too embarrassed to call for help. However, a woman passenger observed the alleged incident, talked to the girl and then notified the flight crew, which radioed a report to authorities.
When the plane landed in Los Angeles, FBI agents, who assumed jurisdiction under the laws governing American aircraft in flight, arrested the two men.
One agent quoted Friedlander as telling him that it was the girl who initiated the advances, adding that « I shouldn’t have done it, but it happened. »
Egers said Friedlander was « in a state of shock and deeply upset that the whole Jewish world » knows about the accusations.
Egers, a veteran trial lawyer with close ties to the Orthodox community, said when he and his two clients appeared in court last week, he was « besieged by armies of reporters, with just about all the media from New York and Los Angeles on hand. » For a day, « we were bigger than the O.J. Simpson case. »
Reaction to the arrests was sharpest in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, where Grunwald serves as rabbi of Congregation Tuldos Yacov Yosef.
Rabbi Bernard Freilich, administrator of the Council of Jewish Organizations in Boro Park, told The New York Times that « people are outraged at these charges. They are unbelievable, impossible nonsense. It is impossible that an Orthodox Chassidic person would even speak to a female, much less touch her. »
Rabbi Abner Weiss of the Orthodox Beth Jacob Congregation in Beverly Hills took a less categorical view. He was being installed as the new president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California when he received word of the arrests.
In his first act in office, Weiss conferred with Aaron Kriegel, a Conservative rabbi who serves as prison chaplain, to assure that the two Chasidim would receive kosher food. Weiss said he personally bought loaves of challah for Grunwald and Friedlander.
Without passing judgment on the case, Weiss, who holds a graduate degree in psychology, noted that, in general, « Jews are not immune to any kind of illness, physical or mental. »
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Officials Seize Records Of Jewish Charity Group
By JOSEPH P. FRIED
New York Times – November 20, 1996
Federal and city agents seized records from a politically influential social-services group in Brooklyn yesterday, and an investigator said they were examining whether government money and charitable contributions to the group had been illegally diverted for other uses.
The group, the Council of Jewish Organizations of Borough Park, whose programs include job training and aid to local businesses and immigrants, has long been an essential stop for politicians seeking support from Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn.
Yesterday, agents from the Internal Revenue Service, the Postal Inspection Service and the city’s Department of Investigation arrived at the group’s headquarters at 5224 13th Avenue, in the bustling commercial heart of Borough Park, and carted off dozens of boxes of records and files, as bystanders gathered on the street outside.
The executive assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn, William Muller, would say only that ‘‘a search warrant from this district was executed this morning at the offices’’ of the council, which is widely known in Borough Park as COJO. But Mr. Muller declined to provide any other information, saying that the court papers submitted to support the request for a search warrant were sealed.
Another official involved in the investigation, however, who insisted on anonymity, said, ‘‘There are allegations that charitable contributions and Federal and state money that went into the council were being used for personal expenses.’’
The official declined to say who might have misappropriated the money, saying only, ‘‘We’re looking at a number of people.’’
The council has close links to Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat, who represents the area. He has obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in state money for the council and its affiliates, which in turn have doled out lucrative consulting contracts to Mr. Hikind’s aides, political advisers and at least one of his relatives.
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it would be unfair to describe Mr. Hikind, or any other individual, as a target of the investigation, which he described as in an early stage.
Mr. Hikind issued a statement through his office yesterday that said: ‘‘COJO is a communal organization affiliated with the Borough Park community for over 20 years. Until the investigation is completed, I have no further comment.’’
Last summer, the Assemblyman said that once he obtained state money for the council, he did not monitor how the organization spent it, but that he thought that the money had been used properly for charitable works. He also termed preposterous any notion that he expected the council to provide jobs for his aides in return for the funds. Nonetheless, he said, he would no longer allow people in his office to work for the council.
The only official of the council who could be reached yesterday, Rabbi Bernard Freilich, the director of administration, said he had no idea what the investigators were looking for yesterday and what records they took. ‘‘I wasn’t there,’’ he said.
Among those who could not be reached at the council’s offices or at their homes were the council’s executive director, Rabbi Morris Shmidman.
The council coordinates the work of 200 Jewish organizations in Borough Park, a stronghold of Orthodox Jewish life in New York City. The council’s events have long drawn candidates for office, who are well aware of the strong voter turnout among Orthodox Jews in the city, and its officials enjoy good relations with elected officials from City Hall to Albany to Washington.
When he was running for mayor three years ago, for example, Rudolph W. Giuliani spoke before the council. At its annual awards dinner in 1989, Mayor Edward I. Koch, in an unsuccessful campaign for re-election, gave the keynote address, while two Democratic rivals, David N. Dinkins, who defeated him that year, and Richard Ravitch, were also on hand.
Politicians have not been the only ones the council has helped.
Inside its building yesterday evening, classes in English were being held for immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Others in the area also spoke of what it had done for them.
‘‘They helped me find a job in a camera store,’’ Stanley Goldstein, 40 years old, said after the Federal and city investigators had left with the records.
‘‘It’s a place you go to for help,’’ he added. ‘‘As far as I know, it was a good organization.’’
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Brooklyn Rabbi Charged With Witness Tampering
New York Times – May 16, 1999
A prominent Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn has been accused of making death threats against a woman scheduled to testify against her father on rape charges, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
The rabbi, Bernard Freilich, was charged with misdemeanor witness tampering on Thursday, said Kevin Davitt, a spokesman for the Kings County District Attorney’s office. Mr. Davitt added that prosecutors would seek to upgrade the charge to a felony next week.
Prosecutors at his arraignment could have already charged Rabbi Freilich with the felony. But Mr. Davitt said that they chose to wait because the police in Borough Park, where the rabbi lives, insisted that he be charged with a misdemeanor.
Marilyn Mode, a spokeswoman for the Police Department, refused to comment on Mr. Davitt’s statement, except to say, ‘‘It is the District Attorney who decides the charges.’’
Rabbi Freilich, who has been active in political and civic issues in Borough Park and is a special assistant to State Police Superintendent James McMahon, went to the woman’s home in Borough Park on April 25 and warned her that she ‘‘would end up in the cemetery’’ if she testified against her father, according to officials with the Kings County District Attorney’s office. Rabbi Freilich pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment on Thursday.
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Rabbi on state police payroll
River Reporter – May 27, 1999
http://www.riverreporter.com/issues/99-05-27/brief.htm
ALBANY — New York State has been paying a Brooklyn rabbi $76,000 a year as a « spiritual advisor » to the state police, according to a Times Herald-Record report.
Rabbi Bernard Freilich was paid by the Health Department and drove an unmarked state police car, but neither agency is saying exactly what he was doing.
Others say the rabbi acted as cultural and language interpreter for the Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, but no similar interpreters are maintained for other religious or cultural groups.
Freilich was recently suspended from the job after New York City police charged him with intimidating a woman who planned to testify in support of her charge that she was raped by her father.
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A prominent Hasidic rabbi has been charged with making death threats
Associated Press – June 23, 1999
http://www.thelinkup.com/crimes99b.html
NEW YORK CITY — A prominent Hasidic rabbi has been charged with making death threats against a 22-year-old woman to keep her from testifying that her father raped her as a child.
Rabbi Bernard Freilich, 47, allegedly went to the woman’s home earlier this year and told her he « would teach her a lesson and send her to the cemetery » if she took the stand, court papers said. A grand jury indicted Freilich on felony charges of witness-tampering, witness intimidation, and harassment. If convicted, he would face up to 4 years in prison.
Freilich had pleaded not guilty in May to misdemeanor charges in the same case. His lawyer said he will enter the same plea when he’s arraigned on the more serious charges next month. The attorney described his client as a community leader who prides himself on his connections to law enforcement. Before he was first charged, Freilich had been a special assistant to a superintendent in the New York State Police.
The lawyer said Freilich does not know his accuser, whose name was not released. But prosecutors have said the rabbi and the woman’s father are close friends. The father was charged in Feb. with first-degree rape, incest, sex abuse, and harassment in the pending criminal case. He was arrested again on April 22 after allegedly violating an order of protection by pounding on his daughter’s door and warning her it would be her last day unless she withdrew her accusations.
Prosecutors say that three days later — with the daughter about to testify before a grand jury — Freilich went to her home and threatened her; allegedly repeating the threats the next day. Another Borough Park man also has been charged with trying to get the woman to drop the charges
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Rabbi Is Charged With Threatening a Witness in a Rape Case
By KIT R. ROANE
New York Times – June 23, 1999
A prominent Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn was indicted yesterday on felony charges that he made death threats against a woman scheduled to testify that her father had repeatedly raped her as a child, officials with the Kings County District Attorney’s office said.
The rabbi, Bernard Freilich, 47, of Borough Park, was charged by a grand jury with witness tampering, witness intimidation and harassment, said Kevin Davitt, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s office. If convicted of the most serious charges — tampering with a witness and intimidation of a witness — Rabbi Freilich could spend up to four years in prison, Mr. Davitt said.
Noting that Rabbi Freilich had previously pleaded innocent to misdemeanor charges of the same crimes, the rabbi’s lawyer, George Meissner, said his client would also plead innocent to the felonies. He is to be arraigned in about two weeks.
‘‘He’s not guilty, absolutely not guilty,’’ Mr. Meissner said, adding that the community supports his client. He said he did not know whether the father and daughter were members of the rabbi’s congregation. Prosecutors said the rabbi and the father were close friends.
Mr. Meissner said that his client had repeatedly offered to take a polygraph test, if his accusers would do the same.
‘‘Why these people picked on him, I have no idea,’’ he said.
Mr. Davitt noted yesterday that the results of polygraph tests are not admissible in court. ‘‘It would have no value to either party,’’ he said.
According to prosecutors, on April 25, Mr. Freilich went to the home of the woman, whose name was not released, and warned her that she ‘‘would end up in the cemetery’’ if she testified against her father.
The father was charged on Feb. 28 with first-degree rape, incest, sexual abuse and harassment. Prosecutors said he repeatedly molested his daughter over several years. The father was arrested again in April and charged with witness tampering and criminal contempt. Despite a restraining order, prosecutors said, he pounded on his daughter’s door, yelling that unless she took back the charges, it would be her last day on earth.
Prosecutors said Pinchas Shor, another prominent member of the Borough Park neighborhood, has also been charged with witness tampering in the case.
Asked why Rabbi Freilich was not originally charged with felony counts, Mr. Davitt said that police officials at the 66th Precinct station house in Borough Park had been insistent that the charges remain misdemeanors. Mr. Davitt declined to speculate on their motivation.
Before he was charged, Rabbi Freilich had been a special assistant and spiritual adviser to Superintendent James McMahon of the New York State Police. He has been suspended without pay, according to the state police and his lawyer.
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N.Y. rabbi accused of death threats
JTA – July 9, 1999
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk990709/usrabbi.shtml
NEW YORK (JTA) — A New York grand jury late last month indicted a rabbi on charges that he made death threats against a woman scheduled to testify that her father had raped her as a child.
Bernard Freilich of Boro Park, Brooklyn, is scheduled to be arraigned this month on felony charges of witness tampering, witness intimidation and harassment.
A lawyer for Freilich, who has been suspended from his job as special assistant and spiritual adviser to the New York state police, said he would plead innocent to the charges. The woman’s father has been charged with first-degree rape, witness-tampering and criminal contempt.
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METROPOLITAN DESK
Rabbi’s Lawyer Expects to Face Charges in Death Threat Case
By ANDY NEWMAN
New York Times – July 14, 1999
The lawyer for a Brooklyn rabbi charged with making death threats against a woman scheduled to testify in a rape case expects to be indicted today, the lawyer’s attorney said last night.
The lawyer, George S. Meissner, does not know what the charges are, only that ‘‘an indictment will be unsealed,’’ said his attorney, Benjamin Brafman. But a person familiar with the case against the rabbi said that the charges against Mr. Meissner stemmed from the case involving the rabbi and might include conspiracy. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office declined to comment.
Mr. Meissner, a prominent, politically active lawyer with close ties to the Orthodox Jewish community, is defending Bernard Freilich, a rabbi in Borough Park who was indicted last month on charges of witness tampering, witness intimidation and harassment.
Prosecutors say that in April, Mr. Freilich went to the home of a woman who was scheduled to testify that her father had repeatedly raped her when she was a child and told her she would ‘‘end up in the cemetery’’ if she testified. Mr. Freilich was arraigned yesterday.
Mr. Brafman said that whatever the charges against Mr. Meissner turned out to be, he was not guilty.
‘‘All I can say is that Mr. Meissner is one of the most respected, talented lawyers in the city and this has got to be a terrible mistake,’’ Mr. Brafman said. ‘‘We are confident that when all the facts come out, he will be completely vindicated.’’
Mr. Meissner, who has been a lawyer for more than 40 years, is known for his work in several high-profile cases. He was the lawyer for the Council of Jewish Organizations of Borough Park, a powerful vote-producing group.
Mr. Meissner was also a longtime paid director of the state Division of Servicemen’s Voting until he resigned in 1991 under pressure from Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.
In another political era, he was the lawyer and associate of Meade Esposito, the longtime Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman.
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METROPOLITAN DESK
2 Lawyers Join 2 Rabbis Accused of Tampering
New York Times – July 15, 1999
Two lawyers were charged yesterday in a widening witness-tampering case involving a Brooklyn man accused of raping his daughter.
The lawyers, George Meissner and Richard Finkel, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to intimidate the woman who accused her father of rape. Prosecutors say the lawyers were acting on behalf of a client, Rabbi Bernard Freilich. Rabbi Freilich is one of two rabbis previously charged with threatening to harm the woman, who is 22, if she testified against her father, a member of Borough Park’s Orthodox Jewish community.
The father was charged last February with first-degree rape, incest and sexual abuse for attacks that prosecutors say occurred in 1996 and 1997. He was arrested again on April 22 on charges that he violated an order of protection by pounding on his daughter’s door and warning her that it would be her last day unless she withdrew her accusations.
An indictment alleges that Mr. Meissner and Mr. Finkel arranged a meeting with the woman in May in which Mr. Meissner told her that if she did not drop her accusations, she ‘‘would be punished for unrelated matters.’’
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Lawyers charged in probe of rabbis
JTA – August 6, 1999
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk990806/usreport.shtml
NEW YORK (JTA) — Two lawyers were among those charged last month with conspiring to intimidate a witness in a widening incest-rape case involving two rabbis in Brooklyn.
George Meissner and Richard Finkel previously represented Rabbi Bernard Freilich, who is accused of attempting to prevent a woman from testifying that her father repeatedly raped her when she was a child. Freilich and Rabbi Pinchas Shor pleaded not guilty to separate charges last month.
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Rabbi Is Acquitted In Death Threat Case
New York Times – March 7, 2000
A prominent Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn was acquitted of felony charges yesterday that he had made death threats against a young woman who had accused her father of raping her.
The rabbi, Bernard Freilich, 48, of Borough Park, was charged with witness intimidation and witness tampering last June after prosecutors presented evidence that the rabbi had gone to the woman’s home in April and warned her that she would ‘‘end up in the cemetery’’ if she testified against her father.
During the jury trial in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, the prosecutors tried to show that Rabbi Freilich had been close friends with the father of the young woman, who told the Brooklyn district attorney’s office that she was raped in 1997. Rabbi Freilich’s lawyer, Peter R. Schlam, contended that his client was not friends with the man and thus had no motivation to have threatened her.
Two lawyers, George S. Meissner and Richard Finkel, and three other men continue to face charges of witness tampering; they are suspected of trying to prod the woman’s husband into dropping charges. Another rabbi, Pinchas Shor, is facing charges of having threatened the woman. The woman’s father is awaiting trial.
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Orthodox Jews, Angered Over Recent Cases, Up in Arms Against Brooklyn D.A. – Hynes and His `Haman’
by Rebecca Segall
Village Voice – March 15 – 21, 2000
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0011/segall.php
Influential Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn are calling for the removal of District Attorney Charles J. Hynes following the acquittal last week of Bernard Freilich, a prominent Hasidic rabbi, on charges of witness tampering. Coming in the wake of a grand jury’s failure to indict four cops accused in the killing of Gidone Busch in Boro Park last year, the Freilich prosecution is seen as the latest in a series of wrongs directed against the Orthodox community.
In the Freilich case, an immigrant couple, Moshe Israel and Anna Shapiro, alleged that the popular Boro Park rabbi—who until his arrest was also a special assistant to the state police—threatened to have them killed unless they dropped allegations of incest and rape against Ms. Shapiro’s father.
« Hynes went after Freilich with a vengeance, » says Rabbi Leib Glanz, a leader of the Satmar Hasidic community, referring to the D.A.’s decision to assign two top deputies, Michael Vecchione and Jay Shapiro—his lead prosecutor on death penalty cases—to the Freilich case.
In a dramatic response to Freilich’s acquittal, about 2000 Boro Park residents attended a celebration in his honor on Saturday at the Satmar Hasidic shul. On Sunday, the head rabbis of each ultra-Orthodox sect in Boro Park met with Freilich, and in speech after speech referred to him and their community as having survived « persecution and prosecution. »
« This is a man with 25 years of service in the public life of Boro Park, » Rabbi Glanz told the Voice. « He was instrumental in creating Tomche Shabbos, » an organization that feeds thousands of Hasidic families each week.
During the trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Ms. Shapiro testified that Freilich had come to the couple’s Boro Park home last April on the day before she was to give grand jury testimony, and told them that if she testified they would wind up « in the cemetery. » After she appeared, she alleged, Freilich showed up again and pledged to make good on the threat. Freilich maintains he has never spoken to the couple.
Since his acquittal, Freilich—who friends say once got up at sunrise to help Hynes’s campaign—warns the D.A. of political trouble ahead. « The community doesn’t trust Hynes anymore, » Freilich says, « and he’s obviously going to have problems regaining their support. »
As family members celebrated Freilich’s victory, an uncle gave a short vort (talk) over kosher Chinese cuisine: « This month is Purim, the holiday that commemorates Jewish freedom from their Persian persecutor, Haman. Today, the wicked Haman has once again been defeated by the pious Mordechai—this time Freilich. » One way to interpret the analogy, he explained, is that « the prosecutor, Vecchione could be Haman, while Hynes, his enabler, is the King. »
« I will not be excited to support Hynes again, » Glanz told the Voice. « It’s unlikely that anyone running against him will be worse. »
In a March 10 editorial, the ultraconservative Jewish Press declared: « What bewilders us is the alacrity with which D.A. Hynes indicts persons such as Rabbi Freilich, which is in sharp contrast to his categorical reluctance to [indict the] police officers who shoot a Jew dead on the streets of Boro Park. In our view, there is something very wrong in the way business is conducted in the Brooklyn D.A.’s office. »
« I’ll put it to you this way, » says Reb Avraham, a prominent Hasidic activist who goes only by that name, « regarding the Busch case, the Boro Park community is more furious with Hynes than they are with Giuliani. Hynes was supposed to oversee a fair investigation, » but failed to indict the four cops involved in the shooting of Busch, 31, in Boro Park.
Doris Busch Boskey, Busch’s mother, alleges: « Hynes never had any intention of getting an indictment, and he didn’t even pursue the possibility of lesser charges. I hope my son’s ghost hangs heavy over Hynes, Giuliani, and Police Commissioner Howard Safir as a constant reminder of his senseless murder and the lack of accountability and justice. »
Raphael Eisenberg, a witness to the Busch shooting who testified at the grand jury hearing at which the officers were cleared, told the Voice that the D.A.’s office seemed to be looking for any minor discrepancy to invalidate testimonies. « Hynes’s career is dependent on his popularity among the police, » he asserted.
Reb Avraham maintains that anti-Hynes feelings are now so strong that many Orthodox Jews would join with African Americans— »two communities that have been wronged by Hynes »—to elect a black moderate. « He did some good, but it’s over now what with the legacy of Busch, Freilich, and other cases. »
Avraham translates the last line of a full-page editorial in the March 10 edition of Nayis Baricht (News Report), a major Yiddish-language paper: « . . . perhaps the time has come for [Hynes] to bring his political career to an end and retire while it can still be said that the good of his administration outweighs the bad. »
According to many ultra-Orthodox Jews, there has been much good. For the last decade Hynes has enjoyed a cozy relationship with Brooklyn’s Orthodox communities. Henna White, a Lubavitch woman who serves as Hynes’s liaison to the Jewish community, points to what she sees as culturally sensitive preventive programs for pedophiles, batterers, and drug users that Hynes’s office has initiated over the last two years.
« Hynes is a very caring D.A., » she maintains, « and the community knows it. The recent incidents are not going to influence Boro Park’s feelings toward Hynes. » White says she was particularly impressed by the way Hynes handled the Crown Heights riots.
However, following the Freilich case, Hasidic leaders who attended the trial are alleging that one of Hynes’s aides made anti-Semitic comments during his summation. Last week, the Jewish Press promised to print portions of the summation—which is currently being transcribed—in upcoming issues, allowing readers to « judge for themselves the appropriateness of some of his comments. » Last year in another controversial case that left the Orthodox community in a state of fury, the same aide allegedly made comments in private to a prominent rabbi and to his lawyer that were construed as anti-Semitic. The lawyer on that case, Roger Adler, told the Voice, « I was shocked when the aide made comments that sounded like more personal attacks on my client than intellectual discourse regarding his innocence.
After Freilich was indicted last year, Orthodox leaders reached out to black Brooklyn assemblyman Clarence Norman—a close friend of Hynes’s—beseeching him to share their concerns with the D.A. The Hasidic community has made other unorthodox alliances regarding Hynes. Park Avenue Synagogue rabbi David Lincoln wrote to Hynes asking why he took such an aggressive stand against Freilich, whom he described as « an outstanding man. » Lincoln told the Voice that Hynes has spoken at his synagogue at least once, « but I think he has lost some credibility over this matter. »
Andrew Stettner, executive director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, agrees. « We are disappointed with the D.A. Across the board in the Jewish world—and in the Asian and black communities—there is a widespread feeling of injustice. » JFREJ has been organizing events at which secular and religious participants have united in support of petitioning Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the Busch case.
In the aftermath of the Busch and Diallo cases, the United Jewish Appeal’s Young Lawyers Committee met two weeks ago with Reverend Calvin Butts of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church and Gidone Busch’s brother Glenn Busch, a New York-based lawyer. « In my brother’s case, Hynes never indicted, » Busch told the group. « We need independent prosecutors in police brutality cases. »
On March 5, Congressman Jerrold Nadler reproved attendees at a UJA professional breakfast in Manhattan for not putting more pressure on the Justice Department to help the Busch family, implicitly criticizing Hynes’s office.
« There are certainly questions that have gone unanswered, » he said, such as, « What went wrong in this investigation? »
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Brooklyn rabbi acquitted
JTA – March 16, 2000
http://www.njjewishnews.com/issues/3_16_00/cj/world/text/story8.html
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk000324/usreport.shtml
NEW YORK (JTA) — A leading rabbi in Brooklyn was acquitted of having made death threats against a woman who had accused her father of rape.
Five witnesses still face witness-tampering charges in the case in which Rabbi Bernard Freilich was found innocent. The woman’s father still must stand trial on the rape charges.
Cantor Charged in Prostitution Ring. Jerusalem Post, January 31, 2000
« Members of Chicago’s Jewish community are expressing shock and dismay about the arrest of a former synagogue cantor and his wife of a few weeks. The two were charged in connection with a prostitution ring. Joel Gordon, 51, who has served at several Chicago-area synagogues, was charged November 21 with keeping a house of prostitution following a police raid on three massage parlors, operated out of private apartments in the northern suburbs. His wife, Alison Ginsberg, 23, was charged with prostitution and keeping a house of prostitution. Gordon was most recently the cantor and spiritual leader of Congregation Shirat Emet, a now-defunct synagogue in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, Illinois. »
JTA – March 23, 2001
CHICAGO (JTA) — A Chicago-area cantor accused of running a brothel has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In a brief appearance Dec. 26 in Cook County Circuit Court, Cantor Joel Gordon, 52, and his wife Alison Ginsberg, 23, pleaded not guilty to charges of keeping a house of prostitution and, in her case, also to committing acts of prostitution.
In the small, crowded courtroom of Judge Lawrence Terrell, Gordon and Ginsberg requested additional time to review extensive discovery evidence, gathered during a 10-week investigation by an undercover policewoman. The next court date was set for Feb. 27.
The investigation focused on three Cook County apartments used by employees of Golden Touch Massage, said by the Cook County Sheriff’s Police to be a cover for a prostitution operation. The officer applied for a job with Golden Touch and was told she could make between $600 to $1,100 a day, but the activities would be « illegal, » the sheriff’s department said.
Gordon and Ginsberg were arrested Nov. 21 along with several others. Gordon resigned from the Cantors’ Assembly a few days later.
Neither the couple nor their attorney answered questions as they left the courtroom.
Gordon was a cantor at other local Reform congregations before serving Congregation Shirat Emet, in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, Ill. Shirat Emet disbanded in mid-2000.
The Reform temple grew from about 50 families in 1995, when it broke from Temple Chai in Long Grove, Ill., to more than 275 families in 1997. Key leaders began to leave in 1999 when they wanted to add a rabbi to the professional staff and Gordon rejected the idea.
Two former congregation members attended the Dec. 26 court proceedings.
Sam Bell, an attorney, said, « all who put their trust in him and who knew him feel incredibly betrayed. »
Howard Peritz, another lawyer and one of the original members of Shirat Emet, said of Gordon: « He changed from the person we had all known. He was quick to fly off the handle, and rumors about inappropriate behavior were around for years. We now realize that in starting a congregation around a man, we were canonizing him. »
Jewish Resources
Articles
First Person
Shouldering the Burden of Incest
by Anonymous
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles – 01/28/2005
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=13576
When you go to the synagogue, you just might be sitting next to someone who sexually abused his daughter. You might be shaking his hand, admiring his charming demeanor, thinking how lucky his family is to have him. I should know. People sit next to my father all the time. Not only that, but they make sure to tell me about it.
Take a recent scenario at my local congregation: Two seconds after I walked through the door, a friendly acquaintance informed me that my father had visited there just a few weeks back. Good thing I didn’t go that day, I thought to myself. She continued to describe to me how vibrant he had looked, « as always, » and how lovely it had been to see him. The woman’s intention, of course, was to compliment me by showering praise on my father. Instead, she left me clutching tightly inside myself and forgetting to breathe.
« That’s nice, » I replied. « I haven’t seen him in 14 years. »
The woman stammered around a bit, apologized, and concluded with, « But I’m sure you’ll be glad to know he’s doing well. »
Well, actually, that depends on the day.
About 15 minutes later, another woman informed me (just in case I hadn’t heard yet) that my father had visited the congregation a few weeks earlier. She knows these things, she continued, because she is a close friend of his second ex-wife.
« I don’t want to talk about it, » I interrupted her.
« Oh, well I’m not talking about it, I was just saying that he visited here, and I’m good friends with… »
« I don’t want to talk about it, » I repeated, putting my hand up in a stop motion.
« Well, I was just saying that I’m friends with them… »
« I don’t want to talk about it, » I said a third time, adding a « no » head shake for emphasis.
She stopped, then could not think of anything else to say.
« How’s your son doing? Is he here? » I offered, hoping to move the conversation in a more pleasant direction.
« Yes he is, » she replied, « and in fact, I’m taking these cookies over to him. »
She bid me Shabbat Shalom and left. The woman could not get away from me fast enough.
Considering how common incest is, not to mention the preponderance of other forms of domestic violence — I do not cease to be amazed by people’s insensitivity regarding my father. Short of answering, « My father sexually abused me, and discussing him is retraumatizing me, » I have tried every possible approach in getting people to shut up. Not only have they not respected my clear boundaries, but they have gone so far as to make assumptions about what must have happened with my father. A favored scenario has been that he and I had a squabble, and I am too stubborn to forgive him.
One man, who had this notion in his head, repeatedly brought me fliers announcing my father’s latest presentations. He and another man made statements like, « We have to figure out a way to get you and your father back together. »
Even after I hinted, « You really have no clue what goes on behind closed doors, » one of them persisted in his self-appointed mission to save my family.
These interactions have left me profoundly shaken up — physically, as well as emotionally — and have eaten up days and days of my time, dedicated to recovering from each incident. They have caused me to avoid Mizrahi and Sephardi communities; to leave a community organization I cofounded; and to stop attending synagogue services. Given my resulting isolation from Jewish community life, I even stopped observing Shabbat and the holidays; they became too lonely and depressing.
For philosophical, moral and emotional reasons, I refuse to plaster a big fake smile on my face and let people ramble on glowingly about a man who made my childhood miserable. Every time someone starts in on it with me, I feel an overwhelming urge to scream out the truth.
I have no interest in publicly shaming my father. I have silenced my own voice for two-thirds of my life, in fact, in an effort to protect him. In addition, it feels risky to « come out » about my experience. I do not want people pathologizing or pitying me.
And yet, I am tired of holding this burden, and I know there are many like me out there. So I offer my story in an effort to wake up the Jewish community, to let people know that the abuse is happening all around us, that we are not immune to violence. Our friends, colleagues, teachers and rabbis are among both the perpetrators and survivors. Abuse does not happen to « them. »
When we recognize this reality — when we speak and listen in ways that allow for the possibility that people are survivors or current victims, and when we hold perpetrators accountable for their actions, yet approach them with compassion, we will all shoulder the burden of violence together. As such, our community will take one giant step toward healing.
The writer is an author and journalist who lives in Israel and the Bay Area. The Journalist requested we withhold her byline for legal purposes.
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An open secret
By Larry Derfner
The Jerusalem Post – July 21, 2000, Friday
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 16
‘Not long ago we had a boy, seven years old, whose father was committing incest against him, and he climbed to the roof of his school and tried to jump. We asked him why, and he said, ‘So my body will break into pieces and I won’t have to suffer anymore.’ »
Dr. Hanita Zimrin has too many such shocking stories to tell. « I’ve seen cases of incest with an infant, (and) it’s not unusual at all to get victims of three or four years old, » notes the director of ELI – The Israel Association for Child Protection.
Even when it was never admitted or discussed, incest existed in Israel. In the last couple of years, though, the problem has become much more acute. It’s happening more often, and the victims are getting younger and younger.
Kids being kids, they are beginning to imitate their elders. « A family came in this week – the parents are professionals, well-educated, financially well-off. The mother accidentally saw her son and daughter, one is 12, the other is 10, naked together and playing. She said it wasn’t just childhood curiosity, » says Zimrin.
Consequently, ELI, which until now has treated only child victims of abuse, is opening a new division at its Tel Aviv therapy clinic for child perpetrators of child abuse.
Incest is also becoming crueler. Fathers are sharing their daughters – over 90% of incest victims are girls, notes Zimrin – with their friends.
« A four-year-old girl told her nursery-school teacher, ‘Abba lost me at cards.’ The teacher asked her what she meant, and the girl explained that her father had ‘given’ her to a man to cover his card-playing losses, » Zimrin says.
Between 1995 and 1998, the number of incest victims treated at ELI ran to 300-odd a year. Last year, though, the figure leaped to 811, and in the first six months of this year, 546 incest victims have already come in. « I used to say the number of victims was going up because people were reporting it more, but now I have to say that the actual incidence of incest is on the increase as well, » she maintains. Based on past research of child abuse, Zimrin’s « intelligent guess » is that the true number of incest victims is about 10 times the number reported. Over half of ELI’s cases involve incest.
‘We’re seeing second- and third-generation incest, » notes Barbara Reicher, head of child therapy at ELI. « A victim of incest will often choose a husband who she thinks, unconsciously, will do to her daughter what was done to her. » This choice is motivated by an ambivalence towards the incestuous father, she says: « The father she hates is also the father she loves, the father she needs. » All too frequently, a woman will complain to police that her husband is committing incest, then drop the complaint shortly afterward. Facing up to incest means admitting one’s abject failure as a mother and a wife, which few women are prepared to do, relates Zimrin. Allowing incest to continue is a way of punishing oneself, and victimized women feel they deserve their plight, she adds.
A couple of weeks ago, Reicher notes, ELI was approached by a family in which the father, who is now in jail, had committed incest with his 17-year-old son, while another son had committed incest with one of his sisters. There are eight children in the family.
« I’ll bet my life we haven’t gotten to the end of it, » says Zimrin.
She’s convinced there are more incestuous combinations in the family to uncover, that this sexual practice is a family style. « What are the chances of getting two separate, discrete instances of incest within one family? » she asks.
At the same time that the problem of incest has been growing more acute, there is also encouraging news. In the last couple of years, the courts have begun handing out harsher sentences for incest. « Defendants have been getting 20 years in prison, 19 years, 15 years, » says Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, director of the National Council for the Protection of the Child. These sentences are usually for incest that has been going on for years. In the past, Kadman notes, such aggravated, habitual incest might have been punished by six months in prison, maybe a year. That, however, is no longer the case.
Kadman’s organization helps incest victims report the crime by easing their way through the justice system, from their first visit to the police station to their testimony in court – if they have the courage to testify. He mentions one case that concluded this year: « A girl, whose parents had been killed in a traffic accident when she was about 12, went to live with her uncle, who practiced incest with her until she was 16, when she ran away. A year later, she told her sister who called us. We made two appointments to go with the girl to the police, and twice she canceled, but the third time she showed up. This year the case was concluded – the girl’s uncle got 15 years in prison. »
The ELI clinic in Tel Aviv does everything in its power to look cheerful. The walls are painted purple, pink, and green; there are cartoon figures of Peter Pan and fuzzy forest creatures. The children who live there for up to a year – having all been removed from their homes – sing, dance, bang on drums, even commandeer the public-address system to razz the counselors.
Downstairs is the room where young victims come to be interviewed. The chairs are soft, there are dolls and games all over the place. Locked inside a cabinet are anatomical boy and girl dolls. Mounted high in the corners are video cameras – to record sessions for use as legal evidence.
‘The Social Services Department learned of a five- year-old girl who was a victim of incest, and they wanted me to testify because they had no hard evidence, » Zimrin says, recalling a case that came into the clinic a year ago, and which is still in court. « The girl came into the room holding herself very stiffly. Her father, who was in the waiting room, had obviously prepared her very well. Before I even asked her any questions, she said, ‘Abba didn’t do anything to me.’
« I took out the anatomical dolls and asked her to show me what her father does with her, » Zimrin continues. « She placed the male doll on top of the female doll in a position of intercourse. I asked her how she feels when Abba does this, and she said, ‘My back feels cold.’ She couldn’t make up something like that, she had to know it from experience. Her father was doing it to her on the floor. Then she said, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and she placed the male doll’s penis in the female doll’s mouth. »
The rate of incest in Israel is more or less equal to that in other « developed » countries, says Kadman, noting that it’s hard to gauge how bad the problem is in Third World countries because incest statistics don’t tell the true story.
That’s about the way it was in Israel in the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies and even, to a lesser degree, in the Eighties, he says. « The thinking was that incest didn’t exist here, it wasn’t something that Jews did. Israel was in total denial. In the last 10 years we’ve passed that stage, thankfully, and there’s a great deal of awareness of the problem, and a much, much greater willingness to confront it. »
In fact, this new-found moral courage to face up to the problem of incest is what Zimrin cites as the single « typically Israeli » feature of the phenomenon. « When I tell child-abuse professionals in the US and Europe that we get incest perpetrators themselves calling the hot line for help, they’re amazed, » she says.
Asked if there are any Israeli demographic groups in which incest tends to occur more than among others, both Zimrin and Kadman say no.
It has nothing to do with socioeconomic standing – « Just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you sleep with your daughter, » says Zimrin. « Incest grows out of an extreme, aggravated personality disturbance, » adds Kadman – it’s an individual, not a group, thing.
If incest is associated with the poor and backward more than with the wealthy and sophisticated, this is because the rich can hide it better than can the poor, Kadman notes. « Adults (such as a teacher) are less likely to believe that the child of a ‘good’ family is a victim of incest. And the other sources who are likely to hear complaints of incest – social workers and police – don’t hang around wealthy neighborhoods, they’re mainly in poor neighborhoods, » he explains.
« If a young girl in Herzliya Pituah is bleeding (vaginally) as a result of incest, her family will take her to a private doctor and it will go no further. If it’s a girl in south Tel Aviv, she’ll go to the emergency room of a major hospital, and it will get reported, » adds Zimrin.
Yet at the same time, both Zimrin and Kadman imply that that there is an indirect link between incest and socioeconomic distress.
« Incest is not caused by social problems – for it to happen, the primary cause of incest must be present, » says Zimrin. The primary cause, she continues, is « an inability to empathize with one’s child, to see the child as a person in her – or his – own right, as someone who can feel pain. Instead the incestuous parent sees the child merely as an instrument to satisfy his own needs. And just like with rape, sexual gratification is not the important thing with incest; sex is only a symbol of the exertion of power. But, » she continues, « if the primary cause is present in the family, and in addition, if the family suffers from poverty, drugs, alcohol, and such, then these social problems may contribute to bringing the incestuous tendency to the surface. »
In Kadman’s view, there is one social condition that often appears in cases of incest: isolation from other people. Consequently, the problem may be found more often among broken families where, for example, the mother has taken her children and moved in with a boyfriend, and is cut off from her extended family. (Sex between a mother’s live-in mate and a child in the house is, from a psychological viewpoint, considered incest.) It may crop up with greater frequency among immigrants who’ve left their extended families behind and who find themselves adrift in Israel.
Zimrin adopts a broad definition of incest – it isn’t limited to intercourse, it isn’t even limited to sexual contact. She uses the term « psychological incest » to include flirtation between parent and child, or the inclusion of the child in the parents’ sex play.
Incest, she says, takes place when there is an « erotic atmosphere in the relationship » between members of the family (including adult authority figures such as an uncle or mother’s boyfriend). Under this definition, she’s found that some poor immigrants from the former Soviet Union, even without intending to, have crossed into the realm of incest.
« A number of Russian immigrants purchase pornographic films – not only for sexual pleasure, but also as a gesture of freedom, of trying all the things they couldn’t do in the Soviet Union. When they live crowded in a tiny apartment, the TV and video are in the living room, and the children don’t have rooms of their own, so they end up watching the films with the parents, » Zimrin says.
Two other demographic groups in Israel are set apart not because they have a higher-than-normal incidence of incest, but because their communities are so conservative and closed that incest victims are more terrified than normal to divulge what’s happened to them. Their families and communities typically unite around the incestuous father, who is the unchallenged master of the house. Once the victim reports incest, she is treated as the guilty party.
These are the haredi and Israeli Arab communities, says Kadman.
« A few years ago we had a case of a haredi father in Bnei Brak who committed incest with his two daughters for years, » he recalls. « Their aunt – the mother’s sister – came to visit from the US, and the two girls told her what was going on. The aunt told her sister that if she didn’t tell the police, she, the aunt, would, so the mother went and told. » After this some of the local rabbis ordered that the girls and the mother be ostracized. Posters condemning them as slanderers went up on the walls near the home, and the two girls were kicked out of school.
The couple got divorced and the mother moved with the girls to another city, he continues.
« The father was found innocent in court – the judge agreed with the defense that the girls had ‘consented’ to have sex with him, » Kadman says. « But then five judges in the High Court of Justice heard the appeal, and (Justice Mishael) Cheshin wrote a scathing opinion, saying the concept of consent in a situation like this is absurd, because the girls did not have the means of refusing the father’s desires. » Because the girls did not testify, the prosecution’s case wasn’t as strong as it could have been, so the father served only a few months in jail.
« But after he got out of jail he remarried, and committed incest with the daughter of this second wife, » notes Kadman. « We were told about this, and we filed a complaint with the police, and soon afterward the father fled the country. He’s living abroad now. »
Arab society is similar to haredi society in this sense, he says – patriarchal, conservative, closed. « There is huge pressure not to talk, so as to avoid stigmatizing the family, which can hurt the other children’s chances for a shidduch (marriage prospect) – although the pressure is not so extreme as it is in the haredi world. But in both haredi and Arab society, the reaction is to blame the victim, » Kadman notes.
Both he and Zimrin see the rise in incest in the country as part of a general coarsening of society, a weakening of the human connection between Israelis. « Once upon a time, everybody knew what their neighbors were doing; it was hard to be truly cut off from the social environment, » Kadman says. The relative transparency of private life in Israel made it that much harder for incest to occur. Today, so many troubled families – families in which incest is a latent or present menace – are out there on their own, he points out.
« I saw the phenomenon of incest here 30 years ago, when ‘it didn’t exist,’ » adds Zimrin. But today people can buy child pornography in stores, or download it from the Internet, she notes. The media publicize it, but usually in a sensationalistic way that encourages « copycat » incest, Zimrin maintains.
There is hope, though. As best as ELI can judge from its follow-ups, more than half of the incest perpetrators treated at the clinic change their behavior permanently, says Zimrin.
It’s a paradoxical situation for the therapist, she adds. « You hate the perpetrator for the atrocity he’s committed, but you must see him as a person who is in pain and distress; you must see him as someone who was once victimized himself; you must bring him to the point that he is once again that crying child, before you can cure him, » she says.
The therapy, which typically takes a year, is for the entire incestuous family, but especially for the perpetrator and the victim. « We have begun making the perpetrator literally go down on his knees and beg the victim for forgiveness – so he accepts his guilt, and so the victim knows that she is not to blame for this, » Zimrin adds.
Can victims of incest ever become whole human beings again, capable of living decent, even happy, lives?
« I’m optimistic, » says Reicher. « Incest can never be forgotten. But, to use computer terms, it can treated as a file that is stored in the memory, but which is not an active file. » Zimrin chooses a different metaphor. « Incest is a wound that can be turned into a scar, » she says. « It’ll always be there, but it won’t have to hurt all the time. »
Ruti Shalev doesn’t remember when her father began sexually molesting her. It was just something that he always did, from the time she was very young until his death in a traffic accident when she was 13.
When she was about 10 years old, the abuse became more psychological than sexual, Shalev, now 27, recalled in an interview earlier this week. Though her father would still touch her, he switched to other methods of control, such as not letting her go outside to play in the yard.
During those years, Shalev did not turn to anyone for help. Neither her mother nor her older brother were aware of what was happening. There were, however, some warning signs. For example, at school she was considered a problem child, and at the age of eight was sent for counseling. The school-appointed psychologist recommended that Shalev’s physical contact with her father be monitored. But this was never carried out.
In fact, she only learned of this recommendation at the age of 24, when she confronted the psychologist who had treated her as a child.
« IDON’T remember when it started, but I always knew that it wasn’t right. I didn’t do anything. I was afraid to open my mouth – afraid I would pull out the rug from under my feet if I tried to stop it, » she said. Although her father was a policeman, she does not believe that this influenced her decision to keep silent.
Instead of speaking out, she tried to forget what her father was doing to her, blocking out incidents in the process. She did not reveal the ordeal until seven years after his death because « I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that the man whom I loved and who was my father was also crazy and abusive. »
One day, after undergoing two very stressful incidents, her « defenses just broke down. » Shalev began to address her past. One of the ways she did this was through writing because « it helped me bring my feelings to the surface. » What she wrote became a book called Belly, recently published by Carmel.
Shalev also lectures to counselors and social work students. She asks them to look at the people they work with as equals – rather than judging them – and to try to put themselves in their clients’ shoes.
She believes « good treatment » can break the vicious cycle in which incest victims « repeat history » by selecting potential child molesters as mates.
« My story is a sad one with a happy ending, » she writes in her book, « …I suddenly know something that I’ve waited many long years to discover: I am in love. I fell in love with myself. And today I can hug and kiss…. »-
Hotline telephone numbers: The Israel Association for Child Protection – ELI: 1-800-223966; The National Council for the Protection of the Child: 02-5639191 or 02-5639118.
Livres : Narrow Bridge – The first film created addressing clergy sexual abuse in a Jewish community. – by Israel Moskovits Director/Writer/Composer.
Call For Resources: International Resource Guide For Jewish Survivors of Childhood Trauma Resources Guide being created for Jewish Survivors around the world. Looking for articles, self-help groups, care providers, etc. to be included
The Courage to Heal – by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
The Primrose Path – by Carol Matas
Shine the Light Review of the book in the Jerusalem Post.
Victims No Longer – by Mike Lew
Whistleblowers by Douglas Larsen
http://incestabuse.about.com/cs/safetyplans1/a/Whistleblower_p.htm
You Are Not Alone …
ISRAEL 31 mars 2003 Haaretz By Ruth Sinai
After complaining that a senior rabbi harassed her, a settlement resident becomes an outcast
They warned her mother that her sisters’ chances of a good match would be damaged, claims B.G. They tried to turn her brother and her husband’s family against her. Over 100 rabbis, she says, including at least three candidates for the post of chief rabbi, signed notices that appeared in newspapers calling her a liar. Speeches have been made denouncing her, she claims, while Rabbi Moshe Bleicher, head of the Shavei Hebron Yeshiva, has published an article saying she suffers from mental illness and from hallucinations.
This is only part of the degradation B.G., a settlement resident, has suffered since a newspaper interview five months ago in which she alleged that she had been the victim of « improper behavior of a sexual nature, » as she puts it, on the part of Beit El rabbi, Shlomo Aviner, who also heads the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva.
A second woman also alleged in the same interview that Aviner had sexually harassed her, both physically and verbally, and that she had been forced to move away.
« The mask of abuse and scheming that we lifted simply astounded us – 123 rabbis claimed that the two women were crazy and liars without knowing a thing about them, just because of what Rabbi Aviner and Rabbi Bleicher said, » says Hannah Kahat, head of « Kolech » (« Your Voice ») a forum for religious women that seeks to improve their status within the community.
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/bryks_ephraim.html
Rabbi Ephraim Bryks and Marriage Counseling
Ephrayim Bryks has become a rabbinic marriage counselor. The term marriage counselor or life coach can be used by anyone. He is not the only « rabbi » suspected of sexual abuse using one of these titles to access vulnerable individuals or couples both here and in Israel. Consulting actual professionals is expensive and unless the community publicly warns against going to these charlatans (often worse) many innocents will continue to be hurt.
Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks principal Yeshiva Berachel David Torah High School Queens, currently serves time as a member of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens (Rabbinical committee that makes important decisions within the community). As of today, there has been no public statement made concerning his decade long membership on the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. On May 27, 2003, he resigned his membership in the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), after being involved for a quarter of a century.
Anyone with relevant information regarding the open case in Canada is encouraged to contact the Winnipeg Police at their main phone number: (204) 986-6037.
Anyone with relevant information in the United States is encouraged to contact their local police department and their local District Attorney’s office, NYPD Switchboard: (646) 610-5000 Queens District Attorney’s office: (718) 286-6000.
Rabbi Ephraim Bryks is originally from Denver, Colorado. In this case, accusations about his inappropriate behavior with children started surfacing in the 1980’s. These accusations also included making sexual advancements to women in his congregation. When his alleged victims disclosed their experiences to a rabbinic leader in their community, they were basically told to keep silent. The rabbi advised them not to go to the police or child family services. He told them to deal with the allegations internally with the synagogue board. The children were not offered psychotherapy to help them cope with their alleged victimization. Unfortunately a teenager who didn’t have the coping skills to deal with his memories ended up committing suicide.
Over the years Rabbi Ephraim Bryks has left a trail of alleged victims from such far-away places as Winnipeg, Canada. He is currently located in New York City. There are no documented cases or public information regarding any victims in New York, yet he has been let go by schools (one characterized as firing), but the schools will not discuss the matter.
For years alleged victims have been going to rabbinic leaders in their communities looking for guidance. For years rabbinic leaders have found it more important to protect an alleged sexual predator over protecting our children.
49 year-old Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks will continue to run Yeshiva Berachel David in Queens until the end of the 2003 school year. No public statement has been made concerning his decade- long membership on the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. Rabbi Bryks was a member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) for over a quarter of a century before his May 27, 2003 resignation. Ads in The Jewish Press indicate that Rabbi Bryks is currently working as a mortgage broker for a company he runs out of his home called REB International LLC.).
Case of Rabbi Perry Ian Cohen
Montreal and Toronto, Canada
Rabbi Perry Cohen was the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaar Shalom in Chomedey, a suburb of Montreal, for five months in 1979, but was fired for sexual impropriety. He then moved on to Tornoto and served as a ‘‘rabbi-in-residence’’ at several Toronto churches. He would hold Bible study classes, psalm readings and weekend retreats, and ‘‘brings a Judaic perspective’’ to church life, says United Church spokesman Peter Wyatt. The rabbi has served as’’rabbi-in-residence’’ at several local United Church congregations, including Lawrence Park, Parkwoods United and the former St. George’s and Eglinton United congregations. Rabbi Cohen said he had also been involved with Anglican and Catholic congregations.
There were allegations made that Rabbi Perry Cohen had sexual relations with one of his former students who was seventeen at the time. The plaintiff testifide that they had sexual intercourse « her first, after he told her not to worry about it as it would be all right because he was’ a rabbi. Their affair lasted some four years during which he directly and indirectly supported her, sometimes claiming her as a dependant for income tax purposes ».
Rabbi serving at Toronto churches [Perry Cohen]
By Ron Csillag
Canadian Jewish News – September 3, 1998
SECTION: v.28(34) S 3’98 pg 7; ISSN: 0008-3941
CBCA-ACC-NO: 4273083
Toronto — A rabbi with a controversial past is serving as a ‘‘rabbi-in-residence’’ at several Toronto churches.
Rabbi Perry Cohen, 60, holds Bible study classes, psalm readings and weekend retreats, and ‘‘brings a Judaic perspective’’ to church life, says United Church spokesman CHILD Wyatt. The rabbi has served as’’rabbi-in-residence’’ at several local United Church congregations, including Lawrence Park, Parkwoods United and the former St. George’s and Eglinton United congregations.
Rabbi Cohen says he’s also been involved with Anglican and Catholic congregations.
Rabbi Cohen was spiritual leader of Congregation Shaar Shalom in Chomedey, a suburb of Montreal, for five months in 1979, but was fired for sexual impropriety.
He subsequently admitted to having had an affair with the sister of a congregant.
His principal interest is in ‘‘sharing the Bible to further a greater understanding of Judaism and [of] the Jewish roots of Christianity,’’ Rabbi Cohen told The CJN.
He also explains Jewish holidays and Hebrew prayers, and ‘‘spends a lot of time on [the meaning of] Shabbat.’’
Reaction to his activities has been ‘‘very positive,’’ he said.
‘‘But I don’t feel as though I’m doing anything new. This is not out of the ordinary. I’m just sharing the Bible.’’
Wyatt said Rabbi Cohen’s presence resulted in increased interest and a boost in attendance at weekly Bible classes.
The rabbi receives an honorarium, not a salary for his efforts, Wyatt added.
The plaintiff also claims damages for alleged assaults or trespasses upon her person. And in the alternative to her main property claim she asserts a claim against the plaintiff for his failure to carry out an alleged promise to transfer to a registered retirement savings plan (« R.R.S.P. ») for her benefit the sum of approximately $ 55,000 promised to have been derived from the defendant’s pension fund at, and anticipated severance pay from the defendant’s former employer, Champlain College.
[**6] The plaintiff’s claims for a return, one way or another, of the half interest in the condominium are based upon allegations of coercion, duress and undue influence by the defendant and in particular that he abused his status as a rabbi to learn of her emotional and psychological needs and to prey upon her weakness by dominating her will and by manipulating for his own selfish ends her desire to be converted to Judaism.
In 1973 or 1974 he began living with Phyllis Bailey, a well-to-do person of Jewish ancestry who was a declared atheist. In 1974 he resigned from his job and embarked upon business ventures, or at least considered a number of business projects. He married Phyllis Bailey in 1975. He borrowed $ 100,000 from her mother, on an interest free basis and prepared to invest in real estate. He investigated several properties but made no investments. He appears to have put the $ 100,000 out at interest, which he used to help defray expenses. At some point Phyllis Bailey began supporting him so that he could devote his time to writing a novel and, later, a play. The novel was written but never published, and the play was never produced. While [*11] engaged in his writing activities the defendant had a separate office or flat in Montreal. He acknowledged that it was used in part for meetings with his girl friends.
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg
Boca Raton, Flordia
Ephraim Goldberg, 41, of Boca Raton, pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of exposure of sexual organs. He was one of three men arrested during an operation aimed at cracking down on sex in public restrooms at Palm Beach Mall. As part of his plea deal, he won’t have to serve jail time as long as he takes a three-hour prostitution impact prevention education class and avoids run-ins with authorities until his next court hearing on Sept. 3. His criminal record then would be wiped clean.
Planner for Jewish Federation accused of indecent behavior
By Nancy L. Othón – Staff Writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel – June 26, 2003
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pgoldberg26jun26,0,4977578.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
A planning director at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County exposed himself to an undercover West Palm Beach officer in a Palm Beach Mall restroom, police said.
Ephraim Goldberg, 41, of Boca Raton, was charged with one misdemeanor count of exposure of sexual organs and issued a notice to appear in court on July 8.
On a police report, Goldberg lists his occupation as a social worker at the Jewish Federation on Community Drive. But Jeffrey Klein, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, said Goldberg is a planning director. Klein declined to comment further.
On a Web site for Young Israel of Boca Raton, Goldberg was referred to as a rabbi and a past president of the synagogue.
A person answering the phone at Young Israel on Wednesday said, « We’re not interested in commenting. »
West Palm Beach police say Goldberg was one of three men arrested Monday during an operation aimed at cracking down on sex in public restrooms.
Though the operations usually take place in park restrooms, a police officer had noticed an increase in activity in the restrooms at the Palm Beach Mall on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, and police conducted the undercover sting in response, said police spokeswoman Dena Kimberlin.
« We have been conducting these types of operations for years, and they will continue, » Kimberlin said. « The mall is working very closely with us because they do want to make it a safe place. »
Shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday, Goldberg made eye contact with the undercover officer while at Sears and both men walked into the store restroom, according to police reports. Goldberg followed the officer into a handicapped stall and asked the officer, « Is it safe? » police said.
Goldberg, who has no prior arrests in Florida, then exposed himself to the officer. After the officer said he didn’t think it was « safe » anymore, Goldberg reportedly asked the officer if he lived alone and whether the two could meet later, according to police reports. The officer then identified himself as a West Palm Beach police sergeant and issued Goldberg a notice to appear in court.
Goldberg’s attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Nancy L. Othón can be reached at nothon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6633.
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Jewish Group Worker Accused of Indecency Charge is Part of Crackdown on Public Sex
Nancy L. Othon Staff Writer
South Florida Sun- Sentienal – June 26, 1983
[Ephraim Goldberg], who has no prior arrests in Florida, then exposed himself to the officer. After the officer said he didn’t think it was « safe » anymore, Goldberg reportedly asked the officer if he lived alone and whether the two could meet later, according to police reports. The officer then identified himself as a West Palm Beach police sergeant and issued Goldberg a notice to appear in court.
Agency director takes plea in exposure case
Palm Beach County News – July 3 2003
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-p3bdig03jul03,0,3506996.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
A planning director at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County pleaded guilty Tuesday to exposing himself to an undercover West Palm Beach police officer in a Palm Beach Mall restroom.
Ephraim Goldberg, 41, of Boca Raton was arrested June 23 on a misdemeanor exposure charge in an undercover sting targeting sexual activity in the mall’s restrooms.
As part of his plea deal, he won’t have to serve jail time as long as he takes a three-hour prostitution impact prevention education class and avoids run-ins with authorities until his next court hearing on Sept. 3. His criminal record then would be wiped clean.
Scott Richardson, his attorney, said Goldberg took the deal because he wanted a quick resolution to the case to minimize any embarrassment to his family and employer.
Boca Raton
Case of Rabbi Solomon Hafner
The case involved Rabbi Solomon Hafner, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Bobov sect in Brooklyn’s heavily Jewish Borough Park section. Hafner was accused of sexually abusing a developmentally disabled boy during private tutoring sessions.
A Beit Din consisting of five Orthodox rabbis from around New York cleared Hafner, and the district attorney declined to prosecute.
Rabbis’ Ruling May Nix Bid To Indict Suspect in Kid-Sex Rap
by Al Guart
New York Post – Saturday, March 11, 2000 (p. 10)
A panel of Orthodox rabbis cleared a Brooklyn rabbi of molesting a 7-year-old boy — a move that might keep witnesses from the grand jury probing him, The Post has learned.
The panel, reportedly headed by Manhattan Rabbi David Feinstein and two rabbis from Brooklyn and two from upstate Monsey, cleared Bobover Rabbi Solomon Hafner on Thursday evening of any wrongdoing, sources said.
Hafner, 40, was charged last January with sexually abusing a developmentally disabled boy. A grand jury is hearing evidence in the case.
Leading Bobover Rabbi Chaim Tauber was caught on tape yesterday discussing the panel’s ruling and predicting it might have an impact on Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ grand-jury probe of the charges.
« They came out with a resolution that Rabbi Hafner is clean as a whistle, » Tauber said on a tape reviewed by the Post.
Asked about the effect the ruling would have on potential witnesses, Tauber said, « They have nothing to cooperate with. They have nothing to say. There is no one coming forward to blame. »
Tauber could not be reached yesterday. His wife confirmed such a conversation took place but was surprised it had been taped.
The ruling of a Beit Din — a rabbinical court — holds sway over members of Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities, even more than secular authorities.
It is also seen by some as a means of trying to influence Hynes, who has been under fire from parts of the Jewish community for charging another rabbi with witness-tampering.
Last week, Hynes’ office lost the case against Bernard Freilich, who was charged with threatening a couple to drop sexual-abuse charges.
« My concern is that actions like this might put a damper on rabbis and others in the community from coming forward with allegations such as this, » said lawyer Michael Lesher, who revealed the rabbinical court’s ruling to The Post.
« I would like to know what evidence they had and what significance this is supposed to have while a grand jury is pending, » Lesher said.
« I am not at liberty to talk about this, » Rabbi Feinstein said.
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Jewish Court Stymies Reports
The Associated Press – April 16, 2002
By Karen Matthews
New York — The case of a rabbi accused of molesting more than 20 girls sparked a review of sex abuse policies in Orthodox Judaism’s most prominent group, but critics say a rabbinical court unique to the Orthodox branch still hinders abuse claims from getting a full airing.
As the sex abuse scandal among Roman Catholic clergy widens, church authorities across the country are revisiting the way they handle abuse claims and looking again at sometimes decades-old abuse claims.
But for Orthodox Jews, the wake-up call came a couple of years ago with the case of Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who is accused of molesting teen-agers over a long career as an educator and youth group leader.
He resigned in June 2000 from his job as a leader of the Orthodox Union’s National Conference of Synagogue Youth and is facing trial in Monmouth County, N.J. He could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted.
Lanner has denied criminal wrongdoing, but admitted to having had romantic relationships with former students.
« Because of the Lanner case the Orthodox Union has undergone almost two years now of deep introspection and examination of our policies and procedures,’’ said Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president of the union, which represents 1,000 mainstream Orthodox synagogues in the United States and Canada.
He said the Orthodox Union has implemented standards for all staff members who work with youth and has set up extensive training sessions.
« We also have a clear way for parents or youth to complain,’’ Weinreb said. « We’re trying to develop a culture of vigilance and continuous improvement.’’
While no one is alleging that sexual abuse is especially common among Orthodox Jews, critics say the rabbinic court or Beit Din, can discourage civil authorities from investigating a complaint.
« As we look at the general issue of the cover-ups of abusers in the clergy, what we find in the Orthodox Jewish community is unfortunately that an institution already exists which allows clergymen to wield extraordinary influence,’’ said Michael Lesher, a lawyer and journalist who has written about the issue.
Lesher said that « deeply held tradition’’ impels Orthodox Jews to bring a complaint against a rabbi to a Beit Din, where the accuser is often pressured not to alert the police or prosecutors.
In a case that received some local publicity, Lesher and sociologist Amy Neustein have charged that Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes dropped charges against a Hasidic rabbi in 2000 after a Beit Din said he was innocent.
The case involved Rabbi Solomon Hafner, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Bobov sect in Brooklyn’s heavily Jewish Borough Park section. Hafner was accused of molesting a young boy during private tutoring sessions.
A Beit Din consisting of five Orthodox rabbis from around New York cleared Hafner, and the district attorney declined to prosecute.
Hafner would not speak about the case, but his lawyer, Jack Litman, said that Hynes « determined that the complaining witness and his family made up the charges.’’
A spokeswoman for Hynes, Sharon Toomer, said the evidence « didn’t substantiate the claim’’ against Hafner.
But Dr. Katherine Grimm, a pediatrician who is the medical director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Manhattan, said that she interviewed the boy and « there were details that were very hard for a child to be coached to make up,’’ Grimm said. « Nobody had anything to gain from this disclosure.’’
Neustein and Lesher suggested that Hynes’ office was pressured to drop the case by the religious court, a charge denied by Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, one of the tribunal’s members.
« Who is powerful enough to pressure the D.A. and the police to drop the charges?’’ Rottenberg said. He added that Hafner served as a camp counselor and pool monitor for 13 years and no one ever complained about him.
In the Lanner case, a Beit Din met in 1989 – more than a decade before he was eventually charged in court with abusing two teen-age girls while he was principal of a Jewish day school – and found that allegations against him had not been proven.
Weinreb said anyone who suspects abuse should go to the police and not to a Beit Din.
« If there’s a fire, you call the fire department, you don’t go to the rabbinical court,’’ he said. « We’re obligated to go to the authorities.’’
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Tripping Up The Prosecution
By Stephanie Saul – Staff Writer
Newsday – May 28, 2003
Last in a series.
http://www.nynewsday.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=nyc%2Dpros0529§ion=%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fqueens
Former New Yorker Avrohom Mondrowitz has built a quiet, comfortable life as a college professor in Jerusalem.
The syllabus for his business administration course at Jerusalem College of Engineering is posted on the Web, along with his phone number.
Mondrowitz is living so openly, it’s hard to believe the psychologist and self-styled rabbi is wanted for allegedly sexually abusing four Brooklyn boys, ages 10 to 16. The charges against him include sodomy.
« I don’t want this hydra to lift its head again, » said Mondrowitz, declining to discuss his 1985 indictment on 13 counts. Once the host of a radio program in Brooklyn, Mondrowitz will be arrested should he ever re-enter the United States, according to the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
But according to U.S. Justice and State department documents, Hynes’ office approved a decision in 1993 to drop efforts to extradite Mondrowitz, a U.S. citizen who has been sheltered by the Israeli government since he fled the United States in 1985.
Michael Lesher, a New Jersey attorney who obtained the federal documents after years of research on the Mondrowitz case, said the decision to drop efforts to return Mondrowitz to the United States is an embarrassing one, considering the severity of the charges.
A spokesman for Hynes, Jerry Schmetterer, was at a loss to explain the decision.
« We don’t know anything about the State Department closing its file, » said Schmetterer, calling the federal records a « mystery. »
« We have nothing in our files to indicate we ever made that decision, » said Schemetterer, emphasizing that the Mondrowitz file is still kept in a prosecutor’s desk in the event Mondrowitz ever returns from Jerusalem.
Escape to Israel is merely one of the factors that can hamper prosecution of alleged sex abuse in the Orthodox community.
Police and prosecutors find that victims of alleged sexual abuse in those communities are discouraged from coming forward.
Intense pressure is often brought to bear on complainants who bypass rabbinical courts — the community’s preferred method of settling disputes — and instead go to secular authorities. Witnesses, who are often young, become fearful and wavering. And prosecutors face pressure from a community that votes as a cohesive block.
One woman, whose son was called to testify about an alleged instance of abuse, said that extraordinary pressure was placed both on her family and on the family of the alleged victim.
« I had rabbis coming by. They threatened we’ll have curses in our family. It might sound silly to you, but it was very frightening, » said the woman.
She said that rabbis supplied her with a statement from a psychologist who had never examined her son, saying he was not fit to testify.
In Brooklyn, with its large Hasidic community, police have been confounded by the outcomes of some cases they investigated involving the Hasidim.
At a loss to explain the cases, some cops in the 66th Precinct, which includes Borough Park, have shrugged their shoulders and paraphrased a line from the Jack Nicholson film « Chinatown » — « Forget it, Jake, it’s Brooklyn. »
One of those who recalls making the remark was retired police Capt. William Plackenmeyer, who worked for many years in Brooklyn. « In Brooklyn, it almost seemed like there were two penal codes, one for the Hasidic community and one for everyone else, » Plackenmeyer said.
But Hynes’ office says decisions on prosecutions are made without regard to political considerations or community pressure.
« We prosecute sex crimes. We prosecute allegations of child abuse, sex abuse, » said Schmetterer. « Trained investigators conduct these investigations and come to a conclusion. They make the decision. »
The arrest of a popular rabbi in the Bobox Hasidic sect in January 2000 provides another example of the pressure that can be placed on those who complain to outside officials. In that case, a 9-year-old boy accused the Brooklyn rabbi, his tutor, of physically and sexually abusing him.
In the end, Hynes’ office threw out all charges against Rabbi Solomon Hafner. Schmetterer said they were found to be baseless.
But before the case was resolved, the police assigned 24-hour protection to the complainant’s family, according to a law enforcement source. The family had been threatened by members of the Bobov community, the source said.
« They excoriate the victim, they run them out of the community, they make sure the victim will never marry, » said sociologist Amy Neustein, who, with Lesher, researched the Hafner case and frequently writes about domestic abuse in the Orthodox community and provided documents for this article.
The boy’s family later moved from Brooklyn to the quieter Bobov community in Monsey. The family would not talk to Newsday, but a friend said the move was an effort to escape community pressure.
While Hynes’ office was examining the boy’s allegations, the Bobov community convened a rabbinical court, a bet din, to conduct its own investigation.
The child’s uncle later complained that rabbis on the bet din had asked the family to sign a document saying the boy was crazy so that they could get the criminal case thrown out. Several members of the bet din either did not return calls from Newsday or declined to discuss the religious court’s proceedings.
Meantime, according to the law enforcement source, Bobov rabbis appeared in Hynes office’ to plead in Hafner’s defense.
Hynes’ spokesman Schmetterer would not confirm or deny that such meetings took place, but he said it is not unusual for Hynes’ office to meet with community leaders on cases.
After the bet din decision, the five-member panel posted notices throughout Borough Park clearing Hafner. « Rabbi Hafner’s comportment with [the child] has been in complete accordance with both Torah law and the law of the land, and a parent should not hesitate to engage Rabbi Hafner as a tutor for his/her child. »
With intense pressure from the community common in such cases, families also come under indirect pressure not to go public with their cases.
The social stigma attached to being the victim of sexual abuse in the general public is magnified within the Hasidic community, sources said, so much so that Hasidic victims can find it difficult to marry within the community.
And, as with sex-abuse allegations generally, parents fear causing further psychological damage to their children by placing them on the stand.
In 1995, for instance, Hynes’ office charged Rabbi Lewis Brenner with repeatedly sexually abusing a boy starting in 1992 and ending in 1995, when the boy, then 15, told police. Among other places, the alleged encounters occurred in the bathroom of the rabbi’s Brooklyn temple.
In a statement to the court, the boys’ devastated parents said he could not even attend school, he was so troubled by « a raging cyclone of hate. »
« Our son is with us physically today, but his self-respect, dignity and sense of worth were stolen from him at the tender age of 12, » the boys’ parents said. « Do you realize that you destroyed a world and our family, Mr. Brenner? You have stolen from our son the very essence of his life, his hopes, dreams and aspirations for the future. »
The charges against Brenner initially included 14 counts, including sodomy, sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a minor. But a plea agreement whittled the charges down to one felony, stunning a Brooklyn judge.
« Given the nature, gravity and frequency of the sexual contact alleged in the felony complaint, this court was surprised by the People’s plea offer and requested of the prosecutor a statement why it was forthcoming, » said acting Supreme Court Justice Charles J. Heffernan in a court ruling.
The district attorney’s office told the judge that the boy’s family agreed to the plea bargain … Recently, an official of the district attorney’s office said the family did not want to go through with a trial.
The plea arrangement left Brenner a free man — he got 5 years probation.
Brenner is the father-in-law of Ephraim Bryks, a Queens rabbi who was the subject of a story in Newsday on Tuesday.
Two teenagers told Canadian police years ago that Bryks abused them when they were youngsters. Bryks has never been charged with a crime and has denied the allegations.
After Brenner’s plea deal, he asked the court to exempt him from the sexual abuse registry on grounds that his behavior occurred before the law was passed.
Heffernan refused.
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Case of Rabbi Alan Jay « Shneur » Horowitz, MD
Background Information
© (2007) The Awareness Center, Inc.
Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, MD, is a convicted sex offender who is also an ordained Orthodox rabbi. As a psychiatrist, Horowitz specialized in working with adolescents. His resume also includes volunteering time as a Boy Scout leader and being a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) publications. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University; and received his Ph.D. and medical degree from Duke University.
Alan Horowitz was born on April 4, 1947 in Brooklyn, NY. He has been married and divorced twice. Horowitz had a child with his first marriage. He hadseven stepchildren with his second wife, which were taken away by Child Protection Services (CPS) for failure to protect them from Horowitz.
In the past Horowitz was licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina and Maryland. He never obtained a license to practice in the state of New York.
Horowitz was an assistant professor of child dismissed from the UI in 1978, a university official told The Daily Gazette newspaper of Schenectady in a 1992 story, because he was not productive in research.
Alan Horowitz was first convicted back in 1983 in Maryland of performing an unnatural sexual act on the 12-year-old boy who was his patient and his eight year-old little brother. At the time Horowitz was sentenced to five-year probation.
The probation agreement included allowing Alan Horowitz to move to New York so that he could live study Torah at Ohr Somayach, Monsey, NY. He was court ordered to live on campus. Ohr Somayach is a Yeshiva serving young male students.
Dr. Horowitz was also court ordered to be in counseling under the care of Dr. Joseph F. Chambers (Maryland) and Dr. Rabbi Issac Twersky (Monsey, NY). As like many others who thirst in learning Torah, Alan Horowitz ultimately ending up studying abroad in Israel.
Alan Horowitz twice violated his probation from the sentencing in 1983. There is no documentation of how he violated it the first time, yet the second time was in November 1985, was when he made aliyah and moved to Israel. He returned to the United States in November, 1990 when he learned new charges were being investigated relating to him allegedly molesting children in the West Bank (Israel).
Past newspaper accounts stated Rabbi Alan Horowitz picked Schenectady in hopes of securing a rabbinical appointment. Apparently each time Horowitz moved he changed his name, using the alias Shneor Altar in Israel, Alan Horowitz in New York and Mike Sonkin in Iowa.
Not much time pasted for there to be new allegations made of child sexual abuse. In 1991, allegations were made that Horowitz molested three boys under the age of fourteen and a 14-year-old girl in Eastern Parkway and Niskayuna, New York. It was around this time that authorities in New York contacted Interpol and learned that the investigation in the West Bank (Israel) was still being investigated.
Upon Horowitz learning that new charges in the US were being made against him, he attempted to elude the authorities by moving. This time to Woodward, Iowa. Once located he was extradited back to New York.
During the new police investigation, the New York officials found a trail of sexual abuse of patients dating back to the late 1960s when Horowitz worked for a community organization that helped impoverished, inner-city children.
On August 27, 1991, Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, MD was charged in the Supreme Court in the state of New York on 34 counts of sodomy in the 1st degree. He was also charged with two counts of Sodomy in the 2nd degree, one count of sexual abuse in the 3rd degree, and 4 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. During these court procedures a North Carolina man showed up during the court proceedings claiming he was sexually abused by Horowitz as a child. It is also mentioned that Horowitz molested children in the state of Arizona, yet no more information about those allegations is known.
On June 29, 1992 , Rabbi Alan Jay Horowitz, MD pled guilty to one count of 1st degree sodomy.
In a county Probation Department report Horowitz admitted that he was a pedophile, but a « normal pedophile, » which Horowitz defined as someone who has consensual sex with children.
During August, 1992, Alan Horowitz made the news one more time. This time was regarding a complaint that the county jail diet did not provide for his religious needs. He asked a state Supreme Court judge to direct the sheriff to provide more kosher food.
There were many attempts to stop Rabbi Horowitz being released on conditional parole on November 1, 2004 (Oneida Prison, NY), yet these attempts failed. At the time of his release he was Designation: Sexually Violent Offender and Predicate Sex Offender level three sex offender). Horowitz served a little more than 13 years before New York officials said they were forced to release him after he served two-thirds of his maximum sentence.His parole was to last until 2011.
In 2006, Horowitz illegally left the United States violating his probation. At first it was believed he was in Israel, yet instead flew to Japan and on to Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India — leaving a trail of newly sexually victimized children along the way.
In India he used his title of « rabbi » in his attempt to give himself credibility This is one of the reasons why The Awareness Center implemented it’s « CALL TO ACTION » to have his rabbinic ordination revoked.
On May 22, 2007, Rabbi Alan Horowitz was caught in India. Horowitz was in violation of his parole since June, 2006. He was extradited back to the United States on July 8, 2007.
Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum
Plead guilty, sentenced to five years of probation and counseling in a cyber-proposition case. Kestenbaum was to trying to arrange a sexual tryst over the Internet with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl named « Katie. » The judge explained that he did not sentence Kestenbaum to jail because the rabbi’s wife has cancer. Meanwhile, the National Association of Jewish Chaplains expelled Kestenbaum for violating ethics rules.
Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, M.A., M.Ed. (New York, NY)
Rabbi Kestenbaum was the director of the Jewish Institute in New York City, New York. Rabbi, Yeshiva University. Director, Chaplaincy Services, New York Board of Rabbis.
ACPE Supervisor; former Diretor. – Jewish Institute. Pastoral Care Director of Chaplaincy and the Jewish Center for Spiritual Care at the New York Board of Rabbis; Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, founding director of the Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care.
Rabbi Kestenbaum also Wrote Parsha/s for the Pearl and Harold M. Jacobs Shabbat Learning Center for the OU Torah Insights Project.
Newsday – February 20, 2003
A rabbi looking for sex with a teenage girl he thought he was courting on the Internet was arrested Thursday after it turned out the « girl » was actually an undercover officer, police said.
Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum of Highland Park, N.J., was arrested at the midtown offices of the New York Board of Rabbis.
He was charged with attempting to disseminate indecent material to a minor and attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
Police said Kestenbaum, 54, had about 13 conversations with the undercover officer over the Internet.
The officer, who is assigned to the NYPD’s Computer Investigation and Technology Unit, discussed sex acts with the rabbi and talked with him about meeting for a tryst, police said.
According to police, Kestenbaum and the « girl » met Sunday at a lower Manhattan Starbucks. Details of the meeting were not available late Thursday.
Family members of Kestenbaum in Highland Park could not be reached for comment.
A city rabbi was busted after he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl over the Internet, police said yesterday.
Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, 54, director of the Jewish Center for Spiritual Care at the New York Board of Rabbis, was arrested in his Manhattan office yesterday after a month-long sting operation, cops said.
Kestenbaum, of Highland Park, N.J., allegedly initiated an online chat with a city detective posing as a teenage girl early last month and eventually arranged to meet the « girl » in a Manhattan coffee shop, police said.
Detectives from the NYPD Computer Investigation and Technology Unit set up surveillance at the Starbucks on Dey St. in the Financial District, where Kestenbaum turned up Sunday afternoon expecting to meet the child, police said. He eventually left when she did not appear.
Kestenbaum was picked up at his office on E. 39th St. at 1 p.m. yesterday and questioned at the 17th Precinct stationhouse.
The rabbi, who allegedly engaged the cops in at least a dozen raunchy computer chat sessions, was charged with multiple counts of attempted endangerment of a child and attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, police said.
He was being held overnight and is expected to be arraigned today. Cops seized computers from his home and office.
The New York Board of Rabbis Web site states that its chaplains « serve men, women and children in scores of institutions throughout New York State » and offer « solace, comfort, compassion – and a taste of love » to Jews who cannot celebrate festivals with their families.
The Board of Rabbis could not be reached for comment last night.
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Rabbi Busted in NYPD Perv Sting
By ERIKA MARTINEZ
New York Post – February 21, 2003
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/55021.htm
A prominent rabbi was arrested yesterday on charges of trying to pick up a 13-year-old girl in an Internet chat room.
Israel Kestenbaum, 54 – who works for the New York Board of Rabbis – is accused of multiple counts of attempted child endangerment and attempted dissemination of indecent materials to a minor.
Kestenbaum, of Highland Park, N.J., was arrested at work after a monthlong probe, during which police say he solicited the girl for sex.
But the « girl » was really an NYPD undercover detective, cops said.
Kestenbaum allegedly arranged to meet the teenager on Sunday at a Starbucks at the corner of Dey Street and Broadway downtown.
She didn’t show up, of course, but police sources say cops have video of the rabbi looking for her.
After his arrest, police sources said, Kestenbaum indignantly challenged cops, saying, « Don’t you know who I am and who I know? »
Police said they confiscated Kestenbaum’s computer. His career involves helping Jewish people who are infirm and homebound, and he has contributed to books on the topic.
Kestenbaum is director of chaplaincy at the Jewish Center for Spiritual Care, which is part of the Board of Rabbis.
Before he took that job last year, Kestenbaum was the founder and director of the Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care, which teaches rabbis how to help people coping with « aging, illness, loss or crisis. »
Kestenbaum wrote that the institute served « chaplains, rabbis, seminarians, those seeking to learn the art of providing healing relationship in the context of our tradition. »
The Board of Rabbis named Kestenbaum one of its « Rabbis of the Year » for helping people in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Case of Rabbi Robert Kirschner
Congregation Emanu-El – San Francisco, CA
After serving as rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco for 11 years, Kirschner suddenly resigned from his pulpit on New Year’s Day 1992 amid accusations from three congregants and a temple employee that he had sexually exploited or harassed them.
Nearly five years after Rabbi Robert Kirschner left the pulpit, he has for the first time publicly apologized for sexual improprieties that led to his resignation.
« I hereby acknowledge, with sorrow and profound regret, that I engaged in sexual relations outside of my marriage, »
Rabbi Robert Kirschner apologizes
Jewish Bulletin (Northern California) – by DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHENand NATALIE WEINSTEIN
October 18, 1996
Special to the Bulletin
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk961018/1brabbi.htm
Nearly five years after Rabbi Robert Kirschner left the pulpit of San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El, he has for the first time publicly apologized for sexual improprieties that led to his resignation.
« I hereby acknowledge, with sorrow and profound regret, that I engaged in sexual relations outside of my marriage, » Kirschner said in a recent statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The statement included quotes from a letter he wrote in October 1995 to the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ executive board. However, releasing the information to the JTA marked the first time his apology has been made public.
Kirschner referred in that letter to his conduct as « morally and ethically indefensible, » adding that « I ask the forgiveness of anyone who was hurt by my actions, and of my rabbinic colleagues, whose standards I breached. »
But according to several of the women who accused Kirschner of sexual misconduct, some of whom were Emanu-El congregrants, the rabbi has never directly apologized to them.
In addition, « there are still people who feel an apology should have come to the congregation, » said Stephen Pearce, Emanu-El’s senior rabbi who replaced Kirschner.
The public apology may mark a turning point for both Kirschner and Emanu-El, even though Kirschner’s story illustrates what critics charge are deep flaws in the way congregations and the religious movements generally deal with accusations of rabbinic sexual misconduct.
« The fact that he has been able to admit it is very significant, not only in the eyes of people but in God’s eyes, » Pearce said.
Because Kirschner resigned, Pearce said, synagogue leaders saw no reason to investigate the women’s charges of sexual misconduct. « Since there was no definitive judgment of guilt other than the statement of the women who came forward, there were those who felt he had been wronged. »
Calling Kirschner « a brilliant rabbi, but a fallen rabbi, » Pearce said the statement creates a sense of closure for the congregation.
« There were doubts in people’s minds. They now know there was misconduct and regret, » Pearce said. « What more is there to say after this?…Everyone involved should now be getting on with their lives. »
Stuart Aronoff, Emanu-El board president, similarly called the apology « a step in the right direction. »
Kirschner was once a rising star in the Reform movement. While still in his 30s, he became the religious leader of one of the two largest synagogues in Northern California and the youngest rabbi ever to head such a sizable Reform congregation.
He was destined for a major leadership role in the Reform movement. Some say he would have been on the short list of candidates to succeed Rabbi Alexander Schindler as president of the movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
But after serving Emanu-El for 11 years, Kirschner suddenly resigned from his pulpit on New Year’s Day 1992 amid accusations from three congregants and a temple employee that he had sexually exploited or harassed them.
Eight other women later came forward to the temple board to complain about the rabbi’s conduct, including members of his congregation and two students from the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley. According to parties involved, at least three of the accusers later reached financial settlements with the temple’s insurance company.
The rabbi left the 1,600-household congregation with a package that included a year’s pay, his accrued pension, and the equity from his share of the family home jointly owned with the temple. According to a source close to the congregation’s board, the total figure came to about $230,000.
It took nearly four years after charges against Kirschner first surfaced until the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Reform movement’s rabbinical association, suspended him from its ranks.
As a result, he cannot receive CCAR benefits, such as the use of its placement services or pension fund, until at least the year 2000. The suspension does not affect his rabbinic ordination but basically precludes any Reform congregation from hiring him as its rabbi.
He is required to get counseling from a psychotherapist and from a senior rabbinic mentor, according to Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman, then-chairman of the CCAR ethics committee. Kirschner’s suspension will be lifted in the year 2000 only upon the recommendations of his therapist and rabbinic mentor.
The CCAR’s executive committee, which acts on recommendations from the ethics committee, did not stipulate what Kirschner must do to illustrate his repentance.
But according to Kirschner’s written statement to JTA, the rabbinical association has appointed a committee of three rabbis to « approve and supervise » his rehabilitation process.
Though he has not returned to the pulpit, Kirschner is now program director at the prestigious, new Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, which has strong ties to the Reform movement.
Kirschner has refused to discuss any of the charges leveled against him with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency or with the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. After initially refusing several phone interviews, he agreed to respond to a written list of questions from JTA.
But then he demurred, and through his attorneys, Kirschner provided JTA with the statement in which he admits engaging in extramarital relationships during his years at Emanu-El and violating the CCAR’s Rabbinic Code of Ethics.
In the statement, Kirschner also said: « In June 1994, I acknowledged in writing to the Ethics Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis that I had failed to abide by the provision of its Ethics Code relating to sexual misconduct. `For this failure,’ I wrote, `I express my contrition to those whom I wronged and to the CCAR, whose standards I breached.’ »
In the statement to JTA, Kirschner said that as part of his « process of rehabilitation » he has indicated his « willingness to apologize personally to anyone to whom my conduct as a congregational rabbi was hurtful or offensive. »
He has never apologized to Gemma Elftman.
Elftman, who weighs less than 100 pounds and has been battling anorexia nervosa for years, now lives in Hawaii. She moved there after dropping out of U.C. Berkeley, which she attended during her relationship with Kirschner.
Their 18-month sexual relationship began in early 1990 after the rabbi approached her at a reception for new members and offered to drive her home, according to a 48-page document she submitted in connection with her complaint againt the rabbi and the temple.
Now in her early 30s, Elftman no longer has a connection to the Jewish community.
Lisa Sherman also has left the community.
Sherman was a newlywed and new to Emanu-El, she said, when Kirschner approached her in the late 1980s.
After pursuing her « ardently » for nearly four years, Sherman said, Kirschner kissed her against her will in February 1991, shortly after her father’s death. She rejected him, she said, but Kirschner continued to pursue her for months.
Today, the 41-year-old woman has no connection to Judaism and has divorced her husband of that time. She has returned to Greek Orthodoxy, the religion she was raised in, and had her son baptized into that faith.
The extent of Kirschner’s actions began to surface in November 1991 at a party. Sherman said she was talking with three other women from Emanu-El when one expressed doubt about Kirschner, describing him as « shady. »
« Though she didn’t know it, she was talking to three other victims, » Sherman said.
According to Sherman, the four of them jointly hired an attorney and wrote statements that were presented to Emanu-El’s board in December 1991. The women threatened legal action if Kirschner was not immediately removed from his job.
Kirschner resigned from his pulpit on Jan. 1, 1992.
A letter from the temple president informed congregants of Kirschner’s resignation « with regret » in language that spoke warmly of his contribution to the synagogue and made no reference to the circumstances of his departure.
In Kirschner’s own letter of resignation, sent to the temple’s members, he cited personal reasons for stepping down and did not acknowledge any misconduct.
But in the next few months, another eight women came forward and told temple leaders that they had been sexually harassed or abused by Kirschner, said a member of the Emanu-El’s executive board. That board member agreed to be quoted only anonymously because of the pain the congregation had suffered over the matter.
The CCAR did not get involved in the case until later. The association said it would not investigate the matter until someone filed an official complaint with its ethics committee.
When a formal charge was made, CCAR’s Stiffman wrote back to the complainant declining to investigate Kirschner’s conduct, according to a copy of the letter obtained by JTA. As long as allegations about Kirschner were being worked out through lawsuits, he wrote, the CCAR’s ethics committee could not get involved in the case.
But the CCAR did try fruitlessly to find Kirschner a job shortly after he left Emanu-El.
Rabbi Arnold Sher, the CCAR’s placement director, defended the decision and said a new position would have enabled Kirschner to get « psychological help. »
This year, Kirschner was hired as program director of the newly built Skirball Cultural Center. It is a position he assumed after holding a research fellowship at the Skirball Museum, the center’s predecessor, which was then part of the Reform movement’s seminary in Los Angeles.
The fellowship was funded entirely by Kirschner’s supporters from the leadership of Emanu-El, according to Rabbi Uri Herscher, president and chief executive officer of the Skirball Cultural Center, which has strong ties to the seminary but is legally independent.
Herscher said he believes that Kirschner has repented and that the rabbi’s record has been made clear to the staff of the cultural center. He said every staff member expressed confidence in Kirschner.
But sources at the Skirball, who asked not to be named, say no such presentation was made to the center’s dozens of volunteers, nearly all of whom are women.
Still, there are those who believe that Kirschner has made the necessary amends.
Rabbi Lee Bycel, dean of the Reform seminary in Los Angeles known as the Hebrew Union College, said Kirschner « has done more repenting and more work and more dealing with this than anyone I’ve ever known in my life. »
« In my own conversations with him, I saw a man who had recognized what he had done, was well aware of what these actions meant and had addressed them psychotherapeutically, » said Bycel, who in 1993 offered a seminary teaching job to Kirschner, which he turned down after a small uproar from HUC alumni.
« He was reflecting on it in what I felt was a very Jewish manner, in examining what he had done wrong, seeking to understand why and trying in every way to make teshuvah, that is, restoring the wholeness of his own life. »
Debra Nussbaum Cohen is a Jewish Telegraphic Agency reporter. Natalie Weinstein is a Jewish Bulletin reporter.
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Case of George Schteinberg
Israeli Consul Assistant involved with prostitution of minors escapes from Brazil
Brazil This Week (Estado.Estadao) – July 5 -11, 2000
http://www.estado.estadao.com.br/english/newweek/new000711.html#materia2
Civil and Federal police are investigating the involvement of Consul Assistant of Israel in Rio de Janeiro, Arie Scher, in an international minors prostitution network. The police got to the consul after searching the house owned by 40-year old school teacher Georges Schteinberg, where police found 154 photos of naked teenagers and 12 VCR tapes. Schteinberg was arrested in a special cell for prisoners with university degrees.
Both men were accused by 17-year old R.R., who called the police after seeing pictures of herself naked in the Internet. She said that she worked for the schoolteacher as a secretary and earned R$ 200 a month. The girl also revealed that she used to go to Scher’s house with her friends, where they took off their clothes and were photographed. According to the teenager, Scher also liked the company of boys and had an intimate relationship with Schteinberg, as shone by a photograph in which they appear naked together. In Scher’s house, the police found 21 pornographic pictures of girls, five VCR and two DVD tapes.
The principal of A Liessin school, a traditional Israeli school in Rio de Janeiro where Schteinberg used to teach, released a note to the press informing that they had never had any information whatsoever about discrediting behavior regarding the teacher. Students said to be astonished because the teacher « seemed to be a very serious, nice and police person. » Schteinberg will be indicted for corruption and exploitation of minors and may be convicted for 4 to 10 years in prison for the first crime and 1 to 4 years in jail for the second, depending on the charges.
On Thursday, July 6th, the police of Rio de Janeiro revealed that the case was closed because the Consul Assistant left the country and is, therefore, considered an outlaw fugitive. Scher embarked to Argentina and from there took a plane to Israel. Some news wires informed that he had testified late last week in Israel. Now, the case is in the hands of the consul’s home country, which may even decide to deport Scher and force him to testify in Brazil. According to the Brazilian police, samples of evidence will still be examined.
Brazilian police stake out diplomat accused of running kiddie-porn ring
By Eli Muller and News Agencies
Jerusalem Post – July 6, 2000
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/07/06/News/News.9263.html
JERUSALEM (July 6) – Brazilian police continued to surround the Israeli consulate in Rio de Janeiro in the belief that Israeli vice-consul in Rio Aryeh Scher, wanted on suspicion of running a child pornography ring, had taken refuge there. However Foreign Ministry officials said Scher has been en route to Israel for the past two days.
Scher, who was at one point consul-general in Rio, was declared a fugitive by Brazilian authorities after a search of his apartment on Tuesday yielded what police officials described as evidence it was used for the manufacture of pornographic material, some of them involving underage girls.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on whether the Brazilian police had been informed of Scher’s whereabouts, but said that general-consul Eitan Sorkin would meet with Brazilian foreign ministry officials yesterday afternoon.
Brazilian authorities notified the Israeli embassy of plans to revoke Scher’s diplomatic immunity on Tuesday, prior to the search. By the time police were able to obtain a warrant to search Scher’s penthouse, the vice-consul was already on his way back to Israel, where he will face a Foreign Ministry inquiry. A ministry spokesman said that Scher had been recalled when the first evidence of possible misconduct surfaced, and that he had left the country via « legal diplomatic channels. »
The investigation that culminated in the search of Scher’s apartment began when a 17-year-old girl accused Georges Schteinberg, a 40-year-old Hebrew teacher of using her as a model in pornographic pictures and of distributing them on the Internet. Photographs of nude minors posed on a car with diplomatic plates were discovered in a search of Schteinberg’s residence earlier in the week, in addition to massive quantities of pornographic material. Police then traced the car in the pictures back to Scher.
The search of Scher’s apartment confirmed that some of the photographs found at Schteinberg’s residence had been taken in the vice-consul’s penthouse.
Schteinberg, who is also alleged to have run a service that brought tourists to Brazil to visit child prostitutes, has since been charged with sexual exploitation of minors.
Israeli embassy and consulate officials in Brazil refused comment pending the release of further evidence.
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Brazil links Israeli consul to child prostitution
Reuters – July 5, 2000
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian police suspect an Israeli diplomat of hosting child prostitution sessions after finding pictures of nude teen-age girls taken at his apartment, police said Wednesday.
Police began a hunt for Israel’s administration consul to Rio de Janeiro, Arie Scher, Tuesday and the Israeli government said it was recalling the middle-ranking diplomat to investigate whether he was innocent or guilty.
Following a young girl’s testimony, police arrested a Hebrew teacher at his home early Tuesday where they found pictures of nude girls taken in the diplomat’s apartment. In other photos, where everybody was fully dressed, Scher appeared embracing the same girls.
« We confirmed that the pornographic pictures were taken next to the consul’s pool and on his deck, » said Roberto Costa, a chief investigator for the civil police. « We are going to charge him with exploiting minors and prostituting them. »
Police believe Scher is hiding out in the Israeli Consulate in Rio.
Foreign Minister David Levy told Israel’s Army Radio, « I don’t know if he is guilty, if he is innocent. The first thing is we need to bring him home and an investigation has to be conducted. »
The Israeli Embassy in Brasilia said it would not comment on the case until it had further details.
Police said a young girl testified that she was filmed and photographed by the teacher, Georges Schteinberg, having sex with Israeli tourists. She also claimed that Scher participated in some of the sessions, without explaining what his role was.
In Schteinberg’s home, police said they found 12 videos, Internet messages and 154 pictures, including the shots of naked girls in Scher’s apartment.
Rio de Janeiro has the highest rate of child prostitution in Brazil. Workers at hotels and restaurants along world-famous Copacabana beach often offer to provide clients with teenage prostitutes.
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Case of Rabbi Fred Neulander
Rabbi Fred Neulander was found guilty of murdering his wife Carol. On Nov. 1, 1994, Carol Neulander was found dead in her home in Cherry Hill, NJ She was a victim of a beating. In a matter of months, her husband, Fred, then a senior rabbi, was named as a suspect.
Wife of Cherry Hill rabbi found bludgeoned to death
By CAROL COMEGNO and LOUIS T. LOUNSBERRY
Courier-Post staff – November 3,1994
http://www.southjerseynews.com/neulander/110394a.html
CHERRY HILL — A local businesswoman, the wife of a Cherry Hill rabbi, was bludgeoned to death Tuesday night, according to authorities, who say they have « substantial leads » in the grisly crime that has stunned neighbors.
Carol Neulander, 52, was found dead inside her home in the 200 block of High Gate Lane in the Wexford Leas development at about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, Camden County Prosecutor Edward F. Borden said at a press conference Wednesday.
Her husband, Rabbi Fred J. Neulander, found her body when he came home from Congregation M’Kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, where he is senior rabbi.
The victim, known as a straight-talking woman who spoke her mind, was found lying face down in a pool of blood in the living room of the couple’s two-story home. She was pronounced dead at the scene by the county medical examiner’s office.
Borden said Mrs. Neulander, a woman of medium build who was just over 5 feet tall, had been beaten on the head numerous times with an unknown blunt object. The autopsy concluded she died from « multiple incidents of blunt trauma to the head. » Authorities know how many times she was struck, but Borden would not disclose the number of blows.
The prosecutor said there was no sign of forced entry into the home and no murder weapon was found. There were signs of a struggle, but the prosecutor declined to describe them.
Both Borden and Cherry Hill Police Chief William Moffett said authorities want to contact two brothers who live in the area, Daniel and Frank Spanolia, in connection with the crime. The two were paroled from state prison about two months ago for a series of burglaries committed in the area several years ago.
« They are on intensive supervisory probation. We’ve been alerted by neighbors about them. Attention to them is part of the investigation. I wouldn’t classify them as particular targets of investigation, » Borden said.
Police and prosecutor’s investigators were at the scene Wednesday, interviewing neighbors and conducting an extensive search for evidence that had them combing through leaves on the heavily wooded lot and picking through the family’s recycling bucket. They borrowed ladders from a Cherry Hill firetruck to check the roof for clues.
« Given the fact that our investigation is just about 14 hours old, it appears that robbery may have been the motive. We have some very substantial leads to follow up, » Borden said at a mid-morning press conference Wednesday at the Cherry Hill municipal building. He wouldn’t elaborate on those leads.
Borden did say Mrs. Neulander had been taking home the day’s receipts from the Classic Cake Co., which she managed, since the bakery’s Voorhees outlet was robbed Oct. 3. She was the founder of the Classic Cake Co. of Audubon and Voorhees. She sold the bakery several years ago, but still worked as its wholesale manager.
Borden declined to say if Mrs. Neulander had any receipts from the Eagle Plaza bakery with her Tuesday night. Authorities were still trying to determine if anything was taken from the home.
Sources close to the investigation said Mrs. Neulander’s purse was missing. Other sources said police have determined the crime was committed during a period of roughly two hours between 7 p.m. to shortly after 9 p.m.
That determination was pieced together from interviews with the family, neighbors and bakery employees.
Renee Stockman, retail manager at the Voorhees store, said Mrs. Neulander was still at work when she left at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, which she described as a normal working day. Neighbors say Mrs. Neulander had not arrived home by 6 p.m. They saw her husband and son in the house around that time. The family members said they left the house by 7 p.m., Mr. Neulander to return to the synagogue, and their son Matthew to go to work. Mr. Neulander’s emergency call to police was recorded at 9:20 p.m.
Cherry Hill police arrived at the scene at 9:22 p.m., followed by the ambulance squad from the Ashland Ambulance Squad. The Neulanders’ son Matthew — an emergency medical technician there — was at work when the call came in for an injured person at his home.
His unit and another from Deer Park responded. When he arrived, police — knowing his mother lay dead inside — kept him outside.
The family has not been allowed to return to the home since the killing so that officials can preserve the crime scene, Borden said. There’s no indication when they will be allowed to return.
The Neulanders had lived in this upscale neighborhood of well-kept homes since 1975. They have three children. Only Matthew lives at home. Son Benjamin, who attends the University of Michigan, flew home Wednesday. Daughter Rebecca lives in Philadelphia.
Bakery retail manager Stockman recalled Mrs. Neulander as « a wonderful person who was always encouraging, supportive and behind the business 100 percent. We will miss her. »
Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin, who knows the family, was called to the house Tuesday night.
« The entire community mourns their loss. The Neulanders are a close family. I’m sure they are pulling together in this time of need, » Levin said. « She was very active in both the neighborhood community and the temple’s community. »
Mrs. Neulander served as a volunteer on the Camden County Child Placement Review Board and was active in her neighborhood and with M’Kor Shalom.
« She was a very caring and giving person, » the mayor said. This is « a terrible tragedy. »
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Slaying unnerves neighbors of family
By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post staff – November 3,1994
http://www.southjerseynews.com/neulander/110394b.html
CHERRY HILL — On a quiet, tree-lined, suburban street, neighbors on Wednesday discovered the horror of a violent crime amid their American Dream.
« It’s horrible, » said one numbed resident, reacting to the murder of longtime neighbor Carol Neulander, a businesswoman and rabbi’s wife bludgeoned to death in her Wexford Leas home Tuesday night.
« This is what you expect to see on Action News and not in your neighborhood — and especially not to a family so community-oriented, » said Jack Mitchard, sweeping leaves at his home next to the Neulander residence on Highgate Lane.
Carol Neulander, the mother of three, was a bright, caring woman, a straight talker who « got the job done, » said neighbors and friends.
« They were a nice family and so active, » said one neighbor, who did not give his name.
The victim’s husband, Rabbi Fred J. Neulander, is senior rabbi at Congregation M’Kor Shalom on Evesham Road and is well-known in the community.
Authorities suspect robbery as a possible motive in the brutal slaying.
« If they wanted money, why didn’t they just take it? » asked one neighbor. « Why did they have to do this to her? »
As police combed the property and photographed the family car and other possible evidence, leaves drifted onto the cordoned-off crime scene and toward nearby homes still decorated for Halloween.
Some people in the neighborhood have alarms but others do not. A number have dogs that they say help protect their property.
Linda Folger, whose Pembroke Court home faces the victim’s residence, said she’s thinking about the need for a burglar alarm.
Mitchard said his wife saw Rabbi Neulander and the rabbi’s grown son Matthew through a kitchen window about 6 p.m. Tuesday, just hours before the crime. The two men left home after dinner.
« Our kitchen window faces their kitchen window, so she happened to see them, but she did not see the wife and she did not notice when she came home later, » said Mitchard. « We were watching TV afterward and did not hear anything. »
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Case of Rabbi David E. Lipman
Kiruv Rabbi / Cantor
Pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, a Class 2 felony, and three counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, Class 3 felonies. Lipman pleaded guilty to pertain to the computer images of children younger than the age of 15.
A grand jury initially indicated Lipman on 16 counts of child molestation and sexual abuse. These charges stem from an investigation that involved two teen-age girls, 16 and 14.
The plea agreement also mandates lifetime probation and a sex offender registration.
David Lipman ran the internet kiruv website jewishgates.org. He also is the son of former president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR).
Record – August 16, 1996
Temple Beth Am of Reform Judaism has announced the appointment of Rabbi David Lipman. He will conduct weekly services at the Temple 106 North St. beginning in September.
He studies music and liberal arts at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was graduated sumina cum laude. He also studied at Hebrew Union College and Hebrew University in Israel, was curriculum director and teacher for the Dade Public School Program in Israel.
Rabbi Lipman worked on many achaeological digs in Israel and studied for a semester with Yigael Yadin in Jerusalem. He is currently a third year student at Hebrew Union College in New York City.
Prescott temple hires new rabbi
By Leisah Namm
Temple B’rith Shalom, 2077 Brohner Way, Prescott, AZ 86301-8800, Phone: 928 708 0018
Rabbi David Lipman, Services: Weekly, Friday 7:30 PM, Saturday 10:00 AM.
http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/020517/prescott.shtml
May 17, 2002/Sivan 6, 5762, Vol. 54, No.35
Temple B’rith Shalom in Prescott has hired a new rabbi to serve its 157 member families.
Rabbi David E. Lipman, who currently leads a Reform congregation in Cranston, R.I., fills the future gap left by Rabbi William Berkowitz, who will leave the synagogue in June.
Berkowitz has served the congregation for seven years.
Before his arrival, the nearly 25-year-old Reform congregation was led by student rabbis, had about 60 families and didn’t have its own building, said president Suzanne Allender.
« (Berkowitz) has been very much involved in and responsible for more than doubling the size of the synagogue, tracking people so that we were able to build a building and enabling us to have much richer programming, » Allender said.
B’rith Shalom is the first synagogue in Northern Arizona to have built its own building, which is now four years old, she added.
Berkowitz is also given credit « for improving and strengthening the ties between the Jewish community in Prescott and the wider community, » she said. « He’s done a terrific job with interacting with the other clergy here in Prescott and having a Jewish voice being heard in the general community.
« In all those ways, he’s been a tremendous help to the Jewish community here. We’re very sorry to see him leave but we understand that sometimes other things have to take precedence, in this case his family. »
As Berkowitz enters this « period of transition, » he is « excited about where this may lead, » he says.
His short-term plans include remaining in Prescott and attending Temple B’rith Shalom, and he says he will always remember « how nice and friendly and warm and accepting this congregation has been. »
The congregation will hold a dinner dance in honor of Berkowitz on June 16 (see Details box).
The congregation currently has weekly Shabbat services, adult education programs, religious school and a sisterhood. About 20-30 member families live part-time in the Phoenix area, Allender said.
Besides serving as rabbi at Temple Sinai in Rhode Island, Lipman is a board member of Jewish Services for the Elderly and the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, a teacher in a community Jewish high school, a lecturer at Providence Jewish Renaissance and the creator of the Jewish Web site http://www.jewishgates.org. He was ordained in 1978 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He will move to Prescott with wife (Name Removed).
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Arrest warrant issued for rabbi in child molestation case
Associated Press – May. 27, 2005
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0527wantedrabbi-ON.html
PRESCOTT – A felony warrant has been issued for the arrest of a rabbi accused of child molestation and sexual abuse, authorities said.
Yavapai County prosecutors said David Lipman, 55, faces 11 counts of child molestation and five counts of sexual abuse that stem from an investigation involving two girls, ages 16 and 14.
Prescott Justice Court Judge Arthur Markham signed a warrant Thursday for Lipman’s arrest.
City police received a call on May 13 from a Child Protective Services employee who reported possible sexual abuse of two girls.
That prompted a criminal investigation against Lipman, who admitted to inappropriate touching, according to Prescott Police Det. Robert Peoples.
Lipman was placed on administrative leave Monday from Temple B’rith Shalom, where he has been rabbi since April 2002 of a congregation with about 300 members.
Judge issues felony warrant for rabbi
Faces complaint involving 16 counts of molestation, sex abuse
By MIRSADA BURIC-ADAM
The Daily Courier – May 27, 2005
http://prescottdailycourier.1upsoftware.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=35862
PRESCOTT A judge Thursday issued a felony warrant for the arrest of Rabbi David Lipman after the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office filed a complaint with 16 counts of child molestation and sexual abuse against him.
Lipman’s wife, however, reported the 55-year-old rabbi missing on Tuesday in the wake of a sexual abuse investigation and his administrative leave from Temple B’rith Shalom in the 2000 block of Brohner Way in Prescott.
Prescott Police Det. Robert Peoples said on Thursday that he received no new information regarding the missing person case.
Deputy Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane said Lipman faces 11 counts of child molestation and five counts of sexual abuse that stem from an investigation involving two teen-age girls, 16 and 14 years of age. Shortly after authorities filed the complaint, Prescott Justice Court Judge Arthur Markham signed a warrant for Lipman’s arrest.
Peoples said that all of the charges in the complaint stem from the allegations of inappropriate touching that the older girl reported to authorities because those incidents allegedly occurred in Arizona.
Lipman faces no charges in connection with the allegations that the younger girl made because those alleged incidents took place in another state, said Peoples, who is unaware whether authorities in that state are investigating those allegations.
Peoples said on Monday that his agency received a call on May 13 from a Child Protective Services employee who reported possible sexual abuse of two girls. He said the employee obtained the information from the CPS hotline.
That information prompted a criminal investigation against Lipman, which ap-parently revealed that the alleged abuse had been going on for about six to eight years, he said.
« The abuse started with back massages, then Lipman would move his hands to her buttocks, breasts and (private parts), » a PPD report states. « She recalls the touching being under her clothes rather than over her clothes. »
When police went to talk to Lipman at his office at the Temple « he admitted to inappropriate touching, » Peoples said previously.
« I confronted him about the allegations and what the girl told me and he told me ‘the girls are very honest and they don’t lie. If they said that it happened, then it happened.’ »
In the wake of the allegations, the congregation decided to place Lipman on administrative leave effective this past Monday and pending further notice from the B’rith Shalom board.
Mark Drutz, a member of the congregation and a lawyer with the Musgrove Drutz & Kack law firm who is representing the Temple regarding Lipman’s situation, said on Tuesday that « we became aware that there were certain allegations that would have reflected adversely on his ability to lead the Temple B’rith Shalom. Based upon that we elected to place him on administrative leave. »
Drutz said Lipman became the rabbi of the congregation (which counts some 300 members] in April 2002.
Before the board hired him, it advertised the position and interviewed a number of prospective candidates. Lipman came from Rhode Island, he said.
« I’m unaware of anything that would have reflected adversely on his qualifications, » Drutz said. « Generally the community was satisfied with his services. »
On Tuesday, Lipman’s wife reported him missing after she had not seen nor heard from her husband since May 20. He came to the house on that day and then left without saying where he was going or where he might be staying, a Prescott Police report states.
She also reported no activity on their bank accounts and that he has not checked his e-mail since May 20, the report states.
The wife also reported that she was concerned about Lipman’s welfare, since he has shown signs of depression after the allegations and his leave from the synagogue, the report states.
Lipman is described as 5-foot-9 with brown hair, hazel eyes. He weighs about 210 pounds.
He was driving a plum-colored 1999 Saturn station wagon with an Arizona license plate 827KAJ.
People with information regarding Lipman can call the PPD at 778-1444 or Det. Peoples at 771-5802.
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Police looking for rabbi
Temple places him on leave in wake of sex abuse allegations
Prescott Daily Courier – May 27, 2005
By MIRSADA BURIC-ADAM
PRESCOTT — The Prescott Police Department is asking the public for help in locating David Eliezer Lipman, the 55-year-old rabbi of Temple B’rith Shalom in Prescott, whose family reported him missing on Tuesday.
Lipman’s wife told the police that the last time she saw her husband was on Friday and that it was unusual for him not to have contact with his family for an extended period of time, a Police Department report states.
Lt. Pete Hodap said on Tuesday that Lipman’s wife reported no activity on his bank accounts.
Meanwhile, the congregation has placed Lipman on administrative leave.
Mark Drutz, a member of the congregation and a lawyer who is representing the Temple regarding recent allegations against Lipman, said « the rabbi has been placed on administrative leave this past Monday, May 23, pending further notice from B’rith Shalom.
« We were aware of certain allegations, » he said. « We became aware that there were certain allegations that would have reflected adversely on his ability to lead the Temple B’rith Shalom. Based upon that we elected to place him on administrative leave. »
Two teen-age girls reported to the police that Lipman has been touching them inappropriately, according to a police report.
Det. Robert Peoples said on Monday that his agency received a call on May 13 from a Child Protective Services (CPS) employee who reported possible sexual abuse of two girls. He said the employee obtained the information from the CPS hotline.
That information prompted a criminal investigation against Lipman, which apparently revealed that the alleged abuse had been going on for about six to eight years, he said. Peoples said he interviewed the older girl, who is now 16, in person at the Police Department. « She talked about back massages to help her to fall asleep, » Peoples said, adding that eventually Lipman started fondling her breasts and private areas.
When police went to talk to Lipman at his office in the 2000 block of Brohner Way, « he admitted to inappropriate touching, » Peoples said.
« I confronted him about the allegations and what the girl told me and he told me ‘the girls are very honest and they don’t lie. If they said that it happened then it happened.’ »
Peoples said that he recorded the interview and Lipman’s admission.
The younger girl, who is now 14 years old and lives in another state with her father, confirmed similar allegations against the rabbi, Peoples said.
According to a Prescott Police report, he admitted that he touched one of the victims on the back and buttocks areas.
« He stated that his touching was inappropriate, but started to be inappropriate only when they lived in Vermont about three to four years ago, » the report states. « He states that (the older girl) has made more serious allegations, but he doesn’t remember doing these acts. »
The older girl told Peoples that Lipman allegedly started to touch her inappropriately eight years ago when they lived in New York, the report states. « The abuse continued when they moved to Rhode Island and in Arizona and happened on a daily basis, » the report states. « She recalls the touching being under her clothes rather than over her clothes. »
The last time she remembers such an incident happening was about two years ago, the report states. She claimed that the alleged abuse stopped when she was old enough to understand what was going on and she told him to stop, the report states. She also claimed that Lipman was touching her younger sister inappropriately.
The younger girl told Peoples that she remembers him rubbing her back and then moving around to her breasts, the report states. She recalls this happening only once and she told him « no » when he would approach her for a back rub, the report states.
She was unable to establish whether the touching was under or over her clothes, the report states.
Peoples said that he forwarded the report to the county attorney for review of sexual abuse charges against Lipman.
Deputy Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane said that his office received the report on Monday and that the charging unit will still have to review it to determine whether to file any charges against Lipman.
Lipman is described as 5-foot-9 with brown hair and hazel eyes. He weighs about 210 pounds. He was driving a plum-colored 1999 Saturn station wagon with the Arizona license plate 827KAJ.
About Rabbi Lipman
http://www.geocities.com/ravlipman/rabbispage.htm
Following a six-month nation-wide search, Temple B’rith Shalom selected its new rabbi -David E. Lipman -from a field of nine applicants. Rabbi Lipman, 53, is the second full-time rabbi to serve Prescott’s only Jewish house of worship. He succeeds Rabbi William Berkowitz, who led the congregation for seven years. Rabbi Lipman and his wife, have purchased a home in Prescott. They have five children.:
The new rabbi’s last pulpit was a Cranston, R.I. congregation with more than 400 members, compared to 150 member families in Prescott. Because of its larger membership in the Rhode Island congregation, professional employees performed many of the rabbi’s duties there, such as music by a cantor, religious school by a professional educator, and administration by an office manager. The fact that B’rith Shalom has fewer members is one of the things that attracted the rabbi to Prescott. This enables him to be a hands-on clergyman and to be personally involved in all members’ lives and every facet of the Temple.
Rabbi Lipman was born in Seattle, Washington. His father, the late Rabbi Eugene Lipman, was a highly regarded Reform Jewish scholar. The incoming rabbi attended Oberlin College and was ordained following graduation from Hebrew Union College in New York City and Israel. During his many years of study, he also completed the requirements necessary to be a cantor: he possesses a concert quality voice and has increased the amount of music in the weekly services. He also organized and leads a children’s choir. Rabbi Lipman possesses a keen sense of humor, intense energy and a love of study and teaching. He is fluent in French, German, Hebrew, and Aramaic. He is learning to speak Yiddish. During his studies in Israel he became involved in archaeology and worked on a number of significant excavations. This led to his ability to understand the Ugaritic language, an extinct alphabet language.
The rabbi is world-renowned for his biblical and Talmudic knowledge. His web site, Gates to Jewish Heritage, www.jewishgates.com, contains more than 15,000 pages of Jewish thought, meticulously organized, which is read by more than 13,000 people daily. Rabbi Lipman says that he is very impressed with Prescott’s unique environmental quality, which he believes heightens the depth of religious experience. He adds that he hopes to build on Rabbi Berkowitz’s legacy of social conscience and the visibility of Jewish volunteerism that helps make Prescott a better place to live.
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Missing Arizona rabbi faces child abuse charges
By SAM SER
Jerusalem Post – June 9, 2005
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1118283816113&apage=1
For more information on this case see:
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Lipman_David. html
Rabbi David E. Lipman has disappeared without a trace from his home and Reform synagogue in Prescott, Arizona, missing since May 20 after two teenage girls from his congregation accused him of fondling them.
Prescott police have no leads on the whereabouts of Lipman, who is reported to be proficient in several languages and who spent time in Israel during his studies at Hebrew Union College. Neither he nor his plum-colored 1999 Saturn station wagon has turned up, police said.
« We have contacted immigration, we have contacted this border patrol, we have contacted the FBI, » public information officer Lt. Pete Hodap told The Jerusalem Post. « We have not located him, and we have no idea at this point where he is. We worry that he may be where you are, » Hodap said, referring to Israel. « And [suicide] is always a possibility… »
It was Lipman’s wife who reported him missing nearly three weeks ago. Days earlier he had been approached at Temple B’rith Shalom by police investigating a complaint from Child Protection Services regarding the older of the two girls.
« The abuse started with back massages, then Lipman would move his hands to her buttocks, breasts and (private parts), » according to a Prescott Police Department report. « She recalls the touching being under her clothes rather than over her clothes. »
The behavior was allegedly repeated over a period of time, with both girls.
Lipman admitted to at least some of the allegations, Hodap told the Post. He said Lipman told Detective Robert Peoples, « ‘The girls are very honest and they don’t lie. If they said that it happened, then it happened.’ »
The rabbi was not taken into custody or served an arrest warrant, however, on the advice of the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office. Instead, the county suggested that police issue a « long-form complaint, » a less formal summons.
A felony warrant was later issued for Lipman’s arrest on 11 counts of child molestation and five counts of sexual abuse of the girls, aged 16 and 14, respectively.
The story has taken a toll on the small Jewish community of Prescott, a city of 35,000 situated between Phoenix and Las Vegas. The 175-family congregation of Temple B’rith Shalom completed its permanent building for the synagogue only a few years ago, after two decades of holding services in members’ homes and rented facilities.
Speaking on behalf of the temple, congregant Mark Drutz, an attorney, told the Post that the revelation of Lipman’s behavior was a « devastating blow to the community, because it was a betrayal of trust. He was the spiritual leader for the Jewish community in the area, the spokesman for the Jewish community.
« A story like this gets a lot of publicity in a smaller community, » he added. « When this happens in this kind of area, where there aren’t a lot of Jews, it gets a lot of media attention. It’s a black eye for the Jewish community for something like this to happen. »
Lipman, 55, is but the second full-time rabbi employed by the congregation. The pulpit he held before joining Temple B’rith Shalom in 2002 was a slightly larger synagogue in Cranston, Rhode Island, where congregants « were absolutely shocked » to hear of Lipman’s troubles in Arizona, according to an administrator there.
At Temple B’rith Shalom, Lipman served as cantor and led a children’s choir in addition to his duties as rabbi. He also ran the Web site http://www.jewishgates.com, and is said to be energetic and charismatic.
Lipman is also the son of the late Rabbi Eugene Lipman, a former head of the Central Conference of American Rabbis who, during his service as a chaplain in the US Army at the end of World War II, cared for concentration camp survivors and rescued a megila (Scroll of Esther) from Theresienstadt.
Phone calls placed by the Post to Lipman’s home, where his wife and (Removed) children – including girls the same age as the complainants – live, went unanswered. Drutz said they were in the process of moving to the east coast.
The synagogue has been left in a quandry. The temple congregants held a « town hall » meeting two weeks ago to address their concerns, and to hear from rabbis sent from Los Angeles on ways to deal with the situation, Drutz said. They have received support from other clergy in the area as well, he said.
Lipman, meanwhile, has simply disappeared. There has been no activity in Lipman’s bank account, police said. His passport has been « flagged » in case he tries to leave the United States, but so far there has been no notification of any such attempt.
« If he left the country, we should have gotten a hit on his passport… unless he left before we got that into the computer, » said Hodap. « Hopefully, he’ll turn up. »
Religious functions at Temple B’rith Shalom are continuing with some help from the previous rabbi, who has since pursued a career in a different field, Drutz said, but the congregants’ emotional healing will take some time.
« My own daughter, who is 10, was attending bat mitzvah lessons with the rabbi to learn Hebrew, » said Drutz. « My wife told her that the rabbi was ill and that we did not expect him to return… but obviously, he needs some help that is beyond the capacity of the congregation to give him. »
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Readers’ Letters
Fleeing the scene
The Jerusalem Post, Opinion, Page 14 – June 17, 2005
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1118888336256
Sir – Re « Missing Arizona rabbi faces child abuse charges » (June 9): I wanted to thank Sam Ser and The Jerusalem Post for writing this article. As I’m sure you are aware it’s not uncommon for individuals accused of sexual crimes to flee the community where the accusations have been made. Unfortunately many from Jewish communities tend to flee to Israel to avoid prosecution. We have also seen a trend in which those who end up in Israel change their names to avoid detection.
My hope is that Rabbi David E. Lipman will soon be found alive and well and able to face the charges being brought against him.
Vicki Polin, Executive Director
The Awareness Center: Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault
Baltimore
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Phoenix Rabbi Accused Of Sex Abuse
By Deborah Sussman Susser, Special to the Jewish Times
Baltimore Jewish Times – July 03, 2005
http://www.jewishtimes.com/News/4822.stm
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=15578&intcategoryid=4
(Phoenix, Ariz) Police have few leads in the search for an Arizona rabbi accused of sexually abusing two teenaged girls.
Temple B’rith Shalom in Prescott, Ariz., is quietly carrying on without Rabbi David Lipman, who was reported missing by his family May 24, shortly after the allegations surfaced.
Lt. Pete Hodap of the Prescott Police Department said police have contacted immigration authorities « to make sure that (Lipman) hasn’t left the country. »
« We’re trying to put a flag on his passport, » Hodap said, « to hopefully keep him from leaving the country, if that’s what his thoughts are. »
Detective Robert Peoples said June 14 that there were « no leads yet. »
« No news, » Peoples said, « don’t know where he is, no one’s talking, no one knows, apparently. Unfortunately. »
According to Yavapai County’s The Daily Courier, two girls aged 16 and 14 told police Lipman had been touching them inappropriately.
Peoples said his department received a call May 13 from a Child Protective Services employee who reported possible sexual abuse of the girls. The call prompted a criminal investigation against Lipman, who « admitted to inappropriate touching, » Peoples said.
B’rith Shalom placed Lipman on administrative leave May 20 and terminated his employment effective May 27.
Lipman, 55, was hired in the spring of 2002 and moved to Prescott from a position in Rhode Island. He was only the second full-time rabbi to serve Prescott’s only Jewish house of worship.
Lipman is the son of Rabbi Eugene Lipman, who was president of the Reform Movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1987-1989. He and his wife, (NAMES REMOVED) children.
Mark Drutz, an attorney and B’rith Shalom member who has been acting as spokesman for the temple, said lay services are being offered on Shabbat, and that the temple’s prior rabbi is helping out.
The congregation is receiving institutional support from organizations such as the Union for Reform Judaism, and members of other religions have called to offer assistance.
Drutz told the Jewish News that the situation is « devastating, but the congregation is strong, and it will survive and move forward. »
The Prescott Police Department has requested that anyone with information regarding Lipman’s whereabouts call the department at (928) 778-1444 or Detective Peoples at (928) 771-5802.
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Rabbi Missing
The Awareness Center – July 3, 2005
Rabbi David Lipman is described as 5-foot-9 with brown hair, hazel eyes. He weighs about 210 pounds.He was driving a plum-colored 1999 Saturn station wagon with an Arizona license plate 827KAJ. People with information regarding Lipman can call the PPD at (928) 778-1444 or Det. Peoples at (928) 771-5802.
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Facing sex abuse charges, former rabbi is out on bond after turning himself in
By MIRSADA BURIC-ADAM
The Daily Courier – Thursday, July 07, 2005
http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=36397
PRESCOTT – Five weeks after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a sexual abuse investigation involving minors, David Lipman, a 55-year-old former rabbi of Temple B’rith Shalom in Prescott, turned himself in to the authorities and is now out of jail on a bond.
Lipman’s attorney, Billy Hicks, said on Wednesday that his client turned himself in to the court a week ago and at that time he appeared before Justice of the Peace Arthur Markham, who initially signed the warrant for his arrest.
« I went to court with him and we turned him in to the court, » he said. « At that time the judge set a bond of $200,000 and later that day he bonded out » of the jail.
Prior to the judge issuing a warrant for Lipman’s arrest, the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office filed a complaint alleging 11 counts of child molestation and five counts of sexual abuse that stem from an investigation that involved two girls, 16 and 14.
Prescott Police Det. Robert Peoples said previously that all the charges in the complaint stem from the allegations of inappropriate touching that the older girl reported to authorities because those incidents allegedly happened in Arizona.
Police received a call from a Child Protective Services employee on May 13 who reported the possible sexual abuse of the two girls, Peoples said.
That information prompted a criminal investigation against Lipman, which apparently revealed that the alleged abuse had been going on for about six to eight years, he said.
« The abuse started with back massages, then Lipman would move his hands to her buttocks, breasts and (private parts), » a PPD report states. « She recalls the touching being under her clothes rather than over her clothes. »
When police went to talk to Lipman at his office at the Temple, « he admitted to inappropriate touching, » Peoples said.
« I confronted him about the allegations and what the girl told me and he told me ‘the girls are very honest and they don’t lie. If they said that it happened, then it happened.’ »
In the wake of the allegations, the congregation placed Lipman on administrative leave on May 23 and then, four days later, after the county attorney filed an official complaint with charges against Lipman, it severed his employment relationship with the temple completely.
Mark Drutz, a member of the congregation and a lawyer with the Musgrove Drutz & Kack law firm who is representing the temple regarding Lipman’s situation, said, « As of May 27, we terminated and rescinded the employment contracts with the rabbi.
« We made the decision that was in the best of interest of Temple B’rith Shalom to terminate the employment relationship based upon these facts which had come to light, » Drutz added.
He said the congregation is going to use interim rabbis until it hires a permanent rabbi and is now working with the United Reform congregation group in Los Angeles.
He said he doesn’t believe that the pervious rabbi, William « Billy » Berkowitz, whom Lipman replaced in April 2002, is interested in a full-time position as a rabbi.
« I think he has done a life change but he has been very gracious and has filled in for certain events, » Drutz said.
After his dismissal from the Temple, Lipman’s wife reported him missing on May 24 after she had not heard from him for a few days.
Hicks said he doesn’t know where his client was prior to deciding to turn himself in to the authorities.
Contact the reporter at: mburicadam@prescottaz.com
Nauseating truly.