If the administration of a shul, yeshiva, or Jewish organization is notified that one of their rabbis was involved in a heinous act, and information supporting this accusation was offered, would we expect them to take it seriously and immediately look into the matter?
If the rabbi were accused of molesting a child, or taking advantage of vulnerable women, or supporting abusive husbands, or other such monstrous behavior, would we expect the institution to act immediately to protect potential victims and thoroughly investigate the claims?
What if the rabbi is alleged to have played a key role in the horrific, slow death of a patient, having fought tooth and nail in court to deny her potentially lifesaving treatment, for no justifiable reason?
The Young Israel of Woodmere — which touts itself as the largest Young Israel congregation in the world and one of the largest (and wealthiest) Jewish orthodox congregations in America — is apparently not interested.
I refer to the 2021 case of Deborah Bucko, who died under horrific and alarming circumstances as a patient at Mount Sinai Hospital of South Nassau, where Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt is the Chair of Department of Medicine. I wrote about the case shortly after her death, here, and interviewed her bereaved husband, Scott Mantel, where he told the story of a woman being purposely, maliciously denied potentially lifesaving treatment as she died a slow, horrible death. The interview is available here.
The interview went viral at the time, and has over 70,000 views, but the community has taken no action. Glatt has faced no scrutiny, let alone consequences.
The allegations that Glatt played a key role in the death of Deborah Bucko, and that this was a wrongful, quite possibly avoidable death, are supported not only by Mr. Mantel’s testimony, but court documents.
Continue reading…
From Chananya Weissman, here.
