Worker Arrested For Sex Assault At Brooklyn’s Beth Elohim Synagogue
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — An employee at Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, has been arrested for a sexual assault he committed in the synagogue building.
The incident occurred on Saturday night, according to an email the synagogue’s leadership sent congregants on Thursday. The victim was not connected to the synagogue.
“On Saturday night, August 4th, in the middle of the night, a member of CBE’s maintenance staff entered our Temple House,” the email read. “Later that night, he invited an acquaintance of his who had no relation to the CBE community into the building and allegedly sexually assaulted her. He has been arrested and is in police custody.”
The leadership of the synagogue, which is in the neighborhood of Park Slope, has changed the building’s locks, hired extra security, fired the employee and is cooperating with police. The email said that the employee had passed a background check before being hired and had no prior convictions.
“We are angry and saddened by what happened,” the email said. “We are committed to the safety and security of everyone in our buildings, and this employee’s act was a violation of that commitment.”
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.
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.
