update July 31 2015 I just received the following comment from a knowledgeable observer with permission to post anonymously. It represents what seems to be the majority view in Monsey that Rabbi Bodenheimer is innocent of the sexual abuse charges - even amongst those who generally believe the purported victim in most cases.
=============================================Everyone but everyone I know in Monsey,and I include myself, holds that the plea by Rabbi Bodenheim was to get this garbage behind him and to move on.
I add-you never know- in today’s atmosphere, some Judge could have sentenced him to jail time!
Everyone but everyone I know in Monsey (this now does NOT include me, because I do not know them) says that the kid is not a normal kid,and his parents are dysfunctional.
My son in Monsey tells me that KIDS who HATE Rabbi Bodenheimer (hitting,throwing them out of the school!!) all say-no way, no way.
Good Shabbos
Scary.
But everything’s from haShem, right?
LoHud A Monsey rabbi accused of sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy pleaded guilty Tuesday to a lesser charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors said the agreement met the family's request to spare their son from having to testify in public.
Rabbi
Gabriel Bodenheimer, 72, principal of Yeshiva Bais Mikroh for decades,
faces three years probation when sentenced Oct. 27 on the misdemeanor
count. As part of the agreement, the rabbi is barred from teaching or
entering any school. He will also be subject to typical restrictions
imposed on sex offenders.
Rockland County Court Judge Rolf Thorsen accepted the rabbi's plea. [...]
Bodenheimer, who lives at 3 Dunhill Lane, said little Tuesday, standing
with his lawyer, Avi Moskowitz. He admitted to knowing the boy and
taking actions that endangered the child's welfare. He is prohibited
from going near the boy in the future.
principal of Yeshiva Bais Mikroh
ReplyDeleteMonsey...
Based on reading the article in the link, there is no basis to believe that the Rabbi is no not totally innocent. No proof of any sort was mentioned and the Rabbi may have been advised by his Lawyer to accept the charge just because there is a child who is willing to testify against him,
ReplyDeleteIt is also no mentioned if the Rabbi will pay the family and how much. The current political environment is such that people can be convicted of serious sex crimes without any real proof.
What make you believe the charges in the current political context and when the financial settlement is not clear at all?
ReplyDeleteHe plead guilty.
ReplyDelete"Guilty" is opposite of "innocent".
On what basis do you believe someone is "totally innocent" when they, themselves, say they are not?
Unless your inadvertent use of a double negative -- "no not totally innocent" -- was not inadvertent.
Only a few people will know the truth of this matter. I didn't say I believe the charges, but I also don't believe what he pleads as being true either.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't plead guilty to the charges of which he was accused, but to a far, far lesser charge. He might have done that as part of a plea deal to avoid the uncertainty of a trial.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading comments here and elsewhere with people who are very certain of Rabbi Bodenheimer's guilt or innocence. They are wrong for being certain.
ReplyDeleteThis plea deal moves the needle barely, if at all, from the previous murky information. If the prosecutor thought he was guilty, would he have let him plead out like this? On the other hand, if he is really innocent, why not go to trial?
Of course both sides are going to pretend they are vindicated, and both sides are much better off because of the plea. But that is why the truth is still completely unknown.
"If the prosecutor thought he was guilty, would he have let him plead out like this?"
ReplyDeleteAccording to the prosecutor, the family of the boy was against the boy testifying. One possibility why the prosecutor would offer this pleas is that the prosecutor was concerned that the family would influence the boy and the prosecutor would not have the opportunity at trial for the boy to testify.
I have no clue if he's guilty or innocent, [although from what I know of him, I'd be shocked if he was guilty,] but pleading guilty to in a plea bargain is proof of absolutely nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteOne would have to be crazy to risk a trial given the political environment nowadays regarding molestation. May you or I never face such a prospect, but I'd probably take a plea deal even if I never met the accuser in my life. I don't live in Monsey, nor do I have relatives who attend his yeshivah, but I'm certainly not going to change my opinion of Rabbi Bodenheimer - a mechanech for decades - based on this story. Had he been convicted with solid evidence or admitted his guilt to the charges he was originally charged with, I'd be signing a different tune.
I'm very disappointed. I was certain of his innocence. If he's truly innocent he should have gone through the trial to prevent a חלול השם. He has enough money to pay for lawyers and others would have helped if need be.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, we don't hear of other victims. Usually, molestors in a position of power molest others too.
No doubt that is at least partially true. On the other hand, Rabbi Bodenheimer had to agree to the deal as well. He would claim that he only avoided the trial because he stood a 1% chance of going to prison based on the unpredictability of juries, that the trial could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, that the trial could have resulted in embarrassment even with a finding of not guilty, and that he loses nothing by retiring at 72.
ReplyDeleteTodros Grynhaus fled to Israel on a false passport during his bail when standing accused of terrible child abuse charges. His defence claimed that he only skipped the country because "he wanted to avoid the uncertainty of a trial".
ReplyDeleteSo? Is Bodenheimer's name Todros Grynhaus? B/c it wasn't true of one, it's not true of the other? A ridiculous argument. Sometimes people make false claims, sometimes they make true claims. I have no idea what the truth is in this case, but the fact remains that he pled guilty to a lesser charge. He may be guilty of the greater charge or he may not be. Neither you nor I know.
ReplyDeleteOf course you believe the charges, Eddie. He's a rabbi and he's chareidi!
ReplyDeleteI think that the point that you are missing is that a person has CHEZKAS KASHRUS and nothing that is in the public domain suggests that he has done anything wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you directed this comment to me. But since you did, I'll respond that actually, there is something in the public domain that undermines his chezkas kashrus, and that is an accusation from a child that he abused him, and his subsequent pleading to a lesser charge. Is it proof of guilt? Of course not. Does it weaken his chezkas kashrus considerably? Of course.
ReplyDelete"If he's truly innocent he should have gone through the trial to prevent a חלול השם"
ReplyDeleteNot sure that in a case of a trial that would generate much more publicity and schmutz and then even a not guilty verdict would avoid chilul hashem.
It is perfectly possible that this family is a bunch of blackmailers who have no shame and the allegations have no basis at all.
Judge finds New Square rabbi not guilty in sex abuse case
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2015/07/30/new-square-rabbi-acquitted-sex-abuse/30887119/
We have constant negative stories every time some frum guy is accused or convicted, it's time when a frum guy is proven innocent and acquitted that such a positive story, too, be given major coverage.
The prosecutor might or might not be telling the truth about his reasons. There's really no way to know.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking now that his guilty plea on the charge of child endangerment might have to do with the corporal punishment he was known to give out to the students. He probably could have been penalized for that.
ReplyDeleteI think a key point that's missing from this discussion is what the ramifications are if Rabbi Bodenheimer violates the conditions of the plea bargain. Usually, when someone violates their probation, they expose themselves to the penalties for they crimes they were convicted of and/or plead guilty to.
ReplyDeleteI went to a disreputable website that shall remain unnamed and was able to review a court document there related to the plea bargain.
[Cue the standard Kishkeyum accusation that I practice "dumpster diving" (http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2014/12/frum-follies-fabricates-another-lie.html#comment-1735436179)]
This document seems to indicate that that the more serious charges are "Covered by Pl[ea]." What this means I hope find out when I next speak with my criminal defense lawyer. (Yes, dear readers, Your Commenter is not perfect, either.)
"Everyone but everyone I know in Monsey,and I include myself...."
ReplyDeleteA statistically valid sample, if there ever was one...
"...says..."
...so must be True...
"...that the kid is not normal..."
...there's that Bell Curve again....
"...and his parents are dysfunctional."
Settled! WE can never be guilty of anything, ever!! We're normal!!! We're functional!!!!
@Joseph Orlow - this is was not presented as a scientific study - but if everyone you meet says that it is raining - that is generally accepted as true simply because the belief is widespread.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to understand how these decisions are accepted/rejected in a community.
this has nothing to due with you last statement. Don't know why it is so hard for you to understand what and why the information was presented.
Normal people also can be guilty. A accuser or his family who have a long history of problems - is judged by a different standard. That is an obvious fact both in halacha and secular law.
Well, if that's the case, and I'm a savvy homosexual rapist in a position of authority and power over children, I sure as [ ] would pick my victims from the pool of "abnormal" kids from" dysfunctional" families.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Orlow
ReplyDeleteThis is a real case of real people. You cannot convict someone because of a general movement of recognizing these crimes.
It would be useful indeed if you had some more facts about the family of the accuser. In the current climate this seems most relevant.
Joseph,
ReplyDeleteOf all of the things you decided to do when you woke up this morning, why in the world did you write these comments? You don't live in Monsey. You probably never ever saw or even heard about Rabbi Boddenheimer until you read this blog or a similar article. And you come out with negative comments. If he is innocent, you are not. And if everyone in Monsey feels he is innocent, especially the people who taught in the school and know that the door of the office is never locked, why do you have to sally forth and throw mud on such a person? Is that all that you had to do today, only this mitsvah?
I feel that after this case, anyone who teaches in a children's school is making a big mistake. At least, make sure that every room that can be locked or even closed is constantly filmed. And keep those films until the statute of limitations runs out, and then put them in a safe deposit box.
ReplyDeleteBut that is not my real point. My real point is that we have to people who may be innocent but who are in danger. One is teachers, who are at the mercy of any child who goes to the police for anything true or false. And then, there are husbands who can easily be sued in court by the wife seeking a divorce and end up ruined and destroyed, as anyone in this line knows. And this is also not my point.
My point is what I tell all husbands being battered in court or elsewhere. Ladies organized and achieved great power. Men must also organize. But they don't. It is not "he-man" stuff to organize and fight back. Okay, so why do you get married if you are a "he-man"? And why do you teach an endanger your reputation when you can film your classes?
In other words, after discovering this very vital document, you still don't know anything more than you did before you discovered it. Why am I not surprised?
ReplyDeleteThis is a typical response. Stick your head in the sand and allow in no information that might undermine your assumptions, however poorly informed those assumptions might be.
ReplyDeleteI was careful not to write anything negative. You often characterize the Washington DC region, where I've lived most of my life, as S'dom. Yet Monsey can also vie for that title, and with more authenticity. Let's take it as given the accused is totally innocent, as one commenter put it. Still, I say, "Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Let all newcomers be aware that if they be perceived as weird, abnormal, or dysfunctional, and if they be molested by a citizen who is accepted as upstanding, that the community will rally around the predator without question and will call for even more abuse against the stranger who was abused."
ReplyDeleteTo remove CHEZKAS KASHRUS you need a valid case. Based what most people can access in the public domain there is no case.
ReplyDeleteI know nothing about this case so can't comment on that, but the views you expressed are very naive. No rational person who is accused of a crime wouldn't consider the benefits of plea bargain even if it entailed some guilty plea no matter how strongly he believes in his innocence. There is always a very substantial risk with going to trial and also the very substantial costs that go along with that.
ReplyDeleteah, nothing like a guy who feels threatened by women. cute.
ReplyDeleteIf he doesn't want to go to full trial, he has to accept that his name has not been cleared of all these allegations. I don't understand why that would be considered naïve.
ReplyDeleteWhat was naive is that he should "welcome" a trial. Also naive is the notion that if he went to trial and was found not guilty that the finding would in fact totally remove the cloud or silence his critics.
ReplyDelete"If he's truly innocent he should have gone through the trial" - Rockland County, NY is full of antisemitic "minorities". You're suggesting he should have subjected himself to the kangaroo court justice of a jury panel full of ignorant, racist, antisemitic minority women?
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteYou say that Monsey is more like Sedom than Washington, DC. So why don't we have a senior rov in Monsey sitting in solitary confinement? Why don't we have husbands forbidden to come to shull on Shabbos because some lady wants to destroy them with the rabbis' backing?
"but if everyone you meet says that it is raining - that is generally accepted as true simply because the belief is widespread."
ReplyDeleteYes, but everyone can look outside and see for themselves whether rain is in fact coming down or not. How can all those people referred to in the community of Monsey know what happened behind the closed doors about which these allegations were made?
Without an independent fair investigation/trial, their opinions are as worthless as ours.
Let us not accuse abuse victims of having access to the same blackmailing tools as the chareidi leadership who protect child abusers in some communities.
ReplyDeleteHere are some examples:
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new-york/das-ties-satmar-leader-raising-eyebrows
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/paedophile-jewish-scholar-left-victims-9634593
I have yet to see anything like this kind of perversion of justice by any Jewish victims in abuse cases. (Please provide examples if you believe otherwise.)
Whilst I accept that court cases cannot get it right 100% of the time, and that even when they are right, there will never be 100% acceptance of a court decision from all circles, it is the best we have. The ruling of a fair court case, with all documents, evidence and testimony available for public download and scrutiny on blogs like these, would be as far as is humanly possible to gain the widest acceptance of the truth.
Rabbi Bodenheimer seems happy to avert such an investigation for reasons I personally don't accept, so he must realise that there will be a bigger cloud hanging over him than if he went to a full trial. Innocent people gain more respect by defending their innocence in a trial, particularly if he is prepared to plead guilty to lesser charges.
By a number of accounts, including one on this blog, Rabbi Bodenheimer was not liked by a significant number of the students in his school. Apparently, Rabbi Bodenheimer took thousands of dollars from parents to teach their children Torah. Instead, in a number of cases, he and/or teachers who worked for him, beat the students to the point where they hated Torah.
ReplyDeleteOne of these students leveled more serious charges. One charge is that Rabbi Bodenheimer sodomized the student. Many members of the Monsey community have attacked the child, calling him abnormal.
I do not dispute your characterization of the DC area as S'dom. Much, but not all, of the Rabbinical leadership have disgraced themselves.
My point is that what is going on in Monsey more closely parallels what happened in S'dom with Lot's guests.
"Innocent people gain more respect by defending their innocence in a trial, particularly if he is prepared to plead guilty to lesser charges."
ReplyDeleteI know of at least a couple cases where an innocent person is sitting behind bars for 6 + years because the case went to court. Also once a person is accused of molestation in the religious world, their life is basically ruined already. It does not matter if their innocence is proven in court or elsewhere or whether they garner more 'respect' for having gone to trail.
We will never know the full truth, but this latest letter seems to me to add little to an already murky situation. The writer is anonymous, and is just dealing with town gossip. The fact that other children were not abused does not mean anything, abusers sometimes target some children and not others. (I think Dr. Eidensohn can confirm that is fairly typical behavior.)
ReplyDeleteI understand that sometimes innocent people do not want to risk trial, and conversely prosecutors may want to spare someone the torment of testifying, hence a deal. The truth will remain buried.
So...you maintain the criminal justice system is itself criminal, is that right? Accordingly, you would never take someone to court?
ReplyDeleteThank you for showing up @T_O_B_L. I was wondering if you could provide any information about the term "Covered by Plea." In this context, there were serious charges and a less serious charge. The defendant plead guilty to the less serious charge. The more serious charges were "covered by plea".
ReplyDeleteBasically it means all the charges were taken care of by the plea agreement. The grand jury charged him with multiple crimes. The Court then has to do something with that charge.
ReplyDeleteThe agreement is that he pleads guilty to one count (the less serious one) and in exchange the State does not proceed on the rest, which will be dismissed when the plea is accepted and he is sentenced. The judgment will cover all the counts -- he is guilty of one, and the rest are dismissed.
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou have made a statement that Monsey is Sedom, and you even provided the sins it does, raping men, as happened with the mob of Sedom who wanted to attack the angels and rape them. How many raped men are you familar with in Monsey?
ReplyDeleteJO, In today's atmosphere of believing any accusations that are brought in the realm of child molestation, unless you have some clear solid evidence that you are innocent, it is very possible that you will be found guilty. That does not make the justice system criminal. Prejudiced yes, but not criminal. Also, in cases like this, a lot depends on how good of a lawyer you have, where the case is being tried, and who the judge and jury are.
ReplyDeleteNone! Absolutely zero.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do have an inkling of, though, is the following. If in Monsey a respectable man, an educator say, who is married with a fine family, and who dresses the dress with black hat etc. rapes a boy who is perceived as "abnormal" and from a "dysfunctional" family, then a large part of the community will rally around the man and pile up accusations on the boy. Knee jerk reaction. And some will even come up with silly reasons why the rape could never have happened. And this even when the man has been established as someone who physically strikes children in private according to his whim.
In other words, I would strongly advise outsiders to stay clear of Monsey unless they are prepared to be attacked should they dare to make a legitimate claim they were molested by a respected member of the community.
@disqus_YOi43tN6R9 , you didn't answer my question above. I gave you two examples where the course of justice was deliberately perverted by the infrastructure of chareidi communities. These cases were not mistakes that arose from the limits of evidence presented, they were wilfully and illegally distorted.
ReplyDeletePlease find me examples where a victim of child abuse has done the same thing to a perpetrator with the full backing of their community, including intimidation?
So you say. Others might disagree.
ReplyDeleteOrganize? Men aren't even allowed to complain, ever, about anything.
ReplyDeleteBen has just summarized why men don't organize. They get humiliated for it.
ReplyDeleteBen, you dope, it's not merely women, it's bad women and their supporters, pulling in the power of the state, mainly the police force, which last time I checked consists of men with guns.
Monsey is a decent place with some nuts. Washington DC is the opposite.
ReplyDeleteWell if he was one of those physically abusive school masters - and some of them are out of control - wouldn't this all be a just punishment from God? He penalized kids unfairly and now he's getting it. I'm saying if because I don't know the man at all.
ReplyDeleteHas Joe Orlow deleted all his comments on this thread? Hmm.
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