Activist confronts rabbi convicted of sexual misconduct

A political and social activist interrupted Rabbi Mordechai Elon’s weekly Torah class Wednesday, demanding a public apology for the instance of sexual misconduct Elon was found guilty of earlier that day. Nahum Pachenik, a resident of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and a staunch advocate of Jewish-Arab coexistence, urged Elon to acknowledge the fact that he had “sinned,” and called on the rabbi to “repent.”

“God has given me the power to recover from the place I have been,” said Pachenik, 40, who claimed to have been sexually harassed by a “popular rabbi” while serving in the IDF. “You are a very great person, I know you are,” he continued, pointing his finger at Elon. “Yet, you do not have the power to say ‘I have sinned.'”

Elon’s many followers who attended the class began shouting and singing in order to block the activist’s words. Eventually, the rabbi’s followers forcibly escorted Pachenik out of the building.

Elon addressed Pachenik’s words later on during the class, thanking the latter for giving him the opportunity “to be forgiving.”

“As it is the beginning of the month of mercy and forgiveness, I forgive him though I do not know who he is,” Elon said of Pachenik.

Elon went on to assert that Pachenik had been sent by a third party in order to “cause harm.”

“I forgive the messenger and I forgive the sender,” he said.

A court determined Wednesday that Elon had committed indecent acts against a minor on two different occasions. The boy was not a student of the rabbi’s. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for October.

Elon, once considered by many to be the future leader of the religious-Zionist movement (before the current case forced him out of public life), had over the past couple of years given a weekly class which drew hundreds of students in the northern town of Migdal.

Speaking with Channel 10 News outside of the building in Migdal, Pachenik said he made the trip up north in order to specifically demand of Elon to admit his mistakes.

“He is evil and has been convicted,” Pachenik told reporters. “I speak from a place of pain and I speak on behalf of the sexually assaulted, the silent voices that could not make it here today. [Elon] has to be brave and acknowledge his mistakes,” he said.

Elon will likely appeal the court’s verdict, a source close to the rabbi told Army Radio.

Aaron Kalman and Mitch Ginsburg contributed to this report.