Rabbi Accused Of Siphoning School Funds

For years Hertz Frankel has been known as a gentle, fatherly Brooklyn rabbi and principal of Beth Rachel, billed as the world’s biggest Jewish girls’ school.

The Holocaust survivor was prominent internationally as a spokesman for the ultra-orthodox Satmar Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg, a neighborhood of bearded men in black hats and coats.

Few suspected what investigators charge -- that the 68-year-old rabbi siphoned about $6 million in public school money to finance the private school.

Frankel pleaded guilty to conspiracy April 9 in Brooklyn federal court. The judge sentenced him to probation for three years and ordered the Beth Rachel school to pay $1 million in restitution.

Edward Stancik, the city’s special schools investigator, said Frankel conspired with public school officials to trade political support on a community school board for the money.

From the mid-1970s until 1994, phony jobs were given to 80 women living in the district, Stancik said. The “jobs” ranged from security guards and remedial teachers to aides and came with family health insurance benefits for the women, some of whom had as many as 10 children.

The phony employees gave their paychecks to the rabbi, who then passed on the money to the 4,000-student Beth Rachel school and its parent organization, the United Talmudical Academy, authorities said.

In return for the money, Stancik said the rabbi assured district administrators that they would get the support of a critical bloc of Hasidic men on the nine-member community school board.

The rabbi has denied holding any sway over the board, but Stancik said “many people benefited from this corrupt bargain. None of them were New York City public school students or their parents.”

In a statement, the rabbi said he pleaded guilty to avoid further humiliating his community. He said he’s “the victim of a great injustice,” explaining that school officials had told him to accept the money to help relieve an economic burden from New York taxpayers by educating the Jewish children privately.

Two former district superintendents also were implicated in the scheme, but died before any charges could be brought. Three lower-level administrators pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.