Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, until recently head of a yeshiva and other institutions in Tzfat and Kiryat Shmona, was arrested by Israeli police at Ben Gurion Airport as he attempted to flee the country. His name may not be reported in Israel according to a judicial gag order obtained by the police. He stands accused by married women among his followers of engaging in sexual acts and rape. He was removed from his state-funded post after the investigation began.
Sheinberg was ordained by Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, then the former chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel. The elder Rabbi Eliyahu appointed his son, Shmuel, the chief rabbi of Tzfat. The younger Eliyahu is a notorious bigot known throughout the country for his racist views toward Palestinians.
Sheinberg founded a pre-military yeshiva in Tzfat in 1999. This phenomenon has contributed markedly to the massive increases in settler officers and a rightist slant among the IDF officer corps. He also led 3,000 settlers in prayer at Joseph’s Tomb a holy site in Nablus under contention between radical settlers and Muslims.
Sheinberg has cultivated relationships with the Israeli Orthodox women’s community. This rebbetzin even boasts of taking spiritual and halachic supervision from him. I imagine this passage may disappear from her website soon (unless she is one of his victims).
The yeshiva he founded, Yeshivat Ha’Ari, has removed his biographical page, which is preserved here (in Hebrew).
In a similar development, Rabbi Eliezer Berland is resisting deportation from Holland to Israel, where he stands accused of similar sexual crimes. Berland has taken to donning his full religious regalia in court hearings, including tallit and tefillin. This is certainly not just an exploitation, but a perversion of Judaism in order to save the neck of an accused sex abuser. It would make Moses roll over in his grave and should make most Jews sick to their stomach.
The Dutch Supreme Court (“Hoge Raad”) judged some days ago that Berland, who is accused of four cases of sexual assault and one of provoking cruel treatment, can be extradited to Israel. The ultimate decision is left to the Minister of Justice.
One of the arguments Berland used in his defence is interesting. He claimed that Israel had no jurisdiction in his case because the crimes he is accused of were committed in occupied territory and he, Berland, is not an Israeli.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland is not in a hospital in Holland as was believed to be the case last week, it is now reported the rav has indeed fled Holland. Today the Rabbi should contact the police on terms of his bail. If he does not, the Rabbi will be declared a fugitive from justice.
○ Failure by Dutch justice to prevent flight
@ Oui: I see an Interpol red card in Berland’s future. He’ll join Meir Dagan in having this distinction!
The State of Israel is diligently prosecuting these alleged rapists. That’s a good thing. Right?
@ Mitchell Blood: Israeli police & state prosecutors don’t do much “diligently.” As for what will happen to the rabbis, we’ll see.
The gag order, if there is/was one, has slipped off completely. He is in Safed and a known ‘mekubbal'[sic] and has been operating in the ‘blessing’ business etc for a good 15 years.
He was not ordained by Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu because he is not really authorized to ordain anybody. Eliyahu received his post in Safed circa 1990 because his father Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu was then the chief rabbbi.
Sheinberg was a pupil of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and ordained by him.
You probably remember about 7-8 years ago Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu spoke and posted signs against Arabs and was taken to court but exonerated for ‘lack of proof’, the system protects itself. Unfortunately the police needed to blame someone for similarly related crimes and they ruined the lives of two youths with no apparent reason by arresting them for trumped up charges and the trial has been going on for 5 yrs now.
As far as Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu I find him despicable and want to spit when I see him but you know I could be arrested for ‘dissing’ a public servant and thus I refrain.
@ Eitan: Thank you for these corrections. I will make the relevant changes to the text.
Tsfat not Kiryat Shmona
@ james: His bio mentions his involvement in Kiryat Shmona. But I’ve corrected the post to note the yeshiva is in Tzfat.
Richard,
I see you do not know very much about the religious establishment in Israel.Glaringly you don’t know that Rabbi Mordechai Eiyahu was never a rabbi in Tzfat, rather Chief Rabbi of Israel representing Sephardic Jews.His son Shmuel is rabbi of Tzfat.How about some very basic fact checking before you post?
@ jimmy: I never claimed to be an expert on the Israeli Orthodox rabbinate. So if I confused the father and son in this case, big deal. That should be the least of your worries. Why don’t you focus some attention on the crimes of which Sheinberg is accused?
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu was quite famous, in other words you don’t know to much about Israel, if you don’t know the facts I quoted.He was very right wing, which should be an additional reason for you to know about him.
No big deal, but then the blog is not a very reliable source, is it?
Ok, let’s focus on the rabbis crimes:What should we do?Do you think that members of the clergy are immune to criminal acts? Is your blog a crime blotter? Does This have any significance do the issues in the Middle East?
Just curious if you are turning your blog into a
@ jimmy: This is my last exchange with you. If you post again in this thread you will be banned.
Mordechai Eliyahu wasn’t famous except among Sephardic observant Jews. He was chief rabbi for a decade ending in 1993 and died five years ago. Contrary to what you think, I don’t follow Orthodox Israeli publications nor the lives of the Orthodox rabbis except when I’m writing a particular post on these subjects. I leave such expertise to chniyuks like you.
As for his crimes, I’m not interested in the crimes of Buddhists or Jains. I’m interested in the behavior of Jews because I am one. Because rabbis like Sheinberg hold themselves out to be moral exemplars I think they deserve scrutiny, which is what I do.
As for what my blog is–yes, I often focus on crime issues. If you’d read it more comprehensively you’d know that.