Satmar Issues Slick PR Statement about the Video of Rabbi Klein and the Child

A shocking video  is ricohcheting around the Internet which was reported by several media outlets. It shows the principal of the Satmar lower school in Kiryas Joel, NY, rocking a child squeezed between his legs against his groin while he is rhythmically moving in ways suggesting masturbation. The boy who appears to be about six years old struggles to get away during this video which runs for eleven minutes. The principal, Moshe Hirsch Klein, uses his hands to alternately caress the boy, stroke his back, and pull him in tighter as the boy repeatedly struggles to get away. See my previous posts, here and here, for more about this case which the police and DA are looking into.

The exhibit du jour is a press release issued today (5/10/16), doubtlessly written by a professional PR firm, claiming they of course care about and don’t tolerate sex abuse, and claiming they fully cooperate with the criminal justice system. Naturally they deny anything happened in this case and the principal is a great guy with an unblemished reputation.

But to really know their mentality consider a speech given by the grand rabbi of the village of KJ, Aron Teitelbaum, openly saying that the authorities were willing to look the other way about their failure to fulfill secular schooling requirements, but for some snitches. See Daily News. Sadly that is also true about sex abuse, as long as the offender is a fellow Hasid. This is because the community intimidates witnesses and delivers block votes which help determine who is elected DA.Faced with difficulty prosecuting cases and mindful of the block votes, DA’s in with large Hasidic block votes, such as Kings (Brooklyn), Rockland, and Orange, they just don’t do their darnedest to protect ultra orthodox children.

And now for your entertainment here is the press release.

Police Confirm Active Investigation of KJ Video of Principal Klein

Yesterday I posted the breaking news story, Satmar Anti-Abuse Activists Leak Video of a Principal Molesting a Boy to Force His Dismissal. I wrote:

A very  disturbing video** was leaked onto WhatsApp of a school principal abusing a pre-pubescent boy who appears to be about eight years old. The viral video was taken from a hidden camera planted in the ceiling of the office of the principal of the Satmar (Aron faction) lower school (cheder) in Kiryas Joel, NY (KJ). Rabbi Moshe Hirsch Klein, the principal, is seen seated with the boy forced between his legs and with body and pelvic motions suggestive of masturbation. He uses his hands to alternately caress the boy’s body and face, and to pull him back as he repeatedly tries to get away. At times he also seems to be kissing the boy on his lips. The boy is obviously upset. Thankfully, the boy’s face is not visible and his identity is not disclosed through this video.

At that time, anti-abuse activist, Boorey Deutsch, reported that the video of Rabbi Klein was leaked after they had presented it to the Orange County DA, who declined to prosecute. LOHUD now reports:

[Maj. Joseph Tripodo, commander of state police Troop F in Middletown] said police had the video before it began circulating on the Internet Monday but he would not say how long ago they began their investigation. He declined to discuss details of the tape or whether the principal has been questioned. He said “it hasn’t been determined” what exactly is happening in the video but that police are trying to have it enhanced as part of the investigation.

I find it interesting that only now are they bothering to enhance this poor quality video to help resolve some ambiguities. I suspect they threw in the towel on the first round because Hasidic abuse cases are tough to prosecute because most witnesses can be intimidated out of testifying. They may have also taken a pass because they know the Orange County DA is not too keen on Hasidic cases because they are a powerful block vote.

Satmar Anti-Abuse Activists Leak Video of a Principal Molesting a Boy to Force His Dismissal

A very  disturbing video** was leaked onto WhatsApp of a school principal abusing a pre-pubescent boy who appears to be about eight years old. The viral video was taken from a hidden camera planted in the ceiling of the office of the principal of the Satmar (Aron faction) lower school (cheder) in Kiryas Joel, NY (KJ). Rabbi Moshe Hirsch Klein, the principal, is seen seated with the boy forced between his legs and with body and pelvic motions suggestive of masturbation. He uses his hands to alternately caress the boy’s body and face, and to pull him back as he repeatedly tries to get away. At times he also seems to be kissing the boy on his lips. The boy is obviously upset. Thankfully, the boy’s face is not visible and his identity is not disclosed through this video.

The online discussion of this episode offers up competing narratives. One camp reports that some teachers in the school were disturbed by the principal’s pattern of sexual abuse but could not get the higher ups to remove him. So, in desperation they planted the camera to furnish convincing proof of their complaints and then leaked it on WhatsApp, a very popular social medium in the Hasidic world where many rely on smartphones to get around the ban on home computer ownership. It is not clear whether they first tried showing the video to the higher ups in the Satmar system whose ultimate decision maker is the grand rabbi, Aron Teitelbaum.

How Did Rabbis Determine Someone Was a Miscreant before Electronic Recording?

Mordechai Tendler

In three important cases, rabbis relied on audio or video recordings to publicly denounce rabbis or force them to resign. I am referring to Rabbi Mordechai Tendler, Rabbi Leib Tropper and, most recently, Rabbi Dovid Weinberger. In each case, dozens of victims had complained to many rabbis, but to no avail, until the recordings surfaced.

Leib Tropper

The technology for audio recording is about a century old. Only in recent decades has recording capability become cheap, inconspicuous, and ubiquitous. But we know that rabbinic misconduct did not suddenly start a few years ago.

Rabbi Dovid Weinberger

We know that Jewish law empowers communities to remove religious functionaries (e.g., rabbis, teachers, ritual slaughterers) for misconduct. We know that rabbis and communal leaders have “fired” functionaries in various times and places over the centuries (e.g, Shoel Umeishiv in 19th century Lvov/Lemberg).

So I have to ask how was it done before they had electronic recordings. Put differently, why are hyper-traditionalist rabbis demanding newfangled forms of electronic evidence and not using the old methods?

Full Transcript of Manis Friedman Trivializing Sex Abuse