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Case of Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg

Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg appears in court in December 1996, accused of abusing a 12-year-old girl. He later pleaded no contest to one count. (File Photo/ Mark Aronoff -- Santa Rosa Press Democrat)



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Table of Contents:

Rabbi's Odyssey Reflects Struggle on Sexual Abuse - Jews Begin to Confront Silence That Hid Clergy's Misdeeds (02/02/2003)

Former Petaluma rabbi gets 3 years for molesting a child (04/11/1997)

Petaluma rabbi pleads no contest to charges of sexual misconduct (02/21/1997)

Rabbi accused of molesting child may withdraw his not-guilty plea (02/07/1997)



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Rabbi's Odyssey Reflects Struggle on Sexual Abuse - Jews Begin to Confront Silence That Hid Clergy's Misdeeds
By Alan Cooperman - Washington Post Staff Writer

Washington Post - Sunday, February 2, 2003; Page A17

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12421-2003Feb1.html


During his 30-year career, Sidney I. Goldenberg taught math in the New York schools, served as cantor at two synagogues on Long Island and became the rabbi of a Jewish congregation in California. He was a respected teacher, a man of learning -- and a child molester.

Before he was convicted and sent to prison in 1997 for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl during bat mitzvah lessons, there had been numerous complaints against him. But each time allegations arose, he moved to a new community, leaving a trail of whispers and shattered lives.

Prosecutors, alleged victims and their families say Goldenberg was able to move from job to job because of a wall of silence and shame around sexual abuse in the Jewish community -- a wall that some believe is finally coming down, thanks to the scandal over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

"In the past it was covered up, just like in the Catholic Church," said Vicki Polin, an art therapist in Baltimore who is forming an association of Jewish survivors of childhood sexual abuse. "Survivors' stories were discounted. They were told they were lying. Their parents would go to the proper authorities within the Jewish community and nothing was done."

While Catholicism has been hardest hit, almost every major religion in the United States has grappled with cases of child sexual abuse by clergy. Protestant and Jewish leaders assert that their problems are much smaller than those of the Catholic Church, with its celibate priesthood and global hierarchy. But they are moving nonetheless to shore up their disciplinary procedures, prevention programs and insurance policies.

In recent years, for example, the Episcopal Church has revised its disciplinary code and extended its internal statute of limitations to encourage victims of abuse to come forward, while the Presbyterian Church (USA) has eliminated its time limit on such complaints. The United Methodist Church recommends that two unrelated adults be present with any child or group of children.

The reasons are clear: Lawyers who have specialized in suing Catholic dioceses are turning their sights on other religious groups, including Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. Liability insurance costs are rising for synagogues as well as churches. State legislatures are requiring clergy of all faiths to report allegations of child sexual abuse.

"I don't think pedophilia has a religion," said Na'ama Yehuda, a speech pathologist in New York who is co-founder, with Polin, of the Awareness Center, an organization for Jewish survivors of childhood trauma.

The center's Web site (www.theawarenesscenter.org) lists more than 30 Jewish officials who have been accused of child sexual abuse. They include the late Shlomo Carlebach, a renowned Hasidic rabbi; Baruch Lanner, an Orthodox rabbi who was convicted last year of molesting two teenage girls; and Jerrold Levy, a Reform rabbi imprisoned for sex crimes involving teenage boys.

Goldenberg's story -- pieced together from court documents and interviews with prosecutors, alleged victims and their families -- is a particularly well-documented example of how some Jewish and Protestant clergy, like some priests, have relied on children's shame, parents' trust and other adults' disbelief to keep their misconduct hidden for years.

His trail through four communities in two states resembles the movement of pedophile priests from parish to parish. But there are significant differences.

Unlike the priests, who were transferred by superiors, Goldenberg moved on his own volition. The families of some of his alleged victims, all teenage girls, believe that their complaints were ignored or hushed up. But none has sued.

"In the Catholic Church, the issue was the cover-up by the church hierarchy. Here, it's the community, not the hierarchy. It's the whole community not wanting to admit trouble in our midst," said Yosef Blau, an Orthodox rabbi at New York's Yeshiva University who counsels victims of sexual abuse.

Goldenberg arrived in California in 1996 with glowing recommendations. Leaders of Congregation B'nai Israel, a small Conservative synagogue in the farming town of Petaluma, say they checked the 58-year-old rabbi's references, and no one hinted at any improprieties.

The rabbinate, however, was Goldenberg's second career. He had been ordained a year earlier at an independent Orthodox seminary, Tifereth Yisrael in Sayville, N.Y. Before that, he was a public school teacher and a cantor, or prayer singer, at synagogues on Long Island. And there had long been trouble.

In 1971, the superintendent of schools in Levittown, N.Y., reprimanded Goldenberg and sent him for a psychiatric evaluation after he allegedly made suggestive remarks to a high school student.

In 1976, school records show, he was arrested after another student complained that he had exposed her breasts. The charge was dropped when he resigned, and a lawyer for Goldenberg sent school officials a letter suggesting that they should not mention the incident if they received requests for references.

Goldenberg went to work as a part-time cantor and teacher at the Seaford Jewish Center on Long Island. In 1985, a member of that congregation, Donald Novitt, complained that Goldenberg had made sexual comments to his daughter during a lesson for her bat mitzvah, the coming-of-age ceremony for Jewish 13-year-olds.

"My first move was to call the rabbi," Novitt recalls. "I said, 'Rabbi, I have something to tell you that's about Cantor Goldenberg.' He said, 'I know what you're going to tell me. We've had complaints before.' "

The rabbi, Esor Ben-Sorek, later told police in California that he had received three complaints from 12-year-olds tutored by the cantor. Goldenberg "apologized, said that he was aware of his problem and would seek help, and I then informed him that he would no longer be able to offer religious instruction to girls in the religious school," Ben-Sorek wrote to California investigators.

One of Goldenberg's accusers, now in her thirties, is still angry about the synagogue's response.

"They did not fire him, they did not really do anything. Nobody ever apologized to me. I had my bat mitzvah and he was there -- he was the cantor who sang in front of my whole family," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "When I think back about that, I can't believe it."

Another alleged victim, Robin Patrusky, 37, said Goldenberg "spoiled my innocence" but that "I was too shy, too scared to say anything." "It has affected all my relationships to this day," she added.

Goldenberg soon moved to the Jewish Center of Bay Shore, another Long Island synagogue, where he was cantor from 1990 to 1996. Its former rabbi, Steven Rosenberg, wrote a letter to the California court saying he was unaware of any allegations before Goldenberg left for California. But he said he later learned that several girls had complained to parents or teachers about suggestive remarks and inappropriate touching by the cantor.

The complaints never reached him, Rosenberg said, because the parents and teachers were trying to protect their children from embarrassment, did not want Goldenberg to be fired or "could not believe that Cantor Goldenberg would have done such a thing."

In December 1996, Goldenberg was arrested by the Petaluma Police Department for molesting a teenager at Congregation B'nai Israel. Over a four-month period, the girl said, Goldenberg made lewd remarks, touched her breasts, had her lift her shirt, exposed his undershorts and coaxed her to reach into his front pockets for coins.

The arrest "really split the congregation here, because he was an extremely popular rabbi, and very few people believed this young girl," said the prosecutor, Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Gary A. Medvigy.

As news of the arrest hit the media, however, 10 women in New York alleged that Goldenberg had abused them in similar ways, usually beginning with dirty talk and progressing to fondling but not intercourse, Medvigy said.

Facing mounting allegations, Goldenberg pleaded no contest to a single charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. He was sentenced in April 1997 to three years in state prison. Although he was released on parole in 1999, he could not be located for this article.

The manager of a Santa Rosa, Calif., apartment complex where he lived in 2002 said he moved out a month ago. His attorney, Stephen M. Gallenson, said he did not know Goldenberg's whereabouts. His wife, reached by telephone in New York, said he was in another state and that she did not know when, or if, she would hear from him. His name did not turn up in an online search of sex offenders' registries, computerized public records and telephone listings around the country.

Wherever he is, Goldenberg can still call himself a rabbi, because Jewish authorities say ordination is like an academic degree -- once conferred, it cannot be revoked. However, officials of the major Orthodox, Conservative and Reform rabbinical associations said he would not be eligible for membership and doubted that he could find work as a rabbi.

Jeff Zaret, president of Congregation B'nai Israel, said it has hired a female rabbi and made a rule that teachers should not meet alone behind closed doors with children.

"Everyone here took it seriously," he said. "They weren't going to sweep it under the rug and make it somebody else's problem."

Staff researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.

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Former Petaluma rabbi gets 3 years for molesting a child
by RONNIE CAPLANE - Bulletin Correspondent

April 11, 1997

http://www.jewishsf.com/bk970411/bnformer.htm


Sidney Isaac Goldenberg, former rabbi of Petaluma's Congregation B'nai Israel, was sentenced to three years in state prison Tuesday for sexually molesting a 12-year-old student during private bat mitzvah tutoring sessions.

Judge Mark Tansil of the Santa Rosa Superior Court issued the sentence following an emotional hearing, during which the victim and her family called for a stiff sentence and Goldenberg asked for leniency.

A superior court probation department report recommended Goldenberg be sentenced to probation and one year in the Sonoma County Jail.

"I was very vulnerable," the girl told the court. "He took advantage of me. I'm going through some very difficult changes. He ruined a lot of people's lives. My friends are suffering."

The girl also told the court she delayed telling anyone about the molestation for fear no one would believe her. She cried as she spoke, as did many of her friends and relatives who filled the courtroom.

Goldenberg, 58, was hired in August by the 100-family Conservative Petaluma congregation. He was arrested in December and charged with lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under the age of 14, a felony.

The misconduct, which occurred over several months, involved making lewd remarks to the girl, touching her breasts and asking her to put her hands in his pocket.

Goldenberg pled no contest to the charges in February. A plea of no contest is equivalent to a guilty plea, said Gary Medvigy, Santa Rosa deputy district attorney .

The girl's mother lauded her child's courage in speaking out. "My daughter is a hero," she said. "She became the voice for [Goldenberg's] prior victims."

Several women from New York, who learned of the Petaluma case through news reports, told the Santa Rose district attorney's office and the Petaluma Police Department that Goldenberg had made inappropriate sexual advances toward them when they were adolescents.

According to Medvigy, the earliest complaint dates back 27 years.

Although Goldenberg was charged in connection with one of these incidents, in 1976, Medvigy does not know if Goldenberg was convicted because the record has been sealed.

"We tell our kids there are consequences for everything," the girl's mother said. "I want [Goldsenberg] to be punished for what he's been doing for the past 27 years."

Before moving to Petaluma, Goldenberg was a public school teacher and then a cantor, lay educator and rabbi at various synagogues in New York.

Goldenberg's attorney, Stephen Gallenson asked the judge to follow the recommendation of the probation department.

"He is essentially a good man who has a problem," Gallenson said.

The defense has submitted many letters praising Goldenberg as a teacher and rabbi. "He has taught hundreds and hundreds of kids and has had positive experiences with most of them," Gallenson added.

Gallenson argued that Goldenberg is not a danger to society since he will no longer be able to get a position as a rabbi or cantor and therefore will not have access to adolescent girls.

He also said Goldenberg needs psychiatric treatment, which he will not receive in prison.

"[Goldenberg] is in his own private hell," said Gallenson, pointing out that Goldenberg, his wife and children have suffered since the arrest. "Sending him to prison will not do any good."

Yet Medvigy argued that this case is particularly heinous because as a teacher and rabbi, Goldenberg violated a sacred trust.

He also said the psychiatric examination, done at the request of the probation department, indicates Goldenberg neither accepts full responsibility nor understands the seriousness of his acts, and may commit the same crime again.

"If he walks out of this courtroom and if there's one more victim, then the criminal justice system has failed," said Medvigy.

"This is a difficult case to sentence, but this man needs to go to prison to protect our children and to satisfy our community."

Perhaps the most compelling statement for a more severe penalty came from Goldenberg himself.

Goldenberg acknowledged the past complaints of sexual misconduct against him but said they only arose when he was in a one-to-one situation with an extroverted adolescent girl.

He said stress triggers the conduct, echoing the findings of the psychiatric report. Although Goldenberg sounded slightly nervous, he spoke dispassionately.

"I apologize if I caused any harm," he said. "I'm starting to understand what the problem is and I can handle it."

Goldenberg described his problem as delayed adolescence. He also said prison would be detrimental to his health.

Judge Tansil acknowledged the case was particularly difficult because Goldenberg is not a typical defendant and has no prior record.

But the judge imposed the three-year state prison term, based on several factors, including: the defendant's breach of trust, his apparent failure to understand the seriousness of his crime, the belief that Goldenberg is not a good candidate for rehabilitation and the desire to send a message that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated.

The maximum term possible is nine years. Medvigy said Goldenberg will be eligible for parole in 18 months. When he gets out of prison, he must register as a sex offender wherever he lives.

Goldenberg was taken into custody immediately after sentencing.

After the hearing, the girl, who had appeared nervous and upset throughout the day, smiled.

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Petaluma rabbi pleads no contest to charges of sexual misconduct

by RONNIE CAPLANE, Jewish Bulletin Correspondent

February 21, 1997

http://www.jewishsf.com/bk970221/bnpleads.htm


The Petaluma rabbi accused of sexually molesting a bat mitzvah student has pleaded no contest to the charge and faces up to eight years in prison.

Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg, formerly of Petaluma's Congregation B'nai Israel, entered his plea at Santa Rosa Municipal Court Tuesday to a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under the age of 14.

The sexual misconduct allegedly took place over several months late last year while Goldenberg was tutoring the victim, a 12-year-old girl, for her bat mitzvah.

Police said Goldenberg, 58, took the girl into his office, made lewd remarks, touched her breasts and asked that she put her hands into his pockets.

According to Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Gary Medvigy, a plea of no contest is the legal equivalent of a guilty plea.

The rabbi pleaded no contest "just to make himself feel better," Medvigy reported.

The rabbi's attorney, Stephen Gallenson, did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.

Two misdemeanor counts of annoying a child will be dropped as part of Goldenberg's plea bargain, Medvigy said.

Goldenberg, who originally had pleaded not guilty, will return to the court Tuesday, Feb. 25, when a psychiatrist or psychologist will be appointed to evaluate him and a date will be set for sentencing. He could receive a minimum of probation, a maximum of an eight-year prison term.

Medvigy said the actual sentencing will not take place for another four to six weeks.

During that time, the Sonoma County court's probation department will review the psychologist's report, talk to the victim and her family, and investigate the case before recommending a sentence to the judge.

One factor that will be considered is whether the defendant has a history of sexual abuse involving minors, Medvigy said.

Several women from New York have contacted the Santa Rosa district attorney's office claiming to have been molested by Goldenberg while they were teenagers, Medvigy said. Their calls came amid national media attention to the case.

Goldenberg taught high school in Levittown, Long Island, and was a lay educator and cantor at several synagogues on Long Island.

Medvigy said his office has reports about 10 women, six of whom either made statements to his office or spoke to him. The other reports came from family members who refused to disclose the whereabouts of the alleged victims.

"The first victim we know of is from 27 years ago when [Goldenberg] was a high school teacher," Medvigy said.

Such cases can't be prosecuted in New York now because the statute of limitations has expired.

"Some [prior incidents] are more egregious than what we have here," Medvigy added. "The process began with dirty talking. There are allegations of serious sex acts. [With] those who didn't complain, [Goldenberg] seemed to go as far as he could."

According to Medvigy, complaints were made at the time, but no disciplinary action was taken. Goldenberg was either moved into a job where he was not working with adolescent girls or he was allowed to resign and subsequent employers were not told of the past misconduct.

"I think things are changing in the world," said Medvigy. "If we had the mentality back then [that] we have now, [Goldenberg] would have been stopped."

Although Goldenberg hasn't taught in the Levittown schools since the early '70s, he still holds New York teaching credentials. However, Peter Sherman of the New York State Teachers Certification Office expects action will be taken against Goldenberg's credentials in light of the Petaluma case.

Goldenberg, however, cannot be stripped of his rabbinic ordination.

"One cannot lift an ordination," said Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the national organization of Conservative rabbis. "It's like a degree."

Goldenberg was ordained four years ago by Tifereth Yisrael Rabbinical Yeshiva of Long Island, an independent seminary. For several years before that, he ran a small computer company. Medvigy said there are no indications of any complaints against Goldenberg during that time.

Last summer, Goldenberg was hired by B'nai Israel, a small, Conservative congregation of about 100 families. It was his first employment in California.

Meyers said the Rabbinical Assembly takes misconduct of its members seriously, but Goldenberg is not a member. The organization, thererefore, lacks jurisdiction to take disciplinary action.

"Congregations that employ rabbis who are not under the jurisdiction of a rabbinical organization run certain risks," Meyers said.

B'nai Israel is not a member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the organization of Conservative synagogues, said Rabbi Jerome Epstein of United Synagogues, which helps its member synagogues check out rabbis.

B'nai Israel "isn't a member of any association, so they had no one to help them check this through," he said. "The congregation hired someone who is a freelancer."

Goldenberg resigned from B'nai Israel Jan. 11 after being put on paid leave in the wake of his Dec. 16 arrest.

Medvigy praised B'nai Israel for its handling of the situation.

"It's a testament to the community," Medvigy said. "They are really rallying and pulling together."


Copyright Notice (c) 1997, San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc., dba Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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Rabbi accused of molesting child may withdraw his not-guilty plea
by RONNIE CAPLANE - Bulletin Correspondent

Jewish Bulletin - February 7, 1997

http://www.jewishsf.com/bk970207/bnrabbi.htm


Rabbi Sidney Goldenberg, the Petaluma spiritual leader who allegedly molested a 12-year-old girl, is expected to withdraw his not-guilty plea later this month.

"There is a reasonable possibility that [Goldenberg] will enter a plea of guilty or no contest on Feb. 18" to charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor, said Stephen Gallenson, Goldenberg's attorney, on Tuesday.

If the plea is to be changed, that will take place Tuesday, Feb. 18.

"He [Goldenberg] has no desire to put the [alleged] victim through a trial, and he has no desire to put himself through a trial," added Gallenson.

A change of plea means Goldenberg would avoid going to trial, and would face sentencing. He could receive a maximum eight years in prison or a minimum of probation.

Goldenberg's attorney spoke after Tuesday's postponement of a preliminary hearing on the charges at Santa Rosa Municipal Court. Such a hearing is held to determine if there's sufficient evidence for a trial.

Goldenberg, 58, accompanied by his adult son, attended the hearing, as did the alleged victim -- a 12-year-old bat mitzvah student of the rabbi's -- and members of her family. Members of Congregation B'nai Israel, where Goldenberg had a pulpit until resigning recently in the wake of the charges, also attended.

Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Gary Medvigy was scheduled to deliver testimony from the alleged victim and the rabbi's arresting officer but, at the request of Goldenberg's attorney, the hearing was continued to Thursday, Feb. 20.

Goldenberg was charged in December with one count of lewd acts with a child, and two counts of annoying a child. The girl, who was being tutored by the rabbi, alleged the incidents took place between September and until his arrest Dec. 16 .

B'nai Israel, a 100-family synagogue in Petaluma, hired Goldenberg from New York to take on his first pulpit last September.

There are no other known victims at B'nai Israel, prosecutors said, but they have alleged that four women who were students of Goldenberg's in New York were victimized by him in similar acts of misconduct.

Prosecutors said those women contacted the Petaluma Police Department after learning of the Petaluma case.

Although Goldenberg was ordained by Tifereth Yisrael Rabbinic Yeshiva of Long Island only four years ago, he was a cantor and Hebrew teacher for years before, and began his career as a public school teacher in Levittown, N.Y.

Medvigy declined to say whether he knew of any prior criminal or disciplinary action against Goldenberg in connection with past allegations.

Although California lacks jurisdiction to prosecute the New York cases, the women's testimony could be introduced to prove a pattern of misconduct by the defendant.

Medvigy said New York authorities were investigating these cases but he didn't know whether they would lead to any formal charges. Since the cases date back many years, he added, the statute of limitations may have expired on them.

The earlier alleged incidents, which date from the early 1970s through 1985, involved inappropriate statements by Goldenberg, but none allege any actual physical contact, Gallenson said.

In the Petaluma case, Goldenberg was alleged to have taken the girl into his office, made lewd remarks, touched her breasts, and asked that she put her hands in his pockets.

Goldenberg resigned from B'nai Israel Jan. 11, after he was put on paid leave in the wake of his Dec. 16 arrest.

The case has shaken the congregation, but Medvigy said members had "rallied behind the victim and her family."

B'nai Israel's board president, Regina Wilson Seppa, added that "we're pulling together. We have a strong congregation with people who are very committed to the congregation and to each other."

If Goldenberg does not change his not-guilty plea, Medvigy said, he would like to try the case soon so the alleged victim can put the incident behind her.

According to Gallenson, resolving the case quickly is in Goldenberg's best interests.

The case is taking a tremendous emotional toll on Goldenberg and his family as well, Gallenson said. Goldenberg's wife, Selma, had been taken to the hospital with chest pains, he added, and it's believed the condition was stress-related.

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