Prominent Washington rabbi arrested for voyeurism
Barry Freundel, spiritual leader of Kesher Israel, led away in handcuffs on charges of filming women in the ritual bath
A prominent Orthodox rabbi in the heart of Washington, DC, was arrested and charged with voyeurism Tuesday.
Rabbi Barry Freundel, the longtime spiritual leader at Kesher Israel in Washington, DC, was taken away Tuesday in handcuffs after uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department searched his home in the Georgetown section of Washington, Washingtonian magazine reported.
DC police said the rabbi was filming women bathing in the community ritual immersion bath, or mikvah, which is adjacent to the synagogue, according to local media. Freundel was caught by a 35-year-old congregant while installing a camera in a clock radio above the ritual bath, the report said. The rabbi reportedly told the woman he was adjusting the ventilation.
According to the Washington Post, the DC police declined to provide further details beyond the charge. Freundel, who is in police custody, is expected to have an initial appearance in DC Superior Court on Wednesday.
Freundel, 62, has led Kesher Israel, a modern Orthodox synagogue, for more than two decades. The congregation’s members include Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and former senator Joseph Lieberman.
The rabbi also serves on the executive council of centrist Orthodoxy’s Rabbinical Council of America.