Baruch S. Lanner (born October 20, 1949)Offender Details
, accessed vi
"NJ Dept of Corrections - Offender Details"
. (Click on "accept"; on the next screen enter "Lanner" and "Baruch" and click on "submit"; on the next screen click on his "sbi number", which is 000652003C.),

New Jersey Department of Corrections The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) is responsible for operations and management of prison facilities in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The department operates 13 major institutions—seven adult male correctional facilities, three ...

. Accessed January 17, 2008. is an American former Orthodox

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

who was convicted of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

Career

Lanner was the principal of Hillel Yeshiva High School in Ocean Township, New Jersey and later the director of regions for the

Orthodox Union The Orthodox Union (abbreviated OU) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs fo ...

National Conference of Synagogue Youth NCSY (formerly known as the National Conference of Synagogue Youth) is a Jewish youth group under the auspices of the Orthodox Union. Its operations include Jewish-inspired after-school programs; summer programs in Israel, Europe, and the United ...

(NCSY).

Crimes

In 2000, an investigative series published in ''

The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish W ...

'' alleged that Lanner had physically and

sexually abused Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...

young people for decades. Lanner resigned the day after it was published. The story, "Stolen Innocence," later won an award for "meritorious journalism." An investigation was conducted by the

(OU). The investigating committee, headed by then- Hillel President

Richard Joel Richard M. Joel (born September 9, 1950) is a Jewish scholar who was the fourth president of Yeshiva University (YU), a Modern Orthodox Jewish university in New York City. He has written on topics that include Jewish leadership, the BDS movement ...

, spent over $1 million interviewing more than 140 people and issued a 330-page report detailing the abuse. The report alleged that Lanner had physically, sexually and emotionally abused dozens of teenagers, including fondling girls and kneeing boys in the groin, and that the abuse had begun in 1970.Jacobs, Andrew
"Orthodox Group Details Accusations That New Jersey Rabbi Abused Teenagers"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', December 27, 2000. Accessed November 21, 2007. As a result of the report, the executive vice president of the OU, Rabbi Raphael Butler, resigned. He had been criticized for failing to act on earlier complaints. Lanner was convicted in 2002 of sexually abusing two teenage girls who attended the religious school where he had been principal, and sentenced to seven years in prison. An appeals court dismissed one of the child endangerment charges in 2005. He was released on parole on January 10, 2008, and was given parole for four years.

Aftermath

A second report commissioned in 2001 by the OU found that the abuse had been overlooked for decades, despite multiple complaints, and that "profound errors of judgment" had been made, including failures of management. The case has been described as "well-publicized" and a "watershed in the way the Orthodox community addresses sexual abuse". In 2003, the members of the

Beth Din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

that had investigated Lanner in 1989, Rabbis

Mordechai Willig HaRav Mordechai Yitzchak HaLevi Willig (born April 25, 1947; 5th of Iyyar, 5707 on the Hebrew calendar) is an Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan. He is often known to his students as the Ramu ...

, Yosef Blau, and Aaron Levine, apologized to the victims for not acting to stop the abuse. Blau was singled out by Willig for counseling victims over the years.

Move to Israel

In June 2022, Lanner flew to Israel under the guise of tourism and requested Israeli citizenship under the

Law of Return The Law of Return ( he, חֹוק הַשְׁבוּת, ''ḥok ha-shvūt'') is an Israeli law, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews, people with one or more Jewish grandparent, and their spouses the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Isr ...

. The Israeli government awarded Lanner temporary legal residency. On July 19, 2022, Minister

Ayelet Shaked Ayelet Shaked (; he, אַיֶּילֶת שָׁקֵד; born 7 May 1976) is an Israeli politician, activist, and software engineer currently serving as Minister of Interior. She served as a member of the Knesset for The Jewish Home from 2013 to ...

announced that Israel would not be offering citizenship to Lanner in light of his convictions in the US.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanner, Baruch 1949 births Living people 20th-century American criminals 21st-century American criminals American Modern Orthodox rabbis American people convicted of child sexual abuse Criminals from New Jersey Child sexual abuse scandals in Judaism Members of the clergy convicted of rape People from Elizabeth, New Jersey Rabbis convicted of crimes Religious figures convicted of child sexual abuse American members of the clergy convicted of crimes 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American Jews