commentary by Patrick H. Moore
As many a man of the cloth has discovered, being the spiritual leader of a congregation that is 50 per cent female can result in temptations of the flesh. Although I’m aware of no statistics that satisfactorily reveal what percentage of clerics succumb and dally where they should not be dallying, I suspect that if the statistics were available, and were revealed, the percentage would be rather high, and perhaps shockingly high.
One cleric who just fell from grace rather dramatically is the highly respected Rabbi Barry Freundel, the spiritual leader of a Modern Orthodox congregation in Georgetown called Kesher Israel.
If the allegations are correct, it appears that Rabbi Freundel cagily came up with a technique that allowed him to enjoy endless sexual stimulation without ever laying a hand (or anything else) on any of the fairer members of his congregation.
To satisfy his powerful desire to view naked woman, he took full advantage of a certain “spiritual cleansing ritual” of no doubt ancient origins, that according to at least one report, he personally instituted at his synagogue.
The ritual he exploited utilizes a ritual bath known as mikvah. The Jewish Daily Forward writes:
Freundel’s synagogue, Kesher Israel, has a mikvah, or ritual bath, next door. In Orthodox Judaism, women are expected to immerse themselves in the mikvah each month.
Kesher Israel’s mikvah is small, with three changing rooms and a single ritual bath. Men and women use the facility at separate designated hours.
The bath is now the only Orthodox-run mikvah in Washington.
Thus, it appears that Rabbi Freundel went to some pains to establish this ritual at his synagogue, its ostensible purpose being to augment the purity of his congregation.
The Rabbi would still be enjoying the fruits of his subterfuge in the privacy of his own computer (and/or other electronic devices) had he not slipped up and been spotted by a female member of Kesher Israel while “setting up a clock radio that also contained a motion detecting hidden camera inside the mikvah”, according to WTTG. When confronted with the awful truth, Rabbi Freundel lamely explained that “the device was to help ventilate the room.”
The miffed congregant was not buying it, however; one thing led to another and before the Rabbi knew what hit him, the police had knocked (pounded) on the door of his O Street home.
Sasha Goldstein writes for the New York Daily News:
Police swarmed Rabbi Barry Freundel’s O Street home Tuesday morning and spent hours investigating, removing hard drives and computers, witnesses told WTTG-TV. The 62-year-old has served as rabbi at Kesher Israel, some five blocks from his home, since 1987.
Freundel was charged with “electronic voyeurism” and appeared in court on Wednesday.
Calling the arrest a “painful moment” for the congregation, Kesher Israel’s board of directors announced Tuesday evening that Freundel has been suspended without pay. The board was first to learn of “potentially inappropriate activity” concerning Freundel and “quickly alerted the appropriate officials,” a statement from the congregation reads. “Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so.”
It’s important to note that Rabbi Freundel isn’t just any old rabbi. Among other things, he sits on the executive committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, which is affiliated with the Modern Orthodox rabbinical association, and he has served as a consultant to the ethics review board of the National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health.
The Jewish Daily Forward points out that his synagogue is “one of Washington D.C.’s most prominent Modern Orthodox synagogues.” Congregation members include “Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and ex-Sen. Joseph Lieberman.” Nevertheless, the Rabbi was reportedly led out of his Georgetown home in handcuffs on Tuesday morning, according to neighbors.
At least one female congregation member, who has asked not to be identified, has spoken up.
“I feel incredibly uncomfortable and my privacy violated. It’s just really sad that such a beautiful thing is now kind of tainted and turned into something that’s quite ugly.”
Kesher Israel has hired the heavy-weight law firm Gibson Dunn law firm to handle legal fallout from the Rabbi’s arrest. This is the firm that represented New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the aftermath of the so-called Bridgegate scandal regarding questionable lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.
For the Rabbi’s sake, we can only hope that the forensic examiners do not discover any images of under-aged females in his computer files. Should this happen, there is some possibility he could face a Manufacture of Child Pornography charge which, if it went Federal, probably carries at least a 10-year-mandatory minimum sentence.
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Oh what tangled webs we mortals weave! Historically and symbolically, this rather sad and pathetic case hearkens back to the legendary tale of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God up on the mountainside and then returning to camp only to discover that his Chosen People are right smack in the middle of one king-hell orgy worshipping the Golden Calf, partying to beat the band, and screwing everything in sight.
It’s interesting to note that one of the key purposes of all three great Western religions – Christianity, Judaism and the Muslim faith, is to elevate mankind once and for all out of the nether regions of unchecked promiscuity, which in the ancient world often took the form of periodic orgies.
This is epitomized in the Golden Calf story; as soon as their spiritual leader Moses turns his back and heads up the mountainside for a personal interview with God, his people “orgy” like there’s no tomorrow.
Religion has always had practical purpose to go along with its spiritual side, and probably its most important practical function has always been to protect the sanctity of the family.
Despite our wayward desires, and many of us have them, a fair percentage of us “sinners” manage to repress our promiscuous urges quite successfully. Others do not. Sadly, should the charges against him prove valid, Rabbi Freundel will go down for all posterity as one who fell into the latter category.