Israeli-born rabbi at Dallas Jewish school arrested for molesting a student

An Israeli rabbi in Dallas, Texas, was arrested on suspicion of molesting a male student, according to local media and the city’s Akiva Yavneh Academy, a Modern Orthodox school where he worked as director of Jewish life.

Yitzhak Meir Sabo, 43, has also served since 2022 as the spiritual leader of long-standing North Dallas congregation Tiferet Israel, which placed him on leave without pay after learning of his arrest.

The Texas Jewish Post reported that the Dallas Police Department had indicated that the allegations so far do not involve students in the school’s Early Childhood Program or Lower School.

Jail records cited by the local Fox 4 News said Sabo was arrested on Tuesday and handed felony charges of indecency with a child with contact. He was booked into the Dallas County Jail and given a $100,000 bond, the network said.

In footage from a Dallas-area pro-Israel rally published in November 2023 — a month after the Gaza war was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023 — Sabo is introduced by megachurch pastor Larry Huch as a married father of five who was “born and raised in Israel [and] served in the IDF as a tank sergeant.”

The allegations against Sabo were brought on March 27 to Akiva Yavneh Academy (AYA), which immediately placed him on administrative leave and referred the allegations to law enforcement and child protective services, the Texas Jewish Post reported, citing two emails to parents that were also sent to the newspaper.

In the first email, sent the day the allegations were brought against Sabo, AYA notified parents that there was an ongoing investigation against a member of the staff, who would not be permitted on school grounds. The email did not identify the suspect or specify the nature of the allegations.

***Akiba Yavhneh Academy Director of Jewish Life and Rabbi of Tiferet Israel Synagogue, Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Sabo, Arrested for Felony Indecency with a Minor, Placed on Administrative Leave from School***

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On Thursday, March 27th, Akiba Yavneh Academy of Dallas sent the following… pic.twitter.com/UzhC1hNRVV

— ZA'AKAH – Crying Out for the Silenced (@ZAAKAHNY) April 2, 2025

In the second email, sent on Wednesday, the school identified the suspect as Sabo and said it had prohibited him from “coming to campus, attending school events, conducting school business or contacting students, parents and staff.” Since the previous email, the school said, more families had come forth with “similar concerns” that were “shocking and serious.”

According to the Texas Jewish Post, AYA has begun an internal investigation overseen by its board of trustees and conducted by two attorneys — a former federal US prosecutor who is a trustee of the school, and a lawyer at a large law firm who sends a child to the school.

Meanwhile, an email from Tiferet Israel cited by the Texas Jewish Post said the synagogue learned from AYA on March 27 of the investigation against Sabo.

An emergency meeting of the synagogue’s executive committee asked Sabo to “cease all responsibilities while Tiferet Israel attempted to learn more about the allegations against him,” the email said.

The synagogue put Sabo on unpaid administrative leave after learning of his arrest on Wednesday, the email said, adding that “he will not be allowed on Tiferet Israel’s premises, nor will he be allowed to conduct any business related to Tiferet Israel.”

With some 80,000 members, the Dallas-Forth Worth area is home to the largest Jewish population in Texas, and one of the fastest-growing in the entire United States, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas.