All Freundel’s US conversions valid, but Israel to review

All conversions performed by Washington, DC, rabbi Barry Freundel will be considered valid, the Rabbinical Council of America announced Monday.

“Today the RCA is able to announce that the Beth Din of America – under the leadership of Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz – has concluded as a matter of Jewish law that conversions performed by Rabbi Freundel prior to his arrest on October 14, 2014, remain halachically valid and prior converts remain Jewish in all respects,” the statement said.

“This ruling follows a review of the charges contained in the court documents that have been released to date (including the criminal complaint, search and arrest warrants, and accompanying affidavits) and applicable Jewish law with respect to the status of prior conversions.”

However, Israel’s Chief Rabbinate will review the validity of Freundel’s conversions, Haaretz reported.

“We are appalled by the accusations against Rabbi Barry Freundel and wish to stress that the acts attributed to him are atrocious and strictly against Jewish law,” Ziv Maor, spokesman of the Chief Rabbinate, was quoted as saying.

“We offer our deepest sympathy to any victims. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is drafting a policy regarding conversions performed by Rabbi Freundel that will attempt to strike a balance between what is permitted according to Jewish law, on the one hand, and the rights and welfare of the converts, on the other.”

Freundel, rabbi of Washington’s prominent Kesher Israel Congregation, was arrested last Tuesday at his home in Washington. He was charged with voyeurism after a witness allegedly saw him installing a clock radio with a hidden camera in the women’s showers of the congregation’s mikvah.

The RCA came to its finding on Sunday, after Freundel pleaded not guilty last week to voyeurism in a Washington, DC, court.

The RCA announced two other changes in the conversion process in the wake of the scandal.

Every conversion beit din, or rabbinical court, will have a female ombudsman appointed to handle concerns of female conversion candidates, who will be provided with the individuals’ names at the beginning of the process.

In addition, the RCA will appoint this week a study group of rabbis, lay leaders, and mental health professionals, both men and women, to review the conversion process and recommend proactive safeguards against abuse. The commission will present its report by January 31, 2015, the statement said.

Freundel has been suspended from the RCA, its executive committee, and the Beth Din of America.

In a separate statement, the RCA detailed two investigations of Freundel’s behavior it had undertaken.

In 2012, the RCA received information that he made conversion candidates feel coerced to perform clerical work for him in his home office and help support the beit din financially. In addition, the RCA said, he was a co-signer on the checking account of a conversion candidate. An RCA investigative committee found his behavior inappropriate, but not severe enough to result in his suspension as long as he discontinued such behavior. The RCA did not inform the Kesher Israel leadership, but Freundel himself did.

The rabbinical body also investigated Freundel in 2013 for taking a train ride in a sleeper car with a woman. However, there was no supporting evidence for the charges, and Freundel denied them when confronted.

On Wednesday, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge William Nooter ordered Freundel to stay away from Kesher Israel and the Jewish converts who immersed in the mikvah, according to Reuters.

Kesher Israel has suspended Freundel without pay, as has the RCA.

JTA contributed to this report.