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  Tbs Asks Bramly to Resign

Jewish News of Greater Phoenix
August 12 2010

http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?100813+bramly

The board of Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley has asked for Rabbi Bryan Bramly's immediate resignation as the Conservative congregation's spiritual leader. The request was announced in a press release e-mailed Aug. 9.

Bramly has been on paid administrative leave since he was arrested March 23 in the Chandler synagogue's parking lot. He is facing trial on one count each of statutory rape and sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl in an incident alleged to have occurred in March 2000 in New York, according to records of the New York State Supreme Court, Criminal Term.

Bramly has denied these allegations through his attorney and in a conversation this week with Jewish News.

Asked about the timing of the board's decision, Joel Munter, TBS-EV's board president, told Jewish News: "There was no specific timing that precipitated it." He added, "We've been evaluating and deliberating in the four months since the rabbi's arrest."

Munter said that the board had done its due diligence and announced its decision in an effort to be as transparent as possible for the congregants.

In the press release, Munter was quoted as saying, "(After) a four-month review of all issues related to Rabbi Bramly, it became clear that he has lost the confidence of the board of directors and a percentage of the congregation."

The decision took into account "congregation input, a detailed review of the impact of all circumstances related to the arrest, indictment and pending trial as well as specific performance prior to Rabbi Bramly's arrest," Munter said in the release.

"I want to absolutely reiterate that this is an extremely difficult decision," Munter told Jewish News. "We did not come to it lightly." He stressed that the board believes that the rabbi is innocent until proven guilty and that board members have sympathy for "everybody involved, including Rabbi Bramly and his family and the alleged victim and her family."

However, he added, "We reiterate as often as we can that we have a responsibility to the entire congregation and not just to one man." The board had struggled with those conflicting responsibilities before coming to its decision, he said.

Munter said that the board was awaiting Bramly's response and that he would not be able to answer at this time what action the board would take if Bramly declined to resign.

Reached by Jewish News after the press release was issued, Bramly said, "I have done nothing wrong. I have denied these false allegations. The board has done no investigation."

He said the board based its decision to seek his resignation on secondhand information from media reports and the Internet.

"I have a contract that runs four more years, through June 30, 2014," he said. "The contract protects the congregation's rights and it protects my rights, and I am intending to defend my rights under the contract."

Bramly added that he had not yet decided how to respond to the board's request for his resignation: "I need to review what's before me with my wife and family and friends and legal counsel."

He expressed disappointment that the board had made its request public at this time and said that he would be sending an e-mail to congregants explaining his position shortly after he spoke with Jewish News on Aug. 10.

In that e-mail, which Bramly made available to Jewish News, he made similar points: maintaining his innocence, expressing his disappointment that the board made the matter public only minutes after he had received the request to resign and arguing that the decision is based on secondhand information.

"One of the protections given to me (by the contract) is that I can't be fired based upon a mere accusation of misconduct. The contract requires proof that I engaged in 'material and willful misconduct' before I can be fired," he wrote. "No such proof exists. Accordingly, the contract protects my job for the next four years."

He wrote that the board had sent him a severance offer, giving him a deadline of Aug. 19 to accept it.

"It is fortunate for me that I have a contract that gives me real protection," he wrote. "But, as you all know, disputes over contracts are not resolved through competing e-mails or through public fights in the media. Resolutions come through negotiation between the parties or, in some cases, in court."

The rabbi's next court date in the criminal case is Sept. 15, when a New York judge will hear oral arguments on motions made July 20. A decision on the motions is due in October, said Bramly's attorney, Alan S. Lewis, a partner in Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP in New York.

 
 

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