Rabbi Mordecai Tendler in Sex-God Scandal

RABBI IN SEX-GOD SCANDAL
By DAVID HAFETZ
New York Post - December 25, 2005
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/59445.htm


December 25, 2005 -- A prominent rabbi is being accused of unorthodox and disturbing behavior — seducing a troubled woman in his congregation by telling her he was "the Messiah" and giving her "sex therapy" to help her find a husband.

According to a lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan, Rabbi Mordecai Tendler of Rockland County promised the woman, who was seeking advice, that "doors would open" and "men will come" if she had sex with him.

The rabbi, a father of eight, allegedly told the woman that he was her "only hope." The woman says the rabbi held liaisons in his rabbinical study from 2001 to 2005 and threatened her to remain silent about "the sexual therapy."

(Survivors Name Removed), 43, who lives in Manhattan, accuses Tendler of deceiving and violating her and going "beyond all bounds of civility and decency" while he acted as a trusted counselor and spiritual authority.

"He had a tremendous amount of power over her," said (Survivors Name Removed)'s lawyer, Lenore Kramer.

(Survivors Name Removed) says she first met Tendler — the son of a Yeshiva University professor and the grandson of a highly respected religious arbiter, the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein — through his "work on behalf of women" in 1994.

In his career, Tendler has advocated for the rights of Orthodox women and assisted Jewish wives obtain religious divorces.

But the rabbi became embroiled in a sex scandal that involved other female accusers and in March was expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America.

The council, which represents Orthodox Jewish leaders, would not discuss the Tendler case
Tendler, who lives in Spring Valley, called the charges "ludicrous."

His lawyer, Martin Stewart Frankel, called (Survivors Name Removed)'s charges "flatly, completely and utterly false."

"A tremendous grave injustice is being done against a very wonderful person," Frankel said.
(Survivors Name Removed) claims Tendler conducted "his sexual therapy sessions" with other women and charges that his congregation, Kehillat New Hempstead, also named in the suit, "knew or should have known" what was happening.

(Survivors Name Removed) says Tendler actively recruited her to join Kehillat. She eventually took up a second residence in Spring Valley.

According to her suit, Tendler warned that he would "have her placed in a straitjacket" and "banned from the shul" if she told anyone about the sex.

Kramer said it was difficult for her client to accuse the rabbi. "It's an embarrassment to the family, a terrible thing."

For more information on Rabbi Mordecai Tendler go to:
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/tendler_mordecai.html