Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
This page is dedicated in the memory of Daniel Levin
Winnipeg, Canada
New York, NY
Lakewood, NJ
WARNING: Rabbi Ephraim Bryks and Marriage Counseling
Ephrayim Bryks has become a rabbinic marriage counselor. The term marriage counselor or life coach can be used by anyone. He is not the only "rabbi" suspected of sexual abuse using one of these titles to access vulnerable individuals or couples both here and in Israel. Consulting actual professionals is expensive and unless the community publicly warns against going to these charlatans (often worse) many innocents will continue to be hurt.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Yosef Blau
Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks principal Yeshiva Berachel David Torah High School Queens, currently serves time as a member of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens (Rabbinical committee that makes important decisions within the community). As of today, there has been no public statement made concerning his decade long membership on the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. On May 27, 2003, he resigned his membership in the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), after being involved for a quarter of a century.
Anyone with relevant information regarding the open case in Canada is encouraged to contact the Winnipeg Police at their main phone number: (204) 986-6037.
Anyone with relevant information in the United States is encouraged to contact their local police department and their local District Attorney's office, NYPD Switchboard: 646-610-5000 Queens District Attorney's office: 718-286-6000.
Rabbi Ephraim Bryks is originally from Denver, Colorado. In this case, accusations about his inappropriate behavior with children started surfacing in the 1980's. These accusations also included making sexual advancements to women in his congregation. When his alleged victims disclosed their experiences to a rabbinic leader in their community, they were basically told to keep silent. The rabbi advised them not to go to the police or child family services. He told them to deal with the allegations internally with the synagogue board. The children were not offered psychotherapy to help them cope with their alleged victimization. Unfortunately a teenager who didn't have the coping skills to deal with his memories ended up committing suicide.
Over the years Rabbi Ephraim Bryks has left a trail of alleged victims from such far-away places as Winnipeg, Canada. He is currently located in New York City. There are no documented cases or public information regarding any victims in New York, yet he has been let go by schools (one characterized as firing), but the schools will not discuss the matter.
For years alleged victims have been going to rabbinic leaders in their communities looking for guidance. For years rabbinic leaders have found it more important to protect an alleged sexual predator over protecting our children.
49 year-old Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks will continue to run Yeshiva Berachel David in Queens until the end of the 2003 school year. No public statement has been made concerning his decade- long membership on the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. Rabbi Bryks was a member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) for over a quarter of a century before his May 27, 2003 resignation. Ads in The Jewish Press indicate that Rabbi Bryks is currently working as a mortgage broker for a company he runs out of his home called REB International LLC.).
The Awareness Center is providing the
documentary "Unorthodox Conduct" in the memory of Daniel
Levin.
Our hopes is that it will be used as a way to educate the public on the devistating ramifications a case can have on an individual, family and in Jewish communities around the world. It's important to know what happens when a case of "alleged" childhood sexual abuse in the Jewish community is not dealt with properly from the beginning (bringing the case to law enforcement who is trained and educated in dealing with these cases).
Our hopes is that after you view this documentary that you will go to your rabbis and other community leaders and demand that there be changes made when a child makes allegations they were sexually abused/assaulted. We cannot afford for there to be anymore cover-ups when there are allegations that a child has been molested. We cannot afford to let one more child die. Our hopes is that not one more child will feel so desperate that they will take their own lives, as Daniel Levin did.
Please note: The Investigative documentary: "Unorthodox Conduct"contains graphic information regarding the case against Rabbi Ephriam Bryks. It was produced in 1994 by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2007/11/rabbi-ephraim-bryks-unorthodox-conduct.html
CALL
TO ACTION: Rabbi Ephraim Bryks Lecture Series
February 27, 2008
The Awareness Center is asking that everyone contacts Kol Yaakov and demand they remove the lecture series they have provided by alleged sex offender, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks. Please let Rubin Kaylyakov, owner of the site know if anyone ends up getting harmed by Bryks after making their initial contact with him by listening to one of the tapes on his web page, he could be held liable in a civil suit -- especially after being warned about this allegedly dangerous man.
For more information about Rabbi Ephraim Bryks:
www.theawarenesscenter.org/bryks_ephraim.html
News Cast: http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2007/11/rabbi-ephraim-bryks-unorthodox-conduct.html
Contact:
Kol Yakov.org
Rubin Kaylyakov
10820 62nd DR, Apt. 2B
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Phone: 9176624957
http://kolyakov.org/contact.html
TorahAnytime.com
Rubin Kay
71-28A Main Street
Flushing, New York 11367
917-662-4957
Computer Doctor
Attn. TorahAnytime
71-28a Main Street
Flushing, NY 11367
CALL TO ACTION: The Awareness
Center is asking you Contact Rabbi Paysach
Krohn and Demand he stop promoting alleged child molester, Rabbi Ephraim
Bryks. Remind him if another child is harmed that he could be held liable
in a civil suit.
November 13, 2007
Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Certified Mohel
E-mail: pkrohn@brisquest.com
Toll Free: 866-846-6900
NY: 718-846-6900
October 10, 2004
Contact Information:
Rabbi Tzvi Muller at Herzlia - Adas Yeshurun Synagogue
620 Brock St., Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3N 0Z4
Phone: (204) 489-6262 Fax: (204) 489-5899
email: herzlia2000@yahoo.ca
This past Yom Kippur marked the 13th anniversary
of the suicide of Daniel Levin an alleged victim of Rabbi Ephraim Boruch
Bryks (http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/bryks_ephraim.html). It is a difficult
time in particular for his family and friends as Daniel's alleged abuser
has never been brought to real justice (if such a thing is even possible
at this point) and continues to thrive and work with women and children,
not in some small Jewish community but in the New York Orthodox Jewish
community.
The Winnipeg Jewish community and Bryks' former Orthodox Union affiliated synagogue, Herzlia Adas Yeshurun (the site of Daniel's abuse), continue to refuse any acknowledgment or responsibility. No apology, no compassion. A plaque honoring Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks remains on the synagogue's "Tree of Life." All Daniel has is a tombstone in a cemetery.
The Awareness Center Has A Call to Action asking everyone to contact Herzlia Adas Yeshurun and ask them to remove the plaque, and perhaps replace it with a plaque honoring the memory of Daniel Levin (see contact information above). For more information regarding the Bryks case, go to: http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Bryks_Ephraim.html
Sincerely,
Vicki Polin, MA, ATR, LCPC
Executive Director - The Awareness Center
Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves whether the resources meet their own personal needs.
General
Summary of Case (02/20/2003)
The New York State Administrators Listing for Public and Non-Public Schools and School Districts
Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Rabbi Lipa Brenner and Alleged Sex Offender, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks (11/13/2007)
Also see:
Case of Rabbi Lewis Brenner (Rabbi Ephraim Bryks's wife Yochevad, is the daughter of Rabbi Lewis Brenner , who is a convicted sex offender)
When A Family Member Molests: Reality, Conflict, and The Need For Support
Recidivism of Sex Offenders (U.S. Department of Justice: Center for Sex Offender Management)
Timeline
1981
Herzlia Dinner To Honor Rabbi Ephraim Bryks (12/06/1981)
1982
1983
1984
Bryks Bio from Rabbi J.J. Khanovitch Memorial Journal on occasion of the 67th Anniversary of the Vaad Ha'ir (5744/1984)
1985
Credentials (05/16/1985)
1986
1987
Jewish World Mourns Loss of Rosh Yeshiva (08/13/1987)
1988
Child and Family Service Report (03/23/1988)
Synagogue backs rabbi in tickling dispute - Rabbi's supporters, detractors clash at information meeting (03/29/1988)
Torah Academy (03/31/1988)
After Reviewing Parent Complaints against Principal . . . Department Recommends Sex Education at Torah Academy (08/06/1988)
Torah Academy Tours Israel (12/1988)
1989
1990
Ephraim Bryks Letter (01/16/1990)
Mark Schulman letter (01/16/1990)
1991
1992
1993
1994
CBC report re-opens Bryks controversy (03/09/1994)
CBC threatened with lawsuit for report on Winnipeg rabbi (05/04/1994)
1995
Bryks launches lawsuit in U.S. court against CBC, CNN (03/08/1995)
CBC scores bronze medal for "Unorthodox Conduct" - CBC strikes it rich at N.Y. awards (01/30/1995)
Civil Procedure: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Immune (03/15/1995)
A former Winnipeg rabbi accused of sexual misconduct with students is suing C-B-C and C-N-N (03/21/1995)
Bryks v. CBC (12/12/1995)
1996
Editorial comment - A Second look at "Unorthodox Conduct" (01/06/1996)
Torts: CNN Did Not Defame Rabbi by Rebroadcasting Report (07/02/1996)
Jurisdiction in defamation action against Canadian Broadcasting Corp (08/1996)
1997
Entertainment Law Reporter Bryks v. CNN (07/1997)
1998
1999
2000
2001
Queens Yeshiva Boss is a Molester: Boy's Mom (03/31/2001)
Canadian legal filings - Legal Documentation
2002
2003
Battling a 'Ghost' From Past (05/26/2003)
Dogged By Allegations, Rabbi Quits - Rabbi Maintains Denial Of Any Wrongdoing (05/28/2003)
Rabbi quits under cloud - Dogged by sex-abuse allegations (05/30/2003)
Rabbi Resigns Amid Sex Abuse AllegationsRabbi Resigns Amid Sex Abuse Allegations (05/30/2003)
Orthodox Rabbis To Report Abuse (06/06/2003)
Accused rabbi dropped (11/17/2003)
Iowa Synagogue Nixes Queens Rabbi's Speech (11/19/2003)
Ragsdale: More faith communities struggle with alleged child sexual abuse (11/22/2003)
2004
Call to Action: Asking Herzlia - Adas Yeshurun Synagogue to have the plaque removed honoring Rabbi Ephraim Bryks (10/10/2004)
2005
2006
2007
2008
CALL TO ACTION: Rabbi Ephraim Bryks Lecture Series (02/27/2008)
Other Cases Involving Past Students From Ner Israel Yeshiva (Baltimore, MD):
Related Information
Background Information and The History of Rabbinical Ordinations
Summary of the Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
(© 2003) The Awareness Center - Authors Name Withheld Upon Request
Rabbi
Ephraim Boruch Bryks is a native of Denver, Colorado. In 1971, following
the suicide of his father, Lejzor (also an Orthodox rabbi) amid financial
scandal, Rabbi Bryks was sent away to study at yeshiva. In 1978, at age 24
he came to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where he was hired by the Herzlia-Adas
Yeshurun synagogue. A charismatic personality he enlarged the synagogue's
membership base and established many new programs, an NCSY chapter called
Ohr Hagolah, Herzlia Academy night school, a pre-school, a nursery, a
kindergarten, a Girl Guide troop, a Brownie troop and his own rabbinical
court. He worked as a teacher at the community-run Jewish high-school, Joseph
Wolinsky Collegiate and applied for the position of Vice-Principal. After
the position went to another rabbi, he left the school and started his most
ambitious project, an independently run Orthodox Jewish school. This school
synagogue started with a few dozen elementary students and quickly expanded
to over 150 students and a small junior high-school program.
Rabbi Bryks criticized other rabbis in Winnipeg's Jewish community over the validity of the city's eruv (a structure which allows Orthodox jews to carry items on the Sabbath) and its kosher food. Questions began to surface regarding Rabbi Bryks' credentials.
Keefler: In a community journal, Bryks boasted a degree there of law from the state of Israel, that he sat as a member of a religious court in Israel, and had a court room. The truth is, he was a rabbinical student, not a judge. And the state doesn't give out law degrees. <1>
In 1987, the Winnipeg Council of Rabbis wrote a letter to the editor of the Winnipeg Jewish Post & News alleging that Rabbi Bryks plagiarized several articles in his Weekly Torah commentaries from a book by Ottawa Rabbi Bulka's called Torah Therapy. Rabbi Bryks' lawyer threatened the newspaper with a lawsuit if the letter were published. It was never printed.
Diane Keefler: What people didn't see, many didn't believe. Bryks counseled women, studied with teenage girls, all behind his closed office door. Orthodox Jewish law forbids men from touching or even being alone with a female over the age of three who isn't family. A 14-year-old complained the rabbi often sat on her lap, touched her, tickled her, and talked about sex. Once, she says, he even licked her face. <1>
Additional women came forward, accusing Rabbi Bryks of making unwanted sexual advances. These women and the mother of the young girl took their allegations to Rabbi Avraham Altein, the leader of the local Lubavich community and a supporter of the positions Rabbi Bryks had taken in the past against the city's eruv and kosher food. After hearing their allegations, he counseled them not to go to the police or child family services. He told them to deal with the allegations internally with the synagogue board.
Keefler: The board didn't go to the police. Didn't contact child welfare agencies. Instead, board members set up their own private inquiry.
Judy Silver: We were trying to try him without it going public. We were trying to protect the synagogue.
Keefler: That December 1987, the board, Bryks and his lawyer heard the evidence. The teenager repeated her story. Two women also came forward, accused Bryks of making unwanted sexual advances. They weren't believed.
Nathan Kobrinsky: The people who brought forth these concerns against the rabbi were publicly humiliated and insulted and called liars. It was at this point that I felt that the whole process that I was participating in was a sham. <1>
During the board's deliberations about Rabbi Bryks, those not seen as loyal to Bryks suffered abuse from other congregants, shunning and were even spat at in the shul. Rabbi Bryks continued to teach at the school and run religious services.
Keefler: For three nights, accusations, legal threats, personal attacks.
Kobrinsky: We were being threatened collectively for taking a position against the rabbi, that would result in a legal suit. And second of all, we were being threatened individually, because of information that the rabbi had about us and our personal lives, that would be used against us.
Silver: He said quite clearly, I have secrets on all of you.
Keefler: On New Years Day 1988, a final board meeting. Word got out, more than a hundred people rushed to the synagogue. They feared Bryks would be fired. <1>
Over a hundred of Rabbi Bryks' supporters swarmed outside the boardroom, screaming threats against those who opposed Bryks. Ten board members voted to keep Rabbi Bryks, nine voted to fire him. The nine members who voted to fire him immediately quit in protest. The vacancies were filled with supporters and the new board voted unanimously to support Rabbi Bryks.
Wishing to put the controversy to rest, the new Board contacted Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS), an organization Rabbi Bryks had sat on as a member of the Board of Directors, to investigate the allegations. JCFS could not investigate Rabbi Bryks due to a conflict of interest. The allegations were forwarded by JCFS to Winnipeg Child and Family Services (WCFS) to investigate. For two months, social workers interviewed 45 students, teachers and parents. One of Bryks' lawyers sat in open sight outside their offices presumably keeping track of who went in to their offices. The WCFS issued a report in March 1988:
With respect to the behaviour of Rabbi Bryks regarding the teenage girls in the school, the findings of the investigation, on review by the Winnipeg City Police, indicated that there was no evidence which would support charges of criminal wrongdoing. Further, there is insufficient evidence to pursue any proceeding under The Child and Family Services Act against Rabbi Bryks.
Nothwithstanding the above findings, on review of the report, this writer is in agreement with the investigative team that the acknowledged interactions of Rabbi Bryks with his female students involving tickling at the waist, kissing on the head, hugging, and students sitting on his lap were neither appropriate nor professional behaviour.
At the time, there was no compulsory reporting of alleged child abuse by teachers in Manitoba:
Immediate reporting of alleged child abuse by teachers and other caregivers became compulsory in Manitoba following a 1989 amendment to the province's Child and Family Services Act. But Keith Cooper, the executive Director of Winnipeg South Child and Family Services, says that this amendment was passed because "at that time a lot of organizations handled these issues in the same kind of way." However Cooper still had concerns about the way the synagogues's board responded to the allegations.
"The process the synagogue took, rightly or wrongly--and they thought they were doing things in everyone's best interest--created circumstances within the synagogue community and school staff to choose sides and to let kids know that parents were on one side or another. And that kind of thing is not helpful to pursuing that sort of investigation because all sorts of other factors intrude."
Cooper added that when his office investigates child abuse complaints, investigators talk to children without subjecting them to any kind of outside pressure from anyone else to get a first sense of the allegations. When questioned about the impact of his office's finding that a poisoned environment against disclosing child abuse was inadvertently in effect at the school as a result of the board's initial response, Cooper thought it was possible that during a professional investigation at the outset, "other children might have come forward if there was something to come forward about."
Barney Yellen, Winnipeg's Jewish Child and Family Service's Executive Director, is also quite critical of the board's decision to conduct its own investigation and the board's subsequent decision to support Rabbi Bryks. "Regardless of the child abuse issue, there was a questionable professional conduct in his role as a teacher. It surprised me that he wasn't terminated." <2>
After the 1988 findings of the Winnipeg South Child Family Services, a new allegation in 1989 was brought to the police and Winnipeg Child and Family Services.
Keefler: She wasn 't the only student who kept a secret. We found another child who claimed he was victimized. In 1989, a year after the Child and Family Services investigation, a seven-year-old boy went to the Winnipeg police. His parents watched from the next room, listened, as the boy, using a doll, alleged Rabbi Bryks molested him in grade I. The couple is disguised to protect their son's identity.
Disguised mother: He showed on the doll ... that he had been basically, I guess, fondled, masturbated ... rubbed ... he used the word "tickled".
Disguised father: The Rabbi would come and get him out of the classroom during a session in class, take him up to the office. And he threatened him that if he were to say this to anyone the big boys would come and beat him up. <1>
Winnipeg Child and Family Services refused to investigate.
"The case was sent to the Crown," Inspector Lou Spado of the Winnipeg police said, "but no charge was laid because there was no corroboration. You have to be very careful in an investigation like that. It becomes the word of an 8 year old against that of an adult. We brought the rabbi in for questioning, but he refused comment." Asked why Winnipeg Child and Family Services didn't investigate that boy's allegations, Ken Cooper, the agency's chief executive officer, claimed the atmosphere in the school and shul at the time was so "emotionally charged" that any investigation would necessarily be "contaminated". <3>
Over the months both enrollment and membership fell. In 1990, after being offered a position as principal of a Montreal Jewish day school, Rabbi Bryks announced he would be leaving Winnipeg. The Torah Academy school closed down. However, the allegations followed him to Montreal. A group of irate parents informed the school of the investigations of Rabbi Bryks by Winnipeg Police and Family and Child Services. The job offer was withdrawn. Rabbi Bryks showed up in Montreal demanded the offer be reinstated and was given a hearing before a rabbinical court in Montreal. After the rabbinical court made some inquiries, the offer was to be reinstated. However, parents made it clear that if Rabbi Bryks were hired, there would be no students at the school. Rabbi Bryks was not hired.
Rabbi Bryks moved to New York. In Queens, he built another Torah Academy from scratch into a 400-student grade 7 to 12 Orthodox school. This was a new school for immigrant youth from the former Soviet Union. Irving Laub, a board member of the New York Torah Academy, said "He has singlehandedly built our school and held it together". "His rapport with the students and staff is everything we hoped for. I know how difficult his task was in integrating newly-arrived Russian teenagers into the Hebrew day school system. I'm a fan of his." <3>
The allegations against Rabbi Bryks were brought to the fore again in September 1993 after the suicide of 17-year-old Daniel Levin and a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) documentary in 1994. Daniel, a former Torah Academy student had gone to the Toronto police with charges of sexual abuse against Bryks which had been tormenting him.
Keefler: Daniel went to the school from kindergarten to Grade 2. Then the Levins moved away to Montreal, later to Toronto. As a teenager, Daniel's smile masked his pain. His parents had separated. The boy was in distress, unable to concentrate in school, prone to explosive fits of rage. At 14, he started therapy. Three years later, he stunned his mother and father.
Sara Levin: Last May, he started having -- May '93, he started having memories of being sexually abused by the rabbi and principal at Torah Academy. He was sitting on his lap, and the rabbi -- in his office in the rabbi's office, and the rabbi was -- it's so hard for me to say this --
Martin Levin: He was fondling.
Sara: He was fondling his genitals first over his clothes, and then he opened his pants. And afterwards, he gave him a candy. It was a peppermint one, with the blue wrapper, I think it says "Elite" on it. He even remembered the candy.
Martin: The internal mechanism for a flash second said, "It's got to be a mistake here, I'm not hearing this." But instantly, I knew that he was telling me the truth.
Sara: And then he said he had a memory, and he started coughing and spitting out mucous, and he sat up, and we got tissues for him. And he was coughing and spitting up and spitting up, and he started crying. And he said that he was in the office, and Rabbi Bryks put his penis in Daniel's mouth. And he kept coughing, and I encouraged him to spit it up, spit everything up. That was another memory.
Martin: He did say that Bryks said things. I wondered why he kept quiet. And then he said, "Well, Bryks said to me, God will punish you if you speak." <1>
Daniel Levin committed suicide on Yom Kippur after Metro Police asked the Oakwood Collegiate Grade 12 student to re-record a statement he had made in June 1993. The police tape machine had been faulty at the first recording. With the complainant dead and his testimony erroneously not recorded, Toronto Police were forced to drop the case.
The CBC documentary report, titled "Unorthodox Conduct", aired on local CBC TV's "24 Hours" and the national "Prime Time News", and dealt with the allegations of sexual abuse against Bryks. It also raised new allegations:
Keefler: [The March 1988 report] warned "if there is a child in the school that is currently being abused, the dynamics of the reaction of staff, fellow students and other adults over the past couple of months might prevent any child from coming forth with disclosure." That is exactly what happened to one girl., who didn't want to be interviewed on camera. A former student told us what she didn't tell Child and Family Services. ... that Rabbi Bryks fondled her breasts, once lay completely on top of her, touched her and tickled her all the time. When the social worker asked questions, the girl kept quiet.
Keefler: [We] found another student, who can't close that chapter of her life. A fourth student, this couple's daughter, claims she was molested.
Disguised mother: It's horrifying, and its unbelievable.Unbelievably numb.
Keefler: Last November, this couple's daughter told them she was molested by Rabbi Bryks in grade 2. They are disguised to protect the girl's identity.
Disguised father: Rabbi Bryks would take her out of class and would take her into his office during school time, and he would make her take off her underwear and stockings and then he would fondle her, her genitalia. She remembers it happening many times. She told me that he told her that if she ever told anybody that God would punish her.
Disguised father: The most painful recent event since her disclosure for me was going up to see how she was, in her bedroom, it 's just quiet and I just wanted to see how she was, going into her bedroom, she was sitting in her closet, curled up in a fetal ball, listening to Barney tapes with a little Barney book in her hand. I couldn't deal with that.
Keefler: The fourteen, year-old is in counseling to the police. Her parents say she isn't ready to go in the police.
Disguised mother: She is so fragile that this has to be in her own time.
Disguised father: She also knows about another boy who did go to the Police and nothing happened. Rabbi Bryks is still out there, still teaching school. <1>
When the broadcast was seen by school officials at the Queens Torah Academy in 1994 and the allegations were passed on to the New Russian World, the city's Russian daily newspaper, parents went "berserk," said a Brooklyn rabbi. <4>
"School-board members knew about his past and, regardless, gave him the position," said the rabbi, who didn't want his name published. <4>
Rabbi Bryks was "fired" according to Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, a teacher at Bryks' current school Yeshiva Berachel David in Queens. <4>
Unable to find employment in the education field, Rabbi Bryks found work with his in-laws at Astor Brokerage Limited. During this time he filed lawsuits against CBC and CNN (rebroadcast parts of CBC documentary on its Headline News Network) claiming defamation and damages. He abandoned the lawsuit in Canada and his lawsuit in the U.S. was dismissed. Within 2 years, Rabbi Bryks once again found employment as principal of a Russian elementary boys Yeshiva in Brooklyn called She'aris Israel. During this time Rabbi Bryks started his own rabbinical court in Queens and became active in the Agunah movement (movement to help women get religious divorces). Around 1999 Rabbi Bryks left She'aris Israel for reasons which are not known. He then started his own yeshiva for boys in Queens called Berachel David with the help of Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov, Vice-President of the Queens Vaad Harabonim. The yeshiva is run out of Nisanov's synagogue Kehilat Sephardim.
In the summer of 2001, a group of Queens rabbis took the allegations against Rabbi Bryks to the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. There were several meetings, including a screening of the 1994 CBC documentary feature.
Rabbi Simcha Krauss of Young Israel of Hillcrest congregation led that effort. And he said he remains distressed that Bryks is still in Jewish education.
"To make a long story short, any pressure brought that he should resign would be welcome," Krauss said. <5>
"Unfortunately, there wasn't a tremendous reaction - it was hard for them to believe that he could do it," said a Queens rabbi who didn't want his name published. <4>
On March 31, 2002 The New York Post published an article entitled Queens Yeshiva Boss is a Molester: Boy's Mom by Douglas Montero about allegations concerning Rabbi Bryks. The story was re-broadcast on WCBS radio in New York. Once again, there wasn't a tremendous reaction within the Rabbinical or Jewish community.
On May 26, 2003 Stephanie Saul, journalist at Newsday (NY) began a series on sexual abuse in the Jewish community. An article published along with that series dealt with allegations concerning Rabbi Bryks. Rabbi Bryks was quoted:
"How do you battle a ghost?" says Bryks, sitting in the cramped office of the small yeshiva he runs in Kew Gardens Hills. He has done nothing wrong, he says. "I would love to have that case fully investigated." <6>
It should be noted that despite this claim Rabbi Bryks continues to exercise his legal rights and refuses to allow the Winnipeg police to question him or cooperate in their investigation.
"We brought the rabbi in for questioning, but he refused comment." <3>
Two days after the initial Newsday article was published, a follow up article was printed:
A Queens rabbi who had been dogged by old sexual abuse allegations from Canada this week resigned his membership in a prestigious rabbinical organization and agreed to leave Jewish education, officials of the group said Wednesday night.
The Rabbinical Council of America, an organization of Orthodox rabbis, was believed to be considering ousting Rabbi Ephraim Bryks of Kew Gardens Hills as a result of the lingering abuse allegations, which arose when he was the pulpit rabbi and yeshiva administrator in a Winnipeg congregation during the 1980s.
Bryks has always denied those claims and continued the denial in submitting his resignation. <6>
Efforts to reach Rabbi Bryks were unsuccessful. But Rabbi Heshie Billet, immediate past president of the RCA, spoke with him at the convention and told The Jewish Week that Rabbi Bryks "is leaving Jewish education. The school is closing and since he no longer will have a formal rabbinic position he feels it's not necessary to belong to a professional rabbinic body.
"He told me his resignation should in no way be construed as an admission of guilt. He denies all the allegations against him," said Rabbi Billet. "I don't know what he'll be doing next. I just accepted his resignation at face value." <7>
By resigning Rabbi Bryks has avoided his case potentially being brought to the Rabbinical Council of America disciplinary committee. He avoids being subject as well to any enhancements in the Rabbinical Council of America code of conduct (any related discipline), any investigation of complaints and any process involving potential complaints. He also avoids the public scrutiny he was attracting as a member of the Rabbinical Council of America with his particular history of allegations.
Billet also said Bryks plans to leave his post as principal at Yeshiva Berachel David on 78th Road at the end of the school year.
"He's just going to be a private citizen," said Billet, the leader of Young Israel of Woodmere congregation. <6>
This marks the third time in Rabbi Bryks' close to three decades in Jewish education that he has taken a public break from his profession as a Jewish educator. In 1990, there was a very short break resulting from an offer of principalship at a Montreal Jewish school being withdrawn. There was also a break in 1995 after he left Queens Torah Academy. Other than current adverse publicity, there is no impediment to Rabbi Bryks re-entering the private Jewish educational field at some future time. Adverse publicity has not kept Rabbi Bryks out of the Jewish educational field for long in the past.
There have been several inaccurate statements in the press concerning the status of the Winnipeg criminal investigations, in particular: 1) Canadian civil authorities investigated charges there and found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing. <7> 2) and authorities declined to charge another because there was no evidence to do so. <8>
There in fact has been no final disposition to these charges or the investigation.
The case in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in fact remains open. To date Rabbi Bryks has not cooperated with the Winnipeg police or made himself available to answer the charges against him. There is no Statute of Limitations in Canada on criminal charges regarding the sexual assault of children.
In 1994, after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) aired a documentary regarding further serious allegations against Rabbi Bryks a second police investigation was opened. Again the police sent the case to the Crown. Almost 2 years later, the Manitoba Crown (equivalent of the DA in the U.S.), announced in December of 1995 that it would not be pressing charges against Rabbi Ephraim Bryks at the time. It did not issue its reasons for doing so. There may have been numerous reason for doing so. <9>
The Crown prosecutors have not issued a closing document and the file on Bryks remains open. The Winnipeg police have also not closed their file on this matter and the file is currently assigned to a member of the police force.
Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to contact the Winnipeg Police at their main phone number 204-986-6037 (their website is located at: http://www.city.winnipeg.mb.ca/police/). The following officers have worked on the file in the past and should be able to help refer you to those currently handling the files: Inspector Lou Spado (may be retired) and Sgt. Robin Parker.
Anyone with relevant information in the U.S. is encouraged to contact their local police department and their local District Attorney's office.
The numbers in Queens are:
1) New York Police Department: NYPD Switchboard: 646-610-5000 website: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nypd/home.html Queens Precinct Addresses and Direct phone numbers can be found at:
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nypd/html/phone.html#Queens
2) Queens District Attorney's office at: (718) 286-6000 website: http://www.queensda.org/
49 year-old Rabbi Ephraim Boruch Bryks will continue to run Yeshiva Berachel David in Queens until the end of the 2003 school year. No public statement has been made concerning his membership on the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. Rabbi Bryks was a member of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) for over a quarter of a century before his May 27, 2003 resignation. Ads in The Jewish Press indicate that Rabbi Bryks is currently working as a mortgage broker for a company he runs out of his home called REB International LLC.
Notes:
<1> Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Program Prime Time News, February 28 1994, Time 21:00:00 ET
<2> Jewish Tribune – B'nai Brith Canada, August 4, 1994, More Allegations of Sexual Abuse Involving Rabbi: Police Probe Resumes At School "Jews need to know that this can happen to us" by Marc Huber
<3> The Jewish Post & News (Winnipeg), March 9, 1994, CBC report re-opens Bryks controversy by Myron Love
<4> The New York Post, March 31, 2002, Queens Yeshiva Boss is a Molester: Boy's Mom by Douglas Montero
<5> Newsday (NY), May 26, 2003, Battling a 'Ghost' From Past by Stephanie Saul
<6> Newsday (NY), May 28, 2003, Dogged By Allegations, Rabbi Quits - Rabbi Maintains Denial Of Any Wrongdoing by Stephanie Saul
<7> The Jewish Week (NY), June 6, 2003 Orthodox Rabbis To Report Abuse by Debra Nussbaum
<8> The Jewish Press (NY), June 4, 2003 Newsday And Abuse In The Jewish Community by Editorial Board
<9> The Jewish Post and News (Winnipeg), Wednesday, January 10, 1996 Editorial comment - A Second look at "Unorthodox Conduct"
Herzlia Dinner To Honor Rabbi Ephraim
Bryks
The Jewish Press - December 6, 1981
Bryks Bio from Rabbi J.J. Khanovitch Memorial
Journal on occasion of the 67th Anniversary of the Vaad Ha'ir
(5744/1984)
Thursday, May 16, 1985
To: Mr. David Stitz
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Dear Dave;
I wish to thank you for meeting with members of my synagogue over the past few weeks with the hope to resolve many of the issues outstanding. I would like to share with you the enclosed documents since I feel my credibility has been questioned concerning my smicha's.
Document #1 was my first smicha granted to me in Nisan 1973. It is from Rabbi Israel Grossman who is a member of the Agudath Yisroel Beth Din in Jerusalem. I went to the Beth Din since I wanted my smicha's to come from a recognized organization.
Document #2 is my smicha from the head of the yeshiva where I studied for five years in Jerusalem. It is from Rabbi Schwartzman and it was an honour receiving it since very few people in the world have a smicha from him.
Document #3 is from Rabbi M. Zioni head of the Beth Din in Tel Aviv where I was trained and worked for close to a year in marital law ang 'gittin'. Rabbi Zioni is a very honoured and revered man, now in his 70's and it was a great honour receiving smicha from him.
Document #4 is a letter of recomendation from the Beth Din in Tel Aviv where I worked. The individual now in charge of all communications with the communities outside of Israel is Rabbi Dovid Einhorn.
Document #5 is a smicha from Rabbi J. Frank, Chief Rabbi and head of the Beth Din of Haifa. I went to him in order to receive smicha from the head / member of the Beth Din's of Israel's three major centre's.
Document #6 is my fifth smicha from Rabbi Milevsky. Rabbi Milevsky who was living in Jerusalem was recommended to me as an expert in the laws of Gittin. He was retired and very well respected. It was a pleasure studying with the man for close to two years three times a week. The wording of the different smicha's are very beautiful and I hope you will have them read to you and translated. All can be verified and I welcome you to. My closest ties are with my Rosh Yeshiva and the Beth Din of Tel Aviv.
I would like to say that I am proud of my service to the Va'ad over the last few years. I have always believed that I was reasonable and at least a mentch. I also acknowledge with sincere gratitude the time and effort you have put in. Even when we differed I was pleased to work with you. I look forward to a positive resolution to the current issues so we can return to the task at hand and the challanges of tomorrow.
Wishing you and your family a Shabbat Shalom.
Respectfully,
Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
Jewish World Mourns Loss of Rosh
Yeshiva
Article by Rabbi Ephraim Bryks - Noting he spent 8 years at Ner Israel, in Baltimore, MD.
The Jewish Post and News - Thursday, August 13, 1987
By Ephraim Bryks
Article marking the passing of Rabbi Bryks' Rosh Yeshiva (Rabbi Yaakov Rudderman who is Rabbi Matis Weinberg's grandfather). He notes he spent 8 years at Ner Israel Baltimore.
If you look closely, only the 1st paragraph is by Bryks, the rest is reproduced from the Jewish Press.
The New York State Administrators Listing for Public
and Non-Public Schools and School Districts
District: NYC COMM SD #28
SCHOOL: YESHIVA BERACHEL DAVID-TORAH HS-QUEE
Code: 342800229718
http://www.nysed.gov/admin/342800/229718.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Type: Non-Public Grade Organization: Senior High
Chief School Officer: PRINCIPAL-RABBI EPHRAIM BRYKS
Mailing Address: 150-62 78TH RD
FLUSHING, NY 11367
Phone: (718) 849-4140
Child and Family Service Report - March 23,
1988
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
(204) 945-6964
March 23, 1988
Re: Allegations Regarding Rabbi Ephraim Bryks
This letter is to advise you of the findings of the investigation by Winnipeg South Child and Family Services into complaints received by the Department of Community Services regarding Rabbi E. Bryks.
The investigative process undertaken by Winnipeg South Child and Family Services involved contact by phone and in person with 45 individuals including students, former students, parents of students attending Torah Academy, the vice-principal of the school, current Board members, past Board members, Rabbi Bryks, and several of his rabbinical colleagues.
With respect to the behaviour of Rabbi Bryks regarding the teenage girls in the school, the findings of the investigation, on review by the Winnipeg City Police, indicated that there was no evidence which would support charges of criminal wrongdoing. Further, there is insufficient evidence to pursue any proceeding under The Child and Family Services Act against Rabbi Bryks.
Nothwithstanding the above findings, on review of the report, this writer is in agreement with the investigative team that the acknowledged interactions of Rabbi Bryks with his female students involving tickling at the waist, kissing on the head, hugging, and students sitting on his lap were neither appropriate nor professional behaviour.
The report also makes reference to a number of concerns related to the process of investigation undertaken by the Board of Herzlia Synagogue. I have requested that Mr. Barney Yellen, Executive Director of Jewish Child and Family Service, review the following recommendations with the Board of Torah Academy and Herzlia Synagogue.
1. Torah Academy and Herzlia Synagogue to date have not developed protocols around the dealing of abuse within the school whether an alleged offender be a student, parent, relative, staff of the school or total stranger. Consistent with the expectations of the Department of Education, it is felt that it is essential that such protocols be developed immediately so that the painful process resulting from the Board trying to do its own investigation does not occur for any student ever again.
In consulting with Jewish Child and Family Service, it would appear that Torah Academy has never made any referral to them for an investigation of abuse. It was found that the staff and the parents were very lacking in any awareness of the predominance of abuse within our society and the staff very unaware of behavioural indicators of physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Extensive inservicing for the staff on this issue is recommended.
It was noted in interviewing the students, an extreme naivety to issues of sexual abuse and lack of awareness of basic street proofing concepts. Again, inservicing for the students and for the parents is recommended as being necessary within this area.
It is recommended that a program that addresses the issue of what are acceptable and unacceptable touches such as the "Feeling Yes, Feeling No" program would be appropriate for the Board to consider. This is not only because of the naivety issue raised in the previous paragraph but because of our concern of the lack of clarity around this caused by the reactions to allegations by all the families within the Academy. Additionally, it is our concern that if there is a child in the school that is currently being abused, the dynamics of the reactions of staff, fellow students and other adults over the past couple of months might prevent any child from coming forth with the disclosure. We feel some clear action is necessary to undo the potential damage in this area.
The full report of Winnipeg South Child and Family Services will not be shared with the Board of Directors, Rabbi Bryks or the complaintants as it is necessary to protect the confidentiality of those children and parents named in the report.
Please call me direct should you wish to discuss this letter further.
Your truly,
Jim Bakken, Director - Child and Family Services
c: Honourable Maureen Hemphill, Minister of Community Services
Barney Yellen, Jewish Child and Family Service
George Penwarden, Winnipeg South Child and Family Services
by: Janet McFarland
Winnipeg Free Press - March 29, 1988
Front Page (continued page 4)
A Community Services review has recommended establishing extensive sex education programs at the Torah Academy after girls at the private school complained about its principal.
More than 20 children have been pulled from the Jewish elementary school and as many families have stopped attending the synagogue that runs the Brock Avenue school, parents said in interviews last night.
A Community Services letter obtained by the Free Press says Rabbi Ephraim Bryks of the Herzlia- Adas Yeshurun Synagogue tickled and kissed female students, but it said there was no evidence to support criminal charges or charges under the Child and Family Services Act.
Bryks said in an interview yesterday his style of teaching is warm and personal, but not inappropriate.
"This school welcomes that kind of conduct because that's what this school is. It's a warm, affectionate place for children," he said.
"I feel that I have performed in my capacity of rabbi of the synagogue and principal of the school with the full support of the (synagogue) board of dirtectors."
The letter to the synagogue's board, signed by Jim Bakken, director of Child and Family Services, called Bryks' actions inappropriate and recommended extensive training for staff, parents and children at the school.
It also recomended immediately establishing a school policy to deal with abuse to avoid having the synagogue's board try to review any further allegations itself.
The board looked at the matter for several months before turning to Community Services, and only did so because it could not reach a consensus on what to do.
The letter also said the school needs a program such as the Feeling Yes, Feeling No campaign to teach what types of touching is appropriate.
"The acknowledged interactions of Rabbi Bryks with his female students involving tickling at the waist, kissing on the head, hugging, and students sitting on his lap were neither appropriate nor professional behavior," it said.
The letter said students at the school were extremely naive about issues of sexual abuse and lacked basic streetproofing concepts, while staff and parents needed extensive training of the predominance of abuse within society and on how to recognize the behavioral indicators of physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
The letter said the full report on the review would not be given to the board, the rabbi or the complainants to protect the confidentiality of the children and parents involved.
At an information meeting held yesterday at the synagogue to discuss the Community Services review of the situation, the synagogue's board told about 150 people in attendance it supports Bryks as the synagogue's rabbi and as the synagogue's rabbi and as the school's principal.
About 15 parents left the meeting after they were shouted down when they attempted to ask questions.
Later, one parent said she has taken her children from the school and wants to see the rabbi fired.
"He doesn't have the right to tickle them or to have them sit in his lap," she said.
"I don't think it's appropriate for a 14-year-old girl to sit in a rabbi's lap."
She said teachers in public schools are told to be warm and supportive without making physical contact with the students.
"People think because he's a rabbi, he's special, he's beyond reproach. When he does it, it's some kind of blessing." she said.
"I can tell you when it happened to my daughter, she was very embarrassed by it and very disturbed by it.".
She said her daughter didn't anything until other girls began to complain, because she thought she couldn't go to the school anymore if she did.
Supporters of the rabbi clashed yesterday with those parents who questioned his actions, telling the meeting he has the right to be affectionate and they welcome it.
"I would rather see him kiss a child than strap her hand," one grandmother told the almost universally supportive crowd.
The Community Services Department letter said it is concerned by the reaction of the families and said it caused their investigation to lack clarity.
"It is our concern that if there is a child in the school that is currently being abused, the dynamics of the reactions of staff, fellow students and other adults over the past couple of months might prevent any child from coming forth with the disclosure," the letter said.Parents said 20 of the school's 140 students have left since December and others will leave after the school year ends in June. They said many families have stopped attending the synagogue.
Board chairman Joel Mosolvsky said he could not confirm how many families or children have left.
Bryks said he hoped the community will pull together again and resolve its problems.
"I believe it's going to require from all involved a certain mending of bridges.".
Canadian Press - March 31, 1988
WINNIPEG
(CP) -- A private Jewish school will implement a program to teach students
about sexual abuse following complaints from several female students about
the school's principal.
Joel Maslovsky, chairman of the Torah Academy's board, said theboard fully accepts a recommendation by the province's Community Services Department in favor of the program.
Community Services conducted a review of the school and its principal, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, following complaints by female students that Bryks had tickled and hugged them.
The department said although Bryks did tickle female students, kiss them on the head, hug them and have them sit on his lap, there was no evidence to support criminal charges against the principal.
The board did recommend, however, the implementation of a sexual abuse prevention program and training for teachers so they could identify signs of physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
The Jewish Post & News - Wednesday, April 6, 1988
Page 1 (continued page 19)
The provincial Department of Community Services has recommended Torah Academy establish sex education programs after one parent complained about the conduct of the principal, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, with several female students.
A story in the March 29 Winnipeg Free Press, headlined "Synagogue backs rabbi in tickling dispute", said the provincial Department of Community Services "has recommended establishing sex education programs at the Torah Academy."
A community services letter obtained by the Free Press says Rabbi Ephraim Bryks of the Herzalia- Adas Yeshurun Synagogue tickled and kissed female students, but it said there was no evidence to support criminal charges or changes under the Child and Family Services Act.
Bryks, principal of the Torah Academy for about a decade, defended his teaching style as warm and personal, but not inappropriate.
The story added that Bryks' "acknowledged" actions with several students involved tickling them at the waist, kissing them on the head, hugging and having students sit on his lap. Jim Bakken, director of Child and Family Services for the Department of Community Services, considered such actions on Bryks' part "neither appropriate nor professional behavior."
Joel Maslovsky, president of the board of Herzilia-Adas Yeshurun Synagogue, which runs the pre-Kindergarten to grade 8 school, has pledged that the board will implement all sex education programs recommended in the community services department's review of complaints against Bryks, carried out for the past few months.
Maslovsky added that his board would work with Jewish Child and family Service in putting the programs in place.
Among other things, the programs will include a system for dealing with "abuse" within the school, whether an alleged offender is a student, parent, relative, staff member or total stranger.
"...It is felt that such protocols be developed immediately, so that the painful process resulting from the board trying to do its own investigation does not occur for any student ever again," Bakker said in the community services in the community services department letter.
The synagogue's current 19-member board gave Bryks unanimous support as Torah Academy's principal, and as spiritual leader of Herzlia Synagogue. But an informed source told the Jewish Post & News eight or nine former board members resigned last January, most of them in dissent over the majority's refusal to dismiss Bryks.
The Free Press published a story at the top of page 1 March 29 about the community service department's review of Bryks' behavior after a reporter from that newspaper snuck into an information meeting the Herzalia Synagogue board held the night before to brief Torah Academy parents and synagogue members about the department's findings.
The Jewish Post & News has asked for permission to attend the meeting, but a member of Herzlia's board advised that this newspaper would not be welcome, as the proceedings were an internal matter.
Board Failed to Reach Agreement
The synagogue board called the community services department in to review complaints a parent made about Bryks' behavior with female students after the board looked into the matter last year, and failed to reach agreement on what to do.
In its review, community services found that students at the school were extremely naive about issues of sexual abuse. It concluded that the students, parents and staff needed training in recognizing signs of such abuse toward children.
In an interview on CBC's Information Radio the day the Free Press story appeared, Bryks again defended his actions.
"Torah Academy has always tried to encourage a warm, caring atmosphere," he told interviewer Lesley Hughes. Hughes asked him whether holding students on his lap was part of the school's educational philosophy.
"I realize contemporary social attitudes require a certain physical distancing between teachers and students," Bryks replied. "I may have been naive. I will keep these attitudes in mind and preserve the school's warm and caring approach.
An angry parent at the information meeting, however, could not excuse Bryks' behavior toward his female students.
"He doesn't have the right to tickle them or have them sit in his lap," the Free Press quoted her as saying. "I don't think it's appropriate for a 14-year-old girl to sit in a rabbi's lap."
In an interview with The Jewish Post & News this week, Bryks adamantly denied the girl the woman was referring to was as old as 14.
Parents the Free Press reporter interviewed at the March 28 information meeting said 20 students left the 165-student school since December, when the Herzlia Synagogue started looking into the allegations against Bryks. Herzlia President Maslovsky estimated last Sunday, however, that "probably no more than 15 or 16 students from about five or six families" left since December, as well as one student from one more family that was moving out of town.
Nearly Half The Board Resigned
Although Bryks received unanimous support from the current synagogue board at a March 24 meeting, an informed source who was on the board until last January told The Jewish Post & News that show of unanimity was misleading.
He said nearly half the 19-member board resigned at the beginning of January, most of them in protest over the refusal of a majority of board members to dismiss Bryks over his physical actions with female students.
Those who resigned included a past president of Herzlia Synagogue.
A longstanding Herzlia Synagogue member familiar with the board acknowledged last Monday that nearly half the board resigned last January, but denied it was because those resigning wanted Bryks fired.
The positions left vacant by the resignations were filled by people who unanimously voted at a March 24 meeting of the Herzlia Synagogue board to retain Bryks and endorse the recommendations of the community services department report, including its call for sex education programs at Torah Academy.
Asked what the board's reasoning was behind its unanimous support for Bryks March 24, Herzlia President Maslovsky said in an interview last Sunday that the government report didn't make any specific recommendations about Bryks' behavior, other than to call some of his actions with several female students inappropriate and unprofessional.
"The board endorsed the rabbi on that. We're carrying on, and using the report's recommendations as a basis for actions."
"Context Important" Asked by The Jewish Post & News this week how he could justify hugging, tickling or kissing female students from an Orthodox Jewish point of view, Bryks said it was important to understand the context.
"In general, conduct between males and females within halacha (Orthodox Jewish tradition) is prohibited when conduct is done in a suggestive manner.
"My contact with students was done in a classroom setting, in an open, above-board fashion, often in the presence of parents."
Sometimes, for example, he would kiss a child on the head and the contact usually involved children as young as five or six.
"This school is an elementary school...where this kind of conduct is not unusual in dealing with younger children...I've tickled little boys as well as little girls." Bryks acknowledged rumors had surfaced during the investigation that his behavior included more than just tickling, hugging, or kissing students on the head.
But a synagogue member familiar with the investigation by Child & Family Services told The Jewish Post & News it included contact by phone and in person with 45 individuals, including students, parents of students, the vice-principal of the school, current board members, Rabbi Bryks and several of his rabbinical colleagues," and nothing could be substantiated beyond the fact that Bryks had hugged, kissed on the head, tickled at the waist or held on his lap some female students.
"My feeling was that you could sit till the cows come home listening to every rumor that comes up," Bryks said. "But the report tried to deal with the rumors and to substantiate them, and didn't come up with anything further."
Made Sure He Stayed VisibleAsked how he coped once the Herzlia board started looking into his conduct last fall, Bryks said the atmosphere in the school"had the potential for being very tense."
But he made sure he stayed visible, and that he acted no differently than before.
"Unless you were privy (to the investigation), no child or parent would have sensed anything different."
Bryks admitted that at times he retreated to be by himself, but his "confidence in the truth" and concern for the school kept him going.
"I feel what we have here is special and must be preserved," he concluded.
Open letter to parents of Torah
Academy By Cheryl Greenberg
From the Heart
An open letter to parents of Torah Academy
By Cheryl Greenberg
Most of you know that this has been a very difficult year at Torah Academy. But to me the staff of Torah Academy has made such a positive impression on me that I want to share my feelings with you. This year the staff at Torah Academy has provided our children with the greatest lesson in life. They have fostered within the attitudes of perseverance, determination and belief in oneself.
There is so much we have taken for granted at Torah Academy but who can adequately measure the dedication and determination of Rabbi Bryks, Mrs. Louise Kennedy and the entire staff? Who can measure their incredible courage that has been quietly shown day in day out to our children, the ability to rebound from adversity, to bend, to adapt, to strive to meet the needs of our children. My respect for this remarkable group of individuals who under most difficult circumstances has never neglected their responsibilities is enormous.
But they cannot do it alone. I know Torah Academy has the strength to do whatever is necessary to continue to give our children the excellent education they always have. But, it needs the support of each and every one of us. Now more so than ever is the time for us to stay and work together and show our commitment to the goals and ideals of Torah Academy. I want my children to continue their early years of education at Torah Academy. I sincerely hope that you do too.
The Jewish Post & News - Wednesday, December ?, 1988
On December 14th, students from Grade 7 and 8 at Torah Academy left for a two-week tour of Israel with their teacher and principal, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks. Based in Jerusalem the group will tour the major cities, taking in the most recently excavated archaeological sites as well as visiting with the I.D.F., the Chief Rabbinate and the Torah Academy grove in the J.N.F. forest in Galil Canada.
On the return trip they will spend Shabbat in New York attending a Melave Malka hosted by Rabbi Yaakov Lomner and Chaim Richmond, former teachers at Torah Academy. Rabbi Bryks and the students will arrive back in Winnipeg on January 1, 1989.
At this crucial point in the history of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, the students will show they affirmation of their heritage and their commitment to their Jewish future by "going up" to the Land. The students, parents and staff of Torah Academy wish the students and Rabbi Bryks a "N'seeah Tovah".
Photo with story - caption: Israel-bound Torah Academy students: seated (left to right): Gideon Garland, Sharon Cohen; standing (left to right): Yizi Stern, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, Sarah Federsel.
January 16, 1990
Herzlia-Adas Yeshurun Congregation
620 Brock Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3N 0Z4
Telephone (204) 489-6262 - 489-6668
January 16, 1990
To all members and friends of the Herzlia-Adas Yeshurun and the parents and students of the Torah Academy and the Herzlia Academy Night School;
For the past twelve years I have had the pleasure of serving as your Spiritual leader, Principal, teacher and friend. Together we have grown and blossomed succeeding in creating community institutions of importance and value. We, as a Synagogue and a school, have protected the Jewish "Mesorah" (Traditions) with pride and dignity standing as role models for all to learn from and follow. We have also transmitted those high ideals to our children to insure ours and their future.
Now, together with my wife and family, we feel the time has come to move on at the end of the school term. Our years in Winnipeg have brought us great joy and satisfaction. We will always cherish our memories and maintain our close friendships. We pray that all our achievements will continue to grow and prosper, reaching new levels and heights. We are confident in the committment each and every one of you have displayed over the years towards these high ideals and look with anticipation to hearing about their continued growth and success.
May Almighty G-d bestow on each and every one of you His Divine blessings of peace, health and prosperity. We look forward over the next six months to continue to serve you and all your needs and help guide you in preparing for the future.
With best wishes,
Ephraim and Yocheved Bryks
January 16, 1990
Herzlia-Adas Yeshurun Congregation
620 Brock Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3N 0Z4
Telephone (204) 489-6262 - 489-6668
January 16, 1990
To the Members of Herzlia-Adas Yeshurun and the school parents of Torah Academy;
It is with great regret that I must inform you of the decision of Rabbi and Mrs. Bryks to leave our community at the end of this years school term. We have been fortunate to have Rabbi Bryks with us for so many years and the successes and growth to our shul and school that he has brought. We will miss his warmth, friendship and guidance and we wish him and his family every success in the future.
In the interim, the Board has begun to form a search committee to be chaired by Joel Maslovsky to begin the search for a suitable replacement. Already appropriate contacts have been made and the process begun. We are committed to maintaining the Synagogue and school and all its varied programs. It is our hope that the hard work and tireless devotion of Rabbi Bryks will bring further growth and prosperity in the years ahead. With your confidence and support this will be a reality.
If anyone wishes to play a role in the search process please contact Joel Maslovsky at 489- 5228. It is our desire to form a search committee that reflects all the needs and attitudes of the organization.
Thank you for your confidence and support.
Sincerely,
Mark M. Schulman - President
Investigative documentary: "Unorthodox
Conduct"
Documentary Transcript - CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) documentary
Program Prime Time News, Network CBC
Date February 28 1994 - Time 21:00:00 ET - End 22:00:00 ET
http://www.usajewish.com/scripts/usaj/forum/forum.idc?ForumID=24&ArchiveID=121
Guest Sara and Mortin Leven, parents; Kristen Balmer, Pychotherapist; Dr.Adrian Fein, friend of Bryks; Judy Silver, fmr. synagogue board member; Ephraim Bryks, rabbi; Kovi Smolak, fmr.student; Patti Cohen, teacher; Nathan Kabrinski, synagogue board member; Keith Cooper, director, Child and Family Services; 5 unidentified persons.
Host Peter Mansbridge and Pamela Wallin
Mansbridge:
This is the story of a powerful man, and the shocking accusations that he
abused that power with children he was supposed to protect. For more than
10 years, Rabbi Ephraim Bryks was the spiritual leader of a small synagogue
in Winnipeg and principal of its school.
But now, in a joint investigation, Prime Time News and CBC Winnipeg have uncovered some disturbing stories.
Four former students who accuse Rabbi Bryks of sexual abuse. A warning now, this documentary contains graphic language and its content may offend some viewers. You will also see some home video of school concerts, we want to stress that none of the children in those videos is the subject of our documentary.
Here's Danielle Keefler.
Judy Silver: We could not believe, it was hard to believe that this man would do anything wrong.
Mortin Leven: I think he's not just a fraud and -- not a charlatan, but really wicked. And I know how many people he's hurt.
Sara Leven: I was tremendously angry and so deeply hurt that someone should do that to a small child.
Danielle Keefler: The sounds of innocence that once filled the Torah Academy in Winnipeg are no more. The Orthodox Jewish day school closed its doors in 1991, more than 10 years after it was built from scratch by Rabbi Ephraim Bryks. But some former students say what happened to them at his hands has left haunting memories, and scarred lives.
Sara: He was a kid who always had a smile on his face.
Mortin: He was also very vivid and fun-loving.
Keefler: Innocent and trusting. Daniel Leven grew up in a close-kit Jewish Orthodox family; two brothers, two sister, parents Sara and Mortin, who wanted tradition, values instilled in their children.They enroled five-year-old Daniel in the Torah Academy.
Sara: Education is almost everything. It -- Jewish education teaches a person how to live for the rest of their life.
Keefler: Daniel went to the school from kindergarten to Grade 2. Then the Levens moved away to Montreal, later to Toronto. As a teenager, Daniel's smile masked his pain. His parents had separated. The boy was in distress, unable to concentrate in school, prone to explosive fits of rage. At 14, he started therapy. Three years later, he stunned his mother and father.
Sara: Last May, he started having -- May '93, he started having memories of being sexually abused by the rabbi and principal at Torah Academy. He was sitting on his lap, and the rabbi -- in his office in the rabbi's office, and the rabbi was -- it's so hard for me to say this --
Mortin: He was fondling.
Sara: He was fondling his genitals first over his clothes, and then he opened his pants. And afterwards, he gave him a candy. It was a peppermint one, with the blue wrapper, I think it says "Elite" on it. He even remembered the candy.
Mortin: The internal mechanism for a flash second said, "It's got to be a mistake here, I'm not hearing this." But instantly, I knew that he was telling me the truth.
Sara: And then he said he had a memory, and he started coughing and spitting out mucous, and he sat up, and we got tissues for him. And he was coughing and spitting up and spitting up, and he started crying. And he said that he was in the office, and Rabbi Bryks put his penis in Daniel's mouth. And he kept coughing, and I encouraged him to spit it up, spit everything up. That was another memory.
Mortin: He did say that Bryks said things. I wondered why he kept quiet. And then he said, "Well, Bryks said to me, God will punish you if you speak."
Keefler: After 10 years, Daniel's silence was broken. His childhood torment revealed. Last June, he went to the Toronto Police. He gave a statement on tape. His psychotherapist, Kristen Balmer was there.
Kristen Balmer: He said, "I don't want this to continue any more." He said, "I don't want any other person to have to go through what I went through," and I watched him cry, and there's no question he was telling the truth.
Keefler: Daniel tucked away his trauma, spoke of it rarely. But with paint, he let memories, images flow on to paper. In mid-September, Daniel's mother got an unexpected phone call, it was the Toronto Police, their tape machine was faulty, it hadn't recorded Daniel's statement.They wanted him to do it all over again.
Sara: The interview was supposed to take place, I guess, about a week later. A week -- I'm sorry, I can't say it. He never lived to make another interview.
Mortin:
He took his own life on Yom Kippur in the afternoon.
Keefler: On the day of atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Daniel hanged himself. Toronto Police had to drop the case, the complainant was dead. A month after Daniel's suicide, a memorial service in Winnipeg. A family friend delivered a message from Daniel's father, a message that hinted at what may have caused Daniel to take his own life.
Rabbi: Most of you here today didn't really know our son and brother Daniel, or at least not since he was very young. You're here to show concern for his family. Some of you may even be here because his death is a grim reminder of a bleakly sinister stain on the Jewish community.
Keefler: Ephraim Bryks grew up in Denver, Colorado. His father, Lejzor, was a respected Orthodox rabbi, a renowned scholar. In 1971, Lejzor Bryks hanged himself amid rumours of financial scandal. That same year, Ephraim began rabbinical studies. In 1978, he looked for work. The Herzalia Adas Yeshurun Synagogue in Winnipeg needed a rabbi --24-year-old Bryks got the job.
Dr. Adrian Fein: He's one of the most exceptional human beings I known.
Keefler: Dr. Adrian Fein became a close friend of the rabbi in Winnipeg.
Fein: An unbelievably hard worker, a person with tremendous interpersonal skills, and an ability to be quite exceptional with either young children or 90-year-old congregants.
Keefler: Bryks injected new life to the small orthodox congregation, new members flocked to synagogue, drawn in by his aura. Judy Silver was a synagogue board member.
Silver: I'd almost call it a cult, a cultish personality, where he was very charismatic.
Home videotape of Ephraim Bryks: and now for the final moment to see who graduates and goes on to Grade 1.
Keefler: Within two years, Bryks started a Jewish say school. To many, he became a hero.
Home videotape of child: Without further delay, our very own Rabbi Bryks.
Home videotape of Bryks: I would like to express my thanks.
Keefler: Bryks had more than charisma. He had his own rules. Local orthodox practice wasn't good enough. He alone set the standard for his own followers -- what was kosher, what wasn't. He even set up his own religious court.
Fein: He made a stance on issues that he felt there was no compromise that could be allowed. So his critics, of course, could say he was a megalomania, or this is him wanting to set himself up. I don't think that was his agenda.
Keefler: To some, a visionary, to others, a man obsessed with power. The clash polarized the community. Bryks questioned other rabbi's Jewishness. The questioned his credibility.
Keefler: In a community journal, Bryks boasted a degree there of law from the state of Israel, that he sat as a member of a religious court in Israel, and had a court room. The truth is, he was a rabbinical student, not a judge. And the state doesn't give out law degrees. In "The Jewish Post and News," Bryks plagiarized newspaper columns copied word for word from another rabbi's book. No permission, no credit. In November 1987, Winnipeg's council of Rabbis wrote a scathing letter to the editor. They accused Bryks of simple "plagiarism," "theft." Bryks' lawyer threatened the newspaper with a lawsuit if the letter were published. It was never printed.
videotape of Bryks: You should all have a program in front of you.
Keefler:
That was just the first time lawyers would jump to Bryks' defence.
Within weeks, the rabbi again faced serious accusations, his reputation on
the line; spiritual leader, school principal, suspected of questionable behaviour
with students.
Kovi Smolak: He would be sitting on the bench, and he'd be saying hello to kids, saying good morning, and he'd pick one kid out of the group coming in, and he would say hello and put them on his lap, and tickle them, and you know -- and he's laugh, and be very extra friendly towards them, including me sometimes. And he would tickle them along the whole-- along their bodies.
Keefler: Former student Kovi Smolak says Bryks also played games with boys in their bathing suits at the swimming pool.
Smolak: He would kind of like make a cracking noise, and then he would run his fingers like that, like along here, or shoulders or here, down -- sometimes he would stop here, or sometimes he would just continue going on just down the legs, like that. Like moving his fingers around.
Keefler: For the eight years Smolak was a Torah Academy student. He saw nothing wrong with Bryks' incessant touching. And many teachers and parents welcomed his warm, demonstrative style. When teacher Patti Cohen saw Bryks with a girl on his lap in the school hallway, she didn't like it.
Patti Cohen: I felt uncomfortable with it. I mentioned it to one or two people at the time. And they thought I was being too uptight about it.
Keefler: What people didn't see, many didn't believe. Bryks counselled women, studied with teenage girls, all behind his closed office door. Orthodox Jewish law forbids men from touching or even being alone with a female over the age of three who isn't family. A 14-year-old complained the rabbi often sat on her lap, touch her, tickled her, and talked about sex. Once, she says, he even licked her face. Synagogue board member Nathan Kabrinski heard the girl's story.
Nathan Kabrinski: This struck me as very inappropriate, and I felt that it should be dealt with.
Keefler: The board didn't go to the police. Didn't contact child welfare agencies. Instead, board members set up their own private inquiry.
Judy Silver.
Silver: We were trying to try him without it going public. We were trying to protect the synagogue.
Keefler: That December 1987, the board, Bryks and his lawyer heard the evidence. The teenager repeated her story. Two women also came forward, accused Bryks of making unwanted sexual advances. They weren't believed.
Kabrinski: The people who brought forth these concerns against the rabbi were publicly humiliated and insulted and called liars. It was at this point that I felt that the whole process that I was participating in was a sham.
Keefler: For three nights, accusations, legal threats, personal attacks.
Kabrinski: We were being threatened collectively for taking a position against the rabbi, that would result in a legal suit. And second of all, we were being threatened individually, because of information that the rabbi had about us and our personal lives, that would be used against us.
Silver: He said quite clearly, I have secrets on all of you.
Keefler: On New Years Day 1988, a final board meeting. Word got out, more than a hundred people rushed to the synagogue. They feared Bryks would be fired.
Kabrinski: The whole auditorium of the synagogue was filled with people shouting and screaming.
Keefler: Board members cast their ballots. The rabbi wasn't fired. Judy Silver and eight other members quit in protest. They paid a price.
Silver: The community at large was incensed. His supporters were even more incensed, and I and my children were shunned. My child was spat on in the synagogue.
Keefler: Dr. Adrian Fein says Bryks' opponents were on a witch hunt.
Fein: Rational, sane, friendly, good people, "God-fearing people" became rabid seekers of the destruction of the rabbi, thinking that he had done these terrible things.
Keefler: The board backed Bryks, but finally asked Winnipeg child and family services to investigate. For two months, social workers talked to 45 people, students, teachers and parents. When the agency issued its report in March 1988, the rabbi supporters called it an exoneration. The board considered the case closed. Bryks kept his job.
Kabrinski: He created the community and he could do no wrong. And so calling him into question was really calling the community into question. It was just not acceptable to do that.
Keefler:
The report found Bryks hadn't broken any criminal law. But it did find his
tickling and touching "neither appropriate nor professional." And it warned,
"If there is a child in the school that is currently being abused, the dynamics
of the reaction of staff, fellow students and other adults over the past
couple of months might prevent any child from coming forth with disclosure."
That's exactly what happened to one girl, who didn't want to be interviewed
on camera. A former student told us what she didn't tell Child and Family
Services, that Rabbi Bryks fondled her breasts, once laid completely on top
of her, touched her, tickled her all the time. When a social worker asked
questions, the girl kept quiet. She wasn't the only student who kept a secret.
We found another child who claimed he was victimized. In 1989, a year after
the Child and Family Services investigation, a seven-year-old boy went to
the Winnipeg Police. His parents watched from the next room, listened, as
the boy using a doll, alleged Rabbi Bryks molested him in Grade 1. The couple
is disguised to protect their son's identity.
Unidentified Parent 1: He showed on the dolls that he had been basically -- I guess, fondled, masturbated --
Unidentified Parent 2: Rubbed.
Unidentified Parent 1: Rubbed, rubbed would be the word. He used the word "tickled."
Unidentified Parent 2: The rabbi would comment -- get him out of the classroom during a session of class,
