Chevi Garfinkel? 19 Latest Answer

Ariella Kay's professional credentials and work history are in genomics and clinical research. However, she is passionate about the public health crises affecting her community. Ariella has been quietly monitoring cases of sexual abuse in the Jewish world since the 2012 Weberman trial. It wasn't until 2016 that she became a vocal activist speaking out against institutions and Askanim to cover up predators. In her spare time, she works for Zaakah, helping survivors seek justice against their abusers. When she's not doing that, she's spending time with her family and loved ones. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Ariella_Kay.

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I met Miss Yocheved (Chevi) Garfinkel during my senior year at Bruriah High School. Part of my 12th grade curriculum was a hashkafa taught by her. After teaching, she was an outstanding speaker on the subject of school Shabbatons. She was a celebrity. People flocked to hear her speak, whether in person or live. I remember it being loud, passionate, emotional and long. I wasn’t a fan of her Fire and Brimstone Ted Talks. In 2014, I heard her speak at Brooklyn College’s Hillel Center and was still unimpressed by her intense mannerisms. I always felt like there was something wrong with ME because I wasn’t in love with her.

In August 2021, Chevi was sued for the harm she caused a then 11-year-old girl for allegedly molesting her, beginning in 1994. The suit was filed in Kings County Court against Yocheved (Chevi) Garfinkel, her father Abraham, submitted Garfinkel, Yeshiva R’Tzahd, Camp Sternberg, the camp’s parent organization, SHMA, LLC. (Sternberg, Heller and Magen Avraham) and others. She comes forward as “Jane Doe” and accuses Chevi of molesting her from 1994 to 2001.

According to the complaint, Jane was a Baalat Teshuvah, a child of immigrants and a student of Chevi at Yeshiva R’Tzahd, a Kiruv day school in Brooklyn. The grooming reportedly began when Jane was 11 years old. Chevi successfully persuaded Jane’s parents that it would be beneficial for their daughter’s spiritual growth and development if she stayed at Chevi’s childhood home on Shabbat, where Chevi was living at the time. Chevi crawled into Jane’s bed at night, stripped the girl of her clothes and petted her. There were dozens of these overnight stays. According to the complaint, Chevi’s parents have repeatedly caught Chevi in ​​the Jane’s bed and told her to “stop whatever is going on.” According to the lawsuit (line 29), “defendant Abraham Garfinkel once told Ms. Garfinkel that she could no longer sleep in the same bed as plaintiff and ordered that everything going on between plaintiff and Garfinkel cease.” The alleged abuse often took place in Chevi’s bedroom and on the Camp Sternberg campus. It didn’t stop until the victim was 18 and went to Israel for seminary.

I could have been that victim. I was often in the same room as Chevi. I was a Baalat Teshuvah. We were vulnerable because predators like Chevi knew we had to rely on the Frum community for support and were so eager to be accepted. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time could have made any of us, Baalei Teshuvah, a victim.

Miss Yocheved (Chevi) Garfinkel

When I read the lawsuit, I was shocked that the alleged perpetrator was someone I knew. I thought about my friends from high school and how devastated they will be. And indeed they were. I felt empathy for the survivor because I knew she would face backlash in the Frum world if she spoke up.

Chevi was not like other Frum speakers. She was single and used her marital status. She told students she had a “sacred” reason for delaying marriage. She was like many cult figures who tell their followers that their leader is too holy or different for others to handle and that they have a special mission. This iconic, charismatic ploy should have been a warning sign to the schools and camps. But they considered this trait an advantage for growth and development.They believed she could get students to aspire spiritually by convincing them they were valued for more than just marriage.

Bruriah and Lev Bais Yaakov reply

Zaakah advocates for survivors of sexual abuse in the Frum world. Unlike most Frum organizations, it supports survivors who choose to file criminal charges or civil suits against sex offenders. Zaakah posted the lawsuit on Facebook on September 4, 2021. The next day, Rabbi Pinchos Shapiro, Executive Vice President of Bruriah High School, emailed:

Earlier today, I was made aware of a lawsuit filed under New York’s Child Victims Act involving a part-time member of our faculty, alleging past misconduct unrelated to our school or our students (past or present) occurred 20 to 27 years ago. The lawsuit does not name our institution or anyone associated with us other than this one person who teaches half a day a week.

While we are unaware of the veracity of the allegations, we take these matters very seriously . We are working with our legal counsel, outside experts, and have sought advice from law enforcement on this matter. We continue with her stance.In the meantime, the person named in the lawsuit has been placed on administrative leave and will be absent from school pending further investigation into this matter.

Our dedicated teachers and staff are here to support our students, help them process, and address their questions or concerns. Our Director of Guance, Shira Sommerstein, works with her team at Bruriah and experts in the field to demonstrate additional support and a supportive and fair workplace for our employees. We will continue to act in accordance with these obligations, the law, the dictates of halacha, and the values ​​that we hold most dearly as a Torah institution.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Sincerely,
Pinchas
Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro
Executive Vice Present
Jewish Educational Center
Lower School – High School – Bruriah

* 100043*

You managed to never use Chevi Garfinkel’s name. So parents, students and others who had relevant information or suspicions about Chevi were not made aware to keep the connection going. Very often, additional victims don’t show up until they know another came first. This kind of secrecy excludes this possibility.

Your testimony makes it appear that they suspended Chavi as soon as they heard about the allegations. But according to parents, Bruriah first learned of the allegations in 2016. Jewish Community Watch contacted her about Jane’s allegations. At the time, Bruriah had not suspended Chevi. Instead, they emailed the parents, assuring them that they had checked with Chevi Garfinkel, Jewish Community Watch, halachic authorities, law enforcement, legal counsel, lay leadership, and faculty. Note, however, that they do not address professionals who specialize in child safeguarding policies and practices.

In their initial response to the allegations, they dismissed the possible risks, writing: “We also reviewed an assessment attesting to the suitability of the faculty member in question to continue to serve as an educator… Based on the above and in the absence of one conflicting event or additional information, we consent to the faculty member continuing in his role at Bruriah.”

Thus, five years elapsed between their first knowledge of the allegation and their final taking of action to suspend Chevi. One has to wonder if they acted only because the facts of the case were public knowledge. In view of her parents’ Internet affinity, it was no longer possible to conceal the allegations.

Anyway, Bruriah had the knowledge for five years while giving Chevi access to teenage girls. This is gross negligence.If students in Bruriah were harassed by Garfinkel during this time, the school could be held liable because they knew she posed a risk and ignored the warning.

Lev Bais Yaakov waited until after Sukkos to give this statement to the parents:

Dear Parents and Staff,

A few days before Succos, we were informed of a pending lawsuit filed under the New York Child Victims Act against a longtime teacher at our school for alleged misconduct happened at another institution over 25 years ago. Said teacher is currently employed part-time by Lev Bais Yaakov. The lawsuit does not name our school or any other person associated with Lev Bais Yaakov.

The named teacher is known to be an educator par excellence and we are well aware of her outstanding character.We truly believe that these allegations are totally out of character for this teacher and totally inconsistent with what she is. However, we are a Bais Yaakov committed to the halachic guidelines in all matters.We have therefore met with Rabbonim and legal counsel.

Lew Bais Yaakov, in accordance with your instructions, has taken the difficult step of placing our teacher on administrative leave at this time.

As always, Lev Bais Yaakov is aware aware of its responsibility to provide its staff and students with a comfortable and carefree learning environment. Just as we have taken the necessary steps to achieve this goal in the past, we will certainly continue to do so in the future, IY”H.

Feel free to contact us with any questions. We will do our utmost to address your concerns while respecting the privacy of the parties involved.

Lev Bais Yaakov Administration

Months after filing the lawsuit in August 2021, Chevi hosted a Hanukkah party for Lev Bais Yaakov alumni and students at her home.

Zecharia Wallerstein

Years ago, “Jane” spoke to Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, the founder and principal of the Ohr Naava School, and claimed that Chevi had abused her. Wallerstein said he would investigate and get back to her. But he never followed it up. This is of particular concern as his school sponsors a group of girls, several of whom have been sexually abused. Yanky Elefant, executive director of Ohr Naava, is Wallerstein’s brother-in-law and Chevi’s brother-in-law. So one can wonder if some kind of family protection was involved.

Social media reactions

On Facebook and Twitter, people expressed three different reactions. Some parents were appalled by the allegations and expressed frustration to Bruriah for knowing without acting since 2016. Other parents doubt the allegations and want to wait until the lawsuit is over before drawing their own conclusions. This position leaves a risk for the years it can take to complete a court case.

You also had a group in the Mdle. Some acknowledged allegations are not to be taken lightly, but they couldn’t take care of this case. It is possible that this is due to the assumption that only men are perpetrators. The only other high-profile case of a Frum offender is Malka Leifer, who was extradited to Australia in 2020.

From the date the lawsuit was filed through February 2022, the only resulting actions are Bruriah and Lev Bais Yaakov, who place Chevi on administrative leave and write vague statements to parents explaining their decisions. Other venues such as Ohr Naava or Camp Sternberg have done nothing to address the allegations. In fact, Or Naava had two occasions when she spoke. One was in December 2021 and the other in February 2022. Camp Sternberg has not issued a statement on whether it will return for summer 2021. This is not a best practice. This is how institutions do not properly deal with allegations of abuse.

Evaluation of institutions

1. Bruriah shouldn’t have waited for the complaint to go viral on social media before putting her on leave.While I’m proud of Zaakah’s work in spreading the message, the schools must act on their own. They should act because they care so much about abuse, not just because it’s bad PR. There is no reason to keep parents guessing who they are talking about.
2. No school should write about how long ago the alleged abuse occurred as it is irrelevant to the threat it poses to students. The omission of Garfinkel’s name and her doubts about the “truthfulness” of the claim were a feeble attempt to downplay the magnitude of the problem. Doubting the implication of the claim feeds the mindset of disputing allegations of abuse when almost all of them are true.
3. You should have reminded parents to call the police if their daughter reports similar interactions with Chevi to have had garfinkel. This is especially important in frum communities to overcome underreporting and stigma of those who contact law enforcement.
4. Schools should have up-to-date policies on their training procedures and reporting protocols. It should be easily accessible for parents, for example by being available on the school website. This is intended to show the parents what tasks the school has towards the ks. Just as you have school manuals that dictate rules about vaccination records and dress code, there should be guidelines on how the school proceeds when a student discloses abuse.
5. Given their poor handling of this case, these schools and camps should use third party companies to conduct thorough investigations into their history of attacks. This would show parents that they are proactive in finding the gaps that lead to these situations. We know there are gaps.

If Chevi is guilty, why didn’t Jane go to the police?

Because Jane wasn’t ready to go to the police until she was 23 years old. She is now almost 40 years old. Before the NYS Child Victims Act passed in 2019, the statute of limitations (SOL) for reporting child sexual abuse was 23 years of age. Once a SOL expires, it is no longer possible to file a criminal complaint, regardless of the level of evidence. This also applies to filing civil lawsuits. After the law was passed in 2019 (thanks to lobbying by Zaakah and others), the age for filing criminal charges was changed to twenty-seven and for civil charges to fifty-five. A key feature of this bill is the two-year “hindsight window” that allowed victims of child sexual abuse to sue in civil courts, even if the abuse occurred before the SOL was amended.

But there are reasons to file a civil lawsuit even if an offender is charged and convicted. Law enforcement helps protect the community, but it doesn’t repair the harm done to the victim. According to the lawsuit, Jane suffered “severe emotional, psychological and psychiatric injuries, suffering and harm to the plaintiff, which also manifested itself in physical and emotional harm to the plaintiff.” Dealing with the damage can mean disruption to school, work, and family life. Trying to recover from the damage can involve all sorts of medical/psychotherapeutic expenses and lost revenue.

Put simply, being raped is expensive and someone has to pay for it. Let this be a lesson for Chevi, Chevy’s enablers and neglectful institutions. Your behavior has caused damage and now the bill is due.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

Jillian Roth is the attorney for survivor Jane Doe. Your legal team is interested in speaking with others who have experienced, witnessed, or heard of Chevi Garfinkel’s abuse or grooming behavior. That could have happened through experiences with Chevi at one of these institutions or others not on this list. It could be someone currently working at these institutions, or former students, campers and staff at these institutions:

• Bruriah
• Camp Frontier
• Yeshiva R’Tzahd
• Camp Sternberg
• Ohr Naava
• Lev Bais Yaakov
• Schoolamith High School

The attorney is also interested in receiving more information about the nature of Chevi’s relationship with Camp Sternberg, Ohr Naava and any special courses or camp programs run by Chevi.

You can reach Jane’s attorney, Jill Roth, by phone (215-399-9255) or email ([email protected]).

You can contact Ariella Kay from Zaakah at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Ariella_Kay.

This is almost half a year after the lawsuit became public

Bruriah HS’s response to JCW’s claims some time before the lawsuit

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Back to For You

Never thought this would happen to me.

Everyone knows that people who struggle with shduchim are unreasonable and unrealistic. At the smug age of 21, I firmly say, “If a person isn’t married by 24, they don’t really want to be married.”

Ha-ha. Until I became one of them: an “older single”. The price of membership? Mental and emotional exhaustion.

We dress up when we get milk because “you never know”. We smile at the insult because we can’t afford to upset someone even if our dignity is trampled on – what if they don’t trick us or give good information about us? We visit voluntarily accredited and non-accredited Shadchanim, who insist they hear us, but usually don’t. When we enter these l’chayims, we are greeted with one after another of sympathetic “Im yirtzeh Hashem by you.” On. A. Loop.

We are proud of our achievements, whether professional, extracurricular, spiritual or otherwise, but they don’t matter. The only important thing is our age and that there is no ring on our finger, no Tallis Baatel hanging over our shoulder.

We are asked again and again: “What are you looking for?” and when we list our few criteria, we are told, that we are ridiculous, these things don’t matter in a marriage. There is no acknowledgment of distinct needs, only unfair generalizations.

Instead, a proposal is offered that violates all required standards, coupled with “give him a chance”. But dating in general is emotionally draining, ushering in the rollercoaster of expectation, disillusionment and then disappointment. “Accidental” dates can be soul-wrecking.

We are admonished—by strangers, acquaintances, family—about what we must be doing “wrong.” After all, why else would we still be single? We are all “to” something. (In my case, I was too headstrong, too tall, too smart, and I wore too much makeup. Don’t forget to be too picky.)

Calm down already. Marry everyone so you can at least have kids. All that matters is that the other person is a good parent. And don’t act so smart on a date.

Have you tried dating websites? What about shduch events? It’s all part of hishtadlus, after all. Maybe you need a dating coach. If you’re not married yet, you must have bonding issues.

Ad nauseum.

We post our pictures on our profiles even though we don’t want to. Our pictures are not printed in magazines and newspapers to keep modesty, but now modesty doesn’t seem to matter. Strangers will pass our photos around, judge us without understanding who we are as a whole, and dismiss people at a superficial and imprecise whim.

We fear Rosh Hashanah. It means that another year has passed and we are still “behind”. Shuls are packed with witnesses to our new Yom Tov outfits, stunning shoes, and failures. Because it’s our fault after all. (We are constantly reminded of this.)

Yet we still strive to look forward with hope to possibility rather than dwelling on past aggravations. But the year goes by again, and the next Rosh Hashanah comes, another 12 months have passed, with supposedly nothing to show. Maybe I’ve improved as a person. So what?

The Shduch process can be harrowing, especially since all the established rules of the old days have fallen by the wayside. The men should be addressed first. They rarely are. Women are often thrown a name, asked if they’ve ever heard of it, and then get nothing back.

Ohr Monsey’s FOR SINGLES BY SINGLES initiative welcomes noted speaker Chevi Garfinkel on the theme, “Make the Most of Your Life Regardless of Your Single Status.” Intended for post-seminary girls and anyone who feels their life is “stuck”. Inspiration for the New Year and beyond!

WANT TO KNOW MORE? Text OHRMONSEY at 22828 to join our events email list of great speakers for Jewish women.