Report: Marc Schneier expelled from Orthodox rabbinic group over affair

Schneier, the founder of a synagogue in New York’s tony Hamptons, reportedly was expelled earlier this year following allegations that he had an extramarital affair with a congregant five years ago.

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(JTA) — Rabbi Marc Schneier of The Hampton Synagogue reportedly has been expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America.

Schneier, the founding rabbi of the synagogue in tony Westhampton Beach, N.Y., reportedly was expelled earlier this year following allegations that he had an extramarital affair with a congregant five years ago, the Forward reported, citing an unnamed source “with firsthand knowledge of the expulsion.”

The RCA, the main modern Orthodox rabbinic association, did not deny that it had expelled Schneier, the Forward reported Friday. Schneier told the Forward that he was never notified of an expulsion.

Schneier also is the founder and head of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.

The woman with whom Schneier is said to have had the affair, Gitty Leiner, became his fifth wife. The divorce papers from his fourth marriage disclosed the affair.

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