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A prominent New Jersey rabbi sexually assaulted a single mom — and even sent her a pic of his genitals, admitting, “Not great. But works” — before launching a cyber-smear campaign against her, court papers allege.
Married Rabbi Avraham Appel — who runs an elite rabbinical seminary in the tight-knit Lakewood Orthodox community — used “his position as a rabbi, mentor, and trusted community leader to sexually assault and exploit” mom-of-two Israeli immigrant Miryam Malachi for months, according the explosive Ocean County lawsuit.
Malachi, then a single mom, had approached Appel for financial help with daycare bills “during a period of acute financial distress” in 2020, says her suit filed earlier this year in Ocean County Civil Court.
Appel helped her financially, the lawsuit says. But things took a dark turn in June 2022, when Appel sexually assaulted her as she was home alone, court documents allege.
Appel “forced himself” on Malachi and “took sexual advantage of her” multiple times afterward, the suit claims.
He also sent her lewd texts with “incredibly crude and graphic sexual content,” including descriptions of oral sex, his desire to “squeeze your breasts” and an image of his genitals, the lawsuit says.
Appel wrote under the genitals image, “Not great. But works,” court documents claim.
When Malachi finally threatened to sue last fall, a vicious smear website popped up calling her “A DANGER TO KLAL YISROEL” — roughly meaning a threat to all Jewish people, her suit says.
Malachi claims Appel’s allies even plastered defamatory flyers at her children’s private school, according to the court papers.
Appel allegedly offered $50,000 to buy her silence before his lawsuit threat, a move she “vehemently rejected,” the suit says.
Appel and his lawyers have denied all of the accusations, claiming that the pair only had a “business relationship,” court papers show.
His lawyer, Ian Goldman, told The Post on Tuesday that Malachi’s “credibility, motives, and factual assertions are not only disputed but entirely fabricated.”
Goldman added that the “screenshots are fabricated and form part of what he contends is an extensive extortion and smear campaign directed against him,” and that Appel claims “even a cursory examination of the photographs at issue demonstrates that the individual depicted is not him.”
Appel’s court papers also accuse Malachi of fraud and extortion — and deny any connection to the website.
But subpoenaed records from GoDaddy revealed that the smear site was registered directly to Appel’s cell phone, his brother’s email and his business partner’s credit card, Malachi’s suit claims.
English (US)