BREAKING Torah Temimah Rabbi Raped Own Daughter For Years

The guy is a Satmar hasid, too.

Brooklyn Man Arraigned for Repeated Sexual Abuse of Daughter
by Brooklyn Eagle

CADMAN PLAZA EAST – A Brooklyn man was arraigned Monday in the U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York on five charges related to sexual abuse of a minor.

Israel Weingarten of Brooklyn was charged with two counts of transporting a minor internationally for the purpose of sexual abuse, and three charges of traveling internationally for the purpose of sexually abusing a minor.

The victim of this abuse was Weingarten’s daughter, who he sexually abused in various ways from the age of nine to 18, according to court documents.

Prosecutors are moving to have Weingarten, who is a United States citizen, held without bail.

Weingarten with his wife and 8 children lived in Israel, Belgium, and England at times in various Sat Mar communities, which is a conservative sect of Hasidic Judaism.

Weingarten reportedly moved family members between different Sat Mar communities in various countries to allow him to abuse his daughter freely, for example leaving the Sat Mar community in Belgium in 1997 allegedly because he feared that community leaders there suspected him of abusing his daughter and would report him.

His daughter began attending a school in Manchester England in 1996 with the help of some community members, which gave her some protection from her father.

However, during the summer of 1997 Weingarten brought his daughter alone to New York for a few weeks and then to Belgium for a month, without any other family members present.

“The abuse the victim suffered while alone with her father in Belgium was the worst she endured,” state court documents.

His daughter began attending a school in England in 1997, although Weingarten forced her to return home and traveled with her alone to New York for a few weeks in July and August and then for a full month afterwards in Belgium alone, so that he could continue to abuse her freely.

In 1999 the daughter refused to leave England to return home during the holidays, and Weingarten attempted to kidnap her from a family which was trying to protect her. During the attempted kidnapping Weingarten forced his way into the home of the head rabbi of the school and assaulted the rabbi and his wife.

Afterwards the daughter fully broke from her family and from the Sat Mar community. She reported her father’s abuse to the FBI in 2003.

Because Weingarten has lived in Europe and Israel for 15 of the last 24 years, he poses a serious risk of flight and should be held without bail, prosecutors stated in court documents.

Weingarten faces up to 10 years for each of the five counts he is charged with.

--Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Previous post with Torah Temimah connection.

[Hat Tip: The Other DK.]

Comments

[alternative childcare]

Yikes! Is he going to be the cellmate of Elior Chen?

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

I'd be happier if his cellmate were a 6' 4", 250 lb. 'lifer' fellow by the name of Bubba. He might enjoy exploring his feminine side for awhile.

[shmuel]

Yup. He'll stop being so angry and threatening and abusive when he's someone's aishes chayil in prison. He'll have years to "work on himself."

[Rachel Batya]

If Weingarten is convicted and goes to prison, he will be considered the lowest of the low, as are all child molesters. Even murderers understand that you don't mess with children. Unless he's isolated for his own protection, he will be making some interesting friends.

[formely frum]

again another example that in cases like this you need to go to the police the rebbies are helpless, in cases like these.
when will the communities learn

[David Bar-Magen]

While I question the widespread belief that there is some intrinsic code of morality in prison that places child molesters in the bottom rung (no offense intended to anyone here), I hope it IS true for the sake of this poor girl.

In addition, though I know there is no hope of this ever being passed as a law, it has always been my firm belief that fathers who sexually abuse their daughters should be castrated.

[alternative childcare]

Un-O:
I'd rather be in a cell with Bubba than elior chen, if you remember what he did to those poor kids. My they both find appropriate 300 pound partners as their new prison aishes chayil.
Though perhaps the fitting punishment would be to make all these abusers serve as the new replacement workers in Postville :)

[Garnel Ironheart]

I'll bet his lawyer demands he get only glatt kosher mehadrin min mehadrin food in prison and exemption from chain gang duty on Shabbos and Yom Tov.

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://www.1010wins.com/AUDIO---Rabbi--Accused-of-Having-Sex-with-Minors/3090420
...
A judge denied bail for Weingarten during his arraignment in Brooklyn Monday.
...

[Bartley Kulp]

If the daughter went to the FBI as the article says in 2003, why only arrest him now five years later. I understand when the authorities will let a criminal walk around freely while they build a case and find evidence on other crimes to maximize the conviction but this seems ridiculous considering that he was endangering people.

May be it is just a typo.

[Shmarya]

May be it is just a typo.

Or maybe Satmar would not cooperate with the FBI, so there were no witnesses besides the girl.

[Rachel Batya]

--Or maybe Satmar would not cooperate with the FBI, so there were no witnesses besides the girl.--

From the detention memo, it sounds like there were corroborating witnesses. Plus, the Kiryas Yoel safety director called the FBI in 2003 because he was concerned about the safety of the remaining children.

But I don't know why there was such a lapse in time, or why Weingarten was still living with his children when he was arrested. That makes no sense to me either.

[alternative childcare]

There is a trend, in that if someone touches girls they are reported quickly by their community, it seems that when they touch boys, however, that is more tolerated.

[Rachel Batya]

--There is a trend, in that if someone touches girls they are reported quickly by their community, it seems that when they touch boys, however, that is more tolerated. --

What is your source for this information, and what communities are you talking about?

[Isa]

True Story!!!!
I was on a plane-sat next to a Federal Prison guard.
"Who is the highest rated among the prisoners?"
Bank robbers and murderers
Druggies are just the 'blue collar' of prison society.
"Who is the lowest"?, I asked
Child molesters!!
The prison gay community can do to them as they want and NOBODY will interfere.
"How do the prisoners figure out who is a child molester" I asked.
They might read and remember about it from a newspaper
OR (Giving me a smirk) a trustie might be sent to clean the guards office and the molesters folder will be left laying in the open.

[steve]

Weingarten's team is trying to spin this as lies perpetrated by his ex-wife. Maybe they should hire Team Rubashkin to help in the spin campaign. Lubinsky can come out with a press release stating that Weingarten is consolidating his sex partners by divorcing his wife. Juda Englemayer should be hired to sockpuppet on the blogs, this time receiving tips from Getzel Rubashkin. Avi Shafran can write about "The Missing Ethic"- innocent until proven guilty, while Lubinsky can arrange a three hour tour of Weingarten's bedroom in Antwerp, all expenses paid of course, for the twenty five whiskered cows. Of course this will be followed up by more editorials by Pinny Lipschitz and Pesach Lerner, comparing the FBI with Amalek and yelling about a conspiracy theory. Nat Lewin can be hired to advise the legal team and to point out any historical inaccuracies regarding rabbis that lived over two hundred years ago. Team Rubashkin has the formula down pat and they should be willing to share their ingenuity and originality with other parties that have the need to cover up, distort, lie, corrupt and deceive the gullible Orthodox community

[Shmarya]

From the detention memo, it sounds like there were corroborating witnesses. Plus, the Kiryas Yoel safety director called the FBI in 2003 because he was concerned about the safety of the remaining children.

But I don't know why there was such a lapse in time, or why Weingarten was still living with his children when he was arrested. That makes no sense to me either.

That is different from agreeing to testify in court.

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

The topic at hand is a horrible case of a teenage girl sexually abused by her own father. Are you people able to focus on that without going off on another Rubashkin binge?

(One would think these Rubashkins meant anything to anybody outside of their messianic cult, the way you guys get off on them.)

[Yochanan Lavie]

Maybe Weingarten's Chumash had a typo that said "Thou shalt commit incest" instead of "Thou shalt NOT commit incest."

[state of the Jews]

"Team Rubashkin has the formula down pat and they should be willing to share their ingenuity and originality with other parties..."

Actually they could run a how-to seminar and charge other lawyers, PR firms, etc. Great way to make a buck, but I'm sure they've already thought of that.

[Jay]

A week in the prison shower with his wrists handcuffed to his ankles would give him a taste of his own medicine

[Rachel Batya]

--That is different from agreeing to testify in court.--

True. However, the time lapse may have mostly to do with the necessity of gathering information from sources in Belgium, England, and Israel. This would be necessary since some of the charges have to do with transporting a minor for sexual purposes and Weingarten had a lot of frequent flyer miles.

Over on VIN, there is a poster who says that she is Weingarten's daughter and that today is the happiest day of her life.

[Shmarya]

I'd bet Israel did not cooperate with the investigation. That could have stopped it cold.

[Rachel Batya]

-- I'd bet Israel did not cooperate with the investigation. --

Pardon my ignorance, but why do you say that?

[steve]

Unfortunately, in Israel, domestic child abuse and rape is rampant.

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

RAMPANT?

[Shmarya]

Pardon my ignorance, but why do you say that?

Three years of working on the Mondrowitz case.

[Anon]

--Three years of working on the Mondrowitz case.--

There you go again trying to take credit for something you've had absolutely nothing to do with. Why don't you name 36 things you've done on the Mondrowitz case. In case you can't count, that works out to one thing per month which would still leave you plenty of time to work on your blogging.

[steve]

Yes, rampant:

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3458853,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1809880-2,00.html

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/03/haredi-city-has.html

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

WOW! Three years working on the Mondrowitz case? Didn't that cause you to fall behind on rnating and raving over every burp coming out of the mouth of anyone who ever lived on the same block as anyone who ever davened in the same shul as anyone who went to high school with one of the kids of the landlord of the building in which resided the carpenter who once sold a work table to the guy who washed the car of the toll collector on the NY State thruway who gave change to the bus driver who brought home from camp the girl who played with the daughter of the babysitter of one of the daughters of the printer who printed the invitations to the wedding of Mendel Rubashkin's neighbor's second cousin's sister in law's hair dresser?

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

Rampant? as in "profusely widespread"?

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

--Three years of working on the Mondrowitz case.--

There you go again trying to take credit for something you've had absolutely nothing to do with. Why don't you name 36 things you've done on the Mondrowitz case. In case you can't count, that works out to one thing per month which would still leave you plenty of time to work on your blogging.

Posted by: Anon | October 06, 2008 at 08:50 PM

Here, here. You can't expect the poor chap to take credit only for his own achievments, can you?

The world is already going through a credit crunch!

[state of the Jews]

UOU:

What happened to this girl is a tragedy. It is a tragedy for her and for the community.
That said, there seems to be an epidemic of child molestation going around the frum world - either that, or its just all coming out in the open.

This epidemic and the Agriprocessor situation are in fact related. In both instances the frum community by and large has refused to acknowledge the obvious, preferring instead self delusion. Sex scandals are hushed up and swept under the rug, while kashrus scandals receive the same treatment. By avoiding these issues people avoid making value judgements and thinking for themselves, and can continue relying on their Rabbonim to do that for them. It is in fact, a form of tremendous freedom, or alternatively of slavery. Our cousins who believe in Islam can relate to this idea: a complete and total submission to the will of G-d as determined by their Imams.

So, what happened to this girl and to the boys who have been victims od sexual predation is a tragedy of immense proportions. The question, like the question surrounding Agriprocessor, is what are we willing to do about it? I am not a pyschiatrist. I am not a psychologist. So I cannot treat the individuals who have been scarred.

The only effective way I know of dealing with such issues is to shine a light on them, to turn over the rock under which such people crawl and expose them to the light. In so doing we expose them to the mores of society and we shame them. Where it is no longer appropriate to just shame them, we bring it to the attention of the people who read this blog and hopefully to the authorities and pray the legal system will pursue justice.

If public outing had ocurred early in these events think of how much less suffering would have been endured.

You are correct to note that not all issues in the world revolve around Agriprocessors. But you would be wrong to think these two issues at their core, are not related.

[Rachel Batya]

From http://www.miklat.org/content.asp?id=83 (Miklat is the only shelter in Israel for observant women and their children.)

Statistics and Facts about Domestic Violence in Israel

--Every year in Israel an average of 17 women are murdered by their spouses; 1,500 women arrive at the ER annually due to domestic violence disputes.

--In 2004, 20,553 complaints were filed of violence between spouses – an increase of 0.7% compared to the previous year, a fact which increases continuously.

--There are 14 shelters in Israel for abused women and 10 assistance centers for the sexually abused – most referrals are due to rape, sexual harassment and adultery. Most acts are committed by those known to the victim.

--1 in every 3 women goes through sexual harassment in her life. Israeli police report that every 12 hours a woman is raped and every 4 hours sexual harassment is committed.

[critical_minyan]

I'm suprised the ultra-orthodox community is not standing behind weingarten. usually they don't care about biblical prohibitions such as incest, not paying workers in a timely manner and not torturing animals.
They usually only care about their own self-righteous chumras such as prohibiting mixed dancing and making sure their are no comic books with flying female characters.

[Rachel Batya]

--I'm suprised the ultra-orthodox community is not standing behind weingarten--

From checking around, I've found two things:

The vivid details of the indictment and detention memo are having a tremendous effect. Both are posted on VIN, and about 2/3 of the posters there are ready to string the guy up right now.

It also seems that Weingarten was more out of control than your average child molester. He didn't just abuse people in secret. He threatened adults who tried to get in his way, and physically assaulted at least one of them.

[Anonymous]

Pardon my ignorance, but why do you say that?

Three years of working on the Mondrowitz case.

Posted by: Shmarya | October 06, 2008 at 08:44 PM

Oh my that is funny.

Don't you mean 3 years of reposting what someone else said on their blog?

That's working on it?

You wouldn't be taking credit for something you never did would you.

Ego check

Fact check

Peel egg off face.

[Jake]

The FBI does work with the Israel police, regularly on all sorts of issues.

Foreign law enforcement agencies have limitations on what they can do outside of their jurisdiction. For instance Israel Police would not approach me directly in NY to answer questions. They would work through local or Federal agencies.

Maybe if he learns some kegel type excercises it would be easier for him in prison.

From http://www.miklat.org/content.asp?id=83 (Miklat is the only shelter in Israel for observant women and their children.)

Statistics and Facts about Domestic Violence in Israel

--Every year in Israel an average of 17 women are murdered by their spouses; 1,500 women arrive at the ER annually due to domestic violence disputes.

--In 2004, 20,553 complaints were filed of violence between spouses – an increase of 0.7% compared to the previous year, a fact which increases continuously.

--There are 14 shelters in Israel for abused women and 10 assistance centers for the sexually abused – most referrals are due to rape, sexual harassment and adultery. Most acts are committed by those known to the victim.

--1 in every 3 women goes through sexual harassment in her life. Israeli police report that every 12 hours a woman is raped and every 4 hours sexual harassment is committed.

Posted by: Rachel Batya | October 06, 2008 at 09:16 PM

And how do these numbers compare with other industrialized nations?

State of the Jews

What a stretch. Does not even merit a response.

Shmarya and his little crowd of Dittoheads have made a cult out of blaming everything from world hunger to AIDS to the Vietnam War to global warming and Barry Manilow on a family of Chabadies who have no connection at all to the Haraidi Jews who look the same to the outside world.

[MalachHamovies]

The Jewish Observer had a "major" article this week about the traumatic situation of a kollel yungerman leaving learning and entering the work force.

Except for one joke article about child abuse in the past 3 years, nothing is ever written about the horrific trauma that children have experienced at the hands of these monster rabbis. And the added trauma of the leaders of our people protecting these monsters and threatening the children and families.

[Shmarya]

There you go again trying to take credit for something you've had absolutely nothing to do with.

Wrong. And the time will soon come when you will see that. Hamayvin Yavin.

[Rachel Batya]

--And how do these numbers compare with other industrialized nations?--

In the United States, approximately 22.1% of all women have experienced some form of assault by an intimate partner. Each year, 4.5 million physical assaults are committed against women by intimate partners. From Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence 10 (U.S. Department of Justice 2000).

In 1999, approximately 1,218 women—more than three women every day—were murdered by an intimate partner. In that same year, intimate partner homicides accounted for 32% of all murders of women. From U.S. Department of Justice, Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim 1993-1999 1 (2001).

Research on domestic violence in Europe indicates that every day, one woman in five is a victim of domestic abuse.

[state of the Jews]

"What a stretch. Does not even merit a response."

Thanks for the response.

[Rachel Batya]

--"What a stretch. Does not even merit a response."

Thanks for the response.--

LOL. Very good!

[alternative childcare]

Rachel Batya:
Do you not work? I see you comment on every thing any one writes in every single thread, and it doesn't sound like you have lived in the major urban Jewish world, certainly not the frum world.

Anyway, many of the cases involving women have led to shunning of the individual, most the cases involving boys have led to the perps protection by the community with the chance of "doing teshuva" to "repair the urge". Look at the Sobol case, sodomized dozens of yeshiva boys over the years but is widely defended by many as a talmid chochom, never suffered one bit, just like Mondrowitz over the years, or Kolko (at least the latter two were finally arraigned).

[Anon]

--Research on domestic violence in Europe indicates that every day, one woman in five is a victim of domestic abuse.--

Which means that roughly one in five men engages in domestic abuse on any given day? C'mon common sense tells you that unless domestic abuse has been defined down to include forgetting to tell your wife that she doesn't look fat before you leave in the morning then this is obviously wrong.

[Rachel Batya]

Alternative childcare, I was asking a sincere question. My experience with survivors in the secular and liberal Jewish worlds has been different from what you posted. I was seeking information, nothing more.

Perhaps I should have prefaced the question better. In any case, my apologies if the question came across as an attack, as it wasn't meant that way.

[Rachel Batya]

--Which means that roughly one in five men engages in domestic abuse on any given day?--

No, it's a statistical average, which covers an entire continent, so there are bound to be higher incidences at one place and time than in another.

[alternative childcare]

Sure, no problem. I was speaking as a survivor of some of this in the Chareidi world. Add in the multiple complaints about fondling in the mikvas, etc; there is spousal abuse, as you mentioned in the whole world, but there is one deep nasty secret about the molestation of boys that keeps repeating itself in the frum community.