A Jerusalem rabbi affiliated with right wing political causes has been ordered by the Jerusalem District Court to pay a local dance teacher over $17,000 dollars after he publicly outed her as a lesbian and warned local men to keep their wives and daughters away from her.
Nurit Melamed
Orthodox Rabbi Warns Men To Keep Their Wives And Daughters Away From Lesbian Dance Teacher
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A Jerusalem rabbi affiliated with right wing political causes has been ordered by the Jerusalem District Court to pay a local dance teacher over $17,000 dollars after he publicly outed her as a lesbian and warned local men to keep their wives and daughters away from her, Ynet reported.
In 2009, Rabbi Isser Klonsky had posters hung throughout the Givat Mordechai neighborhood where he is the rabbi warning local men not to allow their wives to take dance classes with Nurit Melamed because, Klonsky claimed, Melamed is a lesbian.
Klonsky claimed that men “have a duty to prevent their wives, daughters or any relative” from having contact with Melamed or participating in her classes.
“I have come to caution, warn and inform the women of Givat Mordechai and other places against attending these classes. No woman, married or single, young or old, must set foot there. It is absolutely forbidden. It is obligatory to stay away from this ugliness and anything resembling it,” Klonsky ruled.
Melamed’s classes were boycotted. The space she held classes in broke its contract with he and evicted her. The boycott spread and she had to cancel classes in Givat Mordechai and then elsewhere in Jerusalem, as well.
Melamed sued.
In court, Klonsly tried to defend himself by claiming he had been told that a woman allegedly left her husband and children to live with with Melamed and said his poster was meant to warn the public to prevent this from happening again.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court ruled for Klonsky, claiming that Klonsky had acted in the “good faith” based on his religion.
Melamed appealed to the Jerusalem District Court, which ruled in her favor and awarded her $17,000. It also ordered Klonsky to apologize to Melamed for violating her privacy.
Klonsky's poster. Please click to enlarge: