Charges of Misconduct Against Rabbi Matis Weinberg (Correction)
In our August 22 issue, the Forward published an article about charges of misconduct against Rabbi Matis Weinberg that were to be considered at a rabbinical tribunal in Jerusalem. The article reported that Weinberg failed to appear at an August 14 hearing and referred to him as “AWOL” and a “no-show.” The Forward subsequently has learned that Weinberg was not summoned to the hearing until August 12, by which time he already was out of the country, having left earlier for a previously planned trip. On the day of the hearing, a representative appeared before the tribunal to explain why Weinberg could not appear on that date.
The Forward also reported, based on an interview with the head of the tribunal, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, that Weinberg was in the United States at the time. We have subsequently learned that Weinberg was in Finland.
The Forward did not intend to imply that Weinberg left Israel after receiving the summons and regrets if any reader took that impression from the article. We also did not intend to imply that Weinberg’s absence from the hearing had any bearing on his guilt or innocence of the charges the tribunal was to consider. As our article reported, Shternbuch did not criticize Weinberg’s nonappearance, voicing confidence that Weinberg would cooperate after he returned to Israel.
Finally, the discussion in the article about other cases of alleged misconduct by rabbis was meant to put the news report in the context of other public controversies on the same subject and not to imply any point of view on Weinberg’s guilt or innocence of the charges the tribunal was to consider.
As the Forward reported in our September 19 issue, the Jerusalem tribunal has dismissed the case, citing a lack of witnesses to recent alleged misconduct.
The September 12 article “Floyd Delaney, Who Embraced Judaism Late in Life, Succumbs at 80” contained incorrect information about Delaney’s marital history. His first wife was June Delaney; his second wife was Letty Lauffer, and his third wife was Ariela Delaney.
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