JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Safed rabbi accused of sexually assaulting 10 women has been identified as Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg, the founder of a yeshiva there.
Sheinberg, 46, who headed the Orot HaAri yeshiva he founded in 1999, is married with eight children. The 10 women who have filed complaints against Sheinberg, who is known as a mystic, had come to him with religious questions.
He was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport on July 2 as he reportedly waited to catch a flight to Brazil.
Prior to his arrest, Sheinberg had resigned from the yeshiva and left Safed on the demands of a committee of local rabbis. In mid-June, the committee and Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu had launched an investigation into the accusations.
