Sunday, May 07, 2006

Case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko and Yeshiva-Mesivta Torah Teminah

A HUGE THANK YOU Goes to the Survivors who had the courage to come forward and to blogger The Unorthodox Jew.


Legal Document
John Doe Number 1 and John Doe Number 2 V. Rabbi Yehuda Kolko (PDF)
*********************************

Suit claims rabbi molested male students
United Press International
May 6, 2006

NEW YORK, May 6 (UPI) -- A New York rabbi and his religious school are being sued by two men who claim they were sexually abused as children more than a quarter-century ago.

One man, identified as John Doe No. 1, says Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, 60, molested him when he was in the seventh-grade at Yeshiva-Mesivta Torah Temimah in Brooklyn in the 1970s, the Daily News reported. The man, now 48, said at a news conference that Kolko had him sit on his lap while the rabbi was driving him to school and also abused him at a summer camp.

The second man says he was molested 10 years later when he was a seventh grader.

Jeffrey Herman, a Miami lawyer representing John Doe No. 1, accuses the school of protecting the rabbi by intimidating boys who had been abused.

Kolko cannot face criminal charges under New York law because of a three-year statute of limitations.

*********************************

Rabbi in sex suit

Ex-students seek $20M

A Brooklyn rabbi and his yeshiva were hit with a $20 million civil lawsuit yesterday, accusing him of molesting two students more than 25 years ago.

One of the alleged victims said Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, 60, sexually assaulted him when he was a seventh-grade student attending Yeshiva-Mesivta Torah Temimah, an Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, religious school.

"It happened in his car on the way to school and at recess during summer camp," the 48-year-old man said at a press conference.

The plaintiff, identified by his Miami lawyer, Jeffrey Herman, only as John Doe No. 1, was allegedly molested during the early 1970s over a two-year period, Herman said.

The alleged victim charges that Kolko had instructed him to sit on his lap and hold the steering wheel while they were in Kolko's car on the way to school as the rabbi molested him.

Herman, who claims there are at least 15 victims, charges that school officials waged a campaign of intimidation and concealment against victims and their families to bury the accusations against the rabbi.

School officials could not be reached for comment.

Kolko, who lives in Midwood in a red-brick house on E. 22nd St., could not be reached for comment.

The other plaintiff, who was not present, was identified as a 38-year-old man who was allegedly sexually abused when he was also a seventh-grader in the 1980s.

The alleged offenses exceed New York's three-year statute of limitations.

23 Comments:

Blogger Vicki Polin said...

Mazel tov to the survivors of Kolko for having the courage to come forward, and to those involved in putting together this civil suit.

You are all heros!

May 07, 2006 8:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

B"H. I hope more Perverts meet this fate fast.

May 07, 2006 8:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Awareness Center should open a separate file on Rabbi Lipa Margulies, who as the lawsuit & witnesses state, has been the enabler of Kolko, using mafia tactics to silence and intimidate the victims.

May 07, 2006 11:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pedophile who taught in Passaic NJ

https://www6.state.nj.us/LPS_spoff/individualResults.jsp?searchsbi=219790C

URIEL P BENDAVID

May 07, 2006 12:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wish the victims of A.M. Liezerowitz from Brooklyn would unite to avenge the abuse.

May 07, 2006 3:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

is there a connection between Kolko and Yaakov Weiner? I read something on Unorthodox Jew blog and got confused.

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/yweiner.html

May 07, 2006 7:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The only connection between Kolko and Weiner is that Rav Scheinberg who was brought into the Kolko scandal by Margo, is Weiner's uncle. Rav Scheinberg allegedly told Kolko's sex abuse victims that they were not violated according to Torah standards, only according to American ideas. UOJ insinuated that Rav Scheinberg had a vested interest in burying the Kolko story because his own nephew is a pedophile. UOJ is known to get carried away and bear in mind that the first round of Kolko abuse where Rav Scheinberg was consulted was way before Weiner abused anyone (at least from what is known)

May 07, 2006 8:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's not likely that Kolko was arrested today.

The criminal statute of limitations is only 3 years in NY and Jeff Herman's clients were abused many years ago.

UOJ would be all over the story.

A Google news search turns up nothing.

It's very possible that the NYPD and/or Federal agents paid Kolko a visit to question him though.

May 07, 2006 8:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

U mean Lizerowitz from the ger Yeshiva on 16 Avenue?
My brother insists he was raped by him and someone went public with "pashkevilin" years ago. His day will come I guess. His story is no older than Kolko's.
Who would believe that the holiest of holiest would be caught with his pants down. The bells a tollin'

May 07, 2006 10:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A frum woman was raped last week in Baltimore. Is there a reason why the community is not being informed that a rape occured and therefore people have to be much more careful

May 07, 2006 10:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There was a frum woman who was pregnant who was raped in Baltimore a few years ago at the shopping center on Smith Ave. Do you remember how quickly that was hushed up?

May 07, 2006 11:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am shocked by what I keep reading. Baltimore is a sick place and a horrible community. Do not be fooled by the Jewish facade of a frum community.. Baltimore Rabbis-you should be ashamed of yourselves!

May 07, 2006 11:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Posters on UOJ are reporting that Kolko has NOT been suspended by Torah Temimah. This is not only an outrage, but the yeshiva and Lipa Margulies (Margo) are opening themselves up to huge legal repercussions.

May 08, 2006 8:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know it's not just sexual abuse that the rabbis in Baltimore are hushing up. What about the case a few years ago when one teen ran over another teen with his car over drugs?

There's also the issue with the arson fires at Machzikei Torah and Etz Chaim. First the Jewish Times wrote about a frum teen setting the fires. Then a year later they said it was an accidental fire.

I don't think the teen who was convicted of arson feels it was an accident

Why are the rabbis and community in Baltimore trying to rewrite history?

May 08, 2006 10:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Breaking News!!! "Rabbi A. M. Leizirowitz, Dean of Gerrer Yeshiva in Boro Park has been deposed and ordered back to Israel. Ger had been threatened by a major sex scandal if he werent removed by the time thier rebbe comes to the US next week. They removed him from sheer feer of scandal, not because they realized a molester should not be exposed to children. He is now saying he is leaving because his mother-in-law is not well. We have no problem with that. Let him screw all the kids in ger-israel and they will reap the "seeds" of thier coverup. I hear civil litigation is still being considered and if he is not gone by next week all hell breaks loose with leaflets and mailings a-la-Kolko. Funny how this high holy sect cares more for thier prestige than for the safety and well being of hundreds of young innocent boys. At least the victims are hopping for joy although I cant see how they will feel vindicated without an all out apology from the system or substantial civil settlements. Lawyers start your engines.

May 11, 2006 1:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't see how you can sue Margulies when this kid never approcached him about it frankly I think he should have gone to the principal. Secondly these things can be addressed and don't need to be taken to the goyishe courts we are jews after all thats what makes us different. Dont forget that!!

May 16, 2006 7:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

go to the principal you must be kidding! Which kid can go to a yeshiva principal? No kid would ever think to confide in any yeshiva principal! The principal is god in the yeshivas and the kids are treated like garbage!

May 17, 2006 6:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it's a shame it took so long for this to come out in the open. 15 years ago this very same thing happened in a 'popular' yeshiva in flatbush 'ohr shraga' & it was hushed up & pushed under the rug

May 17, 2006 8:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To the person who said that he knew kolko and that this story is BS....
yOU ARE A SICK PERSON, PEOPLE DON'T JUST MAKE UP STORIES LIKE THIS. iT IS BECAUSE OF CLOSED MINDED (BROOKLYN) PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF THAT ALLOWS THIS SICK SITUATION TO REACURE. IN ADDITION, I PERSONALLY KNOW 1 OF THE VICTIMS TO THIS HORRIBLE CRIME AND HE MADE A VERY NICE LIFE FOR HIMSELF. SO LISTEN UP YOU MISERABLE POOR EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING, WHEN YOUR KID (IF YOU HAVE ANY) GOES TO YESHIVA, I DON'T THINK YOU'LL BE SO DISCREET AND QUICK TO JUDGE WHEN KOLKO OR SOME OTHER POOR EXCUSE OF REBBI RAPES HIM....

May 23, 2006 2:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

could someone please be more specific on which WEINER was mentioned earlier... first name /yeshiva

May 23, 2006 2:50 AM  
Blogger Post-Denom Jew said...

JUSTICE SERVED!!!!

December 08, 2006 11:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Someone posted about the Baltimore Orthodox Jewish Community. Well, I was physically abused by my father approximately three to four times a week and no one, I mean no one, wanted to report my father nor encourage me to report him. Just the opposite, I learned in Bais Yaakov that it was forbidden to report my father. In addition, my father would cover up by calling everyone about me and complaining that I made his life miserable. I would love to meet child abuse survivors from Baltimore so I could get some comfort and support.

January 08, 2007 2:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know what it is like to suffer horrible sexual abuse. I was a three year old child when it began.
As a jewish woman, I cannot excuse
these actions which have left me with post traumatic stress disorder
etc. This went on for years. The Rabbis who cover for these perverts
will meet the judgement of G-d also. To try and excuse any kind
of sexual abuse with Torah law is
evil and since evil is what you so
called orthodox jews want to try and hide and put mafia type tactics
in action towards the victims of
sexual abuse. The jewish people once again will feel the heavy hand
of hashem. Get ready, yidden to face once again The Wrath Of G-d.
Beware,of what the future brings.
Nothing is new under the sun. Nothing seems to have been learned
from our history and so G-d will
remind the jewish people. For to have the special relationship with
G-d that was given us and to defile
it so, means we will face a future
of damnation, before mercy is shown. Damnation like never before.

June 21, 2007 2:48 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home