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June 6, 2003/Sivan 6 5763, Vol. 55, No. 41
Lawsuit filed against Yeshiva U.
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - An Israeli religious school has slapped Yeshiva University with a lawsuit in a contract dispute sparked by charges that a rabbi at the Israeli school sexually molested students.
On June 3, the Derech Etz Chaim yeshiva of Jerusalem filed a breach of contract lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Y.U. financially "crippled" the school by severing ties following allegations that a lecturer made unwanted sexual advances toward students.
The Jerusalem school is seeking a minimum of $75,000 in damages and is asking Judge William Pauley to issue an injunction preventing Yeshiva from making further "disparaging" comments about it, including allegations that the school tried to cover up the controversy.
Y.U. officials did not reply to repeated requests for comment.
The charges come a few weeks into the tenure of Richard Joel as president of Yeshiva University, the flagship institution of modern Orthodoxy.
They also mark the latest sexual misconduct scandal to rock the Orthodox community in several years.
In December 2000, a special commission that Joel chaired found that a leading Orthodox youth group figure had sexually and physically abused teens.
The lawsuit against Yeshiva arises out of a conflict that surfaced in February, when the university said 10 sophomores who studied at Etz Chaim during their freshman year failed to attend some classes upon their return, instead studying with the Etz Chaim rabbi via e-mail.
Yeshiva then halted its year-abroad program, charging the students maintained an untoward "allegiance" to an unnamed rabbi associated with Etz Chaim.
According to press reports, the controversial figure is Rabbi Matis Weinberg, a charismatic, Baltimore-born Torah scholar who allegedly sexually harassed students amid what the university's newspaper called a "cult-like" environment at Etz Chaim.
Neither Yeshiva nor Etz Chaim have confirmed or denied the sexual misconduct charges, and no one has brought legal action against Weinberg.
However, a New York religious court, or Beit Din, heard complaints from current and former students and referred them to an Israeli religious court in May.
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