Father of Deputy Israeli Minister Under Investigation for Sexually Abusing Yeshiva Students
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| Knesset member Yaakov Tessler (left) with his father, Rabbi Efraim Tessler, |
Following a Haaretz investigation, Israeli police have opened a case against Rabbi Efraim Tessler, the former head of the Damesek Eliezer Yeshiva in Jerusalem, on suspicion of sexually assaulting students there
Israeli police are investigating Rabbi Efraim Tessler, father of Deputy Culture Minister Yaakov Tessler and former head of a Jerusalem yeshiva, on suspicion of rape and sexual offenses against students.
The investigation follows a January Haaretz report detailing the sexual abuse suffered by high school-aged students at Damesek Eliezer Yeshiva of the Vishnitz Hasidic community.
Yaakov Tessler, the deputy minister and the rabbi's son, has not been summoned for questioning or as a witness by the police, even though he was involved in the agreement to exchange 100,000 shekels for a victim's silence.
Police are unsure of how to proceed regarding the deputy minister, and told Haaretz that the Jerusalem District of the State Prosecutor’s Office is now weighing the issue. The prosecution said it is unfamiliar with the matter.
Efraim Tessler was questioned last week on suspicion of sexual offenses against his students, including one known as Aryeh (a pseudonym), who filed a detailed criminal report with the police. Tessler denied the accusations, and was conditionally released after several hours of questioning.
The police have also not gathered testimony from other central figures in the case, including a rabbi from the south who was involved in the hush money agreement and others whom Aryeh had told about the abuse years earlier.
A police official said that the investigation is ongoing, despite a lack of cooperation from a number of figures involved in the case. This was the second time that police have questioned Efraim Tessler on the matter; he had been investigated in 2017 on suspicion of committing indecent acts against four of his students, but the case was closed due to lack of evidence.
A Cabal of Sociopaths
In February, Aryeh told police about how Tessler, the head of his yeshiva, had sexually abused him for a year and a half, from age 14 to 16. Aryeh, who is now in his late 20s, described how from 2009 through 2012, when he was a student at the yeshiva, his father paid Tessler for private lessons. These lessons quickly evolved into severe sexual assault a number of times a year during that period, most of the time in Tessler’s office.
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In 2016, Aryeh told a relative about the abuse he suffered in the yeshiva for the first time. Following this, and after consulting the spiritual leader of the Vizhnitz community, Rabbi Yisroel Hager,
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| HAGER |
Aryeh began a process with a well-known religious court judge from Bnei Brak.
In June 2017, the sides signed an agreement according to which Aryeh would remain silent about the events in exchange for a payment of 100,000 shekels. The document they signed included a clause that both the parties will not discuss the matter at all and will inform no one of the agreement.
Yaakov Tessler, then a member of the Ashdod City Council and a member of the United Torah Judaism party, was involved in reaching this agreement, as well as in transferring the money to Aryeh via a middleman.
Also in 2016, Efraim Tessler was ousted as head of the yeshiva due to other complaints of sexual abuse by his students. The Vishnitz community was told that he left the post because of a medical issue. Yaakov Tessler was involved in his father's removal from the yeshiva as well. Police approached four young men for their cooperation in 2017 on the matter, including Aryeh, who had refused to file a criminal complaint at the time.
One Haredi source, who has been aware of these events for seven years and was involved in the previous investigation into Tessler, said that when it came to the police's conduct in the case, he had lost hope. To this day, he said, he is surprised that police had closed the previous case.
"This is someone who did something very brave, put himself at risk, experienced serious abuse and filed a complaint – but look at how the police let it fall apart and are dragging their feet," he said. "Why aren’t they crying bloody murder? What have we gained? Why should someone go to the police if they don’t take these complaints seriously?”
The Magen nonprofit organization, which aids victims of sexual abuse and is helping Aryeh, said they welcome the investigation, “but are disappointed by the fact that [Tessler] was not detained, or, alternatively, placed under restrictive conditions. The heroic complainant has proven what courage truly is, and has sat on the story for years and expects to get closure. We will continue to help him, and we are convinced that justice will be done in the end.”