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Rockland County, New Hempstead, NY - Rabbi Mordechai Tendler, was suspended by the board of Kehillat New Hempstead, from the Rockland County synagogue he founded. Tendler, claiming a conspiracy to wreck his career and embarrass his family, refuses to acknowledge the suspension and has summoned 10 “insurgent” opponents to a special rabbinical court with the Union of Orthodox Rabbis. The KNH board has reportedly also frozen Tendler out of a shul bank account - a charge that Tendler also denies.

The board cited a lawsuit, declining membership, falling finances, Tendler’s “continuing lack of responsibility” and the board’s own inability to determine the “accuracy” of some of his statements. Tendler, who has publicly denounced the rabbinical council’s ruling and has moved to dismiss the “scurrilous” lawsuit, continues to lead the shul, said his brother, Hillel Tendler. “This is not a legal board . . . they’re nothing,” Hillel Tendler said, adding that the suspension letter “is void. It has no effect,” and that a majority of the shul has signed a petition backing his brother. Tendler opponents said at least a dozen people have left KNH.