Jump to content

Mordechai Elon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ajnem (talk | contribs) at 16:40, 8 August 2013 (corr.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mordechai Elon

Mordechai (Moti) Elon (Hebrew: מרדכי (מוטי) אֵלון; born 9 December 1959, Jerusalem, Israel) is a Zionist Israeli rabbi. He has headed several Jewish religious and social organizations and institutions including as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat HaKotel in the Old City of Jerusalem from 2002 to 2006, and has hosted television and radio shows.

In 2010 he was investigated for sexual misconduct,[1] in response to revelations by Takana, a religious forum dealing with allegations of sexual harassment in the religious Zionist community. On 7 August 2013 the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court convicted him on two counts of forcible sexual assault against a male minor.[2] Elon has denied the charges and is expected to appeal the verdict.[3]

Life and career

Elon was born in Jerusalem one of five children of former Israel Supreme Court Justice Menachem Elon and his wife Ruth née Buchsbaum. He received his high-school education at Yeshivat Yerushalayim Latzeirim. After graduating he went on to learn further religious studies at the Hesder Yeshiva Yeshivat Or Etzion and at the Hesder Yeshiva of Kiryat Shmona.[citation needed] In his twenties he began teaching religious studies at the Horev Yeshiva High-School in Jerusalem and became its Rosh Yeshiva in 1987. He left Horev Yeshiva High-School in 2002 to become the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat HaKotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, a post he left in 2006.[4]

Elon had a regular weekly lecture on the Torah portion at the Yeshurun synagogue in Jerusalem. Hundreds of people came to hear him and the lectures were aired on a public Israeli radio station. He also hosted a weekly television show on which he spoke about the week's Torah portion,[5] and headed a bible group held at the residence of the President of Israel.[6]

Elon established and headed a Jewish social and religious organization called "Mibereshit".[7] The organization works with the Israeli education ministry and Israeli schools in order to bring Jewish children and teens to feel closer to their Jewish roots and to the land of Israel.[8]

Family

Elon is married and has eleven children.[9] After resigning from Yeshivat HaKotel he went to live in Migdal in northern Israel. He is the brother of former Moledet Knesset Member and Minister of Tourism Benny Elon, Be'er Sheva District Court Judge Josef Elon, and writer and bible scholar Ari Elon.[10]

Sexual misconduct

In February 2010 Takana, a rabbinical forum set up to prevent sexual abuse in the national religious community, issued a statement claiming that it had received complaints against Elon dealing with allegations of “sexual exploitation by a religious authority" since shortly after its founding in 2003. Confronted with the allegations in a meeting, Elon “swore that he had overcome his problems and that ... there were no additional incidents,” according to the statement. A year later, Takana received another complaint dealing with incidents “of a deliberate sexual nature carried out over an extended period of time” which allegedly took place a year earlier and were concealed by Elon in his talks with the forum which led them to the conclusion that it was no longer fitting for him to work as a religious teacher or counselor, and asked him to leave his post as head of Yeshivat Hakotel and cancel a number of public appearances and community roles. Takana claims that at the time Elon agreed to their demands. He left his position at Yeshivat Hakotel and moved to Migdal in northern Israel, but did not fulfill the obligations he agreed to” in particular the requirement to stay away from intimate, personal and private meetings with people seeking his advice or religious counsel. The statement says Takana made the decision to go public with the allegations “because they saw no other way to protect the public from possible harm in the future.”[11] Takana also claimed that they had informed the Attorney General of Israel Menachem Mazuz about the agreement with Elon.[12] Elon denied the allegations in public.[13]

After the release of the statement and clarifications Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, Mazuz' successor, instructed the police to conduct a investigation, instructing the police in August 2010 to follow up the preliminary investigation with a criminal investigation of alleged sexual offenses committed against two minors.[14] The police found sufficient evidence to submit the case to the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's office.[15] In January 2011, the Jerusalem District Prosecution recommended to Weinstein that Elon be indicted and in February 2011, it summoned Elon to a pre-indictment hearing.[16] In November 2011 he was indicted.[17] In January 2012, according to Ynet News, Elon asserted in his response to the courts that he often hugged or kissed students as a display of camaraderie, something common in certain segments of Israeli society. He said that in one instance, he attempted to console the accuser, who, at the time, had a parent die in a car crash and that the action could have been misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. Elon refused to enter a plea bargain and maintained his innocence.[18] In February 2013, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court dropped one of the charges following the refusal of a witness to testify.[4] On 7 August 2013 Elon was convicted of sexually assaulting a male minor.[19] The sentence is to be delivered in October 2013.[3] An outspoken opponent of homosexuality, he denies the charges.[20] He is expected to appeal the verdict.[3]

Writings

Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: Missing ISBN.

  • Tekhelet Mordechai Sichot on the Weekly Torah Portion, Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing Ltd.
  • The Tekhelet Mordekhai Haggadah, Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing Ltd., June 2007

References

  1. ^ Tomer Zarchin (4 August 2010). "Police launch criminal probe into rabbi suspected of molesting boys". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  2. ^ Nir Hasson (7 August 2013). "Three years after probe began Religious Zionist leader Rabbi Moti Elon convicted of sexually assaulting minors". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Gil Ronen (7 August 2013). "Rabbi Moti Elon Guilty of Indecent Act". Arutz 7. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b Asher Zeiger and Aaron Kalman (27 February 2013). "Witness refuses to testify against popular rabbi". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  5. ^ Israel Democracy Institute web site
  6. ^ Horev Yeshiva High-School website
  7. ^ Mibereshit website]
  8. ^ Ohr Kashti and Yael Gaaton, אינדוקטרינציה דתית במקום מסע ישראלי, Haaretz, 11 March 2011
  9. ^ משה רונן, "שושלת אלון", Yedioth Achronoth, 23 February 2010
  10. ^ Yair Ettinger and Chaim Levinson (16 February 2010). "Top Zionist rabbi slams 'blood libel' accusing him of sex crimes". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  11. ^ Ben Hartman, Elon had sex with male students, Jerusalem Post, February 18 2010
  12. ^ Forum Takanah web-site
  13. ^ Yair Ettinger, "Rabbi Elon accused of 'long-term' sexual relationship with student", Haaretz, February 18, 2010.
  14. ^ Tomer Zarchin, Police launch criminal probe into rabbi suspected of molesting boys, Haaretz, August 4, 2010.
  15. ^ Jerusalem Post staff and Ben Hartman, "Evidence supports Elon abuse case", Jerusalem Post, August 8, 2010.
  16. ^ Ofra Edelman, "Rabbi Moti Elon to be indicted for sexual offenses", Haaretz, February 10, 2011
  17. ^ Tomer Zarchin and Oz Rosenberg, "Prominent Zionist rabbi indicted on two counts of sexual assault of minors", Haaretz, 2 November 2011
  18. ^ Aviad Glickman (22 January 2012). "Rabbi Elon: If I hugged teens, it wasn't for sexual gratification". YNetnews. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  19. ^ Aviel Magnezi (7 August 2013). "Rabbi Moti Elon found guilty of indecent acts". Ynetnews. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  20. ^ J.J. Goldberg (19 February 2010). "Rabbinic Abuse Claims: In Israel, the Fallout Continues". The Jewish Daily Forward. Retrieved 8 August 2013.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mordechai_Elon&oldid=567700268"