Dallas temple fires rabbi after ‘credible’ sexual misconduct allegations emerge

A Dallas-area rabbi has been fired from Temple Emanu-El after a New York City synagogue’s investigation found credible accusations of “sexually predatory behavior,” the temple announced to its congregation.

The allegations against Sheldon Zimmerman, which include sexual contact with a minor, stem from his tenure at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, according to an April 27 email to that congregation. He was the New York synagogue’s senior rabbi from 1972 to 1985.

Temple Emanu-El notified its congregation in an April 28 email that Zimmerman, 79, had been fired and said it had hired the Arcadi Jackson law firm to “conduct an independent review of our past and present practices, to gather facts and to report them to a special committee established by our congregation’s president.”

The letter also offered channels for reporting misconduct.

Zimmerman was Temple Emanu-El’s senior rabbi from 1985 to 1996 and returned to the North Dallas temple as a scholar in residence in 2017. He taught adult education classes and worked with conversion students until his termination last week, Senior Rabbi David Stern said Thursday.

The could not reach Zimmerman for comment Thursday. Temple Emanu-El’s letter said it was not aware of any misconduct while Zimmerman worked there.

Zimmerman’s relationships with female congregants have been investigated before. In 2000, the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ ethics committee suspended Zimmerman for at least two years after finding he had engaged in inappropriate “personal relationships.” He resigned from his position as president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at that time.

But because the conference revealed few details, the Jewish community was left with the impression Zimmerman had engaged in consensual affairs, according to the Jewish publication The Forward. The conference never informed Central Synagogue of the details that led to his suspension, according to its letter, even though its investigation included a young female congregant from the synagogue.

Zimmerman completed an ethics process set out by the Central Conference, served a suspension and resumed rabbinic work before Temple Emanu-El rehired him, Stern said.

“Had we known in 2017 the full extent of the allegations described in Central Synagogue’s letter, we would not have engaged Rabbi Zimmerman,” Temple Emanu-El’s letter says. “In 2021, we are thankfully in an era of greater transparency and accountability related to matters of sexual misconduct.”

The more recent investigation involved three female accusers and began last fall after a former Central Synagogue congregant approached religious leaders. She said Zimmerman had initiated an inappropriate relationship with her when she was a young religious-school teacher, according to the synagogue’s letter.

The woman believed that Zimmerman had “similarly harmed” other women and said congregants at the time knew about his behavior, according to the letter.

The Manhattan synagogue hired a law firm to investigate further. Two additional women, whom the letter does not name, accused Zimmerman of starting sexual relationships with them.

One woman said their relationship began when she was a minor and lasted “many years.” Another woman said she was a student at the Hebrew Union College when Zimmerman, a teacher there, engaged her in a sexual relationship

Each woman said Zimmerman used theological teachings to justify his relationship with her, which Central Synagogue called “a gross manipulation of his spiritual authority.”

Two of the women spoke to the Central Conference during its earlier investigation, according to the synagogue’s letter.

Zimmerman participated in an interview during the new investigation and “confirmed certain key facts” about those two women and “expressed remorse for the harm he caused,” the letter says.

One of the women left Judaism altogether because of the relationship, according to the letter.

The women said Zimmerman, who now lives in Plano, had not tried to make teshuvah, a Hebrew word that literally translates to “returning” and is commonly used to mean repentance.

“We will continue to work with the women who have come forward individually to make Teshuvah on behalf of Central Synagogue and to ensure that they are heard. They have told us that our investigation and this communication are important steps in their healing,” the synagogue’s letter says.