NEW SQUARE - A shroud of secrecy surrounds the
ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of New Square. Many of the residents shun the
outside world and keep to themselves.
However, a sex abuse victim from the community has spokenexclusively to News 12.
Yossi, who prefers to use only his first name, says he wants
to speak out about his ordeal in the hope that other victims of abuse will come
forward.
Yossi claims that Herschel Taubenfeld, a teacher in his
community, inappropriately touched him three times a week for four months.
The teen asked for help from the head rabbis of New Square
who had just set up their own sex crimes unit called the VAAD. The agency told
him to see a therapist.
Two months later, Yossi reported the abuse to the Ramapo
police. He says that his friends stopped talking to him and treated him like he
didn't exist.
Yossi says his attacker admitted to the crimes, but
religious leaders in the community sent Taubenfeld to Israel to obtain his
rabbinical ordination.
He also says he was offered $100,000 to keep quiet about the situation,
which he refused.
In December 2011, one month after Yossi reported the abuse,
Taubenfeld turned himself in. He was charged with 30 misdemeanor counts of forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sex abuse. However, the rabbi avoided jail time in exchange for six years probation.
According to students, Taubenfeld is still teaching at one
of New Square’s largest religious schools.
westchester news12
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