New Jersey Rabbi Allegedly Raped, Sexually Abused, Many Women

Two weeks ago, Rebecca Pastor, a 46-year-old woman from Essex County, N.J., found out that the man she alleges raped her in Baltimore on Christmas Day, 1990, was not in jail, as she had long believed, but was living in nearby West Orange. And that he was passing himself off as a righteous rabbi…

Rabbi David Kaye

Gary Rosenblatt of the Jewish Week reports. My comments are in square brackets [ ]:

Two weeks ago, Rebecca Pastor, a 46-year-old woman from Essex County, N.J., found out that the man she alleges raped her in Baltimore on Christmas Day, 1990, was not in jail, as she had long believed, but was living in nearby West Orange. And that he was passing himself off as a righteous rabbi amid concern he may be seeking vulnerable young women.

[Kaye may not be righteous, but he is an actual Orthodox rabbi (as the Jewish Week’s story eventually accidentally shows), and for decades leading haredi and Orthodox rabbis have known about Kaye’s alleged sexual exploitation and rape of women and have done nothing to stop it.]

Since then, with the help of several Orthodox rabbis [primarily Rabbis Eliezer Zwickler and Mark Spivak and YU Rabbi Yosef Blau] and a handful of congregants in West Orange, she has found information that strongly suggests David (Yeshaya Dovid) Kaye has a long history of complaints against him. The information portrays him as psychologically and religiously manipulating naïve and trusting women, seeking to use their deep faith in him to engage in sexual relations.

[Actually, the women had faith in God and Kaye used that trust to exploit them, and haredi and Orthodox rabbis allowed it to happen, moving Kaye from job to job, city to city, rather than calling police and warning the community.]

While the other women who claim to have been preyed on by Kaye have requested anonymity, Pastor, who said therapy has given her strength, plans to travel to Baltimore soon to meet with sex crime officials in hopes of seeing Kaye prosecuted.

Maryland has no statute of limitations for rape.

“I’m a survivor, not a victim,” she said, “and I believe in the motto that you can choose courage or comfort, but you can’t have both.”

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old New York woman who says Kaye convinced her in the past year that he had a nevua (religious prophecy) that she would suffer a tragic death if she did not “cleanse” her “neshama” [soul] by submitting to him, which she did for several months, is weighing legal action. She said she contacted members of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ office earlier this year but they were unresponsive.…

[The rabbis helping Pastor] learned that Kaye, who is 50, married with five children between the ages of 6 and 18, and claiming to be a rabbi, had a series of stints in various capacities over the years. He was, among other posts, an Air Force chaplain overseas, nursing home chaplain in New Hyde Park, Jewish day school teacher in Long Island, and most recently pulpit rabbi in upstate Liberty. Those appear to have been short-lived and ended abruptly amid allegations of inappropriate behavior with young women. Kaye is currently unemployed and believed to be living at his parents’ home.…

[Again, Kaye is a rabbi unless proved otherwise. And you cannot work in the Air Force as a chaplain unless you have ordination, but Kaye did work as a chaplain in the Air Force – a fact Rosenblatt knows.]

Asked if Kaye was, indeed, an ordained rabbi, as he claims, and if so, where he received his ordination, the attorneys said he was, but were checking with him on details. They did not respond further as of press time.…

“[Kaye] knew my son’s name and said he had a nevua [or, prophetic vision] of my son in a casket, that he would die before he was 3,” Pastor said. “I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.”

She said Kaye sat close to her, a shy young kollel wife, on the sofa in her apartment — no one else was home — began muttering Hebrew incantations, and soon put his hand over her mouth and forced himself on her. After the sexual act, she said, he began to sob and apologize. Later, when she insisted he leave, he threatened that she would never receive a get or remarry or have children if she ever told anyone.

Traumatized and fearful of Kaye’s warning, she did not go to the authorities. Instead, she says now with bitterness, she “went the rabbinic route,” which led nowhere.…

“The most dramatic moment…was when [Pastor] said, ‘You raped me and I’m pregnant,’ and he [Kaye] immediately responded, ‘You have to get an abortion, I’ll pay for it.’”

She was not pregnant but she had come up with the plan to tell Kaye she was as a means of proving, from his response, that her narrative [of the rape] was correct.…

An affidavit from the late Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Cyril Harris, attests to several young women in 1989 saying Kaye was emotionally manipulative in trying to seduce them. A document from an Air Force colonel speaks of Kaye, in 1996-’97 in West Germany, attempting intimacy with her when she sought advice about converting to Judaism. A young American woman studying at a seminary in Jerusalem in 2010 described Kaye’s attempts to be alone with her, including telling her they knew each other in a previous life.

The most recent, and perhaps most bizarre, episode concerns a 28-year-old ba’alat teshuva (newly Orthodox woman), Chana (not her real name) from New York who came to know Kaye last year when he was in Liberty, and went out of his way to be helpful to her and her fiancée.

Last November, she told The Jewish Week, she received an e-mail from someone claiming to be an 80-year-old mekubal (a rabbi blessed with the powers of prophecy) in Jerusalem who said he had met her near the Kotel several years before. His message was that “I was in grave danger and needed to immediately contact a rabbi with whom I was close.” She said the content “was very frightening,” and she began receiving daily, persistent messages from him with increasing urgency about seeking help. Chana told Kaye about it. He said he could help her avert “this ‘grave danger’,” she recalled, and she came to believe him when he soon told her he had had dreams about her even before they’d met and that their destinies were intertwined — that she had saved his life in a past life and that he was now her protector in this life.

Kaye told her she was destined to die in childbirth and that the only way to avert this tragedy was to do teshuva (repent) by submitting to him physically, which she did over a period of weeks. She said she was “horrified” by the experience, but fearful that if she stopped she would be subject to the sad fate Kaye had predicted.

During that time, Chana says Kaye “admitted that he had basically raped” a woman seeking a get, or Jewish divorce.…

Now married to her understanding fiancée, Chana said she was naïve, trusting and psychologically manipulated by Kaye, whom she describes as “brilliant, and an absolute monster with no shame.”… One of the most “painful aspects” for her was discovering that Kaye’s colleagues and former employers “were well aware of his history and failed to warn subsequent employers and the public.

“If the leaders of the Jewish world do not take a firm and proactive stance on the issue of sexual predators, how many more lives will be destroyed? What are they waiting for?”

Rebecca Pastor says much of her faith was “shattered” not only from Kaye’s alleged sexual attack but from the unwillingness or inability of prominent rabbis at the time to express sympathy, help her in any positive way or act to protect future victims.…

There's much more to read here.

Comments

[SMR]

Sounds like Mordecai Tendler's tactics.

[SMR]

Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler and Rabbi Marc Spivak
(September 18, 2013)

At the outset, we wish to make it clear that the decision to disseminate to the members of our congregations the information contained in this message was made in consultation with, and with the concurrence of, several well-recognized rabbinic authorities. We were also advised that, against the factual background of this matter, it is our responsibility to inform members of our community of the presence of a potential perpetrator in order that they may protect themselves and their families.

Serious allegations have recently come to our attention concerning a member of our extended community, Rabbi Yeshaya Dovid Kaye, who has recently taken up residence in our community. The allegations relate to Rabbi Kaye having allegedly exploited his title as a Rabbi to enable him to take or to attempt to take liberties with various females in past years. The activities are reported to have occurred in locations in Israel, Germany, South Africa and the United States. A number of women involved have submitted to very reputable and prominent rabbis written statements recording the occurrences. If found to be true, the facts recounted have potential serious implications.
We must emphasize that no formal legal proceeding has been instituted with regard to any of the matters and, therefore, no determination or finding has been made by any court or other official agency. A series of recent incidents with one woman has been reported to law enforcement in the United States.

We have met with members of the Kaye family with whom we have discussed the matter. We have also consulted with behavioral professionals and we have advised the Kayes of professional services that they may wish to consider.
Due to the seriousness of these matters, we have concluded that it would not be appropriate for Rabbi Kaye, at this time and for the foreseeable future, to attend or be present in our respective shuls for any purpose and have so advised him. We suggest that each family take appropriate measures to caution its members concerning the potential risks.

Rabbi Marc Spivak
Congregation Ohr Torah
Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler
Congregation AABJ&D

[the truth]

First all abuse is hushed up, then if u report to a Rov you are crazy it's not true, then you report to police you get ousted from your community, no rabbi will help the victims but will go all out to protect the abusers and now almost every day is another story of a rabbi being arrested, and all this is In the name of g"d and Torah , and the rest of us are to continue trusting and believing in Rabbonim , ye right

[S M L]

This'll make a nice follow-on for the Times to the one about Epstein and Wolmark. Another black eye for us Jews. He's no better than Warren Jeffs and those crazed fundamentalist Mormon and Amish charlatans who do pretty much the same thing.

[Outcast Yid]

Amazingly, there was another Rabbi David Kaye, of the Reform movement, who was caught soliciting pubescent boys on Dateline NBC's To Catch A Predator series. One of the most squirmworthy videos you will ever watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt6MmzRRYk0

[ab]

Anybody want to join me in my new form of judaism? Im calling it TSHBJ. stands for TORA shebichtav jew. Im finding that the orthodox love the tora shebal peh because this way they can create thier own new rules as they go along and high jack anything they dont like from others and act like they are speaking gods words when everyone knows that isnt true. Anyone wanna join membership?

[Jason]

ab, that already exists. It is called Karaite Judaism.

[jancsibacsi]

the truth--Every word you wrote is truly the truth, i know it first hand,in my oppinion they protect the molesters because in truth they cannot tolerate that theese things can happen among our cooreligionists,in short they cannot admit it to themselfs that judaism failed big time and our rebbes are the biggest criminals because they protect the most evil.

[ruthie]

rebecca pastor
if you're reading this,
i send you a huge warm hug.

[Eddie]

Unless it was outright rape (which it seems that in one case it was) the others was just a guy telling lies to get into someone's pants. Something that occurs all the time everywhere.

What is the difference when someone lies to a woman about his status, money, and/or connections, and she falls for it and when he lies and says he had a dream about her. Its sad but its no crime

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

In many jurisdictions it is a crime called clergy abuse.

[Manuel Ferrara]

Eddie,

In Israel an Arab was convicted of rape after he had consensual sex with an Israeli girl he told he was Jewish. The legal principle behind it was that when the information was found wrong consent was nullified. I do not know if and how it applies here.

It is disturbing to read here and on other blogs about normal people becoming BT and losing all senses of critical thinking. I think most BTs were crazy or neurotic before they become one and the process of becoming a BT just just escalated their condition.

[Jeff]

"It is disturbing to read here and on other blogs about normal people becoming BT and losing all senses of critical thinking. I think most BTs were crazy or neurotic before they become one and the process of becoming a BT just just escalated their condition."

The BT movement, like all proselytizing religions, tends to attract a lot of fringe personalities - lost, lonely people searching desperately for something to hold onto. On the one hand, it's good they have somewhere to turn. On the other, they're encouraged to remain in infantilized states and prevented from growing or moving forward (insofar as they're capable). They end up dragging the movements down and making them even more regressive. We see on a regular basis what it's done to Chabad.