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

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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

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

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

Cited 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.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.jta.org/2024/02/26/united-states/baltimore-rabbi-found-liable-for-sexually-abusing-2-children-at-jewish-summer-camp Corpus classification: national-jewish-press-court-reporting; evidentiary role: civil-disposition-and-nexus. SHA-256 3f06d0ecf0bf13ef389324f3250be2744d301085527e2814290c545b9db493b5
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.timesofisrael.com/baltimore-rabbi-found-liable-for-sexually-abusing-2-boys-at-summer-camp/ Corpus classification: national-press-court-reporting; evidentiary role: corroboration. SHA-256 53d394728d1d3b9094b5848685e33335da8732edea9dfa9540c4c1a5717a2f7e
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://forward.com/news/584553/rabbi-child-sexual-abuse-steven-krawatsky-baltimore/ Corpus classification: national-jewish-press-court-reporting; evidentiary role: corroboration. SHA-256 3726522695bc30478bde117d18eefe67164b724cdc6d2572d8c96428df12a90b
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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