In the wake of a scandal in which a Washington, D.C. Orthodox rabbi was arrested on Tuesday, Oct. 14, for allegedly spying on women undressing at a mikveh connected to his synagogue, Rabbi Richard A. Flom, a Los Angeles authority on the mikveh [ritual bathhouse] and a member of the Rabbinical Assembly executive committee, said the mikveh at American Jewish University [AJU], a community resource of the Rabbinical Assembly, is secure enough that people who use it for conversion, taharat hamishpacha [family purity] and other reasons, need not worry about someone illicitly watching them while they undress and immerse themselves in the mikveh pool.
[Related: Rabbi Barry Freundel arrested, charged with voyeurism]
Flom spoke to the Journal after the arrest of Rabbi Barry Freundel, 62, who has denied allegations filed Wednesday, Oct. 15, that he recorded at least six women showering at the mikveh at his synagogue. Freundel pleaded not guilty to a charge of voyeurism, a misdemeanor and was released without bond. Freundel “allegedly placed a hidden camera and recorder … inside…the changing-preparation area,” the website Failed Messiah reported, saying that he reportedly hid the recording device inside a digital clock.
During a phone interview on Oct. 15, L.A.’s Rabbi Flom addressed Freundel’s actions. “We don’t see how anything like that would be possible, or why anyone would want to do it.”
“We don’t want anyone to be turned off from utilizing this [the AJU mikveh] or any other mikveh because of these allegations. It’s probably a unique case that this story is about. At least I hope so,” Flom said.
“We don’t think anything like that could happen here, because we have multiple supervisors here, checking everything,” he added.
Freundel’s actions occurred at the Georgetown-based modern Orthodox community, Kesher Israel Congregation, where Freundel is the spiritual leader. The synagogue has posted a statement on its website that strongly denounces Freundel’s behavior.
“This is a painful moment for Kesher Israel Congregation and the entire Jewish community,” the statement from the synagogue’s board of directors reads.
Flom, a leader in the Conservative movement – the Rabbinical Assembly is the denomination’s rabbinical arm – said mikvaot are a place where women and men willingly undress fully under the assumption that no one is watching, and he therefore described Freundel’s alleged actions as “unfortunate.”
Flom did not want to speak further about Freundel out of respect for Lashon harah [gossip] laws.
“I have to tell you in all honesty I suspect there have been questions about this kind of thing for decades in regards to mikvaot,” Flom said. “The utilization of it is a private and personal experience and people are vulnerable when they do it. Anybody who takes their clothes off and goes into a pool is vulnerable to the extent that they have taken their clothes off and are in a pool and not in their home – they are someplace else.”
The mikveh at AJU is one of several in Los Angeles. Others include the Mikvah Society of Los Angeles on Pico Boulevard and Chabad of Brentwood’s Brentwood Mikvah for women.
