Baltimore rabbi found liable for sexually abusing two children at Jewish summer camp

A jury found a Baltimore area rabbi liable in sexually abusing two children, awarding each of the victims $8,001.

The multiyear case came about after Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky sued three of his reported victims and others in 2018 for defamation after their accusations were published in the New York Jewish Week. All three then countersued, claiming assault and battery.

In its Feb. 22 decision, the state court jury awarded damages to two of the victims. The jury did not find for the family of the third child who said he was abused.

The claims stem from Krawatsky’s time as a senior counselor at Camp Shoresh, an Orthodox Jewish summer camp in Maryland. Each of the two plaintiffs was awarded $8,000 in punitive damages and another $1 in compensatory damages, in one case for assault and in another for battery. Two of the three accusers said Krawatsky raped them.

Among those Krawatsky named in his original lawsuit were the New York Jewish Week, which first reported the abuse, and the reporter who broke the story. Those lawsuits were dismissed early in the proceedings, as were Krawatsky’s claims against the reported victims. The Jewish Week is now a partner publication of JTA.

Jon Little, an Indiana lawyer for the victims who took the case pro-bono, confirmed the verdict, which was first publicized by Asher Lovy, director of Za’akah, which combats sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community.

“This verdict is really a sad reflection on the state of American society,” Little told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday. He called the ruling “devastating” due to the size of the damages.

“He got to keep his entire retirement savings and he walks away,” said Little, whose practice focuses on abuse in the sports world. “My reaction to the whole verdict is one of sadness.”

Rabbi Krawatsky plans to appeal

Lawyers for Krawatsky told the Daily Mail they would appeal and that he “has never harmed a child in any way. Ever.” Krawatsky was never criminally charged in the case.

The three reported victims, all from Baltimore, attended Shoresh in 2015.  They were aged 7 and 8 at the time.

Krawatsky was fired from Beth Tfiloh Dahan, a day school, in the wake of the allegations, as well as from a job at an area synagogue. But other community members fundraised for him.