Jewish Week on The Tendler Civil Suit

Please write to Gary Rosenblatt (Editor of the Jewish Week) and complain about him using the survivors real name in the article. All he needs to do is review the guidelines prepared by the US Department of Justice on News Media ethics, when dealing with cases of sexual violence/misconduct.

If you go to this site and review the articles posted, you will notice it is uncommon for sexual violence survivor's names to be printed in newspapers. It is never ok to publish the name(s) of those who were sexually violated without their express permission. I don't care who else says it's ok. It's just not ethical.

Gary, you should have known better!

Woman Charges Tendler In Sex Harassment Case
Staff Report
The Jewish Week (NY)
December 28, 2005

A woman claiming she was seduced by Rabbi Mordechai Tendler, who according to court papers told her he was the messiah and could help her find a husband by submitting to his “sex therapy,” has filed suit against the controversial Rockland County spiritual leader.

(Survivors Name Removed), 43, is the first woman to take legal action against the rabbi since he was expelled as a member of the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest Orthodox rabbinic association, in March for “conduct inappropriate to an Orthodox rabbi.”

The rabbi had been accused of various degrees of sexual harassment by several women, though it is believed that (Survivors Name Removed) was not one of the complainants in the RCA case.

According to a suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court last week, (Survivor's Name Removed) said the rabbi, acting as a religious authority and counselor she trusted, had encounters with her in his rabbinic study from 2001 to 2005, and that his actions were “beyond all bounds of civility and decency.”

Rabbi Tendler’s attorney, Martin Lewis Frankel, said the charges were “completely false,” according to a report in the New York Post.

(Survivors Name Removed) became a member of Rabbi Tendler’s congregation, Kehillat New Hempstead, about two years after she first went to him for advice in 1994.

Critics of the rabbi have charged that he sometimes approached women he counseled with personal problems and told them they would be cut off from him, his congregation and community if they did not submit to him. He has also been accused of making advances to women with marital problems who sought his counsel.

According to the suit, which was also brought against Rabbi Tendler’s synagogue, (Survivors Name Removed) “was physically violated, had her reputation impugned, was ostracized” from the synagogue and “has lost her standing in the community.” The suit alleges the rabbi told (Survivors Name Removed) he would “have her placed in a straight jacket” and/or “have her thrown in jail” if she told anyone about “the sexual therapy.”

The father of eight, Rabbi Tendler is the son and grandson of prominent Orthodox rabbinic leaders, and had been praised by some Jewish women’s groups for his work in helping women receive religious divorces.