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Breaking News Barry Freundel May Have Peeped on More Women — Prosecutors Create Web Site
Prosecutors reportedly said that there could be more victims in the Rabbi Barry Freundel mikveh peeping scandal at his hearing today in a Washington D.C. court. Freundel was arrested nearly a month ago on charges that he secretly recorded women showering in the mikveh at his synagogue. At the status hearing, government prosecutors told the…
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Breaking News Rabbi Barry Freundel Set for Court Date
Rabbi Barry Freundel is expected to appear in a Washington D.C. court today to face charges he used a hidden camera to peep on women in the mikveh of his Orthodox synagogue. The disgraced cleric faces six counts of voyeurism, a misdemeanor, and could face up to six years in prison. Prosecutors might outline any…
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Forward 50 2014 Barry Freundel
It’s hard to imagine a more disturbing violation of a sacred Jewish space than the one of which Orthodox rabbi Barry Freundel is accused. In late September, someone saw the 62-year-old Washington, D.C., rabbi plug in a clock in his synagogue’s mikveh. The clock was spotted again on October 12, and synagogue officials gave the…
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Breaking News Jewish Activist Brianne Nadeau Wins D.C. Council Seat
Brianne Nadeau, prominent in Washington D.C.-area Jewish advocacy, won a seat on the capital’s city council. Nadeau, a Democrat, on Tuesday secured the seat representing Ward 1, a diverse and youthful area in the city’s Northwest known for its alternative culture. She is one of 13 councilors who serve four-year terms. Nadeau, 34, until her…
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Culture Channeling Freud To Prevent the Next Barry Freundel
(Haaretz) — I was sitting in a group discussion with fellow psychotherapists recently when a colleague mentioned that one of his female patients had, unannounced, come over and sat down on his lap. Someone else shared the revelation that one of his female patients intimated a desire to see him without any clothes on. The therapists…
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Opinion Why the Mikveh Scandal Cuts So Deep
The sordid story of the Washington rabbi accused of spying on naked women in his synagogue’s ritual bath is more than just a local scandal, an Orthodox scandal, a conversion scandal. It is a Jewish scandal, tearing deep into the heart of a religious hierarchy that is dominated by men who are rarely held to…
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Breaking News Tiny Cameras Found in Rabbi Freundel’s Towson University Office
Tiny cameras and memory cards capable of holding hundreds of thousands of images were found in the Towson University office of Rabbi Barry Freundel. The devices, memory cards and flash drives, as well as a photo of naked women and a handwritten list of names, were found in the rabbi’s office on the campus near…
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News How a Stunned Synagogue Faces Up to Sins of Rabbi Barry Freundel
There is no playbook guiding Modern Orthodox congregations on what to do when their rabbi is accused of abusing congregants and of violating their privacy at the most holy and intimate of moments. But when the venerable Washington congregation Kesher Israel got the news on October 14 that its spiritual leader of more than 26…
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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