<The Awareness Center is The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA)
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Kolko_Yudi.html
Case of Rabbi Yudi Kolko - Yeshiva Torah Temimah
Flatbush (New York), NY
My name is Jeffrey Herman and I am an attorney who represents victims of sexual abuse who were abused by Yudi Kolko. I am currently investigating these claims.
If anyone has information about this case, please contact me via email at jherman@hermanlaw.com or via telephone at (305) 931-2200.
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Table of Contents:
Request from attorney Jeffrey Herman (02/18/2006)
A Survivor Speaks Out (02/01/2006)
A Survivors Story (02/16/2006)
Also see:
Rabbis, Cantors and Other Trusted Officials
Offenders: Problems Our Parents Wouldn't Speak Of
Recidivism of Sex Offenders (U.S. Department of Justice: Center for Sex Offender Management)
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Request from attorney Jeffrey Herman
Unorthodox Jews Blog - Saturday, February 18, 2006
http://unorthodoxjews.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_unorthodoxjews_archive.html
My name is Jeffrey Herman and I am an attorney who represents victims of sexual abuse who were abused by Yudi Kolko. I am currently investigating these claims.
If anyone has information about this case, please contact me via email at jherman@hermanlaw.com or via telephone at (305) 931-2200.
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A Survivor Speaks Out
By (Name Removed)
Unorthodox Jew - February 1, 2006
http://unorthodoxjews.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_unorthodoxjews_archive.html
"I too was molested by Rabbi Yidi Kolko, both while a student in 7th and 8th grades in Yeshiva Torah V'daas and during those same summers whilst a camper in Camp Agudah.
I used to get rides to school in the mornings with Yidi whether in his old blue car or in his brand new brown car. At that time he lived on 56th Street between 14th & 15th Avenue, whilst I lived on 57th Street, between 15th and 16th Avenues. He was newly married at that time and his first child, a daughter, was also just born then.
Once we got to the Yeshiva on Ocean Parkway, which then was just off of Caton Road, he would park the car (either down the block from the Yeshiva, on the Ocean Parkway service road, or around the corner, I think it was East 5th Street, and ask me to come over and either sit beside him or sit on his lap. Sometimes he would move over to the passenger seat and would then sit me on his lap.
That's when he went fishing. He would insert his hands down the front of my pants and would begin to "search around" to say the least. At the same time he would pull me closer to himself, or would push himself forward againt myself, sometimes even pushing me into the stearing wheel, to the point that it hurt.
Unfortunately I didn't react or complain. The winters were cold and these rides saved on not having to walk all the way to 13th Avenue to wait for the bus (especially on Sunday mornings), you were able to leave your house later since you could always make the ride, and you saved a couple of cents, which was a lot in those days.
During one of those Sunday mornings whilst we were driving on Caton Avenue, whilst I was sitting in the front passenger seat - I almost always sat in the front passenger seat - we were involved in a terrible traffic accident where a car went through a red light and slammed into Yidi's car. B"H we all got out without a scratch.
In Camp Aguda it was the same, whether if he took me into the trees, or into his cabin, or even would take me out for a drive. FYI, during the summer of 1970 I had my bar mitzva in the camp.
I of course told my parents and tried on several times
to explain to them what I was going through, but they didn't want to believe me and my "stories", etc. My father at that time was a very well known and respected person in the Boro Park & Midwood communities and within the Yeshiva world. So I just shut up and let the molestation and perversion continue.
I also think that Yidi Kolko is a danger to the students, past and present in Yeshiva Tora Temimah and I feel that it is about time that the wall of silence be torn down.
Did I suffer as a result, probably. But I have made a life for myself and today am very happily married with 4 wonderful children".
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A Survivors Story
By (Name Removed)
Unorthodox Jew - Thursday, February 16, 2006
"It is time for Yidi Kolko to pay the price for what he did to me and to others".
I Am (Name Removed)
I have spent the past few days reading all of the comments that have been posted to this blog and would like to comment.
It was not easy for me to finally open up and put in writing and post on this blog some of the things that Yidi Kolko did to me so many years ago at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas of Flatbush and at camp Agudah.
Yes, I've been carrying it for all of these years and no matter how hard I tried to forget about it, it always seems to be there. Always there. And with every case of child abuse or molestation that gets publicized, it's always there. Even today, even when I'm happily married with 4 wonderful children.
I recommend that each one of you look at your sons, or brothers and ask: can they possibly be a victim of sexual molestation by a rebbe, a teacher, a camp counselor, etc?
And if he/they were, would he be strong enough to tell you about it?
And then the question I ask is: Would you at all believe him?
For you would ask: how could it be that such an outstanding rebbe, teacher, counselor, etc., who everyone loves and raves about, how could he do something like this?
And your immediate response would automatically be: No, my son, for some reason, isn't telling the truth, he must be lying...
As I said before, I've lived with this for a very long time and it is time for Yidi Kolko to pay the price for what he did to me and to others.
What this price is I'll let others decide.
They say that time has a way of healing - from my own experience, it doesn't ever go away.
In order to survive and remain normal, one must be strong... and always and continuously believe in Hashem.
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Last Updated: 02/18/2006
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