Rabbi accused rich worshipper of being a sex pest, court told
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A millionaire Jewish businessman was accused of adultery and being a sexual pre- dator in a campaign of slander by a leading rabbinical judge, a court was told yesterday.
Brian Maccaba, 45, was accused by Rabbi Yaakav Lichtenstein of serially preying on newly married young women among the tightly knit orthodox communities of north London, his barrister, Clive Freedman, told the High Court.
Such "character assassination" would have been devastating for anybody, but for a member of the orthodox Jewish faith could have led to him being thrown out of his community and synagogue and ostracised by society, said Mr Freedman. Accusing women of adultery was one of the gravest offences under Jewish law, and could lead to divorce.
Mr Maccaba, the founder of a computer software company, is suing the rabbi for slander, breach of confidence and harassment. The case, which is being heard in front of a jury, is expected to last several weeks.
Rabbi Lichtenstein, said Mr Freedman, was a senior judge in the Beth Din, the religious court and body which ruled on such matters as divorce and conversion to the faith as well as commercial disputes and matters of religious law.
Mr Freedman said the judge had embarked on his campaign to discredit Mr Maccaba among the community of Sephardic Jews in which he lived and worshipped in Hendon. Mr Maccaba, he said, had become close to leading figures in the community and Rabbi Lichtenstein hoped to displace them and create a power vacuum into which he could step.
In January 2001, Mr Freedman said, the rabbi had begun "peddling allegations" that Mr Maccaba was a serial adulterer of young, newly married orthodox women. These allegations had been made to other rabbis and to leaders and members of the community, and there were "dark whisperings in dark corners" not made to Mr Maccaba personally.
In particular Rabbi Lichtenstein had told another rabbi that his [the rabbi's] recently married daughter was at the top of the list of women kept by Mr Maccaba for the purposes of preying on them. Such allegations, said Mr Freedman, were "absolutely without substance".
The rabbi, he went on, had also claimed that Mr Maccaba was behaving inappropriately towards women and that in particular he had sexually harassed a woman called Nathalie Attar. These were also untrue, he said. "They are disturbed fabrications that say more about their author than Brian Maccaba. They simply do not stand up, they are nonsense."
The jury was told that strict observance of the sabbath and adherence to kosher dietary laws were paramount in orthodox communities. Contact with the opposite sex outside marriage was restricted to the extent that for some even touching hands in a social context was not allowed.
Such allegations against Mr Maccaba would have been devastating for him, particularly when made by a rabbi who wielded great influence and power among the community.
"Some people would assume that a judge would not make such allegations unless he was satisfied they were true and had been fully investigated,'' said Mr Freedman.
Mr Maccaba, the court heard, had been brought up as a Catholic in Dublin and was a graduate of University College, Dublin, and the London School of Economics. He had developed a strong interest in Judaism and after studying the faith for many years had applied to the London Beth Din to be converted in 1988. He was turned down, said Mr Freedman. His application was eventually approved by rabbis in New York in 1990. He married, for the second time, to a Jewish woman and they have four children.
The jury heard that he had been part of a small community of Sephardic Jewish immigrants from north Africa in the Hendon area and that he had donated to local Jewish charities and causes. He had also become close to Sephardic religious leaders in Israel and had accompanied one of them on a visit to Tony Blair.
Rabbi Lichtenstein denies the claims. The case before Mr Justice Gray continues.