Brooklyn rabbi accused of pedophilia dies from coronavirus
Rabbi Joel Kolko, who had taught at the Ocean Parkway yeshiva Torah Temimah, had been accused on multiple occasions of having molested male students.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFYeshiva Torah Temimah(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A Brooklyn rabbi notorious for being accused of pedophilia has reportedly died in Israel of coronavirus, The New York Post has reported.Rabbi Joel Kolko, who had taught at the Ocean Parkway yeshiva Torah Temimah, had been accused on multiple occasions of having molested male students in the past.He was visiting Israel for the recent holidays, but subsequently contracted coronavirus.“I heard that he was sick. He was on a ventilator,” Avi Moskowitz, a lawyer for Torah Temimah, told the Post.A Zoom memorial service was also announced, but the date of death is unclear.Kolko, who was 74 when he died, faced several allegations of child molestation following suits that were filed under New York's Child Victims Act, which lifted the statute of limitations for lawsuits.In 2017, the yeshiva paid out an unprecedented $2.1 million to two former students who had accused the rabbi of molesting them. Now, Moskowitz is defending the yeshiva from three other pending lawsuits of the same nature.However, Kolko's death complicates matters.“You have grown men who claim that 40 or 50 years ago something happened, and now the person alleged to have done it is not available,” Moskowitz told the Post.But Niall MacGiollabhu, who represents one of the plaintiffs, disagrees.“It won’t affect the case. At the end of the day, there’s little denying Kolko did what he did. My client will testify,” he explained to the Post, adding that “I’m sure some people think he [Kolko] has evaded a full measure of justice, but I can tell you this: his epitaph has not been written, and it’s going to be written by his victims. How he will be remembered is going to be determined by his victims.”
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