Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Freethinker

Home
Nonreligious
NY rabbi who avoided jail for child sex abuse dies of COVID-19

NY rabbi who avoided jail for child sex abuse dies of COVID-19

Last updated on: November 12, 2020 at 4:13 pm by Barry Duke

NY rabbi who avoided jail for child sex abuse dies of COVID-19 2020-11-12T16:13:34+02:00 Barry Duke

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image via YouTube

BACK in 2012, Rabbi Joel Kolko, above, avoided a jail sentence after pleading guilty to charges of child endangerment – but two years later the religious college at which he worked, Yeshiva Torah Temimah, paid out $2.1 million two of Kolko’s victims following a civil claim for damages.

At the time The New York Post reported that both boys were students aged just six at the yeshiva which retained Kolko as a rabbi despite receiving “multiple credible allegations of pedophilia” over a period of 25 years.

The lawsuit also alleged that while Torah Temimah knew that Kolko was molesting children, it gave him unsupervised access to children, covered up allegations of sexual abuse and threatened families who complained about Kolko.

Yeshiva Torah Temimah announced in May 2006 that it had put Kolko on “administrative leave.” But an April 2008 article in the New York Jewish Week later revealed that the school had continued to pay Kolko for many months afterward, in amounts of up to $6,000 per month, as the criminal and civil cases proceeded.

Three other lawsuits, filed by men who claim the rabbi molested them as kids, are pending, but Kolko will never know the outcome: he died in Israel of COVID-19. according to The New York Post.

But Niall MacGiollabhui, a Manhattan lawyer who represents plaintiff David Framowitz, said:

It won’t affect the case. At the end of the day, there’s little denying Kolko did what he did. My client will testify. I’m sure some people think he [Kolko] has evaded a full measure of justice, but I can tell you this: his epitaph has not been written, and it’s going to be written by his victims. How he will be remembered is going to be determined by his victims.

The other alleged victims include Baruch Sandhaus and an anonymous “John Doe.”

Said Avi Moskowitz, a lawyer reprersenting Yeshiva Torah Temimah:

I heard that he was sick. He was on a ventilator.

Kolko’s death complicates the cases, Moskowitz said:

You have grown men who claim that 40 or 50 years ago something happened, and now the person alleged to have done it is not available.

Former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes cut a deal with Kolko in 2012 requiring him to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment while sparing him both jail time and having to register as a sex offender.

Ben Hirsch, co-founder of the group Survivors for Justice, was critical of Hynes for cutting a deal with Kolko.

It’s tragic that Charles Hynes chose not to prosecute this case in 2008, when he would have achieved an almost-guaranteed guilty verdict.

The 2014 settlement had the yeshiva admitting no guilt but paying one student $900,000 and the other $1.35 million. The settlements in the Kolko case were the first ever paid by a yeshiva to students who were sexually abused by a staff member.

Well-known victims’ advocate Rabbi Yosef Blau of Yeshiva University said at the time:

This is unheard of. I am not aware of any other settlements.

Rabbi Blau said that he is hopeful that the settlement will prompt yeshivas to takes allegations of sexual abuse against students more seriously.

Image via YouTube

Bizarrely, Catholic League’s Bill Donohue, above, used the settlement to accuse both the Daily News and The New York Times of “anti-Catholic bias” for failing to report on the pay-out.

Donohue claimed that both papers were quick to pounce on any stories of sexual abuse by priests and wondered why a multi-million dollar settlement in the Kolko case wasn’t considered newsworthy.

And they expect us to believe that there is no anti-Catholic animus at the Daily News and the New York Times! They prove us right all the time.

The Daily News responded a day later with an editorial acknowledging that not covering the Kolko settlement was a major error in judgment, but adamantly rejecting the notion of any anti-Catholic bias at the paper.

Like any media organization, The News sometimes misses stories. This was one of them – and it was especially significant for a publication that has campaigned for reform of New York State statutes of limitation on criminal and civil cases against those who sexually abuse minors.

Pointing to its broad coverage of child sexual abuse in all religious and demographic groups and the significant space devoted by the Daily News to Catholic causes and issues, the editorial concludes by branding Donohue’s allegation as “simply false.”

In addition to accusing the newspaper of being prejudiced against Catholics, Donohue observed that the deliberate omission of the Kolko story was yet another example of The New York Times’ policy of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse committed by rabbis.

Quite frankly, the Times has a history of omitting stories on rabbis who molest youngsters, something one of its previous public editors even admitted to me. Yet little has changed.

This is simply untrue. Over the years the Times has covered the Weberman trial, the Kolko case and allegations of abuse at Yeshiva University.

Image via Flickr

Nechemya Weberman, above, was a member of the Satmar Hasidic community of Williamsburg. An unlicensed therapist and “respected” member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, he was sentenced in 2013 to 103 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a young woman, beginning the attacks when she was 12.

A lengthy 2012 Times article detailed the consequences Chasidic Jews can face when reporting incidents of sexual abuse while a 2013 article addressed the arrest of a rabbi who abused three of his teenage students.

• Please report any typos/errors to [email protected]

If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee – and boy, do I get through a LOT of coffee keeping this site active – please click the link below.

I’d love a cup of coffee

Previous Post

November 11, 2020

Catholic League furious over Catholic/Jewish sketch in 'Family Guy'

Next Post

November 12, 2020 UK Jesus junkie, silenced by police, awarded more than £1,200

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Archive My Atheism News Opinion Reviews Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 March 2007 April 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the Bible say about "bearing each other's burdens"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ignore troubles Help each other Complain Only help yourself

Books by This Author Books by The Freethinker

See All Titles »