Jerusalem Yeshiva Mashgiach, Naftali Maklev, Indicted for Molesting Nieces
By Arutz Sheva
Update-5/20/16 7:20 p.m. (US/EST)- Contrary to earlier claims in Kikar Hashabbat, Maklev’s recorded Torah talks have not been removed from the website of Bechol Lashon as of the beginning of Shabbat in Israel. See screen capture at the bottom of this page. Update 5/20/16 10 a.m.- The alleged offending mashgiach is Rabbi Naftali Maklev (????? ????). His brother, Uri Maklev, was a member of Knesset for Degel Hatorah, the party directed by Rabbis Steinman and Kanievsky, the leaders of the main Yeshivish Lithuanian ultra orthodox faction in Israel. The full indictment, in Hebrew, can be read on Nuchem Rosenberg’s blog. (you will have to page down through multiple windows to get there). I have changed the posting title to include his name. As reported earlier, he does indeed have a child married to the grandchild of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. He is/was a mashgiach ruchani (spiritual advisor) at Yeshivat Ba’er Hatorah’s Bayit Vegan branch on Rechov Hapisgah in Jerusalem. Update 5/20/16, 7 p.m.– The lower grade (ketanah) yeshiva where Maklev worked is locally known as GIL the Hebrew acronym of the yeshiva head, Gavriel Yosef Levi. Rabbi Aron Feldman, the Head of Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore is the father-in-law of Rabbi Levi (aka GIL) Rabbi Levi has many enemies because of his sharp elbows and ruthlessness in his rise as well as using the influence of his prestigious father-in-law. So there is some schadenfreude piling on going on by his enemies. Equally, R. Kanievsky’ enemies in the Shmuel Auerbach camp are also piling on to discredit R. Kanievsky. To be clear, while there are important family and influence connections between RCK and the defendant, there is nothing reported so far implicating him in either the evil deeds or a cover-up. In fact, the prosecution praised some influential rabbis who aided the prosecution. Who they are yet is not clear, but it appears that there was a Beit Din (rabbinical court case) in the court of R. Karelitz in Bnai Brak. Available information suggests the court supported reporting, but that is not yet confirmed. UPDATE 5/20/16 7 a.m.– The Hebrew language website, Kikar HaShabbat reports that the alleged offender’s recorded lectures were removed from the the website, Kol Halashon. original article starts below——- The Israeli news site, Arutz Sheva, reports: Jerusalem prosecutors filed an indictment against a rabbi who served as a mashgiach [spiritual advisor] at a yeshiva in the city, for a series of rapes carried against a number of female relatives over the course of several years. The accused began his horrific campaign of abuse when his first victim was just six years old, and continued abusing her and other female relatives by various means of coercion and manipulation……
He had attempted to justify his actions by perversely claiming they were not only permitted under Jewish law, but mandated. In some cases he even went as far as to claim his acts of abuse served to “purify” his victims spiritually and atone for sins their souls committed in “past lives”, or to cure them of physical ailments. In one particularly extreme incident relayed in the indictment, the accused secretly recorded leading haredi Rabbi Chaim Kaniyevsky issuing a halakhic ruling on a totally unrelated subject, then played it back … and claimed the rabbi was in fact endorsing the abuser’s actions, in order to persuade her against speaking out. According to one report which I am not yet able to confirm, the alleged offender’s daughter is married to the grandson of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the effective leader of most of the Litivsh/Yeshivish world.
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