UNITED STATES/ISRAEL
Frum Follies
Israeli Beit Din Announces Removal of Meisels from His Seminaries and Gives Green Light for Attendance
On Friday I posted a 7/10/14 Chicago Beit Din ruling about an investigation into sexual misconduct by Elimelech Meisels which advised against sending girls to Meisels’ four Israeli post-high-school seminaries. Last night (7/13/14) an Israeli Beit Din issued a ruling reporting “the removal of the party responsible” [i.e., Elimelech Meisels] and a legally binding agreement empowering the Israeli Beit Din to make, supervise, and control changes in the ownership and management of the seminaries. Based on these interim measures, the Israeli Beit Din advises parents and principals of US and Canadian girls’ high schools to feel comfortable sending students to these seminaries.
Below is an image of the Israeli ruling and my rough translation.
A few observations are in order about this Israeli Beit Din ruling:
1. I am aware of the reputations of Rabbis Shafran and Malinowitz as men of great intelligence and integrity. This is not to say that they are right, but I do believe they are being honest to the best of their understanding.
2. This ruling was a rush job in response to the pressures created by the Chicago ruling. I know they had been in session for a while trying to reach some agreement with Meisels to remove himself. Rabbi Malinowitz, one of its members was in the US sitting shiva for his brother, Rav Zalman Malinowitz when this ruling was issued and they must have secured his signature by fax. Yet under this pressure they got some interim agreement with Meisels and produced a ruling.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.