New York – The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office has indicated to prosecutors in Israel that the alleged victims of an accused pedophile who fled to the Jewish state more than two decades ago will testify should he stand trial, The Jewish Week has learned.
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An excerpt of the letter from the head of the sex crimes bureau was contained in a brief submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court by attorneys representing the State who have been arguing for the extradition of former Brooklyn youth counselor Avrohom Mondrowitz. He was arrested in Israel in late 2007 after a change in the Israeli-U.S. extradition treaty provided a basis for returning him to the U.S.
While a Jerusalem court ruled Mondrowitz extraditable earlier this year, he appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which heard his final appeal on Dec. 8.
At that hearing, the Justices asked the State’s attorneys to consider three issues: the propriety of retroactive application of extradition treaties; the prosecution’s decision to extradite Mondrowitz despite the many years that have passed since the commission of the alleged crimes; and whether Mondrowitz should be tried in Israel.
The excerpt from the letter from the sex crimes bureau chief, Rhonnie Jaus, was part of a larger brief responding to those questions and filed with the high court on Dec. 23.
“Over the last twenty-two years, these victims have had to live with this childhood trauma. Knowing that the efforts they made to testify against Mondrowitz [have] not brought them any justice [has] made living with this nightmare that much more difficult,” Jaus wrote. She was referring to testimony given by the victims to a Brooklyn grand jury, which indicted Mondrowitz in absentia in 1985 on four counts of sodomy and eight counts of sexual abuse in the first degree against four children in Brooklyn.
“Over the years when these victims, now grown men, have been contacted by our office, they have maintained their interest in the prosecution of Mondrowitz,” Jaus’ letter continued. “They are concerned for their own privacy and safety, but willing to pursue the case.”
A spokesman for the Brooklyn DA confirmed that the letter had been submitted and that the victims “have a continued interest in the case and have expressed a willingness to testify.” He also noted that Jaus’ letter communicated the fact that these victims were “in terror of Mondrowitz” in 1985.
Jaus’ letter is significant, according to Michael Lesher, a journalist and attorney who has been deeply involved in this case. Lesher says it is “the first direct statement in an official forum that specifically tells us that the original complainants are in contact with the DA’s office and [that they] are prepared and do want to proceed with prosecution. That’s an important and encouraging sign.”
Indeed, these victims’ identities have never been publicly revealed nor has any of them ever come forward to comment on the case. In fact, one of the many notable aspects of this case is the fact that the victims named in the original indictment are not from Jewish families.
But comments over the years by those in law enforcement indicate that Mondrowitz may have had hundreds of Jewish victims, among them those sent to him for counseling, referred by the Brooklyn-based Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, and other Orthodox communal institutions and individuals.
Several of Mondrowitz’s alleged Jewish victims have spoken to the media in recent years, though the statute of limitations bars them from being a part of any criminal or civil action.
Two of these men, Mark Weiss and Boruch Sandhaus, also wrote letters to the Israeli Supreme Court, as part of an amicus brief submitted to the Court by Survivors for Justice, an organization they helped to found which seeks to assist victims of sexual abuse in the Orthodox community obtain justice in the criminal and civil courts.
In the brief, submitted to the high court by SFJ’s pro bono Israeli counsel, the law firm Yigal Arnon & Co., Lonnie Soury, a spokesman for the group, writes that, “Returning Avrohom Mondrowitz to the United States to defend against the criminal charges will send a clear message to those who have been sexually abused in our community, and in the similarly insular haredi communities in Israel, that authorities from New York to Israel intend to do everything in their power to protect our children.”
Urging the Justices to uphold the lower court’s determination to extradite Mondrowitz, Sandhaus writes, “It is now over 20 years and Avrohom Mondrowitz has yet to face his victims in court and defend himself against the numerous horrific charges of abuse he committed against us when we were children. I live daily with the indescribable agony and torture of the memories Mondrowitz left permanently burned into my brain. Knowing that this monster is still out there amongst children just adds to the immeasurable agony I feel.”
Finally
Bring him back to the US to face his victims and justice for there will not be justice in Israel for his crimes.
B”H! This guy is a rasha ma rusha!
I have to say I am happy that Sandhaus has publicly taken the forefront of this issue.
I saw him sucker punch Kolko and while some people could not beleive what they saw most were happy that he did it because they knew why, If I or my kid was heaven forbid molested I don’t know how far I would go,maybe a punch would be getting off easy.
I hope he finds some solace in this.
Tear his beard off and throw away his kippah.
Somtimes a few ppl that have had a ruff childhood can make up stuff and kill away others life just because they are messed up!
I dont get it I thought Sandhaus was a victim of Kolko
Why no outpouring of “he did so much chessed” and “gave so much tzedaka” or “said so much tehilim” or “learned so much daf yomi”?
Have we finally learned to spot justifying crime or is it just that because he is not from a choshuv Mishpuche and he is not “one of our own” so we are OK to let him hang out to dry, but not when he is a Melamed in Satmar or in Postivile and now in Upstate NY?
We all need to be dan lecav zechus.. How do you know it is not just some kid getting back at a rebbi? After all 20 years have passed by!! it could be all talk .. let the courts decide…
I doubt that the Italian victims who got him indicted were “getting back at a rebbi.”
I do not want to say too much or I will give my idenity away. I know this person personally he is a terrible human being. He never had a ounce of remorse and is not embarressed to walk between people as if he is just like the rest of us. His kids are suffering tremendousely and so are all his victims. He created a hatred in many people and they want to see him put away.
Please bring him back here(the victims will pay for his ticket) and put him away forever. Maybe if he is away from society he will start thinking and feel some remorse.
How will this help his victims? besides embarassing mondrowitzts family this will not do anything to his victims, they are grown men and have to deal with their problems responsibly!!!. But by shaming him in public won’t get them anywhere!!!
B”H no yiddin will be involved in mesira
the fact that non jewish people r willing to testify, does not change the legality issues. what’s the point.
its a matter of israeli law and has nothing to do with the actual accusation.
He was a rabbi just like he was a doctor. all fraud. he did “it” to me and so long as he has not apologized to all his victims and to the relatives of those who have nebech died already in grief, you can be sure this garbage has not done teshuva. no other ‘frum’ molester was this prolific. I love his extended family like my own BUT if he gets away with murder what will stop him and other molesters and rapists from doing it again and again to the children of today and now?
How could Ohel have referred to this guy? He never had a license to practice psychotherapy. You would think that as a mental health agency they would be legally required to due at least THAT much due diligence to determine if the person they are sending helpless orphans and foster care children to for help is really a proffessional. Instead, apparently they assumed because he was a rabbi with a beard and a smooth talker (like many sociopaths) he could be trusted. Its one thing if they got fooled by someone who was truly professional but evil. But in this case all they needed to do was to check to see if he had a real license or even a real college degree which he did not. Is this not criminal??? Is our community’s support of Ohel another example of trusting “heimishe” to care for children without ANY oversite, transparency, etc.??
I think Sandhouse does more harm than good be a spokesman for the victims.
I would have liked to see a more publuc refined behaving person. Not that I have anything against him but it is hard to take him seriously.
Let this poor man free……………………in Gaza City.
nebech.
a yidishe neshume, what can i do to help him?
Oh how sad.. and I knwo from the posts that I have written before,that most ppl in here wont like what I have to say,but I feel I have to say this, maybe somone will agree with me, before I start I just want to make one thing clear,in no way to I think that we shouldnt do anything to molesters or any kind of abuse, i believe that all of them should get punished and get waht they deserve,,BUT we are the chosen ppl yidden, we have a torah we have rebbes we have laws we call them jewish laws… I dont care waht you say but seeing ppl coming on here and saying stuff R”L how can yidden come on here, and just say good let him be in jail, did u ever ask your ruv if u are allowed to send another yid in jail, I dont think so, dont forget we are talking about a crime here that was 29 years ago, I would also like to know from all the ppl here who are quick to judge,, if this would be your father or brother or anyone in your family, would you also say put him in jail or would u say oh 20 years past by have rochmonies on him he didnt do anything for the last 20 years he did tshuva, I dont need your answer because I know as well as you know that you try to find something ppl should forgive him, yidden have to remeber tshuva always helps, as far as it looks to me this guy did tshuva look everyone who claims he did anything was 20 years ago.. I know everyone will start saying I am just like him, but i feel as a fellow yid I have to say waht is right, and yidden should never forget that tshuva always helps
I meant, Comment #34 , why do you think Mondrowitz did teshuva? He has never apologized to his victims.
it is just a great shame on our nation that the headlines, here and in Israel scream out these monsters names…Avrahom, Mosha, etc. and describe thier unspeakable crimes. cannot another name be applied to them. or maybe use just their last name, which is pretty embarasing too.
lashon hara!!!!!!!
His wife, responding to a question from ABC last year defended him by saying this was old stuff from 25 years ago. The senile rav of ger said the same thing to a caller who phoned him from the us. And these imbeciles from above are vieng to join the looney toons who are telling victims to GET OVER IT while he lives it up in yerushalayim selling forged University Degrees and downloading kiddy porn with scenes of forced rape of minors. Why must his victims live in perpetual turmoil while he lives it up in a cozy apartment in a chic neighborhood? All you idiots so concerned for the molester, have you ever thought of the dire needs of his victims? Have you inquired as to the financial burden that psychological help would cost them? Do you know that most of them have not gotten the help they needed due to the inability to afford it? Oh, i forgot, the poor molester’s family might suffer some shame.
I just would like to know how the chassidic community (and no, I will not mention the name)in Israel could let him ‘hide’ in safety in their community for so many years. why wasn’t he given over to the police?
If they didn’t want
to involve the ‘secular’ law, well, then why didn’t they take care of this monster themselves?? it can be done and has been done before, and what kind of woman can live with such a monster… I guess it takes ‘two to tango’.. she probably is no better then him and maybe even worse. Did anybody ever think of how his kids were raised? I mean were they ‘safe’ with such a monster in the house? what shul did he go to? who would accept him..
did he wonder the streets securly? what about his neighbors, or the teachers of his kids yeshiva? are all these people zombies.. I just don’t understand it at all. werer they all waiting for lightning to strike him before they did. Did Pinchas wait for a
‘green’ light from shamayim to do what he had to? please, if anyone can answer even l of my ? I would be very appreciative,and the same quesions are applied for all the horrible situations that took place in Israel and in NY
Why is it ok for us to all believe the victims of this monster, but not the victims of Kolko, or Reichman or Eiseman? Should we wait until they run to Israel too? Or is only because this guy did it to goyim too, so we believe it? What is wrong with you people that are so offended by this, but are totally ok with what Torah Tmimah and Agudas Yisroel did covering up for Kolko, and what Satmar is doing keeping Reichman in the classroom after he failed a lie-detector test as reported on this site, and Ner Yisroel is doing covering up for Moshe Eiseman after “retiring” him? What will it take for us to learn from our mistakes so we don’t continue to do them again, and again and again?
had the manhigim and gedoilim dealt with this guy properly a quarter of a century ago we wouldn’t be socked with this mess now. Pnei hador K’pnei hakelev and know we are left to clean up after the dog’s poop.
There are some very disturbing posts here that require attention.
The time for dan lkaf zchus is over long ago. The rapist deserves no consideration. I take that back. He deserves the same consideration he gave his victims as he sodomized them. Only a fool would suggest that this pederast deserves the benefit of the doubt.
As to those that suggest that of a yid is involved in the prosecution against the pedophile, that would be mesira. To anyone who suggest that, I say, please, convert to catholicism because you aren’t even close to anything halachically resembling Judaism. I don’t need a rav to pasken this is not mesira any more so than I need a rav to pasken that chazer is treif.
I beg anyone here still suggesting that the sodomite deserves any defense, please castrate yourself so that you cannot have children that would fall victim under your watch to a Mondrowitz. Make no mistake, in our history there have been many reshoim. Arafat, Bin Laden, Hitler, Mengele, Stalin, all the way back to Amalek. Add the filthy name of the rapist Mondrowitz to that list.
To any evil seed of Mondrowitz, I remind you that you should be in court in Israel night and day begging the court to send the pederast to the US to face his victims, or their blood is on your hands. Der vybe knew gantz good what the animal was doing. It is well known that Mondrowitz could not perform like a man even with his own wife. He could barely perform under “normal” circumstances as he used his victims to achieve his power trips.
Dahmer, Gacy, BTK, their crimes pale to what this filthy animal did. Klal Yisroel will rejoice when he is convicted and sentenced to life. On that day we will recite hallel, we will dance, we will know that there is an Aybishter.
just like kids learn chumash and math this should also be a suject like any other kids must know that when a rebbe teacher or anyone does anything to hurt them in any way they should report it right away just like schools have fire drills they should be reminded what to do if some one touches them any where they should run and report it to someone in school and when they get home they should tell the parents right away
We are bnei Torah, not a clannish bunch of self-protecting animals!! If someone has separate and multiple charges of being a danger to children, and rabbonim respond by circling the wagons to protect him and his family — not protect the claimants — I am ashamed before Hashem. No ethnic or familial loyalty should ever supersede our absolute, loud-and-clear rejection of rishus . I f he did any of this, he’s beyond villanous. If he didn’t, he doesn’t deserve to live among us anyway, for the reputation he has built is so odious. And if his family wants to follow him, let them go too. Those of the family who are ruined by the man’s reputation, we can help, as they are his victims too. But not to suck our hard-working communities into this cesspool of accusation and lashon hara because people are confused about what exactly the man did. Let the Aibishter, who knows all, take care of him — elsewhere. If we are truly living for the Torah hakedosha, why are some of us so hot to preserve a false image of tzidkus? Just separate from ra!
how is it that these monsters have more control over these poor kids then the parents its time to educate the parents what to look out for and what to do they shouldnt be scared to report it TO THE POLICE any parent who doesnt pick up on it is just as evil as these monsters
OHEL will burn for this. In this world and the one to come.
to #82 YES!! You wimp! IR 17;m not commenting on this particular man, I wonR 17;t mention his name, for who but the Aibishter knows the truthR 30;?? BUT if it was my relative accused more than once of such things, Y-E-S IR 17;d call the cops MYSELF and not stop shreiing til the disgusting animal was out of my house. Like the time I had a squirrel come in through the chimney: if he wonR 17;t get out with the broom, you have to call the animal trapper. What are you supposed to do R 12; live with it in the house???
And I DO NOT believe your Rav said in plain, clear sentences that a man accused of such things should not be removed from our midst, investigated in a court of law and face the consequences. And if so, which is virtually impossible R 12; ask him to show you in what Shulchan Aruch he found his mekor for that. No Rav or Rebbe who lives in olam hazeh has the right to guilt-trip family members into R 20;giving the benefit of the doubtR 21; to a person, a supposed ADVISER and HELPER TO CHILDREN, accused SO MANY TIMES of such things.
Yes, the Aibishter sends nisayonos R 12; theyR 17;re sent for us to HANDLE, not to say, oy, itR 17;s min hashamayim, so what can I do but accept it. All Yidden need to get a life R 11; that means fleeing from RA!
“rebbes are good for a tish and a kish. Rabbonim and shulchan Aruch is good for all the rest.”
Whoever made this comment is AMARETZ are you kidding me with a line like that implying Rebbe’s don’t know shulchan aruch just like Rabbonim do. Please whether you are a Litvak or A Chassid you can’t make such a statement, they are all Gedoli Yisroel and we must respect what they say. If you don’t agree keep you mouth shut, and by you making that comment you are a rosha just like Monderwitz.
To all those who say it’s a Mitzvah to turn him in: QUOTE YOUR SOURCES
We are dealing with dinei Nefoshos and we are not empowered to do so.
Also those of you quoting Rav Elyashiv Shlit”a, I would like to know when and where he said that Mr. M. has a din of Rodef (for something he allegedly did 25 years ago). I am sure he is not engaged in such practices anymore (not because he wouldn’t like to)
I am very comfortable saying that if any Rav covered for the pederast Mondrowitz, yemach shemo vzichro, as it is alleged of dee Gerrorist Roov mit dee langeh boord, then such a Rav is in fact not a Rav, but an enabler of the rapist, and such a “Rav” (note the quotations) should drop dead at his earliest convenience for protecting the rapist.
“Wolves in sheep clothing”
When one uses the “cloth of religion” to gain an advantage over children,it is one of the greatest crimes that can be committed. The community must protect it’s greatest asset,its children, not doing so is a shame and a sin against one and all.
It must be noted that:
The molester is able to thrive due to the inaction of the community and its attitude of “protecting one of its own”. This issue is not a religous question. It is a question
of a crime against God’s children. It can not be allowed.
Only when the community bands together and says “NEVER AGAIN” will this crime against our children stop.
but if the rav of ger says such things he apparently speaks for ger as a whole
To everyone out there…. This issue is far greater than one man and one family and one case. There are monsters like him everywhere. They are your neighbors your friends your family members, the rebbes in your kids yeshivos, the counselors in their camps, and anyone who denies that is just plain stupid. These horrible acts are being done constantly to young sweet innocent children. They are who we should be protecting, who we should be focusing our attention on. Let’s try to revolutionize our society one sicko at a time- starting with Mondrowitz, and let’s not stop until every child and parent can sleep easy at night knowing that they are safe. If we don’t stand up to these people… will you be able to forgive yourself if it is your kid or grandkid looking at you one day with wide terrified eyes?