Case of Rabbi Max Zucker
New York, NY
Dalton, GA
(1950's)
North Miami Beach, FL
Governor's Commission
on Human Rights - Knoxville, TN
National
Conference of Christians and Jews - Knoxville, TN
Congregation Tiferet Israel -
Dallas, TX (1969)
Congregation Agudath Jacob -
Waco, TX (1987)
Temple Anshi Shalom - Delray Beach,
FL
Miami Beach, FL - (Retired)
Accused of molesting three women when they were
children. On May 17, 1998, Rabbi Max Zucker made a public apology to the women.
In Tennessee, he served on the Governor's Commission
on Human Rights and as head of the Knoxville Round Table of the National
Conference of Christians and Jews; while in Dallas, he presided over the
local association of rabbis and the Texas Kallah of Rabbis.
In news stories over the years, Rabbi Zucker often
talked about children and service to youth. "I'm a hard disciplinarian in
theory," he told the "Knoxville News-Sentinel" in 1962. "Actually, in practice,
my own idea is to make children like me ... In Dalton, they called me their
Pied Piper."
Rabbi Zucker passed away six months after apologizing for the sexual assaults.
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- Three women accuse ex-Dallas rabbi of molesting them as girls (05/16/1998)
- 3 women accuse rabbi of molestation He offers apology for one 'mistake,' doesn't recall other incident (05/16/1998)
- Rabbi seeks forgiveness (05/17/1998)
- Rabbi apologizes after sexual abuse allegations (05/19/1998)A former rabbi accused by three women of improper touch (05/20/1998)
- Synagogue hires lawyer for inquiry Women say rabbi offered little help in abuse case (05/20/1998)
- Rabbi Max Zucker, former Tiferet Israel leader, dies at 74 (10/09/1998)
- Services held for Rabbi Max Zucker, formerly of Heska Amuna (10/10/1998)
- Over 200 attend services for Rabbi Max Zucker (10/10/1998)
- OBITUARIES (10/15/1998)
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By Brooks Egerton
The Dallas Morning News - May 16, 1998, Saturday
DALLAS -- Three women have accused a prominent former
Dallas rabbi of molesting them as girls, joining a small but growing number
of people around the country alleging sexual misconduct by some Jewish religious
leaders.
One of the women, (Name Removed), said Rabbi Max Zucker,
the longtime head of Congregation Tiferet Israel, begged her forgiveness
when she confronted him recently in the presence of her husband and
parents.
Rabbi Zucker acknowledged this week that he apologized
to (Name Removed) for a "mistake" he made nearly three decades ago.
"I touched her; I didn't fondle her," he told "The
Dallas Morning News." Asked to elaborate, the rabbi said: "It doesn't matter.
I apologized to her, and it's a closed story."
(Name Removed) and her relatives said Rabbi Zucker
did not dispute her account that he touched her genitals. Instead, she said,
he responded to her specifics by saying, "That was a very dark chapter in
my life, and now God is punishing me."
In his telephone interview with "The Dallas Morning
News," Rabbi Zucker sometimes denied improper touching and sometimes said
he couldn't recall any. He said he's suffering terrible pain from prostate
and bladder cancer that has spread to his bones, plus a torn shoulder.
"You know, thousands of children came into my office
to be taught," said the 73-year-old rabbi, who retired two years ago in suburban
Miami after more than 40 years in synagogues around the South. "And who
remembers?"
Those children, he said, would sit on his lap. There
behind his desk, his three accusers said, is where he repeatedly molested
them, at ages 11, 12 and 13.
"I was the Pied Piper," said Rabbi Zucker, a father
of four. "All the kids used to come around here I used to play ball with
them, I would teach them, I made a choir, I bought them robes. So we were
close ... But this other business is ridiculous.
"All I can say is, if anybody ever said that I made
an approach which was inappropriate, okay, my deepest, my sincerest apologies.
I beg their forgiveness. I don't recall any such thing ever happening. If
they imagined it or if it was fact, I'm certainly sorry."
ABUSE IN ALL FAITHS
The three accusers _ (Name Removed), a 41-year-old
Denver resident; (Name Removed), 38, of Dallas; and (Name Removed), 37, of
Dallas said too many Jews think problems like sexual abuse happen only to
non-Jewish people. "They're the last of the religious communities to
come forward," said the Rev. Tom Economus, a Chicago priest who heads a national
organization of clergy-abuse victims. "I've talked to a lot of Jewish people
who think this is just a Roman Catholic problem."
In fact, experts said, it occurs in all faiths. The
typical pattern: A charismatic man of the cloth takes advantage of a child
or a particularly vulnerable woman, who generally shies away from reporting
the abuse.
"There's a myth in Judaism that nothing bad happens
in Judaism," said Abigail Grafton, a Bay Area psychotherapist. She's helping
staff a toll-free number (1-800-528-2672) that counselors set up to coincide
with a recent
article on rabbinical abuse in the Jewish women's magazine "Lilith." "We're
getting calls from all over the country" from women who've been abused, Grafton
said. "It's been extremely enlightening."
"Lilith" editor in chief Susan Weidman Schneider said
her next issue will have six pages of letters responding to the article,
which aired far-reaching molestation and sexual harassment allegations against
a deceased New York
rabbi,
Shlomo Carlebach.
Reaction fell into three camps, she said: angry disbelief
that the revered man was capable of such evil; "It happened to me, too";
and "So what? Everyone knew he was like that."
The women accusing Rabbi Zucker said the magazine article
affected them deeply. It described the New York rabbi as charismatic in life
and canonized in death, protected by silence.
Said (Name Removed) of Rabbi Zucker: "I don't want
him eulogized only as a good man."
NO WIDESPREAD COVER-UP
The rabbinical abuse reports surfacing in the last
few years generally haven't involved allegations of prolonged institutional
cover-up, unlike hundreds of pedophile priest cases that date back more than
a decade.
Rabbi Zucker's accusers said they know of no evidence
that anyone at Tiferet Israel other than the rabbi and themselves knew about
their abuse.
But the women did say that the congregation's current
spiritual leader, Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen, has offered them little aid and seemed
unwilling to investigate _ complaints that echo those made by many victims
of priests.
They decided to talk to a newspaper reporter, they
said, only after trying for months to get help from the synagogue they once
attended.
(Name Removed) said Rabbi Cohen refused to bar Rabbi
Zucker from officiating in good standing at a recent wedding here. And he
also has refused, she said, to notify Rabbi Zucker's many former congregations
of the allegations.
"I don't think it was my position to do that," Rabbi
Cohen said. The reason, he said, is that "nothing has been proven." He
acknowledged he had never asked Rabbi Zucker, with whom he long served as
a cantor, whether the abuse accusations are true.
During Rabbi Zucker's return to Dallas for the wedding,
he said, "I did not have a chance to talk to him."
Later in an interview, Rabbi Cohen said: "Nothing was
said because they were only accusations at the time. It wasn't the time or
the place."
He pledged that his congregation's leadership "will
do anything in our power" to help the three women who've come forward to
heal. "If it did happen, we feel very, very sad for the so-called
victims."
SIMILAR EXPERIENCES
The rabbi's accusers have not been close over the years
and said they learned of one another's similar experiences last fall.
That's when (Name Removed) told Rabbi Cohen that Rabbi
Zucker had molested her when she was 13, and he responded by saying that
he'd heard of (Name Removed) making similar allegations. (Name Removed) called
(Name Removed), who then met with Rabbi Cohen and asked for help in learning
whether other girls had also been abused.
Weeks later, (Name Removed) said, she ran into (Name
Removed), recognized her as someone who'd been close to Rabbi Zucker and
told her that abuse allegations might become public.
"I just broke down," said (Name Removed), whose wedding
was conducted by Rabbi Zucker. "I'd never told anyone."
The three women give different reasons for keeping
quiet so long: (Name Removed) didn't want to hurt such an esteemed man _
a man who was close to her parents and "like a father to me." (Name Removed)
didn't want to cause trouble for the man her mother served as a secretary.
(Name Removed) feared she wouldn't be believed and repressed her
memories.
Finding out that they weren't alone, they said, changed
everything.
"The only reason we're coming forward is because we
know there are other women out there," (Name Removed) said. "They need to
get counseling. They need to deal with this."
The women said they aren't suing, seeking financial
compensation or looking to send Rabbi Zucker to jail. Their deadline for
pressing charges expired long ago.
"It's not about money," (Name Removed) said. "There
isn't enough money in the world."
CAREER IN THE SOUTH
Rabbi Zucker's career took him from Dalton, Ga., in
the 1950s to North Miami Beach, Knoxville, Tenn., and then Dallas in
1969.
After nearly two decades here, the New York City native
moved to Waco (Texas) in 1987 and became the leader of Congregation Agudath
Jacob. He returned to the Miami area in the early 1990s, working at Temple
Anshei Shalom in Delray Beach.
Rabbi Zucker has been deeply involved in civic and
religious associations. In Tennessee, he served on the Governor's Commission
on Human Rights and as head of the Knoxville Round Table of the National
Conference of Christians and Jews; while in Dallas, he presided over the
local association of rabbis and the Texas Kallah of Rabbis.
In news stories over the years, Rabbi Zucker often
talked about children and service to youth.
"I'm a hard disciplinarian in theory," he told the
"Knoxville News-Sentinel" in 1962. "Actually, in practice, my own idea is
to make children like me ... In Dalton, they called me their Pied
Piper."
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3 women accuse rabbi of molestation He offers apology for one 'mistake,' doesn't recall other incident
By Brooks Egerton
Dallas Daily News - May 16, 1998
Dallas Daily News - May 16, 1998
ABSTRACT:
One of the women, (NAME REMOVED), said Rabbi Max Zucker,
the longtime head of Congregation Tiferet Israel, begged her
forgiveness when she confronted him recently in the presence of her
husband and parents. Rabbi Zucker acknowledged this week that he apologized to (NAME REMOVED) for a "mistake" he made nearly three decades ago.
(NAME REMOVED) and her relatives said Rabbi Zucker did not dispute her account that he touched her genitals. Instead, she said, he responded to her specifics by saying, "That was a very dark chapter in my life, and now God is punishing me."
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Rabbi seeks forgiveness
Dallas Daily News - May 17, 1998
ABSTRACT:
Rabbi Max Zucker, the longtime head of Congregation Tiferet Israel, begged for forgiveness when confronted recently by Bonnye Weinstein Garman of Denver, The Dallas Morning News reported in a copyright story for Saturday editions.
Rabbi Max Zucker, the longtime head of Congregation Tiferet Israel, begged for forgiveness when confronted recently by Bonnye Weinstein Garman of Denver, The Dallas Morning News reported in a copyright story for Saturday editions.
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Rabbi apologizes after sexual abuse allegations
Miami Herald - May 19, 1998
ABSTRACT:
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A former rabbi
accused by three women of improperly touch
The Associated Press - May 20, 1998
DALLAS - A former rabbi accused by three women of
improperly touching them decades ago apologized for "a very dark chapter
in my life".
Rabbi Max Zucker, the longtime head of a synagogue
begged for forgiveness when confronted recently by one of the women he is
accused of touching. The woman, her husband and parents said Zucker, 73,
did not dispute her account that he touched her genitals.
In an interview, Zucker sometimes denied improper touching
and sometimes said he couldn't recall any. The three accusers - all middle-aged
women - told the newspaper Zucker repeatedly molested them when they were
between 11 and 13 years old. "I beg their forgiveness," Zucker said. "I don't
recall any such thing ever happening. If they imagined it or if it was fact,
I'm certainly sorry."
Meanwhile the synagogue's board has hired a lawyer
to examine how its current rabbi responded to the allegations against his
predecessor and longtime associate, officials said.
When the women went public they said that Rabbi Cohen
seemed unwilling to investigate and offered them little help. He disputed
that assertion but acknowledged that he never confronted Zucker and recently
allowed him to perform a wedding at the synagogue. 5/20
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Dallas Daily News - May 20, 1998
A spokesman said Congregation Tiferet Israel wants to learn from
events of the last several months, when three women told current Rabbi
Yitzchak Cohen that retired Rabbi Max Zucker had fondled them as girls nearly 30 years ago.
The women went public with the accusations last week in The Dallas
Morning News , saying that Rabbi Cohen seemed unwilling to investigate
and offered them little help.
He disputed that
assertion last week but acknowledged that he never confronted Rabbi
Zucker and recently allowed him to perform a wedding at Tiferet Israel.
Rabbi Zucker has admitted a "mistake" with one girl, while alternately
denying other misconduct and saying he couldn't remember any.
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Rabbi Max Zucker, former Tiferet Israel leader, dies at 74
Dallas Daily News - October 9, 1998
ABSTRACT:
Rabbi Zucker, 74, retired two years ago after working more than 40 years in synagogues throughout the South.
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Services held for Rabbi Max Zucker, formerly of Heska Amuna
News Sentinel - October 10, 1998
He was 74.
From 1962 to 1969, he led the congregation at Knoxville's Heska Amuna Synagogue.
While in Knoxville, he chaired the Knoxville Round Table of Christians and Jews and chaired the executive committee of the Community Action Committee.
Also, he served on the Governor's Commission on Human Rights.
In addition, congregation members remember Rabbi Zucker's love of children.
He taught religious study classes, and children took well to his teachings and loved him, several members of Heska Amuna said.
After leaving Knoxville, Rabbi Zucker headed congregations in Dallas and Waco, Texas, and in Miami.
He is survived by his wife, Vivian, and four children.
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Dallas Morning News - October 10, 1998
ABSTRACT:
More than 200 people gathered Friday for graveside services to honor Rabbi Max Zucker, retired head of Congregation Tiferet Israel in Dallas.
Rabbi [Howard] Wolk lauded Rabbi Zucker's work with civil rights in the 1960s and noted the growth of his Dallas congregation during 17 years of leadership at Congregation Tiferet Israel, which he led until 1986.
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OBITUARIES
News Sentienel - October 15, 1998
ZUCKER, RABBI MAX - succumbed to prostate cancer after a three year
battle, in Miami Beach, Fla., on Thursday, October 8th. Graveside
services were held Friday, October 9th, honoring Rabbi Zucker, retired
head of Congregation Tiferet Israel in Dallas. "He was known as a
teacher par excellence," said Rabbi Howard Wolk of Shaare Tefilla, at
the service held in the Beit Olam section of Hillcrest Memorial Park.
"He influenced many young rabbis and very active laymen in the Jewish
community here and in other cities." Rabbi Wolk lauded Rabbi Zucker's
work with civil rights in the 1960's and noted the growth of his Dallas
congregation during 17 years in leadership at Congregation Tiferet
Israel, which he led until 1986. In 1975, Rabbi Zucker started one of
the most popular programs for Jewish education, now called the Joys of
Jewish Learning at the Jewish Community Center. Rabbi Zucker is survived
by his wife of 49 years, Vivian; sons, Bruce, Michael, and Shayne; a
daughter, Debbie; and 19 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family
requests donations be made to the "Rabbi Max Zucker
Scholarship Fund for Youth" set up at Congregation Shaare Tefilla.
Please send contributions to Congregation Shaare Tefilla, 6131 Churchill
Way, Dallas, TX 75230. Earmark "Zucker Scholarship Fund."
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