Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Rabbi Art Green, prominent scholar of Hasidic Judaism, is barred from Hebrew College following sexual misconduct allegation
The founding dean of Hebrew College's rabbinical school has been barred from its campus over the fallout from an allegation of sexual misconduct about a faculty member who was previously his student.
Rabbi Arthur Green, a prominent scholar of Jewish mysticism, retired in May 2022 after two decades at the non-denominational Boston-area seminary. In separate email announcements on the same day, both Green and the college said a private matter concerning another member of the college's community contributed to the timing.
Last week, however, Hebrew College's leadership informed the community that the matter cited in 2022 involved "a report by a community member of an unwanted and distressing sexual advance" by Green, and that Green is no longer allowed to set foot on campus at all.
In an email to Green informing him of the ban last week, Hebrew College's leadership mentioned "conduct by you in a recent interaction with an individual in Israel" that it called "concerningly similar" to the previous report of sexual misconduct. It also accuses Green of breaking a confidentiality agreement he made with the college.
In an interview with JTA, Green said he inappropriately kissed the faculty member but rejected the school's claims that a second inappropriate incident had occurred or that he had violated his agreement with the school. Green also said that following the initial incident, he carried out several steps required by the school, but stopped short of taking part in a public "ceremony" that he said had been requested.
The ban, which was announced last week in an email to the Hebrew College community hours after Green was informed about it, marks an ignominious coda to a storied career for a rabbi who is widely considered a leader in neo-Hasidism or Renewal Judaism. The author of more than a dozen books, Green served as president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College before founding Hebrew College's pioneering rabbinical seminary near Boston in 2003. As a teacher and administrator there, Green oversaw the seminary as it grew and contributed to a widespread disruption of the denominational rabbinical school model.
"Rabbi Art Green is no longer employed at Hebrew College nor welcome in the Hebrew College community because he engaged in sexual misconduct that caused significant emotional harm to a member of our community and was a serious violation of our institutional policies and our communal values," the college's president, Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
She added, "Rabbi Green's conduct and communication since the reported incident have not reflected a genuine understanding of the harm he has caused, nor has he undertaken a good faith process of teshuva," Hebrew for repentance.
Green insists that he has not crossed a line since striking a retirement agreement with Hebrew College. Anisfeld did not describe the incident in Israel, or when it occurred. A source affiliated with Hebrew College said the college did not take steps to verify the incident.
Green does acknowledge acting inappropriately with a male faculty member who was previously his student, and expressed regret about it.
"I did something wrong," he told JTA. "So I'm aware of that. I take responsibility for that."
He also said he believed the incidents did not merit his ouster and questioned whether the allegations were used as a pretense to eject him from the school he shaped.
Green detailed the allegations against him and the events leading to his being barred from campus in a draft email he shared with JTA on Friday and said he intended to send to his contacts. He sent an abbreviated version of the same email on Sunday afternoon.
In the email he sent, he wrote, "I am, and have always been, a bisexual man" and had "made the difficult decision to keep this private while still a rabbinical student nearly sixty years ago" in order to build a career in the Jewish world.
In the draft email, he had written that he had been looking for companionship after the 2017 death of his wife of 49 years.
"My admittedly inappropriate loss of control was an expression of affection by a lonely old guy, not an assertion of power to demand or force sex," Green wrote in the draft.
He also said that he believed he had been wronged by Hebrew College's handling of the incident.
"I consider myself a victim of the extreme 'Me-tooism' that has come to plague our society," he wrote in the draft, referring to the movement to hold perpetrators accountable for sexual misconduct. He added that the faculty member "reported to Sharon he had 'felt some sexual tension' between us on prior occasions. I would just call it closeness."
In the sent email, he acknowledged "another unwanted kiss by me" more than 30 years ago with a different person who he said was not a student.
"I take full responsibility for these encounters, my misjudgment of the situations, and the unintentional harm I caused to people for whom I cared," he wrote. "I have communicated with them and sought to repair the harm. I am committed to ongoing awareness about this matter and exercising extreme caution in the future."
Through representatives, the junior faculty member declined to speak about his experience. (JTA has spoken to two people with whom he had shared his account but whom he had not asked to speak on his behalf.) He has retained attorneys, including Debra S. Katz, who is known for representing alleged victims of sexual assault such as Christine Blasey Ford, who accused now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
The attorneys said in a statement that the faculty member had "participated in a restorative justice process with Rabbi Art Green. As part of that process, our client and Rabbi Green agreed they would alert the other party before making any public statements. We are disappointed that Rabbi Green has failed to adhere to that commitment, forcing our client to hear through the grapevine of the narrative Rabbi Green is advancing."
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Friday, January 26, 2024
Jewish leaders warn of growing antisemitism ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Jewish leaders and dignitaries from Israel and other nations attended a memorial ceremony at the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Amichai Chikli, the minister for Diaspora Affairs and the Fight against Antisemitism, represented the State of Israel at the event, along with the World Zionist Organization head the Combating Anti-Semitism and Community Resilience department Racheli Baratz-Rix.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, European Jewish Association (EJA) chairman, warned that the current levels of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe are similar that which preceded the genocide of European Jews during World War II.
"The Holocaust was a result of hatred, incitement, ignorance, power and the silence of leaders. The current level of hatred in Europe is comparable to that which existed before the Holocaust, implying the potential for it to happen again if ignorance and silence persist.," Margolin told the attendees.
"However, there is a crucial difference now: The presence of the State of Israel. Nevertheless, it has been learned that Israel cannot stand alone, and it is the responsibility of leaders to speak out and take action," he argued, in a reference to Israel's current war against the Hamas terror organization in Gaza.
The former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls contextualized the current Jew-hatred by stressing the genocidal nature of the Hamas and its Jihadist ideology.
"Hamas are not freedom fighters; they seek the extermination of Jews. It is imperative that we combat them," Valls stated, and condemned the South African government for inaccurately equating Israel's legitimate right to self-defense with "genocide."
"When South Africa employs terms like 'genocide' and 'apartheid', we must reject such language. Behind these notions, we discover the influence of Iran and Turkey," Valls said.
While Hamas has mainly target is Israel and the Jewish community, the former French premier said the massacre on Oct. 7 massacre is a wake-up call for humanity.
"October 7 is a turning point for Western civilization. What happened on October 7th is related to Israel, but make no mistake, it is not only about Israel and the Jews. It is a problem that concerns all of humanity," he warned.
The former prime minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, echoed Valls' position.
"Following the tragedy on October 7, it is crucial to persist in the fight for civilization. The true adversary of the Palestinians is Hamas. We cannot attain the aspiration for peace with Hamas," Renzi said.
Former IDF Spokesperson Lt.-Col.(reserves) Jonathan Conricus, who was the face of the Israeli military during much of the ongoing war with Hamas, blasted South African government leaders for leveling genocide charges against Israel for its war effort to eliminate the terror organization in Gaza.
"I think South Africa should be on trial for supporting genocide because Hamas itself, by its charter and by its actions and by the statements of Hamas seniors after October the 7th, they promote and they try to achieve genocide," Conricus told Joel Rosenberg during an interview on the TBN program, THE ROSENBERG REPORT.
Many anti-Israel demonstrations have been held in Europe, the United States and elsewhere amid the ongoing war. While Israel opponents frequently claim that they do not hate Jews, Jewish minorities around the world have experienced a surge of antisemitism in recent months that affects their sense of security.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is held annually on Jan. 27, memorializing the day when Russian forces liberated Auschwitz in 1945.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Police hunt man in gang who approached stranger on the street to ask him if he was Jewish before punching him in the face
Police hunt man in gang who approached stranger on the street to ask him if he was Jewish before punching him in the face
The Met Police have released a CCTV image of the man they wish to speak to in relation to the antisemitic incident in Wembley last year.
A Jewish man reported being attacked on October 13 on Wembley's Kingsbury Road.
He said that a group of men had approached him before asking if he was Jewish.
When the man took his phone out to take a photo of the group, he alleges one of them swung a punch at him, hitting him in the face.
PC Catherine Brady, leading the investigation, said: 'This assault left the victim incredibly shaken and we know it has caused concern within the wider community.'
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Tuesday, January 23, 2024
NYC public schools announce new initiatives to combat antisemitism
The chancellor of New York City's public school system unveiled a plan to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia, after coming under pressure from Jewish advocates, faculty and students to make reforms.
Chancellor David Banks announced measures including training for faculty, clearer disciplinary guidelines and engagement with faith communities to stem hate in schools.
"We will not solve the crisis in the Middle East, nor the many crises around the world that impact those in our schools, but we can and must live and work and learn together with respect," Banks said at a briefing on Monday attended by Jewish community leaders.
On Monday, the department said it would be "prioritizing investigations into antisemitism and Islamophobia allegations through our Office of Equal Opportunity."
The announcement came following several reported antisemitic acts by students in the wake of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Students targeted a Jewish teacher in a riot at Hillcrest High School in Queens, and an anti-Israel student walkout in November saw teens shouting antisemitic epithets. There has also been swastika graffiti in schools, some of it predating Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Hard data on antisemitic incidents at New York City public schools is not available, but antisemitism has spiked in the city since Oct. 7, according to NYPD figures, and educators and activists have said the trend has also manifested in schools.
The federal government has also taken notice: On Nov. 30, the Department of Education's civil rights office announced that it would investigate New York City public schools over allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia — a step it has generally reserved for college campuses but which it has applied to a number of public school districts since Oct. 7. Plans to address antisemitism are generally key to resolving such investigations.
Banks acknowledged that members of the school community had been feeling unsafe, "both physically and emotionally."
"I hear you. I'm taking this very seriously. Hate and harassment of any kind are unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our schools," Banks said.
Moving forward, all middle and high school principals will participate in professional development training focused on "navigating difficult conversations" this spring. The school leaders will then relay the training to other staff. Parent leaders will be offered anti-discrimination workshops starting next month.
The school system will also add to its instructional resources on antisemitism and Islamophobia as well as diversity training. Banks said he viewed education as a long-term solution to discrimination in schools.
He said students would be directed to reliable and objective sources of information about the Israel-Gaza conflict. After the incident at Hillcrest, during a briefing at the school, Banks said he believed social media played a central role in stoking the unrest.
"We cannot leave it to social media to educate our children," Banks said on Monday.
He also said educators must "leave our personal viewpoints at home." Jewish activists, including the NYC Public Schools Alliance, a recently-formed Jewish advocacy group that includes public school staff, have condemned teachers for endorsing Palestinian narratives both inside and outside the classroom. In one recent incident, a school's map of the Middle East was found to have omitted Israel, referring to the area solely as Palestine. "Our job is to educate, not to indoctrinate," Banks said.
Principals will also receive training on disciplining bias incidents with "direct consequences" aimed at reforming behavior.
If the person reporting antisemitism feels the principal has not adequately addressed the incident, Banks outlined alternate ways to report antisemitism directly to his department.
The school system developed the guidelines with input from faith leaders, including New York's UJA-Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council. The schools will aim to maintain their engagement with faith communities, Banks said.
He highlighted the incident at Hillcrest, from which he graduated in 1980, calling the riot "deeply concerning." The school's principal has been replaced and the teacher welcomed back, including by Muslim students, Banks said.
"Together we are charting a productive path forward for the school and I feel really good about what's happening at Hillcrest High School right now," Banks said.
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Monday, January 22, 2024
Rabbi attacked, mutual complaints filed
The rabbi of Ashdod's Vizhnitz hasidic community was violently attacked just minutes before the start of Shabbat late on Friday afternoon.
An eyewitness said, "The attacker saw the rabbi from up close, began running crazily towards him, knocked off his shtreimel, and began attacking him."
"By great miracle, the attacker slipped in the middle of his saga of attacks and with that the assault - which could have ended in murder, since the rabbi is nearing 80 - drew to a close."
According to the attacker, his bag disappeared in a local mikveh (ritual bath), and according to him, Vizhnitz hasidim were the ones who stole it.
On Saturday night, Vizhnitz hasidim filed a complaint against the attacker with a local police station, but the police have noted that the complaints regarding the attack are mutual, and that the investigation is ongoing.
"These are mutual complaints regarding the attack," a statement read. "The suspect apparently was interrogated and released under a distancing order. The investigation is ongoing, and aims to uncover the truth and investigate all of those involved."
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Thursday, January 18, 2024
Three hundred Jewish teens choose to spend winter break learning with NCSY
While many of their peers spent winter break at exotic beaches and ski resorts, 300 Jewish teens from the U.S, Canada and Mexico attended a five-day retreat devoted to Torah study and religious growth run by NCSY, the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union (OU).
Aspire: NCSY's Yarchei Kallah is a premier annual Torah learning experience for public school students in 9th through 12th grades. This year's Yarchei Kallah in Stamford, Connecticut, included all the exhilarating components that NCSY weekends are renowned for — spirited singing, dancing and Shabbat onegs; captivating speakers and immersive Torah sessions; and opportunities to cultivate lifelong relationships with peers, advisors and educators.
"I chose to spend my break at Yarchei Kallah because it's amazing to see so many teens from all different parts of the world coming together to learn Torah and hang out with their friends," says Kaily Caicedo, a 12th grader at Westfield High School in New Jersey, who attended the retreat in 2022. "Yarchei Kallah enables me to connect with Jewish teens. I don't often get that chance since I attend public school and don't live in a very Jewish community. I get to talk to kids about Hashem and what Judaism means to us. It's so inspiring to connect with teens my age on such a deep level. Seeing how many teens are on my same page really helped me to connect with my Judaism as well."
NCSY Director of Innovation and Strategic Expansion Rabbi Jacob Bernstein says, "Yarchei Kallah is designed to deepen a teen's connection to Torah and Judaism, strengthen their Jewish pride, and cultivate new friends for life." Bernstein is also NCSY Summer Director of Next Step Israel Internships and co-directed this year's event with Associate Regional Director of Central East NCSY and author Rabbi Menachem Tenenbaum.
The retreat also serves as both a regional and international reunion where participants experience the power and fun of NCSY on a larger scale, and take their Jewish practice to the next level.
Naomi Davis is in 11th grade at Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) and participated in Yarchei Kallah for the first time in 2022.
"After attending last year, I knew that I had to come back this winter," she says. "There is no other way I would have liked to spend my break. I gained so much inspiration through learning, more pride in being Jewish, the feeling of unity and that I matter, and I gained so many new connections and relationships with old and new friends and advisors."
Teens largely learn about Yarchei Kallah via their Jewish Student Union (JSU), NCSY's network of public high school Jewish clubs, as well as their regional NCSY branches. About one third of this year's participants have attended a previous NCSY summer program, like TJJ (The Anne Samson Jerusalem Journey). Other attendees included NCSY alumni who are currently in college and 10 students who sit on NCSY's National Board (NABO).
Participants convened at the Stamford Hilton on December 27 for five days of Torah study and workshops centered on The Power of One and an exploration of the Shema prayer.
"The theme of unity was particularly significant in light of the events on October 7," says Rabbi Bernstein. "We emphasized the idea of being part of one nation and one people. We studied each paragraph in Shema, which centers on Hashem's oneness and our unique relationship with Him. Simultaneously, we also focused on the potential of one person to make a difference through one action, one mitzvah."
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Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Jewish Students Accuse American University Of Ignoring Antisemitism On Campus, Punishing Whistleblowers
Jewish students filed a complaint Wednesday with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, alleging that American University, in Washington, D.C., failed to address antisemitism on campus and even punished those who came forward to report the harassment.
The complaint was filed on behalf of a dozen students by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and alleges that Jewish students have been targeted by "discrimination, harassment, and intimidation" because of their "ethnic identity and Israeli national origin." Students reportedly have been "shunned" in the classroom, dorm doors of Jewish students were vandalized with swastikas, one student was allegedly spat on several times and posters of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 have been torn down repeatedly.
"This is an egregious case of anti-Semitism that has run rampant on American University's campus. The university has failed in its legal obligation to protect its Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination and harassment and has instead chosen to retaliate and bully those students who were courageous enough to speak out," Deena Margolies, the Brandeis Center lawyer overseeing the AU complaint, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. "Because the administration has been derelict in addressing the anti-Semitism on its campus, it is not surprising that the situation has only worsened and intensified following October 7, necessitating the filing of our complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education."
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Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Bais Yaakov founder’s grave vandalized in Jewish cemetery in Krakow
Polish police are looking for vandals who destroyed the gravesite at Krakow's New Jewish Cemetery of Sara Schenirer, the founder of the Bais Yaakov movement, who is known as the "mother" of formal Jewish education for Orthodox girls.
A new tombstone was erected in the early 2000s for Schenirer (1883-1935), whose original burial place was destroyed during the Holocaust. Vandals toppled the stone, damaging it, and uprooted concrete pilings that held up a small chain fence surrounding the site.
The site is adjacent to the KL Plaszow Memorial Museum, an open-air exhibition on the site of a former Nazi concentration camp.
"The perpetrators, who used an excavator to demolish the statue and fence around it, are wanted," said local authorities, urging anyone with information to come forward.
"The community was shocked and outraged by the vandalism," Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow, told JNS. "Krakow is very proud of Sara Schenirer and her influence on Jewish education. Generations of young Jewish women received proper education due to her vision and groundbreaking work."
Krakow, said Orenstein, "is a very safe place to be Jewish, and antisemitic incidents are few and far between, and taken very seriously by the police and local authorities."
He added that the city has said it will rebuild the gravesite "ASAP."
Schenirer founded dozens of Jewish schools for religious girls in the early 1920s under the banner of Bais Yaakov, Hebrew—in the Ashkenazi pronunciation—of the biblical phrase "the house of Jacob." In a phrase in which God instructed Moses to tell something to "the house of Jacob" and to the "sons of Israel," rabbinic commentators took the former to refer to Jewish women and the latter to Jewish men.
A divorcée and seamstress in Krakow, Schenirer created the schools fearing that a lack of Jewish knowledge was driving young, Orthodox Jewish women and teens away from their heritage.
"Any Jewish girl getting a Jewish education today is because of her," Ann Koffsky, who co-wrote the 2019, young-adult biography Sarah Builds a School, told JNS.
"She started formal Jewish education for girls," Koffsky said. "She was Chassidic, and she started the schools in the Polish Chassidic community. She went from town to town, and opened schools and trained the teachers."
Tens of thousands of women have attended or graduated from Bais Yaakov schools, most of which now operate independently while adhering to similar religious guidelines and curricula.
Bais Yaakov "was more than just a school, it was a movement," Koffsky said. "They had a newsletter. They put on plays. It created a Jewish space for girls where they could come together at a time when there weren't any other places for them to go."
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Friday, January 12, 2024
Buffalo shooter who wished ‘Jews to hell’ may receive death sentence
The US Department of Justice is seeking the death sentence against the Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron, ABC News reported on Friday after seeing the court filing.
The "United States believes the circumstances in Counts 11-20 of the Indictment are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified," the documents read.
The 19-year-old white supremacist plead guilty to 15 charges, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate, murder, and attempted murder after conducting a racially-motivated shooting at a supermarket chain in May of 2022. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
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Tuesday, January 09, 2024
Four Jewish people assaulted after walking home from Vaughan synagogue
York Regional Police say four people who identify as Jewish were walking home from a synagogue when they were allegedly assaulted by a man who was later arrested by officers.
Police said last Saturday at around 1:45 p.m., the victims reported they were in the Bathurst Street and Flamingo Road area, just south of Highway 7, when they were approached by a man on an electric bicycle.
"The victims felt intimidated by the manner in which the suspect operated the bike in their presence," police said,
Investigators said there was an argument and the man on the bike allegedly spat on the victims and made anti-Semitic comments before he rode away. Police have deemed the assault hate-motivated.
A few hours later, police said they found the man and arrested him that same day.
A 34-year-old man from Vaughan is facing two counts of assault and one count of breaching probation.
"York Regional Police takes these matters seriously and is reminding the community we will not tolerate any form of hate crime or the threat of violence against anyone," police said.
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Monday, January 08, 2024
Asbury Park Man Shot Inside Lakewood Orthodox Jewish Enclave
A 27-year-old man from Asbury Park reported to Ocean Medical Center just before 10 p.m. after sustaining gunshot wounds inside a predominantly Orthodox Jewish enclave in Lakewood Township.
The victim was on his way to Toms River and unfamiliar with the area, had pulled into the Westgate complex after losing his way. That wrong turn nearly cost him his life.
The man stated that an unknown assailant approached his vehicle in the complex and fired at least one shot, resulting in injuries to both his arms. Following the incident, the victim and the suspect left the scene separately. The victim managed to drive himself to the hospital for treatment.
Police did not release a description of the gunman at this time.
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Thursday, January 04, 2024
Sex offender who gave high profile interview to Hasidic comedian pleads guilty to new charges
A convicted sex offender who gained widespread attention for speaking publicly about his crimes with a Hasidic comedian last year has pleaded guilty to new abuse allegations that surfaced as a result of the interview.
Gershon Selinger, 41, pleaded guilty in Dutchess County Court on Wednesday to the felony of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 11, according to court records. The incident occurred in 2008. Selinger was taken into custody after the hearing and will be sentenced in March.
The plea deal will see Selinger serve five years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to public defender Seth Gallagher, his defense attorney. Gallagher declined to give any further comment.
In 2015, Selinger was convicted in a Brooklyn court of abusing a 6-year-old, also in 2008, and was sentenced to 10 years probation, according to public records.
Last July, Selinger again drew attention when he sat for an interview with Mendy Pellin, a Hasidic comedian, and spoke about his abuse in explicit terms. In the 78-minute video, which has more than 250,000 views across the social platforms X and YouTube, Selinger discusses his molestation of several children, his treatment for pedophilia and his relationship with his wife.
Pellin said he recorded the video in order to raise awareness of child sex abuse. The interview sparked a discussion about sexual abuse among some in religious communities, garnering hundreds of comments.
Pellin published subsequent video interviews with two experts in the field – Michael Salamon, a psychologist, and Pattie Fitzgerald, a child safety educator and the founder of the educational group Safely Ever After.
"My intention was to get into the mind of a child molester so that parents and educators could be better equipped to [protect] the children," Pellin, who is based in Brooklyn, told the New York Jewish Week. "And also just to show that, 'Hey here's a guy with a beard and a yarmulke, and he looks like a regular guy you'd see in shul, and look what sick things he's done.' And also get people thinking, opening their eyes that you really have to watch out for your kids."
Selinger said in the interview that he had grown up in a religious Jewish household, and later worked as a lifeguard as well as in Hasidic Jewish schools in Brooklyn. Both were environments where he interacted with children, though he said that he did not carry out any abuse connected with his work. He went through therapy after his 2015 conviction and remains Jewishly observant, he said. His entry on the state sex offender registry lists an address in Brooklyn.
Zvi Gluck, the CEO of Amudim, a New York City- and Jerusalem-based group that aids victims of abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community, thanked Pellin in a social media post for publishing the video, while acknowledging that he had concerns about its potential for triggering trauma in survivors of abuse. Some commenters said the video was informative and important for spreading awareness, while other social media users called the interview "highly unethical," and traumatic to survivors.
One of the video's viewers, according to Pellin, watched it from a different vantage point: As she heard Selinger retell his crimes, she recognized that he had abused her. Pellin says the victim contacted him, telling him she had largely repressed her memories of the abuse. But in October, less than three months after Pellin released the Selinger interview, the victim, who is not named in court records, filed charges against Selinger for the abuse — leading to Wednesday's guilty plea.
"These flashbacks that she's been getting for years, just trying to convince herself that they may not be real or they're vague, just became very clear," Pellin said. "She realized the beast that she's been fighting all these years."
The victim said in an impact statement in court on Wednesday that Selinger had abused her multiple times, causing her years of trauma, according to Asher Lovy, an advocate for sexual abuse victims who was in the courtroom. Judge Edward McLoughlin applauded the woman for coming forward, Lovy said, saying she had shown her strength by speaking out and seeking justice.
Lovy, the director of Za'akah, a nonprofit that combats sexual abuse in religious communities and advocates for survivors, said he had mixed feelings about the video because it had given Selinger a platform to present his side of the story. Lovy felt that Selinger showed a lack of remorse in the interview, but added that the new victim coming forward was a benefit of the video.
"I don't want anybody getting the idea that this is generally a good idea, that if you can convince a pedophile to make a video maybe more will come forward," Lovy said. "Once the video was made, I'm glad that it could lead to Gershon being brought to justice for more of the abuse he's committed."
Pellin said he feels gratified with the video's impact.
"She's handling this with great strength and I think it's very inspiring," Pellin said of the victim. "Survivors should always have the final say."
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Wednesday, January 03, 2024
NY Hasidic woman fights to prove sanity after abuse allegation
Goldy Lichter, a 22-year-old Orthodox Hasidic woman, won her court fight Tuesday afternoon after Lichter's mother tried to have her involuntarily hospitalized.
"I'm so happy the case was dismissed," Lichter said after a judge in the mental health section of Rockland County Supreme Court threw out her mother's petition. "There's no evidence I'm a danger to myself."
Frieda Lichter, Goldy's mother, had filed a 16-page court petition to have her daughter committed to a psychiatric ward after Goldy Lichter said she had "recovered memories" of being sexually molested as a child and trafficked by a relative.
"My mother is trying to have me institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital," Goldy Lichter said during one court break, "because she wants everyone to believe that I'm crazy for making up allegations of sexual abuse when, in reality, it happened, and she just wants me to keep quiet about it."
Lichter identified her alleged abuser to PIX11 News, but we are not revealing the name since no criminal charges were ever filed.
Advocate Shulem Leifer was among the supporters who showed up in court for Goldy Lichter.
Lichter's mother testified Tuesday morning after the judge closed the courtroom to all spectators, including the media.
This afternoon, the court was waiting for a psychiatrist to turn up to testify. When the witness didn't appear, the judge dismissed the request for hospitalization.
Lichter's mother spoke briefly outside court after the case was dismissed.
"I want to say I love Goldy," the mother told PIX11 News. "I hope she's going to get the help she needs. I know that I did everything I could to help my daughter."
Frieda Lichter was interrupted by Shulem Leifer, who yelled:
"You should be ashamed! A judge found there was no credible use of this law!"
Goldy Lichter, for her part, faces emotional challenges ahead.
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Tuesday, January 02, 2024
This is how Lipa Schmeltzer celebrated the new year
The start of 2024 found hasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer at a hasidic wedding in the US.
Without missing a beat, Schmeltzer took the microphone and began singing portions of the Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) prayers.
After kissing the groom's cheek, Schmeltzer continued by singing the hasidic, "A gutte yahr," wishing the attending crowd a good year.
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