“The last two months have presented the opportunity for our shul to debate and discuss many different points of view, while considering various paths forward,” the letter continued. “After carefully considering various scenarios over the last several weeks, we firmly believe that the approach laid out by Rabbi Rosenblatt is an effective and appropriate way forward for the RJC.”
Above: Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt
"Sauna Rabbi" Jonathan Rosenblatt Keeps His Job, Despite His Decades Of "Lapses" In "Judgment"
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A letter was sent to congregants of the Riverdale Jewish Center (RJC) by board leaders on August 13. The JTA reported today the letter announced the RJC would allow 'sauna rabbi' Jonathan Rosenblatt to continue to be employed as the Modern Orthodox synagogue's top rabbi:
“Rabbi Rosenblatt shared his vision and commitment to continue serving our membership and partnering with the RJC’s lay leaders, staff and community. He described how we will strengthen communal bonds between and among our members, maintain the financial stability of our synagogue and enhance the spirit of collaboration that exists between the RJC and the community,” the synagogue board’s chairman, Donald Liss, and president, Samson Fine, wrote in the letter.
“The last two months have presented the opportunity for our shul to debate and discuss many different points of view, while considering various paths forward,” the letter continued. “After carefully considering various scenarios over the last several weeks, we firmly believe that the approach laid out by Rabbi Rosenblatt is an effective and appropriate way forward for the RJC.”
For decades, Rosenblatt invited boys as young as 12-years-old to play squash with him at a local club, after which he frequently took long showers with them and then sat nude in a sauna talking about the boys' lives as he ogled their naked bodies.
Despite repeatedly being warned by other rabbis and the synagogue board to stop doing this, Rosenblatt continued with one key difference: he began to invite only young rabbinical students and college age men to these one-on-one sauna sessions.
The complaints against Rosenblatt and the distaste for what he was doing (along with, presumably, the fear he would do more than just ogle) led Yeshiva University to essentially ban rabbinic interns from working with Rosenblatt.
But it was only when the New York Times ran an exposé on Rosenblatt's sauna sessions in late May that Rosenblatt's job was threatened.
At one point after that article ran, the synagogue's board of directors voted 34-8 to buy out Rosenblatt's contract and remove him as rabbi.
But Rosenblatt – who told congregants in late June this whole crisis had been "created by my own lapses of judgment" – wouldn't leave.
According to the JTA, Yehuda Kurtzer, the only man cited by name in The New York Times story who experience one of Rosenblatt’s suana sessions firsthand, accused Rosenblatt of “demonizing” his opponents in his successful bid to keep his job.
“Rabbi Rosenblatt has shrewdly managed his way out of this crisis with the advice of counsel, clearly managing his communications along the way, demonizing his opponents, and avoiding any significant fallout. He has hurt his students, he has further alienated his accusers, and his continued presence on the pulpit at RJC insults the dignity of our community,” Kurtzer said in a Facebook post (that was no longer publicly available when FailedMessiah.com checked) after the synagogue leaders’ letter was sent.
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