The parents of the young boy who was allegedly molested by Yaakov Weiner were not informed about the assault until nearly 48 hours after the boy disclosed the abuse to a camp counselor. At the time of the alleged assault, Rabbi Yaakov Weiner was 36 years-old.
According to a report, the child stated that a his alleged offender came into his bunk bed late at night. The Alleged Victim was lying on his stomach and made like he was sleeping.
According to Alleged Victim, the person put a blunt metallic-like object on his buttocks, tore the seam on his pajama bottoms and kissed him there. The person did not exert force to hurt him nor did he hit him in any way. The individual then got up, went to the sink in the bathroom which was located right near Alleged Victim's bed, washed his hands and left the bunk. The entire incident lasted less than a minute and no words at all were exchanged.
According the article "Jewish Community Grapples With Sex Abuse" Judge Labuda found Weiner not guilty.
There are several individuals who are named Rabbi Yaakov Weiner. This alleged sex offender was born around 1962. He is also the son of Rabbi David Weiner (AKA: Rabbi Dovid Weiner) and Chana Scheinberg-Weiner. Yaakov Weiner is also the grandson of Rabbi Chaim Pinchus Scheinberg (who is a descendant of the Chofetz Chaim). After this case was settled Rabbi Weiner relocated to Israel.
If you or anyone else you know were sexually abuse or assaulted by Yaakov Weiner, please contact The Awareness Center or your local rape crisis center.
Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a
recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if
the resources meet their own personal needs.
Table of
Contents:
1998
-
Camp Mogen Avraham - Incident
Report (10/30/1998)
-
Victims
Statement (12/30/1998)
1999
-
Allegations of Camper Abuse
- Camp Mogen Avraham (04/02/1999)
-
Rabbi Charged In Sex Abuse
(02/20/1999)
-
Last in a Series: `Conspiracy
of silence' fuels rabbis' sexual
misdeeds (11/01/1999)
2003
-
SUPREME COURT - STATE OF
NEW YORK (03/26/2003)
-
Jewish Community Grapples With
Sex Abuse (05/27/2003)
Please note that the alleged victim's name and the name of the two
minor witnesses have been removed from this report.
Defense Exhibit G
Camp Mogen Avraham -
Incident Report re: Alleged
Victim
October 30, 1998
Sunday, August 9, 1998 At approximately
9:15 P.M. the Junior D. H. (Mendel Zlotnick) reported that a child (Alleged
Victim) in bunk gimel was upset and had told a Staff asst. that a staff member
had sexually harassed him. I told the D.H. to send the child to me and that
I would deal with the situation.
I interviewed the child. He stated that a person had
come into the bunk last night (Saturday night) very late and had come over
to his bed. He (Alleged Victim) was lying on his stomach and made like he
was sleeping. According to Alleged Victim, the person put a blunt metallic-like
object on his buttocks, tore the seam on his pajama bottoms and kissed him
there. The person did not exert force to hurt him nor did he hit him in any
way. The individual then got up, went to the sink in the bathroom which was
located right near Alleged Victim's bed, washed his hands and left the bunk.
The entire incident lasted less than a minute and no words at all were exchanged.
When I asked if he saw who it was or the person's back or any part of him,
he said "no". He said that he remained on his stomach because he was afraid,
making believe he was sleeping thought the incident. He then said that there
were other boys who were up who saw what was going on and had told him they
thought it was R' Yaakov Weiner. I asked for their names and he told me "Witness
1" and "Witness 2". I requested that Alleged Victim bring me the pajama bottoms.
As I recall they were shorts and the seam in the back was open about three
inches. I then asked Alleged Victim if he had told his parents about what
had occurred as it had been visiting day, that same day. He responded saying
that he had not discussed the incident with his parents when they visited
him that day because he was afraid.
I met with each one of the boys separately. They both
are from (name of town withheld). Both boys stated that someone came into
the bunk. They also had made believe that they were sleeping. The person
went over to Alleged Victims bed. They heard some noise but saw nothing that
was going on. They also both said that they did not see the person's face
at all, but from the back of his head, when he went into the bathroom, it
looked like Yaakov Weiner's wavy hair.
I sent people to find Yaakov Weiner but was told that
he had left camp to go to a concert. I waited up until after 12:15 AM (Camp
Time) and when he still hadn't returned, I went to sleep, leaving a message
the I wanted to speak to him.
Monday, August 10 I informed Rabbi Kaminetsky
about the reported incident and we agreed that I would speak with Yaakov
Weiner.
The two other boys came to me in the early morning
before I spoke to Yaakov Weiner saying that they think they made a mistake.
I asked them why they changed their minds and they said "it couldn't be Rabbi
Weiner, he wouldn't do such a thing". In my mind I discounted this as merely
their feeling guilty of accusing Rabbi Weiner of such behavior, and told
them not to worry about it, we were taking care of it.
I met with Yaakov after breakfast for approximately
1 1/2 hours. Despite much pressure, he maintained that he didn't know what
I was talking about and when told of the accusation (but not the name of
the accuser), he denied it completely. After seeing that he would not admit
to anything, I suggested that he call and inform his father, which he did.
I then also spoke to his father. I expressed my concerns that although there
were no eyewitnesses that positively identified Yaakov, there were two boys
who believed it was him (again, no names were mentioned), and that I had
enough suspicion and concern that I felt Yaakov should leave camp immediately,
even if he were innocent. Yaakov's father agreed that despite his believe
that Yaakov was totally innocent, it would be best for all that he leave.
Rabbi Weiner (sr.) stressed that by no means should his leaving be viewed
as an admission of guilt, but rather as away to get Yaakov out of a situation
of being accused and the issue festering and possibly becoming public. Rabbi
Weiner stated that he will be on top of the situation and be in touch. Yaakov
left right after lunch. To my knowledge he never had an opportunity to speak
to any of the boys at any time before he left nor was he informed as to who
were his accusers.
I reported all of this to Rabbi Kaminetsky who in turn
said that he would call Alleged Victim's parents. I also informed Alleged
Victim that Yaakov Weiner was no longer in camp. He seemed relieved by that.
I spent some time counseling him, My general sense of Alleged Victim was
that although initially upset, he was handling the situation well and not
showing any adverse effects.
Tuesday, August 11 Rabbi Kaminetsky
informed me that Alleged Victims parents would be coming up to camp to evaluate
the situation in person and they would want to speak with me. When the Alleged
Victim's Parents came, they met with their son and I spoke to them for about
10 minutes. Despite being obviously upset by the incident, they expressed
gratitude for our professional handling of the situation and felt reassured
that it was wise for the Alleged Victim to remain in camp. We discussed camp
not reporting the incident based on the lack of positive identification and
evidence, my having informed Yaakov Weiner's father, and the relatively low
level of the alleged abuse. We all concurred that considering the above factors
and the trauma that would possibly result from further action, it would be
best not to take any additional action. The Alleged Victim's parents were
very agreeable to this approach. I also stated that we would watch Alleged
Victim closely to make sure that he was not being adversely affected, that
he would call them before Shabbos, and that I would counsel him if
needed.
Thursday, August 13 Alleged Victim's
Mother called and felt that the shorts that Alleged Victim had been wearing
that night should be thrown out as it might be upsetting him. I relayed the
message to Alleged Victim.
Throughout the rest of the trip I kept a close watch
on Alleged Victim and asked his D.H. to regularly report to me as to how
he was doing. These reports, observations and my brief encounters with Alleged
Victim yielded only the most positive results. Alleged Victim was fully involved,
enjoying all camp activities and functioning well.
Tuesday, August 25 A day after returned
from Camp Rabbi Weiner (Sr.) called saying that Yaakov was still distraught
over the allegations and wanted to clear his name. He would like to take
a lie detector test. Rabbi Weiner asked if I would be involved. I responded,
"Let me look into it". Upon doing some research, I sent Rabbi Weiner a letter
stating my opinion, based on research and an article written by William Safire,
which I enclosed. I stated that I would not be convinced of Yaakov's innocence
even if the polygraph was negative, and once again urged him to seek professional
help for Yaakov
Signed
Label Steinhardt
Program Director
October, 30, 1998
_________________________________________________________________________________
Victims
Statement
County of Nassau - Town of Hempstead - State of New
York
Defendants Exhibit F - 06/05/00 (initials mp)
(Please note that the names of the alleged victim
and family members have been removed)
I (alleged victim) am 10 years old and I live at (victims
address withheld), New York. I am giving this statement to Investigator Geoffrey
Cabrera of the New York State Police about what Yaakov Weiner did to me this
past summer when I was at summer camp in -Sullivan County, New York. I (alleged
victim) know the difference between the truth and a lie and I know that the
private parts of the body are the wiener and the buns and the anus.
I went to Camp Mogan Avrahom in the end of July 1998.
I slept in bunk gimel. Yaakov Weiner slept in the bottom bunk of next to
mine. The first week or two of Camp went fine. I had a good time at camp
until the day before visiting day which was August 9, 1998. That night, August
8th, was shabbos. It was easy day I did pretty much what ever I want. That
night, after shabbos I know I woke up because someone ripped the back of
my shorts open. I was sleeping on my stomach but I turned my head and took
a glimpse at who was doing this. I saw Yaakov Weiner there. The bathroom
light was on and I knew him clearly. I was scared to death because I saw
that he had something in his hand as I pretended to be asleep. I was just
wishing that he would go away. Then he covered me with a blanket and he went
by his bed for a few minutes. He came back over to my bed and uncovered me.
There he took his finger and stuck it in my crack and inside my anus. He
did that for a few minutes and then he put his mouth on my buns and kissed
me there. Then he got up and went to the bathroom and washed his hands then
he came back undressed and layed across me and started rubbing his wiener
on my buns. He did that for a few minutes and then he got up and went away.
He came back again a few minutes ------ and did it again rubbing his wiener
on my buns. He put his wiener close to my crack but not inside or against
my anus. Then he throw a pillow on the floor and sat on the pillow. Then
he started touching my buns with his hands. After that he went away and went
to his bed and went to sleep. I didn't want to stay in the bunk anymore so
I changed my shorts and got a blanket. I went out on the porch and stayed
there sitting awake. The next day was visiting day and my ------ came to
visit but I didn't tell them what happened because I was scared. That night
I told a staff assistant Yimmy Tannebaum what Yaakov Weiner did to me.
I, (alleged victim) have read this statement and I
know that it is all true to the best of my knowledge.
Dated: December 30, 1998
At Woodmere, New York
Signed by Victim and his parent
_________________________________________________________________________________
Allegations of Camper
Abuse
CAMP MOGEN AVRAHAM
SULIVAN COUNTY
Report Prepared by: Timothy Shay R.
Senior Sanitarian
April 2, 1999
(Please note that the names of the alleged victim
and family members have been removed)
A) Notification / Verification:
On October 23, 1998, the Monticello District Office
(MDO) was notified by Mr. Brian Devine Senior Sanitarian with the Bureau
of Community Sanitation & Food Protection (BCSFP), of an allegation of
camper sexual abuse involving a child who attended Camp Mogen Avraham, a
children's overnight camp (T. Bethel) in Sullivan County. BCSFP staff were
alerted to the allegation by the NYS Child Protective Agency which had been
informed of the August 8, 1998 incident through a mandated reporter, from
the Peninsula counseling Center in Woodmere, NY, who was counseling the
victim.
Mr. Timothy Shay, Senior Sanitarian, verified the
allegation through a telephone call to the counseling center that same
day.
B) Allegation:
The victim, then year old (alleged victim), alleged
that on August 8, 1998 while sleeping in his bunk, he was awaken when Rabbi
Yaakov Weiner, a religious instructor at camp, ripped a hole in the rear
of his shorts and touched and kissed his buttocks and anus. (alleged victim),
also alleged that Rabbi Weiner laid on top of him and rubbed his genitals
against him. The abuses occurred during a brief period in which the camp's
O.D. (on duty) system was being implemented. The Rabbi reportedly moved about
the bunk between (alleged victim), bed, his own bed and the bathroom during
the incident.
(Alleged victim), stated that he knew who his attacker
was because he was able to see Rabbi Weiner in the light of the bathroom
and because the Rabbi returned to his own bed in the bunk after the assault.
Two campers in the bunk witnessed the incident.
(Alleged victim), reported the incident to camp staff
following evening. The specifics of (alleged victim), allegations were obtained
through an interview of his mother, (name withheld).
C) Findings:
1. Camp's Response:
Rabbi Label Steinhardt, the camp's program director,
investigated the incident by conducting interviews on Sunday evening, August
9, 1998 with alleged victim and the two campers who witnessed the incident
and by questioning the alleged perpetrator the following day (see Appendix
#1).
Rabbi Steinhardt's investigation confirmed the nature
and time of the allegation, but by his accounts, the identity of the attacker
was unclear. Rabbi Steinhart reported that alleged victim did not positively
identify the attacker and that the perpetrator left the bunk house after
conducting a brief assault.
Rabbi Steinhardt stated that the two witnesses did
not see the perpetrators face but thought Rabbi Weiner because of his "wavy
hair".
Rabbi Weiner's sleeping accommodations were in bunk
3. His bed was next to Alleged Victim's and within the same room as the other
8 campers and staff. All 8 of the campers in the room at the time of the
alleged abuse, where as, all of the staff were reported to be at the hall
for a staff party. The dinning hall is located several hundred yards from
the bunks.
Rabbi Steinhardt was not able to question Rabbi Weiner
about the allegation until Monday, August 10, 1998, because Rabbi Weiner
was out of camp until late Sunday evening. Despite the allegation against
him, Rabbi Weiner was allowed to sleep in bunk 3 with alleged victim and
the campers when he returned to camp late Sunday night. Rabbi Steinhardt
stated that Rabbi Weiner was not prevented from sleeping in the bunk because
he was not convinced that Rabbi Weiner was the perpetrator. When questioned
on Monday, Rabbi Weiner adamantly denied involvement but left camp that day
based on Rabbi Steinhart's suggestions.
(Parents names withheld) were notified about the incident
by Rabbi Kaminetsky, the camp's Director. Tuesday evening, August 11, 1998.
They came to the camp on Wednesday to discuss the incident and evaluate alleged
victims condition.
On August 11, 1998, after speaking with Rabbi Steinhard
and (alleged victim the parents) decided ((alleged victim) was handling the
situation well and would stay in camp. They also agreed that "authorities"
would not be contacted due to the lack of positive identification of the
perpetrator. (Alleged victim's parent), subsequently informed Mr. Shay that
she felt pressured into not reporting the incident to "authorities".
2. Supervision
At the time of the incident, the camp was implementing
an "on-duty" (O.D.) system of supervision. This system which was employed
each night between 10:00pm and 12:00 am after the campers were settled in
bed allowed one counselor to supervise 6 to 8 bunks while the bunks primary
counselor was off duty. (Each bunk has 8 to 9 campers and there are two bunks
per building). The system required the O.D. counselor "make rounds" to ensure
there are no problems and check in with division head twice during his shift.
Due to the late reporting of this allegation, the identity of the on duty
counselor for (alleged victim's) bunk on the night of the incident could
not established. Consequently, the actions and observations of that individual
are unknown.
3. Safety Plan:
Camp Mogen Avraham's written safety plan was last approved
by the MDO on June 3, 1993. This plan was revised and updated on February
13, 1997 in accordance with the 1996 children's camp code revisions and the
department's safety plan guidelines. On March 17, 1997, the updated written
plan was reviewed by MDO staff and the operator was informed that it contained
insufficient detail to be accepted. On May 8, 1997, a revised plan was submitted
by the camp but it was not reviewed by MDO staff until November 18, 1998
(as part of this investigation) due to a lack of available staff
resources.
The November 18, 1998 review found that although the
revised plan contained much of the previously requested information, it still
lacked sufficient and accurate details to be accepted. ------ plan's deficiencies
include and unacceptable O.D. system which had an unspecified by apparently
inadequate staff to camper supervision ratio permitted intermittent visual
and/or veri------- communication capability between camper and staff between
10:00 p.m. and 12:00 am. The plan also contained a policy system which required
only allegations of abuse, which the camp determined to be true to be reported
to the Health Department.
The previously submitted safety plans (1993 and February
13, 1997) contained neither sufficient detail to identify the deficiencies
of the O.D. system nor the erroneous statement pertaining to abuse
reporting
4. Alleged Perpetrator:
Yaakov Weiner is 36 years old and unmarried. He was
hired in a teaching position, which commonly referred to as a "learning Rabbi",
for the camp's second session which began July 1998. He had been employed
at the camp for approximately ten summers and occupied several positions
including bunk counselor and rotation counselor in 1994 and 1995. Evaluations
of performance from these periods showed Rabbi Weiner to be a less than ideal
candidate for rehiring as a bunk or rotation counselor (see Appendix #2).
Rabbi Steinhardt stated it w as for this reason he was given the more structured
position of a Learning Rabbi. Neither of the job performance evaluations
showed that Rabbi Weiner had a history of abuse or inappropriate contact
with campers. Records for the 1996-1998, including job performance evaluations,
staff employment application, training records, were not provided to the
MDO when requested. Rabbi Weiner is not believed to have attended the camp's
1998 pre-camp staff training because he was not at camp for that session.
Rabbi Weiner's job duties were to provide religious instructions to campers.
Rabbi Steinhardt stated that Rabbi Weiner had no supervisonal responsibilities
in the bunk. He was assigned to sleep in Bunk #3 because there was an available
bed.
5. Other Agencies Involvement:
An Investigation by the NYS (New York State) Police
in Liberty, NY has resulted in Rabbi Weiner being arrested on February 11,
1999 and charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor,
State Police Investigators reported that Alleged Victim was very credible
and that the testimony of the campers who had witnessed the incident was
similar to the account provided by Rabbi Steinhardt it appeared they had
been influenced by someone.
D. Analysis and Conclusions:
-
Alleged Victim's disclosure camp staff of his experience
the night of August 8, 1998 constituted allegations of abuse which warranted
notification by the camp to DOH and other investigative agencies. Conclusion
is reached regardless of which version of the incident is more accurate (the
camp's or alleged victim's). As such, the camp's failure to report to the
MDO within 24 hours an allegation of camper abuse is a violation of Section
7-2.8(d) of Subpart 7-2 of the NYS Sanitary Code and will be the subject
administrative enforcement action against the camp. It is not believed that
the camp's failure to report due to improper information in their written
safety plan, which stated that only allegations which determined to be true
would be reported. In this case, the allegations was believed to be true,
It was only the identity of the perpetrator that was in question.
-
The camp's failure to prevent Rabbi Weiner from sleeping
in a camper bunk the night of the alleged abuse disclosure was inappropriate
and placed the camper, especially alleged victim at unreasonable risk to
their health and safety including physical and sexual abuse. This unreasonable
risk to camper's health and safety is a violation of Section 7-2.5(n)(1)
of Subpart 702 and will also be part of administrative enforcement action
against the camp. The camp should have placed the well being of the campers
above any concern that Rabbi Weiner was being falsely accused and as such,
required him to sleep separate from campers until the matter could be thoroughly
investigated by the appropriate authorities. Especially assuming that Alleged
Victim did not identify his attacker to camp staff. Camp administrative staff
should have realized that allowing Rabbi Weiner to sleep in the same quarters
as Alleged Victim placed additional avoidable mental anguish on the child
who believed that Rabbi Weiner had accosted him based on eyewitness accounts
of the two other campers.
-
The camp's O.D. System as described in their May 8,
1997 written safety plan is not acceptable because it does not provide for
continuous visual and/or verbal communication capabilities between campers
and staff because the staff to camper ratio (as low as 1:72) is unacceptable
to handle emergencies during sleep/resting periods and the camp was not informed
that their O.D. System was unacceptable camp implemented it as written during
the 1997-1998 seasons. As a result, no administrative enforcement action
will be taken for this deficiency.
-
The camp's policy of housing staff who are not directly
responsible for camper supervision in camp bunks is inappropriate. Although
addiction staff in the bunks would increase the staff to camper ratio, the
benefit of the additional staff is questionable without the staff having
specific supervisory responsibilities and training. In fact, this policy
allows an opportunistic individual legitimate access to campers on their
bunks that might otherwise not be available. Providing a designated staff
bunk is the resolution to this problem: however if it is not possible, employing
a camp policy which requires two staff be present at all times camper and
staff are together would greatly enhance camper safety.
-
The lack or unavailability of a current employment
application (with references) and the alleged perpetrator's failure to attend
pre-camp training are both technical violations of Subpart 7-2. How neither
is believed to have contributed to the incident because it is assumed that
the camp's knowledge and Rabbi Weiner's background and acceptability would
surpass that of any reference he may have supplied that he would have gained
sufficient knowledge from previous experience at camp to fulfill his job
duties as a teacher.
Recommendations:
-
The camp's written policy for reporting allegations
of abuse must be modified to indicate all allegations of abuse will be reported
to the MDO within 24 hours. Additionally, the written safety plan and staff
training must identify indicators of abuse, the camp policy handling an
allegation and designate the person(s) responsible for reporting to the
MDO.
-
The camp must revamp its O.D. System for supervision
campers to provide continuous and/or verbal communication capabilities between
campers and staff, and a higher staff camp ratio to deal with emergencies.
Additionally, consideration should be given to mandating "two deep" staff
supervision at all times including O.D. to lesson future abuse.
-
The camp shoujld consider separate housing for staff
not assigned specific bunk supervision duties.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Rabbi Charged In Sex
Abuse
by Caren Halbfinger
Journal News (Westchester County, NY) - February 20,
1999 Saturday - NEWS; Pg. 1B
YONKERS - A city yeshiva teacher has been charged with
sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy last summer at a Sullivan County camp.
Rabbi Yaakov Weiner, who teaches kindergartners and
first-graders at Stein Yeshiva of Lincoln Park in Yonkers, is accused of
sexually touching a 10-year-old boy in a cabin at Camp Mogen Avraham in Bethel
in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, state police investigator Geoffrey
Cabrera said yesterday.
There were other boys in the cabin at the time, Cabrera said.
Weiner taught Judaic studies at the camp. Weiner is to appear March 4 in
Thompson Town Court on charges of first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, and
endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.
Weiner, 36, of Forest
Hills, Queens, was charged Feb. 11 and was released Feb. 12 after posting
$25,000 bail.
Sullivan County District Attorney Stephen Lungen said
yesterday that he was continuing to investigate the case and that he expected
to present it to a grand jury within the next few weeks.
Cabrera said he called the principal at Stein Yeshiva,
an Orthodox religious school, to verify Weiner's employment on Monday and
found school officials caught off-guard about the investigation.
'' They hadn't been informed by (Weiner), and they
were pretty mortified, '' Cabrera said. '' They said they had never dealt
with anything like this in the past. ''
School officials refused to answer questions yesterday
and told parents not to speak to a reporter. But from the shocked reaction
of one mother, it appeared the school had told parents little about the charge
against Weiner.
The 10-year-old boy, who lives in Nassau County, reported
the incident to camp officials immediately, Cabrera said.
But, Lungen said, camp officials never reported the
incident to police.
School officials, doctors and child-care workers are
required by state law to report suspected incidents of abuse.
The camp's Manhattan office was closed yesterday.
The child's parents told Nassau County police about
the alleged abuse in late October. Nassau County police immediately passed
the information to state police in Liberty, N.Y., Cabrera said, but Lungen
said his office wasn't notified until a week ago.
'' We're trying to figure out what happened, '' Lungen
said. '' We're looking into what caused the delay. It appears the original
officer who got the case got transferred and never followed it up. Unfortunately,
those things do happen, and that's the way it appears. ''
Cabrera said he was assigned to the case on Dec. 10,
after being transferred to the Liberty State Police Barracks from Orange
County, where he had spent the past six years investigating child abuse cases.
He would not comment on what happened to the case before he started to work
on it.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Last in a Series: `Conspiracy of silence'
fuels rabbis' sexual misdeeds
by DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency - November 1, 1996
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."
_________________________________________________________________________________
SHORT FORM ORDER
SUPREME COURT - STATE OF NEW
YORK
Present: HON. ROBERT ROBERTO, JR.
Justice
Please Note: The fact that the Camp
settled is very significant. The timing also indicates that this may have
been done to quiet the victim's family and prevent disclosure in the newspaper.
This settlement occurred during the time that Newday journalist, Stephanie
Saul was working on her article Jewish Community Grapples With Sex Abuse. --Name withheld upon request --
TRIAL/IAS PART 2
NASSAU COUNTRY
SPECIAL TERM PART II
SEALING ORDER
Index No. 14030/99
Court's Mtn: 3/26/03
CHILD VICTIM'S NAME WITHHELD, an infant under the age
of 14, by his m/n/g, CHILD VICTIM'S PARENT'S NAMES WITHHELD, individually,
Plantiff(s),
- against-
CAMPS MOGEN AVRAHAM, HELLER, STERNBERG, INC. and YAAKOV
WEINER,
Defendant(s)
Infant's compromise order, with supporting papers .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .X
Upon the foregoing papers it is ordered that this court
file is sealed.
The Clerk is directed to mark the file "sealed" and
not to provide access thereto except to the parties or their counsel, upon
appropriate identification, or upon further order of this Court.
Date: March 26, 2003 Robert Roberto,
JR., J.S.C.
Entered: April 3, 2003 - Nassau County County
Clerk's Office
_________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish Community Grapples With Sex Abuse
By Stephanie Saul - Staff Writer
Newsday - May 26, 2003
This is the first in a three-part series.
It was the sound of ripping cloth, they said, that woke them up.
 |
| Camp Mogen Avraham |
On
an August night in the Catskills, with summer camp almost over, the
boys had fallen asleep in their bunkhouse, exhausted from play and
religious study. Only minutes later, they would later testify in court,
the noise awakened them. Then came mysterious movements in the dark
cabin. The campers lay still. Why was a human figure hovering over the
bed of a 10-year-old Woodmere boy?
The
terrified boy blurted out his allegation to a camp counselor almost a
day later: Someone, he said, had torn open the seat of his pajamas and
sexually abused him.
The boy's parents were called to camp more than a day later, but police were not notified.
"We
all concurred that considering the trauma that would possibly result
from further action, it would be best not to take any additional
action," according to the camp's notes, later filed in court in a civil
suit. A state Department of Health sanitarian later found that the camp
violated state regulations by not reporting the accusation.
Police
learned of the allegations two months later, alerted by a psychologist
who was treating the boy. The boy's mother later told a state official
she felt pressured to remain silent, according to state health
department records. After all, the alleged abuser and the camp officials
were revered religious leaders.
The
accused was eventually acquitted by a judge, who said "contradictory
and sometimes retracting statements" left him unclear about what
happened. The camp suggests that the alleged incident was fabricated.
After
more than a year of charges and disclosures concerning sexual abuse of
young people by Catholic priests, the story may sound familiar. But the
camp, Mogen Avraham,
is a popular summer retreat in Bethel for Orthodox Jewish children. And
the accused was not a priest, but a teaching rabbi from Forest Hills.
The alleged 1998 incident at Camp Mogen Avraham
is just one in a growing dossier of allegations that rabbis, cantors
and other Jewish religious leaders have abused children and teenagers in
their care, a Newsday investigation has found.
In
sheer numbers, the problem is unlikely to rival the Catholic Church's,
since priests outnumber rabbis by roughly nine to one. While there is no
data on the number of clergy with sexual disorders, experts say that,
anecdotally, the problem does not seem as severe in the rabbinate as in
the priesthood, even in relative terms.
Even
so, some rabbis call the sexual abuse allegations a "crisis," and
religious organizations are grappling with ways to handle it.
 |
| Vicki Polin, MA, LCPC |
"We have a huge problem on our hands, a problem that is just beginning to be addressed in religious circles," Vicki Polin, a psychotherapist, said in recent testimony to the Maryland legislature.
Polin,
who is Jewish and calls herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse,
runs The Awareness Center, a Baltimore-based clearinghouse that tracks
sexual abuse allegations against Jewish religious leaders. The center's
Web site lists about 40 alleged cases of abuse involving rabbis and
cantors. As with the Catholic scandals, Jewish victims say they still
struggle years, even decades, later with this betrayal of trust.
 |
| Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg |
"I
can honestly say that he ruined not only my Bas-Mitzvah, but my faith
in Judaism," wrote one woman, now 30, referring to Rabbi Sidney
Goldenberg. In a letter to California prosecutors, the woman said
Goldenberg, then a cantor, made lewd comments and rubbed her thigh in
her parents' home in Seaford in 1985. At the time, he was supposed to be
helping her prepare for her bat mitzvah, the joyous and solemn
religious celebration when a Jewish girl turns 13.
Goldenberg
was convicted in 1997 of abusing a 12-year-old California bat mitzvah
student, after investigators uncovered a 27-year trail of complaints by
girls against him. He served three years and is now living on Coney
Island, according to police.
Like
the Goldenberg case, the abuse allegations tend to have common
elements, including some familiar from the Catholic scandals:
Children
and in some cases parents are reluctant to accuse respected clergymen.
When they do, they are often disbelieved, dismissed, even derided.
"You
have to understand the extent to which the guys in the school looked up
to [the rabbi]," says one man, now 38, who says he was abused as a
teenager by a rabbi now teaching in Israel. "He was beyond question."
And another rabbi recalls dismissing several girls' complaints against Goldenberg as "some giggly thing."
 |
| Rabbi Yosef Blau |
Religious
authorities fail to report abuse charges to the police. Among strictly
observant Orthodox Jews, this tendency is bolstered by the ancient
doctrine of mesira, which prohibits Jews from informing on other Jews to
secular authorities, a legacy of centuries of oppression of Jews in
many countries.
When
religious leaders try to investigate cases and prevent abusers from
having contact with children, their efforts often fail. "Few rabbis have
any training in recognizing abuse, and the rabbinical courts have no
investigative arm," says Rabbi Yosef Blau, the spiritual counselor to
students at Yeshiva University.
 |
| Rabbi Dr. Avrohom Mondrowitz |
Alleged
abusers continue to operate freely by moving among congregations,
states, even countries. Avrohom Mondrowitz, a self-styled rabbi who once
had a popular radio show in Brooklyn, is living openly and teaching in a
Jerusalem college although he is wanted on charges of sexually abusing
four Brooklyn boys, aged 10 to 16. If he ever returns to the United
States, he will be arrested, according to the office of Brooklyn
District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
 |
| Rabbi Baruch Lanner |
Many
of the alleged abusers were popular, even charismatic leaders, who were
thought to be particularly good in relating to young people. Rabbi
Baruch Lanner, convicted last year of endangering the welfare of two
girls at a New Jersey yeshiva, sidestepped abuse allegations for years,
in part because of his reputation as a dynamic figure in an Orthodox
youth program.
 |
| Rabbi Hershel Billet |
Unlike
the Catholic Church, Jewish authority is not centralized, but various
groups within the branches of Judaism have begun to strengthen
anti-abuse policies for their members.
At
its annual meeting, which starts today in Rye, the Rabbinical Council
of America, an organization of 1,100 Orthodox rabbis, features programs
on curbing abuse, including one entitled "Rabbinic Behavior: Confronting
a Crisis of Accountability."
"We're
trying to establish that inappropriate behavior is inexcusable," said
Rabbi Hershel Billet, president of the organization and rabbi at Young
Israel of Woodmere.
 |
| Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb |
Rabbi
Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, a psychotherapist who is also the Orthodox Union's
executive vice president, said he hopes the rabbinical council will make
a firm commitment during the meeting "to develop a real, real tight
program" combating sexual abuse.
The
rabbinical council is expected to discuss ways to adjudicate abuse
allegations against its members, with penalties that include ouster.
 |
| Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum at home prior to his arrest |
Sources
within the organization say that the impetus for the panel's work
includes old abuse allegations against Rabbi Ephraim Bryks of Kew
Gardens Hills, which he has repeatedly denied, and the recent arrest of
Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum of Highland Park, N.J.
Kestenbaum,
a chaplaincy leader for the New York Board of Rabbis, was charged in
February with endangering the welfare of a minor after allegedly
discussing sex with an undercover police officer posing as a teenage
girl in a chat room called "I Love Older Men." Kestenbaum has pleaded
not guilty.
 |
| Rabbi Ephraim Bryks |
Rabbis
concerned about sex abuse say accusations against a rabbi are often
handled quietly, or not at all. Accused rabbis go on hiatus briefly,
then revive their ministries in other congregations, even other
countries in the far-flung Diaspora.
 |
| Rabbi Matis Weinberg |
One
of those was Rabbi Matis Weinberg. Accused of sexually abusing students
at his California yeshiva two decades ago, he is said to have agreed to
leave teaching. But Weinberg resurrected his teaching career in Israel.
When Yeshiva University in Manhattan recently unearthed the allegations
against Weinberg, the New York school severed its ties to the Jerusalem
college where Weinberg had lectured until recently.
Weinberg
has never been charged with a crime and has denied the former students'
allegations. Through a friend, he declined to discuss the charges with
Newsday.
The
allegations against Weinberg have been widely reported in the Jewish
press and have helped bring the issue to the fore in recent months.
Like
the Orthodox rabbis' council, representatives of other branches of
Judaism say they are taking steps to combat sexual abuse.
 |
| Rabbi Jerome Epstein |
"I
would rather this not become an epidemic and I think what we need to do
is take affirmative steps to guide people before they make mistakes,"
said Rabbi Jerome Epstein of the United Synagogue of Conservative
Judaism, the lay arm of the Conservative movement. Epstein said the
group's committee on congregational standards is currently working on a
"best practices" document.
 |
| Rabbi Steven Rosenberg |
Rabbi
Steven Rosenberg of McAllen, Texas, formerly the leader of the Jewish
Center of Bay Shore, said his Conservative congregation already has
adopted such rules.
"If
I have a bat mitzvah in my office, the door is never closed," said
Rosenberg, who also tells his 23 religion school teachers "they are not
allowed to touch students, not a pat, not a hug."
"It is very important for me for my congregants to know: That kind of behavior -- we will not tolerate it," said Rosenberg.
Rosenberg
was sensitized by the case against Sidney Goldenberg, the former
cantor, who had worked at the Bay Shore synagogue before moving to
California.
 |
| Rabbi Paul Menitoff |
Many
rabbis say their groups would always notify police about abuse although
their rules usually do not spell this out. Such notification was one of
the remedies embraced by Roman Catholic bishops in the priest abuse
scandal. And Reform rabbis are in the process of revising their ethics
code to include such a requirement, according to Rabbi Paul Menitoff,
executive vice president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
The
National Conference of Synagogue Youth, an Orthodox group, does have a
policy requiring that police be notified, an outgrowth of its scandal
involving Lanner, a longtime youth leader with the group.
In
that case, a religious court called a bet din concluded in 1989 that
the most serious charges against Lanner were unfounded, clearing the way
for his continued youth work. Last year, more than a dozen years later,
he was convicted in New Jersey on abuse-related charges.
Orthodox
Jews frequently rely on the batei din, but Blau, a member of the Lanner
bet din, has become an outspoken critic of the religious court system.
For
one thing, he said, judges in the religious courts often know the
accused, making fair decisions difficult. In addition, he said that
perjury before a bet din is rarely punished.
Appearing
in February before dozens of students in the main study hall at Yeshiva
University, Blau and the two other members of the Lanner bet din issued
an extraordinary public apology for their role in allowing Lanner to
continue unchecked for so many years.
"We
must do everything in our power to protect potential victims from
abuse," the apology said. "This includes reporting accusations of abuse
to Jewish and, at times, to secular authorities."
Such
a secular-reporting requirement is controversial among some Orthodox
groups, partly because it appears to run counter to the doctrine called
mesira.
In
ancient times, one who violated the doctrine and reported a fellow Jew
to secular authorities could be killed on sight. Today, the punishment
is generally ostracism in the community.
The
vast majority of rabbis agree that mesira is overridden when there is
imminent danger to possible future victims, but Blau says the taboo
remains, particularly among the most traditional Orthodox.
Civil authorities who seek to act against rabbinic abuse often become frustrated by the reluctance of witnesses to testify.
Prosecutors
in Sullivan County complained during the case that their witnesses
faced pressure when they tried to prosecute Yaakov Weiner, the teaching
rabbi acquitted in the Mogen Avraham case.
"It
was a bitter pill for me," remembers Tom Cawley, the former Sullivan
County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the Mogen Avraham
case. "They sent their kid to camp up here in Bethel and thought he'd be
taken care of. Someone was taken care of, all right, but it wasn't
him."
Weiner,
who has taught in several yeshivas throughout the metropolitan area,
consistently denied the charges. Attempts to reach him through one of
his lawyers were unsuccessful.
The
boy's mother and father, a rabbi himself, would not discuss the case
with Newsday. But camp and State Health Department records filed in
court indicate that the parents were not told of the alleged abuse until
nearly 48 hours after the boy spoke of it, while the 36-year-old
Weiner's father, a rabbi well-known in the Queens Orthodox community,
was notified sooner.
Contacted
recently, the camp's current executive director, Moshe Wein, defended
the camp's handling of the accusation, saying, "There's no evidence to
indicate that an incident took place." He added, "This may be one of
those cases in which a child lied."
Lawyers
for Weiner at his bench trial made much of contradictions in the boy's
statements. But the most confusing testimony came from the alleged
victim's bunkmates.
One of the boys reversed his story between the time he spoke to police and the trial several months later, Cawley said in court.
"We
believe that there was pressure placed on the victim and children's
families to get them not to testify," said Sullivan County District
Attorney Stephen Lungen in a recent telephone interview. "There was a
child who could have substantiated what was said, and that family would
not cooperate."
The entire matter left Sullivan County Judge Frank Labuda confused.
"It
is clear in the evening hours of August 8 and the morning of August 9,
two years ago, something happened at bunk 3 Gimel bunk... " he said in
his January 2000 ruling. But Labuda concluded that trial testimony "does
not create a clear picture for this court of exactly what happened in
Gimel bunk nor who did it."
He found Weiner not guilty.
_________________________________________________________________________________
FAIR USE NOTICE
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web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always
been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material
available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political,
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etc.
We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any
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Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this
site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes
of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
_________________________________________________________________________________
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever
has."
--Margaret Mead
_________________________________________________________________________________
.jpg)
Rabbi Yisroel
Meir is perhaps best known for his campaign to teach his fellow Jews about
the laws of Lashon
Hara (forbidden speech). When he was 35 (1873) he published his first
book, Chofetz Chaim, which was devoted to this topic. (The name comes from
Tehillim (Psalms) 34, "Who is the man that desires life (chofetz chaim)...
keep your tongue from evil...") He later published two more books on this
subject. As has often happened to Judaism's great leaders, Rabbi Yisroel
Meir became known by the name of his book and is known worldwide as the Chofetz
Chaim.
