Rabbi Rivlin Indicted on Sex Charges

By Howard Prosnitz
Teanuck Suburbanite
February 15, 2012

http://www.northjersey.com/news/139381243_Rabbi_Rivlin_indicted_on_sex_charges.html


TEANECK - A Teaneck rabbi has been indicted on charges that he molested two 13-year-old Israeli boys in his Lindbergh Boulevard home.

Rabbi Uzi Rivlin, 63, allegedly molested the boys in 2009 and 2010 when they were visiting the United States as participants in a scholarship program that Rivlin found. The program brings orphans and other disadvantaged Israeli boys to the United States.

After the two boys returned to Israel, they separately informed authorities that Rivlin had sexually abused them. Israeli authorizes then notified the FBI, which contacted Teaneck Police and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, according to a press release from the prosecutor.

Rivlin, who was employed as a teacher at Temple Beth Abraham in Tarrytown, NY, was arrested in August 2011. He remains free on $175,000 bail with no 10 percent option. The 13-count indictment charges Rivlin with child endangerment by sexual conduct, aggravated criminal sexual contact and criminal sexual contact.

Following Rivlin's arrest, a local Jewish newspaper reported that in 2009 the Jewish Center of Teaneck on Sterling Place conducted a Bar Mitzvah for an Israeli boy participating in Rivlin's program. Rabbi Lawrence Zierler, of the Jewish Center of Teaneck, could not be reached at the time and declined to comment for this article.

At the time of his arrest, Rivlin had initially been mistakenly identified by the prosecutor as a teacher with Congregation Beth Aaron on Queen Anne Road. The prosecutor subsequently issued statement acknowledging the error. However, Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, of Beth Aaron, informed Teaneck Suburbanite in August that, although Rivlin had no association with his congregation, Rothwachs was aware of the scholarship program and had been introduced to children participating in it.

"Despite the allegations made against Rabbi Rivlin, the organization provides a wonderful experience for children from Israel to visit the United States," Rothwachs said at the time. Rothwachs did not return a phone call by press time seeking comment on Rivlin's indictment.

If convicted, Rivlin faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the child endangerment charges.

Contact: prosnitz@northjersey.com