The Awareness Center is the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA)
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Case of Rabbi Aryeh Blaut
(AKA: Louis Blaut, Louis Steven Blaut, Louis A. Blaut, Louis S. Blaut)
Past Prinicipal - Seattle Hebrew Academy, Seattle, WA
Teacher - Approved by Torah U'mesorah
It is not appropriate for any rabbi, educator, agency or organization to investigate allegations of sexual abuse, especially regarding this convicted sex offender. Criminal investigations should only be conducted by trained law enforcement officials. According to the terms of Rabbi Aryeh Blaut's probation he is not allowed contact with anyone under the age of 18 (except his own children). He is also barred from using the internet.
If anyone who has suspicions, questions or information regarding this case contact:
Peggy Kellow Senior U.S. Probation Officer
Sex Offender Specialist
Phone: 206-370-8577 Fax: 206-370-8551
Rabbi Aryeh Blaut is convicted sex offender on federal charges of possession of child pornography.
According to the United States Department of Probation, Louis Blaut is not allowed contact with anyone under the age of eighteen on the Internet or in person. Meaning, Rabbi Aryeh Blaut is not allowed to tutor or teach anyone under the age of 18. He is also not allowed to use the Internet.
Rabbi Blaut is a past principal of a Jewish Day School in Seattle, WA. He was originally arrested in November 2003 for possession of child pornography. He pled guilty in July, 2004 and sentenced on Sept. 24, 2004. Rabbi Blaut spent 21 months in a federal prison in New Jersey.
There was no press coverage on this case, yet a reliable source stated that 1800 individuals in the community received a letter.
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Also see:
October 23, 2003 - Adminstration at Hebrew Acdemy informed that Rabbi Blaut was the subject of a federal investigation for possession of child pornography.
October 24, 2003 - Rabbi Blaut resigned from his teaching duties at the Seattle Hebrew Academy
October and early November, 2003 - After learning that federal authorities had seized two personal computers from Rabbi Blaut's home. Seattle Hebrew Academy checked Rabbi Blaut's school computer and found no illegal materials on it. Seattle Hebrew Academy conducted their own an in-house investigation into Rabbi Blaut's history at SHA, including a review of his personnel and other files. The Awareness Center, Inc. frowns upon schools conducting their own investigations. Instead we ask community members to demand that our schools work with law enforcement officials and allow those trainned in collecting forensic evidence conduct the investigating.
July, 2004 - Rabby Aryeh Blatt pled guilty to the federal charges.
September 24, 2004 - Hebrew Acedemy notified parents by letter of the case of Rabbi Aryeh Blatt.
October 5, 2006 - The Awareness Center, Inc. was sent anonymous letters from blogger Unorthodox Jew, regarding the case of Rabbi Aryeh Blatt.
October 6, 2006 - The Awareness Center, Inc. received confirmation from the federal probation department that Rabbi Louis Aryeh Blatt was a convicted sex offender.
Va'ad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle
Va'ad Newsletter: Friday, August 15, 2003
5305 52nd Avenue S. Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 760-0805 (206) 725-0347 Fax
http://www.seattlevaad.org/VaadNewsletter8.16.2003.html
PART TIME WORK WANTED - afternoons through early evenings. Can be teaching related or office work. I type 70 wpm and am familiar with several word processing programs. Fast learner. I also have phone experience. Very organized. Contact Rabbi Blaut - 206 723-7293.
TUTORING - Rebbe B-Tutoring and Learning - spots still available.
Contact Rabbi Blaut at 206 723-7293.
Letter To Parents of
Seattle Hebrew Academy
September 24, 2004
Dear SHA Parents,
It is with profound sadness and difficulty that I am writing you today. I regret having to provide you with this distressing news, but after much discussion with rabbis, key members of our Board of Trustees and outside experts, we determined that it was important to tell you of this situation. Earlier this summer, Rabbi Aryeh Blaut pled guilty to charges of possession of child pornography, and on Friday, September 24, he was sentenced to prison.
For those of you who do not know Rabbi Blaut, he served as a member of our faculty for over twelve years teaching Judaic studies to our students. Rabbi Blaut also served as a full- or part-time administrator during some of those years.
Here are the facts from the Seattle Hebrew Academy's perspective:
On October 23, 2003, I was informed that Rabbi Blaut was the subject of a federal investigation for possession of child pornography. Upon learning this disturbing news, I immediately had our former principal, Dr. Sam Hart, sit in his classroom and then, before the end of the day, removed Rabbi Blaut from his classroom and placed him on administrative leave.
On October 24, 2003, Rabbi Blaut resigned from his teaching duties at the Seattle Hebrew Academy. We directed Rabbi Blaut to cease all contacts with our students and at our direction and in cooperation with his lawyer, he sent a letter to the families of children that he was tutoring stating that he would no longer be tutoring their children. Rabbi Blaut was most cooperative with the school in understanding that he should resign and not have further contact with SHA students.
During this time, I learned that federal authorities had seized two personal computers from Rabbi Blaut's home. We checked his school computer and found no illegal materials on it.
In late October and early November, at my direction, we conducted an in-house investigation into Rabbi Blaut's history at SHA, including a review of his personnel and other files. We found no suggestions in any record of any inappropriate behavior while Rabbi Blaut worked at SHA and have no such evidence. Rabbi Blaut told me and other community rabbis that he had no inappropriate contact with children, and, to the best of our knowledge, inappropriate contact was never part of the investigation.
Immediately upon learning of these charges, we consulted a well known psychologist who works on issues related to child pornography. Our school's primary concern was and continues to be the well being of our children. During this discussion we asked about the likelihood that one who views child pornography might have inappropriate contact with children. We advised him that we had conducted an in-house investigation with negative findings. It was his professional opinion that absent a history of child molestation, viewing child pornography is not necessarily associated with inappropriate conduct with children. We also discussed whether we should immediately inform the parents of the allegations, and he recommended that, given the stage of the federal investigation, which consisted of allegations, and that we had taken steps to remove Rabbi Blaut from his position, it could be unduly alarming to do so.
Based on our internal review, the opinion of the expert whom we consulted, and the fact we were dealing with allegations, not proven facts, SHA's leadership decided that the best course of action was to report this situation to our school community once all of the legal issues were resolved.
From October 2003 until today, we have remained in consultation with leading Halachic authorities, our school attorney, and psychologists to make sure that SHA's actions throughout this process were proper from all perspectives.
Starting in July, 2004, following Rabbi Blaut's guilty plea, we renewed our review of this situation in greater depth and, with profound sadness started the process of developing a process to notify you, our parents.
Based on our experiences over this period, we have decided to take the following two actions.
First, shortly after Sukkot, our students will meet with Debbie Fox, LCSW, Director of Aleinu Family Resources Center of the Los Angeles Jewish Family Service. Mrs. Fox, along with Ms. Laura Freiman, MSW, specialize in increasing children's awareness of rules for personal safety in any situation. The Aleinu Family Resource Center Safety Program was established with the mission of helping Orthodox day schools in Los Angeles prevent and, when necessary, respond to serious problems of child abuse at schools and camps in the Los Angeles area. It is a nationally recognized resource in the field of preventing and treating child abuse. The Center is guided and endorsed by a panel of Orthodox rabbis and is therefore completely consistent with halachic standards. At SHA we will offer a comprehensive prevention program including staff education and guidelines and an evening parent prevention and education workshop. Most importantly, the program will include as a series of workshops designed to help our students understand what is and is not inappropriate behavior, skills they need to protect themselves and an understanding of the importance of reporting any incident or concerns that they have.
Second, we are in the process of amending our personnel policies and now will require all our faculty and staff to sign an addendum which clearly defines inappropriate behavior with students and includes the viewing or possession of child pornography.
I recognize that this is a very difficult topic to discuss. Based on all of the consultation with professionals familiar with situations such as this one, we have learned a great deal. One critical point is that it is often helpful for parents to discuss this situation with their children in a sensitive and instructive parental manner. We encourage you to share whatever information you believe is appropriate with your children; particularly those children who were students of Rabbi Blaut.
Please understand that we have been advised by halachic authorities that our decision to share this information with you does not constitute lashon hara (gossiping) under these circumstances. However, discussing this matter without a toelet (constructive purpose)would constitute lashon hara and is particularly insensitive to the Blaut family, who will continue to live within our community during this difficult period. For the sake of the family and their children, I urge you not to speak about this with anyone unless it falls under the category of toelet (constructive purpose)
This is more than a personal, disappointing tragedy. It is a matter of deep concern to the leadership of Seattle Hebrew Academy. Our primary focus is on our children. Our school counselor, Katie May is familiar with this issue. You may contact her if you need help in finding the appropriate way of talking with your children about this subject or if you feel that one of your children would benefit from time with her. You can reach her at 206-323-5750, ext. 246.
I am also always available to talk to you about this issue or any matter of concern. Please know that you can call me directly at 206-323-5750, ext. 201, or email me at skay@sha613.org. I look forward to working together with you in building our school community in the future.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Shmuel Kay, Head of School
Despite the fact that one of our local teachers, a rabbi, just spent 2 years in Federal Prison for on-line viewing of child pornography. This rabbi teacher was 'approved' by Torah U'mesorah too! He was active in their e-chinuch program. Needless to say, there are quite a few families who will never send their kids to any Kollel activity because of this lack of oversight.
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Last Updated: 10/06/2006
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