Daily News
New sex abuse allegations - at least one stretching back more than a decade - are surfacing against a once-respected Brooklyn rabbi recently convicted of molesting a teen.
A 29-year-old Borough Park man went to cops last week saying that Rabbi Baruch Lebovits fondled him in a ritual bath, known as a mikvah, when he was just a teen.
Several more men have reached out to police to share stories of sexual abuse at the hands of Lebovits, sources said.
"What he is charged with is the tip of the iceberg," said one law enforcement source.[...]
New sex abuse allegations - at least one stretching back more than a decade - are surfacing against a once-respected Brooklyn rabbi recently convicted of molesting a teen.
A 29-year-old Borough Park man went to cops last week saying that Rabbi Baruch Lebovits fondled him in a ritual bath, known as a mikvah, when he was just a teen.
Several more men have reached out to police to share stories of sexual abuse at the hands of Lebovits, sources said.
"What he is charged with is the tip of the iceberg," said one law enforcement source.[...]
The money quote
ReplyDelete"The allegations didn't seem to hold water. And I don't trust the secular court is the place to find justice," Mandelbaum said.
If not for the secular authorities Lebovitz would still be molesting children.
Are they still going ahead with their 50th anniversary party hosted by Speaker Christie Quinn in the City Council chambers?
ReplyDeleteChristie Quinn, who is openly gay, has been pushing for toyeva "marriage" in NY City and NY State.
http://www.forward.com/articles/6159/
(Current Queens Vaad executive director) Rabbi Chaim Schwartz, (previously) executive director of Agudath Israel of New England and a member of the Coalition for Marriage, strongly condemned the JCRC’s endorsement and claimed that the Boston Orthodox community was largely opposed to the newly adopted resolution. The Aguda is not a member of the JCRC.
“The Torah response is not what they have supported,” Schwartz said, referring to what he described as the biblical ban on same-sex relationships. “It pains me greatly to have to speak about this in public, but once this group comes out in support of gay marriages, I don’t want people to get the impression that Judaism condones this behavior.”
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/63023/Yerushalayim-Beis-Din-Cancels-Lalum-Agreement.html
ReplyDeleteAv Beis Din Rav Avraham Dov Levine announced on Tuesday morning that the arbitration agreement signed with Yoav Lalum is null and void, explaining that the rabbonim shlita unfortunately fell prey to Yoav Lalum, and they are now aware the beis din was manipulated by him to advance his agenda and to satisfy his needs regarding the media.
On Sunday, YWN-ISRAEL reported that Lalum signed an arbitration agreement with the Yerushalayim Beis Din, giving the beis din total authority to adjudicate matters. Lalum’s responsibilities included withdrawing all High Court petitions within three hours of signing the document. On Monday at 11:00am, the beis din came to the realization that Lalum has no intentions of doing any such thing, but he abused the beis din by taking cynical advantage of it, using the arbitration agreement to feed the media.
According to R’ Yossi Deutsch, Lalum is simply a “liar and he cannot be trusted”. Deutsch explains that Lalum is a family man and has to support his children, questioning why no one seems to ponder just where he receives the funding to continue living and filing High Court petitions, not to mention the funds required for the attorneys and courtroom proceedings.
The beis din today (Monday, June 21, 2010) released a sharply-worded letter condemning Lalum, canceling a planned session of the rabbinical court set for today. Deutsch told Kol Chareidi that “Lalum simply has no regard for halacha or for the rabbonim. The beis din now understands that Lalum is not a man of his word, and he manipulated the beis din to advance his agenda”.
Unfortunately, sexual abuse of children has been covered up in the Jewish community for many years.
ReplyDeleteThose who dare to speak up about it are accused of "Loshon Hora" when the truth is they are trying to protect children from these predators.
I personally know of Rebbeyim who were caught abusing children who were "quietly" asked to leave the school, but and were given "recommendation letters" so they could find work in the next school.
Some of these Rebbeyim are on their 3rd or 4th school. Where are the courageous administrators who should have warned the public against these predators?
How many more Mondrowitzs and Lebovits must be revealed and how many more kids must suffer before we wake up and really tackle the problem?