Rabbi Mordechai Willig, The Rabbi Baruch Lanner Bet Din and Lingering Questions
Protect Children
The Jewish Week (NY)
(01/31/2003)
An Injustice That Still Lingers
Gary Rosenblatt - Editor and Publisher
Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a highly respected rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva
University, has an opportunity to make amends this weekend for a
mistake in judgment (at best) made more than 13 years ago that hurt a
number of people - and the reputation of the bet din, or religious
court - in ways that are still being felt.
Rabbi Willig is scheduled to speak at Congregation Beth Abraham in
Bergenfield, N.J., on Sunday evening on the subject of Jewish
parenting. For those who have been upset about the role he played as
the chief judge in a 1989 bet din dealing with Rabbi Baruch Lanner and
charges that the youth leader was involved in abusive behavior toward
teens, having Rabbi Willig speak about parenting in Bergen County, the
epicenter of the Lanner scandal, is like waving a red flag in front of
a bull.
Rabbi Lanner was sentenced in June to seven years in prison for the
sexual abuse of two female students. He is free on appeal.
After numerous attempts to have Rabbi Willig either withdraw from the
program or promise to use his religious authority and influence to
take responsibility for past actions and speak out on the subject, an
ad hoc group of 17 former NCSY teens and/or employees has written a
letter to the local Orthodox synagogues asking them to "withdraw"
their "sponsorship of the evening." The 17 say they represent victims
and their families, as well as many others who chose not to go public.
Their decision to go public apparently was made reluctantly, after a
five-hour private meeting with Rabbi Willig and other negotiating
attempts were inconclusive. A copy of the letter the group wrote to
the synagogue presidents, dated Jan. 24 and shared with the press,
outlines their grievances and concerns.
They recount how Ellie Hiller, then in his mid-20s and an employee of
Rabbi Lanner for several years at NCSY, the youth arm of the Orthodox
Union, wrote a letter in the summer of 1989 to members of the Orthodox
community of Teaneck recounting Rabbi Lanner's abusive behavior.
Hiller cited numerous examples as proof that Rabbi Lanner was unfit to
assume the pulpit of the local Orthodox shul that was considering
hiring him.
Rabbi Lanner, claiming his name had been maligned, brought Hiller to
the three-rabbi bet din. The court's ruling was never published or
made public, but Hiller was forced to write a letter of apology -
apparently drafted and edited by Rabbis Willig and Lanner - saying
that his initial letter's characterization of Rabbi Lanner was
"false." And on the Shabbat after the bet din was held, and before the
final decision had been made, a number of Orthodox rabbis in Bergen
County took to the pulpit and publicly chastised Hiller for writing
the first letter.
According to the letter from the group of 17 and other accounts, the
bet din was a travesty of due process. The letter asserts that Rabbi
Willig demanded Hiller write a letter of apology even before the
hearing took place; that Hiller, the defendant in the case, was barred
from the proceedings except for his testimony; that several witnesses
later said they felt they were the ones on trial; and that one teen
witness said that after Rabbi Willig asked her if Rabbi Lanner had
raped her and she said no, Rabbi Willig just shrugged his shoulders.
In addition, Hiller has said that Rabbi Willig spent the last two
hours of the one-day trial heatedly chastising him for besmirching the
honor of the rabbinate.
One of the other judges, Rabbi Yosef Blau, also of Yeshiva University,
later became convinced that witnesses had been tampered with,
pressured not to appear and/or lied to the bet din. Rabbi Blau sought
to reconvene the court and notify officials of the OU but without
success.
Rabbi Willig has refused to discuss the case publicly, and does not
speak to the press. Last March, though, he gave a "Torah perspective"
on the topic of sexual abuse at a workshop for professionals and
volunteers at Mount Sinai Hospital, sponsored by its SAVI (Sexual
Assault and Violence Intervention) program. It was open to the public,
and I attended. The rabbi asserted that Jewish law was "unequivocal in
its condemnation" of various forms of this "terrible crime." He was
insistent that victims be supported and protected, and that
perpetrators be held responsible for their crimes because "there is
zero tolerance in Jewish law."
Though he was slated to take questions at the end of his presentation,
Rabbi Willig begged off, left in a hurry and, when I caught up with
him in the hallway, gently but firmly refused to speak with me about
the seeming contradiction between his message and his own behavior in
the '89 bet din.
What is so frustrating to his critics is that he increasingly is seen
as an expert on abuse when, in at least in this one key case, he acted
to protect the abuser rather than the abused. Just last month Rabbi
Willig addressed a West Coast OU conference on "Halachic Parameters of
Domestic/Sexual Abuse."
At the five-hour meeting several weeks ago with some of his critics,
Rabbi Willig said that the bet din did conclude Rabbi Lanner was
guilty of physically abusing teens, according to Howard Sragow of the
Bronx, a former NCSY adviser who was at the meeting.
"He [Rabbi Willig] told us they decided to divulge that information
only on a need-to-know basis," presumably to Rabbi Lanner's employers
at the OU, Sragow said.
This news is even more disturbing than the notion that the bet din was
duped. To see and hear evidence of what Rabbi Lanner was doing to
young people and not speak out about it or ensure that he was removed
from his position is at best a monumental error in judgment. Further,
given its public censure of Ellie Hiller, the bet din apparently
concluded that publicly criticizing a rabbi is a more serious offense
than child abuse. Or as the letter from the 17 people this week put
it, "in the end, the desire to protect a colleague's reputation trumps
parents' rights to protect their children."
This is a grievous wrong that has festered under the surface for more
than 13 years and finally may be coming to a head at what could be a
public confrontation Sunday evening.
One irony here is that Rabbi Willig has played a key role in reforming
the Bet Din of America, the religious court of the Rabbinical Council
of America, the rabbinic arm of the OU. Thanks in large part to his
efforts, the court now allows and at times relies on the expert
witness of outside specialists, including psychologists.
Perhaps Rabbi Willig has put his unfortunate experience with the ad
hoc 1989 bet din to good use. But the fact is that until now, he has
never expressed regret, explained or taken any responsibility for the
harm caused to victims (including those from after the 1989 ruling,
when presumably the bet din had cleared Rabbi Lanner of any serious
wrongdoing). He has the opportunity to do that Sunday evening.
Last March, at the SAVI session, Rabbi Willig spoke forcefully about
"the obligation of the bet din to protest and uproot" sexual abuse and
harassment. "There is no room for equivocation," he said.
One hopes he will take his own words to heart. Perhaps he can explain
the disconnect between his powerful rhetoric and his own past actions.
If that's not possible, a simple but direct apology - and statement
about Rabbi Lanner's guilt - this weekend would help restore faith in
Rabbi Willig's judgment, and in the authority of the rabbinate and bet
din he so fiercely sought to protect.
Gary Rosenblatt's e-mail address is Ga...@jewishweek.org.
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.01.31/news4.html
The Forward, January 31, 2003 (NY)
Critics Charge Rabbinic Court Covered Up Lanner Abuse
By NACHA CATTAN
FORWARD STAFF
Nineteen critics of convicted sex offender and former Orthodox Union
youth leader Rabbi Baruch Lanner have signed a letter excoriating a
respected rabbi, saying that he withheld for more than a decade a 1989
rabbinical court ruling that found Lanner guilty of abuse.
The January 24 letter accuses Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a highly
regarded spiritual leader at Yeshiva University's rabbinical seminary,
of sharing the rabbinical court's findings against Lanner only with
select individuals who apparently "did nothing to remove him from
children." It also accuses Willig of pressuring one of Lanner's
accusers, Elie Hiller, to write a letter of apology.
According to the letter, Willig, who in 1989 led the New Jersey-based
rabbinical court, or beit din, fed the public perception that Lanner
was innocent while Lanner continued to have contact with children.
Signed mostly by alleged Lanner victims and their families, the letter
comes after a meeting earlier this month in which attendees say Willig
stated, for perhaps the first time in so public a forum, that Lanner
was found guilty of some of the charges brought against him in 1989.
"Rabbi Willig prioritized the reputation of a rabbinic colleague - a
colleague who he knew was abusing kids - ahead of the safety of
children," says the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the
Forward.
Willig, head of the Wexner Kollel Elyon, a prestigious post-rabbinical
institute at Y.U.'s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological
Seminary, denied the charges in a January 28 statement sent to the
Forward. The statement was signed by Willig and the two other members
of the rabbinical court, Rabbi Yosef Blau, spiritual counselor to
students at Y.U.'s seminary and Rabbi Aaron Levine, professor and
chair of the economics department at Y.U.
"Several weeks ago, we met at length with Elie Hiller and a group of
concerned individuals to discuss their perceptions, concerns, and
expectations," the rabbis say in their statement. "The group conveyed
to us then its strong feeling that some perceive that in 1989 our bet
din had vindicated Baruch Lanner and vilified Elie Hiller. On the
contrary, we never intended this regretful result. In fact, we
informed the group that Lanner was guilty of a number of charges.
"Our commitment to meet with Elie and members of the group remains
steadfast. We do not think it is appropriate to comment publicly at
this time."
And in a separate development, famed Harvard University law professor
Alan Dershowitz has been serving as a consultant to Lanner's defense
team, according to Dershowitz's brother Nathan. Nathan Dershowitz is
one of Lanner's full-time attorneys. Lanner is appealing his July
conviction that he sexually abused two teenage girls while he was
their principal during the 1990s at Hillel Yeshiva high school in
Ocean Township, N.J.
Lanner, 54, of Fair Lawn, N.J., received a seven-year prison sentence
and is out on bail pending an appeal. Nathan Dershowitz said his
brother Alan might join Lanner's defense team full time. "It depends,"
he said, without elaborating.
The letter criticizing Willig is addressed to four Orthodox synagogues
in New Jersey. It urges them to reconsider their sponsorship of a
February 2 lecture at Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, N.J.,
in which Willig will speak on Jewish parenting.
A report prepared in 2000 by a special commission appointed to
investigate the O.U.'s role in the Lanner affair stated that Lanner
sexually abused women and teenage girls and physically abused boys and
girls while he was a leader for decades at the O.U.'s National
Conference of Synagogue Youth. The report also cited the failure of
members of the O.U. and NCSY leadership to take effective action,
allowing Lanner's conduct to "continue unchecked for many years."
The commission report also stated, for the first time in public, that
while the beit din exonerated Lanner of some of the charges, "it also
found some troubling allegations to be true." The commission found
that members of the O.U. and NCSY leadership "misrepresented" the
findings of the beit din ruling as being "an affirmative approval for
Lanner to continue his employment with NCSY."
Before the commission report, the beit din had only shared its
findings against Lanner with certain organizational and community
leaders involved with the employment of Lanner.
Willig is one of three candidates frequently mentioned as possible
successors to Rabbi Norman Lamm as the spiritual head, or rosh
yeshiva, of the Y.U. seminary, according to sources within the
seminary. Willig, spiritual leader of Young Israel of Riverdale, N.Y.,
is considered one of the world's leading authorities on issues
pertaining to the agunah, a Jewish woman who cannot obtain a religious
divorce because of a recalcitrant husband.
The chairman of the board of Y.U.'s seminary, Julius Berman, lauded
Willig's role in the Jewish community. "He's a phenomenal rosh
yeshiva," Berman said. "He's helping mold the future leadership of
Modern Orthodoxy and he's doing a real good job."
Nevertheless, at least one signatory of the January 24 letter called
for the ouster of Willig from his post at the seminary. "He is
culpable for allowing Lanner to continue," said Shayndee Hiller of
Hollywood, Fla., the mother of Elie Hiller. "I think he should step
down."
Rabbi Moshe Tendler, professor of biology at Yeshiva College and
professor of Talmud at the seminary, defended Willig and the rest of
the beit din. Tendler said if indeed Lanner was found guilty of abuse
by the rabbinical court it was up to the O.U., and not the court, to
follow through with the ruling by keeping Lanner away from children.
But Tendler added that if members of the beit din convicted Lanner and
were informed that Lanner continued to have contact with children - as
the letter writers allege - "it certainly would've been their
responsibility to do something about it."
But Tendler also believes that Lanner's sentence was "overly severe,"
especially since Lanner now comes under the provisions of New Jersey's
Megan's Law - requiring him to register as a sex offender when he is
released from prison. "He has been lumped together with the Catholic
Church scandal," Tendler said.
The letter regarding Willig was drafted after the January 8 meeting
between members of the 1989 beit din and Lanner critics, most of whom
have spoken out against the O.U.'s handling of the Lanner incident.
According to those attending the meeting, Willig stated publicly, to
everyone's surprise, that the rabbinical court found Lanner guilty of
some of the charges. His statement caused those in the audience to
question why the results of the beit din hearing were never made
public.
The letter urges the four Orthodox synagogues in New Jersey to pull
their sponsorship of the February 2 lecture unless Willig apologizes
and addresses these matters. The other three synagogues, all located
in Teaneck, N.J., are Congregation Rinat Yisrael, Congregation Keter
Torah and Congregation Bnai Yeshurun. Bnai Yeshurun has refused to
pull its sponsorship, according to the synagogue's rabbi, Steven
Pruzansky. "It's not even being considered," he said. Pruzansky called
the letter "highly inappropriate."
"It seems discordant he's giving speeches on parenting," said one
signatory of the letter, former NCSY participant Howard Sragow of the
Bronx, who testified in the 1989 beit din. "Obviously the most basic
responsibility of parenting is keeping children safe, and it seems to
me he has little authority to speak on this issue."
But those who signed the letter also distinguished between Willig and
the other two members of the beit din. They claim that unlike Blau,
who has been a highly vocal critic of Lanner since the beit din
hearing, Willig has not come forward until now.
"Of the three of them, Rabbi Blau has done the most to try and right
the past," said another signatory of the letter, Jordan Hirsch of
Teaneck, N.J.
The January 24 letter also protests Willig's actions during the beit
din hearing. It claims Willig demanded that Hiller, Lanner's main
accuser, publicly apologize for lambasting Lanner in a letter even
before Willig heard any testimony. After the hearing, Willig and
Lanner drafted a letter of apology for Hiller to sign, in which Hiller
apologizes for "brutal language" and "unintentional factual errors."
During the hearing, Willig barred witnesses from hearing rebuttals
against their testimony and credibility, the letter states.
Protect Children
Willig talk draws protests because of Lanner link
Joanne Palmer
A controversy with its origin in the Baruch Lanner affair is arousing
strong emotion in parts of the Orthodox community in Teaneck and
next-door Bergenfield. On Sunday at 8 p.m., Rabbi Mordechai Willig, a
member of the 1989 bet din, or court, called by Rabbi Lanner, is
scheduled to speak about chinuch habonim "loosely translated as Jewish
parenting " at Cong. Beth Abraham in Bergenfield. Some current and
former area residents are protesting his talk because of his
connection with that case. Willig and Rabbi Herschel Schachter are
both listed as speakers at Beth Abraham; both scholars are on the
faculty and roshei yeshiva at Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac
Elchanan Theological Seminary. They are members of TorahWeb, a group
of RIETS faculty members whose writings are available on the Internet.
Their talk is being sponsored by Beth Abraham and congregations Bnai
Yeshurun, Keter Torah, Rinat Yisrael, and Tzemach Dovid, all in
Teaneck.
Lanner is the former Orthodox Union employee who has been accused of
sexually and physically abusing some of the teenagers with whom he
worked for more than 30 years. In June he was convicted of sexually
abusing two young women who were students at the Hillel Academy in
Deal, where he had been principal, in the mid-1990s; he is now out on
bail pending appeal.
In 1989, Lanner sought to clear his name against allegations of abuse
made by Elie Hiller, then of Teaneck, who had circulated a letter
making public some of the charges that had simmered against the
charismatic rabbi. The bet din, according to the NCSY Special
Commission the OU had charged in 2000 with unraveling the story,
-concluded that Hiller's allegations were "unsubstantiated or highly
exaggerated," although it also concluded that Lanner had kneed teens
in the groin, used "salty" language and engaged in
"crude talk with sexual overtones." According to the commission's
report, when its members interviewed witnesses, Many of the members of
the OU and NCSY leadership familiar with Lanner, as well as all the
members of the beis din, told the commission that, in their view,
Lanner either engaged in conduct unbecoming a rabbi, was not someone
they would have hired or was not someone they wanted their children to
have as a role model.
The decision, or psak, of the 1989 bet din was not made public;
instead, it was released on a "need to know" basis. Instead,
misinformation abounded. The NCSY report found that a senior
professional of the OU and NCSY misrepresented the findings of the
1989 beis din as being an affirmative approval for Lanner to continue
his employment with NCSY. This individual also falsely suggested that
the beis din was responsible for continuing to monitor Lanner. This
unfounded and exclusive reliance on the beis din caused the
organization to abdicate its responsibility to investigate Lanner's
conduct and to take action against him.
The description of the beis din's September 1989 psak (the beis din
chose not to issue its psak in written form) as a complete exoneration
of Lanner and as a mandate for allowing Lanner to continue his work
for NCSY was simply not true....
These inaccurate representations about the findings and role of the
beis
din continued over the course of the next 10 years.
In 2000, Gary Rosenblatt of New York's Jewish Week wrote an article
about Lanner; it caused an uproar. Lanner's employment with the OU
ended the day after the article appeared; the OU commissioned the
report, assembled by a group headed by Richard Joel, now head of
Hillel and soon to become president of YU. The article led to changes
at the OU and to the court case in Monmouth County.
When Willig's talk in Bergenfield was announced, a group opposed to
his
appearance tried to have it stopped. People on both sides set up a
marathon meeting where they attempted to come to some understanding.
Despite what have been described as good-faith efforts to reach a
compromise, none was reached. People on both sides say they hope to
continue the conversation, but so far scheduling difficulties are said
to have interfered.
This weekend, The Jewish Standard obtained a copy of an open letter
being sent to the presidents of Beth Abraham, Bnai Yeshurun, Rinat
Yisrael, and Keter Torah. The letter, signed by 19 people, all of whom
have had some connection with NCSY, says, "We are writing because, in
light of Rabbi Willig's public history regarding parenting issues, we
do not believe that he is an appropriate presenter on the topic
[Jewish parenting] and we want to urge you to reconsider your shul's
sponsorship."
The letter goes on to say that the 1989 bet din demanded that Hiller
publicly apologize for his statements, apparently prejudging the case
in
Lanner's favor. Had he permitted the Beit Din to function fairly,
perhaps Lanner could have been stopped a decade and many victims
earlier. More troubling is Rabbi Willig's silence since the
proceeding, which fed (and continues to feed) the impression his Beit
Din created: that the Beit Din vindicated Lanner and found against
Elie Hiller....
Actually, the letter continues, the Beit Din found Lanner guilty on
three charges, including physically abusing children entrusted to his
care.... The Beit Din knowingly sealed its psak to protect Lanner's
reputation, refusing to release its written decision publicly....
The writers say that they have chosen to speak now because Rabbi
Willig has delivered several addresses over the last two-and-a-half
years on issues of child-rearing and/or sexual abuse. He has had ample
opportunity to share with the community the hard lessons of that Beit
Din from long ago. But he has never sought to explain his actions or
offer his perspective on what happened at the 1989 Beit Din and
afterward, so that as a community we can make sure the mistakes are
not repeated.
The Jewish Standard telephoned Willig to ask if he would care to
address the situation. He faxed a statement to the newspaper. Signed
by all three of the rabbis who sat on the bet din "the other two are
Yosef Blau and Aaron Levine" it reads:
Several weeks ago, we met at length with Elie Hiller and a group of
concerned individuals to discuss their perceptions, concerns, and
expectations. The group conveyed to us then its strong feeling that
some perceive that in 1989 our bet din had vindicated Baruch Lanner
and vilified Elie Hiller. On the contrary, we never intended this
regretful result. In fact, we informed the group that Lanner was
guilty of a number of charges.
Our commitment to meet with Elie and members of the group remains
steadfast. We do not think it is appropriate to comment publicly at
this
time.
Over the phone, Willig said that he is not comfortable talking to the
press, but Leon Meltzer, who has known all three of the rabbis on the
bet din since the mid-1980s and counts them all as friends, acted as
his spokesman.
About the three rabbis "these are three good guys" Meltzer said. No
malice was ever intended. They are respected by their communities,
they are respected by their students, they are respected by their
colleagues. They would never defend actions they had found to be
wrong.
Elie Hiller demonstrated a lot of courage in stepping forward, he
added.
And unfortunately, in the aftermath of the din Torah he paid a price
for
his heroism.
Emphasizing the NCSY Commission's report on the bet din, he pointed
out that the bet din, which met only for the Lanner case, had
disbanded. It had no ongoing role as Lanner's overseer. What followed
the issuing of the psak was miscommunication, according to Meltzer.
He said that the rabbis, who do not live in New Jersey and do not move
in the circles frequently by NCSY members or their parents, did not
know that their psak was misunderstood. "I never heard these stories
either" he said.
As far as I know, no one ever told them. Two of the shul presidents
who received the letters did not return the Standard's telephone
calls, and one is out of the country. Mike Roth of Bnai Yeshurun did
return a call. He said, "I would not pull my sponsorship. There's not
enough time to investigate, and I feel no need to investigate. I don't
feel that we have enough information at this point to do anything.
This is
opening up an old wound. It's finished. Lanner's going to jail. I
would just drop it at this point. There's no proof in the letter, and
no one in any other community is making an issue of it. Inasmuch as
that's the case, we're not looking into it any further."
Rabbi Michael Taubes of Kehillas Tzemach Dovid, who is also menahel of
the Mesivta of North Jersey, was forceful in his disapproval of the
situation, and of this newspaper for writing about it.
"It seems that certain people have a grievance in terms of Rabbi
Willig" he said. "The letter wasn't addressed to the newspaper, and it
shouldn't have been sent to the newspaper. I'm sure lots of people
write letters about lots of things that don't appear in the newspaper.
In what way is this a public issue?"
He dismissed the controversy as having no merit. "I don't know if
there is a real issue" he said. "It seems to me that people are
looking for a platform to make a big issue. The letter indicated that
the people who were involved spoke with Rabbi Willig in person. Okay,
they weren't satisfied with the response. How does that make it a
public issue? What does that have to do with the rest of the
community?"
"Whoever sent in the letter sent it in because he or she or they knew
that this is a way for it to become a public issue. I believe they're
looking for a soapbox, and I find this is wrong."
The people who signed the letter are all connected to NCSY, mainly as
former members or staffers. They are Deborah and Todd Baron, Teaneck;
Robert Dinerstein, Commack, N.Y.; Daniel Geretz, Highland Park;
Nechama Goodman, Bergenfield; Shayndee and Dani Hiller, Hollywood,
Fla.; Jordan Hirsch, Teaneck; Mindy Chassin Horowitz, New York, N.Y.;
Marcie Lenk, Cambridge, Mass.; Laurie and Steve Kurs, East Windsor;
Tova and Avi Sacher, North Miami Beach, Fla.; Aubrey Sharfman, Beverly
Hills, Calif.; Allen Sragow, Long Beach, Calif.; Howard Sragow, Bronx,
N.Y.; Murray Sragow, Teaneck; and Daniel Wildman, Edison.