Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Boston Teacher Refuses Deal in Sex Abuse Case

A rabbi who taught at a Boston-area Jewish day school has refused a plea deal over sexual abuse charges.

Rabbi Stanley Z. Levitt of Philadelphia has been accused of molesting three former students at the Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass. The allegations date back to 1975-76. He was indicted in Boston two years ago.

Levitt, 65, on Wednesday rejected a plea bargain in which he had agreed to plead guilty. The rejection of the plea came at the last minute, as his accusers waited to hear his admission of guilt, the Boston Globe reported.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball criticized Levitt for changing his mind at the last minute, according to the newspaper.

Levitt’s attorney told the Globe that his client had agreed to the plea bargain in order to stay out of jail and to protect his health. But his client held on to his claim of innocence.

Levitt taught at the school for three years during the mid-1970s. He later moved to Philadelphia, where he was charged with molesting three boys from an Orthodox Jewish community.

A trial date has been set for May 14.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version