After lengthy battle, ‘sauna rabbi’ Jonathan Rosenblatt steps down
Accused of inappropriate conduct with teenage boys, rabbi to leave after 30 years at helm of NY’s Riverdale Jewish Center
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| Senior Rabbi of Rivardale Jewish Center Jonathan Rosenblatt speaks at a solidarity interfaith gathering attended by clergy, politicians, community leaders and activists at the Riverdale Jewish Center in Bronx, NY, Friday, May 22, 2009. |
Following a tumultuous year of
sexual misconduct allegations and a community effort to bring about his
ouster, Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt told his New York synagogue Wednesday
that he would step down as community rabbi.
The decision was announced in a letter sent to the members of the Riverdale Jewish Center by its president, Samson Fine.
“Rabbi Rosenblatt has today informed RJC’s
leadership that he intends to step aside from the Senior Rabbinate of
the RJC,” the email read. “The Shul’s Board of Trustees was informed at
this evening Board meeting and we anticipate discussing transition
details the Board in the next two weeks.”
The Riverdale Jewish Center had decided to
keep Rosenblatt in place despite protests over reports of sauna chats
with naked boys revealed in an exposé in The New York Times in May 2014.
Rosenblatt, who denied any criminal wrongdoing
but apologized for inappropriate behavior, had been fighting efforts by
some in his Orthodox congregation to buy out the remaining three years
on his contract.
Despite the controversy stirred by the article
about Rosenblatt’s practice for years of inviting teenage boys and
young men for naked heart-to-hearts in the sauna after racquetball
games, he retained the support of community leaders.
In a letter sent to congregants on August 13,
the synagogue leadership said it had decided that Rosenblatt’s own plan
for moving past the scandal was the best of various alternate scenarios
for the New York shul, which has been led by Rosenblatt for the last 30
years.
“Rabbi Rosenblatt shared his vision and
commitment to continue serving our membership and partnering with the
RJC’s lay leaders, staff and community,” said the letter, which was
signed by the synagogue’s board chairman, Donald Liss; and Fine, its
president. “He described how we will strengthen communal bonds between
and among our members, maintain the financial stability of our synagogue
and enhance the spirit of collaboration that exists between the RJC and
the community.”
No one cited in the Times story that prompted
the firestorm accused Rosenblatt of sexual touching, but several
expressed their discomfort with his practices and described his behavior
as deeply inappropriate for a rabbi and mentor. At various times,
Rosenblatt was told by his congregation’s board or the Rabbinical
Council of America to limit his inappropriate activity.
After the Times published its story, the RJC’s
board of directors voted 34-8 to seek a financial settlement to get
Rosenblatt to resign his pulpit. But Rosenblatt vowed to stay on, saying
that removing him from his position would be a “disproportionate”
response. Hundreds of congregants signed a petition backing the rabbi,
while some signed a competing petition calling on him to resign.
Rosenblatt’s determination to stay was
bolstered by the warm reception he received after a dramatic public
apology in front of hundreds of congregants at a synagogue gathering in
late June 2015.
“This is a crisis created by my own lapses of
judgment,” Rosenblatt said, according to a recording of the speech
transcribed by a synagogue member and cited in the Times. “I have
brought pain to people, shame to my family and I have caused a
desecration of the divine name.”
Yehuda Kurtzer, the only man cited by name in
The New York Times story who had experienced an invitation from
Rosenblatt to join him in the sauna, said he had been outraged by the
congregation’s lack of action against Rosenblatt.
“Rabbi Rosenblatt has shrewdly managed his way
out of this crisis with the advice of counsel, clearly managing his
communications along the way, demonizing his opponents, and avoiding any
significant fallout,” Kurtzer said in a Facebook post
after the letter from synagogue leaders was sent. “He has hurt his
students, he has further alienated his accusers, and his continued
presence on the pulpit at RJC insults the dignity of our community.”