Rabbi Ezra Scheinberg, the rabbi from Tzfat (Safed) accused by no fewer than 11 women of sexual abuse, has been threatening prison guards at the Tzalmon Jail where he is currently being detailed, reports Army Radio.
According to the report Scheinberg has been taking the names of the guards from the name tags on their shirts and writing them on a note. He then goes on to recite: “I place on you a kapida,” a type of curse.
Several of the guards have been frightened by the curses, and are trying to avoid Scheinberg.
The Israel Prison Service intends to investigate the complaints of the guards.
The Nazareth District Court last Friday shortened Sheinberg’s detention, moving up his release from this Thursday to Tuesday.
Several of his victims have come forward with complaints of severe sexual abuse they suffered after coming to him for advice.
One woman, identified only as S., came forward last Friday about how he abused her 13 years ago when she was just 25 and in a “very difficult period.” It was one of her first times consulting a rabbi and she hasn’t consulted one since, she said.
She recalled consulting with the rabbi, and then several hours later being called back when Scheinberg said he had to see her “urgently.”
When she got there, he proceeded to carry out strange rituals on her using “holy water” that included sexual abuse. He was uttering blessings the whole time, and prayers, she said.
She then fled the scene.
S. said she kept quiet on the story until now because of his status as a rabbi and her uncertainty over how she should proceed, but now that other abused women have stepped forward she is “no longer afraid of him. I think that these women should understand that he has no more power, he has no power over us, his power is over. He is a charlatan, a fraud. He recognized our distress and was just using us.”
Scheinberg was arrested while trying to flee Israel at Ben-Gurion Airport earlier this month.
