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4 girls sue Orthodox Union and its youth group, alleging intercourse abuse by rabbi

The Florida Division of Legislation Enforcement Intercourse Offender/Predator Flyer for Baruch Lanner. Display seize

(RNS) — 4 girls who allege they have been sexually abused by a rabbi as women have filed swimsuit in opposition to the Orthodox Union and its youth arm, claiming they allowed the rabbi’s predatory conduct to proceed after quite a few complaints.

The swimsuit was filed in New Jersey Superior Courtroom at some point earlier than the state’s two-year window for previous sexual abuse circumstances closes Tuesday (Nov. 30). ​​New Jersey’s 2019 Little one Victims Act supplied residents who have been beforehand prevented from submitting lawsuits due to a statute of limitations a two-year look-back window.

The swimsuit alleges Rabbi Baruch Lanner abused women in his cost starting within the Nineteen Seventies when he organized weekend synagogue retreats for the Orthodox Union’s Nationwide Convention of Synagogue Youth. He additionally led six-week youth summer time packages in Israel.

Lanner, now 72, is a convicted intercourse abuser. In 2002, he was convicted of sexually abusing two teenage women who have been college students within the Nineties at Hillel Yeshiva Excessive College in Deal, New Jersey, the place he had been principal.

Lanner was sentenced to seven years in jail and 4 years of probation.

The lawsuit comes as American Jews undertake a reckoning over sexual abuse. This yr, the Reform and Conservative actions, the biggest U.S.-based Jewish spiritual teams, introduced they have been initiating investigations into studies of sexual abuse. The Conservative motion for the primary time posted to its website an inventory of rabbis who have been expelled or suspended for violating numerous codes of conduct, together with sexual misconduct. Earlier in November, the Reform Jewish motion’s seminary, Hebrew Union Faculty-Jewish Institute of Faith, revealed a wide-ranging investigation of sexual misconduct. A number of different investigations are ongoing.


RELATED: As Reform Jews investigate themselves, a reckoning over sexual abuse grows


The Orthodox Union logo. Courtesy image

The Orthodox Union emblem. Courtesy picture

Orthodox Jewish teams, which signify the smallest share of U.S. Jews, about 9%, have been much less lively on sexual abuse points.

Within the swimsuit, the 4 girls, two Israelis, one New Yorker and one dwelling in New Jersey, say Lanner preyed on them and groomed them for his personal sexual gratification. The ladies usually are not recognized within the lawsuit as a result of they have been abused as minors.

Lanner’s misconduct was extensively reported by The New York Jewish Week in 2000. It additionally broke the story of the lawsuit through the Jewish Telegraphic Company on Monday.

Boz Tchividjian, one of many legal professionals representing the ladies, instructed Faith Information Service, “We’re alleging they knew or ought to have identified about Lanner’s conduct and didn’t take immediate corrective measures to cease it and take away him, and because of this our purchasers have been abused.” 

The ladies are suing for an unspecified sum of money for ache and struggling and prices of medical therapy, in addition to any punitive damages a decide may deem correct.

An Orthodox Union spokesperson mentioned it couldn’t touch upon pending litigation.


RELATED: Reform Jewish seminary report uncovers 50 years of sexual misconduct


 

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