Rabbi Eliyahu Publishes Video in Support of Abused Tzfat Women

Rabbi Eliyahu: Help women harmed by Rabbi Sheinberg

Tzfat chief rabbi publishes video calling to aid women harmed by former yeshiva dean in Tzfat. 'That is how impurity will be eradicated.’ arutzsheva (go to link to view video of the Rabbi)


The Rabbi of Tzfat, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, published a video supporting women who were harmed by Ezra Sheinberg, calling on the public to help them.

"I was privileged to accompany them on part of their path," said Rabbi Eliyahu, adding: "I saw what lionesses, heroines, brave and special women they are.”

At the end of the video, the rabbi said: "We need to help as much as possible, because that is how we will eradicate the spirit of impurity from the land."

The video of Rabbi Eliyahu joins other recently published videos, including of rabbis and rabbanits such as Malka Piotrkowsky and Yehudit Shilat, who called to help the victims with the fundraising process in which they now find themselves.

The victims of Sheinberg embarked on a mass mobilization campaign to raise money to help them in the civil suit they are now conducting against Sheinberg, and to help fund the psychological treatments they need.

They wrote on their Facebook page: "It's hard for us to say this out loud, but we, the victims of Ezra Sheinberg, need the help of the public. Years of treatment and legal proceedings and caused us to go into huge financial debt. We are at a crossroads where we must decide - do we ask for help or abandon everything because of debt? We have decided to fight. For ourselves, for our families, so that there will be no more women harmed in the future."

Sheinberg, the former Dean of Orot Ha’ari yeshiva in Tzfat, was convicted as part of a plea bargain for sexually assaulting eight women and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

According to the victims’ Facebook and fundraising pages, five of the women mentioned in the indictment, lamenting what they said was a “softened plea bargain, against our expressed wishes,” are now filing a civil suit against Sheinberg, requesting “the aid of the public in enacting justice.”


Some Background:

Supreme Court rejects appeal of rabbi sentenced for sex assault. arutzsheva

Safed rabbi sentenced to 7.5 years in jail for sexual assault
Ezra Sheinberg, ex-yeshiva head, confessed to using his position as spiritual leader to take advantage of 8 women. timesofisrael

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Me: The women attending Seminaries for the summer, or all year long, should be taught the laws of tsniut – yichud, not matter their level of Daas Yehudit, many of these instances would be avoided.