Chaim Halpern: Are rabbis afraid to condemn him?

Times of Israel    A local religious authority announced plans Tuesday to establish a special court to investigate one of its leading rabbis for alleged sexual misconduct.

According to a statement issued by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, the organization is “in the process of setting up an independent beis din consisting of prominent and renowned dayanim,” or religious judges, to “thoroughly investigate” allegations against London rabbi Chaim Halpern. The court will “hear testimony and look at evidence, and its final psak [ruling] will be adhered to by our Rabbinate.”

The leader of the Union, Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, “expresses the wish that no further action nor declaration be made until that psak is issued,” it added.[...]

However, plans for a whitewash were the exact allegation made by Yisroel Lichtenstein of the Federation of Synagogues, who so far is the only religious judge or rabbi to comment on the case on the record. He suggested that the purpose of the new court would be to overturn the ruling made at a previous hearing by six London rabbis, who heard testimony last month from one of Halpern’s alleged victims. Halpern subsequently withdrew from all of his public positions, except at his synagogue.

“It seems like a whitewash,” Lichtenstein said of the proposed new court. “What was wrong with the first [hearing]?”