Israeli pop star stokes fury over photo with sex offender rabbi Berland
Women’s group and victim slam Omer Adam over embrace; singer’s publicist insists encounter was unplanned
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleMarissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
Israeli pop star Omer Adam has been photographed with convicted sex offender rabbi Eliezer Berland, prompting an outcry by a victim and a women’s group.
In the photo posted on Berland’s Facebook page on Monday, the Mizrahi singer is seen holding hands with the shadowy cult leader in Tel Aviv. In another snapshot, Berland drapes his hand over Adam’s neck.
Adam’s publicist said the incident was a chance encounter.
“Omer was walking around the neighborhood, he went down to buy food and next to the building a Haredi youth caught him and said that Rabbi Berland is upstairs giving a Torah lesson and would be right down. When the rabbi came down they said hello to each other,” a spokesperson told Hebrew media.
עומר אדם – Omer Adam הרב אליעזר ברלנד הדף הרשמי Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Posted by הרב אליעזר ברלנד הדף הרשמי Rabbi Eliezer Berland on Monday, September 2, 2019
The friendly gesture was swiftly condemned.
The Na’amat women’s organization said, “Any legitimization of the ‘abusive rabbi Berland’ is worthy of condemnation,” and urged local authorities to ban him from holding public events with his followers.
“I cannot believe he dared to embrace the man who attacked me,” one woman who alleged sexual abuse by Berland told Channel 12. “I just can’t believe it, I’m broken up from pain and anger.”
After evading arrest for three years and slipping through various countries, Berland, 81, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in November 2016 on two counts of indecent acts and one case of assault, as part of a plea deal that included seven months of time served. He was freed just five months later, in part due to ill health.
Since then, he has resumed his activities as the leader of the Shuvu Bonim sect, which has been disavowed by much of the broader Hasidic Bratslav dynasty. Berland has sought, almost entirely unsuccessfully, to rehabilitate his public image since his release, though he was still granted the honor of lighting a Lag Ba’Omer bonfire on Mount Meron for two consecutive years.
Berland has also been accused of extorting money from terminally ill patients with promises of miracles.
Adam, 25, is one of Israel’s most well-known artists, with his “Shnei Meshugaim” single viewed over 57 million times on YouTube.
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