When the Conservative movement censured an upstate New York rabbi in 2019 for a problematic relationship with a woman who had received his rabbinic guidance and attended services, there was no public written record of the offense or the punishment.
There was no announcement to the congregation, Temple Beth-El in Poughkeepsie, indicating any problem with its senior rabbi, Daniel Victor, according to three current and former members of the synagogue and a former member of the board. The movement’s Rabbinic Assembly recommended that Victor have a rabbinic mentor for two years, these members said which did happen. The former member of the board, who resigned over the matter, said in a recent interview that other members still don’t know the full story that Victor, according to the three current and former members, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation in the community, pursued a member of the community, initiated sex and then abruptly dumped her.
My source went public after longstanding sanctions were lifted against the rabbi who committed sexual improprieties. Had he repented enough? She thought not
COURTESY OF CONGREGATION BETH JACOB
PLYMOUTH Congregation Beth Jacob has announced the coming retirement of Rabbi Lawrence Silverman after 44 years of service to the Plymouth area Jewish community.
He will be leaving his position as Rabbi at the end of July 2021. He and his wife, Meredith, will continue to reside in Plymouth. Silverman has been a member of the Plymouth Area Interfaith Clergy Alliance for many years. He is held in high esteem by both fellow clergy and members of their congregations, who have often expressed their appreciation for hearing him speak on occasions such as the community Thanksgiving service, Congregation Beth Jacob said in its statement.
When Rabbi Sheldom Zimmerman was suspended by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 2000 and simultaneously stepped down as president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, even many insiders at the Reform movement’s flagship institutions had no idea of the severity or even the real nature of his offense.
The official word from the ethics committee was inappropriate “personal relationships.” But very few people knew that one involved a congregant at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue who he started seducing when she was a teenager.
“I didn’t know, and I never put things together that it involved a sexual encounter of any kind,” Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, who was the editor of the rabbinic group’s quarterly journal, recalled in a recent interview. “That was never revealed to us at that time.”