Seminary Scandal: Why has the Chicago Beis Din reneged on its promises to the Israeli Beis Din?

This scandal actually contains a second scandal. The first scandal is that of Meisels and his betrayal of trust of his students and his fall from being a highly respected educator to being someone who is despised and held in contempt. But there is a second scandal which is also very disturbing. That involves the fact that the Chicago Beis Din has gone from being an active partner with the Israeli Beis Din to being a major opponent.

Contrary to popular mistaken belief - which is nurtured by the Chicago Beis Din and its supporters - the antagonism to the Israeli Beis Din and the non cooperation is not based on a difference in concern about victims. The view as presented by Frum Follies from leaked documents as well as the many negative comments made against the Israeli Beis Din is that only the Chicago Beis Din cares about the victims of abuse and thus it is important to either close the seminaries or have a wholesale house cleaing of staff. The claim made - directly or indirectly - is that the Israeli Beis Din cares only about the jobs of the staff and the preserving of the seminaries and therefore wants to cover up and defend Meisels.This is clearly illustrated by the false claim Frum Follies made that the Israeli Beis Din had prohibited girls to go to other seminaries or for the other seminaries to accept them click here for the post

Yesterday I conducted a two hour interview with the new owner - Yaakov Yarmish. I was impressed by how this successful businessman was fully aware of and fully attentive to the issues involved concerning the well being of the students. He is fully aware of the seminary culture which we discussed as well as the dangers inherent in male teachers with female students. He also has strong connections with gedolim and askanim. 

In short he is not a figure head brought in to save the seminaries at all cost. He was originally supposed to buy the seminaries together with his friend Tzvi Bloom (the friend of R Gottesman). Contrary to what the CBD and the lawsuit have asserted - it was no sham sale and was witnessed not only by the Israeli government but also was supervised by Rav Aharon Feldman. He also clearly stated that he was not a friend of Meisels and that the first signifcant contact he had with was only after the scandal broke.

He spoke of his frustration about trying to communicate with the Chicago Beis Din and in particular with R Gottesman - who didn't return his 50 calls in which he was careful to leave a message after each one. R Gottesman has been presented by the CBD as a key player in the relationship between the IBD and the CBD.

This is just the beginning of an expose of the sordid - clearly documented - details which will be presented in the near future. The IBD is not the villain and the CBD is not the hero.