NEW YORK
New York Times
By JOSEPH BERGER
MAY 17, 2016
KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y. — In a place where young boys spend their days hunched over volumes of Torah and Talmud, delving into timeless stories and precepts in an ancient singsong, the scene was incongruous.
Dozens of agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and county law enforcement officers — more than 50 by the count of officials in this Hasidic village about 50 miles northwest of Manhattan — converged on a four-story brick yeshiva here on Thursday, some armed with guns, others carrying crowbars, as helicopters whirred overhead. According to parents of children at the school, the authorities took away boxes filled with computers, office files and security-camera videos.
“They scared all the kids,” said Yoel Weiss, whose three sons, Moishe, 12, Shloime, 8, and Pinchas, 7, attend the yeshiva that was targeted, United Talmudical Academy of Kiryas Joel.
“They made a big commotion.”
The United Talmudical Academy. Local residents believe a recent law enforcement action is linked to video filmed in an office at the school. Credit Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times
The motivation for the operation, according to parents who learned of the questions being asked of yeshiva officials by the law enforcement authorities, was a suspicion that a longtime principal had sexually abused students. At least one episode of possible abuse was captured on video, portions of which have been shared on social media.
The parents did not want to be identified because they were wary of being drawn into the investigation. The video was filmed from overhead in the office of the principal, Rabbi Moshe Hersh Klein. One snippet shows Rabbi Klein, the gray-bearded principal of the yeshiva’s third, fourth and fifth grades, his legs around a pupil who appears to be about 8, patting the boy and kissing his cheeks, and rocking him for several seconds.
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