Via A Georgetown University law student has filed a lawsuit against Kesher Israel, the synagogue where Barry Freundel—the rabbi arrested and charged with six counts of voyeurism—worked, claiming that they covered up past unusual behavior and practices that should have raised concern.
The student, who was granted a motion to proceed with the lawsuit under a pseudonym, filed the lawsuit today and it also names Georgetown University—where Freundel taught some classes—and the National Capital Mikvah, where the spiritual rituals that Freundel allegedly filmed women took place.
According to the student’s lawsuit, which was first reported by the Post, some of Freundel’s “unusual” and unorthodox practice, which includes “practice dunks” before taking the spiritual bath and encouraging “non-Jews, unmarried women, and students” to use the mikvah as part of their studies, was known by Kesher Israel and National Capital Mikvah.
Instead of doing something about past complaints, the suit alleges that they instead passed them along to the Rabbinical Council of America, where Freudel led the “protocols and standards” committee.
Additionally, the suit names Georgetown University and alleges that the school “undertook no investigation into Freundel’s background prior to hiring him.” From the Post:
The suit alleges that Kesher Israel knew about past complaints but “simply passed” them to the Rabbinical Council of America, a major group of modern Orthodox rabbis, even though Freundel led that group’s “protocol and standards” committee for conversions. The lawsuit alleges that Freundel brought “overwhelmingly attractive young women” to the bath so often it became a running joke, and that he used his position of teacher and respected Jewish leader to convince his students and congregants that his unusual practices were okay. The law student alleges that Georgetown “undertook no investigation into Freundel’s background prior to hiring him” and accuses the school of acting with “willful blindness.”
Yesterday, Freundel was officially fired from Kesher Israel. At least six victims have been identified so far, but police have set up a hotline to find other potential victims. In the lawsuit, the student’s attorney wrote that the “defendants’ turned a blind eye to obvious signs to Freundel’s increasingly bizarre behavior, ignoring the bright red flags that Freundel was acting inappropriately with women subjected to his authority.”
