rust?

Broke

Detroit Orthodox community stands by
NCSY in wake of allegations of abuse
against popular youth rabbi.

they become learned, involved Jews
literally pulled teens from every back-
ground to his programs and lectures,
according to metro Detroiters inter-
viewed.
Local teens signed up for this sum-
mer's six-week Torah study program
have toured Israel before. Their intent
this trip was to focus on learning dur-
ing the concentrated, long-term pro-
gram with the rabbi. All have studied
with Rabbi Lanner before — in sum-
mer programs and year-round
Shabbatons (Shabbat retreats). Two of
the boys previously had attended the
Summer Kollel program.
Six of the eight local boys are sec-
ond-generation NCSYers. Some local
families have ties to NCSY and
Rabbi Lanner through older children.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer

A

mong the thousands of
American teens spending
this summer on organized
trips to Israel are 252 boys
registered for the National
Conference of Synagogue Youth
(NCSY) Summer Kollel 2000 trip.
They landed in Tel Aviv on July 10
still reeling from abuse allegations
that surrounded their beloved leader.
Teens in the NCSY Central East
region, which includes Detroit,
learned of the allegations through e-
mail transmission of a New York
Jewish Week article dated June 23. The
story identified the teen leader as
Rabbi Baruch Lanner, founder and
head of their trip. The story, reported
by Jewish Week Editor and Publisher
Gary Rosenblatt, described allegations
of physical, emotional and sexual
abuse of teens during the last-30
years.
Rabbi Lanner resigned the same
day the teens received the e-mail,
dashing their dreams of studying with
the rabbi in Israel; the teens included
eight metro Detroit boys. Rabbi
to F4
Lanner, who has been a New Jersey

7/14
2000

14

Rabbi Baruch Lanner:
former NCSY leader

Depth Of Influence

yeshiva teacher and school principal
and is now the former NCSY director
of regions, traditionally led the trip.
Rabbi Dovid Kaminetsky, NCSY
national director, has replaced him.
While every Israel youth trip has
its own attributes, this one historically
had Rabbi Lanner. His magnetism,
influence and genuine concern that

Dr. Emanuel and Dr. Debbie Reinitz
of Oak Park sent their son Zevi, 16,
on the Kollel trip for the second
straight year. They first spoke with
Rabbi Lanner when their older son
Ariel, now 18, was preparing to go on
the same trip in 1997.
"Rabbi Lanner really was instru-
mental in making the connection
TRUST on page 16

Nosy Special

Commission:

• Richard M. Joel, J.D.,
Commission chair; president and
international director, Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
• Fred Ehrman, vice president,
13rea.n Murray and Co.
• Allen Fagin, partner and co-
chair of Labor and Employment
Law Dept., Poskauer Rose LLP
• Lydia Essrog Kess, partner,
Davis, Polk and Wardwell LLP.
• Matthew Maryles, principal,
DDK and Company LLP
• Jule's Polonetsky, chief privacy
officer, DoubleClick Inc., former
consumer affairs commissioner,
New York City
• Professor Suzanne Last Stone,
JD, professor of law, Benjamin N.
Cardozo School of Law
• Rabbi. Abraham J. Twersky, MD,
founder and medical director,
Gateway Rehabilitation Center,
associate professor of psychiatry,
University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine