© AP Photo/Bebeto MatthewsBarry Singer, left, David Bressler, center, and Jay Goldberg, right, who say they were sexually abused while they were students at Yeshiva University High School. They are among 38 former students in a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by two rabbis.
After years of failed attempts to sue Yeshiva University, 38 former students who say they were sexually abused by three rabbis and other school staff decades ago can now
seek justice under the Child Victims Act.
The victims say while they attended all-boys Yeshiva University High School, the principal,
Rabbi George Finkelstein, and four other staffers variously sexually abused them, beginning in 1955 and continuing through 1986, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
The
school received more than 20 complaints from parents and students about the alleged abuse but did nothing, the court papers allege.
One victim, Mordechai Twersky, claims he was twice sexually abused by Finkelstein in 1980 — and despite letting school officials know, they kept the rabbi at the school and even gave him the "Educator of the Year" award in 1985.
In 1995, Finkelstein was given the Heritage Award while the school had quietly fired him, the court documents allege.
The other former students — including 33 who filed suit anonymously — brought similar claims against the various staffers. Many of the victims claim they sought years of therapy because of the trauma of the incidents, the suit says.
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