The Village Voice - July 11, 2011
Dr. Amora Rachelle, the ex-wife of Avraham Rabinowich, vice president of
the Long Island Board of Rabbis, is going hard in her custody battle
with a pretty inexcusable, not-so-secret weapon, which she's handed
right over to the New York Post.
With the help of a private investigator, Amora taped her children's
father being serviced by a call girl and her madam, who was actually
Amora's private eye. "Since when are prostitutes kosher?" Amora asked,
with expert media savvy. "And what kind of rabbi is he? He didn't even
take these prostitutes to the mikvah [Jewish ritual cleansing
bath] first. What is he doing, praying or laying?" The rabbi said he had
"no response," though his lawyer piped up to call the sting a "setup"
(well, yes) and insist, "It doesn't matter, this was five or six years
ago." It was six months before the couple's divorce was finalized.
"I am tall and nice-looking, don't worry, I'm OK," the rabbi
reportedly told the madam/P.I. The tape, part of which can be seen below
(with blurs, but still probably NSFW), was taken at a hotel in Queens on March 18, 2006.
The mother is now attempting to move her children to the West Coast
and has made a power play by releasing the dirty parts of her sting.
"If you're not doing something relevant in front of the children, it
doesn't have an impact on the judge's decision," the rabbi's lawyer
claims. Do the newspaper and internet count as "in front of the
children?" Dirty tricks all around.
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Rabbi Avraham Rabinowich Busted By Estranged Wife For Hiring Prostitutes On Sabbath
The Huffington Post - July 11, 2011
The New York Post reports today that Rabbi Avraham Rabinowich, leader of the conservative Bellmore Jewish Center and vice president of the Long Island Board of Rabbis, allegedly made appointments with prostitutes on the Sabbath shortly after services.
Rabinowich's estranged wife, Amora, managed to secretly film one of
Rabinowich's scandalous hotel rendezvous's with a call girl after having
heard of her holy hubby's penchant for prostitutes (he allegedly
arranged the trysts after Sabbath services using his cell phone)-- and
entered the photographic evidence into the record of a bitter custody
trial.
"Since when are prostitutes kosher?" Amora told the Post, adding "And what kind of rabbi is he? He didn't even take these prostitutes to the mikvah [Jewish ritual cleansing bath] first."
The tapes, from a few years ago, weren't allowed in court and the
couple was given joint custody of their three children. It seems Amora,
a respected psychologist, released the tapes to the Post for fun, or
perhaps in anticipation that the footage would further tarnish
Rabinowich's reputation as she plans to make a motion in court to move
the kids out to the West Coast.
The news is the latest in a series of New York area stories of Rabbis
behaving badly. Rabbi Gavriel Bidany was convicted in May of fondling an Israeli Army officer on a JFK-bound plane. Brooklyn Rabbi Saul Kassin was convicted in June of using a charity he controlled to illegally funnel money to Israel. And also in June, David Twersky, a rabbi in Rockland County New York, was accused of ordering followers to burn down the house of a synagogue member who defected to another congregation.
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Randy Rabbi 'caught on tape in bed with a prostitute' - after a sting set up by his wife
Daily Mail - July 11, 2011
A prominent New York Rabbi thought he
was setting up a romp with a sexy call girl -- but instead he ended up
in bed with a private investigator hired by his estranged wife.
Rabbi
Avraham Rabinowich, vice president of the Long Island, NY Board of
Rabbis, allegedly had a habit of cavorting with prostitutes.
Some of this encounters even took place on the Sabbath
after services concluded, according to Manhattan court records.
He was finally caught out when his
psychologist wife, Amora, found out about the trysts during a bitter
custody battle.
Amora hired a private investigator and set up a sting to
catch her husband on tape enjoying his extra-marital encounters.
'Since
when are prostitutes kosher?' Amora told The New York Post of the
Rabbi, who also leads the wealthy and conservative Bellmore Jewish
Center.
'He was coming to court claiming he was this pious individual, but he was using the phone on the Sabbath to meet prostitutes.'
The sting happened in a cheap hotel in Queens on March 18, 2006,
when Rabinowich contacted a 'madam' who was actually the private
investigator. He allegedly told her: 'I am tall and nice-looking, don't
worry, I'm OK.'
Rabinowich is seen relaxing on the
hotel bed while two women -- one of whom is the undercover investigator
-- hover over him and attend to his needs.
n
enraged Amora blasted her former husband, telling the Post: 'And what
kind of rabbi is he? He didn't even take these prostitutes to the mikvah [Jewish ritual cleansing bath] first. What is he doing, praying or laying?'
She added, 'He needs help, serious help, to be a healthy individual and to be a
proper role model to both the children and the community.'
Rabbi Rabinowich had little to say about the allegations, telling the Post only: 'I have no response. Have a nice day.'
But his lawyer, Jeffrey Lewisohn,
called Amora's revelations a 'setup' and brushed off the Rabbi's
antics: 'It doesn't matter, this was five or six years ago.'
And
the holy man's former lawyer, Malcolm Taub, slammed Amora, saying,
'This is a very sick woman . . . This man has gone through hell with
this woman.'
However,
while Amora entered the photographic evidence into the record of the
custody battle, a judge ruled it was not relevant to the case.
The
couple now share custody -- but Amora says the video could become
relevant as she plans to make a motion to the court to move their kids
to the West Coast on Aug. 17.
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Long Island Rabbi Busted by Ex-Wife for Hiring Prostitutes on the Sabbath
By Chris Rovzar
New York Magazine - July 11, 2011
Rabbi Avraham Rabinowich, the leader of the well-to-do conservative
Bellmore Jewish Center on Long Island, has some awkward Sabbath
activities to explain. As part of a bitter custody battle, his
then-estranged wife arranged for a private investigator to film
Rabinowich's tryst in a cheap hotel room with a prostitute. (The tapes,
from several years ago, weren't allowed in court, but the ex released
them to the Post, just for fun.) The trysts were arranged after services on the Sabbath, via cell phone.
"Since when are prostitutes kosher?" the ex-wife, Amora Rabinowich,
told the tabloid. "He was coming to court claiming he was this pious
individual, but he was using the phone on the Sabbath to meet
prostitutes." Apparently the years have allowed Amora to see humor in
all of this. (Though we imagine the rabbi, who had no comment, is not
laughing.) "And what kind of rabbi is he?" Amora cracked. "He didn't
even take these prostitutes to the mikvah first!"
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Dreidel-as-Metaphor: Long Island Rabbi Caught in Sex Scandal, NY Post Reports
By Michael Kaminer
Forward - July 11, 2011
When is a dreidel not a dreidel? When it’s a stand-in for male genitalia in a tabloid story on a rabbi’s sexual escapades.
According to today’s New York Post,
Rabbi Avraham Rabinowich — vice president of the Long Island Board of
Rabbis, and head of the Bellmore Jewish Center — was “caught with his
dreidel out in a string of sordid sex tapes, according to sensational
Manhattan court records.”
Rabinowich “allegedly made appointments with
prostitutes on the Sabbath shortly after services,” the Post reports.
“He was then caught on camera in a hotel room enjoying some hard-core,
commandment-breaking action, according to blockbuster court papers filed
in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.”
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Court Document
Supreme Court of The State of New York - County of New York - September 13, 2011
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'Randy Rabbi' Raging Mad at NY Post
By Adam Klasfeld
Courthouse News Services - September 16, 2011
MANHATTAN (CN) - The New York Post called him the "Randy Rabbi," and
Long Island Rabbi Avraham Rabinowich has responded with a breach of
contract lawsuit against the tabloid and his ex-wife, for publishing
salacious documents, photographs and videos that allegedly caught him
with prostitutes at a motel after Sabbath services.
Rabinowich
and Amora Rachel Leah Rabinowich entered into a "Stipulation of
Settlement" setting the terms of their divorce on Sept. 27, 2010,
according to the rabbi's complaint in New York County Court.
One
of term stated: "Neither parent shall do anything or say anything to a
third party, which might degrade or injure the opinion of the other
parent or his/her family in the third party's eyes," according to the
complaint. "Neither party shall do anything directly, indirectly or
through third parties to hurt the reputation of the other in the
community in which such parties work or reside. The parties acknowledge
that this is a material provision of this stipulation and part of the
stipulation for the best interests of the children."
Under the
agreement, neither party could hire an investigator to tape or
photograph the other, and both should treat anything already captured in
such an investigation as confidential, according to the complaint.
About
a month later, the rabbi said, he and his ex added a provision that
would prevent embarrassing leaks to the press: "Each party agrees that
he/she will not directly or indirectly cause photographs, video or
similar images of the other party to be disseminated to the media or any
agent of the media or through third parties to hurt the reputation of
the other in the community in which the parties work or reside," the new
stipulation stated, according to the complaint.
Rabinowich says
that the Post knew of these terms before it printed its July 11 story
under the headline: "The 'randy' rabbi - Prostitution sting in angry
ex-wife's suit."
The Post reported that Rabinowich had been
"caught with his dreidel out in a string of sordid sex tapes," and
published one of those videos online.
The article, which is
still available on the Post's website, showed a photo of Rabinowich in
bed with two women, though the accompanying video appears to have been
replaced with other news clips.
Rabinowich
states in his complaint that the article had "no palpable, intrinsic or
realistic newsworthiness or public interest other than their prurient,
salacious nature, luridness and sheer sensationalism."
And the
rabbi say the Post "purposefully waited until Friday evening and several
minutes before the commencement of the Jewish Sabbath before notifying
the plaintiff's representatives of their intentions to publish the
article and the videotapes ... thereby denying the plaintiff any
opportunity to apply for an injunction or restraining order or pursuit
of any remedies available to him under the terms of the aforementioned
stipulation and contract."
He says that he suffered "extreme
humiliation, scorn, derision, humiliation" and "was summarily fired from
his position as a local rabbi at a loss of his annual salary and that
plaintiff's reputation has been ruined such that he cannot find gainful
employment and has suffered profound emotional damage."
Rabinowich seeks damages for interference with contract, inducing breach of contract and emotional distress.
He is represented by Morrison & Wagner.
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The New York rabbi and the Shabbat sex scandal
By Jennifer Lipman
Jewish Chronicle - July 12, 2011
A rabbi and his wife are engaged in a court battle over his alleged involvement with prostitutes and her role in a sting operation to catch him.
Long Island rabbi Avraham Rabinowich, who is even alleged to have hired prostitutes on Shabbat – after services - was secretly filmed by a private investigator. The investigator had been hired by his wife Dr Amora Rachelle during a custody fight.
The father-of-three is the vice president of the Long Island Board of Rabbis and a highly respected rabbi in New York's Masorti Jewish community.
The case dates back to 2006, when the rabbi was filmed in a hotel room with two women.
Dr Rachelle, who said "since when are prostitutes kosher?", also told the New York Post that she was particularly angered by her supposedly pious husband's failure to take the women to a mikvah (ritual bath).
The case continues at the Manhattan state Supreme Court.
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NY Post wins bid to dismiss suit over 'randy' rabbi story
By Jessica Dye
Reuters - September 28, 2012
NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A New York judge has dismissed
a lawsuit a Long Island rabbi brought against the New York Post
over a video purportedly showing him in a hotel-room tryst with
alleged prostitutes.
Avraham Rabinowich claimed he lost his job as the chief
rabbi of a prominent conservative congregation as a result of a
Post story and video published on July 11, 2011, under the
headline "The 'randy' rabbi -- Prostitution sting in angry
ex-wife's suit." Rabinowich claimed he had been lured to the
hotel room by his former wife, Amora Rabinowich, while the two
were locked in a bitter custody dispute. He sued the newspaper
and Amora Rabinowich, who hired the private investigator that
shot a video of him in 2006, according to the ruling.
In granting the Post's motion to dismiss, Manhattan Supreme
Court Justice Anil Singh said that Rabinowich had only
challenged the truth of two points in the story: that he had
knowingly engaged prostitutes and that he broke the Jewish
Sabbath to arrange to meet them.
"Other than those two allegations, based on the amended
complaint and plaintiff's affirmation, the story is
substantially true and is not actionable," Singh wrote in
Thursday's ruling.
The Post story was about how Rainowich was allegedly caught
"with his Dreidel out" in the video obtained by the newspaper.
The video, which has been removed from the Post's website,
depicted Rabinowich reclining while an alleged prostitute
caressed and kissed him, according to the ruling. In the video,
Rabinowich is nude from the waist up, and a dreidel is
superimposed to obscure any nudity below the waist, the ruling
stated. A dubbed version of "The Dreidel Song" played over
voices in the background, the ruling said.
Rabinowich says he lost his post with the Bellmore Jewish
Center in Long Island after the video and accompanying article
ran.
In his 2011 lawsuit, he sued for defamation, invasion of
privacy and interference with a divorce settlement finalized in
2010, which he said forbade the parties from publishing pictures
or video to hurt the other's reputation. The lawsuit sought an
unspecified amount of damages.
Singh said that Rabinowich had failed to state a defamation
claim, which requires a plaintiff to plead falsity under New
York Civil Practice Law and Rules 3016.
Addressing Rabinowich's claim that his right to privacy had
been violated, the judge noted that under Civil Rights Law
Section 51, which bars the use of an individual's name or
likeness without written consent for trade or advertising
purposes, there is an exception for "newsworthy matters."
"Newsworthiness is construed broadly, with the courts
reviewing the exercise of judgment and discretion of journalists
only in cases of clear abuse," Singh wrote.
In addition to dismissing the suit against the Post, the
judge granted the rabbi's cross-motion to file a second amended
complaint against Amora Rabinowich, which said that the Post had
published an additional defamatory story on July 11, 2001,
reporting that she had been charged with practicing psychology
without a license. The judge said the second amended complaint
could not be brought against the Post because it did not cure
the deficiencies of the first amended complaint.
Rabinowich's lawyer, Eric Morrison, said his client was
"disappointed with the court's findings" and was considering an
appeal. A spokeswoman for the Post declined to comment. No
lawyer was listed for Amora Rabinowich, who could not be reached
for comment.
The case is Rabinowich v. NY Post Holdings Inc, New York
State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 110427/2011.
For Rabinowich: Eric Morrison of Morrison & Wagner.
For the New York Post: Katherine Bolger of Levine Sullivan
Koch & Schulz.
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