UNITED STATES
Failed Messiah
Why Did Leading US Haredi Rabbis Really Endorse Israeli Seminaries Formerly Run By Alleged Sex Abuser?
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
When the Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon Schechter, Rabbi Aharon Feldman and other members of Agudath Israel of America’s moeztzet, Council of Torah Sages, issued a letter last week endorsing as safe Pnimim and other seminaries once owned and run by Rabbi Elimelech Meisels as safe, some – including me – questioned how these rabbis could make this endorsement when all of the staff who allegedly enabled Meisels still worked at these seminaries. In fact, staff members who were allegedly told at the time of the alleged abuse by victims that Meisels had sexually abused them still work at all of these seminaries.
So how could these top haredi rabbis endorse them? Even if Meisels is truly no longer involved in the seminaries, these enablers are.
A source who is close to this case explained what allegedly happened.
Part 1:
1. An Israeli delegation of haredim, some linked to the Gerrer rebbe, came to America a few weeks ago to get these the American rabbis to sign the letter.
2. They provided no evidence that the seminaries are safe.
3. Instead, they claimed that if the rabbis did not sign the letter, American girls would stop enrolling in these seminaries and the seminaries would therefore be forced to shut down. And that, these Israeli haredim said, would cost many people their jobs and would be a disaster in this time of economic constraint in the haredi community there.
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