Rabbi Barry Freundel Sentence Upheld by Judge in Mikveh Peeping
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A judge upheld the six-and-a-half-year prison sentence of Rabbi Barry Freundel, the Washington rabbi who secretly videotaped dozens of women undressing in the mikvah.
The ruling Friday in a Washington D.C. federal court came in response to Freundel’s appeal of the sentence levied in May after he pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism. His appeal argued that he should be sentenced for one, rather than 52, offenses. However, the judge on Friday said each victim should be acknowledged separately.
According to the Towson Patch, Freundel, 63, will continue serving his sentence in a federal prison. Previously, a judge granted his request to be transferred from a Washington, D.C. jail to a prison with religious rehabilitative programs.
The longtime rabbi of Kesher Israel, a prominent Orthodox congregation in Washington, Freundel was arrested last October on charges of voyeurism. Before his arrest, he was active in the Rabbinical Council of America, known for his expertise on conversion to Judaism.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
