Lakewood Yeshiva Rabbi Accused of Molesting Brooklyn Student 40 Years Ago

By Gustavo Martinez Contreras
Asbury Park Press
September 26, 2019

https://www.app.com/story/news/local/courts/2019/09/26/lakewood-yeshiva-rabbi-joel-falk-accused-molesting-student/2441802001/

LAKEWOOD - A rabbi at a Lakewood yeshiva has been named in a civil lawsuit alleging he and another rabbi repeatedly sexually molested a then 13-year-old boy when the youth studied at a Brooklyn yeshiva almost four decades ago.

Rabbi Joel Falk, 74, now principal of Hebrew studies at Cheder Toras Zev, at 1000 Cross St., is named in a claim brought by former Brooklyn Yeshiva Torah Temimah student Barach Sandhaus, 52, a Miami Beach-based businessman.

The lawsuit alleges that over a two-year period, Falk and Rabbi Joel Kolko, also employed at the Brooklyn school, would "inappropriately touch the penis and other parts of the plaintiff's body." The alleged abuse occurred between 1978 and 1980.

To see the full lawsuit, scroll to the bottom of this story.

Top school officials received "multiple credible reports" of the abuse "prior to and during" the years of abuse, but "engaged in a campaign of intimidation, concealment, denial, and misrepresentations to prevent victims from filing civil claims," the complaint alleges.

A secretary at the Lakewood yeshiva told the Press that Falk "was not available" for comment. The school's founder, rabbi Chaim Zev Eidelman, also could not be reached.

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 15 in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, under New York's Child Victims Act, which opened a one-year window for victims of sexual abuse to file claims against their alleged abusers, no matter how long ago the crimes occurred. Learn more about the law in the video at the top of this story.

The charges were first reported in the New York Post.

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Sandhaus and his attorney did not immediately respond to a Press request for comment. Sandhaus was quoted in the Post article, saying he was shocked that Falk continued to work with minors.

"It is devastating for me to hear that Falk is still working at a yeshiva. This man should not be around kids. I don’t want any children to suffer the way I did,” Sandhaus told The Post.

The Post article said the Brooklyn yeshiva kept Falk as a rabbi and principal until 1989. The article said he was never charged criminally.

The Brooklyn school settled claims with two other former students who alleged abuse by Kolko, paying them $2.1 million in 2016, The Post reported.

In an online fundraising campaign, the Lakewood school features Falk, highlighting his "decades of success" and his "unique level of wisdom and experience" educating young orthodox boys.

The school has operated since 2009 and enrolled around 450 children in the 2018-19 school year, according to its website.

Sandhaus' claim is one of the first lawsuits against a rabbi under New York’s Child Victims Act, a 2019 law that allows survivors of child sex abuse to file claims against their abusers and the institutions that harbored them, regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse took place.

New York's Child Victims Act eliminates the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse and opens a one-year window for them to file their claims. In New Jersey, a similar law will go into effect on Dec. 1 after Gov. Phil Murphy signed it in May.

Gustavo Martinez Contreras covers Lakewood. He is graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso and the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Contact him at gmartinez@gannettnj.com or at 732-643-4061.