A rabbi sexually touched a woman who had sought religious advice from him before giving her money and telling her to “keep quiet”, a court has heard.
Aaron Halpern, also known as Chaim Halpern, 68, is accused of locking the woman in a room in his home above a synagogue and sexually assaulting her before regularly contacting her to talk about sex and power.
The defendant, of Golders Green, north London, is on trial at Harrow Crown Court charged with two counts of sexual assault against the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
In a police interview recorded in February 2023 and played to jurors on Tuesday, the woman described Halpern as a “monster” and said she had been “scared” to tell anyone what happened after he insisted on secrecy.
“He took this opportunity to use me for his own sexual pleasure. He wanted it, I did not want it,” she said.
“He is a monster.”
She added: “He must be stopped.”
The complainant called the content of his phone calls “disgusting”, saying: “He spoke about sex and power and that is all he wanted to talk about.”
She claimed he said to her over the phone: “Should I penetrate you? Do you like it soft, do you like it hard? Should I smother my lips on your breasts?”
She lived in Israel in the few years leading up to the time of the alleged offence.
She was in London in 2022 when she sought halachic advice from the defendant after experiencing mental health difficulties, the court heard.
She went to Halpern’s north London house with her father, going with the rabbi to his study upstairs on her own, where he locked the door, jurors were told.
“That struck her as being odd as she and the rabbi are both members of the Chasidic Jewish community and in their tradition a man and a woman are not supposed to be in a room together unless they are married,” prosecutor Stephen Wells said.
“In her view, the door should have been unlocked or left open, but she thought he is a rabbi, it must be all right.”
Jurors heard she felt “uncomfortable” because the defendant was sitting closer to her than she wanted and smiling at her in a “flirtatious” way as she tried to speak to him about her difficulties.
“Rather than talking to her about those concerns, Rabbi Halpern started talking to her about arm-wrestling,” Mr Wells said.
“He talked to her about muscles, about power. He suggested that the two of them should arm wrestle.
“Again, that seemed strange to her because, again, in their culture men and women do not touch each other.
“But again she thought he’s a rabbi, it must be OK, and she did arm-wrestle him.
“Then the rabbi said to her: ‘I’m sure you are very strong. Let’s see if your leg muscles are strong.'”
Jurors heard Halpern asked her to stand up on tiptoes before touching and squeezing her calf and then running his hand up her right thigh.
“He asked her if she had ever had the pleasure of a man bending down on his knees and asking for mercy,” the prosecutor said.
“[She] froze. She says she disassociated. The way she describes it is it was like she was not there and she shook and then the rabbi took his hand away.”
Towards the end of the time the complainant spent in the study, Halpern said he would give her £100 before giving her a “bear hug” in which one hand touched and rubbed her breasts and vagina over her clothes, the court was told.
He allegedly gave her money and told her: “Whatever happens between us, you keep quiet. Like, you mustn’t tell a word about it.”
The woman left and met her father downstairs wearing a “fake smile” before later travelling back to Israel, jurors heard.
Wells said the complainant did not consent to the defendant touching her.
The prosecutor added that Halpern denies any touching of a sexual nature took place in his study.
The defendant began phoning her every night and sending emails and pictures after the alleged incident, jurors heard.
“When he spoke to her on the phone his talk… was about power, about strength, about muscles but also it was about sex, very clearly about sex,” Wells said.
The complainant spoke to her therapist and a private investigator and recorded phone calls from Halpern, the court heard.
Halpern is said to have travelled to Israel later in 2022 and unsuccessfully tried to meet up with the complainant, allegedly calling her ten times in the space of an hour one day.
The complainant spoke to a journalist from Channel 12 News in Israel, which eventually broadcast a report about her allegations in which her identity was hidden.
Halpern, who denies the two counts of sexual assault, was arrested in London in March 2023.
The trial continues.
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