UNITED STATES
The Jewish Week

Tue, 10/28/2014
Stephanie Doucette
Special To The Jewish Week

Many in the Jewish community seem to be transfixed at the moment with the ongoing voyeurism scandal concerning Rabbi Barry Freundel. A flood of articles has been published throughout the United States and Israel focusing on the details of the police investigation or debating mikveh politics and Orthodox Judaism. These are important issues, but they’re a bit abstract. They can’t answer the question of what it feels like to be a potential victim of Rabbi Freundel. What was it like to go through a conversion with him?

I can answer that question. My name is Stephanie. I am a 22-year-old graduate student in the Washington, D.C., area and I began converting with Rabbi Freundel over a year and a half ago. I was one of the conversion students who did ‘practice dunks.’ Now…