Mordechai Elon

Mordechai Elon

Mordechai (Moti) Elon (Hebrew: מרדכי (מוטי) אֵלון‎; born 9 December 1959, Jerusalem, Israel) is a Zionist Israeli rabbi. He has headed several Jewish religious and social organizations and institutions including as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat HaKotel in the Old City of Jerusalem from 2002 to 2006, and has hosted television and radio shows.

In 2010 he was investigated for sexual misconduct,^[1] in response to revelations by Takana, a religious forum dealing with allegations of sexual harassment in the religious Zionist community. On 7 August 2013 the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court convicted him on two counts of forcible sexual assault against a male minor.^[2] Elon who is an outspoken opponent of homosexuality,^[3] has denied the charges.

Life and career

Elon was born in Jerusalem one of five children of former Israel Supreme Court Justice Menachem Elon and his wife Ruth née Buchsbaum. He received his high-school education at Yeshivat Yerushalayim Latzeirim. After graduating he went on to learn further religious studies at the Hesder Yeshiva Yeshivat Or Etzion and at the Hesder Yeshiva of Kiryat Shmona. In his twenties he began teaching religious studies at the Horev Yeshiva High-School in Jerusalem and became its Rosh Yeshiva in 1987. He left Horev Yeshiva High-School in 2002 to become the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat HaKotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, a post he left in 2006.^[4] After leaving, many of his students would continue to travel to visit him in Migdal, northern Israel

Elon had a regular weekly lecture on the Torah portion at the Yeshurun synagogue in Jerusalem. Hundreds of people came to hear him and the lectures were aired on a public Israeli radio station. He also hosted a weekly television show on which he spoke about the week's Torah portion,^[5] and headed a bible group held at the residence of the President of Israel.^[6]

Elon established and headed a Jewish social and religious organization called "Mibereshit".^[7] The organization works with the Israeli education ministry and Israeli schools in order to bring Jewish children and teens to feel closer to their Jewish roots and to the land of Israel.^[8]

Family

Elon is married and has eleven children.^[9] After resigning from Yeshivat HaKotel he went to live in Migdal in northern Israel. He is the brother of former Moledet Knesset Member and Minister of Tourism Benny Elon, Be'er Sheva District Court Judge Josef Elon, and writer and bible scholar Ari Elon.^[10]

Sexual misconduct

In February 2010 Takana, a rabbinical forum set up to prevent sexual abuse in the national religious community, issued a statement claiming that it had received complaints against Elon dealing with allegations of "a long-term relationship that was clearly of a sexual nature" since shortly after its founding in 2003. During investigation, "the committee lost faith in statements by the rabbi, who concealed his acts during deliberation on the first complaint," according to the statement. A year later, Takana received "another complaint more severe than the first", which allegedly took place a year earlier and were concealed by Elon in his talks with the forum. Coming to the conclusion that it was no longer fitting for him to work as a religious teacher or counselor, they asked him to leave his post as head of Yeshivat Hakotel and cancel a number of public appearances and community roles. Takana claims that at the time Elon agreed to their demands. He left his position at Yeshivat Hakotel and moved to Migdal in northern Israel, but did not fulfill the obligations he agreed to, in particular the requirement to stay away from intimate, personal and private meetings with people seeking his advice or religious counsel, according to Takana, which decided to go public with the allegations because they "had become increasingly concerned that [they] had no other way to protect the public from the possibility of more harm". Elon denied the allegations in public.^[11]

In August 2010, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein instructed the police to conduct a criminal investigation of alleged sexual offenses committed against two minors.^[1] The police found sufficient evidence to submit the case to the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's office.^[12] In January 2011, the Jerusalem District Prosecution recommended to Weinstein that Elon be indicted and in February 2011, it summoned Elon to a pre-indictment hearing.^[13] In November 2011 he was indicted.^[14] In January 2012, according to Ynetnews, Elon asserted in his response to the courts that he often hugged or kissed students as a display of camaraderie, something common in certain segments of Israeli society. He said that in one instance, he attempted to console the accuser, who, at the time, had a parent die in a car crash and that the action could have been misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. Elon refused to enter a plea bargain and maintained his innocence.^[15]

In February 2013, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court dropped one of the charges following the refusal of a witness to testify.^[4] On 7 August 2013 Elon was convicted of sexually assaulting a male minor.^[16] The sentencing was scheduled for October 2013.^[17] An outspoken opponent of homosexuality, he denies the charges,^[3] and was expected to appeal the verdict.^[17]

In December 2013, Elon was given a 15-month suspended prison term, sentenced to six months of community service, and ordered to pay his victim 10,000 NIS ($2,850) in compensation.^[18] In February 2014, he decided not to appeal his guilty verdict.^[19]

Writings

• Tekhelet Mordechai Sichot on the Weekly Torah Portion, Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing Ltd.
• The Tekhelet Mordekhai Haggadah, Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing Ltd., June 2007

References

External links

• website of Mordechi Elon and Keren Yishai
• website of Mordechi Elon's teachings and lectures
• Elon's profile on website of Tnu Ligdol Besheket (Let them grow in quiet), an Israeli advocacy group.