Conversions Performed By Peeping Tom Orthodox Rabbi Questioned

A stained glass window featuring a Star of David lets light into the recently restored Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. The sy... A stained glass window featuring a Star of David lets light into the recently restored Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark on Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. The synagogue reopened in 2007 after a 20-year, $17.45 million restoration. Founded in 1887, the congregation was in a neighborhood of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Today it's part of Chinatown. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) MORE LESS
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After a D.C. Rabbi was accused secretly filming women during a ritual bath, the conversions he performed were called into question.

Barry Freundel, the Rabbi of the Georgetown Modern Orthodox congregation Kesher Israel in Washington, D.C., was charged with voyeurism last week.

Now, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is investigating whether all of the conversions performed by Freundel, which would have included the ritual bath, were valid, according to Haaretz.

“We offer our deepest sympathy to any victims. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is drafting a policy regarding conversions performed by Rabbi Freundel that will attempt to strike a balance between what is permitted according to Jewish law, on the one hand, and the rights and welfare of the converts, on the other,” Chief Rabbinate spokesperson Ziv Maor told Haaretz.

The Rabbinical Council of America concluded that the conversions performed by Freundel were valid.

The Rabbinical Council of America learned of the accusations against Freundel in 2012 but did suspend him at the time, according to the Washington Post.

“He made assurances that these behaviors would discontinue. A committee of rabbis and lay leaders determined that while Rabbi Freundel’s actions were inappropriate (and were a violation of his position) they did not rise to a level that required him to be suspended from the RCA or to be removed from his work with converts, as long as they did not continue,” the group said in a statement.

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