Update: Offer Rescinded. Indicted Sex-Offender Ezra Sheinberg Awaiting Trial; May Move to Kibbutz Hafetz Hayim

Update: Rabbi Horowitz rescinded the offer. Public pressure works. Often, it is the only thing that works. The only question remains, will parents be willing to keep their daughters in the school under Horowitz’s management, or will they demand that he be fired, as some parents have suggested?

Emily Amrussi reports:

Rabbi David Horowitz, head of the Hafetz Hayim ulpana, announced that he will not agree to offer his home for house arrest for his brother-in-law Ezra Sheinberg, who will stand trial for committing a series of serious rapes.

Sheinberg’s victims wish to offer thanks for the support they received today.

Thank you to Eli Iskozidu, head of the Nachal Sorek region, who understood the objection to hosting Sheinberg in Hafetz Hayim, and helped in achieving the understandings.
Sheinberg, who sexually exploiting at least ten women who came to consult with him, according to the indictmment, will remain imprisoned or be released according to the decision of the police–and not under the protection of a figure in the religious Zionist education system.  

Original post from earlier today:

Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, the former yeshiva head of the Torat Ha’ari yeshiva in Safed, has been indicted and awaiting trial. He may be released to house arrest.
Journalist Emily Amrusi posted the following warning in Hebrew on Facebook. Here is my translation:

Ezra Sheinberg in court, flanked by police officers

Credit: Gil Eliyahu, Haaretz

Dear Rabbi David Horowitz, head of the girls’ high school (ulpana) in Kibbutz Hafetz Hayim.
We heard you are offering to house your brother-in-law, sex offender Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg of Safed, so that he won’t have to stay in prison.
He was accused of rape, sodomy and molestation of at least 12 women who consulted with him, and interfered with court procedures. The victims are appalled that he might get out of jail because of your offer of a solution.
You surely know that Sheinberg’s son, a resident of Ramat Hagolan, intended to house his father and rescinded the offer, because of the strong objection from his neighbors.
There’s no question that your neighbors in Hafetz Hayim, who may not yet know, will object to your harboring an alleged serial sex offender.
There’s no doubt that the school’s students and their parents will not see this as educational.
Of course you are not guilty of the actions of your wife’s brother, but your willingness to harbor someone suspected of such serious offenses–Sheinberg admitted his actions and tried to flee to Brazil–is an ethical and public disgrace.

More information:
Haaretz article on Sheinberg

Ulpanat Tzvia Hafetz Hayim website

Contact form for ulpana

Comments

  1. I would remove “Alleged” from the headline.

  2. galileegirl says

    He was being hidden by his sil around the corner from us. If I had only known at the time. Now his wife and children are living on the yishuv with the married son.

    They deny that he done anything wrong. This bil may believe he is innocent and harmless.