Chief Rabbi blasts ‘depraved’ abusers in shock statement over groping claims - The Jewish Chronicle

The Chief Rabbi has highlighted a set of fresh sex allegations against a UK rabbi and launched a broadside against abusers who “manipulate a culture of respect to serve their own depraved criminality”.

The intervention came days after Israel’s Channel 12 featured an interview with a 21-year-old woman who launched fresh groping claims against Golders Green Rabbi Chaim Halpern.

Rabbi Halpern was subject to sexual abuse allegations ten years ago but no charges were brought against him and he maintained his innocence at the time.

According to the accuser, he had sent her emails with photos of him. She also alleged he came to Israel earlier this month, repeatedly called her and asked her come to his apartment late at night. She said did not because she feared he would “abuse” her.

She told Channel she 12 wanted to spread the word that what he was doing was “evil and must be stopped”.

But confronted by the evidence in Golders Green, Rabbi Halpern told Channel 12 that the woman’s story was “what they call in Yiddish bubbemeises (fairytales).”

Asked about the recorded phone calls, he claimed the recordings were faked, saying that anyone could “copy voices of many people”.

In a statement, Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: “Recordings that have surfaced this week alongside allegations of serious sexual abuse by a rabbi in London highlight the extent to which abusers can manipulate a culture of respect to serve their own depraved criminality.

“For a rabbi to hold private meetings with women behind closed doors is a transgression of halachah and creates an environment in which abuse can take place.

“As I have stated in the past, I urge victims and anyone aware of abuse to report it without hesitation.”

Rabbi Halpern was embroiled in sexual abuse allegations ten years ago but no charges were brought against him. At the time, he stepped down from the presiding rabbinate of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew congregations under pressure from local rabbis over allegations of inappropriate conduct in counselling sessions.

At that time Rabbi Halpern protested his innocence despite a number of prominent local rabbis, including the influential Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, then head of the London Beth Din, concluding that he was “not fit and proper to act in any rabbinic capacity”.

Following the broadcast of the fresh allegations last week, a video message from one of North-West London’s most prominent rabbis, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, head of the Federation of the Synagogues, said that Rabbi Ehrentreu and those who had acted 10 years ago were owed an apology by some people.

While some at the time had not believed the allegations against Rabbi Halpern, there were others, he said, “who knew this was true but nevertheless they insisted on covering it up for their ulterior motives”.

Rabbi Halpern could not be reached for comment.

Topics:

Charedi

Chaim Halpern