A Thin Line Separates Charisma from Manipulation: a Call for Meisels Examples

By Yerachmiel Lopin
Frum Follies
July 16, 2014

http://frumfollies.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/a-thin-line-separates-charisma-from-manipulation-a-call-for-meisels-examples/

The great flaw of the Israeli Beit Din dealing with the sex offending Elimelech Meisels (see here) is thinking they are dealing with isolated violations arising from spontaneous lust for which Meisels has repented. In truth they are dealing with a manipulative man who strategically and aggressively groomed his victims, often starting at the admissions and scholarship stages. He created cliques of his favorites that he showered with attention and was often publicly abusive to others, including staff. His manipulations succeeded to the point that housemothers invalidated or berated the concerns of students.

This was also the pattern for serial offenders like Rabbis (sic) Baruch Lanner, Dovid Weinberger, and Motti Elon. All of them persisted in their manipulations even after they offered (insincere) apologies.

In Dr. Nachum Klafter’s typology of offending clergy, they are predatory offenders who should not be trusted again in any professional roles which require ethics and integrity.

Manipulation cartoon meatIf you want to understand the manipulative educator, read Paul Shaviv’s Pied Piper. To see how it was done by Baruch Lanner read the comments on my post: A Call for Examples of Lanner Manipulations.

Following that model, I am limiting comments on this post to examples of manipulative behavior by Elimelech Meisels at his Jerusalem seminaries: Pninim, Binas Bais Yaakov, Chedvas Bais Yaakov and Keser Chaya. Comments outside that topic will be deleted. I want to emphasize that manipulation isn’t necessarily about sex. It is of course about power. But examples of non-sexual manipulation often help illuminate how Meisels also manipulated students into unwanted sexual contact.

Please share your comments if you have examples of manipulative behavior by Eli Meisels. Thank you.