Born in Austria, Max came to the United States with his family when he was 3 years old. He grew up in a Jewish enclave in Southwest Baltimore, where his father was the rebbe, or leader, of a synagogue. Max graduated from the Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Pikesville and, in 1952, founded the Liberty Jewish Center in Howard Park, a Modern Orthodox synagogue that later moved to Rockland Hills Drive. He presided over at least 50,000 simchas - life-cycle events such as weddings and coming-of-age ceremonies - before retiring from the synagogue in November 2001. In his honor, the property was rededicated as the Rabbi Jacob A. Max Torah Campus.
"I'm known for being a rabbi you can reach at all times, day or night," he told a Sun reporter when he retired. "If others can't help you, maybe I can help you."
A 45-year-old woman in Frederick who agreed to share her experiences as long as she was identified only by her adopted Hebrew name, Eve, said Max groped her 20 years ago, when she was studying to become a Jew and was five months' pregnant with the first of her three children.
"He rubbed my belly and said, 'This is getting big,' and his hands just went up from there," she recalled, naming the precise date of the incident, a month after Max had co-officiated at her wedding. "He had one hand on each breast. He said, 'These are getting big too.' I thought - that didn't just happen."
Two months earlier, Eve said, Max had been watching her without her knowledge while she undressed and took a mikvah, a ritual bath to remove impurities from the body. Max made his presence known as she was leaving the room in a bathrobe, and said to her, "You don't look that pregnant," Eve recalled.
She stopped going to his classes after the groping incident. "When I finally told my husband what happened I don't think he wanted to believe it," she said. "His parents' reactions were that Rabbi Max was known as a womanizer. It was never discussed after they made that comment. I just had to deal with it."
Debbie Troutman, 55, would like an apology from the rabbi. "I pretty much stopped my religious life because of him," said Troutman, who works in a men's barbershop in Reisterstown. She was 16 and attending Hebrew school at Liberty Jewish Center when Max began making comments that were "definitely sexual and suggestive."
Troutman recalled being grounded by her parents after telling them that he had made a particularly offensive remark to her. " 'Hey, baby,' " she recalled him saying. " 'You look great. Meet me in my office later and we'll get it on.' "
