Conviction Jewish institutions and contexts Hasidic and Haredi communities Baltimore and Frederick County, Maryland, USA · 2024

United States: Baltimore rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky found civilly liable for abusing boys at Camp Shoresh

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Civil finding

Authority role

senior counselor, Camp Shoresh (Orthodox Jewish summer camp), day-school and synagogue staff member

Organization

Camp Shoresh, Frederick County, Maryland, Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School

Spiritual nexus

The three plaintiffs, aged 7 and 8 in 2015, attended Camp Shoresh, an Orthodox Jewish summer camp in Maryland, where Krawatsky was a senior counselor. He was fired from a Baltimore day school and a synagogue position after the allegations became public. The abuse occurred within the residential-camp authority structure rather than in a family or purely custodial context.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2024-02-22 · civil jury verdict on assault-and-battery countersuit

Maryland state court (Baltimore). Jury found Krawatsky liable to two of three plaintiffs for assault and battery, awarding $8,000 punitive and $1 compensatory damages to each of the two; did not find for the third plaintiff's family. No criminal charges were ever filed.

Documented coercion mechanisms

senior-counselor authority over 7- and 8-year-old campers
residential camp isolation from parents
religious-community standing that shaped how the allegations were received

Primary record

Sources

national jewish press court reporting civil disposition and nexus Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 'Baltimore rabbi found liable for sexually abusing 2 children at Jewish summer camp' (Feb. 26, 2024).: Reports the Feb. 22, 2024 jury verdict, the $8,000 punitive/$1 compensatory damages structure for two of three plaintiffs, Krawatsky's senior-counselor role at Camp Shoresh, and his firing from Beth Tfiloh Dahan and a synagogue post.
national press court reporting corroboration The Times of Israel, 'Baltimore rabbi found liable for sexually abusing 2 boys at summer camp' (Feb. 2024).: Independent corroboration of the civil verdict, the camp setting, and background on the 2018 defamation suit Krawatsky filed against his accusers that preceded the countersuit.
national jewish press court reporting corroboration The Forward, 'Jury awards damages after Baltimore rabbi found liable for sexual abuse of children' (Feb. 2024).: Further detail on the verdict breakdown across the three plaintiffs and the absence of any criminal charge against Krawatsky.

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