Outcry

In our continuing coverage of the trial of Judah Karkowsky we do a deep dive on how exactly Karkowsky was caught using a forged transcript of the hearing dismissing his sexual abuse charges to try and con his way back into the Young Israel of Woodmere, and defraud the Woodmere Fire District, and County of Nassau. We also get into some of the pretrial motions that eventually became the basis for Karkowsky's appeal of his guilty verdict. 

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Judah Karkowsky is perhaps the dumbest criminal we've ever covered on this podcast. After getting off on a technicality for the alleged sexual assault of a child while responding to an EMS call at the Young Israel of Woodmere, Judah Karkowsky decided to test his luck even further. Karkowsky used a forged copy of the transcript of the hearing where his charges were dismissed to try and scam his way back into the Young Israel of Woodmere, and also tried using the same transcript to try and scam the Woodmere Fire Department out of $15,000,000 for firing him and reporting the alleged abuse. 

The plan backfired spectacularly and Karkowsky was convicted by a jury for this use of a forged instrument. In this series we're going to break down the particulars of the forgery case, do a deep dive on the trial, and discuss the people who supported his efforts. In this episode we cover what led to the charges in this case: Karkowsky's relationship with Ari Shulman, his attempt to leverage that relationship to get Shulman to unwittingly assist in his fraud against the Young Israel of Woodmere, and the ridiculous and obvious forgery that kicked this whole case off. 

This episode is dedicated l'iluy nishmas Rabbi Eliyahu Fink who tragically passed in a car accident in March, Ariella's aunt, Beth Goldberg, and Miriam Isserow, whose unwavering support of ZA'AKAH and invaluable leadership made ZA'AKAH what it is today. 

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

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Show Notes: 

Karkowsky Exhibits: https://imgur.com/a/oqwkgm4

In March of 2011, Rabbi Gavriel Bidany was arrested for groping an IDF soldier on a plane to the United States. While sitting next to her he reached his hand under her blanket to touch her without her consent. 

In this episode we discuss what he did, the details of his case, his trial and conviction, and the many people who came to his defense and wrote sentencing recommendations on his behalf. Many of those letters mentioned his particular interest in the young girls and women in the author's families, and the surprising twist of what one of his defenders was later arrested for will surprise you! 

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

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In our last episode we discussed Rabbi Aron Baruch Tendler and his alleged abuse of students at YULA High School. We began discussing his brother Mordechai as well. In this episode we dive into the details of Rabbi Mordechai Tendler's alleged abuses against women and his firing as rabbi of Kehillat New Hempstead. 

This episode discusses the specific dynamics of when Rabbis abuse their congregants, how it happens, why it's so damaging, and why it's hard to get justice for this kind of abuse. Strongly recommended reading as a companion to this episode, once again, is When Rabbis Abuse by Dr. Elana Sztockman. 

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

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In this episode we discuss two brothers, Rabbi Aron Baruch Tendler, and Rabbi Mordechai Tendler, both rabbis in an illustrious family who were accused of using their positions to abuse people. In the case of Rabbi Aron Baruch Tendler, he was accused of abusing girls at YULA High School in Los Angeles. Mordechai was accused of coercing women in his congregation into sex under the pretext of rabbinic counseling.

This episode covers the story of Aron Baruch and begins the story of Mordechai. In the next episode we will cover the extensive process undertaken by the RCA to investigate the allegations into Mordechai, and the lengths to which he went to fight back against his accusers.

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

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SHOW NOTES:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040105153320/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8856

https://forward.com/culture/5201/rabbinical-council-is-probing-claims-of-sexual-har/

https://jewishjournal.com/community/12777/

In our last episode we discussed Zev Steen's arrest for the possession and distribution of CSAM as well as the rape and recording of a girl from age 2 to 8. We discussed the letter written by Rabbi Shraga Neuberger on behalf of Steen for his appeal to be granted bond after his second arrest, as well as the roles played by Neuberger, unlicensed therapist Yehuda Bergman, and CHANA clinical coordinator, Laura Greer, in covering up for Steen and then allowing him to become a teacher in Bnos Yisroel. We also discussed the statements made by Rabbi Mordechai Shuchatowitz and Rabbi Neuberger in a video submitted to the judge ahead of Steen's sentencing. 

In this episode we discuss the letters written by rabbis and teachers in the Baltimore community on behalf of Steen, the fallout of those letters, and what the authors of those letters have to say in their own defense. The bottom line is this: Baltimore is not safe for children. 

Zev Steen was arrested in late 2022 for possession and distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM). Authorities quickly realized that he had produced some of it during the course of sexually abusing a 2 year old girl for the next 6 years of her life. The charges were upgraded and the case was moved to federal court. That's when the insanity really started.

In this episode we discuss how a high-up in Ner Israel, the Baltimore Av Beis Din, rabbonim, teachers, and therapists, both licensed and unlicensed, help protect Zev Steen from facing justice even after he admitted to having raped a child repeatedly. We discuss the extent of the scandal, how Steen managed to get and keep his job at B'nos Yisroel girls school even though Baltimore's leadership knew he was a pedophile.

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

Follow us on our socials to stay informed:

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SHOW NOTES:

https://hareiani.com/2024/09/25/baltimore-rabbinical-leadership-chana-clinical-coordinator-covered-for-steen-for-10-years-prosecutor/

https://hareiani.com/2024/10/01/zev-steen-sentenced-to-23-years-in-fort-dix-registry-lifetime-supervised-release-following-prison/

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/oppose-pretrial-release-of-mr-william-zev-steen

Akiva Roth, son of Conservative bigwig Joel Roth, was accused in 1996 of sexually abusing a number of boys at one of their homes during a Bar Mitzvah lesson. He later pleaded to a lesser charge and managed to avoid jail time or sex offender registry. According to a report by the Forward, Rabbi Chaim Rogoff, a friend of Akiva's father and rabbi of the East Brunswick Jewish Center where Roth worked, made sure that the community knew as little as possible about Roth's arrest and conviction. The article describes Rogoff threatening a child, who himself alleges that Roth was sexually inappropriate with him, into silence about Roth. No doubt Rogoff expended much effort ensuring the rest of the community followed suit.

Following his departure from EBJC and Solomon Schechter after his conviction, Roth taught at JTS for a number of years, worked at Hillel, and a few other places before securing a job at Yeshiva University. After the Forward published an article about his arrest and conviction, however, he was fired. This led to an uproar in the community which played out in the pages of the Jewish Standard. Roth was initially banned from a number of shuls in Englewood where he was living, but after a letter by the community in the Standard, and a program instituted by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, Roth was allowed back.

Goldin himself wrote a letter in the Standard, as did Akiva Roth himself, decrying the way the community was treating him. Roth, EBJC, and Rogoff are now defendants in a lawsuit filed by another alleged victim who filed suit in 2021 under the NJ Child Victims Act. What's notable about this case are the lengths to which non-Charedi rabbis went in public to protect Roth and guilt and shame anyone who tried holding him accountable or protect children in the community from him. Just goes to show, no community is immune from this.

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

Follow us on our socials to stay informed:

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SHOW NOTES:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/nyregion/teacher-leaves-yeshiva-amid-abuse-scandal.html

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/character-assassination/

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/repentance-and-reintegration-a-communitys-response/

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/reintegration-and-repentance-a-personal-perspective/

in 2021, Judah Karkowsky was accused of sexually abusing a child at the Young Israel of Woodmere, and despite the case being dismissed for procedural reasons, Karkowsky was nonetheless suspended from the shul. 

Following the dismissal of that case, Karkowsky, in an effort to regain his position in shul, forged a transcript of the dismissal hearing to make it look like the judge had dismissed the case on merit grounds. He then used that transcript to try and trick the shul into allowing him back in, in addition to filing a notice of claim against his employer, the Woodmere Fire Department, to demand $15M from them for having fired him when he was initially accused. His obvious fraud was caught and following his conviction at a jury trial, he was sentenced to a year in jail.

RCA Executive Vice President, and Kesher Families founder, Rabbi Menachem Penner, and his wife Adeena Penner, wrote letters of support for Karkowsky praising his character and good deeds and pleading for leniency from the judge. They also made themselves available as character witnesses on his behalf, and showed up in support of the Karkowsky family at his sentencing.

In this episode we discuss this scandal, how the Penners responded, and why it's such a problem when rabbis - especially influential public figures like the Penners - engage in such public support of alleged abusers.

To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

Follow us on our socials to stay informed:

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SHOW NOTES:

https://www.firelawblog.com/2024/06/23/ny-emt-and-commissioner-sentenced/ 

As pride month comes to a close, we tackle the issue of conversion therapy, sometimes referred to as reparative therapy. Conversion therapy is a phony, bigoted process by which a "therapist" (many of whom are not actually licensed mental health professionals) attempts to "convert" their client from some kind of LGBTQ+ identity to cis/straight. There is absolutely no research that shows that such therapy is effective, let alone possible.

Aside from just being quackery, conversion therapy is often deeply abusive, involving practices that amount to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, especially when minors are subjected to it. Despite how harmful conversion therapy is, many rabbonim and therapists continue to refer LGBTQ+ community members to these harmful charlatans.

Joining us to discuss the particulars of these abuses and his own experiences with conversion therapy is Shlomo Rozenek. Shlomo is the director of development and communications for NECHAMA, a Jewish natural disaster relief organization. Shlomo grew up Yeshivish in Far Rockaway, Queens, and now lives on the Upper West Side with his husband, Mattan, and dog, Jax. His favorite thing in the world is Shabbos, and he recommends it to everyone!


To learn more about ZA'AKAH or to donate, visit our website at https://zaakah.org

To get in touch with questions, comments, or any other concerns related to Outcry, email us at [email protected]

Follow us on our socials to stay informed:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/zaakah
Twitter: @zaakahny
Instagram: @zaakahig
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SHOW NOTES:

https://twitter.com/shloze

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_v._JONAH

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/21/nyregion/conversion-therapy-ban.html

https://forward.com/news/421966/gay-conversion-therapist-yeshiva-university-high-school/

https://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/2018/Conversion_Therapy.aspx