"…The problem that was of late revealed through the claims to the beit din in Chicago from a part of the seminaries reached resolution through the removal of the party responsible from every function and connection with the seminaries.…"
Above: Rabbi Elimelech Meisles
In response to the ruling issued against Rabbi Elimelech Meisels last week by a Chicago beit din, an Israeli beit din made up of Rabbis Menachem Mendel Shafran, Chaim Malinowitz and Tzvi Gartner, issued a preliminary ruling against Rabbi Elimelech Meisels – without ever mentioning him or what he allegedly did wrong by name.
According to Frum Follies, the key part of the ruling reads:
"…The problem that was of late revealed through the claims to the beit din in Chicago from a part of the seminaries reached resolution through the removal of the party responsible from every function and connection with the seminaries.…"
That unnamed "problem" "revealed" in the Chicago beit din was alleged widespread sexual abuse of students by Meisels.
The Israeli beit din hasn't yet worked out how students in the seminaries in question, which are 'owned' by Meisels' family (even though they are legally nonprofits that can't legally be owned by individuals), will be safe until those seminaries are actually transferred to the control or someone other than Meisels and his family.
Even so, the rabbis rule that the seminaries – Pninim, Binas Bais Yaakov, Chedvas Bais Yaakov and Keser Chaya seminaries in Israel – are safe, say that students should return to them, and praise the seminaries' staffs – even though some of those staff members allegedly knew about the sex abuse and did nothing to stop it.
But the Israeli beit din did find time and space to lash out at anonymous bloggers and anonymous Internet comments about the case.
"We turn to the community of school principals and parents [to advise them] not to give credence to various pronouncements by those who are either anonymous or use fictitious names. These pronouncements are motivated by intentions that are argumentative and by agendas different from those they claim."
Related Post:
The Chicago Beit Din Ruling Issued Last Week Against Rabbi Elimelech Meisles.