ISRAEL
Israel Hayom
November 30, 2017
By Emily Amrousi
Complainants against Safed Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg describe to Israel Hayom how he wielded his influence to have them perform sexual acts • Sheinberg pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual offenses as part of a plea bargain inked in July.
Complainants against Safed Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg are speaking out for the first time.
Sheinberg, a prominent rabbi who previously headed a Jewish community and a network of yeshivas in the northern Israeli city pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual offenses against eight separate women who had turned to Sheinberg for spiritual guidance, as part of a plea bargain signed in July.
Three of Sheinberg’s victims spoke to Israel Hayom about how he used his influence to demand they perform sexual acts on themselves while speaking to him via video chat and later that they meet with him privately.
“The meetings slowly became more physical. In his home and at my home, when my husband was away,” one of the victims said. “A medical issue that I had in my body went away, and I was convinced it was due to the ‘treatments’ he performed on me. It created a sort of dependency on my part. Every time, he would think of a new sickness I had, and I believed the illnesses went away because of him. He said that if I said anything about the ‘relaxation treatments,’ the blessing would not take effect, and something terrible would happen to my husband or my kids.”
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