Rabbi Barry Freundel Won’t Move Out of Kesher Israel Synagogue’s House
Rabbi Barry Freundel
By Josh Nathan-Kazis January 29, 2015
The Washington, D.C. rabbi charged peeping at his synagogue’s mikveh has refused to move out of the synagogue-owned house where he and his family had been living, the congregation said in an email to congregants today.
Rabbi Barry Freundel has pled not guilty to criminal charges of surreptitiously videotaping women showering and changes at the mikveh adjacent to his synagogue, Congregation Kesher Israel.
Freundel was arrested in October and fired by the synagogue board in late November. The synagogue gave him until January 1 to vacate the rabbinic residence on O Street in Georgetown. According to the synagogue’s email, he has not moved out.
“We were informed in late December that Rabbi Freundel did not have plans to leave the house,” the synagogue wrote to congregants in today’s email. “So, we began informal conversations to resolve this issue with Rabbi Freundel and his attorney, but to no avail.”
Kesher Israel’s contract with Freundel requires that all disputes be handled at a rabbinic court. The synagogue said it had begun proceedings against Freundel at the Beit Din of America, the leading Modern Orthodox rabbinic court.
Kesher Israel is a target of at least two civil lawsuits related to Freundel’s misconduct. Both charge that the synagogue should have taken action earlier to remove him from positions of responsibility.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
