ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva
By Tova Dvorin
First Publish: 7/10/2015
The case of the rabbi from northern Israel who has been accused by at least eight women of sexual abuse has captured the attention of the Israeli public, with the rumor mills swirling after the press has declined to publish the rabbi’s identity.
On Friday, Arutz Sheva spoke to a number of experts involved with the rabbi’s yeshiva and the case on the issue to understand the full extent of the investigation and its ramifications.
“A woman called me and asked if it was true that rabbis are allowed to do things that are forbidden according to the Shulchan Aruch,” Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat (Safed) said, citing a fundamental Jewish legal text. “The answer is ‘of course not’ – and to the contrary, rabbis must be even more careful in areas of Jewish law.”
“The woman did not say who it was, but in the end we realized it was him,” he continued. “I asked Rabbi Haim Bazaq to be the mediator in a hearing in Tzfat over the issue and together we heard her witness testimony. She said other women may have been affected. We called him [the rabbi – ed.] and he admitted these things to me and to Rabbi Bazaq.”
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