Rabbi Barry Freundel / PJC Media (Haaretz) — Kesher Israel, a prominent Modern Orthodox synagogue in Washington D.C., is reeling from a terrible scandal. Their rabbi, Barry Freundel, was arrested on charges of voyeurism and it is alleged that he installed a camera in the equivalent of a women’s locker room where he filmed potential converts…
It’s time for Simchat Torah, but I don’t feel much like dancing. A promise I made long ago has been broken. In the summer of 1986, I wrote what many consider the first piece about non-Orthodox women using the mikvah. Published in Lilith Magazine, in “Take Back the Waters” I proposed a feminist re-appropriation of…
Rabbi Barry Freundel recorded secret videos of at least six women women showering at the mikvah in his synagogue, according to allegations filed by authorities at his arraignment on Wednesday afternoon. Freundel, 62, pleaded not guilty to a charge of voyeurism, a misdemeanor, and was freed without bond. The details from the charging documents were…
Illustration by Lily Padula A respected rabbi installing cameras in the preparation room of the mikveh in the building next door to his synagogue? The sensationalistic story of alleged voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel seems tailor-made to go viral in our internet age. So what can be done to counteract the negative publicity this gives to…
(JTA) — Rabbi Barry Freundel was known to the Washington Jewish community as a champion of moral rectitude. But on Tuesday, the spiritual leader of Kesher Israel congregation for the past 25 years, was charged with the most intimate of transgressions: voyeurism. Freundel, 62, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs, after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives…
A national Orthodox rabbinic association recently investigated allegations of impropriety made against the rabbi accused of videotaping women at his mikvah, the Forward has learned. Rabbi Barry Freundel, spiritual leader of the Washington, D.C. congregation Kesher Israel, will be charged with voyeurism after a witness allegedly saw him installing a hidden camera above a shower…
(JTA) — Back in 2003, long before Rabbi Barry Freundel’s arrest on voyeurism charges, and long before Sacha Baron Cohen was a household name, the rabbi appeared on Baron Cohen’s “Da Ali G Show.” The rabbi was one of three religious leaders (plus an atheist) who agreed to appear on a panel, apparently unaware that…
Illustration by Kurt Hoffman Yesterday, prominent Modern Orthodox Rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested on charges of voyeurism. The police report obtained by the media indicates that he had used cameras to record women showering as they prepared to use the mikveh. Freundel should, and will, have his say in court. These charges are serious, though,…
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