Thread by @wordpaley

CW: child sexual abuse

Gut voch. Last week, I tweeted a thread about Aaron Teitelbaum, owner of a popular music production company in the NY area. I deleted the thread the next day. Why? Because one of his enablers tried to scare me.

I’m here to tell you I’m not scared anymore.

Why am I not scared? Because that recording is out there. Because people have known about his alleged abuse for more than 20 years. Because any threat he or his enablers make against me will bring everything he’s done into the light. And because I am not alone.

So I’m going to repost the thread, including the list of his enablers. All I ask is that you share this thread—even if you shared it last week—so we can reach as many potential victims as possible and bring Aaron Teitelbaum to justice. Retweet, screenshot and share everywhere.

His name is Aaron Teitelbaum. He is the owner of a popular and highly sought-after music production company. He does weddings and other events for the upper crust of Orthodox communities in northern New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Long Island. And every big Orthodox singer knows him.

Teitelbaum is believed to have many, many victims. They are all afraid to come forward because he is extremely well-connected in the Chasidish communities of the NY area. Rabbis, gvirim and askanim (rich male communal leaders), media people. He can easily ruin all their lives.

Teitelbaum’s abuse has been public knowledge since at least 2015, when he was added to the Wall of Shame of Jewish Community Watch, a now-defunct organization raising awareness about abusers. This was not common knowledge, however, until May 2021, when the recording was posted.

CW: Graphic

In the legally obtained recording, an investigator asks Teitelbaum if he abused a victim as a child. Without knowing the name of the victim, Teitelbaum says he remembers and asks if it’s X. The investigator says no. So the recording is evidence of at least 2 victims.

Again, however, there are believed to be many more. People in the Chasidic community of Borough Park have known he is dangerous for many years. Rabbis have been approached about him. They say they can’t do anything.

Since the recording was posted, a dedicated volunteer named Adena Edelstein has shared the recording with many popular Jewish singers who continue to work with Teitelbaum. They all give bogus excuses, say their hands are tied, or just ignore her.

Think of your favorite Orthodox singer. They’ve probably worked with him. He provides them with musicians for their concerts, hires them for his weddings and other events. And infuriatingly, many of them continue to work with him after being told about the recording.

Before I name them, let me be clear: the goal is not to “cancel” any of these singers. The goal is to pressure them. They can go on their merry way if they simply refuse to work with Teitelbaum. I’m only doing this because everything else has been tried, and nothing else worked.

It’s not lashon hara because this is all freely available information. All these singers proudly post about their work with Teitelbaum. Even if you think it’s LH, there’s no greater toeles than protecting people from irreversible harm. And again, everything else has been tried.

Last thing: I know some will say “but maybe he did teshuva! How do you know he’s still doing this?”

He knows of at least 2 victims, if not more. He’s made no attempt to atone for the irreversible harm he’s caused to them. Given those facts, we must assume he’s still dangerous.

Here is a list of singers who know about the recording and continue to work with him:

Mordechai Shapiro (@MordyShapiro)

Simcha Leiner (@SimchaLeiner; worked with him twice just last week)

Benny Friedman (@BennysMusic)

Beri Weber (@BeriWeber)

Shulem Lemmer (@IamShulem)

Shloime Daskal (@DaskalShloime)

Avraham Fried (yes, that one)

Eli Schwebel (yes, the one who did song with @Amudim dedicated to abuse victims)

Moshe Tischler

Uri Davidi

Shimmy Markowitz

Duvid Feder

Yedidim Choir

Avi Perets

Yitz Henkin

Ohad Moskowitz

Shapiro and Leiner are probably in the top 3 most recognizable singers in the wider Orthodox community. They charge well upwards of 10K per wedding. And I’m almost certain the upcoming @CampHASC concert, the “biggest event in Jewish music,”will feature at least one on that list.

And to reiterate, all of these people were PRIVATELY MESSAGED about the recording and confirmed to have seen the message. But even if they weren’t, the video was all over Instagram in May (65K+ views), so it’s virtually impossible they didn’t know about it.

If you want evidence they all continue to work with Teitelbaum, just go to his Instagram (@aaronteitelbaum). Every event he does he tags them and every other vendor he works with. There are a LOT of people complicit in covering up for his abuse. Including people on this website.

To name a few:

-The Jewish Link network of local newspapers (@JLinkExpanded) features a large Teitelbaum ad each week. They are aware of the recording and were given an opportunity to get more background on it. (It was opposite an editorial on Chaim Walder last week. Yuuuup.)

-@NachumSegalNet & @MiriamLWallach hire him for events, have hosted him on their shows, and actively promote him.

-@PESynagogue hired him for their annual dinner in June

instagram.com/p/CP6sLW8N_VM/…

-@misaskim hired him for their annual Event for Orphans

instagram.com/p/CURMLOHNUga/…

So what can you do?
1. Share the recording widely, especially with people you think might hire Teitelbaum for a simcha.
2. Message Segal and Wallach on Twitter or Instagram asking why they continue to promote him
3. Email [e-mail] demanding he removes the ad.

A question you may have: if you’re holding Teitelbaum’s enablers responsible, where does the chain of responsibility end? How are we not all enablers?

We’re not enablers unless we know about abuse and offer support, whether explicit or implicit, to the abuser.

But as knowledge of the abuse spreads, the threshold of that support becomes lower and lower. Because suddenly we all might be perceived as someone who knows but who doesn’t care. And at some point the threshold disappears, and everyone implicitly supports the abuser.

So your friends who hired Teitelbaum and didn’t know about the abuse aren’t enablers. But you should let them know anyway.

But singers and media personalities who proudly work with an abuser are enablers. And they must be stopped before others become enablers too.

This is how the cycle of abuse is perpetuated. People see other people they respect and whom they presume to have knowledge of allegations enable an abuser. They assume the allegations must not be true, because if they were Person Who I Respect would not be working with Abuser.

It’s not difficult to foresee a situation in the near future—once the recording spreads even further —in which a rabbi who knows about the allegations agrees to officiate a wedding at which Teitelbaum is performing. A caterer. A photographer. They’re all enablers now. What then?

It’s only a matter of time before we’ll all be enablers simply by attending a wedding or other event where Teitelbaum is performing.

Do we really want the unspeakable suffering and irreversible harm of Aaron Teitelbaum’s victims to hang over our most joyous moments?

And here’s the original thread by @avitalrachel with more background on the communal response:

https://twitter.com/avitalrachel/status/1476670596213874696

If you are a victim of Aaron Teitelbaum or know anyone who is, you can reach out securely and confidentially to @ZAAKAHNY at 1-888-492-2524 or [e-mail]. May they all find healing and justice, speedily in our days. ❤️‍🩹✊