Three days before the interreligious act, whose murder turns 50 this Saturday (25), the Vladimir Herzog Institute announced that Rabbi Ruben Sternschein, accused of , will no longer participate in the ceremony.
Sternschein was removed from his activities at CIP (Congregação Israelita Paulista), this Wednesday (22), after the magazine published allegations that he had committed sexual harassment against five women who attended the congregation.
The Vladimir Herzog Institute, in a note to Sheetstated that he was informed by the CIP that, due to his absence from his religious activities, the rabbi will not participate in the inter-religious event. The choice of a substitute for the ceremony will be defined by the congregation itself, according to the note.
“We await the definition of the representation of the Jewish community, which will be led by another religious leader, not yet defined, preserving the plural and symbolic character of the ceremony, which reaffirms the values of memory, justice and democracy.”
The CIP commented on the case through a note published on its website, in which it states that Sternschein “is removed from his duties for an indefinite period during the investigations”.
“The CIP formally received only one complaint, which was investigated impartially and rigorously — and no irregularities were proven. We reject any form of harassment or discrimination and continue to act with transparency, justice and responsibility, as we have always done in our almost 90 years of history”, says the congregation.
When contacted by the report, Rabbi Ruben Sternschein did not comment on the accusations and dismissal.
The ceremony in memory of Herzog, on Saturday (25), seeks to recreate the solemnity held after his death, in October 1975, in which the Archbishop of São Paulo, Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, the Presbyterian reverend Jamie Wright and Rabbi Henry Sobel promoted an event at the Sé Cathedral, in the center of the capital of São Paulo.
At the time, the ecumenical act became one of the most emblematic against the regime because it brought together around 8,000 people in open opposition to the regime — and in a period of strong coercion and persecution by the government of opponents.
Sternschein, as senior rabbi of the CIP, had been invited to celebrate Saturday’s event, which will also be at the Sé Cathedral, as a representative of Rabbi Henry Sobel, who became known for his opposition to the .
Sobel refused to bury Herzog, who was Jewish, as if he had committed suicide, contradicting the version released by the military dictatorship to cover up that the journalist had been murdered during a torture session on the Army premises in São Paulo.
