Image by Wikimedia Commons

(JTA) — An employee at Congregation Beth Elohim, a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn, has been arrested for a sexual assault he committed in the synagogue building.

The incident occurred on Saturday night, according to an email the synagogue’s leadership sent congregants on Thursday. The victim was not connected to the synagogue.

“On Saturday night, August 4th, in the middle of the night, a member of CBE’s maintenance staff entered our Temple House,” the email read. “Later that night, he invited an acquaintance of his who had no relation to the CBE community into the building and allegedly sexually assaulted her. He has been arrested and is in police custody.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The leadership  of the synagogue, which is in the neighborhood of Park Slope, has changed the building’s locks, hired extra security, fired the employee and is cooperating with police. The email said that the employee had passed a background check before being hired and had no prior convictions.

“We are angry and saddened by what happened,” the email said. “We are committed to the safety and security of everyone in our buildings, and this employee’s act was a violation of that commitment.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount