A distinguished Rabbi in Washington D.C. was arrested Tuesday for allegedly filming women as they took showers at a modern Orthodox synagogue a few blocks away from his home.
Rabbi Barry Freundel was charged with voyeurism in connection to a hidden camera he reportedly installed above a shower at the Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown, police told MyFoxDC.
Witnesses say several police officers raided the 62-year-old pastor's O Street home Tuesday morning and emerged hours later with what appeared to be computer hard drives. The rabbi pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Freundel, a rabbi at Kesher Israel for 25 years, is accused of filming Orthodox women as they partook in a bathing ritual known as the mikvah, often used by women as a way to cleanse themselves after menstruation or for others who are converting to Judaism, The Washington Post reported.
A 35-year-old woman once caught Freundel installing a camera inside a clock radio above a shower in the synagogue's mikvah area, police said according to MyFoxDC. The rabbi reportedly told her he was fixing the ventilation.
In addition to leading the synagogue's congregation, Freundel taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Hebrew, Georgetown University and other universities, according to the Kesher Israel website.
"This is a painful moment for Kesher Israel Congregation and the entire Jewish community," the synagogue's board of directors said in a statement. "At this challenging time, we draw strength from our faith, our tradition, and our fellow congregants."
The directors said they notified "the appropriate officials" as soon as they learned about the alleged incidents and have since suspended Freundel without pay.
A judge ordered Freundel on Wednesday to stay away from Kesher Israel, all the individuals he helped convert to Judaism and participated in the mikvah with.
