None of the five women had spoken publicly before the criminal case, because, they say, it was understood that members of the modern Orthodox Jewish community - especially young ones - did not divulge errors by its leaders, let alone accuse them of impropriety.
The women's accounts reflect a pattern consistent with the case that resulted in Max's conviction. They said the rabbi made suggestive comments or touched them in a sexual manner, and that sometimes he did both. The women said they were shocked and offended by the rabbi's actions, but none intends to pursue a civil case or criminal charges, options that remain a possibility for those who were minors at the time of the events they described.
"He came up behind me, pressed himself against me, kissed me on my cheek, and put his hands down my sweater," said Judy Flax-Gerstein, 54, who was newly divorced a decade ago and working as a secretary in the office of Max's temple, where her family had long worshiped. "I was in shock. I pushed him away and screamed."
Max was impervious to complaints about his behavior, Flax-Gerstein said. "He got away with it for years because no one spoke up," she said. "You just did what the authority figure said. I told my mother and she said, 'Everyone knows his reputation.' "
Rabbi Elan Adler, who succeeded Max at the shul after its founder's retirement in 2001, acknowledged in a sermon in July that women in the congregation might have endured Max's advances for years, and addressed the culpability of the temple's leaders in brushing aside the women's grievances.
"We as a congregation need to ask ourselves whether we listened carefully enough to complaints and allegations of inappropriate behavior," Adler said, according to a transcript of his remarks. At the same time, he went on, "Rabbi Max needs to be accountable for his actions, and justice must be done, and above all, victims deserve our sympathy and our prayers."
Adler urged Max to come forward and apologize "to each person he has harmed" and to take responsibility for the "shame and embarrassment he has brought upon himself and upon the synagogue."
Moses Montefiore has come to be viewed, Adler said, "as a congregation that protected and covered for its revered rabbi."
After his sermon, Adler was approached by Elaine Witman, director of the Shofar Coalition, a group of Baltimore-area Jewish organizations, who said she wanted to help Max's victims. The conversation resulted in the Jewish Healing Service, a Sept. 13 gathering at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Jewish Community Center that Witman said was attended by about 200 people.
