New York – Following an explosive article in last week’s Forward newspaper alleging sexual misconduct on the part of two Yeshiva University staff members, an additional 14 men have gone on record saying they, too, were abused by Rabbi George Finkelstein between the years 1968 and 1995 at Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan (http://bit.ly/UQPF4e).
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The stories of abuse detailed by these former victims reveal that not only were the higher-ups at YU and Rabbinical Council of America officials aware of the numerous allegations against Finkelstein, but they aided in covering up the accusations since the mid-1980s. In fact, when Finkelstein’s most recent employer, the Jerusalem Great Synagogue asked YU if the allegations against Finkelstein were true, YU told the synagogue there was no cause for concern.
Jerusalem Great Synagogue’s general director, Zev Lanton, said former synagogue president Maurice Wohl “spoke to the responsible authorities at YU, who denied the charges outright. Later, the same authority, upon visiting Israel, offered similar denials, both to the chairman of the board of the synagogue and the vice president.” Mr. Lanton declined to immediately disclose the identity of this YU authority. Finkelstein resigned immediately from his 11-year-post as executive director at the synagogue when the Forward story was published.
Rabbi Macy Gordon, who also had sexual abuse charges lobbed against him during his tenure as a Talmud teacher from 1956 to 1984, has been put on a “leave of absence” from the Orthodox Union’s Israel Center where he is employed as a teacher.
Finkelstein was never questioned about the allegations during his 27 years at YU High School, and he went on to serve six years as the principal at the Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School in North Miami Beach, Florida.
The Forward attempted to determine if any complaints had been made against Finkelstein during his tenure at the Florida school, but chief operating officer Rafael Quintero was “extremely busy” and did not comment. The Jerusalem Great Synagogue was notified four years ago that Finkelstein “had been summoned to [Israeli] police following a complaint reiterating [an abuse allegation].”
“Rabbi Finkelstein informed the executive board that in his interview with the police, he insisted that he be submitted to a polygraph test on the spot,” according to Mr. Lanton. “The police responded that this would not be necessary. No further action was taken by the police.”
Current YU President Richard Joel declined repeated requests for an interview with the Forward. In another statement issued yesterday, YU said it “continues to examine with concern the allegations of past abuse recently reported in the media. A subcommittee of the Board of Trustees is working with the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell as outside Counsel, who is assisting us in investigating the allegations and consulting with nationally recognized specialists in this area to review our policies and procedures.”
RCA President Shmuel Goldin praised Joel for “his forthright response and statement of concern.” He added, “When you compare this community to others, at least what you are getting is an immediate expression that we are going to deal with this, not that we are going to sweep this under the rug. Our position is, individuals who are aware of such allegations should go directly to the authorities…And anything short of that does not satisfy that position.”
But Goldin cautioned that Finkelstein and Gordon “deserve to have a fair hearing on these allegations,” saying, “Nobody should be tried on the pages of a newspaper.”
So now will all chasidim say that The Forward is only looking to shed bad light on Satmars???
Not only is Rabbi Finklestein no longer in the school system, he’s no longer in this COUNTRY- what exactly is the tachlis that permits all this Loshon Horah about him?
#1 what is your problem? As a Chassid – but more so as a person with compassion – your statement is unnecessary and inconsiderate! What is necessary is our concern for those that have been molested in any manner whether they are MO, Chassidishe, Reform, etc!
Once again, please notice the difference – YU makes no attempt to villify the victims of the alleged abuse
I am wondering that if in the past this was the way they dealt with it, then probably the rabbonim (The RAV) of these insitutions held that this is the torah way to deal with it.
Last year or so, we had articles about psychiatrists force medicating “troubled” students in Israel by orders of gedolim. The practice was dangerous and unethical but it still goes on behind covers. Maybe the same gedolim can order chemical castrations for their friends and buddies who take prominent roles as educators, unlicensed therapists and mikva managers as soon as multiple allegations of abuse surface? This Finklestien guy abuses students for decades then pressure gets too high, so he hides in Israel and even there he continues his abuse. Otherwise why would allegations surface in Israel to the point of police attention when the entire story was heavily covered up in the U.S.? Abusers are like heroin addicts, they don’t stop or reform. In communities they hide under their titles and prominent roles so for decades they escape scrutiny as no one wants to belie that a tzadik who is a popular teacher or principal would do this.
This is a perfect example of Weberman’s innocence, within a week the Finklestein story broke you have 14 men come forward, the history of a pedophile is a repeat offender, in the 12 years Weberman was in business you have only one troubled girl who screwed around with other boys since the age of 14, the DA did not find a shred of evidence on his computer, email, text, phone records, files, photos in 12 years, do you notice a different pattern? But he is Satmar.
This just indicates that the problem is not justy within 1 chasidus, but athough rare exists in all segments of our community. I would assume that such activities are more prevelent in the rest of society since they are not constantly reminded of a higher authority than the civil law.
It is quite obvious now that we have quite a bit of issues in the past that are now coming to the surface. We cannot change the past, however, we can do something about the future. It is imperative on ALL Rabbonim – Modern, litvish, chasidish, etc to man up and show that this behavior will no longer be tolerated. We cannot allow these Rabbonim to sweep this under the rug anymore. And any Rav who cannot or will not take action should no longer be respected. It is time for these people to work with those who are trying to protect our children. I, for one, am appalled at the Satmar Rebbe for publicly denouncing this poor girl in the Weberman case and calling her all sorts of names. Sorry, this is NOT the way to lead.
I dont understand, I thought this only happens in the repressive chassidic and haredi comunities, and can not be found in the modern enlightened orthodox world?
Can anyone please explain what the purpose after so many years to throw mud on people even if true? we are getting crazier by the day with all this child abuse stories.People who are now forty/fifty/sixty years old have a new topic to discuss:were you molested?oh i was molested,was your brother molested?oh my father was molested.
OH you poking fun at the victims?no im not People,its sick out there and getting sicker.
Why is it that victims are silent for 2 decades, then suddenly come forward when a sensational headline appears? Where were they till now? The fact that the news became public about the perpetrator makes it more comfortable for them to suddenly come forward. Not saying the problem doesn’t exist, but something is rather strange here….
I believe more and more stories and information on many institutions and many people will begin to emerge. I only hope that they choose more reliable sources than biased newspapers and media to report their stories to. I would much prefer that they choose an advocate group, or an advocate such as AdKanEnough, or Joel Engelman or his mom Pearl, who have told their own story in public but do not go around bashing anyone, or Rabbi Yanky Horowitz who is always helping research the information and helping victims, to relate their stories to. Or even a respectable investigative reporter who has always been willing to do the right thing by victims such as Mary Murphy or Michael Orbach. I for one want to give victims an opportunity to tell their stories and to heal from their nightmares as well as warn others against their abusers. However, I don’t particularly appreciate when victims go to those who relish the opportunity to divulge these details and may or may not be reporting the information in an unbiased and truthful manner. That is all I am saying and that is my suggestion. I don’t appreciate explosive and exploitive journalism. I do appreciate the truth and support victims.
in the last few years we had quiet a few chareidi yeshiva’s and schools, accused of
covering up molestations,in all those years,not one word was mentioned on VIN,
now all of a sudden,when it is a modern orthodox school,VIN is all over the story,
just wondering if it’s possible we have a double standard here?
i would hate to think so.
What courage when courage all it takes to be meshuga.All crazies who encourage people to tell their abuse stories after twenty years are driving people nuts.Let them live their lives.The world is getting sicker by each day.
At the shabbos table we got a new topic:
Were you abused?oh,totty was abused,was rebbe yankel an abuser?oh,he abused cousin micky,was chany abused?also leah was abused.This is sick
Why being it up now, he is still alive and can abuse again
I am fed up with all this molesters and guess what? Kids off the derech= to kids who where sexually molested 99.9% of the time, and because they were covered up years ago, this rotzchim abused as many kids and now this are the many hundreds of kids who are reacting to the trauma they encountered while their ppor parents are going through Gehenom , from people judging the parents, the kids themselves while these sick animals destroyed neshomos from klal yisroel!!!!!
if a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, does it make a noise? YES. a lot of abuse has taken place, and we still dont want to hear the cries….and if we hear the cries, we dont want to admit to it….so, basically, the children, and their children, all suffer. we really are stupid!!!!
shalom
sherrie understands only too well. However “thisisinsane” is.
We should stop being chachamim quibbling over which sect ,how many victims, how often , how long ago. This is horrible..disgusting. ,We are talking about yiddishe neshomos. My father Z`l a tatooed holocaust survivor said ” hitler didnt make a diffrence so neither should we” . This plague is a stain on us all. It happens everywhere .. no immunity The professionals have been telling us that its going to get worse and every revelation shows they are correct . They also tell us that many abusers were themselves abused. Many of those abused will become abusers.
Horrible things happened and and some well intended decisions turned out wrong. but now we have to get our heads out of the sand.
The safety of our children is paramount. Full stop. Think about it for a moment. Outside our homes we expect and depend on goverment agencies , civil authorities and municipal services to keep us our children safe .
Let em do their job Just check on them too No one is immune.
May Hashem watch over us