Case of the Sex Offending Grandfather (Haifa, Israel)

State of Israel Vs. a Sex Offender
(Unofficial translation from Hebrew)

The District Court in Haifa
S. Jobran - Head Judge
Y. Grille - Judge
R. Shapiro – Judge

The State of Israel against: (name withheld for protection of the victim’s—his granddaughter’s—privacy)

Ruling:
1. The offenses the defendant was convicted of:

The defendant, born in 1933, was convicted through his own guilty plea of felonies referred to him in a revised accusation, of forced molestation, rape, and sexual assault. The victim of these felonies the defendant was convicted of was his granddaughter, born in 1980 ("the complainant"). The felonies were done in the complainant from the time she was 7 years old to the time she was 10. According to the Accusation, there were many incidents in which the defendant did the felonies he is accused of in his granddaughter, the complainant, felonies of which he pled guilty.  

Let it be noted that the accusation refers to several different laws, due to changes in the penalty law regarding sexual offenses. The most severe charge referred to the defendant is a rape offense of inserting a finger into the complainant’s genital, and this is a great number of times. It should be noted that the accusation does not relate to the popular term of rape (i.e. with a penis), but the actions admitted by the defendant are considered rape according to the law.

2. The victim:
Before we detail our considerations regarding the appropriate penalty in this case, we find it important to bring up some facts that are relevant to our decision, as related to the victim of the felonies as well as the defendant.  

These facts, along with the total of facts presented to us, which we will not fully detail, faced us with a difficult deliberation regarding the severity of the penalty in this case. An unusual and a severe case in which a grandfather attacks his granddaughter and does in her sexual offenses of the kind the defendant plead guilty for.

Since the defendant pled guilty, it spared the complainant the need to testify. As noted, this is to the defendant’s credit that he spared the granddaughter further suffering. At the same time, because of the guilty plea, the court did not hear the complainant’s voice and we were not presented with the full factual picture, as it related to her hurt. Nevertheless, the prosecution presented to us evidence from which we learned to know the complainant, even if just a little bit. Under these circumstances, the court acquainted itself with the victim through the victim’s report, the video confrontation, and other documents we received for review.

The complainant grew up in house next to her grandfather’s house, the defendant. Life wasn’t peaceful in her home. Her mother divorced twice. The conflicts in the mother’s house included violence. Under these circumstances, the grandfather, who was a neighbor, was the dominant figure and a substitute father figure and a shelter in time of trouble. This is at least how the complainant felt until she realized that the grandfather, whom she loved and admired, made her into a service tool for his deviations.

The grandfather/defendant was a dominant and appreciated figure in the community where the family lived. We shall say more of his character later.  It be noted that this is a lawyer who was one of the top lawyers in the North. In addition, the defendant is a learned man with many academic degrees in various topics, and was a teacher of the Bible, and a guide for many, in the legal community as well as outside of it. Under these circumstances, the grandchild’s admiration of him was great. And as great the admiration and love, is the greatness of the loss, when she realized as a child that she was sexually exploited by the admired figure she loved most.

Later on, and as a result of many events, the mother left the town where she lived next to the grandfather, and moved with her children, including the complainant, to a near by Kibbuz. Where she created a warm home, and where the complainant matured.

The defendants’ schemes and his hurt of the victim were already exposed in 1990. At the time, the committee that dealt with the case through the department of social services ("Ptor Committee"), decided to transfer the complaint to the police, and following the district attorney’s office an investigation was launched. However, for various reasons it wasn’t possible to take a deposition from the complainants, and as a result the investigation
did not progress.

Although the defendant tried to repress the events she lived through in the presence of her grandfather/the defendant, she did not succeed. The emotional damage from the criminal actions of the defendants seeped through her and haunted her. On the night of 10/27/96, when she was about 16 years old, she decided to end her life. Before she attempted suicide, that luckily was not successful, she wrote in her diary a chapter of farewell from her family, and sort of a will. From her words, which make the reader shudder, it can be seen and understood how much damage the deeds of the defendant did to her:

"I stayed until the last night was swollen by the night. There is no symbolism in it. My colors faded and did not get swollen, but it doesn’t matter. I am calm now, I have no anger at anyone and I hope that I brought the best and as much joy as possible to whoever I could. I am saying goodbye and asking that you not be angry. It is no one’s fault. I have never seen myself being an adult, and now I know why. I will never be one. In spite of what I wrote earlier, I am not departing in sadness and pain, this is not a moment’s decision, but something that has been in my for years and today reached it’s end. I feel that I have finished my job and that there is not reason to linger in this borrowed time, happy I will never be. I am going happy now. I am filled with peace and I am feeling complete with myself. The only thing that I am sad for is that I will not be able to say goodbye to everyone, but I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart…."  Later on, the complainant bids goodbye to her family members, and in the end, she addresses the defendant:

"And finally, I just wanted to tell my grandfather: I wanted you to know that I forgive you. I don’t know, maybe this is just a generous moment before the end, and maybe it is my famous forgiving nature. But I forgive you. I hated you for a long time, I thought of sweet revenge, toyed with ideas about placing complaints and hate letters, but no more. You did something that cannot be forgiven, a terrible, horrible thing. I want you to feel the deep pain of my parting. I want you to feel the deep and painful disgust of your deeds. That you’d ask yourself every morning how could you do what you did, But you are my grandfather, and in spite of it all I love you. Although you do not deserve it, I lighten your punishment and forgive you. Know that I dies with no hostility toward you. Now I will finish the book I am reading and take all the pills I have and some others I will find in the room—Acamol and Aspirins of kind. I am not sure where, but it will be tonight."  In the end, the complainant writes things (as she saw them then):
 

"Farewell to you, I lived with you like a wild flower, I took the pills and it was so easy and simple. Now I am going to sleep, good night world."

From the multitude of problems that accompanied the complainant through her childhood, it can be assumed that not only the deeds of the grandfather and his hurting of her were damaging. Her mother’s double divorce, her violent stepfather, and the many hardships of the family contributed their own damage. However, it is especially in such a situation that the defendant, who raised the granddaughter as a child and father figure, had to know that he is the man she trusts and therefore that his hurting her and his exploiting her intensify the damage he did to her.

From looking at the multitude of evidence presented to us and from watching the confrontation video, a little of the terrible fracture in the complainant’s soul can be felt, and one can try to estimate the intensity of damage that the defendant did to her in his deeds. We are talking about a youngster whose world was in ruins so much that she was ready to end her life. For all these years she needed various psychological treatments, and it seems she’ll need support in the future as well. We are talking, and this is without exaggerating, of a soul that was murdered in a body that goes on living.

3. The defendant’s character:
The defendant in this case is a special character. We are talking about a father of seven girls from his first marriage, and a grandfather to grandchildren, one of whom is the complainant. A learned man, with a BA and MA in law, degrees in literature, mathematics and philosophy. A second degree in bible, and a Ph.D. in Theology. In the past he was a known lawyer. He was a teacher and educator. In his past he served—before the state was established—in the Lechi, and in the army, in many public roles, some undercover. And more and more. No wonder that the learned defense attorney described him as "Ish Eshkolot."

According to him, the defendant was a victim of prolonged sexual abuse as a child. He claims that he did not know the impacts of his childhood events until, of his own will, and after he ceased contact with the complainant, he went for lengthy psychological counseling during which various events from his childhood were uncovered, including felonies that happened to him. And that maybe created what he calls "his soul corruption", and resulted in his hurting the complainant whom he defined in the confrontational video "a victim of a corrupted man who loved her."

From the facts as they were presented to us, it is seen that during the time the defendant sexually hurt his minor granddaughter, he developed a relationship with a young woman who was several years before that his student in school where he had taught. Later on, he separated from his wife and the mother of his daughters, and married that woman who testified before us. From his second marriage he has two children: A girl about 12 years of age and a boy whose 4th birthday will be celebrated in a few days. During his second marriage he underwent the lengthy psychological treatment, the same one he says uncovered the hurts he claims to have absorbed in his childhood.

The defendant does not try to reduce the severity of his deeds. According
to him, he has no explanation to the hurt he inflicted in her granddaughter.
He defines himself as having a corrupted soul and refers his deeds to the
hurts he had as a child and which corrupted his soul. He does not wish this
to be seen as justification, but an explanation. Otherwise, he says, he
cannot explain how he—a man of law and books—who knew the severe taboos in
the bible and in the religion and the law, would do the things he did.
To the defendant’s credit, it should be noted that even at the opening of
the confrontation with the complainant and before the accusation was
presented to court, the defendant told the complainant that he will not make
her be interrogated in court. His specific declaration that he believes her
and will not put her through a cross-examination, stands to his credit when
we come to judge him.

At the same time, we would like to press that while watching the video,
we could not avoid feeling that even at this stage the defendant is trying,
in a manipulative, complex way, through use of ambiguous language, to have
his granddaughter, the complainant, to change the way she relates to him. It
seems that the defendant is trying, along with taking responsibility for the
complainant’s loss, to place on her and on society the responsibility for his
fall. It seems that he puts himself in the shoes of Jan Batist Klemens, the
hero of Alber Kami’s book "The Fall", where he desperately calls:
"Oh, young woman, throw yourself into the water again, so that I can have
a second chance to save us both."

In fact, the defendant is asking, himself and through his wife who
testified before us, that when we come to state his sentence, we think not
only of his granddaughter as a victim, but also of him as a victim and of his
two children from his second marriage. These children, too, are victims,
having their father picked at noon from his family, without any previous
planning and no explanation (as far as it such sad circumstances can be
explained to children).

4. The court’s considerations regarding the severity of punishment:
Sentencing is always hard, and ten times harder this time. As we said, the
evidence is complex and we need to judge between options that each come with
a heavy price and have painful impacts on the souls connected to the
defendant, and who all will be, against their will or fault, victims of his
criminal deeds.

In her opening for her statements regarding sentencing the defense
attorney attempts to say, without reducing from the severity of the felonies
committed by the defendant, that the defendant’s deed might be a step less
than those of other rapists. As said above, this is not a case of rape in the
popular definition of the term, but under the circumstances that are defined
in the law as rape. Under these circumstances, it was stated to us, the deeds
need to be looked at as less than other rapes and the sentencing needs to be
decided upon appropriately.

We think that it in not up to the court to place itself into the
gradients of evil and to try and distinguish between degrees of depravity. It
is not accidental that the law-maker defined various actions that involve
penetration of the genitals as rape, and decided upon punishment that is
appropriate for such actions. It is the direction of the law—which leads us
as we come to give judgment—that we do not engage with the way and amount of
penetration into the body. The punishment decided upon in the law it due to
the depth of harm to the soul. And in that case, as is seen in the evidence
before us, the severity of the defendant’s actions is the maximal known to
the law, and that we, too, who judge in similar cases, know.

The law-maker determined that long prison times be given for felonies
that like the ones the defendant was convicted of. The ceiling of punishment
for such felonies need to be our starting point, which we need to keep in
front of us when we come to place our judgment. The law-maker determined a
deterrent punishment so that criminals—either actual or potential—would see
and beware. When we come to place our judgment we need to bring into
manifestation the meaning of the law and it’s goal in a way that the law will
not be an empty slogan. This is especially true when we have in front of us a
defendant that made serial offenses and who can never make up the accumulated
punishment for all his actions, even if he was born today. What we are
talking about it an accumulated jail time that exceeds the life expectancy of
a man. Under these circumstances, and in order to clarify society’s repulse
of his actions, and to deter, it is the court’s duty to judge in the severity
determined by law. See:

(a reference to precedent case)

Beyond that, it is the duty of this court to protect the victims of the felony. Just as the defendant has the right that his rehabilitation and the needs of his family be taken into account as part of the reasons for the sentencing, so do the victims—those actually harmed by the defendant’s actions—have the right for the court’s protection. The more severe the actions of a defendant, the greater the need to put the emphasis on protecting the victims. 

See: (a reference to precedent case), page 8-9, where the following was said, and that guides us when we come to place the judgment:

"When it comes to the public’s interest, it is not enough to impress into the law standards of behaviors. The public needs to see them manifested at all times and to see them as an inseparable part of accepted social standards that protect the body, property, and dignity of each one in it. A forgiving punishment in cases of severe criminal behavior might result in a collapse of moral defenses and might be interpreted as compromising values and norms. It can damage the trust in the reality of the threat of punishment being manifested, and give a negative message to potential criminals predisposed to do similar felonies. In the same way that giving a real punishment is a sharp social manifestation of the condemnation that severe actions deserve, adopting a forgiving strategy would weaken the acknowledgment of the wrongness of the behavior."

But punishment is not only a matter of arithmetic. We are not dealing with the multiplication of evil, as it was detailed in the segments of the accusation, in years in prison mandated by the law, and then getting at a mathematical sum. We have to examine the punishment with its relative weight while also paying attention to the circumstances in each case and with each defendant.

In order employ the direction of the punishment law to the matter of the
appropriate punishment, one needs to examine it in light of the legal
directions of a constitutional law: man’s dignity and freedom. The
constitutional law declares guidelines that lead us in the process of
manifesting the directions of the punishment law and determining the
appropriate amount of punishment. The relevant directions for our matter are
in the following segments:

(4) Protection of life, body, and dignity—Every person is entitled for
protection of his life, his body, and his dignity.

(5) Personal freedom—One does not take away or limit the freedom of a person
through imprisonment, lock-up, extraditing, or any other way.

(8) Damaging rights—One does not harm the basic rights in the constitutional
law unless with a law that is appropriate to the values of the state of
Israel, and that is meant for a good cause and in an extent that does not
exceed what is needed or is according to the law and the power clearly
invested in that law.

The constitutional law declares that the yardstick for punishment must
balance the two that sometimes clash. On the one side, the duty in segment 4
is to protect society from the criminal. On the other hand, there is a rule
about not limiting a person’s freedom. It is understood that punishments, and
especially punishments that include prison time, damages the basic right in
segment 5. Therefore, the law-maker ordered that taking away the right for
freedom—which is the criminal’s right as well—will be done to manifest the
legal duty in segment 4 of the constitutional law, to protect victims from
the bad harm of the criminal. And would be done with attention to the
direction in segment 8. That is, "to an extent that does not exceed what is
needed."

Employing the fundamentals of the constitutional law onto the judgment
calls for attention in sentencing, among other things, to the personal danger
of each criminal. The amount of punishments needs to guarantee that the
criminal will not harm others and will not offend again. When we come to
judging the sentencing, we are not acting as the victims’ messengers of
revenge at the defendant. We judge the sentencing in a way that will
guarantee, as much as it is possible—that the defendant will not be able to
harm again. There are times when the personal details of a defendant will
call for less punishment to reach that goal, and there are times when the
personal details of a defendant make it necessary to sentence a longer
imprisonment period.

This is especially true for sexual offenses. It these offenses the matter
of age is a significant detail when we come to determine how dangerous the
defendant is and how much to keep him away from society. Accordingly, we will
not avoid making a difference between punishing a young man, who might repeat
his offenses, and punishing an elderly man, whose chances of continuing his
criminal deeds after completing the allotted jail time, are slight.

We reason that the duty of the law calls for a deterring punishment that
sends an equivocal message: Whoever murders the souls of his children and/or
grandchildren and does sexual offenses in them, be his social status as high
as it might, one will be their judgment—be taken away from society and
lengthy prison time. But the duration of the jail time will be derived also
from the life expectancy of each defendant, and even more so, from their
dangerousness expectancy.
Accordingly, and if a young criminal will come in front of us, we reason
that under the right circumstances, and especially in cases like the one
before us now, one should not keep from giving a long jail time, even longer
than what is given to those with life-sentences. (See a reference to a file
from 11/26/01). However, when in front of us is an elderly man of about 70
years, we surmise that we can accomplish the goal of law and the purpose of
the punishment also by sentencing for jail time that is mathematically
milder, but that for this defendant means, actually, a life sentence.

In summary, and when we come to sentence this defendant, we believe that
he should be given a long prison time. This sentence will clarify that the
policy for punishment is clear and consistent—removing rapists, especially
those who hurt their children and grandchildren, from society. At the same
time, the amount of the sentencing, and for this matter, the length of jail
time, will be examined carefully so that it does not exceed what is needed.
When the defendant is elderly, this amount is less than what he would be
sentenced for had he been younger, since we reason that by the time he
completes his jail time this defendant will not be able to repeat his actions.
Additionally, and against the severity of his actions, we suppose that
two important factors need to be brought into the equation in regards to
lightening the defendant’s sentence. The first factor is his immediate
admittance of the felonies applied to him, which beyond the legal meaning of
saving a lengthy process was deeply significant for his granddaughter, the
complainant. The other factor is the fact that the events that are the
subject of this law suit happened over ten years ago. In the time since then,
the defendant voluntarily went to psychological treatment and this after he
realized that his deviation calls for appropriate treatment. Granted, this
does not reduce the severity of the things he did, but we believe that a sex
offender who acknowledges his deviation and seeks appropriate treatment,
without any connection to a criminal process and when he has no threat of
investigation or trial, needs to be given credit for.

We cannot ignore the request of the defendant and his wife, and to bring into our considerations the defendant’s small children. Our heart goes out to his young daughter, who is yearning for his coming home, and to his son, who asked that his dad come to his preschool for his birthday, which falls soon. We are aware of the disaster that came onto these children, whose father was arrested and kept away from the family unit, without any warning. Truly, reality had made these children, too, victims of their father’s criminal behavior, because of the things he did in his granddaughter from his first marriage and before these children even came to the world. We know that in this serious case we  cannot sentence the defendant to a punishment that will reduce their pain even in a little bit. Our hope is that when it is time they will understand (even if not agree) that against us stood the duty to protect the dignity, freedom, and safety of every child and grandchild against harm and torment by a parent or grandparent or stranger.

5. Compensating the complainant.
The prosecution asks to require the defendant to compensate the complainant. The defense claims that the defendant himself did not negate the idea but claimed that the defendant gave all his assets to his daughters from his first wife and is today without any property. And that he especially would
not be able to compensate the complainant if he is given a long jail sentence.
 

We are aware of the practical hardship of a prisoner to compensate the victims of his crime. However, the policy of appropriate punishment must establish yardsticks that would deter any criminal. One of which is the knowledge that the person who harms will have to compensate the victim for
the damage he did.

In the case in front of us, no monetary compensation will even compensate for the damages incurred. At the same time, we believe that it is appropriate to judge in this procedure monetary compensation to the complainant that will take into account requiring the defendant to participate in the immediate costs of repairing the damage done. The complainant had needed years of psychological treatments and will need them in the future. It would be only right if from already at this phase we require the defendant to participate in these costs.

In is clear that in ruling for penalty we are not presuming to rule a compensation that reflects the magnitude of the damages. The complainant holds the right to pursue this matter in a civil suit in the appropriate court.

6. Summary of sentencing-
In summary, and after we weighed the multitude of factors above, we decided to sentence the defendant in the following way: We sentence the defendant to 19 years imprisonment, our of which 16 are for active jail time, and the rest, 3 years probation. The probation being that the defendant will not commit any sexual offense within three years of his release from jail, including during vacations, if he gets one.
 

The counting of jail time is from 3/14/01, the date when the defendant was arrested.

The secretary will prepare a prison order accordingly.

We have to point out that if it wasn’t for the defendant’s old age and his guilty plea; and the fact that at least as this stage he decided to make things easier for his granddaughter and not put her on the stand, and not cause her further suffering—we wouldn’t have hesitated from giving him a more severe sentence. And even then we wouldn’t have assumed that it would express even a little of the suffering he caused her.
 

Additionally, we require the defendant to pay the complainant a compensation that will be a symbolic compensation only, in the sum of 50,000 shekels. This sum will carry interest and inflation rates according to the law from today and until the time it is actually paid.
 

Due to the nature of this procedure, the discussion in this case was done behind closed doors. However, now that the judgment was made, we believe that indeed the goal of this sentencing is to deter others so that they see and beware. Accordingly, we allow publication of this judgment.
 

If it were possible, we would have allowed the publication of the defendant’s name and this is so that beyond the jail time we sentenced him for, his deeds would be public knowledge so that the sigh of Cain would be branded on his forehead. However, exposing his name would necessarily mean that the identity of his granddaughter, and would add onto the already great harm for his young children. Therefore, and to protect the complainant and the rest of his family, it is forbidden to publish any identifying details of the defendant and the family members.

At the end of this painful procedure, we want to address the complainant, the defendant’s granddaughter. We do not presume with this punishment or any other punishment to heal the wound that the defendant did to your soul. It is not always possible to mend a wrong that was done by one man by the deeds of another man. Our hope is that the courage you had to bring this affair in front of the court and the deterring punishment, would save a similar fate, and even if for one girl or boy, and that this would be your comfort.

It was explained to the defendant that he has the right to appeal to the supreme court within 45 days from today.

It was given today, the twenty-first of Kislev, December 6th 2001, in the presence of the defendant, the defense attorney, and the representative of the prosecution.

Authorized for public from 12/6/01.

Case of Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov

Case of Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov

(AKA: Mordecai Yomtov)

Chabad Chedar Menachem School - Los Angeles, CA

Yeshivah College - Melbourne, Australia

This convicted sex offender has been in 

violation of registration requirements since March 21, 2003.

 

WARNING: Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov, is in violation of sex offender registration requirements in California for nearly 10 years. If you know his whereabout please notify the California authorities at: (916) 227-4974. 

 

Mordecai Yomtov was convicted of sexual abuse and committing lewd acts against three boys).  Yomtov was born in Australia.  He 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.

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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:
 

2001

1. PRESS RELEASE:  "Child Molester Arrested" (12/05/2001)
   
2. A Rabbi Is Accused Of Molesting A Student - More Possible Victims  (12/06/2001)
3. Los Angeles; Rabbi Accused of Molesting Young Male Students (12/07/2001)
4. Rabbi Jailed: Instructor at Cheder Menachem grade school accused of molesting boys. (12/14/2001)
5. Rabbi sentenced to year in prison for lewd acts (12/21/2001)
6. Rabbi arrested on 10 counts of molestation  (12/21/2001)
7. Rabbi Accused of Molesting Young Male Students  (12/07/2001)
8. Instructor at Cheder Menachem grade school accused of molesting boys  (12/14/2001)
9. Rabbi Jailed  (12/31/2001)

2002

1. Yomtov Pleads Guilty (02/02/2002)
2. Hebrew Teacher Pleads Guilty to Lewd Acts (02/05/2002)
    

2003

1.  Schools Adopt Guide to Block Sex Abuse (06/20/2003)

2005

1. WARNING: Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov Missing (10/11/2005)

2007

1. Dealing With Schmutz (08/17/2007)
2. LAUSD settles suit from 2 teens (12/13/2007)

2008

1. California Department of Justice (10/11/2005)

2012

1. Child Sex-Abuse Scandal in Australia's Jewish Community Spills Into U.S. -
   Allegations Surface That Child Molesters Were Protected  (02/17/2012)

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PRESS RELEASE 

 "Child Molester Arrested"

Los Angeles Police Department - December 5, 2001

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A Rabbi Is Accused Of Molesting A Student - More Possible Victims
ABC News - Dec 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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Rabbi Accused of Molesting Young Male Students
By KENNETH REICH, TIMES STAFF WRITER
December 7, 2001 - LOS ANGELES TIMES

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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A Rabbi Is Accused Of Molesting A Student - More Possible Victims
KABC News - December 7, 2002

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
Los Angeles Times - December 7, 2001

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. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

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

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.

____________________________________________________________________________________

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.''
 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Rabbi sentenced to year in prison for lewd acts

Hebrew Teacher Pleads Guilty to Lewd Acts

Los Angeles Times - February 5, 2002

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.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Instructor at Cheder Menachem grade school accused of molesting boys
By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
The 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."
 
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.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Rabbi Jailed - Instructor at Cheder Menachem grade school accused of molesting boys.
By Julie Gruenbaum Fax
Jewish Journal - December 13, 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. 
 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Yomtov Pleads Guilty
By Wendy J. Madnick
Jewish Journal - February 7, 2002


Teacher Mordechai Yomtov stood sobbing in his orange prison jumpsuit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court as he pleaded guilty to two counts of committing continuous sexual abuse on a minor and one count of lewd act on a minor.
 
The Feb. 4 plea follows an agreement worked out between the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and defense counsel. Yomtov was sentenced to one year in County Jail, followed by five years' probation.
 
Yomtov, 36, was arrested Dec. 3 and charged with 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with three of his students, ages 8 to 10, at Cheder Menachem, an all-boys Orthodox yeshiva located in Hollywood and run under the auspices of West Coast Chabad.
 
Four family members of the three victims in the case were present; one mother even moved closer to force Yomtov to face her as he admitted to the crimes.
 
Yomtov's attorney, Mitchell W. Egers, said he told his client it was possible to fight the charges but Yomtov declined.
 
"He told me he did not want to subject the children or their families to a trial or to cross-examination," Egers said, adding that his client is not a rabbi as previously reported (students traditionally call teachers there "rebbe").
 
The court ordered Yomtov to have no contact with the victims, their families or with any minors without an adult present, with the exception of his own three children. He must also undergo psychiatric treatment through USC for the length of his term (including probation) and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Following his jail term, he is prohibited from seeking employment in any position where he would be teaching minors.
 
The parents said they were satisfied with the agreement.
 
"Under the circumstances I think he is extremely lucky," said the father of one victim. "If we didn't work with the district attorney, this guy would have got 25 years to life. But we understand that he is ill. He has an addiction that is not treatable."
 
The man said his son, one in a family of seven children, was undergoing therapy as a result of the incident.
 
"Only time will tell. Sometimes he acts like nothing is wrong and other times you can see it is affecting him," he said.
 
The boy, like the other victims, is still attending Cheder Menachem. Attorneys for two of the families say they have not ruled out a civil suit against the school.
 
"I'm pleased that the process of holding those accountable for the terrible crimes against these children has begun," said Gary Wittenberg, a civil litigator, adding that any further actions "depend on what develops over the next few days and weeks."
 
The father of the one victim said he hoped the case brought cloure not only for his son, but also for the rest of Yomtov's victims.
 
"We know there were other victims who have not come forward and my prayer is for their parents to get these kids help," he said. "I also hope this clears up the rumors that the boys were making this up. there were people even last night telling me that. I hope [the plea agreement] will put those rumors to rest for good."
 
In response to the resolution of the case, Rabbi Chaim Cunin, director of West Coast Chabad, issued the following statement: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families that make up the Cheder Menachem community. We are very thankful to the various organizations, including Jewish Family Service and Ohel, that continue to support and guide Cheder Menachem through the healing process." 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hebrew Teacher Pleads Guilty to Lewd Acts
Los Angeles Times - February 5, 2002 

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. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Schools Adopt Guide to Block Sex Abuse
by Julie Gruenbaum
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, June 20, 2003

A national group representing more than 700 Orthodox day schools recently adopted sexual abuse prevention guidelines that were developed by a department of the Jewish Family Service (JFS) in Los Angeles.

Nearly all of the two dozen Orthodox schools in Los Angeles had signed on to a similar policy last year aimed at preventing and reporting verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Torah U'mesorah, The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, adapted its new policy from the one implemented in Los Angeles.

"We need to develop a culture of creating safety," said Debbie Fox, director of Aleinu Family Resource Center of JFS, which wrote the guidelines. "It's not only, 'don't abuse the child,' but watch the way you talk with them, watch the way you correct them or encourage them to change, watch the teasing that goes on."

A version of the policy will be discussed at a training session for camp directors next week, and Fox encourages parents to ask camps whether their counselors have signed on to the guidelines.

Last summer, when the abuse policy was in its final draft form, David Schwartz was accused of molesting 4-year-old boys at an Orthodox day camp in Culver City. He is currently serving one year in a residential facility, after which he will be on probation for five years.

The Schwartz case was one in a string of abuse incidents that has rocked the Orthodox community over the last few years. Locally, Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov is currently on probation after serving a year in prison for molesting boys at Cheder Menachem school in the La Brea area.

Nationally, an Orthodox Union report found Rabbi Baruch Lanner guilty of widespread and long-term sexual, physical and psychological abuse of teens in three decades of work at the National Conference of Synagogue Youth. Lanner is free pending an appeal after being sentenced last June to seven years in prison for sexually abusing two girls when he was principal of a New Jersey yeshiva in the 1990s.

The Lanner case, in particular, opened up Orthodox channels of communication regarding the abuse issue and led to an increased vigilance among institutions.

The high-profile cases went along with what Fox was seeing through the lens of Aleinu's caseload. When Fox came three years ago, the Orthodox Counseling Program, which recently changed its name to Aleinu, had 11 cases. Today it has about 50 clients and a program of placing social workers in schools, through which it serves about 150 children a week.

In addition, Aleinu runs Nishma, a hotline that was initially conceived as a spousal abuse line, but, like Aleinu, has broadened its mandate after receiving a wider range of calls.

"What we deal with every day are the problems, but that is not an indication that the Orthodox community has significantly more problems than anyone else," Fox said. "It is an indication that we are creating an environment where we can face these issues and invite them to come forward, so we can deal with them as well as we can."

One of the issues she saw was sexual abuse. Early last summer, Fox convened a meeting with the Halachic Advisory Board of Jewish Family Service and the Rabbinic Council of California's (RCC) Family Commission, two groups that work closely together.

With input from parents, educators, mental health professionals and the scrutinizing panel of rabbis, plus endorsement from leading halachic authorities, Aleinu developed the Conduct Policy and Behavioral Standards for Orthodox Schools.

The policy goes further than forbidding sexual contact or even the use of explicit language, materials or sexual innuendo. It warns teachers and staff never to be secluded with a child. There is strong wording against the use of physical force and any unwelcome physical contact, as well as against making any comments about a student's body or clothing.

Teachers and staff are warned against denigrating students or attempting to manipulate students through psychological means, and they are forbidden from instructing students to keep secrets from parents or administration.

All teachers, staff, administrators and clerical and custodial staff are required to sign the guidelines.

When abuse is suspected, either at home or in school, Aleinu guides the family through the legal system and makes sure all their needs are met -- from finding a Jewish foster home, if necessary, to making sure a carpool is arranged to going into the school to talk with teachers, principals and other students.

Rabbi Berish Goldenberg, principal of Yeshiva Rav Isaacsohn-Toras Emes and chair of the RCC's Family Commission, noted how far the Orthodox community has come in tackling difficult issues openly.

The embrace of an Aleinu social worker and the adoption of the abuse guidelines at Toras Emes -- where much progress has been made in the last few years away from an old-school style of education -- are indicative of the community's newfound willingness to combine modern psychological sensibilities with a strictly observant mindset.

Goldenberg attributes the leap to the growing roster of problems today's families face and an awareness that professional help is neither treif (non-kosher) nor a shandah (humiliation).

"And there are many Orthodox people in the mental health professional world today, so there is more trust," Goldenberg added.

The advisory board rabbis, who themselves go through psychological training, are available around the clock to answer halachic questions and counsel clients. In one instance, a rabbi sat in on a counseling session to answer a 16-year-old girl's question about whether testifying against her father violated the mitzvah of honoring your parents. Another time, a rabbi and social worker together counseled an abused wife who wanted to know whether she was required to go to the mikvah to perform the ritual bathing that would make sex with her husband permissible.

When Schwartz was sentenced, both Goldenberg and Rabbi Gershon Bess, one of the most respected rabbis in the city, spoke in court to offer support to the victims. When Schwartz is released in February, he will be -- willingly or not -- in the jurisdiction of the RCC's beit din (rabbinical court), which might impose limits on where he may go to shul, which simcha (celebration) he may attend and whether he may enter public restrooms alone.

Like all of Aleinu's programs, even the beit din's monitoring will most likely have a restorative angle, guiding Schwartz through therapy, for example.

"The beauty is that the rabbis are so sensitive to mental health issues and to understanding what we do so clearly, that their response is very sensitive to the issues of the person," Fox said. "It's a beautiful thing."

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WARNING: Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov Missing
The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter - October 11, 2005 

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. 

----------------------------------------
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Phone number (916) 227-4974
E-mail address - MegansLaw@doj.ca.gov
Mailing address:
California Department of Justice
Sex Offender Tracking Program
P. O. Box 903387
Sacramento, CA 94203-3870

---------------------
http://meganslaw.ca.gov

Last Name: YOMTOV
First Name: MORDECHAI
Middle Name:
THIS SEX OFFENDER HAS BEEN IN VIOLATION OF REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS SINCE 03/21/2003.

1) Description
Last Known Address:
County:
Zip Code
Date of Birth: 03-10-1965
Sex: MALE
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 170
Eye Color: BROWN
Hair Color: BLACK
Ethnicity: WHITE

2) Offenses
Offense Code
Description
288(a) LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS
288.5(a) CONTINUOUS SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD

3) Scars/Marks/Tattoos
GLASSSES

4) Known Aliases
None

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Dealing With Schmutz
By David Suissa
Jewish Journal - August 17, 2007


It is believed the convicted Rabbi discussed at the end of this article is Rabbi Mordechai Yomtov formerly of Chabad Chedar Menachem School.

The other day, a remarkable neighbor named Dennis Brown was telling me about a Chasidic kid who had rebelled against his parents and his religious lifestyle and gotten into drugs. After a couple of rough years, he got professional help, sobered up and started reconnecting with his observant upbringing. He was even enjoying going to shul on Shabbat. But there was a little detail that drove his parents nuts.

The kid wore pleated pants.

For the parents, it wasn't very "chassidishe" to wear pleated plants. They saw it as a sign of secular fashion. Not a good omen. So when they met with Dennis to discuss the boy's progress, they brought up the pleated pants.

Dennis went ballistic.

When Dennis goes ballistic, he has to tell you he's going ballistic, because you can't tell from his body language. Nothing changes on this man's face. It's sculpted in granite.

Still, when he told me the story of the pleated pants, you could see the emotion smoldering beneath the surface. He had spent many long hours working with the kid. He had helped turn his life around. He was counting his blessings. Meanwhile, the parents were sitting there kvetching about pleated pants. How could they be so blind?

This notion of blindness is a common theme in the life of Dennis, a Chasidic Jew and professional counselor in his early 60s who runs the state-certified Ness Counseling Center in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. Dennis deals with what he calls "the schmutz of life" on a daily basis -- physical and sexual abuse, drugs, marital and family problems, wife beating, pleated pants.

As I sat with him in his office right off La Cienega Boulevard, with the famous gaze of the Lubavitcher Rebbe hovering above us from a picture on the wall, he kept going back to the theme of blindness.

"People see what they want to see", he said. "The parents [of the Chasidic kid] were blind to the pain that got him into drugs in the first place, and when he started to get out of it, they were blind to his progress. They could only see the pleated pants."

Although the Ness Center caters to everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike, the majority of their cases are with Orthodox Jews -- perhaps, as he says, because the Orthodox prefer to deal with one of their own, especially when highly sensitive subjects are involved.

Dennis is not naive. He understands his insular Orthodox community. There's always a good reason to sweep the schmutz under the carpet: It's a desecration of God's name for a Jew wearing a yarmulke to do something immoral or criminal; it puts an indelible stain on the community; it can ostracize a family and make it hard for their children to find a good mate. He's heard it all.

And what happens when all hell breaks loose? When a woman has taken one too many blows? Or when a kid is about to overdose?

Well, that's usually when they call Dennis -- when much of the damage has already been done.

That's why Dennis rails against blindness. He sees a greater shame in hiding the schmutz than in confronting it early and honestly. He tells victims of abuse not to wait until it gets unbearable. He wants to see people before the pain gets too deep.

Strangely, as I listened to Dennis talk about the vile stuff he's seen in his 30 years of working in the field, I didn't sense in him any feeling of Jewish or communal shame. For this ultra-Orthodox Jew with a long white beard, when it comes to human behavior, there is no Jew or non-Jew, no Orthodox or non-Orthodox. There are only humans. He doesn't see a black hat or a yarmulke or a wig. He sees a kid who's misunderstood. A wife who's overwhelmed. Parents who don't get it. A man with a sickness. A woman who needs immediate protection.

He sees pain and sickness, before he sees religion and shame.

His forthrightness hasn't always endeared him to the Orthodox community. A few years ago, when an Orthodox rabbi was convicted of child abuse and had spent time in jail, a group of Orthodox rabbis and leaders got together to raise funds to help the convicted rabbi leave town. When they contacted Dennis for help, he told them what they didn't want to hear: They should use the money to get the convicted rabbi professional help, not to help him take his sickness somewhere else.
In other words, he wanted them to open their eyes and see the real problem: a Jewish man with a sickness and potential future victims, rather than a community with a black eye.

The man ended up leaving town.

The notion of sickness as applied to human behavior is not a popular one in Torah-observant circles. Abusive and aberrant behavior is usually seen as a failure of character. If you follow the Torah, you should never have to use drugs or abuse anyone. When someone cracks -- when human reality trumps Torah observance -- the instinct is not to deal with the problem, but to circle the wagons and defend the honor of the community.

Dennis is encouraged that emerging groups like Aleinu and Aish Tamid, with the support of many Orthodox rabbis, are trying to deal honestly with the "dark side of life," which no part of the Jewish world is immune to, even the Torah observant.

When I ask him if it's better for the image of the Orthodox community, in the long run, to deal honestly and openly with their troubled elements, I see a hint of impatience in his granite face. Clearly, this man has little time to ponder notions like "long term" and "image."

There's a woman on the phone waiting to speak to him and, apparently, she's quite agitated.

Let's hope she's not calling about pleated pants.


David Suissa, an advertising executive, is founder of OLAM magazine and Meals4Israel.com. He can be reached at dsuissa@olam.org.

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LAUSD settles suit from 2 teens 
Los Angeles Daily News - December 14, 2007

Los Angeles Unified settled a civil lawsuit brought by two teenagers who were molested as adolescents by a teacher at a Jewish private school near Hollywood, court papers obtained Thursday show. 

The settlement was filed Monday. 

The terms were not divulged in court records. 

Mordechai Yomtov, 42, pleaded guilty in February 2002 to charges of lewd and lascivious conduct involving a total of three boys, then ages 8 to 10, in 2001-02. Yomtov taught Hebrew at Cheder Menachem and kept boys alone in a classroom during recess, police said. 

Although the school is private, LAUSD administered the school's Title 1 program for disadvantaged youth and it employed a school psychologist there. 

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CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
California Sex Offender Registry - October 10, 2005
http://meganslaw.ca.gov

 
Phone number (916) 227-4974         E-mail address - MegansLaw@doj.ca.gov
Last Name: YOMTOV       First Name: MORDECHAI     Middle Name: None
 
THIS SEX OFFENDER HAS BEEN IN VIOLATION OF REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS SINCE 03/21/2003.
 
Date of Birth: 03-10-1965    Sex: MALE                 Height: 6'0"      Weight: 170
Eye Color: BROWN          Hair Color: BLACK         Ethnicity: WHITE
Offenses:  

1. LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS
2. CONTINUOUS SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD

___________________________________________________________________________________

Child Sex-Abuse Scandal in Australia's Jewish Community Spills Into U.S.

Allegations Surface That Child Molesters Were Protected
By Paul Berger
The Forward - February 17, 2012

A child sex abuse scandal in Australia’s Jewish community has spilled into America, as a pending extradition, arrests in Australia and a slew of cover-up allegations put that community’s response to molestation under scrutiny.

Australian police are seeking to extradite convicted child molester David Kramer, currently in jail in Farmington, Mo., on suspicion of having abused children at a Chabad school in Melbourne during the 1990s.

Kramer, who was reportedly spirited out of Australia by one of Melbourne’s Chabad leaders following abuse allegations, is halfway through a seven-year prison sentence for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy in St. Louis.

According to members of the Australian community, he is not the only molester to end up in the United States after Australian community leaders failed to report them to legal authorities. Other molesters fled the country more recently as suspicion of abuse fell on them, community members say.

The Forward has learned that at least two suspected molesters from the Australian Jewish community are living in the United States while they are under investigation in Australia.

Meanwhile, Manny Waks, a former vice president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, accused an Australian living in New York of molesting him when he was a boy.

Waks, 35, who has been the catalyst for revelations about the Melbourne abuse scandal, told the Forward he was molested by Velvel Serebryanski, son of a prominent Chabad rabbi, at two Melbourne synagogues during the late 1980s.

Serebryanski, who goes by the name Zev Sero in New York, did not deny the allegations when a Forward reporter asked him about them at his Brooklyn home.

Serebryanski, 47, declined to speak on the record about the allegations. His father, Rabbi Aaron Serebryanski, is one of Chabad’s principal emissaries to Australia.

Waks claims that Serebryanski molested him on several occasions, including when he went to lie down during an all-night Shavuot study session in a synagogue at Melbourne’s Yeshivah Centre, a Chabad institution.

Waks said Serebryanski began to molest him in the synagogue and then said: “This isn’t for a place of worship. Let’s go outside.”

According to Waks, who was about 12 at the time, Serebryanski then led him into a nearby restroom.

The charges are contained in a police report that Waks filed in 1996.

In that same report, Waks details how he was also abused by David Cyprys, a Melbourne karate instructor.

Cyprys is about to stand trial in Australia on dozens of sex charges related to the abuse of 11 boys.

During a magistrates court hearing in Melbourne last year, Detective Senior Constable Lisa Metcher “accused members of the Yeshivah community of lying to police and trying to cover up sex abuse claims,” according to The Age, an Australian newspaper.

”They failed to act in any way to protect children,” the newspaper stated that Metcher told the court.

Waks went public last year with accusations that he was repeatedly molested while attending the Yeshivah Centre’s boys school, Yeshivah College.

His call for other victims to come forward shattered decades of denial. Press reports related how Victoria state police were inundated with testimony from young men who said they were abused.

Australian police are currently investigating more than a dozen Orthodox individuals suspected of child abuse in Australia, according to Joel Berman, a Los Angeles resident who has been in touch with detectives on aspects of the cases in the United States.

Berman said two people under investigation are currently in the United States. Police declined to speak to the Forward.

Many of the charges relate to the 1980s and ’90s, a time when rabbis in a number of Orthodox communities appear to have dealt with abuse by either turning a blind eye or throwing molesters out of the community.

At the center of the controversy is Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, the former head of the Yeshivah Centre.

Waks and other victims and their families claim they alerted Groner about abusers many times, but he failed to act.

In 1991, a child brought allegations of abuse against Cyprys. The following year, Cyprys pleaded guilty to a sexual offense and was fined, but Chabad officials allowed him to remain at the school, where he worked as a security guard until recently.

Waks said he confronted Groner about Cyprys in 1996 and in 2000, but Groner continued to allow him to work for the center. Groner died in 2008.

Even one of Groner’s defenders, Pini Althaus, said the rabbi threatened to report suspected abusers to the authorities — unless they moved elsewhere.

Althaus, a Brooklyn Chabad member whose father is a Yeshivah Centre trustee, stated in a comment posted on the VozIzNeias blog: “In the case of two American citizens who acted inappropriately, Rabbi Groner gave them the choice to leave the country immediately or face criminal action. In retrospect, perhaps the latter would have been more appropriate; however, this was not the ‘culture’ at that time, to masser or turn someone in to the authorities.”

Yaakov Wolf, an Australian who says Cyprys molested him and who now lives in Los Angeles, said of members of the yeshiva community: “They take these people and think they’ve done their job by sending them off to another community that hasn’t heard about them, and that’s what they’ve done for years.

“They end up sending them to another community, so basically they are throwing their problem onto somebody else.”

The identities of the two American citizens to whom Althaus referred are unclear. Kramer came from a Chabad community in the United States, but a spokesman at Farmington Correctional Center declined to confirm his citizenship.

Althaus declined to speak on the record to the Forward.

Meanwhile, a former Yeshivah College teacher told the Forward that the school failed to act on another occasion, too. In this case, the alleged perpetrator, who also subsequently moved to the United States, was a student.

During the early 1980s, the student, then aged 16 or 17, “took advantage” of a boy several years younger, the former faculty member told the Forward. He said the school refused to expel the abusive student.

“The parents of the abused boy were so horrified that the school would not expel him,” the former Yeshivah College teacher said, “that they ended up taking their son, as well as their two other younger boys, who were in the primary school, out of yeshiva and to another, less frum [observant] school.”

That alleged abuser was Mordechai Yomtov, who, almost 20 years later, was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of sexually abusing three boys at Cheder Menachem, a Chabad school.

In 2001, Yomtov pleaded guilty to molesting the boys, aged between 8 and 10. He served one year in prison and was required to register as a sex offender.

Yomtov has been in violation of sex offender registration requirements since March 2003, according to the website of the California Attorney General’s Office. A spokesman for Attorney General Kamala Harris did not respond to requests for clarification on Yomtov’s whereabouts.

The former Yeshivah College teacher, who did not wish to be named, said he also voiced concerns about Kramer to the school, but no one would listen.

Rabbi Avrohom Glick of Yeshivah College, who is a former principal and still teaches at the school, did not return calls for comment. Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, the current principal of Yeshivah College, did not respond to calls and emails for comment. Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, head of the Yeshivah Centre, did not respond to questions sent via email.

Rabbi Zvi Telsner, leader of the Yeshivah Centre synagogue and son-in-law of Yitzchok Dovid Groner, said he could not answer any questions about past events because they occurred before his time. “I wasn’t here,” Telsner said. “I have no idea what happened.”

Melbourne parents say they do know what happened.

One mother told The Weekend Australian newspaper that when she informed the school that Kramer, a Jewish studies teacher at Yeshivah College, was abusing her child, she was referred for counseling.

The Weekend Australian reported that after the allegations surfaced, Kramer “was flown to Israel at the school’s expense.” Harry Cooper, a former executive at Yeshivah College, told the newspaper: “At the request of the parents, we shipped him off. I remember it vividly.”

Kramer eventually made his way back to the United States and settled in St. Louis.

He became a volunteer youth leader at an Orthodox synagogue, Nusach Hari B’nai Zion.

The congregation’s rabbi, Ze’ev Smason, said Kramer was a “very attractive, dynamic fellow” who won over parents and their children. Then, one day, parents came to Smason with allegations of abuse.

“When the question was one of safety for children who might come in contact with him, he was immediately reported,” Smason said.

In July 2008, Kramer was sentenced to seven years in jail. He is eligible for parole this April. As soon as he is free, police intend to extradite him to Australia to stand trial, Australian media have reported.

Detectives traveled to the United States last year to gather evidence for this and other investigations, the Forward has learned.

Smason said he was glad he had persuaded at least one victim to report Kramer’s abuse in St. Louis. But, he added, there is still a reticence in the Orthodox Jewish community to speak to law enforcement.

Smason said he knows of another molester in the city, but he cannot persuade victims to contact police.

Sexual abuse is difficult enough for many victims to report, but Orthodox Jewish survivors and their families often find it much harder, because of the tight-knit nature of their communities and because of concerns that they are violating religious laws such as mesirah, which prohibits reporting on a fellow Jew to secular authorities. Many are also worried about committing a chilul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name.

Some Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, organizations, such as Agudath Israel of America, still instruct people that unless one has direct knowledge of abuse, such as being a victim himself or herself or personally witnessing such an incident, that person must consult a rabbi before reporting suspicions to the authorities.

Chabad institutions have taken a more liberal approach. A beit din, or religious court, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn issued a ruling around the time that the Melbourne scandal broke, telling followers who suspect abuse that they are not violating religious laws by reporting their suspicions to the police.

Nevertheless, many survivors and their families fear being kicked out of synagogues and schools, or ruining marriage opportunities because of the taint of an abuse allegation.

Smason said people are often reticent to report because they don’t want to sully Judaism’s name, “not realizing that the ultimate chilul Hashem is that these things are kept quiet — and in the process, individuals bounce from community to community.”

Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant, immediate past president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, said rabbis’ approach to disclosures of sexual abuse has “definitely changed for the better in recent years.” But Kluwgant added that there has been no attempt to cover up abuse in Australia and that the rabbinate there is committed to addressing the issue.

“A lot [of abuse accusations are] based on rumor and innuendo, unless they’re proven in a court of law,” Kluwgant added. “I could tell you lots of lashon hara [evil talk].”

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"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

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