UNITED STATES
Religion News Service
Lauren Markoe | October 20, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) In the days since a prominent Orthodox rabbi was charged with spying on naked women in his synagogue’s mikvah, Jews who oversee the ritual baths across the country are rushing to reassure that the same scandal could not happen under their watch.
Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, executive director of the New York-based Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, said she’s heard about people checking for hidden cameras in mikvahs. She’s learned of some mikvahs where security firms have been brought in to assure that the space is as private as its clients — most of whom are women — expect.
District of Columbia police arrested Rabbi Barry Freundel on Tuesday (Oct. 14) at his Georgetown home, not far from Kesher Israel, the synagogue he has led since 1989. Freundel, 62, has pleaded not guilty to charges of voyeurism and spying on women through a camera pointed at the shower used before dipping into the synagogue’s mikvah.
Kesher Israel (center), located at 2801 N Street, N.W., in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The synagogue is a contributing property to the Georgetown Historic District, a National Historic Landmark. Photo courtesy of AgnosticPreachersKid via Wikimedia Commons
The synagogue suspended Freundel without pay as the investigation continues.
In the wake of the Freundel scandal, Weiss-Greenberg and other women are suggesting that a focus simply on hardware isn’t enough to keep mikvahs safe and sacred.
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