Forensic report allegedly ‘exonerates’ Rabbi Halpern of sexual impropriety
EXCLUSIVE: Multiple Stamford Hill sources claim an Israeli investigator's report may clear Golders Green’s Rabbi Chaim Halpern over allegations in a Channel 12 television programme.
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
Sources in Stamford Hill claim an Israeli forensic investigator has prepared a report that exonerates Golders Green’s Rabbi Chaim Halpern over allegations of sexual impropriety made in a Channel 12 television programme, screened last November.
In the Israeli TV film, extracts are played, allegedly of Halpern on the phone to a woman, making repeated pleas to her to come to his flat late at night.
Some of the conversations were recorded by the alleged victim, in the offices of a female therapist, who is also licensed as a private investigator by Israel’s Ministry of Justice.
The male voice on the tapes says he loves the woman, that she is beautiful and asks if she wants him to “come with you in bed”.
Halpern, confronted in Golders Green by the Israeli film-makers last year, denied the claims and added that the recordings were fake.
Jewish News now understands that a Kfar Saba lawyer, Doron Baldinger, who runs a company called Avidence [Audio and Video] Media Forensics, has examined the extracts from the phone conversations played in the programme and compared them with Halpern’s on-camera denial.
The Stamford Hill sources believe that the initial conclusions – written in English and with technical details, in Hebrew, of how the investigation was carried out – point to “very low matches” between the two sound files.
Multiple Stamford Hill sources confirmed the existence of the report, but Jewish News has not yet seen a copy.
A London businessman, Effy Klein, is thought to have a copy of the Baldinger report, but refused to speak to Jewish News.
Baldinger initially said he had consulted a Bnei Brak rabbi, Yehuda Steinharter, after Jewish News contacted him about his report. But after consulting with Steinharter, Baldinger said he had “no intention of being interviewed by any journalist or providing information about any test results to a third party”.
It is not clear who commissioned and paid for the Baldinger report. Halpern’s lawyer, when approached, declined to comment.
He confirmed that “one of the parties” had contacted him “in order to verify the identity of the speaker’s voice in this recording”. But, citing client confidentiality and “fairness”, Baldinger declined to discuss the contents of his report.
Steinharter visited London in March this year and spent time speaking to numerous rabbis in the strictly-Orthodox community, including the leaders of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations.
Jewish News understands that Altea Steinherz and Chaviv Shveki, the investigators responsible for collecting evidence used in the Channel 12 report, stand fully behind the recordings, as does the channel and that these recordings were handed to the police at the time.
The Metropolitan Police’s investigation continues.
It is not clear who commissioned and paid for the Baldinger report. Halpern’s lawyer, when approached, declined to comment.
If it is true that the report goes some way towards supporting Halpern’s case, then there are numerous unanswered questions. Armed with the report, for example, is the rabbi considering legal action against Channel 12, the alleged victim, and her therapist? Or will he present the Baldinger findings to the police?
Channel 12, meanwhile, refused to comment on the record until they had seen a copy of Baldinger’s findings and exactly what was being claimed.
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