Orthodox school reports ‘credible’ claims that its former head engaged in ‘sexualized’ communications to students
Robert M. Beren Academy in Houston, Texas. Courtesy of Beren Academy
By Louis Keene December 20, 2023
A private investigation into a leading figure in Orthodox Jewish education has deemed credible allegations of inappropriate behavior, according to the school he once led.
The board president of Robert M. Beren Academy, a K-12 Orthodox school in Houston, wrote in an email to the school community Tuesday that multiple alumni recently came forward with allegations against Rabbi Ari Segal, its head of school from 2005 to 2011.
The alumni said Segal “engaged in sexualized, persistent, emotionally charged communications with them — including communications indicating each were in a relationship with him — while they were students at Beren,” wrote Ethan Ludmir, the board president.
“The interactions described by the former students are antithetical to the mutually respectful, appropriate relationships that are a hallmark of our school experience.”
Segal, who currently runs his own nonprofit consulting firm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation was conducted by Ellen Spalding of the law firm Spalding, Nichols, Lamp and Langlois, who had been hired by the school. She did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the email, Segal declined through his lawyer to participate in the investigation, which is ongoing.
The email did not state how many alumni made accusations against Segal or specify when they made them. Ludmir said in an interview he could not say if the alleged behavior involved physical interactions and declined to provide more details.
The allegations are likely to shake the close-knit world of Orthodox Jewish education, where Segal has established himself as a visionary leader in stops on both coasts and in Texas in a career spanning four decades.
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A reputation for open-mindedness
A Yeshiva University graduate who got his start in education as director of student activities at The Ramaz School, a prestigious Orthodox high school in Manhattan, Segal was quickly promoted to Beren’s head of school after he was hired as its Judaic Studies principal.
Beren Academy head of school Rabbi Jordan Silvestri, who took the position in 2022, directed questions to Ludmir.
Segal moved in 2011 to Los Angeles to take the reins of Shalhevet High School, a progressive, financially troubled outpost that met in a converted single-story hospital building. He transformed Shalhevet into a mainstream modern Orthodox institution on solid financial footing, and oversaw the fundraising for and construction of a 36,000 square-foot, $12 million building that opened in 2015.
Under his leadership, Shalhevet also moved the line of acceptable Orthodox practice, becoming in 2016 the first Orthodox high school to recognize a gay student club.
Segal and the school took heat over the policy. But every year, Orthodox high schools from across the country descended upon Shalhevet for a basketball tournament — a testament, Segal said in a 2022 interview, to the school’s newfound acceptance in the greater Orthodox world.
And he argued for more conversation about sex and sexuality in Orthodox schools.
“Why do we not have serious discussion in our yeshiva day school system about Jewish sexual ethics, the realities of Shabbat observance on a college campus, belief in God, the ubiquitous and insidiousness of pornography or the culture of drinking and drugs?” he wrote in a 2019 New York Jewish Week column about ideas he said he had raised at an Orthodox Union retreat.
Segal moved with his family to Israel in 2018 but continued to lead the school remotely until 2020, when he became Shalhevet’s chief strategy officer. He held that job until March of this year, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In addition to his own firm, Segal is listed as a senior consultant at Sector4 Strategy, a nonprofit consulting firm, on the company’s website and on his LinkedIn profile.
Sector4 chief executive Avi Zimmerman said in an email that Segal was “not an employee, but an associate who provides insight for specific projects,” and that they were unfamiliar with any accusations against him.
“None of our interactions with Ari since we met him in early 2023 would suggest inappropriate conduct,” Zimmerman wrote.
It was unclear whether other schools were involved in the investigation. Neither Rabbi David Block, who took over from Segal as Shalhevet’s head of school, nor Jonathan Cannon, head of Ramaz, responded to requests for comment.
Spalding, the attorney Beren hired to investigate the allegations, did not return a request for comment.
JTA contributed to this report.
Correction: The headline has been clarified to reflect that Ari Segal is Robert M. Beren Academy’s former head of school.
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