By Rev. Ted Pike
16 Jun 11

Continuing a wave of child abuse indictments, another Orthodox rabbi has been arrested in Israel this week. Rabbi David Hafuta, age 64, is charged with forcing intercourse on a 12-year-old girl multiple times over a 10-month period. Hafuta is known as a “neighborhood rabbi and a familiar figure with a reputation in the field,” who abused the girl’s trust.

In an Orthodox culture in which rabbis are held in superstitious awe, the girl approached Hafuta with sincere religious questions. The rabbi then used religious pressures suffused with Kabbalistic/Messianic superstition and pedophile grooming techniques to molest his victim. Hafuta drove the girl to the beach and told her she must “atone for all the bad deeds that she has done so far” by allowing him to rape her. Using manipulation techniques shared by other pedophiles, the rabbi conducted a pretend marriage ceremony and described intercourse as possessing magical power to control destructive forces in the girl and even save her mother. The rabbi also sought access to other girls by asking his victim to bring her friends to his office, where some of his assaults had taken place.

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