NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

At least 44 members of a New York synagogue are calling for the resignation of their rabbi, whose custom of inviting young men to meet with him naked in a sauna has brought extensive media attention.

In an email petition sent Sunday, members of the Riverdale Jewish Center, an Orthodox congregation in the Bronx, urged Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt to resign, the Riverdale Press reported.

“We in Riverdale have had a grueling week, trying to manage the crisis that has engulfed our community. It is now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that our rabbi of almost thirty years, Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, is unfortunately but irrevocably unable to lead our community,” the email says, according to the Press.

The petition comes in the aftermath of a recent New York Times article about Rosenblatt’s longtime custom of inviting male congregants, some as young as 12,…