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WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, D.C., who was convicted for secretly videotaping women in his synagogue’s mikvah, is set to be released on Wednesday. Amy Zubrensky, an assistant U.S. attorney, alerted Freundel’s victims on Wednesday with an email. Because of “swiftly moving events,” she wrote, “I just…
A Washington, D.C. synagogue has reached a settlement with people who filed a class action lawsuit after the synagogue’s former rabbi secretly videotaped women in the mikvah ritual bath. If the court approves the settlement, the cases would be resolved on a class-wide basis for $14.25 million, rather than the $100 million originally sought, according…
On Tuesday this week, the Catholic Church was once again thrust into the limelight when a grand jury released a scathing report. The report documented horrific torture and sexual abuse of over 1,000 children at the hands of 300 priests in six of eight Pennsylvania dioceses. It also detailed the extreme extent the Church went…
Updated 4:35 p.m. (JTA) — The jail sentence of Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, D.C. who secretly filmed women in his synagogue’s mikvah, has been shortened by over a year due to good behavior, his lawyer said. Freundel’s 6 1/2-year sentence also was reduced because he participated as an instructor…
A new play based on the real-life scandal involving Barry Freundel, the Orthodox rabbi who secretly videotaped naked women immersing themselves in a Jewish ritual bath, has sparked outrage among his victims. “Constructive Fictions,” written by graphic artist and copywriter A.J. Campbell, is currently being shown at a fringe festival in Washington, D.C. Before being…
(JTA) — Kesher Israel has hired a successor to Rabbi Barry Freundel, who was arrested 2 1/2 years ago for secretly videotaping women in the mikvah ritual bath of the Washington, D.C., synagogue, and is now in prison. Rabbi Hyim Shafner, a congregational rabbi in St. Louis since 2004, will serve as the senior rabbi…
— A federal appeals court upheld the prison sentence of Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, D.C., who secretly videotaped women in his synagogue’s mikvah. Freundel, 64, who began serving his sentence in May 2015, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism, a charge…
The suit, which was filed originally in December 2014, also names as defendants Freundel’s former synagogue, Kesher Israel
