Rabbi Joel Yehuda Kolko was arrested yesterday in Brooklyn and charged with child sexual abuse. Back in May, New York's Robert Kolker detailed allegations against the rabbi that went back at least two decades, noting that the Brooklyn District Attorney's office would often defer to Orthodox authorities instead of investigating complaints. But David Framowitz, a former student of Kolko's, sued the rabbi and his Flatbush yeshiva for $20 million in federal court in May. Kolko now faces other civil suits filed by adults who claim they, too, were abused. "The bottom line is that abuse is a universal issue that closed communities hide because it threatens them," one former Lubavitcher who said he was abused told Kolker. "Whether it's Jewish or Amish or Mennonite or Catholic or Muslim, it doesn't make a difference."

On the Rabbi's Knee [NYM]
Sex-Rap Rabbi is Busted in Brooklyn [NYDN]