An Orthodox rabbi was sentenced to prison today for fondling a woman during a trans-Atlantic flight aboard a commercial jetliner bound for New York.
Gavriel Bidany, 48, a married father of 11 children, was sentenced to serve 60 days in a federal prison for groping a female Israel Defense Forces officer on a Delta flight to JFK Airport.
"Rabbi Bidany committed a serious crime...and such conduct cannot be tolerated," said Magistrate Judge Ramon Reyes, Jr. in Brooklyn federal court.
"It took a lot of courage and personal sacrifice for [the victim] to come forward and testify," he said.
Assistant US Attorney David Sarratt told the court that Bidany's conduct was particularly troubling, given that "he selected a victim who is 23-years-old, but who appears much younger than that."
The diminutive woman who took the stand last week and recounted the incident during Bidany's bench trial was not present for today's sentencing, but the prosecutor read aloud a letter she had filed with the court.
"I lost, in a most human way, my most precious thing - my innocence," the woman wrote about the in-flight assault. "I won't be trapped again. I also won't trust again."
The woman also wrote that she was even more troubled, considering that Bidany is a a rabbi who wears clerical dress.
"From him, I expected more," the woman said of Bidany, emphasizing she hoped he would "admit his mistake" and demonstrate unflinchingly "the behavior of spiritual leaders who believe what they preach."
In pronouncing sentence, the judge also noted that he was troubled by the fact that rabbi's account of what happened aboard the aircraft was at odds with all other testimony in the case.
"Rabbi Bidany testified falsely," the judge said.
Bidany, his wife, and children, all live in Israel in a close-knit neighborhood near the Tel Aviv airport.
Friends who attended last week's trial said Bidany was a respected fixture in the local Orthodox community, where interactions between unmarried men and women are restricted.
Bidany was trained as a rabbi, but does not serve as one, and instead studies at a yeshiva and runs a soup kitchen, said his attorney, Saul Bienenfeld.
He was convicted of groping the female Israel Defense Forces officer as she slept in her seat. The two were seated next to each other on a Delta flight from Tel Aviv earlier this year when the young woman fell asleep.
She testified at the trial that she had awaken to find Bidany's hand massaging her crotch and then her breasts.
After she accused him of molesting her, the rabbi pretended to be dozing and feigned innocence, the woman testified.
The woman, a 23-year-old career military officer, who holds the rank of lieutenant, said she then stood up and reported the assault to a flight attendant.
Bidany apparently fled to the back of the plane, and the attendants found him there.
Bidany, an Israeli national, was immediately remanded to federal custody by US Marshals after the judge announced the sentence.
Before today's hearing, several of his children wrote the judge to urge leniency in the case.
One of Bidany's daughters, Eden, wrote to Judge Reyes explaining the personal dilemma she faces.
"I am begging you your honor, I have reached an age (22) where I need to find a groom and start a family," Eden Bidany wrote. "And without my father it is very difficult."
"This could harm my matchmaking process - starting a home. My whole future depends on it," she wrote.
Her brother, Ariel, made a similar plea.
"Have pity on me. I have reached the age of 21, and need to find a bride, get married and have a family," Ariel Bidany wrote.
"When my father is not with me, it is going to be very hard and would hurt my matchmaking," he wrote. "I would like to get married properly with my father at my side please."
At the conclusion of Bidany's bench trial last week, Judge Reyes said that he had found the female Israeli Defense Force officer's testimony to be "compelling and wholly believable."
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