Outcry

We are joined this episode by Yehudis Fletcher to discuss her new memoir: Chutzpah: A Memoir of Faith, Sexuality and Daring to Stay. Yehudis is the founder of Nahamu, a UK based research organization focused on the issues of forced and arranged marriage, and sexual and domestic violence. Yehudis leads Nahamu’s analysis of the harms arising from extremism in the Jewish community and shapes our advocacy and policy response.

Yehudis ha...

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...

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...

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 pa...

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 ...

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 episod...

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 u...

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 Israe...

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 ...

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 t...

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 effec...

In our last episode covering the Gender Motivated Violence Act case against Belz and Avigdor Kupferstein, we left off with the allegations about Victor having sexually abused his and Dr. Henny Kupferstein's children. In this episode we finish discussing the complaint against him, including his call to ACS against Dr. Kupferstein for the "crime" of going to a postpartum convalescent home, Belz's role in forcing h...

In November of 2023, Dr Henny Kupferstein filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband, Avigdor Kupferstein, and Kehillas Belz in Boro Park, for rape, physical, and sexual assault she allegedly experienced in her marriage at the hands of her husband, condoned and encouraged, she alleges, by Dayan Cheskel Akiva Gross. What's unique about this lawsuit is how it describes, in great detail, not only the abuse allegedly experienced by Dr...

Malka Leifer is perhaps the most notorious child sexual abusers in the Jewish world. After abusing three sisters, Nicole Meyer, Elly Sapper, and Dassi Erlich, Malka Leifer fled Australia to Israel to escape justice. While Israel has an extradition treaty with Australia, they also have an accepted policy of protecting Jews from prosecution in other countries. While living as a free woman in Emmanuel, Leifer evaded extradition for ne...

In this episode Ariella and Sara Rosenberg (of Jewish Survivors United) discuss the history of the infamous Jewish sex-trafficking organization, Zwi Migdal, which operated globally from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s, trafficking women and girls from eastern European Shtetls to brothels they maintained around the world. Women and girls abducted by these traffickers would be sent around the world, cut off from their families, and fo...

In this next installment of our series on sleepaway camp and its inherent risks, we are joined by the incredible Stephen Mills, author of Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood to discuss his experiences at Camp Ella Fohs. Stephen is a survivor of sexual abuse by the former director of Camp Ella Fohs, Dan Farinella, a social worker. In Chosen Stephen describes in vivid detail the process of how Farinella groomed him, abused him, and th...

In our previous episode we began to discuss the unique conditions at sleepaway camps that make them particular risks to children, In particular the sexualized atmosphere of co-ed Jewish sleepaway camps in the Conservative movement. Between the overemphasis on Jewish continuity through sex, and the isolation imposed on children as part of the experience, we discussed how Eddie Ward was able to abuse so many for so long and get away ...

Unfortunately there is no shortage of sexual abuse allegations at sleepaway camps: Camp Agudah, Dora Golding, Sternberg, Oorah Girl Zone, Magen Av, Romimu, and so many more. Whether we like to admit it or not, sleepaway camp often creates an environment where abusers can more easily prey on children and get away with it.

In this episode we do a deep dive on the case against Eddie Ward at Surprise Lake Camp. Established ov...

This week we are honored to be joined by Shulim Leifer. Shulim is a community activist on behalf of survivors, who has helped numerous survivors seek justice against their abusers. He joins us this week to discuss the sentencing of former Shomrim head, Yanky Daskal.

In 2017, Daskal was arrested on charges connected to his rape of a 15 year old girl placed in his care. Originally brought up on state charges, the case was s...