Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Jewish institutions and contexts Other Jewish institution or hearing Washington, D.C., USA · 2015

Rabbi Barry Freundel: 52 voyeurism counts for recording women at the mikveh he supervised

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

congregational rabbi, supervising rabbi of a ritual bath and conversion process

Organization

Kesher Israel Congregation, National Capital Mikvah

Spiritual nexus

Freundel supervised the mikveh and controlled access to and scheduling of an immersion required for conversion and observance of family purity: the women could not complete their conversion or religious practice without entering the space he was covertly recording, and his rabbinic authority is what placed them there.

  • Sacred sex, purity, or sexual-energy claim
  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Ritual, oath, or initiation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2015-05-15 · guilty plea and sentence; related class settlement

    Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Rabbi Barry Freundel pleaded guilty to 52 misdemeanour counts of voyeurism for secretly recording women undressing at the mikveh he supervised, and was sentenced to six and a half years. A $14.25 million class-action settlement followed.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • control of a ritual immersion required for conversion and family purity
  • authority over scheduling and access to the mikveh

Primary record

Sources

official prosecuting authority conviction release U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, 'Rabbi Sentenced to 6 1/2 Year Prison Term on Voyeurism Charges' (2015).

The prosecuting authority records the guilty plea to 52 counts and the sentence for covertly recording women at the ritual bath he supervised.

Related record

Related cases · Jewish institutions and contexts

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