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December 15, 2000/Kislev 18, 5761, Vol. 53, No.12
Jewish groups begin to shine light on rabbinic misconduct
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - For those who look up to the American Jewish clergy, it has not been a good year.
Last week, one of the Reform movement's most prominent rabbis was suspended from the movement's rabbinical association for past sexual misconduct.
Shortly after his suspension from the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, widely respected as a Jewish thinker and teacher, resigned as president of the movement's Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
The news about Zimmerman came on the heels of several other widely publicized incidents involving Jewish clergy:
- A Reform rabbi in Cherry Hill, N.J., faces a possible death sentence for allegedly hiring people to murder his wife in 1994.
- A Conservative cantor in the Chicago area was arrested over Thanksgiving weekend for alleged involvement in a prostitution ring.
- The Orthodox Union has just received a report investigating its handling of allegations that a New Jersey rabbi working for the movement's national youth group sexually harassed and molested teens. The report's findings and recommendations will not be made public until late this month.
The wave of incidents is refocusing attention on an issue that has come into public view only in recent years.
In the past, rabbinic misconduct - particularly sexual misconduct - was rarely discussed publicly. Many advocates for victims complained that rabbinical associations were more interested in protecting their members than the people they hurt.
Today there are stirrings of change. Leaders of the rabbinic organizations say misconduct remains rare, but in the past five years, three of the four denominations have developed new guidelines - or modified old ones - for addressing misconduct.
In addition, some rabbinic seminaries are raising the issues for rabbis-in-training, both before and after ordination.
It is unclear what overall impact such changes are having, since no one appears to be tracking the issue or monitoring how the new guidelines are affecting the number of complaints or the actions taken against rabbis.
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