A Brooklyn rabbi and his yeshiva were hit with a $20 million civil lawsuit earlier this month. The suit alleges a pattern of sexual abuse on the part of the teacher, coupled with concealment and intimidation on the part of school officials.
According to David Framowitz, a 48-year Israeli who is named as John Doe Number 1 in the suit, Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, 60, began sexually assaulting him when him was he was a seventh grader at the Yeshiva-Mesivta Torah Temimah, an Orthodox school located on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. Framowitz alleges that the abuse continued for two years.
His claims were outlined in an article in the May 22 issue of New York magazine.
Framowitz’s lawyer reportedly claims that there are at least 15 victims, and alleges that officials at the school, formerly called Torah Vodaath, coerced families into burying the accusations against the rabbi. According to New York magazine, Kolko has been put on leave.
The school has denied it tried to intimidate the rabbi’s accusers.
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