A letter to Britain's top haredi rabbi, Ephraim Padwa, written by four top haredi rabbis asks him to reinstate accused sex abuser Rabbi Chaim Halpern.
The following is a letter to the top British haredi rabbi, Ephraim Padwa, from Rabbis Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss (the #1 rabbi in the vehemently anti-Zionist Edah Haredit haredi umbrella organization), Chaim Wozner (son of former top hasidic decisor of halakha, Orthodox Jewish law, Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner) Elyokim Shlesinger (rosh yeshiva of Horomo Yeshiva and one of Stamford Hill, London's senior haredi rabbis) and Eliezer Dovid Friedman of Machnovke London).
Padwa, you might remember, was caught on hidden undercover video by a British TV news documentary on haredi child sex abuse telling an alleged child sex abuse victim not to call police on his alleged abuser.
The letter to Padwa (posted below), which was written about a half a year ago, asks him to reinstate accused sex abuser Rabbi Chaim Halpern to his former position as a dayan (rabbinic judge) on the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC) beit din (religious court).
Halpern was investigated by police in 2013 and 2014, but in the end he was not criminally charged, in large part because his known victims (and those victims' supporters and advocates) were severely harassed and threatened by haredi activists loyal to Halpern.
But haredi rabbis head from victims firsthand and knew what Halpern had allegedly done. Many 'mainstream' haredi rabbis backed the victims, while the more 'extreme' haredi rabbis – hasidim and Edah Haredit types – backed Halpern.
Because Halpern claims descent from one of the children of Chabad's third rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, even though he is not Chabad himself, Chabad informally backed him, as well.
The letter claims that Halpern's case was investigated by rabbinic experts from Israel and found to be baseless. (That likely was the result of the 'investigation' primarily because Halpern's alleged victims are women, and as such do not have the legal status in haredi Jewish law, when it is construed narrowly, to be valid witnesses.)
But my source, who is close to this situation, tells FailedMessiah.com that none of the victims were ever interviewed by these rabbinic experts. Neither was the attorney representing those victims. Further, the rabbis who signed this letter allegedly know this to be the case.
The rabbis who signed this letter also claim that since the police did not in the end press charges against Halpern, he is innocent - a remarkable claim because of the threats and intimidation Halpern's alleged victims and their supporters faced (which was well-known in the haredi community), and a remarkable claim coming from rabbis who would, the source points out, "be leading an intimidation campaign against" anyone now who was willing to testify in secular court against Halpern or cooperate with police.
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